1860 Colony of Vancouver Island election

rdf:langString 1860 Colony of Vancouver Island election

rdf:langString A total of 13 members were elected to the Second House of Assembly of Vancouver Island, which sat from March 1, 1860 to February 27, 1863. The members were elected over a number of weeks in January with each constituency holding its election on a different day. The election did not have political parties but did feature two factions. One was made up of men connected with the Hudson's Bay Company and close to Governor James Douglas and the other of reformers led by the British Colonist editor Amor De Cosmos. The reform faction lost in most cases and Amor De Cosmos used his newspaper to claim the election was not run fairly. Of particular concern to De Cosmos was that the 'coloured' people voted primarily for the HBC candidates. The information on who is from which faction is from information in the British Colonist, which was not neutral.