ardour, determined either to lead an honourable life, or to meet, with resignation, a glorious death.

EXTRACTS OF LETTERS RECEIVED IN ENGLAND.

Quebeck, November 9, 1775.

Lieutenant-Governour Cramahé told Mr. Macaulay, of this place, a few days ago, in great anger, “that it was our damned Committees that had thrown the Province into its present state, and prevented the Canadians from taking arms; but that he should hear more of that hereafter.” By these words we presume we are to understand, that if they had the power in their hands to enforce their authority, a Star-chamber would be erected to harass those who might differ in opinion from them, or might make any attempts, by future applications to the throne, for a redress of their grievances, for we are told that all meetings are illegal, by martial law. The new arrangements of Government, under the Quebeck Bill, met with a general disapprobation. Not to mention the English inhabitants, (who could not but dislike it, as it was totally different from what they had expected and applied for, ) the Canadians in general were displeased with it, and declared that it was not at their desire or solicitation that it was passed; and that they had not been made acquainted with the petition which was presented to the King from a few persons in the Province, and was made the ground of passing it. They said that the persons who had signed that petition consisted principally of their ancient oppressors, their noblesse, who wanted nothing more than, as formerly, to domineer over them; and they exclaimed against them bitterly on that account, but intimated that they had better take care of themselves, and not be too forward to put their intentions into execution. The lawyers and notaries, and such of the citizens as had been induced to sign that petition, (or rather had been afraid to refuse to sign it, for fear of being pointed at by the friends to such measures, ) almost unanimously declared their disapprobation and dislike of the act of Parliament, more especially when the appointments of the members of the new Council came to be made, and it was found that none but the noblesse, or those who had the croix de Saint Louis, were appointed to it, without a single person taken from the commercial part of the French inhabitants of the Province. This, with the giving half-pay to a set of French officers who had served on a batton expedition against the Indians in General Murray’s time, and the appointment of Monsieur De Rouville for one of the Judges at Montreal, and of Claude Panet for Quebeck, (who has his dose every day before twelve’o clock, ) with salaries, as it is given out, of seven hundred Pounds a year each; and, in short, the wantonly and profusely inventing places for creatures and sycophants, with which the Governour was continually surrounded, has given great disgust. It is, indeed, alarming to think how all this money was to be raised. A very little matter would have induced the Canadians to unite in a body to petition for a repeal of the act. But no one cared to step forth and set forward any measure of that kind, through the fear of the ill treatment which they might be made to suffer in consequence of having done so, now that the Governour’s authority is so extensive, and partly through the hope that we continually entertained of hearing from England of the repeal or amendment of it. Peter Panet, of Montreal, (who is a brother to the other, but quite another sort of man, ) had every reason to expect to be made a Judge, if any of the French were to be made so. He is really very clever, and had been Clerk to the Court of Captains of the Militia immediately after the conquest of the Country, or, one may almost say, both Clerk and Chief Judge; and he certainly ought, on this occasion, to have had the preference, by far, to Rouville. Indeed, the nomination of the latter to this office is so offensive to the Canadians at Montreal, that they were quite exasperated at it, and were going to prefer a petition to the Governour against his being appointed to it. But the taking of Crown Point, and the subsequent disturbances in the Province, put a stop to every thing, and has prevented any part of the act from taking place.

Quebeck, November 9, 1775.

The Canadian inhabitants of this Province openly avow their affection to the English manners and customs, and declare that they never wish to live more quiet or more happy than they have done since the commencement of the Civil Government. Indeed, it is surprising to see how much they have flourished and increased in riches within these few years, by meeting with so good a market for their produce. This is owing to the great spirit of speculation-trade that prevails amongst the English merchants here and their friends at home, and cannot, in any degree, be attributed to the French merchants, who have nothing of the spirit of trade in them. This flourishing state of the Province, since the establishment of the English laws in it, makes the Canadians fond of those laws, and desirous of their continuance, and numberless are the proofs that might be given of their preferring them to the French laws by which they were formerly governed, were it not for the artifices of a very few persons, the noblesse of the Province, who, by having gained the support and assistance of Government, have had it in their power to disguise the truth, and to prevent an union between the old and new subjects in making applications to the Throne to obtain a settlement of the Province upon the foundation of the English law. When any strangers from England have come to these parts by way of curiosity, who, on their return, might have represented things in a true light, they have been kept up amongst a small circle of people, and have hardly ever appeared in publick, or conversed with the people at large, and have thereby been prevented from getting true and general information concerning the real state of the Province, and the sentiments of its inhabitants.

The Canadians, very early this spring, declared that the noblesse had no manner of authority over them, and that even their seigniors had no right to command their military service. They acknowledged that they owed them respect, as their lords of the manor; but they insisted that when they had paid them their rents, and all their other just dues, together with certain compliments which were customary at different seasons, they owed them nothing further, and were not bound to submit to any power they might presume to exercise over them; for some of the seigniors have pretended to some authority over their tenants, of which there was an instance in the seigniory called La Beauce, behind Point Levi, where the young seignior, Monsieur Taschereau, caused one of his tenants to be confined for refusing to march, at his command, against the Provincials, who had invaded the Province; but he soon thought it best to solicit the man’s release, and did not afterwards try the same experiment with any other of them. But in other parts of the Province, several of the Canadians have been threatened with the same treatment, if they did not obey their seignior’s order to take arms for the defence of the Province, in order to frighten them into the service; but it has had the contrary effect, and has been found to be of bad consequence. Nothing of this kind had appeared before the Quebeck Bill passed. But the strongest verbal proof that I can give you of the dislike of the Canadians to the Quebeck Bill, is this: Mr. John Thompson, who is a very honest man, told me yesterday, that he was present at the coffee-house, at Montreal, when Mr. James Finlay, of that place, declared publickly, that the Captain of the French Militia had, in his presence, told Governour Carleton, “that the Canadians in that Town, themselves included, would not take arms, as a militia, unless his Excellency would assure them, on his honour, that he would use his utmost endeavours to get the Quebeck Bill repealed;” and that he thereupon promised them that he would do so. But now all these considerations are at an end, as we are likely to have new masters shortly.

Quebeck, November 9, 1775.

The Governour’s reason for establishing martial law in this Province was, that he might be able, by means of that law, (which he thought would authorize him so to do, ) to force the Canadians to take arms. But he has entirely failed of success in this attempt. Indeed, it was a most ridiculous attempt, as he had no troops at hand to enforce his authority or commands. Great threats are frequently

NOTE.—By this letter, as well as by other accounts received from Quebeck, it may be observed that the temper of the now Government is so very arbitrary, that the right of petitioning the Crown for redress of grievances, is not allowed to the inhabitants of that unhappy Province.