James Douglas

"I saw Mr. Douglas - he did not impress me very favourably, being of very grave disposition with an air of dignity - cold and unimpassioned. A dark complexioned man - with rather scanty hair, but not too scanty - muscular - broad shouldered - with powerful legs a little bowed - common to strong men; in fact he was a splendid specimen of a man. His clothes were rather shabby and seedy looking - but I suppose he had plenty an outfit in the vessel. In fact every onessic clothes looked seedy - when compared with the Captain's and mine, for we had of course dressed respectably for the occasion, but although the clothes were not fashionable, the wearers looked strong healthy active and clean -...Mr Douglas was coldly affable - but he improved vastly on acquaintance afterwards."

"Sir James had lived down all his enemies of consequence retiring with honour. He was a very self contained man - rarely giving his confidence to anyone, and to me scarcely ever, he considering me to be a "radical" his abhorrence."

James Douglas' Commission as Governor

"The Country is very dull just now, everybody looks dull, grumbly, & gloomy - Nor do we think matters can or will improve under the present Government. I do not like to say Governor - he is naturally a very weak man, easily led by those around him, who unfortunately are not the wisest advisors -"

"In 1863 Governor Douglas was deservedly "knighted" and in March 1864 his second term of office expired."

Amelia Douglas

"I dined in the evening at the Governors - they begged me to make myself quite at home - which I did & before dinner set to & tuned the piano - dined quite en famille. Mrs Douglas came to dinner. Seems a good old soul..."

"Thursday Feb. 28. 1861
We were engaged today to take luncheon with the Governor's wife Mrs Douglas, in place of paying her a formal visit. Have I explained that her mother was an Indian woman, & that she keeps very much (far too much) in the background; indeed it is only lately that she has been persuaded to see visitors, partly because she speaks English with some difficulty; the usual language being either the Indian, or Canadian French wh is a corrupt dialect."

Notes

It was decided in a treaty signed in 1812 that both the United States and Britain had claim to the Pacific Northwest. In the 1840s negotiations began as to where to put the border. Fort Vancouver was the northern most coastal outpost belonging to the Britain, so it was necessary to secure ownership further north. Furthermore, the Britain was concerned that the border would fall along the Columbia River, in which case Fort Vancouver would be too close to the States for proper defence. However, the Oregon Treaty of 1846 put the border along the 49th parallel, and it was only because of the establishment of Fort Victoria that the Southern tip of Vancouver Island remained British.

Chief Factor of Fort Vancouver, John McLoughlin, charged James Douglas with the task of choosing the location of Fort Victoria. After arriving with Charles Ross, Roderick Finlayson, and a number of builders, he chose the site that now makes up the downtown core of Victoria. He then returned to Fort Vancouver, where he remained until 1849. He became Chief Factor of Fort Victoria in 1849 and was Governor of Vancouver Island from 1850 to 1858.