Morning journal and courier., 1880-12-13
Monday Morning, Dec.R13. 1880.
BRITISH coLUMBIA,s WOES.

BRITISH COLUMBIA's WOES
 The people of British Columbia have never been satisfied with the treatment they have received from the Dominion, and their dis satisfaction has become great that they are now at work to remove it's causes. And the leaders of the movement have made some | what singular appeal to the people of the 1 United States for help. A circular letter has ! been sent to many of the newspapers of this country, which letter contains statement Of l the grievances of the people of British Golum- l bia, and closes as follows: "The maltreat- ment which this province has for so many years received at the hands of the Dominion l leads British Columbia to hope that your sense of right and sympathy for an injured ] people may induce you to use your powerful l influence to secure for British Columbia jus tice from the Dominion, or 8 release from l political connection herewith. :"
 | There is no question about the justice of l the complaints made. British Columbia was \ led to enter the confederation by promises l which have not been kept and do not seem ! likely to be- The Canadian Pacific railroad l was to be built and to be begun within two i years after the province joined the Dominion, I which was in 1871. In particular railroad was to be built from Esquimalt, at the southerly> end of Vancouver Island, north l ward along the east shore to Nanaimo. At l the request of the Dominion authorities Brit 1 ish Columbia made grant of a belt of land 1 twenty miles wide along this shore for rail road purposes. Concerning this matter the 1 following resolutions were recently adopted l by mass meeting of citizens of Victoria 1 (the chief city of the provinee) and residents I of Vancouver Island:
 That after five years of patient waiting the | only acts of the Dominion in 1880 at all bear | ing upon the Esquimalt and Nanalmo railway | have been the application to the provincial l government for the conveyance to the Domln- | ion of an additional twenty-mlle belt of land ! between Esquimalt and Nanaimo, and the re- moval of the steel rails purchased for the ! Esquimalt and Nanaimo railway from Na- l naino to near Yale, on the Fraser river, for
 the use of the Emory Bar and Savona Ferry
 section of the Canada Pacific railway on the I mainland.
 That the only compensation possible for the ! many drawbacks of confederation IS railway l construction by the Dominion under the con- ! ditions of the Carnarvon settlement, and un- less the Dominion is prepared to carry out the railway obligations with British Colum- ! bian, the province would benefit largely by l being placed in the same position to the Brit I ish crown as Newfoundland now occupies,
 having full control of her own resources and developments.
 Other resolutions adopted at this meeting
 charge bad faith upon the government of the Dominion and assert that the union with
 Canada has been great injury to the prov ince The British Columbia Board of Trade
 has also adopted series of resolutions in
 which the grievances of the province are suc- I cinctly stated, and the--members of the Do ! minion Parliament are instructed to urge ar ! immediate remedy.
 Of course the people of the United States
 will sympathize with the people of British | Columbia, as they do with all who are op { pressed, but they cannot with propriety in
 terfere in the quarrel as it stands. If, how
 ever, the threat to secede which has beel made should be carried out, an appeal to th' people of this country for moral aid woult
 not be out of place, or, probably, unanswered