terprising spirit of the said subjects, who, under the protection of British Laws, and by the assistance of annual Supplies of British Manufactures, and other Goods and Merchandise, obtained upon credit from the Merchants of Great Britain, have been enabled to carry on at least four parts in five of all the Imports and Exports, which are principally made in British Bottoms, the latter consisting of Furs, Peltries, Wheat, Fish, Oil, Pot-Ash, Lumber, and other Country Produce; and for the more convenient Carrying on the said Trade and Commerce, they have built Wharves and Store-Houses, at a very great expense, insomuch, that the property, real and personal, now in British hands, or by them intrusted to Canadians, at a long credit, is one-half of the whole value of the Province, exclusive of the wealth of the different communities, which the Petitioners have, in part, set forth in their Petition to his Majesty, dated at Quebec, the 31st day of December, 1773, praying that he would be graciously pleased to require his Governour or Commander-in-Chief, to call a General Assembly, such manner, and of such constitution and form, as to his high Majesty should seem best adapted to secure the peace, welfare and good government of their Province; wherefore, with concern, the Petitioners observe, that in certain examinations taken before the House, the British subjects at Quebec, have been grossly abused and misrepresented, as well as to their numbers, as in their importance in the said Province, for the numbers of the new subjects have, the Petitioners conceive, been greatly exaggerated; it being, by the last computation, about seventy-five thousand; and that by an enumeration of the British subjects, they amount, at this time, to upwards of three thousand souls, besides many that the Petitioners cannot immediately ascertain, that are dispersed in the Indian countries carrying on traffick with the Savages, besides the Merchants and Traders, with their families, settled at Detroit and its dependencies, and at the Fisheries below Quebec; and that an Act has lately passed, for the making more effectual provision for the government of the Province of Quebec, in North America, which is said to have been passed upon the principles of humanity and justice, and at the pressing instance and request of the new subjects, signified to his Majesty by a Petition, setting forth their dislike to the British Laws and form of Government, and praying in the name of all the inhabitants and citizens of the Province to have the French Institutes in their stead, and a total abolition of Trials by Jury, together with a capacity of holding places of honour and trust, in common with his Majesty's ancient subjects; and the Petitioners beg leave to inform the House, that the said Petition was never imparted to the inhabitants in general, that is, the Freeholders, Merchants, and Traders, who are equally alarmed with the Petitioners, at the Canadian Laws being to take place, but was in a secret manner carried about, and signed by a few of the Seigneurs, Chevaliers, Advocates, and others in their confidence, at the suggestions, and under the influence of their Priests, who, under colour of French Laws, have obtained an Act which deprives his Majesty's ancient subjects of all their rights and franchises; destroys the Habeas Corpus Act, and the inestimable privilege of Trial by Juries, the only security against the venality of a corrupt Judge, and gives unlimited power to the Governour and Council to alter the Criminal Laws; which Act has already struck a damp upon the credit of the country, and alarmed the Petitioners with the just apprehensions of arbitrary fines and imprisonment, and which, if it takes place, will oblige them to quit the Province, or in the end it must accomplish their ruin, and impoverish or hurt their generous creditors, the Merchants in Great Britain, &c.; to prevent which, the Petitioners pray, that the said Act may be repealed or amended; that they may have the benefit and protection of the English Laws, in so far as relates to personal property; and that their liberty may be ascertained, according to their ancient constitutional rights and privileges heretofore granted to all his Majesty's dutiful subjects throughout the British Empire.

And your Petitioners, as in duty bound, will ever pray.

Quebec, November 12, 1774.

Sir George Savile took a retrospect of the Quebec Act: said the prayer of the Petition relative to the Habeas Corpus Act, was not a matter involved in nice distinctions of law, or to be fathomed and decided by the rules of deep political investigation; it was an alternative which struck with equal force the meanest as the most enlightened understanding; it was simply, whether people would wish to be freemen or slaves, under a Government which, if honestly or wisely administered, held out freedom, indiscriminately, to every individual entitled to its protection. And he would be bold to maintain, that the proposition in favour of an Habeas Corpus Law was so self-evident, and carried with it such intuitive, forcible conviction, that the English, French, Popish, and Protestant, Whites Blacks, Tawnies, nay, the very Beasts of the fields, and Reptiles crawling on the Earth, were they capable of distinguishing between the value of personal liberty, and being shut up in a prison, at the will of a tyrant, would unite in one voice, in crying out for the enjoyment of so inestimable a blessing as the Habeas Corpus Act. He turned to the Ministry, observing with indignation, the mean subterfuges they were driven to, when they endeavoured to persuade Parliament, that a Governour who was obliged, literally, to comply with his instructions, assisted by five Popish Counsellors, would do what they (the Ministry) did not think fit to let Parliament do. He said, he was informed, that orders had been given to raise a Canadian Regiment of French Papists. When those guardians of the Laws of England, and the Protest taut Religion, are embodied, where will they march? or for what service are they destined? Not, I hope, to quell the Protestant peaceable Settlers, nor yet the still more favoured and loyal French Papists; but to sit, I presume, mere inactive spectators. No, that I cannot believe. I am not lawyer enough to point out how far they might legally march, but were I to form any conjecture about the limits they would set to themselves, with arms in their hands, and the instant they would forbear to act, I should presume that the limits would be some River or Lake, over which they had no means of conveyance, and the instant they would cease to act in a military manner would be, when all their Powder, Ball and Ammunition were spent. I am, therefore, strongly against raising or embodying any Regiment of French Papists. He concluded, with moving,

"That an Act, made in the fourteenth Year of the reign of his present Majesty, entituled, 'An Act, making more effectual provision for the government of the Province of Quebec, in North America'" might be read.

And the same was read accordingly.

He then moved, "That leave be given to bring in a Bill to repeal the said Act,"

Mr. T. Townshend seconded the motion, and condemned the Bill throughout, as unjust, impolitick, and unconstitutional. He said, the Canadians themselves had been deceived, as they were assured they should have the benefit of an Assembly, the Habeas Corpus Act, and Trial by Jury.

Mr. De Grey entered into a view of the state of the Colony before the passing of the Bill, destitute of all law, order, or security in point of property; and insisted that the present Government, however exceptionable in some respects, was better than none, and ought to be continued till the Province was prepared to receive an Assembly.

Mr. Howard spoke warmly against the Act. It was brought in at the end of the last session, when the House had not the information it now possessed; he was against it then, and should ever continue to be so, as a disgrace to the Statutes. He was severe on Dr. Shebbeare, whom he represented as pensioned for vilifying the characters of King William and Queen Mary and the late King, and writing against the Revolution.

Lord North said, if the honourable gentleman who made the motion, bad been informed of what had passed in the other House the preceding day, he presumed, he never would have made it, as he knew no Bill could pass without the consent of the Lords. [Mr. T. Towshend cried "to order, to order," and it was instantly echoed from almost every part of the House. His Lordship insisted what he said was not disorderly.] For his part, his opinion, in regard to the Act, was the same as it was when it passed, and as well now, as then, he looked upon the Act to be on principles of the most just and sound policy. He avowed the intention of arming the Canadians. He said, he stood up in his place to assert, that if the refractory Colonies cannot be reduced to obedience by the present force,