[Footnote 72: This firm was Hon. Enos Collins and Joseph Allison, both of whom became members of His Majesty's Council. They succeeded to the business of Prescott & Lawson on the wharf afterwards known as Collins' wharf, where Mr. Collins, in 1823, built the range of stone stores, a part of which is occupied by the Halifax Banking Company.] On the 7th September, Sir Borlase Warren with his fleet arrived in Halifax Harbor in eight days from the Chesapeake. The fleet consisted of the St. Domingo, 74 guns, Diadem, 64, Diomede, 50, Junon, 38, Romulus, 36, Success, 32, Fox, 32, Nemesis, 28, Loupcervier, 18, Mariner, 15, Highflyer, 10, and several transports. The following passage from Murdoch's history affords a lively picture of the condition and aspect of Halifax at this period, drawn no doubt, in some measure from his personal recollection: "The effects of the war upon the people of Halifax were very marked. Our harbor had become the temporary home of the ships of war, and the place where their prizes were brought and disposed of. Our youths were eager to participate in the path that seemed to lead by a few steps to honor, glory, and fortune; and indeed when it is borne in mind that several Halifax lads rose to be admirals, we can hardly wonder at the school-boys' desire to wear the white stripe on his collar, and the ivory-handled dirk that indicated his authority to command men. The little capital, then occupying a restricted space, became crowded. Trade was active, prices rose. The fleet increasing, provisions were in great demand, and this acted as a large bounty in favor of the agriculturist and the fisherman. Rents of houses and buildings in the town were doubled and trebled. A constant bustle existed in our chief streets, cannon were forever noisy; it was a salute of a man-of-war entering or leaving, practising with guns or celebrating something or somebody. There is another side to this picture which must not be omitted. The moral condition of the town had become dreadful in the extreme. Eight or ten thousand soldiers, sailors, and prisoners of war let loose in a little town of less than 10,000 inhabitants can well be imagined."