The Words Of The Treaty Define The Boundary To Be A
Line Drawn Southerly Through The Centre Of The Channel From The Centre
Of The Channel Separating Vancouver's Island From The Mainland.
Had the
existence of three channels been then known, one of them - the one
meant - would certainly have been named.
Only one channel, Rosario, was
known at the time, and the presumption is that it was meant. Making too
sure of this we claimed it. It is, however, clear to my mind that the
whole space between the Continent and Vancouver Island was treated as
one channel. The Douglas, or middle channel, would then fulfil to the
letter the words of the Treaty, and give us all we wanted, and still
leave a channel free to the Americans. It was, I contend, a fatal error
to abandon this position. Having done so and departed from the words of
the Treaty, it was really a toss up which of the two other channels was
selected by the umpire. Though we argued that Rosario was the only
channel known at the time of the Treaty, the Americans argue (as you
know how) that it was not so, and moreover that there was no intention
to give us more than Vancouver Island. Why such a red herring as this
was allowed to decoy us from the straight path of the words of the
Treaty is what, in the words of Dundreary, 'No fellah can understand.'
"I hope I have made myself clear to you, and that you will ventilate
the subject in Canada (through the press), where and in British
Columbia there must be a deep feeling of disappointment and disgust,
without a just appreciation of how we came to be so befooled.
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