should be restricted, and not be allowed unknowingly to venture into the colony and disturb its possessors. I wish these limits to be ascertained, and fixed with precision, for the sake of both parties. Having this object in my view, I shall first consider the line drawn in the proclamation of 1763. It was drawn from a point taken in the lake called Nipissim; that lake stands to the north of this point. I entreat the attention of the Committee; for the escape of a word is the escape of the whole argument. Sir, this boundary was fixed by a line drawn obliquely from Lake Nipissim, which line crossing the St. Lawrence and the Lake Champlain, formed an angle in the latitude of forty-five degrees. This constituted the south-west boundary of Canada ;* beyond that the Province was to extend no further—and confined within this limit it remained from the year 1763 to this time. That was then the boundary of Canada; and when that boundary was formed, that was the boundary of the government-and that boundary was fixed there because it was the boundary of the possession. There was then no considerable settlement to the south-west of that line. This line the people of Canada acquiesced in. They have since come before his Majesty's government, and have laid before it a complaint in which they state that this was a line drawn especially for the purpose of territorial jurisdiction, and the security of property; but they represent that it is a line ill-suited for a growing country. They do not complain that they have not the legal limits, but they complain of the climate to which they are restricted. "The Province," they say, " as it is now bounded, by a line passing through the forty-fifth degree of north latitude, is confined within too narrow limits; this line is only fifteen leagues distant from Montreal and yet it is only on this side that the lands of the Province are fertile, and that agriculture can be cultivated to much advantage." Sir, if no injustice will thereby be done to any one, I don't know a more reasonable request than that their complaint should be * Burke, like many other speakers, confounds Canada with Quebec.

attended to.

The noble lord showed me the amendment, which by no means relieved my apprehensions. The reason why I feel so anxious is that the line proposed is not a line of geographical distinction merely; it is not a line between New York and some other English settlement; it is not a question whether you shall receive English law and English government upon the side of New York, or whether you shall receive a more advantageous government upon the side of Connecticut; or whether you are restrained upon the side of New Jersey. In all these you still find English laws, English customs, English juries, and English assemblies, wherever you go. But this is a line which is to separate a man from the right of an Englishman. First, the clause provides nothing at all for the territorial jurisdiction of the Province. The Crown has the power of carrying the greatest portion of the actually settled portion of the Province of New York into Canada. * * * The Bill turns freedom itself into slavery. These are the reasons that compel me not to acquiesce by any means, either in the proposition originally in the Bill, or in the amendment. Nay, the proposition in the amendment is a great deal worse, because you therein make a saving of the right of interference with, and may fix your boundary line at the very gates of, New York, perhaps in the very town itself, and subject that colony to the liability of becoming a province of France. It was this state of things, Sir, that made me wish to establish a boundary of certainty. The noble lord has spoken upon this subject with a great deal of fairness. He says that if any gentleman will find a boundary of certainty, he will accept it. Whether, if we shall be able to find such a boundary, the colony of New York will be satisfied with it, I know not; but speaking here as a Member of Parliament, I do think the colony had better have a boundary much less in extent, yet reduced to such a certainty that they may exactly know when and where they cease to be English subjects. The boundary originally settled between Canada and New York was entitled to contest with

English liberty and French law; and the whole Province of New York, further than it is defined by actual bound, is in the power of the Crown, not to adjudicate, but to grant, and hand over to the French. I do not suppose if the Crown were under the necessity of adjudging, that it would adjudge amiss; but it is in the power of the Crown to grant even its power of adjudging. Where put on the English side, they are put in the power of the laws; where put on the French side, they are put out of the power of the laws. Let us consider, then, whether it is not worth while to give a clear boundary, and let the man know whether he is or is not an Englishman. I shall take the sense of the Committee upon it. I am as much in earnest as ever I was in my life. I have produced a practical idea; I can produce practical words.

After a long and desultory conversation, the words proposed by Mr. Burke were inserted. The words " Until it strike the Ohio; and along the banks of the said river, westward to the banks of the Mississippi, and northward to the southern boundary of the territory 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"-were next read.

On June 10th, Sir Charles Whitworth reported to the House the amendments which the committee had made to the Bill. The first clause being read, there was much puzzling about settling the boundary line. Mr. Edmund Burke, Mr. Jackson, Mr. Barker, and Sir Charles Whitworth went up stairs, in order to settle it, while the House was supposed to be proceeding upon it. The House continued for at least half-anhour, doing nothing in the meantime. The difference was, whether the tract of country not inhabited should belong to New York or Canada? At five o'clock, Mr. Burke returned with the amendments, some of which were agreed to, others

not. The following is the clause, as finally agreed to by the House:

"That all the territories, islands and countries in North America, belonging to the Crown of Great Britain, bounded on the south by a line from the Bay of Chaleurs, along the islands which divide the rivers that empty themselves into the River St. Lawrence, from those which fall into the sea, to a point in forty-five degrees of northern latitude on the western bank of the River Connecticut, keeping the same latitude directly west, through the Lake Champlain, until, in the same latitude, it meets the River St. Lawrence; 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 southeastern 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 Royal Proclamation of the 7th of October, 1763.

"Provided always, that nothing herein contained, relative to the boundary of the Province of Quebec, shall in anywise affect the boundaries of any other colony." *

APPENDIX D.

(Lord Mansfield to the Right Hon. G. Grenville.)

BLOOMSBURY, Dec. 24, 1764.

DEAR SIR,-Since I saw you, I have heard from the King in general, and afterwards more particularly, but very indistinctly, from some persons who visited me last night, of a complaint concerning a civil government and a judge sent to Canada.

Is it possible that we have abolished their laws and customs and forms of judicature all at once ?—a thing never to be attempted or wished. The history of the world don't furnish an instance of so rash and unjust an act by any conqueror whatever, much less by the Crown of England, which has always left to the conquered their own laws and usages, with a change only so far as the sovereignty was concerned. Where other changes have happened, as in Ireland, they have been the work of great length of time, many emergencies, and where there was a pale of separation between the conquerors and the conquered, by their own laws at first,

Berwick, the conquest made by Edward III., and yielded by the Treaty of Bretigny, retained their own municipal laws. Minorca does now. Is it possible that a man sans aveu, without knowing a syllable of their language or laws, has been sent over with an English title of magistracy unknown to them, the powers of which office must consequently be inexplicable and unexecutable by their usages?

For God's sake learn the truth of the case, and think of a speedy remedy. I was told last night that the penal statutes of England concerning Papists are to be held in force in Canada.

*This section excluded the English colonists from the St. Lawrence, the Great Lakes and the Mississipi.