"One of Captain Joseph Ryerson's old comrades, Peter Redner, of the Bay Quinté, says: 'He was a man of daring intrepidity, and a great favourite in his company.' He represented Captain Ryerson as one of the most determined men he ever knew. With the service of his country uppermost in his mind, he often exposed himself to great danger to accomplish his desires." (p. 119.)
CHAPTER XLII.
Governments of the British Provinces—Nova Scotia.
To the painful narrative given of the banishment of the Loyalists, and confiscation of their property, at the close of the revolutionary war, and their settlement in the British provinces of Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Lower and Upper Canada, so fully detailed in the preceding pages, it is proper to add some account of the Provincial Governments.
Nova Scotia is the oldest of the present British American Provinces. This territory had the general appellation of New France, or Acadia, and comprehended, until 1784, New Brunswick and Cape Breton. It was originally regarded as a part of Cabot's discovery of Terra Nova, and as such claimed by the English Government, and was afterwards comprehended within the boundary of a large portion of America, called North Virginia. In the wars between France and England this country changed masters several times; but in 1710 Nova Scotia was again re-conquered by the forces of her Britannic Majesty Queen Anne, sent from New England, under the command of General Nicholson; and by the Treaty of Utrecht, in 1712, it was finally ceded and secured to Great Britain, and has ever since continued in her possession.[141]
"There were originally three sorts of government established by the English on the continent of America: Charter Governments, such as those of Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut; Proprietary Governments, as Pennsylvania and Maryland; and Royal Government, as Nova Scotia. A Royal Government is immediately dependent upon the Crown, and the King appoints the Governor and officers of State, and the people only elect the representatives, as in England."[142]
"Peace was declared between France and England the 8th of November, 1762; and by the treaty which followed, all the French possessions in Canada, with Nova Scotia, Cape Breton, and the islands in the Gulf of the St. Lawrence, were ceded to Great Britain. In the year 1764, the Island of St. John, named Prince Edward Island in 1799, in honour of the Duke of Kent, was annexed to Nova Scotia.
"Of Acadia, and accordingly of Nova Scotia, during its early government by the English, the province now known as New Brunswick formed a part, and to the colony was added, in 1758, the Island of Cape Breton, then finally taken from the French. In the same year the military rule which had prevailed was exchanged for a regular Constitution, in which a Governor, representing the British Crown, presided over a Legislative Council and a House of Assembly modelled to some extent from the two estates of the English Parliament."[143]
The first Assembly of Nova Scotia met on the 7th of October, 1758, at Halifax, and elected Robert Sanderson as Speaker. A number of laws passed by the Governor and Council were passed with slight alterations; and the Assembly, on the question being put whether any money should be paid them for their services, unanimously resolved that the members should serve without any remuneration that session. (This was repealed by the members of the next elected Assembly.) The usual Speech from the Throne was made, and a complimentary address was moved in reply; and the Governor and his new Assembly got on better together than he had expected.[144]