Thomas B. Akins

“ Our youths were eager to participate in the path that seemed to lead by a few steps to honor, glory, and fortune; and indeed when it is borne in mind that several Halifax lads rose to be admirals, we can hardly wonder at the school-boys' desire to wear the white stripe on his collar, and the ivory-handled dirk that indicated his authority to command men. The little capital, then occupying a restricted space, became crowded. Trade was active, prices rose. The fleet increasing, provisions were in great demand, and this acted as a large bounty in favor of the agriculturist and the fisherman. ”

“ Soon after the peace the prosperity of Halifax began to wane. The price of provisions and all the necessaries of life, the value of real estate and the high rents of houses in the town all became more or less affected by the scarcity of money arising from the withdrawal of the troops and navy and the sudden alterations in trade. The reaction was not fully realized until about two years after peace was proclaimed, when the rapid fall off in the value of real estate and the sudden check given to commercial pursuits was found to have reduced many speculators to poverty. ”

“ Our work goes briskly, and the method of employing the people in ships' companies has a good effect, and as the Governor is preparing to lay out the lots of land, we shall soon have a very convenient and pleasant town built, which is to be called Halifax. There are already several wharves built, and one gentleman is erecting a saw mill; public store houses are also building, and grain of various sorts have been sown. We have received constant supplies of plank and timber for building, and fresh stock and rum in great quantities, 20 schooners frequently coming in in one day. ”

“ A French writer, (I refer to a little work, now a scarce book, published during the second siege of Louisburg) , states that the English neglected to cultivate an acquaintance with the manners and customs of the Indians, and it was therefore not surprising at the time, that they should show less affection towards them than towards the French, who had great regard to their humours and inclinations.
"So strong is their aversion to despotic power," says the author, "that force will never do; they will yield to nothing but persuasion. ”

“ In August, 1783, a number of Negro refugees arrived from New York. It was resolved that they should be settled in different parts of the Province; however, not a few remained in Halifax, and became servants and labourers.
The Loyalists continued to come from the old Colonies, many of them in a destitute and helpless condition, until the population of the town was increased to three times its former number, and much temporary suffering in consequence prevailed. Yet many intelligent and enterprising settlers were at this period added to our population, giving new life and spirit to the town. ”

“ The want of sufficient space in the central parts of the town for the convenience of markets and the erection of public buildings, has been always an impediment to the improvement and embellishment of the city. The small dimensions of the lots as originally laid out, being only forty feet by sixty, and the short space between the streets, the narrow spaces allowed for the public landings, and the small size of the water grants for the erection of wharves in the old town, have been a continual drawback to the convenience of trade and the progress of improvement in front of the town. ”

“ While I have the power to sit in the chair, be assured the authority of Government shall be ready to support the law, for the law, gentlemen, is the firm and solid basis of civil society, the guardian of liberty, the protection of the innocent, the terror of the guilty, and the scourge of the wicked. ”

“ Many of the French sailors were ingenious workers in wood and bone, and made articles of use as well as ornament, which they sold to the numerous visitors who were freely permitted access to Melville Island. It was the favorite resort of the young people on Sundays and holidays, where a pleasant hour could be passed in conversing with the French prisoners and examining their toys. The French naval officers were on parole of honor, and resided in Dartmouth and Preston. They spent their time chiefly in field sports, occasionally visiting Halifax,{157} where they mixed freely in society. ”

“ At the commencement of the century Halifax presented a prosperous condition. The population now approached 9,000. Trade was brisk, and the place was enlivened by a large garrison and the presence of a Prince of the Blood Royal. The harbor was the resort of the fleet and was the principal station of the naval commander. The war was at its height and the Prize Court in full operation. Several privateers had been fitted out by the merchants of the town and captures of French vessels were frequent, though the trade of the port occasionally suffered from the French cruisers on the coast. ”

“ In June, 1763, the Council recommended the Governor to make a grant of the Common for the Town of Halifax to trustees for the benefit of the inhabitants. The Trustees were John Collier, Charles Morris, Richard Bulkeley, William Nesbitt, Charles Proctor and Richard Best. Some question having arisen as to the limits of the common, the Council were unanimously of the opinion that the lands which had been granted without the town were not within the limits of the Common as appeared by the plan thereof laid before the Lords of Trade, and which had not been disapproved of by their Lordships. ”

“ If there was no public money circulating, lots would be given for a gallon of rum. The money is laid out in building forts, barracks, store houses, hospitals, churches, wharves, etc., public works all that seem absolutely necessary. According to your Lordship's directions, I have discharged the two Government Apothecaries and shall discharge some of the Surgeons' Mates that may be spared. As for the saw mill, we never had one board from it—it has been a constant plague from the beginning. Thirty men have been constantly kept there ever since the affair of the Indians. ”

“ Sir George Cochran, the naval commander, sent them on to Halifax, where many of them arrived in September, following in a transport ship and the Brig Jasper. They were afterwards located at Preston and Hammond's Plains. Many of the domestic slaves remained in the town as servants, attaching themselves to the inhabitants. Those who went to the country, being unused to cold and hard labor, were unable even with the assistance of the Government allowance to make their living; soon became paupers and a burden to the community, a condition in which their children and grand-children largely remain. ”

“ The regular troops, as well as the undisciplined militia, proving unfit for such warfare, it was found necessary to employ the New England Rangers. These were volunteers from the New England provinces, accustomed to Indian warfare, many of them Indians and half-bloods. They ascended the rivers, penetrated into the heart of the province, and attacked the enemy in their strongholds. The Indians finding they were opposed by men equally accustomed to the forest with themselves, soon found it their interest to make peace with the British. ”

“ He was very remarkable as being the most corpulent man in town. The late Samuel Muirhead, who kept a liquor shop at the head of the Market Wharf, was next in size to Mr. Clarke. Muirhead died in 1820, and Clarke, from that time to the day of his death, had no competitor. No man was better known or more popular for about thirty years in Halifax than David Shaw Clarke. He was succeeded in his office by his son James Stewart Clarke.
Drunken people were frequently to be seen in the streets in those days, yet the peace of the town was tolerably well preserved by the three or four police constables. ”

“ In the first place, it would have been too far up for the fishermen, it being about five leagues from the entrance of the Harbour to those points, and the beach all along as well adapted for curing their fish as can possibly be imagined; no fisherman would ever have thought of going within these forts. Indeed no ship would choose to go so far, as no finer harbour can be than that of Chebucto, which reaches from these points to Sandwich River; so that notwithstanding any forts upon these points, an enemy's fleet might be secure and indeed block up all ships within the bay. ”

“ Notwithstanding the advantages held out by Government to the settlers at Halifax, and the repeated large grants of money by Parliament, the people were rapidly removing to the old Colonies. Little progress had been made in clearing the country. The fishery, one of the main inducements of the settlement, was almost altogether neglected, and the population was reduced to much less than half its original number. They subsisted chiefly on the money expended by the Army and Navy, and were dependent on Boston for their provisions and many other necessary supplies. ”

“ In one of his last letters to the Board of Trade, in reference to the disturbed state of the country, Governor Hopson says, "Your Lordships may imagine how disagreeable it is to me to see His Majesty's rights encroached upon, and those encroachments openly avowed and supported by the Governors of Canada and Louisburg, when it is not in my power to prevent it. I have barely a sufficient force to protect the settlers from the insults of an Indian war, under pretence of which the French take all opportunity to commit hostilities upon His Majesty's subjects. ”

“ This winter the theatre on Fairbanks' wharf was again in operation and as attractive as ever. Miss Powell was at this time giving lessons in dancing. She gave her spring ball at Mason Hall on 21st May. This lady, who was patronized by the fashionable part of the community, was the daughter of Mr. Powell who conducted the theatre in Argyle Street when under the patronage of the Duke of Kent. She lived many years in Halifax and died at an advanced age, having been dependent on the charity of her friends for several years before her death. ”

“ At the close of the war a quantity of American soldiers' uniforms, taken at Castine, in Maine, were served out to the Chesapeake negroes. Their grotesque appearance in the blue and yellow coats, occasionally intermixed with the green and red facings of the corps called the York Rangers, (at the peace disbanded in Halifax,) must be within the recollection of many of our old inhabitants. ”

“ A constant bustle existed in our chief streets, cannon were forever noisy; it was a salute of a man-of-war entering or leaving, practising with guns or celebrating something or somebody. There is another side to this picture which must not be omitted. The moral condition of the town had become dreadful in the extreme. Eight or ten thousand soldiers, sailors, and prisoners of war let loose in a little town of less than 10,000 inhabitants can well be imagined."
The upper streets were full of brothels; grog shops and dancing houses were to be seen in almost every part of the town. ”

“ One of the most atrocious cases of piracy and murder on record occurred this autumn on the coast to the eastward of Halifax. The vessel was the Three Sisters, of Halifax, owned by Jonathan and John Tremain, merchants of the town, commanded by Captain John Stairs, brother of the late Honorable William Stairs, formerly president of the Union Bank. She was on her way from Gaspé Bay to Halifax with a cargo of fish. Edward Jordan, who had been formerly owner of this vessel or in some way concerned with her, took passage for himself and wife and four children with Capt. Stairs for Halifax. ”

“ I entertain the most sanguine hopes that you are come together unanimously disposed to promote the service of the Crown, or in other words, the real welfare and prosperity of the people whom you have the honour to represent, in every point to the utmost of your authority and capacity. ”

“ I have, says Governor Cornwallis, in his letter of the 20th August, contracted for frames and materials for barracks and officers' lodgings from Boston. Boards are very high owing to the drought. I have got none under £4 per thousand, and shall be obliged to furnish a vast number to help the people to get under cover, and have sent an officer on purpose to Boston to obtain them at a fair price. Many houses are begun and huts and log houses already up for more than half a mile on each side the town. ”

“ Sir John, having left a garrison to take care of his conquest, soon returned with his little army to Halifax. Several Halifax merchants availed themselves of the opening afforded to make money, sent agents with supplies of goods to establish shops at Castine, etc. The British authorities collected the Revenue of Maine while in occupation, which amounted to a considerable sum of money. This fund was placed by the colonial minister in the hands of the Lieutenant-Governor of Nova Scotia, who appropriated it in various ways as he thought most for the benefit of the country. ”

“ This was the only British port within the Province, with the exception of that of Canso, where, during the fishing season, a number of French, with a few Indians and New England fishermen, assembled, and where a captain's guard was usually stationed to preserve order and protect the rights of property. The French population, though professing to be neutral, had refused to take the Oath of Allegiance to the Crown of Great Britain, and were continually in a state of hostility to the British authorities in the country. ”