18 THE ROYAL SOCIETY OF CANADA 



fi"om the ])egiiining of the war,* and we know from an endless array 

 of notices, memorials, and petitions preserved in the official correspond- 

 ence of the time that the peaceful element among the refugees, includ- 

 ing Quaker loyalists, was much larger than can ever be traced. By 

 the middle of January, 1776, the number of unincorporated refugees 

 with Sir John Johnson's corps was already sufficiently lai'ge to require 

 the attention of the authorities at Quebec, f Doubtless the other 

 loyalists regiments had their share of dependent refugees, even at 

 this early date. That they had later is apparent from the official 

 enumerations of loyalists, incorporated and unincorporated, at the 

 various posts, these enumerations extending from July 1, 1779, to 

 September 15, 1784. 



The enumeration of July, as well as several succeeding it, is con- 

 fined to loyalist individuals and families receiving provisions from 

 the King's stores without charge, and cannot be regarded therefore 

 as a complete census of all the loyalists at these posts Among others, 

 it gives sixty-eight as the number at Sorel, twenty-seven at Chambly, 

 and two hundred and nine at St. Johns. By October 24, there was a 

 falling off of about thirty at St. Johns, while the figures for the other 

 two places remain relatively stationary. X A week later, or November 

 1st, a report of the number of loyalists in military service at the posts 

 was issued. This, by comparison, is found to be supplementary to 

 the enumeration just preceding. It gives, one hundred and forty- 

 eight officers and men for Sorel, thirty-six for Yamaska, foi-ty-four 

 for St. Johns, and omits Chambly altogether.* During the next 

 three years, there was a marked increase in the number of families 

 resorting for gratuitous food and shelter to the posts and depots with- 

 in the old district of Montreal on both sides of the River St. Lawrence. 

 On November 24, 1780, this number, which was distributed at seven- 

 teen different points, was 1,368. Ten months later it had reached 

 1,449, at nine places; by January 24, 1782, it had risen to 1,699, dis- 

 tributed at fourteen different localities, and by March 24, 1783, it had 

 attained the maximum, so far as our statistics go, namely, 1,716, dis- 

 tributed again at seventeen posts and magazines, the next " return," 

 four months later, showing a decline of about forty. It goes without 

 saying that the principal forts in the territory southeast of the St. 

 Lawrence — the region we are concerned with here — shared in this 

 increase of homeless exiles.® Many of these persons were from Char- 



*HaidimaiKl Papers, B. 138, p. 367. 



tCan. Arch., 188.5, 252. 



JHaldiinund Papers, H. 166, pp. 9, 10, 14, 1.5, 32. 



* Ibid., p. 45. 



«Haldimand Papers, B. 148, pp. 1.55, 157, 164, 169, 170; B. 166, pp. 4(), 83,96, 

 127, 129. 



