N^o 10

no. 1 (Copy)

To the Agents, Proprietors

or Persons Acting for the

North West C^o throughout

the North West Country

London May 21^st 1819

Gentlemen

Leutenant Franklin of the Royal Navy being on the point of proceeding under the direction of His Majesty's Government upon an Expedition from the Shores of the Hudson's Bay to the mouth of the Copper Mine River, with a view as far as possible to explore the northern and north Eastern boundary of the Continent of North America, I have to inform you, that upon application from His Majesty's Government, I have on behalf of the North West Company, promised that he & his Party Shall be well received by any of you Gentlemen whom he may meet or Visit in his progress through the Interior of the Country, and also that you well afford every facility and assistance in you power for the prosecution of the undertaking in which he is engaged[.]

Leutenant Franklin's object is one of a purely Public and Scientific nature and has no connection whatever with any disputes or Territorial Claims in discussion between us and the H.B.C^o[.] He goes out in one of their Ships, because it is the Shortest and most direct route for that purpose, and they have engaged to furnish Supplies, and means of conveyance for himself and his Party throughout the whole of the Interior[.] His plan will probably be to endeavour to reach Fort Chepewyan this Fall, and to proceed from thence [tow]ards the Copper mine River early in the Spring[.] Now, if in the course of the intended route, or any other which Leutenant Franklin may find occasion to pursue, he should find that the Servants of the H.B.C^o have not the means of furnishing him with the requisite Supplies, it is my request and the promise which on behalf of the NWC^o I have made to His Majesty's Government, not that you should furnish Clerks or Servants of the HBC^o with the means of proceeding to any part of the Country where they may not have previously Established succeeded in Establishing themselves, but that you will so far as your means can possibly permit, furnish Canoes, Men, Provisions and all the requisite Supplies for Leutenant Franklin's Voyage[.] His Party is intended to consist of two young Officers of the Navy, one medical Gentleman and two Seamen, besides whom he may probably engage a couple of Orkney men who have been accustomed to live amongst the Esquimeaux[.]

[65]