200 ANDREW FISH
tested against the occupation, and declared that the sovereign- ty of the island "now is and always has been, in Her Magesty Queen Victoria and her predecessors, Kings of Great Britain." This pronouncement is purely formal, and harmless enough; it only makes clear that the long-standing claim is not to be considered prejudiced by the circumstances of the new situa- tion. On August 3 in his message to the Legislative Council and House of Assembly of the Colony of Vancouver's Island the Governor quite properly harked back to the note of Mr. Marcy written in 1855, and declared he could only conclude that, the commission not yet having completed its work, that General Harney was acting without authority from his gov- ernment. Quite in the spirit of Mr. Marcy the Governor says:
"Convinced that any assumption, on either side, of exclusive right to the disputed territory would simply be a fruitless and mischievous waste of energy, neither de- tracting from nor adding to the claims of either nation, wise and considerate policy enjoins upon us the part of leaving so important a national question for settlement by the proper authorities, and of avoiding complications foreign to the views and wishes of and probably embar- rassing to both governments."
The tone of this does not harmonize with that of the instruc- tions to, and conversation with, the naval authorities, and even this moderate message promises that the detachment of royal engineers and royal marine light infantry ordered from New Westminster by her Majesty's ship "Plumper" will be landed at San Juan "to protect the lives and property of British subjects."
There was great activity on August 3 at San Juan. Cap- tain Hornby of the "Tribune" requested by letter that Captain Pickett would confer with him on the ship, but for some rea- son or other the request was refused. Captain Pickett had no objection to meeting Captain Hornby at the camp, how- ever, and Captain Hornby seemingly did not consider his
