while in prison or while living in New York city. Even
losses in trade and labour were discarded. It will be
seen that to apply these rules to thousands of detailed
claims, all of which had to be verified, was not the work
of a few days, or even months.

It must be remembered, too, that during the years from
1783 to 1790 the British government was doing a great
deal for the Loyalists in other ways. Many of the better
class received offices under the crown. Sir John Johnson
was appointed superintendent of the Loyalists in Canada,
and then superintendent of Indian Affairs; Colonel Edmund
Fanning was made lieutenant-governor of Nova Scotia; Ward
Chipman became solicitor-general of New Brunswick. The
officers of the Loyalist regiments were put on half-pay;
and there is evidence that many were allowed thus to rank
as half-pay officers who had no real claim to the title.
'Many,' said the Rev. William Smart of Brockville, 'were
placed on the list of officers, not because they had seen
service, but as the most certain way of compensating them
for losses sustained in the Rebellion'; and Haldimand
himself complained that 'there is no end to it if every
man that comes in is to be considered and paid as an
officer.' Then every Loyalist who wished to do so received
a grant of land. The rule was that each field officer
should receive 5,000 acres, each captain 3,000, each
subaltern 2,000, and each non-commissioned officer and
private 200 acres. This rule was not uniformly observed,
and there was great irregularity in the size of the
grants. Major Van Alstine, for instance, received only