BRITISH IMPERIALISM AND CONFEDERATION: THE CASE OF BRITISH COLUMBIA by DAVID DOUGLAS REID B.A., Univeristy of British Columbia, 1972 A THESIS SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF ARTS in THE FACULTY OF GRADUATE STUDIES (Department of Political Science) We accept this thesis as conforming to the required standard THE UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA May 1976 In presenting this thesis in partial fulfilment of the requirements for an advanced degree at the University of British Columbia, I agree that the Library shall make it freely available for reference and study. I further agree that permission for extensive copying of this thesis for scholarly purposes may be granted by the Head of my Department or by his representatives. It is understood that copying or publication of this thesis for financial gain shall not be allowed without my written permission. Department of Political Science The University of British Columbia 20 75 Wesbrook Place Vancouver, Canada V6T 1W5 Date May 10. 3 976 ii ABSTRACT This thesis examines the forces behind British Columbia's entry into the Canadian Federation in 1871 by examining the historical and structural circumstances surrounding the relative stages of economic development in the Colony and the British metropolis. The thesis argues that British Columbia's entry into Confederation occured within the total framework of capitalist expansion in the nineteenth century. It occured within the context of Bri• tish imperialism. The instruments of British imperialism and the character of economic development in the hinterland region of the Pacific Northwest, however, changed as the economic structure of England changed. The road to Confederation for British Columbia—as for Canada—was essentially determined by a shift in the economic structure of England from merchant to industrial capitalism. At a lower level of generality, the thesis concludes that a tri• angle of trade and capital investment existed between Victoria, San Francis• co and London, and through London,to Montreal. This metropolitan network tied the Colony to Great Britain and ultimately to Canada. The ruling class of British Columbia was firmly linked to British capital, and it actively sought, in London, Montreal and Victoria, the achievement of Confederation. iii TABLE OF CONTENTS Page Abstract ii List of Tables v List of Figures vi I INTRODUCTION - 1 II BRITISH COLUMBIA AND HISTORIANS 8 (A) 1870-1930: Idealism 8 (B) Environmentalism 13 (C) Metropolitanism 20 (D) British Columbia and Metropolitanism 26 (e) Conclusion 29 III THE STRUCTURE OF BRITISH IMPERIALISM 31 (A) Introduction 31 (B) Imperialism: A Definition 33 (C) Merchant Capitalism and Industrial Capitalism 37 (D) Mercantilism and British Expansion 42 (E) Industrial Capitalism and Imperialism 47 (F) Conclusion 51 IV THE FUR TRADE AND BRITISH EXPANSION: 1785-1858 53 (A) Introduction 53 (B) The Maritime Fur Trade 57 (C) The Continental Fur Trade 66 (D) "Imperialism of Monopoly" 70 (E) Colonial-Company-Rule: 1849-1858 80 (i) Land" 80 (ii) Agriculture 83 (iii) Capital Investment 85 (iv) "Family-Compact-Company" 90 (F) The Fur Trade and Capital Accumulation 100 (i) The Northwest Company 100 (ii) The Hudson's Bay Company 103 (G) Conclusion 108 V ANGLO-CANADIAN EXPANSIONISM 111 (A) Introduction 111 (B) The Rise and Fall of the Second Com• mercial Empire of the St. Lawrence 114 iv (C) The 1850s: Railways and Industry 117 (D) The Canadian Ruling Class and Westward Expansion 120 (E) British Financial Capital and Confederation 131 (F) Conclusion 137 VI THE ECONOMIC STRUCTURE OF COLONIAL BRITISH COLUMBIA 140 (A) Introduction 140 (B) The Dominant Staples ( 141 (C) Rresource Extractive Economy 145 (D) Persistence of the Economic structure 149 (E) Conclusion 151 VII BRITISH COLUMBIA AND CONFEDERATION 154 (A) Introduction 154 (B) Gold and Commercial Capitalism 155 (i) Gold and Mercant Capital 256 (ii) Victoria: Regional Metropolis 150 (iii) The Financial Structure 154 (iv) Transportation and the Public Debt ^55 (v) Public Finance and Regional Union ^gg (C) The Metropolitan Network yii (i) The Influence of San Francisco 2j2 (ii) Triangle of Trade and Investment y]S (iii) Victoria and British Mercantile Houses 179 (D) The British Mercantile Elite and Confederation ig2 (E) British Merchant Banks and Confederation jgi (F) Summary and Conclusion ^gg VIII CONCLUSION, ' 204 IX BIBLIOGRAPHY 209 LIST OF TABLES Page TABLE I Export of Commodities from British Columbia, 1872 146 TABLE II The Value of Staple Exports from Bri• tish Columbia, Selected Years; and the Total Value of Production of Minerals in British Columbia, Selected Years 148 TABLE III Distribution of the Labour Force in British Columbia, Selected Years 150 TABLE IV Total Exports from British Columbia, 1872 174 TABLE V Exports of Forest Products from the Burrard Inlet Mills, 1870 175 LIST OF FIGURES FIGURE 1 Organizational Time Chart 1 I INTRODUCTION In this thesis I plan to examine the forces behind British Columbia's entry into the Canadian Federation in 1871. The following questions were asked: (1) Why did the Colony of British Columbia join Canada when there seemed to be powerful influences and forces working against its entry into Confederation? (2) What was the nature and character of British imperialism in the Pacific Northwest? What were the instruments of British imperialism? (3) What role did the fur trade have in maintaining British para- mountcy in the region? (4) What influence did San Francisco exert in the socio-economic development of British Columbia? Was economic power in the Colony the sole domain of the Americans? What was the character of the economic and politi• cal elite in British Columbia, and what role did they have in the colony's entry into Confederation? (5) What was the role of merchant and financial capital on the road to Confederation for British Columbia? (6) What was the structural relationship between the Pacific Northwest and Great Britain, Canada and the United States in the pre-confed- eration period? What were the economic linkages? These are just some of the questions asked in this thesis. I hope to be able to answer them by examining the political economy of colonial British Columbia in both its local and international context. This thesis, however, is not an attempt to provide a detailed history of the period up to 1871, but rather to outline the general pattern of historical development in 2 a meaningful way. This study will not be original in the sense of bringing to light new and previously unpublished information. On the contrary, it is hoped that its significance can be found in the way in which historical events and phenomena are reinterpreted. It is an attempt to provide not only a basis for future research, but also to point out the usefulness of histori• cal materialism as a theoretical perspective for the study of the socio• economic relations of British Columbia. The thesis is divided into eight chapters. Chapter II, "British Columbia and Historians", is an analysis of the historiography of British Columbia in the pre-confederation period; it examines the various interpre• tations put forth to explain why the Colony joined Canada in 1871. The following question was asked: Where did the historians of British Columbia find the conditions of the rise, evolution and functioning of a social for• mation? This chapter emphasizes the need for a metropolitan perspective; a metropolitanism that (1) moves from the descriptive level into a wider theoretical framework, and (2) takes into consideration the total framework of capitalist expansion and development in the nineteenth century. That is, a perspective that explicitly recognizes the imperialism of the metropolitan center and the structural relations that lie behind its outward form. This chapter does not pretend to be a clear demonstration of the inadequacies of the various approaches put forth by the historians of British Columbia. On the contrary, it is hoped that it will provide the reader with an opportun• ity to compare the perspective of this thesis from other approaches. In other words, the usefulness of the approach suggested here and the assump• tions that it is based upon will be demonstrated in the "doing"; in the 3 way in which it is applied and in the questions it answers. Chapter III, "The Structure of British Imperialism", examines the nature and character of British imperialism in the nineteenth century. A basic theme of this thesis is that the road to Confederation for British Columbia, as for Canada, was essentially determined or paralleled by a shift in Great Britain from merchant capitalism to industrial capitalism, and thus, in the transformation of the nature and character of British imperialism. The theme of the shift from mercantilism, the form of imperialism associated with merchant capitalism, to the "imperialism of free trade", the form asso• ciated with industrial capitalism, will be developed throughout the thesis. Therefore, in order to prepare the reader for a better understanding of this theme, this chapter will provide a definition of imperialism, and will examine the nature of merchant and industrial capitalism, and the character of British overseas expansion associated with each phase. Chapter IV, "The Fur Trade and British Expansion: 1785-1858", examines the pattern of commercial penetration and settlement in the Pacific Northwest: How did the region develop? What was the sequence of develop• ment? What role did the Hudson's Bay Company perform in integrating the region into Britain's expanding economy and in maintaining the imperial re• lation? What was the nature and structure of British imperialism during this period? What was the performance of the Hudson's Bay Company during the period of Company-Colonial-Rule? Did the Company encourage or obstruct settlement and colonization? These and other questions will be answered in this chapter. Chapter V, "Anglo-Canadian Expansionism", examines the forces be• hind Canadian western expansion.