In the first days of the Upper Canadian Militia, instructions were given to the Captains in each battalion that in the roll of members, all of the U. E. Loyalists enrolled should have the capitals U. E. affixed to their names.
After the war of 1812, it became necessary for the applicant to present a certificate from a Clerk of the Peace that he retained his loyalty. The following is the order of the Executive Council:
York, 27th June, 1816.
“Public notice is hereby given by order of His Excellency Governor in Council, that no petition from sons and daughters of U. E. Loyalists will be hereafter received without a certificate from the Magistrate in Quarter Sessions, signed by the chairman and Clerk of the Peace, that the parent retained his loyalty during the late war, and was under no suspicion of aiding or assisting the enemy. And if a son then of age, that he also was loyal during the late war, and did his duty in defense of the Province. And if a daughter of an U. E. L. married, that her husband was loyal, and did his duty in defense of the Province.” (Signed) John Small, Clerk of the Executive Council.
The steps taken by Government to prevent persons not actually upon the U. E. List from enjoying the peculiar privileges operated sometimes against the U. E. Loyalists unpleasantly, which led to some agitation, as the following will show:
In the year 1832, a meeting was held at Bath. Referring to this meeting the Kingston Herald, of April 4, says:
The alleged injustice of the Government with regard to the sons and daughters of U. E. Loyalists has been a fruitful source of complaint by the grievance-mongers. At the late Bath meeting Mr. Perry offered the following amendment to a resolution, which was negatived by a large majority,
“Resolved, That a free grant of 200 acres of the waste lands of the Crown, by His Majesty the King, to the U. E. Loyalists and their sons and daughters, was intended as a mark of His Majesty’s Royal munificence towards those who had shown a devotedness to His Majesty’s person and government during the sanguinary struggle at the late American Revolution, and that the settlement duty required of late to be performed by the above description of persons and others equally entitled to gratuitous grants, and also their not being allowed the privilege of locating in any, or all townships surveyed and open for location, appears to this meeting to be unjust, and ought therefore to be abolished.”
CHAPTER LXXI.
Contents—Notice of a Few—Booth—Brock—Burritt—Cotter—Cartwright—Conger—Cole—Dempsey—Detlor—Fraser—Finkle—Fisher—Fairfield—Grass—Gamble Hagerman—Johnson’s—“Bill” Johnson—Macaulay—The Captive, Christian Moore—Parliament—Morden—Roblins—Simon—Van Alstine—Wallbridge—Chrysler—White—Wilkins—Stewart—Wilson—Metcalf—Jayne—McIntosh—Bird—Gerow—Vankleek—Perry—Sir William Johnson’s children.