(10) 
     
    
   
   
    
     they always are, and there were steps taken for th 
     
     effectual recovery of His Most Gracious Majesty’ 
     
     quit rents, under St. John. 
     
    
   
   
    
     In 1774, Governor Patterson again met his parlia 
     
     ment. The want of ferries must have been a con- 
     
     siderable inconvenience, and the non-attendance 
     
     members was loudly complained of, but “ all other 
     
     kind of lumber” was brought under survey. The 
     
     idea one has of a county is a subdivision. In this 
     
     sense the Island was at this time subdivided inlo one 
     
     county, but this is no matter. The proceedings in 
     
     the Supreme Court were better regulated; Quakers 
     
     were granted privileges, and retailers of rum encou- 
     
     raged. In 1776, the President and Commander-in- 
     
     Chief, Callbeck, determined that no officers should 
     
     receive greater ‘ fees’ than allowed by law, but an 
     
     examination of the list of correct fees gives an im— 
     
     pression that there must have been a disproportion 
     
     ofgreedy people among the inhabitants. To trespass 
     
     on Crown Lands at this time, appears to have been 
     
     a great sin, although some members of the present 
     
     Government (1861) have bought similar lands, for 
     
     about an English half-crown an acre. Lieut. Go- 
     
     vernor DesBI'isay reigned in 1779, and put fresh 
     
     breath into some expiring laws, regulated weights 
     
     and measures; and while he imposed the duty of rum 
     
     drinking, he put a curb on the tavern keeper Go— 
     
     vernor Patterson again at the helm, (1780) is indig- 
     
     nant at persons “ forestalling the market,” makes 
     
     Justices ofthe Peace regulate the price of provision, 
     
     rates of entertainment; prevents improper horses 
     
     running about, tries to keep hogs clear ofCharlotte- 
     
     town, and is mercifully inclined towards partridges. 
     
     The Militia (1780) become organised, and an allow- 
     
     ance to widows and children, whose masters may 
     
     have fallen in their military clothes, was made a 
     
     matter of grant. There was no penalty however 
     
     on those who would fight without ‘arms,’ for woe 
     
     betide the invader who met an islander’s toe in those 
     
     belligerent times, for in those days there was no fear,