eas meee ee See ie in ed ee
Introduction. Xili.
ple Agus a Be Re SO

from lack of ability, but from want of character. He was unsuitable,
undiplomatic, and undignified ; but, worse than that, he was dishonest
and guilty of using his public office for his private gain. The charges
against him, set out in these papers, which were investigated by Judge
Begbie and Mr. Brew and found to be well established, his own records,
and his own admissions, all unite to condemn him. When he was dis-
missed for misconduct those who rallied to his support and passed the
resolutions set out in these papers were the miners of Hill’s Bar, many
of whom were of the worst class, the dregs of California, and some of
whom had been driven out of that state by the Vigilance Committee
of 1856.

Mr. Brew was appointed by Sir E. B. Lytton and sent out to form
a police force suitable to the needs of the new land and its motley pop-
ulation. One of his difficulties was to procure men of the proper stamp
to act as peace officers. Some of those who had been appointed before
his arrival were quite unfit and incompetent. He succeeded in attract-
ing to the service many persons whose names stand out in the later
story of the Colony; men like E. H, Sanders, W. G. Cox, J. C. Haynes,
and Thomas Elwyn. A great deal of Brew’s correspondence has been
chosen to show the difficulty in the collection of the miners’ monthly
licence fee of five dollars. Their constant cry that they were not making
enough to pay the tax is very different from the stories of great returns
with which the papers of the day are filled. Gambling, the illicit sale of
liquor, and smuggling are the evils that the police have mostly to
encounter. It will be observed that there are practically no complaints
of robberies; but murders were quite frequent. Yet even there it will
be found that they, generally, arise from quarrels over gambling, or
disputes over mining claims, or have some connection with old
animosities.

The central item in Judge Begbie’s correspondence is the “ Ned
McGowan War.” Many versions of that opera-bouffe “war” have
been given. The usual sources are either Lieutenant Mayne’s “ Four
Years in British Columbia” or the items in the newspapers of the
time; but in the letters of Judge Begbie, of Colonel Moody, and of
Mr. Brew are contained the official reports of those whose business it
was to ascertain the facts. Judge Begbie’s account will be taken here-
after as the correct story. His correspondence contains many side-
lights upon the early administration of justice; in it can be seen from
the outset that determination to maintain order and that stern impar-
tiality which soon made it plain to all that the lawlessness of California
could not be implanted in the soil of British Columbia.