Colonial Despatches

The accompanying copy has been sent to me of a petition which I am informed has been recently presented to your Grace.

For three years I commanded H.M.S. Grappler in British Columbia and the adjacent waters, during the last year of which time Mr Seymour was Governor.

When in some quarters there exists as strong a personal feeling against Governor Seymour as this petition indicates, it is only common fairness for me to express my views, whatever they may be worth, which are directly opposed to paragraph seven of the petition.

Although I am of opinion that Victoria ought certainly to be the capital of the Colony, I consider that the choice of the Seat of Government may well be left to Governor Seymour, whose painstaking conscientiousness in his duties must be apparent to all who have the honour of knowing him intimately: Or it may as safely be left to the Legislative Council whose debates up to the present time have been characterized by anything but servility to the Executive.