Colonial Despatches
The colonial despatches of Vancouver Island and British Columbia 1846-1871
Despatch to London
Douglas, Sir James to Lytton, Sir Edward George Earle Bulwer 5 November 1858, CO 60:1, no. 536, 366.
No. 17
I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your Despatch
No 12 of the 2nd of September last, transmitting to me a copy
of a letter from the Aborigines Protection Society, invoking the
protection of HerMajesty's
Majesty's Government on behalf of those
people.
1
Majesty's Government on behalf of those
people.
1
2. While you do not wish to be understood as adopting the
views of the Society, as to the means by which that may be best
accomplished, you express a wish that the subject should have my
prompt and careful consideration, and I shall not fail to give the
fullest effect to your instructions on that head, as soon as the
present pressure of business has somewhat abated. I may however
remark, that the Native Indian Tribes are protected in all their
interests to theutmost
utmost extent of our present means.
utmost extent of our present means.
Minutes by CO staff
Mr Merivale
Should the substance of Par: 2 be communicated to the Aborigines Protection Society?
Should the substance of Par: 2 be communicated to the Aborigines Protection Society?
VJ
17 Jan
Not necessary I think. This will be sufficient to furnish
an answer to any questions on the subject in Parlt.
C
Jany 18
Print for Pa[r]l.
EBL
19
Footnotes
- = Aborigines Protection Society (Lytton to Douglas CO 398/1, p. 65, 2 September 1858). The enclosure, n.d., appears in British Columbia, Papers Connected with the Indian Land Question, 1850-1875 (Victoria: Government Printer, 1875). The Aborigines Protection Society was formed in England in 1837 by Sir Thomas Fowell Buxton, a well-known advocate of the abolition of slavery who headed a royal commission that year to inquire into the treatment of native populations in various British colonies. The society sought to improve the conditions of natives in British colonies, while encouraging evangelicalism. By the 1840's, the society concerned itself with the effect of colonial self-government on natives. See Raymond M. Cooke, British Evangelicals and the Issue of Colonial Self-Government, Pacific Historical Review, 34 (May 1965): 127-40. See also Aborigines' Protection Society, Aborigines' Friend and the Colonial Intelligencer, January-June 1859 (London: Aborigines' Protection Society, 1859). Better reference ??