ment it prevents a very bad one, and may form a basis for a much better in times more favourable to the old colonies.

After the affair was over it was suggested to me that I ought to have expressly defined this line to be the limits of New York as well as of Canada. To this I answer, that I was aware of the inconveniences which might arise from the want of this clear specification supposing the Board of Trade to act insidiously, unfairly and captiously, which I have no reason to imagine they will do from anything I have observed in them or in other parts of Ministry.

But I confess when I consider that Canada is put on the other side of the waters its bounds being expressly so marked out, it appears to me, absolutely impossible to say to whom the land on this side belongs, except to you, unless his Majesty should choose to erect a new government, a thing no way likely or convenient for any good purpose. The Quebec line was constantly stated and argued in the House as the boundary between the Provinces of Quebec and New York, in that public discourse (rather than debate) which latterly we had on the subject. I think the line, to all intents and purposes, as much your boundary as if it were ever so expressly set down. Canada, at least, cannot say "this belongs to me."

I did not press to have the line called the boundary between New York and Canada; because we should again fall into discussion about the bounds of other colonies as we had about those of Pennsylvania, which discussion alone had very near defeated me. It would be asked why the line along Nova Scotia, New Hampshire and the Northern Massachusetts Claim was not called the boundary of these Provinces as well as of New York.

It would be said that this Act was to settle a constitution for Quebec and not for adjusting the limits of the colonies, and in the midst of this wrangle the whole object would have infallibly escaped the House as it grew quite tired of it. All business stood still whilst we were wording the clause, and on our difficulties Lord North proposed to revert to the old words, which he said to him were the best, and that he only gave way to the sentiments of other people who on his concession found a difficulty in effectuating their own purpose.

I must therefore accept what I could get, and the true method of estimating the matter is to take together-the time, what we escaped, and what we obtained, and then to judge whether we had not had a tolerable bargain. Those who were present congratulated me as on a great advantage. I am sure I acted for the best, with great rectitude of intention and a good deal of assiduity. I send you the Bill with the amendments marked. As to the other parts of the Bill they are matters of more general policy. As I have already given you a great deal of trouble I do not mean to detain you any longer upon foreign matter.

I received your obliging letter of the 31st of May, and am extremely happy in the honour of your approbation.

You undoubtedly may dispose of my letters as you judge proper. I must in this respect confide entirely in your prudence, being fully satisfied that the matter will always direct you sufficiently in what you ought to conceal and what 'to divulge.

I have had the

I have sent off long ago the Wawayanda and Cheesecock Acts. honour of seeing Mr. Cruger at my house on his return to Bristol. I endeavoured to attend to him in the manner to which his merit and connections entitle him.

I have the honour to be,

With the highest esteem and regard,
Gentlemen,

Your most obedient and humble Servant,
EDMUND BURKE.

Beaconsfield, August 2, 1774.

To the Committee of Correspondence

for the General Assembly at New York.

THE OBJECTS OF THE QUEBEC BILL, 1774.

In "The History of America... By William Russell, Esquire, * of Gray's Inn, London: 1778," the author, referring to this Bill, says: "The particular objects of the Bill were to augment the importance of the Province of Quebec, by extending its limits southward to the banks of the Ohio, westward to the banks of the Mississippi, and northward to the boundary of the Hudson's Bay Company; to form a Legislative Council, [&c.]...." (Vol. 2, p. 469).

ORDER IN COUNCIL, 24TH AUGUST, 1791, FOR THE DIVISION OF THE PROVINCE OF QUEBEC INTO THE PROVINCES OF UPPER AND LOWER CANADA.

(Copy obtained by the Government of Ontario from the Public Records Office, London.)

AT THE COURT AT ST. JAMES'S, THE 24TH OF AUG., 1791.

PRESENT:

The King's most Excellent Majesty in Council.

Whereas there was this day read at the Board a Report from the Right Honble. the Lords of the Committee of Council, dated the 19th of this instant, in the words following, Viz. :

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"Your Majesty having been pleased by your Order in Council, bearing date the "17th of this instant, to refer unto this Committee, a letter from the Right Honble. "Henry Dundas, one of your Majesty's Principal Secretaries of State, to the Lord Pre"sident of the Council, transmitting a printed copy of an Act passed in the last Session "of Parliament, entitled An Act to repeal certain parts of an Act passed in the four"teenth year of His Majesty's Reign, entitled An Act for making more effectual pro"vision for the Government of the Province of Quebec, in North America, and to make "further provision for the Government of the said Province; And also copy of a Papert presented to Parliament previous to the passing of the said Act, describing the line 'proposed to be drawn for dividing the Province of Quebec into two separate Provinces, "agreeable to Your Majesty's Royal intention, signified by message to both Houses of Parliament, to be called the Province of Upper Canada and the Province of Lower "Canada; and stating that by Sect. 48 of the said Act, it is provided that by reason of "the distance of the said Provinces from this country, and of the change to be made "by the said Act in the Government thereof, it may be necessary that there should be some interval of time between the notification of the said Act to the said Provinces re"spectively, and the day of its commencement within the said Provinces respectively, "and that it should be lawful for Your Majesty, with the advice of your Privy Council, "to fix and declare, or to authorize the Governor or Lieutenant-Governor of the Pro"vince of Quebec, or the person administering the Government there, to fix and declare "the day of the commencement of the said Act within the said Provinces respectively, "provided that such day shall not be later than the thirty-first day of December, one "thousand seven hundred and ninety one; the Lords of the Committee, in obedience to "Your Majesty's said Order of Reference, this day took the said letter into their con"sideration, together with the Act of Parliament therein referred to, and likewise copy "of the said paper, describing the line proposed to be drawn for separating the Province "of Upper Canada and the Province of Lower Canada: And their Lordships do thereupon agree humbly to report, as their opinion, to Your Majesty, that it may be advise"able for Your Majesty, by Your Order in Council, to divide the Province of Quebec "into two distinct Provinces, by separating the Province of Upper Canada and Province

*Afterwards Dr. Russell. He was author of many books-amongst others his well-known " History of Modern Europe." + For a copy of this paper, see post, p. 411.

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"of Lower Canada, according to the said line of division described in the said Paper: "And the Lords of the Committee are further of opinion that it may be adviseable for "Your Majesty, by warrant under Your Royal Sign Manual, to authorize the Governor or Lieutenant of the Province of Quebec, or the person administering the Government "there, to fix and declare such day for the commencement of the said before-mentioned "Act, within the said two Provinces of Upper and Lower Canada respectively, as the "said Governor or Lieutenant-Governor of the Province of Quebec, or the person admin"istrating the Government there, shall judge most adviseable; provided that such day "shall not be later than the thirty-first day of December in the present year, one thou"sand seven hundred and ninety-one."

His Majesty this day took the said Report into His Royal consideration, and approving of what is therein proposed, was pleased, by and with the advice of His Privy Council, to order that the Province of Quebec be divided into two distinct Provinces, to be called the Province of Upper Canada and the Province of Lower Canada, by separating the said two Provinces, according to the line of division inserted in said Order: And His Majesty is hereby further pleased to order, that the Right Honble. Henry Dundas, one of His Majesty's principal Secretaries of State, do prepare a Warrant to be passed under His Majesty's Royal Sign Manual, to authorize the Governor or Lieutenant-Governor of the Province of Quebec, or the person administering the Government there, to fix and declare such day as they shall judge most adviseable, for the commencement, within the Province of Upper Canada and the Province of Lower Canada respectively, of the said Act passed in the last Session of Parliament, entitled "An Act to repeal certain parts of an Act passed in the fourteenth year of "His Majesty's Reign, intituled an Act for making more effectual provision for the Govern"ment of the Province of Quebec, in North America, and to make further provision for the "Government of the said Province;" provided that such day, so to be fixed and declared for the commencement of the said Act, within the said two Provinces respectively, shall not be later than the thirty-first day of December, one thousand seven hundred and ninety-one. STEPH. COTTRELL.

Endorsed,

Order in Council,

24th August, 1791,

Ordering the division of the Province of Quebec into two Provinces, to be called the Province of Upper Canada and the Province of Lower Canada.

FURTHER BOUNDARY DESCRIPTIONS IN ENGLISH COMMISSIONS,

1794, 1838-9.

7TH JUNE, 1794.

HENRY CALDWELL, ESQUIRE.-Receiver-General of the Province of Lower Canada.* WHEREAS We thought fit, by an Order made in Our Privy Council on the nineteenth day of August, One thousand seven hundred and ninety-one, to divide Our Province of Quebec into two separate Provinces, to be called the Province of Upper Canada, and Province of Lower Canada, by a line to commence at a stone boundary on the north bank of the Lake St. Francis, at the cove west of Point au Baudet, in the limit between the Township of Lancaster and the Seigneurie of New Longueuil, running along the said limit in the direction of north, thirty-four degrees west, to the westernmost angle of the said Seigneurie of New Longueuil; thence along the north-western boundary of the Seigneurie of Vaudreuil, running north twenty-five degrees east, until it strikes the Ottawa River, to ascend the said river into the Lake Tomiscaming, and from the head of

* Book marked "Quebec Commissions, from 27th Dec. 1775, to 4th Nov. 1797," in Privy Council Office, Ottawa.

the said lake, by a line drawn due north until it strikes the boundary line of Hudson's Bay; the Province of Upper Canada to comprehend all such lands, territories, and islands lying to the westward of the said line of division, as were part of Our said Province of Quebec; and the Province of Lower Canada to comprehend all such lands, territories, and islands lying to the eastward of the said line of division as were part of our said Province of Quebec.

13TH DECEMBER, 1838.

SIR JOHN COLBORNE-Captain-General and Governor-in-Chief of the Province of Upper Canada.*

Our Captain General and Governor-in-Chief in and over our said Province of Upper Canada, the said Province being bounded on the east by the line dividing that Province from Lower Canada, beginning at a stone boundary on the north bank of the Lake St. Francis, at the cove west of the Point au Baudet, in the limit between the Township of Lancaster and the Seigneurie of New Longueuil, running along the said limit in the direction of north 34 degrees west to the westernmost angle of the said Seigneurie of New Longueuil, thence along the north-western boundary of the Seigneurie of Vaudreuil running north 25 degrees east, until it strikes the Ottawa River, to ascend the said river into the Lake Temiscanning; the said Province of Upper Canada being also bounded by a line drawn due north from the head of the said lake until it reaches the shore of Hudson's Bay; the said Province of Upper Canada being bounded on the south, beginning at the said stone boundary between Lancaster and New Longueuil, by the Lake St. Francis, the River St. Lawrence the Lake of the Thousand Islands, Lake Ontario, the River Niagara, which falls into Lake Erie, and along the middle of that lake. On the west by the channel of Detroit, Lake St. Clair, up the River St. Clair, Lake Huron, the west shore of Drummond Island, that of Saint Joseph and Sugar Island, thence into Lake Superior.

6TH SEPTEMBER, 1839.

THE RIGHT HONOURABLE CHARLES POULETT THOMSON.-Captain-General and Governorin-Chief in and over our said Province of Upper Canada.†

[This Commission contains boundary descriptions exactly the same as those in the foregoing Commission to Sir John Colborne.]

BOUCHETTE ON THE BOUNDARIES OF UPPER CANADA, 1815.‡

The Province of Lower Canada lies between 45° and 52° N. Latitude and 63° and 81° W. Longitude, nearly, from Greenwich. It is bounded on the north by the territory of the Hudson's Bay Company on the East Main; ... and on the west by a line which separates it from Upper Canada as fixed by... Act of Parliament, and promulgated by proclamation in the Province on the 18th day of November, 1791, as follows:-[Then follows the description from the proclamation, including the words] "From the head of the said lake [Temiscaming] by a line drawn due north until it strikes the boundary line of Hudson's Bay, including all the territory to the westward and southward of the said line to the utmost extent of the country commonly called or known by the name of Canada."

* State Book, Upper Canada, L, p. 383, (in Privy Council Office, Ottawa).

+ Ib. M, p. 250.

Extracts from "A Topographical Description of the Province of Lower Canada with remarks upon Upper Canada, by Joseph Bouchette, Surveyor General, London, 1815." (pp. 1-3, 589, 590.)

UPPER CANADA.-Since the year 1791, the Province of Upper Canada has been bounded in the following manner, viz. on the east by Lower Canada, on the north-east by the Grand or Ottawa River, which in that direction separates it from the Lower Province; on the north by the territory of the Hudson's Bay Company. On the west and north-west no limits have been assigned to it, therefore it may be supposed to extend over the vast regions that spread towards the Pacific and the Northern Oceans.

*

*

*

CHIEF-JUSTICE DRAPER ON THE MERIDIAN OF THE SOURCE OF THE MISSISSIPPI AS A WESTERN BOUNDARY.

(Extract from a letter [now in the Department of Secretary of State, Ottawa], dated London, 12th June, 1857, and addressed to the then Provincial Secretary.)

Although it certainly appears to me, as a matter of legal inference, that the language of the Statute of 1774 (not varied by the Proclamation of 1791*), leaves no ground for contending that the limits of the Province of Canada extend west of the westernmost head of the Mississippi river-yet it is desirable to have the decision of the Judicial Committee [of the Privy Council] on that point, as well as on the northern boundary; and if, as I confidently hope, the decision gives to Canada a clear right west to the line of the Mississ ippi, and some considerable distance north of what the Hudson's Bay Company claim, there would be no obstacle in ascertaining the practicability of communication and laying out lands for settlement on Rainy River and Rainy Lake.

MISCELLANEOUS PAPERS.

COMMISSION OF SIEUR TALON TO BE INTENDANT OF CANADA, 1665.+ LOUIS, by the Grace of God, King of France and Navarre, to Our trusty and beloved councillor in Our Councils, Sieur Talon, Greeting:

Considering it expedient for the good of Our people, and the regulation of Justice, Police and Finances, in Our Country of Canada, to establish in the office of Intendant on the spot, a person capable of worthily serving Us, We have to this end laid eyes on you, by reason of the special confidence we repose in your experience, good conduct and integrity, qualities of which you have given proofs on all occasions in which you were called to manifest your affection for Our service. For these and other reasons Us moving, We have commissioned, ordered and deputed, and by these presents, signed by Our hand, commission, order and depute you Intendant of Justice, Police and Finance in Our Country of Canada, Acadie, and the Island of Newfoundland and other Countries of Northern France [de la France Septentrionale], to assist in that quality at the Councils of War which shall be holden by Our Lt.General in America, and by the Governor and Our Lt.-General in said Country of Canada;* to hear the complaints which shall be made to you by Our people of said Country, by the military and all others, of excesses, wrongs and violences; render them good and quick justice; take information touching all enterprises, practices and intrigues committed against Our Service; proceed against those guilty of any crime, of what quality or condition soever they may be ; prosecute and perfect the trial unto definitive judgment and execution thereon, inclusive; to call to you the number of Judges and Graduates fixed by the Ordinances; and take cognizance generally of all crimes and delicts, abuses and malversations that may be committed by whomsoever he may be, in Our said Countries; to preside in the Sovereign Council in the absence

This Proclamation, as well as the Order in Council on which it is founded, have these words not contained in the Statute: "including all the territory to the westward and southward of the said line to the utmost extent of the country commonly called or known by the name of Canada."

+ N. Y. Hist. Col., Vol. ix., p. 22.