36 • THE ROYAL SOCIETY OF CANADA 



people it is simply a misstatement. After mentioning the difficulty 

 caused by the Hudson's Bay Company's ownership of the North 

 West Territory, he gives his opinion that the resolution is merely 

 "the expression of a despondent community longing for a change"; 

 it may, however, he adds, awaken in England some interest in the 

 colony. He passes then to speak of the people, most of whom, he 

 says, immigrated with great expectations, but being "men unable to 

 make their way in Europe," failed and laid the blame for their con- 

 dition "upon other shoulders than their own." This may have been 

 true of the officials, but as regards the rank and file of British Colum- 

 bians it was as gross a libel as governor ever penned. The population, 

 he states, is becoming alien; it has been already indicated that a 

 large portion of it always was so, in sentiment, if not in nationality. 

 To retain and strengthen the English feeling in the colony, he suggests 

 that some aid must be given to establish connections with Eastern 

 Canada. He concludes: "It is for me merely to state the wish of the 

 people of this Colony and my own for a fusion or an intimate con- 

 nection with the Eastern Confederation. It rests with your Grace 

 to see if that wish can be carried out. Merely to join the Confederation 

 on the condition of sending delegates to Ottawa, and receiving a 

 Governor from the Canadian Ministry would not satisfy the popular 

 desire." 



One might pause here to remark that this dispatch clearly shows 

 that the Governor knew the feelings of the colonists in favor of real 

 union with Canada. The absence of anything resembling the active 

 co-operation requested in the resolution is painfully manifest. Though 

 these remarks are in a "separate" dispatch, in which he might feel free 

 to discuss the pros and cons of the question, it will be observed that 

 not one word is to be found regarding the benefits likely to arise 

 from confederation. Outside of chilling allegations and remarks that 

 are near akin to abuse, it contains only the cold and formal statement 

 of the people's wish. It was common knowledge that the Canadian 

 Government were anxious to add British Columbia to the Dominion, 

 but the Governor does not even refer to the fact. 



In November, 1867, the Duke of Buckingham, the Secretary of 

 State for the Colonies, replied that whatever might be the advantages 

 of the proposed union, the consideration of that question must await 

 the time when the intervening territory under the control of the 

 Hudson's Bay Company should be incorporated with the confederation. ^ 

 Governor Seymour, not having made public either his. report or 

 the reply thereto, a public meeting of the citizens of Victoria was 



1 Confederation Papers, p. 28. 



