miles square, on the River Saint John, from the British Government; and after several delays in exploring and surveying, they commenced a settlement at Maugerville.

During the American War of 1775, they were joined by a number of other families from New England: the district adjoining Maugerville was settled, and the whole called by the general name of Sunbury, where the Courts of Justice were held till 1783: when the peace with America left the Loyalists who had followed the British standard, to seek an asylum in some part of the British dominions.

Prior to this period a number of families from Yorkshire in England, and others from Massachusetts, had settled in and about Cumberland, where many of their descendants still remain.—These people, actuated by different attachments, lived during the war in a state of hostility with each other;—one part adhering to the British, and the other to the Americans.

In the month of April, 1783, about three thousand persons, men, women, and children, sailed from New-York for the River Saint John; many of them being passengers, but the major part persons who had joined the British army, and were now sent to this Country to be disbanded and settled. In the month of October following, about twelve hundred more arrived from the same place. Those as well as the former had to seek a shelter from the approaching winter, by building log and bark huts; a few indeed were admitted into the houses of the settlers who had resided here before and during the American war. Provisions and clothing were furnished by Government for the first year, with a few implements to commence a settlement. Lord Dorchester appointed the Rev. Mr. Sayre, George Leonard, William Tyng, and James Peters, Esquires, as agents to apply for lands and locate them. Major Studholm was soon after added to the number by Governor Parr.—This Officer at that time commanded the Garrison of Fort Howe, at the entrance of Saint John River. These agents appointed the Rev. Mr. Arnold for their secretary. The duties that devolved on these gentlemen were of the most arduous nature; they had however the satisfaction of receiving the thanks of the Governor and Council of Nova-Scotia, for their upright conduct in transacting that business.

In the year 1785, the present limits of New-Brunswick were divided from Nova-Scotia, and a separate Charter of a Constitution was granted to the Province, under Governor Carleton, with a Council composed of the following gentlemen:—Beverley Robinson, Gabriel G. Ludlow, George D. Ludlow, Abijah Willard, Jonathan Odell, James Putnam, Joshua Upham, Edward Winslow, William Hazen, Gilfred Studholm, and Daniel Bliss.—Beverley Robinson, Abijah Willard, and James Putnam, died soon after, when Beverley Robinson, the son of the former, with George Leonard, and John Saunders, were appointed to succeed them. The above Members of the Council transacted the business of the Province for a long while. Governor Carleton was authorized from the Crown to locate lands to the Loyalists and disbanded Troops in proportion to their ability and rank.

From this period the Province slowly improved in Agriculture, Ship Building, and the exportation of Masts, Spars, &c. to Great-Britain, and Fish, Staves, Shingles, Hoop Poles, and sawed Lumber to the West-Indies. Receiving in return coarse Woollens and other articles from England; and Rum, Sugar, Molasses, and other produce from the West-Indies.—a Town was built at the mouth of the River Saint John, and another at St. Ann's Point, called Fredericton, where part of two Regiments were stationed till the French revolution.—Barracks and other public works were erected in different places, and the upper part of the Country settled by establishing two military posts in the interior, one at the Presqu-Isle, eighty miles above Fredericton, and another at the Grand Falls, fifty-two miles farther up. But the difficulties to which the first settlers were exposed continued for a long time almost insurmountable. Having been reared in a pleasant Country, abounding in all the comforts of life, they found themselves suddenly transplanted to a wilderness with a rigorous climate, devoid of almost every thing that could make life tolerable.—On their arrival they found a few hovels where Saint John is now built, the adjacent country exhibiting a most desolate aspect; which was peculiarly discouraging to people who had just left their homes in the beautiful and cultivated parts of the United States. Up the River Saint John the country appeared better, and a few cultivated spots were found occupied by old settlers. At St. Ann's, where Fredericton was afterwards built, a few scattered huts of French were found; the country all around being a continued wilderness—uninhabited and untrodden, except by the savage and wild animals; and scarcely had these firm friends of their country began to construct their cabins, when they were surprised by the rigors of an untried climate: their habitations being enveloped in snow before they were tenantable. The climate at that period (from what cause has not yet been satisfactorily ascertained) being far more severe than at present. They were frequently put to the greatest straits for food and clothing to preserve existence; a few roots were all that tender mothers could at times procure to allay the importunate calls of their children for food.—Sir Guy Carleton had ordered them provisions for the first year at the expense of Government; but as the country was not much cultivated at that time, food could scarcely be procured on any terms. Frequently had those settlers to go from fifty to one hundred miles with hand sleds or toboggans through wild woods or on the ice to procure a precarious supply for their famishing families. The privations and sufferings of some of those people almost exceed belief. The want of food and clothing in a wild, cold country, was not easily dispensed with or soon remedied. Frequently in the piercing cold of winter a part of the family had to remain up during the night to keep fire in their huts to prevent the other part from freezing. Some very destitute families made use of boards to supply the want of bedding: the father or some of the elder children remaining up by turns, and warming two suitable pieces of boards, which they applied alternately to the smaller children to keep them warm; with many similar expedients.

Some readers looking only at the present state of the country may smile at this account as wildly exaggerated, and may suppose that the skins of the moose and other wild animals would have been a far better substitute for bedding. But I have received the account of the above facts, with many other expedients which were at that time adopted by the settlers, from persons of undoubted veracity, and who had been eye witnesses of what they related. It is, however, needless to enlarge upon the hardships they endured, as most of the sufferers are now no more. Some indeed were discouraged and left the country; but most of those who remained had the pleasure of seeing the country improved and their families comfortably settled. Many of those Loyalists were in the prime of life when they came to this country; and most of them had young families. To establish these they wore out their lives in toil and poverty, and by their unremitting exertions subdued the wilderness, and covered the face of the country with habitations, villages, and towns.

I have not noticed these circumstances as if they were peculiar to the settlers of New-Brunswick; but to hold up to the