Lord Shelburne’s statement was correct. He had entered upon the negotiations for peace full of sympathy for the loyalists and resolved to make their cause the cause of England; but when, to his attempts to obtain for them the restoration of their property and the abolition of penal laws, was opposed a steady non possumus, his enthusiasm for his persecuted fellow-countrymen waned; and when at last it was plainly suggested to him that a year’s prolongation of the war would cost more than all the loyalists’ property put together, he consented to accept the assurance, the futility and emptiness of which was evident upon the face of it, that “Congress shall earnestly recommend” to the several states to repeal the laws of attainder and confiscation which had been passed against the Tories and their property. One of the American negotiators brusquely remarked that it was better and more proper that the loyalists should be compensated by their friends than by their enemies. This desertion of their interests almost broke the hearts of some of the best and most public-spirited of the loyalists, who had given up everything for the cause of their country, and now saw themselves consigned to poverty in their old age, or at the best to supplicating aid of the British government and being exposed to all “the insolence of office and the scorns that patient merit of the unworthy takes.”[175]
It took a long time to adjust the claims and to distribute the bounty which was doled out by unwilling officials. It was 1783 when the war closed, but not until 1790 was the indemnity paid out to the claimants; and then England forced her unfortunate pensioners, made paupers by their trust in her, to accept about £3,300,000 for losses reckoned at over £8,000,000. It is estimated that over a thousand claimants had in the mean time perished in want and penury. Those were on the whole more fortunate, as events proved, who had braved it out in America than were those who had trusted to the gratitude of England.[176]
What was the loss of America was the gain to her nearest neighbors, the coast provinces of New Brunswick and Nova Scotia. As early as 1775 the exodus from Boston to Halifax had begun; and when Howe evacuated the city, a large number of loyalists took refuge with the fleet and army, and leaving all behind came to Halifax to seek their fortunes under another sky. From that time on, throughout the war, Halifax was the haven of refuge for persecuted loyalists.[177] At the evacuation of New York and Savannah no fewer than 30,000 persons left the United States for Nova Scotia. Halifax was so crowded that houses could not be had at any price, and provisions were held at famine prices.[178] From northern New York and Vermont the loyalists crossed over into Upper Canada and laid the foundation of that prosperous province under the vigorous government of Governor Simcoe, who during the war had commanded a regiment of loyalist rangers which had done efficient service.[179] With many a suffering, many a privation, these exiles for conscience’ sake toiled to make homes for themselves in the wilderness, and it is to them that the development of those provinces is due. Familiar New England names meet one at every turn in these provinces, especially in Nova Scotia. Dr. Inglis of Trinity Church, New York, was the first bishop, and Judge Sewall of Massachusetts, the first chief justice there. The harshness of the laws and the greed of the new commonwealths thus drove into exile men who could be ill spared, and whose absence showed itself in the lack of balance and of political steadiness that characterized the early history of the Republic. This, moreover, perpetuated a traditional dislike, grudge, and suspicion between the people of the United States and their nearest neighbors, men of the same blood and the same speech; while the new-founded colonies, composed almost exclusively of conservatives, were naturally slow, if sure, in their development.
This dislike and suspicion is now fortunately diminishing with the lapse of years, but it was a great pity it ever was created. The men who were willing to give up home, friends, and property for an idea, are not men to be despised or laughed at, as was the fashion of the generation which roared with delight over the coarse buffooneries of Trumbull’s McFingal. They are rather men for us to claim with pride, and to honor as Americans, Americans who were true to their convictions of duty, confessors for their political faith.
Sabine relates the following conversation:
“‘Why did you come here, when you and your associates were almost certain to endure the sufferings and absolute want of shelter and food which you have now narrated?’ asked an American gentleman of one of the first settlers of St. John, New Brunswick, a man whose life ... was without a stain. ‘Why did we come here?’ replied he, with emotion that brought tears;—‘for our loyalty; think you that our principles were not as dear to us as were yours to you?’”[180]
NOTES.
[152] Franklin’s Memoirs (London, 1818, p. 201), (Sparks, p. 176). “In 1754, war with France being again apprehended, a congress of commissioners from the different colonies was by an order of the lords of trade to be assembled in Albany; there to confer with the chiefs of the six nations, concerning the means of defending both their country and ours.
We met the other commissioners at Albany about the middle of June. In our way thither I projected and drew up a plan for the union of all the colonies under one government, so far as might be necessary for defence, and other important general purposes. As we passed through New York, I had there shown my project to Mr. James Alexander and Mr. Kennedy, two gentlemen of great knowledge in public affairs, and being fortified by their approbation, I ventured to lay it before the congress. It then appeared that several of the commissioners had formed plans of the same kind. A previous question was first taken, whether a union should be established, which passed in the affirmative, unanimously. A committee was then appointed, one member from each colony, to consider the several plans and report. Mine happened to be preferred, and with a few amendments was accordingly reported. By this plan the general government was to be administered by a President General appointed and supported by the Crown; and a grand Council to be chosen by the representatives of the people of the several colonies met in their respective assemblies. The debates upon it in congress went on daily hand in hand with the Indian business. Many objections and difficulties were started, but at length they were all overcome, and the plan was unanimously agreed to, and copies ordered to be transmitted to the board of trade and to the assemblies of the several provinces. Its fate was singular: the assemblies did not adopt it, as they all thought there was too much prerogative in it; and in England it was judged to have too much of the democratic. The different and contrary reasons of dislike to my plan make me suspect that it was really the true medium: and I am still of opinion it would have been happy for both sides if it had been adopted. The colonies so united would have been sufficiently strong to have defended themselves: there would then have been no need of troops from England; of course the subsequent pretext for taxing America, and the bloody contest it occasioned, would have been avoided.”
The plan proposed may be found in Franklin’s Works (Sparks, i. 36), (London, 1833, v. 299); N. Y. Col. Doc., vi. 889. The proceedings of the Congress in N. Y. Col. Doc., vi. 853, other accounts of the Congress by members; Hutchinson, Hist. Mass. Bay, iii. 19–25; William Smith, History of New York, ii. 180; Stephen Hopkins, A true representation of the plan formed at Albany (in 1754) for uniting all the British northern Colonies, in order to their common safety and defence (R. I. Historical Tracts, No. 9). For an excellent brief statement of the attempts at consolidation and plans suggested for that purpose, see Winsor, Narrative and Critical History of the U. S., v. 611.