Colonial Despatches

In the letter which I had the honour to address to Your Lordship under the date of the *9th Instant, I confined myself to answering your communication of the 4th. I now beg leave to draw your Lordship's attention to your letter of the †31st July, in which you state that you would direct the draft of a commission and instructions for the Governor of the proposed settlement in Vancouver's Island to be prepared without delay and communicated to me, intimating at the same time that you would be glad to receive from me an expression of my opinion as to the person who may most properly be recommended to Her Majesty for the office of Governor.

In accordance with your Lordship's wish, I take the liberty of recommending Mr James Douglas, the gentleman whose Report on Vancouver's Island appears among the papers relating to that Island laid before Parliament.

Mr Douglas is a man of property, a Chief Factor of the Hudson's Bay Company, and a member of the Board at Fort Vancouver for Managing the Company's affairs in the country westward of the Rocky Mountains.

I do not propose this as a permanent appointment, but merely as a temporary expedient until the colony can afford to pay a Governor unconnected with the Hudson's Bay Company.

I also beg leave to submit for your Lordship's consideration the names of the following gentlemen whom I think well qualified to hold commissions of the Peace under the Act of 1st and 2d Geo. 4th c. 66.