S.

Geographical limits of the Ancient Government of Quebec, and of its subsequent territorial divisions under Acts of the Parliament of the United Kingdom.

His late Majesty, King George III., by his Royal Proclamation, bearing date the 7th day of October, in the third year of his reign (1763), was pleased to declare that he had limited and bounded the Government of Quebec as follows:

"The Government of Quebec, bounded on the Labrador coast by the River St. John, and from thence by a line drawn from the head of that river, through the lake St. John, to the south end of the lake Nipissim; from whence the said line crossing the river St. Lawrence, and the lake Champlain, in forty-five degrees of north latitude, passes along the high lands which divide the rivers that empty themselves into the said river St. Lawrence from those which fall into the sea, and also along the north coast of the Bay-des-Chaleurs, and the coast of the gulf of St. Lawrence to Cape Rosiers, and from thence crossing the mouth of the river St. Lawrence by the west end of the Island of Anticosti, terminates at the aforesaid river St. John."

By the same proclamation His Majesty further declared that he had put the coast of Labrador, from the river St. John to Hudson's Straits, with the Islands of Anticosti and Madelaine, and all other smaller islands lying on the said coast, under the care and inspection of the Government of Newfoundland.

By an Act passed in the fourteenth year of the reign of his said late Majesty, intituled, " An Act for making more effectual provision for the government of the province of Quebec, in North America," all the territories, islands, and countries in North America belonging to the Crown of Great Britain, therein described, and all such territories, islands, and countries which had, since the 10th day of February, 1763, been made part of the Government of Newfoundland, were, during His Majesty's pleasure, annexed to and made part and parcel of the province of Quebec, as created and established by the said Royal Proclamation.

The 31 Geo. III. c. 31-2, reciting that His Majesty had been pleased to signify, by message, to both Houses of Parliament, his royal intention to divide the province of Quebec into two separate provinces, to be called the Province of Upper Canada and the Province of Lower Canada, enacts that there shall be within each of the said provinces respectively a legislative council, and an assembly, to be severally composed and constituted in the manner thereinafter described.

The Province of Quebec was accordingly divided into the Provinces of Upper and Lower Canada by the Royal Proclamation, issued in pursuance of the last-mentioned Act, and bearing date at the Castle of St. Lewis, in the city of Quebec, on the 18th of November, 1791.

By the Stat. 49 Geo. III. c. 27; 51 Geo. III. c. 45; and 5 Geo. IV. c. 67, the coast of Labrador, from the river St. John to Hudson's Straits, and the Island of Anticosti, and all the adjacent islands, except the Island of Madelaine, were annexed to and made to form part of the Government of Newfoundland. But by the Stat. 6 Geo. IV. c. 59, s. 9, so much of the said coast as lies to the westward of a line to be drawn due north and south from the bay or harbour of Anse Sablon inclusive, as far as the fifty-second degree of north latitude, with the Island of Anticosti, and all other islands adjacent to such part as last aforesaid are re-annexed to and make a part of the Province of Lower Canada.

By 3 & 4 Vict. c. 35, s. 1, it was made lawful for Her Majesty, with the advice of Her Privy Council, to declare or to authorise the Governor-general of the said two Provinces of Upper and Lower Canada to declare, by proclamation, that the said provinces, upon, from and after a certain day in such proclamation to be appointed, which day should be within fifteen calendar months next after the passing of that Act, should form and be one province, under the name of the "Province of Canada," and thenceforward the said province should continue and be one province, under the name aforesaid, upon, from and after the day so appointed as aforesaid.

In pursuance and exercise of the powers so vested in the Queen by the last-mentioned Act, Her Majesty did, on the 10th day of August, 1840, with the advice of Her Privy Council, authorize the Governor-general of the two Provinces of Upper and Lower Canada to declare, by proclamation, that the said two provinces upon, from and after a certain day, in such proclamation to be appointed, such day being within fifteen calendar months next after the passing of the said Act, should form and be one province, under the name of the Province of Canada.

By Her Majesty's Royal Proclamation, issued under the provisions of the 3 & 4 Vict. c. 35, and bearing date at the City of Montreal on the fifth day of February, 1841, it was declared that her said two provinces, upon, from and after the tenth day of the then present month of February, should form and be one province, under the name of the Province of Canada.

The limits of the Province of Quebec, under the proclamation of 1763, included all the territory comprised within Upper and Lower Canada. It was separated into two provinces by the proclamation of 1791, under the 31 Geo. III. c. 31; and these two were re-united into one province by the Union Act, 3 & 4 Vict. c. 35; and the

Province of Canada became identical with the former Province of Quebec.

The Province of Canada, by the Act establishing the Dominion, is again divided into the Provinces of Ontario and Quebec, corresponding to Upper and Lower Canada, and these now form portions of the Dominion of Canada, each with a Legislature for local purposes.

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