Great Britain, therefore, resolved to
try the experiment of forming in Nova Scotia a colony of
her own sons.
Thus it came to pass that a fleet of transports carrying
over twenty-five hundred colonists, counting women and
children, escorted by a sloop-of-war, cast anchor in
Chebucto Bay in July 1749. This expedition was commanded
by Edward Cornwallis, the newly appointed governor and
captain-general of Nova Scotia. He was a young officer
of thirty-six, twin-brother of the Rev. Frederick
Cornwallis, afterwards Archbishop of Canterbury, and
uncle of the more famous Lord Cornwallis who surrendered
at Yorktown thirty-two years later. With the colonists
came many officers and disbanded soldiers; came, also,
the soldiers of the garrison which had occupied Louisbourg
before the peace; for the new settlement, named Halifax
in honour of the president of the Lords of Trade, was to
be a military stronghold, as well as a naval base, and
the seat of government for the province.
While Cornwallis and his colonists laid the foundations
of Halifax, cleared the land, formed the streets, put up
their dwellings and defences, and organized their
government, the home authorities took up the problem of
securing more settlers for Nova Scotia.
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