Dear friends,
The part below, about "Hanging Judge" Begbie is from the Globe and Mail of April
4, 2005.
British Columbia is where Ben and I, three of our children and all our grandchildren live. One of David's sons also lives here, with his wife and first grandchild.
To give you some perspective I will add that both David's and my maternal and paternal grandmothers were born about the time that Judge Begbie died in 1894.
The first permanent British colony, in present-day Victoria, on Vancouver Island
, was established by the British in 1843.
David's and my Scottish great grand-parents came to Ontario, Canada from Scotland in 1855.
The American Civil War between the states began in 1861 and lasted four bitter years. It dragged on through early 1865.
Gold was discovered in the lower Fraser Valley in 1857 and thousands of people came in search of instant wealth. These included 30,000 Americans. To help maintain law and order, the British government established the colony of British Columbia the following year. Judge Begbie arrived from Britain in 1858. In 1866 the frenzy of the gold rush was over and the colony of Vancouver Island joined the colony of British Columbia.
The colony of British Columbia was cut off from the rest of British North America by thousands of kilometres and a mountain range. The promise of a rail link between the Pacific coast and the rest of Canada convinced British Columbia to join Confederation in 1871. Chinese men came to help build the railroad.
Today more than 100,000 British Columbians are descendants of the thousands of Chinese who took part in the construction of the Canadian Pacific Railway in the
late 19th century. Today, Vancouver has North America's second largest Chinese
community.
On May 3, 1873 a bill was passed in the Dominion of Canada Parliament which sought to bring order to the frontier, encourage settlement, and establish Canadian
authority in the North-West Territories. The Bill created the North-West Mounted Police.
This Force became The Royal Canadian Mounted Police, our world famous Federal Police Force. Our "Mounties" are the people who wear those red serge jackets, dark trousers with high shiny brown leather boots with spurs, and wide-brimmed fawn
coloured hats. They are an excellent police force, and a colourful symbol of Canada. You have probably seen them in tourist brochures, wearing scarlet jackets and mounted on dark horses.
One of our daughters is married to an RCMP officer. He looks very handsome in his red serge dress uniform which he wore when they were married. The RCMP are highly respected and honoured in Canada. Recently when four young officers were
slain by a criminal madman the whole country mourned.
*********
MATTHEW BAILLIE BEGBIE
The "Hanging Judge" brought law and order
to B.C. during the rowdy Gold Rush era.
He is one of the 12 most influential
British Columbians in History.
A voice of right and wrong
Adventurer, opera singer and the first magistrate on the West Coast, Matthew Baillie Begbie's influence was felt in every corner of the land for decades after his arrival in 1858.
A bearded 6-foot, 5-inch figure with a commanding presence, he imposed the standard of right and wrong in the raucous Gold Rush era. He was instrumental in preventing Americans from claiming the tirritory as their own before British Columbia was made a parovince of Canada. He was one of the first voices to recognize
the importance of first nations claims to the land and to speak out against against discrimination against Chinese labourers and other minorities.
You don't have to look far to find public tributes to his contribution to the province. A statue of Mr. Begvie holds a place of honour at the legislative building in Victoria in a niche by the main entrance. Another statue of Mr. Begbie dominates the courtyard outside the New Westminster bourt house -- whichis across
from a building called Begbie Court (Ben and I visited it two yoears ago,) and
just down the road from Begbie Street.
Mr. Begbie's reputation also stretches into the remote crannies of the province
Actors in Barkerville bring his activities to life, re-enacting memorable episodes from the time when the mining town was one of the beggest settlements west of
Chicago.
Mr. Begbie arrived in the Crown colony of British Columbia in 1858, a 39-year-old British lawyer appointed to resolve disputes and reinforce order on the 30,000
Americans who had flooded the territory in search of gold.
Rather than hold court in the cities, he travelled by foot and on horseback to every non-native settlement in the British colony. He heard cases in his tent or
in a clearing in the woods, always dressed in the traditional robes, black hat
and wig of the British justice system.
In the absence of other legally trained professionals, Mr. Begbie was known to have acted as defence and prosecutor at the same time. Over his 14 years as a magistrate he presided over 52 jury murder trials. Thirty-eight men were convicted and 27 were hanged, which was a mandatory sentence for a finding of guilty, at
the time. Mr. Begbie's severity was considered the salvation of the territory.
He remained on the bench for 36 years until his death on June 11, 1894.
In his early years in B.C. Mr. Begbie was also a member of the colony's execuative council and drew up laws on immigration, commerce and settlement. He was a cartographer, providing some of the earliest records of the streams, pastures, flora and local species in the Interior, (which is where Ben and I live.) He designed bridges for the railways and founded a school that taught the European classics. A devout church-choir member, he regularly sang Italian opera at public concerts.
"He was one of those great men, raised by Providence, at a critical period ofour history, to break in a new and wild country to order, law and civilization,"
Judge Henry Crease said in a formal tribute after Mr. Begbie died.
*********
