p. 773
first Year of the Reign of King George the First, for the further Security of His Majesty's Person and Government, and the Succession of the Crown in the Heirs of the late Princess Sophia, being Protestants, and for extinguishing the Hopes of the pretended Prince of Wales, and his open and secret Abettors; which Oath shall be administered to them by such Person or Persons as you shall commissionate for the Purpose; and in case any of the said French Inhabitants shall refuse to take the said Oath, and make and subscribe the Declaration of Abjuration, as aforesaid, You are to cause them forthwith to depart out of Our said Government.
30. And it is Our further Will and Pleasure, that all such Inhabitants, professing the Religion of the Romish Church, do, at all such Meetings, or at such other Time or Times as You shall think proper, and in the Manner you shall think least alarming and inconvenient to the said Inhabitants, deliver in upon Oath an exact Account of all Arms and Ammunition, of every Sort in their actual Possession, and so, from time to time, of what they shall receive into their Possession, as aforesaid.
31. You areas soon as possible to transmit to Us, by Our Commissioners for Trade and Plantations, an exact and particular Account of the Nature and Constitution of the several Religious Community of the Romish Church, their Rights, Claims, Privileges and Property, and also the Number, Situation and Revenue of the several Churches heretofore established in Our said Province, together with the Number of Priests of Curates officiating in such Churches.
32. You are not to admit of any Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction of the See of Rome, or any other foreign Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction whatsoever in the Province under your Government.
33. And to the End that the Church of England may be established both in Principles and Practice, and that the said Inhabitants may be Degrees be induced to embrace the Protestant Religion, and their Children be brought up in the Principles of it; We do hereby declare it to be Our Intention, when the said Province shall have been accurately surveyed, and divided into Townships, Districts, Precincts or Parishes, in such manner as shall be hereinafter directed, all possible Encouragement shall be given to the erecting Protestant Schools in the said Districts, Townships and Precincts, by settling, appointing and allotting proper Quantities of Land for that Purpose, and also for a Glebe and Maintenance for a Protestant Minister and Protestant School-Masters; and you are to consider and report to Us, by Our Commissioners for Trade and Plantations, by what other Means the Protestant Religion may be promoted, established and encouraged in Our Province under your Government.
34. And You are to take especial Care, that God Almighty be devoutly and duly served throughout your Government, the Book of Common Prayer, as by Law established, read each Sunday and Holyday, and the blessed Sacrament administered according to the Rites of the Church of England.
p. 774
35. You are not to prefer any Protestant Minister to any Ecclesiastical Benefice in the Province under your Government, without a Certificate from the Right Reverend Father in God the Lord Bishop of London of his being conformable to the Doctrine and Discipline of the Church of England, and of a good Life and Conversation; And if any Person hereafter preferred to a Benefice shall appear to you to give Scandal, either by his Doctrine or Manners, you are to use the best Means for his Removal.
36. You are to give Orders forthwith, that every Orthodox Minister within your Government be one of the Vestry in his respective Parish, and that no Vestry be held without him, except in case of Sickness, or, after Notice of a Vestry summoned, he omit to come.
37. And to the End that the Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction of the Lord Bishop of London may take place in Our Province under your Government, as far as conveniently may be, We do think fit, that You give all Countenance and Encouragement to the Exercise of the same, excepting only the collating to Benefices, granting Licences for Marriage, and Probates of Wills, which We have reserved to You, Our Governor, and to the Commander in Chief of Our said Province for the Time being.
38. And We do further direct, that no Schoolmaster, who shall arrive in Our said Province form this Kingdom, be henceforward permitted to keep School, without the Licence of the said Lord Bishop of London; and that no other Person now there, or that shall come from other Parts, shall be admitted to keep School in your Government, without your Licence first obtained.
39. And you are to take especial Care, that a Table of Marriages, established by the Canons of the Church of England, be hung up in all Places of publick Worship, according to the Rites of the Church of England.
40. And it is Our further Will and Pleasure, that, in order to suppress, as much as in you lies, every Species of Vice and Immorality, You forthwith, do cause all Laws already made against Blasphemy, Profaneness, Adultery, Fornication, Polygamy, Incest, Profanation of the Lord's Day, Swearing and Drunkenness, to be vigorously put in Execution in every part of your Government; And that you take due Care for the Punishment of these, and every other Vice and Immorality, by Presentment upon Oath to be made to the Temporal Courts, by the Church Wardens of the several Parishes, at proper Times of the year to be appointed for the Purpose; and, for the further Discouragement of Vice, and Encouragement of Virtue and good living, (that by such Examples the Infidels may be invited and persuaded to embrace the Christian Religion), You are not to admit any Persons to publick Trusts and Employments in the Province under your Government, whose Ill-Fame and Conversation may occasion Scandal.
41. And whereas it is stipulated by the aforesaid Treaty concluded at Paris the 10th Day of February 1763, that the French Inhabitants, or Others,
p. 775
who have been Subjects of the Most Christian King in Canada, may retire with all Freedom and Safety wherever they shall think proper, and may sell their Estates, provided it be to Our Subjects, and bring away their Effects, as well as their Persons, without being restrained in their Emigration under any Pretence whatsoever, except that of Debts, or criminal Prosecution, and that the Time limited for the Emigration shall be fixed to the Space of Eighteen Months, to be computed from the Day of Exchange of the Ratifications of the Treaty; You are therefore in all things to conform yourself to this Stipulation, and to take care, that such of the French Inhabitants, as intend to remove within the Time limited, be not obstructed or impeded, provided they do not sell their Estates to Others than His Majesty's Subjects, and that, so long as they remain under your Government, they do in all things conform thereto in like manner as Our other Subjects.
42. And it is Our further Will and Pleasure, that all and every the French Inhabitants in Our said Province, who are now possessed of Lands within the said Province, in Virtue of Grants or Concessions made before the signing of the Preliminary Articles of Peace on the third Day of November 1762; do, within such limited Time as you in your Discretion shall think fit, register the several Grants, or other Deeds or Titles, by which they hold or claim such Lands, in the Secretary's Office; which said Grants, Deeds or other Titles, shall be entered at large in the said Office, so that the particular Quantity of Land, it's Site and Extent, the Conditions upon which it is granted, either as to Rents, Services, or Cultivation, may appear fully and at length.
43. And in case it shall appear, upon a strict and accurate Examination of the said Grants and Title Deeds, to be taken in such manner as You shall think proper, that any of the Grantees, or Persons claiming Lands under such Grants and Title Deeds, are in Possession of more Land than is contained within such Grants or other Concessions; or that the Terms and Conditions, upon which the Lands were granted, have not been complied with, agreeable to what is stipulated in such Grants or Concessions; It is Our Will and Pleasure, that you forthwith represent the same to Us, by Our Commissioners for Trade and Plantations, to the End that you may receive such Directions thereupon, as the Nature and Circumstances of the Case shall appear to require.
44. And whereas it is necessary, in order to the advantageous and effectual Settlement of Our said Province, that the true State of it should be fully known; You are therefore, as soon as conveniently may be, to cause an accurate Survey to be made of the said Province by such able and skilful Person as is or shall be appointed for that Service, who is to report to you in writing, for your Judgement in the Measures which you may in general pursue for the making of Settlements, not only the Nature and Quality of the Soil and Climate, the Rivers, Bays and Harbours, and every other Circumstance attending the natural State of it; but also his opinion, in what manner it may be most conveniently laid out into Countries, and to annex to his Report a Map of such Survey, with the several Divisions proposed marked upon it: But as the Making such Survey will be a Work of great Length, You are in
p. 776
the meantime to carry on Settlements upon that Plan, which shall appear to you to be most expedient from the best Information You can collect.
45. And whereas it has been found by Experience, that the settling Planters in Townships hath very much redounded to their Advantage, not only with respect to the Assistance they have been able to afford Each other in their civil Concerns, but likewise with regard to the Security they have thereby acquired against the Insults and Incursions of neighbouring Indians, or other Enemies; You are therefore to lay out Townships of a convenient Size and Extent in such Places, as you, in your Discretion, shall jude most proper. And it is Our Will and Pleasure, that each Township do consist of about Twenty Thousand Acres having, as far as may be, natural Boundaries extending up into the Country, and comprehending a necessary Part of the River St Lawrence, where it can be conveniently had.
46. You are also to cause a proper Place in the most convenient Part of each Township, to be marked out for building a Town sufficient to contain such a Number of Families as you shall judge proper to settle there, with Town and pasture Lots convenient to each Tenement, taking Care, that the said Town be laid out upon, or, as near as conveniently may be, to some navigable River, or the Sea Coast; And you are also to reserve to Us proper Quantities of Land in each Township for the following Purposes Viz; For erecting Fortifications, and barracks, where necessary, or for other military or naval Services, and more particularly for the Growth and Production of Naval Timber, if there are any Wood-Lands fit for that Purpose.
47. And it is Our further Will and Pleasure, that a particular Spot, in, or as near each Town as possible, be set apart for the building a Church, and four Hundred Acres adjacent thereto allotted for the Maintenance of a Minister, and two Hundred for a Schoolmaster.
48. And you are to give strict Orders to the Surveyors, whom you shall employ to mark out the said Townships and Towns, to make Returns to you of their Surveys as soon as possible, with a particular Description of each Township, and the Nature of the Soil within the same.
49. And You are to oblige all such Persons as shall be appointed to be Surveyors of the said Lands in each Township, to take an Oath for the due Performance of their Offices, and for obliging them to make exact Surveys of all Lands required to be set out.
50. And whereas nothing can more effectually tend to the speedy settling Our said Colony, the Security of the Property of Our Subjects, and the Advancement of Our Revenue, than the disposing of such lands as are Our Property upon reasonable Terms, and the establishing a regular and proper Method of proceeding with respect to the passing of Grants of such land; It is therefore our Will and Pleasure, that all and every Person and Persons, who shall apply to You for any grant or Grants of Land, shall, previous to their obtaining the same, make it appear before you in Council,
p. 777
that they are in a Condition to cultivate and improve the same, by settling thereon, in Proportion to the Quantity of Acres desired, a sufficient Number of White Persons and Negroes; And in case you shall, upon a Consideration of the Circumstances of the Person or Persons applying for such Grants, think it adviseable to pass the same, in such Case You are to cause a Warrant to be drawn up, directed to the Surveyor General, or other proper Officers, so petitioned for, and to return the said Warrant within six Months at furthest from the Date thereof, with a Plot or Description of the Lands so surveyed thereunto annexed; Provided that you do take Care, that before any such Warrant is issued, as aforesaid, a Docquet thereof be entered in the Auditor's and Register's Office: And when the Warrant shall be returned by the said Surveyor, or other proper Officer, the Grant shall be made out in due Form, and the Terms and Conditions required by these Our Instructions be particularly and expressly mentioned in the respective Grants. And it is Our Will and Pleasure, that the said Grants shall be registered within six Months from the Date thereof in the Register's Office there, and a Docquet thereof be also entered in Our Auditor's Office there, in Case such Establishment shall take Place in Our said Province, or that, in Default thereof, such Grant shall be void; Copies of all which Entries shall be returned regularly, by the proper Officer, to Our Commissioners of Our Treasury and to Our Commissioners for Trade and Plantations, within six Months from the Date thereof.
51. And whereas great Inconveniences have arisen in many of Our Colonies in America from the granting excessive Quantities of Land to particular Persons, who have never cultivated or settled it, and have thereby prevented Others more industrious from improving the same; in order therefore to prevent the like Inconveniences for the future, You are to take especial Care, that in all Grants to be made by you, by and with the Advice and Consent of Our Council, to Persons applying for the same, the Quantity be in Proportion to their Ability to cultivate; And you are hereby directed to observe the following Directions and Regulations in all Grants to be made by you; Vizt
That one hundred Acres of Land be granted to every Person being Master or Mistress of a Family, for himself or herself, and fifty Acres for every white or black Man, Woman or Child, of which such Person's Family shall consist, at the actual Time of making the Grant; and in case any Person applying to you for Grants of Land shall be desirous of taking up a larger Quantity than the actual Number of Persons in his or her Family would intitle such Persons to take up; it is Our Will and Pleasure, and you are hereby allowed and permitted, to grant unto every such Person or Persons, such further Quantity of Land as they may desire, not exceeding one Thousand Acres over and above what they are intitled to by the Number of Persons in their respective Families;—Provided it shall appear to you, that they are in a Condition and Intention to cultivate the same; and provided also, that they do pay to the Receiver of Our Quit Rents, or to such other Officer as
[1927lab]
|