Helmcken's Diary of the Confederation Negotiations, 18701
INTRODUCTION
On May 10, 1870, a delegation of unusual importance left Victoria for San Francisco, en route to Ottawa. It was composed of three of the leaders of the political life of the colony of British Columbia: the Hon. J. W. Trutch, Chief Commissioner of Lands and Works; the Hon. R. W. W. Carrall and the Hon. J. S. Helmcken, elected members of the Legislative Council for Cariboo and Victoria City, respectively. To them Governor Anthony Musgrave had entrusted the task of negotiating with the Canadian Government suitable terms for the entry of the Pacific colony into the newly federated Dominion of Canada. Federation with Canada had been mooted in the colony since 1867, but the supine administration of Governor Frederick Seymour had done little to secure its accomplishment. It remained for his successor to initiate the official action, which alone could bring the matter to a successful issue. Upon the opening of the regular session of the Legislative Council on February 15, 1870, Governor Musgrave, referring to the projected union with Canada, had said: - For my part I am convinced that on certain terms which I believe it would not be difficult to arrange, this Colony may derive substantial benefit from such a union. But the only manner in which it can be ascertained whether Canada will agree to such arrangements as will suit us, is to propose such as we would be ready to accept.2 Consequently the Governor, after consultation with his Executive Council, had drawn up a series of proposals for presentation to the Legislative Council. Long and careful consideration by that body resulted in certain amendments to the terms and the addition of some supplementary recommendations. Thus armed, the three delegates travelled to Ottawa to sound out the Canadian Government. Hitherto a veil of secrecy has shrouded the negotiations which followed. The various occasions upon which the delegates met with representatives of the Canadian Cabinet were, of course, noted in the press; but no details whatever of the proceedings were made public, either then or later. Moreover, careful search in the Archives of the Dominion, and in other collections, has failed to produce any minutes or memoranda, and after a lapse of almost seventy years it still appeared that not one of the participants had left any record of the discussions which took place. Such a record has now finally come to light. Amongst the papers belonging to the late Dr. J. S. Helmcken, recently transferred to the Provincial Archives by the heirs of his daughter, Mrs. Edith L. Higgins, is a concise, day-to-day account of the eventful negotiations between the British Columbian and Canadian delegates. The diary was kept in an ordinary exercise-book. When Dr. Helmcken refused a senatorship and retired from politics in 1871, he seems to have placed it in a drawer of his secretaire and ignored it thereafter. Possibly he regarded it as a personal and confidential document, as no reference to it has been noticed in any of the reminiscences he contributed in later years to the press. The historical importance of the diary is obvious. Though relatively brief, it reveals clearly both the general course of the negotiations and the questions upon which discussion centred. Two points are of special interest. The sincerity of Canada's desire to secure the adherence of British Columbia was made patent by the generosity of the final terms offered by the Dominion. Helmcken's journal makes the interesting suggestion that the concessions Canada was prepared to make were limited only by the necessity of carrying the terms through the federal parliament. The reader cannot but be struck by the number of times this matter is referred to in the diary. In the second place, the journal enables us, with some degree of certainty, to account for some of the most important differences between the proposals which the delegates took to Ottawa and the terms of union offered later by the Dominion. It is not necessary here to detail all the changes made, but Helmcken's notes throw much light upon three of the most important alterations those in the terms relating to subsidies, to communications, and to the form of government. For the sake of clarity these are reproduced in full. It is now generally conceded that the inclusion of the guarantee of Responsible Government in the terms was largely the work of H. E. Seelye, the diligent special correspondent of the Victoria Daily British Colonist.3 Willard E. Ireland [1975].
| Index |
|
|
June 3 |
Notes.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Visit
SchoolNet Digital Collections