CORNBLL UNIVERSITY 
 
 LIBRARIES 
 
 ITHACA. N, Y. 14583 
 
 JOHN M. OUN 
 LIBRARY 
 
Cornell University Library 
 BX 1422.P7M16 
 
 The early history of the Catholic Church 
 
 3 1924 010 285 033 
 
I| Cornell University 
 'f Library 
 
 The original of tiiis book is in 
 tine Cornell University Library. 
 
 There are no known copyright restrictions in 
 the United States on the use of the text. 
 
 http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924010285033 
 
HISTORY 
 
 THE CATHOLIC CHURCH 
 
 PRINCE EDWARD ISLAND 
 
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 Bishop of OuebcL' 
 1741 - 1760 
 
THE EARLY HISTORY 
 
 OF 
 
 THE CATHOLIC CHURCH 
 
 IN 
 
 PEINCE EDWARD ISLAND 
 
 BY 
 
 REY. JOM C. MACMILLAN 
 
 Pastor of Ail Saints Church, Cardigan Bridge, P. E. I^ 
 
 <N 
 
 M 
 
 jK/% 
 
 QUEBEC 
 
 Peinted by the Evenement Pkintin© Co^ 
 
 1905 
 
IMPEIMATUR 
 
 Charlottetown, July 10th, 1905. 
 
 f James Chakles McDonald, 
 
 Bishop of Charlottetown. 
 
TO THE MEMORY 
 
 OF THE 
 
 LATE REVEREND FATHER FRANCIS 
 
 MY KIND PATRON AND FRIEND 
 
 THIS BOOK IS RESPECTFULLY DEDICATED. 
 
PREFACE 
 
 The following pages contain a short account of the early 
 years of the Catholic Church in Prince Edward Island. 
 
 The task of compiling the same was performed amid the 
 many interruptions of parochial work, and was the more 
 difficult that but few documents were available. 
 
 It is hoped, however, that the matters here treated 
 may be found correct and that this first effort to write the 
 history of the Diocese of Charlottetown may be received 
 with approval. 
 
 The kind indulgence of the reading public is humbly 
 solicited in its behalf, for of its many defects no one can 
 be more convinced than 
 
 The Author. 
 
 Cardigan Bridge, P. E. I., 
 
 Feast of Our Lady of Mount Caru:;el, 1905. 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 Pages. 
 CHAPTER I Beginnings of our Island history. — First settlers 
 
 Earliest missionaries Relations between French and Indians I 
 
 CHAPTER II ^The Franciscan Fathers on the,Island....„ 9 
 
 CHAPTER III Population increased. — War between England and 
 
 France. — Father Maillard's labors and death , 15 
 
 CHAPTER IV Emigrants come from Nova Scotia. — Parishes are 
 
 formed Arrival of secular priests Condition of the people 21 
 
 CHAPTER V Destitution of the Colonists Refugees of 1755 Second 
 
 siege of Louisbourg Deportation 27 
 
 CHAPTER VI The state of the Church in Canada after the Conquest. 
 
 — The Church in St. John's Island Priests in the Maritime 
 
 Provinces. — The Island divided into lots Increase of popula- 
 tion Pastoral letter of Bishop Briand 33 
 
 CHAPTER VII Highland emigration Father James Macdonald 
 
 His labors and death 41 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. — Father MacEaohern's birth and early studies Goes 
 
 to Spain His ordination Returns to Scotland Comes to St. 
 
 John's Island 51 
 
 CHAPTER IX St. John's Island in 1790 Father MacEachern applies 
 
 to the Bishop of Quebec for faculties 59 
 
 CHAPTER X Early labors of Father MacEachern in St. John's Island. 69 
 
 CHAPTER XI. — Scarcity of priests. — Father MacEachern's views of the 
 
 situation St. Andrew's farm purchased 79 
 
 CHAPTER XII Father MacEachern's labors on the Mainland of Nova 
 
 Scotia and Cape Breton Island 89 
 
 CHAPTER XIII Father De Calonne He comes to St. John's Island. 
 
 His impressions of Chailottetown 103 
 
XIV 
 
 Pages 
 
 CHAPTER XIV ^Three priests in Prince Edward Island — ^Their rea- 
 
 peotive missions.— The Bishop of Quebec makes known his inten- 
 tion of paying the Island a visit Ill 
 
 CHAPTER XV.—First visit of a Bishop to Prince Edward Island 119 
 
 CHAPTER XVI Father MacEachern alone on the missions of Prince 
 
 Edward Island He builds St. Andrew's church Obstacles he 
 
 meets with His appeals for help 129 
 
 CHAPTER XVir Unsatisfactory condition of the Acadian people — 
 
 Efforts to procure priests for them ^Death of Father Augustine 
 
 Macdonald and of Captain John Macdonald 143 
 
 CHAPTER XVIII Bishop Plessis visits Prince Edward Island 153 
 
 CHAPTER XIX Father Beaubien at Rustico Sickness of the people. 
 
 — The Acadians of Malpeque move farther west 169 
 
 CHAPTER XX Ecclesiastical aflfairs in Charlottetown Father Mac- 
 Eachern appears in a clerical dress The cancer remedy 177 
 
 CHAPTER XXI Difficulties between Catholics and Governor Smith... 183 
 
 CHAPTER XXII First ecclesiastical students go to Quebec 189 
 
 CHAPRER XXIII Father MacEachern visits Cape Breton Island — 
 
 Difficulty in collecting money for students Accident to Father 
 
 MacEachern 195 
 
 CHAPTER XXIV Father Beaubien visits the Magdalen Islands. — His 
 
 labors in Prince Edward Island He visits Quebec His rela- 
 tions with Father MacEachern , 203 
 
 CHAPTER XXV Father Cecile at Rustico Sends Sylvain Berry to 
 
 Quebec Ronald Macdonald leaves the Seminary The Acadian 
 
 missions 207 
 
 CHAPTER XXVI Efforts made to divide the Diocese of Quebec- 
 Father Edmund Burke's views Nova Scotia a Vicariate Apos- 
 tolic. — Father MacEachern named Bishop of Rosen His con- 
 secration 215 
 
 CHAPTER XXVII Father Macdonald ordained Father Fitzgerald 
 
 comes to Charlottetown First ordination in P. E. Island 225 
 
 CHAPTER XXVIIL— Father Fitzgerald's labors in Charlottetown 
 
 Catholics come into favor Question of the franchise raised — 
 
 Death of Archbishop Plessis 231 
 
 CHAPTER XXIX Catholic claims discussed in the Press and in the 
 
 Legislature -Catholic petition defeated 237 
 
 CHAPTER XXX — Efforts of Bishop MacEachern to educate students. 
 
 — His nephew's death Labors on the Mainland ,. 245 
 
XV 
 
 Paoes. 
 
 CHAPTER XXXI Want of clergy Negotiations concerning the divi- 
 sion of the Diocese of Quebec 253 
 
 CHAPTER XXXII Events in the missions Father Perry ordained 
 
 Two boys sent to Rome 261 
 
 CHAPTER XXXIII Father Fitzgerald's departure Legislature asked 
 
 to vote money for a College at St. Andrew's Catholic Emancipa- 
 tion. — Bishop MacEaohern becomes Bishop of Charlottetown 267 
 
 CHAPTER XXXIV Catholics succeed to their Civil Rights Fort 
 
 Augustus settled. — Father John Macdonald First Catholic 
 
 elected to the Assembly A general election Bishop Mac- 
 
 Eachern takes possession of his See 275 
 
 CHAPTER XXXV Founding of St. Andrew's College Father Walsh. 
 
 — Church in Charlottetown enlarged 285 
 
 CHAPTER XXXVI Acadian missions Charlottetown Father John 
 
 Macdonald St. Andrew's College Bishop MacEachern at St. 
 
 John He builds a house at Canavoy 291 
 
 CHAPTER XXXVII Bishop MacEachern in failing health His last 
 
 illness. — His death and burial 299 
 
CHAPTER I. 
 
 EARLY HISTORY. — SETTLERS. MISSIONARIES. — RELATIONS BETWEEN 
 
 FRENCH AND INDIANS. 
 
 The discovery of Prince Edward Island is involved in great uncer- 
 tainty. English writers, as a rule, claim the honor for John and 
 Sebastian Cabot, whilst the French no less confidently assert, that it 
 belougs by right to John Verazzani, a Florentine navigator in the 
 pay of the French King. These contradictory opinions they back up 
 witb arguments, which instead of throwing light on the subject, 
 seem to clothe it in deeper obscurity. 
 
 From reliable testimonies taken from both sides we glean the fol- 
 lowing facts, which serve as the basis of the claims advanced by the 
 two nations. In the month of May, 1497, John Cabot and his son 
 Sebastian, with a commission from Henry VII of England, set sail 
 for North America, in the hope of finding a westerly passage to China 
 and Japan. They reached the American Continent in safety, went 
 north as far as Labrador, sailed down the Strait of Belle Isle, and 
 having entered the Gulf of St. Lawrence returned home to report 
 their success to the English King. The latter immediately proceeded to 
 take formal possession of all the territory sighted during this voyage, 
 though, in all probability, the Cabots never set foot on many of the 
 lands thus claimed by their Eoyal Patron. Their subsequent voyages 
 were, in most respects, similar to the first. They create a probability, 
 but by no means a certainty, that the Cabots are the real discoverers 
 of Prince Edward Island. 
 
 Henry VIII, who succeeded to the Throne in 1509, had little time 
 \ 
 
— 2 — 
 
 to bestow on voyages of discovery. More eager to acquire jurisdiction 
 in spiritual affairs than to extend his temporal possessions, he turned 
 his thoughts to Eome rather than to America, and spent in quarrel- 
 ing with the Pope, the time that might have been better employed, 
 in making good the claims to American territory advanced by his 
 illustrious father. 
 
 To Henry VIII succeeded Mary whose reign was one of perpetual 
 strife and turmoil at home, and consequently not favorable to the 
 extension of English rule in foreign countries. In this way the dis- 
 coveries of the Cabots were lost to view, and almost forgotten by the 
 country in whose interest they had laboured. 
 
 In the meanwhile France was giving evidence of marine activity. 
 The eldest daughter of the Church, she saw in the newly discovered 
 continent a splendid field for the Gospel, and accordingly, in the year 
 1524, John Verazzani received a commission from the French King 
 to go out to the American Continent on a voyage of discovery. 
 Verazzani explored the sea-coast from North Carolina to the Gulf of 
 St. Lawrence, and took possession of the entire region in the name 
 of the Crown of France. Ten years later, came the real discoverer of 
 Canada, the illustrious Jacques Cartier, who landing on the mainland 
 of the New Continent, raised the cross entwined with the " Fleur de 
 Lys," thus laying claim to the country in the name of France and 
 of Eeligion. Before effecting a landing on Canadian soil, Jacques 
 Cartier had skirted the northern coast of Prince Edward Island, which 
 he regarded as a portion of the mainland. It was not till some years 
 afterwards, that its insularity was discovered, when it received the 
 name of St. John's Island, given to it, as some assert, by Champlain, 
 because he reached its shores for the first time on the 24th of June, 
 the Feast of St. John the Baptist. Of this latter assertion, however, 
 we have no certainty. What we do know is, that Champlain, in the 
 records of his third voyage, speaks of it in a way, which seems to 
 indicate that as early as 1603 it was commonly known by that name. 
 
 Its early history manifests great neglect on the part of the Mother 
 Country. Indeed, for more than a century from the time of Jacques 
 Cartier, France made little or no effort to promote its colonization. 
 
— 3 — 
 
 In 1653 Nicholas Denys, a French merchant, obtained a grant of 
 all the islands in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, at which time St. John's 
 Island was peopled by only a few savages, generally of the Micmac 
 Tribe. Denys' occupation of the Island produced no definite results. 
 It remained without colonists till the year 1719, when it was again 
 granted by the King to one of his noblemen Count Saint Pierre, for 
 the purpose of carrying on fisheries. 
 
 With this concession to Count Saint Pierre the history of St. John's 
 Island properly begins. Heretofore almost entirely neglected, it now 
 became the point towards which converged two streams of emigrants, 
 the one from France, the other from Acadia or Nova Scotia. 
 
 At the time of which we write, France was slowly recovering from 
 the calamitous effects of a prolonged war with England, in which the 
 American possessions of the rival nations had taken an active part. 
 When peace was concluded, at Utrecht in 1713, Frauce lost a great 
 part of her possessions in North America, by ceding to England the 
 Colonies of Nova Scotia, Newfoundland and Hudson Bay Territory. 
 To make up for their loss, she determined to make more strenuous 
 efforts to colonize her remaining dependencies, and on this account, 
 St. John's Island began to receive a larger share of attention. Hence, 
 after 1719, immigrants began to arrive in the Island, some directly 
 from France, others, and by far the greater number, from Nova Scotia. 
 As fishing was the chief industry of the colonists, they usually settled 
 along the bays and rivers, and, as early as the year 1722, we find ten 
 families at St. Peter's Harbor, five at Port La Joie, three on the banks 
 of the Hillsborough Eiver, and two at East Point, while succeeding 
 years saw flourishing settlements spring up at Tracadie, Naufrage, 
 Savage Harbor, Three Rivers and Malpeque. 
 
 Port La Joie, where Count St. Pierre established his headquarters, 
 was situated on an eminence overlooking, from the west, the entrance 
 to Charlottetown Harbor. Here was the centre to which converged 
 the trade of the outlying settlements, here was erected a small fort, in 
 which was stationed a garrison for the protection of the Colony, and 
 here, in the month of April, 1721, arrived Eev. Ren^ Charles 
 De Breslay, the first priest to set foot on St. John's Island. 
 
— 4 — 
 
 Father De Breslay was a priest of the Community of St. Sulpice, 
 who had already spent some years in Canada. Born in 1658 of a 
 noble family, he was for a number of years, attached to the Court 
 of Louis XIV, where the sun of royal favor seemed to light his path 
 to a brilliant future; but the gaieties of court life did not satisfy a 
 soul called to higher purposes, and so to the surprise of his friends, 
 he turned his back on the vanities of the world and entered the Semi- 
 nary of St. Sulpice to prepare for the holy priesthood. 
 
 Almost immediately after" his ordination, he set out for Canada, 
 and arrived at Montreal, on August 3rd, 1G94. Here he was appointed 
 curate and afterwards parish priest of the Church of Notre Dame. 
 
 In March of 1703 he was entrusted with the newly organized 
 parish of St. Louis, situated at one extremity of Montreal Island, 
 where he devoted himself to the spiritual care of the French and 
 Indians, and signalized his pastorate by his determined efforts in the 
 cause of temperance. To prevent the Indians from procuring intoxi- 
 cating drink, he induced them to move to a little island near at hand 
 owned by Mr. Vaudreuil, Governor of Canada, where he build a 
 church for them, and laboured for sixteen years to promote their spir- 
 itual welfare. His efforts, however, were thwarted in the end. Mr. 
 Vaudreuil gave the island in charge of an agent, with authority to 
 sell liquor to the Indians. Against this proceeding Father De Breslay 
 warmly protested but without avail. The paltry gain to be derived 
 from the baneful traf&c was of more consequence to the authorities 
 than the salvation of the Indians. He therefore decided to go home 
 to France, and plead the cause of his mission before the authorities 
 of the Motherland. Here he met with only partial success. He was 
 indeed able to impress the civil authorities with the justice of his 
 contention, and they expressed their willingness to back him out, in 
 his efforts to suppress the liquor traf&c ; but his ecclesiastical superiors, 
 fearing that his having opposed the Governor might hamper his 
 future usefulness in Montreal, did not permit his return to the same 
 mission, but decided to give it over to another member of the Com- 
 munity. 
 
 While these negotiations were going on in Paris, Father De Breslay 
 
met with Count St. Pierre, who was there making arrangements fof 
 the colony about to be established in St. John's Island. Wishing to 
 have a priest, to minister to his colonists, the Count found in Father 
 De Breslay one whose piety, zeal and experience eminently fitted 
 him for the purpose. He, at once, laid before him his plans, and 
 entreated him to join the emigrants, who were soon to set out for 
 St. John's Island. Here was an excellent opportunity for the exercis© 
 of missionary zeal, and Father De Breslay was glad to take advantage 
 of it, as he could not return to Montreal. He declared himself quite 
 willing to go to St. John's Island, provided he could obtain the per- 
 mission of Father Lechassier, at this time Superior General of the 
 Community of St. Sulpice. The permission was granted far more 
 readily than he had anticipated. For some time, in fact, the Sulpicians 
 had been considering the advisability of establishing, in these Maritime 
 Provinces, a seminary somewhat on the lines of the one founded at 
 Quebec by the Society of Foreign Missions, and they had made a 
 beginning of the kind, at Port Eoyal, which they subsequently aban- 
 doned. Father Lechassier therefore cherished the hope that, as many 
 wealthy capitalists had joined the company of Count St. Pierre, 
 St. John's Island might, in the near future, furnish facilities for 
 carrying out this plan, and hence, readily consented to the departure 
 of Father De Breslay. 
 
 Before setting out, the latter requested that a second priest be per- 
 mitted to accompany him, and in consideration of his advanced age, 
 his prayer was granted. Choice was made of Eieverend Marie Anselme 
 de Metivier, also a Sulpician, who had been parish priest for a few 
 years, at Longue Pointe, near Montreal, whence he had returned to 
 France. Having soon grown tired of the monastery of the Mother 
 House in Paris, he was glad when asked to become Father De Bres- 
 lay's companion on the mission of St. John's Island. 
 
 These two priests arrived early in the spring of 1721, and imme- 
 diately took up their residence at Port La Joie, where in the following 
 year they built a modest little church dedicated to St. John the 
 Evangelist. This little church was the first place of worship erected 
 in St. John's Island. In it were performed the earliest religious cere- 
 
— 6 — 
 
 monies of which we have any account. On July 14th, 1722, it wit- 
 nessed a baptism of more than ordinary interest, the record of which 
 is so peculiar, that I here translate it in full. " On the 14th of July 
 was baptized Peter Francis de Paul, born at 3 o'clock yesterday 
 morning, son of Louis Denis de la Eonde, Esquire, Knight of the 
 military Order of St. Louis, Lieutenant of the King in St. John's 
 Island ; and of Madame Louis Chartier de Lotbinifere. 
 
 " The Godfather was Mr. Eobert David Gotteville de Belle-Isle, 
 Knight of St. Louis and Governor of St. John's Island, etc. 
 
 " The Godmother was Lady Louise de Kervin, Maid of Honor to 
 the Most Excellent Princess Her Eoyal Highness the Duchess of 
 Orleans, and wife of His Excellency Count St. Pierre, First Knight 
 of Her Eoyal Highness the said Duchess of Orleans, Grand Master 
 of Her household and proprietor of the said Island of St. John. 
 
 " Witnesses, Louis Denis de la Eonde, the father ; Mr. Aubert Lord 
 of Demar, member of the General Council of Quebec, and Director 
 General of the said Island, who have hereunto subscribed their names 
 according to the established rule." 
 
 The above record containing so many illustrious names would seem 
 to indicate an advanced state of social refinement in St. John's 
 Island. It might lead the casual reader to the opinion, that even in 
 those remote days, the Colony could boast of titled gentry among its 
 inhabitants. But what would such people be doing in this wild rude 
 country ? Why should persons of rank and nobility exchange the 
 luxuries of Parisian society for the wants and privations of colonial 
 life ? That some officers of the army were here is doubtless true, for 
 the soldier must ever follow the flag. That the missionary, who by 
 vow had left all to follow Christ, should come hither and bury him- 
 self in a living grave of toil and hardship is not to be wondered at ; 
 but it is scarcely credible theit devotees of fashion, blind slaves of the 
 world's conventional forms, had turned their backs on the advantages 
 of position, closed their ears to the siren song of social pleasures, 
 steeled their hearts against the allurements of court favor, to take 
 up the monotonous burden of life amongst the early colonists. We, 
 therefore, venture the opinion that Lady Louise, wife of Count St. ' 
 
— 7 — 
 
 Pierre, and perhaps, others whose distinguished names grace the 
 records of Port La Joie never saw St. John's Island. Their names 
 may be mere evidence of a custom, by which persons of rank some- 
 times assisted by proxy at certain religious functions. 
 
 Be this as it may, the ceremonies performed in the Church of 
 St. John the Evangelist did not always call together such a galaxy of 
 distinguished persons. A few years later, we find an officer of the 
 garrison and one of the ladies of the Fort, standing sponsors at the 
 baptism of an Indian- child. 
 
 We have in this a striking example of the good feeling which 
 always existed between the French and Indians, and I trust my 
 readers will pardon me the digression, whilst I make brief reference 
 to this pleasant feature of the early history of St. John's Island. 
 
 An address delivered, some years ago, before the Historical Society 
 of Chignecto, refers to this matter. After relating the incidents men- 
 tioned above it goes on to say : " The policy that dictated such acts 
 readily accounts for the close brotherhood between the French and 
 Indians, a connection that British power was never able to break. 
 There is too much truth in the claim that while one nation presented 
 the point of the sword to the Savages of the New World, the other 
 upheld to them the virtues of the Cross. It may give one a better 
 idea of human nature, when it is remembered that the Micmac 
 Savages never betrayed those whom they considered their friends. 
 A generation ago a reward was set up for the head of Le Loutre ; 
 yet he travelled the wilds of Nova Scotia in perfect safety with 
 Indian guides and companions ^." 
 
 This good understanding between the French and Indians may be 
 attributed to two principal causes — the colonial policy of France, and 
 the teaching of the missionaries. 
 
 France acquired new territory not so much to extend her temporal 
 possessions, as to open up new fields of labor for the Church, whose 
 mission is to teach all nations. Her aim was not merely to colonize 
 but to christianize. Hence, with every band of emigrants went forth 
 
 1 — Lecture by W. C. Milner, Esq., Collector of Customs at Sackville, N. B. 
 
— 8 — 
 
 the missionary, Lika a true disciple of the Divine Master, he set out 
 ■without scrip or purse, the very incarnation of heroism and devoted- 
 nes8. To him the Indian was as dear as his pale-faced brother. To 
 him they were equal, for he saw in each an immortal soul redeemed 
 by the same blood of Jesus Christ, and destined to the same eternal 
 inheritance. These pious sentiments he inculcated upon his hearers, 
 and his teaching took deep root in their hea,rts, for it was confirmed 
 by his own example. In the discharge of his duties he made no 
 exception of persons but became " all things to all men that he might 
 save all ^." This gave the seal of authority to his words when he 
 exhorted the French dblonists to love their Indian brethren ; and the 
 result of his teaching was that the mutual relations between the two 
 races seemed a happy realization of the truth taught by the Psalmist : 
 " Behold how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell 
 together in unity ^." 
 
 What a contrast to the conduct of the English colonists, who, in 
 the words of Parkman, " regarded the Indians less as men than as 
 vicious and dangerous animals ^." 
 
 l_ICor. IX. 22. 
 
 2 — Ps. CXXXII. 1. 
 
 3 — Half Century of conflict, vol. I, Pag. 215. 
 
CHAPTER II. 
 
 FRANCISCANS IN ST. JOHN'S ISLAND. 
 
 We have seen that the Sulpicians were desirous of founding a 
 seminary in St. John's Island ; and for that reason two priests of their 
 Community came thither in 1721. Their hopes, however, were 
 doomed to disappointment. A stay of two years was sufi&cient to -con- 
 vince Father De Breslay that such an institution must remain a 
 practical impossibility for many years to come. Nay more. The 
 poverty of the colonists, their small numbers, their isolation, the 
 many privations they endured and the small profits arising from the 
 speculations of Count St. Pierre, rendered the support of two mission- 
 aries a heavy burden for the people. It was, therefore, deemed advis- 
 able to call in a member of one of the' mendicant orders, whose life 
 of perpetual self-denial would render his support but a small incon- 
 venience to the colonists. 
 
 With this end in view Father Michael Brulai, a Franciscan, a 
 monastery of whose order had been recently founded at Louisbourg, 
 Cape Breton Island, came in to Port La Joie to confer with Father 
 De Breslay regaydiDg the future management of the mission ; and a 
 short time afterwards Peverend Father Gaulin, Vicar General of the 
 Bishop of Quebec, came over from Nova Scotia for the same pur- 
 pose. The result of their conference was that the Sulpicians gave 
 over to the Franciscans the spiritual care of St. John's Island. 
 Father De Breslay bade adieu to his flock at Port La Joie in the 
 
— 10 — 
 
 spring of 1723, and Father De Metivier did likewise, somewhat later 
 in the same year. 
 
 Their place was soon taken by a Franciscan, Father Louis Barbet 
 Dulonjon, who came hither from the monastery at Louisbourg. Thus 
 the work, begun by the disciples of Monsieur Olier, was taken up 
 by the huml)le sons of St. Francis, who watered with heroic labor 
 the mustard seed of religion planted in the colony by Father De 
 Breslay. For thirty years from this date the Franciscans were the 
 only clergy on the Island. They made their home at Port La Joie, 
 where they served in the capacity of chaplains to the garrison, living 
 In comparative retirement isolated from their community, succeeding 
 each other one by one, as directed by their superiors, and ministering 
 to the spiritual wants of the colonists and Indians scattered far and 
 near along the seaboard. From 1723 till 1754 no less than nineteen 
 friars bore in succession the burden of missionary toil in St. John's 
 Island. 
 
 Many a dreary tale of privation and hardship might be told of these 
 intrepid God-fearing man. The most eloquent tongue cannot describe, 
 nor the most vivid imagination picture the fatigues they endured, 
 and the difficulties they encountered, as they went from place to 
 place, generally on foot, carrying with them everything required for 
 the celebration of the Holy Mysteries. Alas, we know too little of 
 their heroism and self-denial. Brought up in the school of St. Francis 
 of Assisi, wherein humility is made the corner-stone of the spiritual 
 edifice, they sought not the glamor of earthly glory, and hence, wrote 
 nothing concerning themselves. They left us only the registers, in 
 which they recorded the baptisms, marriages and burials at which 
 they officiated during their visits to the various settlements. 
 
 From the meagre hints furnished by one of these registers, the 
 learned author of Une Seconde Acadie draws a pen picture of a 
 journey, made in mid-winter by Father Kergariou, one of these Fran- 
 ciscans. The book as described by the writer is yellow with age, 
 and shews signs of having been thoroughly soaked with water, per- 
 haps in a rain-storm to which the missionary was exposed while 
 , making his way from one settlement to another. From it, however, 
 
— 11 — 
 
 he constructs a story replete with interest, which though suffering 
 somewhat from our translation, we here present to our readers. 
 
 " It was the winter of 1726. During the cold season the shores 
 of the Gulf of St. Lawrence, usually stern in appearance, put on a 
 look of sombre grandeur, seen nowhere but in the far North. Immense 
 fields of ice float at the mercy of the winds in that inland see. Days, 
 whose noonday light is reduced by fog and haze to the sombre hue 
 of fading twilight, are often followed by intervals of such brilliant 
 sunshine, that the eye can scarcely endure the glare reflected from 
 the white coverlit of snow and ice. 
 
 " At the remote period of which we make mention, if one could 
 have obtained a bird's eye view of St. John's Island on a winter's 
 day, he could have noticed, here and there, certain areas white with 
 snow, which tended to relieve the monotonous appearance of the 
 virgin forest. These were the clearings made by the settlers, whereon 
 were built their houses, from whose chimneys arose miniature clouds 
 of smoke. Near by isolated trees of fir and spruce looked, in their 
 snowy covering, like hunters returning from the chase clothed in the 
 white fur of their fallen victims. From Port La Joie to St. Peter's 
 Harbor, stretched a long silvery band indicating the icy course of the 
 East Eiver, which served as the winter highway between the two 
 settlements. 
 
 " On a day in January, two travellers, on snowshoes, made their 
 way, by this route, toward St. Peter's Harbor. One wore the habit of 
 a Franciscan Friar, with the cowl drawn tightly over his head, for 
 protection from the cold. It was Father Kergariou, who was on his 
 way to St. Peter's, accompanied by one of the inhabitants of Port 
 La Joie whom he had chosen as his guide. 
 
 " The zealous missionary thus sets out on a journey of almost one 
 hundred and fifty miles, to bring the consolations of religion to a few 
 colonists and Indians. He might meet with snow-falls, excessive cold 
 and blinding drifts, but what of that ? He kept on courageously, ever 
 mindful of the Good Shepherd, whose divine example taught him to 
 lay down his life for his flock. 
 
— 12 — 
 
 " He must have left Port La Joie after the 24th of January, for, on 
 that day he had inscribed a record of baptism there, and he probably 
 reached St. Peter's Harbor about the 4th of February, for on the 5th 
 he there supplied the ceremonies of baptism to a child born on the 18th 
 of the preceding month, and who had received only private baptism 
 because there was no priest nearer than Port La Joie. 
 
 " At St. Peter's he remained two months, catechising the children, 
 singing high masses for the dead, preaching the word of God, hearing 
 confessions and visiting the sick. Towards the end of Lent, he set out 
 for Malpeque, over forty miles to the westward, whither his path 
 lay by the edge of the sea, covered at this time with a thick bed of 
 ice and snow. 
 
 " The Micmacs of Malpeque were awaiting his coming, for the 
 missionaries never failed to pay them a visit at this season, to afford 
 them an opportunity of approaching the sacraments during Paschal 
 Time. His welcome here was no less sincere than that extended to 
 him by his own countrymen, though it was, perhaps, less demon- 
 strative owing to the reserve peculiar to the Indians. But with all 
 their kindness, a stay in their village was one of the greatest trials 
 that fell to the lot of the missionary. His only shelter was the rude 
 wigwam open to all kinds of weather, and often dirty to an intolerable 
 degree. A few spruce boughs, which served for seats by day and for 
 beds by night, constituted their entire stock of furniture. Prom the 
 fire, placed in the middle, rose a thick smoke, which, carried about 
 by the currents of air, added greatly to the discomfort. Men, women 
 and children were huddled together in the narrow space, while the 
 dogs moved about at will, barking and snarling in perfect freedom, 
 and sleeping here and there, lying sometimes on the ground and not 
 unfrequently on the people. 
 
 " In such lodgings the missionary was obliged to live during his stay 
 at Malpeque. The records he kept at the time bear evidence of his 
 destitute condition. The hand-writing is in marked contrast to that of 
 former entries. It is very irregular in form and almost illegible, 
 showing thalt it was done whilst the writer was in an uncomfortable 
 and unsteady position. He did not even have ink at his disposal. Its 
 
— 13 — 
 
 place had to be supplied by a dark liquid that seems to have been a 
 mixture of water and soot ^." 
 
 Such were the privations endured by the good missionary as he 
 strove to keep alive the fire of divine faith, during the early years of 
 the colony. Labors and hardships, however, did not subdue his 
 ardor nor lessen his charity ; nor did the poverty of his surroundings 
 shorten his stay at Malpeque. He remained with the Indians, con- 
 tinuing the same good work he had done at St. Peter's, and did not 
 reach his home at Port La Joie till spring was well advanced. 
 
 1 — Une Seconds Acadie, Casgrain, pages 45 et seq. 
 
CHAPTER III. 
 
 POPULATION INCREASED. — WAR BETWEEN ENGLAND AND 
 rKANCE. — FATHER MAILLARD. 
 
 We have already stated that the colonization of St. John's Island 
 began with its concession to Count St. Pierre, and that in 1721 
 twenty families constituted the entire population. In 1728 this 
 number had increased to fifty-seven families, of which eighteen 
 resided at St. Peter's, fifteen at Savage Harbor, fourteen at Port 
 La Joie, four at Tracadie, three at East Point and three at Malpeque, 
 The census returns of 1735 show an increase of twenty-four families, 
 making a total of five hundred and forty-three souls, distributed as 
 follows : 
 
 At St. Peter's Harbor 294 
 
 At Tracadie 39 
 
 At Port Lajoie 114 
 
 At St. Peter's Lake 35 
 
 At Malpeque 31 
 
 At East Point 18 
 
 At Three Eivers 10 
 
 To these must be added about fifty-six Micmacs, living near Mal- 
 peque. Until the year 1744 the same gradual increase of population 
 continued, and new settlements were formed at Bedeque, Point 
 Prime, Fortune Bay and along the banks of the Hillsborough, York 
 and Elliot Eivers. 
 
 In 1744 war was declared between England and France. No sooner 
 
— 16 — 
 
 were its flames enkindled in the old countries, than their possessions 
 in America took up the quarrel, and entered with energy and zeal on 
 armed hostilities. The French colonists were first in the field. Duques- 
 nel, the Governor at Louisbourg, fitted out an expedition, commanded 
 by Puvivier, an officer of merit, who first captured Port Canseau in 
 eastern Nova Scotia, then sailing up Northumberland Strait to Bay 
 Verte, landed his forces and marched overland to Port Eoyal. 
 
 Although Nova Scotia was, at this time, an English colony, a large 
 majority of its inhabitants were of French origin, and Duquesnel was 
 in hopes that their love of France would cause them to flock to his 
 standard and take up arms against the English. In this, however, he 
 was disappointed. The priests of Acadia exhorted the people to remain 
 firm in their allegiance to the Crown of England, so that only a mere 
 handful took up arms, and the expedition consequently proved a 
 failure. 
 
 Those of&cious makers of history, who attribute the misfortunes of 
 the Acadian people to their supposed too great reliance on the word 
 of their priests, would do well to study this episode in Canadian his- 
 tory. Had the Acadian clergy ranged themselves on the side of 
 Duquesnel, had they called on the people to stand up for their own 
 flesh and blood, had they exhorted them to take up arras in the cause 
 of their well-beloved Motherland, had they proclaimed that the time 
 was come to strike a strong blow for freedom and to drive out, forever, 
 the hated foreigner, yea, even had they remained neutral, the people 
 would have risen to a man and enrolled themselves under the banner 
 of Duvivier. What the result would have been, we can now only 
 conjecture. An uprising of the Acadians in Nova Scotia, backed by 
 their friends in Cape Breton and St. John's Island, could not have 
 proved otherwise than disastrous to England. It would probably have 
 swept away every trace of British rule in Nova Scotia, and have 
 given to the map of North America a different appearance from 
 that which it presents to-day. 
 
 From a letter of Intendant Hocquart to the Bishop of Quebec, 
 dated May 12th, 1745, we learn that the French King was not pleased 
 with the conduct of the Acadian priests on this occasion. The letter 
 
— 17 — 
 
 states that Father Desenclaves, pastor at Poit Koyal, earnestly 
 exhorted his parishioners to continue in their loyalty to the English 
 King. Another priest, Father Dechauvreulx went so far as to threaten 
 "with excommunication any of his flock, who should take up arms 
 against the English ; whilst a third. Father De Miniac, Vicar General 
 of the Bishop of Quebec, stationed near the Mines, was equally 
 decided in his views of loyalty to England. Such, then, was the con- 
 duct of the Acadian clergy during this war. Ambassadors of Him, 
 whose birth brought peace to men of goodwill, they spoke out in 
 the cause of peace, and advised their hearers to persevere in their 
 allegiance to the British flag. The horrors of the deportation of 1755, 
 followed by the outrages of 1758, the persistent malice of writers, 
 who seek to justify these barbarities, are an example of the gratitude 
 both priests and people have received, in return for their loyal 
 adherence to British interests. 
 
 The hatred of France, which had long rankled in the breasts of the 
 people of New England, was fanned into flame by the invasion of 
 Nova Scotia. A movement was, at once, set on foot in Boston, to 
 arrest the progress of the enemy and in a short time a fleet in command 
 of Captain Pepperel, was sent against Louisbourg, one of the most 
 strongly fortified places held by the French in America. This fleet, 
 reinforced by Captain Warren, with five ships of war, arrived at 
 Louisbourg on the 8th of May, 1745. The fortress held out only a 
 short time. Before the end of June the garrison capitulated, and the 
 flag of England floated triumphantly from the battlements of the 
 conquered city. 
 
 S.ome days previously, Pepperel had dispatched a detachment of 
 men to St. John's Island, with orders to destroy all the property they 
 could find, and carry off the inhabitants. A part of this detachment 
 landed at Three Rivers, where a rich Frenchman named Roma had 
 laid the foundation of a prosperous settlement on a tongue of land 
 between the Montague and Brudenell Rivers. Roma's property was 
 soon laid in ruins, and he himself narrowly escaped with his life. A 
 company of the troops landed also at Port La Joie, whose only protec- 
 tion was a garrison of fifteen men. Here was carried on the same 
 
— 18 — 
 
 ■work of destruction, which marked their descent on Three Eivers. 
 The fort was speedily demolished and the village given over to the 
 flames. The inhabitants fled in terror into the interior of the country, 
 whither they were hotly pursued by the English. The pursuit, how- 
 ever, did not last long. A union having been effected between the 
 garrison, the colonists and the Indians, they suddenly attacked the 
 English troops and drove them back to their ships. During the 
 remainder of the campaign St. John's Island was left in comparative 
 peace, the gariison stationed at Louisbourg being barely sufficient to 
 defend the city, much less to carry war into the outlying settlements. 
 In 1748 the war came to an end. The rival nations signed the Treaty 
 of Aix-la-Chapelle, by the terms of which Cape Breton and St. John's 
 Islands remained subject to the Crown of France. 
 
 The details of this war may appear foreign to our subject, but we 
 have entered into them somewhat minutely on account of the influ- 
 ence they exercised over St. John's Island. During the war the affairs 
 of the colony remained at a standstill, or rather, took a backward step. 
 The gradual increase of population, which had obtained prior to the 
 year 1744, now practically ceased thrgugh want of immigration, whilst 
 the seven or eight hundred inhabitants residing on the Island at that 
 date, were greatly diminished in number by the recall of the garrison 
 to Louisbourg and the destruction which followed the invasion of 1745. 
 Only fifteen regular troops were left on the Island, during the siege 
 of Louisbourg, and these were dispatched to Quebec shortly after the 
 capitulation. The withdrawal of the troops necessitated the departure 
 of the chaplain, whose only support was a small annuity from the 
 French Government, granted in consideration of his services to the 
 garrison. Hence Father Kvielze, the chaplain at the out-break of the 
 war, left the Island in May 1 744, and for five years, the people were 
 deprived of the services of a priest. In this way both the spiritual 
 and temporal progress of the colony was retarded by Duquesnel's 
 untimely invasion of Nova Scotia. 
 
 With the Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle, a much-needed change was 
 effected in the colonial policy of France. It was now clearly demon- 
 strated, that to preserve even a foothold in North America, the Mother 
 
— 19 — 
 
 Country would have to watch over her colonies with greater vigi- 
 lance. 
 
 Accordingly the fortifications at Louisbourg were repaired, at an 
 enormous expense, and a garrison sufficient for its defence was placed 
 over the city. St. John's Island, too, received a large measure of 
 attention. Just now it stood higher than ever in the estimation of 
 the home authorities, as its fertile soil gave goodly promise of fur- 
 nishing the supplies required by the garrison at Louisbourg. A new 
 Governor, Mr. Denis de Bonaventure, arrived at Port La Joie, in 1749, 
 and was followed, somewhat later in the same year, by Eev. Patrick 
 Lagrfe, a priest of the Order of St. Francis. Civil and religious affairs 
 were soon reorganized. Port La Joie was speedily rebuilt, its forti- 
 fications repaired, and a garrison stationed over it as of old. Father 
 Lagr^e began his visits to the distant settlements like his venerable 
 predecessors, and soon the hum of prosperity dispelled the monototiy 
 which had succeeded the invasion of 1745. 
 
 About this time, too, Eeverend Father Maillard, who made his 
 home on the mainland, paid annual visits to the ladiads of St. John's 
 Island. They had chosen, for their place of residence, the part of the 
 Island west of Malpeque of which, by agreement with the French, 
 they were allowed to remain in undisturbed possession. 
 
 Thither Father Maillard made his way every year, and labored for 
 them as well as for their brethren of the Mainland, with such remark- 
 able success, as to earn for himself the title " Apostle of the Mic- 
 macs." It is impossible now to ascertain by whom they were first 
 converted to the Faith of Christ. Who first told them the story of 
 the crucified Eedeemer is unknown. But one fact which the student 
 of their history cannot fail to discover is, that Father Maillard did 
 more than any other to keep alive the holy flame, enkinded in their 
 hearts by their first missionaries. With true apostolic charity he 
 devoted himself to their welfare, lived amongst them, shared their 
 privations, sympathized with them in their sorrows and participated 
 in their joys. He mastered their language that he might instruct 
 them in their own tongue, and after the lapse of more than a century, 
 the effects of his disinterested labours are still discernible amongst 
 
— 20 — 
 
 them. The name of Pa'ther Maillard is unfortunately not suffi- 
 ciently known to us. Had he been one of those whom the world 
 calls great, the pages of history would be eloquent with his praise ; 
 but as he was only a lowly follower of Jesus of Nazareth, the world 
 can afford to leave his name in oblivion. Many a labourer in the 
 Lord's Vineyard, wearing himself out in the service of his fellow-men, 
 goes down to an early grave the victim of his charity, and in a few 
 years his name is forgotten. Many a noble missionary, whose heroism 
 of soul gave joy to the Angels of God, is unknown to history ; while 
 those, who figured in the palaces of the rich and at the Courts of 
 Princes, have their deeds recorded in tomes that encumber our 
 libraries. Such are the ways of the world. It forgets the truly great, 
 and cherishes the memories of those who " have flattered its rank 
 breath and bowed to its idolatries a patient knee." Its writers pass 
 lightly over the lives of the ones, who wrought for God and for Him 
 alone, leaving thereby deep valleys unfilled, along the pathway of his- 
 tory. To the lovers of justice and fairplay it belongs to fill up with 
 truth those blanks in history'? page, which proclaim, with unanswer- 
 able logic, the necessity of that final court of revision, before which 
 we must all appear at the consummation of time. 
 
 Perhaps no figure of Canadian history has received a greater share 
 of silence than Father Maillard. No chiselled urn marks his last rest- 
 ing place, no sculptured marble nor imperishable brass records his 
 virtues. He died at Halifax in 1762 and was laid to rest in a Prot- 
 estant cemetery, as there was no burial place for Catholics in Halifax 
 until years after his death. 
 
CHAPTER IV 
 
 EMIGEANTS FEOM NOVA SCOTIA. — AERIVAL OF PRIESTS. — PARISHES 
 FOEMED. — CONDITION OF THE PEOPLE. 
 
 The new fortifications erected at Louisbourg did not escape the 
 "watchful eyes of the English statesmen. They saw, at once, that so 
 powerful a fortress on Cape Breton Island, would prove a permanent 
 menace to the neighbouring peninsula, and for this reasoij, they 
 resolved to build a city in Nova Scotia, whose position and stifength 
 would off set the strategic advantages of Louisbourg. Halifax was 
 accordingly founded in 1749 by Lord Cornwallis, Governor of Nova 
 Scotia. 
 
 This event marks an era in the history of the French inhabitants 
 of the Maritime Provinces. Up to this time, those living in Nova 
 Scotia ^had been treated with a fair measure of kindness by their 
 conquerors. They did not, perhaps, enjoy all the privileges which a 
 magnanimous victor sometimes permits to the vanquished ; but in 
 general, they had no grave cause of complaint. Indeed, the English 
 had been too weak to be other than kind and conciliatory towards 
 them. With only a small garrison at Port Koyal, they could ill afford 
 to unduly harass a people now numbered by thousands. But no 
 sooner was Halifax founded, and a strong force of regular troops 
 posted in the Province, than Cornwallis threw off the mask of kind- 
 ness, and entered upon a policy of deceit and treachery towards the 
 Acadian People. An oath of allegiance, which did violence to their 
 inmost feelings, was demanded of them, and they were forced to pur- 
 chase their rights of citizenship at the price of sentiments founded ia 
 
— 22 — 
 
 flesh and blood. At one time, they were threatened with immediate 
 deportation at another, they were told that their property would be 
 confiscated to the Crown, should they dare leave the English posses- 
 sions. To add to their misfortunes, the boundaries between the 
 English and French colonies were not clearly defined, a circumstance 
 which led to perpetual feuds between the colonists, and afforded 
 many a pretext for the treacherous policy of Cornwallis. The condi- 
 tion of the poor Acadians was indeed pitiable, and no wonder that 
 they availed themselves of every means in their power to escape from 
 the worse than Egyptian bondage, under which they suffered in Nova 
 Scotia. Hence we find them evading the vigilance of Cornwallis and 
 flocking secretly to St. John's Island. From this cause the parish of 
 Cobequid, which contained twelve hundred souls in 1749, was reduced 
 to three hundred in five years, and in the same interval as many as five 
 hundred departed from Pigiquit and three hundred from Grand Pr4. 
 By this influx of settlers, the population of St. John's Island had 
 so increased, that the chaplain at Port La Joie was no longer able to 
 perform all the duties, which the care of so many souls must have 
 entailed. Even when his flock numbered only a few hundreds, the 
 distance from one settlement to another, the absence of roads and the 
 want of suitable conveyances rendered the missionary's life one of 
 hardship and danger. The most he could do was, to pay an annual 
 visit to the various settlements, in order that the faithful might 
 approach the sacraments within the year. Now that the population 
 had grown to thousands, even this was too much for one to accom- 
 plish, and the need of priests began to be sorely felt by the colonists. 
 Those who lived in the more populous centres, began to organize 
 parishes in the prayerful hope, that the Lord would send priests to 
 cultivate this neglected part of his vineyard. Churches were built 
 at St. Peter's Harbor, and on the north bank of the Hillsborough 
 Eiver near what is now called Scotch Fort, as early as the year 1751, 
 and only the presence of a priest was necessary to raise these places 
 to the standing of regularly constituted parishes. To obtain priests, 
 however, was a serious diflBculty. The Bishop of Quebec had none to 
 spare, those at his disposal being barely sufficient to administer to the 
 
— 23 — 
 
 people living in the interior of the diocese. The " harvest was indeed 
 great but the workmen few." The Bishop, therefore, besought the 
 " Lord of the Harvest " to take pity on this abandoned region, and 
 send to it a few holy priests to teach the people the way of God'a 
 law. His prayer was speedily answered. 
 
 He had at this time, residing in Paris, a Vicar General, the Abb^ 
 de risle-Dieu, who was in great favor with the French Government. 
 To him the Bishop made known the condition of religious affairs in 
 St. John's Island, and asked him to seek out in France a few priests, 
 who would come hither to reside. 
 
 The Abbe set to work at once, and in a short time, succeeded 
 beyond expectation. He was able to induce the Government to defray 
 all expenses, and four priests consented to come, and share the pri- 
 vations incidental to their calling, in the new Colony. The first to 
 arrive was Father Girard, who, in 1752, took up his residence at 
 Point Pyim, where the people had erected a neat little church and 
 parochial house, a short time before ^. Father Girard had already 
 spent several years in Nova Scotia, and had experienced many trials 
 and hardships in common with the people whom he served. 
 
 In the same year Father Peronnel arrived at Scotchfort where a 
 church dedicated to St. Louis ^ had been built in the preceeding year. 
 His health soon failed, and in about a year he was obliged to resign 
 his charge, and after spending a short time at St. Peter's, he returned 
 to France, where he died. In 1753, Father Biscaret was appointed 
 pastor of St. Peter's parish, one of the most populous and thriving 
 settlements of the Island, and where, as we have already said, a 
 church had been built in 1751 ^ 
 
 I This church stood on land now owned by Mr. Alexander Maomillan, 
 
 where the adjoining cemetery is still to be seen. 
 
 2 The cemetery of St. Louis was in use long after the conquest of Canada, 
 
 and may still be seen on the farm of Mr. John McKenzie, of Scotchfort. 
 
 3 — The church of St. Peter's stood on land now owned by Mr. John Sinnot, 
 where the oemetiy is still pointed out. The bell, belonging to the Church, 
 was found in 1870, by Mr. Barry while ploughing in an adjoining field. It was 
 recast and is now in use in the church of St. Alexis at RoUo Bay. 
 
— 24 — 
 
 While Father Biscaret was organizing the parish of St. Peter's, 
 Malpeque, to the west, was gladdened by the arrival of a resident 
 pastor, Eeverend Father Cassiet. After a stay of only a few months, 
 he was transferred to St. Louis to replace Father' Peronnel, and 
 was succeeded at Malpeque by Father Dosqu^, who arrived later 
 in the same year ^ Thus the close of the year 1753 found five priests 
 in St. John's Island, the four just mentioned and a fifth, Father 
 Aubr^ a Franciscan who succeeded Father Lagrde as chaplain of 
 Port La Joie, in October, 1752. Ecclesiastical affairs were thus, well 
 organized. The spiritual wants of the people were now abundantly 
 supplied, thanks to the earnest efforts put forth in their behalf by 
 the Abb^ de I'lsle-Dieu. 
 
 This worthy priest took a lively interest in the affairs of St. John's 
 Island. From the Capital of the Mother Country he watched over its 
 people, and labored to jaromote their spiritual and temporal welfare. 
 When, at the request of the Bishop of Quebec, he first applied for 
 priests, only two volunteered their services. These together with the 
 chaplain at Port La Joie, seemed too few to meet the views of the 
 zealous representative of the Bishop, and he therefore writes from 
 Paris : " It is impossible that three priests can suffice to attend to 
 three thousand souls. Moreover, " he continues, " as the Crown has 
 this year made an appropriation for the support of four missionaries, 
 it would be a pity that only three were employed. It is absolutely 
 necessary that there be a sufficient number of priests, not only for 
 the good of religion, but also to direct the people how to cultivate 
 the land and establish homes for themselves, so that they may be 
 able to support themselves, and not continue at the expense of the 
 Government as they have beeij for the last three years." 
 
 The reason why they were unable to support themselves he assigns 
 as follows : " Because they' did not have missionaries, who would 
 form them into parishes ; a work (he adds) as beneficial to the State 
 
 1 — The church of Malpeque, dedicated to the Poly Family, was situated 
 on land now owned by Mr. Henry Newconibe, of Low Point. The cemetery 
 that lay near it has disappeared. It has been completely swept away by 
 the waves. 
 
— 25 — 
 
 as it is to the Church ; a work so important, that without it colonies 
 and subjects will prove useless to France, unless, indeed, they culti- 
 vate the soil and form permanent settlements, which will serve to 
 draw to them those who still live under the flag of England. " The 
 worthy priest's desire was soon accomplished, as we have already 
 stated. In 1754 he wrote : " The number of missionaries in St. John's 
 Island is now complete, and amply suffices for the wants of the actual 
 settlers." 
 
 It is, perhaps, unnecessary to offer any . comments ori the senti- 
 ments expressed in the letter above quoted. They reveal a wonderful 
 foresight on the part of the writer, and a knowledge of colonial 
 affairs rarely to be found in one so far distant from the scenes of 
 which he writes. Had the statesmen of the Mother Country been as 
 wise and as farseeing, they would have avoided many grievous mis- 
 takes in their colonial policy, and France would have been spared 
 many humiliations on this American Continent. The Abb6 de L'lsle- 
 Dieu's theory of colonization places the Church in the foreground. 
 The priest is the living centre of the movement, and his ministry, the 
 foundation on which the whole fabric has to rest. The colonists 
 needed the enlightened counsels of the missionary, not only to guide 
 them in the pathway of spiritual perfection.but also to direct them 
 in the administration of their temporal affairs. To-day, when the- 
 trend of public opinion is to relegate the priest to the sacristy, and 
 confine his sphere of action to things purely spiritual, the question 
 may well.be raised : have we really advanced in civilization during 
 the years which separate us from the time of the Abb^ de L'Isle-Dieu ? 
 The world with its touchstone of material prosperity will, doubtless, 
 answer in the affirmative ; but they, who are imbued with the 
 " argument of things that appear not," will prudently hesitate before 
 refusing a place of honor to the ministers of the Church, in the great 
 work of colonial development. 
 
 The arrival of priests in St. John's Island and the consequent work 
 of parochial organization gladdened the heart of the Bishop of Quebec. 
 He justly rejoiced to find this remote part of his diocese so well pro- 
 vided for, and most fervent were his thanks to his zealous Vicar 
 
— 26 — 
 
 General for his generous efforts in its behalf. But who can picture 
 the joy of the colonists themselves at the happy change ? Who can 
 describe their delight, to hear once more the joyous sounds of the 
 church bell pealing forth from the belfry, the welcome summons to- 
 prayer ? The gloomy years of their isolation are now a thing of the 
 past. The months of weary waiting for a visit of the missionary are 
 hallowed into pleasant memories, under the mellowing influence of 
 present happiness. Now they have continually among them a priest, 
 the wise counsellor and friend, whose stay in the parish is a pledge 
 of a greater presence — that of Our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament. 
 A stranger visiting St. John's Island, in those days, might well 
 fancy himself transported to France, or to some quiet' village of 
 Acadia, so faithfully were ihe peaceful rural scenes of these reproduced 
 in the young Colony. Here the people led the same simple, pious 
 lives, which evoked the admiration of the poet, and called forth from 
 his pen the following tribute : 
 
 Thus dwelt together in love these simple Acadian farmers ; 
 
 Dwelt in the love of God and man. Alike were they free from 
 
 Fear, that reigns with the tyrant, and envy, the vice of republics. 
 
 Neither locks had they to their doors, nor bars to their windows ; 
 
 But their dwellings were open as the day, and the hearts of the owners ^ 
 
 There the richest were poor, and the poorest lived in abundance. 
 
CHAPTER V. 
 
 DESTITUTION OF THE COLONISTS. REFUGEES OF 1755. — SECOND'SIEGB 
 
 OF LOUISBOURG. — DEPORTATION OF THE COLONISTS. 
 
 The population of our colony was steadily increasing. Immigrants 
 ■were continually arriving from Nova Scotia, where the tyranny of 
 the English Governor rendered the lives of the French inhabitants 
 almost unbearable. The census of 1753 places the population at two 
 thousand six hundred and sixty-three souls, the greater number of 
 whom were settled near the centre, and not far from Port La Joie. 
 Along the banks of the East Eiver upwards of seven hundred resided. 
 This increase of population had its disadvantages, for it seriously 
 embarrassed the authorities, who were often in great straits to supply 
 the necessaries of life to so many destitute persons. The immigrants 
 from Nova Scotia were, in almost every instance, reduced to the 
 most pitiable necessity. They arrived without food and with only 
 scanty clothing, for their departure was so hurriedly effected, that 
 they did not have time to make provision for the journey, much less 
 for .their sojourn in their new home. A number of families without a 
 roof to shelter them, and without any means to supply their daily 
 wants, was a serious menace to the welfare of the colony, and must 
 have added greatly to thie distress of their fellow-colonists. 
 
 Father Girard, writing from Point Prim, Oct. 24th, 1753, draws 
 a rather gruesome picture of the povertyof these new-comers. He says : 
 " Our refugees in general keep up good courage, and hope to be able 
 
— 28 — 
 
 to support themselves by their labor ; but the want of clothing, which 
 is almost general, is a great drawback, and will prevent many from 
 working for the winter. They have no implements to work with, nor 
 sufficient clothing to protect themselves by day or night. Many of 
 the children are so scantily clad, that when I enter the house they 
 flee for very shame. AH are not reduced to this extremity ; but almost 
 all are in need, etc." The Government, however, came to their assis- 
 tance, by distributing clothing and provisions amongst them ; but 
 still much destitution and suffering prevailed, especially during the 
 winter of 1753. 
 
 The year 1755 added greatly to their distress, on account of the 
 expulston of the Acadians from Kova Scotia. By this barbarous 
 measure, one of the foulest blots on the pages of Canadian History, 
 thousands orinnocent men, women and children were torn from the 
 homes their industry had reared, driven from the country they had 
 learned to love and forced to seek refuge among strangers in foreign 
 lands. Ships were stationed at the sea-board, into which the unfor- 
 tunate people were driven by their cruel masters, to be carried away 
 into exile. Amid the disorder of embarkation, however, a number 
 escaped and hid themselves in the woods. Of these, some sought the 
 protection of friendly Indian tribes, some made their way to Mira- 
 michi and Canada, others reached Louisbourg, whilst many crossed the 
 Strait and came to St. John's Island. These unfortunate exiles 
 arrived in the greatest destitution^ Homeless, penniless, without 
 food, and with scanty clothing, they came, seeking a roof to shelter 
 them, a crust to dispel their hunger, a kind word to cheer and com- 
 fort them. Their countrymen in St. John's Island received them with 
 every mark of kindness and affection. They threw open to them the 
 dpors of their humble cottages, shared with them their pwn scanty 
 allowance of food, placed at their disposal remnants taken from 
 depleted wardrobes, and did everything that charity could suggest and 
 sacrifice accomplish, in order to make up the loss sustained^ in their 
 expulsion from Nova Scotia. But the chalice of Acadian suffering 
 was not yet emptied to the drags. Tyranny had not yet exhausted 
 all its energies ; and soon the refugees from Nova Scotia, and their 
 
— 29 — 
 
 charitable friends in St, John's Island were involved in one common 
 ruin. 
 
 Disputes, concerning the boundaries of the English and French 
 possessions, were continually arising, and served to foment a spirit 
 of jealousy and hatred between the two nations. Occasional con- 
 flicts occurred, and, thdugh as yet there was no formal declaration of 
 war between England and France, still we find them sending out, 
 in 1756, troops and military stores to their respective colonies. Mat- 
 ters went on in this way till the spring of 1758, when the English, a 
 second time, laid siege to Louisbourg. Forty-two warships, with twelve 
 thousand men, in command of Admiral Boscawen, appeared before 
 the city, which, after seven weeks of obstinate resistance, was forced 
 to surrender. 
 
 The news of the attack on Louisbourg filled the people of St. John's 
 Island with terror. They looked forward to the issue of the siege 
 with mingled feelings of hope and fear. If the fortress could with- 
 stand the efforts of the invading army, the French could hold their 
 own and the colonists would be safe ; but if, on the other hand, it 
 were forced to surrender, its fall would open the way for the conquest 
 of the whole of Canada. While their anxiety was at its height, Father 
 Maillard suddenly arrived. He was on his way from Cape Breton to 
 Miramichi, and touched at Port La Joie to visit his countrymen, to 
 whom he brought the news that Louisbourg had fallen. 
 
 Let our readers picture to themselves, if they are able, the grief 
 and consternation which filled the minds of the poor people, when 
 they learned that the fortress, on which they had built their hopes, 
 had surrendered. Those who had been driven from Nova Scotia only 
 three years before, were now face to face with new dangers ; while 
 those, who for years had lived in peace and security, felt that the 
 time had come, when they, too, would have to drink of the bitter 
 cup of exile. Father Maillard, in one of his letters to the Seminary of 
 Quebec, thus speaks of their feelings : " The inhabitants of St. John's 
 Island are all determined to remain on the Island, as they prefer 
 doing so than go to die of hunger at Miramichi. Their priests remain 
 with them. The Governor, M. De Villejoin, has placed the Island in 
 
— 30 — 
 
 good condition; its fields are beautiful and the crops good. The 
 English have not yet come here, though three weeks have elapsed 
 since the fall of Louisbourg. The people await their coming in the 
 hope of making some arrangement with them, or else they will flee 
 to the woods if they are threatened wilh ill treatment ; for they will 
 not abandon the Island, where they would rather end their days, than 
 go to die in misery at Miramichi." This letter of Father Maillard 
 reveals the love of the Acadians for the land of their adoption. No 
 other spot on earth could supplant it in their affections, and therefore, 
 come what might, they were determined to remain on St. John's 
 Island. Alas ! they knew not what was in store for them. They 
 could not foresee that the horrors of 1755 were soon to be renewed ; 
 and that St. John's Island was to share in the cruelties and barbari- 
 ties which wrought the ruin of Acadia. 
 
 After the fall of Louisbourg, Bosca wen dispatched Lord Eollo with 
 a portion of the fleet to St. John's Island. His orders were to destroy 
 all the property and drive out the inhabitants. On his arrival at Port 
 La Joie, Lord Eollo notified Governor Villejoin of the disagreeable 
 duty he had been sent to perform. The people'^mmediately called a 
 meeting, at which they prepared a memorial declaring their complete 
 submission to the English King, and begging to be allowed to remain 
 in peaceful possession of their homesteads. Lord Rollo, being only a 
 subordinate officer, could not grant the prayer of the petition ; but he 
 suspended all hostile demonstrations, while Fathers Biscaret and Cas- 
 aiet should go to Louisbourg to present the memorial to the Admiral 
 in person. This latter proceeding was of no avail. Neither prayers 
 nor entreaties had any effect. The odious edict must be carried out 
 to the letter, and so the two priests returned to share in the ruin of 
 their parishes. The Acadians of St. John's Island were treated as 
 those of Nova Scotia. Deprived of their homes, there were driven to 
 the seaside, and hurriedly crowded aboard ships to be conveyed from 
 the country. The prows are turned to the deep. A cheerless ocean 
 voyage amid the storms and cold of autumn confronts them. They 
 steer their frail crafts for France, that beautiful Motherland, whose 
 traditions they had learned at their fire-sides, but whose sunny shores 
 
— 31 — 
 
 many of them were destined never to see. Standing on the decks, as 
 the receding Island was gradually disappearing on the blue horizon, 
 they could clearly descry the enemy's work of destruction. Lurid 
 flames shot up high into the air from many an erstwhile happy 
 homestead, and thick dark clouds of g^noke, hovering over the land, 
 told how complete was the ruin. The victors destroyed everything 
 that fell into their hands. Of the four parishes, Port La Joie, Point 
 Prim, St. Louis and St. Peter's, nothing remained. Being all within 
 easy reach of the harbor, where the hostile ships were lying at anchor, 
 they could not well escape the cruel designs of the invaders. Even the 
 churches shared the common fate. They were burned to the ground, 
 and only their smouldering ruins left to mark the place where they 
 had stood. 
 
 Malpeque seems to have been more fortunate than the parishes 
 nearer the centre. Its distance from Port La Joie proved a blessing 
 to its people, by affording them sufficient time to consult their own 
 safety, and frustrate, in some measure, the plans of the enemy. In a 
 report sent to Louisbourg late in October, Lord EoUo states that the 
 inhabitants of one of the parishes cannot be sent away before spring 
 on account of their distance from the harbor, where the transports are 
 assembled. He refers, without doubt, to Malpeque, the most western 
 settlement of the Island, and the most distant from Port La Joie. 
 The people, therefore, wisely took advantage of their position and the 
 time it afforded them to depart by stealth rather than fall into the 
 hands of the English. Their largest boats and tw5. or three small 
 schooners were assembled at the north shore where many embarked, 
 and made their way to the mainland. It would seem from his report, 
 that Lord Eollo was aware of this movement, but he did nothing to 
 arrest its progress. In this way many made their escape among 
 whom was Father Dosqu^, who succeeded in reaching Quebec in 
 safety, where he was afterwards appointed rector of the Cathedral, a 
 position he filled till his death. 
 
 Father Girard sailed with a band of hjs parishioniers, and after a 
 long and stormy passage arrived in France where he died a few years 
 later. Father Cassiet embarked with some of his flock, all of whom 
 
— 32 — 
 
 experienced much inhuman treatment during the voyage across the 
 ocean. He reached Prance, however, where he lived to extreme old 
 age, and, at his death, was laid to rest in the pretty little cemetery 
 of Montaut, his native village. Father Biscaret was never heard of 
 again. In all probability h^went down with the ship in which he 
 sailed. 
 
 Thus ended the French occupation of St. John's Island. In 1759, 
 Quebec surrendered to General Wolfe, and four years later was 
 signed the Treaty of Paris, by which the whole of Canada become a 
 colony of the British Crown. 
 
RT. RKW J O. P.RIAXD 
 
 ISislidi) of Uiicliec 
 1/66- 1/94 
 
CHAPTER VI. 
 
 STATE OF CANADIAN CHUKCH AFTER THE CONQUEST. — THE CHUKCH IN 
 
 ST, John's island. — priests in the maritime provinces. — 
 
 ISLAND divided INTO LOTS. — POPULATION INCREASED. — 
 PASTORAL LETTER OF THE BISHOP OF QUEBEC. 
 
 The Conquest of Canada was fraught with sad consequences to the 
 Church in the country. When the sceptre passed from the hand of 
 France to that of England, with it passed away the rights and privi- 
 leges the Church had hitherto enjoyed ; and for many years she had 
 to suffer persecution in the land discovered by herself, and whose 
 virgin soil her missionaries had watered with their tears and their 
 blood. 
 
 True it is, that the terms of capitulation guaranteed to the Catho- 
 lics the free exercise of their religion ; but this concession was hedged 
 about with so many restrictions and modifications as to render it of 
 little practical value. 
 
 Indeed, the British Government seemed to aim at nothing less 
 than the total extinction of the Catholic Faith in the Colony, as may 
 clearly be seem by the instructions issued to General Murray, first 
 Governor of Canada after the Conquest, 
 
 He was told e. g. not to admit any ecclesiastical jurisdiction on 
 the part of the See of Eome. He was to encourage the erection of 
 Protestant schools, so that the establishment of the English Church 
 might be more easily effected ; in order, also, that the people might 
 be gradually led to embrace the Protestant Eeligion, and have their 
 3 
 
— 34 — 
 
 children brought up in its principles and tenets. An oath of abjura- 
 tion, too, was exacted, which openly denied the jurisdiction of the 
 Pope in spirituals, according to the teaching of the Anglican Church, 
 These, and many other instructions were sent to, General Murray, all 
 more or less hostile to the Catholic Church ; but put forward, never- 
 theless, as in no wise infringing on the religious liberties of her 
 members. 
 
 Acting up to the spirit that prompted these unjust measures, the 
 British Government persistently opposed the appointment of a Bishop 
 to the See of Quebec, rendered vacant by the death of Bishop 
 Pontbriand, who worn out with excessive labours, heart-broken at the 
 sight of so many miseries caused by the war, and his mind filled 
 with the greatest anxiety regarding the future of the Church in 
 Canada, passed away at Montreal within a year after the fall of 
 Quebec. 
 
 Tor six years Canada remained without a bishop. Eepeated efforts 
 were made to secure an appointment to the vacant See ; but they 
 were all rendered futile by the opposition of the Court of St. James. 
 It was not till the year 1766 that Father Briand succeeded in obtain- 
 ing permission to be raised to the episcopal dignity, and come to 
 Canada, not however, with the title of Bishop of Quebec, but rather as 
 a superintendent of Catholic interests within the Colony. 
 
 The state of affairs that greeted Bishop Briand on his arrival in 
 Canada was not calculated to inspire him with courage. Besides the 
 hostility he anticipated on the part of the civil authorities, he was 
 pained to find the Canadian Church almost on the verge of ruin. The 
 total Catholic population did not exceed eighty thousand souls, almost 
 all of whom were reduced to the direst poverty by the war. To sup- 
 ply their spiritual wants he found only one hundred and forty priests, 
 of whom many were no longer able to work on account of age and 
 infirmity. 
 
 There was no prospect that the Bishop would be able to add to 
 their number, at least for many years to come. There were no colleges 
 wherein ecclesiastical students could be educated, as the Jesuit Col- 
 lege of Quebec, the only institution of its kind in the Colony, had 
 
— 35 — 
 
 long since closed its doors. The priests, who were wont to come from 
 France, to labour in the Canadian Missions, were now looked upon 
 with grave suspicion by the civil authorities, who obstinately refused 
 to allow any more to enter the country. The Church in Canada, 
 therefore, was in imminent danger of ruin, through want of priests 
 to keep alive the sacred torch of divine faith. 
 
 From this hurried glance at the general condition of the Canadian 
 Church, turn we now to our colony of St. John's Island. 
 
 In the foregoing chapter, we witnessed the barbarous expulsion of 
 its inhabitants and the destruction of its churches. It is well to notice, 
 however, that the invaders did not meet with complete success in the 
 work of deportation. The love of the Acadians for the land of their 
 adoption, second only to their love of Holy Church, caused them to 
 cling with passionate devotion to their homes in St. John's Island. 
 Hence on the arrival of the British soldiers, many of the people, 
 especially in the west, evaded the watchfulness of the troops and fled 
 to the woods, where they remained in hiding till the victors had 
 departed. When they found all danger had passed away, they issued 
 forth from their concealment, and returned with heavy hearts to rear 
 new homes, amid the smouldering ruins that surrounded th^m. Soon 
 they were joined by some families, who had escaped to the Mainland, 
 and who now returned, rather than begin life anew in a strange land. 
 
 How changed their condition in a few years ! What desolation is 
 theirs ! Their homes in ruin, their cattle destroyed, their farms laid 
 waste, all their temporal possessions lost ! Of five parishes nothing 
 remains but the blackened ruins. The spire of the village church, 
 bearing high the cross, is no longer to be seen ; no blessed bell with 
 its solemn music floods the ambient air; no more Sunday reunions, 
 at which young and old meet in prayerful silence before the altar ; no 
 priest to offer spiritual consolation, and cheer their lonely exile with 
 words of comfort and hope. In the whole of the Maritime Provinces, 
 only one priest was permitted to remain, the Reverend Father Mail- 
 lard, of whom we had a word to say in a previous chapter. He had 
 spent many years amongst the Indians ; and by the sanctity of his 
 life and devotedness to their welfare, had acquired a wonderful 
 
— 36 — 
 
 ascendancy over them. This ascendancy the civil authorities prudently 
 turned to their own advantage. Amid the difficulties of the time a 
 man was necessary, whose influence could pacify the discontended 
 red men and reconcile them to their new masters. Father Maillard 
 was the man for the emergency. His word was law with the Indians, 
 and his smallest command was submissively obeyed even by the proud- 
 est and most turbulent chief. He was, therefore, allowed to remain 
 among the Indians of the Maritime Provinces, not through a spirit 
 of toleration for the Church of which he was the representative, but 
 because his presence would render good service to the Government. 
 
 After his death, in 1762, Father Bailly, of Quebec, succeeded him, 
 and soon afterwards, Father De La Brosse, a Jesuit, was sent by the 
 Bi hop of Quebec to the Maritime Provinces. These missionaries 
 had jurisdiction over St. John's Island ; but we have no certainty 
 that they were ever able to pay it a visit. From 1758 till 1772, it 
 struggled on without a missionary, and without a ray of spiritual 
 comfort to dispel the darkness of its isolation. Fourteen years thus 
 passed in anxious expectation, a long night of gloom and sadness, 
 cheered only by an occasional letter from the Bishop of Quebec, whose 
 paternal heart went out in. pity to this abandoned portion of his 
 flock. On the 15th of July, 1776, less than two months after his 
 arrival in Canada, Bishop Briand sent to them a pastoral letter fiUed 
 with expressions of the most tender solicitude. 
 
 He begins by paying a just tribute to the fervor of their faith, 
 deplores the fact that they have no priest amongst them, exhorts 
 them to be loyal to the Crown of Great Britain, and concludes by 
 promising to procure for them, if possible, the Eeverend Father 
 Girard, former Pastor of Point Prim. 
 
 In the meanwhile the English Government was actively engaged 
 in devising ways and means for the settlement of St. John's Island. 
 The matter having been submitted to the Board of Trade, in London, 
 the following plan was adopted and carried out by the Crown. The 
 Island was divided into sixty-seven lots or townships, which, with 
 few exceptions, were granted, on certain conditions, to persons having 
 claims against the Government. The conditions of the grants were : 
 
— 37 — 
 
 That each proprietor should settle his lot or township, at the rate of 
 one person to every two hundred acres within ten years from the 
 date of the grant. The settlers were to be Protestants, in conformity 
 with the colonial policy of England, and were to be taken from foreign 
 countries so as not to drain the motherland of her military blood, and 
 thereby weaken her power of defence. The applicants for the lots 
 were so numerous as to be extremely embarrassing to the Govern- 
 ment ; because the lands to be disposed of were so limited in extent, 
 that not even a meagre pittance could be giyen to each applicant. To 
 solve the difficulty, it was decided to dispose of the land by ballot, 
 and accordingly, on July 8th, 1767, nearly the whole Island was set 
 up at lottery and the holders of the lucky numbers became its pro- 
 prietors. By the influx of Protestant immigrants resulting from this 
 measure, as well as by the natural increase of the Acadians, the 
 population of the Island had grown to about one thousand in the year 
 1769, when it was made a separate province, distinct from Nova 
 Scotia, and it was honored in the following year by the arrival of 
 Walter Patterson, Esq., its first English Governor. 
 
 In the same year, four Acadians of the Island having visited Quebec, 
 Bishop Briand took advantage of their return to send another pastoral 
 letter to this portion of his flock. " Your unhappy condition ", writes 
 His Lordship, " is a continual source of sorrow to us. We were edified 
 to see four of your brethren perform their religious duties, and receive 
 a;t our hands the Sacrament of Confirmation. What a happiness for 
 Us if we could go to you, and confer upon you the same spiritual 
 benefits. I tried to procure for you a missionary from France, but 
 being very poor, I had not the wherewithal to pay his expenses. Two 
 years ago I sent a missionary to Acadia, in the hope that he would 
 also go to visit you ; but I have since learned with great regret, that 
 his efforts to reach you have been unsuccessful. This present year 
 a Jesuit, the Eeverend Father De La Brosse, was sent to the Mari- 
 time Provinces ; but the Governor of Quebec would not give him 
 permission to exercise the ministry, without the consent of the Gov- 
 ernor at Halifax. There are three measures, therefore, that I 
 may here suggest to you, any one of which, if carried into effect. 
 
— 38 — 
 
 ^ill tend to ameliorate your present unsatisfactory condition. First : 
 You may write to the Governor at Halifax, asking him to send to 
 you the Reverend Father Bailly, or otherwise let some of you go 
 there for him. Secondly : Failing in this, you can go to Bay des Cha- 
 leurs, where you will meet Father De La Brosse ; or if you prefer, 
 obtain permission of the Governor at Halifax for Father De La Brosse 
 to accompany you back to your homes. Thirdly : If neither of these 
 plans prove feasible, I have the promise of a priest who will go to 
 you, provided you come for him with a shallop or small schooner. 
 He will remain with you for two months, to give instruction, supply 
 the ceremonies of Baptism, rehabilitate marriages, etc. This last pro- 
 ceeding would be the most expensive ; but if the others fail, do uot 
 hesitate to adopt it, as your eternal salvation is above every other 
 consideration. Many of your children have never assisted at the Holy 
 Sacrifice of the Mass, never gone to confession, never had the happi- 
 ness to receive the Bread of Life in Holy Communion, and conse- 
 quently possess but little practical knowledge of their religion," 
 
 Having granted dispensations to all those who had entered the 
 marriage state with an impediment of consanguinity, the Bishop lays 
 down the rule : That in future marriages must be delayed until a 
 priest visits them, which he hopes will occur once eVery year. He 
 looks forward to their having a resident clergyman before long, who 
 will probably be an Acadian, as there are four of that nationality now 
 studying in France at the Bishop's expense. He exhorts parents to 
 be watchful over their children, and to instruct them well in the 
 duties of religion. He recommends great circumspection on the part 
 of all, since without an opportunity of going to confession and com- 
 munion, they are exposed to die without the sacraments. 
 
 This beautiful letter, revealing the paternal tenderness of the good 
 Bishop, raised the drooping spirits of the Acadian people of St. John's 
 Island, and^lled their hearts with sentiments of love and gratitude. 
 But when their first transports had passed away, the depth of their 
 isolation and abandonment came home to their minds with greater 
 intensity than ever. The immediate prospect held out to them was 
 the casual visit of a missionary once a year. How small a consolation 
 
was this, let every Catholic heart bear witness. Perhaps, before long, 
 one of the Acadian students will be admitted to the priesthood, and 
 then come to share his lot with them. But how many years must 
 they wait ? How long is the gloom of their isolation to last ? Is its 
 darkness never to be dispelled by a ray of God's Gospel permanently 
 shining in their midst ? Good Acadian people, take courage. Your 
 prayers are soon to be heard, the desires of your hearts fully realized. 
 Soon a priest will come from across the seas, a noble scion trans- 
 planted from Scotia's rugged hills. He will come, an incarnation of 
 heroism and devotedness, to work for you, to live with you and 
 never to leave you until the Angel of God shall summon him to his 
 eternal reward. Who he was, why he came, and when, will form the 
 subject matter of the following chapter. 
 
CHAPTER VII. 
 
 HIGHLAND EMIGEATION. — FATHER JAMES MACDONALD. HIS 
 
 LABORS AND DEATH. 
 
 The present chapter takes us back to the year 1746, when on the 
 fatal field of CuUoden, Charles Edward Stuart, the young Pre- 
 tender, saw his hopes of gaining the English Throne shattered and 
 lost forever. The years that followed were crucial times for the 
 Church in Scotland. The Highlanders having eagerly espoused the 
 cause of the ill-fated Prince, were marked out as objects of special 
 hatred on the part of the House- of Hanover, and for years priests and 
 people were persecuted, imprisoned and tortured without mercy. 
 Another grievance under which they labored was the cruel conduct 
 of the petty landlords, especially in the Western Highlands and 
 Islands adjacent. These tyrannical masters so harassed their poor 
 tenants, as to make their lives almost unbearable. One of the most 
 heartless of them was Alexander Macdonald of Boisdale, in the Island 
 of TJist. At first a Catholic, he married a Protestant wife whose 
 influence soon led him away from the faith of his fathers. Not con- 
 tent with thus having turned his back on the Church of his earlier 
 years, he wished also to drag his tenantry with him. Their fidelity 
 to the faith he had forsaken was for him a source of perpetual 
 reproach ; for very probably, down in the depths of his heart, there 
 still glowed a tiny spark of sacred fire which interest and passion had 
 failed to extinguish. Hence, with misguided zeal, he tried, by all means 
 in his power, to force his tenants to imitate his cowardly perversion. 
 He was known to have gone, staff in hand, and posted himself at the 
 junction of two roads, in order to drive them like sheep to the Pro- 
 
— 42 — 
 
 testant house of worship, a circumstance which caused his belief to 
 be called by the tenants : " The Eeligion of the Yellow Staff." The 
 better to succeed in his unhallowed work, he induced the Catholic 
 parents to send their children to schools wherein instruction would 
 be gratuitously given. Soon, however, they learned that this 
 instruction was tinged with a decidedly Protestant hue, and in a great 
 measure, directed against truths which every pious Catholic must 
 hold dear : for which reason the parents immediately took their 
 children away from the schools. 
 
 Things continued in this unsatisfactory condition until the year 
 1770, when the Laird of Boisdale made a last effort to bring about 
 the perversion of his tenants. He notified them all to meet in a certain 
 place, as he had something of importance to communicate to them. 
 They immediately obeyed the command. Some went in great glee, 
 hoping that having grown weary of persecution, he was now going to 
 inaugurate a policy of justice and fair play ; but the older and wiser 
 heads shared not in these sentiments, and repaired with grave fore- 
 bodings to the place of meeting. The sequel proved that the latter 
 were right. No sooner had they all assembled, than a paper containing 
 a renunciation of the Catholic faith and a sworn promise to avoid all 
 intercourse with Catholic priests, was produced and read to them; 
 and they were told to sign this infamous document under pain of 
 being deprived of their lands and driven from their homes. Cruel 
 alternative! On the one hand, they are asked to renounce their 
 religion, to prove recreant to the solemn promises they had made in 
 Baptism, to turn their backs forever on the Body and Blood of Jesus 
 Christ that so often nourished their souls in Holy Communion ; whilst 
 on the other hand, poverty in its direst forms, hunger, destitution, 
 exile and perhaps death itself — evils which appeal so strongly to the^ 
 sensibilities of flesh and blood, — were held up to their contemplation. 
 With courage worthy of the early martyrs, every man steadfastly 
 refused to sign. Poverty with all its attending misery, exile with its 
 flood of bitter recollections, death even, with all its concomitant 
 horrors, might a thousand times stare them in the face ; but no power 
 ever given to man can rob them of the priceless gift of faith. Hence 
 
— 43 — 
 
 they rejected with disdain the landlord's hard-hearted proposal, retired 
 to their homes, and forthwith made up their minds to emigrate to 
 America. 
 
 But where find means to defray the expenses of such a long voyage ? 
 They were all* poor. Years of high rent and unrequited labor had 
 brought them to the verge of destitution. To find the money they 
 needed, therefore, presented a series of difficulties almost insurmount- 
 able. Catholic faith and Catholic charity, however, were equal to 
 the emergency. Captain John Macdonald, the Laird of G-lenaladale 
 and Glenfinnan, espoused their cause, and by indomitable energy and 
 with great personal sacrifice, succeeded in devising means of emigra- 
 tion. This worthy man, who seems to have been the heart and soul 
 of the movement, mortgaged his property in Scotland in order to 
 raise the money to aid the needy emigrants, and to purchase an estate 
 in St. John's Island upon which they might settle. At the same time, 
 through the kind intervention of Bishop Hay, in Scotland, and Bishop 
 Challoner, in London, private subscriptions were set on foot, and soon 
 a considerable sum was raised to forward the project. Thus, amid 
 alternate joy and sorrow, the work of preparation went steadily for- 
 ward, till, about the 1st of May, 1772, two hundred and ten emigrants 
 boarded the good ship Alexander, ready to set sail for the New World, 
 After a prosperous voyage of about two months, daring which no 
 casualty worth mentioning occurred, the Alexander dropped anchor 
 in Charlottetown Harbor on a beautiful morning towards the end of 
 June. Here a short delay was made, during which the emigrants 
 contemplated with pleasure the outlines of the beautiful country hence- 
 forth to be their home ; then, having again weighed anchor, they pro- 
 ceeded on their way up the East River, till they reached the lands pur- 
 chased the preceding year by Captain Macdonald. Here they landed 
 with all their earthly possessions at a place contiguous to the site of 
 the old church of St, Louis, to which place they gave the name of 
 Scotch Fort, The emigrants, of whom one hundred came from Uist 
 Island and the remainder from the mainland of Scotland, were mostly 
 Macdonalds. Among them, however, could be found a goodly sprinkKng 
 of Mackinnons, Macphees, Macraes, G-illises, Maceacherns, Mackenaies, 
 
— 44 — 
 
 Macintoshes, and others, whose descendants constitute the Scotch 
 Catholic population of Prince Edward Island at the present day. 
 
 The arrival of the Highlanders was a source, of great joy to the 
 Acadian settlers. They were naturally pleased to see the Catholic 
 population assume greater proportions ; but more espe'&ially did they 
 rejoice, tha^t with the Highlanders, there had come, what they had so 
 long and so earnestly desired, a priest, the Reverend James Macdo- 
 nald, who in the prime and vigour of his manhood, had severed the 
 ties that bound him to his Fatherland, rather than see his people 
 deprived of spiritual succor in the land of their adoption. 
 
 This remarkable man, the first English-speaking priest who laboured 
 on this Island, though now almost forgotten, is nevertheless worthy 
 of having his name enshrined in the memory of all, who love virtue 
 or admire sacrifice. 
 
 Born in 1736, he was consequently in his thirty-sixth year when 
 he came to America. When nineteen years of age, he was sent to the 
 Scots College in Eome, where he was ordained priest in 1765. Imme- 
 diately after his ordination he returned to Scotland, and was stationed 
 at Drummond, where he exercised the sacred ministry till 1772. 
 
 The Scotochronicon says of him : " He was a pious and good mis- 
 sionary." 
 
 On his arrival in St. John's Island, he wrote a letter to the Bishop 
 of Quebec, which was to be carried thither by an Acadian, who, 
 however, was not able to visit Quebec in that year. Accordingly, on 
 the 9th of September, 1772, he writes another letter to His Lordship 
 which he sends in care of a Mr. Cameron, one of his cousins. This 
 letter, written in an easy style of Latin, is dated at Malpeque and 
 acquaints the Bishop of his arrival on the Island. He asks for a 
 renewal of the faculties which he had received from the Bishop in 
 Scotland, mentions the fact that having studied in Eome, he is 
 conversant with the Italian, French, Gaelic and English languages, 
 and can, therefore, render spiritual assistance to all the Catholics living 
 in this part of the diocese. He also asks the Bishop for a small altar- 
 stone, as the one he has is rather large to carry about from place to 
 place. 
 
— 45 — 
 
 The receipt of this letter brought great joy to the Bishop of Quebec, 
 who for years had been trying to obtain a priest for St. John's Island. 
 He, therefore, sent an immedia,te answer to Father Macdonald, con- 
 gratulating him on his safe arrival in the diocese, and giving him the 
 most ample faculties to carry on missionary work among the High- 
 landers and Acadians. 
 
 This latter people numbered now about fifty families, and were 
 settled principally in the vicinity of Malpeque. A few isolated 
 families might be met wiih here and there, but the bulk of them 
 lived to the westward not far from the site of their former parish. 
 They had chosen this place, either because they believed themselves 
 less exposed to danger in this remote locality, or because, on account 
 of its distance from Port La Joie, it had suffered less than the other 
 settlements during the invasion of 1758. 
 
 Having received spiritual charge of this people from the Bishop, 
 Father James set out for Malpeque, and spent with them his first 
 winter on St. John's Island. At the same time he directed the Scotch 
 settlers to erect a suitable place of worship at Scotchfoit. At his 
 request, they went to work with right good will, and sooti put up a 
 phurch, which, though far below the present ideals of ecclesiastical 
 architecture^ was nevertheless, in the eyes of the early settlers, a 
 marvel of beauty and design. It was a log building about thirty feet 
 long, twenty feet wide, and about twelve feet in the post. Its roof 
 could boast neither copper, nor slate, nor even the ordinary shingle ; 
 but bid proud defiance to wind and weather, under a modest covering 
 of straw thatch. This church, de dicated to St. John, was situated over 
 a mile west of the old French cemetery, on the farm of Donald 
 MacRae, one of the Scottish emigrants. 
 
 For over thirty years it was used for divine service, until it had 
 become so dilapidated that it was no longer fit for the purpose ^. 
 
 Early in the summer of 1773 Father James paid a visit to Quebec, 
 where he was received with true paternal kindness by Bishop Briand. 
 
 1 Its site is still' pointed out between the Railway and the Hillsborough 
 
 River, on land now held by the heirs of the late Angus Macdonald of Scotch- 
 fort. 
 
— 46 — 
 
 There he met, also, the Eeverend Father Dosqu^, former pastor of 
 Malpeque. We can easily imagine the latter's delight at meeting 
 Father James and his eagerness to obtain some information of the 
 place, from which he had escaped fifteen years before. Bishop Briand 
 and Father Dosqu6 vied with each other in their kindness to Father 
 James. Indeed all the clergy he met showed him every possible 
 consideration during his stay. Holy men themselves, they readily 
 recognised the heroic spirit of the man of God, and were not slow to 
 appreciate him at his true worth. It is not surprising then, that on 
 his return home, we find him writing to Quebec letters in which he 
 pours forth his heartfelt thanks to the clergy whom he calls his friends 
 and benefactors. Writing to Father Dosqu6, he says that though he 
 is only poorly provided against the rigors of the approaching winter 
 still this gives him no anxiety, as his only concern is that he is so far 
 from a priest in case of sickness. Having just spent a short time 
 amongst the Clergy of Quebec, he feels the bitterness of his isolation 
 more keenly than ever, now that he is returned to his own flock and 
 he bemoans the sad circumstances that condemn him to his voluntary 
 exile far from his brother priests. On September 28th, 1773, he writes 
 to the Bishop of Quebec, that his health is good, but that he is in 
 great dread of the winter, which he iinds more severe than in Europe. 
 He admits, however, that he is now better prepared for the cold than 
 he was last winter, because he brought a stove from Quebec, by which 
 he can make his room comfortable. In this same letter, he makes a 
 statement which goes to show the spiritual destitution of the Acadians 
 in the Maritime Provinces at that time. He says that a number of 
 Acadian families, who had not had a priest among them for eleven 
 years, had come all the way from New Brunswick, that they might 
 approach the sacraments. They tried every means to induce Father 
 James to go with them to the Mainland and become their parish 
 priest ; they used all manner of persuasion to obtain his consent, but 
 he would not abandon his chosen flock. He promised, however, to 
 pay them a visit the following year, should no pfiest come to them 
 in the meanwhile. 
 
 Father James did not live to attain the allotted three score years 
 
— 47 — 
 
 and ten. His zeal for the glory of God consumed his energies in a 
 short time. Thirteen years of missionary toil in the wilds of St. John's 
 Island, proved sufficient to undermine a constitution always delicate ; 
 and accordingly, in the height of his usefulness, when his presence 
 would seem a necessity to his people, he died, as deeply regretted in 
 death as he had been loved in life. The sad event occurred in 1785, 
 when he had reached the age of forty-nine years. As he lay on his 
 bed of death, his lonely condition must have come home to him with 
 heartrending reality, for no priest was near to administer to him the 
 sacraments of the dying. What he had foreseen with anxiety and 
 fear, when writing to Father Dosqu^ twelve years before, was now 
 being only too fully realized. The last rites of Holy Church which he 
 had so often conferred on others, were denied him in that supreme 
 hour ; and so he died without a priest to bless the clay, with which hi^ 
 mortal remains were soon to mingle or chant the Eequiem when his 
 soul was gone to meet its God. 
 
 The loving hands of his grief- stricken flock laid his body reverently 
 to rest in the French cemetery at Scotchfort, where it has lain ever 
 since in an obscure grave, unmarked save by a tree of spruce or fir, 
 nature's protest against a people's forgetfulness. Strange ingratitude 
 of man! A century has sufficed almost to erase the name of Father 
 James from the traditions of a people for whom he preserved the 
 sacred deposit of faith. His name is practically forgotten, whilst we 
 reap in peace and contentment the bounteous harvest he sowed 
 amid incredible privations. The descendants of those for whom he 
 labored owe him a debt of gratitude for keeping alive the fire of 
 divine faith amongst their ancestors, who in turn transmitted it 
 bright and radiant to the present generation. Had Father James gone 
 to the Mainland, when earnestly requested to do so, and when his 
 own personal interests imperatively demanded it, the condition of the 
 Catholics in St. John's Island would have grown intolerable, and in 
 all probability they would have emigrated elsewhere. Their religion 
 to them was dearer than life, its practices their only consolation, for 
 be it remembered, that the early Scotch settlers, like the Acadians, 
 were intensely devoted to their faith. 
 
— 48 — 
 
 On this point the following testimony of an Australian writer is 
 worth recording. " The extraordinary emigration of Scottish Catholics 
 to Canada, and especially to Prince Edward Island, commenced long 
 after CuUoden, and was the result of that landlord policy in the west 
 of Scotland, which has led to the crofter disturbances and others of our 
 own times. The simple truth is that about twenty-five years after 
 Culloden a vast number of Scottish Catholics from the Western 
 Highlands were simply hounded out of Scotland, to suit the new 
 ideas of the chiefs or the Southern landlords who had superseded the 
 broken power of the old clan chiefs. These poor people mostly went 
 to Prince Edward Island, now called the Garden of the magnificent 
 Dominion of Canada, and if we can judge from the Catholic Directory 
 of the Dominion and the statistics of the Island, these gallant High- 
 landers still cling in their new homes to the faith for which they 
 suffered so much, across the sea. Shoulder to shoulder, has been a 
 watchword of the splendid Highland soldiers, who have made history 
 and won victories for the British the world over, and the famous 
 steadying order was first given to a regiment of Catholic Highlanders 
 raised for King George III by a Catholic chieftain in the year 1778. 
 The distance of the Western Ocean has not diminished the marvel- 
 lous powers of Highland cohesion. Like the dispossessed of the 
 martyr nation, Ireland, the Highland Catholics carry with them, 
 wherever they go, the faith which is dearer to them even than the 
 land cf the ' Mountain and the flood ' — the nurseland of the race of 
 heroes to which they belong." 
 
 The death of Father James was a grievous blow to the Catholics 
 of St. John's Island. Amongst the Acadians it revived the memory 
 of the gloomy years that followed their expulsion, -whilst for the 
 Scotch it ushered in a state of things, of which till now they had had 
 no experience : — to live deprived of the ministrations of a priest. It is 
 true there were at this time a few missionaries on the Mainland, who 
 occasionally visited the Island ; but a casual visit of a priest, and 
 that for a short time, was only scanty consolation for a people of such 
 deeply religious sentiments. 
 
 Soon after Father J ames' death. Bishop Desglis, who in the previous 
 
— 49 — 
 
 year had succeeded Bishop Briand, commissioned John Doucet, an 
 Acadian of Eustico, to perfoim marriages and administer Baptism 
 throughout the Island, 
 
 The following is a translation of the letter containing the commis- 
 sion : " 
 
 " Henry Francis Grav^, Vicar General of the Diocese of Quebec, 
 to Mr. John Doucet, of Eustico, in St. John's Island. 
 
 " Seeing that your Island is deprived of a missionaiy since the death 
 of Father Macdonald, your late Pastor, our desire to procure for you 
 all spiritual advantages moves us to appoint you, John Doucet, and by 
 these presents we appoint you in the name of His Lordship the 
 Bishop of Quebec, to baptize, in every part of the Island, all children 
 and adults presented to you, and to receive the consent of marriage 
 of persons wishing to enter the conjugal state, provided there exists 
 no impediment of consanguinity or affinity. These powers, however, 
 shall continue only till you have another missionary, or have a visit 
 from Father Bourg, our Vicar General, who may renew them if he 
 sees fit to do so." This document is dated at Quebec, Oct. 6th, 1785, 
 and bears the signature of Father Grav^, Vicar General, and the 
 countersignature of a young deacon named Plessis, who subsequently 
 became Bishop of Quebec. 
 
 In the year 1787, Bishop Desglis sent a pastoral letter to the 
 Catholics of the Maritime Provinces. Having paid a just tribute to 
 their fervent faith, His Lordship goes on to say that he feels ever 
 more and more the scarcity of priests. Though all the Catholic popula- 
 tion, from Newfoundland to the Mississipi, look to him for spiritual 
 succour, still even in the central and more populous localities there 
 are many souls spiritually unprovided for. Addressing himself 
 specially to his flock in St. John's and Cape Breton Islands, he 
 exhorts them to be faithful to the King ; as they cannot be good Chris- 
 tians nor true Catholics unless they are loyal subjects of his Majesty. 
 In conclusion, he says : " Love one another as Christ loved you. Let 
 there be no divisions amongst you. Eemember you have the same 
 God, the same Faith, the same Sacraments, and you look forward to 
 
 the same eternal inheritance." 
 4 
 
— 60 — 
 
 This was all the assistance that Quebec could offer to the people 
 in St. John's Island. Five years thus passed during which the little 
 Colony sighed and prayed for a missionary. Five years of hopeful, 
 anxious waiting, till God in pity singled out one worthy to fill the 
 place made vacant by the death of Father James. 
 
 It is Scotland that again bears the petition of the Colonists. A 
 wail of spiritual desolation goes up from their hearts, it drowns the 
 roaring of the Atlantic billows in its flight, and comes striking with 
 God-given energy against the rugged hills of Scotland. A young priest, 
 Eeverend Angus Bernard MacEachern hears the echoes of that 
 agonizing cry : his heart is touched with compassion, and bidding 
 adieu to his native land he comes to the aid of his coreligionists. 
 
 Father MacEachern may justly be called the founder of Catholicity 
 in this Island. The Gospel seed sown by the early French mission- 
 aries had grown into a sturdy tree, when the blasting storm of 
 English invasion destroyed its wealth of foliage, and left it a bare 
 and shattered trunk. It revived somewhat under the fostering care of 
 Father James, and began to put forth new shoots, and strike its roots 
 deeper into the soil. But his untimely death arrested its progress. It 
 seemed again threatened with decay and death, for no husbandman 
 was found to till the soil, whence it might derive nourishment. 
 
 But the work of Father MacEachern is never to know an inter- 
 ruption. When he lays down the staff of of&ce his work shall be so 
 firmly established that nothing can stop its upward and onward 
 march. He shall leave behind him zealous priests to continue the good 
 work, and they in turn shall be succeeded by others, who shall bring 
 it to such a degree of development as to challenge our admiration at 
 the present day. 
 
CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 FATHER MACEACHERN S BIRTH.— EARLY STUDIES. — ^AT ROYAL SCOTS 
 
 COLLEGE. — ORDINATION. — RETURN TO SCOTLAND. COMES 
 
 TO ST. JOHN'S ISLAND. 
 
 Of the emigrants who came to St. John'a Island in 1772, one of 
 the most distinguished was Hugh (Ban) MacEachern, who with his 
 wife and six children had crossed the ocean in search of a free home. 
 Having been for many years gardener to the Laird of Kinloch in 
 Scotland, Hugh Ban was in fairly easy circumstances, and consequently 
 did not settle on the estate of Capt. Macdonald, but took up land in 
 his own name, on the east side of Savage Harbor, where some of 
 his descendants reside at the present day. Two of his children had 
 remained in Scotland ; Margaret, the eldest daughter who had been 
 married a short time previous to. the emigration, and Angus Bernard, 
 the Benjamin of the family, whom they had left in care of Bishop 
 Hugh Macdonald, Vicar Apostolic of the Highland District. 
 
 Angus Bernard was born at Kinloch Moidart, Scotland, on the 8th 
 of February, 1759, and was consequently in his fourteenth year when 
 his parents came to America. When but a little boy, he attracted 
 the attention of Bishop Macdonald. His frank, open manner, his 
 piety and intelligence pleased the observant Bishop, who recognised 
 in these good dispositions the budding signs of a divine calhng, and 
 he besought the parents to leave him the boy, that he might be sent 
 to college. To this they consented, not without regret, it is true, 
 especially on the part of the mother, who loved her youngest child 
 
— 52 — 
 
 ■with all the passionate tenderness of her maternal heart. To part 
 from her darling boy, perhaps never to see him again on earth, was, 
 indeed, a great trial, but with instinct almost prophetic, she realized 
 that it was a sacrifice that would tend to the greater glory of God 
 and to the salvation of innumerable souls ; and so she willingly 
 accepted the cross, and stifled the promptings of motherhood, with 
 that sublime faith which was so marked a trait in the character of 
 the early colonists. Angus Bernard therefore remained in Scotland, 
 and was sent to the Catholic college at Samlaman in the autumn of 
 1772. 
 
 Here he spent almost five yearSj devoting his time to the ordinary 
 branches of a commercial education. When his primary studies were 
 completed, his superiors felt that the fair promises of his early years 
 gave forth new and more unmistakable signs of realization, and for 
 that reason, they deemed the time had come when the young man 
 should be placed in an institution of higher education, that the designs 
 of Divine Providence might be carried out. With this intention, 
 Angus Bernard set out for Spain and took up his classical studies in 
 the Eoyal Scots College at Valladolid, in August, 1777. 
 
 The Eoyal Scots College belonged originally to the Jesuits, but 
 came into possession of the Scottish Missions in the following manner. 
 Colonel Semple, a Scottish gentleman, bequeathed to the bishop of his 
 native country, a sum of money to found a seminary wherein priests 
 could be educated for the Scotch Missions. As an institution of this 
 kind could not be safely established in Scotland, at the time, owing 
 to Protestant prejudice, the bishops were obliged to select a suitable 
 location on the Continent. They made choice of Spain, and a college 
 was, accordingly, built at Madrid, in the year 1C63, and placed in 
 charge of the Jesuits,who continued to be its directors till their suppres- 
 sion. On their expulsion from Spain, their property all reverted to 
 the Crown. The Scottish bishops, however, claimed that the Govern- 
 ment had no right to confiscate the College of Madrid, as it did not 
 belong to the Jesuits, but was only administered by them in the name 
 of the aforesaid bishops. The Spanish authorities readily saw the 
 justice of this contention; and in lieu of the College of Madrid, 
 
— 53 — 
 
 already appropriated for civil purposes, they made over to the Scotch 
 bishops- the College of St. Ambrose founded by the Jesuits at Valla- 
 dolid. 
 
 The College of St. Ambrose is famous in the history of the Jesuits. 
 Here taught Suarez, the greatest theological light of the Society of 
 Jesus. Here also, Eodriguez, the pious author of the admirable work 
 on Christian Perfection, filled the chair of domestic casuistry. The 
 college chapel, too, is not unknown to fame. In it a young and 
 saintly Jesuit, Father Bernard de Hojos, was favoured with a mirac- 
 ulous vision of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, who chose him to propagate 
 the " Apostleship of Prayer " throughout the whole of Spain. In it, 
 a short time after, was held the first public service celebrated in that 
 kingdom in honor of the Sacred Heart, Father de Hojos being the 
 celebrant. Some years later, it was again the scene of a magnificent 
 demonstration, when the Spanish bishops assembled within its walls 
 to take the preliminary steps towards the canonization of the same 
 Father de Hojos. 
 
 In this institution, hallowed by so many sacred memories, Angus 
 Bernard MacEachern entered on his higher studies. Having com- 
 pleted his classics, he took up the study of philosophy and theology' 
 in immediate preparation for the holy priesthood. 
 
 His relations witk his fellow-students were always of the most 
 cordial nature. His lighthearted disposition made him the most genial 
 of companions, whilst his fervent faith and love of religion gave him 
 special earnestness in the performance of his various duties. He was 
 not what one would call a brilliant student : but he possessed a rich 
 fund of sound, practical common sense which, joined to a scrupulous 
 application to study, enabled him to hold a prominent place in all his 
 classes. What particularly distinguished him was a love of manual 
 labour. Nearly all his spare time was devoted to work of this kind. 
 When the other students would be giving their hours of recreation 
 to games of chance or skill, young MacEachern would be engaged in 
 doing some work of practical use to the college. 
 
 At one time, with the aid of some other boys, he built a large boat, 
 which, quite unknown to the builder, was destined to become historical. 
 
— 54 — 
 
 The circumstances that brought it prominently before the public are 
 the following. 
 
 The town of Valladolid is situated on the west bank of the river 
 Pisuerga at its confluence with the Esgueva. This latter river 
 flows through the town in two channels, before discharging its 
 waters into the Pisuerga. This peculiar position of the town once 
 gave rise to a disastrous flood, of which a memoir written in 1858 
 has this to say: " The spring of 1788 brought almost desolation to 
 Valladolid, by a terrible innundation caused by the rising of the river 
 Pisuerga. The Scotch students, having been successful in saving many 
 of the inhabitants,- were not only thanked for their services in a public 
 document by the King, but their successors in the house still enjoy 
 some little pecuniary token of the royal gratitude." 
 
 The " pecuniary token " here mentioned continues to be paid to this 
 day. It consists of a small sum of money paid every month to the 
 students by the Eector of the College. The payment is made on the 
 authority of the King, who is Patron of the Institution, whence its 
 name, Eoyal Scots College. 
 
 A history of Valladolid says the flood occurred on February 25th, 
 1788, and mentions among those who distinguished themselves in 
 rescuing the inhabitants confined by the waters : the virtuous Eeverend 
 Alexander Cameron, Eector of the Scots College, who, attended by 
 the Vice-Eector and Scotch students, carried on their shoulders an 
 enormous boat, and putting it into the waters of the Esgueva, were 
 the anchor of salvation to the inhabitants of the town." 
 
 In the church of St. Lawrence at Valladolid, a special service of 
 thanksgiving is celebrated annually on the feast of St. Mathias, 
 Apostle, to. commemorate the preservation of the city from this flood • 
 and mention is still made of the gallant services rendered by the 
 Scotch students on that occasion. The Town Council assists in a body, 
 and defrays. all the expenses incidental to the religious function. The 
 church of St. Lawrence was chosen for the ceremony, because in 
 it is the statue of Our Blessed Lady, Patroness of Valladolid. 
 
 The " enormous boat " of which mention is made above, was the 
 one built by Angus Bernard MacEachern, during his stay at the 
 
— 55 — 
 
 Eoyal Scots College. It remained on the college grounds for many 
 years, until appropriated by the Municipal Council, who feared it • 
 might be made use of to bring contraband goods into the town. 
 
 Young MacEachern spent ten years in Spain. On the 20th of 
 August, 1787, he was raised to the priesthood by Bishop Moreno, of 
 Valladolid. Having said his first mass in the college chapel, he bade 
 adieu to companions and friends, and set out for his native land. Many 
 changes had taken place in Scotland, since he had begun his studies. 
 The friend and patron of his early yeais, Bishop Hugh Macdonald, 
 bad long since gone to his reward. His successor, Rt. Rev. John 
 Macdonald, survived him only six years, his death having occurred on 
 May 9th, 1779. To him succeeded the Rt. Rev. Alexander Macdonald, 
 Titular Bishop of Polemo, who administered the spiritual affairs of 
 the Highland District on Father MacEachern's return to Scotland. 
 
 The young priest, eager to take up the burden of missionary work, 
 at once reported to the Bishop, and was assigned to a post of duty in 
 the Western Highlands. Muck, Rum and Barra Islands were among 
 the scenes of his early missionary labours ; and here he worked with 
 such signal success as to merit the favourable notice of the Bishop, 
 who spoke of him as a " valuable young man." 
 
 His mind, however, was not at rest. Thoughts of his many friends 
 in St. John's Island were ever present to him. His imagination was 
 continually calling up sad pictures of their spiritual destitution since 
 the lamented death of Father James. Letters, too, occasionally 
 reached Scotland, containing pitiful accounts of the hardships endured 
 by the colonists, and craving that a priest would come to cheer their 
 lonely exile. The sad condition of his kinsmen beyond the seas 
 deeply stirred the heart of Father MacEachern, and a desire to go to 
 their relief took possession of his inmost being. This desire he nursed 
 in silence for a long time, knowing full well that on account of the 
 scarcity of priests, the Bishop could ill afford to dispense with his 
 services in the Scotch missions. A favourable opportunity, however, 
 unexpectedly occurred, of carrying out his long cherished design, an 
 opportunity furnished by the unsettled state of the Highland Catholics 
 during those years. 
 
— 56 — 
 
 The condition of this people was indeed far from satisfactory. The 
 untoward agencies which led to the emigration of 1772 still continued 
 their nefarious work,though,perhaps, in a somewhat mitigated manner. 
 
 Landlordism and petty religious persecution never ceased to exercise 
 their baneful influence, and everything that malice could suggest 
 was done to discourage and degrade the poor Highlanders. Those 
 stalwart descendants of a heroic race were ground down more and 
 more by the pitiless exactions of greedy landowners, a domestic 
 enemy more insidious in his tactics and generally more successful in 
 his plans than the craftiest and strongest of foreign invaders. Years 
 of patient suffering brought no redress. If they looked to the future 
 it seemed almost hopeless; it lay overshadowed by a cloud of inky 
 blackness whose only rift was emigration. What a sad alternative 
 was this let every true patriot tell. We, who bask in the full sunshine 
 of civil and religious liberty, cannot realize what it cost our forefathers 
 to leave their homes in the Old World that they might rear free ones 
 in the New. The words of the eloquent Dominican Father Burke 
 speaking of the exiles of the sister Island well portray the feelings 
 of these brave Highlanders, as they severed the ties that bound them 
 to their native land. 
 
 " The pleasure of standing on the soil of the land of our birth ; 
 the pleasure of preserving every association that surrounded our 
 boyhood and our youth ; the pleasure, sad and melancholy though it 
 be, of watching every giay hair and wrinkle that time sends, even 
 to those we love — these are among the keenest and best pleasures 
 of which the heart of man is capable. Therefore it is, at all times, 
 that to be exiled from his native land has been looked upon by man 
 as a penalty and a grievance. This is true even of men whom nature 
 has placed upon the most rugged and barren soil." 
 
 True it was, also, of those Highland exiles, now forced to have 
 their homes ; for though their native land was indeed " a rugged and 
 barren soil," still they loved it with a devotion that made it dearer 
 to them than the fairest Eden on earth. 
 
 Such was the unstable condition of the people during the mission- 
 ary career of Father MacEachern in the Western Highlands. The 
 
— 57 — 
 
 poorer classes, unable to defray the expenses of an ocean voyage, could 
 only nurse their chronic discontent in silence and tears ; but those 
 who Were better provided with means were quietly preparing for the 
 journey, many denying themselves even the necessaries of life, that 
 they might have the wherewithal to pay their passage to St. John's 
 Island. Only one circumstance deterred them : the want of a priest 
 and the consequent privation of the sacraments in the land of their 
 adoption. They accordingly appealed to Father MacEachern. They told 
 him that if they had a priest to accompany them, they would hesitate 
 no longer. They implored him to have compassion on his needy 
 countrymen and come to share their voluntary exile in the New 
 World. This was the opportunity Father MacEachern had long looked 
 for, and he was not slow in taking advantage of it. He went to Bishop 
 Macdonald to lay the matter before him. He represented to him the 
 abandoned state of the Scotch emigrants. He pleaded their cause with 
 such pathos, that the Bishop finally yielded, and permitted him to go 
 to the aid of his countrymen. The following letter from Bishop Mac- 
 donald to the Bishop of Quebec, dated at Samlaman, July Cth, 1790, 
 shows the esteem the Bishop had for Father MacEachern, and with 
 what reluctance he permitted him to leave the Scotch Missions. It 
 also incidently throws light on the spiritual abandonment of the 
 inhabitants of St. John's Island : 
 
 " My Lord, 
 
 Mr. Angus MacEachern will have the honor to deliver this letter 
 to you, whom I take the liberty to recommend to your kind offices, 
 as a deserving young clergyman full of zeal, piety, and for abilities 
 both natural and acquired, equal to the due discharge of his respective 
 functions. It is, considering my own situation, with the greatest 
 reluctance I find myself obliged to part with a person of the above 
 description. In the Island of St. John's there are upwards of six 
 hundred of the Eoman Catholic persuasion, half French, half emigrants, 
 who went from these parts a long time ago. About seven years (?) 
 past they had the misfortune to be deprived of the truly worthy 
 churchman, who had accompanied the latter from Scotland ; and have 
 
— 58 — 
 
 since teen without the assistance of a pastor, and have never ceased 
 to make application and importune me for a clergyman. To the abov& 
 entreaties were lately added the petitions, and I may say the insur- 
 mountable supplications of a very numerous emigration from these 
 countries to said Island, so that I find myself unable to resist any 
 longer, notwithstanding my difficulties at home for want of labourers, 
 I am willing to believe that Your Lordship has been all along in the 
 dark with regard to the distressed situation of the worthy Catholics 
 in St. John's Island, otheiwise you would have fallen upon some 
 effectual plan, which in time coming must hecessarily be the case. 
 
 Yours most respectfully, 
 
 -|- Alex. Macdonald. 
 To the Bishop of Quebec, 
 
 Samlaman, July 6, 1790." 
 
 Accompanying the above letter was a certificate of Father Mac- 
 Eachern's ordination, and a copy of the faculties given to him by 
 Bishop Macdonald. Having thus received the gracious permission 
 of his Bishop, Father McEachern bade adieu to his native land and 
 after a prosperous voyage arrived in St. John's Island in the month of 
 August, 1790. 
 
Rt. JvKv. j. 1''. I Iri'.i'.kT 
 
 ]iisliii]i iif Ouclicc 
 
 178S-1797 
 
CHAPTER IX. 
 
 STATE OF THE COLONY IN 1790. — FATHER MACEACHERN APPLIES 
 FOE FACULTIES TO THE BISHOP OF QUEBEC. 
 
 Dreary, indeed, was the prospect that unfolded to the gaze of 
 Father MacEachern, as he arrived in St. -John's Island. It is true a 
 warm welcome awaited him, for the loving mother, who had parted 
 from him while he was yet a mere boy, was still living and yearning 
 to clasp him again to her , heart. His father too, freed from the 
 restraint of petty landlordism, stood ready to extend to him the hos- 
 pitality of the home he had succeeded in building up in the new 
 country. Brothers and sisters also, displaying the marked changes 
 wrought by eighteen years, were anxiously awaiting to greet him. The 
 whole Catholic population in a word, so long deprived of a resident 
 priest, welcomed him with exuberant joy, somewhat as the starving 
 inhabitants of a beleagured city hail the victorious general who sets 
 them free. 
 
 St. John's Island, at the time of which we write, was, in truth, 
 widely^different from what it is in our day. Could we turn back the 
 wheels of time, so as to contemplate its appearance a century ago, 
 we should stand confronted with a state of affairs, which the steady 
 progress of intervening years has rendered well-nigh incredible. To 
 compare the closing decade of the eighteenth century with the first 
 of the twentieth, in any part of the civilized world, would unearth 
 wonderful contrasts, and nowhere, perhaps, is this truth more 
 strikingly verified than in our own favored Isle of St. John. 
 
— 60 — 
 
 The social conveniences of our day were then utterly unknown. 
 One would look in vain for the telegraph or the telephone. Railways 
 and steamboats were still among the dreams of the future. The old 
 lumbered-up stage-coach, doing slow and clumsy service in the Mother 
 Country, had not yet begun its noisy traffic between the scattered 
 settlements of the new Colony. Indeed, carriages of whate ver kind 
 would have been of little use, for roads there were none, except one 
 leading from Charlottetown through Covehead, for a distance of about 
 fifteen miles. This was the only highway worthy of the name in the 
 whole Island, The roads made during the Trench occupation had 
 disappeared through disuse ; they lay hidden under a vigorous growth 
 of spruce and fir, now reaching almost to the height of the primeval 
 forest. Travel therefore was always difficult, and not unfrequently 
 accompanied by danger. On this subject Dr. McGregor, who visited 
 the Island in 1791, says : " In summer the easiest way of travelling 
 was along shore, or along the edges of rivers. But this had its 
 difficulties. The shore was encumbered with drift wood, or piled 
 up with stones which, however interesting to a geologist, were very 
 awkward for the pedestrian. In some places the tide rose so high 
 that it was necessary to clamber up steep banks to get along. At 
 other places the ground was soft and boggy, particularly at small 
 creeks, which often rendered it necessary to make a long circuit to go 
 round the head of them, and greatly increased the distance travelled." 
 
 In pursuing his way, the traveller would often be obliged to cross 
 these streams, and the means resorted to for this purpose were often 
 quite ingenious. From the writer, quoted above, we learn, that where 
 the water was not deep and the bottom hard, stilts were sometimes 
 made use of by those who could steady themselves sufficiently to 
 essay such a mode of crossing. When by their aid, the wayfarer had 
 reached the opposite shore dryshod, he would lay down his stilts on 
 the bank beyond the reach of the tide, where they remained, awaiting 
 the first comer whose bodily equilibrium was such as to justify a trial 
 of this perilous style of transit. Often-times a raft hastily constructed 
 of drift wood, conveyed the traveller to the farther shore, thus saving 
 him a wearisome journey inland in quest of a suitable fording-place. 
 
— 61^ 
 
 A large tree, overturned by a storm, would occasionally fall across a 
 stream, and afford the weary pedestrian an unexpected convenience. 
 This however was not without its danger, for if he had not a steady 
 head, he ran imminent risk of losing his balance, and falling from the 
 narrow bridge into the water. In the spring time, when the ice was 
 breaking up, the eager colonist would often leap on a cake of floating 
 ice which, impelled by a pole, bore him in safety across the stream. 
 
 But the means of crossing, by far most in use, especially on the 
 larger streams and rivers, was the canoe. Amongst the French and 
 Indians it was very much employed. It was usually made of birch- 
 bark taken from the trees in large sheets, then closely sewn together 
 with fibrous roots or leathern thongs, and stretched on a framework 
 of light timbers or ribs, which served to give shape, strength, and 
 steadiness to the craft. The speed attained by a canoe, when impelled 
 by the paddle of an expert, was truly marvellous. It was so light it 
 scarcely seemed to touch the glassy surface of the water and moved 
 in ready obedience to the slightest impulsion. 
 
 The Scottish emigrant did not, as a rule, make use of the bark 
 canoe. He preferred the pirogue " or dug out", a narrow skiff made 
 by hollowing the side of a log of spruce or fir, and which for crank- 
 ness and unsteadiness out-rivaled the shell of the modern oarsman. 
 
 In the winter season, the routes of travel were less circuitous, but 
 none the less tedious and perilous. The ice on the streams and along 
 the seaboard was then the principal highway, and many were the 
 difficulties it presented to the tiaveller as he journeyed from one 
 settlement to the next. If a snowstorm arose his hardship increased, 
 as the blinding drift would obscure the sun, efface every trace of the 
 beaten path, and hide from sight all landmarks in the distance. The 
 custom of bushing the ice had not yet been adopted, and the luckless 
 traveller thus left without a guide, would often lose his way and 
 wander hither and thither in search of shelter. In such emergencies 
 presence of mind was very necessary and many wonderful escapes 
 are recorded, due to having noted the course of the wind, when 
 a stoim was perceived to be impending. By this precaution, the 
 traveller was able to tell the direction in which his way led, so that, 
 
— 62 — 
 
 notwithstanding the blinding drift, he could direct his steps to a 
 haven of safety. 
 
 While travelling through the woods, the colonist found his way by 
 means of a blaze, or chip cut from the side of the trees at intervals 
 along the route. This failing, his guide was a pocket compass, an 
 instrument as common in those days, as are watches among the 
 people at the present time. Times were, when the snow lay so deep, 
 as to completely cover the blaze. This was a fruitful source of 
 annoyance and even of danger to the traveller, who thus found him- 
 self without a guide in the trackless forest. Afraid to proceed far- 
 ther, lest he lose his way, he would often retrace his steps, following 
 his own footprints in the snow, and thus return ingloriously to the 
 place whence he had set out. 
 
 Perhaps the greatest difficulty that met the traveller arose from the 
 distance between the settlements. One woiild travel for miles without 
 meeting a person with whom to exchange a word of greeting, or see 
 a roof under which to seek shelter from cold or rain. At this time 
 St. John's Island was only sparsely settled. The total population 
 did not far exceed a thousand souls, and these were settled here and 
 there, generally on the seacoast and along the' banks of the largest 
 rivers. 
 
 Shortly after the Conquest emigration set in and soon a considerable 
 settlement was formed at Charlottetown. In 1771 a number of Scotch 
 Protestants came to the Island, and took up land on th6 western 
 shore of Eichmond Bay. The following year saw the emigration of 
 Highland Catholics, already referred to, and soon after settlements 
 were formed at Georgetown, Cbvehead, St. Peter's and Cavendish. 
 After the peace of 1784, the population was increased by the arrival 
 of a band of Loyalists, who settled principally in the neighborhood of 
 Bedeque. These, with the Acadians residing at Eustioo, Malpeque 
 and Fortune Bay, and a few Micmacs who roamed at will through the 
 pathless forest, constituted the total population that greeted Father 
 McEachern on his ai3:ival in 1790. 
 
 Needless to say that the majority of the Catholic people were poor. 
 The Acadians, despoiled of their property at the Conquest, had since 
 
— 63 — 
 
 €ked out only a bare subsistence, whilst the Highlanders driven in 
 poverty from the Mother Country had scarcely bettered their condi- 
 tion in the land of their adoption. Industries were few and of a rude 
 and primitive kind. Ship-building was carried on, in certain localities, 
 and afforded employment To a few lumbermen and mechanics. Fish- 
 ing, too, received some attention from those who were possessed of 
 boats and gear to ply that calling. As in our day, however, agricul- 
 ture was the chief industry, but so rude were the farming imple- 
 ments, and so primitive the mode of tillage, that the poor farmer 
 mdde only a scant living amid untold hardship. Many were without 
 cleared land, and their agricultural efforts were confined to hoeing in 
 a patch of potatoes and grain amid the stumps that remained of the 
 forest recently felled. A plough with a wooden mould-board, and a 
 harrow with wooden pins were considered a desirable possession, 
 while a rude cart with unshod wheels placed the fortunate owner in 
 the front rank of agricultural progress. Threshing-mills were nowhere 
 to be seen. In their stead the flail was universally used, and when 
 the threshing was finished, the winds of heaven served to separate 
 the chaff from the good grain. Grist-mills had not yet been introduced. 
 Their place was filled by the quern or hand-mill, which converted the 
 grain into flour at a sacrifice of much time and labor. These mills, 
 long since gone out of use, are thus described by Dr. Johnson : — 
 " The housewives grind their oats with a quern or hand-mill, which 
 consists of two stones about a foot and a half in diameter. The lower 
 is a little convex, to which the concavity of the upper must be fitted. 
 In the middle of the upper stone is a round hole, and on one side is 
 a long handle. The grinder sheds the corn gradually into the hole 
 with one land, and works the handle round with the other. The corn 
 slides down the convexity of the lower stone, and by the motion of 
 the upper is ground in its passage." 
 
 Poor in worldly goods, the people were almost entirely destitute 
 of educational facilities. Books were to be found with only a few. 
 Newspapers received but scanty encouragement from a people, many 
 of whom knew not how to read. Hence the first journalistic venture 
 essayed in St. John's Island met with speedy failure. A newspaper 
 
— 64^ 
 
 called the St. John's Island Miscellany was started early in 1790, 
 but in less than two years it had to suspend publication, and over 
 thirty years elapsed before a man came forward with sufficient 
 courage to found its successor. Slight efforts, nevertheless, had been 
 made to educate the younger generation. In some of the better settle- 
 ments a log school-house with its seats of rough slabs, might be seen, 
 in which the three Rs, commingled with a generous application of 
 the birchen rod, constituted the entire curriculum. The school-master 
 had no fixed residence. He usually went about from house to house, 
 a week here and a week there, boarding with the parents to whose 
 children he imparted the rudimentary education of the day. Books, 
 slates and pencils were rare and difficult to procure,and not unfrequently 
 a sheet of birch bark served the youthful aspirant in his efforts to 
 acquire the art of calligraphy. 
 
 This backward state of the Colony was not confined to temporal 
 things. Its spiritual interests too had been long neglected ; for no 
 priest was found to fill the place made vacantby the death of Father 
 James. The broad field of religion lay untilled through want of a 
 husbandman. The voice of sacrifice was hushed in the land. People 
 died " unshriven and unhouseled," their only requiem the plaint of 
 mourning friends, who thus found in their death a double bereave- 
 ment. Marriages were contracted before a justice of the peace, or a 
 minister of some Protestant denomination, and new-born infants re- 
 ceived at the hands of laymen the sacrament of regeneration. Devotion 
 necessarily languished, faith waxed cold, the cheerful spirit of religion 
 gave way to sombre and settled melancholy, Priests, it is true, came 
 over occasionally from the Mainland ; but their stay would be neces- 
 sarily short, and unfortunately there seems to have been no under- 
 standing between them, or no concerted action, and for this reason 
 the people did not reap the full benefit of their ministrations. 
 
 The above outline of St. John's Island in 1790 will serve to give 
 the reader an idea of the hardships and privations that confronted 
 Father McEachern, as he entered on his missionary career in the 
 Colony. It was a prospect indeed well calculated to fill with dismay 
 the most intrepid follower of the Divine Master. But Father 
 
— 65 — 
 
 MacEachern was cast in heroic mould. He had come to cultivate this 
 forsaken part of the Lord's Vineyard, and strong in the promise " I 
 am with you, " he buckled on the armor of prayer and went forth 
 cheei fully to do battle for God and Holy Church. As soon as he 
 arrived, he sought an opportunity of communicating the fact to his 
 new Superior, the Bishop of Quebec. As no regular, mail-service 
 existed in those days, it was with difficulty that a letter could be sent 
 to any considerable distance. In fact, the writer would have to wait 
 until some chance would occur, as when some person would be going 
 the way who would carry the letter to its destination. 
 
 Whilst looking about for an opportunity of communicating with 
 his Bishop, Father MacEachern learned that Capt. Joseph Gallant, 
 an Acadian of Eustico, owned a small schooner in which he made 
 occasional trips to Quebec, and that he contemplated going thither 
 towards the middle of September. 
 
 Profiting by this occasion, Father MacEachern wrote to the Bishop 
 of Quebec a letter dated September 7th, 1790, in which he informs 
 His Lordship of his arrival in the Diocese, and asks for the faculties 
 necessary to a priest entrusted with the spiritual charge of this 
 remote region. 
 
 This letter remained some time unanswered. Three years previously 
 Bishop Hubert had appointed Father Jones, of Halifax, Superior of 
 the English missions in the Lower Provinces. To him all the clergy 
 laboring in these missions were subject, and from him they had to 
 receive the necessary approbation and jurisdiction. Of this arrange^ 
 ment Father MacEachern knew nothing, and for that reason had 
 applied directly to the Bishop. His Lordship, accordingly, wrote to 
 Father Jones bidding him examine Father MacEachern's credentials, 
 and if found satisfactory, give him missionary faculties. 
 
 On the following day, Oct. 4th, he wrote to Father MacEachern. 
 He told him to confer with Father Jones, who, on examining his 
 papers, would be in a position to judge of his clerical standing. The 
 reason for this precaution the Bishop assigns as follows : — " That in 
 these countries far removed from the immediate supervision of the 
 Bishop, some persons had passed themselves off for priests, without 
 
being such in reality, and others, who were priests, had exercised the 
 sacred ministry without authority. Consequently the Catholics of 
 Nova Scotia and adjacent Islands had been instructed three years 
 ago, to receive no French missionaries but those sent by the Bishop 
 himself, and no English, Irish or Scotch priests but those having the 
 approbation of Father Jones." 
 
 In the meantime, ^he news of Father MacEachern's arrival had 
 reached Halifax, and Father Jones hastened to convey to him the 
 faculties he required. At the same time, he wrote to the Bishop a 
 long letter, which contained the following reference to the character 
 and clerical standing of the new missionary. " I regard Father Mac- 
 Eachern as a very worthy priest. He is well acquainted with the customs, 
 morals and language of his countrymen. He enjoys excellent health, 
 and can do a great deal for the good of our Holy Religion. I have 
 asked him to visit the poor Scotch of Pictou, Merigomiche and Mira- 
 michi next summer, instead of going to Quebec. There are Calvinist 
 ministers in those places, who speak to the people in Erse. As none 
 of our missionaries speak that language, the Scotch Catholics derive, 
 but little benefit from their visits. As Father MacEachern is full of 
 zeal, and can preach in that tongue, we can hope a great measure of 
 success from his labors in these missions." 
 
 The receipt of this letter dispelled all doubts on the part of Bishop 
 Hubert. He rejoiced in the assurance that a priest, in every way 
 worthy of his calling, had come to minister to the people of St. 
 John's Island. He accordingly made no delay in writing to Father 
 MacEachern, giving over the whole Island to his spiritual care, and 
 bidding him bestow the consolations of his ministry upon all its 
 Catholic population, Acadian as well as Scotch. 
 
 The above correspondence between the Bishop of Quebec, on the 
 one hand, and Father Jones and Father MacEachern on the other, 
 lets in a ray of light on a question, which a few years ago, gave rise 
 to some acrimonious writing. In the " Memoirs of Bishop Burke," 
 published in 1894, the Archbishop of Halifax makes the statement 
 that the Quebec Bishops had neglected their Acadian subjects in the 
 Lower Provinces, and that, if the Faith had been kept alive amongst 
 
— 67 — 
 
 the latter, it was thanks to the " Sons of Erin mailed in the unshaken 
 faith of their martyred ancestors." In support of this assertion the 
 learned author dwells long and lovingly on the noble work done by 
 Father Jones, to whose untiring energy he attributes the fact of so 
 many priests having come to labor in these missions. Then follows a 
 list of these missionaries of whom the first mentioned is Father 
 MacEachern. 
 
 Some of the clergy of the Archdiocese of Quebec, having taken 
 umbrage at the statements advanced by His Grace of Halifax, wrote a 
 pamphlet by way of answer, in which they endeavor to prove that 
 the conclusions reached by the illustrious Archbishop are not in 
 accordance with the facts. Without entering here into the general 
 merits of this controversy, we wish emphatically to state that we 
 decline to follow either opinion in the case of Father MacEachern. 
 His direct application for faculties to Bishop Hubert, proves that he 
 was not aware of Fathqr Jones' jurisdiction over these missions, and 
 therefore could not have come hither at his request, whilst, on the 
 other hand, the letters of the Bishop show that His Lordship was 
 utterly unacquainted withFather MacEachern's coming andapparently 
 unconscious of the causes that led up to it. His presence here, there- 
 fore, is due neither to the " Sons of Erin " nor to those of France. 
 He came because, like his Master, " he had compassion on the 
 multitude " who were starving for want of the Bread of divine truth. 
 He came urged on by his own generous sympathy for a people long 
 deprived of spiritual consolation. Following the example of the saiutly 
 Father James, whose memory still lingered among the people, like 
 the sweet aroma of a tender blossom blasted by autumn's untimely 
 frosts. Father MacEachern came to St. John's Island led on by the 
 impulse of his own heart, to consecrate himself even until death to 
 the spiritual care of this wild and inhospitable region. 
 
CHAPTER X. 
 
 EAELY LABOES AND JOURNEYS. 
 
 As soon as Father MacEachern had received faculties from Father 
 -Jones, he entered on his missionary duties. Seeing no further reason 
 for delay, he assembled the people in the old church at Scothfort, and 
 having offered the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, he preached in their 
 native Gaelic the first sermon they had heard for years. Then, having 
 visited all the people of the neighbourhood, he shouldered his mis- 
 sionary pack, and set out to convey the consolations of religion to 
 the outlying settlements. 
 
 For some years he made his headquarters at Savage Harbor. This 
 ■was the usual starting point of his -apostolic journeys, and thither he 
 returned, when wearied with his labors and travels. Early in the 
 summer of 1791, he laid the foundation of a large stone house, on his 
 father's farm, planned so as to serve the double purpose of residence 
 and chapel. A brother-in-law, Eobert Maclnnis, who was an expert 
 mason, had charge of the building, and with the generous help of the 
 people it was speedily completed. It contained two principal divi- 
 sions, of which one served as a residence for his father and mother, 
 with whom he made his home, and the other he^tted up for a chapel, 
 in which he said Mass and kept the Blessed Sacrament for about ten 
 years. This chapel, the old church of St. John's at Scotchfort, and 
 another tumbledown log-building at Malpeque were the only places 
 of Catholic worship in the whole Island, Between Scotchfort and 
 Savage Harbor he alternated on Sundays, except when bis duties 
 
— 70 — 
 
 called him to the other settlements. In this latter case, he carried 
 with him everything required for the celebration of the Holy_Mys- 
 teries, and officiated at a rude altar set up in the most commodious 
 dwelling-house in the neighbourhood. 
 
 The difficulties he experienced in making these visits, especially 
 during his early years in the Colony, may be gleaned from a letter 
 written to the Bishop of Quebec, on May 1st, 1793. " There is only 
 one large Missal in folio " he writes, " of a very old date in this 
 Island, and as the place is so poor, that I cannot keep a servant and 
 horse, I find it very burdensome to carry missal, vestments, altar- 
 stone, and whatever other little necessaries I want from one settle- 
 ment to another, especially as I must go from station to station every 
 other Sunday. " 
 
 Difficulties like these, however, did not deter him in the least. Par 
 from abating his zeal, they seemed to stimulate him to greater activity. 
 He applied himself with all the ardor of an Academician, to perfect 
 himself in the French language, in order that the Acadians might 
 derive the fullest measure of benefit from his ministration. He went 
 amongst them as often as possible, and stayed with them as long as 
 his duties to others would allow. Indeed the Scottish Catholics 
 sometimes complained that, although he belonged by right to them, still 
 often, when most needed, they would have to go in search of him to 
 the Acadian settlements. A tradition long preserved among this latter 
 people, relates that, in his desire to familiarize himself with their 
 language, he would join the little children in their play, to accustom 
 his ear to their accent and modes of expression. It must have been 
 a novel sight for the old sedate Acadian people, to see the priest lay 
 aside for the moment the reserve that usually distinguished him, and 
 join with the children skating on the ponds or playing ball in the 
 verdant fields ; but it was a sight, at the same time, to rejoice the 
 angels of God, who were able to divine and appreciate the hidden 
 motives that actuated the missionary. 
 
 During his stay at Valladolid, he had acquired a fairly good know- 
 ledge of the language of France ; but he could not then foresee, how 
 children of that sunny clime, forsaken by their own in a foreign land. 
 
— 71 — 
 
 "would one day hang on his lips, as in broken accents he endeavored 
 to convey to them the consolations of our Holy Keligion. No wonder 
 the Acadians, as well as the English speaking people, have cherished 
 his memory ; for he was to both a true Apostle, a faithful represen- 
 tative of the Divine Master. No wonder that in two years after his 
 arrival Father Jones, in a letter to the Bishop of Quebec, could say 
 with truth : " Father MacEachern is adored by his people." 
 
 In winter his skates and his snowshoes were his constant compa- 
 nions, without which he would not undertake any extended journey. 
 On his snowshoes and guided by the compass, he made his way 
 through the forest, always choosing the direct route to save time and 
 fatigue. In a few years he became so expert in this mode of travel, 
 that few could keep up with him on a tramp. If a river rolled be- 
 tween him and his destination, and the ice was in good condition, he 
 would exchange his snowshoes for his skates, and speed merrily on 
 his way, tired nature rejoicing in a change of locomotion. 
 
 Later in life, when he was able to keep a horse, some of the diffi- 
 culties that attended his earlier journeys were removed. He then 
 went from place to place on horseback, but more frequently, if in 
 summer, in a two- wheeled vehicle, known in its day as " the yellow 
 gig." When the snow lay deep on the ground, the gig yielded its 
 place to a sleigh of rude construction, whose peculiar appearance 
 would, in all probability, excite the risibilities of the present aesthetic 
 generation. It was a sort of mongrel contrivance, half boat and half 
 sleigh, not marred by all the inconveniences of either, nor blessed with 
 all the advantages of both. Its lower part was composed of runners and 
 cross-bars like the ordinary sleigh. Upon this was placed a boat 
 about eight feet in length, built with his own hands, which he fastened 
 with light iron stays to the framework underneath. In this he placed 
 his baggage, and having harnessed his horse to the composite con- 
 veyance, he was ready to travel whithersoever his duties called him. 
 His special purpose in building this vehicle was to preserve his mission- 
 ary outfit. As he travelled a great deal, and for the most part on bays, 
 rivers, and along the sea-board, he was often in danger of getting into 
 the ice, and of thus losing the portmanteau containing his vestments 
 
— 72 — 
 
 and the other things required for saying mass. The loss of these 
 would have placed him in a sorrowful plight, as they could not be 
 replaced except from Quebec, and that meant a delay of months and 
 perhaps of nearly a year. But thanks to the little boat, everything 
 was quite safe. If the horse should happen to break through the ice, 
 the boat would float on the surface of the water, and thus prevent 
 his luggage from being lost or injured by the wet ^. 
 
 About a century ago, this little boat was a familiar sight to the 
 people of St. John's Island. Its arrival in a settlement created more 
 excitement than would the sudden appeara-nce of a hostile frigate in 
 one of our seaports. As soon as it would be descried coming in the 
 distance, word would be sent round that Father MacEachern had 
 arrived, and forthwith all work would be suspended in the neigh- 
 bourhood. Men and women, dressed in their holiday attire, soon 
 crowded around him, every one eager to clasp the hand of their spir- 
 itual Father. Even the little children were brought, that they might 
 receive the blessing of the man of God. 
 
 The impression his presence created in the minds of the children 
 may be learned from an incident that occurred, when he was Bishop 
 of Charlottetown. Being on a visit to Launching Place, King County, 
 the people, as usual, came in crowds to receive the sacraments. Two 
 boys, about five years of age, who had been left to keep house during 
 the absence of their parents, thought that, they too, should go to con- 
 fession. Confession meant to them probably no more than an inter- 
 view with the Bishop. Accordingly, on their parents' return, they 
 stole from the house, and hurriedly made their way to Angus Walker's, 
 where the Bishop resided during his stay in the mission. When they 
 reached the house the Bishop was still hearing confessions. 
 
 The two barefoot urchins demanded that they be admitted to his 
 presence. Mrs. Walker kindly told them to return home and not 
 trouble the holy man as he was very busy. They persisted. They 
 had as much right to go to confession as some others whom tbey 
 had met on the way. The Bishop hearing the friendly altercation 
 
 1 — This boat may still be seen at St. Joseph's Convent, Charlottetown. 
 
— 73 — 
 
 laid aside his stole, and coming forward asked what was the matter. 
 The two boys without hesitation laid their request before him in 
 person. He smiled good-naturedly on the two lads, led them aside 
 and spoke to them in the kindliest manner, and having procured 
 from Mrs. Walker a piece of bread and butter for each, bade them 
 return as quickly as possible (jo their home. 
 
 They did so, feeling as happy and lighthearted as any penitent who, 
 on that evening.had poured into the priest's ear a tale of sin and sorrow. 
 This was one of his last visits to Launching, and the two boys never 
 f aw him again ; but even in their old age, they loved to recall, as a 
 pleasant youthful reminiscence, their first experience of the Sacrament 
 of Penance, when Confession, that bugbear of timid souls, resolved 
 itself into nothing more serious than a kind word and a piece of bread 
 and butter. 
 
 Children were not the only objects of his love and solicitude. Young 
 ar\d old, alike, had easy access to him ; and all were assured of a 
 warmhearted reception. 
 
 To hold a station was for him no sinecure ; for, from morning till 
 night, he was the busiest of men. The difficulties of travel formed 
 only a small part of the hardships that fell to his lot. From his arrival 
 at a mission till his departure therefrom, he had scarcely a moment 
 to himself. Business of every imaginable kind kept him continually 
 employed. He was not only spiritual adviser, but lawyer, judge, 
 physician and general peacemaker of the whole community. If a 
 dispute had arisen between neighbours, the issue would usually lie 
 open till the coming of the missionary. He would patiently listen to 
 both sides of the story, and having duly considered the matter, would 
 give a decision which, in every case, was considered final. When dis- 
 turbances arose between individuals or in families, his visit was 
 regarded as the most favourable occasion to bring about a reconcilia- 
 tion. In fact, a friendly settlement he made of absolute necessity, 
 before such persons would be permitted to approach the Holy Table. 
 Family troubles, too, the result of discord at the domestic hearth, 
 were laid before him, and always with the confident assurance that 
 he could apply an effectual remedy. A tradition still lingers among 
 
— Ti- 
 the people of Cape Breton Island, that a woman of Whycogomagb 
 once came to him, to complain that her husband was an inveterate 
 fault finder, and a continual disturber of peace in the household. No' 
 matter what she might do to please him, he was never satisfied, and 
 matters had recently grown so bad that she found it impossible to live 
 with him. After she had poured out her tale of woe, and dwelt at 
 length on her better half's chronic eccentricities, Father MacEachern, 
 with apparent interest in her sad case, advised her to keep always at 
 hand a bottle filled with salt and water, from which she was told to 
 take a generous mouthful as soon as her husband began to scold, and 
 as long as the domestic storm continued, she was to keep the salt 
 and- water in her mouth. This, of course, would prevent her taking an 
 active part in the performance ; and as it takes two to make a quar- 
 rel, the husband would have to suspend operations from sheer want 
 of material to work on. 
 
 Father MacEachern was gifted with a rich fund of common sense. 
 He also possessed an almost intuitive discernment of character, 
 which, together with an abundant supply of ready wit, enabled him 
 to find a satisfactory solution to difficulties which, in our day, 
 demand the combined wisdom of judge and jury. On the other hand, 
 the hold he had on the hearts of the people, the respect awakened by 
 his life of earnest and saintly devotedness, the veneration enteitaiued 
 by all for his priestly character, gave him the most unquestioned 
 authority in dealing with all matters submitted to his consideration. 
 Moreover, he thoroughly understood the temperament of the people. 
 He knew their faults as well as their good points, and whilst he was 
 somewhat indulgent to their little weaknesses, he was the uncompro- 
 mising enemy of every grave disorder. 
 
 The people of that day, especially the Scotch, were more or less 
 given to gossip. Let notour readers strait at this assertion. When we 
 consider the monotony of their lives, their complete isolation, the 
 difficulties of communication and the scarcity of news from abroad, 
 we will not be surprised to learn that they made the most of what 
 news they had ; and we will pardon them for this, all the more 
 readily, when we reflect that the people of the present day, with all 
 
— 75 — 
 
 their boasted enlightenment, have not entirely outgrown this weakness 
 of their ancestors. 
 
 I At the time of which we write, neither sex laid claim to a mono- 
 poly of this doubtful accomplishment. In our day it is generally 
 supposed to thrive, only by the patronage of the gentler sex ; but a 
 century ago, all, without exception, offered incense at its shrine. 
 Even Father MacEachern himself was not proof against its charming 
 influence. He, too, was somewhat of a gossip — a charitable one, it 
 is true, in whose keeping his neighbour's name and reputation were 
 safe ; but none more than he enjoyed a quiet friendly chat, especially 
 with the older folks he met in the settlements. 
 
 The following incident of his missionary career, which we relate 
 substantially as we heard it, will serve to illustrate this trait in his 
 character. On a certain occasion he had travelled along the North 
 Shore and around the East Point, whence he was slowly making his 
 way to Three Eivers, when hunger and fatigue caused him to stop at 
 a farmhouse near Little Harbor. After an exchange of greetings with 
 the inmates, he told them that he had been a long time without food, 
 and inquired if they had anything in the house to appease his hunger. 
 The good housewife was only poorly prepared to entertain her visitor. 
 Like all the Highlanders, this family was poor, and their larder rejoiced 
 in nothing more toothsome than the ubiquitous potato. They had, 
 however, a little wheat, and the quern was accordingly brought forth 
 from its retreat, and the man of the house was soon engaged grinding 
 flour for the priest's dinner. Whilst the grinding was being done, 
 Father MacEachern entered on a species of desultory conversation, 
 which soon drifted into> a rehearsal of their personal experiences in 
 Scotland. Among other things, the man related an amusing incident 
 that had occurred in one of the missions of the Western Highlands, 
 where Father MacEachern had been stationed before he came to St. 
 John's Island ; an incident in which the priest himself had played a 
 prominent and rather comical part. Father MacEachern was surprised 
 to hear the story, and exclaimed : " Why I did not think there was a 
 soul on the Island had heard of that. — Indeed ", came the answer ; 
 " I suppose you are not aware that So and so — naming some local 
 
— 76 — 
 
 poet — made a song about it. — No ", replied the priest, " I was not 
 aware of the fact, but I bet a pound if such a song was ever made, 
 you know it ; so now get to work and sing it for me." 
 
 At this stage, the quern turned faster and faster, and no word was 
 heard from the operator. " Come, come," said the priest, " let us have 
 the song. — But your own name occurs throughout it, in a dozen of 
 places, was the answer. — All the better," was the reply, " let us hear 
 what it has to say about me. — But, Father," rejoined the man now 
 pushed to his wits' end, " you will not get your dinner to-day if I 
 stop to sing for you. — We will see about that," said Father Mac- 
 Eachern, grasping the quern and beginning to grind with all his 
 might. " Go on now with the song, and we will have the music and 
 flour at the same time." Further argument was useless. The old man 
 had to comply and sang the song from end to end, not forgetting to 
 emphasize the passages that bad reference to the part played by the 
 priest in the incident, which the poet had endeavored to immortalize. 
 In this way Father MacEachern secured the confidence of the people, 
 and gleaned many items of information, not always from motives of 
 idle curiosity, but more frequently with the intention of spiritual 
 profit to himself and others; and this course he pursued not merely 
 on the occasion of a casual visit like the above ; but also when he 
 came to hold a station in a settlement. Hence, when the people 
 gathered round, the first part of the proceedings was a friendly con- 
 versation and a spirited interchange of news. Now was a favourable 
 opportunity of finding out if anything of a serious nature had occurred 
 since his last visit to the neighbourhood, or anything that might 
 demand special attention on his part; and this was done in so sly a 
 manner, that the persons with whom he conversed were generally 
 quite unconscious of the fact, that they imparted the very information 
 he was most anxious to obtain. 
 
 After new acquaintances had been made, and old ones renewed, 
 the more important work of the day began. Baptisms and marriages 
 would take up some time, as also the blessing of beads, medals, and 
 the few objects of piety obtainable in that day. Confessions then fol- 
 lowed, and visits to the old and sick, who were too infirm to leave 
 
— 77 — 
 
 their homes. On the followiug morning the people again assembled, 
 and the labors of the preceding day were resumed. A temporary 
 altar is put up in the most convenient place, and upon it is placed 
 everything required for the celebration of the Holy Mysteries. Clad 
 in his sacred vestments, the priest kneels at the foot of the rude 
 altar, and recites in the language of his hearers, the Act* of Faith, 
 Hope and Charity, a short abridgment of the Christian Doctrine, 
 and appropriate prayers for the welfare of the King and Eoyal Family. 
 This ended, he begins the Holy Sacrifice, at which all assist in a 
 manner that recalls the privations of the primitive Christians in the 
 Eoman Catacombs. At the end of Mass, all approach the Holy Table 
 to strengthen their souls by a fervent communion. A short instruction 
 suitable to the wants of the community follows, in which the good 
 priest never fails to impress on his hearers the advantages of a vir- 
 tuous life. 
 
 It was now time to proceed to the next settlement, for other sheep 
 there are, who anxiously await the coming of the shepherd. Father 
 MacEachern accordnigly packs up his portmanteau, and starts on his 
 journey. The people follow him in crowds far on his way, disputing 
 with each other, in holy emulation, the privilege of being the last to 
 clasp his hand and receive his priestly blessing. On his arrival at 
 the next settlement the same routine of labour awaits him, and 
 thus from place to place he passed, like his Divine Master, " going 
 about doing good," until wellnigh worn out with fatigue, he returned 
 to his home at Savage Harbour. 
 
CHAPTER XI. 
 
 SCARCITY OF PRIESTS. — FATHER MACEACHERN S EXHORTATIONS. — 
 
 ST. Andrew's farm purchased. 
 
 One of the first and most urgent matters that appealed to the 
 sympathies of Father MacEachern, on his arrival in St. John's Island, 
 ■was the scarcity of priests, and the absence of adequate provision for 
 the future of religion in the Colony. 
 
 For about thirty years the Acadians had been left without a priest of 
 their own nationality, and lived on in a state of spiritual abandonment, 
 that tended to keep alive the gloomy memories of their expulsion. 
 Their lot was indeed a sad one ; for after the lapse of so many years 
 not a ray of spiritual light gilds their future, save one that gleams 
 from the beacon fire of a stranger. Irish emigrants, too, were now 
 arriving from Ireland and from Newfoundland. These took up their 
 residence principally at Charlottetown, where they lived without 
 priests and seemed destined to continue in a like condition for many 
 years to come. Since the death of Father James, the Scottish colo- 
 nists were similarly neglected,and how long they would have remained 
 thus unprovided for is now a matter of idle speculation. 
 
 From the very first. Father MacEachern met with persons, — 
 children of Catholic parents — who had grown up to manhood without 
 having met a priest, much less approached the Sacraments. Examples 
 of perversion, too, were occasionally to be found among the Irish and 
 Scotch, sometimes in consequence of mixed marriages ; but too often 
 were they the results of the long and continual neglect to which the 
 people were subjected. The sight of so many spiritual misfortunes 
 
— 80 — 
 
 filled the tender heart of the missionary with sorrow. He deplored 
 the fate of a people who, for conscience's sake, had fled from their 
 Mother Country, but who in their new homes gradually grew cold 
 and finally fell away, because no priest had been sent to preach to 
 them the all saving word of God. These unfortunate circumstances 
 caused Father MacEachern grave forebodings regarding the future of 
 religion. He naturally felt how little could be done by one person, in 
 a region so wild and extensive. Moreover, he foresaw that the hard- 
 ships consequent to the spiritual care of the entire Island, multipUed 
 by frequent visits to the Mainland, must necessarily tell heavily on 
 his own health ; and should sickness or disability come to him, who 
 would step into his place, who would take up the tiresome burden, 
 and keep alive the torch of divine Faith among these remote and 
 deserted people ? Hence, from the beginning he endeavoured to 
 impress the authorities of Quebec with a sense of responsibility in 
 this matter. Almost every letter he sends to the Bishop refers to 
 the need of clergy, sometimes [in words of humble earnest pleading, 
 but not unfrequently in language that seems begotten of righteous 
 indignation. 
 
 The Vicar Agostolic of the Highlands was fully aware of the great 
 want of clergy in St. John's Island when he consented to Father 
 MacEachern's depasture from Scotland ; but he charitably believed 
 that the Diocesan authorities were not equally conversant with the 
 same. Hence, in introducing Father MacEachern to the Bishop of 
 Quebec, he says : " I am willing to believe that Your Lordship has 
 been all along in the dark with regard to the distressed situation of 
 the worthy Catholics in St. John's Island ; otherwise you would have 
 fallen upon some effectual plan, which, in time coming, must 
 necessarily be the case." 
 
 These words contain a gentle reminder, that the Diocese of Quebec 
 must in future provide itself with missionaries, and not look for aid 
 to foreign countries, where even greater difficulties obtained than 
 those which retarded the progress of the Church in Canada. And, 
 indeed, it was not to be expected that Scotland could furnish clergy 
 to Canada, when its own missions were not half supplied ; and more 
 
— 81 — 
 
 especially when, on account of the Reformation, there were no Catholic 
 seminaries in the country, and aspirants to the priesthood were 
 obliged to go abroad to be educated. Accordingly, in bidding adieu to 
 rather MacEachern, on the eve of his departure from Scotland, the 
 Vicar Apostolic of the Highlands advised him to proceed to Quebec, 
 as soon as possible, and there confer with the Bishop regarding the 
 education of worthy young men, who could be sent to labour on the 
 missions of the Maritime Provinces. 
 
 Father MacEachern found it impossible to go to Quebec, as he had 
 been requested by Bishop Macdonald. The amount of work that 
 devolved upon him kept him so continually employed, that he could 
 not spare the time required for the journey. He therefore laid the 
 matter before the Bishop of Quebec, in a letter of August 28th, 1791, 
 in a manner that left no doubt of its necessity. " As the Catholic 
 emigrants here are all Highlanders ", he writes, " and not altogether 
 acquainted with any language but the Gaelic, I was advised by 
 Bishop Macdonald to go to Quebec to see if anything could be done 
 in order to educate some students in the Seminary of Quebec, 
 acquainted with the Gaelic. Our missions in Scotland being very 
 poor, and what foundations we have in Spain, France and Italy being 
 scarcely sufScient to support a competent number for the immediate 
 service of the Scotch missions, our Bishops look upon it as a hard- 
 ship, to allow any of their number to accompany even the first 
 settlers to these parts; and the circumstances of the Catholics here 
 are so limited that they are not able to support a clergyman upon 
 the Island and a student in the Seminary. But if Your Lordship 
 could do anything towards supporting a young student, I will, if 
 directed so, look out for a promising youth on the Island." 
 
 Some years later he again takes up the subject and writes to the 
 Bishop in the following strain : 
 
 " Eespecting these missions I foresee that religion will soon decay 
 here, if something is not done within the Diocese to procure a succes- 
 sion and continuation of pastors for these wilds. I do not see any 
 other resource but from the seminaries in Canada.'' 
 
 His appeals, nevertheless, remained a long time without effect. 
 6 
 
— 82 — 
 
 Over twenty years elapsed before the first Islander entered the Quebec 
 Seminary, and before the first Canadian priest came to share in the 
 labours of these extensive missions. 
 
 It is true the Clergy of Canada were few in those days. In 1790, 
 their entire number did not exceed one hundred and forty-six, of 
 whom some had retired entirely from the ministry through age and 
 infirmity, while others for similar reasons were unable to bear the 
 strain of active parochial work. On the other hand, the Catholic 
 population had grown to a hundred and fifty thousand souls, scattered 
 over a territory that reached' from Halifax as far west as Detroit. In 
 the interior of the country the more populous centres were usually 
 well provided for ; but the outlying districts like St. John's Island 
 were left to shift as best they could. Hence, in most instances, they 
 were either without priests, or depending on the casual visit of some 
 wandering missionary, whom chance or fancy might send their way. 
 To appeal for help to Quebec, in such circumstances, was unavail- 
 ing. Father MacEachern saw at once that he must stand alone at 
 least for some time : a conviction which, however discouraging, he 
 accepted as unavoidable. But what would have been his feelings, had 
 he been able to foresee the years of solitary labor in store for him, 
 and the unsatisfactory condition of a people, left trusting so long to 
 the unaided efforts of one priest ? 
 
 Being only a humble missionary, subject to Diocesan authority, it 
 lay not with him to inaugurate schemes, or adopt plans, with a view 
 to providing clergy for these missions. But he did all that was pos- 
 sible for him to do in the matter. He pointed out to those in authority 
 the pressing need of such provision being made for the future of 
 religion, and tried to awaken in the people themselves a sense of 
 responsibility, regarding the education of students for the holy priest- 
 hood. 
 
 This latter task required considerable exhortation ; for if the aufhor- 
 ities at Quebec seemed to take but little interest in the welfare of 
 the Colony, the people themselves, who were the most interested, 
 were equally remiss in providing for its future, and many a time 
 Father MacEachern had occasion to complain of their apathy in this 
 
— 83 — 
 
 regard. Thus, in one of his letters to Quebec, he writes : " The people 
 of this Island are anxious to obtain a place for one or two boys in 
 the Seminary. But collections which must be made foi; such, amongst 
 a people who were not used in the Old Country to provide either for 
 clergymen's education or maintenance, are attended with vexation 
 and disappointment." 
 
 Some allowance, however, must be made for the people. They were 
 oppressed with poverty, and found it already a great hardship to 
 procure for themselves and their families the necessaries of life. 
 Moreover the Scottish emigrants had never been accustomed to 
 contribute towards the support or education of clergy in Scotland. 
 Tenants at will, for the most part, they had learned to look to the 
 Landlord for all such expenses ; in return for which they rendered 
 him a fealty bordering closely on slavery. Hence, however much they 
 felt the need of clergy, or however deep was the uncertainty that 
 enshrouded the future of religion in the colony, still they were 
 loathe to adopt any measures for the support and education of priests, 
 so long as such measures entailed expense on themselves. Accordingly, 
 when the Bishop of Quebec assessed every communicant in the sum 
 of one dollar a year, for the support of Father MacEachern, many of 
 the people demurred, although the good priest had served them with 
 little or no remuneration for nearly ten years. 
 
 The Acadians were not more generous in this respect. Under the 
 French occupation, the Home Government defrayed all the expenses 
 of religion, and since the Conquest they had no clergymen per- 
 manently living amongst them ; nor had they made any regular 
 expenditure for the support of those who occasionally paid them a 
 visit. In these circumstances it was an odious proceeding to impose 
 an assessment on the people for such a purpose, and no matter how 
 small the amount demanded, it was looked upon as a hardship. 
 
 Father MacEachern, however, was determined to succeed in the 
 matter. In season and out of season he kept exhorting the people, 
 and representing to them how much depended on their generosity. 
 He shewed them clearly that unless they would educate priests for 
 themselves, a day would come when they would have none amongst 
 
— 84 — 
 
 them ; and then they need not turn to the Motherland, as in former 
 years, for help in their spiritual extremity. Quebec had practically 
 abandoned them for years ; Scotland, in future, would be unable to 
 help them ; their only hope therefore lay in themselves ; and no 
 time must be lost in taking steps to provide for the future. By his 
 persistency, the people, at length, became convinced of the necessity of 
 adopting some plan that would meet his views of the matter ; and a 
 public meeting was convened at St. Andrew's to which were invited 
 ' the people of Savage Harbour, Tracadie and Scotchfort, as well as 
 the Acadians residing at Bay Fortune. The question of supporting 
 the resident missionary was here considered, and also how best to 
 provide a succession of clergy for the future needs of the people. As 
 the bulk of the Catholic population lived east of Charlottetown, it 
 was decided to divide this part of the Island into two parishes, which 
 in course of time might have a clergyman each. One parish was to 
 extend from what was then called Doctor's House on Lot 36 westward, 
 as far as there were people who wished to be considered as belonging 
 to it. The other beginning at the eastern line of Lot 36 would run 
 eastward as far as there were inhabitants desirous of being included. 
 The meeting then unanimously decided that a farm should be bought 
 and paid for by assessing the families in each parish a certain fixed 
 sum per annum ; and persons were appointed in each settlement to 
 collect the several amounts, and hand in the same to a committee of 
 management chosen at the general meeting. The reason assigned for 
 this purchase was that the farm properly managed and worked by 
 the people would yield a yearly revenue to the missionary which 
 would prove a saving of ready cash to his hearers. It was hoped that 
 when the plan should have matured, viz, when the farm had been 
 paid for and a church and parochial house built on it, a school could 
 be opened for the education of the youth of the parish. Then perhaps 
 the missionary might be able to secure the services of one or two 
 young men who would act as teachers, and who, if piously inclined, 
 would study under his supervision, with a view of one day going 
 abroad to be trained for the priestho_od themselves. 
 
 With this end in view the committee empowered Father Mac- 
 
— 85 — 
 
 Eachern to purchase a farm for the eastern parish. He made choice 
 of a piece of land, containing two hundred acres, and lying on Lot 38, 
 near the head of the Hillsborough Eiver. It was owned by Mr. Burns 
 of Stookley, who agreed to sell for the sum of two hundred and fifty 
 pounds, ono hundred pounds to be paid at the date of purchase, and 
 the balance in equal instalments of fifty pounds at intervals of six 
 months. The bargain was concluded and the first payment made on Oct. 
 €th, 1794. The farm had been occupied some time by a Mr. Douglas. 
 It was in a good state of cultivation, and boasted one of the finest 
 dwellings in the country as well as outbuildings in good repair. From 
 this time it became known as the St. Andrew's farm, which was for 
 many years the centre of civil and religious activity in the eastern 
 portion of the Island. 
 
 Upon it stood the first cathedral of the Diocese of Charlottetown ; it 
 was the site of the first Diocesan college, and — greatest honor of all, — 
 it holds to-day in its embrace all that is mortal of him who made its 
 history. 
 
 It seems the Acadians of Bay Fortune did not cheerfully take up 
 with the plan adopted by the people for the support of the missionary. 
 In fact they grew somewhat insolent whei approached on the matter. 
 They said that two hundred acres was too much land ; that a quarter 
 of the same would be a sufficient -for the purposes intended. They 
 also contended that St. Andrew's was so far distant from their homes 
 that it would be very difficult for them to attend Mass at that place, 
 or go thither in search of a priest when his services would be required. 
 Hence they wanted the church built as far east at least as St. Peter's, 
 otherwise they would not contribute ; at the same time contending 
 that Father MacEachern would be obliged to attend to their calls, 
 whether they would contribute of not. This stand taken by the 
 Acadians aroused the committee of management, and they instructed 
 their chairman, Capt. John Macdonald of Glenaladale, to write them a 
 letter recalling them to a sense of their duty. A few extracts from 
 his letter will furnish curious reading. After explaining in detail the 
 plan outlined above, he goes on to say : " Please to advert that to 
 admit you to any share in our measure, is only a favour which charity 
 
— 86 — 
 
 induces us to offer, but is in no other light an obligation on us. For 
 more than twelve years after the redaction of this Island, neither 
 yourselves nor your spiritual superiors in Canada had furnished a 
 clergyman to you, and but for us, it is likely you would be in no 
 better state to this day. Before we had departed our native country 
 we had heard of your destitute case, and moreover, that all of you in 
 the Island would settle with any who should bring to you a clergyman. 
 We believe these two objects of relieving you, and your settling with 
 us concurred in . determining our leaders to prefer this Island to any 
 other part of America. Had you, accordingly, thought proper to 
 assimilate with us, after our arrival, we might probably ere now have 
 been enabled to fall upon a plan of being more adequately provided 
 with clergy, as well as with the means of schooling our children to 
 their infinitely greater advantage ; but you kept all along as before 
 in a dispersed state, mostly in the remote parts of the Island, at the 
 expense to us of losing our clergyman for more than three or four 
 months yearly employed in serving you, during which some of 
 ourselves have died, and have been subject to die without the usual 
 rites, which was considered to be important to us." 
 
 Further on the writer says : " In respect to an entire farm being 
 too much for him (Father MacEachern), you are mistaken if you 
 suppose it to be his proposition. He had not ever a vote in it. He 
 would probably prefer a more disengaging species of support or 
 subsistence; but for the motive of our greater benefits it is our 
 proposition to him conceiving it to be more economical to us, and 
 tending, to our further benefits which he is bound to follow on 
 reasonable terms. Were the views of our own advantage out of the 
 question and that the farm were only for his coaveniency alone, we 
 would scarcely admit you to call our liberality in question, and 
 though we invited you to the general meeting, you did not think 
 proper to attend it; you have no title to interfere with the resolutions 
 out of doors. In respect to the church being at St. Peter's, we know 
 of no place for it being to be had there, and if there were, we know not 
 how far it might be agreeable to the Protestant inhabitants in that 
 part. In aiming at an object of this nature, it is necessary to consult 
 
— 87 — 
 
 the conveniency of the bulk of the people in question, and it were 
 improper to sacrifice any more thereof, than is proposed above for your 
 sake who are not permanently settled, but are in the practice of going 
 off the Island, and of returning or shifting about as incidental impulses 
 lead you. Upon the whole we request you will, without loss of^time, 
 announce to Mr. MacEachern, whether or not you will join, in order 
 that otherwise we may provide seasonably for the part of the instalment 
 of next May, which is projected to come from you." 
 
 What effects followed from this letter we cannot now accurately 
 determine. Did it arouse the people to whom it was addressed to a sense 
 of responsibility, or did they continue to keep aloof from the majority, 
 we know not. It would now be, however, only a matter of idle 
 speculation, for soon priests of their own tongue began to come to the 
 Colony, and thenceforth, with the exception of a few years, the 
 Acadians enjoyed the benefits of their ministrations. 
 
CHAPTER XII 
 
 LABOES ON THE MAINLAND OF NOVA SCOTIA AND CAEE BRETON ISLAND. 
 
 The Gulf Shore of Nova Scotia, like the Island of St. John, had 
 hitherto received but little attention from the authorities at Quebec. 
 It, too, was without a resident pastor, though every year saw its 
 population increase by the arrival of new bands of emigrants. By 
 command of Father Jones, the care of these people also devolved on 
 Father MacEachern. To save them from the dangers of perversion, 
 the presence of a priest amongst them was absolutely necessary, and 
 hence. Father MacEachern was ordered to go thither as soon as pos- 
 sible. Explaining this proceeding to the Bishop Father Jones says : 
 " I have asked him (Father MacEachern), instead of going to Quebec, 
 to visit next summer the poo? Scotch of Pictou, Merigomiche and 
 Miramichi. There are some Calvinist ministers in those places who 
 speak to the people in Erse. None of our missionaries know that 
 language and therefore the Catholic Scotch derive little fruit from 
 their visits." 
 
 Accordingly Father MacEachern crossed over to the Mainland in 
 the summer of 1791. He received a warm welcome from the people, 
 many of whom had not seen a priest since they had left Scotland. 
 Writing of this visit to the Bishop he says : " According to Mr. 
 Jones' instructions I went to the Mainland about the latter end of 
 May last, and I heard the confession of the few Catholics we have 
 between Pictou and Miramichi ^. There are about seventeen com- 
 
 1 — Evidently he means Merigomiche. 
 
— 90 — 
 
 municants, almost all Highlanders, and I am sorry to inform you that 
 from the want of a pastor, and by the importunities of a fanatical 
 Dissenter of the Seceder faction, two or three have been perverted. 
 I have not gone to Miramichi, as it lies at a great distance and no 
 convenient conveyance has cast up." 
 
 In the autumn of 1791, two vessels arrived at Pictou bringing a 
 large number of Catholic emigrants. Having no priest with them 
 they began frequenting the Protestant church, and were in imminent 
 danger of falling away from the faith had not Father MacEachern 
 come to their rescue. The Rev. Dr MacGregor, the Presbyterian 
 minister ot Pictou, relates the circumstances as follows : 
 
 " Many of them (Catholic emigrants) came to hear sermon for a 
 time, and there was a fair prospect that numbers of them would 
 become Protestant Presbyterians ; but priest MacEachern in Prince 
 Edward Island, hearing of their critical situation, paid them a visit, 
 told them of the danger of living amongst Protestants, advised them 
 to leave Pictou, to go eastward along the Gulf Shore to Cape Breton, 
 where Protestants would not trouble them, and threatened them with 
 excommunication if they would come to hear my preaching. A good 
 number of them obeyed him instantly, and the rest by degrees, except 
 a very few who embraced my gospel. In general they left off hearing 
 and quitted their settlements in Pictod — and not a few of them with 
 miich reluctance." 
 
 Here we have a striking example of Father MacEachern's zeal for 
 souls. Well it was for the early settlers and their descendants that 
 such a sentinel stood on the watch-towers of Holy Church. Perpetual 
 vigilance was his watchword, incessant work his guiding principle. 
 Ever on the alert, he was ready to descry the enemy, even in the 
 distance, and delayed not to warn his hearers of the dangers that 
 menaced their faith. . If a few unfortunately fell away, he laboured 
 all the more strenuously to encourage the ones who remained faithful. 
 " In journeyings often, in perils in the sea, in labour and painfulness, 
 in much watchings," like his great prototype St. Paul, he confirmed 
 his own in their faith and won many others to the blessed light of 
 the Gospel of Jesus Christ. 
 
— 91 — 
 
 Hence, on May 1st, 1793, he was able to write to his Bishop : "As 
 to the state of religion here, I can only say that we receive some 
 converts now and then, and that we have several under instruction ; 
 that we have few or no public scandals, and that the people in 
 general are pretty observant of their duties and submissive to lawful 
 authority." 
 
 Thus the good work went on notwithstanding the scarcity of priests. 
 Father MacEachern multiplying his efforts for the spiritual welfare 
 of the people. Like him " who singly had maintained against revolted 
 multitudes the cause of truth ", he stood alone, his unaided arm 
 holding aloft the banner of faith, " the victory that overcometh the 
 world," As on a night in autumn, when the sky thickly overcast 
 forebodes a storm, the moon is seen to peer through a rift in the clouds, 
 shedding its silver beams to cheer the traveller's lonely way ; so in 
 the night of neglect and indifference that enshrouded the lives of the 
 early colonists, Father MacEachern was the only light that shone 
 athwart the darkness, dispelling the gloom with the lightsome rays of 
 hope and promise. 
 
 In the year 1793, Reverend James Macdonald, a Scotch priest, 
 came to Nova Scotia and took up his abode at Arisaig on the Gulf 
 Shore. Father Jones gave him the necessary faculties, and gave him 
 charge of all the Catholics living between Pictou and the Strait of 
 Canso. His arrival was a welcome relief to Father MacEachern, who 
 could now devote himself exclusively to his flock in St. John's Island. 
 
 Unfortunately the relief was of short duration. The arduous duties 
 of missionary life in a rigorous climate soon proved too trying for 
 Father Macdonald's delicate constitution, and in less than five years 
 he fe^U a victim to his zeal for the salvation of souls. In the month 
 of December, 1797, he had to make a journey of thirty miles to visit 
 one of his parishioners who was lying dangerously ill. He started 
 through the woods on foot, but had not proceeded far when night 
 set in accompanied by a raging snowstorm. The heroic missionary 
 would not return ; but continued his tedious tramp blinded with drift 
 and benumbed with cold, and arrived at his destination in time to 
 administer the last rites of Holy Church to his dying parishioner. 
 
— 92 — 
 
 He then retraced his steps homeward, and reached Arisaig so tired 
 by his exertions, and so overcome by exposure, that he was taken 
 down with a raging fever from which he never fully recovered. As 
 the fever abated, paralysis set in, which soon deprived him of the use 
 of his hands. Father MacEachern went over to Arisaig, and had him 
 brought over to St. John's Island, where he remained about two 
 years, with very little signs of improvement. Gradually his mind 
 gave way, and he became so troublesome that he was sent to the 
 General Hospital of Quebec, where he died in February, 1807. 
 
 By his illness, the care of his mission reverted to Father Mac- 
 Eachern. No other priest was near ; so he had to throw himself into 
 the breach, although he was already overburdened with work. - In a 
 letter dated August 1st, 1798, he calls the attention of Bishop Denaut 
 to the illness of Father James, and the consequent increase of duties 
 that has devolved upon himself. " I have not only served all the 
 Catholics of this Island, but was obliged to pass to the Mainland in 
 the month of April last to visit the Eev. James Macdonald, who had 
 been sick ever since the month of December, and as he was not in a 
 condition to afford his flock any assistance, I found it necessary to 
 wait on the Mainland until they approached to their Easter duties." 
 After having given a description of Father James' illness and the 
 causes that led to it, he continues : " His mission extended from the 
 Eivers of Pictou to Antigonish, a distance along shore not short of 
 seventy or eighty miles. There are about four hundred communicants 
 in it. This additional charge having fallen upon me, it will be impos- 
 sible for me to manage matters so as to give the faithful an opportunity 
 of approaching the sacraments even once a year. But if you send a 
 French priest, and that another whom we expect from Scotland should 
 come, then Christian doctrine could be attended to regularly and the 
 faithful would have it in their power to go to their spiritual duties 
 as often as their devotion would require. But as things are now, 
 neither one nor the other can be done." 
 
 The 17th of October, 1797, witnessed the death of Bishop Hubert, 
 at the General Hospital, Quebec. He had been Bishop of Quebec for 
 upwards of nine years, and in that capacity had welcomed Father 
 
— 93 — 
 
 MacEachern to his Diocese. The deceased prelate, was succeeded by 
 Mgr Denaut, whoge first care was to select a Coadjutor according to 
 a custom observed by his predecessors. His choice fell oq his Vicar 
 General, the Rev. Joseph Octave Plessis, a man of rare merit, and one 
 of the greatest of the long line of illustrious bishops, who have 
 adorned the venerable See of Quebec. 
 
 From the moment of his election, Bishop Plessis was for Father 
 MacEachern, " a guide, philosopher and friend." Every plan tending 
 to the spiritual improvement of the people found in him an ardent 
 sympathizer. His ear was ever open to the wants and distresses of 
 these remote missions, and if he did not always apply a remedy, it 
 was owing to stress of circumstances and not to want of real inteiest. 
 The number of letters that passed between him and Father Mac- 
 Eachern bear eloquent testimony to their mutual friendship, as well 
 as to their zeal for the souls committed to their care. 
 
 One of the earliest of these letters is dated March 6th, 1799, and 
 came in answer to Father MacEachern's statement regarding the 
 illness of Father James Macdonald, as quoted above. 
 
 Bishop Plessis says that the news of Father James' illness has 
 increased his own desire of paying a personal visit to Father Mac- 
 Eachern and his flock ; and of procuring for them a French missionary 
 to share with Father MacEachern in the work of the ministry. He 
 says that he has made overtures to a friend in London, to secure the 
 services of a priest for this purpose, who will meet the views of all 
 interested persons. 
 
 Whilst anxiously awaiting the assistance thus kindly promised. 
 Father MacEachern resumes the spiritual care of the people on the 
 Mainland. Besides the annual visit made about Easter time, he 
 frequently went over to visit the sick. He usually crossed the Strait 
 in an open boat, landing sometimes at Pictou, but oftener at Arisaig, 
 where a small church had been built some- years previous. This was 
 the usual starting-point of his missionary journeys on the Mainland, 
 which, in most instances, were only tiresome repetitions of his many 
 excursions in St. John's Island. For over five years this additional 
 burden lay upon him, until relieved by the arrival at Arisaig of Eev. 
 Alexander Macdonald in 1802. 
 
— 94 — 
 
 The story of those years reads more like romanoe than history, so 
 great were the hardships endured by the heroic missionary, and so 
 manifold the labors that fell to his lot. Happily, there were not want- 
 ing intelligent and admiring eye-witnesses of his generous exertions, 
 who bequeathed to the present generation the memory of his zeal and 
 devotedness. From these sources we cull a few authentic incidents, 
 which, we trust, may prove of interest to our readers, and at the 
 same time furnish an insight into the life and labours of Father 
 MacEachern. 
 
 Among the persons most intimately acquainted with him during 
 those years, was a young man named Donald MacG-illivray, who used 
 to serve his Mass and accompany him on "his journeys from place to 
 place. The young lad seemed to have an inclination for the clerical 
 state, and for that reason Father MacEachern took more than ordi- 
 nary interest in him. To encourage him as much as possible he 
 brought him over to his house at Savage Harbor, in order that he 
 might apply himself to his books, under his patron's direction, and 
 later on be sent to continue his studies in a foreign seminary. His 
 early inclinations, however, passed away in his mature years, and 
 after a year or more he returned to his early home in Nova Scotia, 
 fully convinced that God had not called him to the priesthood. 
 
 More than half a century afterwards, MacGillivra,y, now an old 
 man, evoked the echoes of the distant past, and wrote of his early 
 patron and friend as follows : " I first saw Bishop ^neas MacEachern 
 in 1797. He was paying his annual visit to the Gulf settlement, then 
 consisting of a few scattered families, whose pastor, the Eev. James 
 Macdonald, was unable from prolonged and severe illness to perform 
 the work of the ministry. At that time I frequently served the illus- 
 trious Bishop's Mass, and subsequently, in June 1801, 1 accompanied 
 him through the Gulf settlement around Gape Louis down to Antig- 
 onish, and thence to the western side of Cape Breton. I well remember 
 the dreary roads we had to travel. A chip cat out of an occasional 
 tree served as the only landmark to guide our weary steps through 
 the dense forests of the then rugged country. A portmanteau con- 
 taining a missal, vestments and the furniture of the altar, we carried 
 
— 95 — 
 
 as best we could from one place to another, for the use of horses was 
 as yet unknown to the few pioneers who composed the entire popu- 
 lation of that part of His Majesty's dominions. I well remember to 
 have seen a tent constructed of sheets with more than Indian inge- 
 nuity, in which Fathef ^neas celebrated Mass when visiting a sick 
 woman, whose humble habitation did not afford room even to the few 
 people that assembled to join in the service ^." 
 
 Another of Father MacEachern's travelling companions was John 
 Hanrahan, an Irish schoolmaster, who emigrated from Ireland to 
 America during the rebellion of 1798. Having become a licensed 
 teacher for the Province of Nova Scotia, he was engaged in that 
 capacity at Pictou in the year 1800, and made in the spring of that 
 year a memorable journey in company with Father MacEachern, of 
 which he loved to speak in after years. Even in his old age, he 
 retained a vivid impression of the various incidents of the journey, 
 especially of the humour, wit, and marvellous powers of endurance 
 displayed by his reverend companion. Their route lay chiefly through 
 the forest and had to be made on snowshoes. 
 
 They left Pictou early on St. Patrick's Day, and at night-fall 
 reached MacCara's Brook where they stayed over night with a Mr. 
 James Peacock. Next morning they again bound on their snow-shoes 
 and proceeded on .their way to Cape George where they arrived late 
 in the evening, and put up at the' house of Mrs. Livingstone. The 
 third day's tramp brought them to Tracadie where they spent the 
 night. On the fourth morning they went aboard a large boat manned 
 by two Frenchmen who kindly conveyed them to Judique, the 
 terminus of their long and wearisome journey. 
 
 Judique was, at this time, a place of more than ordinary interest 
 to Father MacEachern. It counted amongst its population his brother 
 Ewen MacEachern and three married sisters ; one, the wife of Eobert 
 Maclnnis, mason, wio, as we have said elsewhere, aided Father. 
 MacEachern in the erection of his stone house at Savage Harbor; the 
 second, married to Michael Macdonald, a ship-owner and trader of 
 
 1 — From the Antigonish Casket (1856). 
 
— 96 — 
 
 great repute in his day; and a third, Mrs. Allan Ban Macdonald, 
 whose husband owned a large tract of land and devoted himself suc- 
 cessfully to farming and fishing. 
 
 Father MacEachern's visits to Judique, therefore, partook largely of 
 the nature of family reunions. They were a fruitful source of hap- 
 piness to which he often looked forward with fond anticipations, amid 
 the dreary round of missionary duties. 
 
 Oftentimes he would come quite unexpectedly. He loved to prac- 
 tise a pious deception, so as to surprise his sisters by stealing on 
 them unawares. On these occasions he would walk suddenly into the 
 house, without knocking on giving any other sign of his approach, to 
 find them busy with their household duties and utterly unconscious 
 of his proximity. In this way he arrived one morning before sunrise 
 at the house 'of Eobt. Maclnnis, accompanied by his father and 
 mother whom, though in their eightieth year, he had induced to mak& 
 the journey with him. It argued remarkable courage in persons of 
 their advanced age, to brave the waters of the Gulf in an open boat ; 
 but they went with fullest confidence, accompanied by Father Mac- 
 Eachern, the man of God, whose person, according to popular belief, 
 was guarded wiih special care by Divine Providence. So great was 
 their veneration for his sacred character that their simple faith 
 clothed him with a mantle of supernatural protection, that rendered 
 him proof against the dangers that so frequently beset his missionary 
 career. 
 
 An incident that tended to confirm the people in this belief occurred 
 at this time. On a certain day in early winter. Father MacEachern 
 was making his way by boat towards a harbor on the eastern shore of 
 St. 'John's Island. All day long a breeze had blown off shore, which in 
 the affernoon freshened into a gale. The boat, unable to make head 
 against the storm, was soon at the mercy of the waves, and driven 
 farther and farther from the land. As the sun went down the gale 
 increased in fury, and soon a night of inky blackness invested their 
 perilous condition with new terrors. The two boatmen gave themselves 
 up for lost. But Father MacEachern reassured them. He told them 
 not to fear, for He who stilled the tempest would be their protector. 
 
— 97 — 
 
 At his command they put the boat before the wind and after some 
 hours they found themselves near land, where a sequestered nook 
 afforded them a safe landing. Whilst his companions were securing 
 the boat, Father MacEachern walked along the bank, eagerly peering 
 through the darkness for some mark or sign by which he might 
 recognise their whereabouts. It was customary for him when trav- 
 elling along-shore, to select certain land marks as, v. g. a peculiarly 
 shaped tree, a strange formation of coastline, a large rock or some 
 striking object, and fix the same firmly in his memory, so that if 
 stress of weather or any untoward circumstance brought him again 
 within sight of it, he could tell at once his position without chart or 
 compass. This prudent habit served him in good stead in the present 
 instance, for soon he rejoined his companions and bidding them be of 
 good cheer, told them that they had landed under the farm of John 
 Chisholm, on the Gulf Shore ; and as soon as they would have the 
 boat secured, he would guide them to the house where they might 
 rely on a true Highland welcome. 
 
 As they approached the house they were surprised to see a, light 
 shining from a window, for it was now long past midnight ; and on 
 knocking at the door it was immediately opened by Chisholm's son, 
 who exclaimed : " Father Angus, God be praised ! we were talking 
 about you all this blessed night." Seated by a cheerful fire that speedily 
 dispelled the wet and cold, the missionary learned a story that amply 
 requited him for the hardship and exposure of the journey. Mr. Chis- 
 holm, now an old man, was in failing health since the summer. He 
 gradually grew weaker and pined away, and his family began to 
 apprehend that his death could not be far distant. When approached 
 on the subject, however, Chisholm seemed to manifest no concern. 
 He maintained that there was no need of alarm, as his condition did 
 not justify any grave forbodings. As autumn advanced, the advisabi- 
 lity of sending a boat to St. John's Island for Father MacEachern 
 was duly discussed in the family ; but as the sick man himself did 
 not think such a proceeding necessary, they were loathe to press the 
 matter too strongly. 
 
 In this way time passed until autumn had glided into winter ; 
 
 7 
 
— 98 — 
 
 and the idea of sending a boat across the Strait ,had perforce to be 
 abandoned. At the same time, Chisholm's illness took a decided 
 change for the worse; It was evident to all that his end was near, 
 and his family were plunged in the deepest grief, that no priest could 
 be found to administer the last sacraments. Bitterly did they now 
 upbraid themselves, for not having insisted more firmly on the matter 
 before it had grown too late. Of the whole household, the sick man 
 alone was calm and unconcerned. Though he seemed lying at the 
 point of death, he still insisted that he would yet recover ; for God, 
 in his mercy, would not let him die without the sacraments. In this 
 way matters stood when Father MacEachern unexpectedly arrived 
 on the scene. When Chisholm was informed that the priest was in 
 the house, he could scarcely believe it. Nor did he appear thoroughly 
 convinced until he saw the familiar form of Father Angus standing 
 by his bedside. A beam of joy lighted up his wasted countenance, 
 his eye dimmed by death's dark shadow, flashed forth the look of 
 other year.", and taking the priest's hand, he said: " I am going to die 
 now, sure, but thank God, not without the sacraments. Living as I 
 have been, all my lifetime, far from a priest,. I have prayed every day 
 that God would graciously grant me the assistance of one in my last 
 illness ; and I always felt convinced that He would not fail to grant 
 my petition. My prayer is heard, the priest is here now, and I will 
 die in peace." He received the last sacraments with extraordinary 
 marks of devotion, and in a spirit of thankfulness for the mercy of 
 God so singularly manifested towards him ; and in the early morning, 
 as the boat of Father MacEachern speeding homeward disappeared 
 on the blue horizon, the venerable and faithful servant of God went 
 to his eternal reward. 
 
 Another example of Father MacEachern's devotedness to the people 
 of the Gulf Shore will close this Chapter. We borrow it from the pen 
 of a writer whose sudden death, a few years ago, deprived the Diocese 
 of Antigonish of a noble hearted priest, and the historical literature 
 of Canada of a gifted and painstaking contributor. Our readers will 
 enjoy his account in full : 
 
 " That monstrous misnomer, the Aurora, was an ex-Dutch man- 
 
— 99 — 
 
 of-war. . She landed her passengers (1802) on Pictou Island, and 
 was put in quarantine" on her arrival, as small-pox had broken out 
 among them on the way across, resulting in much suffering, and 
 sixty deaths and burials at sea. The horror and consternation this 
 caused among the passengers may be more easily imagined than 
 described. Enwombed for months in the Avernian hold of the old 
 ship, herself often a helpless hulk, the plaything of winds and waves, 
 scores of the sick men, women and children, huddled together, fevered 
 and frenzied, burning with thirst, stifled with the foulness of the fell 
 disease ; the piteous plaints of children mingling with the groans and 
 delirious agony of the dying ; the deaths and the repulsive accom- 
 paniments of burials at sea.while mostly all who escaped the contagion 
 were either in despair or worn out from sleeplessness and fatigue. Now 
 would a sufferer imagine himself already landed in America, anon 
 another is back again in Strathglass, tending the sheep, hunting the 
 deer, or singing a snatch of some popular glee ; while more touching 
 still, yet another, perchance a mother, like Jessie of Luckoow, craving 
 the consolations of religion, would suddenly sit up and welcome in 
 by name some familiar and revered priest left at home, and wildly 
 implore the sick to be still — to be of good cheer — that heavenly 
 deliverance had come ! It was amidst such heartrending scenes on 
 board the Aurora now arrived and quarantined at Pictou Island, that 
 there came to their ears, from a boat to windward, in the ever dear 
 and thrilling accents of the Gaelic, the welcome words : ' Christians, 
 I am Father Angus MacEachern, from Prince Edward Island ; I have 
 been here a week awaiting you.' Oh ! htjw consoling were his words, 
 all but as welcome as the blessed beams of God's mercy to souls deliv- 
 ered from Purgatory. ' Thanks, thanks be to God ! ' surged up, in wave 
 after wave, like the sound of mighty waters, from the depths of the 
 ship, followed with shouts of blessings, greetings and thanksgivings. 
 Just then a man was seen running out on the bow and hailing. It 
 was Archibald Chisholm. 
 
 " Father Angus ", he exclaims, ' I am the bearer of most cordial 
 greetings to you from Bishop Chisholm of Lismore ; he is well. Most 
 welcome, most welcome ; God ba praised, we were together in Col- 
 
— 100 — 
 
 lege ' comes from the boat. Then follow more questions and answers 
 between the ship and the boat. Father Angus, now moved to tears, 
 implores them one and all to put their trust in God, and that all- 
 would be well, ' Meanwhile ', he said, ' I'll go back and see the 
 town-bailie and learn what I can do for you '. He started and 
 returned with as little delay as possible, with the tidings that they 
 were at liberty to land on the island. ' I have a place there where 
 I am building my camp : make for the smoke '. Cheers of joy and 
 gratitude followed this announcement. Boatload after boatload soon 
 landed on the island, until there was not a passenger left on the 
 Aurora. As fast as they could, they made for the ' smoke ' and there 
 met Father Angus half blinded with tears of sympathy and perspira- 
 tion, putting up camps for their accommodation. Nevertheless smil- 
 ing he says : ' Now all of you that are able, take a hold and help to 
 build ' ; then, ' I am sure you have brought plenty good blankets 
 from Strathglass to keep me as well as yourselves warm ! ' That indeed 
 they did, for be soon saw that what he had merely said in a joke 
 was carried out in right earnest by the good people ; for they not only 
 filled the inside, but literally covered the outside of his tent with 
 their best and finest blankets, in spite of all his protestations. It goes 
 without saying that the spiritual needs of the sick were zealously 
 attended to ; nay, that all were but too happy to avail themselves of 
 the means so providentially vouchsafed them after the dangers of the 
 
 voyage, to renew their allegiance to God The heroic missionary 
 
 stayed over a month with his poor flock, until the very last of them 
 was well and the quarantine over. Nor did his zeal end there. He 
 advised them where to go, where they could get lands, and be frefr 
 from all danger, spiritual and temporal ^." 
 
 These are a few examples of Father MacEachern's labors during his 
 early missionary career on the Mainland ; examples, however, which 
 show that heroism in the cause of Christ is not confined to the early 
 ages of the Christian era ; but that in every age and in every clime 
 Holy Church is blessed with stalwart confessors, who are none the 
 
 1 — Eev. Ronald MacGillivray in the Antigonish Casket. 
 
— 101 — 
 
 3ess deserving of our admiration and praise, if perchance their names 
 grace not the catalogue of the canonized or the red-letter page of the 
 martyr's beadroll. 
 
 And yet amid labors so varied and charity so heroic, Father Mac- 
 Eachern was the most humble of men. He took no credit to himself 
 for labor performed or success achieved. Like the Apostle, he realized 
 that whether he planted or watered it was God who gave the increase. 
 Hence, in a letter written at Pictou to the Bishop of Quebec, he 
 barely mentions his labors in behalf of the emigrants stricken with 
 pestilence. At its close he simply says : " I am so hurried among 
 the people, who were sickly with the smallpox, and who these 
 ten days past have performed quarantine, that I cannot say to you 
 at present anything else than assuring that with the most profound 
 respect, I remain etc." Few words, these, in which to tell a story of 
 :such devotedness. Mere outlines are they of a magnificent picture. 
 But the great Book of Life contains the story fully inscribed in char- 
 acters of fiery gold ; and the Divine Artist limned the picture in 
 tints of unfading glory. 
 
CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 FATHER DE CALONNB. — HE COMES TO CHAiy^OTTETOWN. — HIS IMPRES- 
 SIONS OF CHARLOTTETOWK. 
 
 The Rt. Eev. Joseph Octave Plessis,. Coadjutor to the Bishop of 
 Quebec, was, as we have already stated, a firm friend of Father 
 MacEachern, and a close observer of the missionary's untiring efforts 
 to extend the kingdom of Christ. The scarcity of priests in the 
 Maritime Missions was for him a subject of great concern, and many 
 an anxious hour did he spend vainly striving to devise ways and 
 means of supplying pastors for this abandoned portion of his flock. 
 
 As none could be spared from the interior of the Diocese, he turned 
 his thoughts to France, in the hope that this fruitful source from which 
 the first clergy of Canada had been derived might again furnish the 
 assistance he so much needed. 
 
 At this time there were many French priests living in London, 
 whither they had fled to escape the horrors of the Revolution. There 
 they remained for years in comparative idleness, anxiously awaiting 
 the time when happier circumstances would permit of their return to 
 their native land. Bishop Plessis, aware of this fact, entertained the 
 hope that some of these exiled clergy could be induced to come to 
 Canada, for it were better, thought he, that they should come to the 
 Canadian missions, than that they should spend their time without 
 aim or purpose, wandering about the streets of London. 
 
 The rule in those days was that the Bishop should consult the civil 
 authorities before introducing any strange priests into the Provinces 
 of Canada ; a rule, by the way, which is, in a great measure, respon- 
 sible for the dearth of clergy during the years which we are now 
 passing in review. Bishop Plessis therefore wrote a letter to General 
 
— 104 — 
 
 Fanning, Governor of St. John's Island, acquainting him with his 
 intention, and at the same time he wrote to Father MacEachern, 
 bidding him pay a visit to the Governor in person, to ascertain if t>he 
 introduction of foreign clergymen would meet with his approbation. 
 His Excellency received Father MacEachern with his usual kindness. 
 Long had he admired the devotedness of the faithful priest, and he 
 expressed his pleasure on learning that negotiations were on foot to 
 procure for him a companion who would share with him in the 
 labors of his extensive mission. Hence, in answer to the Bishop's 
 letter, Father MacEachern could say : " Yours of the 27th ultimo 
 came to hand the 12th instant, and on the same day I waited on His 
 Excellency Governor Fanning, who assured me in the most friendly 
 manner that your sending a French emigrant priest to this Island 
 would give him the greatest pleasure." Some months later, Mgr. 
 Plessis, in reply to Father MacEachern, says : " I have already taken 
 proper measures to get one (priest) from England by writing to a 
 friend of mine in London, that he may choose a subject, such as will 
 answer the views of Governor Fanning, and as will give to the 
 faithful under your care the assistance they may expect from his 
 zeal and ministry." ^ 
 
 The " friend in London," referred to above, was the Bishop of St. 
 Pol de L^on, who had charge of the funds subscribed for the main- 
 tenance of the exiled French Clergy. To him Bishop Plessis now 
 applied for priests, but, for a time, without success. 
 
 The wilds of St. John's Island held out no inducement to clergy- 
 men brought up under the sunny skies of France. To brave the hard- 
 ships of missionary life in this inhospitable region required courage 
 such as is given to only a few; and it is not, therefore, surprising 
 that priests accustomed to the comforts and conveniences of well 
 organized parishes should quail at the prospect. Besides, they were 
 now looking forward to a speedy return to their native land, and 
 buoyed up by this hope, they preferred to remain in England whilst 
 affairs in France were settling down to their normal condition. 
 
 There was one, however, who shared not in these hopes; one, to 
 whom the future held out no promise of return ; one, who, having 
 
— 105 — 
 
 drunk to the dregs the chalice of his country's proscription, could 
 look only to foreign lands for a home wherein he might end his days 
 in peace. This was Eeverend James Ladislas Joseph De Calonne, 
 Vicar General of the Diocese of Cambrai, and brother of Charles 
 Alexander De Calonne, Finance Minister of Louis XVI, during the 
 crisis that preceded the Eevolution. 
 
 Illustrious by his position in the Church, and remarkable for his 
 unswerving loyalty to the Monarchy, Father De Calonne had no hope 
 of ever returning to France. Hence, when his brother, the ex-minister, 
 obtained from the English Government a grant of land on St. John's 
 Island, it seemed to the exiled priest as if Providence called him 
 there to spend the remainder of his days. The tract of land given to 
 M. De Calonne was the Warren Farm lying at the entrance to 
 Charlottetown Harbour, and containing the site of old Fort La Joie 
 erected during the occupation of the Island by Count St. Pierre. 
 
 Thither Father De Calonne determined to come and at once wrote 
 to the. Bishop of Quebeca letter dated at London, February 5th, 1799, 
 apprising His Lordship of his intention. From this letter we quote 
 the following : 
 
 " Having resolved, with the Government's consent, to take up my 
 residence in St. John's Island, which forms part of your Diocese near 
 Nova Scotia, together with a dozen of French emigrant priests of 
 virtuous characters, and to bring with us about thirty Catholic 
 laborers, I would not have presumed to set out on the journey 
 without first having obtained your approval, if it were not that I 
 must start in April in order to take advantage of the convoy, and 
 also to profit by the kindness of the Government in my regard. I am 
 confident then, my Lord, that you will not deem me too presump- 
 tuous in asking permission to erect a chapel on my property, as well 
 as for myself and fellow-priests to say Mass and confess all those 
 who may compose my little colony. I am well aware that to obtain 
 a like permission I should be known to you ; but the Bishop of St. 
 Pol de L^on has promised to recommend me to Your Lordship, as 
 did also the Abb6 Bourret, Superior of the Seminary of St. Sulpice, 
 where I made my preparation for the priesthood. I am fifty-five 
 
— 106 — 
 
 years of age. I am Vicar General and Ofi&cial of the Diocese of 
 Cambrai, which position I have filled for twenty years. 
 
 " In going to St. John's Island with a dozen priests whose sole care 
 is their salvation, my intention is that we live together in community, 
 reciting the divine office and performing our other spiritual exercises 
 in common, singing High Mass and Vespers on Sundays and holydays 
 and giving instruction to those who may assist thereat." 
 
 After further details, he continues : " May I entreat Your Lordship, 
 should my project be pleasing to you, to send to St. John's Island the 
 spiritual faculties that you may see fit to bestow on us ; for we would 
 be greatly embarrassed should we not receive them on our arrival, as 
 our place of settlement is more than thirty miles from the Catholic 
 chapel. " 
 
 The original intention of Father De Caloune outlined above was 
 never carried out in its entirety. Instead of twelve priests only one 
 was found to accompany him to St. John's Island, as is plain from 
 the letter which, in conformity with his promise, the Bishop of St. 
 Pol de L^on wrote from London to the Bishop of Quebec, and which 
 contains particulars of Father De Calonne and his' companion. " I 
 have the honor," he wrote, " to inform you that Eev. James Ladis- 
 las Joseph De Calonne, Vicar General and Oflicial of the Diocese of 
 Cambrai, is about setting out for St. John's Island. Although his 
 intention is to found a civil establishment, still he may render you 
 good service is spiritual affairs. He is a man of much ability, varied 
 talents, and virtuously inclined withal. With him goes another clergy- 
 man, named Amable Pichard, of the Diocese of Orleans, whose 
 mediocre talents are offset by a humble and pious disposition. I take 
 the liberty of recommending both to your kind consideration. I have 
 given them faculties for the voyage^ on their arrival they may apply 
 to Your Lordship or your Vicar General ^." 
 
 1 — In the controversy between the Archbishop of Halifax and certain 
 priests of Quebec, of which mention was made elsewhere, the former places 
 Father De Calonne's name in the list of priests secured for the Maritime 
 Province by Father Jones, while the latter claim that his coming is due to 
 efforts put forth by the Bishop of Quebec. The letters of Father lie Calonne 
 justify neither one nor the other contention. 
 
— 107 — 
 
 Father De Calonne and his companion touched at Halifax on their 
 ■way to St. John's Island, and received a hearty welcome from Father 
 Jones, Vicar General of Bishop Denaut. He had been apprised of 
 their coming by a letter from the Bishop, who asked him to give 
 them the faculties for which Father De Calonne had made application. 
 Having heard of their arrival in St. John's Island, the Bishop hastens 
 to send them a kindly word of greeting. He congratulates Father De 
 Calonne on his safe arrival in the Diocese, and tells him that he will 
 find in St. John's Island many opportunities of exercising his zeal for 
 the glory of God and the salvation of souls. 
 
 In answer to His Lordship's letter of welcome, Father De Calonne 
 writes a long and interesting letter dated May 28th, 1800, in which 
 he says : " About three weeks ago, I received Your Lordship's letter of 
 the 22nd October last. I thank you. My Lord, for the confidence with 
 which you grant me such ample powers and I trust that I may 
 always use the same, so as to merit no reproach on your part. 
 
 " The Catholics are scattered throughout the entire Island, a circum- 
 stance which renders the work of the ministry, more especially 
 religious instruction, exceedingly difficult. They are divided into 
 three classes : the French or Acadians, the Irish, and the Scotch. We 
 can be most useful to the French, but they have the least need of 
 our services. They live in three settlements : one on the North West 
 called Malpeque, the second on the North known as Kustico, and a 
 third on the East called Fortune Bay. These three places are a consi- 
 derable distance apart, but the people are well grounded in their 
 religion, faithful in the discharge of their duties, and grateful for the 
 service rendered them. I have placed them in the charge of M. 
 Pichard, who will spend four months of the year in each settlement. 
 
 " He, has already done much good amongst them, and by God's 
 blessing will yet accomplish more. 
 
 " The majority of the Scotch speak only the Celtique language. I 
 cannot understand them, and am therefore of no service to them. 
 Father MacEachern has charge of them. They are a good people 
 holding their religion in great veneration. 
 
 " The town has falleq to my care, because I speak English, It is 
 
— 108 — 
 
 made up principally of Irish and a few Scotch, the greater number 
 soldiers,and all drunkards to an incredible excess,as well as supremely 
 ignorant. All the religion they practise is to go to Mass on Sunday, 
 and even on that point they are not scrupulous. Despite my efforts 
 not more than five have made their Easter Duty this year. I preach 
 to them regularly every Sunday, and teach Catechism after Mass ; 
 but now for two weeks they will not send their children. I have 
 taught school twice a week all winter. I intend to do all I am able 
 for them, but it is a field filled with thorns and briars, from which not 
 much fruit can be expected unless by an extraordinary grace of God, 
 I intend to pay special attention to the young people who furnish 
 the only hope of the future. 
 
 " The abominable vice of drunkenness brutalizes the people and makes 
 them indifferent to everything. In order to ingratiate myself with 
 them, I ask no remuneration for my labors ; only too happy would 
 I be, did they respond to my efforts. They are attached to their faith. 
 They would suffer death rather than abandon it, but they don't observe 
 even one of the Commandments. It would be easier, if I may so 
 express myself, to make of them martyrs than Christians." 
 
 The above description of Charlottetown is by no means a flattering 
 one,, but it tallies with the opinion of Dr. McGregor, who had paid it 
 a visit nine years previous. " In a few minutes," writes the Doctor, 
 «' I found Charlottetown to be wicked enough for a far larger place ; 
 swearing and drunkenness abounded." And when he inquired why 
 Eev. Mr. Desbrisay lived at Covehead rather than at Charlottetown, 
 he was told : " It is a wicked place, and he is more retired and happy - 
 in the country." 
 
 Though Father De Calonne was evidently astonished at the moral 
 condition of the people, whose care devolved upon him, still it need 
 not excite surprise in those who are in the smallest degree familiar 
 with the history of that time. Many of the Catholics who flocked to 
 the Town were of the poorest and lowest class. Father De Calonne 
 himself bears witness to this in one of his letters wherein he says : 
 " The greater number of the Irish we have here bring with them* 
 nothing but vices, because they are the very dregs of Ireland and 
 
— 109 — 
 
 Newfoundland. They came to this place not because they emigrate, but 
 because they have been expelled from their own country." 
 
 Among such a class of people, it is not surprising that sin held high 
 carnival, and that Father De Calonne's early efforts at reform met 
 with poor success. He had to deal with persons most of whom had 
 grown callous by long and continual association with crime, and for 
 that reason could not be brought back to a life of virtue except by 
 painstaking exhortation. 
 
 But there was another and a stronger reason why sin abounded 
 amongst them, a reason that Father MacEachern had laboured, in 
 season and out of season, to impress on the authorities at Quebec. It 
 was the complete spiritual abandonment in which they were forced 
 to> live since their arrival in this country. During all this time they 
 were without a priest to recall them to a sense of duty, and point out 
 to them the way of God's law. No opportunity had they of assisting 
 at Mass nor of approching the sacraments, excepting on rare occasions, 
 during these latter years, when Father MacEachern, stealing away 
 from the importunities of the country settlements, would come out of 
 sheer pity to pay them a transitory visit. Is it any wonder that 
 virtue waned, and vice waxed strong in such circumstances ? The 
 wonder is that even a vestige of the true faith could have survived. 
 And yet survive it did, as Father De Calonne assures us ; for when 
 he says " that it is easier to make of them martyrs than Christians," 
 his words bear testimony to the constancy of that faith, the birthright 
 of the Irish exile wheresoever he is found. 
 
CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 THREE PEIESTS IN THE COLONY. THEIR RESPECTIVE MISSIONS. — 
 
 BISHOP DENAUT ANNOUNCES HIS VISIT OF 1803. 
 
 The closing year of the 18th century found religious affairs better 
 organized in St. John's Island than at any time since the Conquest. 
 Three priests now shared the work that was formerly performed 
 by one. 
 
 Father De Calonne was stationed at Charlottetown where he 
 devoted himself unsparingly to the work of saving souls. He was 
 now in his fifty-seventh year, and united in his person the ascetic 
 bearing of the pious ecclesiastic with the genteel affability of the man 
 of the world. His life had been one of varied experienee. Courtier, 
 priest, and exile, he had touched life in all its phases, so that his 
 mature judgment could not fail to render valuable service to Church 
 and State in the land of his adoption. 
 
 Father Pichard had charge of all the French missions. He made 
 his home at Eustico ; but spent a considerable part of his time at 
 Malpeque and Fortune Bay, where the population was continually 
 growing in numbers. 
 
 Father MacEachern continued in charge of the Scotch missions. 
 His territory extended from Malpeque to East Point on this Island, 
 and from Pictou, Nova Scotia, to Judique on Cape Breton Island. He 
 still lived with his father and mother in the stone house at Savage 
 Harbour ; but his home comforts were few, for his missionary duties 
 kept him continually on the road. 
 
— 112 — 
 
 , Early in this year a new name was given to the colony. Known 
 from its earliest history as the Island of St. John, it now received the 
 name of Prince Edward Island, in honor of Prince Edward, Duke 
 of Kent, Commander-in-chief of His Majesty's forces in British North 
 America. 
 
 The Act of Parliament effecting the change received the Royal 
 Assent on February 1st, 1799. — 
 
 In the autumn of the following year, another priest, Eeverend 
 Gabriel Champion, arrived and spent the winter among the Acadians 
 of Bay Fortune. In the following spring he was appointed by the 
 Bishop of Quebec to the mission of Cheticamp, Cape Breton, whence 
 he was to look after the people of Margaree and the Magdalen Islands. 
 
 Father De Calonne said Mass in his own house in Charlottetown. 
 This fact we glean from a letter to Bishop Denaut, wherein he says : 
 " Thus far I have always held service in my own house, wherein I 
 have set up an altar in a room devoted exclusively to that purpose. 
 Although this chapel has a large antechamber, they both are too small to 
 accommodate the attendance. My people are so poor that it would be 
 dilficult for them to build a church, though building materials are 
 cheap." 
 
 His Protestant friends kindly offered him the use of their church, 
 so that his flock might be able to hear Mass in comfort, and he was 
 disposed to profit by their generosity, but the Bishop would hot allow 
 it. As soon as His Lordship learned of thp proposition, he wrote to 
 him, saying : " You must not make use of Protestant churches for 
 divine service. The like has never been done in this Diocese and 
 might result in unpleasant consequences. It would be better to select 
 for the purpose any other place, until such time as your flock can 
 build a chapel for themselves." 
 
 In a short time Father De Calonne began to weary of his labors 
 in Charlottetown. It seems his ministry gave him very little con- 
 solation ; and as a matter of course he laid the blame at the door of 
 his flock. In his letters to the Bishop he continued to hold up to His 
 Lordship's admiration the virtues of the Acadian people ; but never 
 a word of praise could he find for those of his own flock. It is an old 
 
— 113 — 
 
 saying : " blood is thicker than water, " and perchance the current 
 that flowed in the good abba's veins may have grown somewhat 
 viscous, during the frosts of his first winter in Prince Edward Island. 
 Be this as it may, we find Bishop Denaut saying to him in a letter 
 of October 10th, 1800 : 
 
 " The Acadians continue to give you consolation, whilst the Irish 
 continue in their indifference. This is your cross ; bear it well. If 
 you cannot bear it, drag it." 
 
 This was undoubtedly excellent advice ; still Father De Calonne 
 must have found that it entailed too great a sacrifice on his part ; for 
 in a short time we find that he applies to the Bishop for a new mis- 
 sion. It seems he would prefer any place to Charlottetown. Even 
 the Indians and the people of the Magdalen Islands would give him 
 greater consolation than his present flock. He therefore writes to 
 Bishop Plessis, on the first of June, 1801 : " As I meet with little 
 success in this place, I propose, with permission of my superior, to 
 learn the Indian language, old as I am, and if God should bless my 
 efforts, I will look upon it as a sign that he has called me to live 
 amongst them 
 
 " The Indian Missions, together with the Magdalen Islands, will give 
 me work in proportion to my strength. I can get along well enough 
 with the Indians, if I succeed in learning their language. I intend 
 asking the Government to give them a small island called Lennox, 
 situated in Malpeque Bay. Heretofore they have been driven from 
 place to place, though they have unquestionably the best claim to 
 the land. They are an excellent people, good Christians, who must 
 have been instructed by a. good missionary, if we are to judge by 
 the results." In answer to the above. Bishop Plessis says : " Your 
 plan regarding the Magdalen Islands, Malpeque, and the Indians, 
 will certainly have the approval of your superiors. These Micmacs 
 are probably the remnants of the people evangelized by Father 
 Maillard, one of the most zealous missionaries that have labored in 
 Canada." But what, we may well ask, was to become of the people of 
 Charlottetown had this proposal been carried into effect ? Not a word 
 of their future do we find in the correspondence above given. The 
 
— 114 — 
 
 Acadians are pronounced excellent Christians, and the Indians, it 
 seems, were not inferior to them ; and yet these are the ones who 
 are to monopolize the care of the missionary, whilst the people of 
 Charlottetown, said to be " ignorant to a supreme degree, drunkards 
 beyond the bounds of credibility ", are to be abandoned to their own 
 resources by the representatives of Him who said : " They that are 
 well have no need of a physician, but they that are sick. I came not 
 to call the just but sinners to penance ". Happily, however, this 
 plan did not mature, and Father De Calonne continued a few years 
 longer to labor in his first mission. 
 
 Besides attending to his flock in Charlottetown, he made occasional 
 excursions to the Acadian Missions, especially to Malpeque, during 
 his last years. Here he formed the acquaintance of Colonel Compton, 
 the proprietor of lot 17, on which the Acadians of the mission were 
 settled. This acquaintance soon ripened^into friendship which, whilst 
 a source of great happiness to the priest, proved of incalculable 
 advantage to Mr. Compton and his family. While on their way to 
 Prince Edward Island, they had as a fellow-passenger, the Reverend 
 Mr. Boussin, afterwards a priest at the Seminary of Montreal. He 
 became very much interested in the family and spent most of his 
 leisure time in their company. His edifying conversation impressed 
 them very deeply, and whilst it helped to dispel the monotony of the 
 voyage, it opened their eyes to the light of truth. Before their journey 
 was ended, many doubts had been cleared up, many prejudices dis- 
 pelled, many opinions discarded, and a marvellous change had been 
 effected in their views regarding the claims and position of the 
 Catholic Church. 
 
 The good seed thus sown grew into an abundant harvest through the 
 timely influence of Father De Calonne. The son and daughter together 
 with the housekeeper made their profession of faith and were received 
 into the Church. Mr. Compton himself intended to do likewise; but 
 unfortunately kept putting it off till a more favorable time. He held 
 office under the Crown, and, on account of the rigor of the Penal Laws, 
 be would be obliged to resign if he became a Catholic. 
 
 Worldly considerations, therefore, as too often happens, retarded 
 
— 115 — 
 
 his conversion, and he continued for many years, at least outwardly, 
 a member of the Protestant Church. 
 
 As time wore on Father De Calonne did not grow more con- 
 tented with his lot nor more attached to his post of duty. With 
 countless opportunities of procuring the glory of God, and surrounded 
 by innumerable souls craving the Bread of Life, he never ceased to 
 sigh for a place more congenial to his feelings. Many a time he wrote 
 to London imploring some of the French Clergy to come to his 
 assistance, and even tried to induce the Trappists to found a monastery 
 on Prince Edward Island ; but none of these plans met with success. 
 
 In 1802 he wrote to Bishop Denaut, and must have asked to be 
 relieved of his mission on Prince Edward Island and appointed to 
 one at Quebec ; for, in September of that year, the Bishop sends him 
 a letter in which he says : " Come, I will pay all your expenses and 
 we will arrange matters to your satisfaction when you arrive. As I 
 see by your letter," continues His Lordship, " you cannot put your 
 affairs in order before October. If the weather should be too stormy, 
 I would not object to your spending the winter among the four or 
 five families who have invited you to do so, and who offer to furnish 
 all your necessaries. In this case you will come up with me next 
 summer when I return from my pastoral visit to that region. I am 
 going to write to the Superior of the Seminary to prepare a room for 
 you so that you will have a place to go, should you come this autumn." 
 The way is now open. The invitation is clear and direct. Luckily, 
 however, his departure is delayed, and for two years longer his flock 
 is cheered and blessed by his ministrations. 
 
 Whilst Father De Calonne was thus laboring at his post in Char- 
 lottetown. Father Pichard was doing his utmost for the Acadian 
 Missions. A small parochial house had been erected at Eustico, in 
 which he made his home and to which he returned tired and footsore 
 from his frequent missionary journeys. He was a modest, unassuming 
 gentleman, devoted to his people and by them dearly beloved, dis- 
 charging his manifold duties without display or ostentation. If his 
 efforts were not crowned with the fullest measure of success, he did 
 not lay all the blame at the door of his flock ; but rather redoubled 
 
— 116 — 
 
 his labors in prayer and mortification to extend the Kingdom of 
 Christ. Small churches had been built in his missions at Rustico^ 
 Malpeque and Tignish. They were generally log-buildings of the most 
 unpretentious style of architecture ; and, excepting the one at Malv 
 peque, were entirely destitute of interior finish; Yet to the good 
 Acadian people they were a " thing of beauty and a joy forever." To 
 them they were sacred places, the home of sacrifice hallowed, like 
 Bethlehem's Cave, by the visit of the Word made Flesh. Every Sun- 
 day the doors were thrown open to a throng of eager worshippers,, 
 who, even wheb no priest was near to offer the Holy Sacrifice, would 
 assemble to unite their voices in prayer, and make the walls resound 
 with canticles of praise and thanksgiving. Pious custom of a faithful 
 people, kept up during years of spiritual abandonment until the dawn 
 of a brighter era, when the mission grew into a parish and the casual- 
 visits of the missionary gave way to the permanent ministrations- 
 of a regular pastor ! 
 
 Father MacEachern fitted up " Burns' House," on the St. Andrew's 
 Farm, and converted it into a temporary chapel, as it was more con- 
 venient for the mass of the people than the chapel in the stone house 
 at Savage Harbor. He also said Mass in the old church at Scotchfort,. 
 for the convenience of the people who resided at Tracadie. These two 
 served as places of worship on alternate Sundays, when he happened 
 to be at home, a circumstance, however, of rare occurrence. Another 
 small chapel had been built by the settlers at Launching Place, in< 
 King's County, which, like those of the Acadian missions, boasted no- 
 furniture and no attempt at interior decoration. In fact, in the whole 
 territory subject to Father MacEachern, there was only one chahce, 
 two or three old torn missals, and a few vestments, worn almost to. 
 rags by being continually carried about from place to place. 
 
 Early in 1803, Father Augustine Macdonald, a brother of- Capt.. 
 John Macdonald, of Tracadie, arrived in Prince Edward Island. He 
 was well past the prime of life, having spent more than thirty years 
 on the mission in Scotland. Failing health obliged him to give up the 
 care of souls ; so with an annuity granted by the Scottish Missions to- 
 
— 117 — 
 
 infirm priests, he retired from the active ministry and came to spend 
 the evening of his days with his brother at Tracadie, 
 
 The year 1803 is rendered memorable in the history of the Church 
 in Prince Edward Island, by a visit of Bishop Denaut, of Quebec. 
 Although many years had elapsed since the light of faith first shone 
 in the colony, no Bishop had yet come to bless it with his presence. 
 No successor of the " chosen twelve " had appeared among the 
 people to cheer and comfort them with apostolic ministrations. The 
 year 1803 then marks an epoch in its history, for it brought to its 
 shores the Et. Rev. Bishop Denaut, who, amid difiBculties wellnigh 
 incredible, made his way from Quebec to visit this remote portion of 
 his flock. 
 
 A journey from Quebec to Charlottetown was a serious under- 
 ■taking in 1803. It was attended by fatigues and dangers, entirely 
 unknown in our days of rapid transit. Facilities for travel were very 
 Tare a century ago ; so rare, indeed, that one would have to wait 
 generally for weeks, and frequently for months to secure k passage 
 by land or sea. 
 
 Such was Bishop Denaut's experience on the present occasion. It 
 had been his intention to come to Prince Edward Island in the spring 
 of 1802, and he had sent a pastoral letter announcing the fact to the 
 faithful ; but he was obliged to postpone his visit, because he could 
 not secure a passage until the season was too far advanced. Accord- 
 ingly, he sent a second letter, giving the reason why he had been 
 obliged to delay his coming for a year. In this letter written on the 
 11th of June, 1802, he says : " Our intention was to embark on the 
 first vessel that might set sail for one of your ports, but Divine 
 Providence has decreed otherwise. No vessel hailing from those 
 ports has yet called at Quebec, and in any case the constant head 
 winfTs would have prevented our sailing. 
 
 " For these reasons, and as the season is growing late, we have 
 decided to put off our visit until next year," etc. 
 
k'l". l\i:\. I'. I )i:.\.\r'i' 
 
 r.iNliiili 111 (jiK'ln.'c 
 
 171)7 - 1S06 
 
CHAPTER XV. 
 
 FIRST VISIT OF A BISHOP TO PRINCE EDWARD ISLAND. 
 
 The Bishop of Quebec could not come to Prince Edward Island in 
 1802. The impossibility of securing a suitable conveyance was, of 
 course, the principal obstacle, but there were other difficulties as 
 well : such as the danger of being detained too long away from the 
 centre of the Diocese, and the inability of speedily returning should 
 any unexpected contingency demand his presence at home. These 
 and kindred considerations stood in the way, and deprived the Bishop 
 of the happiness he anticipated from arduous duty well performed, 
 and the people of the blessings they had hoped to reap from his 
 episcopal ministrations. The visit, however, was only postponed. The 
 hardships inseparable from the journey, instead of proving a hinder- 
 ance, were rather a stimulus to the prelate's zeal for the spiritual 
 welfare of his distant flock, and served to whet to a keen edge the 
 desire with which he looked forward to the time when he might pay 
 them a visit in person. 
 
 Though he failed, therefore, in his first attempt, the design was by 
 no means abandoned. It was merely left in abeyance until the advent 
 of a more favorable opportunity. It was vain to seek a direct passage 
 to the Gulf, as no vessels happened to come hither just at that time ; 
 so the Bishop was forced to choose a roundabout way, the length 
 and difficulties of which are indisputable proofs of his manly courage 
 and apostolic zeal. 
 
— 120 — 
 
 Accompanied by his secretary, Father Lartigue, he left his home 
 at Longueuil, near Montreal, ou the 3rd of May, 1803, and after having 
 visited a few parishes, proceeded by way of Burlington to Boston. 
 Here he took passage by sea, and after a prosperous voyage landed 
 in Nova Scotia, near the mission of St. Anne de Tousq^uet, on Friday, 
 the 27th of May. Being now within the limits of his own Diocese, 
 he resumed the functions of his pastoral visit and travelled the coun- 
 try from Cape Sable almost to the Strait of Canso, spending a few 
 days in each mission as he went along. From Nova Scotia he came 
 over to Prince Edward Island. How and when he crossed the Strait 
 we cannot accurately determine ; but from his diary we learn that 
 he was at Pomquette in Nova Scotia on the 3rd of August, and on 
 the 15th of the same month, we find him in Charlottetown, the scene 
 of his first apostolic labours in Prince Edward Island. Here he was 
 welcomed by Father De Calonne, who for four years had been in 
 charge of this mission, and who, all the while, had omitted no oppor- 
 tunity of creating in the Bishop's mind an unfavorable opinion 
 regarding his people. Whether influenced by the Abba's letters or by 
 information obtained on the spot, the Bishop says in his diary that 
 he found the people too poor to bear the burden of a priest's support, 
 and for this reason the persistent importunity of Father De Calonne 
 is rewarded by his removal from Charlottetown and his appointment 
 to an Acadian Mission. In 1803 the total number of Catholics in 
 Charlottetown was only three hundred and forty-eight, of whom 
 ninety-one were communicants, and seventy-five received the sacra- 
 ment of Confirmation. They had neither church, parochial liouse nor 
 any of the requisites for the service of the altar. 
 
 From Charlottetown, Bishop Denaut proceeded to Tracadie ^nd 
 St. Andrew's. These missions were very little in advance of Charlotte- 
 town in the external appointments of religious worship. The old 
 church of St. John had evidently outlived its usefulness, for the 
 Bishop found it in so dilapidated a condition, that he absolutely 
 refused to say Mass in it. At the same time he chose a site for a new 
 church at St. Andrew's, and directed Father MacEachern to lose no 
 time in procuring materials for the building. To guide both the priest 
 
— 121 — 
 
 and people in this undertaking, as well as in some other matters 
 affecting the spiritual welfare of the mission; he issued the following 
 Pastoral Letter : 
 
 " Peter Denaut, Bishop of Quebec, etc., etc. 
 
 " In view of the want existing in this mission of a chapel situated 
 in a central place, for the convenience of the people in the different 
 settlements of the mission. We ordain the following : 
 
 " 1. That all the Catholics of St. Andrew's, Naufrage, Tracadie, 
 Three Eivers, Fortune and East Point; shall unite to build at St. 
 Andrew's, near the presbytery already constructed, a chapel sixty 
 feet long by thirty-six wide, boarded within and without, with a 
 sacristy eighteen feet by twenty, and they shall fence in a cemetery 
 a half acre in size near to the same. 
 
 " 2. They shall also furnish the said chapel with vestments, sacred 
 vessels and linen required for the celebration of the Holy Mysteries, 
 according to a list subjoined to the present letter. 
 
 " 3. Pews shall be placed in the chapel for the accommodation of 
 the people who may wish to rent them, and they shall be put up to 
 auction at the church door and assigned to the highest bidder for an 
 annual rent which shall be employed, in the interior ornamentation 
 of the church. 
 
 " 4. The revenues of the church shall be administered by the mis- 
 sionaries, conjointly with three laymen elected each year by the 
 householders of the parish, until such time as We think fit to institute 
 a change in this matter. 
 
 " 5. The people shall be allowed the space of three years to com- 
 plete their chapel and provide the same with vestments, etc., and at 
 the end of that time. We forbid the missionary to say Mass in any 
 private house within the district of St. Andrew's, 
 
 " 6. We forbid all further use of the chapel built at Tracadie, as it is 
 unfit for divine service, and no priest shall celebrate Mass therein in 
 future. The people, however, may build a new church there, as well 
 as at East Point and other settlements, so that the inhabitants of these 
 places may sometimes have Mass in their own districts, for it is Our 
 
— 122 — 
 
 wish that in future the missionaries say Mass only in places set apart 
 for, and consecrated to that purpose. 
 
 " 7. We permit cemeteries to be opened wherever a chapel shall 
 be built, but they must be blessed and well fenced in. 
 
 " 8. We strongly recommend that the people of these places pay 
 the missionary an annual sum of five shillings, for he shall have to 
 be placed elsewhere, if the mission does not furnish him a fair living. 
 
 " 9. We forbid, under the most severe penalties, that persons should 
 assemble to drink at burials, and We ordain that those who, in future, 
 shall be guilty of excessive drinking on such occasions, cannot be 
 absolved from this sin except by the priest to whom We shall have 
 given special faculties for that purpose. 
 
 " 10. The present regulations shall be translated into Gaelic, and 
 read by the missionary to the inhabitants of St. Andrew's, Tracadie, 
 Naufrage, East Point, Fortune and Three Rivers ; he shall preserve 
 the same for the guidance of his successors and in three years send 
 Us a report of how they have been carried out." 
 
 The above Pastoral was dated at Tracadie, St. John's Island, 
 August 24th, 1803. 
 
 The duties of his pastoral visit kept Bishop Denaut for several 
 days at Tracadie and St. Andrew's. The people of the outlying 
 missions, having heard of his arrival, came in crowds to greet their 
 chief pastor and receive, at his hands, the sacrament of Confirmation. 
 At Tracadie, he confirmed two hundred and fifty-six persons, prob- 
 ably in the house of Capt. John Macdonald, the principal residence 
 in the neighbourhood. At St. Andrew's he had service in Burns' 
 House, which served as a chapel, and near which Father MacEachern 
 had erected a small log house wherein he lived at this time. The 
 Bishop was the guest of Father MacEachern during his stay, and 
 closed his visitation of the mission by administering Confirmation to 
 four hundred and twenty-seven persons. Having finished at St. 
 Andrew's, he again stopped at Tracadie and administered Confirmation 
 to seventy-four who had been unable to attend, on the occasion of 
 his former visit. 
 
— 123 — 
 
 The diary kept by the Bishop's secretary gives the population of 
 St. Andrew's and its dependent settlements in 1803, as follows : 
 
 St. Andrew's 173 communicants 454 souls. 
 
 Tracadie 212 " 425 " 
 
 Fortune Bay 38 •' 83 '' 
 
 Three Elvers ;..,. 69 " 177 " 
 
 Naufrage and Bast Point 178 " 483 " 
 
 Total 670 " 1622 " 
 
 Thus the missions of Charlottetown, Tracadie and St. Andrew's 
 were first visited by a Bishop, and though he could not speak the 
 language of the people, his presence did not fail to create a most 
 salutary effect. The austere piety and ascetic mien of the venerable 
 servant of God, and the awe akin to idolatry with which he was 
 regarded by a people, few of whom had ever seen a Bishop, were 
 calculated to produce a lasting impression in their minds ; while the 
 prudent advice he gave to priests and people, the rules he drew up 
 for their future guidance were eminently conducive to the welfare of 
 the missions. All parted from the worthy man, cheered by his bless- 
 ing, strengthened by his counsel and edified by his example. 
 
 It remained for him now to visit the Acadian Missions. He 
 accordingly set out for Eustico, where he was awaited with some 
 anxiety by Father Pichard and the people, on account of some 
 troubles that had arisen and rendered the presence of the Bishop 
 necessary. Concerning the nature of these troubles, the Bishop's 
 diary is unfortunately silent, and the uncertain light of lingering local 
 traditions affords no reliable information ; but, whatever they were» 
 they were sufficient to arouse the indignation of the Bishop, who, to 
 punish the unseemly conduct of this portion of his flock, decided to 
 remove their missionary to another post of duty. 
 
 At this time the mission boasted a small unfurnished chapel 
 dedicated to St. Augustine, and a rude presbytery containing only 
 one room, where Father Pichard made his home when not engaged 
 in the other missions under his care. There was a little cemetery 
 near the church, which may still be seen near the head of a little 
 
— 124 — 
 
 stream that flows by the present parochial farm ^. Bishop Denaut 
 found iifty-two families at Rustico, making in all two hundred and 
 eighty-five souls of whom one hundred and forty were communicants. 
 He administered the sacrament of Confirmation to two hundred and 
 ninety-seven persons, many of whom had come from the outlying 
 missions. 
 
 The visits of Rustico parish came to a close on the 28th of August, 
 and His Lordship proceeded at once to Malpeque. Here he found a 
 small presbytery and a chapel dedicated to St. John the Baptist, 
 which seem to have been built about the year 1796. Malpeque was 
 at this time peopled by different nationalities, Acadians, Scotch, 
 English and Indians. The Acadians numbered 235 souls, the Scotch 
 353. Eighteen families were English and thirteen, Indians. The total 
 number confirmed was 396, of whom 103 were Scotch, 31 Micmacs, 
 and the remainder Acadians. The population of the other settlements 
 was as follows : Tignish had sixteen families, making fifty-two com- 
 municants and one hundred and two souls. These had built a chapel 
 which the Bishop ordered to be dedicated to St. Simon Apostle. At 
 Cascumpeque, there were eight falnilies comprising trenty-one com- 
 municants and sixty-five souls. Bedeque had now four families ; 
 Eivi^re des Blancs five ^, and eighteen Indian families made their 
 home on Lennox Island. These latter settlements had no churches 
 and were attached to the mission of Rustico. 
 
 At Malpeque, Bishop Denaut's labours in Prince Edward Island 
 came to an end. From there he crossed over to New Brunswick and 
 made his way by Miramichi and Madawaska to Quebec. The changes 
 he made in the administration of the missions in our Island demand 
 from us here a brief reference. 
 
 Eather Pichard was removed from Rustico and sent over to Kova 
 Scotia, where he took charge of Tracadie and other missions. His 
 place at Rustico was filled by Father De Calonne, who was appoiiited 
 Vicar General of the Bishop of Quebec and pastor of all the Acadian 
 
 1 — On land now owned by Bruno Martin. 
 2 — Tryon River. 
 
— 125 — 
 
 missions. Some rules for his guidance were drawn up and embodied 
 in a pastoral letter written by the Bishop, while at Miramichi on his 
 way to Quebec. 
 
 " Peter Denaut,^Bishop of Quebec, etc. 
 
 " Concerning the missions hereinafter named and actually in charge 
 of Mr. De Calonne, we ordain the following : 
 
 " 1. The people of Eustico and Malpeque shall repair their respec- 
 tive parochial houses, that they may be a suitable lodging place for the 
 missionary until such time as the Bishop may order new ones to be 
 built, 
 
 " 2. As soon as possible, vestments; linen and sacred vessels for 
 the altar shall be furnished by the people of these two missions, as 
 directed by Father De Calonne. 
 
 " 3. They shall place pews in each of their churches, and shall sell 
 the same by public auction at the church door on Sundays. This shall 
 be the rule every time any pew becomes vacant, according to the 
 custom of the Diocese. 
 
 " 4. The revenues of each church shall be in charge of three wardens 
 of whom the first shall retire each year, and his place be taken by 
 the second, and a new warden elected who will be the third. 
 
 " 5. The first warden, who alone is to have charge, the others being 
 only assistants, on retiring from office shall give a statement of the 
 accounts in presence of the old and new wardens and the missionary, 
 who shall see that they are correct. These accounts must be kept 
 according to the form prescribed by the Eitual of Quebec. AH meet- 
 ings of the wardens shall be presided over by the missionary, after 
 having been announced from the pulpit and summoned by ringing 
 the ehurch bell, and at all such the missionary shall have the right to 
 vote. The minutes of these meetings, whether called to elect wardens 
 or to examine accounts, shall be inscribed in a book, signed by the 
 missionary and wardens, and kept in the archives of the church. 
 
 " 6. The inhabitants of both places shall fence the land destined 
 for the use of the missionary, and shall build in each mission a barn 
 and stable for his convenience. 
 
 " 7. Besides the ordinary tithes of grain that the people of Mai- 
 
— 126 — 
 
 peque, Cascumpec and Tignish are accustomed to pay, they shall also 
 contribute potatoes, which has not been done heretofore, 
 
 " The people of Eustico shall pay per communicant the sum of six 
 francs until further orders. 
 
 " Given at Miramichi, during our Pastoral visit, Sept. 10th, 1803." 
 
 The removal of Father De Calonne left Charlottetown without a 
 resident priest, and it was destined to remain so for many years. It 
 was not the Bishop's intention, however, that its people should be 
 entirely abandoned. If they could not have a priest continually 
 amongst them, they were to have at least an occasional visit from 
 a neighboring missionary. 
 
 Early in the month of August of this year, a Franciscan Friar, the 
 Eeverend Father Henry Francis Fitzsimmons, came from Ireland to 
 Prince Edward Island, and to him was entrusted the mission left 
 vacant by Father De Calonne. He had come to take charge of a 
 colony of 300 Scotch Catholics, who were daily expected to arrive on 
 the Island, and the Bishop thought that he could add to his other 
 duties the care of the Charlottetown mission. 
 
 His Lordship's instructions to Father Fitzsimmons were that he 
 should take up his residence in whatever place the Scottish emigrants 
 would choose for their settlement. He was to proceed at once to build 
 a parochial house thirty feet square, and near it a chapel large enough 
 for his congregation with a small sacristy attached. Near the church 
 he was to lay out a cemetery of a suitable size. The church was to 
 be well boarded outside and ceiled within and dedicated to St. Thomas 
 the Apostle. He was to provide vestments, build pews and conduct 
 parochial business according to the rules laid down in the other pas- 
 toral letters bearing on the same subject. The Bishop concludes his 
 instructions in these words : 
 
 " As long as there is no resident priest in Charlottetown, Father 
 Fitzsimmons shall have charge of the people of the Town and neigh- 
 bourhood unless he reside further away than St. Andrew's. He may 
 from time to time, according to his prudence and charity, say Mass in 
 the city in a suitable place, and he shall direct the people to provide 
 proper vestments for the purpose." These instructions are dated at 
 Eustico, August 28th, 1803. 
 
— 127 — 
 
 Father Augustine Macdonald, who had arrived ia the beginning of 
 this year, was living with his brother Capt. Jno. Macdonald. 
 
 The Bishop gave him the faculties of a missionary, with permis- 
 aion to use the same only in the mission of Tracadie, and amongst 
 his brother's family servants and tenants, for which services he was 
 to receive the sum of £30.0.0 per year. 
 
 Father MacEachern's faculties were renewed, and he continued in 
 charge of all his former missions including Tracadie and Malpeque. 
 
 Such were the arrangements made by Bishop Denaut for the 
 spiritual welfare of his flock in Prince Edward Island. They were 
 undoubtedly intended for the best, and with the exception of Father 
 Pichard's removal, would seem calculated to produce beneficent results. 
 But unfortunately they lacked the element of stability. In a short 
 time they were laid aside, and then followed a period of neglect and 
 apathy on the part of the authorities, that threatened to dry up the 
 wellsprings of devotion among the people. 
 
 Father Fitzsimmons' stay here was short. Indeed, if it were not 
 that his name occurs in Bishop Denaut's register, we could not dis- 
 cover that he had ever been here, so completely has every trace of 
 his sojourn disappeared. We know, however, that he remained here 
 only a short time, for the Highlanders whom he came to serve 
 changed their minds before leaving Scotland, and instead of coming 
 to Prince Edward Island, they emigrated to the Province of Ontario. 
 Father Fitzsimmons followed them to Upper Canada, and labored 
 there for at least fifteen months prior to June, 1806, as we learn from 
 a letter of that date writtea by Bishop Plessis to Father Burke at 
 Halifax. 
 
 In like manner Father De Calonne's pastorate at Eustico was of 
 short duration. Bishop Denaut had invited him to Quebec, where a 
 more desirable position would be given him ; and as he was on the 
 eve of setting out for Canada, he was hurriedly called to France in 
 the autumn of 1804, and thus closed his labours in Prince Edward 
 Island. 
 

 
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CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 ■FATHER MACEACHEEN THE ONLY PRIEST IN PRINCE EDWARD ISLAND. — 
 
 BUILDS ST, Andrew's church. — obstacles he meets 
 
 WITH. — APPEALS FOR HELP. 
 
 The clerical changes referred to at the close of the preceding 
 chapter left Father MacEachern, once move, sole guardian of the 
 interests of Holy Church in Prince Edward Island. True, Father 
 Augustine lived at Tracadie ; but he was an old man and had come 
 hither to rest, and for this reason, could not do more than assume 
 the spiritual charge of his brother's servants and tenants. In 1802, 
 Eev. Alexander Macdonald arrived at Arisaig, Novatfcotia, and 
 received from the Bishop of Quebec the care of all the missions on 
 the Gulf Shore. By his arrival. Father MacEachern was relieved of 
 the obligation of going to the Mainland, but the missions of Prince 
 Edward Island, now depending on him alone, gave him abundant 
 opportunities of displaying his zeal for souls. 
 
 These missions were growing every year more numerous and more 
 populous. Emigrants were continually pouring into the country from 
 Ireland and Scotland. No well organized emigrations, such as that of 
 1772 and that of 1790, were now taking place ; but scarcely a ship 
 arrived from Europe that did not bring a number of settlers, eager 
 to take up land and hew out for themselves homes in the forest. The 
 consequent increase of population was a source of great anxiety to 
 Father MacEachern, whose unaided efforts were unequal to the task 
 of attending to the spiritual wants of so many people. The work 
 9 
 
— 130 — 
 
 ■which, according to Father De Calonne's testimony, was too arduous 
 for three, now devolved upon one ; and yet he kept the even tenor 
 of his way, never quailing before hardship nor shrinking from duty. 
 
 Bishop Denaut, as already stated, commanded the people to build 
 a church at St. Andrew's. To ensure success in the undertaking, he 
 appointed Father De Calonne his Vicar General, and gave him the 
 necessary authority to enforce the. regulations laid down in the Pastoral 
 Letter of August 24th, lS03. His Lordship feared that Father Mac- 
 Eachern would be too indulgent towards the people, on account of 
 their straitened circumstances, and that the work would consequently 
 suffer through his lack of severity. He accordingly invested Father 
 De Calonne with more extended powers, and bade him insist on 
 having his wishes accomplished with as little delay as possible. 
 
 In pursuance of this mandate. Father De Calonne issued a circular 
 letter to the people of St. Andrew's, in which he reminded them of 
 the instructions contained in the Pastoral of Bishop Denaut, relating 
 to the building of a new church, on the site which His Lordship had 
 chosen. Among other things, the Abb6 enjoined that a bench, suffi- 
 ciently long to seat six persons, should be placed on each side of the 
 altar, one to be occupied by the wardens, sacristan and schoolmaster, 
 functionari^who, especially the first named, play an important role 
 in the ecclesiastical aff'airs of Quebec, the other for the singers and 
 for clergymen. This latter provision must have surprised the people 
 not a little. A place for singers-was eminently fitting; but to reserve 
 seats for clergymen with only one such in the entire Island must 
 have seemed to those canny Scotchmen an act of extraordinary fore- 
 sight. This letter is all that remains to us of Father De Calonne's 
 efforts as Vicar General. A few days after it was written he set sail 
 for London, and Prince Edward Island never saw him more. After 
 having spent some time in London he returned to Canada and died 
 at Three Elvers, Province of Quebec, on the 16th of October, 1822. 
 
 The burden of carrying out Bishop Denaut's instructions thus lay 
 on the shoulders of Father MacEachern, and he went to work in 
 earnest, and was soon in a position to give a report of substantial 
 progress. On the 28th of October, 1805, he writes as follows : " I 
 
— 131 — 
 
 went last Autumn to Merigomish and engaged two carpenters to 
 hew and frame our church which was put up in the latter end of 
 July. We built a good stone wall from IJ feet to 3 feet above the 
 surface of the earth, to receive the frame, and two walls from end to 
 end to support the gallery posts. 
 
 " The frame is, as ordered, sixty feet by thirty-six, and eighteen 
 feet post, with a choir over the door, and galleries on both sides, 
 leaving twenty feet clear in the middle. By this time we have it rough- 
 boarded and shingled, and mean to paint the roof without loss of 
 time. All the people of Tracadie and St. Peter's Bay have contributed 
 their quantum towards the building without a dissenting voice or one 
 murmur. We will get some assistance from Naufrage and Three 
 Eivers, but do not expect much from EastToint or Fortune Bay. 
 
 " At Naufrage, we have a chapel 34 x 24 feet already covered in ; 
 another at East Point nearly of the same dimensions." 
 
 Bishop Denaut's wishes were thus on the way to realization. The 
 rules he had laid down were being carried out, slowly it may be, 
 but yet as speedily as could be expected in the circumstances. No 
 one could be more eager than Father MacEachern in this matter ; no 
 one could be more impressed with the importance and urgency of 
 the work ; yet he was loath to press the people, whose wants were 
 many and resources few. When delays occurred owing to remissness 
 on their part, he was ever patient ; perhaps too much so, for probably 
 there were times when patience almost ceased to be a virtue. But he 
 knew their circumstances better than any other man could. Fifteen 
 years of close touch with their most intimate concerns furnished a 
 clear insight into their condition ; and even when they were evidently 
 in fault, he was more disposed to pity than blame. Hence, in a letter 
 to the Bishop, he thus refers to the building of the church : " I am 
 getting something done to our chapel here, but not as much as I 
 would wish. Some are poor, others are backward, carpenters' wages 
 very high, every kind of materials excessively dear, so that things 
 do not go on with that activity that could be wished." 
 
 This was precisely what Bishop Denaut had foreseen and what he 
 had hoped to remedy by appointing Father De Calonne his Vicar 
 
— 132 — 
 
 General. He knew the Scotch people were tardy and dilatory, and 
 that they required considerable flattery, a fair share of persuasion and 
 an unlimited amount of scolding before they would be induced to do 
 much for the support of religion. As a flatterer Father MacEachern 
 was possessed of no mean ability ; his persuasive powers, too, were 
 excellent ; whilst in the white heat of an impassioned scolding the 
 Gaelic gave to his tongue a suppleness, a volubility and a wealth of 
 sarcasm to which few Anglo-Saxons can aspire ; but when it came to 
 a question of financial affairs, his heart was too soft and severity gave 
 way to compassion. Father De Calonne himself bears witness to 
 this trait in the character of his confrere. " I reproach Father Mac- 
 Eachern," he wrote, " that he is not vigorous enough in enforcing 
 the Bishop's orders. Of course he has to do with a people very dis- 
 obedient on this point. The Scotch were not accustomed to contribute 
 towards the Church in the Old Country, and they think to get along 
 here in the same deplorable way. Many did not even want to pay 
 Father MacEachern a dollar per communicant, although the poor 
 man is overburdened with work.. And when I tried to force them, I 
 had more trouble with the good priest himself than I had with the 
 people." Father MacEachern, be it said, laboured not for money but 
 for the glory of God ; his whole career is a shining example of dis- 
 interestedness in this respect. 
 
 Besides the poverty and apathy of the people, a new difficulty arose 
 that added greatly to his troubles, and tended not a little to retard 
 the building of the church. This was no other than the determined 
 opposition of Capt. John Macdonald of Glenaladale.' This gentleman, 
 it seems, was not satisfied with the situation of St. Andrew's church. 
 Consulting his own private convenience rather than the public good, 
 he would have preferred that a site had been chosen nearer his 
 residence. Though a good man and an excellent Catholic, he was 
 nevertheless a typical landlord, and proud of his ascendency over the 
 people, he thought that his opinion was entitled to great consideration 
 on the part of the ecclesiastical authorities. Finding, however, that 
 other and wiser counsels prevailed, his displeasure knew no bounds. 
 
 Our readers may remember that when the St. Andrew's property 
 
— 133 — 
 
 was bought, it was the people's intention to have two parishes formed 
 east of Charlottetown, separated by the eastern boundary line of Lot 
 36. As years weht by, however, this plan was found impracticable, 
 as almost all the new emigrants settled farther east or west, and 
 scarcely one took up land between Lot 36 and Charlottetown. Hence 
 Father MacEachern, having at heart the greater good of the entire 
 people, was convinced that a fairly large church built at St. Andrew's 
 would carry out the purpose of the original purchasers, if at the 
 same time smaller chapels would be erected at East Point and Nau- 
 frage. Bishop Denaut concurred in this opinion, after having learned 
 the facts of the case from reliable and disinterested persons. 
 
 Capt, Macdonald, however, opposed this plan, and as he was all- 
 powerful in the locality, his opposition was a serious impediment to 
 the progress of the work. Not only did he oppose it himself, but he 
 tried to drive his tenantry into open rebellion with Father Mac- 
 Eachern. He forbade their contributing to the expenses incurred for 
 the new church, and wanted to withdraw them entirely from that 
 parish by having them assemble at his own house on Sunday, where 
 Mass was said by his brother Father Augustine Macdonald. 
 
 Father MacEachern was gentle and forbearing, and not disposed 
 to quarrel with any one, much less with a person of Mr. Mafedonald's 
 standing in the community. But, on the other hand, he would not be 
 deterred from duty by opposition from any quarter. He accordingly 
 kept on with the work as best he could, apparently unconscious of 
 any effort being made to thwart its progress. This apparent uncon- 
 cern on his part was more exasperating to Capt. Macdonald than 
 open rupture, so he made a direct appeal to the Bishop of Quebec. 
 He had a weakness for making a pompous display of his scholarly 
 attainments by composing long documents in quasi legal style, and 
 his memorial to the Bishop of Quebec, on this occasion, partook of 
 this general character of his literary compositions. It was long and 
 wearisome, filled with minute details bearing on the past, present and 
 future of religion in Prince Edward Island, the plans that had been 
 adopted for the education of clergy, all of which seemed to be jeop- 
 ardized by the building of a church at St. Andrew's. 
 
_ 134 — 
 
 Father De Calonne had returned to Canada while this matter was 
 under consideration, and as he was familiar with all the facts of the 
 case, the Bishop submitted the question to his judgment. 
 
 Father De Calonne approved of Father MacEachern's conduct. Of 
 course, the good Abhe did not fail to profit by such a golden oppor- 
 tunity of having a good fling at the Scotch of Prince Edward Island, 
 as he formerly had at the Irish, by contrasting their religions apathy 
 with the generous spirit of the Acadians ; but he, nevertheless, trium- 
 phantly vindicated the stand taken by Father MacEachern, in 
 obedience to the wishes of Bishop Denaut. Amongst other things he 
 says : " Concerning the church (St. Andrew's), I cannot by any means 
 agree with Capt. Macdonald. On the one hand, he is afraid it will 
 interfere with his plan (for educating clergy), and on the other, as he 
 wishes to have a church built nearer his home, he regards that as a 
 sufficient reason for preventing his people from contributing to the 
 one already begun. Much as I respect the man and admire his zeal, 
 in this matter his own petty personal interests have warped his better 
 judgment." He then relates how carefully Bishop Denaut had con- 
 sidered the matter, and how he had examined the question in all its 
 phases before laying down the rules so faithfully adhered to by 
 Father MacEachern. 
 
 Then follows a long Jeremiad anent Scottish perversity. Their utter 
 indifference to the splendor of external worship and their want of zeal 
 for the beauty of God's house are depicted with all the flourishes of 
 a master hand, whilst the opposite virtues of the Acadians are set 
 forth in a dithyrambic effusion that leaves no doubt of the writer's con- 
 victions. Near the end he adds very decisively : " Capt. Macdonald 
 cannot and should not forbid his people to pay their share towards 
 the new church, for they form part of the parish assigned to it." 
 
 The question was thus definitively settled. Capt. Macdonald soon 
 grew weary of having his house crowded with people on Sundays, 
 and gradually the people returned to their former allegiance. 
 
 The beginning of the year 1806 witnessed the death of Bishop 
 Denaut, who passed away at Longueuil, near Montreal, on the 17th 
 
— 135 — 
 
 of January, and was succeeded by his Coadjutor, Eight Eev. Joseph 
 Octave Plessis. 
 
 Bishop Denaut was a pious and holy Bishop, eminently conservative 
 in his ways, and more disposed to be concerned with the minutiae 
 of the Eitual than with the broad lines of Diocesan administration. 
 He lacked the broad minded, enlightened views of his successor, and 
 consequently never grasped the genius of the English speaking people, 
 who formed a considerable portion of his flock in the Lower Provinces. 
 
 With the accession of Bishop Plessis to the See of Quebec, a new 
 era opened for the Church in Canada. The rusty shackles forged by 
 • bigotry were cast off thanks to his enlightened policy ; and the open 
 hostility of the civil authorities was changed into respect and admi- 
 ration for the Church whose influence for good they had so long 
 hampered. Prudent administrator was he, who grasping the grand 
 possibilities of his time, led forth the Church from the darkness of 
 Egyptian bondage to the full light of religious liberty. As the heart 
 sends forth the rich.red blood, carrying life and vigour to the extremities 
 of the body, so did the genius of this illustrious Prelate vivify and 
 invigorate the Church in every part of his immense Diocese. Prince 
 Edward Island, too, shared in his pastoral solicitude. It heard his 
 voice speaking the language of true and sincere devotedness, and 
 responsive to the call, it awoke to a life of religious activity, after 
 years of neglect and abandonment. 
 
 Bishop Plessis and Father MacEachern had not yet met, though 
 for 3'ears they had kept up an interesting and edifying correspon- 
 dence. From the letters thus passing between them they had gained an 
 insight into each other's character, and the esteem engendered by this 
 slight acquaintance gave rise to a mutual desire of closer intimacy. 
 Accordingly, the Bishop invited Father MacEachern to come to 
 Quebec, where he held out to him the promise of a kind and hearty 
 welcome. Father MacEachern gladly accepted the Bishop's invitation 
 and began to look forward to the visit with fond anticipations. Sixteen 
 years had elapsed since his arrival in America, and during all this 
 time, he never knew a day's relaxation from active and arduous duty. 
 It was surely time that he should have a holiday, a short respite from 
 
— 136 — 
 
 the drudgery of liis busy life. There were other reasons too, and graver 
 ones, that made his trip to Quebec a necessity. He wanted to confer per- 
 sonally with the Bishop regarding the wants of Prince Edward 
 Island. He believed, and rightly too, that now was a favourable time 
 to do this, as the present illustrious occupant of the See of Quebec 
 could better appreciate his motives, more fully grasp the situation 
 than any of the former Bishops, and consequently, would be more 
 earnest in endeavoring to remove the unsatisfactory conditions under 
 which the people of these missions were labouring. 
 
 But how was he to go to Quebec ? How undertake a journey of 
 many weeks, and he the only priest in charge of so many souls ?■ 
 How reconcile the people to his absence, amid the dangers and uncer- 
 tainties of their surroundings ? This was a real difficulty. Father 
 MacEachern was practically alone ; every moment of his time was 
 taken up, and even after efforts truly heroic, he could pay only a 
 casual visit to the various settlements, and then afford the people an 
 opportunity of approaching the sacraments once a year. He was 
 therefore obliged to postpone his visit until more favourable times, 
 and accordingly explains to the Bishop his reason for doing so. 
 In a letter dated November 29th, 1806, he writes : " My not going 
 to Canada, last summer, was owing to the sickness of many of my 
 hearers in this extensive mission. I went thrice to Three Eivers, a 
 distance of forty or fifty miles to the eastward and southward, in the 
 dead of winter, and twice to Malpeque, sixty miles to the westward. 
 These jaunts and many others of less length 'ran away with the 
 winter, so that the summer was spent and all the direct opportunities 
 to Quebec passed before I could serve my flock. I would wish to 
 have it in my power to explain viva voce the distance from chapel 
 to chapel, the number of their hearers, their places of abode, the 
 mode and difficulties of travelling summer and winter, with the cir- 
 cumstances of the people, so that your Lordship might adopt such 
 measures and propose the same to our people as might morally 
 ensure to them a succession of clergymen." 
 
 " Our people," he continues, " see their wants, and I am convinced 
 they will implicitly obey Your Lordship's orders, as far as their 
 
— 137 — 
 
 abilities can go." He concludes by saying^: " If I can do myself the 
 honour and pleasure of going to see Your Lordship next summer, I 
 will give the best information I am capable of relative to all the 
 missions on the coast of this Island, Nova Scotia and Cape Breton." 
 
 His visit to Quebec is thus put off till the following year. His 
 ardent wish of meeting Bishop Plessis cannot be realized at present. 
 He must wait another year, only to find the same obstacle in his way 
 making a further postponement necessary. 
 
 It would indeed be impossible to imagine a person more busily 
 employed than Father MacEachern during these years, when the 
 care of the whole province devolved upon him. To visit the sick alone 
 was a task attended by hardships of which we cannot form, to-day, 
 any adequate conception. Night and day he was on the road, going 
 from place to place in all kinds of weather and in the most primitive 
 conveyances. Many a time he would reach his home at St. Andrew's, 
 worn out with fatigue, and there find a messenger awaiting him, 
 craving him to come to the relief of a person lying ill in one of the 
 distant settlements. Such a call could siiffer no delay. So, without 
 rest or pause he begins another journey, carrying with him always 
 his vestments and portable altar, that he may be able to say Mass at 
 the settlement when he arrives, and give Holy Communion to the 
 one whose sickness occasioned the journey. 
 
 His appeals to Quebec for assistance had hitherto been in vain. 
 No Canadian priest had come to share his labours ; though he had 
 never failed to impress on the proper authorities the manifold wants 
 of the missions. Even the priests who had come from France were 
 not permitted to remain. One had been removed and the other at 
 least encouraged to depart by Bishop Denaut, who made no effort 
 to provide a successor to them. Despairing of help from that quarter 
 he wrote to one of the Scottish Bishops who had been his classmate 
 at Valladolid. Eecalling the fact that Scotland had already given 
 two missionaries to Prince Edward Island and several to the Main- 
 land, he pleads for a continuance of that generosity in language at 
 once firm and pathetic. After having given a minute geographical 
 description of Prince Edward Island, he goes on to say : " When we 
 
— 138 — 
 
 go by the woods, which is generally the case, we go from ten to 
 forty mi-les without meeting a settlement, sometimes by a blaze and 
 often in snowshoes. It is not the number of people we have to serve 
 that distresses us, but the scattered way in which they are forced to- 
 settle. You will more readily conceive than I can describe, how 
 dif&cult a task it is for any one single handed to pay even an annual 
 visit to so many different settlements. And when the visitation of 
 the sick is in question, no human being can answer the different calls, 
 more especially in winter when no human face can brave a north- 
 west wind. I have gone eighty and often ninety miles to see sick 
 people, and while we are running to one, another dies in our rear, 
 calling for spiritual assistance, and none perhaps within one hundred 
 and fifty miles of him." 
 
 " Our people die without the sacraments, and we cannot help it. 
 If a clergyman can hear the confessions of his people once a year in 
 even a cursory way, he does a great deal ; and as for instruction, it is 
 out of the question, let his intention be ever so good or his abilities 
 ever so great. Our case is really deplorable." 
 
 As an example to be followed he holds up what had been done 
 for the people of Newfoundland by the Bishops of Ireland, and says: 
 
 " Newfoundland was, a few years ago, destitute of all spiritual 
 aid ; yet the Irish Bishops sent out five or six able missionaries who, 
 by their example and preaching, brought that once abandoned country 
 te a regular, sober, loyal congregation." 
 
 " They have now a Bishop in St. John's, and are respected by the 
 officers of the Government, as men who do more for the policy of the 
 settlements than all the civil laws in existence." 
 
 " They sent another to Halifax, Nova Scotia, some years ago, and 
 in acknowledgment for his abilities, the Government settled a pension 
 of a, hundred pounds a year on him." He then asks, in his own homely 
 phraseology : " Why could not the Scots Mission cast an anchor to 
 windward as well as the Irish ? " 
 
 In a former chapter we had occasion to notice Father De Calonne's 
 outspoken opinion regarding the Irish of Gharlottetown. Now many 
 of these had come hither from Newfoundland, and consequently were 
 
— 139 — 
 
 either the persons who directly profited by the labors of the " able 
 missionaries " referred to above or their immediate descendants. It is 
 difficult to see how they could form part of a regular, sober con- 
 gregation in Newfoundland and become slaves of vice on their arrival 
 in this country. It is just, then, to conclude that Father MaoEachern's 
 longer experience of these people led him to form a different estimate 
 of their character, and, indeed, in all his correspondence, we look in 
 vain for one word of blame for the Irish people in Prince Edward 
 Island, or one expression that would lead us to suppose that they 
 were less docile to his teaching, or less edifying in their conduct than 
 the rest of his flock. Father MacEachern was not, as a rule, a -respecter 
 of persons. In him national sentiment and racial prejudice were 
 subservient to one end, the greater glory of God. Hence Scotch, Irish, 
 French all shared in his zeal for souls. He made himself all to all 
 that he might gain all to Christ ; and if wickedness prevailed in 
 certain localities, and scandals arose, he sympathized with the sinner 
 while condemning the sin, and all the more readily, seeing that the 
 spiritual neglect to which the people were subject, owing to the scarcity 
 of priests, might be put forth in almost every instance as an 
 extenuating circumstance. 
 
 The Superiors of the Scotch Missions could not render any assist- 
 ance to Father MacEachern. They had already sent several priests 
 to Upper Canada, Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island, and they 
 thought it was time that the Diocese of Quebec should furnish priests 
 for its own missions. 
 
 There was some truth in this contention, for no Canadian priest 
 had yet permanently resided in Prince Edward Island, and surely the 
 souls in this remote region were as precious in the sight of God as 
 those in the parishes that fringed the St. Lawrence. Bishop Plessis, 
 from the first, was convinced of his responsibility in the matter. No 
 sooner had he assumed the administration of the Diocese, than he 
 realized that clergy would have to be supplied to these outlying mis- 
 sions, if the faith were to be preserved among the people. He did 
 not forget Prince Edward Island, for on the 21st October, 1807, he 
 writes to Father MacEachern as follows : " The warm desire I enter- 
 
— 140 — 
 
 tain of providing a succession of Scotch clergyman, both in your 
 mission and in Upper Canada, induced me last year to place at my 
 own expense three young Scotch boys in the Seminary of Montreal." 
 
 " Although very little advanced in. their duties, yet they may be a 
 valuable help in the time to come. However, as that number is far 
 under the multiplied wants of your people, it becomes necessary to 
 adopt some further measures for the same object. The plan of Capt. 
 John Macdonald, lately submitted to my examination by the Eev. 
 Mr. Burke, seems wisely and perfectly calculated with the circum- 
 stances of the Island, and I am of opinion that it must be immediately 
 put into execution ; for you know that no less than ten or twelve 
 years are to be allowed for the education of a child from the alphabet 
 to the priesthood." 
 
 The plan of which mention is here made by the Bishop was first 
 brought up at a meeting held in 1794. The people had been called 
 together for the purpose of considering the question of the scarcity of 
 priests in these missions, and Capt. John Macdonald suggested that 
 a yearly assessment be levied on each householder for a term of 
 years, and also on every unmarried man, who could be considered as 
 supporting himself independent of his family. The sum of these 
 assessments was to be employed for the education of young men 
 manifesting an inclination for the priesthood. 
 
 This, in brief, is the plan now sanctioned by the Bishop and imposed 
 on the people with all the weight of an episcopal command. 
 
 Nothing could be more pleasing to Father MacEachern than this 
 letter of the venerable Bishop. He saw in it, of course, an increase 
 of labor for himself. But what of that, as long as something was done 
 to perpetuate the good work ? A direct command is what he had 
 been wanting for years, and now that he has it, he goes to work with 
 a light heart and renewed energy to carry out his Superior's views. 
 On the 30th of May, ,1808, he writes to the Bishop, showing how he 
 has already made a good and hopeful beginning, notwithstanding the 
 many other calls that were daily made upon him. 
 
 " Your Lordship's letter of the 21st October last ", he writes, " I 
 duly received, and communicated its contents to my hearers, who are 
 
— 141 — 
 
 ■willing to fall on such a plan as will enable Your Lordship to have 
 a succession of clergymen educated for these missions. I have been 
 for these years past explaining to our people the necessity of adopt- 
 ing such a measure ; but a positive order from our Superior was and 
 will be as yet necessary before these things are brought to their 
 proper bearing. Our intention was to have called a meeting of those 
 who are most contiguous to this place, in the course of the winter ; 
 but I was called to the East Point before Christmas, from that back 
 here again, and in January to Malpeck. I returned on the last day 
 of February, and in March was sent for to Three Rivers. When I 
 observed that time was passing without being able to do anything 
 decisive towards the object proposed, I determined to begin at said 
 Three Rivers, and after very little consultation came to the resolution 
 of assessing every man sixteen years of age and upwards, at the rate 
 of twenty shillings per annum for three years, and should the sums so 
 collected prove inadequate to our exigencies, then all the young men 
 coming up to the said age of sixteen must be taken in so as to fill 
 up the deficiencies and wants." 
 
 " I have always found that the people are alarmed at the proposal 
 of great sums at the first setting forth, and consequently proposed the 
 above method as the most equitable and least burdensome." 
 
 " I proceeded thence by the Bay of Fortune, and the south side 
 of the Island towards the East Point, serving the people as I went 
 and taking their names. Thence around said Point and along shore 
 to the westward, until I arrived home about the beginning of this 
 month. The members on said tour to the east side of St. Peter's 
 Bay come to two hundred and seventy three, and when I have taken 
 all the names of the different districts, I will do myself the honor to 
 communicate every thing that is done to Your Lordship." 
 
 Our readers can see from the above how much extra work devolved 
 upon Father MacEachern ; yet no word of complaint does he utter. 
 No one knows better than he the gravity of the situation, and how 
 important it is that provision of this kind be made for the future of 
 religion in these missions. 
 
— 142 — 
 
 From his arrival in America, this had beea his greatest anxiety • 
 and even now, he does not fail to tell the Bishop that unless mis- 
 sionaries are speedily furnished religion will inevitably suffer. 
 
 " The want of pastors," he says, " in these countries is dreadful, 
 and those of us who have been long in the service are now getting 
 the worse of the wear, and as the people are becoming more numerous 
 and of course looking for and settling in distant situations without 
 any prospect of a supply of missionaries, their and our case is very 
 serious." 
 
CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 UNSATISFACTORY CONDITION OF THE ACADIANS. — EFFORTS TO SECURE 
 
 PRIESTS FOR THEM. — DEATH OF FATHER AUGUSTINE AND 
 
 CAPT. JOHN MACDONALD. 
 
 Notwithstanding Father MacEachern's efforts to procure for all the 
 consolations of religion, it was impossible for him to respond to the 
 numerous calls made on him and give to his flock the full attention 
 they required. This was true especially of the Acadian missions, 
 whose people were, as a rule, more exacting of spiritual attention 
 than the Irish or Scotch colonists. Much discontent therefore pre- 
 vailed amongst the Acadians. They were growing more and more 
 dissatisfied as the years went by, and no priest of their own tongue 
 was sent to them. A visit of Father MacEachern for a few weeks 
 in the year was about all the spiritual care they received. 
 
 For the rest of the time they were deprived of Mass, and of an 
 opportunity of approaching the sacraments. 
 
 To a people even in the fullness of health and strength this was a 
 cruel deprivation ; but if sickness came and Death's angel hovered 
 near, then their condition was indeed pitiable, because to secure the 
 services of a priest for the dying was a task that might fill the 
 boldest and the hardiest with dismay. It meant a wearisome journey 
 to St. Andrew's or perhaps to some more distant settlement, and that 
 with no assurance of finding Father MacEachern who, perhaps at 
 the very moment he was most needed, would be away in some other 
 direction on a similar errand of mercy. 
 
 The same unsatisfactory condition obtained amongst the Catholics 
 
— 144 — 
 
 of Charlottetown ; but they had the advantage of living near the 
 centre of the Island and could sometimes intercept the missionary 
 as he went hither and thither. For this reason they saw him oftener 
 and enjoyed more of his attentions than the people of the more remote 
 settlements. 
 
 It is not surprising then, that murmurs arose and grievous com- 
 plaints were heard amongst the abandoned Acadian people ; nor can 
 we wonder that many, despairing of ever having a priest, were seriously 
 considering the question of crossing over to the Mainland, where they 
 hoped to enjoy better facilities of practising their religion. 
 
 Whatever benefit the people themselves might have reaped from 
 this step, it certainly would have proved prejudicial to the Island, 
 and especially to the landlords, whose tenants they were ; and 
 accordingly, the mere mention of their prospective departure aroused 
 the active sympathies of Lieutenant Colonel Compton, whose estate 
 comprised the Acadian settlement of Malpeque. 
 
 On the 10th of August, 1805, he wrote a strong letter to the Bishop 
 of Quebec, setting forth the spiritual wants of the Acadians and beg- 
 ging that two priests be sent to assume charge of their missions. 
 Amongst other things he observes : " It is now near a year since my 
 dear friend the Abb^ de Calonne left the Island, in all which time, 
 except about a month that Father MacEachern was here, Mass has 
 not been said in my village which contains upwards of two hundred 
 Eoman Catholic souls. I speak of the Acadians only, for the Catholics 
 of the village more than double that number. 
 
 " I am proprietor of the township of which this village forms a part, 
 and together with a numerous family who are Eoman Catholics, 
 reside in this village. I have, as I understood was Your Lordship's 
 wish, attached to the church six acres of cleared land." 
 
 " The inhabitants have repaired in a good manner the church and 
 the tithes they pay are considerable and daily increasing." 
 
 " I trust Your Lordship will do me the honor to write me by 
 return of the ship which takes this from the Island to Quebec ; and, 
 also, by the same opportunity two good priests will come, one always 
 to reside in this village, and the other to attend the Acadians on the 
 Island generally." 
 
— 145 — 
 
 In a postscript to the above he adds : " Though I inform Your Lord- 
 ship that I have set apart six acres of land for the church, it is my 
 intention after a little to establish a new village on this township, on 
 a plan so as to place the church exactly in the centre of the village ; 
 we shall subscribe liberally towards building the church, and forty 
 acres of land shall be attached to the Cure or presbytfere." 
 
 This letter did not reach Quebec till after the death of Bishop 
 Denaut, to whom it was addressed. It found Bishop Plessis absorbed 
 in the affairs of a Diocese newly devolved upon him, and whose 
 administration had grown so unwieldy as to defy the efforts of any 
 one Bishop. 
 
 His first care, therefore, was to apply to Eome for a Coadjutor, 
 recommending one of his priests, the Eeverend Bernard Claude 
 Panet, for the position, and whilst these negotiations were engaging 
 his attention. Colonel Compton's letter arrived, bringing to the busy 
 Bishop a fresh budget of anxieties and cares. 
 
 The matter thus remained in abeyance. Nothing was done nor 
 could anything be done for the moment to improve the spiritual con- 
 dition of the Acadians, They were left to nurse their discontent 
 and foster their dissatisfaction until, grown desperate, many left the 
 Island and others were preparing to follow at an early date. 
 
 Alarmed at the prospect of seeing his township entirely depopulated, 
 
 Colonel Compton again becomes their advocate and makes another 
 
 urgent appeal in their behalf. So great is his concern that he becomes 
 
 almost reckless in his promises to the Bishop. He declares that he is 
 
 willing to contribute one hundred pounds towards building a new 
 
 church, and to give to the same any quantity of land that may be 
 
 -deemed reasonable, provided a pastor is sent to the mission. He goes 
 
 so far as to suggest the priest who, in his opinion, would be the most 
 
 desirable, viz : the Eeverend Father Boussin, whose acquaintance he 
 
 had made on the passage to Prince Edward Island. With the true 
 
 spirit of the typical landed proprietor, he proffers advice to the Bishop 
 
 regarding the time the missionary asked for should spend in the 
 
 different settlements, and, of course, does not fail to give a large share 
 
 of preference to his own township. He concludes by saying : " I know 
 10 
 
— 146 — 
 
 not how successful this application will be, but it leaves me the satis- 
 faction of having done all in my power to make my tenants happy, 
 as well in their spiritual as temporal affairs." (October 19th, 1807). 
 
 From so many professions of sympathy on the part of Colonel 
 Compton and his repeated promises of assistance in building a church 
 and maintaining a pastor, we would be led to suppose that he was 
 prepared to go to any length of sacrifice in the interest of the Acadians ; 
 yet his subsequent relations with them do not indicate that his 
 motives were always disinterested and his intentions devoid of sel- 
 fishness. 
 
 Perhaps he had grown weary of holding out inducements, seeing 
 that no advantage was taken of them. These promises were made on 
 the expressed condition that at least one priest would be sent to the 
 Acadian missions, and as this condition was not fulfilled, he naturally 
 felt himself released from all obligation in the matter. Nor can we 
 blame him in this, for it is not to be supposed that he, a layman and 
 a Protestant, should be more interested in the welfare of the people 
 than those upon whose conscience lay the responsibility of providing 
 for their spiritual necessities. 
 
 As foreshadowed in his letter to Bishop Denaut, he resolved to 
 change the site of the village, and have the church placed in a more 
 central locality, ostensibly for the greater convenience of the parish- 
 ioners. This was in itself perhaps desirable, and the people very wil- 
 lingly went to work and hauled the old church over a mile and a half, 
 to a site near the " Pavillion," the residence of Mr. Compton. 
 
 But when this had been accomplished, difBculties arose that 
 brought matters to a deadlock, and tinged the future of the mission 
 with the sombre hue of ruin. Mr. Compton had promised to give to 
 the church a piece of land, and the people never doubting his sin- 
 cerity had not secured a title to the same before hauling the church ; 
 i)ut now, when they ask him to fulfil his promise, they are met with 
 an evasion. Conditions are attached to the bargain and terms involved 
 in the contract which the people had not anticipated and to which 
 dihey refuse to consent'. 
 
 If the proprietor is arbitrary in. his demand, they are no less stub- 
 
— 147 — 
 
 born and steadfast in their refusal. Further negotiations tended rather 
 to excite ill feelings than to effect a settlement of the question, so the 
 entire scheme was finally abandoned. The church was left on the 
 spot to which they had hauled it, whilst the parochial house remained 
 on the original site a mile and a half distant. 
 
 Both soon fell into disrepair, because there being no priest residing 
 in the mission, the people grew careless and no one took any active 
 interest in house or church. la this way the affairs of the mission 
 suffered, and its progress both spiritual and temporal was unfortu- 
 nately retarded. 
 
 In the meantime the people of Rustico were doing something 
 towards the improvement of their mission. Though deprived by the 
 Bishop of a pastor whom they dearly loved, still they did not give 
 way to bitter resentment, but were trying to carry out His Lordship's 
 injunctions regarding their church. Instead of repairing or rather 
 - finishing the old building, they decided to build a new one larger and 
 more in keeping with the dignity of divine worship. Father Mac- 
 Eachern went frequently amongst them to encourage them in their 
 laudable efforts, and on the 29th of November, 1806, he could thus 
 report to the Bishop : " The French of Eustico are about building a 
 new chapel the incoming spring, forty-five feet by thirty-two, and 
 sixteen feet in the post." 
 
 The incoming spring however found difi'erences of opinion prevail- 
 ing amongst them. The selection of a site proved a real difficulty that 
 greatly retarded the work. The promoters of the scheme became 
 divided into two parties, each maintaining its own opinion with mis- 
 guided zeal, and manifesting no disposition to yield to the views of 
 the other. Party spirit ran so high that two sites were chosen and 
 building operations begun on each. But wiser counsels prevailed. 
 The contending parties, perceiving the folly of their conduct, came 
 to an agreement, the result of a prudent compromise, and chose the 
 site upon which stands to-day the parish church of St. Augustine. 
 
 Whilst these events were taking place Bishop Plessis did not lose 
 sight of the missions of Prince Edward Island. Amid the manifold 
 duties of his high office he did not forget the spiritual wants of these 
 
— 148 — 
 
 remote regions. He profited by the presence of Abb^ de Calonne in 
 London to make another effort to secure the services of French 
 priests, and for a time with a good prospect of success. Father De 
 Calonne assured him that there were good hopes that at least one 
 might be induced to come hither, and on receipt of this pleasing 
 intelligence he hastened to convey the same to Father MacEachern 
 in a letter dated August 20th, 1806. 
 
 " The Abb^ De Calonne," he writes, " intends to come again to his 
 former mission, or to send thither a priest if he may be allowed to 
 enter into the Province of Lower Canada. So he wrote me in the 
 beginning of May. Whatever priest shall happen to reach your Island 
 with recommendation from him may exercise the same spiritual 
 faculties as he did himself." 
 
 This was good news for Father MacEachern and for the Catholic 
 people generally. Unfortunately, however, it was not to be. Delays 
 occurred and obstacles arose, so that after a year of anxious waiting 
 another letter comes from the Bishop to Father MacEachern, in which 
 he says : " A French clergyman of the name of Merlin was on the 
 eve of quitting England and of coming to, your help. He was strongly 
 recommended by the Abbe De Calonne, but unfortunately met 
 obstacles which obliged him- to delay his departure to the next 
 spring." 
 
 The obstacles, here mentioned by His Lordship, arose from the 
 opposition of the civil authorities in London. Since the conquest of 
 Canada they had always opposed the emigration of French clergy to 
 this country, fearing, perhaps, that their influence might be exercised 
 to stir up the people to acts of insubordination or disloyalty. 
 
 Consequently, passports could be procured only in very rare cases, 
 and after a process of official formality drawn out to vexatious lengths. 
 In the instance to which we here refer, however, the obstacles were 
 more imaginary than real, for the Governor of Prince Edward Island, 
 as we shall presently see, was willing to receive Father Merlin even 
 without a passport from the British Government. 
 
 As soon as the Acadians learned that negotiations had been begun 
 to secure a French priest for their missions, they at once presented a 
 
— 149 — 
 
 petition to Governor Des Barres, who had succeeded General Fanning, 
 in 1805, praying that he would place no difficulties in the way of 
 the clergyman, whose presence in the community they so earnestly 
 desired. The petition was presented to His Excellency by Colonel 
 Compton, and was couched on tlfe following terms : 
 
 " To His Excellency Joseph Frederick Walter Des Barres, Lieuten- 
 ant Governor and Commander in Chief of His Majesty's Island of 
 Prince Edward. 
 
 " The humble petition of the Acadian French of Prince Edward 
 Island 
 
 " Humbly Sheweth, 
 
 " That your petitioners loug desirous of obtaining a priest vernacular 
 to their language, in number upwards of nine hundred souls, have, 
 through the interference of the Honorable Colonel Compton, received 
 information of a very respectable missionary, thoroughly recommended 
 by ihe Eight Eeverend Bishop of Quebec, who shortly is expected to 
 repair to this Colony, and your petitioners beg leave to quote the fol- 
 lowing paragraph of the Bishop's letter : ' N'y ayant pas de plus sftrs 
 moyens de conserver les sujets dans les vrais principes de morale et 
 de loyaut^ que de leur procurer des pasteurs fiddles et qui leur incul- 
 quent ces principes avec ceux de la religion.' 
 
 " Your petitioners crave leave humbly to represent to Your Excel- 
 lency that, firmly attached as we are to our Benign Sovereign, to His 
 Government, and to Your Excellency's person, we all fully confide 
 in Your Excellency's zeal in promoting the welfare aud exerting your 
 endeavours to render the progeny of the inhabitants of this colony 
 loyal, religious and consequently valuable subjects. 
 
 " Therefore your petitioners humbly conceive that to attain the 
 above desirable ends, such a priest as is above recommended by the 
 Bishop of Canada would be a valuable acquisition to His Majesty in 
 instructing the old and forming the minds of the progeny of the Aca- 
 dians of this Island. 
 
 " Your petitioners (all the Acadians of this Island) therefore hum- 
 bly pray that Your Excellency would be pleased to exert your 
 endeavours in obtaining for Monsieur Merlin from Hia Majesty's 
 
— 150 — 
 
 Minister, a passport to repair to this Island, or that if (in the full 
 conviction that hereafter said passport should be obtained) Mr. Mer- 
 lin should arrive without one, that then you would be pleased to 
 permit said priest -to remain until Your Excellency thought the proper 
 officers should be acquainted with flis Majesty's pleasure. 
 
 " And Your Excellency's Loyal Acadian Suppliants, as in duty 
 bound, will ever pray." 
 
 Governor Des Barres received this petition with the spirit of polite- 
 ness and urbanity that distinguished him. He promised to interest 
 himself in the matter and to see to it, that no difficulties on the part 
 of the civil authorities would stand in the way of any priest who 
 might come to labor in the Acadian missions. 
 
 Colonel Compton informs the Bishop of the Governor's kindness by 
 letter in which he says : " I presented a petition to His Excellency 
 Lieutenant Governor Des Barres, in the name of the Acadians of 
 this Island, with a long list of names subjoined, which petition was 
 very graciously received. His Excellency was so good as to assure 
 me that he would do all that depended on him, and that should 
 Monsieur Merlin arrive on the Island before a passport is obtained, 
 he will not fail receiving the Lieutenant Governor's protection." 
 
 But the expected succor never came. France sent no help to the 
 Acadian people of Prince Edward Island. The Bishop's efforts, the 
 people's desires, and the Governor's promise of protection are alike 
 unavailing ; and Father MacEachern is left to bear alone " the heat 
 and burden of the day." 
 
 He was now absolutely alone. Father Augustine Macdonald who 
 had hitherto shared his exile was no more. After a short illness, 
 brought on by careless blood-letting — the great cure-all of the day — 
 he died at Tracadie, in 1807, and was buried beside his cousin Father 
 James, in the old French cemetery of Scotch Fort. 
 
 His death came home to Father MacEachern with a lively sense 
 of personal loss. He loved the simple-minded, holy man, with whom 
 he spent many a pleasant hour, when his duties would permit him 
 to pay a visit to Tracadie. And now that he is gone forever, a feeling 
 of utter loneliness steals over Father MacEachern, whose mind is ever 
 
— 151 — 
 
 haunted by the picture of Father James' cheerless death-bed. He 
 realizes that he too is getting up in years, and having no companion 
 in the ministry, the possibility of dying without the rites of the- 
 Church swells the tide of his anxieties and fills his solitary life witb 
 sombre and painful forebodings. 
 
 Three years later Capt. John Macdonald followed Father Augus- 
 tine to the tomb. Fortified by the Sacraments of Holy Church, and 
 consoled by the untiring kindness of Father MacEachern, he passed 
 away at Tracadie, in 1810, and was laid to rest at Scotch Fort. 
 
 In that quaint old cemetery, he lies forgotten by the multitudes 
 who are to-day in happy possession of the land he once claimed as 
 his own. There he sleeps his last sleep, while round his lowly grave 
 come and go the descendants of the people whose worldly destinies 
 he once held in the hollow of his hand. Strange verdict of history ! 
 In less than a century almost every trace of his influence has disap- 
 peared from the country wherein he played so important and so 
 conspicuous a part. Few of his descendants remain, and of these all 
 are not of the household of Faith. Such are the results wrought by 
 Time's untiring hand. Nations rise and fall : families have their 
 morning of growth, their noonday of greatness and their evening of 
 senile decay. Individuals, too, share the common lot. They may 
 seem to make an impression on the history of their country ; but it. 
 does not long endure. It speedily fades away like a foot-print on a 
 sandy beach over which rolls the storm-lashed waters of the restless- 
 sea. 
 
 But above, it all ever hovers the watchful Providence of God, 
 without whose knowledge not even a sparrow falls to the ground j 
 and through it all shine the rays of the divine promise : " Behold I 
 am with you all days even till the consummation of the world." 
 
Mns'l' Kl'.W I I ), I'l.KSSlS 
 
 Ari'liliishiip (il (Jiu'licc 
 
 (Ro6 - 182=; 
 
CHAPTER XVIII. 
 
 BISHOP PLESSIS VISITS PRINCE EDWARD ISLAND. 
 
 The obstacles that stood in the way of Father MacEachern's pro- 
 posed visit to Quebec increased in number with the lapse of years. 
 As time went by and no priest came to share his labours, the possibility 
 of absenting himself from his post of duty became more and more 
 remote, and his desire of meeting the Bishop seemed further and 
 further from realization. 
 
 His Lordship, fully understanding the generous spirit that so bound 
 the faithful priest to the service of the people, wrote him a letter in 
 which he says that he has no hope of seeing him come to Quebec, 
 at least until a priest is found to assist him in the missions of Prince 
 Edward Island. " But," adds the Prelate, " as my worthy predecessor 
 opened the way to your Island, I hope I shall not die before I pay 
 you a visit, which will take place after all the inward parishes of the 
 Diocese have been visited, which requires three years more." 
 
 Bishop Plessis had not yet seen this distant portion of his flock. 
 His knowledge of their circumstances was derived from hearsay 
 evidence or gleaned from letters written by missionaries residing in 
 these parts. The scanty information thus obtained tended rather to 
 excite the curiosity than satisfy the mind of the Prelate, and he there- 
 fore resolved to make a tour of the Maritime Provinces, so that by 
 personal contact with the clergy and laity he might learn more of 
 their respective conditions, and at the same time bestow on all the 
 benefit of his episcopal ministrations. The diary kept by the Bishop 
 during this pastoral journey is replete with interesting details. It 
 
— 154 — 
 
 reveals a marvellous power of observation on his part, for nothing 
 seemed to have escaped his notice, notwithstanding the manifold 
 duties that absorbed his attention wheresoever he went. This diary 
 is a most valuable document. It gives us a good insight into the con- 
 dition of ecclesiastical affairs in this Island at that early date, and 
 shall furnish us with the groundwork of one of the most interesting 
 chapters in our history. 
 
 It was on the 12th of May, 1812, that Bishop Plessis set out from 
 Quebec on this pastoral visit. He proceeded by carriage to Kamou- 
 raska, where he boarded a small schooner called the Angilique 
 which was to convey him to the Gulf. The vessel carried a crew of 
 three, viz : Capt. Aim6 Dugast and two seamen. Accompanying His 
 Lordship were two priests, Fathers Maguire and Beaubien, the latter 
 of whom was destined as a helper to Father MacEachern in the mis- 
 sions of Prince Edward Island. An ecclesiastic not yet in Holy 
 Orders, Mr. Xavier C6t^, served in the capacity of chaplain or secre- 
 tary to the Bishop. At Perc^ they were joined by another priest, 
 Eeverend Father Painchaud, whose knowledge of the Indian dialects 
 they hoped to turn to good account during the course of the visit. 
 
 The missions of N ew Brunswick that bordered on the Gulf were 
 visited in turn, and on the 30th of June, His Lordship is at Shediac, 
 ready to cross over to Prince Edward Island. Here he expected to 
 meet Father MacEachern, to whom he had written from Eichibuctou 
 some days previously, but for some reason, the latter was delayed 
 and did not reach Father MacEachern till it was too late for him to- 
 start for Shediac in time to meet the Bishop. 
 
 Disappointed at not meeting him. His Lordship decided to make 
 no delay, but proceed at once across the Strait and abide the chances 
 of meeting with him in Prince Edward Island. 
 
 The Angdique accordingly set sail and made for Bedeque Bay, 
 where they arrived next day. No sooner had Captain Dugast cast 
 anchor, than he was hailed from a boat containing three men who 
 were rapidly making their way to the vessel. Two of these were 
 Acadians from Malpeque, the third was Father MacEachern. The 
 latter was warmly welcomed by the Bishop and his companions. His 
 
— 155 — 
 
 presence, indeed, could not fail, to be of great service, for no one 
 could be a better guide than he in those missions wherein he had 
 labored for over twenty years. The Bishop's impressions of Father 
 MacEachern he gives as follows : " Mr. MacEacheru is familiar with 
 every detail of the country. There is not a- bay, a harbor, a cove, a 
 point of land, a reef or a rock that he cannot point out, not a route by 
 land with which he is not familiar, not a family Catholic or Protestant, 
 French or Scotch, whose good and bad qualities have escaped his 
 notice, not a property that he cannot valuate off hand. 
 
 " Having come from Scotland in 1790, with a number of his 
 countrymen, he entered on the work of the ministry as soon as he 
 received faculties from the Bishop of Quebec. 
 
 " Since then he has been untiring in his labours for the salvation 
 of souls. The presence of Fathers De Calonne and Pichard in the 
 colony gave him an opportunity of extending his labors to the Main- 
 land, and he took advantage of the fact to bring the succors of ' 
 religion to the Catholics of Nova Scotia and Cape Breton Island. 
 Now that these priests are gone away, his activities are confined to 
 the missions of the Island, as to do more would be impossible. The 
 Scotch and Acadians praise his watchful care and devotedness. His 
 conversation is that of a virtuous priest. He enjoys the esteem and 
 respect of all classes, for wttilst he is ever scrupulously exact in 
 performing the duties of his s icred calling, he is no less mindful in 
 observing the canons of politeness and good breeding. 
 
 " He was our joy and edification during the six weeks he accom- 
 panied us on the mission of this year." 
 
 The great Bishop and his humble priest had met at last. After 
 years of earnest desire they had come together. Closer relations 
 revealed new reasons for mutual esteem, so that the above magnificent 
 testimony to the worth of Father MacEachern is not the sentimental 
 extravagance of first impressions, but rather the spontaneous expres- 
 sion of an opinion long since formed, and now strengthened and con- 
 firmed by actual experience. 
 
 One of Father MacEachern's first duties on greeting the Bishop 
 was to convey to him the compliments of Colonel Compton, who had 
 
— 156 — 
 
 invited the entire party to make their home at the " Pavillion " during 
 their stay at the mission. This was good news for the Bishop and 
 clergy, who were growing tired of their accommodation aboard the 
 Angilique. They were therefore happy to accept the kind invitation, 
 and on the following day they disembarked and proceeded to the 
 residence of Mr. Compton, where a kind and flattering welcome 
 awaited them. 
 
 After a night spent in the enjoyment of the Colonel's generous 
 hospitality, they were all much refreshed and in good spirits to 
 enter on the serious work of the pastoral visit. On Friday, July 
 3rd, the religious exercises began in the old chapel already men- 
 tioned in these pages. It was a gala day for the people. The Acadians 
 of Tignish, Cascumpec and Kildare came in great numbers to take 
 part in the solemnities. These and the Indians of Lennox Island 
 added to the people of Malpeque made up a congregation that far 
 ' exceeded the capacity of the little church. All the priests were kept 
 busy bearing confessions. Father Maguire heard the English speak- 
 ing penitents, Father Beaubien had charge of the French, those 
 who spoke only Gaelic addressed themselves to Father MacEachern, 
 while the Micmacs eagerly crowded around Father PaincHaud, when 
 they learned that he could speak their language. A great number 
 approached the Holy Table, and fifty^ix received the sacrament of 
 Confirmation. 
 
 The first thing to give the Bishop an unfavorable impression of 
 Prince Edward Island was the poverty of the churches. Having left 
 the interior of the Diocese, where ecclesiastical affairs were in a 
 flourishing condition, he was astonished and even shocked at the utter 
 destitution that prevailed in this part of his jurisdiction. We here 
 insert his remarks on this subject. Whilst affording us a glimpse of 
 the trying circumstances in which our forebears ■<vorshipped Almighty 
 God, they should excite in our hearts a feeling of profound thankful- 
 ness for the changed conditions in which we have the happiness to live. 
 
 " In Canada (we translate from the Diary) we have little idea of the 
 poverty of the Acadian chapels of Prince Edward Island, and no idea 
 whatever of the utter destitution of the Scottish churches. Only a 
 
— 157 — 
 
 priest brought up in Scotland would ever think of saying Mass in 
 the like.-.. In one, there are no altar-breads nor irons for making 
 them, in another no missal. Here you find a chalice with a cup of 
 gilded copper, there one entirely of tin. In moat of churches there 
 are neither cruets nor albs, nor chalices, nor altar-cloths, nor credence 
 tables, nor surplices, nor ciboriuras, nor holy water fonts, nor baptismal 
 water. In the whole of Prince Edward Island, neither censer nor 
 ostensorium has been seen within the memory of man. 
 
 " A Scotch priest will preach, hear confessions and administer all the 
 sacraments, dressed in citizen's clothing, with an old ribbon that serves 
 for a stole suspended from his neck. In bringing Holy Communion 
 to the sick he puts this ragged stole in one pocket and the pyx con- 
 taining the Sacred Host in another, and starts on his way conversing 
 with this one, shaking hands with another and even spending the 
 night in some house near his route, whose inmates are not aware that 
 he is the bearer of a priceless treasure. If the sick person is very far 
 distant, he goes provided with his portable altar, and says Mass near 
 the bed of the patient who is thus enabled to receive Holy Com- 
 munion. If any children are to baptized, he administers the sacra- 
 ment in the house, with water specially blessed for the purpose." 
 
 On the conduct of his priests the Bishop makes the following 
 reflections : 
 
 " This is one of the effects of religious persecution in Scotland. 
 There priests were obliged to administer the sacraments in secret, and 
 fearing they might be betrayed and condemned to death, they sup- 
 pressed all the exterior forms of worship that were not strictly essen- 
 tial ; and now, though the persecutions have ceased, they still continue 
 to exercise their functions in the same manner. 
 
 " To the land of their adoption they have brought the same custom^ 
 and it is almost impossible to make them understand that more 
 solemnity and decorum are really obligatory in a country where 
 freedom of worship prevails. 
 
 " Singing is as rare in their churches as cerfemonies and vestments. 
 And yet, wonderful to relate, the fervor of their faith surpasses all 
 imagination." 
 
— 158 — 
 
 If Bishop Plesaia was shocked by the destitution of the Scotch 
 missions, he was at thu same time astonished and edified by the 
 lively faith of the people. Many times in his journal he makes 
 mention of it. But did he grasp its true significance ? Did he realize 
 what a mine of sacrifice and devotedness lay hidden beneath ? If the 
 people had preserved the faith, they owed it, under God, to the heroic 
 missionaries who risked all for their sake. 
 
 When persecution raged in Scotland, and a price was set on the 
 head of every priest ; when to say Mass or administer the Sacraments 
 was tantamount to high treason, the clergy never deserted their post 
 of duty, but labored in secret in the interest of our holy religion. 
 Disguised in the garb of a peasant, or in the motley dress of a strolling 
 bard, the priest took his life in his hands that his flock would not 
 be deprived of the sacraments. Hidden by day in some dark cavern, 
 and by night stealing from his unknown retreat to visit his flock,, 
 saying Mass for them in the deeper darkness that precedes the dawn, 
 and hieing him to his concealment before the morning sun was risen, 
 his whereabouts a profound secret, known only to a chosen few who 
 would die rather than divulge it, his days spent ever under the dark 
 shadow of a violent death : such was the life of sacrifice that served 
 to keep alive the torch of divine faith amongst the sorely aflicted 
 Highlanders. 
 
 And when many had fallen victims to their charity and the well- 
 springs of priestly vocation seemed dried up by the savage conditions 
 of the times, another race of heroes came from beyond the channel 
 to the succour of the needy people. The ubiquitous Irish missionary 
 appeared on the scene to devote himself to a cause consecrated by 
 the labors and often by the blood of his Scottish kinsmen. 
 
 These holy men who thus saved the faith in the Highlands did not 
 stop to inquire if their ministry had the approval of the civil author- 
 ities ; they sought no passports from a government whose tyranny 
 they had every reason to fear. No ; they held their commission direct 
 from Almighty God ; their license was stamped with the seal of High 
 Heaven, and they lost no time in bickering with State oiScials whilst 
 souls were crying for bread and none to break it to them. This heroic 
 
— 159 — 
 
 devotion to the cause of Christ won forever the hearts of the people. 
 To them it counted for more than external forms and the solemn 
 pomp of gorgeous ritual, and readily accounts for the fervor of the 
 faith which excited the astonishment of Bishop Plessis. 
 
 The itinerary adopted hy His Lordship the Bishop was exactly the 
 reverse of the one followed by his predecessor in 1803. Having begun 
 his labors at Malpeque, therefore, his next stopping-place was Eus- 
 tico. Thither they proceeded in a large open boat which consumed 
 eighteen tedious hours on the passage. Here the Bishop was pleased 
 to find a new church and a parochial house wellnigh completed. The 
 people, too, manifested the very best dispositions. They were, in fact, 
 ready to execute any reasonable demands if they would be promised 
 a resident pastor. The Bishop, therefore, resolved to leave Father 
 Beaubien in charge of the mission, and enjoined upon the people 
 that they finish the parochial house with all possible dispatch. 
 
 We may well picture to ourselves the joy of the people on hearing 
 of the Bishop's intention. Nine years previously they had been 
 deprived of their pastor for reasons that seemed scarcely sufficient to 
 justify so drastic a proceeding. But now his place is about to be filled 
 thanks to Bishop Plessis, whose treatment of the mission is in happy 
 contrast to that it experienced at the hands of his predecessor. 
 
 Father Beaubien was the first Canadian priest to reside permanently 
 in Prince Edward Island. His appointment to Rustico was a mani- 
 fest proof that Quebec had at length awakened to a true sense of its 
 responsibility in the matter of the Acadian people, who from this 
 time forward were never entirely abandoned. Helpers were hence- 
 forth found for Father MacEachern, until the happy time when the 
 first native Islander was raised to the priesthood and came to share 
 the burden of the ministry in the land of his birth. 
 
 The religious exercises at Rustico occupied three days, and closed 
 with the usual ceremonies on Thursday morning, July 9th. Father 
 Painchaud then bade adieu to His Lordship and s^t out for Oharlotte- 
 town. Here he found the Aiigdique lying at anchor in the harbor, 
 -and prevailed on Capt. Dugast to convey him to Shediac, whence 
 the vessel returned in time to meet the Bishop at St. Andrew's. 
 
— 160 — 
 
 Before taking leave of the people of Eustico, the Bishop drew up 
 a number of rules and regulations to serve as a guide in the manage- 
 ment of parochial affairs. He had already dwelt at some length on 
 these points in the instructions he addressed to them during the 
 exercises of the pastoral visit ; but he deemed it more conducive to 
 the end in view, to embody the same in a letter, which he ordered 
 Father Beaubien to read publicly to the people ; and which he was 
 then to insert in the parish-book where it might be preserved for 
 future reference. 
 
 This letter begins by reminding them that they have been preferred 
 to all the other missions, since Father Beaubien has fixed his res- 
 idence amongst them, and for this reason they should manifest a 
 corresponding energy and punctuality in obeying the rules which His 
 Lordship has deemed necessary to lay down for the welfare of the 
 mission. 
 
 The first of these regulations referred to a plot of land of forty 
 acres, bought by a number of the parishioners on August 7th, 1809. 
 The purchase had been made by three persons, viz : John Gallant, 
 Stephen Gallant and Joseph Martin, and though it was intended for 
 a parochial farm, the title to the same had hitherto remained in the 
 name of the three original purchasers. The Bishop now decides that the 
 land must be at once given over to Father Beaubien, and that it is to 
 be fenced in a suitable manner at the expense of the entire parish. 
 
 He next makes mention of the new parochial house, which is to 
 be finished as soon as possible and put in proper order for the accom- 
 modation of the missionary. To the people of the present day it will 
 appear strange that His Lordship found it necessary to insert the fol- 
 lowing paragraph relating to the new house. " They (the people) 
 shall remember that the entire parochial house belongs to the mis- 
 sionary ; and that they shall have no right to enter it, except when 
 they have business with him." 
 
 Having thus prcTvided for the speedy completion of the new house. 
 His Lordship decides that its surroundings require some attention. 
 He accordingly directs the people to fence in a courtyard wherein 
 they are to erect a stable and sink a well for the use of the missionary. 
 
— 161 — 
 
 Eeferring to the church he says that the five windows that are 
 DOW wanting are to be procured as soon as possible and put in place 
 during the coming autumn. The church-door is to be furnished with 
 a lock, as is also the door of the Tabernacle, because henceforth it 
 shall be the abode of the Eeal Presence. 
 
 To enable the church to defray its current expenses, His Lordship 
 insists that pews be put in according as the people are directed to do 
 so by Father Beaubien, which pews are to be sold at auction, the 
 highest bid indicating the yearly rent the purchaser agrees to pay for 
 the use of the same. The original purchasers shall continue to occupy 
 their pews as long as they pay the rent, and at their death their 
 widows succeed to their title and hold the same on the like condition 
 as long as they do not remarry. 
 
 For the better convenience of pastor and people, and to enhance 
 the splendor of external worship, the Bishop directs that a chancel 
 twenty feet square be add ed to the church, for which they are to pre- 
 pare the necessary materials during the winter, in order that the 
 building operations may be begun early in the following spring. 
 
 In conclusion, reference is made to the old and new cemeteries. The 
 former is to be properly closed in, and the latter now laid off by His 
 Lordship is to be surrounded with a solid stone wall. 
 
 The above contains in substance Bishop Plessis' parting advice to 
 the people of Rustico. It affords us an insight into the labors that 
 awaited Father Beaubien, the first Canadian priest to assume charge 
 of the mission. 
 
 Bishop Plessis and his companions left Eustico for St. Andrew's 
 early in the morning of Friday, July 10th. They went by boat and 
 landed at the head of Tracadie, near the home of Mrs. Capt. Macdonald, 
 by whom they were hospitably entertained at dinner. After dinner 
 the Bishop, accompanied by Fathers MacEachern and Maguire, 
 started on foot for St. Andrew's, followed by Father Beaubien and 
 Mr. C6t^ who travelled on horseback. ' 
 
 The church of St. Andrew's is thus described by the Bishop : 
 
 " Here is the chief residence of Father MacEachern, and the most 
 
 important Scotch chapel on the Island. Like all the others it is a 
 11 
 
— 162 — 
 
 ■wooden building ; but it is in good proportion and well finished on the 
 outside. It has no steeple, and a cross was ordered to be placed at 
 one end, as a mark of its sacred character. It contains galleries which 
 are unfinished, benches with backs to them, and an altar of abnormal 
 length. In other respects it is absolutely devoid of decoration, if we 
 except one valuable painting imported from England, which represents 
 Pilate delivering up the Son of God to be crucified. " 
 
 As the exercises of the Pastoral visit were about to begin at St. 
 Andrew's, Father Macdonald, of Arisaig, N. S., arrived on the scene. 
 This was a most fortunate circumstance for Father MacEachern who 
 would otherwise have been obliged to hear all the confessions, as 
 the people could speak only Gaelic. Throughout Saturday and Sunday 
 the exercises continued. Multitudes approached the Holy Table and 
 sixty-six received the sacrament of Confirmation. 
 
 During his stay at St. Andrew's the Bishop had occasion to refer 
 to certain abuses which he found prevailing amongst the people. 
 
 It seems that they were given to talking rather promiscuously in 
 the church before and after service, as if the church were only a 
 profane building. Dogs, too, frequented the holy place and ran about 
 in perfect freedom. 
 
 The Lordship pointed out the incongruity of such conduct, and 
 urged upon his hearers a greater respect for the House of God. 
 
 In this connection it may be well to reca;ll the fact that these 
 people had not been much-accustomed to the use of churches until 
 in recent years. For a long time they assisted at Mass in private 
 houses, where, as soon as the voice of sacrifice was hushed into 
 silence, the hum of ordinary conversation was set up, and when the 
 usual business of the day followed closely upon the most solemn acts 
 of divine worship. This may account in some measure for a custom 
 that called forth a strong rebuke from Bishop Plessis, a custom, by 
 the way, which still obtains to some extent in many congregations 
 <lespite the advantages and so called enlightenment of the present day. 
 
 What particularly shocked the Bishop, and must prove a great 
 surprise to our readers, was the immodesty in dress displayed by the 
 women. We learn from His Lordship's diary that they came to receive 
 
— 1&3 — 
 
 Holy Communion with their throats exposed to a degree that would 
 merit their exclusion, not merely from the Holy Table, but even from 
 the Church itself. The Bishop may have been over fastidious in this 
 matter, for he admits that it might be attributed to the simplicity of 
 the people, and we incline to the opinion that the evil in itself was 
 not of much consequence, but appeared greater by comparison with 
 the style of dress worn by the Acadian women of that time. The 
 Prelate nevertheless inveighed strongly against the abuse and he 
 ^ assures us that a noticeable change for the better was at once 
 effected. 
 
 These faults, however, were only minor ones and were completely 
 eclipsed by the fervent faith and sincere devotion of the people.' The 
 Diary says " that they are as attached to their priest and as demon- 
 strative in their piety as the Irish. At Mass you hear them sighing, 
 and at the Elevation, they burst forth into sobs. They keep joining 
 and separating their hands and striking their breasts so that their 
 arms are in continual movement. Many remain prostrate with their 
 face to the floor all through the sacrifice of the Mass. At the Com- 
 munion men and women drag themselves on their knees to the altar 
 rail, and in their ardor would reach the foot of the altar if no one 
 would prevent them." 
 
 In this latter circumstance we can trace another effect of hearing 
 Mass and receiving Communion for years at an improvised altar in 
 private houses. 
 
 Having closed their labors at St. Andrew's, the Bishop and his 
 companions boarded the Angdlique, that lay at anchor as far up the 
 river as Capt. Dugast would risk to go ; and gliding down the peace- 
 ful Hillsborough, they arrived at Charlottetown Tuesday morning, 
 July 14th. 
 
 In 1812 the capital of Prince Edward Island was a place of some 
 pretension. Its site had been well chosen for strength, while for 
 beauty it could not be excelled. Its wide streets, elegant private 
 residences and imposing public buildings gave it an airofiriiportance 
 that excited the admiration of the Bishop. 
 
 It had an Anglican church, a new court-house, and barracks for 
 
— 164 — 
 
 the soldiers, but no Catholic church, no parochial house, nor any of 
 the requisites for the service of the altar. 
 
 The Bishop was forced to go to a hotel kept by a family named 
 Bagnall, who proud of their distinguished guest, showered on him 
 every kindness and attention. Here he was visited by all the prin- 
 cipal citizens, amongst others by ex- Governor Fanning and Chief 
 Justice Colglough. This latter gentlemen was so kind as to place the 
 new Court House at the disposal of the Bishop for divine service. 
 The workmen were still engaged in furnishing the interior, but it . 
 was soon cleared of all debris and put in good order, and the Bishop, 
 profiting by the generosity of Mr. Colglough, said Mass in it on 
 Thursday morning. His Lordship was all the more pleased with the 
 opportunity, as on the previous morning he had been obliged to go to an 
 inn ^ kept by a Catholic family, for the purpose of offering the Holy 
 Sacrifice. Taking advantage of the large congregation assembled in 
 the Court House, the Bishop spoke to them of the necessity of pro- 
 viding themselves with a church. He bade them begin at once to 
 collect funds for this purpgse under the guidance of Father *Mac- 
 jEachern. He expressed the hope that by next Spring they would 
 have a church in process of construction, and chose for its Titular 
 St. Dunstan, Archbishop of Canterbury. He directed that it should be 
 built on a site donated for the purpose by Mrs. Calbeck, a wealthy 
 Protestant widow, to whom he paid a personal visit in grateful recog- 
 nition of her generosity. On Wednesday His Lordship called on 
 Lieutenant Governor Des Barres, and on the , following day he was 
 the guest of ex-Governor Fanning. Many other invitations he 
 was forced to decline, as time was pressing, and he felt that he 
 must shorten his stay in Prince Edward Island and return to Quebec 
 where business of importance demaiided his presence. 
 
 The schooner with Capt. Dugast on board was lying at the Three 
 Tides. The Commander of the garrison furnished a large boat manned 
 by soldiers to convey the Bishop and suite to her side. On the wharf 
 the Bishop bade adieu to Father Beaubien who was returning to his 
 
 1 McPhee's, Dorchester street. 
 
— 165 — 
 
 mission at Rustico. Towards evening the Angdique, having on board 
 the Bishop, his secretary and Fathers Maguire, MacEachern and 
 Macdonald, weighed anchor, sailed out the harbor and steered her 
 ■course for Fortune Bay, where the Bishop was to bring to a close his 
 visit -of the Island missions. The night being fine and the wind favor- 
 able, they made a good passage and arrived at their destination on 
 the following morning. This was the 17th of July, the Feast of St. 
 Alexis, whom the Bishop at once selected to be the Titular of the 
 little church. The choice, of course, was a mere coincidence ; but it 
 would seem that the worthy Prelate must have had an eye to the fitness 
 of things, when he chose a Saint who had been a beggar and outcast, 
 to be patron of a church thus pictured in the Diary : " The chapel 
 is miserably built and unfinished ; its entire stock of ornaments con- 
 sists of two candlesticks without a crucifix, and an antependium made 
 of calico, on which are stamped pictures of children at play, sights 
 more apt to cause distraction than inspire devotion." 
 
 A great throng of people assembled at Fortune Bay to greet the 
 Bishop. The inhabitants of Naufrage, East Point and Three Rivers 
 were present in great numbers, and on Saturday night, the 18th July, 
 every house in the settlement was crowded to its utmost capacity 
 Indeed.the small farm-houses were utterly inadequate to accommodate 
 the multitudes assembled on the occasion, and some were forced to 
 pass the night in the church, whilst others of more robust constitu- 
 tions courted the drowsy god with the starry sky for a coverlet. 
 Father MacEachern and Father Macdonald were kept very busy. 
 Two little barns near the church served them for confessionals, and 
 there they spent most of the time literally besieged by their peni- 
 tents. The visit terminated on Monday morning, July 19th, after Con- 
 firmation had been administered to ninety-six persons. 
 
 Before taking leave of Fortune Bay, Bishop Plessis issued a Pastoral 
 Letter addressed to Father MacEachern ; a part of which was intended 
 for his own personal guidance, and a part to be communicated to the 
 people. Among other things he enjoins on Father MacEachern the 
 obligation of wearing a clerical dress as prescribed by the Council of 
 Trenti To Father MacEachern he assigns the spiritual care of all the 
 
— 166 — 
 
 Scotch missions throughout the Island, and to Father Beaubien 
 that of all the Acadian missions. To equalize the payment of tithes 
 to the two missionaries, the Island was divided into two sections by 
 a line passing through Charlottetown. All to the east of Charlottetown, 
 whether they were Scotch or Acadians, were directed to hand in their 
 contributions to Father MacEachern, and Father Beaubien was to 
 receive the offerings of all persons living to the west of said boundary 
 line. The Pastoral insisted very strongly on the solemnities of exterior 
 worship. It commanded Father MacEachern to put all the churches 
 in better order, to see that were duly provided with vestments, bells 
 and steeples. 
 
 For the future he is not to say Mass in private houses, except in 
 cases of absolute necessity. This point was to be observed especially 
 in Charlottetown, so that the people would be all the more eager to 
 build a church. Then follow some instructions regarding confessions, 
 baptisms, the receiving of converts into the Church, and other matters 
 wisely laid down with a view to better discipline in all the missions. 
 
 At Fortune Bay, the labors of Bishop Plessis in Prince Edward 
 Island came to an end. On the 21st of July, he crossed over to Cape 
 Breton and resumed his Pastoral visitation at the mission of Cheti- 
 camp. Three weeks had he spent on Prince Edward Island ; three 
 weeks of unremitting application to duty, and it is safe to assert 
 that seldom did any Bishop dispose of more business or patiently 
 listen to more details of spiritual and temporal concerns than did 
 Bishop Plessis in that interval of time. Wherever he went the people 
 flocked to see him, and all came away feeling that they had knelt in 
 the presence of one of God's saints. His kind and saintly manner 
 won the hearts of all, and if on some occasions he was forced to 
 condemn certain abuses, he never failed to clothe his censures in the 
 graceful mantle of charity. The memory of his visit lingered long in 
 the minds of the people. It was the subject of fireside conversation 
 for many a day. The children retained vivid recollections of the 
 happy day when they received at his hands the sacrament of Con- 
 firmation, and in their old age they loved to evoke, from the misty 
 land of reminiscence, the impressions created in their young minds by 
 the awe-inspiring mien of the venerable Prelate. 
 
— 167 — 
 
 On his departure from Prince Edward Island he prevailed on 
 Father MacEachern to accompany him to Cape Breton Island, and 
 throughout the missions of the Gulf Shore as far as Pictou. Arrived 
 at Pictou, he decided to return to Quebec at once and postpone till 
 some more auspicious time his visit of the remaining missions of 
 Nova Scotia. 
 
 In the month of June previous, war had been declared between 
 the United States and Great Britain, and in consequence, Upper and 
 Lower Canada were threatened with invasion. The Prelate therefore- 
 felt that his presence in his Cathedral City was vitally necessary, a» 
 weighty issues might arise at any moment demanding his personal 
 attention. He accordingly suspended his visitation of the Maritime 
 Provinces, and made his way back to Quebec by the shortest avail- 
 able route. 
 
 Before parting from Father MacEachern, the Bishop placed in his 
 hands a second pastoral letter, bidding him translate the same into 
 Gaelic and communicate its contents to the people of St. Andrew'Si 
 Naufrage and Three Eivers. 
 
 This Pastoral, dated at Pictou on August 12th, 1812, contains cer- 
 tain instructions concerning the payment of tithes, and regulates 
 the stipends for High Masses and funeral services. It then enters into 
 the question of supplying priests for the missions, of which subject 
 His Lordship has this to ^ay : " It is Our desire to inform you that, 
 in our anxiety to provide you with priests, We have directed Father 
 MacEachern to take up collections in the missions, the proceeds of 
 which shall be devoted to the education of some of your sons for the 
 ministry. We know that you have already contributed towards this 
 object, and We earnestly hope that you may continue to do so in 
 future. We have directed Father MacEachern to make choice of two 
 boys, between the ages of twelve and fifteen years, and send them to 
 Quebec to begin their studies in one of Our colleges." 
 
Rr:\-. I 1., 
 
CHAPTER XIX. 
 
 FATHER BEAUBIBN AT EUSTICO. — SICKNESS OF THE PEOPLE. — ACADIANS 
 OF MALPEQUB MOVE FUETHER WEST. 
 
 The years that followed the visit of Bishop Plessis were marked 
 by steady progress in the ecclesiastical affairs of Prince Edward 
 Island. Father MacEacheru was no longer alone in the work of the 
 ministry : a helper had been found for him, the Eeverend Jean-Louis 
 Beaubien, to whom had been entrusted the care of the Acadian mis- 
 sions. He was also charged with the missions of the Magdalen Islands, 
 where the people did not enjoy the benefit of a resident priest. The 
 Indians, too, formed no inconsiderable part of his scattered flock, 
 and helped to swell the tide of labors and anxieties that fell to his 
 lot. The following letter written at Arisaig by Bishop Plessis, during 
 the course of his Pastoral visit, will show what arrangements he had 
 deemed fit to make in the interest of this latter people. 
 
 " To Mr. Jean-Louis Beaubien, Missionary. 
 
 Sir, 
 
 " The Indians dispersed along the shores of Pictou and Merigomish 
 having no fixed residence, may go to your mission to receive instruc- 
 tion and approach the Sacraments. In remuneration for your services, 
 and for the sake of proper discipline, you may exact a half dollar per 
 year from each communicant and head of family. Let them not come 
 seeking your services in every place where you may happen to be, 
 
— 170 — 
 
 but only at Lennox Island, and see that you duly inform them of 
 the time they can find you at the latter place. You may, until further 
 orders, do likewise with any who may chance to come from New- 
 foundland. But those of Cape Breton Island must address them- 
 selves to Mr. Lejamtel, those of Pomquet to Mr. Pichard, and those 
 of Eichibouctou to Mr. Gagnon. 
 
 " In the meantime try earnestly to learn the Micmac. The more I 
 travel, the more am I convinced that a knowledge of their language 
 is necessary for those who have spiritual charge of those poor people. 
 If they have been neglected and abandoned in the past, it is owing in 
 a great measure to the fact that the missionaries could not speak to 
 them in their own tongue." 
 
 With this programme of arduous labour before him. Father Beau- 
 bien took up his residence at Rustico. His rule was to pay two regular 
 visits to each mission of Prince Edward Island every year, and 
 during the summer, to cross over to the Magdalen Islands, where he 
 would remain several weeks at a time. Indeed, his stay would some- 
 times be prolonged beyond all expectation, before chance would place 
 in his way a suitable means of return. If we add to this his frequent, 
 calls to thei sick and other necessary journeys, we will readily under- 
 stand that he had but little time to enjoy the leisure of home life at 
 Eustico. A letter written to the Bishop of Quebec, October 7th, 1812, 
 furnishes some details of his early experience in his new sphere of 
 duty. 
 
 " A few days after my arrival," he writes, " I was called to Mal- 
 peque, to visit a Micmac woman who was lying ill, and I profited 
 by the occasion to hold a station in the settlement. On my return to 
 Eustico, I devoted a few days to getting some work done to my new 
 house. I then started for Tignish and its neighbouring settlements, 
 and got back only a few days ago. I found places where the people 
 are very good ; but in some others, they are bad enough. I trust, by 
 the aid of God's grace, that these may change for the better. 
 
 " In a few days I start for Fortune Bay, whence I hope to make 
 my way to the Magdalen Islands. This, however, is rather doubtful, 
 as every one says I shall not be able to reach there this fall. When 
 
— 171 — 
 
 I get to East Point, I shall be able to tell.- If I don't go this autumn, 
 I will do so early in the spring, unless I fall into the hands of the 
 Americans." 
 
 Father Beaubien's first winter in Prjuce Edward Island was one of 
 unusual severity. Much sickness likewise prevailed throughout the 
 missions, and the two priests were kept busy attending the sick and 
 dying. Fortunate it was that Father MacEachern had a companion 
 to share with him the hardship of that trying time; for otherwise it 
 would have been impossible for him to attend so many sick people, 
 and not a few would probably have died without the rites of the 
 Church. Father Beaubien, in one of his letters, makes mention of 
 the hardships experienced both by priests and people during the 
 rigors of that dreary season. 
 
 " We have had," he writes " a terrible winter for frost and snow 
 and sickness, which caused us many journeys, and which carried off 
 twelve persons in Eustico alone. I believe it was the Good Lord 
 Himself who, in the end, put a stop to it." The prevalence of sickness 
 must have spread terror among the people, for he adds : " The 
 people oflhe Magdalen Islands have not yet come over for me : they 
 are afraid of catching the disease." 
 
 Father MacEachern, whose eastern missions were sadly decimated 
 by the epidemic, thus describes his experiences of it : " On the 7th of 
 January, I went to visit a sick man from this Town (Charlottetown) 
 through the woods to Lot 14 in one day. A few days after, I was 
 called to Egmont Bay, returned then to Malpec, and after having 
 confessed such of our people as live aroand the Bay, I returned to 
 Mr. Beaubien's ch§,teau at St. Augustine's in the middle of February. 
 From that time till the middle of June, I seldom slept two nights in 
 the same bed. A raging fever resembling a pleurisy carried off many 
 of our people. I went eight times to Three Rivers, and always in the 
 winter, by Lot 44 across to St. Alexis and along the bays. The snow 
 was never known so deep and the weather so severe. There was not 
 a settlement east of Eustico where the sickness did not spread. It 
 is a good thing in such distress to be descended of the sons of Fingal." 
 
— 172 — 
 
 This epidemic seems to have continued its deadly work among the 
 people for several years, for three years later, Father MacEachern 
 writes as follows : " There has not passed a winter these four years 
 past, but we have been visited with pleuritic fevers ; consequently, 
 my confrere and myself have been kept marching and countermarch- 
 ing almost constantly." 
 
 This reason alone, even if no other existed, would have rendered it 
 exceedingly difficult to carry out the instructions of Bishop Plessis, 
 regarding the exterior management of the missions. The improve- 
 ments suggested in his letters would entail considerable work even 
 in the most favorable circumstances ; but amid the hardships of 
 the times, the sickness of the people, the frequent journeys of the 
 missionaries, and their short and uncertain stay in any particular 
 place, it is not surprising that the work proceeded slowly, and that 
 the changes, so urgently demanded by His Lordship, proved some- 
 what tardy in realization. 
 
 That such was Father Beaubien's experience we learn from one of 
 his letters written at Eustico, Sept. 22nd,' 1813 : " I have informed 
 Your Lordship, " it goes on to say, " that our work is progressing, 
 audit continues to do so, though not without trouble. Many are 
 negligent in handing in their contributions and furnish poor excuses 
 for their negligence. I have threatened several times to complain to 
 Your Lordship, and have even gone so far as to say that they would 
 not be admitted to the sacraments unless they would do better. 
 Since then I find some improvement, and I hope it may prove 
 lasting. I do not bring these matters to Your Lordship's notice for 
 the purpose of inducing you to exercise the rigors of your episcopal 
 authority over these people. No, I would not wish to have recourse 
 to such harsh measures, because there are too many good people 
 amongst them. All I ask is that Your Lordship say something in 
 your next letter that I may read to them, as well as to those in my 
 other missions who are guilty of a like negligence." 
 
 About a year later, he again refers to the subject and has this to 
 say of it : " We are not as far advanced as Your Lordship would 
 perhaps desire. But it is not the fault of the parish. I believe that 
 
— 173 — 
 
 all are doing their best. The real cause of the delay is my frequent 
 visits to the other missions, the prevalence of sickness and the inac- 
 tivity of our workmen, who are by no means as diligent as they 
 ought to be." 
 
 In his business relations with the people, Father Beaubien seems 
 to have been a striking counterpart of Father MacEachern. He was 
 apt to be somewhat indulgent in money matters, and on that account 
 preferred to let things go more slowly, rather than put the people to 
 much inconvenience by being harsh and exacting in his demands. To 
 some this may appear a questionable disposition in a priest entrusted 
 with the administration of the finances of a parish ; nor do we pre- 
 sume to raise here or much less to solve the question whether or not 
 it is better to be rigorously exacting in these matters. We think, 
 however, that if we go back to the years of which we write, and con- 
 template the condition of affairs that obtained at that time, we will 
 hesitate before accusing our pioneer missionaries of remissness in this 
 particular. For the Bishop who had paid only one visit to the country, 
 and who, in consequence, possessed but very imperfect knowledge of 
 the true inwardness of the case, it was an easy matter to condemn 
 existing conditions and lay down rules and establish regulations 
 regarding the future of the missions. But for the missionaries who 
 lived on the spot, the question had a widely different aspect. They 
 understood every phase of the people's circumstances. They were 
 brought in daily contact with the most touching evidence of their 
 poverty and destitution. They thennselves bore a large share of their 
 wants and privations, and we cannot wonder then, that the good 
 priests were moved to pity and regarded their flock with a spirit of 
 patient indulgence. We who live in this age of material prosperity 
 may condemn this as a weakness and want of energy ; but those who 
 seek in all things the greater glory of God cannot fail to admire the 
 spirit that prompted Father Beaubien to write : " We have not 
 advanced much in_our work. My occupations and the poverty of the 
 people is the reason why I have not pressed them too much." 
 
 Whilst the people of Eustico were thus providing a suitable place 
 of worship for themselves, the mission of Malpeque was in a state 
 
— 174 — 
 
 of hopeless confusion. The disagreement between the people and 
 Colonel Comptpn, to which we referred elsewhere, instead of diminish- 
 ing with the lapse of time, acquired greater pVopbrtions. A com- 
 promise had been attempted in 1812, when the Colonel made a 
 proposition to his tenants, by which he offered them a long lease of 
 their lands at what he considered a reasonable figure, but which they 
 considered so high that they refused to entertain the proposal. When 
 Father Beaubien paid his first visit to the mission in the fall of 1812, 
 he found the proprietor and the people so inflamed against each other 
 that he thought fit to inform the Bishop of the misunderstanding. 
 He accordingly wro te : " The people of Malpeque are as they were 
 when Your Lordship visited the settlement. Mr. Compton is much 
 displeased with them, especially with Mr. Placide Gaudet, who 
 refused to go "about the parish on Sunday during High Mass and 
 Vespers, in which refusal he was right. The Colonel went so far as 
 to say that he would stop the Mass altogether, and made some other 
 nonsensical threats, unless they came to terms, but nothing has come 
 of it thus far. Nevertheless I believe the unfortunate people will 
 finally move elsewhere." 
 
 Father Beaubien's predictions proved only too true. The people 
 decided to leave Malpeque, and move further to the westward where 
 they hoped to procure lands on mor^ favorable terms. On the 4th of 
 September, 1813, he again refers to their unsettled condition in a 
 letter to the Bishop of Quebec. " I have done nothing at Malpeque," 
 he writes ; " the people stand, with Mr. Compton as they did a year 
 ago. Many are leaving the mission and others are preparing to follow." 
 
 Another grievance under which they labored was the trouble- 
 some conduct of their Protestant neighbors. These were principally 
 English settlers, who had come from England to Prince Edward Island 
 at the request of Colonel Compton. They had no sooner arrived at 
 Malpeque than they began to look with covetous eyes on the beau- 
 tiful farms cleared by the industry of the Acadians, and were not 
 slow to profit by the unhappy circumstances of the latter to come 
 into easy possession of their holdings. Taking advantage of the mutual 
 distrust between the landlord and his tenants, as well as of the innate 
 
— 175 — 
 
 fear with which the Acadians regarded the English, the new comers 
 so played on the feelings of this simple-minded people as to render 
 theit lives very uncomfortable. 
 
 A tradition still lingering among the Acadians relates how one of 
 the original tenants of Colonel Compton, named Joseph Arsenault ^, 
 on returning home from his work on a certain evening, found a notice 
 posted on his barn-door, threatening him with violence if he did not 
 immediately vacate the premises. The notice was stuck through with 
 the tines of a hay-fork, and set forth that the owner of the barn would 
 be in danger of similar treatmeni; should he delay his departure. 
 
 Mr. Arsenault was a man of considerable influence in the commu- 
 nity. He was in a certain sense a leader amongt his countrymen. 
 Fearless in upholding their rights and outspoken in condemning their 
 wrongs, he stood in the way of English aggression, and obstructed 
 these covetous new comers in their efforts to obtain possession of 
 the fertile farms of the Acadians. It was necessary therefore that they 
 get him out of the way, and he was accordingly singled out for the 
 above mentioned display of hostility. 
 
 Such strained relations could not long endure. The condition of 
 the Acadians was fast becoming intolerable ; so they determined to 
 abandon their holdings and go elsewhere to seek homes wherein they 
 might dwell in peace and security. 
 
 Father MacEachern learned of their intention during a visit he paid 
 to the Catholics of Lot 14, and immediately brought their case to the 
 notice of the Bishop of Quebec. " I am sorry to hear, " he writes, 
 " that the poor Acadians of Lot 17 are to remove to Egmont Bay, on 
 Lot 15. It is said that their neighbors are troublesome to them in 
 spirituals and temporals where they are." 
 
 For these reasons the French people residing around St. Eleanor's 
 moved further westward and took up land at Egmont Bay and along 
 the shores of Fifteen Point. At Egmont Bay they soon put up a 
 small log church, thus laying, in a humble and unpretentious manner, 
 the foundation of the present prosperous parish of St. James. Here 
 
 1 — Nicknamed " Joe League and a half." 
 
— 176 — 
 
 they reared new homes in the forest, and amid untold privations, 
 labored to support themselves and their families. 
 
 It were a dreary story to narrate all the hardships that fell to their 
 lot, especially during their first years in the new settlements. It was 
 the history of Acadia repeating itself, wheu those persecuted people, 
 driven by the greed and rapacity of a stronger race, abandoned their 
 comfortable homes and fertile fields, and went forth to begin life anew 
 amid the hardships and uncertainties of the wilderness. But their 
 confidence in God never wavered. Father Beaubien visited them and 
 said Mass in their little chapel as often as his manifold duties per- 
 mitted, and soon the sun of prosperity rose clear and bright over the 
 horizon and gilded their future with the bliessed rays of hope and 
 promise. 
 
CHAPTER XX. 
 
 AFFAIRS IN CHAELOTTETOWN. — CLERICAL DRESS. — THE CANCER 
 
 REMEDY. 
 
 At this stage of onr history it is necessary to take a glance at the 
 condition of affairs in Charlottetown. The Catholic portion of its 
 population had been ordered by Bishop Plessis to provide themselves 
 as soon as possible with a suitable place of worship ; but it seems 
 that they were as dilatory in obeying the command as the people of 
 the country missions. 
 
 A letter written by Father MacEachern, in the autumn of 1813, 
 contains the following reference to this matter : " From the sickly 
 state of the country and the difficulty of procuring boards we have 
 not done anything as yet towards building our chapel in Charlotte- 
 town. The first subscription (on paper) amounts to £90." Things 
 went on in this way somewhat longer, for in March, 1815, he again 
 writes : " The sickly state of the country, the want of a good situa- 
 tion, the small number of Catholics in Charlottetown, and various 
 other reasons prevented our building a chapel before now in this 
 place." One of the reasons here advanced for the delay was the 
 want of a good site for the proposed new church. Father MacEachern 
 would not be satisfied with an inferior one when there was question 
 of building a place of worship in an important centre like Charlotte- 
 town. He therefore preferred to wait until a site was available in a 
 suitable place. 
 
 In this connection our readers may remember that a certain Mrs. 
 Calbeck had offered a plot of land for the purpose, and in return for 
 12 
 
— 178 — 
 
 her generosity, had heen honored with a visit of the Bishop of Quebec 
 during his stay in Charlottetown in 1812. Whether this offer was 
 afterwards withdrawn or that the land was found unsuitable we 
 cannot say, but certain it is, it was not used as a site for the church, 
 and from that time we hear no more of it. In the autumn of 1812, 
 Mr. John Brecken, a merchant of Charlottetown, offered Father Mac- 
 Eachern a plot of land lying between the residence of Governor Des- 
 Barres and the Anglican church. Though touched by the generosity 
 of the donor, Father MacEachern did not find the situation to his 
 liking, but writes the Bishop that he hopes to be able to exchange it 
 for a more central one. Soon the very site he had in view, and which 
 of all others was unquestionably the most desirable, was thrown on 
 the market, and the prudent priest lost no time in securing it. It was 
 described as Lot No. 77 in the first hundred of town-lots in Char- 
 lottetown, and lay at the south-west angle formed by the intersection 
 of Great George and Sydney Streets, where rises to-day in solemn 
 grandeur the imposing faQade of St. Dunstan's Cathedral. It was the 
 property of a certain Christopher Kartell, a shoemaker, who released 
 the same to the church, by a deed bearing date Oct. 25th, 1815. As 
 soon as the bargain was made. Father MacEachern informed the 
 Bishop of the fact by a letter in which he says : " We bought a lot 
 opposite to Governor Fanning's, on the best eminence in Charlotte- 
 town, for £75.0.0, of which I paid £10.0.0 myself. We mean to 
 build on it right away." 
 
 The Catholic people who live in Charlottetown to-day have just 
 reason to appreciate the foresight displayed by Father MacEachern, 
 in selecting a site for the new church. Like a prudent man of the 
 world, he read the signs of the times and formed his plans not only 
 with a view to present conditions, but also with a careful regard for 
 future necessities. He foresaw that Charlottetown would one day be 
 •a place of importance, and furnish grand possibilities for the activities 
 of Holy Church. In this respect the future was not entirely hidden 
 from him, for he instinctively felt that the Church, despite her many 
 ■disadvantages, would be able to keep pace with her more fortunate 
 •environment, and stamp the impress of her God-given energy on the 
 
— 179 — 
 
 community in which she had hitherto been almost a stranger. What 
 joy would have been his, had the veil been entirely lifted, so that he 
 might catch a glimpse of the distant day, when the modest church he 
 is now to build gave place to a magnificent cathedral, whose majestic 
 spires spring heavenward from the very spot which, in our day as in 
 his, is " the best eminence in Charlottetown." 
 
 Although building operations were long delayed, and for excellent 
 reasons, still we must not conclude that the spiritual wants of the 
 people of Charlottetown were entirely neglected. Father Mac- 
 Eachern went amongst them as often as possible, and Father Beau- 
 bien occasionally came from Eustico to visit them. During those 
 years Mass was usually said in the parlor of a house of entertain- 
 ment kept by Donald MacPhee, whose wife, originally a Protestant, 
 had been converted to the Faith by the Abbd De Calonne. Mr. Mac- 
 Phee and his amiable wife were famed far and near for their hospi- 
 tality. The house in which they lived, whose doors were ever open 
 to friend and stranger alike, still stands on the north side of Dor- 
 chester street a litile east of Pownal street ^. Here the people would 
 assemble when they learned of Father MacEachern's arrival in the 
 town, and here he was subjected to the same routine of duties which 
 marked his visits to the country missions. 
 
 Mr. MacPhee died in November, 1812, and Father MacEachern 
 attended his funeral with ex-Governor Fanning and other notables of 
 Charlottetown. This was the first time that Father MacEachern had 
 appeared publicly in a clerical dress. Hitherto, he had gone about, 
 shewing no distinctive mark of his sacred calling, but wearing the 
 dress of an ordinary layman. His clothes were usually of dark home- 
 spun cloth, woven by one of his sisters-in-law, and fulled by an old- 
 fashioned process long since gone out of use. This was another case 
 of laying aside external forms, as was the custom in Ireland and in 
 the Highlands of Scotland, so as not to attract the attention of the 
 civil authorities. Up to this time, Father MacEachern had not been 
 officially recognized by the authorities of the day. He was allowed 
 
 1 Now occupied by Mr. Andrew Sullivan. 
 
— 180 — 
 
 to go his way unmolested, and thanks to the generous spirit of 
 toleration that characterized the Governors ofthat time, he suffered 
 no inconvenience in the discharge of his clerical duties. But if he 
 had applied to the Government for a passport or any legal recognition, 
 as the French clergy had done, he might have met with a refusalj . 
 and be perhaps subjected to other annoyances. He chose the more 
 apostolic way of going about the Master's business, without leave or 
 license from any earthly power. He avoided, however, as much as 
 possible, all conflict with the civil authorities, by making as little 
 outward display of his clerical character as was consistent with his 
 calling, and smoothing over the difficulties of his position, not by legal 
 forms nor Government parchments, but by the silent argument of the 
 good which he accomplished. To the people whom he served his 
 style of dress was of little consequence. They knew him to be a true 
 Apostle and a worthy servant of the Divine Master. They felt that 
 he touched their spiritual interests at every vital point, and it is 
 doubtful if he could have been more revered or more beloved in the 
 gorgeous robes of a Eoman Prelate than in his homely garb scarcely 
 superior to the " hodden grey " of the Scottish peasant. 
 
 But when Bishop Plessis bade him wear the clerical dress, then a 
 change became a conscientious duty. Whatever delay might occur 
 in directing the people to carry out episcopal instructions, in matters 
 where he alone was personally concerned, prompt obedience was his 
 watchword. He, therefore, at the Bishop's request, put aside his lay 
 attire to don that of the ecclesiastic, and informed his Superior of the 
 change in these words : " I got my uniform as well done as that of 
 Mr. Beaubien, and assisted publicly in my clerical habit at the 
 funeral obsequies of Mr. MacPhee (with Governor Fanning and 
 several others of our noblesse), in Charlottetown, about two Weeks 
 ago." 
 
 Another matter to which his attention was called by Bishop 
 Plessis was the necessity of providing vestments and other requisites 
 for the different missions. This he was now trying to accomplish as 
 faithfully and speedily as the circumstances of the time would allow. 
 
 Goods shipped to Prince Edward Island during these years were 
 
— 181 — 
 
 in danger of b^ing lost or destroyed at sea. Since the declaration of 
 war between Great Britain and the United States, privateers of the 
 latter country continually patrolled the waters of the Gulf of St. 
 Lawrence in search of British shipping. The following incident which 
 occurred at that time shows that church goods were not considered 
 contraband of war, but received a fair measure of respect when fallen 
 into hostile hands. 
 
 Michael MacDonald, of Judique, Cape Breton, a brother-in-law of 
 "Father MacEachern, was returning home from Quebec on a certain 
 occasion with a valuable cargo of merchandise. As he entered the 
 Gulf of St. Lawrence, he descried in the distance a large ship whose 
 proximity- caused him some uneasiness. Michael at once divined that 
 it was a hostile frigate, and forthwith spread all canvass to make good 
 his escape. This however proved impossible. 
 
 The Yankee was a good sailer and speedily bore down on the 
 merchant-ship. When he came within range he opened fire, and the 
 luckless Michael soon saw his mainmost go by the board. Kothing 
 remained but to surrender, which he did with the best possible grace. 
 When the Yankees boarded their prize, they found on deck two large 
 boxes stamped with the name of Father MacEachern, and on inquiry, 
 they learned that these contained vestments and other things destined 
 for the service of the altar. 
 
 •They accordingly transferred them to their own ship together with 
 Macdonald and his crew. The captured vessel with the remainder of 
 the cargo was then set on fire and destroyed before the eyes of the 
 owner, who thus lost in a few hours the earnings of several years. 
 The crew, however, were treated with kindness and were landed 
 safely on Prince Edward Island, together with the boxes containing 
 the vestments and sacred vessels. ^ 
 
 At the 'time of which we write physicians were few in Prince 
 Edward Island and medical attendance was hard to procure. This 
 circumstance added not a little to the labors of the good priest. Often, 
 indeed, was he called to the bedside of the sick, not alone that he might 
 cheer the afflicted one with spiritual consolation, but also because 
 his wide experience led people to suppose that he must have met 
 
— 182 — 
 
 cases of a similar nature, and, therefore, knew some effectual remedy 
 for the same. One of the most prevalent and fatal maladies of the 
 time was cancer. Among the earlier settlers it was frightfully com- 
 mon. Whether it was owing to the hardships and exposure they had 
 to endure, or the severe climatic conditions they experienced in the 
 new country, or the coarse food upon which they generally subsisted, 
 it is difficult to say ; but its ravages were Exceedingly great, and 
 many were the victims it claimed as its own. Speaking to Bishop 
 Plessis in 1812, Father MacEachern mentioned this matter, and' 
 learned that for some years a remedy had been used in Quebec which 
 had produced marvellous results in the treatment of this loathsome 
 disease. 
 
 As soon as the Bishop returned to his Cathedral City, Father Mac- 
 Eachern wrote him a letter, requesting him to procure a copy of the 
 recipe and forward the same to Prince Edward Island without delay. 
 The Bishop did so, and thus was introduced into this Island the 
 famous " cancer plaster," so highly prized a generation ago. Father 
 MacEachern singled out a few reliable persons throughout the Island 
 to whom he felt the use of the remedy might be safely entrusted, 
 and these in turn handed it down to others, who served to perpetuate 
 its use even to our day. Father MacEachern himself applied it in 
 many instances and apparently with good results, for writing- to 
 Bishop Plessis, on March 31st, 1815, he says : " I have cured three 
 persons of cancer by the violent remedy." 
 
 The physicians of the present day eschew this old-fashioned remedy 
 and have recourse to the surgeon's knife ; but it is yet doubtful if 
 any method of theirs has proved more successful in combating this 
 dread disease, than the old " cancer plaster " when applied by a com- 
 petent person. 
 
CHAPTER XXI. 
 
 DIFFICULTIES WITH GOVERNOR SMITH. 
 
 Mention has already been made of Father MacEachera's relations 
 ■with the civil authorities of Prince Edward Island. With the leading 
 men he lived on terms of friendship, and if nothing positive was done 
 to mitigate the rigors of the Penal Laws, still he enjoyed a fair 
 measure of toleration, and could go his way and work oxit his plans 
 undisturbed and unmolested by the officials of the day. 
 
 It is a noteworthy fact that prior to 1813 no Governor of Prince 
 Edward Island took advantage of his high position to hamper the 
 Catholic clergy in their work of saving souls. On the contrary, the 
 relations between priests and governors were always of the kindliest 
 nature. Each seemed actuated, not by pride of position but by mutual 
 respect and good will. Governor Patterson was a warm personal friend 
 of Father James, and frequently had the humble priest a guest at 
 his table. General Fanning lived on terms of the closest intimacy 
 with Father MacEachern, and shared his joy when Fathers De 
 Calonne and Pichard came to relieve the tedium of his missionary 
 life. Governor Des Barres manifested the same good dispositions 
 when the Acadians applied for permission to introduce a French 
 priest into the colony. Not only did he place no obstacles in the way 
 of the priest who was to come, but he was even ready to extend to 
 him the hand of welcome and clothe him with the mantle of his 
 kindly ' protection. All three were men much in advance of the age 
 in which they lived, men who could rise superior to prejudice, and 
 look beyond the narrow horizons of sect and denomination in dealing 
 
— 184 — 
 
 with the people. Keenly alive to the wants of the new Colony, they 
 were ever glad to welcome the cooperation of the priest, whose posi- 
 tion in the community made him not merely the recognized leaifer 
 of religious thought, but also a most powerful factor in building up 
 a healthy public sentiment amongst the people whom he served. 
 
 But in 1813 a change took place in this respect. In the summer 
 of that year Governor Des Barres, who had reached his eighty-sixth 
 year, retired from office and was succeeded by Mr. Charles Douglas 
 Smith. 
 
 The new Governor was a man of most arbitrary disposition. His 
 views ran counter with those of almost all the people, who came 
 under the sphere of his influence, and consequently his long term of 
 office was an unbroken series of petty quarrels with the people and 
 their representatives. 
 
 It seems that the immunity in matters, of religion hitherto enjoyed 
 by Father MacEachern and "the Catholic population was not pleasing 
 to His Excellency, and accordingly he signalized his assumption of 
 office by a striking example of bigotry and narrow-minded prejudice. 
 
 Shortly after his arrival he sent Father MacEachern the following 
 letter : 
 
 " Private Secretary's Office, 
 
 " Charlottetown, August 17th, 1813. 
 " Sir, 
 
 " By command of His Excellency the Governor I have to inform 
 you that all marriages solemnized by you without first having 
 obtained a license from under the hand and seal of the Governor, 
 will be notified as null and void and of no effect in law. 
 
 " I remain. Sir,' 
 
 " Your most obedient humble servant, 
 
 " C. M. TOWNSHEND, 
 
 " Private Secretary. 
 " Eev. Angus MacEachern, 
 
 « St. Andrew's." 
 
— 185 — 
 
 Father MacEachern took very little notice of this communication 
 which he characterized as a " penny-paper " of " obnoxious dye." 
 He continued to exercise all his functions as before, and was pre- 
 pared, if matters came to the worst, to send all persons who Vished 
 to marry over to Nova Scotia, where a more broad-minded and 
 enlightened Governor held office, and where Catholics could receive 
 the sacrament of Matrimony without let or hindrance from the civil 
 authorities. 
 
 The bigotry of Governor Smith did not stop here. A short time 
 after his arrival on the Island be struck off from the commission of 
 the Peace the only two Catholics who held the position. One of these, 
 Major Macdonald of the West Eiver, was a man of such standing 
 in the community that his dismissal created universal regret, in which 
 Father ^MacEachern largely shared, as we see by the following extract 
 taken from one of his letters to the Bishop of Quebec. " I think I 
 was hardly ever in worse humor than at the time of writing my last. 
 I told Your Lordship how I was used by our Governor. The treatment 
 that Major Macdonald of West Eiver received has given offence not 
 only to Catholics, but also to all thc^ie who know the Major. He is 
 unquestionably one of the most respectable and unexceptionable 
 characters on this Island. He came herein 1771, returned to Scotland 
 ^and came back in 1772. At the commencement of the American war 
 he entered the service, followed the King's fortune until the conclu- 
 sion of the said war ; retired on half pay from the 84th of Foot, and 
 was employed as Captain in Fencible Corps on this Island until the 
 Peace of Amiens. He was dismissed from the office of Justice of the 
 Peace for no other reason, but because he marked himself with the 
 sign of the Son of Man. His nephew, Capt. Alexander Macdonald, who 
 was a Lieutenant in the Highland regiment of volunteers ten years 
 ago, was struck off the list of the Peace because he raised up his 
 hand to cross and bless himself." 
 
 Whatever his own personal feelings may have been. Father Mac- 
 Eachern did not wish to make an outward show of displeasure, and 
 would not permit his flock to manifest any resentment for the unkind 
 treatment meted. out to them by the Governor. He accordingly writes : 
 
— 186 — 
 
 " We say nothing, and this day I cautioned my people to pay no 
 attention whatever to any insult of this kind." As war was going on 
 at the time he felt that his people might he called upon at any time 
 to defend His Majesty's possessions in America, and he rejoiced to 
 think that neither bigotry nor persecution would cause them to 
 swerve from their duties as loyal subjects. " Our people ", he writes, 
 " I am convinced, if an occasion should offer, will be the first in pur- 
 suit and the last in retreat." 
 
 Governor Smith soon found out that Father MacEachern was not 
 a man to be intimidated in matters where the authority of the Church 
 was concerned ; and consequently the prohibitory order regarding the 
 solemnization of marriages soon -became a dead letter. " I heard no 
 more of the license question ", wrote Father MacEachern about two 
 years afterwards, " and matters remain as they were." The Gpvernor 
 even wished to deny that he had sent a letter forbidding him to 
 marry persons without license ; or, if he did not deny it directly, he 
 at least tried to give to it a meaning different from the one which it 
 wa^ calculated to convey. This change of tactics on the part of His 
 Excellency was due in a great measure to a lengthy conversation 
 that passed between Father MacEachern and Mr. Holland, the Com- 
 missary General, on the subject. 
 
 Mr. Holland no doubt faithfully reported to the -Governor the 
 views of Father MacEachern, and this afforded His Excellency a 
 clearer knowledge of the man with whom he had to deal, and the 
 importance to him as a Catholic priest of the question at issue. 
 
 This conversation has been substantially preserved to us, and it 
 goes to show how Father MacEachern viewed the situation, and how 
 he could give expression to his sentiments when the circumstances 
 were such as to demand plain speaking. He began by pointing out to 
 Mr. Holland the important part played by the Catholics of Prince 
 Edward Island during the American War of Independence. He 
 emphasized their unswerving loyalty to the King's cause at a time 
 when every inducement was held out to them to join the revolution- 
 ary standard. How will these Catholics, Scotch and French, he asks, 
 who at this very moment are defending the rights of King and country 
 
— 187 — 
 
 with their best blood, assisted by only a small number of regular 
 troops, how will they relish this insult thrown at their Faith at such 
 an unseasonable hour ? 
 
 Very decidedly he told Mr. Holland that in his ecclesiastical 
 capacity he would pay no attention to the Governor's letter. Mar- 
 riage, he strongly insisted, being a sacrament instituted by Jesus 
 Christ, it is beyond the power of the civil authority to declare it null 
 and void. 
 
 An argument that must have surprised the Governor, but which 
 holds good in our day as well as in 1813, is the following. He argued 
 that if marriages solemnized by the Catholic clergy were null andT' 
 void, then the marriages of the ancestors of the present Protestant 
 generation must have been null and void ; because they were all 
 Catholics up till the time of the Reformation and many of them for 
 long years after. How then can the present generation, he asks, lay 
 claim to property which they inherit solely on the ground that all 
 such marriages were valid and binding in law ? 
 
 The Governor's action, therefore, was calculated to call in question 
 not only all cases of Catholic inheritance, but it also, created doubt of 
 the legality of titles in a multitude of Protestant possessions. He 
 concluded by reminding Mr. Holland of the existing state of affairs 
 in the Colony. War was raging, and union of all interests was neces- 
 sary for the welfare of the country. Hence he said : " Such doctrine 
 was undoubtedly sowing the seed of distrust among His Majesty's 
 subjects at a time when every nerve should be strained te unite us 
 together to repel all the attacks of our foes." 
 
 This in substance was Father MacEachern's answer to the Gov- 
 ernor's letter, and it shows how faithfully he adhered to the policy of 
 firmness and moderation according to the advice of the Bishop of 
 Quebec, as contained in the following extract from one of his letters. 
 The Bishop, apprised of Governor. Smith's conduct, thus wrote to 
 Father MacEachern ! " Just as we must be prompt to obey the civil 
 authorities in all matters that fall under their jurisdiction ; so must we 
 be firm in following our own principles in religious affairs. Hence, 
 let the consequences be what they may, you must continue to solem- 
 
— 188 — 
 
 nize the marriages of the people in your missions." And Father 
 MacEaehern did follow his own principles fearlessly but prudently, 
 notwithstanding the Governor's injunction to the contrary. In a 
 few years the matter died out, as we glean.from a letter of Father Mac- 
 Eaehern, dated October 5th, 1818, in which he says : " Governor Smith 
 showed me a copy of a letter he wrote last summer, or summer wafi 
 a year, to the Colonial Minister regarding the mode of and by whom 
 marriages were performed within this Colony. He observed that he 
 knew not how marriages were celebrated by the Catholic clergymen, 
 but believed with as much if not more solemnity than by those of 
 the Established Church, and that he did not-corncern himself about 
 the matter as far as it regarded Catholics. So far well. We will keep 
 quiet. I spoke very freely but modestly to His Excellency on this 
 and other public matters, for which he thanked me and told me, 
 if I refused marriage (which I often do) to stragglers, to let him 
 know, so that they might not surreptitiously obtain a license of 
 marriage from him. 
 
 " I am convinced he. repents having written a foolish letter at one 
 time on this subject." 
 
 This was the end of the unpleasantness, thanks to 4he firm and 
 dignified conduct of Father MacEaehern. No one more than he 
 respected the civil authorities or bowed more submissively to the 
 laws of the land ; but when an effort was made to extend the civil 
 authority beyond its jurisdiction, and put in force regulations imping- 
 ing on the rights and liberties of Holy Church, he pursued his way 
 inflexible in the right and refused to be coerced into submission. 
 
 It was the first real conflict between Church and State in this 
 Colony, and by the uncompromising attitude of Father MacEaehern 
 and the sound sense of succeeding Governors, it was destined to be 
 the last. 
 
CHAPTER XXir. 
 
 FIRST ECCLESIASTICAL STUDENTS. 
 
 One of the first duties to claim the attention of Father MacEachern 
 after he parted from Bishop Plessis, was to seek out two young boys 
 whom he should send to Quebec to be educated for the priesthood. 
 His choice fell on Ronald Macdonald, of Priest Pond, King's Co., and 
 Bernard Donald Macdonald, of St. Andrew's. They took passage at 
 New London, in a vessel bound for Quebec, and arrived at their 
 destination in the month of October 1812. On the 2nd of November 
 Bishop Plessis mentions their arrival as follows : " Your two boys, 
 Konald and Donald Macdonald, have arrived without money, having 
 been put aboard ship at New London by Mr. Beaubien. They are 
 now in the Seminary where their education will receive special care. 
 You may assure their parents that ail their wants have been supplied. 
 I have advanced them what they needed in the hope that you will 
 send me, some way or other, the one hundred and fifty pounds. I am 
 waiting for arrival of the two children of Widow Macdonald, of Tra- 
 cadie. I long to see Eoderick especially of whom you have spoken 
 so highly." 
 
 The two boys, Eonald and Donald Macdonald, were selected by 
 Father MacEachern to meet the views expressed by Bishop Plessis, 
 in ihe Pastoral referred to in Chapter XVIII. They were the first of 
 a long line of students sent from Prince Edward Island to the Semi- 
 nary of Quebec, the first fruits of the long and determined efforts of 
 Father MacEachern to obtain for his flock a succession of clergymen. 
 
 A critical examination of the letters that passed between Father 
 
— 190 — 
 
 MacEaehern and Bishop Plessis, during the decade of years that fol- 
 lowed the arrival of those two boys in Quebec, reveals to us some 
 facts that may be of interest to our readers, and may serve to give 
 us an insight into the character of the two men, who at that early 
 day played so important a part in the ecclesiastical affairs of our 
 country. 
 
 The first thing that strikes us in this extensive correspondence is 
 the evidence of deep paternal interest with which Father MacEachern 
 regards the boys now entering upon their studies. Whatever may be 
 the pressing duties that claim his time and attention, he never seems 
 . to forget them. Every letter he sends to the Bishop contains a kindly 
 remembrance for them. Compliments, good wishes, news of their 
 parents and friends, minute inquiries concerning their health and 
 progress, these and the like references take up a large share of his 
 letters ; and it seems done with. a delightful spirit of familiarity, as a 
 loving parent would be supposed to write of an idolized child. 
 
 He always speaks of them as " our boys," or sometimes simply as 
 " Eonald and Donald." Thus, on one occasion he says: " I would be 
 glad to learn how our boys are coming on and if their vocation seems 
 to be constant." Again he writes : " I earnestly wish that every pos- 
 sible care may be taken of our boys Ronald and Donald Macdonald." 
 He evidently foresees how much depends on their perseverance and 
 success, when he continues, " as the efforts of our people towards 
 advancing these institutions will be most undoubtedly actuated by 
 the progress that the first boys may make." The special difficulties 
 that they had to contend with did not escape his notice, and he 
 calls the Bishop's attention to the same in the following words: 
 " Their misfortune is that they do not understand the language in 
 which the explanations are made, and consequently, must be dejected" 
 and discouraged among those to whom grammatical rules can be 
 explained in their mother tongue." A strange suggestion is that con- 
 tained in the letter which he sent by the boys to Quebec. " It would 
 be proper," it goes on to say, " that our lads should be obliged to give 
 some time to reading Gaelic, as a scientific knowledge of said language 
 may be necessary for them in future life." We ean readily under- 
 
— 191 — 
 
 stand that a knowledge of Gaelic was necessary for missionaries 
 laboring in Prince Edward Island in those days ; but who ever heard 
 of a student learning the language of Ossian- in the Seminary of 
 Quebec ? We learn from those letters also that Ronald and Donald 
 must have found the board furnished by the Seminary about as satis- 
 factory as it has appeared to their successors for the three quarters 
 of a century that have since intervened. This is why Father Mac- 
 Eachern asks that they be allowed a substantial breakfast, and states 
 that the same is to be paid for, with the money he intends to remit 
 from time to time for their board and tuition. 
 
 If Father MacEachern was unremitting in his attentions to the 
 boys. Bishop Plessis was no less interested in their welfare. His 
 answers to Father MacEachern's letters furnish abundant proof of 
 his solicitude. He omits nothing that concerns them. The place which 
 they hold in their classes, their application to study, their earnestness 
 of purpose, their state of health, their general conduct, even their 
 little personal anxieties, all are described with a fullness of detail 
 that is truly marvellous. 
 
 We must here remember that Bishop Plessis was an exceedingly 
 busy man. Father MacEachern, in one of his letters, says that he 
 had " more to do than any man in Canada." Upon his shoulders 
 rested the burden of a diocese extending from Halifax as far west as 
 oivilization had dared to penetrate ; and yet amid the multifarious 
 duties of his charge he found time to inquire into the most minute 
 details concerning two boys, whose success he knows to be dear to 
 the heart of their friend and patron in Prince Edward Island. The 
 style and tone of the good Bishop's letters tell a story by themselves. 
 They reveal a degree of familiarity and heart-to-heart sympathy 
 between the writers, the natural out-come of their intimate relation- 
 ship during the pastoral visit of 1812. 
 
 Another fact, that stands out in bold relief from the pages of this 
 correspondence, is the difficulty of sending money from Prince 
 Edward Island to Quebec or to any foreign city in those remote days. 
 The mail serTice was then in a most rudimentary and unsatisfactory 
 condition. Post Office orders were yet unheard of in the country, 
 
— 192 — 
 
 and local business had not sufficiently developed to justify the 
 establishing of a bank. To send money, therefore, to any great dis- 
 tance was a proceeding demanding caution and foresight. A common 
 way was to seek out a trustworthy person who might chance to be 
 going to the place where the money was required, and who would 
 carry the same to its destination. Occasions of this kind, however, 
 were very rare, and perhaps, when most needed, would not occur for 
 months at a time. 
 
 Another way of forwarding money, was to make an arrangement 
 with a local merchant having business relations with a dealer in the 
 city to which the money was to be sent. By paying money to a mer- 
 chant in Charlottetown, for example, his agent or factor in Quebec 
 would pay the same amount on demand to the person for whom it 
 was intended, and charge it to the account of his correspondent in 
 Charlottetown. Thus, when Father MacEachern was sending the two 
 boys to Quebec, he arranged with Mr. MacKay, of Charlottetown, to 
 pay Bishop Plessis the sum of one hundred and fifty pounds for their 
 use. Mr. MacKay, however, did not go to Quebec for some time, and 
 the boys, on this account, reached the Seminary without any provision 
 having been made for their reception, and were obliged to obtain an 
 advance from Bishop Plessis to secure their entrance into the insti- 
 tution. 
 
 Sometimes, when the authorities at the Seminary were clamoring 
 for'money, and Father MacEachern could find no safe way of send- 
 ing it, he would apply to Father Burke, of Halifax, who might be able 
 to find a more immediate opportunity of communicating with Quebec ; 
 in which case Father Burke would forward the amount demanded and 
 abide the time when Father MacEachern found a way of refunding it. 
 
 The Seminary of Quebec did not always take into account these 
 difficulties and was consequently very exacting in its demands. 
 Money had to be forthcoming as soon as due, otherwise the boys had 
 to listen to perpetual complaints from the Superiors of the House, 
 who not unfrequently threatened to dismiss them from the institution. 
 But they had in Bishop Plessis a staunch and firm friend. In all their 
 difiSculties he came to their assistance, and when money did not 
 
— 193 — 
 
 reach them in time, he made an advance for the good of the cause 
 which he had so much at heart and on which so much now depended. 
 In the month of September, 1813, Prince Edward Island sent its 
 second contingent of boys to Quebec. They were John and Eoderick, 
 sons of Captain John Macdonald, of Glenaladale, who were sent by 
 their mother to enter on a course of studies in the College of Mon- 
 treal. When they reached Quebec, Bishop Plessis decided that it 
 would be unsafe to send them to Montreal, because that city, on 
 account of the war, was now threatened with a siege, and on this 
 account directed them to the College of Nicolet where they might 
 prosecute their studies in full security. 
 
CHAPTER XXIII. 
 
 FATHER MACEACHERN VISITS CAPE BRETON ISLAND. — DIFFICULTY IN 
 
 COLLECTING MONEY FOR STUDENTS. ^ACCIDENT TO 
 
 FATHER MACEACHERN. 
 
 During the years of which we have just been treating there resided 
 at Halifax, Nova Scotia, a priest, Eeverend Edmund Burke, who, on 
 October 2nd, 1801, had succeeded Father Jones, as Vicar General of 
 the Bishop of Quebec, and Superior of the missions of Nova Scotia. 
 
 Father Burke was a man of varied experience. After having served 
 a short time in the missions of Ireland, he made his way to Canada, 
 while yet a young man. Here he was employed by the Bishop of 
 Quebec, first as professor in the Seminary, then as pastor in a country 
 parish, and later as a missionary in the wilds of Upper Canada. 
 
 In the last mentioned position he had many opportunities of seeing 
 how very inadequate was ihe^ provision made for the spiritual wel- 
 fare of the outlying portions of the Quebec Diocese, and on coming 
 to the Maritime Provinces he was doubtless prepared to find many 
 missions without priests, and many people in a state of complete 
 spiritual abandonment. Years had elapsed since the Conquest, and 
 the rigors of British rule had considerably relaxed ; still not much 
 had been done for a people who, in t^eir deep religious convictions, 
 craved for the bread of the Divine Word. 
 
 Away to the eastward lay the Island of Cape Breton, whose forests 
 were fast falling under the axe of the new colonists, who, though 
 rapidly increasing in number, generally spent years at a time un- 
 
— 196 — 
 
 cheered by the visit of a clergyman. Priests of their own tongue were 
 rare, and the few there were could not half supply the immediate 
 wants of their too extensive missions. 
 
 Hence, when Father Beaubien was established at Eustico and had 
 assumed the care of the Acadian missions of the entire' Province, 
 Father Burke decided that Father MacEachern might now occasion- 
 ally absent himself from his Island missions, and he therefore asked 
 him to cross over to Cape Breton, to bring the benefits of Holy Church 
 to its long neglected Catholic population. The document investing 
 Father MacEachern with the necessary authority is dated August 
 17th, 1814, and is worded as follows : " The Eeverend Angus Mac- 
 Eachern, Missionary in Prince Edward Island, will pass through the 
 Island of Cape Breton, if he can make it convenient, and exercise all 
 the functions of his ministry there amongst the people who speak 
 Erse or English, as he does in Prince Edward Island, and the people 
 will attend to his instructions. — Edmund Bukke, Vicar General." 
 
 By this appointment new and more arduous labors were imposed 
 upon Father MacEachern. In a letter of March 31st, 1815, he gives 
 some particulars of his first experience in this new sphere of duty. 
 " I went, by order of Mr. Burke, to Mainadieu near Scatari, twenty 
 miles from Sydney. I stayed one Sunday at Mainadieu, and went by 
 sea to Louisbourg, fifteen miles, where I stayed some days. 
 
 " Between both places I baptized fifty children, remarried four or 
 five couples, confessed as many as chose to present themselves. I 
 found them M'ithout instruction but well inclined. They had no priest 
 among them for ten years before." After attending to various matters 
 at Sydney he came down the lakes in an Indian canoe to the Strait 
 of Canso, where he found a schooner in which he took* passage for 
 Prince Edward Island. 
 
 In the month of July, 1815, Eeverend Father Fitzpatrick arrived 
 at Charlottetown from Newfoundland. He brought an Espeat from 
 the Bishop of St. John's, and said that he was willing to remain if 
 he should find the climate to agree with him. Bishop Plessis did not 
 consider his credentials very satisfactory and seemed to be for a time 
 in doubt as to his clerical standing. He gave him faculties, however^ 
 
— 197 — 
 
 and directed Father MacEachern to place him in charge of the people 
 ■of Charlottetown. , 
 
 He remained only a few months. Before winter set in he returned 
 to Newfoundland. During his stay in Charlottetown he said Mass in 
 the house of Mrs. MacPhee, and besides attending to the spiritual 
 wants of the people, he laboured to procure materials for building a 
 new church. In a letter dated April 30th, 1810, Father MacEachern 
 thus speaks of him : " In one of my excursions visiting the sick late 
 in the fall to Three Eivers and East Point, Mr. Fitzpatrick took his 
 departure in a transport for Halifax." 
 
 " I never heard from him since, but learned the other day that he 
 was to return to Newfoundland. While in Charlottetown he exerted 
 himself so far as to collect a sufiiciency to finish our chapel frame of 
 40 feet by 30 and 20 in the post. Said frame will be raised in the 
 course of the. summer and, I hope, covered in," The first church of 
 St. Margaret's was put up about this time. Father MacEachern 
 speaks of it in a letter dated September 19th, 1816. " We have," he 
 writes, " a chapel put up and covered in on Lot No. 44 about 8 miles 
 north of the French at St. Alexis, 45 by 32 and 18 feet in the post. 
 
 In the summer of this year Father MacEachern crossed over to 
 Arisaig, Nova Scotia, whence he proceeded by way of Antigonish as 
 far as Sydney. He mentions that he met on this journey a schooner 
 filled with Indians, some of whom had never seen a priest till this 
 time. As they seemed well disposed and desirous of instruction. 
 Father MacEachern rem.ained with them almost a week, instructing 
 them in their religious duties and administering the sacraments to 
 those who profited by his presence to go to confession and communion. 
 
 During these years he was engaged in preparing the way for the 
 building of a church at Grand Eiver, Lot 14. Prior to this a small 
 log building, scarcely worthy to be dignified with the name of church, 
 had been used for the purpose by the Catholics of Lot 14, wherein 
 both Father MacEachern and Father Beaubien said Mass when their 
 duties called them in that direction. It was exceeiiingly small 
 and uninviting in appearance, and accordingly the good people were 
 duly admonished by FatTier MacEachern, that the time had come 
 
— 198 — 
 
 when they should supply themselves with a more commodious place 
 I of worship. They went to work to prepare materials and soon erected 
 a frame building thirty-six by twenty-six, which was placed under 
 the patronage of St. Patrick and first opened for public worship on 
 March 17th, 1818. 
 
 In a letter written to Bishop Plessis in the autumn of 1816, Father 
 MacEachern says : " As to our boys, I will on my return home send 
 money for their support (if not direct from the Island) through the 
 hands of Mr. Migneault ^." 
 
 This was one of the most arduous and wearisome duties performed 
 by Father MacEachern during those busy years ; for to furnish the 
 necessary funds for Ronald and Donald must have taxed hie energies 
 to the utmost. The proceeds of St. Andrew's farm, a part of which had 
 been originally intended for the education of clerical students, did 
 not much surpass the expenses incurred in working it, and therefore 
 when the Seminary was clamoring for money, the good priest would 
 have to collect the same from the people, and frequently succeeded 
 only after an endless amount of importunity. Sometimes he would 
 have to go from house' to house for weeks at a time, trying to collect 
 the paltry pittance that poverty could spare for so pious and praise- 
 worthy a purpose. How much labor this proceeding must have 
 entailed, amid circumstances such as obtained in those years, can with 
 dif&culty be imagined. Father MacEachern, who seldom complained, 
 could scarcely avoid giving expression to the feelings engendered by 
 the hardships and disappointments of the situation. " It is difficult," 
 he writes, " to express the drudgery of collecting money from so 
 many different people ; some pretend poverty, others the uncertainty 
 of the success of the students, the loss of their money, although at 
 the same time every one complains of the want of clergy." On 
 account of these and the like flimsy excuses, many either refused or 
 delayed to hand in their contributions, till the good priest, wearied by 
 their indifference, adopted a plan which he thus describes in a letter 
 
 1 — Mr. Migneault was a priest who resided at Halifax as assistant to 
 Father Burke. 
 
— 199 — 
 
 to Bishqp Plessis : " I have been obliged to resort to a measure 
 ■which was repugnant to my own feelings, and which at the same time 
 may not meet Your Lordship's approbation. That was that all those 
 who were in a condition to pay their proportion of the collection laidl 
 on them for educating, not only the two boys we have in Quebec,, 
 but also some others, skould he refused the sacraments until pay- 
 ment was made or put in a way of being made." Further on he 
 continues : " I am determined to keep to the measure I have adopted 
 until I am ordered to act otherwise. Nor can I conceive of what use 
 the sacraments can be to those who will not pay a debt which they 
 believe to be a just one." Bishop Plessis did not order him to act 
 otherwise. On the contrary, he approved the measure, harsh though 
 it seems, and supported Father MacEachern with the weight of his 
 episcopal authority. " Since the Catholics of your mission," writes 
 His Lordship, " bound themselves to support these students, there is 
 no doubt that you have the right to refuse the sacraments to those 
 who, by their own fault, fail to pay the amount which they sub- 
 scribed." 
 
 During one of the journeys which he undertook at this time to 
 visit the sick and collect funds for the students, he had the misfortune 
 to meet with an accident which proved a source of much incon- 
 venience for a considerable time. Indeed, it would have permanently 
 disabled many a man of larger frame ; but Father MacEachern, though 
 small of stature, was able to continue his labors, thanks to his sinews of 
 iron and indomitable energy. It happened in this way. On the 28th 
 of January, 1818, he was making his way from Charlottetown to 
 Launching. The snow was deep in places, the roads not well broken^ 
 and his progress wasconsequently slow. At a certain place his way 
 wound round the base of a hill, where it required careful attention 
 to prevent his sleigh from being upset on the slope. Unfortunately a 
 tree overturned by a storm was lying across the track, and he was 
 obliged to leave the beaten path in order to go round it. As his horse 
 was plunging through the deep snow, the sleigh took a sudden lurch 
 and Father MacEachern was in danger of being thrown out. To save 
 himself he put his right hand against a tree standing near, and sue- 
 
— 200 — 
 
 ceeded in keeping the sleigh in position ; but the shock was so great 
 that his right shoulder was dislocated. He was alone at the time and 
 twelve miles from the nearest house. To return home at once'would 
 "bave been the wisest course to pursue ; but Father MacEachern 
 thought differently. He managed to get his shoulder into place again, 
 and nothing daunted by the mishap, continued his journey to Launch- 
 ing, The next day was bitterly cold and his arm was intensely 
 painful ; still he would not rest among his friends at Three Eivers, 
 but set out for Eollo Bay, whence after a short stay he proceeded to 
 ■his home at St. Andrew's. When-BishopPlessis heard of the accident, 
 he wrote him a very sympathetic letter, offering to send a priest who 
 "would take care of his missions until he had completely recovered. 
 The kind Bishop would have been delighted to welcome him to 
 ■Quebec, where he might enjoy a short rest from his labors and receive 
 the medical attention he needed after so painful an injury. Father 
 MacEachern, however, did not like the prospect of forced inactivity. 
 Work was now a second nature to him : so, while deeply touched by 
 the Bishop's kindness, he preferred to stay at his post of duty. In 
 answer to His Lordship's letter he says : " I also received another 
 (letter), wherein Your Lordship offered to afford me relief from my 
 pastoral duties, if necessary for strengthening my dislocated shoulder. 
 I have to return my most humble and grateful thanks for such a 
 friendly offer. I am, thank God, in good bodily health, can stand 
 riding on necessary occasions, although at the same time my arm is 
 still weak, and I find a great difficulty in raising it up to my head." 
 Another incident of his journeys which occurred about these 
 . years may serve to close the present chapter. Father MacEachern, 
 being on his way to hold a station at East Point, called at a house 
 that stood by the wayside, not improbably to collect money for his 
 dear boys at Quebec. On entering the house he found no one at 
 home except a little boy about six years of age, whom he disturbed 
 in the act of roasting a few potatoes on the coals in the fire-place. 
 The lad, who was doubtless hungry, seemed annoyed at the entrance 
 of a stranger, whose presence he was disposed to resent all the more 
 as it interfered with the enjoyment of the meal, which he was indiis- 
 
— 201 — 
 
 triously preparing. The priest inquired for the father and mother, 
 and learned that they were digging potatoes in a field at some dis- 
 tance from the house, " Well, " said Father MacEachern, " will you go 
 to the field and tell your father that 1 want to speak to him " ? The 
 young lad hesitated. " Go, " kindly said the priest, " and tell your father 
 that Father MacEachern wants him at the house. " On hearing the 
 name of Father MacEachern the boy at once prepared to obey. He 
 took down a straw hat that hung on a peg and started. When he 
 reached the door he stopped, and looking back at the fire-place, ruefully 
 said : " I suppose there will not be a single one of my potatoes left 
 by the time I get back." Father MacEachern, laughing, assured him 
 that he would scrupulously refrain from appropriating any part of 
 the young lad's luncheon. 
 
CHAPTER XXIV. 
 
 FATHEK BEAUBIEN VISITS THE MAGDALEN ISLANDS. — HIS LABORS IN 
 PRINCE EDWARD ISLAND. — HE VISITS QUEBEC. — HIS RELA- 
 TIONS WITH FATHER MACEACHERN. 
 
 While Father MacEachern was thus busily engaged in looking 
 after the English speaking Catholics of Prince Edward Island, and 
 extending his solicitude to those of Cape Breton as well, Father 
 Beaubien found abundant opportunities for the exercise of his priestly 
 zeal throughout the Acadian missions. From Kollo Bay to Tignish 
 he moved as duty called him, ministering to the spiritual wants of 
 the Acadians and of all others who sought his assistance, for his 
 charity extended to all irrespective of race and language. This of 
 itself would seem a task sufficiently arduous for the efforts of one 
 man ; but besides it, the Magdalen Islands also fell to his charge, and 
 added not a little to the sum of his priestly labors. A priest named 
 Father Dufresne had been appointed to the care of those Islands, but 
 was unfortunately drowned oa his way thither ; and when Bishop 
 Plessis had been apprised of his death, he wrote at once to Father 
 Beaubien, entreating him to visit the poor people who had not seen 
 a priest for over eighteen months. Father Beaubien immediatly obeyed, 
 and made his way to the Magdalen Islands and remained there 
 several weeks. 
 
 The impressions of his first visit he thus conveys to the Bishop : 
 " Among these people there are many who sincerely love God, whilst 
 others, and in sufficient number, are not so good. Drunkenness is 
 unfortunately too common. The young people are somewhat perverted, 
 
— 204 — 
 
 though they do not fall into the excesses found in other places. Here 
 we have the same neglect of the temporal concerns of the parishes, 
 which we meet with in the missions of Prince Edward Island. I must 
 confess that the greater number of these shortcomings have their 
 origin in the want of priests to direct the people ; for it is a fact that 
 a field, howsoever rich and fertile, will soon deteriorate if not properly 
 cultivated." Taking up the same subject in another letter he tells 
 the Bishop, that it is absolutely necessary to send a prifest to reside 
 permanently in the Magdalen Islands, as by no other arrangement 
 can the people receive the spiritual attention they require. He grows 
 pathetic when he speaks of the poor people condemned to pass the 
 entire winter without the possibility of seeing a priest, though they 
 are exposed at any moment to be summoned to the Judgment Seat 
 to give an account of their lives. He says, moreover, that the other 
 missions entrusted to his care must necessarily suffer during his 
 absence ; and to illustrate the statement, he refers to what had occurred 
 in the mission of Eustico. " I must confess," he writes, " that owing 
 to my long absence things have not gone on well in this place (Rua- 
 tico). It is about a year since I made any stay herCj and in that time 
 old habits have re-appeared, and good resolutions have been in some 
 instances abandoned. Since my return I have spoken strongly on 
 the subject, and shall continue to do so while I am here. With God's 
 help, I hope to succeed. The people, though more or less perverse, 
 are obedient to authority, and hearken to appeals made to their sense 
 of duty. I believe the best way to rear the youth in piety is to give 
 them all the instruction possible. I therefore intend to open a school, 
 and in default of a better teacher, will employ a young man whom I 
 have here, who can read and write well and is acquainted With 
 arithmetic. I will keep an eye to it myself as much as possible." 
 Father Beaubien carried this resolution into effect. He established a 
 school at Eustico, thus affording the youth of the mission an oppor- 
 tunity of acquiring at least a rudimentary education, a blessing 
 which, until now, they had not had the good fortune to enjoy. 
 
 He still continued to visit the Magdalen Islands, as Bishop Plessis 
 assured him that it was absolutely impossible to find a successor for the- 
 
— 205 — 
 
 unfortunate Father Dufresne. " Priests," says His Lordship " are dying 
 like flies," and howsoever anxious he is to increase their number he 
 finds that the demand is always far in excess of the supply. He is 
 therefore unable to say when he can send a resident pastor to the 
 people of the Magdalen Islands. " In the meantime," he concludes, 
 no one is more convinced than I am that your missions on St. John's 
 Island are sufficient to keep you well employed. Go then till more 
 favorable circumstances shall arise, and pray the Lord of the harvest 
 to multiply the number of his workmen." 
 
 In the spring of 1816 Father Beaubien paid a visit to Quebec. 
 Filial love called him to the bedside of his dying mother, and after a 
 long and wearisome journey, he had the melancholy happiness of 
 seeing her before she breathed her last. He had now spent almost 
 four years in Prince Edward Island, and three years was the period 
 demanded by the rules of the Diocese. Father MacEachern therefore 
 grew anxious lest he should remain at Quebec. He feared, and with 
 some show of reason, that the pleasure of visiting his native land and 
 meeting the friends of his earlier years might wean his heart from 
 the rough and solitary life of the missions, and that after a stay amid 
 the comforts to be found in the interior of the Diocese, he might not 
 be disposed to return to take up the burden of missionary toil among 
 the people of Prince Edward Island. To forestall such a decision on 
 his part Father MacEachern thus wrote to the Bishop : " I hope that 
 Mr. Beaubien will only make a temporary visit to Canada. He is 
 well acquainted with this country, has a tolerable knowledge of the 
 English language, and withal esteemed and respected by all classes of 
 the people. And as for myself, I have uniformly found him very 
 attentive to his duty and a sincere friend to myself. All these cir- 
 cumstances would make his removal very disagreeable." But the 
 anxiety thus manifested by Father MacEachern had no real founda- 
 tion, for Father Beaubien did not intend to abandon his missions, at 
 least for a while ; before the summer was over, he returned to Rustico 
 and resumed his missionary labors to the joy and edification of his 
 flock. 
 
 For two years longer he remained at the head of the Acadian 
 
— 206 — 
 
 missions, and continued his journeys from place to place in order to 
 confer upon all the benefits of his spiritual ministrations. During the 
 interval, he spent a large share of his time in the Magdalen Islands, 
 where the building of a church and parochial house added not a little 
 to the sum of his labors ; and having set the affairs of his missions 
 in order, he bade a final adieu to Prince Edward Island in the fall 
 of 1818, and returned to his home in Quebec. 
 
 Father MacEachern had every reason to regret his departure. For 
 six years, they had labored together on the missions, and all the while 
 they had lived on terms of the closest intimacy. Perfect understand- 
 ing existed between them on all occasions, for every petty view and 
 every personal advantage were made subservient to the one end — the 
 good of souls. Amid the stress of missionary work they were ever 
 ready to help each other, and many a time did the prudent foresight 
 of the one save a tiresome journey for the other. Thus if Father 
 Beaubien were called to the West, he would visit not only his own 
 flock but the English-speaking Catholics as w^ll, while at the same 
 time. Father MacEachern would in all probability be doing a similar 
 favor to the Acadians of the eastern section of the Island. In this 
 way they lightened each other's burden, and were to the whole people 
 a shining example of fraternal charity-. 
 
 Father Beaubien makes mention of this mutual good feeling in one 
 of his letters to the Bishop of Quebec : " Father MacEachern and 
 myself," he writes, " get along admirably. We meet as often as pos- 
 sible and spend some pleasant moments together. We purify our poor 
 consciences, we take counsel with each other, we rehearse our diffi- 
 culties, we rejoice together over the good done by God among our 
 people, and many a hearty laugh do we enjoy in recounting the anec- 
 dotes which we gather on our journeys." 
 
 Soon after his return to Quebec, Father Beaubien was appointed 
 to the pastoral charge of the parish of St, Thomas, an important posi- 
 tion, where he died in 1863 at the age of seventy-six years. 
 
CHAPTER XXV. 
 
 FATHER CECILS COMES TO BUSTICO. — SENDS SYLVAIN PERRY TO QUEBEC, 
 
 RONALD MACDONALD LEAVES THE SEMINARY. 
 
 THE ACADIAN MISSIONS. 
 
 As soon as Father Beaubien made known to Bishop Plessia that 
 he wished to return to Quebec, the latter began to look about for a 
 priest to succeed him, and made choice of Eeverend Joseph-Etienne 
 C^cile, a native of Nicolet, who arrived at Eustico on the 29th of 
 September, 1818. 
 
 Father C^cile was a man of delicate physique, scarcely able to sus- 
 tain the hardships that fell to the lot of his more vigorous predecessor, 
 and on this account the Bishop thought better to annex the missions 
 of the Magdalen Islands to those of Cape Breton, so that Father 
 C^cile could confine his activities entirely to the Acadians of Prince 
 Edward Island. 
 
 This arrangement had become absolutely necessary, for these 
 people had now grown so numerous and lived in places so far removed 
 from each other, that their pastoral care would tax the energies of 
 any one missionary, no matter how strong in body or how gifted in 
 mind. One of the first diflBculties that confronted their new pastor 
 was how to afford so many people an opportunity of receiving Holy 
 Communion during Paschal time ; and he casually mentions the 
 fact, that the people of RoUo Bay had been for six years unable to 
 make their Easter Duty, within the time prescribed for the fulfil- 
 ment of that obligation. 
 
— 208— ' 
 
 The year 1819 saw the first Acadian go abroad for the purpose of 
 studying for the priesthood. This was Sylvain Perry (or Poirier),of Tig- 
 nish, of whom more shall he said in a future chapter. He was chosen by 
 Father Cecile, upon whom the pious dispositions of the young lad 
 had created a very favorable impression, and sent to Quebec where 
 he might enter on a course of studies. In recommending him to the 
 care of Bishop Plessis, Father Cecile says : " I have told the people 
 of Tignish that they should all contribute towards his maintenance, 
 and they said they would do so if obliged to it by authority. If they 
 were all agreed, they could easily furnish funds for the education of 
 young men as the Scotch are doing. If you direct me to levy a small 
 assessment -on each person, I shall do so. Other students would be 
 forthcoming if the necessary funds could be raised." In answer to 
 this Bishop Plessis does not give Father Cecile any authority to tax 
 the people for educational purposes ; but he fails not to warn him 
 against sending boys to college, without having made due provision for 
 their expenses. After stating that Sylvain Perry will be placed in the 
 College of Nicolet, the Bisbop adds. " It seems quite reasonable that 
 the people of Tignish and those of the other localities should be taxed 
 in this manner. The more students we have the greater hopes may 
 we entertain for the future. But do not send any more, unless you 
 foresee that you shall be able to provide for them until the end of 
 their studies." (June 12th, 1819). 
 
 Young Perry was the fifth student sent to Canadian colleges from 
 Prince Edward Island. John and Eoderick Macdonald, of Tracadie, 
 had spent several years at Nicolet College, but had returned home a 
 short time previous to this, without having completed their studies. 
 Eoderick, the younger, had been set apart for the priesthood by his 
 father, who left him by will sufficient property to serve as a patri- 
 monial title ; but his superiors at Nicolet did not find that he possessed 
 the qualifications required for the clerical state, and they advised him 
 to turn his mind to some other profession. He, therefore, went to 
 Europe, where he spent considerable time in a state of anxious inde- 
 cision, and finally decided in favor of a military career, wherein he, 
 afterwards achieved a fair measure of success. John was destined to 
 
— 209 — 
 
 become the priest of the family. After his return from Nicolet, he 
 spent some time in a college in England, and thence proceeded to 
 Paris where he was ordained priest towards the close of the year 1825. 
 
 In the Seminary of Quebec Eonald and Donald Macdonald had, 
 up till now, given the fullest measure of satisfaction to their superiors, 
 and Father MacEachern rejoiced in the assurance that in due time 
 both would come to share his labors on the missions of Prince Edward 
 Island. But about this time, Ronald began to entertain some doubts 
 concerning his vocation, and these doubts soon grew into a conviction 
 that thwarted the hopes of his earlier years. He persevered in his 
 studies for about eight years, and being a brilliant student, his progress 
 was truly marvellous. Until he had finished philosophy his vocation 
 seemed constant, and his friends looked forward to a brilliant career 
 for him in the priesthood ; but as he budded into manhood and 
 entered upon the more serious study of theology, his mind underwent 
 a decided change, and other aspirations came to usurp the place for- 
 merly filled by priestly desire. Perhaps he thought his genius was such 
 that the honors of the world would necessarily strew his pathway, 
 and that his splendid abilities would find a more suitable field for 
 display, in the garish light of the forum than in the subdued radiance 
 of the sanctuary. Be this as it may, he did not long continue his 
 theological studies. He exchanged the cassock for the dress of the 
 civilian, bade adieu to the Seminary and devoted himself to journal- 
 istic work in the city of Quebec. His dreams of a successful future 
 were never realized. Indeed, his subsequent career was as barren of 
 results as his earlier years were pregnant with promise. He turned 
 his energies to various pursuits, but never with success. A fatalistic 
 spell seemed to hang over him, and he died comparatively poor and 
 little known in a city that could boast of few equal to him in educa- 
 tion and talents. But Donald, his companion, never wavered in his 
 good purpose, and in due course of time, he was raised to the priest- 
 hood and came to share the labors of his patron and friend on the 
 missions of Prince Edward Island. 
 
 On assuming chrrge of the Acadian missions. Father C&ile found 
 
 that the people of Rustico had not carried out, as he supposed they 
 14 
 
— 210 — 
 
 should have done, the instructions laid down by Bishop Plessis during 
 his visit in 1812. The difference of opinion which had arisen in the 
 parish on the occasion of the building of their church, and which, as 
 we have elsewhere mentioned, led to the selection of two sites, had 
 not completely died out, though one site had been long since aban- 
 doned. But those who lived on the south side of the Eiver had ever 
 since steadfastly refused to pay any part of the expenses incurred in 
 buying the farm whereon the church had been built, alleging as an 
 excuse that, had the site which they had proposed been chosen, six 
 acres of land would have been gratuitously given to the church and 
 in this way the expense of buying a farm would have been avoided ^. 
 Father C^cile, however, was not satisfied with this state of affairs. 
 Indeed, he seems to have grown somewhat scrupulous on account of 
 it, for he asks the Bishop if such people could he in good faith, and 
 should they be permitted to frequent the sacraments, whilst thus 
 persisting in their refusal to pay a share of the purchase money of 
 the parochial farm. To have asked such a question would seem 
 tantamount to a reflection upon the conduct of his predecessor ; but 
 it may be that like the proverbial new broom, Father C^cile was 
 trying to be rigidly exact in his dealings with his flock, and for that 
 Teason was anxious to lay down more definite lines of demarcation 
 in that debatable region where spirituals and temporals touch in the 
 administration of parochial affairs. His doubts, however, were soon 
 dispelled. Bishop Plessis hastened to assure him by a letter in which, 
 he says : " On the occasion of my visit in 1812 I ordered all the 
 people of Rustico to fence and otherwise care for the parochial farm, 
 but not to assume the cost of the purchase, though I was well aware 
 that it had been bought by only a small number of the parishioners. 
 It is not necessary therefore to trouble the others on this point, but 
 insist that all together do their share in looking after the farm and 
 -cemeteries." Further on he adds : " From my point of view, I would 
 say that you shall never seethe end of it if you try to exact payment 
 irom all the parishioners, both old and new," 
 
 1 — Mr. Blanchard had offered six acres of land free if the church would 
 'be built on it. 
 
— 211 — 
 
 During the years that had intervened since the visit of Bishop 
 Plessis, the mission of St. Alexis, in the eastern section of King's 
 County, had grown to be a place of considerable importance. Its 
 inhabitants, in their earlier years, had shared the vicissitudes of 
 fortune that fell to the lot of the much tried Acadian people ; but, 
 with the indomitable spirit of their race, they had survived those 
 years of trial, had steadily increased in numbers, and had acquired a 
 fair measure of prosperity despite the disadvantages under which they 
 labored. Now they were in peaceful possession of the lands, and the 
 fear of being again dispossessed no longer disturbed their minds, and 
 60, with firm confidence born of favorable circumstances, they had 
 labored assiduously and successfully to ameliorate their condition. 
 The trees had fallen under their axes like grain before the sickle of 
 the mower ; new homes sprang up as if by magic on the banks of the 
 beautiful bay, and the quiet rural scenes of old Acadia were being 
 gradually evoked from the forest. 
 
 The one drawback with which they had now to contend was the 
 scarcity of clergy and the consequent lack of spiritual attention. 
 The annual visit of a priest about Easter time, which in past years 
 was deemed sufiBcient for all their spiritual needs, fell far short of 
 satisfying the multiplied wants of the more populous mission ; and 
 •even when Father C^cile would make a protracted stay amongst 
 them, it was difficult for all to approach the sacraments or to receive 
 the religious instructions rendered imperative by their circum- 
 stances. 
 
 Tignish, at the other extremity of the Island, was in a like condi- 
 tion. Here too, the population had steadily increased in numbers. 
 The pioneers, who in 1799 had laid the foundation of the mission, 
 were joined from time to time by others, who sought a seeming 
 security in the remoteness of the locality, and thus the population 
 soon swelled into a congregation that taxed the capacity of the little 
 church in which they assembled for divine worship. The poor people 
 saw a priest but seldom and consequently received only scanty 
 spiritual attention ; but their faith was fervent, their hope in God 
 unfailing, and their charity of the k'nd described by the Apostle, 
 
— 212 — 
 
 which " endureth all things, " and " never falleth away ", " whether 
 prophecies be made void, or tongues cease, or knowledge be destroyed.' 
 
 In the closing years of Father Beaubien's stay in the missions a 
 new settlement was formed on the estate of Colonel Compton. In a 
 former chapter we referred to the disputes between this gentleman 
 and his Acadian tenants, which culminated in the latter being obliged' 
 to abandon Lot 17 and move further to the westward. Seeing his 
 estate thus in a fair way of becoming depopulated, the Colonel became 
 more reasonable in his demands and more disposed to deal amicably 
 with the few who had remained on his lands. Hence, when a number 
 ef them offered to purchase a tract of woodland on Lot 17, to the 
 west of where they had hitherto resided, he was not only willing to 
 entertain the proposition, 'but offered the land on such advantageous 
 terms that a bargain was speedily effected. On the 28th of September,, 
 1816, he signed a deed by which he conveyed to them six thousand 
 acres of land, for which they had agreed to pay the sum of £625.0.0. 
 In a short while they moved to their new possessions, and the log 
 cabins which they put up to shelter thelnselves and their families 
 were the rude beginnings of the present thriving village of Miscouche. 
 
 In the early stages of its history the settlement was without a 
 church, and for more then a year the" people attended Mass in the 
 church near the " Pavillion ", as often as Father C^cile chanced to come 
 the way. This, however, was an unsatisfactory arrangement, a,nd in 
 course of time they grew weary of it, not on account of the distance, 
 which after all was only slight compared to the journeys that many 
 others had to make in order to assist at Mass, but now almost all 
 their friends had abandoned the neighbourhood, and there was always 
 a certain revulsion of feeling in revisiting scenes of former happiness, 
 and awakening memories which tended to " embitter the present 
 compared to the past." They therefore decided to remove the church 
 to the new settlement, which being done, it was again opened for 
 divine service at Miscouche in the month of July, 1819. 
 
 A short time subsequent to this, the people of Egmont Bay had had 
 the misfortune to lose the church in which they had worshipped since 
 their departure from Lot 17. On a morning about Epiphany 1821, as 
 
— 213 — 
 
 two men of the neighbourhood were starting on a journey shortly 
 before day-hght, they noticed a ruddy glare reflected on the sky and 
 which seemed to shine from the direction of the church. They made 
 their way thither as quickly as possible and found the building in 
 iflames. The fire had made such headway that nothing could be done 
 to save it, and it was burned to the ground with all its contents. 
 
 Though small in size and inexpensive in finish its loss was sorely 
 felt by the poor people, who in their straitened circumstances could 
 ill afford to replace it. A local poet of the day enshrined in verse 
 their feelings on the occasion, and for many years his plaintive lay 
 was sung at their firesides, thus keeping alive, in the measured 
 cadence of the beautiful French tongue, the melancholy memories of 
 their loss. 
 
 But the good people,though pained by the destruction of their church, 
 were by no means discouraged. They went to work at once to rebuild, 
 and when Father Cecile came to visit them during Lent, as was his 
 custom, he found the work so far advanced that he was able to say 
 Mass in the new building, though scarcely two months had elapsed 
 since the fire. 
 
 The history of the mission of Fifteen Point goes back to the years 
 that are now engaging our attention. The people, it is true, had 
 settled there as early as 1812 ; but for several years they continued 
 to form part of the mission of Egmont Bay, whither they were 
 obliged to go to hear Mass and receive the sacraments. Now, however, 
 they thought the time had come when they should have a church of 
 their own, and in June, 1820, Thomas Eichard donated a plot of 
 ground for the use of the mission. The people accepted the gift with 
 alacrity and soon they built a log church, unpretentious in size and 
 appearance, but glorying in being the first sanctuary dedicated on 
 Prince Edward Island to the common Mother of the Faithful, Our 
 Lady of Mount Carmel. When it was ready for the purpose of 
 divine worship Father Cecile came to them, and the voice of sacrifice 
 was heard within its walls, as the King of Glory came down to take 
 possession of his sanctuary and consecrate it forever by his Eucharis- 
 tic presence. 
 
— 214 — 
 
 In this way the good work went on in the Acadian missions under 
 the guiding hand of Father C^eile, who by his zeal and devotedness 
 left an undying memory amongst the people whom he so well and so 
 faithfully served. A priest who knew him in after life thus summar- 
 ized his character and dispositions. 
 
 " His exterior, " he writes, " was by no means prepossessing. 
 Austere and brusque in his manner, he laid aside all outward mani- 
 festation of feeling. He was severe but just, and gave expression to 
 his opinions curtly and without oratorical effort. His charity was 
 unobtrusive ; his left hand knew not what the right had given ; but 
 at the same time he was as pitiless for the lazy as he was distrustful 
 of those whom he found wanting in sincerity. He was fond of study, 
 and though not what would be called a learned man, he was able to 
 give excellent advice to those who needed wise counsel, and his deep 
 knowledge of Holy Scripture he always turned to good account in 
 the religious instruction of youth. His post of duty was the sacristy, 
 where he transacted all parochial business and where his flock were 
 sure to find him should any of them need his assistance. Such, " he 
 concludes, " was Father Cdcile in his public life. His memory is in 
 veneration, and the old people who knew him mention his name 
 always with religious respect." 
 
CHAPTER XXVI. 
 
 EFFORTS MADE TO DIVIDE THE DIOCESE OF QUEBEC. — FATHER BURKE S 
 
 VIEWS OF THE MATTER. — NOVA SCOTIA SEPARATED FROM 
 
 QUEBEC. — FATHER MACEACHERN NAMED BISHOP 
 
 OF ROSEN. — HIS CONSECRATION. 
 
 In the present chapter we purpose to retrace our steps somewhat, 
 so as to deal with a question intimately connected with the years 
 which we have just passed in review. We refer to the division of 
 the Diocese of Quebec. We candidly confess that we approach the 
 subject with considerable difiBdence, knowing that it has given rise 
 to contradictory opinions, and has occasioned that blame merited or 
 unmerited has been laid at the door of the holy prelates, who at that 
 time occupied the See of Quebec. 
 
 One thing however seems clear in the premises, viz : that such a 
 division had become absolutely necessary in order that the outlying 
 portions of the Diocese might have the spiritual attention they 
 required. It was impossible indeed that this could be effected in a 
 region so extensive, under a system which a Canadian writer has 
 sarcastically called " the incubus of centralization at Quebec." 
 
 No one realized this truth more fully than the Bishops themselves. 
 They felt more keenly than any other, how inadequate were their 
 efforts to do even scanty justice to so many scattered people. Bishop 
 Hubert spent ten years in making a visitation of his Diocese, and at 
 the end of that period there still remained the whole of the Maritime 
 Provinces and portions of the upper Provinces as well, which he was 
 unable to visit in person. Moved by this fact he opened negotiations 
 
— 216 — 
 
 •with the Holy See on the 24th of October, 1789, setting forth that 
 some form of diocesan dismemberment would have to be adopted in 
 order to remedy the present unsatisfactory conditions. The Holy See 
 seemed quite favorable to his views of the matter, and would have 
 doubtless carried them into effect, had it not been for the opposition of 
 the Court of St. James. In matters of this kind the British Govern- 
 inent had to be reckoned with in those days. The Penal Laws were as 
 much in force as at any period since the sixteenth century, and 
 though the Treaty of Paris guaranteed to the Catholics of Canada the 
 free exercise of their religion, the Church was not recognized, but only 
 tolerated by the Government. On account of the opposition from the 
 civil authorities Bishop Hubert failed in his attempt at division, and 
 a few years later, he died at the head of a Diocese still comprising the 
 whole of Canada. Bishop Denaut resumed the negotiations, but with 
 no better results. When Bishop Plessis succeeded to the See of 
 Quebec, he saw at a glance the difficulties of the situation. In a 
 letter to a friend in London he wrote in 1806 : " Examine the map, 
 and you will see that it is impossible for one Bishop to extend his 
 solicitude with any degree of success from Lake Superior to the Gulf 
 of St. Lawrence. That territory contains more than two hundred 
 thousand Catholics, and yet there are only one hundred and eighty 
 priests to attend to their spiritual wants. Add to this the difficulties 
 arising from their entanglement with a Protestant population, and 
 the constant vigilance necessary to avoid being compromised with a 
 Government that views things only through the medium of its own 
 principles, and which is constantly making new efforts to establish 
 the Eoyal Supremacy." As years went on, however, the rigors of the 
 Penal Laws began sensibly to relax. It is true, nothing of a positive 
 nature was done to ameliorate the condition of the Catholics, but 
 many- disabilities, under which they labored, were gradually losing 
 their former vigor, and many of the existing laws were allowed to 
 become a dead-letter. Catholics throughout the Empire had demon- 
 strated their loyalty even in the face of persecution, and the Govern- 
 ment was beginning to see little by little that no greater good could 
 be done to the Empire at large, than to remove the iniquitous yoke 
 
— 217— • 
 
 of servitude from the necks of this long suffering people, and to 
 grant them the rights and privileges enjoyed by their Protestant fel- 
 low-citizens. 
 
 Many causes conspired to bring about this happy change of 
 sentiment. In the first place, by the death of the Cardinal Duke 
 of York in 1807, the male line of the House of Stuart had become 
 extinct, and there was therefore no longer any reason to fear, that 
 another Catholic Pretender should arise to dispute the right of sover- 
 eignty with the reigning dynasty. 
 
 Again, during the wars of Napoleon, Catholic soldiers had upheld 
 with their blood the glory of the British Flag, though it had never 
 been for them an emblem of freedom or fairplay. When the trumpet 
 called to war they paused not to consider the wrongs and insults 
 borne patiently for years, but went forth to fight the foes of England, 
 remembering only that thoy were members of God's Church, and 
 subjects of the British King. And thus a hundred battlefields stained 
 with Catholic blood were earnestly appealing to England's sense of 
 justice, and proclaiming that the time had come when the chains 
 forged by bigotry should be broken, and a people too long enslaved 
 should be free. On the American Continent, too,' Catholic soldiers 
 had fought and died for the British cause. When, in 1812, the United 
 States threw down the gage of battle to England, the Catholics of 
 Canada never wavered in their allegiance, though many and great were 
 the inducements held out to them. The Bishop of Quebec called upon 
 his flock to stand firm in their loyalty to Great Britain, and his clergy 
 never ceased to make common cause against the enemies of England. 
 One of their number, Eeverend Alexander Macdonald, a missionary 
 in Ontario, raised from amongst his own parishioners two companies 
 of Scottish soldiers, who, cheered by the presence of their brave pastor, 
 helped to keep the flag of Britain floating in triumph over that part 
 of Canada. 
 
 But what contributed most of all to develope a kindly feeling 
 between the British Government and the Catholic people, was the 
 beneficient action of Pius VII, the illustrious occupant of the Chair 
 of Peter in the early years of the nineteenth century. When Napoleon 
 
• _218 — 
 
 had reached the zenith of his power and Europe trembled at hia word, 
 England almost alone stood out defiantly to check the haughty con- 
 queror in his career of blood. England, called by him in contempt 
 " a nation of shopkeepers," stood in the way of his ambition, and he 
 determined to crush her in the only way that seemed feasible, by 
 striking a decisive blow at her commerce. He formed a plan known 
 as the " Continental System " by issuing a decree to the crowned 
 heads of Europe, commanding them to close their seaports to British 
 vessels and exclude from their markets the goods of Britain. The 
 monarchs of Europe, in many cases creatures of his own appoint- 
 ment, did not dare to disobey ; but when he made the same demand 
 of the Pope, he was met with a flat refusal. Pius VIT could not 
 boast of military power ; he was indeed, in this respect, the very 
 antithesis of the Prench Emperor ; but he steadfastly refused to lend 
 the prestige of his name and office to a measure so flagrantly violative 
 of international justice. Clearly he told Napoleon that the Holy See 
 could not entertain such unfair proposals; that it would maintain 
 the strictest neutrality, and "that the British merchantmen, as well 
 as those of other nations, would continue to enjoy free access to the 
 seaports of the Papal States. 
 
 This kindly action of the Pope had a most salutary effect in 
 England and the Colonies. From this time the justice-loving monarch 
 of the Vatican found his way to the esteem of the English people, 
 and thus helped to throw down the barriers which prejudice had 
 raised between the Government of the day and its Catholic subjects. 
 
 By the concurrent action of all these causes, the British public was 
 gradually adopting a more reasonable view of the Catholic position ; 
 prejudices were being dispelled, wrong opinions laid aside, and events 
 were shaping themselves so as to render possible, in the near future, 
 the work of hierarchical reconstruction so necessary to the Church in 
 Canada. 
 
 In the meantime the question of dividing the Diocese of Quebec 
 was engaging the attention of Eeverend Edmund Burke of Halifax. 
 His intimate knowledge of existing conditions convinced him, that 
 people living so far from the centre of authority could rarely receive 
 
— 219 — 
 
 the attention they required ; and, prudent man that he was, he saw 
 that some change was vitally necessary, if the Church was to hold 
 her allotted place in shaping the destinies of the country. In the 
 year 1815 he paid a visit to Europe. He had been suffering for some 
 time from an internal complaint which required special treatment ; 
 and he believed that the ocean voyage and the superior medical skill 
 available in London would serve to re-establish his failing health. He 
 left Halifax in the month of July, 1815, and having visited Ireland 
 and England, made his way to Rome. While in London he forwarded a 
 memorial to the Congregation of the Propaganda, in which he 
 described the state of the Church in Canada. 
 
 He emphasizes the fact that one Bishop, howsoever active, cannot 
 exercise his pastoral watchfulness over so extensive a region. Refer- 
 ring to the Maritime Provinces he says, that on account of the Penal 
 Laws the British Government would never consent to the erection of 
 new bishoprics, and for the same reason it would not be necessary 
 to ask the consent of the Bishop of Quebec, who himself cannot 
 exercise any jurisdiction in those Provinces without the special per- 
 mission of their respective Governors. " Therefore," he adds, " let there 
 be appointed Prefects Apostolic, who secretly and quietly may admin- 
 ister the spiritual affairs of the people under their charge." 
 
 Father Buike's plan, therefore, did not call for new Bishops. He 
 merely wanted to have in each Province a priest invested with the 
 authority of a Bishop, who could thus, unknown to the civil author- 
 ities, direct the spiritual affairs of the territory subject to him. The 
 languishing state of religion in the Provinces by the sea was a source 
 of perpetual anxiety to Father Burke, and he attributed the same to 
 the fact that the Bishops were too distant to cope with the difficulties 
 of the situation. Let them be ever so watchful and ever so zealous : 
 evils demanding at once the weight of their episcopal authority might 
 exist for months at a time, without their being aware of the fact. 
 Then again, there was the want of clergy, and the want of adequate 
 provision for the future of the missions. Priests were too few in number 
 for the multiplied wants of the Maritime missions, and heretofore 
 the flourishing and comfortable parishes in the interior of the Diocese 
 
— 220 — 
 
 had drawn to themselves the great majority \)f the native clergy. To 
 raise up clergy and appoint them to a sphere of duty belongs to 
 episcopal authority, and if Father MacEachern, Father Burke and 
 some other priests of the Maritime Provinces had given their time, 
 their labor and their money for this end, it was from pure charity 
 and not from any obligation arising from their position. 
 
 Father Burke's remedy for conditions then existing, was to have 
 at the scene of action a priest with the necessary authority to take 
 the initiative in all matters pertaining to the spiritual welfare of the 
 people ; a priest who would not have to look to Quebec for the word 
 of command, and then wait for months whilst perhaps his letter or 
 its answer had gone astray and was lost ; a priest, in a word, who 
 would be free and unhampered to exercise his own foresight in pro- 
 viding for the wants of the missions. 
 
 Father Burke's opinion as set forth in his memorial is worthy of 
 our highest consideration, as he had had ample opportunities of 
 understanding the various aspects of the question. He had now spent 
 close on thirty years in Canada, had travelled over the entire length 
 of the inhabited portion of it, had iilled various positions under the 
 Bishops of Quebec, and was moreover well acquainted with the 
 manner in which ecclesiastical affairs were managed in Ireland, where 
 he had labored prior to his coming to Canada. Hence, when we con- 
 sider his eminent learning, his varied experience, his unquestionable 
 interest in a country made his own by adoption, we should be dis- 
 posed to admit that his views were right, even if we had not the 
 light of subsequent history to establish their truth to a certainty. 
 
 True, it has been urged against him, with what truth we do not 
 presume to say, that he was ambitious ; that he longed for the day 
 when he himself should wear the mitre. This, however, is no answer 
 to his memorial, for even were it true that Father Burke was 
 desirous of grasping the crozier, his views as set forth in his memorial 
 could not be vitiated nor nullified by that fact. 
 
 It has been said also that, being Vicar General of the Bishop of 
 Quebec, he- should have consulted his spiritual superior before taking 
 action in this matter. This is a graver charge which we will not 
 
— 221 — 
 
 attempt to discuss, for our business here is not with the man, but 
 with his memorial to the Holy See, not with his motives, but with 
 his opinions regarding the question of the division of the Diocese of 
 Quebec. 
 
 Moreover, we have every reason for believing that his plan had 
 been submitted to Father MacKachern before Father Burke set sail 
 for Europe. The frequent communication by letter between the two 
 priests, the similarity of their respective positions, the fact that each 
 in his own Province experienced similar difficulties, and labored 
 under the like disadvantages, would lead us to suppose that they 
 must have often taken counsel together, and perhaps mutually aided 
 in evolving the plans submitted by Father Burke to the consideration 
 of the Propaganda. Be this at it may, we have abundant evidence 
 from the subsequent letters of Father MacEachern that he approved 
 of the plan in its entirety, and indeed regarded its adoption as the 
 only safety for the cause of religion in Prince Edward Island and the 
 Maritime Provinces in general. 
 
 Father Burke's mission to Eome was in part successful. It was 
 soon followed by the first dismemberment of the Diocese of Quebec, 
 the Province of Nova Scotia having been raised to the dignity of a 
 Vicariate Apostolic and Father Burke placed at its head with the 
 title of Bishop of Sion. This change was effected in 1817. Henceforth 
 freed from the jurisdiction of Quebec, Father Burke may inaugurate 
 whatsoever plans he will for the welfare of his flock ; and if, by 
 chance, religion should not flourish in the new Vicariate, his it will 
 be to pronounce a penitent vnea culpa, and not seek to shift the 
 blame to the shoulders of the Canadian Bishops. 
 
 The views entertained by Bishop Plessis regarding the necessities 
 of his Diocese did not coincide with those set forth in the memorial 
 of Bishop Burke. His plan was to have five Bishops, viz : one in the 
 North West, another in Upper Canada, a third at Montreal, a fourth 
 in the Maritime Provinces, and a fifth at Quebec who would thus be 
 the Metropolitan of all Canada. Four Bishops having full authority in 
 their respective Dioceses, with a Metropolitan at their head, would 
 undoubtedly be the most effective and most satisfactory plan that 
 
222 
 
 could be adopted for the welfare of all people concerned ; but unfor- 
 tunately it was not the most feasible, owing to the opposition of the 
 British Government ; and this, we think, should not have escaped the 
 attention of Bishop Plessis, for he had considered the question in all 
 its bearings. Father Burke knew well that the -Penal Laws stood in 
 the way of such a plan, at least as far as the Maritime Provinces were 
 concerned, and states the fact very clearly in his memorial, making it 
 the reason for the appointment/ of -Prefects Apostolic in preference 
 to regularly consecrated Bishops. 
 
 Bishop Plessis, however, persevered in his own opinion, and in 1819 
 made a journey to Europe, in the hope that better success would 
 attend his efforts, were he to lay the matter before the British Govern- 
 ment in person. Arrived in London he saw that Father Burke's view 
 was right. The British Government found it easier to do business 
 with one Bishop than with many, and therefore, in consenting to the 
 consecration of four new ones, it expressly stipulated that they were 
 to be auxiliary Bishops only, depending as before on the Bishop of 
 Quebec. In other words, they were to be merely his Vicars-General with 
 episcopal consecration, and as such, they did not have the necessary 
 initiative authority to do justice to the cause of religion especially in 
 the outlying districts. The difference between the two plans was 
 this : Father Burke wanted priests having episcopal authority with 
 or without episcopal consecration, while the latter plan asks for 
 quasi-superiors having episcopal consecration but no authority of 
 their own. Whilst it does not seem to us the best for the cause of 
 religion in the Maritime Provinces, it was certainly much to the 
 advantage of the Bishop of Quebec. He had all the authority as 
 before, and at the same time, thanks to the devotedness of his auxiliary 
 Bishops, he would be spared the long journeys of his earlier episco- 
 pate. After his return from England Bishop Plessis communicated to 
 the faithful of his Diocese the result of his mission. He speaks of the 
 opposition put forth by the Court of London, on which account his 
 original plan had to be considerably modified. Eeferring to the new 
 order of things, he says : " The Holy See yielding to circumstances 
 placed this diocese on the same footing as that of Wilna in Lithuania, 
 
— 223 — 
 
 "whose Bishop has four suffragans consecrated with the title in par- 
 tibus in/idelium, and living in four sections of his Diocese where 
 they exercise episcopal jurisdiction derived from him." By virtue of 
 the above decision, four suffragans were appointed to the Bishop of 
 Quebec, viz : Eight Keverend Joseph- Norbert Provencher, for the 
 North West, with the title of Bishop of Juliopolis ; Eight Eeverend 
 Alexander MacDonnell, for Upper Canada, with the title of Bishop of 
 Ehesina ; Eight Eeverend Jean-Jacques Lartigue, for the district of 
 Montreal, with the title of Bishop of Telmesse, and — what is of more 
 interest to our history — Eight Eeverend Angus Bernard MacEachern, 
 with the title of Bishop of Eosen, for the district comprising New 
 Brunswick, Cape Breton and Prince Edward Island. 
 
 The Brief conferring the new honor on Father MacEachern is 
 dated January 12th, 1819 ; but more than two years elapsed before 
 his consecration. Bishop Plessis did not return from Europe till the 
 month of August, 1820, and before he had time to communicate with 
 Father MacEachern and the latter could make the necessary arrange- 
 ments to provide for the missions during his absence, the season was 
 so far advanced that his trip to Quebec had to be postponed till the 
 following year. 
 
 Towards the end of February, 1821, he was called to Malpeque 
 and there engaged two Indians to accompany him to Quebec. Their 
 plan was to start in June or July, cross over to New Brunswick, go 
 up the St. John Eiver to its source, traverse the Province of Quebec 
 to the St. Lawrence and proceed by way of the latter river to their 
 destination. When making this arrangement with his Indian guides, 
 he was not aware that there was a letter on the way to him from 
 Bishop Plessis, telling him to be at Quebec not later than about the 
 first of June, as after that date His Lordship would be absent from 
 his Cathedral city. If, however, Father MacEachern should find it 
 more convenient to go to Newfoundland, he permitted him to do so, 
 and to receive episcopal consecration at the hands of the Vicar Apos- 
 tolic of St. John's. Should he decide to go to Quebec and be obliged 
 to make the journey by way of the United States, Bishop Plessis 
 gave him faculties to exercise his ministry in the Dioceses of New 
 York and Boston, of which the Bishops of Quebec were usually 
 
— 224 — 
 
 Vicars-General. Bishop Plessis' letter, though written on the 10th of 
 January, did not reach Father MacEachern till the 24th of March. 
 He decided to set out for Quebec without delay ; for it was his fervent 
 wish to receive consecration from his kind friend, the Bishop of 
 Quebec. At the same time he hoped to profit by the occasion to 
 confer personally with him and with the Earl of Dalhousie, regarding 
 the civil condition of the Catholic people under the administration of 
 Governor Smith. He therefore sends an immediate answer in which 
 he says : " Now it rests with me to get to Canada by the surest and 
 speediest way. As there is no vessel on this Island bound for Quebec, 
 I suppose I must cross to Pictou, then to Halifax and endeavor to 
 proceed to Montreal either by Boston or New York. Many reasons 
 urge me to overtake Your Grace in Quebec, not only regarding our 
 spiritual affairs, but also some of our temporal concerns. Your 
 influence with the Governor General will be of infinite use to us in 
 order to obtain, through the proper channel, some relaxation of the 
 odious distinctions that exist, and are strictly observed nowhere in 
 North America but on this Island." 
 
 Notwithstanding the inconveniences of travel and the many delays 
 he doubtlessly had to make on his way, Father MacEachern 
 reached Quebec before Bishop Plessis had set out on his pastoral 
 visitation; and on Sunday, June 17th, 1821, he received episcopal 
 consecration in the church of St. Eoch, amid ceremonies which, for 
 pomp and splendor, had never been excelled, if indeed equalled, in 
 the history of the Church in Canada. The consecrating prelate was 
 Bishop Plessis, and he had for assistants his coadjutor Right Eeverend 
 Bernard-Claude Panet, and Right Reverend Alexander Macdonell, 
 Titular Bishop of Rhesina. The sermon on the occasion was preached 
 by Reverend Father Bruneau, Parish Priest of Beauport. It was the 
 first time that four Bishops, were seen together in one church in 
 Canada. 
 
 Lady Dalhousie graced the occasion by her presence, and the 
 Governor too would have assisted, had he not been called away 
 from home on business of importance. In the afternoon the new 
 prelate officiated at his first pontifical function, by singing vespers in 
 the Cathedral of Quebec. 
 
Ri-;v. ]!i-i(XAui) D. Macdonalii 
 
CHAPTER XXVII. 
 
 FATHER MACDONALD ORDAINED. — FATHER FITZGERALD COMES TO CHAR- 
 LOTTETOWN. — FIRST ORDINATION IN PRINCE EDWARD ISLAND. 
 
 After a short stay in Quebec Bishop MacEachern returned to his 
 flock in Prince Edward Island. 
 
 Heretofore a simple priest, sharing in all the privations of the- 
 people -whom he served, he is now a Bishop, invested with new claims 
 to the veneration of the faithful, and adorned in a higher degree with- 
 the powers and prerogatives of the Divine Master. 
 
 But though a Bishop, he is the same gentle, unassuming servant of 
 God. The new honor entailed no change of deportment, except inas- 
 much as it brought more arduous labours, and higher and more 
 numerous responsibilities. He still continued to perform the duties 
 of missionary priest throughout the English-speaking missions of 
 Prince Edward Island, besides doing the episcopal work, which 
 belonged by office to the Bishop of Quebec, in a region comprising' 
 Prince Edward Island, Cape Breton, the Magdalen Islands and the 
 entire Province of New Brunswick. i 
 
 From this time forward no Bishop of Quebec came to the Maritime 
 Provinces for the exercise of episcopal functions, though for many- 
 years these provinces continued integral parts of that diocese. On the- 
 25th of March 1822, Archbishop Plessis ^ assures Bishop MacEachern,. 
 in a most categorical manner, that this additional burden must rest 
 on the shoulders of the latter for the future. " I flatter myself ", 
 writes His Grace, " that you shall not count on me to exercise this 
 
 1 — He became Archbishop in 1819. 
 15 
 
— 226 — 
 
 ministry in the Province of Few Brunswick, much less in the Islands 
 of the Gulf." In this way the Archbishop practically adopts the 
 Ciceronian phrase " Leisure with dignity," as far as the Maritime 
 Provinces were concerned, while Bishop MacEachern traverses the 
 country from Sydney to Madawaska, administering Confirmation, 
 selecting sites for.churches, opening up new missions, establishing 
 new boundaries for old ones and looking after the clergy who, few 
 and far between, were exposed to dangers and beset with difi&oulties 
 unknown in a more settled and better organized community. Travelling 
 always at his own expense, he performed all these duties and various 
 others as well for the Archbishop with absolutely no renumeration 
 for his services, but depending for a living, all the while, on the 
 tithes contributed by his missions in Prince Edward Island. 
 
 In the first years of his episcopate these missions received much 
 of his attention, for new churches were to be built in certain locali- 
 ties to replace the old ones now falling into disrepair. Thus we find 
 him during those years suspending the round of bis episcopal labors 
 to build churches at Launching, Panmure Island and East Point, while 
 attending to works of repairing necessary in other places, and at the 
 same time collecting funds and buying materials to erect a suitable 
 residence for himself at St. Andrew's. 
 
 The month of June 1822 is memorable in the ecclesiastical history 
 of Prince Edward Island, because it witnessed the ordination at 
 Quebec of Eeverend Bernard Donald Macdonald, the first Islander 
 raised to the holy priesthood. Ten years previously Father Mac- 
 Eachern had made choice of him from amongst many, and with true 
 paternal solicitude provided for all his wants during his studies in 
 the Seminary ; and now that the promises of his earlier years have 
 •been fully realized, the good Bishop feels that the dark night of 
 single-handed effort is to be followed by a bright and cheerful day, 
 Tvhen Prince Edward Island shall have a priest of its own to share 
 the burden of toil and sacrifice, which he himself had carried alone 
 .for upwards of thirty years. It was a bright and cheerful prospect 
 -for the pious missionary bending under the weight of his sixty-four 
 years ; but unfortunately he must wait some time longer before he 
 sees the realization of his cherished hopes. 
 
— 227 — 
 
 Father Macdonald was not permitted to return directly after hia 
 ordination. He was retained at Quebec for three months exercising 
 the ministry among the Irish emigrants who were stricken with fever 
 and whose spiritual condition would have been deplorable indeed, 
 had it not been for the timely care of a priest, Keverend Father 
 Paisley, assisted by the young and zealous Father Macdonald, 
 
 It was the month of September when Father Macdonald reached 
 home, and then arose a new difficulty which obliged Bishop Mac- 
 Eachern to abandon the plans recently formed for the spiritual wel- 
 fare of his flock. Father C^cile decided to return to Quebec as soon 
 as a helper had been found for the Bishop of Eosen. He wrote to 
 the Archbishop for permission which His Grace at once granted, 
 without however making any provision for the people thus left 
 without a pastor. Hence Father Macdonald had to leave the people 
 who had educated him for themselves, and go to labor among the 
 Acadians a second time abandoned by their own countrymen. On 
 his return to Quebec Father C^cile was appointed to the flourishing 
 parish of Berthier. Later on we find him at Saint-Pierre-Rivifere-du- 
 Sud, and finally at Cap St. Ignace, where he died on the 29th of 
 March, 1857. 
 
 In the summer of 1822, a priest from Newfoundland wrote to 
 Bishop MacEachern, offering his services for the missions of Prince 
 Edward Island. The Bishop without delay communicated the fact to 
 the Archbishop, who says in answer : " If this Mr. Fitzgerald who 
 comes to you from Newfoundland is sufficiently recommended by 
 Dr Scallan, he can be placed with advantage at Charlottetown ; and 
 in that case, you may communicate to him in writing the same facul- 
 ties I gave to yourself in 1812, excepting those which related to 
 Nova Scotia, where, as you are aware, neither you nor I have any 
 jurisdiction." In July, 1823, Father Fitzgerald arrived, and took up 
 his residence in Charlottetown, a mission made up principally of 
 emigrants from Ireland and Newfoundland. Besides these his zeal was 
 exercised in behalf of the Catholic settlers of West River, Point Prim 
 and Vernon River. 
 
 Father Macdonald was employed in the Acadian missions, having 
 
— 228 — 
 
 under his care a territory extending from Euatico to Tignish, while 
 the Bishop himself attended to the spiritual wants of all the Catholics 
 from Tracadie to East Point. At the same time the work on his new 
 house &t St. Andrew's went on apace, so that he was able to move 
 into it on the 13th of November, 1823. This house was a building^ 
 of some importance in its day. It was in fact the largest and most 
 imposing .'residence in the eastern portion of the Island, and was 
 regarded with no little curiosity by a people, many of whom still 
 lived in the old-fashioned log houses. But Bishop MacEeachern was 
 not merely providing a home for himself. His own personal comforts 
 were indeed very little in his thoughts. He was rather looking 
 forward to a time when, through change of circumstances, he might 
 be able to found a college for the education of young men destined 
 for the priesthood. The need of such an institution was becoming 
 every year more apparent, for Quebec had now completely abandoned 
 Prince Edward Island to its own resources ; and as far as the sup- 
 plying of missionaries went, it might, in some measure, be said to 
 have done so from the Conquest. Long and painful experience, there- 
 fore, convinced Bishop MacEachern that the key to the situation lay 
 in a college ; and he determined to build a house sufficiently large 
 and commodious to serve that purpose, in the event of Prince Edward 
 Island being cut off from Quebec and having a Bishop with inde^ 
 pendent jurisdiction. 
 
 Father Fitzgerald, .who had charge of Charlottetown and surround- 
 ing districts, was an earnest and energetic worker. When he arrived 
 at Charlottetown he went to board at the house of Mrs. MacPhee,, 
 and immediately opened a subscription list to raise funds to complete 
 the interior of the church and to built a parochial house in the city; 
 He then rented the " Kosebank Farm ", a property belonging to the 
 Stewart Family, and situated on the south side of the Hillsborough 
 Kiver, opposite Charlottetown, and there he took up his residence, 
 with one of his nephews who intended to carry on farming on an 
 extensive scale. On Sunday morning, October 24th, 1823, the 
 dwelling-house on Eosebank Farm was destroyed by fire, and Father 
 Fitzgerald lost his furniture and books. After this disaster he returned 
 
— 229 — 
 
 to the city and rented a house on the corner of Grafton and Rochford 
 Streets, where he lived until a new parochial house was ready for 
 occupation. 
 
 Father Macdonald, like the Bishop himself, could not, by reason 
 of his numerous missions, remain long in one place. Eustico and 
 Miscouche seem to have been the chief centres from which he set 
 out on his missionary journeys, and to which he returned at their 
 close. As soon as he took charge of Miscouche, he started the building 
 of a new church in which he said the first Mass on Christmas Eve, 
 1823. 
 
 The beginning of the following year witnessed the first ordination 
 service held on Prince Edward Island. On the 4th of February, 
 Eeverend William MacLeod was ordained deacon by Bishop Mac- 
 Eachern in the church of St. Andrew's, and on the following Sunday, 
 February the 8th, he was raised to the sacred order of the priesthood. 
 Father MacLeod was a native of Arisaig, Nova Scotia, who with a 
 companion, John Chisholm, of Antigonish, had been sent to the 
 Seminary of Quebec in the year 1813. In this institution they 
 remained as long as the people of the Gulf Shore of Nova Scotia 
 proved willing to pay their expenses ; but when money was no longer 
 forthcoming, the Directors of the Seminary without further ceremony 
 turned the two young men out of doors. At this juncture Archbishop 
 Plessis came to their relief. He placed them in the College of Nicolet, 
 at the expense of the Diocese, and in the fall of 1823, sent Mr. 
 MacLeod down to St. Andre w^^ that he might fill the office of 
 Secretary to the Bishop of Eosen, and at the same time continue his 
 studies in preparation for the priesthood. But Bishop MacEachern 
 had little need of a secretary. It was priests he wanted, priests for 
 whom countless souls were sighing, and so he bade the young Levite 
 apply himself with all possible diligence to study and prayer, and 
 "thus prepare himself, mind and heart, for the arduous duties before 
 him. He was accordingly ordained priest on the 8th of February, 
 1824, and soon after was appointed to the mission of East Bay, in 
 Cape Breton Island, where Bishop MacEachern had bought a house 
 and land from an Indian Chief some time previous to this date. 
 
— 230 — 
 
 In the summer of this year Governor Smith's term of office came 
 to an end, and he was succeeded by Colonel John Ready, who arrived 
 on the 21st of October, 1824. The new Governor was a man of broad, 
 patriotic views, and his administration was marked by steady progress 
 in the colony. Bishop MacEachern found in him a staunch and earnest 
 friend ; and the whole Catholic people had reason to bless the day 
 when he was chosen to fill the place of his autocratic predecessor. 
 His assumption of office marked the dawn of a new era for the Catho- 
 lic people. Gradually they grew into favor as prejudice gave way 
 before a milder and more impartial public opinion. From this time 
 forward their interests will be championed by Protestants whose 
 names are synonyms of integrity ; and if justice was yet .delayed for 
 some years, the descendants of the people whose cause they espoused 
 owe to those strenuous advocates of Catholic rights, a just tribute of 
 respect and gratitude. 
 
CHAPTER XXVIII. 
 
 TATHER FITZGERALD'S LABORS IN CHARLOTTBTOWN. — CATHOLICS COME 
 
 INTO FAVOR. QUESTION OF THE FRANCHISE RAISED. 
 
 DEATH OF ARCHBISHOP PLESSIS. 
 
 The year 1825 opened auspiciously with an ordination in the 
 Church of St. Andrew's. On the Feast of Epiphany, Eeverend John 
 Chishohn, former companion of Father William MacLeod at Quebec, 
 was raised to the priesthood by Bishop MacEachern. Soon after his 
 ordination he fell grievously ill, and was unable to do missionary 
 work during the entire winter. After his recovery he remained a few 
 months with Bishop MacEachern, dividing his time between Rustico, 
 St. Andrew's, and the eastern missions of King's County, and in the 
 month of October, crossed over to Cape Breton to assume pastoral 
 charge of the people residing at Mabou and Broad Cove. 
 
 By this time -Father Fitzgerald had spent wellnigh two years in 
 Charlottetown, and from the letters of Bishop MacEachern we learn 
 that he had done " ample justice " to his flock. True, he may not 
 have been as careful as prudence demanded regarding the ceremonies 
 and details of divine worship, since Archbishop Plessis complains that 
 he " celebrated Mass with a chalice made of tin and which had no 
 paten : a proceeding ", says His Grace, " which cannot be permitted." 
 But he was nevertheless a strenuous and indefatigable worker, as 
 fearless in his condemnation of wrong as he was impartial in uphold- 
 ing right. His black-thorn walking-stick was an important factor in 
 the public life of Charlottetown in those days, and woe betide the 
 luckless wight whom he caught loafing on the corners or hanging 
 
— 232 — 
 
 around bar-rooms. His methods of exhortation, too, were somewhat 
 peculiar. Ofttimes, in the midst of an impassioned discourse, he 
 "would stop short, and fixing with his eye some individual whose con- 
 duet had aroused his displeasure, he would proceed to apostrophize 
 the blushing offender, and having administered a scathing rebuke, he 
 would calmly take up the thread of his discourse, and proceed with 
 the same as if nothing unusual had happened. The ladies of the con- 
 gregation, especially, had to be particularly circumspect, not merely 
 in their conduct, but even in the style and make of their dress. If a 
 young damsel with an eye to the matrimonial market, entered the 
 <!hurch arrayed so as to suggest to the priest that she was trying to 
 catch the eye or storm the heart of'some iaveterate bachelor, she 
 did so at the risk of being summoned to the altar-rail, and there publicly 
 admonished of the folly of her conduct. 
 
 Yet despite these oddities, or rather perhaps by reason of them, 
 • he acquired a marvellous ascendancy over his people, and in a short 
 ■time, he was able to collect enough money to defray the expenses 
 rendered necessary by the unfinished state of the church. Having 
 thus manifested his zeal for the beauty of God's house, his next care 
 was to provide a residence for himself. Since the fire at Eosebank he 
 had lived in a rented house, which was neither large nor commodious ; 
 and he thought the time had come when a mission so central and so 
 important as Charlottetown, should have a suitable parochial house 
 contiguous to the church. Accordingly, in the beginning of the year 
 1825, he made known to the people his views of the matter, and 
 announced that, on the following St. Patrick's Day, a collection would 
 be taken up to help defray the cost of the proposed building. The 
 service on St. Patrick's Day was well attended, the church being 
 thronged to the doors, and the collection gladdened the heart of Father 
 Fitzgerald. Persons of all denominations were present, and vied with 
 each other in contributing to so laudable an object. Colonel Ready 
 himself figured in the list of donors, as we glean from the fact that, at 
 a meeting of the congregation held in the afternoon of the same day, 
 a resolution was adopted thanking His Excellency for his " polite 
 letter and donation ", and expressing gratitude to those of the other 
 
— 233 — 
 
 denominations who " contributed to increase our slender funds for 
 building a parochial house for the residence of our clergy," 
 
 This was probably the first time that Governor Eeady lent the 
 prestige of his name and position to forward Catholic interests in 
 Prince Edward Island, but it certainly was not the last. Many a time 
 indeed throughout his administration, his good dispositions towards 
 the Catholic people found outward expression in acts of genuine kind- 
 ness. Thus it was that, on the 22nd of April of this year, he 
 appointed Bishop MacEachern a Commissioner of highways, assigning 
 to his supervision a precinct comprising the territory from Lot 38 to 
 Lot 42 inclusive ; and later inthe same year, we find him reversing 
 the policy of his predecessor, by appointing a Catholic, Mr. Angus 
 Macdonald, of Three Eivers, to the Commission of the Peace. 
 
 It is possible, also, that His Excellency had a part in calling the 
 attention of the Imperial authorities to the importance of the work 
 done- by Bishop MacEachern in this portion of the King's dominions, 
 and in convincing them that, though before all things else an apostle 
 of the Lord, he was nevertheless a most potent factor in upholding 
 the arm of the civil law, and promoting the welfare of the country at 
 large. We may add, however, that it is not unlikely too, that this 
 conviction may have grown on them, at least to some extent, from 
 representations made to them in the preceding year by Bishop Mac- 
 donnell of Upper Canada, who had gone to England for the express 
 purpose of laying before them the unsatisfactory condition of the 
 Church in certain parts of Canada. Erom whatever source they 
 gleaned the information, they seem to have awakened about this 
 time to a sense of tardy justice; for we find in the estimates for 
 defraying the civil establishment of Prince Edward Island for the 
 year 1825, the following item : 
 
 " Allowance to Reverend iEneas MacEachern, Roman Catholic 
 Missionary in the Islands of Prince Edward and Cape Breton, etc., in 
 reward for his meritorious services, £50.0.0 " ; and this sum the 
 British Government continued to pay each year until his death. 
 
 Encouraged by the Governor's kindly dispositions, and perhaps after 
 having taken counsel with him, the Catholic people, with the Bishop 
 
— 234 — 
 
 at their head, made in 1825 their first united effort in the cause of 
 Emancipation. Up till this time they had been debarred from a seat 
 in the Legislature, and had not even been allowed to cast a vote at 
 the polls. Though subject to the laws of the country, they had no voice 
 in their enactment, but were forced to bow to the principle of " taxa- 
 tion without representation, " a principle now tabooed in every coun- 
 try where constitutional government obtains. 
 
 In the meantime the Catholic cause was steadily gaining ground 
 in the British Empire. In the Old Country the Catholic Party, led 
 on by the great O'Connell, was carrying on a vigorous and successful 
 campaign, and since the beginning of the century, various,<measures 
 favorable to Catholics had been carried through the House of Com- 
 mons. In the neighbouring Island of Cape Breton, a Catholic, Mr, 
 Lawrence Kavanagh, had been elected by the vote of the people, and 
 had been allowed to take his seat in the Legislature through the 
 timely influence of Lord Dalhousie. The promoters of Catholic Eman- 
 cipation everywhere were growing more formidable in numbers, 
 more fearless in their advocacy, more outspoken in their views, and 
 more confident that the day was not far distant, when the waving folds 
 of the Imperial flag would be, to Catholics and Protestants alike, a 
 symbol of equal rights and equal privileges. 
 
 The Catholics of Prince Edward Island were seized with a like 
 enthusiasm. They too felt the time had come to unite their efforts in 
 the cause of civil and religious liberty, and they determined to bring 
 their grievances directly before the Local Legislature, where they had 
 reason to hope the sympathies of a fair-minded Protestant majority 
 would be enlisted in their behalf. The course adopted was to proceed 
 by way of petition, and they were in the act of taking the preliminary 
 steps to this end, whefi the Legislature was suddenly called for the 
 dispatch of business. Governor Eeady had been unexpectedly sum- 
 moned to England on matters of an urgent nature, and he thought 
 best to convene the Legislature before setting out, for fear his stay 
 in the mother country should be prolonged beyond his expectations. 
 The House accordingly met on the 12th of October, and though the 
 notice was short, we learn from the Kecords that, on the 18th of th& 
 
— 233 — 
 
 same month, Mr. Ewen Cameron presented a " petition from nine 
 hundred Eoman Catholic inhabitants of this Island, praying that this 
 House would do its part towards removing all invidious and impolitic 
 distinctions on account of their religious belief, and place them on a 
 similar footing with their Protestant fellow-subjects, and thereby 
 unite the inhabitants of this Island in mutual confidence." The 
 petition was read and was made the Order of the Day for Thursday, 
 October 20th. When the House met on October 20th, it went into 
 Committee of the Whole to take into consideration the petition pres- 
 ented by the Catholics, and after some deliberation the Chairman, 
 Mr. Owen, reported : " That from the importance of the subject, and 
 the advanced state of the Session, it is the opinion of this Committee 
 that the further consideration of the petition of the Eoman Catholics 
 should be deferred until the next Session, when the same ought to 
 have and is entitled to the serious consideration of the House." 
 
 A division having been taken, the report of the Committee was 
 declared agreed to, only one voice being heard in the negative. The 
 dissenting voice was that of Dr. MacAulay,of Belfast, an uncomprising 
 friend of the Catholic cause. He contended that the House should 
 take action at once in the matter, as the claims put forth by the 
 Catholics were so manifestly just that little time should be required 
 for their discussion. Moreover, as it lay in the power of the House 
 to grant the prayer of the petition, he believed it was better to do so 
 without delay, because he feared that bad feelings might be aroused 
 and old prejudices revived, should the question be bandied from 
 mouth to mouth during the recess. But, unfortunately, the majority 
 of the representatives were not as eager as Dr. MacAulay to see the 
 Catholics enter into the full enjoyment of their rights, and were 
 therefore inclined to proceed more slowly. Even Mr. Cameron, who 
 had presented the petition, went over to their way of thinking, and the 
 matter was thus allowed to remain in abeyance till the next session 
 of the Legislature. 
 
 The year 1825 went out amid deep mourning in the Diocese 
 of Quebec. The illustrious Bishop, who for nineteen years had 
 administered ecclesiastical affairs throughout the whole of Canada, 
 
— 236-- 
 
 died at his residence in Quebec on the 14th of December. Bishop 
 Plessis, in his day, was unquestionably the best known figure of 
 Canadian history. He had travelled the country from Cape Breton 
 Island to the wilds of Upper Canada, had visited every place of 
 consequence in that vast region, had transacted during his visits 
 business of almost every imaginable kind, had met and conversed 
 with persons of every class, creed and character, and all the while 
 kept in close touch with the civil authorities both at home and 
 abroad. Universally known, he was none the less universally admired 
 and beloved. No Bishop of Quebec before his time nor since so com- 
 pletely won the hearts of his own people, and the esteem and respect 
 of those not of the household of faith. The easy condescension of his 
 bearing, his thoughtful regard for the feelings of others, his fatherly 
 solicitude for the welfare of his clergy, his amiable kindness amount- 
 ing sometimes almost to playfulness, his exquisite sense of the most 
 delicate humour, these and many other qualities of mind and heart 
 made him the most genial and approachable of men ;,and few, indeed, 
 came within the sphere of his influence, who did not fall easy vic- 
 tims to the captivating graces of his manner. 
 
 By his death his Coadjutor, Eight Eeverend Bernard-Claude 
 Panet, became Archbishop of Quebec, and he chose for his Coadjutor 
 Eeverend Joseph Signay, a priest of the Diocese. 
 
-Most Ken'. H. C. I'axi:t 
 ArcliMsliijp 111 tjucliec 
 
CHAPTER XXIX. 
 
 CATHOLIC CLAIMS DISCUSSED IN THE PRESS AND IN THE LEGISLATURE. — 
 CATHOLIC PETITION DEFEATED. 
 
 During the years which up till now have engaged our attention, 
 journalism had made but little progress in Prince Edward Island. 
 The only newspaper in the Colony was the PHnce Edward Island 
 Register, which appeared for the first time on July 26th, 1823. Its 
 issue of February 2nd, 1826, contained a leading article in which 
 reference was made to the Catholic petition, and in which it stated 
 that the paper would take neutral ground with respect to the Catholic 
 claims, but would hold its columns open to all contributors who were 
 willing -to discuss the same in a fair and moderate manner. 
 
 A controversy was accordingly waged in the columns oi the Register, 
 and a good deal of bitterness was indulged in ; but it served the good 
 purpose of making the Catholic side of the question better known, 
 and, as a consequence, more fully appreciated. 
 
 Campbell, the author of the History of Prince Edward Island,h.im- 
 self a Protestant, admits that the Catholic apologists had the best of 
 the argument. Here are his words : " Whatever difference of opinion 
 may exist as to the discussion in its religious aspect, there can be 
 none as to the fact of every argument, advanced against the Eoman 
 Catholic's right to be put on an equal footing with the Protestant in 
 all matters appertaining to civil and religious liberty, being completely 
 demolished by the accomplished advocates of the Eoman Catholic 
 claims." The same author is candid enough to say that, " while on 
 
— 238 — 
 
 the part of Catholics, as the aggrieved party whose rights were tyran- 
 nically and persistently disregarded, paroxyms of irritation were the 
 natural result of oppression, no such apology can to the same extent 
 be offered in behalf of their opponents." 
 
 One of the most forcible and uncompromising champions of the Prot- 
 estant side of the controversy wrote over the pen-name of " Protestant 
 CathoKo." We here insert a brief summary of one of his letters which, 
 being typical of its class, will serve to show the animus with which 
 Catholics had to contend, and the shallow reasons which moved their 
 opponents in refusing them their common rights as citizens. He 
 begins by calling attention to the fact that the Catholics are said to 
 be now a numerous body, and that this is put forward as a reason for 
 seeking a redress of their grievances. " Protestant Catholic," however, 
 holds the opposite view. He submits that one of the strongest reasons 
 for refusing to grant them the franchise is precisely their great 
 numbers. Protestants in former years regarded the franchise in the 
 hands of Catholics as dangerous to liberty and subversive of Prot- 
 estant institutions. Has such danger disappeared in these latter 
 years ? Not at all. Is it not rather intensified by the comparative 
 increase of the Catholic population ? Were they only few in number 
 they could not do much harm ; but since they put forward the fact 
 that they have grown numerous in the colony, let us beware of 
 putting power into their hands. The very fact that they were deprived 
 of the franchise, in years gone by, is in itself a stronger reason that 
 they continue so than any argument to the contrary set forth in their 
 recent petition. He next takes up the case of Ireland, where the 
 people have been agitating many years for a redress of such griev- 
 ances, and concludes with more self-complacency than logic, that to 
 grant favors to Catholics can in no wise conduce to the public weal, 
 or else England had long since departed from her historical traditions 
 to place the Irish people on a footing of equality with the Protestant 
 subjects of the King. From Ireland to Nova Scotia is a long distance, 
 but " Protestant Catholic " makes the journey in two lines, and invites 
 his readers to contemplate the humiliating condition into which that 
 Province has fallen by too much favor shown the Catholic inhabitants. 
 
— 239 — 
 
 l^ow they have a Catholic representative ia the Legislature, and 
 ■" Protestant Catholic " is quite sure that the same state of aifairs will 
 soon obtain in Prince Edward Island, if Catholics once get a chance 
 to east their votes at the polls. Turning his attention more directly 
 to the Catholics of Prince Edward Island, he says that, whilst those 
 who signed the petitijn may lay claim to respectability, still in 
 general the Catholics of the Island are not as wealthy, respectable or 
 intelhgent as the Protestants. Their wealth he pronounces " a miser- 
 able subsistence "; their intelligence, " the opinion of their priests." 
 Give them the franchise, and then let a priest ask them to vote only 
 for a coreligionist, and soon, he thinks, the case of Nova Scotia will 
 be duplicated in Prince Edward Island, by a Catholic taking his seat 
 in the Legislature. He rejects with disdain the statement made in 
 the petition to the effect that Catholics are his brethren. See how 
 they differ from Protestants in their view of the Bible ; and they 
 even go so far as to maintain that these same Protestants, whom 
 they call brethren, are not true members of the Church of Christ. 
 
 Finally he takes up the doctiine of infallibility, and gives as his 
 opinion that such a belief is in itself sufficient to exclude Catholics 
 from the franchise. With the most perfect assurance he makes this 
 sweeping assertion, though from his arguments it is evident that he 
 failed to grasp the intrinsic nature of the dogma he condemns, nor 
 ever understood even in a rudimentary way its true bearing on civil 
 allegiance. 
 
 Whilst arguments like the above were being blazoned in the press, 
 and were being met with equal vehemence by the partisans of the 
 Catholic cause. Governor Eeady was detained in England by business 
 matters demanding his personal attention, so that he was forced to 
 put off his return till late in the fall, and did not therefore reach 
 Charlottetown till the 10th of December, 1826. A whole year thus 
 passed without a meeting of the Legislature, and the promoters of 
 the Catholic petition were growing impatient of delay. So long a 
 recess, however, was not unusual in Prince Edward Island, as Gov- 
 ernor Smith had allowed as many as four years to pass without calling 
 together the people's representatives. But Governor Eeady was a man 
 
— 240 — 
 
 of a different stamp.' His aim was to administer public afiFairs accord- 
 ing to the Constitution, and so, early in the year 1827, a short time 
 after his return from Europe, he called a session of the Legislature. 
 
 Having gone through the necessary preliminaries, the House took 
 up the general business of the Colony, and on the 29th of March, the 
 Catholic petition became the order of the day. Mr. Ewen Cameron, 
 in bringing it thus a second time to the notice of his colleagues, made 
 a speech in its favor, and dwelt at some length on the principal 
 objections to the measure contained in the contributions of " Prot- 
 estant Catholic." Amongst other things Mr. Cameron said that, though 
 he had presented this petition during the previous session, he had 
 consented to let it lie over till now, for two reasons : in the first 
 place, because he had felt the matter was of such paramount impor- 
 tance that it could not leceive the consideration it deserved in the 
 dying days of a hurried session ; and, in the second place, because he 
 had judged it was better to let sufficient time elapse, so that the 
 electors might have an oppoitunity of bringing in counter-petitions, 
 if they indeed seriously opposed the extension of the franchise to 
 Catholics. Over a year had since passed, and he was happy to say 
 that no such counter-petition was presented. A discussion had taken 
 place in the Press, it is true, into which much acrimony had been 
 injected, but for himself he was able to discuss the matter calmly 
 and fairly, as his motives were " common rights and common justice." 
 The Catholic people, he contended, are good and loyal subjects ; they 
 bear a share of the public burdens ; they braved with courage the 
 hardships of the early years of the Colony ; they are allowed to 
 serve on juries and fill other responsible positions. Why then should 
 they not vote as well as they do in the other Provinces ? He 
 emphasized the fact that the Catholics were so numerous on the 
 Island, and maintained, that it was manifestly unfair to prevent so 
 large and respectable a body of men from taking part in the political 
 affairs of their country. It had been alleged, he added, that priestly 
 infl.uence might tend to subvert existing conditions. But it was utter 
 nonsense to say so. Would not citizens, who were loyal when their 
 rights were denied them, continue in their loyalty when these rights 
 
— 241 — 
 
 ■were restored ? Why should they waver in their allegiance to the 
 Government on obtaining full possession of their civil rights, when, 
 during the years of unjust discrimination, they were foremost to 
 fight and die in its defence ? Some persons had said that they had 
 no respect for an oath. Why then, he would ask, do they not already 
 vote, and why not take their place in Parliament, since only the Test 
 Oath stands in their way ? Having lived amongst Catholics, and 
 having dealt largely with them, he did not hesitate to declare 
 that he found them " as honest, punctual and faithful to engage- 
 ments as any class of customers." In conclusion, he said that he did 
 not see eye to eye with them in matters of faith, but that had nothing 
 to do with the question now before him. If they worshipped God 
 as they saw fit, and according to the dictates of conscience, that was 
 surely no reason why they should be deprived of their rights. He 
 therefore begged leave to move the following resolution, seconded, 
 by Dr. MacAulay : 
 
 " That it is the opinion of this House, that the right of voting at 
 Elections of Members to serve in the General Assembly ought to be 
 extended to His Majesty's subjects of the Eoman Catholic religion 
 within this Island; and that the Election Law should be altered 
 conformable to this resolution." 
 
 The debate that followed was in keeping with the importance of 
 the interests involved. It was conducted with dignity and decorum, 
 and was characterized by a spirit of toleration, in marked contrast to 
 the bitterness which had prevailed while the question was discussed 
 in the press. 
 
 No attempt was made to shew that Catholics were unworthy of 
 
 the franchise, or that the granting of the prayer of their petition would 
 
 in any way prove detrimental to the State. The Attorney General, in 
 
 the course of a speech very favorable to the petition, told of his 
 
 indignation at the last election, when a Catholic, who had asked to 
 
 poll his vote, was turned out of the Court-house in Charlottetown, 
 
 while at the same time an emancipated negro was brought in to 
 
 exercise the privilege thus denied to a white man of property and 
 
 respectability. 
 
 16 
 
— 242 — 
 
 The phase of the question, which gave rise to the most discussion, 
 ■was the right of the Legislature to deal with it at all, until the Mother 
 Country had taken some definite action upon it. Thus, while some 
 maintained that the House should take immediate action by granting 
 the prayer of the petition, others feared tl^at such a course was beyond 
 the jurisdiction of the Legislature until the matter had been decided 
 in England ; and these held that the proper course to pursue was to 
 memorialize the Kiug, and ask for permission to legislate in accordance 
 with the petition of the Catholic inhabitants. Conformably to this 
 view of the case, Mr. Campbell moved the following amendment, 
 seconded by Mr. Hyde : " That a dutiful and humble address be 
 prepared to His Majesty, praying that this House may be permitted 
 to so alter the Law of this Island made and passed in the forty- 
 seventh year of the late King, entitled ' An Act for the better regu- 
 lation of Elections and to regulate Elections for Members to serve in 
 the General Assembly in future ; ' that our fellow-subjects of the 
 Eoman Catholic persuasion may be enabled to vote for the Election 
 of Members of Assembly on the same terms and under the same 
 qualifications as their Protestant fellow-subjects now do, or under 
 any future law may be required to do." 
 
 The amendment was declared lost on division, six members voting 
 in its favor and eight in opposition to it. The House then divided on 
 the main m'otion, and for the resolution appear the names of the 
 Attorney General Johnston, Cameron, MacAulay, Mabey, Hodgson, 
 Coffin and Cambridge ; against it appeared Campbell, MacNeil, Mont- 
 gomer}% Hyde, Dockendorf, Jardine and Bearisto. The parties thus 
 stood seven to seven, and it being a tie, the decision lay with the 
 Speaker who, unfortunately for the Catholic petition, had adopted the 
 views of those favoring an address to the King. He accordingly 
 gave his casting vote against the resolution, and it was forthwith 
 declared lost. 
 
 The Speaker at the time was Mr. John Stewart, of Mount Stewart, 
 who was a man of liberal education and of broadminded, enlightened 
 views; but, as the Author of Campbell's History says: "his decision 
 on this occasion cannot be said to have been in accordance with his 
 
— 243 — 
 
 general character." It was indeed unfortunate, that he failed to realize 
 the importance of the occasion, or to grasp the splendid possibilities 
 of his position. It lay in his power to raise Prince Edward Island to 
 the proud pre-eminence of being a guiding light to the Mother Coun- 
 try on the question of religious liberty ; but by his blind and untimely 
 decision, he put a brake on the wheels of progress, and the Colony, 
 instead of taking its appointed place in the forefront, was left to trail 
 in the shadowy wake of the great movement. 
 
CHAPTER XXX. 
 
 EFFOETS OF BISHOP MACEACHBEN TO EDUCATE STUDENTS. HIS 
 
 nephew's DEATH. — LABOES ON THE MAINLAND. 
 
 The defeat of the Catholic petition was a great disappointment to 
 Bishop MacEachern. He had anticipated a different result, as he 
 had been led to believe that a majority of the members was favorable 
 to it, and that its adoption by the Legislature was therefore practically 
 assured. For this reason he was not perhaps so strenuous in its 
 behalf as he would have otherwise been, nor so active in working up 
 the case as circumstances demanded. Hence, when he learned of its 
 rejection he was grievously disappointed, and the more so that he 
 had made so sure of its favorable reception. Moreover, and this added 
 to his chagrin, his intention was not confined to the question of the 
 franchise. Other issues were involved, whose solution depended, at 
 least for the present, on the reception accorded the petition. The 
 obtaining of the franchise was only a part of the plan he had in his 
 mind ; it was in fact only its beginning ; but if this were once favorably 
 settled, it might give the Catholics such a standing as would enable 
 them to secure the removal of other obstacles which stood in the way of 
 their advancement as Catholics. For example, the political recognition 
 ofthe Catholic people might exercise a salutary influence in Eome 
 and London, and might hasten the day, when Prince Edward Island 
 would be considered of sufficient importance to be cut off from Quebec 
 and be raised to the dignity of an independent Diocese. 
 
 For himself personally. Bishop MacEachern coveted neither honors 
 nor position. He would have been well content to spend his whole 
 
— 246 — 
 
 lifetime in the rank and file of the subordinate clergy, provided 
 religion were flourishing and souls were saved ; but when, in the 
 course of his journeys through the district confided to bis supervision, 
 he found whole counties without priests and whole families who had 
 lost the faith, and he himself, though sharing in the responsibility of 
 so many souls, had neither power nor means to cope with existing 
 evils, it is not to be wondered at that he would gladly welcome any 
 measure tending to facilitate the change, which he deemed so neces- 
 sary to the welfare of the Church in the Maritime Provinces. 
 
 Nova Scotia and Upper Canada were now independent, and the 
 two prelates to whom were confided their spiritual administration 
 could act on their own responsibility, and adopt whatever plans they 
 thought conducive to the welfare of their respective flocks. In Bishop 
 MacEachern's district, however, matters were different. To quote his ■ 
 own words, they were " like a ship in irons that will not stay nor 
 wear." So unsatisfactory indeed did he find them, that he says : " At 
 all events we cannot be worse off than we are." 
 
 And yet amid circumstances so discouraging he never lost heart. 
 Not only did he attend as well as he was able to the present wants 
 of the missions under his care, but in his zeal for God's glory he 
 turned his thoughts to their future condition, and sought to provide 
 against the day when, through age and infirmity, he would be no 
 longer able to minister to the care of souls. Thus, in the year 1819, 
 he made choice of one of his nephews named Angus MacEachern, in 
 whom he found the early signs of a divine calling, and sent him to. 
 the College of Montreal to prepare himself for the priesthood. Though 
 his means were small, he himself assumed all the expenses of the. 
 young lad's education, because, as he writes to the Archbishop of 
 Quebec, should the boy fail to come up to his expectations and per- 
 haps lose his vocation, the people could not say, as they did in the, 
 case of Eonald Macdonald, that they had paid for his education and 
 received nothing in return. 
 
 Another plan which he adopted about this time, with a view to; 
 furnishing priests for Prince Edward Island, was to have always 
 some boys under instruction at his home at St. Andrew's. His houae. 
 
— 247 — 
 
 as already stated, was somewhat larger than an ordinary residence, 
 and it could therefore easily accommodate a few boys in addition to the 
 members of the household. The Bishop himself, when at home, 
 acted the part of teacher and, when duty called him away, he made 
 arrangements that the boys might continue their studies during 
 his absence. This plan served a double purpose : it gave the boys the 
 advantage of a good primary education which was not easily obtained 
 in those days ; and it afforded the Bishop an opportunity of studying 
 their dispositions, and if he found that they manifested a desire for 
 the priesthood joined with the dispositions required for that holy 
 state, he hoped to be able to find means of sending them abroad to 
 receive more careful training in some suitable seminary. With this 
 end in view, he wrote an account of his circumstances to the Direc- 
 tors of the Propaganda College in Eome, and asked them, in con- 
 sideration of the wants of his missions, to grant three or four free 
 scholarships to boys selected by him. In answer to his request he 
 received a letter from the Cardinal Prefect of the Propaganda, dated 
 December 16th, 1826, stating that they were ready to educate two 
 boys free of cost for the service of the Maritime missions. 
 
 He had two boj's, Norbert and Eugene MacEachern, the former 
 from Cape Breton, the latter from St. Andrew's, under instruction at 
 the time ; but he feared that they were not sufficiently advanced to 
 enter a foreign college, and he therefore wrote to his nephew at 
 Montreal, bidding him return home at once and take charge of their 
 instruction, so that they might be ready to start for Rome in the 
 following summer. His intention was that the nephew, who had 
 already made a year of theology, should accompany the two young 
 lads on their journey, and finish his studies at the Propaganda. 
 
 But it was a case of man's proposing and Gt)d's disposing. His 
 nephew reached home in the month of September, and had scarcely 
 entered upon his new duties of teacher, when he was seized with an 
 illness which terminated in his death at the Bishop's residence on 
 the 21st of October, 1827. 
 
 This was a sad blow to the Bishop, For eight years he had provided 
 for him at great persoual sacrifice. His heart was wrapped up in the 
 
— 248 — 
 
 young Levite, for he hoped he would one day be the staff of his old 
 age. It seems he was a young man of unusually brilliant parts and 
 of most winning and engaging disposition, dearly beloved by his 
 fellow-students and not less so by his friends and relatives. But, though 
 dear to his friends, he was dearer to God ^. Such, indeed, are the 
 words we find inscribed on the stone at his grave ; words in which 
 the grief-stricken Bishop epitomized the saying of the Wise Man : 
 " For his soul pleased God ; therefore He hastened to bring him out 
 of the midst of iniquities " (Wisd. IV. 14). 
 
 Bishop MacEachern was in his sixty-ninth year when this great 
 sorrow came to him. He had reached that time of life when most 
 people seek a respite from labor, to compensate themselves for the 
 wasting activities of earlier years. Por him, however, no such relief 
 appeared, and by the untimely death of his nephew it was further 
 than ever from his grasp. Thirty-six years had he spent in the 
 Colony, a long period of unceasing toil and unremitting application to 
 duty, and instead of the rest to which age and service entitled him, 
 he must needs encounter hardships and brave dangers in every 
 respect equal to those of his early career. Thus the year 1827 was 
 one of the busiest of his entire life. It was marked by a great deal 
 of sickness amongst the people and, as a consequence, it brought an 
 increase of labor to the missionary. The Lenten season, too, added 
 greatly to his cares, for then every mission in the eastern part of the 
 Island claimed his presence in turn. This must have been a trying 
 experience to a man of his years, especially on account of the diffi- 
 culties of travel and the poor accommodation available among those 
 whom he served. Some of the older people, in the north-eastern parts 
 of Prince Edward Island, tell how he often improvised a bed on the 
 floor when driven by stress of weather to take shelter in a cottage 
 where there was no accommodation for his reception. With a bundle 
 of straw from the barn and the furs from his sleigh, he would arrange 
 a comfortable shakedown before the open fire-place, and there pass 
 the night in calm repose, while the flickering light from the dying 
 
 1 — Amicis amabilis, Deo amdbilior. 
 
— 249 — 
 
 embers on the hearth shed a drowsy radiance over his slumbers. 
 Many a night he spent in this primitive manner, sleeping soundly 
 after the fatigues of the day, and rising betimes refreshed in body 
 and mind, and strengthened to continue his apostolic labors. 
 
 Amid privations such as these and many others of which we 
 know not, he ministered to his scattered flock. From settlement to 
 settlement he passed, often indeed from house to house, that all 
 might have an opportunity of approaching the sacraments during the 
 Easter time ; and when this had been accomplished at the cost of 
 much toil and exposure, instead of taking the rest which tired 
 nature demanded, he must go to the Mainland on business in con- 
 nection with the episcopal visitation of this portion of the Diocese. 
 He accordingly crossed over to Nova Scotia, and on the 24th of J une, 
 officiated at the consecration of Bishop Fraser, in the Church of St. 
 Ninian, Antigonish. He was the consecrating prelate, and indeed 
 the only Bishop who took part in the ceroraony, the part of assistants 
 having been assigned to two priests of La Trappe, Father Francis 
 and Father Vincent, who resided in a monastery of their order, at 
 Tracadie, Nova Scotia. 
 
 From Antigonish he proceeded to Halifax, and after a short stay, 
 set out for Annapolis in the hope of finding a vessel in which he 
 might take passage to St. John, New Brunswick ; but failing in this, 
 he crossed over to Digby, and remained there till the 19th of July, 
 when he boarded a small vessel bound for St." John. In this latter 
 city he spent about two weeks, attending to the spiritual wants of 
 the people and administering Confirmation to all whom he found 
 prepared for the reception of that sacrament. On the 3rd of August 
 he took passage in a small steamboat to East Port, just beyond the 
 American boundary, and next morning, he went in a bark canoe 
 propelled by two stalwart Micmacs, to visit the Indians of Moose 
 Island ; and having conferred with these people about matters 
 pertaining to their well-being, he proceeded up the bay to the town of 
 St. Andrew's. This being a rising town of some importance and the 
 centre of a numerous population, he was kept busy during his stay, 
 as not only the people of the town, but the Indians also assembled 
 
— 250 — 
 
 in large numbers to receive the sacrament of Confirmation. From St. 
 Andrew's lie returned to St. John, and a few days later, ascended 
 the river to Fredericton, where his duties detained him for about a 
 week. On the 23rd of August he left Fredericton, and started on an 
 overland journey through the words till he reached the head waters 
 of the Miramichi Eiver, about foity-five miles distant. Here he 
 secured a canoe or dug-out, twenty-four feet long and two feet wide, 
 made from the trunk of a pine tree, and in this frail craft, with only 
 one companion, he descended the river till he reached the settlements 
 nearest its source. The same labors awaited him here and in the 
 adjoiQing missions, and so consumed his time that the autumn was 
 well advanced before he got back to his home in Prince Edward 
 Island. 
 
 He had intended, during his stay in St. John, to pay a visit to the 
 Lieutenant Governor of New Brunswick, for the purpose of conferring 
 with him about the wants of the Catholic population in that Province ; 
 but His Excellency was unfortunately confined to his house by ill- 
 ness at that time, and the Bishop, therefore, had to leave the city 
 without having had the pleasure of an interview. 
 
 But on his return home he prepared a memorial setting forth the 
 condition of his flock in New Brunswick, and making some sugges- 
 tions which he deemed conducive to the welfare of the Province at 
 large. Amongst other things, he says : " The greatest part of the 
 coast from Eestigouche down to Cape Torment is inhabited by 
 Catholics ; also Memramcook, Petitcodiac and some scattered settle- 
 ments between that and St. John. We have a numerous congregation 
 at the Capital ; a considerable number at Fredericton, some at St. 
 Andrew's, on the Eiver Ste. Croix, and on St. Andrew's J>ay." The 
 injury sustained by the Province from the scarcity of priests did not 
 escape his notice, and he takes care to point it out as follows : " Large 
 parcels of the vacant lands in the interior would be taken up by our 
 own subjects who, for want of clergymen of their own faith, pass to 
 the American States, and perhaps, in the event of war, must be 
 employed against their country and relatives.'' 
 
 He expresses a desire of establishing a preparatory school, where 
 
— 251 — 
 
 boys might be taught the primary branches ; and then, if they mani- 
 fested an inclination for the priesthood, they might be sent to the 
 Seminary near Aberdeen, to be trained directly under the eye of one 
 of the Scottish Bishops. " This," he says, " would form and cement 
 a continued intercourse with the Mother Country " from which he 
 believes a great benefit would accrue to the Province, for he adds ; 
 " A succession of clergy well attached to Government would train 
 up their hearers as peaceable and useful subjects." 
 
 He then takes up the case of the Indians, of whom he has this to 
 say : " As for the Indian tribes, it is of no use to expect to make 
 Protestants of them ; for let them once abandon their religion, which 
 keeps a restraint on their conscience, and Government has no further 
 hold of them. I was ioformed there was a considerable sum of money 
 belonging to that Province, for the use of the Indians ; also that 
 Government wishes to settle them. If I am allowed to give an opinion, 
 it would be to get the clergymen who occasionally attend them in 
 their spiritual affairs, to have the distribution of the gift or donation 
 that is made to them, with regular statements of the mode of appli- 
 cation; and if it is intended to make farmers of them, to propose 
 premiums to every Indian who would cut, burn, roll, fence and plant 
 a specified quantity of land. Some provisions during the performance 
 of this arduous labour would be necessary. The clergyman would see 
 that the bounty should be truly earned before it was conferred. They 
 would have confidence in their pastors, which . I find they have not, 
 and never will, in others who superintend those matters. They ought 
 never to be employed in war." 
 
CHAPTER XXXI. 
 
 WANT OF CLERGY. — NEGOTIATIONS CONCEENING A DIVISION OF THE 
 DIOCESE OF QUEBEC. 
 
 In a previous chapter, we referred at some length to the negotia- 
 tions that preceded the first division of the Diocese of Quebec. We 
 then saw, that the plan proposed by Bishop Burke to attain this end 
 had been adopted only in the case of Nova Scotia, whilst the proposal 
 made by Archbishop Plessis had been applied to the rest of Canada. 
 The new order of things thus established fell far short of removing 
 the unsatisfactory condition of ecclesiastical affairs in the district 
 assigned to Bishop MacEachern, and so the want of priests and the 
 apparent apathy of the Bishops of Quebec to furnish them continued 
 to retard the progress of Catholicity in Prince Edward Island. Since 
 Bishop MacEachern's arrival in the Colony, this question added not a 
 little to his daily anxieties, and now it seemed further than ever 
 from a definite and satisfactory solution. " The spiritual wants of 
 this part of the Diocese," he writes in 1825, " are such that if some 
 prompt and effectual means are not adopted for raising a succession 
 of clergy, the spiritual condition of our people will become deplorable." 
 More than sixty years had elapsed since the conquest of Canada, and 
 Prince Edward Island had yet only three clergymen, and of these 
 only one was a native. Father Fitzgerald could speak neither Gaelic 
 nor French, and could on that account render no service to the mass 
 of the Catholic population. He spent his time, therefore, almost 
 entirely in Charlottetown, where the Irish people principally lived, 
 and whom he directed in the way of salvation, as Bishop MacEachern 
 facetiously remarked, " in his own canonical way." 
 
— 254 — 
 
 Father Macdonald resided principally at Miscouche ; but Rustico, 
 Egmont Bay, Mount Carmel, Cascumpee and Tignish claimed much 
 of his time and were in turn cheered and blessed by his ministrations. 
 
 The Bishop himself was always on the move. Now in Cape Breton, 
 now in the Magdalen Islands, and now in New Brunswick or in the 
 missions of Prince Edward Island, he knew no repose, and seldom 
 indeed did he enjoy the quiet of home life in his own house at St. 
 Andrew's. Time and again he appealed to Quebec for assistance, but 
 always in vain. Every letter he sends to the Archbishop makes men- 
 tion of the needs of the Colony, and pleads the cause of his flock, 
 calmly at times, but occasionally in words that show how his heart 
 was filled with sorrow at the sight of their spiritual condition. In asking 
 for priests he mentions a certain Father Paisley who had been highly 
 spoken of by Eeverend John Chisholm ; but instead of coming to 
 Prince Edward Island, Father Paisley was kept at Quebec to labor 
 among the Irish emigrants. 
 
 As time passed in this way, and no priests came from Quebec to 
 Prince Edward Island, complaints began to be heard in the Scotch 
 missions, more especially at St. Andrew's. Nor were these complaints 
 without good and solid reasons. Those people had paid dearly for 
 Father Macdonald's education. Many a time, when the Seminary of 
 Quebec was clamoring for money, had they stinted themselves and 
 their families in order to raise the necessary funds ; and all the while 
 they were buoyed up with the promise that Father Macdonald would 
 one day come to them, and repay by his attention to their spiritual 
 welfare, the sacrifices which they had made in his behalf. Now that 
 he has been ordained, the promise has not been kept. Instead of 
 coming to them. Father Macdonald must be placed in the French 
 missions to labor for a people who never contributed to the cost of 
 his education, and who even grew insolent in their refusal, when asked 
 to cooperate with the people of the other missions in adopting a plan 
 for the education and support of clergy. Well might they ask by 
 what right had they been refused the sacraments, if the object was to 
 procure priests for the Acadians ; why did not these bear a share in 
 the contributions, if they were to enjoy not a share but the whole of 
 
— 255 — 
 
 the benefits ; or why did not their own countrymen in Canada supply 
 their spiritual wants, instead of giving them over entirely to the charity 
 of strangers ? 
 
 A still greater cause of alarm confronted them in the fact, that 
 their condition, instead of improving, seemed to become more irksome 
 from year to year. Bishop MacEachern was now seldom at home. When 
 needed by the sick they knew not where to find him. With much 
 labor and expense they had built churches in the various missions, 
 but seldom is their mournful stillness broken by the voice of sacrifice, 
 for the Bishop must be away in other places, doing the work of the 
 Bishop of Quebec. Surely if they are thus deprived of his services, 
 the least they have a right to expect is, that a Canadian priest be 
 sent to the Acadian Missions, and Father Macdonald be appointed 
 to the spiritual charge of the people who generously contributed to 
 his education. 
 
 In bringing the matter to the notice of the Archbishop, Bishop 
 MacEachern says : " Had you sent Mr. Paisley down to this 
 •Island, I would have got Reverend Donald Macdonald up this way, 
 not only in my absence but constantly, so that some one might be 
 between this (St. Andrew's), East Point, St. Alexis and Three Eivers : 
 but now, as 1 am alone in all this end of the Island, I do not expect 
 to be one month of the winter at St. Andrew's, even in the supposi- 
 tion that the people may be healthy during the ensuing season. Our 
 people grumble," he continues, " because Mr. Donald Macdonald is 
 employed among the French of the westward, and therefore, to avoid 
 throwing blame on me, if you do not send Mr. Paisley, who may be 
 of infinite use to the Celts, and Irish and English of the West, at 
 least send a Canadian who can speak English perfectly well." This 
 appeal like so many others proved unavailing ; the most that could 
 be obtained from the Archbishop was a declaration to the effect that 
 the Catholics of Prince Edward Island will look in vain to Quebec 
 for spiritual assistance, as their only hope of obtaining priests is 
 centered in the children of the Province ^. In replying to the above 
 
 1 — " Quant a I'Isle du Prince-Edouard, je n'y vois d'autres ressources que 
 celles que vous pouvez tirer des enfants mSmes du pays.'' Archbishop Plessis, 
 July 13th, 1825). 
 
— 256 — 
 
 Bishop MacEachern says that the statement made by the Archbishop 
 is mortifying, and in a burst of pardonable indignation he asks : 
 " What has Canada ever done for this.Island since the Conquest ? 
 What provision for the Acadian settlers in spirituals before our 
 people arrived on the Island ? And what has been done for us since ? 
 And can Your Grace for a moment say that we ought not to have a 
 share in the wealth of the Canadian Seminaries." 
 
 When Archbishop Panet assumed the administration of diocesan 
 affairs Bishop MacEachern renewed his appeals for assistance, and in 
 a letter dated December 21st, 1826, he says : " I am far from reflect- 
 ing on you for the want of pastors in this Island ; but when I reflect 
 that our people who have settled on this Island, as well as the 
 Acadians since the year 1772, have never had any spiritual assistance 
 from Quebec excepting the time allowed to Messrs Beaubien and 
 C^cile, I cannot help remarking that a want of sympajthy existed 
 somewhere." 
 
 Besides the want of clergy Bishop MacEachern encountered other 
 difficulties, which on account of his dependence on the Archbishop of 
 Quebec, he was powerless to remove or remedy. Troubles of a serious 
 nature arose in certain missions of New Brunswick and Cape Breton, 
 owing to the fact that the missionaries sent to them were foreigners, 
 whom the Archbishop would not employ at home for fear of scandal, 
 but whom he did not hesitate to send to the Maritime Provinces far 
 from the centre of authority. Hence, when things went wrong in 
 their missions, Bishop MacEachern could not cope with the difficulty, 
 as he had not sufficient authority to adopt coercive measures, and as 
 a result anarchy not unfrequently prevailed to the great scandal of 
 the people. Pained at his inability to remedy such evils and wearied 
 with the false position in which he was placed, he thus writes Arch- 
 bishop Panet : 
 
 " If nothing is left to me but a responsibility without authority, 
 time lost to my flock, expenses without remuneration, a decision 
 without eifect, it is high time for me to mind solely the spiritual 
 concerns of the places where I am s'tationed near thirty-nine years, 
 and perform none of the odiosa, which I find would be prudent in me 
 
— 257 — 
 
 to leave the others; because, from different circumstances, it appears 
 to me that stumbling-blocks are from different quarters thrown in 
 the way of my doing that good to this district which it stands in 
 great need of." Eeferring to the same matter in another letter he 
 says : " From what usage I have met with elsewhere, a suspicious 
 person might be induced to suspect that the clergy in my district 
 may have been taught to disregard my injunctions." 
 
 From so many extracts from the letters of Bishop MacEachern it 
 can readily be seen, that the appointment of a Bishop for Prince 
 Edward Island and for the neighbouring places did not solve the 
 problem of religious development with which the Catholics had to 
 deal, and it is quite clear that the plan proposed by Bishop Burke 
 and approved at the time by Bishop MacEachern was much better 
 calculated to achieve beneficial results, giving as it would have 
 done, to the Church in each Province, a Superior invested with suffi- 
 cient authority to decide whatever questions might arise in the 
 missions. 
 
 In Upper Canada matters were no better, for the Bishop of Ehesina 
 was as much hampered in his actions as the Bishop of Rosen. He too 
 was in a position of responsibility without authority, and could not 
 take the initiative in moulding ecclesiastical affairs in his district, 
 except with the consent of the Archbishop of Quebec. Being a man 
 of action and in great favor with the civil authorities. Bishop Mac- 
 dohnell decided to pay a visit to England and afterwards to Eome, to 
 obtain, if possible, a separation of his district from the Diocese of 
 Quebec. He communicated his intention to Bishop MacEachern, 
 who charged him to inform the British Government, and the Con- 
 gregation of the Propaganda how matters stood in Prince Edward 
 Island and the other places supposed to be under his jurisdiction. 
 Bishop Macdonnell set out for Europe to negotiate a separation. In 
 London he found matters to his liking, but in Rome he met with so 
 many obstacles that he was obliged to return home before the ques- 
 tion had been definitively settled. When he reached his home in Upper 
 Canada he wrote a letter to Bishop MacEachern, in which, after 
 having mentioned a letter he had sent him from Eome, he goes on to 
 17 
 
— 258 — 
 
 say : " I thiokl mentioned to you the wish and even anxiety of Earl 
 Bathurst ^ that Upper Canada should be erected into a Diocesan 
 Pishopric, in order to be independent of that of Quebec, and his full 
 and entire consent that New Brunswick, the Islands of the Gulf of 
 St. Lawrence and Nova Scotia should form one independent Diocese. 
 To this I saw no difficulty, as Bishop Fraser might become your 
 Coadjutor cum successione." Further on he speaks of having proposed 
 this arrangement to the Secretary of the Propaganda, but that the 
 Cardinals feared that Bishop MacEachern, at the head of a Diocese so 
 poor, would not be able to provide for himself in a becoming manner, 
 and at the same time support a seminary for the education of clergy. 
 For this reason a letter was sent from Kome to Bishop MacEachern, 
 asking him to forward a statement of the probable revenue at his. 
 disposal, in the e.vent of a change being effected in his district. Bishop 
 MacEachern sent an answer without delay in terms which went to 
 show, that he enteitained no fears regarding his own support, nor 
 regarding the chances of educating priests for the missions of the 
 Maritime Provinces. 
 
 The efforts of the two Bishops to bring about a separation remained 
 ineffectual for some time. Objections were made to the proposition 
 with the result that it could not be carried out as soon as its advo- 
 cates desired, nor as soon as the welfare of religion demanded. Bishop 
 Macdonnell, in his letter already quoted, says the Sacred Congregation 
 of the Propaganda and the Pope were in favor of the division, dnd 
 even Archbishop Plessis himself at first consented to it ; but on 
 second thought, it seems His Grace of Quebec adopted a different 
 view, and put so many difficulties in the way that a long delay 
 occurred before a settlement was arrived at. The stand thus taken on 
 the question by Archbishop Plessis was no surprise to Bishop Mac- 
 Eachern, for he kept himself well informed of the drift of ecclesias- 
 tical affairs at Quebec, and hence, in a letter dated December 17th, 
 1825, written to a friend in Eome, we find the following reference to 
 the Archbishop's action in this connection : " I believe that the Eight 
 
 1 — British Colonial Secretary at the time. 
 
— 259 — 
 
 Honorable Earl Bathurst is sincere in the proposed plans, and that 
 flaid Nobleman will give his support to it ; for which we are certainly 
 indebted to His Lordship. But I am far from thinking that the Arch- 
 bishop of Quebec was ever desirous of adopting the plan in question. 
 !For I have seen his correspondence with the Holy See on the subject, 
 his remarks on our inability to provide clergymen, also the state 
 Nova Scotia would be in, in case of a separation. And, moreover, 
 when at Eome, he took every pains and means in his power in case 
 the late Dr. Burke should die without appointing a coadjutor, to have 
 Nova Scotia re-annexed to Quebec on the same footing as this Island 
 is. I have all this in black and white. And yet, since the year 90, 
 there never was a Canadian priest in Nova Scotia but three, and they 
 but for a short time in succession." 
 
 Whatever may have been the wishes of Archbishop Plessis, the 
 Vicariate Apostolic of Nova Scotia did not merge into the Diocese of 
 Quebec on the death of Bishop Burke. Neither was it annexed to 
 "the other Maritime Provinces to form a separate Diocese, as suggested 
 by Bishop Macdonnell. To the great detriment of religion, it was 
 allowed to remain for almost five years in the anomalous condition 
 of a body without a head, till the Holy See at length came to a 
 decision in the matter, and in the month of June, 1825, Eeverend 
 William Fraser, of Antigonish, was named Vicar Apostolic of Nova 
 Scotia, and Titular Bishop of Taneu. 
 
 Early in the following year was accomplished the second dismem- 
 berment of the Diocese of Quebec. On the 27th of January, 1826, 
 the Holy See established a new ecclesiastical boundary which separ- 
 ated Upper Canada from the rest of the Diocese, and Right Eeverend 
 Alexander Macdonnell laid aside the title of Bishop of Ehesina to be 
 henceforth known as Bishop of Kingston. 
 
 Prince Edward Island, however, remained in its former condition. 
 It had to wait yet a while before Rome signed its declaration of inde- 
 pendence, and Bishop MacEachern continued in his position of 
 helplessness until better counsels prevailed. 
 
Ruv. Sylvain Perry 
 
CHAPTER XXXII. 
 
 EVENTS IN THE DIFFERENT MISSIONS. — FATHER PEEKY ORDAINED. 
 
 TWO BOYS GO TO ROME. 
 
 The history of a people is usually very unequal as to the apparent 
 importance of its various epochs. Sometimes events seem to crowd 
 «ach other in such abundance as to embarrass the writer by the wealth 
 of matter from which he has to choose, whilst at other times, nothing 
 of consequence appears to give coloring to the historical landscape, or 
 stand out in relief from the background of minor happenings. 
 
 The Catholic Church, however, does not aim at attracting the notice 
 of the world. Her greatest triumphs have been achieved in secret, 
 and have remained unknown save only to God. Miracles, it is true, 
 occasionally appear and excite the wonder of a generation ; extraor- 
 dinary conversions too, like that of St. Paul, sometimes occur amid 
 circumstances of great publicity ; but such cases are exceptional and 
 form only a small part of the work carried on by Holy Church. The 
 principal results of her mission lie too deep to catch the vulgar eye : 
 they are hidden away in the closed pages of the Book of Life, and 
 cannot be revealed till the Trumpet of the Archangel shall summon 
 all mankind to the last great general confession. 
 
 This truth is aptly illustrated by the history of the Church in 
 Prince Edward Island during the year 1828. It presents no stirring 
 events around which the ordinary occurrences of every-day life would 
 naturally group themselves, and may be said to have been almost 
 
— 262 — 
 
 monotonous in its continued sameness. The Church, however, was 
 by no means idle. She kept the noiseless tenor of her way, and won 
 souls to grace by the quiet of gentle persuasiveness rather than by the 
 dazzling splendor of outward display. 
 
 In Charlottetown some changes were noticeable in the general aspect 
 of ecclesiastical affairs. Father Fitzgerald was still at the head of the 
 mission, and his administration had been marked by substantial 
 progress. The parochial house in which he lived, the interior finish 
 of the church which had been his first care on arriving on the Island,, 
 and a goodly number of vestments provided for the service of the 
 altar, all bore testimony to his zeal for the beauty of God's house. 
 
 Nor were his activities confined to temporal concerns. The spir- 
 itual interests of his flock, too, claimed much of his time, and in his 
 own peculiar manner, he was able to accomplish a great deal. of good 
 amongst the people. He was particularly active in promoting the 
 virtue of temperance, and not without- reason, for Charlottetown, in 
 Ms day, was notorious for the number of its taverns, and for the 
 facilities it afforded the liquor-dealer to ply his unholy traf&c. Against 
 this evil Father Fitzgerald inveighed in language strong and expres- 
 sive, and the better class of the community applauded his efforts, 
 though they did not always approve his methods. 
 
 In the Acadian missions, much good was being accomplished 
 through the painstaking devotedness of Father Macdonald. At 
 Tignish he was now saying Mass in a new church ^, begun in 1826, 
 and which in size and appearance was more in keeping with the 
 respect due the Holy Sacrifice than the little log building, which had 
 served for the purpose wellnigh a quarter of a century. 
 
 A similar improvement had been effected at Fifteen Point. The 
 little building put up there in the time of Father G^cile's visits to the 
 mission, soon become inadequate to accommodate a people who had 
 increased with marvellous rapidity within the last few years ; and a 
 new church was accordingly begun in 1827, which, within a year, 
 was ready for occupation ^- It was a large building for that day and 
 
 1_ Now St. Mary's Hall. 
 2 — Now the parochial hall. 
 
— 263 — 
 
 for the circumstances of the people, and served its purpose comfor- 
 tably for many years. 
 
 At Egmont Bay, too, Father Macdonald had been busy. Extensive 
 repairs had been made to the church, some of which had been ren- 
 dered necessary by an untoward accident which had occurred a few 
 years previous to 1828. This church, as we have elsewhere stated, 
 had been hurriedly put up to replace the one destroyed by fire. It 
 contained no galleries at first ; but in the course of time one was 
 added, which extended from side to side across the rear of the build- 
 ing. It would seem that due care had not been exercised in its con- 
 struction, either because the fastening was defective or the timber was 
 not of the necessary size and strength. 
 
 In those days Mass was seldom said in a mission, and when it 
 became known that a priest would be in a certain place on Sunday, 
 people came from far and near to assist at the Holy Sacrifice. Many 
 would arrive on the day preceding, whilst not a few consumed the 
 greater part of the night on the road. In this way the little church 
 would be filled to overflowing, though it was amply large for the 
 people of the mission itself. On a certain day Father MacDonald was 
 saying Mass at Egmont Bay, and people had assembled in crowds for 
 the occasion. Every bench was occupied, and the aisles, too, held their 
 quota of eager worshippers. The later arrivals found the church 
 crowded, and pushed their way up to the gallery, where they shouldered 
 one another in their desire to catch a glimpse of the priest at the 
 altar. The Mass proceeded amid the hush of silent worship, till the 
 little bell rang out the approach of the solemn moment of the con- 
 secration, when suddenly a crash echoed through the building, followed 
 by a scene of indescribable confusion. As the people sank on their 
 knees at the sound of the bell, the timbers supporting the gallery 
 broke under the strain, and a number of those who were kneeling 
 above were thrown amongst the people below. Fortunately the gallery 
 was not high, and it was so constructed that it held fast to the rear 
 wall, whilst the front part slowly fell to the floor ; and on this account 
 the people were not violently thrown down, but rather slipped down 
 
— 264 — 
 
 an inclined plane, so that only two or three were hurt, and these not 
 seriously. 
 
 Father Macdonald, pausing in the Mass, turned round and spoke 
 a few re-assuring words to the panic-stricken congregation. Quiet 
 having been restored, he went on with the sacrifice amid the thanks- 
 giving of the people whose escape from serious injury seemed nothing 
 short of miraculous ^. The damage to the church was soon afterwards 
 repaired, and the gallery replaced in such a way as to preclude the 
 possibility of a similar accident. 
 
 In the session of 1828 the Legislature of the Island made another 
 attempt to extend the Franchise to Catholics. A bill was introduced 
 to amend the Election Law of the Colony, and on the 25th of April, 
 whilst the discussion was in progress. Mr. Hodgson, one of the 
 members for Charlotte town, moved the following resolution : 
 
 " Resolved : That it is the opinion of this House, that so much 
 and such parts of the Act entitled : ' An Act to repeal an Act made 
 and passed in the 41st year of his present Majesty's reign entitled an 
 Act for the better regulation of Elections, and to regulate Elections 
 for members to serve in General Assembly, in future,' as render 
 persons of the Roman Catholic Religion ineligible to vote at Elections 
 for representation in the General Assembly of this Island, be repealed 
 and the qualifications of electors raised." 
 
 When a vote was taken there appeared in favor of the resolution 
 the Attorney General, Messrs. Hodgson, Coffin, Mabey and Cam- 
 bridge, whilst those who were opposed to it were Messrs. Owen, Mac- 
 Neill, Campbell, Dockendorf, Jardine, Bearisto, Montgomery, Hyde 
 and Nelson. 
 
 A majority having thus declared against the resolution, the ques- 
 tion of Catholic Emancipation received another temporary check at 
 the hands of our Colonial Legislature. 
 
 The most important event to be recorded in our history for the 
 
 1 The injured were taken to the house of Jacques Bernard near the 
 
 Church, when bleeding was resorted to, and they soon recovered. 
 
— 265 — 
 
 year 1828 is unquestionably the ordination of Reverend Sylvain 
 Perry, in the Church of St. Andrew's, on the 28th of June. 
 
 During the years of his preparation for the holy priesthood, he had 
 not been a stranger to the ups and downs which were the lot of the 
 students sent from the Lower Provinces to the Canadian colleges. 
 
 Father C^cile, as we have seen, received no authority from the 
 Bishop of Quebec to compel the Acadians to contribute towards the 
 maintenance of young Perry, and he was therefore often embarrassed 
 to find the means of defraying expenses at college. On the other hand, 
 the College of Nicolet could ill- afford to board him gratuitously, as the 
 institution had no fixed revenue for such a purpose. Hence, from the 
 very first, his position was very uncertain. But after the visit of 
 Bishop MacEachern to Canada in 1821, young Perry's chances of free 
 education sensibly diminished, owing to a remark thoughtlessly 
 dropped by the Bishop on that occasion. 
 
 It seems that His Lordship had boasted of the fertility of the soil 
 on Prince Edward Island, and of the enormous crops that were raised, 
 especially in certain sections of the country. As an instance of this 
 truth, he mentioned the number of bushels of wheat raised in the 
 preceding year by the father of Sylvain Perry at Tignish, and dwelt 
 at some length on the success that had been achieved by many of 
 the Acadians in various parts where they had settled. 
 
 Bishop MacEachern's boasting almost cost young Perry his posi- 
 tion ; for the authorities concluded at once, and not without apparent 
 reason, that a man who could raise so much ■ wheat should be able to 
 contribute more generously to the college, in which his son was 
 receiving the blessings of a good education. 
 
 The fate of Messrs. Chisholm and MacLeod loomed up before the 
 nnlucky Sylvain, when Father C^cile came to his assistance, and 
 generously enabled him to prosecute his studies to the end. 
 
 After his ordination Father Perry accompanied Bishop MacEachern 
 to New Brunswick, where business of importance demanded the 
 prelate's attention, and on their return he was appointed to the pas- 
 toral charge of Tignish, Cascumpec, Mount Carmel and Egmont Bay, 
 thus taking from the shoulders of Father Macdonald a portion of 
 
— 266 — 
 
 the burden, which he had borne so patiently for several years, and 
 affording the people of those remote missions better facilities for the 
 practice of their religious duties than they had enjoyed since the 
 Conquest of Canada. 
 
 As the year 1828 came to a close, two boys, Norbert and Eugene 
 MacEachern, were on their way to Eome to take up their studies in 
 the College of the Propaganda. They were to have gone in the early 
 summer, but were unable to secure a passage, and so, after a delay of 
 some months, a favorable opportunity presented itself, and they set 
 out late in the autumn and reached their destination in the beginning 
 ■of the following year. 
 
CHAPTEK XXXIII. 
 
 FATHER FITZGERALD S DEPARTURE. — LEGISLATURE PETITIONED FOR A 
 
 GRANT FOR A COLLEGE. — CATHOLIC EMANCIPATION. — 
 
 THE BISHOP OF ROSEN BECOMES BISHOP 
 
 OF CHARLOTTETOWN. 
 
 In the year 1829 Charlottetown had growa to a position of impor- 
 tance. Its population was not less than three thousand souls, and its 
 trade was considerable. Nor did it aim at commercial prosperity 
 alone. It kept abreast of the times, and could boast of a large share 
 of culture and social refinement. 
 
 Its Catholic population, too, shared in the general progress and 
 kept even pace with their more favored fellow-citizens. They had 
 profited by the educational advantages within their reach, and could 
 count in their ranks persons who would have shone in a larger and 
 more pretentious community. In latter years especially many emi- 
 grants had arrived from Ireland, and these, in many instances, were 
 men whose character and social standing added no little prestige to 
 the Catholic portion of the population. 
 
 Father Fitzgerald was growing older, and his eccentricities, in- 
 stead of diminishing, became more pronounced with the lapse of 
 years. He had accomplished much good in the mission, but 
 he had done so in his own peculiar way, and many of his flock, 
 especially the later arrivals, were gi'owing tired of his primitive 
 methods. His manner of dealing with the people was not calculated 
 to inspire them with great respect for religion. It was rather of a 
 kind to offend sensitive minds ; and howsoever well it might have sue- 
 
— 268 — 
 
 ceeded in the beginning of his missionary career, it was certainly 
 unsuited to the changed conditions of later years. What the people 
 now required was to be led, not driven ; to be guided along the path 
 of duty, not bullied into sullen obedience ; and it was therefore clear 
 to Bishop MacEachern, that the welfare of religion demanded a change 
 in the spiritual administration of the parish of Charlottetown. 
 
 With a man like Father Fitzgerald, however, remonstrance was 
 wellnigh useless. It is always difficult to change or correct habits 
 that are long-standing and ingrained ; and it was not to be supposed 
 that Father Fitzgerald could, without violence to himself, turn from 
 the path he had trodden so long, to adopt a line of conduct which, 
 after all, may have appeared to him more in the nature of an innova- 
 tion than a necessity. 
 
 At all events dissatisfaction existed in the mission, and differences 
 of opinion arose between the Bishop and priest, which finally resulted 
 in the latter resigning his position as pastor of Charlottetown. 
 
 He must have come to this decision rather hurriedly, as he gave 
 his superior no warning of his intention : but on the 18th of February, 
 as Bishop MacEachern chanced to corae to Charlottetown, Father 
 Fitzgerald left the parochial house and went to live with a private 
 family. Bishop MacEachern informed the Archbishop of Quebec of 
 Father Fitzgerald's resignation, and added : " He says Mass still. 
 When he gave up his missionary charge, he told me he would retire 
 to his convent in Lisbon, where he is much more fit to be than here." 
 
 Father Fitzgerald remained in Charlottetown- about four months 
 after he had given up charge of the mission. On the 23rd of June 
 he took passage for Portugal, and thus ended his career in Prince 
 Edward Island. 
 
 By his departure certain changes became necessary. Father Perry 
 assumed charge of Miscouche together with all the missions west of 
 that point, so that the district depending on his pastoral care com- 
 prised almost the whole of Prince County. Father Macdonald took 
 up his residence in Charlottetown, but still "retained the mission of 
 Eustico and extended his pastoral labors eastwardly as far as Vernon 
 Eiver. In the early years of the century, the people of this latter 
 
— 269 — 
 
 mission had built a small log church on the north shore of Pownal 
 Bay, for which they secured a site on August 27th, 1804 \ Those 
 who subsequently came to the neighbourhood did not take up land 
 so near to Pownal Bay, but settled further to the east in the direction 
 of Orwell Bay and Vernon River, and, therefore, when by the lapse 
 of time a larger church became necessary, a new site had also to be 
 chosen for the greater convenience of the people. Accordingly, in 
 November, 1829, Bishop MacEachern leased twelve acres of land 
 from the estate of the late Governor Fanning, situated on Lot 49, 
 near the upper waters of Vernon River. Here a new church was 
 speedily erected, which was subsequently enlarged, and finally gave 
 place to the present stately parish church of St. Joachim's. 
 
 Early in this year the Legislature of the Island met for the des- 
 patch of business. Among the questions that came up for considera- 
 tion was the advisability of effecting a change in the system of public 
 instruction, so as to afford the youth of the country a better oppor- 
 tunity of acquiring the benefits of education. Bishop MacEachern, 
 ever mindful of the interests of his flock, deemed this a favorable 
 time to advance a claim for a government grant in aid of a Catholic 
 college, and he embodied his views in a letter addressed to the Gov- 
 ernor in Council, which was laid before the House by His Excellency 
 on the 14th of March. 
 
 The Committee appointed by the House to go into the entire 
 question of education reported as follows : 
 
 " Resolved : That it is the opinion of the Committee that a select 
 committee be appointed to prepare a specific plan on which a bill 
 may be founded for promoting Classical Education in this Colony. 
 
 " The Committee having had under consideration a message from His 
 Excellency the Lieutenant Governor, relative to a letter from the 
 Right Reverend ^Eneas MacEachern, Bishop of Rosen, on the subject 
 of a Grammar School, at St. Andrew's, and soliciting a salary for an 
 Ecclesiastic to conduct the same, to which was appended a copy of 
 said letter; 
 
 1 — This site consisted of four acres of land bought in equal shares from 
 John Hayly and John Macdonald. 
 
— 270 — 
 
 " Eesolved : That as the Committee have decided that the establish- 
 ment under consideration of a Seminary for classical Education iu 
 Charlottetown shall be quite free and open to the youth of all per- 
 suasions, they cannot at present recommand any sum for the support 
 of a Grammar School at St. Andrew's under the tuition of Catholic 
 clergymen." 
 
 This resolution having been adopted by the House, the question 
 was thus summarily disposed of, much to the disappointment of 
 Bishop MacEachern who, without some pecuniary aid from the Gov- 
 ernment, found it extremely difficult to establish a college for the 
 education of clergy. 
 
 In the same session the Legislature adopted the report furnished 
 by Bishop MacEachern concerning the state of the roads in the dis- 
 trict assigned to him as commissioner, thus showing that, though 
 unwilling to grant him or his flock any special or even ordinary privi- 
 leges, it was not adverse to profiting by his services in the adminis- 
 tration of public affairs. 
 
 Another example of this is furnished us in the course of this year, 
 when Bishop MacEachern was appointed a Justice of the Peace by 
 His Excellency Governor Eeady. 
 
 Since the Bishop's arrival in Prince Edward Island he had been 
 general peacemaker for the Catholic people. When difficulties arose 
 of a nature to justify an appeal to the Law, the interested parties 
 would usually await the visit of the Bishop in order to submit the 
 matter to his judgment; and this was done with the assurance that 
 he would not only succeed in finding a solution to the difficulty, 
 but that he would do so in a manner to convince both sides that his 
 decision was just. 
 
 Protestants, too, had recourse to him in similar cases, and invariably 
 bowed in respectful submission to his decision. Governor Eeady 
 recognized from the first, what an immense amount of good accrued 
 to the country from the labors of a man so enlightened, so desinterested 
 and so full of Christian charity ; and, in order to stamp his decisions 
 with the seal of civil authority, he named him Justice of the Peace 
 by a commission dated June 3rd, 1829. 
 
— 271 — 
 
 The present year is memorable throughout the Catholic world on 
 account of the adoption of Catholic emancipation by the Parliament 
 of Great Britain. After years of wearisome agitation and many dis- 
 couraging reverses, the Catholics, of the Empire at length entered on 
 their rights as citizens. By one decisive blow the chains that had 
 long bound them were broken, and there dawned for the Church a 
 new era in which " justice and peace met and embraced." Public 
 sentiment with respect to the Catholic claims had so changed in those 
 latter years that, when on March 5th the Honorable Mr. Peel rose in 
 his place, in the House of Commons, to move the resolution in favor 
 of Catholic emancipation, he was listened to with profound attention 
 for the four hours during which his speech lasted, and was cheered 
 to the echo on resuming his seat. A reception no less cordial was 
 tendered the Duke of Wellington when he proposed the measure in 
 the House of Lords. He was accorded a respectful hearing and was 
 frequently applauded during his speech on that occasion. The 
 measure thus passed both Houses with substantial majorities and 
 received the royal assent on the 13th of April. 
 
 The result was at once communicated to Governor Eeady in the 
 following despatch : 
 
 " Downing Street, 4th May, 1829." 
 
 " Sir : — I have the honor herewith to enclose the copy of an Act, 
 which has recently passed in Parliament, for relieving His Majesty's 
 Eoman Catholic subjects from all Civil and Military disabilities, 
 with certain specified exceptions. 
 
 " I apprehend that this Act must be understood as extending to 
 the Colonies, though certainly there is no positive declaration to that 
 effect. But to remove all possibility of doubt on so important a 
 subject, it will be proper that you should recommend to the Legisla- 
 ture of Prince Edward Island to pass an Act declaring that this 
 Statute does extend to, and is in force in that Colony. 
 " I have, etc., 
 
 " Signed), G. Murray, 
 " Secretary of State for the Colonies. 
 " Lieutenant Governor Eeady, etc." 
 
— 272 — 
 
 Before the above despatch reached Governor Eeady, the House had 
 been prorogued, and it was therefore too late to act on the suggestion 
 made by the Colonial Secretary and the matter was left over till the 
 next session of the Legislature. 
 
 Civil emancipation throughout the Empire was closely followed 
 by ecclesiastical emancipation in Prince Edward Island. Rome at 
 length decided that the time had come to cut off the whole of the 
 Maritime Provinces from the Diocese of Quebec, and establish a new 
 bishopric with independent jurisdiction; and, on the 11th August, 
 Charlottetown was raised to the dignity of an Episcopal See, with 
 Eight Eeverend Angus Bernard MacEachern as its first Bishop. In 
 the new order of things, his jurisdiction extended over Prince Edward 
 Island, the Magdalen Islands and New Brunswick ; but he was 
 freed from the obligation of attending to the people of Cape Breton, 
 that Island having been annexed to the Vicariate of Nova Scotia. 
 
 News travelled slowly in those days, and Bishop MacEachern was 
 a long time in ignorance of the change. It was not indeed till the 
 following year that the Papal Bulls conferring the new title on him 
 reached Prince Edward Island. 
 
 This event is one of the most important to claim our attention. 
 With it, indeed, the history of the Diocese may be said properly to 
 begin. Heretofore a part of the Diocese of Quebec, and far removed 
 from the centre of authority, it had received but scant attention at 
 the hands of those whose duty it was to feed the flock of the Lord. ■ 
 Excepting in certain rare and isolated instances, it had been left to 
 its own resources ; for the priests who came or were sent remained 
 only a short time : a fact not to be wondered at, as it required men 
 of truly apostolic spirit to devote themselves till death to the care of 
 souls in a region so wild and uncultivated. Fortunate it was that 
 during that time Providence raised up a priest to cultivate this 
 neglected portion of the Lord's vineyard. The people of the present 
 day, in truth, have good reason to bless the memory of Bishop Mac- 
 Eachern, who in the darkest days of our history stood alone, driving 
 back the waves of error and indifference that threatened to inundate 
 the land, holding up the cross to guide his people like a pillar of fire 
 
— 273 — 
 
 amid the darkness that surrounded them, and laying deep and firna 
 the foundation of religion, over which is reared the superstructure of 
 present prosperity. And now that he had stood bravely at his post 
 ^for wellnigh forty years, and that the allotted three score and ten 
 had brought to him the infirmities of age, it were meet that he should 
 be permitted to enjoy a respite from arduous labor for the remainder 
 of his lifetime ; but no, instead of the needed repose, he must gird 
 himself again, and go forth with new cares and new responsibilities 
 to do battle for God and for Holy Church. With the heroism of soul 
 that had always distinguished him, the Bishop of Charlottetown 
 entered on his new career. Undeterred by years and undaunted by 
 labors, he quails not at the prospect before him ; but grasping the crozier 
 with a determined hand, he begins a pontificate which proved, alasL 
 only too brief for the welfare of our Holy Eeligion. 
 
 18 
 
K'j'. Ri'.w Anc.is B. AIacIvkchekn 
 Bishop uf Charlottetown 
 
CHAPTER XXXIV. 
 
 CATHOLICS SUCCEED TO THEIR EIGHTS AS CITIZENS. FOET AUGUSTUS 
 
 * 
 SETTLED. FATHEE JOHN MAODONALD — FIEST CATHOLIC ELECTED 
 
 TO THE ASSEMBLY. — A GENEEAL ELECTION. — BISHOP MAC- 
 
 EACHEEN TAKES FOEMAL POSSESSION OF HIS SEE. 
 
 Postal communication, in the days which now claim our attention, 
 was in a rude and unsatisfactory condition. News travelled slowly, and 
 hence, though Charlottetown had been raised to the rank of an inde- 
 pendent see in August, no word of the change reached Bishop Mac- 
 Eachern till towards the close of the year. And even then, he did not 
 receive ofiBcial information of his new appointment, but learned of 
 it only incidentally by a private letter from a friend in Rome. 
 
 A short time afterwards he wrote to Archbishop Panet telling him 
 that he had learned of the change in their ecclesiastical relations, and 
 asking for a continuance of the kindly interest which His Grace had 
 hitherto manifested towards this part of the Diocese. His letter, dated 
 February 9lh, 1830, goes on to say : " I was informed of the arrange- 
 ments respecting these districts by a private communication from 
 Eome, two months ago, and expected my Bulls via Quebec... How 
 soon I will receive them I will write to Your Grace, and although a 
 local division has taken place, we must co-operate, as far as circum- 
 stances and other means will allow, to advance the cause of religion in 
 our different situations." 
 
 The year 1830 witnessed the final settlement of the question of 
 extending the franchise to the Catholics of Prince Edward Island. 
 Mooted for the first time in 1825, it had since come up occasionally 
 
— 276 — 
 
 bringing with it in every instance a certain amount of ill-feeling, that 
 tended to perpetuate a state of mutual distrust between the Catholic 
 and Protestant portions of the population. But the passing of the 
 Catholic Eelief Bill by the British Parliament, and the subsequent 
 message of the Colonial Secretary on the subject made it clear, that 
 the Legislature of the Island would now have to take definite action 
 in the matter, and accordingly, when the House met on the 4th of 
 March, 1830, the Speech from the Throne contained the following 
 paragraph : " His Majesty having been graciously pleased to confer 
 on his Eoman Catholic subjects of Great Britain and Ireland, the 
 same political rights and privileges which heretofore had been alone 
 enjoyed by his Protestant subjects, I have it in command from Hi» 
 Majesty to call upon you to adopt such legislative measures, as will 
 relieve the Eoman Catholics of this Colony from the civil disabilities 
 they have labored under, in common with their brethren of the 
 United Kingdom." 
 
 Two days later the House waited on the Governor with an address 
 in reply to the Speech from the Throne, setting forth their complete 
 agreement with the sentiments expressed by His Excellency, and 
 declaring their entire willingness to carry into effect the suggestions 
 contained in the Speech. " It is a matter of congratulation," was said 
 in the reply, " that the period has arrived when, by a great measure 
 of State policy and national justice, the civil disabilities of His- 
 Majesty's Eomau Catholic subjects in Great Britain and Ireland have 
 been removed, and that His Majesty has been graciously pleased to 
 extend his paternal regard to the condition of his faithful subjects of 
 that persuasion in this Island." 
 
 In accordance with the good intentions thus expressed by the 
 Legislature, a bill was introduced entitled : " An Act for the Eelief 
 of His Majesty's Eoman Catholic subjects," and after some discussion, 
 it passed the third reading on the 18th of March, when it was sent 
 up to the Legislative Council for adoption. Here it met with some 
 opposition. The members of the Upper Chamber did not find it 
 entirely to their liking, and they added a series of amendments to 
 which they invited the consideration of the Assembly. Of these 
 
— 277 — 
 
 ■amendments some were merely of a verbal nature, adding nothing 
 new to the scope of the bill, but intended rather to explain its provi- 
 sions. Others again were more specific in their bearing, such as the 
 one relating to the exclusion of the Jesuits, of whom those council- 
 lors seemed to have entertained needless fears and suspicions. 
 
 But the one that created the greatest dissatisfaction was a clause 
 suspending the action of the whole bill until the Eoyal assent was 
 obtained : an unnecessary precaution, since the Eoyal pleasure had 
 been sufficiently manifested by the despatch received from the Colo- 
 nial Secretary. The Lower House refused to accept the suspending 
 clause, and Messrs. Cameron, Brecken, Owen and Le welly n were 
 appointed a Committee to confer with the Legislative Council regard-, 
 ing the proposed amendments, with the result that the' suspending 
 clause was withdrawn, other objectionable features eliminated, and 
 the bill, thus made satisfactory to all, passed both Branches of the 
 Legislature, and received the assent of His Excellency, on April 28th, 
 1830. 
 
 From this time it became lawful for Catholics to elect, or be elected 
 members of the House of Assembly, to hold, exercise and enjoy all 
 civil and military offices in the Colony, upon taking the following 
 oath : 
 
 " I, A. B., do sincerely promise and swear that I will be faithful, 
 and bear true allegiance to His Majesty King George IV, and will 
 defend him to the utmost of my power against all conspiracies and 
 attempts whatever which shall be made against his Person, Crown 
 or Dignity ; and I will do my utmost endeavor to disclose and make 
 known to His Majesty, his heirs and successors, all Treasons and 
 Traitorous conspiracies which may be formed against him or them. 
 And I do faithfully promise to maintain, support and defend to the 
 utmost of my power the Succession of the Crown, which Succession 
 by an Act entitled ' An Act for the further limitation of the Crown 
 and better securing the Eights and Liberties of the subject ', is, and 
 stands limited to the Princess Sophia, Electress of Hanover, and the 
 Heirs of her Body, being Protestants ; hereby utterly renouncing and 
 abjuring any obedience or allegiance unto any other person claiming 
 
— 278 — 
 
 or pretending a right to the Crown of this Eealm. And I do further 
 declare that it is not an article of my Faith, and that I do renounce,, 
 rejectand abjure the opinion that Princes excommunicated or deprived 
 by the Pope, or any other authority of the See of Eome, may be 
 deposed or murdered by their subjects or by any person whatever. 
 And I do declare that I do not believe that the Pope of Rome or 
 any other Foreign Prince, Prelate, Person, State or Potentate hath or 
 ought to have any temporal or civil jurisdiction, Power, Superiority 
 or Pre-eminence, directly or indirectly within this Eealm. I do swear 
 that I will defend to the utmost of my power the settlement of prop- 
 erty within this Colony, as established by the Laws; and I do 
 hereby disclaim, .disavow and solemnly abjure any intention to subvert 
 the present <]hurch Establishment as settled by Law within this 
 Eealm. And I do solemnly swear that I will never exercise any 
 privilege to which I am or may become entitled to disturb or weaken 
 the Protestant Eeligi on or Protestant Government in this Colony, or 
 any other part of His Majesty's Dominions. And I do solemnly, in 
 the presence of God, profess, testify and declare that I do make this 
 declaration and every part thereof, in the plain and ordinary sense of~ 
 the words of the Oath, without any evasion, equivocation or mental 
 reservation whatsoever : So Help me God." 
 
 The passing of the Eelief Bill ushered in the dawn of a happy era 
 for the Catholics of Prince Edward Island. They were now in full 
 possession of their rights as citizens and though, at this distant day, it 
 may appear no more than an act of tardy justice, stiU to our fore- 
 fathers in the Faith it meant a great deal. 
 
 A writer of that time sums up their feelings in a letter in which he 
 expresses himself thus : " Now, when we are more happily situated, 
 it is to be sincerely hoped that all past prejudices will be consigned 
 to the tomb of oblivion. Let us do unto others not as they have done 
 to us, but as we would wish them to do unto us. Let us therefore 
 call on our Protestant Brethren to unite with us in the choice of fit 
 and worthy men to represent us in the next General Assembly. Let 
 us neither inquire their creed nor their country, provided they are 
 otherwise worthy of our confidence." These sentiments found faithful 
 
— 279 — 
 
 echo amongst the Catholics in general. Happy in the fruition of 
 their newly acquired privileges, they were ready to forget past differ- 
 ences, and soon a spirit of mutual confidence grew up between the 
 different classes of the Community. This truth was strikingly 
 exemplified on May 14th of this year, when Eeverend Bernard Donald 
 Macdonald, Parish Priest of Charlottetown, was chosen a member of 
 the Board of Education lately organized for the promotion of public 
 instruction on the Island. 
 
 About the same time, Eeverend John Macdonald, of Glenaladale, 
 returned to Prince Edward Island. He had been ordained priest in 
 Paris nearly fiv^ years before, and since that time had exercised the 
 ministry in Scotland. It seems that, after his father's death, the affairs 
 of the Glenaladale estate had gone from bad to worse, and the family 
 were almost continually in a state of financial embarrassment. Hence, 
 in the latter years of Father John's college career, he had been prac- 
 tically abandoned by his friends at home ; and though he frequently 
 wrote for money and even tried to induce Archbishop Plessis to 
 intercede for him — which disagreeable of&ce His Grace shifted to 
 the shoulders of Bishop MacEachern — still it was all in vain, for 
 little or no funds were sent to him. 
 
 In fact, his mother, who was charged with the administration of 
 the estate, managed the business so badly, and found herself con- 
 fronted with so many obligations that very often she did not have 
 any money to spare, though at the same time Bishop MacEachern 
 assured the Archbishop of Quebec, that she spent more money in 
 law than would be required to educate her entire family. Father 
 John had inherited a part of the estate, but as yet it yielded him no 
 income and he had no funds, he was forced to make choice between 
 two alternatives, either to give up his studies entirely, or to apply to 
 some charitably disposed person for the necessary funds to prosecute 
 them to the end. 
 
 He chose the latter, and applied to one of the Bishops of Scotland, 
 who agreed to defray the expenses of his remaining years in college, 
 on condition that, after his ordination, he would go to labor in the 
 Scottish missions for a term of years proportionate to the amount 
 
— 280 — 
 
 of money thus advanced for his education. To this the young man 
 ■consented, and as soon as he had been ordained, he proceeded to 
 Scotland and took up missionary work in the city of Glasgow where 
 lie spent close on five years. Having thus discharged his obligations 
 to the Scottish missions, he decided to return home, and induced a 
 band of Irish emigrants to accompany him by offering them homes 
 on his estate. The Glasgow Chronicle, in its issue of April 2nd, 
 1830, refers to the project, and mentions the inducements held out to 
 the emigrants by its promoter. It says : " About thirty-two families, 
 almost all of the Eoman Catholic persuasion, were to sail on 
 Thursday, weather permitting, from Greenock for Prince Edward 
 Island, under the superintendence of Mr. McDonnell, assistant cler- 
 gyman in the Catholic Chapel of this City. The greater part of them 
 belong to Glasgow and vicinity ; but a few of them are natives of 
 Ireland and the Western Isles. We understand they have been 
 promised, on their arrival at their destination, to receive grants of 
 land from Mr. McDonnell, who is a native of the Island and said to 
 possess large tracts of ground there, which he has taken the resolu- 
 tion of letting out to emigrants at a mere trifle, viz : one shilling per 
 acre. Each family averaging three or four children is to receive one 
 hundred acres, and to be furnished with commodious farm steadings, 
 a cow, a horse and other stock which, however, are to be repaid as 
 soon as the emigrants have it in their power." 
 
 Encouraged by the prospects thus held out to them, two hundred 
 and six emigrants, with the priest at their head, took passage aboard 
 the Corsair for Charlottetown, where they arrived in safety on 
 May 1,9th, 1830. After a short delay they proceeded up the southern 
 bank of the Hillsborough, until they reached the lands of Father John, 
 ■whereon they were to settle. Soon a number of small dwellings 
 were put up to accommodate the newcomers, and the parish of Fort 
 Angustus thus began to emerge from the silence of the surrounding 
 forest. Father John went to live with his mother at Glenaladale, 
 ■where he remained some years, combining the duties of landlord 
 and pastor amongst the people who lived on his estate. 
 , One of the immediate effects of the recent legislation was to render 
 
— 281 — 
 
 Catholics eligible to a seat in the House of Assembly, and a vacancy 
 occurring at this time, owing to the prolonged absence from the 
 Colony of one of the representatives of Queen's County, the moment 
 was deemed favorable to test public opinion regarding the privileges 
 newly acquired by the Catholic population. Mr. Donald Macdonald, 
 of Charlottetown, was accordingly nominated by the Catholics, and 
 the Protestants, in a spirit of broadminded toleration, permitted his 
 return without opposition. He was therefore elected by acclamation 
 on the 10th of June, being the first Catholic thus honored in Prince 
 Edward Island. His election, however, served no immediate purpose, 
 for two weeks later King George IV died in London, and by his death 
 the Legislature of the Island was dissolved, and a general election 
 rendered necessary. 
 
 This being the first occasion that Catholics were allowed to go to 
 the polls, speculation was rife concerning the outcome. Party feeling 
 ran high, and religious prejudices were apt to be appealed to, and 
 people as a rule looked forward to the issue with deep anxiety. 
 Bishop MacEachern, especially, shared in the concern manifested on 
 the occasion, and he warned his people to refrain from violence, and 
 practise a spirit of forgiveness and toleration in all things. In this 
 he was ably assisted by the priests under his charge, especially by 
 Father Macdonald of Charlottetown. Many of the candidates, too, 
 spoke out in favor of the new state of things, and welcomed their 
 Catholic fellow-citizens to a full participation of their civil rights. 
 Mr. John Brecken, on being nominated in Charlottetown, spoke as- 
 follows : 
 
 " Since I last had the honor of addressing you from this place, 
 Gentlemen, a most important, and I doubt not, salutary revokition 
 has been wrought in the Constitution of this Colony : that exclusive 
 barrier that had hitherto constituted a man's religion as the test of 
 his political character is now no more ; religious distinctions are at 
 an end ; and our Roman Catholic Brethren, I am happy to say, have at 
 length been admitted to an equal participation in political rights 
 with their Protestant fellow-subjects. Of the beneficent results 
 which must follow this enlarged and liberal policy I have every 
 
— 282 — 
 
 confidence, and without referring to the past, I trust the future will 
 alone be marked by a zealous emulation, both in Catholic and Protes- 
 tant, in their endeavors to promote the best interests of the Colony." 
 What seemed to create the greatest concern in the minds of those 
 interested was the oath demanded by law of the Catholic electors. It 
 was a lengthy formula, and being new, was little understood by the 
 common people. It would therefore necessitate many explanations, 
 for the people of that day were not accustomed to swear lightly or 
 without due deliberation. It was feared, therefore, that much time 
 would be consumed on *lection-day, and that many would perhaps 
 abstain from voting entirely, through fear of taking the oath ; and so 
 a suggestion was made by a Catholic writer in the Royal Gazette, that 
 magistrates should be appointed to administer the oath to the electors 
 before the latter would present themselves to the Eeturning Officers. 
 But Mr. Binns, one of the candidates for Charlottetown, and a pro- 
 minent lawyer of the day, put matters right by explaining that the 
 oath was not obligatory unless peremptorily demanded in the name 
 of a candidate, and could be dispensed with entirely, if all parties 
 were so agreed ; and having argued along these lines, he concluded by 
 saying : " I hope no candidate will long have it in his power, during 
 the heat of an election, and at the hustings, to question the loyalty 
 or principles of any elector." And the principle which he here 
 advocated he was the first to practise, as was shown on election-day 
 in Charlottetown, when the Catholics cast their votes at the polls, 
 unchallenged as their Protestant fellow-citizens. The same is true of 
 the whole Island. The election passed off in the greatest harmony, 
 and just as if Catholics and Protestants had long been accustomed to 
 act together in political campaigns. " Too much praise," remarked 
 the Royal Gazette, referring to the election in Charlottetown. •' Too 
 much praise cannot be bestowed on all three candidates on this occa- 
 sion, who mutually agreed to dispense with the oath to be taken by 
 Roman Catholics if required, and to refrain as far as possible from 
 administering oaths of any kind to the voters, on their coming to the 
 PoU, nor, in the sequel, was a single oath administered to a voter 
 during the election. Indeed, the election throughout was conducted 
 
— 283 — 
 
 in the most liberal and amicable manner : the parties never for a 
 moment ceased to maintain towards each other the deportment of 
 gentlemen, and the conduct of the large assemblage of electors and 
 other spectators was marked by the greatest harmony and good 
 humor." (Royal Gazette, Oct. 5th, 1830). 
 
 The result was a signal triumph for the principle of toleration and 
 mutual forbearance proclaimed by Bishop MacEachren, and the can- 
 didates, as well as their supporters, did not fail to appreciate the 
 salutary influence wielded by the holy Prelate. This was true 
 especially in King's County, where the Catholics were most numerous, 
 and where four of their numbers had been elected to the Legislature 
 on this occasion. When the result of the election was made known, 
 the successful candidates and a number of their supporters sat down 
 to a banquet in Hayes' Tavern, at Morell. Hugh Macdonald, Esq., 
 member-elect for Georgetown, occupied the chair, and Dr. Conroy, of 
 Charlottetown, filled wit h acceptance the chair of Vice-President. A 
 number of toasts were duly honored and conspicuous : amongst them 
 was the health of Bishop MacEachern, which was drunk with great 
 cheering. In proposing the toast. Dr. Conroy said : " He felt that 
 any eulogy he might pronounce on the Bishop's character could not 
 add to that esteem and veneration they all felt for him, the dignity 
 of whose office was adorned by the piety of the man ; and whilst they 
 all knew him as the comforter of the sorrowful, the friend of the 
 poor and the solace of the sick, in the discharge of his sacred duties. 
 
 He tried each act, reproved each dull delay, 
 Allured to brighter worlds, and led the way." 
 
 The Apostolic Bulls appointing Bishop MacEachern to the See of 
 Charlottetown were a long time on the way from Rome, and on that 
 account, he was not able to take formal possession of his new charge 
 till near the end of the year 1830. As the change had been effected 
 with the full consent of the British Government, and almost imme- 
 diately after the passing of Catholic Emancipation, he deemed it 
 right to take possession of the See with as much solemnity as pos- 
 sible, and accordingly, two Notaries Public were chosen to record the 
 
^284 — 
 
 proceediDgs that characterized his solemn entry upon his new official 
 duties. The Act drawn up by them on the occasion, which is carefully 
 preserved in the Eegistry Office in Charlottetown, is as follows : 
 " ^neas Bernard MacEachern took possession of the Bishoprick of 
 Charlottetown in the year 1830, on eleventh November, Thursday, 
 in the forenoon. James H. Conroy and Dennis Keddin, acting as 
 Notaries Public and residing at Charlottetown,having accompanied the 
 EightReverend -lEneasBernardMacEachern.formerly Bishop of Rosen, 
 Suffragan and Vicar of the Archbishop of Quebec, now nominated 
 Bishop of Charlottetown, from his house and having read the Bull of 
 the Sovereign Pontiff bearing date the eleventh day of August, 1829, 
 which assigns to the said Bishop the Bishoprick of Charlottetown, 
 comprehending the Island Prince Edward, New Brunswick and the 
 Magdalen Islands, and the Eight Reverend Bishop having declared 
 that he took the oath of fidelity to His Britannic Majesty King 
 William the Fourth, in his new capacity of Bishop of Charlottetown, 
 before His Excellency the Lieutenant G-overnor and Council of this 
 Province, having knelt before the door of the parochial house to 
 testify his entry into the town of Charlottetown, and then advancing 
 to the Catholic church of Charlottetown accompanied by a numerous 
 concourse of people and having entered, kissed the High Altar, was 
 seated and was received, as Father in God and Bishop of Charlotte- 
 town, by kissing of his hands and all the other ceremonies required 
 on such occasions, Te Deum recited ; at which act of taking posses- 
 sion no person made any opposition. Therefore, the said Bishop jEneas 
 Bernard MacEachern, in actual possession of his said Bishoprick, 
 requests the said Notaries Public to certify this act by their signatures. 
 This act was done and executed in Charlottetown, where the said 
 Bishop ^neas Bernard MacEachern, in the presence of many res- 
 pectable persons, who were in the Catholic church at the time of his 
 taking possession of said church and Bishoprick, took actual possession 
 of his said Bishoprick. In which instrument we the said Notaries 
 Public have hereunto subscribed our names." 
 
 Dennis Eeddin, 
 
 James H. Conboy. 
 Charlottetown, 11th Norember, 1830." 
 
1 
 
 .1 I 
 
 t r fca 
 
 't 
 
 
 
CHAPTER XXXV. 
 
 FOUNDING OF. ST. ANDREW'S COLLEGE. FATHER WALSH. — CHURCH IN 
 
 GHARLOTTETOWN ENLARGED. 
 
 On assuming independent control of the Diocese of Charlottetown, 
 Bishop MacEachern found himself face to face with a problem, which 
 had appealed to his sympathies ever since his arrival in the country. 
 This was no other than the scarcity of priests in the district entrusted 
 to his spiritual care. In New Brunswick and the Magdalen Islands 
 many souls were craving in vain for the " Bread of Life," while in 
 Prince Edward Island, only three priests were found to share with 
 him the charge of a numerous and ever-increasing population. Here- 
 tofore, as this unsatisfactory state of things filled his mind with 
 anxiety, he had appealed to the Bishops of Quebec, upon whom he 
 endeavored to impress the necessity for immediate and effective 
 action ; but now the responsibility rests entirely with himself. He is 
 now Bishop of Charlottetown, with full and independent jurisdiction, 
 and with him alone lies the obligation of taking the necessary steps to 
 provide priests for his Diocese. 
 
 His first move in this direction was to write to London, where a 
 number of French clergy were now residing, because of the recent 
 unsettled state of political affairs in their native country. He hoped 
 that some of their number might be induced to come to the 
 Diocese of Charlottetown, and take up missionary work amongst 
 the Acadians. In this, however, he was disappointed. Missionary 
 life, amid the cold and privations of the Maritime Provinces, offered 
 no inducement to priests who bad enjoyed the comforts of well- 
 
— 286 — 
 
 regulated parishes in France ; and hence they were now as little 
 inclined to come hither, as their predecessors had been in the years 
 that followed the Eevolution. 
 
 The Archbishop of Quebec manifested his kindly interest in the 
 new Diocese by permitting those of his priests who were laboring in 
 New Brunswick and the Magdalen Islands to remain at their posts ; 
 but he informed Bishop MacEachern that, should they insist on 
 returning to their own Diocese, permission to do so could not lawfully 
 be refused them. At the same time, he advised him to establish a 
 college with as little delay as possible, for the education of a native 
 clergy, and reminded him in strong language of the inconveniences 
 that might follow, if strangers were received into the Diocese and 
 entrusted with the care of souls. 
 
 In answer to this kind letter of Archbishop Panet, Bishop Mac- 
 Eachern says : " Your saying that you would allow such of your 
 clergy as are stationed in this district to remain if they choose is as 
 much as I can reasonably expect. Yet I hope that you will for some 
 little time supply, from Canada and with Canadians, the missions of 
 those who will prefer returning to their native country. Whatever I 
 may do to ameliorate their condition, I will do nothing to deteriorate 
 their means of support." 
 
 After politely thanking His Grace for his advice concerning the 
 founding of a college, he adds : " I had a meeting last summer of the 
 most rpspectable of our people, in order to raise ways and means to 
 educate from our own youth a number of students, not only for (he 
 Church, but also for any other secular employment, which meeting 
 had the desired effect, by taxing ourselves with an annual quantum 
 for the purpose above mentioned." 
 
 With the same end in view he crossed over to New Brunswick 
 during the summer, and issued a circular letter to the clergy and 
 people, dated at Kichibuctou, July 23rd, 1831, in which he says : 
 " Having received an official letter from the Sacred College of Car- 
 dinals bearing date Eome, November 27th, 1830, requesting that I 
 would inform the Sacred Congregation of the Propaganda, what means 
 are in my possession for establishing and supporting a School or 
 
— 287 — 
 
 Seminary in the Diocese for the educating of youth for the Church, 
 I come to communicate my ideas to you and to claim your assistance. 
 Ahhough His Grace the Archbishop of Quebec, in a letter dated last 
 year, tells me that he will allow such of his missionaries as are employed 
 in this Diocese to remain with us ; yet it is incumbent on me to lay 
 before you the absolute necessity of raising clergy for ourselves and 
 the fast-growing generation. My income is so slender that I cannot 
 from any revenue I have promise to support an establishment of this 
 magnitude. But if the whole of the Diocese would contribute a some- 
 thing annually, it appears to me that a preparatory Seminary might 
 be established and supported among us." 
 
 He then submits to their consideration the plans which he had 
 conceived for founding a college ; and in the first place he suggests 
 that a contribution be asked from the people, which for greater 
 convenience may be paid in kind. This, he thinks, would do quite well, 
 since " live stock would be useful for the support of the boys in the 
 House, and grain could be turned to account and bartered for the 
 necessaries of life." 
 
 He next refers to the St. Andrew's Farm, which was at this time 
 in a high state of cultivation, and which he intended to hand over 
 for the use and support of the institution. 
 
 Of the building to be used as a college he speaks as follows : " The 
 house 1 live in is 38 by 30 feet, two stories high, with good cellar, 
 and, with the exception of one room and bed, may be used till some- 
 thing on a better plan can be made." 
 
 A point insisted on is that parents are not supposed to have the 
 choice of sending their boys to the school indiscriminately ; but in 
 every instance candidates for admission should be furnished with a 
 recommendation from their respective missionaries. 
 
 The circular concludes with these words strongly suggestive of the 
 man and his character : " Whether I will be aided or not by my 
 Diocesans, if I can get a proper teacher, I will open a school." 
 
 By these closing words, it would seem that he did not entertain 
 very sanguine hopes of assistance from his flock in New Brunswick, 
 and the sequel proved that he was not mistaken. Generally speaking, 
 
^ 288 — 
 
 they did not regard with a favorable eye the placing of a diocesan 
 college in Prince Edward Island, and were consequently not disposed 
 to contribute much towards it, whatever they might have done had 
 it been built in their own Province. Hence, some time after this, 
 in a letter to the Archbishop of Quebec, he complains that they had 
 not yet returned a satisfactory answer to the proposal and had there- 
 fore done nothing to further the work. 
 
 After issuing the circular above mentioned, Bishop MacEachern 
 visited the principal centres of population from Miramichi to St. John, 
 spending his time as he himself said, " always in the confessional, 
 except at night, meal-time and Mass ", and then visited Halifax to see 
 Bishop Eraser, before returning to his home in Prince Edward Island. 
 
 In Halifax he met with Reverend Edward Walsh, an Irish priest, 
 who had come out with a band of emigrants in the preceding year. 
 Before coming to Nova Scotia, Father Walsh had taught some years 
 in one of the Irish colleges, and on this account. Bishop MacEachern 
 judged that he would be a suitable person to place at the head of the 
 new institution, if he could be induced to assume the responsibility. 
 The matter was discussed between the two Bishops and Father Walsh, 
 with the result that the latter consented to come to Prince Edward 
 Island and become the first rector of the new college. Bishop Mac- 
 Eachern, therefore, returned home in great spirits ; the parochial house 
 at St. Andrew's was soon fitted up for its new purpose, and on the 
 30th of November, 1831, it was formally opened under the name 
 of St. Andrew's College. 
 
 The Press of the day contained the following reference to it : " We 
 understand that the New Seminary called St. Andrew's College, at 
 the head of the Hillsborough, was opened on the SOth November, 
 1831, being St. Andrew's Day. This Institution established under 
 the patronage of the Eoman Catholic Bishop of Charlottetown, and 
 of the Eight Eeverend Doctor Eraser, of Nova Scotia, is presided over 
 by Reverend Mr. Walsh, a Roman Catholic Clergyman, of whose 
 literary attainments report speaks very highly. A Professor of Mathe- 
 matics has also been appointed, etc. ^. 
 
 1 — Royal Gazette, December 20th, 1831. 
 
— 289 — 
 
 Such was the humble beginning of the first college established in 
 Prince Edward Island. Scarcely, indeed, should it be called a college, 
 as it was no more than a kind of high school, where young men 
 received the education necessary to enter on their higher studies in 
 foreign seminaries. But, though humble in its origin and unpreten- 
 tious in its claims, it served its purpose well. From its walls came 
 forth a band of young men, afterwards raised to the priesthood, who 
 stood ready to take up the flaming torch of Faith as it fell from the 
 pulseless hands of the pioneer missionaries, and transmitted the same 
 to the present generation together with the tender memories of their 
 saintly lives. 
 
 The founding of St. Andrew's College, amid difficulties so great 
 and with resources so meagre, is a monument to the foresight and 
 zeal of Bishop MacEachern, and had he accomplished nothing further 
 for the welfare of religion in the Diocese of Charlottetown, this alone 
 should be enough to stamp his name in letters of gold on every page 
 of its subsequent history. 
 
 The Catholics of Charlottetown had been steadily increasing in 
 those latter years. They had, in fact, increased so rapidly that 
 they had completely outgrown the capacity of the little church in 
 which they had hitherto met for divine worship. They therefore 
 found it necessary to enlarge, it, and early in this year they had 
 begun to collect funds for that purpose. In the course of the 
 summer the work was commenced and it went steadily forward 
 during the autumn months, under the guidance of the pastor, Eev- 
 erend Bernard Donald Macdonald. To stimulate the people to more 
 generous efforts he invited Father Walsh to preach to them on a 
 certain Sunday, and the latter having expressed his willingness to 
 do so, his coming was duly announced in advance. Father Walsh was 
 a speaker of rare power and pathos. He had already preached in 
 Charlottetown on one occasion, and the impression which he then 
 created was so deep and lasting that, though the weather was very 
 unfavorable, the people now came in crowds and occupied every avail- 
 able place in the church. Many Protestants, too, were present, con- 
 spicuous amongst whom was Lieutenant Governor Aretas W. Young, 
 19 
 
— 29,0 — 
 
 who had succeeded Colonel Eeady in the month of September. The 
 people were not disappointed, nor was the pastor, for the sermon was 
 eloquent and the amount of the collection considerable. The circum- 
 stance furnished a noteworthy instance of the tolerant spirit that 
 prevailed in the community, and which elicited from the pen of a con- 
 temporary writer the following comment : " We noticed His Excel- 
 lency the Lieutenant Governor among the audience, to whom, as well 
 as to every truly liberal mind, it must have been a source of pleasure 
 to witness so many of the Protestant inhabitants assembled to assist 
 their Catholic brethren in the important work in which they are 
 eagaged. The building has been considerably enlarged, and the improve- 
 ment, both in its internal arrangement and in its general appearance, 
 cannot fail to strike the eye of the observer ^ ". 
 
 1 — Royal Gazette, December 20th, 1531. 
 
CHAPTER XXXVI. 
 
 THE ACADIAN MISSIONS. — CHARLOTTETOWN.— FATHER JOHN MACDONALD. 
 
 — ST. Andrew's college. — bishop maceachern at st. 
 
 JOHN. — HE BUILDS A HOUSE AT CANAVOY. 
 
 The years that now claim our attention are singularly barren of 
 material for the historian of the Church in Prince Edward Island. 
 No event of particular importance appears, to add heightened color to 
 the web now being woven in the loom of time, and for three years our 
 history moves on calmly and peacefully like the sun-kissed surface 
 of a quiet stream. Good work, nevertheless, was being accomplished 
 for Grod and Holy Church, albeit in a quiet and unpretentious manner. 
 
 The Acadian missions in charge of Father Perry were steadily 
 increasing in population, and showed signs of marked improvement 
 in temporal and spiritual affairs. Their circumstances were much 
 improved in every respect. They had better and more comfortable 
 homes, and their spiritual wants were being attended to as well as 
 could be expected, with only one priest to serve a region so large and 
 a people so numerous. Father Perry's position was no sinecure. He 
 was ever on the move, and seemed always to be found exactly where 
 he was most needed. His labors during these years belong not to 
 history. They were performed without show and often in secret, and 
 with a spirit of generous unselfishness that made him the idol of 
 the people whom he served. 
 
 Father Bernard Donald Macdonald resided in Charlottetown, where 
 
— 292 — 
 
 a congregation ever increasing and ever changing furnished him with 
 abundance of work. He was a mild and sweet-tempered pastor, who 
 seemed to have well understood the words : " Learn of me for I am 
 meek and humble of heart." He was well and deservedly loved by 
 his flock, and the amount of good done in his own gentle, unassuming 
 manner is known only to Him " who hath made the hearts of every 
 one of them, who understandeth all their works." 
 
 Father John Macdonald lived with his mother and brother at 
 Glenaladale. He had spiritual charge of all the tenants who had 
 settled on his estate, and said Mass for them at such places as best ^ 
 suited their convenience, and added to his dual office of pastor and 
 landlord the duties of land-agent for his brother Lieutenant Eoderick 
 Macdonald. 
 
 The tenants with whom Father John had to deal were, in many 
 instances, a stiff-necked and refractory class of people. They were 
 mostly emigrants from Ireland and Scotland, or immediate descendants 
 of such, and were full of the notion that landlordism was a deadly 
 exotic utterly unsuited to the free soil of Prince Edward Island. 
 Father John's position became supremely irksome. It involved 
 him in family quarrels and lawsuits, as repugnant to his feelings as 
 they were incompatible with his calling. The people, too, were dis- 
 satisfied, and sometimes gave vent to their feelings in terms of scant 
 courtesy. They had nothing to say against him in his priestly capacity, 
 nor indeed could they find any fault on this head, as Bishop Mac- 
 Eachern bears witness ; but being a landlord as well as land-agent, and 
 being perhaps too closely identified with the affairs of his family, he 
 was frequently the butt against which broke the arrows of prejudice 
 and malice directed in reality against the system of which he was 
 unfortunately the representative. Often, indeed, did he offend when 
 his sole aim was to confer a favor, so prone were his people to mis- 
 represent his views and impugn his motives. 
 
 At length, having grown weary of his circumstances, he resolved to 
 go abroad and seek a place where he might exercise the duties of his 
 calling free from the petty annoyances that fell to his lot in Prince 
 Edward Island. He accordingly left for Canada, much to the disap- 
 
— 293 — 
 
 pointmeiit of Bishop MacEachern, who had been hoping all along, that 
 the difficulties in which he was placed would finally adjust themsel- 
 ves, so as not to hinder him from laboring in a locality where his ser- 
 vices were so much needed, and where his knowledge of English, Gaelic 
 and French gave him exceptional facilities for effective missionary 
 work. He did- not stay long in Canada, however ; he soon returned to his 
 former post, where he succeeded in dispelling many old prejudices and 
 creating a better understanding between himself and the people in 
 general. 
 
 Father Walsh, in a short time, placed the new college on a firm 
 and progressive footing. Before Christmas of the first year about 
 twenty students were enrolled, some of whom came from the neigh- 
 boring Provinces. The curriculum comprised Greek, Latin, French and 
 Mathematics, as well as, besides, the subjects usually taught in an ordi- 
 nary commercial course. On Saturday, August 25th, 1832, the insti- 
 tution was honored by a visit of Lieutenant GovernorYoung, accom- 
 panied by Lady Young, their two daughters and some gentlemen from 
 Charlottetown. They were received by Father Walsh and entertained 
 at luncheon, after which the students, dressed in the college uniform, 
 were presented to the Governor and his Lady. Though the visit was 
 entirely unexpected, the boys were equal to the occasion, and one of 
 their number came forward and read an address, a part of which was 
 evidently intended for a play of words on the name of the Governor 
 and his family. It said in part : " We, the students of St. Andrew's 
 College, with the most profound respect, beg to assure you that we 
 duly appreciate the great honor Your Excellency has conferred on us 
 this day in visiting our establishment." 
 
 " It is young, its members are young, and whilst they advance in 
 years, and till they are old, they will never cease to wish that your 
 young family may never enjoy less happiness than they have 
 imparted this day to the students of St. Andrew's College." 
 
 His Excellency said in reply : " To meet the students of St. 
 Andrew's College gives me much pleasure, and it is not a little 
 enhanced by their kind reception of me and their flattering expres- 
 sions." 
 
— 294 — 
 
 " It will be a source of satisfaction to me to reflect upon having met 
 with young men who promise so fairly to do credit to themselves in 
 their future walks of life, and to evince to their friends and the 
 community the advantages they have derived from the abilities and 
 care that have been bestowed upon them. In offering the tribute of 
 my respect to the Lord Bishop and his able assistant, Rev. Mr. Walsh, 
 I but feebly express the sense I entertain of their merits." 
 
 When the College had been in operation about a year, and seemed 
 established on a firm and lasting basis, Bishop MacEachern deemed 
 the time opportune for carrying out his intention of handing over to 
 it the church property at St. Andrew's. Accordingly, on the 18th of 
 January, 1833, he executed a deed conveying to a board of trustees 
 the St. Andrew's farm, and on the 21st of the same month, Honorable 
 Mr. Brenan, one of the Members for King's County, presented to the 
 House of Assembly a petition praying for the Incorporation of the 
 new trustees and their successors in office. The original Board of 
 Trustees was composed of Bishop MacEachern, Bishop Eraser, Eev- 
 erend D. Macdonald, Eeverend Sylvanus Perry, John Small Mac- 
 douald,^ of West Eiver, Daniel Brenan, Charlottetown, Angus Mac- 
 onald, Three Eivers, and. Donald Macdonald, Tracadie. 
 
 The Act of Incorporation granted by the Legislature, in accordance 
 with the petition, provided that all vacancies on the Board of Trustees 
 should be filled by a majority vote of those entitled to a voice in 
 matters appertaining to the College. 
 
 The right to vote was granted to all those who had paid annually, 
 to the support of the College, the sum of three pounds for at least two 
 years previous to the time of voting ; and to those who might have 
 contributed by gift or otherwise the sum of forty pounds, which would 
 entitle them to vote at every election during their lifetime. 
 
 Should there exist no such contributors, any five of the actual 
 trustees might elect; but trustees so elected could not act until 
 registered as such in the Eegistry Office of the Province. Another 
 provision of the Act was that the Trustees should keep a Register for 
 by-laws, college-rules, minutes of meetings and list of contributors 
 to the funds of the Institution ; and this Eegister should always be 
 
— 295 — 
 
 open to the inspection of the Lieutenant Governor and House of 
 Assembly. 
 
 No religious test was to be admitted, no interference was tcy be 
 tolerated with the religious convictions of the students, and only the 
 Catholic boys should be compelled to assist at the services of the 
 Catholic Church. 
 
 The Act of Incorporation passed both Branches of the Legislature, 
 and received the assent of the Governor on the Cth of April, 1833. 
 
 In the following session the House gave a striking example of the 
 broadminded spirit that animated its members, by voting the sum of 
 fifty pounds towards the support of the College, an amount which 
 continued to be paid annually until the institution was closed. 
 
 Having made over the property at St. Andrew's and turned his 
 house into a College, Bishop MacEachern might well apply to him- 
 self the words of the poet : 
 
 He entered in his house — his home no more. 
 
 The home that had been his for years was now devoted to other 
 purposes ; it had become the resort of noisy boys, the scene of active 
 college life. The Bishop, however, did not sever his connection with 
 it entirely. He retained for his own use a room wherein he lodged, 
 when circumstances permitted his making a stay at St. Andrew's, 
 which indeed happened rarely since the care of the Diocese had 
 devolved upon him. 
 
 Thus, in the fall of the year 1831, he was called to New Brunswick, 
 where he spent the entire winter. Difficulties had arisen in the city 
 of St. John, which demanded his presence, and when he arrived on 
 the scene, he found matters in such a bad condition that he wrote to 
 the Archbishop of Quebec : " I do not mean to move from this until I 
 can establish some order." He was as good as his word. He remained 
 there till the middle of June, and by that time, matters were fairly on 
 the way towards settling down to their normal condition. He drew 
 up certain rules for the guidance of the people, which he embodied 
 in a letter, and appointed three wardens to aid the pastor in the 
 administration of the financial affairs of the parish. 
 
— 296 — 
 
 During his stay in New Brunswick he paid a visit to Fredericton, 
 where he interviewed the Lieutenant Governor and some of the 
 Members of the Legislature, and succeeded in impressing them so 
 deeply with the wants of his flock in that Province, that he obtained 
 from the Government a grant of one hundred pounds for a school 
 which he proposed establishing at Shediac. The latter project he now 
 deemed necessary for the future of religion in New Brunswick, 
 because he had found that both the clergy and laity of that Province 
 were little disposed to support the College of St. Andrew's. 
 
 It may be remembered that when there was question of buying the 
 farm at St. Andrew's, the Acadians of Eollo Bay objected to the 
 locality for the reason that it was too distant from their place of 
 residence ; and at the same time, they suggested that a site chosen 
 somewhere in the vicinity of St. Peter's would be more suitable for 
 the purpose intended. This objection, as we have seen, was over- 
 ruled by the majority and St. Andrew's obtained the preference. 
 
 Since those days, however, considerable settlements had been 
 formed along the shores of St. Peter's Bay, and Bishop MacEachern, 
 who used to visit them as often as possible, thought the time had come 
 when they should have a church of their own, and in the month of 
 November, 1833, he obtained a grant of twenty acres of land situated 
 at the Head of the Bay to serve as a site for a new church, when 
 the people should find themselves able to build one. 
 
 About the same time two students, Eonald Maclsaac and James 
 Mclntyre, of East Point, left for Eome to enter the College of the 
 Propaganda. They had been at St. Andrew's College from its begin-v 
 ning.and had consequently made considerable progress in their classical 
 course. By their arrival in Eome, the Diocese of Charlottetown had 
 four students at the Propaganda preparing for the priesthood ; but in 
 a short time, their number was diminished by the death of Norbert 
 MacEachern, which occurred on the 13th of July, 1834. He had 
 spent over five years in Eome, and had just completed his first year 
 of philosophy. His death was a grievous disappointment to Bishop 
 MacEachern. It threw back his hopes of assistance, and made him 
 feel aU the more keenly the want of priests in his extensive Diocese. 
 
— 297 — 
 
 About seven years prior to this, he had bought from John Stewart, 
 Esq., of Mount Stewart, a tract of land situated at Savage Harbor 
 and known as the Canavoy Farm. Upon it he now decided to erect a 
 house, the counterpart in every particular of his former residence at 
 St. Andrew's. The work of building went on briskly and, before the 
 close of the year 1834, the new house was ready for occupation, and 
 Bishop MacEachern vacated his quarters at the College and took up 
 his residence at Canavoy. 
 
CHAPTER XXXVII. 
 
 BISHOP MACEACHERN IN FAILING HEALTH. — HIS LAST ILLNESS. — HIS 
 DEATH AND BURIAL. 
 
 The beginning of the year 1835 found Bishop MacEachern gradually 
 succumbing to the infirmities of age. The trying labors of so many 
 years had told upon him, and he went about his duties with a sense 
 of his inability to do justice to the cause which lay so near his heart. 
 His step had lost its former elasticity, his erstwhile erect figure had 
 drooped under the burden of years, while to mount his horse or ascend 
 his gig required a slow and painful effort. The splendid health that 
 he had hitherto enjoyed was now considerably impaired, and in his 
 letters to the Archbishop of Quebec, he complains of feeling unwell, 
 a complaint newfound for the first time in a correspondance extend- 
 ing over a period of almost forty-five years. 
 
 Still he does not desist from active labor. " I must, at my advanced 
 age," he writes, " after hard labor for forty-four years and seven 
 months in this Island and adjacent coasts, serve a mission as well as 
 the young gentlemen on the Island do." And besides this mission 
 which comprised the whole of King's County, he was obliged to travel 
 New Brunswick and the Magdalen Islands, in order to discharge his 
 episcopal duties. 
 
 Finding his infirmities increasing and wishing that his flock should 
 not suffer on that account, he writes to the Archbishop of Quebec, 
 and refers at some length to the advisability of having a Coadjutor 
 Bishop appointed for the Diocese of Charlottetown. 
 
 He mentions particularly the difficulties that lie in the way of such 
 an appointment, the principal one of which seems to be, how to 
 provide suitable support for the new prelate. He pictures the clergy 
 
— 300 — 
 
 of Prince Edward Island as only straggling missionaries, wandering 
 about from place to place, practically unable to fix their residence in 
 any particular locality. The only mission in the whole Diocese which 
 he considers able to furnish a decent living is the city of St. John, 
 but it would appear from his description of its people that a Bishop 
 would find it exceedingly irksome to live amongst them. 
 
 He next takes up the question of the probable candidates for the 
 position. He refers to Eeverend Mr. Manseau, whose name had been 
 mentioned in connection therewith, and of whom he says : " He is a 
 good man and of conciliatory manners." 
 
 To Father John Macdonald of Tracadie, whose name was also con- 
 sidered, he has no personal objection. He considers him a learned 
 man and well qualified, if he were only separated from his family and 
 freed from the entanglements of land affairs. Entering further into 
 the subject he adds that the Coadjutor, whoever he may be, should be 
 acquainted with the English, French and G-aelic languages, in order 
 to treat successfully with the various nationalities that would fall 
 under his jurisdiction ; and the only candidate who possesses this 
 knowledge, joined with all the other necessary qualifications, is the 
 Eeverend Bernard Donald Macdonald, " whose uniform regularity of 
 deportment, and disengagement from everything but his duty, " he 
 says, " renders him dear and respected in the community." 
 
 The question of the coadjutorship proceeded no further, and so, to 
 provide for the spiritual welfare of his flock, Bishop MacEachern 
 created two Vicars General, the Reverend Father Gagnon for the 
 Province of New Brunswick, and Eeverend Bernard Donald Mac- 
 donald for Prince Edward Island, the latter of whom was appointed i 
 April 6th, 1835. 
 
 A few days later, the Bishop started on his Easter visit to the mis- 
 sions of King's County, and proceeded towards East Point by way of 
 St. Peter's. At this latter place he put up at the house of Mr. Dugald 
 Maclsaac, where he was accustomed to hold a station, as there was as 
 yet no church in the settlement. When he arrived on this occasion, the 
 people gathered in as usual, and he was kept busy hearing confessions 
 throughout the afternoon. Next morning he again heard confessions, 
 
— 301 — 
 
 said Mass, and preached a Gaelic sermon. When Mass was finished, the 
 greater number of the people retired to their homes ; but not a few- 
 remained to take breakfast at the hospitable home of Mr. Maclsaac. 
 After the morning meal had been despatched, a daughter of the family, 
 who had been serving the guests, sat down to take a hurried breakfast, 
 while the Bishop was standing in the light of a window arranging 
 an Agnus Dei for a young woman who had gone to Communion 
 on that morning. They were the only persons in the room at the 
 time. The girl, as she sat at the table, had her back turned towards 
 the Bishop, whilst he, though evidently intent on the Agnus Dei, 
 was talking to her in a desultory manner concerning recent political 
 troubles in Spain, a country, by the way, in which he took a lively 
 interest since the time he spent at Valladolid. 
 
 The girl suddenly noticed that his speech began to fail. His voice 
 grew hoarse, and his articulation so indistinct as to be almost unin- 
 telligible, and she was about to rise from the table, when she heard a 
 dull thud, as the Bishop losing his balance fell helpless to the floor. 
 Terrified at the sight, the girl screamed for help, and the people 
 rushing in raised his prostrate form from the floor and laid him on the 
 bed, from which he had arisen but a few hours before apparently in his 
 usual health. In a little while he partially regained consciousness, but 
 could not speak, and indeed, never spoke distinctly from that time. 
 
 Medical aid was not available in Kings' County in those days ; so 
 news of his sudden illness was sent with all possible speed to Char- 
 lottetown, and late in the evening of the following day, Eeverend 
 Bernard D. Macdonald and Doctor Conroy arrived at his bedside. 
 
 The Doctor at once pronounced the case hopeless. Indeed, he 
 found his condition so critical that Father Macdonald administered 
 the last sacraments that same night. He rallied somewhat, however, 
 and by signs manifested a desire of being taken home ; which desire 
 was reluctantly and sorrowfully granted. 
 
 They carried him on his bed to a sleigh, in which he was conveyed 
 down the ice to the mouth of the harbor, and thence by the sea-ice to 
 Canavoy. People on learning of his illness had come from Launching, 
 East Point, St. Andrew's, and from other settlements, many of 
 
— 302 — 
 
 whom remained ia the neighborhood to accompany him on this 
 journey. It seemed like a funeral procession, to see so many people 
 with heavy hearts wending their slow and mournful way, each one 
 stricken with a keen sense of impending, loss. 
 
 On their arrival at their destination they carried the dying prelate 
 to his room, where he lingered in a semi-conscious state till Wednesday, 
 the 22nd of April, at the hour of three o'clock in the afternoon, when he 
 laid down the burden of his arduous life and entered into eternal rest. 
 
 His body was laid out in vestments under the direction of Mr. 
 Charles Macdonnell, an ecclesiastic, who had succeeded Father Walsh 
 as Kector of St. Andrew's College ; and after it had remained well- 
 nigh two days in the house at Canavoy, it was transported to the 
 church at St. Andrew's, where it lay in state for the whole of that 
 afternoon and night. People came in crowds to view the remains, 
 and frequent bursts of uncontrollable grief broke the solemn stillness 
 of the church where they lay. Though it was a time of year when 
 traveling is supremely difficult, there was scarcely a settlement from 
 East Point to Charlottetown that was not represented at his bier. 
 
 On the following morning the funeral service was held, at which 
 only two priests assisted. Eeverend Bernard Donald Macdonald sang 
 Mass, and Eeverend John Macdonald pronounced a touching pane- 
 gyric, after which all that was mortal of the saintly Bishop Mac- 
 Eachern was laid to rest under the sanctuary of the church, whose 
 building cost him years of anxiety, and which, by the decrees of 
 Divine Providence, was destined to serve as his first monument. 
 
 It were simple truth to say that no death in Prince Edward Island 
 had ever occasioned such deep and universal sorrow. Not only was he 
 mourned by the members of his own flock ; but all classes and creeds 
 united to bewail the loss of one who had been a benefactor to the whole 
 community. The Royal Gazette, in its issue of April 28th, 1835, voiced 
 the sentiments of the entire people in the following obituary notice ; 
 
 " Died. On the 22nd instant, from the effects of paralysis, the 
 Eight Eeverend .^neas Bernard MacEachern, Eoman Catholic Bishop 
 of Charlottetown and New Brunswick, aged 75. Beloved, respected 
 and esteemed, not only by those of his own persuasion, but by every 
 
— 303 — 
 
 member of the community, this truly pious and estimable Prelate 
 has, by his departure from this sublunary scene, after a long and 
 laborious life spent in the unwearied discharge of his official duties, 
 and distinguished by numerous acts of unostentatious benevolence, 
 left a void in society that will be long felt by those who had the pleasure 
 of his acquaintance, and a character as a man beyond all panegyric." 
 After giving some incidents of the life of the deceased it continues : 
 " It is now upwards of forty-four years since he came to this 
 Island, where his father and mother had settled, and commenced his 
 labors under the Bishop of Quebec, being then almost the only 
 clergyman in the Island. Under such circumstances, his life was one 
 of incessant toil and privation ; constantly employed in visiting the 
 scattered settlements, in a country destitute of roads or other accom- 
 modations, sometimes in boats, at others toiling on foot, he never, 
 even at the most inclement seasons of the year, for a moment shrank 
 from difficulties when called upon to administer the consolations of 
 religion, whether to the European settler or the friendless Indian. Faith- 
 ful to the last, death itself may be said to have found him at his post ; 
 for, when struck with the disease which proved mortal, he was in the 
 actual discharge of his duty, twelve miles from his own residence." 
 
 A writer of that day composed the following Acrostic which he 
 proposed as a suitable epitaph for the deceased prelate : 
 
 Birth, title, wealth — mere accidents of time — 
 In venal verse and smooth sepulchral rhyme, 
 So oft, in spite of all, should damn a name, 
 Have left posterity a golden fame ; 
 Opinion deems all monumental lays 
 Pretence of woe, or mercenary praise ; 
 
 Meek merit's record seems, as Pride's, untrue, 
 
 And chance-dealt fame robs Virtue of her due. 
 
 Conclude we then here eulogy were vain ? 
 
 Ev'n so — and, weeping, check th' applausive strain. 
 
 Art, then, be mute I The loss we have sustained 
 
 Can art declare, or shew what he has gain'd — 
 
 He who held fast the faith of Christ, and fought 
 
 EflSciently the glorious fight, and? taught 
 
 Reluctant flesh to bow to God? — His dust 
 
 Now rests where long he served ; his soul is with the just. 
 
— 304 — 
 
 To mark the spot where the deceased Prelate had been laid to rest, 
 a mural tablet was placed in St. Andrew's church, and upon it a 
 Latin inscription of which the following is a translation : 
 
 « D. 0. M. 
 
 " Here lies, in the hope of a blessed immortality, Mneaa B. Mac- 
 Eachern, first Bishop of Charlottetown. Adorned with all the virtues 
 that should distinguish a Bishop, he labored with unwearied zeal to 
 promote the glory of God and to forward the spiritual interests of 
 his neighbor. His death brought great and lasting grief to all good 
 men, and to none more than the poor, for whose sake he himself had 
 passed his life in poverty. 
 
 " He died on the 22nd of April, 1835, in the seventy-sixth year of 
 his age, and in the fourteenth of his episcopate \" 
 
 1 — Latin text of the inscription '-. 
 
 D. 0. M. 
 
 Hie jacet 
 
 In Spem Beatss Immortalitatis 
 
 jEneas B. MacEaohern 
 
 Primus Episoopus Carolinopolitanus. 
 
 Ornatus virtutibus 
 
 Qusa Bpiscopum Commendare debent. 
 
 Majorem Dei Grloriam et Balutem proxinii 
 
 Zelo indefesso procuravit. 
 
 Hominibus singulis probis omnibus 
 
 Ac maxima pauperibus 
 
 Quorum gratia pauper ipse vixit 
 
 jEternum sui desiderium reliquit. 
 
 Obiit die 22 Aprilis, Anno Christi 1835 
 
 .lEtatis 76 Episcopatusque 14 
 
 FINIS. 
 
ERRATA. 
 
 Page 4, line 18, instead of "build," 
 
 read built. 
 
 II, 
 
 33, 
 
 74, 
 
 96, 
 
 138, 
 
 150, 
 
 154, 
 
 198, 
 
 279, 
 
 293, 
 
 28, " " mon 
 
 16, leave out " in." 
 
 6, instead of " see," 
 
 14, " " seem 
 
 " monastery," 
 
 30, 
 
 Jl, 
 3, 
 
 4, 
 24, 
 
 28, add 
 
 
 tt 
 
 monotony. 
 
 seem," 
 
 " strait," 
 
 " on," 
 
 " in," 
 
 " thought, 
 
 " latter," 
 iz, ■ " hie," " 
 
 28, add as after " and." 
 14, read : as well as the subjects, etc. 
 
 sea. 
 
 seen. 
 
 start. 
 
 or. 
 
 on. 
 
 through. 
 
 letter. 
 
 his. 
 
Borrower's Card. 
 
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