parliament of the measure known as "The Quebec Act,"
which has always been considered the charter of the special privileges
which the French Canadians have enjoyed ever since, and which, in the
course of a century, made their province one of the most influential
sections of British North America.

The preamble of the Quebec Act fixed new territorial limits for the
province. It comprised not only the country affected by the proclamation
of 1763, but also all the eastern territory which had been previously
annexed to Newfoundland. In the west and south-west the province was
extended to the Ohio and the Mississippi, and in fact embraced all the
lands beyond the Alleghanies coveted and claimed by the old English
colonies, now hemmed in between the Atlantic and the Appalachian range.
It was now expressly enacted that the Roman Catholic inhabitants of
Canada should thenceforth "enjoy the free exercise" of their religion,
"subject to the king's supremacy declared and established" by law, and
on condition of taking an oath of allegiance, set forth in the act. The
Roman Catholic clergy were allowed "to hold, receive, and enjoy their
accustomed dues and rights, with respect to such persons only as shall
confess the said religion"--that is, one twenty-sixth part of the
produce of the land, Protestants being specially exempted. The French
Canadians were allowed to enjoy all their property, together with all
customs and usages incident thereto, "in as large, ample and beneficial
manner," as if the proclamation or other acts of the crown "had not been
made", but the religious orders and communities were excepted in
accordance with the terms of the capitulation of Montreal--the effect of
which exception I have already briefly stated. In "all matters of
controversy relative to property and civil rights," resort was to be had
to the old civil law of French Canada "as the rule for the decision of
the same", but the criminal law of England was extended to the province
on the indisputable ground that its "certainty and lenity" were already
"sensibly felt by the inhabitants from an experience of more than nine
years." The government of the province was entrusted to a governor and a
legislative council appointed by the crown, "inasmuch as it was
inexpedient to call an assembly." The council was to be composed of not
more than twenty-three residents of the province. At the same time the
British parliament made special enactments for the imposi