betray you. Be assured that the happiness of a people inevitably depends on their liberty, and their spirit to assert it. The value and extent of the advantages tendered to you are immense. Heaven grant you may not discover them to be blessings after they have bid you an eternal adieu.' We are too well acquainted with the liberality of sentiment distinguishing your nation, to imagine, that difference of religion will prejudice you against a hearty amity with us. You know, that the transcendant nature of freedom elevates those, who unite in the cause, above all such lowminded infirmities. The Swiss Cantons furnish a memorable proof of this truth. Their union is composed of Catholic and Protestant states, living in the utmost concord and peace with one another, and thereby enabled, ever since they bravely vindicated their freedom, to defy and defeat every tyrant that has invaded them. Should there be any among you, as there generally are in all societies, who prefer the favours of ministers, and their own interests, to the welfare of their country; the temper of such selfish persons will render them incredibly active in opposing all public-spirited measures, from an expectation of being well rewarded for their sordid industry by their superiors: but we doubt not you will be upon your guard against such men, and not sacrifice the liberty and happiness of the whole Canadian people and their posterity, to gratify the avarice and ambition of individuals. We do not ask you, by this address, to commence hostilities against the government of our common sovereign. We only invite you to consult your own glory and welfare, and not to suffer yourselves to be inveigled or intimidated by infamous ministers so far as to become the instruments of their cruelty and despotism, but to unite with us in one social compact, formed on the generous principles of equal liberty, and cemented by such an exchange of beneficial and endearing offices as to render it perpetual. In order to complete this highly desirable union, we submit it to your consideration, whether it may not be expedient for you to meet together in your several towns and districts, and elect deputies who after meeting in a provincial congress, may chuse delegates, to represent your province in the continental congress, to be held at Philadelphia, on the tenth day of May, 1775. In this present congress, beginning on the fifth of last month, and continued to this day, it has been with universal pleasure, and an unanimous vote, resolved, that we should consider the violation of your rights, by the act for altering the government of your province, as a violation of our own; and that you should be invited to accede to our confederation, which has no other objects than the perfect security of the natural and civil rights of all the constituent members, according to their respective circumstances, and the preservation of a happy and lasting connection with Great Britain, on the salutary and constitutional principles herein before mentioned. For effecting these purposes, we have addressed an humble and loyal petition to his Majesty, praying relief of our grievances; and have associated to stop all importation from Great Britain and Ireland, after the first day of December, and all exportation to those kingdoms and the West Indies, after the tenth day of next September, unless the said grievances are redressed. That Almighty God may incline your minds to approve our equitable and necessary measures, to add yourselves to us, to put your fate, when ever you suffer injuries which you are determined to oppose, not on th small influence of your single province, but on the consolidated powers North America, and may grant to our joint exertions an event as happ as our cause is just, is the fervent prayer of us, your sincere and affection ate friends and fellow-subjects. By order of the Congress, THIRD PERIOD 1774-1791 The Quebec Act was almost still-born, owing to the breaking out of hostilities between England and the Thirteen Colonies. At any rate, according to the opinion of Governor Haldimand, its passing prevented Canada from becoming a thirteenth State of the Union (see No. XXXIV). The war, however, did not entirely suppress the demands of the British in Canada for a House of Assembly, and as soon as peace was declared in 1783, these demands were reinforced by the arrival in Canada of those colonial citizens-known to history as the United Empire Loyalists-who had remained loyal to the British connexion during the Revolutionary War. Carleton, now Lord Dorchester, returned to Canada for his second term of office as Governor in 1786, and there lay before him a complicated task. The "ancient subjects," that is, the British in Canada, persisted in their demand for a "new and free constitution," which now included, in addition to a House of Assembly, the right of taxation and some control over the Executive (see Nos. XXXVIII; XXXIX). The United Empire Loyalists, though loyal to the monarchical principle, were nothing behind the Fathers of American Confederation in their claim to representative institutions. Further advanced that contemporary Englishmen in political thought, it soon became evident to Dorchester that they would not complacently endure the constitutional system erected by the Quebec Act. On the other hand, the French Canadians were still children in political experience, to whom representative institutions were only "une machine anglaise pour nous taxer" (see Nos. XL; XLI). Dorchester's problem was no easy one. Would it be possible out of such opposing forces to present an equitable solution? The "ancient subjects" began the struggle with numerous despatches and petitions, of which examples are given, and in 1788 they sent Adam Lymburner to London, who stated their case at the bar of the House of Commons (see No. XLVI). The way did not lie very clearly before the Government. However, as the United Empire Loyalists had to a large extent settled west of the French-Canadians in what is now the Province of Ontario, the Government decided, against Dorchester's wish, to divide the province (see No. XLVII), and they submitted a draft constitution to the Governor in October, 1789. Grenville's covering despatch (see No. L) is of interest, as it outlines a new departure in Canadian government. In addition, the heartsearchings over a |