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(1) That No One, From The Head Down To The Office Boy, Shall Enter The
Doors Without Having Passed In General And In British Empire,
Geography.
(2) That no one shall be promoted who has not visited some
one British Colony or Province; and (3) That no one shall be eligible
for the highest offices who has not visited and studied, personally,
every portion of the distant British Empire.
With confident hope I went to work. It is true that Mr. Thomas Baring
warned me. He said: "If the Duke wants these great efforts made he must
make them on behalf of the Government: he must not leave private
persons to take the risk of Imperial work." And, in this state of mind,
Mr. Baring refused, afterwards, to be one of the promoters of the
Pacific scheme, a refusal which led Mr. Glyn to hesitate to sign the
legal papers without his friend and colleague. It was an anxious time
for me; for on my head rested the main responsibility. One circumstance
somewhat sustained me. On "the 10th December, 1862, at Thomas' Hotel,
the Duke had read to me a private letter from Mr. Gladstone to him,
containing these words. Words of which I was allowed to make a note"
Your Pacific scheme would be one of the grandest affairs ever achieved,
and I hope it will be completed in your time. It shall have my hearty
support." Alas! however, Mr. Baring was right.
The first official interview with the Governor and Court of the
Hudson's Bay Company was at the "Hudson's Bay House," Fenchurch Street,
on the 1st December, 1862.
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