| Be it enacted by the Senate and House of
Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
That the President of the United States is hereby authorized and
directed, whenever notice shall be deposited in the Department of State
that the governments of Great Britain and the provinces of New
Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, Newfoundland, Canada,
British Columbia, and Vancouver's Island have accepted the proposition
hereinafter made by the United States, to publish by proclamation that,
from the date thereof, the States of Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Canada
East, and Canada West, and the Territories of Selkirk, Saskatchewan, and
Columbia, with limits and rights as by the act defined, are constituted
and admitted as States and Territories of the United States of America.
SEC. 2 And be it further enacted, That the following articles
are hereby proposed, and from the date of the proclamation of the
President of the United States shall take effect, as irrevocable
conditions of the admission of the States of Nova Scotia, New Brunswick,
Canada East, and Canada West, and the future States of Selkirk,
Saskatchewan, and Columbia, to wit:
ARTICLE I.
All public lands not sold or granted; canals, public harbors,
light-houses, and piers; river and lake improvements; railway stocks,
mortgages, and other debts due by railway companies to the provinces;
custom-houses and post offices, shall vest in the United States; but all
other public works and property shall belong to the State governments
respectively, hereby constituted, together with all sums due from
purchasers or lessees of lands, mines, or minerals at the time of the
union.
ARTICLE II.
In consideration of the public lands, works, and property vested as
aforesaid in the United States, the United States will assume and
discharge the funded debt and contingent liabilities of the late
provinces, at rates of interest not exceeding five per centum, to the
amount of eighty-five million seven hundred thousand dollars,
apportioned as follows: To Canada West, thirty-six million five hundred
thousand dollars; to Canada East, twenty-nine million dollars; to Nova
Scotia, eight million dollars; to New Brunswick, seven million dollars;
to Newfoundland, three million two hundred thousand dollars; and to
Prince Edward Island, two million dollars; and in further consideration
of the transfer by said provinces to the United States of the power to
levy import and export duties, the United States will make an annual
grant of one million six hundred and forty-six thousand dollars in aid
of local expenditures, to be apportioned as follows: To Canada West,
seven hundred thousand dollars; to Canada East, five hundred and fifty
thousand dollars; to Nova Scotia, one hundred and sixty-five thousand
dollars; to New Brunswick, one hundred and twenty-six thousand dollars;
to Newfoundland, sixty-five thousand dollars; to Prince Edward Island,
forty thousand dollars.
ARTICLE III.
For all purposes of State organization and representation in the
Congress of the United States, Newfoundland shall be part of Canada
East, and Prince Edward Island shall be part of Nova Scotia, except that
each shall always be a separate representative district, and entitled to
elect at least one member of the House of Representatives, and except,
also, that the municipal authorities of Newfoundland and Prince Edward
Island shall receive the indemnities agreed to be paid by the United
States in Article II.
ARTICLE IV.
Territorial divisions are established as follows: (1) New Brunswick,
with its present limits; (2) Nova Scotia, with the addition of Prince
Edward Island; (3) Canada East, with the addition of Newfoundland and
all territory east of longitude eighty degrees and south of Hudson's
strait; (4) Canada West, with the addition of territory south of
Hudson's bay and between longitude eighty degrees longitude ninety
degrees; (5) Selkirk Territory, bounded east by longitude ninety
degrees, south by the late boundary of the United States, west by
longitude one hundred and five degrees, and north by the Arctic circle;
(6) Saskatchewan Territory, bounded east by longitude one hundred and
five degrees, south by latitude forty-nine degrees, west by the Rocky
mountains, and north by latitude seventy degrees; (7) Columbia
Territory, including Vancouver's Island, and Queen Charlotte's island,
and bounded east and north by the Rocky mountains, south by latitude
forty-nine degrees, and west by the Pacific ocean and Russian America.
But Congress reserves the right of changing the limits and subdividing
the areas of the western territories at discretion.
ARTICLE V.
Until the next decennial revision, representation in the House of
Representatives shall be as follows: Canada West, twelve members; Canada
East, including Newfoundland, eleven members; New Brunswick, two
members; Nova Scotia, including Prince Edward Island, four members.
ARTICLE VI.
The Congress of the United States shall enact, in favor of the
proposed Territories of Selkirk, Saskatchewan, and Columbia, all the
provisions of the act organizing the Territory of Montana, so far as
they can be made applicable.
ARTICLE VII.
The United States, by the construction of new canals, or the
enlargement of existing canals, and by the improvement of shoals, will
so aid the navigation of the Saint Lawrence river and the great lakes
that vessels of fifteen hundred tons burden shall pass from the Gulf of
Saint Lawrence to Lakes Superior and Michigan: Provided, That the
expenditure under this article shall not exceed fifty millions of
dollars.
ARTICLE VIII.
The United States will appropriate and pay to "The European and
North American Railway Company of Maine" the sum of two millions of
dollars upon the construction of a continuous line of railroad from
Bangor, in Maine, to Saint John's, in New Brunswick: Provided, That said
"The European and North American Railway Company of Maine"
shall release the government of the United States from all claims held
by it as assignee of the States of Maine and Massachusetts.
ARTICLE IX.
To aid the construction of a railway from Truro, in Nova Scotia, to
Riviere du Loup, in Canada East, and a railway from the city of Ottawa,
by way of Sault Ste. Marie, Bayfield, and Superior, in Wisconsin,
Pembina, and Fort Garry, on the Red River of the North, and the valley
of the North Saskatchewan river to some point on the Pacific ocean north
of latitude forty-nine degrees, the United States will grant lands along
the lines of said roads to the amount of twenty sections, or twelve
thousand eight hundred acres, per mile, to be selected and sold in the
manner prescribed in the act to aid the construction of the Northern
Pacific railroad, approved July two, eighteen hundred and sixty-two, and
acts amendatory thereof; and in addition to said grants of lands, the
United States will further guarantee dividends of five per centum upon
the stock of the company or companies which may be authorized by
Congress to undertake the construction of said railways: Provided, That
such guarantee of stock shall not exceed the sum of thirty thousand
dollars per mile, and Congress shall regulate the securities for
advances on account thereof.
ARTICLE X.
The public lands in the late provinces, as far as practicable, shall
be surveyed according to the rectangular system of the General Land
office of the United States; and in the Territories west of longitude
ninety degrees, or the western boundary of Canada West, sections sixteen
and thirty-six shall be granted for the encouragement of schools, and
after the organization of the Territories into States, five per centum
of the net proceeds of sales of public lands shall be paid into their
treasuries as a fund for the improvement of roads and rivers.
ARTICLE XI.
The United States will pay ten millions of dollars to the Hudson Bay
Company in full discharge of all claims to territory or jurisdiction in
North America, whether founded on the charter of the company or any
treaty, law, or usage.
ARTICLE XII.
It shall be devolved upon the legislatures of New Brunswick, Nova
Scotia, Canada East, and Canada West, to conform the tenure of office
and the local institutions of said States to the Constitution and laws
of the United States, subject to revision by Congress.
SEC 3. And be it further enacted, That if Prince Edward Island
and Newfoundland, or either of those provinces, shall decline union with
the United States, and the remaining provinces, with the consent of
Great Britain, shall accept the proposition of the United States, the
foregoing stipulations in favor of Prince Edward Island and
Newfoundland, or either of them, will be omitted; but in all other
respects the United States will give full effect to the plan of union.
If Prince Edward Island, Newfoundland, Nova Scotia, and New Brunswick
shall decline the proposition, but Canada, British Columbia, and
Vancouver island shall, with the consent of Great Britain, accept the
same, the construction of a railway from Truro to Riviere du Loup, with
all stipulations relating to the maritime provinces, will form no part
of the proposed plan of union, but the same will be consummated in all
other respects. If Canada shall decline the proposition, then the
stipulations in regard to the Saint Lawrence canals and a railway from
Ottawa to Sault Ste. Marie, with the Canadian clause of debt and revenue
indemnity, will be relinquished. If the plan of union shall only be
accepted in regard to the northwestern territory and the Pacific
provinces, the United States will aid the construction, on the terms
named, of a railway from the western extremity of Lake Superior, in the
State of Minnesota, by way of Pembina, Fort Garry, and the valley of the
Saskatchewan, to the Pacific coast, north of latitude forty-nine
degrees, besides securing all the rights and privileges of an American
territory to the proposed Territories of Selkirk, Saskatchewan, and
Columbia.
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