wilderness into fruitful fields. No other people on earth are so well formed to succeed in new settlements as the Anglo-American farmers, commonly denominated Yankees.

"To put a mark of honour," as it was expressed in the Orders of Council, "upon the families who had adhered to the unity of the empire, and joined the royal standard in America, before the treaty of separation in the year 1783," a list of such persons was directed, in 1789, to be made out and returned, "to the end that their posterity might be discriminated from the then future settlers." From the initials of two emphatic words, the unity of the empire, it was styled the U. E. list; and they whose names were entered on it were distinguished as U. E. loyalists, a distinction of some consequence; for, in addition to the provision of such loyalists themselves, it was declared that their children, as well those born thereafter, as those already born, should, upon arriving at the age of twenty-one years, and females upon their marriage within that age, be entitled to grants of two hundred acres each, free from all expense. In pursuance of that declaration these gratuitous grants continue to be made. Thousands of acres are thus granted every year. As the sons and daughters of those whose names are on the U. E. list become of age, they petition the lieutenant-governor, in council, stating the facts, and verifying them by their own oath, and the affidavit of one witness, and upon such petitions obtain orders for the land, which they locate in

some of the new townships, and then take out their patents without cost *.

To encourage the further population of the province, a lot of two hundred acres was allowed to every settler, upon condition of actual settlement, and payment of the expense of surveying and fees of office, amounting in the whole to a little less than thirty-eight dollars.

In 1791 Canada was divided into two provinces, styled Upper Canada and Lower Canada; the one containing all the French seignories, the other, all the newly settled townships.

General Simcoe was appointed the first lieutenant-governor of Upper Canada. He arrived in 1792, and took his residence at Newark, since named Niagara, where the first parliament was called, and held five successive sessions. The seat of government was then removed to York, on the north side of the lake, nearly opposite to Niagara, where a settlement had been made, and accommodations were provided.

It was a favourite object of Governor Simcoe's administration to promote the settling of the province. For that purpose he made liberal grants of land to many settlers from the States.

*In February, 1816, an order was adopted, requiring, in addition to the former requisites, a certificate from the president of the sessions and clerk of the peace, that the U. E. loyalist, if living, retained his loyalty, and did his duty during the late war, and a similar certificate respecting the applicant, if a son, and in case of a daughter, respecting her husband, if she is married.

General Simcoe being transferred to another station, the administration devolved upon the Hon. Peter Russell, president of the council. In 1798, General Hunter was appointed lieutenant-governor,. and, arriving in the province the next year, exercised the office six years. After a short administration under the Hon. Alexander Grant, as president, his Excellency Francis Gore, Esq. was appointed lieutenant-governor, and has continued in office to the present time. In 1811 he went home to England, and did not return until September, 1815. In his absence the civil administration was committed successively to the senior military officer in the province for the time being.

The first of these successive presidents was Major-General Sir Isaac Brock, who presided at the session of parliament in the winter of 1812, and the extra session in the summer of the same year. Upon his death, in October, 1812, the administration devolved upon Major-General Sir Roger Hale Sheaffe, who presided at the session of 1813, and was succeeded by Major-General Francis De Rottenburg. During his presidency General De Rottenburg issued a proclamation, declaring martial law to be in force throughout the province, so far as respected the impressment of provisions and forage for the army. The preamble stated the necessity of the measure; but the execution of it excited considerable sensibility in some districts. It was revoked by his successor Lieut.-General Sir Gordon Drummond, and at the next session of parliament the house of representatives resolved that

this proclamation of martial law was unconstitutional and subversive of law and liberty, and ordered the resolution to be entered on their journal, as a solemn protest against the precedent. The Court of King's Bench have, since, given a similar decision. Upon the recal of Sir George Prevost, governor-general of the British North American provinces, General Drummond having presided at two sessions of the legislature of Upper Canada, was appointed administrator in chief of the two Canadas, and was succeeded in the administration of this province by Lieutenant-General Sir George Murray, who was styled Provincial Lieutenant-Governor. When he returned to Europe Major-General Sir Frederic Phillips Robinson succeeded, and continued in administration until the arrival of Governor Gore.

The further progress and present state of the settlements in the province, will be noticed in a subsequent Sketch.

SKETCH II.

BOUNDARIES.

Line of Division from Lower Canada-Hudson's Bay-United States-Latitude and Longitude of the Source of the Mississippi and the North

West Point of the Lake of the Woods-Western Limits indefinite-Discoveries of M‘Kenzie, and Lewis and Clarke-British Posts with the United States.

IN sketching the Geography of the province, the first object is to ascertain its Boundaries.

It is bounded north easterly by Lower Canada, from the St. Lawrence to the Hudson's Bay: northerly by that territory: south easterly by the United States. Its western limits are unknown.

On the East and North the boundary line is more particularly described as follows, in the Royal Proclamation of November 18th, 1791, issued in pursuance of the Act of Parliament of the same year, dividing the province of Quebec into the provinces of Upper and Lower Canada: "To commence at a stone boundary on the north bank of the lake St. Francis, at the cove west of Pointe au Bodet, in the limit between the township of Lancaster, and the Seigniory of New Longueil, running along the said limit, in the direction of north 34 degrees west, to the westernmost angle of the said Seigniory of New Longueil; thence along the north western boundary of the Seigniory of Vaudreuil, running north 25 degrees east, until it strikes the Ottawa river; to ascend the said river into the lake Tomescanning; and from the head of the said lake, by a line drawn due north, until it strikes the boundary line of Hudson's Bay, including all the territory to the westward and southward of the

C