Regluations with respect to goods brought into the Province chargeable with the duties before mentioned. Penalties and forfeitures when to be prosecuted for, etc. Any person keeping a house of publick enter tainment to pay $1 16s. for a license. Penalty of $10 for every offence. Not to make void French revenues, etc., reserved at shall be, and is, or are hereby impowered, from time to time, by any warrant or warrants under his or their hand or hands, to cause such money to be applied out of the said produce of the said duties, towards defraying the said expences; and that the residue of the said duties shall remain and be reserved in the hands of the said Receiver-General, for the future disposition of Parliament. III. And it is hereby further enacted by the authority aforesaid that if any goods chargeable with any of the said duties herein-before mentioned shall be brought into the said Province by land carriage, the same shall pass and be carried through the port of St. John's, near the River Sorrel; or if such goods shall be brought into the said Province by any inland navigation other than upon the River St. Lawrence, the same shall pass and be carried upon the said River Sorrel by the said port, and shall be there entered with, and the said respective rates and duties paid for the same, to such officer or officers of his Majesty's Customs as shall be there appointed for that purpose; and if any such goods coming by land carriage or inland navigation, as aforesaid, shall pass by or beyond the said place before named, without entry or payment of the said rates and duties, or shall be brought into any part of the said Province by or through any other place whatsoever, the said goods shall be forfeited; and every person who shall be assisting, or otherwise concerned in the bringing or removing such goods, or to whose hands the same shall come, knowing that they were brought or removed contrary to this Act, shall forfeit treble the value of such goods, to be estimated and computed according to the best price that each respective commodity bears in the Town of Quebec, at the time such offence shall be committed; and all the horses, cattle, boats, vessels, and other carriages whatsoever, made use of in the removal, carriage, or conveyance of such goods, shall also be forfeited and lost, and shall and may be seized by any officer of his Majesty's Customs, and prosecuted as hereinafter mentioned. IV. And it is hereby further enacted by the authority aforesaid, that the said penalties and forfeitures by this Act inflicted, shall be sued for and prosecuted in any Court of Admiralty, or Vice-Admiralty, having jurisdiction within the said Province, and the same shall and may be recovered and divided in the same manner and form, and by the same rules and regulations in all respects as other penalties and forfeitures for offences against the laws relating to the customs and trade of his Majesty's Colonies in America shall or may, by any Act or Acts of Parliament be sued for, prosecuted, recovered, and divided. V. And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, that there shall from and after the fifty day of April, one thousand seven hundred and seventy-five, be raised, levied, collected and paid unto his Majesty's Receiver-General of the said Province for the use of his Majesty, his heirs and successors, a duty of one pound sixteen shillings, sterling money of Great Britain, for every licence that shall be granted by the Governor, Lieutenant-Governor, or Commander in Chief of the said Province to any person or persons for keeping a house or any other place of publick entertainment, or for the retailing wine, brandy, rum, or any other spirituous liquors within the said Province; and any person keeping any such house or place of entertainment, or retailing any such liquors without such licence shall forfeit and pay the sum of ten pounds for every such offence, upon conviction thereof; one moiety to such person as shall inform or prosecute for the same, and the other moiety shall be paid into the hands of the Receiver-General of the Province for the use of his Majesty. VI. Provided always that nothing herein contained shall extend or be construed to extend to discontinue, determine, or make void any part of the territorial or casual revenues, fines, rents, or profits whatsoever, the conquest. which were reserved to, and belonged to his Most Christian Majesty, before and at the time of the conquest and surrender thereof to his Majesty, the King of Great Britain; but that the same and every one of them, shall remain and be continued to be levied, collected, and paid in the same manner as if this Act had never been made: anything therein contained to the contrary notwithstanding. VII. And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, that if In suits any action or suit shall be commenced against any person or persons for brougth pur. anything done in pursuance of this Act, and if it shall appear to the Courtsuant to this Act, defendor Judge where or before whom the same shall be tried, that such action ants to have or suit is brought for anything that was done in pursuance of, and by the treble costs. authority of this Act, the defendant or defendants shall be indemnified and acquitted for the same; and if such defendant or defendants shall be so acquitted; or if the plaintiff shall discontinue such action or suit, such Court or judge shall award to the defendant or defendants treble costs. XXVII ADDRESS OF THE GENERAL CONGRESS TO THE INHABIT- Friends and Fellow-Subjects, October 26th, 1774. We, the delegates of the colonies of New-Hamshire, Massachusetts Bay, Rhode Island, and Providence Plantations, Connecticut, New York, New-Jersey, Pennsylvania, the counties of Newcastle, Kent and Sussex on the Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, North-Carolina, and South-Carolina, deputed by the inhabitants of the said Colonies, to represent them in a general congress at Philadelphia, in the province of Pennsylvania, to consult together of the best methods to obtain redress of our afflicting grievances, having accordingly assembled, and taken into our most serious consideration the state of public affairs on this continent, have thought proper to address your province, as a member therein deeply interested. When the fortune of war, after a gallant and glorious resistance, had incorporated you with the body of English subjects, we rejoiced in the truly valuable addition, both on our own and your account; expecting, as courage and generosity are naturally united, our brave enemies would become our hearty friends, and that the Divine Being would bless to you the dispensations of his over-ruling Providence, by securing to you and your posterity the inestimable advantages of a free English constitution of government, which it is the privilege of all English subjects to enjoy. These hopes were confirmed by the King's proclamation, issued in the year 1763, plighting the public faith for your full enjoyment of those advantages. Little did we imagine that any succeeding ministers would so audaciously and cruelly abuse the royal authority, as to withhold from you the fruition of the irrevocable rights, to which you were thus justly entitled. But since we have lived to see the unexpected time, when ministers of this flagitious temper have dared to violate the most sacred compacts and obligations, and as you, educated under another form of government, have artfully been kept from discovering the unspeakable worth of that form you are now undoubtedly entitled to, we esteem it our duty, for the weighty reasons hereinafter mentioned, to explain to you some of its most important branches. 'In every human society, (says the celebrated Marquis Beccaria) there is an effort continually tending to confer on one part the height of power and happiness, and to reduce the other to the extreme of weakness and misery. The intent of good laws is to oppose this effort, and to diffuse their influence universally and equally.' Rules stimulated by this pernicious 'effort', and subjects, animated by the just ‘intent of opposing good laws against it,' have occasioned that vast variety of events, that fill the histories of so many nations. All these 1 This document illustrates the attempt by the American Colonies to induce Canada to take part in the Continental Congress of 1775. See J. H. Smith, Our Struggle for the Fourteenth Colony. histories demonstrate the truth of this simple position, that to live by the will of one man, or set of men, is the production of misery to all. On the solid foundation of this principle, Englishmen reared up the fabric of their constitution with such a strength, as for ages to defy time, tyranny, treachery, internal and foreign wars: and as an illustrious author of your nation, hereafter mentioned, observes, "They gave the people of their colonies the form of their own government, and this government carrying prosperity along with it, they have grown great nations in the forests they were sent to inhabit.' In this form the first grand right is, that of the people having a share in their own government by their representatives, chosen by themselves, and in consequence of being ruled by laws which they themselves approve, not by edicts of men over whom they have no control. This is a bulwark surrounding and defending their property, which by their honest cares and labours they have acquired, so that no portions of it can legally be taken from them, but with their own full and free consent, when they in their judgment deem it just and necessary to give them for public services: and precisely direct the easiest, cheapest, and most equal methods, in which they shall be collected. The influence of this right extends still farther. If money is wanted by rulers, who have in any manner oppressed the people, they may retain it, until their grievances are redressed; and thus peaceably procure relief, without trusting to despised petitions, or disturbing the public tranquility. The next great right is that of trial by jury. This provides, that neither life, liberty, nor property can be taken from the possessor, until twelve of his unexceptionable countrymen and peers, of his vicinage, who from their neighbourhood may reasonably be supposed to be acquainted with his character, and the characters of the witnesses, upon a fair trial, and full enquiry, face to face, in open court, before as many of the people as choose to attend, shall pass their sentence upon oath against him; a sentence that cannot injure him, without injuring their own reputation, and probably their interest also; as the question may turn on points that in some degree, concern the general welfare: and if it does not, their verdict may form a precedent, that, on a similar trial of their own, may militate against them. Another right relates merely to the liberty of the person. If a subject is seized and imprisoned, though by order of government, he may, by virtue of this right, immediate obtain a writ, termed a Habeas Corpus, from a judge, whose sworn duty it is to grant it, and thereupon procure any illegal restraint, to be quickly enquired into and redressed. A fourth right is, that of holding lands by the tenure of easy rents, and not by rigorous and appressive services, frequently forcing the possessors from their families and their business, to perform what ought to be done, in all well regulates states, by men hired for the purpose. The last right we shall mention, regards the freedom of the press. The importance of this consists, besides the advancement of truth, science and morality, and arts in general, in its diffusion of liberal sentiments on the administration of government, its ready communication of thoughts between subjects, and its consequential promotion of union among them, whereby oppressive officers are shamed or intimidated into more honourable and just modes of conducting affairs. These are the invaluable rights that form a considerable part of our mild system of government: that sending its equitable energy through ail ranks and classes of men, defends the poor from the rich, the weak from the powerful, the industrious from the rapacious, the peaceable from the violent, the tenants from the lords, and all from their superiors. These are the rights, without which a people cannot be free and happy, and under the protection and encouraging influence of which, these colonies have hitherto so amazingly flourished and increased. These are the rights a profligate ministry are now striving, by force of arms, to ravish from us, and which we are, with one mind, resolved never to resign but with our lives. These are the rights you are entitled to, and ought at this moment in perfection to exercise. And what is offered to you by the late act of jarlament in their place? Liberty of conscience in your religion? No. God gave it to you; and the temporal powers with which you have been and are connected firmly stipulated for your enjoyment of it. If laws Livine and human, could secure it against the despotic capacities of wicked men, it was secured before. Are the French laws in civil cases restored? It seems so. But observe the cautious kindness of the ministers who pretend to be your benefactors. The words of the statute are, that those laws stall be the rule, until they shall be varied, or altered by any ordinances If the governor and council' Is the 'certainty and lenity of the criminal aw of England, and its benefits and advantages', commended in the said state, and said to have been sensibly felt by you,' secured to you and for descendants? No. They too are subject to arbitrary alterations' y the governor and council; and a power is expressly reserved of appointng such courts of criminal, civil, and ecclesiastical jurisdiction, as shall be thought proper. Such is the precarious tenure of mere will, by which you hold your lives and religion. The crown and its ministers are empowered, as far as they could be parliament, to establish even the inquisition itself among you Have an assembly composed of worthy men elected by yourselves, and in vhom you can confide, to make laws for you, to watch over your welfare, and to direct in what quantity, and in what manner your money shall be nem from you? No. The power of making laws for you is lodged in the governor and council, all of them dependent upon, and removeable at he gesture of a minister.-Besides, another late statute, made without our consent, has subjected you to the imposition of excise, the horror of free states; they wresting your property from you by the most odious ass, and laying open to insolent tax-gatherers, houses the scenes of icmestic peace and comfort, and called the castles of English subjects in he books of their laws. And in the very act for altering your government, and intended to flatter you, you are not authorized to assess, levy, or opy any rates and taxes, but for the inferior purposes of making roads, ind erecting and repairing public buildings, or for other local conveniences, vitim your respective towns and districts. Why this degrading distincnon? Ought not the property honestly acquired by Canadians to be held sacred as that of Englishmen? Have not Canadians sense enough to tend to any other public affairs, than gathering stones from one place and ping them up in another? Unhappy people! who are not only inred bat insulted. Nay more!-With such a superlative contempt of nur understanding and spirit has an insolent ministry presumed to think If you, our respectible fellow-subjects, according to the information we tave received, as firmly to persuade themselves that your gratitude, for he riries and insults they have recently offered to you, will engage you take up arms, and render yourselves the ridicule and detestation of the world by becoming tools, in their hands, to assist them in taking that medom from us, which they have treacherously denied to you, the unavoidable consequence of which attempt, if successful, would be the extincon of all hopes of you or your posterity being ever restored to freedom: de idiotay itself cannot believe, that, when their drudgery is performed, hey will treat you with less cruelty than they have us, who are of the same liced with themselves. What would your countryman, the immortal Montesquieu, have said such a plan of domination, as has been framed for you? Hear his winds, with an intenseness of thought suited to the importance of the subject-In a free state, every man, who is supposed a free agent, ought be concerned in his own government; therefore the legislative should reside in the whole body of the people, or their representatives.-The olitical liberty of the subject is a tranquility of mind, arising from the opinion each person has of his safety. In order to have this liberty, it is requisite the government be so constituted, that one man need not be fed of another. When the power of making laws, and the power of crecating them are united in the same person, or in the same body of magistrates, there can be no liberty; because apprehensions may arise, lest the same monarch or senate should enact tyrannical laws, to execute them in a tyrannical manner.' "The power of judging should be exercised by persons taken from the body of the people, at certain times of the year, and pursuant to a form and manner prescribed by law. There is no liberty, if the power of judging be not separated from the legislative and executive powers.' 'Military men belong to a profession which may be useful, but is often dangerous. The enjoyment of liberty, and even its support and preservation, consists in every man's being allowed to speak his thoughts, and lay open his sentiments.' Apply these decisive maxims, sanctioned by the authority of a name which all Europe reveres, to your own state. You have a governor, it may be urged, vested with the executive powers, or the powers of administration. In him, and in your council, is lodged the power of making laws. You have judges, who are to decide every cause affecting your lives, liberty or property. Here is, indeed, an appearance of the several powers being separated and distributed into different hands, for checks one upon another, the only effectual mode ever invented by the wit of men, to promote their freedom and prosperity. But scorning to be illuded by a tinselled outside, and exerting the natural sagacity of Frenchmen, examine the specious device, and you will find it, to use an expression of Holy Writ, ‘a painted sepulchre,' for burying your lives, liberty and property. Your judges, and your legislative council, as it is called, are dependent on your Governor, and he is dependent on the servant of the Crown in Great Britain. The legislative, executive, and judging powers are all moved by the nods of a minister. Privileges and immunities last no longer than his smiles. When he frowns, their feeble forms dissolve. Such a treacherous ingenuity has been exerted in drawing up the code lately offered you, that every sentence beginning with a benevolent pretension, concludes with a destructive: and the substance of the whole, divested of its smooth words, is—that the crown and its minister shall be as absolute throughout your extended province, as the despots of Asia and Africa. What can protect your property from taxing edicts, and the rapacity of necessitous and cruel masters? Your persons from lettres de cachet, gaols, dungeons, and oppressive service? your lives and general liberty from arbitrary and unfeeling rulers? We defy you, casting your view upon every side, to discover a single circumstance, promising from any quarter the faintest hope of liberty to you or your posterity, but from an entire adoption into the union of these colonies. What advice would the truly great man before mentioned, that advocate of freedom and humanity, give you, was he now living, and knew that we, your numerous and powerful neighbours, animated by a just love of our invaded rights, and united by the indissoluble bands of affection and interest, called upon you, by every obligation of regard for yourselves and your children, as we now do, to join us in our righteous contest, to make a common cause with us therein, and to take a noble chance of emerging from a humiliating subjection under governors, intendants, and military tyrants, into the firm rank and condition of English freemen, whose custom it is. derived from their ancestors, to make those tremble who dare to think of making them miserable. Would not this be the purport of his address? 'Seize the opportunity presented to you by Providence itself. You have been conquered into liberty, if you act as you ought. This work is not of man. You are a small people, compared to those who with open arms invite you into fellowship. A moment's reflection should convince you which will be most for your interest and happiness, to have all the rest of North America your unalterable friends, or your inveterate enemies. The injuries of Boston have roused and associated every colony, from Nova Scotia to Georgia. Your province is the only link that is wanting to complete the bright and strong chain of union. Nature has joined your country to theirs. Do you join your political interests. For their own sakes they never will desert or |