On 4th March, the jail was broken open and the prisoners, six in number, all escaped, of whom five were re-taken. Mr. Green was then Sheriff. Inquiries were instituted, but no information obtained. The delapidated and insecure state of the jail at the time was the subject of public comment.
The money collected for Liquor Licences in the town, between 31st May, 1784, and 31st May, 1785, amounted to £531. Mr. Francis Shipton was Clerk of Licences.
Three vessels were fitted out during the summer of 1786 for the whale fishery,—the schooners Parr and Lively, and the ship Romulus.
This year the merchants and shipowners formed themselves into a society called the Halifax Marine Association, for the benefit of trade. The following year Nova Scotia was erected into a Bishop's See. The Right Reverend Charles Inglis was appointed Bishop. He arrived from England on 16th October, and made Halifax his residence.
On the 3rd July, 1787, the Pegasus, frigate, commanded by Prince William Henry, arrived again at Halifax, 15 days from Jamaica. On Friday, at half-past two o'clock, the troops were drawn up in double line from the wharf to Government House. The Prince landed at the slip under a salute from the artillery on the King's Wharf. He was accompanied to Government House by the Governor and Council, where he received an address from the inhabitants. There was a dinner and ball at Government House in the evening, and a brilliant illumination of the town.
This month two whalers returned bringing 1,060 barrels oil and 72 cwt. whalebone. It is not mentioned whether these vessels belonged to the Quakers or to some of the merchants of the town.
On the 24th June, the Freemasons had a grand procession. They walked to St. Paul's Church, where they heard a sermon from the Rev. Mr. Weeks. The Prince reviewed the troops in garrison on 30th July, consisting of the 57th and 37th Regiments, and the first Battalion of the 60th Regiment.
On the 7th July the fleet, consisting of the Leander, Commodore Sawyer—Pegasus, Prince William Henry—Ariadne, Capt. Osborne, the Resource, and the Brig Weazel, Commander Hood, fell down to the beach, intending to proceed to Quebec the first fair wind. They sailed on the 14th. The Pegasus, with the Prince, returned to Halifax early in November. He received an address on the 6th, from the House of Assembly then in Session. At two o'clock on that day, the barge of the Pegasus with the Royal Standard flying, preceded by the Commodore in his barge, with his pendant, and the Captains of the other ships of war in their barges, proceeded slowly in procession from their ships to the King's Wharf, where the party landed under a salute of 21 guns. They were received at the stairs by the Governor, Council and Assembly, and the troops, under General Ogilvie, being ordered up, they proceeded to Government House, where a number of members of the Legislature were presented to him. They then proceeded through the lines of troops to the Golden Ball,[51] where a handsome dinner was prepared, and where the Prince dined with the members of [52]Assembly and the principal officers of Government. He retired at 6 o'clock, after which a ball was given in the evening at Marchington's new building in Water Street, adjoining the Ordnance Yard, called the British Coffee House. The Prince entered the ball room a little after 8 o'clock, and at 12 the company were conducted into the supper room. The table was handsomely decorated and contained places for 200 people. The Prince is said to have displayed great affability in conversation on the occasion.
An Act was passed this Session authorizing the sale of the Orphan House, the Court House, the Public Slaughter House, and the Old Jail, and to erect a Jail, and also to erect on the Lower Parade a Public Hall, a Province House of Brick or Stone for the setting of the Legislature and Public Offices. The Commissioners appointed for this purpose were John Newton, Richard John Uniacke, John George Pyke and Mr. Taylor. Such parts of this Act as have been executed were afterwards repealed by Act of 1797.
1788. An Election for Members for the Town took place this winter, which was attended with extraordinary excitement. On the 20th February the poll opened, at the Court House, in Halifax; the candidates were Mr. Charles Morris and Jonathan Sterns. It closed on the Friday following, when it stood: Morris, 415; Sterns, 274. Majority for Morris, 141. Mr. Morris was carried through the Town and then taken home to his father's house. Hand-bills had been posted up reflecting on the government. Serious riots at the election occurred and many persons were hurt, some of whom received fractures of the skull and other severe injuries. Armed persons paraded the Town assaulting individuals. As this was a very remarkable election, and resulted in more turbulence and riot than had ever before occurred in the town on such occasions, we here copy the following extract from Anthony Henry's Gazette of 25th February:—"The unwearied and spirited exertions of a number of respectable gentlemen in a great measure calmed the minds of the people, and prevented their violence being carried to any very great length; nevertheless it was utterly impossible, in such confusion, to prevent many persons from being wounded and hurt, two of whom, we are sorry to inform the public, remain in a dangerous state; one having his skull fractured by some persons who rushed out of Laycock's house on the beach, and the other having been dangerously wounded by a shot from a window in the same house. We are likewise sorry to inform the public, that Mr. Benjamin Mulberry Holmes and his son, have been much beaten and abused by the populace on Friday night, and were it not for the very fortunate and timely interposition of Mr. Tobin's man and some others, it is probable they would have fallen a sacrifice to an enraged multitude."