abandon the best law authorities. It remains to show, that every man has a right to oblige the seignior to grant him lands, at a very moderate and certain return. The right and facility that every individual in the province has of having lands under the present tenures, is manifestly proved by the ordinances cited by the Solicitor-General and the Honourable Charles de Lanaudière, as well as by the clauses of the concessions of seigniories, as these gentlemen have also well remarked. 1. By these ordinances, and by these clauses, it is expressly forbid to the seigniors to sell lands uncleared, on pain of re-union to the domain of the crown. 2. It is expressly ordained, that the seigniors shall grant lands to all who ask for them. 3. If the seigniors refuse to grant them, after being required so to do, the persons asking the said lands shall make complaint to the Governors, &c., which Governors are authorized to grant them to them, under the name and for the profit of the King, at the same rate as the other concessions of the said seigniory. To show that the charges and redevances of the rotures are certain and moderate, it suffices to expose the highest rentes that are known to have been stipulated prior to the conquest, without examining if any seignior, under the silence of the government since that epoch, may have stipulated for higher, or put in practice any vexation. 1. The greatest rentes before the conquest, when they were stipulated to be in cash, were two sols tournois per superficial acre*. 2. Those which were stipulated in money and wheat, were of one sol tournois per superficial acre, and a bushel of wheat for forty superficial acres. As to the cens, it consisted, generally speaking, of a sol, or a sol and a half tournois, for every acre in front, by the whole depth of the concessionst. This cens is subject to→ 1. The right of lods et ventes. 2. La saisine; that is to say, twelve deniers Parisis, for being seized of it: but the eighty-second article of the custom says, Ne prend saisine qui ne veut. There is no obligation to take saisine‡. 3. The fine when the case happens §. By the ordinances already cited, and by the clauses inserted in the contracts, the censitaires are obliged,— * Two sols tournois are equal to a penny and one-ninth; a sol tournois being five. ninths of a penny. + A sol and a half tournois is fifteen-eighteenths of a penny of cens, for an arpent in front, by twenty, thirty, forty arpents in depth. Some are known to be one hundred and twenty-six arpents in depth, which are subject but to this cens. Twelve deniers Parisis are equal to two-thirds of a penny. This fine is of two sorts: one is incurred by the refusal of paying the cens et rentes, and is of five sols Parisis; the other arises from the default of notice being given of the sale, and consists of three livres and fifteen sols. But a sentence of the judge is necessary to oblige the proprietor to the payment of these fines. 1. To let their grain be ground at the seignior's mill, and to pay the fourteenth part for grinding. 2. To make, or permit to be made, all roads and bridges necessary for the public. 3. To clear their lands and occupy them, within a year and a day from the date of the contract. [A clause extremely favourable to agriculture, to the advancement of the province, and to population.] 4. They are subject to the reserve of mines, ores and minerals, and oak trees*. Thus every man has a right to insist on a grant of land, without its costing him a sol to become a perpetual proprietor of it; and if the rentes are all stipulated to be in money, he will pay annually for an estate, for example, of four acres by forty, a rent of sixteen livres tournois, and a cens of six sols‡. If, on the contrary, the rent is in money and wheat, he will pay eight livres tournois of rentes and six sols of cens, with four bushels of wheat §. If afterwards this land is sold, the purchaser, on entering into all the rights of the settler, becomes also subject to the charges, and will owe the lods et ventes ||. Is it then without reason that, under the present system of tenures, the people of this province are said to be happy? Is the censitaire exposed on his death to have the fruits of his labour torn from him, after flattering himself with having, by the labour of a whole life, acquired for the children of his bosom the sacred right of an inheritance? Can these tenures be compared to the leases of ten, twenty years, for life, &c., known in England, of one or of several acres of land for annual rents of two, four, six, ten guineas per acre, which the unfortunate husbandman cannot pay without being reduced to live on a fourth part of what is necessary to satisfy his appetite, and that in potatoes, oats, &c.? Yet, still happy if he be not obliged, after having cleared a great part of his land, to abandon his sacred and natural right to the fruits of his labours, gained by the sweat of his brow, from his incapacity to pay an oppressive rent. Is this a kind of tenure, which draws the blood of the labourer to nourish and satiate the rich lord, as voluptuous as indolent and useless? Is this a tenure where the earth devours its inhabitants, and must fall, by a natural tendency, into the hands of these great proprietors, the eternal scourge of population? * As to oak trees, this reserve does not take from them the liberty of cutting them down on the land they clear, nor even on their other lands; custom having ever considered this reserve in this sense: that the King has a right of taking those trees wherever he finds them, as also the seigniors for their mills, &c., without having it in their power to charge their censitaires with culpability for cutting them down. There is even a judgment of M. Begon, of the 20th of July, 1722, which forbids the seigniors to trouble their censitaires in the employment and sale of the oak trees they cut down on their lands. It will cost him but the notary's fee for passing the deed. Making 158. 1d. annual rent for one hundred and sixty arpents of land. The lods et ventes, as has been already said, are the twelfth part of the amount of the purchase-money; the seigniors generally remit a fourth of this right, without any prescription being established against them by custom. As a proof, none are known to leave the province to seek elsewhere a more advantageous kind of tenure; while we see arrive here families in swarms, to enjoy the benefits that its tenures offer them, and breathe the free air of its husbandmen. Such are the observations I have made, after reading with attention and reflecting on the extract of the proceedings of a Committee of the whole Council of His Majesty, printed by order of his Excellency, dated the 20th of October last. As a citizen and native of the province, of course as much interested in its welfare as any can be, I think no one can blame me for them. I submit them, with the most humble respect, to the examination and wisdom of the Right Honourable Lord Dorchester. Quebec, February 16, 1791. THOMAS BEDARD, Priest. No. XV. List of Counties and Members for each, according to the Representation Bill, as amended by the Legislative Council and agreed to by the House of Assembly, 11th of March, 1829, taking the Population according to the last Census of 1825. Counties. 19. St. Hyacinthe 20. Rouville 21. Verchères 22. Chambly 24. Beauharnais 25. L'Acadie 26. Vaudreuil 27. Ottawa 28. Deux Montagnes 29. Terrebonne 30. Lachenaye 31. L'Assomption 32. Montreal 33. Berthier 34. St. Maurice 37. Quebec 38. Montmorenci 39. Saguenay 40. Orleans 41. City of Quebec 42. City of Montreal 43. Three Rivers 44. William Henry In the Bill sent up by the Assembly the number was eighty-nine. The counties of Kamouraska, Belle-Chasse, Richelieu, St. Hyacinthe, Rouville, Chambly, La Prairie, L'Acadie, Deux Montagnes, Terrebonne, Montreal, Berthier, and St. Maurice, each have one Member by the Bill as amended by the Council (say thirteen); the Bill, as it came from the Council, adds to Rimouski, Beauce, Mégantic (doubtful), Lothbinière, Sherbrooke, Missisquoui, Lachenaye, and Orleans, one each (say eight); which leaves the eighty-four Members. The Bill goes into opperation at the next general election, only excepting with regard to the townships, which are to elect representatives next summer, to be present at the next session of the Assembly. The township Members in all are nine; and, including Beauharnais, which is partly of land in free and common soccage and partly en fief, eleven; eight only of these, being for the eastern townships, can, however, be returned before the general election. The principle by which the representation is regulated by the amendments' above of the Council, is two Members for 4,000 inhabitants and upwards; 1,000 and under 4,000, one; under 1,000, to vote in the nearest county. The Bill sent to the Council gave one Member for about every 5,000 souls.Quebec Gazette, March 12, 1829. No. XVI. Encouragement to Emigration. A Bill to encourage emigration from foreign parts into this province has been sent from the Legislative Council, and concurred in by the House of Assembly. Its provisions, we believe, are briefly these :-Foreigners may purchase and hold lands in this province, and convey the same in fee simple; and, at the expiration of five years, having complied with certain conditions of registry, &c. &c., and taking the oath of allegiance, shall be considered natural born subjects of His Majesty, and be admitted to all the privileges of subjects, with the right, under our provincial statutes, of voting at elections, and being returned to serve in Parliament, after having completed a residence of seven years in the province. The Bill is one of those reserved for His Majesty's pleasure.-Quebec Mercury, March 31, 1829. |