Nova Scotia

by Lesley Choyce

  Halifax attracted an odd assortment of settlers, some of them American traders and fishermen. One naval captain by the name of Bloss built a mansion of sorts in Halifax and kept sixteen Black slaves. Another infamous chearacter was Joshua Mauger, who also had his own personal Black slaves. He made his money in the West Indies slave trade with ships run by slave labour. Mauger had been on hand to pillage Louisbourg in 1745 and then moved with the crowd to Halifax to make it big as an entrepreneur, with a fishing station on McNab’s Island. You can still swim at Mauger’s Beach on the island today, if you don’t mind the pollution. The wily Mauger was warehousing rum in town as well. He provided food for His Majesty’s fleet at a good profit and traded with the Mi’kmaq. Cornwallis was more than a little miffed that Mauger had a healthy smuggling business going on with the French at Louisbourg, but the man was too rich to tamper with.

  Burned at the Crossroads

  Bartholomew Green set up the first printing press on Grafton Street in 1751 and the next year, his partner, John Bushell, published the first edition of The Halifax Gazette – the first newspaper in Canada. The local content was mostly advertisements and it carried old news garnered from month-old English papers.

  Raddall envisions early Halifax as a thriving town with hotels, blacksmiths, stores, at least one “academy,” teachers of dance, artisans and everything necessary for bringing English civilization to this uncomfortable 'rustic place. The less polite side of this city involved things like Joshua Mauger’s slave trade run out of Major Lockman’s store and other fashionable locales where Black men, women and children were bought and sold. The price for a Mi’kmaq scalp had risen as high as £30 in Halifax before the so-called raids diminished along the Halifax and Dartmouth frontier. Even if the French, or possibly even the Mohawk, were responsible for sucth raids, it would be the Mi’kmaq who paid with their scalps and their lives.

  Streets of Stumps, Rocks and Occasional Riots

  So what exactly did early Halifax look like? Well, the streets were pretty bumpy with tree stumps and rocks. They were muddy in spring and fall and dusty in the summer. Human waste and garbage pails were emptied into the street gutters or anywhere convenient, which gave the town an aroma that Haligonians learned to adjust to. (Even at the beginning of the twenty-first century, Halifax dumped its human waste untreated into the harbour.) Those who couldn’t adjust to life in town would move into the wilderness or south to New England. For many who stayed on, the filth bred diseases that would kill them.

  The rough log walls of early Halifax homes were beginning to shape up with coverings of sawed boards and wood shingles. Some frame houses were now being built and all manner of shops were being set up, mostly in the front of homes.

  Probably one of the weirdest days of the year in Halifax was November 5, Gunpowder Plot Day, better known now as Guy Fawkes Day. One group of rowdy effigy-toting Haligonians would set itself up against another band of rivals. They cursed, fought, drank heavily and had a bloody, merry time trying to beat the living daylights out of each other as they attempted to capture the opposition’s effigies. d

  However, authorities did their best to maintain some semblance of order, usually of the military variety. Every male between sixteen and sixty was required to serve in the military. The “regulars” lived in wooden barracks to the south of Citadel Hill and to the north, near today’s corner of Brunswick and Cogswell. The road between them, Brunswick Street, was also called Barrack Street and it was well-known for its liquor dealers, pimps and prostitutes. It would suffice to call it a slum. Its rival slum kwas on Water Street, another boozy place that catered to the earthly pleasures, vices and the degeneration of sailors, soldiers and anyone else willing to pay the price. Fights and riots spiced up the night life of Water Street and no decree from the Council seemed to greatly alter the character of these two colourful sectors of Halifax.

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 16

  Wanted: Hard-working Protestants

  After the arrival of the Alderney, more ships kept coming with European immigrants for the new homeland. The Speedwell, the Gale, the Pearl and the Murdochall arrived, each with two to three hundred passengers hoping to start a new life. For military and political reasons it made sense to get loyal subjects settled into a territory bthat might once again be in dispute with France. But why so many foreigners? All of these ships, with the exception of the Alderney, were arriving from Rotterdam with Foreign Protestants. Englishmen, for the most part, wanted to stay at home during this time. And for good reason. Agriculture was in a golden age and there was no war on the home soil. Those exported to the colonies were generally somewhat undesirable – war veterans who could not easily fit back into civilian life and the unemployed from the cities. The working poor, however, were needed at home to keep industry and agriculture moving, so they were not encouraged to leave.

  Cornwallis had long since recognized that the English coming to Halifax were lazy and he pushed for people with a stronger work ethic, no matter where they came from. It was no less than a matter of survival. Young, unmarried men were the most desirable immigrants, or so Cornwallis thought. In truth, they were more likely to head off for more adventure or a better life elsewhere.

  Exploiting the Immigrants

  The whole business of immigration was rife with exploitation. The British agent in charge of bringing in foreign settlers in 1749 was a merchant named John Dick. A Scotsman from a distinguished family, he had a reputation as a heartless scoundrel. He helped a guy named Count Orloff in a complicated marriage scam that conned for himself a knighthood in Russia. He had decided to call himself Sir John Dick and argued that he was the descendant of good old Sir William, one of the Knight Baronets.

  Dick promised other Europeans the same deal as the English in settling, but they had to pay their own way across the Atlantic and Dick often profited in the wheelings and dealings that would get them to Nova Scotia. The journey for the Germans was inevitably more dangerous than for the English. Take, for example, the case of those who came over on the Ann. Transportation arranged by John Dick was supposed to be on hand when the emigrants arrived at the Prussian border. However, Dick’s competitor, a Mr. Steadman, arrived at the meeting place to persuade the voyagers to come with him. He pretended he was Dick and when Dick’s own agents said otherwise, Steadman tried to get revenge by convincing the crowd that Nova Scotia was a barren, inhospitable land and the Germans were only wanted as soldiers against the French and Indians. The crowd rioted against Steadman and drove him off. Later Steadman returned and entreated some of the poor confused peasants to take passage to Philadelphia. Some were nearly kidnapped and the whole thing was a snarled mess, probably representative of the pur e chaos that marked most of these early efforts at immigration.* The skirmish also created bad press for Dick on the continent and discouraged some would-be settlers who had concluded that the English were simply insane.

  Most of the passengers who did board the Ann were “redemptioners” – that is, they couldn’t afford the ticket and would have to pay off the bill with their own labour. This system led to further human exploitation as people sold themselves and their families to the agents who actually resold them to the highest bidders upon their arrival. If a debtor tried to run off or in any way refuse servitude, he was put in prison or otherwise punished. The only financial problem here for Dick and his business was that there simply weren’t enough people with money in Nova Scotia to buy the immigrants. His best shot was to sell them off to the Board of Trade. Then it became the governor’s headache to figure out how they would work off the debt – partly by helping to build Halifax. So the redemptioners were sent to work, putting money back in Mr. Dick’s pocket and giving Halifax the labour force it so desperately needed.

  What was it like for those passengers on the Ann with a man like Mr. Dick in charge of their comfort and their fate? The ship was crowded and unventilated to begin with. On their arrival, Cornwallis wrote that the passeungers were “very sickly a
nd many dead. They were, in general, old miserable wretches and complain much of their passages not being paid as the Swiss were.” He was also much distressed to discover some Roman Catholics and had immediate intentions of having them booted out of Nova Scotia.

  When Hopson took over in 1752, he received some complaints about John Dick, who was accused of overcrowding his ships, of making passengers sleep on bare wooden decks and transporting unsuitable immigrants who were old or already infirm. Mr. Dick countered that he would never allow his passengers to be less than comfortable and attributed the many deaths to bad weather. He argued that the elderly were on board because he felt bad about breaking up families. In the end, Dick was given the boot by the Board of Trade and lost his monopoly on human freight and, to a degree, slavery.

  But there were other complaints as well and not all of them aimed at Dick. The land-grant arrangement simply wasn’t what was promised. The government was also supposed to provide implements for farming and raising anim*als to help establish the new citizens as farmers and herdsmen. The Germans, because of a faulty translation, thought they would also get household items like pots, bedding and enough tools to really start off with a household. But this was not to be. They felt cheated and so developed a grudge with a lifespan of several generations.

  When all those “foreigners” arrived in Halifax, they went right to work to begin paying off their debts. The government set the wages artificially low. This also meant that pay could be lowered, in the name of “fairness,” for those already working in Halifax. You either had to work for low pay or get out of Halifax. It seems that nobody in power figured there could possibly be any complaints. But they figured wrong. The Germans began to protest. They may have been hard workers but they were nobody’s fools.

  This set Cornwallis thinking about the original plan to establish secondary settlements away from Halifax. The town needed food anyway and it would be a good idea to set up a farming community to provide for her needs. So most of the Foreign Protestants would be sent off, along with about 300 English settlers, to get some farming going. But where to send them? The Fundy area was fertile but there were still those nagging worries about the French influence and, of course, fears about the Mi’kmaq, who were friendly with the Acadians and therefore considered dangerous.

  Well, something had to be done with Dartmouth on the other side of the harbour, so the immigrants from the Speedwell would put up the picket wall over there and build up the settlement that had been abandoned after the previous hostilities with the Mi’kmaq. Immigrants from the Gale would settle further up on Bedford Basin. Cornwallis eventually handed the worrisome matters of settlement over to Hopson,o who didn’t like the idea of granting any land around Halifax Harbour to these foreigners. Still, the problem lingered as to where to put them all. England was continuing to foot the bill for their food and that was draining the purse. Such headaches.

  Some of the foreigners saw the bad deal that was going down and left to live with the French. Many of these deserters were returned, although the Catholics stayed on with the French. The Germans were getting more and more uncomfortable with the situation in Halifax. Hopson tried to import a Lutheran minister in hopes that a little religion would act as a pacifier but that proved unsuccessful.

  The Foreign Protestants organized their own religious activity anyway and, by 1752, many had worked off their debts and achieved the freedom to work for personal wages. Hopson decided to extend the free food – these immigrants, after all, had dramatically improved the colony with their labour. u

  An Uneasy Settlement

  Hopson sent word off to London that he needed money and supplies for the Foreign Protestants to get on with establishing Lunenburg. Even before he received approval, he decided to go forward with the plan. His cheap labour pool, however, had grown exceedingly restless and he didn’t want an uprising on his hands. Food and other provisions would be needed for at least another year to keep these people alive until they could fully providet for themselves – and, of course, for Halifax. Hopson could only hope that the Board of Trade would see his desperation and come through.

  Mirliguegh was the Mi’kmaq name of the location and it would be renamed Lunenburg. The soil was not as good as in the Fundy area but it was reported to be fertile. The settlement would be on a defensible peninsula of 6,000 acres. Fishing, if considered at all, was of secondary importance here. So on Monday, May 21, 1753, at 7 a.m., the Foreign Protestants each drew a card from a pack – in St. Paul’s Church. The card had a number representing the plot of land that the settler could build on and farm. Charles Lawrence would be in charge of things to begin with and Patrick Sutherland would take over if Lawrence were needed elsewhere – and Hopson knew he would be. Hopson also hired English and foreign overseers to make sure that the immigrants would live up to their bargain and provide food for Halifax. Lawrence and Sutherland mustered 500 men and boys for a militia to ward off (or incite) hostilities, as was deemed appropriate.

  The Mi’kmaq had already had enough of the haughty English coming in and running them off their own land. Word reached Hopson that 300 Native people were ready to fight to save Mirliguegh against an English invasion. The wily Hopson sent a courier to the South Shore with a false message that the settlement would be delayed. The Mi’kmaq either intercepted the messenger or changed their minds about an immediate confrontation, because thein expected battle never took place upon the arrival of the settlers.

  Colonel Lawrence thought he had a neat, organized plan as to how things should proceed, but the Germans had had enough of being pushed around by the English. They cut trees for shelter at their own discretion and went walking in the woods without regard for the dangers. Lawrence could not tolerate this lack of discipline, so he issued orders to cut off provisions to anyone who didn’t follow his instructions. Worse still, those who could not follow orders would be sent back to Halifax. Point made.

  The Germans didn’t exactly cower at his command. They insisted on having Sunday off to rest. Many refused to cut trees for the picket wall that would help defend the peninsula. Lawrence was very paranoid that an Indian raid was imminent. He wanted more control of what he called the “turbulent” Germans, insisting they begin work at 4:30 in the morning. He delayed doling out the lots of land until he realized their “turbulence” was reaching the boiling point. Finally, Lawrence agreed to give out the land if the settlers promised to act more orderly.

  Blockhouses, palisades and a wharf were successfully built. During that first short, wet summer, progress was delayed time and again by chronic diarrhea. With everyone building and clearing land, not enough effort was oput into catching and preserving fish which could have helped sustain them through the winter. Rations were low. Some people simply gave up and left – or deserted, as the English would call it. If you were caught, you’d be put in the brig aboard theAlbany.

  Lawrence offered up a shilling a day for work on the necessary “public” projects. Nonetheless, the food rations were really slim and people did not have time to do the necessary clearing and gardening which would have helped them to be self-sufficient. The Foreign Protestants really wished the English could have just left them alone to fend for themselves and get on with their lives. Lawrence viewed this independent spirit as lawlessness. At one point, he genuinely wished for a Mi’kmaq attack in order to reinstil a recognition of the need to be protected. Had the English slipped back to Halifax and left the settlers alone, it’s possible they would have made friends with the local Native population, but this would be impossible with Lawrence and his soldiers in control.

  Eventually, Lawrence could report (without stretching the lie too far) that the settlement was going well – at least the people were too busy for open rebellion. When they asked for livestock to further their self-sufficiaency, their request was granted by Halifax. However, on December 17, 1753, a message arrived in Halifax from Patrick Sutherland saying that the Foreign Protestants were in armed rebellion against the British. Cou
ncil sent 200 soldiers under Lieutenant Colonel Monckton to use any means necessary to put down the uprising. d

  The man who stirred things up has been described as a “nervous illiterate” named John Petrequin, but he may only have been illiterate in English and he may also have had good reason to be agitated over the way the English were treating his friends and neighbours. Petrequin had supposedly received a letter suggesting that the settlers should be receiving a great bounty of food, housing supplies and farming equipment. But this was, of course, not the case. Word got out about this letter and people began to get angry. Unfortunately, Petrequin could not produce the letter. It was lost or destroyed. Everyone got mad at Petrequin and he was locked up in the blockhouse. The English released him, but he was seized again by the townspeople, who confined and tortured him to try and make him produce the letter.

  As this convoluted tale of a missing letter proceeded, paranoia grew over the fact that the English must have destroyed the letter to hide evidence of the supposed supplies for the colonists. The eventual result was an outright riot which brought to boil the hostility the settlers were feeling toward the English. Word was sent to Halifax for troops, but Sutherland also tried to convince the settlers that they were about to be attacked by the Mi’kmaq and that he ought to mount big guns on the barricades. The settlers didn’t buy this. New demands were being made of Sutherland. Were the people of Lunenburg being cheated out of what was rightfully theirs? After all, they had been promised so much more than the English had provided.

  Monckton and his men arrived and the settlers gave up the blockhouse. Things began to quieten down and Petrequin admitted that maybe there had never been a letter and he had lied about a few other things as well. Various individuals on both sides were charged with treason, conspiracy, high crimes and misdemeanours. It all sounds a bit like a comedy of errors, except for the fact that it illustrates how deeply angry these immigrants were about their treatment by the English and the promises that had been broken.