REBEL PLANS--PRAYING THE LORDS.
Before Captain Godfrey sailed with his family from Halifax for England,
he waited on Governor Arbuthnot and General Massie[5] and informed them
of the rebels intentions, and gave them a history of his sad experience
on the St. John.
[Footnote 5: Fort Massie at Halifax, part of which is now held as a
military burial ground, was named after this officer.]
He told them that he had been offered by the rebels the command of a
party of men to march forward and attack Fort Cumberland, and if they
(the rebels) should be successful, they were to be reinforced, and at
once proceed to Halifax, set fire to the town, and sack it.
In their proceedings the rebels, who were in constant communication with
the New Englanders, and who were instructed by them, were talking of
forming this plan in order if possible to keep General Howe's army from
being largely reinforced.
Captain Godfrey, though very weak and ill, offered his service to
General Massie, if the latter would arm two schooners and put on board
of each of them one hundred regulars besides a crew of twenty-five men.
He proposed to proceed to Fort Cumberland and secure the place in case
an attack was made. His offer was declined. He then bid adieu to Halifax
and sailed for England, where he and his family arrived on January the
8th, 1777.
He lost no time in applying to Lords North and Germain, who after proper
examination found his claims for losses in the colony well founded; and
were generously pleased to order him the annual sum of one hundred and
fifty pounds for the temporary support of his family. This sum was
afterward reduced to one hundred and twenty pounds, and finally
altogether withdrawn.
He then put his distressed condition before the government, and his case
was again tossed about from Lord to Lord, and from board to board, and
finally brought up again before the Lords of Parliament, and from it was
sent back to the Lords of Plantations and Trade. From thence to the
Lords of commission for services and losses in America, and the Lord
only knows where else it was sent, until it was sent out to Nova Scotia
in 1784.
Thirteen years had elapsed since the Captain experienced his first
misfortune in Nova Scotia, and more than seven years had elapsed since
his second loss, then his case was sent out to Nova Scotia.
During all this long time he had exercised the greatest patience, and
his loyalty to his King (George the Third) was never for a moment
shaken.
He had lost in lands and goods about twelve thousand pounds sterling by
settling in a British Colony where Indians and rebels destroyed his
prospects, and yet he had received no redress for the hardships he and
his family had endured, and the great wrongs inflicted upon them. His
wife and children were allowed to remain in an almost destitute
condition by the King and his advisers. Financially, Captain Godfrey
could have been in no worse condition had he joined General Washington.
But there was no power on earth that could induce the Captain to turn
his back upon his King and his country.
He, with the assistance of his heroic wife, had done all in their power
to rouse the whole mind and heart of their fellow countrymen in office
to a satisfactory settlement of their just claims, but all they had done
seemed useless, and they knew not what more to do.
After the close of the American war Captain Godfrey once more thought of
crossing the ocean to settle in the colony where he had experienced so
much misfortune. But after he had made all the arrangements for leaving
England, he found out that he was too weak in body to stand the wear and
tear of a passage across the Atlantic Ocean. In those days it usually
took two months to cross from Great Britain to Nova Scotia.
The Captain's case had been tossed from one official to another, and
from one commission to another, until it had probably travelled through
the completely developed rounds of _Red Tapeism_. After this it appears
to have been allowed to slumber till the close of the American
Revolutionary War.
Captain Godfrey's health, since his last arrival in England from the
colony, was anything but good, and his means of support being gone, he
was largely depending on friends and relatives for the means of
supporting his family. His eldest son, (Charlie) through the never
failing energy of his mother, had received an Ensign's commission in the
British Army.[6]
[Footnote 6: In 1805, Charlie, who had received a Captain's commission,
was appointed Captain in the Nova Scotia Fencible Infantry, commanded by
Colonel Fred. Wetherall. In the above year Captain Charlie Godfrey
married in Nova Scotia.]
The last effort Captain Godfrey appears to have made in trying to secure
something in return for his services to his country, and for the great
losses sustained by him in the colony, was after the conclusion of the
war between England and America.
He got his case before the "Lords of the Commission" for services and
losses in America, and there it seems to have met its doom, it was
granted a sort of Ticket of Leave for transportation to Nova Scotia,
where it died in exile.
Their Lordships referred Captain Godfrey in the following manner to the
Governor of Nova Scotia:--
WHITEHALL, _May 24th, 1784_.
SIR,--
You will receive herewith a memorial, which has been presented to me by
Captain Charles * * * Godfrey, * * * praying that proper orders may be
given for the immediate recovery of his lands upon the St. John, River,
in the Province of Nova Scotia. As I understand, upon inquiry, that Mr.
Godfrey was dis-possessed of his property previous to the Independence
of America, on account of his loyalty and the active part he took for
the support of His Majesty King George the Third's Government. I am
induced to recommend the prayer of the petition to your favourable
consideration.
I am, Sir, your most
Obedient Humble Servant,
SYDNEY.
TO JOHN PARR,
_Captain-General and Governor-in-Chief
of the Province of Nova Scotia_.
In the year 1776 the New England Colonists appear to have had their
emissaries in Nova Scotia. There is no missing link, the chain of
evidence is completed by the passport to Captain Godfrey from the Rebel
Committee at Maugerville, in July, 1776. After the lapse of one hundred
and twelve years, the fact is revealed that there were persons in Nova
Scotia who were employed by the New England colonists, and paid by them
to incite the Indians to revolt, and hold out bribes to honest and loyal
settlers to forsake their King and country.
It may be that in the near or distant future facts will be brought to
light which will prove beyond a doubt that the United States had
emissaries in Nova Scotia in 1888 who were paid for their services in
Yankee gold.