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38 |
NOVA SCOTIA DOCUMENTS. |
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[COPY.]
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Govr. Philipps to Mr. St. Ovide, Govr. of Cape Breton.
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[Translated from the French.]
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SIR, —
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The bearers of this letter go with my permission and my passport to Cape Breton, for a priest in place of the one who has left them; and I take the opportunity at the same time of replying to that which you wrote to me, the 7th of last month from port Thoulouse. *
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It appears to me, from some passages in your letter that you take the proclamation which I published on my arrival here to the inhabitants of this province, for a pure act of my will, without the knowledge of the king my master. If that is your opinion I can assure you that you are mistaken, and that I know my duty too well to make use of the name of his majesty without having his royal authority for it as my warrant; and you may depend upon it, that each article of this proclamation is in conformity to my instructions and contained in them. Therefore I am quite easy on that score, having nothing to apprehend in all that has taken place on this subject except having undertaken to prolong the time beyond what my orders empowered me to do. As to the proceeding of the king in their case, it is sufficiently justified by the articles of the treaty of Utrecht. It is not denied that Queen Anne granted to these inhabitants, as well as to those of Placentia† the liberty which you mention, of which, some took advantage in leaving within the limited time; but of which others have, justly, lost the advantage, through their negligence or presumption.
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Your commissioners even who came here to regulate this affair, in the time of General Nicholson agreed that there was but one year's grace, and disputed only whether its commencement should be reckoned from the date of the said treaty, or from the time of the convention of the inhabitants here for the purpose of being instructed as to this favor. Since that time they have not been prevented from withdrawing. Many of them left and sold their possessions according to the Queen's intention. But you must admit that there is a great difference of time between one and seven years, that they have remained in his majesty's dominions, in the full enjoyment of their property, until they have begun to think that
* St. Peter's.  † In Newfoundland. |
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