Columbia River. Rises in Upper Columbia Lake, lat. 50° 10', long. 115° 50', and flows into Pacific Ocean. Total length about 1150 miles. Its mouth was discovered by Robert Gray, of Boston, May, 1792, and named by him after his vessel. It was first reached overland by Lewis and Clark, in 1805; and first explored throughout its entire length by David Thompson, of the North West Company, 1807-1811. Its principal branch is the Kootenay. Index: D Carver's "River of Oregon," 19; Russian colony projected at, 44; named by Gray, 57; Fraser raised mistaken for, 59; Lewis and Clark on, 67.
Comfort, Thomas. Mc Aids Mackenzie's escape, 384.
Commerce. Bk In Upper Canada, 50. See also Trade.
Commercial Union. Complete and entire free trade with the United States, first proposed by Ira Gould, before Montreal Board of Trade, February, 1852. (See Montreal Gazette, Feb. 18-22, 1852.) The question was repeatedly discussed in succeeding years, down to 1890, in and out of Parliament, and for a time was adopted by the Liberal party as a trade policy, but abandoned before they came into power in 1896. Index: Md Brought forward by Liberals as an alternative to protection, 261-262; history of the movement, 291-292; the Commercial Union League, 293-298. See also Unrestricted reciprocity; Reciprocity; Zollvrein. Bib.: Canadian Emancipation and Commercial Union; Adam, Handbook of Commercial Union; Willison, Sir Wilfrid Laurier and the Liberal Party; Pope, Memoirs of Sir John A. Macdonald.
Commissariat Department. S Abuses in, 212.
Company of Canada (Merchant Adventurers of Canada). Organized by David Kirke, and chartered by Charles I, to exploit the fur trade of the St. Lawrence. The restoration of Canada to France in 1632 brought the operations of Kirke, Sir William Alexander, and their associates to an untimely end. Index: Ch Letters patent granted to, 176. Bib.: Douglas, Old France in the New World; Kirke, The First English Conquest of Canada.
Company of De Caën. Organized by William de Caën and his nephew Emery, merchants of Rouen. Monopoly granted the company on usual terms as to settlement, missionaries, etc., 1621. Absorbed Champlain's Company, 1622, and the united Companies carried on trade until 1633. Index: Ch Organized, 130-132; rivalry with Company of Rouen, 133-137; amalgamation of two companies, 136-137. Bib.: Biggar, Early Trading Companies of New France; Parkman, Pioneers of France.
Company of New France (Compagnie des Cent-Associés). Established, 1627, by Cardinal Richelieu, on the advice of Isaac de Razilly. A monopoly of fifteen years was granted, with full ownership of the entire valley of the St. Lawrence, in return for which the Company was to take out three hundred colonists every year up to 1643. No serious effort was made to carry out this obligation, although the Company continued to enjoy its monopoly until 1663. Index: L Resigns its charter, 41; renders assistance to missions, 50; succeeded by the West India Company, 145. Ch Established, 169; list of directors, 170; documents relating to, 171; sends out four vessels, 172; equips ships to retake Quebec, 213; terms of grant to, 222; bears expense of Jesuit mission stations, 228; sincerely interested in conversion of savages and progress of colonization, 244; special committee for its financial affairs, 244; appoints Champlain governor, 244. F Created by Cardinal Richelieu, 19; colonists sent out by, 28; cedes some of its rights to colonists, 36; new arrangement works badly, 37; surrenders all its powers to the king, 1663, 49; its failure to fulfil its engagements, 55. E Creates seigniories, 175. Bib.: Biggar, Early Trading Companies of New France; Parkman, Pioneers of France.
Company of Notre Dame de Montreal. L Consecrates the island of Montreal to the Virgin, 85; makes over its rights to the Seminary of St. Sulpice, in 1663, 108, 135; its debts discharged by De Belmont, 135.
Company of Rouen and St. Malo (Champlain's Company). Established at the instance of Champlain, in 1614. The shares were divided among the merchants of Rouen and St. Malo. The terms of their charter required the Company to bring out colonists, but as usual they did not take this obligation very seriously. They did, however, make one notable addition to the population of New France, for in the spring of 1617 they brought out Louis Hébert and his family. Hébert's experience as a colonist was not such as to encourage others to follow his example. The Company's monopoly was cancelled in 1620. Index: Ch Formed by Champlain, 122; its chief members, 122; terms of its charter, 122; pays large salary to the Prince de Condé, 122; Champlain has trouble with 123, 125; the king intervenes on his behalf, 126; colonists to be brought out, 127-129; absorbed by Company of De Caën, 130, 137; conflict with new Company, 133-137. Bib.: Biggar, Early Trading Companies of New France; Parkman, Pioneers of France.