222 



DOMINION OF CANADA. 



ways with the Cubans ; but this, under the pe- 

 culiar existing circumstances attending the 

 question, could not be distinctly manifested by 

 official acts in connection with movements in 

 the field. It is said, however, that the Govern- 

 ment sought to induce Spain to consent to the 

 independence of the island, and thus avoid 

 further bloodshed. 



There was not, as has been frequently^stated, 

 any offer of " mediation " by Minister Sickles, 

 as the use of that word would imply or sug- 

 gest the existence of war between equally rec- 

 ognized powers, and was therefore avoided 

 in the correspondence and interviews with the 

 Spanish Government. The " good offices " of 

 the United States were tendered, as they can 

 always be employed between parties, one of 

 whom is not acknowledged by the other, with- 

 out the implication of any recognition of na- 

 tionality, or even of belligerency. This offer was 

 refused by Spain in a note stating that, while it 

 was deemed impolitic to entertain the proposi- 

 tion for parting with the Island of Cuba on the 

 terms suggested, the Eegent nevertheless ex- 

 pressed his thanks to the United States for the 

 tender of their friendly offices. The tender 

 having been declined, the note was withdrawn, 

 in conformity with diplomatic usage. 



Two American citizens, Charles Speakman 

 and Albert Wyeth, having unintentionally be- 

 come identified with an expeditionary force 

 sailing from the United States to Cuba, in the 

 schooner Grapeshot, they being under the im- 

 pression that the destination of the vessel was 

 Jamaica, and having embarked for that island, 

 were brutally murdered by the Spanish au- 

 thorities after having given themselves up. 

 Ttie United States Government demanded of 

 the Spanish Government reparation for the 

 families of Speakman and Wyeth, as far as pe- 

 cuniary compensation could make reparation 

 for such unjustifiable action, and which repara- 

 tion was promptly promised. 



DOMINION OF CANADA. It will be re- 

 membered that, when we last wrote respecting 

 this Confederation, it had not yet reached the 

 extent proposed by its projectors, the Govern- 

 ment of Great Britain and Ireland. The Union 

 then consisted of the Provinces of Canada, 

 Nova Scotia, and New Brunswick. The same 

 limits still exist, the efforts made during the 

 past year to extend them not having been at 

 all successful. The Legislature of Newfound- 

 land agreed to certain terms of admission pro- 

 posed by the Dominion Government, but upon 

 the question being referred to the inhabitants 

 of the island, at a general election in Novem- 

 ber last, an overwhelming majority decided in 

 the negative. Neither has the Northwest Ter- 

 ritory been secured. Negotiations between the 

 Hudson's Bay Company and the Dominion have, 

 with the aid of the Imperial Government, so 

 far succeeded that the former agreed to sur- 

 render all its rights, real and assumed, for the 

 sum of $1,200,000 ; and it was arranged that 

 this amount should be paid, and a legal trans- 



fer of the territory made on the 1st day of De- 

 cember, 1869. For reasons that, no doubt, to 

 them seemed good, the authorities of the Do- 

 minion resolved that the Lieutenant-Governor 

 of the new territory should be at the seat of 

 his future government in advance of that date, 

 and accordingly the Hon. William McDougall, 

 C. B., the gentleman so appointed, took his 

 departure from the capital of the Dominion 

 early in November last, accompanied by cer- 

 tain officials selected because of their services 

 in Ontario and Quebec, and who, like their 

 chief, would enter the Northwest country ut- 

 ter strangers to its people. It is now generally 

 known that Mr. McDougall was prevented from 

 entering upon the duties assigned to him ; that 

 he was almost immediately met by a body of 

 armed men who took possession of a fort which 

 he had entered, and obliged him to fall back 

 upon United States territory ; that these insur- 

 gents, so called, next seized upon Fort Garry, 

 and finally established a provisional govern- 

 ment, which is still in power. 



Immediately upon the news of this state of 

 affairs reaching the Dominion Government, 

 the proper authorities in England were com- 

 manded by telegraph not to pay the stipulated 

 sum to the Hudson's Bay Company a pro- 

 ceeding which clashed rather awkwardly with 

 the subsequent act of Mr. McDougall in issuing 

 a proclamation in the name of her Majesty the 

 Queen, making it known : u That we have seen 

 fit by our royal letters patent, bearing date 

 the 29th September, year of our Lord 1869, to 

 appoint the Hon. William McDougall, of the 

 city of Ottawa, in the Province of Ontario, in 

 our Dominion of Canada, and a member of our 

 Privy Council for Canada, and Companion of 

 the most noble order of the Bath, on, from, and 

 after a day to be named by us for the admis- 

 sion of Rupert's Land and our Northwestern 

 Territory aforesaid into the Union of the Do- 

 minion of Canada; to wit : on, from, and after 

 the first day of December, in the year of our 

 Lord 1869, to be, during our pleasure, Lieu- 

 tenant-Governor of the Northwestern Ter- 

 ritory." 



It has not transpired what measures are in 

 contemplation at Ottawa whither Mr. Mc- 

 Dougall returned after a few weeks conse- 

 quent upon this disaster ; but so serious is the 

 affair regarded in England, that the London 

 Times, in concluding an elaborate article upon 

 it, observes that "the statesmen of the Do- 

 minion will have need of all their skill and 

 caution, as well as courage, if they wish to 

 unite the whole of British North America into 

 a single state." With regard to the outlying 

 colonies of British Columbia in the West, and 

 Prince Edward's Island in the East, it is also 

 uncertain how far they are willing to be incor- 

 porated. 



In the case of the latter colony, a special 

 effort toward conciliation has just been made. 

 On the 14th December, 1869, a report of the 

 Privy Council at Ottawa was approved by his 



