GREETING:

    Wee reposing especial Trust and Confidence in the prudence, Courage
and Loyalty of you the said Thomas Carleton, of our especial Grace, certain
Knowledge and mere Motion, have thought fit to constitute and appoint
you the said Thomas Carleton to be our Captain General and Governor in
Chief of our province of New Brunswick bounded on the Westward by
the Mouth of the River Saint Croix by the said River to its Source and
by a Line drawn due North from thence to the Southern Boundary of our
province of Quebec to the Northward by the said Boundary as far as the
Western Extremity of the Bay des Chaleurs to the Eastward by the said
Bay and the Gulph of Saint Lawrence to the Bay called Bay Verte to the
South by a Line in the Center of the Bay of Fundy from the River Saint
Croix aforesaid to the Mouth of the Musquat River by the said River to its
source, and from thence by a due East line across the Isthmus into the

[p 395]

Bay Verte to join the Eastern line above described including all Islands
within six Leagues of the Coast with all the Rights Members and
Appurtenances whatsoever thereunto belonging and Wee do hereby require
and command you to do and execute all things in due manner that shall
belong unto your said Command and the Trust Wee have reposed in you
according to the several powers and authorities granted or appointed you by
the present Commission and Instructions herewith given you or by such
further powers Instructions and authorities as shall at any time hereafter
be granted or appointed you under our Signet and Sign Manual or by Our
Order in Our privy Council and according to such reasonable Laws and
Statutes as shall hereafter be made or agreed upon by you with the advice
and Consent of our Council and the Assembly of our said Province under
your Government when such Assembly shall be called in such manner and
form as is hereafter expressed And our will and pleasure is that you the
said Thomas Carleton after the publication of these our Letters Patent
do take the Oaths appointed to be taken by an Act passed in the First
year of the Reign of King George the First - Intituled - "An Act for the
further Security of His Majesty's person and Government and the Succes-
sion of the Crown in the Heirs of the late Princess Sophia being
protestants and for extinguishing the hopes of the pretended prince of
Wales and his open and secret abettors" as altered and explained by an Act
passed in the sixth year of our Reign Intituled "An Act for altering
the Oath of Abjuration and the Assurance and for amending so much of
an Act of the seventh year of her late Majesty Queen Anne Intituled
'An Act for the Improvement of the Union of the two Kingdoms' as after
the time therein limited requires the delivery of certain Lists and Copies
therein mentioned to persons Indicted of High Treason or Misprison of
Treason" as also that you make and subscribe the Declaration mentioned
in an Act of Parliament made in the twenty-fifth year of the Reign of
King Charles the Second Intituled "An Act for preventing Dangers which
may happen from Popish Recusants" and likewise that you take the
usual Oath for the due Execution of the Office and Trust of our Captain
General and Governor in Chief of our said province for the due and
impartial administration of Justice and further that you take the Oath
required to be taken by Governors of plantations to do their utmost that
the several Laws relating to Trade and the plantations be observed all
which said oaths and Declarations Our Council in Our said Province or
any five of the Members thereof have hereby full power and authority and

[p 396]

are required to tender and administer unto you and in your absence to our
Lieutenant Governor, if there be any upon the place all which being
duly performed you shall administer unto each of the Members of our
said Council as also to our Lieutenant Governor if there be any upon the
place the said oaths mentioned in the said first recited Act of parliament
altered as above as also cause them to make and subscribe the afore-
mentioned Declaration and administer to them the oath for the due
Execution of their places and Trusts And Wee de [sic] hereby Give and Grant
unto you full power and authority to suspend any of the Members of our
said Council from sitting voting and assisting therein if you shall find just
cause for so doing And if it shall at any time happen that by the Death
Departure out of our said Province Suspension of any of our said
Councillors or otherwise there shall be a vacancy in our said Council (any
five whereof Wee do hereby appoint to be a quorum) Our will and
pleasure is that you signify the same unto Us the first opportunity that
Wee may under our Signet and Sign Manual constitute and appoint others
in their Stead But that our Affairs at that distance may not suffer for
want of a due number of Councillors if ever it shall happen that there be
less than nine of them residing in Our said province Wee do hereby Give
and Grant unto you the said Thomas Carleton full power and authority to
choose as many persons out of the principal Freeholders Inhabitants
thereof as shall make up the full number of our said Council to be nine
and no more which persons so chosen and appointed by you shall be to all
intents and purposes Councillors in our said province until either they
shall be confirmed by Us or that by the nomination of others by Us under
our Sign Manual and Signet, our said Council shall have nine or more
persons in it And Wee do hereby Give and Grant unto you the said Thomas
Carleton full power and authority with the advice and Consent of our
said Council to be appointed as aforesaid so soon as the Situation and
Circumstances of our Province under your Government will admit thereof
and when and as often as need Shall require to Summon and Call General
Assemblies of the Freeholders and Settlers in the Province under your
Government in such manner and according to such further powers
Instructions and Authorities as Shall at any time hereafter be Granted or
Appointed you under our Signet and Sign Manual or by Our Order in Our
Privy Council AND OUR WILL and Pleasure is that the persons
thereupon duly elected by the Major part of the Freeholders of' the
respective Counties and Places and so returned shall before their Sitting

[p 397]

take the oaths mentioned in the first recited Act of parliament altered as
above as also make and subscribe the afore mentioned Declaration which
Oaths and Declaration you shall Commissionate fit persons under our Seal
of New Brunswick to tender and administer unto them and until the same
shall be so taken and subscribed no person shall be capable of sitting though
Elected AND WEE do hereby declare that the persons so elected and
qualified shall be called and deemed the General Assembly of that Our
province of New Brunswick And that you the said Thomas Carleton with
the Advice and Consent of our said Council and Assembly or the major
part of them respectively shall have full power and authority to make
constitute and ordain Laws Statutes and Ordinances for the public
peace welfare and good Government of our said Province and of the
people and Inhabitants thereof and such others as shall resort thereto and
for the Benefit of Us our Heirs and Successors which said Laws Statutes
and Ordinances are not to be Repugnant but as near as may be to the Laws
and Statutes of this our Kingdom of Great Britain Provided that all such
Laws Statutes and Ordinances of what nature or duration soever be within
three Months or sooner after the making thereof transmitted to Us under
our Seal of New Brunswick for our approbation or disallowance of the
same as also Duplicates thereof by the next Conveyance AND in case
any or all of said Laws Statutes and Ordinances not before confirmed
by Us shall at any time be disallowed and not approved and so signified by
Us our Heirs or Successors under Our or Their Sign Manual and Signet or
by order of Our or Their privy Council unto you the said Thomas Carleton
or to the Commander in Chief of the said province for the time being then
such and so many of the said Laws Statutes and Ordinances as shall be
so disallowed and not approved shall from thenceforth cease determine
and become utterly void and of none effect anything to the contrary
thereof notwithstanding, AND to the End that nothing may be passed or
done by Our said Council or Assembly to the prejudice of Us Our Heirs
and Successors Wee will and ordain that you the said Thomas Carleton
shall have and enjoy a Negative voice in making and passing all Laws
Statutes and Ordinances as aforesaid And you shall and may likewise
from time to time as you shall judge it necessary adjourn prorogue and
dissolve all General Assemblies as aforesaid AND Wee do hereby authorize
and empower you to keep and use the publick Seal which will be⁽¹⁾ here-

[p 398]

with delivered to you, or shall hereafter be sent to you for sealing all things;
Whatsoever which shall pass the Great Seal of our said Province AND
Wee do by these presents Give and Grant unto you the said Thomas
Carleton full power and authority with the advice and consent of Our said
Council to Erect Constitute and Establish such and so many Courts of
Judicature and public Justice within our said Province as you and they
shall think fit and necessary for the Hearing and Determining of all Causes
as well Criminal as Civil according to Law and Equity and for awarding
Execution thereupon with all reasonable and necessary powers authorities
Fees and privileges belonging thereunto as also to appoint and Commis-
sionate fit persons in the several parts of your Government to administer
the Oaths mentioned in the first recited Act of parliament altered as above
as also to tender and administer the aforesaid Declaration unto such
persons belonging to the said Courts as shall be obliged to take the same
AND Wee do hereby authorize and Impower you to constitute and appoint
Judges and in cases requisite Commissioners of Oyer and Terminer
Justices of the Peace and other necessary Officers and Ministers in our
said Province for the better administration of Justice and putting the
Laws in Execution and to administer or cause to be administered
unto them such oath or oaths as are usually given for
the due Execution and performance of offices and places and
for the clearing of Truth in Judicial Causes AND Wee do hereby
Give and Grant unto you full power and authority where you
shall see cause or shall Judge any offender or offenders in Criminal
Matters or for any Fines or Forfeitures due unto Us fit objects of our
mercy to pardon all such offenders and to remit all such offences Fines
and Forfeitures Treason and Wilful Murder only excepted In which
Cases you shall likewise have power upon extraordinary occasions to grant
reprieves to the offenders until and to the intent our Royal pleasure may
be known therein, AND Whereas it belongeth to Us in right of our
Royal Prerogative to have the custody of Idiots and their Estates and to
take the profits thereof to our own use finding them Necessaries and also
to provide for the Custody of Lunaticks and their Estates without taking
the profits thereof to our own use AND Whereas while such Idiots and
Lunaticks and their Estates remain under our Immediate Care, great
Trouble and Charges may arise to such as shall have occasion to resort unto
Us for Directions respecting such Idiots and Lunaticks and their Estates
and considering that Writs of Inquiry of Idiots and Lunaticks are to issue

[p 399]

out of our several Courts of Chancery as well in our provinces in
America as within this our Kingdom respectively and the Inquisitions
thereupon taken are returnable in those Courts Wee have thought fit to
Intrust you with the Care and Commitment of the Custody of the said
Idiots and Lunaticks and their Estates and Wee do by these presents Give
and Grant unto you full power and authority without expecting any
further Special Warrant from Us from time to time to give order and
warrant for the preparing of Grants of the Custodies of such Idiots and
Lunaticks and their Estates as are or shall be found by inquisition thereof
taken or to be taken and returnable into our Court of Chancery and there-
upon to make and pass Grants and Commitments under Our Great Seal
of Our Province of New Brunswick of the Custodies of all and every such
Idiots and Lunaticks and their Estates to such person or persons Suitors
in that Behalf as according to the Rules of Law and the use and practice in
those and the like cases you shall Judge meet for that Trust The said
Grants and Commitments to be made in such manner and form or as
nearly as may be as hath been heretofore used and accustomed in making
the same under the Great Seal of Great Britain and to contain such apt
and convenient Covenants provisions and agreements on the part of the
Committees and Grantees to be performed and such Security to be by
them given as shall be requisite and needful Wee do by these presents
authorize and impower you to collate any person or persons to any Churches
Chapels or other Ecclesiastical Beneficies within Our said province as
often as any of them shall happen to be void AND Wee do hereby Give
and Grant unto you the said Thomas Carleton by yourself or by your
Captains and Commanders by you to be authorized full power and
authority to levy, arm, muster, command and employ all persons whatsoever
residing within our said province and as occasion shall serve to march from
one place to another or to embark them for the resisting and withstanding
of all Enemies pirates and Rebels both at Land and Sea and to transport
such Forces to any of Our plantations in America if necessity shall require
for the Defence of the same against the Invasion or attempts of any of
Our Enemies and such Enemies pirates and Rebels (if there shall be
occasion) to pursue and prosecute in or out of the limits of our said
province and plantations or any of them and (if it shall so please God) to
vanquish apprehend and take them, and being taken according to Law put
to Death or keep and preserve them alive at your Discretion and to execute
Martial Law in Time of Invasion or at other Times when by Law it may

[p 400]

be executed and to do and execute all and every other Thing or Things
which to our Captain General and Governor in Chief doth or ought of right
to belong AND We do hereby Give and Grant unto you full power and
authority by and with the Advice and Consent of our said Council of New
Brunswick to erect raise and build in Our said province such and so many
Forts and platforms Castles Cities Boroughs Towns and Fortifications
as you by the advice aforesaid Shall judge necessary and the same or any
of them to fortify and furnish with Ordnance Ammunition and all sorts
of Arms fit and necessary for the security and defence of our said province
and by the advice aforesaid the same again or any of them to demolish or
dismantle as may be most convenient AND for as much as divers Mutinies
and Disorders may happen by persons Shipped and Employed at Sea
during the time of War and to the End that such as shall be shipped and
employed at Sea during the time of War may be better Governed and
Ordered Wee do hereby Give and Grant unto you the said Thomas
Carleton full power and authority to Constitute and Appoint Captains
Lieutenants Masters of Ships and other Commanders and Officers and to
Grant unto such Captains Lieutenants Masters of Ships and other Com-
manders and Officers Commissions to execute the Law martial during the
time of war according to the Directions of an Act passed in the twenty-
second year of the Reign of our late Royal Granfather [sic] Intituled "An Act
for amending explaining and reducing into one Act of parliament the
Laws relating to the Government of His Majesty's Ships Vessels and
Forces by Sea" as the same is altered by an Act passed in the nineteenth
year of our Reign Intituled "An Act to explain and amend an Act made
in the twenty-second year of the Reign of His late Majesty King George
the Second Intituled "An Act for amending explaining and reducing into
one Act of parliament the Laws relating to the Government of His
Majesty's Ships Vessels and Forces by Sea" and to use such proceedings
authorities punishments and executions upon any Offender or Offenders
who shall be mutionous seditious disorderly or any way unruly either at
⁽²⁾Sea or during the time of their abode or residence in any of the ports
Harbours or Bays of Our Said Province as the Case shall be found to
require according to the Martial Law, and the said Directions during the
time of War as aforesaid Provided that nothing herein contained shall be
construed to the enabling you or any by your Authority to hold plea or
have Jurisdiction of any Offence Cause Matter or Thing committed

[p 401]

or done upon the High Sea or within any of the Havens Rivers or Creeks
of our said province under your Government by an Captain Commander
Lieutenant Master Officer Seaman Soldier or person whatsoever who
shall be in Our actual Service and pay in or on board any of Our Ships of
War or other vessels acting by immediate Commission or Warrant from
our Commissioners for executing the office of Our High Admiral or from
our High Admiral of Great Britain for the time being under the Seal of
Our Admiralty but that such Captain Commander Lieutenant Master
Officer Seaman Soldier or other person so offending shall be left to be
proceeded against and tried as their offences shall require either by
Commission under our Great Seal of Great Britain as the Statute of the
twenty eighth year of Henry the Eighth directs or by Commission from
our said Commissioners for executing the office of Our High Admiral or
from our High Admiral of Great Britain for the time being according to
the aforementioned Act intituled "An Act for Amending, Explaining and
reducing into one Act of parliament the Laws relating to the Government
of His Majesty's Ships Vessels and Forces at Sea," as the same is altered
by an Act passed in the nineteenth year of our Reign Intituled "An Act
to explain and amend an Act made in the twenty second year of the
Reign of His late Majesty King George the Second Intituled "An Act
for amending explaining and reducing into one Act of parliament the Laws
relating to the Government of His Majesty's Ships Vessels and Forces by
Sea" provided nevertheless that all Disorders and Misdemeanors committed
on Shore by any Captain Commander Lieutenant Master Officer Seaman
Soldier or other person whatsoever belonging to any of our Ships of War
or other Vessels acting by immediate Commission or Warrant from our
said Commissioners for executing the office of Our High Admiral or from
our High Admiral of Great Britain for the time being under the Seal of
our Admiralty may be tried and punished according to the Laws of the
place where any such Disorders Offences and Misdemeanors shall be
committed on Shore notwithstanding such offender be in our actual
Service and come in our pay on board any such our Ships of War or other
Vessels acting by immediate Commission or Warrant from our said Com-
missioners for executing the office of High Admiral or our High Admiral
of Great Britain for the time being as aforesaid so as he shall not receive
any protection for the avoiding of Justice for such offences committed on
Shore from any pretence of his being employed in our service at sea AND
OUR FURTHER WILL AND PLEASURE IS that all publick Money

[p 402]

raised or which shall be raised by any Act hereafter to be made within our
said province be issued out by Warrant from you by and with the advice
and consent of our said Council and Disposed of by you for the Support
of the Government or for such other purposes as shall be particularly
directed in and by such Act and not otherwise  AND Wee do likewise Give
and Grant unto you full power and authority by and with the advice and
consent of our said Council to settle and agree with the Inhabitants of our
said Province for such Lands Tenements and Hereditaments as now are
or hereafter shall be in Our power to dispose of and them to Grant to any
person or persons upon such Terms and under such Quit Rents Services
and acknowledgements as Wee by Our Instructions given you herewith or
which Wee may hereafter give you shall think fit to appoint order and
direct which said Grants are to pass and be Sealed with our Seal of New
Brunswick and being entered upon Record by such officer or officers as
shall be appointed thereunto shall be good and effectual in Law
against us our Heirs and Successors  AND Wee do hereby give you the
said Thomas Carleton full power to order and appoint Fairs Marts and
Markets as also such and so many ports Harbours Bays Havens and other
places for Convenience and Security of Shipping and for the better
loading and unloading of Goods and Merchandizes as by you with the
advice and Consent of the said Council shall be thought fit and necessary,
AND Wee do hereby require and command all Officers and Ministers
Civil and Military and all other Inhabitants of our said Province to be
obedient aiding and assisting unto you the said Thomas Carleton in the
execution of this Our Commission and of the powers and authorities herein
contained and in case of your Death or absence our of Our said Province
to be obedient aiding and assisting unto such persons as shall be appointed
by us to be Our Lieutenant Governor or Commander in Chief of our said
province  To whom Wee do therefore by these presents Give and Grant all
and singular the powers and authorities herein Granted to be by him
executed and enjoyed during Our pleasure or until our arrival within
our said province AND if upon your Death or Absence out of our
said province there be no person upon the place Commissionated and
appointed by Us to be our Lieutenant Governor or Commander in Chief
of the said Province  OUR WILL AND PLEASURE is that the Eldest
Councillor⁽³⁾ who shall be at the time of your Death or Absence residing

[p 403]

within our said province shall take upon him the Administration of the
Government and execute our said Commission and Instructions and the
several powers and authorities therein contained in the same manner and
to all intents and purposes as other Our Governor or Commander in Chief
should or ought to do in case of your absence until your Return or in all
cases until our further pleasure be known therein AND Wee do hereby
declare ordain and appoint that you the said Thomas Carleton shall and
may hold execute and enjoy the office and place of our Captain General
and Governor in Chief in and over our said Province of New Brunswick
with all its Rights Members and appurtenances whatsoever together with
all and singular the powers and authorities hereby Granted unto you for
and during our Will and pleasure

IN WITNESS Whereof we have Caused these Our Letters to
be made Patent WITNESS ourself at Westminster the
Sixteenth day of August in the Twenty-fourth year of our
Reign.

BY WRIT OF PRIVY SEAL.

YORKE.

2. The third sheet of parchment of the Commission begins here.

3. See footnote to Clause 94 of Governor Carleton's Instructions.