selves at the foot of your throne, in order to lay before you the sentiments of respect, affection, and obedience, towards your august person, with which their hearts overflow, and to return to your Majesty their most humble thanks for your paternal care of their welfare.

Our gratitude obliges us to acknowledge, that the frightful appearances of conquest by your Majesty's victorious arms, did not long continue to excite our lamentations and tears. They grew every day less and less, as we gradually became more acquainted with the happiness of living under the wise regulations of the British Empire. And even in the very moment of the conquest, we were far from feeling the melancholy effects of restraint and captivity. For the wise and virtuous General who, conquered us, being a worthy representative of the glorious Sovereign who entrusted him with the command of his Armies, left us in possession of our Laws and Customs; the free exercise of our Religion was preserved to us, and afterwards was confirmed by the Treaty of Peace; and our own former countrymen were appointed judges of our disputes concerning civil matters. This excess of kindness towards us we shall never forget. These generous proofs of the clemency of our benign conqueror will be carefully preserved in the annals of our history; and we shall transmit them from generation to generation to our remotest posterity. These, sir, are the pleasing ties by which, in the beginning of our subjection to your Majesty's Government, our hearts were So strongly bound to your Majesty; ties which can never be dissolved, but which time will only strengthen and draw closer.

In the year 1764, your Majesty thought fit to put an end to the Military Government of this Province, and to establish a Civil Government in its stead. And from the instant of this change we began to feel the inconveniences which resulted from the introduction of the Laws of England, which, till then, we had been wholly unacquainted with. Our former countrymen, who, till that time, had been permitted to settle our civil disputes, without any expense to us, were thanked for their services and dismissed; and the Militia of the Province, which had, till then, been proud of bearing that honourable name under your Majesty's command, was laid aside. It is true, indeed, we Were admitted to serve on Juries: but at the same time we were given to understand, that there were certain obstacles that prevented our holding places under your Majesty's Government. We were also told that the Laws of England were to take place in the Province, which, though we presume, them to be wisely suited to the regulation of the mother country, for which they were made, could not be blended and applied to our customs, without totally overturning our fortunes, and destroying our possessions. Such have been, ever since the era of that change in the Government, and such are still, at this time, our just causes of uneasiness and apprehension; which, however, we acknowledge to be rendered less alarming to us, by the mildness with which your Majesty's Government has been administered.

Vouchsafe, most illustrious and generous Sovereign, to dissipate these fears, and this uneasiness, by restoring to us our ancient laws, privileges, and customs, and to extend our Province to its former boundaries. Vouchsafe to bestow your favours equally upon ail your subjects in the Province, without any distinction! Preserve the glorious title of Sovereign of a free people: a title, which surely would suffer some diminution, if more than an hundred thousand new subjects of your Majesty in this Province, who had submitted to your Government, were to be excluded from your service, and deprived of the inestimable advantages which are enjoyed by your Majesty's ancient subjects. May Heaven, propitious to our wishes and our prayers, bestow upon your Majesty a long and happy reign! May the august family of Hanover, to which we have taken the most solemn oaths of fidelity, continue to reign over us to the end of time!

We conclude, by entreating your Majesty to grant us, in common with your other subjects, the rights and privileges of citizens of England. Then our fears will be removed, and we shall pass our lives in tranquillity and happiness, and shall be always ready to sacrifice them for the glory of our Prince, and the good of our country.

We are with the most profound submission, your Majesty's most obedient, most loyal, and most faithful subjects,

FR. SIMONNET, &c., &c.

Memorial in support of the Requests made by his Majesty's most obedient and most faithful new subjects, in CANADA, in their foregoing Petition.

The improvement of so vast a country as Canada is, if considered as having the same boundaries as it Trade in the time of the French Government; a country in which there are at present more than an hundred thousand inhabitants, of whom more than nineteen in twenty are new subjects of the King; the increase of Agriculture in this country; the encouragement of its Trade and Navigation; a settlement of the Laws by which its inhabitants are to be governed, built upon solid and immoveable foundations, so as to remove, and cut up by the roots, the confusion which, at present, overspreads the Province, in consequence of the want of clear and known laws established by an incontestable authority; are points which are now proposed to the consideration of the British Government, and are worthy objects of its attention and wisdom.

The continuance of our ancient laws, customs, and privileges, in their whole extent, (because it is impossible to change, or alter them, without destroying and totally overthrowing our titles to our estates and our fortunes,) is a favour, and even an act of justice, which we hope for from the goodness of his Majesty.

We ardently desire to be admitted to a share of the civil and military employments under his Majesty's Government. The thought of being excluded from them is frightful to us. We have taken the most solemn oath of fidelity to his Majesty, and the august family of Hanover; and, ever since the conquest of the country, we have behaved like loyal subjects. And our zeal and attachment to our gracious Sovereign, will make us always ready to sacrifice our lives for his glory, and the defence of the state.

The Province, as it is now bounded, by a line passing through the forty-fifth degree of north latitude, is confined within too narrow limits. This line is only fifteen leagues distant from Montreal. And yet it is only on this side, that the lands of the Province are fertile, and that agriculture can be cultivated to much advantage. We desire, therefore, that, as under the French Government our Colony was permitted to extend over all the upper countries, known under the names of Michilimackinac, Detroit, and other adjacent places, as far as the River Mississippi, so it may now be enlarged to the same extent. And this re-annexation of these inland posts to this Province is the more necessary, on account of the Fur trade which the people of this Province carry on to them; because, in the present state of things, as there are no Courts of Justice, whose jurisdiction extends to those distant places, those of the Factors we send to them with our Goods to trade with the Indians for their Furs, who happen to prove dishonest, continue in them, out of the reach of their creditors, and live upon the profits of the Goods intrusted to their care; which entirely ruins this Colony, and turns these Posts into harbours for rogues and vagabonds, whose wicked and violent conduct is often likely to give rise to wars with the Indians.

We desire, also, that his Majesty would be graciously pleased to re-annex to this Province the Coast of Labrador, which formerly belonged to it, and has been taken from it since the peace. The fishery, for Seals, which is the only fishery carried on upon this Coast, is carried on only in the middle of Winter, and sometimes does not last above a fortnight. The nature of this fishery, which none of his Majesty's subjects, but the inhabitants of this Province understand; the short time of its continuance, and the extreme severity of the weather, which makes it impossible for Ships to continue, at that time, upon the Coast, are circumstances which all conspire to exclude any fishermen from Old England from having any share in the conduct of it.

We further most humbly represent, that, by means of the ravages and calamities of the late war, and the frequent fires that have happened in our towns, this Colony is not, as yet, in a condition to defray the expenses of its own Civil Government, and, consequently, not in a condition to admit of a General Assembly. We are, therefore, of opin-