114 ROYAL SOCIETY OF CANADA 
being unable to obtain their grants, resolved to send a remonstrance to 
the British Government and chose as their representative one of their 
number who had been known to Lord Cornwallis in the war, hoping 
thus to obtain redress. This agent was preparing to leave for England, 
and had made known his intention to Lieutenant-Governor Fanning 
and the other officers of the provincial government. The effect secured 
was as prompt as it was significant; within a week afterwards nearly all 
the Loyalists who had claims in the specified township obtained their 
grants. It is worth remarking that the Lieutenant-Governor was him- 
self an extensive proprietor in the township in question. In many other 
cases, however, the difficulty was not so easily arranged; grants were 
promised, and then refused; Loyalists were allowed to take up their 
residence on certain lands, being ässured that their titles were secure, 
and after clearing the lands, erecting buildings, planting orchards, 
and making other improvements, were told that their titles lacked 
validity, and were forced to move;' and many onerous conditions were 
attached to the holding of the granted lands. In the legislative investi- 
gations which were subsequently made, considerable evidence was 
adduced to prove that the governors themselves had acted in bad faith 
in the carrying out of the offers made. A soldier who had seen service 
both in New York and Cape Breton, on presenting letters of reeommend- 
ation for land to Governor Fanning, was told—according to his account 
—that the whole island was soon to become King’s land, that the only 
Crown land at present was in the middle of the forest, and he was ad- 
vised to wait, with the result that he never got the land. Another, 
a disbanded seaman, let slip the grant which he might have obtained 
in Halifax in order to come to the island, and though he repeatedly 
endeavoured to get a grant from the governor, he was always met with 
some excuse and remained landless. The royal instructions concern- 
ing the grants embodied very liberal terms.? But, in disobedience to 
express provisions therein, time limits were set, quit-rents were de- 
manded, and certain improvements were made conditions of holding. 
Inducements that were held out by the governors led a number of 
Loyalists to come to the island who never received any fulfilment 
of these promises. Written deeds were withheld, and the location of 
the Loyalists changed quite arbitrarily from one place to another. 
The minutes of Council which contained many of the Loyalist locations, 
were not entered in the regular Council Book; and the rough minutes 
when discovered, bore evidences in erasures and different inks of having 
! See Journal of the House of Assembly for 1883—testimony of witnesses appended 
to the report of the committee to confirm the titles of the Loyalists. 
* Quoted in report referred to in note 1. 
