rnment was the acquisition of British Columbia.
After the Oregon Treaty of 1846 the British possessions on the Pacific
coast lay in three divisions, Vancouver Island, British Columbia, and
the Stikeen Territory, all in the domains of the Hudson's Bay Company.
In 1863, after the inrush of gold-seekers, the two latter had been
united under one government and granted a Legislative Council, partly
elective. Vancouver Island already had a legislature with two
chambers, one elective. In 1865 Amor DeCosmos, one of the members of
the Assembly for Victoria, began the union movement by proposing that
Vancouver Island should be joined to British Columbia. There {170} was
friction between the two colonies, largely on commercial grounds. A
tariff enacted by the colony on the mainland proved injurious to the
island merchants who flourished under a free port. So in 1866 the
Imperial parliament passed an Act uniting the two colonies. Despite
the isolation of the Pacific coast settlements from the British
colonies across the continent on the Atlantic, the Confederation
movement had not passed unnoticed in the Far West; and in March 1867
the Legislative Council of British Columbia adopted a resolution
requesting Governor Seymour to take measures to secure the admission of
British Columbia into the Dominion 'on fair and equitable terms.' In
transmitting the resolution to the home authorities the governor
candidly pointed out the difficulties. He was not strongly in favour
of the policy. The country east of the Rocky Mountains, it should be
kept in mind, was still in the hands of the Hudson's Bay Company. An
alien population from the United States was increasing in number.
Enormous obstacles stood in the way of communication eastward. 'The
resolution,' wrote Seymour, 'was the expression of a despondent
community longing for change.' However, a public meeting in Victoria
held on January {171} 29, 1868, urgently recommended union. A memorial
to the Canadian government declared that the people generally were
enthusiastic for the change. The leading newspapers endorsed it. The
popularly elected councils of Victoria and New Westminster were of the
same mind. Opposed to this body of opinion were the official class and
a small party who desired annexation to the United States. The terms
demanded were the assumption by Canada of a debt of about $1,500,000, a
fixed annual subsidy, a wagon-road between Lake Superior and the head
of n