1889-90.] FIRST LEGISLATIVE WORK OF UPPER CANADA. 83 



" a testimonial under the hands of the parson and church or town wardens, 

 or of four reputable and substantial householders, setting forth that such 

 person is of good fame, sober life and conversation, and that he has taken 

 the oath of allegiance to our Sovereign Lord the King." 



III. MILITIA AND DEFENCE. 



The Treaty of Paris, 1783, did not immediately reduce to a state of peace 

 the Niagara frontier on either side of the river. Fort Niagara remained, 

 as did also Forts Detroit and Michillimackinac, in the hands of the British 

 for a period of thirteen years. The Indians on both sides of the frontier 

 were in a chronically perturbed condition, and there was constant danger 

 of a serious if not a prolonged border war, with both whites and Indians 

 taking part in it. In this state of affairs Governor Simcoe naturally de- 

 sired that the people of Upper Canada should put themselves in readiness for 

 an organized defence of their territory against invasion, and at his instance 

 one Act was passed in the second, and another in the third session of the 

 first Parliament. How far the measures thus taken might have served the 

 intended purpose had any invasion taken place must be left to conjecture, 

 for all danger of immediate trouble was removed by the Jay Treaty of 1796, 

 which secured the final withdrawal of the British troops from the forts on 

 the United States side. 



IV. STATUS OF SPECIAL CLASSES OF PERSONS. 



In 1790 the British Parliament, actuated, no doubt, by a desire to facili- 

 tate the migration of United Empire Loyalists from the United States to 

 Canada, passed an Act permitting them to bring with them their negro 

 slaves under authority of a license granted for that purpose by the Gover- 

 nors of Provinces. A considerable number of slaves were imported into 

 Canada between 1790 and 1793, but in the latter year a statute was passed 

 by the Legislature of Upper Canada, during its second session, " to prevent 

 the further introduction of slaves and to limit the term of contracts for 

 servitude within the Province." The preamble to this Act recites that " it 

 is unjust that a people who enjoy freedom by law should encourage the in- 

 troduction of slaves," and declares that it is " highly expedient to abolish 

 slavery." The statute itself enacted that no more licenses should be 

 granted for the importation of persons destined to slavery, that all persons 

 previously held in slavery elsewhere should, after the passage of the Act, be 

 free on arrival in Upper Canada, and that no contract for voluntary servi- 

 tude should be made for a longer time than nine years. It further provided 

 that while slaves already in the Province should be left in slavery, every 



