I have the honour to acknowledge the receipt of
M Elliot's
letter, dated Downing Street,
4 April, stating that you would be
happy to receive
Sir George Simpson's report on the extension of the
Reciprocity Treaty with the United States to
Vancouver's Island; and
further, that you wish to be informed on what grounds the Directors of
the
Hudson's Bay Company require to have the right of Coast and River
Fishery on the North West Coast of America reserved to them.
In reply I have the honor to state that
Sir George Simpson's report
may be expected in about three weeks, and will be forthwith communicated
to you.
With reference to the second point, I beg to inform you that the
Directors of the
Hudson's Bay Company have no wish to have any right as
against British subjects reserved to them, to which they are not
entitled by their License of Trade,
but
but as their servants are the only
white people inhabiting those Coasts, I inadvertently made use of the
expression "reserved to the
Hudson's Bay Company" instead of "to British
subjects."
I have the honor to be Sir
Your most obed humble Servant
John Shepherd
Dep
Gov
Minutes by CO staff
M Elliot
I think it would be desirable to send to the
F.O. a copy of the
H.B.C Letter of
20 March, of
M Merivale's Letter of the 4
inst—and of this ans to shew that Dept. the steps that have
been taken by
M Labouchere on the rec of the
F.O. Letters of
the
3 and 15 ult.
The answer

to our question is "inadvertence." This inadvertence,
shared in by the
Board of Trade, has delayed the extension of the
Reciprocity Treaty to N.W. America for two years—that is, supposing
the Americans would have agreed to it. There being now no claim of
right on the part of the H.B.C. the negociation can proceed—but we must
await at present
Governor Simpson's report?
I agree however with
M Blackwood as to sending this corresp
to the Foreign office in the mean time.
Documents enclosed with the main document (transcribed)
People in this document
Ball, John
Blackwood, Arthur Johnstone
Clarendon, Earl
Elliot, Thomas Frederick
Hammond, Edmund
Labouchere, Henry
Merivale, Herman
Shepherd, John
Shepherd, John
Simpson, George
Organizations in this document
Board of Trade
Colonial Office
Foreign Office
Hudson's Bay Company
Places in this document
London
Vancouver Island