was divided into eight counties, among which were
apportioned twenty-six members. The right to vote was
given by Governor Carleton to all males of twenty-one
years of age who had been three months in the province,
the object of this very democratic franchise being to
include in the voting list settlers who were clearing
their lands, but had not yet received their grants. The
elections were held in November, and lasted for fifteen
days. They passed off without incident, except in the
city of St John. There a struggle took place which throws
a great deal of light on the bitterness of social feeling
among the Loyalists. The inhabitants split into two
parties, known as the Upper Cove and the Lower Cove. The
Upper Cove represented the aristocratic element, and the
Lower Cove the democratic. For some time class feeling
had been growing; it had been aroused by the attempt of
fifty-five gentlemen of New York to obtain for themselves,
on account of their social standing and services during
the war, grants of land in Nova Scotia of five thousand
acres each; and it had been fanned into flame by the
inequality in the size of the lots granted in St John
itself. Unfortunately, among the six Upper Cove candidates
in St John there were two officers of the government,
Jonathan Bliss and Ward Chipman; and thus the struggle
took on the appearance of one between government and
opposition candidates. The election was bitterly contested,
under the old method of open voting; and as it proceeded
it became clear that the Lower Cove was polling a majority
of the votes. The defeat of the government officers, it
was felt, would be such a calamity that at the scrutiny