"5cfb86c1-6d5f-401a-84b5-7065716006d5"@en . "CONTENTdm"@en . "http://resolve.library.ubc.ca/cgi-bin/catsearch?bid=165982"@en . "British Columbia Historical Books Collection"@en . "United States. Congress. House documents"@en . "Nugent, John (Special Agent of the United States)"@en . "United States. President (1857-1861 : Buchanan)"@en . "2016-05-05"@en . "1859"@en . "\"([United States] 35th Cong., 2d sess. House Ex. doc. no. 111). Special agent: John Nugent.
According to his instructions, the purpose of Nugent's mission was to infuse a spirit of subordination to British law among the American citizens in British Columbia and to inform the government about American emigration to the Fraser River mines.\" -- Lowther, B. J., & Laing, M. (1968). A bibliography of British Columbia: Laying the foundations, 1849-1899. Victoria, BC: University of Victoria, p. 13."@en . ""@en . "https://open.library.ubc.ca/collections/bcbooks/items/1.0221877/source.json"@en . "30 pages ; 23 cm"@en . "application/pdf"@en . " *\n35th Congress, 5 HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES. \ Ex. Doc.\n2c? Session. \ ) No. 111.\nVANCOUVER'S ISLAND AND BRITISH COLUMBIA.\nMESSAGE\nFROM THE\nPRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES,\nCOMMUNICATING\nThe report of the special agent of the United States recently sent to Vancouver's Island and British Columbia.\nMarch 3, 1859.\u00E2\u0080\u0094Laid on the table and ordered to be printed.\nTo the House of Representatives:\nIn compliance with the resolution of the House of Representatives\nof the 25th ultimo, I transmit a copy of the report of the special\nagent of the United States recently sent to Vancouver's Island and\nBritish Columbia.\nJAMES BUCHANAN.\nWashington, February 28, 1859.\nWashington, January 8, 1859.\nSir : In accordance with your letter of instructions, dated August\n2, 1858, I proceeded, without unnecessary loss of time, to Victoria,\nVancouver's Island, where I arrived on the 20th of September, having\nbeen detained twelve days at San Francisco, awaiting the departure\nof a steamer. On my arrival, I found that a large number of those\nwho had gone to the Frazer river mines, had left on their return to\nCalifornia, having become dissatisfied with' the country and the\nprospect; and that, of those who remained, by far the greater number\nwere merely waiting to realize sufficient to defray their expenses back\nto their homes. It was still likely, however, that a considerable number would remain, both on Vancouver's Island and throughout the\nmining region of Frazer river, during the winter, if not longer; and\nI addressed myself to the accomplishment, in regard to them, of the\nobjects of the mission with which I had been honored by the President\nof the United States.\nThe chief purpose of the special agency intrusted to me I understood to be, to infuse among the citizens of the United States, temporarily resident in the vicinity of Frazer river, a spirit of subordination\nto the colonial authorities, and of respect for the laws of Great Britain,\nand, at 'the same time, by such representations to the governor of 2 . VANCOUVER ISLAND AND BEITISH COLUMBIA.\nVancouver's Island ^^X^^^^^P^t\nIf & towards, Americans \u00E2\u0084\u00A2\u00E2\u0084\u00A2f\\u00E2\u0084\u00A2lr%ndi would, furthermore\nxights as the cit we*8** a *\u00C2\u00A3J nfe5ingB of kindness and good -will\ntend to promote ^ \u00E2\u0084\u00A2\u00C2\u00A3e Ejects of Great Britain. Some such\ntowards the g^eromenta^lto^ J deemed necessary? for the\nintervention by the un^^ n d to exist among those of\nxeason that much \u00C2\u00AB\u00E2\u0084\u00A2W*\u00C2\u00B0J1\u00E2\u0084\u00A2to th\u00C2\u00A7e Frazer river mines, against\nour citizens then xnaking the ry ^ ^ h t f\nthe servants of the Hudson s w i us exactl0ns to which\nVancouver's Island, \u00C2\u00AB \u00C2\u00AB^eBjKd0lby those officials. The numerous\nthey were saidltohave been^bjectea y ^ the rnment\ncomplaints ota&h ^^ultsTe last, were in that month brought\nof the United States, as early ^^^ DaUas, our minister at\nto the notice ^gJ^SSSs S his lordship in reply, of the\nLondon; and, from tne ue government, as well as from re-\nfavorable dapontaon of ^e BnnBa ^ ^.^ &t Waghingt\npeatedassurances of LordJNapier rf ^^ nQ u\nto the same eff^T^^^dulged that the rigor of the exactions\nwas entertamed-the hope'\u00E2\u0084\u00A2inQ * representations of their m-\nJS^SS^\u00C2\u00ABn?t tT^rk of conciliation would be one of\nno difficu^lt accomphshment instructions contemplated that I\nIn addition to tj^\u00E2\u0084\u00A2^ jfa, an needful and attainable infor-\nAould f^M^^SSS mines on Frazer river; the emi-\nM?S\u00C2\u00A3S thereto;, and other kindred subject,,. _\ngTI Tsclrfery^nece^ry to advert to the history of the Frazer river\nIt is scarcely uc j ^ eopie 0f Call-\nrnmors industriously circulated of fabulous gold discoveries on Frazer\nxivtr how day after day, steamers and sailing vessels left the port\nof San &ancisyco for Victoria, crowded to excess: many of them\nfarming three times the number of passengers allowed by law; how\nthousands, who were then in properous circumstances in California,\ndazzled by.the. prospect of immediately acquiring immense wealth,\nabandoned their occupations, both professional and manual and selling off their mining claims and other possessions at a great sacrifice,\nthrew themselves.into the mad crowd who were thronging with eager\nsteps to the new gold fields. It is understood that twenty-three thousand men left the port of San Francisco for Frazer nver, and that\nsome ei^ht thousand more went overland, from the northern counties\nof California, and from the Territories of Oregon and Washington,\nby way of the Dalles and Fort K-amloops.\nSome estimate the number as much greater; but it is safe to assert\nthat the emigration to Vancouver's Island and British Columbia\nduring the gold excitement,\u00E2\u0080\u0094the bulk of it during the months of\nMay June, and July,\u00E2\u0080\u0094was not under thirty thousand, and may have\nreached thirty-three thousand.\nThe number remaining there at present probably does not exceed ^M\u00C2\u00A3NHHH^HI^MHHIi^HHHHHBBBSEra@g^aiMH^^H^HMftG\u00C2\u00ABgiiaMI\nVancouver's island and British Columbia. 3\nthree thousand. The causes which produced this general and rapid\nabandonment of the colonies, I shall presently endeavor to explain.\nThefirst body of gold seekers found their way to Frazer river from\nVictoria in canoes, skiffs, and whale-boats, American steamers being\nH that time jealously excluded from the river. Numbers perished in\nthese hazardous voyages; many were lost in the mazes of the archipelago that stretches from Discovery island to the edge of the Gulf of\n'Georgia; and many more in attempting to cross that stormy and\n'dangerous gulf, dangerous even for strong and large steamers, from\nthe peculiarity of its currents, and from other causes.\nAt length Mr. Douglas, governor of Vancouver's Island, and chief\nfactor of the Hudson's Bay Company, was induced to permit, on certain conditions, and on the payment of a certain sum for each trip\nthe navigation of the river by American bottoms, reserving to himself\nthe right to withdraw this permission whenever boats owned by British subjects could be provided for the transportation of passengers\nand freight. A number of steamers (the Sea Bird, the Surprise, the\nUmatilla, the Maria, the Enterprise, and others) immediately commenced running between Victoria and the different points on Frazer\nriver, and by these means the emigrants were enabled to spread themselves over the gold regions on the river and its tributaries.\nThe failure of their quest has been already chronicled through the\npress. Some, it is true, without experience in mining operations be-\n\u00E2\u0080\u00A2came disgusted, and left without giving the mines a fair trial; but the\ngreat majority of the emigrants were men who had gained a thorough\nknowledge of mining by years of experience in California, and whom\nno hardships or discomforts could deter from the prosecution of their\npurpose. These men have penetrated into every accessible portion of\nthe gold fields, from the mouth of the river up to the Canoe country\ndown Thompson's river, from Fort Kamloops to its mouth, and up\nBridge river nearly to its source, and have prospected every spot\nwhere gold is supposed to exist.\nIt is true that gold has been found everywhere, but, for the most\npart, diffused in such small quantities as not to reward the labor of\n- digging for it. Some idea may be formed of the unsatisfactory yield\n\u00E2\u0080\u00A2of the mines when it is considered that, notwithstanding the immense\n\u00E2\u0096\u00A0numbers of people precipitated upon Frazer river and the adjacent\ncountry, the entire yield from May till October, inclusive, did not\nmuch exceed half a million of dollars.\nThere are some five or six bars on the river, between Fort Hope\nand Fort Yale, (Santa Clara bar, Texas bar, Emory's bar, Hill's bar\nand one or two others,) that yield well; and on Bridge river, and at\nthe forks of Frazer and Thompson's rivers, good diggings have been\nfound;\u00E2\u0080\u0094but in' the whole region hitherto prospected, there are not\neligible placers more than enough to give remunerative employment\nto about fifteen hundred miners.\nWhat discoveries may be the result of future researches to the north-\n. ward and eastward of the present gold region can be, for the present,\nonly matter of vague speculation. Hitherto, no gold-bearing quartz\nledge of any extent has been found, and but little coarse gold. The\nbulk of that washed out is exceedingly fine dust. Some considerable 4 VANCOUVER'S ISLAND AND BRITISH COLUMBIA.\nportion is of the description known as scale gold. The coarse gold\nspecimens that I have seen were found not in the mam river but in\nits small tributaries. From the extreme fineness of the gold, it requires elaborate care in amalgamation, and the use of a large quantity\n\u00C2\u00B0 Inconsequence of the hazards of the trip from Victoria to the various points on the river attainable by steamboats\u00E2\u0080\u0094the navigation of\nFrazer river being extremely difficult and perilous\u00E2\u0080\u0094the prices of\nfreight were enormous. From Victoria to Fort Hope, situated on\nFrazer river, one hundred miles above its mouth, forty dollars per\nton and, as the river became low, and the difficulty and danger increased, fifty dollars per ton was charged. From Fort Hope to Fort\nTale, a distance of sixteen miles, which could only be performed, in.\ncanoes, the freight was twenty dollars per ton, and above that point,\nthe river not being navigable even for canoes for upwards of two hundred miles, provisions were packed, generally on men's backs, to the\nvarious diggings and prospecting grounds above.\nThe cost of provisions being so greatly enhanced by the labor and\nexpense of transportation, the scant yield that in most cases rewarded\nthe labors of the miner, even when he found gold, except in the most\nfavored spots, scarcely sufficed for his support; while thousands spent\nall the means they had brought with them from California in prospecting without any remuneration whatever from the soil.\nIt will be seen, from the above, that the deposits of gold in the\n^Frazer river region do not offer any weighty inducement for emigration from any portion of the United States.\nThe country is still less attractive in an agricultural point of view.\nTowards the coast its features are rocks, mountains, and a dense\ngrowth of fir trees. The few patches of open land one meets with\nare fitter for pasturage than the plow. Around Fort Kamloops,\non Thompson's river, there is a prairie of some extent, and among\nthe mountains are minute strips of valley land, but these latter are\ngenerally so difficult of access as to be almost unavailable for farming\npurposes. There is at present, no land under cultivation by white\nmen in the colony, except, perhaps, a small strip in the immediate\nvicinity of Fort Kamloops. Eastward, towards the base of the Bocky\nMountains, the country is more open, but the climate is more unfavorable to agricultural pursuits than on the coast.\nAll accounts concur in representing the climate as anything but\npleasant. Mr. Dunn, a standard authority on that country, writes of\nit as follows:\n\"The climate is very variable, and the transitions are, though\nperiodically regular, remarkably sudden, if not violent. During the\nspring, which lasts from April till June, the weather and face of the\n5^*7,\"? de1ll\u00C2\u00A71?tful-1 Ia June there are almost incessant rains,\ndrifted furiously along by a strong south wind. In July and August\nthe heat is intense, tod the ground, previously saturated with moisture, produces myriads of annoying flies and insects. This heat and\nsunshine are succeeded in September by fogs of such palpable darkness\nthat, until noon, it is seldom possible to distinguish objects at a Ion\ndistance than one hundred yards. In November the winter sets in\nger .. 'swsssaHflesas\nVANCOUVER'S ISLAND AND BRITISH COLUMBIA. 5\nspeedily freezing the lakes and smaller rivers. The cold, however,\nis not so intense as might be imagined in such a country and climate.\"\nFrom a British army officer, formerly in the service of the Hudson's\nBay Company, a gentleman of great intelligence, who has traversed\nnearly the whole region comprised within the newly established colony\nof British Columbia, I learn that there is no part of the country that\nwill ever justify farming operations of anymagnitude or extent. A large\nportion of the country is covered with water, and the rest is broken,\ncut up by rocky mountain ridges, and covered with a dense growth of\nflr and other timber, valueless as lumber, and unavailable for spars,\nfor the reason that there is no possibility of conveying it to the coast.\nThe climate of the southeastern portion of Vancouver's Island is,\nfor the most part, pleasant and healthful, except for a few of the winter months, during which boisterous winds and cold rains prevail,\nbut the soil is illy adapted for the growth of cereals.\nOn the eight or ten square miles of open land in the neighborhood\n\u00E2\u0080\u00A2of Victoria, (the capital and only town of the colony,) there are some\nwell kept farms, and in the patches of land on different parts of the\ncoast, covered with Indian villages, thepotato is cultivated with success,\nand good farms might be established ; but with the exception of twenty\nor twenty-five square miles, which comprise all the clear land of the\nisland, the remainder, two hundred and seventy miles in length, by\nfrom forty to fifty broad, is a mass of rocks and mountains, and sterile\nclay, covered with a dense growth of valueless fir and tangled underbrush. Even that portion of woodland which is accessible to the axe\nwould not justify the labor or expense of clearing, as the soil is too\nbarren to yield anything like healthy or remunerative crops. Neither\ncolony, therefore, offered any inducements to our citizens, disappointed\nin their mining operations, to settle down in the country with the view\nof tilling the soil.\nBut there is no doubt that, independently of the unpromising character of mining and agricultural operations, the early and rapid abandonment of the colonies by our citizens was induced, in some measure,\nby the petty exactions and other annoyances to which they were subjected by the servants of the Hudson's Bay Company, and the officers\nof the colonial government.\nImmediately on my arrival at Victoria, I took means to inform\nmyself as to the various causes of complaint alleged to exist, with a\nview to making such representations to Governor Douglas as might\nlead to their removal. I found in force a number of restrictions on\nmining and commercial pursuits, that operated as very irksome burdens, not simply by reason of the amounts exacted in the shape of\ntaxes and other imposts, but because they were known to be exacted\nwithout authority of law. I shall proceed to notice these taxes in\ndetail.\nI have already said that, at an early stage of the Frazer river excitement, Governor Douglas gave permission for the navigation of the\nriver by American steamers. From the following document, which is\na copy of the original agreement, it would appear that the permission\nwas given by him as factor of the Hudson's Bay Company, and not as\ngovernor of Vancouver's Island. VANCOUVER'S ISLAND AND BRITISH COLUMBIA.\nCopy of agreement.\nThe agents of the Hudson's Bay Company agree to license one or\nmore steamers, to ply from Victoria to and on Frazer river, on the\nfollowing terms: \ . -^\n1 To receive and transport no goods to, on, or from Frazer river,\nexcept the goods of the Hudson's Bay Company, or such as they may\npermit to be shipped, and that for the transport of such goods the\nfreight do not exceed the following rates, viz :\nVictoria to Langley, $10 per ton of 2,000 pounds, or 40 feet measurement.\nLangley to Fort Hope, $10 per ton of 2,000 pounds, or 40 feet measurement.\nFort Hope to Fort Yale, $5 per ton of 2,000 pounds.. !\nReturn rates to be in the same scale,\n2. To carry no passengers to or on Frazer river who have not taken\nout a mining license and permit from the government of Vancouver's\nIsland, and one month's advance thereon.\n3. To pay head-money to the Hudson's Bay Company, at the rate of\ntwo dollars for each passenger proceeding into Frazer, or taking passage from Langley upwards ; a settlement to be made at the end of\neach trip, and an officer of the Hudson's Bay Company to be received\non board without charge, to attend to such business, if required by the\nHudson's Bay Company.\n4. That all vessels plying to or on the river be commanded and\nowned by British subjects.\n5. That permits on said terms will be continued until expiry of\nthe comyany's license to trade, in the month of May, 1859.\nIt will be perceived that this license is given by the agents of the\nHudson's Bay Company to ply to and on Frazer river. By what right ?\nGreat Britain had the right to exclude our steamers from the waters\nof Frazer river ; but if Great Britain did not choose to assert that right>\nhow could the Hudson's Bay Company's servants claim to make con-\n' ditions with our people, and charge toll for the privilege of entering ?\nAdmitting that they had the right of exclusive trade with the Indiansa\nthat did not give them control of the navigation of the river.\nThe conditions show, in a remarkably strong light, the grasping;\nspirit that animated these officials. While other traders, British and.\nAmerican, were paying forty and fifty dollars per ton freight to Fort\nHope, they exacted of the steamboat owners, as one of the conditions.\nof opening the river, that they should carry the freight of the company for twenty dollars per ton, thus securing to themselves a large\nadvantage over other merchants trading on the river.\nAnother very remarkable condition is that contained in Article 2d :\nEvery person leaving Victoria for Frazer river, no matter what his\nbusiness, was compelled to pay five dollars for a license to mine. Of\ncourse, under this regulation, the tax was extorted from a great \u00E2\u0096\u00BA\u00E2\u0080\u00A2raw**\nVancouver's island and British Columbia. 7\nmany of our citizens who never visited the river with any intention of\nmining.\n_ I have seen a number of affidavits made by American citizens, setting forth the fact that they had visited Frazer river with no intention\nof mining ; had never mined, and yet had been compelled to take out\na mining license. The enforcement of the pre-payment, at Victoria,\nof this mining tax was abandoned a short time previous to my departure from the colony in November ; but for a long time it was rigidly\nexacted, and a file of marines from the British vessel-of-war at the\nmouth of the river was called into requisition, when it became necessary to enforce compliance on the part of a set of rebellious passengers.*\nThe third article requires the payment of two dollars head-money\nto the Hudson's Bay company, by every person entering the Frazer\nriver country. I never could learn why this tax was collected, except\nthat the Hudson's Bay Company were the temporary possessors of the\nland, and they chose to exact this tribute from strangers on entering it.\nThe fourth article had neither truth nor substance, and was never\nintended to have any effect. The steamboat owners with whom the\nagreement was made were American citizens, the boats were American\nbottoms, sailing all the time under the American flag, and were so\ndeclared to be by their owners. The agents of the Hudson's Bay\nCompany said the article was a mere matter of form, and so it was\ninserted.\nThe following is a copy of the sufferance taken out by steamboats\n\u00C2\u00A3for eg,eh trip) under the above agreement:\nNo. 580.\u00E2\u0080\u0094General Sufferance.\nPort Victoria, Vancouver's Island,\nThese are to certify to all whomit doth concern, that sufferance for\nthis present voyage is granted on the conditions annexed to Captain\n\"Wright to proceed on a voyage to Frazer river with steamer Enterprise and cargo, as per manifest, and that the said Captain Wright\nhath here entered and cleared his boat according to law.\nGiven under my hand at Victoria, V. I., this 18th day of October,\n1858.\nCHAS. A. ANGELO,\nDeputy Collector.\n*\u00C2\u00BB We would most earnestly impress on all persons about proceeding to the mi ties the\nnecessity of obtaining licenses to mine from the proper officers at this port, as it will savo\nthem much time, annoyance, and may be serious trouble. Mr. Purser Welch, of the\nsteamer Surprise, informs us that on his last trip up some fifty of the pussengers, mostly\nIrishmen, refused to buy licenses, and expressed their determination to disregard the law\nin this respect. When off Point Roberts, just at the mouth of Frazer river, the Surprise\nwas ordered along side of H. B. Majesty's war steamer Satellite, boarded by her officers, and\nthe fact of the contumacy of the refractory ascertained, when a file of marines was stationed\non board and each passenger obliged to show his license under penalty of being put ashore.\nThese prompt measures brought the rebellious to terms, and they were glad to be allowed\nto purchase their licenses and proceed on their journey. We trust all persons arriving in\nthe country will cheerfully obey the laws, as it is their duty, and because we are satisfied\nsuch obedience on their part will not only conduce to their own but the public good.\u00E2\u0080\u0094\nVictoria (V. J.) Gazette, of June 30, 1858. 8 Vancouver's island and British Columbia.\nFor each sufferance for a steamboat the sum of twelve dollars was\nexacted; and for each sufferance for a canoe, and every other description of boat entering the river, the sum of six dollars.^ It will be\nseen that by a remarkable confusion of jurisdictions, this sufferance\ntax is collected by the collector of the port of Victoria, an officer of\nthe colonial government.\nThus far the taxes imposed were\u00E2\u0080\u0094\nFor mining licenses, renewable at the end of each month $5 00\nHead-money from each person 2 00\nSufferance for a steamboat for each trip 12 00\nSufferance for each canoe and other boat 6 00\nFrom canoes and other small boats passing up the river these imposts were collected in this wise: A hermaphrodite brig, named the\nBecovery, formerly owned by the Hudson's Bay Company, but afterwards put in commission and commanded by a lieutenant in the British\nnavy, was stationed above the mouth of the river, and by her every\nboat passing up was hailed and ordered alongside.\nIf the passengers were so unfortunate as not to have means to pay\nmining license, head-money, and sufferance tax, their watches, pistols,\nknives, or other personal effects were held in pledge for payment. In\nthe absence of such personal effects, bags of flour, beans and coffee,\nhams, and other provisions Were retained, and I have been assured that\nthe deck of the brig was covered with those articles. It is but just to\nadd that the officers immediately charged with the performance of this\nunpleasant'service acted with all gentleness and humanity compatible\nwith their orders, and that they endeavored, by every means in their\npower, to mitigate the rigor of these amercements.\nIn addition to the taxes above enumerated, a duty of ten per cent.\nad valorem was imposed on all goods imported into the Frazer river\ncountry. It is almost unnecessary to say that this duty is wholly\nunauthorized by any existing law. Latterly it was pretended that it\nwas levied for the behoof of the government, but the fact that it was\ncollected by Mr. Finlayson, the financial agent of the Hudson's Bay\nCompany, and not by the collector of the port, in addition to other\ncircumstances, would lead to the belief that it was imposed by the\ncompany and for their own benefit. A letter is in existence from Mr.\nFinlayson to Mr- G. B. Wright, a contractor on the Harrison Lillooett\ntrail, in which that gentleman promises that the goods imported by\nMr. Wright up Frazer river, for the subsistence and clothing of his\nmen, shall not be charged with this duty of ten per cent., as long as\nthe license of the company shall continue in existence, but that, after\nits expiration, they will have no control in the matter. If the duty\nhad not been imposed by the company, they certainly would have had\nno power to remit it in Mr. Wright's case. I shall be enabled, in a\nfew days, to furnish a certified copy of this letter.\nThe following is a copy of the permit granted on the payment of\nthe ten per cent, duty: Vancouver's island and British Columbia.\nPermit.\nPermission is hereby given to the northwest boundary commission\nof the United States to import the following packages of merchandise\ninto Frazer river:\nMarks.\u00E2\u0080\u0094George B. Roberts for Alexander C. Anderson, collector.\nContents.\u00E2\u0080\u0094Two thousand pounds barley.\nROBERT FINLAYSON,\nHudson's Bay Company.\nTo the revenue officer of Frazer river.\nWILLIAM JEFFERY.\nVictoria, V. I., September 2, 1858.\nAppended to this report is an affidavit of W. G. Eason, esq., now\nresident of Victoria, setting forth the payment of the duty on the\nabove mentioned shipment of barley, and the refusal of Mr. Finlayson to receipt for the same. I likewise append a statement from the\nbooks of G. A. Reynolds & Co., merchants in Victoria, showing the\namount of duties paid by that firm for a portion of the month of September, 1858.\nHaving informed myself concerning these various imposts, I waited\nupon Governor Douglas, in accordance with yonr instructions, and\nrepresented the various causes of complaint urged by our citizens. From\nthe friendly intentions expressed by the British government, and the\nearnest disposition manifested by Lord Napier, the British minister,\nto co-operate with the government of the United States in such mutual offices of kindness and conciliation as would soften any feeling of\nexasperation that might have previously existed on the part of our\npeople then on Frazer river and Vancouver's Island, against the local\nauthorities, and from what I was led to believe was the tenor of the\ninstructions sent to Governor Douglas, simultaneously with my departure for Frazer river, I apprehended no difficulty in inducing, on\nthe part of that functionary, such an abatement of the rigor of the pre-\nvions exactions as would allay the existing discontent, and would secure,\nfor the future, harmony and good feeling. I regret to state that\nneither the instructions sent out, nor the earnest and courteous remonstrances which I deemed it my duty to address to his excellency,\nagainst the injustice, the impolicy and illegality of those exactions,\nwere efficacious in producing more than the partial and inconsiderable\nmodification I have before mentioned.\nGovernor Douglas, it is true, expressed the most friendly dispositions ; but when pressed upon the subject of an abatement of the restrictions on mining and trading operations, remarked that there was\nnothing to prevent the Americans going elsewhere if they were dissatisfied with their treatment in the two colonies.\nAs an apology for the imposition of those onerous taxes he alleged\nthe necessity of protecting the miners from the Indians. The only\nprotection ever afforded against the Indians was by the appointment\nof a few special constables, a force not likely to be very efficient in an 10\nVancouver's island and British Columbia.\nIndian war. It is needless to say that the miners were compelled to\nprotect themselves. At first the Indians were extremely hostile, from\ncauses which I shall hereafter allude to. The miners, being m.a strange\nland, and unwilling to embroil themselves, forbore, for a long time,,\nfrom resisting the outrages perpetrated by the savages j but their forbearance the Indians regarded as cowardice; murders were committed ;\nday after day the headless trunks of murdered miners came floating\ndown the river. Bands of men were then organized who went out\nto the rancherias, met the Indians and chastised them. They then\nmade treaties with them, and peace prevailed ever after. Individual\ninstances of indiscretion and hot blood there may have been among\nthe Americans in these troubles ; but the unanimous testimony of all\nparties, both English and American, goes to show that those engaged\nin the difficulties exhibited exemplary forbearance before they struck\na blow. Since that time there has been no necessity for the employment of special constables in Indian warfare.\nBut the grievances of which our citizens complained were not confined to the exactions practiced upon them. Numerous complaints\nreached me, of outrages committed by the subordinate officers of the\nHudson's Bay Company, of dishonest dealings by the Commissioner of\nPublic Lands, and of flagrant bias, according as their prejudices\ntended, on the part of the courts. The probity of the judges in pecuniary matters was unimpeached, but it was evident in many cases that\ntheir national prejudices carried them far out of the path of justice.\nIndeed, it is not too much to say that the courts, from the peculiarity\nof their constitution and the eccentricity of their action, were the\nmerest travesties of judicial tribunals. Their pure unsophisticated,\nignorance of law was only equalled by the vehement bigotry that\ncharacterized their proceedings in many cases.\nWhere circumstances permitted, I directed the complaints of our\ncitizens to be sworn to ; in some cases, where the abuses occurred in\nremote parts of the interior, this mode of authentication was impracticable. At the request of the aggrieved parties 1 lay some of these\ncases before you, with this report, for the action of the government.\nAmong them will be found one of a man who makes affidavit\nthat he had declared his intentions to become a citizen of the United\nStates ; that he had built and stocked a store at Fort Langley ; had\nhoisted the American flag on his house on the fourth of July in honor\nof his adopted country; was'arrested some days afterwards for this-,\noffence, put in irons, brought down to Victoria, tried on a trumped-up\ncharge of selling liquor to Indians, convicted and thrown into prison,,\nwhere he was kept for nearly two months, being fed on bread and\nwater for a portion of the time. The affidavit and other papers are\nfurnished herewith.\nThere will be found another case of an American citizen who was\nunmercifully beaten by an agent of the Hudson's Bay Company at\n.>;in:r,mo, assisted by a number of half-breeds, the agent being intoxi\ncated at the time. The man beaten was Andrew McKenzie, the\nassaulting party was a man named Stewart, an agent of the Hudson's\nisay company and a colonial magistrate. McKenzie swore information against Stewart, but the court WQflW UQt entertain the complaint Vancouver's island and British Columbia. 11\nor issue process, for the reason that Nanaimo was out of its jurisdic-.\ntion. The day previous, the same court had entertained a complaint\nagainst McKenzie, and had him arrested on a charge of uttering\nthreatening language, the offence being alleged to have been committed at this very same place, Nanaimo, which next day the jud\u00C2\u00B0-e-\ndeclared was out of his jurisdiction. On the first day, when the complaint was entertained, it was that of a British subject against an-\nAmerican. On the next day, when the complaint was not entertained,,\nthe case was of an American citizen against a British subject.\nAnother case will be found to be that of a ditch company at Santa.\nClara bar, on Frazer river, who had, with great labor and expense,,\nconstructed a ditch conveying water to their claim ; when, as they were\nabout to reap the fruits of their enterprise, the commissioner of crown\nlands, who had been previously given an interest by another party,\nprevented them from using the water, and gave the privilege to the\nparty with whom he' himself waa connected. Another, from a company on Texas bar, complains of a similar piece of knavery and oppression. Another memorial was received from Hill's bar, signed by\none hundred miners, and complaining of similar outrages on the part\nof the same functionary.\nNumberless complaints of this character poured in on me from day\nto day, more or less meritorious, but all of them proving a most\ngrasping and avaricious spirit on the part of the petty authorities of\nthe place, or else a studied determination to disgust the Americans\nwith the country. These things continued up to the time of my departure ; and a few days before leaving Victoria, having been apprised\nof the existence of a very embittered feeling on the part of our citizens,\nengendered by these many acts of injustice, I deemed it my duty to\nissue an address to the Americans residing in Vancouver's Island and\nBritish Columbia, putting them ia possession of the views of their\ngovernment in regard to their rights and standing in those colonies ;\nadmonishing them to commit no violation of law, and to be obedient\nto the authorities ; at the same time admitting the numerous abuses\nthat existed, but pledging to them the intervention of their own government for the redress of their grievances and the protection of their\nrights. This address I subjoin from the Victoria Gazette, of November\n13, 1858.\ngo the citizens of the United States in Vancouver's Island and British\nColumbia:\nHaving received from citizens of the United States mining and\ntrading on Frazer river and in its vicinity, a number of letters complaining of acts of injustice and oppression at the hands of the oolonial\nauthorities, and being on the eve of my departure to lay my report\nbefore the government at Washington, I take this public method of\napprising American citizens sojourning in Vancouver's Island and\nBritish Columbia of the views of our government in regard to their\nrights and standing in these colonies.\nI need scarcely say that the government of the United States expects\nof its own citizens abroad a decent conformity with local regulations, 12\nVANCOUVER'S ISLAND AND BRITISH COLUMBIA.\nobedience to the laws of the countries they visit, and a proper show\nof respect for the authorities by whom those laws are administered.\nThis is exacted of strangers visiting the different States of the Union,\nwho are amenable to punishment for a violation of the laws of those\nStates or of the United States, as are American citizens for infraction\nof the laws of such foreign countries as they may enter m the pursuit\nof pleasure or of business. Such of our citizens, therefore, as have\ntaken up their temporary residence in British Columbia or Vancouver s\nIsland are subject, like all other residents to the laws of the colonies\nof Great Britain, and are liable, like all others to the penalties meted\nout by those laws to persons properly convicted of their violation.\nI am aware that an elaborate attempt to impress these facts upon\nmy fellow-citizens in these colonies would be superfluous. Their\nsobriety of deportment, their decent observance of all the proprieties\nof life in the midst of privations and annoyances of no common degree, and their obedience to the law under very trying provocations to\nits infringement, although they may not have gained for them such\nliberal treatment as was due to that forbearance and good conduct,\nhave nevertheless commanded the respect of the strangers among\nwhom they are cast, and cannot fail to be subjects of pride and gratu-\nlation to their own government.\nConsidering the circumstances attending the recent settlement of\nthese colonies, it was scarcely to be expected that a well regulated\ngovernment could be at once built up out of the chaotic elements\nsuddenly thrown together in such confusion. Much was to be pardoned\nto the inexperience of an executive hitherto dealing for the most part\nwith savages, and possibly unprepared by previous training for the\nmore refined exigencies imposed by governmental relations with a\nwhite population. Much of the cause of complaints that have arisen\nwas to some extent excusable, because due to the unlicensed rudeness\nof the subordinate officers of the Hudson's Bay Company, and the\ncolonial government, who, by reason of their long isolation from\ncivilized society, and their habitual intercourse with Indians had\nunlearned most of the finer traits of humanity and were scarcely\naccountable for a grossness of conduct that had become to them a\nsecond nature; and lastly, much was to be excused in the ignorance\nand want of tone of courts organized out of such crued and unfit materials as those, the only ones that were at hand on the sudden influx\nof the strangers. In some instances, no doubt, these courts have\nfallen short of even the limited expectations justified by the peculiar\ncircumstances of their construction, and the strange constituents of\nwhich they were composed. But it is not to be doubted that the\nBritish government will, without unnecessary delay, provide remedies\nfor the evils and abuses arising from this condition of things, evils\nand abuses affecting not alone the prosperity of its own subjects, but\nthe rights of citizens of a foreign and friendly power.\nThe forbearance in the meantime of the citizens of the United\nbtates,their quiet observance of the laws under any aggressions on\ntheir rights of which they may have to complain, will not alone have\nits reward in the consciousness of having done credit to their country ;\ncountry whose institutions are based upon that all-pervading love o|\n5S5S Vancouver's island and British Columbia. 13,\norder, and that spirit of obedience to the law which distinguishes its\ncitizens, but it will, moreover, entitle them to the active intervention\nof their own government for the redress of their grievances and for\nthe protection of their rights. That the government of the United\nStates, upon proper cause being shown, after recourse shall have been\nhad in vain to the tribunals against acts of oppression or injustice,\nwill so intervene for the redress and protection of its citizens in British\nColumbia and Vancouver's Island, I am authorized and instructed to\ngive them the most emphatic assurance. If wrong be done them, let\nthem appeal to the courts. It is to be hoped they will obtain justice*\nbut should those tribunals, unfortunately, be too impotent, too ignorant,\nor too corrupt to administer the law with impartiality and firmness, our citizens may reckon with certainty upon the prompt and\nefficient interference of their own government in their behalf. The best\nguarantee I can furnish them of the certainty of such interposition\nwill be found in the subjoined declaration by the honorable Lewis\nCass, Secretary of State of the United States, in a recent despatch to\nour minister in Nicaragua, enunciating clearly and vigorously the\nviews of our government in respect to the rights of our citizens\nvisiting foreign countries:\n\" The United States believe it to be their duty, and they mean to\nexecute it, to watch over the persons and property of their citizens\nvisiting foreign countries, and to intervene for their protection when\nsuch action is justified by existing circumstances and by the law of\nnations. Wherever her citizens may go through the habitable globe,\nwhen they encounter injustice they may appeal to the government of\ntheir country, and the appeal will be examined into, with a view to\nsuch action on their behalf as it may be proper to take. It is impossible to define in advance and with precision those cases in which the\nnational power may be exerted for their relief, or to what extent relief\nshall be afforded. Circumstances as they arise must prescribe the\nrule of action. In countries where well-defined and established laws\nare in operation, and where their administration is committed to able\nand independent judges, cases will rarely occur where such intervention will be necessary. But these elements of confidence and security\nare not everywhere found ; and where that is unfortunately the case,\nthe United States are called upon to be more vigilant in watching\nover their citizens, and to interpose efficiently for their protection\nwhen they are subjected to tortious proceedings by the direct action of\nthe government, or by its indisposition or inability to discharge its\nduties.''\nIt is unnecessary for me to make any further or more pointed application of this declaration, to the circumstances of American citizens\nin these colonies. Their own intelligence and prudence will enable\nthem so to guard their conduct that they shall never forfeit that\nprovident and fatherly care and protection which it promises, and\nwhich the government of the United States has both the ability\nand the will to exercise over all its children, in whatever part of the\nworld they may be.\nJOHN NUGENT,\nSpecial Agent of the United States.\nVictoria, Vancouver's Island, November 13, 1858.\n\u00E2\u0096\u00A091 14 VANCOUVER* S ISLAND AND BRITISH COLUMBIA.\nFrom what has gone before, it will not be denied that my remarks'\nconcerning the executive were founded in justice j as to the courts,\ntheir partiality was almost inconceivable. The animus with which\nthey dealt out law to American citizens will be best understood from a\nletter appended to this report from Captain William Webster, now in\nthis city, from which it will be seen that the chief justice of the colony\n*of Vancouver's Island, Mr. Cameron, once so far forgot himself on\none occasion as to say in open court that the only further punishment\nhe thought should be inflicted on a person named Munro, convicted\nof perjury, who had been in prison for three months, was \"to send,\nhim to the other side,\" (Washington Territory,) \" where all rogues\nand villains should be sent, where they belonged, and should remain.\"\nAmoug the Hudson's Bay Company's people, there are some gentlemen of high character and respectability j Mr. McKay, Mr. McTavish,\nMr. McLean, and the agent at Fort Yale, whose name I forget, have\nexhibited marked courtesy and kindness towards Americans ; but\nthat my strictures upon the generality of the subordinate officers,\nto whom they were intended to apply, were not too severe will be admitted, when I state on the authority of Colonel Snowden, a citizen\nof Yuba county, in California, that he learned from several Indian\nchiefs, that they and their people were led to believe by the representations of the Hudson's Bay Company's servants, that the Americans\nwere coming there to rob them of their cattle, of their food, and\ntheir -squaws ; and were advised by those same evil minded individuals to commence a war of extermination against our citizens;\nand furthermore, when I state that one of the guns captured from the\nhands of an Indian in October last, in one of Colonel Wright's\nIndian fights in Washington Territory, was a British musket of the\ndate of 1857, which arm could not have found its way into the heart\nof our Indian Territory, except through the emissaries of the Hudson's\nBay Company ; and that numbers of similar weapons were furnished\nto the Indians in the war against our troops not the slightest doubt\nis entertained. My information in regard to this fact is derived from\na number of army officers, fresh from the battle-fields of Washington\nTerritory, and personally cognizant of the matter; among them,\nLieutenant Morgan, now stationed at Old Point Comfort, Lieutenant\nTyler, I believe on leave, and within a few horns reach of this place,\nand Captain Fletcher, on leave, and within telegraphic communication in Virginia. I will further state that there is evidence now in\n\"the Department of State, that after a disastrous battle fought in\nWashington Territory, during the last year, with the Spokanes- and\n\u00E2\u0096\u00A0other Indians, the mules, horses, accoutrements, and other property\n\u00E2\u0096\u00A0of the United States which fell into the hands of the savages, were\nsubsequently purchased from them by the agents of the Hudson's Bay\nCompany, at Colville, and other places ; that this property bore the\nmarks and brands of the United States, and was known to the purchasers to have been plundered by the Indians, who were then in a stake\nof rebellion against our government.\nBut that they did not confine themselves simply to receiving this\nstolen property, but absolutely supplied the Indians then in the field\nagainst our troops with ammunition and arms, is abundantly proved VANCOUVER S ISLAND AND BRITISH COLUMBIA. 15\nby the testimony of army officers and others. Mr. John Owen, special\nIndian agent to the Flathead nation, Washington Territory, writes\nfrom Colville valley, on the 11th of July, 1858, as follows : (I quote\nfrom the report of the Secretary of the Interior, pages 618, 619, 620.)\n\"I arrived at Fort Colville in company with the Hudson's Bay\nCompany's 'brigade,' on the 4th instant. I met at Colville the\nCceur d' Alene chief, with some ten others of the same tribe. They\ncame well mounted, on United States horses and mules ; they are\noffering the mules for sale ; some were bought by the Hudson's Bay\nCompany. I told the gentleman in charge that I had no orders to\nstop it, but I did not think it right to furnish a market for stolen\nhorses to the enemy.\"\n* * * * * * * * *\n\" The Hudson's Bay Company's train, some two hundred head of\nhorsess, tarts in a few days for Fort Hope, for the year's outfit. I think\nthey are to bring some two thousand pounds of powder, with a proportionate quantity of ball. This, as a matter of course, will find its\nway into the hostile camp, or at least a large portion of it. The trade\nin ammunition might be stopped here, but as the gentleman in charge\ntold me, we could not prevent the company from trading at Fort Forty-\nnine, which is another post, some thirty miles above Colville, on the\nright bank of the river and across the line.''\nMr, Nesmith, superintendent of Indian affairs for Oregon and Washington Territories, to whose notice these facts were brought, writes to\nthe special agent as follows. His letter, dated August 2, 1858, is to\nbe found on pages 623, 624 of the report of the Secretary of the\njEnterior.\n\"You are also requested to warn the officer in charge of the Hudson's Bay Company's post at Colville to desist from encouraging the\n..Indians in stealing and marauding by purchasing from them the\nrproperty captured or stolen from the government or citizens of the\n-United States. You will also warn him against supplying the Indians\nwith arms and ammunition, and communicate such acts of the kind as\n\u00E2\u0096\u00A0 may come to your knowledge to the commanding officer of the column\nnow approaching Colville. If the officers of the Hudson's Bay Com-\n, pany have .knowingly become the recipients of stolen property, they\nare as guilty ;as the thief who stole it, which, together with their fur-\nsnishing arms and ammunition to murder our people, should stamp them\nwith infamy and cause their expulsion from American soil. It is\nhoped that the military will take steps to prevent a repetition of the\n(Outrages complained of.\"\nThe subjoined extract from a letter published in the Washington\nUnion of October;31, 1858, from Doctor F. Perkins, of Oregon, will\nfurnish further corroboration of the above charges :\n\"\u00E2\u0080\u00A2We remained at Fort Colville four days, and during-that time\n4 thirty of the Cceur d'Alenes, with their head chief, were occupying a\nroom in the fort. .It will be remembered that these were the very\n.ones who had defeated Colonel Steptoe ; and they had with them a\ngreat number of American 'U. S. D.' mules and horses, which were\n.sold to the chief of. the Hudson's Bay Company at Fort Colville,\n\u00E2\u0096\u00A0.-for a small .nominal price; he thus furnishing a market for stolen 16 VANCOUVER ISLAND AND BRITISH COLUMBIA.\ngoods, knowing them to be^J?^^&j\u00C2\u00A3^&\nColonel Steptoe's defeat. Whilwe were a ^^ ^\nthe Indians would ^J?^61^^1^' as they pleased there,\nand ^ar-whoops sounding They did \u00C2\u00AB^J7 f ^ \u00C2\u00A3ttleg to black\nand would 80 ln^ J3S taown ' fgn o^hostility, indicating war to\ntheir faces, Which is awell known sign o wilf mention that the\nchief m charge at Jon vxn Indians ammunition\nStato government Wdnrtauw mm w> ^^ north\nnMZior the winter; but this year it amounts to five hundred\nColviHe for the winxe ^ ^ ear.\n^n^SfpPT^?anB^eproOTred the ammunition with which they\nwWhtCo^el^\"Sd the whites I do not pretend to say;\nSrtS&SSfteHJLn'. Bay Company have SenUp\u00C2\u00AB\n+1^ usual this vear, when they have no more call for it than\ntX^-w-^ M *\u00E2\u0084\u00A2yma\u00C2\u00BB can draw his own deductlons how\nthDuargUmyly S TO^'l was informed by the city marshal\n+W a number of American citizens, Abraham Doran William Johnson wXm Harris, Wesley Cooper, Hulen Miles, and a negro named\nWillkm Hurley, accused of various offences against the law, were\nlout to be sent to trial without counsel. With the exception of the\ncrown solicitor, (prosecuting attorney) the only members of the bar\nSfhe colonv were American citizens, and these were not allowed to\nwactice in the courts. I addressed a note to Governor Douglas, re-\nmiPstin* him, under these circumstances, to interpose and cause counsel to be assigned to the accused from among the members of the\nAmerican bar present, as the denial of counsel would operate as a great\nhardship and injustice. While the governor was holding the matter\nunder advisement, the prisoners were tried, and with one exception, 1\nbelieve convicted. Afterwards I was informed by a note from his\nexcellency that the application could not be granted, as the rules of\nthe court forbade any body practicing before it who was not a subject\nof the British crown. I regret to be obliged to characterize this as\na mere subterfuge; that it was such will appear from the fact that\nthe gentleman who then held the office of crown solicitor had been a\nmember of the San Francisco bar for two years.\nMy correspondence with Governor Douglas on this question is\nfurnished herewith. S j\nFrom all these petty exactions and oppressions, these denials of\niustice and evidences of rampant prejudice, the conclusion is irresistible that whatever may have been the disposition of the British\ngovernment, the feeling of the colonial officials and of the servants of\nthe Hudson's Bay Company was aught but friendly toward our people.\nTheir conduct was the less excusable, for the reason that the citizens\nof the United States visiting the colonies, comported themselves,\nthroughout, with the most remarkable sobriety and decorum. All the\ncolonial officials, including Governor Douglas, many times expressed VANCOUVER S ISLAND AND BRITISH COLUMBIA.\n17\ntheir surprise a,t the utter absence of any riotous or disorderly spirit\namong the miners. Even breaches of the peace of the most trivial\ncharacter were of very rare occurrence; and, by everybody, the warmest\npraises were volunteered on the invariably quiet and orderly conduct\nthat was observed. I would here remark that from the officers of the\nnavy stationed near Victoria, and from the English gentlemen residing\non Vancouver's Island, the Americans received naught but courtesy,\nkindness, and attention, from first to last; and by none have I heard\nthe acts of the Hudson's Bay Company's servants more strongly censured than by subjects of Great Britain who have long resided on the\nisland, and who are cognizant of the many abuses practiced by the\ncompany and its agents.\nIf the unkind and unfriendly acts upon which I have commented\nabove, originated from jealousy of the advent of the Americans, or\nfrom fear of their eventually laying claim to the country, such jealousy and such apprehensions were wholly gratuitous. The Americans, it is true, were in sufficient force any time within the first six\nmonths to make successful any movement on their part towards the\nseizure of the colonies, which the fears of the authorities may have\nsuggested as possible; but they entered the country with no marauding propensities; and furthermore, setting aside their indisposition\nto disturb the peaceful and friendly relations subsisting between their\nown country and Great Britain, the two colonies of Vancouver's Island\nand British Columbia really offered no inducements sufficient to render\nthem worthy of even a temporary struggle. It is true that, in all\nprobability, both will eventually cease to be under European control.\nTheir ultimate accession to the American possessions on the Pacific\ncoast is scarcely problematical\u00E2\u0080\u0094but in the meantime their intrinsic\nvalue either of locality, soil, climate, or productions, does not warrant\nany effort on the part of the American government or the American\npeople towards their immediate acquisition.\nAs national possessions these colonies are to us but of little value.\nAs I have already stated, Vancouver's Island\u00E2\u0080\u0094two hundred and\nseventy miles long and forty to fifty miles broad\u00E2\u0080\u0094contains, as far as I\ncould learn, not more than some twenty or twenty-five miles of open\nland, and that not of the first quality. It has one town, Victoria,\nvery prettily situated, filled with a highly intelligent and enterprising\nAmerican population, and destined to be a place of some consequence.\nBut the chief value of the island consists of the harbor of Esquimalt,\nwhich has capacity for a whole navy, and where vessels can lie perfectly secure from every wind that blows. Soke harbor is small, but\nvery secure. Around the Cowichin villages is an extensive plain of\ngood land, and the coal beds of Nanaimo are of good quality. So\nmuch for Vancouver's Island. Further explorations of the interior\nof the island may in time lead to the discovery of more valuable resources, although this is not probable. British Columbia has little\nto recommend it, except the forests of spars contiguous to the coast.\nThe town of Fort Langley, thirty-five miles from the mouth of Frazer\nriver, contains about eighty inhabitants. Fort Hope, some sixty-five\nmiles above, contains about two hundred inhabitants, and as the head\nof winter navigation will probably be the depot of winter supplies for\nH. Ex Doc. Ill 2 18 Vancouver's island and British Columbia.\nthe miners above. Fort Yale, sixteen miles above Fort Hope, is a\nbustling town of some five or six hundred inhabitants. It is just below\nthe point where the river ceases to be navigable even for canoes, and\nis a place of considerable trade. The river, even below Fprt Yale, is\nfull of rapids, eddies, and under currents, and its navigation is at all\ntimes attended with difficulty and danger. I do not regard the gold\nfields of the colony hitherto prospected as valuable. Gold will be\nfound over the whole country ; but it is not extravagant to say that\nevery ounce hitherto taken out of the Frazer river gold diggings has\ncost much more than an ounce to obtain it, not to mention the immense\nnumber of lives lost in the whirlpools of that treacherous stream. As\nnational possessions, then, with the exception of the harbor of Esqui-\nmalt, these colonies are, as I have stated, to us comparatively valueless. It is true that the gold fields of Frazer river, although they\nwill cease to command the attention of our citizens, will attract emigrants from England ; besides, a number of Americans will continue\nin mercantile pursuits in Victoria, and the great bulk of the mining\npopulation still on Frazer river is likewise American. I respectfully\nsuggest in this connexion the necessity of appointing a consul to reside at Victoria, whose functions should extend over Vancouver's\nIsland and British Columbia. The interests of our citizens in that\nquarter imperatively demand the presence of a commercial agent.\nThe gold excitement caused a number of small towns to spring up\nin Washington Territory, contiguous to Frazer river and the mines.\nSouth of Point Boberts and close to the 49th parallel, a town called\nSemiamo was laid out, on the little bay of that name, from which there\nis a road leading to Fort Langley, a distance of seventeen miles ; and\non Bellingham bay the towns of Sehome and Whatcom were established. From this latter point a trail was cut, with great labor and\nexpense, to intersect the trail to Fort Hope. A number of the immigrants entered the country overland, having come by way of the Dalles\nof the Columbia, thence taking the trail to Fort Xamloops, and from\nthat point proceeding down Thompson's river to the forks. I herewith present a map of\" the Frazer river country, with manuscript lines\nand notes, which will give a better idea of it than any of those published. \u00E2\u0080\u00A2 I could not learn that any overland expedition from the States\nor Territories east of the Bocky mountains had reached that country\nprevious to my departure.\nDuring my stay in Victoria, a number of American citizens who had\ncome down from Frazer river, utterly destitute, without food, clothing\nor any prospect of employment, or means to leave the country, applied to me for relief. Being without authority to contract for sending them to their homes, but not deeming it consistent either with\nhumanity or proper national pride to suffer them to starve in a foreign\nland, as they would have done had they remained on the island I\nappealed to the liberality of the agents of the Pacific Mail Steamship\nCompany, and thos? gentlemen, with most praiseworthy readiness\nacceded to my request to convey a number of the most destitute to San\nFrancisco agreeing, at the same time, to depend upon the iustice of\nCongress for remuneration. A memorandum of the number of desti\ntute citizens sent home by the company's steamers, as well as a copy VANCOUVER S ISLAND AND BRITISH COLUMBIA,\n19\nof my correspondence with the company's agents, at San Francisco,\nwill be found appended to this report. In this connexion I take great\npleasure in mentioning the humanity and kindness of Captain Lubbock, of the steamer \" Maria,\" and Captain Wright, of the \"Enterprise,\" to numbers of destitute citizens who had no means to pay for\na passage from the mines down to Victoria. A large number were\ntaken down by those gentlemen without charge. Through the liberality of Mr. Garrison a number were likewise taken down from Victoria to San Francisco on the steamship \" Cortes.\"\nI have already noticed the importance to the British government of\nthe harbor of Esquimalt, on the southern end of Vancouver's Island.\nThat its value is begining to be appreciated by that power is already\nshown by the recent concentration at that point of quite a formidable\nsquadron, and by the preparations said to be in progress for the construction of forts and other means of defence. Simultaneously with\nthese movements and, indeed, somewhat in advance of them, the Bussian\ngovernment has been, for some time, engaged in fortifying the mouth of\nthe Amoor. For several months past vessels from above have been arriving at that point laden with heavy guns, powder, shot and shell, and\nother materials for the construction of fortifications. It is evident that\nboth powers look upon these points as very valuable as naval stations,\nand as possibly of great importance in other points of view in the event\nof a European war. In this connexion I beg to be permitted to call\nattention to the fact that on our whole coast, north of San Francisco,\nthere is no harbor affording a safe anchorage for vessels during the\nsoutherly gales that prevail in the winter months.\nBy the construction of a breakwater at Crescent City a very safe and\ncommodious harbor can be obtained, and, considering the very great\nimportance of a safe port on the coast, the expense of the necessary\nworks would be but trivial. I need not say that the want of a secure\nharbor on their coast is a great check to the prosperity of the people\nof the northern counties of California, and that their numbers and the\nvast resources of that portion of the State entitle them to consideration at the hands of the general government. But among the islands\nstretching from the Straits of Bosario to the Canal de Haro there are\na number of fine harbors, which, from their capacity and safety, leave\nus nothing to regret in having yielded Vancouver's Island. San Juan,\nan island fourteen or fifteen miles long by about seven miles wide, has\ntwo excellent harbors ; and Lopez island, opposite and separated from\nit by a channel of not more than a mile wide, has another fine harbor,\nperfectly land-locked and safe at all times.\nBoth islands possess a fine soil, plenty of timber and of running\nwater, abundance of pasture land, and the whole group is famous as\na fishing station.\nThe present condition of this group of islands I shall briefly describe. They are claimed by Washington Territory as a part of\nWhatcom county; and, at the same time, are claimed by the officers of\nthe British government as belonging to the possessions of that power on\nthe Pacific. They have already been the subject of some controversy\nbetween the American and British commissioners for running the\nboundary line, and the matter has been referred by those gentlemen 20 VANCOUVER'S ISLAND AND BRITISH COLUMBIA.\nto their respective governments. A few words will explain the nature\nof the dispute.\nThe treaty of June 15,1846, stipulates as follows : Article 1. -b rom\nthe point of the forty-ninth parallel of north latitude, where the\nboundary laid down in existing treaties and conventions between Great\nBritain and the United States terminates, the line of boundary between the territories of her Britannic Majesty and those of the United\nStates shall be continued westward along the 49th parallel of north\nlatitude to the middle of the channel which separates the continent from\nVancouver's Island ; and thence southerly through the middle of the\nsaid channel and of Fuca Straits to the Pacific ocean: Provided, however,\nthat the navigation of the said channel and straits south of the forty-\nninth parallel of north latitude remain free and open to both parties.\"\nThere are two channels between the continent and Vancouver's\nIsland, both leading out into the Straits of Fuca. The Straits of Bosa-\nrio, a narrow channel nearest to the main land, and the Canal de Haro,\nwhich, besides being the beaten track, is much wider, has greater\naverage depth of water, and is nearer to Vancouver's Island. It is\nclaimed on the part of Great Britain that the Straits of Bosario, being\nthe channel nearest to the mainland, is that contemplated by the\ntreaty ; but a very slight consideration of the circumstances under\nwhich the line was run, as well as of the wording of the article above\nquoted, will show that this position is wholly untenable. In the first\nplace, the only reason why the boundary line was caused to deflect\nfrom the forty-ninth parallel before it reached the Pacific ocean was\nto avoid the southern end of Vancouver's Island, on which there was\nthen a British settlement. The intendment of the article was merely\nto save to Great Britain the island of Vancouver, and consequently the\nnearest channel to Vancouver was undoubtedly that through the\nmiddle of which the treaty contemplated the line should run. Again,\nthe islands bordering on the continent belong to the continent, unless\notherwise stipulated ; but there is no stipulation except as to Vancouver's Island ; neither was there any reason existing at that time\nwhy there should be, as none of the islands in dispute were then occupied by subjects of Great Britain.\nIt does not, of course, become me in this place to enter into an\nelaborate argument of this question. My purpose is simply to call\nattention to the design apparently entertained by Great Britain, on\nthe shallowest possible pretext, to deprive the people of the United\nStates of possessions clearly theirs, and the importance of which to\nthem, as well as to the government of the United States, can scarcely\nbe overestimated.\nI have the honor to be, with great respect, your obedient servant.\nJOHN NUGENT,\n\u00E2\u0080\u009E i Special Agent of the United States.\nHon. Lewis Cass, Secretary of State.\nVictoria, Vancouver's Island,\nOctober 6, 1858.\nThe undersigned special agent of the United States, has the honor\nto state to his excellency Governor Douglas that he is informed there M\nVANCOUVER'S ISLAND AND BRITISH COLUMBIA. 21\nare six American citizens now in the prison of the fort awaiting trial\non various charges ; that these persons are denied the benefit of counsel, for the reason that no member of the American bar is permitted\nto practice in the courts of this colony, and the only British subject\nwho practices in the courts is the crown solicitor, whose duty it is to\nprosecute the accused; that the prisoners are men ignorant of law,\nand therefore unable to present a proper defence; and that, from these\ncauses,_ the accused may suffer great hardship and injustice.\nIn view of the above facts, the undersigned begs that his excellency\nGovernor Douglas will so far interpose to promote the ends of justice,\nas to cause counsel to be assigned to the accused from among the\nmembers of the American bar resident in Victoria; and further to\nprovide that a similar course be observed in all such cases hereafter\noccurring, until the arrival of persons qualified, by reason of being\nBritish subjects, to practice in the courts.\nThe undersigned has the honor to be, &c, his excellency's obedient\nservant,\nJOHN NUGENT,\nSpecial Agent of the United States.\nHis Excellency Governor Douglas.\nVictoria, Vancouver's Island.\nSir : I am directed by his excellency the governor to acknowledge\nthe receipt of your letter of the 6th instant, requesting his excellency's attention to the case of certain American citizens now in prison\nat this place on various charges, and who are deprived of the benefit\nOf counsel, for the reason that no member of the American bar is\npermitted to practice in the courts of Vancouver's Island ; and further\ndesiring that his excellency will so far interpose to promote the ends\nof justice as to cause counsel to be assigned to the accused from among\nthe members of the American bar resident in Victoria, and to provide\nthat a similar course be taken in all such cases hereafter.\nI am also directed by his excellency to assure you of his desire to\ntake into favorable consideration the proposition in your letter ; and\nat the same time, while admitting the hardship of the cases referred\nto, to state his opinion that the constitutional law of England does\nnot invest him as governor with authority to alter or suspend the\nestablished rules of the law courts of the colony.\nAs this, however, is a question of great public importance, his\nexcellency will submit it for the consideration of the law officers of the\n\u00E2\u0096\u00A0colony, and will communicate to Mr. Nugent their decision as soon as\nreceived.\nI have the honor to be, sir, your obedient servant,\nEICHABD GOLLEDGE,\nSecretary.\nJohn Nugent, Esq.,\nSpecial agent of the United States, &c.\nmmammmmmmmmasm 22 VANCOUVER'S ISLAND AND BRITISH COLUMBIA.\nGovernment House, Victoria,\nVancouver's Island, October 14, 1858.\nSir : With reference to the communication which I had the honor\nof addressing you by his excellency's instructions on the 8th instant,\nI am directed by the governor to transmit fcr your information a copy\nof a communication received from the crown solicitor of Vancouver's\nIsland, showing that, in his opinion, no power is vested in the exeea-\ntive to cause counsel from among the members of the American bar\nresident in Victoria to be assigned to parties accused of offences and\nawaiting trial in the courts of Vancouver's Island.\nThe governor further desires me to state to you that the courts have\nno objection whatever to allow persons in custody to receive assistance\nfrom members of the American bar, or others who may be willing to\naid them in preparing for their defence.\nI have the honor to be, sir, your obedient servant,\nEIOHABD GOLLEDGE,\nSecretary.\nJohn Nugent, Esq.,\nSpecial agent for the United States.\nCopy of a letter from George Pearhes, Esq., crown solicitor and attorney,\nto Governor Douglas, dated Saturday morning, October 10, 1858.\nSir : The undersigned has the honor to acknowledge the receipt of\nyour communication of the 8th instant, accompanied by a communication of Mr. Nugent, special agent of the United States.\nTo the question propounded by your excellency as to the constitutional power of the executive to cause counsel from among the members of the American bar resident at Victoria to persons accused of\ncrime and awaiting trial in the courts of this colony, it is submitted :\nFirst. The organization of the judiciary is separate and distinct\nfrom that of the executive, and the appointment of any officer to\ndischarge functions pertaining to the judiciary not specified by law\nwould be an encroachment on the part of the executive.\nSecond. Barristers, attorneys, and solicitors, are made by law officers of the judiciary, having rights and privileges incident to such\noffice, and amenable and punishable for misconduct after call and\nduring enrollment.\nThird. By act of parliament and order in council organizing the\njudiciary of this colony it is expressly provided that the chief justice\nshall make rules for the admission of barristers, attorneys, and solicitors, to practice in the respective courts of this colony.\nThe order referred to gives no authority, even to the judiciary, to\nmake assignment of counsel to the members of the bar of a foreign\nState, but expressly prohibits the appearance of any other person to\nact in that capacity, save those so enumerated.\nUntil recently, prisoners charged with felony were not allowed to\nmake their defence by counsel, and this not until the 6th and 7th of Vancouver's island and British Columbia.\n23\nWilliam the Fourth, when by special statute they were permitted\ncounsel learned in the law, or by attorneys in the courts where attorneys practice as counsel.\nIt therefore follows that no power to assign counsel is vested in the\nexecutive.\nI have the honor to be your excellency's obedient servant,\nGEOBGE PEABKES,\nCrown Solicitor and Attorney.\nHotel de France,\nVictoria, Vancouver's Island, November 3, 1858.\nSir: Indisposition and absence from town have caused your note of\nthe 14th ultimo to remain unanswered until now.\nI am therein advised that your excellency finds it impossible to\ninterpose, in accordance with the request contained in my note of the\n6th ultimo, to cause counsel to be assigned from among the American\nmembers of the bar, resident in the colony, to American citizens\naccused of crime, in the absence of British subjects authorized to practice\nin the colonial courts. A former note had assured me of your disposition to accord to the request your most favorable consideration.\nThat the subject would receive such favorable consideration I had\nevery rtason to expect. The plain dictates of humanity and justice\nshould forbid that the lives and liberties of people of any nationality\nshould be jeoparded, simply out of deference to the forms of a crude\nforensic etiquette. Still more was I justified in hoping that these\nforms would be set aside, when their observance would operate most\nharshly and unjustly against citizens of a power on terms of peace\nand amity with the nation whose government you serve, and at a time\nwhen the bonds of friendship which happily subsist between the two\ncountries are being strengthened and drawn closer day by day.\nI need not say that I am greatly disappointed at the cor elusion at\nwhich your excellency has arrived. The consequence of that conclusion\nwill be that American citizens accused of crime in these colonies will\nbe, as some have already been, forced to trial without benefit of counsel,\nignorant as they may be of the law, unadvised as to their rights, unacquainted with the rules of evidence or the regulations of the courts,\nand denied all those facilities for proving their innocence that in\nevery well regulated government are afforded to those unfortunates\nwho find themselves in antagonism to the law. But it is not for its\ngrave injustice, nor for the manifold hardships it will work, that such\na course is alone to be deplored. It will ^turally prove a pregnant\nand oft-recurring source of irritation and ill feeling to the Americans\nresiding in these colonies. It will force them to contrast the treatment\nof their countrymen here with the treatment of British subjects in\nthe United States. They know that there, no foreigner, however\nfriendless or lowly he may be, how atrocious soever the crime of which\nhe stands accused, is put upon his trial without counsel to represent\nhim \u00E2\u0080\u00A2 and that when he is too poor to command the services of the\nwsm 24\nVancouver's island and British Columbia.\nbar, the court takes merciful cognizance of his condition and assigns\ncounsel for his defence. It is needless to say that a comparison so\nlittle to the advantage of British colonial justice and its administration will have a tendency to defeat what I am not permitted to doubt\nis the wish of the British government, as it is that of the government\nof the United States, to promote and foster feelings of cordial good\nwill between American citizens sojourning in these colonies and the\nsubjects of her Britannic Majesty.\nI regret that your excellency should have taxed the legal erudition\nof the crown solicitor in reference to what is, after all a matter of\nsimple justice. It needed not that functionary's learned opinion to\nprove that the judiciary should be independent of the executive. But\nin a colony where, if I may without invidiousness say so, there is\nobservable so extraordinary a confusion of jurisdictions, in its fiscal,\nexecutive, and judicial departments, and where there have been so\nmany departures from law, involving a most material sacrifice of the\nrights of American citizens, it was not unreasonable to indulge the\nhope that your excellency, to prevent great wrong and injustice, and\nfor the conservation of harmony and kind feeling, would have favored\nnot a violation of law, but an immaterial deviation from the rules of\nan imperfectly organized court.\nDisappointed in this hope, I have but to request that your excellency will afford me facilities for obtaining the names of those American citizens accused of crime in the colonies of Vancouver's Island and\nBritish Columbia, within the last six months, who have been forced\nto trial without counsel to represent them, and have been convicted,\nthat I may be enabled to present their case to the government of the\nUnited States for its action.\nI have the honor to be your excellency's obedient servant,\nJOHN NUGENT,\nSpecial Agent of the United States.\nHis Excellency Governor Douglas.\nP. S.\u00E2\u0080\u0094The last two notes received from your excellency were signed\nby your secretary, I presume, through inadvertence. I beg to call\nyour attention to this mistake, in order to prevent its recurrence.\nVictoria, Vancouver's Island,\nNovembei- 9, 1858.\nSir: I am desired by his excellency the governor to acknowledge\nthe receipt of your letter of the 3d instant, and to express his regret\nat your late indisposition and his sincere hope that your health is now\nrestored.\nHis excellency wishes to impress upon you that, with every wish to\naccommodate American citizens resident in this colony and in British\nColumbia, and to extend to them every privilege consistent with\nBritish law, as is proved by the very liberal treatment which they\nhave hitherto received, he finds himself constrained to adhere to the\nconclusion already communicated to you respecting the assigning of Vancouver's island and British Columbia.\n25\ncounsel from among the American members of the bar resident in the\ncolony to American citizens accused of crime.\nIf there were no other reasons for limiting the practice in the courts\nof law to members of the bar who are British subjects, duly qualified\nfor the privilege in conformity with the general custom of all nations,\nthan that the act which established the judiciary of the colony has determined the special classes of lawyers who are competent to practice\nat the bar, his excellency conceives the question is thereby placed\nbeyond the control of the executive.\nFor your more particular information upon this point, I have the\nhonor to enclose a copy of such of the rules of court as bear upon the\nsubject.\nThe power to admit persons eligible to practice in terms of these\nrules is given to the chief justice.\nHis excellency is convinced that you labor under misapprehension\nif you suppose, as one portion of your letter would seem to indicate,\nthat the lives and liberties of people of any nationality are put in\njeopardy out of deference to what you are pleased to term a crude\nforensic etiquette ; or that American citizens accused of crime in these\ncolonies will be or have already been forced to trial without benefit\nof counsel and unadvised as to their rights.\nAs you justly observe, the plain dictates of humanity forbid, and\nthe humane and liberal practice of the courts very carefully prevent,\nthe possibility of any such deplorable consequences.\nWith the view of satisfying you upon this matter, his excellency\nwould explain : That all persons accused of crimes are tried by jury\ntrial; that the magistrates who are commissioned to preside at such\ntrials are gentlemen well known in the community for the respectability and humanity of their characters, and whose sentences are certainly not tinctured with severity ; that on all criminal trials the\naccused are allowed every reasonable facility for proving their innocence ; that they are not only permitted but invited to have professional counsel or private friends of their own selection, without regard\nto nationality, to advise and assist them before and at their trials ;\nthat the only restriction of professional counsel's privileges is that of\npleading; that this prohibition extends to British subjects equally\nwith the citizens and subjects of all other nationalities, by reason of\nthere not being, at the present moment, legal practitioners in the\ncolonies eligible to practice in the courts\u00E2\u0080\u0094an inconvenience only temporary ; and that for the same reason the crown, as prosecutor, is\ndebarred the privilege of counsel to plead against the accused.\nYou will thus see that American citizens accused of crimes are\ntreated exactly similar to the subjects of her Majesty.\nThe gravity of those allegations made by you caused his excellency\nso much concern that, in addition to other investigations to ascertain\nthe truth, he applied to one of the magistrates before spoken of for\nexact information, and received an answer, of which a copy is enclosed\nfor your information.\nHis excellency feels confident that on your being informed of this\nliberal and humane practice of the criminal courts, rendered necessary\nby the present unlooked-for circumstances of the country as an un- 26 VANCOUVER'S ISLAND AND BRITISH COLUMBIA.\navoidable temporary expedient, you will readily perceive and admit\nthat the contrast which you have drawn between the treatment received by American citizens residing in these colonies and that\nreceived by British subjects in the United States is not grounded on\nfacts.\nHis excellency is constrained to give a positive denial to your allegation made in another part of your letter, that ((there have been\nmany departures from law, involving a most material sacrifice of the\ninterests of American citizens.\"\nNo such irregularities have occurred, nor is his excellency aware\nof any such consequences as you assert having accrued from a departure from law in any cafe; and he is at a loss to conceive to what\nyou can allude by this general assertion.\nHis excellency is confident that you cannot allude to the effects of\ndecisions of the tribunal in civil cases ; for it appears that of the total\nnumber of suitors in the \"Supreme Court of Civil Justice\" during\nthe last few months, a large majority has been American citizens\u00E2\u0080\u0094a\nconclusive proof that their interests have not been sacrificed by \" many\ndepartures from law,\" or they would not continue to invoke justice\nbefore this tribunal.\nIn answer to your request that his excellency will afford you facilities for obtaining the names of those American citizens accused of\ncrime in the colonies of Vancouver's Island and British Columbia\nwithin the last six months, who have been forced to trial without\ncounsel to represent them, and have been convicted, I am to inform\nyou that it will at all times afford his excellency great pleasure to\nsupply you with all useful information in his power, and to afford you\nevery possible facility for collecting such whenever accessible; but that,\nas no such cases as those mentioned in the category you have framed\nhave occurred in this or in the sister colony, his excellency finds it\nimpossible to comply with your present request.\nOn this part of the subject his excellency desires to add that no\ndistinction of nationality has been made in the cases of persons tried\nfor crimes committed against the laws of Great Britain in these colonies, and that all such persons have been fairly and impartially tried,\nwith all the advantages extended to British subjects, and for this\nreason he fears it would be impossible to ascertain with any accuracy\nthe nationality of all the persons who have been \" accused of crime\nand convicted,\" and assuredly no return of American citizens \" who\nhave been forced to trial without counsel, &c,\" could be obtained, for\nthe reason that no such cases.occurred ; a fact of which the details of\nthe criminal practice already herein given will satisfy you.\nHis excellency desires me to inform you that the two last letters\nwhich he had the honor to address to you by his private secretary,\nalluded to in the postscript to your letter, were not signed by the\nsecretary by inadvertence, as you presume ; that the usual medium of\nofficial communications is the colonial secretary, and in the absence of\nthat functionary the governor's private secretary was deputed to sign\nthe letters referred to in behalf of his excellency ; a course which was\nnot adopted from any disrespect to you. but in conformity with diplomatic usage, and in which sense his excellency begs you will accept\n^\u00E2\u0080\u0094 Vancouver's island and British Columbia. 27\nthese and any future official communications which he may have the\nhonor of making to you in that manner.\nI have the honor to be sir, your most obedient servant,\nBICHABD GOLLEDGE,\nSecretary.\nRules of the Supreme Court of civil justice of the colony of Vancouver's\nIsland, respecting the admission of practitioners.\nThere shall be enrolled in the court, to practice therein as barristers, such persons only as shall have been admitted as barristers in\nEngland or Ireland, or advocates of the court of sessions of Scotland,\nor to the degree of doctor of civil law at the University of Oxford,\nCambridge, or Dublin.\nThere shall be enrolled in the court, to practice therein as solicitors,\nsuch persons only as have been admitted to practice as attorneys or\nsolicitors of any of the courts of record at Westminster or Dublin, or\nbeing proctors admitted to practice in any ecclesiastical court in\nEngland or Ireland, or being writers to the signet in Scotland.\nNothing contained in any of the rules shall be construed to prevent suitors from appearing and acting for themselves, if they shall\nso think fit.\nCopy of a letter from Augustus Pemberton, Esq., Justice of the Peace,\nCommissioner of Police, &c., to Governor Douglas.\nVictoria, Vancouver's Island,\nNovember 8, 1858.\n1 Sir : In reply to your excellency's communication of this morning,\nreferring to certain allegations contained in a letter addressed to\nyou by John Nugent, esq., special agent for the United Statesof\nAmerica, in which he requests that your excellencywill afford him\nfacilities for obtaining the names of those American citizens accused of\ncrime in the colonies of Vancouver's Island and British Columbia\nwithin the last six months, who have been forced to trial without\ncounsel to represent them, and have been convicted, I beg leave to\nstate that I am not aware of any such case, the uniform practice being\nto allow all criminals, of whatever nation, the assistance of friends and\nadvisers whether legal or otherwise, to aid them in their defence.\nThe only instance in which a crown solicitor has been employed to\nconduct a prosecution in court is that of William Hurley, a colored\nman not an American citizen, who was indicted for shooting at\nGeorge P. Heap, with intent to do some grievous bodily harm. Heap\nis an American citizen. Hurley was assisted by a Mr. Davis who\nwas allowed to visit the accused in prison, and to stand by his side in\ncourt to challenge the jury, and to advise what cross-questions should\nbe put to the witnesses, and what defence should be taken. But as 28 Vancouver's island and British Columbia.\nMr. Davis was not competent to plead in court, the crown solicitor\nrefrained from addressing the jury.\nThe court which presided on this occasion was held under a special\ncommission issued by your excellency to three justices of the peace, of\nwhom I was one. . .\nFor my own part, I most solemnly declare that I make no distinction, nor any inquiry, as the nationality of persons charged with\ncommitting offences against the laws. I deal with each case according\nto its own peculiar merits ; and the maintenance of peace and order\nduring a time of great excitement has been a subject of congratulation ; in proof of which I take the following extract from the \" Victoria Gazette,\" November 2,1858, the editor of which is an American:\n\" The order that has been maintained here, under circumstance of\ngrave forebodings, aggravated by the numerical weakness of those\ndirectly pledged to sustain the law, cannot but have a decided tendency\nto inspire that confidence upon which is dependent the character of\nour future population.\"\nI have the honor to remain your excellency's most obedient humble\nAUGUSTUS PEMBERTON. J. P.\nHis Excellency James Douglas, Esq.,\nGovernor of Vancouver's Island and British Columbia.\nNote\u00E2\u0080\u0094I would remark that the facts here denied are notorious\nto everybody in Victoria. While Governor Douglas was still holding\nmy application under advisement, the men were put upon their trial,\nconvicted, with one exception, and sentenced, some of them to transportation, notwithstanding that Mr. Labatt, an American citizen,\narose in court and requested a postponement of the trials even for a\nday until the will of the governor could be known. What Governor\nDouglas dwells upon as an act of liberality, permitting counsel or\nfriends to confer with the accused in prison, was simply their legal\nright; but the truth is, they did not enjoy even this right. They\nhad no legal advice whatever.\nJOHN NUGENT.\nMr. Nugent to Governor Douglas.\nHotel de France, Victoria,\nVancouver's Island, November 12, 1858.\nSir : In my note of third of the present month, I had the honor to\ncall your attention to what I conceived to be a mistake made by your\nsecretary in signing your two communications of the 8th and 13th\nultimo, respectively, with his own name. In a verbal conversation had\nwithyour excellency on the day on which your last note Was dated,\nI intimated that I could not receive communications on matters connected with my agency through the medium of your private secretary\nthat gentleman being to me officially unknown. Since then, I have\nreceived another note dated November 9, 1858, doubtless dictated by\nyour excellency, but signed in the same way as the two preceding VANCOUVER S ISLAND AND BRITISH COLUMBIA.\n2$\ni Not having been made aware by my government of any circumstance\ngiving your excellency the prerogative of corresponding with me at\nsecond hand, and only through a third party, I regret to inform you\nthat I cannot take notice of the contents of your communication of\nthe 9th instant; and further, that all written correspondence must\ncease between us with this note. I am urged to this step by a sense of\nduty alone; and although I would be undoubtedly justified by the\nrules of that diplomatic etiquette to which you appeal, in returning\nyour last communication, I refrain from so doing, because it is my\ndesire to avoid all appearance of harshness or unkindness ; because I\nam willing to attribute your excellency's course to a want of conver-\nsancy with such matters, rather than to uncivil intention ; and because,\nin obedience to the spirit of my instructions, I am anxious to maintain, to the end, the amicable relations that have hitherto subsisted\nbetween your excellency and myself.\nLest my official duties should not afford me leisure to call for the\npurpose of paying my respects to your excellency previous to my departure, I avail myself of this occasion to bid you farewell.\nI have the honor to be your obedient servant,\nJOHN NUGENT,\nSpecial Agent of the United States.\nHis Excellency Governor Douglas.\nSan Francisco, December 22, 1858.\nSir : Enclosed please find copy of a letter addressed to us by Captain\nW. L. Dall, which furnishes statement of the number of passengers\ntransported from Victoria to San Francisco, by your request.\nWe trust you may succeed in getting a bill through Congress which\nwill remunerate the company for the service.\nWe are, respectfully,\nFOBBES & BABCOCK, Agents.\nHon. John Nugent,\nUnited States Commissioner, &., &c, Washington-.\nSan Francisco, December 22, 1858.\nGentlemen: The Hon. John Nugent, United States Commissioner\nto British Columbia, went passenger with me from San Francisco to\nVictoria, and on the passage up suggested that he might find some\nAmericans in destitute circumstances, wishing to return to their\nhomes in the United States, and desired permission to furnish passage\nto such as were destitute, that they might be able to reach San Francisco \u00E2\u0080\u00A2 at the same time he wished it understood that he had no\nauthority from the federal government to make any contract for trans- 30\nVancouver's island and British Columbia.\nportation, but promised he would notify the State Department of what\nhad been done by the Pacific Mail Steamship Company in the way of\ntransportation, and exert his influence to have the service properly\npaid for.\nAs I had your consent to make some arrangement of this kind, I\ntold him his written request to our agent at Victoria, or myself, would\nentitle the bearer to a steerage passage. Neither Mr. Nugent or\nmyself ever supposed there would be occasion to extend this privilege\nto many.\nThe Northerner, in October, brought down ten passengers, and the\nPanama, November 2, seventy-four, and Panama, November 22,\nforty-one, making in all one hundred and twenty-five passengers\nfurnished transportation, which, at twenty dollars each, the usual\nprice, amounts to twenty-five hundred dollars.\nThe persons thus relieved were in very destitute circumstances, and,\nreally, had not some way been found to enable them to return to their\nhomes, I do not know where they would have found food or shelter.\nYours, respectfully,\nWILLIAM L. DALL.\nMessrs. Forbes & Babcock,\nAgents Pacific Mail Steamship Company.\nI certify that the number of passengers above mentioned, one hundred and twenty-five, were brought down from Victoria to San Francisco, free of charge, on board the Pacific Mail Steamship Company's\nsteamers, at my request; and that the usual rate of steerage passage\nduring October and November, 1858, was twenty dollars.\nJOHN NUGENT,\nSpecial AgenUofthe United States.\nWashington, D. C, January 24, 1858."@en . "Other Copies: http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/12780439"@en . "Correspondence"@en . "FC3822 .N944 1859"@en . "I-0099"@en . "10.14288/1.0221877"@en . "English"@en . "Vancouver : University of British Columbia Library"@en . "Washington : Government Printing Office"@en . "Images provided for research and reference use only. For permission to publish, copy, or otherwise distribute these images please contact digital.initiatives@ubc.ca."@en . "Original Format: University of British Columbia. Library. Rare Books and Special Collections. FC3822 .N944 1859"@en . "Americans--British Columbia"@en . "United States--Emigration and immigration"@en . "British Columbia--Description and travel--To 1871"@en . "British Columbia--Emigration and immigration"@en . "Vancouver's Island and British Columbia. Message from the President of the United States, communicating the report of the special agent of the United States recently sent to Vancouver's Island and British Columbia"@en . "Text"@en .