[No. 9]

I have the honor of trans==mittingtransmitting herewith Duplicate of my Despatch
of the 11th November, with the accompanying Documents.

Our relations with the Native Tribes have undergone no material
change since that date, they have been uniformly quiet and friendly in
their intercourse with the settlement and appear to regret the unhappy
event which occurred last month. We have not yet taken any active
measures to secure the murderers of Brown, owing to the non arrival of
the Hudson's Bay Companys Steam vessel, which except Boats, is the only
means of transport at my disposal capable of conveying an adequate force
to the part of the coast, where the criminals are reported to have taken
refuge; and it would not be advisable, at this inclement season of the
year, to undertake an expedition, of so much importance, in open Boats,
which would neither represent the dignity of the Government nor afford
shelter and protection to the men, and might probably end in disaster
and defeat. I have therefore deferred the expedition until it can be
dispatched with all the means at our disposal.

A question has lately arisen here relative to the sovereignty of
the Islands in the Canal de Arro, situated between Vancouvers Island and
the Continent, to which some American citizens have set up a claim in
the name of the United States.

I propose to lay the question before you in my next despatch and in
the mean time I shall assert the Sovereignty of Great Britain, to all
the Islands in the Arro Archipelago situated to the eastward of
Strawberry Bay, so named by Vancouver, which is the usual ship channel
into the Gulf of Georgia.

I would also observe for the information of Her Majesty's
Government that several American Merchant vessels were engaged last
summer in trafficking with the natives and fishing on the west coast of
Vancouver's Island, the produce of those voyages being carried into the
Ports of California. That traffic is not hurtful to any existing
British interest as there are no settlements on that coast, but as it
may soon become a lucrative branch of British Trade and as it cannot be
carried on by American citizens without a manifest violation of British
Territory, I think it would be advisable to place a check upon such
proceedings, before they acquire, from custom, the force of national
rights.

If such should be Her Majesty's pleasure I beg to receive such
instructions and directions on the subject as may be requisite
for our guidance.