SECTION IL., 1910. [109] Trans. R. S. C. 
V.— The Loyalists in Prince Edward Island. 
By Pror. Wiusur H. Srepert and FLorENCE E. GrzzraM of Ohio 
State University. 
(Presented by Dr. A. G. Doucuty and read September 28, 1910.) 
The general conditions which led to the influx of large numbers of 
Loyalists into Canada from the American colonies during the Revolution 
of 1776 and at its close are well known. They resolve themselves into 
the provisions of the anti-Loyalist legislation passed by the revolting 
States,’ the threats and persecutions to which those people were sub- 
jected who supported the British cause by word or deed, the failure of 
the United States Government, or of the separate States, to accord any 
redress to the Loyalists for losses of property, and the grants of land 
in Canadian territory made by the British Government in an endeavour 
to repair the losses sustained by its distressed adherents from the States. 
In a general way these conditions may be held to account for the settle- 
ment of the Loyalists in numerous places in various parts of Canada 
from Detroit on the west to the Island of Cape Breton on the east. 
When, however, we take up any given place of refuge, for the 
purpose of examining the history of its connection with the American 
Loyalists, we find at once that special causes must be reckoned with. 
Thus, there were considerations chiefly of a personal nature which in- 
duced many Loyalists to resort to London as the seat of government 
in far-away England; and other considerations more local in character 
which influenced numbers of “Tories” from Georgia and Florida to 
seek a congenial refuge under the British flag in some of the neighbouring 
West Indies. 
It is our purpose in the present paper to examine the special causes 
and circumstances under which a considerable number of Loyalists 
settled in Prince Edward Island 'and to set forth their subsequent history 
in that place. 
Prince Edward Island lies in the Gulf of St. Lawrence adjacent to 
the northern shore of the peninsula of Nova Scotia. In 1767 the entire 
island, then known as the Island of St. John, was disposed of in various 
grants by the Crown, and was annexed to the provincial government 
of its neighbour on the south. In 1768 a large majority of the proprietors 
presented a petition to the king, praying that the island be erected into 
a separate government. The petition was granted, and Captain Walter 


‘See “Anti-Loyalist Legislation during the American Revolution,” by Prof. 
J. W. Thompson in Jil. Law Rev., Vol. III, Nos. 2 and 3. 
