Note 37 — Chapter II · CAUSES OF THE AMERICAN WAR OF INDEPENDENCE AND THE QUEBEC ACT

The delay was probably due to the provisions of the fourth clause of the Treaty of Paris, by which eighteen months were to be allowed to the subjects of the French king in Canada, who wished to leave the country, to do so. The treaty was signed on February 10, 1763, and was ratified by England on February 21, 1763; the eighteen months were to run from the date of ratification, but civil government in Canada began on August 10, 1764, i.e. eighteen months from the date of the treaty itself.