the purchase of hemp seed and payment
of bounties; a ninth afforded relief to certain persons entitled to
claim lands; a tenth amended an Act for the laying out of highways; and
an eleventh provided for the appointment of returning officers. While
General Sheaffe was President of Upper Canada, an Act was passed to
facilitate the circulation of the Lower Province Army Bills. They were
to be received in payment of duties and at the office of the Receiver
General. A second Act was passed to empower Justices of the Peace to
fine and, in the event of non-payment, to distress the properties of
persons offending against the militia laws; a third Act prohibited the
exportation of grain and other provisions and restrained the
distillation of spirituous liquors from grain; a fourth gave a pension
of L20 a year to such persons disabled in the war, as had wife or
child, to be continued to the widow or the fatherless, in the event of
the death of such disabled persons, and disabled bachelors were to
obtain, so long as they were unable to earn a livelihood, L12 a year; a
fifth prevented the sale of spirituous liquors to the Indians; a sixth
continued the Act to provide means for the defence of the province; a
seventh repealed the Hemp Encouragement Acts; an eighth continued the
Duties Agreement Act; a ninth amended an Act for the better regulation
of town and parish officers; a tenth amended and repealed in part the
Act for quartering and billetting the soldiery; and the eleventh
granted for the clerks of parliament L88 1s. 9d. The debates of course
were neither animated nor of particular interest.

In 1814, the parliament of Lower Canada was opened by the Governor
General, on the 13th of January. Sir George could meet the legislature
with heartfelt satisfaction and pride. The Canadians had acted nobly,
both in the field and out of it, while they entertained for himself,
personally, a feeling of respect, which he had done his utmost to win,
and which it was his aim to preserve. In the speech from the throne, he
congratulated parliament, particularly on the defeat of the enemy at
Chateauguay. He alluded triumphantly to the brilliant victory over
Wilkinson at Chrystler's Farm. He rejoiced that, notwithstanding the
various events of the past summer, by which the enemy had gained a
footing in the Upper province, the theatre of war had recently been
transferred to American soil, and that Niagara, Black Rock, and Buffalo
had been wrested f