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CANADA 
 
 AND THE 
 
 CONTINENTAL CONGRESS. 
 
 DELlVEllEl) BEFORE THE 
 
 HISTORICAL SOCIETY OF PENNSYLVANIA, 
 
 AS THEIR 
 
 ANNUAL A 1) 1) II E S S , 
 
 0:v THE 31sT of January, 1850. 
 
 15 Y 
 
 WILLIAM DUANE 
 
 PHILADELPHIA: 
 
 EDWARD GASKILL, FIFTH AND WALNUT STFvEFTS. 
 
 IS 50. 
 
CANADA 
 
 AND TllK 
 
 CONTINENTAL CONGRESS, 
 
 DELIVERED 15EF0RE TllK 
 
 HISTOIUCAL SOCIETY OF TENNSYLVANIA, 
 
 AS THEIR 
 
 ANNUAL ADDRESS, 
 
 On the 31st op January, 1S50. 
 
 BY 
 
 WILLIAM DUANE 
 
 PHILADELPHIA: 
 
 EDWARD GASKILL, FIFTH AND WALNUT STREETS. 
 
 1850. 
 
MeBRIIIEW &.THOMrs()N, Printerb, 
 No. r Curtur's AlU'j. 
 
 ' 
 
 
CANADA 
 
 ANT> 
 
 ' 
 
 f 
 
 THE CONTINENTAL CONGRESS. 
 
 The treaty of 1762 secured to England that vast territory which 
 the valour of Wolfe and his companions had won. France, at the 
 same time, ceded Louisiana to Spain, and thus relinquished all her 
 possessions in North America, and with them, the design, so long 
 entertained and so industriously prosecuted, of erecting in the 
 interior of the continent a chain of possessions capable of preventing 
 the western growth of the British colonies. 
 
 Thf? importance of their acquisition did not strike the minds of 
 all the people of England. Whilst the treaty was in discussion, 
 the government was urged by some to retain Guadaloupe in place 
 of Canada. It would seem that they had derived their opinion of 
 it from the derivation of its name given by Hennepin, whether 
 correctly or not is questionable. Speaking of its Spanish discoverers 
 he says, that "at their first arrival having found nothing considerable 
 in it, they abandoned the country and called it II Capo di Mida, 
 that is the Cape of Nothing. Two of the Burkes wrote a pamphlet 
 urging the government to prefer acquisitions in the West Indies to 
 Canada. Others professed to see something desirable in Canada's 
 being kept by the French, as it would prove a check r , on the 
 English colonies ; a mild term, as was remarked by an American 
 then in England, for the murdering of the colonists. Perhaps such 
 advisers were beginning to foresee that it might be difficult for 
 England to retain the colonies single-handed. 
 
 The inhabitants of the ceded province seem to have taken their 
 change of masters very quietly. Simple minded and primitive in 
 their manners, living as their forefathers had done and desiring no 
 other mode of existence, they seem to have felt but little the 
 shifting of the government from Paris to London. The good will 
 
of thoir priests was sociirod hy [ijratitiiij^ toleration to their 
 rclii^ioii. 
 
 In the discontents tlien arisin<^ amnn<; tlieir new fellow subjects 
 to the south, the Canadians felt scarcely any interest. As the 
 groat bulk of them had no hereditary claim to the riij;hts of 
 Englishmen, they cared little for their bein'^ assailed anion;;; their 
 their nei<,^hbours. IJesides, the colonists of the liritish ])rovinces 
 had taken an active part in the subjugation of the late French 
 provinces, and the ill feelinj:; thus excited had not ceased with the 
 termination of the war, whilst dillerences of religion, lan;;uau'e, 
 and manners prevented a kindly intercours(! between the two 
 races. It is said that the Anglo-Americans burnt some of the 
 Canadian chapels, a mode of enlightening men respecting their 
 religious errors unhappily not confined to that age, and asinell'ectual 
 then as it has ever provt-d. 
 
 These differences were not unpleasing to the Ijritish government, 
 which entered into measures, partly conciliatory and partly 
 restrictive, to deter the Canadians from uniting with the other 
 colonists in the great movement then commencing. Still more to 
 conciliate the priests, the Roman Catholic faith was made the 
 established religion of the country, whilst all had the pleasure of 
 seeing the English laws abolished and thost? of France restored. 
 The bounds of the province were extended by annexation to the 
 northward. To counterbalance these favours, the Canadian 
 Assembly was abolished, and the people thus deprived of 
 representatives with wliom the other colonies might communicate. 
 
 In September, 1774, the Continental Congress met at 
 Philadelphia. In the succeeding month they issued an address to 
 the inhabitants of the colonies in which these changes in Canada 
 are thus referred to : 
 
 "The authors of this arbitrary arrangement flatter themscdves 
 that the inhabitants, deprived of liberty, and artfully provoked 
 against those of another religion, will be proper instruments for 
 assisting in the oppression of such as differ from them in modes of 
 government and faith." 
 
 On the same day (October 21, 1774,) the Congress resolved that 
 an address to the people of Canada should be prepared, and M( ssrs. 
 Gushing, Lee, and Dickinson were appointed a Committee to 
 prepare it. The address, having been reported, debated upon, and 
 re-committed, was again reported on the 20th of October, and, 
 after debate and amendment, adopted. The address is understood 
 to have been written by Mr. Dickinson, the author of the Farmer's 
 Letters. 
 
 Styling the people of Quebec ''I liends and fellow countrymen," 
 and having enumerated the colonics represented in the Congress, 
 and declared the object of their meeting to be " to consult together 
 
5 
 
 llu'ir 
 
 , and 
 and, 
 
 to obtain redress ,i'onr afllictini]; <jrievancos," and addinj^ that tliey 
 considered llieii province as a nietiiher deeply interested in the 
 slate of public allairs on this continent, the address proceeds as 
 follows : 
 
 " When the fortiuie of \v;ir, after a i^allant and j^Iorious resistance, 
 had incorporated you with the l)f)(ly of Kiiir/is/i subjects, we 
 rrjoiced in the truly valuable addition, both on our own and your 
 account; cxpectinjj;, as coura'^e ;ui(l ^t'uerosity are naturally united, 
 our enemies would become oiu" hearty friends', and tluit the Divine 
 JJeinj; would bless to you th(« dispensations of his over-rulin<; 
 l)rovideiuc, by securiup; to you and your latest posterity tlu' 
 iiiestiinableadvaiita^es of a free lOn^lish constitution of '.''overnment, 
 which it is the privilas^e of all Kn;j;lish su!)jects to erijoy. 
 
 ''These hopes Were confirmed bytlit; Kini^'s proclamation, issued 
 in the year lHV.i, pli'^htin;^ the public iiiith lor your lull enjoyment 
 of those advantages." 
 
 The acKlress then j)roceeds to detail and cnlar-^e upon the rij^hts 
 to which lOnj^lish suljecls were entitled, nanudy, the rin;ht of 
 havinf;; a share in their own <:;overnment by rej)resentatives chosyn 
 by themselves, trial by jury, the libi>rty of the person secured by 
 the writ of habeas corpus, the ri;;lit of holditi'^ latuls by tenuri' of 
 easy rents, and not by ri^^orous and opjiressive services, and lastly 
 the freedom of the jiress. 
 
 ''These (continues the address) are the invalualile ri<^hts that 
 form a consideraljle part of our mild system of e;ovt>rnment ; that 
 sendintT its equitable energy throu;:;h all raidcs and classes of men, 
 defends the poor from the rich, the weak from the powerful, the 
 industrious from the rapacious, the i)eaceable from the violent, the 
 tenants from their lords, and all from their superiors. 
 
 "These are the rights without which a jieople cannot be free 
 and happy, and under the protecting and encouraging inlluonce of 
 which, these colonies have hitherto so amazingly llourished and 
 increased. These are rights [which] a profligate ministry are now 
 striving by force of arms to ravish from us, and which we are, 
 with one mind, resolved never to resign but with our lives. 
 
 " These are the rights you are entitled to and ought at this 
 moment in perfection to exercise." 
 
 The address proceeds to shew that these rights had not been 
 secured to the Canadians, and that the favours recently shown 
 them were more specious than real, and the enjoyment of these 
 altogether precarious. "With such a superlative contempt of your 
 understanding and spirit has an insolent ministry presumed to tbiidv 
 of you, our n'spectable fellow subjects, according to the information 
 we have received, as firmly to persuade themselves that your 
 gratitude, for the injuries and insults they have recently offered 
 you, will engage you to take up arms and render yourselves the 
 
 
riiliculo and dctcstiition of tlic world, hy hcooiiiinij tools in llnir 
 hands, to assist tlu'iii in takin<; thai (Vccdoni (roni i/s wliitli the)- 
 have tlirf'att'nin;];ly denied to i/oii ; the nnavoidahh- (•onse(|iieiict's 
 of which attejiipt, if successful, would he Ihe extinction of alt 
 hopes of you or your posterity's beiiij; over restored to freedom : 
 for idiocy itself cannot believe that, when their drudgery is 
 performed, they will treat you with less cruelty than they have 
 us who are of the same blood with themselves." 
 
 After quotini; the opinions of JMontestiuieu respecting the rights 
 of the people in a free state, the address asks : 
 
 "What advice would that truly great man, that advocate of 
 liberty and humanity, give yon, was he now living and knew that 
 wo, your numerous and powerful neighl)ours, animated by a just 
 love of our invaded rights, and united by the indissoluble bonds of 
 affection and interest, called uj)on you by every obligation of regard 
 for yoiu'selves ami your children, as we now do, to join us in our 
 rightful contest, to make conwnon cause with us therein, and take 
 a noble chance for emerging from a hinniliating subjection under 
 governors, intendants, and military tyrants, into the firm rank and 
 condition of Entrlish freemen, whose custom it is, derived from 
 their ancestors, to make those tremble who dare to think of making 
 them miserable? 
 
 "Would not this be the purport of his address? 'Seize the 
 opportunity presented to you by Providence itself. You have 
 been concjuered into liberty, if you act as you ought. This work 
 is not of men. You are a small peoj)le c(mij)ared to those who with 
 open arms invite you into a fellowship. A moment's rellection 
 will convince you which will he most for your interest and 
 happiness, to have all the rest of North America your unalterable 
 friends or your inveterate enemii s. The injuries of Boston have 
 roused and associated every colony from J^'ova Scufin to Gcor^ria. 
 Your province is the only link wanting to complete the bright 
 and strong chain of union. Nature has joined your country to 
 theirs. Do you join your political interests. For their own sakes 
 they never will desert or betray you. Be assured that the 
 happiness of a people inevitably depends on their li'ierty and their 
 spirit to assert it. The value and extent of the advantages tendered 
 to you are immense. Heaven grant that you may not discover them 
 to be blessings after they have bid you an eternal adieu.' " 
 
 The address then refers to the dilPerence of religion between the 
 two people, but reminds them of the Swiss Cantons as furnis'hing 
 proof that men of diflerent faiths may live in concord and peace 
 together. 
 
 For what ends the Congress sought the co-operation of the 
 Canadians is thus specified. " We do not ask you to commence 
 acts of hostility against the government of our common sovereign. 
 
vv 
 
 ily invite you to 
 
 (i vvt'llurt', atui 
 
 le rights 
 
 J 
 
 consult your own j^Ior^ 
 not to sulfcr yoursclvfs to lie iiivfi<r|f(l or intiniiiliitcd hy inl'amous 
 ninistcrs, s'- tiir as to bccoint! the liistrunu'titH of tlii'ir crut^lty and 
 dt'sj)olisin; hut to uniti' with ns in thi- social comjjact, Ibrined on 
 thf g«'nerous principh's of ("nuai lihiTty, and remont^'d by such an 
 I'xchanj^o of heneticial and (Midfariiig ollices, as to render it 
 j)i'rp('tual. In order to coinph-ti' this highly difiiriible union, we 
 hubmit it to your consideration whether it may not be expedient 
 for you to meet together in your several towns and districts and 
 eh'ct deputies, who afterwards meeting in a Provincial Congress, 
 may choose delegates to rejjrcsrnt your I'rovincf in the ('ontinental 
 Congress to be held at Philadelphia, on the lUth day of May, 
 1775. 
 
 " In this present Congress, beginning on the fdlh of last month, 
 and continued to this day, it has been with universal pleasure and 
 an unanimous vote resolved, that we should consiiler the violation 
 of your rights, by the aet lor altering the government of your 
 Province, as a violation of our own, and that you should be invited 
 to accede to our confederation, which has no other objects than 
 the perfect security of the natural and civil rights of all the 
 constituent members, according to their respective circumstances, 
 and the preservation of a happy and lasting connection with Great 
 Britain, on the salutary and constitutional principles hereinbefore 
 mentioned. For affecting these purposes we have addressed an 
 humble and loyal petition to his majesty, praying relief of our and 
 your grievances; and have associated to stop all importations from 
 Great Britain and Ireland after the first day of December, and all 
 exportations to those kingdoms and the West Indies afler the tenth 
 of next September : unless the said grievances are redressed. 
 
 " That Almighty God may incline your minds to approve our 
 equitable and necessary measures, to add yourselves to us, to put 
 your fate, whenever you suffer injuries which you are determined 
 to oppose, not on the small influence of your single Province, but 
 on the consolidated powers of North America ; and may grant to 
 our joint exertions an event as happy as our cause is just, is the 
 fervent prayer of your sincere and affectionate friendj and fellow 
 subjects." 
 
 The Address was signed by Henry Middieton, of North Carolina, 
 the President, at that time, of the Congress. 
 
 The delegates of the Province of Pennsylvania were appointed 
 to superintend the translating, printing, publishing, and distributing 
 of the address, and the Congress recommended to the delegates from 
 New Hampshire, Massachusetts Bay, and New York, to assist in 
 having it circulated. 
 
 On the nth of May, 1775, the Congress re-assembled, meeting 
 in the State House. The state of affairs had very materially 
 
s 
 
 ; 
 
 changed 
 Lexington, 
 
 since their adjournment. Blood had been shed at 
 and men, linuing the inutility of Tetitions and 
 Remonstrances, were gradually coming to the conclusion that an 
 appeal to arms was all that was lel't them. 
 
 On the twenty-seventh ol'the same month, the Congress, having 
 been informed that there was a gentleman in town who could 
 "give a full and just account of the state of aflairs in Canada," 
 directed him to be introduced, which was done. What was his 
 name and what the substance of his information is not mentioned 
 in the journal; possibly from motives of prudence. Two days 
 afterwards another address, entitkd, " To the oppressed inhabitants 
 of Canada," brought in by a committee consisting of Messrs. Jay, 
 Samuel Adams, and Deane, was adopted by Congress, and ordered 
 to be translated into the French language and circulated. After 
 referring to the former address as having been dictated by a sense 
 of common danger, that now issued proceeds as follows : 
 
 " We most sincercdy condole with you on the arrival of that 
 day in the course of which the sun could not shine on a single 
 freeman in all your extensive dominions. Be assured that your 
 unmerited degradation has engaged the most unfeigned pity of 
 your sister colonies ; and we Hatter ourselves you will not, by 
 tamely bearing the yoke, suffer that pity to be supplanted by 
 contempt. 
 
 " When lordly attempts are made to deprive men of rights 
 bestowed by the Almighty, when avenues are cut through the 
 most solemn compacts, for the admission of despotism, when the 
 plighted faith of government ceases to give security to dutiful 
 subjects, and when the insidioup stratagems and manceuvres of 
 peace become more terrible than the sanguinary operations of war, 
 it is high time for them to assert those rights, and with honest 
 indignation oppose the torrent of oppression rushing in upon 
 them." 
 
 The political situation of the Canadians is thus picfi. "^d : 
 
 " By the introduction of your present form of goveriiment, or 
 rather present form of tyrann}'^, you and your wive? and your 
 children are made slaves. You have nothing that you can call 
 your own, and all the fruits of your labour and your industry may 
 be taken from you whenever an avaricious governor and a 
 rapacious council may incline to demand them. You are liable 
 by their edicts to be transported into foreign countries to light 
 battles in which you have no interest, and to spill your blood in 
 conflicts from which neither honour nor emolument can be derived. 
 Nay, the enjoyment of your very religion on the present system 
 depends on a legislature in which you have no share, and over 
 which you have no control ; and your priests are exposed to 
 expulsion, banishment and ruin, whenever their wealth and 
 
 I 
 
I 
 
 ;i 
 
 possessions f'urnisi "■ient temptation. They cannot be sure 
 that a virtuous pr.iat- will always fill the throne, and should a 
 wicked or careless king concur with a wicked ministry in 
 extracting the treasure and strength of your country, it is 
 impossible to conceive to what variety and to what extremes of 
 wretchedness you may under the present establishment be 
 reduced." 
 
 It is worth noting, this reference to <'a virtuous king.^^ Was it 
 one of the last efforts of expiring royalty, or really a refined irony? 
 \n another year the Congress spoke of George III. in language 
 altogether unequivocal. 
 
 " We are informed (continues the address) that you have been 
 already called upon to waste your lives in a contest with us. 
 Should you by complying in this instance assent to your new 
 establishment, and a war break out with France, your wealth and 
 your sons may be sent to perish in expeditions against their islands 
 in the West Indies. It cannot be presumed that these considerations 
 have no weight with you, or that you are so lost to all sense of 
 honour. W'e can never believe that the present race of Canadians 
 are so degenerate as to possess neither the spirit, the gallantry, nor 
 the courage of their ancestors. You certainly will not permit the 
 infamy and disgrace of such pusillanimity to rest on your own 
 heads, and the consequences of it on your children forever? 
 
 " We, for our parts, are determined to live free or not at all, 
 and are resolved that posterity shall never reproach us with having 
 brought slaves into the world. 
 
 " Permit us again to repeat that we are your friends, not your 
 enemies, and be not imposed upon by those who may endeavour 
 to create animosities. The taking of the fort and military stores 
 at Ticonderoga and Crown Point, and the armed vessels on the 
 lake, was dictated by the great law of self preservation. They 
 were intended to annoy us and to cut off that friendly intercourse 
 which has hitherto subsisted between you and us. We hope it 
 has given you no uneasiness, and you may rely upon our assurance 
 that the colonies will pursue no measures whatever but such as 
 friendship and a regard tor our mutual safety and interest may 
 suggest. 
 
 "As our concern for your welfare entitles us to your friendship, 
 we presume you will not by doing us injury reduce us to the 
 disagreeable necessity of treating you as enemies. 
 
 " We yet entertain hopes of your uniting with us in the defense 
 
 of our common liberty, and there is yet reason to believe that 
 
 should we join in imploring the attention of our sovereign to the 
 
 unmerite^r and unparalleled oppression of American subjects, he 
 
 will at length be undeceived, and forbid a licentious ministry any 
 
 longer to riot in the ruins of the rights of mankind." 
 
 o 
 
r 
 
 II 
 
 10 
 
 As a further evidence of their pacific designs towards the 
 Canadians, the Congress on the first of June, 1775, Resolved, That 
 as they " had nothing more in view than the defense of the 
 colonies," " no expedition or incursion ought to be undertaken or 
 made by any colony or body of colonies against or into Canada, 
 and that this resolve be immediately transmitted to the commander 
 of the forces at Ticonderoga," and further that this " resolve be 
 translated into the French language and transmitted with the letter 
 to the inhabitants of Canada." 
 
 The capture of Ticonderoga had been planned by a few gentlemen 
 in Connecticut, who entrusted its execution to tlie celebrated Ethan 
 Allen, of Vermont. Its capture was affected by less than three 
 hundred men, and the commander was surprised in bed and 
 summoned to surrender " in the name of the Lord Jehovah, and 
 the Continental Congress." That this capture and that of Crown 
 Point which shortly afterwards followed, had been intended as 
 measures of precaution and as indispensable to maintaining a 
 communication with the Canadians, may be very true, but 
 circumstances soon led to more decided steps. The Addresses of 
 the Congress, however eloquent and conclusive, made but little 
 impression upon a people, scarcely any of whom could read. The 
 presence of an armed force was deemed likely to have an effect 
 upon the Canadians favourable to the Continental cause, especially 
 if that force should prove triumphant. Accordingly, about three 
 months after the adoption of the resolution against any invasion of 
 Canada, two were undertaken, one under Montgomery, who 
 advanced by way of St. John's upon the St. Lawrence river; the 
 other under Arnold, (vi'ho had shared in the capture of Ticonderoga) 
 by the Kennebec, and what was then an unbroken wilderness 
 between its sources and those of the tributaries of the St. Lawrence. 
 Of this latter expedition it is unnecessary here to speak, our society 
 having not long since presented to the reading world a most 
 valuable contribution to history in the journal of Dr. Senter, who 
 accompanied this heroic band as surgeon. Of the doings of the 
 army under Montgomery some details are necessary. St. John's 
 ■was the first British post attacked, but the great scarcity of powder 
 prevented its capture. To secure a supply, Chamblee, a fort 
 about six miles from St. John's, was reduced, and its artillery and 
 powder carried off and used in the siege of the latter. An attempt 
 to repel them made under the command of Gen. Carlton, proved 
 unsuccessful, and the fort fell into the possession of the Americans. 
 A large supply of cannons, mortars and powder rewarded the 
 victors, whose prisoners numbered five hundred. 
 
 Montreal submitted to them without resistance about the middle 
 of November. This, with the subsequent capture of a number of 
 boats in the river, gave them a full supply of ammunition and 
 
11 
 
 
 
 clothing. Meanwhile, the party under Arnold, or rather that part 
 of it which had successfully overcome difficulties before which a 
 .arge portion of the expedition shrunk back appalled, reached the 
 St. Lawrence, and, to the astonishment of the inhabitants, appeared 
 before Quebec. Here, however, the want of artillery reduced 
 him to inaction. 
 
 Leaving Montreal, Montgomery hastened to join Arnold in 
 front of Quebec, then the capital of the province. Preparations 
 were made to assail the city, which, with equal zeal, was put in a 
 state of defence by Carlton. The works of the invaders were 
 constructed of snow i?ndered solid by water, but the cannon in 
 their possession proved 'oo light to be effective, and the siege was 
 soon but languishingly jirosecuted. This did not suit Montgomery, 
 and a council of war was held, which agreed to his proposition for 
 an assault. This was exempted in two divisions, one under the 
 commander in chief, the other under Arnold. About one hundred 
 of the assailants were slain, among whom was Montgomery. 
 Arnold received a ball in his leg, his most honorable wound. The 
 American prisoners amounted to about three hundred, a number 
 that the invading army could ill spare. 
 
 The remnant under Arnold, who succeeded to the command, 
 v/ere withdrawn to a spot about three miles from the city, and 
 posted as advantageously as possible for maintaining the blockade. 
 To the sufferings incident to a Canadian winter, the ravages of 
 disease were now added : the small pox broke out among them 
 with great violence. 
 
 Montgomery fell on the last day of the year 1775. How soon 
 the news of this fatal event reached the Congress, we cannot say, 
 but it must have been several weeks afterwards. On the 8th of 
 January, 1776, the Congress resolved that ship builders should be 
 sent immediately from New York and Philadelphia to General 
 Schuyler or the Commander in Chief of the forces at Ticonderoga, 
 to be employed in constructing a number of batteaux, not exceeding 
 one hundred, for transporting troops and their baggage into Canada 
 whenever necessary. 
 
 On the same day they ordered a battalion of Canadians to be 
 raised, under the command of James Livingston, and that nine 
 battalions, this included, should be maintained during the year for 
 the defense of Canada. The First Pennsylvania Battalion, Colonel 
 Ball, and the Second New Jersey Battalion, Colonel Maxwell, 
 were selected as part of the force, and ordered to march immediately 
 to Albany, and put themselves under the command of General 
 Schuyler. To complete the number proposed, a battalion was 
 ordered to be raised in New Hampshire, one in Connecticut, and 
 one in New York; two were ordered to be formed out of the 
 troops then in Canada, proper officers for which were to be 
 
12 
 
 recommended by Gen. INIontgomery, and one of the five new 
 regiments shortly before ordered to be raised in Pennsylvania was 
 to l)e the ninth. 
 
 On the nineteenth of January it was resolved that the American 
 army in Canada be reinforced with all proper despatch as well for 
 the security and relief of our friends there, as for better securing 
 the rights and liberties not only of that colony but the other united 
 colonies. 
 
 An express was ordered to be sent to the Committee of Safety 
 of j\ew Jersey, and an application to be made to that of 
 Pennsylvania immediately, to quicken the officers employed in 
 levying the forces directed to be raised in those colonies and 
 marched to Canada. The trooj)s were ordered to be forwarded in 
 companies with the greatest expedition. 
 
 The Congress meanwhile had resolved to send Commissioners to 
 Canada, and on the 20th of IMaroh, 1776, their instructions having 
 been duly debated, were adopted as follows: 
 
 "GeiVtlemkn : — You are with all convenient despatch to repair 
 to Canada and make known to the people of that country the 
 wishes and intentions of the Congress in respect to them. 
 
 " Represent to them that the arms of the United Colonies having 
 been carried into that I'rovince for the purpose of frustrating the 
 designs of the British Court against our common liberties, we 
 expect to defeat not only the hostile machinations of Governor 
 Carlton against us, but we shall put into the power of our Canadian 
 brethren to pursue such measures for their own freedom and 
 happiness as a generous love of liberty !»nd sound policy shall 
 dictate to them. 
 
 " Inform them that in our judgment their iiiterests and ours are 
 inseparably united ; that it is impossible we can be reduced to a 
 servile submission to Great Britain without their sharing our fate ; 
 and on the other hand, if we shall obtain, as we doubt not we shall, 
 a full establishment of our rights, it depends wholly on their 
 choice whether they will participate with us in those blessings or 
 still remain subject to every act of tyranny which British ministers 
 shall please to exercise over them. Urge all such arguments as 
 3'our prudence shall sugj^est, to enforce our opinion concerning 
 the mutual interests of the two countries, and to convince them of 
 the impossibility of the war's being concluded to the disadvantage 
 of the colonies if we wisely and vigorously co-operate with each 
 other. 
 
 " To convince them of the uprightness of our intentions towards 
 them, you are to declare that it is our inclination that the people 
 of Canada may set up such a form of government as will be most 
 likely, in their judgment, to produce their happiness : and you 
 are in the strongest terms to assure them that it is our earnest 
 
 « 
 ^ 
 
 
13 
 
 we 
 
 leir 
 
 I 
 
 desire to adopt them into our union as a sister colony, and to 
 secure the same general system of mild and equal laws for them 
 and for ourselves, with only such local differences as may be 
 agreeable to each colony respectively. 
 
 " Assure the people of Canada that we have no apprehension 
 that the French will take any active part with Great Britain ; but 
 that it is their interest, and we have reason to believe their 
 inclination, to cultivate a friendly intercourse with these colonies. 
 
 " You are from this and from such other reasons as may appear 
 
 most proper, to 
 
 urge 
 
 the necessity the people are under of 
 
 immediately taking some decisive step to put themselves under the 
 piotection of the United Colonies. For expediting such a measure 
 you are to explain our method of collecting the sense of the people 
 and conducting our affairs regularly by Committees of Observation 
 and Inspection in the several districts, and by Conventions and 
 Committees of Safety in the several colonies. Recommend these 
 modee to them. Explain to Ihem the nature and principles of 
 government among freemen ; developing in contrast to those, the 
 base, cruel, and insidious designs involved in the late Act of 
 Parliament for making a more effectual provision for the government 
 of the Province of Quebec. Endeavour to stimulate them by 
 notions of glory as well as interest, (o assume a part in a contest 
 by which they must be deeply affected ; and to aspire to a portion 
 of that power by which they must be ruled ; and not to remain 
 the mere spoil and prey of conquerors and lords. 
 
 " You are further to declare that we hold sacred the rights of 
 conscience, and may promise to the whole people solemnly in our 
 name, the free and uninterrupted exercise of their religion, and to 
 the clergy the full, perfect, and peaceable possession and enjoyment 
 of all their estates ; that the government of every thing relating to 
 their religion and clergy shall be left entirely in the hands of the 
 good people of that Province, and such legislation as they shall 
 constitute, provided, however, that all other denominations of 
 christians be equally entitled to hold offices and enjoy civil 
 privileges and the free exercise of their religion, and be totally 
 exempt from the payment of any tithes or taxes for the support of 
 any religion. 
 
 " Inform them, that you are vested with full powers to effect these 
 purposes ; and therefore press them to have a full representation 
 of the people assembled in convention with all proper expedition, 
 to deliberate concerning the establishment of a form of government 
 and an union with the United Colonies. As to the terms of union, 
 insist on the propriety of their being similar to those on which 
 the other colonies unite. Should they object to this, report to this 
 Congress the objections, and the terms on which alone they will 
 come into our union. Should they agree to our terms, you are to 
 
f\ 
 
 n 
 
 ti 
 
 promise in the name of the United Colonies, that we will defend 
 and protect the people of Canada against all enemies in the same 
 manner that we will defend and protect any of the United Colonies. 
 
 " You are to establish a free press, and to give directions for the 
 frequent publication of sr.ch pieces as may be of service to the 
 cause of the United Coloiiies. 
 
 " You are to settle all disputes between the Canadians and the 
 Continental troops, and to make such regulations relating thereto 
 as you shall judge proper. 
 
 " In reforming any abuses you may observe in Canada, and 
 enforcing regulations for the preservation of peace and good order 
 there, and composing differences between the troops of the 
 United Slates and the Canadians, all officers and soldiers are 
 required to yield obedience to you ; and to enforce the decisions 
 that you or any two of you may make, you are empowered to 
 suspend any military officer from the execution of his commission, 
 till the pleasure of Congress shall be known, if you or any two of 
 you shall think it expedient. 
 
 " You are also empowered to sit and vote as members of councils 
 of war, in directing fortifications and defences to be made or to be 
 demolished, by land or by water; and to draw orders on the 
 President for any sums of money not exceeding $100,000 in the 
 whole for the expense of the works. 
 
 " Lastly, you are by all the means you can use to promote the 
 execution of the resolutions now made or hert«rter to be made in 
 Congress." 
 
 To these instructions the following were on motion added : 
 
 " You are also directed and authorised to assure the inhabitants 
 of Canada that their commerce with foreign nations shall in all 
 respects be put upon an equal footing with, and encouraged and 
 protected in the same manner as the trade of the United Colonies. 
 "You are also directed to use every wise and prudent measure 
 to introduce and give credit and circulation to the Continental 
 money in Canada. 
 
 "]n case the former resolution of Congress respecting the 
 English American troops in Canada has not been carried into 
 effect, you are directed to use your best endeavours for forming a 
 battalion of the New York troops in that country, ar -^ to appoint 
 the field and other officers out of the gentlemen who have continued 
 there during the campaign, according to tlu ir resf.ective ranks and 
 merit. And if it should be found impracticable, you are to direct 
 such of them as are provided for in the four battalions now raising 
 in New York, to repair to their respective corps. To enable you 
 to carry this resolution into effect, you are furnished with blank 
 commissions signed by the President." 
 
 The draft of the commission was then adopted. The three 
 
1.') 
 
 the 
 into 
 
 three 
 
 Commissioners were Benjamin Franklin, a delegate to the Congress 
 from Pennsylvania, Samuel Chase, one of the delegates from 
 Maryland, and Charles Carroll, of Carrollton, in Maryland, 
 subsequently also a delegate. The various titles of the delegates 
 were somewhat ostentatiously si-t forth, but this may have been 
 intended as a mark of respect to those to whom (hey were sent. 
 
 The (commissioners were accompanied by the Kev. John Carroll 
 of Maryland, a Roman Catholic clergyman, who subsequently 
 became Archbishop of Baltimore. They left Philadelphia in the 
 latter part of March, 1776, New York on the second of April, 
 ascending the Hudson in a sloop, and did not reach Montreal 
 until the twenty-ninth of the montli, the distance being about lour 
 hundred miles; which, as the editor of Charles Carroll's journal 
 of the expedition notes, is now performed in two days. This 
 journey was not one then that would be selected for a pleasure trip. 
 Great part of the country through which they passed was then a 
 wilderness, and they had to struggle through the snow and ice 
 attendant upon a Canadian spring. Tents made of brush-wood 
 were occasionally their resting places. Two days spent with 
 General Schuyler at Albany appear to have been the j)leasantest 
 part of their journey, and the charms of his "daughters, (Betsy and 
 Peggy) lively, agreeable, black eyed girls," are duly chronicled. 
 The former of these ladies still survives, — the widow of Alexander 
 Hamilton. 
 
 On reaching Montreal, we were " received (says Charles Carroll 
 in his Journal) by General Arnold on our landing, in the most 
 polite and friendly manner ; conducted to head quarters, where a 
 genteel company of ladies and gentlemen had assembled to welcome 
 our arrival. As we went from the landing place to the General's 
 house, the cannon of the citadal fired a compliment to us as the 
 Commissioners of Congress. We supped at that General's, and 
 after supper were conducted by the General and other gentlemen 
 to our lodgings — the house of Mr. Thomas Walker — the best built 
 and perhaps the best furnished house in this town." 
 
 The Commissioners made but little impression upon the 
 Canadians. There had been some small show of a party in favour 
 of union with the other Colonies while the Americans were 
 successful, but since the fall of Montgomery the cause of the 
 invaders had come to a stand. On the 11th of May, Dr. Franklin, 
 whose health had been much impaired by the journey, and who 
 saw clearly the hopelessness of their mission, set out to return to 
 Congress. The Rev. Mr. Carroll accompanied him, and the 
 kindness displayed by him during the journey was not forgotten. 
 Ttirough P^ranklin's recommendation whilst mini.,ter at the Court of 
 France, Mr. Carroll was placed at the head of the Roman Catholic 
 clergy in the United States, which opened the way to his 
 
ff' 
 
 MMU 
 
 UUi 
 
 l!i 
 
 16 
 
 His virtues and 
 
 subsequent promotion to tho Archopiscopate. 
 Icarnint; did honour to the ollice. 
 
 The Congress spared no crtorts to maintain the ground that had 
 been gained in Canada. A Committee of Congress was appointed 
 to considt with Generals Washington, Green and MilHin, upon the 
 recommendation of which committee it was resolved (May 24, 
 1776,) "that the commanding oihcer in Canada be informed that 
 Congress is fully convinced of the absolute necessity of keeping 
 possession of that country, and that they expect'that the forces in 
 that department will contest every foot of ground with the enemies 
 of these colonies; arid as Congress have in view the cutting off 
 [of] all communication I)L'tween the upper country and the enemy, 
 they judge it highly necessary that the exertions of the forces be 
 particulary made in the St. Lawrence below the mouth of the 
 Sorell." 
 
 The army unfortunately was not in a condition to make much 
 exertion anywhere. The forces in front of Quebec amounted to 
 about three thousand men, but more than two thousand were 
 suffering under the ravages of the small pox. 
 
 On the sixth of May, some vessels with reinforcements for the 
 British army reached Quebec, whereupon the Americans 
 commenced a retreat. The greater part of the military stores and 
 all the sick were left behind. The retiring army halted at a place 
 called the Cedars, about iorty miles above Quebec, where they 
 Were reinforced. Tht^ir commander, General Thomas, here died 
 of the small pox, and was succeeded by General Thompson, who 
 was soon after taken prisoner in an unsuccessful attempt made to 
 surprise a division of the British army lying at Three Rivers. 
 General Sullivan took command and ordered a retreat to Montreal. 
 He conducted the movement in a very creditable manner, bringing 
 off" all the baggage and public stores, and even all the sick. 
 
 The letter from the Commissioners to the Congress dated 
 Montreal, May 27th, being the last which they wrote, gives a 
 melancholy picture of the condition of the army of invasion. They 
 say, " We went to the mouth of the Strel last week where we 
 found all things in confusion ; there is little or no discipline among 
 your troops, nor can any be kept up while the practice of enli.sting 
 for a twelvemonth continues; the general officers are all of this 
 opinion. Your army is badly paid, and so exhausted is your credit 
 that even a cart cannot be procured without ready money or 
 force. The army is in a distressed condition, and is in want of the 
 most necessary articles — meat, bread, tents, shoes, stockings, shirts, 
 &.C. The greatest part of those that fled from Quebec left all their 
 baggage behind them, or it was plundered by those whose times 
 were out. Your army in Canada does hot exceed four thousand ; 
 above four hundred are sick with different disorders, three fourths 
 
17 
 
 and 
 
 small pox. The greater part of 
 rogiments have been lately 
 
 dated 
 
 of the army have not had the 
 (ireaton's, JJond's, and liurrell's 
 
 innoculated. 'J here are about eight tons of gunpowder in the 
 colony. To evince the great distress we are reduced to for the 
 Want of bread, we must inform you that we were obliged to buy 
 thirty loaves of bread of our baker to feed Col. I)e Haas's 
 detachment, which entered this tcjwn Friday night on their way 
 to join (Jeneral Arnold iit f.a r/rmc, niid who could not be supplied 
 by the Commissary. Such is our extreme want of flour that we 
 Were yesterday obliged to seize by force fifteen barrels to supply 
 this garrison with bread. Previous to this seizure a gener:d order 
 was issued to the town major to wait on tlie merchants or others 
 having provisions or merchandise lor sale, re(|uesting a delivery of 
 what our troops are in immediate want of, and requiring him to 
 give a receipt expressing j.* quantity delivered ; for the payment 
 of which the faith of the United cclonie.s is pledged by your 
 Commissioners. Nothing but the most urgent necessity can justify 
 such harsh measures: but men with arms in their hands will not 
 starve when provisions can be obtained by force. To prevent a 
 general plunder which might end in the massacre of your troops, 
 and of many of the inhabitants, we have been constrained to advise 
 che general to take this step. We cannot conceal our concern that 
 six thousand men should be ordered to Canada, without taking 
 care to have magazines formed for their subsistence, cash to pay 
 them or to pay the inhabitants for their labour, in transporting the 
 baggage, stores, and provisions of the army. We cannot find 
 Words strong enough to express our miserable situation ; you will 
 have a faint idea of it, if you figure to yourselves an army broken 
 and disheartened, half of it under innoculation or other diseases; 
 soldiers without pay, without discipline, and altogether reduced to 
 live from hand to mouth, depending on the scanty and precarious 
 supplies of a few half starved cattle and trifling quantities of flour, 
 which have hitherto been picked up in different parts of the 
 country. 
 
 "Your soldiers grumble for their pay ; — if they receive it they 
 will not be benefitted, as it will not procure them the necessaries 
 they stand in need of. Your military chest contains but eleven 
 thousand paper dollars. You are indebted to your troops treble 
 that sum, and to the inhabitants above fifteen thousand dollars." 
 
 To such a state of affairs there could be but one end. The 
 Congress struggled hard against the necessity of evacuating 
 Canada. On the 17th of June, 1776, they resolved that an 
 experienced General should be immediately sent into Canada, with 
 large powers of appointment and supervision, and they directed 
 General Washinton to send General Gates to take command of the 
 forces there. Some efforts were at the same time made to send 
 
18 
 
 reinforcMnents to the army. On th(> lltli of that month, Messrs. 
 Chase and Carroll had attended the Con;^rt'ssand given an account 
 of flieir doiu'^s in (-anada, and of the stiite of the army in that 
 country. This account appi'ars to have been verbal. 
 
 A eoiiimittee appointed to investigate the causes of the 
 miscarriaj:;es in Canada reported : 
 
 '•That the enlistments of the Continental troops in Canada have 
 been one great cause of the mi.s('arriaii;t's there, by rendering 
 unstable the number of men enjiaiied in military enterprises, by 
 maliiiii:^ them disorderly and disobedient to their otiicers, and by 
 preci|)itatin'^ the comman(linf:f oliieers into measures which their 
 ])ru{lence might have postponed could they have relied on a longer 
 continuance of their troops in service. 
 
 "• Tliat the want of hard money has been one other great source 
 of (he miscarriages in Canada, rendering the supplies of necessaries 
 dillicult and precarious, the establishment of proper magazines 
 absolutely impracticable, and the pay of the troops of little use to 
 them. 
 
 " That a still greater and more fatal source of misfortunes has 
 been the prevalence of the small-pox in that army ; a great 
 proportion whereof has tln-reby been usually kept unfit for duty." 
 In these views the Congress concurred. 
 
 The Congress had directed that a printing apparatus and hands 
 competent to print in French and English should accompany this 
 mission. Whether the apparatus was taken is not clear ; but 
 Mesplet, a French printer, accompanied the Commissioners. It 
 was found easier, however, to print than to find readers, not one 
 in five hundred beitig able to read. The priests, who monopolised 
 all the learning and most of the intelligence of the French 
 population, had been prudently conciliated, as we have seen, by 
 the British government. In reference to their failure to make an 
 impression vvit'i the documents and addre.sses that were printed, 
 Dr. Franklin remarked that if it were intended to send another 
 mission it should be composed of schoolmasters; in connection 
 with which it may be observed that the incursions of Yankee 
 schoolmasters into Canada, armed with school books inculcating 
 republican sentiments, has been a source of complaint with the 
 most loyal of the Canadians for the la.st twent}/ years. 
 
 General Gates took command of the remains of the army, which 
 he collected at Ticonderoga. A naval engagement on Lake 
 Champlain followed, in which the American fleet, commanded by 
 Arnold, was compelled to lly before a superior force under 
 General Carlton. Arnold ran his vessels on shore, landed his men 
 and burnt his little fleet. This was the closing scene of the 
 invasion of Canada, which had opened with such high prospects of 
 success. 
 
 5 
 
19 
 
 have 
 
 has 
 
 which 
 Lake 
 ndod by 
 
 under 
 nis men 
 
 of the 
 ipects of 
 
 I 
 
 Dr. Franklin, when assistinfr in preparino; the treaty of prace at 
 Paris, was very dcsirons that Canada should he given up to the 
 United Stat.'s. " Ho said," ohsfrved INIr. Sparks "there conKl be 
 no solid and permanent ptMcc williont it ; that it would cost the 
 liritish government more to keep it than il was worth; it would 
 be a source of future dilHcullics with ilie United States, and some 
 day or other it must belonif to them ; atid it was for the interest of 
 both parties that it should be ceded in the treaty of peace. Vet 
 he did not think it pn)|)er to uri;e such a cession as a necessary 
 condition of peace, especially since CongresiJ had forbornt; to 
 instruct the Commissioners on this subject, and since there was no 
 claim on JVance by the treaty of alliance to sustain sucli a demand, 
 as the pledj^e in that treaty was oidy to insure ihe Independence 
 of the old thirteen Colonies, and Canada was not one of them." 
 Mr. Oswald, one of the iJritijih ('ommissioners, "in his conversations 
 with Dr. Franklin, gave it as his opinion that Canada should be 
 given up to the United States, and said that when he mentioned it 
 to the ministers, though they spoke cautiously they did not express 
 themselves as decidedly opposed to the measure. It was not 
 pressed, bowe/er, by the American Commissioners, and it would 
 not seem to have been much dwelt upon in the subsequent progress 
 of the negotiation." 
 
 Two attempts have been made to wrest Canada from the British 
 government by force of arms: both have failed. Yet the adoption 
 of Canada into our family of confederated states is now a more 
 probable event than it was at the most prosperous period of either 
 of our wars with Great Britain. The people of that Province 
 have long been watching with interest the progress of the United 
 States, and, finding no sufficient explanation in climate, soil and 
 productions for the great difference between that progress and 
 their own, they have been led to regard the different forms of 
 government as the main cause. The mission of the schoolmaster 
 has been doing its work. 
 
 The English government must soon begin to perceive, as the 
 people have already done, that Canada costs them more than it is 
 worth, and that in the event of its independence they would still 
 have the Canadians for their customers, and to a much larger extent 
 than at present. 
 
 To the people of the United States, Canada would be welcome 
 now as in 1776. Practically the Union is no larger tc-day than 
 during the revolution, such changes h.ve been made in the facilities 
 of travel and communication from one vXtreme to the other. The 
 The news of the surrender of Charleston (S. C.) was a month in 
 reaching Philadelphia by express. In less time we now hear 
 from California. With our beautiful system of the division of 
 power between the general and the state governments, it would be 
 
50 
 
 (linir\ilt to say whothfr tho North American TTnion can over be 
 
 ton lartfc. 
 
 To the Caimdiiins, niir s\>l<'ni prrsciifs one strikin}? iulvantapc. 
 Till- stniir<ilt' Ix'twctMi tilt two raci'8 that has hccn ti;oinjx on for 
 yiMTs Would he at oncf iiiid lori'ViT terminated liy the aihiiission 
 of rj>|)('r and Lowit Canada as two Stales, 'i'liereafter tlie internal 
 conciTMs of each would he manaf^ed a^ would host Nuit its own 
 interest, and there would he no inori- reason f)r hearthurnin^^s 
 hetweeri the i'ritish of I ^p])er ('anada, and the l^'rench of the 
 Lower Provinof, than there now is for ill-feelinj^ helween the 
 descendants of the Frenoh settlers in I.ouisiana, and thoMO of 
 Hni:lish origin in Mississippi or Arkansas, A ijerierous rivalry 
 •.vhic.h should inaki? the most pro;;re.ss in civilization, learnin;,', and 
 material improvement, would succeed the senseless yet hitter 
 mimositv of race.