Nearly all those parts of Canada which were inhabited when the country was under French government, as well as the unoccupied lands granted to individuals during the same period, are comprized under different seigniories, and these, with all the usages and customs thereto formerly pertaining, were confirmed to the proprietaries by the Quebec bill, which began to be in force in May 1775; these lands, therefore, are held by unquestionable titles. All the waste lands, however, of the crown, that have been allotted since the conquest, have been granted simply by certificates of occupation, or licences, from the governor, giving permission to persons who applied for these lands to settle upon them, no patents, conveying a clear possession of them, have ever been made out; it is merely by courtesy that they are held; and if a governor thought proper to reclaim them on the part of the crown, he has only to say the word, and the titles of the occupiers sink into air. Thus it is, that although several persons have expended large sums of money in procuring, and afterwards improving townships[34], none of them are yet enabled to sell a single acre as an indemnification for these expences; at least no title can be given with what is offered for sale, and it is not therefore to be supposed, that purchasers of such property will easily be found. It is true, indeed, that the different proprietaries of these townships have been assured, on the part of government, that patents shall be granted to every one of them, and they are fully persuaded that these will be made out some time or other; but they have in vain waited for them for three years, and they are anxiously waiting for them still[35]. Footnote 34: Tracts of waste land, usually ten miles square. Footnote 35: I received a letter, dated early in the year 1796, from a gentleman in Canada, who has taken up one of these townships, which contains the following paragraph: “At present the matter remains in an unsettled state, although every step has been taken on my part to accelerate the completion of the business. Mr. D——’s patent, which was sent home as a model, is not yet returned. I received a letter lately from Mr. Secretary R——, in which he informs me, that Mr. G—— is again returned to the surveyor’s office, and he assures me, that in conjunction with him, he will do every thing in his power to expedite my obtaining a patent. The governor, he says, means that the land business should go forward.” [Sidenote: SPECULATIONS.] Different motives have been assigned for this conduct on the part of the British government. In the first place it has been alledged, that the titles are withheld, in order to prevent speculation and land-jobbing from rising to the same height in Canada as they have done in the United States.