He Was A Very Able
Man; Cool, Clear, Cautious, But When Once He Had Had Time To Calculate
All The Consequences, Firm And Decided.
He had been for years on the
Pacific coast; and, thanks to his prudence, the landing, in 1859, of
General Harney, and a detachment of United States troops on the Island
of St. Juan, between Vancouver's Island and the mainland, on the
Pacific, had been controlled and checkmated, by the proposal of a joint
occupation until negotiations had settled the question of right. This
right was, afterwards, given away by our Government under the form of
an arbitration before the Emperor of Germany. Governor Dallas' opinion
of the transaction will be gathered from his letters to me of the 29th
and 30th October, 1872, hereafter copied.
The Governor and I became fast friends, and our friendship, cordial on
both sides, continued until his death, a very few years ago. The only
fault of Governor Dallas was a want of self-assertion. Brought out by
the Mathesons - hardy Scots of the North - as he was, he made a
reasonable fortune in China: and coming home, intending to retire, he
was persuaded to accept the Governorship of the Hudson's Bay Company on
the death of Sir George Simpson. Meeting at Montreal, our first act of
"business" was to voyage in the Governor's canoe from Lachine through
the rapids to Montreal; a voyage, to me, as almost a novice, save for
my New Brunswick canoeing, of rather startling adventure; but the
eleven stalwart Indians, almost all six feet high, who manned the boat,
made the trip interesting, as it was to me in the nature of a new
experience.
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