APPENDIX. No. I. BRITISH STATUTES REGARDING CANADA. IN THE FOURTEENTH YEAR OF THE REIGN OF GEORGE THE THIRD.-1774. CHAPTER LXXXIII. An ACT for making more effectual Provision for the Government of the Province of Quebec in North America. WHEREAS his Majesty, by his royal proclamation, bearing date the 7th day of October, in the 3d year of his reign, thought fit to declare the provisions which had been made in respect to certain countries, territories, and islands in America, ceded to his Majesty by the definitive treaty of peace, concluded at Paris on the 10th day of February, 1763: And whereas, by the arrangements made by the said royal proclamation, a very large extent of country, within which there were several colonies and settlements of the subjects of France, who claimed to remain therein, under the faith of the said treaty, was left, without any provision being made for the administration of civil government therein; and certain parts of the territory of Canada, where seden tain. tary fisheries had been established and carried on by the subjects of France, inhabitants of the said Province of Canada, under grants and concessions from the government thereof, were annexed to the government of Newfoundland, and thereby subjected to regulations inconsistent with the nature of such fisheries. May it therefore please your most excellent Majesty that it may be enacted; and be it enacted by the King's most excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Lords spiritual and temporal, and Commons in this present Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, that all the Territories territories, islands, and countries in North America, bebelonging to Great Bri- longing to the crown of Great Britain, bounded on the south by a line from the Bay of Chaleurs, along the high lands which divide the rivers that empty themselves into the river Saint Lawrence from those which fall into the sea, to a point in forty-five degrees of northern latitude, on the eastern bank of the river Connecticut, keeping the same latitude directly west, through the lake Champlain, until, in the same latitude, it meets the river Saint Law rence; from thence, up the eastern bank of the said river, to the lake Ontario; thence through the lake Ontario and the river commonly called Niagara; and thence along by the eastern and south-eastern bank of lake Erie, following the said bank until the same shall be intersected by the northern boundary granted by the charter of the province of Pennsylvania, in case the same shall be so intersected; and from thence along the said northern and western boundaries of the said province, until the said western boundary strike the Ohio; but in case the said bank of the said lake shall not be found to be so intersected, then following the said bank until it shall arrive at that point of the said bank which shall be nearest to the north-western angle of the said province of Pennsylvania, and thence by a right line to the said north-western angle of the said province; and thence along the western boundary of the said province, until it strike the river Ohio; and along the bank of the said river, westward, to the banks of the Mississippi, and northward to the southern boundary of the territory granted to the merchants adventurers of England, trading to Hudson's Bay, and also all such territories, islands, and countries, which have, since the 10th of February, 1763, been made part of the government of Newfoundland, be, and they are hereby, during his Majesty's pleasure, annexed to, and made part and parcel of the province of Quebec, as created and established by the said the province royal proclamation of the 7th of October, 1763. II. Provided always, That nothing herein contained, relative to the boundary of the province of Quebec, shall in any wise affect the boundaries of any other colony. III. Provided always, and be it enacted, That nothing in this Act contained shall extend, or be construed to extend, to make void, or to vary or alter, any right, title, or possession, derived under any grant, conveyance, or otherwise howsoever, of or to any lands within the said province, or the provinces thereto adjoining; but that the same shall remain and be in force, and have effect, as if this Act had never been made. IV. And whereas the provisions made by the said proclamation, in respect to the civil government of the said province of Quebec, and the powers and authorities given to the Governor and other civil officers of the said province, by the grants and commissions issued in consequence thereof, have been found upon experience to be inapplicable to the state and circumstances of the said province, the inhabitants whereof amounted, at the conquest, to above 65,000 persons professing the religion of the church of Rome, and enjoying an established form of constitution and system of laws, by which their persons and property had been protected, governed, and ordered, for a long series of years, from the first establishment of the said province of Canada; Be it therefore further enacted, by the Annexed to of Quebec. visions null and void. Inhabitants Former pro authority aforesaid, That the said proclamation, so far as the same relates to the said province of Quebec, and the commission under the authority whereof the government of the said province is at present administered, and all and every the ordinance and ordinances, made by the Governor and Council of Quebec for the time being, relative to the civil government and administration of justice in the said province, and all commissions to judges and other officers thereof, be, and the same are hereby revoked, annulled, and made void, from and after the 1st day of May, 1775. V. And for the more perfect security and ease of the minds of the inhabitants of the said province, it is hereby declared, that his Majesty's subjects, professing the religion of the church of Rome, of and in the said province of Quebec, may have, hold, and enjoy, the free exercise of the religion of the church of Rome, subject to the King's supremacy, declared and established by an Act made in the first year of the reign of Queen Elizabeth, over all the dominions and countries which then did, or thereafter should belong, to the imperial crown of this realm; and that the clergy of the said church may hold, receive, and enjoy their accustomed dues and rights, with respect to such persons only as shall profess the said religion. of Quebec may profess the Romish religion, &c. No person professing VI. Provided nevertheless, That it shall be lawful for his Majesty, his heirs, or successors, to make such provision out of the rest of the said accustomed dues and rights, for the encouragement of the Protestant religion, and for the maintenance and support of a Protestant clergy within the said province, as he or they shall, from time to time, think necessary and expedient. VII. Provided always, and be it enacted, That no perthe Romish son professing the religion of the church of Rome, and liged to take residing in the said province, shall be obliged to take the religion ob the oath of 1 Eliz. but oath required by the said statute passed in the first year of following the the reign of Queen Elizabeth, or any other oaths substi oath. tuted by any other Act in the place thereof; but that every |