son poste les sauvages qui ont accoutumé d'aller faire la traite à la Baie d'Hudson.*

LOSS OF TERRITORIAL RIGHTS BY ABANDONMENT.

The abandonment [of a country] is rightly presumed when the ancient possessor, aware that it is in the possession of another, and he is at liberty to demand it back, nevertheless keeps silent.

Abandonment is not less presumed when the possessor, finding himself obliged and forced to quit a country, makes no attempt to re-enter it, and does not demand it back from a third party; and this third party pretending a better right than himself, takes pub-lic possession of it, and maintains himself there. It would be against all the laws of nature to pretend that one makes an acquisition for another and not for himself.—Grotius (quoted in the Mémoire des Commissaires François sur l'isle de Sainte Lucie).

[Apply this to the case of the French occupation of the northwest, on the presumption that the country was contained in the charter of the Hudson's Bay Company.]

*Lettre de MM. de Vaudreuil et Begon, au Conseil Quebec, 14 Nov. 1719.

Le Sieur de Vaudreuil has not received any letter from Sieur de la Noûe : he has only learnt by way of Chagoamion, which is on the south extremity of Lake Superior, where Sieur St. Pierre has been in command since last year, that Sieur Pachot had passed there on his way to the Scioux, where he was sent by Sieur de la Noüe, on the subject of the peace which he was trying to bring about between this nation and that of the Christineaux; but that Pachot not having returned to Chagoamion when the last canoes left, there was no intelligence of the success of his voyage.

The silence of Sieur la Noûe gives reason for believing that he has determined to wait the return of Sieur Pachot, before giving an account to Sieur Vaudreuil of what he has done for the execution of the orders he was charged with, and that he had not been able to do it when Pachot had arrived at Kaministiquoya, on account of the season being too far advanced.

Le Sieur de Vaudreuil supposes that the absence of Sieur Pachot has prevented Sieur de la Note from sending this year to Takamamionen, but that his officer will have found the means of attracting to his post the Indians who are accustomed to trade at Hudson's Bay.

ILLINOIS ANNEXED TO LOUISIANA.

Extrait des Registres du Conseil d'Etat.

Le Roi étant en son conseil s'étant fait representer les Lettres Patentes en forme d'un Edit du mois d'Août dernier portant l'établissement d'une compagnie de commerce, sous le nom de Compagnie d'Occident, ensemble celle du quatorze Septembre, mil sept cent douze, accordées aux Sieur Crozat; et estimant qu'il convient pour le bien du service, et pour l'avantage et l'utilité de la Compagnie d'Occident; d'augmenter le gouvernment de la Province de la Louisiane et d'y joindre les pays des sauvages, Illinois, oui le rapport et tout considéré, sa Majesté étant en son Conseil, de l'avis de Monsieur le Duc d'Orleans, son oncle Regent, a uni et incorporé le pays des sauvages au Gouvernement de la Province de la Louisiane, veut et entend que ladite Compagnie d'Occident jouisse des terres comprises sous le nom dudit pays, de la même manière qu'elle doit jouir de celles à elle accordées par lesdites Lettres Patentes du mois d'Août dernier, et que les commandants, officiers, soldats, habitans et autres qui sont et pourront être audit pays, reconnoisent le Commandant Général de la Louisiane, et lui obéissent et entendent, sans y contrevenir, en quelque sorte et manière que ce soit à peine de désobeissance. Fait au Conseil d'Etat du Roi, sa Majesté y étant, ténu à Paris, le vingt-septieme jour de Septembre mil sept cent dix-sept.

Et ensuite est écrit, Collationné à l'original par nous Ecuyer, Conseiler Secrétaire du Roi, Maison et Couronne de France et de ses finances.

On the 19th June, 1718, the King notified the Marquis de Vaudreuil, Lieutenant-Governor of Nouvelle France, le Sieur Begon, Intendant, and the officers of the Superior Council at Quebec, to read and publish the Letters Patent in form of edict of August, 1717, establishing the Compagnie d'Occident and the arrêt of Council of the 27th September, 1717 "pourtant et qui unit et incorpore le pays des Illinois à la Louisiane;" and ordering them

to be kept and observed according to their form and tenour, “Nonobstant tous edits, déclarations, arrêts, ordonnances, regléments, usages et autres choses à ce contraires, aux quelles nous avons derogé et dérogons par ces presentes. (Signé) LOUIS. Et plus bas, par le Roi, le Duc d'Orleans, Regent, present; PHELIPPEAUX, avec paraphe. Edits, ordonnances Royaux, déclarations et arrêts du Conseil d'Etat du Roi. Desbarats: Quebec, 1803, T. I., pp. 3756. Registered by the Greffier of the Superior Council of Quebec, Oct. 2, 1719.*

* ILLINOIS ANNEXED TO LOUISIANA.

Extract from the Registers of the King's Council of State.

The King in Council, having under consideration the letters patent in form of an edict of the month of August last, establishing a commercial company under the name of the Western Company (Compagnie d'Occident); together with those of the 14th September, 1712, granted to Sieur Crozat, and being of opinion that it would be conducive to the service of the King, and of use and advantage to the Western Company, to extend the Government of the Province of Louisiana, by adding to it the country of the savages, called the Illinois. The report being read and everything considered, His Majesty in Council, on the advice of the Duke of Orleans, his uncle, Regent, has united and incorporated the country of the savages to the Government of the Province of Louisiana, desires and intends that the said Western Company shall enjoy the lands comprised under the name of the said country in the same way that it ought to enjoy those granted to it by the said letters patent in the month of August last, and that the commandants, officers, soldiers, habitants and others who are or who may be in the said country will recognize the authority of the General in command of Louisiana, and yield obedience to him, without any kind of opposition, on pain of disobedience. Done at the King's Council of State, in the presence of His Majesty, held at Paris, on the twenty-seventh of September, 1717.

And then follows the words: Compared with the original by our esquire, councillorsecretary of the King, House and Crown of France and of his finances.

On the 19th June, 1718, the King notified the Marquis de Vaudreuil, LieutenantGovernor of New France, le Sieur Begon, Intendant, and the officers of the superior Council at Quebec, to read and publish the letters patent in form of edict of August, 1717, establishing the Western Company, and the arrêt of the Council of the 27th September, 1717, incorporating the country of the Illinois with Louisiana; and ordering them to be kept and observed according to their form and tenour, notwithstanding any edicts, declarations, arrêts, ordinances, rules, usage, and other things contrary thereto, from which we have derogated and do by these presents derogate :

(Signed)

(Signed)

Louis.

And lower down by the King, the Duke of Orleans, Regent, present, PHELIPPEAUX, with paraphe. Edits, ordonnances Royaux, déclarations, et arrêts du conseil d'etat du roi. Registered by the Clerk of the Superior Council of Quebec, Oct. 2, 1719.

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LOUIS XV. TO MM. DE BEAUHARNOIS AND HOCQUART.

Marly, May 8, 1731.

"They (MM. de Beauharnois and Hocquart) are to be in formed that His Majesty has accepted the surrender of the Pro vince of Louisiana and of the Illinois country from the India Company, to date from the 1st July next. They will find hereunto annexed copies of the arrêt issued on this subject. That Province will in future be dependent on the general government of New France, as it was previous to the grant to the Company. His Majesty has not determined whether the Illinois country is to remain dependent on the Government of Louisiana. That may, nevertheless, be most convenient, as the Governor-General will always be equally able to send his orders to it, and to be informed there of what occurs there in regard to the Indians. MM. de Beauharnois and Hocquart will examine whether it be proper to leave this country in its present state, or to disconnect it from the Government of Louisiana, as was the case before it had been granted to the company. They will be careful to report on that point, and to state the reasons for and against, whereupon His Majesty will communicate his intentions."

[In 1747-8, M. de Berthelot, the commandant at the Illinois, re ceived aid from Louisiana. He had not received any. aid from New Orleans for fifteen months, and did not know whether the English were masters of the colony or if His Majesty has aban doned Louisiana. There was not among the King's stores nor among the traders an ell of cloth nor a particle of ammunition. He was obliged to concentrate his forces at the village of the Caskaquias, and to abandon the other settlements to the mercy of the Indians.]

M. de Vaudreuil on the Campaign of 1759.

"The scarcity of provisions prevailing in the colony has determined me to send orders to the Illinois and Detroit to forward (to) the Presqu'ile all the men these two posts can furnish.”

NEGOTIATIONS FOR THE CESSION OF CANADA, 1761.

(From the French Memorial of Propositions, July 15, 1761.)

ARTICLE 1.—The King cedes and guarantees Canada to the King of England, such as it has been and ought to be possessed by France, without restriction, and without the liberty of returning upon any pretence whatever against this cession and guarantee, and without interrupting the Crown of England in the entire possession of Canada.

ARTICLE II.—The King, in making over his full right of sovereignty over Canada to the King of England, annexes four conditions to the cession:

First, That the free exercise of the Roman Catholic religion shall be maintained there, and that the King of England shall give the most precise and effectual orders that his new Roman Catholic subjects may, as heretofore, make public profession of their religion, according to the rites of the Roman Church.

Secondly, That the French inhabitants or others, who have been subjects of the King in Canada, may retire into the French Colonies with all possible freedom and security; that they shall be allowed to sell their effects and to transport their property as well as their persons, without being restrained in their emigration, on any pretence whatever (except for debt), and the English Government shall engage to procure them the means of transportation at as little expense as possible.

Thirdly, That the limits of Canada, with regard to Louisiana, shall be clearly and firmly established, as well as those of Louisiana and Virginia, in such manner that, after the execution of the peace, there may be no more difficulties between the two nations with respect to Canada or the other possessions of England.

[M. Bussy has a memorial on the subject of the limits of Louisiana, which gives him power to come to a final treaty on that article with the Ministry of His Britannic Majesty.]

Fourthly, That the liberty of fishing, and of drying their codfish on the Banks of Newfoundland, may be confirmed to the French as heretofore; and as this confirmation would be illusory