The Remarkable History of the Hudson's Bay Company: Including that of the French Traders of North-Western Canada and of the North-West, XY, and Astor Fur CompaniesBryce, George
History
The Remarkable History of the Hudson's Bay Company: Including that of the French Traders of North-Western Canada and of the North-West, XY, and Astor Fur Companies
Bryce, George
Fur trade -- Northwest, Canadian; Hudson's Bay Company; North West Company; Northwest, Canadian -- History; XY Company
The Charter certainly opens with a breath of unrestrained heartiness
on the part of the good-natured King Charles. First on the list of
recipients is "our dear entirely beloved Prince Rupert, Count Palatine
of the Rhine, Duke of Bavaria and Cumberland, etc," who seems to have
taken the King captive, as if by one of his old charges when he gained
the name of the fiery Rupert of Edgehill. Though the stock book of the
Company has the entry made in favour of Christopher, Duke of Albemarle,
yet the Charter contains that of the famous General Monk, who, as "Old
George," stood his ground in London during the year of the plague
and kept order in the terror-stricken city. The explanation of the
occurrence of the two names is found in the fact that the father died in
the year of the granting of the Charter. The reason for the appearance
of the name of Sir Philip Carteret in the Charter is not so evident, for
not only was Sir George Carteret one of the promoters of the Company,
but his name occurs as one of the Court of Adventurers in the year after
the granting of the Charter. John Portman, citizen and goldsmith of
London, is the only member named who is neither nobleman, knight, nor
esquire, but he would seem to have been very useful to the Company as a
man of means.
The Charter states that the eighteen incorporators named deserve the
privileges granted because they "have at their own great cost and
charges undertaken an expedition for Hudson Bay, in the north-west parts
of America, for a discovery of a new passage into the South Sea, and for
the finding of some trade for furs, minerals, and other considerable
commodities, and by such their undertakings, have already made such
discoveries as to encourage them to proceed farther in pursuance of
their said design, by means whereof there may probably arise great
advantage to Us and our kingdoms."
The full name of the Company given in the Charter is, "The Governor
and Company of Adventurers of England, trading into Hudson Bay." They
have usually been called "The Hudson's Bay Company," the form of the
possessive case being kept in the name, though it is usual to speak
of the bay itself as Hudson Bay. The adventurers are given the powers
of possession, succession, and the legal rights and responsibilities
usually bestowed in incorporation, with the power of adopting a seal
or changing the same at their "will and pleasure"; and this is granted
in the elaborate phraseology found in documents of that period.
Full provision is made in the Charter for the election of Governor,
Deputy-Governor, and the Managing Committee of seven. It is interesting
to notice during the long career of the Company how the simple machinery
thus provided was adapted, without amendment, in carrying out the
immense projects of the Company during the two and a quarter centuries
of its existence.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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