Page:Oregon Historical Quarterly volume 22.djvu/185



LAST PHASE OF OREGON BOUNDARY 175

Much depended, of course, on the terms upon which land could be procured. These terms were not stipulated in the charter, but were approved by the British Minister for the Colonies. The price was one pound per acre and no lot was to be less than twenty acres. If large tracts of land were taken, the price was the same, and the purchaser undertook to take out with him five single men or three married couples for every hundred acres. All minerals were to remain in the pos- session of the Company but the owner of the land might work coal by paying a royalty of two shillings and six pence per ton. While it was true that the American settler had to provide for his own public improvement and was without the parental guidance of his government, the terms upon which he could procure land touch the farthest limits of generosity compared with these. The British settler by declaring intention to natur- alize might have given to him in the Oregon Country 320 acres without any irksome restrictions and conditions, and if he were married 640 acres would be donated to him. It is clear enough that the Company had determined to control, if they could not prevent, colonization.

Attempts at settlement were made, notably by Captain Grant at Sooke, who took out a party from Great Britain, but the most successful settlers were ex-servants of the Company. They had experience and were more or less used to the ways of the Company.

Victoria was made the political capital by the establish- ment of a government in Jo5Q wifli Blancnard as first governor. There was misunderstanding over the terms of his appoint- ment, and the following year he returned to England, being succeeded bT^ameFT3ou^bs. Jhc : chief tiudson^s Bay otticer oTthe Northwest. "Until! 859 Douglas continued to hold both positions, thus completing control of the monopoly over all the affairs of the colony. All land must be purchased from the monopolizers; they alone had the supplies needed by the settler; they alone provided a market for his product; prices in buying and selling were fixed by them. A petition signed