Read Ebook: History of Prince Edward Island by Campbell Duncan

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Geographical position of the Island--Early possession--Population in 1758--Cession by Treaty of Fontainebleau--Survey of Captain Holland--Holland's description of the Island--Position of Town sites--Climate--The Earl of Egmont's scheme of settlement--Proposed division of the Island--Memorials of Egmont--Decision of the British Government respecting Egmont's Scheme

Determination of the Home Government to dispose of the whole Island--The manner in which it was effected--Conditions on which grants were made--Appointment of Walter Patterson as Governor--Novel duties imposed on him--Callbeck made prisoner by Americans--Arrival of Hessian Troops--Sale of Land in 1781--Agitation in consequence--Complaints against the Governor, and his tactics in defence--Governor superceded, and Colonel Fanning appointed--Disputes between them--Charges of immorality against Patterson--His departure from the Island

Proprietors indifferent to their engagements--Extent to which settlement was effected--Complaints of the People of nonfulfilment of engagements--Character of the Reply--The influence of the Proprietors with the Home Government--The Duke of Kent--Proposal in 1780 to name the Island New Ireland--The name adopted--Formation of Light Infantry and Volunteer Horse--Immigration of Highlanders--Memoir of General Fanning

Colonel F. W. DesBarres, successor to General Fanning--His character as a Governor--Succeeded by Charles Douglas Smith--His character as displayed in his opening address--Proclamation of immunity from Proprietory conditions--Oppressive measures in regard to Quitrents--John McGregor, Sheriff--Public meetings called in the Counties--Tyranny of the Governor exposed--Arrival of Colonel Ready, and departure of Smith

Governor Ready desires to govern constitutionally--Energetic legislation--George Wright, Administrator--Change in the mode of paying Customhouse Officials--Fire in Miramichi--Petitions of Roman Catholics to be relieved from civil disabilities--Proceedings of the Assembly touching the question--Dispute between the Council and Assembly--Catholic Emancipation--The Agricultural Society--Death of George the Fourth--Cobbett on Prince Edward Island--Colonel Ready succeeded by A. W. Young--The Census--Death of Governor Young--Biographical Sketch of him

George Wright, Administrator--Court of Escheat refused--Central Academy--Severe Frost in September--Death of William the Fourth--Educational Condition of the Island--Forcible Resistance to Rent-paying--Rebellion in Canada--Able Report of Committee of Legislature on Land Question--The Coronation of Queen Victoria--Mechanics' Institute formed--Lord Durham on Land Question--The formation of an Executive, separate from a Legislative Council ordered--Mr. Cooper a delegate to London

Marriage of the Queen--Education in 1842--Foundation-stone of the Colonial Building laid--The Governor withdraws his patronage from Public Institutions--Dispute between the Governor and Mr. Pope--Election disturbances in Belfast--The Currency Question--Responsible Government discussed--Governor Huntley succeeded by Sir Donald Campbell--Earl Grey's reason for withholding Responsible Government--The death of Sir Donald Campbell--Ambrose Lane, Administrator--Sir A. Bannerman, Governor--Responsible Government introduced--Temperance movement--The loss of the "Fairy Queen"--Dissolution of the Assembly--Governor Bannerman succeeded by Dominick Daly--The Worrell Estate bought by the Government--J. Henry Haszard perishes in the Ice Boat--Census of 1855--A loan wanted--The Imperial Guaranty promised, but not given--Resolutions praying for a Commission on the Land Question--Charles Young, Administrator--Biographical Sketch of Bishop McDonald--Death of James Peake

Arrival of the Prince of Wales--His Reception--The British Colonial Secretary expresses satisfaction with the Assembly's proceedings in regard to the Land Commission--The Report of the Commissioners--Its cardinal points presented--Their views with regard to Escheat and other subjects--The case of the Loyalists and Indians. Remarks on the Commissioners' Report: its merits and its defects. The evils incident to the Land Question fundamentally attributable to the Home Government--The Immigrants deceived--The misery consequent on such deception--The burden of correction laid on the wrong shoulders--Volunteer Companies--General Census--Death of Prince Albert--The Duke of Newcastle and the Commissioners' Report

Bill to make the Legislative Council elective--Change of Government--Address to the Queen, craving to give effect to the Commissioners' Award--A Review of recent Proceedings in regard to the Land Question--The Assembly willing to meet the views of Proprietors in regard to the appointment of Commissioners--The Assembly and the Commissioners right, and the Colonial Secretary wrong--The Reason why given--The rejection of the Award unreasonable--Delegates sent to England on the Land Question--The Result

James C. Pope and the Railway--Assimilation of the Currency--Confederation--Conference in Charlottetown--Speeches of Edward Whelan and T. H. Haviland--Opposition to Confederation--Resolutions in the Assembly--Offer of Terms to J. C. Pope--Further Proceedings--The Question of Confederation Resumed--Delegations to Ottawa--Messrs. Haythorne and Laird--Messrs. Pope, Haviland, and Howlan--Final Settlement of the Question

Biographical Sketches:--Bishop McEachern--Rev. Donald McDonald--Rev. Dr. Kier--Hon. T. H. Haviland--Hon. E. Whelan--Hon. James Yeo--Hon. George Coles--James D. Haszard

Commercial Statistics--Imports--Exports--Revenue--Government Policy--Fisheries--Education--Manufactures--Charlottetown--Census of 1798

HISTORY OF PRINCE EDWARD ISLAND.

Prince Edward Island is situated in the Gulf of Saint Lawrence. It lies between 46? and 47? 7' north latitude, and 62? and 64? 27' longitude west, from Greenwich. As viewed from the north-east, it presents the form of a crescent. Its length, in a course through the centre of the Island, is about one hundred and forty miles, and its breadth, in the widest part, which is from Beacon Point to East Point, towards its eastern extremity, thirty-four miles. It is separated from Nova Scotia by the Strait of Northumberland, which is only nine miles broad between Cape Traverse and Cape Tormentine. From the Island of Cape Breton it is distant twenty-seven miles, and from the nearest point of Newfoundland one hundred and twenty-five miles.

The Island was amongst the first discoveries of the celebrated navigator, Cabot, who named it Saint John, as indicative of the day of its discovery. Britain failing to lay claim to it, the French afterwards assumed it as part of the discoveries made by Verazani in 1523. In 1663 it was granted, with other Islands, by the Company of New France, to the Sieur Doublet, a captain in the French navy, with whom were associated two adventurers who established a few fishing stations, but who did not reside permanently on the island.

A Frenchman who had visited the island in 1752 published an account of it shortly afterwards. His report as to the fertility of the soil, the quantity of game, and the productiveness of the fishery was extremely favorable, and he expressed astonishment that with these advantages the island should not have been more densely populated--its inhabitants numbering only 1354.

The great fortress of Louisburg fell in 1745, but was restored to the French in 1748. War was again declared by Britain against France in 1756, and in 1758 Louisburg again fell under the leadership of the gallant Wolfe. After the reduction of the fortress several war ships were detached to seize on the Island of Saint John; an object which was effected without difficulty. Mr. McGregor, in his account of the island, says that the population was stated to be at this time ten thousand, but an old Acadian living when he wrote informed him that it could not have exceeded six thousand. A little over four thousand seems to have been the number of inhabitants at this period. The expulsion of the Acadians from Nova Scotia took place in 1755, and many of them having escaped to the island in that year, its population must have been nearly doubled by the influx of fugitives.

The fall of Quebec followed that of Louisburg, and by the treaty of Fontainebleau, in 1763, Cape Breton, the Island of Saint John, and Canada were formally ceded to Great Britain, Cape Breton and the Island of Saint John being placed under the Government of Nova Scotia.

In a letter addressed to the Earl of Hillsborough, Captain Holland reports most favourably respecting the capabilities of the island. He adds, "There are about thirty Acadian families on the island, who are regarded as prisoners, and kept on the same footing as those at Halifax. They are extremely poor, and maintain themselves by their industry in gardening, fishing, fowling, &c. The few remaining houses in the different parts of the island are very bad, and the quantity of cattle is but very inconsiderable." At Saint Peter's, Captain Holland met an old acquaintance, Lieutenant Burns, of the 45th Regiment, who had removed with his family to the island, and had built a house and barn, and of whom he writes to the Board of Trade very favorably.

The energy with which Captain Holland prosecuted the survey is sufficiently proved by the fact that in October, 1765, he sent home by Mr. Robinson, one of his deputies, plans of the island, as well as of the Magdalen Islands; also, a description of the Island, from which we shall quote copiously as conveying the impressions of an acute and reliable observer.

"The soil," says Captain Holland, "on the south side of the island is a reddish clay, though in many places it is sandy, particularly on the north coast. From the East Point to Saint Peter's it is a greyish sand. The woods upon this coast, from the East Point as far southward as Hillsborough River, and to Bedford Bay on the west, were entirely destroyed by fire about twenty-six years ago. It was so extremely violent that all the fishing vessels at Saint Peter's and Morell River, in Saint Peter's Bay, were burned. In many parts round the island is a rough, steep coast, from forty to fifty feet high, in some places a hundred, composed of strata of soft red stone, which, when exposed to the air for some time, becomes harder, and is not unfit for building. Wherever this sort of coast is, it diminishes considerably every year upon the breaking up of the frost, which moulders away a great part of it. It may probably be owing to this cause that the sea betwixt the island and the Continent is frequently of a red hue, and for that reason by many people called the red sea. The rivers are properly sea creeks, the tide flowing up to the heads, where, generally, streams of fresh water empty themselves. In most parts of the island the Sarsaparilla Root is in great abundance, and very good. The Mountain Shrub and Maiden Hair are also pretty common, of whose leaves and berries the Acadian settlers frequently make a kind of tea. The ground is in general covered with strawberries and cranberries, in their different seasons, which are very good. In those places which have been settled, and are still tolerably cleared, is very good grass, but a great part of the land formerly cleared is so much overgrown with brush and small wood that it would be extremely difficult to make it fit for the plough. It may be proper to observe that very few houses mentioned in the explanation of the Townships are good for anything, and by no means tenantable, except one or two at Saint Peter's, kept in repair by the officers, and one kept by myself at Observation Cove."

After describing the kinds of Timber to be found on the island, Captain Holland proceeds to say: "Port la Joie , Cardigan and Richmond Bays are without dispute the only places where ships of burthen can safely enter, and consequently most proper to erect the principal towns and settlements upon. In point of fishing, Richmond Bay has much the advantage of situation, the fish being in great plenty most part of the year, and close to the harbour.

"The capital, to be called Charlottetown, is proposed to be built on a point of the harbour of Port la Joie, betwixt York and Hillsborough Rivers, as being one of the best and central parts of the island, and having the advantage of an immediate and easy communication with the interior parts by means of the three fine rivers of Hillsborough, York, and Elliot. The ground designed for the town and fortifications is well situated upon a regular ascent from the waterside. A fine rivulet will run through the town. A battery or two some distance advanced will entirely command the harbour, so that an enemy attempting to attack the town cannot do so without great difficulty. Having passed the battery at the entrance to the harbour, he must attempt a passage up Hillsborough and York Rivers, the channels of both which are intricate; and the entrance of the respective channels will be so near the town that a passage must be attended with the greatest hazard. Should an enemy land troops on either side the bay of Hillsborough, they must still have the river of the same name on the east, or Elliot or York rivers on the west to pass before they can effect anything of consequence.

"As this side of the Island cannot have a fishery, it may probably be thought expedient to indulge it with some particular privileges; and as all the judicial and civil, as well as a good part of the commercial business will be transacted here, it will make it at least equally flourishing with the other county towns.

"Georgetown is recommended to be built on the point of land called Cardigan Point, there being a good harbour for ships of any burthen on each side of Cardigan river on the north, or on Montague river on the south side; but the latter--though a much narrower channel in coming in--is preferable, as the bay for anchoring will be close by the town immediately on entering the river, and going round the Goose Neck--a long point of dry sand running half over the river and forming one side of Albion Bay--the place of anchorage. On the Goose Neck may be a pier, where goods may be shipped with great facility and convenience. The place proposed is so situated as to be easily made secure, as well as the entrance into the two respective harbours. There is a communication inland by means of Cardigan, Brudenell, and Montague rivers, from the top of which last to the source of Orwell river, is not quite ten miles; and Orwell river, emptying itself into the great bay of Hillsborough, makes a safe and short communication, both in winter and summer, betwixt two of the county towns.

"Princetown is proposed to be built on a most convenient spot of ground as well for fishery as fortification. The site is on a peninsula, having Darnley Basin on the northeast, which is a convenient harbour for small vessels, and where they may lie all winter. The town will have convenient ground for drying fish, and ships of burthen can anchor near it in the bay. It can be fortified at little expense; some batteries and small works erected along the shore would entirely secure it."

It is interesting to note what Captain Holland, writing upwards of a century ago, says respecting the climate:--"The time of the setting in of the frost in winter, and its breaking up in the spring, is very uncertain. In general it is observed that about October there usually begins to be frost morning and evening, which gradually increases in severity till about the middle of December, when it becomes extremely sharp. At this time north-west wind, with small sleet, seldom fails. In a little time the rivers on the island are frozen up, and even the sea some distance from land. The ice soon becomes safe to travel on, as it is at least twenty-two to thirty inches thick. The snow upon the ground, and in the woods, is often a surprising depth, and it is impossible to travel except on snow-shoes. The Acadians now have recourse to little cabins or huts in the woods, where they are screened from the violence of the weather, and at the same time have the convenience of wood for fuel. Here they live on the fish they have cured in the summer, and game which they frequently kill, as hares and partridges, lynxes or wild cats, otters, martins, or musk rats,--none of which they refuse to eat, as necessity presses them. In the spring the rivers seldom break up till April, and the snow is not entirely off the ground until the middle of May. It ought to be observed that as Saint John is fortunately not troubled with fogs, as are the neighboring Islands of Cape Breton and Newfoundland, neither has it so settled and constant a climate as Canada. Here are frequent changes of weather, as rain, snow, hail, and hard frost."

On the completion of the survey of the Island of Saint John, Captain Holland proceeded to prosecute that of Cape Breton. Here he had the misfortune to lose his most efficient deputy, Lieutenant Haldiman, who was drowned, by falling through the ice on the 16th of December, 1765. He was a Lieutenant, on half pay, when Captain Holland engaged him, having served since the age of fifteen in America. He was an excellent mathematician, and quite an adept in making accurate astronomical observations. This excellent young man perished in the twenty-fourth year of his age. Whilst Captain Holland was busy on the Island of Saint John, Haldiman was detached to superintend the survey of the Magdalen Islands. In the report sent by Holland to the Board of Trade, from which we have given extracts, was embodied Haldiman's account of the Magdalen Islands, which is extremely interesting. We regret our space will not permit its insertion.

To epitomise the proposal: there was to be a Lord Paramount of the whole island, forty Capital Lords of forty Hundreds, four hundred Lords of Manors, and eight hundred Freeholders. For assurance of the said tenures, eight hundred thousand acres were to be set apart for establishments for trade and commerce in the most suitable parts of the island, including one county town, forty market towns, and four hundred villages; each Hundred or Barony was to consist of somewhat less than eight square miles, and the Lord of each was bound to erect and maintain forever a castle or blockhouse as the capital seat of his property, and as a place of retreat and rendezvous for the settlers; and thus, on any alarm of sudden danger, every inhabitant might have a place of security within four miles of his habitation. A cannon fired at one of the castles would be heard at the next, and thus the firing would proceed in regular order from castle to castle, and be the means, adds the noble memorialist, "of putting every inhabitant of the whole island under arms and in motion in the space of one quarter of an hour."

As we have already stated, Lord Egmont's memorial was presented in December, 1763, and in January, 1764, it was backed by three different communications, addressed to the Lords of Trade and Plantations, and signed by thirty influential gentlemen, who were supposed--on account of military or other services--to have claims on the government.

On the 13th February, 1764, a report was made on the memorial by the Board of Trade, to which it had been referred by the King. The Board reported that the scheme was calculated to answer the purposes of defence and military discipline rather than to encourage those of commerce and agriculture, and seemed totally and fundamentally adverse in its principles to that system of settlement and tenure of property which had of late years been adopted in the colonies, with so much advantage to the interests of the kingdom; and they therefore could not see sufficient reason to justify them in advising His Majesty to comply with Lord Egmont's proposal.

In forming plans for the settlement of the American Colonies, the object the Commissioners had principally in view was to advance and extend the commerce and navigation of the kingdom, to preserve a due dependence in the colonies on the mother country, and to secure to them the full enjoyment of every civil and religious right, so that the colonists might have just reason to value themselves on being British subjects. In order to attain these objects, the Board had recommended such a mode of granting lands as might encourage industry, which is the life and spirit of commerce; and in the form of government, they recommended a constitution for the colonies as nearly similar to that of Britain as the nature of the case would permit. In adopting this policy they had followed what appeared to have been almost the invariable practice of Government ever since the surrender and revocation of those charters which were formerly granted for the settlement of America; and the effects could be best judged of by the present flourishing state of the colonies, and the progress they had made in cultivation and commerce, compared with their condition under those charters, which, though granted to persons of rank and consequence, and accompanied by plans of government,--the result of the study and reading of wise and learned men,--yet, being founded in speculation more than in experience did, in the event, not only disappoint the sanguine expectations of the proprietors, but check and obstruct the settlement of the country.

The report pointed to the grant made to the Lords Proprietors of Carolina, as a striking example of the inexpediency of such a plan of settlement, little progress having been made in the execution of it till the property, being reinvested in the crown, a new foundation was laid, which resulted in prosperity and advancement. The report, of which we have attempted to give a sketch, ended with the following words:--"We have not thought proper to take the opinion of Your Majesty's servants in the law upon the question whether Your Majesty can legally make the grant desired by the Earl of Egmont, because we cannot think it expedient, either in a political or commercial light, for Your Majesty to comply with his Lordship's proposals; and as Your Majesty has been pleased to annex the Island of Saint John to your Province of Nova Scotia, we humbly recommend the settling it upon the plan and under the regulations, approved of by Your Majesty for the settlement of that province in general."

On receiving this reply to his memorial, the Earl addressed a second one to the King, substantially the same as the former, to which no reply seems to have been made. He accordingly had a third one drawn out and presented, attaching the names of his co-adventurers, who had agreed to assist his Lordship in the settlement of the island. The list included four admirals, a large number of officers, and eight members of parliament. This memorial, like the first, was referred to the Board of Trade, who prepared a lengthened report in answer to it. The opening passage was of such a nature as to make the memorialists imagine that all desired was to be granted. "We are of opinion," said the Board, "it may be highly conducive to the speedy cultivation of your Majesty's American Dominions that the nobility and other persons of rank and distinction in this country should take the lead, and show the example in the undertaking and carrying into execution the settlement thereof, and that all due encouragement should be given to officers of Your Majesty's fleet and army, to whose distinguished bravery and conduct this kingdom is so much indebted for the acquisitions made in the last war." But this soothing paragraph was followed by others which blasted the hopes of the ardent adventurers, by insisting on the distribution of land on the island being made in conformity to those principles of settlement, cultivation, and government which had been previously adopted, and were founded on experience.

The King referred this report, and all the other papers, to a committee of council, to whom Lord Egmont sent observations on the report, drawn up with great ability, in which his former arguments were repeated, and others adduced to strengthen them. These observations are pervaded by a bitterness of expression which, in the circumstances, is pardonable. The committee of council coincided in the views of the Board of Trade, and on the 9th of May, 1764, came the climax to Lord Egmont's proposal, in the form of a minute of council, embodying a report adverse to the proposition of the Earl, and ordering that no grants be made of land in the Island of Saint John upon any other principles than those comprised in the reports of the Lords Commissioners of trade and plantations.

About the time of the arrival in London of Captain Holland's plans of the island, the friends of Lord Egmont again mustered in great strength, including officers of high rank in the naval and military service, bankers, and merchants, and drew up a final memorial in behalf of his Lordship's scheme, which closed with these words:--"That if at the end of ten years any ill consequence should be found to have arisen therefrom, upon an address to the two houses of parliament, His Majesty in council might change the jurisdiction in such manner as experience of the use or abuse might then dictate or demand." That Lord Egmont was sanguine as to the success of this last appeal in his behalf, appears evident from a manuscript letter now before us, addressed by him on the 8th October, 1765, to Captain Holland, in which he says:--"I think it proper to let you know that a petition will be again presented to His Majesty in a few days for a grant of the Island of Saint John, upon the very same plan as that proposed before, which I have now reason to expect will meet with better success than the former. The same persons very nearly will be concerned, those only excluded who were drawn away by proposals and grants elsewhere by the Board of Trade, in order if possible to defeat my scheme. For yourself, you may be assured of your Hundred, as formerly intended, if I have anything to do in the direction of the affair,--which probably I shall have in the same mode and manner. Whether the grant may be made before the arrival of the survey or not I cannot certainly say, but we wait patiently for it, and hope it will be done accurately as to Hundreds, Manors, Freehold Villages, Towns, and Capitals, that a moment's time may not be lost afterwards in proceeding to draw the lots, and then in proceeding to erect the Blockhouses of the Hundreds on a determined spot, which is the very first work to be put in execution, and agreed to be completed by all the chief adventurers within one twelvemonth after the grant shall be obtained." This communication leads to the conviction, that if the island had been then granted no time would have been lost in erecting the strongholds referred to. It is evident that the erections were intended to consist mainly of wood. The adventurers were, for the most part, wealthy and influential, and under their auspices thousands would have emigrated to the island. It were vain to speculate as to the effect which would be produced if Egmont's scheme had been put in execution. In looking over the list of those to whom Hundreds were to be allotted, we find that of the forty persons specified, thirty-two were military or naval officers,--men whose profession did not, as a rule, fit them for the direction of the settlement of a new colony. It is probable, however, that the expense to which, at the outset, the forty Lords of Hundreds were to be put would prompt them to take a more lively interest in their property than was exhibited by the subsequent grantees. It is, however, possible that not a few of the proposed lords intended to dispose of their property to the highest bidder soon after the lots were drawn, and thus to avoid the expense of the blockhouse erections, such a transference of interest being allowable under the proposed original grant. That Egmont intended to carry out his scheme in its integrity, there is no room to doubt. He must have employed the highest legal ability to frame his memorials, which are distinguished by a mastery of the ancient feudal tenures of the kingdom, which elicited expressions of admiration from the government. The pertinacity with which he urged his scheme showed that he was not a man easily diverted from any settled purpose, and few governments could have resisted the powerful influence he brought to bear for the attainment of his object. There can be little doubt that whatever might be the consequences of possession to the Lord Paramount himself and his family of nine children, the destiny of the island would have been far better in his keeping than in that of the men to whom it was afterwards unfortunately committed. In order to conciliate Lord Egmont, and make reparation to him for the trouble and expense to which he had been put in urging his scheme, the Board of Trade, by a minute dated the 5th of June, 1767, offered him any entire parish,--comprehending about one hundred thousand acres,--which he might select, but his lordship addressed a letter to the Board on the eleventh of the same month declining to take the grant.

Although the government had resolutely opposed the scheme of settlement proposed by Lord Egmont, yet it was disposed to divide the island among persons who had claims on the ground of military or other public services; and it was accordingly determined, in order to prevent disputes, to make the various allotments by ballot. The Board of Trade and Plantations accordingly prepared certain conditions, under which the various grants were to be made. On twenty-six specified lots or townships a quitrent of six shillings on every hundred acres was reserved, on twenty-nine lots four shillings, and on eleven lots two shillings, payable annually on one half of the grant at the expiration of five years, and on the whole at the expiration of ten years after the date of the grants. A reservation of such parts of each lot as might afterwards be found necessary for fortifications or public purposes, and of a hundred acres for a church and glebe, and of fifty acres for a schoolmaster, was made, five hundred feet from high-water mark being reserved for the purpose of a free fishery. Deposits of gold, silver, and coal were reserved for the Crown. It was stipulated that the grantee of each township should settle the same within ten years from the date of the grant, in the proportion of one person for every two hundred acres; that such settlers should be European foreign protestants, or such persons as had resided in British North America for two years previous to the date of the grant; and, finally, that if one-third of the land was not so settled within four years from the date of the grant, the whole should be forfeited. Thus the whole island was, in 1767, disposed of in one day, with the exception of lot sixty-six, reserved for the King, and lots forty and fifty-nine,--which had been promised to Messrs. Spence, Muir, and Cathcart, and Messrs. Mill, Cathcart, and Higgens, by the government, in 1764, in consideration of their having established fisheries, and made improvements on the island, --and three small reservations, intended for three county towns. A mandamus addressed to the Governor of Nova Scotia, the island being now annexed to that province, was handed to each of the proprietors, instructing the governor to issue the respective grants, on the conditions specified. In the following year, 1768, a large majority of the proprietors presented a petition to the King, praying that the island should be erected into a separate government; that the quitrents which would become payable, according to stipulation, in 1772, should become payable from the first of May, 1769, and that the payment of the remaining half should be deferred for the period of twenty years. This proposition was accepted by the government, and accordingly Captain Walter Patterson, one of the island proprietors, was appointed governor. He, accompanied by other officers, arrived on the island in 1770, at which period, notwithstanding the conditions of settlement attached to the land grants, there were only one hundred and fifty families and five proprietors residing on it. It was calculated by the government that the quitrents would amount in the aggregate to fourteen hundred and seventy pounds sterling. The governor was instructed to pay out of that fund the following annual salaries, in sterling currency: to himself, as governor, five hundred pounds, to the secretary and registrar, one hundred and fifty pounds, to the chief justice, two hundred pounds, to the attorney general, one hundred pounds, to the clerk of the crown and coroner, eighty pounds, to the provost marshal, fifty pounds, and to a minister of the Church of England, one hundred pounds. This arrangement was to remain in force not more than ten years, and in the event of the quitrents falling short, from any cause, of the required sum, the salaries were to be diminished in proportion.

The little progress made in the settlement of the island, from the time it was granted until the year 1779, is indicated by the fact that no step had been taken to introduce settlers into all the lots, ranging from one to sixteen, besides other thirty-three which were in the same condition. Thus, although more than ten years had elapsed since the ballot took place, in scarcely a score of lots was there any attempt made to conform to the conditions attached to the sixty-seven townships.

Notwithstanding the very small population of the island, it was resolved to grant it a complete constitution. This step the governor was commanded in his instructions to take as early as possible. "The forming a lower house of representatives for our said Island of Saint John," said His Majesty, "is a consideration that cannot be too early taken up, for until this object is attainable, the most important interests of the inhabitants will necessarily remain without that advantage and protection which can only arise out of the vigor and activity of a complete constitution." In the year 1773, the first assembly was convened. The first act passed was one confirming the past proceedings of the governor and council, and rendering valid all manner of process and proceedings in the several courts of judicature within the island, from the first day of May, 1769, to the present session of assembly.

During the governor's absence in England the Hon. Mr. Callbeck, being the senior member of the council, was sworn in as administrator. In November of that year, a ship from London, having on board a number of settlers, and loaded with a valuable cargo, was unfortunately wrecked on the north side of the island. All on board were saved, but the cargo was either lost, or destroyed to such an extent as to be of little value,--an accident which involved no small hardship to the inhabitants.

In this year too a memorable incident occurred. Whilst the good people of Charlottetown were living in apparent security from hostile aggression, two American armed vessels which had been sent to cruise in the Gulf of Saint Lawrence, in order to intercept English ordnance store-ships, supposed to be on the way to Quebec, entered the harbor, and a landing was effected without any opposition, when the administrator, Mr. Callbeck, Mr. Wright, the surveyor general, and other officers of the government were made prisoners, and put with such valuable booty as the Americans could lay hands on, on board ship, and conveyed to New England. On arriving at the head-quarters of the American army, then at Cambridge, General Washington disapproved of the hostile act, dismissing the principal officers from their commands, telling them that "they had done those things which they ought not to have done, and left undone those things which it was their duty to have done." At the same time he discharged the prisoners with expressions of regret, and returned all the property.

In 1777 the administrator received instructions from the secretary of state for the colonies to raise an independent force for the defence of the island; but from the small number of the male population, which had been previously considerably reduced by recruiting officers, this force was never completed. In the following year, however, four provincial companies were sent from New York, under the command of Major Hierliky, for whom barracks were erected, under the direction of an engineer from Nova Scotia, and the island was thus placed in a defensive position, which greatly reduced the chances of a successful attack during the American war. With the exception of a few sheep, occasionally taken by the men of privateers, and some valuable property seized at the harbor of Saint George , the inhabitants of the island experienced no further annoyance from the Americans during the continuance of the contest. The monotony of Charlottetown was betimes enlivened during the summer by the presence of the British war vessels employed in accompanying convoys to Quebec, and the occasional conduct into the harbor of American privateers which had been captured at sea by the British cruisers, and whose men were marched as prisoners through the woods to Halifax.

"As to the regularity and legality of the proceedings in other respects, I am not accountable. The lands were seized in terms of a law passed near ten years since, and the proceedings conducted by the law officers,--I have no doubt properly.

"There is some idea, I find, of rescinding the purchases, and that government will order it. Whoever has formed such an idea must have strange notions of government. Government may order me; and, if I have a mind to be laughed at, I may issue my orders to the purchasers; but can anyone believe they will be obeyed? Surely not; nor would I be an inhabitant of any country where such a power existed. My money may with as much justice be ordered out of my pocket, or the bread out of my mouth. A governor has just as much power to do the one as the other. I should like to know what opinion you would have of a country where the validity of public contracts depended on the will of the governor.

"The purchases were made in the very worst period of the war, when the property was very precarious indeed, and when no man in England would have given hardly a guinea for the whole island. It is now peace, and fortunately we still remain a part of the British Empire. The lands are consequently esteemed more valuable, and the proprietors have become clamorous for their loss. Had the reverse taken place,--had the island been ceded to France,--let me ask, what would have been the consequence? Why, the purchasers would have lost their money, and the proprietors would have been quiet, hugging themselves on their own better judgment. There can be no restoring of the lots which were sold. There has not been a lot sold on which a single shilling has been expended by way of settlement, nor upon which there has been a settler placed; so that those proprietors who have expended money in making settlements have no cause of complaint."

Complaints had been made to the home government, of which Mr. Stuart had informed the governor, that a large quantity of the land disposed of had been bought for trifling sums by the governor and other officials of the island. The truth of this charge was acknowledged by the governor, for he says in the letter from which we have quoted so largely: "That the officers of the government have made purchases is certain, and that I have made some myself is also as certain; but I should be glad to know who would be an officer of government if, by being such, he was deprived of his privileges as a citizen."

Mr. Stuart writes the governor on the twenty-ninth of June, 1783, that he received, on the twenty-second of April, three letters from him, dated respectively, thirtieth November, first and seventh December, 1782, and in reference to the sales of land which had been effected, remarks: "The time of the sale, in the midst of a distressful war, when there could be neither money nor purchasers; the rigid condition of obliging the proprietors to pay their quitrents in the island, and not giving at least a twelvemonth's notice of the sale in England, as well as in the island, are everywhere urged and admitted as sound arguments against the confiscation of lands in an infant colony, and I must frankly confess that they have too much force in them to be totally denied."

Whilst it is impossible to deny that Governor Patterson had ample governmental authority to dispose of the lands, yet his doing so before he had any evidence whatever that the advertisements sent had obtained the desired publicity, or even that his letters had reached their destination, was, to say the least, a most unreasonable proceeding, and constituted sufficient ground of grave complaint against his conduct. That as an intending purchaser he had a material interest in bringing the lands speedily to the hammer, cannot be denied; and that after so many years had elapsed since the act and the treasury minute by which a sale of the townships whose quitrents were in arrears was rendered legal, he should have chosen a period for the sale when, according to his own confession, capitalists might not be disposed to give a guinea for the island, seems to import that the governor had, in the conduct of the business, consulted his own interest rather than that of the proprietors. This impression is deepened by the proceedings which followed.

It has been already stated that, on receiving from England the act which was intended to restore the property sold to the original holders, he had delayed to submit it to the house of assembly. Believing that the present house would pass the act in question, in the event of his being again ordered to submit it for their approval, he resolved dissolution of the house, and to exert his influence in obtaining one better suited to his purpose. He accordingly carried out his resolution early in 1784, and, in March following, a general election took place, and the legislature met soon after. It is a most significant indication of the state of public opinion at this time, in reference to the governor's conduct in so hastily disposing of the lands, that the new house, instead of approving of the governor's conduct, resolved to present a complaint against him to the King, and was actually engaged in framing it, when a dissolution, by command of the governor, again took place. His Excellency, appreciating the importance of the crisis to himself personally, determined to leave no means untried to secure an assembly favorable to his views. The danger was imminent; for the recent proceedings were adopted by the house in ignorance of the views of the home government as to the governor's conduct, which he had carefully concealed, and which were known only to the council, who were bound by oath to secrecy. He expected an order from England to submit the dreaded act to the house, and was most desirous that, before that could be done, the forthcoming house should pledge itself to an approval of the sales of 1781, and thus neutralize the effect which a knowledge of the intended disapproval of the previous assembly might produce on the home government.

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