The Chignecto Isthmus And Its First Settlers [22]
stir up strife without a just cause. And is it claiming too much to say that to Canada's remaining loyal in 1776 is due to a very large extent the proud position Great Britain holds to-day as the mother of nations, the founder of the greatest colonial empire the world has yet seen?
There are those who believe that the principle of equality and fraternity, of government by the people and for the people, the freedom for which the Pilgrim Fathers faced the stormy Atlantic and for which Washington fought against such odds, has been worked out in fuller measure and juster proportions in Canada than in the United States. Canada has helped greatly to emphasize the truth, only yet half understood by the world, that it makes little difference whether the chief ruler of a country is called president, king or emperor, or whether the government is called a monarchy or republic. These are but incidents. What is important, what is essential,if freedom is to be won and maintained, is that the people understand their rights and have the courage to maintain them at any sacrifice. It was the leaven of freedom working in the lump of the British people that gave the world the Magna Charta, Montford's rebellion, Cromwell and the Commonwealth, the Revolution of 1688,and the still greater Revolution of 1776.
This last event broke from the parent stem one of the strong branches of the Anglo-Saxon family, and gave each an opportunity to work out in different ways the ideals after which both were striving. And who will say that the descendants of Cromwellians and Quakers, Nonconformists and Churchmen, whose ancestors, from force of circumstances or love of country remained in their island home, are not to-day breathing the air of freedom as pure and unadulterated as their cousins on the banks of the Charles or in the valleys of the historic Brandywine. At any rate, we who live in this northern country, that escaped the cataclysm of 1776, feel that Canada has been no unimportant factor in helping to work out the great problem of government for and by the consent of the governed.
CHAPTER V
THE FIRST CHURCHES OF THE ISTHMUS.
THE spiritual interests of the people of old Chignecto have always been well-looked after. One of the first white men to visit the Isthmus with a view to settlement was a priest, and the man who wielded the largest influence in and around Fort Beausejour during the last years of the French occupation was a priest, the vicar-general of Canada. In more than one instance the assistance promised to the colonists in Acadia by the wealthy was provisional upon the conversion of the Indians to Christianity. During the French period three chapels were erected on the Isthmus--one at the Four Corners, Tantramar, one at Fort Beausejour, and one at Beaubassin. These chapels were burned during the taking of Beausejour and the expulsion of the Acadians. The bell on the chapel at the Four Corners was buried by the Acadians at the intersection of two lines drawn from four springs to be seen in that locality yet. Some years after a party of Acadians, on getting the consent of Wm. Fawcett, who in the meantime had come into possession of the land, dug up the bell and carried it to Memramcook. The late Father Lefebre exchanged it for a larger one. It is believed that the bell from the Beausejour chapel is the one now used in St. Mark's church, Mount Whatley. This bell is ornamented with scrolls and fleur-de-lis and has the following inscription:
AD HONOREM DEI FECIT F.M. GROS, A ROCHEFORT, 1734.
The first Protestant ministers on the Isthmus were Episcopalians. Mr. Woods, a clergyman of that denomination, was at Fort Lawrence in 1752, 1754 and 1756. In 1759 Rev. Thos. Wilkinson was at Fort Cumberland, and in 1760 it is recorded that Joshua Tiffs baptized Winkworth Allan at the fort. Between that date and the arrival of Rev. John Egleson no record has been found. Mr. Egleson was born a Presbyterian, and was educated for that Church. He was ordained, but afterwards changed his views, and joined the Anglicans. He was reordained by
There are those who believe that the principle of equality and fraternity, of government by the people and for the people, the freedom for which the Pilgrim Fathers faced the stormy Atlantic and for which Washington fought against such odds, has been worked out in fuller measure and juster proportions in Canada than in the United States. Canada has helped greatly to emphasize the truth, only yet half understood by the world, that it makes little difference whether the chief ruler of a country is called president, king or emperor, or whether the government is called a monarchy or republic. These are but incidents. What is important, what is essential,if freedom is to be won and maintained, is that the people understand their rights and have the courage to maintain them at any sacrifice. It was the leaven of freedom working in the lump of the British people that gave the world the Magna Charta, Montford's rebellion, Cromwell and the Commonwealth, the Revolution of 1688,and the still greater Revolution of 1776.
This last event broke from the parent stem one of the strong branches of the Anglo-Saxon family, and gave each an opportunity to work out in different ways the ideals after which both were striving. And who will say that the descendants of Cromwellians and Quakers, Nonconformists and Churchmen, whose ancestors, from force of circumstances or love of country remained in their island home, are not to-day breathing the air of freedom as pure and unadulterated as their cousins on the banks of the Charles or in the valleys of the historic Brandywine. At any rate, we who live in this northern country, that escaped the cataclysm of 1776, feel that Canada has been no unimportant factor in helping to work out the great problem of government for and by the consent of the governed.
CHAPTER V
THE FIRST CHURCHES OF THE ISTHMUS.
THE spiritual interests of the people of old Chignecto have always been well-looked after. One of the first white men to visit the Isthmus with a view to settlement was a priest, and the man who wielded the largest influence in and around Fort Beausejour during the last years of the French occupation was a priest, the vicar-general of Canada. In more than one instance the assistance promised to the colonists in Acadia by the wealthy was provisional upon the conversion of the Indians to Christianity. During the French period three chapels were erected on the Isthmus--one at the Four Corners, Tantramar, one at Fort Beausejour, and one at Beaubassin. These chapels were burned during the taking of Beausejour and the expulsion of the Acadians. The bell on the chapel at the Four Corners was buried by the Acadians at the intersection of two lines drawn from four springs to be seen in that locality yet. Some years after a party of Acadians, on getting the consent of Wm. Fawcett, who in the meantime had come into possession of the land, dug up the bell and carried it to Memramcook. The late Father Lefebre exchanged it for a larger one. It is believed that the bell from the Beausejour chapel is the one now used in St. Mark's church, Mount Whatley. This bell is ornamented with scrolls and fleur-de-lis and has the following inscription:
AD HONOREM DEI FECIT F.M. GROS, A ROCHEFORT, 1734.
The first Protestant ministers on the Isthmus were Episcopalians. Mr. Woods, a clergyman of that denomination, was at Fort Lawrence in 1752, 1754 and 1756. In 1759 Rev. Thos. Wilkinson was at Fort Cumberland, and in 1760 it is recorded that Joshua Tiffs baptized Winkworth Allan at the fort. Between that date and the arrival of Rev. John Egleson no record has been found. Mr. Egleson was born a Presbyterian, and was educated for that Church. He was ordained, but afterwards changed his views, and joined the Anglicans. He was reordained by