Yet that it should be tolerated is furely very reafonable, and to be wifhed by all lovers of Peace and Justice and Liberty of conscience.

By what authority then fhall it be tolerated? this is the only question that remains. Shall the King alone undertake to tolerate it? will it be adviseable that he fhould exercife, though for fo good an end, a power of difpenfing with the laws? will it not give room to a thousand cenfures and odious reflections and comparifons? The authority of Parliament feems to be a much fafer foundation to establish this measure upon, in a manner which neither the new English inhabitants of the province can conteft, nor the French Catholics fufpect to be inadequate.

Laws.

The next great difficulty that occurs, is the fettle- Settlement ment of the laws, by which the province of Quebec of the is for the future to be governed. The law upon this fubject feems to be this; 1ft, That the laws of the conquered continue in force till the will of the conqueror is declared to the contrary; this follows from the neceffity of the cafe, fince otherwise the conquered provinces would be governed by no laws at all. 2dly, That after the declaration of the will of the conqueror the conquered are to be governed by fuch laws as the conqueror fhall think fit to impofe, whether those are the old laws by which they have been governed before, or the laws by which the conquerors are governed themfelves, or partly one, and partly the other, or a new fet of laws different from both. 3dly, That by the conqueror is to be understood the conquering nation, that is, in the prefent cafe, the British nation; that confequently by the will of the conqueror is to be underflood the will of the British nation, which in all matters relating to legiflation is expreffed by the King

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and Parliament, as in all matters relating to the executive power it is expreffed by the king alone; that therefore the Parliament only have a power to make laws for the province of Quebec, or to introduce any part of the laws of Great Britain there, or to delegate fuch a power of making or introducing laws to any other hands, notwithstanding it may happen that in fact such a power may inadvertently have been delega ted to the governor and council of the province by a private Inftruction of the King alone. For, if the contrary doctrine were true, that the King alone had the whole legislative power in the province of Quebec, it would follow, that not only all the conquered Canadians, but all the new English fettlers there, would become slaves, or fubject to an abfolute and arbitrary government, the moment they fet their foot there, The King might introduce the feverest laws, and most cruel punishments, the inquifition, the rack, and the wheel, and might make all his fubjects there, both old and new, tenants at will of their lands and other property, and tax them in any degree whenfoever he thought fit. He might keep a ftanding army there, without consent of Parliament, and raise money to pay them by his own authority; and with fuch an army, a prince of James IId's. difpofition, might opprefs the liberties of the other adjoining colonies, or even of Great Britain itfelf. Thefe are dreadful confequences, but follow clearly from fuch a doctrine; for which reafon the doctrine itself ought not to be maintained. The other opinion, that the conquered people, when once ceded to the Crown of Great Britain, are thereby admitted to be British fubjects, and immediately intitled to participate of the liberties of other British subjects, and are therefore to be governed according to the rules

the Limited Monarchy of Great Britain, by which the executive power is vefted folely in the King, but the power of making laws and raifing taxes in the King and Parliament, is a much fafer and more reasonable opinion.

It is therefore to be wifhed, that an act of Parliament might be obtained that at once declared what laws fhould take place in the province of Quebec, whether the laws of the conquered, or the laws of Great Britain, or fome of the laws of the conquered, and some of the laws of Great Britain; or whether any other laws should be introduced there, more peculiarly fitted to the circumstances of the province; and, if any, then what laws fhould be fo introduced: Or, if this detail be thought too troublesome for the Parliament to enter upon, and their informations concerning the state of the province should be deemed to be as yet too imperfect to enable them to go through fuch a bufinefs with propriety, then it is to be wifhed that an act of Parliament may be obtained, by which fuch a legislative power of making laws and ordinances for the good government of the province might be delegated to the Governor and Council, as has been already exercised by them by virtue of an Inftruction from the King alone, By fuch a delegated parliamentary authority, they may enquire into the ftate of the Canadian laws and cuftoms already in force there, and may revise them and reduce them into writing, and enact fuch of them as fhall be found beneficial to the province, and fit to be continued, and may introduce fuch parts of the laws of England as they fhall think to be for the advantage of the province; and likewife, as occafion offers, make fuch other new laws and regulations as fhall be neceffary for the good government of it: And in fo doing they will

have a due regard to the heads of advice fuggested by Mr. Attorney Yorke, and to fuch other intimations and inftructions as the government fhall think proper to communicate to them. And, left this legislative power should be abused, or injudiciously executed, by the Governour and Council, there might be a claufe in the act of Parliament directing them to tranfmit these several Laws and Ordinances to the King and Privy Council in England, to be by his Majefty in Council allowed or difallowed, as his Majefty fhall fee caufe. Only they fhould be in force till difallowed, and, if not difallowed within a certain time, (as, for inftance, two years,) they should then be in force for ever, unless repealed by act of Parliament. Laws and Ordinances founded on fuch a parliamentary authority will eafily find obedience from the people, which it is to be feared no others will; and the Judges of the province will carry them into execution with ten times as much fpirit and confidence as if they were doubtful of their legal validity.

Suppofe a criminal in Canada to be guilty of an offence that is capital by the laws of England, but is not fo by the laws of Canada that have hitherto been received, (a fuppofition that is no way difficult, as the criminal law of England abounds with capital offences) in what manner fhall fuch a man be punished, unless there is a parliamentary declaration determining the punishment that fhall attend his crime; Could any leffer authority warrant the infliction of death for fuch a crime? Or would any Judge chufe, though he fhould be fure of never being called to account for it, to pass fuch a sentence without this highest authority? But, i. the punishments of crimes be fettled by authority of Parliament, whether immediately by the Parliament itfelf, or mediately by ordinances made by the Governor

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and Council of the province, by virtue of a legislative authority communicated to them by act of Parliament, the judges will be under no other difficulty what punishments to inflict upon the feveral criminals that come before them, than they are in Great Britain itself.

Some perfons are of opinion, that the laws of Great Britain do at once take place in a conquered province, without any authoritative introduction of them, either by the King, or the Parliament. But this opinion feems deftitute of foundation, and is fufficiently refuted by the advice of the learned Mr. Yorke, His Majefty's Attorney-General, who has advised that the Canadians fhould be permitted to retain their own Laws, relating to Inheritances and the Alienation of their real eftates, which would be impoffible without an act of Parliament for that purpose, if the whole fyftem of the Laws of England did ipso facto become the Law of the province upon its being conquered, or ceded to the Crown. Indeed, the whole fyftem of the Laws of England, taken in the grofs, and without a felection, would be by no means a bleffing to the Canadians. The game-laws, the poor-laws, the fictions and subtleties in various forts of actions and conveyances, the niceties arifing from the doctrine of ufes, and the tedious and operofe inftruments founded on them, would really be a great misfortune to them; and, from their novelty and strangeness, would be thought to be a much greater. This Doctrine therefore of the inftant validity of the whole mass of the Laws of England throughout the conquered province cannot be true. And if the whole fyftem of those laws is not valid there, then certainly no part of them can be fo. For if they are, then who fhall diftinguifh which of them are valid there, and which are not?

It may therefore be concluded, as at first, that none