PRINCE EDWARD ISLAND.

himself before the home government, his agent in arranging his defence in London being Major Robert Gray, who seems to have gone to England for that purpose. He was private secretary to the governor, and his name was long a prominent one in the public life of this Island.

In the autumn of I 790, when a war with Spain seemed likely to break out, the gov- ernor offered his military services, and, in the event of hostilities, suggested an attack on the south coast of Spanish America, which he thought would be successful. He had formerly served with, the Creek and Cherokee Indians, of whose bravery and loy- alty he had a high opinion, and with whom he would be willing to serve again. He urged the advantages that would result from the possession of the Floridas, and the ease with which they could be settled. Had they been retained by Great Britain, they would have been settled by people now in the United States. Many loyalists who came to Nova Scotia were forced by the cold to leave, and go to the southern states, some to the Creeks and Cherokees, and, if the Floridas were held by Great Britain they would settle them. As the strained relations with Spain did not, at that time, result in war, the gov- ernor had no opportunity of taking the field.

For some reason, there seems to have been considerable emigration from the Island during at least a part of Fanning’s term of office. This was probably due to the unsatis- factory land conditions. In March, 1797, it had become so much a subject for anxiety that a memorial was adopted by the Assem- bly for a legislative enquiry into its cause, the report of which was forwarded, the fol~ lowing September, by the Governor, to the secretary of state. Toward the close of Fan-

-‘ning’s administration, however, there began

45

to be an influx of settlers. The Earl of Sci-- kirk, who possessed estates to the extent of eighty thousand acres, activley interested himself in peopling his lands. The year 1803 is a notable one in the history of Prince Ed- ward Island, for that was the year when the “Polly,” the ship so famed in this province, cast anchor in these waters, having brought a large number of passengers from Scotland, to settle on Lord Selkirk’s estates. About this time he brought, in all, some eight hun- dred people to Prince Edward Island. They were of the finest class of emigrants that ever left the shores of Great Britain. They set- tled in what is known by the general name of the Belfast district. Their descendants still occupy the lands and homes which their forefathers occupied and made. They were an enterprising and energetic people, and transmitted their vigorous dispositions to their children and their children’s children. Descendants of the “Polly’s” passengers have been distinguished in almost every walk ‘of life. They are to be found in every part of Canada and the United States, upholding the good name they inherited, and making their Island home known and respected wherever they may be. They have produced many men who have distinguished them- selves in every profession, trade and walk in life. In the days" when Prince Edward Island boasted of her fleet of sailing ships, the men of Point Prim, and the other sec- tions peopled by the descendants of these im- migrants, were found commanding ships in every sea. There was scarcely a house that had not sent out its one or more master maxi- ners, and they were of the best. Lord Sel- kirk did well for this Island when he brought these immigrants to her shores.

The Earl himself was of a restless and venturesome nature. He seems, after some