Unity of Empire

de bene esse: literally, of well-being, morally acceptable but subject to future validation or exception


‎"Those Loyalists who have adhered to the unity of the Empire, and joined the Royal Standard before the Treaty of Separation in the year 1783, and all their children and their descendants by either sex, are to be distinguished by the following capitals, affixed to their names: U.E. alluding to their great principle the unity of the Empire..."

 

 

1789: Residents of the American colonies who opposed the Revolution and wanted to remain faithful to the British crown found themselves in a tight spot as the new nation established itself as separate from Great Britain. Canada, still part of the British empire, welcomed these Loyalists with open arms, and residents of New Brunswick continue to trace their lineage back to these early rejectors of the American republic. A decree made on behalf of the Crown offered those who wished to emigrate to Canada a series of enticing benefits:

Those Loyalists who have adhered to the unity of the Empire, and joined the Royal Standard before the Treaty of Separation in the year 1783, and all their children and their descendants by either sex, are to be distinguished by the following capitals, affixed to their names: U.E. alluding to their great principle the unity of the Empire.

And it is also Ordered, that the said Land Boards may, in every such Case, provide not only for the Sons of those Loyalists, as they arrive to Full Age, but for their Daughters also, of that Age, or on their marriage, assigning to each a Lot of Two Hundred Acres, more or less, provided nevertheless that they respectively comply with the general Regulations and that it shall satisfactorily appear, the there has been no Default in the due Cultivation and Improvements of the Lands already assigned to the Head of the Family, of which they are Members.