REBEL PLANS—PRAYING THE LORDS.
Before Captain Godfrey sailed with his family from Halifax for England, he waited on Governor Arbuthnot and General Massie[5] and informed them of the rebels intentions, and gave them a history of his sad experience on the St. John.
He told them that he had been offered by the rebels the command of a party of men to march forward and attack Fort Cumberland, and if they (the rebels) should be successful, they were to be reinforced, and at once proceed to Halifax, set fire to the town, and sack it.
In their proceedings the rebels, who were in constant communication with the New Englanders, and who were instructed by them, were talking of forming this plan in order if possible to keep General Howe's army from being largely reinforced.
Captain Godfrey, though very weak and ill, offered his service to General Massie, if the latter would arm two schooners and put on board of each of them one hundred regulars besides a crew of twenty-five men. He proposed to proceed to Fort Cumberland and secure the place in case an attack was made. His offer was declined. He then bid adieu to Halifax and sailed for England, where he and his family arrived on January the 8th, 1777.
He lost no time in applying to Lords North and Germain, who after proper examination found his claims for losses in the colony well founded; and were generously pleased to order him the annual sum of one hundred and fifty pounds for the temporary support of his family. This sum was afterward reduced to one hundred and twenty pounds, and finally altogether withdrawn.
He then put his distressed condition before the government, and his case was again tossed about from Lord to Lord, and from board to board, and finally brought up again before the Lords of Parliament, and from it was sent back to the Lords of Plantations and Trade. From thence to the Lords of commission for services and losses in America, and the Lord only knows where else it was sent, until it was sent out to Nova Scotia in 1784.
Thirteen years had elapsed since the Captain experienced his first misfortune in Nova Scotia, and more than seven years had elapsed since his second loss, then his case was sent out to Nova Scotia.
During all this long time he had exercised the greatest patience, and his loyalty to his King (George the Third) was never for a moment shaken.
He had lost in lands and goods about twelve thousand pounds sterling by settling in a British Colony where Indians and rebels destroyed his prospects, and yet he had received no redress for the hardships he and his family had endured, and the great wrongs inflicted upon them. His wife and children were allowed to remain in an almost destitute condition by the King and his advisers. Financially, Captain Godfrey could have been in no worse condition had he joined General Washington. But there was no power on earth that could induce the Captain to turn his back upon his King and his country.
He, with the assistance of his heroic wife, had done all in their power to rouse the whole mind and heart of their fellow countrymen in office to a satisfactory settlement of their just claims, but all they had done seemed useless, and they knew not what more to do.
After the close of the American war Captain Godfrey once more thought of crossing the ocean to settle in the colony where he had experienced so much misfortune. But after he had made all the arrangements for leaving England, he found out that he was too weak in body to stand the wear and tear of a passage across the Atlantic Ocean. In those days it usually took two months to cross from Great Britain to Nova Scotia.
The Captain's case had been tossed from one official to another, and from one commission to another, until it had probably travelled through the completely developed rounds of Red Tapeism. After this it appears to have been allowed to slumber till the close of the American Revolutionary War.
Captain Godfrey's health, since his last arrival in England from the colony, was anything but good, and his means of support being gone, he was largely depending on friends and relatives for the means of supporting his family. His eldest son, (Charlie) through the never failing energy of his mother, had received an Ensign's commission in the British Army.[6]
The last effort Captain Godfrey appears to have made in trying to secure something in return for his services to his country, and for the great losses sustained by him in the colony, was after the conclusion of the war between England and America.
He got his case before the "Lords of the Commission" for services and losses in America, and there it seems to have met its doom, it was granted a sort of Ticket of Leave for transportation to Nova Scotia, where it died in exile.
Their Lordships referred Captain Godfrey in the following manner to the Governor of Nova Scotia:—
WHITEHALL, May 24th, 1784.
SIR,—
You will receive herewith a memorial, which has been presented to me by Captain Charles * * * Godfrey, * * * praying that proper orders may be given for the immediate recovery of his lands upon the St. John, River, in the Province of Nova Scotia. As I understand, upon inquiry, that Mr. Godfrey was dis-possessed of his property previous to the Independence of America, on account of his loyalty and the active part he took for the support of His Majesty King George the Third's Government. I am induced to recommend the prayer of the petition to your favourable consideration.
I am, Sir, your most
Obedient Humble Servant,
SYDNEY.
TO JOHN PARR,
Captain-General and Governor-in-Chief
of the Province of Nova Scotia.
In the year 1776 the New England Colonists appear to have had their emissaries in Nova Scotia. There is no missing link, the chain of evidence is completed by the passport to Captain Godfrey from the Rebel Committee at Maugerville, in July, 1776. After the lapse of one hundred and twelve years, the fact is revealed that there were persons in Nova Scotia who were employed by the New England colonists, and paid by them to incite the Indians to revolt, and hold out bribes to honest and loyal settlers to forsake their King and country.
It may be that in the near or distant future facts will be brought to light which will prove beyond a doubt that the United States had emissaries in Nova Scotia in 1888 who were paid for their services in Yankee gold.