No. 84

1. In my despatch of 17th of June, in which I communicated to you
your appointment to the Government of British Columbia, I informed you
"that I should probably have occasion to address you on the question
then in agitation of the Incorporation of that Colony with the Dominion
of Canada."

2. You are aware that Her Majesty's Government have hitherto
declined to entertain this question, mainly because it could not arise
practically till the Territory of the Hudson's Bay Company was annexed
to the Dominion, but also, perhaps, in the expectation that the public
opinion of British Columbia might have opportunity to form and declare
itself.

3. I have now to inform you that the terms on which Rupert's Land
and the North West Territory are to be united to Canada, have been
agreed to by the parties concerned, and that the Queen will probably be
advised before long to issue an Order in Council which will incorporate
in the Dominion of Canada the whole of the British Possessions on the
North American Continent, except the then conterminous Colony of
British Columbia.

4. The question therefore presents itself, whether this single
Colony should be excluded from the great body politic which is thus
forming itself.

5. On this question the Colony itself does not appear to be
unanimous. But as far as I can judge from the Despatches which have
reached me, I should conjecture that the prevailing opinion was in favor
of union. I have no hesitation in stating that such is, also, the
opinion of Her Majesty's Government.

6. They believe that a Legislature selected from an extended area,
and representing a diversity of interests, is likely to deal more
comprehensively with large questions, more impartially with small questions, and more conclusively with both than is possible when controversies are
carried on and decided upon in the comparatively narrow circle in which
they arise. Questions of purely local interest will be more carefully
and more dispassionately considered when disengaged from the larger
politics of the country, and at the same time will be more sagaciously
considered by persons who have had this larger political education.

7. Finally why anticipate that the interests of every province of
British North America will be more advanced by enabling the wealth,
credit and intelligence of the whole to be brought to bear on every
part, than by encouraging each in the contracted policy of taking care
of itself, possibly at the expense of its neighbour.

8. Most especially is this true in the case of internal transit.
It is evident that the establishment of a British line of communication
between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, is far more feasible by the
operation of a single Government responsible for the progress of both
shores of the Continent than by a bargain negociated between separate,
perhaps in some respects rival, Governments and Legislatures. The San
Francisco of B.N.A. would under these circumstances hold a greater
commercial and political position than would be attainable by the
Capital of the isolated Colony of British Columbia.

9. Her Majesty's Government are aware that the distance between
Ottawa and Victoria presents a real difficulty in the way of immediate
union. But that very difficulty will not be without its advantages it
if renders easy communication indispensable and forces onwards the
operations which are to complete it. In any case it is an understood
inconvenience and a diminishing one, & it appears far better to accept
it as a temporary drawback on the advantages of union than to wait for
those obstacles, often more intractable, which are sure to spring up
after a neglected opportunity.

10. The constitutional connection of Her Majesty's Government with
the Colony of British Columbia is as yet closer than which any other
part of North America, and they are bound on an occasion like the
present to give, for the consideration of the community and the guidance
of Her Majesty's Servants, a more unreserved expression of their wishes
and judgment than might be elsewhere fitting.

11. You will, therefore, give publicity to this despatch, a copy
of which I have communicated to the Governor-General of Canada, and you
will hold yourself authorised, either with communication with Sir John
Young, or otherwise, to take such steps as you properly and
constitutionally can, for promoting the favourable consideration of this
question.

12. It will not escape you, that in acquainting you with the
general views of the Government, I have avoided all matters of detail on
which the wishes of the people and the Legislature will of course be
declared in due time. I think it necessary, however, to observe that
the constitution of British Columbia will oblige the Governor to enter
personally upon many question, as the condition of Indian Tribes, and
the future position of Government servants, with which, in the case of a
negociation between two Responsible Governments he would not be bound to
concern himself.