[W1THROw] THOMAS HUTCHINSON 73 
The last Royal Governor of the Province of Massachusetts Bay was 
the special object for contumely and reproach. “ As he was by far the 
ablest and most eminent of his party,” continues Hosmer, “ so his suffer- 
ing was especially sharp. His name was held to be a stigma. The 
honourable ncte he had reached through forty years of self-denying, 
wisely directed public service was blotted out; for generations he was 
a mark for obloquy. His possessions, even to the tomb where lay his 
wife and ancestors, were snatched from him and his children. He 
became in England a royal pensioner. But for this charity, the man 
who for some years had been the most illustrious personage in America 
might have died in want in the streets of London.” 
The fate of those heroic, patriotic men who became exiles for con- 
science’ sake called forth the sympathy of the mother country. The 
leaders of both political parties spoke warmly on their behalf. The 
British Government made generous provision for their domicilation in 
the sea-board provinces and in Upper and Lower Canada. Liberal land 
grants were given and every possible provision for their temporary sus- 
tenance was made. Yet many reached their place of exile in wretched 
plight and had to be clothed and fed by public or private charity. A 
grateful posterity recognizes their fidelity and valour and places the 
wreath of honour on their graves. They bear forever the honoured 
name of United Empire Loyalists. If it be true, as an American poet 
has said, that the wheat of the earth was sifted for the planting of the 
New England colonies, it is also true that the finest of the wheat was 
twice sifted for the planting of our Canadian commonweal. 
Hutchinson met kindly consideration at the British court. He was 
received by the King with honour and sympathy. He writes somewhat 
bitterly : “It is a remark more ancient than any British Colony that 
‘ Gubernatorum vituperatio populo placet;’ and every Governor of 
Massachusetts Bay, for near a century past, has by experience found the 
truth of it.” 
A baronetcy was offered him, but he declined the honour because, 
his fortune having been confiscated, he had not means to support the 
title. He received, however, a generous pension. The University of 
Oxford,—by à strange coincidence on the very day when his country- 
men formally cut the bond that knit them to the fatherland, July 4, 
776,—conferred upon him the degree of Doctor Civilis Juris. 
His six years of exile were full of pathos. “ New England is wrote 
upon my heart,” he said, in as strong characters as ‘ Calais ? was upon 
Queen Mary’s.” “May God Almighty,” he adds, “put an end to this 
contest.” With his children and dependents upon him, his family 
numbered twenty-five. He was “glad,” he said, he had a home for 
them when so many exiles are in want.” His beloved daughter Peggy 
