The history of the site of Fort Toronto would probably have differed from what it has been, and the town developed there would, perhaps, have assumed at its outset a French rather than an English aspect, had the expectations of three Lower Canadian gentlemen, in 1791, been completely fulfilled. Under date of "Surveyor General's Office [Quebec], 10th June, 1791," Mr. Collins, Deputy Surveyor-General, writes to Mr. Augustus Jones, an eminent Deputy Provincial Surveyor, of whom we shall hear repeatedly, that "His Excellency, Lord Dorchester, has been pleased to order one thousand acres of land to be laid out at Toronto for Mr. Rocheblave; and for Captain Lajorée, and for Captain Bouchette seven hundred acres each, at the same place, which please to lay out accordingly," Mr. Collins says, "and report the same to this office with all convenient speed." We may suppose that these three French gentlemen became early aware of the spot likely to be selected for the capital of the contemplated Province of Upper Canada, and foresaw the advantages that might accrue from the possession of some broad acres there. Unluckily for them, however, delay occurred in the execution of Lord Dorchester's order; and in the meantime, the new Province was duly constituted, with a government and land-granting department of its own; and, under date of "Nassau [Niagara], June 15, 1792," Mr. Augustus Jones, writing to Mr. Collins, refers to his former communication in the following terms:--"Your order of the 10th of June, 1791, for lands at Toronto, in favour of Mr. Rocheblave and others, I only received the other day; and as the members of the Land Board think their power dissolved by our Governor's late Proclamation relative to granting of Lands in Upper Canada, they recommend it to me to postpone doing anything in respect of such order until I may receive some further instructions." We hear no more of the order. Had M. Rocheblave, Captain Lajorée and Captain Bouchette become legally seized of the lands assigned them at Toronto by Lord Dorchester, the occupants of building-lots in York, instead of holding in fee simple, would probably have been burdened for many a year with some vexatious recognitions of quasi-seignorial rights.