No. 80

Following the successful precedent of last year I invited
a considerable number of Indian tribes to celebrate Her Majesty's
Birthday with me in New Westminster. The weather was extremely
unfavorable but about six thousand attended the meeting. The
Homethcoes, from Bute Inlet came the greatest distance of the
Coast visitors. The Lillooet and Lafontaine tribes represented
the utmost limit in the interior to which my invitations extended.

2. It was not alone the weather which kept some of the natives
away; a few were intimidated by the ridicule of the tribes on the
Lower Fraser who jeered at those of the interior for coming, as
they said, some hundreds of miles simply to be fed by the Governor.
You will observe in the speeches that passed between the Chiefs
and myself this circumstance referred to.

3. It rained heavily on the morning of the 24th of May,
but a procession was formed of nearly one thousand canoes,
extending from one bank of the Fraser to the other. Each boat
had its flag and the more civilized of the natives sang a Catholic
hymn, which had a very fine effect proceeding from thousands of
voices upon the water. The Indians landed on the Park reserve
near the camp where the addresses were interchanged. Though
the rain came down in torrents the Chiefs stood bare headed before
me. I distributed to each a Union Jack, some agricultural
implements and garden seeds, and left the ground while God save
the Queen was sung by the Indian Boys of St. Mary's Mission, and
the Indians generally cheered vociferously. A dinner of cakes,
biscuits and molasses was then served out, together with a
liberal allowance of tobacco.

4. The 24th and 25th of May were kept as public holidays,
and games and races of all kinds carried on, concluding with an
extremely effective torchlight procession on the Fraser.

5. We had taken the precaution of appointing a few Indian
Constables to arrest any of their own race who might get drunk or
otherwise misbehave themselves. It seems almost strange to have
to report that there was not a single offence of any kind which
came before the notice of the Magistrates as having been committed
by the Indians during the forty eight hours of, to them, enormous
excitement.

6. It was generally observed that the Indians had made
considerable progression in civilization and wel[l]being since I first
met them on the 24th of May 1864. It was obvious that they were
better dressed, and nothing could be greater than the respect with
which they treated the constituted authorities of the Colony.

7. The Indians have now returned to their fisheries or hunting
grounds. Tribes long at war with each other have met peacably under
one authority acknowledged by all as supreme. I allow myself to
hope that the native conflicts will soon cease throughout the wide
extent of the Colony, and the white man will be able to travel
anywhere without molestation.

8. I have not had a report of a single act of violence committed
by a native on a white man since the capture and execution of the
Chilicoten Chiefs last year. The outrage on the "Nanaimo Packet" 
referred to in my despatch No. 78 of the 5th Instant was committed
by Indians from the Russian territories.