74 TRANSACTIONS OF THE CANADIAN INSTITUTE. [VOL. I. 



places in North America can boast of a more rapid rise than the little 

 Town of Niao;ara, nearly every one of its houses having been built during 

 the last five years .... land has risen 50 per cent, in three years. 

 . . . On the margin of the Niagara River, about three-quarters of a 

 mile from the town, stands a building called Navy Hall, erected for the 

 accommodation of the naval officers on the lake during the winter, and 

 also to facilitate the landing of merchandize when the navigation is open. 

 Navy Hall is now occupied by the troops, the fort on the opposite side 

 having been delivered up to the Americans." 



The visit of Mr. Weld to Newark or Niagara (I say Newark or Niagara 

 as he uses the name interchangeably to signify the same place), was in 

 1797. It will be observed he makes the statement that at that time there 

 were about seventj' houses in the place, while Dr.Withrow states that there 

 were about one hundred houses in 1792, Dr. Withrow is more nearly 

 <^orrect as evidenced by the statement of D. W. Smith, made in 1794, in 

 which he says there were then one hundred and fifty houses in the town 

 — the population was therefore, according to ordinary estimates, 500 in 

 A.D. 1792 and 750 in A.D. 1794. Who made up this population .? We 

 have historical facts to establish that immediately after the Treaty of 

 Peace between England and her revolted colonies, now the United States, 

 United Empire Loyalists came into this Province in large numbers, and 

 Major General Simcoe, the Governor, immediately on receiving his 

 appointment as Governor, issued a proclamation inviting settlers, and 

 threw open the Crown lands for their benefit. Led by Mr. Berczy, a band 

 of German colonists, from New York, came over, and were the precursors 

 of thousands who followed them to diflFerent parts of the Province. 

 ^' Across the Niagara River (says Professor Bryce) came convoys of emi- 

 grant waggons, herds of cattle, household goods, to receive a welcome to 

 the Niagara or London Peninsula, or the district around Toronto. In the 

 early settlement a large per centage of the immigrants were military. The 

 Niagara frontier was peopled by Butler's men. . . ." Again he says, 

 " Two ships guarded by the brig " Hope," and laden with Loyalists 

 left New York harbour in 1783, and landed at Sorel in Lower Canada. 

 To Sorel also came a number down the ola Military road, along the Riche- 

 lieu — soldiers and disbanded Royalist regiments — and settled the country 

 in the next year (1784) from Glengarry to the Bay of Quinte. The 

 Niagara frontier at the same time was lined with the desperate Butler's 

 Rangers. Loyalist Districts extended even to Detroit, along Lake Erie. 

 Ten thousand Loyalists, men and women, of determination and principle, 

 thus peopled and gave tone to what is now the Province of Ontario. In 

 1792 there were 12,000 settlers in the Province." 



