lands should be
reserved for disbanded forces, the settlers did in the year 1763 draw
up and forward a Petition or memorial to the Lords of Trade and
Plantations."...

In this memorial were set forth the services that Captain Peabody and
his associates had rendered to their country in the late war, the
expenses they had incurred and the inducements offered by the
government of Nova Scotia to them to settle on the lands they had
surveyed. The memorial was signed by Francis Peabody, John Carleton,
Jacob Barker, Nicholas West and Israel Perley on behalf of themselves
and other disbanded officers. This memorial was submitted by Mr.
Peabody to the Governor and Council at Halifax, who cordially approved
of the contents and forwarded it to Joshua Mauger,[54] the agent for
the Province in London, expressing their opinion that the officers and
disbanded soldiers from New England, settled on the reserved lands on
the St. John River, ought not to be removed. They would be of great
use and their removal would cause their total ruin. The settlers
earnestly solicited the influence of the agent in England to obtain a
speedy answer to their memorial. He took the liveliest interest in
their cause and largely through his efforts the Lords of Trade on the
20th December, 1763, recommended that the memorial of the disbanded
officers of the Provincial forces be granted, and that they be
confirmed in possession of the lands on which they have settled on the
St. John River. The matter was finally settled in the Court of St.
James, the 10th day of February, 1764, by the adoption of the
following resolve on the part of King George the III. and his
Council:

"Whereas the Lords Commissioners for Trade and Plantations have
represented to His Majesty that a memorial has been presented to him
on behalf of several disbanded officers of His Majesty's provincial
forces in North America, setting forth that induced by several
encouragements they have sold their lands in New England and settled
themselves and families upon the St. John River in His Majesty's
province of Nova Scotia at the distance of 200 miles from any other
settlement and praying that the possession of the lands upon which
they have settled themselves at a very great expense may be confirmed
to them by His Majesty: The Governor of Nova Scotia is ordered to
cause the land upon which they are settled to be laid out in a
Township consisting of 100,000 acres, 12 miles square, one side to