ESSE

156 Sir ALEXANDER MACKENZIE

and could make use of the Chinese market; the
North West Company had been offered tempt-
ing terms by Astor to join with him, to accept
the sovereignty of the United States, and to
get rid in this way of the disabilities attending
trade by British subjects. It was fair that
the Company, crippled by old monopolies,
should in return receive special privileges.
The application was several times repeated,
and a pamphlet lauding the achievements of
the Company was printed in its support. No
charter, however, resulted; the government
baulked at the grant of a monopoly, and the
proposal dropped.

For some time Mackenzie had been fol-
lowing another line of approach. Even failing
a charter, the union of the North West Com-
pany with the Hudson’s Bay Company would
create such a strong combination that his aims
might be realized. The Hudson’s Bay Com-
pany’s shares were purchasable, and it was
not flourishing. Mackenzie’s new plan was
to get control by buying a majority of the
stock, and so to bring about a peaceful union.
In 1804 Ellice, one of Mackenzie’s partners,