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under legal titles, but only agreeably to the ancient usage of location? Certainly not. But, on the contrary, their lordships have recommended, that his majesty should be advised to take every method to check the progress of their settlements;-and thereby leave them in their present lawless situation, at the risk of involving the middle colonies in a war with the natives, pregnant with a loss of subjects, loss of commerce, and depopulation of their frontier counties.

Having made these observations, it may next be proper to consider how the laws and constitution of Virginia can possibly be extended, so as effectually to operate on the territory in question? Is not Williamsburg, the capital of Virginia, at least four hundred miles from the settlements on the Ohio? Do not the laws of Virginia require, that all persons guilty of capital crimes shall be tried only in Williamsburg? Is not the general assembly held there? Is not the court of king's bench, or the superior court of the dominion, kept there? Has Virginia provided any fund for the support of the officers of these distant settlement or for the transporting offenders, and paying the expense of witnesses travelling eight hundred miles (viz. going and returning,) and during their stay at Williamsburg? And will not these settlers be exactly (for the reasons assigned) in the situation described by governor Wright, in the very letter which the commissioners for trade and plantations have so warmly recommended, viz. "such persons as are settled at the back of the provinces, being at a distance from the seat of government, courts, magistrates, &c., they will be out of the reach and control of law and government, and their settlement will become a receptacle, and a kind of asylum for offenders?"

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."

tions, 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 countof 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 inquiry 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 increasing the wealth, strength, and commerce of the empire? or will it point out, that it is the indispensable 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, shown, 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 To conclude: as it has been demonstrated, boundary-line, and to the commercial inthat neither royal nor provincial proclama-terests of the mother-country.

BY THE KING.

A PROCLAMATION.

GEORGE R.

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, toge

and all other smaller islands laying 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.

WHEREAS We have taken into our royal consi-ther with the islands of Anticosti and Madelaine, deration, the extensive and valuable acquisitions in America, secured to our crown by the late definitive treaty of peace, concluded at Paris the tenth 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 befits 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, styled and called by the names of Quebec, East Florida, West Florida, and Grenada, and limited and bounded as follows, viz.

We have also, with the advice of our privy council aforesaid, annexed to our province of Georgia, all the lands lying between the rivers Altamaha 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 liberties and properties of those who are, and shall become inhabitants thereof; we have thought fit to publish and declare, by this our proclamati that we have, in the letters patent under our great seal of Great Britain, by which the 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

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 forty-five 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 gulf 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 afore-make, constitute, and ordain laws, statutes, and said river St. John.

Secondly, The government of East Florida, bounded to the westward by the gulf of Mexico and the Appalachicola 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 gulf of Florida, including all islands within six leagues of the sea-coast.

Thirdly, The government of West Florida, bounded to the southward by the gulf of Mexico, including all islands within six leagues of the coast from the river Appalachicola 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 Appalachicola, 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

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, agreeably 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, agreeably 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

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said new colonies, or to any other person who And do we further declare it to be our royal shall resort thereto, for such lands, tenements, will and pleasure, for the present, as aforesaid, to and hereditaments, as are now, or hereafter shall reserve under our sovereignty, protection, and dobe, in our power to dispose of, and them to grant minion, for the use of the said Indians, all the to any such person or persons, upon such terms, land and territories not included within the limits and under such moderate quit-rents, services, and of our said three new governments, or within the acknowledgments, as have been appointed and limits of the territory granted to the Hudson's settled in other colonies, and under such other Bay company; as also, all the land and territoconditions as shall appear to us to be necessary ries lying to the westward of the sources of the and expedient for the advantage of the grantees, rivers which fall into the sea from the west and and the improvement and settlement of our said north-west as aforesaid; and we do hereby strictcolonies. ly forbid, on pain of our displeasure, all our lovAnd whereas we are desirous, upon all occa- ing subjects from making any purchases or setsions, to testify our royal sense and approbation tlements whatever, or taking possession of any of the conduct and bravery of the officers and sol- of the lands above reserved, without our special diers of our armies, and to reward the same, we leave and license for that purpose first obtained. do hereby command and impower our governors And we do further strictly enjoin and require of our said three new colonies, and other our go-all persons whatever, who have either wilfully or vernors of our several provinces on the continent inadvertently seated themselves upon any lands, of North America, to grant, without fee or re- within the countries above described, or upon any ward, to such reduced officers as have served in other lands, which not having been ceded to, or North America during the late war, and are ac-purchased by us, are still reserved to the said Intually residing there, and shall personally apply dians as aforesaid, forthwith to remove themselves for the same, the following quantities of land, sub- from such settlements. ject, at the expiration of ten years, to the same And whereas great frauds and abuses have quit-rents as other lands are subject to in the pro- been committed in the purchasing lands of the Invince within which they are granted, as also sub-dians, to the great prejudice of our interests, and ject to the same conditions of cultivation and improvement, viz.

To every person having the rank of a field-officer, five thousand acres.

To every captain, three thousand acres. To every subaltern or staff-officer, two thousand acres.

To every non-commissioned officer, two hundred acres.

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 To every private man fifty acres. within those parts of our colonies where we have We do likewise authorize and require the go- thought proper to allow settlement; but that if at vernors and commanders-in-chief of all our said any time any of the said Indians should be incolonies upon the continent of North America to clined to dispose of the said lands, the same shall grant the like quantities of land, and upon the be purchased only for us, in our name, at some same conditions, to such reduced officers of our public meeting or assembly of the said Indians, to navy of like rank, as served on board our ships be held for that purpose by the governor or comof war in North America at the times of the re-mander-in-chief of our colony respectively within duction of Louisbourg and Quebec in the late war, and who shall personally apply to our respective governors for such grants.

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 And whereas it is just and reasonable, and es- shall think proper to give for that purpose: and sential to our interest, and security of our colo- we do, by the advice of our privy council, declare nies, that the several nations or tribes of Indians, and enjoin, that the trade with the said Indians with whom we are connected, and who live un-shall be free and open to all our subjects whatder our protection, should not be molested or disturbed in the possession of such parts of our dominions and territories 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.

ever, provided that every person who may incline to trade with the said Indians, do take out a license 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 authorize, 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 licenses without fee or reward, taking especial care to insert therein a condition that such license 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 em

ployed in the management and direction of Indian | to send them under a proper guard to the colony affairs within the territories reserved, as aforesaid, where their crime was committed of which they for the use of the said Indians, to seize and ap- shall stand accused, in order to take their trial prehend all persons whatever, who standing charg- for the same. ed with treasons, misprisions of treasons, murders, or other felonies or misdemeanours, shall fly from justice and take refuge in the said territory, and

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

APPENDIX No. II.

STATE OF THE KING'S QUIT-RENTS IN NORTH AMERICA.

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Note on the Report. THE preceding proposition, report, and answer are very intimately connected with the history of the revolution of America. The answer to the report, as coming from the pen of Dr. Franklin, is entitled to great attention. He bestowed great pains to render it clear, close, and conclusive in its reasonings; it is indeed a triumphant argument. The variety, extent, and exactness of the information which it contains; and the foresight which discerned at so early a period the settlement, cultivation, and riches of that country; and even the building and sailing of ships on the Ohio, and thence to the ocean, render these tracts highly interesting. When the answer was called up in the privy council on the 1st of July, 1772, it was heard with attention mixed with surprise; it seemed to reveal a new world; and such was the impression which it made, that the prayer of the petitioners was approved.

But the first effect of its approval was very single. The report of the board of trade was drawn up by the president lord Hillsborough, who immediately upon the decision of the privy council, resigned his place. This minister had formed a plan of limitation for the colonies, resembling that of the French when they possessed Canada, which was to circumscribe all settlements by a line to coincide with some northern position and the Mississippi. The answer of Dr. Franklin must have rendered his lordship's want of knowledge of the geographical, physical, and historical circumstances of the American interior, very striking; and his conduct on former occasions, compared with the present, so irreconcilable with an honest or a sound judgment, that his pride appears to have rendered it necessary

that he should retire.

Dr. Franklin's answer had been put to press, with a view to immediate publication, but on hearing that lord Hillsborough had resigned, the publication was stopt, when only five copies had been issued. The copy here published from is that which Dr. Franklin himself retained.

Fifthly, His well founded prospects of greater future ability, by the improvement of his estate in value, and by aids from others.

Sixthly, His known prudence in managing his general affairs, and the advantage they will probably receive from the loan which he desires.

Seventhly, His known probity and honest character, manifested by his voluntary discharge of debts, which he could not have been legally compelled to pay. The circumstances which give credit to an individual ought to have, and will have, their weight upon the lenders of money to public bodies or nations. If then we consider and compare Britain and America, in these several particulars, upon the question, "To which is it safest to lend money?" We shall find,

1. Respecting former loans, that America, which borrowed ten millions during the last war, for the maintenance of her army of 25,000 men and other charges, had faithfully discharged and paid that debt, and all her other debts, in 1772. Whereas Britain, during those ten years of peace and profitable commerce, had made little or no reduction of her debt; but on the contrary, from time to time, diminished the hopes of her creditors, by a wanton diversion and misapplication of the sinking fund destined for discharging it.

An idle

2. Respecting industry; every man in America is employed; the greater part in cultivating their own lands, the rest in handicrafts, navigation, and commerce. man there is a rarity, idleness and inutility are disgraceful. In England the number of that character is immense, fashion has spread it far and wide; hence the embarrassments of private fortunes, and the daily bankruptcies arising from an universal fondness for appearance and expensive pleasures; and hence, in some degree, the mismanagement of public business; for habits of business, and ability in it, are acquired only by practice; and where universal dissipation, and the perpetual pursuit of amusement are the mode, the youth, educated in it, can rarely afterwards acquire that patient attention and close application to affairs, which are so necessary to a statesman

Comparison of Great Britain and America charged with the care of national welfare.

as to Credit,* in 1777.

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Hence their frequent errors in policy, and hence the weariness at public councils, and backwardness in going to them, the constant unwillingness to engage in any measures that require thought and consideration, and the readiness for postponing every new proposition; which postponing is therefore the only

part of business they come to be expert in, an daily practice. Whereas in America, men expertness produced necessarily by so much bred to close employment in their private affairs, attend with ease to those of the public, when engaged in them, and nothing fails through negligence.

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