No beneficial decision can be
arrived at without the concurrence of both powers, for each have rights
and ideas in some respects differing, and Canada especially has the
deepest concern in the future organization of the North-west. In
selecting a governing power for such a country, the strength and
influence of that power are the grand essentials. Even with equal
enlightenment, these essentials could not be overlooked. A weak
Government would invite attack, deter investment, and check general
confidence.
"Apart from the government by the Hudson's Bay Company, there appear to
be these alternatives:--
"1. Government by Canada annexing to her territory a tract of country
extending to the limits of British Columbia, under some reasonable
arrangement with the Hudson's Bay Company, fairly protective of their
rights, and which arrangement ought not to be difficult to draw out,
when once the principle of the settlement of the country, and the land
system, and extent of land reserves, are agreed upon.
"2. Government by the Crown, as a separate Crown Colony, totally
independent of Canada.
"3. Government by the Crown as a separate Crown Colony, with
federation, more or less extensive, with Canada, and the establishment
of a customs union between the new and old communities.
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