o be
voted in support of the American sufferers; and I trust you will agree
with me, that a due and generous attention ought to be shown to those
who have relinquished their properties or professions from motives of
loyalty to me, or attachment to the mother country." Accordingly, a
Bill was introduced and passed without opposition in June, 1783,
entitled "An Act Appointing Commissioners to Inquire into the Losses and
Services of all such Persons who have Suffered in their Rights,
Properties, and Professions, during the late Unhappy Dissensions in
America, in consequence of their Loyalty to his Majesty and Attachment
to the British Government."

The Commissioners named were John Wilmot, M.P., Daniel Parker Coke,
M.P., Esquires, Col. Robert Kingston, Col. Thomas Dundas, and John
Marsh, Esquire, who, after preliminary preparations, began their inquiry
in the first week of October, and proceeded, with short intermissions,
through the following winter and spring. The time for presenting claims
was first limited by the Act to the 20th of March, 1784; but the time
was extended by the renewal of the Act, from time to time, until 1789,
when the Commissioners presented their _twelfth_ and last report, and
Parliament finally disposed of the whole matter in 1790, seven years
after its commencement.

The Commissioners, according to their first report, divided the
Loyalists into _six_ classes, as follows: 1. Those who had rendered
service to Great Britain. 2. Those who had borne arms for Great Britain.
3. Uniform Loyalists. 4. Loyal English subjects resident in Great
Britain. 5. Loyalists who had taken oaths to the American States, but
afterwards joined the British. 6. Loyalists who had borne arms for the
American States, but afterwards joined the British navy or army. The
reason for this classification is not very apparent; for all showed
alike who were able to establish their losses, without reference to
differences of merit, or the time or circumstances of their adhering to
the Crown.

Every applicant was required to furnish proof of his loyalty, and of
every species of loss for which he claimed compensation; in addition to
which each claimant was put upon his oath as to his alleged losses; and
if in any case _perjury_ or _fraud_ were believed to have been
practised, the claimant was at once cut off from his whole claim. The
rigid rules which the Commissioners laid down and enforced in regard to
claimants, examining each clai