“That since the death of yr. Petr. Brother, the sd. compy have settled on your Petr: six actions in the joint stock of ye sd. compy and one hundred pounds per annum during yr. Petr: life
“That your Petr is now 62 years of age (being grown old in the compys service) & hath not recd any Benefits of the sd. six shares in the compys stock for more than 7 years last past & hath had nothing but the sd. 100 pds. Per annum to maintain himselfe and four small children all borne in England.
“That during the late Reign a Price was set upon your Petr head by the French & several attempts were made upon him to assassinate him & that for none other reasons but for quitting his owne country & serving the compy.
“That your Petr: dares not return to his Native country for the reasons aforesaid: & seeing all his subsistance depends on the sd. compy & is shortly to Determine with the life of your Petr and his four smalle children must consequently fall to be maintained by the Alms of the Parish altho’ the company hath had many thousand pounds effects by his procurement & some that he conceives he had himselfe a good tytle to——
“Your Petr therefore most humbly prays that this House will comiserate the condition of yr. Petr said children, and whereas he hath now the said six actions & £100 only for his life, that you will Vouchsafe to direct a provisoe in the Bill depending to grant the sd. annuity to be paid quarterly & the dividends of the sd. Actions as often as any shall become due to your Petr: his Heirs for Ever during the joint stock of the said compy.
“And yr. Petr shall forever pray
“Peter Esprit Radisson.”
The occasion of this petition by Radisson was when the Stuarts had lost the throne and the Company was petitioning for a confirmation of its royal charter by an act of Parliament. “The many thousand pounds which he conceived himself to have a title to,” refers to 1684, when the French Court compelled him to turn over all the £20,000 in his fort at Nelson to the English. That beaver had been procured in the trade of goods for which Radisson and Groseillers and young Chouart and La Fôrest and De la Chesnay and Dame Sorrell had advanced the money. As a matter of fact, the Company never gave Radisson any stock. They simply granted him the right to dividends on a small amount of stock—a wrong which he was powerless to right as he dared not return to France. It was during Iberville’s raids that the Company stopped paying Radisson dividends or salary, when he filed a suit against them in Chancery and won it. It is quite true the Company was unable to pay him at this time, but then they had their own niggardly policy to thank for having driven him across to France in the first place.
When the Company presented a bill of damages against France for the raids, Radisson’s evidence was necessary to prove that the French King gave up all claims to the bay when he ordered Radisson back to England, so the old man was no longer kept cooling his heels in the outer halls of the Company’s Council Room. The bill of damages was made up as follows: