thereto and that the Secretary of the Province shall be instructed not to deliver the said Deeds to any of the Parties to whom the said Lands are thereby conveyed, unless they shall produce and leave with him a Certificate under the hands and Seal, of the Honble. D. W. Smith, Wm. Claus Esqr. & Alexr. Stewart Esqr. Trustees authorized by the five Nations to receive Mortgages of the said Lands, Certifying that the said Parties have done everything required of them, and necessary to secure to the five Nations, and their Posterity the Stipulated Annuities & Considerations which they agreed to give for the same. An Extract from the Minutes-A true copy.

JOHN SMALL

C. C.

Endorsed:-A. 1. In Mr. Prest. Russells of 20th Feby. 1798. No. 26.

[Document annexed.]

UPFER CANADA.

George the third by the grace of God of Great Britain France and Ireland King; Defender of the faith and so forth: To all to whom these presents may come Greeting: Know Ye that in consideration of the early attachment to Our cause manifested by the Mohawk Indians and of the loss of their Settlement which they thereby sustained We were pleased to direct that a convenient tract of Land under Our Protection should be chosen as a safe and comfortable retreat for them and others of the Six Nations who had either lost their Settlements within the territory of the American States or might wish to retire from them to the British: And that in pursuance of Our Royal pleasure Our trusty and well beloved Sir Frederick Haldimand sometime Our Captain General and Governor in Chief of Our Province and territories depending thereon and General and Commander in Chief of Our forces in the said Province, and territories thereof did at the desire of many of Our faithful Allies purchase a tract of Land from the Indians situated between the Lakes Ontario Huron and Erie: And did in our name authorize and permit the said Mohawk Nation and such others of the Six Nations, Indians, as might wish to settle in that quarter to take possession of and Settle on the Banks of the River commonly called Ouse or Grand

River running into Lake Erie allotting to them for that purpose six miles deep from each side of the said River, beginning at Lake Erie and extending in that proportion to the head of the said River which they and their Posterity were to enjoy for ever: Which Authority and permission was given under the hand and Seal of the said Sir Frederick Haldimand and dated at Our Castle of Saint Lewis the 25th day of October 1784, and in the 25th year of Our Reign; but because as it is said of the settling of the lands near to and round about the said River by Our Subjects, the Hunting grounds of the Indians there settled scarcely afford the means of support and are likely to be more and more contracted by an Increase of Our people And because the Chiefs Warriors and people of the five Nations being well assured of Our benevolent intentions to them and their posterity having now an opportunity of obtaining by way of Annuity a more certain and permanent means of support by a sale of such parts of the said lands as are now as hunting grounds intirely useless have therefore humbly besought Us to dispose of the same: And for that purpose the said Chiefs Warriors and People of the Mohawk or five Nations have by their Brother Captain Joseph Brant their Attorney duly constituted and appointed in and by virtue of a Power of Attorney by them for that special purpose made by an Instrument signed and sealed by him for himself and them as their Attorney and as binding their posterity surrendered relinquished and quitted claim to their possession of such parts of the said lands as are mentioned in a certain Schedule to the said Instrument of Surrender and relinquishment annexed which they held of Us by the Authority aforesaid, and have further besought Us to grant the same in ffee to the persons in the said Schedule mentioned for the several and respective considerations to the said Lands annexed, (in the said Schedule) which they are to receive from the said persons as an equivalent for the same: As will more full appear in and by the said Instrument signed and sealed in virtue of the power aforesaid by the said Captain Joseph Brant as well for himself as for the said Chiefs Warriors and people of the Mohawk or five Nations in the presence of Our Executive Council dated at York in Our Province of Upper Canada the fifth day of February in the Thirty Eighth year of Our reign; and presented to our trusty and well beloved Peter Russell President of and Administering Our Government in the

name of the Chiefs Warriors and people of the Mohawk Nation and enregistered in the Registry of our said Province-And Whereas William Jarvis Esqr. is named in the said Schedule as a person recommended to Us for a Grant of Land not exceeding Thirty Thousand Eight Hundred Acres he having secured or given security for the payment of Five Thousand Seven Hundred and Seventy Five pounds provincial Currency to the Honble. David W. Smith Captn. William Claus and Alexander Stewart Esqr. in trust for the Chiefs Warriors and people of the Mohawk or five Nations for so much of the said Land surrendered and relinquished by them:

Therefore further know ye that We of Our Special grace certain Knowledge and mere motion have given and granted and by these presents Do give and grant unto William Jarvis Esqr. and his heirs and assigns forever a certain parcel or tract of Land situate on the Grand River towards its mouth on Lake Erie containing by admeasurement Thirty Thousand Eight Hundred Acres together with all the woods and waters thereon lying and being under the reservations limitations and conditions hereinafter expressed: Which said Thirty thousand Eight Hundred Acres of Land are butted and bounded or may be otherwise known as follows (that is to say) Commencing at a White Oak tree marked and standing at the South West Angle of the reserve made by the Indians on the East side of the Grand River below 'Dick and Dow' Creek, then along the Southern boundary of the said Reserve North 30° East Eighty Chains to the Southeastermost Angle of the said Reserve then North 62° 30" West along the Easternmost boundary of the said Reserve Sixty Seven Chains: then North 30° East to the Easternmost boundary of the Indian Lands Four Hundred and four Chains, then along the said Boundary South 62° 30' East Three Hundred and Sixty Chains then South 30" minutes East to a Basswood Tree upon the Shore of Lake Erie near to the Mouth of a small Creek Five Hundred and fourteen Chains: then along the Shore of Lake Erie towards the Mouth of the Grand River to a certain Post or Picket one Hundred and Seventy two Chains more or less, then North 54° have Claims by abandoning the U. S. and settling within the British lines: to dispose of the whole by individual Grants, governed as to Quantum by certain rules; the leading Chiefs to be considered as Captains and to be Compensated with three thou

sand Acres; Brant as a Colonel with five thousand, each Head of a family in Addition to his personal Claim, the Proportion to Loyalists of the same description for their families, the gratuitous Gift of 1200 Acres to be superadded, if necessary; and if that will not on the above Scale cover the whole Tract, let a further Individual Grant to the principal Chiefs be made by special Mandamus on the Governors representation to His Majesty by advice of Council on a due appreciation of Merit in the respective Candidates.

The Effect of such a measure would be to open the Tract of Country instantaneously to setlers, and utterly to extinguish the Indian pretensions in a few years, but would leave the succeeding Generations unprovided for, Whereas if the whole Tract could be vested by the Crown in Trust for the use of the Six Nations for ever, with large Powers to Sell or lease and invest the proceeds to form a future productive fund, the real good of the Indians would be best secured, and as the Interest of what a small portion of the Tract would now sell for, would supply their real necessities, Government might be exonerated from the Annual charge for Presents, said to be very considerable, exclusive of the provisions occasionally issued to them.

Endorsed: No. 2. Copy of a Narrative or Memoir of the Claim of the Six Nation Indians, without date sent by Mr. Justice Powell to the Administrator 4th Jany. 1797.

In Mr. Prest. Russell's No. 7. of the 28 Jany., 1797.

No. 26.

EXHIBIT 350.

Peter Russell to the Duke of Portland.1

UPPER CANADA, YORK 20th Febry, 1798.

MY LORD DUKE: My Dispatch No. 15, will have informed your Grace that I had promised to the five Nations to issue Patents under the Great Seal of this Province to such Persons, being Subjects of the King, as they should name to me, conveying to them

1Canadian Archives, Q. 284, p. 78.

in ffee that portion of their Land on the Grand River which they had prayed leave to dispose of—I have now the Honor of reporting to your Grace that Captain Joseph Brant, the Attorney of the five Nations, having in their name presented to me in Council on the 5th instant, in presence of the King's Attorney General, a Deed of Surrender for themselves & their Posterity of a certain Part of that Land amounting to 352,707 Acres, I accepted the same for His Majesty by the advice & Consent of the Executive Council; and, agreeable to the Promise I had made to the five Nations in July last, I signed at the Council Board five Deeds conveying 324, 195 Acres of that Portion to the Persons named in a Schedule annexed to the Instrument of Surrender, those Persons being all Subjects of the King residing within this Province. The five Nations having appointed the Acting Surveyor General, the Superintendent of Indian Affairs in this District, and Alexander Stewart Esqr. Barrister at Law, their Trustees to receive for their use Mortgages & other Securities for the Payment to them of the several & respective Considerations Stipulated; I have directed the Secretary of the Province not to issue to the Parties any of these Deeds, before they have delivered to him an order for so doing signed by each of the three Trustees.

I have the Honor to transmit herewith for your Grace's Information, (A) copies of the Instrument of Surrender to His Majesty, the (B) Deed to be issued to a Nominee of the five Nations, and of my (C) Letter to the Secretary respecting the Cautions he is to observe in issuing those Deeds from his Office. And tho' I may thro necessity have deviated in some degree from the strict Letter of your Grace's Instructions, I humbly presume to hope that the Mode which I have adopted will not meet your Grace's Displeasure; since I trust it may be found to lead equally to promote the Common Interest of His Majesty, and those of the five Nations. I have the Honor to be with the Greatest Respect,

My Lord Duke, Your Grace's Most Obedient & Most Humble Servant

His Grace the Duke of Portland.

PETER RUSSELL.

Endorsed: Upper Canada, 20th Febry. 1798.

Mr. President Russell R 7th June.

No. 26. Ansd. 28th July (three inclosures two voluminous)