Petition of Noel Briot, 27 August 1853, Northumberland County. Transcription.

Copy sent Mr
Perley Sep 16/53
by order of L^t. Gov^r

We have the Honor to acknowledge the receipt of
your Communication under date the 9 ^th Instant covering
copy of a Petition from Noel Briot on behalf of the Tabisintac
and Burnt Church Indians against the Sale of that part of
the Tabisintac Reserve applied for and advertized for sale.

We should have replied to Your Communication without
loss of time, had it not been that certain paragraphs in the
Petition were of so extraordinary a character, and presented
features so new to us in our duties and observations as
Commissioners, that we determined before writing you on the subject
that M^r Salter should proceed to Burnt Church and Tabisintac
and while there from personal observation and minute enquiry
ascertain the truth or falsity of the Petitions, and we regret to
find that statements altogether without foundation have been
embodied therein calculated to create an improper impression
and to mislead His Excellency the Lieutenant Governor in
his decision on the Subject.

You are no doubt aware that M^r Salter when Sole
Commissioner of Indian Reserves for this County was directed
by Your predecessor in the Crown land Department by authority
dated 30 ^th August 1847 to cause "a Survey to be made of
"3 or 4000 Acres of the Indian Reserve at Tabisintac into lots
"of suitable size for settlement." That M^r Salter agreeably
to his Instructions caused the same to be Surveyed and transmitted
a return thereof to the Crown land department, and thus
placing the land in a State ready for application and Settlement;
and that the land recently advertized and now under Consideration
formed part of the land surveyed by M^r Salter as above stated.

That this Survey was made at considerable expence to the
Government, and is to be regretted at this late hour, so long
after these transactions have had existence, and when the whole
expences have been incurred and when the lands are about to be
improved and actually settled, that the same should be delayed
through the Caprice of the Indians &c

On reference to the plan of such Survey on file in your
Office made by the Honorable James Davidson, you will find the
quantity of Marsh in detailed pieces of Several of the lots along
the margin of the Tabisintac; that since that period, no improvements
whatever have been made thereon, and the Marshes with one Solitary
exception have remained a Common for the Cattle of the Neighbourhood
and that that piece of Marsh has been and is still occupied by a
settler on adjoining lands paying a Small tribute to one of the
Indians to the exclusion of the rest of the Tribe. That the Indians
reside at Burnt Church, [unclear] at Tabisintac, and have made
no Improvements whatever at Tabisintac since the Survey
above alluded to, neither do they carry away any Hay from
thence to Burnt Church as we can ascertain.

That so far from the Indians "possessing twenty-four head of
"Cattle and depending upon the Tabisintac Marshes for Hay to feed
"them"; we have taken great pains to arrive at the truth and
can now State for the information of His Excellency that the whole
Tribe as represented by Noel Briot the petitioner possess two Horses
and three young Steers, and whose support have hitherto been
derived from other sources than the Tabisintac Marshes; and we
are constrained to State, knowing the habits and dispositions
of the Indians for Settlement and Agricultural pursuits, that if
the Marshes are allowed to remain as hitherto, they may present
valuable grazing grounds for the White Inhabitants, but without
any extensive value to the Tribe of Indians.

From our intercourse with the Indians in the Adjustment
of their Affairs, we regret to say that we have found them a very
Capricious race, and have experienced immense trouble and annoyance,
and have had to regret that Individuals not clothed with any authority
by untimely interference have created difficulties and rendered our position more irksome, and in no case has it been more unwisely
exercised than in the Petition before us. In recommending the Sale of the
lands as applied for, we could not shut our eyes to the fact that the lots had
been laid out by the authority of the Government, and as such and the
same being applied for actual settlement, we felt bound to recommend to
His Excellency the propriety of a Sale; and up to this time of receiving your
Communication we were not aware that the Indians were opposed to the
Sale, they never having expressed any dissatisfaction on the Subject to us
and we do regret that the Petition should have been prepared and forwarded
under the Circumstances.

The valuable Reserve at Burnt Church is almost in a wilderness
state after a period of occupation by the Indians beyond our memory,
which shows clearly that the Indians from habits and disposition are
not well adapted to become valuable Settlers and improve the Condition
of the Country, and we trust that Reserve (it being their favourite
resort) with the remainder of the Reserve at Tabisintac unsurveyed will
be deemed ample for all their purposes without locking up the Surveyed
lands at Tabisintac from actual Settlers willing and deserving of purchasing
and improving them.

With these facts before us we cannot see the propriety of
recommending the sales to be delayed, but would respectfully request
that the lands may be again advertized and Sold agreeably to our
former recommendation

I have to state that so far as the survey made by M^r Salter
in 1847 under the Authority of the Government, and alluded in the
foregoing, is concerned; the same was made before I received
my appointment and while M^r Salter was Sole Commissioner as such and having found the lands surveyed preparatory to
Sale and with that ostensible object, I was content to carry
out the Spirit and intention of the Act relating to the Indian
Reserve in conjunction with M^r Salter, and recommended the
lands so Surveyed to be Sold under the said Act without any
knowledge of opposition on the part of the Indians or presuming
any difficulties on the Subject

Indian Commissioners
Miramichi reply to
petition of Noel Briot
regarding the Tabisintac
Reserve.
Aug 31/53

Let this matter be
reported [to] the Surveyor
Genl. when he visits Northumberland
Sy
Sept 9/53 -