No. 15
[NAC, RG7, G8C/5, p. 462 (CO 410/2, p. 147)
]
Downing Street
31 October 1866
Sir,
I have received from time to time a considerable number of
Despatches and other communications as noted below,
[*](#marg1)
relating to the consititution of Vancouver Island, and to the Union
which has long been proposed between that Colony and British Columbia.
In acknowledging them I thinkit it advisable to place on record in some
degree, the motives by which Her Majesty's Government have been actuated
in taking steps for the complete Union of the Colonies.
So long ago as the 15th of June 1863, I observe that the Duke of
Newcastle expressed his conviction that the Colonies ought to form one
Government. But this course was open to three strong objections.
First it was opposed to the prevalent feeling on the spot.
Secondly—The formalGrant Grant of Representative Institutions was
impossible in British Columbia, while they already existed in and could
not be withdrawn from Vancouver Island except by a strong exercise of
Parlimentary power or by an intimation on the part of that Colony that
it was willing to place itself in the hands of Her Majesty's Government.
Thirdly—the Commercial policy of Vancouver Island was opposed to
the imposition of Import Duties on which the Government of British Columbia was obliged to rely for it's Revenue.
But
But for these objections the Duke of Newcastle considered, and
indeed no reasonable person could doubt, that the interest of the
Colonies, whether in point of economy or in point of Administrative
efficiency, required that they should be consolidated under one
Legislative and Executive Government.
Such were the views of the Home Government in 1863. On the 2nd
March 1865 the difficulty hitherto existing was disposed of by the
Assembly of Vancouver Island declaring by Resolution that
The immediateUnion Union of this Colony with British Columbia under
such Constitution as Her Majesty may be pleased to grant is the means
best adapted to prevent permanent caused of depression as well as to
stimulate Trade, foster industry, develop our resources, augment our
population and increase our permanent prosperity.
Later, on the 13th of December 1865 the same Assembly "endorsed"
these Resolutions, but while expressing their preference for
Representative Institutions, and apparently for what is called
ResponsibleGovernment Government, repeated their conviction that the immediate
Union of Vancouver Island and British Columbia was necessary beyond any
other measure to impart confidence to the public mind, and to place both
Colonies on a prosperous footing. They also referred to the willingness
which they had already shown to accept whatever Constitution Her
Majesty's Government might be pleased to grant.
These Addresses adopted by the Legislature, at an interval of
nearly a year, must plainly be taken as representing thedeliberate deliberate
opinion of the Community in favor of Union, even at the sacrifice of
their Representative Institutions. And though it is true that certain
of the inhabitants of Vancouver Island were evidently opposed to the
imposition of Import Duties in that Island, yet it is evident that if
Union was to be effected the imposition or removal of those Dduties must
remain a question for the decision of the United Legislature. It must
be supposed that the Assembly accepted this obvious consequence of their
own request.
Thus the difficultiesof of consolidation as far as regards Vancouver Island were wholly removed, and on terms to which no reasonable
objection could be raised on the part of British Columbia. Under these
circumstances Her Majesty's late Government introduced a Bill into
Parliament with that object, and that Bill was subsequently adopted and
carried on by me. When that Bill was passing through Parliament some
Resolutions, (unaccompanied by any Report from the Governor of the
Colony), were received by Telegraph which had been passed in the monthof
of June by the House of Assembly and which though they reasserted the
vital necessity of Union, prayed that this Union might take place under
a certain Constitution which would be Representative in it's general
character, but the terms and conditions of which were very loosely
specified. The Assembly however did not specifically withdraw the
original pledges of January and December 1865, and they impressed on the
Secretary of State the injury which was inflicted on both Colonies by
the then existing state ofuncertainty uncertainty.
Even in the absence of explanations from the Governor it was
evident that these expressions of opinion did not justify Her Majesty's
Government in delaying for another year the Union which the Assembly had
consistently, and, in the opinion of successive Secretaries of State,
correctly pronounced indispensable, and in protracting the uncertainty
which they had declared to be injurious.
The Bill therefore was carried through Parliament, and may perhaps
have resulted inthe the Union of the two Colonies before this Despatch can
reach it's destination.
That Union will render it unnecessary from me to enter on a variety
of subjects which are treated of in the Despatches and letters now under
acknowledgment. But I have thought it necessary to furnish you with
this explanation of the proceedings of Her Majesty's Government lest
they should be thought to involve any want of consideration for the then
existing Legislature of Vancouver Island, or should be attributedto to any
other motive than the desire to complete with promptitude an arrangment
which I believe to be not more in accordance with the main interests of
the two Colonies than with their wishes, and to terminate a state of
uncertainty of which I am convinced the mischief is not overstated by
the Assembly of Vancouver Island.
I have the honor to be
Sir,
Your most obedient
humble Servant
Carnarvon