The civil authority at this period was vested in the Court of General Sessions of the Peace for the County of Sunbury, which used to meet regularly at Maugerville, and of which James Simonds, James White, Israel Perley, Gervas Say and Jacob Barker, Esquires, were members. One of the notices issued by order of the court was as follows:—
PUBLIC NOTICE.
Application having been made to the Court of General Quarter Sessions of the Peace, for the County of Sunbury and Province of Nova Scotia, held at Maugerville on the Second Tuesday of October, A. D., 1781, setting forth the necessity of having a Publick House of Entertainment kept near the Harbour of the River St. Johns:—Therefore by virtue of the Authority vested in the said Court by the Laws of the said Province, Licence is hereby given to Philip Newton to keep a Publick House of Entertainment and to retail Spirituous Liquors for the space of one year at the place aforesaid, he the said Philip Newton keeping and maintaining good order agreeable to the Laws of this Province.
By order of the said court,
BENJ. ATHERTON, Clerk Peace.
It is not improbable that Philip Newton, mentioned above, was a relative of Hon. Henry Newton, member of the Council of Nova Scotia, and Collector of 344 Customs at Halifax. His stay at St. John was evidently brief, and this is the only known reference to him.
In 1782 the disturbed condition of affairs, consequent upon the Revolution, had so far improved that St. John was made a Port of Entry, with James White as Deputy Collector, under Henry Newton of Halifax. It was truly the day of small things with the future Winter Port of Canada. The following is a list of the vessels that entered and cleared in the year 1782.
| Entered. | Tons. | Cleared. | Tons. |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rosanna | 17 | Rosanna | 17 |
| Betsy | 10 | Peggy | 8 |
| Escape | 10 | Betsy | 10 |
| Polly | 10 | Escape | 10 |
| Sally | 10 | Polly | 10 |
| Lark | 18 | Sally | 10 |
| Ranger | 12 | Lark | 18 |
| Prosperity | 10 | Ranger | 12 |
| Unity | 10 | Prosperity | 10 |
| Speedy | 7 | Unity | 10 |
| Little Tom | 30 | Little Tom | 30 |
| Monaguash | 20 | ||
| Total tonnage | 144 | Total tonnage | 165 |
The emoluments derived by James White from his office as Deputy Collector of Customs were small. William Hazen’s position, as commissary of the garrison of Fort Howe, was something better. Most of the supplies of fuel, meat and vegetables for the garrison were furnished by Messrs. Hazen & White, and the profits were considerable. In the year 1782, for example, they furnished 172 cords of firewood for which the price paid them was 20 shillings a cord.
An event was now to transpire which marks an epoch in the history of St. John and which in the course of a few months served to transform the little community at the mouth of the river from the dimensions of a hamlet to those of a respectable town. The war between Great Britain and the old Colonies was over and the colonies had gained their independence. Had they been wise they would, as Dr. Hannay well observes, have tempered their triumph with moderation. They would have encouraged those who had espoused the Royal cause to remain and assist in building up the new nation which they had founded. Instead of this, they committed one of the most stupendous acts of short sighted folly ever perpetrated by a people. They passed edicts of banishment against the persons, and acts of confiscation against the estates of the Loyalists. They drove them out, poor in purse indeed, but rich in experience, determination, energy, education, intellect and the other qualities which build up states, and with their hearts fired and their energies stimulated with hatred of republicanism. They drove them out 70,000 strong to build up a rival nation at their very doors which perhaps would never have had an existence but for the rash folly of those who persecuted the Loyalists.