20 THE ROYAL SOCIETY OF CANADA 



The complaint against Governor Seymour had been hat he was 

 indifferent, and, later, that he was passively, if not actively, hostile 

 to the movement; the fear now arose that his successor might be 

 carried away by his zeal for the cause of Confederation. It was a 

 modern version of the fable of King Log and King Stork. 



The Colonist soon gave voice to this apprehension. Confedera- 

 tion, it stated, was nearer than some people thought. Then, passing 

 to the question of terms, it proceeded: " In truth there is no time to be 

 lost. Unless the people make their voice heard now it may be too 

 late. The whole matter will be negotiated by those who neither 

 understand our wants nor possess feelings in common with the people. 

 We would desire to avoid being misunderstood here. The Governor 

 is, under all the circumstances, probably the most suitable and best 

 qualified person to negotiate on the part of the Colony. It is not 

 to that that we object, but it is to his being allowed to carry those 

 negotiations beyond a certain point without giving the people an 

 opportunity of being heard. If the main conditions are all arranged 

 first, and the people consulted afterwards, as to mere matters of 

 detail, as is plainly intimated in the despatch, we know what to 

 expect." ^^ 



The impression prevailed in the Colony that the Governor was 

 opposed to the Free Port, Responsible Government, and the Railway. 

 The Free Port, if granted, would be of merely local benefit; its 

 agitation in a colony whose constituent members — island and main- 

 land — had been forcibly joined only three years before, and between 

 which no real fusion yet existed, tended to raise half-buried local 

 jealousies; moreover, the Free Trade policy, which had existed in 

 the olden days of the Colony of Vancouver Island, had been some- 

 what trenched upon from financial necessit3% and in the end its 

 fragments had been voluntarily jettisoned in order to secure the 

 union of the two colonies in 1866. The Governor took a firm stand 

 in opposition to this proposed term. "Victoria," he said, "has never 

 had, has not now, and is not likely to have for many years to come, 

 any export trade to other places w^hich could render it a substantial 

 good to the Colony to establish a Free Port. It is admitted with 

 almost unblushing readiness that abolition of all duties and port 

 charges is desired for the facility which was formerly afforded for 

 smuggling into the United States." I'' Responsible Government was 

 a subject upon which the Colony was somewhat divided. Had 

 Governor Seymour been a strong men, able to act firmly and capably 

 at the time of union in 1866 and during the subsequent years of 

 depression, the issue would probably not have come into being, or 



