CANADA – GEORGE III

Manuscript declaration headed "The Humble Address of the Lieutenant Governor, Council and House of Assembly of Your Majesty's Province of Nova Scotia" Halifax, congratulating George III on the birth of the heir apparent, 28 April 1763

Footnotes

'AN EVENT SO IMPORTANT AND INTERESTING TO THE LIBERTIES OF MANKIND': Congratulations from the British colony of Nova Scotia on the birth of the future George IV.

Within the space of a few months, George III had not only gained an heir to the throne but had also gained French colonial possessions in North America through the Treaty of Paris of February 1763, which formally ended the conflict between the two countries. Later in the year the Royal Proclamation forbade all settlement westwards, something which would lead to significant disputes between Britain and the colonies and thereby sowing the seeds of the American Revolution. The "Prince Royal" was born on 12 August 1762 so it had taken some time for the news to reach Nova Scotia and for the legislature to issue their congratulations, just four months before the birth of the King's second son, Frederick Duke of York, in August 1763. Nova Scotia retained it's loyalty to the crown throughout the revolution and became a haven for loyalist settlers.

The document is signed from the recently-created capital Halifax by the Lieutenant Governor Jonathan Belcher (1710-1776), son of the eponymous Governor of New Hampshire, Massachusetts and New Jersey. The first formally-trained law officer in Nova Scotia, he established the Supreme Court, promoted an English-style legal system and is credited with having drafted the laws passed by Nova Scotia's first and subsequent legislators. Belcher held the post of Governor from November 1761 until September 1763. 'Modern-day Nova Scotia owes much to this competent, proficient "Chief of the North," the founder of its legal system and father of its tradition of representative government' (belcherfoundation.org).