Oregon Historical Quarterly/Volume 60/Review: Hudson's Bay Copy Booke of Letters, Commissions, Instructions Outward, 1688-1696
This volume has little significance for the historian of the Pacific Northwest, except as he is interested in the formative years of the Company which later played so important a role in the region. The documents are among the few that survived the era and in a sense have a scarcity value. The terminal dates "are set by the accidental arrangement of the letters of 1688 to 1696 in a single book in the Hudson's Bay Company's archives; they do not define a period." (xiii) Furthermore the contents do not add materially to the definition of the issues which confronted the Company and which were set forth in preceding volumes of Minutes and Letters. The solutions that were worked out for the problems of war and peace with the French, protection against private interlopers, the status of royal monopoly after the Revolution, and continuing solvency, must wait on volumes yet to come. We do find in the instructions interesting comments that throw light on such practical matters as learning to live in the Hudson's Bay country, and curtailing private trading practises on the part of personnel. Other items sometimes reveal the frustrations and concern of the Committee so far and so long away from the sphere of its responsibilities.
In a splendid introduction Mr. K. G. Davies briefly surveys the situation of the Company in these years, and with unobtrusive expertise analyses the risky financial predicament of investments. "It is impossible to avoid the conclusion that the years under review saw deterioration in the affairs of the Hudson's Bay Company. The bright promise of the first decade of its history did not mature." (lxi) But the Company survived. Considering the histories of other trading corporations during the same critical era of changing economic policies, one must agree with Mr. Davies that "even survival was an achievement ...
While one might feel that precious publication moneys and time might have been used to better advantage on documents of greater value for eager scholars, it is well to bear in mind that, as it presently stands, the editor's policy is making available the whole collection rather than se lected bits. One can then accept gracefully every volume that moves toward this end. Too, since "significance" is so relative to the questions we ask, who knows but what someone might ask a brilliant question for which this volume contains the significant clue to a brilliant answer?
Dorothy O. Johansen