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the gold seekers found their way from Victoria in canoes, or by whatever better means could be secured. The irruption of these outsiders into his peaceful domain seems to have been unwelcome to the governor. At all events it presented un- wonted problems and raised anxious questions. In the first stages of the movement, as early as May 8, 1858, Douglas wrote in an anxious strain to the Colonial Office in London describing disturbed conditions and voicing fears. 9 Intense excitement, we are told, prevailed even as far south as San Francisco. "Boats, canoes, and every species of small craft, are continually employed in pouring their cargoes of human beings into Eraser's River." The men seemed to be well pro- vided with tools, capital, and intelligence. They had been rep- resented as specimens of the worst population, "the very dregs, in fact, of society." The Governor candidly admits, however : "Their conduct while here would have led me to form a very different conclusion; as our little town, though crowded to excess with this sudden influx of people, and though there was a temporary scarcity of food, and dearth of house accommodation, the police few in number, and many temptations to excess in the way of drink, yet quiet and order prevailed, and there was not a single committal for rioting, drunkenness, or other offences, during their stay here."
Remarkable enough, all must agree. But after all, should these foreigners be welcomed ?
"Taking a view of the subject, simply in its relation to trade and commerce, apart from considerations of na- tional policy, such perhaj>s would be the course most likely to promote the interests of this colony ; but, on the contrary, if the country be thrown open to indiscriminate immigration the interests of the Empire may suffer from the introduction of a foreign population, whose sym- pathies may be decidedly anti-British. Taking that view of the question it assumes an alarming aspect, and suggests a doubt as to the policy of permitting the free entrance of foreigners into British territory for residence without in the first place requiring them to take the oath of allegiance, and otherwise to give such security for their conduct as
9 Copies of Extracts of Correspondence relative to the Discovery of Gold in the Prater's River Distritt in British NortH America. Presented to Parliament July 2, 1858, by the Government. (Copy consulted at the Provincial Archives at Vic- toria, B. C.)
