should be informed of our paternal care for the security of the liberties and properties of those who are and shall become inhabitants thereof, we have thought fit to publish and declare by this our proclamation, that we have, in the letters patent under our great seal of Great Britain, by which the governments are constituted, given express power and direction to our governors of our said colonies respectively, that, so soon as the state and circumstances of the said colonies will admit thereof, they shall, with the advice and consent of the members of our Council, summon and call General Assemblies within the said governments respectively, in such manner and form as is used and directed in those colonies and provinces in America which are under our immediate government. And we have also given power to the said governors, with the consent of our said councils and the representative of the people, so to be summoned as aforesaid, to make, constitute and ordain laws, statutes and ordinances for the public peace, welfare and good government of our said colonies, and of the people and inhabitants thereof, as near as may be agreeably to the laws of England, and under such regulations and restrictions as are used in other colonies; and, in the meantime, and until such Assemblies can be called as aforesaid, all persons inhabiting in, or resorting to, our said colonies, may confide in our our Royal protection for the enjoy ment of the benefit of the laws of our realm of England; for which purpose we have given power under our great seal to the governors of our said colonies respectively, to erect and constitute, with the advice of our said councils respectively, courts of judicature and public justice within our said colonies, for the hearing and determining of all causes, as well criminal as civil, according to law and equity, and as near as nay be agreeably to the laws of England; with liberty to all persons, who may think themselves aggrieved by the sentences of such courts, in all civil cases, to appeal, under the usual limitations and restrictions, to us, in our Privy Council. "We have also thought fit, with the advice of our Privy

Council as aforesaid, to give unto the governors and councils of our three new colonies upon the continent, full power and authority to settle and agree with the inhabitants of our said new colonies, or to any other person who shall resort thereto, for such lands, tenements and hereditaments, as are now, or hereafter shall be, in our power to dispose of, and them to grant to any such person or persons, upon such terms and under such moderate quit-rents, services and acknowledg ments as have been appointed and settled in other colonies, and under such other conditions as shall appear to us to be necessary and expedient for the advantage of the grantees, and the improvement and settlement of our said colonies.

"And whereas, we are desirous upon all occasions to testify our Royal sense and approbation of the conduct and bravery of the officers and soldiers of our armies, and to reward the same, we do hereby command and empower our governors of our said three new colonies, and other our governors of our several provinces on the continent of North America, to grant, without fee or reward, to such reduced officers as have served in North America during the late war, and are actually residing there, and shall personally apply for the same, the following quantities of land, subject at the expiration of ten years to the same quit-rents as other lands are subject to in the Province within which they are granted, as also subject to the same conditions of cultivation and improvement, viz.: "To every person having the rank of a field-officer, five thousand acres.

"To every captain, three thousand acres.

To every subaltern or staff-officer, two thousand acres. "To every non-commissioned officer, two hundred acres. "To every private man, fifty acres.

"We do likewise authorize and require the governors and commanders-in-chief of all our said colonies upon the continent of North America, to grant the like quantities of land, and upon the same conditions, to such reduced officers of our navy of like rank as served on board our ships of war in

North America at the times of the reduction of Louisburg and Quebec, in the late war, and who shall personally apply to our respective governors for such grants.

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'And whereas it is just and reasonable and essential to our interest and security of our colonies that the several nations and tribes of Indians with whom we are connected, and who live under our protection, should not be molested or disturbed in the possession of such parts of our dominions and territories as, not having been ceded to, or purchased by us, are reserved to them, or any of them, as their hunting grounds; we do, therefore, with the advice of our Privy Council, declare it to be our Royal will and pleasure that no governor or commander-in-chief in any of our colonies of Quebec, East Florida, or West Florida, do presume, upon any pretence whatever, to grant warrants of survey, or pass any patents for lands beyond the bounds of their respective governments, as described in their commissions; as also that no governor or commander-in-chief of our other colonies or plantations in America, do presume for the present, and until our further pleasure be known, to grant warrants of survey, or pass patents, for any lands beyond the heads or sources of any of the rivers which fall into the Atlantic Ocean from the west or north-west; or upon any lands whatever which, not having been ceded to, or purchased by us, as aforesaid, are reserved to the said Indians, or any of them.

"And we do further declare it to be our Royal will and pleasure, for the present, as aforesaid, to reserve under our sovereignty, protection and dominion for the use of the said Indians, all the lands and territories not included within the limits of our said three new governments, or within the limits of the territory granted to the Hudson's Bay Company; as also all the lands and territories lying to the westward of the sources of the rivers which fall into the sea from the west and north-west as aforesaid; and we do hereby strictly forbid, on pain of our displeasure, all our loving subjects from making any purchase or settlements whatever, or taking pos

session of any of the lands above reserved, without our special leave and license for that purpose first obtained.

"And we do further enjoin and require all persons whatever, who have either wilfully or inadvertently seated themselves upon any lands within the countries above described, or upon any other lands which, not having been ceded to, or purchased by us, are still reserved to the said Indians as aforesaid, forthwith to remove themselves from such settlements. And whereas, great frauds and abuses have been committed, in the purchasing lands of the Indians, to the great prejudice of our interests, and to the great dissatisfaction of the said Indians; in order, therefore, to prevent such irregularities for the future, and to the end that the Indians may be convinced of our justice and determined resolution to remove all reasonable cause of discontent, we do, with the advice of our Privy Council, strictly enjoin and require, that no private person do presume to make any purchase from the said Indians, of any lands reserved to the said Indians, within those parts of our colonies where we have thought proper to allow settlement; but that if at any time any of the said Indians should be inclined to dispose of any of the said lands, the same shall be purchased only for us, in our name, at some public meeting or assembly of the said Indians, to be held for that purpose by the governor or commander-in-chief of our colony respectively within which they shall lie; and in case they shall lie within the limits of any proprietaries, conformable to such directions and instructions as we or they shall think proper to give for that purpose. And we do, by the advice of our Privy Council, declare and enjoin that the trade with the said Indians shall be free and open to all our subjects whatever, provided that every person who may incline to trade with the said Indians, do take out a license for carrying on such trade, from the governor or commander-in-chief of any of our colonies respectively where such person shall reside, and also the security to observe such regulations as we shall at any time think fit; by ourselves or commissaries t

be appointed for this purpose, to direct and appoint for the benefit of the said trade. And we do hereby authorize, enjoin and require the governors and commanders-in-chief of all our colonies respectively, as well as those under our immediate government, as those under the government and direction of proprietaries, to grant such licenses, without fee or reward, taking especial care to insert therein a condition, that such license shall be void, and the security forfeited, in case the person to whom the same is granted, shall refuse or neg lect to observe such regulations as we shall think proper to prescribe as aforesaid.

"And we do further expressly enjoin and require all officers whatever, as well military as those employed in the management and direction of Indian affairs within the territories reserved as aforesaid for the use of the said Indians, to seize and apprehend all persons whatever who, standing charged with treasons, misprisions of treasons, murders or other felonies or misdemeanors, shall fly from justice, and take refuge in the said territory, and to send them under a proper guard to the colony where the crime was committed of which they shall stand accused, in order to take their trial for the same.

"Given at our Court of St. James's, the seventh day of October, 1763, in the third year of our reign.

"God Save the King."

APPENDIX G.

EXTRACTS FROM The Present State of the European Settlements on the Mississippi, BY CAPTAIN PHILIP PITMAN, 4to, LONDON, 1770.

"FORT CHARTRES, when it belonged to France, was the Seat of Government of the Illinois. The head-quarters of the English commanding-officer is now here, who, in fact, is the arbitrary governor of this country. The fort is an irregular