No. 38

I have had the honor to receive your despatch No. 38 of
the 26th October 1864, on the subject of a proposal made
for the Division of the Diocese of British Columbia.

2. I should long ago have furnished you with my opinion
upon the project but that I knew the Bishop would soon return
to the Colony. When I saw his Lordship I promised him, as we
did not quite agree, that I would consider the matter further
for at least a fortnight before finally communicating my views to you.

3. Previous however to the Bishop's return, I had devoted
an anxious consideration to the whole question. I called for
the assistance of such members of the Executive Council as are
now in the Colony. Their opinions I have the honor to forward.
I am so reluctant to oppose arrangements already approved of by
the Church in England that I particularly call your attention
to the unanimous condemnation by my constituted advisers of the
proposal made by the Bishop of British Columbia. Their opinion,
if promulgated, would have the concurrence I believe of every
inhabitant of the Colony.

4. Acknowledging at once the advantage which would accrue
from a division of this Diocese and the appointment of an
additional Bishop, I regret to say that I think more harm than
good would be done by carrying out the division in the manner proposed.

5. You are but too well aware of the jealousy existing
between the two Colonies on this side of the Rocky Mountains.
The Merchants and owners of Town-lots in Victoria, in the
Comparatively unimportant Colony of Vancouver, have drawn
nearly all the share of the profits of the Gold discoveries
in this Colony, which have not been absorbed in California.
British Columbia, the source of wealth, has remained poor and
imagines itself neglected in every way. Its name was used as
an attraction for Capital, which was invested beyond its limits;
its gold created a demand for a Bank whose head quarters are
in another Colony, for a Diocese whose See is in the rival
Island. Its treasure poured forth without leaving a deposit
here, and a territory of the greatest Mineral wealth ran the
risk of utter abandonment.

6. The feeling of injustice suffered is diminished here,
since the separation of the two Colonies, yet Victoria still
irritates the local jealousy by affecting, though contributing
nothing to the Revenue, to be the Capital of British Columbia.
The project of Bishop Hills by which it is proposed that the seat of
the Episcopate of British Columbia should be on Vancouver Island,

*

with just enough of this territory annexed to justify the
retention of the title, would, I feel convinced, create an
amount of hostility in this Colony, that would greatly impede
the progress of the Church.

7. Bishop Hills himself appears to have recently held the
opinion I now express. I enclose an extract from the Columbia
Mission Report for 1864, His Lordship acknowledges the "rivalry"
of the two Colonies and says, "in whichever of the two is
fixed the Episcopal Seat an alienation of feeling in the other
will be the consequence. The best interests of religion, as
well as good policy, will be served by yielding to the Colonial
feeling, and by gathering up all sympathies in a division of
the diocese." But I enclose a portion of the Bishop's Minute.

8. Until Vancouver Island is politicallly incorporated
with British Columbia no division of the Diocese can be
satisfactorily made which does not recognise and adhere to the
existing territorial limits of the two Colonies.

9. I will not allow myself to follow up the subjects
mooted by some of the Executive Councillors. Unquestionably
as stated, the religious destitution of the Colony is considerable,
and the spirit of rivalry already alluded to leads people to
count the respective number of the clergy on the Mainland and
on the outlying island. I must in all justice however, with
the Colonial Secretary, bear testimony to the noble results of
the labours carried on, in a spirit of humility and self denial,
by the Roman Catholic Missionaries among the Indians. The
Reverend Fathers however devote their lives to the civilization and
salvation of the Native races and do not come across the miners' path.

10. New Westminster though it may possibly feel that the
Episcopal Seat of the Diocese of British Columbia should not be
in another, and not over friendly Colony, has little to complain
of as regards the attention bestowed on it by the Church of
England. The Clergy and laity have worked energetically
together and as high a sense of honor and morality, as sound a
tone, exists in this young town as in any with which I am acquainted.

11. But in Cariboo, the source of wealth, the centre of
life of the two Colonies, the
real British Columbia, this
winter has seen a great festival. The three towns on Williams
Creek were dressed in flags and the population turned out into
the Streets for it was announced that several sleighs loaded
with squaws were on the road.