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Maps, plates, charts, etc., may be filmed at different reduction ratios. Those too large to be entirely included in one exposure are filmed beginning in the upper left hand corner, left to right and top to bottom, as many frames as required. The following diagrams illustrate the method: Les cartes, planches, tableaux, etc.. peuvent Atre fiimAs A des taux de reduction diffArents. Lorsque ie document est trop grand pour Atre reproduit en un seul clichA, 11 est filmA A partir de Tangle supArieur gauche, de gauche A droite, et de haut en bes, en prenant Ie nombre d'images nAcessaire. Les diagrammes suivants illustrent la mAthode. 1 2 3 1 2 3 4 6 e ll % HISTORY OF CANADA FROM ITS FIRST DlSCOVEIiY^ TO THF YEAR 1791. By WILLIAM SMITH. Fsquire ; Clerk of tliL" Pailiament and Master in Cliancery of ihc Province of Lower Canadut WK QUID FALKl I)l( ERE AUDEAT, NE QLID VKHl iNON AUOEAT. VOL II. . V QUEBEC: PRINTED FOR THE AUTHOR, HT JOHN NKILSON, 1815, ft. THE HISTORY OF CANADA. CHAPTER 1. frcm the Establishment of Civil Government, in 17G4 /(/ the Siege of Quebec in 177 J. JljY the fourth and seventh articles of the Treaty of Chap. Peace, of the year one thousand seven hundred and six- 1. ty-three, Canada was ceded to Great Britain in its ul- ^^'^''^ most extent. In the month of October followino-, a- ^ '^^■*- l)out eight months after the conclusion cf the definitive treaty above mentioned. His Majesty published his Proclamation, under the Great Seal cf Great Britain, for erecting four new Civil Governments, to wit, those of Quebec, East Florida, AVest FloriJa, and Gra- nada, in the countries and islands in America, which had been ceded to the Crown by the definitive treaty. In this proclamation the King exhorted his subjects as well of his kingdoms of Great Britain and Ireland as of his colonies in America, to avail liiemselvcs, vi:|. Chap, all convenient speed, of the great benefits and advan- ^* tages that would accrue, from the great and valuable acquisitions ceded to His Majesty in America, to their commerce, manufactures, and navigation ; and, as an encouragement to them to do so, he informed them, that in the commissions he had given to the civil Gover- nors of the said four new provinces, he had given ex- press power and directions that, so soon as the state and circumstances of the said colonies would admit there- of, they should, with the advice and consent of the mem- bers of His Majesty's Councils in the said . provinces, summon and call general Assemblies of the people within the said governments, in such manner as was used in those colonies and provinces in America which were under His Majesty's immediate government j and " that in the ?nean time J and until such assemblies could be called^ all per- sons inhabiting in^ or resorting to His Majesty* s said colonies^ might confide in His Majesti/s roi/al protecti- on/or the enjoyment of the benefit of the laws of his realm of England :** that for that purpose His Ma- jesty had given power, under the great seal, to the Governors of His Majesty's said new colonics, to erect and constitute, with the advice of His Majesty's said Councils respectively, courts of judicature, and public justice within the said colonies, for the hearing and de- termining all causes, as well criminal as civil, according to law and equitj/, and, as near as may be, agreeably to the laws of England ; with liberty to all persons who might think themselves aggrieved by the sentence of such courts, in all civil cases, to appeal, under the usual limi- tations and restrictions, to His Majesty in his Privy Coun- asure of I respect >tice had jrovince, hould be ; of En- thus ap- ted to be :, by con- e oath of ght have I all their tes, with- ;ty in tho ivs of En- by the a- lor Mur- ed on the ?ven hun- ement of establish- hief Jus- superior r that or- ics agree- f the pro- tabhshed court of em agrcc- ws ofEn- I oft /lings •would permit, witil such time as proper ordinances for the Chap. information of the people could be established by the Cover- *• nor and Council, agreeable to the laws of England ; with this just and prudent proviso, " that the French laws and customs should be allowed and admitted in all causes in the said court between the natives of the said province, in which the cause of action arose before the first day of October, one thousand seven hundred and sixty four J** In consequence of these instruments of Government, all purporting to introduce the laws of England into the province of Quebec, those laws were generally under- stood to have been introduced into it, and consequently to be the rule and measure of all contracts and other ci- vil engagements entered into by the inhabitants after the introduction of them, that is, after the establishment of the civil government of the province, or after the said first day of October, one thousand seven hundred and sixty-four. Thus were the laws of England supposed to have been introduced, until the revival of the French laws in matters of property and civil rights by the Que- bec Act passed some years afterwards. As General James Murray had been appointed Go- vernor* of the province, and had been empowered by a Royal Instruction to nominate a Council of eight mem- bers of his choice, with power to make laws and ordi- nances ; he was sworn in as Governor this year, and the Council nominated by him, were : William Gregory f — Chief Justice, Paulus Emilius Irving, * 2J8t November, Coiinril Books. t Rccalk'd on the representation of General Murray. 6 Chap. Hector Theophllus Cramah^, Samuel Holland, ^' Adam Mabane, Thomas Dunn, Fran9ois Mounier. Walter Murray, As His Majesty's commander in chief in America, Ge- neral Amherst, immediately after the conquest of this country, had ordered and directed that justice should be administered to the inhabitants by military courts estab- lished for that purpose in the several governments, which were afterwards approved by His Majesty, with an order that they should exist until civil government could be restored ; the Legislative Council, therefore, at the first meeting, passed an ordinance to confirm the decrees of the several military courts, and the act de- clared that from the eighth day of September one thou- sand seven hundred and sixty, the date of the capitula- tion of Montreal, to the time civil government took place throughout the province, all orders, judgments i^nd de- crees of the military councils of Quebec, and of all other courts of justice in the said government, or in those of Montreal and Trois Rivieres, should be appro- ved, ratified and confirmed, and have full force and effect, except in cases where the value in dispute ex- ceeded the sum of three hundred pounds sterling, in which case the other party was allowed to appeal to the Governor and Council of the province, on the appeal being lodged with the clerk of the Council of Quebec, within two months after the publication thereof, on sufficient security being given by the appellant to pay costs and charges as might be awarded, if the decree was affirmed, and an appeal allowed to the King and Council where the value in dispute was above five hun- I f the de- Chap ler. erica, Ge- ?st of this should be irts estab- ernments, esty, with )verninent therefore, >nfirm the he act de- one thou- ■:: capitula- took place ts ynd de- md of all nt, or in be appro- brce and spute ex- erling, in >eal to the le appeal Quebec, ereof, on nt to pay le decree King and five hun- dred pounds, the appellant giving security cree was affirmed. It was also declared by the ordi- nance, that if any person had been arrested, or process had been issued upon any matter that had been already tried before any of the courts before the tenth of Au- gust, one thousand seven hundred and sixty-four, the person arrested was directed to lay his cause in writing before the Governor and Council, with an attested copy of the decree or decrees, that if on exa- mination it was properly founded, the action might be dismissed, with a right of appeal however where the matter so tried, exceeded the sum of three hundred pounds sterling, and it also ordained, that the Judges, Justices of the Peace, and other Magistrates, should on the application of the several parties put in execution all orders and judgments of these courts, not then executed, allowing to the parties a right of appeal.* The ordinance passed by the Governor in Council, introducing the English form of proceedings in the ad- ministration of justice, preparatory to the establishing the English laws, by proper ordinances for the informa- tion of the people, occasioned great disquietudes among the inhabitants, and therefore, in the month of Novem- ber of the same year, the Governor and Council passed an ordinance enacting, that in actions relative to the tenure of lands and rights of inheritance, the laws and usages of Canada should be observed as the rule of de- cision according to equity, conformable to the former ordinance. Though a common law court had been established * • Ordinance passed 20th September, 1761. I. 8 II I iiii ili M^ CiiAP. by a provincial ordinance, yet a court of equity was ^' much wanted, and this induced the government to set ^""""^^"^ up the Court of Chancery, at the head of which presi- ded the Governor as Chancellor, with two masters, two examiners and one register : this court was absolutely necessary to moderate the rigour of the common law, considering as that court always does, the intention ra- ther than the words of the law. This establishment continued until the Quebec Act was passed in one thou- sand seven hundred and seventy four, and then it merged into the new courts formed at that time. The Art of Printing was introduced into Canada, in ihe year one thousand seven hundred and sixty four, by William Brown and Thomas Gilmore. They pub- lished the first number of the Quebec Gazette on the twenty-first of June of that year. The establishment had been projected in Philadelphia the year before ; Gilmore was sent to England to purchase types and and other materials in the autumn of that year, and Brown proceeded to Quebec with a prospectus of the Gazette to procure subscribers, and make the necessary arrange- ments for commencing business in the spring. The sub- scription list then amounted to about one hundred and fifty, half of whom were Canadians. The tardy estab- lishment of the Press in Canada, and the quarter from whence it was first introduced, are facts than which none can be more strongly illustrative of the genius of the government and people of Canada, and of the then British Colonies in North America. Canada had been longer settled than any of them: its population was then probably nearly as numerous as that of Pennsylvania, yet the first Printing Establishment for Canada, war projected and carried into effect from that Colony. quity was ent to set lich presi- sters, two absolutely imon law, ention ra- blishment one thou- it merged 'anada, in ixty four, rhey pub- :te on the blishment r before ; Lypes and nd Brown e Gazette \ arrangc- The sub- idrcd and rdy estab- irtcr from an which genius of f the then had been 1 was then nsylvania, inada, war lonv. 9 During the course of the war in Canada, Pondtac, a Chap. brave and experienced chief of the Ottawas, had preserved ^• the strongest attachment to the French interest, and not- J withstanding that peace had been concluded, his invete- rate hatred to the English urged him on to engage I not only his own but other Indian nations, to rekindle a war. Pondiac had conceived a plan of attacking the English posts of Detroit and Michilimackinack, by sur- prize. In furtherance of his plan, he sent forward a party of Indians, composed of Hurons, Ottawas, Chippawas, Poutawatamies and Messessagas to that place, under the specious pretext of making a visit to the com- mandant. On their arrival at the fort, the chief of the band advanced to the Governor of the fort, with protes- tations of the warmest attachment for him and his garrison, which was returned by assurances of recipro- cal regard. They then began to play the jeu de balk, a game the Indians are much accustomed to, and from which they derive much amusement. The ball was fre- quently thrown within the pallisades of the fort, which was as repeatedly brought back by some of the party, when a favorable opportunity presenting itself, they seized the centry at the south entrance, and the whole party rushed in and took immediate possession of the fort with little resistance on the part of the garrison, A lieutenant and seventeen soldiers were killed, but none of the merchants were put to deaih, but were all car- ried prisoners to Montreal, where they were liberated on a sum of money being paid for them. TiiR RUCceFS that attended the reduction of Michili- B lU !i r 10 Chap, mackinac, led Pondiac to think, that availing himseK of ^' similar address, he might seize the garrison of Detroit ; with this view he collected an Indian force, amounting to three hundred warriors, and at their head marched for that place, garrisoned with three hundred men, under the command of Major Gladwin, a brave and experienced officer. On the seventh May, the Indians came to the fort, and held a treaty with the Major, who had, however, been apprised the evening before, that their design was to murder the officers in Council, while they were to have had parties at the different merchant's houses to treat them in the same manner,and then make themselves mas- ters of the garrison, by rushing into the guard house and barracks to seize on the arms. To shew them that he was not afraid of them, he allowed them admittance, but took the precaution to have the whole garrison un- der arms, and the merchants were desired to shut up their houses, and to assemble with their servants at nine o'clock, all completely armed. The Indians all entered about ten o'clock, and made dispositions according to their plan. Pondiac had in his pouch a belt of wampum, which was to have been the signal for commencing the massacre, but finding the garrison under arms, he did not dare to produce it, declaring at the same time his surprize at the Major's conduct, and feigning ignorance of the soldiers being paraded. The Council was of course at an end, and they retired much disconcerted, to the farther side of the river, where they encamped. The young warriors on their return, reproached Pondiac for not producing the signal, observing, that they would have carried the fort, with the loss of a few men on'- : to which he replied, that if he had known that they would have consented to lose any of their men, he cer- ''W ta W( tu no 'M J IiimseK of of Detroit; lounting to arched for 1, under the xperienced to the fort, vever, been ign was to jre to have ;es to treat selves mas- i house and m that he dmittance, arrison un- to shut up nts at nine all entered cording to wampum, encing the s, he did 3 time his ignorance il was of roncerted, encamped, d Pondiac ley would icn on'- : that they n, he cer- 11 tainly would have commenced an attack, but as they Chap. were willing, he would soon give them another oppor- J» t unity to attack the garrison, whether under arms or not. In consequence of these resolutions, Pondiac^ with several of the other chiefs, came to the fort the next day, to smoke the calumet of peace with the Major, who to shew his detestation of their treachery refused to go near them ; but told Captain Campbell, if he had a mind, he might go and hear what they had to say, Campbell having met them, Pondiac told him, that he would propose a meeting with the Major the next day, and to wipe away all cause of suspicion, he would bring all his old and young men to take him by the hand in a friendly manner. He then withdrew to his camp. At eight o'clock next morning, sixty-four canoes crowded with Indians, were discried from the fort, crossing the river above it, where they landed, when a deputation from them was sent to the Major, to demand permission for the whole to be admitted into Council. This request, however, the Major absolutely refused, but observed that they might send forty or fifty chiefs, which he looked up- on as a suflicicnt number for that purpose. With this re- solution they returned to ihe rest, who by this time were at the distance of two hundred yards, lying all round the fort, to whom, on its being communicated, they all got up and lied, yelping like so many devils. They then fell on a small plantation about a mile from the fort, nmrdered Mrs. Turnbiill, to whom it belonged, with her two sons, and from thence proceeded to Hog's Island, about a league up the river, where they tomahawked a man by the name of Fisher, and his wife and four sol- B 2 j ^ ,! m i Chap. I 1 - diers, carrying off Fisher's children ai^d a maid servant into captivity. Returning on the morning of the tenth of May, they began an attack on the fort in the most resolute manner, and supported a heavy fire until the evening, when losing a number of their men, they re- treated to the woods. Apprehensive of a second attack, the French inhabitants proposed to the Major, that terms of pacifipation shoi^l4 be oflfered, to which he the more readily assented, as there was bi)t three weeks provision for t\\e garrison, at a pound of bread and two ounces of pork for each man per day, and with- out the least prospect of any supply. The deputation , of the French inhabitants that was sent to Pondiac, re- turned with five Indians, who demanded in the name of the rest, that two officers should go out and hold a treaty with them in camp, and they requested that Captain Campbell might be one of them. The Major absented the more readily to this proposal, as the French inhabit- ants who had proposed the accommodation assured him, that there was no risk, and that they would be respon- sible for his safe return. He went off in the afternoon of that day, and took with him Lieutenant M^Dougall, accompanied by the five Indians and an equal number of Frenchmen, who had given a solenm promise that he should return safe ; regardless however, of their word, they delivered up both Campbell and M'Dougall into the hands of Pondiae. The terms on which this In- dian chief proposed the garrison of Detroit should sur- . render, were, that they should Jay down their arms, leave their cannon, magazines, merchants' goods, and two vessels, which should be the property of the cap- tors, and that they should be conveyed in b^tteaux to • Niagara. To these proposals the Major returned an an- 13 d servant the tenth the most until the , they re- nd attack, lajor, that to which bqt three of bread , and with- deputation *ondiac, re- le name of 3ld a treaty \t Captain \r absented ch inhabit- sured him, 5e respon- afternoon I*DougaII, lal number omise that *, of their M*Dougall lich this In- fiould sur- their arms, [oods, and f th6 cap. 4tteaux to rncd an an- swer, that he was resolved to defend the post to the last Chap. extremity. Upon this, hostilities were recommenced, and the blockade continved during two months. On the twenty-ninth of July the garrison was agreeably surpri- zed with the arrival of Captain Dalzel and his party, which though vigorously attacked by Pondiac and his people, made his way to the fort, without the loss of a single man, though he had several wounded. The gar- rison being now reinforced, and the Indians still conti- nuing in their camp at a small distance from the fort, Capt Dalzel, on the evening of the thirtieth, formed the design of surprising Pondiac, under cover of the night. To this proposal the Major readily assented, and the two hundred men destined for this service were in readiness at half past two o'clock of the next morning, and marched out under his command. Two armed boats were ordered to row aJQiig shore, to cover the re- treat, and take off the killed and wounded. As the distance to the Indian encampment was but two short miles, the troops soon arrived there, where, instead of finding them unprepared, they found he was apprized of the design, and had taken possession of the houses along the road, from which they kept up an incessant fire, which galled the troops excessively. Captain Dal- zel made many efforts to dislodge them, but without ef- fect, though he showed great courage and resolution, and was well seconded by his whole detachment. At the moment that a retreat was ordered, Captain Dalzel received a mortal wound, and the command devolving on Captain Grant, he retreated in good order with his detachment, having lost in the action nineteen men kil- led and thirty-nine wounded. It would have been next to impossible for the garrison to have held out much longer, Chap. I. I;' J' II 14 had not a supply of provisions arrived to their relief. These succours were brought by a schooner from a post above Niagara, which anchored in Detroit river on the third of September. In the evening of the succeeding day, Pondiac projected a plan to seize this vessel, and pushed forward a detachment which attacked her in the most resolute manner. After repeated attempts to board the schooner, they were at length beat off with great loss, and the vessel meeting with no further interrupti- on, arrived at the place of her destination. The master however, and one seaman were killed, and four others wounded. The succours received augmented the spi- rits of the garrison, as much as it depressed Pondiac* s ardour, and at length convinced of the uselessness of his efforts, he proposed an accommodation on terms highly favorable to the English interest. A treaty being concluded, the Indians returned honie, and no further interruption was given to the English traders. In consequence of the supposed change of his senti- ments, and with a view of purchasing his attachment, the British government settled a pension upon him ; but 4his had no effect in repressing his spirit of hostility, which frequently broke forth, and ultimately became the cause of his own destruction. In the year one thousand seven hundred and sixty-seven he attended a grand Council in the Illinois country, and there made a speech couched in such language as evinced his ancient hatred to the English. An Indian friendly to the English government, availing himself of this opportunity, rose up in the assembly and stabbed him to the heart. The Illi- nois, far from being displeased with their countryman, approved of his conduct, and the nations that had been so of sto !t( ief. These ost above the third ding day, se\, and !ier in the I to board ith great [iterrupti- le master ur others the spi- Pondiac's ssness of m terms A treaty , and no I traders. lis senti- chment, im ; but lostility, became ear one ended a made a ancient English rose up The mi- tryman, id been 15 so long under his influence, no longer shewed a spirit Chap. of hostility, but sued for peace, which was happily re- ^* stored. " Among the transactions of this year, a most attroci- ous attack was made on the person of a Mr, Thomas Walker, a Justice of the Peace, at Montreal, on the sixth day of December. — The circumstances attending this assault appear to be these : Governor Murray had issued an order for lodging the troops in private houses. The lodgings occupied by Captain Fraser, being vacant by his appointment to be Paymaster General of the troops, he having been provided with one at the public expence, an officer insisted upon having those rooms, in the name and right of Captain Fraser. These lodg- ings before Captain Payne had taken possession of them, had been rented to another gentleman. At a meeting of the Justices of the Peace, among whom was Mr. Wal- ker, a warrant was issued, commanding Captain Payne to give up the lodgings. This Captain Payne refused to do, and the Captain was sent to gaol. After continuing in gaol a few days, he applied to the Chief Justice of the Province for an habeas corpus, and he was set at li- berty. Soon after this, a resolution was taken to pu- nish Mr. Walker, who, it was thought, had been the principal promoter of the warrant, and of Captain Payne's commitment to prison. On Thursday, the sixth day of December, the plot that had been laid against Walker, was put into execution, and the assault was actually committed. At a quarter after nine o'clock at night, as Mr. and Mrs. Walker were sitting in their hall at sup- per, a sudden noise was heard at the door, as if made by a number of people striving hastily to get into the 16 Chap. I. house. Mrs. Walker upon hearing it, immediately criccl out, entrez, imagining it was a number of Canadians co- ming to Mr. Walker upon business as a Justice of the Peace ; but looking towards the door, and seeing through the glass of the inner door a crowd of black faces rising one above the other as they stood on the steps without, she cried out, '* Good God, what is this ! this is murder, this *' is the army come to revenge themselves !" While Mrs. Walker was crying out in this manner, the ruffians en« tered the room. Mrs. Walker's exclamation made Mr. Walker turn his head back, at the instant they were en- tering, who, upon sight of these assassins, started up from his chair, and in rising, received a wound five in- ches long, on the fore part of his head with a broad sword, but did not sink under it ; recollecting that his arms were in his bed chamber, he made towards them, but received so many blows from five or six of these ruffians, that he could not reach them, but sunk down, spent with wounds and the loss of blood, into an arm chair that was standing in the further corner of the parlour adjoin- ing to the door of the bed chamber. He continued in this situation for a short time, almost deprived of his senses, but was roused to make another attempt to de- fend himself by the terror occasioned by the threat of instant death. Mr. Walker resolved, though quite un- armed, to do what he could to defend himself, and at- tacked two of the ruffians with his fists, but was soon over powered by the rest, one of whom seized him by the throat, while another took hold of his right thigh^ and endeavoured to throw him into the fire. The ter*. ror of this cruel death giving him new strength and spi- rit, he disengaged himself from them both, by putting his hands against the chimney piece, and pushing him- 17 iiately cried uiadians co* jstice of the ing through faces rising without, she aurder, this While Mrs. ruffians en- n made Mr. ey were en- s, started up und five in- th a broad ing that his is them, but lese ruffians, I, spent with n chair that lour adjoin- ontinued in rived of his empt to dc- he threat of gh quite un- lelf, and at- t was soon zed him b) right thigh y . The ter. gth and spi- by putting ushing him- self from it with all his force j but at that instant Chap. he received a dangerous wound on the left side of '• the head, which felled him to the ground, when one of the ruffians kneeling down, cut off a part of his right ear, and endeavoured at the same time to cut his throat, which they were prevented from doing, by Mr. Walker's squeezing his head down close to his shoulder, and putting up his left hand j they, being in a hurry to get away, as the neighbourhood began to be a- larmed, they made off, taking the ear in triumph. In consequence of this outrage, the whole province was thrown into the gr^test possible alarm. I'he inhabit- ants of Montreal went armed in the streets, and never went to dinner or to their homes without pistols before them. Whenever a soldier entered a shop to purchase an article, a pistol was presented at him, to prevent his committing outrage. As soon as this horrid assault was known in England, the King issued a proclamation* of- • LONDON GAZETTE.— St. James's, '-'9th March, 176C. Whereas it has been humbly represented to the King, that on tke sixth day of December, one thousand seven hiuidred and sixtv foar, between the hours uf eight and nine in the evening, a most audatious and wicked attempt was made to assassinate Tliomas Walker, Esq. of Montreal, one of Mis Majesty's Justice* of the Peace for that district, by a number of persons in disguise, who, after gi v ing him above fifty wounds and contusions, many of them of the most dang«iou» nature, left him for dead, but not till thty had cut oft" a part of his right ear, which they carried away in triampk : His Majesty, for the better discovering- and bringing to justice the persons concerned in that fslonious attack, is graci- ously pleased to promise his RopI Pardon to any one of the said offenders, wh» shall voluntarily surrender himself to any of His M.ij,esty"s Justices o* the Peace Ml Great Britani or Ireland, or in the Provnice of Canada, or any other of Hi» Majesty's dominions, and who shall make a full discovery of his accomplices, so that they may be apprehended and convicttd thereof; and also a reward of one hundred guineas, to be paid by the Right Honourable the Lords Commissioner* of His Majesty's Treasury, upon the conviction of any oiie or more of the ol- frnJers prinripally concerned in the said ficts: and further, if such evidence Chap* L 1765. fj 18 fering a reward of one hundred guineas for the appre» hension and conviction of any person concerned in cut- ting off Mr. Walker's ear, and the Governor of the province offered, also, a reward of two hundred, more. Several gentlemen had been taken up on suspicion of being concerned in the assault on Walker, and several inhabitants, in order to obtain the release of these gentlemen, presented a memorial to the then Governor of the Province. They stated that they had the utmost abhorrence of the breach of public order in the out- rage committed on the person of Mr, Thomas Walker, and their wishes for the discovery of the perpetrators of it, yet they could not be unmoved when they consi- dered the circumstances of the gentlemen, torn from their families and imprisoned on suspicion thereof. That until they had heard the crime proved against them, they could not but help interesting themselves for men, who from their families, stations, services and establish- ed characters (until this surprizing stroke) had stood in the highest degree of estimation in the province. That they not only felt for them, but for their families, and for the affliction experienced by his Majesty's new sub- jects, who beheld the grey hairs of their countrymen so unexpectedly, and perhaps irretrievably affronted. They therefore supplicated his authority to mitigate the rigor of the law ; a dispensation which they thought justifiable, and they offered to become bail for their appear- ance at their trial, and for the safety of Mr. Walker's shall happen to be in any regiment in .His Majesty's service, he shall, if he de. sires it, have his free discharge. (Signed) H. S. CONWAY. And the said Thomas Walker doth hereby promise a reward of one hundred guineas, to be paid immediately on the conviction of any one or more of thr of- fenders principally and actually concerned in the said assault. 5e 19 person from any hurt in consequence of their enlarge- Chap, ment. His Excellency returned an answer, in which '" he stated, that he had received their memorial, and that as the Chief Justice had refused to accept bail, and suf- fer them to be at large till the time of their trial, it was not possil^le for him to interpose his authority, and to enlarge them consistently with his duty ; that he thought it necessary to apprize them of the evil tendency of in- terfering in numbers in the free course of justice ; that they should solicit persons to sign the petition, and that they should assemble in numbers to wait on the Gover- nor to enforce their request, in hopes of making him swerve from his duty, was highly reprehensible, tend- ing to overturn law, justice and good government. The Governor therefore gave them a positive denial, and the gentlemen remained in custody. The answer was so little relished by the subscribers, that they replied to the Governor, that they had paid a respectful attention to his letter, and that lest any unfavorable impression might have been conveyed, they begged leave to lay be- fore him the whole of their proceedings ^nd intentions, which they flattered themselves, would be some apolo- gy, even if they had been ignorantly led into a breach of positive law,* • Cof>y of a Letter to the Lieutenant Governor of Quebec, from Col. Jones ^ Col, Irving, and Capt, Morris, in answer to his to Col. Irving, 5IR_With the respectful attention due to a letter from you, we have peru- sed that sent to Lieut. Col. Irving, and directed to be comiAunicated to all that subscribed a Petition in behalf of the gentlemen brought prisoners from Mon- treal. Lest any unfavourable impression may have been conveyed ; lest the si« lence even of those amongst the presenters, not particularly charged, should countenance such impression, we beg leave to lay before you the whole of our proceedings and intentions -. intentions, which, we flatter ourselves, would be »ome apology, even had we been ignorantly led into a breach of a positive law. C 2 ♦.'^■■' 90 Chap. 1. m At the Court held at St. James's on the twenty-se- cond of November, one thousand seven hundred and Saturday night it was told, the gentlemen confined were not to be bailed, and tlut it was expected they would be sent back prisoners the next afternoon ; that having no other resource, they intended to apply to the Governor by Memorial, and would be obliged to their friends to present it. They found on this occasion, more friends than they expected, all were touched with their very particular circumstances, all freely offered their service, (few or none who had opportunity declined.) The memorial was a request to the Governor to interpose, whether by cau» »ing bail to be accepted, or otherwise, we were not informed, far none of us read it, but heard it was drawn up by proper advice. It was decent to accom- pany it with a Petition ; several motives oiTered for so doing ; no time was to be lost, as soon as a fair copy could be made out, it must be delivered : The expres- sions must remain such as they were, such as were inspired by a warm zeal for our friends ; for gentlemen unexpectedly thrown into the most mortifying cir- cumstances men could fall into ; yet, so unanimous were all, that not one of the various persons who read and signed it, all unsolicited (as far as we know) most, unconnected by any but the ties of humanity, and an opinion of the prisoners innocence, made the least exception to a single sentence. They thought it would be but justice to these gentlemen, to give the strongest testimony of their cha- racters, and the esteem in which they stood in the country . They thought it humanity to alleviate the odium which their unhappy situation must throw on those characters, and to obviate, as far as in them lay, the ill consequences like- 'y to ensue on their affairs and interests : In fine, that it was a proper occasion to inform those who had not opportunities of being acquainted with this Pro- vince, that an impression very different had been made here in regard to the perpetration of the outrage on Mr. Walker, from what may have been given in England. To lay open these their sentiments, they flattered themselves would not be unacceptable, and as they thought it incumbent on them to propose the most per- suasive motives for every possible indulgence, they hoped every becoming mea- sure for justifying such indulgence would be pleasing. They never presumed to prescribe in what manner authority was to be interposed ; if the law did not allow bail to be taken, some mitigation in the manner of the prisoners confine- ment was hoped for : these were the views, in which we gave that evidence of our sincerity, as well dependance on these Gentlemen's honour, in ofTering tlie most unlimited security we could for them. By authority we meant no other than the authority usually vested in Gover- nors, neither did we conceive that word implied any thing arbitrary. Were we mistaken in supposing an authority for doing something that could not be done, were the application of thnt authority (did it really exist) improper, a word or hint would have been taken, as the rebuke of our Governor, our Gene- ^1 sixty-five, at which His Majesty was present, the Report Chap. was made in these words ; *• The King's most Excellent Majesty in Council, up- on reading at the Board a Report to His Majesty from the Lord; of the Committee of His Majesty's Most Honourable Privy Council, dated the fifteenth of this instant, in the words following, viz. " Whereas the Lords of the Committee of Coun- cil since their Report to your Majesty of the eighth of last month, have received the opinion of your Majesty's Attorney and Solicitor General, upon some ral, and our Friend. As such we looked upon what you said to us. Sir, on our presenting the memorial, and should have come off thankful for what could legally or conveniently be done for their relief : But had any such authority exist- ed, had we not the only moment when our endeavours could avail, exerted our- selves m behalf of our Friends and Brother O/ficers, had we seen them after Scandal, Imprisonment and Vexation, prove their Innocence ; had we then re- membered that we left undone any thing possible to be done for their relief, we should certainly reproach ourselves, and the \'» or Id would probably ask, why were we so luke-warni. These were our thoughts ; these our motives, and seemed to be of all that signed ; if from their speeches and behaviour then, we are to judge : For on these matters we have had no communication before, and very little, even in common discourse since, with any of them. We declare, that we never had any intimation that our petitioning would be ill received : The Town Major, sent to give notice of our intention, brought back no such message : Major Mills, indeed, said it would be disagreeable to go in numbers; it was instantaneously decided, a few only should go; most seemed willing to be of these few. We thought it would be wanting due respect, to suffer to be presented to the Governor by persons of an inferior rank to ours a petition to which our names were signed. The bare exposition of these our motives and proceedings, will, we hope, be their apology. The spring of them all was zeal for our Brother Officers, whose Fortunes, Lives, and Honours, are closely attacked. Even this should never lead us to an undutiful act ; for we were, and remain, with unalterable obedi- ence to Public Authority. 22 Chap, doubts which had arisen, in regard to the authority I of the Governor of Quebec, to cause Courts of Oy- er and Terminer to be held at Trois Rivieres, for the trial of the offenders concerned in the assassination of Mr. T. Walker at Montreal, and in the riot, breach of prison and rescue of divers persons taken up on that account, at which Court several of the offenders had been tried and acquitted, and your Majesty's said Attorney and Solicitor General being of opinion that the Governor of Quebec is fully authorised and em- powered by his commission and instructions, to ap- point Courts of Oyer and Terminer within all the districts of that Province, and that no Special Com- misbion can be lawfully issued for a new trial of those persons who had been indicted, tried and acquitted at the said Court held at Trois Rivieres, but as there is reason to believe there are several other principal offenders who have not yet been apprehended or brought to trial, the Committee think it advisable for your Majesty, to require your Governor or Com- mander in Chief of the Province of Quebec, to ex- ert himself in causing a diligent search to be made after such persons and bringing them to trial in ^lue course of law, in the vicinage of the place where the offence was committed, and by a Jury of the said vi- cinage." " His Majesty this day took the said Report into consi- deration, and was pleased, with the advice of his Privy Council to approve thereof, and to order, as it is hereby ordered, that the Right Honorable Henry Seyniou,r Conway, Esquire, one of His Majesty's Principal Secre- taries of State, do signify his Majesty's pleasure to the 1766. 23 Governor or Commander in Chief of His Majesty's Chap, Province of Quebec, for the time being, to exert him- self in causing a diligent search to be made after such of the said principal offenders who have not yet been apprehended and brought to trial, and in bringing them to trial in due course of law, in the vicinage of the place where the offence was committed, and by a Jury of the said vicinage." "SiR-This* will be delivered to you by Mr. Walker, who had the misfortune to have met with such treatment at Montreal, as is a disgrace to all government. As no material complaint has been made against him for mis- conduct as a Magistrate, and as his general character is supported by the testimony of very respectable people in Canada, and in London, and as it seems unjust that a person should be turned out of the Magistracy for any other cause but his misconduct therein, especially after the unparalleled cruelties exercised on Mr, Walker, 1 am therefore to acquaint you, Sir,^that he should be im- mediately restored, and put into the Commission of the Peace, and also that you would omit nothing in your power, to support him in that unmolested pursuit of trade which, as a British subject he is entitled to, vvhcre- ever he chuses to settle." " As to the persons concerned in the horrid attempt to assassinate Mr. Walker in his own house, I hope, that in consequence of His Majesty's Order in Council of the twenty-second day of November, one thousand se- ven hundred and sixty-fivc, transmitted to you in my * Thit Letter wai iitti Sf. Jamri'ii, March 21. ITCG. 24 I i I if Chap, letter of second of December, one thousand seven him- ^* dred and sixty-fiv j, you have taken such measures as to have discovered and brought to trial those who had at first eluded that vigilance, which from a sense of your duty, you naturally exert to bring such offenders to jus- tice." " It is not without extreme concern, that I find the con- duct of some who are honored with His Majesty's Commission in his army, has raised a suspicion of their having been engaged in this atrocious wickedness; I hope there is no foundation for such a suspicion, if any such there are, their crime is double as men and as officers, m so extravagant a violation of the laws of the land, and so flagrant a breach of that order and discipline which is the life and soul of all armies, and especially of the British, whose glory it is to be the supporters of the laws and liberty of their country j wherever His Maje^s- ty's forces are found to be actuated by a spirit contra- dictory to that principle, they are a disgrace to his ser- vice, and must expect to incur his highest displeasure j their honor and their interest require, that the military should so carry themselves, as to ensure to themselves the respect and love of the people. I am, therefore, by His Majesty's express commands to recommend it to you, and all the principal officers in America, that the utmost attention be given to preserve the strictest disci- pline, and that on no account, the smallest encourage- ment be given to any idle pretensions of exclusive privi- leges in the military service ; such pi'etensions are alto- gether unsuitable to the nature of our constitution, and can tend only to the ruin of good order and discipline ; for which reason I am confident you will think it parti- cularly your duty to discountenance all such destructive and dangerous opinions.** 25 \\m- Isto at Four jus- :on- fety's leir lope 5uch :ers, and Cf the the ijes- itra- r persuade myself you will feel as strongly as I can, Ckaj the great and crying injustice that any resentment sliould ^ remain against Mr. Walker, after the cruel wrongs he ^"■**^ has suffered. As a man, he has a right to pursue those - who would have murdered him. It is the common cause of humanity that they should be pursued, and in fact,, a man cannot, that I see, entertain a- resentment agafnst Mr. Walker for seeking justice, without in some sort, making himself a party in this very black affair. I'he good sense and the equity of the gentlemen of the ar- my, will, I doubt not, demonstrate, that however parti- cular men may have been engaged, the army in gene- ral were not actuated by any common prejudice to this unfortunate man. If there should, however, be any persons so very wrong headed and ill minded as to in- tend him mischief, I recommend it particularly to you. Sir, to exert your utmost endeavors to, frustrate their malice, and protect him. >> When the Supreme Court was held at Montreal, on the twenty-eighth of February, one thousand seveu hundred and sixty seven, only one bill of indictment was preferred by the Grand Jury, and that was against rhiniel Disney, a Captain in the forty-fourth regiment. On the eleventh of March, Captain Disney was arraigned and tried, and after a hearing of eight hours, and many witnesses examined on both sides, was most honorably acquitted, the case being so clear, that the Petty Jury did not take more than half an hour to consider on their verdict, which time was barely sufficient to read over the notes of the depositions made by the several wit- nesses. On the trial George M'Govock, who had ht^cn > D j| i £ i I iiH lnW iiii 1 f I > i ^i \ Chap. I 26 a witness for the Crown, was so contradictory in his evi- dence, and appeared so completely to have perjured himself, that the Grand Jury presented a bill of indict- ment against him for perjury, and he was immediately sent to prison. The other gentlemen who had been in confinement, were discharged by proclamation. The Grand Jury the day after the trial, presented, that by the alibi of Capt. Disney proved in Court, Mr. Thomas Walker, and Mrs. Walker, his wife, had been guilty of perjury, for that they did on oath, positively swear, that the said Capt. Daniel Disney in disguise, had been in the house of the said Thomas Walker, when the as- sault was committed on him on Thursday the sixth day of December, in the year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred and sixty-four, between the hours of eight and nine o'clock in the evening of that day ; and also that George M'Govock, late soldier in his Majesty's twenty-eighth regiment, was guilty of wilful and corrupt perjury, for that he, at sundry timer;, and places, being under onth legally administered, did commit perjury, and particularly on the eleventh day of March, in open Court, did positively swear, he was present at the as- sault committed on Mr. Walker, on the sixth day of December, one thousand seven hundred and sixty-four, and that he did carry intelligence of the said assault from the said Walker's house to Captain Payne and Lieutenant Tottenham, who were then at the house of Serjeant Mee, and for that the said M*Govock did then and there utter divers other wilful and corrupt perjuries. On the departure of Governor Murray, the Pro- vince was entrusted to Paulus Emilius Irving, Esquire, us the oldest Counsellor; the Chief Justice being deem- ed 27 ed incapable from his official situation, of holding tlie Chap. reins of government j and Brigadier General Carleton ^* succeeded him as Lieutenant Governor. Though the raising a revenue in America, had been often a subject of discussion in the Parliament of England, it was at length carried into execution, by an Act of Parliament being passed, that would have excited a re- bellion, had it not been repealed the next year, from the resistance made to it in America. None of the Colo- nies on the Continent acquiesced in its provisions, but Canada and Nova Scotia, and even by these the Act was viewed as a measure of extreme hardship, imposing a duty by Act of Parhament, which the Colonies deem- ed England had no right to impose without their con - ;jent. Complaints having been sent to England respecting tlie establishment of the Courts of Justice in Canada, and of several of the ordinances and proceedings of the Governor and Council to the Plantation Board. A re- ference was made of the petitions and memorials of the King's subjects, English and Canadian, to the Attorney and Solicitor General, who, on the fourth of April made their report in the following words : '* To the Right Honourable the Lords cfthe Committee f^r Plantation Affairs, ** My Lords--In humble obedience to your order of the nineteenth of November last, wherein it is recited, that His Majesty having been pleased to refer to your Lord- t>hips, several Memorials and Petitions from his Subjects D 2 Chap. il in Canada, as well British as French, complaining of several of the ordinances and proceedings of the Gover- nor and Council of Quebec, and of the present esta- blishment of Lourts of Judicature and other civil con- stitutions, your Lordships had on that day, taken the said papers into your consideration, together with a re- port made thereupon by the Lords Commissioners for Trade and Plantations, dated the second day of Septem- ber iast, and finding, that the said Lords Commissioners had proposed another system of Judicature to be substi- tuted in lieu of f.hat which is now subsisting, you thought it proper to order, that the said Memorials, Petitions and Report, (which wure thereunto annexed,) should be re- ferred to us, to consider and report our opinion and ob- ^servations thereon, together with such alterations to be made in what is proposed in the said Report of the Lords Commissioners for Trade and Plantations, and such other regulations and propositions as we should think fit to suggest, for the forming a pro.per plan of Civil Government for the said Province of Quebec ; and to that end, we were dircH:ted to take into our con- sideration such parts of the annexed Report of Gover- nor Murray upon the state of the said Province, as re- late to the Civil Government thereof, whilst the same was annexed to the Crown of France 4 and we were al- so required to send for Lewis L ramahc, Esq. Secretary to Governor Murray, and Fowler Walker, Esq. Agent for the said Province of Quebec, who were ordered to attend us from time to time, to give us such further lights and information, as might be requisite for the pur- pose befoie mentioned. fir? it 1' ■■ f « We have perused the several papers referred to us, 29 g of over- esta- con- \n the a re- s for lepteni- (sioners substi- Ihought ms and be re- nd ob- s to be of the s, and should ■ plan of )uebec ; 5ur con- Gover- , as re- le same were al- xretary . Agent ^red to further he pur- I to us, together with the said two Reports, and have also been Chap. attended by the gentlemen named in your order, and ^* upon the whole matter beg leave humbly to submit to your Lordships, such reflections as have occurred to us, in the course of that imperfect consideration, which we have been able, at this busy season of the year, to give to the great subject of the ' ivil Government of Que- bec, and the propositions made by the Lords Commis- sioners of Trade and Plantations. " My Lords, it is evident that two very principal sources of the disorders of the province have been : " 1. First the attempt to carry on the administration of Justice, without the aid of the natives, not merely in new forms, but totally in an unknown tongue, by which means the parties understood nothing of what was plead- ed or determined, having neither Canadian Advocates and Solicitors to conduct their causes, nor Canadian Ju- rors to give verdicts, even in causes between ' .."anadians only, nor Judges conversant in the French language to declare the law, and to pronounce judgment. This must cause the real mischiefs of ignorance, oppression, and corruption, or else, what is almost equal in government to the mischiefs themselves, the suspicion and imputa- tion of them. " 2. The second and a great source of the disorder was, the alarm taken at the construction put upon His Ma- jesty's Proclamation of October, one thousand seven hundred and sixty three, as if it were his Royal intenti- on by his Judges and Officers in that country, at once to abolish all the usages and customs of Canada, with the "M II 30 I Chap, rough hand of a conqueror, rather than in the true spi- ^' rit of a lawful Sovereign ; and not so much to extend the protection and benefit of his English laws to his new- subjects, by securing their lives, liberties, and properties with more certainty than in former times, as to impose new, unnecessary, and arbitrary rules (especially in the titles to land, and m the modes of descent, alienation, and settlement) which might tend to confound and sub- vert rights, instead of supporting them. V ;\ i: V I** ** 1. To the first of these evils, the order made by your Lordships on the fifteenth of November last, foun- ded on the Report of the Lords Commissioners of Trade and Plantations, requiring the Governor or Commander in Chief of the Province (by an additional instruction) to publish an Ordinance for admitting Canadian Jurors in the several case.': tliereiji expressed ; and for permit- ting Canadian Advocitts, Attcmeys and Proctors, un- der regulations, pr >vides an adequate remedy. ** 2 To the second evil, the Lords Commissioners of Trade and Plantations, by their Report, have applied themselves with great care, ability, anc' judgment to sug- gest remedies, by pointing out the defe* s in the late or- dinance of September, one thousand se en hundred and sixty-four, and reforming the Constiijtion of Justice^ We concur with their Lordships in the objections made to that Ordinance, and upon the several articles of the plan laid down in that Report, the following observati- ons occur to us, both for the confirmation and im- provement of them. (( I. The first article proposes a Court of Chancerv, ll U*nrO ^1 consisting of the Governor and Council, who shall also Chap. be a Court of Appeals,, from whom an appeal will lie '* to the King in Council By this article he Lords of Trade very rightly mean to invest the Governor and Council with two different jurisdictions ; the one, as a Court of Equity, to give relief", ori finally, in that capa- city ; the other, as a vourt of Errors, ro review in the second instance, the judgments of the Court of Com- mon Law, mentioned in the next article. N. « 2. The second article proposes a superior Court of ordinary Jurisdiction, uniting all the proper powers in criminal and civil cases and matters of Revenue. In this Court, it is recommended, that a Chief Justice should preside, assisted by three puisne Judges These are required to be conversant in the French Language, and that one of them particularly should be knowing in the French Usages, " This proposition appears to us well conceived. And we submit to your Lordships, whether it may not be ad- visable, that they should be instructed to confer some- times with the Canadian Lawyers, most resj>ected for learning, integrity, and conduct, who may prove of the greatest assistance to English Judges. Competent salaries, for the encouragement'of worthy and able men, seem absolutely necessary in this establishment, with a due dis- tinction between the C hief Justice and his brethren! The new Judge of Vice Admiralty for America, has ap- pointments of eight hundred pounds per annum. *' 3. The third article relates to terms for the sitting of the Superior Court at Quebec, either according to If Chap. I. the terms appointed at Westminster, or as may be more convenient. This matter must be accommodated to the seasons, climate, and convenience of the people in their tillage and other general employments. Therefore ft seems proper to be left to the future judgment of the Governor, Chief Justice, and principal Servants of the Crovi^n, entrusted with the government of the Province, and ought to be fixed by ordinance. »c 'i '\ 4. The fourth article proposes four Sessions of As- size, Oyer and Terminer and Gaol Delivery at Quebec, with like special Commissions once or oftener in the year, at Trois Rivieres and Montre.I. We submit to your Lordships, that it may be unnecessary to lay down any particular rules for holding four Sessions, in the manner mentioned at Quebec ; because all civil and criminal causes, arising in that district, may be tried at bar in term time, or (as the legal expression is) in bank, by order of the Judges, or under the general powers of the Supreme Court. As to the Circuit » ourts to be held once or perhaps twice in the year (which seems better) at Trois Rivieres and Montreal, we think that it may be proper to require, that the Judges shall continue in each of those places, at the least, for a certain number of days, to give time and opportunity for the resort of par- ties, and the convenitnt dispatch of business, in like manner as was done by Henry the Eighth, in establish- ing the Courts of Great Sessions for Wales, aad by Par- liament in His late Majesty's reign, when the Circuit Courts were settled for Scotland. ** 5. The fifth article recommends the distribution of the Province into three Counties or Districts, of which Quebec, Montreal, and Three Rivers shall be the three 33 Capital Towns, and that an annual Sh rifF shall e na- med, for each. We are humbly of opinion thai this distribution of the Province is more natural and conve nient than the plan lately followed by the Governor and Council, and it will be more agreeable to the people, as it is conformable to their ancient division of the Coun- try. But, considering the difficulty of procuring En. lish and Protestant Sheriffs, especially at Trois Rivieres, (where at present only two persons, who are half-pay officers, reside, thus qualified,) it may deserve considera- tion, whether such Sheriff should not serve longer than one year, till such time as the gradual increase of Inha- bitants may facilitate an annual rotation ; or whether the annual Sheriff of Quebec may not also serve that office for Trois Rivieres. This will oblige him to ap- point two Deputies or Under-Sheriffs, that is, one for each District ; and if this method be taken, the Sheriff may be made an annual officer, because Quebec can afford a sufficient number of proper persons to supply the rotation ; and Montreal (it is agreed) can do the like. " 6. The sixth article proposes to give the Justices of Peace,inthe three several districts,at their general Quar- ter Sessions power to determine finally all causes not exceeding the value of ten pounds, (the title to lands not being in question), with a Jury where it exceeds fiv6 pounds ; and without one, where it falls under that sum. It gives also to two Justices in Petty Sessions, similar au- thority, in similar cases, where the value of the matter in dispute is not more than forty shillings. The latter authority appears to us well proposed j but we submit, whether it may not be better to reserve the jurisdiction in matters exceeding that value as far as ten pounds to E H^ S4 !'i. . i| •It Chap* I. be determined in Quebec, by proceeding in nature of the Civil Bill in Ireland, before the Judges of the Supe- rior Court, or by proceeding in nature of the Summa- ry Bench- Actions at Barbadoes ; and in like manner, in the Circuit Courts at Trois Rivieres jtfid Montreal twice in the year. The value of ten pounds is conside- rable in such a C olony ; and the reputation of the Justices of the Peace, is as yet, scarce enough establish- ed for such a jurisdiction. Under this article we beg leave to suggest, that in the Commission of the Peace for each district, it may be useful and popular, and en- dear His Majesty's government to his new subjects, if one or two Canadians should be appointed Justices, with the others who are British, particularly if Protestants can be found fit for that office. cc / • ib The seventh and last mentioned in the Report of the Lords of Trade, on which we shall observe, is that article, wherein they propose, that in all cases where rights or cla'ms are founded on events prior to the con- quest of Canada, the several Courts shall be govern:;d in their proceedings by the French usages and customs, which have heretofore prevailed in respect to such pro- perty. . ** This proposition is undoubtedly right as far as it goes, in respect of cases which happened antecedent to the conquest ; but we beg leave to take occasion from hence, to enlarge a little on this subject of the rule of judgment to be observed in the Courts of Quebec, as it is of the greatest moment to the honor and justice of the Crown, and to the peace and prosperity of the Pro-' vince. ss 1f " There is not a maxim of the Common Law more Chap. certain, than that a conquered people retain their anci *• ent customs till the conqueror shall declare new laws. To change at once the laws and manners of a settled country must be attended with hardship and violence j and therefore wise conquerors, having provided for the security of their dominion, proceed gently, and indulge their conquered subjects in all local customs, which are in their own nature indifferent, and which have been re- ceived as rules of property, or have obtained the force of laws. It is the more material, that this policy be pursued in Canada, because it is a great and ancient Colony, long settled, and much cultivated by French subjects, who now inhabit it to the number of eighty or one hundred thousand. Therefore we are humbly of opinion, that the Judges to be employed by His Majesty in this Pro • vince, will answer all the ends of their trust, both as to the King and the People, if their conduct in Judicature be modelled by the following general rules : 1. First, in all personal actions grounded upondebt.s, promises, contracts, and agreements, whether of a mer- cantile or other nature, and upon wrongs proper to be compensated in damages, to reflect, that the substantial maxims of Law and Justice are every where the same, j The modes of proceeding and trial, and perhaps, in some degree aUo, the strict rules of evidence, may va- ry ; but the Judges in the Province of Quebec, cannot materially err, either against the laws of England, or the ancient customs of Canada, if in those cases they . look to those substantial maxims. ( J E 3 * 36 Chap. 1. a 4 2. Secondly, in all suits or actions relating to Ti - ties of Land, the descent, alienation, settlements, and incumbrances of real property, we are humbly of opi- nion, that it would be oppressive to disturb, without much and wise deliberation, and the aid of laws here- after to be enacted to the Province, the local custom s and usages now prevailing there. To introduce, at one stroke, the English law of real estates, with English modes of conveyancing, rules of descent, and construc- tion of deeds, must occasion infinite confusion and in- justice. British subjects, who purchase lands theu, may, and ought to conform to the fixed local rules of property in Canada, as they do in particular parts of the realm, or in the other dominions of the Crown. The English Judges sent from hence, may soon instruct themselves, by the assistance of Canadian Lawyers and intelligent persons, in such rules, and may judge by the customs of Canada, as your Lordships do in causes from Jersey, by the custom of Normandy. It seems reason- able also, that the rules for the distribution of personal property in cases of Intestacy, and the modes of assign- ing and conveying it, should be adhered to for the pre- sent. " 3. Thirdly, in all suits entertained before the Go- vernor and Council, as a Court of Chancery or Equity, it is obvious that the general rules of Law and Justice must be the same as in the other Courts, according to the subject-matter of the suit, with this difference only, that the relief is more complete and specific, and adapt- ed to supply the defects or allay the rigour of those rules. " 4. Fourthly, in criminar cases, whether they be I !^ U-'-VsJ capital offences or misdemeanors, it is highly fitting (as Chap, far as may be) that the laws of England be adopted, in ^* the description and quality of the offence itself, in the manner of proceeding to charge the party, to bail or detain him, to arraign, try, convict, and condemn him. The certainty, the lenity of the English administration of Justice, and the benefits of this constitution, will be more peculiarly and essentially felt by His Majesty's Ca- nadian subjects in matters of Crown Law, which touch the life, liberty, and property of the subject, than in the conformity of his Courts to the English rules, in mat- / tors of tenure, or the succession and alienation of real ^- and personal estates. This certainty, and this lenity are the benefits intended by His Majesty's Royal Proclama- tion, so far as concerns Judicature. These are irrevo- cably granted, and ought to be secured to his Canadian subjects, according to his Royal Word. For this pur- pose, it may not be improper, upon the appointment of a new Governor, with a new Commission revised and considered by your Lordships, to direct that Governor . to publish an explanatory Proclamation in the Province, to quiet the minds of the people, as to the true meaning of the Royal Proclamation of October, one thousand seven hundred and sixty-three, in respect to their local customs and usages, more especially in titles to land and cases of real property. " 5. Fifthly, in rules of process and the practice of the Courts, we beg leave to suggest, that it may be ex- pedient to order the new Chief Justice, with the assist- ance of the other Judges to be appointed, and the At- torney General of Quebec, to consider and prepare a suitable plan, adapted to the jurisdiction of the different im I r ^1 ' ' I i i' Chap. I. 38 Courts, and the convenience of the suitors. The forms of proceeding ought to be simple, easy, and as summary and expeditious, as may consist witli the advancement of right and the protection of innocence. Useful hints may be taken, not only from the Supreme Courts at Westminster, but from the practice of the Courts in Wales, and from many of the Colonies, Some time will be necessary, before such a plan can be framed, and experience alone can perfect it. As soon as they shall have prepared it, the Governor and C^ouncil may enact it by Ordinance, and transmit the same in the accustom- ed manner, to be laid before His Majesty for his Royal Approbation.* The Province had been without a Catholic Bishop from the year one thousand seven hundred and sixty, to the year one thousand seven hundred and sixty-six, when Mr. Briand was permitted to return to it as super- intendant ot that Church. lie had only a verbal per- mission, without any Commission from the King for that purpose. On producing the Pope's Bull, he took the oath of allegiance. On his arrival in the Province, his friends received him with the ceremony and respect that had been us\ially paid to his predecessors in that office ; but he declined these compliments, and made answer, " That he did not come to the country to be a Bishop, upon the same high footing as his predecessors in the time of the French government, and was not therefore entitled, and did not desire, to be treated with the same ceremony and respect as had been used to- • v 14th Apr*, 17rt'J. • (S'gncJ) C. VORKF., Attorney Gii.eral. Wm. DE CiRIV, Solicitor General. 39 VVards them, tut that he was a mere ordainer of new Chap. Priests." * In pursuance of this humble plan, he wore for the first month or two, after his arrival at Quebec, in June one thousand seven hundred and sixty-six, on- ly, a common black gown, Hke the other Roman Catho- lic Priests ; a short time after, however, he put on the purple robe,' with a golden cross at his breast, which are the usual ensigns of the Episcopal dignity among the Roman Catholics. The measure that had been adopted by the Lieute- nant Governor, of calling together only a part of the Council, occasioned a remonstrance, from a certain number of the members, by which they stated, that the practice, if followed, might be productive of bad conse- quences : that they remonstrated against an opinion that the mandamus* from England suspended the appoint- ments to the '. ouncil by Governor Murray, as they con- ceived his Commission and Instructions authorised him to constitute a Council, and to make choice of such per- sons as he thought fit, if not disapproved by His Majes- ty. That as great difficulties haa existed on the new establishment for the Province, that therefore they were entitled to particular regard. That they did not dispute His Majesty's right to incr ie the number of his Coun- cil, yet that they conceived themselves entitled to pre- cedence and to a seat in Council, which had been de* parted from, since Governor Murray's departure. Vhat if by the Constitution or '. .ustoms of the Colonies, the number of the Council was restricted. Mandamus's were in that case, to be regarded only as an order for the admission of the persons named, provided tlierc was • Un limple faiwur d» PrHrM. 40 n m III!! Chap. I a vacancy. And that if the deference which they felt for every manifestation of the will of the Sovereign had prevented them from objecting to any person possessed of a Mandamus from being sworn into the Council, they conceived, that if the Council should be restricted, the Counsellor last admitted should be considered as the su- pernumerary. The Governor in answer to the remon- strance, stated his opinion, That in all cases which required the consent of Council, he should call together such Council as he thought best qualified to give infor- mation. That he should take the opinion and advice of other persons, though not of the Council, men of sense, truth,candor and impartial justice; persons that preferred their duty to their King, and the tranquility of his sub- jects, to unjustifiable attachments, party zeal, and to all selfish and mercenary views. That when advice had been obtained, he should act as seemed most expedient for His Majesty's service, and the good of the Province. That His Majesty's Council consisted of twelve mem- bers, and that those appointed by the King had the pre - ference, and after them those appointed by Governor Murray. That Mr. Stuart, by virtue of the King's ap • pointment, had precedence of them all, and that His Majesty's service required tranquility and peace, and that it was the indispensable duty of every good subject, and of every honest man, to promote so desirable an end. * The Council were then classed : those of the King's ap- pointment first, and then Governor Murray's, viz. William Hey, Chief Justice, Charles Stuart, Superintendant General, • 28th Novembpr, 1TC6.— Council Booki. 41 H. T. Cramahe, ; ,; ,. Thomas Dunn, . John Goldf rap, i,. Fran9ois Mounier, Thomas Mills, ; Benjamin Price, Samuel Holland, James Cuthbert. • • r Walter Murray, After which tne Governor stated to the Council, that he regretted he had been obliged to remove Lieutenant Co- lonel Irving and Mr. Mabane from being Councillors, and that he would state his reasons to His Majesty. Chap. I. i To show how inconsiderable the duties on Wine and Spirituous liquors were, collected at the Port of Que- bec, the whole duties for the three preceding years, only amounted to two thousand three hundred and twenty-seven pounds Halifax Currency. , <- . The line forty-five, north latitude, being established as 17G8. the boundary b^ween the Province of Canada and New York, by Commissioners appointed by the respective Go- vernors, Lord Hillsborough, then Secretary of State, by letter of the twenty-fifth oi February, one thousand seven hundred and sixty-eight, signified to the Governor of New York, that the King would not allow ancient grants of Canada good for lands, which were never acknowledged to be'ong of right to the Crown of France, but the in- habitants were not to be disturbed on tracts then settled, taking out Patents under New York, on actual condi- tions of Quit rent and improvements. This order was read in the Council at Quebec, and entered in the Coun- cil Books the year after. As it was considered expedient to have a Coadjutor, F lit! nlii i: ! i I 1 1 I ; t i i lii 1 1 » j i I ii I ii|i Chap. I 42 to succeed in the event of Mr. Briand's death, then Sii- perintendant of the '. atholic ' hurch, a recommendati- on was sent to England by the Council, in favor of Mr, D'Eglis. Governor Carleton who had been only Lieute- nant Governor of the Province, was appointed on the twelfth of Ap 'il, one thousand seven hundred and six- ty-eight, Governor in Chief and took the oaths in Oc- tober following.* it* , • JMV ■•- t Vrf « » / • t f- ' .,1 V'.! His Majesty, anxious to have a regular system of ju- dicature established, directed the Governor and Coun- cil to take the subject into consideration, and report up- on it. They, in obedience to the King's order, the twen- ty-eighth of August, one thousand seven hundred and sixty-seven, considered the reference made to them, f No plan, however, was finally adopted. 'J (•, i\t * Council Book B. I ABitract of the Rrfort. 1. Wlicther any and what d«fcct» are now subtisting IB the present state of Judicature in Quebec. 2. Whether the Canadians are or think themselves aggrieved, according to the present administration of Justice therein ; and in what respects, tog;ether with our opinion of any alterations or amendments that we can propose for the general benefit of the Province, and that they be transmitted in form uf Ordi- nances, but not passed, by the Governor, Chief Justice, and Attorney General. If they differ, different opinions, with reasons for such differences. •"; ' They then represented — That the laws of England were generally thought to Le in force. The commission of the Chief Justice refers to them. lie was to decide ac- cording to the Laws and Customs of England. And the Laws, Ordinaiices, Rules and Regulations of Your Majesty's Province of Quebec, hereafter in that bc- I.alf to us ordained and made. That the Ordinance of the seventeenth of Septem* bcr,one thousand seven hundred and sixty-four set forth and erected, a Superior Court or King's Bench, an Inferior Court of Common Pleas, to decide in all iaUMt above <£10. Appeal to King's Bench in all above iC20. Judges of this 43 The City of Montreal suffered this year by fire. On Chap. the eleventh April, about ten o'clock in the evening, I* a dreadful fire broke out at the house of one Tison, near the St. Lawrence's Gate, which continued until Court are to determine according to Equity, regarding laws of England and ordinances of the Province, under £5 before a single Justice, above £5 and un- der £\0, before a single Justice or others, at Weekly or Quarter Sessions. Then the Report sets forth the Ordinance of the sixth of November, one thousand seven hundred and sixty-four. On which it is observed : That all the Lands in the Province whose owners died since the tenth of August, one thou> ■and seven hundred and sixty-five, are subject to English law of Inheritance, Custom of Dower, Rules of Forfeitures, Escheat. , • These ordinances have been transmitted and never disallowed. Canadian laws tince supposed to be abolished, and Judges conceive themselves bound to pro- ceed according to the English laws. Besides, there are public instruments in support of the supposition : Statute of I Elizabeth, Chap. I . abolishing authority of the Bishop of Rome, vide fol. 16, 17, 24, 27. This clearly extends to after acquisitions of the Crown. -^ Statute 1 5 Car. 2, Chap. 7, fol. 7. Statutes 7 and 8 William 3. Chap. 22. •We suppose other Acts of Trade less positive in terms, extend also. Hence the Governor's Commission directs him to take the oath prescribed for Plantation Qovernors relating to Trade. And the Commissioners of the Customs have ap- pointed a Collector at Quebec to carry them into execution. They also under- stand Statute of 12 Anne, Statute 2, Chap, ?0, for preserving Ships stranded, and the 4th Geo. 1, Chap. 12, making it perpetual. Tlie Attorney and Solicitor General in June, one thousand seven hundred and sixty-seven, gave an opiniot. to the Hoard of I'rade, that it extends to the Plantations, and this opinion is trans- mitted to the Governor of Quebec. These before the Conquest of Quebec; there are other Statutes passed since, as 4 Geo. 111. Chap. 11. continuing that part of 8th Geo. I, conceniinij importation of naval stores. A copy of this is sent to the Collector of Quebec. 4 Geo. 111. Chap. 19, an Act for importing Salt, &c. 4 Geo. 111. Chap. 15, for granting duties. Besides these Statutes there is a series of public instruments for introducing Laws of F.ngland. The Articles of Capitulation in one thouBand seven hundred and sixty, vide Articles 42, 27, SO. The Treaty of Peace of tenth of February, one thousand seven hundred and sixty-three. Article four, That Canadians are to have Romish Religion as far as l:iW5 of Engliud permits. F 2 f ' i 44 Chap, five o'clock the next morning, and consumed from eigh- !• ty to one hundred houses ; fortunately no person, wos either killed or wounded. • The Proclamation of October, one thousand seven hundred and sixty-three. Upon which they observe :— The British Subjects in the Colony understand En- glish Laws to be thereby introducsd, and not the municipal laws of a conquered people continued. That they t-migrated on this confidence. The late Governor so understood it, who by the Ordinance of September, one thousand seven hundred and sixty-four did not mean to overturn all the Canada laws, but to erect Courts for exercised English law supposed to be already in- troduced. The Lords of Trade understood it so, for in the seventh and last articles of their Report of second September, one thousand seven hundred and sixty-five, upon Memorials complaining of the Ordinances of the Governor and Council, proposes : — That in all cases where Rights or Claims are founded on events prior to the Conquest of Canada, the several Courts should be governed in their pro- ceedings by the French usages and customs, which have heretofore prevailed in respect to such property. It is clear then, that if upon events posterior to that Conquest, then the Courts are to be governed by English laws. We know that the Attorney and Solicitor General, in April, one thousand se- ven hundred and sixty-six, understood the Proclamation in a more confined sense, as introductive of only some fewer parts of the law of England, particularly beneficial to English Subjects, and not of the whole body of the laws. This they took to be the purport of the word in the Proclamation, the tnjoijmeitt of the benefit of the Laws of England, and they were of opinion that the Criminal Laws, now almost the only Laws that came under that description, and that the Laws of Descent, Alienations, Settlements, Incumbrances and distribution were not comprehended under it. Your Majesty must determine, Bracton »ays;cujus est tonJitt ejut tit tnterpretare. We lay public instruments before you to judge upon. The next evidence of introduction of Englisli Laws is: General Murray's Coinniission in one thousand seven hundred and sixty-four, to be Vice- Admiral. By this the Laws of the English Court of Admiralty take place of French Laws and Customs, — This Commission as Governor, and the Instructions in the sjme year. Nut the least intimation of any saving of any part of the Laws of England. J; seems as if the Capitulation and Treaty of Peace was deemed to be notice enough of introducng English Laws with respect to Relit;;ion : especially as they continued in the Country, and took the oathx, when they had eighteen months to withdraw. riiosc are the public instruments for evidences of introduction of Engllnh Am 45 The conduct of the Justices of the Peace at Mon- Chap. treal, became so objectionable, that complaints were ^• made to the Governor and to the Council, respecting the irregularities in the method of issuing process. On consideration of the subject by the >^ ouncil, the Law, but as the Proclamation and Governor Murray's Commission have never been published in French, and the two Ordinances of February and March, one thousand seven hundred and sixty-four, which have been, are very concise and do not specify the laws introduced, the greater part of the people remaiii igno- rant of the extent of the chanjjes, and imagine ancuiit laws m many points still in force. When they come to know the cliange, there will be greut uneasiness. Hence at present there is a diversity in the practices of the English and Cana- dian subjects, with respect to letters of administration and the distribution of intestates effects. Also in the practices of conveying and mortgaging British subjects according to English mode. French by Notaries and Scriveners accord- ing to French modes, and so the same lands are conveyed by both modes. Leases by Jesuits are made for twenty-one years though by French law good only for nine years, and sundry other instances of diversity are assigned. In criminal matters all proceeding according to the English law. The same as to proceedings in the civil business of the King's Bench. In the Common Plo.^s the pleadings are drawn as the parties please, some in Trench and some in English. Our arresting body for debt on the mesne process, surprizes the French. Here follow remarks on the foregoing instruments : 1. They submit it as a doubt whether the Ordinances of September and No- vember, one thousand seven hundred and sixty-four, are sufficient to introduLU such laws as were not established by the Procla-nation of 176'3. By the King's Commission to the Governor, a certain degree of Legislative authority i» communicated to him to be exercised with advice of Council and As- sembly and no l,fgislative Authority without the Assembly, and therefore the Ordinances are considered to be void. If so they are good only us to the erec- tion of Courts. True there is a private instruction with advice of Council, to make frcsli rules, as appear necessary for peace and order, not extending to life, limb or liber- ty, duties or taxes. But Wi' doubt whether sucii power can be given except un- der the Great Seal read and notified, and therefore we think the instruction void as to the conveying a Legislative authority. » If it is not void, the authority is too small for the introduction of En.>-[i\h laws, particularly the Crimnial, (which all affect life, limb, or liberty) and the arrest of the body, CDnimitnientsfor contempts. But these reasons do not touch the higher Instrument for the introductu)n of English laws, viz. the Articles of Capitulation, the Treaty, and the rroclamatlon of one tiiousand seven hun- dred and sixty-three. Chap. I. 1769. 46 Clerk of the Board was ordered to prepare a letter to the Justices upon the subject matter of those complaints. His letter was approved by the v ouncil,* and copies were sent to the Bench of Justices of the Quarter Ses- sions of that District. f^l p ill! i3 * ISth July, 1769, Council Book B. Inconveniencies from the present state of tke Laws and administration of Jui« tice. Their uncertainty is the greatest : either Enghsh or French should be a- vowed. A remedy it necessary. There are inconveniencies in the state of Ju- dicature. Proceedings expensive, tedious, and more severe than under the French. These evinced and explained. A plan held up. A Judicature propo- sed for each district of (Juebec, Montreal and Three Rivers. One Judge in each, 9 Barrister of five years standing, and a French Assistant, the latter to have no deciding power. A Court to be held once a week. The method of proceeding to be this . ^ * 1. A Plaint in French or English. A Summons, if good cause found. If de- fendant does not appear, a compensation to Plaintiff for his trouble. Another Summons. On default. Judgment. If he appears, Plea m writing. Then the Judge to interrogate parties on disputed facts, and an*v;-ers to be reduced to wri- ting. Then he is to state the facts in difference, and ask whether they will have a Jury. If they do, a Jury to be summoned next Court. He that desires a Jury, to pay their expences, 5s. sterling, each. They are to be appointed as Special Juries in Enghnd, by striking out twelve, each. No challenges to be allowed. A majority to carry a verdict. The verdict is to be a special one. All exami- nations viva voce. Execution to run against goods and lands. An inventory of Defen^Jant's Estate may be required upon his oath, if there is not enough found to satisfy the judgment. Penalty of Perjury, if twenty pounds, omitted. Costs according to Judge's discre. on. A Sheriff to be for each Diatrict. A King's Attorney in ead . Appeals t* Governor and Council, and thence to the King. The three Chief Judges and Attornies General to be of the Council, that the £oard may not want law knowledge. These Appeals should be only in the nature of Writs of Error, except in the instance of a Judges proceeding without a Jury, when the evidence should be be reduced to writing, as in a General Court Martial. New Trials at law to be by a double Jury, and be final. These the outlines of the plan. It remains to consider the first and greatest inconveniencies arising from the uncertainty of the law.— Four methods occur : 1. A Code of Laws for this Province, that shall contain ail the laws by which it IB to be governed for the tinie to come, to the entire exclusion or abolition of 47 OENf LERiEN— In obedience to an Order in Council Chap. bearing date the tenth instant, I transmit to you the sen- ^' timents of Government, upon some points relative to the execution of your authority as Justices of the Peace, every part of the Laws of England and French Laws that shiU not be set down in the Code itself. II. To revive all the French laws to the exclusion of tha English laws, except the Statutes above mentioned, and a few eminently favorable to the liberty of the subject, and to introduce those by a particular Ordinance or Proclamation published in the Province, as to take away torture, the punishment of the rack, introduce the habeas corpus. III. A third method— Making Law of England the general law with an ex- ception of particular Subjects, to permit former Customs at the time of the Conquest, or, IV. The Law of England to be the general Law, with an exception in favor of the former Customs, and with respect to these, to enumerate them, and abo- lish all not enumerated in the Proclamation. As to the first, it would be troublesome. Canadians would think it rash and dangerous. A Speech is put into their mouths, and the compilers supposed to be incapable to answer it, from the immense difficulty of the undertaking. .Some of the old to be rejected, other pnrts retained. There will be omissions, iniper- fectlotis, and obscurities. An intimate and long experience necessary to make the choice. There is a strong connection between the jiarts, and dangerous to break it. If the whole is left, no Code is wanting. The greatest Lawyer in Paris not equal to the work. An Englishman would not know where to look for if On the other hand, the advantages will be these: The Judges would have a short rule, not be misled by French Lawyers in citing and misapplyiiig &c. The English Subjects would know the luw easily. It would deface the idea of French law, and the attachment to a French Government. Iinperf.cfions might be removed as experience brought them to light. It would be suflicient- ly exact at the beginning for all common cases. As to the second method, the inconveiiiencies would be these : I. Keep up a respect for the French Laws and Government. S. Disgust the English, who think they have right to the English Laws. 1. Imagining the Conquest rendered the French Laws void, though in this the Law is otherwise. 2, That they were really introduced by the Proclamation of one thou- sand seven hundred and sixty-three. The lid method has these incon- veniencies : I . Maintain a reverence for the laws of Paris, though less than the other me- thods. C. The Canadians will make the following objectiun ■ '''iW^'^' I ii f ■ m mm ii ; I li'; ■hW Chap. 1. li ;! 48 in which it appears to them, from facts too notorious to be dispur.'d, that his M< • ' ,- v- '^'i ^l Chap. I 50 . But besides this most enormous and irregular present method of summoning parties to appear before a Magis- trate, many times at a great distance from the place of their residence upon trifling occasions, and for small debts ; and it appears to the Governor and Council that the present form of the summons, even those which issue in the most regular and least exceptionable man- ner, together with the method of conveymg them, is in- convenient, if not oppressive in these three instances ; 1. As they are very expensive by going through the hands of the Provost Marshal, whose Bailiffs charge their travelling expences at a rate which frequently ex- ceeds in a great proportion the value of the thing in litigation. ♦ 2. As the time for the party's appearance under them is so short as many times to subject him to a Judgment by default, without giving him an opportunity to make his defence. 3 As they are compulsory for his appearance, with- out leaving it in his option, by paying the debt, to avoid the trouble and expense of an attendance before the Magistrate ; to the first of these they apprehend an effectual, and perhaps the only remedy will be found in making the person who applies for the summons the bearer of it, (if he chooses to take the charge of it, if not, that it be sei-ved by the Bailiff" of the Parish, to whom it shall be transmitted at the expense of the par- ty applying, for which the Bailiff^ shall receive one shil- ling, only, and no travelling charges allowed,) and by admitting his evidence upon oath, or that of a neigh- bour whom he may take with him as proof of the service. SI And they conceive that no inconvenience will follow Chap. from this, if it is confined to a summons for a small '• debt, and not extended to process of a criminal nature, or such whereon bail may be demanded, much less to a Judgment or an Execution ; those ought without doubt to be executed by the Provost Marshal, or by persons employed by him, for whose conduct he is answerable, but in cases where the matter in question does not amount to more than forty or fifty or perhaps an hun- dred livres, it is loading the process with a weight it cannot support, to serve it at such an expense as the bare travelling charges of a Bailiff will of necessity amount to. To the second which introduces an obvious mischief, it may be difficult, perhaps, to prescribe any general rule, the time for appearance must necessarily vary in proportion to the distance, roads, and other circum- stances, which cannot be reduced to any certainty, but niusi be left to the discretion of the Magistrate, regu- lated by those circumstances, it is hardly necessary to <'>bserve, that it is a first principle that no man shall be condemned without being heard, and that a summons which cannot be complied with, is no summons at all. With regard to the third inconvenience which arises cither from the ignorance of the party, or the imposi- tion of the Bailiff, they recommend to the Justices to make their summons with an optional clause, either to pay the debt or do the thing demanded, or in fulurc of that, to appear and shew cause why they should not, for though in truth it is not in itself discretionary, and li I <' 52 fi '}• '.• C HAP. no man is or ought to be obliged to appear before a Ma- *• gistrate, if he is contented to do that, the refusal of which only was the cause of his being summoned, yet the Canadians are very ignorant and do not know that, and it is to be feared, indeed it has been in proof that the Bailiffs to increase the expense, frequently oblige the parties to appear, though they are willing to satisfy the demand, and anticipate all that could be obtained from a hearing before a Magistrate. " - 1 These are the principal matters which I am directed to lay before the gentlemen in the commission for the District of Montreal, but I am commanded not to con- clude, without recommending it to them in general to facilitate the course of Justice by alleviating the expence of it, and more particularly in that instance, if in truth it prevails, which subjects the suitor to a demand of si . livres, or any other sum for the use of the Magistratei; room. ... ill The Committee of Council appointed by the Go- vernor, to take into consideraiion the state of the admi- nistration of Justioe, under the Justices of Peace, agreed on the following Report ;• Tn obedience to an Order of Council, bearing date the eighteenth day of August last, we have taken into our consideration the .several matters therein referred, in consf.'(]ucnce of which, we beg leave to represent to your Excellency and the Council, that the several au- tliorities and powers of the Justices of the Peace, in matters of property, as contained in the Ordinance of • Report of the Committee, dated S.lih Augiut and Mth September, 17C?. ss September one thousand seven hundred and sixty-four, Chap. appear to us to have been very inju licious in their origi- ^* nal institution, and in the exercise of them more parti cularly within the District of Montreal, exceedingly grievous and oppressive to the subject j it is well known, that in England, where the Justices of the Peace are, for the most part men of large fortune, who have a considerable interest in common with the people over v,fhom their authority is exercised, no such power is in- trusted to them either by the Commission itself, or any of the various Acts of Parliament which relate to their office, and though the ill advised construction of the great Courts established here for the determination of property, in the year one thousand seven hundred and sixty-four, confined originally in their Session to two terms in the year, and only now enlarged to three, might have made it necessary to create smaller Jurisdictions, in order to conform in some measure to the ancient prac- tice of the Colony, and to give a freer and quicker cir- culation to the course of justice ; yet we apprehend that even under these circumstances, the authority given to the Justices, had been both too largely and too confi- dently entrusted, and requires to be retrenched, if not wholly taken away in almost every instance. But that is not all, what is still more unfortunate, we find even those powers large as they are, to have been in some instances extended, and a Jurisdiction usurped to the great prejudice of the parties whose pro- perty has been the subject of it, without any right (as we conceive) to interpose in such matters as derived from the Ordinance, or any other authority that has as yet come to our knowledge, for by the ill penning of that / M' ■ 'i ' 1 1 n . m^ ■ ( ■■:ij |:lit!ifl I ' lilPf Chap. I. \ ^?4 Ordinance, and for want of a clause which should have expressly forbid them to intermeddle in those matters, the Justices of Montreal have to our knowledge in one instance, and probably in many others which have pass- ed without notice, assumed to themselves powers of a nature not fit to be exercised by any summary Jurisdic- tion whatsoever, in consequence of which titles to land had been determined, and possession disturbed in a way unluiown to the laws of England, and inconsistent with the solemnity and deliberation which is due to matters of so high and important a nature, and we are not with- out information that even in cases where personal pro- perty only has been in dispute, one Magistrate in par- ticular, under pretence that it was the desire and re- quest of both the contracting parties, has, by himself, exercised a jurisdiction considerably beyond what the Ordinance has allowed even to three Justices in fuU Court at their Quarter Sessions, From an omission of a similar nature, and for want of ascertaining the manner in which their judgments were to be enforced, we find the Magistrates to have as sumed another very high and dangerous authority, iu the exercise of which the g:\ols are constantly filled with numbers of unhappy objects, and whole families redu- ced to beggary and ruin ; it being a common practice, and the usual method of their process, to take lands in execution, and order them to be sold for the payment of ever so small a debt, or in case there are no lands to yatisfy the debt, to commit the party to prison, the sad consequences whereof, and the wretched servitude to which a people are reduced whose persons and proper^ ty are thus exposed, we believe we need not enlarge up-f vin farther than to observe, that the rapid sale of e^< 63 tales under judgments out of the Common Picas, or Chap. even the Supreme Court itself, seems to be withm the same mischief, and to require some effectual though perhaps a different remedy. If any thing could yet be wanting to complete the mi- sery of such a people, it would be the consideration that these powers, originally calculated for the care ot the suitor, and to facilitate the course of Justice, should become the very instruments of his oppression and ruin, and instead of affording a cheap and expeditious r.ine- dy for the recovery of small debts, should either direct or connive at such a complicated and expensiv«'- mode of process, as (if we may collect for one instance, where the expence of suing for a debt of eleven livres amount- ed to eighty -four) must either deter the creditor Irom pursuing a just though small debt, or ruin himself or his adversary, and perhaps both in the pursuit of it, which will probably always be the case, where the of- fice of a Justice of the Peace is considered as a lucrative one, and must infallibly be so where it is his principal if not his only dependence. In justice, however, to the Magistrates of this district, we ought to declare, that these observations are not de- signed to extend to them. For these and many other reasons which we are ten- der of enlarging upon, we conceive it to be high time to change this unequal, wasteful, and oppressive mode of administering Justice, and to substitute some other in its place, more conformable to ihe system which formerly prevailed here, and less liable to the objections which Ob '.'/I I'ili I'iilli;;! m Chap, so manifestly accompany this, both in its institution and '• practice. And for that purpose, we recommend it to your Ex- cellency in the first place, to appoint another Judge for the Court of Common Pleas at Montreal, and as a com- pensation for the extraordinary duty which will be re- quired, that their salaries may be made two hundred pounds per annum. And secondly, that an Ordinance should be imme- , diately prepared, which, after setting forth in a pream- ble some or all of the grievances here mentioned, and the good disposition in Government to attend to and re- dress the injuries complained of by the subject, as soon as they are made known to them, should abrogate and annul all that part of the Ordinance of one thousand seven hundred and sixty four which gives authority to the Justices of the Peace to determine matters of civil property in any shape or manner whatsoever, and ex- pressly define their power to be barely such as the Com- mission itself warrants, and the Ordinances of this Pro- vince, (except that of one thousand seven hundred and sixty-four) has entrusted to them, : It should then, after reciting the reasons, namely, to prevent a failure of Justice, and to supply a quick and competent jurisdiction in matters of small value, not at present cognizable in either of the great Courts, give the Court of Common Pleas a jurisdiction which at present it has not, to hold plea in all matters, however trifling the demand may be, and that both Courts should sit in Quebec and Montreal once in every week, ^seed 57 ■v^ and harvest time, and a fortnight at Easter and Christ- Chap. was excepted) throughout the year. But that for all ^* matters under the sum of ten pounds, one Judge only need be present. ;. In the latter case their process should be by sum- mons, and in all executions where the debt and cosit do not amount to ten pounds, Halifax currency, no Capias ad Satisfaciendum to arrest and detain the body should issue, but a fieri facias sgainst the goods and chattels only, (with an e^cnr^ss exception to beasts of the plough) unles the part) «jnuses that his land should be sold, in which case he should sign upon the back of the Process his consent and request for that purpose ; it might not be amiss to give the Judge a power to levy the debt where it was under ten pounds, by installments, for it often happens that a debtor is exceedingly distres- sed to pay, though but a moderate sum, and upon the instant of demand, which yet by his industry, or by some event near taking place, but which he cannot an- ticipate, he might pay with ease to himself at given times ; upon an affidavit of this sort, we think they might be allowed to mark upon the writ to be levied by installments y twenty shillings on such a day, tiventy at such other, and the remainder at such other. But these times ought to have some limitation, and perhaps ought not to exceed three months for the last payment. * ' ^ * I If the Judge has reason to suspect that the party sv rreUs his effects, or has disposed of them after the coin Il' II' ! 1 1 ■ : ) } i 1 1 i» Tl * i ' ^ il i -il ' ^ 1 4' ' mm 1; * 1 ^M \ 1 i '' ii' jiiif-'' ! 58 Chap, mencement of the suit, in order to avoid their being ta- '* ken in execution, he should be at liberty to issue pro- cess against the lands immediately, and for want of them, to commit to prison till the debt is satisfied : the truth of which should be examined upon affidavit. In all other matters where the debt or demand is above the value of ten pounds, they should proceed as usual, ex- cept that where lands are taken in execution they should be made subject to the debt or demand immediately from the day of the date of the writ, and avoid all subse- quent sales and mortgages, or any other disposition or incumbrance of them, but not absolutely sold for six months after several publications in the Gazette, and notice affixed to the Church door of the parish in which the lands lie, and other neighbouring parishes, nor should the ^le even then be good, till a report was made to one of the Judges of the Court, of the quan- tity, produce and condition of the said lands, with the amount of the purchase money, and the sale confirm- ed by him, It is difficult if not impossible, exactly to ascertain the quantum of expence in recovering these small debts, but we recommend it to the gentlemen who preside in these C.ourts to reduce it as much as possible, and we have no doubt but they will give a proper attention to a matter so interesting to the honor of the Crown and the convenience and ease of the subject. ; The administration of justice in causes of small con- sequence, we apprehend will be tolerably well provided for in the Towns of Quebec and Montreal upon this establishment, more especially if there be added (as per- 59 haps may be necessary, at least convenient) one officer Chap, of justice in each, who might decide in all causes to the ^* value of fifty shillings current money, and enforce his decision by distress and sale of the defendant's goods, only. These officers to be appointed by your Excellency, by special commission independent of the general com- mission of the Peace, (though it would be adviseable for them to have both) in the nature of the Intendant's sub- delegues j they may, perhaps, be well appointed by vir- of the powers given to your Excellency in your com- mission, but we rather recommend it to be done by an Ordinance. '' ' * ■ fc And you should be empowered to appoint more of these officers in different parts of the Province, as the circumstances and situation of things may require, and as in your discretion they may appear to be necessary, whose Jurisdiction might be at least equal to what was given to a single Magistrate under the Ordinance of Sep- tember, one thousand seven hundred and sixty-four. These are the observations that have occurred to us upon this subject : we believe regulations here propo- sed, will be found to be salutary, and meet the grie- vances at present so loudly and so justly complained of, and we accordingly recommend them to be immediately carried into execution, i One observation, however, has escaped us, which we beg leave to add with regard to the assize of breads H2 O'MM''-' ' 11:1 ! I ,ii l!i 'iLliL i 1 j ii|! .■:■;.:; '!!lli! I '■' Chat. I 1770. 60 which by an Ordinance of this Province bearing date the third of September, one thousand seven hundred and sixty four, is directed to be regulated by three Jus- '^ tices of the Peace, and though this Jurisdiction will still ^ be preserved to the Justices, yet we are apprehensive that they will be indisposed to exercise it, if they should resent the diminution of their authority, which the re- gulations we have proposed are designed to make. That authority, therefore, very useful and necessary to the Public, should be transferred in case of their neglect, to the two Judges of the Common Pleas and the Justice who has a commission in small matters in the way that we have recommended.*" ■ ■■•' '^ Governor Carleton, obtained the Royal Per* mission to return to England, and was succeeded by Mr. Cramahe as the oldest Councillor ; the suc- ceeding year, Cramahe was appointed Lieutenant Go- vernor of the Province. Governor Carleton had often expressed a desire that the Custom of Paris in abstract, as adapted for Canada, should be formed, and at his instance, it was compiled by Cugnet, Juecrau, Pressard and other gentlemen, and supervised by Sir James Harriot, the then Advocate General of England, and by Thurlow and Wedderburne the then Attorney and Solicitor Generals, * *■ HIS, In the month of October, one thousand seven h\m- dred and seventy-three, the British and other Protestant , inhabitants of the then Province of Quebec, having waited above ten years for the accomplishment of the King's promise of granting them a House of Assembly ■• This letttT was signed by Wm. Hey, as Chairmain of the Committee. Gl as soon as the situation and circumstances of the Pro- vince should admit, contained in the Royal Proclamati- on, were of opinio^, that the situation and circumstan- ces of the Province did admit the calling an Assembly » and therefore meetings were held at Quebec, xto prepare Petitions both to His Majesty's Servants in the Province, and to His Majesty himself, in order to obtain it ; and on this occasion they invoked the King's new sub- jects the Canadian or French inhabitants of the Province to join with them in their consultations on this subject. An invitation was sent by the Committee to several Ca- nadian gentlemen of Quebec to join in the representa- tion, who attended the meeting, and who promised to call a meeting of the new subjects for that purpose. After consultation, however, with the principal C'anadi- an inhabitants, they declined to join in the representati- on, but to present a petition of their own. After this refusal of the Canadian inhabitants to join with them in their petition for an Assembly, the British and protest- ant inhabitants resolved to proceed in this business by themselves, and without the concurrence of the others, and to apply to His Majesty for the accomplishment of the Royal Promise, by establishing a House of Assem- bly in the Province. But as it was thought the Gover- nor, or in his absence the Lieutenant Governor of the Province had, by his Commission, a power to summon an Assembly, they conceived it more regular to make an application for this purpose to the then Lieute- nant Governor, and on the third of December of this year, they presented to him their petition.* To it Chap, L -^ • • That whereas his most excellent majesty, by his royal proclamation, bear- * ing date at St. James's the seventh day of October, one thousand seven hundred I and sixty three, (out of his paternal care for the security of the liberty and I Nii M! i!:!,lll iiiti' 62 Chat*, the Lieutenant Governor returned for an answer on *• the eleventh of the same month, that the subject of it was a matter of too much importance for His Ma- jesty's Council of the Province to advise, or for him to determine upon, at a time, that from the best infor- mation he had received, the affairs of the Province were likely to become the object of public regulation in England. Upon the receipt of this answer from the Lieutenant Governor, the petitioners determined to prepare another petition to be presented to His Ma- jesty himself for the same purpose. They accordingly did prepare such a petition, together with a memorial to the Earl of Dartmouth, His Majesty's Secretary of State ii;;ir'';:i I*. M ,l!t !i;,,i;i properties of those who then were, or should hereafter become, inhabUaui of tlie four several governments therein mentioned) did publish and declare, That he had, in the letters patent under the great seal of Great Britain, by which the said governments were constituted, been graciously pleased to give express power and direction to his governors, that so soon as the state and circumstan- ces of those governments would admit thereof, they should with' the advice and consent of the members of his councils, summon and call general assem- blies within the said governments : And that he had been graciously pleased to give power to his said governors, with the consent of his said councils, and the representatives of the people, to make, constitute, and ordain laws, sta- tutes, and ordinances, for the public peace, welfare, and good government of those provinces, and of the people and inhabitants thereof. And whereas his most excellent majesty, in pursuance of his said royal proclamation, by his letters patent to his governors, has been graciously pleased to give and grant unto them full power and authority, with the advice and consent of his said councils, under the circumstances aforesaid, to call general assemblies of the freeholders and planters within their respective governments. And also, whereas your petitioners (who have well considered the present state and con- dition of the Province) do humbly conceive, that a general assembly of the people would very much contribute to its peace, welfare, and good govern- mint, as well as to the improvement of its agriculture, and the extension of its trade and navigation ; they do therefore most humbly pray your honour (with the advice and consent of his majesty's council) to summon and call a general assembly of the freeholders and planters within your government, in such mtinner as you in your discretion shall judge most proper.' 63 wer on ►ject of is Ma- or him infor- rovince [ulation from xmined IS Ma- jrdingly loriai to of State labitaati of dare, That , by which rive nprns circumstao- the advice leral assetn* usly pleased auncils, and 1 laws, sta- government ^nd whereat tion, by his 'e and grant of his said iblies of the And also, ite and con- nbly of the sod govern* extension of our honour n and cull a ernmcnt, in I. ft \! for America, f This petition and memorial was sent to Chaf. England, and it was presented to Lord Dartmouth in • f That whereas your majesty, by your royal proclamation, bearing date at * Samt James's the seventh day of October, one thousand seven hundred and * sixty-three, was most graciously pleased to publish and declare, ** that out of *' your majesty's paternal care for the security of the liberty and properties of ** those who then were, or should thereafter become inhabitants of the four te* " vera! governments therein mentioned (of which this your majesty's Provincd; « was denominated one) your majesty had in the letters patent, by which the " said governments were constituted, given express power and direction to youc «< governours, that so soon as the state and circumstances of those governments *' would admit of it, they should, with the advice of your majesty's councils, '' summon and call general assemblies within the s^^id governments respectively, *' in such manner and form as is used and directed in those o 'onies and provin- '• ces in America, which are nnder y ^ur majesty's imme<'iate government. ** And also, that your majesty had been graciously pleased to give power to " your said governors, with the consent of your maje?*y's said councils, and *• the representatives of the people so to be luuimon d as aforesaid, to make, •♦ constitute, and ordain laws, statutes, a;id ordina vcs, for t' • public peace, •• welfare and good government of your majesty's said coloi . and of the " people and inhabitants thereof, as near as might be agrees ise to the laws of •' England, and under such regulations and restric ,'><; as are used in otV - co- •• lonies." ♦ And whereas it has graciously pleas d yoi r majesty, in the letters , patents of commission to your captain-general and governour in chief, and • in case of his death, or during his absence, in the lf;tters patent of commission » to your majesty's lieutenant-governour of this province, to give r.nd grant un- ♦ to him full power and authority, with the advice and consent of your majes- * ty's council, so soon as the situation and circums' ■voces of this province would ♦ admit of it, and when and as often as need should require, to summon and call • general asjemblies of the freeholders and planters, within this government, in ♦ such manner as he in his discretion should judge most proper. And whereas ' your petitioners, whose properties, real and personal, in this province, are be- * come very considerable, having well considered its present state and circum- • stances, and humbly conceiving J.:r'^ to be such as to admit the summoning * and calling a general assembly o: \-.q freeholders and planters; did, on the • third day of December last past, present their humble petition to the honour* • able Hector Theophilus Cram<»h^, Esq ; your majesty's lieutenant-governour, * and now commander in ':hiof, stating as above, and humbly praying that he ' would be pleased, '-'iiii the advice and consent of your majesty's council, to * summon and call a general assembly of the freeholders and planters within this ' governmr- It, in such manner as he, in his discretion, should judge most pro* * per. And your majesty's said lieutenant-governour, on the eleventh day of " December last past, after having taken the said petition into his consideration, If I : I' Chap* L . (i4 the beginning of the month of March, one thousand seven hundred and seventy-four. No answer, how- ever, was given to the memorial, but hints were dropped that His Majesty's Servants were of opini- on, that the state of the Province was not then quite ripe for the establishment of an Assembly, and that they rather inclined for the present to supply the want of one, by establishing a Legislative Council, nominated by the King, with sufficient powers to do the necessary busi- ness of the Province, till the more natural and consti- tutional measure of a General Assembly should appear to them more practicable. In the month of June, an Act of Parliament was passed in England for the Go- vernment of the Province of Quebec, by which a Le« gislative Council of a different constitution was estab- lished in the Province, and this for an indefinite length of time. The plan of a Legislative Council for the goverti" ment of the Province of Quebec, proposed by the Com- i wai pleased to inform your petitioners, f!i.it the subject of the Raid petition was a matter of too much importance fur your majesty's council here to advise or for him, your said lieutenant-govcmour, to determine upon, at a time that from the best information, the afTairs of this province were hiccly to become an object of public regulation ; but that he world transmit the said petition , by the first opportun j, to your majesty's secretary of state. * Your majesty's petitioners being fully convinced, from their residence in the Province and their experience in the afTairs of it, that » general assembly would very much contribute to encourage and promote indoNry, agriculture, and commerce, and (as they hope) to create iuriaony and good understandiog be- tweeen yourmajeMy's new and old subjects ; most humbly supplicate your ma- jesty to take the premises into your royal consideration, and to direct your ma- jesty's govemour or commander in chief, to call a general assembly, in such man- nrr, and of suck constitution and form, at to your majesty, in your royal wis. dom, shall seem best adapted to secure its peace, welfare, iRd good govtrnnenf kusand I, how- goverti- he C'oni- wifl petition lere to advise It a time thut ly to become said petitivn , residence in ral auctnbly ieulture,and itanding be- tte your nu- ct your ma- in (uch man- ' royal wis. fovfrnoicr' (Si hiittee of Quebec, was different from the Act of Parlia- Chap, ment. } The Roman Catholic inhabitants of the Pro- ^• I 1. To consist of thirty-one members, all protestants, and thirty years old. Reasoms. — Because if Roman-Catholicks are admitted into the council, there is no good pretence for not having an assembly, agreeably to the king's procla- mation and commissions to general Murray and general Carleton. The large number thirty-one, is in order to give weight to the proceedings of the couiicil. The age of thirty years is settled for the same reason, as nothing would make ihe council more contemptible than filling it with young fellows of two or three and twenty. H. To contimiL for only seven years. Reason.— Thin is to keep in view the king's promise of calling an assembly as soon as the circumstances of the province will admit thereof. III. Not to have the power of imposing taxes. Reason. — Because this power, though not in itself greater than that of making laws for tlie province, is thought to be more liable to be abused. IV. Seventeen members shall be necessary to do business. Reason. — This is to prevent the governours from passing ordinances in coun- cils composed of their favorites and dependants. V. The members who vote for any ordinance shall set their names to it in the council-book. Reason.— This is to make them cautious what ordinances they consent to. VI. A fortnight's notice to be given in the Quebeck Gazette before every Meeting of the council for legislative purposes. Reason. — This i* to prevent the gov^rnour from assembling the council sud- denly, when only his favourites and dependants are at hand, and likely to attend it. VII. The members of the council to be paid a sum not exceeding forty shil- lings each, for every time they attend the council upon legislative business : with a proviso tha., if the attendances are more than fifty in a year, no mem- ber shall receive above lOOl. on that account. RBASor:. — I'his is to induce the members to attend the council in considera- ble numbers, so that there may he usually twenty-four or twenty five members present at the passage of an ordinance ; to the end that the ordinances may have the greater weight with the people, and be the more readily obeyed. Without tome such provision, it it to be feared that the council would not be well attended. Vin. Absence from the province for three years, even with the govcrnour'a itTtet or repeated leaves, for the whole time, shall make the person so absent- ing himself, cease to bo a counsellor. X. Every member of the council shall have a right to bring a bill into th« nuncil, M wtU ai t9 awent to one brought in by the GoVeroour, I 1774. 66 Chap, vlnce of Quebec had presented their petition to the I. l^ing, and transmitted it to Lord Dartmouth, which laid thefoundationof the Quebec Act. § The English inhab- itai mei W Reason. — Because without this power tlie proceedings of the council would be too mucli uiultT tlie direction of the governour. XI. But tlie governour shall have a negative to a bill proposed by the council. XII. The counsellors to be appointed by the king, and removed by him at his pleasure by his order in his privy council, but not by his signet and sign manual ; and not to be renioveable, or su^pendible, at all by the governour. Reason. — The counsellors ;ue made thus independant of the governour, to the end that they may act freely according to their judgements in the exercise of their legislative authority, without implicitly obeying the directions of the governour through the fear of being displaced ; and also to the end tliat the peo- ple may believe that they act uith this freedom and independence, and respect them and the ordinances they pass, on that account. Confident tiiat coun- sellors that may be removed or suspended by the governour will never he sup- posed by the generality of the people to act freely and independently, (what- ever, from their particular di-pnfitions of mind, they may really do,) and con- sequently will never be respected by them, nor tiieir ordinances chcarfully obey- ed, 'Ihe dependance on the king's pleasure, to be exercised in his privy coun- cil, is quite another thing, XIII. Where the cour.cil is astmiMed as a council of state only, and not as a legislative council, it shall be sufiitient to summon o.ily twelve of the counsel- lors (such twelve as the <»^vernour shall think fit,) one day before the meeting of the coiMiol ; and seven counsellors shall be a sudicient number to do business. Reason. — It might be very inconvtr.itnt and the cause of much delay, to restrain the governour from doing those executive duties of his oflice to whicli the concurrence of the council is made necessary by his connnissio:/, without assembling the whole council in the manner abov^ prescribed. This is the plan of a U•gi^lative council propi.>t-d two years ago by Mr. Ma- seres and approved by Messrs. \Valker arul Paterson. It mij;lit perhaps be a proper addition to It, to provide that the Governour and four fifths Lly suited to the regulation of the mother-country for « which they were made, could not be blended and applied to our customs with- ' out totally overturning our fortunes and destroying our possessions, tiach ♦ have been ever since the xra of that change in tlie government, and such are « still at this time, our just causes of uneasiness and apprehension ; which how- ♦ ever we acknowledge to be rendered less alarming to us by the mildueas with ♦ which your majesty's government his been admii.istered. « Vouchsafe, most illustrious and generous sovereign, to dissipate these fears , and this uneasiness, by restoring to us our ancient laws, privileges, and cus- • toms, and to extend our province to its former boundaries. Vouchsafe to * bestow your favours equally upon all your subjects in the province, without any I 2 66 !iii4 {illijiii: ^t Fl vf ) iilitl; Chap. I. case in the month of May, one thousand seven hundred and seventy-four, to give weight to their petition against the Bill, which had been presented to the House of Com- mons, on behalf of themselves and the British inhabi- tants of the Province. On the receipt of the Act of Parliament, the English inhabitants held fresh meet- ings together, in order to consult about petitions for the repeal or amendment of it. Petitions to the King and to two Houses of Parliament were prepared and they were transmitted to Lord Dartmouth,* with another to his * dittinction ! Preserve the glorious title of sovereign of a free people : a title * Wiiich surely would suffer some diminution, if more tltdn un hundred thousand • new subjects of your majesty in this province, wlio h;»d submitted to your go- * vernment, were to be excluded from your service, and deprived of the ines- * timable advantages which are enjoyc-J by your majesty's ancient subjects. * May heaven, propitious to cur wishes and our prayers, bestow upon your • majesty a long and happy reign ! May the august family of Hanover, to « which we have taken the most solemn oath of fidelity, continue to reign over • us to the end of time I • We conclude by intreating your majesty to grant us, in common with your ♦ other subjects, the rights and privileges of citizens of England. Then our • fears will be removed, and we shall past our lives in tranquillity and happi- • ness, and shall be always realy to sacrifice them for the glory of our prince ♦ and the good of our country.' » • That your lordship's memorialists, encouraged by the capitulation of Ca- * nada, confirmed by the definitive treaty of peace, and his majesty's royal pro- • clamation of the seventh of October, one thousand seven hundred and sixty- • three, did purchase lands, plant, settle and tarry on trade and commerce in ♦ this province to a vi'ry considerable amount, and to the manifest advantage of « Great Britain, in confident expectation of the early accomplishment of his nia- * jesty's said proclaniu'ion, giving express power and direction to hisgovprnoui with the advice and consent of his council, to summon and call general assem- * blics, to make, constitute, and ordain laws, statutes, and ordinances, for tlie • publick peace, welfare, and godd :oniniercc in idvaiitage of t of his ma- • govprnoui iieral ass^-itw ces, for the t, u near as rour nienio- ble petition I care of Jl d to relieve J endanger- Lordship, expressive of their disapprobation of the Chap. Quebec Act, and of the miseries about to be entailed ^* on the Province by that Act, but no repeal was effected, and the act remained as it was passed. Several Acadians who had left Canada on the its reduction by the British Arms and had gone to France, returned to the number of eighty-one to Chaleur Bay, and offered to take the Oath of Allegiance, to which they were admitted on the thirtieth of May of this year. The Quebec Act that restored the municipal Laws of France as to civil rights in Canada, established also the best of all criminal juris prudence, the criminal Laws of England. The Canadians had reason to rejoice that the Criminal Laws of France had been abolished, and * ed, and losing the fruits of their labour, exposed to ordinances of a gover« * Kour and council, repugnant to the laws of England, wiiich take place before * his majesty's pleasure is known, and are not only contrary to his majesty's * commission and private instructions to his said governour, but, we presume, * equally griuvous to his majesty's new and ancient subjects, • Your lordship's memorialists further see, with regret, the great danger the » children born of protestant parents are m, of being utterly neglected, for want * of a sufficient number of protestant pastors, and thereby exposed to the usual * and known assiduity of the Roman Catholick clergy of different orders, who * are very numerous in this country, and who, from their own immense funds « have lately established a seminary for the education of youth in this province* * which is the more alarming, as it excludes all protestant teachers of any * science whatever. * Wherefore, your lordships memorialists humbly pray, that you will be * pleased to present their said petition to his majesty, and also pray your lord- * ship's intercession and good offices in that behalf. Canada exported to Spain and Portugal, Bu sheis of Wkeat. Barrels of WJieat. 1772 - 161,807 720 1773 * 2G4,9I6 7,0!)I 1774 - 4G,0818 6,991 1775 - 175,059 7,115 1778 - 14,175 20i5.'l i ■" ■:* |(i||£l! t ■ II :15 I: U ' Chap. I. that the horrid system established by them was put an end to. During the time that Canada was a colony of France, a person suspected, with or without foundation, was siezed, thrown into Prison, interrogated, without knowing the charge against him, and without being con- fronted with his accuser ; and he was deprived of the assistance, either of his relations, friends or Counsel. Hewas sworn to tell the truth, or rather to accuse himself, without any value being attached to his testimony. Ques- tions were then put more difficult for innocence to unra- vel, than vice to deny. The prisoner was never con- fronted with the person who had deposed against him, ex- cept at the moment before judgment was pronounced, or when the Torture was applied, or at his execution; and judgment in capital cases was unvariably followed by con- fiscation of property. To the honor of England, the trial by Rack is utterly unknown to the English Laws, though it had been used as an engine of state; but when on the assassination of Villiers Duke of Buckingham, by Fol- ton, it was proposed in the Privy Council to put the assassin to the Rack { in order to discover his accom- plices', the Judges being consulted, declared unani- mously to their own honor and the honor of the En- glish Law, that no such proceeding was allowable by the Laws of England.* The reason of administering Torture by the civil law, and its subsequent adoption by the French and other nations, is said to arise from the principle that the laws cannot endure that any man .should die upon the evidence of a false or even single witness, and therefore contrived this method, that inno- cence should manifest itself by a strong denial, or guilt by a plain confession, rating a man's virtue by the * RushwortI). a fj \ Beccari?. If I Chap. I n distinct heads, the principal rights to which the people were entitled by the English Constitution, and these rights they truly said, defend the poor from the rich, the weak from the powerful, the industrious from the rapacious, the peaceable from the violent, the tenants from the lords, and all from their superiors. They at length introduced Montesquieu, as if addressing them, thus : ** Seize the opportunity presented to you by Pro- vidence itself, you are a small people, compared with those, who with open arms invite you into a fellowship; a moment's reflection should convince you, which shall be most for your interest and happiness, to have all the rest of North America your unalterable friends or your inveterate enemies. Your Province is the only link wanting to complete the bright and strong chain of uni- on. Nature has joined your country to theirs. Do you join your political interests : The value and extent of the advantages tendered to you, are immense: Heaven grant you may not discover them to be blessings after they have bid you an eternal adieu." They conclude by informing them, that Congress had resolved to consider the violation of their rights, by the Act for altering the Government of the Province, as a violation of their own, and thr.t they then be invited to accede to their confederation. 177.5. The Canadians ▼017 early this spring, declared, that .• the noblesse had no 'manner of authority over them, and that even their Seigniors had no right to command their military services. They acknowledged that they owed them respect as their Seignors ; but they in- sisted, that when they had paid them their quit-rent^ and their other seigniorial dues^ together with cer« tain compliments which were customary at different Chap, seasons, they owed them nothing further, and were not ■^• bound to submit to any power they might presume to ^ exercise over them. cer- A Bust of His Majesty King George the Third, which had been erected several years in the City of Montreal, was on the first of May daubed over, by some ill dis- posed persons, with black, and a cross vvrs suspended from it, indecently ornamented with a mitre and a string of beads ; under it were written these opprobrious words : " Void le Pape du Canada^ et le des An- licans,** that is. This is the Pope of Canada and the ■ of England. This act was seditious and deserving of punishment, and though a reward of one hundred gui- neas had been offered, yet, the perpetrators of this wick- ed act, were never discovered. ^^ The main scope of the Quebec Act was to extend the boundary of the Province, beyond what had been settled by the King's Proclamation in one thousand se- ven hundred and sixty-three ; to appoint a Council for the Provincial affairs without the power of taxation and removable at pleasure, into which the Canadian Ro- man Catholics were equally entitled to a place. To es- tablish the French laws j to take away the Trial by Ju- ry in civil cases ; to establish the Criminal Laws of En- gland, and to secure to the Catholic Clergy, their es- tates and tythes. The Act had no sooner passed than it was sent to the Governor of the Province to be put into execution, who appointed the Council, in which many Roman Catholic Gentlemen were admitted, and in K \ \ i ' fi! m '■iii Chap. I 'A : 7 f : ,!''i|l''. '4^"; winnM»5ii. ,' the other offices of Government, and made such other regulations and arrangements as he thought necessary. General Carleton had taken up the prevailing opinion, that the Seigniors of the Province, by their Fealty and Homage, owed military service to the King, and that their vassals were equally liable to the same service as their Lords, and bound by their personal service to take arms in defence of the Government, and that as the Provincials were meditating an incursion and attack of the Province, they would forfeit their lands in case of their non-obedience. Many of the Seigniors held the same doctrine, and shewed great alacrity on the occasi- on, assembling their Tenants to explain to them the si- tuation of the Province, the service expected from them, and the absolute necessity of preparing for war. The Tenants of these gentlemen, who had been ad- dressed on this occasion,* generally declared their de- termination not to obey their Seigniors, and this spirit being diffused by their conduct among the rest of the peasantry, they evinced also on their part, how averse they were to act against the Provincials, then medita- ting an attack on the Colony, by the route of Lake Champlain. The Congress of America, apprized of the resoluti- on of Great Britain to maintain her authority over the Colonies in all cases whatever, which America on her part was determined to resist, concerted measures of defence, and resolved on attacking Canada as the most vulnerable part of the Colonics. The American Colo- nel Allen, with two hundred and thirty Provincials, me- ditated an attack on the garrison of Ticonderoga, on Lake Champlain, and on the ninth of May, being join- ■s h other cessary. )pinion, xlty and nd that vice as to take as the ack of case of leld the occasi- i the si- I from )r war. ;en ad- eir de- s spirit of the averse medita- f Lake ?soIiiti- er the n her ires of ; most Colo. s, me- ja, on ^join- ed by Colonel Arnold, they crossed Lake Champlai'n Chap, in the night with eighty men, and disembarked near the '• garrison. Early in the morning of the succeeding day, dispositions were made for the attack, when driving in the centinel at the gate, the Provincials gained the pa- rade without difficulty, and the fort surrendered. The prisoners were. Captain Delaplace, a Lieutenant, and forty-seven men. But what was of most consequence, the Provincials gained an immense acquisition of not less than one hundred pieces of cannon, of which they were then in the greatest want. The reduction of Crown Point, which had but a Serjeant's guard, became a mat- ter of course, and this was followed by the loss of the only vessel the English had on Lake Champlain, into the hands of the Provincials. Certain intelligence being received of these offen- sive operations, induced General Carleton, to exert every nerve to repossess himself of these two posts and to regain the command of the Lake ; unfortu- nately, however, for his views, the whole military force then m Canada did not exceed two regiments, the Seventh and Twenty-sixth regiments containing only eight hundred men, those were unfortunately too much dispersed, that unaided by the Canadians he conceived it absolutely necessary to establih Mar- tial Law, which he did by a Proclamation of the ninth of June, in which he stated that as a Rebellion existed in many of His Majesty's Colonies in America, and that an armed force had of late made incursions in- to this Province, attacking and carrying away a party of His Majesty's troops, together with a parcel of stores K2 hmk \4 w% Chap. I. II • 76 and a vessel and was still luvaditio; this Province, to the great terror of His Majesty *i v-ivr-ctj, and in open defi- ance of his laws and government, falsely and malicious- ly giving out that their motives for their conduct were to prevent the inhabitants of this Province from being taxed and oppressed by government, tending at the same time to inflame the minds of the people and alie- nate them from His Majesty, he had thought proper in order to prevent so treasonable an intrusion, and that such traitors and their abettors might be brought to jus- tice, and the public tranquility and peace again be res- tored, to execute Martial Law and to embody the mili- tia of the Province, to repress their hostile aggressions. This Proclamation so far from compelling the Cana- dians to take up arms, only produced the greatest aver* sion and repugnance to his orders. The Governor finding all his efforts ineffectual in raising the militia, applied to the Catholic Bishop for his spiritual aid and influence, who sent a mandate to the subordinate clergy of the several Parishes, to be read by them after divine service to their Parishioners, exhorting them to take up arms in defence of their Country : no persuasion could, however, induce them to stand forth in the hour of danger, and this supineness opened a door to the in- roads then beginning to be made by the American Ar- my, under the command of Generals Montgomery and Schuyler. This army composed of about two thou- sand men, having crossed Lake Champlain, arrived on the fifth of September at the Isle aux Noix, on Lake Champlain, where they drew up a declaration to the Ca- nadians, stating that their army was only designed against the English, and not against their lives, liberties, pro- m V^nr«»J 77 perty or religion. The army embarked next day for Chap. St. John's, and being near it, received advice, that the ^• Fort vi^as not only in good repair, but Mrell furnished with Cannon, and then they retreated back to the Isle aux Noix. General Schuyler's health not permitting him to move on with the army, he returned to Albany, and the chief command devolved on Montgomery, who receiving reinforcements of men, and supplies of ammunition, pro- ceeded again on the seventeenth of September to the at- tack of St. John's. The Americans, soon after their land- ing, took possession of the ground on the north side of St. John's, and erected a mortar and other batteries. They kept up a constant firing on the garrison, which was returned with equal vivacity. By this time, the Ame- ricans had nearly expended their ammunition, when ac- counts arrived, that Majors Brown and Livingston had taken the Fort of Chambly with a large supply of pow- der and ammunition. Montgomery had on his first landing detached two hundred men, against Chambly, with two six pounders, which so much intimidated the commanding officer of that Post, Major Stopford of the seventh regiment, that though there was no breach in the walls or regular battery constructed by them, he surrendered on the third of November, on condition of marching out with the honors of war. The Americans immediately on the surrender, transported six tons of gun powder to general Montgomery, who being pos- sessed of a full supply, completed his battery within two hundred and sixty yards of the Fort, and mounted four guns and six mortars. The siege was still carried on with great spirit on the part of the besiegers, who suf- fered greatly from the incessant fire of the garrison. General Carleton dispatched an order to Colonel ill ■1)1 r ': ni til Chap. I. 78 M'Lean, then at Quebec, to procure as many men as he could, and to proceed to Sorel, where the Ge- neral proposed joining him. M'Lean collected about three hundred and fifty Canadians, where he waited until he received orders to proceed to the relief of St. John's. The place where General Carleton pro- posed to cross the St. Lawrence , was Longueil, where a party of Americans, had posted themselves to prevent his landing. The boats with the troops on board were allowed to approach within pistol shot of the shore, they were then vigorously attacked, both by the fire of mus- ketry and from two guns that had been so advantage- ously posted, that General Carleton was compelled to return back to Montreal. I I Jljl9wj|4,:||;i As soon as General Montgomery was apprized of Ge* neral Carleton*s defeat, he sent a flag to Major Preston, accompanied by a prisoner, to give him a detail of the ac- tion, advising him at the same time to surrender the Fort. Major Preston still wishing to gain time, and in hopes of relief, proposed to General Montgomery to wait four days, in which time, if he received no assistance, he would prop. light the dastardy dispositions of several of the citizens, > 4//i. Wind at W. to-day — it froze hard in the night— the rebels are lodged in every house near the walls. Jeremiah Duggan, for- merly a hair-dresser in this place, has the command of 500 Canadi* -«. ans, under the title of Major. 5ti. Last night Jeremiah Duggan entered the suburbs of St. Roc with a strong party j many Canadians enrolled in the militi^ were disarmed by him. Duggan, to serve his own purposes, has reported that we are not on our guard ; and that we may easily be surprised ; for that he had laid his ear to Palace-gate, and walked from thence to the Canoterie without having been challenged. — It is impossible, for our sentries are very vigilant. — Cold to-day. A soldier oi the British militia was tried by a Regimental Court-martial, charged by a Serjeant for refu» sing to do his duty. — Acquitted. Fired several shot at a house about 1200 yards from the walls, be. Jiind which (it was said) the enemy were erecting a battery. We get much false intelligence ; our situation admits not of send, angout parties of observation. 6tA. Wind S. W. cold and cloudy. In the afternoon came to Palace Gate from St. Rcc, a womun who gave information that many cf the rebels were drunk at her house : she was told to inform such as chose to come in, that they should be well treated ; four of them came in towards night. Smali parties of riflemen came near our walls, concealing themselves behind old walls and houses in St. Roc^ firing at our centries ; we popped at one another all day without hurt on either side. V/A. Wind easterly — cloudy weather. The deserters report, that " Mr. Montgomery heads 2000 rebels, 500 of whom are Ca- nadians. — Headquarters Holland-house, two miles from town. — De- tachments spread all around, to prevent any person from getting to us. Titty are to cannonade and bombard us ; and after harrassing in this way for some days, they are to make a general assault, and take us." One of the deserters served formerly in the Royal Ame« 87. W'*^ who meanly preferring their individual safety to their ho- Chap. nor, quitted the town in the hour of danger, and after H. the siege was raised, returned to it again, but not with- out the odium so justly due to such infamous and dis- loyal conduct. ricans : he was heard to say, that he knew the strength of Quebecj and that it would not be an easy matter to scale our walls. His offi- cer, after a volley of injurious words for endeavouring to dishearten the men, used him otherwise ill : this determined him to hasten his desertion, which he had before premeditated. He says he is no Yan- kcy, but a native of good old Ireland. St/i. There fell above six inches of snow last night ; to-day the wind is S. W the weather clear and cold — Riflemen firing as usual on our sentries. — Mr. Montgomery visited Menut's to-day ; a few minutes after he got out of the cariole, a cannon ball from the walls killed his horse. 9t/i, Wind at west ; pleasant, sunshine, mild. Various are the reports of the enemy's strength ; we gather, however, that there may be about 1500 men ; we do not count the Canadian rebels ; every Englishman in town looks on them as cyphers ; they are only to be dreaded in case they get the upper hand ; if they do, it will be from no exertion of bravery on their side. It is said the small pox is a- mong them—a fatal disorder in an American constitution ; it has long raged in town. 10/A. Wind N, E. cloudy and very cold. About two o'clock this morning we were bombarded from St. Roc ; twenty-eight small shells were thrown into town, without doing further damage than hurting the roofs of some houses. Three-fouths of the town had great dread of shells until now, even the women laugh at them. At day -light we discovered a fascine battery on an eminence, about 800 yards to the S. W. of St. John's gate ; we fired many shot through it. As some of the roofs of the houses in the suburbs of St. John's intercepv' ' our view of the enemy's works, we set fire to these houses. IIM. Wind strong at S. W. with rain; in the night 43 shells were thrown into town without hurting a soul. By the appearance of their battery this morning, they have been hard at work last night ; their riflemen kept a constant firing on our centries. About mid l';i ^m 90 Chap, render of the city, which was treated with contempt. ^^' Montgomery upon this, wrote a most extraordinary let- ter to General Carleton, which was sent into the town houses — mild weather, wind at S. with snow. We fired on some men skullting among the houses in St John's subuibs at dark j they fire at random wherever they hear a noise on the ramparts. jifternoon. Wind S. W. — cold weather. 20M. Wind very cold at west : nothing remarkable happened to-day. In such weather one's sinews are stiff with cold, every sense is benumbed : it is impossible to accomplish any design where acti* vity is requisite. The people in town put a threat in Mr. Montgomery's mouth ; it is said that he told his men, that he will dine in Quebec, or in Hell, on Christmas-day, We are determined, says every body, he shall not dine here, unless he is a prisoner among us. A Quebeccr, a prisoner with the rebels, found means to convey a letter into town :— he writes, " that the Canadian rebels leave Mr. Montgomery very fast, and that his own people are quite tired of the expedition." Not so in town, there's a very conspicuous martial spirit among us ; if they attack us, we will make a brave defence ; 60 «'e think the quantity of ice and snow lying in the way leading to what we reckoned the weakest places, renders them at present ex* cccding strong. 21//. Wind W. N. W. excessively cold. Nothing has happen, ed worth noting. "* ' ■ 22rf. Wind W. S. W. intensely cold. Colonel Caldwell's Clerk, who has been a prisoner with the rebels for some days, escaped from them, and brought a deserter along with him. 23no alarm : this morning is serene, with sunshine— we get no intelligence from the country. We perceive the rebels crossing the far end of the street, west in St* Roc, three and four at a time } many of them have the uniform of the 8th and 26th regiments. V M 2 I 02 Chap, happy prisoners he had taken, the feelings of humanity '^' induced him to have recourse to this expedient to save him from the destruction that hung over him. To as- sure him that he was well acquainted with his situation, 30/A. Wind westerly, very mild. In the night a deserter came in from the rebels ; he reports, that " the army under Mr. Montgo- mery amounts to between two and three thousand men, including Canadians ; that they have been newly cloathed, and are most plen- tifully supplied by the couotiy people, who are paid in hard money. They have got shells lately from Montreal. The small-pox rages among them. The whole army was assembled at head-quarters, by the General's orders lately :— -it was given out thrt they were to at- tack the town that night. Mr. Montgomery made a speech to them ; he thanked them for the noble spirit they had hitherto shewn, and the zeal they had discovered in the glorious cause of liberty. He informed them that some circumstances had made it necessary to put off the attack for that night, but that he would soon ask them to follow him to an easy conquest. The Americans expressed an ar- dent desire to proceed immediately.** The deserter's own opinion is, that they will flinch whenever they come within reach of our guns. He says, *♦ all the old country people wish to be at home ; they are not at all fond of attacking the town { they wish not to be aiding in distressing their countrymen ; they did imagine they were to attack a parcel of Canadian slaves, professed enemies to the colonists." They threw thirty shells into towr, one third of them did not burst, the rest did no damage. Hr warns us to be on our guard, fur that we shall be attacked the first dark night. Slst. About four o'clock this morning, Captain Malcolm Fm- •er, of Colonel Maclean's regiment, in going his rounds, perceived signals not far from St. Tohn's gate ; and finding the weather such as the enemy wished for, by the last deserter's report, he akirmed thc guards and picquets, who stood to thuir arms ; all tlie setitrif s be- tween Cape Diamond and Palace gate feen ; however, we kept sweeping the road with our guns and musquetry for son;t time. At the other end of the the town Mr. Arnold was wounded in the leg, in passing the piquets behind the Hotel Dieu, from whence a shower of balls was poured on his party in their way to the Sault au Matelot ; he was sent disabled to the General Hospital ; the officers under him forced our guard, and made us retreat to a barrier about two hundred yards nearer the centre of the Lower Town ; tliere we made a stand, returning a brisk fire, which the enemy under cover of houses, poured upon us. • • A strong poit at the southern extremity of the Lower Town. • A battery and guard house at the northern extieniity of the Lower Town. 94 M i J c I Chap, ever stiled themselves soldiers, the impossibility of ^* relief, and a certain prospect of wanting every necessa- ry of life, should his opponents confine their operations to a simple blockade, pointed out the absurdity of resis^ General Caileton, experienced in military affairs, saw the advan- tage the rebels gave us over them ; he improved it, and sent Captain Laws out at Palace gate, with a detachment of the troops to take the enemy in rear ; and Colonel Maclean ordered Captain Macdou- gal to support him with a party, and to keep possession of the post we had abandoned. Major Nairne of the Royal Emignnts:, and Monsieur Dembour- gcs of the same corp?, by their gallant behaviour attracted the no- tice of every body The General ordered them, with z strong de- tachment to the support of those already engaged in the Lower Town. These two gentlemen mounted by ladders, and took pos- session of a house with fixed bayonets, which the rebels had already entered, and thus seciUTjd a post which overlooked a strong battery on Lymburner's wharf, and commanded a principal street. The regular troops, the militia, the seamen, in short, every per- son bearing arms marched chearfully, led on by their oHicers.. They placed the greatest confidence in ihe General's knowledge, and they advanced secure of victory. Colonel Maclean, the second in command, with that coolness which distinguishes the good soldier, had his eye every where, to prevent the progress of the attackers , his indcfati- gability since he arrived in Quebec merits much praise ; no man could do more for the good of the service ; every power of his was exerted, especially on this day. Colonel Caldwell took infinite pains with the British militia ; by his good example he made that corps emulous to appear where danger made their presence most necessary. The seamen were under the strictest discipline ; Colonel Hamilton and Major M'Kcnzie headed the brave fellows, who behaved as they do on all occasions, like British tars. The handful of Royal Fuzi. leers, commanded by Captain Owen, (distinguished themselves, and the Royal Emigrants behaved like veterans. The French militia shewed no backwardness | a handful of them stood the last at Sdult au Matelot ; overcame by numbers, they were obliged to retreat to the barrier. At the General had foreseen the aortcc, made the victory ourii 95 » Not wounded. tance: That he was at the head of troops accustomed to Citap. success, confident of the righteousness of the cause they ^^' were engaged in, inured to danger and fatigue, and so highly incensed at his inhumanity, illiberal abuse, and we hemmed the rebels in on all sides : they called for quarter, and we made prisoners, 1 Lieutenant-colonel, , 2 Majors, 8 Captains, 13 Lieutenants, 1 Adjutant, 1 Quarter-master, 4 Volunteers, 350 Rank and Hie, 4!4> Officers and soldiers, wounded. 426 Taken. The flower of the rebel army fell into our hands ; we have reason to think tliat a great number were killed and wounded. The prisoners say, that if Mi. Montgomery had attacked willi the expected resolution we should have lost the Lower Town. Little know they of the situation of Prcs de Ville ; after (he Lower Town is taken, it remains commanded by the Upper Town. Liberty or Death, was wrote on slips of paper, and pinned to their caps. We lost Captain Anderson, formerly a Lieutenant in the navy ; 5 privates killed, and two privates wounded. We took at St. Roc's two brass three- pounders, two royals, three howitzers, and some small shells. January Ij/, 1776. A very great snow fell last night ; the whole garrison lay on their arms, but every thing remained quiet. Tlie bodies that lay outside of Pres de Ville were brought in, thirteen in number. Two deserters from the enemy to-day, report th:it Mr. Montgomery is missing ; the dead bodies have been examini-d, and his, M'Phersun's (his Aid-de-Camp) and Captain Checsemiin's, are found amongst them. Monsieur Lanaudierc was ordeied to accom- pany Mr. Meigs, one of the prisoners called Major, to the hea-d quarters of the enemy, to demand the cloaths, &c. of these unfortu- tiatc men ; but by hints given to him by some Canadians at the end of St. Roc, he thought it prudent to return to town. The whole f; 1^ i) < 'MW !'..') 9« CiiAp. the urifrenerous mean^ employed to prcjaJice them in "• the ni'iuls of h^ Ciiaadians, that with difficulty he res* train -"d thoin till his batteries were ready, from insulting the works, which would afford them the fair opportu- force of the rebels was collected between their advanced guard-house and Meiiut's. Many Cai.adians had joined them in hopes of plunder. A genteel coffin is ordered by the Lieutenant-governor for the body of Mr. Montgomery. 2J. All the la?t night an incessant fi-.e was kept up from our walls on the rebels at tlie end of St. Roc. The people of Beauport and the adjacent parishes actually believed that the Lower Town was in posses r>n of the rebels. A volunteer comes from thence over the ice to Sauk a\i Matelot ; he Avas amazed to find himself made a prisoner. Mi . Meigs went out to«day on hia parole to fetch in the prisoners baggage, &c. ' • 3d Soft cloudy weather. Shot and shells thrown into St. Roc's Many of the prisoners, officers and men, have been innoculatcd. 4///. There was no disturbance in the night.— Soft drizzly wea- ther to-day, wind at S. W. Captain Anderson buried with aJl the honours of war. Mr. Montgomeiy interred privately. 5t/i. Wind S. VV. with a great thaw- Mjking additions to the works at Sault au Matelot. Firing heard towards St. Foix. Mr» Meigs returned with the baggage in part. 6///. Vv"ind N. W. It began to freeze early this morning — as the tun lOF • I'.e cold encreased. ;• .. . ■, ,; ,- * 7//i. vVmd at W. very cold< We found some of the St. Roc peo- ple skulking there to-day ; they are confined on suspicion of having been aiding and assisting the rebels. It is reported in town, that the country people were told, the day ' after the attack, that the Royalist, were beaten out of the Lower Town, 600 of us had been killed, and that they had lost but 15 men and that General Montgomery was gone through the woods to Biig- ton for a reinforcement. >* , .. • ,' .' Ninety-four of the prisoners, all Europeans, hare petitioned to be enlisted in Colonel Maclean's corps of Royal Emigrants. 8/A. Wnid at N. E. cloudy, raw, blowing weather. The ninety, four men who noiitioned to b-^ .■ulistt'd into hta Maj/^ty's service, say that their engagements with the rebel party ended on the Slst et" 97 nity of an ample vengeance and just retaliation, that Chap. firing on a flag of truce hitherto unprecedented even ^^' among savages, prevented his taking the ordinary mode ^ of communicating his sentiments, that should he per-> December. Before they were suffered to take the oath, they were told, that if they had determined to enlist only to procure liberty they were wrong, and if they now repented of their intention, they should nevertheless be well treated : they all said they would serve the King until the first of June, and they took the oaths accordingly. Some people think that they will all run away. 9tk. Wind N. E. soft snowy weather. There fell a ver)' great quantity of snovtr before the morning. 10/A. Wind W. N. W. very cold. Last night a great many flashes were seen ; the guards, on that account, were doubly watch- ful, as an attack was apprehended. They chose to attack us the first time, in like weather; the snow drifted much; many people walked in the streets this morning on snow shoes, and some folks dug themselves out of their houses, the snow having filled up their doors. 11 th. Wind W. by N. very cold and very clear. It drifted in the afternoon, encreasing so as to fill the streets. Last night rockets were thrown at the General Hospital, St. Foix, Beauport, and round to St. Roc. Some stragglers fired from the houses in St. Roc on our sentries. A great gun which bore that way sent them off. Two Recollets conducted to Point Levy some Canadians who had found means to get into town after the Slst December. They were let loose to tell their own story concerning our strength, and the go ?d condition of our works. 12th. Wind 8. W. fine morning ; afternoon dirty ; nothing remai - kable. 13th, Bad weather last night. Palace-gate was opened, and a party went out to cover the people who went in quest of fire-wood ; a great quantity was brought in to-day. About nine o'clock at night, false fires were seen at the end of St. Roc. 14/A. Nothing extraordinary happened the last night. The wind is at W. to-day ; the cold excessive Some people think they have discovered a fascine battery at the end of the General Hoipital. 1 f^th» It froze very hard last night ; wind S. W. to-day, blowing, N iu m^ a (J ' }•■ 98 Chap, sist in his unwarrantable defence, the consequences "• would be on his own head, and that if he destroyed any more stores, either public or private, as he had done at Montreal, no mercy would be shown.* drifting, cold weather. A report (which cannot be traced) prevails in town. The people of Montreal refused to comply with some op- pressive order which their new masters had issued ; and that the Ca- nadians had refused to march with Mr. Wooster to Quebec, after they had heard of Mr. Montgomcr}-' death, and the defeat of the rebels. • . . ,-:.>, .= . , 16//«. It froze hard in the night ; a noise of hatchets heard in St. Roc. A fine mild day. The archives brought in from the vaults m the Intcndant's Palace to-day. ,., y^ , IT/A. Wind N. E. mild and snowy. A French girl of the town, who had been confined by the rebels, on suspicion that she conveyed intelligence to Quebec, found means to make her escape from them : she says, that " two hundred of them have deserted since their de- feat, and that they talk of making a second attack with 4000 men." We imagine that they cannot have above 800 remaining, consider- ing how many we have taken, the number killed, and the numbers that have left them. If they depend on the habitants they trust to a rotten support — we in the town count the peasants as nought on the ; ide of the rebels. The girl informs us, that the Canadians whom the Recollets landed at Point Levy had got to the rebels camp. 18/A. Wind S. W. but cold. In honour of her Majesty, cur gracious Queen, a royal salute waft fired round the ramparts. • - . . Palace-gate was opened, and much wood was got in from St. Roc. A mill wrought by horses was set a going to-day. It makes ex- cellent flour, and grinds three bushel per hour, j, /-^ 19/A. Cold clear westerly wind. ,, ^^ Mr. Motte, a Captain in the rebel army, escorted five baggage fleighs to Palace-gate j he had in his hand what they call a flag of truce, a handkerchief, or any thing while, tied to a short stick, held up to prevent firing : he brought some money to the prisoners. About nine o'clock at night we perceived a house in St. Roc on fire } burnt to the ground ; we know not if it took by accident^ or wae set on fire by the rebels. * Dated at Holland House, Cth December. ,«•«;- I. lences any fne at srevails le op- 99 A battery of five cannon and one howitzer was erec- Chap. ted on the heights about seven hundred yards from the !'• walls, and another of five mortars at St. Roc*s. Owing to their cannon being very light which could not effect 20/A. Wind S. W. with showers of soft snow. The enemy's advanced guard-house, at the end of St. Roc, is situated at the foot of a high steep bank ; it is covered by many houses ; we threw shells and fired many shot at it to-day; we saw a number of them take place, six houses were burnt in St. Roc last night ; they were s>et on fire at ten at night ; there is now no doubt but the rebels burn them. 21j/. Wind S. W. mild with snow. Three of the late engaged men deserted last niglit. If iheir report to the rebels shall be just, they will have but little desire to attack us a second lime. About ten o'clock at night, a small sloop that lay within 300 yards of Palace-gate, was seen in a blaze ; many sm;Jl craft lay near her, but no further damage was done. There is at least six ccutries who have that spot in view, but it is impossible to discover a single person crawling along on hands and feet ; this is their method ; they lire a slow match placed among combustibles, and crawl away again. We got in a great deal of wood to-day. 'i2(/. Wind N. E. drift y, cloudy, not cold. About two this morning some houses in St. Roc were set on fire. A quantity of rum and molasses has lain in Mr. Drummond's dis- tillery until now j part of it was got in to-day — the fire may spread that way. 2J'' I' 100 Chap, any breach, and sfeeing no prospect bf the Governor's ^^* hearkening to terms, General Montgomery formed the design of attacking the city by storm, and with that view, he called a council of war on the sixteenth of De- consider how many wooden buildings are in town, they would see how vain that hope is. 24ttk Mild fine weather, wind S W. Firing at the guard-house in St. Roc. Rum and molasses brought into town. A guard of 18 men, posted in a house in St. Roc, near Palace gate ; this guard is to be continued every night, to prevent thesft burning parties from passing towards the Canotrie. Houses burnt at the west end of St. Roc. 25tk. Wind S. W. clear and mild weather. A strong covering party, with a brass field-piece, a six pounder, protected the wood cutters. General Carleton reconnoitered at the end of St. Roc ; he advan- ced with Colonel Maclean attending him, within a musquet shot of the enemy's guard-house ; we know not his intention, but we imaginei that if the wheels of the field-piece had not sunk in the snow, a good account had been given of their guard-house — the rebels kept close — ^we saw three small parties, from ten to fourteen in each, advan- cing from Mcnut's and the General Hospital j they joined their guard, and there shut themselves up. Our shot and shells from town disturbed them not a little. To-day, and for many days past, we have seen numbers of sleighs pass on the ice from Orleans towards the Canardiere, loaded. We suppose they carry provisions to the magazines. There was a vessel driven on shore on Orleans last fall, loaded with rum and molasses . perhaps they are carrying her cargo oft. 26th. Easterly wind. With a little snow, mild air, heavy sky. A report prevails to-day, that Mr. Dumont, who left the town to be safe in the country, was plundered at Charlebourg ; it is not said whether by Canadian or New England rebels— and it is added that one Larche, who forsook his house in St. Roc, was killed defending his property from the like attempts at Beauport. 27/A. Wind S. W. very cold. The party covering the wood-cut- ters have a brass field-piece, fixed on runners. .^ 28/A. Wind S. W. excessively cold ; nothing remarkable. 101 cember, the majority of them approved of his plan of Chap. storming the town. Every arrangement was made for !!• the prosecution of the design, but no opportunity offer- ed for carrying it into effect until the thirty-Rrst of De- 29/A. Wind west, clear and intensely cold. It froze exceedingly hard last night ; if this weather continues but a few days, it is to be feared that the river will freeze up, an event that would doyble our duty, as soldiers, as strong guards, in that case, must be placed iii many parts of the Lower Town. SO//;. Easterly and cold morning. High wind, with 6now in the evening, weather milder. Some houses west end of St, Roc burnt* 31//, East wind, dark and soft — Getting wood in to-day — four men on snow shoes fired on our party at a great distance ; ^as suuii as they saw the flash of a gun from our walls, ihey tumbled down in the bnuw, got up and made off in great haste,— Houses west end of St. Hoc on fire at nine at night. February \st. Cold, blowing, with drift, A few men, from their guard-housc fired on our wood party ; we returned their fire ; \vt. were at too great a distance to hurt each other. An English woman had leave to join her husband in the country ; the rebels stopped her, and made her return ; she saw no one at their guatd-housc who spoke English. 2d. Clear and cold, with a west wind. Wood got in to-day ; in the night, a house quite at the N W. end St. Roc was burnt. 3^. Wind W. excessively cold, A covered wood party out. Some of the rebels covered by fences. Sec. firing on our men ; a shell sent towards their guard-house made them retire precipitately. In the night, a small party of the enemy Were discovered stealing cautiously along, close to the walls of the houses in St. Roc, in the design, no doubt, to pass our out-guard, and fire the houses beyond them. The eagerness of the out-picquet to surround them made them appear too soon, and the rebels scampered away. 4/A, Wind W, clear and cold. By the appearance of the river, it is probable that it is frozen over at the Chaudiere, six miles above. 5th. Wind W, milder than yesterday, with squalls, a circumstance pgainst the freezing over of the river. 6M. Wind high at W. with drift. Three of Colonel Maclean's new recruits deserted last night. They dropped themselves over the i«^. 'tils I'M * ''i 10^ Chap, cember, when the men were ordered to parade at two II* o'clock in the morning with hemlock sprigs in their Iiats to distinguish them from the Garrison. The troops employed, amounted to sixteen hundred men, and were wall behind the artillery barracks, there is a bank of soft snow facing a declivity of 30 feet to the street below — they slid down the face ol tivat steep into St. Roc, If the sentry had done his duty, who wa% posted not thirty feet from the place they dropped from, they could not have escaped ; thr. j of the same people are confined for hinting iheir intention to follow them. 7th. Wind S. W. clear and cold. Last night we discovered fire at the west end of St. John's suburb;*, three houses were there cou- 8umed. There is a great quantity of cord wood that we may easily get from thence. The enemy's old battery commands these suburbs ; some people say they saw ligiu in ii last ni;^ht, and armed men at the end of St. John's ; our guns command that street. SiA. The night was quiet. The morning is soft and clear. Lit- tle or uo wood to be found now in St. Roc's ; the snow covers the picqucts Three men were seen on the ice bending their course town. ward, a party from Beaupon, on snow shoes, intercepted them, and carried them along with them. Major Nairne, with thirty men, guarded St. John's suburbs last night. i)//j. A heavy wind at N. E. with much snow ; tli" storm hourly increased until evening, it blew a mere hurricane — nobody could hold his face against it a minute. A sailor is missing ; if he attempted to desert, he must be lost in the snow ; in spring he may be found un- der the snow in the street ; in some places it has drifted '20 feet high. lOM. Wind still at N. K and very little moderated j the stn-ets are absolutely impassable in many places without snow shoes. The jirst stories of many houses arc under the snow ; the windows of the second level with the street, and serve as doors. About eight at night the wind fell suddenly and it ceased snowing. 1 Irh. Cold westerly wind. A man [the new recruits culled him Captain Felton] carrying a white napkin on a stick, was allowed to come close under the angle at the two gun battery ; being asked what lie wanted, he said «« he had letters from Mr. Abbot and Mr. Schaulk of the Royal Artillery fur General Carlcton }" the aentry told him, los divided in four detachments ; the first division under Chap. the command of General Montgomery, was to march ^^* by the way of Wolfe's Cove and along by the Ance des Meres ; Colonel Arnold's division was to make an at- that the Governor should be informed of his message. Colonel Mac- lean was sent to tell him to return as he came ; for that no letters nor message could be received through that channel, and he was ordered never to attempt a paric of this nature for the future. 12/A. Wind S. W. a fine moderate day ; great working parties employed in clearing the ditch and ramparts of snow ; one could walk through the embrasures into the ditch on snow shoes, although the foot of the wall is in these places SO feet below the guns, which lay entirely buried 13///. A fine moderate day. All the officers and men oiF duty are on fatigue to day. Above a hundred of tlie prisoners are sent sick to the hospital. I'lt/i. Wind at S. W. with fine weather. Eighty loaded sleigh j passing towards Menut's. Two field-pieces placed at the door — jico- pic passing ard repassing between that house and the General Hospi- tal. Some of our shot went through Menut's house ; we fired a long time at that object, at last we perceived a man coming towards the town in a cariole carrying the old signal ; lie passed their guard-houcic, and waved with his handkerchief; we took no notice of him, but fired away at Menut's ; he turned about and went back. These people have been repeatedly told not to presume to approach on any pretence whatsoever. Perhaps they find Menut's too hot for them, and wished to remove somebody or something from thence, and, in hopes of amus- ing us, sent this man with his flag. .,. Three of the Royal emigrants are missin>-^lo^Iay ; two of them are of the first raised, the other is a new recruit. There has been a great stir among the rebels within these four and twenty hours ; three huzzas were distinctly heard last night from about the General Hospital. This afternoon near a hundred people were seen at a house a little more than a mile from St. John's-gate ; some have been seen in their old battery to 104 CriAP. tack by St. Rock*s, and advance by the Sault au Mate- ^* lot ; Colonel James Livingston at the head of his Cana- dians, was to make a feint at St. John's Gate, while Major Brown, should cause a diversion, by making an treal. May be they have had accounts of a strong reinforcement by way of the Lakes, and the news has been received with three cheers ; but if they wait for reinforcement by way of the Lakes, they will remain too long near Quebec for their safety ; but we shall see. I5th. A dark lowering moniing, with a cold wind at N. E. The sentries on the walls discovered light on both sides of the street, in St. John's Suburbs ; a little while after, the flames burst out at the windows, and six houses were consumed ; we fired some random shot among the houses ; not a soul was to be sceii. 16/A. Wind westerly, a fine day and mild ; a very numerous party dealing away the snow from the foot of the wall near Cape Diamond ; even after this day's labour, ladders of It feet would reach from the top of the bank of snow to the embrasures in some places. About ten o'clock last night the rebels set fire to two vessels lying on the beach at St. Roc, and also to a house in St. John's Subuibs, but neither burnt. In the evening a twelve pound shot from the rcbcli fell in St. Lewis Street, some say from the old batteiy, otheru think from a guard house west of St John's Suburbs. Six of the rebel prisoners, who were at their earnest request incor- porated with Colonel Maclean's Corps, deserted last night i the re- maining 84 were put under close confinement. We took them rebels, and their inclination is to join their party ; it is hard on those who wish well to our cause, but as we cannot see their hearts, self preser- vation dictates to confine them. Some people have been seen on the old battery to-day ; a man in green (supposed to be a deserter from us) was observed pointing to. wards the walls at Cape Diamond. A volunteer picquet is established at the Recollets, 17 th. Westerly wind, a little cold, with fine clear weather; some well directed shot fired at Menut's. The extra picquet is ordered to assemble at Mr. Collins's and Mr. Drummond's, being much nearer the ramparts than the Recollets. A imoak seen in the chimney of Dr. Mibanc's country-house, a mile Mate- Cana- vvhile ing an ^ment by cheers ; Ihey will Isee. The [et, in St. t at the dom shot 3US party )iamond ; from the About ng on the Jibs, but he rebel J icrs think lest incor- i the re- fin rebels, lose who If preser- a man in inting to. 'r i some and Afr. lecollets. sc, a mil'j lOS attack at Cape Dlatnoad. The two lattar were order- ed to make sigaals, thit the several divisions might com- mence an attack at one and the same time. The Roc- kets had been no sooner thrown up, at five o'clock in and half from the walls. No signs of peopb have been sect) there since December last. We fired some thirty two pound shot, which went over all. • ' ' ;' ' I8ti. Exceeding cold westerly >viud. Nothing remarkable hap- pened last night. A fi-'W random uhot fired into St. John's Suburbs. About ten o'clock this night the suburbs was set on fire by the re- bels, and seven houses were consumed ; some musquets were fired at our sentries ; fhbj saw no body. Menut's is a great rendtfzvous, probably it is head. quarters, there is a white flag flying on the house. 19/A. Fine moderate weather, wind S. VV. All the guns in the garrison were scaled to-day ; there is 112 pieces on the walls^ with mortars, royals, and howitzers. The suburbs of St. John's still on fire. 20/A. Westerly wind, clear and cold. At tea at aight the house nearest to St. John's gate but one was set on fire—nobody was seen, though the distance is not above 50 pa- ces from our sentries on the walls A great many houses were fired ; the whole suburbs is jiow nearly consuimcd. Qlst A cloudy lowering mild mornii.g, with westerly wind A- bout seven o'clock a party of 1 00 men, under Majur Nairne, took post in St John's suburbs, to prevent the remaining houses from being destroyed. In the forenoon twelve shot were fired from the enemy'* guard-house we^it of St. John's suburbs ; between that and the town, the ground rises to cover the houiies, so that their guns must be highly elevated to throw shot over the walls. Their old battery ^ommaads St. John's Suburb» ; we saw two men OD it to-day. If they had guns the^, they would certainly fire on our parties. Fired at their guardhouse* and at Menut's; threw also Borre 10 and 13 inch shells well directed Two men cuinc from the Canar- diere towards Sault au matelot, they stood at a.>mc distance, seemingly afraid to advance} an officer was sent to conduct them in, but tv li 106 * ;■ Chap, the morning of the thirty-first, when they were percei- *^ ^ ved by Capt. Malcolm Fraser of the Emigrants, who beat to arms, when the whole Garrison, repaired to their several posts with the greatest alacrity. General some mistake our sentries fired on him, and these two men ran away. In the evening 110 men, under Colonel Caldwell, relieved Major Nairne, in St. John's Suburbs. 22 J. The weather was mild last night and very clear ; the northern L'ghts were equal to a moon ; all was quiet ; in the morning the wind got to the N. E. and brought cold. A great quantity of fire-wood was got in at St. John's Gate to-day. 23({. West wind, lowering cold weather. About four this mor- ning we heard the enemy's drums at Menut's, St. Foix, &c. Sentries saw rockets in the night. The picquet marched out at St. John's-gate before day hght, and took post to cover a wooding party for the day, 2Uh. Wind S. W. fine moderate weather. Last night a d^^scrter iromthe rebels was drawn up by ropes at Port Louis. He reports that " General Clinton commands, and that he has had a reinforce- ment of 400 men from Montreal ; very few are left at that place. A leinforccment of 3000, under General Lee, had been on their march to this place, but a second order obliged him to march to Long-Island to attack Governor Tryon, who was there entrenching himself with three or four thousand men, including Negroes; he says some trans- ports had arrived at New-York with foreign troops. ♦• General Schuyler had also received orders to march to Canada ; he also had been countermanded, and ordered to attack Sir John .Johnston, who was at the head of 500 men, with some Mohawk In- dians, at Johnstown. Some small bodies of 20, 30, and 40, had arri' ved at Montreal, and that the Lakes were more passable on the ice than they h^d been at the same season fur twenty years past." He has also told us, " That it is reported in their camp, that it is the orders of the Congress to break the first officer w^lo shall propose to .storm Quebec ? nevertheless 800 ladders are ordered to be made, ihcy will be ready before the reinforcement arrives. •' A great m.iny women and children (Soldiers wives) perished in the snow, on tlieir way over the Lakes. All the Gentlemen who took arms under Governor Carlcton, are ordered to deliver up their (.ommiiisions ; on refusal, they are to be sent prisoners to Hartford ; 107 |;rcei- who Id to leral Montgomery with his division consisting of seven hun- Chap. dred and fifty, advanced with spirit to the attack of the H* Pot Ash, fortified by a barrier across the road, at which was placed seven three pounders, and defended by a Cap- he says this is contrary to their capitulation. The friends of Govern- ment back of Pennsylvania had been beat by the rebels. " Governor Dunmore's hell hounds had been let lo-jse, and burned Norfolk and Williamsburg. " Two thousand men in South Carolina in arms for Government. " The rebels have got down 16 pieces of cannon, the heaviest 12 pounders * " - " Duggan, the barber, imagining rhat his services have not been rewarded, has gone for Philadelphia to lay his merits open to the Con. gress." 25/A. Wind at N. E warm and pleasant. The rebels threw six ahot, 12 pounders, into town, from their guard-house west of St. John's Suburbs. A great quantity of firewood got in to-day. Forty-nine men, with musquets and knapsacks, Feen marching iij) on the Point Levy side, followed by many sleighs ; all the Country around seems in motion. 26/A. Wind N. dark sleety moderate weather. The whole garri- son lay on their arms last night expecting an attack ; every thing in towrn remained quiet. By the continual and general barking of thf dogs in the Country, there certainly was some movement among the rebels. A man sent to Orleans, to return in three days. 27/A. Wind S. E. close and sultry. About five o'clock this morning signals seen in all the parishes round about. Two men came so near the walls at Cape Diamond, as to be heard distinctly call, Good morrow, Gentlemen, Drums were heard, and a regular platoon firing^ towards St. Foix. Voices in the tone of hoisting great weight were heard from behind the rebel's battery. 2S/A. S. E. wind with soft snow— a thorough thaw. Everything r»'nrained very quiet last night. A Canadian came In nt Sault au rra- ttlot ; ho says he is but 13 days from Chambly. Colonel Maclean Vi:c\v hiin there, and rewarded him for some services. O 2 a; jiiid 1' ' i 108 Chap. 11. iiiiiji ■ ■; r '^11- he :if tain 0^ (iana^ian Mititia with thirty ot his men, Captain Barnsfare and nine seamen, and a corporal and eight of the British Militia. As soon as the Americans were advanced within twenty-five yards of the Guard House, He is a well-wisher to Government ; and willing to be of all the ser- vice in his power, he ventured to town to inform General Carleton, " that he had learnt that General Amherst was at New-York, with 1 0,000 men, from England. " A person had been sent after Mr. Montgomery's death to take the command of the rebel army ; he remained at Montreal only two days ; he went off, declaring he would have nothing to do with men who had not kept faith with the Montrealists. •* Near 200 sleighs were sent over the Lakes early in January, to bring over the baggage of the expected reinforcement j after wailing near a month the sleighs returned with 160 men. " The affair of the Slst of December lessened the number of the rebels 750 ; those who remain are afraid to remove, since the Cana- dians have threatened that they will cut them off in their retreat if they do not make a second attempt on the Town. " It was industriously reported in the Country, immediately after the attack, that we had taken 60 Canadians prisoners, hanged them over the walls, and then threw their bodies into the ditch. " Tliey little knew the Canadians, if they imagined this treatment would spur them on to revenge. *' The Canadians patrole in all the roads leading to town, to pre- vent any person from getting in. ** General Amherst has summoned tite Congress to deliver them- selves up. • -^ ' ' ' "* • i • . " Orders from the rebel General to the inhabitants round Quebc: t J provide quarters for 7000 men." ,. C9//5. High wind at S. W. with hard frost ; every thing quiet last night. Armed men, with knapsacks, walking from Beauporl to the General Hospital. March I. Cold N. W. wind. The voluntary picquet very stronjf last night. Some people seen on the other side St. Charleb's river, opposite to Mr. Drummond's distillery; we fired the 24> pounder behind the Hotel Dieu at them. About seven o'Clock in the evening, a house liiidcr that gun was perceived to be on fire in the roof} it'burnt in a IDO the order was given to fire on them, which was done Chap. witli so much spirit, that in less than ten minates, the ^** Americans were compelled to retire, with the loss of their General,* his two Aides de Camp, Captains Cheese- * General Richard Montgomery, was of a respectable family in Ireland, and nearly connL-cted with Lord Viscount Runelaj^h of that Kingdom. He had been alt officer in the service of EngUiid, and suctessfully fought h(;r battles with the immortal Wolf-: at Quebec, where he fell in arms against her, and was univer- aally lamented by the Americans : lie married in America, Miss Janet Living- ston, daughter of the late Mr. Justice Livingston, of manor of iJvingston, in the Province of New-York, a geiitleiuiri of distinguished virtues, great literary endowments and of large pusse&jions : Montgomery resided at his estate when the unnatural war commenced. short time to the gi-ound ; some think that the wadding fell on the roof, and that the wind blew it into a flame ; others imagine the rebels may liave set it on lire, in hopes that the flames would spread to tlii: distillery, from thence to the picquets above, and so to Montcalm's house, from thence the conflagration would become general. 9J. Towards the evening six or seven musquets were fired on our out sentries at St. Roc. The man sent out the 26th has not yet returned ; it is believed that he has been intercepted by the Canadian patrole. 3ci. West wind, clear and excessively cold The volunteer picquct %vill not consist of many while the moon lights us all the night. Between seven and eight in the evening, three of the Royal emigrants deserted ; a party was sent to trace them in the snow ; they were too late. ^th. Last night we made signals at the Cape Diamond by rockets. It thaws very much to-day ; the wind iseastetly. A rocket at Point Levy wast answered by a gun at St. Foi. A fatigue party cutting a deep ditch in the snow, facing the cur- tain at Cape Diamond. In the evening we threw some fire-balls from a mortar ; they gave a great light ; a cumbustible composition was hung over the angle at Cape Diamond ; it burned well, and threw great light around ; when it was almost consumed, petards and hand- jgrenades, fixed at the bottom of the ball, scattered balls and fragments of iron all around. Stk. Strong wind at N. E. with a heavy sky and cold rain. This morning we discovered a red flag flying at Lynd's Mill, and another at St, Roc's guard-house ; wc suppose that jt is in commc- 4 '1 ■ ' -i: .,r. i f! '*■ ■( ■ .1 I \ s 1 i 1 *, no Chap, man and M*Pherson, \ and several of his men. Colonel ^^- < ampbell, who succeeded to the command on the death of the General, perceiving the confusion, relinquished the attack and retreated with the utmost precipitation. f Macpherson was ;i very promising young man, whose father resided at Philadelphia, and had made a considerable fortune by Privateering ; this gentle- man had a brother in the '6th Regiment in the English service, at the time of Montgomery's expedition into Canada, and who was as violent in favour of the English Government, as the General's Aide de Camp was enthusiastic in the cause of America ; the latter had accompanied his General a day or two previ> ous to the attack in which they both lost their lives, to view and meditate on the spot where Wolfe had fallen : on his return he found a letter from his brother, the English officer, full of the bitterest reproaches against him for having enter* ed into the American service, and containing a pretty direct wish, that if he would not abandon it, he might meet with the deserved fate of a rebel. The Aide de Camp immediately returned him an answer in defence of his conduct, by no means attempting to shake the opposite principles of his brother, but full of expressions of kindness and affection ; this letter he dated, — " From the spot where Wolfe lost his life in fighting the cause of England, in Friendship viitA Ameriea." This letter had scarcely reached the officer at New- York, be^ fore it was followed by the news of his brother's death ; the effect was instantii- neous, he quitted the English service, and entered into that of America. moration of the day on which a Boston mob committed many outra> ges ; the magistrates were forced to call in the military to protect the civil power, and assist the peace officers to disperse the rioters. In the height of the scuffle, some people, perhaps the innocent, were unfortunately shot in the streets j that transaction is called the JBlooJu Massacre^ and said to have been planned by a bloody Ministry. It is the interest of a few of their demagogues to Iteep the minds of the people constantly inflamed ; and, for this purpose, studied orations, addressed to the passions, are yearly pronounced in all that gloomy solemnity which pleases and feeds the melancholy of a true New England Saint. Their pastors paint on the heated imagination of their canting flocks, the most dreadful pictures of ministerial tyranny. Children are taught that the only road to freedom in this world, and happiness in the next, is to oppose every power that shall pretend to controul them : God gave the wilderness, by their blood they main* taincd their right, against the accursed of Heaven, the Indians, who pretended the land was theirs from the Creation of the world. Gcd fi Tj •.y'^rtllrf'' if;' • "^t '■'♦ . ,^f- :t Ill Arnold's division consisting of about six hundred CrtAP. men attacked the city by the Sault au Matolot, and sur ^^* prised the e;uard that was posted to defend the barrier, the Captain of which being drunk, surrendered without fought for them then j God fights for them now, and will ovei throw the dominion uf a wicked people, who would fain enslave them." This is their language to their children It is proposed to raise a company of invalids in town. The ail- ments of some people incapacitate them to mount guards ; others, in perfect health, make complaints of indisposition, and sleep soundly in their beds while their friends watch. Such as are able to b.'ar arms, whose laziness (or whatever motive more reprehensible) induces them to sneak meanly from their duty* will be drawn forth to public view, and ranked with the invalids ; such people will serve as sentries who e there is iu» danger, since no manly feelings can stimulate then» to do the duty of goud soldiers, in conjunction with their fellow-citizens. But neither their attatchment to his Majesty, nor the least sense of honour, can move sucli beings. At night it hailed and rained. One of the prisoners in the Recol- let« was put under close confinement to-day for abusing the sentry over him, and for uttering many imprudent threats. ** In a few days," said he, " it will be my turn to stand sentry over you, and then I know how I will use vou." 6lh- It rained in the night. The wind i? S. W. and it rains still ; there is no walking in the street, the risings are covered with ice, and in every hollow there is a pond of water. 7/4- Wind S. W. variable weather. Every day that the weather per- mits the people to work, strong parties are employed cutting trenches in the snow, outside of the walls. About 30 men have been seen about I'Ance des mers carrying oil board? and timber ; a party of 20 went out to-day to reconnoitre ; they saw a few at work, who ran away. They saw a man was killed on the heights to-day by a ball from one of our wall pieces. They saunter, three, four, or five at a time, within 4 or 500 yards of our walls. A discharge of grape-shot gene* rally makes them scamper. A sentry-box, fixed o.i a mast SO feet high, was this day set up on the highest part of the ramparts at Cape Diamond ; from thence we \f :Pi ^ ■ I !^ .(..; ■|-<nada assembled very slowly ; between 400 and 500 have arrived at' Montreal ; few, or rather no more, are expected soon. A hundred, better appointed than the rest, marched to garrison Quebec : when they arrived at Montreal, and found that we were likely to continue masters of that stfong hold, 60 of them went off, and 40 laid down their arms, declaring that they were willing to perform the service they engaged for, but that they would not serve in any other capacity than guards for the City of Quebec. " In a quarrel among the rebels, at Montreal, five were killed in the streets, and seven or eight sent wounded to the hospital. . " The rebels are to storm the town on the l^th of tliis month 11$ to another barrier, where they were so warmly recei- Chap. ved that they were compelled to retreat, with which ^^« General Carleton, being made acquainted, he instantly ^ ordered Captain Laws with a detachment to make a sor« Money is very scarce among them ; the Canadians do not like their pdper. " Nloses Hazen (formerly a Captain of Rangers, prefered by General Wolfe for his bravery to command on scouting parties of any consequence) accepted a Colonel's commission in the rebel army» though then a half-pay Lieutenant in the British army ; he has raised 150 Canadian recruits. Edward Antil, who practised ten or twelve yt:ars as a lawyer in this province, is his Lieutenant-colonel. John Wells, a merchant of Quebec, is Deputy Commissary -general, acts for Price, the Commissary, who with Walker, the noted Justice, is gone to Philadelphia, to give evidence against Brigadier-general Pres« cot, accused before the Congress of burning Walker's hoUSe, and for confining hini in irons. The gentlemen of the militia, who re- fused to give up their commissions, have been sent prisoners to Cham- bly, among whom are, Monsieur D-*— , and Monsieur D— — , and Mr. G , Deputy Post-master. He heard nothing of the troops which Chabdt reported to have been landed at New- York. '' Our sentries on Cape Diamond hear working parties in the night about Wolfe 's-covc, or nearer ; soine people think they are building floating batteries and batteaux, to pass Pres de Ville, and set fire to the shipping in Cul de Sac, and in the confusion which a coUp of that kind might occasion, come on the back of t*res de Ville and Sault aix Matelot } or perhaps they are preparing platforms for the 16 gun8 tliey have got from above. For some days past we have scdn many small parties marching and cbuntermarching betweeh Beauport and the General Hospital. The men who have shrunk from duty this winter, were to-day paraded, 180 in number, 100 of whom were found very fit for ser- v\i'.c in case of an attack ; they were enrolled, and armed, and put under the command of Captain Francis Joseph Cugnet. This morn- ing before day-light, we saw many flashes, and heard reports of mu8« qiiets on t!ie ice, abont half way between Beauport and the town t P ' \ i| # mi y ^ W\' 114 Chap, tie by Palace Gate, when finding themselves hemmed in "• both ways, were compelled to surrender, to amount ot thirty-two officers and five hundred privates. The gar- rison in their several attacks had in all ten men killed it is probable that some people endeavouring te get to town, have been discovered by the habitants patrole, pursued and carried back* 9th. Wind to the northward of west, cold and clear About two inches of light snow fell last night ; the river is not very full of float- ing ice ; the outermost vessels in Cul de Sac have their sterns free. People have been seen at the rebels battery to*day ; a working party throwing up an ice bank to obstruct the enemy's approach to Lymburner's battery, in the v ower Town. 114 pieces of cannon on the wall to-day ; none under six-pounders are counted ; there are a number of small guns, grasshoppers, swi. vels, mortars, howitzers, and cohorns. 10/^. Wind westerly, clear and cold. Picquets ordered to assem- ble as retreat beating. The drums beat to arms, and the bells rang the alarm about ten at night ; the picquets were instantaneously sent to reinforce Cape Dia- mondk In a few minutes the parade was full of armed men, who impatiently waited for the word to march ; but in less than a quarter of an hour they were ordered home again. The alarm was given by our out-sentries at Cape Diamond ; they saw a body of about 200 men advancing slowly up the hollow, from I'Ance de Mer towards the heights ; on hearing a noise of voices on the ramparts, they hal- ted a minute, and filed off. Some people suspected that the prisoners would be very trouble- some on an alatm ; both officers and men behaved very properly, they put out their lights and went to bed. lltk. Wind W. cdld and clear. The General reviewed the Bri- tish militia on the parade ; their arms were found in excellent order. A deep and wide trench was begun in the ice, from the corner o^ Lymburner's wharf towards the river where open ; and a trench was begun facing the curtain, near Port Louis. Fire-balls where hung out at the angles, two were lighted, they made a great blaze, and shewed every thing in the ditch, and made the faces of the bastions very perceptible, A sailor attempted to desert 115 and thirteen wounded; among the former was Lieutenant Chap, Anderson of the Navy, who acted as an officer on shore. '^• The Americans lost about one hundred men. After this disaster they were at a loss whether they should from the Sault au Matelot guard ai night. Our out sentries near Pa« lace gate stopped him. J2th. Last night there fell near a foot of snow, with a N. E. wind ; it blew hard at N W. in the afternoon, and cleared up Some of the rebels have been seen sauntering about the heights to.day; these strag- glers fired at a distance on our working parties without, but did not feach them. 13M. Fine clear day, sharp air, windN. W. It is whispered a« broad to-day, that the Upper Country Indians have an intention to march down in a large body to the relief of this place. This rumour may have originally sprung from their own declaration, though we cannot trace it- Colonel Maclean sent Captain Littlejohn, with 17 seamen, to reconnoitre towards I'Ance des mers ; they got near a sen- try, who rolled himself down the hill, and alarmed about 100 men be- low, who all ran away ; we fired on them, and some of them halted to fire on us ; no body was hurt on either side, though some of our people pretend that three of theirs dropped. We talk of fitting out two batteaux, with brass six-pounders in their bows, to discover what the rebels are about in Wolf's cove. When the wind is from the west, the river is quite clear of ice on the Quebec side. The men engaged with Colonel Maclean, suspected of an intention to desert, have been removed from the RecoUets, to a stronger place in the artillery barracks, and those who have been prisoners since the 31st of December, are confined in the Dauphin barracks. 14///. Easterly wind, heavy snow. About five o'clock this evening, an officer in blue, with buflF facings, with a drum beating before him, advanced from their guard-house at the end of St. koc ; he held a stick with linen flying at the end of it ; we suffered him to advance under the angle at the two gun battery : he said he had letters for the Governor. The General was informed of the man's mesaage : he sent his major of brigade to tell him, he could not be heard but in imploring the King's ■■■.>:■> Hi P 2 i^y 116 Ghap* return back to the Colonies, or continue the blockade, ^^* It was at length determined to continue the siege, and they regained their former ground to cut off all com- munication between the country and the city. During mercy. Then, says he, what am I to do ? Return from whc ce yqu came, said the Major ; he went off accordingly. 15tA. Much thaw— a fine day — fitting out two batteaux. A ca- noe was sent with Capt. Laforce on the look out, J he kept pretty much to the other side of the river ; two habitants hailed her ; they asked if they might with safety go over to town ; being answered in the affirmative, they said they would be over the next day. Two Canadians arrived in the night from Beaumont in a canoe ; they represent " that the Cana4ians below Point Levy are leady to take arms to drive the Bostonians out of the country ; they say the re- bels have no money, and that they hang their heads ; they have lon^ beat up for recruits, and they have got together about a hundred of the dregs of Canada ; they have erected a battery at Poijit Levy, op- posite to the Cul de sac, where they have a howitzer and one gun mounted. Provisions for 1000 men have been lodged in different pla- ces to supply that number daily expected from Montreal." 16t/t. Wind N. E. There fell about two inches of snow last night } nothing'remarkable tp-day except the very heavy rain. 17//5. It rained all the night. This morning the wind shifted to S. W. and it rains still. The Btvurji9nt men say, that the rebels by way of detering the country people from attempting to go to town, say, •* that the plague raged within the walls, and the garri- son died in great numbers daily." The voluntary picyuets in the Upper Town arc very strong every night ; every man not on guard •lecps there in his clothes with his nnisquet lying by him, ready at a moment's warnmg. Captain Irjanison and Captain Lester's compj^- nies do duty in the Lower Town. Every man in the garrison wishes ardently the approach of the enemy, conijdent that wc shall bcit them from the walls with great loiis to them. Some of the Canadian Royalists at Point Levy (few there arc, it is feared) told the rebels, in answer to their qucstic.':* concerning the elevated sentry-box, or look-out at Cape Diamond — «« It is a wood- en horse, with a bundle of hay before him ; General Carleton has said, that he will not give up the town before that horse shaJJ have 117 the winter, reinforcements of troops under the command Chap, of General Thomas, arrived from Montreal, and in the ^^' month of March, they erected several batteries made of , -^ ice, and mounted cannon, which did little or no exe- itte up all the hay." Six of the Canadian militia refused to do duty on Drummoiul's wharf ; some said it was too dan(r<;ious a nosl others were airaid of ghosts : they were sent prisoners to the liiairi- giiard, and to-day they were exposed to the view of the rest of that jrorps and reprimanded. The Beaumont Canadians returned in the night, and carried soin? of our lately printed Gazettes j they will endeavour to be back to town soon. From the look-out we saw about 500 men drawn up before Hol- J.md-house, and about 200 at Menut's. ISt/i, Winds W. ihawhig mild weather , in the evening, tlu^ wind changed to N. E. raw and dark The Batteaux are ready for J.iunching. Too much ice in the river this evening Many men seen about Holland-house, and all along the St Foix road 19//;. Wind N. E. with snow and rain ; in the evening it cleired up at W. Two batteaux and two culters were sent up as far as Sil- J..'ric to reconnoitre. IVlajor Nairne and Cnpta-n Owen went as far a:) the hill above I' Ance de Mer, but saw nobody. The Bateaux dis- covered nothing, A battcau crossed over from Sillene to day, a heavy body was hoisted out of it by a gin — probably a cani.ou for the I'omt Levy battery. A body of men seen near the old battery tu-day. 1 here is a line of sentries closely posted quite across the plains of Abraham, from the Coteau at St. Roc's to the River's side, to prevent ai.y per- son from getting near the walls, and to liinder desertion into touii 20///. A gentle easterly wind, ratlicr cloudy. A number of men were discovered about four o'clock this morning, by our out-sentiios, near the end of St. John's suburbs ; they did not approach j our pic- t^ucis were drawn out to be ready to oppcse the first oiiset. Twelve horses seen drawing some heavy load towards Point Levy battery. We heard a gun scaled about St. Foix. Three canoes crossed over to Gillcrie ; there is a market kept there. The place where we suppose they arc erecting theiv battery on the Point Levy side is about GQO Chap. II. lis ciition. On the twenty-fifth of that month Monsieur Bcaujeu, assembled a party of Canadians, with a view of compelling the Americans to raise the siege ; the par- ty, however, was too inconsiderable to effect their de- %. li V I \ M yards from high water mark, and thence to the high water mark orj this side 1 100. Very variable weather to-day 2] St. Wind N. W It froze last night very har4, and it still conti-, nues. Seven canoes, nine men in each, seen crossing to Sillerie '22/1. Wind easteily, cold and cloudy ; we plainly perceive people at work on the other side ; we see earth thrown up by men not in view, and we can plainly see some driving stakes We are busy laying platforms' and mounting some great guns on the Grand battery ; we have cleared away the snow from some ihirtcen-inch mortars ; we fired some shot, and threw some shells towards tlie enemy. From the situation of their battery, we suppose they intend to hurt the shipping, and to batter l^rcs de Ville and Sault au Matelot, if they have heavy metal, which we doubt. At any rate our fire must be infinitely superior to theirs. il3d. Last night was very dark ; we looked for an attack ; the wind is still easterly. The wood yard is empty Nothing remarkable. It snowed to-day. Siz/i. It was very dark laet night ; to-day it h cold, with a gloomy hard .sky, though the wind is N. W 23th. Wind N W. excessively cold, clearing up Chabot, who came to town lately, gave us room to look for an attack between the 15th and 25th; we have always been ready to receive the rebels. We communicated orders by signals ; at two in the morning, bla- zes on the look out, were answered by rockets from the Artillery barracks at three. 26i/i. It was exceedingly cold last night About two in the mor^ nlng the rebels lighted a fire-ball at their guard-house, west of St. John, and fired a musquet. We threw some shells, and fired some heavy shot, at a large pile of fascines, which we suppose to be part of the Point Levy battery. We perceived a party from Bcauport to intercept two men walking fiom the Point of Orleanj towards the town. Laying platforms for some thirty-two pounders to flank the enemy's voiks. A great body cf men bccn at St. Foix j heard three cheari. 119 sign, and the Americans receiving information of his Chap. object, attacked Beaujeu and routed his party. ^^• On the third of May, finding the river clear of ice. The Americans prepared a fire-ship, in hopes of burn- 27/A. S. W. wind, and mild. All was quiet last night. At three this morning, signals by rockets from Cape Diamond, answered from the two gun battery. The large farm-house at the Canardiere, which served as a guard-house to the rebels, burned this morning to the ground. Many armed men on the Point Levy side. Canoes and boats frequently crossing the river above the town. Ninety-six men walked armed in Tndiau file from the ferry-hou5e» St. Charles's river, towards Beau port. A batteau was sent up the river at night ; saw nothing. 28/A and 29tk Nothing remarkable 30//* Every thing was very quiet last night. The wind cold and clear atNtin the morning ; in the forenoon it changed to S. W. and thaw- ed ; a gin was set up at the Point Levy battery ; our shot and shells disconcerted them, not a little. Sevea men appeared at the St, Roc's guard -house ; fired a cannon at them, one of them fell ; five ran off wiicn we fired a gun at them as they stood between Port Louis and Cape Diamond ; one of these men was in blue, faced with white. A quantity of wood got in at St. John's gate ; men skulking behind their old battery fired on our work" *ng party ; a shot froiu a 36 pounder dislodj^ed them. Three parties, from 30 to 50 in each, marching on the ice from Montgomery's laie quarters towards the river St. Charles. Our sentries on the walls perceived a man wandering ainong the ruins of St. Roc ; he seemed desirous of hiding himself ; we sent out a file of men and brought him in ; he Was very drunk ; he said he had lost his way ; he arrived from Point aux Trembles this mor- ning, with the fifth company of the first battalion of Peii.ylva- nians ; that three other companies are expected with the second battahur. He is, or pretends to be very ignorant. All lie says is, that we arc soon to be cscaladed and taken, that there are but few Cana- dians with the rebels, and that Mr. Hazen gets no recruits, la the night a body of the rebels advanced as far as the burying ground in r-i. John's Suburbs ; the sentries could not s:iy the nuirber. .HAP. 11. m 120 ing the Shipping in the harbour, and should it Succeed, it was i.: the same time proposed, to have made an at- tack ' . the works. The vessel sailed up from the island of Orleans, at nine o'clock at night, and the men on 31//. Wind S. W. with snow ; thawing. About two this mor- ning flashes W'ere seen, and the rcportlof musqucts heard by the Jcn- tries at Cape Diamond, at Pies de ville as they imagined. Messengers dispatched to enquire ; there they learned the firing had been at Point Levy. Tiie prisoner taken yesterday, though now sober, adds nothing to what he said before. Vhe prisoners coniia^d in the Dauphin Bar- racks, In.d in the night forced twohinges from a door in the vault, whicli coinmunicatos with the street ; it hung by a third, vhich they did not pcre- ive, as they must nave wrtought in tlie dark. They were ques- tioned, but they all declared themselves ignorant of the matter. A- mong tiies'j men, there was one Englishman ; he discovored the plot. Oirj of the prisoners, some days before, made his escape out of pri- son, and found means to get over tlic walls also ; he was to inform the rebels thatthev were ready on the fust dark and stormy night, to seize on the guard set over them, and to proceed about 150 yards farther to St. John's Gate, and dirnm the guard there ; lliis being accomplished, they were to turn some cannon on the town, to defend themselves imtil they forced St. John's Gate open, to let in the rebel army, which was to keep itself in readiness every night, and march directly to St. John's Gate whenever they should discover the town on fire iu different parts All their ofiicers were chosen, and the di^positionfi made. If they should find it impracticable to let their iViends in, thev •were to secure their retreat by ladders, which they were to take from the roof of tlic pri?on and the adjacent houses ; they were in ihatcase to throw over all the ammunition, rammers, sponges, ^c. Then- were two of the prisoners, be.^ide the Englishman, w4io would not join in the plot, but they promised secrecy, and at this moment they stifjy deny that they know any thing of it. The officers, prisoners in the Seminary, knew nothing of tlie affair. A great many of these men Were put in irons immediately. The General, m hope of drawing on the rebels to an attack, order- ed that the signal agreed un by the prisoners diould be givir in the right, and that fvcry thing should be carried on as if they had made 121 board, having set fij?e to her too soon, and quitting her Chap. at the same time, ^he parsed. betqre the town, and fell ^» back again vy;ith the pbb tide, without effecting the ob- ^^ ject intended,. The American General Thomas at length, tljjeiirescape, following exactly their plan. Piepaiations \yere made accordingly ; piles of wood were prepared in different parts near the walls. The whole garrison was ordered to be on the ramparts, under arms, at two o'clock. in the morning. Although the weather did not promise to be dark or stormy, yet the General thought it would be best to lose no time, for fear some deserter might inform the rebels that the plot of the prisoners had been discovered. At four o'clock this evening a deserter came in ; he is of the first battalion of the Pennsylvanians ; he says, " the companies should be G5 men each, but they desert daily. The second battjihon is expected, with three companies of the first" . .., ,, yi//r// lit. Wind soft at S. W. much thaw. At two o'clock this morning the gairison was under arms-^very company was posted at their alarm posts — unluckily the moon shone exceedingly bright. The bonfires were lighted ; a hot fire of musquetry continued for ten minutes ; hubbub and confused mixture of cries were heard ; tLen three chears were immediately followed, by a close fire from two brass six pounders turned towards the town — the musquetry istill kept up — now and then huzzas. This was carried on for a considerable time, but no> body appeared without the walls, nor did we see a single signal. At day-liofht we were dismissed. •. ■ , t , . " This feint will have a happy effect ; it will shew the rebels that we wish their approach, and the considerate among them will dread to face us. We plainly discover four embrasures on their Point Levy battery —a large bank of snow to the right perhaps masks more. The deserter who came in yesterday says " that in cros-ing the Lukes he met many small parties, of threes, fours, and fives, leaving Canada; that a Lieutenant had deserted ; they brought him back, but he got away at last ; he can encircle the largest gnn tlicy have with his arms ; some time ago two of our shells fell without bursting. the powder they contained was sold at a dolhir a pound ; the rebels have but 13 rounds." . m J - Q l*< -ii.**! wiy * I im t/Hr m 1 1 ' ■ .1 *i , i t '*■ ' \ J- \ > 1 '11'^ til ' 122 Chap, aware of the impracticability of reducing Quebec, cal- "• led a Council of War on the fifth of May, at which it was determined, that it was most expedient to return back to their own Country as speedily as possible, from This afternoon another deserter came in, he says, ** they have but fifteen men on guard near St. John's suburbs. • =. - • • - ** The manoeuvre of this morning alarmed the rebels ; they stood under arms until day-light— many want to get into town- An old man, with an enormous perriwig, called General Wooster, came down from Montreal, uith an escort of 40 men. There are great numbers of the rebels sick in hospital." Firing shot and throwing shells at their battery, at Point Levy. The general voluntary picquet ceases utitil dark moon. ' •••■ 2day we plainly heard the report of five guos, at he- tween two and three leagcs distance down the river ; from the report they may be large, yet as the atmosphere is heavy, a small gun may be taken for a large one at a distance. Mr. Chabot left his little armed schooner on the Island of Orleans last fall ; perhaps the rebels are fitting her out, and have been sca< ling her three>pounders ; it is by three or four weeks too early to look for any thing from Europe. The enemy threw three shells of nine inches from Point Levy ; they did no damage. We made many most excellent shots to>day ; in short, as soon as our flankers at the citadel played on them, their fire ceased. Very heavy rain this afternoon. 4iih. It rained all night. The wind is about to S. W. We fire without intermission on the enemy ; they fire dropping shots at us, many fall short. There are but few people to be seen. Ten roc- kets played off at the ferry-house. St. Charles's River — answered by a gun from Point Levy. 5/A. Wind this mornbg N. W. cold raw thawing weather. An eight-inch shell burst above the shipping in Cul de Sac ; a piece of it cut a sailor on the head. They fired five guns and two shells ear- ly, drew in their guns, and ran from the battery We threw shells into their works, and cut their fascines to pieces. The rebels burnt a small shallop, and some boards at I'Ance de Mcr. Fatigue parties clearing the snow from the ramparts. The rebels watch an opportu- nity, and seize it, to steal a shot or two ; they are afraid to stand to their guns. - A hundred and one men marching in a string from Beauport, to- wards the ferry-house ; fired at it, and went through it ; carried the timber for a block-house to the place where it is to be erected, bc» Q 2 'i -!^:: M ■*¥' • 1 . 1 1 l!.' if-:^ f 1 if . 1 7P ' I] t ■ ' !' ;■ :, 1, ■ ij '■': ■ ( i i -Iil ■i I;; 1'24 GrtAP. rived, ^vith two companies of the twenty-nlmh regiment, consisting of one hundred and Seventy men, an4 a par- II; ty of marines, who were landed before' »obn, and at twelve! o'clock, they, with most of the garrison oflF du* tween Port St. Louis and Cape Diamond. One Loi^aux, an htnest Canadian, came in at Sault aii Matelot, at t<*n o'clock at night. 6iA. Wind easterly, with a heavy sky ; it tha-ivis much. A de- serter came in this morning ; he reports, " that General Lee is on his way to this place, with a body of 4000 men ; he halted, ill of the gout,- and many of his men have deserted. " At South River, below Point Levy, sixty Canadians, with Mr. Bailly, a priest, at their head, took arms, with an intention to sur- prise the guard at Point Levy, and to join the King's friends in Que- bec* A villain informed the rebels of their plan, on which a strong party marched from Point Levy to take them ; an engagement ensu- ed, in which five loyal Canadians fell, and six rebels were killed. The Priest is dangerously wounded in the belly, two balls entered his body ; 34 Canadians were carried prisoners to head-quarters. If the Canadians had been well armed, the rebels would have had a severe beating." ' • • ' J--' ■-; *' t* *> w iii 1 .id ^ttt i'm hu..:jt: . . ,.J He further says, " that they have ordered all the priests in Or- leans, who refuse to give absolution to the rebellious Canadians, to be carried prisoners to the camp. They have appointed a Priest* called Lotbinierc, to absolve the people ; they give him a salary of 15001. and promise him a bishoprick. *• They have granted the houses in the town to the deluded h bi- tants who have taken arms in ihcir favour : these poor devils st: .e a house at a game of berlan. From what the rebels tell them, th f are assured that we cannot long hold out, as they are to cannon..de us from the heights of Abraham and Point Levy, and to bombard us from the ferry -house at St. Charles's River ; yet the greatest part of the habitants dread that we may stand out. There is great sickness among the rebels, many of them are under inoculation. The New- Yorkers engaged to remain in the service of the Congress until the l.^tl^ of this month ; they have declared that they will lay down their .irms, and return home after that day. Two gentlemen from New- York, with letters for General Carleton, were taken by the rebels ; menty par- ind at flr du* 125 ty, amounting to one thousand men, marched out to Chap. the Plains, with two field-pieces and two grass-hoppel-s. The American army, near three thousand men, did not wait their approach, but fled with the utmost precipita- they had time to destroy their dispatches. We killed three, wound- ed two, and dismounted two of their guns. .;:?;.;,•; ,, ]..,,. .. ** Our feint of the first, in the morning, kept them under arms until seven o'clock, when they were dismissed, quite dissatisfied, say- ing they h Southerly wind and sofc weather. As day dawns, it is a rule with the rebels to fire four guns and a howitzer, .then immediately draw them behind the merlons and retreat ; they venture, from time to time, through the day, to pop a shot or two at us. ;. In the evening a ricochet shot entered at a window in the Upper Town, where the family sat round the tea-table ; the eldest boy, of ten years, was struck on the back part of his head, and expired in the arms of the father and mother in an instant. Some of their balls have a little damaged some roofs. 9ih, Easterly wind, with soft drizzly weather. Much fire from us; from them very little. A decent looking man, one Chaucer, came in from the rebels j he talks a great deal ; he says that " Ge. neral Lee was on his march hither ; he was called afterwards to take the command at New- York. The rebels without are 1800 strong, if 700 of that number sick can be called strength. They are to storm the town at Pres de Ville, Sault au Matelot, and Cape Diamond, between this and the 15th, on which day the time of many of the men will finish. Th^- New-Yorkers look upon themselves as bemgs far superior to what they call the Tank'tes, meaning the people at Connecticut, Massachusetts, Rhode-Island, and New-Hampshire, who effect a disgusting pre-eminence, and take tlie lead in every thing. They are to batter us from a battery 500 yards from Port l.ouis, to mount five guns, nines and twelve-poundcrs. They are to bombard «3 with five mortars from a bomb battery behind the feiTV-housc, on St. Charles's River. They have two gondolas out in the river ; they are preparing a fire-vessel to burn the shipping in Cul de Sac. The Canadians are very much discontented, as they are paid in Congress % J 26 Chap, tion, leaving all their cannon, stores, and ammunition "• behind them. The men even threvir away their arms, that they might run the faster. The Americans made the best of their way to Sorei, where they were met by bills, a handful of which they will willingly gire for a dollar ; they have whipped a Canadian for speaking his mind too freely ; they have maltreated a gentleman at Montreal, for beating an insolent fellow, a rebel oiBcer. " Arnold is to leave the camp to-morrow, and hasten to Montreal to send down all possible reinforcements. ♦* The rebels are without shoes.'* Thus far Mr. Chaucer has informed us ; he is suspected as a spy, and he will be taken care of accordingly. ,,,.;.,.? From his story they cannot intend to attack us before the 1 5th. Arnold cannot get up at this season in less than three or four da;yi, and it will be impossible for a number of men to get down in less than eight or ten days more. Come when they will, they will find us rca. dy to receive them. Boats row guard every night. We have guns on all the wharfs, and in some of the ships iu Cul de Sac, with strong guards and picquets in different parts of the Lower Town. lOM. Wind westerly; a very soft fine day, but the streets almost impassable, from the great runs of water ; the rema r»ig snow is po. rous and rotten ; if one steps aside from the sleigh track, he sinks above the knees ; how can these people propose to themselves to march loaded with ladders to attack us behind walls ; we would cut them off every soul before they got half way through the ditch j our canni&ter shot would mow them down. A young man, named Pepper, came in this morning from Cape Rouge ; he confirms what Chaucer has said about the discontent of the New-Yorkers, and uneasiness of the Canadian peasants. *' The rebels, despairing of success, have to some measure thrown oiF that shew of justice which they paraded before the habitants, and now enforce some pretty unreasonable commands. This young man's fa- ther was offered the command of a gondola. They are to attempt to burn the shipping by running the fire vessel full sail into Cul de Sac.'> llth. Heavy rain, with a strong wind at N. E. Their battery is silent to-day ; they say it must be full of water, being situated in a swampy hollow. Rocket signals were made at Cape Siamondi St. 127 two battalions of their countrymen, sent to assist in C tap. carrying on the siege. On the death of General The- ^^'• mas at Sorel, who had taken the small-pox, the com- mand devolved on General Sullivan. The small-pox John's, and Palace-gate, at midnight The rebels threw one at ten at night, at the ferry at Menut's, and at Holland-house. l^tk. Thawing, sleety, easterly weather. The faces of the bas- tions and the ditch were lighted by fire balls hung over the angles. The rebel* fired a good many shot at Cul dc Sac to-day ; they did very little damage. -J* ' 13M. Lowering morning, wind W. cold and freezing. Fire-balls lighted, rockets played off at the guards as yesterday morning. The Hunter sloop of war received a shot through her cabin. It was discovered that the prisoners in the Dauphin barracks had filed off the rivets of their hand-cuffs, and had placed leaden ones in their stead. People seen at work where Chaucer said they were to erect a bat- ter on the heights ; the gfround is well chosen, but the Cavalier bat- tery will destroy them ; we fired some shot from Port Louis without much effect. Freezes hard this evening. HM. No alarm last night. Wind at west to.day, clear and warm. Their shot from Point Levy is all directed to Cul de Sac ; they put one into the Lizard's stern, and hurt the main>mast of a transport. AboTe 1800 men will be under arms to-nighr, in expectation of an attack ; the block-house, about 100 yards outside of Port Louis was finished to-day, and a guard of twenty men posted there in the even- ing. The country is much in motion to-day, especially towards head-quarters ; bodies of men seen. 15th. Clear frosty weather last night. We were ready to receive the rebels, but there w^as no disturbance. Fire-balls were lighted* and rockets thrown, as customary. In the afternoon we heard thr voices of many men on the heights, singing out as is customary in moving heavy bodies. In the evening a great body were assembled at Menut's, and three cheers were heard very distinctly. It is supposed by many that the New-Yorkirs may have re-entered into the rebel service ; others think that David Wooster may have been making a fine speech to them about liberty, and promising mighty and speedy reinforcements, aod paint- Si '' t IV 1 '(■:'.■ '•) Mi 11 li" i Tl« CfFAP. had during the winter, made great ravage^ among the II Americans, and several of them had already died of this disease Vast numbers of their sick had been left at their camp, on their retiring from before Quebec, an4 ing out tlie glory and profit that will attend those vv^io, shall enter Quebec in triumph. At the word profit they gave three long cheers, Al nine at night guns were fired at the Point of Orleansj and sig- nals were made there. A drifting shallopj^ we suppose, gave the alarm ; one passed the town about dusk. 16th. Last night was mild and clear ; the fire-balls were not ne- cessary Rockets were sent up at the usual places at one o'clock. Out-picquets at buili block-houses. Wind strong at E. The re- bels did not fire a shot in return for many sent to them at both bat- teries. We have geometrically measured the distance to the last, and find it to be 716 yards 2 feet. Rainy evening. . , v 17 tk. Wind N. E. there fell two inches of snow in the night. Fire-balls lighted at one o'clock, and rockets thrown as usual. The enemy working on the heights. Canoes and batteaux passing and re- passing opposite Silleric, full of men. The rebels fired none to-day. Captain Laforce went in a canoe to reconnoitre j he, was hailed from the Point Levy side. The Canadifins, on his asking why they did not come to town, answered, that they had no canoes, and were clostly guarded ; they pressed Laforce to go on shore ; but, aware of Point Levy treachery, he paddled away with a " lonspir-** 18th, Wind S. W. showers of snow. Fire-balls lighted., and roc- kets thrown as usual. Some shot from Point Levy early in the morn- ing ; canoes crossing from that side full of men. Wood brought in to-day. In the afternoon came two deserters from the rebels. They report that " the New-Yorkers, 300 in number, were assembled on the 15th ; every argument was used to persuade them to renew their engagements, which ended that day ; but before they were called to- gether, they had determined among themselves to withstand the most pressing solicitations of their former Commanders ; they represented that the Congiess had deceived them ; that their pay was still due, and that they had beeii in a manner forced to enter the service after their first engagement had ended, therefore they would serve the Congress no longer ; they had seen their error, and wguld return to their duty j they were determined never to fire a sh^l against the 129 these, apprehensive of being made prisoners, had conceal- Chap, ed themselves. General Garleton, with the humanity that ^^* always distinguished him, issued a proclamation, com- manding the Officers of Militia of the Province, to King's friends. Their speaker ended with a God save the K'tngt which was echoed by one and all of them, with three cheers. Im- mediately these men were surrounded j they were very ill used, and confined ; the dastardly Canadian vagabonds in their service were the most forward in this work. They say the rebels aie 1200 well, and 600 sick ; the Canadians are not included ; they amuse the habitants with hopes of reinforcement, and they promise plunder to those who shall assist them in taking the town. There is not a man at this hour within the vv'alls who does not wish that the rebels may attack us ; we know the reception they will meet with, and we know that they dread it, although they tell their men that they will be led to an easy conquest ; but t!ie 3 Is', or De- cember is not yet forgotten. If any thing will tempt the habitants forward, it will be the prospect of rich plunder. " It has been whispered in their camp, that two ships have been seen in the river, to the great dismay of the rebels '* The ice of Lake St. Peter passed the town to-day. 19///. It froze hard, and was clear last night ; all was quiet. Fire- balls, and rockets as signals a I'ordina'tre. Wind S. W. cloudy and cold to-day. Wood got in to-day. Firing from Point Levy on the shipping. The Canadians are afraid that the town will be burnt, and they shall get no plunder. • 20th. Two men who left Quebec last fall, came down from Cape Rouge in a canoe ; they say " that the rebels have made a fire ves- sel of the brig Gaspey, which they took last fall ; they have uffered 20,000 pounds to any person who will steer her into Cul de Sac, and there set fire to the train. No Yankey, no Yorker, nor ever a Canadian, has yet been found to offer his service. An Acadian has said that he will do it for 30,000 pounds, en ion argent sonnanl. « Colonel Caldwell, with the eighth regiment, is on his way down from Niagara, with a number of Indians, and that Arnold posted away to Montreal the moment this news arrived. " The rebels fired a few shot at us to-day. We have almost finished .- , - • R • - .- -" ■- ■ '% l\ I 1:1 1 : '1 . .-,: iii'i" ■ i «■ Hi,. 130 Chap, search for these unhappy people, that proper care might II' be taken of them, with a promise, that as soon as they were recovered, they should be permitted to return to their homes. Such honorable and humane conduct a battery of five twenty-four pounders behind the Hotel Dieu, from whence we have battered the ferry-house. They say « that some of the people who left us last fall, have been very industrious in preaching to the Canadians, advising them to en- ter heartily into the Boston affair, else they will be irretrievably lost, and made slaves for ever " These men add, " that Chaucer was sent in, hoping that he might find means to get out again. He pro* mised to return in three days, if alive ; he got a commission in the rebel army but a few days before he came into town. They also say, that one of the prisoners, an officer, sent out a plan of signals, by which the friends within the walls could be instructed how and when the attack was to be conducted, and by what number, that they might, if possible, co-operate with those without. 2lst. A clear serene night, no disturbance. The rebels h».'at to arms at three o'clock this morning. Their battery on the heights does not seem to advance. They fired from Point Levy to day at the hour of going to Mass ; it is a diabniiral spirit ! They can but hope to kill a few harmless women and children. They see that they cannot hint the town. Hitherto they have killed a boy, wounded a sailor, and broke the leg of a turkey. Fine weather, wind S. W. swallows seen today. We keep a con- stant fire on the battery behind the ferry-house, from the walls bc« tween th-^ Artillery barracks and St. John's gat<:, from the two-gun battery, and from behind the Hotel Dieu. At dusk Laforce's armed schooner, with 30 fine fellows, was hauled out into the stream ; the rebels fired at her from Point Levy, and beat to arms ; the schooner drove up with the ice ; they were carried as far a» Wolfe's-cove before the Lizard's boat r.-" f reach her with a cable and anchor. The schooner was fired 01 by a arty; •he gave them guns for musquets 22rf. At day-break snow with N. E. wind. Between nine and ten this morning the rebels opened the battery beliind the ferry-housc ■with two twelve-pounders. They have cut embrasures through a ▼efy thick brca9l«work which the French threw up in 1759. Thry might IS they turn to ponduct Lei Dieu, have been iem to en- rably lost) Lucer was He pro- iion in the y also say, ignals, by and when that they els h^'at to ;he heights f to day at ey can but e that they wounded i\ ceep a con- c walls bc> le two-gun lows, was oint Levy, they were «'' \ reach ya arty; nc and ten erry .house through a 9. Thry \ 131 could not fail to make the most lasting impressions, and Chap. many of them, on their return to their own country, ^'» declared, that they would never fight against a man that had already conquered them by his humanity. Every lired between 30 and 40 shot at us ; they only pierced a few roofa ; they are obliged to elevate their guns very much. Tlie red flag which has hung out since the 5th ot March was taken down last night ; some people say that their fi isnds within the walls well know what that means— there is no apparent joy in the countenances of the suspected, perhaps no more reinforcements are to be expected. 23 , i;":r. 1:^ .. nil i. 1 ,| < ; 11 ffi ■( ClIAP. 11. 13G and twenty-six men, and one hundred and twenty Indi- ans, were detached ou the e evjnth of May, from Os- vvegatchie to the attack of that post. Proceeding on his march, he learnt on the seventeenth, that the Americans carried diwn some cohorii!; lo the north corner of St. Rue, to throw small shells from thence into their battery ; they were covered by a party. Between nine and ten at night, on t.ie top of the tide, a ves- sel was descried coming up before the wind ; the people were wish- ing one another joy, not at all doubting but it was the first of the fleet. The General was informed of it ; he told the messenger to order the artillery men to their gnus. She was hailed three times ; no HHiwor was made ; tlie foiuih hail was accompanied with a threat to sink her in case slie did not answer ; she immediately sheered in shore ; then the batteries played on her, and in a minute she appear- ed aVi i, a blaze at 200 yards from Cul de Sac, but very near tlic beach ; shells, grenades, petards, pots-a-feii, burst very regularly ; she Gccmed well prepared, and might have done much mischief had she been steered into Cul de Sac. A boat was seen to row very quick- ly away from her, the moment she sheered in towards the shore. It is thought that this was a brigantine of Arnold's which lay below ; some say that it was the Gaspey, tiiat had passed the town in a dark night, but most people think that it cannot be. The whole town was under arms in an instant after the drums beat and the bells rang ; no confusion appeared, every body was cool, and wishing the rebels would attack. The night was most remarkable fine and clear. It is surprising that thry cliuse such clear weathc for ttiis enterprize ; they must surely know that there are King's ships in the river, and for that reason they sent her uji, as the winil was fair. H t hull floated down with the tide, in a fine briglit blaze ; every man was ordered to his picquet, to be ready ai the beat of drum. 4M. Wind s' ill eastcily, the .sky heavy — it rained in the morning — at mid-day it cleared up at N. W. A few shot from Point Levy to-day. V ■ . . 5t/i. It froze very hard last ni;^ht ; the wind is still N. W. and cold. 6///. Last night it froze a little. There is a gentle breeze at N- E. this morning ; at four o'cl> ck guns were heard down the river, every wo or three ninutes. A w. man came early to Palace-gato and called to the sentiy •« that Mr. Thomas, with Im rcinforcemejil 337 were ignorant of his approach, and that if speedily at- Chap. tacked, the whole party might be surprized. The next I^* day he landed at Point au Diable, six miles from the *^ ^ Church of the Cedars, and proceeded under the cover was come ; that David Woostcr was gone off, and that there is a great bustle among them, loading carts with arms, baggage, &c.'* About aix a vesssl appeared turning round Point Levy, to the in. conteivablt? joy of all the garrison 5 every soul left their beds to run to the grand battery to feast their eyes, when they heard the joyful tidings. On our firing a gun she brought to, and fired their guns to leeward. She proved to be the Surprize frigate, commanded by Captain Lindsay, Part of the 29th regiment on board, the first of the reinforcement ; they, with the marines, were immediately sent on shore. The drums beat to arms, and all the different corps ap- peared on the parade. It was ordered that all volunteers in the Eng- lish and French militia should join the troops and sailors, to march out and attack the rebels ; every man almost in both corps was for* ward to offer his service. General Carleton, at the head of about 800 men, marched out at twelve o'clock. Colonel Maclean was second in command Colonel Caldwell marched at the head of his British Militia. The little nrmy extended itself quite across the plains, making a noble appearance. We looked formidable to the rebels. A few of them were hid among the bushes, and fired on our advanced party, without hurting a man ; the rest fled most precipitately as soon as our field-pieces began to play on their guard-houses ; they left cannon, musquels, ammunition, and even clothes ; we found the road strewed with musquets as we pursued theid ; clothes, bread, pork, all lay in heaps in the highway. We took homtr ;rs, field-pieces, &c. &c. So great was their panic, that they left b ;Vind them many letters and papers of consequence to those who wrote them, and to the persons to whom they were writ- ten ; they air d left their orderly books ) look which way soever, one could see men flying, and loaded carts diving away with all possible speed. We took possession of the General Hospital, and of a guard- house two miles farther, HoUand-house, Mr. Dupre's, &c. wlicre we found pork, flour, ammunition, and artillery stores. At Sillerift we found flour. S ' , ^ i .' 4i" i • m ■ ■1 a f 158 Chap, of a thick wood i when within a mile of the Fort, he ^^* halted the detachment, to make the necessary dispositi- ons for attack. One division wa:s ordered to take pos- session of the wood, and to penetrate as nearly as pos- sible to the enemy, when another party of Indians were plac ^d at the Falls, at the entrance of the Cascade, to cut off the communication with the Island of Montreal. This party fell in with a detachment of the garrison re- turning from the Cascades with provisions, who fled to the Fort, and carried the first intelligence of Captain In the afternoon two frigates were sent up the river to take and de« stroy their craft. We mounted a Captain's guard at the General Hospital this eve- ning. 7//f Every thing was very quiet in the night. This morning many priesth have come to town from the adjacent parishes, with chearful countenances, to pay their respects to the Governor, and make their obeisance to the Bishop. Their distinguished loyalty will ever re- dound to their honour ; a great number of people are flocking into town, many with guilty faces. The peasants, with their eyes on the ground, come sneaking in with a few eggs, milk, butter, &c. meanly cringing and submissive, conscious that their base conduct merits chastisement. Ask one the price of his butter — yih mon chert Monsieur^ repond il, c'est a vous a faire le prix, ce que vous plaira, me contentera, Parlies are sent into the parishes near the town. The frigate took an airmed schoo- ner at Sillerie ; she took the Gaspt* at Cape Rouge ; they had been ut work on her as a fire-ship ; she took some other vessels ; she fired at some batteaux full of men ; they rowed close in shore, and, unfor- tunately, the turning of the tide obliged the frigate to come to an anchor ; the batteaux got off ; a number of people were killed, and some taken. « • • " The rebels were in such hurry to get safe off, that they put their Bick on shore, leaving many of them to perish on the beach. God be praised that we are now at liberty to breathe the air of the coun» try. The rebels stole in upon us through the woods j a dreadful panic seized them, and they left us precipitately. Fort, he dispositi- take pos- rly as pos- dians were ascade, to Montreal, arrison re- ho fled to of Captain take and de* tal this eve- Pi norning many with chearful id make their will ever re- fiocking into e sneaking in d submissive. Ask one the ', c'est a votis avties are sent armed schoo- hcy had been els ; she fired , and, unfor- o come to an re killed, and hey put their beach. God of the coun» : a dreadful V# twenty Subalterns and four hundred and forty-three Soldiers. Four American Captains were sent to Quebec as hostages, and they remained until the prisoners were duly exchanged. The Cartel howe- ver was broken by Congress, under the pretence, that Captain Forster had conducted himseli towards the pri- soners in a cruel and inhuman manner. In justice to Captain Forster, there was not the smallest foundatioi^ for such a charge. ; . . A large body rf troops having arrived from England at Quebec, the latter end of May, General Carleton ordered them to rendezvous at Three Rivers. Gene- ral Fraser who had the command of these troops, land- ed the first division of them at that place, while ano- ther division was on board transports off the town, and the remainder on their way up the river. The Amc- 141 ricans still remained at Sorel, with a large body of Chap. troops, and Sullivan, who commanded, thought the ^^' opportunity too favorable not to attack the few troops already in the town. With this view, Sullivan de- tached General Thompson with eighteen hundred men, with orders to proceed to the River Nicolet, and to cross over toPointe du Lac, and then to advance to Three Rivers. On the night of the eighth of June, they effected their disembarkation without being discovered, and had not a Canadian peasant, who was one of their guides, made off and carried information to General Fraser of their approach, the town would have been taken. General Fraser upon this information, landed the troops from on board the vessels, with several field pieces, and ordered General Nesbit to post his detach- ment in the rear of the Americans, while Major Grant took possession of the bridge to prevent their escape over the K iver du Loup. The Americans had no soon* er landed, than they marched on to the attack of the town, where being met by General Fraser and his troops, an action ensued, which terminated very soon, in favor of the British. Their Commander, General Thompson, Colonel Irwin the second in command, with two hundred men> were made prisoners. The main bo- dy of them retreated in great confusion, to a wood full of swamps, where they remained in great distress until the next day, when Major Grant, relinquishing the pos- session of the Bridge, by General Carleton's order, they effected their escape to Sorel, to which place they were pursued on the fourteenth June, by the King's troops, with an order from General Carleton to General Burgoyne, the second in command, not to hazard an acti- on with them, until another column of troops should be t- ■si T\ 1 ",1 % i i Hi ■ Bis Mi:^ 142 CIh AP. sent forward to co-operate with him Availing theniselvca ^'* of this delay, the Americans pushed on to St. John's, from whence, crossinjr Lake Champlain, they took post"^ at Crown Point, at the other end of the Lake. Towards the latter end of July, a most base and villainous action was committed by one Lieutenant Whitcomb of the American Army, who, being out with a scouting party, shot General Gordon of the Royal Army, as he was riding unarmed from St. John's towards Chambly. The General died of his wounds a few days after. Ihe reason assigned for this infamous conduct, was, that the Lieutenant wanted a sword and a watch, and therefore conceived this the most expeditious ' (though infamous) way to provide himself with both ; and to the disgrace of the American Government, ng> punishment was inflicted on hirn. The misconduct of the American Soldiery lost them the friendship of the Canadians. When General Mont- gomery first penetrated the C'ountry, a part of the Ca- nadians were friendly to the American cause, but from their arbitrary conduct, the peasantry became dissa- tisfied and disgusted. The certificates they offered for articles furnished, w^ere not legible, and in many instan- ces without a signature, one half of which were reject- ed by the Quarter Master General of the American ar- my. They made promises of payment, without having any intention to pay, and the most arbitrary and tyrannical government was exercised over the country. The hou- ses of the Priests were plundered, and when the inhabi- tants asked to be paid for the provisions they had furnish- ed, they were run through with their bayonets. This . f. MsO inselveii John's, ok post' ase and utenant Dut with e Royal towards "ew days :onduct, a watch, )€ditious h both ; Dst them i\ Mont- the Ca- )ut from le dissa- ered for yinstan- 2 reject- ican ar- ving any rannical he hou- ; inhabi- furnish- 5. This conduct embittered the ^ anadians against the Americans, Ci-i a r. and the Congress of the States, upon this information, I^* ordered that justice should be done to the Canadians, and directed that exemplary punishment should be in- flicted on all those that should hereafter violate the miU* tary regulations they had established. Sir Guy Carleton, though he had driven the Americans out of the Country, yet saw that it was of the first importance to regain the command of Lake Champlain. With this view, he collected at St. John's a number of small vessels and batreaux, and forwarded on to that place several reconstructions of ships that had been framed in England, and had been sent out for the service of the Lakes. His fleet, the beginning of Oc- tober, consisted of the Inflexible (a reconstructed ves- sel) of eighteen twelve pounders, the Maria Schooner of fourteen six pounders, the Carleton of twelve six pounders, a flat bottomed Radeau, carrying six twenty- four pounders, and six twelve pounders, besides two howitzers, and a Gondola carrying six nine pounders. Besides these vessels, there were twenty gun boats, each carrying one brass piece, from nine to twenty four pounders, and four long boats, each with a gun, serving as armed tenders. There were also attendant on this little fleet a number of other boats, carrying troops, baggage, provisions, warlike stores and other necessaries for the army. The shins of war were manned by four hun- dred seamen from the fleet, and two hundred more from the transports, and the guns were worked by de- tachments of the Royal Artillery. Captain, since Ad- miral Pringle, conducted the fleet, and Sir Guy Carle- ton commanded the naval armament. The Americans i i I f ' ir^ il J I ■'il ■ '• % ^ , '4. Chap. II. 144 had determined to retain the command of the Lake, and 'earning early in the Summer, that a contest for the superiority was to be expected, they exerted themselves in preparing their armed vessels, and by the middle of August, they had prepared at Crown Point, one sloop, three schooners, and five Gondolas, carrying altogether fifty-five guns, twelve, nine, six, and four pounders, besides seventy swivels, and manned with three hun- dred and ninety-five soldiers. To these, by their great exertions, they added before the action, one cutter, three Gallies and three Gondolas carrying fours, and others, eighteen pounders. The whole of the fleet was un- der the immediate command of General Arnold. Sir Guy's vessels being ready, by the beginning of Oc- tober, he proceeded up the Lake as far as Valcour Is- land, where he found Arnold had drawn up his fleet in order to dispute the passage between that Island and the Main : an action soon commenced (eleventh of October) which was well maintained on both sides, and particu- larly by the British ; the Inflexible and several ves- sels could riot be brought into action owing to the wind being strong against them. The brunt of the action falling on the Carleton and Gun Boats, and no possibility of bringing the other vessels to their assistance. Cap. tain Pringle advised Sir Guy to order those vessels thai: were engaged to sheer off" and discontinue the action, which advice was immediately followed. In the attack, the Americans lost one of their largest ships, which was forced on shore, and they had one of their Gon- dolas sunk. In the night they retired to Cumberland Bay, and Captain Pringle formed the British fleet in a line near the entrance of it, to prevent their retreat. Arnold, however, sensible of his inferiority, availeU 14J himself of the darkness of the night, and effected his es- cape, with so much ability that he was out of sight early the next morning. The British fleet followed him and the wind being favorable, on the thirteenth of October he was overtaken a few leagues from Crown Point : A warm engagement ensued at noon, and the action was well supported for two hours : Several of Arnold's fleet then left him, but notwithstanding their desertion, he was determined to resist the British with his usual cou- rage. Victory soon after decided against him, and his second Galley commanded by Brigadier General Wal- terbury struck her colours. The Congress Galley which Arnold commanded and five other Gondolas were run on shore by his orders, and as soon as the men were land- ed were burnt to the water's edge, lie kept his flag flying while she was in flames, in order that it might not be struck by the English. Chap. II. The loss of the English in the action did not exceed fifty men killed and wounded. That of the Americans must have been more considerable, as they had two Gondolas sunk and one blown up, with one hundred men on board. On the fifteenth of September the Eng- lish fleet anchored off Crown Point, which was evacu- ated by the Americans who had retired to Ticonderoga. Sir Guy Carletop landed his Army at Crown Pohit, and remained there until the third of November, when they were re-cmbarked and returned to St. John's, where they went into winter cantonments. At the close of the first Campaign, the Commander of the Forces made the necessary arrangements for the Troops, by placing them into winter quarters. The ii:- ]46 Chap. I ■« habitants received the soldiers as lodgers, and evinced every favorable disposition towards those who had shewn such a desire to defend them. The Twentieth Regi- ment was quartered at the Isle aux Noix, Lake Cham- plain, with Artillery, and formed the advanced post. The Twenty-first Regiment under Brigadier General Hamilton, occupied St. John's, and at this place were arranged all the vessels and batteaux for the navigation of the Lake. The Fifty-third Regiment garrisoned Chamble Fort, commanded by Brigadier General Pow- ell, and the Thirty-fii'St Regiment was cantoned along down the Sorcl River, to the village of that name, since called, William Henry. Longueil, La Prairie, and all down to Sorel, on the south side of the St. Lawrence, was occupied by the grenadiers, light infantry and twen- ty-fourth regiment, under the command of Brigadier General Fraser. Montreal, had as garrison, the Artil- lery and twenty-ninth regiment, and there Major Ge- neral Phillips took up his head quarters. The Island of Montreal was occupied by the ninth and forty se- venth regiments. Colonel Maclean and Sir John John- son's Corps, were stationed from Rcpcntigni (the end of the Island) to Cape Same, about thirteen leagues from Quebec, on the north ; and from Sorcl down on the south of the River Saint Lawrence, the Germans were posted. They had Three Rivers as their head quarters, command- ed by Major General Reidesel. General Carlcton re- mained at Quebec, with the thirty-fourth regiment, as garrison, and the sixty-second regiment occupied Point Levi, opposite to Quebec. •;i The Ministry of England, intent on carrying on the war with energy on the side of Canada, in hopes of for- 147 rinced shewn [Regi- 'ham- post. kneral 1T77 ming a junction with Sir William Howe at New Yoxk, Chap. and by that means to cut ofF the southern from the eas- ^^» tern States, as the surest means of effecting the reduc- tion of the discontented rebellious Colonies, had sent out the year before a large body of veteran troops, well provided with every necessary for carrying on the war. These troops had for their Commander, General Bur- goyne, whose character at that time stood high in the annals of Military fame, and he was furnished with able and enterprising officers. Major General Phillips, Brigadier Generals Fraser, Powell, and Hamilton, and two German Generals, Reidesel and Specht, were among the most eminent of them. To this body of veteran troops the inhabitants of Canada were commanded to furnish men, to occupy the woods on the Frontier, to prevent desertion, to procure intelligence, and to interrupt the com iu Plication between the enemy and the malecontents in tht ' /race. In addition to these requisitions, they were tt .uinish a number of horses and carts for the use of the army. The marine corps which had destroy- ed the American Fleet the preceding year, was put un- der the command of Commodore Lutwyche. I'i i It was determined that while General Burgoyne and the main Army should advance by Lake Champlain, a detachment should be sent by the way of Oswego and the Mohawk river, to make a diversion in favor of the Army on its march towards Albany. This detachment which amounted to seven or eight hundred men, was com-, posed of two hundred and twenty men of the eighth and thirty-fourth regiments. Sir John Johnson's corps oi T 9 148 Chap. New Yorkers, several Hanau Chasseurs and a company ^^* of Canadians, under the command of C olonel St. Leger. v-.^%^o ;■-! mm The main army under General Burgoyne having pro- ceeded up the Lake, landed and encamped on the twen- tieth of June iiear Crown Point. At that place General Burgoyne gave the Indians a war feast, the next day he made a speech well calculated to excite their ardour in the Royal Cause, but to repress their wonted barbarity : He forbid them to shed blood, but when opposed in arms, and commanded that aged men, women and children should be spared, though in the heat of action : and that in no case should they scalp the wounded or dying. On the twenty-ninth of June he issued a proclamation, or manifesto, with threats of punishing with the utmost severity, those who refused to attach themselves to the British cause, magnifying at the same time the ferocity of the savages, intent on butchering all those opposed to the mother country. Protection and security were offered to those that remained peaceable at home, but all the calamities of war were denounced against those that were found in arms. i The American Army composed of three thousand men under the command of General St Clair, was still at Ticonderoga, in possession of the old French lines, strengthened with additional works. Opposite to Ti- condercga, a high circular hill called. Mount Indepen- dence, had been strongly fortified by them, and these two Posts were joined by a floating bridge supported by twenty-four sunken piers at equal distances : on the Lake Champlain side of the bridge, a boom composed of ve- ry large timber was erected, fastened together by rivet- tcd bolts and chains of Iron an inch and a half square. 149 A number of block houses were also built on both sides Chap. of the Lake for the defence of these Posts. To the ^^» southward, however, of Ticonderoga and Mount Inde- pedence, there was, Sugar Hill, which commanded the works at both places, and which the Americans had neglected to fortify from the want of men. On the approach of the right wing of General Bur- goyne*s army on the second of July, the Americans re- linquished and set fire to their works on the side of Lake George. General Phillips at the same time secu- ring an important place called, Mount Hope, which com- manded the American lines, cut off all communica- tion with Lake George. On the fifth of July, the Royal army had constructed works for the investment of the place, and had made a road to the top of Sugar Hill, for the construction of a battery there. General St. Clair was no sooner apprized of this circumstance than he evacuated Ticonderoga and Mount Indepen- dence, marching through C astleton in Vermont, on his way to Skenesborough, where he had ordered that the baggage and other stores of the army should meet him by water. As soon as it was known that St, Clair and his army had moved off. Brigadier General Fraser, at the head of the light troops, pressed hard on the rear guard of the Americans, and overtook them at five o'clock in the morning of the seventh of July at Hubbarton. Colonel Francis, who commanded their division, consisting of fifteen hundred men, finding that it was impossible to avoid an action, posted his men on strong ground, with a breast work of logs and felled trees. General Fraser, though unequal to him in point of numbers, commenced the attack, under the peraua- ! I « f !( Chap. II. ill vi 'U '•■■ ■ f i 160 sion that he would be joined by General Reldesel and his party. The Americans defended themselves with great bravery, until the reinforcement arrived, when they were thrown in great confusion, and the British charging at this moment, they fled on all sides. They lost their Commander, several officers and four hundred men, killed and wounded. Many were supposed to have died of their wounds in the woods. The loss of the Royal troops did not exceed twenty officers, none, ex- cept Major Grant, of any rank, and about one hundred and twenty men killed and wounded. The success that attended the British arms on the land side, induced General Burgoyne, to send a consi- derable body of troops by water to secure Skenesboro*. On their passage up to that place, the Inflexible and the other armed vessels fell in with the American gallies, when after a short conflict, the whole number of them, besides two hundred batteaux were either taken, burnt or destroyed. On the landing of the troops, the Ame- ricans retired, pursued by Lieutenant Colonel Hill, with the ninth British regiment, near to Fort Anne. Gene- ral Schuyler had posted a considerable body of Ameri- cans at the Fort, who learning of Colonel Hiirs ap- proach, resolved on attacking him the next day. At half past ten o'clock in the morning of the eighth of July, he was attacked in front by a superiority of numbers, with a heavy fire, which was rendered less eftectual by the judicious manner in which he had posted himself. A disposition was then made to surround the British, which Colonel Hill prevented by a masterly change of positi- on. The action still continued for three hours, when i:/ 'iH: irA finding their fire ineffectual, they retired to Fort Ed- Chai ward, having first however, set fire to Fort Anne. "• The destruction of the gallies and batteaux, and the defeat of Francis* detachment, obliged General St. Clair to turn off from Castleton to the left, and after seven days march, he joined Schuyler at Fort Edward. Their combined force amounted to four thousand four hun- dred rtien, which on the approach of General Burgoyne,, retired to Stillwater. While the Royal army lay at Skenes- bro* the troops were busily employed in opcnin^ .. oad, and clearing Wood Creek, to open a passage for the con- veyance of their stores. Major General Phillips with a part of the Royal array was equally industrious in transporting the artillery, provisions and baggage over Lake George for the use of the army, in the intended descent on Albany. Lieutenant Colonel St. Leger, after having en- countered many difficulties on his march from Oswego, at length arrived on the third of August, and began the investiture of Fort Schuyler, situated on the Mohawk River. To save this fort, the American General push- ed on eight hundred militia, imder the command of General Herkimer, whose approach being made known by some Loyalists to Colonel St. Leger, he detached Sir John Johnson, with a party of troops and Indians, to in- tercept them. Sir John, who had taken every measure to ensure success, lay in ambush until the sixth of Au- gust, when Herkimer unapprised of his danger, was fal- len upon by Sir John's troops, totally defeated, himself killed, with one hundred and sixty men, and twice that number wounded j Sir John's loss was very inconsidc- f; ^^ - i ■ r ■ mil . it:' ' ll'; ^ . 'iuf Chap. 152 . rable, a few Indians were slain. St. Leger on the sue- cess that attended Sir John's detachment, sent a flag on the eighth of August, to the Commandant of the garri- son, representing his late victory, informing him of Ge- neral Burgoyne's approach near Albany and advising him to surrender, least by resistance he should sacrifice his whole garrison to the savage fury of the Indians, determined to put every man to the sword. An answer however, was returned that he was determined to de- fend the Fort to the last extremity. On the news of the defeat of General Herkimer, and that the Fort was still invested. General Schuyler detached Arnold, with a considerable force to the relief of the place. As soon as the Indians were informed of the march of these troops, they very generally deserted St. I^eger, who being thus abandoned, left his encampment on the twen- ty-second of August, and with it all his artillery and stores, and returned again to Canada, by the former route of Oswego. General Burgoyne at length determined to re- commence his march, and to approach Albany as speedily as possible, where he had been persuaded to expect many friends ready openly to declare them- selves, and to join the Royal Standard. Colonel Skene who had resided for many years at Skenesbro* and who pretended to be well acquainted with the ge- neral sentiments and temper of the people of the sur- rounding country, assured the General that the friends of government only wanted a protecting power to es- pouse the common cause ; and as there was a conside- rable deposit of flour and scores of all kinds at Benning- ton, the General was induced to send Lieutenant Colonel .0 153 Baum, with five hundred Germans, one hundred Indi- Chap, TT ans, and two field pieces on that expedition. The measure ^*' of sending German troops on this enterprize, perfectly unacquainted with the language or people of the country, and requiring a celerity of motion, which Reidesel's Dra- goons, whose hats and swords alone nearly out weighed the whole eiquipment of a British soldier, was unequal to such exertion, became the subject of just censure among the officers of Burgoyne*s army. The necessary arrange-^ ments having been made for the march, Colonel Baum and his detachment accompanied by a Loyalist as a guide, proceeded towards Bennington. On the same day that they left the Camp, they surprised a party of Americans, which Colonel Skene the next day liberated, under an idea that they might be detached by this mode of con- duct from the American cause. In this, however, he was much mistaken, as these people were among their enemies, in the action at Bennington. On his march to Cambridge the day after, he received the first informa- tion, that a large body of Militia was assembling in New Hampshire, on the confines of Connecticut, for the de- fence of Bennington. Baum, had not advanced seven miles further, when he was informed, that at soon as the Americans received a reinforcement, they had resolved to attack him. Baum, without loss of time, was in- duced to place his detachment in the most advantage- ous manner possible. He then sent an express to General Burgoyne, acquainting him with these circum- stances, and Colonel Breyman, with five hundred Ger- mans more, was sent to his assistance. Breyman, how. ever, from the badness of the roads, and from their halt- ing ten times in an hour to dress their ranks, in a couil* try full of embarrassments, and where they were liable ^ U (Ki i ( ! 'J i- i .': J! i!' i , I t . 154 to be broken every twenty minutes, made so little pro- gress, that they took thirty-two hours to march twenty- four miles. General Starke, who commanded the A- merican Militia, having made his dispositions, began an attack on Baum, before the junction between the two de- tachments could be effected Baum, resolved on mak- ing a vigorous defence, endured for an hour, a terrible discharge of musquetry, and during that time drove them from the high grounds on which they were stati- oned. Baum, having lost his artillery, and the number of the Americans increasing, the Germans were com- pelled to retire in the woods, leaving their commander mortally wounded on the field of battle. Breyman was advancing to the relief of Colonel Baum, of whose fall he was totally ignorant, when the Americans, flushed with their success, attacked Breyman, who, after mak- ing a gallant defence, was compelled to retreat. The loss of men in these two engagements, amounted to six hundred killed, wounded and prisoners. The Ameri. cans stated their loss at one hundred men, killed and wounded. ,. •. This was the first check which the Royal troops had experienced, and while it occasioned a depression of spi- rits in General Burgoyne's Army, was the cause of much exultation in the minds of the Americans, who, profit- ing by the delay it occasioned, gave General Gates time to collect the Militia of the surrounding country. A short time after this success, an enterprise was underta- ken by general Lincoln to recover Ticonderoga, and other posts in the rear of the Royal army ; Colonel, Brown was detached with five hundred men, to the land- ing of Lake George, and surprised the British out posts on the eighteeathof September, took Mount Defiance^ 155 and Mount Hope, with four companies of foot, and an Chap. equal number of Canadians, one armed sloop and two *^* hundred batteaux. Not being able to attack Ticonde- ^ roga and Mount Independence, he abandoned that de- sign and returned to General Lincoln's camp. General Burgoyne having crossed the Hudson, on the thirteenth and fourteenth of September, encamp- ed on the heights of Saratoga, and on the eighteenth of September, advanced along the road and encamped within two miles of Gates's camp, and only three miles from Stillwater. General Burgoyne the next day, re- solved on attacking General Gates's Army, when these dispositions of attack were made, he advanced in person at the head of the British line, composing the right wing, covered by General Fraser and Colonel Breyman with the grenadiers and light infantry, whose front and flanks were covered by Provincials, Canadians and In- dians. The left wing was covered by Generals Phillips and Reidesel, who proceeded with the artillery along the great road by the river side. About one o'clock at noon, the scouting parties of both armies having met, a firing ensued, which induced General Phillips to gain the wood with the cannon, which checked the advance of the Americans, and was otherwise of essential ser- The lines of both armies, having formed by half vice. past two o'clock, the Americans under General Arnold, made a movement, and advanced to the attack of the British line, when the general action commenced, which lasted till near sun set. The brunt, however, of the en- gagement fell on the twentieth, twenty first, and sixty- second regiments, the men of which, behaved with great firmness and gallantry, receiving and returning a heavy fire for four hours. The twenty-fourth Regiment, U 2 ■* I i n (H'iP 156 Chap, grenadiers, light infantry, and Brcy man's corps, were of great service. The Germans from their situation, were not much engaged, and which it was thought most pru- dent not to relinquish Captain Jones, with the.British artillery, behaved with great intrepidity ; his four can- non were repeatedly taken and retaken : He was killed, and other artillery officers wounded, and thirty six out of his forty-eight Matrosses were either killed or wound- ed. The loss of the British, amounted to five hundred in killed, wou'ided and prisoners. The American troops behaved with great courage and intrepidity , many of their officers distinguished themselves, and both they and their men, received the General's thanks for their conduct. The Americans lost three hundred and twen- ty men killed and wounded. General Gates, who was posted at a redoubt in the rear, supplied fresh men du- ring the engagement. If'. $ The British army laid all night on their arms, and nothing of any consequence happened from the twenti- eth September, to the seventh October, except frequent skirmishes between the picquets of each army, so that scarce a night passed without repeated firings from each other. During this period. General Gates was rein- forced with two thousand men under General Lincoln. ■'■C ■ ! , ''■■ » r i r r ■ ■ _ _■_ ■■..■- The situation of General Burgoyne, was at this time truly painful and distressing j his army was reduced to near five thousand men, whose allowance of provisions did not exceed one half of the usual quantity : his forage was nearly opended, and already many of his horses had perished for want of it. To all these difficulties is to be added, the still more painful one, of no news be- ing received from New- York, of a co-operation of a I 151 strong force that was promised from that place, to meet Chap. him at Albany. A messenger, however, at lenp;th ar- ' rived from Sir Henry Clinton, who informed him that General Clinton meant to cause a diversion, by attack- ing the Highland Forts. Though a junction of ihf^ two armies was the assistance he had expected, yet he was in hopes, that even so small a diversion might induce Gates to withdraw a part of his force, and by that means di- vide the American army. Sir Henry at length proce? d- ed up the North River, and landing his men, •\ttacked on the sixth of October, the two American Forts, Clin- ton and Montgomery, in the highlands, whica he took by assault. The obstructions to the navigation of the river being thus removed, nothing could have prevented Sir Henry's proceeding to Albany and co-operadng nirli Burgoyne. Notwithstanding that the salvation of Bur- goyne's army depended on his exertions, he returned to New- York, contenting himself with having taken tl rr ,/''! '? ii '^ • 1 158 mand in Camp, and Brigadier Gill had charge of the redoubt near rhe river. General Burgoyne, finding the force of the Americans too considerable to hesitate a mo- ment on the expediency of the measure he afterwards adopted, sent an additional force in aid of the detach- ment. The British army was then formed within half a mile of General Gates's. About four o'clock, an Ame- rican column made a furious attack on the left, where the British grenadiers were posted, under the command of Major Acland, and sustained their fire with great in- trepidity. The Americans extended their attack, along the whole front of rhe (jJermans, and made a movement round their flank, to cut off their retreat ; to frustrate their intentions, the light infantry, and the twenty-fourth regiment were* instantly formed. MeanVhile Gates pushed forward a fresh and strong rernforoement against the left wing, which compelled it to give way, and had not the light infantry and twenty-fourth regiment made a quick movement for its support, it would have been cut to pieces. The detachment was compelled to retire to their lines, where they were no sooner arrived, when General Arnold with a brigade of troops, made a furi- rious attack on Lord Balcarras's light infantry, posted in the entrenchments ; the opposition was firm, and the Americans were compelled to retire. In another quar- ter, however, the Americans were more fortunate. Ihey made a vigorous attack on the entrenchment defended by Lieutenant Colonel Breyman, at the head of the German grenadiers, which they carried sword in hand. The Colonel was killed, and his troops retreated to the British camp. Night, at length, closed the dreadful scene. The British lost many officers, and among them was general Fraser — the subject of general regret. Sir James Clarke, General Burgoyne's Aide de-Camp was mortally wounded, and taken prisoner. Majors Willi- 159 ams and Acland %ere both wounded, and the latter ta- ken prisoner ; besides these, two hundred officers and soldiers were m^^e prisoners. Nine pieces of brass can- non, and the whole equipage of a German brigade tell into the hinds of the Americans. - General Burooyne's troops were under arms the whole of the next day, in exp ctation ot an action, but nothing happened but small skirmishes between the two armies. About sun-set, the corpst* of general Fraser was brought up the hill by some soldiers of his own corps, attended only by the officers of his family, and bu- ried in one of the great i .doubts. Generals Burgoynf?, Reidesel, and Phillips could not refrain following the corpse of a man to whom they were so much endeared, and to whose remains a tribute of respect and affection, was so justly due : their feelings were too much alive not to be affected at the solemn procession. The inces- sant cannonading during the solemnity, the steady at- titude and unaltered voice, with which the Champlaiu, the Reverend Mr. Brudenell officiated, though frequent- ly enveloped in dust, thrown up on all sides by the shot, the mute, but expressive mixture of sensibility and in- dignation upon every countenance, together with the growing duskiness of the evening, may hereafter be de- scribed as marking a character of that juncture which makes one of the finest subjects for the pencil, that the field ever exhibited.* •' Chap. II. M M General Burooyne, finding his situation untena- ble, changed his position on the right, witnout loss or disorder, and removed with his baggage and artillery (0 the heights above the hospital. The object of this :il I.. i Hi n 160 , movement was to induce Gates to take a new position, and to bring on an action. This Gates as studiously avoided, with a view of attacking Burgoyne's right, which had he accomplish, d it, he would have surround- ed him on all sides. As soon as Burgoyne was appri- sed of Gates's intentions, he adopted the only alterna- tive left, by making an instant retreat. At nine o'clock of the evening of the eighth of October, the army left the heights, and moved on towards Saratoga, with their baggage and artillery. The hospital, with the sick and wounded, was left behind, and being recommended to General iJates's humanity, they were well treated, and taken care of. The next step, in this hopeless situation, appeared to be a retreat back again to Lake George, and in this intention, artificers and workmen were sent to repair the bridges on the route to Fort Edward, to fa- citate the passage of the Army. This detachments however, had no sooner proceeded a short distance on its march, when the Americans appeared in considerable force on the heights, which induced the General to or- der their immediate return. His situation at this mo- ment, became tru'y distressing ; abandoned by the Ca< nadians and Indians, weakened by losses and desertions of his own troops, unsupported by Sir Henry Clinton^ at New- York, reduced to three thousand five hundred fighting men, with a scanty allowance of provisions, and without any hopes of a fresh supply in the face of an enemy four times their number, no alternative was left but a surrender of the army under his command. A Council of War wras called, which was extended to Captains commanding corps. Their opinion was, that the present situation of affairs justified a capitulation, on honorable terms. A messenger was sent to transact this business. To General Gates's sixth propo ition. That the British should ground their arms in their 'I t !.- r 161 encampment, General Burgoyne replied, " This arti- Chap, cle is inadmissible in every extremity ; sooner than this "• army will consent to ground their arms in their encamp- ment, they will rush on the enemy, determined to take no quarter.*' This a.i^\c\j being rescinded, a Conven- tion was at length agreed on. The troops to march out of their Camp with the honors of war, and the artille- ry of the entrenchments, to the edge of the River, where both the arms and artillery were to be left ; the arms to be piled by word of command by their owii Officers. A free passage to be granted to the army un- der General Bourgoyne to Great Britain, upon con- dition of not serving again in North America during the present war. And the port of Boston to be assign- ed for the entry of the transports to receive the troops, whenever General Howe shall so order. The army under General Bourgoyne to march to Massachusetts by the easiest route, and lo be quartered near, or as conve- nient to Boston, as possible. The troops to be supplied at the same rate of rations as the troops of General Gates's Army. All officers to retain their carriages and bat horses j the officers, as far as circumstances will admit, not to be separated from their men ; the of- ficers to be quartered according to their rank ; all corps in General Burgoyne's army to be included in the a- bovc articles : all Canadians, and persons belonging to the Canadian Establishment, and other followers of the army, to be permitted to return to Canada, but not to serve during the present contest. Passports to be grant- ed to three officers, to carry dispatches to General Howe, Sir Guy Carleton, and to Great Britain. The officers to be admitted to their parole, and to be permitted to wear their side arms* ::il their ill ■■ HI 1«: is ' ' fit, li^ ;! i' 162 Before intelligence had been received in England of the disastrous catastrophe of General Burgoyne's expedition, on which the Government at home, had chiefly founded its hopes of a successful termination of the war, enough was known respecting its progress, to convince men that very erroneous estimates had been made with regard to the services to be performed, the force which it required, and the manner in which it was to have been executed. It was also thought to have been a great error in the Minister of the day, that the conduct of the Northern Expedition had not been com- mitted to Sir Guy Carleton, a General who, together with distinguished military accomplishments, had, from bis residence in Canada, acquired a knowledge of the Country and its Inhabitants, which few possessed. Com- mon sense recommended this appointment. He had de« served the patronage pf the State, by the services he had rendered : but more powerful motives recommended the appointment of General Burgoyne, whose militarf talents were not assisted by the circumstances essential to the services of such an enterprize.* And the conse- quence was, that Sir Guy ' arleton, thinking himself injured, resigned the Government of Canada. • Oenenl Burgoyne was a Member of Parliament, says the Historian of the American War, ** and it was one of those miserable expedients, which the Minister substituted for grandeur of design, to bestow some of the most inipor* tant cmploymtnts, both Military and Naval, on mvi who were in the habits of •pposiflg the metnirei of Adminiiuatioa." il :«" I 168 [gland )yne's I, had ion of 2SS, to been |d, the it was have iat the THE HISTORY OF J. CANADA. CHAPTKi^ II. if 78. From the Convention at Saratoga, in 1777, to the Esta* blishment of the Constitution, in 1791. T^HE first sitting of the Legislative Council, after the Chap. passing of the Quebec Act, vi^.s in ihe Spring of the III, year one thousand seven hundred and sev«. nty seven ; the Council passed sixteen Acts, and among them, one for the establishment of Courts of Justic : a (,ourt of King's Bench was created for the Trial of Criminal Causes, only : in this Court the Chief Justice presided alone ; a Court of Common Pleas for each of tht- Dis- tricts of Quebec and Montreal. Three Judges were to preside in each of these Courts, and two necessary to transict business. A Court of Probates, was esta- blished for Testamentary affairs and Successions 'I he whole Council was also constituted a Court of A pp. als, ana my five of them, with the Governor, Licuti nant Governor or Chief Justice, were declared compi tt-nt to proceed to trial and judgment of all causes brought before them in appeal. From the above establish nient it will appear, that there was only one Court of original jurisdiction for the trial of Civil Causes, namely, the X 2 I 1 r '» '.} t r8 h «i I iii. 11 I- 1^ 'tfr fir I' ;^ ■1^' i*^;:h. ip^'ftii;' 164 Court of Common Pleas. The " Laws and Customs of Canada," established in the Province ' of Quebec, by the Act of the fourteenth year of George the Third, were generally understood to consist of the Custom of the " Prevote de Paris'* Such of the French King's Edicts and Ordinances as were registered in the Superior Council of the Province : the Regulations and Ordinan- ces of the Intendant : the local custom of the Country : and'(though on what authority is not known) the Roman or Civil Law: in addition to these, the Acts passed by the Legislative Coun' il of the Province, and the Crimi^ nal Law established by the Quebec Aet. These Laws will appear sufficiently extensive and complex to re« quire years of intense study to understand them proper- ly : and yet Judges have presided in these Courts, who had not been brought up to the study of the Law, or who could not be supposed properly acquainted with the rules or practices of Courts of Law or Equity. The consequence of which has been, that anarchy and confu- sion prevailed in the administration of Justice in the Pro- vince, by which real property was rendered insecure ; trade was clogged, and that good faith, which ought to, and should subsist among the people, and which is the life and support of commerce, was totally destroyed. Sir Guy Carleton, who had been dissatisfied with the Ministry in England, in having appointed General Bur- goyne to command the expedition from Canada, to reduce the rebellious Colonies to obedience, had desired his recall the year before : on his obtaining it, the Go- vernment of Canada was committed to Major General Frederick Haldimand,* who arrived at Quebec in the course of the Summer. Various have been the opini- ons respecting this gentkman's administration ; If v/e are * Commiuion dated ISth September. Ife: V-^-VN-/ 165 to give credit to the assertions of some, his government Chap. was marked by severity ; and on the other hand, it has ^^^* been represented by others, as having been conducted, by a wholesome discipline, necessary at that time, to preserve the public tranquillity. — ^This gentleman was a Swiss, and on the score of his being a foreigner, many excuses may be made, for the errors of his administration. Se- veral actions for damages for false imprisonment, were instituted against him in England ; the persons who had been imprisoned, recovered judgments against him, which were paid by Government. Although the inha- bitants of the Province of Quebec had, from the gene- ral tendency of the British Government to a mild admi- nistration, enjoyed a certain degree of Civil Liberty, yet they had been, from the peculiar nature of the system of Government, established by the Quebec Act, deprived of a great part of their Political Li- berty. A more full enjoyment of these essential pri- vileges, had been the constant prayer of ail their petitions. The object prayed for in their petitions, may be reduced to the following heads: — 1st, An elective House of Assembly, or Representatives of the Peo- ple — That the Members of the Legislative Council, should receive no salaries, as Counsellors — That the Habeas Corpus Act, and the other Laws of England relating to personal liberty, should be made a part of the Constitution — That the Trial by Jury in civil causes, should likewise be introduced, and that nine out of twelve jurors might return a verdict — That the ancient laws and customs of Canada, relating to landed proper- ty, marriage settlements, inheritance and dower, be con- tinued in force in the Districts or Counties of Quebec and Montreal — ^That the English Law should be esta- blished generally in the Counties that might hereafter n • 'I II ft. ' ■ii; il^ri M Hi: SI! I IP"' ; ■ ♦ "■[■'. ' ■ / 166 be formed, and particularly in such districts as might be entirely inhabited by the King's old or natural born sub- jects—That the laws of England, relating to commer- cial affairs, should be established for the whole Coun- try — That the criminal laws of England should be con- tinued, as at present in force. Nor were these unrea- sonable demands, praying as they did, for the establis- ment of a Government so nearly resembling those of all the other dependencies of the Empire; The Legislative Council established by the Quebec Act, had not the pow- er, and it cannot be supposed, to have contained the knowledge necessary for the Legislature of such an ex- tended Province, and by these means, and by the arbitrary system which had so long prevailed, the progress and im- provement of the country had been retarded, and this has ever been the consequence of oppression. Petitions had been signed by all the old subjects, and by a nume- rous body of the most respectable, among the new, in the I )istricts of Quebec and Montreal, That some opposition should have appeared against these reforms prayed for, cannot be considered extraordinary: private interest, or selfish views, have often prevented the wisest and most advantageous reforms. Unanimity of sentiment in a nation is not known in history. I To prevent, in some measure, the pernicious effects of false reports on the objects of Reform, and for the information of the public in general, committees were named and appointed to carry forward and sup- port the petitions, and they were printed and distri- buted in the French language, all over the Province. Those who had taken the lead in the pretended opposi- tion, were principally of that class of people called " gentry," and yet in their petitions, they prayed to be I 167 admitted without any distinction, under whatever form Chap. of Government His Majesty should be j^liMssd to est;ib!ish HI* in the Province, to a precious participation in all the fa '^ "^^ vors, rights, privileges and prerogatives, which His Ma- jesty's faithful subjects enjoyed in every part of the world ; so that it is evident that though these counter petitions were in name, yet they agreed in substance, with the ideas of those expressed by the other inhabit- ants. In a subsequent memorial, however, to the then Governor, thev shewed for the first time their oppositi- on to a House of Assembly, because they were appre- hensive that the Protest" ' ^ might have the greatest m- fluence in that House ; but this could not be considered as a valid objection : the Protestants for their own inte- rest, would be careful in enacting laws to promote the general interest of the Province. They were possessed of nearly one half in value of all the Seigniories, and had besides the whole mercantile and floating property of the Province, and were too much interested in the welfare and prosperity of the Province, for any danger to be apprehended from their possessing a large share in the Legislative powers. These fears only existed in the minds of those who had been principally concerned in the counter-petitions. Their consequence in the so- ciety might have been affected by a free system . f Go- vernment, though that of the anadians in general, might have been greatly advanced. A participatiuu in the making of laws, by a House of Assembly, was a principle always acknowledged by Great Britain, and what she had evtr granted to her other colonics, as the means of rendering them more flourishing and prosper- ous than those of other nations. The coloni.sts stated ' in their petitions, that they could not be satisfied with- out a liberal system of Government, and representatives Chap. III. 168 in the Legislature, and that as they only stated their rights and privileges, they did not doubt that they would receive the relief that they merited. Notwithstanding the constant and unremitted desires of the Colonists of Canada, to obtain a House of Assembly, none was grant* ed until long after the termination of the American war, which took place in the year one thousand seven hun- dred and eighty-three, and when the present noble and excellent constitution was established by Act of Parlia- ment, in the year one thousand seven hundred and nine- ty-one. , • i./f As taxing the colonies had been given up by the Par. liament of Great Britain, it became necessary to send instructions directing certain oaths to be taken by persons applying for Lands in Canada; they were called upon to take the usual oaths directed by law, and to subscribe the declaration, acknowledging His Majesty in Parlia- ment as the Supreme Legislature of the Province : An instruction was sent out to Governor Haldimand, accom- panied by a letter from the Secretary of State, stating^ that however general the declaration might be, it could not extend to taxation ; Parliament having by the Act of the eighteenth year of the King, in the most express terms, restrained itself for ever imposing any taxes or duties on the Colonies, except for the Regulation of Trade, the produce of which taxes or duties were to be disposed of by the Provincial Asseml lies. The letter also stated, that as such was the case, it was judged not only unnecessary, but implying some doubt of the sin- cerity of Parliament to make any exception in the decla- ration, the exception having been already made by Parliament itself in a manner so solemn and effectual that nothing could add to the security of the subjects in ^ il* ; I'M ;|.' % 16^ the Colonies derived under it. The Secretary of State Chap. added, " These you will naturally make proper uSe of, ..tui'.^t i!^ HJ ■■■ i rici 01 otate, to Uov« " =f.'-:».,M»^ .» Y „, ..^.. .../T^-^ -•- !t^ } . 1 11 168 Chap, in the Legislatur., and that as they only stated their II^' rights and privileges, they did not doubt that they woui4 ^— v * receiv "*" — '--^ ' *«^ ♦v.«., «^— J^—i kt,,[...:*u-* — r - Ki DISTRICTS. City & District of Montreal - City & District of Three Riv. City & District of Quebec - Total - - -8 . 10,140 2,080 7,311 o 9,794 1,973 7,137 20,131 18,904 Ij 9,727 2,247 7,380 19,354 Male k «5 5g 4,357 \l\'^'^^ ^'-'-^^^ 912 I h^'^'^ *"'2^ 4,112'l(''^^9'*l'^52 9,381 japoY^^ o 41,805 6,458 22,202 70,466 5,968 1,291 3.575 10,834 Tb* niunbtr gf Men abore 15, and nolj'*^*' -0/X IcM i^ihi ,.^-.-:-iLc^ . i-ariiduicxt ... _^. .__ ^ luieuiiiaim cucctum that nothing could add to the security of the subjects in 16*9 their S,96H 1,291 3,575 the Colonies derived under it. The Secretary of State Chap. added, "These you will naturally make proper uSe of, "^• should any objection be made to the declaration or the Constructioil of it, and I doubt not, but the necessity of guarding against disaffected persons becoming settlers in Canada, will convince His Majesty's loyal subjects of the propriety of that test, by which they cannot be affected, or deprived of any indulgence or encouragement to which they are entitled."* General Haldimand ap- pointed Commissioners in the course of this year, in or- der to have a census of the inhabitants of the Colony, and among other things, to ascertain the quantity of grain sown. The number of the inhabitants then con- sisted of one hundred and thirteen thousand and twelve souls, and the quantity of wheat sown, consisted of three hundred and eighty-three thousand three hundred and forty-nine bushels, f From the period of the fai- lure of the Northern Expedition, no occurrence took place of aggression on the part of the rebellious Colo- nists for the invasion of this Province ; several inroads were however, made into the then English Colonies from Canada, iso that though the mother Country was at war, the Colony, remained in a state of tranquillity, and all the forts and garrisons were retained, as before. On the recall of General Haldimand, Henry Hamil- ton, Esquire, was appointed Juieutenant Governor. He had been an officer in the Army, and his administration was signaUzed by the introduction of the Habeas Corpus Bill, which was passed into a Law. The passing of such an Act, one of those most essential to the liberty of an 1785. • This letter wa$ from Lord North, one of His Majesty's Principal Secreta- riei of State, to Governor Haldimaod, dated, Whitehall, 24th July, 1783. .I't^ 1 Chap, in III. ^-v-^ rij Number of SotUs, 8^. in Cana DISTIUCTS. 13 . •E S • ^ g ■S s Males. Females. g in c g c 1— t 1 a > 5 < i > 1 1 Above 15 years of 1 • u o < • City & District of Montreal - City & District of Three Riv. City & District of Quebec - Total - - 10,140 2,080 7,911 9,794 1,973 7,137 9,727 2,247 7,380 1 4,3a7 11,637 912 i 2,874 4,112 10,041 3,809 877 4,i.'0G 10,803 2,726 8,984 4,020 «76 1,795 304 104 93 625 118 150 21 8 20,131 18,904 19,354 9,381 |!^4,.';52 8,t>92 -%513 6,491 501 893 30 Th« nuinbflr of Men abore 15, tnd not exceeding 60 ytari of age, were fuund to b i^ L:^ ) /: -^.j ,« « ¥ -^ th iii I i 168 Chap, in the Lcgislatur., and that as they only stated their ni. rights and privileges, they did not doubt that they would f Souh, 8^. in Canada, in 1784.. 'emales. g en Absent. • c c M Bushels of grais sown yearly. i o s 5 (3 i 35 • c 10,803 8,984 )9 4,020 «76 1,795 304 104 93 625 118 150 212 4 88 721,703 214,875 628,240 217,682 39,349 126,3184 1 7,825 3,155 9,116 12,('36 1,602 8,456 22,579 5,368 16,344 16,620 3.>,i.'38 3,147 10,206 12,439 41,252 41,805 6,458 22,.>(J2 S,9«M 1,291 3,575 )i; -%513 6,491 501 893 304 1,569,818 383,34 9^ j0,O96 22,094 44,291 j32,206 84,666 70,466 10,834 {0 yttri of a^ie, were fuund to be 39|249| fit to bewr •rtni, ar."* enrolled in the Militia. P • . a / t-nv i^UAJ^- '-^ r - /:/,• •i, /; ;vi >v )< ' It // raniaiuciii itscii in a nianitct oo auicuiu anu cuccLum that nothing coi 1^3 add to the security of the subjects in I') h f.i- I ; i , ! It'* 170 Srr*^'* ^^g'^shman, though it had been strongly recommended *"• to the several Governors of the Province preceding Mr. Hamilton, by an instruction, as early as the year one thousand seven hundred and seventy-five, was not pas- sed into a law, until ihis year. On the first proposition in the Council, for the discus- sion of the Bill, the joy throughout the Province "was general. The Clergy, in particular, expressed their ap- probation and the Religious Communities of Women, whom it was proposed to exclude, in consequence of their vows, represented to the Council, that they should consider their exclusion from the benefits of the Act, as an eternal monument of disgrace, because it might be represented by those ill disposed towards them, that they stood in need of the exception, to retain them in their cloisters. The Seminary of Quebec brought for- wai J the representations of the three Religious Com- munities of Women, established at Quebec. The Ha- beas Corpus Act passed by the Council, is not precise- ly a transcript of that of Charles lid. though it con- tains the spirit of it, and is justly considered as one of our most valuable laws. This year was also distinguished by the establishment of a Public Library. Several liberal and spirited gentle- men, put aboui a subscription, sent to England, and there purchased a number of Books, whicli have hoen received, and now form a Library that does honor to the first projectors of this laudable design, and which has been daily augmented by the 'iberality of new subscri- bers. On Sunday the ninth of October, between four and five o'clock in the afternoon^ an uncommon darkness ! 171 I' was perceived, thoagh at the sani3 time the atmos- phere appeared of a fiery luminous yellow colour j this was followed by squalls of wind and rain, with severe thunder and lightening, which continued most of the night, a thing uncommon at that season, it having froie considerably the night before. ' \ On Saturday the fifteenth, about fifteen minutes af- ter three in the afternoon, it became darker than it had been the Sunday before, and the sky of much the same colour ; it was succeeded by a heavy shower, and very severe thunder and lightening. Chap, III. Sunday morning the sixteenth was quite calm and foggy till about ten o'clock, when there arose some wind from the eastward, which partly expelled the fog j in about half an hour after, it became so dark that ordinary print could not be read within doors ; this was followed by a squall of wind and rain, when it brigh- tened up again. From five till about ten minutes after twelve, the darkness was so great, that the Ministers in the English and Presbyterian Churches were obhV" ' to stop till they got candles. From two o*clock til! a- bout ten minutes after, it was as dark as at midnight when there is no moon light. From forty-three till about fif- ty minutes after three o'clock, it was total darkness; and from tiiirty-five till forty-five mini^es after four, it was very dark. The people in the city dined by candle light, and spent a part of the afternoon in lighting up and ex- tinguishing them. Each period of darkness was fol- lowed by gusts of wind and rain, with some severe claps of thunder, and the atmospl ere looked as before described. It was remarked, that on the days before Y 2 I: ; f i J I i ^ |,\^. m I'if 17S6. mentioned, the^e appeared to be two adverse curreiits'of air, the uppermost impelling a luminous strata of clouds towards the north east, and the lower driving with great rapidity broken misty clouds towards the south west, and that the rain water which fell on Sunday during |:hose gusts was almost black. No satisfactory solution has ever been given of this extraordinary phenomenon. Governor Hamilton had been recalled, and Co- lonel Hope took the command of the Province as J Lieutenant Governor j the latter Gentleman remain- ed but a short time, as Lord Dorchester, (Carletqn) had been appointed Governor General of all the Bri- tish Provinces in i>menca, in England, in the month of June, and arrived on the twenty-thifd of October of this year, and took the oaths of Office. The Coun- cil presented his Lordship with an Address, congra- tulating him on his safe arriyal, expressing the very high and grateful senvse they entertained of his Majesty's paternal regard to the welfare and happiness of the Peo- ple of the Province, in appointing a person of his Lord- ship's distinguished character and talent§ ; from whose former long residence in, an^ pove.nment of the Coun- try, together with that intimate knowledge of its true interests experienced on different occasions, the People had to expect the most solid and pei-manent advantage, heightened also, by the additional pleasing reflectionj that his Lordship had been invested with the supreme command of the other remiiining posse sions of his Ma- jesty in America, and by that means render them sub- servient to the prosperity of each other, and to the ge, neral benefit of the British Empire.* Lord Dorches- f Council Book, B, fl'iUum Smith, Eiquiie, arrived at Qu«bcc us Chief /uitirc wiih hii Jordship, ••* 17» tcr iiifornisd of the distracted state of the Civil Go- Chap* vernment of the Colony, assembled soon after his ^^^* arrival, the Legislative Council, and having formed the Members into different Committees, he c}ij*ected them to enquire into the state of the Laws, the Com- merce, the Police and Education of the Province, and to report to him, each committee, respectively, on the subject refered to it : The committee appointed to report on the state of the commerce, applied by Letter to the Merchants of Quebec and Montreal, " In order" as they state in their report to his Lordship, " to obtain '* the thoughts of others, more experienced than them- ?' selves, on subjects of such extensive concern to the " welfare of the Province." — In consequence of this application, the Mercantile Body of these two Cities, having consulted together, and after mature delibera- tion, mad^ out, each, a report on a variety of objects relating to the state of the commerce, the laws, and police of the Country, which they presented to the Com- mittee of the Legislative Council. The confusion of the laws, and the great uncertainty of all legal pro-- ceedings are pointedly and expressly stated ; these re- ports were highly approved of by the Committee, and bv them recommended in tho strongest terms to Lord Dorchester's most serious consideration and reflection. In the Spring Session of the Legislative Council of ih'^ year one thousand seven hundred and eighty-seven, ^Ir. - hief Justice Smith, brought into the Council, a Bill, to continue an Ordinance that had been passed two years before, establishing the Trial by Jury, in all ci- vil affairs : " between merchant and merchant, and " trader and trader, so reputed and understood accor- " ding to law . and also, of personal wrongs, proper •'* to be compensated in damages," And His Honor ad- il ^-•: 2 i...i'r I i 'fi I ,1( ■ v-' } 1 1 !^. si'.' m' Chai'. III. 174 ' • ded to the Bill certain clauses which, he apprehended, would operate as a cure of some of the disorders, that had so long prevailed in the courts. This Bill, nctwith- standing the Trial by Jury intended by it, was so ex- tremely limited, unfortunately for the Province, was rejected by the Committee. The members who had sup- ported it, with a view of providing a remedy for some of the many evils of the present system, finding their laudable intentions for the public good thus frustrated, thought expedient for their own justification, to enter their protest against the rejection of the Bill, on the journals of the Council. Their reasons of dissent, supported all the complaints of the people, and fur- ''?ir>hed strong proofs of the necessity ot" reform. 'ihe party who had opposed it, and ultimately re- j - rtedthe Chief Justice's Bill, soon after brought forward .another in its place. In this new Bill, though the name of i jry was retained, yet the advauuges which the subject derives from that glorious inicitution, would have be^n lost. The reports of the tendency of this new Bill alarmed the merchants, and in a meeting held for the purpose of deliberating on what steps were proper and necessary for them to take, on an affair of so much importance to their security, they deteirnined to petition the Council, praying to be hoard agajnst the Bill, before it passed into a Law. J'hey drew up their petition, presented it, and tne C^-uncil appointed a day for hearing the argu- ment. Jn that day the Counsel* for tlie Commerce appcated at the Bar of 'he I igislative Council, and in a speech which lasted 'Jx hourvS, he pointed out in a ve- ry clear and satisfactcry manner, the evil tendency of the Bill, then before the Legislature : he shewed the • Jamei Moii, Ksq. Ui«n AUornij- Gencul, and Ji'tfiwardi Chief Ju«(>cc of rhc K. B. Moutreal. 175 necessity of ascertaining v^hat laws were established for Chaf. the Province by the Quebec Act, that the subject might *^** have some r^rtain rule to regulate his affairs with se- curity, and pointed out the propriety of restraining the Judges to more fixed and determinate principles and rules of conduct, with regard to the practice of the courts, and to the laws and maxims which ought to go- vern them in their decisions. In support of the argu- ments he had used for that purpose, he cited a number of cases from the records, and shewed the inconsisten- cy of the courts in their judgments so clearly, that it as- tonished the whole audience. By order of the Legisla- tive Council, he, some days after, laid before them, two statements of facts from the Committee of Merchants, containing the substance of the charges made against the proceedings in the Courts in his speech. 1 1 .''i'l The effect was produced, and the Bill dropped ; bui so many serious charges had been made on that day against the proceedings of all the Courts of the Pro* vince ; that the Legislative Council addressed the Go- vernor, to cause an investigation to be made, into the past administration or Justice in the Courts of the Com- mon Pleas, as well as against the Judges of the same, and of the inconsistency in some of the judgment^ of the Courts of Appeals. The Chief Justice, as Coramis- sioner,in the beginningof June, opened the investi^^ation. Many gentlemen of high rank, and holding places of great trust and confidence under Government, wore ex- amined, who exposed to public view such a scene of anarchy and confusion in the laws, and in the adminis- tration of them by the Courts, as no other Britich Pro- vince ever before laboured under. They stated, that I'^nglish Judges followed English law ; French Judges Is.' • '.t '• ! II':. 'ill I In: 176 "* Chap, followed French law, and that some df them followed "!• no particular law, but decided according to what apf- peared to them to be the equity of the case. Such was the melancholy state of the administration of Justice . for many years in this Province : and such it continued, until Professional Men were placed on the Bench. The Trial by Jury in civil causes,' had been intro- duced in one thousand seven hundred and eighty-four, but not generally. The Ordinance of that day ascertained the nature of the controversies to be determined by ' verdict, and there are who conceive that this mode of trial might be applied to all points of fact, without detriment to the property of the Canadians, as the Laws of the place, in the case of particular districts of England and of foreign Countries, are maintained and adjudged in Westminster Hall. To this mode of trial Englishmen are attached, and Judges should contend for it without any disparagement to their character or office, as the intervention of a Jury, serves for no mean defence against the clamours and complaints to which Courts, where the Judges find both law and fact, are ob- noxious, and especially in such a Country as this, where they hold the mighty power of settling the question, what was, or what was not, the custom and usage, as well as the law, of the Colony, antecedent to the con- quest. A Committee of the Council of the Province had been appointed on the thirty-first of May, one thousand seven hundred and eighty seven, for promoting tlie means of Education in the Province j Schools and Su- mmaries had been much wanted, to rescii* the rising generation from that profound state of ignorance, which had so long disgraced the Province. A letter was ad- 177 by na?. dressed by thd Chairman of the Committee, to the Ca- C'H a i». tholic Bishop, and another to his Coadjutor. The bet- ^^^' ter to acquire information on the subject, questions were enclosed in the Chairman's Letters, and answers were directed to be given them.* It had been pro- jiosed that as the Trust estates, preserved at the Res- . * To Hit Excellency the Right Honorable Cvv Lobd Dorchhstsu, Cu~ vernor General of the Province of Quebec, l^c. ijc. May it pleale vouu Lordship, . THE Committee being this day assembled, in Obsdience to your Lordship's Order, came to sundry Resolves thereon, as expressive of their unanimous opinion i which, with the cause of the dt-lay of their deHberations and Report, are coatained in the Copy of their Journal hereunto annexed. All which is nevertheless submitted toyour Lordship'd great wisdom. Signed by order of the Committee, Quebec, Council Chamber, at the Bishop's Palace, Thursday, 26th November, 1789. WILLIAM SMITH, Chairman. iOURUAL of a Committee of the Cotincily charged to report on th: Subject of the Education of Youth in this Province. AT a Meeting, Thursday, 26th November, 1789 PuiisENt. " The CniEt JusTitE, Mu. Grant, •.«/.•* Mu. Dunn, ■ . Mii. BAfev, j '; , * Mr. Deleiiy, Mn. Dupjie', RsAD, — The Order of Reference, dated a 1st May, 1 78T. • Thuridai/t 31^^ ^^'(y> 1161. His LordsMip called the attention of the Council, to the great object of the education of youth, through all the extent of the Pro- vince ; and it is committed to the Chief Justice, Mr. Dunn, Mr. Ma- bane, Mr. Delery, Colonel Caldwell, Mr. Grant, Mr. dc St. Ours, Mr. Baby and Mr. Diipri, to report, with all convenient speed, the best mode of remedying the defects, an estimate of the expence, and by what means it may be defrayed. Any otlier Member assisting the Committee, to have a voice. J. WILLIAMS. Observed by the Chairman, tJiat His Lordship's order suppo.-ing ilcfects in the means of education, the duty of the Committee «ccm- ed to be to explore the causes, and point to the rennidy. . That as the subject was not capable of discussion the reference re- quired, without some local iiiformation, he had ^mo; put a vi rit ? ox ;;^'.| .III* 1. n-. Mi I" I IJ ji 178 toration of Charles lid. by the piety of the late Hono- rable Mr. Boyle, which, formerly brought a reve- nue of twelve hundred a year, as well as the funds of the Society, constituted at the Revolution in one thou* questions into the hands of Mr. Panet, one of the Canadian Law- yer?, in the hope of being able to have spread before the Co?^>iT3ittee pertinent communications from every parish of the ancient settlements, in the two disliicts of Quebec and Montreal. The questions were these — " Enquiry to extend to, " ( 1 ) The condition or present state of education. « A list of the parishes and incumbents, and of the number of the ** parishioners in each, and the amount of their respective church>re- *• venues. " The number of their schools, and the kind of instruction. What ** their support ? Can it be true, that there are not more than half a " dozen in a parish, that are able to write or read ? *' (2) The cause of the imperfect state of instruction. " What kinds of public and general tuition are established i What ** the funds i What the income i To what the uses and ends i What " the impediments ? . " A minute detail desired, that the remedy may be the better a> " dapted to the evil, and the necessity there is for proper institutions* « (3) The remedy or ttieans of instruction. The main object is *' the cultivation of knowledge. «« Suppose a union for this purpose, safe to the Catholic as well as *< Protestant persuasions, and encouraged by all enlightened and pa- " triotic characters, whatever the diversity of their religious tenets, *( is it possible to hope, to take a step towards establishing a Uni- « versity in the Province ? or to find schools introductive of a 13 ni. « versity ? How may instructors be acquired ? By what means can a " taste or desire of instruction be excited in the parishes ? . i ; «' The means must be adapted to the condition of the Colony. " { 1 ) To the strength 3nd ability of the inhabitants. «« (2) To the aid to be expected from the Provincial Legislature. " (3) The contributions probable from abroad, in money, and « books, and towards an apparatus for experiments in Natural Fhi- " losophy. Upon the first point. * "- i, « .» • "H <* Will the Chief inhabitant! concur in asking for an iacorporation i^ 179 Hono- reve- inds of thou- 'an Law- orvi^ittee dements, >er of the hurch-re- n. What lan half a d? What 8 ? What better a. stitutions* 1 object is as well as d and pa« us tenets, ig a Uni- jf a Uni- ans can a lony. gwlatiire. i»ey, and ural Fhi- )oration •* Ti sand six hundred and eighty-eight, for the propagation of Chap. the Gospel, could no longer be legally bestov\ed on the HI. American Provinces severedfrom the Empire, these funds ^^"^^"^ might be destined to the establishment of an University. •* Will the subscribers for the library place it in the hands of a cor- ** poration for a College ? ** May any thing be hoped for, in the way of private contributions *' for an erection of the establishment, in any particular place or part •* of the Province ? Upon the second point. ** What lands of the crown are there, proper to be settled, for the « use of such a Society. Upon the third point. ** Without an establishment by charter, ever^- ft will be depen- ** dant upon private confidence ; and then not.. ^ is to be expected ** from abroad. .-,-■■ ^ (( This will not be so, if the stock and revenue are in hands having •* the confidence of the Government — and may it not be expected to •• findmenoflearningfortheprofessot*schairfreefroninarrowprejndices? ** May we not flatter ourselves, that a circulai letter to the pas- ** tors of each parish, will bring us'an exact account of the parishes, ** and awaken a spirit of enquiry, and afford useful information of the <' peculiar advantages of the parishes, for the special improvement* f* of which they are capable V* ,.., • The Chairman added. That as yet Mr Fanet had not (possibly from the interruptions of his practice at the Bar) sent in any answers to these questions. That this delay haying been suggested to His Lordship in Council, upon his usual call for quickening the unreported references, the Chairman then looked for the information from the good offices of Mr. ^uby, one of the members of this Committee, who undertook to ^peak to Mr* Panet and forward the work. That the Chairman proceeded nexti to bring the heads of the clergy of the catholic communion acquainted with the benevolent in* tention of the reference ; and for that purpose the following letters were written last August. « Right Reverend Sir, ' Quehec, I3tk yfu^usl, 1789. « A Coiumittee of the Council, of which I am Chairman, have Z 2 IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) .V :^ 1.0 I.I 1.25 1^128 |Z5 us liU 12.2 2.0 ^ 1^ I ^^ /: om w /A Hiotographic Scieoces Corporation 93 WMT MAIN STRUT WIUTIR.N.Y. MSM (716) •73-4S03 is. t/i 1 180 , i '' Cttap. HI. Ill adJition to these, a small portion of the ungrantcd lands of the Crown, it was thought, might, at no dis- tant period, have relieved the generosity of those, who might have aided the establishment in the first instance; (( liad it in charge ever nince the 31 st. May, 1787» to report to the Noble Lord at the hea^ of the Government, upon the interesting 5qbjcc», of giving a spring to science upon a great scale, by an Uni- versity in tliis Province. *' The questions inclosed, are stated for acquiring some informa- tton, prcparatoiy to ^ meeting pf the Committee, and were put for that p\irpnse into private hands, \vho have not succeeded ; and are now submitted to yo\ir inspection, in the persuasion that your pow« cr and irxlination, \viil be equal to a design, v'hich, independent of ;!ic benefits of promoting the children of this country, by qualify- ing them for pubHc honors and service, is conducive to the prospe- rity of the Province, and the interests of humanjty at large. " I Ka"P transmitted another copy to your venerable coadjutor ; and am persuaded that our committee will accept yours, and hit aids, and of all the clergy under your care, with great Grati- tude ; and be very ready to co-operate with you in this honorable and great work. «• I have th,c Honor to be. Right Reverend Sir, " your most obedient and most humble servant, Monseigneur L*£v£Q()& de Quebec. , " *: *»- . «'Wm. SMITH." «* Quehtct 13/A Attgustt 1789. " Right Reverend Sir, " The inclosed queries were desigr,cd to procure information, for a report to the Gov»rnor General from a committee of the council, with a new to the erection of a University in this Province, f Having written this day to Monseigneur L*Eveque upon this subject, I send you n ropy of the queries, in U.e persuasion that your good ofliccB cipno^ be Wanting in a concern «u( such interest- ing utility. f T ha*** the honor to be. Right Reverend Sir, " Your most obedicDt and most humble leryant, Right ReY4* Mr* Ba{Lly« Coadjutor, &c. &c. "Wm. SMITH." " Quebec, 13M Auguttt 1789. "Sin. «f I h*v» the honor of four letter of this day, I shall have that of llli \^ 181 ^granted t no dis- )se, who nstance; )ort to the interesting )y an Uni« pe informa* ere put for d ; and are your pow* pendent of by qualify* the proipe- coadjutor ; irt, and his vat Grati- 1 honorable Sir, ble aervantf [ITH." ', 1789. ation, for a he council, ince. upon thia lasion that h intereit- tie lerYintt ITH.'» , 1789. ive that of much was also expected from the Crown, by a gift of Craf* the Buildings of the dissolved order of Jesuits, for shed- III. ding the Light of Philosophy and Religion over the breadth of this Continent, now a wilderness of Sava* <* returning you an answer, when I shall have maturely considered *' the important object to which it relates. ** I have the honor to be, Sir, ** Your most humble and most obedient servant, ** 'i'he Honorable William Smith. " Jbam Francois ».;y «C"*- ♦ - .. ', -5 ** Bitho^ of Quebec,** ^*SiR, - ^ ■ .:. t . , ^ .. , : " It was this morning when I received the honor of your lettter. (* I shall consider it a duty to return an answer to your demand, at <* soon as it will be in my power to do so, persuaded that you will '* assist in accomplifihing a work so useful to the Province. *' I have the honor to be. Sir, " 1' ' *' Your most humble and most obedient servant, !o - s .' ^■>i- ,' sm " Charles FRAN901S DB Caspe, ► >v:. V ,»' 1 i CI ? ' • '> - • > i . f j;; " Coadjutor at Quebec ** The Chairman then added, that he was lately honored with thi( following communicative letter on the subject, from the Right Re« verend Bishop of Quebec. " Quebec, I8/A November^ 1789. " The Honorable William Smith,! " Chief Justice. \ *:,. "Sir." , . . • « The following is the Result of my Reflections upon the scheme <' which you did me the honor of communicating by your letter of " the ISth of August. ** Nothing is more worthy of the wisdom of the Government un« •« der which we live, than the encouragement of Science by every *' possible means ; and with respect to myself, let me assure you, no- " thing can be more agreeable to my views and wishes. At the <* name of an University in the Province of Quebec, my native coun* ** try, I bless the Almighty for having inspired the design, and mj ** prayers are offered for the execution of it. However, as you give *< me to understand, that my opinion will be received with pleasure, *' I ought to suggest to the Honorable Council and to the Covmit* <• tee, in whose name, I conceive, you have written to mc, the fed* *' lowing observations ; ii 1-1 f ' tj I'i: il. 182 Char. g<*9, from sea to sea. Happy would it have been for the ^* Province, had th- original design succeeded. Several persons^ in high situations, threw obstacles in the way of its establishment, and even the Tract of the Waste " I.— It it Tcry doubtful whether the Province can, at present* ** furnish a (suiTiciciU uumbvr of studentB to occupy the masters and ** professors that would necessarily be required to form an University. *< While there remains in Canada so much land to clear, it is not to ** be expected that the country inabitants will concern themselves ** about the liberal arts. A farmer in easy circumstances, who wish- *' es to leave his children a comfortable inheritance, wiU rather bring ** them up to agriculturet and employ his money in the purchase of ** lands, than proctire them learning of which he knows nothing him< ** self, and of the value of which it is scarcely possible he should have ** an idea. Every nation upon the globe has successively given proof *' of my assertion, the saiences having flourished only, v hen there " kaive been more inhabitants than necessary for the cultivation of the ** land. This is not yet the case in Canada ; an immense space of ** cauntry, where the lands, little improved, offer on all hands, where- •* withall to mercise the industry, and stimulate the interest of the <• Kttlersw The towaa therefore stand akne for furni»lung ittudeots •• to the University. «• There are but four towns in the Province : William Henry, still « uninhabited ; Three Rivers, scarceK meriting the name of a town : <* The inhabitants of Quebec and Montreal, it is known, are not ve- « ry numerous. Bcbides, is it probable, considering the present scar« •• city of money and the poverty of the citizens, that Montreal can " send many youths to the University ? — In the course of every two *• years, ten or twelve scholars are sent from thence to Quebec to ** study Philosophy ; If more should come from tlience, the whole " trrwu would murmur. Many, for want of funds, are compelled to •« finish their studies when only in the class of Rhetoric. Yet the «• Seminary of Quebec teaches Philosophy, gratis, as well as the other «< branches of Science, and the greatest sum required from a student, •* never exceeds twelve pounds sterling per annum. Hence I con. ** elude, that the period is not arrived for founding an University at " Quebec. ••2. — I under8tan(< by Un.veuhy, a Company, Community or ** CorjKjration compobed of sev.ral Colleges, in which professors arc 183 Lands of the Crown, that had been reserved by the OiM«.' Committee of the Council of the Province, for thac ®« purpose, was diverted from its original object, and gran- ted to other persons. q.%^ . AlAmLS '■'■■ "I .r.:M ** placed tottach several Sciences The foundation then of an Univer«i- *• ty presupposes an establishment of Colleges, dependant thereon, « and furnishing ^tudcnts for it. According to tlie most esteemed *' Chronologist", the Univer»iiy of Paris, the most ancient in tlie " world, was only founded in the twelfvh century, tho' the kingdom «« of France had subsisted from the fifth. Nothing therefore, seenia <* to urge such an establishment, in a Province aewly risen into exis- « tence, where there arc but two small Colleges, and which might, *• perhaps, be obliged to apply to foreign countries for professors to (* sit in the Chairs, and for scholars to receive their Lectures. «« It will be objected that the Anglo-Americans, our neighbours, *• tho' the settlement of their country is not of long date, have never- «« theless furnished themselves with one or more Universities. Bui it " must be observed, that their proximity to the sea, which is not the <• case with us, having rapidly extetided their commerce, multiplied «< their towns, and encreased their population, it is not to be wondeivd " that they should be more advanced than we are, and that the progress " of two countries, s « differently situated, should not be exactly ahke. •« 3.— Supposing the two foregoing reflections refuted by others ** more judicious and wise, I wish to know by what plan it is pro. ** posed to govern the Administration of this Community, before I " take any step respecting the Clergy of my Diocce or the Cana* •« dians collectively. The project of an University in general does '< not meet my sentiments. I should like a move minute detail. How -..viry, by ** its constitution, is only held to instruct young Clcrgymet. for the ** service of the Diocese ; but since the conquest of the province by *' His Britannic Majesty's arms, public instruction has been volun- *• tanly and gratuitously given. Theology, the Classics, Rhetoric, <♦ morul and natural Philosophy, Geography, Arithmetic, and all « the different branches of the Mathematics are taught. It has pro- «< duced, and produces daily learned men in all the sciences they have ** stutied, capable of doing honor to their education, and to their •* country, witness, Mr. De Lery, Mr. De Salaberry, Mr. Cugnet ** the younger, Mr. Dcscheneaux, &c. without naming a great *< number of Ecclesiastics who distinguish themselvei nmon^j' our " Clergy. . A a 2 I lit 1 ': j; &1| I "V^ ^'. ■-'. ■1 1 r I' ' ' '■ /'I I.' i' iS 188 Chap. ly more than three or four Farms back, of one or two "*• acres in breadth, and of a length to make a Farm of ninety acres in the whole. It is occupied by Tenants, who hold only subject to the quit rent of one or two «« When English young Gentlemen have desired to come into the « Seminary, they have been admitted there upon the same footing ** with Canadians, without any distinction or partiality. They were " exempted, however, from attending Religious duties, differing « from the principles of theif belief. " I should not omit mentioning, that, since the conquest, the «« Bishops of Quebec have always resided at the Seminary, where it ** is made a point of duty to furnish appartments and a table for them «< gratuitously and honorably. Moreover, this Seminary has always '* been as remarkable for the Charity daily bestowed there, as for *' Zeal in cases of public contribution. " Q»«//d morals* adging by ■ the learn- the idea* the classes Btical life ; otherwise fen by the ber 1787, I youth the Seminary, rears back, :ther with id without strangers, d places of 189 Capons, or a trifling sum in money, per annum, and Chap, to Lods et Ventes, a mutation fine, one twelfth of the ^^^' . purchase money received, when the Farm is sold to a stranger. It is inheritable, devisable by last Will « trust, may, perhaps, be an additional cause of discouragement : ** But this is not within my sphere, nor i.- it with me to enquire *' whether such complaints are well or ill founded ; besides, it is my " duty and the duty of all my countrymen to render endless thanks to " The Right Honorable Lord Dorchester, for the favors he has ** been pleased to heap upon our nation, whenever opportunities ** have offered. ** Question.— 'The remedy or means of Instruction. *• What steps can be taken towards establishing a University in " this province i or schools introductive of a University i " Anttver — To this I answer, f 1.— That iccording to my first observation at the beginning of *' this letter, it appears, we are not yet arrived at the period for estab* *• lishing an University at Quebec. ** 2.— >That in order to put the province in a state of enjoying, in ** the process of time, so precious an advantage as that tif an Univer- *< sity, it is necessary to use all possible means of supporting and en- '* couraging the Education already taught in the College of Mon- treal and Seminary of Quebec. This I watch over with great "attention. Generally speaking ; the scholars, are capable, at the «« time of quitting their studies, of embracing with success any kind «• of science taught at an University, whether Jurisprudence, Physic, •• Surgery, Navigation, Fortification, &c. "3. — Another object, not less essential, for the present, would *• be to procure a third place of public instruction for youth. It <• will be asked, no doubt, by what means? I shall mention one " that is not, perhaps, impracticable. There is in the center of *' Quebec a handsome and spacious College, the greatest part of '* which is occupied by the troops in the Garrison. May not that '* College be drawn nearer to its primitive institution by substituiing •' instead of those troops, if it should be His Excellency's pleasure, '< some useful classes, such as the Civil Law, and Navigation, to *« which may be added, if approved of, the Mathematical Class now «« taught at the Seminary ? Might not that College itself, in the <* course of time, be constituted an University, and support itself (( I*. ^ i ■■fi - %**' <•• * m m lit f I ■■>;, I .? 1 E ! 1 1,7 ' ! ! I it t 190 and Testament, subject to any kind of incumbrance, alienable and divisible ad infinilum. The Censitairet or Tenants are the real land holders of the Province, or in other words, the effective and substantive power at . 1 : " in part, with the Revenues of the Estates now belonging to the ** Jesuits ? This mode of proceeding gradually to the establishment «* of an University appears to me much more prudent and sure, «• I acknowledge the meritorious services of the Reverend Fathers " the Jesuits, for that zeal with which they hare laboured in this " colony for the instruction and salvation of souls. Nevertheless, I ** should not be backward in taking immediate measures for securing *' their College as well as their other Estates to the Canadian peo- ** pie, under the authority of the Bishop of Quebec, ^ut to whom '* ought the government of the Jesuits's College belong if H were " again set on foot ? First, to Father Glapion for his life, and *• afterwards to those who should be appointed by the Bishop. Does " any one wonder at such a plan ? I will state the principles upon ** which I ground it. lo. The funds of the College will only con- *• sist of the Estates of the Jesuits. 2o. The Provmce has no " right to appropriate them to itself but for their original destina^ " tion. 3o. The propagation of the Catholic Faitl, ; is the prin- *• cipal motive assigned in all the Title Deeds. 4o. The circum- ** stances of the Donations, and the quality of the Donors would alone * < prove that Xm be their intention. The Canadians, considered as *' Catholics, have therefore a Right to those estates, which appears *' incoatestible. 5o. The instruction of the Savages, and the sub- " sistence of their Misuionarics, appearing to have greatly actuated " the Donors of those Estates, is it not fit that the Bishop of *< QuebeCf who names those Missionaries, should have it in his « power to decide in their favour, respecting the application of thac '< part of the said Estates, which shall have been found to have been ** given with that intent, rather than see them burdensome to Go- « vernment, as many of them has been for some years ? Therefore, " in preserving the Estates of the Jesuits to the Canadians under *< the authority of the Bishop, he would have a right to cause this " essential part of the intention of the Donors to be executed ; and " it is besides very probable that the College and the Public would *• become gainers by it. mbrance, nsitaireM Province, ve power ing to the Lablishment and sure, lid Fathers ed in this rtheless, I or securipg adian peo- ut to whom if it were is life, and lup. Does :iples upon I only con- ice has no al destina* s the prin< le circum* ^ould alone isidered as ich appears d the 8ub> f actuated bishop of it in his un of that have been le to Go- rherefore, ans under cause this uted ; and >lic vrould 191 of the Country. The Tenure of a Canadian Seigniory Chap. is Faith and Homage, a rent to the Crown of f^itinta, IH. or one fifth of the purchase money on every ah'enation ^*"v — of the Fief ordiharily commuted in the 1 rench time, ** Q»M/io«.— By what means can a taste ot desire for instruction ** be excited in the Parishes ? ' " y/njw?r.— This, in my opinion, should be committed to the " zeal and vigilance of the Curates, supported by the country Ma- *« gistratcs. ** A calumnious writer hath maliciously reported to the public, ** that the Clergy of this province do all in their power to keep the ** people in ignorance, in order to domineer over them. I do not ** know upon what ground he has been able to found so rash a propo- ** sition, contradicted by the care always taken by the Clergy to ** procure to the people such instruction as they are susceptible of — > ** The severity of the climate of this country ; the distances between ** the Houses of its country inhabitants ; the difficulty of assem- ** bling the children of a parish into one place, especially in the ** winter as often as it would be necessary for their education ; ** the inconvenience to a teacher of going daily to a great ** number of private houses : Such are the obstacles that have rendor- ** ed useless the desires of many of the Curates, whose efforts to " instruct the children of their pf.rishes are within my knowledge. " But in towns or villages, such as 1' Assomption, Boucherville, La ** Praitie de la Magdelaine, Terrebonne, La Riviere du Chene, &c. «« we have the pleasure of finding the people, in general, pretty well «* informed ; most of these villages are supplied with schocji masters. ** Question. — Will the principal Citizens concur in asking a Charter «* of Incorporation ? " Ansioer, — I understand a Charter to be Letters Patent fixing << and consolidating the establishment of any Society or Body what- «* soever. To which I answer, that such a Charter as should be «* immediatly procured in favour of this renovated Jesuits' College, «« might hereafter be renewed in favour of an University, which would <( afford a great support to those establishments, and much encour- « agement to the people. " Question. — Are there not lands of the Crown, which it might be proper to request the grant of, for the benefit of an University i " jfnswert— 'Time will bring all things about. On the suppcsi. il h ' ' ' p ;'■: w. "I* m ■ : I' rl I I, ' !■ 192 for two thirds of that fifth. By the reservations of the grant, the Seigniors really become the Proprietors only of the superficies of the Tract. Al' is forfeited by any use of Mines, Minerals, or Metals. Land is reserved « tion that the Estates of the Jesuits were to be left to the public *' for the education of youth ; a part of those Estates would in time " be improved, and produce sufficient funds to be able to spare a part *• for the necessary support of an University. Independently thereof, <• may wc not hope that his Majesty, full of benevolence towards the *' prosperity of his subjects, would grant them, for a work of this ** nature, some new grants en rotfire, or en Jieft out of the waste " lands of the Crown? *< Qnettion. — The funds and design being committed to such trusts *' as the Governor General may think proper, may not much be ** expected when men nf learning free from illiberal prejudices are in " the Professor's chair for the lil>eral arts and sciences ? " Answer — It seems to me I have sufficiently answered thit «* question in my third preliminary observation ; I shall only add, «♦ that Theology will always be taught at the Seminary, and conie« ** quently, this object will never be burdensome to the public. «» You have now. Sir, my reflections and answers respecting thft « plan of an University proposed by the Honorable Legislative " Council. I have informed you with freedom and sincerity, that so « early an establishment of an University at Quebec, does not ap- «' pear to me suitable to the present circumstances of the Province. «« Upon this occasion, I have laid open my views and way of thinking, " relative to the Education of our Youth. It remains that I request «' you to refer this Letter to the Committee upon the Establishment *< in question, assuring them that nothing is nearer to my wishes " than to conciliate in all things my respect for the Government and «« the Honorable Council, with what I owe to my Nation, to my *< Clergy, and to that religion which I have sworn, at the foot of the ** Altar, to maintain to the end of my Life. I have the honor to be. Sir, '"'" ' '■ Your most humble and most obedient servant, "JEAN FRANCs. HUBERT, •• Bishop of Quebec." The causes of the non-conveniion of the Committee before this day, being thus explained, the Chairman, «• leading to the diicuMion of ms of the etoriJ only ed by any J reserved I the public uld in time spare a part itly thereof, towards the irk of this ' the waste > such trusts ot much be lices are in swered this 1 only addy , andconie* Liblic. lecting the Legislative ity, that so oes not ap> Province. }f thinking, at I request tablishment my wishes rnment and on, to my foot of the vant, BERT, Quebec." tre this day, icuMion of 19S for Fo^ts, Wood for fuel to the Garrisons, and Timber CHAf,.* for Ship-buHding. Seigniors cannot refuse to concede a ^^^* ' Farm, up»on the accustomed terms, according to the hws of the Colony.. The party may take possession of the very important siubject of the reference, begged leave to obsw^e to the Committee, .f That the main enquiry (the resitlt of vrhich was to be reported to His Lordship) appeared to be, To what extent or degree, it was expedient to introduce the meant of education in this province i That certainly there could be nO division of sentiment^ respecting that elennentary instruction, necessary to the lower classes in all Countries : the iVant of which left a people in a state odaie harbarunn By these he meant, (1.) /^arixA free-schools, or a school in every village, for reading, .writing and the four common rules of Arithmetic. (2.) A Cotfn/y free school, one at least for further progress in Arithmetic, the Languages, Grammar^ B % b <»\ i«'»« • I ; i: — It, Mit. W i^ r 19^ CftAP* the land, and from that time, it becomes united to the *^' domain of the King, whose Tenant he becomes. The Seigniors are the Gentlemen of the Country, but are hot always the men of the greatest opulence ; for by the regions of His Majesty's inland Dominions^ which is only to be indulged as an object of distant prospectt the great and important questions still remained. i^A ■' How far the necessities of the Colony demand, and its abilities will permit, of a College or Academy for that improvement of the mitid, presupposed in every advancement to real usefulness ia any of the bamed professions, and indispensibly necessary to every great social collection ; and without which, it must be indebted to Emigrsat* from other Countries. A College under one Rector and four tutors, dividing the labour between them, would, in his opinion, be sufficient, for instructing the Students to be expected from all the provinces on this Continent, now remaining to Great-Britain, in Grammar, Logic, Rhetoric, Mathematics, Natural Philosophy, Metaphisics and Ethics ; and these sciences made the path, which all were obliged to walk in, to obtain any degree of Eminence in the learned professions, to give a man distinction among his fellow Citizens, and to enable him to come forward to the Magistracy and other important services of his Country. The Chairman added, that tho' an institution of this extent could not be very expensive, it would nevertheless require an union of hearts and hands, to give it the desired prosperity ; and this it certainly eouldnot want, by due guards against the illiberality of a contracted and sectarian spirit. To which end, it was his idea, the state of the province considered. That Christian Theology be no branch of instruction in this Col- lege ; but left to be provided for by tlie two cominunioin that divide the province, in such way as they elect, and by such means as they respectively possess or may acquire. That a corporation be created by letters patent, capable of Dona- nations, and perpetual succession, and with authurity to make By-laws. That the visitation be vested in the Crown. That the King's Judges and the Bishops of the province for the time being, both Catholic and Protestant, be members of the cor- poration } and the reit to sixteen or twenty of the principal Gen- niCed to the omes. The try, but are for by the is only to be and important its abilities will ent of tbe mitidy in any of the iry great social to EmignuitiK iding the labour for instructing this Continent, gic, Rhetoric, d Ethics; and to walk in, to ons, to give • >le him to come of his Country, is extent could union of hearts is it certainly of a contracted the state of the on in tliis Col- >iis that divide means as they ible of Dona- make By-laws. ovince for the ■s of the cor- rincipal Cen- 195 stib<i the indigent to their contributions for either, were answered, by g;iving their children the benefit, with a exemp- tion of themselves from the general charge ; and those which may arise in the old districts of Quebec and Montreal, from their having funds and schools already of their own, by making all such persoui also exempt, whose children really were in such course of education. If the burden was to be felt any where as heavy, it could be only in the new counties, where the colonists were occupied, in the culti- vation of lands still in a wilderness state. . „. ;(, , ^ . But even those parts of the province, young. a> they are, would probably find no cause to complain. The Noble Lord at the head of the Government, had already set apart portions of land, to encour- nge the instruction of the cliildren of their villages ; and they had uaplegrquMcl to look for other appointments for the county schools of their Dittricts ; not to mention, that the applauded merit of their fidelity to the Crown, in the late troubles, may expect aid, as soon u their wants are properly revealed, from the numerous ':haritable foundations and societies of the mother country, for which it i« to ffreatly renowned. „ , ' Least of ally as the Chairman conceived, was it to be apprehended that « Colony-College would fail, unleo* there wm in its own bowellt wmetbing repugnant to the energy eiKntial to its luccesi. i ; U \ ,( . 1 } 1 i 1 I' r ! IS 196 Chab. III. The Council stated in their Resolves— That the pro, gress of population and settlement in this Province un, der the Government of France, whatever the cause pr causes of if, vfas slow, the cultivated parts even in ihe central Districts of Quebec, Three Rivers, and It may most, assuredly expect the powerful patronage of the Crown, ^nd of all that wish well to science, so friepdly to the interests of pur common humanity : perhaps, it may be thought worthy of the National attention. The Right Reverend Bishop of Quebec was not singular in •uggesting, that a portion of the Estates of the dissolved order of Jesuits, lays open to such a purpose. It is not wW/^ asked for by the Right Honorable Lord Amherst: There is a part to be reserved for public uses j and the extent of that reservation, is a part of that confidence which His Majesty, in his great grace to his people, has committed to that Noble Personage, under whose care the province is, at a moment so auApicious to the laudable design, himself recommendstotheattentionof this Committee. There is nothing to discourage the hope of additional bene^tions «ut of his Majesty's tther Estates in the Province. There are Waste Lands in various places, and of such proximity to the old settlements, as might be sooq tenanted, to furnish a reve. liue to grow with the country, and be sufficient for the instruction* in its progress to that desirable perfection, prayed for by the good Bishop i and in which he must be joined by every friend of mankind. It happens to trusts to individuals, that the dread of a perversion of the fqnds, gives discouragements to gifts. The contrary is the |Utural consequence, of pouring the donations mto bodies of perpetual existence, with a yit// frame, fox ti noble end, an^ under the eye ef the Government, The Corporation once instiuted, miy boldly come to the foot of the Throne, and ask ^ brief fur a National Collection i Abstract from the encouragement of public Bodies, there are instances ofpri" vate opulence in many place)", with a generosity equal to that opuU cnce, and on the watch for opportunities, to devote it to enterprises for advandng the honor of the Nation, the interest oflearninfir, and th^ welfare of th^ Hitman Race, ' ^• 'i The Jesuit's spacious buildinffs, as the Bishop hp| obienred, affor^ ample apanncnti for a collefiatc life. l:-«»' t^ W MW l Ll l»— lli l i 197 Lt the prov >vince un* the cause ts even in vers, and f the Crown, interests of rthy of the singuhr in red order of rd Amherst: (rent of that esty, in hit Personage* ious to the Committee, benedictions proximity ^iih a reve- instruction* y the good of mankind. I perversion rary is the ofperpetual the eye of the foot of 1 Abstract ices ofpri< that opul> terprises for ^t and the Ted* afford Montreal, being to this day, confined to the banks Chap^ of the St. Lawrence, and the mouths of the navigable '■'• streams that fall into it. That the royal patents, grant** or concessions of the lands, were either in Seigniory or in Roture ; the latr The private subscribers of Quebec* who have already at a great cxpence made an ample collection of well chosen books, will doubtless see it consist with their original design, to lodge them in the College- library for general use. ' The Board for Commons, and the Tuition-money, will go to the support of the College, Students if it has fame, may be expected from all the provinces under the Governor General residing in this ; and the advantage of acquiring one of the most universal Languages of Europe^ may be a motjve, even in remote countries, for taking the whole circle of the sciences, in a College projected for the commence- ment of aA University in Canada* for His Majesty's American ominions. No greater rpvenue can be at first wanted, than will render the station of one Rector and four Tutnrs, worthy tiie choice of mea qualified by their morals and talents, for a work and spbcre, which the necessities of many among the learned in Europe, would lead them to wish for. And there are, whom the liope of being so honorably and ujefuUy employed, would excite to forgo even the present com- forts of local attachments, to embrace it. Advanced to the institution of a College, the Committee must perceive, that like a reservoir for watering the surrounding fields, this, as a fountain, would find Candidates in the province^ for tiie care of all the inferior schools, in our expanded population* to the ex- tremity of the British Dominions in the West ; and that therefore* tho' this was mentioned last in the chain of deliberation, it ought to liave the chief influence, even with those, who might before have been only advocates for those lower exertions* immediatly necessary to the village and county schools, For a full discussion* however, of the subject (on which any Gentleman had right to move what he thought proper, and tiy the sense of the Committee upon it) the Chairman proposed, that tl^e ^aeiiion be put singly, upon the following resolves : Mk I : ! ■ p lie rt .'!• 11 CflAP. III. t '>^: 1 1 'M ^ti'iijlii; •^' ter consisting of town lots, farms bi" small tracts, and the Seigniories larger tracts of varbus dimensions, many of which are in the rear, or at a few leagues from the con* venience of water carriage, still in forest. First f That it is expedient without delay, to erect parish pr vUIagt free-schools, in every district of the province, at the determination of the Magistrate? of the district, in their Quarter Session of the Peace. Second, That it is also expedient, that each district have a free- school, ill the centr4 or county town of the district. > Third, That the tuition of the village schools, be limited to read- ing, writing, and cyphering. _ _ ^ .i....^ .J ..,.,. Fourth, That the instruction in the district or county schools, extend to all the rules of Arithmetic, the Languages, Grammar, Book-keeping, Guaging, Navigation, Surveyings and the pra^ctical branchi-8 of the Mathematics. Fifth, That it is expedient to erect a collegiate instiution, for cul- tivating the liberal arts and sciences usually taught in the European Universities ; the Theology of Christians excepted, on account of the mixture of two Communions, whose joint aid is desirable, a# far as they agree, and who ought to be left t^ find a separate provision for the candidates in the ministry of their respective churches. Sixth, That it is essential to the origin and success of such an insti- tution, that a society be incorporated for the purpose ; and that the charter wisely provide against the preversion of the institution, ta any sectarian jjeculiarities ; leaving free scope, for cultivating the general circle of the sciences. After deliberating upon the subject at large, Agreed, that the general question of concurrence be put upon all the resolves i and it being put accordingly, the Committee concurred in them, and order that it ht reported to His Lordship, as their unanimous opinion* Signed by order of the Committee, 26th. Nov. 1789. Wm. smith, Chairman, ORDERED by His Lordship, with the advice of the Council, that the Clerk forthwith cause the foregoing Report to be prin- ted in both Languages, for the use of the Members, and that • competent number of the printed copies be forwarded to all the She- riffs in the Province, who are to take course for distributing the lame '^ts, and the oris, many of from the con* parish or villagf letermination of 00 of the Peace. ' liave a free- mited to read- Jujity schoolg, ««» Grammar, tion, for cul- he £uropean fi account of irable, a« far »te provision hes. »ch an instl- "id that the "Jtution, to livating the "* upon all • concurred P» as their 789. Chairman, • Council, be prin- d that a the She, the lame 199 That the French King's territorial revenue afose Cha#« from quints or alienation fines of one fifth of ihe consi ^ - !• deration money payable by the purchaser of the lands held in Seigniory ; and of lots et ventes of one twelfth on the sale of lands held in roture ; the lands in ro- ture ordinarily paying also Cens et Rentej the Cens be- ing one sol, or an English half pence for a front of one acre or one hundred and eighty French feet, and the rent, another sol for every acre of the concession, with a bushel of wheat for every forty acres, or two fat Ca- pons of the value of twenty sols. That the French Crown did not exact its whole dmes, but remitted a third both of the quint and lods et ventes. That the Seigniories Were parcelled out into farms, and these conveyed to the Seigniors under the charges of Cens et Rente, and subject to lods et ventes, except where a large parcel was granted in arriere fief ; on the subsequent transfers whereof a quint became due to the Seignior without Cens et rentes. That all the grantees as well of the Crown as of the Seigniors, had permanent estates, under an haben- dum to them their Heirs and Assigns. That according to the Receiver General's accounts, the territorial Revenue for the thirteen years from first among the Magistrates, and the Parish Clergy of their reipcctive Bailiwicks, that a subject go intimately connected with the Interests of the People, may be generally understood. , Council Chamber, Quebec,! S*th. December, 1789. J By Order, J. WILLIAMS. C. C. f i I f' 200 'i?*^ ^ m^* May one thousand seven hundred and seventy-'five, to first May one thousand eight hundred and eighty-eight, (comprehending arrears) was in actual receipt at the Treasury not equal to ten thousand pounds sterling. « Letter from Charles Francis Bailly, CoaeTfutor of Quebec^ and titular ' Bishop of Capsa, dated Polnte aux Trembles y 5th Jprilf 1790, ad- i» drrssfd to the Honorable William Smith, President of a Committee of the Executive Council of Quebec, on a Reference to the Council . on the means of promoting Education* , SIR AND GENTLEMEN, , In a Report of a Committee of Council on the Subject of Education, which has lately been transmitted to me, I have seen a letter sijrned, Jean Francois Hubert, Bishop of Quebec : after ha- ving read it with the most serious attention, neither recognizing the stile, noi* the language of the illustiious Prelate^ that the Canadians are so happy to have at their head, I do, notwithstanding the respect I liave for the Honorable President and the other Members of the Committee, conceive, that the whole letter is an imposition, in the name of our beloved Prelate, and a Rhapsody, ill conceived, which some one has had the effrontery to present under his venerable name Who is it that could think, that at the very moment when we are permitted to approach the Throne with a humble confidence in the R«»val Bounty for farther favours, under the protection and assist- ance of our worthy Governor, that the Bishop of Quebec, shuuM be the only person against the establishment of an University, and that too, without having consulted his Clergy, the Noblesse or the most respectable of our Citizens : he says, « without having taken any steps with regard to my Clergy, or the Canadians in general," &c. Even supposing that the Letter was really his, it wonid on!y contafn his private opinion, not that of the Province, which is asked. Permit me. Gentlemen, to communicate to you my observations, to convince you of the truth of my statement.— Tlw Rhapsodist, under the name of the Bishop of Quebec, expresses the joy he feels, from the prof'pect of the establishment of an University «« These are my wishes :" he gives thanks to God, ** for having inspired the de- sire, and hopes He will favor the d<;sign ;" but, at that very instant, this joy, this hope in God disappears; God ifispires it, and he, the Bishop, withholds the raeiins of eafeculing it, and his pious prayers 201 five, to jr-eight, t at the ing. : 'ltd titular 1790, aJ- Committee c Council Subject of ve seen a after ha* nizing the Canadians he respect rs of the }n, in the ed, which ible name* en we arc ice in the nd assisC- :> shouM rsity, and se or the ing taken eral,"&c. y contain d. ervations, lapsodist, he feels, These are d the dt- y instant, i he, the » prayers Which together vyith certain duties bf customs fixed Chap. by act of parliamept, is by the royal grace giveh to the li"» Province towards the support of its Government. become nugatory and useless, and why ? because he does iK)t think the Province contains a sufficient number of Scholars. If we are to wait until the Lands aie cleared in far as the Pole ; and without the aid of Master* and Professors, our Youth are to acquire of themselves the necessary instruction for a University— we may, accord ng to these ide<inted a C«)mitiittee, composed (if men of enlarged ruind< aiid tuligivti'iied undeistatiditigsi who have made the ijiotr effectual researched', in order t> prevent an — ignorant Father from transmitting with his estate, to his Son, Is stupidity from generaticni to generation. And what remedy cai» be mt)re effectual than the establi^huient of an University? Aware cf the advantnges of a good education, and the privileges that accompany it, the Farmer, .liappy to fmd on the return of his Son, that the stu- pid and cluwni.h manners, he t<>ok with him to College, are exchan- ged for those of decency and civihij*, \yill feel a pride {.nd snti-facti- on in increasing his efforts, tbf better to ei.uUe him to advar.re hi» eduralion, now become of,,w) much valiie^nd i^npovtance. It is only noccssaeyto c:iait $|n eye to the English Culonits ti iw? convinced, tl;i' t here the . Sciences fti>uri,h, .though the couniry is bat inconsiderably cleand, and though there are but few inhabitant'. France, with twenty.two Uuiversitiea; Italy and .'^|,>aiH which swarm with them, want husbandmen. ; Admit frr i»*itrtniMi'., with ihe wri, • t«r of this letter, that without a University, a ntiifUffous population may vegetate in igiioi:aoc*,barbarif;n)', andfaiaiicis.m — Asia, Afica,'. f-.'il/ S f '' k^V I If !« s I.: 1 202 Chap. That in exploring the causes of the tardy progressi- on of the population of the colony under the Govern- ment of France, there seems to be little or no ground for ascribing it to the non compliance of the Seigniors prove it. Is there a man in Canada, however insensible, that would not but grieve in the bitterness of his heart, that our Youth, with tlie best dispositions in the world, should be so neglected. Quebec, the residence of the Commander in Chief in North Ame- rica might be the Centre, to unite the Scholars from the different Provinces in America — in Nova Scotia, New Brunswick ; in the up- per Settlements, as well as other Districts, there are Towns which, though neither as large as London or Paris, cannot be called, desertV ed Villages. Quebec, Montreal, Three Rivers, William Henry, are more populous than the Rhapsodist states. Is it from malice or from ignorance, that he does not mention New Johnstown, Lunen- burgh and many other considerable Towns and Villages, both in Upper Canada, or in the Bay of Chaleur, which might furnish a great number of Scholars : Ought he not to confess, that a great num. ber of those who frequent, what is called the College in Canada, are taken from the Country ? The Clergy admit them, and certainly they are not the least respectable ; and there is no doubt, but that their numbers would increase if they had a better education, under more able masters. Reject the means of Education that are now of- fered, and you chuse the greatest of all evils that can happen to the Province, to the general good, and the inestimable advantage of ma> king it flourish. ' ' The following objection is equally ill founded : — •* France has sub- sisted since the fifth century to the twelfth, without a University." If all her Monarchs had been as despotic as they were ignorant, .she Would have continued so to the present hour. Does he wish to per- suade ITS, who only date as far back as two hundred years, that we should continue one thousand years in ignorahce i No man in his scnsei*, coiild entertain such an an idea, nor build his system on hi;^ conclusions. The Sciences we know languish under the Fet/a uf i^. norance, and under the lash of despotism. As to us, let us hasten to invite the Sciences to be with us, let us even seek them. Hoc agitct $ Juvenett elrcumspieU et ttmulat vot materiumque till N^'JX: duett indulgtntia qirnrit — Juvenal Sat, U^. — Remark also, that this > * Transcriber is not more fortunate in his chronology than in his op- L. % IT / ™ 203 vrith the conditions for cultivation expressed in their pa- Chap« tents or grants ; the instances of prosecutions for tak- ^"* ing an advantage of those conditions, and reuniting their Seigniories to the royal domain, being rare — ^and the position ; he confidently states, that the University of Paris, esta- blished in the twelfth century, is the oldest* If he had consulted other authors than Avocat and La Martiniere, he would have learnt, that before the ninth century, England had founded the University of Oxford, through the exertions of the greatest Monarch she ever knew, and who is called by Historians the Great Alfred, that his trusty friend, the Reverend Abbe Neot, drew up the statutes, and was a Professor of Theology in it. That the Pope Martin called it> yflma Oxonienttum Universitas, and gave it great immunities, not- withstanding the President Hainault and others may say to the con- trary. The University of Paris dates its origin from the ninth century. The Compiler likes novelty, two or three centuries more or less, are faults to be attributed only to orthography. At one time a view of the Colonics enchants him, the idea of Com- merce delights him. He there finds the means necessary to produce the establishment of a University. No doubt, the American Mu- ses, like him, delight in the noise made by caulkers of ships, and the arrival of sailors from long voyages. — ^There is an old proverb that says, Trahit suaquemque vohptas. — Unhappy Sisters of Greece^ the verdure of your groves ; hills covered with thousands and thou- sands of flowers, the borders of a clear river, flowing with soft mur- murs in the valleys, were your delight. Immortal Virgil, under the thick foliage of a Beech Tree, you enjoyed the echo of your innocent tioi^s ': Recubant sub tegmine fagl. All Nations have placed their UviWerintiies far from the sea and noise of commerce. Bologne, Sa- Umanca, Cambridge, Paris, &c. &c. &c. As to the different questions that he proposes, with respect to the management or direction of the University, they are puerile — A Cor- poration or Community — I trust, he does not mean a Convent of Ca- puchins—but let him understand what he pleases ; without looking into the dictionary, I will tell him, that a University has never been, nor ever will be, other than a body of Professors and Scholars establish- ed by public authority, to teach the Sciences and the Arts. ** Who is to have the management ?"— I ask, who has the authority to establish C C 2 ''''":■' -:''^'' ^ ' 'I 204 ■i il' 1 if 't I '.I HI. S^>!jfw^o'^>'rff cefiMtaircs so mucfi nidfe nuirierous than the King's, that the former, or the inhabitants of the Seighibdes, at all times did, and do now, constitute the main body of the landholders of the country. ■^'■''"- it ? Tl»e King. To the King, ihcrcfore, belongs the government of it, according- to the principle, ^mi dat esse, dai cons^quenfer moJum ejje. ** What rank will th.* Bishop or his Coadjutor have V* The tank that belongs to knowledge and merit in every Uuiverbity, I an- «wcr — 'I hei* i« no University in Europe, where the Mitre does not yield to the cap and to the Hood of Aristotle : Bcttidcs, Bishops in fu- ture, will be taken only from the University. " A union which will protect the Catholic and Prol^stant." He acknowledges it would be desirable : but he reniark.i, *' these arc vague assertions." Are they more so, than those contained in his letter ? *• I would before" " I understand by this, a Rector will be perpetual or removable" &c. If these expressions are vague, why does he say, that what he announces is desirable, he dreads, tie fears the danger ? What, under the sanction of the laws of Great Britain, the Royal word, the protection of His Majesty's Governor and Council, in the middle of the eighteenth century, l/g has ap- prehensions; as to ire, / have none. — On the contiary, I see with pleasure, that the Catholic ai.d Protestant will be equally protected by a wise and prudent administration. There will be none in the Chairs of our Schools but wise Professors, on the forms, none but studious Scholars. In public situations, and in our streets, we shall fmd citizens united, aiding and loving each other according to the Gospel. I will not conceal myself in a corner of a room to see whether a mother, after having worked hard in her house, and a fa- ther, as to wrhat concerns his family without doors, shall have taken Holy Water, or have made the sign of the Cross, before going to bfd. I shall go publicly in our chuichcs, and adore God and pray to him, in the language of Horace and Virgil. I shall pray fervent- ly to God, to bring back those that may have fallen into error, who are the work of his hands, and pray, that he may make them happy in the world to com«. — Let it bt also remarked, that as the edicts of the most Christian King, the Arrets of Parliaments, the Treaties of Peace, the Capitulation, nor the wisdom or foresight of the Legis- lature, have ever been able to shelter the Clergy of France and the Monks, from the assaults of the National Assembly : can he think, that any person here, can render them superior or inaccessible, to H:? 205 us than of the lute the rnirciit of rr modum V The rity« I an- ; dues not lops in fu- ^nt." He tbeise arc ned in his :ctor wiil e vague, dread», he of Great Governor ^e has ap- see with protected i>ne in the ims, none treets, we crdiiig to o»n to see and a fu- ive taken going to and pray ^ fcrvent- ror, who !m happy edicts df reaties of iie Legis- e and the he think, isible, to That th6 feudal System, if that was amongst the CMAf. causes of the non settlement and proportionable debility m» of the French colony, operating to a discouragement of '^ the royal grants, as well as the grants of the subject, those revolutions that Divii,- Providence permits from time to time? Men, w/thout prt-jiidice, appeni b to him like a snare — ^hc is afraid of btlng entrapped. Should there be a snare, it is not well coveted with leaves and flowers ; none hut him, would have lURpected that there was a snare. Men without prejudices, can be only those that are of good moraU ; not spendthrifts, misers, debauchees, however free they may be in tiieir thoughts, will be of the number of those called men, without prejudices: the Sybarites themselves would have excluded them. As to fanatics, monsters more to be dreaded, than those produced in the desarts of Africa, ought to be excluded and driven away for ever. The Man solely calculated to fill the Chair in our University, ought to be one, whose Instructions shall be ex- empt from all Questions irrelevant and foreign. Who would not laugh at Horace's ridiculous description of his Art of Poetry, and if so, how much more, if one of our Professors of Philosophy or Astro- nomy were to commence a Treatise on the right of Bishops to explain thd laws of Motions and the course of the Planets ; or a Professor of Anatomy to prove the circulation of the Blood, by the authenticity of St. Paul's Epistle to the Hebrews. •'Is it true," observes the President of the Committee, ** that by a calculation, not more than half a dozen of persons in a Parish can read and write ?" Before his having given an answer, I shall sup- pose, that the skilful Navigator, whom all nations revere, had ob- served, that at Otahite, that he only found a dozen of men, and that the Island was almost deserted ; that one of his under officers thould have discovered a dozen more men and women, would it have destroyed the testimony of the immortal Ccok, and ought we to have believed that the Island was very populous ? In observing, that on a calculation, there are a dozen or more, one is led to sup- pose, that the assertion is but too true, and that the ignorance in the Country is great indeed. •* From whence does this discouragement proceed ?'* ' ' If he had confined himself and observed, that it was owing to the want of emulation, the want of attention to children, or a want of firmness in the fathers ai.d moth»rr8 ; but no, till our ancestors shall lif I m ■ ■ III 206 Chap, there can be no just ground for holding the grantees to "'• a rigorous performance of the conditions of their grants. That it was among the main causes of that low con- dition, in which Canada was found at the British con-^ have cleared lands, have peopled the vast extent of country which lays between the forty-seventh degree which wc inhabit, and the Po- lar Circle, the name of Dorchester shall be held in ine highest vene- ration and respect. It will always be said, that by his protection, the Noblesse have been loaded with favours, and that the Cana> dians at large, have been protected ; would not one order silence to an impertinent fellow, who should say, that it was extraordinary, that a conquered people should dare to proscribe laws to those by whom they have been conquered, , r.[ . >. ... Charlemagne, invited the great Alcuinus of the English Schools^ to establish them in France ; he made him his favorite ; he enriched Iiiin with the most lucrative bciicficcs in France, ar.d the whole Cler- gy rejoiced at these advancements. Francis the First, was called the Restorer of Letters, only because he made learning flourish, by col- lecting men of letters from different Countries — The Buchannan's from Scotland, the Goveas from Portugal. The Pontificate of Leo X. was the age of the Fine Arts in Italy, from the number of lear- ned men he brought over from Greece. A Chief Justice, whose ex- tensive erudition so easily unravels the chaos of our mixed laws whose name is known with repute in both hemispheres, an able Phy. sician, that France envies, belonging to Great Britain ; who the wise Abbe Sauri has celebrated fot his discoveries, in the midst of Paris— wiic and honorable Counsellors, constantly engaged in taking care of your interests — Judges of integrity, who, with an indefati* gable 7-eal, make the circuit of our Country Parishes, to bring jui- ticc honr.e to ihc door of tlie Widow and ihc Orphan, which they have not the mcaiis to acqnire in the Capital. Those cooservators of the Peaof, ih? rhnir.cst of our fellow-citirenr, distributed through various pa;ts of i he Province to maintain the public tranquillity; do not these things speak loudly in favor of the opinion, that cur worthy Governor anticipates all our wants ; thai he has always means ready, to make us happy, that no one is forgotten, and that his be- nevolence is as impartial as it is universal • •• What means arc required for the eitaWi.shmewi of preparatory 207 antees to ir grants. low con- tish con* ntry which nd the Po> hest vene- ;>rotection} the Cana- ilence to an ary, that a : by whom h Schoolsf le enriched ?hole Cler. called the ish, by col- ichannan's ate of Leo erof lear- whose ex- »ixed laws, able Phy. ; who the midst of 1 in taking indefati. )ring ju«- lich they Dficrvators i through nquillity ; that our »y« mcaiu >t his be- reparafory quest, is deducible from the probability, that many thou- Chap. sands of families had found their account in emigrating **^' from the exuberant population of the Kingdom of France, if the government had given their lands here Schools ?" If the time is not arrived for an University, in tvhat are the preparatory Schools to end ? It appears to me, and it is an ac- knowledged principle, that the humble creature ought to imitate the .works of the Creator. God created Heaven and Earth, after fvhiclt lie created light, tho' neither birds nor quadrupeds, nor even men, for whom alone they were produced, were then in existence. — Let us have a University, and we shall have zealous Cur^s, geijerots* Seigniors, und inhabitants of good sense, who united, \^ill soon find, the means to estabhsh preparatory Scliools. WIio is there, witliout these, can believe, that Students can be collected in the vain hop»K»f an establishment, only reserved for future ages : Canadians, you will continue then to send your Children beyond the Seas, to iinidh their education. ' ''•'''' ■ . < - ,p.r; -j^ >» , i , > Here a new order of tilings presents itself. Emboldened by the sup-. posed solidity of his objections, the Bishop rises, takes his flight, and after having hovered about in the air, he falls upon new rights, seiaie*' them, and ascribes to himself, ns Bishop of Quebec, the exclusive right to the administration of the Estates of the Jesuits, and he lays claim to the whole Estate of the Jesuits. ** I shall not hesitate to tak« measures to secure their College and other property to the Canadian people, under tlie controul of the Bishop of Quebec." — After the death of Father Clapion, tlie management will belong to him that shall be appointed by the Bishop. w ' You, Gentlemen, our Legislators, tho representation of our Am- gust Sovereign, what do you think .^ What will be thouglit in Eu- rope, where your Report will appear, of those timiJ cxprcssionf.. You Canadian Gentlemen, it is an imposition on you, that your Bi- shop should have such a thought. — This SPntimcMt Dumt have hn u {Hit in his mouth— Render the homage d'-" to hii h";ir', to his virtue, to his inviolable attachment for his Sovereign and his Governor. " How to inspire a love of the Sc'unces In the different Parish's." Of whttt avail will it be to inspire a love of the Sciences, when the moan* ' of bringing it to perfection is wanting ? A writer, who asserts, that it it the policy of the Clergy to keep the people in a state ex igiio- raoc?, is conoidcrrd as a calumniator ; is the answrr to tuis ca'utnnv i-ii ■ 1 u .(; Ll!r 208 on easy terms, and especially in the fertile regions and moderate climates, on the banks of the rivers and lakes in the South and South West. ,^ ,«,a.G«i:. .ni mtf : sufficient ? He opposes, it Is the Rhapsodist that opposes the graci- ou» means offered by the Governor and Council. — " The time is not arrived to have a University," that is to say, to let the light of Sci- ence shine upon the poor Canadians. Their eyes are too weak ; clouds must be raised to intercept the smallest glimmering of light. The numerous Universities in Europe and in the South of America, the swarms of Missionaries, that continually cross the seas, w ho even sa- crifice their lives to enlighten the ignorant, prove, that the Catholics do not rject the Sciences, and »hat they cultivate the arts in all their branches. I shall stop here, it is not necessary to shew that the letter in question could not have been written by the Bishop of Quebec This letter is a convincing proof that we have need of good I^jigicians, to correct our ideas, of Philolog sts, of Grammarians, to furnish m with expressions, construction, energy, and the epistolary stile. Wick- cd Zoilus' will chatter, they have free scope. As to the writer I believe he is convinced of his own insufficiency, or of hit too preat telf-tiifficiency. If he continues to be the Proto defender of jgnorajice in the eighteenth century, let him go to Arcadia, and search for the glory and the apotheosis, and the nightingales shall chant his praise. Now, Sir, I can no lunger delay an answer which you appear to desire — You ask my opinion upon the subject, and as to the means of carrying it into execution.— Doubting my abilities, and entertain- ing a full confidence in yours, and for that affectionate attuchmcnt you have for this Country, so well known to the whole Proviuce, 1 hsj waited until I saw your Plan and Resolutions, willi a determination (o second them with all my efforts. Yes, Sir, it is full time that a Univer- sity should be established in Canada I have merely given an outline of the plan to the Piibli.-, and tlicn to stop would bo to create diocou- agement, indeed a gciicral discouragement, and to create a distrust, dif. ficult to bring people's minds back ajrain. Can we flatter ouraelvcs with the hope, that those Scholars who are now ready, will t-ver re. turn, who may never see the excecutfon of the plan. With grief our best citizens are placed between expatriation of their children, igno- rance and idleness. Are there any establishments, whose brginnings are otherwise than f mall ? Who can assure us, that vur Gracious So- 209 om and nd lakes the gracJ- fme is not ht of Sci- k ; clouds fht. The lerica, I he even sa- Catholies in all their letter in bee This ^icians, to furnish i>« le. Wick, writer, I too great norajice in 1 for the (ii« praise, appear to he means t-Mitertain. tachmont ice, 1 had illation to a Univer- outline of ' diocou* :rust, dif- ouraelvct fYer re- grief onr I'n, igno- rginungs Rcions So- III. ' That the discouragement of that System to the set- Chap, tlement of the old French grants, must in future great- ly increase ; the population of the Province depending noto upon the introduction of British subjects, who are vereign will be always so well disposed towards us, and that we shall always have so good a Governor ? Means cannot be wanting — nor need we look for them in the bowels of the Earth. Industrious per- sons will bring them forth, and clear sighted people will find them out. What an example ! What hopes does not the respectable person, just dead, give us, and whom we all regret. Mr. Sangui- net, illustrious citizen, after having passed with honor through the different grades of Society, as good a Patriot, as a zealous Catholic, leaves us, when dying, a considerable sum of money, a Seigniory, the revenue of which must increase, — A striking proof, that the Canadians sigh for a good education, nor are they surpassed by our neighbours, in the love and zeal for the public good. If the plan for the University had been sooner known, how many of our Citi- zens might have anticipated his example. As to the Professors, they cannot all be found in the Province : but a reciprocal good understanding will procure thrm soon for us : irreproachable manners, a mind enlarged by knowledge and a love of the sciences, will qualify them, and prepare them for our choice. The Christian Theology being left to each Communion, it is of little consequence, who teaches Aristotle and Euclid. — Catholics and Pro- testants being equally the object of a constant and vigilan* attention, all jealousies ought to die away, and our wise and liberal Govern* ment has always shewn the desire to obtain such a happy union. The thickness of the walls, the spacious appartiiu-nls, the num- ber of Colleges, ought not to deter us Some Universities in Eij. rope are renowned, that have but a small College : the talents and reputation of the Pro&ssors are the ctscntial requisites. Four Pro. fesstirs and a Rector, as the Honorable President thinks, arc all tint are wanted. * " As to the number of the Parishes and their Inhahi'.aiits, and the Ecclesiastical Revenues you have been acquainted witti their num- bers and extent. What it tht nature and numbtr of the Sc hilars and Collmt t:ta* 'ithed? ' - ' '^ ••" Dd m hlUhed . ( ■ pi '•i a f .: J* ?. I I I, i!''-: U: 210 Chap, known to be all averse to any but English tenures ; and the Canadian Seigniors of course be left without a hope of muhiplying their censitaires, except from the predi- lection of the descendants of the French planters, to usages no longer prompted by the motives of interest, nor recommended by example. I know of none established by Public Authority in Canada. To the kindness of the Gentlemen of ihe Seminary of Quebec, and to the Citizens of MontreaI,we are indebted for those we have at present. There are several Cures that have Schools for teaching Writing, Reading and Arithmetic in the Parishes. No others are estal>li8hed at present. I do not see any reason to prevent the Bishop visiting the English Schools. At least, as a citizen, he ought to encourage every one, labouring for the public good. I think, I $hould do injustice to the Subscribers of the Quebec Library, to suppose, that they would not give free access to their Library. The books belonging to the College, I am sure, would always be at their •ervice. Fearing that I have been too diffuse, I leave a task, far beyond my strength. I conjure, you, Sir and Gentlemen, by all that is sacred, as one of the most faithful subjects of the best of Kings, as holding a distinguited rank in the Church of Canada, as a Canadian attached to his country by the strongest ties, to pursue with diligence, this freat and honorable enterprize, which cannot fail to add to the joy, and satisfaction of all the citizens of the Province, and will unite their hearts and cement their union for ever — Second the good intentions of our Governor j that he may see the steps he has taken, crowned with success. £l sAa et rath jtuJiorum in Cssare tantum Solus enlm trista tmptstate Catmtnas '' RespUet Juvenal — Sat. 10. What glory for you, Gentlemen, to see your names placed at the head of the List of the first Promotcisi uf the University, by the hands of gratitude. These are my sentiments, in which I have the honor to be, ice, CHARLES FRANCOIS DE CAPSE, Coadjutor of Quebec. s res; and Lit a hope le predi- iters, to interest, nada. To 'Cy and to ve have at r teaching otheri are the Bidbop e ought to I think, I library, to ary. The be at their ar beyond X is sacred, as holding n attached l^ence, this to the joy, unite their intentions I, crowned iced at th« , by the be, &c, PSE, f Quebec. 21Z That the grant of the waste lands of the Crown in Chap. free and common socc^ge, is essential to the growth, 1"* strength, defence and safety of the Province. That unless the old French Seigniories can be set- tied upon terms as advantageous to the husbandman as the lands of the Crown, their land market must be at a stand, to the detriment of the proprietors, until the cultivation of the waste lands of the Crown, is damped by their remoteness from all water carriage, and the conveniencies and benefits of commerce. That with the advantage of a vicinity to the naviga- ble waters and a conversion of the tenures, the Seignio- ries will probably be the first to be fully cultivated, and with an increase of profit to the proprietors, under that ample dominion, which they will then enjoy over their lands, for settling them upon such terms as themselves may concert, to form a populous tenanty, and lay a foundation in property y for that perpetuity of their names and families, which a wise and well balanced govern- ment will be inclined to encourage and support. That the King's Rotdner tenants, cannot fail to wish for a conversion and discharge from the Cens rente and Lods et Ventes, and all the other feudal burdens con- nrcted with the tenure under which they now hold. That the motives of interest will naturally make it the desire also of every Seigniorial censitaire, to stand upon the same free foundation of exemption with the other landholders of the Colony ; but as this commuta- tion for a discharge of the rents and dues to the land, lords, must necessarily depend upon private conventions between them and their tenants, and involving conside- rations, out of the contemplation i of any but the parties Dd 2 v. J I!, I i ; Hi ', n 212 Chap, reciprocally interested, their cases cannot be the objects *"• of special and particular legislative provision ; perhaps the surest means of securing to the tenant a fair com- pact, will be to hold the Lord to his dues to the Crown, until he has discharged his tenants, from all the feudal incumbrances in his own favour, , . , , ' That the prerogative is competent to put the waste lands of the Crown, under a Soccage tenure. But the legislative interposition is necessary, to make that tenure universal. m t That if this is to be the work, not of Parliament, but of the Colony Legislature, the royal instructions given for the greater security of the property of the sub- ject, will require an act with a probationary or suspend- ing clausei until His Majesty's approbation can be ob- tained. I That an absolute and universal commutation of the ancient tenures, tho* for a better^ would be a measure of doubtful policy ; but that no substantial objection oc- curs, against giving such individuals that benefit as de- sire it ; and especially to such of the Seigniors whose tenants or censitaires, shall conceive it to be for f heir own, as well as for the interest and benefit of their land- lords; and may therefore signify their consent to th. change. ^ - ^ "v - It might, also, have been observed by the Commit, tee, that among the causes of the non settlement of the Country is the divisibility of Property unde^ 'ht- French law. Every day*s experience proves the necessity of changing the law in this respect. It is well known, that m 213 le objects perhaps air com- ; Crown, lie feudal :he waste But the at tenure rliament, tructions • the sub- suspend- in be ob- >n of the easure of ction oc- it as de- rs whose for their leir land- ni to th«- Commit, ntof the : French essity of wn, that wh^ii a habitant or Parmer'dies seized of a farm en cen- Chap , sive^ of the ordinary size of ninety acres, and happens ^* *• to leave six children, that the proportion of each, which is fifteen acres in superficies, not sufficient for the sub- sistence of a family, and the consequence is, that po- verty and wretchedness ensue. If they in their turn have children, this property is again subdivided a- mong them, and thus, by repeated subdivisions, they are reduced to a starving condition. Towns depend upon the prosperity of the Country, and suffer if the lands are not cultivated ; the consequence is, they often experience the dreadful effects of scarcity : on the contrary, if the inhabitants were obliged to take up new lands from their Seigniors, they by the cultivation of them, would, in advancing their own prosperity, contribute to produce abundance and happiness throughout the Colony. This evil, the French Go- vernment was apprised of, before the conquest, and wisely guarded against it, by an Edict, which was issued by the French King, in the year one thousand seven hun- dred and forty-five. That Ldict stated, that no habitant should build a house, nor stable in stone or wood, un- less his farm contained an arpent and a half in front, by thirty or forty arpenis in depth, under a peniilty of one hundred livres and the demolition of tlie hous;; and stables so erected. In several instances, judgments have been had against certain inhabitants, who had con- travened this law, and their houses have been demolished. It has become a question, whether this Edict: c;.n be put in force under the English Government. 0\\ ilic other hand, an Act of the Legislature might be passed, decla- ring the law oi partage, should no longer be of any vali- dity, and in its place it might be declared, that children of future marriages should inherit, according to the right Chap. III. 21* of primogeniture. This would efiectually correct the evil which operates so powerfiilly to prevent the settle- ment of the country, the bad effects of which are ap- parent to every person in the country. !;' ■■ !il,: il IN .pir General Hope, as it has been already stated, re- turned the same summer he went to England, and died at Quebec in the month of April of the following year; he was succeeded by General Alured Clarke, who had been Governor of Jamaica, and came to this Province in the expectation of obtaining the Chief Command by the then supposed resignation of the Governor in Chief. He remained here until the year one thousand seven hundred and ninety. three, and a short time after that, was employed on an expedition to the Cape of Good Hope ; cm the reduction of which settlement, he was ho- nored by his Sovereign with a Red Ribbon. His admi- nistration was a mild one, and his deportment was that of a gentleman. The Committee appointed to solicit a change of Go- vernment, had not ceased to njake their representa- tions for that purpose, since the establishment of the Quebec Act ; they held a meeting in the year one thousand seven hundred and eighty-four, at \ hich they drew up a Petition, signed by the ancient am new sub- jects, addressed to the King ; copies of whic' were also transmitted to both Houses of Parliament. They stated, that after the Conquest of the Province of Canada by the Arms of Great Britain, they in com- pliance with his Majesty's gracious and royal Proclama- tion, bearing date the seventh day of October, one thou- sand six hundred and sixty-three, had settled and became piir: #p 215 established in the new acquired Colony of Quebec, in the full reliance on the faith of the Grown of Great Britain, as expressed in that Proclamation, for the en- joyment of those Laws, that freedom and security in Canada, which the prindples of the English Cc *stitu- tion afforded in every part of the British dominions in America. ,,iying >f Parliament, onstitution to ves or Assem- id Districts of esty'sold and ^lajesty's wis- ; Assembly be three years. ess than thirty measure be. unless at least That the ap- 217 pointment of the Members may be during eir resU dence in the Province, and for life ; yet subject to tem- porary leave of absence, as mentioned in the eleventh article, and that they serve as Councillors, without fee or reward. ■ <^ S. That the Criminal Laws of England be conti« nued as at present established by the Quebec Act^ 4. That the ancient laws and customs of this coun- try, respecting landed estates, marriage settlements, in- heritances and dower, be continued ; ytt subject to be altered by the Legislature of Quebec, and that owners might alienate by witl^ as provided by the tenth section ©f the Quebec Bill. 5. That the Commercial Laws of England, be de- dared to be the laws of this Province, in all matters of Trade and Commerce, subject to be changed by the Legislature of Quebec j as in the preceding article. 6. That the Habeas Cdrpus Act, the Thirty-first Charles IL be made part of the Constitution of this Coutitry* : ' 7. That the optional Juries be granted on all Trials in Courts of original Jurisdiction. That they be regu- larly balloted for, and a pannel formed as in England, either in the case of an ordinary or a special Jury, at the optioh of the party applying for the same, and that nine members out of the twelve, may in civil causes, be suf- ficient to return verdicts. Chap. 111. li i1 n '->.'- i E e i 1 'i k '; 11: 1'': |; ' . p-i Hi; J- ii Chap. IIL 1 ■, • (' 1- 1 r , ii- ' 218 8. That the Sheriffs be elected by the House of As- sembly, and approved and commissioned by the Gover- nor, at the annual Meeting of the Legislature, That they hold their appointments during the period elected for, and their good behaviour j and that they find rea- sonable security for a faithful discharge of their duty. I , : .■.r^ 9. That no Officer of the Civil Government, Judge or Minister of Justice, be suspended by the Governor or Commander in Chief for the time ; from the honors, duties, salaries, or emoluments of his appointment ; but with the advice and consent of the Council, for the af- fairs of the Province ; which suspension shall not con- tinue after the annual sitting of the Council, unless it be approved by the same. Ihe cause of complaint, if approved, to be thereafter reported to his Majesty, for hearing and judgment thereon. * .. ;; r it' .;. 10. That no new office be created by the Governor or Commander in Chief for the time, but with the ad- vice and consent of the said Council, and to be appro- ved at their annual Meeting, as in the preceding article. 11. Th\t all offices of trust be executed by the Principal* in the appointment,unlessby leave of absence, from the Governor, with advice and consent of his Council, which leave of absence shall noi: extend to more than twelve months, or be renewed by the Gover- nor, but with the approbation of the Council at the an- nual session. . ... i,,.i„». , ^^ {*.„'«., * Vid. Act 32 Geo. HI. Cap. 75, which declare*, that every Colooj Office ah»Il be executed by the Patentee, and not by Deputy in the Colonies. There are three Officer* in this Province, who are not resident, namely, the Lieutenant Governor of the Province, the Lieut. Governor of Gasp^, the SeereUry of tke Province, and Clerk of the Crown. 219 ise of As- le Cover- re* That )d elected find rea^ ir duty. nt, Judge Governor le honors, lent ; but 'or the af- not con- unless it iplaint, if jesty, for GoverEor 1 the ad- 3e appro- tg article. by the fabsence, nt of his xtend to le Cover- at the an- liTJ:.';it 7 Office thali There are le LieutcDaot cretary sf tke 12. That Judges be appointed to preside in the Chap. Courts of the Province, to hold their places during life, "^* or their good behaviour : and that they be rewarded with sufhcient salaries, so as to confine them to the functions of administering Justice. That every cause of accusatiou for a removal, proceeding from the Go- vernor, shall follow the rule laid down in the ninth ar- ticle. And every cause of accusation for a removal, on the part of the public, shall proceed from the House of Assembly, and be heard by the Council ; which if ivell founded, shall operate as a suspension ; and in ei- ther case, be decided in appeal, and reported to his Ma- jesty. • •■ Vt,,, ; I V-. v'.^ ■•'• •'.-!'.•.:'" ■''.,.:.' 1 3. That Appeals from the Courts of Justice in this Province to the Crown, be made to a Board of Council, or Court of Appeals, composed of the Right Honora- ble the Lord Chancellor, and the Judges of the Courts 4n Westminster Hall. 14. That they begged leave, humbly to represent to his Majesty, that from their proximity to the United States, who from situation and climale had many ad- vantages over them, the internal regulations for pro- moting the trade, agriculture and commerce of this Province ; had now become more intricate and difficult, and would require great care and attention on the part nf the Legislature hefe, to watch over the interests of this Country. They therefore requested, that the As- sembly might have the power of laying the taxes and duties, necessary for defraying the expences of the ci- vil Government of the Province, and for that purpose, that the laws now erijiiing, laying taxes and duties to be levied in the Province, might be repealed. E e 2 tl ■ T.- } ■ ;f:i I: Chap. III. 220 That such were the prayers and intreatics of his Majes- ty's loyal Subjects of this Province, and in full confidence ihey trusted, that his Majesty would relieve them from the anarchy and confusion which th n prevailed in the Laws and Courts of Justice of the Province, by which their real property was rendered insecure, trade clogged, and that good faith, which ought, and would subsist among the people, and which was the life and support of commerce, was totally destroyed. And that he would be graciously pleased to concur in securing to them» by Act of Parliament, a Constitution and Government on such fixed and liberal principles, as might promote the desire of his affectionate subjects of this Province and> of rendering this mutilated Colony a bright gem in the Imperial Crown of Great Britain, and that might call on the present generation for their unceasing acknow- ledgments and gratitude, and upOn the future, tc feel as the present, that the security and happiness of the people and Province of Quebec depended on an union with, and submission to, the Crown and Government of Great Britain. Mr. Lymburner was employed as the Agent for the Subscribers.— He exerted himself to forward the views of his Constituents, and ultimately proved successful. His Majesty's Ministers had some time before determin- ed to tiike the subject into consideration, and the heads of a Bill to be presented to Parliament, were prepared by Mr. Secretary William Wyndham Grenville, and sent to the Governor General, for his corrections, which his local knowledge of the C ountry was so well able to supply. His Lordship was desired to consult with the then Chi«;f Justice,* on the subject of the reference. • William Smith, Ek}. 221 lis Mdjes- onfidencfc em from ed in the by which clogged, d subsist upport of le would them, by metit on imote the ince and, m in the light call acknow- ;, tc feel ss of the an union nment of at for the the views iiccessful. letermin- the heads prepared /ille, and ns, which •11 able to with the eference* After a full investigation and discussion of the several Ghap. clauses, to which many important additions and amend- ^^*' ments were made, the Bill was returned to England, ^ and laid before Parliament, where it was again discussed, amd finally received the Royal Sanction. The political frame thus established for Canada, was assimilated, (as near as the condition of the Country would permit) to that Constitution which has made England the admira- ,tion of the world. How flattering to Canadians of all ranks, that this corner of the Empire should have been the first of its remote appendages upon that envied foundation; that rare structure of human policy ! which, adverting to the natural, inevitable and providential dis- tribution of mankind, into rick and poort with qualities appropriate to their conditions, and of adverse biasscs, restrains the spirit and vices incident to each class, and creates a controul upon both, by the elevation of a third order, which in its turn, is corrected by the other two, and all singly and conjointly operating the welfare of the whole.* ^ • , .5 The Act of Parliament, which established the new 1791. Constitution, commenced by Proclamation, on the twen- ty sixth December, on the dissolution of the old Coun- cil : and the Provincial Parliament met for the first time, on the seventeenth of December of the following year. The Members of the Executive and Legislative Council were ; • As men arc Fond of introducing into other place* what they have eitabliihed among themielvei, they (meaning Great Britain) have given the people of their Colonie«, the form of their own Government ; and this Government, carrying proipcrity along with it, they have formed great Nationi in the forctti they were aciu to inhabit MoNTKsgiricu— Vol. 1. p. 3nj. I ;il': 1 \f m'. 1 V k p. i ' 1 '■ iif?, 1' . Chap, 11. 222 EXECUTIVR COUNSELLORS. * William Smith, Chief Justice, | Thomas Dunn, Paul Roc de St. Ours, | Joseph De Longueuii, Hugh Finlay, | Pierre Panet, Fran9ois Baby, | Adam Mabane, LEGISLATIVE COUNS LLORS. William Smith, Chief Justice, | Fran9ois Baby, J. C. Chaussegros De Lery, | John Collins, Hugh Finlay, ■...--. Thomas Dunn, Paul Roch De St. Ours, Joseph L. Dc Longueuii, Edward Harrison, : I (.'harles De Lanaudiere, I George Pownall, .^-u,^ I R. A. De Boucherville, I J(ihn Eraser, v^ww-v > ^ Sir John Johnson, Bart. Tins year was also distinguished by the arrival in Ca- nada, of his Royal Highness Prince Edward, since crea- ated Duke of Kent and Strathern,) fourth son of I lis Most Excellent Majesty King George the Third ; His Royal Highness had been quartered with his Regiment at Gibraltar, and there remained several years : leaving that Garrison, he arrived with his Regiment, (Royal Fu- sileers)in the Mtonth of August, at Quebec. During his residence here. His Royal Highness endeared himself to the Inhabitants of the Country by his condescension and politeness, by that benevolence of disposition and affa- bility of conduct, so characteristic of every branch of tlie House of Hanover. He left Canada on the break- ing out of the war with France, and distinguished himself at the reduction of Martinique ; after which hf returned to Gibraltar, to take upon himself the conunand of that important Fortress, and there established that whole- some discipline, then so necessary to correct the evils that had been introduced by his predecessor. The inhabit. ants of Canada had overindulged the hope, that he would gueuil, i. ^A^:C- laudiere^ I, Lv0. lerville, Bart. n al in Ca- ice crea- 1 of His rd ; His egiment leaving oyal Fu- iriflg his raself to sion and md afta- anch of B break- himself ^turned I of that whole- vils that inhabit, e would 223 have returned as the Governor General of the British Chap. Provinces in America j — a Post, he would have filled m« with honor to himself, and to the great advantage of the Colony, but if this gratification was not to be indulged them, they trusted that he would have been appointed Vice Regent of the British Dominions, resident ia Lon- don — An office the more important and necessary, as the wants of the Colony,- would, through such a chan- nel, have speedily been conveyed to the Royal Ear. The Governor had received orders from England, to divide the Province into Elective Districts, and to apportion the number of Representatives fixed by Act of Parliament, to each County, City, Town and Bo- rough. In making this distribution, regard was had, solely, to the male Population in each, and without reference to the extent of the Counties to be created. The better to effect this object, and to ascertain the number of males, a census was taken in one thou- sand seven hundred and ninety, and it was found that the number of males above the age of sixteen, a- mounted to thirty-seven thousand four hundred and eleven. According to this statement, the Province then contained two hundred and twenty-four thousand four hundred and sixty-six souls. Twenty-four years have elapsed since that period, and it may now reasonably be supposed, that by natural increase, and emigra- tion from the United States, and other places, the whole population may amount to, four iiundred and fifty thousand souls. The Governor, anxious to be informed by His Ma- jesty's Ministers, how far Acts of Naturalization or Letters of Denization might be granted to Aliens com- 224< Chap. HI. »■ f t I' r, ing into this Province, applied to the Secretary of State in England, to obtain His Majesty's commands on this subject. Those important questions were submitted to His Majesty's Government, and his Servants were of opinion, that the granting the right of a British Sub- ject to an Alien, was a matter of Imperial concern on- ly, and that it ought not to be exercised by a subordi- nate Legislature; indeed the Governor was, by his in- structions, peremptoiily forbid assenting to any act of Naturalization, and every attempt by the Provincial Le- gislature to assume such a power, was to be firmly re- sisted by him. It may also be observed, that in the Ca- nada Bill, wherever Naturalization was spoken of, it was always distinctly expressed, that the provision re- lated only to a person naturalized by an Act of the British Parliament, and a naturalization in any other mode, even if liable to any other objections, could not, with- out the alteration of the Canada Act, convey the rights therein given to persons naturalized, in the mode there- in pointed out The naturalization of Aliens in the Colonies, is provided for by the Act of his late Majesty, Cap. 7, by the operation of which Act, all Aiieiis with- in His Majesty's Colonies in North America may be- come naturalized according to the terms and conditions therein contained ; and, it was observed by the Secre- tary of State, that with respect to applications for ob- taining the rights of denization, grounded on the par* ticular situation ar.J merit of individuals. His Majesty would consider the eame, with a view to the granting Letters of Denization, in such cases as might be thought to merit his Royal iavor. The allotment of lands to be reserved for the Crown and Clergy, was also a subject of importance% 225 of State on this itted to were of ih Sub> em on- subordi- ^ his In. y act of icial Le* rmly re- ; the Ca- in of, it ision re- e British r mode, >t, with- le rights e there- in the Majesty, lis with- [nay be- mditions ^ Secre- . for ob- he par^ Majesty ^ranting thought for the lortvice. ^t had been recommended by the Governor, that the Chap, j-eserves for the Crown and Clergy shou d either be in ^^^* distinct Townships, or in the -comers of each Town- ship. This was objected to by HisMajesty*s Ministers, 1793. upon the principle, that reserves so situated, would be highly unfavorable to the Crown and the Clergy, and Avould place the shares so to be reserved and allotted in a situation of less relative benefit than the lands of equal extent granted to individuals. The Act of Parliament provides, " That they shall be as nearly as the cir- *^ cUmstances and the nature of chetase will admit, of *' the like quality as the lands in respect of which the ** same are so allotted and appropriated, as shall be as "*' nearly as the same can be estimated at the time of ** making such grant, equal in value to the Seventh part *' of the lands so granted.** In order that the future encre&^e of value of the Reserves might in some de« gree be proportioned to the encreasing Value of the lots granted to individuals ; and that this could in no other- vrise be effectually provided for, except by their being as much as possible contiguous to, and interspersed with, nil the different allotments of individual property. That the reasons that had been stated by the Governor, for a- ilopthig a different system, were inconsistent with the spi- rit and intention of the Parliamentary provision, and that the Governor should carefully keep in view the general idea of rendering the Reserves as beneficial as possible, and that in Townships bordering on the water, the reserved lands should be so situated as to enjoy their full proportion of that advantage, according to the re* lative quantities of the private grants and the reserves established by tne Act.* It is much to be regretted, * Secretary Grrnvtlle't Letter to Oovirnor Clarke,->8th Nov. 179V. Ff Chap. III. 226 that the former plan had not been adopted, as the set- tlement of the waste lands has been retarded by adhe- ring to a system so unfriendly to the population and growth of the Province. ?•'■!; i,.i Ji'f I- The erection of Parishes in Canada, is a subject that has frequently been agitated, and is well worthy of se- rious attention. The right to create new parishes has been assumed by the Romish Bishops in this Province, in several instances ; but nothing can be clearer or more decided, than that the assumption of such a right is an usurpation of a prerogative of the Crown. The Romish Bishops have never been vested with any au- thority for that purpose by the King of Great Britain, nor had they that right when Canada was under the do- minion of France. The King of France, alone, exerci- sed this right ; and by his authority the limits to be gi- ven to the Parishes were established. It appears, therefore, the more extraordinary, that any attempt should have been made, under the British Government, to divest the Crown of its just rights and privileges. Such usurpations have, however, been made. It may be sufficient to instance the ease of the Parish of St. LSon le Grand, which was erected into a new Parish by that title, having been first disjointed from another Pa- rish, of which it made a part, called St, Antoine of the Riviere du I oup, in the District of Three Rivers, This Parish of 5/. Lion, le Grand, was created by virtue of the mandate of the Romish Bishop. The question, how- ever, as to the right of creating this Parish, came, inci- dentally into discussion, by an action, in which Pierre Lavergne and others, were Plaintiffs, against Laurent Bertrand, the Curate of St, Leon and others, Defend- ants. The cause was heard at the District Court of r ,5' the set- ff adhe- ion and ject that f of se- hes has rovince, or more right is I. The any au- Britain, the do- , cxerci- 3 be gi- appears, attempt mment, ivileges. It may of St. arish by her Pa- re of the s. This irtue of ►n, how- ne, inci- II h Pierre Laurent Defend- !ourt of 227 Three Rivers, and much to the surprise of the persons Chap. concerned, as well as to the Public, judgment was giv- "^' en in favor of the Defendants. The Plaintiffs in the Court below, dissatisfied with the judgment, by the ad- vice of their Counsel, put in an Appeal, and the cause was again heard at the Court of Appeals at Quebec, where the question underwent a more elaborate discus- sion. The Attorney General was brought in as an in- tervening party, and filed his reasons of intervention, and his conclusions on the part of the Crown, stating. That for and on the behalf of our Sovereign Lord the King, in obedience to the Rule or Order of this Honorable Court in this cause made on the twenty- seventh day of April last, for moyens d' intervention and conclusions, saving nevertheless and reserving to our said 1 iord the King the benefit of all other moyens d* in- tervention and conclusions whatsoever, doth propound and alledge as follows : That there is no such Parish as the pretended Parish of St, Leon le Grand, nor hath any such Parish at any time been legally erected in this Province. , . , That by the I^aw of the Land, the right of erecting Parishes in this Province, is vested solely and exclusive- ly in our Sovereign Lord the King, and not in any other peison or persons, body or bodies politic or corporate, lay or ecclesiastical. ' ^ . ;1^.■' "•: ■ , ^.'^-J? .v.. ■••; ';' ■-::■■.,' ^ - -■•■ - • That the office of the Roman Catholic Bishop of Quebec was annihilated, and all the powers inherent therein transferred to His Majesty by the Capitulati- ens of Quebec and Montreal, by the conquest of Ca- F f 2 ■A' '■■' ■ ^ i m , ) I i Chap. III. 2^8: nada, the Treaty of Peace of tenth of February, one- thousand seven hundred and ^xty-three, the Statutes. 26th Henry VIIL cap. 1. the 1st of £Uzu cap. 1. and 14th Geo. III. cap. 83., and that the said office hath not at any time since been by law re-established. That no such office as superintendaat of the Romish Church^ es hath at any time existed in this Province, and that na person or persons hath or have been at any time ap^ pointed by our Sovereign Lord the King, or under his. a.uthority, to this office, ■ That admitting, that in law there exists such a cha- racter as the Roman Catholic Bishop of Quebec, yet all the rights and powers of his office, with respect ta the erection of Parishes, was taken away and destroyed by the thirty first article of the Capitulation of Mon« treal, dated the eighth of September, one thousand se- ven hundred and sixty, and have never been restored^ That the ordinance made and passed by the Gover- nor and Council of the late Province of Quebec, in the thirty-first year of His Majesty's Reign, intituled, " An Act or Ordinance concerning the building and repairing of Churches, Parsonage Houses and Church Yards** is wholly, and altogether null and void for the following^ among other reasons :— Because it is repugnant to the Statutes 26th Henry VIII. cap. 1. and 1st £liz. cap. ]. Because it is an ordinance touching Religion, and never received the assent of His Majesty. Because it is an ordinance which lays a tax or duty to aid an assessment on the inhabitants of the several Parishes of this Pro* vince, for the building and repairing Churches and for other purposes. Because it abridges the King's su* premacy and Royal prerogative, is in express cont :;f! 229 tradlctlon to the letter of the capitulation of Montreal, and consequently, as it infringes upon the rights of the Crown and the principles of the Constitution of the Colony, far exceeds the powers vested by the Quebec Act in the Governor and Legislative Council of Que- bec, .-i'" .;' 'i.' i' I .. \ Because it empowers the titular Roman Catholic Bishop to exercise in virtue of his office, an authority derived from the See of Rome, which, by the law of the land, cannot be done in any of His Majesty's domi- nions without the assent of the King, Lords and CoI^- mons of the Imperial Parliament of the United King- dom of Great Britain and Ireland.. ,^^^^^ ^ , _ That admitting the above mentioned ordinance to be in force, it authorises the Governor of the Province and the titular Catholic Bishop of Quebec, with the sanction of the Crown to make an extra parochial cir- cuit of ground into a parish and no more, and does not authorise them to destroy, limit or divide a Parish alrea- dy erected. «. v ,;:. . .:.; : „ ■ .. • That the ordinance aforesaid enacts, that the same course shall be pursued as was requisite before the conquest, according to the laws and customs at that time in force and practice, and that such laws and customs required the sanction of the Crown to the erection of every Parish by Letters Patent, and that such Letters Patent should thereafter be duly enregis- tered. That without such sanction, so given, and so enregistered, the erection of a Parish was by the said laws and customs at that time in force and practice, null and void, and that no such sanction hath been so given Chap. III. 230 to the' erection of the pretended Parish of St. Leon le Grand, or hath been so eniegistered. That there is no legal evidence whatever of the erection of the pretended Parish of 5/. Leonle Grand, of the erection of a living with cure of souls thereon,, or of the appointment of Laurent Bertrand to be the Cure or Rector thereof. PK- i. Wherefore^ inasmuch as the judgment in this cause giv> en in the Court below, hath sanctioned an usurpation of the undoubted rights and prerogatives of the Crown, by declaring the supposed erection of the Parish of Su Leon le Grand by the titular Roman Catholic Bi>- shop of Quebec and the Commissioners appointed for the erection and repairs of churches, parsonage houses and church yards, and the supposed nomination of Lau- rent Bertrand to be Cure thereof, without a commis- sion or appointment from His Majesty to be valid in law, to the manifest prejudice of His Majesty. The said Attorney General humbly prays, that the said, judgment of the Court below may be reversed. After solemn deliberation, the Court reversed the judgment of the Court at Th;ee Rivers, with costs to the Appellant Lavergne, as well in the Court of Ap- peals as in the Court below. His Majesty King George the Third, at all times anx^ ious to promote the spiritual as well as temporal pros- perity and happiness of his Subjects, took into his Roy. al consideration the necessity of establishing the Church of England in Canada on a sure and solid foundation : The better to effect the object His Majesty had in view, 231 ne, wisely, constituted the Provinces of Lower and Up- per Canada into a Bishop's See, and called it by the name of the Bishopric of Quebec. To fill so impor- tant a situation as that of the first Bishop of Quebec, it became necessary to chuse a Divine distinguished for lieaming, morals, probity and prudence. His Ma- jesty, therefore, selected Dr. Jacob Mountain, as a per- son in possession of those eminent virtues, and appoint- ed him, by Letters Patent, under the Great Seal of En- gland, Bishop of Quebec and its dependencies. The Bi- shopric to be held by him for his natural life, and to his successors, for ever. His Lordship arrived in Canada in the month of November, one thousand seven hundred and ninety three, and took possession of the charge graciously conferred on him by His Majesty. He was vested with the power to confer the orders of Deacon and Priest, to confirm those that were baptised, and that had come to years of discretion, and to perform all other functions appropriated to the office of a Bishop: to exercise jurisdiction spiritual and ecclesiastical by him or his Commissary or Commissaries throughout the said See and Diocese, according to the Laws and Canons of the Church of England. To give institution to benefices and grant Licences to Curates and to vi^t. Rectors, Cu- rates, Ministers and Incumbents of all the Churches within his Province. To have jurisdiction over the Rectors, Ministers, Curates^ Priests and Deacons, and to have power to remove, deprive or suspend them^ or other Ecclesiastical cenSUre' they might be liable to, ac- cording to the Cafi6ns and Laws Ecclesiastical of Great Britain. To appoint Commissaries under his hand and seal, who were authorised with permission of the Bishop, to give institution to Benefices, and to grant licences to Curates, and visit Rectors of all the Churches where- Chap. in. Chap. III. ' - »'Vi "I ;■ i 5 i'i s ■ 1 232 in Divine Service shall be performed, and to punish and arrest Rectors, Curates^ Ministers and other Incum- bents, according to their merits^ by removal, suspensi- on, or other ecclesiastical censure. That persons aggriev- ed by the judgment of any Commissary, might demand a re-examination and review of such judgment before the Bishop himself, who, upon such demand made, was to take cognizance of such judgment, and full power was given, to affirm, reverse or alter the judgment, sen- tence or decree of his Commissary — and, in cases where parties conceived themselves aggrieved by any judgment, decree or sentence pronounced by the Bishop himself, or his successors, the parties were entitled to an appeal to the Eang in the High Court of Chancery of Great Britain, first giving security and notice to the Bishop of the intention of the party to appeal ; which appeal to be heard and determined by special Commissioners to be appointed by the King, which sentence shall be final. The Bishop and his successors declared a Body Corporate, and to have full power to purchase all Manors, Messuages, Lands, Rents, Tenements, Annuities, and Hereditaments in fee or in perpetuity or for life or years, to demise, dis- pose of, or let the same, as he or they might think ex- pedient. To have a Corporate Seal, and to sue and be sued. The Bishop and his successors are declared sub- ject to the authority of the Archipiscopal See of the Province of Canterbury, except in cases of appeal, which shall be heard and decided by Commissioners ap- pointed for that purpose.— In addition to the powers granted by these letters patent, other letters patent were ^terwards issued, dignifying and advancing the Bishop and his successors to the name, state, degree, dignity, and honor of Lord Bishop of Quebec and its depen- Pin if 233 lish arid Incum- ispensi- iggriev- ?mand a fore the was to werwas nt, sen- in cases by any by the es were Court security le party ermined le King, and his to have , Lands, nents in lise, dis- hink ex- e and be red sub- 5 of the appeal, »ners ap- : powers ent were ! Bishop , dignity, I depen- dencies, which the Lord Bishop has since enjoyed, and ^'^,^'* which title is of right, vested in his Lordship's succes- III. t sors for ever. "' '-'■ The Covernor of the Province had, in the year one thousand seven hundred and seventy five, as has alrea- dy been stated, established Martial Law, in consequence of an irruption of the American forces into the Province. This had been done in virtue of his Commission, and in consequence of that L aw of the State, or State necessi- ty which requires, that in extraordinary cases of gene- ral confusion, or of an impossibility of proceeding by the usual methods of the law in the King's Courts, that Martial I axv, may be establised. Many are the instan- ces where Martial Law has been put in force, in the King's Colonies The Proclamation stated, — Ihat as a Rebellion prevailed in many of His Majesty's Colo- nies in America, and particularly in some of the neigh- bouring ones, and that many of the Rebels had, with an armed force, made incursions of late into this Pro- vince, attacking and carrying away from thence a party of His Majesty's Troops, together with a parcel of Stores, and a vessel belonging to His Majesty, and had actually invaded this ProN'ince with arms, in a traiterous and hostile manner, to the great terror of His Majes- ty's subjects, and in open defiance of his laws and go- vernment, falsely and maliciously giving out, by them- selves and their abettors, that the motives for so doing wer" to prevent the inhabitants of this Province from being taxed and oppressed by Government, together with divers other false and seditious reports, tending to inflame the minds of the people, and alienate them irom His Majesty.-— To the end, therefore, that so treason- Gg . MA 1 ;; . • Chap. III. m'^''''\ K^/'V^^ W^' i il- ■' K ■ i- S:* I;. 254 able an invasion might be soon defeated, that all such traitors with their said abettors might speedily be brought to justice, and the public peace and tranquillity of this Province again restored, which the ordinary course of the Civil Law, is at present unable to effect ; he had thought fit to issue his Proclamation, hereby declaring* that until the aforesaid good purposes could be attained) he would, in virtue of the powers and authority to hira given by His Majesty, execute Martial Law, and cause the same to be executed throughout this Province : and to that end, that he would order the Militia within the same forthwith to be raised : but as a sufficient number of Commissions to the several Officers thereof, could not be immediately made out, he had in the mean time directed, that all those having any Militia Commissions from the Honorable Thomas Gage, the Honorable James Murray, Ralph Burton, and Frederick Haldi- tnand. Esquires, heretofore His Majesty's Governors in this Province, or either of th m, to obey the same, and execute the powers therein mentioned, until they sliall have received orders from him to the contrary : he did accordingly, in His Majesty's name, hereby require and command all his subjects in this Province, and all others whom it might concern, on pain of disobedience, to be aiding and assisting to such Commissioned Officers and others, who had or might be commissioned by him for carrying on His Majesty's Service. An Historian's view ought to be principally and inva- riably directed to truth ; but such is the lot of an His- torian, in common with other men, that he may be be- trayed into calumny, by misrepresentation, and hurried into mistake by precipitation or inadvertency. The atonement, and the only one he can make, for such in- 235 ill such brought of this ourse of he had jclaring, uttained) Y to him d cause ce: and thin the number F, could ;ao time missions Qnorable c Haldi- mors in jnc, and jy slwll he did aire and II others ?, to be cers and him for voluntary errors, is, to retract them on conviction, in such manner as to undeceive the Reader, whom he has unknowingly misled, and healing the wounds he has unwittingly inflicted. Thus the injured person will have reason to be satisfied, and the Public will forgive the writer's errors in consideration of his integrity. — With such a declaration, if any individuals may have felt themselves ofifended with any statement in the fore- going part of this History, the Author engages that up- on conviction of the errors that may have crept into his book, they shall be corrected, as an act of huma- nity, as well as of justice due to the party aggrieved. Chap. III. END OF TIIL SrCOND XCjl.V.y.V jid inva- an His- ^ be be- , hurried >r. The such in. ^ •