The Terror of the Coast. Chris Arnett

became interested in land speculation, particularly in the unceded lands of Hul’qumi’num First Nations. Three officers, Mayne, Lyall, and Bedwell, had purchased “Cowichan Scrip,” and the Navy sought to establish a naval depot in the heart of their territories on Stu’kin (Thetis Island). As early as June 30, 1859, the senior naval officer, Captain Michael Decourcy, of HMS Plyades, “made application on behalf of the Lords of the Admiralty to be put in possession of the title deed of Thetis Island.” ³⁶ Within a few years, another young, wealthy naval officer, Lieutenant Commander the Honourable Horace Lascelles, preempted large acreages surrounding the Hudson’s Bay Company coalfields at Nanaimo with the intention of developing additional coal mining operations.

      On the sixth of February 1861, a petition was prepared by the House of Assembly to formally request that the British imperial government provide funds for the purchase of Hwulmuhw lands at Cowichan, Chemainus (including Salt Spring and other islands) and Barclay Sound. It was addressed to the Principal Secretary of State for the Colonies, the Duke of Newcastle. The petition and a dispatch sent by Douglas to accompany it warned of the possibility of inter-racial war if the aboriginal title to the lands in question was not properly extinguished:

      WE, Her Majesty’s faithful and loyal subjects, the members of the House of Assembly of Vancouver Island in Parliament assembled, would earnestly request the attention of Your Grace to the following considerations:

      1. THAT many Colonists have purchased land, at the rate of One Pound Sterling per acre, in districts to which the Indian title has not yet been extinguished.

      2. THAT, in consequence of the non-extinction of this title, those persons, though most desirous to occupy and improve, have been unable to take possession of their lands—purchased, in most cases, nearly three years ago; and of this they loudly and justly complain.

      3. THAT the Indians, well aware of the compensation heretofore given for lands, appropriated for colonization, in the earlier settled districts of Vancouver Island, as well as in the neighbouring territory of Washington, strenuously oppose the occupation by settlers of lands still deemed their own. No attempts of the kind could be persisted in, without endangering the peace of the Country, for these Indians, though otherwise well disposed and friendly, would become hostile if their supposed rights as regards land were systematically violated; and they are still much more numerous and warlike than the petty remnants of tribes, who in 1855 and 1856, in the western part of the adjacent United States territory of Washington, kept up for nearly a year, a desultory and destructive warfare which compelled the whole agricultural population of the Country to desert their homes, and congregate in blockhouses.

      4. THAT within the last three years, this Island has been visited by many intending settlers, from various parts of the world. Comparatively few of these have remained, the others having, as we believe, been, in great measure, deterred from buying land as they could not rely on having peaceable possession; seeing that the Indian Title was still unextinguished to several of the most eligible agricultural districts of the Island.

      5. THAT the House of Assembly respectfully considers, that the extinction of the aboriginal title is obligatory on the Imperial Government.

      6. THAT the House of Assembly, bearing in mind, that from the dawn of modern colonization until the present day, wars with aborigines have mainly arisen from disputes about land, which by timely and moderate concession on the part of the more powerful and enlightened of the disputants concerned, might have been peaceably and economically adjusted; now earnestly pray, that Her Majesty’s Government would direct such steps to be taken, as may seem best, for the speedy settlement of the matter at issue, and the removal of a most serious obstacle to the well being of this Colony.” ³⁷

      Confident that the British government would provide the necessary means for the extinguishment of Hwulmuhw title, the colonial government went ahead with its plans for an official pre-emption system to apply to the ceded lands of the colony and to unceded Hwulmuhw land including Salt Spring Island, “the Chemainus,” and James Island in Haro Strait. A full eighteen months had passed since the first allowance of pre-emptive rights by Pemberton in Chemainus and on Salt Spring Island and the official proclamation of the new policy. On February 19, 1861, Douglas issued the first Land Proclamation Act in which he announced that he was “empowered by Her Majesty’s Government to fix the upset price of country land within the colony of Vancouver Island and its dependencies at 4s. 2d. per acre,” far less than the previous price of £1, and more in line with American prices. The proclamation announced that “British subjects may enter upon and occupy land, not being otherwise reserved, in certain quantities and in certain districts— That from and after the date hereof, male British subjects, and aliens who shall take the oath of allegiance before the Chief Justice of Vancouver Island, above the age of eighteen years, may pre-empt unsold Crown lands in the districts of Victoria, Esquimalt, the Highlands, Sooke, North Saanich and South Saanich, Salt Spring Island, Sallas [James] Island, and the Chemainus (not being an Indian reserve or settlement).” Interestingly enough, the Cowichan territories of the Cowichan Valley were not included. Single men were allowed to occupy up to one hundred and fifty acres and married men with a wife “resident in the colony” were allowed two hundred acres with an additional ten acres for each child. ³⁸

      When the House of Assembly petition for assistance to extinguish Hwulmuhw title was sent to London on March 25, 1861, Douglas accompanied it with the following dispatch. Besides being “evidence that Governor Douglas was prepared to vouch for the fact that the Indians had their own legal system, and that each tribe had title to its own territory and that its rights with regard to its territory were recognized by all other tribes,” his letter underlined the importance of a land sale agreement to avoid a situation “that would endanger the peace of the Country.”

      My Lord Duke,

       I have the honour of transmitting a Petition from the House of Assembly of Vancouver Island to Your Grace praying for the aid of Her Majestey’s Government in extinguishing the Indian Title to the public lands in this Colony: and setting forth, with much force and truth, the evils that may arise from the neglect of that very necessary precaution.

      2. As the Native Indian population of Vancouver Island have distinct ideas of property in land, and mutually recognize their several exclusive possessory rights in certain districts, they would not fail to regard the occupation of such portions of the Colony by white settlers, unless with the full consent of the proprietary Tribes, as national wrongs; and the sense of injury might produce a feeling of irritation against the Settlers, and perhaps disaffection to the Government, that would endanger the peace of the Country.

      3. Knowing their feelings on that subject, I made it a practice, up to the year 1859, to purchase the Native rights in the land, in every case, prior to the settlement of any District; but since that time in consequence of the termination of the Hudson’s Bay Company’s Charter, and the want of funds, it has not been in my power to continue it. Your Grace must indeed be well aware that I have, since then, had the utmost difficulty in raising money enough to defray the most indispensable wants of Government.

      4. All the settled Districts of the Colony, with the exception of Cowitchen, Chemainus, and Barclay Sound, have been already bought from the Indians, at a cost in no case exceeding £2.10 sterling for each family. As the land has since then increased in value, the expence would be relatively somewhat greater now, but I think that their claims might be satisfied with a payment of £3 to each family; so that taking the Native population of those districts at 1000 families, the sum of £3000 would meet the whole charge.