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FILE: 1854-01-05_Douglas_to_Newcastle_V54001.txt
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No. 1

The British Barque "Lord Western", of about 500 tons burden, having
been wrecked through stress of weather, on the west coast of Vancouver's
Island, in the month of November last, while bound from Victoria to the
Port of San Francisco, with a full cargo of timber, and salt fish, the
greater part of which was shipped on freight, by Mr Robert Swanston,
Merchant of this place; I was apprised of those circumstances by him, in
a letter, of which I herewith enclose a copy, and which also contains a
requisition on this Government for assistance in relieving the Master
whose name 
is Parker, and three of the Mariners who were left near the
wreck, among the savages, in a state of great destitution, while the
remnant of the crew, effected a return to this place, in the Ship's
boats.

He moreover informed me in a personal conference, that he could
give no security for any expenses, incurred for that object, as he
possessed no interest in the ship, and knew that the owners had no other
property, and would be altogether ruined by the loss of their vessel;
and for that and other reasons, stated in his letter, he had made
application to me for assistance on the part of this Government.

The onus of relief was therefore thrown wholly upon the Government
and it being a case admitting of no delay, seeing that the unfortunate
men, unless speedily succoured, might perish of hunger, or fall a prey
to the merciless savage; I immediately proceeded to secure the services
of the Hudson's Bay Company's Steam Propeller "Otter," and despatched
her upon that Mission, on the 20th Ultimo. She fortunately reached the scene of the disaster, in time to save Captain Parker, and his
fellow sufferers, who 
were found among the natives, and brought in
safety to this Port, on the 26th Ultimo.

A copy of my correspondence, in reference to the steps taken for
the relief of the "Lord Western's" crew, and of a letter received from
Captain Parker, on his return to this place, expressive of his gratitude
for that relief, are herewith transmitted for your Grace's information.

I now beg to receive your Grace's instructions in respect to the
payment of the expenses incurred for that object; those being the
charter of the Steam Propeller "Otter", and for clothing given through
my orders, to the seamen of the "Lord Western", on their arrival here,
in a perfectly destitute state.

That account amounting in all to £131.0.0. is herewith transmitted.

Though I have in that instance acted for the best interests of
humanity, and in behalf of Her Majesty's subjects in distress, yet
having done so, without specific or even general instructions on the
subject; I naturally feel some anxiety to learn, if those proceedings
meet with Your Graces approval and whether the expenses incurred, are to
be defrayed out of the Trust 
Fund of this Colony, or by the Imperial
Government, and I have to beg that your Grace will direct accordingly.

Awaiting your Grace's instructions on that point and with respect
to the amount of aid, which I am authorised to afford, when applied to
for assistance, in behalf of persons shipwrecked, on the
uninhabited coasts of Vancouver's Island, when beyond the reach or
destitute of assistance from other sources.



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No. 2

I herewith transmit for the information of Her Majesty's
Government, copies of the proceedings in the Council of this Colony,
from the 20th day of September, to the 2nd of December last,
inclusive.

Your Grace will observe that the attention of Council, was drawn in
the first place to certain irregularities, in the practice of the
Justices Court; arising from the inexperience of the Magistrates, which
required amendment. It was therefore resolved to limit the Jurisdiction
of the Justices Court, in civil cases, to such simple 
matters, as our
Justices are competent to deal with, and to establish a Supreme Court of
Civil Justice with Jurisdiction, over the whole Colony of Vancouver's
Island, and its dependencies, in all matters of Law or Equity, where the
amount in dispute is of the value of £50 Sterling and upwards.

An Act to that effect containing the rules and Forms of pleading to
be used, in said Court, was passed in Council, on the 2nd day of
December last, and David Cameron Esquire, was appointed Judge for the
time being, with an yearly salary of One hundred pounds Sterling, and a
sum was appropriated out of the Proceeds of the Duties, on Licenced Ale
Houses, to meet that outlay.

A copy of the Act in question is herewith transmitted for your
Grace's information, and I beg that it may be submitted to a Law Officer
of the Crown, for revision, as acting Judge Cameron, by whom the rules
were compiled is not a professional lawyer, and accepted the appointment
solely in compliance with my request, 
until a Law Officer for the
Colony, is appointed, by the Crown, a measure which for the sake, of the
Colony, and for my own relief, from an unusual amount and variety of
responsibility, I am desirous, should be soon carried into effect.

We next proceeded to pass an Act imposing a small duty on timber,
cut upon the Public lands, and restricting the exercise of that
priviledge to Her Majesty's subjects residing on Vancouver's Island.

*
**
The object of that act is altogether protective, it being thereby
intended to prevent the waste and destruction of timber on the public
lands, and to throw the timber trade, as much as possible, into the
hands of the actual Colonist.

The other matters contained in the Minutes now transmitted,
relating chiefly to the charge for the board of Pupils, at the Colonial
School, and the scale of Fees in the Justice's Court, will explain
themselves, and I will therefore not detain your Grace, with any further
remarks.

Trusting that those proceedings, may meet with your Grace's
approval.



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FILE: 1854-01-13_Newcastle_to_Douglas_V547014.txt
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No. 14

I have to acknowledge the receipt of your Despatch No. 9, of the
24th October last, reporting generally on the state of the Colony
under your Government, and your proceedings with respect to the Native Tribes.



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FILE: 1854-01-30_Douglas_to_Newcastle_V54003.txt
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No. 3

I have the honor to enclose herewith a Requisition, for
Books and Printed Forms, and an Official Seal, for public
documents, from the Collector of Her Majestys Customs for the Port of
Victoria.

It is perhaps not perfectly regular to trouble Your Grace, with
such Requisitions; the Commissioners of Her Majesty's Customs being in
such cases I believe the authorities, who ought to be addressed, but I
thought it expedient to transmit the present Requisition, through your
Grace, for the reason, 
that the Collector of this Port, was appointed by
me to the office, he now holds, pending Her Majesty's approval, which I
have not received, and I therefore thought it probable that the
Commissioners of Her Majesty's Customs, might not attend to the
application, unless it were sanctioned, by your Graces recommendation.



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FILE: 1854-02-09_Addington_to_Merivale_Permanent_Under-Secretary_V545FO01.txt
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Addington to Merivale (Permanent Under-Secretary)

With reference to your letter of the 27th of October last,
stating that the Duke of Newcastle had instructed the Governor
of Vancouver's Island to make a further Report upon the
proceedings of American Citizens in the Canal de Arro, and
recommending that no communication should be made to the
Government of the United States until that report had been
received and had 
been considered by Her Majesty's Government, I
am directed by the Earl of Clarendon to transmit to you, to be
laid before the Duke of Newcastle a copy of a letter from the
Hudson's Bay Company upon this subject.



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FILE: 1854-02-25_Douglas_to_Newcastle_V54004.txt
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No. 4

I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt on the 24th
Inst. of a communication from your Grace, dated the 21st of October
last, endorsing the copy of a letter from the Secretary to the Lords of
the Committee of Privy Council for Trade, desiring that certain
Penalties Fines and Forfeitures, which have hitherto been payable to
that Department, may in future be accounted for and paid to Mr John
Wilkin of No 10, Spring Gardens, who holds the Appointment of receiver
of Fines and Forfeitures for the Crown, and I beg to assure your Grace
that those instructions shall be duly carried into effect.



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FILE: 1854-02-27_Douglas_to_Newcastle_V54005.txt
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No. 5

1. Your Grace's Despatch No 10 of the 15th October last,
*

was received here on the 24th Inst, and I shall carefully
regulate the acts of this Government, in its relations referred to,
according to the principles laid down in Your Grace's instructions.

2. In my Despatch No 10 of the 24th November last, I reverted
to the subject of the Sovereignty of the Islands in the Canal De Arro,
and stated the grounds which had induced me to assume that the
Islands of San Juan, Lopez, and Orcas, the only territory in debate, did of
right belong to Her Majesty the Queen, and come within the Jurisdiction
of this Government. Further reflection on the subject has served to
confirm the opinions I then entertained of the correctness of that
interpretation of the Treaty, which considers "Vancouver's Strait," as
the true channel, through which the boundary line, was intended to be
carried; that being the only navigable ship channel, which runs
"southerly" as the Treaty declares, from the point in the "Gulf of
Georgia," where the west line ceases, into the Straits of Juan de Fuca.

3. I would further take the liberty of remarking that the Canal De
Arro, is not properly a part of the "Gulf of Georgia," nor of the
Channel leading from it, into the Straits of Juan De Fuca. It is
considered here to be a separate, and distinct channel, running
paral[l]el to the "Gulf of Georgia" from which it is divided by the
numerous Islands of the Archipelago De Arro. There are several
passages
among those Islands, leading from the Gulf of Georgia, into the Canal De
Arro, and the Officers of the Hudson's Bay Company, have ascertained
that one of those passages, connecting the two channels is navigable for
ships. That passage will be found traced in red in the copy from
Vancouver's Chart herewith transmitted, and it will also be observed
from the same Chart, that it runs nearly due east and west, and
therefore, as well as from the fact of its leading out of the Gulf of
Georgia, into another Channel, namely the Canal De Arro, does not appear
to be the boundary channel, meant by the convention; which by the term
"said channel", I conceive requires that the line should follow the
Gulf of Georgia, and no other channel; as it declares that from the
"middle of the Channel," which separates the continent from Vancouver's
Island, the line shall be drawn thence, "southerly", through the
middle of the said channel", and of the Fuca Straits to the
Pacific ocean.

4. The same chart will prove that the channel intended by the
negotiators of the Treaty, can be no other than the Inland sea, which
Vancouver named the "Gulf of Georgia," for admitting inaccuracies in the
present charts, and admitting that the Coast line of Vancouver's Island
is several miles west of the position, it is therein represented, still
the middle point between the Island, and the Continent, will be found
somewhere in the "Gulf of Georgia."

That fact being admitted, and the Gulf of Georgia, being the
channel meant, the rest appears plain, for the Treaty declares, that the
boundary line is to be traced, "southerly", through the middle of the
said channel; that is, (Gulf of Georgia), and of Fuca Straits,
to the Pacific Ocean.

5. The Gulf of Georgia certainly extends as far south as
McLaughlins [McLoughlins] Island, from which point the boundary line
will naturally take the direction of "Vancouver Strait," and from thence
as stated in the Treaty, to the Ocean.

6. This argument appears conclusive, as to the true meaning and
intent of the Treaty, which cannot be interpreted in any other sense,
without a manifest violation of the letter and spirit of that
instrument, which I believe was intended to allow to each of the
contracting parties free ingress and egress to and from the Gulf of
Georgia, by the usual and frequented ship channel, "Vancouver Strait."

7. I will conclude my remarks on that subject, which I trust your
Grace may not regard as over minute, by referring you to a corrected
Chart of that part of the Coast prepared by Mr Pemberton the Colonial
Surveyor, by which you will observe that the land which bounds the Gulf
of Georgia to the westward, and which at the Date of the Treaty, was
supposed to form part of Vancouver's Island, is shewn to be a Groupe of
Islands, separated from it by a passage which may be regarded, as a
continuation of the Canal De Arro.

8. The discovery of that passage unknown to the negotiators of the
Oregon Treaty, and who consequently must have regarded that Groupe of
Islands, as the East coast of Vancouver's Island, and fixed the
termination of the west line of boundary in the Gulf of Georgia, mid-way
between the Islands and the Continent, will not materially affect the
question at issue, as the middle point between the Continent, and the
true coast of Vancouver's Island, will still be in the "Gulf of Georgia," and it follows as a consequence, that the Gulf of Georgia, is
the channel intended by the Treaty, and from that point, it is no less
clear from the words of the Treaty, that the line must follow the
said Channel, ("Gulf of Georgia"), southerly as far as it extends,
that is to McLoughlin's Island, where the "Gulf of Georgia" terminates
in Vancouver Strait.

9. Your Grace expresses a wish to be informed how the assertion of
the Sovereignty of Great Britain, over the Islands 
in the Arro Archipelago, has been met by the Americans, and also what steps they
have taken to support the claims they have set up on the part of the
United States.

I have to inform your Grace in reply to that enquiry; that the
Executive authorities in Oregon have not by any overt act contested the
sovereignty of Great Britain, over those Islands, neither do I suppose
they will attempt any open act of aggression. The Collector of Customs,
whose department is entirely independent of the Local Executive of
Oregon, is the party who will be employed to act on behalf of the United
States.

A claim was vaguely made by the Oregon Assembly, when dividing that
Territory into Districts, to the Islands in the Canal De Arro. The
person who now holds the office of Collector in Washington Territory,
pretends on the strength of that act that the Arro Archipelago, comes
within the limits of his Revenue District, and I am informed, has been
threatening to make a seizure of the British
Property, on the Island of San Juan, I have not however received any official notification from him
to that effect; but I believe from the character of my informants, that
he has expressed such an intention.

I have therefore taken such measures as appeared proper to protect
the property of Her Majesty's subjects from aggression.

Having no military force at my disposal, which moreover I should
hesitate to use on such an occasion, I propose to effect that object, by
the operation of the civil law, and have therefore appointed Mr
Charles Griffen [Griffin], of the Hudson's Bay Company's service, a
Justice of the Peace, for the District of San Juan, and charged him, to
apprehend and commit for trial, any person who may disturb the Queen's
Peace, within his Jurisdiction.

Should the United States Collector appear there for any unlawful
purpose, he will be treated as a common offender, unless he brings a
large force, in which case Mr Griffen will apply for needful support
to 
inforce the Law.

Your Grace will perceive that very serious consequences, may result
from such contests, which I should deeply regret, and will do every
thing in my power, consistently with the maintenance of national rights,
to avoid.

10. Your Grace further wishes to know for what length of time the
Americans have been fishing on the coasts of Vancouver's Island, and in
what situations, and whether the Commanders of the vessels of war, on
the coast have succeeded in arresting their encroachments.

11. The first intelligence concerning the visits of American
vessels to Vancouver's Island, was received through the Natives, of
"Barclay's sound," who mentioned that an American vessel had been
trading with them, and fishing on that part of the coast.

This occurred in the summer of 1851, before my appointment, as
Governor.

The following year 1852, we had intelligence through the 
same means, of encroachments, on a more extensive scale, which I reported in
my letter of the 9th December 1852. One of the vessels engaged in
that traffic was wrecked on the north west coast of Vancouver's Island,
in the course of the same year, and the natives took possession of the
wreck and cargo, consisting, as reported of fire arms, manufactured
Goods and Spirits. The crew escaped in the ships boats, and were not
molested by the natives.

12. American vessels are still engaging in the same pursuits, as I
did not feel at liberty to take any active measures of prevention,
without instructions; lest I should in any manner compromit Her
Majesty's Government.

Having now received your Grace's instructions on the subject, I
will call upon the commanders of Her Majesty's vessels of war, when
stationed here, to check those encroachments.

13. I shall also give effect to your Grace's instructions on the
subject of the Hudson's Bay Company's rights of trade, which I believe
extend to every part of the British coast except Vancouvers Island,
where they exercise no exclusive right of trade, and I shall issue a
proclamation to that effect, and to apprize foreigners that they are
precluded from fishing within three miles of the shore.



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FILE: 1854-02-28_Douglas_to_Newcastle_V54006.txt
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No. 6

1. I have the honor to acknowledge your Despatch No 10 of the
15th October 1853.

2. I observe with great satisfaction that your Grace approves of
the course we have adopted in our dealings with the Native Tribes, which
has so far worked remarkably well, and also that the regulations of the
H.B. Co. which have prevented the natives from acquiring a taste for
spirituous liquor, have met with your Grace's approval, a circumstance,
which will induce me to maintain those regulations in full force.

3. I observe also that your Grace has confirmed the provisional
appointments to the Magistracy, reported in my Despatch No 5.

I regret to say that your Despatch confirming those appointments,
has not yet arrived here, in consequence I presume of the non arrival of
the "Colinda", by which that, and other packets from Her Majesty's
Government have been forwarded. That vessel was sent out last year on
the part of the H.B. Co. with Emigrants for this Colony and we have
lately heard that the Master had put into the Port of Valdivia in
consequence of a mutiny on board wherefore it is quite uncertain when
she may arrive in the Colony. The transmission of intelligence by the
Panama Mail route is so much more expeditious and certain that I trust
your Grace will excuse me for recommending that mode of conveyance in
preference to any other for the communication of Her Majestys
Government.

4. I also observe that your Grace has caused the suggestion
offered in my letter for the erection of Store Houses in the Harbour of
Esquimalt, for the use of the Navy, to be submitted for the
consideration and decision of the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty.
I trust their Lordships will take that suggestion into favourable
consideration, and in order that nothing may be wanting on my part
towards carrying it into effect, I have caused a reserve to be made of a
valuable lot containing 20 acres of land, situated in that part of the
harbour, which Her Majesty's naval officers have recommended on account
of its security from storms, and the convenience it offers in all other
respects for shipping, and which is moreover well adapted in point of
surface for the proposed erections.

The closing remarks of your Grace's despatch have afforded me the
greatest satisfaction and I hope that all our proceedings may equally
meet with approbation of Her Majesty's Government.



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FILE: 1854-02-28_Douglas_to_Newcastle_V54007.txt
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No. 7

I have received your Despatch No 11, of the 17th October with
the Book of Colonial Regulations, which prescribes the mode in which
Officers Administering Colonial Governments, are to conduct their
official correspondence, and referring particularly to the 4th 5th
and 9th rules of Chapter 6, which had been overlooked in my recent
despatches.

I am sorry that your Grace should have had the trouble of calling
my attention to that subject. The error arose entirely from ignorance
of the prescribed forms, and 
I trust the despatches, now transmitted
will be found correct, though I am not sure that the Docket is made out
in the proper form, particularly in respect to the 'subject of
Despatch.'

If not I trust your Grace will cause a pro-forma Docket to be
sent for my guidance.



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FILE: 1854-03-13_Douglas_to_Newcastle_V54008.txt
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No. 8, Judicial

I beg to inform your Grace that I have been lately engaged with an
investigation into the causes, which led to the wreck of the Brig
"William", bound from San Francisco to this Port, and to the death of the Master John McIntosh, who was drowned in attempting to land from the
wreck while the mate and all the seamen landed in safety.

That disaster is said to have occurred near Barclay Sound, on the
west coast of Vancouver's Island, in the night of the first of January
last.

2. The investigation occupied several days, and after a patient
enquiry into all the circumstances, from the commencement of the voyage,
to its ill fated termination, in the loss of the vessel, and death of
the Master, we could not discover any grounds of complaint against the
seamen; as the fact but too evidently appeared, that the Master was a
person of intemperate habits and that the ship had been lost entirely
through his misconduct.

The evidence proves that he was often unconscious from
intoxication, that he was in that state when the vessel ran ashore, on
Vancouver's Island, and his death in attempting to land from the wreck,
appears to have been the effect of the same cause. A report of this
case will be forwarded as soon as I have time to get it drawn up.

3. I would not have troubled your Grace with any remarks on this
case at present had it not been for the extraordinary conduct of Mr
Robert Swanston, the Consignee of the Brig 
William, who showed a
disposition to set Her Majesty's authorities at naught, and to treat the
Vice Admiralty Court of this Colony, with contempt, as I will proceed to
show.

4. On the wreck of the Brig "William," the crew travelled under
the direction of the natives, towards this place and after much
privation and hardship arrived here in a state of great distress.

5. I relieved their immediate wants and addressed a note to Mr Swanston on behalf of the crew, advising him that payment of the wages,
due for the time they had served on board the "William" should be made
to them, on the part of the owners. That note produced no effect, as he
refused to pay the wages due, and there being no proof that he was a
party interested in the ownership of the vessel I could not advise the
seamen to have recourse to legal proceedings for the recovery of their
claims.

6. On the 23rd January I 
received a letter from Mr Swanston
applying for an enquiry into the causes which led to the wreck of the
William, and to the death of Captain McIntosh, and the reason given,
as the grounds of that application, was to use his own words; "as he had
heard rumours which led him to imagine that there may have been foul
play," and moreover mentioning that the crew of the "William" were on
the point of leaving the Colony.

7. I immediately thereupon proceeded to organize a Vice Admiralty
Court, appointed David Cameron acting Judge, and two Master Mariners,
William H. McNeill, and Charles Dodd acting Members of Court.

Mr Swanston was informed of those arrangements, through my
private Secretary Mr Golledge, on the 25th January, and that the
Court would proceed with the proposed investigation as soon, as he
produced the information referred to in his letter.

8. A note in reply was received from Mr Swanston, declining to
appear unless I addressed him under my own signature, and not through a
secretary.

9. The court was nevertheless opened on the 26th of January last, as before appointed, and proceeded to examine the mate and seamen
of the Brig "William", as hereinbefore mentioned in the commencement of
this letter.

Mr Swanston did not however appear when called upon for his
evidence; a Writ was therefore issued, on the same day requiring his
appearance before the Court. He still failing to appear I caused a writ
of attachment, to issue on the 28th of January and he was taken into custody on the 30th, and committed to Jail, until the Court met in the afternoon of the same day, when he was found in contempt, and sentenced to pay a fine of 50 with costs, or in default of payment to
be imprisoned as the Law directs. The fine was immediately paid, and 
the young man was discharged from custody on easier terms than I should
think it proper to grant on any similar occasion hereafter, when parties
either through folly or disaffection, attempt to oppose the Executive
authorities in the lawful discharge of their duties.

10. I was sorry to observe that the Revd Mr Staines,
chaplain to the Honourable Hudson's Bay Company, openly took part with
Mr Swanston,
*
and appeared to act as his legal adviser, but the young man, was so
clearly in fault that very little could be said in his defence.

At the close of the proceedings Mr Swanston entered a viva
 vocé protest against them, in presence of the Court, which I should
probably have considered, and treated as a fresh contempt, but not being
quite certain about the propriety of that course, I took no further
proceedings, and adjourned the Court.

11. This I am happy to say is the only instance, wherein the
authority of Her Majesty's Government, has been openly resisted, since
the Colony was 
founded. The offender is not a Colonist, and has no real
property in the Colony, being merely agent for a mercantile House in San
Francisco, from whence his imports are exclusively received, and to
which his returns are remitted. He therefore enjoys the protection of
the Laws, without contributing in any manner to the expenses of
Government or to the improvement of the Colony, and like many others of
the same class, is a good citizen of the United States, in California,
though he assumes the garb of a British Subject in Vancouver's Island.

12. Having no military force at my disposal and there being only a
single Constable at this place, such persons suppose they may insult the
Government with impunity.



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FILE: 1854-03-28_Douglas_to_Newcastle_V54009.txt
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No. 9

I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of Your Grace's
Despatch No 13 of the 12th of November last.

I observe with great satisfaction that Her Majesty has been pleased
to approve of the provisional appointment of Mr John Work as a Member of the Council of Vancouver's Island, and I have to acknowledge with
your Grace's Despatch the receipt of a Warrant under the Royal Sign
Manual authorising me to carry that appointment into effect, and I 
have to assure your Grace that the same shall be attended to as soon as
convenient.



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FILE: 1854-04-17_Swanston_to_Secretary_of_State_V546S01.txt
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Swanston to Secretary of State

Having been debarred the usual mode of access to Your Grace by
the refusal on the part of the Governor of this Colony to
forward the Accompanying Memorial: (Vide his note herewith) I
have adopted the only course open to me to obtain redress for a
most wanton 
attack on my liberty, and to secure protection from
Similar attempts for the future. Trusting that the
Circumstances of the Case will hear me out in the step I have
taken, and render it perfectly admissible in the opinion of Your
Grace.



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FILE: 1854-04-20_Cooper,_Langford_and_Skinner_to_Newcastle_V546C01.txt
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Cooper, Langford and Skinner to Newcastle

A catastrophe of the most melancholy kind has rendered it imperative
on us, as a Committee elected, to act in the matter on which we have the
honor of addressing you, by our fellow Colonists, to wait upon your Grace
with the prayer of the independent residents of this Island for
protection from the arbitrary and unconstitutional enactments of the
present Governor.

Situated as we are at so Great a distance from the Imperial
Government, & feeling that the most certain and speedy way
of laying a
clear statement of our grievances before Your Grace, would be by securing
the presence in England of some member of our Community to whom we might
entrust our Cause, the Colonists, at a meeting held on the 4th Feby
(Ulto) for the purpose of arranging the preliminaries of the proposed
step, unanimously selected the Revd R.J. Staines, Chaplain to the Hudsons
Bay Co for this Island, as the most proper person to proceed to England
for the purpose of waiting on Your Grace.

This Gentleman, at the earnest request of the Colonists, undertook
the Commission, & sailed hence for San Francisco, in route to England,
on the 1t March (Ulto), but never, as it has pleased the Almighty, to
reach his destination, the vessel having been discovered some short time
since 
by a passing Ship in a waterlogged state, & but one of the crew
surviving to tell the sad fate of his fellows.

Deeply regretting as we do the untimely end of one who had the
interests of our infant Community so much at heart, & than whom none
could more efficiently have depicted the crushing effect of the incubus
under which our energies are paralysed, we at the same time are so well
assured of Your Graces earnest wish, as ever shewn, for the protection of
the true interests of this Colony, that in laying before you the
Documents with which our Delegate would have been charged, we do so with
a perfect Confidence that they will meet from Your Grace every
Consideration & attention, their importance entitles them to.



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FILE: 1854-05-11_Douglas_to_Newcastle_V54010.txt
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No. 10

I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt on the 9th Inst
of your Graces Despatch No 6 of the 9th August last, transmitting
copies of the Despatches addressed by my Predecessor Mr Blanshard to
the Colonial Department, and I now beg to inform your Grace that the
same have been deposited with the records of this Government.



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FILE: 1854-05-11_Douglas_to_Newcastle_V54011.txt
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No. 11

In referring to my Despatch No 5 of the 27th February last, I
observe with regret, an error in the same, which I now beg leave to
correct; it being intended as a reply to your Grace's Despatch No 12 of
the 22nd October 1853, instead as therein set forth to your Grace's Despatch No 10, of the 15th October, which is noticed in my Despatch
No 6 of the 28th February 1853.



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FILE: 1854-05-11_Douglas_to_Newcastle_V54012.txt
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No. 12

I have to acknowledge the receipt, on the 16th April, last, of a Circular, *
from your Grace dated 28th December 1852, informing that Her Majesty had been pleased to entrust to your care, as one of the principal
Secretaries of State, the Seals of the Colonial Department, a circumstance which I have duly noted, and made public in this Colony.



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No. 13

I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt, on the 16th April
last, of your Grace's Despatch dated 8th February 1853, transmitting
copy of a letter from Mr James Cooper relative to a resolution moved
by me at a meeting of the Council of Government of Vancouver's Island on
the 5th of October 1853,
*
expressive of the opinion of Council as to the impropriety of its
Members retailing spirituous liquors or following any calling subversive
of order, or injurious to public morals.

According to your Grace's instructions on that head I shall
acquaint Mr Cooper that whenever any representation affecting his
position in the Council is submitted to your Grace, no decision will be
pronounced in the case, until any statements or explanations which he
may desire to offer, are brought before you, and also that your Grace
wishes it to be understood that in future all parties having
representations to make must conform to the established rule of Colonial
correspondence.

It is I presume unnecessary for me to make any remarks on the
subject of Mr Cooper's letter, as I made no representation affecting
Mr Cooper's position as a Member of Council,
**
and your Grace will perceive that the motive, which influenced me in
moving the resolution referred to in his letter, was a desire to promote
the public good, and to increase the influence and respectability of the
Council.



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No. 14

I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt on the 16th April
last, of your Despatch No 2 of the 10th February 1853.
[Marginal note: Sent 20 Feb/53. [ABd]]

I observe with much satisfaction that the appointment of Mr
Sangster to the Office of Collector of Customs, has met with your
approval, and that Your Grace has communicated with the Lords
Commissioners of the Admiralty relative to the discovery of Coal on
Vancouver's Island, and also called the attention of the Hudson's Bay
Company to the necessity of making effectual 
provision for the moral and
religious instruction of the inhabitants of this Colony.



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No. 15

I had the honor of receiving, on the 16th of April last, your
Grace's Despatch No. 3 of the 8th March 1853, *
in which you were pleased to communicate, that the Lords Commissioners
of the Admiralty had apprized your Grace, that Rear Admiral Moresby, had
intimated his intention of sending two Ships of War to Vancouver's
Island, a circumstance, which has relieved my mind from much anxiety.



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No. 16

I had the honor of receiving, on the 16th of April last, your Grace's Despatch No 4 of the 12th April 1853,
*
in which you are pleased to inform me that Her Majesty's Government
regard the conduct of myself, the Naval Officers and seamen, and others
concerned in the two expeditions undertaken against the Native Tribes
for effecting the surrender of the murderers of the late Peter Brown, as
highly creditable to all the parties concerned, and deserving of their
entire 
approbation. In stating to your Grace how highly I appreciate
the approbation of Her Majesty's Government, thus kindly expressed, I
hardly do justice to my own feelings, which are largely shared by all
those associated with me in the execution of that service, to whom I
have had an opportunity of communicating the subject of your Grace's
Despatch.



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No. 17

I have to acknowledge the receipt on the 16th April last of a
printed circular from your Grace, dated 3rd May 1853, transmitting
for my information and guidance the copy of a letter from the Board of
Trade, together with its enclosures, by which I perceive that Her
Majesty's Government have decided that the produce of the East Indian
States of Cochin and Travancore, should be admitted into the Ports of
the United Kingdom, and of the British Colonies, as the produce of
British Possessions. I have 
to assure your Grace that the decision of
Her Majesty's Government, in that case, shall be made public in this
Colony.



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No. 18

I had the honor of receiving on the 16th April last, a printed
Circular from your Grace, dated 9th May 1853, acquainting me with the
fact, that a Universal Exhibition for Agricultural and Industrial
Products, will be held at Paris in May 1855, and that every facility
will be afforded at the French Custom Houses to the admission of Goods,
belonging to parties residing in the British Colonies, who may be
desirous of forwarding articles for Exhibition, and I beg to assure your
Grace that the same will be published in this Colony for the information
of the public.



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No. 19

I have to acknowledge the receipt on the 16th April last, of your Despatch No 5, dated 16th July 1853, approving of the
Proclamation issued by me, declaring the rights of the Crown with
respect to Gold found on Queen Charlotte's Islands, and also of the
regulations afterwards published, setting forth the terms and conditions
on which Licences would be granted by the local Government, to search
and dig for Gold in those Islands.



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No. 20

I beg to acknowledge the receipt of your Grace's Despatch No 7 of
the 27th August last, transmitting a selection of legal works for my
guidance and assistance in administering the duties of this Government,
the last of which I have placed among the public records at this place.

I have also to acknowledge the receipt of your Grace's Despatch
No 8 of the 8th June last,

*

approving of the means adopted to prevent persons from settling or
visiting the Queen Charlotte Islands for the purpose of digging for Gold
without a Licence, and of my general proceedings in despatching the
"Virago" to Queen Charlotte Islands, to call the natives to account for
the capture of the American Schooner "Susan Sturges," and of the
instructions issued by me to Captain Prevost, for his guidance in the
course of that service.



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No. 21

I beg to acknowledge the receipt of a circular from your Grace,
dated 16th July 1853, intended to draw my attention to a passage in
the Printed Colonial Regulations, which appears open to misconstruction,
and I beg to inform your Grace that I have filed the same among the
public records of this Colony.



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No. 22

I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of a Circular dated
24th June 1853, in which after stating that enquiries have been made
of Her Majesty's Government by Foreign Governments, as to the practice
in the British Colonies with regard to foreign vessels, driven into
their Ports by stress of weather, your Grace requests that I would
inform you whether in the Colony, under my Government, the cargo and the
ship, driven into Port, under such circumstances would be exempted or
not from all dues; and that I should state, what are the regulations in
force in the Colony as regards the cargoes of ships, entering in
distress and condemned as unseaworthy, in the event of reshipment 
and
exportation in other bottoms.

In reference to the first enquiry, I have to inform your Grace that
no customs duties whatever are levied in the Ports of Vancouver's
Island, either on British or Foreign Goods, and that consequently,
though there be no express enactment to that effect; Foreign ships and
their cargoes have, in every instance, when driven into the Ports of
Vancouver's Island, by stress of weather, been exempted from all dues.

In reply to the second enquiry as to the regulations in force in
the Colony respecting the cargoes of ships entering in distress and
condemned as unseaworthy, the cargoes would also in that case be
exempted from all dues whether sold in the Colony, or reshipped in other
bottoms.

As your Grace further expresses a wish for any other information,
which may be useful with a view to the application of a reciprocal
treatment to British vessels in Foreign Ports, I will take the liberty
of drawing your attention to the unfortunate position of trade in this
Colony, which owing to its remoteness from the mother country, and from
any British Possession, is in a manner debarred 
from commercial
intercourse with them, as none of the staple productions of the country,
consisting of salt fish, sawn timber, Masts, and Coal, will defray the
simple expense of transport to any British possession. The Colonists
therefore send their Produce either to the Sandwich Islands or to the
United States Territory of California. In both those countries,
however, ad valorem duties are, to a greater or less extent, levied on
all foreign productions. At the Sandwich Islands those duties, in no
case, exceed 5 per centum on the Invoice valuation of the Goods
imported, but the import duties charged in the American Ports of
California; are much greater, ranging from 20 to 30 per centum on the
market value, and shipping charges, in the country, from whence the
Goods are exported. Thus for example, taking a ton of Vancouver's
Island Coal, its dutiable value at the American Port of San Francisco is
7 1/2 dollars, equal to 1.10 Sterling money; on that sum is levied a
duty of 30 per centum, which forms a charge of 9s/- a ton, or
something nearly equal to the first cost of the Coal.

Duties, on the same onerous scale, are levied in California on the 
salt fish, and timber imported from this Colony, while the Timber and
salt fish imported from the neighbouring American settlements in Oregon
are admitted duty free. The British Colonist must therefore enter the
field of enterprise under immense disadvantages as compared with the
American Producer, and thus notwithstanding the absolute freedom of
Trade granted to American vessels in the Ports of Vancouver's Island,
the British exporter is invariably met by an exorbitant duty, whenever
he enters an American Port.

The export trade of this Colony therefore languishes from the mere
fact of its yielding, in the circumstances I have described, a
precarious and at best a very small return for capital invested.

I would therefore most earnestly entreat your Grace, to take the
commercial position of this Colony into consideration, that it may
become a party to the advantages of any commercial regulations that may
be established between the United States and the British North American
Provinces, with the view of placing them on a satisfactory footing of
reciprocity.

I trust it may be in your 
Grace's power to confer a boon that will
be so highly conducive to the general prosperity of Vancouver's Island,
and lend so much to the growth of its foreign trade. The exports of
Coal Salt Fish and Timber, would under less adverse circumstances,
increase at a ratio exceeding belief, and with that increase the wealth
and population of the Colony would progress with equal rapidity.

Vancouver's Island has many natural advantages, and is better
situated for foreign trade, than any inhabited part of American Oregon;
the Colonists though few in number are energetic, and with any thing
like a parity of circumstances will compete successfully with any other
people.



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No. 23

I beg to acknowledge the receipt, on the 13th Inst, of a
circular from your Grace dated 10th October 1853, transmitting copy
of a letter from the Board of Trade informing that the Lords
Commissioners of the Admiralty had resolved to discontinue forthwith the
practice of Registration by Tickets of British Merchant seamen, and that
their Lordship's are however anxious that the records of the Merchant
seamen of the country should notwithstanding, the discontinuance of this
practice, continue to be kept accurately.

I have to inform your Grace that according to your instructions and
in pursuance of those wishes I shall immediately call the attention of
the Collector of Customs in this Colony, to the provisions contained in
the 75th Section of the Act 13 & 14 Vict. cap. 93.



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No. 24

I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt, on the 13th
Inst of your Despatch No 9, of the 27th Septr 1853, approving
of the provisional arrangements, made for the better administration of
Justice in this Colony, and transmitting for my guidance a form of the
Commission of the Peace, and two forms of the oaths to be used and taken
by the Justices, on their qualifying.

I have also noted your Grace's remark as to the qualification of
Estate required by the act of Parliament in the case of Gentlemen
nominated in Commissions of the Peace in England which you observe is at
present unnecessary, in Vancouver's Island, and need not therefore be
introduced in the Commission.



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No. 25

I beg to acknowledge the receipt, on the 13th Inst, of a
circular dated October 7th 1853, transmitting from your Grace for my
information a Proclamation issued by the Lieutenant Governor of New
Brunswick, under the 85th Clause of the Passenger Act, 1852, for
declaring the length of the voyage of vessels carrying Emigrants from
that Province to other parts of the world, and fixing the Dietary,
Medicines, &c, to be supplied.



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No. 26

I beg to acknowledge the receipt, on the 9th Inst, of a
letter from your Grace dated 7th July 1853, mentioning the receipt of
my Despatches of the numbers and Dates, noted in the Margin.
*

I have also to acknowledge the receipt on the same date of a
circular Despatch from your Grace of the 18th July 1853, referring to
your circular Despatch of the 9th May and further communicating that
the Government of His Imperial Majesty the Emperor of the French have
decided that all Foreign prohibited Goods, may be admitted for
Exhibition, at the Great Industrial Exhibition at Paris, and may be
afterwards either re-exported free of all duties, or may be sold in
France, upon the payment of an ad-valorem duty at the rate of 30 per
cent.

I have also to acknowledge the receipt on the same date of your
Grace's Circular Despatch, of the 19th July 1853, transmitting an
order made by Her Majesty in Council, establishing certain Rules and
Regulations, in appeals to the Queen in Council, from the Colonies, and
from the Territories of the East India Company, with a view to greater
economy, despatch and efficiency, in the appellate jurisdiction of Her
Majesty, and I will according to your Grace's instructions, take the
necessary steps for giving them the most extensive publicity.



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No. 27

I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt on the 13th Inst. of
your Grace's Despatch No 14 of the 13th January last acknowledging
the receipt of my despatch No 9 of the 24th October 1853.

I have also to acknowledge the receipt on the same date of your
Grace's letter of the 24th Jany acknowledging the receipt of my
letters No 9 and 10 of the 24th November.

I have also the honor to inform your Grace that I received on the
same date your Circular Despatch of the 24th February last
transmitting copy of a circular instruction addressed to Her Majesty's
Diplomatic and Consular Agents abroad directing them to afford
protection to French subjects and commerce.

I beg to assure your Grace, that I will not fail to exercise the
Powers vested in me as Governor of Vancouver's Island in accordance with
those instructions, and to impress on all the authorities acting under
my superintendence the duty of affording similar protection to French
subjects and commerce, and of co-operating for that purpose with Her
Majesty's naval authorities.

Your Grace has further directed me to report to you without delay
any measures which I may deem it expedient to take in reference to these
instructions. I beg in consequence to submit that Vancouver's Island is
at present without any military protection, and that I am not empowered
to arm and equip such levies of men, as might be made in the Colony. An
irregular force of whites and Indians could be raised here and be made
exceedingly useful in harassing and impeding the march of an enemy
attempting to leave the sea coast or penetrate into the country. To arm
and equip such a force for the protection of the settlements, is a
measure which I conceive should be immediately adopted and carried into
effect, otherwise the whole country may fall a prey to the first invader
or be plundered by any maurauding party that may land upon the coast.

I would therefore earnestly recommend that precautionary steps
against invasion, may be immediately resorted to, and if approved by
your Grace that I may be empowered to carry the same into effect and to
draw on the proper Department to defray the expense attending such
measures.

The accompanying Requisition which will probably be found
incomplete, will show what I conceive to be necessary for the equipment
of any military force raised in the country. A battery with a few heavy
Guns to defend the entrance of the harbour would also prove of very
decided advantage.

Your Grace will I presume order a detachment from the fleet in the
Pacific, to be sent hither for the protection of the colony in addition
to the military force raised in the colony itself.

Those defensive measures will involve the erection of Store Houses
and Barracks for the accommodation of the Troops, and on the whole lead
to a considerable outlay of money, which will not be lost to the
country, as long as protection is afforded to the lives and property of
H.M. Subjects.

I would further remark in reference to the Earl of Clarendon's
communication that a very serious injury might be inflicted on Russia by
taking possession of all their settlements on the American coast, north
of Queen Charlotte's Islands; they are all upon the sea board and
accessible to shipping. Their defences are on a scale merely calculated
to cope with savages, and could not be maintained against a regular
force of 500 men. The occupation of those settlements may be regarded
as an indispensable measure of protection against the piratical vessels
of all nations which may seek to prey upon our commerce in the Pacific,
and find a refuge there, the enemy will also be deprived by that measure
of all their possessions in America, and of a most valuable branch of
trade producing a large public revenue, and would thereby sustain a most
serious loss.

I beg that your Grace will send me immediate instructions in
respect, to the payment of any expenses necessarily incurred in
providing for the defense of the Colony, and inform me to what amount I
may so apply the public money, and on whom I may draw for the sums
required.



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No. 28

In my Despatch No 5 of the 27th February last,
I informed your Grace that a claim had been vaguely made to the Islands
in the Canal De Arro, by the Legislative Assembly of Oregon, when
dividing that Territory into Districts, and that Mr Ebey, who now
holds the office of Collector in Puget Sound pretended on the strength
of that Act to consider the Arro Archipelago as part of his Revenue
District, and had, according to report, expressed an intention to seize
upon all the British Property on the Island of San Juan on behalf of the
United 
States; and I also informed your Grace, at the same time that I
had taken measures to protect the property of Her Majesty's Subjects
from aggression, and explained the nature of those precautionary
steps, which have I trust, met with your Grace's approval.

The public excitement caused by the discussion of that question, on
both sides of the line was increased by the arrival of Collector Ebey
himself on the debateable ground, as announced to me on the morning of
the 4th Inst, in a hasty note No 1 from Justice Griffen
[Griffin]. A few hours afterwards I repaired to the Island of San Juan,
with the Steam vessel "Otter" to watch proceedings, but on discovering
that Collector Ebey, was only accompanied by four assistants, I thought
it better to retire from the spot, after landing Mr James Sangster,
Her Majesty's Collector for Vancouver's Island, with instructions to
acquaint Collector Ebey, that the Revenue District of Vancouver's Island, which was placed under his superintendence included Smith's or
Bonilla Island, in the Straits of De Fuca; the Islands of San Juan,
Lopez, and Orcas; the west side of Cypress Island, and 
all the other Islands, in the Archipelago De Arro, west of a line drawn through the
middle of the Gulf of Georgia & Vancouver's Strait.

The subsequent proceedings of Collector Ebey are detailed in the
reports of Justice Griffin No 2, and Collector Sangster No 3, which are
herewith transmitted for your Grace's information. On his departure
from San Juan, Collector Ebey, left a Mr Webber on that Island whom
he appointed Inspector for the United States. Your Grace will observe
by those reports that an attempt made to arrest that person, without
sufficient grounds, had nearly ended in bloodshed. Mr Webber left the Island on the following day, and again made his appearance there on
the 11th Inst, when I sent a further letter of instructions to
Mr Justice Griffin No 4, in reply to a note from him No 5, touching
his conduct to Mr Webber, whom I directed him to consider as a mere
private person, living under the protection of Her Majesty's Government
and amenable to the Laws of the Country, which afford him protection. I
hope your Grace may approve of that course, and send me such 
instructions for my guidance, as you may consider necessary.

This movement on the part of Collector Ebey, is not openly
supported by the Executive Authorities of Washington Territory, though
there is reason to believe that he is secretly countenanced by them, as
he certainly is by the whole American population.

Mr Webber, assured Collector Sangster, and Justice Griffin that Mr Stevens Governor of Washington Territory invited him to settle on the Island of San Juan, promising to support him with all the authority of Government.

In that case Webber would have received a free grant of 640 acres of land from the United States, a principle of liberality which I beg to suggest to your Grace, prodigiously strengthens American influence in this part of the world, and contrasts advantageously with the system of colonization followed on Vancouver's Island, which may suit the condition of other colonies but will, I fear, never succeed in the vicinity of American Settlements, where free grants of land are made to every settler.



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No. [28a]

I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt, on the 13th
Inst, of Duplicates of your Despatches of the numbers and dates
noted in the Margin.

*



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Minute by Blackwood, 18 May 1854



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No. 15

I have to acknowledge the receipt of your Despatch No. 7 of the
28th February last, enclosing a schedule of Despatches, and to convey to you my approval of that form of transmitting your Official
Correspondence.



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Hammond to Merivale (Permanent Under-Secretary)

I have laid before The Earl of Clarendon your letter of the
20th instant inclosing a report from the Governor of
Vancouver's island respecting the channel through which the
Boundary between Vancouver's island and the territory of the
United States should properly be laid down; and I am to request
that you will state to the Duke of Newcastle that if His Grace
concurs in the expediency 
of the measure, Lord Clarendon
proposes to instruct Her Majesty's Minister at Washington again
to bring forward the proposal which, you were informed by Mr
Addington's letter of the 14th of June last, was made to the
Government of the United States in the year 1848 for taking
measures for defining the Boundary between the British and
American Possessions in that Quarter.



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Hamilton to Merivale (Permanent Under-Secretary)

I have laid before my Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty your
letter of the 23rd ultimo, forwarding the extract of a despatch from the Governor of Van Couver's Island, relative to the
erection of Storehouses for Naval purposes in the harbour of Esquimalt, and I have it in command to acquaint you, for the information of the Duke of Newcastle, that  my Lords do not think it expedient to adopt the Governor's suggestion in this matter.



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No. 16

I have to acknowledge the receipt of your Despatch No 6 of the
27th February last.

I referred for the consideration of the Lords Commissioners of the
Admiralty, that portion of Your Despatch relative to the creation of
Store Houses in Esquimault Harbour, for the use of the Navy, and I
enclose a copy of the reply which has been received from their Lordship's
Board, by which you will perceive that it is not deemed expedient to
adopt your suggestion on this matter.



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No. 1

I have to acknowledge your despatch of the 13th March last,
reporting your investigation into the causes which led to the wreck of
the Brig "William" which you appear to have conducted with a readiness
and vigilance very advantageous to the public Service.

2. With regard to the question raised as to your legal authority:
the steps which you have taken, if, I rightly understand them, seem to
have been substantially justified by the clause in your Commission as
Vice Admiral, giving you cognizance of the view of bodies of persons who
came to their deaths in the sea or public streams &c.

3. But I fear that to organize a Vice Admiralty Court is, strictly
speaking, beyond your power either as Vice Admiral or under your
Commission as Governor. A special authority from the Lords of the
Admiralty is required for that purpose. And no such Court has, as yet,
been established by their Lordships in Vancouvers Island, in
consequence, partly, of the difficulty arising from there being no
professional lawyer to whom a Commission as Judge could issue. You have
addressed the secretary of State in another despatch, still under
consideration (of 7th January last) representing the wants of the
Settlements in this respect. They shall be attended to as far as is in
my power, but I fear that it will not be easy to secure you the services
of a properly qualified person.

4. In the meantime I wish to direct your attention to the
provisions of the Act 12th and 13th Vic. C. 96
"to provide for the prosecution and trial in Her Majesty's
Colonies of offences committed within the Jurisdiction of the Admiralty."
Under the provisions of that Statute, any person, within any Colony, may
be tried for offences committed on the Sea, or in any place where the
Admiralty has Jurisdiction, by the ordinary Courts of such Colony. It
appears to me, therefore, that you are fully empowered, without
constituting any Admiralty Court, to enquire into all cases of suspected
homicide or personal injury committed on the Sea, if the persons under
suspicion are within the Colony, and to bring them to trial if any ground
for such proceeding be established, precisely in the same way as if such
offence were alleged to have been committed on land within the Colony.

5. It will be my endeavour to give you such assistance as is in my
power in these respects, together with legal advice if necessary, while
you are still deprived of the service of a professional adviser; and I
wish you to communicate with me whenever you are in want of direction.



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Colvile to Grey

I have to submit for your consideration a proposal for an
alteration in part of the arrangement for the Colonization of
Vancouver's Island which was sanctioned by Lord Grey who was at
that time Secretary of State for the Colonies.

The part of the arrangement to which I allude is that for the
maintenance of the Ministers of Religion. The provision made
for this purpose, was, the reservation of a certain portion of
the Wilderness land a plan which has not been found to answer in
other places, and which at Vancouver's Island does not afford an
inducement for a respectable 
clergyman to undertake the charge
of a Parish or District.

I have therefore to request your consent to the provision for
the Clergyman being altered to a money stipend to be charged to
the Trust Fund arising from the nine tenths of the price of
land sold, from the Lordship of 2/6 per ton on Coals that may be
raised and sold and of 10 per load of timber cut under Licences
for Exportation from unappropriated lands.

The Governor and Committee of the Hudson's Bay Company are of
opinion that the Trust fund is in a condition to meet this charge.

At present they would propose that one clergyman of the Church
of England should be appointed to the charge of the Victoria
District to whom the Fur trade branch of the Hudsons Bay Company
will contribute an allowance of £100 per annum: whilst he may
act as 
chaplain to their Establishment at that place.

It is expected that a Stipend of £300 per Annum from the Trust
fund with the above mentioned allowance and with the addition of
a free passage to the Island for himself and family, and the
use of a moderate residence with a glebe of fifty or sixty acres
of land during his incumbency will be found sufficient to induce
a respectable Gentleman to undertake the charge.

The Nanaimo District where the Coal mining operations are
carried on will also require a clergyman, and Mr Douglas has
been requested to report whether a clergyman of the Church of
England, or of what other Denomination would be most
satisfactory to the Inhabitants.

In the event of your giving your consent to this proposal, I
would take immediate steps to procure a Gentleman suitable for
 
the charge of the Victoria District whose name would be
submitted for your approval.



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No. 29

I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt, on the 16th
Inst, of your Circular Despatch of the 11th March last, in
reference to an existing misapprehension as to the position of Officers
in Her Majesty's Civil Service in the Colonies, who have been suspended
from their Office by the Governor, and conveying the instructions of Her
Majesty's Government, that such Officers should not absent themselves
from the Colony without leave of the Governor, before their ultimate
dismissal or re-instatement by Her Majesty the Queen.



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FILE: 1854-07-20_Douglas_to_Newcastle_V54030.txt
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No. 30

I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt, on the 16th Inst
of your Grace's Circular Despatch dated on the 31st of March 1854,
transmitting copies of the following instruments.

1. The Queen's declaration of the 28th March last of Her
Majesty's intention to take up arms in conjunction with the Emperor of
the French, for the defence of the Sultan against Russia.

2. The Queen's declaration of the same date, announcing 
that it
is Her Majesty's intention, so far to waive the belligerent rights
appertaining to Her, by the Law of Nations, as to forego the exercise of
Her right of seizing Enemy's property laden on board a neutral vessel,
unless it be contraband of war, and further announcing that Her Majesty
will not claim the confiscation of Neutral property, not being
contraband of war, found on board, enemy's Ships; and that it is not Her
Majesty's intention to issue Letters of Marque, for the Commissioning of
Privateers.

At the same time announcing that Her Majesty has not thought proper
to forego the exercise of Her right of seizing articles contraband of
war, and of preventing neutrals from bearing the enemy's Despatches, and from breaking effective blockades.

Your Grace has also intimated in the same Despatch, that formal
instructions for the performance of the duties which devolve on me, at the present crisis will be transmitted by the earliest opportunity.



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FILE: 1854-07-20_Douglas_to_Newcastle_V54031.txt
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No. 31

I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt on the 16th Inst
of your Circular Despatch, dated the 11th April 1854, transmitting,
the following instruments.

1st A copy of the Queen's order in Council of the 29th March directing that a general embargo be made of all Russian ships and vessels in any of the Ports Harbours or Roads in Her Majesty's Dominions together with all persons and effects on board such Ships and vessels.

2nd A copy of another and Second order of the Queen in
Council of the 29th March ordering that Russian Merchant vessels in
any Ports or Places within Her Majestys Dominions shall be allowed until
the 10th day of May next, (six weeks from the date of such order,)
for loading their cargoes, and departing from such Ports or Places.

3rd A copy of a third order of the Queen in Council dated the
7th April directing that Russian Merchant vessels, which at the time
of publication of the said order, shall be in any Port or Places, within
any of Her Majesty's Foreign or Colonial Possessions, shall be allowed
thirty days, from the time of the publication of that Order in such
Foreign or Colonial Possessions, for loading their cargoes, and
departing from such Ports or Places.

According to your Grace's instructions I have this day published
this last order, by causing copies of it to be exposed in the several
Districts of this Colony.



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FILE: 1854-07-20_Douglas_to_Newcastle_V54032.txt
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No. 32

I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt, on the 16th
Inst, of your Circular Despatch of the 19th April last,
transmitting for my information copies of the Queen's Declarations,
Proclamations and Orders in Council, with reference to the commencement
of hostilities against the Emperor of all the Russias, and I beg to
inform your Grace that the same have been filed with the public records
of this Colony.



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FILE: 1854-07-20_Douglas_to_Newcastle_V54033.txt
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No. 33

I have to acknowledge the receipt on the 16th Inst of your
Grace's Circular Despatch of the 23rd of April last, transmitting the
following instruments. vizt

1st Copy of an order of the Lords of Her Majesty's Privy
Council, dated the 11th day of April last, by which permission is
granted on certain conditions to export to certain places, Arms
Ammunition, Military Stores &c.

2nd Copy of a Treasury Minute of the 13th April last,
requiring persons exporting the Articles in question, to furnish the
Lords Commissioners of Customs, with certificates of the landing 
and
entry of such articles at the Ports of destination.

I have to assure your Grace that I shall not fail to carry into
effect the directions of the Lords Commissoners of the Treasury by
certifying according to your instructions, that any Arms, Ammunition
Military & Naval Stores &c, actually imported into Vancouver's Island,
have been duly entered and landed there.



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FILE: 1854-07-20_Douglas_to_Newcastle_V54034A.txt
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No. [34a]

I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt, on the 16th
Inst, of a letter from your Grace, advising the receipt of my
Despatches, of the numbers and dates noted under.
*



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FILE: 1854-07-21_Douglas_to_Newcastle_V54034.txt
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No. 34

I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt on the 16th Inst
of your Circular Despatch of the 24th of April last, transmitting a copy of the Queen's order in Council dated 15th of April 1854, in
which it is ordered that neutral vessels shall be permitted to import
all Goods and Merchandize, whatever, into Her Majesty's Dominions, and
to export any cargo or Goods, from Her Majesty's Dominions to any Port
not blockaded, provided the same be not contraband of war, or do not
require a special permission.

I have in reply to assure your Grace that those directions shall
be carried into effect in the Ports of Vancouver's Island.



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FILE: 1854-07-31_Smith_to_Grey_V545MI03.txt
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Smith to Grey

In the absence of the Governor, I am directed by the Deputy
Governor and Committee, to acknowledge the receipt of Mr Under
Secretary Peel's letter of the 24th instant, in which with
reference to the proposed change of providing for a Clergyman on
Vancouver's Island, he communicates your request to be informed
what regulations respecting the Sale of Land (if any) are now in
force in Vancouver's Island besides those established by the
resolutions of the Hudson's Bay Company, passed at the time of
the Grant of the Island.

In reply thereto I am to state, that no alteration has been
made in those regulations with the exception of the condition,
that each purchaser should take out labourers in the ratio of
one to every twenty acres of land; the reason for which
alteration was explained in the Governor's letter to Sir John
Pakington dated 1st Decr 1852.

I am further directed to submit to you, that though the
Committee of the Hudson's Bay Company, have no doubt that the
Settlement of the Island would have proceeded more rapidly, had
the system of Free Grants of Land been adopted there, as in the
Oregon Territory of the United States, yet that Vancouver's
Island is, as far as they know, the only settlement with any
pretence to civilization that has met the whole 
expenses of
Government, Survey's, roads, Clergy, and Schools, without the
imposition of any tax but that for the privilege of selling spirits.



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FILE: 1854-08-01_Grey,_Sir_George_to_Douglas_V547102.txt
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No. 2

I have to acknowledge your Despatch No 13 of the 11th May
last relative to the representation which Mr Cooper addressed to Sir
John Pakington on the 8th October 1852; and I have to express my
satisfaction that the difference which had arisen between yourself and
Mr Cooper appears to have been removed.



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FILE: 1854-08-03_Shepherd_to_Grey_V545MI04.txt
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Shepherd to Grey

I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of Mr Under
Secretary Peel's letter of the 28th ulto, requesting such
information as the Hudson's Bay Company may possess regarding
the qualifications of Mr David Cameron for the office of Acting
Judge of Vancouver's Island, to which he had been appointed by
Mr Governor Douglas; and further enclosing an Extract from a
Memorial addressed to the Secretary of State by certain
inhabitants of that Island, objecting to Mr Cameron's appointment.

In reply, I have the honor to inform you that previously to Mr
Cameron's employment by the Hudson's Bay Company in 1853, he
resided for several years in British Guiana. He was strongly
recommended to this Company as a man of integrity and excellent
business habits by Mr James Stuart, a highly respectable and
influential gentleman of that Colony, and Governor Douglas (to
whose sister Mr Cameron is married) having recommended him as
being well qualified for the responsible office of
Superintendent of the Company's Coal mines in Vancouver's
Island, he was accordingly engaged for that duty.

In corroboration of the truth and justice of these
recommendations, the Hudson's Bay Company have had the
satisfaction of receiving substantial proof. Mr Cameron's
conduct in managing the important business entrusted to him has
been such as to meet with our entire approval.

Our principal dependence, however, as regards his character and
qualifications for the office of Acting Judge of Vancouver's
Island, is our conviction that Governor Douglas would 
not have
appointed him on any other than public grounds, and we are of
opinion that it will ultimately be found that as regards his
education, talents & integrity Mr Cameron was as well qualified
as any one whom Mr Douglas had within the sphere of his choice.
No legal talents, I apprehend, were available for the office;
but I hope the period is not far distant when the Colony will be
enabled to afford such remuneration as would secure the services
of a respectable member of the legal profession for the office
of Judge or Recorder.

With respect to the extract from the Memorial of certain
inhabitants of Vancouver's Island, the statement is so vague and
hypothetical that it is difficult to deal with it, and I am
inclined to attribute it to the feelings of a Party, anxious to
bring forward any charge which might appear plausible against
Governor Douglas. This hostile feeling towards the Governor, we
have reason 
to believe was principally excited by the Revd Mr
Staines, who incurred his displeasure, and who not only
neglected, but abandoned his duties as Chaplain to the Company,
without previous notice or leave granted.

With reference to disputes which may arise, and which the
Memorialists state have arisen, connected with the working of the
Companys Coal mines, we have received no information whatever, whilst it
is certain that if disputes of a serious nature had occurred, they would
have been duly reported to us. Under these circumstances I am not
inclined to attach much weight to the remarks of the Memorialists on
this point. The Company work these coal mines by the labour
of their own Servants; the coals raised are sold on the spot at a
fixed price, or transported to a foreign market in the Company's own,
or in freighted vessels; and under such arrangements there would
not 
appear to be much risk of disputes with the Settlers of
Vancouvers Island requiring legal interference, but if such did
occur between parties whose interest was at variance with that
of the Company, I feel assured that it would be sufficiently
obvious to Mr Douglas & Mr Cameron that such cases ought not,
and would not be adjudicated by the latter, if he continued to
hold the office of Superintendent of the Coal Mines.

With regard to the case alluded to by the Memorialists in
paragraph 4, we have received no information, and as no names or
particulars are given we have no certain means of enquiring into
it. A copy of the statement shall, however, be forwarded to
Governor Douglas and Mr Cameron, with the expression of our
desire to be furnished with a full report of all the
circumstances of any such case, if any such did really occur.

Trusting that these remarks 
may prove satisfactory.



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FILE: 1854-08-05_Grey,_Sir_George_to_Douglas_V547102A.txt
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Military [No. 1]

I have received your despatch No 27 of the 16th May, reporting the measures which you would recommend for placing Vancouver’s Island in a position to repel any hostile attack and accompanied by a requisition having for its object the armament, equipment, and victualling for 12 months of a Military Force of 500 men to be raised in the Colony, together with a supply of some light and heavy pieces of Ordinance (with ammunition &c) for defensive Batteries.

Her Majesty’s Government deem it to be at once both unnecessary and inadvisable to accede to this requisition.

The lords of the Admiralty have already, at the instance of the Duke of Newcastle, given such directions to the Admiral on the Station as will secure the Islands being frequently visited by one or more of the Ships of War under his Command, and Her Majesty’s Government consider that there is nothing in the present circumstances of the war with Russia to forbid the hope and expectation that the countenance which will be thus afforded will not amply suffice for the protection of the Island.



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FILE: 1854-08-05_Hammond_to_Merivale_Permanent_Under-Secretary_V545FO03.txt
================================================================================

Hammond to Merivale (Permanent Under-Secretary)

With reference to your Letters of the 11th of April 1853, and
the 20th of February and 20th of May last, relative to the
Question of the Line of Boundary between Vancouvers Island and
the American Continent, I am directed by the Earl of Clarendon
to transmit to you, for the Information of Secretary Sir George
Grey, a Copy of a Despatch from Mr Crampton, Her Majesty's
Minister at Washington, stating 
that the United States' Secretary of State had promised to take steps in order that the President might be empowered to make the necessary arrangements for proceeding in concert with Her Majesty's Government to
determine the Boundary in question.



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FILE: 1854-08-15_Barclay_to_Peel_Parliamentary_Under-Secretary_V545MI05.txt
================================================================================

Barclay to Peel (Parliamentary Under-Secretary)

With reference to your letter of the 24th Ultimo stating that
the subject of providing for the services of a Clergyman in
Vancouver's Island was under the consideration of the Colonial
Department, I am directed to acquaint you, for the information
of Sir George Grey, that the Hudson's Bay Company will despatch a
vessel for that Island about the 10th of next month.

As it will probably be ten or twelve months before another
vessel is sent to the same quarter, and the Colony is suffering
great inconvenience from the entire suspension 
of all spiritual
offices the Governor and Committee are deeply impressed with the
importance of embracing if possible the present opportunity to
send out a gentleman in holy orders, to the Victoria District,
but they cannot take any steps in the matter until they know the
decision of Sir George Grey on the proposal submitted to him in
the Governor's letter of the 18th Ultimo; they therefore
respectfully request that Sir George Grey's views on the subject
may be communicated to them with as little delay as possible.



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FILE: 1854-08-17_Douglas_to_Newcastle_V54035.txt
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No. 35

I herewith transmit for the information of Her Majesty's
Government, Minutes of the proceedings in the Council of this Colony on
and since the 12th day of July last.

Your Grace will observe that several small sums of money were
appropriated for the payment of certain expenses, incurred about the
Colonial School, for necessary improvements, and that the sum of £50
Sterling was granted for the relief of Mr Barr the Teacher, whose
salary of £60 a year is unsufficient for his support.

Your Grace will also observe that the sum of £1500 in all was voted
by the Council in three sums of £500 each, to be applied to the erection
of a Court House, a Church, and to the construction of roads and
bridges. It is not supposed that those sums are sufficient to
accomplish more than a small part of the objects proposed, but even to
that extent, it was considered important to commence a course of
improvements, that might encourage the settlement of the Country, and
give employment to the disposable labour in the Colony.

2. The defence of the country against the direct or indirect
aggression of Russia, is a subject, forced by circumstances upon our
attention.
*
The Colony can do little if left to its own resources, and we must trust
for protection to Her Majesty's Government.

The people were much alarmed at the idea of a descent by the
Russians, or rather by predatory vessels, acting under the authority of
letters of marque, and it was to guard against that danger, that it was
thought expedient in the absence of Her Majesty's Ships, to charter the
Hudson's Bay Company's Propeller "Otter", as a guard ship, for the
protection of the Colony.

That measure of defence will cost about £600 a month
**
which I presume will be defrayed by Her Majesty's Government, as in the
Grant of Vancouver's Island to the Hudson's Bay Company, it is provided
that the Governor and Company are,

to defray the entire expense of any civil and military establishments
which may be required, for the protection and Government of such
settlements, (except nevertheless during the time of hostilities,
between Great Britain, and any foreign European or American power),

a proviso which directly applies to the present circumstances 
of the Empire, and I shall therefore be happy to have your Grace's instructions
in reference to the payment of that outlay.

3. I have also the honor to transmit herewith copy of "An Act
prohibiting the Gift or Sale of intoxicating liquors to Indians",
***
which passed the Council on the 3rd day of August, and has been
strictly enforced, with a most salutory effect, in respect to the Indian
population among whom, the vice of intemperance was spreading to an
alarming extent, to the great annoyance of the peaceful inhabitants,
whose lives and property are endangered through the excesses of savages,
maddened by the excitement of drink.

I trust that the provisions of this act, and the other matters
referred to in this communication will meet with the approval of Her
Majesty's Government.



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FILE: 1854-08-19_Hammond_to_Merivale_Permanent_Under-Secretary_V545FO04.txt
================================================================================

Hammond to Merivale (Permanent Under-Secretary)

With reference to my Letter of the 5th instant I am directed by
the Earl of Clarendon to transmit to you for the information of
Secretary Sir George Grey a copy of a Despatch from Mr
Crampton, Her Majesty's Minister at Washington, enclosing a copy
of a Letter which he has received from the United States 
Secretary of State in answer to his Representation respecting
the supposed intention of the United States Authorities in
Oregon to take possession of the property of the Hudson's Bay
Company on the Island of San Juan in the Canal de Arro.



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FILE: 1854-08-20_Grey,_Sir_George_to_Douglas_V547103.txt
================================================================================

No. 3

I have to transmit to you the copy of a Petition to the Queen,
together with the copy of a Memorial addressed to the Duke of Newcastle
by certain Inhabitants of Van Couver's Island complaining of the
composition of the recently established "Supreme Court of Civil Justice,"
and of other matters affecting the good government of the Settlement, and
I have to desire you to furnish me with your early report upon these
complaints.



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FILE: 1854-08-21_Murdoch_to_Merivale_Permanent_Under-Secretary_V545LN01.txt
================================================================================

Murdoch to Merivale (Permanent Under-Secretary)

We have to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 9th Instant, enclosing two letters from the Governor of the Hudson's Bay Company proposing an alteration in the provision to be made for the support of a Clergyman in Van Couvers Island.

2. We learn from this letter that the provision heretofore 
intended to be made for a Clergyman was the reservation of a
certain portion of the Wilderness land, and it is now proposed
to substitute for this a money payment amounting in all to £400
a year, with a moderate residence and small glebe. We can have
no hesitation in recommending the approval of this allocation.
The remuneration of the Ministers of Religion by grants of Land
has been very commonly adopted in New Countries, but it has, we
believe, universally failed—or only succeeded partially by
diverting the Clergyman from his proper duties to the pursuit of
Farming or land jobbing occupations.



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FILE: 1854-08-31_Hammond_to_Merivale_Permanent_Under-Secretary_V545FO05.txt
================================================================================

Hammond to Merivale (Permanent Under-Secretary)

With reference to my Letter of the 5th Instant I am directed by
the Earl of Clarendon to transmit to you, for the information of
Secretary Sir George Grey, a copy of a despatch from Mr
Crampton, Her Majesty's Minister at Washington, 
stating that the
clause which had been inserted in the General Appropriation
bill, empowering the President to make the necessary
arrangements for proceeding, in concert with Her Majesty's
Government, to lay down the Boundary between Vancouver's Island
and the United States, was objected to by the Senate 
and has
been expunged from the Bill.



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FILE: 1854-08-31_Miles_to_Newcastle_V545MI06.txt
================================================================================

Miles to Newcastle

I have the honour, by command of Governor Douglas, to forward a
packet of despatches I received from him at Vancouver's Island
on the 23rd of June.

Should your Lordship be desirous of seeing me I shall feel great
pleasure on waiting upon you at any time you 
may appoint.



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FILE: 1854-09-09_Barclay_to_Merivale_Permanent_Under-Secretary_V545MI07.txt
================================================================================

Barclay to Merivale (Permanent Under-Secretary)

I am directed to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the
30th Ultimo intimating Sir George Grey's approbation of the
mode of providing for the support of a clergyman in Vancouver's
Island proposed in Mr Colvile's letter of the 18th July, and
to acquaint you that the Governor and Committee of the Hudson's
Bay Company in accordance with the views therein stated, have
selected the Reverend Edward Cridge to fill the office vacant by
the death of the Revd J.R. Staines.

Mr Cridge is a man of high character and respectable 
talents,
and appears to them to be well qualified for the situation to
which it is proposed to appoint him; they therefore trust that
his appointment will receive the sanction of the Secretary of
State for the Colonies.

As every day is now of importance, the Governor and Committee
will feel much obliged by an early reply to this communication.



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FILE: 1854-09-15_Hammond_to_Peel_Parliamentary_Under-Secretary_V545FO06.txt
================================================================================

Hammond to Peel (Parliamentary Under-Secretary)

I have laid before the Earl of Clarendon your Letter of the 11th
Instant, enclosing a Draft of an Instruction which Secretary Sir George Grey proposes to address to the Governor of Vancouver's
Island relative to the Sovereignty of the British Crown over the Islands in the Canal de Arro; and I am to request that you will inform Sir George Grey that Lord Clarendon concurs in the Terms of the proposed 
Instruction.



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FILE: 1854-09-15_Swanston_to_Grey_V546S02.txt
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Swanston to Grey

The Humble Memorial of Robert Swanston most respectfully sheweth.

That your memorialist is a British Subject, and resident
Colonist of this Island, employed in Commerical pursuits.

That on the 23d July Ulto the American Schooner
"William Allen," chartered, & consigned to your Memorialist by his
agents in San Francisco, arrived at this Port of Victoria.

That on the 24th of the same month, being the next day ensuing,
your Memorialist, having made the necessary entries at the Custom House,
did apply for a clearance for the said Schooner hence to ports on the
west coast of this Island.

That the Collector of Customs denied Compliance with the application
under the plea of the Schooner being a foreign bottom.

That your Memorialist, in answer to this objection, shewed, by
reference to the Custom House books, that the Honble Hudsons Bay Co
had been in the habit of employing foreign vessels on the Coast without
let or 
hindrance on the part of the Custom House officials.

That the said foreign vessels so employed by the Hudsons Bay Co
had been regularly permitted to go Coasting.

That other vessels owned and employed by, and representing in toto
the interests of, nonresidents and foreigners had in no instance been
refused permission to take in cargoes at other ports on the Coast.

That foreign vessels, having been chartered in San Francisco for
the use and benefit of the Hudson Bay Co had been allowed to proceed to
Beaver Harbor, on the North East Coast of this Island, which is no port
of Entry, to take in a Cargoe and return direct to their port of
departure without making any appearance at the Custom House of this
Colony, either on arriving at, or departing from the said Colony.

That the Collector of Customs still persisted in his refusal,
and also informed your memorialist that the vessel would be
liable to seizure should she proceed to any ports on the Coast.

Your memorialist then addressed a letter to this Officer on the
subject. Copies of this Communication and 
of Mr Sangsters reply are
annexed.

That in the reply an entirely new ground of refusal is urged,
viz. "because there are no settlements on the coast". In this averment
your memorialist most distinctly asserts that the Collector of Customs
is wrong. There are settlements on the Coast! Your memorialist has had
for nearly six months white men settled on the west coast collecting
native produce for exportation, which fact is notorious to the whole
Colony. Your memorialist being thus, as he most humbly conceives,
grievously and illegally hampered, and embarrassed, in the
peaceful prosecution of his business by the officer at the Head
of the Customs department of this Island, by and with the
consent, advice, and knowledge of the Head of the Executive, and
fearing a reiteration of similar, or equally pernicious (to
him), proceedings Most humbly lays his case before your Right
Honorable Self, and while averring to the truth of the foregoing
statement your memorialist most respectfully asserts

That he is entitled to the same rights and privileges of trade
in this Colony, as those enjoyed by the Hudsons Bay Co.

That any foreign vessel he may employ is, by the laws and usage of
commerce, entitled to proceed after discharging cargoe at one port of
this Colony, to other port or ports on the same coast to load for abroad.

That as he is, in the prosecution of his business, necessitated
to employ ships and land goods on the west coast of this Colony
his rights to proceed thither without interference after entering at the
Custom House of Victoria is under the fact of no customs Establishment
existing at any of the ports on the said Coast being no fault of his, &
for which he in justice should not suffer.

And further that the Honorable Lessees of this Island in their
prospectus issued to the world (where, in publishing the Conditions of
the Lease) affirm, in the latter part of the sixth clause that

. . . all the ports and harbors shall be open and free to residents,
and to all nations either trading or seeking shelter therein.

Your Memorialist having full confidence in the justness of his
complaint, and in the 
earnest desire of Her Majesty's Government
to foster the rising Commerce of a young Colony, and to check
any overstretch of authority on the part of the Local Executive,
lays his case before you with a confident assurance of ample protection.

And in conclusion your Memorialist most humbly prays, that, as
there is no law officer in the Colony to advise with in these
matters, such definite instructions may be addressed to the Head
of the Customs department of this Colony, as shall enable him to
act at all times, in all matters Connected with the Commerce of
this Island, in accordance with the laws of Great Britain.

And your memorialist



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FILE: 1854-09-21_Grey,_Sir_George_to_Douglas_V547104.txt
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No. 4

I have to acknowledge the receipt of Your Despatches No 10 of the
24th of November 1853, No 5 of the 27th February and No 28 of
the 17th May last, and in conveying to you the approval of Her
Majesty's Government of your proceedings with respect to the Sovereignty
of the Islands in the Canal de Arro, I have to authorize you to continue
to treat those Islands as part of the British Dominions.



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FILE: 1854-09-29_Douglas_to_Grey,_Sir_George_V54035A.txt
================================================================================

No. 35a

I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of the Duke of
Newcastle's Despatch, advising the receipt of my letters of the numbers
and dates noted under.

*



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FILE: 1854-09-29_Douglas_to_Grey,_Sir_George_V54035B.txt
================================================================================

No. 35b

I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of Duplicates of the
Duke of Newcastle's Circular Despatches, of the numbers, and dates noted
in the Margin,

*

with their Enclosures, which have been referred to, in my previous
communications.



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FILE: 1854-09-29_Douglas_to_Grey,_Sir_George_V54036.txt
================================================================================

No. 36

I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt on the 28th of
September Instant, of the Duke of Newcastle's Circular Despatch, of the
1st day of May last, transmitting a copy of an order of the Lords of
Her Majesty's Privy Council, dated 24th April last, directing that
the export of Gunpowder, Salt petre and Brimstone, Arms and Ammunition
Marine Engines and Boilers &c, 
be not prevented, excepting to the places
mentioned in the order.

I have in reply to assure you that every exertion on the part of
this Government shall be made to carry that order into effect.



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FILE: 1854-09-29_Douglas_to_Grey,_Sir_George_V54037.txt
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No. 37

I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of the Duke of
Newcastle's Circular Despatch of the 15th of May last, in which after
conveying information that the Queen had been pleased to direct that the
Consular Authorities of the Emperor of all the Russias, should no longer
be recognised in Her Majesty's Dominions, His Grace desires that I will
inform any person who may be acting as Consul for Russia in this Colony
that Her Majesty's Government 
cease to acknowledge the Consular
character of himself and of any subordinate Consular Officer, who may
have been appointed by him, and I beg to assure you that this order,
shall, whenever required, be put in force.



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FILE: 1854-09-29_Douglas_to_Grey,_Sir_George_V54038.txt
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No. 38

I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of a Circular Despatch
from the Duke of Newcastle, dated the 29th of May last, transmitting
copies of the Decrees, Regulations and Instructions under which His
Imperial Majesty the Emperor of the French, has directed that the
Universal Exhibition of Agricultural and Manufacturing Produce shall be
opened at Paris on the 1st of May 1855, and also copy of a
communication addressed to His Grace by 
direction of the Lords of the
Committee of Privy Council for Trade, recommending certain steps which
it is desirable should be adopted without delay, in order that the
industry and resources of the Colonies should be duly represented at the
Exhibition. And his Grace further directs that due publicity may be
given to the project of this Exhibition, and that I should lend my
influence to the formation of a Committee in this Colony for the purpose
of securing every facility for the due representation of the
Manufactures or Produce of the Colony, and I beg to assure you, that I
shall attend to those instructions.



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Hammond to Merivale (Permanent Under-Secretary)

With reference to my letter of the 31st of August I am directed
by the Earl of Clarendon to transmit to you, to be laid before
Secretary Sir George Grey, a copy of a despatch from Her
Majesty's Charg e d'affaires at Washington containing the reply
of the United States Secretary of State to a note which Mr
Griffith addressed to him urging the importance of settling the
Boundary between Vancouver's Island and the United States.



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FILE: 1854-10-03_Douglas_to_Grey,_Sir_George_V54039.txt
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No. 39

I beg to acknowledge the receipt on the 28 of Ultimo of the Duke of
Newcastle's Despatch No 15, dated the 19th of May last, mentioning
the receipt of my letter No 7, of the 28th February, and conveying
His Grace's approval of the Form used in transmitting my official
correspondence.

I have also to acknowledge the receipt of His Grace's Despatch No
16 of the 8th of June last; transmitting a Despatch from the Lords
Commissioners of the Admiralty stating that their Lordships do not think
it expedient to adopt the suggestion in my Despatch No 6 relative to the
erection of Store houses, for naval purposes, in the harbour of
Esquimalt.

Deeply interested as I feel in the progress of every measure having
a vital influence in the progressive improvement of this Colony; you
will perhaps excuse me for remarking that I exceedingly regret this
decision of their Lordships, and for the reason that it destroys almost
the only existing prospect of being countenanced in our exertions to
promote the colonization of Vancouver's Island, with the patronage of
Her Majesty's Government. Deprived by its remote position from
commercial intercourse with the mother country or any other British
possession, and cut off from the advantages of foreign trade by the
heavy import duties levied on all the productions of this Colony in the
neighbouring Ports of the United States; the inhabitants of
Vancouver's
Island, are really placed in the worst conceivable position as regards
their general prosperity, and it is very evident that the natural
resources of the Colony, must in such circumstances, remain undeveloped,
and the country continue an uninhabited waste. The Colony has been
heretofore mainly supported by the large sums of money expended in house
building and other works by the Hudson's Bay and Puget Sound Companies,
and by the servants of these Companies. That resource must necessarily
soon fail, and then follows the perplexing question as to what the
labouring people in this Colony will find to do. They will then be
destitute of employment and having no property nor means of acquiring
land, on which to employ their labour, and there being no foreign outlet
for the expansion of general enterprise, they will be unable to earn a
livelihood, and the probable consequence will be a general desire for
emigration to the American settlements; where grants of 
land are freely
proffered to all parties, who become settlers and improvers of the soil.

I was in hopes that the proposed Store-houses for the use of the
Navy at Esquimalt, would have been considered of advantage to the public
service, and that the money expended in those erections, would have been
a resource and attraction for the labouring people, until other
prospects opened upon the Colony; but those hopes being for the present
at an end, I beg leave to recall to your consideration the subject of my
Despatch No 22, of the 13th of May last, in relation to the
commercial position of this Colony. In that communication I took the
liberty of suggesting to His Grace the Duke of Newcastle, the advantages
that Vancouver's Island would gain in point of trade by being included
as a party in the Reciprocity 
Treaty between the British North American
Provinces, and the United States, which was then in course of
negotiation, and I trust that the suggestion has led to the desired
result.

The provisions of that Treaty, will have a more direct influence in
advancing the interests of this Colony, than can at present be correctly
estimated. A degree of enterprise will be excited among the Colonists,
which will soon tell favourably on the prospects of the Colony, as it is
now only waiting a favourable opportunity for development. The
Fisheries, Coal, Deals, Spars and other productions of Vancouver's
Island, will then come into play, as sources of wealth and progress.

Whenever our produce is exempted from the nearly prohibitory duty
of 30 per cent, and is received into the Ports of California on a
footing of equality, with the like productions of 
American Oregon, our
foreign Trade will soon increase, bringing wealth and prosperity in its
train.

On the contrary should this Colony not be included in the Treaty of
Reciprocity it is to be feared there never will be a profitable foreign
Trade, and I do not see how in that case, the country can ever emerge,
from its present state of poverty, or rise to that degree of importance,
which it might, in other circumstances, derive from its position in the
Northern Pacific, and its great natural advantages.

With those remarks, which I trust may not be considered
inappropriate, I will leave the case of Vancouver's Island to the kind
consideration of Her Majesty's Government.



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No. 40

I have to acknowledge the receipt on the 28th Ultimo of your
Circular Despatch of the 12th of June last, informing that Her Majesty had been pleased to entrust to your care, as one of the Principal Secretaries of State, the seals of the Colonial Department, an appointment which I have duly noted, and made public for the information of Her Majesty's subjects in this Colony.



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FILE: 1854-10-24_Grey,_Sir_George_to_Douglas_V547105.txt
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No. 5

With reference to your Despatches, enumerated in the margin,
*
I have to request that, for the future, your acknowledgement of the
receipt of my Despatches may be embraced in one communication as it is
unnecessary to acknowledge each Despatch separately.



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FILE: 1854-10-26_Douglas_to_Grey,_Sir_George_V54041.txt
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No. 41

I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your Despatch No 1,
[Marginal note: This is not at present in the Department ABd 24/3] of
the 19th of June last, with copy of the Act 12th and 13th
Victoria, Chap: 96, providing for the prosecution and trial, in Her
Majesty's Colonies, of offences committed within the Jurisdiction of the Admiralty.

I observe with much satisfaction, that my proceedings in the
investigation, relative to the loss of the Brig "William," have met with
your approval, and I have also perused with much attention, your remarks
in reference to the forms observed in erecting Vice Admiralty Courts,
which I now understand cannot be organized, without a special authority,
from the Lords of the Admiralty.

The temporary appointments for the Vice Admiralty Court made by me,
in this Colony, will therefore be immediately suspended; and no further
measures taken, in reference to the organization of a Vice Admiralty
Court, without instructions from the Lords of the Admiralty.

The proceedings in the Vice Admiralty Court of this Island, were
confined to the investigation into the loss of the Brig "William,"
already reported and approved, by Her Majesty's Government, and to
another case, respecting certain claims made by the officers and seamen,
for 
wages due, and by the Hudson's Bay Company, for non-delivery of
cargo; against the British Ship "Colinda."

The history of that case, is briefly as follows. The "Colinda"
under the command of John Powell Mills, was chartered by the Hudson's
Bay Company, to carry a cargo of Goods and 212 passengers, Coal Miners,
and other hired Servants, of the Hudson's Bay Company, from London to
the Port of Victoria, Vancouver's Island, without touching at any
intermediate Port. Captain Mills, notwithstanding put into the Port of
Valdivia, in consequence, as he declared, of the mutiny of the
Passengers, who compelled him to take that course.

The "Colinda" was by order of Admiral Moresby, taken to Valparaiso,
and the passengers were there tried, before a naval court, for "mutinous
and piratical conduct," at the suit of Captain Mills, and 
acquitted:
the latter having failed in proving the charges made against them, and
having by order of the Court, to pay the costs of suit.

The Passengers almost to a man, refused to proceed on the voyage
under the command of Captain Mills, and left the "Colinda" at
Valparaiso, with the exception of seventeen; who arrived here in the
ship.

Captain Mills while at Valparaiso, also sold a large part of the
cargo, of the value at Invoice cost, of about 3000, consigned to the
officer in charge of the Hudson's Bay Company's Establishment, at
Victoria, then represented by Mr John Work.

Captain Mills having failed in delivering the passengers and cargo,
as required by the charter party and Bill of Lading, and not being
disposed to come to any equitable arrangement, with the Agents of the
Hudson's Bay Company, or to give them security for the cargo 
not
delivered, Mr Work acting on their behalf applied for redress, to the
Vice Admiralty Court, and obtained an injunction against the ship, which
was in due course made over to him for adjustment of the Hudson's Bay
Company's claim. These proceedings will I trust, be found strictly in
accordance with right and justice, and though a question will arise, as
to the authority of the Court, granting the Process, there can be no
question in regard to their justice and propriety. The difference
having been since adjusted in another manner; the "Colinda" has been
restored to the owner Mr Tomlin, of London, who authorized me, by
Power of Attorney, to supersede Captain Mills, and to appoint another
Master, to take the ship to England; which I have accordingly done.

I have also perused with much attention your valuable remarks, on
the object and intent of the Act 12th and 13th Vict: Chap: 96,
providing for the prosecution and trial of offences, committed within
the jurisdiction of 
the Admiralty in Her Majesty's Colonies, and shall
be guided by your opinions therein stated, in respect to the trial of
such offences.

I feel much indebted for your kind offers, of assistance, in those
respects, and I shall take every opportunity of communicating with you,
in all cases, when in want of directions.



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FILE: 1854-11-28_Mundy_to_Merivale_Permanent_Under-Secretary_V545WA01.txt
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Mundy to Merivale (Permanent Under-Secretary)

I have received and laid before the Duke of Newcastle your
letter of the 17th instant, with its accompanying extract of a
Despatch from the Governor of Van Couver's Island, from which it
appears that, without waiting for an answer to the Despatch
under date 
the 16th May, which he has already addressed to the Secretary of State on the subject of the Defences of the Colony,
he has taken upon himself to charter a Vessel belonging to the
Hudson's Bay Company, to serve as a Guard Ship, at a cost of £600 a
month, which, he presumes, will be defrayed by Her Majesty's Government.

In reply thereto, I am directed to request that you will
intimate to Secretary Sir George Grey, that, unless
he should
have been supplied by Governor Douglas or from any other quarter
with information of a much more reliable nature than any which
has hitherto reached the Duke of Newcastle, as to the danger to
which the Colony is exposed from Privateers or otherwise, His
Grace is of opinion, adverting to the correspondence which has
already passed on the subject, that the proceeding thus adopted
by Governor Douglas should be disapproved, and that he should be
informed 
that Her Majesty's Government cannot sanction, or hold
itself in any way responsible for the outlay incurred on this
account as a charge against the Imperial Treasury.

The correspondence referred to is to the following effect.
*

In a Despatch, dated 16th May last, Governor Douglas requested
to be furnished, from Her Majesty's Stores, with arms,
accoutrements, ammunition and 12 Months provisions, for the
service of a Military Force of 500 men, to be raised in the
Colony; also with several pieces of light and 
heavy Ordnance for
defensive Batteries, intimating, at the same time a desire to be
supplied with immediate instructions in respect to the payment
of any expenses necessarily incurred in providing for the
defences of the Colony, and to be informed to what amount, and
on whom he might draw for the same.

In answer to this Despatch (which was received on the 25th
July) he was informed, on the 5th August, that Her Majesty's
Government 
deemed it to be at once both unnecessary and
unadvisable to accede to the above requisition; that the Lords
of the Admiralty had already given such directions to the
Admiral on the Station as would ensure the Island being
frequently visited by one or more of the Ships of War under his
command; and that Her Majesty's Government considered there was
nothing in the circumstances of the War with Russia to forbid
the hope and 
expectation that the countenance and support which
would be thus afforded, would amply suffice for the protection
of the Island.



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No. 42

I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt, on the 6th of
Inst of your Despatch No 3, of the 20th of August last,
transmitting copy of a Petition

*

to the Queen, together with the copy of a Memorial addressed to the Duke
of Newcastle, by certain inhabitants of Vancouvers Island, complaining
of the composition of the recently established Supreme Court of Civil
Justice, and of other matters affecting the good 
government of the
settlements on Vancouver's Island, and your desire that I should furnish
you with an early report upon those complaints, which I shall now do.

The Petition to the Queen after the usual Preamble goes on to
assert that the Petitioners are "groaning" under grievances inflicted by
the Local Government of this Colony of Vancouver's Island,

that there can be no sound basis for happiness, amongst a people, where
the Courts of Justice, are not pure, efficient and reliable, then
proceeds to state their wish to have the laws of our country ably and
impartially administered, by men of integrity, ability, learning and
experience, and closes by intreating that Her Majesty would graciously
cause a strict inquiry to be immediately instituted into the
circumstances of the recent creation of a Court, entitled "The Supreme
Court of Civil Justice for Vancouver's Island" and the appointment of
Mr David Cameron the Governor's Brother-in 
-law as Judge of the
same,["] and by declaring their belief that whilst it is allowed to
continue, they cannot but complain of, as an intolerable grievance,
which they pray may be speedily removed.

In reporting on this Petition I am really at a loss how to treat
the subject brought before Her Majesty for redress, or what to explain,
or what to defend, as the grievances alluded to in the Petition, are not
stated, and I have carefully reported to Her Majesty's Government every
step that has been taken by this Government, in the establishment of the
supreme court of Civil Justice, and the reasons, which led to the
temporary appointment of Mr Cameron, as Judge, and I trust it will
appear that the sole object of those measures has been to maintain the
purity and efficiency of the Courts of Justice, and to secure the
impartial administration of the Laws.

I moreover feel confident that
no instant of neglect of duty, in
that respect, can be justly laid to the charge of the Governor and
Council of this Colony.

I will now proceed to recapitulate for your information the causes
which induced the Council to decide on establishing the supreme Court.
I have on various occasions informed Her Majesty's Government, that as
Governor of Vancouver's Island, I had no person of experience to advise
or assist me in the administration of public affairs, the entire onus
and responsibility of which consequently devolved on me.

As a relief from the unceasing calls upon my time, for the
settlement of disputes between the Colonists, I appointed in the month
of March 1853, during Her Majesty's pleasure, four persons to fill the
office of Justice of Peace in this Colony, and it was 
decided that they
should hold a petty session on the first Thursday of every month, and a
general session four times a year, and to them I referred all disputes
that properly came within the Jurisdiction of a Justice's Court.

In the month of June following I had occasion to call Mr
Skinner, one of the Justices then appointed, to account for issuing a
rash and ill considered process, at the instigation of Mr Webster, a
crafty American Adventurer, who was striving to secure a monopoly of the
timber exports from Soke District.

That person accompanied the constable employed by Justice Skinner,
in serving the process, to the settlement at Soke. The Constable there
arrested, without any just cause, and at the suggestion of the said
Webster, two vessels, one English and one American, which were taking in
cargoes of Spars, commanding the masters of those ships in
the Queen's
name, to receive no more timber on board of their vessels.

On complaint being made to me by the said Masters, of that
unjustifiable act, I ordered the vessels to be immediately released from
custody, and pursuaded the sufferers to overlook the proceeding, which
had evidently arisen from ignorance of the Law, and not from malicious
motives, on the part of the Magistrate.

In the month of Septr 1853 a case was tried here before the Justice's Court, which attracted much attention in this country.

It was commenced at the suit of the before mentioned Webster,
against the Muirs, an industrious family holding several hundred acres
of land at Soke, and was decided in a very hasty manner against the
defendants, who where condemned to pay damages to the 
amount of 2213
dollars, besides the costs of suit.

The manifest injustice of that sentence to which I soon afterwards
called the attention of the Council, see Extract of minutes of Council
20th Septr 1853, transmitted with my Despatch No 2 of the 7th
Jany 1854, deeply impressed upon my mind the necessity of limiting
the Jurisdiction of the Justice's Court, to matters strictly within
their province, and legal experience, and of making a better provision
for the administration of Justice, by establishing a higher Court, where
cases of importance might be carefully heard and investigated, proper
records kept, and justice as much as possible be done to all parties.

In the mean time until that measure was carried into effect I
appointed Mr Cameron 
to the office of Justice of the Peace, and
enjoined him to keep proper records of every important case, and to be
careful in observing the forms required by Law, which from the ignorance
of the other Magistrates, had been previously neglected in the Justice's
Court.

I was also induced to take that step by the proceedings of Mr
Webster, who encouraged by his former success, had commenced a fresh
suit, founded on some frivolous pretext, against the unfortunate Muirs,
a circumstance of which Mr Muir, Senior, with tears in his eyes, came
to inform me; and strange as it may appear, after that addition to the
bench, Mr Webster decamped, and has never returned to this Colony.

The establishment of a Supreme Court, was thus in the first place
suggested by the inefficiency of the Justices Court, 
and was moreover
rendered indespensable by the increasing wants of the Colony, and the
absence of any other Court properly possessed of Jurisdiction in Civil
cases. There is nothing unconstitutional in the nature of the Supreme
Court, nor inconsistent with the practice of the Mother country, and of
all other British Colonies. The constitution and forms of pleading
drawn up by Mr Cameron, were transmitted in my Despatch No 2, of the
7th Jany 1854 for consideration and correction; and I therefore
cannot conceive by what process of reasoning the authors of the Petition
could be led to suppose that a measure so manifestly intended for the
protection of the subject, and the efficient administration of Justice,
could be intended as an invasion of their civil rights.

The temporary appointment of Mr Cameron to the office of Judge
of that Court might be so considered, as he has no doubt his faults like
other men, but I am confident of his firmness and integrity, and fully
convinced that he will not wilfully commit an act of injustice, nor
decide on a point of Law, which he does not fully understand, and
besides there is no other disposable person in the Colony so well
qualified by experience or legal knowledge to fill the office which were
he suspended, must for want of a qualified person, remain vacant.

I beg also to remark that I have no wish to retain Mr Cameron as
Judge, and will suspend the temporary appointment made to him, should,
such be your wish; in that case however a Judge should be sent out from
England, otherwise the clamour will be equally great among the
Colonists, for the want of a properly constituted Civil Court.

The argument of the petitioners, founded on the fact of Mr
Cameron's being a Servant of the Hudson's Bay Company, will apply with
equal force to the other Magistrates, as they are Servants of the Puget
Sound 
Company, and in a much more dependent position than Mr Cameron;
this is however an unavoidable evil, as there are no qualified persons
in the Colony for such offices, except the officers of those Companies.

The Memorial to the Duke of Newcastle, appears to be a mere
repetition of the complaints set forth in the Petition to the Queen. My
opinion of Mr Cameron's character and capacity has been before
stated. I highly approve of his manly and fearless conduct, in the
administration of Justice, and in checking neglect and the careless
discharge of duty on the part of his brother Magistrates. He did so in
consequence of my instructions, and the accompanying Copy of an address,
forwarded to me and signed by all the Free holders in the Colony except
two 
will shew that his services were appreciated by those who have
really an interest at stake in the Colony, and that they did not think
with the Memorialists that the appointment of Mr Cameron would
endanger either their property or their personal safety, or that "he had
acted with notorious and gross partiality" in the capacity of Justice of
the Peace.

Those charges against Mr Cameron are I believe without any foundation in truth. Any parties so aggrieved had a right to appeal to
the Governor & Council, for redress, a right which is well understood,
and the people here are not slow in using it, yet no appeal has ever
been made to the Council against any of Mr Camerons legal
proceedings.

The Memoralists in stating that the appointment of Mr Cameron,
was hurried through the Council, in one day, are evidently in
error, as you may observe by Copy of the Minutes of Council held on the
20th day of September 1853, transmitted 
with my Despatch No 2, of the
7th January 1854, which will show that the inefficiency of the
Justices Court, and the establishment of a superior Civil Court, as a
protection to person and property, were the subjects discussed on that
day, the 20th of Septr; and that the Council adjourned without
coming to a decision, till the following 23rd of Septr when the
measure, as it now stands was finally decided on.

Mr Cooper's complaint of having been "betrayed into acquiescence
with Mr Cameron's appointment," is therefore as unreasonable, as his
weak and vacillating conduct was unseemly, at a time when he was bound
to support the measures of Council, knowing them, as he admitted, to be
necessary for the proper administration of Justice, and solely intended
to promote the best interests of the Colony.

I really do not understand what the Memorialists refer to in the
closing paragraph of that Document, as no attempt has been ever made "to
deprive them of their just rights, or to require the sacrifice of their
dearest interests, or to exercise over them a lawless and 
arbitrary
Power."

They have not ventured to specify their "real grievances" nor the
wrongs inflicted upon them "nor the grievances under which they are
deeply suffering," neither have they ever stated them to me. I have
therefore come to the conclusion that those grievances are less real,
than imaginary, a conclusion, strengthened by the present prosperous
state of the country. The people moreover appear happy and contented,
the frugal and industrious are rapidly improving their condition in
life, there are no taxes nor public burdens, the Laws are justly
administered, the means of education are extending, intemperance is on
the decrease, and crimes are almost unknown; in short, since the
departure of the Revd Mr Staines, and his co-adjutor Mr
Swanston, I have not heard a complaint from any person in this Colony,
except in regard to the sale price of Land, which seems to be the only
real grievance affecting the Colonists generally, and that grievance, I
have no power to redress.

Mr Staines unfortunately for himself was a violent party man,
and was prudent neither in his conduct, nor associations; the affidavit
of William Conolly, herewith transmitted does not give an exalted
opinion of his loyalty or attachment to his country, seeing he was using
his influence to encourage Her Majesty's Subjects, to take lands on the
Arro Islands, under the United States, thereby aiding and abetting the
contemplated encroachments of that Government on Her Majesty's
Territories.



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No. 6

I transmit to you the copy of a Memorial from Mr Robert Swanston
complaining of the conduct of the Collector of Customs at Port Victoria in refusing to grant a permit for his Vessel the "William Allen" to
proceed to other Harbours of the Island for the purpose of collecting
Native produce.

I observe from one of the enclosures annexed to this Memorial that
you declined on a former occasion to transmit to the Secretary of State
a representation from the same individual, and there may possibly have
been sufficient grounds to justify that course, but as it appears from
the endorsement of the present Memorial that you are in possession of
the original, and as I have received no communication from you on the
subject I have to request that you will furnish me with a report on the
allegations contained in it, explaining at the same time any reasons
which may have induced you to withhold the transmission of this and the
document above referred to, in contravention of the established rules for
the conduct of Official correspondence.



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No. 7

With reference to that portion of your Despatch No 35 of the
17th August last in which you state that you had chartered a Vessel
belonging to the Hudson's Bay Company as a Guard ship for the protection
of the Settlement, whereby an expenditure of £600 a month would be
incurred payable as you presumed by Her Majesty's Government, I have to
acquaint you that they do not admit that the danger to which the Colony
may be exposed from Privateers or otherwise justifies the proceeding
which you have adopted, and that they cannot therefore sanction or hold
themselves in any way responsible for the outlay incurred on this account
as a charge upon the Imperial Treasury.

The precautions which they deemed it advisable to take for the
protection of the Island were reported to you in my despatch of the
5th August, in answer to yours of the 16th May applying for
instructions on this subject, which I regret you did not wait to receive
before incurring the heavy charges which they are under the necessity of
disallowing.



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No. 8

I have received your Despatch No 39 of the 3rd of October
last, and regret to learn that the prospects of the labouring population
of the Settlement are in your opinion so unsatisfactory.

With respect to including Vancouver's Island in the Reciprocity
Treaty with the United States, I have to inform you that it was not
found practicable to extend that Treaty to the possessions of the two
Countries on the Pacific side of North America, and that in any case
your despatch of the 13th May in which you proposed that this should
be done, did not reach me until after the Treaty had been concluded.



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FILE: 1854-12-18_Smith_to_Merivale_Permanent_Under-Secretary_V545MI08.txt
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Smith to Merivale (Permanent Under-Secretary)

I beg to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 16th
Instant and the accompanying Packet for the Governor of Vancouver's
Island, and to inform you that the Packet will be forwarded agreeably to
your request but that it is doubtful whether the Hudson's Bay Company
will dispatch a vessel for that quarter before May next.



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FILE: 1854-12-23_Mundy_to_Merivale_Permanent_Under-Secretary_V545WA02.txt
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Mundy to Merivale (Permanent Under-Secretary)

Having laid before the Duke of Newcastle your Letters of the 15
instant with the despatches enclosed from the Governor of Vancouvers
Island (Nos 36 & 37 of the 29th Septr) I am directed to request
that you will acquaint Secretary Sir George Grey that his Grace does
not perceive that any steps require to be taken thereupon.



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FILE: 1854-12-28_Cockburn_and_Bethell_to_Grey_V545LW01.txt
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Cockburn and Bethell to Grey

We were honoured with Mr Peel's Letter of the 7th September
last in which He stated that he was directed to transmit to us
copy of an Act passed by the Governor and Council of Vancouvers
Island intituled "an Act to establish a supreme Court of Civil
Justice in the Colony of Vancouvers Island and its dependencies"
and to request that We would favor you with our opinion on the
following questions.

That Vancouvers Island was situated on the North West Coast of
America, was part of the Indian Territories or parts of America
not within the limits of lower or upper Canada within the words
of the Act 43 Geo 3 Cap 138 and was recognized as a portion of
Her Majesty's Dominions by the Treaty with the United States of
15th 
June 1846:

That Vancouver's Island was erected into a separate Colony in
1849 under circumstances which would be collected from the
annexed Charter or Grant of the Island to the Hudson's Bay
Company the printed correspondence between the Colonial Office
and the Hudsons Bay Company thereon the Governor's Commission
and Instructions and the Act 12 and 13 Vict C 48 "to provide for
the administration of Justice in Vancouvers Island":

That it was presumed (subject to our opinion on the point) that
Vancouvers Island was a Colony by occupation not by conquest:

That the Commission granted to the Governor power, with the
advice of the persons designated in the Instructions to
constitute a Council to make and enact such laws and Ordinances
as might from time to time be required for the peace 
Order and
good Government of the Colony. It also gave power to the
Governor, with the advice and consent of the Council to call
together a General Assembly of freeholders qualified as therein
specified, and with the advice and consent of the Council and
Assembly to make laws and Ordinances &c:

That the Council had been constituted agreeably to the
Commission and Instructions:

That no General Assembly had, as yet, been summoned and it might
be assumed for the purpose of this case (although Her Majesty's
Government had not distinct evidence on the subject before them)
that the number of qualified freeholders in the Island was as
yet extremely small, so as to render the summoning [of] such an
Assembly a matter of much difficulty:

That the question on 
which He (Mr Peel) was desired to request
our opinion was, whether the Ordinance now submitted to us,
passed by the Governor and Council alone could be legally
assented to by the Crown and would have the force of law.

In obedience to Your request, We have taken the said Ordinance
in our consideration, and have the honor to Report:

That the Act in question professes to be enacted by the Governor
with the advice and consent of the Members of the Council and by
the authority of the same. But the power of Legislation though
expressed by the Letters Patent to be given to the Governor and
Council is thereby directed to be exercised according to the
Instructions under the sign Manual accompanying the Patent; and
by those Instructions the power of Legislation is vested (as by
Law it must be) in the Governor Council and General Assembly.
We do not think therefore that the Ordinance or Act in question
can be properly assented to by the Crown or that it would have
the force of Law.



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FILE: 1854-12-28_Colvile_to_Grey_V545MI09.txt
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Colvile to Grey

Mr Douglas the Governor of Vancouver Island mentioned in a
letter to the Governor and Committee of the Hudson's Bay Company
that he had made an enquiry of you whether that Colony would be
entitled to benefit by the provisions of the Reciprocity Treaty
with the United States of America, and had represented that, as
Vancouver Island was a "free port," and had no Import duties whatever
at present, it had a fair claim to participate in that arrangement.

I understand that the Reciprocity Treaty is limited to the
British Colonies of Canada, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and
Prince Edward Island. Vancouver Island is in many points
similarly situated towards the United States of America, but
though the produce and manufactures of the United States may be
freely imported into that Island, and without duty, yet all
produce and manufactures imported from thence into the United
States are subjected to very high duties. I have therefore on
the part of the Governor and Committee of the Hudson's Bay
Company to whose charge the interests of Vancouver Island Colony
have been entrusted, to call your attention to this subject and
to suggest that an application should be made to the Government
of the United States to extend the provisions of the Reciprocity
Treaty to Vancouver Island Colony.

If this should be attained, the working of the Coal Mines, and
the general prosperity of the Colony would be much promoted.

