tribunals. The forms of civil government might remain; yet its spirit could hardly be retained. It would be easy to condemn much that was done, but we cannot forget that 'the essence of war is violence' and that men engaged in a life and death struggle with their brethren would not interpret justice under the most advantageous conditions. And frequently private vengeance was exacted or private avarice indulged under the plea of the national welfare.

The course of action followed by the various states after the conflict is more open to condemnation than their conduct during the progress. The effects of the vindictive policy pursued in defiance of the fifth article of the Treaty of Paris are too well known to require repetition. Massachusetts led in passing and enforcing prescriptive and confiscatory acts, and in South Carolina alone was any moderation shown toward avowed Loyalists. The events of the war were too recent, it seemed, to permit a wiser and more merciful policy. Vae victis was the rule. Hence the dispersion of families which had once formed part of an energetic and prosperous population; not Acadians these but Americans, some of them men from Longfellow's own state and city.

But let us turn from the general to the particulår and discover something of the way in which the bands that had assembled and crossed to the Bay of Quinte were related to these events. It may be noted that, though all the bands had some form of military organization, in two cases, those of Grass and Van Alstine, the organization was subsequent to the war, while in the other three cases the men were members of units which had played a considerable part in the conflict.

Sir John Johnson, son of Sir William Johnson and inheritor of his estate, was one of the most noted supporters of the Royal cause. Knighted by the King in his early youth and the son of a high Tory, Johnson could hardly be expected to follow any other course than that which he chose to pursue. The statement made by his cousin, Guy Johnson, whose case was brought before the Provincial Congress, was probably typical of the Johnson creed: 'I should be much obliged for your promises' (of safety) 'did they not appear to be made. on condition of compliance with continental congresses or

even committees many of whose resolves may neither consist with my conscience, duty or loyalty."

This is in the spirit of the best element which supported Charles I and, as the retainers of the English nobility fought under their hereditary lords, so many of those who had settled upon his lands fled with Sir John in 1776 to find refuge in Quebec and there joined the first battalions which he enrolled. Their official title was The King's Royal Regiment of New York, though they were more frequently called Sir John Johnson's Regiment and to the enemy were known as the Royal Greens. They were the nucleus from which several other bodies, such as Jessup's Corps and that commanded by Guy Johnson were formed.

Of Sir John Johnson's campaigns in the field it is impossible here to treat in detail. He was already a trained soldier when the war began. 'He had scarcely attained majority when he was intrusted with an independent command and in it displayed an ability, a fortitude and a judgement worthy of riper years and wider experience.'3

Whether Johnson would have succeeded as a leader of any large body of troops is, perhaps, doubtful; but he knew the country, the type of men whom he led and, above all, the custom of warfare adapted to the frontier. His methods in the raids conducted through his native district on the Mohawk appear to have been harsh even for that time; and Sabine, noted for his fairness, states that 'In predatory enterprises, the Royal Greens enjoy an infamous celebrity. They committed quite every enormity known in savage warfare." Flick

2Loyalism in New York during the American Revolution. By Alexander Clarence Flick, Ph.D. New York: The Columbia University Press, 1901, p. 58.

I am much indebted to the careful study of the New York Loyalists which has been made by Dr. Flick.-R. W. C.

Orderly Book of Sir John Johnson during the Oriskany Campaign, 1776-1777. Annotated by William S. Stone, with an Historical Introduction illustrating the Life of Sir John Johnson, Bart.; by J. Watts de Peyster. LL.D., M.A. Albany: Joel Munsell's Sons, 1882, p. xxxiv.

Biographical Sketches of the Loyalists of the American Revolution, with an Historical Essay. By Lorenzo Sabine; in two volumes. Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1864, vol. I, p. 579.

also speaks of the 'barbarous cruelty' of the attack led by Alexander McDonald on Schoharie in 1778, and the 'dismal testimony' of Sir John's visit to his birthplace in 1780. No doubt, when all allowance is made for exaggeration, the strife was cruel enough. The bitterness with which both parties contended at Oriskany illuminates the spirit of the time and raids could hardly be merciful. The men taking part in them were embittered rather than naturally callous and were capable of taking up life once more as they had left it before civilization was overturned. They are defended by Canniff, who says of Johnson's regiment that 'this body of men took a conspicuous part, although those who feared them and were unequal to meet them in successful combat endeavoured to malign them.'5

It may not be unjust to conclude, without marshalling the detail of evidence on either side, that there was much in those wild days which the best men who had taken part in the raids would be glad to forget; much that they left untold when their children's children climbed upon their knees and asked them for stories of that stirring time. What they omitted would be remembered in the settlements along the Mohawk and thus a tradition of 'patriot' wrongs would be kept alive in New York, similar to that of the 'Loyalist' sufferings which has come down in Canada.

The first white inhabitants of Ernesttown and of Fredericksburgh were nearly of the same type. The men who occupied the township chosen for them by Sir John Johnson and those who, under Major James Rogers, found their land in that adjoining, are stated by Canniff to have belonged to the second battalion of the 84th regiment. He thinks that a few of the soldiers may have come to their new homes from active military service at Carleton Island or Oswego; yet the majority and perhaps nearly all came direct from Isle aux Noix near the northern end of Lake Champlain.

Walter Rogers, however, a descendant of Major James

5History of the Settlement of Upper Canada with special reference to the Bay Quinte. By Wm. Canniff, M.D., M.R.S.C.E. Toronto: Dudley and Burns, 1869, ch. xliv, p. 439.

"Canniff, Settlement of Upper Canada, ch. xlix, p. 439.

Rogers, asserts that his forefather came to Canada by ship with several other officers to staff a regiment which was to be commanded by his more famous brother Robert. When the plan for this new regiment collapsed these officers and their recruits were brigaded with the provincial troops. The head-quarters for Major Rogers' men was at St. John's, Quebec, and he appears to have been a trusted officer. 'Various schemes of reconnaissance and attack were, from time to time, submitted by him to his Excellency, considered and approved. His advice was asked for and taken. On more than one occasion he seems to have been employed, where a field officer's services were demanded, upon measures of delicacy and importance."

Rogers returned to Vermont in 1783 to adjust, if possible, matters of business and to bring to Canada his Highland wiie. His men were probably drawn in part from his own district, as Johnson's had been from the Mohawk and the upper Hudson, and most of them accompanied 'their old commander in that heroic advance into the wilderness in search of a new home.' The Major, though of Vermont, had been born in New Hampshire. He was, therefore, a pioneer by training and well fitted for the task which he undertook. Nor did wealth or a somewhat reserved and aristocratic manner remove him, as it seems to have removed the younger Johnsons, from close and sympathetic contact with the men who shared his venture.

The third settlement of military origin was that located by Capt. Archibald McDonnell in 'fifth town' or Marysburgh. The Foreign Legion, to which most of these settlers belonged, had been composed chiefly of Hessians with a few Scotch and Irish. Many of the Hessians employed in the war had availed themselves of the privilege of returning to their native land; but some of them determined to try their fortune in the New World. They came up the St. Lawrence in bateaux with McDonnell in 1785. Strictly speaking, the Hessians were not Loyalists but merely the victims of circumstance conscripted for blood-money by their mercenary feudal lords. Other set

"Proceedings and Transactions of the Royal Society of Canada—a

paper by Walter Rogers, 2nd series, vol. VI. sec. 2, p. 49.

Canniff, Settlement of Upper Canada, ch. li, p. 459.

tlers in Marysburgh were of quite different origin, being officers from the 84th and other regiments who secured grants in this township.

There is much in common between the histories of the two remaining bands which came to this district; those of Capt. Grass occupying Kingston, and Capt. Van Alstine, Adolphustown. Each came in 1783 from New York, already crowded with despairing Loyalists; each was composed of citizens of diverse origin whose common bond was the decision to embark together on a new and dangerous enterprise; each was commanded by a man chosen and given his rank for that specific undertaking; and each came to its destination by the same route, undergoing similar experiences.

Michael Grass was probably responsible for the coming of the second band as well as his own. He had, according to his account, been asked by Carleton to undertake the leadership of a band of Loyalists and to conduct them to the site of Ft. Frontenac, where he had been held prisoner when a young man by the French. After three days' deliberation he had consented. The opinion of Capt. Grass regarding the possibilities of settlement was quite favourable and a prominent citizen named Van Alstine was deputed to be captain of another shipload of Loyalists. Grass had come early enough in the year to ascend the St. Lawrence accompanied by some men belonging to his party. The others remained at Sorel, to which place the advance guard returned for the winter, after having gauged the situation at Cataraqui. In the meantime Van Alstine's band arrived and the two parties, no doubt containing many friends, wintered as best they could in huts and tents and made their plans for the ensuing summer.

In various stages of the enterprise the military organization of these home-seekers was of distinct advantage. Civilians could, in these days, adapt hastily a form of military discipline; for the long continuance of the French wars had not been without its effects and almost every man in the colonies was a potential soldier. Sabine merely states a fact which all events emphasize when he says that 'the age was decidedly military.

The townships were not settled exclusively by the fol