[RayMonD] PRE-LOYALIST SETTLEMENTS OF NOVA SCOTIA 73 
VILI.—Lieut.-Gov. Belcher unfriendly to McNutt. The British Ministry 
and Irish Immigration. The Township of Maugerville. 
By the close of the year 1761 the immigration to Nova Scotia from 
New England had assumed very considerable proportions. As a con- 
sequence lands suitable for settlement were eagerly sought by specula- 
tors. Halifax merchants, army officers and government officials joined 
in the general scramble. On the recommendation of Charles Morris, 
the Lieut. Governor and Council agreed that no more land in the town- 
ships of Horton, Cornwallis and Falmouth should be given to officers 
and inhabitants of Halifax, as many settlers arriving from New England 
could not in that case be provided for. The minutes of the Governor 
in Council supply many interesting particulars of the progress of the 
townships of which the space at our disposal forbids further mention. 
About this time Alexander McNutt found himself at loggerheads 
with Lieutenant Governor Belcher and certain members of the Council, 
and the breach once established rapidly widened. Belcher came of a hot- 
headed family ! and was himself of an irascible disposition. He soon 
came to regard Alexander McNutt as an erratic individual, lackmg in 
mental ballast and one whose proposals needed to be watched. The 
Colonel, on his part, regarded the Governor as unenterprising, self- 
seeking and unduly prejudiced. The trouble began not long after 
MeNutt’s arrival at Halifax with his Irish immigrants in October, 1761, 
and was intensified after his return from Ireland the next year. It is 
so difficult to decide upon the merits of the controversy that it may 
be well to hear both parties and in the extracts that follow we shall 
allow them to speak for themselves. 
Not long after the arrival of MeNutt’s second band of Irish immi- 
grants, the Lieut. Governor wrote to the Lords of Trade: “That Mr. 
McNutt very unexpectedly arrived here in November last at the head 
of above 200 persons, embarked from Ireland for the Plantations in 
general, and not for Nova Scotia in particular, as appeared by Mr. 
MeNutt’s demand of a sum of money for their provisions or that other- 
wise he would carry his passengers to Philadelphia. However con- 
trary to his express engagement with the Lords of Trade that no ex- 
pence should be incurred to this Government for his settlements, yet 
I conceived it might discourage the general plan resolved upon if 
persons offering themselves should without some very pressing reasons 
be refused, and therefore these people, who are in extreme poverty, 
were received upon the terms required by Mr. McNutt and are at present 
! See Murdoch’s History of Nova Scotia, Vol. II, pp. 579, 580. 
