28 THE ROYAL SOCIETY OF CANADA 



Brehm suggested the Hoiol district as an available place for a settlement 

 of loyalists. Stationed at Montreal, the Captain had amj^le oppoi'tunity 

 to ol)serve the hardships endured by the inhal)itants among whom the 

 refugees were (piartered. He called Haldimand's attention to the fact 

 that the citizens were required to furnish the loyalists with firewood 

 and with carriages when they moved, while the government would be 

 burdened with the expense of their subsistence until the war should close. 

 He therefore inquired about the feasibility of granting these people 

 tracts of land "either on Lake St. Francis or at the places called the 

 Mullinets and Milles Roches," where they might build their own houses 

 and cultivate their own lands. He spoke particularly of the number 

 of women and children belonging to the men of Sir John Johnson's 

 corps, and suggested the possibility of giving them lands in the Seigniory 

 of Sorel, where the}^ might live independently, even while the men were 

 absent on military service. This, he thought, would be in keeping 

 with the Governor's idea of a military colony to protect the frontier.* 



The suggestions of Captain Brehm anticipated by about a year 

 and a half the royal instructions relative to the settlement of Sorel. 

 These instructions were received by Haldimand in the summer of 1783, 

 and formed a part of the general instructions for the allotment of lands 

 to such refugee loyalists as were desirous of becoming settlers in the 

 Province of Quebec. Lands were also to be assigned to any non- 

 commissioned officers and privates of the King's forces, who had been 

 reduced in the province and were prepared to settle there. The special 

 provisions relating to Sorel called attention to the expediency of a prompt 

 settlement of that seigniory by as many persons of approved loyalty 

 as possible, and directed Governor Haldimand to assign small allot- 

 ments of the disposable lands of the district to non-commissioned 

 officers, privates, and other loyalists. The size of the allotments was 

 left to the discretion of the Governor-General. f 



Soon after the above instructions were received, the contingent 

 of seven hundred loyalists from New York landed at Sorel, and were 

 given temporary lodgings at that post until they should be sent out to 

 form their permanent settlements in various localities. Among these 

 was Captain Alexander White, late sheriff of Tryon County, who had 

 been in charge of the associates aboard the transport Blacket. % Many 

 of the New Yorkers, including Captain White, were attracted by the 

 advantages of their new location in a reg"on already populous, with an 

 excellent harbor on the St. Lawrence, a fine frontage on the River 

 Chambly or Richelieu, and an abundance of government land to be 



*ihil(lim:in<l Papers, B. 74, p. 299; Can. Arch., 1886, 544. 

 fThird Report, Bureau of Archives, Ont., 1905, Ixii, Ixiii, Ixiv. 

 JSee ante, p. 19. 



