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Quebec Aug. y^e 28^th 1775.

My Lord

Since I had the honour of writing to your Lordship soon after my arrival here, by Captn. Brash, The affairs of this Province are so far in a better train as the apprehensions of any decisive invasion from the Garrisons of Crown Point and Ticonderoga seem to be removed by the lateness of the season, and an appearance of less alacrity on their Part for a business of that sort than they shewed a month ago, or when I dispatched my other Letter to your Lordship. Whether this arises from the fears which the Congress may have entertained of opening the wound they have given the Mother Country too wide to admit of being closed by treaty, or from those of Individuals in the danger of the attempt, I am at a loss to determine, & can only say, that, from some cause or other, the Expedition appears to be suspended, if not wholly abandoned, & unless they mean to take advantage of the winter when they may pass the Lake upon snow shoes, I should think the latter the most probable.

I could hardly expect to find credit with your Lordship for what I asserted of the backwardness of the Canadians when the situation of things here, made it necessary for Gen. Carleton to declare Martial Law, and call upon the Militia to turn out in defence of the Province;^[40] unhappily! every day furnishes too many instances of it, and gives me an Idea of the real character of the Canadians very different from what I used to entertain, and constantly represented to your Lordship whenever I had occasion to speak of them. Your Lordship will remember how much has been said by us all of their Loyalty, obedience & Gratitude, of their habitual submission to Government, & their decent civil & respectfull demeanour to those who had the conduct of it, but time and accident have evinced that they were obedient only because they were afraid to be otherwise & with that fear lost (by withdrawing the troops) is gone all the good disposition that we have so often and steadily avowed in their names & promised for them in ages to come. Yet I am sometimes willing to think that fear, joined with extreme ignorance and a credulity hardly to be supposed of a People, have been overmatched by the subtilty & assiduity of some Colony agents who were very busy here last winter, & that they are not at bottom an ungenerous or disobedient People. That temperate management and gentle methods of persuasion and instruction may yet bring them to a sense of their duty & indeed their interest, & when they are made to understand that the true point of fear should be that of sitting still & not putting themselves into a state of defence, they will take arms not only for their present defence, but when supported by a body of the Kings troops be ready for any offensive Service that the times may demand; which in my poor opinion who pretend to nothing less than military knowledge, would strike more terrour into the Colonies than Gen. Gage's army doubled or trebled at Boston, where from the nature of the Ground & a thousand other circumstances there can be little hopes of making any decisive impression. But be that as it may, your Lordship who has indulged me in a freedom of expressing my thoughts with respect to this country upon points of less importance will forgive me upon one which appears to me so essential, tho it should happen to be a little out of my Line & fall more immediately within that of another to whose circumspection however & Judgement I pay the utmost deference, I mean the Governour's.

It appears to me that while England has a firm hold of this Country, which a good Body of troops & nothing else will give her, her cause with the Colonies can never be desperate 'tho' she should not have an inch of ground in her possession in any one of them, from this country they are more accessible, I mean the N. England People, (Paradoxical as it may seem) than even from Boston itself, & I believe it to be as true as any thing can be that has not been reduced to absolute proof that the Colonies without the assistance of England, would have been reduced from North to south by this Province in the last war. They thought so themselves, & the Pains they have taken to keep the Canadians quiet which a good appearance of troops from England would soon remove, convince me that they are in dread of it at this hour, and I do most firmly believe that if the army at Boston was removed here ready to begin its operations from hence in the spring & the fleet continued (if that could be done) to block up their ports & prevent their trade, it would have a better effect & produce terms of accommodation more likely to be received than any other method that could be adopted, except that of pouring in the whole strength of G. Britain by sea & land & carrying destruction & Ruin thro' every accessible part of the Provinces. If this be so & there is any thing like truth in this observation what a melancholy thing it is to reflect in what a precarious situation this province stands by being deprived of the few Regiments we had here before these troubles broke out, so much so that the very preservation of it in the interest of the Crown depends more upon our Enemies than ourselves. we have hardly 500 men at St. Johns the most obvious pass to defend & are obliged to leave many others intirely neglected, & from what we have had occasion to see of the Canadians very little dependance is to be had upon them. They are terrified or corrupted to a degree that your Lordship can have no Idea of, & are impressed with the strangest ideas that ever entered into the minds of men. Sometimes they believe they are to be sent to Boston and nothing can persuade them that a few transports which are waiting for Provisions, are not lying in wait to receive them, at other times they are told that the People of Boston are fighting merely to prevent the return of the stamps, which they seem to think a matter of great Politeness & do not wish to see them disturbed in so good a work. Some amongst them believe they are sold to the Spaniards (whom they abominate) & that Gen. Carleton has got the money in his Pocket, in short such a mixture of ignorance fear credulity perverseness & Prejudice never yet I believe took possession of the human mind or made it more difficult to know what to do with them. in this situation it will readily occur to your Lordship that our only object at present is to keep these Ruffians from invading us in the course of the winter, & wait 'till better & more sober times for the Establishment of the Country under the new Act of Parliament. And yet something of that sort at least in a temporary way must be done and is indeed in agitation at present, in the course of which as far as it has gone it is wonderfull to observe as great an instance of folly & strange infatuation amongst the Canadians as in the article of the Militia. what will be your Lordships astonishment when I tell you that an act passed for the express purpose of gratifying the Canadians & which was supposed to comprehend all that they either wished or wanted is become the first object of their discontent & dislike. English officers to command them in time of war, & English Laws to govern them in time of Peace, is the general wish. the former they know to be impossible (at least at present) & by the latter if I understand them right, they mean no Laws & no Government whatsoever — in the mean time it may be truly said that Gen. Carleton had taken an ill measure of the influence of the seigneurs & Clergy over the lower order of people whose Principle of conduct founded in fear & the sharpness of authority over them now no longer exercised, is unrestrained, & breaks out in every shape of contempt or detestation of those whom they used to behold with terror & who gave them I believe too many occasions to express it. And they on their parts have been and are too much elated with the advantages they supposed they should derive from the restoration of their old Priviledges & customs, & indulged themselves in a way of thinking & talking that gave very just offence, as well to their own People as to the English merchants. The little I have seen of them in Council gives me no Idea of their Abilities or moderation inflexible to any arguments either of expediency or Justice they will admit no alteration in their antient Laws particularly in the article of commerce which I insist upon, & believe shall carry in favour of the English merchants, with whom almost the whole trade of the country lyes, & which without them was & without them will continue except in a very few articles & those to no extent, a country of no trade at all in short & to relieve your Lordship from this unpleasant prospect of things in detail, Let me say in general that this country affords as gloomy an one in point of security & in the ill humours & evil dispositions of its inhabitants, to one as anxious as I hope I am for the prosperity of my own deeply interested in this, as can be imagined. For the share I have been made to take in it, tho' the most distant from my wishes I repent not but on the contrary will much rejoyce if I shall be found to have been an instrument in preventing a still more ruinous state of things, or may be made the means of restoring them to a better. That is at present all my consolation in an office to which I find myself as little equal as I am inclined, & from which I will expect of your Lordships bounty (I had allmost said Justice considering the great weight your Lordships recommendation had in sending me a second time hither) an honourable & decent retreat. in your Lordships own department I neither expect nor desire it, such of the Employments in your Lordships disposal as require legal ability to fill them I am unequal to in every light, & to those that do not, there must be so many that have better Pretensions to your Lordships favour, indeed there can be none that have less, I do not presume to request. I will hope however for your Lordships general Protection & Countenance & will trust that you will concurr with the rest of his Majestys Ministers in thinking that ten years honest, however imperfect, Endeavours to serve the Crown in an unpleasant & something critical situation deserve to be compensated with moderate & reasonable means of Retirement which I should prefer to the first office of distinction or Profit that the Crown has to bestow.

In this hope I take my Leave of your Lordship desiring your Lordship will be so good as present my best respects to Lady Apsley & Miss Bathurst, & believe me with most perfect Esteem & Gratitude

Y^r Lordships most obliged & most

Obed. Hble Sert.

W. HEY.

P. S. It is I hope unnecessary for me to say that I would have executed your Lordships commission with respect to the Nut trees if I could have found an opportunity, but they are not the growth of this Province & your Lordship knows we have no communication with any other. I am told Lord Gage has trees of them of all sorts sent many years ago by his Brother the General from New York.

Sept^r 11^th

I am sorry to be obliged to inform your Lordship that matters are much worse since I began this letter which I have not yet found an opportunity of sending No ship having sailed from hence to England during the Interval.

The Rebels are returned into this Province in great Numbers well provided with every thing & seemingly resolved to make themselves masters of this Province. Hardly a Canadian will take arms to oppose them & I doubt all we have to trust to is about 500 men & 2 small forts at St. Johns. Everything seems to be desperate & I cannot but fear that before this reaches your Lordship Canada will be as fully in the Possession of the Rebels as any other Province upon the Continent, I shall stay 'till every hope is gone which will I fear be but a short time.

Sep^r 17^th. The Rebels have succeeded in making Peace with the Savages who have all left the Camp at St. John's many of the Canadians in that Neighbourhood are in arms against the King's Troops & not one hundred except in the Towns of Montreal & Quebec are with us. St. John's & Montreal must soon fall into their hands — & I doubt Quebec will follow too soon. In this situation I hold myself in readiness to embark for England where I possibly may be of some use your Lordship will I hope agree with me that I can be of none here.

Endorsed: — Original Letter from Mr. Hay chief Justice of Quebec to the Lord Chancellor dated Augt. 20^th Sep^r 11 & 17^th communicated by his Lordship 12^th Novemb^r 1775.

[39]	Canadian Archives, Q 12, p. 203.

[40]	See note 1, p. 666.