ACTE DE VENTE DU PALAIS ÉPISCOPAL — 1er AOUT

On the first day of August in the year of Our Lord one thousand eight hundred and thirty-one. Before the undersigned Public notariés duly commissioned and sworn in and for the Province of Lower Canada, résident in the city of Québec, in the said Province, personally corne, appeared and were présent the Very Révérend Bernard Claude Panet, Catholic Bishop of the Diocèse of Québec, of the one part; and WiUiam Burns Lindsay, Jacques Leblond, the elder, and Gustavus William Wickstead, ail of the city of Québec aforesaid, Esquires, Coinmissioners named and appointed under and by virtue of and in pursuance of the sixteenth chapter of the Statutes of the Parliament of the said Provinced passed in the first year of His Majesty's reign acting in the name and on behalf of His Majesty, His Heirs and successors, of the other part ; which said parties did déclare, covenant, promise and agrée to and with each other in manner follovving, that is to say : Whereas the said Very Révérend Bernard Claude Panet continues wiUing to cède to the said Province the property of the Episcopal Palace and of the ground thereunto belonging, situated in the city of Québec aforesaid, upon the terms and conditions in the said

act of the Provincial Paiiiament mentioned. And whereas the said William Burns Lindsay, Jacques Leblond, the elder, and Gustavus William Wickstead, as sucli commissioners as aforesaid hâve caused a correct plan to be made of the ground whereon the said building is erected and of the whole ground thereunto attached according to the several plans and title deeds relating to the same, and most especially, according to the plan and procès-verbal made and drawn by Lemaître-Lamorille, Surveyor, recognized by a judgment rendered by Mr. Bigot, the Intendant of the Province, bearing date the twenty-third day of January, one thousand seven hundred and fifty-nine. Now thèse présents witness that the said Very Révérend Bernard Claude Panet, Catholic Bishop of the diocèse of Québec for himself and for his successors Catholic Bishops of the said diocèse of Québec or other persons having the administration of the said diocèse of Québec, hath surrendered, transferred and made over unto HisMajesty, His Heirs ' and successors the said episcopal palace and ground thereunto belonging or attached, situated in the city of Québec aforesaid, particularly described in a plan thereof made as aforesaid, hereto annexed and signed by the said parties and by us the said notariés for the letter identification thereof, and whicli said lot of ground is of an irregular polygond form, containing seventy-six thousand nine hundred and ninety-three feet, french measure, equal to two hundred and thirty-seven perches, and two hundred and five feet in superficies ; bounded as follows, that is to say : on the north west by the censive ofthe seminary of Québec, denoted on the plan by the Une AB,and by the property ofthe vvidow and heirs of the late Morin, described in the plan by the letters A, P, 0 ; on the north west and south sides by Mountain street, and on the east partly by the walls of the fortifications, and partly by a lane adjoining the proi)erties of

Amiot, Laurent and Trudel, as the same are described in the aforesaid plan of the same annexed to thèse présents. To hâve and to hold the said episcopal palace and ground hereby surrendered and transferred unto His Majesty, his heirs and successors for the public uses of the civil government of the said province for ever. And thèse présents further witness that the said parties hâve covenantedand agreed to and with each other that the said surrender and transfer is made, and that the same and the said episcopal Palace and ground hereby surrendered and transferred shall at ail times hereafter be held subject to the following conditions. First, that there shall be paid to the Catholic Bishop of Québec and his successors as such, or to the person having the administration of the said Diocèse of Québec for the time being and of the pubUc moneys of the Province, a perpétuai and annual ground rent not subject to rédemption (une rente foncière annuelle, perpétuelle et non rachetable) of one thousand pounds sterling per annum. Secondly, that the said rent shall be paid by wari'ant under the hand of the Governor, Lieutenant Governor or person administering the Government by half yearly payments. Thirdly, that the said rent shall be episcopal property and shall represent the said ground and building, and shall as such hâve to ail intents and purposes, the same destination as the said ground and building would hâve had if the surrender and transfer thereof by thèse présents had never been made. For the due exécution of thèse présents, the same parties make élection of domicile irrévocable at the office of Archibald Campbell, His Maje«ty's Notary, and one of the undersigned hère. Thus done and passed at Québec, in the office of the said Archibald Campbell, the date first above written.

In witness whereof the said parties hâve hereunto set and

suscribed their naines and signatures in the présence of us the said notariés, also hereto suscribing. In faith and testimony of the pi'emises, thèse présents being first duly read. Signed on the original.

t Been. Cl'' , Cath. Bishop of Québec, Wm. B. Lindsay, Commissioner, Jacques Leblond, Commissioner, G. W. WiCKSTEADj Commissionei', Ed. Glackmetee, N. P., Arch. Campbell, His Majesty's Notary and Notary Public.

Le 5 décembre 1850, Le Journal de Québec publie ce qui suit : " On travaille maintenant au déblai de l'emplacement de l'aile gauche de la maison du parlement, afin d'en creuser les fondations toutes prêtes pour le printemps iDrochain de bonne heure.

" Dans l'angle de la vieille aile de l'ancien palais épiscopal que l'on vient de démolir, on a trouvé une masse de terre s'élevant jusqu'au plancher de bas du premier étage, encaissée entre quatre murailles et recouverte d'une maçonnerie.

On a conclu tout naturellement que c'était un cimetière

en examinant l'une des parois découvertes par le démolissement des murailles qui l'entourent, nous y avons trouvé plusieurs ossements humains, entre autres une portion de l'épine dorsale "

Nous omettons le reste de l'article qui fourmille d'erreurs. L'auteur a la complaisance de dire que les corps que Ton pourrait trouver dans ce cimetière " ne sont pas des corps d'évêques, mais pourraient bien être les corps des membres de l'ancien chapitre " !

Le 14 décembre suivant, on lit dans le même journal : "Les ouvriers occupés à creuser les fondations sur lesquelles doit s'élever l'aile qui complétera l'édifice du Parlement, ont découvert ce matin une nouvelle tombe, à environ dix pieds au-

dessous de la surface du sol, en dehors des fondations de l'ancien évêché, mais contigue à la muraille, à l'angle où se trouvait la porte d'entrée au Conseil législatif. La maçonnerie est bien conservée, mais il ne reste que des ossements plus ou moins entiers, quelques-uns restant en poudre dans la main qui veut les recueillir."

Enfin en octobre 1870, on lit encore : " Les excavations qui ont été faites dans le cours de la semaine dernière, près des édifices du Parlement, ont mis à découvert un bon nombre d'ossements humains, un squelette entier et un pan de mur dans lequel se trouve une porte cintrée Comme ce cimetière n'a jamais été relevé, il n'est pas surprenant qu'on y trouve beaucoup d'ossements. Quant au reste des murailles enfouies sous le sol, ce sont, paraît-il, les fondations d'un pavillon de l'ancien évêché. La porte cintrée était, selon toute probabilité, une porte de cave qui s'ouvrait sur la déclivité du Cap."

Que l'on ait trouvé quelques squelettes et ossements à ces difFéi'entes époques, nous l'admettons volontiers ; mais on doit se rappeler que lorsque Mgr de Saint-V allier acheta ce cimetière, il en fit de suite exhumer et transporter les corps, de sorte qu'il ne devait pas en rester un grand nombre à cet endroit.