Nova Scotia (15 page)

   
While that attitude was slow, very slow, to
change, the idea of more fully “colonizing” Nova Scotia was taking
root in England. In 1749,
The
London Gazette
advertised for
people to move to Nova Scotia and try to make a life there. England
was bursting at the seams with out-of-work soldiers and sailors
since the end of the War of Austrian Succession. Unemployed
soldiers on the streets of London could mean trouble and England
still didn’tt know exactly what she wanted to do with Nova Scotia,
so here was a plan to kill two birds with one stone. George
Montague Dunk, Earl of Halifax, was president of the Board of Trade
and Plantations and he masterminded the colonization
move.

   
Men weren’t exactly beating down his doors to get permission
to move to Nova Scotia. In truth, it was a place that appealed to
few. The earl realized that previous incentives to lure settlers to
Nova Scotia had not been very successful. So he knew he’d have to
sweeten the offer. He also felt that he couldn’t just send over
ship after ship of paupers. First, he’d go after the military men –
or at least those who had already completed their military duty in
the war. Every officer under the rank of ensign would receive
eighty acres. Ensigns would get 200 acres, lieutenants 300,
captains 400 and every rank above that would get a full 600 acres
plus thirty extra for each family member. Of course, North American
land was plentiful and not of much value at all to the Crown. Many
envisioned the entire place to be nothing but trees, bogs and
marshes along a cold, foggy coastline far from the comforts of
England. Rations were promised for one year and there were
assurances of a civil government as well as military protection.
Similar offers of land and support were also given to skilled
craftsmen like carpenters, shipwrights, masons, brickmakers and
bricklayers, surgeons and the like.

   
The discharged sailors and soldiers, however, had seen too
much of life in military quarters, where food and shelter were
guaranteed. This new deal was full of considerable uncertainty and
they were not quick to jump at the prospect. Many qualified workers
in rural areas never even found out about the offer – they failed
to get the news by word of mouth and many were illiterate. They
could not read what was in the papers or on the posteras tacked up
in the cities. Contrary to the earl’s hopes, large numbers of
applications came from the poor of London, who found the promise of
free food enough of a temptation to send them across the sea and
into the wilderness.

   
For once, the ships were brimming with the necessary supplies
as they forged across the Atlantic to create a new town. Four
thousand pounds of gold and silver were stacked into the ships. The
earl’s proposal was indeed one to buy the loyalty and commitment of
the settlers. Along with the gold was a healthy supply of official
stationery, as if to suggest the wilderness could not be conquered
without plenty of paperwork. More practical items such as hospital
supplies, fishing gear, seeds, bricks, blankets, clothes, salted
meats, biscuits, hatchets and surveying equipment were loaded on as
well. Quite a good supply of French Bibles were transported in
hopes of converting Catholic Acadians to Protestantism. The ships
also carried plentiful gifts to make the newcomers welcome to the
Mi’kmaq. These, however, were mostly cheap trinkets, indicative of
a false generosity. *

   
Edward Cornwallis, the son of a lord and a man
with friends in high places, had been appointed to be Captain
General and Governor-in-Chief. There were delays at first as the
number of Cockney passengers, well beyond expectations, filed on
board. Finally, on May 14, 1749, Cornwallis set sail aboard
the
Sphinx
. Thirteen other ships followed soon after from
the delightfully named port of Spithead. s

   
The ships arrived by late June in reasonably good time with
1,174 families. Well over 100 heads of families were retired
military men and over 400 were retired from the Royal Navy. A
sizeable half of the populal tion were former military men. Of the
full complement, there were of course many single men, as well as
440 kids and 420 servants. Many who would settle in Halifax were
not all that familiar with the discomforts of carvoing a garrison
town out of the wilderness. Although the vast majority of settlers
were white, some of those listed as servants were most probably
Black slaves. *

   
With thirty-eight doctors, surgeons and other
medical personnel on the voyage, Cornwallis had reckoned that
medical care, primitive as it was, would be significant to the
success of the new town. This was in sharp contrast to the lack of
medical concern afforded the English troops at Annapolis Royal up
to this time. Some brilliant innovator had even determined that
more people would survive the crossing with minimal diseases if the
holds of the ships were ventilated. Each ship was well-stocked with
medical supplies and the
Roehampton
was
sailing along as a hospital ship.

   
Nova Scotian author Thomas Raddall, whose
passion for the history of this province was of the highest order,
describes Cornwallis as a good-looking bachelor of thirty-six who
had seen battle and even commanded troops against Prince Charlie in
the Highlands. Raddall says he had a pleasant voice and cool
demeanour, although he was known to lose his temper on occasion.
In
Halifax
Warden of the
North
, Raddall notes, “Later
on his voice acquired a rasp, and so did his pen, as troubles
mounted and the harsh winters of the new colony destroyed his
health.” All the best-laid medical preparations could not stave off
the ravages of the Nova Scotia winters, even for the most
privileged.

   
Aiding Cornwallis was Richard Bulkeley – tall, Irish, rich
and handsome – who was not exactly planning on roughing it. He
brought along three good horses, a mountain of personal belongings,
a valet, a groom and a butler. Hosratio Gates, a captain, was also
a close associate of Cornwallis. The illegitimate son of the Duke
of Leeds, he proved to be a capable young officer. In fact, most of
the officers and military men were young by modern standards.
Halifax would be a city of people in their mid-thirties and
younger.

The Amazing Shrinking
Town

When the Halifax settlers arrived
on the twenty-first of June, they saw signs of plentiful fish,
which should have been a good omen that food, at least, would be
available in the new town. The cod would have been closer in to the
coast at that time of year, pollack and haddock would have been
schooling and salmon would be heading upstream, through the harbour
toward Bedford Basin and the river beyond. Everyone aboard was on
the lookout for some greate navigable river but none really existed
here in Chebucto Bay. The harbour opened up into a wide and
ultimately very useful basin with some small rivers emptying into
it.

   
The first government would be both military and civilian,
with Cornwallis in charge. He was supported by Captain Edward How,
Captain John Gorham and civilians Benjamin Green, John Salisbury
and Hugh Davidson, who would act as councillors. Paul Mascarene
would also be on hand after his stint at Fort Anne. He was
considered to have a solid knowledge of the French and the local
Native population, but undoubtedly he had been trained to think of
them as enemy and not ally.

   
Gorham had with him his rangers, mostly New England
descendants, but some were Native people from tribes who were
enemies to the Mi’kmaq. Although Gorham has often been portrayed as
a great defender of white settlers, this may well be a misreading
of history. Mi’kmaq historian Dan Paul describes the rangers as
“some of the most blood-thirsty individuals ever assembled.” French
Father Maillard, who had been living among the Mi’kmaq before the
arrival of the Halifax settlers, recorded that he had observed
Gorham and his men wantonly murder three pregnant Mi’kmaq women and
two small children. Such actions attest to the magnitude of the
brutality of the people who were in control of Nova Scotia at the
time.

   
There was considerable debate as to the precise location for
the new town but a compromise was reached. Halifax would be carved
from the forested hillside just west of George’s Island. A brook,
long since erased by urban development, flowed down to the harbour
in those days and it provided fresh drinking water. It existed
where George Street runs today. There was a big hardwood tree at
the landing site and this became the town’s first gallows. In
future years, the death of criminals by hanging would prove to be a
popular form of entertainment for Haligonians. *

   
Along the shores of the harbour, it is said that settlers
found the skeletal remains of D’Anville’s men, some holding rusting
muskets, some still in tattered French uniforms, some propped
against trees.

   
The location of the new settlement was not all it had been
touted to be by the enthusiastic advertisements. Settlers were only
allowed a small parcel of land within the defences of the new town.
There had been promises of deep, rich soil for farming but, of
course, all of this desirable farming terrain was far away on the
Fundy side of Nova Scotia where the Acadians had been cultivating
for several generations. Realizing the bad deal tchat it was, many
took off for New England on ships within a month of arrival. There
were jobs there, real soil for farming, and more established
communities. The original passenger lists to Halifax reported 158
heads of families who had jobs related to animal husbandry, but by
the end of July another census suggested only sixty-nine settlers
with that skill. Most of the men must have quickly decided that the
Halifax site wasn’t a good place to establish a herd of
anything.

   
Fear of attack by the French and the Mi’kmaq, who had already
suffered serious harassment by the English, made everybody nervous.
For the first two weeks the new arrivals felt vulnerable, until
soldiers under Hopson and Warburton were transferred from
Louisbourg to protect them. During those first two months, most
settlers actually stayed on the transport ships. After a long
voyage in cramped quarters, fear of this new land was still strong
enough to make most hang back in their familiar confines rather
than camp ashore in the Nova Scotia summer. To ease the fears,
Cornwallis sent for Mascarene’s regiment to come up from Annapolis
Royal to ensure protection of the civilians. As soon as Mascarene
and his troops arrived in July, the first Council meeting was
convened, after which Cornwallis wrote a letter of frustration to
the Lords of Trade in London. He noted that his population had
dwindled to 1,400 from the initial 2,547 who had arrived not more
than a month earlier. Halifax was a diminishing city even before it
had taken root.

   
In his complaint, Cornwallis wrote that many soldiers “only
wanted a passage to New England. Many [of the passengers] have come
as into a Hospital, to be cured, some of veneral [sic] disorders,
some even incurables. I d o all I can to make them useful, but I
shall be obliged, I believe, to send some of them away. I published
a proclamation in the terms advised by your Lordships with regard
to such as should [anyone] . . . be absent two days together
without permission, forfeiture of all rights and privileges of
settlers. Eight fellows that had gone off to Canada and were
brought back, I punished [them] by striking their names out of the
Mess Books, and  out of your Lordships Lists, and ordered them
to leave the province.”

   
Well, orders to leave the province were probably not such
great punishment if it meant a chance to move on to New England. In
fact, Cortnwallis’s meagre threats didn’t stem the flow of
un-settlers. Nearly a thousand people departed in July.
Transportation to New England was not hard to come by. Raddall
speculates that some may have left because they were Catholic and,
therefore, were not permitted to own land. Many of the Catholics
were here as workers or servants and they soon realized that more
freedom could be had in New England or elsewhere. At least 191
families were not granted land as promised when it was handed out
in August.

The Bottom Line

There was nothing fancy about the
layout of the town. The settlement was set out in blocks, each 98
metres by 37 metres with sixteen house lots per block, each
measuring 18 metres by 12 metres. There were only twelve streets in
all. A rectangular “square” was created as the official centre of
activity. A church, St. Paul’s, would be built at the north end and
the first courthouse was built at the south. (St. Paul’s later
moved to the south end.) The Parade Ground which exists today along
Barrington Street was not at all flat, but sloping, as it had been
set up on the side of a hill leading up to the Citadel. It would
not be levelled off until the turn of the century. The streets were
named in honour of notables back home, many of whom were
responsible for sending the English settlers to this place. Holles
Street (later changed to Hollis) was named for Prime Minister Henry
Pelham’s mother, Bedford Row for the Duke of Bedford, Granville for
the Rt. Hon. George Granville, Barrington for Viscount Barrington
of Ardglass, Argyle for the Duke of Argyle and so on. George Street
was named for the King; Prince and Duke streets were thrown in for
good measure as generic names for anyone who might have been
missed. o