EMPIRE LOYALISTS

Rotorua Morning Post, Volume 2, Issue 543, 29 May 1933, Page 2

EMPIRE LOYALISTS

MIGRATION TO CAN ADA AFTER AMERICAN WAR OF ' INDEPENDENCE I Saint John, N.B. One of the most remarkable migrations in history was celebrated in Saint John on May 18, when it was 150 years since, at the end of the American Revolution, the vanguard of the United Empire Loyalists, driven from their homes in the revolting 13 colonies because of their allegiance to the British Crown, landed on the more hospitable shores of New Brunswick. In all between 30,000 and 35,000 of the Loyalists came, men, women and children. They settled in the Mari-i time provinces, some 12,000 of them in Saint John, and gradually scatter-l ed through the Canada ofi'that date, 1 many finding homes in Ontario. Through troubled years when the politiical future of the north.ern part of the continent was a matter of some doubt the Loyalists constituted a powerful factor in maintaining the British connection, and it is difficult to overestimate their influence on the national life even down to the present time. The Loyalists, protected by the treaty which won American independence but persecuted nevertheless in many parts of the country, congregated in New York and. saijed from there nnder agreement with the British authorities. On May 18, 1783, the "spring fleet" from New York anchored in Saint John harbour with families seeking new homes under th'e Unioni Jack, and during the summer the litti'e ships ferried back and forth to New York to complete the migratory movement.