It was due to Carleton that the Ordinance of 1770, to which reference has already been made,[67] was passed, taking away from the justices of the peace jurisdiction in matters of private property which had been exercised to the detriment of the French Canadians. It was due to him that in 1771 a new Royal Instruction was issued, authorizing the governor to revert to the old French system of grants of Crown lands ‘in Fief or Seigneurie’;[68] and his influence was all in favour of the clauses in the Quebec Act which were favourable to the ‘new subjects’, the French Canadians, who, at the time when the War of American Independence began, seem to have numbered under 100,000.[69] [Sidenote: Carleton returns from England in September, 1774, and sends two regiments to Boston.] As has been told, Carleton came back from England to Quebec in the middle of September, 1774, finding the French Canadians in great good humour at the passing of the Quebec Act. Twenty hours after his arrival an express letter reached him from General Gage, still Commander-in-Chief in North America, who was then at Boston.[70] In it Gage asked his colleague to send at once to Boston, if they could be spared, the 10th and 52nd Regiments, which formed a large part of the scanty garrison of Canada. The transports which brought the letter were to take back the troops. September, 1774, was a critical month in the North American provinces. The first continental Congress met at Philadelphia; and at Suffolk, near Boston, on the 9th September, a public meeting passed resolutions,[71] boldly advocating resistance to the recent Acts of Parliament. [Sidenote: Proposals to raise Canadian and Indian forces.] [Sidenote: Carleton strongly favours raising a Canadian regiment.]