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THAT We upon the Faith of your Sacred Majesty's Royal Proclamation bearing Date the Seventh Day of October which was in the Year of Our Lord One thousand seven Hundred and Sixty three Did come and Settle ourselves in the said Province purchasing Houses and Lands and carrying on extensive Trade Commerce and Agriculture whereby the Value of the Land and Wealth of it's Inhabitants are more than doubled during all which Time, We humbly crave leave to say that we have paid a ready and dutiful Obedience to Government and have lived in Peace and Amity with your Majesty's new Subjects. Nevertheless we find and with unutterable Grief presume to say that by a late Act of Parliament intitled "An Act for the making more effectual Provision for the Government of the Province of quebec in North America" We are deprived of the Franchises granted by Your Majesty's Royal Predecessors and by us inherited from our Forefathers That We have lost the Protection of the English Laws so universally admired for their Wisdom and Lenity and which we have ever held in the highest Veneration and in their Stead the Laws of canada are to be introduced to which we are utter Strangers disgraceful to us as Britons and in their Consequences ruinous to our Properties as we thereby lose the invaluable Privilege of trial by juries. THAT in Matters of a Criminal Nature the Habeas Corpus Act is dissolved and we are Subjected to arbitrary Fines and Imprisonment at the Will of the Governor and Council who may at Pleasure render the Certainty of the Criminal Laws of no Effect by the great Power that is granted to them of making Alterations in the same.

WE therefore most humbly implore your Majesty to take our unhappy state into your Royal Consideration and grant us such Relief as your Majesty in your Royal Wisdom shall think meet.

And your Petitioners as in Duty bound

Will ever Pray.^[14]

Quebec 12^th November 1774.

⎧	Zachary Macaulay	Edwd Manwaring	Davd Salesby Franks
⎪	John Aitkin	Michael Flanagan	John Richardson. Junr
⎪	Jno Paterson	J. Melvin	James Leach
Quebec ⎨	Randle Meredith	Geo. Munro	Ezekiel Solomons
Committee⎪	John Lees	Jas Hanna	James Perry
⎪	John Welles	Joseph Torrey	J. Beek
⎩	S. Fargues	Thos Walker, junr	Lawrence Ermatinger
	John McCord	Jas Dyer White	Simon McTavish
	Chas. Grant	Jno Bell	J. Pullman
	Robert Woolsey	Andrew M'Gill	James Frazer
	Nicholas Bayard	Sam: Holmes	G. Young
	John Painter	James Blake	Willm Ashby
	Thomas McCord	James Noel	Gavin Laurie
	Henry Grebassa	Thomas McMurray	Phill. Brickman
	Robt. Willcocks	Allan Paterson	Benj. Holborn
	John Renaud	James Symington	Joseph Borrel
	Christy Cramer	Abram Holmes	John Connolly
	Geo: Gregory	John Neagle	John Durocher
	Lewis Chaperon	Peter Arnoldi	B. Janis
	Frederick Petry	Danl Robertson	J. Joran
	James Cuming	Alexr Milmine	Jacob Maurer
	William Laing	Thos Fraser	Simon Levy
	George Jenkins	A. Porteous	Edward Chinn
	Francis Smith	Joseph Ingo	Richd McNeall
	Alexander Wallace	Adam Scott	Robt. Cruickshanks
		Jas Finlay	John Comfort
⎧	Thomas Walker	Pat McClement	Adam Wentsel
⎪	James Price	Wm Pantree	Allan McFarlain
Montreal ⎨	John Blake	Jacob Bittez	Jacob Vander Heyden
Committee⎪	Isaac Todd	Leach Smith	Hinrick Gonnerman
⎪	Alexr Paterson	John Saul	John Hare, Junr
⎩	Jno Porteous	Francis Anderson	Geo. Wright Knowles
	Rich'd Dobie	Simon Fraser	Benjn Frobisher
	Geo. Measam	John Ross	Wm Murray
	Saml Jacobs	John McCluer	Jas Anderson
	Nicholas Brown	James Woods	John Trotter
	Michl. Morin	John Lees	Christ. Chron
	William Kay	Lemuel Bowles	Willm England
	John Lilly	Thomas Davidson	Meshach Leeng
	John Sunderland	Patrick O'Donell	Thomas Boyd
	J. Grant	Archd Lawford	John Mittleberger
	James Morrison	Simon Fraser Junr	Solomon Mittleberger
	Jas Sinclair	Richd Vincent	Isaac Judah
	John Chisholm	Daniel Cameron	Peter Mcfarlane
	James Jeffry	James Galbraith	Jas May
	Robt. McFie	Roderick McLeod	Jacob Schieffelin
	Francis Atkinson	John White Swift	Benaiah Gibb
	David Shoolbred	John Bondfield	John George Walk
	Jonas Clarke Minot	Will: Callander	Michael Phillips
	Godfrey King	Dad Geddes	C. Dumoulin
	George Davison	Saml Morrison	Francois Dumoulin
	George King	John Thomson	Duncan Cumming
	John Lynd	Alexander Hay	William Haywood
	Caleb Thorne	Jas Doig	Johan Nikal
	John Lees, junr	Joseph Bindon	Sein Mann
	Robt. Jackson	Andrew Hays	Robt. McCay
	Hugh Ritchie	Geo: Singleton	Charles Le Mardert
	Alexander Lawson	Jno Stonhouse	James Robinson
	Charles Dailey	John Kay	Jean Bernard
	Lazarus David	Josiah Bleakley	Alexr Fraser
	D. Bouthillier	Aaron Hart	Malcolm ffraser
	Richd Walker	Levy Solomons	John McCord Junr
			Henry Dunn

(Original)

Rec^d, 22^d January 1775.

[13]

Canadian Archive, Q 11, p. 98. This is also given in Maseres' "An Account of the Proceedings" &c., p. 239. Only the petition to the King is given in the State Papers, but those to the Lords and Commons are also given by Maseres. The British element in the Province, for the most part, on learning the nature of the Quebec Act, which deprived them of the protection of the writ of Habeas Corpus and of trial by jury, under the restored French Law, set about procuring petitions for its repeal or amendment. They formally appointed Maseres as their agent in London, and to him they sent the three petitions to the King, Lords, and Commons. "These petitions were received by Mr. Maseres about the 12th or 13th of last January, 1775; and the first of them, that to the King's majesty, was delivered by him to the Earl of Dartmouth, his majesty's secretary of state for America, on the 18th of the same month; and those to the House of Lords and House of Commons were some time after delivered to the Lord Camden and Sir George Savile, who, approving the contents of them, undertook to present them to their respective houses of parliament." "An Account of the Proceedings," &c., p. 238.

[14]	The spelling of the names has been revised from the lists as given in "An Account of the Proceedings," &c., pp. 241, 248, 258.