60 THE ROYAL SOCIETY OF CANADA 
owners of which are gone back to the Continent to dispose of it and will 
return in the Spring with a further supply of stock for their lands. 
“In regard to the Townships of Annapolis and Granville about 
thirty proprietors are settled in each. As they came late in the year 
they did not bring all their families, but are preparing against their 
arrival in the Spring, at which time the rest of the proprietors are 
expected. 
“Of the Townships of Chester and Dublin, as they did not contract 
early in the year, but a few proprietors are yet come to each of them. 
However persons of considerable substance are engaged for them, who 
are making preparations to come to their lands as early in the next year 
as the season will permitt.” 
Governor Lawrence died at Halifax, of pneumonia, on the 19th 
October, 1760, after a short illness. He was then in the prime of life, 
in the fifty-first year of his age. His seven years administration was an 
eventful period in the history of Nova Scotia. Earnest and resolute, 
he pursued the object of establishing and confirming British authority 
with marked success. He was a man suited to the age in which he 
lived, inflexible in purpose and held control in no feeble hands.! 
VI.—Alexander McNutt as a Colonizer 
We come now to consider more particularly the part played by 
Alexander McNutt in the development of Nova Scotia. 
Colonel McNutt was in many ways a remarkable man. He had 
his peculiarities of disposition and temper, but as a promoter of great 
enterprises he was a man who would have made his mark in any age 
or country. He was by nature an optimist and had the art of inspiring 
others with his own enthusiasm. His mind was active and his energy 
unbounded. Impulsive and independent he liked the role of a free 
lance. His encounter in early life with Major Lewis on the streets of 
Staunton (already narrated in these pages) was a prelude to many a 
wordy duel in later times with those who did not see eye to eye with 
him. He greatly admired Governor Lawrence, but quarrelled with his 
successors Belcher and Wilmot. In his memorials to the Lords of Trade 
he was by no means backward in claiming credit for great things, and 
his enemies were not slow in disputing the justice of his claims. He 
was naturally a critic of other men’s measures and while cordially 
admired by his friends and followers was perhaps as cordially disliked 
by his enemies. He delighted in great undertakings and his zeal and 
impetuosity made him at times a veritable stormy petrel. We find 
*Murdoch’s History of Nova Scotia, Vol. p. II, 394. 
