George the Second, by the Grace of God of Great Britain, France and Ireland, King, Defender of the Faith, &c. To our trusty and well-beloved, the Honorable Edward Cornwallis, Esquire, Greeting…..
…know you that we reposing special trust and confidence in the prudence, courage, and loyalty of you, the said Edward Cornwallis, of our special grace, certain knowledge and meer motion, have thought fit to constitute and appoint you, the said Edward Cornwallis, to be our Captain General, & Governor in Chief in and over our Province of Nova Scotia or Acadie in America, with all the rights, members, and appurtenances whatsoever thereunto belonging, and we do hereby require and command you to do and execute all things in due manner that shall belong unto your said command and the trust we have reposed in you according to the several powers and authorities granted or appointed you by this present Commission and the instructions herewith given you, or by such further powers, instructions and authorities as shall at any time hereafter be granted or appointed you under our signet and sign manuel, or by our order in our privy Council, and according to such reasonable laws and statutes as hereafter shall be made or agreed upon by you with the advice and consent of our Council and the Assembly of our said Province, under your government hereafter to be appointed in such manner and form as is hereafter expressed.
And for the better administration of justice, and the management of the public affairs of our said Province, we hereby give and grant unto you, the said Edward Cornwallis, full power and authority to chuse, nominate, and appoint such fitting and discreet persons as you shall either find there or carry along with you not exceeding the number of Twelve, to be of our Council in our said Province. As also to nominate and appoint by warrant under your band and seal all such other officers and ministers as you shall judge proper and necessary for our service and the good of the people whom we shall settle in our said Province until our further will and pleasure shall be known.
And we do hereby give & grant unto you full power and authority to suspend any of the members of our said Council to be appointed by you as aforesaid from sitting, voting, and assisting therein if you shall find just cause for so doing.
And if it shall at any time happen that by the death, departure out of our said Province, suspension of any of our said Councilors, or otherwise, there shall be a vacancy in our Council (any five whereof we do hereby appoint to be a quorum), our will and pleasure is that you signify the same unto us by the first opportunity that we may under our signet & sign manuel constitute and appoint others in their stead.
But that our affairs at that distance may not suffer for want of a due number of Councilors, if ever it shall happen that there shall be less than nine of them residing in our said Province, we hereby give and grant unto you the said Edward Cornwallis full power and authority to chuse as many persons out of the principal freeholders inhabitants thereof as will make up the full number of our said Council to be nine and no more; which persons so chosen and appointed by you shall be to all intents and purposes Councilors in our said Province until either they shall be corifirmed by us, or that by the nomination of others by us under our sign manuel or signet our said Council shall have nine or more persons in it.
And we do hereby give and grant unto you full power & authority, with the advice and consent of our said Council, from time to time as need shall require, to summon and call General Assemblys of the Freeholders and Planters within your Government according to the usage of the rest of our Colonies & Plantations in America.
And our will and pleasure is that the persons thereupon duly elected by the major part of the Freeholders of the respective counties and places & so returned shall before their sitting take the Oaths mentioned in the Act entitled “An Act for the further security of his Majesty’s Person and Government and the succession of the Crown in the Heirs of the late Princess Sophia being Protestants, and for extinguishing the hopes of the pretended Prince of Wales and his open and secret abettors,” as also make and subscribe the afore-mentioned declaration (which Oaths & Declaration you shall commissionate fit persons under our Seal of Nova Scotia to tender and administer unto them,) and until the same shall be so taken and subscribed no person shall be capable of sitting tho’ elected, and we do hereby declare that the persons so elected and qualified shall be called and deemed the General Assembly of that our Province of Nova Scotia.
And that you the said Edward Cornwallis with the advice and consent of our said Council and Assembly, or the major part of them respectively, shall have full power and authority to make, constitute, and ordain Laws, Statutes, & Ordinances for the Public peace, welfare & good government of our said province and of the people and inhabitants thereof and such others as shall resort thereto, & for the benefit of us, our heirs and successors, which said Laws, Statutes, and Ordinances are not to be repugnant, but as near as may be agreeable, to the Laws and Statutes of this our Kingdom of Great Britain.
Provyded that all such Laws, Statutes & Ordinances, of what nature or duration so ever be within three months or sooner after the inaking thereof transmitted to us under our Seal of Nova Scotia for our approbation or disallowance thereof, as also duplicates by the next conveyance.
And in case any or all of the said Laws, Statutes & Ordinances not before confirmed by us shall at any time be disallowed, and not approved & so signified by us our 1-leirs or Successors under our or their sign manuel & signet, or by order of our or their privy Council unto the said Edward Cornwallis, or to the Commander in Chief of our said Province for the time being, then such and so many of the said Laws, Statutes, and Ordinances as shall be so disallowed & not approved shall thenceforth cease, determine, & become utterly void & of none effect, anything to the contrary thercof notwithstanding.
And to the end that nothing may be passed or done by our said Council or Assembly to the prejudice of us our Heirs & Successors, we will & ordain that you the said Edward Cornwallis shall have and enjoy a negative voice in the makai;g and passing of all Laws, Statutes & Ordinances as aforesaid.
And you shall & may likewise from time to time, as you shall judge it necessary, adjourn, prorogue & dissolve all General Assemblies as aforesaid. And our further will and pleasure is that you shall and may keep & use the Publick Seal of our Province of Nova Scotia for sealing aIl things whatsoever that pass the Great Seal of our said Province under your Government.
And we do further give and grant unto you the said Edward Cornwallis full power and authority fron time to time & at any time hereafter, by yourself or by any other to be authorized by you in that behalf, to administer and give the Oaths mentioned in the aforesaid Act to all and every such person or persons as you shall think fit, who shall at any time or times pass into our said Province or shall be residing or abiding there.
And we do by these presents give and grant unto you the said Edward Cornwallis full power and authority, with advice and consent of our said Council, to erect, constitute, and establishi such and so many Courts of Judicature & Publick Justice witlhin our said Province and Dominion as you and they shall think fit and necessary for the hearing & determining all causes as well Criminal as Civil according to Law and Equity, and for awarding of Execution thereupon with all reasonable and necessary powers, authorities, fees & privileges belonging thereunto, as also to appoint & commissionate fit persons in the several parts of your Government to administer the oaths mentioned in the aforesaid Act, entitled “An Act for the further security of His Majesty’s Person & Government & the Succession of the Crown in the Heirs of the late Princess Sophia being Protestants, and for extinguishing the hopes of the pretended Prince of Wales and his open and secret abettors:” as also to administer the aforesaid declaration unto such persons belonging to the said Courts as shall be obliged to take the same.
And we do hereby authorise and impower you to constitute and appoint Judges, & in cases requisite Commissioners of Oyer & Terminer, Justices of the Peace, and other necessary officers & ministers in our said Province for the better administration of Justice and putting the Laws in execution, and to administer or cause to be administered unto them such oa th or oaths as are usually given for the due execution and performance of offices and places and for the clearing of truth in Judicial Causes.
And we do hereby give and grant unto you full power & authority, where you shall sec cause, or shall judge any offender or offenders in criminal matters or for any fines or forfeitures due unto us fit objects of our mercy, to pardon all such offenders and to remit all such offences, fines and forfeitures, treason & willfull murder only excepted; in which cases you shall likewise have power upon extra-ordinary occasions to grant reprieves to the offenders untill & to the intent our Royal pleasure miy be known therein.
We do by these presents authorise and empower you to collate any person or persons to any churches, chapels, or other eccleciastical benefices within our said Province as often as any of them shall happen to be void.
In witness whereof we have caused these our letters to be made patent. Witness ourself at Westminster the sixth day of May in the twenty-second year of our reign.
By writ of Privy Seal.
(Signed) YORKE & YORKE.
Kennedy, William P. Statutes, Treaties and Documents of the Canadian Constitution: 1713-1929. Oxford Univ. Pr., 1930. https://www.canadiana.ca/view/oocihm.9_03428