in to many a once happy fireside; which bequeathed a legacy of
hatred to the children of those who took part in it; and which seriously
disturbed the international amity between Great Britain and the United
States.

It may be doubted whether all the ill effects of these appropriations
were foreseen by their promoters in the early years of our history. It
was at all events some time before those effects began to be apparent to
the people generally. In making the appropriations, care was taken that
the reserved lands should be intermixed with grants to actual settlers,
whereby they were spread over a large area; the manifest intention being
to increase their value by their proximity to cultivated farms, and at
the same time to create a tenantry in the settled townships, with a view
to the creation of parishes and the endowment of rectories. In several
portions of the Province, however, it was impossible to follow this
plan. Much of the Niagara peninsula had been granted to Butler's Rangers
before the passing of the Constitutional Act. In like manner, certain
townships along the north bank of the St. Lawrence, as well as several
portions of the Western District, had been granted to other United
Empire Loyalists. In none of these cases had any reservations been made,
and the lands had already become vested in the grantees. The
appropriators accordingly set apart large tracts of aggregated
reservations in contiguous townships which were yet unsettled. The
prejudicial results soon began to appear. Huge tracts of reserves
interposed themselves between one settler and another, enhancing the
difficulties of communication and transportation, and hindering or
altogether preventing that cooeperation of labour which is essential to
the prosperity of pioneer settlements. The inhabitants, instead of being
drawn together, were isolated from one another, and combination for
municipal or other public purposes was rendered all but impracticable.
They were kept remote from a market for the sale of their produce, cut
off from the privileges of public worship and public education for their
children; deprived, in a word, of the blessings of civilization.
Settlement was seriously obstructed, and the industrious immigrant was
to a great extent paralyzed by his surroundings.

The evils arising out of these Clergy Reserves were intensified by the
unfair and illegal manner in which the appropriations were made. It has
been seen that by the Act of