And whereas ever since the date of the said Letters Patent, the said Governor and Company have exercised and enjoyed the sole right thereby granted of such trade and commerce as therein mentioned, and have exercised and enjoyed other rights, privileges, liberties, franchises, powers, and authorities thereby granted, and the said Governor and Company may have exercised or assumed rights of Government in other parts of British North America not forming part of Rupert's Land, or of Canada, or of British Columbia.
Whereas the said Governor and Company were established and incorporated by their said name of "The Governor and Company of Adventurers of England trading into Hudson's Bay," by Letters Patent granted by His late Majesty King Charles the Second in the twenty-second year of his reign, whereby His said Majesty granted unto the said company and their successors the sole trade and commerce of all those seas, straits, bays, rivers, lakes, creeks, and sounds in whatsoever latitude they should be, that lay within the entrance of the straits commonly called Hudson's Straits, together with all the lands and territories upon the countries, coasts, and confines of the seas, bays, lakes, rivers, creeks, and sounds aforesaid, that were not already actually possessed by, or granted to, any of His Majesty 's subjects, or possessed by the subjects of any other Christian Prince or State, and that the said land should be from thenceforth reckoned and reputed as one of His Majesty's Plantations or Colonies in America called Rupert's Land, and whereby His said Majesty made and constituted the said Governor and Company and their successors the absolute Lords and proprietors of the same territory, limits, and places aforesaid, and of all other the premises saving the faith, allegiance, and sovereign dominion due to His said Majesty, his heirs and successors for the same, and granted to the said Governor and Company and their successors, such rights of Government and other rights, privileges, and liberties, franchises, powers, and authorities in Rupert's Land as therein expressed. To all whom these presents shall come unto, or concern, the Governor and Company of Adventurers of England, trading into Hudson's Bay, send greeting.
The Governor and Company of Adventurers of England trading into Hudson's Bay to Her Majesty Queen Victoria