THE EARL OF EGMONT 3

Edward Island) are prominent among these new acquisitions and are especially valuable for their fertile soil and convenient situations for the fishery. Although their lands are not immediately thrown open for settlement, that fact does not deter adventurers seeking to obtain grants of their rich territories. Prominent among the speculators is the Earl of Egmont, who is not at all slow in making his request known.

” 0 king, ” he murmurs daily to himself, “give me the Island of St. John. Its area has not yet been deter- mined, but if it doesn’t contain more than two million acres, you could throw in another island in the West Indies.” After having posted his petition, the Earl waited impatiently. In fact, he did more than wait. He argued, planned, cajoled, and dispatched two more petitions to his royal master. He wrote, rewrote, and wrote again. He also enlisted the support of many prominent speculators.

He must have been very eloquent . . . Attached to his third memorial to the king was a long list of influential persons desiring to partake of the grant pursuant to his proposal. The list included sixteen sea officers, fourteen land officers, nine merchants, twenty-one reduced officers, twenty-nine who had applied since the memorial, “besides several members of Parliament and other gentlemen whose names for want of room cannot be contained in this list.” The list included such prominent names as Admiral Sir Charles Saunders, Admiral Knowles, Admiral Towns- end, General Monckton, Sir George Colebrook, Sir Guy Carleton, Admiral Sir George Rodney—and the Earl of Egmont and his nine children.

I can see the Earl very clearly as he buttonholes his friends and, like the Ancient Mariner, “holds them

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