PRINCE EDWARD ISLAND. 43

Island and inspected the several settlements, .

upon which he made a report to the home government. He declares that. had the land been granted as in Nova Scotia. the prov- inces would not have been equaled. consider- ing its extent, by any other part of the Amer- ican dominions, but that, as it was, there Were only five hundred families, including those of all nationalities. This must have been an underestimate. When Patterson came to the island, in 1770, there were one hundred and fifty British families. After the expulsion of the French, when Lord Rollo took possession of'the Island, there remained, in I764, a number of that nationality, amounting to three hundred, whom Colonel 'Haldimand wished to take to his lands in Canada. This was twenty-three years be- fore Fanning wrote. The natural increase was most rapid. if reliance can be placed on the statements of Mr. Stewart, Patterson, and all who have referred to this subject. All writers on the early settlement of this Island and for the first quarter of the nine- teenth century, comment upon the large fam- ilies that were the rule. Moreover, wher- ever the conditions of life are hard, and there is a struggle to live, and luxury is unknown. it is the common experience that the birth- rate is high. And in this Island, in the early days, the life of the people was not by any means luxurious. They had to labor for a subsistence. The charge of race suicide can never be brought against the early settlers of any country. The first settlers in Prince Edward Island were certainly not guilty of anything of the kind, and the meaning of the term was unknown to them. The nat- ural increase must have been large. When Patterson returned from England, in 1780.

he reported that the population had nearly -

doubled in the five years of his absence. Of

the proprietors, Mr. Stewart, Captain John McDonald, Mr.Montgomery, Mr. DesBrisay and some others, had brought in a consider- able number of settlers. We have seen that as early as 1775, when the American priva- teers were on the coast, provision had been made, on township No. 5, for a hundred and five settlers, who had lately arrived. Some had come of their own accord, and at the time of F anning’s itinerary the Revolution- ary war with the United States was over, and a number of loyalists had come to the Island. Hence it seems that there must have been a larger population in 1787 than Fan- ning reported. It must be borne in.mind, also, that all the early statements as to popu- lation were merely estimates. No census was taken. \ The governor asked the secretary of state (Sydney) for instructions as to making grants to. loyalists. It is evident that the Island government hoped for a large influx of population frome this source. Fanning called the secretary’s attention to the distinct grant of one-fourth of their lands. by the proprietors. for distribution among the loy- alists by the govemor-in-council, and pointed out the onerous claims and conditions now annexed to the grants by the proprietors. who would not allow the grantees to hold di- rect from the crown. ‘He insisted that, un- less the grants were made on as favorable terms as in Nova Scotia, disappointment to the loyalists must result. He hoped that the proprietors would allow the governor and council to sign patents for the one-fourth. If not, he said, settlers could not be expected, and some would go away to the lands in Nova Scotia and Cape Breton, which would be granted rent free. except for the quit rents. He reported to Nepean, under secre- tary of state, the terms offered by resident