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AMOR DEOOSMOS, A BRITISH COLUMBIA REFORMER by Margaret Ross AMOR DECOSMOS.A BRITISH COLUMBIA REFORMER Margaret Ross (% . (L . A Thesis submitted in partial fulfilment for the Requirements for the Degree of MASTER OP ARTS In the Department of HISTORY The University of British Columbia April, 1931. I U.B.C. LIBRARY f I CAT ^ei av - fa fa J I ACC. NO. 7sGi£> | CONTENTS. Chapter '. I. Early Life and Training. Chapter II. The Creation of Public Opinion, Chapter III. DeCosmos in the Assembly. Chapter IV. The Struggle for Confederation, Chapter V. DeCosmos in the House of Commons. Chapter VI. An Estimate of DeCosmos's Character and Work. Appendix A. Lists of the Members of the Legislative Council of British Columbia, 1867-1871. Bibliography. - Chapter I- Early Life and Training. The history of British Columbia has been written so often on the theory that all that is good in the province is a legacy from the men who came out in the interests of the Hud• son's Bay Company that this fallacy has become the belief of most people. Strangely enough little consideration has been given to the great field of the influence of the Eastern Bri• tish North American provinces upon the West. British Columbi• ans have ignored the fact that the great story of all British provinces has been the fight for responsible government, and that British Columbia and Vancouver Island do not differ from the remainder of Canada in this respect. Since they have ig• nored this fact it is only natural that they should also have ignored the men who fought for these principles. Where would these men come from who fought for poli• tical freedom in the most western of the provinces? It is not to be expected that the Great Monopoly would provide them, in• terested as it was, only in profits; nor the settlers who came from England, rarely unattached but rather servants of the Hud• son's Bay Company. Nor would they be expected to come from California, among the mixed group who were attracted by gold, and who stayed in many cases to trade. Instead it was from the Eastern provinces that they came, from the Canadas and the Maritimes; the provinces where responsible government had been 2 contended for during half a century. The first of these men to fight for British privileges in British Columbia came from Nova Scotia, the first province to win responsible government, and to win it by constitutional means. It is possible then to trace the constitutional fight of British Columbia to the in• fluence of Nova Scotia and Joseph Howe on this man, Amor DeCos• mos. Nova Scotia from 1830 lived in a turmoil of political events, all centring around that great political figure, Joseph Howe. As a newspaper man, he was interested in politics from an early age, and in 1835 entered into them actively. His first public appearance, however, was connected with the famous libel case, where he upheld the freedom of the press as he was later to uphold the freedom of the people. Prom 1835 until 1848 Howe was never idle in the fight for responsible govern• ment and, through his personality and magnetism, all Nova Sco• tia became vitally interested in the question. A great deal of this interest was due, of course, to the able opponents of Howe who upheld the old order. Such men as Johnston and such gover• nors as Falkland could not fail to attract a people naturally politically-minded. Imagine, therefore, this atmosphere of Interest in political matters--wlth stirring events and great speeches to win the attention of all Nova Scotia. A child born in a fami• ly which took any interest at all in politics, and brought up near the scene of Howe's labours would undoubtedly hear much of this great figure and his able opponents, and the principles ?3 for which he was fighting. Such was the background of William Alexander Smith, or as he was later known, Amor DeCosmos. His family was of old Puritan stock who had fought with Cromwell in the days of the Civil War, had left Derbyshire for the American Colonies, 1 and after the War of Independence had settled in Nova Scotia. His origins are almost a replica of Howe's, his parents proba• bly held the same beliefs as Howe and therefore he would be brought up in an atmosphere favourable to responsible govern• ment . Born in 1825, he attended Windsor Academy, a private school, until 1840, when he entered the employ of a firm of wholesale merchants, Charles Whitman Company, in Halifax. Consequently he was in Halifax, at the centre of the political struggle in the most crucial years of Howe's political career. Moreover he was a member of the Dalhousie Debating Club which actively discussed the political questions of the day. Like Howe he left school early, but he attended the night school of John S. Thompson while working in Halifax. He, like Howe,'must have read much in his spare time, since in his later writing he showed a good knowledge.of literature. This fact was remarked on by a man who knew him later. "He was wide-minded, yet methodically laborious, and a master of 1. Boggs, Beaumont - What I remember of Hon. Amor DeCosmos. British Columbia Historical Association Report, 1929. IP. &f. B. C. Archives - Library of Legislative Assembly, No. 3, 1910. Some jottings supposedly written by DeCosmos's brother. 4 details; a great reader, chiefly hut not exclusively, in the lines of History and Politics. He made no parade in conversa-* tion of what he knew. Only by some Incidental allusion would you become aware of his familiarity with Shakespeare and 1 Scott." It is difficult of course to trace the direct influ• ence of one man on another when there is no evidence of any di• rect contact between them and when their work is carried on in places many miles distant from each other. Nevertheless it is an interesting speculation and it is particularly so in the case of Howe's influence on DeCosmos after he left Nova Scotia. It is easy to show by a comparison of their two careers many points of similarity--so many that it seems obvious that the • older man influenced the younger. It is difficult, however, to prove by direct references of DeCosmos that he consciously re• alized the influence of Howe though in many of his editorials one recognizes.marked resemblances between the ideas and lan• guage of both. It is far easier to find references that show the in• fluence of Nova Scotia. On occasion, he speaks of the lack of an Executive Council "similar to those of Nova Scotia, Canada, • 2. etc." Nova Scotia Is put first not Canada. Again he quotes an article from the Globe, St. John, New Brunswick, of July, 1859, which remarks on the Colonist's fight against Douglas and which compares the situation there to that in the eastern 1. Sproat, Gilbert M. - Amor DeCosmos, A Singular Figure in British Columbia'Politics. Victoria Daily Times, Jan. 19, 1906. 2. British Colonist — Feb. 5, 1859. 5 1 province before responsible government. Here again there seems to be a close link between the colony on the Pacific and those on the Atlantic. The most direct reference to Howe is in the matter of a governor for the island. Grant says that he attempted to get the governorship of the Pacific colony on one of his visits to 2 England. " There evidently was some truth in the story since the rumour reached Vancouver Island. DeCosmos mentions it in the Colonist, saying "he would be the right man in the right '3 place." To the former Nova Scotian, no man could be a better governor of the young colony which was struggling towards res• ponsible government than the man who had done most to win it in his own province. Both the papers in Victoria, in writing about DeCos• mos after his death mentioned this influence of Howe. The Colonist declared "the history of this rugged and courageous pioneer shows that he brought from his Nova Scotia birthplace a great deal of the same kind of fire that burned in the breast • 4 of Joseph Howe." The Times definitely said that during his early life in Nova Scotia he chose Joseph Howe for his politi- '5 cal mentor. 1. British Colonist - Aug. 26, 1859. 2. Grant, W. L. - The Tribune of Nova Scotia. Chroni• cles of Canada Series, Vol. 26. Toronto, Glasgow, Brook and Company, 1922. <P. • 3. British Colonist - Oct. 5, 1859.. 4. Daily Colonist - July 6, 1897, 5. Daily Times - July 5, 1897-. 6 DeCosmos remained in Halifax until 1851, but like many another ambitious young man of the period he probably de• cided that there would be more scope for his talents in a new country where there would be the opportunity to build up poli• tical organization himself, rather than to be a mere spectator of such work. Just at this time the great gold rush had reached its peak in California and there would be an added inducement for adventure—the chance of making a fortune. Therefore in 1851 he started for California. He chose the, more difficult i route across land and starting from New York he went by way of the Missouri River to St. Louis where he joined a caravan. This caravan was attacked by Indians, part of the company being killed, and their provisions lost. He finally reached Salt Lake City where he spent the winter.
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