[RayMonpD] PRE-LOYALIST SETTLEMENTS OF NOVA SCOTIA 61 
him at one time pushing his colonization plans in New England, at 
another, canvassing the north of Ireland; at one time pressing his 
claims before the assembled Lords of Trade at Whitehall, and anon 
disputing with Belcher and his Council in Halifax. 
While Alexander McNutt accomplished much as a colonizer, one is 
amazed at the vastness of his plans and speculations which did not 
mature. His failure in many of his undertakings was due to attempting 
too much, and the consequent lack of attention to details. He was 
quick to think, quick to act, quick to write. His memorials to the 
Lords of Trade and the Governors of Nova Scotia are in some cases 
very voluminous, seemingly written with haste, not always elegant 
in style, and expressed with greater freedom than was customary in 
those days. Many of his suggestions were wise, his criticism was often 
trenchant and well timed; but, on the other hand, some of his plans 
were very unpractical and the claims he advanced not always reason- 
able. He was a staunch upholder of the cause of civil and religious 
liberty, and his aggressiveness in this respect did not tend to render 
him persona grata with Lieut. Governor Belcher and some of the Council 
at Halifax. 
Respecting Alexander McNutt’s movements during the years 
immediately following the expulsion of the Acadians there is a good deal 
of obscurity. He kept in touch with the army and doubtless partici- 
pated in the stirring events of the time. In one of his memorials to the 
Lords of Trade he states that after Governor Lawrence issued his 
proclamation in October, 1758, for settling the vacant lands in Nova 
Scotia, he made application on behalf of himself and others to Thomas 
Hancock of Boston, to learn what terms of settlement would be granted; 
that in consequence, the Governor issued another proclamation, dated 
the 11th of January, 1759, setting forth in detail the terms of settle- 
ment. 
McNutt seems to have acted as a deputy agent for Mr. Hancock, 
and to have canvassed various parts of New England to induce people 
to settle on the lands left vacant by the Acadian expulsion. He was 
at this time in touch with General Amherst and others in authority, and 
it is probable that he had something to do with the movements of the 
first settlers who went from New London in Connecticut to the town- 
ships on the Basin of Minas in the Spring of 1760. He was also on 
friendly terms with Governor Pownall of Massachusetts, and kept him- 
self well informed as to the situation in Nova Scotia. 
General Amherst mentions McNutt in letters written at New 
York, April 17th, 1760. To Governor Lawrence he wrote: “The 
1 See Memorial of Colonel Alex. McNutt to the Lords Commissioners of Trade 
and Plantations, delivered April 17, 1766. 
