NEW SCOTLAND’S BEGINNINGS
It is a fact worth emphasis, but too little considered, that
New Scotland sprang, as it were, direct from the loins of
Old Scotland, and that both Old and New England looked
on as non-agents passively.
To-day of the Provinces which make up the Dominion
of Canada, New Scotland is the only one boasting a flag of
its own, owing nothing in its composition to either the flag
of England or that of France. Here one may see unfurled
a white flag with a blue St. Andrew’s Cross (saltier) dividing
the “field” in four, while in the centre is the double-tressured
lion of Scotland, the ruddy lion rampant in gold.
This is the flag of New Scotland, and these were the arms
of Sir William Alexander, still figuring in part of the
arms of the Baronets of Nova Scotia, to which famed
order Sir Arthur Wardour, one remembers, was proud to
owe allegiance.
To Sir William Alexander the grant was made by
James VI. of Scotland of lands lying between New
England and Newfoundland, “to be holden of us _from our
Kingdom of Scotland as a part thereof_;”[3] on the 29th
September, 1621, the Charter passed under the Great
Seal. Sir William Alexander was appointed hereditary
Lieutenant-General of the colony, which was in all future
time to have the name of New Scotland, or, as appears in
the courtly Latin of the charter, Nova Scotia, the first time
such name appears in history, and at this day itself the only
permanent memorial of the undertaking.
[Footnote 3: _Sir William Alexander and the Scottish attempt to
colonise Acadia_, by the Rev. George Patterson, D.D.]
The charter goes on to say: “As it is very important
that all our beloved subjects who inhabit the said Province
of New Scotland or its borders may live in the fear of
Almighty God, and at the same time in His true worship,
and may have an earnest purpose to establish the Christian
religion therein, and also to cultivate peace and quiet with
the native inhabitants and savage aborigines of these lands,
so that they, and any others trading there, may safely,
pleasantly, and quietly hold what they have got with great
labour and peril. We ... give and grant to the said
Sir William Alexander and foresaids ... free and absolute
power of arranging and securing peace, alliance, friendship,
mutual conferences, assistance, intercourse, &c.” The
charter also granted the power of attacking suddenly,
invading, expelling, and by arms driving away ... all and
singly those who without their special license should attempt
to occupy these lands, or trade in the said Province of
New Scotland. Authorisation was also given them to
construct “forts, fortresses, castles, &c., with posts and
naval stations, and also ships of war:” to “establish
garrisons of soldiers, and generally to do all things for the
acquisition, increase, and introduction of people and persons
to preserve and govern New Scotland ... as the King
might do if present in person.” The right of regulating
and coining money was also granted: and these and other
privileges involved only the annual payment of “one penny
of Scottish money, if so much be demanded.”
Sir William, soon after obtaining his patent, arranged
for the transfer of his rights in the island of Cape Breton,
which originally was included in the Province of New
Scotland, to his friend Sir Robert Gordon, of Lochinvar.
The latter, with his son Robert, obtained a royal charter
(dated 8th November, 1621) to this, which was styled the
barony of New Galloway.
No time was lost by Sir William in taking the necessary
steps for the settling of his territory. Fitting out a ship
in London, in March, 1622, he sent it round the coast to
Kirkcudbright, hoping to obtain there a body of emigrants,
through the influence of Sir Robert Gordon, whose lands
lay in that direction. The meagre inducements offered,
however, could hardly attract persons possessed of the
ordinary comforts of home life. Purchasers of land were
the only ones to have any rights in the soil. Farmers
might obtain leases; but all, after a specified time, were
constrained to pay a one-thirteenth part of the revenue from
the land to the Lieutenant-General. Artisans might
receive holdings, but only for their lives. So it is recorded
that there was only one artisan, a blacksmith, took part in
the expedition, the other emigrants being generally agricultural
labourers of the lowest class. It is unlikely, however,
that more favourable terms were offered in any of the
early attempts at settlement in America, or that the
material engaged in them was any better. If Sir William
had offered lands in fee his prospective emigrants would
probably have been of an altogether different class—of the
class of men who, being possessed of the means of subsistence,
could have become attached to the soil, and who in time
would have built up a free and prosperous society. But a
system such as this was totally opposed to the social ideas
of the times—times when the most prevalent idea was to
establish overseas a state of society similar to that of
mediæval Europe, the soil in the possession of certain lords
paramount, and the settlers holding their lands in a condition
little above that of serfs.
The two colonising expeditions undertaken in consequence
of the charter cost Alexander a large sum of money,
and both ended in failure, owing to ill-management. This
failure by no means dampened Sir William’s zeal. In 1624
he issued a small work entitled, _An Encouragement to
Colonies_, which was furnished with a map of New Scotland.
The names given on this show the determination to reproduce
the peculiarities of Scotland, even in minor ways.
In this manner the St. Croix River appears as the Tweed,
while another, flowing from its head into the St. Lawrence,
is named the Solway. The river doubtless intended for
the St. John is called the Clyde, and the inlet of the sea
on the coast of New Brunswick is put down as the Forth.
In this work Sir William depicts New Scotland as having
“very delecate meadowes,” “with roses white and red,”
and “very good, fat earth,” as the voyagers in the _St. Luke_
had seen it along the coast. As a further inducement for
early occupation, he added a mention of rich grains, and an
abundance of fowls and fishes. Scotland he referred to as
like a bee-hive, sending out swarms of her people yearly,
who expended their energies in foreign wars. He then
invited Scotsmen to settle in a new country, where successful
commerce might be prosecuted by the merchant, where
the sportsman might enter into a paradise of his own, and
where the Christian might have ample scope for missionary
enterprise.
“Where,” was his argument, “was euer Ambition
baited with greater hopes than here, or where euer had
Vertue so large a field to reape the fruits of Glory, since any
man who doth goe thither of good qualitie, able at first
to transport a hundred persons with him, furnished with
things necessary, shall have as much Bounds as may serve
for a great Man, whereupon he may build a Towne of his
owne, giving it what forme or name he will, and being the
first Founder of a new estate, which a pleasing industry
may quickly bring to a perfection, may leaue a faire inheritance
to his posteritie, who shall claime unto him as the
author of their Nobilitie there, rather than to any of his
Ancestours that had preceded him, though neuer so nobly
borne elsewhere?”
But despite the glowing prospects enumerated in this
_Encouragement to Colonies_, little enthusiasm was excited
on behalf of the undertaking. When the English treasury
refused to compensate Alexander for losses in a matter in
which it had no concern, a new method was suggested,
whereby his embarrassments might be relieved and the
undertaking carried on. James, since his accession to
the English throne, had systematically replenished his
revenues by the simple method of selling titles. A particular
instance of this was the colonisation of Ulster; when
he shortly before created an order of knights baronets, of
which English landowners might become members on their
paying into the exchequer the sum of £1100. By this
means some 205 persons had obtained the new dignity
between 1611 and 1622, the profit to the treasury being
£225,000. This suggested to Sir William that the expenses
of his colony might be provided for by the establishment
of a new order—the baronets of New Scotland—while
less costly terms might serve as inducements for the Scottish
landowners and the sons of the Scottish nobility to become
members. His recommendation of this plan in due course
brought forth a royal letter, which informed the Privy
Council of Scotland that the King had determined to take
a personal interest in the colonisation of New Scotland, and
to establish a new order of baronets in connection therewith.
The Privy Council were invited to assist in the
carrying out of the royal intention.
The council, influenced by Sir William, approved the
royal order, and replied to the King on the 23rd November,
1624, indicating a scheme for following His Majesty’s
wishes. “We are given to understand that the country
of New Scotland, being dividit into twa Provinces and eache
Province into several Dioceises or Bishoprikis, and each
Diocese in thrie Counteyis, and each Countey into ten
Baroneyis, every baronie being three myle long vpon the
coast and ten myle up into the countrie, dividit into sax
paroches, and each paroche contening sax thousand aikars
of land; and that every Baronett is to be ane Barone of
some one or other of the saidis Barroneis, and is to haif
therein ten thousand aikars of propertie, besidis his sax
thousand aikars belonging to his bur^t (burgh) of baronie,
to be holden free blanshe, and in a free baronie of His
Majesty as the baronies of the kingdome.” The conditions
imposed were “the setting furth of six men towardis His
Maiestie’s Royall Colonie, armed, apparelld and victualled
for two yeares, and every baronet paying Sir William
ane thousand markis Scottis money only toward his past
charges and endevouris.”
As for these Nova Scotia baronetcies, great efforts were
made to induce likely persons to accept them. In 1629
six were created and thirteen in the two years following.
The Commissioners were impowered to fill up the dates
of patents at their discretion, “so that those unwilling
to occupy a lower place on the rolls might be reckoned
amongst the earliest creations.” Nor was the outer attractiveness
of the order neglected. Under date of the 17th
November, 1629, the King authorises “everie one of them
and thare heires male to weare and carry about their
neckis, in all time coming, ane orange tauney ribbane,
whairon shall hing pendant on a skutchion _argent_, a saltoire
_azeur_ thereon, ane inscutcheune of the armes of Scotland,
with ane imperiall croune above the scutchone, and incircled
with this motto: ‘Fax Mentis Honestæ Gloria.’” This
was to be proclaimed publicly at the market cross of
Edinburgh. And any one who should, “out of neglect
or contempt, presume to tak place or precedence of the
said baronettes, thare wifes or childring, or to weare thare
cognoissance,” was in the same paper threatened with fine
and imprisonment.
A Scottish settlement was planted on the shores of
Annapolis Basin; but the settlers seem to have been little
prepared for the rigours of a Nova Scotian winter and the
enmity of the Indians, for no fewer than thirty of the
pioneers died. Meanwhile, Sir William Alexander’s son,
bearing the same name, had succeeded; and, arriving in
New Scotland, proceeded to put affairs into better order.
He dealt so dexterously with the aborigines, that their
chief consented to make a journey to England with his
wife and son, where they enjoyed the absurd titles of King,
Queen, and Prince of New Scotland. In the December of
1629, Sir James Bagg, Governor of Plymouth, was directed
by royal letter to conduct to Court “one of the commanders
(or chiefs) of Canada, attended by some others of that
countrie.” In a letter from Christ College, dated the
12th of February, 1630, the Rev. Joseph Mead wrote:—
“There came last week to London the king, queen,
and young prince of New Scotland. This king comes to
be of our king’s religion, and to submit his kingdom to
him, and to become his hostage for the same, that he
may be protected against the French in Canada. Those
savages arrived at Plymouth, were a while entertained at
my Lord Poulet’s in Somersetshire, much made of, especially
my lady of the savage queen. She came with her to the
coach, when they were come to London, put a chain about
her neck with a diamond valued by some at near £20.
The savages took all in good part, but for thanks or acknowledgment
made no sign or expression at all.”
Meanwhile Biencourt, the representative of De Monts
and the original French settlers, together with two enterprising
spirits named De la Tour, father and son, were
holding on for King Louis in Acadia. When Biencourt
died, Charles De la Tour meditated striking a blow for
French supremacy. In this he was perpetually foiled, his
father was captured by Admiral Kirke and taken to England,
where he was caressed and cajoled, married a Court lady,
and was created a Baronet of Nova Scotia. As Sir Claude
he went out to New Scotland to endeavour to seduce his
son Charles from his allegiance, but in vain. New Scotland,
as a British settlement, was doomed. In 1632 the blow
fell. By the treaty of St. Germain-en-Laye, Nova Scotia
and Canada were ceded back to France by Charles I., who
by this act of treachery achieved what French force had
hitherto failed to accomplish. Nevertheless, the King
wrote a letter to the Privy Council, in which he says:
“lest any mistaking should ensure thereupon, we have
thought it good to declare unto you that it (the Treaty)
is in no ways for quitting the title right or possession of
New Scotland or of any part thereof.” But this, in view
of the actual terms of the Treaty, and of its consequences,
was empty language. The settlers of New Scotland dispersed
or mingled with the French, and the first attempt
to establish a New Scotland ended in failure.
I have dwelt somewhat fully upon this project—the
beginnings of New Scotland—because it is one almost
invariably slurred over by historians, and about which much
ignorance exists. I shall have occasion in later pages to
speak of the essentially Scottish character of New Scotland,
and it is as well to recall its early planting by the Alexanders,
the Frasers, the Gordons, and the MacNeills.
Of the subsequent history of Nova Scotia I can here
touch upon only briefly. England’s next ruler, Oliver
Cromwell, recovered what Charles had basely surrendered,
and Acadia became again Nova Scotia: but this position
was again changed in 1667, when Charles II. gave away
what Cromwell had won, that is to say, “all the country
called Acadia situated in America which the Most Christian
King had formerly enjoyed.” Another war, however,
soon came between England and France, after the expulsion
of James II. Port Royal was compelled to surrender
to a British force from Boston, and Nova Scotia
had again changed hands. The country reverted to the
French through a Treaty of King William III.’s in 1697;
but at the end of a further war, in 1713, the mainland of
Nova Scotia had again passed into the possession of the
British, a position which has never since changed. France
retained her hold on Cape Breton Island and the neighbouring
Isle St. Jean (now Prince Edward Island), until Canada
was conquered in 1759.
To reach these results many battles were fought,
and many interesting historical events happened in New
Scotland—as, for instance, the two sieges of Louisbourg,
and the famous expulsion of the Acadians, celebrated in
Longfellow’s poem “Evangeline.”
[Illustration: MARTELLO TOWER AT HALIFAX.]
When the French power was finally shattered, the total
white population of Nova Scotia was only some 13,000,
of which 2000 were French. The capital, Halifax, was a
little garrison town only fourteen years old, and comprising
some 500 families. Settlers from the neighbouring New
England colonies caused a considerable increase in this
number, and additions came from King George’s German
kingdom of Hanover. Afterward, when the American
colonies had thrown off their allegiance, some 20,000, who
either would not or could not remain in their old homes
under a new flag, migrated to Nova Scotia, calling themselves
the United Empire Loyalists. Many of these,
however, settled on the north-west side of the Bay of
Fundy—a region which, then under the Governor of Nova
Scotia, was afterwards formed into a separate Province,
now known to us as New Brunswick. From that time to
the present day Nova Scotia’s history has been one of
uninterrupted peace.
* * * * *
Thus briefly have I presented to the reader the salient
features in Provincial history, a subject upon which more
than one interesting volume has been penned. Of its
romance—and it is a land teeming with romance—there
is hardly a hill or a valley, a lake, an island, or a headland,
that has not some tradition, some legend, some story of
massacre, of sacrifice, of heroism, or of devotion—I have
so far hinted but little. Its shrines are visited by thousands
of Americans annually. This is the land past which the
British visitor to Canada finds himself whirled, and is
soon at the heart of the great Dominion of the West, without
having seen its smiling crest, or touched its outstretched
hand.