SESSIONAL PAPER No. 18

to which that Institution is liable in a Small Community where the Jurors must be all Traders, and very frequently either directly or indirectly connected with the PartiesIn the Civil Courts of Original Jurisdiction, the Evidence is taken down in writing, So that not only the Judges in Appeal, but the Whole World can Judge of the Fact upon which the Judges form their Decision. Be Assured My Lord that however good the Institution of Juries may be found in England, the People of this Country have a great Aversion to them; they Cannot Reconcile themselves to have their Property determined by Men of that Station of Life of which Juries must be Composed, the Idea of Twelve Men being necessaryly of one Opinion before a Judgement Can be Obtained, revolts their understanding. An Innovation of that kind would have Many Inconveniencies.-There are Many Foreign Troops in the Province and there are not wanting ill disposed persons who would Stir up vexatious Lawsuits against them in Damages for imaginary Injuries if there was a Mode of Trial that Could Submit a German Baron to a Decision of Twelve Tavern keepers or Traders and that with the Sole View of Disgusting him with Our Service

It was with great Regret that I found MySelf Obliged not to Communicate the Instruction relative to the Security of Personal Liberty.'- The Citizens in no Country ought to be liable to Long Imprisonments, Persons accused of Crimes ought Certainly to be brought in a Limited Time to Trial, but in Time of War and Rebellion, it would be impolitic and in the present circumstances of the Province, highly dangerous to attempt an Innovation of the Kind.—I have been under the disagreable Necessity of imprisoning Several Persons for corresponding with Rebels or assisting them to Escape and have great Reason to Suspect Many More of being Guilty of the Same practices, but have made it a Rule to pretend Ignorance as often as I can, and am Satisfied with guarding against Bad Consequences of their Treachery except where their crime is publickly known, and then I think it my Duty to take Notice of them, as a Contrary Conduct would betray weakness & encourage Others to follow their Example.—This was the Case with Mr. Charles Hay of Quebec & Mr. Cazeau of Montreal. The Clerk of the former was detected & apprehended last March as he was Setting off for Albany.He had a Certificate from Charles Hay whose Brother is a Quarter Master General in the Rebel Army, desiring credit to be put in him.-The Clerk has confessed before a Magistrate that his Master Sent him and that Mr. Cazeau procured him a Guide.— The first applied by Petition to the Court of King's Bench at the last Sessions last May for the District of Quebec praying a Writ of Habeas Corpus. The Petition was rejected by the Unanimous Opinion of the Commissioners for executing the Office of Chief Justice, who by that means and a Public Declaration which they made in 1779 at the Trial of Mr. Stiles of the Viper on an Indictment for Murder, of the King's having a legal Right to Impress Mariners of the Navy in time of War, have very much Strengthened the hands of Government.--The Province is Surrounded by Enemies from without and as happens in all Civil Wars is infested with Spies & Secret Enemies from within-Your Lordship Must be Sensible how necessary it is that Government Should be Supported. I confide in Your Lordships Zeal for the King's Service, to give me every Assistance in Your Power, and in Your Candor and Regard for Myself to assure His Majesty that My views in the Civil and Military Affairs of the Province, Shall and Can have no End but the Advantage of his Service and the Good of his People. -I Cannot finish this long Letter without requesting Your Lordship to be Convinced, that whatever System I may adopt, and whatever Opinion I may have formed of Men and things, is and will be the Result of my own Reflections and of my attention to my Duty, and not the Suggestion of Persons Influenced by attachment to former Systems or Plans

3

1 The 13th article of the Instructions referring to the writ of Habeas Corpus. See P. 423.

2 Referring to the ultimate outcome of a number of these imprisonments, we find the following statement, "Several actions for damages for false imprisonment, were instituted against him in England; the persons who had been imprisoned recovered judgments against him, which were paid by Government. History of Canada; from its First Discovery to the Year 1791. By William Smith. Québec: 1815. Vol. II, p. 165.

When Carleton dismissed Peter Livius from the position of Chief Justice, he re-appointed Messrs. Mabane, Dunn, and Williams a Special Commission to execute the office of Chief Justice, as had been done during the absence of Hey. See B 37, p. 196; also note 3, p. 476.

6-7 EDWARD VII., A. 1907

of their own, at the Same time that I Cannot alter or Reject former Measures which I think for the Good of the King's Service, agreable to the wishes & Suitable to the wants of the People over whom I preside, because they May be agreable to Men, who perhaps have had private Views and Resentments.

I have the Honor to be with the greatest Respect and Esteem My Lord

Your Lordships Most Obedient

& Most humble Servant

An Ordinance for further continuing an Ordinance made the 25th Day of February, in the seventeenth year of His Majesty's Reign, intituled, "An Ordin"ance to regulate the Proceedings of the Courts of Civil Judicature in the "Province of Quebec." and in Amendment thereof.

Be it Enacted and Ordained by His Excellency the Governor, by and with the Advice and Consent of the Legislative Council of the Province of Quebec, and by the Authority of the same it is hereby Enacted, That an Ordinance made in the Seventeenth year of His Majesty's Reign, intituled. "An Ordinance to regulate the Pro"ceedings of the Courts of Civil Judicature in the Provinceof Quebec" and every Article and Clause therein contained, shall be and continue, and the same is hereby further continued, from the passing of this present Ordinance unto the Thirtieth Day of April One thousand seven hundred and Eighty five.

And whereas in and by the Eighth Article of the said Ordinance it is Ordained and Enacted, That a Writ of Appeal shall be allowed if the Appellant hath given the requisite Security for prosecuting the same; It is Enacted and Ordained, That the Judges to whom any such Writ of Appeal may be directed shall and may be empow ered, and are hereby lawfully authorized to Accept of Personal Security on Bail by Justification, for sufficiently prosecuting all or any such Writ of Appeal to be sued out and prosecuted according to the said Ordinance, any Thing contained in the Ordinances or Laws of this Province to the contrary notwithstanding.

(signed)

FRED: HALDIMAND

Ordained and Enacted by the Authority aforesaid, and passed in Council under the Public Seal of the Province at the Council Chamber, in the Castle of St Lewis, in the City of Quebec, the Fifth day of February, in the Twenty Third year of the Reign of our Sovereign Lord George the Third, by the Grace of God, of Great Britain, France and Ireland, King, Defender of the Faith and so forth, and in the Year of Our Lord One thousand, Seven hundred and Eighty three.

By His Excellency's Command.

J: WILLIAMS

C. L C.

Canadian Archives, Q 62 A-2, p. 599.

1 This Ordinance as passed in 1777 (see p. 466) had been renewed without amendment in 1779 and 1781, and is again renewed with a slight amendment.

SESSIONAL PAPER No. 18

TREATY OF PARIS, 1783.1

DEFINITIVE TREATY of Peace and Friendship between His Britannic Majesty and the United States of America.—Signed at Paris, the 3rd of September, 1783.

In the Name of the Most Holy and Undivided Trinity.

It having pleased the Divine Providence to dispose the hearts of the Most Serene and Most Potent Prince, George the Third, by the grace of God, King of Great Britain, France and Ireland, Defender of the Faith, Duke of Brunswick and Lunenburg, ArchTreasurer and Prince Elector of the Holy Roman Empire, &c., and of the United States of America, to forget all past misunderstandings and differences that have unhappily interrupted the good correspondence and friendship which they mutually wish to restore: and to establish such a beneficial and satisfactory intercourse between the 2 Countries, upon the ground of reciprocal advantages and mutual convenience, as may promote and secure to both perpetual Peace and Harmony; and having for this desirable end already laid the foundation of Peace and reconciliation, by the Provisional Articles signed at Paris, on the 30th of November, 1782, by the Commissioners empowered on each part ; which Articles were agreed to be inserted in, and to constitute, the Treaty of Peace proposed to be concluded between the Crown of Great Britain and the said United States, but which Treaty was not to be concluded until terms of Peace should be agreed upon between Great Britain and France, and His Britannic Majesty should be ready to conclude such Treaty accordingly; and the Treaty between Great Britain and France having since been concluded, His Britannic Majesty and the United States of America, in order to carry into full effect the Provisional Articles above-mentioned, according to the tenor thereof, have constituted and appointed, that is to say:

His Britannic Majesty, on his part, David Hartley, Esq., Member of the Parliament of Great Britain; and the said United States, on their part, John Adams, Esq., late a Commissioner of the United States of America at the Court of Versailles, late Delegate in Congress from the State of Massachusetts, and Chief Justice of the said State, and Minister Plenipotentiary of the said United States to Their High Mightinesses the States General of the United Netherlands; Benjamin Franklin, Esq., late Delegate in Congress from the State of Pennsylvania, President of the Convention of the said State, and Minister Plenipotentiary from the United States of America at the Court of Versailles; John Jay, Esq., late President of Congress and Chief Justice of the State of New York, and Minister Plenipotentiary from the said United States at the Court of Madrid; to be the Plenipotentiaries for the concluding and signing the present Definitive Treaty who, after having reciprocally communicated their respective Full Powers, have agreed upon and confirmed the following Articles :

Art. I. His Britannic Majesty acknowledges the said United States, viz., New Hampshire, Massachusetts Bay, Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia, to be Free, Sovereign and Independent States; that he treats with them as such; and for himself, his Heirs and Successors, relinquishes all claims to the government, propriety and territorial rights of the same, and every part thereof.

II. And that all disputes which might arise in future on the subject of the Boundaries of the said United States may be prevented, it is hereby agreed and declared, that the following are and shall be their Boundaries, viz., from the North-west Angle of Nova Scotia, viz., that Angle which is formed by a line drawn due North, from the source of St. Croix River to the Highlands, along the said Highlands which divide those Rivers that empty themselves into the River St. Lawrence from those which fall into the Atlantic Ocean, to the North-westernmost head of Connecticut River; thence down along the middle of that River to the 45th degree of North latitude; from thence by

1 The text of the treaty is taken from "British and Foreign State Papers. Compiled by the Librarian and Keeper of the Papers, Foreign Office. London: 1841." Vol. I. Part I. p. 779.

6-7 EDWARD VII., A. 1907 a line due West on said latitude until it strikes the River Iroquois or Cataraquy; thence along the middle of the said River into Lake Ontario; through the middle of said Lake until it strikes the communication by water between that Lake and Lake Erie; thence along the middle of said communication into Lake Erie; through the middle of said Lake until it arrives at the water-communication between that Lake and Lake Huron; thence along the middle of said water-communication into the Lake Huron; thence through the middle of said Lake to the water-communication between that Lake and Lake Superior; thence through Lake Superior, Northward of the Isles Royal and Phelipeaux, to the Long Lake; thence through the middle of said Long Lake, and the water-communication between it and the Lake of the Woods, to the said Lake of the Woods; thence through the said Lake to the most North-western point thereof, and from thence on a due West course to the River Mississippi; thence by a line to be drawn along the middle of the said River Mississippi, until it shall intersect the Norther-most part of the 31st degree of North latitude : South by a line to be drawn due East from the determination of the line last mentioned, in the latitude of 31 degrees North of the Equator, to the middle of the River Apalachicola or Catahouche; thence along the middle thereof to its junction with the Flint River; thence straight to the head of St. Mary's River, and thence down along the middle of St. Mary's River to the Atlantic Ocean: East by a line to be drawn along the middle of the River St. Croix, from its mouth in the Bay of Fundy to its source; and from its source directly North to the aforesaid Highlands, which divide the Rivers that fall into the Atlantic Ocean from those which fall into the River St. Lawrence: comprehending all Islands within 20 leagues of any part of the shores of The United States, and lying between lines to be drawn due East from the points where the aforesaid Boundaries between Nova Scotia on the one part, and East Florida on the other, shall respectively touch the Bay of Fundy, and the Atlantic Ocean; excepting such Islands as now are, or heretofore have been, within the limits of the said Province of Nova Scotia.3

III. It is agreed, that the People of The United States shall continue to enjoy unmolested the right to take Fish of every kind on the Grand Bank and on all the other Banks of Newfoundland; also in the Gulph of St. Lawrence, and at all other places in the Sea, where the Inhabitants of both Countries used at any time heretofore to fish. And also that the Inhabitants of The United States shall have liberty to take fish of every kind on such part of the Coast of Newfoundland as British Fishermen shall use, (but not to dry or cure the same on that Island,) and also on the Coasts, Bays, and Creeks of all other of His Britannic Majesty's Dominions in America; and that the American Fishermen shall have liberty to dry and cure fish in any of the unsettled Bays, Harbours, and Creeks of Nova Scotia, Magdalen Islands, and Labrador, so long as the same shall remain unsettled; but so soon as the same, or either of them, shall be settled, it shall not be lawful for the said Fishermen to dry or cure fish at such Settlement, without a previous agreement for that purpose with the Inhabitants, Proprietors, or Possessors of the ground.

IV. It is agreed that Creditors on either side shall meet with no lawful impediment to the recovery of the full value in sterling money of all bona fide debts heretofore contracted.

V. It is agreed that the Congress shall earnestly recommend it to the Legislatures of the respective States, to provide for the restitution of all estates, rights, and properties which have been confiscated, belonging to real British Subjects: and also of the estates, rights, and properties of Persons resident in Districts in the possession of His Majesty's arms, and who have not borne arms against the said United States: and that Persons of any other description shall have free liberty to go to any part or parts of any of the 13 United States, and therein to remain 12 months unmolested in their endeavours to obtain the restitution of such of their estates, rights and properties as may have been

1 The early names of the St. Lawrence from Lake Ontario to its junction with the Octawa. 2 Rainy Lake.

3 Compare these boundaries with those given in the Proclamation of Oct. 7th, 1763, p. 120; and previously discussed in the Report from the Board of Trade of June 8th, 1763, pp. 97-107. It will be observed that England still retained Canada and East and West Florida, obtained by the Treaty of Feb. 10th, 1763.

SESSIONAL PAPER No. 18

confiscated; and that Congress shall also earnestly recommend to the several States, a reconsideration and revision of all Acts or Laws regarding the premises, so as to render the said Laws or Acts perfectly consistent, not only with justice and equity, but with that spirit of conciliation which, on the return of the blessings of Peace, should universally prevail. And that Congress shall also earnestly recommend to the several States, that the estates, rights, and properties of such last-mentioned Persons shall be restored to them, they refunding to any Persons who may be now in possession the bona fide price (where any has been given) which such Persons may have paid on purchasing any of the said lands, rights or properties since the confiscation.

And it is agreed that all Persons who have any interest in confiscated lands, either by debts, marriage settlements, or otherwise, shall meet with no lawful impediment in the prosecution of their just rights.

VI. That there shall be no future confiscations made, nor any prosecutions commenced against any Person or Persons, for or by reason of the part which he or they may have taken in the present War; and that no Person shall on that account suffer any future loss or damage either in his person, liberty, or property; and that those who may be in confinement on such charges at the time of the Ratification of the Treaty in America, shall be immediately set at liberty, and the prosecutions so commenced be discontinued.1

VII. There shall be a firm and perpetual Peace between His Britannic Majesty and the said States, and between the Subjects of the one and the Citizens of the other, wherefore all hostilities both by sea and land shall from henceforth cease: all Prisoners on both sides shall be set at liberty, and His Britannic Majesty shall with all convenient speed, and without causing any destruction, or carrying away any Negroes or other property of the American Inhabitants, withdraw all his Armies, Garrisons, and Fleets from the said United States, and from every Port, Place, and Harbour within the same; leaving in all Fortifications the American Artillery that may be therein: and shall also order and cause all Archives, Records, Deeds, and Papers belonging to any of the said States, or their Citizens, which in the course of the War may have fallen into the hands of his Officers, to be forthwith restored and delivered to the proper States and Persons to whom they belong.

VIII. The navigation of the River Mississippi, from its source to the Ocean, shall for ever remain free and open to the Subjects of Great Britain, and the Citizens of The United States.

IX. In case it should so happen that any Place or Territory belonging to Great Britain, or to The United States, should have been conquered by the arms of either, from the other, before the arrival of the said Provisional Articles in America, it is agreed that the same shall be restored without difficulty, and without requiring any compensation.

X. The solemn Ratifications of the present Treaty, expedited in good and due form, shall be exchanged between the Contracting Parties in the space of 6 months, or sooner if possible, to be computed from the day of the signature of the present Treaty.

In witness whereof, we, the Undersigned, their Ministers Plenipotentiary, have in their name, and in virtue of our Full Powers, signed with our Hands the present Definitive Treaty, and caused the Seals of our Arms to be affixed thereto. Done at Paris, this 3d day of September, in the year of our Lord, 1783. (L.S.) D. HARTLEY.

[L.S.]

C. O.

(Quebec 1768-1787. Vol. 1.)

(L. S.) JOHN ADAMS.
(L. S.) B. FRANKLIN.
(L. S.) JOHN JAY.

1 There was much dispute, alike as to principles and facts, regarding the fulfilment or non-fulfilment of the terms of the treaty, especially the fifth and sixth articles. In consequence of the claims of Britain as to non-fulfilment on the part of the United States, she declined to give up the frontier posts on the great lakes, as required by the seventh article. These were retained until the settlement effected by the Treaty of 1794, which provided for the evacuation of the posts before June 1st, 1796. See British and Foreign State Papers, Vol. I, p. 784.