SESSIONAL PAPER No. 18 stituting You Vice Admiral of Our said Province of Upper Canada, You are required and directed carefully to put in execution the several Powers thereby granted you. 58. And Whereas We are desirous that Our Subjects in the Plantations should have the same ease in obtaining the Condemnation of Prizes there as in this Kingdom, You are to signify Our Will and Pleasure to the Officers of Our Admiralty Court in Upper Canada, that they do not presume to demand or exact other Fees than what are taken in this Kingdom, which amount to about Ten Pounds for the Condemnation of each Prize according to the List of such Fees. 59. And there having been great Irregularities in the manner of granting Commissions in the Plantations to private Ships of War, You are to govern yourself whenever there shall be occasion, according to the Commissions and Instructions granted in this Kingdom, but You are not to grant Commissions of Marque or Reprisal against any Prince or State in Amity with Us to any Person whatsoever, without Our special Command, and You are to oblige the Commanders of all Ships having private Commissioners to wear no other Colours than such as are described in an Order in Council of the 7th January 1730, in relation to Colours to be worn by all Ships of War. 60. Whereas Commissions have been granted unto several Persons in Our respective Plantations in America, for trying Pirates in those Parts, pursuant to the several Acts for the more effectual suppression of Piracy, and a Commission will be prepared empowering you, as Our Captain General and Governor in Chief of Our Province of Upper Canada with others therein mentioned, to proceed accordingly in reference to the said Province; Our Will and Pleasure is, that in all Matters relating to Pirates, you govern yourself according to the Intent of the said Acts. 61. Whereas it is absolutely necessary that We be exactly informed of the State of Defence of all Our Plantations in America as well in relation to the Stores of War that are in each Plantation, as to the Forts and Fortifications there, and what more may be necessary to be built for the Defence and Security of the same, you are from time to time to transmit an Account thereof with relation to Our said Province of Upper Canada in the most particular manner, and You are therein to express the present State of the Arms, Ammunition and other Stores of War belonging to the said Province either in any Public Magazines, or in the hands of private Persons, together with a State of all Places either already forfeited, or that You may judge necessary to be fortified for the Security of our said Province, and You are to transmit the said Accounts to Us, by One of Our Principal Secretaries of State, and also Duplicates thereof to Our Master General or Principal Officers of Our Ordnance, which Accounts are to express the particulars of Ordnance, Carriages, Balls, Powder and all other Sorts of Arms and Ammunition now in Our Public Stores, and so from time to time of what shall be sent to you, or bought with the public Money, and to specify the time of the disposal, and the occasion thereof, and other like accounts half yearly in the same manner. 62. And in case of Distress of any other of Our Plantations, you shall upon Application of the respective Governors thereof to you, assist them with what Aid the Conditions and Safety of Our said Province under your Government can spare. 63. If any thing shall happen which may be of advantage or Security to Our Province under your Government, which is not herein, or by Your Commission provided for; We do hereby allow unto you with the Advice and Consent of Our said Executive Council to take order for the present therein, provided nevertheless that what shall be done be not repugnant to the said Acts passed in the 14th and in the present year of Our Reign, giving unto Us by One of Our Principal Secretaries of State speedy Notice thereof, that you may receive Our Ratification, if We shall approve the same, Provided always that you do not by colour of any Power or Authority hereby given you commence or declare War without Our knowledge and particular Commands therein, except it be for the purpose of preventing or repelling Hostilities, or unavoidable emergencies wherein the Consent of Our Executive Coun 3 GEORGE V., A. 1913 cil shall be had and speedy Notice given thereof to Us, by One of Our Principal Secretaries of State. 64. And Whereas great prejudice may happen to Our Service, and to the Security of Our said Province by the Absence of you, Our Governor in Chief, or Our Lieutenant Governor for the time being, You shall not upon any pretence whatsoever come to Europe, without having first obtained Leave for so doing from Us, under Our Sign Manual and Signet, or by Our Order in Our Privy Council. 65. And Whereas We have thought fit by Our Commission to direct, that in case of your Death or Absence from Our said Province,1 and in case there be at that time no Person commissionated or appointed by Us to be Our Lieutenant Governor, the eldest Executive Councillor who shall be at the time of Your Death or Absence residing within Our said Province of Upper Canada subject to such other nomination and appointment by you under the Great Seal of Our said Province as in Our said Commission is in that behalf mentioned, shall take upon him the administration of the Government, and execute Our said Commission and Instructions and the several Powers and Authorities therein contained in the manner thereby directed;2 It is nevertheless Our express Will and Pleasure that in such Case the said President shall forbear to assent to any Acts but what are immediately necessary for the Welfare of Our said Province without Our particular Order for that purpose, and that he shall not take upon him to dissolve the Assembly then in being, nor to remove or suspend any of the Members of Our said Executive Council, nor any Judges, Justices of the Peace or other Officers Civil or Military without the Advice and Consent of the Majority of the said Executive Council, and the said President is by the first Opportunity to transmit to Us by One of Our Principal Secretaries of State, the reasons for such Alterations signed by him and Our Council. And Our Will and Pleasure is, that the above Instructions with respect to such President shall also be equally observed by and binding upon such other Executive Councillor as may be nominated and appointed by you under the Great Seal of Our said Province, by Virtue of Our said Commission in that behalf. 66. And Whereas by Our different Commissions We have appointed You to be Our Governor and Commander in Chief of Our Province of Upper Canada, Lower Canada and of Our Province of Nova Scotia, including the Islands of St. John and Cape Breton, as well as of Our Province of New Brunswick, and it is Our Intention that the Lieutenant Governors commanding in the said Provinces of Nova Scotia and New Brunswick and Upper Canada should have and enjoy the full Salaries, Perquisites and Emoluments granted to them and arising from the respective Governments in as full and ample a manner as if the said Governments were under distinct Governors in Chief, it is therefore Our Will and Pleasure that you shall not at any time or times when you shall be resident and Commanding in Chief in either of Our said Provinces of Upper Canada, Nova Scotia and New Brunswick, have or receive any part of the said Salaries, Perquisites or Emoluments, but that the same shall continue to be paid and satisfied to the Lieutenant Governors of the said Provinces respectively in like manner as they usually are during Your Absence therefrom. 67. And You are upon all Occasions to send to Us by One of Our Principal Secretaries of State a particular Account of all Your Proceedings, and of the Condition of Affairs within Your Government. G. R. Endorsed: Instructions for The Right Honble Lord Dorchester Governor of Upper Canada. Dated 16th September 1791 1. The interpretation of the phrase "Absence from Our said Province" is discussed in the course of a report prepared by the Chief Justice of Upper Canada in 1799. See page 237. 2. See p. 12. SESSIONAL PAPER No. 18 INSTRUCTIONS RELATING TO TRADE AND NAVIGATION.1 GEORGE R. C. O. Instructions. 1786-1791. Quebec. ORDERS AND INSTRUCTIONS to Our Right Trusty and Welbeloved Guy Lord Dorchester, Knight of the Most Honorable Order of the Bath, Our Captain General and Governor in Chief in and over Our Province of Lower Canada, in Pursuance of several Laws relating to the Trade and Navigation of Our Kingdoms of Great Britain and Ireland, and Our Colonies and Plantations in America. Given at Our Court at St James's the Sixteenth Day of September 1791. In the Thirty first year of Our Reign. First. You shall inform yourself of the several Laws relating to the Plantation Trade, and for the Encouragement of the Trade & Navigation of Our Kingdoms of Great Britain and Ireland, and shall take the Oath ordained by Law, to do your utmost, that all the Clauses Matters and Things therein contained, or which shall be enacted in any Act of Parliament hereafter to be made, relating to Our Plantation, or to the Trade & Navigation of Our said Kingdoms, be punctually and bonâ fide observed according to the true Intent and meaning thereof, and in particular you are to take especial Care, that the several Acts of Parliament of Great Britain for allowing the Importation & Exportation, of certain Goods, Wares, and Merchandize into and from Our Kingdom of Ireland, from and to Our Plantations in America, in like manner as the same are exported & imported from and into Our Kingdom of Great Britain from the said Plantations be strictly complied with in your Govern ment. 2. And whereas an Act was passed in the Twenty Sixth Year of Our Reign, intituled, "An Act for the further Increase and Encouragement of Shipping and 'Navigation" It is Our Will and Pleasure that you do cause the Provisions of the said Act to be strictly enforced within your Government; And you are to be particularly attentive to such Duties as are therein required to be done and performed by you, so that the Regulations thereby made and enacted be punctually complied with. 3. And whereas the Colonies and Provinces of New Hampshire, Massachuset's Bay, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Pensylvania, the three lower Counties on the Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia, were by the provisional Articles of Peace concluded at Paris, on the 30th of November 1782, and also by the Definitive Treaty signed on the 3a of September, 1783, declared free and Independent States, by the Name of the United States of America; And whereas by an Act made in the Twenty third Year of Our Reign, intituled, "An Act for preventing certain Instruments from being required from Ships belonging to the United States of America, and to give to His Majesty "for a limited time certain Powers for the better carrying on Trade and Commerce, "between the Subjects of His Majesty's Dominions, and the Inhabitants of the said United States." It was enacted that during the Continuance of that Act, it should be lawful for Us in Council, by Order, or Orders to be issued and published from time to time, to give such Directions, and to make such Regulations with respect to Duties, Drawbacks, or otherwise for carrying on the Trade & Commerce between the People 1. From the copy in the Canadian given for Upper and Lower Canada. Instructions to Carleton in 1775. Doughty, 1907, p. 438. Archives, M. 231, p. 55. The same Instructions were 3 GEORGE V., A. 1913 and Territories belonging to Our Crown, & the People and Territories of the said United States, as to Us in Council should appear most expedient and salutary, any Law, Usage, or Custom to the contrary notwithstanding; the Provisions of which said recited Act have been continued & enforced by several other Acts since passed; And whereas in pursuance of the Powers vested in Us, by the Acts of Parliament aforesaid, We by several Orders issued by Us, in Our Council, have made such Regulations and given such Directions, for regulating the Trade between Our Dominions, & the said United States, as the Interest and Welfare of Our Subjects, & the Preservation and Encouragement of the Trade and Navigation of Our Kingdoms, have from time to time made necessary and expedient and particularly by that of the 4th of April, 1787, by which We did make certain Regulations with respect to the Importation of Goods & Merchandize, the Growth and Produce of the United States of America, into our Territories and Islands in the West Indies.1 It is therefore Our Will and Pleasure, that you do in all things conform yourself, as well to the Provisions of the above mentioned Acts of Parliament, as to the Regulations and Directions contained in Our said Orders in Council; or such further Regulations and Directions, as may be contained in any future Order or Orders made by Us in Council, for the purposes aforesaid, & that you do give the proper Orders to the several Officers concerned, that due Obedience be paid thereunto. 4. You shall take Care that the Naval Officers within your Government, do give such Security to the Commissioners of Our Customs, for the true and faithful Performance of their Duty, as is by Law required. 5. And whereas it is necessary for the greater Convenience of Merchants and others, that the Naval Officers and the Collectors of the Customs should reside at the same Ports or Towns, you are therefore to take Care that this Regulation be observed, and to consult with the surveyor General of Our Customs in what Place, it may be most convenient to have the Custom House fixed, for the Dispatch of Business, if the same shall not have been already done, and to take Care that the Collector and Naval Officer reside within a convenient Distance of the Custom House. 6. You shall every three Months or oftener, as there shall be Opportunity of Conveyance, transmit to the Commissioners of Our Treasury, or Our High Treasurer for the Time being, and to the Commissioners of Our Customs in London, a List of all the Ships and Vessels trading in your Government according to the Schedule hereunto annexed, together with a List of the Bonds taken in pursuance of the several Acts herein before mentioned; And you shall cause Demand to be made of every Master, at his clearing of an Invoice, of the Contents and Quality of his Lading &c. according to the Schedule hereunto also annexed; And you shall moreover direct the several Naval Officers within your Government, to furnish you with Quarterly Lists of such Ships and Vessels, together with the Tonnage and the Names of the Masters and Owners thereof, and of the Cargoes according to the Schedule before mentioned, which you are to transmit to Us thro' one of Our principal Secretaries of State, by the first Opportunity that shall offer, after the Expiration of such Quarter; And it is Our Will and Pleasure, that you be particularly attentive to Our Directions in this respect, and that you do take due Care, that the several Naval Officers do strictly comply therewith. 7. You shall give Directions that the Surveyor General of the Customs for the District in which your Government lyes, be permitted to have recourse to the said Bonds, as well as to the Book or Books, in which they are, or ought to be entered, 1. The Order in Council of the 4th of April, 1787, contained regulations for the trade between the United States and the United Kingdom and between the United States and the West Indies. After enumerating the commodities which might be imported into Nova Scotia and New Brunswick from the United States and the conditions of their importation, it continued thus, "And His Majesty is hereby further pleased to order, that no Goods, Commodities or Merchandize whatsoever shall be imported from any of the Territories belonging to the said United States into any of the Ports of the Province of Quebec." See Sydney to Dorchester, April 6, 1787, and enclosures. The Canadian Archives, G. 1, p. 72. SESSIONAL PAPER No. 18 & to examine, as well whether due Entry be made, as whether they are regularly taken & discharged; And where it shall appear that Bonds are not regularly discharged, you are to order that such Bonds be put in Suit. 8. You shall not Assent to any Act of Assembly, or allow any Usage to prevail within your Government, which shall be repugnant to the Acts of Parliament herein before mentioned, or to any that may hereafter be made, as far as the same relate to Our Plantations in America. 9. You shall be aiding and assisting to the Collectors, & other Officers of Our Customs appointed or who shall hereafter be appointed by the Commissioners of Our Customs in this Kingdom, by and under the Authority and Direction of the Commissioners of Our Treasury, or Our High Treasurer for the time being; and also to the Officers of the Court of Vice Admiralty in your Government appointed, or who shall hereafter be appointed, by Our High Admiral of Great Britain, or Commissioners for executing the office of High Admiral, or by you, or Our Commander in Chief for the time being, as Vice Admiral within your said Government, in putting in Execution the several Acts of Parliament before mentioned; And you shall cause due Prosecution of all such Persons as shall anyway resist, or hinder any of the said Officers of Our Admiralty, or Customs, in the Performance of their Duty. 10. Whereas the Commissioners appointed for collecting the Six Pence per Month, from Seamen's Wages for Our Royal Hospital at Greenwich, pursuant to the Act of Parliament for that purpose, have given Instructions to their Receivers in foreign Parts for their Conduct therein; It is Our Will and Pleasure, that you be aiding and assisting to the said Receivers in your Government, in the due Execution of their Trusts. 11. You shall take Care that upon any Actions, Suits and Informations that shall be brought, commenced or entered in any Court within your Government, upon any Law, or Statute, concerning Our Duties, or Ships, or Goods to be forfeited, by reason of any unlawful Importation, or Exportation, there be not any Jury impannelled, but of such as are Natives of Great Britain, Ireland, or some of Our Plantations and entitled by Law, to the Privileges of British Subjects. 12. You shall from time to time advise the Commissioners of Our Customs in London of all Failures, Neglects, Frauds and Misdemeanors of any of the Officers of Our Customs within your Government, and shall also communicate to them, all Occurences which you may think necessary for their Information, relating either to any of the Acts hereinbeforementioned, or to Our Revenue, under their Management. 13. If you shall discover that any Persons, claiming Right or Propriety in any Island, or Tract of Land in America, by Charter, Letters Patent, or other Grant, shall at any time hereafter, alien, sell, or dispose of such Right or Propriety other than to Our natural born Subjects of Great Britain, Ireland or Our Plantations in America, without the License or Consent of Us, Our Heirs & Successors, signified by Our, or Their Order in Council first had and obtained, you shall give Notice thereof to Us, thro' one of Our principal Secretaries of State, and to the Commissioners of Our Treasury, or Our High Treasurer of Great Britain for the time being. 14. And whereas notwithstanding the many good Laws made from time to time, for preventing Frauds in the Plantation Trade, it is manifest that very great Abuses have been, and still continue to be practised, to the Prejudice of the same, which Abuses must needs arise either from the Insufficiency, or Insolvency of those Persons who are accepted as Securities, in Bonds required by Law, or from the Remissness, or Connivance of Our Governors, who ought to take due Care that those Persons who execute such Bonds should be sued for Breaches of the Conditions of such Bonds, you are to take Notice that We consider the Good of Our Plantations and the Improvement of the Trade thereof, by a strict and punctual Observance of the several Laws in force concerning the same, to be of so great Importance to the Benefit of this Kingdom, and to the advancing of the Revenue of Our Customs, that, if We shall hereafter be informed that at any time there shall be any Failure in the due Observance of those |