[howay] governor SEYMOUR AND CONFEDERATION 41 



clearer by those who have a wider range of vision than we can possess 

 and without whose material assistance our efforts would be but vain."^ 

 It thus appears that by some strange telepathy the Legislative Council, 

 fourteen of whom were appointed by him, reflected exactly the 

 Governor's views, and practically reversed the decision of a twelve- 

 month previous. The ground mentioned in his opening address: to 

 wit, the Hudson's Bay Company's rights in the intervening territory 

 was scarcely a safe one, inasmuch as, the Dominion Government were 

 moving to obtain the region and the negotiations were even then well 

 in hand; hence the shifting to one that promised to defer the question 

 indefinitely. The Governor is hardly disingenuous. His reference 

 to the question as by no means slumbering would lead the hearers to 

 think that he was taking some action to urge forward the project; 

 but no correspondence from him thereon has been brought to light 

 either in Downing Street or in Ottawa. 



Discussing the vote of 1868 against Confederation, the British 

 Columbian said: "It must be remembered, however, that should Her 

 Majesty's Government decide on the change, the official members of 

 the Council would, as a matter of course, do as they were bid. It was 

 thumbs down on Confederation last session, because Simon said: 

 'Thumbs down;' but if Simon says: 'Thumbs up' up the official thumbs 

 must go ... . Governor Seymour's unique diplomatic papers have 

 puzzled more astute brains than ours before now, and those who build 

 least upon them will be least liable to disappointment."^ It will 

 scarcely be necessary to add that the "Simon" referred to was Governor 

 Seymour. 



In speaking of the proposed change in the constitution of the 

 Council, the Governor said: "Possibly a too violent reaction from an 

 unsatisfactory state of things has taken place. All must admit that 

 the present institution is theoretically unsuited to the government 

 of any large English community. My faith in the future of British 

 Columbia leads me to consider it but provisional. I shall carefully 

 consider the nature of the recommendation, if any, which I tender to 

 Her Majesty's Secretary of State in the matter."^ 



The colonists as a whole had now reached the belief that the 

 only escape from the heavy taxation lay by the road of Confederation. 

 On Vancouver Island, however, owing to the influences already 

 indicated this opinion was not so clearly crystallised. The Governor's 

 rem.arks upon the suggested alteration of the Council raised the sus- 



1 Id., May 2, 1868. 



2 July 8, 1868. 



» British Columbian, May 2, 1868. 



