Report by the Governor on a Visit to the Micmac Indians at Bay dEspoir | Page 5

Administrators and
Assigns, for the term of Five Years from the date of these Presents:
Provided always that if the said ___________________ shall have
settled on and occupied the said Land for the said term of Five Years,
and have cultivated ___ acres thereof, within the said term, and have
conformed to the provisions of said Act, ___ shall be entitled to a Grant
in fee, under the Great Seal, for the said Land: but should he fail to
comply with the conditions of this License and conform to the said Act,
he shall forfeit all claim to the said Land and Grant aforesaid.
Given under my Hand and Seal at St. John's in Our Island of
Newfoundland, this _________ day of ____________ Anno Domini
One Thousand Eight Hundred and _______________ By His
Excellency's Command, Colonial Secretary.

APPENDIX III.
"Antelope" at Spithead. 25th November, 1809.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
I am sorry to inform Your Lordship that I am again disappointed in my
hopes of coming at the Native Indians (Beothuks); they still keep in the
interior of the Island (it is reported) from a dread of the Micmacs, who

come over from Cape Breton. The articles that were purchased for
them are deposited in the Naval Store House at St. John's, where I have
directed them to be kept for some future trial of meeting with them.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
* * * * *
THE GOVERNOR'S ADDRESS TO THE MICMACS, &C.
His Excellency, Sir John Thomas Duckworth, K.B., Vice-Admiral of the
Red, Governor and Commander-in-Chief in and over the Island of
Newfoundland, &c.
To the Micmacs, the Esquimaux, and other American Indians
frequenting the said Island, Greeting:
WHEREAS it is the gracious pleasure of His Majesty the King, my
master, that all kindness should be shewn to you in his Island of
Newfoundland, and that all persons of all nations at friendship with
him should be considered in this respect as his own subjects, and
equally claiming his protection while they are within his Dominions:
This is to greet you in His Majesty's name and to entreat you to live in
harmony with each other, and to consider all his subjects and all
persons inhabiting in his Dominions as your brothers, always ready to
do you service, to redress your grievances, and to relieve you in your
distress. In the same light also are you to consider the native Indians of
this Island; they too are, equally with ourselves, under the protection of
our King, and therefore equally entitled to your friendship. You are
entreated to behave to them on all occasions as you would do to
ourselves. You know that we are your friends, and as they too are our
friends, we beg you to be at peace with each other. And withal, you are
hereby warned that the safety of these Indians is so precious to His
Majesty, who is always the support of the feeble, that if one of
ourselves were to do them wrong he would be punished as certainly
and as severely as if the injury had been done to the greatest among his
own people, and he who dared to murder any one of them would be
severely punished with death; your own safety is in the same manner

provided for; see therefore that you do no injury to them. If an
Englishman were known to murder the poorest and the meanest of your
Indians, his death would be the punishment of his crime. Do you not
therefore deprive any one of our friends, the native Indians, of his life,
or it will be answered with the life of him who has been guilty of
murder.
Fort Townshend, St. John's, Newfoundland, 1st August, 1810.
J.T. DUCKWORTH.
* * * * *
Extract from Despatch from Governor Sir R.G. Keats to the Secretary
of State, 10th November, 1815._
Some years ago the Micmac Indians formed a settlement in St.
George's Bay on the West Coast of Newfoundland, which is thriving
and industrious. The success of this settlement has probably induced
others to follow them, and latterly they have come over in more
considerable numbers, penetrated into the country and shewn
themselves the present season on the eastern coast of Newfoundland. It
is to be feared the arrival of these new comers will prove fatal to the
native Indians of the Island, whose arms are the bow, with whom their
tribe as well as the Esquimaux are at war, and whose number it is
believed has for some years past not exceeded a few hundred.
10th November, 1815.
* * * * *

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