IMAGE EVALUATION 
 TEST TARGET (MT-3) 
 
 1.0 
 
 ittJM 
 
 112.5 
 
 I.I 
 
 litt 12.2 
 III* 
 
 m 
 
 2.0 
 
 1.8 
 
 
 1.25 1.4 
 
 1.6 
 
 
 ^ 6" — 
 
 
 ► 
 
 Photographic 
 
 Sciences 
 
 Corporation 
 
 23 WEST MAIN STREET 
 
 WEBSTER, NY. 14S80 
 
 (716) 872-4S03 
 
 \ 
 
 
 ^^ 
 
 i\ 
 
 \ 
 
 ^^ 
 
 
 <v 
 
 6^ 
 
 
 % 
 
 n? 
 
WssS. D 
 
 
 CIHM/ICMH 
 
 Microfiche 
 
 Series. 
 
 CIHM/iCMH 
 Collection de 
 microfiches. 
 
 Canadian Institute for Historical Microreproductions / Institut canadien de microreproductions historiques 
 
Technical and Bibliographic Notes/Notes techniques et bibliographiques 
 
 The Institute has attempted to obtain the best 
 original copy available for filming. Features of this 
 copy which may be bibliographically unique, 
 which may alter any of the images in the 
 reproduction, or which may significantly change 
 the usual method of filming, are checked below. 
 
 D 
 
 D 
 D 
 
 n 
 
 Coloured covers/ 
 Couverture de couleur 
 
 I I Covers damaged/ 
 
 Couverture endommagie 
 
 Covers restored and/or laminated/ 
 Couverture restaur^e et/ou pellicuide 
 
 Cover title missing/ 
 
 Le titre de couverture manque 
 
 Coloured maps/ 
 
 Cartes g^ographiques en couleur 
 
 □ Coloured ink (i.e. other than blue or black)/ 
 Encre de couleur (i.e. autre que bleui' 3u noire) 
 
 I I Coloured plates and/or illustratior^s/ 
 
 D 
 
 Planches et/ou illustrations en couleur 
 
 Bound with other material/ 
 Reiid avec d'autres documents 
 
 Tight binding may cause shadows or distortion 
 along interior margin/ 
 
 La reliure serr6e peut causer de I'ombre ou de la 
 distortion le long de la marge int^rieure 
 
 Blank leaves added during restoration may 
 appear within the text. Whenever possibia, these 
 have been omitted from filming/ 
 II se peut que certaines pages blanches ajouties 
 lors d'une restauration apparaissent dans le texte, 
 mais, lorsque cela Atait possible, ces pages n'ont 
 pas At6 filmAes. 
 
 Additional comments:/ 
 Commentaires supplimentaires: 
 
 L'Institut a microfilm^ le meilleur exemplaire 
 qu'il lui a dt6 possible de se procurer. Les ddtaiis 
 de cet exemplaire qui sont peut-Atre uniques du 
 point de vuo bibliographique, qui peuvent modifier 
 une image reproduite, ou qui peuvent exiger une 
 modification dans la mdthode normaie de filmage 
 sont indiqu6s ci-dessous. 
 
 I I Coloured pages/ 
 
 D 
 
 D 
 
 D 
 
 D 
 
 
 D 
 
 Pages de couleur 
 
 Pages damaged/ 
 Pages endommagdes 
 
 Pages restored and/oi 
 
 Pages restaur6es et/ou peliicuides 
 
 I I Pages damaged/ 
 
 I I Pages restored and/or laminated/ 
 
 Pages discoloured, stained or foxed/ 
 Pages d6color6es, tachet6es ou piqu6es 
 
 Pages detached/ 
 Pages d^tachdes 
 
 Showthrough/ 
 Transparence 
 
 Quality of print varies/ 
 Quality indgale de I'impression 
 
 Includes supplementary material/ 
 Comprend du materiel suppldmentaire 
 
 I I Only edition available/ 
 
 Seule Edition disponible 
 
 Pages wholly or partially obscured by errata 
 slips, tissues, etc., have been refilmed to 
 ensure the best possible image/ 
 Les pages totalement ou part'ellement 
 obscurcies par un feuillet d'errata, une pelure, 
 etc., ont M film6es A nouveau de fapon A 
 obtenir la meilleure image possible. 
 
 C 
 I: 
 t 
 
 8 
 C 
 f 
 
 s 
 a 
 
 T 
 
 s 
 T 
 
 ^ 
 
 d 
 
 e 
 b 
 ri 
 ri 
 
 IT 
 
 This item is filmed at the reduction ratio checked below/ 
 
 Ce document est film* au taux de reduction indiquift ci-dersous. 
 
 10X 14X 18X 22X 
 
 / 
 
 26X 
 
 30X 
 
 12X 
 
 16X 
 
 20X 
 
 24X 
 
 28X 
 
 32X 
 
itails 
 } du 
 lodifier 
 r une 
 mage 
 
 The copy filmed here has been reproduced thanks 
 to the generosity of: 
 
 Library Division 
 
 Provincial Archives of British Columbia 
 
 The images appearing here are the best quality 
 possible considering the condition and legibility 
 of the original copy and in keeping with the 
 filming contract specifications. 
 
 Original copies in printed paper covers are filmed 
 beginning with the front cover and ending on 
 the last page with a printed or illustrated impres- 
 sion, or the back cover when appropriate. All 
 other original copies are filmed beginning on the 
 first page with a printed or illustrated impres- 
 sion, and ending on the last page with a printed 
 or illustrated impression. 
 
 The last recorded frame on each microfiche 
 shall contain the symbol — ^ (meaning "CON- 
 TINUED"), or the symbol V (meaning "END"), 
 whichever applies. 
 
 Maps, plates, charts, etc., may be filmed at 
 different reduction ratios. Those too large to be 
 entirely included in one exposure are filmed 
 beginning in the upper left hand corner, left to 
 right and top to bottom, as many frames as 
 required. The following diagrams illustrate the 
 method: 
 
 L'exemplaire film* fut reproduit grAce A la 
 gAn6rositA de: 
 
 Library Division 
 
 Provincial Archives of British Columbia 
 
 Les images suivantes ont 6tA reproduites avec le 
 plus grand soin, compte tenu de la condition et 
 de la nettetA de l'exemplaire film«, et en 
 conformity avec les conditions du contrat de 
 filmage. 
 
 Les exemplaires originaux dont la couverture en 
 papier est imprimAe sont filmAs en commen9ant 
 par le premier plat et en terminant soit par la 
 derniAre page qui comporte une empreinte 
 d'impression ou d'illustration, soit par le second 
 plat, salon le cas. Tous les autres exemplaires 
 originaux sont filmAs en commenpant par la 
 premiere page qui comporte une empreinte 
 d'impression ou d'illustration et en terminant par 
 la derniAre page qui comporte une telle 
 empreinte. 
 
 Un des symboles suivants apparaitra sur la 
 derridre image de cheque microfiche, selon le 
 cas: le symbole — ^ signifie "A SUIVRE", le 
 symbole V signifie 'FIN ". 
 
 Les cartes, planches, tableaux, etc., peuvant dtre 
 film6s d des taux de reduction diffArents. 
 Lorsque le document est trop grand pour dtre 
 reproduit en un seul clichA, il est film* A partir 
 de Tangle sup6rieur gauche, de gauche A droite, 
 et de haut en bas, en prenant le nombre 
 d'images nAcessaire. Les diagrammes suivants 
 iilustrent la mAthode. 
 
 irrata 
 to 
 
 pel u re, 
 n A 
 
 □ 
 
 32X 
 
 1 
 
 2 
 
 3 
 
 1 
 
 2 
 
 3 
 
 4 
 
 5 
 
 6 
 

 " S -, *' ' 
 
 :i^ 
 
 
 
 >- >, , .Mi 
 
 .^ 
 
 
 ■s>,.l . 
 
 j>n- 
 
 ./ A> ■ 
 
 M 
 
 V ''',1*1 
 
 i5~5-. V'f, 
 
 ^ 
 
 r*^ 
 
 
 
 l"^.^ ' 
 
 A ' !.\. 
 
 
 ■^1. 
 
 4^ H 
 
 im. 
 
 t./ 
 
 i, *» , 
 
 ^.-i 
 
 
 » 
 
 r 
 
 '.'v .■■ 
 
 ■^* 
 
 I- - *■-■ 
 
 1»>). .4 - 
 
 t 'T i, 
 .,.'- 'i 
 
 ryi" Iff' ' Jl 
 
 i * "H ! 
 
 '. 
 
 «r 
 
 ^^1' ik; 
 
 'V 
 
 ,i-^ 
 
J..., L..I .-i— 
 
 Mbniu'iii 
 
 Decision against the St. James' Mission Claitn at Vancouver. 715 
 
 <Z. 
 
 ■y7. 
 
 |)ECISION AGAINST THE ST. JAMES' MISSION CLAIM AT 
 I VANCOUVER— ITS APPRECIATION: 
 
 ' We reprint, at the request of Bishop 
 Blanchet, the following article on 
 this subject, taken from the Catholic 
 Sentinel of May 25. For a further 
 • exposition of the attitude assumed by 
 the government towards our strug- 
 gling missionary church in that re- 
 gion, we refer the reader to the 
 February (1872) number of this maga- 
 «ine : 
 ^Editor Catholic Sentinel: 
 
 The case of the St. James' Mis- 
 lion Claim, which for the last twelve 
 j^ears has been pending in the office 
 of the General Land Department, 
 jind that of the Secretary of the In- 
 rior, has at last been taken into 
 onsideration, and decided, as repor- 
 ed a few weeks since. To Hon. W. 
 II. Smith, Assistant Attorney-Gen- 
 ^eral, was given the commission to 
 xamine the case and give his opin- 
 He did so in a document dated 
 January 29 last. 
 
 In his report, transmitted to the 
 Department of the Interior, we see 
 [that he had to solve these two 
 [questions : 
 
 Who are included within the 
 
 ion 
 
 proviso of the first section of the act 
 of Congress of the 14th of August, 
 1848, which proviso is in the follow- 
 ing language : •' That the title to 
 land, not exceeding 640 acres, now 
 occupied as missionary stations 
 among the Indian tribes in said Ter- 
 ritory (Oregon Ty.), together with 
 the improvements thereon, be con- 
 firmed and established in the several 
 religious societies to which such mis- 
 sionary stations respectively belong" ? 
 
 2. What is confirmed by said 
 proviso to missionary stations ? 
 
 The he gentleman, after an atten- 
 tive examination of the first question, 
 says : " I am of opinion that the 
 proviso of the first section of the 
 act of 1848 conferred an immediate 
 title right upon all the societies 
 then within its provisions. Here is 
 a confirmation of title immediately 
 operating proprio vi^ore for the ben- 
 efit of all who should at that date be 
 within its provisions." 
 
 For the construction of the law he 
 refers to the opinion of Attorney- 
 General Bates, May 27, 1864, of 
 Secretary Harlan, and the Conunis- 
 
 42045 
 
 Pacific N. W. Hictor:,' Dc-t. 
 
 PROVINCIAL UIDRARV 
 VICTORIA, B. 0. 
 

 t t'imitk'i 
 
 I 
 
 y\6 Decision against the St. James' Mission Claim at Vancouver. 
 
 
 sioner of the General Land Office in 
 his instructions to the Surveyor-Gen- 
 eral, which opinion has never been 
 anywhere seriously questioned. His 
 final conclusion is: "I am satisfied 
 that on the 14th of August, 1848, 
 there was existing a missionary sta- 
 tion of St. James." 
 
 This opinion is so well established 
 by the documentary evidence and 
 the opinion of the gentlemen above 
 quoted that there cannot reasonably 
 be the least doubt in the mind of 
 any candid man as to the existence 
 of the St. James' Mission on the 
 14th of August, 1848 — a fact ac- 
 knowledged by all, irrespective of 
 party or creed. 
 
 Let us now come to the second 
 question, about what is confirmed by 
 the proviso. 
 
 Here the hon. gentleman experi- 
 ences some uneasiness in regard to the 
 words land now occupied of the pro- 
 viso. He knows not exactly what 
 they niean. He is not ready to say 
 whether in every case "all the land 
 claimed ought to have been enclos- 
 ed, cultivated, built upon, or the 
 like." Then he speaks of " stakes 
 or otlier marks," and says that " for 
 the liberal purposes of the proviso 
 (?) he would give the language the 
 most liberal construction, but knows 
 of no rule so liberal as to hold land 
 occupied which has never been in- 
 cluded in any inclosure, etc." {He 
 had a little before said he was not 
 ready to require in every case en- 
 closure of the land; it is only a 
 trifling contradiction !) Why should 
 he be so troubled about " enclosure, 
 stakes, etc. " ? Had he not before 
 his eyes the following rules, given by 
 the Commissioner of the General 
 Land Office to the Surveyor-Gen- 
 eral in 1853, to direct him? 
 
 " I. Such provision is understood to 
 grant 640 acrej to each separate and 
 distinct missionary station referred to. 
 
 " 2. In order to comply with the 
 terms of the grants, ... it will 
 become necessary to cause to be 
 made a special survey of a square 
 mile, which shall include the land oc- 
 cupied with the buildin^^s, and im- 
 provements in the centre, as nearly 
 as may be." 
 
 These rules are undoubtedly plain 
 and clear, and no candid man can 
 deny that the intentions of Congress 
 in granting 640 acres to each mis- 
 sionary station were as well, if not 
 better, known to the commissioner in 
 1353, as they can now be known 
 after twenty years. He knew that it 
 was not as an alms, but in consider- 
 ation of the services rendered by the 
 missionaries in laboring to civilize 
 and christianize the Indians, that the 
 grant was made by Congress. The 
 same view has been invariably taken 
 by all his successors in office, by all 
 the occupants of the Department of 
 the Interior, and all the Attorney- 
 Generals from 1853 to 1872. Ac- 
 cordingly, all cases of missionary 
 stations have been settled whether 
 they were fenced or not. The 
 Methodist Mission at the Dalles in 
 Oregon, received from the govern- 
 ment $20,000 for a portion of its 
 claim, which was not fenced in 1849, 
 and had never been before. The 
 title of the Presbyterian Mission at 
 Walla Walla, and many others which 
 were in the same condition, were 
 readily acknowledged and granted. 
 Should not all these incontrovertible 
 facts have convinced the Hon. As- 
 sistant Attorney of the true meaning 
 of the words "the land now oc- 
 cupied " ? But they did not. 
 
 Yet notwithstanding his apparent 
 disposition "for the charitable ])ur- 
 pose of the proviso to give the lan- 
 guage the most liberal construction," 
 he cannot go so far as went all 
 the secretaries, the attorney-generals, 
 and the commissioner^ in ofiice dur- 
 
'P^ 
 
 Decision against the St. Javies Mission Claim at Vancouver. 717 
 
 le 
 
 pi 
 
 re 
 
 Il- 
 ly 
 
 ing ihe course of the twenty previous 
 years. He seems to have been sent 
 to teacli them tliat tliey all have erred 
 in the interpretation they have given 
 to tlie proviso, and accordingly he 
 sets himself up as a reformer. There- 
 fore, grounded on his far superior 
 legal acquirements, he hesitates not 
 to say : " I am unable to see how 
 Commissioner Wilson reached the 
 conclusion in his instructions to the 
 Surveyor-General. It is in my opi- 
 nion an erroneous construction of the 
 proviso." The Hon. Mr. Wilson, as 
 well as all the other hon. genUemen 
 who approved his construction, will 
 no doubt be much flattered by the 
 compliment. 
 
 The Hon. Assistant Attorney-Gen- 
 eral continues: "On the 14th day 
 of August, 1848, the mission of St. 
 James was /'// actual possession of a 
 small piece of land upon which had 
 been erected a church, in which the 
 priests there stationed held religious 
 worship. The mission at that date 
 had never asserted any claim what- 
 ever " (would the Hudson Bay Com- 
 l)any, wrongfully claiming possessory 
 riglits to the land, have allowed it ?) 
 " liad no enclosure, and was there- 
 fore only in occupancy of the land 
 covered by the church edifice, and 
 such land as was appendant to it. 
 This it occupied in my opinion as a 
 missionary station among tlie In- 
 dians. The society to which saitl 
 mission belongs has tlierefore a 
 vested title in the land upon which 
 the church edifice extends, and as 
 much appurtenant thereto as at the 
 passage of the act was within the 
 enclosure or used for cliurcli pur- 
 poses." 
 
 Such, therefore, has been tlie gen- 
 erosity of the Congress of the United 
 States, in his opinion ! 
 
 As an acknowledgment of the pre- 
 vious efforts of the missionaries to 
 civilize and christianize the Indians, 
 
 Congress grants the land covered by 
 the church, and a few feet more. 
 AVhat wonderful liberality! OO- 
 stupcscite coeli super hoc ! 
 
 This opinion has been submitted 
 to the Hon. Attorney-General Wil- 
 liams, although he has an interest in 
 a portion of the claim. He has 
 written a letter on the subject which 
 may be considered as approving it, 
 from the fact that the Hon. Mr. 
 Cowen, acting Secretary, has declar- 
 ed that he himself concurs in the 
 opinion of the Hon. Mr. Smith. The 
 legists will here please remember 
 that the old axiom,/?? wri' sunt ampli- 
 aiidi^ is no longer in fashion ! Here- 
 after they must say : Favorcs sunt 
 7rsirini:;cndi ; and, odiosa ampUamta, 
 as in the present case. 
 
 By such a decision, if it could 
 stand, the first Catholic mission 
 established among the Indians in 
 W^ashington Territory, the mission 
 which before i848 incontestably 
 labored more than any other for the 
 civilization of the Indians, would 
 have only a few feet of land, while all 
 other similar missions have received 
 640 acres, and one $20,000 for the 
 land occupied by tlie government^ 
 for a military post. Why such glar- 
 ing partiality in the administration ? 
 There cannot be any other reason 
 for such a decision but that the land 
 claimed is considered as of too great 
 a value, and that some military offi- 
 cers but already too well known here 
 covet the land in wliole or in part. 
 There is no doubt that by their in- 
 fluence they have been in a great 
 measure the cause of this long pro- 
 crastination on the part of the 
 government in the past, and have in 
 the present contributed their sliarc 
 in tlie rendering of tlie foregoing 
 adverse decision. 
 
 ^V'c have now, Mr. i£ditor, given 
 a true report of the decision antl the 
 ground upon which it is founded 
 
 \ 
 
 
I'miWiliil" I" ■■ 
 
 718 
 
 Neiv Publications. 
 
 : 
 
 We therefore present it to an enlight- 
 ened public in order that it may 
 form its opinion upon the merits and 
 demerits of the case, and that it may 
 know that all the religious societies 
 do not stand on the same footing of 
 equality in the eyes of the liberal 
 
 government of the Unit'^J States in 
 the year of grace 1872. 
 
 A Catholic. 
 Vancouver, W. T., May 23, 
 
 Papers whose motto is " equal 
 
 justice to all " are requested to 
 
 reproduce the above. 
 
 
 
 I i 
 
 
 h :^ 
 
> in 
 
 "T^; 
 
 ^jii. 
 
 i ■ ' >' 
 
 I", 
 
 ual 
 to 
 
 ::.'.<*: 
 
 -J 1 1