In some of the townships, the settlers were squatting along the St. Lawrence and Bay Quinté, until late in the summer and fall of 1784, waiting to know the location of their lots. This might easily be, as although the forest had been surveyed, the lots had not been numbered. So, although the refugee soldier had his location ticket for a certain lot, it was often a long tedious time before he could know its precise situation. The front part of the first, second, third, fourth and fifth townships upon the bay were definitely disposed of to disbanded soldiers and refugees, formed into companies. But the lands, then considered more remote, as along the north shore of Hay Bay, in the third and fourth towns; in some parts of the fifth; and more particularly along the shores of the western extremity of the bay, were at the service of any one who might venture to settle. It was considered quite in the remote part of the earth. Even the head of Picton Bay was considered a place which would hardly be settled. The result was, that many of the choice lots were taken up in the eighth and ninth towns, before they were surveyed. The policy pursued by the British Government, in recognizing the services of those who served in the British army against the rebels, and in recompensing the losses sustained by those who adhered to the British Crown in America, was most wise and beneficent. There were a few deserving ones in suffering circumstances, who failed to get the bounty so wisely granted. This sometimes was the result of the individual’s own neglect, in not advancing his claims; sometimes the fault of an agent who, too intent in getting for himself, forget those entrusted to his care. While a small number thus remained without justice, there were on the other hand, a large number who succeeded unworthily in obtaining grants. It is no cause for wonder, that out of the large number who composed the U. E. Loyalists, there would be found a certain number who would not hesitate to so represent, or misrepresent their case, that an undue reward would be accorded. Finding the government on the giving hand, they scrupled not to take advantage of its parental kindness. In later days we have seen the United States, when in the throes of a great civil war, bleeding at every point of the body politic, by the unprincipled contractors and others, who the most loudly proclaimed their patriotism. In 1783, when a rebellion had proved successful, and so had become a revolution, and the nation, from which a branch had been struck off, was most anxious to repay those who had preferred loyalty to personal aggrandizement, we may not wonder that there were some willing to take all they could get.