On the 30th October, H. M. Ship Porcupine, Capt. Evans, arrived from New Providence, having on board the Duke of Orleans and his two brothers, the Duke of Montpensier and Count Beaujolie, attended by Count Montjoye. They had been waiting for a passage to England and had proceeded here in the Porcupine in hope of meeting with an opportunity of going to Europe. Finding no immediate opportunity to England, they both took their passage in a merchant ship for New York. Though considered as prisoners on parole, they dined with the Governor, and paid a visit to the Duke of Kent at the Lodge. They also attended a public ball at Government House on the 17th November. The Duke of Orleans was afterwards elected to the French throne as Louis Philippe, King of the French, and eventually died in exile in England. After he became king, on meeting with several persons from Nova Scotia, he very kindly enquired after several gentlemen of Halifax by name and spoke with much feeling of the kindness he experienced while in Halifax. On arrival he was found to be in very straitened circumstances and the Duke of Kent was believed to have given him pecuniary assistance to enable the party to proceed on their voyage. CHAPTER VI. 1800. At the commencement of the century Halifax presented a prosperous condition. The population now approached 9,000. Trade was brisk, and the place was enlivened by a large garrison and the presence of a Prince of the Blood Royal. The harbor was the resort of the fleet and was the principal station of the naval commander. The war was at its height and the Prize Court in full operation. Several privateers had been fitted out by the merchants of the town and captures of French vessels were frequent, though the trade of the port occasionally suffered from the French cruisers on the coast. Among the captures from the enemy at the time, the most remarkable was that of two prizes, one French and one Danish, brought in by Captain William Pryor, commander of the Privateer Nymph, of Halifax. Several public buildings were commenced this spring. On the 5th June the Prince laid the corner stone of the Masonic Hall. His Royal Highness was Grand Master of the Masons of Lower Canada, and acted for the Hon. Richard Bulkeley, Grand Master of Nova Scotia, when age and infirmities prevented him from attending. A masonic procession was formed and the ceremony is said to have been one of the finest which Halifax ever witnessed. The band of the Prince's own regiment, the 7th Fusiliers, performed under the direction of Mr. Selby, organist of St. Paul's, one of the craft.