A people of this description soon came, or more properly had emigrated to New Brunswick, the year before the era of the peace above referred to. They consisted of families from New England, who settled at Mangerville, about fifty miles up the St. John, and, in 1783, they amounted to about eight hundred. At the close of the revolutionary war, several thousand of disbanded British troops removed from New England, were located at Frederickton. The new colonists, however, were subjected to great hardships and cruel privations, when first placed in the midst of this wilderness, which they more keenly felt from the fact that they had been accustomed to the comforts of civilized life.
Great exertions were made for the improvement of the country under General Sir Guy Carlton, who was appointed governor in 1785. A degree of success attended his efforts, as a gradual advancement took place. During a period of fourteen years from the time he left the country, the government was administered by a succession of presidents. By an arrangement of duties on foreign timber, and by leaving that from New Brunswick free, a foundation was laid for the signal prosperity of the colony. This state of things commenced in 1809, and the exports of this article, from that period, continually increased, until it reached its acme in 1825. Then a severe rëaction was experienced, in consequence of speculative over-trading. The trade, however, assumed a healthy condition in the space of a few years.
The progress of the colony of late years has been cheering, and its natural advantages appreciated, as they have been the more unfolded. It was during the administration of Sir John Harvey, that the disputed boundary between Maine and New Brunswick had nearly occasioned a rupture between the United States and Great Britain. This source of danger to the peace of both countries, was removed, as elsewhere related, by a treaty in 1842, which settled the question to the satisfaction of those concerned.
Signal Calamity.—We may not conclude this brief notice of New Brunswick without giving some account of an awful calamity which, in 1828, befel that part of this province which borders on the Mirimachi. In October of that year, during the prevalence of a long drought, the pine forests caught fire. Being filled with resinous substance, and the fire being driven by a high wind, the conflagration was impelled with the most awful rapidity. Its sound was like uninterrupted thunder—its column rose two hundred feet above the loftiest pine. Next was seen, as it were, an ocean of flame, rolling towards New Castle and Douglas; all resistance was vain; these towns were reduced to ashes. The miserable inhabitants, abandoning their all, rushed to the bank, and threw themselves into boats, canoes, on rafts or logs, to convey them down to Chatham; but several, of both sexes, were either killed or severely injured. The flames spread a vast distance into the country, destroying magnificent forests and numerous cattle; even wild beasts and birds were drawn into them by a sort of fascination. The benevolence of the neighboring British provinces and of the United States was most liberally exerted on the distressing occurrence. The towns which were destroyed, have since that time been rebuilt.
[IV. PRINCE EDWARD'S ISLAND.]
Location, Surface, and Climate—Early Settlers—Change of Possession—Plans of Colonization—Character of late Governors—Inhabitants.
Location, Surface, and Climate.—Prince Edward, formerly St. John, is an interesting island, lying in the southern part of the Gulf of St. Lawrence. It has a very winding outline and a crescent-like form, and is deeply indented by bays and inlets. The area is estimated at one million three hundred and eighty thousand seven hundred acres.
Its surface bears a different aspect from that of the adjoining parts of America. It is gently undulating, with hollows filled by numberless little creeks and lakes. The coasts of these, as well as of the open sea, present a peculiarly soft and agreeable scenery, as they are skirted by trees of the most varied foliage.