interest himself in his behalf with His Excellency the Governour of New York who has been so good as to admit the Canadians to represent to him their Titles to the said grants, in the Gracious disposition in which he is to do them Justice, in order to obtain a longer delay than he has granted by his Proclamation of the 20th August last to represent His Most Christian Majesty's Ratification of said Grant, copy of which he has ordered from his brother at Paris, and which he will only receive in the course of next year, that Ratification having been lost in the Brigantine les Deux Frères, Capt. Dufycharest captured by the English in 1756; and to be able also to shew that it was impossible for him to have kept fire & light there at the time, and as prescribed by said Deed of Concession, because being a Military Man he left in the same year 1756 to command a Post in the Upper Country by the orders of the Governor General, an absence which has rendered him not only unable to improve and establish his said Seigniory and to have fire and light kept there according to the terms of his title but even to solicit the Intendant to apply to the Court of France for Copy of the Ratification of his Grant the original of which had been lost; and he has not been able since the Definitive Treaty of Peace, to establish said Seigniory, it being notorious that he has not returned to this Province until the month of August 1769. And in fine he could not send the title of his Concession to New York to be there enregistered since his arrival in this Province, on account of the considerable expense that Envoy would have occasioned him. He dares flatter himself that you will be favorable to him and he will not cease to offer his prayers to Heaven for your Excellency's preservation

QUEBEC 15th Octob" 1771.

DEED OF SALE OF THE SEIGNIORY OF LA MANAUDIERE

ON THE EAST SIDE OF LAKE CHAMPLAIN, 27th SEPTEMBER 1766

[From the same.]

Before the undersigned Notaries residing in the City of Montreal in the Province of Quebec, appeared Sieur Jean Marie Raimbault and Dame Louise De Montigny his Wife whom he duely

authorized, and Demoiselle Lee Raimbault his daughter of age, living at the Cote de la Montagne near this City of Montreal acting as well for themselves as for Sieur Claude Raimbault their brother absent from this Province for whom they render themselves guaranty & security; Who have by these Presents voluntarily sold, ceded and transported from now and forever, promised & promising jointly as well in their names as in those of their Executors, Administrators, Heirs and Assigns to guarantee from all Troubles, Grants, Doweries, Debts, Mortgages and other Burthens in general whatsoever, except solely the Troubles and Hindrances which may be caused on the part of Governments, unto Benjamin Price Esq. Daniel Robertson Esq. and John Livingston Esq' the said Sieurs Robertson & Livingston purchasers, present at and accepting as well for themselves as for said Sieur Price, their Executors Administrators & Assigns, a Seigniory called La Manaudiere situated on Lake Champlain on the East Side, containing four leagues front by five leagues deep, the said four Leagues commencing in descending the Lake, from the Bounds of the Seigniory granted to Sieur La Perriere on the sixth of July One thousand seven hundred and thirty four, in which is included the River called A la Mouelle, with the Isles, Islets, and Battures adjacent, with the Privilege of High, Low and Middle Justice, Rights of Hunting, Fishing and Indian Trade and the Rights and Preroga ives annexed to said Seigniory without any Exception whatsoever, nothing being reserved nor retarded by the said Sellers to whom the said Seigniory belongs as sole heirs of the late M. Pierre Raimbault their Father in his life time Lieut: General for His Most Christian Majesty of the Jurisdiction of this City, to which said Sieur Raimbault the said Seigniory belonged by Grant to him made by His said Most Christian Majesty according to the Patent of Ratification of the thirtieth of April One thousand seven hundred & thirty seven duly enregistered at the Superior Council of Quebec, formal conveyance whereof the said Sellers promise to immediately give the said Purchasers: The Present Sale made on condition that the said Purchasers pay from this day and render to the Domain of His Majesty, our Most Sovereign Lord the King of Great Britain all the Rights and Duties for

which the said Seigniory is bound to Him; and besides give the price and sum of Ninety Thousand livres current Money of this Province half of which in gold and silver Specie and the other half in Merchandize at the prices current in this City, which the said Sellers acknowledge and Confess to have now received from the said Purchasers; The said Sieurs Robertson & Livingston Declaring that three-fourths of the said Seigniory will belong to them and the other fourth will belong to said Sieur Benjamin Price in consequence whereof the said Sellers consent that said Purchasers enjoy, do with, and dispose of, the said Seigniory and its Dependancies, as to them will seem good and enter therein in good Seizin and infeoffment. For thus &c. Promising &c. Obliging &c. Renouncing &c. Done and Executed in the said Montreal in the Year One Thousand seven hundred & sixty six, the twenty seventh of September after noon; and the Sellers have Signed and Sealed these Presents with the said Sieurs Robertson & Livingston, acting for the said Sieur Price, after reading being done.

Received from Benjamin Price, Daniel Bobertson and John Livingstone Esquire the sum of Twelve Pounds, Lawful Money of this Province for the Droit de Quint or Mutation fine for the Seigniory called La Manaudiere situate on the East side of Lake Champlain, joining on a Seigniory granted to M La Perriere by the French King 6 July 1764, purchased by them of Jean Marie Raimbault, Louise Montigny his Wife & Louise Raimbault of Montreal as specified in the Contract of Sale, signed by the parties the 27th of September last, having remitted to the said Purchasers one Third, pursuant to the Ancient Custom of this Colony, and by which I have put the same Benjamin Price, Daniel Robertson and

John Livingston Esquires in good Possession and Seizing of the said Seigniory, they having for that effect paid the fine due to His Majesty.

Signed

THOMAS MILLS, Rг GEN1.

The above and foregoing are true Copies of a Deed of Sale of the Seigniory called La Manaudière' and of the Receipt for the Droit de Quint, as taken from the French Register Letter E. pages 313 & 358. in my office.

Given under my hand at Quebec this

15th August 1771.

GEO. ALLSOPP Dy Regr

& Clk of Enrolments.

[N. Y. Council Minutes, XXVI.]

At a Council held at Fort George in the city of New York, on Monday the sixth day of January 1772.

Present His Excellency William Tryon Esq. Captain General

Mr. Smith from the Committee to whom by Order of the 31st ultimo was referred the Papers relative to the French claims to Lands on Lake Champlain presented to His Excellency the Committee's Report thereupon, which being Read was on the Question being put agreed to and approved of, and Ordered to be entered in the Minutes and is as follows:

REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE ON THE SUBJECT OF THE FRENCH CLAIMS TO LANDS ON LAKE CHAMPLAIN.

May it please your Excellency:

The Committee to whom were referred the several Writings lately transmitted (in pursuance of your Proclamation) from the Province of Quebec relative to the French Claims to Lands within this Government humbly Report

That soon after his Majesty was pleased by his Royal Procla

1. The present Town of Burlington, Vt., is situated on part of the above Seigniory.

mation of the 7th October 1763 to declare the 45th Degree of Northern Latitude to be the Boundary between this and the Province of Quebec, divers Tracts of Land were granted under the Great seal of this Province to the Northward of Crown Point on both sides of Lake Champlain, and chiefly to the reduced Officers and Soldiers claiming his Majesty's Bounty Graciously promised by that Proclamation.

That Sir Henry Moore and Mr Carlton the Governors of the two Provinces fixed the place of the Latitude of 45, by actual observation near the North end of the Lake in the Month of September 1767, and that on the 12th August 1768 his Majesty was pleased to declare his Approbation in Privy Council, and to direct in favour of his New Canadian Subjects that nothing in the Order of that Date contained should affect the property of such as had possessions under proper Titles in Lands on the South side of the Line, the Dominion of which was not disputed on the part of the Crown of Great Britain; And that the said Determination should not operate wholly to deprive them of such Concessions on the South side of said Line, whereon they had made actual settlements and Improvements, altho' the said Line might have been disputed by the Crown of Great Britain, but proportioned to their Improvements at the Rate of 50 acres for every three that were improved, with the Provisoe that Grants should be sued out under the seal of New York, Subject to the usual Quit Rents, and that a Grant to one Person should not exceed 20,000 acres.

The Committee have examined the Council Books and cannot discover that the Government of Quebec ever gave the least Intimation to this Province of any French Grants upon Lake Champlain, neither before nor after the said Order of August 1768 until excited thereunto by your Excellency's late proclamation, nor is there an Entry to be found of any Notification of such Claim by Private persons, nor even of an application for any grant or Confirmation under this Government for Lands Granted in Canada. before the surrender of that Country.

The Committee therefore conceive that it was a natural and reasonable presumption either that there were no such French Grants or that the Grantees and their Assigns considered them as