22 THE ROYAL SOCIETY OF CANADA 



Improved inland mail service. 



Liberal subsidy for the support of the Provincial Government. 



Power to the Provincial Government to establish a Free Port. 



The largest representation in the Federal Cabinet and Parliament 



that may be compatible with the general interests of the 



Dominion.-'' 



And now, just when the officials of the Colony themselves had 

 accepted Confederation as its destiny, and the public were discussing 

 suitable terms, the Annexation faction raised its head. A petition 

 was circulated and quite largely signed on Vancouver Island, addressed 

 to U. S. Grant, the President of the United States, urging him to 

 "endeavour to induce Her Majesty to consent to the transfer of the 

 Colony to the United States." No trace of its having been 

 forwarded to President Grant has been found. At any rate "the 

 seditious prayer," as the Colonist dubbed it,*-^ like the notorious 

 Banks Bill of 1866, came to naught and was soon forgotten. The 

 true sentiments of the Colony were expressed by Mr. Trutch: "They 

 have never, as a people, had any inclination for the United States, or 

 any proclivity towards the institutions of that country, and though 

 there was at one time, in the year before last, an attempt on the 

 part of a few disaffected persons to raise such an issue, it was so 

 speedily hooted down that the very word, annexation, has been ever 

 since tabooed among us." -^ 



In his well-known Paris letter Governor Seymour had expressed 

 the opinion that "it would be desirable that the Governor should 

 have the power of appointing two unofficial members of the Legislative 

 Council to the Executive Council." -^ He announced in December, 

 1868, nearly three years thereafter, that the permission had been 

 granted, but once more he could "not see his way clear" to make the 

 selection, and up to his death no action was taken. Governor Mus- 

 grave moved more quickly. On 1st January, 1870, about four months 

 after his arrival, he announced the appointment of the two unofficial 

 members. Dr. J. S. Helmcken, senior member for Victoria, the head 

 of the anti-Confederation party, and Dr. R. W. W. Carrall, the 

 member for Cariboo, a strong supporter of Confederation. The 

 appointment of two persons of such opposite views was a wise one. 

 Not only did they represent the two most populous constituencies in 

 the Colony, but their presence in the Executive Council gave assurance 

 of the consideration of the proposed terms of union from every angle. -- 

 The support of the official members of the Legislative Council 

 on the principle of Confederation having been secured Musgrave and 

 his Executive undertook the heavy task of drafting the terms. The 



