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From 1867: Britain sees us as an annoyance

Every Sunday we are looking back at editorials from our predecessor newspaper, The Daily British Colonist and Victoria Chronicle, in 1867. One hundred and fifty years ago this week, the editors were cranky.

Every Sunday we are looking back at editorials from our predecessor newspaper, The Daily British Colonist and Victoria Chronicle, in 1867.
One hundred and fifty years ago this week, the editors were cranky. They wanted to be part of Confederation, and were ready to use the United States for leverage.

 

We were not unprepared for the report that the United States wishes to buy Vancouver Island and British Columbia, and that an offer has been made by Mr. [William] Seward to accept this colony as an offset to the Alabama claims.

The proposition includes, as a matter of necessity, the entire territory lying west of the Rocky Mountains and the adjacent islands, with the backbone of the great range for the division line.

Since the cession of the Russian possessions to our neighbours, the command that the Americans have obtained over the greater portion of this British Pacific Coast is almost overwhelming; and it must be apparent to even a careless observer that it only requires the cession of San Juan Island to the United States to render our possessions on the Pacific utterly indefensible and worthless in case of a rupture between the two countries.

We are hemmed in on the north and south. The lines are being drawn tighter every year.

In 1825, the blundering of British statesmen over the Northwest boundary gave a coastline of 350 miles in length to the more wide-awake Russian, who only the other day used the concession granted 42 years ago to pay us off for interfering in his little game in the Crimea.

The loose, shambling manner in which the Treaty of 1846 with the Americans was drawn has since afforded them an excuse for seizing on San Juan Island, where their guns command the two channels leading to the seat of government on the mainland.

But it is not alone the encroachments of our neighbours that have created a widespread feeling of alarm and discontent here. It is the extraordinary indifference and apathy with which our demands are treated by the home government that have given just cause for complaint.

No attempt is made to assist us in developing latent resources; no expedition is sent out at government expense to explore the country and show what we have to offer the starving millions of the Old World.

There are men in Parliament who voted to unite us to the mainland, but who have not the faintest conception of where we are located. Heavy burthens are strapped to our back.

If we succeed in carrying them — if the country “goes ahead” and becomes populous and rich — it will be said Great Britain did it, and we shall hear a great deal about the latest and brightest gem added to the British Crown.

But if the colony goes down, involving the colonists in common ruin, we shall be told that we are lazy and shiftless, and deserve no better fate. Why should this state of things continue, if the home government really entertains the strong affection toward the colonies that some speakers in Parliament profess?

Why should a line of policy be persevered in that is alienating the affections of colonists from Great Britain and is causing them to cast their eyes across the imaginary line that divides them from their Anglo-Saxon brethren, and long for a “closer communion” with the children of a government that does so much to foster and encourage the growth of every section of its vast domain?

Sitka has not been three weeks in the possession of the Americans, yet we hear already of an expedition being on its way out from Washington to thoroughly explore the country and report upon its capabilities and resources.

Before the summer has passed away, we shall hear of a territorial government being formed in the north.

Is it to be wondered at that we find a great and growing feeling of discontent pervading the public mind when they contrast their own situation with that of the states and territories about them?

Is it any wonder that a transfer of the colony to the United States under the arrangement proposed would be hailed with satisfaction by many of our people?

We deeply regret that such is the state of popular feeling here today. But what are our people to do? Where are they to turn for relief?

Their patience and means are exhausted, and their loyalty is put to a severe test when they reflect that while the rest of the world is moving forward they are going behind.

They know from the experience of the past that no help need be looked for from home. Confederation would save us; but when may we expect its consummation?

None would regret more deeply than ourselves the failure of British institutions on the Pacific; but if the day ever arrives when the British flag shall be supplanted on this Island by the Stars and Stripes, the responsibility will rest with the home government, not with the colonists.

The present negotiations, we believe, will amount to nothing.

Great Britain will not sell her colonies. She might exchange British Columbia for a generous slice of the state of Maine, which would give a fine seaboard to the new Confederation.

But the Americans, on the other hand, will not part with Maine. So no bargain can be struck.

Money cannot buy us at present, notwithstanding we are treated very indifferently, and every day told we are a burthen and a source of continual annoyance to our old mother.

The Daily British Colonist and Victoria Chronicle,April 25, 1867