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167½
To the Honorable the Speaker and Members of the Legislature of Nova Scotia
The Petition of Simon Lawlor Missionary in [Broadeaue?]
Island of Cape Breton and Province of Nova Scotia,
Humbly Sheweth,

That from your Petitioners long acquaintance among the Indian Settlements in this Island, having attended them for a length of time as their Spiritual Director, he has had every opportunity of observing the miserable ignorance, the bad consequences of intemperance, and all the many other disadvantages which accrue from the want of a liberal system of Education established among them. That your Petitioner can assert from his personal knowledge, that the Indians are fully sensible of this, and would consent, with the greatest pleasure to any measure your Honorable House should be pleased to adopt for the furtherance of this desirable object. It was long, and in some parts still is the general opinion, that the Indians were incapable of either mental or moral improvement, and consequently unfit for every purpose of civilised society; but, that such is erroneous, numberless proofs can now be produced such as [Lorettne.?] near Quebec, where upwards of One Hundred families reside, cultivate Agriculture with success. and are supplied with every necessary implement for the cultivation of the soil. That in New Brunswick, Canada &c &c ample provision has been made