United States Secretary of State William Seward predicted in 1860 that western British North America, from Manitoba to British Columbia, would with Russian Alaska join the United States. Many in Britain, such as Goldwin Smith and the Times of London, were pessimistic about the future of British North America and agreed with Seward; the Times said that Britain would only object if the United States attempted to take the territory by force.[6] In the late 1860s, residents of British Columbia, which was not yet a Canadian province, responded to the United States' purchase of Alaska with fear of being surrounded by American territory. Some residents wanted the colony the next American purchase.