since I have been here, both from Mr. Ross and Mr. Marion, gentlemen recently from there.  The settlement is seventy miles north of Pembina, and lies on both sides of the river.  Its population is estimated at 10,000.  It owes its origin and growth to the enterprise and success of the Hudson’s Bay Company.  Many of the settlers came from Scotland, but the most were from Canada.  They speak English and Canadian French.  The English style of society is well kept up, whether we regard the church with its bishop, the trader with his wine cellar, the scholar with his library, the officer with his sinecure, or their paper currency.  I find they have everything but a hotel, for I was particular on that point, though not intending just yet to go there.  Probably the arrivals do not justify such an institution, but their cordial hospitality will make up for any such lack, from all I hear.  They have a judge who gets a good house to live in, and L1000 sterling a year; but he has nothing of consequence to do.  He was formerly a leading lawyer in Canada.

The great business of the settlement, of course, is the fur traffic.  An immense amount of buffalo skins is taken in the summer and autumn, while in the winter smaller but more valuable furs are procured.  The Indians also enlist in the hunts; and it is estimated that upwards of $200,000 worth of furs are annually taken from our territory and sold to the Hudson’s Bay Company.  It is high time indeed that a military post should be established somewhere on the Red River by our government.  The Hudson’s Bay Company is now a powerful monopoly.  Not so magnificent and potent as the East India Company, it is still a powerful combination, showering opulence on its members, and reflecting a peculiar feature in the strength and grandeur of the British empire—­ a power, which, to use the eloquent language of Daniel Webster, “has dotted over the whole surface of the globe with her possessions and military posts—­ whose morning drum-beat, following the sun, and keeping company with the hours, circles the earth daily with one continuous and unbroken strain of martial music.”  The company is growing richer every year, and its jurisdiction and its lands will soon find an availability never dreamed of by its founders, unless, as may possibly happen, popular sovereignty steps in to grasp the fruits of its long apprenticeship.  Some time ago I believe the Canadas sought to annex this broad expanse to their own jurisdiction.  There are about two hundred members in the Hudson’s Bay Company.  The charter gives them the power to legislate for the settlement.  They have many persons in their employ in England as well as in British America.  A clerk, after serving the company ten years, with a salary of about $500 per annum, is considered qualified for membership, with the right to vote in the deliberations of the company, and one share in the profits.  The profits of a share last year amounted to $10,000!  A factor of the company, after serving ten years, is