annot,' he added, 'better describe
the wretched condition of these people than by inclosing
your lordship a list of those just arrived in the Clinton
transport, destitute of almost everything, chiefly women
and children, all still on board, as I have not yet been
able to find any sort of place for them, and the cold
setting in severe.' There is a tradition in Halifax that
the cabooses had to be taken off the ships, and ranged
along the principal street, in order to shelter these
unfortunates during the winter.

New York was evacuated by the British troops on November
25, 1783. Sir Guy Carleton did not withdraw from the city
until he was satisfied that every person who desired the
protection of the British flag was embarked on the boats.
During the latter half of the year Carleton was repeatedly
requested by Congress to fix some precise limit to his
occupation of New York. He replied briefly, but courteously,
that he was doing the best he could, and that no man
could do more. When Congress objected that the Loyalists
were not included in the agreement with regard to
evacuation, Carleton replied that he held opposite views;
and that in any case it was a point of honour with him
that no troops should embark until the last person who
claimed his protection should be safely on board a British
ship. As time went on, his replies to Congress grew
shorter and more incisive. On being requested to name an
outside date for the evacuation of the city, he declared
that he could not even guess when the last ship would be
loaded, but that he was resolved to remain until it was.
He pointed out, moreover, that the more the uncontrolled
violence of their citizens drove refugees to his protection,
the longer would evacuation be delayed. 'I should show,'
he said, 'an indifference to the feelings of humanity,
as well as to the honour and interest of the nation whom
I serve, to leave any of the Loyalists that are desirous
to quit the country, a prey to the violence they conceive
they have so much cause to apprehend.'

After the evacuation of New York, therefore, the number
of refugee Loyalists who came to Nova Scotia was small
and insignificant. In 1784 and 1785 there arrived a few
persons who had tried to take up the thread of their
former life in the colonies, but had given up the attempt.
And in August 1784 the _Sally_ transport from London cast
anchor at Halifax with three hundred destitute refugees
on board. 'As if there was not