It  shut  off  the  kingdom  of  Great  Britain  from  efficient
growth  in  North  America.  If  the  possession  of  the
Hudson  Bay  Company  had  reverted  to  the  Crown  at
the  end  of  a  hundred  and  fifty  years,  it  would  have  been
returned,  as  received,  a  wilderness.  To  know,  in  com-
parison, what  might  have  been,  one  needs  only  to  cross
the  boundary  line  and  notice  the  northern  tier  of  states
lying  just  south  of  that  line.
The  great  English  mistake,  therefore,  was  double.  It
was  a  mistake  in  attempting  to  take  and  hold  Oregon
by  trapping,  as  against  colonizing:  and  it  was  a  mistake
to  sacrifice  so  largely  the  English  interests  in  America
to  a  corporate  monopoly.
CHAPTER  XIII.
FOUR   FLAT-HEAD    INDIANS    IN    ST.    LOUIS.
