He had retained his command
in the army, and in addition to his receipts from that source, he owned
valuable estates in Devonshire, from which he must have derived an income
far more than sufficient for his needs. Upper Canada then presented few
inducements for an English gentleman of competent fortune to settle within
its limits. Its entire population, which was principally distributed along
the frontier, was not more than 20,000. At Kingston were a fort and a few
houses fit for the occupation of civilized beings. At Newark, there was the
nucleus of a little village on the edge of the forest. Here and there along
the St. Lawrence, around the Bay of Quinte, and along the Niagara frontier,
were occasional little clusters of log cabins. In the interior, except at
the old French settlement in the western part of the Province, there was
absolutely nothing that could properly be called a white settlement. Roving
tribes of Indians spread their wigwams for a season along the shores of
some of the larger streams, but the following season would probably find
the site without any trace of their presence.
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