35 The British Settlement of Canada , 1781-1801. In the latter part of 1777 Major General Sir Frederick Haldimand (1718- 1791), was appointed Governor of Canada , which position he held from 1778 until 1784. He was a Swiss by birth, a soldier by profession, and enlisted in the British service in America in 1756. He organized in Pennsylvania the " Royal Americans ," of which he became commander . In 1759 he won distinction by his successful defence of Oswego and from 1767 to 1773 commanded the garrison at Pensacola, Florida . When the Revolutionary war broke out he was at Boston with General Gage , but appears to have taken no prominent part in the military operations. He was unsuited by temperament and by training for the position of civil governor. His administration was distinguished by many acts of undue severity which he was called upon to defend upon his return to England . During his first year in office he requested or commanded Major Samuel Holland , then at New York with Sir Henry Clinton , to return to Quebec and resume his duties as Surveyor- General . Holland returned to Quebec in 1779, and there can be no doubt that he was employed during the first year or two thereafter in organizing his office. In 1780 Holland purchased for his future home what was afterwards known as "the Holland farm," a beautiful estate of 200 acres of land situated south-west from the Plains of Abraham, and distant less than three miles from the gates of Quebec . This farm had belonged to M. Jean Tache , author of the first Can¬ adian poem, "Tableau de le Mer," (ancestor of Sir E. Tache ). The mansion of the estate had been occupied by the American General, Montgomery, during the siege of Quebec in the winter of 1775-76, as his headquarters. The present residence of the Lieutenant - Governor of the Province of Quebec , "Spencerwood," lies between the site of the Holland mansion and the St. Lawrence . After the six years of warfare, Canada enjoyed about thirty years of peace, development and prosperity. At the close of the war the European population of Canada did not exceed 120,000 people, of whom probably seventy-five per cent, were of French origin. Quebec , and Three Rivers were the only important places in Lower Canada . Small settlements had been made around the military posts at , Detroit and other points. Along the shores of the Baie des Chaleur, and of the Lower St. Lawrence , fishermen's huts and trappers' lodges were to be found at favourable points. The banks of the upper St. Lawrence and of the Ottawa were a solitude. In Nova Scotia , Halifax was the only place of importance, while in New Brunswick there was only a fringe of settlements along the seashore. Canada was a vast unexplored wilderness, with military posts at , , Oswego, , Detroit , and Michilimackinac. Exclusive of the Indians the population was estimated as not more than two thousand people. From the records now on file in Quebec and Ottawa, it is evident that Major Samuel Holland 's official duties after he took up his residence in Quebec in 1780 were varied, onerous and responsible. He had been appointed a member of the Executive Council in 1779 and his name appears frequently in the minutes