The war was now over; the exiled Loyalists were pouring into Nova Scotia, and Patterson hoped to divert the desirable stream of emigra tion into his own province. Many Loyalists came; by special favors he secured them to his interest, settled some of them on the lands sold in 1781, and in 1785, secured an assembly cer tain to support him. It passed an act approving his conduct in escheating the unimproved estates, but the home government disallowed the act and recalled the disobedient official. In 1786, the governor submitted at last the English Draft Act, already mentioned, to the assembly, which passed it with haste, as also another act of the governor's framing restoring the escheated lands to the rightful owners, but saddling them with heavy expenses; this the home government disallowed and dismissed the members of the council concerned in it.
The new governor, Edmund Fanning (q.v.) arrived in November, but Patterson refused to vacate his office, and the winter was spent in the quarrels of these two Kings of Brentford: but in the spring, Fanning was firmly estab lished. The escheated lands remained in the quiet possession of their purchasers, some of whom came to terms with the original grantees. Fanning was a native of New York, a graduate of Yale, and a D.C.L. of Oxford. Through the Revolutionary War, he commanded the King's American Regiment and was twice wounded. In his administration, the land question smouldered. The chivalrous Earl of Selkirk, who also planted settlements in Upper Canada and the Northwest, brought out, in 1803, 800 of the Clan Ronald Macdonalds and settled them about Point Prim.
Fanning was succeeded by Des Barres, a Swiss officer in the British service, famous for his surveys, his amours and his great age; he jumped over a settle when he was more than a hundred years old. His administration was uneventful, but not so that of his successor. Charles Douglas Smith, brother of the famous Sir Sidney, who foiled Napoleon at Acre, was a fine example of the old-fashioned high Tory royal governor. His first address to the as sembly, when it met in November 1813, was insolent and dictatorial. In the following Jan uary he prorogued it and did not convene it again until 1817. Between this and 1820 the legislature was three times assembled and dis solved, after short sessions, by this exponent of personal rule. His proceedings in regard to the quit-rents were also oppressive. In 1818, in opposition to the express commands of the home government, Smith enforced the payment of quit-rents in arrears. His action, however, the British government disallowed, and ordered part of the exactions to be refunded. Then, for three years, no attempt was made to collect the odious tax; in some instances payment was refused by the receiver-general. In 1823 an other effort was made by the governor to enforce payment. The Gmlic-speaking High landers of King's County were required to pay dues that seemed obsolete, or give promissory notes at 10 days. In the depth of winter, they must haul their farm produce to Charlottetown and sell at a sacrifice to meet these demands. Without a legislature, the people petitioned High Sheriff MacGregor to call public meetings for the discussion of grievances. The gather ing at Charlottetown drew up an address to the King, rehearsing a long list of charges against the governor, and requesting his recall. Smith retorted by opening a libel suit in the Court of Chancery, over which he himself pre sided, against the committee on the King's ad dress in Queen's County. His object was to
prevent the petitions reaching England, but the custodian of them, escaped to Nova Scotia. For merely publishing an account of the proceedings the editor of the local paper was brought into the Court of Chancery for libel. When he re vealed the names of the writers they were admonished by the chancellor-governor in the vein of JudgeJeffreys. This energetic ruler, who shook !us fist at the speaker of the assem bly and gave him three minutes by the watch to adjourn the House, was recalled in 1824, when he had brought his long-suffering prov ince to the verge of rebellion.
Governor succeeded governor; the island grew in population and prosperity; fisheries and husbandry throve; but the land question was an open sore. It had now become complicated by the fact that the original proprietors had died and bequeathed or had transferred their rights in the island. In 1859 Sir Samuel Cunard (q.v.), the Halifax merchant who founded the famous line of steamers bearing his name, pro posed that the whole question be referred to a commission of three members, one to be ap pointed by the Crown, one by the island Assem bly and one by the proprietors. To this all agreed. Howe was the nominee of the Assem bly. The commission sat in the Colonial Build ing in Charlottetown, examined many witnesses, though not on oath, and heard counsel on be half of both parties. They afterward visited the shire towns and acquired a vast amount of information on the difficulties. Their report is dated 18 July 1861. It condemns the original method of granting the island, commends the land purchase act, by which the Selkirk and Worrell estates had been acquired for the people, and considers some such system to be the solution of the vexatious problem. It recommends the British government to guar antee a loan of f100,000, which would enable the local government to enter the open market for the purchase of estates. But the home gov ernment refused the loan, and the landlords refused to be bound by the findings of the commission. The old difficulty remained until the island came into the Confederation in 1873, when the Dominion government placed $800,000 to the credit of the province for the purchase of estates and the local legislature made the sale of estates, on evaluation of commissioners, com pulsory.
Charlottetown was the scene of the historic conference of delegates from the maritime prov inces to discuss union, when the representatives of the Canadas came knocking at the door, but the islanders were not in favor of any change in their status. There was prejudice, the concep tion of a new nation was hard to grasp and the main issue was befogged by parish politics. Although islanders took part in the Quebec and London conferences also, the island remained outside Confederation until 1873, when the crippling of the provincial means by extensive railroad building led the people to a reconsid eration of the matter. The Dominion govern ment gave generous terms, and the little prov ince, while losing nothing of autonomy, entered into a larger national life. See articles in this series on CONFEDERATION; SINCE CONFEDERA TION ; CONSTITUTION ; AGRICULTURE; FISHERIES ; MANUFACTURES; THE FORESTS AND LUMBER IN DUSTRY ; MINERALS; GEOGRAPHY ; PRINCE ED WARD ISLAND.