On the 11th paragraph we apprehend it is not necessary to say much.—The reservatory clause proposed in our Memorial is what is usual in royal grants; and in the present case, the Lords of the Committee of the Privy Council, we hope, will be of opinion, it is quite sufficient, more especially as we are able to prove to their Lordships, that there are no "possessions," within the boundaries of the lands under consideration, which are held "under legal titles."

To conclude: As it has been demonstrated, that neither royal nor provincial proclamations,—nor the dread and horrors of a savage war,—were sufficient (even before the country was purchased from the Indians) to prevent the settlement of the lands over the mountains—can it be conceived, that, now the country is purchased, and the people have seen the proprietors of Pennsylvania, who are the hereditary supporters of British policy in their own province, give every degree of encouragement to settle the lands Westward of the mountains,—the legislature of the province, at the same time, effectually corroborate the measure, and several thousand families, in consequence thereof, settle in the new county of Bedford,—that the inhabitants of the Middle Colonies will be restrained from cultivating the luxuriant country of the Ohio, joining to the Southern line of Pennsylvania? But, even admitting that it might formerly have been a question of some propriety, whether the country should be permitted to be settled,—that cannot surely become a subject of enquiry now, when it is an obvious and certain truth, that at least thirty thousand British subjects are already settled there.—Is it fit to leave such a body of people lawless and ungoverned?—will sound policy recommend this manner of colonizing and encreasing the wealth, strength, and commerce of the empire? or will it not point out, that it is the indispensible duty of government to render bad subjects useful subjects; and for that purpose immediately to establish law and subordination among them, and thereby early confirm their native attachment to the laws, traffic, and customs of this kingdom?

On the whole, we presume that we have, both by facts and sound argument, shewn, that the opinion of the Lords Commissioners for Trade and Plantations on the object in question, is not well founded, and that, if their Lordships opinion should be adopted, it would be attended with the most mischievous and dangerous consequences to the commerce, peace, and safety of his Majesty's colonies in America:

We therefore hope, the expediency and utility of erecting the lands agreed for into a separate colony, without delay, will be considered as a measure of the soundest policy, highly conducive to the peace and security of the old colonies, to the preservation of the boundary line, and to the commercial interests of the Mother Country.

APPENDIX, N^o. I.

By the KING.

A PROCLAMATION.

GEORGE R.

Whereas we have taken into our royal consideration the extensive and valuable acquisitions in America, secured to our crown by the late definitive treaty of peace concluded at Paris the 10th day of February last; and being desirous that all our loving subjects, as well of our kingdoms as of our colonies in America, may avail themselves, with all convenient speed, of the great benefits and advantages which must accrue therefrom to their commerce, manufactures, and navigation; we have thought fit, with the advice of our privy council, to issue this our royal proclamation, hereby to publish and declare to all our loving subjects, that we have, with the advice of our said privy council, granted our letters patent under our great seal of Great Britain, to erect within the countries and islands, ceded and confirmed to us by the said treaty, four distinct and separate governments, stiled and called by the names of Quebec, East Florida, West Florida, and Grenada, and limited and bounded as follows, viz.

First, The government of Quebec, bounded on the Labrador coast by the river St. John, and from thence by a line drawn from the head of that river, through the lake St. John, to the South end of the lake Nipissim; from whence the said line, crossing the river St. Lawrence and the lake Champlain in 45 degrees of North latitude, passes along the High Lands, which divide the rivers that empty themselves into the said river St. Lawrence, from those which fall into the sea; and also along the North coast of the Baye des Chaleurs, and the coast of the Gulph of St. Lawrence to Cape Rosieres, and from thence crossing the mouth of the river St. Lawrence by the West end of the island of Anticosti, terminates at the aforesaid river St. John.

Secondly, The government of East Florida, bounded to the Westward by the Gulph of Mexico and the Apalachicola river; to the Northward, by a line drawn from that part of the said river where the Catahouchee and Flint rivers meet, to the source of St. Mary's river, and by the course of the said river to the Atlantic Ocean; and to the East and South by the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulph of Florida, including all islands within six leagues of the sea coast.

Thirdly, The government of West Florida, bounded to the Southward by the Gulph of Mexico, including all islands within six leagues of the coast from the river Apalachicola to lake Pontchartrain; to the Westward by the said lake, the lake Maurepas, and the river Mississippi; to the Northward, by a line drawn due East from that part of the Mississippi which lies in thirty-one degrees North latitude, to the river Apalachicola, or Catahouchee; and to the Eastward by the said river.

Fourthly, The government of Grenada, comprehending the island of that name, together with the Grenadines, and the islands of Dominico, St. Vincent, and Tobago.

And to the end that the open and free fishery of our subjects may be extended to, and carried on upon the coast of Labrador and the adjacent islands, we have thought fit, with the advice of our said privy council, to put all that coast, from the river St. John's to Hudson's Streights, together with the islands of Anticosti and Madelaine, and all other smaller islands lying upon the said coast, under the care and inspection of our governor of Newfoundland.

We have also, with the advice of our privy council, thought fit to annex the islands of St. John and Cape Breton, or Isle Royale, with the lesser islands adjacent thereto, to our government of Nova Scotia.

We have also, with the advice of our privy council aforesaid, annexed to our province of Georgia, all the lands lying between the rivers Attamaha and St. Mary's.

And whereas it will greatly contribute to the speedy settling our said new governments, that our loving subjects should be informed of our paternal care for the security of the liberty and properties of those who are, and shall become inhabitants thereof; we have thought fit to publish and declare, by this our proclamation, that we have, in the letters patent under our great seal of Great Britain, by which the said governments are constituted, given express power and direction to our governors of our said colonies respectively, that so soon as the state and circumstances of the said colonies will admit thereof, they shall, with the advice and consent of the members of our council, summon and call general assemblies within the said governments respectively, in such manner and form as is used and directed in those colonies and provinces in America, which are under our immediate government; and we have also given power to the said governors, with the consent of our said councils, and the representatives of the people, so to be summoned as aforesaid, to make, constitute, and ordain laws, statutes, and ordinances for the public peace, welfare, and good government of our said colonies, and of the people and inhabitants thereof, as near as may be, agreeable to the laws of England, and under such regulations and restrictions as are used in other colonies; and in the mean time, and until such assemblies can be called as aforesaid, all persons inhabiting in, or resorting to, our said colonies, may confide in our royal protection for the enjoyment of the benefit of the laws of our realm of England: for which purpose we have given power under our great seal to the governors of our said colonies respectively, to erect and constitute, with the advice of our said councils respectively, courts of judicature and public justice within our said colonies, for the hearing and determining all causes, as well criminal as civil, according to law and equity, and, as near as may be, agreeable to the laws of England, with liberty to all persons who may think themselves aggrieved by the sentence of such courts, in all civil cases, to appeal, under the usual limitations and restrictions, to us, in our privy council.

We have also thought fit, with the advice of our privy council as aforesaid, to give unto the governors and councils of our said three new colonies upon the continent, full power and authority to settle and agree with the inhabitants of our said new colonies, or to any other person who shall resort thereto, for such lands, tenements, and hereditaments, as are now, or hereafter shall be, in our power to dispose of, and them to grant to any such person or persons, upon such terms, and under such moderate quit-rents, services, and acknowledgments, as have been appointed and settled in other colonies, and under such other conditions as shall appear to us to be necessary and expedient for the advantage of the grantees, and the improvement and settlement of our said colonies.

And whereas we are desirous, upon all occasions, to testify our royal sense and approbation of the conduct and bravery of the officers and soldiers of our armies, and to reward the same, we do hereby command and impower our governors of our said three new colonies, and other our governors of our several provinces on the continent of North America, to grant, without fee or reward, to such reduced officers as have served in North America during the late war, and are actually residing there, and shall personally apply for the same, the following quantities of land, subject, at the expiration of ten years, to the same quit-rents as other lands are subject to in the province within which they are granted, as also subject to the same conditions of cultivation and improvement, viz.

To every person having the rank of a field officer, 5000 acres.

To every captain, 3000 acres.

To every subaltern or staff officer, 2000 acres.

To every non-commission officer, 200 acres.

To every private man, 50 acres.

We do likewise authorise and require the governors and commanders in chief of all our said colonies upon the continent of North America to grant the like quantities of land, and upon the same conditions, to such reduced officers of our navy of like rank, as served on board our ships of war in North America at the times of the reduction of Louisbourg and Quebec in the late war, and who shall personally apply to our respective governors for such grants.

And whereas it is just and reasonable, and essential to our interest, and the security of our colonies, that the several nations or tribes of Indians, with whom we are connected, and who live under our protection, should not be molested or disturbed in the possession of such parts of our dominions as, not having been ceded to, or purchased by us, are reserved to them, or any of them, as their hunting grounds; we do therefore, with the advice of our privy council, declare it to be our royal will and pleasure, that no governor, or commander in chief, in any of our colonies of Quebec, East Florida, or West Florida, do presume, upon any pretence whatever, to grant warrants of survey, or pass any patents for lands beyond the bounds of their respective governments, as described in their commissions; as also that no governor or commander in chief of our other colonies or plantations in America, do presume for the present, and until our further pleasure be known, to grant warrant of survey, or pass patents for any lands beyond the heads or sources of any of the rivers which fall into the Atlantic ocean from the west or north-west; or upon any lands whatever, which not having been ceded to, or purchased by us, as aforesaid, are reserved to the said Indians, or any of them.

And we do further declare it to be our royal will and pleasure, for the present, as aforesaid, to reserve under our sovereignty, protection, and dominion, for the use of the said Indians, all the land and territories not included within the limits of our said three new governments, or within the limits of the territory granted to the Hudson's Bay company; as also, all the land and territories lying to the westward of the sources of the rivers which fall into the sea from the west and north-west as aforesaid; and we do hereby strictly forbid, on pain of our displeasure, all our loving subjects from making any purchases or settlements whatever, or taking possession of any of the lands above reserved, without our especial leave and licence for that purpose first obtained.

And we do further strictly enjoin and require all persons whatever, who have either wilfully or inadvertently seated themselves upon any lands within the countries above described, or upon any other lands, which not having being ceded to, or purchased by us, are still reserved to the Indians as aforesaid, forthwith to remove themselves from such settlements.

And whereas great frauds and abuses have been committed in the purchasing land of the Indians, to the great prejudice of our interests, and to the great dissatisfaction of the said Indians; in order therefore to prevent such irregularities for the future, and to the end that the Indians may be convinced of our justice and determined resolution to remove all reasonable cause of discontent, we do, with the advice of our privy council, strictly enjoin and require, that no private person do presume to make any purchase from the said Indians of any lands reserved to the said Indians within those parts of our colonies where we have thought proper to allow settlement; but that if at any time any of the said Indians should be inclined to dispose of the said lands, the same shall be purchased only for us, in our name, at some public meeting or assembly of the said Indians, to be held for that purpose by the governor or commander in chief of our colony respectively within which they shall lie: and in case they shall lie within the limits of any proprietaries, conformable to such directions and instructions as we or they shall think proper to give for that purpose: and we do, by the advice of our privy council, declare and enjoin, that the trade with the said Indians shall be free and open to all our subjects whatever, provided that every person who may incline to trade with the said Indians, do take out a licence for carrying on such trade, from the governor or commander in chief of any of our colonies respectively, where such person shall reside, and also the security to observe such regulations as we shall at any time think fit, by ourselves or commissaries, to be appointed for this purpose, to direct and appoint for the benefit of the said trade: and we do hereby authorise, enjoin, and require the governors and commanders in chief of all our colonies respectively, as well those under our immediate government, as those under the government and direction of proprietaries, to grant such licences without fee or reward, taking especial care to insert therein a condition that such licence shall be void, and the security forfeited, in case the person to whom the same is granted, shall refuse or neglect to observe such regulations as we shall think proper to prescribe as aforesaid.

And we do further expressly enjoin and require all officers whatever, as well military as those employed in the management and direction of Indian affairs within the territories reserved, as aforesaid, for the use of the said Indians, to seize and apprehend all persons whatever, who standing charged with treasons, misprisions of treasons, murders, or other felonies or misdemeanours, shall fly from justice and take refuge in the said territory, and to send them under a proper guard to the colony where the crime was committed of which they shall stand accused, in order to take their trial for the same.

Given at our court at St. James's, the 7th of October 1763, in the third year of our reign.

GOD save the KING.

APPENDIX, N^o. II.

STATE of the KING's QUIT-RENTS in NORTH AMERICA.

Footnotes

¹ Vide the Proclamation in the Appendix, N^o. 1.

² Vide p. 47.

³ "It is in settlements on the Mississippi and Ohio that we must look for hemp and flax, which may in those fertile tracts be cultivated in such abundance, as to enable us to undersell all the world, as well as supply our own consumption. It is on those high, dry, and healthy lands, that vineyards would be cultivated to the best advantage, as many of those hills contain quarries of stone, and not in the low, unhealthy sea coasts of our present colonies. Of such infinite consequence to Britain is the production of staples in her colonies, that were all the people of the Northern settlements, and all of the tobacco ones (except those actually employed in raising tobacco) now spread over those parts of our territories to the Southward and Westward, and consequently employed in the same manner as the few are who do reside therein, Britain, in such a case, would export to the amount of above nine millions more in manufactures, &c. than she does at present, without reckoning the infinite increase in public revenue, freight, and seamen, which would accrue. To enlarge upon all the advantages of such a change, would be impertinence itself."

Political Essays concerning the British Empire.

⁴ "We think of nothing but extending our settlements still further on these pestiferous sea coasts, even to the sunken lagunes of East Florida, and the barren sands of Mobile and Pensacola. The only use of new settlements in North America, is for the people in the Northern and other colonies, who want lands to make staple commodities for Britain, to remove to them: but none will ever go to Florida, or thrive in it, more than they have done in Carolina and Georgia. The climate of Florida is more intemperate, the lands more barren, and the situation much worse in every respect."

State of Great Britain and America, by Dr. Mitchel.

⁵ "Besides staple commodities, there is another more material point to be considered in the colonies, which is their great and daily increase; and for which, unless we make provision in time, they can never subsist by a dependance on Britain. There are at present (in the year 1770) nigh three millions of people in them, who may, in twenty or thirty years, increase to six millions, as many as there are in England."

Wynne's History of the British Empire in America, vol. ii. page 398.

⁶ Thus the use the nation has for new settlements and acquisitions in North America is for the great increase of the people who are already there, and to enable them to subsist by a dependance upon her; which they can never do, unless they extend their settlements.

Wynne's History, vol. ii. p. 399.

"Unprejudiced men well know, that all the penal and prohibitory laws that ever were thought of, will not be sufficient to prevent manufactures in a country whose inhabitants surpass the number that can subsist by the by the husbandry of it; and this will be the case soon, if our people remain confined within the mountains," &c.

The Interest of Great Britain considered with regard to the Colonies, page 17. Published in 1767.

⁷ The parliamentary grants for the civil establishment of the provinces of Nova Scotia, Georgia, and East and West Florida, amount to one million twelve thousand eight hundred and thirty-one pounds two shillings and eight-pence half-penny, as the following account shews;—and notwithstanding this vast expence, the king has not received any quit-rents from these provinces. How different is the present proposition, for the establishment of the Ohio colony?—In this case, the crown is to be paid for the lands, (and which is the first instance of any being sold in North America). Government is to be exempted from the expence of supporting the colony, and the king will receive his quit-rents, neat and clear of all deductions, (which deductions in the old colonies are at least 20 per centum) as will more particularly appear by a state of the king's quit-rents annexed hereto.

The parliamentary grants above-mentioned are as follow: