therefore please your most excellent Majesty, that it may be enacted, and be it enacted by the King's most excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Lords, Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, that all the [said] territories, islands, and countries, [heretofore part of the Province of Canada.] in North America, [extending Southward to the banks of] (belonging to the Crown of Great Britain, bounded on the South by a line from the Bay of Chaleurs, along the high lands which divide the rivers that empty themselves into the river St. Lawrence, from those which fall into the sea, to a point in forty-five degrees of Northern latitude, on the Eastern bank of the river Connecticut; keeping the same latitude directly west through the Lake Champlain, until, in the same latitude, it meets the river St. Lawrence; from thence up the Eastern bank of the said river, to the Lake Ontario; thence through the Lake Ontario, and the river called the Niagara; and thence along by the Eastern and Southeastern bank of Lake Erie, following the said bank until the same shall be intersected by the Northern boundary, granted by the Charter of the Province of Pennsylvania, in case the same shall be so intersected; and from thence along the said Northern and Western boundaries of the said Province, until the said Western boundary strike the Ohio: but in case the said bank of the said lake shall not be found to be so intersected, then following the said bank, until it shall arrive at that point of the said bank which shall be nearest to the Northwestern angle of the said Province of Pennsylvania; and thence by a right line to the said Northwestern angle of the said Province, and thence along the Western boundary of the said Province, until it strike) the river Ohio (and along the bank of the said river) Westward, to the banks of the Mississippi, and Northward to the Southern boundary of the territory granted to the Merchants Adventurers of England, trading to Hudson's Bay; and [which said] (also all such) territories, islands, and countries, [are not within the limits of some other British Colony as allowed and confirmed by the Crown, or] which have, since the tenth of February, one thousand seven hundred and sixty-three, been made part of the Government of Newfoundland, be, and they are hereby, during his Majesty's pleasure, annexed to, and made part and parcel of, the Province of Quebec, as created and established by the said Royal Proclamation of the seventh of October, one thousand seven hundred and sixty-three.

(Provided always, That nothing herein contained relative to the boundary of the Province of Quebec, shall in any wise affect the boundaries of any other Colonies.)

(Provided always, And be it enacted, that nothing in this Act contained shall extend, or be construed to extend, to make void, or to vary or alter any right, title, or possession, derived under any grant, conveyance, or otherwise howsoever, of or to any lands within the said Province, or the Provinces thereto adjoining, but that the same shall remain and be in force, and have effect, as if this Act had never been made.)

And whereas the provisions made by the said Proclamation, in respect to the civil Government of the said Province of Quebec, and the powers and authorities given to the Governor, and other civil officers of the said Province, by the grants and commissions issued in consequence thereof, have been found, upon experience, to be inapplicable to the state and circumstances of the said Province, the inhabitants whereof [amounting] (amounted) at the conquest, to above [one hundred] (sixty-five) thousand persons, professing the religion of the Church of Rome, and enjoying an established form of constitution and system of laws, by which their persons and property had been protected, governed, and ordered for a long series of years, from the first establishment of the said Province of Canada; Be it therefore further enacted by the authority aforesaid the said Proclamation, so far as the same relates to the said Province of Quebec, and the commission under the authority whereof the Government of the said Province is at present administered, and all and every the ordinance and ordinances made by the Governor and Council of Quebec for the time being, relative to the civil Government and administration of justice in the said Province, and all commissions to Judges and other officers thereof, be, and the same are hereby revoked, annulled, and made void, from and after the first day of May, one thousand seven hundred and seventy-five.

And for the more perfect security and ease of the minds of the inhabitants of the said Province, it is hereby declared, that his Majesty's subjects professing the religion of the Church of Rome, of, and in the said Province of Quebec, [as the same is described in and by the said Proclamation and commissions, and also all the territories, part of the Province of Canada, at the time of the conquest thereof, which are hereby annexed during his Majesty's pleasure, to the said Government of Quebec,] may have, hold, and enjoy, the free exercise of the religion of the Church of Rome, subject to the King's supremacy, declared and established by an Act made in the first year of the reign of Queen Elizabeth, over all the dominions and countries which then did, or thereafter should, belong to the imperial Crown of this realm; and that the Clergy of the said church, may hold, receive, and enjoy their accustomed dues and rights, with respect to such persons only as shall profess the said religion.

Provided nevertheless, That, [nothing herein contained shall extend, or be construed, to extend, to the disabling] (it shall be lawful for) his Majesty, his heirs, or successors, [from making] (to make) such provision (out of the rest of the said accustomed dues and rights) for the encouragement of the Protestant religion, and for the maintenance and support of a Protestant clergy within the said Province, as he or they shall, from time to time, think necessary and expedient.

(Provided always, and be it enacted, That no person professing the religion of the Church of Rome, and residing in the said Province, shall be obliged to take the oath required by the said statute, passed in the first year of the reign of Queen Elizabeth, or any other oaths substituted by any other Act in the place thereof, but that every such person, who by the said statute is required to take the oath therein mentioned, shall be obliged, and is hereby required to take and subscribe the following oath, before the Governor, or such other person, or in such court of record as his Majesty shall appoint, who are hereby authorized to administer the same: videlicet:

"I, A—B—, do sincerely promise and swear that I will be faithful and bear true allegiance to his Majesty King George, and him will defend to the utmost of my power, against all traitorous conspiracies and attempts whatsoever, which shall be made against his person, crown and dignity; and I will do my utmost endeavours to disclose and make known to his Majesty, his heirs, and successors, all treasons and traitorous conspiracies and attempts, which I shall know to be against him, or any of them, and all this I do swear, without any equivocation, mental evasion, or secret reservation; and renouncing all pardons and dispensations from any power or person whomsoever to the contrary. So help me God."

And every such person who shall neglect or refuse to take the said oath, before mentioned, shall incur, and be liable to the same penalties, forfeitures, disabilities, and incapacities, as he would have incurred and been liable to, for neglecting or refusing to take the oath required by the said statute, passed in the first year of the reign of Queen Elizabeth.

And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, That all his Majesty's Canadian subjects, within the Province of Quebec, the religious orders and communities only excepted, may also hold and enjoy their property and possessions, together with all customs and usages relative thereto, and all other their civil rights, in as large, ample, and beneficial manner, as if the said proclamation, commissions, ordinances, and other acts, and instruments, had not been made, and as may consist with their allegiance to his Majesty, and subjection to the Crown and Parliament of Great Britain; and that in all matters of controversy relative to property and civil rights, resort shall be had to the laws of Canada, (as the rule) for the decision of the same, and all causes that shall hereafter be instituted in any of the courts of justice, to be appointed within and for the said Province, by his Majesty, his heirs, and successors, shall, with respect to such property and rights, be determined [by the Judges of the same] agreeably to the said laws and customs of Canada [and the several] (until they shall be varied or altered by any,) ordinances that shall, from time to time, be passed in the said Pro-