No better class probably could have been selected to settle Nova Scotia than these American immigrants.  The majority were descendants of the Puritans who settled in New England, and some were actually sprung from men and women who had landed from “The Mayflower” in 1620.  Governor Lawrence recognized the necessity of having a sturdy class of settlers, accustomed to the climatic conditions and to agricultural labour in America, and it was through his strenuous efforts that these immigrants were brought into the province.  They had, indeed, the choice of the best land of the province, and everything was made as pleasant as possible for them by a paternal government, only anxious to establish British authority on a sound basis of industrial development.

In 1767, according to an official return in the archives of Nova Scotia, the total population of what are now the provinces of Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and Prince Edward Island, reached 13,374 souls; of whom 6913 are given as Americans, 912 as English, 2165 as Irish, 1946 as Germans, and 1265 as Acadian French, the latter being probably a low estimate.  Some of these Irish emigrated directly from the north of Ireland, and were Presbyterians.  They were brought out by one Alexander McNutt, who did much for the work of early colonization; others came from New Hampshire, where they had been settled for some years.  The name of Londonderry in New Hampshire is a memorial of this important class, just as the same name recalls them in the present county of Colchester, in Nova Scotia.

The Scottish immigration, which has exercised such an important influence on the eastern counties of Nova Scotia—­and I include Cape Breton—­commenced in 1772, when about thirty families arrived from Scotland and settled in the present county of Pictou, where a very few American colonists from Philadelphia had preceded them.  In later years a steady tide of Scotch population flowed into eastern Nova Scotia and did not cease until 1820.  Gaelic is still the dominant tongue in the eastern counties, where we find numerous names recalling the glens, lochs, and mountains of old Scotland.  Sir William Alexander’s dream of a new Scotland has been realised in a measure in the province where his ambition would have made him “lord paramount.”

Until the foundation of Halifax the government of Nova Scotia was vested solely in a governor who had command of the garrison stationed at Annapolis.  In 1719 a commission was issued to Governor Phillips, who was authorised to appoint a council of not less than twelve persons.  This council had advisory and judicial functions, but its legislative authority was of a very limited scope.  This provisional system of government lasted until 1749, when Halifax became the seat of the new administration of public affairs.  The governor had a right to appoint a council of twelve persons—­as we have already seen, he did so immediately—­and to summon a general assembly “according to the usage of