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Reproduction by kind permission of the artist, from the painting by Ernest Board, R.O.I., R.W.A., now in Bristol, Eng. Municipal Art Gallery.

Discovery of America—Departure of John and Sebastian Cabot, from Bristol, Eng., May 2, 1497, in ship “Matthew.” They landed in Nova Scotia (Acadia) June 24, 1497.

FIRST THINGS

In Acadia

 

“The Birthplace Of A Continent”

 

(NOVA SCOTIA, NEW BRUNSWICK, PRINCE EDWARD

ISLAND, PARTS OF MAINE, QUEBEC, NEWFOUNDLAND)

 

 

By

JOHN QUINPOOL

 

 

Copyright 1936. All rights Reserved

 

FIRST THINGS PUBLISHERS LIMITED

Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada

Map of North Atlantic Ocean,—Voyages of Cabot and Columbus are shown—An inset in lower right-hand corner is an enlargement of a section of Sebastian Cabot’s world map, 1544, with the legend “Prima Tierra Vista”, the first land seen, near Cape North, Cape Breton, “Acadia.”

n initial effort has been made to sift and assemble under one cover, many important “FIRST THINGS,” largely of National or Continental character, which distinguish northeast sections of United States and Canada, a district known to fame as the “Acadian” area, which is the memorable site of John Cabot’s Discovery of the Mainland of the Western Hemisphere. Instead of following the usual continuous-narrative type of historical composition, the convenient plan of independent short chapters has been adopted in this instance, in order to cater to popular circulation. At the same time, there has been strict regard for accuracy, as far as that is possible, to render the volume a welcome and dependably handy reference for schools, libraries, newspapers, travel and government agencies. An index is included, but a book of the short-story type has the special advantage that it may be opened and enjoyed at practically any point, whenever ten minutes reading time happens to be available.

The first normal reaction to perusal of a novel and authentic “First Things” summary, is appreciation that the world is an everlasting debtor to the vision and service of pioneers. It is a privilege to be the first publication to point out the unusual quota of major “First Things” that has been forged in the American “Acadian” zone, the product undoubtedly of sharply epic clashing conditions, somewhat on the same lines that beautiful gems are a crystalization of intense upheaval and consequently not mined in every hayfield. Central geographical location also has been a factor in “Acadian” historical pre-eminence. Early settlers, prior to the advent of railroads, refused to leave the security of water communication and seaboard situations and for 200 years, rival powers staged a battle royal for North American key supremacy in the “Acadian” Maritime Zone.

Similar to twin faces carved on an old Roman New Year divinity, there are two sides to modern historical research work, but one of them, relating to the future, is habitually overlooked. While it is quite generally recognized that printing and archive collections and public memorials have been instrumental in defeating Father Time’s ancient tendency to consign poor mortals to the limbo of the lower orders and forgotten things, it may not be as fully understood that historical information is constructive as well as preservative, and is capable of being utilized for considerable practical value. One of the driving lessons of history is the dynamic reminder that nothing is final and that a constant stream of fresh enterprise is necessary to take up the slack and keep the wheels of progress harmoniously humming.

With few and poor tools, “Acadian” and “Nova Scotian” pioneers have handed on a remarkable North American “First Things” inheritance and it is up to posterity to enlarge and extend the sphere of human knowledge. It is an incentive to effort, that through the medium of typography and art, the memory and accomplishments of people may be handed on into the indefinite future.

“First Things in Acadia” contains 100 chapters and upwards of 250 primary occurrences. Subjects have been carefully checked, but in a multiplicity of tricky “Firsts,” there are bound to be errors, and corrections and additions are cordially invited. Opinions differ as to scope of items that should be admitted and several matters have been temporarily excluded. In a popular publication, it is not practicable to insert copious footnotes, but supporting material has been filed and will be gladly placed at disposal of interested inquirers. There has been a lot of correspondence and kind assistance, which is gratefully acknowledged on another page. Incidentally, the book is a polite tribute to pioneers at large, who help ever so little to push back the interior limits of the big unknown universe, that surrounds the world’s small clearing. Orderly social readjustment is another extensive field that calls for volunteers.

A compiler of “First Things” in North-East America (Acadia) is favored with a double advantage that the area to be surveyed is compact, and the period to be reviewed is short, dating from the advent of European explorers at the close of the 15th century.

At the Discovery of America by John Cabot in “Acadia,” the western continent was hailed as a “promised land,” ideal for occupation by Europeans, with the added glamor of distance, which, in this case, did not peter out. Emigrants eventually flocked to American homes and overran the whole continent, but with little or no fusion with native strains. The basis of American civilization is wholly imported.

A complete hiatus separates present American and Canadian society from the profound and mysterious past of the New World. Corn, potatoes, tomatoes, cocoa have been welcome additions to the world’s menu, the western tobacco habit has become universal, but American mythological deities and heroes have not been canonized in films or literature.

Down to the hour of passing in 1506, dying Columbus murmured the illusion that at least he had reached the shores of the Grand Khan in purpling Asia, which, luckily is not correct. He had not seen the Pacific Ocean and did not know a New Hemisphere intervened. In large degree the American and “Acadian” prehistoric story of a billion years is a sealed blank book, that may not always remain a stupendous void, but just now is fortunately outside of the scope of this inquiry.

For literary purposes the high-speed drama of American growth, from Stone Age usage to 20th century efficiency, is conveniently crowded into the relatively brief interval of 440 years, which contrasts with unnumbered centuries that Old World communities had to plod through trials and tribulations to acquire even the rudiments of refinement.

The devolution of the alphabet from ancient hieroglyphics and symbolical picture writing down the aisles of time to eventuate in simple phonetic A. B. C.’s, that children can comprehend and that can be made the vehicle of lofty expression, is typical of the long trail the fathers trod, starting no person knows where, but it probably commenced at knot-tying and sticknotching by cave-men ancestors.

In 1497 North America emerged from unfathomable obscurity, to inherit a world of ready-made information—a “First Thing” accounted the second big event of the Christian Era—which was communicated all at once like the mechanics of a movie production, where time and action are reduced to a couple of fascinating hours, by manipulation of a pair of scissors and the elimination of superabundant details.

At “Acadia” in 1497, John Cabot automatically sponsored calendar reckoning on the western strand—the first American calendar “salesman.” Untold generations had come and gone and mound-building successors had slumbered through an infinite round of seasons, without the need of an alarm clock, the prototype of Rip Van Winkle. In the twinkling of an eye a different sunrise occurred, a curtain was stripped away in “Acadia” and the Western Continent stepped into the floodlights, a beneficiary of the labors of forgotten multitudes in Europe and the dim East. Immense dormant resources, waited only the Midas touch of intelligence to unlock and disgorge the greatest and most varied treasure trove the earth has known. This is the Cinderella summary of Canadian and American expansion, with John Cabot the fairy godfather, or Moses, of the scenario.

*          *          *

It is mainly the swift alchemy since 1497, whereby North America has risen from primitive flint and bone gadgets to chrome steel precision, to traffic in the clouds and to distant voice transmission, which supplies the background for accompanying pages.

In marine matters, for instance, “Acadian” First Things arch the centuries from Cabot’s Landfall, 1497, to the winged-mercury east-west solo performance of Beryl Markham, 1936. Cabot sailed “blind” 53 days into the western “darkness” of ancient Atlantic superstition and Markham sped “blind” 25 hours into the swifter sunset, just missing calling it a day. It is a coincidence that these trail-blazers, Cabot and Markham, landed at the same involuntary destination in Nova Scotia (Acadia), though separated by four centuries in time. The contrasting differences in crew, construction, speed and native element of the two craft epitomize the world’s onward sweep.

In viking days, approaching a strange coast, Norsemen tossed overboard wooden seat pillars, rune-carved with images of Odin and Thor and it was left to pagan gods to point out a landing place. The warriors usually waded to the attack, where the house-beams drifted ashore. Kindlier influences possibly functioned in directing Cabot’s ship “Matthew” and Markham’s plane “Messenger” through perils and fog-banks to peaceful anchorage at an American “Land of First Things.”

It may not be appreciated that the original “Acadian” grant in 1604 extended from Washington to Ottawa on the seaboard and “as far inland as they may go,” probably the first intimation of a coast to coast objective. On crested parchment the French official term, “Acadia,” comprehended most of North America, but in practice the style was restricted to Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, with parts of New England, Maine, Quebec, Newfoundland and Labrador alternately added or subtracted, depending on whose ox was gored in the course of boundary disputes. “California” was mentioned in one of Sir William Alexander’s Scottish grants and the Moon seems about the only place that was not included in these omnibus documents. One hundred years slipped away after Cabot’s Discovery before practical colonization was undertaken.

*          *          *

To a Scot and a Stuart, James I of England, goes the credit of being the first to emphasize a British claim to all territory from Florida to Labrador, by right of Cabot’s landfall in “Acadia” and by succeeding exploration. Broad charters were issued by King James for Virginia, New England and Nova Scotia. The rugged motto assigned Nova Scotia—Munit Haec et Altera Vincit—illustrated by a mailed hand and the business end of a bunch of thistles, is significant of the Caledonian Monarch’s determination to defend British overseas title, as the basis of a revamped Imperial policy, conceived in Scottish pride and traditional love of adventure.

James I magnified the union of the two crowns of Scotland and England and immediately ordered an elaborate double encrusted Stuart diadem. On October 20, 1604, contemporary with the founding of French “Acadia” and eighteen months after the death of Elizabeth, last of the Tudors, the son of ill-fated and attractive Mary of Scotland, swept aside all objections of courtiers and off his own bat, proclaimed the united countries should henceforth be known as Great Britain.

Consolidated coins appeared with the epigraph, “J. D. G., Mag. Brit. F. et H. Rex.” It was commanded also there should be a new flag. The heraldic crosses of St. Andrew and St. George were combined. The energetic and pedantic prince signed the flag decree “Jacques,” so the public unofficially labelled the bunting, “Union Jack,” a mixture of French and Jacobite paternity that has been a meteoric success.

*          *          *

At the “Discovery of America” in 1497, two nations, Peru and Mexico were using bronze, building highways and temples and making progress. Maize, tobacco, potatoes, bananas were cultivated in various sections in a primitive way, but generally speaking, American aborigines were 1,000 years behind the times. In effect, events that are listed are high-spots in the transfer of European culture, piece-meal, to a New World, a task in transitional stages succeeding feudalism and preceding democracy, which Kings alone had the money and power to set in motion. The panorama of millions moving across the “Red Sea” of the Atlantic to found Commonwealths, a connection which great shuttling fleets presently maintain, is part of the spectacle that is sought to be sketched in popular fashion.

The First “Cross” on the mainland of the Western Hemisphere, destined to be continuous, was planted by explorer John Cabot at the “Acadian” portals of the Western world.

The apparent location is a point not far from bluff Cape North, adjudged one of the world’s oldest headlands, which has witnessed the rise and fall of changing shore-lines. This is the genuine American “Hill of the Cross” where the translation of Christianity to the west was definitely commenced. Hamlet suggests that “a divinity shapes our ends” and it is curious that the first American Cross was the product of a “wandering” voyage of nearly two months, one of the longest unbroken sea-voyages of record and without a good compass, yet Cabot’s handful of British seamen were rewarded with a bloodless domain larger in area than accumulated Viking conquests scored in Norse battle-axe progress across Europe, from an Aryan cradle in Asia.

Cabot’s company were actually guided to one of few places in 10,000 miles Atlantic frontage of the two Americas, where old Archaen rocks of Northern Cape Breton, members of the most ancient geological system, jut out into the immemorial ocean, so America’s first “Cross” was dramatically placed at one of the oldest neighborhoods of time, where terrain is more venerable than geography of Egypt or the Holy Land.

The path-finding bark which Captain Cabot, afterward styled the “Great Admiral” in London, steered to an “Acadian” harbor, had a biblical name and the day the initial Cross was installed was June 24, feast of John the Baptist.

*          *          *

With limited available nautical equipment of the 15th century, there was one chance in a thousand of contacting any particular point, which necessitated crossing an uncharted ocean. An example is an expedition of 1492, which ended at a coral isle, one of 3,000 rocks and cays of the Bahamas, 350 miles from the American mainland, that was never reached. The island of San Salvador, or Watlings, the supposed landing place, is one of hundreds—in the Bahamas archipelago, and cannot be positively identified, they all look so much alike.

“So near and yet so far,” the West Indies landfall “out-to-sea” in 1492 has had the effect of transferring the actual finding of the American Continent from the Tropics to temperate “Acadia” and to British seamen. Information of Cabot’s disembarkation at a new continent in Cape Breton electrified the Courts of Europe.

In this instance, the intricate Bahamas, stretching leagues to seaward, play a part in history surpassing classic labyrinths of Greece and Rome. The West Indies completely engrossed the activities of Spanish navigators from 1492 to 1498 and it was not until the latter year that Columbus contacted the South American Main. Twenty years later, the ageing courtier Ponce de Leon, combed the Bahamas network six months, searching for the “Font of Rejuvenation.”

It is a fad for Caribbean excursionists today to organize playful “Ponce de Leon Clubs.” Before separating, members are presented a perpetual health certificate as a souvenir of pleasant holidays and friendships.

Jovial Henry VIII is said to have prompted a somewhat similar token at Hampton Court palace. A famous maze of shrubbery, which beats cross-word puzzles to find the way out, is attributed to bluff Hal’s wish to commemorate the Bahamas intervention that gave England and the Tudor Dynasty the credit of Discovering America, through the medium of John Cabot’s landfall in “Acadia.”

Cardinal Wolsley built and owned Hampton Court residence, designed on lines of Tudor splendor, but found it expedient to present the property, lock, stock and barrel to the covetous King, which however did not prevent Shakespeare writing the prelate’s last, long farewell to greatness, that “hangs upon the favor of princes.”

*          *          *

The Cape Breton or “Acadian” Cross of 1497—a red letter year in American church annals—was probably made out of a native evergreen—a soughing pine, a stately spruce or fir or a sad hemlock—but in view of subsequent prolific ecclesiastical increase from the land of the midnight sun to the flaming cross of the southern heavens, the proverb of the oak and acorn perhaps better represents extraordinary religious development that governs the New World.

A world religious census records 175 million Christians and 30 million “Miscellaneous” in North and South America in 4½ centuries. Asia and Africa combined are credited with 42 million Christians in One Billion souls in 1900 years. The discrepancy is enormous.

While the Sermon on the Mount is rejected or making slow inroads in Old Lands, the Gospel is paramount in the younger west from Pole to Pole and from Dawn to Dusk, on the “road to Mandalay,” and with surplus funds available for foreign missions. Oriental students are puzzled to understand why militant Buddhists, having swamped Christian Missions in the East in 13th and 14th centuries, should then allow the rich American field to slip through their fingers. Especially as Buddhism was already introduced on the Pacific coast of America and American Indians are palpably Asiatic extraction, while the hazards of North Pacific crossing are negligible compared to Atlantic billows.

Reservation of the Western Hemisphere for Christianity looks like a law of compensation for Moslem interference in Europe and the Near East. The first move, as noted, in the pre-emption of the American mainland for European and Christian ethics was conducted by intrepid John Cabot at “Acadia” in 1497. Cabot’s action was official, not casual.

It was clearly recognized in Europe, that Christianity and Western Civilization required to be closely associated and the same philosophy may be essential in 1936. A condition precedent of Cabot’s Commission, inserted by the shrewd money-loving Henry VII, stipulated that new lands be given religious teaching, hand-in-hand with business administration. It was the King’s wish the “Flag” and the “Cross” should be united, which James, later incorporated in the Union Jack. There had been Bishops in China and Greenland, possibly in Vinland (Acadia), 300 to 400 years before Cabot’s discovery, but they had not been supported and converts lapsed to paganism.

“Acadia,” having been the site of the first permanent Cross on the Western Mainland, this district possesses claims to regard as the “Palestine of the New World,” a potential mecca.

*          *          *

A score of thought-provoking “First Things” are associated with John Cabot’s epic voyages. It was at Acadia, English explorers first uttered the language of Shakespeare in America. English feet, Cabot and crew, first trod the American mainland, barring natives and traditional voyagers. An English keel, Cabot’s ship “Matthew,” first plowed the waters of the American Main, also excepting unrecorded ventures. Cabot’s crew were pioneers in recorded fishing operations on the Grand Banks; they put down baskets weighted with stones and brought them up miraculously full of fish. Schools of cod were reported so thick at times, the progress of the vessel was interfered with, a fact which drew universal attention to “Baccalaos”, Land of the Cod.

A quartered English flag of lions and lilies and a winged-lion pennant of St. Mark were unfurled by Cabot on an Acadian hillside, to be the first European colors to flaunt the breeze and greet the morning sun on the New World continent.

“Acadia” was the first part of the American mainland to welcome Europeans. The first European King to exercise jurisdiction on the sunset continent was a Welshman, Henry Tudor, miser and diplomat, who reconciled Red and White Rose factions in England and ended a Civil War. Henry VII celebrated this adjustment with an overseas foothold in “Acadia,” marking John Bull’s matriculation from insular to world career, after ignominious expulsion from France by the Maid of Orleans and total collapse of 300 years dream of Continental Power had left England shut up within the narrow seas. In addition to being the beginning of the greatest Empire in History, Cabot’s Landfall in “Acadia” in 1497 has been the genesis and parent of Brother Jonathan’s progressive republic.

Classic French of Bossuet’s oratory was first pronounced in America in the umbrageous shelter of “Acadian” harbors and it remains the mother tongue of more people in the transatlantic field than in any quarter outside of France. Gallic speech is growing in America.

Folds of the Royal Standard, raised on a staff in “Acadia” by John Cabot, a personal gift of the King, effected a timely shift in western history from the narrow tropics into spacious temperate latitudes further north. The continent that Columbus missed, mainly through mutinous crews, was uncovered by Cabot just beyond sundown. In a second voyage Cabot coasted and mapped 1,800 miles, a prodigious feat of navigation and executive capacity, performed without a base and daily facing hostile tribesmen while seeking nightly shelter, wood and water in the course of months of work in strange and primitive places. As yet there were no firearms superior to Indian archery.

The World’s “Great Admiral” Cabot was not a nameless adventurer, but possibly the premier explorer of all time. Cabot was the first Royal Commissioner, armed with plenary authority, ever to set foot on the American Continent, empowered to proclaim sovereignty and take possession in the right of a King. In the Public Archives at Halifax, Nova Scotia, is a duplicate of the British Standard that was raised on shore in Cape Breton in 1497, and it was the First National Banner unfurled on the mainland of the Western Hemisphere. The fleur de lys is conspicuous of the former claim of English monarchs to be Kings of France. The Halifax flag was donated by ladies of Bristol, England, to the Canadian Club of Halifax, August 14, 1912, in connection with dedication by H. R. H. the Duke of Connaught of a Parliamentary Memorial Tower, at Northwest Arm, Halifax. At the entrance of the Tower are bronze lions, fac similes of Landseer Lions in Trafalgar Square, London, the gift of the Royal Colonial Institute. Inside the unique Empire Tower at Halifax, are mural tablets representing all principal parts of the British Empire, in some cases composed of native stone of the several countries. The first real representative legislature of the British Empire, outside of the United Kingdom, was at Halifax in “Acadia,” which the Northwest Arm Tower is broadly intended to connote.

*          *          *

Portuguese exploration and settlement in Newfoundland and Nova Scotia (Acadia) 1500-1521, trailed Cabot and was made in conjunction with Ferdinand of Spain. The obvious aim was to erase effects of Cabot’s prior discovery. Portuguese settlements in “Acadia” were probably the earliest genuine colonization projects and in that respect they rival or antedate Mexico and Brazil, where mining received most attention, corresponding to fish and fur activity further north. Through Cabot the British “Broad Arrow,” is the oldest Government property mark in America and it greatly interfered with the plan of Pan-American hegemony which Spanish and Portuguese rulers had arranged to assert and establish in all transatlantic countries.

“Acadian” voyages of blonde Norse sea-rovers and of possible Irish predecessors, 1000 A. D., are beginning to receive more critical examination. “Mikla Garth,” Great Ireland, near Vinland (Acadia) is no longer dismissed as a figment of the imagination. Scholars are probing documents and traditions in “Thule” in a renewed quest for northern information too long neglected.

A philologist contends the name “America” is an old Scandinavian expression, “Am Erika,” the Sea of Erik, signifying part of the western ocean that Greenland colonists navigated while trading back and forth to Vinland, principally for timber, a business still carried on with Nova Scotia, owing to forest scarcity in circumpolar areas. Norse linguists pronounce “Am Erika” a mere coincidence, though strikingly parallel. It is objected that Waldsemuller in 1507 at first only applied the name America to South America, which Vespucci had visited after Columbus, but Spanish authorities, in keeping with prevalent colonial jealousies, had kept secret the fact that Columbus had found a southern continental extension in 1498, one year after Cabot.

While casting about for names to designate western discoveries, cartographers at engraving centres on the border of France, Germany, and Switzerland were undoubtedly familiar with Vinland narrations then current at Hamburg. The style “America” may easily trace to both sources, that is, to the Norse—Acadian, and to the German—Italian, without any conflict. This is possibly what occurred and eventually, draughtsmen in 1557, extended the appellation to include the north continent, which was little if any earlier than the name “Acadia” had appeared on Italian maps, growing out of Verrazano’s report. If the authenticity of “Am Erika” as a Norse phrase of 1200 A.D. is undisputed, it evidently existed in that shape long before Vespucci was born in 1451, at Florence. German spelling is still “Amerika.”

*          *          *

“Acadian First Things” are not all antiques. The list has kept pace with science and industry. All principal churches in Canada—Episcopalian, Roman Catholic, Baptist, Methodist, Presbyterian, Lutheran—commenced in the “Acadian” field. First steel and chocolate manufacture in Canada, first journalism, book printing, Atlantic cable, wireless, ocean steam navigation began in “Acadian” initiative.

First aviation and Supreme Court in the British Empire, commercial telephones, organized temperance, first distillery in Canada, rail operation, Bible Society, Sunday School, Responsible Government, Order of Daughters of the Empire, libraries, shipbuilding, orcharding, Masonry, Oddfellows, Indian baptism, ice-skating, hockey, school inspection of teeth, iron bridge-building are just a few of the primary matters touched on.

The Associated Press of the United States was organized by New York papers to forward European news, received by steamship at Halifax, to New York and Boston by dashing pony express and pigeon post.

The founding of Cunard Steamship service by a Nova Scotian, precipitated a pretty battle between graceful sailing “Clippers” and side-wheeler “Steam Kettles.” The “Kettles” won and the culmination is palatial “Queen Mary,” with a sister ship, somewhat larger, being planned.

The first Canadian legislature is in Nova Scotia. The Dominion of Canada was launched at a conference in “Acadia” at Prince Edward Island. The first coal discovery in America was in New Brunswick. Andrew Bonar Law, native of New Brunswick, was the first Prime Minister of Great Britain to be born outside of the British Isles, which broke a cast iron tradition against any but a native son filling that post of power.

The first sermons in America by the Bishop of Connecticut, the first Bishop of the United States, were preached in “Acadia.” Franklin D. Roosevelt is the first President of the United States to own a summer home in Canada, which is at Campobello in “Acadia”, although there are indications that George Washington included Nova Scotia in numerous real estate investments.

Port Royal (Annapolis Royal) Nova Scotia, first mainland capital in North America and first capital of “Acadia” changed hands, back and forth, sixteen times in incessant warfare. Captured, pillaged, burned, retaken, surrendered and rebuilt! Following final British occupation in 1710, the wartorn capital was subjected to six more assaults by French and Indian commands, making a grand total of 22 in all, reminiscent of feudal towns of the Middle Ages. The later attacks were 1711, 1724, 1744 (July), 1744 (September), 1745, 1746. In 1781, pretty Annapolis Royal was sacked by American privateers, which Washington disapproved, completing an all-time American battling record of 177 years. Annapolis Royal is now a favorite tourist resort. At Fort Anne Museum there is a valuable collection of souvenirs and the town has many interesting memorials of colonial times.

*          *          *

At the extreme eastern part of “Acadia” are the ruins of Louisburg, the first scientifically walled city in America. In 1895 the General Society of Colonial Wars, New York, erected an obelisk at Louisburg, commemorative of the 150th anniversary of the capture of the stronghold in 1745 by New England militia, when 1,200 assailants lost their lives, mainly through epidemic. This was the initial considerable mortality of American forces outside of national borders. In 1936, the same organization applied to the Canadian Government for permission to install an imposing granite Cross in the neglected French and American military cemetery at Louisburg, which will be close to the historic site of the First Cross (Cabot) that graced the mainland of the Western Hemisphere in modern times. There is a possibility that King Edward VIII, while on tour in 1937, the President of the United States, the Governor General of Canada, a French Government representative and Canadian public men will attend the “Cross” unveiling at Louisburg. This may also synchronize with dedication of an extensive Canadian National Park about to be established in Northern Cape Breton. The park has not yet been named, but will be the first large national reservation, located in the primary “Acadian-American” zone.

The supplementary cover title, “The Birthplace of a Continent” refers to measureless geological primacy of the “Acadian-Laurentian” section of North America, which invests the “New World” with a mantle of antiquity, more remote than Bible lands or than snow-crowned summits of geography. An interesting outcome of modern investigation, is the discovery that northeast sections of the American continent are the probable central core or zone, around which the two Americas have gradually evolved into existing outlines.

400 years ago the Western Hemisphere was christened the “New World,” having been the last to come under the attention of geographers, and it added one third to known arable acreage, which has been a help in the light of increasing world population. Actually North America is a surprisingly Old World in the geological time-clock.

The Acadian-Laurentian district of northeast America possibly embraces some of the oldest dry land of the globe, when, in a certain morning long ago, a decree was issued:—“Let the waters under the heavens be gathered into one place and let the dry land appear, and it was so.” There is food for thought in the casual speculation that venerable Cape Breton and Laurentian hills may be an unchanged bench-mark, never again submerged, of the “beginning of the world.”

The “Canadian Shield,” renowned for gold, silver, copper and nickel, which extends from Labrador to Minnesota, with an upfold in Newfoundland and Cape Breton and a wedge-shape spur in Maine and Vermont, is Archaen age, sufficient to make even Chronos dizzy.

Before Father Adam, when grain and cotton fields, pampas, ranches, rivers, islands, mountains and volcanoes of the two Americas were still under water, Acadian-Laurentian “islands” were possibly basking in violet rays, the only “summer resort” in the West, which had emerged from the universal ocean.

No approximate epoch can be assigned the unfathomable time, when lowly moss and molluscs gravitated from surrounding seas to institute life on land on the newly-risen, naked, wet, Laurentian and “Acadian” rocks, then devoid of other living things. It is evident the first “garden” of America was not a paradise.

A friend at Stanford University comments that:—“The Rocky Mountains, as features of the landscape, are very young, as are indeed all other high mountains. As a complex system of rock folds under ground, they are not nearly as old as your mountains in Eastern Canada.”

Gold-bearing deposits in the Atlantic coast series of Nova Scotia, including Moose River mines, have recently been placed in the primary Pre-Cambrian or Archaen classification, a general term descriptive of some of the world’s oldest known formations, usually rich in metals.

A theory of technicians is that Nova Scotia auriferous measures, now covered, formerly also rose to lofty dome-folded elevations, containing treasures of yellow ore exceeding flights of imagination. In a monograph, G. A. Young, Geological Survey of Canada, estimates that:—“During the Paleozoic, these quartzites were folded and crumpled into structures so complex, that very high mountains (Alpine) must have resulted.” Afterward the Acadian area was subjected to various glacial movements, when ice sheets, responding to excess weight and pressure, are accused of steam-shoveling into safe-keeping in the Atlantic Ocean, a range of hills that contained more gold than is hoarded in strong boxes of the Great Powers.

There is some compensation in the reflection that the golden “Acadian” hills, which glaciers unceremoniously pushed overboard, helped form inexhaustible off-shore fishing banks, that have supplied world markets with billions of pounds of vitamin sea food—cod, haddock, swordfish, tuna, mackerel, lobsters, halibut, soles, sardines and scallops. In 400 years since Cabot’s discovery, “Acadian” fisheries have yielded billions in piscatorial wealth, harvested by international fleets.

The speediest fishing craft in North Atlantic fishing is the champion Nova Scotia schooner “Bluenose,” which visited Chicago “Century of Progress” Exhibition, Toronto National Fair, Montreal, Regatta at Cowes, Isle of Wight and yachting functions at New York and Boston.

A recent explanation which has been offered for isolation that wrapped the Western Hemisphere in oblivion for thousands of years is an ingenious theory of drifting continents propounded by a German scientist, the idea being that in rotation of the earth, at some remote period, America gaily broke away from Europe—left home so to speak—and has been gradually going west on her own ever since. The possibility is added that the Westward Ho! movement, can be detected and measured, if a system of observation stations were installed in Greenland.

A similar conjecture was made years ago, that the Moon is a tangential fragment from the Pacific coast of North America.

Former American separation is different from the case of Australia, as all continents taper south to nothing, and two-thirds of the dry land of the globe are in the northern hemisphere. Furthermore, there is little or no indication that southern continents ever were linked, whereas there is much information, such as the western migration of old-world mammals, particularly elephants, that land contacts must have long prevailed between North America and other continents, and were interrupted by earthquakes or subsidence.

Omitting the German drift thesis, down to date, most American physiographers appear to have been content to accept the proposition, that a single ancient highway at Behring Straits was the only world communication with North America, and that all prehistoric traffic was confined to the narrow and circuitous polar detour at Alaska, a condition which continued, it is contended, to a date variously estimated at 10,000 to 30,000 years ago, when Behring Isthmus broke down and Old Man America was divorced from dark-eyed Asia. America became an Ishmaelite.

Modern investigations necessitate a revision of this theory as a much fuller American retrospect has been built up. A definite conclusion has been reached in competent circles, that the conception of a single Behring route to and from America is an error and does not meet the requirements of better data that has been assembled. Scientists now incline to the view there must have been a second direct Atlantic land connection between Europe and America and this has been stated in technical literature.

Regarding a former Atlantic land connection between Europe and America, the learned head of McGill University Department of Geology, makes a general comment:—“It is probable that a land bridge connected Europe and America, perhaps with minor breaks, right up to some time in the Tertiary. . . . It is thought that this land mass reached as far south as the British Isles on the East and included Nova Scotia on the Western side.”

Lost Continent long united the British Isles and Canada—This is a new view of scientists and Nova Scotia or “Acadia” may have been the shore-end of the missing “bridge”, over which prehistoric pachyderms reached America, as skeletons have been found in the “Acadian” area. One Cape Breton elephant, it is estimated, stood 12 feet high, second only to “Imperial Mammoth,” restored, 13½ feet, discovered in Nebraska, largest found anywhere, shown in the illustration. (Photo by courtesy American Museum of Natural History, New York).

A casual statement from the Economic Division of Geological Survey, Ottawa, contains the remark:—“Your idea that mastodons arrived from the Old World by way of Greenland appears to me not impossible. . . . It should, in fact, be considered having possibly been the route of migration of large mammals during some part of the late Tertiary time.”

The talented director of Royal Ontario Museum kindly writes: “It is generally accepted by all geologists that there was a continuous land bridge from North America into Europe via Iceland and the Faroe Islands. . . . In the West (mastodons) they reached Great Britain from Africa, from which place by means of an early Miocene land bridge via Shetland Islands, Iceland and Greenland, they reached America.”

There is evidence the vanished North Atlantic continent persisted into the era of “Recent Life” which may or may not include Man. So far anthropology offers no indication that the final collapse occurred in human times, though plant and animal life were well established, but while the prospect that the lost continent was inhabited is remote, it is not impossible.

One of the exhibits in the case is a non-volcanic submarine plateau between Canada and the British Isles, which carries a network of insulated cables across the “submerged tumuli of a drowned world.” 150 million electric words dealing with social, financial and official subjects are annually transmitted. The count would be greater if decoded. Most Atlantic cable traffic lands in “Acadia,” significant of the thought that older parts of Nova Scotia are sections of the bridge-head or shore-end of a lost continent, a faint conception of which is being slowly reconstructed from scientific data.

Cross-sections of the bed of the Atlantic Ocean have discounted the old “Atlantis” fable, that a southerly land between the West Indies and the Azores sank with cities and fields. It has also been asserted that South America and Africa were connected at one time, but it is now more generally believed these legends are largely an echo of the disappearance of a North Atlantic continent, possibly equal to Australia in extent, over which prehistoric elephants wandered to American soil.

Dawson’s “Acadian Geology” notes that bones of a prehistoric elephant of record size were disinterred in Cape Breton (Acadia) more than 100 years ago. Some are in the Provincial Museum at Halifax. It is calculated this monarch was 25 feet in length, 12 feet high at the shoulder and had bowed tusks 9 feet long. The Cape Breton dimensions are second to the “Imperial Mammoth,” the world’s greatest, 13½ feet at the shoulder and 25 feet in length, found in Nebraska in 1858. Elephant remains have been unearthed in every country, except Australia. The pachyderms are interesting because of their wander-lust and intelligence. Progenitors have been traced from Egypt. They circled the earth and frequently lived 100 to 130 years and were able to adapt themselves in hide and teeth to any change of climate or food. Great herds apparently roamed the Americas and it is a deep mystery why they ultimately became extinct, some students say only 1,000 years ago.

A second find of teeth of an elephant was made in Cape Breton at Baddeck. Most intriguing is a skeleton turned up July 4, 1936—Independence Day—at Hillsboro, New Brunswick, the third in the Acadian area. The bones of this native American are in 150 pieces, but perhaps 80 per cent complete and are being carefully restored at New Brunswick Museum, Saint John. This animal is the mastodon type, 9 feet 6 inches tall, somewhat less than modern elephants, and more thick-set. In some countries elephant measurements are to the top of the head and include the trunk. The “Imperial” and “Cape Breton” mammoth specifications, as quoted, exclude the head and trunk, showing the truly magnificent creatures that were developed on the western continent. With head and trunk added to height and length, the Cape Breton giant would be a Great Mogul.

The Hillsboro mastodon discovery was in four feet of blue clay and drift and close to the site of the Battle of Peticodiac, 1755, when an English and New England force attempted to extend the “Expulsion” of Acadians into New Brunswick (present name) and were repulsed with heavy loss. A common grave of the victims was marked by a mound for many years, which has disappeared and the location is now commemorated by a public monument.

At New London, Prince Edward Island, the petrified jaw of a man-eating alligator was exhumed in sandstone, an old beach. Coal measures of Nova Scotia furnish some of the oldest fossils of the globe, being the impressions of primitive creatures that were entombed on the flanks of hoary hills of a pioneer continent.

Legend identifies bold Basques with the missing Atlantic dominion. These hardy fishermen from Northern Spain reputedly crossed the Atlantic to “Acadian” fisheries since earliest times. The Basque nation are of unknown descent and their Iberian dialect unlike any in Europe, with a mixture of American Indian and Mongolian forms. The letter “r,” as in American languages, is not used. Before the Christian Era, a fable relates, Basque Fathers entered into an alliance with Indian tribes in North East America and founded a powerful mixed nation, with important communities and fleets of galleys. Practically the whole people, other than a comparative few that escaped to Spain, are said to have perished, with Queen Irura, of exotic beauty, in an extensive earthquake. The legend runs that native sages foretold the calamity as the doom of fate to punish the “cross” of red and white. “Barzil,” off the “Acadian” coast, a “mythical” large island-remnant of a former lost continent is pictured as the scene of the western Basque Empire annihilation.

The first notable feat in America, in winter marching of troops, was General Benedict Arnold’s American force conducted from Kennebec, Maine, to the fruitless siege of Quebec in the latter part of 1775. 300 men perished through exposure and hardship.

In more severe weather and covering a greater distance, starting February 11, 1813, the 104th regiment, 1,000 strong, raised in New Brunswick, under Major Drummond, travelled from Saint John to Quebec in the remarkable time of sixteen days, without the loss of a man.

In December, 1832, the 43rd British light infantry marched from Fredericton to Quebec, over improved roads and bridges. The Duke of Wellington pronounced it an exceptional military performance, but it actually was less arduous than the 1813 expedition.

In the winter of 1861-62, in connection with the Trent affair, an army of 5,000 picked British troops, with transport and artillery, moved from Saint John to Quebec by road and frozen river. Inhabitants along the way provided sleds. No accidents or delays occurred, but the incident probably hastened construction of an Intercolonial Railway joining the “Acadian” provinces to Canadian provinces and consolidating a Canadian Confederacy.

It is only within living memory, after a lapse of nearly 400 years and largely as a result of documents brought to light in foreign archives, that the mills of the gods have granted probate and approval to John Cabot’s title to fame as the first European explorer, excluding legendary and vanished voyagers, to see and set foot on the mainland of the Western hemisphere.

Measured by extent and magnificence of North American development, the indirect results of Cabot’s, “Discovery of America” easily surpass ancient empires. The Cabot exploit is typical of important events which have transpired in Acadia.

It is related that, “after much wandering fifty-two days,” on June 24, 1497, “at the hour of five, at daybreak,” (hora a sub diliculo), while approaching from sea the hitherto unknown or forgotten Nova Scotia extension of the continent, Captain John Cabot, skilful pilot, scanning the western horizon from the deck of the tossing “Matthew,” a small vessel of 80 tons, glimpsed rising from the ocean brim, the long-visioned outlines of a “New World,” dimly foretold by sages, repeatedly mentioned in Nordic sagas, but overlooked during centuries of preoccupation principally in connection with the Crusades.

June 24, 1497, became the first day in an American calendar, replacing picture writing on stones and trees. Cabot effected a landing at a convenient harbor in Cape Breton “Acadia” and took formal possession of “America” on behalf of the King and Crown of England. A contradiction is presented that the “Acadian” or Nova Scotia section of Eastern Canadian rocks, which were grim with age before the uplift of the Rocky Mountains or Himalayas, should be the first part of the American continent to be contacted and one of the last portions of the world to be chronicled on charts and globes.

That Cabot had discovered an additional continent, which intercepted anticipated water communication with Asia was not realized until 1513, when Balboa beheld the shimmering Pacific Ocean. The new land had been catalogued as part of Asia. Cabot’s feat of finding an extra division of the earth is an occasion of so much greater meaning and grandeur, that nothing comparable to this item in “Acadian” annals can ever again illumine world history.

All Cabot’s personal papers and records have been lost or perhaps suppressed. In the absence of details of an event as important as the “Discovery of America” it is allowable to speculate on some of the circumstances. It was the dawn of present American interests. On a bright June morning in 1497, the same as today, sunrays scattered the fog-cap on Cape Breton hills and exposed to view gloomy wooded recesses of rugged Cape North, Nova Scotia, rising precipitously 1,200 feet from the ocean’s azure depths. A blue sky spanned the firmament. As the mist rose an English cry of “Land! Land!” rang from the masthead lookout. In fancy John Cabot is pictured on the fore-deck, left hand shading steady eyes, and right arm extended pointing to a shore line verging into view. “Prima Tierra Vista,” the first land seen, is engraved on earliest American maps, referring to Cape North, as the Historic Landfall of the Western Continent. Cabot probably coined the phrase, a three-word account of the Discovery of America, classing with “Veni, vidi, vici” and other gems of laconic brevity.

Fifty-two days’ sailing and twenty years’ pursuit of a purpose formed by Cabot at Mecca, holy city of Islam, were crowned with success in “Acadia.” The day was the Feast of John the Baptist. A British Royal Standard, the present of Henry VII, was the first flag unfurled on the western continent. The fleur de lys quarterings are noticeable, referring to the claim of the Kings of England to be Kings of France, which was continued for some years. Between two flags on shore the crew of the “Matthew” erected a tall “Cross.” The carpenters’ tools and nails, which were used, inaugurated the Iron Age on the mainland of the West. Cabot’s limited company consisted of his son, Sebastian, and eighteen mariners. Formal ceremonies of possession were carried out and, in keeping with the spirit of the times and in compliance with the King’s command, a “Cross” was planted on a hillside, expressive of the thanksgiving of sailors and a simple act of consecration of the country to the enduring principles, a “Cross” symbolizes.

Discovery of America—Artist’s sketch of an immortal picture, the Landing of John Cabot, in Cape Breton, 1497. The Royal Standard of England, first flag on the mainland of a New World, is at the left. Bareheaded, the Commander salutes the Cross. Sebastian Cabot is about to do the same. No firearms are in sight. The arquebus was introduced in 1520, matchlock in 1567, flintlock and musket 1630.

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15th century discovery of the American continent possibly averted wholesale Mongolian settlement on the Pacific coast. In a way, the “Discovery of America” is virtually the greatest of the Crusades and presents Cabot in “Acadia” in the unconscious dual role of explorer and successor of Coeur de Lion. For thousands of years barbarous tribes of Eastern Asia knew “America.” Subjects of the Grand Khan regularly crossed the North Pacific to “Fu Sang,” the Chinese name of a beautiful American flower, that was applied to the overseas country. A break then seems to have taken place in the American contact.

Charles G. Leland, (Hans Breitman) in “Fu Sang, The Discovery of America by Buddhist missionaries in the 5th century A. D.,” quotes a French sinologist, Deguiques, that an account of “Fu Sang” is inscribed in annals of the Celestial Empire and is regarded as an important state document. The report was made by Hoel Shin, a Chinese missionary, who returned after a long absence. The direction and distance travelled suggested “America” and ended probably at Mexico. It was a more or less familiar route at a time when hundreds of Buddhist monks were busy with propaganda in various Asiatic districts. The Fu Sang, “America,” narrative is reported transcribed into popular writings and woven into Oriental poetry and romance. Failure to follow up the trans-Pacific project energetically, is attributed to mass conversions that took place in Japan and the adoption of a closed door policy, intended to keep out foreigners and restrain nationals from emigrating.

Mancu Cabak, a Persian Buddhist, is described as another American visitor and as the reputed first Inca Emperor “child of the sun-god,” paralleling the Japanese Emperor’s descent from the Sun Goddess. Some philologists detect echoes of the “Man” syllable in Canadian names “Manitoba” and “Manitoulin.” Cabak and “Kebec” are also linked and the “codiac” termination in Eastern Canada is compared with “Kodiak Island” Alaska, while “Man-Cu” is said to be a Manchurian Deity and a variant of old Baal of Babylon. The Indian title “Manitou” alludes to the “Great Spirit,” but Seattle and Vancouver authorities do not see any significance in the occurrence of the prefix “Man” on both sides of the Pacific. A general migration of Asiatics to America is assigned to periods varying from 2,000 to 15,000 years ago, both before and after Buddha and Confucius. It is conspicuous that the greatest of the dead cities of Central America, discovered 25 years ago, is probably Manchu Picchu, estimated to be at least 2,000 years old, containing extensive ruins of homes, temples and gardens and the evident former centre of a large and progressive population.

A flight of parrots or tropic birds helped deprive Columbus of the distinction of discovering the mainland and existence of a “New World” in the west and it is not often that the migratory instincts of feathered friends have had more extensive consequences. Toscanelli’s chart, the Admiral’s guide, placed Quisnay (City of Heaven), southern capital of Zipango, land of gold and spices, near the 30th parallel, and a due west direction on this line was adhered to for thirty days, following final departure. Columbus’ little fleet cleared from Teneriffe, September 6, 1492.

On October 6, at the advice of Martin Pinzon, captain of the “Pinta” and second in command, an experienced pilot and shipowner who had assisted the financing, Columbus changed the course to southwest. Pinzon saw a flock flying south and birds have been guides to mariners from the “Ark” onwards. Six days later, on October 12, land was discovered in the Bahama Islands, 300 to 400 miles from the mainland of America. The voyage to the continent was not completed.

The oblique alteration of the helm opens the way for controversy. One conjecture is that if Columbus had resisted the counsel of Pinzon, a continuation of the original route and the influence of the Gulf Stream, would have carried the explorers to Cape Hatteras and United States and Canada would now have a Spanish population.

“Not much,” comments one critic, “England would have taken the continent in any case.” Several writers surmise, that as Columbus’ crew were restive, if the voyage had been prolonged to reach the mainland the Admiral would have been forced to turn back, which is not majority sentiment, as both Columbus and Pinzon are believed to have been determined to find land, though the crew may have taken control at the end of the stipulated three days and would have found there were two logs being kept to conceal the true distance from Europe. Columbus had misjudged the circumference of the earth and predicted the shores of “Asia” would be much earlier encountered.

It was not until the third voyage, Wednesday, August 1, 1498, thirteen months after Cabot had landed in Nova Scotia on Saturday, June 24, 1497, that Columbus at Trinidad,—“beheld for the first time, in the mainland of South America, the continent he had sought so long”—(Britannica). During the last voyage, 1502-04, the Admiral, discredited and forbidden to touch at Hispaniola, West Indies headquarters, was ashore at Honduras and Panama, which was Columbus’ first continental landing. Columbus never saw the mainland of North America and at death at Valladolid, old capital of Spain, 1506, was still of the opinion the western continent was the coast of Asia.

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Favored by trade winds in sunny climes Columbus’ ships in 1492 averaged 4.4 knots per hour progress for 36 days from Teneriffe to San Salvador Island. The particular island is a matter of dispute. In the boisterous North Atlantic, Cabot advanced at the slow rate of approximately 2 knots per hour during 52 days from Bristol to Nova Scotia, (Acadia), probably meeting adverse weather, with “much wandering,” but not a word survives. The log of the “Matthew” has been lost. The time, from land to land was nearly 50 per cent greater than Columbus’.

Cabot was familiar with cosmography and on return to London from America in 1497, prepared a map and globe, which with report, have disappeared. Almost all known details of the Cabot voyages are second-hand materials, which have been unearthed in archives of Spain and Italy in correspondence that Ambassadors at the Court of St. James sent respective sovereigns. British archives on Cabot are painfully deficient, outside of the Royal commissions that have been preserved and information relative to granting Cabot a bonus of £10 and payment of a pension of £20 ($1,000 today) to “him that found the new Isle.”

Yet in the language of Hakluyt: “The title which England has to that part of America, which is from Florida to 67 degrees northward is or was derived from the letters patent granted to John Cabot and his three sons,” in 1496. Letters patent for the second voyage, signed by Henry VII, February 3, 1498, confirm the success of the previous year. The indenture refers to: “The land and isles found (were discovered) by the saide John Kabotto, Venecaine.” Sebastian Cabot is not named in the second indenture.

FORMER ROYAL STANDARD OF ENGLAND—The First Flag of record on the Mainland of the Western Hemisphere, was unfurled by Captain John Cabot in “Acadia” (Cape Breton) June 24, 1497. According to ladies of Bristol, Eng., the flag was a personal present of Henry VII., to the explorer. This beautiful banner, now for perhaps the first time specially printed in the West, is probably the victorious crest that waved at or after Crecy, when the Black Prince adapted the triple-feather motto, “Ich Dien.”

Shakespeare has no notice of America or of Cabot’s transcendant performance, other than a casual allusion to the Indies in “The Tempest,” while Henry VII, parsimonious and richest of princes and master diplomat, sometimes styled the “Solomon of the West” is also passed over by Elizabethan dramatists. One unruly author traces the names “Columbus” and “Cabot” to a common Sanskrit stem, “Kapota,” meaning a dove, homing pigeon, ship messenger or explorer, brought from the Far East by Marco Polo. Both American explorers were natives of Genoa and sailed under different flags, other than Italian.

The theoretical objective of Cabot’s masterful voyage was “Cambuluo,” (Peking), northern capital of the Grand Khan, supposedly situated on the 50th parallel, the same as Bristol (or Vancouver and Winnipeg), which was an error, but in addition no allowance could be made for unknown currents.

In 1476, after 15 years prescribed residence, Cabot was granted “full” citizenship in prosperous Venice, which permitted foreign trading. At Mecca, a caravan centre, Cabot’s active interest was aroused in the subject of the sphericity of the earth and the possibility of sailing west to Asia as a means of eliminating middle-men and saving time in transporting Eastern products to European capitals. When the Doge of Venice, Andrea Vendramin, addressed John Cabot with the dignified formula of the senate “te nostrum creatus”—we create thee one of us—it was the first step on the road to Mecca and to the heights of Olympus in “Acadia” in the far west.

Palazzo Ducale-Doge’s Palace, Venice—The actual building where John Cabot was created a full citizen of the Republic in 1476, which was the first step on the way to Discovery of America in 1497 at “Acadia” or Nova Scotia.

Ayala, junior Spanish minister at London, represents Cabot having ineffectually sought assistance in Spain and Portugal. Italian Republics were centres of distribution for caravan trade from the East and were unwilling to countenance any diversion likely to interfere with Mediterranean connections. Many Genoese were resident in London and held high positions. One was King’s physician. With other Italians, they met daily in Lombard street and frequented legations maintained by Spain, various Italian Princes and the Republic of Venice. Considerable commerce existed between England, Venice and Genoa. Regular Mediterranean caravels touched at Spanish and Portuguese ports and carried mail and news.

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John Cabot married in Venice and with family, is believed to have removed to Bristol, a growing emporium, about 1486. It was at Bristol in 1477 that Columbus is reported to have embarked for Iceland to inquire about Greenland and other lands in the west formerly colonized by Norsemen. A large trade in fish and merchandise was carried on between Iceland and Bristol and about 1477 the Governor of Iceland was killed by English sailors in a riot, which brought about war between England and Denmark that lasted until 1491. A number of Bristol ships were seized in Danish ports and Cabot is understood to have been a representative of Bristol merchants in securing a settlement of claims.

Bartholomew Columbus, brother of Christopher, was delegated to approach Henry VII to finance Columbus’s western project, but was taken prisoner by pirates while crossing the English Channel and was detained for months. When he reached London, King Henry listened with favor to the proposal, but it was too late, as word came that meantime Christopher Columbus had obtained a second and successful hearing with the Spanish Queen, through the intervention of her confessor, head of Rabida Monastery, where the homeless Columbus stopped for shelter, with a young son by the hand, on the way to England.

Cabot always seems to have been active. In a letter July 25, 1498, writing to King Ferdinand, the diplomat, Ayala, referred to Cabot’s previous work:—“The last seven years Bristol people have sent out every year two, three or four caravels in search of the Island of Brazil and of the Seven Cities according to the fancy of this Genoese (Cabot).”

It is not believed that Cabot accompanied early Bristol expeditions (there was one in 1480), though it is obvious he promoted them as far back as 1491 in the apparent hope of locating traditional islands that could serve as stepping stones for the greater enterprise.

When Henry VII, disappointed at not sponsoring Columbus, appended a peculiar sign manual to England’s first Royal Patent of Discovery, March 5, 1496 in favor of “John Cabotto, citezen of Venice, Lewes, Sebastyan and Soncio, his sonnys” empowering them to seek strange lands and take possession in the King’s name, the canny founder of the Tudor dynasty inserted a proviso that outfitting of “five ships or vessels” should be at “their own proper costs and charges.” Cabot was a poor man, which may explain twelve months’ delay procuring necessary credit for despatching a single bark, the “Matthew,” the first week of May, 1497, on an epic adventure. The personnel of the dauntless British crew of 18 men has not been found. The “Matthew” is supposed to have been Cabot’s own schooner.

“Departure of John and Sebastian Cabot” is the title of a large canvas by the late Ernest Board, R.W.A., in Bristol Municipal Art Gallery, painted for the Corporation. Seamen are hauling on the mainsail of the “Matthew” embroidered with the Royal Arms and the Arms of Bristol. On the harbour steps a clerk is checking a last lot of weapons and armour. Townsfolk are assembled at the quay. Abbot Newland, or Nailheart, waits to give a blessing, while the Mayor bids John Cabot farewell. Young Sebastian holds the Letters Patent from the King, and beside him is his weeping mother to whom a nun offers consolation. Cabot, a commanding figure, notwithstanding 60 years of age, about the same age as Columbus, completes the group in a splendid work of art, reproduced at the front of this hand-book.

In the rotunda of the Capitol at Washington is a keyed painting by John Vanderlyn, pupil of Gilbert Stuart, of the landing of Columbus at San Salvador, which is copied on Federal $5 notes. There is no number on the figure of a friar with a crucifix, for the simple reason no priest accompanied Columbus’ first voyage. The friar is the artist’s imagination.

Foreign documents briefly tell that at the momentous landing in Cape Breton (Acadia) Saturday, June 24, 1497, the crew of the “Matthew” placed a “Cross” in the middle of a small clearing, with the Flag of England on one side and a Banner of St. Mark on the other and that the Commander, Cabot, took solemn possession in the name of Henry VII.

The joint appearance of a “Cross” and an English flag at the “Acadian” entrance of the immense American wilderness in 1497 is not unconnected with antecedent events of 1453 in Europe, when the Turks captured Constantinople and planned the subjugation of Italy, where Turkish janissaries were actually landed in 1480 and Christendom trembled in the balance. The death of the Sultan intervened.

Simultaneously the French, with traditionally effective Scottish allies, occupied Bordeaux, scene of the brilliant court of the Black Prince, and completely crushed 300 years English hopes and sacrifices to be a continental power, leaving John Bull ousted from Europe and nursing a civil war.

A chance for the church to engage in renewed missionary enterprise and for England to found new possessions in other directions was a welcome suggestion to both interests and in the light of results, it is obvious that Cabot’s bark of 1497 has been a potent instrument in greater achievement than any mythic aeneid or odyssey. Time and priority of accomplishment are progressive factors, which cannot fail to delineate the “modest” viking Cabot, and the barque “Matthew” in terms of unfading remembrance.

At Cape Breton, the explorers spent a day or two ashore to take in wood and water and catch and salt fish and game for food. Natives were not seen, but snares and other evidence of inhabitants were encountered, and being a mere handful of men, it apparently was not deemed expedient to seek further and better particulars concerning native hospitality. Cabot described the land fertile and game abundant.

On the return journey the “Matthew” coasted the strange shore 300 leagues, a number of headlands were named and other information noted. It seemed characteristic to Cabot to be painstaking and averse to hit-and-run methods. The party reached Bristol Sunday, August 6, 1497, to electrify the world with the announcement a great continent existed north of the limited West Indies islands reported by Columbus. The King and British public were tremendously elated. Endless banquetting took place. Continental courts hummed with excitement while Cabot and London focused all attention. The new land was thought to be Asia. Had anyone dreamed an unknown hemisphere had been contacted, the millennial dawn might have been thought at hand.

September 5, 1936, Mrs. Beryl Markham in a blue 200 H. P. monoplane landed at Baleine, Cape Breton; 25 hours from Abingdon Airport, London—the Cabot trail.

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The second Cabot expedition of 1498 performed a prodigious programme of coasting and sketching 1,800 miles of American seaboard, anchoring at night. Five armed ships were readily provided, one by King Henry. 300 men and implements of colonization were shipped. The fleet sailed the latter part of April and Greenland proved the initial destination. One vessel, with Friar Buil aboard, put into an Irish port, damaged in a storm. Buil is believed to be Spanish spelling of an English name. It is probable there were additional priests, as Cabot intimated an intention to take several “poor Italian Friars,” and in between had visited Lisbon and Seville to recruit experienced men who may have been in the East Indies or West Indies. Priests with Cabot in 1498 would be the first ministers of the gospel on the mainland of the west, in modern times.

A Portuguese pilot, Joao Fernandez, called “Llavrador,” who in 1492 had managed to travel from Iceland to Greenland, was engaged on account of previous northern experience. A northerly course was laid west of Ireland, which was accentuated by the Gulf Stream. Greenland was touched and labelled, “Labrador’s Land” in compliment to Fernandez.

In the capacity of first Polar navigator, after the Norsemen, John Cabot conducted the 1498 squadron to 67.30 north, into the frozen seas. Owing to intense cold and ice conditions the crews mutinied and compelled the commander to turn back. Hudson Straits were visited, Labrador and Newfoundland shores skirted, various islets inspected and eye-sketches made of capes and bays. Southbound, the fleet stopped at Baccalaos (Cape Breton) no doubt at the same port, surmised to be Louisburg, as in 1497, to refit.

With iron determination to clinch British title to the western domain, John Cabot followed the coast of Nova Scotia, New England and New York south to latitude 38, an incredible distance of 28 degrees from Baffin Land to the entrance of the Delaware, several degrees south of Washington, D. C., which was 14 years before Ponce de Leon landed in Florida and one year prior to Vincent Pinzon’s discovery of Brazil. At Chesapeake Bay, not very much beyond the southern limit of later French “Acadia,” the battered prows of Cabot’s fleet were turned homeward and Bristol reached in the autumn, where a cool welcome was extended. Jewels and silks were not forthcoming for those who had invested funds in the venture and conjured visions of an Eldorado, that would make everybody rich, like Aladdin’s lamp.

The Gulf of St. Lawrence was apparently not seen by the Cabots, though a contrary opinion enjoys eminent support. James P. Howley, F.G.S., Cambridge University, 1915, asserts three Beothuk (white) Indians of Newfoundland, now extinct and of possible Norse descent were conveyed to England by Cabot in 1498. They were educated and remained there and could not be differentiated from Caucasians. The date 1498 is challenged by scholars, who say the occurrence was 1500 or 1507 and that Cabot had nothing to do with it.

Considerable information was supplied by Cabot relative to fisheries, timber, animals and climate. Names of American capes and coast waters marked on Cosa’s precious oxhide world map of 1500, could only come from a chart prepared by Cabot, of which a copy was made for the Spanish Ambassador who sent it to Seville, where it was accessible to Cosa as head of the extensive Spanish chart department.

The American material could exclusively come from John Cabot, for the obvious reason that no other nation or explorer reached the mainland of North America in the 15th century. This is a focal point in an “Acadian First Things” summary and is the basis of American history.

King Neptune must have favored John Cabot, as there were many chances the cockleshell, “Matthew” might never have been heard from. Cabot escaped the perils of the sea, but the death and place of burial of this dauntless sailor are unknown.

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The North American continent has not raised a national memorial to Cabot’s mighty achievements. There is a brass tablet at Province Building, Halifax, and a Signal Tower at St. John’s, Newfoundland, both installed in 1897, when Queen Victoria’s Diamond Jubilee coincided with the 400th anniversary of Cabot’s voyage. The fine tablet at Halifax was sponsored by the Royal Society of Canada and was unveiled by the Governor General of Canada, the same time the corner stone of an imposing Cabot Tower was laid at Bristol, England, in the presence of 50,000. It is only within a generation that Cabot’s work and personality commence to be appreciated. No Cabot statue exists in the generous United States.

At the 1897 annual gathering of the Royal Society of Canada, which was purposely convened at Halifax to promote greater interest in Cabot, a hope was voiced that a great western Cabot monument would be eventually undertaken and Sydney, Nova Scotia, was specified as a most suitable location.

In 1935 the Italian colony of Montreal erected a Cabot monument at Atwater Park, with name and date in three languages, English, French, Italian. The inscription proposed in 1933:—“Captain and Discoverer. He sailed from Bristol, in 1497, out into the West, and Found Canada”—has been omitted. Why?

The name “Cabot” scarcely exists in American geography, except Cabot Strait, between Cape Breton and Newfoundland, applied by the British Admiralty in 1888. In a prominent Canadian school geography, John Cabot is not mentioned.

“Precursors of Jacques Cartier” by H. P. Biggar, Canadian Archives, London, 1910, reproduces the text and translation of Cabot documents and is an authoritative reference. There are critical Cabot monographs in the proceedings of the Royal Society of Canada, particularly an illuminating examination of relevant maps by Prof. W. F. Ganong, Northampton, Mass.

A Cabot Research Scholarship might help dispel some of the extraordinary mystery, which envelops the passing of this great seaman. No picture, letter, line or autograph of Cabot has been preserved to posterity.

First Cabot Memorial—On June 24, 1897, the 400th anniversary of the Discovery of America by John Cabot, a bronze tablet was unveiled at Province Building, Halifax, Nova Scotia, by the Royal Society of Canada in the presence of distinguished visitors from several countries. This is the First Cabot Memorial in America. See Page 32.

There is a portrait of Sebastian Cabot, late in life, by Holbein, wearing double-pointed beard and rope of pearls, a Golden Knight (Chevalier dores), with motto “Spes mea in deo est”—my hope is in God. Sebastian’s name is not in the second patent of 1498, which is addressed exclusively to “John Kabotto” by whom “lands and isles of late found.” Harrisse says: “We conclude therefore that the continent of North America was discovered by John Cabot, sailing under the British flag, in the year 1497.”

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The original of the Sebastian Cabot portrait found its way to Philadelphia and perished in a fire. Sebastian Cabot entered the service of Spain in 1512 in a superior capacity, chiefly on account of knowledge of North-East America. In 1527 he conducted a Spanish expedition to South America and explored and named the Rio de la Platte and was the first to stop at the site of Buenos Ayres. Sebastian Cabot’s official position at Seville is a possible reason for the unaccountable absence of information regarding the father’s distinguished services. Sebastian Cabot rejoined the English employ in 1550 with a pension of £166.13.4 ($5,000 today) and died in London about 1560, not far from 80 years of age, place of interment not recorded.

CABOT MEMORIAL TOWER Brandon Hill, Bristol, England

Inset, is a painting by Holbein, of Sebastian Cabot as a Golden Knight. John Cabot and Sebastian Cabot were the first Europeans, barring Norse and legendary voyagers, to see and set foot on the mainland of the Western Hemisphere. It is now generally recognized that the Cabot Landfall was at “Acadia” or Nova Scotia.

The common belief is that all John Cabot’s children were Italian born, but Bristol historians accept the view Sebastian was a native of that city, apparently relying upon Sebastian’s own contention that he was taken from Bristol to Venice when four years old. The implication is that John Cabot had temporarily resided in England previous to final removal from Venice in 1486, which is not impossible, but there are palpable discrepancies in some of Sebastian Cabot’s statements.

A theory exists the second Cabot voyage of 1498 may have been from Cape Breton to Florida and that the Polar expedition was actually a third voyage in care of Sebastian Cabot in 1508, to find a short passage to Asia. Against the suggestion is the fact the existence of the Pacific Ocean was not then known and America was believed to be Asia.

CABOT TOWER, Signal Hill, St. John’s, NFLD. Erected, 1897

One or two older maps date the first Cabot voyage, “1494,” in possible conjunction with Robert Thorne and Hugh Elliot, Bristol merchants, and there is less disposition than formerly to dismiss this interesting possibility as a printer’s mistake in the use of Roman numerals.

Details of the world-changing Cabot story, described by one writer as the second greatest event in 1900 years, remain to be unfolded and will be without doubt, an enthralling narrative. John Cabot and Sebastian Cabot are the only known members of the “Matthew” crew of twenty. These world-characters of the Renaissance, father and son, who put America on the map and whose activities ranged over parts of five continents, first landed in North America in “Old Acadia” or Nova Scotia.

The proverb about a mountain producing a ridiculous mouse is revised. In this pregnant instance Cape North and King Neptune labored to good purpose and between them they enriched the Cabots and their successors, not with a couple of palm-fringed islands or flat sandbars, but a hemisphere of majestic rivers and spacious plains. The names of Cabot and “Acadia” or Nova Scotia will be forever linked with a world event of a sort that is given to few to share in and readers become participants.

Sixty-six years before William the Conqueror, a Norseman, overran Britain, another Norseman, Leif Eiriksson, Cross in hand, accidentally stepped ashore in America and is the first recorded Christian missionary in the New World. It was an unusual role for a scion of vikings to represent the gospel of peace in 1000 A. D., but Valhalla contains no more illustrious name than “Leifr hin Hibni,” Leif the Discoverer.

Leif (Lion) was well born, son of a ruddy Norwegian Jarl, Eric the Red, the first name possibly signifying Sea King. Eric had been banished from Iceland for homicide and was debarred from returning to Norway on account of an earlier blood feud. With characteristic fearlessness and accompanied by friends, the Earl, in 985, founded colonies on the uninhabited and inhospitable shores of Greenland, a part of North America, which is located on the fringe of the Arctic circle and had been previously visited by seamen. In the transportation of the contingent, with effects and cattle, from Iceland to Greenland, ten ships in a fleet of thirty-four, were lost with all hands in a storm, an omen of ultimate extinction.

Lucky Leif inherited the fierce father’s physical strength and tall stature, but also imbibed superior mental qualities from a noble mother. In 999 Leif Eiriksson, on business, left Greenland for Norway and spent a winter at the court of King Olaf, a renowned and popular monarch, leader of daring enterprises, expert in archery, an adept bladesman with either hand.

Olaf, grandson of former King Harold Fairhair, seized the throne of pagan Norway in 995, but was a Christian, having been converted while in exile in Ireland and England. The change portended trouble. With the indiscreet zeal of a convert, King Olaf proceeded to install Christianity as the national faith, partly as a means to check existing lawlessness of the great Barons and obtain improved conditions for the common people. It was a violent age and the King was not content to employ diplomatic methods to induce recalcitrant nobles to conform. The teachings of Christianity were resented as an encroachment on class privileges, which had become a corner stone of Scandinavian mythology. Powerful reactionaries conspired to fight even partial emancipation of the masses. Olaf enlisted all the younger men possible and recognized that Leif Eiriksson, through training and character, would be an invaluable lieutenant. Leif was baptized and became a trusted king’s man. He is the beau ideal of a modern youth leader.

Greenland was now a vigorous colony of 2,000 people, actively developing whaling, fishing, ivory and fur trade. In the spring of 1000 A. D., it was decided in Norway to extend Christianity to Greenland and Leif Eiriksson was chosen Royal Commissioner for the purpose. He was literally authorized to “proclaim Christ in Greenland” (bodda Kristni i Graenland). It is recorded that Leif demurred at first at the proposition to ask his hardy people to forsake generations of sea culture and festivals and recitals of the skalds, but King Olaf urged there was no other man so well qualified.

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A ship was provided and cleared from Norway for Greenland direct with a Christian banner, a priest, several members of a religious order and a crew of 25, nearly all young men, which so far as known is the first Christian mission ship ever to cross any ocean. The company were blown off their course, having neither compass, quadrant, sextant or chart, depending on the sun and the cold gleam of the north star. Possibly they had a hooded raven, but mainly relied on their own alert sea consciousness in thick weather, when the storm-wind failed to lift the frost-fog from the Boreal waste. In crossing the North Atlantic without a compass, only the boldest navigators ventured to designedly omit a call at Iceland. It was a prospect to quail at.

After many days, the Saga tells, a strange land was visited by Leif Eiriksson’s party and self-sown wheat was observed, which was probably some other grain. The unknown coast was skirted and harbors entered at night. Divine service would be conducted.

M. H. Nickerson, Melrose, Mass., a student of Nordic literature, believes “Admiral” Eiriksson’s Landfall was in Cape Breton. Various authorities have expressed a similar conviction. Certainly in coasting the American shore, explorers could not fail to contact Acadian harbours.

The Norwegian proselytizing mission reached Greenland in due course. The entire population, with a few exceptions, responded to Leif’s authorized invitation to accept the new faith. Images of Odin and Thor were destroyed. Leif’s fond mother was the first person baptized in Greenland and therefore in America, while Eric the Red died an irreconcilable. Greenland was made an episcopal see, churches and convents were erected, all of stone, the country being treeless. The four walls of a Catholic church at Katortok are still standing, after seven or eight centuries. Bishops continued to be appointed for four hundred years.

Isolation, sickness and privation, gradually weakened the hapless Greenland colonies in passing decades. Communication with Norway, requiring large vessels, became irregular. Eskimos repeatedly attacked the declining Norse settlements, which eventually completely disappeared, and the only grim clue to the mystery is the reported appearance some years ago of a tribe of light complexioned Eskimos. A series of voyages were made to American coasts to procure timber and one or two large colonizing expeditions were despatched from Greenland to America, presumably to “Acadia.” The last information from Greenland was about 1437 and at this time the savages are supposed to have finally killed or made prisoners of survivors. After that time all is silence and the brave Norse colonists have been swallowed up in Arctic loneliness.

In appearance Leif Eiriksson’s crusading galliott may have approximated bulky “pinkies” which were employed in fishing and coasting in colonial days in New England and Acadia. Leif’s evangelical craft was possibly 60 tons, single mast, large square sail, open amidships, decked fore and aft. In an artist’s drawing two or three men are seen. Leif is standing on the quarter deck, one hand on the “tiller” and is pointing to a faint outline of land on the western horizon. Norsemen were among the world’s best sailors. Their home was on the ocean, which is pictured in a translation from Bjornson:—

There is a difference of opinion whether Leif Eiriksson or Bjarne Herjolfson first saw the American continent. For a long time general sentiment favored Herjolfson, but opinion is changing on this point. The revised consensus of judgment inclines to the view that Leif was both “Discoverer” and “Missionary.”

The clash in the matter originates in two principal sources of Norse information—“The Saga of Eric the Red” and “Tales of the Greenlanders.” Herjolfson is not mentioned in Eric’s Saga, which outlines Leif’s missionary voyage from Norway to Greenland via the American continent. On the other hand “Tales of the Greenlanders” traces Leif’s missionary trip direct from Norway to Greenland without an accidental contact with the American coast. It is a coincidence that the experience of being blown off the course is also attributed to Herjolfson and is placed back in 986, while on the way from Iceland to Greenland, the year after the first settlement of Greenland. Bjarne is said to have encountered and skirted a strange shore for a considerable distance, but did not land. It is stated that Bjarne reported the discovery on arrival in Greenland and was criticized for not exploring the unknown country to some extent, which the crew wished to do. “Tales of the Greenlanders” go on to relate that Leif in 1001 organized an expedition to investigate the land which Bjarne had seen in 986, but no explanation is offered for the long delay.

An authority generally accounted the most competent Icelandic scholar in North America writes:—“In my opinion the source which makes Leif Eiriksson the Discoverer is the more reliable of the two. The source which makes Bjarne the Discoverer was written 200 years later than the other and therefore less trustworthy.”

Eric’s Saga is the oldest manuscript, being dated about 1250, while “Tales of Greenlanders” was issued about 1450. Two recent critical Norwegian books emphasize this comparison. A well-known author at Washington reviews the matter in a letter:—“Some are of opinion Bjarne is a fictional person who, for some reason, has been put in instead of Leif. William Hovgaard in ‘Voyages of Norsemen to America’ suggests that Leif discovered the land accidentally, as told in Eric’s saga, and later undertook the voyage told in the other book. This is the view I have adopted in my book.”

A souvenir publication reviewing Norwegian voyages to the American continent was issued in 1933, in connection with a visit of the training ship “Sorlandet,” from Oslo via St. Lawrence river, to Century of Progress exhibition at Chicago. On the title page it is announced the voyage is under the patronage of King Haakon VII. Photos of the King, Queen Maud, Crown Prince Olaf and Crown Princess Martha are included. The booklet is edited by Professor Haakon Shetelig, Director Bergen Museum, who advises the manual is intended to sketch the drift of current opinion without making any interpretation. Leif Eiriksson is credited with two Atlantic crossings, the accidental missionary contact of 1000, and a subsequent expedition especially organized for American exploration.

The Bjarne voyage is also cited and there are representative Scandinavians who give precedence to this trip. The matter of individual priority in Norse “Discovery of America” is possibly mixed up in old writings with feelings engendered in the conditions that sent Leif Eiriksson crusading to the west at an extremely early date. Christian ethics were invading the realms of ruthless northern superstition. Bjarne was a pagan. Eiriksson was a protagonist of the larger conception, that there is always a bright future ahead. On a monument on Commonwealth Avenue, Boston, Leif Eiriksson is hailed “The Discoverer.”

Warships and representatives of a score of nations, attended the Millenial Celebration in Iceland, June, 1930, of the One Thousandth Anniversary of the establishment of the Iceland Parliament, The Althing, in 930 A. D. Magnificent gifts were received. Dominion of Canada created a Trust Fund of $25,000, administered by the Premier of Iceland, to provide scholarships for Iceland students to attend Canadian universities.

LEIF EIRIKSSON—Heroic bronze, 10 feet 6, by A. Stirling Calder, sculptor, New York, presented to Kingdom of Iceland by Government of the United States. See page 34.

ICELAND SCHOONER AT BADDECK, NOVA SCOTIA to load lumber. Sagas say Timber Trade between Greenland, Iceland and Vinland, (Nova Scotia) dates from the eleventh century.

The United States appropriated $55,000 and erected at Reykjavik, the capital, a bronze statue of Leif Eiriksson of heroic size, 10 feet 6 inches, mounted on a Texas red granite pedestal 15 feet high. The lines of the base follow the upward rake of the stem of a viking ship. The sculptor, A. Stirling Calder, New York, has produced an inspiring conception. Leif is intimately recalled as a young man, “as ruggedly beautiful as I can think—a hero prompted to intrepid helpfulness. . . . Leif was the first humane Norseman,” referring to the rescue of a shipwrecked crew at sea, an almost unheard of risk to take in frail craft of the period in northern waters. The artist is further quoted:—“No violence is recorded of him, which is remarkable. Leif Eiriksson was an exceptional man, ambassador, philosopher, the foremost navigator of his age.”

It was unusual to do as Leif did, to steer a direct course from Norway to Greenland, without stopover at Iceland. In the Calder statue, Leif is a living figurehead of his own craft, erect and tense. “He stands eagerly, well braced on seaman’s legs, on the slanting deck, clothed in Viking mail, helmet and cloak, a long handle axe held close in his right hand, while with the left he presses a crucifix to his heart.” In 1001, King Olaf, Leif’s friend and patron, in the prime of life plunged to death in a famous sea-fight. Treacherous and discontented barons secretly formed a league with the Kings of Sweden and Denmark and assembled a powerful fleet behind an island bordering a route the Norwegian Navy was accustomed to follow on periodical cruising. King Olaf personally commanded the “Long Serpent” a flagship carrying 200 picked warriors. The main Norwegian fleet had gone on ahead enroute home.

The King’s “Long Serpent,” with three smaller vessels, were far in the rear, passing the ambush, unconscious of the plot against the King’s life. The enemy rowed out and surrounded the rearguard vessels. The “Long Serpent”, and tenders were immediately lashed together. Crews were determined to sell their lives dearly, it being obvious there was no escape. In desperate fighting, with fresh men constantly taking the place of boarders, the outnumbered loyal crews died almost to a man. When not a dozen men were left the heroic King leaped overboard in armor and Olaf “came no more to his people.” Many Norsemen long refused to believe the popular monarch was dead and the population demanded his successor should also be a Christian.

Points of resemblance suggest Lucky Leif’s “Discovery of America” in May, 1000 A. D., was not unlike Lucky Lindy’s (Colonel Charles A. Lindbergh) eagle flight to Paris in the same month of 1927.

These fair-hair youths of Scandinavian extraction were 25 years of age. Lindbergh took off on Friday, named for the wife of Odin. Leif presumably landed in Nova Scotia or “Acadia.” “Lindy” left New York 7.52 A. M., E. S. T., May 20 and flew low over Nova Scotia, 12.25, noon, A. S. T. The name “Spirit of St. Louis,” could be read with the naked eye. From Nova Scotia, Colonel Lindbergh shaped his sky chariot for a non-stop crossing, as Leif Eiriksson had done in the opposite direction, 1,000 years before, over part of the same course.

The Leif Eiriksson Memorial Association, Madison, Wisconsin, is performing spade work in arousing popular appreciation of early Norse western seafaring enterprise. At the 1930 Parliamentary Celebration at Iceland the Canadian representatives were Dr. B. J. Bransdon, Captain Sigt Jonasson and Arni Eggertson. United States delegates were Senator Peter Norbeck, Congressman C. B. Burtness, Hon. Svenbjorn Johnson, Hon. Fridrick H. Flozdal, C. P. S. Jacobson.

In summing up available information as to the location of “Vinland the Good,” scene of Norse American settlements, the Catholic Encyclopedia, New York, concludes:—“Nova Scotia, inclusive of Cape Breton, seems to satisfy the best requirements of the saga.”

It is stated that Gudrid Karlsefne, sister-in-law of Leif Eiriksson, accompanied her second husband to Vinland in a later colonizing voyage with 160 people, numbering several other women, with farm animals and remained three years in the country. This remarkable woman subsequently visited Rome on a pilgrimage and described conditions in Vinland. Gudrid was widowed the second time. Her first husband was a younger brother of Leif the Discoverer, who died from exposure in severe weather in an attempted trip to “Wineland”—“Acadia.”

Precursors of DeMonts who headed Formal Expeditions from Europe to the mainland of North America make an impressive list in what is called the “Exploration Period.” Naval captains such as Drake and Hawkins, and various private trading, fishing and missionary ventures are not alluded to. Several listed explorers are said to have been “corsairs.” Cabot and England are the only names earlier than the 16th century, as Columbus’ prior voyages were confined to the Caribbean islands. The Norsemen are another story. The authentic history of the “Mainland” of North America begins with John Cabot’s discovery of “prima tierra vista”—the first land seen—at “Acadia” or Nova Scotia, in 1497. Permanent settlement of North America was commenced in “Acadia” by DeMonts in 1604. Four countries and forty-four official or semi-official explorations are noted between 1497 and 1604:—

Names with a star “*” did not touch any part of “Acadia” or Canada. They are principally Florida and are inserted to give a better picture of sixteenth century North American exploration. Contacts of Ojeda, de Leon, de Navarez, de Soto, Maldonado, Ribault, Laudonniere and Menendez were restricted to the Florida peninsula and vicinity, although Ojeda was instructed by Spanish authorities to watch Cabot’s remarkable work and he may have ranged into northern latitudes. Bermudez is remembered only as discoverer of Bermuda Islands. The Virginia colony planted by Sir Walter Raleigh, favorite of Queen Elizabeth, in 1587 did not survive. Frobisher and Davis were Arctic navigators. As Da Gama had rounded Cape of Good Hope in 1497 and Magellan sailed west around Cape Horn in 1520, it was sought to find a shorter water route to the East via the Northern extremity of the continent of America.

Men of action are in the chain of Atlantic mariners who bridged the gap from Cabot to DeMonts, both of whom came to the “Acadian” area. The majority of these adventurous seamen navigated “Acadian” waters. Correctness of the De Lery date, 1518, is sometimes challenged and alleged to be 1538 or 1558. De Lery stocked Sable Island with cattle and swine, which multiplied, and is said to have done the same at Canso, Nova Scotia.

Alonso de Ojeda was a lieutenant of Columbus in 1492 and in 1500 led a rebellion in Haiti. Ojeda’s associate, Amerigo Vespucci, is commonly accepted as the source of the name America, although Ojeda reported the word “Amaraca” of Chinese origin was in use in Central America. Italians of Manhattan have raised a monument to Verrazano, an educated Florentine, who penetrated into New York bay and was afterwards killed by Indians in Central America. Cabot presumably saw the entrance of New York in the 1498 voyage.

Some writers credit one of the Cabots with a third voyage in 1508. Fernandez became a naturalized British subject, and was sometimes known as “Lavrador,” which was first applied to Greenland, as Fernandez is reported to have made an early visit to that island from Iceland. Dieppe Chronicles declare Aubert ascended the St. Lawrence river eighty leagues.

Joam Fagundes received a grant of Nova Scotia from the King of Portugal, and was the first to map the Bay of Fundy, and in 1526 Thevet stated the French had a fort, Norumbega, 30 miles inland from the mouth of the Penobscot river, Maine, which was imaginary.

Jacques Cartier explored the Gulf of St. Lawrence and sponsored the first French settlement on the St. Lawrence river, but it was unsuccessful. There is uncertainty whether Sir Humphrey Gilbert perished at Sable Island or the Azores, probably the former place.

Guildford and Hoare expeditions were prompted by Henry VIII in opposition to Francis I. In the Guildford party was Albert de Prato, Canon of St. Paul’s, London, a friend of Cardinal Wolsley. About 100 lawyers and gentlemen accompanied Hoare, and all received the sacrament before sailing in April in two ships, “Trinity” and “Admiral.” In Newfoundland they ran short of supplies and a number succumbed. Eventually cannibalism was resorted to, which the captains preached against and counselled patience. A French ship came in, was seized and stores commandeered. The Hoare survivors sailed for home in the French vessel leaving their own in exchange. Eventually the French citizens reached France and a formal protest was submitted to Henry VIII, who made good the loss.

De la Roche left 50 unfortunates on Sable Island who quarrelled among themselves. Five years later twelve were found alive. Survivors were pardoned by the King and given a present of 50 crowns each.

“A century has passed” says Britannica “and no European power had obtained a foothold on the Atlantic coast except a fort at St. Augustine.” To De Monts at Port Royal, Acadia, was reserved the honor of starting permanent settlement north of St. Augustine, and establishing the first organized French or English colonization and missionary enterprise in North America which persisted.

First grantee of “Acadia” and founder of Port Royal, Annapolis Royal, Nova Scotia—Monument and Tablet at Annapolis Royal, erected by the Canadian Government.

There are provisions in Royal French “Acadian” charters of 1603-04, which possess special interest, as they signify the beginning of colonization in America and they proclaimed a French Colonial Empire from the St. Lawrence to the Delaware. Chronologically the French were the first permanent colonizers in America. The founding of Port Royal (Annapolis Royal) in 1604 was an initial step in effective organization of New France, but the Acadian Viceroy, De Monts, clearly intended to establish a greater capital further south, possibly at New York bay.

De Monts received two distinct commissions—the first for colonization and the second a trading monopoly. The administrative and commercial scope of Acadia of 1604 ranged over a larger territory than proprietorship in land. It is not generally understood that De Mont’s governing and business authority extended from 40 North to 52 or even to 54 North—Philadelphia to James Bay—and as far inland as “they might go” which could include the Pacific coast. It cannot be successfully disputed that “Acadia” is the oldest concrete and continuous colonization move on the Western continent.

Picturesque Acadia, of classic nomenclature, is the first major land grant made by any European ruler throughout the United States and Canada, to be defined by fixed parallels of latitude. The full extent of the old Acadian charter has been somewhat obscured by a succession of conflicting national claims. Numerous States and Provinces have been carved from “Acadia’s” original limits and the amplitude of the great Charter has been lost to view.

In Europe, altered transportation demands grew out of the discovery of America in 1497. A free land of liberty for millions was created in the West, but 3,000 miles of billows rolled between.

John Cabot, bold navigator, in 1497 took only 90 days to steer a barque through sundown, discover America—the mainland—raise a Cross, a supplication, two Flags, spend time ashore, survey 300 “leagues” of strange coast and sail home to present an unknown continent to wondering Europe. A second voyage covered 1800 miles north and south of the landfall. The gift was too staggering to be digested. There was no experience or organization adequate to deal with this gargantuan inheritance.

From 1497 to 1603 Maritime Nations of Europe allowed 100 years to sand through the hour glass, before “Acadian” plans of 1603 were matured at Fontainebleau to make the Western continent an appannage of the Crown of France.

The Americas could be reached by water, but not by foot or ox or camel. Before Cabot’s time successive waves of humanity from the East had stopped at land’s end in Europe, unable to pass the “Sea of Darkness.” A transfer to America would necessitate a different type of shipbuilding and questions of seamanship would arise unlike requirements between northern islands and in sheltered waters. Ten men might negotiate a North Atlantic crossing in the 16th century, but not ten thousand.

Cabot’s voyages of discovery in 1497 and 1498 occupied only two years. Then for 100 years, try as they might, all the King’s courtiers and sailors in five countries were powerless to colonize North American dominions. Internal and religious troubles in Europe, 1497 to 1604, helped halt expansion. The matter of commissariat and the known hostility of many Indian tribes in America were obstacles to settlement.

Records show that during a century following Cabot, notwithstanding prolonged outlays, not one European nation, other than a fortified post in Florida, had obtained a permanent foothold in North America, excluding Central America. From 1497 to 1603 perhaps forty expeditions, beside minor ventures, sailed from England, France, Spain, Portugal, mostly to explore the coast of North America. Colonies were planted but were not successful. Many craft went to Davy Jones locker. Captains had to contend against conditions that women and children could not ordinarily face. Wind and wave, epidemic, European and aboriginal enemies contributed to paralyze expansion.

In 1603, at the founding of Acadia, American treasures of mine, forest, field were almost as little understood as if Stone Age mantles that shadowed western lands had never been drawn aside. An extra twilight century was added to American history—1497 to 1603—which is styled the “Discovery or Exploration Period.” The barren results as to settlement are summed up by Abbe Ferland:—“At that time (1605) there was not one European settlement along the coast to Florida.”

In 1605 no white “family” regularly tilled the soil on 1500 miles of coast from Labrador to St. Augustine or the Gulf of Mexico. The interior was almost a blank. The Great Lakes, plains, rivers and mountains were unknown. At the threshold of the 17th century overseas settlement was at zero. But in 1603 Courts of Europe were stirred by the information that a vast French Colonial Empire was projected to monopolize virgin America and that this ultramarine kingdom had been christened “Acadia,” with explicit instructions from the most energetic member of contemporary royalty that this enterprise was to be vigorously prosecuted on settled lines.

Henry IV, occupying the French throne, authorized Pierre du Guast, Sieur de Monts, Governor of Pons, to establish a French Dominion in North America from 40 north to 52 or 54 north and organize and govern this immense domain. Henry IV started something. The next quarter century, 1604-1632, is resplendent in American annals as the “Acadian or Colonization Period.”

Ferland’s “no white family” survey of 1605 was prompted in connection with De Mont’s arrival in 1604 and by a side-trip that was taken along the New England coast early in 1605 looking for a location for southerly headquarters for the proposed “Acadian” nation. Ferland merely pointed out there was no existing rival settlement.

Months of delay in 1604 reaching the “Acadian” coast and an early snowfall and winter compelled Viceroy De Monts, to winter at St. Croix island, where explorers suffered a tragic experience, which evidently reacted in France. During the winter scurvy carried off 38 of the party, including a Catholic priest and a Huguenot minister, who were buried in the same grave. It was an unlucky omen for high hopes of the King, who sponsored “Acadia.”

St. Croix Island, Maine, Site of First Official French Settlement in Acadia—The “Island of the Holy Cross” is the Atlantic end of 3,000 mile boundary line between Canada and the United States—(Courtesy H. E. Lamb, Calais, Me.).

In the spring of 1605, De Monts, accompanied by Samuel de Champlain, Royal Geographer, examined the New England shore as far as Cape Cod to find a better location. Charles River, Boston, was named Riviere de Guast, in honor of Governor General De Monts. Indians at Cape Cod were unfriendly and the small party deemed it prudent to return to the decimated garrison at St. Croix, rather than go further south. De Monts undoubtedly contemplated an establishment in the vicinity of New York bay, that had been discovered by Verrazano, a French explorer in 1524.

In 1606 De Monts ordered a second investigation beyond Cape Cod to find a desirable southerly situation. Baron Poutrincourt was sent in charge, but the Hook of Cape Cod again proved a stumbling block to start “Acadia” in present United States ahead of English settlement. At Cape Cod the rudder of Poutrincourt’s barque became unshipped and four of the crew were killed in a clash with Indians. Baffling winds delayed doubling Cape Cod, so the plan to inspect New York and New Jersey shores was once more abandoned and never revived by the “Acadian” entrepreneurs.

Meantime St. Croix island was evacuated by De Monts and Acadian headquarters permanently shifted to Port Royal (Annapolis Royal) Nova Scotia.

Well known territorial titles, New England, New Brunswick, New Jersey, New Netherlands, Nova Scotia (New Scotland), are junior to French “Acadia” and these sections are largely comprised in the old Acadian boundaries. It was perhaps the Napoleonic proportions of the attempted French monopoly of two-thirds of the American continent, which roused strenuous European opposition.

Of classic “Arcady” the poets sang:—

New World “Acadia” was a product of the adventurous mind of Henry IV, a vigorous personality of early 17th Century France—then the most polished nation. Henry of Navarre, sponsor of transatlantic Acadia, tenth in descent from Saint Louis, raised himself, much like Robert Bruce, from guerilla leader to be the first occupant of the throne of a united France and suspended 40 years civil and religious strife. Macaulay reproduces a brilliant victory at Ivry, 1590:—

A Britannica reviewer prints an estimate of Henry IV:—“He had the faults of the Bourbons; yet he was their noblest king,—on the whole, their noblest man. Finally, he had made France the arbiter of Europe. Fanaticism cut short his life on the very eve of great events.”

Henri Quatre, King of France, served the Kingdom with ability seventeen years. After the coronation of Henry IV in 1593 peace raised thrifty French to prosperous levels. Public finances were restored, trade and industry revived, fine arts, canals, industries and works of utility were accorded royal approval. The foreign influence of France became paramount in Europe.

It was in this optimistic atmosphere the French King decided on Colonial expansion in America. Sully, Prime Minister, descendant of Scottish Bethunes, opposed the suggestion. All Sully would endorse was an expedition to southern lands in quest of mines to enrich the treasury. A higher horizon animated the Monarch, who conceived stable colonization to be the true means to promote French culture in North America. Sixty-three years had elapsed since Jacques Cartier and Roberval visited the St. Lawrence, yet nothing tangible remained. A better organization was deemed necessary.

A reform of trading monopolies preceded the Acadia charter of 1603. One of the last of the old 16th century Commissions was a patent of 1588 to nephews of Jacques Cartier, which covered the Gulf and River St. Lawrence, but they did little. In 1599 a St. Lawrence patent was granted Sieur Chauvin, who conducted two voyages and died rather suddenly without founding a settlement. A nobleman, Sieur de Monts, accompanied Chauvin to inspect the country.

At the opening of the 17th century a Royal Commission investigated the overseas trading situation. The Commission’s report of 1602 is known but the document is missing. In 1603 when another St. Lawrence indenture was granted to Commander de Chaste, Governor of Dieppe, a life long friend of the King, the patent presumably conformed to recommendations of the Royal Commission, but this paper also has been lost, though there is evidence de Chaste was Lieutenant General. Only one ship had been despatched when M. De Chaste contracted a fatal illness. Samuel de Champlain, who also had been in the West Indies, was a member of this St. Lawrence venture.

A new Acadian charter to De Monts was executed November 8, 1603, and the language is plain that “Acadia” was familiar to mariners:—“having long since seen by the relations of sea captains, pilots, merchants and others, who for long time have haunted, frequented and trafficked with the people that are found in the said place.” Previously October 31, 1603, the Lord High Admiral wrote:—“having received information from various quarters, that certain strangers design to go to set up colonies and plantations in and about the said country, La Cadie, should it remain much longer as it has hitherto, deserted and abandoned.”

The neglected condition of Acadia deplored by the French Admiralty referred to settlement, as trading and fishing had been in progress 100 years. Parkman intimates that Bank fishing by Basques may have antedated Cabot and Columbus. Bretons and Normans flocked to Cape Breton waters 1504 to 1510. British fishermen were there in 1499 or 1500.

In 1524 a Florentine pilot, Verrazano, in French employ, reported to Francis I that the natural beauty of America as seen from the deck of the “Dauphine” at Virginia, reminded him of descriptions of lovely Greek “Archadia.” Verrazano coasted north to Nova Scotia, mapping bays and headlands part of the way. There is no record that Verrazano set up monuments, though he applied the term “La Nouvelle France” to this seaboard ten years before Cartier entered the St. Lawrence. Verrazano papers at Paris are a possible indirect reason for incorporating the term “Acadia” in De Mont’s Commission; this goes back to 1524.

Spanish patents in Florida to de Leon, de Soto, Navarez, and Arellano were grants to conquistadors and did not specify boundaries. Floridian ventures were mainly outposts to head off French and British intrusion into the mines and treasures of Mexico and Peru.

A settlement by Ribault at Port Royal, Florida, 1565 was an intended refuge for French Protestants, prior to the Edict of Nantes. An objection to the introduction of the Reformed Religion in America was alleged by Menendez, Spanish Admiral, in 1565 as an excuse for barbarously executing the Ribault settlers. Two years afterward a French captain, De Gourgues, reciprocated in kind at St. Augustine. Menendez had levelled Port Royal, Florida, and substituted St. Augustine, a few miles distant, as a Spanish centre, subject to Havana. De Gourgues razed St. Augustine, which was rebuilt.

English charters to Sir Walter Raleigh were a general authority to locate anywhere outside of Florida, without much official concern being indicated. There was little enthusiasm about colonies in London. Prior to 1606 no single English Commission in America pretended to fix boundaries. French Acadia of 1603 is the dean of the drama of Western civilization. Cities, railways, churches, schools, utilities, newspapers, Governments, which cater to the welfare of 140,000,000 progressive people in United States and Canada, may be the realization of Henry IV’s inspired vision.

If the huge Acadian concession is calculated from coast to coast and from 40 North to 52 or 54 North, the precise area would be half the size of either Canada, United States or Europe with the rest of the continent tributary. De Mont’s primary Commission appointed him Lieutenant General from 40th to 46th North Latitude:—“to people, cultivate and cause to be inhabited the said lands the most speedily, to search for mines of gold, silver and other minerals, to build forts and towns and grant lands,” and to instruct the savages in the “knowledge of God” and the light of the “Christian religion.”

By a supplementary Patent December 18, 1603, De Monts’ trading and administrative authority was pushed up from 46 North to include the Gulf and river St. Lawrence and the country adjoining the bays and rivers entering these coasts. Ownership of the soil, confined to 46 North, was not disturbed.

In the second instrument, part of Newfoundland was absorbed. Both banks of the St. Lawrence are specifically incorporated. A translation by Dr. N. E. Dionne reads:—“From the text of the first letters, Canada, properly called, escaped the jurisdiction of the new viceroy. But on the 18th of December of the same year Henry IV gave to Sieur de Monts a more extended authority; these letters created him lieutenant general for the entire coast of Cadie land, and Cape Breton, Bay of St. Cler, de Chaleur, Ile Percee, Gashepe, Chischedec, Mesamichi, Lesquemin, Tadoussac and the river of Canada, from either one or the other side and all the bays and rivers entering the said coasts. In confirmatory letters of the 5th February Henry IV again instituted de Monts Lieutenant General of the coasts, lands and confines of Cadie, Canada and other places in New France.”

Congress at Washington did a fine thing to help revive the historic name “Acadia”, which figured conspicuously in primary settlement of North America. By special resolution the title of Lafayette National Park, Maine, has been changed to Acadia National Park to renew Pine Tree State (and United States) direct connection with picturesque “Acadia,” birthplace and battleground of a continent. Acadia National Park, 19.51 square miles, is the first national “seaside” park in United States or Canada. Many other beautiful reservations are interior. Great Head Rock, at Acadia National Park, Bar Harbor, graces a special series of U. S. postage stamps. A Canadian National Seaside Park of 500 square miles is projected in Cape Breton, “Acadia.”

Linguists do not agree on the origin of the name Acadia. Some pronounce the word Indian, similar to Shubenacadie. Others point out a similarity to Basque and Phoenician. Growing consensus of opinion is that “Acadia” is of Greek derivation. In either case the name “Acadia” would outdate “America” in orthodox source.

The first use of “Acadia” in a legal instrument occurred in the stately diction of a commission, November 8, 1603, issued by “le grand roi”—“Henri, by the Grace of God, King of France and Navarre, to our dear and well-beloved friend, Sieur de Monts—we being for a long time, informed of the situation and condition of the lands and territories of La Cadie, moved above all things with a singular zeal, and devout and constant resolution, which we have taken with the help and assistance of God, author, distributor and protector of all states and kingdoms, to cause the people which do inhabit the country, men (at the present time) barbarous atheists, without faith or religion, to be converted to Christianity. . . . we commit, ordain, make, constitute and establish you our Lieutenant General for to represent our person in the countries, territories, coast, and confines of La Cadia.”

In a series of papers on “Crucial Maps” contributed to Royal Society of Canada, Prof. W. F. Ganong traces connection of the term Acadia with North America to early Italian maps. The author notes that at first Larcadia or Arcadia was printed in small type indicative of a locality, rather than a whole country. In succeeding maps the name gradually advanced into larger type corresponding to a widening area. Zaltieri map, 1566, shows Larcadia a peninsula between R. fondo (Bay of Fundy) and R. S. Lorenzo (the St. Lawrence).

Framers of De Monts’ charter of 1603 evidently believed that “Acadia” covered an extensive region of the American coast because they assigned the name to an immense territory stretching from 40 north to 46 north, and afterward enlarged it to include both shores of the Gulf and River St. Lawrence.

French authorities of 1603 were unquestionably familiar with pre-Champlain Italian maps and likewise they possessed a lot of data regarding Acadia received from fishermen, who had regularly visited Acadian shores 100 years.

“I, too, was born in Arcadia” is the theme of Goethe’s “Travels in Italy.”

Charles I, last hours of imprisonment were solaced reading Sir Phillip Sidney’s “vain amatorious poem”—Arcadia.

Acadia parish in Louisiana is a reminder of Longfellow’s Acadian “exiles”, thousands of whose descendants are established in the Southern State. West Arichat, Cape Breton, was formerly Acadiaville. There is an upstate village, Acadia, in Northern Maine, L’Acadia in Quebec and Acadiaville, New Brunswick. Acadia is the name of a coal mine in Pictou, Nova Scotia, a sugar refinery at Halifax and of a noted University (primarily Queens) at Wolfville, Nova Scotia.

Steamship “Acadia” operating between New York and Halifax in summer and New York and Florida in winter is a palatial addition to Eastern Steamship Company’s fleet. Canadian Government shipping usually includes an “Acadia.” An ice-breaker is the present incumbent. One of very first Cunard transatlantic steamships in 1840 was “Acadia.” Others were Columbia, Britannia, Caledonia.

An “Acadia” Company was formed in London, following the final Canadian peace of 1763, to exploit lands and fisheries in the entire former French territory on a gigantic scale, but failed to obtain hoped for concessions.

A suggestion that mysterious “Norumbega” was synonymous with “Acadia” is an error as “Norumbega” was confined to one corner of “Acadia” in the State of Maine. George Johnson, late Canadian statistician, notes that “Acadia” was interpreted to embrace a section of Quebec, Labrador as far as Ungava Bay, Newfoundland, Magdalen Islands, Anticosti, Prince Edward Island, Cape Breton, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, part of New Hampshire, Vermont, New York and most of Maine—a royal domain, which in some charts was stretched to the Pacific coast.

In 1603 Champlain used three spellings—L’Arcadia, L’Accadie and L’Acadia. There is a remote possibility of connection with Lacadie, a village near D’Orthez, Lower Pyrenees, France. Verrazano in 1524 likened unspoiled Virginia to Larcadia or Archadia, a place of poetic fancy where life would be ideal.

The Maritime Provinces of Canada in Micmac dialect are not “Acadia” but “Magamaage,” land of the true men, the Micmacs themselves. Lescarbot’s “Historie” and Longfellow’s “Evangeline” have enshrined the name “Acadia” in literature.

An official map of Halifax, published by John Rocque at Charing Cross, London, 1750, locates the new settlement on the “coast of Accadia or Nova Scotia.”

Geologically, a large part of Gulf of St. Lawrence is designated “the Acadian bay.”

An enthusiastic paragraph occurs in Dawson’s “Acadian Geology”:—“Acadia is . . . . a beautiful name, which should never have been abandoned for such names as New Brunswick or Nova Scotia . . . . Further, by those unchanging laws of geological structure and geographical position which the Creator himself has established, this region must always, notwithstanding any artificial arrangement that man may make, remain distinct from Canada on the one hand, and New England on the other; the name Acadia must live . . . . The Acadian provinces form a well-marked geological district, distinguished from all neighboring parts of America by enormous and remarkable development of rocks of the carboniferous and triassic systems.”

Notwithstanding Scottish descent and Edinburgh education, Sir John William Dawson, M.A., L.L.D., F.R.S., F.G.S., exhibited partiality for “Acadia” in preference to “Nova Scotia”. From 1855 to 1893 this scientist was Principal of McGill University, Montreal, which expanded under Dawson’s care. Principal Dawson was first President of Royal Society of Canada and President of British and American Societies for Advancement of Science. In various geological publications, Dr. Dawson consistently rejected the theory of evolution and maintained that human life began in relatively recent times.

At Pictou, Nova Scotia, July 31, 1912, H.R.H. the Duke of Connaught, Governor General of Canada, unveiled a tablet on behalf of Nova Scotia Historical Society marking the dwelling where Sir William Dawson was born, October 30, 1820. Ven. Archdeacon Armitage, president of N. S. Historical Society, conducted the proceedings.

Three Kings and a signet—Top left, Henry VII in 1497 sent John Cabot into the West. Centre, the King’s signature:—H. Rx.—on Cabot’s commission. Right, James I in 1621 initiated Scotland’s first official colony in Nova Scotia. Below, Henri IV of France in 1603 proclaimed most of North America a French Empire—Acadia.

“Westward the course of Empire takes its way!” Outside of Greenland and other British possessions, Canada, Bermuda, Newfoundland and the West Indies are the principal representatives of monarchy in the Western Hemisphere and experience proves the Imperial arrangement is satisfactory and flexible. The Royal Province of Nova Scotia or “Acadia” is the nucleus of British overseas development.

The first representatives of Royalty to visit America were afterward King of England and King of France who happened to be crowned the same year, 1830. The pioneer member of Royalty to cross the Atlantic was genial Prince William Henry, sailor son of George III, born 1765, the year of the Stamp Act. He was at New York, a middy, in transition years 1781 and 1782. Smith’s Diary mentions the prince insisted on seeing the town and crowds followed when a live prince strolled through the streets with Sir H. Clinton and family. During the morning His Royal Highness gratified public curiosity at the windows of apartments on Wall street, but in the afternoon the Prince good-naturedly decided to become better acquainted.

George III had nine sons and required younger members to qualify for commissions. Prince William joined the Navy in 1779, saw considerable active service, passed for lieutenant in 1785 and captain in 1786 when he was detailed to Halifax and West Indies squadron in command of H. M. S. Pegasus. In an extended visit at St. John’s, Newfoundland, the prince won golden opinions for affability. Attending a Government House Ball at Quebec, His Royal Highness kept Lady Dorchester in despair by choosing partners according to fancy, rather than where ceremony required. En route to Montreal the sailor prince stopped off at Sorel, then a small place. Inhabitants were so delighted with the friendly young man that a meeting was called and the name of the town was changed the next week to William Henry, but original “Sorel” survives as a river, grain-shipping and shipbuilding port.

Prince William arrived at Halifax, October 10, 1786. In 1787 the Prince tired of overseas routine and sailed “French leave” for home, was disciplined and ordered back in frigate “Andromeda.” In 1789 Prince William was created Duke of Clarence, made Rear Admiral and recalled to home waters.

WILLIAM IV OF ENGLAND—Who, as Prince William Henry, was the first member of European Royalty to cross the Atlantic and visit America. From a painting by Sir William Beechey, R.A., at Province Building, Halifax, N. S., See page 53.

In 1815, as Admiral of the Fleet, the Duke of Clarence hoisted a Union Flag at main-top-gallantmast-head and escorted Louis XVIII across the Channel to occupy the Throne following Napoleon’s abdication. On June 28, 1830, Prince William himself became King as William IV. He died childless June 20, 1837, two daughters having predeceased him. Princess Victoria, a niece, daughter of a younger brother Edward, Duke of Kent, was crowned Queen.

Somewhat the type of Prince William, the Duke of Kent was democratic, independent and abstemious but a disciplinarian, traits that were not universal in London. The father of Queen Victoria was born November 2, 1767 and was sent to Hanover in 1785 to train for the army, had to work hard and with a relatively small allowance. The Prince in protest went to London in 1790 without being invited. The King was furious and would not see him even after five years abroad. The Prince had passed all exams, was gazetted Colonel and ordered to start within 24 hours for Gibraltar to take command of 7th Royal Fusiliers. Just before sailing the King consented to see Prince Edward for five minutes.

The Duke of Kent founded schools for children of soldiers, restrained intemperance, was criticized for active connexion with the Bible Society and Anti-Slavery, recommended religious tolerance, regularly attended St. Patrick Society banquets in different cities because of the charitable work of the organization, and advised the members to select Presidents alternately from different sides of politics.

The Seventh Royal Fusiliers were transferred from Gibraltar to Canada in 1791, the same year the Province of Ontario was set off from Quebec. The regiment in H. M. Ships “Ulysses” and “Resolution” arrived at Quebec August 11, which was the beginning of an extraordinary period of nine years, 1791-1800, that Prince Edward was kept in North America, broken only by a short intermission in 1799 to visit England for treatment for effects of a fall from a horse in Halifax. Previously the Duke of Kent had been six years in Gibraltar and Hanover, a total of 15 years “exile.”

In the summer of 1792 a riot occurred at Charlesbourg, Quebec, in the first election under the new Constitution. Prince Edward mixed with the factions and addressed them in French and restored peace. July 2, 1792 His Royal Highness and Madame de St. Laurent are recorded sponsors in a christening at Beauport.

In August, 1792, the Duke of Kent visited Niagara. Travelling principally by canoe and vessel, he was the first member of Royalty to view the Cataract.

At the outbreak of hostilities related to the French Revolution the Duke of Kent was ordered to the West Indies. The Royal Party left Quebec quietly the latter part of January 1794, and travelled through the United States to meet a ship at Boston. Crossing Lake Champlain two sleds disappeared through thin ice with all the Prince’s personal belongings, valued at £2,000. On Friday, February 13, the residents of Burlington presented a complimentary address. At Cambridge, Mass., Prince Edward visited the residence that had been George Washington’s headquarters.

At Boston, the Prince embarked on a small packet of eight guns, but a fast sailer, they were chased several times by the enemy, but managed to escape with exchange of a few shots. At Martinique, Prince Edward headed storming parties and assisted at the capture of Guadaloupe. The Prince was mentioned in despatches for bravery and was the first member of the Royal Family ever accorded a vote of thanks by both Houses of Parliament, which was endorsed by the Irish House of Commons, for actual service in the field.

Prince Edward was commander of Halifax Garrison, 1794-1799, having landed from the West Indies, May 10, 1794. Three personal outfits shipped from London in 1794, 1795, 1796, to replace effects sunk in Lake Champlain, were captured by enemy cruisers. In 1799 while in London for medical treatment the Prince ordered an elaborate outfit, the seventh, which, with valuable horses, special furniture from His Highness’s residence and an entire library were despatched on the clipper “Princess Amelia” or “Francis.” This vessel was driven on Sable Island, December 22, 1799, and lost with all hands. There were 280 on board, including the Duke of Kent’s military secretary and family, and regimental drafts. The loss in seven sets of personal belongings aggregated £20,000 without insurance, and was a serious embarrassment financially for a life time.

H. R. H. the Duke of Kent in 1799 was promoted Commander-in-Chief in British North America. On August 4, 1800, the Prince finally bade farewell to Halifax and to North America. Saint John had been visited via Annapolis June 16, 1794, the first member of the Royal family to be entertained at “The Loyalist City.” Fredericton was included in the itinerary. In 1860 the Duke of Kent’s grandson, the Prince of Wales (King Edward VII) observed the same routine.

At Cobourg, May 29, 1818, the Duke of Kent married Princess Victoria, widow of the Prince of Leiningen, and on July 13, the ceremony was repeated at Buckingham Palace in the Queen’s drawing-room. This was a double wedding. At the same time the Duke of Clarence, (William IV), married Princess Adelaide.

On May 24, 1819, Princess, afterward Queen Victoria, was born, to enjoy a record reign of 63 years and 7 months. On January 23, 1820, the Duke of Kent suddenly passed away from effects of a neglected cold, mourned by the British public. Letters indicate the Duke of Kent several times asked to be relieved in North America. A remote explanation for refusing these requests is a curious belief that existed in limited British political circles that the United States would apply for a monarch of the House of Hanover. This is mentioned in communications of Lord Sydney, Secretary of Colonies.

In a letter November 3, 1814, the Duke of Kent, then Field Marshall, suggested a union of British North American Provinces. For one reason he thought there were too many Provincial Legislatures.

In the fall of 1799 the Duke of Kent entertained at Halifax a party of French refugees—the Duke of Orleans with two brothers and attendants who had fled to the British West Indies to escape the Reign of Terror. They arrived at Halifax, October 30 on H. M. S. “Porcupine” and took passage to England via New York. In 1830 the Duke of Orleans ascended the Throne as Louis Philippe and in the Second Revolution of 1848 was obliged to leave France disguised as an actor. He died in London. A son, Prince de Joinville, visited Halifax in 1841 as commander of frigate “La Belle Poole” which had conveyed the remains of Napoleon from St. Helena to France. The transfer was authorized by Louis Philippe.

Augustus, Duke of Sussex, sixth son of George III visited Nova Scotia in 1839. Lord Falkland, Governor of Nova Scotia, 1840, was married to a daughter of William IV. A sister, Lady Mary Fox, had previously been in Canada.

Queen Victoria had nine sons and daughters, four of whom crossed the Atlantic. The first heir to the Throne to visit America was Edward VII, while Prince of Wales, who as “Lord Renfrew,” age 19, in 1860 toured Canada and the Eastern States. This was two years after the first Atlantic cable had broken down.

Ships “Hero” and “Ariadne” with the Prince of Wales were received with acclaim at St. John’s, Newfoundland. The party touched at Sydney Mines, Nova Scotia, July 28, and landed at Halifax Dockyard, the spot being marked by a stone with date, July 30, 1860, set in the pavement. Saint John, New Brunswick and Fredericton were visited and on August 25, after calling at Pictou, Charlottetown and Quebec, His Royal Highness drove the last rivet to open Victoria Tubular Bridge across St. Lawrence River.

On September 1, 1860, the Prince of Wales laid the corner stone of Parliament Buildings at Ottawa, which on December 31, 1857 had been chosen by Queen Victoria to be the capital of Canada. Prince of Wales College, Charlottetown, was founded. A Prince of Wales scholarship was instituted at Bishop’s College, Lenoxville, Quebec with a gift of £200. At Green Hill Look Off Museum, New Glasgow, is a stage coach in which the Prince of Wales rode to Pictou.

“Lord Renfrew” visited Mount Vernon, Washington, October 5, and Bunker Hill, October 19. The first member of Royalty to visit Canada after Confederation was Prince Arthur, a junior army officer, age 19, who landed at Halifax, August 22, 1869, on the way to join his regiment at Montreal. It was thought the presence of a member of the Royal Family would strengthen the new Dominion at a critical period following Fenian Raids, Civil War and political unrest. In honor of the Prince’s trip to the head of Lake Superior, General Wolsley named his base of supplies Port Arthur, used in suppression of the Riel Rebellion. In 1911-1916 Prince Arthur, as Field Marshal the Duke of Connaught, was Governor General of Canada.

Prince Alfred, Duke of Edinburgh, arrived at Halifax, November 18, 1878 in command of ironclad “Black Prince” and had been on the station some years before as a naval junior. One week later, November 25, 1878, four days after a Canadian National Policy election, the Marquis of Lorne with the Marchioness, (Princess Louise, fourth daughter of Queen Victoria) stepped ashore at the Nova Scotia capital and was immediately sworn in Governor General. Princess Louise was the second member of British Royalty to reside in Canada.

Prince Louis of Battenberg, First Lord of the Admiralty in 1914, was in Canada as naval cadet in 1873.

On Queen Victoria’s death it was decided to vary the sovereign’s title in order to recognize the self-governing status of overseas dominions. All sorts of suggestions were received constituting the Queen’s successor Lord and King of the various Commonwealths singly and severally. Newspapers teemed with proposals. An American correspondent wired his paper that King Edward was to be Emperor of Canada. The matter was settled when the Prince of Wales was crowned, “by the Grace of God, of the United Kingdoms of Great Britain and Ireland and of the British Dominions beyond the seas, King, Defender of the Faith, Emperor of India.”

King George V was in North American waters a sublieutenant in 1883 and 1884 and visited historic Annapolis Royal. In 1901 as Duke of York he formally opened the Australian Federal Parliament. At noon May 9, at Melbourne, an electric key flashed a signal to different parts of the Commonwealth causing flags to be flown everywhere. The Duke and Duchess of York (Late King George and Queen Mary) returned to England on the converted yacht Ophir via Capetown and a stopover in Canada. The party reached Quebec September 16, two days after the death of President McKinley. The Duke and Duchess went into mourning. They crossed and recrossed Canada by rail accompanied by the Governor General of Canada and the Prime Minister, stopped at various cities and rejoined the “Ophir” at Halifax Saturday, October 19, 1901. Sunday services were held on board. The Royal Party sailed from Halifax, Monday, October 21, for Portsmouth via St. John’s, Newfoundland. The Prince of Wales also attended Quebec Tercentenary July 30-31, 1908, and ascended the Throne as George V, May 6, 1910.

Prince Edward of Wales (King Edward VIII) owns 4,000 acres of land in North America. He is the first Royal landed proprietor of record on the continent. The property is E. P. ranch, 65 miles south west of Calgary, Alberta, in the foothills of the Canadian Rocky Mountains, specializing in pure bred cattle and horses, Dartmoor ponies for children and Hampshire sheep. The King is assessed for taxes the same as any other Canadian and would have a vote in elections if he were registered and cared to exercise the privilege, which he probably would not do. King Edward VIII, as Prince of Wales, has crossed the Atlantic repeatedly, notably on a United States tour August 1924; also Canadian Diamond Jubilee of 1927, accompanied by Prince George. As Prince of Wales, King Edward VIII has been in Canada four times. The first landing was at Saint John, New Brunswick, August 15, 1919. The Prince of Wales was warmly welcomed in Argentina.

At Confederation of Canada, 1867, Sir John A. Macdonald was keen for the title “Kingdom” of Canada and was over-ruled by British authorities who “feared this name would wound the sensibilities of the Yankees.” See Pope’s “Memoirs,” in which elimination of the name “Kingdom” was not made until the sixth draft of the Canadian constitution at London, 1867, and is blamed on Lord Derby, Foreign Minister.

The seventh and final revision containing the name, “Dominion” of Canada, which had been suggested by Sir John Macdonald as one of several alternatives, is supposed to have been borrowed from Psalm 72:8, Authorized Version:—“He shall have Dominion also from sea to sea.” The Canadian motto, “A mari usque ad mare,” from sea to sea, likewise alludes to the Dominion of Canada spanning the Continent and is copied from the Latin Psalm 72:8.

Virginia was formerly referred to as the “Old Dominion.” If Canada had taken the title “Kingdom” it is thought Australia would have done the same.

By the statute of Westminster, assented to December 19, 1931, the King of Great Britain became separately King of Canada, King of Australia, King of New Zealand, King of South Africa—the self-governing Dominions. Henceforth in each case the Governors General of the several Dominions, representing the Sovereign, will be appointed at the advice of Dominion Governments concerned, not as formerly at the nomination of the British Government.

At the coronation of Edward VIII, scheduled for May 1937 at London, for the first time in history, the several Dominions of the British Empire will be directly represented as equals of the Mother Country in the ceremonies.

The Duke and Duchess of Kent visited the West Indies on a honeymoon in 1935.

The Maharaja Gaekwar of Baroda, the senior ruling Prince in India, was in North America in 1933 and the Raja of Jubbal in 1932.

At the close of the War of Independence dissatisfied Revolutionary officers wished George Washington to be King and received not a particle of encouragement. Vermont and Kentucky residents suggested a union with Canada instead of joining the Republic as they judged Canadian and British trade would be of greater advantage. For diplomatic reasons these 18th century overtures elicited no response.

In 1800 Jerome Napoleon, youngest brother of the Emperor, was unable to reach France from the West Indies and landed at Boston. He married Elizabeth Patterson of Baltimore. Napoleon annulled the union and would not permit the American girl to enter France. The groom became King of Westphalia.

Under military pressure of Napoleon I, the King and Queen of Portugal and the whole court left the nation under a Regency in 1807 and removed to Rio Janeiro. Brazil was made a Kingdom. The King ultimately returned to Lisbon and a son became Emperor of Brazil.

The Brazilian crown eventually passed to Dom Pedro II, who, with the Empress, visited the United States and Europe. It was this monarch at the Philadelphia Exhibition, 1876, gave the telephone invention recognition. He had contacted Graham Bell at Boston while seeking advice respecting faulty hearing of a grand daughter. The Emperor met Dr. Bell again at Philadelphia and insisted on seeing the telephone that Gardiner G. Hubbard, Bell’s father-in-law, had taken pains to install in the electrical section, but the judges were passing by for the day. The Emperor picked up the telephone and turned to the crowd and exclaimed: “It speaks!”

In November 1889 Dom Pedro and family were placed on a steamship at Rio Janeiro and deported. The United States of Brazil was proclaimed.

Smith’s Diary reports Lord Cornbury, nephew by marriage of the Duke of York, while Governor of New York in 1705, appeared in public in female attire, was dismissed in disgrace and jailed for debt.

In 1705, the first mastodon tooth in America, five inches long, was found near Albany, and was sold for a gill of rum, but later presented to Governor Cornbury, who sent it to England as evidence that giant men existed in antedeluvian years. Their probable size and habits were described in detail.

Queen Marie of Roumania toured the United States and Canada in 1926.

Only one member of Spanish Royalty visited America, previous to Spain becoming a republic. Infanta Eulalia, sister of Alfonso XII with husband, Don Antonio De Orleans, toured Cuba and attended the Chicago Fair in 1893. “Memoirs” of Infanta Eulalia have lately been published. In 1936, Count Covadonga, eldest son of former King Alfonso XII, was living in New York, having renounced rights of succession, and was visited by his mother, former Queen Victoria.

John Law, a handsome Scot, founder of the Mississippi Bubble, among other honors was created King of Louisiana, which he never saw. At first Law could not make headway in Paris, being a “Huguenot,” so copying Henry IV he became a convert and enjoyed a meteoric career, manipulated the National Debt and billions of francs of popular investments, but finally died in poverty.

After obtaining independence, the Island of Hayti alternated 50 years between a monarchy and republic. Two Emperors and a King reigned but regimes were short and two of the rulers were executed. The first Haytian sovereign was Jean Dessalines, an exiled French convict, who had been sold as a slave to a negro planter. After reaching power in an insurrection of blacks he took his cue from Napoleon in 1804 and had himself crowned Emperor with much pomp. Succeeding princes were blacks.

Haytians early in 1804, wrested self-government from the French General, Brunet, successor to Leclerc. 8,000 French troops surrendered to a blockading English fleet. Brunet and suite, en route to England, were detained at Halifax several months as prisoners of war.

General Leclerc had died of yellow fever at San Domingo in 1802. Madame Leclerc (Pauline Bonaparte) returned to France, she was with her brother at Elba and offered to accompany him to St. Helena. The extreme beauty of Madame Leclerc, Napoleon’s favorite sister, is the subject of a well-known work of art, the statue Venus Victrix by Canova.

Joseph Bonaparte, eldest brother of Napoleon, at one time King of Naples and later King of Spain, in 1816 with family removed to Philadelphia and resided there some years as Comte de Survilliers. Two nephews, Charles, son of Lucien Bonaparte and Napoleon Louis, son of Louis Bonaparte, visited the exiles in America and married cousins, daughters of Joseph Bonaparte. All returned to Europe in 1830.

In 1649 inhabitants of Bermuda proclaimed Charles II King of Bermuda, which mightily displeased Cromwell, who took steps to suppress the opposition.

The Crown Prince and Crown Princess of Sweden visited the United States in 1926. Prince Vilhelm, youngest son of King Gustav crossed the Atlantic in 1927 in connection with a lecture tour.

Pope Pius IX, whose pontificate of more than 30 years covered the rise of United Italy, while a priest was auditor of the Apostolic Delegation at Chile 1823 to 1825. His Holiness spoke of himself as the first Pope who had been in America.

Prince Luigi di Savoia-Aosta, Duke of Abruzzi, uncle of King Victor Emanuel of Italy and Prince Amedeo di Savoia-Aosta, Duke of Aosta, another cousin, have crossed the Atlantic privately. Prince Ferdinando di Savoia-Genova, Prince of Udine, also a cousin, visited Washington in 1918.

In 1898 Prince Albert of Belgium visited Canada and the United States, including the Pacific coast. In 1919, King Albert (he succeeded in 1909) accompanied by Queen Elizabeth and Prince Leopold (now King of the Belgians) crossed the Atlantic to express appreciation of American help in the World War. In 1931 Prince Charles, Count of Flanders, brother of King Leopold spent a holiday, incognito, in Canada and the United States.

Prince Paul, Crown Prince of Greece, visited America in 1925, 1932, 1934. Prince and Princess Andrew and Prince and Princess Christopher crossed the Atlantic together in 1923 and Prince Christopher in 1927.

Prince Louis Ferdinand of Germany has been several times in the United States. Charles Edward, Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, was in Canada in 1934 en route to International Red Cross at Tokyo, as a delegate from the German Red Cross.

No member of the Royal House of Norway or Denmark, or of the former Ruling Dynasty of Turkey is known to have crossed the Atlantic.

In 1606, Shakespeare, Fletcher, Jonson, Beaumont and kindred spirits, in meeting together at “Mermaid Tavern,” founded by Sir Walter Raleigh on return from Virginia, or at “Devil Inn” at Temple Bar, did much to popularize the beginning of regular club dinners, while incidentally a good deal of the genius which helped build London’s first theatres may have been generated in the contacts and goodwill of these informal repasts.

In France, at the same time, dramatists were foregathering at Hotel de Bourgogne, basking in the sunshine of the royal favor of Henry of Navarre, a patron of art.

Concurrently 3,000 miles distant, in the heart of the Acadian forest, Samuel de Champlain, in 1606, was founding at Port Royal, “L’Ordre de bon Temps,” (The Order of Good Cheer), the first social club in America, which now has lunch clubs and successors of varying types in every city.

Prospects for American colonization were being freely discussed in London in 1606, which is the date that “Troilus and Cressida” appeared, and who will say the interest of James I in the overseas subject may not have influenced some of the passages. One stanza in particular is quite suggestive of such a wide club movement as the Acadian social organization of 1606 at Port Royal appears to have been the beginning:—

A cairn and tablet, with legend in English, unveiled August 13, 1924, at Lower Granville, Annapolis, Nova Scotia, marks the site of Champlain’s “Habitation,” described in the inscription as the home of the “Order of Good Cheer,” and the “Birthplace of Canadian Literature and Drama.”

Initial membership in America’s primary “Order of Good Fellows” was not commonplace and was limited to fifteen.

Champlain, Royal Geographer, historian, explorer, had been in Mexico and at the St. Lawrence, was a born organizer and enamoured of the prospects of the Western World, where he died, but like other great figures in history the place of burial has not been identified, but Champlain’s memory is honored in different communities.

Baron Poutrincourt was America’s first landowner, who planned bringing his family.

The Parisian, Lescarbot, was the first lawyer, poet and playwright in Canada.

At Annapolis Royal there is a tablet for Louis Hebert, first pharmacist in America and at Quebec stands an imposing monument for the same man as first Canadian scientific farmer.

These are simple 1606 merry-makers. The club dispensed with formal speeches on questions of the day—a modern volubility.

Guests in turn were maîtres d’d’hôtel, whose function was to furnish one new dish and provide a better dinner than the immediate predecessor. Instead of a president, there was a steward at the head of America’s first club, to watch over the wants and amusements of the company, opportunities for fishing and hunting were abundant and afforded wide scope for variety in catering.

Order of the Good Time—First weekly Lunch Club in America, founded by Samuel de Champlain, at Port Royal, Acadia, 1606; see Page 61 (Courtesy Dominion Atlantic Railway.)

Murdoch gives a concise description of the working of the “Order of Good Cheer” 330 years ago in Acadia:—“There were fifteen guests, each of whom in his turn, became steward and caterer of the day. At the weekly dinner, the steward with napkin on shoulder, staff of office in hand and the splendid embroidered collar of the order round his neck, led the van. The other guests in procession followed, each bearing a dish. After grace in the evening, he resigned the insignia to his successor and they drank to each other in a cup of wine. It was the steward’s duty to look to supplies, and he would go hunt or fish a day or two before his turn came, to add some dainty to the ordinary fare. During this winter they had fowl and game in abundance, supplied by the Indians and by their own exertions. The feasts were often attended by Indians of all ages and both sexes, sometimes 20 or 30 being present. The sagamore or chief, Membertou, the greatest sachem of the land, and other chiefs, when there, were treated as guests and equals.” Story telling and music followed.

Friendly intercourse of Micmacs with early French settlers has been attributed to two factors. Normally the Micmacs were intelligent, honest and kind. For a century previous to the founding of Port Royal, 1504 to 1604—there had been dealings between the Indians and fishermen from France, who frequented Acadian coasts.

In several ways Nova Scotia or Acadia is the birthplace of the Presbyterian Church in Canada. In May 1758 at Halifax and in July of the same year at Louisburg, following the capture of the Fortress, the first “recorded” Presbyterian services in English in present British North America were conducted by a Chaplain of Fraser’s Highlanders, Rev. Robert Macpherson.

The first Presbyterian settlers in Canada (excluding congregationalists) were Scotch-Irish families from Londonderry, New Hampshire, who founded Truro and Londonderry, Nova Scotia, in 1760 and afterward erected a log meeting house. The Synod of New York and Philadelphia, embracing New Jersey, were petitioned for a minister and in 1764 or 1765 sent Rev. James Lyon to Truro, who was the first resident Presbyterian clergyman in the Dominion of Canada serving a permanent charge.

Mr. Lyon was also identified with Nova Scotia in the capacity of a beneficiary of a land grant at Pictou held by Benjamin Franklin and associates of Philadelphia, and in that connection the grantees, Mr. Lyon and others, possibly visited Pictou previous to Mr. Lyon’s ordination at New Jersey, May 15, 1765. Evidently Rev. James Lyon was a political pupil of energetic Dr. John Witherspoon, lone clerical signer of Declaration of Independence.

Injudicious sympathy for the American Revolution eventually obliged Mr. Lyon to leave Nova Scotia and remove to Machias, Maine, where he advocated enlistment of a Maine corps to invade Acadia or Nova Scotia and rescue that benighted province from the clutches of the “British Tyrant.” Mr. Lyon no doubt suffered loss of the Pictou realty. A hostile expedition from Machias, the so-called Eddy rebellion, was a failure.

Ordination of Rev. Bruin Romkes Comingoe at Halifax, 1770, is referred to as the first “special” meeting of a Presbytery in Canada, while the first “regular” meeting of a Presbytery in the Dominion is credited to Truro in 1786. The first Synod was at Truro in 1817.

There was a Presbyterian congregation at Quebec 1759 following the capitulation. The pastor was Rev. George Hewing, an ex-military chaplain. The temporary place of worship was an apartment in the Jesuit college.

On August 20, 1935 St. David’s church, Maitland, Nova Scotia, celebrated the 130th anniversary of the founding of the congregation. The gathering commemorated Tuesday, June 21, 1803, when Rev. Alexander Dick was ordained and inducted as the “first ordination of a Presbyterian minister by a permanently constituted Presbytery in the Dominion of Canada.”

Dignified St. Andrew’s church, Lunenburg, Nova Scotia, which opened for worship July 3, 1770, is possibly the oldest Presbyterian church building in Canada, having had no serious fire in 165 years existence.

Presbyterian form of church government came to North America from France in 1604 with Sieur de Monts, founder of Acadia, who was a Calvinist. With him in 1604 there was a mixed company of Catholic and Protestant gentlemen, including a Huguenot minister and three Roman Catholic priests. Champlain, Royal Geographer loaned for the occasion, was a devout Catholic.

Official instructions to de Monts to convert the natives to Christianity manifestly referred to the State Faith of France, Roman Catholic. Nevertheless both Protestant and Catholic services in French undoubtedly took place at St. Croix island, situated between Maine and New Brunswick, where de Monts erected temporary quarters in the fall of 1604-05. An early winter and two months delay in Nova Scotia necessitated providing quick shelter.

A little chapel, says Lescarbot, was built at St. Croix bower-wise, that is, uprights were living trees. Some writers suggest this primitive St. Croix edifice may have been the first Dissenting place of worship in Canada, or in North America, excluding Ribault’s ill-starred venture in Florida, but a different view appears more likely. The chapel at St. Croix would require to be Catholic and so appears in reports to France.

Saints’ names were bestowed by de Monts party on coastal waters and it is noticeable concerning a detention at Port Matoun, the celebration of Holy Mass ashore is specifically reported, while no mention is made of Reformed service, which one may be sure was not neglected.

Snow fell unprecedentedly early at St. Croix in 1604 and there was not time to build two churches, especially with need to house a numerous company, care for storing goods and ammunition, furnish defence and opportunity for recreation in a wilderness. It is possible the two religious elements worshipped alternately in a single building, but it is more reasonable that Huguenot meetings were convened in the Governor’s roomy residence.

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Omitting the Ribault tragedy, it seems safe to conclude Huguenot gatherings in “Acadia” were the earliest Dissenting services in North America, presided over by a minister. The worship was not transitory as Latour and other French Protestants were active in “Acadia” long afterwards. Villebon, writing from Fort St. John, “Acadia,” June 1699, advised having been at Chibouctou (Halifax) where the company had established fishermen and found most “of them had withdrawn to Boston, because they were of the Reformed religion.”

The name of de Monts’ Huguenot Chaplain is unknown to fame, and the identity of one Catholic priest, Rev. Nicholas Aubry of Paris, is revealed only through the mischance of being lost in the woods and rescued after being given up for dead. Search continued several days, trumpets were blown and guns discharged without response. It seemed evident to the Commander that Father Aubry was no more, a salute was fired and orders reluctantly issued to proceed. An unfounded imputation of violence temporarily clouded the harmony of the expedition. There had been casual religious friction on the voyage, which was exaggerated and a charge was now hinted the missing priest was a victim of foul play.

De Monts’ ships examined the Nova Scotia coast for suitable harbors for trading and for minerals and timber. The squadron then crossed the Bay of Fundy to Passamaquoddy Bay, and a shallop was sent back in charge of Champlain and a mineralogist to revisit St. Mary’s Bay and sample outcroppings resembling silver and iron.

There was rejoicing and relief when the prospecting boat discovered Father Aubry in a semi-exhausted condition, he having subsisted on herbs and wild berries nearly three weeks. The priest explained he had accidentally become separated from other members of a boat’s crew while returning to a brook to recover his sword, which had been laid aside and forgotten when the party rested to drink at a cool spring. The priest became lost and wandered miles before regaining the Bay of Fundy shore, where he was lucky to attract attention of the Champlain boat by waving a hat on a pole.

Subsequently a priest and parson succumbed to an epidemic at St. Croix, partly contracted in performing offices for the sick and dying. During the winter half the entire company were carried off.

Champlain chose the name St. Croix for an attractive island which proved a death trap. Running ice in the river marooned the Europeans on the island for months. The title St. Croix was prompted by an abrupt fork and bay in the river just above the island and by the isolated position of the island downstream, dividing the current into two branches as if to form the legs of a huge cross.

Nine miles up river from St. Croix island, the St. Croix river contracts to 300 yards and is spanned by an International highway bridge joining progressive Calais and St. Stephen.

At St. Croix island, however, the river broadens into an imposing basin, over two miles in width, with St. Croix island floating majestically midstream on this noble body of water. The shining designation, St. Croix, that Champlain assigned this island in the New World, has become a Continental landmark.

The name St. Croix is not dishonored in being a symbol of 100 years peace, as the Atlantic terminal of the longest friendly boundary line on earth. Parallels of latitude uniting Canada and United States commence at the “Island of the Holy Cross,” bisect the Niagara cataract and depths of the Great lakes, traverse Western plains, scale peaks of the Rocky mountains and sink with the sun into warm currents of the North Pacific.

The landscape at St. Croix is Arcadian and would appeal to the Gallic temperament of early voyagers. The broad tidal estuary is bounded by verdant slopes of farm and forest rising 500 feet on both banks with the blue ocean at the end of the valley, seen in the dim distance. Two tones of sky and water, field and woodland, red and grey rocks supply a color scheme of pastoral charm to frame the island of the Cross.

Federal authorities at Washington control the upper end of St. Croix island, where a lighthouse is situated. Calais and surrounding municipalities are pressing the Washington Government to acquire all of St. Croix island as a National park and assist to reasonably reproduce chapel, fort, magazine and dwellings of the enclosure of 1604. It would be fine if this could be carried out.

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De Monts discovered the limited island site too confined for settlement. In the spring of 1605 buildings at St. Croix were dismantled and frames removed to Port Royal (Annapolis Royal) which became the headquarters of Acadia for 145 stirring years, until superseded by Halifax in 1749. At St. Croix island tercentenary in 1904, representatives and warships of several nations participated in a fitting celebration of the 300th anniversary of De Monts initial settlement in North America. A tablet was unveiled:—

St. Croix island is about 400 yards long, 125 yards across at widest part, contains five acres and nowhere is the rocky core and clay covering more than 50 feet above highwater. The international boundary in the river follows the deeper Eastern channel, which by the terms of Ashburton treaty of 1842 places St. Croix island beneath the folds of “Old Glory.”

A simultaneous ruling at the mouth of St. Croix river established Campobello island in Canadian jurisdiction, although it is so close to the Maine shore, in October 1935 a press despatch reported an abnormally low tide permitted people walking to Campobello from the mainland. Family and friends of President Roosevelt have had summer homes at Campobello for sixty years, and it is here the President contracted infantile paralysis. Nearby at Passamaquoddy Bay a rise and fall of 40 feet of tide is proposed to be harnessed for an extensive tidal hydro-electric development, the first of the kind.

In North American geography, St. Croix and Acadia are at the Half-Way mark. 45 North passes through the centre of Nova Scotia and is the International boundary in Vermont and Northern New York. St. Croix island is 45.07-44 North, but nearby at Perry, Maine, the American National Geographic Society have placed a quaint legend on a large rock on the roadside:—

Several Congregational clergymen of note voluntarily left Nova Scotia during the War of Independence and returned to New England. The family of Rev. Mr. Adams gave two Presidents to the Republic. George Bancroft, historian and statesman, was a son of Rev. Aaron Bancroft, who had been at Yarmouth, Nova Scotia. Stalwarts of divinity from the other side of the Atlantic stepped into the vacancies and entered the Canadian Presbyterian field, thus establishing in Nova Scotia a direct connection with old country churches.

Three names are conspicuous in this new era in Presbyterian annals in “Acadia”. This trio are Rev. James Murdoch, father of Beamish Murdoch, lawyer and historian, Rev. James MacGregor, D.D., well-known Pictou missionary and Rev. Thomas McCulloch, D.D., founder of famous Pictou Academy and afterward first President of Dalhousie University, Halifax.

Through efforts mainly of Dr. MacGregor and Dr. McCulloch, the first union in the world of Scottish Secession churches was effected in Nova Scotia in 1817, a momentous event in Canadian Presbyterian history.

The first General Assembly of Canadian Presbyterians occurred June 7, 1870, and a union of all Presbyterian bodies in Canada was consummated June 15, 1875 under the name “The Presbyterian Church of Canada” numbering 870,728 adherents in 1931.

By the short cut of a Royal Charter on May 17, 1785, Saint John, New Brunswick, which two years previously was wilderness, became the first incorporated city in Canada, though by no means the oldest community.

Provincial legislatures in Canada generally sponsor subordinate municipalities. The order of precedence is reversed in New Brunswick where the Saint John city charter antedated the initial session of the Provincial Legislature of January 3, 1786. A Royal City Charter direct from England made this possible and Saint John became the Provincial Capital for a couple of years.

In 1788 the Provincial Assembly moved from Saint John to Fredericton as Governor Thomas Carleton, brother of Sir Guy Carleton, Lord Dorchester, Commander-in-Chief at New York at evacuation and subsequently first British Governor General of Canada, thought the seat of Government of the new Province would be safer inland. St. Anne, an old French up-river village, was changed to Frederick Town (Fredericton) for a Provincial Capital and occupies a charming site, noted for shade trees.

Six Wards, Mayor and Aldermen were named in the 1785 Saint John civic proclamation, each Ward to have an alderman and an assistant. Gabriel G. Ludlow was first Mayor.

Port Latour, at the entrance of the St. John river, had been a fur-trading centre and stronghold, principally French, almost 150 years, and is featured in the Latour-Charnisay frontier tragedy, which rivals ancient European baronial and clan feuds in bitterness.

The first permanent English settlement at Maugerville, New Brunswick, 1762, was named for Hon. Joshua Mauger, afterward Nova Scotia representative in London, who helped settlers secure land titles. In 1765 St. John river district had been created County Sunbury of Nova Scotia and sent Charles Morris to the Assembly at Halifax. Brigadier General Henry E. Fox, brother of Charles James Fox, helped direct Saint John Loyalist settlements and was named first Governor of New Brunswick, but declined the appointment.

In 1777 New England Revolutionary agents presented letters from General Washington and distributed wampum belts and supplies to New Brunswick Indians, former French allies, and arranged with them to attack the English fort (Howe) and settlement at the site of Saint John. 700 warriors in 200 canoes gathered for the assault, returned the English flag and sent the Fort Commander a formal declaration of war.

Colonel Michael Francklin, astute Indian Commissioner, was hastily summoned from Halifax, accompanied by Father Bourg, who read a strong letter from the Bishop of Quebec counselling peace. Father Bourg possessed great influence. Francklin obtained a copy of the Boston treaty with the Indians and outbid the stipulated terms.

Later Francklin formally addressed Mallicite and Micmac braves as, “My Brethren,” and advised them “My Gracious Master, King George” had shipped them a big bill of goods. A tempting invoice of materials was submitted containing quantities of blankets, caps, shirts, blue and scarlet cloth, rings, ribbons, embossed serge, cultivators, gunpowder, shot and flints and a “cask of wine for the squaws and men as do not drink rum.”

Francklin was known as a man of his word and this was the last attempt to start an Indian war in Nova Scotia. The “cask of wine” was a peace-maker and not fire-water. Kneeling, chiefs and people took a new oath of allegiance. The cost of the presents was £537-2-9, with £40 extra for table expenses during negotiations. American gifts were returned and the Indian chiefs offered to fight for the British if required.

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Between May 10-18, 1783, twenty ships from New York landed several thousand Loyalists at Saint John. Some were lost on the way. These stout-hearted patriots went to work with a will clearing a town site and throwing up tents and log cabins. Births, marriages and deaths occurred under canvas. A plan of Saint John, December 17, 1783, is labelled “Parr Town” for Governor John Parr of Nova Scotia. The flattery was wasted. Parr and the Nova Scotia Executive proved dilatory in making land grants and dealing with urgent requirements.

A vigorous protest was sent to London with a suggestion the territory be detached from Nova Scotia and constituted a separate province, which was approved and General Thomas Carleton was designated first Governor. “New Ireland” and “Pittsylvania” were titles proposed for the province but “New Brunswick” was preferred in compliment to the reigning family. General Carleton and household landed at Halifax from England in October 1784. The Governor’s party reached Saint John, Sunday, November 21, 1784, six hours from Digby per sloop “Ranger,” Captain Hatfield, and were accorded a double salute.

No grass was permitted to grow around the organization of the Loyalist city and province. Next day, Monday, November 22, 1784, Carleton’s commission was publicly read, the Governor sworn in, and an Executive Council of seven selected and convened in the same day.

In welcoming addresses energetic inhabitants styled themselves, “a number of oppressed and insulted Loyalists” and Governor Carleton, taking the cue, was impressed with the expediency of inaugurating the independent Province of New Brunswick with minimum delay, and likewise in the following May, “Parr Town” and adjoining suburb “Carleton” were merged by Royal Charter into the “City of Saint John,” a unique procedure seldom duplicated.

A report from London that it was first proposed sending Loyalists to Australia or New Zealand is unsubstantiated. Brook Watson is supposed to have had considerable to say in the New Brunswick selection.

At the initial session of New Brunswick Provincial Legislature at the Mallard House, Saint John, in January 1786 the dignity of the newest British legislative body was vindicated. George Handyside was summoned to the Bar of the House, convicted of disrespectful language regarding the New Brunswick Assembly and was condemned to humbly ask pardon kneeling.

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For 100 years Loyalist Saint John was haunted by fires. The first conflagration broke out June, 1784, and periodically on fourteen subsequent occasions the community was partly desolated, aggravated often by want of appreciation of the benefit of insurance. A great catastrophe of June 1877 capped the Phoenix-like fire series, when 1,600 Saint John buildings were levelled in nine hours hurricane of flame.

The second fire in Saint John history in 1788 started in a warehouse of General Benedict Arnold, would-be conqueror of Quebec and of Canada, who escaped to Saint John from American custody and evaded a firing squad for desertion from the Revolutionary cause.

A business partner in Saint John, Hoyt, accused Arnold of arson and in a libel action Arnold was awarded two shillings six pence damages.

New Brunswick virgin forests proved a gold-mine for ships’ masts. The first British cargo was exported from Saint John in 1780 and in succeeding years New Brunswick sticks supplied to the Royal Navy were an appreciable factor in sea victories in Napoleonic wars. The French had shipped pine sticks for masts the latter part of the 17th century. A mast 18 inches diameter and 75 feet long was worth £10, but a stick 36 inches diameter and 108 feet in length was valued at £136. Special ships were built for carrying the masts to England.

The two Carletons, first Governor General of Canada and first Governor of New Brunswick, married beautiful Howard sisters in a romantic story.

The expeditious “charter” experience of Saint John in 1785 is different from neighboring Halifax. For 80 years Halifax citizens strove for municipal autonomy. Repeated petitions laid before the Legislature of Nova Scotia in 1759, 1785, 1790 and in 1816, following Waterloo, were rejected. The prayer of the City for incorporation was consistently favored by the popular assembly and as regularly turned down by autocratic Executive Councils. Ruling Councillors declared it was essential that Halifax should remain a Fortress and the possibility of the Port becoming a business emporium could not be entertained.

Incorporation of Halifax was ultimately achieved in 1840 as part of a general agitation for Responsible Government in Nova Scotia. The Civic angle had much to do with accomplishment in Nova Scotia of the initial reform of an overseas self-government, which has since then spread and become a corner stone of British Empire unity.

A letter from the American Consulate General in Nova Scotia in reply to an inquiry addressed to the Secretary of State at Washington states “that Halifax was the first consulate of the United States to be opened in British North America.”

Henry M. Morfit was named first Consular and Commercial agent at Halifax June 4, 1827, but there is nothing to show that he assumed the duties. John Morrow succeeded Morfit March 26, 1833, and the first despatch from Halifax in Washington files is April 10, 1833. Morrow’s appointment was confirmed by Congress February 10, 1834. On August 23, 1833, the United States Legation at London received Consul Morrow’s exequatur from His Britannic Majesty’s Government and forwarded the document to the Halifax office.

“As early as June 29, 1833” writes the American Consul General “Consular agencies under the Consulate at Halifax, were established at St. John’s, Nfld., Saint John, New Brunswick, Pictou, Sydney, Bridgeport, Yarmouth and Liverpool, Nova Scotia.

By May 3, 1834 additional consular agencies were opened at Windsor, Barrington, Parrsboro, Amherst, Annapolis, Guysboro and Arichat in Nova Scotia, Charlottetown in Prince Edward Island, St. Andrew’s in New Brunswick and at Quebec. There is nothing in the records to show how consular business was previously conducted. Montreal, Ottawa, Winnipeg, Vancouver and Toronto are now Consulates-General.

Several United States consuls were appointed after 1783, and Jefferson designated sixteen following the adoption of the Constitution in 1790. In early days there was a tendency in the United States to forego diplomatic representation in many countries, and appoint as consul-general a leading citizen who happened to be resident at the foreign capital.

Royal Nova Scotia Yacht Squadron, Halifax, dating from 1837, the year of Queen Victoria’s accession, is the oldest yacht club in Canada and possibly in America. New York Yacht Club was formed 1844.

At inception, the Nova Scotia Squadron was the Halifax Yacht Club, then the Royal Halifax Yacht Club in 1870 and the Royal Nova Scotia Yacht Squadron in 1876.

In 1860 the Prince of Wales (King Edward VII) presented a silver cup, three feet high with cupid and trident on top, made in London, for annual competition. The names of winners are engraved from year to year. There is no space left.

In 1862 the British Admiralty granted permission to the R. N. S. Y. S. to fly the Blue Ensign, with the club emblem in the fly, the first Canadian Yacht Club to receive this warrant.

In 1905 a group of American yachts went to Halifax to compete for the Wales Cup, which was captured by American schooner Almena. In 1886, international racers, Galatea and Dauntless, also competed at Halifax and the combined crews contributed a Cup to the club as an annual premium.

A tablet on the pulpit of St. James’ Anglican church, Herring Cove, Nova Scotia, commemorates George Brown, “champion oarsman of the world, 1874-75, born Herring Cove, February 7, 1839, died July 8, 1875.” “Champion of America,” is the term more commonly used in reference to Brown, who died at Saint John, from the effects of a cold, in the middle of a remarkable sculling career.

In 1890, Studley Quoit Club, Halifax, founded August 24, 1858, was the first athletic organization in Canada presented with a White Ensign to be flown when Naval visitors are in attendance. Royalty, Governors-General, Archbishops, Admirals, Generals, Noblemen, Financiers, Justices, Prime Ministers and other dignitaries have enjoyed the hospitality of this institution. During three quarters of a century officers of nearly every navy in the world have been entertained. There is no club-house. When a pitching meet is over, tents, framed pictures, telephone are removed, nothing remains but the field, trees and quoit beds.

The first iron bridges fabricated in Canada were built at Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, in 1877 and 1878 by Starr Manufacturing Company, Limited, the “battle” of iron versus wooden bridges was fought by engineers in 1870.

Railway bridges of iron, replacing wood, on the historic Intercolonial Railway, were installed by the Starr Company at Elmsdale and Enfield, Nova Scotia, for the Canadian Government, and at Musquodoboit Harbour a highway bridge, still in use, was erected for the Nova Scotia Government. The latter job was 1878. These bridges were manufactured at Dartmouth from stock imported from England.

G. H. Duggan, former President Dominion Bridge Company, Montreal, states:—“I am not able to confirm this, but think it is correct. . . . It has always been my understanding that before this time iron railway bridges were all imported from British or American firms, and also the few iron highway bridges that were erected in Canada, with the exception of those that were constructed by the Starr Manufacturing Company at Dartmouth.”

Elmsdale (1877) and Enfield (1878) iron railway bridges, have long since been replaced with heavier steel structures. The first iron highway bridge in Nova Scotia, made abroad, is at Argyle, Yarmouth County, dated 1879.

In 1884-85 the Starr Company built a 190 foot steel span for a low-level railway bridge, not now in existence, crossing Halifax Harbour at the Narrows, a point well known to thousands of soldiers from United States and Canada waiting at Halifax in 1917-1918 for convoy to France. This is the site of the great Halifax Explosion December 6, 1917.

The steel section of the old Narrows bridge at Halifax was fabricated and erected at Dartmouth for the Ottawa Government and was the first steel swing section made in Canada.

William Lloyd Garrison, American abolitionist and for 35 years publisher of the “Liberator,” which voluntarily discontinued in 1866, was almost an “Acadian”. He was born at Newburyport, Mass., December 10, 1805, three months after his parents had arrived at that place from Lower Granville, Nova Scotia, their native province. The Garrison homestead at Port Wade, Nova Scotia, is an object of interest. Numerous collateral descendants live in the neighborhood, where the mother’s family name of Lloyd is common.

A Boston monument to William Lloyd Garrison is a reminder that in 1834 a pro-slavery Tremont street mob dragged Garrison half-naked several blocks, with a rope around him, evidently intending to lynch him, which was averted by throwing the humanitarian into gaol. No church or vestry at the “Hub” would allow Garrison to lecture on emancipation.

At Baltimore, Garrison was imprisoned seven weeks and fined for anti-slavery agitation. In London he was headlined an “African,” it being assumed no white man would suffer persecution on behalf of negroes. The Civil War was largely a result of Garrison’s passionate protest against human bondage:—“I am in earnest—I will not excuse—I will not retreat a single inch—and I will be heard.” The words are inscribed in bronze on the Boston monument. Garrison’s service to the United States was publicly acknowledged by President Lincoln.

Rev. John Abbott pictures the strong slavery sentiment that prevailed in Boston. A fugitive slave girl married a colored man, Crafts, and the couple had two children. A young healthy mother, very light color, with two fine boys, represented a considerable catch for slave owners. In 1852 an attempt was made to abduct them.

Notwithstanding the offspring were born in the shadow of Faneuil Hall, sons of a free citizen of Massachusetts, by the Compromise of the Constitution they were slaves and the legal property of a South Carolina planter. The Boston father had no control over his infant sons. Warned just in time, mother and children were aided to escape to Nova Scotia on board an outgoing Cunard steamer bound for Halifax and for liberty.

The first shots in 150 years’ war in America between France and England, were fired from Virginia to Acadia in 1613, seven years before the Pilgrim Fathers, which is evidence there was plenty of elbow room and that the initial clash was not a border affair. Practically 500 miles of wilderness intervened between Jamestown, Virginia and Port Royal, Acadia and in between there was a small subsidiary French settlement recently located at Saint Sauveur, Mount Desert, Maine.

Captain Samuel Argal, soldier of fortune, captor of beautiful Pocahontas by a trick, afterward Deputy Governor of the “Old Dominion” and later knighted for service in Algiers, was in northern waters with an armed schooner to protect a fleet of Virginia vessels engaged in the fisheries. Piracy was rampant at the time and Indians were hostile.

Without warning, Argal bombarded French settlements at Saint Sauveur and Port Royal, killed several including a priest, took others prisoners, burned and destroyed buildings, carried off portable belongings, pulled down crosses and even erased stone carvings containing French emblems. The attacks were made in a prolonged peace between the two countries and were ostensibly based on a charge of trespass and prior British title, dating from Cabot’s Discovery of North America 116 years earlier. Indians registered surprise that men of apparently the same race should be enemies.

Anglo-French hostilities in America, which were then commenced, did not cease until 1763, when most of the continent was confirmed to Great Britain. One flag from Pole to Tropics was not destined to endure and the British Empire in America was sundered by a schism in 1775.

“Acadia”, which had been a battleground since the Argal affair of 1613, alternating between French and English, joined hands with French Quebec in the American Revolution and “Acadia” or Nova Scotia and Quebec, became the nucleus of the Dominion of Canada which now administers one-half of the continent.

The First Scottish settlers in America went to Nova Scotia or Acadia between 1623 and 1628 with Sir William Alexander, younger, Menstrie, in charge and located at Port Royal (Annapolis Royal). An agreement was made with Indians to select representatives to proceed to England and transfer their allegiance from King Louis to King Charles and be assured of protection. At a Micmac gathering, Sakumow Sagwa, wife and son were chosen and the younger Alexander conferred on them the titles King, Queen and Prince of New Scotland.

This first “Royal” Indian delegation from America to Europe embarked at Annapolis in the fall of 1629 and landed at Plymouth, England, where the Governor, Sir James Bragg, was instructed to extend courtesies appropriate to distinguished strangers and accompany them to London.

En route to the metropolis the native “Canadians” were guests for a week of Lord Poulet in Somersetshire. Lady Poulet was “particularly attentive to the savage Queen and rode with her in the coach to London and put a chain around her neck with a diamond said to be worth £20. The savages took all in good part, but for thanks or acknowledgment made no sign.”

The “King, Queen and Prince of New Scotland,” carrying gifts of Indian work, weaving, shells and a head-dress of feathers, were received by Charles I at the palace and were lionized at the Capital and loaded with presents. Accounts agree the pioneer “American tourists” to be “presented” seemed at ease and enjoyed the sights hugely. They returned to Nova Scotia from this transatlantic journey in June 1630, one week before Governor Winthrop founded Boston on the site of Indian “Shawmut.”

At earlier periods, American Indians were taken to Europe as captives or for exhibition. Pocahontas is supposed to have died in London.

In 1710 a delegation of four Indian Sachems belonging to the Six Nations, New York, visited London, causing a great sensation under the curious title “The Four Kings of Canada.”

In 1824 the King and Queen of Hawaiian Islands, discovered by Captain James Cook, visited England, where both died of measles.

American Indians did not have names for domestic animals—horse, cow, sheep, goat. They owned dogs—ulumootch—distinct from a wolf—boktusum. Captain Leigh of the “Hopewell” at Cape Breton, 1597, reported:—“dogges, of color black, not so big as a greyhound, followed them (savages) at their heels.”

This is one of the earliest known references to Indian dogs. Observant Lescarbot alludes to a pioneer importation of man’s faithful friend:—“at sea (1606) our dogs thrust their noses over the side the better to sniff the land breezes and could not refrain from showing their joy by their actions.” Canine immigration in Canada was apparently primarily French Acadian. There is no information how French dogs disported themselves on landing at Port Royal.

An erroneous impression exists that De Monts’ initial expedition to Acadia in 1604 was exploratory only and that the party were not equipped to immediately undertake permanent settlement. The presence of livestock is one of numerous bits of evidence to the contrary. Vide Lescarbot:—“There was only one sheep (at Port Royal), the other having been lost overboard at Port Mouton. Pigs increased a lot and chickens and pigeons in great numbers.”

At Port Royal, Lescarbot adds:—“acquaintance was made with the humming bird, not known in Europe.”

There were equines in Greenland in the eleventh century, as Eric the Red is recorded tumbling from his mount on the way to the shore to embark for Vinland and interpreted the accident as an omen to stay home and hence did not visit Markland and Vinland (Acadia). Norse settlements in Greenland possessed other livestock.

Excluding Greenland, the first cattle known to have been brought to Canada and United States, appear to be those left on Sable Island, “Acadia”, by Baron de Lery et de St. Just. Lescarbot and Laet make the year 1518 and Murdoch, Page 3, quotes “English and French Commissaries” to the same effect. Some Canadian writers doubt that France was sufficiently well organized to venture on colonization so early. 1538 or 1552 are mentioned as more likely dates of de Lery’s attempted settlement.

The objection is not quite clear, as young Francis I had come to the throne, January 1515, with a head full of schemes, and the general condition of the people was a state of moderate comfort at the death of Louis XII. In 1524 Francis despatched Verrazano to America, and New York bay was discovered.

In increasing numbers, European fishermen were visiting the Banks and drying catches ashore in Newfoundland and Nova Scotia from 1504 or earlier and there was information in Paris as to the character of the Nova Scotia peninsula. Reviewing the circumstances, the date 1518 attached to de Lery’s primary visit to the “Isle of Mourning” does not present marked improbability, though de Lery possibly was not in French employ.

In “History of Canso,” Transactions of Nova Scotia Historical Society, Volume 21, Mrs. James E. Hart states:—“Late in 1518 Baron de Lery left France for the purpose of making a settlement in Acadia. He found the weather becoming so cold, however, that after leaving cattle at Canso and Sable Island, he went back to France, probably expecting to return in the spring. The cattle left at Canso either died through the winter, or were killed by Indians, and de Lery and his colonists did not come again.” The term “colonists” taken in conjunction with the date 1518, is significant in New World colonization.

Cattle and swine on Sable Island succumbed to winter conditions and to attacks of pirates and raiders.

There were horses at Port Royal, Acadia, 1613 and at Boston, Mass., 1629.

Hardy Sable Island ponies have withstood marooned existence, pawing the sand for fresh water and grazing on coarse grass between sand hills. Formerly the several gangs or herds totalled 400 to 500 animals. They are undersize, a distinct breed, the supposed effects of exposure and cramped environment.

Wrecks on Sable Island

Ribs of shipwrecks ring entire Sable Island. There are numerous stories of ghosts of drowned people. Observers say Sable Island is slowly shifting east on the crest of the fishing banks and washing away. What will happen if the deep edge of the banks is ever reached is a conundrum. At latest calculations this “sand hummock” island is 20 miles long and barely one mile wide, with a protecting rim of sand hills 80 to 100 feet high in places and a grass bowl and small lake in the middle. S. D. McDonald estimates that three centuries ago Sable Island was possibly 200 miles in length, with hills of 800 feet altitude, and was attractive for stock ranching.

These dimensions seem excessive, but no doubt the “graveyard” was formerly much larger than at present. Hulls of wrecks partly out of water 75 years ago are now submerged in depths of 25 fathoms.

Sable Island is at the meeting place of three currents—the warm Gulf stream and two cold Arctic “rivers” and forms the centre of violent electrical storms. Thunder and lightning and the crash of wind and sea are deafening. An awesome spectacle is the phosphorescent light that plays about the island and is especially weird on occasions, when surrounding wastes of green water are converted into a lake of ghostly flame, which, when the sea breaks high, may rise 15 feet, a macabre pyramid of liquid fire, revealing fanciful shapes of the missing.

Portuguese mariners labelled Sable Island “Isle Faguntes” and “Santa Cruz” and Italians named the desolate spot “Isolla del Arena.” In earlier years detachments of Island ponies were sent to the mainland for sale and to deplete the number. Castaways killed horses for food and reported the beef equal to best steer. At intervals the Canadian Government formerly sent blood stallions to Sable Island. This is not done any more, and export of the ponies for general sale has been discontinued. They were easily broken, but are not able to perform the work of an ordinary horse, and Society for Prevention of Cruelty protested against further unrestricted distribution of the small Island ponies. A few of the hardy animals are used in connection with Sable Island lights, life-saving, meteorological and wireless services, but otherwise they are left alone in their glory to forage for themselves, along with seals, sea-birds, rats, rabbits, cats and owls.

During the war of 1812, the United States Government ordered armed shipping not to interfere with vessels going to and from Sable Island. In 1853 public spirited citizens of United States contributed three life-boats for Sable Island—“Victoria” from Boston, “Grace Darling” from Philadelphia and “Reliance” from New York.

The origin of Sable Island is a mystery. Botanical evidence offered by Professor Fernald, Harvard, suggests the island is a remnant of a sand bridge which stretched from New Jersey to Newfoundland, as sand loving plants on the island resemble the flora of the places mentioned, but not Nova Scotia or Cape Breton.

The first spring skates for ice, in the world, were patented by John Forbes, Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, 70 years ago, which led to the construction of covered rinks and development of modern ice hockey. For a long time skating had been confined to northern countries and open spaces. It is related that when the Duke of Alva tried to crush the spirit of liberty loving Netherlands in 1567, the Spanish soldiers were attacked by the Hollanders on skates. Alva ordered the troops to learn skating.

For three centuries wood frame skates were the only style available. A screw in the skate went up into the heel of the boot with two leather straps for fastenings.

Initial all-metal skates in the middle of the 19th century had brass plates at toe and heel, and corresponding plates were inset in the sole and heel-tap of shoes. The plates engaged and locked with a pin. In the next improvement the heel-plate turned up as a lug at the back of the boot. There was a metal nut set in the back of the boot heel, and a small thumb-screw passed through the lug into the nut.

In 1865, 1866, 1867, 1868 John Forbes patented spring skates and 3,000,000 pairs, manufactured at Dartmouth, have gone around the globe. Like many other successful inventions the keynote was simplicity. No screw or plate attachment was required, no strap or bother of any kind. The skates could be adjusted or removed with a single lever and became popular. Skating on small sheets of ice sprang into favor. The long wooden skates tended to restrict skating to fjords, bays, rivers and lakes.

In 1842 at the age of 8, John Forbes—(Scotch For-bus)—was a member of a family of artisans who migrated from Birmingham to Nova Scotia in a sailing vessel. William Forbes, the father, was a watchmaker. It was the American Civil War that indirectly gave Canada the credit of the spring skate invention. Young Forbes was a hardware clerk in Halifax and sold old fashioned skates. Customers deplored the absence of something simpler.

In winter when general business was quiet, Clerk Forbes experimented on the skate problem, and eventually worked out the germ of the spring skate in crude shape. In 1854 at the optimistic age of 20, Forbes decided to transfer his activities to Uncle Sam’s dominions to obtain machine experience and to enlist capital.

War with the Southern States intervened. Forbes returned to Nova Scotia in 1860, having refused to take the oath of allegiance. A small factory was commenced in Halifax in 1861 and metal skates turned out, which partly embodied the spring principle. The lever application was then evolved, and in 1864 the project was converted into Starr Manufacturing Co. and works erected at Dartmouth, Nova Scotia. The complete spring skate was received with a wide demand.

No other spring skates were being made. Orders poured in. Boston and Sheffield agencies distributed thousands of pairs in various States and countries. Electro-plating was added. Nickel and gold-plated skates were commanded for royalty and enclosed in expensive presentation cabinets, with appropriate coronets. Governors-General of Canada—Lord and Lady Dufferin, Marquis and Marchioness of Lorne—were presented with Forbes skates in walnut cases at the Dartmouth plant. Governments asked for extra sizes for Polar exploration for men wearing boots over moccasins. Forbes skates were sold in Europe, Asia and America and in the Antipodes. In the year 1877, 100,000 pairs were marketed. In 1867, in honor of Canadian Confederation, the original spring patent was amended and the name changed to Victoria Club.

The Forbes Acme pattern came out in 1871 and is still a favorite, with modifications. Encyclopedia Britannica, 1875, referring to the skating pastime, mentions varieties of makes on the market:—“many kinds have been invented, but the Acme, first produced in Canada is generally acknowledged the best.”

On a crisp December day in 1900, a Nova Scotia editor watched a London crowd skating at the Serpentine in Hyde Park. A graceful lady skater came to a bench to rest a moment and was asked what skates she wore and replied:—“I have the best, they are from Canada.” On the blade was the maker’s stamp:—“Forbes Acme, Starr Manufacturing Co., Dartmouth, Nova Scotia.”

In Stockholm and Vienna winter ice palaces, Forbes skates are standard. Mr. Forbes was a mechanical genius. Ingenious tools and machines for turning out the skate parts in quantity were invented and fabricated at the Dartmouth plant. John Forbes, the spring skate inventor, passed away in 1915.

The first record of skates in America is DeMonts expedition to Acadia in 1604. At St. Croix during the winter, “some of the young men went hunting in spite of the cold weather and brought down rabbits with snow balls. They went skating on the ponds.” The temporary St. Croix settlement was transferred to Annapolis (Port) Royal in 1605, where the first permanent skating in Canada must have taken place.

The first Government lottery in Canada was at Nova Scotia, 1752, to provide funds to construct Sambro lighthouse, at entrance of Halifax harbour, the oldest English built light tower in the Dominion.

1,000 tickets at £3 each were distributed, 200 prizes aggregating £3,000, were drawn for at the “Town House.” The capital premium was £500, thirty-nine of varying amounts and then 140 of £7 each.

Fifteen percent was deducted from winners to make up £450, estimated cost of the primitive lighthouse, now one of the most important light and wireless stations on the Atlantic seaboard.

In Governor Cornwallis lottery proclamation in 1752 it was represented the purchase of tickets would be a “voluntary tax” on some, who otherwise do not contribute to the expense of government. Sambro lighthouse is the subject of a poem by Tom Moore in 1804.

Sambro Lighthouse, Halifax—First English built light in Canada, was originally erected by means of a Government lottery in 1752. See page 79. (Photo courtesy Halifax Herald.)

In 1780 Nova Scotia House of Assembly authorized a lottery to raise £1,500 to build a “public school.” Half the amount £750, was obtained in a percentage on the sale of 5,000 tickets at 20 shillings each. The intended second issue of tickets was not made and the projected school building was not erected. Nine years later, a grammar school was opened in the Province House.

An application from Winkworth Tonge for permission to dispose of a large estate at Windsor, Nova Scotia, by public lottery, was refused.

In 1764, a lottery was sanctioned at Quebec to restore the Roman Catholic cathedral destroyed by fire during the 1759 siege. 10,000 tickets were prepared, with £20,000 prizes, but the project was not carried out.

United States Congress in 1776 enacted a general measure permitting lotteries for roads, schools, hospitals. Seventy different drawings had been approved down to 1830, when the legislation was repealed.

The last English lottery was 1826. State lotteries flourished many years on the Continent and in Great Britain.

On April 25, 1845 by letters patent from Queen Victoria, Fredericton, capital of New Brunswick, was created a “Cathedral City,” the first in North America. Rt. Rev. John Medley, energetic first Bishop of Fredericton, formerly of Exeter, England, received the Queen’s command that the capital of Loyalist New Brunswick should be a Bishop’s See, the “Diocese of Fredericton” and that the town be raised to the dignity of a City.

Christ church Cathedral at Fredericton, a Gothic edifice, is the second Anglican church outside the British Isles to be built as a cathedral and is a replica in design of St. Mary’s at Snettisham, Norfolk, England. Extreme length is 172 feet, width exclusive of porch 67 feet, height of nave to ridge of roof 62 feet, height of tower and spire, including cross, 198 feet. It is a beautiful edifice.

At the entrance to the south transept is an exquisite marble cenotaph of the first Bishop. Members of Trinity Church, New York, are numbered among contributors to a magnificent east window. Sunday August 5, 1860, H. R. H. the Prince of Wales attended Divine Worship at Fredericton Cathedral. As a memento the Prince presented the church authorities with an autographed Bible, which is used on important occasions.

On July 4, 1911 the cathedral spire was struck by lightning and had to be rebuilt. The present incumbent, Most Rev. J. A. Richardson, D.D., is Archbishop of Fredericton and Metropolitan of Canada—the sixth in line. Bishop Medley occupied the See of Fredericton 47 years, a record in Canada.

A “History of Trinity Church” New York, 1898, contains an incorrect observation that after the Revolution “a considerable body of loyalists, representing English, Scotch and Irish went to Nova Scotia where they founded a parish, divided into three wards, St. George, St. Andrew, St. Patrick.”

The oldest national societies in Canada are at Halifax and the Nova Scotia metropolis presumably is the locality to which reference is made, but the six-ward arrangement of the Nova Scotia city is numerical, not hagiographal.

The first North British Society in Canada was organized at Halifax, March 26, 1768 by Scottish merchants. The feast of St. Andrew, November 30, is annually observed in “New Scotland,” when the haggis is piped into the banquet hall.

The first Charitable Irish Society in the Dominion of Canada is in Halifax, formed, January 17, 1786. St. Patrick’s day, March 17, was celebrated from the founding of the city in 1749 as Governor Cornwallis, Messrs. Bulkeley, Morris, Piers, Beamish and other principals were of Irish birth or extraction. The Halifax Charitable Irish society was incorporated in 1864.

St. George’s Society of Halifax, formed February 25, 1786, is described as not only the oldest English society in Canada but also in the British Empire, not excepting United Kingdom branches of Royal Society of Saint George.

Older branch English national societies are in Philadelphia, 1772 and in New York, 1780, where St. George’s Day, April 23, is appropriately kept. The Halifax society was incorporated in 1934 for greater work.

The first German Society in Canada was formed at Halifax, February 23, 1786, John William Schwartz, being president. This body is not now in existence. The other Halifax National Societies are aggressive and flourishing after more than 150 years.

The first portrait of George Washington used on paper currency was a United States $1 note, engraved by Alfred Sealey in 1867 and issued in 1869 under an Act of March 3, 1863. This picture has appeared on notes of different denominations and is familiar to millions.

The picture is a vignette head of Washington by Gilbert Stuart in Boston Museum. Stuart was an American portrait painter, 1755-1828, born at Narragansett, Rhode Island. As a pupil, Stuart accompanied a Scottish artist, Cosmo Alexander, to Glasgow in 1770. The teacher died suddenly. Stuart was stranded and worked a passage to Halifax, Nova Scotia, as a seaman on a collier and for a year or two is said to have been supercargo on a vessel trading between Halifax and the West Indies.

In 1775, Stuart managed to remove to London again and became an assistant of Benjamin West and rose to fame. He returned to United States in 1792 and painted nearly all prominent Americans of the time. He made three portraits of the first President of the United States, the currency reproduction being the third. Stuart is said to have painted a picture in Canada of the Duke of Kent, father of Queen Victoria.

Gilbert Stuart, senior, father of the artist, and other members of the family moved from Newport, R. I. to Newport, Hants county, Nova Scotia in 1775 and later settled in Halifax, where Gilbert Stuart, the painter, visited them. The senior Stuart is buried in St. Paul’s cemetery, Halifax.

A daughter, Anne, eldest sister of the painter of Washington’s portrait, married Hon. Henry Newton, Collector of Customs at Halifax. Their son, Gilbert Stuart Newton, R.A., named for his uncle, born at Halifax 1795, studied in Italy and in London and became a noted British painter. He was elected an academician in 1832.

The first international boundary in the “New World” was the Treaty of Tordesillas, 1494, fixing a line 370 leagues west of Cape Verde Islands as the division between Portuguese and Spanish activities and claims. The globe was carved in twain by an imaginary line from pole to pole, all of America to the west, including part of Acadia to be tributary to Madrid, and all to the eastward to be subject to Lisbon.

This hands-off treaty line was supposed to approximate meridian 60, and to run through Nova Scotia, slicing off Newfoundland, Cape Breton and most of South America to Portugal, and allotting nearly all North America to Spain. When this distribution was agreed upon, North America and South America had not been discovered, other than West India islands. The intention of the treaty was to secure Africa and India to Portugal, whose navigators had led the way round the Cape of Good Hope, and reserve to Spain islands found by Columbus, believed to be parts of the Indies, plus the Asiatic littoral presumed to be in the background.

The Tordesillas treaty line actually lies in the Atlantic ocean east of Newfoundland, but due to imperfect knowledge is shown on Spanish and Portuguese maps of 1502, 1514, 1520 and 1527, coinciding with present 60 west longitude, where standard time begins westbound.

In Ferdinand’s royal instructions of June, 1501, given the strong-arm captain Alonso de Ojeda, when sailing for the Caribbean sea, he is enjoined “to stop the progress of the English on their exploration of the newly found continent”, referring to Cabot.

The French King, Francis I, was peeved at pretensions of Spain and Portugal in the New World and wrote his powerful rival, Charles V—“he was not aware our first father Adam had made the Spanish and Portuguese kings, his sole heirs to the earth.”

Abbe Verrau, in transactions of Royal Society of Canada, 1891, relates:—“The Spanish ambassador at the court of Portugal, probably in obedience to the instructions of his master (Charles V) besought King John to join the emperor in a united expedition against Cartier (1535) and his three vessels, to massacre the whole party, and deter the French for a long time, if not forever, of thinking of colonies beyond the Atlantic.”

Harrisse says that as late as 1541, Ares de Sea was sent to America to find out what Cartier was doing. The first “Monroe doctrine” divided America and Acadia between Spain and Portugal with a “keep out” notice to all other powers, which John Cabot was the first to infringe.

The first covered ice rink in Canada was erected at Horticultural Gardens—now Public Gardens—Halifax, and was formally opened with a fashionable skating function in 1863. Concurrently a Civil War was in progress in the United States and steps were underway in Canada to Federate the Dominion.

The pioneer Halifax skating rink was a wooden edifice 180 x 60, with arched roof, illuminated with coal gas. Near the main entrance, a reception room was equipped with a stove. A raised platform was placed at the opposite end of the building for the accommodation of bandsmen.

Punctually at 3 P. M., Saturday, January 3, 1863, His Excellency the Earl of Mulgrave, Lieutenant Governor of Nova Scotia, arrived with aides and after appropriate remarks declared the rink open. A representative audience was present. The 17th Regiment band discoursed light airs. The interior of the building was decorated with flags and streamers. Following the opening ceremonies, sixty ladies in costume inaugurated indoor skating in Canada with an exhibition of fancy skating. Natural ice was used for years. The rink was controlled by a club of limited membership and not ordinarily available to the public, which led to the erection of an opposition rink. In summer, the ice space was floored for roller skating.

Victoria skating rink, Saint John, was erected in 1864 and the first New Brunswick Provincial Exhibition was held in this building October 7, 1867, the year of Confederation.

In 50 years, ice hockey, an outgrowth of one of the oldest ball games in the world, hoquet, has attained phenomenal popularity, coincident with the building of indoor skating rinks and artificial ice. Hockey entered the United States from Canada in 1896 when the American Hockey League was organized. Chain Lakes, Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, in 1828, are reputed the scene of the first hockey in Canada.

There is an “Acadian” relationship in connection with the first Bible printed in English North America which, according to the American Bible Society, was the New Testament, translated into Indian language by Rev. John Eliot, missionary, and issued at Cambridge by Samuel Green and Marmaduke Johnson in 1661. The entire Bible, in the same language and by the same publishers, was produced in 1663. The Testament was republished in 1680 and the Bible in 1685. Bartholomew Green, Jr., who brought the first press and type into Canada from New England, was a grandson of Samuel Green, the printer of the bible.

In 1789 indefatigable Isaiah Thomas, author of “The History of Printing in America,” published a proposal for printing “A Royal Quarto Bible” at $7 payable half in cash, balance “wheat, rye, Indian corn, butter or pork” delivered at either of his stores in Boston or Worcester. Thomas was a chain store proprietor as well as printer and editor. The Thomas Bible appeared in 1791. Thomas’ first employment as journeyman printer was at Halifax Nova Scotia, in 1765. He was dismissed for inserting “seditious” items in the Nova Scotia Government’s official “Gazette” without the knowledge of owner or editor, and became the first deportee from Canada to the United States.

In the “History of Printing” Thomas details questioning which he states took place in Halifax, when summoned before Hon. Richard Bulkeley, Secretary of Nova Scotia, who was editor of the “Gazette.” Thomas’ narrative reads:—

“Thomas was probably not known to Mr. Secretary, who sternly demanded what he wanted. A—Nothing, sir. Q—Why came you here? A—Because I was sent for. Q—What is your name? A—Isaiah Thomas. Q—Are you the young New Englander who prints for Henry? A—Yes, sir. Q—How dare you publish in the Gazette, that the people of Nova Scotia are displeased with the Stamp Act? A—I thought it was true. Sec.—You have no right to think so, if you publish anything more of such stuff you will be punished. You may go, but remember you are not in New England. A—I will, sir.” The offence was repeated in the next number of the paper. Thomas was sent back to Massachusetts and his book reveals resentment at the author’s treatment in Halifax.

The first chocolate factory in Canada was in “Acadia,” at Dartmouth, and like many other things, journeyed to Nova Scotia via New England.

Unlike tea and coffee, cocoa beans are indigenous in America in Mexico and were a medium of exchange as well as an article of food. In 1519 a Spanish captain, Cortes, was feasted with magnificence at the court of Montezuma, Emperor of the Aztecs. A feature of the banquet was a luscious foamy drink, called “chocolatl,” made from crushed cocoa beans whisked to a froth, consistency of honey, flavored with vanilla and chili and served cold. Cortes conveyed the Aztec beans to Spain and chocolate speedily became the fashionable beverage of European epicures.

In London, the inveterate diner and diarist, Pepys, records in 1664 going:—“to a coffee house to drink jocolate, very good.” Chocolate consumption in New England was a repercussion of independence. Colonists discontinued using tea and turned to cocoa and coffee and the first American chocolate mill came into being at Dorchester, Massachusetts. So the first chocolate factory in Canada at Dartmouth traces its ancestry to the Boston Tea Party and to a family connection of the Walter Baker Co.

General opinion of the chocolate trade of the Dominion is that the pioneer chocolate makers of Canada were John P. Mott & Co., Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, organized in 1844, and dissolved in 1920 at the death of the last surviving partner.

James G. Burchell, an associate of Mott & Co., is authority for the information that:—“John Prescott Mott was born at Porter’s Lake and moved to Dartmouth when quite young. He acquired expert knowledge of chocolate making with his uncle by marriage, William Baker of Walter Baker & Co., Dorchester, Mass.” Mr. Baker married a sister of Henry Yeomans Mott, father of John P. Mott, who started the Dartmouth chocolate works in 1834 in a small way, partly as a result of an Act of Nova Scotia Legislature to encourage chocolate making. This measure was enacted in 1834 and amended in 1837 to provide a bounty of 3 shillings 6 pence currency per 100 pounds manufactured, whereupon the younger Mott was despatched to Dorchester to acquire the latest developments.

Henry Y. Mott was a magistrate 25 years and a member of the House of Assembly, of Nova Scotia. Motts were the first to manufacture chocolate in Canada, which was thirty years before Confederation and in palmy days, they had agents at Montreal, Toronto, Winnipeg, Calgary and Vancouver. An 1887 “Canadian Grocer” carried a two-page colored insert, featuring Mott’s Chocolate and Cocoa products and in that advertisement initiated the now-common expression “Canada for Canadians.”

Cocoa preceded coffee and tea in Europe, but was maintained at a high price, which enabled the later and lower-priced Eastern products to capture the popular market.

The initial number of “The Curler,” said to be the first periodical in the world devoted to the Royal Scottish game of ice curling, was issued by Halifax Curling Club December 23, 1931. Weekly since that date, in curling seasons, this publication has regularly appeared, and is sent to a mailing list embracing various curling societies in Canada, United States and Scotland. Contents of “The Curler” are confined to matters of interest concerning the “roarin’ game.” The Halifax Curling Club was formed 1824-25, incorporated May 8, 1899, and is the third oldest on the continent, being junior to Montreal and Quebec curling societies. The first president of Halifax Curling Club was Captain (afterwards Admiral Sir Houston) Stewart.

On the occasion of the first visit of Scottish curlers to North America, a party of twenty-four keen sportsmen headed by Rev. John Kerr, author of “History of Curling,” landed at Halifax, December, 1902, to commence a tour of Canada.

In 1908 the first contingent of Canadian curlers to cross the Atlantic made a return visit to Scotland, under the leadership of Hon. D. C. Fraser, Lieutenant Governor of Nova Scotia. Other Nova Scotia representatives in the Canadian delegation were H. St. C. Silver, A. D. Patterson, George Wallace, George Munro, James Dover.

In March, 1927, at Toronto, a rink from Halifax Curling Club consisting of J. A. McInnes, C. L. Torey (historian), and J. E. Donahoe, skipped by Professor Murray Macneill, won the first Canadian Curling Championship played in the Dominion and captured the McDonald Brier Tankard.

An Ottawa publication states the first militia in Canada were enrolled at Port Royal, Acadia, 1627 and that the first police force in Canada was at Annapolis Royal, Nova Scotia, in 1734. The final capture of Port Royal, Acadia, 1710, marked the first foreign service of New England Volunteers, when a number were left in garrison.

A battalion of 500 British Marines, under Colonel Redding, who participated in the successful Port Royal expedition in 1710, were largely Irish Roman Catholics. They remained in garrison at Port Royal, but during the succeeding winter a score or more deserted and joined French inhabitants. Barrack conditions were bad. Frost prevented the building of chimneys and the quarters were unheated, which resulted in “much sickness and a number of deaths.” These were the first Irish troops in Canada.

The first regularly enlisted Mohawk troops in Canada, in British pay, were three companies at Port Royal in 1710. They were recruited at New York, probably at the instance of Colonel Vetch, and were commanded by Governor Vetch’s brother-in-law, Major Livingstone. On the capitulation of the Fort, the Iroquois warriors were promptly transported to their homes, it being feared they might get out of hand and make war on the Indians of the province. Micmacs of Acadia were terror stricken at information the dreaded Mohawks were in the country.

In 1711, the Micmacs became troublesome and Governor Vetch arranged with Major Livingstone to raise a company of 100 Mohawks in New York for special service in Nova Scotia. They remained a year, having their own captain, lieutenants, drummers and sergeants. They were picked men physically and were an awe-inspiring sight in war-paint and feathers. Vetch reported they erected a fine fort and barracks a quarter of a mile from the main Port Royal fort. Micmacs were conspicuous by their absence. In connection with the salvaging of valuables from a British warship, stranded at Sydney, fifty of the fierce Mohawks were taken to Cape Breton to guard the operation.

At Halifax, 1749, October 12 (Columbus Day) at an Executive Council meeting on the transport “Beaufort,” in the harbor and before the city was named, it was decided not to declare war on Micmac Indians, which would give them sovereign status. Several settlers had been killed by lurking savages. The Indians were declared outlaws and a dead or alive reward of £10—as much as Cabot received for the Discovery of America—was advertised for each Indian prisoner or scalp.

In 1534 Jacques Cartier was the first to report an extensive walrus fishery in “Acadian” waters in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, which has practically become extinct south of Greenland. The St. Malo navigator stated the Magdalen islands were surrounded with “many great beasts, like huge oxen, with teeth (tusks) like an elephant, that go in the sea.” This is the first walrus or sea-cow record in America.

One of the earliest executive acts following erection of Prince Edward Island into a separate government in 1770 was an attempt to check destruction of the walrus fishery, which nevertheless, was finally ruined during the succeeding half century. None have been taken for 100 years. These animals weighed up to 4,000 pounds. Oil from the blubber was fine quality, a little of the flesh was eaten, the rest thrown away or some used for fertilizer, while the skins were accounted valuable for harness and similar uses. After the War of Independence in 1783, Governor Patterson of P. E. Island (St. John’s Island) advised British authorities:—“New England vessels are in a fair way to destroy the sea-cow fisheries, if there are not some steps taken to prevent them. The chief resort of these fish is about this island and the Magdalen islands.”

P. Gridley, Magdalen islands, admitted killing 7,000 to 8,000, principally females, in a summer. The young were little value and were abandoned. Gridley’s slaughter was mainly on land and out of season. He fled to Boston, when an order was issued for his arrest. Females, in the spring calving season, frequented shallow water or established themselves at sunny places on land. Relatively few males were taken, as they usually kept in deep water. If a calf was captured or killed, the mother would not leave the spot and became an easy victim. Fishing captains generally kept a calf on board and caused it to make a noise to attract females.

The form of worship embraced by the Baptist body of Canada arrived in the Dominion from New England Provinces, following capture of Quebec in 1759. Permanent cessation of a century of hostilities was an assurance of stable conditions under British authority. From 1760 to 1763 several groups of settlers, professing Baptist teachings, migrated to Nova Scotia from Connecticut, Massachusetts and Rhode Island, primarily to occupy vacant Acadian lands, and in some cases to escape religious persecution in Congregational areas. Henry Alline, a “New Light” revivalist, known as the “Whitefield” of Canada, landed in Nova Scotia with parents in 1760, a boy of twelve. Among other labors Alline edited a volume of 500 hymns, some his own. He died at the early age of 38.

Possibly the first Baptist community in Canada was at Newport, Nova Scotia, and vicinity, where Shubael Dimock, family and friends from the neighborhood of Hartford received grants in 1760. The Newport migrants were accompanied by Rev. John Sutton, likely the first Baptist minister in the Dominion, but Mr. Sutton went back to New England within a year and a regular church was not immediately constituted in that locality.

A capable “History of the Baptists of the Maritime Provinces” of Canada by Rev. E. M. Saunders, D.D., an able and impartial reviewer, is dedicated to the memory of a pioneer of the church “whose labors were a potent factor in development of the Canadian Baptist communion.” The Saunders title page is a tribute to Rev. Ebenezer Moulton:—“First a Congregationalist minister, afterwards a Baptist, banished from Brimfield, Mass., for ‘baptising in the river’—landed at Chebogue, Yarmouth, N. S., 1760—was given a magistrate’s commission and appointed to allot lands to immigrants—preached, baptised and formed a church of mixed membership at Horton, Nova Scotia, four or five of whose members became the nucleus of the first Horton church, organized in 1778—the oldest Baptist church, with continuous history, in the Maritime Provinces (or Canada)—this resulting in the founding of Horton Academy, Acadia College and Acadia Seminary where they now stand.” The veteran Horton Baptist church has enjoyed unbroken existence from inception.

The first Baptist community in Canada, with a settled minister, was perhaps Sackville, (New Brunswick), Nova Scotia. In 1763, twelve families, with Rev. Nathan Mason, reached that place from Swansea, Mass., and organized a Baptist church, which flourished until 1771, when the congregation had grown to 60 members, as suddenly as they arrived in 1763, pulled up stakes and returned in a body to New England. An intermission occurred before the present Sackville Baptist church came into being.

In 1799 Deacon Enoch Towner of Digby, Nova Scotia, was prosecuted by the Nova Scotia Government for unlawfully performing a marriage by license, a privilege reserved to ministers of the Established Church. Nova Scotia Supreme Court unanimously dismissed the complaint on several grounds, one among others that it was against public policy to restrict the important function of marriage by license to any denomination and by inference cast a doubt on the validity of numerous existing unions. In New Brunswick, for the same offence, according to Saunders, Rev. James Innis, Baptist, was fined £50 and sentenced to one year imprisonment.

The first mention of a Baptist preacher in Prince Edward Island is in a diary of Benjamin Chappell, friend of John Wesley, who had settled in the island in 1775. Under date May 13, 1812 is an entry:—“A Baptist preacher is at Bulpit’s house, a good man.”

The weekly “Maritime Baptist” issue of April 25, 1934 takes pardonable pride ascribing to Maritime Baptists of Canada the credit of sending the first Protestant missionary from Canada to invade foreign fields. Rev. Richard E. Burpee of Fredericton, graduate of Acadia College, Wolfville, and wife sailed from Halifax for India, April 20, 1845.

In the review in question, it is further noted that in 1867 Miss Minnie DeWolfe, of Halifax, was despatched to Burmah by the Maritime Baptist Association to be the first Protestant woman missionary from Canada.

June 23, 1870, there was founded at Canso, Nova Scotia, the first Baptist Women’s Missionary Aid Society in the world. Miss Maria Norris, afterward wife of Rev. W. F. Armstrong, proposed and promoted the advanced idea of a Women’s Missionary Aid Society and zealously and personally organized a number of branches as the foundation of a permanent influential missionary adjunct of the Baptist church, that has spread. Miss Norris was the world’s pioneer representative of this Baptist auxiliary to go abroad to engage in mission activity.

Baptists in 1931 Dominion census numbered 443,341 members with 500 churches. 200 “Baptists” were reported at Louisburg 1766, but with no information that services were held.

Rev. Nicholas Pearson, ordained by Henry Alline, October 19, 1778, at Horton, Nova Scotia, was the first Baptist ordination in Canada.

The oldest Dissenting congregation in Canada is St. Matthew’s United, Halifax, originally Mather’s Meeting House, Congregational, named for Cotton Mather, the Puritan divine, and it afterwards was St. Matthew’s Presbyterian. It now adjoins Government House on Barrington street.

A scholar, Rev. Aaron Cleveland, born at Cambridge 1715, Harvard graduate, great grandfather of Grover Cleveland, twice President of the United States, was the first pastor of Mather’s. From Halifax, Mr. Cleveland went to Great Britain and entered the Church of England. In returning to the United States, this noted cleric suffered during a partial shipwreck and passed away at the home of a friend, Benjamin Franklin, at Philadelphia.

Rev. Aaron Cleveland was an ancestor of Thomas Wentworth Higginson and Clarence Stedman. John Cleveland, brother of Aaron, continued a member of Mather’s in Halifax for some years. On February 10, 1751, a child of Benjamin Green, first printer in Canada, was baptized by Rev. Mr. Cleveland and was named Edward Cornwallis for the Governor of the Province.

Rev. John Cotton, also a Harvard graduate, followed Mr. Cleveland. A capable successor, Rev. John Seccombe, officiated from 1761 to 1783. During the War of Independence, Mr. Seccombe was summoned before the Executive Council and cautioned against prayers and preaching sympathetic to the American Revolution. Three leading members of Mather’s flock, prominent merchants of Halifax, Messrs. Salter, Fillis and Smith were tried, charged with aiding the Revolution, and acquitted, but were kept under surveillance. Fillis and Smith were members of the Legislature. Smith was a Scotsman and said to be a forbear of Lord Strathcona.

Rev. Stephen Williams and Rev. Samuel “Father” Moody, Puritan divines, attached to Pepperell’s New England militia conducted services at Canso, Nova Scotia and at Louisburg in 1745.

In 1783, Sir Guy Carleton wrote from New York to the Governor of Nova Scotia that efforts of Halifax Dissenters to secure a minister from Dr. Witherspoon, Scottish President of Princeton, and one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence, should be dissuaded. The Governor of Nova Scotia is supposed to have prompted an agreement between Congregationalist and Presbyterian sections of Mather’s church that a new pastor should be secured from Scotland direct, rather than from New Jersey.

At first the men at Mather’s sat on one side of the church and women on the other. A pulpit was installed in 1787. In severe weather the minister appeared in cloak, with hood and fur mittens. Dogs, skin bags of hot water, heated stones, and containers with live coals, for foot warmers, paved the way for a concession which in 1795, after 45 years existence, permitted a vote to buy a stove. In the comfort of stove heating, Old South Church, Boston, had fallen from grace twelve years before Halifax dissenters. A clock was purchased at Mather’s in 1795 and affixed to the gallery in front of the preacher’s eye.

A bell was hung in Mather’s tower, Halifax, in 1787 and functioned 70 years until destroyed in Hollis street conflagration of 1857, when it disappeared with one last loud clang.

Morning service began at 9 at Mather’s and afternoon prayers commenced at 2. Children a week old were baptized in the old Meeting House in the depth of winter and mortality was high. The first baptism, in books that have been preserved, 1759, is a “legal servant” Jack, otherwise a slave, property of Malachi Salter. Choir music slowly improved. In 1812 a bass viol, called the kirk fiddle, was added.

At St. Matthew’s July 3, 1770, Rev. Mr. Seccombe presided at the ordination of Rev. Bruin Romke Comingoe, otherwise Brown, the first ordination of an evangelical minister in Canada. Four clerics certified this pioneer “presbyterial” minute—two Congregational and two Presbyterian.

The principal internal differences in Mather’s related to baptism, communion and music, Congregationalists being more inclined than their brethren to relax older regulations.

The first Mather’s Meeting House on Hollis street, Halifax, was square shape with a square tower and partly, or wholly financed out of the Provincial Treasury, as a friendly gesture from Governor Cornwallis toward New England and Congregational influence, which was also a factor in the decision of the British Government to create a powerful naval base at Halifax.

In the Halifax settlement cordial relations prevailed between the Established Church, St. Paul’s, and Dissenters, the latter being described in legislation of 1758 as “Protestants dissenting from the Church of England, whether they be Calvinists, Lutherans or Quakers or under what denomination soever.” The Act to assist nonconformists may have been an olive branch, held out to Quakers and other professions not wanted in New England. Pending completion of Mather’s Meeting House, the Dissenters were permitted to hold services at St. Paul’s.

On account of alleged partiality of members of Mather’s for the American Revolution, in 1785, a tract of sixty-five acres of ground at Northwest Arm, Halifax, which had been set aside as glebe lands for support of the Dissenting church, was escheated and regranted to Major General John Campbell. In 1789, Mather’s congregation tried unsuccessfully to recover the valuable property, which is today part of the site of Dalhousie and King’s Colleges and of Waegwoltic Club.

The Governor of Nova Scotia made another glebe grant to Mather’s—225 acres of land at Eastern Passage, Dartmouth, now a flying field—which was also cancelled.

Late Rev. George M. Grant, author of “Ocean to Ocean,” versatile principal of Queen’s University, is one of the eminent men who officiated at St. Matthew’s, the Mother Dissenting church of Canada.

Rev. J. B. M. Armour, M.A., General Secretary The British and Foreign Bible Society in Canada and Newfoundland writes from 18 College Street, Toronto:—“You are right in stating the first branch of the Bible Society on this continent was inaugurated by Rev. James MacGregor D.D. probably in 1807. . . . One of the main reasons why Dr. MacGregor founded the first branch of the Society in Nova Scotia (Pictou) was that he had received Gaelic scriptures from the Society in London for his parishioners, and he was naturally anxious to do something in return. It is true, however, that the first translation, the Gospel of St. John in Mohawk-English was for the Six Nation Indians, and came to Ontario in 1805, being the first published translation of the Society. It was not until 1812 that the parent society sent a subscription for a beneficed clergyman in Upper Canada for the purpose of founding a Bible Society on similar lines to the British and Foreign Bible Society.”

A Gaelic translation of the New Testament from the Greek, was made in 1767 for distribution in the Scottish Highlands, which is dealt with in Dr. Samuel Johnson’s letter. Previous to 1804, the British Government, printed the Gospel of St. Mark for Mohawk Indians in Ontario and later presented Chief Brant with a church bell. The Bible for the Indian pulpit and communion plate (bearing the Royal arms) had been a gift to the tribe in their old home in New York from Queen Anne.

Upon the breaking out of the Revolutionary War English publications, including Holy Scriptures, were banned and a Committee of Congress were directed to import 20,000 Bibles from Holland, Scotland or elsewhere for general distribution.

In 1790 Congregational ministers of Massachusetts “prayed Congress . . . . that no edition of the Bible . . . . should be published in America without being carefully inspected and certified free from error.” Other ecclesiastical bodies took the same position, but it was ruled at Washington the Constitution provides that “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof, or abridging the freedom of speech or of the press.”

In 1787 there was a Bible organization in London, the “Naval and Military Bible Society” serving the Army and Navy. The British and Foreign Bible Society was formed at London Tavern, 123 Bishopgate Street, Wednesday, March 7, 1804. In 1804 it is stated Baptists in New York started a local society to purchase and lend Bibles for a month. The first branch of the British and Foreign Bible Society in the United States was organized at Philadelphia, December 12, 1808, the second at Hartford, May 1809, third at Boston, July 1809, fourth at New York, November 1809, and fifth at Princeton in December of the same year.

The Bible Society in London state the first contribution to their funds from any British colony came from Pictou, Nova Scotia. There is a letter June 4, 1809, forwarding a sterling bill of £80 and refers to a previous remittance of £64. These sums were probably in part for Bibles sold.

Compared with Isaiah Thomas’ American price of $7 in Revolutionary times, the American Bible Society now furnishes the entire Scriptures at 17 cents and the New Testament at 5 cents. Previous to the invention of printing a hand-copied Bible cost £30.

The first community of Quakers in Canada removed from Nantucket Island to Cape Sable Island, Nova Scotia, in 1762, for better fishing opportunities and through pressure of increasing population at Nantucket and falling off in local whaling production.

A large company of Nantucket whalers, Quakers, operated out of Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, 1782 and 1783, following the American Revolution, as strict neutrality had been preserved at Nantucket during the War of Independence to avert capture of home-returning whaling fleet by British cruisers and to enable the people to make a living. Congress concurred in this arrangement, but some American privateers disregarded humane considerations and constantly raided Nova Scotia fishing settlements and wantonly destroyed private property.

Later, the Dartmouth Quaker-whaler settlement, men, women and children, accepted an invitation from Wales to transfer their activities to Milford Haven to be nearer northern waters. Other Nantucket whalers were induced to make headquarters at St. Malo, France. There are descendants at Dartmouth.

A third Canadian contingent of the Society of Friends located at Beaver Harbor, Nova Scotia, now New Brunswick in 1783.

In 1765, Rev. J. B. Moreau, Anglican missionary at Lunenburg, Nova Scotia, a former Huguenot, mentioned in a report to London, the presence of “des Trembleurs” at church gatherings, but there is no intimation that the “intruders” were troublesome.

At an earlier date, if Quakers had ventured to disturb Congregational services in Massachusetts, a hanging might have been the result. A historian sarcastically observed that:—“Pilgrim Fathers moored their barque on the wild New England shore to worship God in their own way and to kill Quakers after their own fashion.”

These curious Christians, without creed, liturgy, priesthood or sacrament, but with a provoking abundance of passive resistance, were anathema to rigid Puritans and it was bitter persecution that drove Quakers to establish a refuge with Nantucket Indians, in 1664, under New York jurisdiction. A committee of Quakers purchased Nantucket Island from the American agent of Sir William Alexander, Lord Stirling, founder of Nova Scotia, in 1640, for £30 and two beaver hats, a prized adornment, one each for the agent and his wife. Title could not be taken until 1664, pending adjustment with Nantucket Sachems, as 1,500 Indians lived on the land.

At this time the public of Massachusetts were forbidden under severe penalties to have any truck or trade with the Quakers. Thomas Macy became a marked man for acting good Samaritan and giving one hour shelter to four Quakers in a thunder-storm, not ordinarily denied man or beast. Two of the Quakers, William Robertson, London merchant, and Marmaduke Stephen, Yorkshire, England, refused to leave Massachusetts, were apprehended, declined to recant and were publicly executed on Boston Common, October 10, 1659, for “upholding the Christian thesis, love one another.”

Macy concluded Nantucket, with the savages, would be a healthier place to reside, and with Tristram Coffin, Stephen Greenleaf and sympathizers, rugged New England hospitality was vacated.

Nantucket whalers were known throughout the Seven Seas. Members of the Coffin family settled in Nova Scotia, where numerous descendants live and the name is common. Sir Isaac Coffin, British Admiral, was a near kinsman. In 1931 Canadian decennial census, the name “Quakers” or “Society of Friends” does not appear in a list of 100 principal religious professions and sects having a membership upward of one hundred. In Nova Scotia, Quakers were allowed to perform road work in place of annual militia service.

The winding-up evacuation of 25,000 Loyalists from New York to Nova Scotia or Acadia, including New Brunswick, in 1783 was a cosmopolitan move, embracing refugees from nearly all the revolted colonies, who had congregated at Manhattan during the progress of the Revolution. The revolted British Provinces previously had been an asylum for various European nationalists, so it was natural to find this diversity reflected in Loyalist ranks, as to racial origin and also in the first appearance in Canada of a series of independent beliefs.

A contemporary clerical survey of Halifax written in July, 1786 states:—“There is one large English church; one small Dutch church; one Presbyterian Meeting House; one large Methodist church; one Roman Catholic chapel; beside a small Society of Quakers; one of Sandemanians; one of the followers of Swedenborg; together with a few of Lady Huntington Society and a great swarm of infidels.” The letter is a tribute to Canadian and “Acadian” tolerance at a relatively early date.

On separating from Wesley and espousing Whitefield’s opinions the Countess of Huntington, one of few members of the British aristocracy to “leave” the established church, in 1785 sent Evangelist William Firmage to Nova Scotia to expound Whitefield’s views. Firmage was accounted a good speaker, but is represented as a quiet little man unsuited to rough-and-tumble conditions and motley population of 18th century Halifax, filled with flotsam and jetsam from the War of Independence. He lacked the authority of a recognized body of Christians at a time when licenses were required.

Firmage said he always felt trampled upon and rejected in Halifax, a little like a Great Teacher, and in his last illness requested interment directly inside the gate of the cemetery, where all who passed in and out would walk over the grave. The strange wish was complied with. The stone was not disturbed for years, until shortly before closing the old cemetery, it became an obstruction to funerals using the main gate into God’s Acre.

An independent “Glassite” or “Sandemanian” church, which originated at Fife, Scotland, 1730, flourished several years, among Halifax Loyalists, who were not all Anglican, although the principal exiles were Church of England. The Sandemanian pastor was Rev. Titus Smith, a classical scholar and graduate of Harvard. A son, Titus Smith, was a naturalist, magazine contributor, philosopher and fine character who had numerous friends; he was privately educated by his father. The family were among United Empire Loyalists.

An uncle of Titus Smith is the reputed original of Hawk-eye, leading character in Fenimore Cooper’s classic, “The Last of the Mohicans.” Descendants of Titus Smith have obtained prominence in the United States. The philosopher’s rustic grave near Northwest Arm, Halifax, is located on an old wood road leading to Geizer’s Hill, an eminence now owned by New York and Chicago newspapers as a site for European broadcasting. The father of Hon. Joseph Howe, Nova Scotia statesman, was a Sandemanian.

The Swedenborgian congregation in Halifax in 1786 was one of the first in America, as the initial meeting of the New Jerusalem communion only took place in 1783 at Eastcheap, London, with five present. Swedenborg claimed the “Second Coming” had occurred in 1757, when he professed to have received certain revelations. He died in 1772. Many thinkers like Emerson were attracted by parts of Swedenborg’s theories.

The 1931 Dominion of Canada Census enumerates 106 principal religious groups, “together with 1,151 persons belonging to 294 other sects”—an amazing “400” Babel of denominations to contrast with the limited 1786 religious “census” at Halifax. Swedenborgians in Canada number 1,121 members, while Sandemanians are not mentioned in 106 sects which are separately listed.

The first Lutheran church in Canada was originally a Halifax log cabin, built about 1752 as a private dwelling in connection with clearing the Halifax settlement, where waning British fortunes in America were to be retrieved.

The primitive Lutheran edifice, a modest structure with quaint steeple, survives through 183 years, including Halifax war explosion, December 6, 1917.

In 1753 a handful of German immigrants from Europe, who remained in Halifax after 1,500 compatriots had removed to Lunenburg, Nova Scotia, acquired a log hut measuring 20 x 29, from one Nagel in exchange for a quantity of sawn lumber obtained from Government mills, erected to aid the settlement.

The building was moved a short distance to land granted by the Town of Halifax and became a combination school and meeting house. The simple framing was gradually improved by volunteer labor. An extension and porch increased the overall length to 45 feet.

A spire 45 feet in height, with date 1760 on it, was added, topped with a weather-vane, on which compass points are transposed by a workman’s mistake and never been corrected for spiritual voyagers. Initial “O” on one arm represents the German word for East.

Surmounting the pinnacle is a business looking chanticleer, several times renewed, “the wakeful bird of Peter,” always revolving to face the weather, symbolizing constant watchfulness necessary to combat the wiles of the arch enemy. The barnyard emblem atop the Halifax Lutheran house of worship is responsible for an old local designation,—“The Chicken-Cock Church.” The seating capacity is fifty.

The German church at Halifax is now part of St. George’s Anglican parish. Old registers and records have been translated into English and disclose interesting material, being almost a diary of early deliberations.

The first formal service in German in Canada took place in the open air in Halifax, 1749-1750, conducted by Rev. William Tutty, M.A., Cambridge, ordained 1737, a German scholar, acting rector of St. Paul’s, pending erection of that church building.

The first service in German in the “little Dutch church” was at Pentecost, 1758, when Rev. Mr. Slayter officiated. He was an Anglican chaplain, attached to a British armament assembled at Halifax in 1758 for final reduction of Louisburg and Quebec. Mr. Slayter had learned High German, and preached from Hosea 9:12.

The pioneer Lutheran church of Canada was completed and formally dedicated Easter Monday, March 23, 1761. Dedication had been set for 1760, but was deferred on account of the sudden death of Major General Charles Lawrence, Governor of Nova Scotia. Lieut.-Governor Belcher attended in 1761, when ceremonies were in English and the Lutheran church was renamed St. George’s.

It is noted in curious chirography in the records that in 1778 an organist was appointed at 17 shillings 6 pence quarterly, but the kind of instrument is not indicated. A bell from a French chapel at Louisburg hung in the steeple of the Lutheran church at Halifax, but ultimately was transferred to St. John’s Anglican church and in the end was sold for $100 and is now a prize in the Vaudreil collection, Chateau de Ramezay, Montreal. This musical casting is known to antiquaries as the Saint John Bell, engraved with maker’s name, a Cross and fleur de lis. Paris records show this bell was one of three donated by Louis XV, “Le Bien aime,” and was blessed at Louisburg, 1735, and christened Saint John. Sending the Saint John bell out of ancient “Acadia” is disapproved.

In 1779 a 4-piece solid silver communion service was imported from England for the Halifax Lutheran church at an outlay of £57.2.1, and is in the possession of the English St. George’s church and highly valued. In 1887 an American Lutheran minister, Rev. D. L. Roth, formerly stationed at Lunenburg, Nova Scotia, published a contention the holy vessels should be handed to some active Lutheran body.

The first settled German pastor of the pioneer Canadian Lutheran church at Halifax was Rev. Bernard Michael Houseal, a graduate of Tubingen, Wurtemberg, son of a clergyman. Mr. Houseal could preach in four languages. He migrated to America a young man, and became Senior Minister of the influential ancient Lutheran Church of New York. At the Revolution, Rev. Mr. Houseal was conspicuous as a “Tory” preacher. House and church were burned over his head and he was threatened with personal violence, but refused to discontinue prayers for the King. Houseal was obliged to leave the country in 1783. At Halifax he entered the Church of England and proceeded to London for imposition of Episcopal hands.

At London, Rev. Mr. Houseal was feted as a hero of the American Revolution, preached before Royalty and was appointed chaplain of a favorite regiment of the Duke of Kent, father of Queen Victoria, then under orders to the Halifax garrison. Back at Halifax, Rev. Bernard Houseal resigned the military post and ministered sixteen years at the “Little Dutch Church.” He had previously been 31 years a clergyman in American provinces, was a Governor of New York College (Columbia) and an incorporator of New York Hospital. Mr. Houseal’s remains were laid to rest in a vault beneath Canada’s first Lutheran church.

Rev. H. W. Cunningham, is the present Rector of St. George’s Parish, Halifax, which includes an English St. George’s, as well as the German St. George’s.

The English St. George’s church at Halifax was long known as the Round Church—the first in Canada—referring to the circular shape of the building, a classic type of architecture suggested by the Duke of Kent, as a condition of a contribution of £500, procured from the British Government toward the church building fund. The Legislature of Nova Scotia voted the same amount. The corner stone was laid April 10, 1800, by Sir John Wentworth, Bart., Governor of Nova Scotia, a native and former Governor of New Hampshire, a Loyalist. The design of the “Round Church” was drawn by William Hughes, master builder at Halifax Dockyard, member of a well-known British Naval family and a friend of H. R. H. Prince Edward, Commander-in-Chief at Halifax. This church, St. George’s, was opened for worship July 19, 1801.

In 1817 St. George’s Building Fund received a donation of £500 from the Castine Fund, monies collected in part of the State of Maine during British occupation in the futile War of 1812. Rev. Dr. H. W. Cunningham is an enthusiast for better preservation of the historic qualities of the old German St. George’s at Halifax. The Evangelical Lutheran Church at Lunenburg, Nova Scotia, was incorporated in 1850. In 1931 there were 394,194 Lutherans in Canada.

The “Little Dutch Church” at Halifax is probably the second oldest Protestant place of worship in Canada. There is a will on file, 1752, in which the testator devises a lot of land to the Evangelical Lutheran Congregation of Halifax.

Old Nova Scotia (or Acadia) represents first organized Methodist activity in Canada. Introduction of the tenets of Wesleyanism into the Dominion dates from the years 1772-1775, contemporary with the outbreak of the American Revolution, when substantial Yorkshire people settled in Nova Scotia, in response to an invitation by Hon. Michael Francklin, issued while on a visit to London in the interest of immigration. Members of English contingents, who moved their homes to the key province of Canada at a critical time, were very British in sentiment. Most of them were recruited around Huddersfield, Sowerby, Thirsk, Leeds, Halifax at the scene of John Wesley’s earliest successes.

It is curious that unlike most Protestant communions in Canada and in United States, the growth of Wesley’s foundation in America was aided rather than retarded by the Anglo-Saxon schism, partly because Methodism was comparatively new, and may have been regarded by Americans as a parallel detachment from established English traditions.

The first Methodist preachers sent to American Colonies from England were a couple of itinerants in 1769 and the first Methodist ministers ordained in the United States were two local men in 1784, following the Revolution.

Rev. William Black, a Nova Scotian, “Apostle of Methodism” in Canada, as a boy heard John Wesley preach in Huddersfield and was ordained at Philadelphia in 1789 in sight of Independence Hall. It was 1785 before John Wesley felt justified to send a clerical representative into Scotland.

Three Leaders—Left, Rev. Thos. McCulloch, D.D., founder of Pictou Academy, N. S., and First President of Dalhousie University; centre, Rev. Theodore Harding, Nova Scotia, Canadian Baptist Pioneer; right, Rev. William (Bishop) Black, Apostle of Methodism.

Rev. William “Bishop” Black, was born in 1760 at Huddersfield, England, and with father, mother, sister, three brothers and 75 other Yorkshire people sailed from Hull on board ship “Jenny,” April 9, 1775, and landed at Halifax, Nova Scotia in May. The company transferred in a schooner to Cumberland county to occupy farms selected, in most cases, in the previous year by a committee sent out for the purpose.

The first ship of Yorkshire immigrants was the “Duke of York” which delivered 80 passengers at Halifax, en route to Cumberland, in May 1772. From that date to 1775 nine ships conveyed 1,000 sturdy North of England settlers to Nova Scotia, which then included New Brunswick. The majority located at Amherst, Sackville and Point de Bute, which accounts for Mount Allison University and Ladies College in that locality.

In 1781, Rev. William Black left Amherst for the arduous duties of a lay missionary, which necessitated travelling on foot, by saddle or boat. Halifax was visited in 1782 and became Black’s headquarters in 1786, the year the first Methodist Conference in British America was held at the Nova Scotia capital.

In 1784, Mr. Black journeyed to Baltimore for ministerial aid. Two young Americans, Freeborn Garrettson and James Oliver Cromwell, the first American Methodist missionaries, were detailed. They sailed from New York for Halifax, February 1785, and were welcomed by Philip Marchington, a prosperous merchant. Rev. Mr. Garrettson called on the Rector of St. Paul’s church and on Lieutenant Governor Parr. “The Secretary listened respectfully” writes T. Watson Smith “to Mr. Garrettson’s objections to taking the oath of allegiance” and assured him the proposed church services would be protected.

In a house capable of containing 300, rented by Marchington at $10 per month and fitted up with seats and pulpit, Garrettson commenced his ministry. This was the first Methodist church in Canada. Services were held through the week and three times on Sunday, with large attendance, as at this time thousands of Loyalists, troops and sailors were in Halifax. During a couple of nights there were disturbances and stones were thrown.

Meantime Rev. William Black had returned via Boston. In 1791 at Loyalist Saint John Mr. Black was not permitted to speak without a license, which he could not obtain.

Philip Marchington was a Loyalist, who lost property in Philadelphia, and sought refuge in New York. In 1783 Marchington and family, goods and chattels, including slaves, removed to Nova Scotia in their own ship, meeting heavy weather, which forced them to winter at Bermuda. They proceeded to Halifax in the spring of 1784, where Marchington was successful in business and acquired real estate extending from Marchington (Bell) Lane to Jacob and Water streets, a wharf, several ships, the British Coffee House and tavern, where banquets were held, a number of dwellings, a store and office building.

In 1785, Marchington wrote John Wesley offering £500 towards a new church, if Wesley would furnish a like amount. Wesley sadly replied English Methodists were generally not monied people and they that “have most money have usually the least grace.” In 1785, Marchington was the first Cumberland county representative in the legislature of the Province.

In 1786, Marchington erected the proposed large Halifax church himself, located on Argyle street on his own property, complete, with accommodation for 1,000. Rev. William Black preached the first time in the new church Easter Sunday 1787, but Marchington retained ownership of the building. In 1791 “unbecoming conduct” on the part of Marchington, the wealthiest and most influential Methodist in Canada, led to his exclusion from the communion. Enraged, he locked the congregation out and refused to rent or sell the church to the Methodists.

A public subscription was freely obtained in Halifax and a new church 50 x 36 with 20 foot posts was erected on the west side of Argyle street, opposite Marchington’s big building. The new edifice was opened Sunday, November 25, 1792 with a sermon on Gen. 19:23:—“The sun was risen upon the earth when Lot entered into Zoar” and became known as Zoar Church.

In the interregnum Halifax Methodists had rented “Duke of York” theatre for divine service, while Marchington sponsored opposition meetings in the larger church, preaching personally. When Marchington’s wife died, the remains were kept so long in the “church”, civic authorities intervened. Some years later Presbyterians purchased the Marchington building, known as Salem church.

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In 1788, the first Methodist church in present New Brunswick was a small stone building at Point de Bute, afterward torn down and replaced with a larger structure. Records of continuous services are preserved at Mount Allison University. Rev. James Wray, who was sent out by John Wesley in 1788 as the first Methodist Superintendent in Canada, was the minister on this circuit. Wray’s name is among the hundred names on Wesley’s Deed of Declaration of 1784.

In 1790 Rev. James Mann opened a Methodist church at Sackville, New Brunswick and preached from Proverbs 9—1, 4. In 1792 Rev. A. J. Bishop from Island of Jersey, conducted Methodist services at Saint John in a church on north side of Germain street, formerly the Court House, again the City Hall, later an Anglican Church, where Bishop Charles Inglis held the first New Brunswick confirmation in 1789 and delivered the first charge to the clergy of Saint John. After Methodists vacated, this building temporarily housed a Baptist congregation, then a dwelling and a school and finally the venerable and storied structure was demolished.

Rev. William Black was indefatigable and for several years was Methodist superintendent in Eastern Canada, Bermuda and Newfoundland. A band of American Ministers who had been helping in the Acadian territory in early days, gradually returned to the United States.

In 1800 Rev. Mr. Black visited England to arrange for new ministerial supply from that country.

On September 14, 1834, Brunswick Street Methodist Church, Halifax, successor to “Zoar,” opened in mourning as five days previously Rev. William Black, dean of Wesleyan clergy in Canada, had fallen victim to cholera epidemic then scourging American ports.

In 1934, a tablet to Rev. Mr. Black’s memory was removed, on the centenary of his death, from old Grafton Street Methodist Church, Halifax, now Presbyterian, to St. Andrew’s United, successor to Grafton Street Methodist Church. The mortal remains of Rev. William Black, founder of Canadian Methodism, rest in a little cemetery at the rear of Grafton Street Church, Halifax.

The first Methodist church in Ontario was built at Adolphustown in 1792 and cost £108, Halifax currency. The first Methodist church in British Columbia was erected in 1859. Methodists of Canada united in a Dominion organization in 1883 and in 1925 they joined with Presbyterians and Congregationalists to form present United Church of Canada, with membership of 2,017,375 in 1931, constituting the second largest religious group numerically in Canada.

Writing from Lunenburg, 1765, to the Society for Propagation of the Gospel, London, Rev. Robert Vincent reported “we have an enthusiast among us” and subsequently several times referred to this “interrupter.” The first Methodist preachers in Cape Breton in early days, ruled with a rod of iron. One marked a cross through a long list of names and wrote:—“I had to expel almost every one of these when I came to the circuit.”

The first “Royal Charter” given a Canadian college was the result of unusual circumstances and was conferred on King’s College, Nova Scotia, which “formally” became the pioneer “University” in the Dominion, though junior to Laval foundation in college work 100 years.

The legal existence of King’s College, Nova Scotia, dates from an Act of the Legislature of the Province of 1789. More than ever, after the War of Independence, the “Acadian” terrain jutting to the Atlantic, was recognized in London as a bulwark of empire.

In 1802, in the shadow of Napoleon’s contemplated invasion of England, King George III was pleased to extend King’s College in loyal Nova Scotia, the prestige and authority of the first University Charter in Canada, to be the:—“Mother of an University for the education and instruction of youth and students, to continue forever and to be called ‘King’s College’ ”.

The idea of King’s College, Nova Scotia, was born in New York at the close of the Revolution, as a sign of a greater empire to arise. The project of a Nova Scotia university was propounded in Manhattan in 1783. Under date October 18, 1783, five Anglican clergymen submitted a letter to Sir Guy Carleton, Lord Dorchester, outlining a college or seminary of learning on a “liberal plan” to be instituted in Nova Scotia, (not Canada) as a necessary step to help restore shattered British influence on the Western Continent.

A feature of the proposed Nova Scotia college that was stressed was engaging “able professors” in the different sciences, in order that students may qualify for the professions to “which their genius may naturally lead.”

The Royal Charter of King’s College, 1802, was accompanied by an Imperial grant of £1,000 annually for 30 years. The “liberal plan” foreshadowed in New York by Rev. Dr. Inglis and associates was unwisely abandoned by legislators in Nova Scotia in organizing the college. In spite of Bishop Inglis’ remonstrances, students at first were required to sign the XXXIX Articles, which prejudiced the popular success of “King’s” many years. The handicap has been removed.

The first president of King’s College, Nova Scotia, Dr. William Cochran, came from King’s College, New York, renamed Columbia, after the Revolution, by State legislation.

Two other King’s colleges were established in Canada, one at Fredericton in 1800, now University of New Brunswick, the other is presently University of Toronto. Both were secularized when names were changed.

King’s College, Nova Scotia, is the only institution of higher learning, with the title, “King’s”, which survives in North America. After 147 years vicissitudes the University of King’s College, Nova Scotia, is flourishing and stronger than ever before. The Alumni of the oldest Canadian “University” include leaders in church and state. Rev. A. H. Moore, M.A., D.D., D.C.L., is president.

Eastern Canadian educational institutions are conspicuous for small beginnings and voluntary endowment. A group of attractive, modern buildings located on a lovely saltwater inlet, the Northwest Arm, Halifax, Nova Scotia, and known as Pine Hill Divinity Hall, are the first and oldest Presbyterian Theological Seminary (United Church of Canada since 1925) in the Dominion of Canada.

Comfortable and efficient Pine Hill College represents 116 years evolution, like the growth of a sound deep-rooted tree, from a log-cabin commencement in Pictou county, Nova Scotia, in 1820. The inception of this school was partly in association with famous Pictou Academy, a voluntary undertaking of an indefatigable missionary, Rev. Dr. Thomas McCulloch, whose name is household with thousands of Nova Scotians of Scottish extraction.

In 1820, the Presbyterian Synod of Nova Scotia decided to undertake the training of a native ministry and not be wholly dependent on Scottish churches. Dr. Thomas McCulloch was appointed to give lectures in theology to a few students. He was the first Presbyterian Professor of Theology in Canada.

The Pictou log-building was the first Presbyterian divinity school in the Dominion, and was the nucleus of Pine Hill college at Halifax. From 1825 to 1830 considerable industrial development occurred in Pictou county, Nova Scotia, in connection with coal-mining activity sponsored by General Mining Association of London. A foundry, shipyard, railway to tidewater and other factors indirectly benefitted farming and lumbering. Education benefitted.

Original primitive building accommodation at Pictou Academy was outgrown, under the impact of Rev. Dr. McCulloch’s personality and students in general classes were attracted from other parts of Nova Scotia. It is regretted this picturesque “log-college”, the alma mater of men of prominence, was consumed in the spread of a forest fire.

It was not till 1848, that the dignity of a fairly complete classical and theological training for the ministry was attained by Presbyterians of Eastern Canada, which was imparted in a seminary re-located at West River, Pictou, and somewhat more pretentious than the earlier rustic structure that had gone up in flames.

Meantime in 1838, Rev. Thomas McCulloch had been chosen first President of Dalhousie University at Halifax, an institution in 1936 at the age of 98, which enrols 1,000 students in various faculties.

In 1858 separated Scottish churches in Nova Scotia had seminaries in Truro and Halifax. In 1860 these churches in Eastern Canada composed their abstract differences and joined forces in energetic work.

In 1878, Pine Hill estate and waterfront at Halifax were acquired and a series of up-to-date buildings provided from time to time, by dint of constant effort, to house the vigor of Eastern Canadian Presbyterians in the support of a central Theological School. Upward of 100 students can be accommodated in residence.

The Centenary of Pine Hill Hall—the Dean of Canadian Presbyterian theological teaching—was celebrated at Pictou in 1920 by a full attendance at a meeting of the Synod of Nova Scotia, assisted by visitors.

During 100 years, 531 young men had been qualified and ordained and the school standard steadily lifted to higher levels.

In 1904 the Principal was Rev. Robert A. Falconer, afterward Sir Robert Falconer, D.C.L., (Oxon), President of University of Toronto, one of many University Presidents the Maritime Provinces have furnished to Canadian and United States institutions.

Rev. Clarence Mackinnon, M.A., D.D., L.L.D., present head of Canada’s premier Presbyterian (United) Theological institution, served in France in the World War, as did students and graduates. Rev. James W. Falconer, M.A., D.D., Professor of New Testament Greek, is a brother of Sir Robert Falconer.

The first co-ed women graduates from any degree-conferring college in Canada are credited to Mount Allison University, Sackville, New Brunswick, named for a founder-benefactor, Charles F. Allison. In 1875, Miss Grace A. Lockhart received B. S. degree at Mount Allison and in 1882 Miss Harriett Stewart was awarded B. A. in the graduating group of that year.

“Mount Allison Wesleyan Academy”, for the higher education of boys and young men, opened in 1843, was the initial unit of the existing university. In 1854 a similar academy was added for women and was successful.

In 1858 the legislature of New Brunswick authorized consolidation of the secondary schools under the name, “Mount Allison Wesleyan College” with degree-conferring powers. The enlargement was effected in 1862, the date of the beginning of University scope.

Mount Allison University has been specially identified in popular interest with divinity work and higher education of women, while general college courses are also adequately officered. Nearly 700 graduates have gone into the ministry and foreign missions. Divinity lectures are now affiliated with Pine Hill College, Halifax.

Formerly Methodist, but presently United Church of Canada, Mount Allison University Buildings occupy a commanding site at head waters of the Bay of Fundy, the junction point of Atlantic Maritime Provinces of Canada, a position which in early days was the geographical centre of Acadia. It was in this neighborhood that Methodism was introduced into Canada by Yorkshire immigrants, who were personally acquainted with John Wesley and championed his teachings. Dr. George J. Trueman, M.A., Ph.D., is President.

Acadia University, Wolfville, Nova Scotia, embowered in the Evangeline orchard country, is the first and oldest Baptist institution of higher learning in British North America.

Incidentally, “Wolfville,” is the only name of that particular spelling, omitting the middle “e”, in the world gazetteer. The landscaped Acadia University property practically stands at the scene of the first permanent Baptist place of worship in Canada. Graceful university towers are a memorial of pioneer Baptist church organization.

The college was preceded in 1828 by Horton Academy. Ten years’ success in Academic teaching was accepted in 1838, as a mandate to install the real objective—a college. “Queen’s” was the name used for three years, but was disapproved when an Act of Incorporation, with degree power, was applied for in 1841. The year marked the inception of the Victorian reign and the word “Queen’s” was reserved. The ancient title, “Acadia,” harmonizing with some of the oldest American and Nova Scotia memories, was substituted and the bill became law.

It was obviously necessary, in order to do college work, to serve Baptists and others—there are no restrictive tests—of three provinces, that adequate class rooms, dormitories, assembly hall and recreational facilities should be provided. Cash was not available.

Professor Isaac Chipman, graduate of Waterville, Maine, but a former Horton student, offered a fertile suggestion, “build without money.” An energetic canvass in Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island produced a wealth of timber, nails, putty, plaster, metal, glass. Housekeepers contributed articles to be sold, even eggs and apple pies.

“A college without money” was the beginning of Acadia University in 1843, but actually dating from 1828 in purpose. Modern buildings have been added from time to time.

The first Baptist college in Canada is well past the century, and Rev. F. W. Patterson, D.D., L.L.D., is president.

A calamity overtook “Acadia”, June 7, 1852, a few days after anniversary exercises. Professor Isaac Chipman, a visitor Rev. Mr. Very, editor of the “Christian Visitor,” Saint John, four students and a boatman were drowned in sight of the college, by a boat capsizing, as the party were returning from a geological trip to lofty Cape Blomidon.

The first graduate in Arts at Acadia University was, June 1843, Dr. J. Leander Bishop, a descendant of Connectical immigrants, afterwards surgeon in 7th Pennsylvania Reserves in the American Civil War, with service from Bull Run through the Battles of the Wilderness.

The first regular agricultural exhibition in Canada was established at Fort Edward, Windsor, Nova Scotia, (Acadia), Tuesday, May 21, 1765. The project originated in an Act sponsored by Hon. Michael Francklin to change the ancient Acadian settlement of Piziquid into a township with the royal name of Windsor. The legislation provided for a public market every Tuesday and two fairs annually, May and October. This was the first market, first fair and first exhibition in Canada authorized by any legislature. The Windsor fairs continued for some years; the exhibition still exists.

At the initial 1765 gathering there was a fine showing of cattle, horses, sheep, hogs, grain of all sorts, butter, cheese, homespun, cloth and similar products. A silver medal was issued for an entry of 40 horses from Winckworth farms. Similar awards were made in various classes. The premium list included a plow-share, saddle and bridle, shears, whip and spurs. In a running race the first prize was a pair of buckskin breeches and a medal. Wrestlers received a pair of shoes and buckles. In a shooting competition at 80 yards, rifled barrels were excluded.

Next year, 1766, the Windsor fair was enlarged by the addition of a race meet. A Royal Charter was granted to three trustees, by the Governor of Nova Scotia, in the name of George III. An oval track became celebrated. It was reported at the time, the building of the track was actually privately financed by the Governor, Lord William Campbell, in the name of a groom. Campbell was an ardent horseman who in 1773 was transferred to South Carolina. The Governor and military and naval officials and business men of Halifax imported and entered fast horses. Heavy betting took place.

About this time, 1766, professional horse racing developed at Halifax and became widely known in Colonies to the South. Horses were sent from New York and Baltimore, gambling grew so great authorities became alarmed and Governor Campbell in 1771 signed a proclamation suppressing racing altogether. At the time, there were thousands of soldiers and sailors in Halifax and large sums of prize money were in circulation.

A monument unveiled at Windsor, September 17, 1935, by Historic Sites & Monuments Board of Canada summarizes the antiquity of Windsor (Nova Scotia) Fair:—“Commemorating the first agricultural fair in Canada, authorized on the creation of the township of Windsor in 1764 and held at Fort Edward Hill, May 21, 1765. Prizes were awarded for creditable exhibits of cattle, horses, sheep, hogs, grain, butter, cheese and homespun cloth. In 1766 the trustees of the fair received a royal charter which was renewed in 1815. Since that date the fair has had an uninterrupted existence.”

The Minute of Council creating the Township of Windsor, Nova Scotia, dated Christmas eve, December 24, 1764, was designed to promote agricultural development in the Land of Evangeline, now a noted orcharding district.

Canada’s pioneer fair was instituted by Hon. Michael Francklin, while Lieutenant Governor of Nova Scotia, who twelve years earlier in 1752 had arrived in Halifax, a stranger seeking opportunities in a new settlement. He had been in the West Indies, could speak French, was 31 years of age, possessed good health and £300 cash. On landing at the beach, Francklin asked a boatman the best way to make money. Half in fun, the ferryman advised opening a “rum shop and selling only the best.” Francklin acted on the suggestion and advertised through the Public Crier, by Bell and Voice, “free rum to all, before 8 o’clock in the morning every day, except Sunday, for one month,” which was the foundation of Francklin’s success and fortune.

Agricultural lands in the fertile Windsor district were confiscated properties of expelled Acadians. An Act of the Legislature of 1759 was passed for “quieting of possession to Protestant grantees of lands formerly occupied by French inhabitants.” The expropriated marshes had been freely advertised in New England and attracted a lot of settlers. At the same time, heavy land grants were made to friends of members of the executive.

Weary returning Acadians were not encouraged to hope to recover former valuable holdings, but Lieutenant Governor Francklin was active in the matter and induced exiles to relocate in other parts of Nova Scotia, particularly around Pubnico and Clare on the Bay of Fundy and at Memramcook, New Brunswick.

In 1760, Governor Charles Lawrence reported applications for Acadian lands “have been crowding in faster than I can prepare the grants. The progress in Nova Scotia in one year will exceed the growth of a half century in the most boasted of His Majesty’s Dominions.” Lawrence was complimented by the British Government, and the King. He died suddenly Sunday, October 19, 1760, after a grand ball at Government House. Hon. Michael Francklin died November 11, 1782, when 200 Indians followed the funeral, chanting the weird death song of the Micmacs for a deceased chieftain.

When John Cabot returned to England in 1497, after discovering America in “Acadia” or Nova Scotia, a feature of the navigator’s report was the information that explorers encountered “great schools of cod, and that the sea is covered with fish, which the sailors caught not merely with nets, but by lowering baskets with a stone attached, into the water, and hauling them up again full of fish.”

This intelligence ran like wildfire through Europe, second only in importance to the finding of a previously unknown continent. Codfish were gold-fish in those spiced meat-eating days. Fleets flocked to this piscatorial eldorado. In 1504 probably 100 schooners, large and small, were on the Banks. As early as 1530 it has been stated 500 sail English, French and Portuguese, a few Dutch and Spanish, carrying 6,000 men, annually visited “Baccalaos,” cod-land, in the spring, returning with cargoes in the fall. The home-coming was a gala event in maritime communities. It is possible women and clergymen occasionally accompanied the ships to Acadia and Newfoundland.

“Most vessels mounted cannon,” says Judge Prowse, “and rude arms lay alongside a fisherman as he plied an oar and cast a net.” Warships patrolled the English channel and coast of France to protect home-coming galleons from sea-rovers. De Witt remarks:—“the navy of England became formidable by the discovery of the inexpressibly rich fishing banks of Newfoundland.”

The market was Europe. There was no temptation for families to migrate, and American winters were dreaded, the air being thought to cause sickness. From year to year the same harbors were usually resorted to for curing, without any conflict between groups.

Spanish Bay (Sydney), Halifax and St. John’s, Nfld., and other places were busy in summer. Each week the “Admiral,” so called, of the port retired, and at every change the official gave a feast when cheap wines of Europe circulated, to the musical accompaniment of song, dancing, pipes, castanets, guitar. European languages mingled with Indian guttural. Water sports frequently terminated the seasons. These colorful gatherings are a chapter in American settlement, not yet depicted. It was not unusual for buccaneers to barge in. On one occasion the “famous pyrate Peter Easton who then commanded ten stout ships” coasted Newfoundland and Nova Scotia and forcibly impressed one hundred seamen into his fighting craft. The weekly fishermen’s parties preceded Champlain’s “Good Time” club.

Temporary buildings were erected by fishing crews and vegetable gardens planted. Trade with Indians developed. Big lobsters, seal pelts, salmon, whale oil, walrus ivory and game were carried to Europe. Prosecution of the fisheries in those days was seasonal and apart from colonization. Coasts and fisheries were as yet international properties.

It is estimated in 1621 there were 800 fishing and trading vessels operating in the Gulf of St. Lawrence. There would be 1000 at other points.

In all ages the fishery has been the mother of commerce. Never was treasure trove opened by adventurers, richer than the inexhaustible ocean plains adjacent to Acadian and Newfoundland shores. It has been claimed fisheries found by Cabot have yielded more wealth than mines of Mexico and Peru, and tobacco of Virginia put together.

Rich furs for personal adornment supplemented sea food. In a single year of later date, 200,000 beaver skins were exported to Europe, displacing high priced Russian sable.

It was largely the fur and fishing industries, which brought De Monts to northern waters and to Acadia in 1604. The first attempt by Gosnold to found a British settlement in New England in 1602 was to prosecute the fisheries. In order to build up a resident population at the city of Louisburg, French fishermen were required to sign for three years and take their families.

When the Puritans sent an agent from Holland to obtain consent to go to America for “freedom to Worship God,” canny King James is reported to have inquired what profit might arise. The answer was one word “Fishing.” “So God have my soul,” quoth the royal Solon, “ ’tis an honest trade, ’twas the Apostles own calling,” and granted the request. Plymouth Rock was a convenient station, and in 1624 a cargo of Puritan saltcod was despatched to England.

The Acadian fisheries were so much nearer than distant Asia that almost any small craft could share in the western harvest. The story-book empire and riches of the Grand Khan were forgotten in the unimaginable and unexpected real resources uncovered by Cabot’s great voyages. But for a long time, it was not fully realized that wealth of forest, sea and animal life—practical things—given to trade by Cabot, immensely exceed spectacular eastern products and precious metals, which partly explains why Cabot’s brilliant achievement has been overlooked.

To build up British fishery, including transatlantic industry, ordinances were enacted in the 16th century to reestablish Roman Catholic days of abstinence from meat. Penalties were provided for disregard of the injunction. Professor Farrand states the number of days, when eating of flesh was forbidden, was gradually increased and eventually reached 140 per year.

Evidently modelled on a British plan, the first Savings Bank in Canada, under Government auspices, was opened at Halifax in 1832. The proceeding was authorized by general Provincial legislation of 1826, as amended in 1832.

It is recited the object of the Savings Bank is “receiving deposits of the poor and of the laboring classes.” Management was vested in trustees “with such corporate rights and privileges as shall be necessary for the management and well-being of the institution, or are usually granted thereto in England.”

Deposits were required to be turned over to the Government quarterly, in multiples of £100, the total investment with the Province to be limited to £15,000. The Government agreed to apply the savings to the Public Debt, and issue a Certificate under the Great Seal to the Trustees for each sum received, bearing 4 percent interest.

The initial Act of 1826 was not workable. In the 1832 revision Commissioners replaced Trustees. Interest from Government was raised to 5 percent—one percent for bank management and four percent for individual depositors, who were restricted to £50 deposit a year.

The Halifax Savings Bank was a success from the start. In 1860 a second Bank was formed at Salt Springs, Nova Scotia, another in 1864 at Albion Mines and a fourth in 1867 at Pictou.

The total amount which might be turned over to Government was successively increased to £560,000.

New Brunswick had trusteed Savings Banks, also Government Savings Banks in charge of Collectors of Customs.

At Confederation, most old Savings Banks in the various provinces were superseded by Post Office Savings Banks.

In England in 1697 Daniel Dafoe recommended thrift banks. Jeremy Bentham repeated the advice in 1797. In 1799 the first British Savings Bank was a voluntary institution, called “Frugality Bank.” The idea spread so rapidly an Act was passed in 1817 to regulate them.

The first official Savings Bank in Europe was in Germany in 1765, according to Britannica.

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The first legalized currency in Nova Scotia enacted in 1761 governed trade with the Indians. Beaver skins were the basis of value, goods being appraised in beaver pelts in pounds avoirdupois. A blanket and a black fox skin were the same price, 10 shillings or two beavers, $2. In 1935 the difference is sometimes four figures.

A Quebec ordinance of 1765 temporarily established “Halifax Currency” as the monetary basis in Canada. Denominations were dollars, pounds, shillings and pence. Twenty shillings were $4, based on the Spanish and Mexican pillar dollar of 385 grains fine silver. In 1831 the British Consul at New York suggested to Colonial authorities making “Halifax Currency” applicable to all British American colonies and a special series of coins be issued for the purpose.

In 1748 and 1749 and for some years before, there was a floating flood of Massachusetts paper money, which was discounted 91 per cent in Nova Scotia. The scrip was unsupported and dropped to 9 cents on the dollar. The Mother Country had to come to the rescue. Payment of 1745 Louisbourg siege expense in millions of small metal coins helped the situation. Casks of coin were transported from London to Boston.

“Holey” money was authorized in Prince Edward Island in 1800 to stop the export of metal currency. A hole was punched in the centre of silver dollars, but they were ordered to be accepted at face value, which kept them in home circulation. “Frigate” coins were issued in New Brunswick in 1843. An attempted issue of Provincial coins in Nova Scotia in 1817 was disallowed by the Colonial Office. The Nova Scotia Legislature empowered Government issues of paper money in 1812 and in 1820 bearing 6 per cent interest. Merchants issued small notes, 2 s. 6 d., 1 s. 3 d., and one dollar, also pence and half pence, largely alloy. 400,000 copper half pence were officially imported in 1823 on account of scarcity of change. Tons of Nova Scotia “coppers”, made of iron, were put in circulation by forgers in 1840.

A bank charter was proposed in Halifax in 1801 and again in 1811, but was not favored by the Legislature.

In 1825 Sir Howard Douglas, Lieutenant Governor of New Brunswick, and Major General commanding the troops in the Maritime Provinces, Newfoundland and Bermuda, organized Soldiers’ Savings Banks.

The first Bank Clearing House in Canada was in Halifax, 1887. In the same year the Merchants Bank of Halifax arranged with Merchants Bank of Montreal for mutual redemption of notes. In 1890 a Bank Act amendment in Canada, provided for free redemption of all bank notes throughout the Dominion.

Toronto and Kingston firms issued paper money of small denomination in 1837-1838; at the time of the Mackenzie rebellion.

Seasonal “card money” was used in Quebec and Port Royal, Acadia, after 1685. Playing cards were cut in quarters, officially stamped and signed and put into local circulation pending fall returns from France, redeemable when “the ship came in.”

At page 158 of “Annual Survey of Education in Canada” issued in 1928 by Dominion Bureau of Statistics at Ottawa, appears the information that “perhaps the earliest library in all North America, and certainly the first in Canada, was that of Marc Lescarbot, brought by him to Port Royal in 1606.”—that is to “Acadia.”

Harvard Library dates from 1638. Bishop Laval founded Le Petit Seminaire library at Quebec City 1663. A public library is said to have been launched in New York in 1700 by the chaplain of an English governor. Yale library began in 1700. Franklin started a library at Philadelphia in 1731. The beginning of Princeton library was 1746. Columbia (then King’s) college library commenced 1754. The Jesuits had a library at Quebec about 1750, and a remnant is now part of the Library of Parliament at Ottawa.

The earliest Central American or South American library was Mexico City 1762. Rio Janeiro was next in 1807.

Montreal College had a small library in 1767. A considerable sum for purchase of books was subscribed at Quebec in 1779 by officers of the garrison and merchants. The amount was remitted to Richard Cumberland, London, Agent for Nova Scotia, to expend, and five cases of literature were received in 1780, which later passed into possession of Quebec Literary and Historical Society formed at the instance of Lord Dalhousie in 1824.

The Library of Kings College, Nova Scotia, was originated in 1790. Chief Justice Thomas Andrew Strange contributed £100 toward a library room.

Nova Scotia apparently has the oldest law library in Canada, which was initiated with a gift of volumes from Judge Strange on leaving the province in 1797, when he was made a Baronet and given an appointment in Bombay. There are now 14,000 books in this collection. In 1800 Nova Scotia legislature voted £172 for a full length canvas of Judge Strange “as an upright judge and an honest man,” which was painted by Benjamin West and presently hangs in the Court House at Halifax.

Ontario had a library in 1797. New Brunswick had a library in 1800.

The Library of Congress at Washington was started in 1800 but was destroyed by fire in 1814 in connection with the capture of the city by Major General Ross, who is buried at Halifax. The new Congressional Library is one of the largest in the world.

The old Halifax Garrison Library (Cambridge) was begun in 1817 with the aid of part of Customs receipts taken by British troops during the occupation of Castine in State of Maine in the war of 1812. Commandeered funds were transferred to Halifax and part employed to found Dalhousie College and £1,000 assigned to a garrison library, at first named Dalhousie for Lord Dalhousie, then governor of Nova Scotia, who was transferred to Quebec in 1820. In 1902 the name of the Library was changed by permission to “Cambridge”, the present title, in honor of the Duke of Cambridge who was Commander-in-Chief of all British forces.

The mandated island of Corfu was returned to Greek sovereignty in 1864 after a period of British control, and a section of the Corfu garrison library was despatched to Cambridge Military Library, Halifax, which comprises 6,000 volumes and is numbered among the oldest and most important garrison libraries of the British Empire. Some books date to 1710. Complete army lists since 1794 cannot be replaced. Principal American military publications are included.

On October 27, 1934 a brass tablet was unveiled at Cambridge library, Halifax, by the Lieutenant Governor of Nova Scotia, Hon. W. H. Covert, to record the origin of Cambridge Library and the present Earl of Dalhousie consented to be patron.

The first public library in Nova Scotia appears to have been organized at Newport, April 18, 1821 and the second at Amherst in the same year. There were circulating libraries in Ontario in 1811. George Johnson, late Dominion Statistician, reported the first free library in Canada was at Halifax 1864, Galt 1883, Toronto 1884, Montreal 1885. Other libraries include agricultural, boards of trade, Sunday Schools, public schools, various government departments, legislative, fraternal, religious, technical, scientific, industrial, travelling, rural, camp.

Special library books and sheet music for the blind were made post free in Canada in 1898. A Canadian postal library scheme was approved by Sir Robert Bordon, prime minister, February 13, 1914, but the world war intervened. A notable library experiment in Prince Edward Island, financed by the Carnegie Corporation, has met with marked success. From three main centres books are sent to seventeen branches for distribution and it is hoped thereby to reach every home.

It was the destiny of Morris Robinson, born at Wilmot’s Woods, Annapolis, Nova Scotia or Acadia, September 2, 1784, to be one of the founders and first president of the Mutual Life Insurance Company of New York, described in the company’s literature as “the first American Life Insurance Company.”

The Robinson family removed from New York to Nova Scotia, at the close of War of Independence. Later one of Robinson’s brothers was an officer in the British army. Morris Robinson lived in New Brunswick for several years, before journeying to New York to seek a fortune. In 1813 he was cashier of a Bank at Goshen, New York. In 1820 he was cashier of New York branch of the Bank of United States (the second) which Congress in 1816 had chartered for 20 years.

A federal Act of 1832 to extend the United States bank’s Charter was vetoed by President Jackson and Morris Robinson was delegated to conduct winding-up proceedings in 1836.

Robinson went to Europe for a year representing New York bankers and became interested in life insurance work in England. On returning to the United States, Robinson proposed a life company on a mutual basis. A Charter was obtained and at the organization meeting of the Board of Trustees, May 9, 1842 Morris Robinson was chosen president of the first American legal reserve life insurance company. No policies were to be issued until $500,000 insurance had been subscribed. This minimum was afterward raised to $1,000,000.

On February 1, 1843 President Robinson reported the required subscribers had been secured and the mutual company opened its doors for business. 470 policies were written the first fiscal year. Policy No. 1 dated February 1, 1843 lapsed after the first premium. Policy 11 for $2,000 signed February 7, 1843 matured as a death claim in 1905. Policy 22 matured as a death claim in 1904 when the assured lacked a few months of 101 years, Policy 458 matured by the death of the insured at the age of 98 on October 11, 1913 and was popularly known as “the oldest policy in the world,” on which annual premiums of $33.60 had been paid for 70 years.

Down to date over fifty Mutual Life subscribers have exercised the unique right to surrender insurance at the age of 96 and receive double the face of the policy. Cyrus Field took a Mutual $10,000 Ordinary Life contract in 1843 and in 1854 obtained permission to travel in New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island and Newfoundland to promote the Atlantic cable.

In 470 policies written in the first year, ten were women. The first two policy holders to die were women, holding No. 54 and No. 332, both in 1844. In February 1933 the Mutual Life celebrated the company’s ninetieth birthday with assets exceeding One Billion Dollars, making the 25th Billionaire Corporation in the United States.

On February 1, 1903 the Canadian Society of New York unveiled a bronze tablet at 56 Wall Street recording the fact that a Canadian, (Acadian) Morris Robinson, had established at this spot in 1843, the business of modern life insurance as known on the American continent.

For ten years the first office of Mutual Life of New York, now located on Nassau Street, was 44 Wall Street in an upstairs room. In renumbering the street in 1844, the original number 44 Wall became 56 Wall and hence the position assigned the Robinson plaque at the heart of the financial district of New York.

The first Canadian agent of Mutual Life of New York was A. W. Whipple, Saint John, New Brunswick, 1847.

The estimated amount of all life insurance in force in the United States is $103,000,000,000 and $6,220,000,000 in Canada.

The first and oldest Canadian fire insurance company is the Halifax Fire Insurance Company, started 1809 as an assessment society and in 1819 converted into a chartered corporation, with fixed premiums. Several original subscribers applied for a bank charter in 1801, which was refused by the legislature. This may have been one reason the Fire Company commenced as a mutual concern. April 24, 1809 an official announcement stated directors had been selected and office opened in the house of J. H. Fleigher, secretary, who from 10 to 12 A. M. on business days would receive applications for fire insurance on buildings, goods and furniture in Nova Scotia.

Agents for British fire companies had been writing risks in Halifax since 1788 and a rate war now ensued.

In 1812 Halifax Fire Company applied for incorporation; without success. A similar measure in 1819 was granted with £50,000 authorized capital, divided into £500 shares, no one person to hold more than two shares. When the capital was fully subscribed the company would be entitled to write £150,000 business.

In 1833 the Halifax Company obtained an extension of charter to 1861, in exchange for surrendering a corporate monopoly previously enjoyed. Capital was enlarged to £75,000 and underwriting capacity to £300,000.

The company lost heavily in Halifax fires after 1850, which necessitated reorganization in 1859 and called for additional stock investment.

In 1906 Halifax Fire Company were authorized to do business anywhere in the world and to reinsure risks. In 1928 the company effected an arrangement for writing insurance in the United States. With present capital and surplus, exceeding $3,000,000, the pioneer Canadian fire insurance company is writing $300,000,000 business in different countries.

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Marine insurance is vastly older, more romantic perhaps and more comprehensively organized than fire protection, all perils of the sea, the act of God and the king’s enemies, but not depreciation, being embodied in a single maritime policy.

Water-borne cargo may be covered from “warehouse to warehouse” against war, piracy, hurricane, fire, theft, flood, collision, derailment or any other accident incidental to ocean, land, river, canal and air transport, and delivery at both ends, no matter how far from ship’s side.

A thousand years before the Christian era, marine protection was sold rich traders of Tyre and General Average was an essential feature with undecked, oar-propelled craft.

Referring to one of the closing events of the prolonged Franco-British military struggle in America an author remarked:—“One practical advantage of the fall of Louisburg in 1759 was a drop in insurance on British hulls bound to America from 25 percent to 12 percent.”

Throughout the 18th century “Corporate” marine underwriting was a hard-and-fast monopoly in Great Britain—Lloyd’s was individual—which continued in the face of strong opposition, right down to 1824, when repeal by parliament opened the door for the formation of a number of competing companies. Previously, as communication with the United Kingdom was slow and uncertain, the volume of marine insurance in America was relatively small. Most of it was local, conducted on the individual plan.

Corporate marine insurance principally dates from 1794 in United States following the Revolutionary War.

In Canada Halifax merchants and shipowners formed a Marine Society in 1786. In 1790 quarterly meetings are recorded at Mrs. Sutherland’s “Coffee House.” In 1794 it was announced merchants “had agreed to underwrite policies of insurance on vessels and goods. Benjamin Salter, broker, May 10, advertised attendance every day during ‘change’ hours at the ‘Coffee Rooms.’ ” In December the Marine Society was remodeled to extend its operations.

In 1809 Halifax Marine Insurance Co. opened an office for business on Water street, opposite the Fuel Yard. C. H. Mitchell of Halifax had a wartime marine underwriting covering a voyage in 1814 to Castine, Maine. Various individuals signed for amounts from £10 to £200. W. H. Strachan, Halifax, exhibits a “corporate” marine policy of 1831. Nova Scotia Marine Insurance Co. was incorporated in 1835.

The continuous participation of Nova Scotia or Acadia in various stages of North American development covers a wide range of subjects. Four score years before the first shacks of an Illinois swamp marked the site of metropolitan Chicago, sixty years anterior to the birth of Abraham Lincoln and one hundred and seventeen years preceding the organization of the Dominion of Canada, enterprising merchants of Halifax, in the middle of the 18th Century, had already instituted a formal voluntary “Committee on Trade.” Under different names the Halifax business association, founded in 1750, has functioned and prospered down to date and is intimately known to railroads, consuls, travel agencies, Government and steamship offices throughout much of the world, as the “Halifax Board of Trade.”

In 1937 this venerable and vigorous institution, which spans generations of commercial changes, is probably destined to share in many momentous matters in the long future.

The respectable antiquity of Halifax Trade Board attracted the special notice of an historian.—“Strange as it may seem, in 1750, the year after Halifax was founded, merchants banded together and formed an ‘Association for the benefit of Trade’ ”. This is confirmed on Page 27, Akins Historical Essay, Volume VIII, Nova Scotia Historical Society Transactions. The point of seniority is also mentioned by Edmund A. Saunders, secretary of Halifax Board of Trade, in the course of a published statement:—“So far as can be learned, 1750 is the earliest trade organization in Canada, if not on the continent.”

A relative age query is opened in an introductory paragraph of a 1924 Catalogue of New York Chamber of Commerce:—“Of those organizations entirely independent of government support, the Chamber of Commerce of New York is the oldest commercial organization in the world, founded April 5, 1768 by a small group of merchants, chartered by King George III of England and after the Revolutionary War incorporated under the laws of the State. The Chamber has functioned continuously for 156 years.”

The interesting New York publication overlooks the older Board of Trade formed at the Royal City of Halifax in the reign of “George II” which in 1937 will celebrate 187 years, apparently the first and oldest unofficial trade organization on either side of the Atlantic.

Halifax Board of Trade maintains a reading room and assembly hall, compiles commercial information for reference and in good times has enrolled as many as 600 members. Periodically in 1758, 1760 and 1787 there are authentic historical allusions to activities of the “Halifax Committee on Trade.”

At the beginning of the 19th Century, the influence and reputation of the Halifax Trade Body was considerable in regard to currency, West Indies traffic and shipping. “Halifax Currency” was a standard of commodity basis along the Atlantic seaboard.

In 1806 the pioneer Nova Scotia Trade Association were invited to send a committee to Quebec to assist establish a local trade society. In 1809 a similar request from Montreal was endorsed by J. Ogilvie, James McGill, J. Richardson, J. Stevenson and other familiar names of St. Lawrence merchants.

In 1832 the Halifax Trade Association adopted the title “Chamber of Commerce” which was not popular. Eventually, in 1883 a group of members withdrew and took back the original name, but in 1890 the two Halifax mercantile bodies re-united under present permanent title, “Halifax Board of Trade.” A rival name “Chamber of Commerce” has been discussed on several occasions, without acceptance.

A useful Maritime Board of Trade representing Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island and New Brunswick—the Old Acadia—was started in 1894.

The Halifax Board of Trade is affiliated with Canadian Chamber of Commerce and with the Federation of Chambers of Commerce of the British Empire.

The first unofficial Chamber of Commerce in Great Britain was a Royal Charter granted to Glasgow in 1783. The Edinburgh Chamber came into existence in 1785, and other British cities at successive dates.

In “Canada and its Provinces,” Volume V, in an article “The Post Office”—by William Smith, I.S.O., the information is given that the first formal and permanent post office in present British America was opened in “Acadia” or Nova Scotia, at Halifax in the spring of 1755 by direction of authorities at Westminster. Details of this pioneer post office are entirely lacking in provincial histories, which contain no reference whatever to the matter. A casual item in a Boston paper was the solitary clue, after which confirmation of the establishment of a post office at Halifax in 1755 was obtained from public records at London.

Nothing has been found to indicate French authorities had post offices in Canada. Couriers carried official and private messages. Post office service in France had been developed for a long period, perhaps prior to other European countries, but French colonies were apparently neglected.

British colonies were somewhat better off. In 1704 there was a temporary war post office in the West Indies and connecting packet service. In 1737 Benjamin Franklin appears as postmaster at Philadelphia, and in 1753 was advanced to be deputy postmaster general for all seaboard colonies, except Nova Scotia. A lot of mail apparently passed through private channels, while the total revenue of the authorized post offices remained negligible, partly because rates were high, and also on account of popular hostility to all Imperial imposts.

Franklin and assistant were supposed to receive £600 annual joint compensation, if earned, but for several years following 1753 the excess over courier costs was insufficient to defray salaries, and official couriers were credited with carrying private letters at half price and pocketing the postage. In 1789, six years after American independence had been acknowledged, there were only 75 post offices in the United States. In 1763 post offices were opened at Montreal, Quebec and Three Rivers.

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American republican tendencies that followed the capture of Louisburg in 1745, were shown at Albany conference in 1754, and may have influenced the decision to place a post office at Halifax as part of an Imperial plan of separate development of Nova Scotia detached from American sympathies.

The middle position of Halifax, situated between Louisburg on the east and Canada and St. John valley on the west was also a factor.

The Halifax post office of 1755 synchronized with George Washington’s initial appearance in a military capacity, when, as commander of Virginia troops, he surrendered to a superior French force at Fort Necessity, July 4, 1754.

British-American colonists had observed a consistent design, (wretchedly supported at Paris), in all French proceedings in America, following the founding of New Orleans in 1718. New Orleans, Quebec and Louisburg were the extremities of a continuous chain of strong forts traversing the Mississippi Valley and shutting off access to the west. It was clear that English settlements were to be forever confined to the strip of land 150 to 200 miles wide between the Alleghany mountains and the Atlantic coast. The practical soundness of French fortified locations is evidenced in the string of flourishing cities that have grown up in strategic positions on the old fort sites—Montreal, Ogdensburg, Detroit, Toledo, Fort Wayne, Peoria, Natchez and others.

The Board of Trade at London called attention to “delays and miscarriages” in American mail as carried by merchant ships, and recommended a line of vessels restricted to the postal service. Meanwhile Virginia settlers had pushed across the Alleghany range and organized a colonization company. Their agents were turned back by French patrols.

Washington, only 22, with the rank of major and 400 provincials was detailed by Governor Dinwiddie to escort colonists through the enemy’s cordon and assert British territorial rights. The Virginians were surrounded and forced to capitulate. The Provinces were alarmed.

Four Governors—Lawrence, Nova Scotia; Delancey, New York; Dinwiddie, Virginia; Shirley, Massachusetts—signed an urgent joint appeal to the Mother County to provide a fast Atlantic service in case of need. A post office at Halifax was the first result, with a suggestion that local connections be effected between Halifax and Boston, by warships and merchant craft. Simultaneously George Washington was promoted to Commander-in-Chief of Virginia, on account of clever defence at Fort Necessity.

The British Government at first balked at the expenditure for a special ocean service. Instead, General Edward Braddock, a gallant but incompetent Scot, was appointed commander-in-chief in America and was despatched to Virginia with a body of regulars. In August, 1755, Braddock was surprised and killed by French and Indians at Fort Duquesne (Pittsburg) with 976, out of 1373, killed and wounded.

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The Braddock disaster emphasized the necessity for closer transatlantic communication. Four vessels of 200 tons, 30 of crew, fully armed were immediately selected for a new service between Falmouth and New York, no merchandise to be carried. The ten-gun brigs were suspended during the War of Independence. Compare this with Cunard contract in 1840.

Brigs were restored in 1783, when all Canadian provinces protested against them going direct to a “foreign country,” and in 1788 the packets were ordered to call at Halifax both ways in summer, and eventually in winter also.

From Halifax a system of couriers took mail to and from Saint John, Fredericton, Quebec. The ocean packet service continued practically until Cunard steamship contract of 1840, though in the meantime, owing to no Intercolonial railway connection, Quebec and Ontario found it possible to get quicker mail service from New York, than from Halifax.

James Stevens was postmaster at Halifax in 1770, but it has not been possible to learn if he held the office from 1755, as the office was administered from London and the postal work was a private enterprise operated under contract with the Crown.

Saint John, New Brunswick, had a post office in 1784. There were post offices in Antigonish and Cape Breton, Nova Scotia, in 1803. In 1817 an overland postal service was opened between Sydney and Halifax, an Indian being employed to make monthly trips. Prince Edward Island had irregular postal communication with Halifax in 1803, and in 1816 inaugurated a packet route from Charlottetown to Pictou.

In New Brunswick, the first district off the established courier route through the Saint John Valley, to secure postal communication with the remainder of the province, was Miramichi river. Lumbering and fishing settlements of Chatham and Newcastle arranged for a private courier to travel to and from Fredericton, who was paid for his services partly by the legislature and partly by private subscription. There was friction as the courier could not be depended upon to deliver the correspondence of non-subscribers.

In summer Bermuda mail was landed at Halifax and forwarded by warship.

In winter before, during and after the war of 1812 Canadian mail was landed at Bermuda. Lord Dalhousie complained in 1820 that British letters posted in November reached him in February. It was thought in England sailing vessels could not make Halifax on account of head winds in winter; it took several years to convince British officials this was a mistake.

It is estimated 1,350,000,000 pieces of mail, all classes, are handled in Canada in a year. The revenue of Halifax post office in 1934 was $487,170 compared to $24,795 in 1868. A tablet on Halifax Post Office building that British mail packet, operating between Falmouth and New York in 1755, called at Halifax, seems to be an error.

The pioneer newspaper of Canada and oldest existing paper in North America is “Royal Gazette” of Nova Scotia, first issued as “Halifax Gazette” Monday, March 23, 1752 and continuously published since that year. The original paper was printed on both sides of a half sheet of foolscap. The imprint reads:—“Halifax: Printed by John Bushell, at the Printing Office on Grafton Street where Advertisements are taken in, 1752.”

In a salutatory this journalistic enterprise is modestly launched:—“As many of the subscribers to the Proposals for the publishing of this Paper, may be desirous of the Cause why it hath been so long delayed, the Printer begs Leave to inform them. That the Gentleman who is possessed of the original Subscriptions, whenever desired, will give them a satisfactory Account, and as the Letter Press is now commodiously fixed for the Printing Business, all such Gentlemen, Merchants and others who may have occasion for any Thing in that Way may depend upon being served in a reasonable and expeditious manner by their Most Obedient Humble Servant, John Bushell.”

At 173 Grafton street, Halifax, a tablet commemorates pioneer Canadian printing:—

One of few items of “news” in Volume 1 Number 1 of “Halifax Gazette” was ten months old and advised that on May 13 an Act had passed for regulating the commencement of the year and for “correcting the Kalender now in use; to extend throughout all his Majesty’s Dominions (The particulars of which will be published in our next)”

Birth of the Halifax Gazette coincided with tardy British adoption of the Gregorian Calendar and making January 1 the legal commencement of the New Year.

In a subsequent issue of Halifax Gazette, 1752, Joshua Mauger advertises to sell at Major Lockman’s store “several negro slaves as follows: A woman aged 35; two boys aged 12 and 13 respectively; two of 18; and a man aged 30.” At that time Halifax was a considerable slave mart, as Boston papers of September 1751 advertised an auction of “a lot of negro slaves from Halifax” mostly mechanics.

On September 23, 1760, John Bushell took into partnership, Anton Heinrich or Henry, a young German printer, a native of Alsace, who had been a bandsman with a British regiment at the capture of Louisbourg, and settled at Halifax. Heinrich was fluent in French, German and English. Bushell died in the following January and Heinrich assumed management of “Halifax Gazette,” and started a new serial number. The paper had doubled in size.

In 1765, in an unlucky moment, Heinrich employed Isaiah Thomas, a youthful Boston type. Shortly afterward an item appeared in the “Gazette”, that Nova Scotia generally sympathized with New England in opposing the Stamp Act. The newspaper proprietor was charged with sedition and explained the objectionable item had been inserted without his knowledge. Henry was warned not to let it happen again. The offence was twice repeated, and in aggravated form, and government officials ordered a transfer of official work to a rival printer, which almost ruined Heinrich’s business. Thomas was dismissed and advised to deport himself.

In the meantime at the death of Bartholomew Green at Boston in 1734 the control of Boston “News-Letter,” the “pioneer” paper in North America, was vested in a son-in-law, John Draper, who published the paper until December, 1762. His son, Richard Draper, then took over the newspaper, and advocated the maintenance of English rule against the rising spirit of independence. Richard Draper died in 1774. His widow, Margaret Draper, carried on publication in favor of the British point of view.

The “News-Letter” was the only paper issued in Boston during the siege. When the city was evacuated on March 17, 1776, Mrs. Draper gathered presses and types and removed to Halifax, and later retired to England and received a pension from the Government at Westminster. The journalistic heroine passed away in 1800.

“News-Letter” presses and equipment at Halifax were transferred to John Howe, a young New England compositor, who had been in Mrs. Draper’s employ in Boston and went to Halifax at the same time as the widow. On Friday, January 5, 1781, Howe commenced a newspaper in Halifax, the “Journal” which continued for 90 years. The old “News-Letter” equipment was used for a long time, but cannot now be found. Anton Heinrich remained in charge of “Halifax Gazette” until a fatal illness in 1800.

About 1787-88 Heinrich conducted a German paper at Halifax, the first in that language in Canada.

A Gaelic newspaper, “Mac Talla” formerly printed at Sydney, Cape Breton, has been represented, perhaps incorrectly, as the only Scottish all-Gaelic publication, including advertisements, in existence. The 1931 Dominion census records 32,000 Gaelic speaking people in Canada, of whom 31,000 are Scottish, possibly as many as in old Scotland, and no fewer than 29,000 born in Canada. 24,000 are residents of Nova Scotia.

The colored Gaelic speaking cook in Kipling’s “Captains Courageous” is stated to have been from Nova Scotia, a “Black Celt”. Several colored families, also a number of Indians in Cape Breton, have acquired Gaelic in Scottish settlements. Scots protest against Gaelic being classified with Syriac and other foreign languages in the Canadian census. A current Gaelic paper, “Teachdaire nan Gaidheal,” successor of “Mac Talla”, issued at Sydney is partly in English.

The editorial column of Dalhousie Gazette, students paper at Halifax, is headed:—“The oldest College Paper in America—Founded 1869.”

For a number of years “The News”, commenced in 1838, was issued tri-weekly at Saint John, and was advertised as the first penny paper published in the British Empire.

The first Railway publication in Canada was “The Headlight” issued at Truro, Nova Scotia, August 17, 1889 by C. W. Lunn for fifty years a Canadian figure in Railway journalism, chiefly Government Railways. Mr. Lunn is a son of the soil and to the manor born in railway service, both father and grandfather having preceded him in that field in different capacities. At eight years, C. W. Lunn was carrying tools for stone-cutters building a railway bridge. In 1878, at 18, Lunn was a brakeman and lost an arm in 1882 coupling cars. At 78, Mr. Lunn is a vigorous Canadian railway journalist, familiarly known to thousands in the “running trades” and outside as “Links and Pins,” an authority on railway topics.

The first newspaper in Prince Edward Island (Isle St. Jean or St. John’s Island) was “Royal American Gazette” of New York, which the publishers, Loyalists, took with them at the British evacuation of Manhattan in 1783.

About 1768 two enterprising brothers from Scotland, James and Alexander Robertson, printers, landed in New York and started the weekly “Chronicle” which aggressively supported British opinions. James Parker, an opponent of the Stamp Act, in a letter 1770 to Benjamin Franklin, the American agent at London, made uncomplimentary reference to the newcomers as “Scots paper spoilers” and “blockheads” who were “puffing a lot” but “would not last long.” Later the Robertsons had a press at Philadelphia and one at Albany.

In 1775 at the outbreak of the Revolution the Scottish brothers were in partnership with John Trumbull, issuing the “Packet” at Norwich. Trumbull took the popular side. The Robertsons remained staunch Loyalists and were obliged to leave Connecticut and when British troops occupied New York in 1776, the Robertsons went back there.

With Nathaniel Mills the Scots commenced publication of “Royal American Gazette” in New York and vigorously conducted this paper until the signing of the peace treaty. British official advertisements and announcements and proceedings of Civil and Military authorities were featured, which gave offence to Continental sympathizers. Summaries of Trinity church sermons were printed.

At the evacuation of New York in 1783 the Robertsons and Mills moved the “Gazette” and press to Shelburne, Nova Scotia, where 8,000 Loyalists—officials, merchants, professional men and others—had located on an alleged promise or expectation never kept, that a capital city would be the principal place.

Governor Parr and Prince William Henry visited Shelburne in war vessels. Band concerts by Shelburne Garrison were popular. Broad streets were laid out, churches, public buildings and dwellings erected.

For a short time Shelburne must have had nearly the largest population of any town in British America. Three newspapers were established. One publisher was James Humphrey, proprietor of Philadelphia “Ledger,” whose premises had been sacked by Revolutionists on account of the paper’s British sympathies. Humphrey fled to New York. The Shelburne “city mirage” faded and thousands moved away in a few years. Humphrey eventually returned to Philadelphia and died in obscurity.

For two years the “Royal American Gazette” was issued at Shelburne on a continuation of the original New York numbering. The last copy printed at Shelburne was August 22, 1785. Mills went to New York. Alexander Robertson died. The surviving partner, James Robertson, with a nephew, James, Jr., transferred the “Gazette” plant to Charlottetown, St. John’s Island (Prince Edward Island).

The initial issue of the “Royal American Gazette” at Charlottetown, was diplomatically changed to “Royal Commercial Gazette”, and appeared September or October, 1787, as the first newspaper printed in the Island province.

In 1788 records show St. John’s Island Legislature recommended Sir Guy Carleton (Lord Dorchester) to appoint James Robertson King’s Printer, which does not seem to have taken place. Ten years later the Robertsons had left the Island. They were next heard from in 1810 as printers and booksellers in Edinburgh. The press of “Royal American Gazette” passed into other hands. In 1791 the name was “Royal Gazette” and later became “Royal Herald.” There is now an official “Royal Gazette” of the Provincial Administration, published at Charlottetown.

Small books and pamphlets were printed in Nova Scotia from 1752 onward and would be the first in Canada. Halifax was the capital and seat of government of Nova Scotia or “Acadia,” a large territory; was also naval and military headquarters, with shipping the year round. Extensive building operations occurred, courts were organized, churches and schools erected. Various booklets and price lists were required by heads of departments and by merchants appropriate to a permanent community.

A weekly newspaper, the “Halifax Gazette”, contains increasing display advertising for different lines of business. Publishers of the paper possessed a good press and an excellent assortment of type, suitable for book and job work; workmen were competent.

Preserved in the library of Acadia College, Wolfville, Nova Scotia is a six page pamphlet printed at Halifax for the Government of Nova Scotia, dated December 6, 1752. The British coat-of-arms at the top of the first page shows excellent press work. Ornamental initial letters decorate the paragraphs. Eight and ten point type and italics are just as clear as any monotype.

Isaiah Thomas, author of “History of Printing in America,” a rare book for which tall prices are paid, landed in Halifax in 1765, a boy of sixteen, claiming to have come from England, but more than likely had run away from Massachusetts and gone to Nova Scotia in one of the numerous packets trading between the two places. Thomas obtained employment in “Halifax Gazette” office, and several pages of “History of Printing” are devoted to the author’s Halifax experience.

At one place Thomas explains that excise stamps were secretly removed from all paper sheets without the knowledge of the publisher, by employees who sympathized with American protests against the Colonial Stamp Act. He says it was done “with the assistance of a binder’s press and plough” which indicates that book-binding as well as printing was carried on in Halifax.

Eventually, on returning to Boston, Thomas started the “Massachusetts Spy,” later changed to “Worcester Spy” and still published at Worcester, one of the oldest American newspapers. Strong anti-British sentiments of the “Massachusetts Spy” at 1775, necessitated the paper’s removal to Worcester.

Thomas’ mother had been left a widow and had indentured the boy at age of six to Zachariah Fowle, a noted Boston printer. Following ten years service with Fowle, Thomas determined, so he says, to go to England to complete his mechanical education, and gives that as an excuse for being in Halifax penniless in 1765. He states further regarding Halifax:—“As he (Henry) had two apprentices, he was not in need of assistance at his printing house; but Thomas accepted an offer of board for his services.”

Thomas likely ran away from Fowle and sought and obtained board and shelter from Henry, the printer in Halifax, on the ground of being a fellow-craftsman, and ill-repaid the kindness. It is a coincidence that Thomas was born in 1749, the same year as Halifax, and arrived in Halifax the year of the Stamp Act. The first “free” employment, the historian Thomas ever obtained was in Nova Scotia.

Canada Year Book and other publications state the first book printed in the Dominion of Canada was “Catechisme du Diocese de Sens,” issued at Quebec in 1765, of which two copies are extant. It is apparent as pointed out that booklets and pamphlets were printed in “Acadia” or Nova Scotia at an earlier date than the Quebec catechism.

The first controlled wire of “Associated Press” of United States was New York to Boston, Portland, Saint John and Halifax, 1849.

The first foreign correspondent of “Associated Press” was D. H. Craig in Nova Scotia (Acadia) in 1849.

Halifax (Acadia) was the first city in North America having a special press office to handle European news.

The first European news received by wire in the United States or Canada by “Associated Press” was telegraphed from Halifax in 1849.

The first member-papers of “Associated Press,” outside of New York, were Boston papers which agreed to subscribe to a Halifax-European pony express service.

The first foreign office of “Associated Press” was in Nova Scotia (Acadia) in 1849. The first Canadian telegraphic connection of “Associated Press” was Saint John, New Brunswick.

The first “Associated Press” message, all wire, from Halifax to New York in November, 1849, was transmitted by F. N. Gisborne, who six years later visited New York and interested Cyrus Field in the project of an Atlantic cable. Halifax (Acadia) is the birthplace of the cable.

The first 3,000 word abstract of European news sent all wire from Halifax to “Associated Press,” November 15, 1849, was started at 8 o’clock P. M., a half hour after arrival of mail steamship “America,” and was completed at 11 P. M.

The first pony express operated by “Associated Press” was in Acadia (Nova Scotia) in 1849. “Ponies” were horses, 1000 to 1100 pounds. On June 5, 1849, member-papers of “Associated Press” published exclusive news via Halifax of an attempt to shoot Queen Victoria in St. James Park, made by a laborer named John Hamilton.

The “Associated Press” is a mutual organization and caters to 1300 daily papers, theoretically 100,000,000 readers in the United States. Leased wires and cables cover 250,000 miles. 78 bureaus are maintained in United States and special staffs function in principal cities of the world, beside an exchange with foreign agencies. Several thousand correspondents and officials are permanently employed. The “A. P.” annual income exceeds $10,000,000. Average news turnover in 24 hours reaches 200,000 words.

The cost of the first foreign news service of “Associated Press” at Halifax was publicly stated at $1,000 for a 3,000 word report from each English mail steamer arriving at Halifax in 1849. For every message “Associated Press” were obligated to pay $150 to the Nova Scotia Government telegraph line, $130 to New Brunswick Telegraph Company and proportionate amounts to four other telegraph companies between Saint John and New York, total $1,000. Some of these telegraph sections probably would not have been built at once if “Associated Press” had not subscribed what was then thought heavy tolls. For months Press service constituted fifty per cent of New Brunswick Telegraph Company’s revenue. News “scoops” secured through the co-operative medium of the Nova Scotia-European route, 87 years ago helped establish “Associated Press” as a practical proposition on the newspaper map of the American continent. Then as now “Acadia” is the principal channel of much of the news of the world to and from North America. The press of Canada and United States would be justified to seriously consider appropriate commemoration.

A variety of “First Things” centres in old Acadia (Nova Scotia). The “Associated Press” was organized in New York in 1849 to operate a transatlantic news service via Nova Scotia, and is now possibly the largest news gathering organization in existence.

The origin of “Associated Press” was six New York newspapers, ordinarily rivals, undertaking to jointly finance forwarding of European news from Halifax by what was called “The Halifax Express”. Transatlantic information reached Halifax in weekly and fortnightly budgets in Cunard mail steamers. From Halifax, old side-wheel Cunarders were under contract to proceed to Boston, requiring 45 to 50 hours, occasionally more, including detention at Halifax. The inception of the “Associated Press” was joint action to save part of the delay between Halifax and Boston.

The triplets—Steamship, Railways, Electric Telegraph—were in their infancy in the “Forties.” Cunard Line first sailing from Liverpool was the “Unicorn” May, 1840. Baltimore and Ohio Railway trains were horse-drawn in 1832. In March, 1843, Congress appropriated $30,000 to aid Professor Morse, an artist, install an experimental wire between Washington and Baltimore, and it was May 24, 1844, when the first message “What Hath God Wrought?” passed over the circuit.

In October 1848, under the heading “Telegraphic Wonders” the New York Herald boasted receiving “interesting intelligence last night from eight cities comprising an aggregate distance of 3,000 miles.”

Immense speculative possibilities hinged on European information. Business depended on market intelligence and on foreign trade and politics. The Danes had a war on hand. The French were besieging Rome. The Clayton-Bulwer treaty was negotiated between Great Britain and the United States. There was a revolt in Hungary. Louis Napoleon had executed a coup in Paris and the new German constitution had come into effect.

The regular news channel was the Cunard line and Halifax was the first port of call. It is recorded a fast steamer was chartered at Boston by brokers and correspondents to meet Cunard steamers at Halifax and hurry European news to the United States. On the first trip a correspondent, D. H. Craig, secreted two carrier pigeons in a basket. The birds were released from a cabin window fifty miles off Boston Light, and information was on the street before the despatch boat docked, which produced a threat of litigation.

After New York and Boston became connected by telegraph, a company was incorporated to extend a wire through Maine and New Brunswick into Nova Scotia to obtain foreign despatches at Halifax. The project was pushed as fast as weather and facilities permitted.

The New York “Journal of Commerce” had operated a pony express to Washington and Philadelphia, and sometimes published official news before Federal officers in New York were advised. The New York “Herald” had a system of horse expresses reporting the war with Mexico, as well as a pigeon post to Albany.

When it was estimated two years would be required to complete a commercial telegraph line to Halifax, leading newspaper proprietors—Bennett, Greeley, Dana, Hallock and others,—formed the “Associated Press” to procure a mutual 3,000 word report from each Halifax steamer, save tolls, get preferential transmission and hasten construction of the wire. An advance agreement to buy a weekly or fortnightly summary was made with a telegraph company. Meantime temporary arrangements were perfected to operate a pony express through Nova Scotia as soon as pole-line construction reached Saint John. An earlier experiment by steamer from Portland was not a success, in saving time.

The “Halifax Express” from Halifax to Saint John via Digby proved efficient. A small boat met each Liverpool mail steamer at the entrance of Halifax Harbor, and displayed a flag or lantern. Sealed manuscript prepared in England was passed to the boatman, and conveyed to a waiting despatch rider ashore, who dashed away day or night.

Halifax to Digby on the Bay of Fundy, 144 miles, was negotiated by mounted riders in an average of eight hours—a mile in 3½ minutes—which was much greater speed than ten-knot Cunard mail steamers could develop.

At Digby a packet with steam-up rushed European despatches across the Bay of Fundy, 40 miles, to the telegraph at Saint John. Three hours spanned the water gap. European news via “The Halifax Express” usually reached Boston 35 hours ahead of the steamer from Halifax.

On one occasion the mail steamer was detained at Halifax and European news forwarded by the “pony express” was published on Broadway before the steamer left Halifax.

The pony express, Halifax to Digby, necessitated a fresh horse every twelve miles, and a change of riders at the halfway stage. Horses were supposed to be ready any hour in the twenty-four. Horses walked returning. Riders were armed and more than once were held up by “road agents” looking for money and jewels.

For three months a rival pony express was operated in Nova Scotia by Wall street interests and the two expresses furiously galloping through country villages, created a fever of excitement and local wagers.

The first pony express left Halifax early February 21, 1849, on arrival of Cunard Royal Mail steamship “Europa,” eleven days from Liverpool. The European news was delivered in Saint John and transmitted to New York and published February 22, Washington’s birthday, the first European news by wire received in the United States.

The “Halifax Express” continued nine months, while telegraph lines were building from Saint John to Halifax. The telegraph line was taken into Halifax in November and on November 15, 1849, the first all-wire despatch from Halifax was an Associated Press report received by mail steamer “America.”

Proprietors of “Halifax Express” were charged with operating a monopoly, and printed an answer in New York “Courier” May, 1849, explaining the service was intended to protect the public and that any paper could join by paying a share.

D. H. Craig was stationed at Halifax to superintend “Associated Press” telegraph service. A competing group at Halifax complained that Craig double-crossed them by blanketing the wire to New York for an hour with Bible quotations. An investigation was held and a compromise effected.

At age 19, James Gordon Bennett of New York Herald landed at Halifax, an immigrant from Scotland and in that city taught French, Spanish and book-keeping several years. He had studied for the priesthood, but changed his mind through reading Benjamin Franklin’s writings and embarked for America with a stop over at Halifax, then removed to New York.

Three Greens, father, son and grandson monopolized first printing honors in United States and Canada. The first printing press set up in British North America, as presently constituted, was in “Acadia” or Nova Scotia in 1751. This typographical equipment was not a direct importation from Europe, but arrived in Canada in descent from the pioneer press of the continent, a plant established at Harvard College in 1639, by Stephen and Matthew Day, nineteen years after the “Mayflower” landed the Pilgrim Fathers.

Samuel Green, a young Englishman, succeeded Day at Cambridge in 1649, 100 years prior to founding of the city of Halifax. Samuel Green’s son, Bartholomew Green, who died 1734, printed the initial number of Boston “News-Letter,” April 24, 1704, the first regular newspaper “permitted” to be published in “America.” Two earlier ventures in 1689 and 1690 were suppressed by Massachusetts authorities. In turn his son, Bartholomew Green, junior, born 1700, gave Canada the Dominion’s first printing office September 1751, when he removed press and types from old Boston to new Halifax. It is not often such a chain of distinction attaches to one family.

In a well-organized expedition composed of the sloop-of-war Sphinx and thirteen transports, which was despatched from England May 13, 1749, to establish at Halifax the first permanent unit of “greater Britain”—or as stated by a poet “to found a race, all time shall trace, adown the historic page”—one serious omission in an otherwise perfect migrating community, was the total failure to include publicity plans and a printing outfit. Members of all necessary trades and professions were selected for the unprecedented British Imperial project at Halifax, but no person seems to have given a second thought to the “Fourth Estate”—a supply of type and a representative of the art preservative.

This oversight mirrors then prevailing official repressive attitude toward printing and in a final analysis may have been a contributing factor in the misfortune that Governor Cornwallis’s administration was not considered the shining success, that would warrant conferring a peerage which is understood to have been promised if the Halifax project exhibited economical far-sighted management. Cornwallis tried to form a city to be the nucleus of an empire, without the use of printers’ ink!

Information that Halifax was devoid of printing facilities probably influenced Bartholomew Green, junior, to desert settled Boston at the age of 51, and embark press and fonts on the sloop “Endeavour” to try his fortune in the Halifax settlement and thus give Canada its first printing press. Green intended to publish a paper at Halifax, but first he confined attention to job printing at the “Acadian” capital. The younger Green had served an apprenticeship at typography with his father in the Boston “News-Letter” office. Afterward he solicited printing on his own account, but used the father’s composing room.

In 1734, Green, Junior, formed a partnership in Boston with two other typos, John Bushell and Bezoune Allen. This firm functioned sixteen years and dissolved in 1751. The reason is not known. In the latter part of August 1751 Green sailed for the “rising sun” in Nova Scotia, leaving his family in Boston, and acquired the distinction of being the first compositor on Canadian soil. Green’s Halifax press operated a few months, when the owner took suddenly ill and died before completing newspaper plans.

Bushell, the whilom Boston associate, must have been a silent partner in the Halifax printery. As soon as he heard of Green’s death, Bushell hastened to Halifax and took charge of the Grafton street premises, possibly ignoring Green’s two sons, printers like the father and grown to man’s estate. Green’s sons had remained in New England, where several of the family afterward attained prominence in the trade forebears followed, but there is no further identification of the name Green with Canadian printing.

The Green family’s identification with Nova Scotia printing terminated with the brief sojourn of Bartholomew Green, junior, whose demise at Halifax occurred about Christmas, 1751. John Bushell died in January, 1761. The mortal remains of Green and Bushell are presumably interred at Halifax in Old St. Paul’s cemetery, but the graves are not marked. Journalists and printers of Canada might do something about it.

Chapter 64, 1901, Acts of Nova Scotia, contains a curious war enactment that—“The settlement in the county of Halifax hitherto known as Gay’s River Road and Taylorville, shall hereafter be known as ‘Chaswood’.” This legislative measure links a farming district of “Acadia” to South Africa and to persons prominent in the Southern Confederacy during United States Civil War.

On the second reading of Chapter 64, the sponsor, G. P. Mitchell, explained the word “Chaswood” was intended to honor the memory of Lieutenant Charles C. Wood of the British Army, youngest son of Captain J. Taylor Wood of Halifax, the “first Nova Scotian to fall in the Transvaal War in South Africa.”

Lieutenant Wood was the first Canadian fatality in the Boer War. He graduated at Royal Military College, Kingston, Ontario, June 25, 1896, and was holding a British Commission in Loyal North Lancashire Regiment.

Wood’s regiment was at Ceylon and was among the earliest ordered to Africa. The young officer perished fighting near Belmont, November 10, 1899.

On a tablet at Kingston military college is a list of ex-Cadets killed in South African campaign. The first is Wood and the second is Lieutenant Hensley of Royal Dublin Fusiliers died of wounds sustained at Venters Spruit, January 20, 1900.

A first Canadian contingent of infantry sailed for South Africa, leaving Quebec, October 29, 1899, on steamship Sardinian, hired transport, a ship afterward identified with Marconi wireless experiments.

Mounted Canadian troops later sailed from Halifax. Canadian participation in the South African conflict marked a new stage in Empire relations following the third Colonial Conference and Diamond Jubilee of Queen Victoria at London, 1897, when a knighthood was conferred on Sir Wilfrid Laurier, Canadian Prime Minister.

The first Canadian South African contingent returned to Halifax, November 1, 1900 and Strathcona’s Horse were welcomed back March 8, 1901.

A tablet on a South African War Memorial in Province Building square, Halifax, incorrectly places Lieutenant Wood fourth in officers killed. Newspapers at the time the corner stone was laid by the Duke of York (King George V) mistakenly put Lieutenant Wood eleventh in Nova Scotia casualties, rank and file combined. The error seems the result of an inaccuracy compiling the general casualty list by assigning Wood’s death to 1900, the same year as other Canadian casualties in South Africa but Wood was the only Canadian fatality in operations of 1899.

Captain J. Taylor Wood, father of Lieutenant Wood, commanded Confederate cruiser “Tallahassee,” noted for daring exploits during American Civil War. At the conclusion of hostilities in 1865, Captain Wood married and engaged in business at Halifax, which had been a neutral port of call.

A story is recounted that Federal gunboats “Nansemont” and “Huron” forced the raider “Tallahassee” into Halifax and watched the port. The British Admiral, Sir James Hope, offered safe convoy beyond the three mile limit which was declined. A new mast was stepped and coal bunkers filled, despite protest of the American Consul General against recognized 48 hour term being exceeded.

On the third night, rather than be interned, Commander Wood, with doused lights, took a chance with “Tallahassee,” and engaged pilot Jock Flemming to guide the ship out of Halifax at high water through an unused shallow Eastern channel, and escaped.

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Captain J. Taylor Wood was a colonel in the Confederate Army, a grandson of Zachary Taylor, twelfth president, a son of General Robert C. Wood and a nephew of Jeff Davis, president of Southern Confederacy. Captain Wood passed away at Halifax, July 19, 1904, aged 74, and is buried in Camp Hill cemetery.

The “Tallahassee” had been British, the “Atlanta,” built for Chinese opium trade, iron, one of first twin screw vessels, capable of 13 knots, 700 tons, 200 feet over all. Officers and crew, numbering 180, were volunteers from Confederate gunboats on James River and Southern waters.

The name “Tallahassee” was adopted on hoisting the pennant. Long guns were mounted fore and aft and amidships. After two unsuccessful attempts the commerce destroyer finally slipped out of Wilmington, a moonless night, August 4, 1864, lightly grounding twice on the bar. At daybreak the raider was chased by blockading cruisers but outran them.

The first prize, Schooner “Clara A. Bowie” Boston for Philadelphia, was sunk off Long Branch, where “Tallahassee” operated three weeks with great slaughter.

At the same time the Commander was trying to secure a pilot with a view to going in by Sandy Hook at evening, through the East River and out through Hell Gate into the Sound. It was intended to “fire New York shipping, shell the Navy Yard and plump a couple hot shots into the Municipal Building.”

A harvest of tonnage was scuttled near New York and along New England coast. 50 prizes were sunk and a fleet of Northern cruisers were sent in hot pursuit. Coal was transferred at sea. The “Tallahassee” actually got back to Wilmington and after the war was sold to Japanese buyers.

A newspaper item that funds have been deposited by White Star Line (Oceanic Steam Navigation Company Limited) with Royal Trust Company of Canada for perpetual care of graves of “Titanic” dead, situated on a sunny western slope at Halifax, Nova Scotia, signifies that for perhaps the first time in marine annals remains of a large number of people, who perished in mid-ocean, were recovered and reverently conveyed to land.

Rows of numbered gravestones at Halifax are a memorial of the world’s most spectacular single shipping accident.

In April, 1912, S. S. Titanic, then the largest ship afloat, was accorded a popular send-off at Southampton, on maiden voyage to New York, carrying 2,201 passengers and crew, including twelve honeymoon couples.

Loss of S. S. “Titanic”, April, 1912—This is probably the first time in marine annals, remains of hundreds of victims were picked up at sea, floating in life belts and reverently conveyed to land for regular interment. A section of “Titanic” graves at Halifax is shown at upper left. Funds have been deposited with a Trust Company for perpetual care.

Four days later at 11.40 P. M., April 14, with fair weather, following conclusion of the Sunday night concert, ploughing across Grand Banks of Newfoundland at 22 knots, the “Titanic” grazed a low-lying iceberg, estimated 2,000 feet in length, with fatal results.

In spite of electric pumps, in three hours the one-week reign of the ocean’s newly crowned empress had come to a tragic end. Forward compartments filled and caused “Titanic” to settle by the head.

Watching from life-boats at a safe distance, at 2.20 A. M., Monday, April 15, survivors saw the stern of the liner slowly rise nearly vertical. Lights went out and machinery roared down inside. The ship that had cost $10,000,000 and four years to plan and build, plunged headfirst into icy depths of North Atlantic, three miles down, never to be seen again. The accident was 41.46 north, 50.14 west, 550 miles southeast of Halifax.

People of international reputation and the veteran captain of “Titanic” perished. Cabin lists contained distinguished names in commerce, finance, literature, art. Numbers had delayed sailing, or had hastened departure, to be among first passengers. 1,490 were lost. 711 survivors were picked up in life-boats by steamers summoned through wireless, then in early stages of development. 499 of the saved were passengers, of whom there were 1,316 on board.

Early confused wireless was responsible for an advance bulletin at Bowling Green, New York, that the entire list of 2,201 passengers and crew were rescued and on the way to Halifax.

This information prevailed 30 hours, and caused a sheaf of messages to pour into Halifax telegraph offices for delivery to friends, some of whom were no more. It was predicted in the incorrect bulletin that salvaging ships would reach Halifax Wednesday, April 17, and relatives of “Titanic” voyagers slept in peace Monday night. A rude awakening followed Tuesday, April 16, when the wireless truth became known, that only one third of those on board “Titanic” had been saved, and there was a supplementary statement the rescue ships were proceeding direct to New York. For some strange reason survivors were not then named, causing acute suspense.

The captain of doomed “Titanic” had given the order:—“All men stand back, and all women retire to the deck below”—near the boats. In 225 first cabin passengers rescued 180 were women and children, and in 161 second cabin rescued 129 were women. Close to 100 “Titanic” survivors, eleven of them brides, were widowed. In a posted missing list of 310 first and second cabin passengers, 44 were women, some of whom chose death to separation. In 152 graves at Halifax only two are women.

One of “Titanic” radio operators died at his post reciting the Lord’s Prayer. Most of the ship’s engineers, and several from maker’s shops, perished. Of fifty bell boys engaged for the trip none escaped. “Titanic’s” orchestra rendered ragtime while boats were getting away. Toward the finish instrumentalists changed to “Nearer My God To Thee” and finally “Autumn”—“hold me up in mighty waters,” and all were lost.

Women were as resolute as men. Mrs. Isidor Straus decided “I will not leave my husband, we are old and can die together.”

Two weeks later, April 30, 1912, an “Acadian” chapter of the “Titanic” catastrophe was written. Two ships built for cable laying and temporarily converted into mortuary barks, arrived at Halifax, flags half-mast, with decks piled with 203 caskets containing “Titanic” victims, picked up in life belts in mid-ocean.

The sea gave up some of its dead, the remains of 117 were buried at sea with divine service.

On April 20, ships had reported at Cape Race passing “Titanic” wreckage and floating bodies at 42.1 north, 49.13 west. The cable ships “Mackay Bennett” and “Minia,” were chartered by the White Star Line with clergymen, doctors and embalmers. The mortal remains of 50 of those conveyed to Halifax were claimed and expressed to United States, Great Britain, France, Argentina.

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The “Titanic” dead interred at Halifax to await the last trump, who would ordinarily fill nameless ocean graves, are seventy-five per cent identified. The separate headstones are numbered up to 320, which includes burials at sea. A pathetic stone of a two-year infant found cresting the Atlantic without a belt, is number “0”.

A Mansion House “Titanic” fund of £415,212 was raised in London in 1912 for relief of old people and children bereft of aid by the loss of supporting relatives. In 1935, 276 persons were sharing an annual disbursement of £15,000.

In foggy weather near Sable Island, July 4, 1898 the French liner “La Bourgoyne” was rammed by the sailing ship Cromartyshire and sank with 560 people. Victims were afterwards reported floating in life belts. Compagnie Generale Transatlantique despatched a steamer from Halifax with clergymen and funeral directors to weight and bury the dead. No remains were conveyed to port.

In world shipwrecks, casualties of four figures are not common. On April 27, 1865, the steamboat “Sultana” with exchanged Union prisoners of war aboard, sank in the Mississippi river and 1450 were drowned. A boiler explosion caused the disaster.

The French auxiliary cruiser “Provence” turned turtle in the Mediterranean, probably torpedoed, Feb. 26, 1915, and out of 3,000 on board 870 were rescued.

On May 29, 1914 Canadian Pacific steamship Empress of Ireland collided in the River St. Lawrence, near Point-au-Petre, in a fog with the Danish steamship Storstad and sank with 1,140 loss of life. Many unclaimed bodies are buried in a special cemetery on the shore.

On May 7, 1915 the Cunard steamer “Lusitania” was torpedoed by submarine U.-20, Commander Walther Schweiger, and 1,198, including 124 Americans, were lost, causing the United States to declare war against Germany and become a potent factor in Allied success. A number of bodies washed ashore and are interred at Kinsale, Ireland. May 6, 1935, after 20 years silence, Scholom Abramowitz, Albany, New York, a Lusitania survivor, stated three days before sailing in 1915 he received a telegram signed “German Consul” advising him Lusitania would be sunk. At Berlin also on the 20th anniversary Capt.-Lieut. Karl Scherb, an officer of U-20, in a newspaper statement justified sinking British shipping to starve English people as the British blockade had made the Germans short of food.

On December 6, 1917, in a collision in Halifax harbour between steamers “Imo” and “Mount Blanc,” a cargo of T. N. T. destined for France exploded, sunk both ships and wrecked the north part of Halifax, killed 1,400, maimed 2,000, many of them blinded with shattered glass, and left 6,000 homeless. Relief poured in from many directions, the action taken in Massachusetts being prominent.

The chief tragedy in Great Lakes navigation was Canadian steamship “Lady Elgin” from Chicago, in collision with schooner “Augusta” in Lake Michigan, September 9, 1860 and sank with 330 loss of life.

It is estimated United States and Canada possess sixty per cent of coal deposits of the world. Indication of the extent of this natural resource was first noted by Nicholas Denys, Sieur de Fronsac, able French Governor of Eastern Acadia or Nova Scotia. In two volumes published at Paris in 1672, entitled:—“Description Geographique et Historique des Costes de l’Amerique Septenrionale”—it is stated “there are mines of coals through the whole extent of my concession (Cape Breton), near the seashore, of a quality equal to the Scotch, which I have proved at various times on the spot, and also in France where I have brought them for trials.”

A French ordinance of 1677, made at Paris, imposed a duty of 20 sous per ton to be exacted from any person taking coal from the cliffs of Cape Breton. There is little doubt Acadian coal in small quantities was early transferred to Europe by fishing vessels which visited Grand Banks and neighboring coasts for months together.

At any rate Denys carried American coal from Nova Scotia to Europe in the 17th century before the present extensive colliery industry of North America was born and Denys was coal’s first publicity agent. Governor Denys apparently made no attempt to work convenient Cape Breton coal seams, there was little local market, firewood was abundant, and applied steam was not even a theory.

According to Bulletin No. 56 of Illinois Geological Survey “the first recorded discovery of coal on the American continent was in what is now Illinois in 1673 when Joliet and Father Marquette in their voyage of exploration down the Mississippi made the original discovery somewhere between the present city of Utica and Ottawa (Ill.)” The approximate site of this discovery was marked on Joliet’s map of 1674 and also on Marquette’s map of 1681.

In 1689 Father Louis Hennepin, a Recollet, one of the greatest French missionaries, described Niagara Falls and reported a “cole” mine at Fort Creve Coeur (Peoria) Illinois.

Captain Poulet mentioned coal in Cape Breton in 1673 in a report to the French King, and one vessel, la Bretonne, carried a cargo to France in 1687.

In 1708, M. Roudot, French Intendant of Marine, recommended establishing an entrepot in Cape Breton (Acadia) to store European manufactures for American distribution, and in exchange export coal, cod fish, timber, plaster, furs to France. Louisbourg was foreshadowed.

In 1711 Admiral Sir Hovenden Walker, British, who failed to capture Quebec, advised, that “the island (Cape Breton) in time of peace was used in common by French and English for loading coals, which are extraordinarily good here, and taken out of the cliffs with iron bars only and no other labor.” Here was free coal for the world.

The first “regular” coal mining in Cape Breton appears to have been 1720 at Port Morien, near the later site of pioneer Marconi Towers and was associated with the building of Royal Louisbourg’s fortifications.

Clandestine coal shipments from Cape Breton to Boston took place (as well as to France and West Indies) despite a treaty prohibiting trading between French and English colonists.

In 1766 shortsighted British Ministers declared the “Royal Pleasure” would not sanction the opening of coal mines in Cape Breton, thinking likely to supply growing demand with British black diamonds. Illicit mining followed, and never has been wholly suppressed.

In 1770, soldiers were sent to Cow Bay, Cape Breton, to seize 500 chaldrons of coal dug by trespassers. In 1788 Prince William Henry, commanding frigate “Andromeda,” going to Quebec, inspected coal deposits at Sydney Mines.

In 1838, the year steamships “Sirius” and “Great Western” furrowed the Atlantic, the British war-sloop “Dee”, en route to and from Quebec concerning a Canadian constitutional rebellion, obtained bunkers at North Sydney—the first known steam war vessel to make a transatlantic voyage with North American fuel.

Submarine coal-fields of Acadia (Nova Scotia) are ancient landfields. Earth subsidence anciently overtook the Canadian littoral and buried coal stretches beneath blue waters of the Gulf of St. Lawrence and the Atlantic ocean, but shore entrances are preserved in Cape Breton and Inverness counties. The hungry primal element is still slowly annexing ground. Geologists compute that by erosion and undermining of the surf the sea annually encroaches five inches on Cape Breton terrain, which means that perhaps 200 feet of shore line that was land coal when John Cabot touched the continent in 1497, now forms part of the ocean bed.

Carbonized fossils enrich “Acadian” measures. In Cape Breton collieries trees have been counted at a half-dozen levels, representing a succession of settlements. Impressions of the toes of ten-foot lizards, dragon flies with seven inch wings, strange plants and flowers that flourished in dark luxuriant forests of vanished ages, are common in these submarine coal deposits lying at the most populous water routes of the globe. Subaqueous coal from “Acadian” mines furnishes light, heat, power and chemicals to millions in distant places.

The Denys volumes issued at Paris are noteworthy as the first detailed description of “Acadian” prospects in forests, fisheries, furs, minerals. Practical Denys advocated definite colonization. Jealous rivals twice attacked and seized this enthusiast’s property, and once took the Governor prisoner, to be promptly released at the King’s command.

To cap a string of misfortunes a conflagration wiped out Denys’ headquarters at St. Peter’s, Cape Breton—buildings, wares, furniture, ammunition, stores were consumed, the residents escaping with what they had on. The stout-hearted Governor’s attachment to the land of adoption never faltered. With his family Denys removed to Bathurst, New Brunswick, then part of Acadia, where this distinguished pioneer spent declining years. A monument to mark the last resting place of an “Acadian,” who first visioned the potential value of coal in America, is inscribed:—

Denys was also Governor of part of Newfoundland. From 1671 to 1685 he was in France leaving a son, Richard, in charge. Denys died 1688, three years after returning to “Acadia”, almost a nonagenarian. As early as 1633 he had been in Acadia shipping fish and lumber. An enormous willow growing near Denys’ grave is said to have been planted by Richard Denys to mark the father’s resting place, which if correct means this pussy-willow is a real patriarch.

In “Cape Breton, Canada,” Toronto, 1903, by Canon Vernon, it is pronounced strange “that none of the early voyagers recorded a mention of coal. Captain Strong of ‘Marigold’, 1590, and Captain Leigh of the ‘Hopewell,’ 1597, both visited Cape Breton and knew the value of coal, yet neither made mention of it, although the seams were prominent in the cliffs. The silence of Champlain regarding coal, as he circumnavigated the island in 1607, and gave accurate descriptions of harbors and products, is still more surprising.”

George Johnson, Dominion Statistician, states coal was reported in Nova Scotia in 1654. Down to 1935 approximately 250,000,000 tons bituminous coal have been mined in Nova Scotia, with estimated 9,000,000,000 tons reserve.

New Brunswick coal was shipped in 1643, some authorities say 1639. In 1643 a Boston vessel assisting Latour in tragic rivalry with Charnisay ascended Saint John river and took a cargo of Grand Lake coal to New England. In 1765 this mine was operated by Joseph Garrison, grandfather of the American abolitionist.

Possibly 5,000,000 tons of coal have been taken from New Brunswick with estimated 200 million tons reserve. Seams are thin, lying flat, usually without much cover, so a lot of recovery is by stripping over-burden. Historic Sites and Monument Board of Canada have erected a tablet at Minto, New Brunswick, certifying this “export trade in coal was the first to be developed on the entire eastern coast of North America.”

A letter of Lt. Gov. Caulfield from Annapolis Royal 1713 states there is “great advantage to the colony in clearing wood. There is no harbor within two leagues of the coal mine and no vessel can be loaded without grounding.” Cumberland coal at the head of the Bay of Fundy had probably been mined many years, and is doubtless referred to in this case.

Since the British constitutional “Revolution” of 1688 there have been three score and ten Prime Ministers of the United Kingdom, and the first and only member of that exalted band, who was not a native of the British Isles, was Right Honorable Andrew Bonar Law, a Canadian, born at Rexton (Kingston), New Brunswick, September 16, 1858, died at Onslow Gardens, London, October 31, 1923 and rests in Westminster Abbey.

Andrew Bonar Law was the youngest of five children, four sons and one daughter, of Rev. James Law, M.A., of Coleraine, Ireland and of Eliza Kidston, daughter of William Kidston of Glasgow. The future premier was named for Rev. Andrew Bonar, Scottish preacher.

William Kidston and Sons, Glasgow merchants, were actively interested in the lumber trade from Nova Scotia and New Brunswick. It was in a Kidston clipper and in a missionary capacity that Rev. Mr. Law, newly ordained, and his young wife took passage to New Brunswick in the late forties.

In Scotland a sister of Mrs. Law—Katherine Glen Kidston—married Professor A. McKnight, who in 1855, was detailed to Nova Scotia to join the faculty of the college of Free Church of Scotland, which ultimately became present Pine Hill Divinity Hall at Halifax. Professor McKnight was ordained and inducted in St. James Church, Dartmouth, 1857, and later was principal of Pine Hill college for thirty years.

Rev. Principal McKnight and Mrs. McKnight, aunt of the late Bonar Law, and a daughter, are interred at Camp Hill cemetery, Halifax. Dr. McKnight was a distinguished scholar who passed away April 27, 1894, aged 87.

At age of twelve and on the death of his mother, Andrew Bonar Law was taken to Glasgow to live with a maiden aunt. He entered the House of Commons in 1900 representing Blackfriars, Glasgow. For four years following 1902, Mr. Law was Parliamentary Secretary to the Board of Trade.

In 1906 Bonar Law was defeated in Blackfriars, and took occasion to visit the United States and Canada on business, landing at New York and sailing from Montreal.

Returning to England, Mr. Law was elected in Dulwich and in November 1911 succeeded Mr. Balfour as head of the Unionist party. In the coalition of 1915 Bonar Law became Secretary for the Colonies and a member of the War Cabinet. In the critical year 1916 Mr. Law was leader in the House of Commons. In the difficult period 1916 to 1918 he assumed the immense duties of Chancellor of the Exchequer.

Mr. Law was a signer of Versailles Treaty of 1919. Woodrow Wilson, Robert Lansing, Henry White, E. M. House and Tasker H. Bliss were transatlantic signatories on behalf of the United States. Hon. C. J. Doherty and Arthur L. Sifton signed for Canada.

Bonar Law filled the post of Lord Privy Seal 1919-1921. Finally October 20, 1922, on merit and ability, Mr. Law reached the pinnacle as Prime Minister in succession to the mighty little Welshman, Lloyd George. Overwork and loss of two sons at the front proved too much.

In May 1923, on the urgent advice of physicians Hon. Mr. Law resigned as Prime Minister, which office had been held 214 days, giving rise to several biographies, one entitled “The Strange Case of Bonar Law.” In less than six months British people mourned the untimely passing of the first Empire Prime Minister.

On the main street of Rexton, New Brunswick, citizens have erected a Law Memorial cairn on a plot donated by Richard O’Leary, Richibucto.

FIRST EMPIRE PREMIER—Memorial Cairn erected by citizens of New Brunswick at Rexton, N. B. (Acadia) in honor of Rt. Hon. Andrew Bonar Law, native of that place, first, and only man born outside the British Isles to attain the exalted post of Prime Minister of Great Britain in 250 years of responsible government.

LAW TABLET, At Rexton, N. B.
(Courtesy Government Information Bureau, Fredericton, N. B.)

Richard Law, son of Bonar Law, attended the New Brunswick unveiling September 7, 1925, and gave an address as part of public ceremonies in the presence of a large concourse. Rt. Hon. Arthur Meighen, also a guest speaker, kindly arranged to take Mr. Law over Canada in a private car going across the Dominion on a political tour.

Mrs. J. D. Mackerras, Pasadena, California, a niece, writes that Uncle Bonar Law visited her in Montreal in 1906 and was a frequent correspondent, always interested in Canadian questions.

Rt. Hon. Andrew Bonar Law is described as a confirmed teetotaller, who shocked “proprieties” at a new members’ banquet at Westminster in 1900 by calmly drinking nothing more exciting than two glasses of milk, though an ardent smoker.

William Kidston, maternal grandfather of Andrew Bonar Law, was born in Nova Scotia or “Acadia,” at Northwest Arm, Halifax, and died at Glasgow, 1831. He was the second generation in Nova Scotia. The first of the family in Nova Scotia was also William Kidston, who migrated from Scotland in the latter part of the 18th century.

William Kidston, 1st, prospered in hardware trade and lumbering. Headquarters was at northwest corner George street and Bedford Row, Halifax, with a residential property at the Northwest Arm. The firm owned and operated sailing packets, principally built at Maitland, Nova Scotia, and in early years conducted a regular passenger traffic, notably perhaps for Presbyterian clergymen, from Glasgow to the Maritime Provinces of Canada.

In 1810, Kidston senior, having amassed a comfortable fortune, sold out the Halifax hardware establishment, which survives as William Stairs, Son & Morrow, Limited.

One of elder Kidston’s three sons elected to remain in Halifax and was allotted the Northwest Arm farm. Two sons accompanied the father to Glasgow where William Kidston & Sons was organized. Eventually there was litigation between Scottish heirs over the terms of the father’s will.

In an historical sketch of Stairs family of Halifax there is a letter, dated 1840, stating:—“The first sea-going vessel that went up the Clyde to the Broomielaw was a small brig owned by Kidston, launched at Maitland, Nova Scotia.”

Apparently this was the inception of Glasgow’s extensive modern shipping activities, illustrated by construction of the mammoth steamship “Queen Mary.”

John Herries McCulloch in “The Scot in England” presents a lively comparison between A. Bonar Law and J. Ramsay MacDonald. The comment on Law is appreciative:—“So clearly did the man reason that his speeches have a quality almost clinical, and the lasting beauty of simplicity. . . . Friend and foe recognized in the Scotsman a figure of unassuming and unassailable integrity—and the House of Commons and the public will always render homage to a man of that character.”

At Richibucto, New Brunswick, September 19, 1936, a portrait of Bonar Law, a gift to the Municipality of Kent from Colonel Murray MacLaren, Governor of New Brunswick, was publicly unveiled by Hon. A. E. Dysart, Premier of the Province, who compared Law’s climb to the post of British Prime Minister to the romance of Abraham Lincoln from a mid west log cabin to President of the United States.

In this chapter, a variety of short items have been grouped under a general heading. Most paragraphs will be found substantially correct, but it has not been possible to check every detail. There is likely to be difference of opinion, whether all matters that are touched, are important enough to be accorded space. It is a many-sided question. This is a pioneer list, undoubtedly susceptible to improvement and therefore not final, so suggestions will be appreciated. The annexed 150 “Firsts” are not a repetition of other sections, but are additional topics that have been summarized. A number might be expanded. Others will be gladly received:—

The beginning of the 20th Century marked a revolution in world telegraphy, when for the first time messages made a continuous circuit of the globe, traversing 30,000 miles underseas and overland systems. This achievement in electric transmission was possible in 1902 through the success of two years construction of the long-talked-of Imperial Pacific cable connecting Canada, New Zealand and Australia. The auspicious 1902 Pacific event was also the fiftieth anniversary of the first permanent submarine telegraph in America, which was a short but essential link laid across “Acadian” salt water in 1852.

At dusk 5 P. M., November 22, 1852, weather cold and blowing with light snow, one end of a submarine cable was landed at Cape Tormentine, New Brunswick, and made fast to an old spruce tree. A very limited mileage of this adventurous electric strand had been ordered in England and it was economically imperative to steer a bee line to the opposite point, not an easy thing, contending against strong currents surging through Northumberland Straits, especially at the narrowest part where the cable crosses.

A small side-wheeler, the “Ellen Gisborne” had been procured for the Island cable job, probably the first cable laying vessel in America. The “Gisborne” jockeyed all night with wind and tide, obliged to steam slowly, in paying out, while at the same time trying to navigate a straight course to avoid accident. Several preliminary attempts failed and the cable raised each time. It was 5 A. M., November 23 when Carleton Head was reached in a fairly direct line, with twelve miles of cable submerged and one mile available for landing.

The Prince Edward Island end of the first commercial cable in the world, other than Dover to Calais, was dragged ashore at daybreak by united strength of men, horses and oxen, and proved to be working. The slender “Red” thread of 1852—similar to what runs through Imperial Government cordage—has become stronger in years that have intervened. This early saltwater cable is one of the definite germs of Canadian Confederation. It directly presaged the Atlantic cable, long-distance undersea communications generally and various electric horizons.

Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada have placed a bronze tablet on Provincial Building, Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island, in reference to the pioneer 1852 cable. At public unveiling proceedings Wednesday, September 21, 1933, complimentary letters were received from executives of Canadian National Telegraphs, Canadian Pacific Railway, Marconi Company of London, Cable & Wireless Limited, Reuters Limited, Associated Press, Canadian Broadcasting Commission, United Press Association, Canadian Press, Bell Telephone Company, Anglo American Telegraph Company and representatives of different Government.

Albert E. Morrison, retired cable superintendent, reviewed submarine transmission in a comprehensive address.

The inscription on the Island tablet reads:

A similar “First Things” tablet was previously installed at North Sydney, Nova Scotia, and later removed.

1852 was a dramatic period. The end of wooden shipbuilding was in sight. Screw propellors were being tried. A relatively few miles of railway and land-wire possessed latent possibilities. One other submarine telegraph, also short, crossed the English Channel. Public opinion changed slowly, newspaper enterprise, as now understood was only commencing to branch out. The Fugitive Slave Law in the United States produced “Uncle Tom’s Cabin,” and five years later, 1857, the Supreme Court at Washington registered the barbaric declaration a negro, Dred Scott, was not a citizen entitled to liberty under the Constitution, a decision which the Civil War reversed in a sea of blood.

From 1852 onward rapid extension of ocean cables took place. The conspicuous exception was the profound depths of the Pacific Ocean, which remained an unbridged gap in the electric girdle of the earth and private interests were apparently not willing to undertake the job. It fell to British statesmen to arrange a grand “Red” chain and for East and West to meet.

The Imperial Pacific Cable was jointly financed by Governments of Great Britain, Canada, New Zealand, Australia, largely as a result of advocacy by Sir Sandford Fleming, who had been Chief Engineer in the building of two Empire Canadian railways—the Intercolonial Railway and the Canadian Pacific Railway.

The Imperial Pacific Cable was the first to span the Pacific Ocean and is also the longest cable in existence, the route stretching from 50 North Latitude to 30 South Latitude and laterally covering 80 degrees of Longitude. A single section from Vancouver to Fanning Island is 3,460 miles in length.

Following several years discussion a contract for the Pacific “missing link,” which cost £2,000,000, was signed December 31, 1900 and was announced New Year Day, 1901, concurrent with the legal birth of the Commonwealth of Australia.

An enabling Act authorizing an Australian Federation had been passed at Westminster July 9, 1900 and was proclaimed September 17 to go into operation January 1, 1901. One of the important last acts of Queen Victoria, January 22, 1901, a few days previous to demise, was applying the Royal Signet to a commission empowering the Duke of York to proceed to the Antipodes to inaugurate the continental Dominion under the resplendent Southern Cross.

Formal opening of the $10,000,000 Trans-Pacific cable (since duplicated) on October 31, 1902, was the same year transatlantic wireless came into being at Cape Breton, “Acadia” Completion of the Pacific cable might be termed the golden jubilee of cable progress, dating from the pioneer commercial cable in America which was laid in 1852 from Cape Tormentine, New Brunswick to Carleton Head, Prince Edward Island and was destined to be the forerunner of a remarkable era of cable development world wide.

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The first message through the Pacific Cable in 1902 was from loyal Fiji Islanders to King Edward VII. Congratulations were exchanged between interested Governments and sister members of the British Empire. In 1928 the Pacific Cable was sold to Cable & Wireless Limited, an all-British corporation formed to take over Empire communications and controlling half the 325,000 cable mileage of the world.

The first round-the-world telegram was filed at Ottawa 10.10 P. M., October 31, 1902 (Hallow-e’en or Ypres Day) signed by Sandford Fleming and addressed to His Excellency the Governor General, Lord Minto at Government House, with instructions to duplicate it and send one copy East and the other West.

Both globe-girding despatches flashed through Nova Scotia’s $30,000,000 cable arteries. Twelve transoceanic cables landing in “Old Acadia” probably handle half or two-thirds of the mighty stream of cable traffic—financial, commercial, diplomatic-affecting the affairs of Europe and North America.

The first circuit message to return to Ottawa was the eastward despatch via Canso, Nova Scotia, received at the Capital next day, November 1, from the sunset west. Jules Verne’s “Around the world in 80 days” had been reduced to 10 hours, 25 minutes, beating the sun. The duplicate despatch which was started westward returned from the Orient via Halifax, Nova Scotia and reached Ottawa 12.35 noon November 1, All Saints Day, four hours later than the twin copy.

Sir Sandford Fleming has explained the messages were sent off simply to determine the possibility of encircling the globe. They were forwarded without speed preparation or certainty that they would return at all. After filing these witching Hallow-e’en messages Friday night, the engineer-sponsor decided to call it a day and leave the matter in the lap of the gods. Dr. Fleming retired as usual and was advised by phone at breakfast that while he slept the telegram to the Governor General had passed around the earth at average speed of 2,000 miles per hour—twice the rotary motion of the earth—and had been delivered.

It transpired later the new cable was not out of the hands of contractors and did not become available for commercial use for several weeks.

For a speed test a third message from the Mayor of Ottawa to Sir Sandford Fleming was sent eastward through Nova Scotia and the co-operation of cable companies specially invited. This fast flying telegram encircled the “footstool” in 6 hours, 3 minutes. Upon investigation it was learned 5 hours and 45 minutes elapsed between London and Brisbane owing to poor connections in a group of Eastern cables, since consolidated. A check-up revealed actual time of transmission, barring hold-ups, in the 30,000 mile flight around the earth was 18 minutes. The Canada route exceeded 30,000 miles in order to include South Africa and to take in other British possessions.

Speed possibilities of round-the-world telegraphy were further demonstrated July 4, 1903, Independence Day, in connection with the formal opening of Commercial Pacific Cable Company’s trans-Pacific cable from San Francisco to Manila, an outcome of the Spanish American War. An official message around the globe was sent by President Theodore Roosevelt from Oyster Bay to Clarence H. Mackay, head of the Cable Company, standing beside him. A 22 word complimentary telegraph was handed an operator 11.23 P. M., and was received by Mr. Mackay 11.35 P. M.,—before midnight—making a circuit of Mother Earth in 12 minutes, going westward. L. R. Johnstone, afterward of Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, was the operator. President Mackay’s reply, sent eastward, was despatched at 11.55 P. M., and was delivered to Mr. Roosevelt at 12.04½ A. M., time consumed 9½ minutes. In these instances the distance covered was 28,613 land miles and both messages passed through Nova Scotia cable stations.

Progress in communications seems to move in 25 year cycles. The Bell phone of 1876-77 corresponds with the silver anniversary of the Prince Edward Island cable. Efficient Transatlantic Wireless was reached 1907-10.

On April 25, 1935 a round-the-world telephone call was accomplished by wire and radio combined, creating a new distance and time record. A 23,000 mile circuit originated and terminated at phones located only fifty feet apart at “Long Lines” headquarters, 32 Sixth Avenue, New York. The voice impulse circled the earth in one quarter of a second, half the velocity of light. The first call westward was practically instantaneous. The answering voice in the two-way miracle sped in the opposite direction. Both calls passed through Rugby wireless station of British Post Office. At New York the messages were started at 9.30 A. M., Thursday. It was 6.30 A. M. at Vancouver and San Francisco. Further west ship’s bells were striking 12.30 A. M., Friday. At the Pacific International Date Line the voices went from Thursday to Friday and back again to today.

As the reverse calls flashed through London Exchange the hands of Big Ben pointed to 2.30 P. M., Thursday. It was 10.30 A. M. at Halifax citadel, yet at New York the whole transaction was completed a quarter second after 9.30 A. M.

In a flight of fancy in “The Tempest” Shakespeare was not far wrong when Ariel talked of putting “a girdle around the world in forty minutes.”

The fabled horses of Arabian Tales and the legend of le Beau Pecopin’s midnight ride around the world are tame in comparison with present lightning circuits between heart beats.

Early use of wireless communication in America happens to be identified with discovery of the North Pole by Commander (afterward Admiral) Peary in 1908-1909 and with the concurrent Dr. Cook controversy.

The writer was in New York in August 1909, and was informed by the Associated Press that Peary had been absent more than a year and was due to return from a last polar dash; it was suggested fitting out a steamer in Nova Scotia or Quebec to intercept the Peary party at Etah, Greenland, or learn what had happened the Arctic expedition. “Find Peary” was the News Association’s wish.

Before there was time to carry out instructions, the world was advised from the Shetlands that Dr. Frederick A. Cook of Brooklyn, well-known traveller, had landed there from a Greenland whaler and had conquered the Pole from Greenland alone, was back in triumph to civilization and would cross to New York on Danish steamer Oscar II. Cook had gone north nearly a year later than Peary and without any particular help, while Peary had the steamer “Roosevelt”, specially built for arctic ice with assistants and supplies.

Two days later came another wireless, the Peary Arctic party had arrived at Battle Harbour, Labrador, and that in the early spring on the return of the sun they had raised the Stars and Stripes at 90 north latitude—the top of the earth. “My Pole at last” was Peary’s comment, signifying he was the first to reach the goal.

First to reach the North Pole—Arctic steamer “Roosevelt”, with Admiral Peary (inset) returned to Sydney, Nova Scotia, 1909. Associated Press steamship “D. H. Thomas” is following. See page 159.

With two other Associated Press correspondents—one from Portland, Maine, Peary’s home—the writer chartered steamer “Douglas H. Thomas” at Sydney, Nova Scotia, and proceeded to Battle Harbour, where a low-power ship-to-shore radio station had been recently installed. Later, Canadian Government Steamer “Tyrian,” arrived at Battle Harbour with a battalion of American and Canadian press correspondents.

Detailed accounts of Peary’s Polar dash were forwarded by wireless relays down the Labrador coast, across the Gulf of St. Lawrence to Glace Bay and overland to New York. On liner “Oscar II” Dr. Cook was accompanied by an Associated Press correspondent, who had scrambled on board at Copenhagen. A summary of Peary’s story was wirelessed from Battle Harbour to Sable Island station and repeated to Dr. Cook in mid-ocean, as bigger ships by this time had acquired “voices.”

Cook’s answer was transmitted to Peary at Battle Harbour on the same route reversed. The two pole-hunters, separated by a thousand miles of sea and barren waste, one in Labrador and the other in mid-Atlantic, entertained the public with an amazing dialogue and exchange of contradictions. Wireless operators on Sable Island and in Labrador (G. Spracklin) worked day and night, handling thousands of words with primitive equipment.

Lieutenant Commander Peary presented the writer with several souvenirs, including a section of the staff and Flag (Old Glory) which had been raised at the North Pole, a narwhal tusk and autographed snapshots. Congress at Washington recognized Commander Peary’s pioneer Polar achievement after 20 years Arctic Exploration and authorized his promotion to rank of Rear Admiral. Mrs. Robert Peary, widow of Admiral Peary and daughter, Mrs. Edward Stafford, known to the world as “Snow Baby” the only white woman in America to be born within the Arctic Circle, revisited Nova Scotia in 1936. From 1891 on, Mrs. Peary accompanied her husband on several arctic trips. Mrs. Stafford was born on northwest coast of Greenland, September 12, 1893.

One of the world’s marvels, the first transoceanic wireless station of the Western Hemisphere and the real beginning of the romance of universal radio, was appropriately established at Table Head, Glace Bay, (Acadia), Nova Scotia, the same region that in 1497 witnessed Cabot’s Landfall and in 1858 became the Western terminus of Cyrus Field’s ocean cable.

The initial unofficial wireless “message” to span the Atlantic was from Europe to America. It was received at Sydney, Nova Scotia, November 1, 1902, as a test on board visiting Italian warship “Carlo Alberto”—Italian territory. The Italian cruiser was one of the earliest ships to be equipped for long-distance reception and was specially equipped and loaned by the Rome Government to assist Marconi’s work.

In the autumn of 1902 the youthful wireless inventor crossed from England to Sydney on the warship “Carlo Alberto” and was successful in maintaining contact with the Cornwall station most of the way over.

The first public transatlantic wireless to pass through Table Head station was nominally December 21, 1902, being an official message from the Governor General of Canada to King Edward VII of England. The same day Signor Marconi wirelessed personal congratulations to the Kings of England and Italy. Transmission was actually commenced December 16.

Two messages to King Edward were completed December 20 and temporarily held at Poldhu, Cornwall. An earlier marconigram from Dr. Parkin, afterward Sir George Parkin, addressed to the London “Times” was successfully forwarded December 15, after three attempts, but was also held at Poldhu. Apparently this was the first wireless message from the American Continent to Europe.

Receipt of the despatch to the King of Italy was confirmed by Poldhu, December 21, and all messages were then simultaneously released and delivered. Other despatches were forwarded from the Commander of the Cruiser “Carlo Alberto” to the Italian Minister of Marine, from Sir Richard Cartwright, Acting Premier of Canada to the “Times” London, complimenting the British people. The wireless message to the King of Italy was in Italian, the mother tongue of Columbus, Cabot and Verrazano.

First Transatlantic Wireless Station in America at Table Head, Glace Bay, Nova Scotia—Outside views and ship are Dec., 1902—Interior views are October, 1907, just before the commercial opening; upper, Jimmie Holmes with receivers on; lower, L. R. Johnstone.

Critics have suggested Glace Bay messages were launched into space and did not reach the other side. Both “Times” despatches were published. Marconi was noted for thoroughness and tested the Glace Bay installation weeks in advance. Through transmission was slow and feeble. The Table Head wireless station was experimental and several years hard work elapsed before commercial efficiency was attained.

It is a coincidence that on October 31, 1902 the first Trans-Pacific submarine cable was opened between Canada and Australia.

The half-Irish, half-Italian Marconi, 25 years of age, took crude wireless to America in 1899. Primitive equipment was stowed in a couple of trunks in a Cunard steamship for a demonstration, designed to cover a yacht race, which was Sir Thomas Lipton’s first attempt to lift America’s Cup. Off Sandy Hook spectators on pleasure craft saw the American defender “Columbia” win “three straight” from “Shamrock,” October 16, October 17 and October 20.

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On shore Marconi’s wireless was detailing the progress of the contest to millions and the information was relayed world wide. The occurrence commanded attention. Financiers were intrigued. One month later—November 22, 1899—Marconi Wireless Telegraph Company of America was organized in New Jersey and the wireless inventor was already on the way back to England on the liner St. Paul, and experimenting on the voyage. With a “ship to shore” set, Isle of Wight was picked up November 15, 1899 at 50 miles distance and developments of the Boer war were received on board. The ship’s officers printed and distributed a leaflet “The Transatlantic Times,” the first ocean leaflet. Items included a reference to an early engagement at Belmont, South Africa, November 10, 1899, in which Lieutenant Charles Wood, of Halifax, was the first Canadian fatality in South Africa.

Numerous local radio tests were conducted in England. Marconi had received a partial musical education and was a graduate of Leghorn and Bologna, in electricity. Attuning or syntony was now perceived to be indispensable for range and this objective was achieved and incorporated in famous British patent No. 7,777 of April 1900, the basis of commercial radio.

A larger station than any yet contemplated was completed at Poldhu to undertake extended signalling. Ten masts 170 feet high were erected. Ships that had “voices” were now contacted “200 miles” from shore.

Marconi doubtless had read the Irish legend that St. Brendan in 520 A. D. had heard and translated calls coming over sunlit water lapping the sands in Bantry Bay, “Ho! Barzil,” emanating from an unknown western strand. The Italian inventor yearned to test a conviction the cosmic word could span the Atlantic, notwithstanding predictions the curvature of the earth would prevent. With Poldhu station in operation Marconi sailed for Newfoundland per S. S. Sardinian, November 1901, it having been learned winter is better than summer for broadcasting.

Poldhu was instructed to start at 3 o’clock P. M., in England on a certain day to repeat letter “S,” three dots in Morse alphabet, and continue for three hours daily. Six days preliminaries were occupied in Newfoundland transporting gas cylinders, balloons, kites, receiving apparatus, sheets of zinc for earth plates, laying the grounds, preparing balloons and kites and attempting to fly them.

On December 10 the first kite with 600 feet of aerial wire was flown, but signals from Poldhu could not be identified. Next day a balloon was lost in a squall.

Thursday morning December 12, 1901, another Newfoundland kite was carried away by heavy wind and disappeared out to sea. Finally the same afternoon a third kite to support the test antenna was put up 400 feet. Receiving instruments were in an empty building and connected to a head phone the human ear being far more sensitive than a Morse inker. A tense interval began 11.30 A. M., in Newfoundland. There was a great deal at stake. A half-dozen men in overcoats—G. Marconi, G. S. Kemp, P. W. Paget and several fishermen—waited in zero weather in a deserted barracks on an exposed headland.

At 12.30 three faint clicks in the telephone, set the inventor’s heart palpitating. The sounds were distinct from disturbances of atmospheric electricity. Chilled fingers shook as with palsy. Instruments on the table came to life and “clicked.” The telephone audibly breathed letter “S,” much the same as the rustle of Atlantic wavelets St. Brendan is supposed to have translated fourteen centuries before. The sounds were repeated. “Did you hear it?” cried Marconi in Italian. In the excitement the native tongue leaped to the man’s lips. The phone was passed around and signal confirmed. The Western Ocean had been crossed by a directed call. Distance had been overcome by air. The faint “clicks” were England and Europe 1700 miles away. Success was published on Sunday and improved sending and receiving were now all that was required.

Transoceanic wireless experimentation in Newfoundland was summarily halted a few days later. Solicitors of the Submarine Cable company advised Guglielmo Marconi that any effort to give the Colony new connection with the outside world was an infringement upon 50 years exclusive communication rights granted Cyrus Field and successors in 1854. The lawyers requested tests be discontinued and apparatus removed.

The legal notice that transatlantic wireless was regarded as a definite possibility was as cheering as receipt of letter “S” at Signal Hill, where a Cabot Tower faces the sea. Decision was made to build a power station in North America to exchange with Poldhu. Offers of sites were wired from cities from Montreal to Florida. Alexander Graham Bell suggested Beinn Bhreagh, Baddeck, and telegraphed from Washington to the caretaker of the Baddeck estate, John G. Davidson, to be in readiness to put the residence in order in case Chevalier Marconi accepted this location.

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After the rebuff at St. John’s, Marconi proceeded direct to North Sydney, Nova Scotia, about Christmas 1901. A local newspaper editor Dr. Alex. Johnston, (afterward Deputy Minister of Marine of Canada) was also M. P., representing the County of Cape Breton in the Canadian Parliament. Johnston and several friends interviewed Marconi and called attention to station situations near Sydney. Marconi tentatively picked Table Head as a suitable position. The requisite land for building was tendered by the Dominion Coal Co.

The inventor confessed to be without funds. Johnston and Marconi visited Ottawa and conferred with the Prime Minister Sir Wilfrid Laurier and Hon. W. S. Fielding, Minister of Finance. The Canadian Government agreed to contribute $80,000 to build the first American Wireless Station at Table Head, Nova Scotia, perpetual “Land of First Things.”

Marconi Wireless Telegraph Company of Canada was incorporated in 1902. Contracts were let in March for a station at Table Head, Nova Scotia, to be equal to Poldhu. Construction occupied eight months. Four masts were wood, lattice type, 210 feet high, 12 feet at base and 4 feet at top. They were supplied by Glace Bay contractors. Steel had not yet been considered.

In 1904 the old Cape Breton station was moved to present site, Port Morien, near Glace Bay, as Table Head area proved rather limited for enlarged aerials which transatlantic experimenting indicated was necessary. A circle of 25 masts, 200 feet each, was added.

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In 1912 the old lattice-work Marconi Towers were felled and the material sold to iconoclasts for fence pickets and firewood. They were replaced with eight steel masts, two of 230 feet, four of 300 feet and two towering guyed lattice-work towers 600 feet high. Up to 1914 Glace Bay, as rebuilt, and the corresponding station at Clifden, Ireland, were the most powerful anywhere. In 1913 a separate transatlantic receiving station was added at Louisburg in order to simultaneously transmit and receive. The transmitter at Glace Bay became remote controlled by operators at Louisburg, over land lines joining the two stations.

In October 1926, transatlantic operation was discontinued altogether at Glace Bay being superseded by a beam station at Montreal. Glace Bay now distributes daily Government broadcasts to fishermen and communicates with transatlantic shipping. In 1927 it became possible to work duplex to ships from Glace Bay and Louisburg operators were accordingly transferred to Glace Bay. The station at Louisburg was then abandoned and site and buildings have been sold.

The first members of the staff at Glace Bay were G. Marconi, R. N. Vyvyan, author of “Thirty Years of Wireless,” P. W. Paget, G. S. Kemp, F. S. Stacey. The first operators were L. R. Johnstone and James A. Holmes. The staff was later enlarged to 21 operators and engineers working a 24 hour schedule. Hon. Barnaby O’Brien became second engineer. During prolonged experiments at Glace Bay, Marconi and staff labored very hard. All reported for duty 4 A. M., daily, including Sunday, continuing as a rule until midnight, sometimes taking lunch on the job. Hon. Mrs. Marconi visited for months at a time.

The American Marconi Company built a transoceanic wireless station in 1902 at Cape Cod which was finished one month after Table Head. The Cape Cod formal opening occurred January 19, 1903 when President Theodore Roosevelt sent greetings to King Edward. As usual skeptics aver Cape Cod station went dead during transmission and the felicitations of the rulers had to be handled privately through Table Head Station as the Marconi Company would not have recourse to Cable rivals. This is not confirmed.

Table Head, Cape Cod and Poldhu wireless stations were commercial disappointments for transatlantic duty. Service proved slow and irregular, with intervals of silence and very limited European business was transacted for several years. Back and forth Marconi spent several years at Glace Bay, changing methods and equipment. The immense improvements which resulted revolutionized the art.

Finally October 17, 1907 an elaborate public opening was staged at Glace Bay, Acadia. Formal communications were despatched to the King of England, King of Italy, Lord Kelvin and other notables. Complimentary press messages were accepted from a string of American and Canadian papers and were promptly delivered at new Clifden, Ireland, station.

A holiday was granted Coal and Steel Company employees at neighboring works. Speeches and bands of music featured proceedings. Twenty-five newspaper correspondents attended. At a banquet, with souvenir programmes the Marconi Company entertained several hundred guests.

A volume of private business to and from Canada and United States poured in after 1907 and old cable rates had to be slaughtered. At outbreak of World War, continuous service at Glace Bay frequently reached 1000 to 1200 foreign messages in 24 hours, which was a job for censors.

For a number of years the initial letters “G. B.” were the Glace Bay radio call. Latterly this has been altered in the International list, which records 1600 shore stations as well as countless ships. “V. A. S.” is the present Glace Bay call, which has been translated locally “Voice of the Atlantic Seaboard.” Most Canadian stations begin with “V.”

The spread of marine wireless is phenomenal and only started. Dotted around the shores of seven seas are 350 Direction Finding stations, 200 Storm Warning stations, 400 weather broadcasting offices, 270 navigational warnings, 60 National Time signal stations, 75 stations transmitting medical advice to seamen.

S. O. S. is a well-known ocean call for help to which all shipping is obligated to respond. C. Q. D. (Come Quickly Distress) was the former distress signal. A combination of three dots, three dashes and three dots makes S. O. S. quicker for transmission and reception. This call has absolute priority and is made on the watchkeeping 600 metre wave.

Marquis Marconi is now a Roman Senator. In 1909 the inventor was awarded the Nobel Prize for physics. In 1914 he was made an Honorary G. C. V. O. (British). In a motor accident in 1912 Senator Marconi lost the sight of one eye.

The mother of the Italian inventor was a beautiful Irish girl, daughter of Andrew Jameson, Daphne Castle, County Wexford.

On August 6, 1933 Newfoundland celebrated the 350th anniversary of Sir Humphrey Gilbert’s landing in 1583. At St. John’s, Nfld., at the same time, a wireless station was erected on Signal Hill to commemorate the Marconi test of December 1901, when General Italo Balbo and 25 officers of Italian Air Armada en route to Century of Progress Exhibition, Chicago, attended the proceedings. A fac simile of the first official wireless message to cross the Atlantic, was west-east, from the Governor General of Canada to King Edward VII and is reproduced:—

Leonard Rosser Johnstone, pioneer regular transoceanic wireless operator in America, native of Roanoke, Virginia, was the first to “tick off” radio transatlantic “news” despatches, messages that were sent in the ordinary course of business, to London Times and other papers through Glace Bay, Nova Scotia, Canada via Clifden, Ireland, October 17, 1907, after commercial radio had become a fact.

As a junior “knight of the key” at New York in 1900 L. R. Johnstone was advised by a doctor to try a change of climate. Six months stop in Winnipeg, as a Canadian Pacific telegraph operator, formed part of the health roaming. In 1902 Johnstone was transferred to Montreal, just as Marconi Company of Canada commenced recruiting an operating staff, which in 1935 numbers 1,000 persons. C. P. R. officials recommended Johnstone, who became Marconi recruit No. 1 in Canada and was associated with Marconi’s work 25 years.

Pending completion of Canadian ship-to-shore stations, Johnstone was assigned to American Marconi Company’s new marine station at Babylon, Long Island. Experiences here included copying messages from old Cunarders “Umbria” and “Etruria,” two of few ships in New York service then equipped for reporting. In 1904 Johnstone was shifted to Fame Point, in “old Acadia,” in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, which was the first regular Canadian marine wireless station. At Fame Point “annual opening” in April, after the ice has gone, the official “supply boat” had not reached this St. Lawrence post. Radio was something new. On the second day an incoming ship with wireless unexpectedly reported. Not a scrap of paper was available, so Canada’s first marine record on the St. Lawrence was jotted on a cedar shingle.

Previously, October 22, 1901, by arrangement with Public Works Department of Canada, Marconi Company of London placed a service at Strait of Belle Isle to connect Belle Isle, Newfoundland, with Chateau Bay, Quebec, the terminus of the Canadian Government North Shore land telegraph and the station became part of the Government operation. The purpose was to replace an existing submarine cable between Belle island and the mainland, which was constantly interrupted by icebergs grounding at the entrance to Belle Isle. Seasonal communication only was maintained between the two points, until a permanent chain of Ship-to-Shore Coast Stations was erected in 1904, 1905 and 1906 by Marconi Company of Canada, under contract with Canadian Government.

During two weeks holiday in 1904 operator Johnstone visited Marconi Towers, Glace Bay, to watch transatlantic experimenting and renew acquaintance with Signor Marconi, his senior by one year.

As erection of Canadian marine stations progressed on the Eastern coast of the Dominion, Johnstone moved successively to Belle Isle, Cape Ray, Cape Race, Camperdown (Halifax), Sable Island and other points to initiate services. Early in 1907 Johnstone was summoned to Glace Bay to assist with others in testing to and from Clifden, preparatory to definite and long delayed inauguration of competitive transatlantic business to be staged in October, 1907, and considered urgent to overcome skepticism and obtain income to keep the pot boiling.

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In the public inception of Transatlantic Radio October 17, 1907, at Glace Bay, the Virginian, Johnstone, personally handled most of the sending of numerous official despatches and short news stories addressed to rulers, statesmen, scientists and publishers in Europe. This was a real test and the enterprise proved a complete success. Expansion of wireless business followed at Glace Bay necessitating a large staff. L. R. Johnstone became superintendent of operators at what for some years was the most powerful radio station in the world. Included in souvenirs, Johnstone has autographed photos of Marconi, one sent from Italy in uniform in 1917. Johnstone moved from Glace Bay in 1909, prior to a fire which swept the station and destroyed all the interesting wireless records.

Superintendent Johnstone had 25 years service with Marconi Companies and helped nurse and rear the infant radio industry, now a giant. In 1926 Johnstone was appointed manager at Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, of Halifax Radio Stations of News Traffic Board Limited. The organization comprises most of the daily newspapers of the United States. Sending and receiving stations at Rodney Road, Dartmouth, are the only stations in Canada conducting press work by wireless. 125,000 to 200,000 words per month are copied direct from Rugby, England; Coltano, Italy; and Paris, France on different circuits. Reports are usually relayed over land-wires into offices of subscribers throughout the United States.

As accommodation, European news items are occasionally handled for Associated Press and for Canadian Press. Traffic is exclusively westbound. Nothing is sent East to Europe and private business is not dealt with, only press. Reception varies from 45 to 80 words per minute. This is the first and only service of the kind in North America.

The local manager, Johnstone, recalls the first broadcast he heard in 1909. Steam yacht “Hirondelle” with the owner aboard, the Prince of Monaco, passing Halifax, though out of sight, treated operators at Camperdown Wireless Station to four musical selections, including the “Merry Widow.” It was a new wonder. The operator on the yacht explained a piano was hooked to wireless and the Prince wished to know if the scheme was a success.

Contrast “Hirondelle” incident with broadcasts a quarter century later. At Christmas 1935 a short wave station at Daventry, England, sent holiday greetings from King George V to millions of firesides. The hour was high noon at Sandringham. It was rosy dawn in British Columbia and the next day in the Antipodes and the “purpling East.” “I am speaking from my home” declared His Majesty in clear voice.

From London the King’s Yuletide message flashed across the Atlantic, was received by C. H. N. S. in Acadia (Halifax), vibrated westward on lightning wings outstripping “Old Sol”, to Montreal, Winnipeg, Vancouver, through a starry Pacific night to Wellington, N. Z., Melbourne, Hong Kong, Calcutta, Cape Town, traversed the Holy Land, over the blue Mediterranean, back to starting point, almost instantaneous, to be followed by Westminster Chimes and boom of Big Ben.

Where glaciers are born and creep, jungles and burning deserts exhale mystery, on ships far at sea, in summer and winter weather, in lands where strange rites and customs prevail, on the last “lump of coral,” a vast audience simultaneously listened to the monarch’s good wishes.

On the occasion of the Eucharistic Congress in 1934, His Holiness Pope Pius XI addressed a world-wide broadcast in Latin from the Vatican, using special equipment. At the Antarctic Continent, Admiral Byrd was in touch with home. By high speed “Beam Wireless” Canada is in touch with London and Melbourne, 9,500 miles, at efficiency ranging from 100 to 300 words per minute. By radio-telephone business men in mid-ocean and travellers at distant points are in contact with their offices.

Prompt and generous financial aid extended wireless development by the Canadian Government in 1901 was a factor in the launching of this 20th Century invention of boundless possibilities. One correspondent avers the next wireless objective is Mars.

Glace Bay, renowned coal-mining birthplace of long-distance ether transmission, is known as Canada’s “Biggest Town,” having more than 10,000 population—the qualification for City status—yet citizens prefer to remain under the general Town’s Incorporation Act. It is a coincidence that Glace Bay became a Town Corporation in February 1902, the year of transatlantic wireless, and is reputed the first town in the British Empire to receive incorporation in the reign of King Edward VII, to whom the initial wireless message was addressed. Dominion No. 4 coal mine at Glace Bay is a honeycomb of workings extending miles under the Atlantic ocean, probably the largest submarine operations in the world, involving immense mechanical services supplying light, air, transportation and removal of water. Coal is turned into coke for the manufacture of steel rails which are shipped around the world for traffic operations in distant countries. Ocean ships and radio signals float through air and sea overhead, while miners are digging “black diamonds” underneath.

An unpublished chapter of telephone annals links New England with Nova Scotia and “Acadia” in friendship that has subsisted 300 years. The distinction of association with original Bell telephone is justly claimed by Hamilton, Ontario, Boston, Massachusetts and Brantford, Ontario in different phases. “Acadia,” Nova Scotia, is a fourth candidate to share in telephone primacy, which is a fitting role for Nova Scotia being the last resting place of Alexander Graham Bell, telephone inventor, whose mortal remains are interred at the crest of a mountain at former summer home at Baddeck (New Scotland) which reminded kindly Professor Bell of his native heath at Aberdeen, Scotland.

PROF. A. G. BELL AND SIR WILFRED GRENFELL Of Labrador Fame, At Baddeck, N. S., 1909

The order of development of the Bell telephone in preliminary stages seems to be that the principle of speech transmission was conceived at Brantford, working tests were made at Hamilton and Boston and large scale commercial installations first occurred at Glace Bay and Sydney Mines, Nova Scotia.

Archives of Bell Telephone Company of Canada and of American Telegraph and Telephone Company of New York lack particulars of Nova Scotia’s share in telephone celebrity, for the reason apparently, the subject is now being dealt with, the first time.

The explanation of Nova Scotia’s part in telephone romance is intriguing. Gardiner G. Hubbard, Boston lawyer and financier, was Graham Bell’s father-in-law and Trustee and Business Manager of all telephone patent rights. Hubbard was a partner with New England associates, one of whom was the poet Longfellow, in coal mining and shipping operations in Cape Breton and some of them regularly visited the mining property. The coal connection antedated the telephone 20 years and at first was very profitable, the company sometimes paying 25 per cent, in addition to setting aside reserves.

At one time the coal-mining stock was quoted at 200 in Boston, even after a split in the shares. In those days the coal output of the Cape Breton mines was mostly marketed in New England. Repeal of Reciprocity in 1866 checked the Cape Breton coal company’s progress and it was not until 1878, coincident with the beginning of internal Canadian manufacturing expansion, that home demand took up the slack and Nova Scotia coal mining again became fairly prosperous.

Meantime in the course of a regular inspection trip to Glace Bay in 1877, Mr. Hubbard took several phones with him and installed them underground in the coal workings, where some means of communication with the surface was desirable for all concerned. With the help of the Glace Bay demonstration Mr. Hubbard apparently obtained outside orders for phones from two other mining companies, which were installed in Nova Scotia, next year, 1878.

Seven years later, 1885, it was indirectly due to Mr. Hubbard’s investment in Nova Scotia mining that Professor and Mrs. Bell visited Cape Breton and picked a location for a summer home, “far enough from fashionable centres to put their little girls in trousers and live an unconventional life.”

The Bells were delighted with Baddeck, which they had passed en route to the coal mine and they returned the next summer. In Mrs. Bell’s memoirs it is explained:—“This was not precipitate action because we had already spent several summers seeking just such a place of salt water, mountains and valleys and cool climate. My mother told me the fir and spruce trees of Cape Breton were the most beautiful she had ever seen.”

Professor and Mrs. Bell acquired and improved a large estate at Baddeck, sometimes occupied in winter, where they spent 35 happy years and entertained numerous distinguished people, the Governor General of Canada, Helen Keller and other notables, and sponsored various scientific inquiries. Professor and Mrs. Bell are both buried at Baddeck on a sunny hill-top, at 500 feet elevation, overlooking the placid blue waters of salt Bras d’Or Lakes, “Arm of Gold.”

Telephone Inventor—Grave of Prof. Bell and wife on a hillside at Baddeck, Nova Scotia.

The marriage of Dr. and Mrs. Bell is pointed to as a genuine love match and “in their death they are not divided.” They are both revered for fine qualities. Associates of Dr. Bell have said:—“We did not work for him, we worked with him.” The residence and 1,000 acres of land and lake shore at Baddeck, known as Beinn Bhreagh, “beautiful mountain” remain the property of the Bell family.

Basic Bell telephone patent, 174,465, was applied for at Washington, February 14, 1876, Valentine Day, and was allowed March 3, 1876, the inventor’s 29th birthday, and is estimated to have been the centre of attack in 500 distinct lawsuits.

Initial Nova Scotia business telephones were placed in Caledonia coal mine at Glace Bay, which has since become the largest submarine colliery in the world, having 800 men underground and underseas. Caledonia galleries are equipped with a network of phones, electric light and power, pumping and ventilating efficiency being necessarily complex and conspicuous to serve miles of workings.

Old residents say the first Caledonia phones of 1877 were installed in midsummer, either July or August, probably August, while Mr. Hubbard and several friends were at the property.

July 9, 1877, a trusteeship had been formed at Boston, styled the Bell Telephone Company, which took over all patents. Gardiner G. Hubbard was named Trustee. Two days later Professor Bell married Miss Hubbard, who he had met in 1874 when the young lady returned from four years education in Europe. Miss Hubbard had gone abroad in 1870, the same year young Graham Bell arrived in Canada in search of health, he having exhibited tubercular tendencies in London fogs, and this ailment had carried off two brothers, teachers of elocution like himself. Two preceding generations of Bells had been instructors in elocution and students of voice transmission.

As a wedding present Professor Bell gave his bride all but ten shares of telephone stock. A long honeymoon in Europe followed and considerable attention was devoted to telephone promotion in England and on the Continent.

It is related that Sir William Thomson (Lord Kelvin) was Chairman of Electric awards at Philadelphia Centennial in 1876 and expressed surprise at the first telephone performance. The crude phones exhibited were presented to Thomson, who took the instruments to London. When Dr. Bell reached London an audience before the Queen was arranged by Sir William Thomson, who accompanied the inventor to Windsor Castle. Her Majesty was impressed and instructed her secretary to have the phones and connecting apparatus retained and paid for. Instead, Dr. Bell ordered a pair of ivory telephones for the Queen’s use. There was delay and when finally completed, the Queen’s interest in the matter had waned and the gift was not accepted. The ivory telephones are now at United States National Museum.

Gardiner Hubbard appears to have gone to Cape Breton in 1877 partly to negotiate a sale of control of Caledonia mine to local buyers. The deal was consummated in 1878, the same year General Mining Association installed a surface telephone “system” at Sydney Mines on the opposite shore of Sydney harbour.

The G. M. A. installation of five “stations” served shipping piers, pit, offices, stores and railway and they united what are now the towns of Sydney Mines and North Sydney. A settlement at Barrington Cove, was probably included, altogether a matter of four or five miles in the first “large” commercial phone installation in Canada.

This was also the first railway telephone in the Dominion and the second in America and possibly the first important commercial “system.” In 1878 Acadia Coal Company, Nova Scotia, also erected a telephone line from Stellarton to loading wharf at Pictou.

Caledonia mine phones of 1877 would seem to be the first regular commercial or industrial telephones in Canada and the oldest electrical coal mine telephone in either hemisphere.

In mileage and number of stations the Sydney Mines system of 1878 appears the largest for actual business in the world up to that time. In August 1877 New York “Globe” reported “no less than five phones are now in operation in this city. One connects the Clyde line with its wharf, another connects the piers of Brooklyn bridge (building) with the superintendent’s office, so that all movements of ‘travellers’ in carrying wires from pier to pier can be directed without signal flags.” The Brooklyn bridge phones were local, not inter-urban.

Nova Scotia’s pioneer coal phones are not discussed by Dr. Thomas A. Watson in “Exploring Life,” 1926, a volume of telephone reminiscences. A year prior to his demise the author was queried regarding Cape Breton phones and was surprised, not having heard of them at the time they were installed.

The explanation is that mechanical equipment of Nova Scotia coal mines was modern and had to be self-contained on account of isolation and difficult submarine problems confronted. It would not be necessary to obtain expert advice or special material, which is probably why Watson, as electrical assistant of Dr. Bell in Boston, would not be summoned to Cape Breton, especially in the absence of a through railway that was not completed for ten years.

H. S. Poole, first manager of Caledonia mine, was an electrician and also an amateur inquirer into sound transmission. The “First” Caledonia phones are referred to in Provincial Government reports as disclosed in an official letter:—

Henry S. Poole, F.R.G.S., English engineer, was General Manager of Caledonia mine from 1865 to 1871 and then joined the Provincial Government Service as Chief Inspector of Mines—coal, iron, gold, gypsum, manganese and other minerals.

In 1856, Boston investors were identified with Little Glace Bay Coal Mining Company, Cape Breton, in conjunction with Halifax capitalists. At the peak of export traffic in 1865 Messrs. Howe, Hubbard, Converse, Emery of Boston sold out of Glace Bay Mining Company and organized a separate company to develop adjoining Caledonia coal deposits, among the best in the province.

Dr. Poole was retained in England to manage the new Caledonia undertaking, which in addition to the mine, involved the construction of an artificial harbor and two miles of tramway.

The quoted Poole excerpt in the official mine report is from a general survey of district reports. All mine improvements forecast by Poole have been adopted long ago, and some in turn replaced with electrical appliances.

In early days better underground communication was most urgent as depth and submarine extension were attained. Speaking tubes are confined to shafts. A primitive “tapper” to stop and go ahead was the only signal in the galleries. On deck messengers were able to take care of correspondence.

Hon. Mr. Dwyer, Nova Scotia Minister of Mines, emphasizes that anything in the Chief Inspector’s report to Government in 1877 would necessarily represent a serious working trial, not a model or casual device.

D. MacKeen was shipper for Caledonia Company and a son-in-law of Dr. Poole, and succeeded Poole as General Manager of the Caledonia mining company. In 1878 MacKeen acquired control of Caledonia mine. In 1893 Caledonia mine became part of Dominion Coal Company merger headed by Henry M. Whitney, Boston. MacKeen was elected one of the Directors of the larger enterprise and later was Lieutenant Governor of Nova Scotia. Caledonia mine is now Dominion No. 4, the chief producing unit of the Corporation and has yielded over 10,000,000 tons superior coal worth $25,000,000.

The Pioneer telephone development in Cape Breton is relatively recent and living witnesses have not all vanished from the stage. Hon. Joseph Macdonald, M.L.A., Hon. John McCormick, (since deceased), member Canadian Senate and F. S. Barrington, retired, were youths in employ of the General Mining Association in 1878, when the telephone “system” was installed at Sydney Mines.

Mr. Barrington fixes October as the month Canada’s first commercial phone “system” was opened at Sydney Mines. A Canadian Federal election was in progress and candidates on both sides claimed credit for conditions which had prompted the Mining Company to introduce an inter-urban telephone line. In this contest, Hon. (Sir) Charles Tupper first advocated a duty on coal.

In the Canadian National Policy campaign of 1878 writs were issued September 17, returnable November 21. Barrington was an assistant in the Mining Company’s office, his father being sales manager. Hon. Mr. Macdonald was a messenger and the telephone automatically put him out of a job.

A curious caretaker was disciplined in 1878 for eavesdropping at every phone call whether the “ring” was for that particular station or otherwise. The man did not realize the phone worked both ways and he indulged in choice expletives directed at a fellow workman while the receiver was down. He was horrified to hear the General Manager’s voice requesting the name of the offender.

Senator McCormick named five stations in the mine overground system, where phones were placed. One was the Company store, a department of which he was appointed manager in 1879, a year after the telephone had been introduced. Before 1878 messengers maintained contact with the General Office, while a clerk rode a saddle horse daily into North Sydney, three miles. The driver of the locomotive hauling coal trains to North Sydney also carried papers.

Hon. Mr. McCormick writes:—“There is no doubt the Caledonia phones of 1877 prompted G. M. A. management to install the Sydney Mines system in 1878. In those days there were frequent meetings of mine operators on matters of mutual concern.”

It is significant that in 1877 and 1878 there were few if any strictly commercial phones in Canada, other than Nova Scotia coal phones. Bell Telephone Company of Canada was organized in 1880. Caledonia telephones were installed in Nova Scotia mines when possibly there were not 50 phones—a generous estimate—in existence.

New York city reported five commercial phones in August 1877 but 50 years later listed 4,000,000 subscribers.

Alexander Graham Bell, the inventor of the telephone, was a successful teacher in a school for the deaf in London and in Boston and was disappointed that means could not be discovered to repair the lost hearing of his life’s companion. At the age of five, as a result of scarlet fever, Mrs. Bell suffered complete deafness.

While Professor Bell began as a teacher of the deaf, he eventually, through the telephone, enriched the world with electric speech to overcome distance.

Dr. Bell once told friends when he landed at Quebec in 1870 he came to Canada “to die.” The prophecy was fulfilled, but differently beyond dreams from what was apprehended.

Fifty-one years of accomplishment intervened before the quiet end at Baddeck, 1922, five years over scriptural allotment, at which date it was computed 25,000,000 telephones, one half of them in North America, were regularly ringing a Bell remembrance on six continents. In 1935 there were 32,000,000 telephones in the world.

The ultimate phone horizon cannot easily be bounded. A. T. & T. Company now own a right-of-way through Nova Scotia to make a daring attempt to bridge the Atlantic with a submarine cable for speech. Engineers wait for business recovery to proceed with construction, which must be of special and costly character, to leap 2,500 miles of wire under immense pressure. The longest submarine telephone cable in 1936 is Italy to Sardini, 146 miles.

Radical technical advances over telegraph cable are involved in this superlative experiment in underseas conversational facilities. Compare this ambitious project with the initial trials between adjoining rooms at the inception of telephones in 1876 of which the projected 1937 ocean telephone cable will be the diamond anniversary.

The maiden voyage of luxurious, state-aided, Cunard super-liner “Queen Mary,” June 1, 1936—4 days, 12 hours, 24 minutes, from Cherbourg Breakwater to Ambrose Lightship, the longer route—is a reminder of a mid-ocean Canadian shipping incident of 1838 which is the immediate genesis of the Cunard Line and of the British policy of fostering transport by granting subsidies for fast mail delivery. The “Queen Mary” averaged 29.133 knots in June when engines were new. On July 27, 1936 R. M. S. “Queen Mary” reduced the westbound Atlantic crossing to 4 days, 8 hours and 37 minutes. On August 24, 1936, a further reduction to 4 days, 7 hours, 12 minutes was effected, with average speed 30.01 knots for the voyage.

A journalist-politician, a glass of champagne and a transfer of mails at sea are highlights in a hail-and-farewell meeting of two modes of transit—steam and sail—which occurred in mid-Atlantic in 1838, a few weeks previous to the coronation of Queen Victoria and shortly before the inauguration of sweeping Victorian reforms such as penny postage. The 1838 high-seas contact spelled the early doom of centuries of sail locomotion.

For 150 years, with war interruptions, the British Post Office and Admiralty maintained a fleet of armed mail “packets,” with headquarters at Falmouth, England, to provide for official communication with the West Indies and American colonies, and was accommodation for private correspondence and travel.

During the War of 1812 British ten-gun mail brigs fought repeated engagements with American privateers, usually beating off assailants. These British “coffin brigs” were notoriously slow. Normally people hesitated to travel on the Government packets, especially in winter, and did so as a rule because comfortable privately owned clipper ships had not yet got underway.

Samuel Cunard, self-educated Nova Scotia merchant, formerly a poor boy, grandson of United Empire Loyalist Quakers of Philadelphia, had become a Government contractor at Halifax, his native place, to receive Her Majesty’s Mails from the British Falmouth packets and distribute the correspondence, in his own shipping, to Boston, Bermuda and Newfoundland.

Cunard Line birthplace—Original Cunard office and warehouse, Halifax, Nova Scotia (N. S. His. Society, Vol. 19), ironstone with freestone trimmings, 170 feet in length, built 1823, demolished 1917 for railway expansion. Access to wharf, where first steamships docked, was through centre arch. Office door, left. Inset, photo Sir Samuel Cunard—Upper right first Cunard steamship, “Unicorn” arrived Halifax from Liverpool, June 1 and at Boston, June 2, 1840. Was the first European steamship seen at Boston, Quebec and Montreal. Upper left is R. M. S. “Britannia,” first of four ships specially built for Cunard service, arrived Halifax July 17, 1840. See Page 176.

Cunard at one time owned forty ships, including whaling, coal and lumber carriers, West Indies traders, coast patrol and mail carriers. He was a director of Halifax Banking Company, (absorbed into Canadian Bank of Commerce,) coal mine agent, tea merchant, lumber operator, colonel of militia, and a member of the Executive Council of the Province.

Samuel Cunard’s mentality chafed at delays connected with the unsatisfactory ocean mail service which hampered trade. He believed steam navigation was inevitable and he watched every development. He became a shareholder in coastwise steamers and had been active in 1830 in inducing Halifax business men to subscribe £7,000 toward construction of Canadian steamship “Royal William,” which proved a financial loss, mainly on account of cholera epidemic and partly also because the ship was more elaborate than local traffic on the Gulf of St. Lawrence required.

Samuel Cunard was convinced the age of steam navigation had arrived, but could not find many in Boston and Halifax to share his views. New England and Nova Scotia Shipping Registers were crowded with home-built sail tonnage and owners were improving and extending their marine possessions to take advantage of enlarging commercial prospects. The possibilities of steam were vague and clashed with present activities.

In England similar conservatism prevailed and was reflected in a pronouncement by Dr. Dionysius Lardner, British scientist, author of the “Cabinet Cyclopedia of the Arts and Sciences,” 130 volumes. In 1830 Dr. Lardner declared:—“Men might as well project a voyage to the moon, as to attempt steam navigation across the stormy Atlantic ocean.”

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It was the transatlantic voyage of Canadian built “Royal William” in 1833, from Quebec and Pictou, Nova Scotia to London, more than any other one thing, which demonstrated the possibilities of steam navigation. The insular position of Great Britain emphasized the business handicap incidental to irregular mail delivery and predisposed British authorities to listen to any plan that might give relief.

Spurred by the “Royal William”, in 1838, two British steamships, “Sirius” and “Great Western,” were sent on trial trips westward to New York. Coasting and Irish channel steamers had been successful. The performance of Canadian “Royal William” focused attention on the ocean problem and exhibits “Royal William” as the parent of mighty fleets.

The “Sirius” sailed from London March 28, 1838 and from Cork April 4, with 94 passengers and reached New York April 22. In a storm off the Irish coast a mutiny of the crew to demand the captain to turn back was quelled by the “persuasive use of loaded firearms.” 450 tons of coal were consumed and in the last two days the masts were cut away and burned under the boilers. Sails were freely employed to help.

The “Great Western” had been entertaining “a respectable pleasure party” at a trip on the Thames, preparatory to the transatlantic venture, intended to be the first crossing westward. The “Sirius,” bound out, passed the “Great Western” on the river. The “Great Western” cleared from Bristol, April 8, 1838 and steamed into New York April 23, twelve hours after the “Sirius.” “Great Western” averaged 8 knots burned 655 tons of coal with 15 hours supply still in the bunkers. Neither company knew the other corporation contemplated an Atlantic voyage.

Manhattan gave the side-wheelers a frantic reception. Twenty-four salutes were fired during 24 hours. Gotham was ablaze with celebrations for a week. City newspapers praised British enterprise to the skies.

From this background, the inception of the Cunard Line, through the activity of Nova Scotians, can be resumed. April 26, 1838, the brig “Tyrian” sailed from Halifax for Liverpool on a voyage destined to terminate the long career of antiquated Royal Mail Packets and bring into existence conditions which have evolved the wonder ships Cunarder “Queen Mary” and French line “Normandie.”

“Tyrian” passengers included a noted personality in the political horizon of Canada, Joseph Howe, then 33, editor and proprietor of a weekly, the “Nova Scotian,” afterward orator and statesman and eventually Lieutenant Governor of Nova Scotia.

Howe was indulging in a first trip to England and the Continent seeking information on political and social methods, to further the legislative agitation for Responsible Government he had been elected to espouse. At the same time the Papineau and Mackenzie rebellions had flared in the Canadas and Martial Law was technically still in force in Ontario. Altogether the year 1838 is a turning point in British-Canadian affairs.

Another “Tyrian” passenger was Judge Thomas Chandler Haliburton, historian and satirist, the “Artemus Ward” of Canada, author of “Sam Slick,” the premier edition of which was quickly absorbed in 1837, to be followed by a second issue in 1838.

Major Robert Carmichael-Smyth, R.E., early sponsor of a Canadian Pacific Railway from Halifax to British Columbia, was also on the way to London. S. P. Fairbanks, Nova Scotia barrister (subsequently a judge) and Dr. S. L. Walker, Saint John, were other passengers.

Half-way across the Atlantic the “Tyrian” was overtaken by the steamer “Sirius” which had left New York May 1, 1838. Astonished people on the “Tyrian” saw a trail of smoke on the western skyline, which rapidly advanced in the brig’s wake, and proved to be the “great ship Sirius,” the pioneer steam-driven vessel to successfully perform the westward passage from Europe to America and now returning.

Lt. Commander Jennings of packet “Tyrian” had despatches for the British Ministry, which he determined to send forward, and when the “Sirius” ranged abeam the brig’s captain inquired by trumpet if they would take charge of Her Majesty’s Mail, which was agreed.

A number of bags of mail were brought up from a locked compartment, hoisted over the brig’s high bulwarks and transferred by boat to the “Sirius” in mid-ocean and receipt taken by the officer of the boat. This is good material for an artist’s canvas.

Joseph Howe, with journalistic instinct, accompanied the ship’s boat to have a look at “Sirius” accommodations. He “took a glass of champagne with the Captain” and was impressed with the roominess and better steamship quarters. On the return of the ship’s boat, “Tyrian” passengers had the mortification to listen to a couple of farewell toots from the horn, saw paddle-wheels revolve and watched the “Sirius” pull ahead and disappear from view, with “Tyrian’s” sails flapping and the brig almost at a standstill, rolling heavily in a dead-calm, waiting for a breeze.

The first informal indignation meeting on ocean transportation was assembled by Canadians in the “saloon” of the “Tyrian” 500 miles off the Irish coast.

Reformer Howe was emphatic:—“Something must be done at once or New York would be the post-office for the American continent.”

There is a familiar flavor of militant Canadian Nationalism in the decision that was reached:—“They should bestir themselves and not allow, without a struggle, British mails and passengers thus to be taken past their very doors.” It was in this mood, decreed that a strong delegation should wait on the Colonial Minister. At Liverpool Howe and Haliburton (afterward a member of British Parliament) proceeded to Bristol to see owners of the “Sirius,” while Fairbanks and Smyth collected statistics.

A general conference of as many Colonial tourists as could be conveniently rounded-up occurred in London. Henry Bliss and William Crane of New Brunswick joined the “Tyrian” contingent.

A memorial was prepared, signed by Crane and Howe on behalf of the company and was presented to Lord Glenelg, August 24, 1838, which was an effective interview. The Government was urged to take immediate steps to replace the “coffin brigs” with steam communication and help consolidate the Empire. The recent humiliating experience at sea was not minced. It was represented the 1837 Rebellion in Canada probably would have been avoided if there had been better intercourse with Westminster authorities.

The “Tyrian” episode produced a decided impression. Promptly September 14, 1838, a formal reply from Whitehall from the private secretary, Sir George Grey, contained the announcement:—“He is deeply impressed with the importance of the subject and his Lordship hopes that an arrangement may be effected at an early period, by which the desired improvements in communication between this country and British North American Provinces will be accomplished.”

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In November, 1838, the British public were electrified at the issue of an Admiralty advertisement, the first of the kind ever printed, calling for tenders for bridging the Atlantic by the regular transport of mails by steamships of not less than 300 H. P. each, to operate between England, Halifax and New York.

This was the birth of the Cunard Line and is startling evidence of awakened British consciousness that the key of Empire was progress in communication.

The radical change in outlook in this proceeding is appreciated when contrasted with the great Duke of Wellington’s dogmatic observation on the same subject in 1828, just ten years before, while Prime Minister:—“He would give no countenance to schemes which had for their object a change in the established system of the country.” Nova Scotia and New Brunswick are responsible for the altered viewpoint.

Judge Haliburton sent the news to Samuel Cunard in Halifax, who hurried to London and single-handed, boldly seized the opportunity he had craved ten years, to put to test the desire to win fame and fortune in the virgin field of steam navigation on the north Atlantic, which, if properly conducted, he visioned would attract millions of immigrants to western homes.

The Government wished a monthly service. Cunard offered fortnightly trips each way and guaranteed to build special ships for the work, to be the best afloat, with a penalty for each failure to observe the schedule.

Instead of 300 H. P. Cunard proposed necessary craft should be 520 H. P. He asked permission to substitute Boston for New York, to save a day each way, and obtain that advantage in time over possible rivals, who might make New York the western terminus and not be obliged to stop at Halifax. A subsidy of £80,000 annually for seven years was granted.

It was the confidence and courage of the Halifax man, Cunard, unknown in London, which enabled him to carry off this rich prize from influential British competitors. In the initial cash capital of £278,000 for the undertaking, Samuel Cunard subscribed one-fifth, five times as much as any other shareholder.

Four wooden side-wheel steamships—Britannia, Acadia, Caledonia, Columbia—207 feet long, 1,200 tons gross, engines 700 I. H. P. were ordered in Glasgow. The bargain with the Government was signed May 4, 1839. Cunard Line commenced the contract service from Liverpool to North America, May 17, 1840, superseding as mail-carriers a system of sailing brigs that had functioned nearly a century and a half.

“Britannia” Captain Woodruff, R.N., followed from Liverpool July 4, 1840, with 80 passengers and 200 tons of cargo. A cow-house on deck instead of a refrigerator provided a fresh milk supply. It was part of the butcher’s duty to milk the cow and feed the livestock. Halifax, the first port in America, to greet Cunard ships, was reached July 17 and Boston July 20, 1840, the same year as the incorporation of Halifax and the introduction of Penny Postage in Great Britain.

The first Cunard steamship was the well-built “Unicorn,” 700 tons, named for an apocryphal member of the British coat-of-arms, which preceded the “Britannia” six weeks and has been strangely lost to view. “Unicorn” was purchased new by the Cunard Co., their first investment, intended for a collateral connection between Pictou and Quebec, in the Gulf of St. Lawrence. From Pictou Canadian mails were to be forwarded by land to Halifax for transfer to the fortnightly liners. R. M. S. “Unicorn” was powerfully constructed and engined and sumptuously appointed and started Cunard transatlantic service from Liverpool, May 17, 1840, with 27 passengers and mails and 450 tons coal and contributed a fine performance, being carefully selected to be a credit to the company and to have the honor of the first voyage. “Unicorn” arrived at Halifax June 1, fourteen days, where the passengers presented Captain Walter Douglas, a Canadian, with a piece of plate.

Captain Douglas reported:—“Nova Scotians gave us a handsome reception. Halifax wharves were crowded, guns firing, flags flying and people cheering. During our stay, which was short, 3,000 came aboard.” The newly installed first Mayor of Halifax and other officials were among the visitors. Edward Cunard, son of the founder of the line was a passenger, and said the voyage was pleasant and enjoyable for all.

Boston waterfront was gaily decorated. Vibration of salutes from forts broke some of “Unicorn’s” cabin windows. On June 4, 1840, a “gorgeous” civic reception to the officers of the ship at Faneuil Hall commenced at 3.30 and the close is not stated.

A little more than a month later, Hub citizens were nicely recovering from “Unicorn” festivities, when R. M. S. Britannia, with Samuel Cunard on board, docked in Boston. The “Unicorn” reception was re-enacted on a grander scale, and a silver loving cup of “Queen Mary” dimensions was presented to the Nova Scotia shipping magnate. The “Unicorn” was the first ocean steamship to enter Boston, Quebec, Montreal and shortly afterward conveyed the Governor General of Canada and suite from Quebec to Nova Scotia. The “Unicorn” functioned four seasons, in winter going to New York and West Indies, was then sold to Portugal and converted into an armed corvette, the first powered vessel in that navy. Eventually the “Britannia” became a German man-of-war and “Acadia” ultimately graduated into the same service. All these ships had good oak hulls.

The first iron Cunard mail steamer was “Persia,” 1856. The “China,” 1862, was screw driven, although ten years previously smaller iron, screw steamers, introducing emigrant accommodation, were running as feeders to Mediterranean ports.

The “Scotia”, 1862 (3,871 tons), was the last and finest paddle ship built by Cunards and the largest steamer in the world at the time, excepting “Great Eastern.” “Scotia” cut the Liverpool-New York time to 8 days 22 hours. “Servia”, 1881, was the initial steel Cunarder, also had electric light and double bottom.

“Aurania,” 1883, possessed suites of rooms. In 1895 “Etruria” reduced the Queenstown-New York run to 5 days 22 hours 55 minutes. “Campania,” 1894, first twin screw and the last to carry sails, made the crossing in 5½ days.

In 1901 wireless was installed and the first Cunard newspaper was issued at sea. “Carmania” 1905 was turbine. “Mauretania” 1907, was quadruple screw and turbine. “Aquitania,” 1913, was the first oil-burner.

The “Mauretania” held the blue riband of the Atlantic 22 years, performed 350 transatlantic voyages, steaming 2,500,000 miles. This veteran’s best sustained time was in 1929, when 22 years old, logging an average of 27.22 knots from Ambrose Lightship to Plymouth, total 4 days, 17 hours 50 minutes. During a cruise in 1933 “Mauretania” registered 32 knots for several hours.

The “Mauretania” was diverted into Halifax during the World War to escape submarines and is said to have exceeded 33 knots in the dash, but no statistics were officially released for that period. “Mauretania’s” last voyage from New York, September 26, 1935, happened to be the day “Queen Mary” was launched at Glasgow.

The first of the Cunard family to locate in Canada was Robert Cunard or Conrad, member of a Philadelphia Society of Friends, conscientiously opposed the American Revolution, and was banished. The family settled at Portland, New Brunswick in 1783, where the head of the household passed away in 1818, aged 69.

A son, Abraham Cunard, shifted to Halifax and entered the Dockyard, which brought him into contact with prize courts and wartime shipping during the French Revolution. Abraham Cunard married at Halifax. Samuel Cunard, born 1787, was the eldest of Abraham Cunard’s children. Abraham Cunard retired from Government employ on an allowance and organized the shipping and supply business, A. Cunard & Son, which was successful.

In 1820 Abraham Cunard withdrew from business and bought a farm at Rawdon, Hants county, Nova Scotia, where he died January, 1824. The grave is unmarked.

On the withdrawal of the father, the son changed the firm name to S. Cunard & Co. Mrs. Samuel Cunard died in 1828 at the early age of 33 years and is interred in old St. Paul’s cemetery, Halifax. At the establishment of the Cunard Line in 1840, Samuel Cunard removed to London. In 1859 the far-sighted founder of the steamship company became Sir Samuel Cunard, Bart., and died at Kensington, near London, 1865, aged 78.

The “Unicorn,” first Cunarder, 700 tons, compares with “Queen Mary,” 70,000 tonnage. Oversize may exclude the latest leviathans from Suez and Panama canals and from world cruises and tend to narrow the utility of great ships to metropolitan shuttle service, with access necessarily confined to a few ports equipped to cater to mammoths.

It was the ambition of the projector of the Cunard Line to create an “Atlantic Ferry,” an objective which it is hoped to presently realize as a centennial achievement. Following 12 months experience with the “Queen Mary,” it has been decided to lay down the keel of a sister giantess.

The expectation is that a pair of speedy “Super Queens” will be an “Atlantic Ferry” in fact, plowing back and forth on fixed schedule, and that the two titans will be able to do the work of four present Cunarders, and in this way justify increased tonnage, cost of operation and investment.

The maiden voyage of S. S. “Queen Mary” and completion of 96 years ocean steam mail service by the Cunard Company, was specially noted at Halifax June 10, 1936, by a public presentation of Cunard medals to two ladies. As a child at Halifax in 1840, Mrs. Fanny Lenoir, presently 103, visited Cunard steamer “Britannia,” on the occasion of the initial voyage and was honored in 1936 as the only living person known to have been aboard original Cunard fleet. Mrs. Loring W. Bailey, 94, crossed the Atlantic in Cunard steamer “Cambria” in 1849 and received a “Queen Mary” medal in 1936 as the company’s “oldest client.”

There are several “First Things” in a memorial brass at the entrance to Parliamentary Library, Ottawa, which honor a Canadian built steamship, the “Royal William,” as the pioneer of transoceanic steam navigation. A facsimile of the Ottawa inscription is a saga of steam navigation:—

Erection of this marine tablet at the Canadian capital was recommended by Royal Society of Canada and Associate Societies and approved by the Canadian Senate and House of Commons. Formal unveiling by the Earl of Aberdeen, Governor General of Canada, June 28, 1894, was fittingly joined with opening proceedings of the Second Colonial Conference, which was the first such gathering outside the United Kingdom.

In the “diamond” interval from 1833 to 1894 the original number of seven passengers who crossed the Atlantic on the “Royal William” had grown to 750,000 annually. It is this extension of steam travel in 60 years that made it possible for a Colonial Conference to assemble. Visiting delegates represented Great Britain, Tasmania, New South Wales, South Africa, South Australia, New Zealand, Victoria, Queensland.

The “Royal William” undertaking was assisted to the extent of £3,750 interprovincial subsidy in 1833, the first of the kind for steam, while in 1889 and 1893, a Canada-Australia steamship service on the Pacific was inaugurated with the aid of inter-dominion grants of much larger calibre.

It is suggested the British Government secretly prompted the plan of an interprovincial steamship service in Canada to be the precursor of improved ocean transportation to Halifax and Intercolonial Railway to Quebec and British Columbia and eventually a Confederation of British North America. Lieutenant-Governors were selected to further a consolidation.

Leading merchants in Quebec and Halifax were sympathetic and in 1825 the Quebec Executive and Legislature offered a bonus of £1,500, Halifax currency, to any person or company who would build a suitable steamship of not less than 500 tons to operate a steam connection between Halifax and Quebec, four seasons. There was no response. In 1830 the Quebec offer was increased to £3,000. Nova Scotia added £750, the whole to be payable in three yearly installments.

The matter was privately canvassed. Chapter 33 of Quebec, 1831, an “Act to Incorporate Quebec and Halifax Steam Navigation Company” was enacted and names 230 people in the two cities, about equally divided, who had agreed to subscribe a total of £16,000 for the construction of a steamship.

At that time a courier post connected Halifax and Quebec which occupied seven weeks in ordinary weather. A letter from London to Toronto required ten weeks for delivery via Halifax and cost $1.12, causing constant complaint.

Many Quebec investors in this initial steamship venture are familiar names—Torrence, Ross, Pemberton, Holt, Price, Roy, Richardson, Primrose, Philips. Halifax shareholders are also well-known—Stairs, Allison, Tobin, Hartshorne, Boggs, Belcher, Black, Young, Fairbanks, Keith, Starr, McNab, three Cunards.

Eventually development of steam-tonnage transferred the bulk of St. Lawrence business from Quebec to Montreal but there were skeptics in Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Maine and Massachusetts who clung tenaciously to sail another generation. In a measure the men and women who bought shares in the Quebec and Halifax Navigation Company 1830, are the “fathers and mothers of Confederation.” The “Royal William” was a failure on the Gulf of St. Lawrence but proved to demonstration the practicability of ocean steam navigation.

S. S. “Royal William” in the Thames—From an oil painting by S. Skillett in 1834, now in the library of Literary and Historical Society of Quebec—Block, courtesy Canadian Geographical Journal—The “Royal William”, 363 tons burthen, 160 feet long, 28 feet between paddle boxes, 200 H. P., built at Quebec, and left Pictou, Nova Scotia, August 18, 1833, with seven passengers, 36 crew, 254 chaldrons Nova Scotia coal, reached Cowes, Isle of Wight in 19½ days, after rough weather and one engine disabled ten days. The first steamship to cross the Atlantic steaming all the way. The “Royal William” steamed up to London, “in fine style” and was visited by thousands of the nobility and public.

The “Royal William” was designed as a “sea-going steamship,” the first built in Canada, 176 feet overall, 146 feet keel, 44 feet beam, 17 feet 9 inches depth of hold, 1600 tons gross, sharp lines for speed and 200 H. P. engines. The yard superintendent had been an assistant foreman in a Clyde yard where steam-tonnage had been constructed for rough Irish channel crossing.

The marine architect’s drawings and timbering specifications are impressive. Bennett & Henderson, Montreal, supplied the “Royal William” engines. The only imported parts of the machinery were the cranks and shaft. John Bennett, head of the Montreal engine firm, was an experienced Scotch engineer, an apprentice of Boulton & Watt.

The launch of the “Royal William” Friday, April 29, 1831, near Quebec, was a public function. Quebec was a major lumber shipping port and a shipbuilding centre, as well as a famous fortress and seat of government. Surrounding buildings and ship’s masts were flag-bedecked. Lady Aylmer, wife of the Governor General, with a bottle of wine, christened the steamship, “Royal William” for the reigning sovereign, William IV. A military band discoursed music. A salute thundered from the citadel and 25,000 people applauded. A report was communicated to the King.

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The “Royal William” left Quebec August 24, 1831 on maiden voyage to Halifax with 20 cabin passengers, 70 steerage, 200 tons of cargo and 120 tons of coal. Cabin fare was £6,5, with berth and meals. Stops at Mirimachi and Pictou absorbed two days and drew crowds of spectators. At Halifax August 31, 1831, being the first important steam vessel ever seen, the “Royal William” was thrown open for inspection. Samuel Cunard interviewed the captain and took down, “copious notes.” In 1831 the “Royal William” made three round trips between Halifax and Quebec and proved a splendid sea-boat. Engines gave satisfaction.

A plan to operate between Halifax and West Indies, during the winter, and possibly make one or two transatlantic trips was dropped, partly owing to subsidy terms, although this idea apparently had been in the minds of some of the projectors.

In two years the first Canadian steamship investment became a total loss. “Royal William” saloon and passenger accommodation were said to be too elaborate, necessitating an expensive crew. In coastwise cargo the steamer could not compete with schooners. A gale near Canso swept away boats and other deck gear and consent was given to make Pictou the Nova Scotia terminus in another season. But in 1832 a world cholera epidemic paralyzed traffic and all shipping companies faced bankruptcy. In the spring of 1833 “Royal William” was sold at auction for £5,000 to satisfy current liabilities.

The purchasers sent “Royal William” to Boston June 17, 1833, the first sea-going steamship, flying the British flag, to enter that bustling harbor. Passing in, Fort Independence was saluted and the garrison band responded with “God Save the King.” Throngs of visitors were received, but there being no prospect of a sale, owners decided to send the “Royal William” on a trail-blazing jaunt to London.

Pictou, Nova Scotia, became the memorable port of departure. Engines and boilers were groomed and bunkers and part of cargo space filled with 254 tons Pictou coal, the first American coal to take a steamship to Europe.

Rev. Mr. Sweeney and wife, Dr. Law, Messrs. Casyer and Clark paid £20 each, including wines, cabin fare—the pioneer steamship rate. There were three steerage passengers.

General cargo was six spars, one box, one trunk, household furniture, an Irish harp and a box of stuffed birds. The ornithological specimens were exported by Rev. Thomas McCulloch, noted local divine, to a London collector named by John J. Audubon, American naturalist, friend and guest of McCulloch, supposed to be visiting Pictou.

The Canadian steamship “Royal William” gallantly steamed out of Pictou harbor, Nova Scotia, August 18, 1833 on a 3000 mile voyage, the first vessel in the world to cross any ocean steaming all the way. This memorable event is succinctly chronicled in ship-news column of “Colonial Patriot” Pictou weekly, August 20, 1833:—“Cleared 17th, ‘Royal William,’ McDougall, London.”

It was editorially commented:—“The ‘Royal William’ is on the way to London and not likely to return. We sincerely lament she is not to continue in the service of these Provinces. Her departure is a great calamity. . . . We do not despair seeing before long a cheaper boat of more manageable dimensions. . . . We take this opportunity of congratulating our friends in Britain, with whom we used to anticipate happy meetings, when the Atlantic should be navigated by steam, upon the present attempt to the accomplishment of these wishes. We have no doubt the ‘Royal William’ will have a safe and speedy voyage.”

The “Royal William” arrived at Cowes, Isle of Wight, in 19½ days, comparable with “Sirius” 320 H. P., 17 days to Cork, and “Great Western” 440 H. P., 15 days to Bristol, both in 1838. Painting and cleaning boilers were performed preparatory to proceeding to Gravesend.

While deep with coal the “Royal William” ran into a gale on Grand Banks. Part of the foremast was carried away. The starboard engine was out of commission ten days and water was shipped. The engineer declared the craft would sink and urged putting into St. John’s, Nfld. Captain McDougall had confidence in “Royal William” Sturdiness and continued with one engine while the engineers were making repairs. Sails were used when helpful, but the ship was continuously under steam and every phase of the historic voyage has been documented.

September 2, 1936, two birdmen, Merrill and Richman, in a 1,000 H. P. plane “Lady Peace” crossed the Gulf of St. Lawrence and landed in Wales in 17 hours, 53 minutes in a non-stop flight of 3,300 miles from New York.

Royal Naval Exhibition, London, May 1891, was a pageant of the beginning and development of navigation. The committee of management courteously declined to place a “Royal William” model without substantiated information concerning the claimed transatlantic voyage of 1833. Official papers and affidavits were accordingly forwarded and were accepted as conclusive. The important Canadian emblem of seniority in ocean transportation—the Royal William model—was prominently displayed as the pioneer of ocean steam navigation.

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In Europe “Royal William” was at once recognized as an unusual vessel. The steamship was quickly sold to a London shipping company for £10,000 sterling and was promptly chartered to the Portuguese Government as a transport, the first steam transport that country used. Recruits were carried to Lisbon and disabled soldiers taken back to London as Britain was helping Dom Pedro of Brazil obtain the Portuguese throne for a daughter Maria, aged seven, living in England.

The Royal flag of Portugal was flown on “Royal William” in conjunction with the British flag.

In September 1834 the Spanish Admiralty purchased the Canadian steamship, which constituted the first steam craft in the Royal Navy of which Columbus had been an Admiral. Captain John McDougall was taken into the Spanish service with rank and pay of commander and name “Royal William” was changed to “Isabella II” referring to the successor of the illustrious queen who had financed Columbus. The flag of Spain took the place of the Union Jack. For a year “Isabella Segunda” was employed provisioning combined Spanish and British fleets operating against Carlist insurrectionists.

Additional honors were extended the Canadian steamship. The government of Spain despatched the auxiliary vessel to Sheerness for conversion to an armed war vessel, retaining the title “Isabella II”. At San Sebastian, May 5, 1836, the former Canadian ship led the front line and was the first steam war vessel in the world to fire a shot in action. Timbers were found decayed in 1837. Engines were transferred to a new war vessel “Isabella Segunda,” while the old Canadian wooden hull was assigned to harbor barge duties.

Proponents of three other voyages dispute “Royal William’s” pioneer title. A 90 H. P. engine was installed on the deck of the American full-rigged ship “Savannah” and folding paddle-wheels were connected. The “Savannah” cleared for Liverpool May 22, 1819 and arrived in the Mersey River June 20. The log preserved at the National Museum, Washington, shows steam was used 80 hours in 29 days.

The British ship “Enterprise” is another mixed voyage. The British Government offered £10,000 prize for a steam voyage to India. The “Enterprise” owners won the award in 1825, leaving England August 16 and anchoring at Calcutta December 7, with ten days detention between. The ship burned 580 tons coal and was steaming 64 days and sailing balance of the trip—39 days.

The British built steamship Calpe was sold to Netherlands Navy and converted into a warship. It has been reiterated that this vessel, renamed “Curacao,” made three round trips from Holland to South America in 1827 and 1828 carrying passengers, mails and freight and steaming all the way. No particulars are given and no log or record produced, although repeatedly requested.

In 1933 the Government of Canada issued a special “Royal William” five cent pictorial postage stamp commemorative of the centennial of the unchallenged transatlantic voyage from Pictou in 1833. George McLean, Pictou postmaster, was swamped for days with applications from philatelists, enclosing addressed envelope and remittances to be mailed August 18 bearing the postmark “Pictou” and the souvenir stamp.

In 1830 the General Mining Association of London, operating Nova Scotia coal mines under a Royal Monopoly, launched two steamships at Pictou, Nova Scotia, one for river-towing and another for coastwise service marketing coal. The larger steamer, christened “Richard Smith” had 100 H. P. engines and created much interest in Gulf of St. Lawrence communities.

Steamship “Cape Breton” built in England by the Mining Corporation for towing and freighting in Nova Scotia arrived at Sydney Mines, August 4, 1833, forty-four days from Plymouth, with a cargo of pig iron, machinery and other material, part for Pictou for Albion Mines. The General Manager, Richard Smith, reported arrival of the “Cape Breton”—“a splendid sea-boat, with two superb engines, 35 H. P. each.” It is a coincidence the “Cape Breton” probably reached Pictou a day or two before “Royal William” sailed for London.

The distinctive transatlantic performance of “Royal William” 1833, is “steaming all the way,” but sails were also used when likely to be helpful. Sails were an auxiliary, which is the reverse of other early ocean “steam” voyages which have been listed. Canadian “Royal William” relied on steam and paddle-wheels were in constant motion.

The first naval steam vessel on Halifax station was H. M. S. “Alban,” 1834, apparently without guns, followed in 1835 by the “Rhodomanthus” with 4 guns; both were paddle-wheel frigates.

The name “Royal William” has been fairly conspicuous in the British Navy. A log of a “Royal William” of the year 1693 is preserved at Public Records Office, London. In 1759 the embalmed remains of General James Wolfe were conveyed from Quebec to Portsmouth on the battle-ship “Royal William.”

As an aftermath of American independence a change was forced on British authorities respecting an overseas episcopate in the Church of England, and it was the privilege of Nova Scotia or Acadia to be the first Anglican Colonial See in the present British Empire.

Previously for 150 years, populous American colonies with census approaching 4,000,000 in 1775, had petitioned, without avail, for the accommodation of resident suffragan bishops in transatlantic communities. The Church was willing, but politicians were weak, influenced to a considerable extent by Dissenting opinion in America, which feared an Episcopate would mean legal establishment.

In 1629, while Bishop of London, Archbishop Laud planned an American Episcopate, but was interrupted by Parliamentary troubles.

American candidates for holy orders were obliged to go to England for ordination, which entailed debt and involved uncertainty in early navigation. On an average one in five, who undertook to answer the call of the church, met a watery grave, while others suffered in health, which it was objected was a handicap non-episcopal communions did not have.

The first Canadian Anglican casualty was apparently Rev. Rene Christian Burger, a Lutheran clergyman at Halifax who joined the Church of England. He journeyed to London in 1752, with the endorsation of the Rector of St. Paul’s, Halifax, and of Governor Cornwallis, received ordination and was taken into the service of the S. P. G., to minister to Germans at Halifax. A report of 1753 advises that Rev. Mr. Burger sailed from England for Nova Scotia in the previous year, “but had not yet arrived” and no further mention is made of him. “It is possible he was lost at sea on the return journey.” Rev. Mr. Burger seems to have been the first Canadian resident ordained in the Church of England.

For ministerial supply Anglicans in America were dependent on the Mother Country, which irritated colonials. Dr. Morgan Dix, rector of Trinity Church, New York, states, that as far back as 1746 denial of Bishops was looked upon as the “crying sin of the British Government.”

A similar criticism occurs in Dix’s book in regard to withholding of titles from Americans. Absentee church control may have been a factor in fostering separation, but separatists in American colonies blew hot and cold on prelacy. Political pressure was exerted in London to prevent the institution of bishops in America, while in the Colonies the episcopal proposal was represented as part of a British design to uproot other Colonial churches.

In Nova Scotia a happy alteration occurred August 1, 1787, when Letters Patent were issued at Westminster inaugurating in Canada a double innovation. Nova Scotia was proclaimed the first “colonial” see of the Church of England in the reformed British Empire.

Ten days later, Sunday, August 12, 1787, to make Canadian church primacy effective, Rt. Rev. Charles Inglis, D.D., former rector of Trinity, New York, and a past Governor and acting president of King’s (Columbia) University, was consecrated incumbent of the Nova Scotia Diocese and became the first of numerous Anglican Overseas Bishops who cater to several million adherents in distant dominions.

Dr. Inglis’ jurisdiction included Upper and Lower Canada, New Brunswick, St. John Island, Cape Breton and Newfoundland. A prelate of action, bright and early Monday morning following consecration in London, the Bishop’s books and furniture were embarked on ship “Lyon” at Gravesend. Sailing was delayed two weeks and a stormy passage encountered.

Bishop Inglis set foot in Canada at Halifax, Tuesday, October 16, 1787, and a few weeks later wrote the Archbishop of Canterbury that his reception, all-round, was very friendly:—“I took frequent opportunities of quieting any disagreeable apprehensions that might arise about the appointment of a Bishop, by informing people that my office did not interfere with any of the civil departments.” As head of the Established Church, the Bishop was a member of the Executive Council of the Province for several years.

In Nova Scotia in 1787 there were eleven Anglican clergymen and it is doubtful if there were fifty in British North America. In 1936 there are 120 Church of England ministers in Nova Scotia and 1,900 in Canada with 1,600 lay readers.

In 1793 Quebec was erected a separate diocese, Toronto 1839, Fredericton 1845, Rupert’s Land 1849, Montreal 1850, Huron 1857, Ontario 1861, Moosonee 1872, Algoma 1873, Saskatchewan 1874, Mackenzie River 1874, Niagara 1875, Qu’Appelle 1884, Athabaska 1884, Ottawa 1896, British Columbia, made a bishopric in 1859 has been divided into five Sees—New Westminster, Cariboo, Columbia, Kootenay, Caledonia. Other newer Canadian Sees are Saskatoon, Keewatin, Brandon, Calgary, Edmonton, Yukon and Arctic.

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Newfoundland was separated in 1839. Bermuda were included in the Nova Scotia diocese from 1826 to 1839 and then transferred to Newfoundland. The Bishop of Newfoundland lived alternate seasons in the two possessions, but in 1926 Bermuda became an independent diocese with a resident Bishop.

In 1931 the Church of England in Canada numbered 1,635,615 members, five archbishops, twenty-four active bishops and 3,000 churches.

Consecration of the Bishop of Quebec, June 16, 1863, was the first Anglican elevation in Canada.

The first Church of England congress in Canada met at Hamilton, 1883. Rt. Rev. Frederick Courtney, D.D., fifth bishop of Nova Scotia, was consecrated at Halifax, April 25, 1888, the prelates in attendance being the Metropolitan (Bishop Medley), the Bishop of Quebec, the Bishop of Maine and the Bishop-Coadjutor of Fredericton. In 1904 Bishop Courtney, a brilliant orator, found the stress of diocesan duties too great a physical strain, resigned and became rector of St. James church, New York. His immediate successor was Archbishop Clare Lamb Worrell, Primate of Canada, who re-laid the corner stone of All Saints Cathedral, Halifax at new site October 20, 1908, among other notable services. An Anglican Archbishop was first appointed in Canada September 19, 1893. Bishop Binney, Nova Scotia, was only 31 at consecration, a record.

The Bishop of Ontario, 1862, was one of the last to receive Imperial Letters Patent of appointment. The British address, Lord Bishop, was used in Nova Scotia when Dr. Inglis became a member of the Council of the Province. This dignity and the term archbishop have not been adopted by the Protestant Episcopal Church of the United States, though an unsuccessful motion to that effect has been made on suitable occasions.

Following creation of the pioneer overseas Church of England diocese in Nova Scotia, 1787, Anglican episcopacy has expanded. Calcutta 1814, Jamaica 1824, Barbados 1842, Australia 1836, New Zealand 1841, Tasmania 1842, Gibraltar 1842, Palestine 1846, Cape Town 1847, Natal 1853, St. Helena 1859, Polynesia 1861, Falkland Islands 1870, Trinidad 1872, Transvaal 1878. In some instances these original Sees have been subdivided.

Bishops have been appointed in China, Japan, Madagascar, Ranavalona III, Queen of Madagascar, succeeded to the throne 1883, embraced Christianity and joined the Anglican communion and lost the crown in an insurrection in 1896. In 1934 the Canadian Synod ruled the Sees of Honan, China, and Mid-Japan, previously filled by Canadians, on becoming vacant, local synods would be at liberty to recommend native bishops if desired. Whitaker lists more than 100 overseas prelates of the Church of England (excluding United States) a hierarchy which dates from Nova Scotia and Canada 1787.

Travelling by saddle, coach, boat and sloop-of-war in 1788 and 1789 Rt. Rev. Charles Inglis visited many points in his extensive jurisdiction in the Maritime Provinces and Quebec. At Quebec, Dr. Inglis was entertained by the Roman Catholic Bishop and accorded use of a Catholic chapel for preaching. A site for a Church of England cathedral was selected and steps initiated for erection of the edifice, which is described as the first Anglican cathedral foundation in the World since the Reformation.

Bishop Inglis was a Celt by birth and education and is remembered as the “fearless rector of Trinity Church, New York, who did not hesitate to continue prayers for King George and the Royal Family even when General Washington and staff attended the services in April 1776.” Trinity church was destroyed by fire, 1777, allegedly incendiary.

Charles Inglis, the third of six generations of Anglican clergymen, in one family, was born in Killcarr rectory, Ireland, 1734, and at 20 migrated to Lancaster, Pa., to teach school. In 1758 Mr. Inglis was ordained in London and assigned to a Delaware mission at £50 stipend, to include a horse to cover a district of 20 miles. A second invitation to remove to Trinity church, New York, as assistant, was accepted in 1766.

Bishop Inglis’ eldest son died at New York, 1782, during the war. The second Mrs. Inglis passed away the next year, saddened by conditions, and is remembered on a tablet at old St. Paul’s church, New York. Sabine, the historian, says Mrs. Inglis, Mrs. Robinson and Mrs. Roger were the only women specifically included in attaint of treason during the Revolutionary struggle, an indication presumably of particular resentment toward the husbands. Congress decreed confiscation against Dr. Inglis, who resigned from Trinity church, November 1, 1783, after preaching a conciliatory farewell sermon, and shortly afterward sailed for England direct.

A definite project of an episcopate for Nova Scotia was presented to Sir Guy Carleton at New York, March 21, 1783, in anticipation of a loyalist migration to that province. Carleton transmitted the proposal to Lord North, with approval. Eighteen clergymen signed the submission and nominated Rev. Dr. Bradbury Chandler, native of Elizabeth, New Jersey, then a Loyalist exile in London. Dr. Chandler, suffering from incurable illness, declined the proffered Nova Scotia dignity and suggested Dr. Inglis. Lord North, in 1783, intimated there would be delay to sound the laity and public feeling in Nova Scotia in the matter. Rev. Samuel Seabury, as mentioned elsewhere, was also conditionally selected for the Nova Scotia appointment.

The first and oldest Protestant church “erected as such” in the Dominion of Canada is St. Paul’s, Anglican, Halifax, built in 1750 at the expense of the British Treasury at initial outlay of £1,000.

A stout wooden frame of American oak and pine, imported from Boston, then British, has been preserved intact, defying time, frost, gales, fire and explosion for 186 years. There is an improved entrance vestibule and a new tower at the north-end. Low wings attached to east and west sides for extra seating conform to original pattern.

Civic environment is totally different after so many years, which emphasizes the picturesque and instinctive character of unaltered St. Paul’s. A succession of princes, peers, generals, governors, judges, admirals, statesmen, diplomats, prelates, privateer captains, famous men and women, Germans, Swiss, Huguenots, Indians have worshipped at St. Paul’s. For a year or two, pending completion of a Meeting House, Non-Conformists were accorded the use of the church on Sunday afternoons.

It is understood that on one occasion, Father Bailly, who succeeded Abbe Maillard as licensed Indian missionary, celebrated Mass at St. Paul’s for Roman Catholics. Writing under date July 22, 1768 to the Bishop of Quebec, Father Bailly reported he had “experienced many favors from Governor Campbell and Council and the Rector of St. Paul’s and the Governor had obtained for him an allowance of £100 per year from the King.” Father Bailly subsequently accompanied Sir Guy Carleton to England as tutor to the Governor’s children and later was Coadjutor Bishop of Quebec.

Baptismal registers at St. Paul’s include parties of slaves, and children who have become eminent in various services.

Beneath the main body of the church are twenty burial vaults. The oldest is 1760, Brigadier General and Governor Charles Lawrence, identified with Expulsion of Acadians. The most recent date is a son of Sir Peregrine Maitland, 1831.

Numerous hatchments and mural tablets cover the walls. Regimental colors are enclosed in glass. Doors, font, pulpit, stained glass windows and memorial gifts are donations of parishioners.

Three pieces of a massive silver Communion Service bear the arms of Queen Anne, which may have been transferred from Annapolis Royal, but there is no record of it. One piece contains the Arms of George I, others are later date. A smaller set was presented to the Mohawks and taken to Deseronto, Ontario, after the Revolution. Other sacred vessels from Queen Anne are at Trinity, New York. St. Anne’s, Annapolis, Md., and St. Peter’s, Albany.

The first organ at St. Paul’s was 1765, said to have been carried into Halifax on a captured Spanish ship bound for Mexico. The first service in the church was September 2, 1750. In 1749 service was in the open air, and then in the dining room of the Governor’s residence during the winter of that year. In 1754 the first Protestant Orphanage in Canada was started.

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By Order-in-Council in 1759 Halifax was named the “Parish of St. Paul’s,” the first to be legally set apart in the Dominion in the Protestant communion. Governor Lawrence collated Rev. Mr. Breynton to the benefice as Rector and the first vestry meeting was October 10, 1759.

In 1760 the Rector, Wardens and Vestry of St. Paul’s, Halifax, were advised the King created St. Paul’s a “Church of Royal Foundation and of Exempt Jurisdiction,” literally not subject to the Ordinary or Bishop. In 1904 the Anglican Church of the Mohawks at Brantford, Ontario, became the second “Royal Chapel” in Canada. February 17, 1761, the Governor, Council, officers of the Army and leading citizens, in mourning dress, marched from Government House to St. Paul’s church where a sermon on the death of George II, “The Royal Founder” was delivered.

In 1762 Lieutenant Governor Belcher of Nova Scotia informed the S. P. G., London “the General Assembly, though composed partly of dissenters, have passed a law not only establishing the Church of England, but for finishing St. Paul’s church at an expense of £1,200 and have joined in a subscription for an organ.”

September 29, 1767, £50 was voted by the Wardens of St. Paul’s for an organist’s salary and Vere Warner was appointed. A resolution of thanks was passed to Hon. Richard Bulkeley, Provincial Secretary, for having presided at the organ for two years. The first assessment for musical expenses was December 7, 1767:—“Nothing but gold and silver acceptable.” An oratorio by the choir April, 1769, is described as the first in Canada. In 1770 the organist was censured for “a light mind in the voluntaries” and requested to be more “solemn” and omit “unnecessary graces.”

St. Paul’s Sunday School, founded about 1783, is claimed to be, “one of the oldest with a continuous history in the world and is acknowledged to be the oldest in America.”

In 1787 Rt. Rev. Charles Inglis, D.D., first Colonial Bishop, arrived in Halifax and used St. Paul’s as the Cathedral Church of the Diocese, first Anglican church in Canada, Newfoundland or British West Indies to be so employed. St. Paul’s continued to be a “cathedral church” 78 years. Bishop Inglis’ primary visitation was at St. Paul’s June 18, 1788. The first Anglican confirmation was June 20 of the same year and the first Church of England ordination in British North America was at St. Paul’s, Halifax, October 19, 1788.

The memorial character of St. Paul’s church, Halifax, is recognized by generous fire insurance covering building and contents, considerably exceeding $100,000, though the primary wooden structure sent from Boston long ago was far less, though in intervening years thousands have been expended on heating, windows, organ, bells, partial fire-proofing and sprinkler system.

The first official thanksgiving in English recorded in Canada occurred in “Acadia” and coincides with the primary conduct of a regular Church of England service and with the beginning of a new territorial alignment destined to affect the future of the entire continent. The thanksgiving event was staged at Port Royal, capital of old Acadia that originally embraced most of North America.

In 1710 lovely Port Royal passed from the aegis of the golden lilies of St. Denis to the sovereignty of the cross-marked standard of St. George. The journal of the Commander of besieging British forces notes the town and fort were surrendered by the French Governor October 9, 1710.

Accordingly, Tuesday, October 10 was “solemnized as a day of Thanksgiving for the success of Her Majesty’s arms, in reducing Port Royal, etc., being so appointed by the general. After Divine Service, which was performed in the chapel by the Rev. John Harrison, chaplain to Commodore Martin, (and now left chaplain to the garrison by commission from the general), a sermon was preached by Rev. Samuel Hesker, chaplain to the Hon. Col. Reading’s Marines.”

For the first time Massachusetts units participated in a major military operation beyond their borders. A large congregation from the victorious army and navy filled the French garrison chapel of St. Anne, located inside the fort, distinct from the Roman Catholic village church, but no trace remains of St. Anne’s, the first “Church of England” in the limits of the Dominion of Canada.

After the capture of Port Royal, in 1710, the ancient French capital was re-christened Annapolis Royal. The town of Providence, Maryland, was similarly changed to Annapolis in 1708 but was previously a British town. Retention of Port Royal, Acadia, by Great Britain under the Peace of Utrecht of 1713 influenced the establishment of Louisburg as the principal Atlantic outpost of New France. There was lavish development of that “Dream City,” but it was deliberately blown to ruins in 1760 and is now being partly recreated under direction of Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada as a place of interest.

The garrison chapel at Port Royal had been dedicated to St. Anne as the patroness of Micmac Indians. The building was 80x33, one-half a chapel and remainder arranged for lodgings for the almoner, surgeon, judge and commissary. In 1713 the English Chaplain Harrison described the edifice as “handsome,” but complained part was being used as a barracks.

The late Canon Yernon of Nova Scotia in “Bicentenary Sketches” writes:—“It was in this little chapel, when the half-starved and tattered troops of France, with flying colors and all the honors of war were led out of the fort by their gallant leader Subercase, and the British sailors and the New England troops of Colonel Francis Nicholson marched in, that the first service in Canada according to the use of the Church of England took place.”

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In 1910 the bicentenary of the Port Royal Thanksgiving was made the occasion of a general celebration throughout the Anglican communion in Canada, commemorative of intervening growth and expansion. Special services were held in 2,300 churches.

All Saints Cathedral, Halifax, an architect’s sketch—Corner stone laid 1910 as a memorial of the bicentenary of the first regular Anglican services in Canada at Annapolis Royal, N. S., 1710—Inset, left, Rt. Rev. Chas. Inglis, first colonial bishop in the British Empire; centre, the bishop’s crest; right, Rt. Rev. Samuel Seabury, Bishop of Connecticut, first Anglican bishop in North America, scheduled to be first bishop of Nova Scotia in case of difficulty in U. S., who preached his first episcopal sermon at St. Paul’s church, Halifax.

The Cathedral of All Saints at Halifax was formally opened in 1910 as a thanksgiving monument in stone. The Canadian Church Congress met in that connection in Nova Scotia, the oldest diocese, and included Annapolis in the itinerary. Members of the episcopacy of Canada, Great Britain and the United States joined in the anniversary proceedings. In memory of an early visit King George V sent an autographed prayer book to St. Luke’s, Annapolis Royal. It is 19x21 inches, bound in red morocco and was delivered by the Bishop of London.

The 1937 session of the General Synod of the Church of England in Canada is scheduled for Nova Scotia in connection with the 150th anniversary of the appointment of Rt. Rev. Charles Inglis, D. D., first colonial bishop, Anglican, in the British Empire. A Dominion convention of the Anglican Young People’s Association is part of the programme.

In March, 1934, the Governor and Company of Adventurers Trading into Hudson’s Bay presented an inscribed pastoral staff to Rt. Rev. Archibald Lang Fleming, D.D., Lord Bishop of the Arctic. Metal mountings of silver, copper and mispickel (pyrites) are products of the north. Mispickel is the so-called “fools gold” a cargo of which Martin Frobisher carried to England in 1577.

A third Frobisher expedition in 1578 to Baffin Land, Canada, witnessed the First Celebration of Holy Communion, according to the rites of the Church of England, possibly in America. On board the “Anne Frances,” one of Sir Martin Frobisher’s fleet, was a chaplain, Rev. Maistre Wolfall, who gathered together on the shore “captains and other gentlemen, soldiers, mariners and miners and offered the Divine Mystery in thanksgiving for a tempestuous voyage across the North Atlantic.” Quoted from Hakluyt’s Voyages.

The mispickel on the Canadian pastoral staff of 1934 was supplied by an Eskimo from Frobisher Bay, Baffin Land. Master Wolfall was afterward chaplain for Sir Humphrey Gilbert and was possibly in Cape Breton in 1783.

September 28, 1763, was solemnized in Halifax as a day of thanksgiving on account of peace established between Great Britain and France following the capitulation of Quebec and Montreal. On May 21, 1797, a general fast was proclaimed and kept at Halifax with great solemnity. This related to the sudden emergence of Napoleon following the Italian campaign and French annexation of Belgium threatening the security of Europe.

A curious sidelight of the capture of Port Royal in Nova Scotia in 1710, is conflicting dating in correspondence. France had long adopted the Gregorian calendar, which was not accepted by Britain until 1752. The French Governor’s letter the day of surrender, October 9, is headed October 20. The two calendars flourished side-by-side 170 years in America.

The earliest mention of tennis in Canada is not in official papers but in a chatty diary of a naval officer, unearthed in family records in England. Captain William Owen, R.N., a fighting Welshman, the father of two admirals, recounts experiences on three continents, Europe, Asia and America, war and playtime contacts and casualties cheerfully sprinkled together.

In an assault on Pondicherry, on the Coromandel Coast of India, in 1757, a French musket ball buried in Midshipman Owen’s body so deep, it was not extracted for three years, but a little thing like that was not enough to stay the youth’s impetuosity of attack. Next day a cannon ball sheared off Owen’s right arm at the shoulder, which is also casually jotted down as part of a day’s work, and not yet 21 years of age.

Back in England it is noted without comment that in an election fight, Lieutenant Owen “lost the sight of an eye and had his face disfigured.” The entry seems out of place as it actually happened several years later.

In 1766 the one-armed diarist, Captain Owen, made the acquaintance of Lord William Campbell, fourth son of the Duke of Argyle and husband of a Virginian belle, just gazetted Governor of Nova Scotia and was invited by Campbell to accompany him as private secretary. Owen at 14 had been in the West Indies in a pirate-hunting squadron.

The Campbell party reached Halifax, November 16, 1766 in the dynamic interval between the cession of French Canada to Great Britain in 1763 and the outbreak of the struggle for independence. A tour of the “Acadian” province was undertaken next year, when a men’s tennis doubles incident occurred at Louisburg, which links the ruins and memory of that pathetic royal city to Campobello Island, Bay of Fundy and indirectly helped make Campobello in 1936 the Acadian and Canadian summer home of the President of the United States and family, relatives and friends.

From 1763, the Treaty of Paris, to 1768, the province of “Acadia” or Nova Scotia, then embracing much of Maine and extending to the St. Lawrence river, was the scene of the most colossal land-grabbing in history.

Titled Englishmen and influential Americans swamped Governments at Halifax and London with wholesale requests. This was previous to the later tide of immigration and genuine settlement, and occurred before the limitless west became accessible. The Duke of Richmond petitioned the King for the whole of Cape Breton for himself and, “others of the nobility and gentry” Brigadier General Howe and a group of officers, “desirous of becoming adventurers in opening coal mines,” filed a mineral application blanketing the Sydney coal-field.

Sir Francis Bernard, Bart., last Royal Governor of Massachusetts, secured from the Halifax administration a personal allotment of 100,000 acres at central Maine, enclosing present Acadia National Park at Bar Harbor.

St. John Island (Prince Edward Island), a ready-made million acre farm, was parcelled out in 20,000 acre units to political favorites.

Benjamin Franklin and Dr. John Witherspoon, Princeton President, were prominent in Pennsylvania and New Jersey companies which received tracts in Guysborough and Pictou, Nova Scotia. Areas in Cumberland and at Saint John river were distributed with lavish hand. Nova Scotia was known to possess mineral and timber wealth, valuable fisheries and orchard locations, all convenient to shipping and now free from Indian and French complications. An English company applied for all of French Canada.

Altogether it is estimated that in five to ten years following the Peace of Paris an incredible total of 15,000,000 to 20,000,000 acres of land was given away in Acadia, Nova Scotia, mainly to speculators and absentees. Individual grants ran as much as 150,000 acres. Dr. Franklin willed personal Nova Scotia holdings to a son, William Franklin, Governor of New Jersey, a Royalist, with a veiled complaint that defection from the popular side precluded further remembrance.

Sir Francis Bernard’s Maine property was sequestered by Congress when the international boundary was moved north to the St. Croix river, although John Bernard, son of the baronet, claiming to have supported the revolution, was afterward accorded a share of the estate. British authorities cancelled American titles in Nova Scotia.

It is not impossible that President Washington was interested in Nova Scotia land, and if so he lost out with the rest. Washington was fond of realty investments. Even in 1799 the probated inventory showed Washington still had holdings of 50,000 acres in a half-dozen States.

Numerous Nova Scotia grants lapsed for inattention. Small lots awarded discharged officers and men at the conclusion of long hostilities with France and Spain, were deserved. It was partly in this capacity that Captain William Owen, two nephews and several friends visited Nova Scotia in 1766. Owen reports having made strong representations at Westminster that injuries and sacrifices in the navy entitled him to special consideration.

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The Owen diary recounts that Governor Campbell and suite entered renowned Louisburg harbor May 31, 1767. They dined ashore June 1. The diarist relates:—“We met with good sport and caught a number of fine trout. June 3 we dined on board with Major Milward of the 59th Regiment.” Here occurs Canada’s pioneer recorded tennis match.

The 169 year gossiping Owen manuscript continues:—“This proved an unlucky day for me. By subscription the officers had fitted up a good ‘Fives’ court (sort of tennis). After the glass had been kept in quick circulation for some hours at the end of dinner, it was proposed and agreed to play a game or two. Captain Williams and I played against Lord Campbell and Major Milward. My partner and I running both at the same ball, he accidentally struck me a violent blow with the edge of the racket on the globe of my left eye.” The injury is summarized on the next page:—“I was never able to see a word with that eye only, but in reading with both eyes open together, I was not sensible of the defect at all.” It appears to have been the damaged optic that was afterward completely put out of business in a political fracas in England.

Governor Campbell’s inspection trip by frigate took in St. John Island and Gaspe. Captain Owen, with two gentlemen from England, made side trips inland to view the country.

In July 1767, Lord Campbell and secretary sailed for New York, where they separated after a week sight-seeing. The Governor continued south to visit Lady Campbell’s relatives, while Owen coasted and coached eastward to Boston, with running commentaries in the diary.

In October Campbell and Owen and party sailed for England, but meanwhile Owen memorialized the Provincial Government for a grant of Passamaquoddy (outer) Island on the coast of what is now Maine, but at that time was part of Nova Scotia.

Owen’s application for the Bay of Fundy island, roughly signed 8 to 10 miles long by 2 to 3 miles wide, was accepted and September 30, 1767, the day before departure for Great Britain.

At Liverpool Owen organized a company of merchants and relatives to administer the Nova Scotia land grant on feudal tenure. The property was re-christened Campobello in compliment to Owen’s benefactor. It is unusual that Campobello property has been kept intact 168 years, and on seignorial terms and it was a piece of luck that in the boundary settlement Campobello was confirmed to Canada, although at extreme neap tide it is possible to wade ashore to the United States.

Residents of Campobello fishing villages and store-keepers have leaseholds. Captain Owen dwelt at Campobello two years and members of several generations of Owens went there from England. Two small adjoining islands were added to Owen’s holdings in 1771. Owen’s eldest son, Admiral Edward Campbell Owen, G.C.B., was born at Campobello and died in London. Another son, Admiral William Fitz-William Owen, born in England 1774, lived several years retired at Campobello and passed away at that place in 1857. When General Benedict Arnold escaped from Washington’s Army he took refuge on Owen’s convenient island at Friars Head.

In 1881, James Roosevelt, New York banker, father of Franklin D. Roosevelt, and business acquaintances, bought Campobello Island from Owen heirs and have controlled the property to date, holding the island on a continuation of the original patent issued at Halifax in 1767 before the national existence of the United States had commenced. A similar unbroken link would be difficult to duplicate.

The Roosevelt colony have erected attractive summer homes. As a boy Franklin D. Roosevelt swam and fished and yachted in surrounding waters. The President’s sons have done the same. In 1773 Lord Campbell, a Scotsman, was transferred from Nova Scotia to South Carolina, the last British Governor of the Palmetto State. President Franklin D. Roosevelt, born January 30, 1882, was assistant Secretary of the Navy under Wilson in 1913 and was in Europe in 1918 and 1919. In August 1921 at Campobello he was stricken with infantile paralysis without any premonitory symptoms and it threatened to be fatal. The president had been an athlete.

One of the boys—President Roosevelt and sons yachting near the President’s summer home in “Acadian” waters. Location of Campobello shown in left inset. (Photo courtesy Dominion News). See Page 198. Inset, right, President Wilson in England in December, 1918, the first Chief Executive of U. S. to leave the country while holding office.

There were numerous Scottish immigrants, friends of Lord Campbell in the Carolinas. Among the number, in 1774 were Flora MacDonald, heroine of Bonnie Prince Charlie episode, husband and family. It is curious that in the succeeding struggle the Scottish colonists took the British side, fearing a repetition of the collapse of the Scottish rebellion. The MacDonalds lost their Carolina property and were banished and returned to the Old Land after an absence of only ten years. Major MacDonald remained a prisoner several years, but was exchanged, and with two sons went from New York to Halifax with Loyalists and then to England.

Mrs. MacDonald (Flora) with younger children possibly rejoined her husband at Halifax for a short time or may have sailed direct from a southern port. This brave woman remarked she had supported both royal houses—Stuart and Hanover—and exile was the result. Major MacDonald received half-pay allowance and possibly shared in confiscation indemnity. Two sons of the MacDonald’s joined the British Navy in North America and lost their lives.

First “Official” visit of a United States President to Canada—July 31, 1936, Franklin D. Roosevelt, thirty-second President, Lord Tweedsmuir, Governor General of Canada, Lady Tweedsmuir, the President’s son, Rt. Hon. W. L. Mackenzie King, Prime Minister of Canada, Hon. Norman Armour, U. S. Minister to Canada, the Mayor of Quebec and others are photographed at Government House, Quebec. Mr. Roosevelt replied to a cordial welcome, in French and English and said:—“But I am not a stranger, which may be illustrated by the fact that since the age of two, I have spent the majority of my summers in the Province of New Brunswick.” (Photo courtesy Department Trade and Commerce, Ottawa.)

President Franklin D. Roosevelt is the first Chief Executive of the United States to own a summer home in Canada, which is in “Acadia.” In 1936 Mr. Roosevelt and three sons enjoyed a fishing trip in Nova Scotia coastal waters. Later the President visited Lord Tweedsmuir at Quebec. In 1923 President Harding stopped off for a day at Vancouver, while returning from Alaska. In 1927, the Vice-President, Hon. Charles E. Dawes crossed into Ontario at the dedication of the Peace Bridge. In 1928 Hon. Frank B. Kellogg, U. S. Secretary of State, was at Ottawa. Herbert Hoover was a mining engineer in Nova Scotia in early life. In December 1918 Mr. Woodrow Wilson visited England, the first occasion a President was out of the country during term of office.

Newspapers report British postal representatives have been attending conferences at Ottawa and Washington looking to concerted action to hasten North Atlantic flying, the objective being establishment of regular mail and passenger air-lines to bring Europe and America into 24-hour contact.

The information is a reminder that Canadian engineers and pilots blazed sky-trails in aviation and that February and March are memorable anniversaries in Canadian aeronautics. In air circles, priority in heavier-than-air flying in the British Empire, has been accorded to Canada and remarkable expansion has taken place in commercial air transport since pioneer flights in heavier-than-air machines were made by Canadians in Cape Breton, “Acadia,” in 1908 and 1909.

A desire to ride up into the purple mists is said to have animated earth-bound humans, from the very beginning. Pages of history are full of fables of celestial traffic:—Fleet-foot mercury, priestly levitation, the winged horse Pegasus, witches on broom-sticks, combats of mythological deities, the Sphinx, hollow wooden dove with fire inside, the magic carpet of Baghdad, an iron fly.

It was apparently the latter part of the 18th century before serious attempts to enter the atmosphere were undertaken. In 1785 Jean Pierre Blanchard, with a balloon, crossed the English Channel. Later, the possibilities so impressed Napoleon, it moved the ambitious Corsican to institute a balloon corps, the “Aerostiers,” but balloons were no match for warships.

Lighter-than-air activities were the rage in Europe, particularly England, for 50 years. At country fairs horses and farm animals were taken up to demonstrate no ill effects were to be feared. The S. P. C. protested when dogs were forced to execute parachute descents.

Generally speaking balloons were a disappointment, except for stationary duties, as barometer and temperature readings. Navigation was tried, but free balloons were subject to the vagaries of the winds. Parachutes developed in 1797. In the American Civil War, captive balloons attracted the attention of Count Zeppelin, young German military attache, who made his first ascension in an American balloon in 1863 and conceived the idea of building rigid gas bags with power and steering apparatus.

At the siege of Paris in 1870 observation balloons were employed for operating a pigeon post connecting with the outside world. Pigeons are still used by the military. In 1897 Dr. S. A. Andree, Swedish explorer, and two companions, essayed to cross the Polar ice cap in a balloon. Except for a pigeon two days later and a buoy picked up afterward, the trio were never heard from until 1930, when skeletons and records were discovered in a cairn at Franz Josef’s Land. A Centaur balloon flew from Paris to Russia, 1100 miles, in 1900. In 1901 Santos-Dumont circled Eiffel Tower in a dirigible. The first long Zeppelin flight was 900 miles in 1909.

In 1914 Germany organized a Zeppelin service. A couple of spectacular raids were executed but clumsy dirigibles were displaced by smaller heavier-than-air planes, the mobility of which was not previously realized. The competition between planes and dirigibles was decisive. At the outbreak of hostilities it is calculated there were fewer than 600 pilots; more than half the number were in France, with 40 to 50 in each of other principal powers.

At the Armistice in 1918 it is asserted that combatant nations each possessed 15,000 to 20,000 licensed birdmen, who are largely responsible for the spread of air consciousness and for amazing strides in aviation shared by women and men.

A tribute once paid Herschel in another field that, “he broke through the barriers of the heavens,” might be extended to cover the initiative of war aces and the prescience of a handful of scientists and experimenters who pioneered the principles of plane construction and flying. Aviation is one war baby in which every last improvement in engine efficiency, transport, speed and safety has afterward contributed to the advantage of business and society in mapping, prospecting, exploration, emergency assistance, mail transmission, rapid communication. Edward VIII flew from Sandringham to London in 1936 to assume the crown.

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In 25 years ingenious men, born without wings, have hoisted themselves to cloudland, and, comfortably settled in upholstered air liners, hotel appointed—the chariots that ancients dreamed about—are hurled through space at the speed of projectiles and man is the only member of the animal kingdom to traffic in the firmament.

Famous Aviation Group at Lake Keuka, N. Y., May, 1908—Standing, left to right, T. S. Baldwin, built first dirigible for U. S. Govt., F. W. Baldwin, M.E., J. N. Williams, constructed first helicopter carrying a man in the air, J. A. D. McCurdy, M.E., first to fly in the British Empire, Lt. T. E. Selfridge, U. S. military expert in aerodynamics, accidentally killed Sept. 1908. Sitting, left to right, Dr. Alexander Graham Bell, W. F. Bedwin, builder of trial planes, Glenn H. Curtiss, designer of motors for the air.

The first heavier-than-air flight in the British Empire occurred twenty seven years ago, February 23, 1909, over the ice on Bras d’Or Lake, Baddeck, Canada in the presence of a gathering of neighbors assembled for the occasion in sleighs and on skates. The place chosen for the flight was in front of Beinn Bhreagh, country residence of Dr. Alexander Graham Bell, Washington, D. C., distinguished scientist and inventor of the telephone, the prime mover in an epic aviation programme which centred at Baddeck.

Pioneers in Aviation—Top, first flight in British Empire at Baddeck, N. S., Feb. 23, 1909. Official cameras could not be found. A pocket camera was requisitioned, which was the only record, and Prof. Bell inscribed and autographed the first print, not previously published. Middle is same view the next day, Feb. 24, 1909. Bottom is Baldwin’s “White Wing” at Hammondsport, N. Y., May 18, 1908, the first Britisher in the world to fly. See Page 202.

Professor Bell was a Scot, keen investigator, methodical by nature and training and one week after the February flight in question would have been 62 years of age. Dr. Bell’s experience with the telephone, including prolonged patent litigation, prompted care in checking aviation results and in public announcements.

The flight of February 23, 1909, was eminently satisfactory and a record telegram was sent The Associated Press and London “Times” which appeared next morning on both sides of the Atlantic:—

The reaction was a flock of critical inquiries. The term “flying machine” is conspicuous indicating a powered and controlled mechanism, not a kite, glider or balloon, all of which were employed by Bell in earlier stages, leading up to the objective of a controlled heavier-than-air machine, carrying a pilot.

The distance travelled by McCurdy, a half-mile, at low elevation is evidence that a grip of basic problems had been acquired. Canadian aviation precedence at Baddeck in 1909 was not a casual discovery, but the climax of years of patient and systematic experiment. Professor Bell had been interested in aeronautics for a decade or more, partly through contact with Professor Pierpont Langley, Secretary of Smithsonian Institution, Washington, an air enthusiast.

In an address Dr. Bell is quoted:—“I was always interested in flying machines. I was one of the spectators of Langley’s aerodrome (plane) with fifteen feet spread of wings. This, I think, was in 1896, and the sight presented was a steam engine flying in the air with the wings of a bird. I saw it fly, photographed it in the air, and the photos are the only record of that flight with no man aboard. Any one must have felt the age of flying was at hand.” Dr. Bell concluded heavier-than-air flying was the true solution and established workshops for practical inquiry at Baddeck.

A friend, Lord Kelvin, (Sir William Thomson) wrote from University of Glasgow to Mrs. Bell in 1898 to advise Professor Bell to discontinue aerial experiments, “which were almost certain to end in failure.” The world was skeptical. Lord Kelvin previously visited Professor Bell in Nova Scotia and the two savants discussed air locomotion, which the electrician pronounced chimerical. Bell persisted for love of science and to promote the general good. A secretary was employed to assemble the written history of flying. Workmen built kites. Correspondence was instituted with aeronauts and theories of stability and control subjected to tests.

In 1907 Dr. Bell considered enough had been learned to undertake concrete demonstration, realizing fully that his reputation would be at stake in the aviation principles that he intended to enunciate.

President Theodore Roosevelt was impressed with Bell’s confidence and detailed Lieutenant Thomas Selfridge, an artillery officer, to follow Bell’s project on behalf of the United States government. Selfridge was accidentally killed September 17, 1908 at Fort Myer, Virginia, a passenger with Orville Wright in a flying competition for Government approval. Selfridge being the first fatality in modern heavier-than-air craft, a tablet has been erected at Washington and the Army airfield at Detroit has been named for this gallant young American, whose initial ascent was probably December 6, 1907 in a man-flying kite at Baddeck, Nova Scotia.

A unique chapter in the birth of modern aviation was initiated in October 1907 when an “Aerial Experiment Association” was formed at Halifax, Canada, to implement Professor Bell’s conviction that controlled aerial locomotion was capable of demonstration.

Private official minutes Tuesday, October 1, 1907, recite that “Messrs. Alexander Graham Bell, Glenn H. Curtiss, F. W. Baldwin, J. A. D. McCurdy and T. Selfridge, 1st Lieut. U. S. F. A., met together in the Halifax Hotel, Halifax, N. S., at 11.00 A. M. They were presented with Articles of Agreement, which they signed the previous day before a Notary Public, whose signature was duly authenticated by the American Consul General at Halifax, David H. Wilder.”

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The sky-document reads:—“Agreement to organize the Aerial Experiment Association—Whereas, the undersigned Alexander Graham Bell of Washington, D. C., U. S. A., has for many years past been carrying on experiments relating to aerial locomotion at his summer laboratory at Beinn Bhreagh, near Baddeck, N. S., Canada, and has reached the stage where he believes that a practical aerodrome can be built on the tetrahedral principle, driven by an engine and carrying a man, and has felt the advisability of securing expert assistance in pursuing the experiments to their logical conclusions and has called to his aid Mr. G. H. Curtiss, Hammondsport, New York, an expert in motor construction, Mr. F. W. Baldwin and Mr. J. A. D. McCurdy, graduates of School of Practical Science, Toronto University, and Lieut. T. Selfridge, 5th Field Artillery, U. S. A., military expert in aerodromics, etc.”

Alexander Graham Bell was elected chairman, Selfridge secretary, Curtiss director of experiments and chief executive, Baldwin chief engineer, McCurdy treasurer. The ages of the “pilots” who engaged to “join” the “first air-ship” were Bell 60, Curtiss 28, Baldwin 26, Selfridge 23, McCurdy 20. Professor Bell placed laboratory, buildings, tools, materials and appliances at Beinn Bhreagh at the service of the Association without charge.

Mrs. Graham Bell was fairy godmother of the adventure into space. Mrs. Bell not only disregarded Lord Kelvin’s advice to discourage “Darius Green” illusions, but is credited with suggesting formation of the Aerial Experiment Association, an international body, to lift men into mastery of the ambient air.

After receiving the letter from Lord Kelvin, Mrs. Bell kept in close touch with preliminary experiments and was impressed they ought to be carried to a conclusion. It is recorded in 1907 the question was asked by Mrs. Bell:—“Why not form an association to make a practical demonstration and I will supply the funds.” During eighteen months Mrs. Bell furnished $35,000 cash, which was the entire capital of the Association, and Mrs. Bell was probably the first woman to finance aeronautic exploration, as Queen Isabella personally assisted geographical discovery.

Alternate headquarters of Aerial Experiment Association were fixed at Baddeck, Nova Scotia, and Hammondsport, New York and a course of action adopted that members in turn, combining ideas, would each design a machine. Lt. Selfridge sponsored No. 1, a glider type, to train members as aviators. In December 1907 Selfridge made two ascents over the lake at Baddeck in a man-carrying kite, rising 165 feet, and towed by a launch. On releasing the line the kite would slowly settle. A plan to install a motor was thwarted by collapse of the kite in accidentally dragging through the water.

The first notable activity at Hammondsport, at Lake Keuka was March 12, 1908, when a gallery of spectators were given a thrill as Selfridge’s new “Red Wing,” the Association’s maiden air-ship, made the first “public” heavier-than-air flight in America. It is explained that earlier Wright flights were in private.

“Red Wing” lifted easily from the smooth ice and flew 318 feet, 11 inches by actual steel tape measurement. The failure of a single-surface tail caused a forced landing under control. Professor Bell was jubilant, but jokingly deplored the pilot, F. W. Baldwin, native of Ontario, was a Canadian, not an American.

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Through the medium of “Red Wing” performance Baldwin became the first British subject in the world to fly a modern machine and also the first person to fly a plane in the United States in “public”. F. W. “Casey” Baldwin is a grandson of Hon. Robert Baldwin, one-time Premier of Ontario, and is presently a member of Nova Scotia Legislature.

The name “Red Wing”, suggested and christened by Mrs. Curtiss, referred to the red silk covering and to special tapering effect of supporting surfaces corresponding to a bird’s wing. This initial-design American plane was of mixed nationality in origin, built in United States, but construction was supervised by W. F. Bedwin, a Nova Scotia contractor, sent to Hammondsport for the particular duty.

Misfortune overtook “Red Wing” March 17, 1908, when the good St. Patrick provided blustery weather instead of shamrock sunshine. At a take-off a sudden puff of wind tossed the flimsy structure on end. The port wing struck the ice and “Red Wing” was telescoped into a shapeless mass. The pilot, Baldwin, escaped injury.

Balancing rudders, a new feature, were incorporated in Aerial Association’s second plane, Baldwin’s “White Wing.” The engine was the first motor for aviation designed and produced at the Curtiss cycle shops. From this beginning the Curtiss plant was enlarged for air-craft and in the war supplied thousands of complete machines for the Government. To a considerable degree the Curtiss plant made possible training 25,000 American world war pilots. The career of “White Wing” was brief. On May 18, 1908 the machine flew 89 feet at Hammondsport and crashed the following week. Nobody was hurt.

The Association’s third plane, Curtiss’ “June Bug” was a progressive improvement and executed 100 flights, varying from a long hop up to two miles and afforded a splendid opportunity for checking details. It was decided to enter a public competition. On July 4, 1908, Glenn H. Curtiss celebrated Independence Day in a manner never done before, by piloting A. E. A’s air-ship “June Bug” over a specified course of 5,090 feet to capture a Smithsonian Institution Trophy, requiring a heavier-than-air craft to rise from the ground with a pilot, cover a distance just under a mile and make a controlled landing. Curtiss carried a small American flag and was cheered by a throng. This was the first official measured flight in the Western Hemisphere and Aerial Experiment Association, organized in Canada, are the initial winners inscribed on the coveted Smithsonian air premium.

As a rule parts of one A. E. A. plane were incorporated in a successor as economy and saving time. It was decided to duplicate the champion “June Bug,” with patent applications pending, rather than dismantle. It had been planned to build the fourth venture, McCurdy’s “Silver Dart,” in Canada at Baddeck, but this machine was put in hand at once at Hammondsport, to be equipped with a water-cooled motor.

At a special session of Aerial Experiment Association at Washington, D. C., September 1908, a resolution of condolence was passed in reference to the Selfridge fatality. The life of the Association was extended six months to March 31, 1909 and on October 1, 1908, headquarters of the Association were transferred back to Nova Scotia where this unusual organization had been born.

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The world-famous “Silver Dart” trials at Baddeck ice, February 23 and 24, 1909—there were no landing fields in those days—were scheduled to be the crowning event of a signal Canadian contribution to aeronautic science. It was recognized the anticipated flight would rank first in the British Empire and McCurdy’s “Silver Dart” was carefully groomed, with Glenn H. Curtiss on the ground personally in charge of preparations for the projected premier British flight.

A special 50 H. P. engine designed by Curtiss was installed in “Silver Dart.” Transmission was changed from four V-belt drive to single chain drive. A propellor was selected 7 feet 8 inches diameter, 20-22 pitch at tip, curved face 1 in 16 and 825 r. p. m. The 1909 specifications are instructive for comparison with existing standards.

It was noon February 23, 1909, that “Silver Dart,” the old exposed type lattice-work machine, gracefully took the air at Baddeck, Canada, after running 100 feet on saltwater ice and wrote the first chapter of British heavier-than-air annals. Weather and fates favored this historic aerial event. Balance proved ideal. Controls worked well. There was not a skip in the engine. The pilot, J. A. Douglas McCurdy, grandson of Hon. David McCurdy, former member of Nova Scotia Legislature, made an ace performance. Speed exceeded 40 miles per hour, a higher rate than any previous Association flight and possibly a world record at that time for air-craft.

Special police looked after 200 spectators. The course taken was a half-mile straight-away. There was a change of wind but “Silver Dart” operated satisfactorily in both directions. Near the finish an accident threatened when two little girls skated in front of the descending plane, only ten feet up, with spreading wings and whirling propellor blades. The pilot swerved, missed the children by a hair-breadth and converted what looked like a fatal crash into a perfect three-point landing.

A second flight at Baddeck, February 24, 1909 was more spectacular, with increased attendance of onlookers gathered from far and near and newspapers throughout the world wiring for particulars. This time Baddeck Bay was circuited, with several turns, a distance of 4½ miles, at varying elevations. Circling had not been anticipated by spectators. When “Silver Dart,” only 50 feet up, roared over the assembly, the crowd scattered in panic and horses bolted. An excited newspaper correspondent telegraphed, “people were awe-struck and looked on with mouths open.” The “Silver Dart” soared over a clump of tree-tops and returned to the start. Experts announced the flight could have continued as long as fuel lasted.

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On Wednesday, March 31, 1909, the last session of America’s first and only Aerial Experiment Association took place at Beinn Bhreagh, Baddeck, in front of blazing logs in an open fire-place. Present were Alexander Graham Bell, J. A. D. McCurdy, F. W. Baldwin and assistant secretaries. Professor Bell pointed out the aim of the organization to put a man in the air, had been brilliantly accomplished and congratulated younger members on an achievement, which would live in aviation annals. An au revoir telegram was received from Glen H. Curtiss.

Official minutes of A. E. A. read:—“It was reluctantly moved by F. W. Baldwin and regretfully seconded by J. A. D. McCurdy that we dissolve. Carried, so by the stroke of 12.00 (midnight) the A. E. A. as an Association was no more.” Valuable patents, notably an aileron control, now generally used, were conveyed to a trustee for the benefit of the members.

On the first page of the magazine “Aeroplane,” London, March 21, 1934, it was noted that February 23 of that year “was the 25th anniversary of the pioneer heavier-than-air flight in the British Empire.” In a letter the editor C. G. Grey, well-known flying authority writes:—“There is considerable interest in the fact that this early effort at Baddeck and Hammondsport was the first step in building the immense Curtiss organization which materially aided the United States in the war. The Curtiss people are now amalgamated with their great rival, the Wright interests, in the powerful Curtiss-Wright Corporation.”

It is added:—“The date of Baldwin’s first flight is shown in a little book published, I think, by Glen H. Curtiss, himself. One reason why Baldwin and McCurdy have not hitherto received the credit they deserve is because no enquiry has been made covering the whole Empire. The enquiry the Royal Aero Club held, was the first flight in Great Britain. After weighing much evidence the Special Committee decided the honor belonged to Lieutenant Colonel J. T. C. Moore-Brabazon, M.C.M.P., on a Voisin biplane, May 2, 1909. Thus the first flight made in Great Britain was made by an Irishman on a French aeroplane.”

A cairn and tablet commemorating the work of the Aerial Experimental Association and the first heavier-than-air flight in the British Empire was unveiled at Baddeck, August 16, 1934 by Hon. W. H. Covert, Lieutenant Governor of Nova Scotia. The memorial was erected by the Canadian Flying Club Association.

At the Canadian artillery camp at Petawawa, Ontario, a new government airport was opened and christened the “Silver Dart.”

A correspondent suggests printing the title page in two languages, as a compliment to French pioneers, which is deserved, but with the text in one script, a dual title would be misleading. A graceful translation is offered:—

An enthusiastic Scot has turned the name of the book into Gaelic:—“Tús nithean an Acadiá, áite-breith ar Mórthir.”

In a collection of “First Things,” a noted Micmac authority, thinks the Indian tongue should not be forgotten in rendering the name:—

Primary history of “Acadia” and of Nova Scotia is steeped in interest that will never cease to attract attention. Canada’s easterly provinces are the oldest discovered portions of the mainland of the West and they first appear on a precious oxhide Cosa map of 1500, treasured in the Spanish Marine museum as the earliest extant tracing of the American seaboard. Cape Breton is “Cauo Descubierto,” the cape that was discovered.

Attempts at colonization by Portuguese, of which there are authentic proofs, distinct from fishing and trading, go further back than settlements of the French in Carolina and Canada, the English in New England and Virginia, the Dutch in New York or the Portuguese in Brazil. Portuguese colonies in Cape Breton possibly antedate Spanish colonies in Florida and Mexico as Cortes landed on the Mexican coast, March, 1519 and Ponce de Leon was looking for a magic cure for old age.

The name “Cape Breton” is perhaps America’s senior continental place name, a blue-blood in cartography, being shown in a Portuguese “Kuntsman IV” map, 1516-1520, at the west side of the entrance of what is now the Gulf of St. Lawrence, as, “Terra Q. Descuberta Por Bertomes,” freely translated, is the land which was discovered by Bretons.

On a somewhat older Reinel map, Cape Breton is labelled “C. do Bretoes,” cape of the Bretons. An annotated Ruysch atlas map, Rome, 1508, explains the reference to “Bretons,” mentioned as co-discoverers of western lands, are those, “whom we now call English,” thus antedating a different derivation of “Cape Breton,” from later Brittany fishermen of 1510.

Apparently at this time, the old expression Bretons (now Britons) as originally applied to the English, was being supplanted by the broader classification, “English,” a point illustrated by Professor W. F. Ganong.

In Cape Breton and Nova Scotia the Portuguese, the first to circumnavigate Africa, followed on the heels of the Cabots in western navigation and stand out as leaders in colonization, which however did not last as did the work of the French at Port Royal 100 years later.

Joam Alverez Fagundes, a nobleman of the Azores, seems to have been the first grantee and governor of Nova Scotia or of any part of the North American continent (other than explorers) with the possible but not certain exception of visionary Ponce de Leon of 1513.

At Lisbon, March 13, 1521, King Emmanuel signed letters patent granting Fagundes, “lands and islands” found by the grantee, by virtue of a preceding royal charter, the date of which is not given and the document is lost. The confirmation conveys what is presently Nova Scotia to the said, “John Alverez Fagundes and his successors. . . . in view of his services and of how at his own expense he discovered the said lands and islands and spent therein much of his wealth.” A large area is evidently implied in the phrase, “lands and islands.”

From the reading it is clear Fagundes contemplated colonization, based on previous exploration, which served to further the claims of the kingdom. The prior Fagundes voyages could not have been later than early 1520, but more likely were some time previous, partly to extend the tragic Portuguese Corto-Real ventures, 1500-1504, and also to combat the 1497 Cabot challenge to projected Hispano-Portuguese control of the world. Time has shown that the Cabot discoveries were the essential pivot of North American destiny.

It is patent there was more than one Fagundes voyage. One surmise is that Baron de Lery de St. Just, credited with placing livestock on Sable Island and at Canso in 1518, Frenchman, may have been a resident of Lisbon and an associate of Fagundes.

The Reinel map, which critics variously date from 1504 to 1520, indicates early Portuguese acquaintance with the Acadian peninsula. Cape Breton shore and part of Nova Scotia are rather accurately delineated for that time, with a Portuguese flag at the western extremity. Fagundes grant from the King was limited to a gap, bounded between a Spanish line of demarcation near the Bay of Fundy on the west and by Corto-Real concession covering Newfoundland and Labrador at the east and north. The Reinel drawing incorporates local information which could not come from other than Portuguese sources, and was almost certainly from Fagundes.

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Portuguese settlement in Cape Breton is attested in a manuscript in Lisbon Archives, written 1570, noting that 45 or 50 years before, certain noblemen of Vianna, Portugal, undertook to found a colony in Codfish-land (Newfoundland), with a ship and a caravel. They found the region very cold and pushed along the, “east to west coast, until they reached the shore running northeast and southwest and there they settled. Having lost their ships they asked Basque fishermen to advise friends how they were and to take out priests as the natives are submissive and soil fertile. This is at Cape Breton, (Cabo do Britao), in a beautiful bay, where there are many people and goods of much value, nuts, chestnuts, grapes and other fruits. In this company went also families from the Azores Islands, whom they took on board on the way out. My purpose is to go to this coast in the voyage I shall make to the Island of San Francisco, which can all be done in one voyage.”

Francisco de Souza, author of the memo, was identified with Fagundes interests, from whom he seems to have received a Nova Scotia island and named it San Francisco, possibly Cross Island near Lunenburg or at Mahone or Chester.

There is testimony a second Portuguese colony in Cape Breton was attempted in 1553. Sir Humphrey Gilbert in 1583 reported talking to a Lisbon sailor who, “thirty years before,” had helped place cattle and swine on Sable Island. It is not known when Portuguese settlements in Nova Scotia ended. A magazine writer commented on “Lost Norse and Portuguese Colonies” of Nova Scotia. Champlain in 1607 expressed an opinion “the rigor of the climate made them abandon the settlements.”

A clause in the will of Dona Violanta, daughter of Fagundes, intimates that the Cape Breton undertaking was not profitable and was dropped. A history of the Azores contains a remark the heirs of Fagundes sold their “Acadian” rights to English people. Ingonish, St. Peter’s and Sydney, Nova Scotia, are commonly mentioned as sites of ancient Portuguese settlements, which supposedly possessed churches, priests, magistrates and normal elements of communal life.

Joam Fagundes, represented as a man of energy, is thought to have been personally in charge of the first Portuguese colony in the Americas, but his name has not been perpetuated in any part of Nova Scotia, though incorporated in maps of the period. Sable Island was Isle Fagundes.

It was clearly decided in Lisbon to annex “Acadia” to the diadem of Portugal, the pioneer in India and Brazil.

Somewhat recently, out of 15th century haze, springs a tradition that Joao Vaz Corto-Real, father of succeeding Portuguese explorers of the name who were lost at Labrador in 1500 and 1501, accompanied by Jon Skolp or Scolvus, a Pole, visited Greenland, Markland and (Acadia) Vinland in 1472. They were members of a joint expedition undertaken by the King of Portugal and the King of Norway and Denmark. The leader of the ships was Admiral Didrik Pining, a Norwegian nobleman, who eventually became a famous pirate. Professor Luis Ulloa, Lima, claims Scolvus was Columbus and that the party visited Baccalaos, the old name for Cape Breton.

Fagundes was apparently the first to explore the Bay of Fundy, noted for high tides. At the top of this arm of the sea, in 1607, Champlain journalized finding “a very old cross, all covered with moss and almost wholly rotted away, an unmistakeable sign that formerly Christians had been there.”

Bras d’Or (salt-water lakes in Cape Breton) is one of few surviving Portuguese appellatives. Ribeira de Joam was the strait of Canso. Ribiera de Jardines was either Halifax Harbor or Prospect, the latter one of the earliest recorded fishing stations on the American coast.

If Ponce de Leon did not establish a colony in Florida in 1513, which appears to be the case, then Portuguese settlements in Nova Scotia or Acadia were the first in the modern era on the mainland of the Western Hemisphere.

Portuguese colonies in Nova Scotia represent one other Pan-American “First Thing.” They were apparently the first colonies in the “New World,” founded on an agricultural basis. Others were chiefly mining quests. Initial agricultural settlements in Brazil were in 1531, also by Portuguese, who repeated in Brazil the plan of hereditary captaincies which had been successful when the Azores were peoples in the 15th century. Fagundes grant in Nova Scotia was likely the same pattern.

The first appearance of that sagacious creature, the beaver, as an emblem of Canadian genius occurred 300 years ago in connection with Nova Scotia.

The name and fame of this intelligent North American, the beaver, spread to London and Edinburgh early in the 17th century and obtained a conspicuous position in heraldry and fashionable attire. William Alexander, Laird of Menstrie, poet of parts, admired the beaver’s traits.

Alexander claimed descent from Somerled, lord of the Isles, and Royalty. In 1588 Alexander, then 21, composed a series of sonnets, “Aurora” and married the daughter and heiress of Sir William Erskine, cousin of the Scottish Regent. The wedding and poetry brought Alexander to the notice of James VI, son of Mary Stuart, who held court at Stirling, a few miles from Menstrie. When James succeeded Good Queen Bess at Westminster in 1603 many Scots migrated to London, Alexander among them. He was appointed gentleman in attendance and tutor to the heir apparent, Prince Henry, who died in 1612. In 1613 Alexander was appointed one of the gentleman ushers of the presence to Prince Charles, afterward Charles I.

A volume of tragedies by Alexander, one in particular “Julius Caesar,” increased Alexander’s standing at the English court. Honors were thick and fast. Knighted in 1609; in 1614 gazetted Master of Requests; and September 10, 1621, presented with a gift of Nova Scotia, Acadia, Canada and Newfoundland, which was afterward confirmed by Charles with right to institute a Scottish order of Nova Scotia baronets.

In 1626 Sir William Alexander was advanced to the powerful post of Chief Secretary for Scotland and on September 4, 1630, was ennobled as Lord Alexander of Tullibody and Viscount Stirling in the Scottish Peerage.

In 1632 Charles I directed the Lyon King of Arms at Edinburgh to “marshall a coate of armour” for Lord Stirling, who decided a mansion befitting his rank was required. Stirling had been the residence of the Stuarts, and nobles flocked there to acquire “lodgings.”

A site near Stirling Castle was purchased, and erection of a suitable establishment entrusted to Stirling’s second son, Sir Anthony Alexander, eminent architect and Master of Works for Scotland. A massive and graceful three-story edifice was the result, forming a quadrangle, 100 feet front east, 88 feet north, 81 feet south and 96 feet west. Towers, gables and pinnacles etch an attractive skyline. Chimney heads, porches, columns, window caps, friezes are lavishly carved in stone with coronets, scrolls, initials.

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In 1633 Alexander was raised to Earl of Stirling and Viscount Canada. The Earl of Stirling entered his mansion at Stirling in 1635, to enjoy it only five years. He died at Covent Garden, London, February 12, 1640, leaving an embarrassed estate, passing just in time, perhaps, to avoid witnessing the impending doom of his patron, Charles. There was a state funeral, remains embalmed, placed in a lead casket, and transferred by sea to Stirling and deposited in the family vault. Some years later “Argyle Lodging” was foreclosed and sold for £1,000, including the burial place and the Alexander family stall in the Parish church.

In 1906 the Town Council of Stirling published an illustrated 200 page monograph of “Argyle Lodging” with colored frontispiece. Over the main entrance in the quadrangle is a five-foot stone panel, with a beaver, containing the Alexander achievement.

At one time as many as 200,000 beaver pelts were annually exported from Canada and Northern States to displace exclusive Russian sable to drape beauty’s shoulders and for top hats. In most parts of Canada there is a close season on beavers and they are increasing in numbers. A few years ago they were threatened with extinction.

In 1763 beaver skins were legalized currency in Eastern Canada. Two gallons of rum, 2½ gallons of molasses, 14 pounds of pork, 30 pounds of flour were valued at a one pound spring beaver skin.

The “Beaver” is an illustrated magazine issued by Hudson’s Bay Co. The “Beaver,” 109 tons, was the first steamship seen on the North Pacific. In the presence of William IV and a throng said to be 100,000 spectators, this vessel was launched on the Thames in 1835 for Hudson Bay Co. The “Beaver” reached the Columbia river on the Pacific, March 19, 1836, in 204 days under canvas and is reputed the first steamship to round Cape Horn. Steam was raised May 16, engines worked well and all hands were mustered to “splice the main brace.”

A beaver formerly featured C. P. R. crests. At the opening of C. P. R. steamship connection with Australia, a Sydney, N. S. W., paper pictured the event as “hands across the sea and let the kangaroo shake hands with the beaver.” The dam-building skill of beavers and influence on water-courses, made this animal prominent in Indian lore. The fabled participation of a big beaver (kobet) and Glooscap, the Indian superman, in producing the famous Reversible Falls at Saint John, N. B., is an illustration.

Ninety-two years after the “Expulsion of the Acadians” of 1755 had added a pathetic chapter to Acadian history, Henry W. Longfellow in 1847, then 40, found the story of “Evangeline” admirably suited to his gifts and this composition clinched the author’s entrance to a wider hall of fame. Possibly also, from this time, dates the high international appreciation of Longfellow’s genius, which eventually found expression in a marble effigy in Poet’s Corner at Westminster Abbey. A note in the poet’s diary contains the observation that after “Evangeline” was published he “received greater and warmer commendation than on any previous volume.”

Longfellow was a poet of the past, rather than a prophet:—

“Evangeline” was written at the halfway mark between 1755 and 1936, when rail, steam and electricity were effecting an industrial revolution, supplementary to free schools and democratic government.

If Longfellow could have looked forward, the phrases, “forever departed” and “a few Acadian peasants” in the poet’s epilogue would have been modified. There are Acadian estimates in 1936 that descendants in Eastern America number 1,000,000—200,000 in the Maritime Provinces of Canada (Acadia), 100,000 in Quebec, 200,000 in New England and 500,000 elsewhere, principally Louisiana. A critic thinks the figures outside of the Maritime Provinces are too liberal, chiefly through intermarrying. In 1930 a Louisiana contingent of 25 charming modern Evangelines—not “filles a la cassette”—toured Nova Scotia, the home of forbears. It is claimed not more than fifteen of the party possessed distinctive Acadian patronymics, as it is to be remembered that genuine Acadian names were a comparatively limited list, characteristic to some extent of time, place and spelling at a particular period of original French migration.

A second and greater Louisiana pilgrimage of graces in August, 1936, sponsored by Hon. Dudley J. LeBlanc, publisher, Lafayette, La., was decidedly Acadian in nomenclature, fortified by quaint costumes worn for the excursion. Fifty-six girls in blue satin skirts, small black jacket, white organdie apron and fetching bonnet captured attention from New Orleans to Washington, New York, Boston, through Yarmouth, and Annapolis Valley, where miles of apple orchards contrast with groves of peaches, olives, figs, oranges of the lower Mississippi. Accompanying the “Acadian” bevy were Mrs. E. D. Gionelloni, Rev. Fathers LaChapelle and Allard, Senator Larcade, Messieurs O. J. LeBlanc, N. LeBlanc, S. Boudreau, N. Primeaux, E. de Rousselle. These Louisiana names were typical of ninety percent of the visitors and are conspicuously “Acadian”, which is striking after 180 years in the sunny south land of jasmine and magnolia and the melody of mocking birds.

Louisiana tourists tripped through New Brunswick, Montreal, Niagara. The contact with old Acadia is not recent, as Cadillac, the first Governor of Louisiana, in 1710, had been a resident and property owner at Port Royal, Acadia, in the 17th century and New Orleans was founded by Bienville, from Canada, in 1718.

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Everywhere thousands of descendants of “Evangeline’s” people keep step with progress, but nowhere has Acadian individuality been better maintained than in the Maritime Provinces of Canada, the traditional “Acadia” of Longfellow and of Henri IV, the monarch who planned “Acadia” to be an American counterpart of France. Acadian tenacity is not accidental, but inherited and cultural.

In 1880 a delegation from the Canadian Maritime Provinces were invited to a convention of St. Jean Baptiste society, June 24, the feast of Quebec. Acadians were urged to join with Quebec compatriots and consolidate French influence in Canada. The matter was taken under consideration in 1881 at the first general “Acadian” convention ever assembled, which was held at Memramcook, New Brunswick, and was notably different from the harrowing gathering addressed by Colonel Winslow at Grand Pre in 1755.

Quebec proposals were the “piece de resistance” at Memramcook. Representatives from St. Jean Baptiste society, Sir Hector Langevin, Hon. (afterward Sir Wilfrid) Laurier, J. C. Rheaume (“La Presse”), Montreal, strongly advocated a union of Canadian French speaking people. The amalgamation was regrettably declined by Acadian speakers, who pointed out that the older story of “Acadia” had developed separately from Quebec and that fusion of the two divisions of French Canada would tend to obscure rich and exclusive elements in pioneer “Acadian” annals.

It was forcibly argued that Acadian records relate to broad Continental matters, more than any single geographical area, and it was the duty of Acadians to cherish these independent traditions. On a vote at the 1881 Convention, “L’Assomption,” August 15, in preference to “Saint Jean Baptiste,” was adopted by a large majority as a distinctive Acadian feast and “Society L’Assomption” stands today the recognized fraternal representative of the “Evangeline” inheritance, exquisitely portrayed by the greatest of American poets. This is the “Acadian” ideal. Papers on the position of Acadians under Confederation, on education, language, agriculture and colonization were read.

It was natural the Feast of Assomption should be selected at an Acadian Convention as it had always been the favorite holy-day of Acadian settlers and still is the patronal saint day of the Archdiocese of Halifax.

The Acadian Convention of 1881 chose a flag. Two suggestions were submitted—the fleur de lys of the monarchy and the tricolor of the republic. The Acadian flag seen at Memorial Park, Grand Pre, is a compromise. It is a tricolor with a gold star of L’Assomption in the blue field.

Originally Acadians did not possess a crest of any kind. De Monts carried the flag of France, “banniere de France,” a blue ground, with gold fleur de lys, which is seen in Charles Jefferys’ painting of the garrison, marching out of Port Royal, with honors of war, in 1710. The present so-called “First Acadian Flag” is more of a banner than a flag, similar to the pennons of national societies or to the flag of Nova Scotia. “Ave Maris Stella” was adopted as an Acadian anthem.

There is difference of opinion as to the location of the first Acadian church erected after “fathers from exile” wandered back to Nova Scotia, and, unaided, slowly recreated flourishing communities. Memramcook, Westmoreland and Grosses Coques, Digby are church competitors. 1782 is the date of the first Memramcook edifice.

In the fall of 1774 Father Bourg was at Grosses Coques, “chose a site, drew the plan of a church and surveyed the first work.” Mass had been celebrated earlier in 1769 in improvised surroundings.

Pere P. M. Dagnaud, 1905, Superior of St. Anne’s college, Church Point, Digby, describes the initial Grosses Coques chapel having “less than 100 feet of space inside. It was covered with boards badly jointed and over this were long strips of birch bark. There were only two openings near the door to admit light.”

At the site of this humble place of worship a “Croix Souvenir” of stone was dedicated in 1933.

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The first Acadian to be ordained a priest was l’abbe Joseph Mathurin Bourg, born June 9, 1744 near immortal Grand Pre. With other exiles the Bourg family were disembarked in Virginia in 1755, deported to England and after several years were finally landed at St. Malo in 1763. Four young men, including Bourg, were educated at Paris at Government expense. Father Bourg received minor orders in 1770 and returned to Canada in 1771, after the conquest. He was made a deacon June 13, 1772 and ordained at Montreal September 19 of the same year.

In 1773 Father Bourg was appointed parish priest at Carleton, Gaspe, with instructions to visit New Brunswick and Nova Scotia to minister to returned exiles of his own people. Some accounts say l’abbe Bourg was Vicar General for the Bishop of Quebec.

During the War of Independence Abbe Bourg assured the British authorities the important neutrality of Indian tribes on the Saint John river who were about to join Americans. For these valuable services the British Government gratefully granted Abbe Bourg “Isle aux Herons” near Carleton, Bay Chaleur. Through failing health, result of overwork, Abbe Bourg was transferred in 1795 to St. Laurent parish, Montreal and died August 20, 1797. Interment was in the crypt of St. Laurent church though Father Bourg always desired to be back in beloved Acadia.

In 1922 a beautiful marble monument was unveiled in front of the parish church at Carleton, Quebec in honor of this Acadian missionary priest and capable administrator.

There are two efficient Acadian colleges, St. Joseph’s, Memramcook, and St. Anne’s, Church Point, Digby.

On July 5, 1936, one of the principal streets of Chatellerault, France, was renamed Rue des Acadiens in honor of French exiles from Acadia (Nova Scotia) who landed there in the 18th century.

First Acadian Priest and Church—Centre is beautiful Carrara marble monument and granite pedestal at Carleton, Bonaventure, Quebec, erected 1921 to memory of Monsieur (Abbe) Joseph Mathurin Bourg, V.G., born June 9, 1744, at Canard River, N. S., Missionary to all Acadia, 1773-1795, first Acadian to be ordained. Left is Souvenir Cross erected 1933 at Grosses Coques, Digby, Nova Scotia, site of first church built by Acadians, 1774, on return from exile; Father Bourg selected the location. Top, Henry W. Longfellow. Lower right, “Evangeline”. Bourg monument was raised by Father Plourde, parish priest at Carleton Centre and grateful people, as Carleton was Abbe Bourg’s headquarters. See Page 216.

At “Fort Anne” Canadian National Park and neighborhood at Annapolis Royal, Nova Scotia, an unusual variety of historic events cluster around this Acadian centre and a number have been perpetuated in enduring metal and stone memorials.

Annapolis Royal is steadily becoming richer in testimonials of major happenings of by-gone days, in the shape of tablets and monuments contributed from time to time by Government agencies and by learned societies.

Not of minor significance at Annapolis Royal are a brass tablet and fourteen pictures of “Stations of the Cross,” placed in St. Thomas Roman Catholic church in 1915 by popular subscription. Proceedings which accompanied the installation were designed to signify that at Annapolis in Acadia, 300 years ago, the lordly North American red man first officially embraced the Gospel. Evangelization of the Indian nation was seriously commenced at least in the North, at Port Royal and this work is remembranced in a series of paintings, the “Way of the Cross,” executed by an English artist.

An inscription on the brass tablet denotes:—

Membertou was a grand sachem, an American seer 100 years old, considerably travelled and recalled Cartier in 1534, yet looked a man of 50, aquiline features, piercing eyes and raven hair. The conversion of this grand Indian is almost a landmark in the treatment of native races. The chief’s profession took place in the presence of tribesmen of the vicinity, who in midsummer would number hundreds. News of the Baptism was transmitted from band to band and must have produced a lasting impression, as witness present-day Indian attachment to the same chants that forbears pronounced centuries earlier, in soft accents in pine glades and by running brooks in sunny Acadia.

It is stated the Micmac sagamore was an hereditary Autmoin—juggler, prophet, medicine man—a warrior, but genial, and an accomplished story-teller. Souriquois (Micmac) leaders were normally friendly and hospitable and were excellent hosts. The people were superior in many ways to more distant tribes.

After the “fiery furnace,” the glowing pipe—the bowl a lobster claw or colored stone, and tube trimmed with quills—had gone the rounds, the spinning of tales, a la Arabian Nights, but dealing with Spirits and wild creatures, punctuated with comic incidents, would “bring down the house.”

Voice inflection and gesture were employed in these purely Indian talkies in Acadia. Fragrant native “weed,” mildly flavored with scented herbs such as teaberry, featured these gatherings, that were attended by mixed audiences. These Micmac exercises were part of a custom of obvious antiquity and not unlike classic fetes of old.

Suspended at the neck, Membertou wove an embroidered three-cornered purse, the medicine man’s badge, which passed by succession. The pouch enclosed an amulet, the size of a chestnut, called “Aoutem,” the “divell,” the secret power of which was exclusively communicated to an eldest son in strict confidence. Membertou was tall, and, unlike most Indians, was “bearded like a Frenchman.” In 1610 this patriarch prince, who figures in pioneer Acadian pages, was christened Henri, for the King, unconscious that the Monarch had been assassinated a month previously, just after the last ship had sailed from France for Port Royal, conveying Royal approval of activities.

The regicide at Paris interfered with the development of the French Acadian programme. A special mission was despatched to France from Port Royal to apprise the King, of Membertou’s baptism, as Henry IV insisted on vigorous missionary effort, and to obtain further assistance in promotion of colonization. If the life of Henry of Navarre had not been tragically terminated the baptism of Membertou and family might well have been the signal for an aggressive advance in Acadian settlement plans. The possibility has been suggested that the King might have personally visited the western realm.

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The injunction to “teach all nations” was executed at Annapolis Royal in 1610 in surroundings that are an impressive picture. Wooded hills enclosed a basin of sapphire hue. Meadows and rivers were attractive in June. Alongside the sparkling waters of Acadia, twenty-one Micmacs, including the Chief and some of his family, were formally baptized, possibly the first voluntary wholesale administration in the Western Hemisphere. Rev. Jesse Fleche, the officiating priest, became the first to be dubbed by the Indians, “paduleas” (patriarch), which since then Micmacs usually apply to all priests.

Canon Vernon, in “Bicentenary Sketches,” states:—“Pere la Fleche baptized on the shores of beautiful Annapolis Basin twenty-one Indian converts to the faith, including the old chief Membertou, and then to the reverent wonderment of the natives, solemnly chanted a Te Deum of Thanksgiving.” Membertou passed away the next year, 1611, receiving the last rites of the church and Christian burial. Meantime, following the chief’s example, during succeeding eighteen months, 200 natives were baptized at Port Royal. Indians at St. John river specially asked for instruction.

The primacy of continuous Acadian missionary enterprise in North America was emphasized by Most Rev. C. O’Brien, Archbishop of Halifax, President of the Royal Society of Canada, referring to the Membertou baptism:—“Thus the church in Acadia was first in the missionary field, always excepting the Spanish. Not merely were priests sent to minister to Christian colonists, but also to propagate the gospel among the heathens. This work continued until all Indians were brought to knowledge of the Truth.”

Murdoch notes that in 1611:—“Father Ennemond Masse went (from Port Royal) to Saint John river to take up his abode with Louis Membertou and family, in the Indian way of life, in order to extend his knowledge of the Micmac language.” Father Masse was a Jesuit, which was the beginning of the vast permanent activities of the Society north of earlier transient work in Florida. Father Biard, a colleague of Masse, went to Chinectou, (Beaubassin).

A catalogue of translations by Canadian missionaries would fill a volume. Besides prayer books and catechisms, many parts of the Scriptures have been rendered, especially the Gospels and Psalms, into Micmac and different Indian tongues. A list of Micmac books by Abbe Maillard are dated 1754 to 1759. Another list 1817, 1819, 1864 is credited to Father Jose Belanger, Carleton, Gaspe. The Lord’s Prayer by Father Masse, Paris, 1632, is one of the earliest translations. Supplementary are text books, copy books, and a small Micmac paper. The editor is indebted to Father P. Pacifique, Capuchin Monastery, Restigouche, for corrections as to facts.

There is an ancient Indian shrine at Chapel Island, Bras d’Or Lakes, Nova Scotia. An earlier name of the place was “Ile Ste Famille,” supposedly given by Father Maillard. A chapel is dedicated to St. Anne and contains a three-quarter life-size statue of the Indian patron Saint seated, with an open book, instructing an Indian child.

Father Leo Keats, St. Peter’s, Nova Scotia has a large Catholic Missal, in splendid preservation, dated 1765, which was sent to the Indian missions.

At the Chancellory, Halifax, is a baptismal register from Annapolis Royal, 1759, that was saved by Indians for many years.

The first Mass in the air was celebrated May 8, 1936, on the dirigible “Hindenburg” en route to New York. Dr. Hugo Eckener has checked the position, and writes it was in the “Sable Island Zone”, which would be in Nova Scotian or “Acadian” territory.

The first Kidston or Kydd, ancestor of Rt. Hon. A. Bonar Law, in America, rests in St. Paul’s cemetery, Halifax. He was a Loyalist, who was in Virginia a year and entered the British service in New York, where he formed the acquaintance of Brook Watson and made money. Kidston reached Halifax, 1780, and decided to remain, so sent for his family, who had been left at Logie, Scotland. Mrs. Kidston, second, with grown sons and daughters of the father’s first marriage went to Halifax. Kidston obtained a Government grant of 1,500 acres at Spryfield, a Halifax suburb, much of it still in the Kidston name.

Richard Kidston lived at a property extending from Camp Hill Hospital, Halifax, west to Oxford street, called Bankhead Farm, after a place near Aberdeen. Kidston also owned a farm in North Halifax, including present Exhibition Grounds, Roundhouse and City Prison.

The eldest son, William Kidston, was started in a general store, with Brook Watson, afterward Lord Mayor of London, then Chief Commissariat in America, said to be interested. Members of this firm, William Kidston & Sons, prospered and with families later moved to Glasgow. The mother of Bonar Law was probably born at Halifax, but left as a child.

Spryfield granite “rocking stone,” near Halifax, Nova Scotia, 30 x 24 x 15 feet, weight 475 tons, described by Canadian Geological Survey, “perhaps the largest in the world”—Inset, left, “Table Rock,” 15 x 14 x 5 feet, resting on three stones of different character, raising the big rock 6 to 18 inches off the ledge—Both natural curiosities are on land of Mr. Kidston, descendant of an ancestor of Rt. Hon A. Bonar Law and still in the family.

A group of modern buildings on a green hill at Antigonish, Nova Scotia, is the home of St. Francis Xavier University, founded 1853 at Arichat and moved to Antigonish in 1855. St. F. X. is named for the “Apostle of the Indies,” greatest missionary of his time.

The Antigonish university is the first Catholic college in North America to grant degrees to women graduates. This Nova Scotia institution is presently blazing another educational trail, which is engaging the attention of international observers. With moderate co-operation of Carnegie Corporation, St. Francis Xavier Extension faculty are conducting a progressive experiment in adult education which has far-reaching possibilities in basic industry.

Farmers, miners and fishermen in Eastern Nova Scotia are being schooled in individual thrift and efficiency, designed to lift producing classes out of the marginal category and render them partially immune to some of the worst effects of general depression.

The St. Francis Xavier extension programme of self-help and craft economics is a combination of co-operation and ancient trade guilds applied to the processing and marketing of primary products and direct purchasing by producers themselves.

No question of creed limits the horizon of this crusade. Professors at St. Francis Xavier University, in common with most Canadian colleges, may be and are members of different communions. Student enrolment reflects a metropolitan constituency. Rev. Dr. D. J. McDonald is President Rector. Oxford only admitted women in 1920.

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At St. Francis Xavier degrees were first granted women graduates in 1897, through affiliation in 1894 of Mount St. Bernard College for Women, also at Antigonish. A number of Catholic colleges for women exist in the United States and Canada. St-Mary-of-the-Woods, Indiana, chartered 1846, was empowered to confer degrees, but did not use the privilege. Kansas and California institutions of early date make the same explanation, with the result that St. Elizabeth College, New Jersey, founded 1899, state that degrees of June 18, 1903, were the first granted to women by any Catholic college in U. S. A.

Mount St. Bernard College, Antigonish, founded 1883, is under the direction of Congregation de Notre Dame, an uncloistered Canadian order, pioneers in North America in exclusive education of women. The Notre Dame Community, with Mother House in Montreal, numbers about 3,000, including novices and postulants, have schools in Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, Quebec, Ontario, Illinois, New York, Maine, Vermont, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Japan. There are colleges at Staten Island, Ottawa, Montreal, Antigonish, an Institute of Pedagogy at Montreal and four Normal Schools in the Province of Quebec. Mount St. Bernard is the oldest of the colleges.

It is recorded that the foundress of this efficient teaching organization, a young woman, Margaret Bourgeoys, (afterward declared Venerable), born at Troyes, near Paris, 1620, became interested in religious work and particularly in the better education of girls and women to enable them to take a greater share in the world’s duties. In conservative France there was limited encouragement, but the possibilities of distant New France were pictured in glowing terms.

In 1653 Margaret Bourgeoys determined to go to Canada, and having landed at Quebec, undauntedly proceeded to Montreal (Ville Marie) where a settlement had been begun by Paul de Maisoneuve in 1642. It was several years before the first school was opened in a stable in Montreal, 1657, which was the nucleus of present extensive educational activities of Congregation de Notre Dame.

253 years ago, 1683, the general education of “Acadian” girls and boys was recommenced at Port Royal, Nova Scotia, when two Sisters of Notre Dame opened a convent school.

A larger convent school, with five teachers and several scholarships, was established at Louisburg, 1725, (succeeding Sisters of Charity), and was reopened in 1749 after the first siege and Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle, only to be destroyed again in the siege of 1758. In 1856 a school was opened at Arichat. This resident institution became far-famed as a center of cultural education for women of all denominations, and functioned till 1901.

An assertion that has persisted more than a generation that Henry W. Longfellow, best known of American poets, “never” visited Acadia, does not seem to have had the slightest effect on the popularity of Longfellow’s masterpiece, “Evangeline,” and it is suggested this development would not occur if there was anything materially inaccurate in the setting of the poem.

One writer went so far as to credit the poet with the statement he would rather not see Acadia, lest it fall short of the picture of his imagination. Longfellow in this regard has been compared to the Admiral of “Pinafore” fame, that when he sat down to write “Evangeline” he stuck close to his desk, and journeyed neither to Nova Scotia nor Louisiana.

Actually Longfellow was born and raised in the confines of old Acadia (Maine) and domestic themes were the poet’s forte.

Longfellow’s name appears in the list of fortunate shareholders of a coal mine in Cape Breton, an ancient stronghold of picturesque French Acadia, and the poet spent repeated holidays in France prior to writing “Evangeline.”

“The Coal and Iron Industries of Nova Scotia,” 1909, emphasizes the special success of Glace Bay Mining Company which:—“Declared dividends of 25 per cent, doubled the capital and paid 15 per cent, added again one-half making $600,000 stock, and then paid 12½ per cent. Considerable amounts were placed to reserve, which reached $80,000 in 1866 at the expiration of Reciprocity Treaty. The shares of the company were selling over 200 in the open market. American interests in the company—who are stated to have included the poet Longfellow—withdrew in 1865, and opened Caledonia Colliery in the immediate neighborhood on the Phalen seam.”

J. R. Dinn, manager present Caledonia mine (Dominion Steel and Coal Co.) writes that his association dates from 1900, and he depends on old residents for earlier information:—“Thomas Casey was here in 1865 as surface foreman, and later as underground manager until he retired 20 years ago. . . . Caledonia was opened by Americans, Howe, Converse, Emery and others. They paid many visits. Mr. Casey says the poet Longfellow was one of the principal shareholders, and visited here on one or two occasions. Henry S. Poole, an English engineer, was the first general manager, taking charge in 1865 and continued until 1871, when he retired.” Travel between Boston and Cape Breton was mainly by water, but in summer was frequently part stage and coasting boats.

Apparently Longfellow was not the entire stranger in “Acadia” that critics represent, though the poet may not have visited the particular part of Acadia—the Annapolis Valley—which is the scene of “Evangeline.”

Longfellow’s picture of the “forest primeval” surrounding salt meadows, annually “flooded” by the sea, is partly poetic license as general inundation of Grand Pre would be disastrous and the native trees were on the uplands.

In a farewell song to Acadia, Lescarbot, first of American and Canadian “singing birds” refers only to high tides, principally spring and fall, which overflowed undyked lands:—

In his life time Thomas Alva Edison took a special interest in Nova Scotia or “Acadia” and to this circumstance is attributed the first pit-mouth coal-electric development in America being established at Chignecto, Nova Scotia.

The innovation has been a factor in the use of waste coal at colliery towns. At the same time transmission lines to distribute electric power from a mine to consumers facilitates rural electrification.

The pioneer Nova Scotia pit-mouth electric plant has been a continuous success. The power installation at Chignecto is the property of Canada Electric Company Limited, affiliated with Maritime Coal, Railway and Power Company, Cumberland, Nova Scotia, and supplying “white coal” to surrounding towns and to neighboring coal mining companies, where work above and below ground is performed electrically, more satisfactorily, cleanly and cheaply than if steam or oil were employed. Enthusiasts claim the cost of coal-electric compares favorably with hydro development.

T. A. Edison said he was interested in Nova Scotia because his father was born there and he planned to visit the “Acadian” province, but never was able to spare the time. The Edisons were Hollanders, who in 1730 settled at Caldwell, New Jersey, noted as the birthplace of Grover Cleveland, president of the United States.

THOMAS A. EDISON

SAMUEL EDISON

In the Revolution, Thomas Edison, the great-great-grandfather of the inventor, was affected to the Continental cause, but son, John, the father of six, was stubbornly British.

When peace was declared John Edison, with thousands of Loyalists, was forced to migrate, and with wife, three sons and three daughters, sailed for Digby, Nova Scotia, a settlement newly laid out and named for Admiral Digby, the sailor who supervised the Loyalist transfer from New York.

Several marriages of younger Edisons are recorded at Trinity church, Digby. Samuel, the eldest, born 1767 at Caldwell, New Jersey, married Nancy Simpson, November 14, 1792. He had a son Samuel, Jr., born at Digby, August 6, 1803, who in turn was the father of Thomas A. Edison, benefactor of mankind, born at Milan, Ohio, February 11, 1847, died West Orange, New Jersey, October 18, 1931, a few miles from Caldwell.

In 1811, possibly hoping to avoid the War of 1812, then impending, the Edisons and others left Nova Scotia, crossed the Bay of Fundy by schooner and with goods and chattels trekked biblical fashion, 1,000 miles by primitive ox-teams to Bayham, Elgin, Ontario. John Edison, with son and grandson, later moved again to Vienna, north shore of Lake Erie, where Samuel Jr., in 1828 married Nancy Elliott, a school teacher, and opened a road hotel.

In William Lyon Mackenzie rebellion in Ontario, coincident with the accession of Queen Victoria, Samuel Edison, Jr., six-footer, appears in the fighting as a captain of insurgents. The uprising had little backing and collapsed. Mackenzie and Edison and wife escaped to the United States. Edison temporarily made a home at Milan, Ohio.

Old John Edison, Tory exile, living at Vienna was opposed to the insurrection. He was outlawed from New Jersey for a similar stand, but now a grandson, Samuel, Jr., fired with the revolutionary spirit of the old Thomas, back at Caldwell, takes up arms against another British Government, which this time is unsuccessful, and young Edison is obliged to flee to the United States.

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Thomas A. Edison once remarked he missed by one year being a Canadian, meaning presumably that his father went back to Vienna, near Aylmer, Ontario, the year after Thomas Alva was born. Samuel Edison, father of the inventor, died at Vienna, March 27, 1865. Several executions took place. Other prisoners were exiled. A general amnesty was then proclaimed. William Lyon Mackenzie, grandfather of Rt. Hon. W. L. M. King, Canadian Prime Minister, was afterward prominent in politics.

Nova Scotia’s pit-mouth coal-electric development originated in a magazine interview with Thomas A. Edison in 1906 in which he deplored the expense of transporting coal by rail from mines to factories. He advocated power plants at mine shafts to avoid rehandling and to generate power on the spot from inferior coal and distribute the energy by wire to consumers.

First pit-mouth coal-electric development in America, is at Amherst, Nova Scotia—Was suggested by T. A. Edison, electric wizard, whose father, Samuel Edison, was born at Digby, Nova Scotia and fled to United States from Ontario, at collapse of Mackenzie rebellion.

Hance J. Logan, K.C., Amherst, Nova Scotia, now a member of Canadian Senate, was organizer and a director of Maritime Coal Railway and Power Company, which is presently under the same control as Canada Electric Company. Norman T. Avard, Amherst, is Vice-President and General Manager of both companies.

Senator Logan read the Edison article in the magazine. The Maritime company had considerable sub-standard coal. At a meeting of the coal mine directors at Montreal Logan outlined Edison’s proposition, which was not entertained.

The president of the coal company, the late Senator William Mitchell, retired railroad builder, happened to have an engagement in New York next day, and was accompanied by Logan. President Mitchell was persuaded to call on Mr. Edison at West Orange. Cards of the Canadians proved magic. They were admitted for 15 minutes and remained three hours.

Mr. Edison explained the name “Nova Scotia” on one card was the pass-word. As his father Samuel Edison had been born in Digby (which visitors had not known) he was very much interested in that part of Canada.

The savant, despite complete deafness and unwillingness to use any sort of audiphone, was delighted with the coal mine suggestion and requested details. Edison unreservedly commended the Nova Scotia project and obtained a promise from Senator Mitchell to place the matter before another board meeting. Edison asked to be kept advised.

Another meeting of Maritime Coal directors was called, the electrical development was approved and orders given for preparation of blue-prints and estimates. A separate company, Standard Engineering Company was organized to operate the power plant and distribute the energy. In 1911, Canada Electric Company Limited, conducting a small plant in Amherst, was acquired by Maritime Coal, Railway & Power Company, Limited, and the former corporation absorbed Standard Engineering Company which ceased existence. The enlarged electric activities since then have been carried on by Canada Electric Company Limited.

Under Thomas Alva Edison’s inspiration a splendid plant has been erected at Chignecto and Maccan, Nova Scotia, which is the last word in efficiency. On July 31, 1907, Hon. D. C. Fraser, Lieutenant Governor of Nova Scotia, pulled a controlling lever which let loose power wrung from the earth and light illumined dark places.

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In this undertaking, the name “Edison” is re-united to Nova Scotia. At a banquet that followed, a congratulatory telegram from the wizard of Menlo Park stirred visitors, as if the spirit of the inventor had entered the hall. Edison’s magazine dream in New York was realized in coal mines in Nova Scotia. He thought he might be personally present, but sent a telegram instead that this was the first pit-mouth development in America and possibly in the world, and he was proud the initial experiment had been made in the province in which his father was born.

Many companies in United States and Canada have followed the lead given at Maccan under the influence of the former newsboy and telegraph operator, whose constructive mind has set in motion industry and finance in far corners. In 1929, the jubilee anniversary of the incandescent lamp was marked by the Government of the United States with a special postage stamp issue and was observed in stock exchanges from London to Tokyo.

At the annual meeting of Nova Scotia Engineering Society, 1933, Karl H. Marsh, Chief Engineer of Dominion Steel and Coal Co., presented a comprehensive review of American progress in efficient use of pulverized coal in industry.

Two significant paragraphs at the introduction of Marsh’s authoritative address are reproduced:—“One of the great modern engineering romances is the story of development in the art of burning pulverized coal under stationary steam boilers. . . . It should be a source of considerable pride to Maritime Engineers that the first pit-mouth public service power station on the American Continent was built in 1906-07 at Chignecto Mines, N. S. That Maritime industrialists are progressive is proven by the fact that the first pulverized coal fired boilers in North America were installed by Dominion Coal Company in 1912.”

Who put the colossus “Oil” on the industrial map of the world? The answer is that an “Acadian” geologist, Dr. Abraham Gesner of New York, New Brunswick and Nova Scotia made a basic contribution to the commercial use of mineral oil and in recognition of this service a black granite shaft has been erected at Halifax by Imperial Oil Company Limited, Canadian affiliate of Standard Oil of New Jersey. Gesner’s last resting place is at Camp Hill, Halifax, under the shadow of frowning Citadel Hill, and had been forgotten three score years and ten.

The inscription on America’s first oil monument pays a tribute to the man who replaced candles and “dips”—seal oil, whale oil, vegetable oils—with better lighting in millions of homes and paved the way for electricity.

In “Kerosene” lamps, or “fluid oil” lamps, of grandfather’s day refined oil was fed through lamp wicks and burned at the top. At the middle of the 19th century “kerosene” lighting was considered an improvement, and is still indispensable in camps, cottages, ships, lighthouses remote from gas and electricity. Nova Scotia Historical Society and Nova Scotia Institute of Science collaborated in the erection of the Gesner obelisk at Halifax.

The limitation:—“American Inventor” in the monument wording alludes to a British patent of 1850 granted James Young, a Glasgow chemist, to distill “Paraffin” from shale, at Bathgate, Scotland, which at first contained 100 gallons oil per ton, contrasted with 30 gallons in ordinary shale. Gesner’s process related to oil from coal, a fundamental by-product step, which is being revived. Initial experiments were at Albert, New Brunswick.

Gesner preceded Young, but did not immediately take out a patent. “History and Romance of the Petroleum Industry” by J. D. Henry certifies:—“The first successful attempt to manufacture illuminating oil from coal in America was made by Dr. Abraham Gesner in 1846. The patents of his process and registered title were sold to the North America Gas Light Co., Hunter’s Point, N. Y. The old Gesner refinery is still in existence, being the property of Standard Oil Company, into whose possession it passed in 1874. The name “Kerosene” is derived from Greek words meaning wax and oil.”

Abraham Gesner was farmer, trader, surgeon, author, Government geologist, inventor, manufacturer and lecturer at Dalhousie University. An initial venture, carrying horses to the West Indies was a financial loss, with two shipwrecks, the second a close call. At 28, Gesner contrived to reach London and with hard work, graduated in surgery and medicine from famous hospitals.

There followed the role of country doctor at Parrsboro, Nova Scotia, which was short-lived. Daily Dr. Gesner rode horseback through Cumberland coal district, known as one of the greatest natural fossil museums of the globe. The geologically minded doctor seldom came home without saddle bags full of specimens.

Generations of Swiss ancestors had been naturalists and the Nova Scotia disciple of Esculapius decided “cracking stones” would be more congenial than setting bones. Medicine was dropped. 1838 to 1844 Dr. Gesner was Government Geologist in New Brunswick. He founded Gesner Museum, now the New Brunswick Museum at Saint John, and wrote a series of monographs on minerals of that province. In Nova Scotia in 1850 Abraham Gesner, Enos Collins, John P. Mott and associates incorporated Kerosene Gas Light Company to light the streets of Halifax and Dartmouth and lay pipes to illuminate homes of citizens. The enterprise does not seem to have gone ahead.

Gesner’s London training included optometry and taught him the eye strain and demand for better illumination. Investigation of New Brunswick cannel coal verified the doctor’s opinion the earth is a reservoir of lighting compounds. Gesner left New Brunswick Government’s employ to put in practical shape the result of coal tests, which demonstrated that minerals scattered over the globe are sources of light and power and had been overlooked for centuries.

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Petroleum, rock oil and coal oil are widely distributed in nature. There is mention of rock oil in ancient Chinese records. Babylon paving was pitch from the “Fountain of Hit.” Marco Polo reported a “Fire Temple” at Baku, likely a burning gas well. Petroleum in North America was first mentioned by a Fransciscan, d’Aillon, in a letter 1629, printed in Sagard’s Histoire du Canada, 1636. In 1860 L. A. Vaughn struck oil in Ontario which was the commencement of the town of Petrolia.

Artesian wells sunk for water in Southern States encountered oil, but were abandoned, as there was no process for refining oil and making it suitable for commerce. Crude oil was bottled and peddled as “Barbados Tar,” “Seneca Oil” and “American Liniment.”

Apparently no serious thought was given to commercial possibilities and it is an interesting fact that this stage only follows Gesner’s pioneer work on coal. Drake’s famous oil well at Titusville, Pa., where seeping oil had been known for generations, was started August 27, 1859. It was a miracle that a pipe should fill with oil at the shallow depth of 69 feet, perhaps the only spot on the continent where an oil pool could have been tapped near the surface. A memorial park and monument to Drake were established August 27, 1934 by oil interests.

Dr. Abraham Gesner and family removed to Williamsburg, New York, to be near the plant at Hunter’s Point. The Civil War and initial petroleum competition intervened and retarded development. In 1863 Dr. Gesner sold his rights and returned to Halifax to take the chair of Natural History at Dalhousie University.

The inventor’s papers show Dr. Gesner also experimented with electricity and the dynamo is foreshadowed in models he devised. Insulation of wire was accomplished. An electric motor was operated by a voltaic battery.

Dr. Gesner’s father and uncle were twins who joined the British army in New York in 1775. Their home was across the Hudson near Washington’s winter headquarters and at the site of Major Andre’s execution. Two other Gesner brothers enlisted in the Continental ranks. The Gesner twins obtained British commissions and settled in Nova Scotia at the termination of hostilities.

In 1840 the Hudson branch of the Gesner family were principals in unsuccessful litigation to recover possession of $50,000,000. Trinity Church realty, which had been granted to an ancestor. Colonel Nicholas Gesner, the youngest uncle of Abraham Gesner, was commander of 160th New York Regiment.

William Gesner, a son of the oil inventor, also a geologist, married a sister of Governor Jones of Alabama, and during the Civil War was Confederate agent in England for the purchase of explosives. Another son, Dr. Brower Gesner, was a Colonel in the Union ranks.

The editor of the “Lamp,” Standard Oil staff publication at New York, writes that while there has been a commemorative Drake tablet at Titusville for a number of years, the Gesner stone of 1933 at Halifax and Drake cairn and park of 1934 in Pennsylvania, are the only known oil monuments in America.

AMERICA’S FIRST OIL MONUMENT (See page 229)

Outside of the United Kingdom, the principle of Responsible Government, on which the British Empire mainly hinges, first bloomed in 1840-41 in Canada’s oldest province, Nova Scotia or “Acadia,” where Cabot planted the British flag in America.

Canadian opinion is not a unit on the question of priority in this matter. Writers contend Responsible Government was a simultaneous development in all Canadian provinces in 1847-48 and did not take effect any earlier in Nova Scotia. One reason for post-dating Nova Scotia seniority, is that all heads of departments were not immediately brought subject to the Reformed Administration of 1841. It appears the superannuation of one official of the old regime was not made until 1848, when the “Last of the Mohicans” was pensioned, but it was then done by virtue of authority acquired in 1840-41 and not sooner invoked, largely as a matter of expediency and allowing time to be a merciful healer.

The theory of Responsible Government, after all, deals not so much with personnel as with Responsibility. That essential element was definitely challenged in Nova Scotia in a want of confidence motion in the Legislature in 1841 and again in 1844, the Provincial Government being sustained in the latter case by a slender majority, otherwise would have resigned, which was stated.

It may seem that when a reform has been accomplished, it is academic to haggle over a few years. The issue is deeper, that Constitutional development in Nova Scotia was an outcome of different germination. One author, while favoring the common 1848 date, suggests the earlier change of 1840-41 in Nova Scotia was an “inchoate form of responsible government.” The main fact seems to be overlooked that the vital principle of responsibility was conceded and put into operation in Nova Scotia in 1840-41.

Reasonable doubt as to proceedings of 1840-41 in Nova Scotia legislature being the beginning of existing popular sovereignty throughout Greater Britain, is set at rest in “Speeches and Public Letters of Joseph Howe,” 1909, by J. A. Chisholm, K.C., Vol. 1, page 380:—“The session (1841) closed on the 10th of April, the first under Responsible Government. However imperfectly developed or misinterpreted, it was evident that a marvellous change had been wrought in the position of the Executive.”

A memorandum from Sir Joseph Chisholm, Chief Justice of Nova Scotia, advises the quoted sentence contains the words of Hon. Mr. Howe, having been copied verbatim from earlier Annand edition of Howe’s Speeches and Letters. The revising editor learned from Sydenham Howe, son of the great tribune, that the Annand work was produced under his father’s personal supervision. Sydenham Howe was named for Lord Sydenham, sponsor of the constitutional reform of 1840, who met Howe at the time and discussed the changes that were needed.

Hon. Joseph Howe is admittedly competent to fix the year when his life’s purpose was attained. Proponents of the 1848 dating, quote a later section of Chisholm’s “Speeches and Public Letters of Joseph Howe.” This is page 664, Vol. 1, which detached from the context, is cited as evidence that Responsible Government, in the opinion of Hon. Mr. Howe, had not been obtained in 1840. This construction is not justified. The words in question are also the language of Howe and there is no conflict with the other extract.

What is stated in the second instance, in reference to 1848, is that “Responsible Government was now secured, etc.” The word “granted” is not used. The explanation is made that “principles and rules” have been defined and could be “misstated and mystified no longer.” What “principles” are alluded to? Obviously those won in 1840, but it took eight years to work out the mechanics of the giant operation that was to mean so much to future British Dominions history.

A similar transfer of authority in the Mother Country occupied almost a century to elaborate, yet Britannica and Whitaker list “Prime Ministers,” of Great Britain, as those who have held office from the Revolution of 1688, when the Responsible Principle was conceded, though often afterward flagrantly violated in detail by successors of William III and by spineless ministers.

Works of Rev. E. M. Saunders, D.D., and of George Johnson, Honorary Fellow Royal Statistical Society, former Canadian Statistician, confirm adoption of Responsible Government in Nova Scotia in 1840-41. Johnson notes that Responsible Government in Ontario specifically grew out of a certain phrase in the Constitutional Act of 1791, an Imperial measure which did not apply to Nova Scotia, where an older legislature existed.

In Nova Scotia, agitation for Responsible Government was a climax of long standing grievances, more or less intimately crystalized with Civic Government in Halifax, the first British City in Canada and a community with a singular foundation that is without parallel.

When the Nova Scotia Assembly of 1758 was organized, all other provinces of Canada were under the Crown of France. “Acadia” or Nova Scotia legislative and constitutional priority in the system of British Commonwealths, is a separate and distinctive incubation, deserving to be especially studied.

Campbell’s “History of Nova Scotia,” 1873, Montreal, page 346, is precise in reference to 1840-41, and confirms Howe’s personal estimate:—“Responsible Government was now firmly established. Four years ago a council of 12 persons chosen from the capital with one exception formed the second branch of the legislature. They sat like an interesting family party in private, the Governor having no power to increase their number. The whole Executive power of the Government was vested in these men, who were never required to appeal to the people, holding as they did their office for life, as the advisers of the Governor, and the rulers of the province. Under Lord Falkland’s Government, the Legislative council consisted of 20 members, nine of whom represented rural districts, their deliberations being conducted with open doors. Of the ten men who comprised the Executive Council six were members of the representative branch and were consequently obliged once in four years to solicit the suffrage of the people—a wholesome constitutional check being thus vested in the constituencies. The House having dissolved the winter of the year 1840 found the province in the excitement of an election.”

At Nova Scotia Historical Society in 1912 John Y. Payzant, K.C., former President of Bank of Nova Scotia, discussed the date of Responsible Government. Referring to the dissolution of the Nova Scotia assembly in 1843 following three years Coalition, he said:—“Responsible Government having been established and party Government imminent, the prevailing point of influence in the Legislature was being shifted from the Council to the Assembly. It required a strong hand in the Lower House to meet the attack of a man like Howe and great was the surprise in the country when it was suddenly announced that Mr. Johnston had boldly resigned his seat in the Council and was offering as a candidate for election in the House of Assembly.”

A tablet marks the building 95 Hollis street, Halifax, formerly the office of Hon. James W. Johnston:—

London “Times” August 19, 1912, referred editorially to dedication August 14 of a Parliamentary Memorial Tower at Halifax, Nova Scotia, by the Duke of Connaught as Governor General of Canada:—. . . . “the Nova Scotia Assembly of 1758 was the beginning of that great development, which has given us the free nations of the British Imperial system.”

HALIFAX MEMORIAL TOWER

Previously on June 23, 1908, Sir Sandford Fleming, K.C.M.G., author of the Tower project, outlined the monument proposal at a public meeting called by the Mayor of Halifax, F. P. Bligh, and stated in alluding to national builders like Lord Nelson and Hon. Joseph Howe:—“There are many other distinguished names which would find places of honor at various stages,—that of Hon. J. W. Johnston would especially be one of them. The efforts of this statesman were greatly valued in the complete development, about the year 1840, of responsible government, the only basis of colonial government upon which the empire of the future could be built up.”

One of the oldest continuous “Acadian” French settlements in North America is at the Pubnicos, on the southwest coast of Nova Scotia, which was established in 1653 and did not suffer extermination at the “Expulsion” in 1755, though visited by Goreham’s Rangers on behalf of the Lawrence Government at Halifax, working in conjunction with Shirley of Massachusetts. The people kept out of sight.

The Barony of Pombcoup or Pubnico was created in 1653 by Charles St Etienne de la Tour, Governor of Acadia, who granted the title and land to Major General Phillipe D’Entrement and his successors. Descendants of D’Entrement are still numerous at this locality. At Center East Pubnico is the De La Tour Museum, housing an interesting collection of Acadian French souvenirs.

In New England folk-lore, it is noted that Claude de la Tour, who was a Huguenot and had friendly dealings with Boston merchants, on one visit to the Hub in 1636 had teeth extracted, a pioneer dental item.

The life story of William Hall, Avonport, Nova Scotia, is not exactly “Up from Slavery”, but is the honorable career of probably the first negro in the world to win the Victoria Cross, and a string of medals for 24 years fine service in the Royal Navy. The Empire experience of this dark-skinned scion of Canada touches epic events in British history.

Hall was born in Nova Scotia, April 28, 1827, eight years after the Princess who was to be Queen Victoria, and joined the majority August 25, 1904, three years later than the Queen-Empress. Blue water appealed to the Nova Scotia colored boy, son of a member of a cargo of black ivory being transported from West Coast of Africa to Southern cotton fields, when intercepted by British frigate “Leonard” in the War of 1812, and taken prize to Halifax where the slaver’s human freight were liberated and assisted to make a living.

The father of William Hall engaged with a farmer in Hants county, N. S., adopted the name Hall of a benefactor, and married a girl who was one of a number of escaped slaves that sought refuge on board the British fleet in the expedition that captured Washington, D. C., and were conveyed to Nova Scotia.

William Hall, V. C., was born at Horton Bluff, Nova Scotia, not far from the churchyard where the father of Sir Samuel Cunard is buried. Young Hall went to a local school for a short time. The lad was taught to revere the White Ensign of the Royal Navy. February 10, 1852, Hall joined H. M. S. Rodney at Halifax as able seaman and remained in this ship until January 30, 1856. The future V. C. recipient went through the Crimean campaign and was awarded Turkish and English medals, the latter with clasps Sebastopol and Inkerman. It was the Crimean War first prompted the Czar to offer to sell Alaska to the United States, fearful the British might seize it.

After a period in H. M. S. “Victory” Hall joined H. M. S. “Shannon” and as a member of that ship served through the Indian mutiny. William Hall was on the way to Hong Kong, “captain of the foretop” on H. M. S. Shannon, one of recently equipped iron clad “wooden walls” at the time the Indian Mutiny broke at Meerut, Sunday May 10, 1857. The “Shannon” was convoying troops to China in conjunction with Lord Elgin, lately raised to the Peerage for eight years success as Governor General of Canada, and then Envoy Extraordinary to effect a settlement of difficulties with the Peking Government.

At Singapore Chinese Expeditionary regiments were diverted to Calcutta, which proved providential to help hold rebels in check until reinforcements from England reached India in August with Sir Colin Campbell (Lord Clyde), former Lieutenant Governor of Nova Scotia, in command.

Meanwhile, warships for China continued their voyage, but Lord Elgin was urged to send back as many men as possible. At Hong Kong a “Shannon Brigade” of 450 gunners, sailors and marines with howitzers and field pieces under Captain William Peel, V.C., a Crimean hero, were rushed to Calcutta and towed 800 miles up the Ganges to Allahabad. The naval brigade fought across country to Campbell’s headquarters at Cawnpore, and were in time to take part in the Relief of Lucknow, November 16, 1857, where Hall and others won the Empire’s gratitude.

The action opened early. At 4 o’clock on a burning afternoon, definite progress had not been made and men were falling fast. The situation was critical. At the crisis of the day’s fighting General Campbell ordered the Shah Nujjiff, a walled mosque and centre of resistance, to be assaulted with bayonet. “Shannon” guns went forward to within 25 yards of the enemy stronghold, to support the artillery and cover the attack of the Highlanders. Everyone has read “The Campbells’ are coming.” Fire of rebel musketry and hand grenades drenched the naval gun-crews. Personnel was destroyed.

Calmly the dauntless Nova Scotia negro, Hall, worked his gun under a murderous hail, sponging and loading and crashing shell after shell into the defences. Only one officer, Lieutenant Young, and Hall of the gun crew were left. Both were cited for the Victoria Cross. The Relief of Lucknow is household history, when women and children were saved and civilization in the East rescued. The conflagration planned to engulf Asia was nipped in the bud. That old warrior, Sir Colin Campbell, characterized the Lucknow victory “an action almost unexampled in war.”

Humble William Hall’s contribution is described in semi-official chronicles. Hall afterward served in H. M. S. Ships “Donegal,” “Bellerophon,” “Impregnable,” and “Petrel” on various ratings, including Quartermaster, until July 4, 1876 when he was discharged to pension from H. M. S. “Royal Adelaide” as petty officer, 1st class.

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William Hall is buried at Brooklyn, Nova Scotia, in an unmarked grave. In addition to Victoria Cross, Hall received an Indian Mutiny medal, with clasps for Relief of Lucknow in November 1857 and capture of Lucknow 1858. William Hall never married and was abstemious in the use of alcohol. “Who’s Who 1900” quotes “shooting crows” as Hall’s recreation. He was the first Canadian V. C., to return to his native province to live. There was no place like home, where he resided with two sisters, Mrs. Robinson and Rachel Hall, since deceased. Breast ablaze with decorations, the old man travelled to Halifax, Saturday, October 19, 1901, to parade with Royal British Veterans when the Duke of York (King George V) laid the corner stone of a South African War Memorial. His Royal Highness took occasion to shake hands and talk with the colored veteran in the sight of thousands. Hall’s medals cannot be found.

A letter May 2, 1935, from War Office states the “register of awards of the Victoria Cross is not maintained in such manner as to show the colour, or race of recipients. In the circumstances it is much regretted that, although it is recorded that Able Seaman William Hall, Royal Navy, was awarded the Victoria Cross, it is not possible to say whether he was the first negro to earn this distinction, or whether it was awarded subsequently to other members of his race.”

However, the Victoria Cross for conspicuous bravery was not instituted until January 29, 1856, at the close of the Crimean war, and initial citations appeared in London Gazette, February 24, 1857, the year of the Mutiny. Victoria Cross, with crimson ribbon, is worn before all others on the left breast and consists of a bronze Maltese Cross 1½ inches diameter with a Royal Crown and Lion and the inscription beneath—“For Valor.”

In 1911 the right to receive the Victoria Cross was extended to Indian soldiers, and in 1930 to Matrons, Sisters and Nurses and the Staff of Nursing Services and other Hospital Services, and to civilians of either sex regularly or temporarily under the orders of Naval, Military or Air Forces of the Empire.

The Indian Mutiny ended the glamorous Clive and Hastings rule of East India Company. Despite opposition of directors an Imperial Act of 1858 transferred the Indian administration from the Company to the Crown. November 1, 1858 at a grand durbar at Allahabad a proclamation announced the Queen had assumed the Government of India. The Governor General would henceforth be Viceroy.

The vice-regal office becoming vacant in 1862, in 1863 Lord Elgin went to India the first Viceroy appointed by the Crown. He died and was buried a few months after arrival, the same as Lord Cornwallis of Yorktown memory had passed in India 60 years earlier. In 1867 the Dominion of Canada was created. In 1875 Disraeli purchased Suez Canal shares and in 1876 Queen Victoria was proclaimed Empress of India. These are steps of Empire and William Hall, V.C., ranks among the architects. The defence of Lucknow in the Indian mutiny is a famous incident. The commander of the hard-pressed garrison became Sir John Inglis, K.C.B., who was born at Halifax, son of John Inglis, third Bishop of Nova Scotia.

The inaugural session of the first Supreme Court in English speaking Canada and the formal induction into office of the pioneer professional Chief Justice in Canada, occurred at Halifax, Tuesday, October 22, 1754 at the beginning of Michaelmas Term. The double event brought into existence the Supreme Court of Nova Scotia, the elder sister of Canadian judicature, and introduced Hon. Jonathan Belcher as the first legally qualified Chief Justice in British North America. Colorful ceremonies attended these mid-century innovations, which became a vital part in the close organization of Nova Scotia to be a key province outside of the orbit of populous Atlantic colonies.

Historians style the Albany convention of 1754, the definite precursor of American independence. The parallel rounding out of Nova Scotia courts in the same year at Halifax is perhaps a sign of a counter chain of circumstances, destined to give birth to a greater Empire.

Chief Justice Belcher’s appointment was gazetted in London July 1, 1754. The incumbent arrived at Halifax from Ireland, where he was practicing law, following admission to the English Bar, in October and on Monday October 14, was sworn a member of Executive Council. On the same day the Commission of Major General Charles Lawrence, as Governor of Nova Scotia was read; he had been Acting Governor one year.

HON. JONATHAN BELCHER—Chief Justice of Nova Scotia, 1754-1776, presided over First Supreme Court in British Empire. See page 239.

Monday, October 21, a patent for the Chief Justice was submitted to Council at Halifax and the oaths of office administered. Next morning Chief Justice Belcher, clad in wig and scarlet gown, accompanied by Governor Lawrence, the members of the Executive, and gentlemen of the Bar in robes, walked in procession from Government House to the long room at Pontac tavern, “where an elegant breakfast was served.” The provost marshall, the Judge’s tipstaff and various civil functionaries preceded the imposing parade in the five-year old Halifax community.

A gathering of ladies, army officers and merchants tendered congratulations. After post prandial courtesies the procession reformed, with the Judge’s commission carried in front in view of settlers, soldiers and Indians, and moved to St. Paul’s church to hear the Rector preach:—“I am one of those that are peaceable and faithful in Israel.” A suitable anthem was sung.

From the place of worship the company marched to the Court House, fitted up for the occasion. The Chief Justice sat beneath a canopy, with Governor Lawrence on the right, and numerous spectators present. The Clerk of the Crown presented the Judge’s commission to Hon. Mr. Belcher, which was returned. Silence was proclaimed and Judge Belcher announced a few directions for the guidance of practitioners.

A grand jury were impanelled and the Chief Justice delivered a charge to the jurymen. Opening of the first Supreme Court in Canada had been impressively performed with a public reception, attendance at church and the appointee’s appearance in court in the presence of the Governor and Commander-in-Chief. The Court adjourned. The Chief Justice, supported as before, returned to Government House.

Curiously, the first case to come before the newly constituted Supreme Court was a criminal charge against the master and crew of a Boston schooner arrested in the Bay of Fundy, while engaged in prohibited trade with French settlements. The vessel was overhauled by sloop “Vulcan” on patrol. The American crew resisted and fired into a boarding man-of-war boat, killing one and wounding several.

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Hon. Jonathan Belcher presided over the destinies of Nova Scotia Supreme Court for 22 history making years, spanning the concluding stages of 150 years struggle between France and England for mastery of America, to be immediately succeeded by tension with American Colonies.

Belcher was continuously a member of Nova Scotia Executive Council and for four years, after the sudden demise of Governor Lawrence in 1760, was Administrator of the Government.

To the strong views of Chief Justice Belcher against taxation without representation is largely attributable expediting the establishment of the trail-blazing Nova Scotia Assembly in 1758.

Belcher is on record as a consistent advocate of the Expulsion of Acadians. He was a man of imperious will, yet a capable jurist who contributed to founding Canadian jurisprudence on a raised platform.

Chief Justice Belcher was born at Boston July 23, 1710, concurrent with the final capture of Port Royal, son of a Royal Governor of Massachusetts and New Jersey and grandson of a leading merchant of New England. He was a graduate of Harvard, 1728, studied law at London and died at Halifax March 29, 1776, being spared the necessity to choose between the land of birth that he favored and the Province of adoption where the mortal remains of wife and several infant children reposed.

The only son to reach man’s estate, Hon. Andrew Belcher, was the father of Rear Admiral Sir Edward Belcher, K.C.B., native of Halifax, Arctic navigator. A daughter of Hon. Andrew Belcher was the mother of Captain Frederick Marryatt, R.N., author of unrivalled sea tales.

Chief Justice Belcher apparently did not believe in doing things by halves. In an age of intemperance, when authorities at Halifax were trying to regulate a flood of rum that demoralized the settlement, the Chief Justice came out flat-footed for complete exclusion of intoxicants as the one efficient remedy to fit the social disease.

At the founding of Halifax in 1749, Captain John Collier, an army officer was styled “Chief Justice.”

From a partial examination of Imperial, Colonial and Indian records, it is quite possible the use of the title “Supreme Court” in Nova Scotia in 1758 was the first in the British Empire, in the full sense in which it is employed.

Elevation of Thomas Dickson Archibald, born at Truro, Nova Scotia, 1817, to the British Bench in 1872 constitutes a precedent. Mr. Justice Archibald (Sir T. D. Archibald), Court of Queen’s Bench, England, 1872-1876, was practically the first person from the western side of the Atlantic to become a member of the British judiciary. The possible exception might be John Singleton Copley, Lord Lyndhurst, native of Copley square, Boston, who, with parents, left Massachusetts at the age of two in 1774, at the beginning of the Revolution, to settle in London. The father of Lyndhurst, also John Singleton Copley, a painter of considerable eminence, was likewise born in Boston the son of an Englishman. He painted the King and Queen. His best known picture, “Death of Chatham” is in the National Gallery. Baron Lyndhurst was bred and educated in England and graduated at Cambridge. He filled the post of Lord Chancellor on four occasions under Conservative Administrations.

Four generations of Archibalds had been in Nova Scotia, following Expulsion of Acadians, and it was in the Acadian province Mr. Justice Archibald received early training and was called to the Bar in 1837, at the record age of 20, which is not possible today, when the minimum age is 21. Delicate health prompted a physician’s suggestion of an ocean voyage.

In 1838 the young barrister shipped at Halifax on the brigantine “Purser,” 180 tons, bound for Leghorn with a cargo of salt codfish. A stormy passage was encountered. Archibald managed to pass through Italy and France to England, intending after a couple of months, to return to Nova Scotia to take up practice in earnest.

Dan Cupid decreed otherwise and Mr. Archibald, though always planning to revisit home, actually never saw the Canadian mayflower province again.

At the Priory, Dudley, the youthful lawyer became engaged to Sarah Smith, only daughter of Richard Smith, former agent at North Sydney, Nova Scotia, of General Mining Association of London and in 1834, 1835, 1836, a member of Nova Scotia Legislature representing Cape Breton.

At Dudley, Mr. Smith was identified with Lord Dudley’s collieries in South Staffordshire, the home of Cardinal Pole, Izaak Walton, David Garrick, Josiah Wedgewood. It was a condition of the Smith betrothal that T. D. Archibald should remain in England. The Nova Scotia barrister entered the office of Mr. Sergeant Petersdorff. Three years later Archibald took out a certificate as special pleader and continued in that capacity until admitted to the English Bar in 1852. From 1852 to 1872 a lucrative law practice was built up, with a share in a number of important cases. In 1860 Mr. Archibald declined an offer of the Chief Justiceship of Madras.

In 1868 T. D. Archibald was appointed Junior Counsel of the Treasury, and in 1872 was raised to the Queen’s Bench and knighted, a reward for 34 years hard and brilliant work after landing friendless. Mr. Justice Archibald was one of the last sergeants-at-law before the dignity was abolished. One of his sergeant’s rings with engraved Latin motto, is preserved in Nova Scotia.

On the Bench Judge Archibald presided at famous trials, like Tichborne case. In 1875 he was transferred to the Court of Common Pleas as one of Lord Coleridge’s colleagues. His early death was publicly deplored, when Lord Cockburn expressed general regret.

Sir T. D. Archibald was one of 18 children. Four brothers studied law in the office of their father, Hon. S. G. W. Archibald, Attorney General of Nova Scotia. Sir E. M. Archibald, British Consul at New York was a brother. Sir A. G. Archibald, Lieutenant Governor of Manitoba and of Nova Scotia was a cousin. A son Sir W. F. Archibald, “Master” in the English Courts died in 1922.

Excluding overseas members of the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council, Mr. Justice Archibald is probably the only Canadian who became an English Judge.

The first divorce in the Dominion of Canada was an absolute decree registered in Nova Scotia May 15, 1750, less than two years after the founding of Halifax in the Chebucto wilderness. The Executive Council of the Province had been empowered to act as a Court of Judicature and now elected to function as a Court of Matrimony and Divorce. A preliminary question, whether it was competent for Governor and Council to deal with matters pertaining to Spiritual Courts in England, was decided in the affirmative, it being argued the different conditions in America and 3,000 miles separating Nova Scotia from the British Isles, justified this opinion.

Canada’s initial marital separation case was Lieutenant William Williams vs. Amy Williams. The trial was proceeded with. Witnesses were heard and the respondent was found guilty. The decision was unanimous. A decree was awarded to Williams with permission to marry again, while the wife was forbidden to marry while appellant was still alive. The Clerk of the Court was directed to secure advice as to the correct form in which to issue a dissolution certificate. The respondent was ordered to leave the province within ten days, which would not be a particularly easy matter at that early period.

When these pioneer Canadian divorce proceedings were reported to London the Home Authorities expressed disapproval at this invasion of the time honored practice in England, where causes concerning Marriage and Divorce were confined to Ecclesiastical Tribunals. The “rap over the knuckles” from London does not seem to have been effective, for inside of two years another application for annulment of a marriage is recorded having been tried and refused for lack of evidence.

By Chapter 17 Acts of Nova Scotia, 1758, the first year of Nova Scotia legislature, any doubt that existed as to the authority of the Governor and Council to deal with matrimonial tangles was set at rest by an enactment that the Governor or Commander-in-Chief and His Majesty’s Council of Nova Scotia are authorized by law to hear and determine matters relating to prohibited marriage and divorce. This is the first Divorce Statute in Canada.

By Nova Scotia legislation of 1761 the grounds for divorce were amended. In 1841 the Governor was named President of Nova Scotia Divorce Court with a Supreme Court Judge or the Master of the Rolls, associated as Vice-President. No further change occurred in Nova Scotia divorce procedure until 1866, more than 100 years after the original Williams decree. In 1866 the style of the Nova Scotia Divorce Court was changed to “Court for Divorce and Matrimonial Causes.” The Judge in Equity was nominated Judge in Ordinary of the Nova Scotia Divorce Court, which is the present status.

The first Court of Judicature (English) in Canada sat at Annapolis Royal, 1721, composed of the Governor and Council, who were virtually self-appointed. At the founding of Halifax in 1749 a change took place. Royal Instructions were read requiring Governor Cornwallis to erect Courts of Justice to supersede the Annapolis arrangements. Three courts were created. A Court of General Sessions conformed to the English original of the same name.

A County Court was instituted, with jurisdiction throughout Nova Scotia, because Halifax was the only county. Commissioners of the peace were the Judges of this Court which met monthly.

The County Court proved unwieldy at that primitive stage and was abolished in 1752 and a Court of Common Pleas substituted corresponding to New England Superior Court of Common Pleas.

In Halifax Cornwallis also established a General Court, consisting of the Governor and Council as a Court of Assize and General Jail Delivery, convening semi-annually.

There was earlier provision for administration of Justice in sections under the French regime. A French Supreme Court or Court of Appeal (“Conseil Souverain”) was established in 1663 to hear both civil and criminal cases agreeable to Royal Ordinances and to the Coutume de Paris. In 1703 the name was changed to Superior Council, (Conseil superieur). Appeals were received from district Royal courts at Quebec, Montreal and Three Rivers and sometimes from Louisburg. From the Superior Council, a final appeal could be carried to the King’s Council in France. In one part of “Acadia” English judicial appeals could be taken to the Privy Council at Westminster while in another division of ancient Acadia, disappointed French litigants might assert appeals to a similar court of last resort at Versailles.

County Courts have been re-established generally in Canada in the different provinces, modelled mainly on revised procedure adopted in England in 1849. It has been found this branch of law administration touches a wide field of interest. County Courts accordingly have been referred to as one of numerous useful institutions characteristic of early Victorian period.

In the museum at Fort Anne, Annapolis Royal, is a large brass tablet unveiled August 31, 1921:—

The First Royal Arms and Flag granted any section of the British Empire are those that were extended to Nova Scotia in 1625 by Charles I, who was the second to wear the United Crowns. The design of Nova Scotia Arms is a merger of the Scottish National Arms with the Royal Arms of Scotland, a privilege seldom sanctioned. Originals of this heraldic drawing have been lost, but the Arms are reproduced from other sources and are re-entered in the Lyon Register at Edinburgh.

At Confederation of Canada in 1867 a new Coat-of-Arms was given Nova Scotia, which was not acceptable. They were cancelled in 1929 and ancient Scottish Achievements were re-enacted at London and are officially in force after 311 years at both London and Edinburgh, an extraordinary duplication.

Nova Scotia’s Royal Scottish Flag combines the Cross of St. Andrew, adopted in Scotland in 1385, with the historic Red Lion of Scottish Kings. The Royal Banner of Scotland is jealously preserved from exploitation. Periodically the Secretary of State for Scotland issues a formal warning the Royal Flag of Scotland is registered Crown property. Royal Arms and Flag are exclusive possessions in Nova Scotia which no other part of Greater Britain enjoys.

The first distillery in Canada was Mauger’s at Halifax, 1750, and potent beverages are identified with Acadian annals. In 1661 Monseigneur Laval, Quebec, first American or Canadian Bishop, with jurisdiction from the St. Lawrence to Louisiana, was responsible for an ordinance forbidding brandy to Indians, with capital punishment attached for extreme cases. An outcry was made when two offenders were shot and another flogged.

In old Acadia, at the final surrender of Port Royal in 1710, British and French Commanders exchanged courtesies. On top of usual ship’s provisions put on board British transports assigned to carry the garrison to France, it is noted that General Nicholson added:—“4 pipes of wine, 4 casks Jamaica sugar, several sorts of spices for women and children and a hogshead of rum.” Nicholson also gave Subercase, “out of his own store, all sorts of liquor besides wine and two barrels of beer, one of each sort.”

A brewery “with eight boilers” was built at Louisburg in 1748.

A “little wine” at the first siege of Louisburg in 1745 seems to have been very effective. Following six weeks investment, Pepperell and Warren concerted plans for a general assault by New England militia at noon June 15. The Commander of the co-operating fleet came ashore and addressed a few “stirring words” to assembled battalions, all-ready, with scaling ladders, to go over the top, attended by two Chaplains.

A writer states the bluff Commodore, “did not forget a more substantial and welcome tonic, as he sent them a hogshead of rum to drink his health.” A mighty cheer greeted the announcement, which reached the ears of defenders of the beleaguered city and rendered the projected attack unnecessary. Governor Duchambou sent a flag of truce into the British lines, suggesting capitulation and terms were promptly agreed upon.

At Halifax, 1759, preparing for the capture of Quebec, General Wolfe requested a “supply of molasses sufficient to make six months quantity of spruce beer together with rum for the same length of time.” Spruce beer was intended to prevent an outbreak of scurvy in the expedition.

At the founding of Halifax, 1749, a fleet of rum-runners appeared in port before settlers had disembarked. A letter July 25, a month after arrival of transports, states:—“We have received constant supplies of plank and timber for building, and fresh stock and rum in great quantities; 20 schooners frequently entering in one day.”

Thirty days later, August 28, 1749, when the new-born city was not yet named, the Governor and Council inaugurated Canada’s first civic liquor-license system in an effort to check drunkeness and indiscriminate selling. The fee was a guinea a month “poor tax.” A closing hour of 9 P. M., established for saloons, was not observed and the authorities put teeth into the regulations. One hour in the stocks was provided for first conviction and twenty lashes for second offense by licensees.

In 1751 Government officers raided premises of Joshua Mauger, charged with being king-fish of a smuggling ring having confederates in Boston, New York, Louisburg, Jamaica. This wealthy merchant forwarded a complaint to London that the Governor was guilty of high-hand proceedings.

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In 1753 there were three stills in Halifax serving 5,000 people. In 1760 Rev. Dr. Stiles of Boston was in Halifax and wrote impressions, preserved in Massachusetts Historical Society:—“There are 1,000 houses in the town. We have upwards of 100 licensed houses and perhaps as many more without license, so the business of one-half the town is to sell rum and the other half to drink it.”

There was a bar for each 100 inhabitants. The liquor business was considered a sure road to independence. Admiral Loudon complained a flood of bad liquor had incapacitated several thousand sailors and soldiers who had been allowed ashore.

Intoxicants were served at wakes and weddings and after funerals. Old orders preserved in country stores invariably contain one or two gallons rum sandwiched in with pork and cabbage, tea, sugar, clothing, boots and shoes.

In 1825 Sir James Kempt, Governor, loaned the City of Halifax £10,000 on the prime security of liquor-license fees.

The basement of old St. Matthews Church, Halifax, was a liquor warehouse—“Spirits above and spirits below.” At Londonderry, Nova Scotia, 1797, contributions to the minister’s stipend included “hay, hogs, maple sugar, rum” and other commodities.

In 1820 Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island imported 1,200,000 gallons rum, 40,000 gallons wine, 10,000 gallons gin and brandy, to which would be added illicit receipts and home manufacture. The combined population was under 200,000.

At a barn-raising, if rum was not supplied, few neighbors would help. The first cold-water event of this kind was a failure, for lack of numbers. In a similar attempt at a launching, where drinks were not provided, the vessel stuck on the ways, but was released when ale was distributed in place of the usual spirits.

Rt. Rev. Edmund Burke, parish priest at Halifax, on being elevated to the episcopacy in Nova Scotia, reported in 1820 he “heard with astonishment, in some missions, that large quantities of rum were consumed at funerals and quarrels developed in the graveyard.” He prohibited priests giving Catholic burial when spirits are brought to the cemetery. Drinking and large gatherings in connection with weddings were condemned, and instructions issued that not over 25 relatives and friends were to be invited to a marriage feast. As a missionary at Detroit in 1795, Father (Bishop) Burke’s life was threatened for stopping rum traffic with the Indians. He received a life pension from the King and was a friend of the Duke of Kent at Quebec.

Rt. Rev. Edmund Burke, Halifax, first English speaking Roman Catholic Bishop in Canada, 1818-1820—St Mary’s Cathedral, Halifax, corner stone laid 1820—Crest selected by Bishop Burke, unchanged, when Halifax became an Archdiocese.

In Sydney, a legal dispute as to the validity of a customs tariff on spirits was attended by consequences, the opposite of the Boston tea party.

At the close of the American Revolutionary War, in 1784, New Brunswick and Cape Breton were detached from old Nova Scotia or Acadia and were erected into separate provinces.

Government revenue in Cape Breton was principally derived from coal royalties and one shilling per gallon tariff on rum, which continued 30 years. In 1816, Leaver & Ritchie, lessees of Cape Breton coal areas and leading merchants, resisted further payment of rum duties on the constitutional ground, that when the Island came under British sovereignty in 1763 and was attached to Nova Scotia, which had a representative assembly, the Royal Prerogative to impose taxes was automatically relinquished.

On a judicial reference, the objection was sustained. Crown advisers in London concurred in the decision, which meant all liquor taxes for 25 years had been illegal. Two courses were available—institute a popular assembly or re-annex Cape Breton to Nova Scotia. The cabinet at Westminster proclaimed a reunion of the provinces. Cape Breton residents remonstrated to the King to prevent:—“The unjust and ruinous attempt of His Majesty’s Government to unite the Colony of Cape Breton to that of Nova Scotia in violation of all law, humanity and good faith.”

The provincial merger was carried out and one result was that Nova Scotia was the first part of the British Empire to suspend the Test Act. Lawrence Kavanagh, a Roman Catholic, was one of two primary elected representatives from Cape Breton to the Nova Scotia Assembly. It was felt in Government circles that Kavanagh should be seated to consummate the union of the provinces. An old oath against “popery and transubstantiation” was accordingly deleted, giving equal privileges, irrespective of creed, to British subjects. Agitation in Cape Breton against annexation to Nova Scotia continued for 20 years and was finally interred by Gladstone in 1846.

In 1856, Halifax, a garrison city and seaport with 35,000 population had 275 licensed taverns.

What is believed to be one of the earliest total abstinence societies in the world was organized at West River, Pictou, October 1827. At a public gathering in January, 1828, twelve signed the pledge.

A tee-total society was formed at Beaver River, Yarmouth, Nova Scotia, March 23, 1829.

The first Prohibitory Liquor law in British North America, was enacted in New Brunswick 1855 and repealed 1856.

The Canadian Northwest Territories Act, 1875, sponsored by Sir Charles Tupper was the first Dominion prohibitory legislation.

At Louisburg in 1733 the Intendant enjoined tavern-keepers selling intoxicants to fishermen. An Order-in-Council in Nova Scotia, 1751, barred saloons recovering any debt under 5 shillings and wholesale liquor merchants suing for a quantity less than 3 gallons. Sunday liquor sales were outlawed in Nova Scotia in 1761, with a fine for buyer and seller. Sale of liquors to Indians was prohibited in Nova Scotia in 1829 and to minors in 1855; the penalty in the latter case was perpetual disqualification from ever again holding a license. In 1808 the Nova Scotia legislature imposed an additional duty of six pence per gallon on imported wine to provide a pension of £500 to the retiring lieutenant governor “during his natural life.” St. Mary’s Total Abstinence Society was organized in Halifax, January 24, 1841, as the “Halifax Roman Catholic Total Abstinence Society—Very Rev. John Loughnan, V.G., President.” A large metal pledge was issued.

The Order of Sons of Temperance, which ranks perhaps the oldest National Total Abstinence Society in North America, was introduced into Canada at Yarmouth, Nova Scotia, November 17, 1847 by Rev. George Washington Ashley, a native of South Carolina.

For several years Mr. Ashley had been a clergyman at Barrington, Nova Scotia, and was known as an abstinence enthusiast. Back in the United States at a later date, Mr. Ashley joined the S. of T. and was commissioned Deputy Most Worthy Patriarch to extend the undertaking to old Acadia, which was a stepping stone into other countries.

The pioneer Canadian and Empire Division of Sons of Temperance was appropriately Acadia No. 1. Concord No. 5, organized at Barrington January 1848, still holds meetings. The charter has Rev. Mr. Ashley’s name on it and is signed by two of the clergyman’s large family of boys, five of whom became clerics and one an author. A Grand Division of Sons of Temperance was instituted in Nova Scotia in 1848.

The first temperance paper in Canada, “The Temperance Gazette” was commenced and has been maintained.

Sons of Temperance for years advocated Temperance Texts in schools, and the exclusion of liquor exhibits from Provincial Fairs. Young people were enlisted in 1849. A “Cold Water” Army, Bands of Hope and Cadets of Temperance were enrolled. “Chebucto” and “Mayflower” Divisions of Sons of Temperance at Halifax are noted branches.

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Through the medium of Nova Scotia shipping registry the Order of Sons of Temperance migrated to distant lands. John McG. McIntyre, F.F.I., Chief Secretary of the National Division of Great Britain and Ireland, 38 High Street, Charlton-on-Medlock, Manchester confirms that:—“It is true to state that the missionaries of the Order who started the work in this country went from Nova Scotia. With Cadets there are now more than 400,000 members.”

Captain G. King was master of clipper ship, “Pugwash,” sailing from Halifax for Liverpool in 1849 and was an advocate of tee-total principles. Passengers included James Fisher, shipbuilder, Saint John, also a proponent of total abstinence. On the voyage these crusaders planned a Sunday attack on John Bull’s publicans. At Liverpool they addressed open-air meetings and attracted considerable attention and a fusilade of stones.

Nevertheless on September 17, 1849, “Queen’s Division,” referring to Queen Victoria, was instituted as the first Sons of Temperance unit in the British Isles. “Mariner’s Division” was organized December 26, 1849. In 1850 the Grand Division of England was established at Temperance Hall, Liverpool, and in 1852 there were 40 subordinates functioning.

In 1854 application was made for a National Charter for Great Britain and Ireland which was instituted at Manchester April 6, 1855. The Charter of the British National Division was signed by Sir Leonard Tilley, Canada, of New Brunswick, at that time President of the National Division of Sons of Temperance of North America.

W. J. Walker, secretary, Albert Buildings, 110 Bathurst street, Sydney, N. S. W., writes:—“The charter for instituting the Order of Sons of Temperance in Australia was granted by the Grand Division of Nova Scotia, dated Halifax, November 12, 1861, signed by J. D. B. Fraser, G.W.P., and Pat Monaghan, Grand Scribe.”

The first Australian division S. of T., Dayspring No. 1, was organized May 3, 1864. The charter is signed by Wm. Hobbs (Rev.), Deputy G. W. P. who went from Nova Scotia for the purpose. The long delay was occasioned by the original charter having been lost in a shipwreck and time required to obtain another document and make new arrangements.

Mr. Walker comments:—“We are the oldest total abstinence society in New South Wales and this year (1934) celebrated our 70th anniversary. The I. O. G. T. are 60 years and Rechabites 50 years.”

The name of the first Sons of Temperance Division in the Antipodes, “Dayspring,” very likely refers to the first ship of that name which left Halifax in 1863 primarily to convey additional Presbyterian missionaries to the New Hebrides, and possibly also delivered the duplicate charter for temperance organization in Australia.

Sydney Bay, Port Jackson, was discovered by Captain James Cook, navigator, in 1770. Cook assisted establish a Royal Dockyard—the first—at Halifax in 1758-59.

That snooty crustacean of modern Fifth Avenue and of ancient Roman palaces, the lobster, was first observed in the New World in Nova Scotia harbors. The bookish name, “Homarus Americanus,” a Latinized form of Norman “homard,” indicates that the earliest contact of navigators with this luxurious denizen was in French Acadia.

In Juvenal’s satires the aristocrat “cammarus” is featured at patrician banquets. Athenaeus details an elaborate feast staged by Laurentius, wealthy Greek patron:—“These lobsters (astacus), see how red they are,” and “many be deep in the broad Hellespont.” The limited supply in the Mediterranean has all but vanished, except a small catch in Turkey.

In 1686 Sweden took steps to check depletion of lobster fishery. England and France noticed the scarcity, but it was the middle of the 18th century before the Governments applied any control.

Meantime it became known there were vast quantities of glorious lobsters, from New Jersey to Labrador, especially Acadia, on the northeast coast of North America.

After a heavy summer storm, Nova Scotia beaches were strewn with lobsters rolled in by the surf, and many an intelligent bruin ambled from surrounding woods to enjoy a favorite shore dinner.

Homarus Americanus is the true lobster; the Mediterranean animal, which delighted Roman epicures is a crayfish, lacking flavor and firmness of the “Acadian” variety. The latter is not equalled in the globe. North American lobsters are not migratory as formerly supposed. They are stay-at-homes. Washington and Ottawa Governments have endeavored to transplant them to the Pacific coast without success. Shipments to New Zealand met with failure.

A standard work by Dr. F. H. Herrick states:—“White men caught lobsters in Massachusetts Bay for the first time early in the 17th century.”

The New England record was anticipated by Captain Leigh in the “Hopewell” in the 16th century. In the “Hopewell” log, in 1597, it is noted:—“Called at the harbour named by the natives Cibou.” (Sydney). “In this place are the greatest multitude of lobsters that ever was heard of, for we caught at one hawle with a little draw-net, above 140.”

De Laet’s “Novus Orbis” Leyden, 1633 relates:—“Small deer, as crabs and lobsters are found in almost incredible abundance in the harbour which the savages call Cibo.” Sagard’s “Histoire du Canada,” Paris, 1636, mentions lobsters in Gulf of St. Lawrence. Governor Denys, 1672, wrote:—“Here also are taken lobsters (hommars), some of them have the claw or snapper so long it will hold a pint of wine. It is very good eating with all kinds of sauces. We have named them sea-partridges on account of their goodness . . . . their (Indian) pipes are sometimes hardwood, sometimes moose bone or the claw of lobster.”

The term “small deer” used by de Laet in reference to “Acadian” lobsters was not exaggeration, as 25 to 35 pound lobsters were common in original “herds” in Acadian bays. A Washington Bureau of Fisheries bulletin mentions an authentic list of 14 large lobsters captured in “recent” years on the Atlantic coast; the giant among them tipped the scales at 34 pounds and measured 23 inches from spine to tail. If taped with claws stretched to fullest extent in front of head the length of this warrior would be nearly four feet, which approaches fossilized lobsters of pliocene period said to have been five to six feet long.

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A 25 pound lobster is supposed to be 30 years of age, though no definite marks indicate longevity. The big fellows are males and when they meet viciously stand up and box for a knock out. “Peter the Great” lived several years in a New York restaurant in ice cooled salt water kept in circulation.

In Brighton, England, aquarium a “flat” lobster from Maderia coast has shovels, instead of claws. Most lobsters are blue-black when caught, changing to scarlet, like a soldier, when cooked, but freaks are taken—orange, blue, gold, and occasionally white. One of nature’s miracles is “moulting” when the lobster withdraws body and claws, leaving entire shell and outer structure intact. Aquarium visitors cannot believe their eyes. Roman conquerors gave to early Britons the name, “locusta marina,” for the “sea locust,” and shoresmen corrupted the pronunciation to “loksta” and “lopstyre” and finally “lobster.”

A Government publication, Washington, states:—“The lobster grounds of Atlantic coast were the finest in the world. In Canada (Acadia) alone, 100,000,000 lobsters have been captured in a single year. If properly dealt with it would seem as if this vast natural preserve should have yielded lobsters in abundance and in fair size for generations and even centuries to come. But instead, lean and still leaner years followed those of plenty, first in older and more accessible regions of the fishery, until the decline, which has been watched for more than three decades, has extended to practically every part of this vast area.”

In 1931 the world lobster catch was 70,000,000 pounds, of which Great Britain and Irish Free State furnished 3,500,000 pounds, United States 12,000,000 pounds, Norway 1,250,000, Sweden 400,000, France 5,500,000 pounds, Canada (Acadia) 43,549,000 pounds.

From 1850 the export was canned lobsters despatched to Europe. Latterly the shipping of live lobsters from Acadian points to nearby Eastern American and Canadian cities has developed and fishermen would like to include British and Continental Centres in the live lobster traffic.

The overseas problem is transportation to keep the fish alive. A crate was sent to George III, England in 1815 and another to Emperor Napoleon III of France in 1862. The Canadian Government have subsidized experimental live lobster shipments to Europe, also “boiled in shell,” but unforseen difficulties have cropped up.

M. H. Nickerson, (Thomas Cod), author of “Songs of Summerland,” Melrose, Mass., native of Clarks Harbor, Nova Scotia, advocates air transport to place live lobsters in London, Paris, Berlin restaurants. Live shipments to Boston are said to have commenced at Clarks Harbor in 1872, with Mr. Nickerson a helper.

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Lobsters have been an article of commerce, not over 100 years. Previously, sales were confined to local markets. Samuel Butler, “Hudibras” 1662, is the first modern writer to notice the lobster in literature:—

Wolcot’s parody on Boswell’s “Life of Johnson” contains an invidious allusion to lobsters, concerning Johnson’s famous trip to the Hebrides, which wounded Caledonian susceptibilities. Certain insects, allegedly encountered by Johnson and Boswell in Glasgow sleeping quarters, are magnified by Dr. Wolcot (Peter Pindar):—

The true lobster is northern. Inhospitable terrain made early Scandinavian countries dependent on sea food, rather than agriculture. Lobsters, “ostron,” were a prime delicacy. These royal favorites and other shellfish, became available in spring, when ice left the shallows, so a pagan feast, corresponding in time to the Pasch, seems to have been dedicated to the nymph sea-goddess, Ostara, for the marine harvest, and incidentally familiarized men with seafaring. Lobsters were ostara in Iceland and amar in Russia.

Basque fishermen were legendary pioneers in Acadian waters and are said to have been Esthonian extraction and carried the stem word “amar” to France, where it became “homard,” and into Italy to be “cammarus” and displace an older Greek term. In Spain and Portugal lobsters apparently were “langosta” the red thing, a variant of “locusta.”

Indians in Acadia prized lobsters “wolumkech” for food. Popular sport summer nights “torching” lobsters, was “sagaaga”—the hider. Claw-shells were valued by tribesmen for drinking-cups, pipes and ornaments.

The first known iron ore in North America was noted at St. Mary’s Bay, Digby, Nova Scotia (Acadia) in 1604, in colonization work undertaken by Sieur de Monts, pioneer French Governor of an Acadian enterprise scheduled to cover half the continent. DeMonts was accompanied by a geographer, mineralogist, surveyor, agriculturists, shipwrights, blacksmith, masons, carpenters, clergymen, soldiers, sailors, merchants, gentlemen adventurers. Supplies included, live stock, seeds, arms, implements, lumber, tools, tents, chemicals, games, in short everything essential to prepare the ground for bona-fide settlement—when women and children were expected to follow.

The Nova Scotia iron “industry” began at Nictaux, not far from original ore-cropping of 1604. Early in the XIX century, bar iron was manufactured at Nictaux in a Catalan forge, with blast pressure not over 1½ inches of mercury. In 1825 the operation was expanded into a limited company, Annapolis Iron Mining Company, Limited, with authorized capital £10,000 in £100 shares and £1,200 government bonus. The first ore mined was in Abel Wheelock’s apple orchard and iron was cast into kettles, stoves and bars. Capacity was 12 tons per week, too little to compete with British imports. Flux was freighted from Saint John, New Brunswick and charcoal for smelting was produced from plentiful white birch, now almost extinct, and was used in the proportion of, 130 Winchester bushels per ton of pig iron turned out. The “charge” was repeated several times in 24 hours.

In a comprehensive paper at the annual meeting of Canadian Mining Institute, Ottawa, 1913, Major Charles L. Cantley, son of Senator Thomas Cantley, veteran ironmaster, reviewed the development of the Canadian steel industry from modest beginnings in Nova Scotia.

Referring to the primary plant of the Nova Scotia Steel Company at Trenton, Nova Scotia, 1882, it is stated:—“Steel ingots were made here in July, 1883, and were the first produced in Canada on a commercial basis. Five years later the basic open-hearth practice was introduced, and since that time the process has been used continuously, and if recent development of the Duplex process be excepted, exclusively in the manufacture of steel in Nova Scotia.”

In 1889, Nova Scotia Forge Co. and Nova Scotia Steel Co. merged into Nova Scotia Steel and Coal Co. In 1890 shareholders organized the New Glasgow Iron, Coal and Railway Co. to take in collateral activities. Neighborhood ore properties were acquired and tapped with a spur railway to Sunny Brae. Modern blast furnaces were installed, associated with a coal-washing plant of 300 tons daily capacity and a battery of 54 Bernard retort coke ovens.

“The two latter” writes Major Cantley “formed the first unit of its kind put into operation in Canada, and probably was one of the earliest plants at which the complete operation of washing impure coal and coking it for blast-furnace use was successfully employed in America.”

Difficulty in obtaining an adequate ore supply prompted a search, resulting in the purchase of the Bell Island, Wabana iron deposits, Newfoundland, containing seven billion tons probable reserve, some being submarine but all easily mineable and right at tidewater.

Thus Sydney, Nova Scotia, became a convenient point of assembly of raw materials. Large steel plants—Dominion Steel Co. and Nova Scotia Steel Co.—sending rails and steel products to foreign markets, involving mass coal production, have grown up at Sydney and Sydney Mines but the first “Acadian” steel made at Trenton in 1883, was the genesis.

A world authority on steel economics has named points in United States, Great Britain and Germany, where minimum costs per ton can be reached and estimates Sydney, and other points in “Acadia” or Nova Scotia are equally competitive.

On December 4, 1935, the local press casually reported four ships loading steel products at Sydney, Nova Scotia. “Saganaga” embarked 8,800 tons of billets for Great Britain. “Dalcroy” was taking in 1,265 tons of miscellaneous iron and steel needs for Vancouver. The “Canadian Britisher” finished loading 4,165 tons of steel, for Australia. The “L. W. Hanson” shipped 2,000 tons of rods for the United Kingdom. Rolling rails for South Africa was underway. There are few places where these industrial raw materials are found associated in nature at the seaboard, representing the accumulations of distant ages that have remained undisturbed. Which verifies Sir William Dawson’s admiration for the “Acadian” zone.

English Harbor (Louisbourg), Nova Scotia, can technically claim the first shipbuilding in Canada and New England. At Louisbourg two French captains, Pontgrave and Morell, constructed a coasting craft in the summer of 1604. Ships commanded by these mariners were units in an expedition headed by Sieur de Monts, sent to America to organize permanent French settlements over a wide area. Four ships, one of 150 tons burthen and another of 120 tons were outfitted in France, one for St. Lawrence River, a second for Cape Breton and Saint John’s Island and two were in charge of De Monts personally.

Before sailing from Havre de Grace April 7, 1604, it was arranged that Canso, Nova Scotia, would be the rendezvous in event of separation. The leading ship with de Monts was not able to make Canso and early in May arrived at westerly Nova Scotia ports, one of which was christened Port Moutoun, because a sheep fell overboard and was drowned.

The Admiral’s ship was detained at Port Moutoun a month when the company went ashore. De Monts waited for consorts, particularly Morell’s craft which carried reserve provisions, and implements. Finally a long-boat in charge of one of the crew and a detachment of Indians was sent back to Canso and obtained the requisite goods, which had been landed there.

Lescarbot’s “New France” says one reason why Pontgrave and Morell did not earlier report at Canso and disembark surplus stores, before proceeding to River St. Lawrence, is that when captains of the consorts first made land at English Harbour, “having no boat they wasted time building one on the spot.”

Again at Port Royal in 1606 Pontgrave built a long-boat, a skiff and a pinnace. De Monts’ lieutenant—Pontgrave—was a skilful sailor and a merchant of St. Malo, who had previously visited the St. Lawrence.

In 1607 there was a short-lived English colony at Kennebec river, Maine, “Acadia”, planted by George Popham, brother of the chief justice of England and by Captain Gilbert Raleigh, whose name indicates his lineage. A town, fort and church were erected, and a vessel “Virginia of Sagahadock” was built. A trying winter prompted most of the colonists to return to England. In 1614 Captain John Smith of Pocahontas fame, also built a fleet of boats at Kennebec, Acadia, for exploring the coast.

The first vessel launched at Halifax was a brig built by Captain John Goreham in 1751, slave labor being employed. The site, Goreham’s Point, and adjacent lands were expropriated by the Crown in 1758 for the first Royal Dockyard in then British North America.

The first export of deals from Canada to England was commenced at Saint John in 1822 and developed an extensive trade, whereas previously timber was shipped round or square.

The largest full-rigged sailing ship built in Canada was the “W. D. Lawrence,” 2,459 tons, floated at Maitland, Nova Scotia in 1874, nearly forty years after the introduction of steam navigation.

At Castle Island, Boston, is a granite obelisk, 52 feet, erected 1933 to the memory of Donald McKay, master builder of the “world’s fastest sailing ships.” McKay died in 1880 and was almost forgotten for 53 years in an age of electricity and oil. On a panel is a relief of the “Flying Cloud,” a sea witch, McKay’s most noted creation which in 1851 set a record, never exceeded, 89 days from New York to San Francisco.

On October 4, 1853, McKay sent into the water the largest sailing ship in the world, the “Great Republic,” 6,000 tons capacity, 325 feet length, 53 feet beam, 15,600 yards of canvas. 30,000 attended the launch. The ship went to New York to load and burned to the water’s edge.

McKay conducted a stubborn but a losing contest against Cunard’s steamships and passed away in obscurity at the age of 70. He was a native of Shelburne, Nova Scotia.

The “first” sealing schooner to round the Horn and make the passage to Victoria, British Columbia, was the “Pathfinder,” Captain William O’Leary, of West Quoddy, Nova Scotia, which sailed from Halifax, November 1885 and reached Victoria, April, 1886.

The Masonic order is probably the oldest fraternal organization in Canada and one of the largest numerically. The first lodge of Freemasons in Canada was at Annapolis Royal, Nova Scotia, 1738, when Major Erasmus James Philipps, Provincial Grand Master, commissioned by St. John’s Grand Lodge, Massachusetts, established a Masonic Lodge at Annapolis. Major Philipps was a nephew of Colonel Richard Philipps, a Welshman, who was Governor of Nova Scotia, 1717 to 1749, a record incumbency, and whose remains are interred in Westminster Abbey, but no person knows why.

Erasmus Philipps had been a member of a Royal Commission settling boundary lines between Rhode Island and Massachusetts. At Boston the Commissioner was initiated a member of First Lodge (St. John’s), organized 1733, and now the oldest Masonic lodge in America. Major Philipps returned to Annapolis in 1738, with the title of Provincial Grand Master for Nova Scotia or Acadia with instructions to introduce Masonry into Nova Scotia—which was Canada—in response to a petition that had been received from Annapolis.

Erasmus Philipps was a member of the Executive Council of Nova Scotia at Annapolis, then the capital, and an officer of “Philipps’ Regiment,” raised at Annapolis Royal “by Command” in 1717 by the uncle, Colonel Philipps, who was the first Commanding Officer as well as Governor of the Province.

“Philipps’ Regiment” became a renowned corps of the British Army, the “Fighting Fortieth,” with honors in almost every quarter of the globe—America, Spain, Waterloo, West Indies, India, Australia, Canada, Crimea. When territorial designations were adopted in 1881 the grand 40th Foot became the “First Battalion the Prince of Wales Volunteers,” (South Lancashire Regiment) and is the first and oldest of few permanent units of the British military establishment originated overseas.

With 219 years service, the Prince of Wales Battalion is still technically affiliated with Annapolis Regiment, Bear River, Nova Scotia, and with the Prince of Wales own Regiment, Kingston, Ontario. In 1933 officers of the regiment erected a bronze birthplace tablet at Annapolis, Nova Scotia. The proud record of this “Acadian” born regiment in the Great War is well-known.

From 1731 to 1749, the commander, Colonel Philipps, resided in England, but drew the salaries of Governor-in-Chief of Nova Scotia and of Colonel of the Regiment, which was originally comprised of New England Volunteers who had gone to Nova Scotia with General Nicholson in 1710, so the lineage of “Prince of Wales Volunteers” traces also to the Old Colonies.

While Governor Philipps lived in England, governmental and regimental duties in Nova Scotia and Newfoundland were entrusted to deputies who received indifferent support.

A sketch of the pioneer Canadian Masonic lodge of 1738 at Annapolis, one time numbered 136 in American registers, appears in Vol. I, Transactions of Nova Scotia Lodge of Research.

The Annapolis Lodge probably “worked” until 1767 or 1770, when most Government activities, formerly centred at Annapolis, were transferred to Halifax, terminating 163 years colorful past when Port Royal and Annapolis Royal were successively French and British administrative headquarters.

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Following the founding of Halifax city in 1749, St. John’s Grand Lodge, Boston, was invited to charter a Masonic lodge at Halifax. The request was forwarded from Boston to Major Philipps at Annapolis, who in July, 1750, issued a constitution for the First Lodge, Halifax, with Governor and Commander-in-Chief, Hon. Edward Cornwallis, first Master. Cornwallis also took over the colonelcy of the 40th Regiment.

Lord Colville, a naval officer and first initiate at Halifax in the new lodge, was afterward Master of the Second Lodge, Boston, and advanced to be Deputy Grand Master for North America.

The First Lodge, Halifax (1750), later divided into three lodges and established a Provincial Grand Lodge of Nova Scotia in 1757, the three lodges being No’s 2, 3 and 4. In 1768 Lodge No. 4 obtained an English Warrant, No. 155, and in later years adopted the name “St. Andrew’s,” and is now St. Andrew’s Lodge No. 1, in Grand Lodge of Nova Scotia.

An introductory note to a 1920 history of St. Andrew’s Lodge, A. F. & A. M., Halifax, mentions that this lodge claims not only the most interesting continuous Masonic record in the Nova Scotia jurisdiction, but is also entitled to the distinction of being the oldest lodge in the British Empire outside of the British Isles.

Major Erasmus Philipps, the founder of Masonry in Canada, represented Annapolis county in the Nova Scotia legislature in 1759 and died at Halifax in 1760 and is buried in old St. Paul’s cemetery.

The beginning of Masonry in Prince Edward Island, 1781, Saint John, 1784 and Fredericton, 1792, all trace to St. Andrew’s and St. John’s Lodge, now No. 2 at Halifax.

The corner stone of former Halifax Masons hall, was laid June 8, 1800, by H. R. H., the Duke of Kent, father of Queen Victoria.

R. V. Harris, K.C., Halifax, has furnished several “Firsts” in connection with the inception of the craft in Canada at Nova Scotia.

The first Provincial Grand Master in the Dominion was in Nova Scotia. The first military lodge, chartered by the Grand Lodge of England (“Ancients”), was No. 42, Annapolis Royal, 1755, in the 40th Regiment. St. Andrew’s lodge, Halifax, possesses the first and only Centenary Jewel awarded a Lodge on a Canadian register.

The first Provincial Grand Lodge of “Ancients” in the world was Nova Scotia, 1757. The oldest Royal Arch chapter in Canada is Royal Union chapter No. 1, at Halifax, 1780.

The first Knight Templar degrees in Canada were conferred at Halifax, 1766—the first conferred anywhere outside the United Kingdom.

The oldest Mark Lodge records in America are those of Virgin Lodge, No. 3, Halifax, Nova Scotia, 1781.

The oldest overseas lodge in the Empire with a Scottish charter is Keith Lodge, No. 17, Halifax, 1827.

“Fairfield” opened 1909. Nova Scotia Freemason’s Home at Windsor, N. S., is referred to with pardonable pride as the first and only such home in Canada and is quietly rendering impressive service.

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Calais, Maine, at the head of the tide on St. Croix River, International Boundary between Canada and the United States, was settled about 1800. At that time France and Napoleon were enjoying temporary American popularity. Being opposite English territory, (New Brunswick) the place was named Calais for the French city across the Channel from Dover, England.

In 1808 when the people of the St. Croix valley wished to start a Masonic Lodge it was found most of the prospective members lived in St. Stephen, across the river in New Brunswick. An application was sent to Grand Lodge of Massachusetts and was referred to the Grand Lodge of Nova Scotia, as there was no Grand Lodge in New Brunswick. October 26, 1809, authority was issued at Halifax signed by John Wentworth, Grand Master, Governor of Nova Scotia, a United Empire Loyalist and former governor of New Hampshire, to organize a temporary Grand Lodge at St. Stephen.

Several curious things are noted in an interesting history by H. Edgar Lamb, published at Calais, April 1934. Officers and members of the temporary Grand Lodge at St. Stephen were from the American side of the line. Not one of those present was in the Nova Scotia Masonic jurisdiction. It was Nova Scotian in name only. At the meeting December 14, 1809, in the name of the Grand Master of Nova Scotia, Orphan’s Friend Lodge, No. 34, was constituted. The Grand Lodge, pro tem, was closed.

During a few thousand years apples have ruled the popular queen of fruits. Milton identifies pyrus malus as the tree of temptation that no ordinary mortal can resist.

Sources indicate cultivation of apples was introduced into “Acadia” from Normandy about 1606 and that this was the beginning of apple orcharding in America, with the result that in 1936, the Annapolis Valley, Nova Scotia, oldest apple garden in the New World, is recognized as one of the advanced apple districts of the British Empire.

The 1935 Imperial Fruit Show of Great Britain was at Cardiff, a Welsh city renowned as the scene of Arthurian Legends and for the life imprisonment of Robert, Duke of Normandy, in gloomy Cardiff Castle.

Years of organization have established the annual Empire fruit exhibition, rotating in British cities, as an unrivalled medium for commercial fruit displays from countries compassing the globe-encircling British Empire.

United Kingdom fruit exhibitions are an alluring assembly of pomological beauties on a scale Eden never approached. Exhibits from home and foreign fields are arranged in impressive contrast as to packing, coloring, size uniformity, quality and flavor. Shipments are received in perfect refrigeration.

A respectable share of credit in helping build up British fruit imports is allotted to Nova Scotia apple shipments, initiated in a small way a century ago and presently accounting for two-thirds of Canada’s annual $8,000,000 apple exports.

The 1935 British Imperial Fruit Show witnessed the crowning of the first Canadian “Apple Queen” (Miss Margaret Messenger, Kentville, Nova Scotia), on the occasion of this lady’s visit to England in the capacity of Nova Scotia’s Queen of the Annapolis Valley Blossom Carnival, 1935.

In previous years it had been the practice to engage English stage stars to impersonate Overseas Dominions at Britain’s fruit exhibitions. The 1935 innovation, sending a Canadian “Queen” to England, prompted the Editor of a British Trade Review to remark:—“Nova Scotia, Canada’s oldest fruit producing province, must be considered as having laid the foundation of the Empire fruit industry as a whole, so far as the overseas is concerned.”

Dominion Atlantic Railway, traversing the Nova Scotia apple region, has been an important factor in orchard expansion.

Norman French were apparently the first cultivated apples in North America, in Acadia. From time immemorial American Indians utilized indigenous crab-trees, but do not seem to have learned grafting, known in western Asia before the Christian era. Two or three varieties of American apples have been evolved from native stock, including “Quebec Fameuse,” but a number have wild “blood” in them.

Sieur de Monts, founder of Acadia, was enjoined to plant colonies. Building material, tools, implements, seeds, live stock were embarked. The company included clergymen, doctor, geographer, surveyor, mining engineer, artisans, agriculturists. Men socially prominent, accompanied the expedition with a view of migrating. The party numbered 120, plus crews of four ships.

Champlain’s account of De Monts severe first winter at St. Croix, 1604, recites that:—“The cider had to be served out by weight.” Sixty-five years earlier Cartier’s third voyage was prolonged by head winds and a “shortage of fresh water, forced the sharing with the animals of the cider carried for the crew.”

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In France, wine was the favorite of principals, but sweet apple cider was the toast of the masses, dating from the Crusades and 100 Years War. There was a scarcity of bread in France due to manpower withdrawn from husbandry and the use of grain for beer-making was forbidden. Cider manufacture developed, especially in northwestern Provinces and Navarre, removed from the grape-growing regions of the south.

Every other French farmer then and now has cider-apple trees. Seeds reported taken to Acadia in 1604, and subsequently, are not listed, but it may be taken for granted that apples, apple seeds and seedlings were not overlooked. Apples were likely shipped as part diet for animals, on shipboard, and also to be expressed by colonists to replenish cider supply carried from France.

In 1606 Sieur Jean de Biencourt, Baron de Poutrincourt, who had decided to locate at Port Royal, returned to Acadia from France with an outfit of implements and farm animals, and the “seeds and plants necessary for agriculture.”

Louis Hebert, a herbalist, arrived at this time, took up land and remained at Port Royal five or six years, in two periods. Poutrincourt’s son, Sieur Charles de Biencourt planted seeds of citrus fruits, lemon and orange, to test if they would grow, Acadia being in the same latitude as southern France.

Lescarbot, facile historian, was another of the 1606 contingent, and specifies crossing the Atlantic to learn first-hand the capabilities of the soil, which he thinks more important than the treasures of Peru.

Champlain was at Port Royal three years. On transferring to Quebec in 1608, going from France, Champlain is said to have included “fruit trees” in the preparations. Undoubtedly he had seen apple seeds and seedlings prosper at Port Royal; there is no other reasonable conclusion.

“Jesuit Relations” provide confirmation that the beginning of American orcharding was at Port Royal, Acadia and they fix the approximate date of apple plantings as 1606. (N. S. Historical Society, Vol. 23). Writing in 1612, surveying conditions at Port Royal, noted in a visit in 1610, it is stated:—“Several others were engaged in agriculture, the business of prime importance. They have now, I suppose, reaped the harvest thereof, except that of the trees they planted, which are not so prompt in bearing.”

It requires 10 to 12 years for apple trees to produce fruit. Reading between the lines of “Relations” it is possible to decide with accuracy that the first apple trees planted in America that grew, were at Port Royal, Acadia, and not later than 1606, when Baron de Poutrincourt made a second trip westward specifically to undertake agricultural development, to help render inhabitants of Acadia self-contained in the matter of staple articles of food.

After the restoration of Acadia to France in 1632, the territory was divided between three Governors—Denys, La Tour and Razilly. Denys was a capable administrator and remained in the country many years. At Paris, Denys published a valuable book on the natural resources of Acadia. At LaHave, Nova Scotia, 1635, it is noted, “a missionary had a beautiful garden, in which were to be found several apple and pear trees, all well rooted and in healthy condition.” There is little doubt these trees were supplied from Port Royal.

At Nepisiguit, (Bathurst) Denys reported, “seeds of pears and apples have come up and are well established, although this is the coldest place that I know.”

Apples were growing at a number of places after 1655. Cadillac, founder of Detroit, wrote that in 1689 Beaubassin orchards had been stocked from Port Royal. Abbe Casgrain remarks:—“Towards the end of the 17th century, fruit trees constituted one of the main resources of the country.” Pierre Martin, Port Royal, imported improved strains in 1633 for distribution.

The second page of Massachusetts Company Journal March 16, 1628, eight years after the landing at Plymouth Rock, lists materials to be sent to New England. Among others are:—“Seeds and stones of fruits, pears, apples, quince, kernels, pome granate.”

Introductory pages of an official Virginia Bulletin records that in 1607 the first settlers planted seeds of foreign fruits around their cabins. “In 1622 the London Company forwarded scions of fruit trees, which were rapidly disseminated throughout the settlements. By 1647 the apple was quite widely grafted upon the wild native crab stock.”

Earliest Pennsylvania horticultural information coincides with William Penn’s activity in 1683, although Swedish colonies at the southeastern division of the State were older. Governor Stuyvesant, “planted the first orchard in New York in 1647.”

Apple production in North America in 1935 was 35,000,000 barrels, or 100,000,000 bushels. 15 per cent of the continental total is Canadian, while one third of the Dominion apple crop is Nova Scotian.

Acadian orchard acreage ten generations back was possibly ten or twenty arpents, which has expanded to 45,000 acres in Annapolis Valley in this year of grace. An apple tree census in 1688 gave a total of 2,000 trees, which is now a forest of 2,250,000 trees. There is annually exported a “harvest” of 2,000,000 barrels of apples of commercial grade, contrasting with “seed-time” in 1606.

Early development of Nova Scotia coal mines, by an energetic British company, is responsible for the construction of two short coal railroads in 1826-1828, which confer chronological primacy on Nova Scotia or “Acadia,” in the Canadian railway field. “Acadian” railroads rank with the oldest anywhere. A royal monopoly of mines prompted the Nova Scotia coal undertaking, in order to provide pocket-money for the King’s gay brother, the Duke of York. Incidentally this seems to have been the beginning of private mining “royalty” contracts in the American investment sphere.

wrote Erasmus Darwin in 1781. In 1766 stage-coaches connected Philadelphia and New York, “with seats set on springs” and were called “flying machines.” For centuries there had been little advance in wheeled carriages. An Act of Nova Scotia legislature, 1767, imposed a heavy duty on any that should be imported, which was extended in 1780. Light vehicles or cabriolets appeared in 1823.

The London omnibus July 1829 between Paddington and the Bank of England was a novelty. According to unofficial authority September 1824 witnessed the first railway of the world—conversion of the British Stockton and Darlington road from horse-tram to steam. An engine with upright boiler driven by George Stephenson, with signalman riding ahead on horseback, hauled thirty-seven wagons, sand and coal, with gross weight of 90 tons, a distance of 31 miles, at maximum rate of 15 miles per hour on favorable stretches. A daily coach was added to the service carrying six inside and fifteen outside passengers.

In 1826 Monklands Railway, Scotland, adopted steam. In 1830 Baltimore and Ohio railway, which had been organized to compete against New York and Erie Canal for western business, was opened with horses and iron-strap rails as far as Ellicott’s Mills, 14 miles. Construction had been commenced July 4, 1828, with a Masonic parade followed by fireworks in the evening. Steam partly displaced dobbin on B. & O. in 1831. Belgium entered the railway picture in 1837 and France in 1839.

Standard reference books contain the following railway information:—

The quotation is mildly in error. Canada’s “First Railways” are at Pictou, and North Sydney, Nova Scotia, both installed to expand a coal and steel industry that now employs 20,000 men.

Acadia or Nova Scotia coal mines contain several billion tons of reserve fuel of excellent quality, the only tidewater deposits on the Atlantic seaboard of North America.

Nova Scotia’s coal railways were first to adopt standard gauge, 4 feet 8½ inches. They were built in 1827 and 1828 at the instance of General Mining Association of London. These short roads were likely the first railways in America with all-iron rails, cast in five-foot lengths, on the ground.

Ancient “Acadian” locomotives—“Samson” left, built by Timothy Hackworth in 1838, was shipped by sailing vessel to Nova Scotia. Old drawing reproduced at top shows “Samson” was primarily a wood-burner. “Albion” right, 1842, is the first coal burner in Canada. These veterans were the first in America to operate on all-iron rails, cast on the spot. See Page 262.

At Laprairie “snake rails” were employed—long wooden timbers spiked on top with flat iron bars two inches wide and three quarters of an inch thick. Baltimore & Ohio Railway used strap rails until 1835, iron bars on wood at the start and stone base later. These iron bars had a tendency to work loose and curl round the axle, bringing the “train” to a halt.

As a rule, minerals, under the soil, do not run with the land. They are reserved to the Crown, which today means the Government. But in 1825, with or without ministerial approval, King George IV gave his brother Frederick, Duke of York, a lease of all unworked mines and minerals in Nova Scotia covering an area of 21,000 square miles a territory the size of Belgium and Holland combined. The Duke transferred the concession to Rundell, Bridge and Rundell, court goldsmiths, to operate on royalty. General Mining Association was incorporated for the purpose with £274,690 paid in capital, and became the first joint stock company in coal mining in Canada.

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An engineer, C. B. Backwell, was at once sent to Nova Scotia to look for copper, without success, but found much coal and recommended vigorous coal mining. Competent colliery engineers Richard Smith and Richard Brown, were despatched to Nova Scotia from 1826 to 1835. From time to time they submitted plans for aggressive coal extraction and were authorized to proceed. Labor conditions and mine equipment in small Nova Scotia were primitive. The coal output was negligible.

Under new management timbered shafts were sunk. Hoisting and pumping engines were imported to replace horse gins, which in the language of the day first “brought into successful requisition in Canada the immense power of steam.” Workshops and dwellings were erected and trained miners brought from England.

As the nearest foundry was 800 miles distant a machine shop and foundry were established. Local iron ore and flux were found available for light castings. A shipping railway, with oxen and horses, was built at Stellarton, another at Sydney Mines.

All-iron rails were soon used, some of them cast on the ground, perhaps the earliest in America. Coal cars that tapered at both ends were provided and export trade inaugurated. Increasing demand necessitated better loading facilities.

In 1834 it was decided to extend Sydney Mines railway to Deep Water at North Sydney where larger vessels could take coal without lighterage. In 1836 the shallow water terminus of Stellarton railway at Abercrombie was also moved three miles to deeper water. In both cases tracks were re-laid with rolled rails of “fish belly” type brought from England by steam ship “Cape Breton” which arrived at North Sydney, August 4, 1833. Part of the cargo of machinery and rails was landed at North Sydney and the remainder conveyed to Pictou. Railway alterations are said to have cost £30,000.

In 1837 a representative of the coal company went from Nova Scotia to England to procure locomotives. In 1838 three efficient engines were built to order at Stockton and Darlington shops. They were Hackworth engines on the model of “Sans Pareil” that had competed against Stephenson’s “Rocket” in the famous Rainhall Trials and won second place.

The Nova Scotia locomotives “Samson,” “Hercules” and “Hibernia” were shipped to Pictou by sailing vessel early in 1839 and were the first to run on all-iron rails in British North America. They were followed by the “Albion” and the “Pictou.” Why the name “Hibernia” was bracketed with the two Titans is not explained.

A public “opening” of the improved nine-mile Pictou railway took place. Teams and small river steamers brought people from miles around. The gaily decorated and much admired locomotives hauled several trains of wagons with visitors from New Glasgow to the coal mines and back. In all 1,000 made the round trip. A procession followed composed of local trades, Masonic and Fraternal societies, Volunteer Artillery, mounted visitors, pipers, bands and banners. 800 marched.

The railway celebration wound up with feasting and dancing in which local histories state:—“Every fiddle and bagpipes from Cape John to the Garden of Eden contributed.” George Davidson, a Scotch engineer from Newcastle, England and David Floyd, skill-fireman from Meath, Ireland, accompanied the Hackworth engines to Nova Scotia and supervised the gala picnic. Peter Crerar, Pictou, Nova Scotia, planned and supervised the reconstruction of the Stellarton railway.

Locomotives “Hercules” and “Hibernia” have disappeared. The “Samson” was exhibited at World’s Fair, Chicago, 1893, St. Louis Fair, 1904 and “Fair of the Iron Horse” at Baltimore 1927 at the centenary of B. & O. incorporation. The “Samson” was returned to Nova Scotia in 1928 and is exhibited at Canadian National Railway station, Halifax, with another antique, the “Albion.” The “Samson,” with wooden frame, is 20 feet long and 14 feet high, including stack. There was no cab, the engine crew were exposed.

The Samson—at first a wood-burner on a coal road—was “fired” from the rear, where the stack is located. In an illustration in this book the driver is seen at the front alongside the upright cylinders. The headlight was an iron basket suspended in front in which faggots were burned at night, being forerunner of present electric beam. A pail of sand hung at each end. Sand was thrown on rails if the locomotive slipped, the driver attending to this going ahead, while the fireman at the opposite end officiated if the train was backing.

Some years later, “Acadia,” an upholstered railway coach for first class passengers built in England by Hackworth, with side-entrance, was ordered for Stellarton-New Glasgow-Pictou service then conducted by Nova Scotia Coal and Iron Company. The coach was billed to Halifax in a Cunard steamship in which a new Governor for Nova Scotia was a passenger.

Tradition states the Governor was married soon after arrival. Railway owners tendered the exclusive use of the railway coach to convey the bridal party on a honeymoon trip to a country resort and it consequently became known as the “bride’s coach” with a legend attached that any unmarried lady who could sit in the car ten minutes without speaking was certain to be wedded within a year.

“Acadia” coach was not always lucky. On July 28, 1862, there was a collision near Abercrombie where a miner’s picnic was in progress. Miss Jane Smith, riding in the “bride’s coach” was fatally injured.

This quaint railway coach accompanied the locomotive “Samson” to Chicago and Baltimore, but has been retained by Baltimore and Ohio Railway Company and is displayed at Halethorpe, Baltimore, where many originals and models of old railway rolling stock have been assembled.

It is suggested St. John’s and Laprairie line operated the first “passenger trains” in Canada, which is measurably correct, but passengers were apparently regularly carried on the early Nova Scotia coal roads in 1834 and 1835 when the rails were extended to deep water, especially at North Sydney.

The locomotive “Albion” sent to Nova Scotia in 1842 was probably a coal burner from the start, the first in Canada. Baltimore & Ohio railway bought the “Samson” and “Albion” in a junk shop in Halifax in 1878 and kept them 50 years, which accounts for their preservation.

The title of this item could be the subject of a work of art. The two basic occupations, agriculture and milling, bulk large in economy. Normally in Canada these industries represent Five Billion National Wealth and are accountable for One Billion annual income and directly engage thirty per cent, including dependents, of the population.

The inception of definite Canadian—possibly American—cultivation and harvesting by white people is traced to Port Royal (Annapolis Royal), Acadia, 300 years ago. This event has been marked by a bronze birth certificate at Annapolis Royal, former French capital of Acadia, Nova Scotia.

A Memorial Tablet at Annapolis Royal, attached to a weather-beaten mill stone of Evangeline’s people, testifies that planting and milling—harvesting is implied—were initiated at Port Royal in early days. These Acadian pastoral beginnings are the germ of the huge Canadian and American grain traffic, which comprehends a considerable slice of the commercial life of the continent. The inscription on the plaque at Annapolis Royal, has no duplicate in North America. The Annapolis birth-stone reads:—

Tillage was practised by aborigines of America and had made progress in several lines, such as corn and tobacco, previous to the coming of Europeans, but did not include the staple article of human diet—wheat.

The bread grain was unknown on the Western Continent and is singled out for mention on the Annapolis memorial as a symbol of the harbinger of civilization in a vast new land. In this action, sponsors of the Annapolis grain tablet demonstrate professional appreciation of the primary importance of wheat.

The journal of Samuel de Champlain supplies details of initial gardens at Port Royal and there is a reference to what is apparently America’s first Agricultural Experiment Station.

“In 1605,” it is related, “40 or 45 who stayed, began to make gardens. I, also, made one which I surrounded with ditches full of water, wherein I placed fine trout. The seeds throve well.”

Water from a brook was carried to the ditches through a sluice-way and then distributed over the garden. Irrigation in deforested and dried-out areas was introduced by this man of vision, and stocking pools with game fish instituted. Different crops tried at Port Royal in 1605 were a success and the land has been yielding values ever since.

De Monts expedition of 1604 to Acadia numbered several prominent men who wished to see the country first-hand. Sieur de Poutrincourt was struck with Acadian charm and agricultural possibilities and secured from De Monts a pledge of the Port Royal section, expressly to undertake settlement, intimating he might take his own family there to live, if nothing interfered.

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Poutrincourt was North America’s first landed proprietor to be interested in fostering practical cultivation. In the fall of 1604 the Baron repaired to France to arrange for implements, building material, seeds, nursery, stock, farm animals, provisions, colonists, stores.

It was July, 1606, when the concessionaire got back to Port Royal with helpers, equipment and supplies for active farming and soil testing. Marc Lescarbot, Paris advocate and First Historian of New France, was a member of this party. He planned to “spy out” and write up the Land of Promise which Poutrincourt had painted.

Another Parisian at Port Royal in 1606, was Louis Hebert, first resident apothecary and herbalist in United States and Canada. Acadia impressed Hebert, who left in 1607 with others at the revoking of De Monts’ exclusive charter, but went back again to Port Royal from France in 1610. Later, probably 1614, owing to military insecurity and the commencement of prolonged hostilities between France and England, Louis Hebert once more left Acadia and returned to France, but the lure of the west was too strong to resist.

In 1617 the pioneer apothecary settled in Quebec, where his worth has been remembered with a monument in the centre of the old fortress city, erected as a tribute to Canada’s first practical farmer. As indicated, Hebert’s agricultural experience commenced at Port Royal, Acadia, and this is where Cadillac, founder of Detroit and godfather of a limousine also came to America.

The curious circumstance has been noted that Hebert, an educated man and concerned in soil testing at Port Royal, apparently left no written accounts, which is just one of several missing links in early Acadian records from 1610 to 1630 that call for research covering this critical period of concurrent British settlement in New England and Virginia.

There is a mistaken opinion Port Royal and Acadia were abandoned for a baker’s dozen years. Discovery of a communication from younger Biencourt (Poutrincourt) addressed to the Municipal authorities of Paris regarding a regular fish supply for citizens, dated September 1, 1618, Port Royal, is evidence to the contrary.

Clearing of land at Port Royal was taken up in July 1606, after Poutrincourt contingent were settled. Seeding occurred the first week of August, sometimes by “moonlight” to make up for lost spring-time. Hedges were required to keep the hogs out of the tilled ground, and this is one of the first references known regarding regular importation and breeding of swine.

It is observed there was only one sheep at Port Royal, the other “mutton” having been lost overboard in 1604 at Port Moutoun, Nova Scotia, a seaside resort, which enjoys the distinction of being the first harbour named for a European farm-animal.

The 1606 Port Royal grain proved “very forward” and advance preparations were laid out for larger seeding in the spring of 1607. A stream was dammed for power, to save the hard work grinding grain with hand-stones. The Indians would not assist in this labor, though they highly appraised and coveted white bread.

The first powered grist mill known to have functioned in America was established at Port Royal, Acadia, in 1606, new style, and the resulting high grade “Acadian” brand flour was a forerunner of the output of Minneapolis, Montreal, and Ontario mills. The Annapolis Royal flour-mill first in America to handle northern wheat, was enlarged in 1610 and produced America’s first and finest bread flour.

In 1607, the literateur, Lescarbot, praised fair Acadia:—“It is a land of promise, more than the treasures of Atahualpa and not to be excelled anywhere. God hath blessed our labors and given us fair wheat, rye, barley, oats, peas, beans, hemp, turnips, herbs and this so plentifully the rye was as high as the tallest man.” The glowing description is what would be expected from a psalmiste, rather than a “frondeur” and is suggestive of the superior quality of early Acadian crops.

Lescarbot commented on the first humming-bird he had ever seen. This iridescent American product, with variegated plumage, builds nests which fairies could not surpass. Spanish writers had reported this exquisite American denizen under different names, the commonest was “paxaro musquito.” Lescarbot in “Acadia” was perhaps the first to coin the phrase, humming-bird.

It was noted the woods at Port Royal abounded in all sorts of flowers and edible fruits, while fish and game were astonishingly plentiful. The glory of the “Acadian” Indian summer was a revelation to Parisians.

As soon as 1607 Port Royal crops were sufficiently advanced, Sieur de Poutrincourt sailed for France to enlist additional colonization and was the first to carry commercial samples of Canadian and American products, grown on his own land to Europe. Special packages were made up for the King.

Henry IV was delighted with the evidence of the fertility of transatlantic “Arcadia.” American agricultural capacity was essentially an unknown quantity. Court circles were aware of inexhaustible Acadian sea fisheries and of rich peltries and now received a demonstration of the superior character of soil and timber supplies in France’s Western Empire.

It was no ordinary “capital prize” or “exhibition premium” that the King was moved to bestow, in gratification for the agricultural display from distant Acadia. It is a fair inference that Port Royal farm exhibits had much to do with the fresh charter issued there and then to De Monts to plant a colony on the River St. Lawrence and that the founding of Quebec in 1608 was an indirect outcome of plantings at Port Royal. At the same time Poutrincourt’s tentative title to Port Royal district was specially confirmed.

Poutrincourt compared Port Royal samples to the first fruits the Romans dedicated to harvest deities and suggested the Acadian exhibits be placed in a church as a thank-offering. The Baron gave the King five wild Acadian geese, hatched from eggs, which were placed in the royal gardens at Fontainebleau.

Champlain was transferred to Quebec in 1608 and the fluent lawyer, Lescarbot, remained in France after 1607, and penned a history of Acadian experiences, extolling the unrivalled possibilities of American development. Yet Voltaire 150 years later cynically declared France’s transatlantic possessions were, “a few acres of snow, not worth attention.”

It was 1610 before Poutrincourt and friends, including Hebert, again reached Port Royal and resumed farming activity. Horses excited the wonderment of natives. Without warning and while France and England were friendly, in 1613, the Virginian adventurer, Argall, attacked and plundered Port Royal, prosperous capital of Acadia. As many buildings as possible were destroyed and Argall carried off, “horses, colts and a goodly number of swine”.

The courtly Poutrincourt was personally discouraged and gave up. He enlisted in the army and fell in battle December 5, 1615.

The first monument placed in St. Paul’s church, Halifax, the Westminster Abbey of America, an imported stone that cost £80 and was erected to the memory of Major General Charles Lawrence, Governor of Nova Scotia, has disappeared. History says a solemn state funeral—the first in Canada—was held. 4,000 Army and Navy, with bands and a concourse of Indians and citizens paraded. Minute guns were fired. Clergy and members of legislature wore cambric bands. Orphans chanted at the church door. Lawrence was 51, never sick, 6 feet 2, soldiered in several countries.

At a big ball at Government House, October 11, 1760, the bachelor host danced and drank ice-water, was seized with cramps and died in a week. The missing monument was set up in 1762. In 1768, during church repairs, the Lawrence slab, with elaborate inscription, was locked in an outbuilding and stolen. The shaft was partly traced to Boston and never recovered. Lawrence was identified with “Expulsion of Acadians” and combatted powerful smuggling rings. His name is also associated with the first Assembly in Canada. It has been suggested, perhaps the stone did not reach Halifax from England in the first place, having been lost at sea, but the funds were voted by the Legislature and were paid.

The French Royal Commission authorizing Jacques Cartier’s voyage to the Gulf of St. Lawrence in 1534 has not been found and precise terms are not known. Cartier was born 1491 at St. Malo. While quite young he attracted attention in seafaring and was raised to Pilot at a comparatively early age. It is inferred that Cartier was in Brazil in Portuguese employ and may have accompanied Verrazano in skirting the Acadian coast in 1524.

The 400th anniversary of Jacques Cartier’s landfall in Canada (Acadia) June 30-July 1, 1534, at Prince Edward Island and Gaspe was commemorated in Canada, August 1934 with an international celebration, commencing in Prince Edward Island and extending to Gaspe, Quebec, Montreal, Ottawa, Toronto, with side trips to Grand Pre, Nova Scotia and other points of interest.

The opening Acadian proceedings, August 24, 1934, at Charlottetown were attended by representatives of the Governments of France, Great Britain, United States, Newfoundland, Dominion of Canada and of Canadian provinces. Delegates were present from various organizations, institutions and societies.

Previous Cartier exercises, were conducted in France at St. Malo by Municipal and National Departments. A monument to Cartier was erected at St. Malo and a bust was set up at Place du Canada, Paris.

From France in 1934, the chartered French Line steamship “Champlain,” 16,000 tons, following westward the track Cartier had taken with 60 ton barques, conveyed 800 French visitors, both sexes to Canada to join in the Cartier fetes, perhaps the largest European contingent ever to cross the Atlantic on an historic mission.

Cruise liner “Champlain” was convoyed by French warship “Vouquelin” and was joined in Canadian waters by additional warships “d’Entrecasteau” and “Ville D’Ys.”

At Charlottetown harbor, August 24, 1934, the French squadron were greeted by a shore battery at Victoria Park, and overhead seaplanes showered crowded decks of liner “Champlain” with flowers.

Pierre Etienne Flandin, French Minister of Public Works, headed the “Champlain” party. Universities of Paris, Lyons, Montpellier, Bordeaux, Algiers, Marseilles, Nantes, Strasbourg, the Beaux-Arts, numerous schools and Academies sent delegates. A number of Mayors and Municipal Councillors attended, including the Mayor of St. Malo. The French Bar Society, Medical Congress, Automobile Club, Scouts, Chambers of Commerce, Newspaper Agencies, Art Clubs, French Railways, Steamship Associations of France, were represented.

The Governor General of Algiers, the Marquis of Montcalm, Due de Levis-Mirepoix, Prince de Robach were among the many members of nobility who attended. Father Boissard was present on behalf of Cardinal Verdier, Archbishop of Paris.

Hon. Warren Delano Robbins attended for the United States and Rt. Hon. H. A. L. Fisher, British Minister of Education from Great Britain.

At Charlottetown a cairn was established by Historic Sites and Monuments Board, commemorating bi-lingually, “the 400th Anniversary of the Landing of Jacques Cartier on this Island.” Dr. J. C. Webster, representing Historic Sites Board, presided at the unveiling. Hon. George D. DeBlois, Lieutenant Governor of Prince Edward Island, issued a welcome in French and English.

The phrase, “Garden of the Gulf,” commonly applied to P. E. Island is justified by Cartier’s description in 1534:—“All the land is low and plain and the fairest that may possibly be seen, full of goodly meadows and trees. . . . The soil is very rich and covered with peas, white and red gooseberry bushes, strawberries, raspberries and wild oats like rye, which one would say had been sown there and tilled.” Cartier thought this was a part of the mainland.

The first mention of Prince Edward Island as an “Island” was by Champlain in 1603, from hearsay of fishermen. The first map showing an island clearly is 1632.

From 1534 to 1543 Cartier and Roberval made several voyages to the St. Lawrence but did not establish a colony.

. . . this was the command of the King of France to Jacques Cartier, the navigator of Saint-Malo in 1534.

As Royal Commissioner, Cartier was the first to explore the Gulf of St. Lawrence, where two particular landings were made—The first at Prince Edward Island (Ile St. Jean), June 29, 1534, the other at Gaspe, July 2, 1534. A Cross was left at Gaspe, with the Arms of Francis I of France. In the official report, Ile St. Jean is described as a “land of delight, the fairest land that may possibly be seen, full of goodly meadows and trees.” The artist’s sketch of the St. Malo navigators “Acadian” landings at P. E. Island and Gaspe is reproduced with permission of Royal Trust Co., Montreal.

The lighthouse erected 1731-1733 by the French Government at Louisburg, was not only the first in Canada, but also the earliest fireproof concrete building in North America. The Louisburg structure was a tapering tower, 66 feet high, on an elevated knoll at the harbor entrance, with four set-backs or terraces at regular heights. Light streamed from the lantern-beacon in April, 1734, which was produced by open burning of coal from neighboring mines.

A fire in 1736 destroyed part of the cupola. The damage was repaired and primitive oil illumination was installed. Glass was added to the lantern-hood in 1737. Original Louisburg lighthouse walls were six feet thick at the base. The material in the monolith tower was lime, slacked six to twelve months, and mixed with another substance that has not been identified, making a product, perhaps Roman cement, equal to present Portland cement of commerce, which was not developed until 1824.

Boston light is older than Louisbourg. Boston lighthouse was authorized by General Court in 1713 and completed in 1716 in stone. The first Eddystone lighthouse of 1698 was stone, the second in 1709 was oak incased in stone, and the third tower in 1756 was stone. Many ancient buildings in Spanish America are adobe, or masonry laid up in mortar.

The Louisbourg lighthouse was severely damaged in the two sieges of 1745 and 1758. In 1842 a new and larger building, including living quarters, was raised on an adjoining site. Lawrence Kavanagh, a figure in political annals of Cape Breton, was keeper until superannuated in 1889. In 1923 the building was burned.

In 1934 a concrete lighthouse was erected by the Canadian Government on the old ruins. Imbedded in the wall is a lead tablet, salvaged from the original building, certifying the first Louisbourg lighthouse was constructed in the reign and at the order of Louis XV, to aid shipping and as part of plans to make Louisburg a naval and military base and business emporium.

The “dream city” Louisbourg is being restored in part by Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada.

Royal Louisburg was twice captured by British forces, the first capitulation to New England militia in 1745 cost the English Government £235,749, 2 shillings, 10 pence, which was conveyed to Boston in hard cash, silver and copper, in H. M. S. “Mermaid,” when one metal pound sterling was worth 10 pounds, old Boston currency.

By the terms of peace of 1748 the “Dunkirk of America” was restored to France. On the occasion of the recapture of the fortress in 1758 William Pitt took effective steps to prevent a repetition. Without waiting for completion of negotiations leading up to Treaty of Paris of 1763, in March 1760 Pitt sent Royal Sappers and Miners in charge of an uncle of Lord Byron, to blow up the towers and walls of gay Louisbourg, “Paris of the New World.” The British garrison, artillery and stores, were transferred to Halifax, built as a rival of Louisburg.

The work of destruction at Louisburg was well done, and the Gibraltar of the New World, which had absorbed forty years and millions of treasure to build, became a heap of ruins. Next year, 1761, the new king, George III, dismissed the War Minister as an obstacle to peace.

View of Louisburg, French stronghold and “Paris of America” in 1731—The first scientifically walled city on the western continent, surrounded also with a wide water-filled moat, crossed by bridges at several gates—The prominent building in the center with flag flying is the King’s Bastion and Barracks. The building with a tower and weather-vane, house of mercy, in the middle left is the hospital—There is no steeple, only a bell tower on the Recollet church adjoining the barracks. On the extreme left is the Lighthouse, completed in 1731, the first lighthouse in Canada—Top left is the French medal struck at the commencement of the City in 1720, the only known contemporary medal in connection with the founding of any American city—Top right is the British medal awarded officers who participated in the final capture of Louisburg in 1758—The rare general picture of Vanished Louisburg, is due to courtesy of Mr. Albert Almon Glace Bay, Nova Scotia. The medal illustrations, are the property of the Nova Scotia Government Information Bureau.

There is romance in the establishment and disappearance of America’s first formal Zoological Garden located in Nova Scotia or Acadia.

In “Forest and Stream” (now “Field and Stream”) January 4, 1893, Charles Hallock, founder of that charming out-of-door publication recounts a description of “The First American Zoo,” which he visited 30 years earlier at Northwest Arm, Halifax, Nova Scotia, a remarkable institution for the time, which Canada might revive in Acadia as a public undertaking and permanent exhibition of the wild bird, beast and fish life of the Dominion.

The once-famed Halifax menagerie was the individual work of Andrew Downs, a plumber, possessor of inherited genius of high order, a native of New Brunswick, New Jersey, whose parents, Scots, migrated from New Jersey to Nova Scotia in 1825, when the future scientist was 14 years of age.

Downs’ humble birth and self-taught mastery of Zoology may be likened to Burns’ distinction in another field. Downs’ Zoological Gardens at Halifax were commenced in 1847. Central Park Zoo, New York, dates from 1853, Chicago 1868, Philadelphia 1874, Cincinnati, 1875, Brooklyn 1885, Baltimore and Syracuse 1886, Washington, D. C., Denver 1890, St. Paul 1895, Los Angeles 1896, Atlanta, Ga., Bronx, 1898, Boston 1911.

The Downs Zoo at Halifax consisted of five acres at the start and in 15 years had expanded to 100 acres of grounds, enclosures and buildings, comprising, in addition to animals, a fine horticultural premises with a museum of stuffed birds and animals. The Zoo division was stocked with fowls, parrots, pigeons, pheasants, peacocks, ostriches, monkeys, beavers, seals, mink, otter, deer, caribou, foxes, wolves, leopards, tigers, snakes, lizards, walrus—birds, fish, beasts, reptiles from the four corners of the globe, assembled largely through the medium of vanished fleets of white-winged merchant ships of the Maritime Provinces of Canada which formerly traded in the Seven Seas. Officers of the army and navy moving to different stations sent contributions.

The unique Downs estate at Halifax was diversified with fountains, cascades, ponds, statuary, ornamental trees and serpentine paths and the fame of the project attracted eminent travellers and placed the proprietor, Downs, in communication with learned men and societies in different countries.

A Downs exhibit of stuffed birds at Paris, 1867, was awarded a silver medal and prompted a critical article on the Halifax Zoo from the pen of Sir Wyville Thomson, naturalist, in Illustrated London News. Awards for taxidermy were won at Dublin, London and Birmingham exhibitions. Downs is said to have shipped 800 mounted moose heads from Nova Scotia and New Brunswick to European Monarchs, country residences and private collections.

Andrew Downs was a guest of Charles Watterton at Walton Hall, England, and also met John J. Audubon, the American. Downs was a corresponding member of London Zoological Society, wrote papers on birds and natural history and regularly exchanged letters with prominent people interested in zoology on both sides of the Atlantic.

On Downs’ first voyage to the Old Country, the naturalist was extended a complimentary passage on a British war vessel, with several consignments of stuffed and living birds and animals intended for the London Zoo and for King Victor Emmanuel’s acclimatization garden at Pisa.

The Prince of Wales, Sir Richard Grant, explorer, Prince Jerome Napoleon, Professor Spencer F. Baird of Smithsonian Institution, and a daughter of the King of Italy are a few of many recorded visitors at Halifax Zoological Gardens.

It is stated Professor Baird in 1867 recommended Andrew Downs as superintendent of Central Park Zoo, New York, and that Downs sold his valuable property in Halifax and removed to New York, but only held the Central Park position three months through a disagreement with the Park Commissioner and resigned and returned to Halifax.

No attempt seems to have been made to revive the Halifax zoological plant. The originator of the “First American Zoo” appears to have lived quietly, maintaining a connection with foreign societies and died 1892 at Halifax. Downs’ attainments threaten to be forgotten.

Park Commissioner Robert Moses, New York, writing December 17, 1935, reports there is:—“No mention of Andrew Downs in papers of the Park Department, proceedings of the Board of Aldermen or in Valentine’s Manual for the years mentioned.”

So far as known, Louisburg, Nova Scotia, was the first scientifically walled city in North America and the only city on the American continent for which a contemporary medal was struck at foundation, though a medal was issued at the settlement of Maryland, another at the failure of an assault on Quebec in 1690 and a medal commemorated the capture of Louisburg in 1758. Numerous medals have been struck at subsequent civic centennials.

Massive Louisburg walls were 30 feet high, strengthened with armed bastions, protected by a moat 80 feet in width, gates and bridges and extended across the neck of a point of land projecting into the bay, on which the city was built.

City and fortifications were commenced in 1713 and completed about 1733 at an expenditure by the French Government estimated at 30 million livres, and was named for the reigning Sovereign, who sponsored the work.

Differing from most early American narrow street lay-outs, Louisburg was regularly marked off in rectangular blocks, with small parks, and thirteen intersecting streets and avenues, seven north and south, six east and west, lined with trees.

Hospital, churches, convent, school, Government House, barracks, Citadel were local cut stone, with imported stone trimmings. Dwellings were brick and frame. Population at times is said to have reached 15,000 inclusive of garrison, navy and shipping. There were 10,000 at the capitulation, in 1758, who were furnished transportation to Europe or Quebec.

The meteoric career of the gay new French capital of “Acadia” terminated abruptly at the final capture in 1758, when garrison and citizens were evacuated by agreement. Louisburg was reduced to ruins at an outlay of £30,000. Bells, stones, mantles, crosses, doors, clocks, inscriptions, arms, and other souvenirs are scattered far and wide. Ordnance and flags were conveyed to London in triumph.

The “blessed” Saint Louis bell of Louisburg now at Old St. John’s church, Portsmouth, New Hampshire is occasionally heard on the radio:—

Over a door at Gore Hall, Harvard University is a gilt cross from Louisburg’s grass-grown battlements.

At the first conquest of Louisburg in 1745 by New England militia, 1,200 Americans lost their lives, principally from epidemic after the siege and are interred in the old cemetery, which the official American Battle Monument Commission are unable to recognize, the event having antedated the War of Independence. The American Society of Colonial Wars have erected a monument of general significance on the site of the vanished “Walled Paris of America,” which Louis XV, Le Bien Aime, pictured in “Voltaire” vainly expected looking from palace casements to see rising in splendour above the western horizon.

Nova Scotia (including New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, Cape Breton, part of Quebec, Newfoundland and Maine) was the first province of Canada to appoint an Agent General in London, out of which has grown the office of High Commissioner for Canada.

By resolution of Nova Scotia Assembly, April 23, 1762, Joshua Mauger, was accredited. He was to receive instructions from the Speaker of the Assembly and was to represent the Province before the King, Parliament, business interests and Courts. Mauger was the son of a London Jewish merchant, who had engaged in trading between the French West Indies and Jamaica at a time when Jews were made welcome in French dominions everywhere.

Mauger operated three vessels manned by slaves, captain and crew all black, most of them educated by Mauger himself. About 1740, headquarters were transferred to Louisburg and cargoes of fish shipped to Boston, New York, West Indies and Mediterranean. In 1749, the new city of Halifax became head-centre and a license obtained to conduct a brewery and distill liquor for the troops and fleet. Distributing branches at inland points debauched Indians and half-breeds.

Mauger secured a grant of Cornwallis island (McNabs) at the entrance of Halifax harbour, which was commonly considered a smuggler’s den, and there was friction with port authorities. “For years,” writes James S. Macdonald in transactions of Nova Scotia Historical Society, “Mauger held the unenviable notoriety of King of the Smugglers in North America,” and accumulated a large fortune. The merchant staged a farewell voyage to the West Indies, sold vessels and crew, closed all business in Halifax and settled in London, where he entertained in princely style and became a political power, one of the prominent men of Jewish extraction in Europe. He acquired a seat in Parliament from Bristol and looked after Nova Scotia affairs from 1762 to 1768, then resigned through ill-health and age. As only daughter married Duc de Bouillon, member of the proudest French nobility.

After Mauger’s death, the Halifax rum fortune of £300,000, equal to £1,000,000 at present, was squandered in luxury in Paris by the noble de Bouillon, who with his wife, were among the earliest victims of the guillotine.

In 1780 Hon. Richard Bulkeley, Provincial Secretary of Nova Scotia for a half century, estimated the Government had lost upwards of £400,000 revenue through wholesale smuggling—an amount nearly equal to the British Government’s total first cost of bringing Halifax into existence.

All American colonies found it policy to have a resident agent at the British capital rather than occasional visits or correspondence. Edmund Burke represented New York, Rev. Increase Mather acted for Massachusetts and Benjamin Franklin functioned for Pennsylvania. In 1764 Grenville, the Prime Minister, at a meeting of colonial agents, with Mauger present, reported the war with France had involved £73,000,000 national debt and it was intended to collect a portion of the burden from the colonies with a stamp duty.

Agents were requested to write their respective assemblies for instructions. The colonies said they were willing to help through negotiation, but not through the medium of an Imperial enactment. Despite protests the obnoxious Colonial Stamp Act was passed. Stamped paper was boycotted in practically all the other American colonies, but was used in Nova Scotia.

In London soon after the capture of Quebec, Franklin handed a personal letter to the British Government which is believed to have contributed to the decision to retain Canada. “I have long been of the opinion,” the brilliant Philadelphian stated, “that the foundations of the future grandeur and stability of the British Empire lie in America; and though, like other foundations, they are low and little now, they are nevertheless broad and strong enough to support the greatest political structure that human wisdom ever erected. I am therefore by no means for restoring Canada.”

Richard Cumberland, dramatist, son of a Bishop and grandson of renowned Richard Bentley, succeeded Mauger as Nova Scotia Agent at London.

Indeed Cumberland had preceded Mauger several years in a somewhat similar capacity. He was “King’s Agent” for Nova Scotia, appointed in England and paid by the Crown.

Cumberland had been private secretary to Lord Halifax and explains in an autobiography that he was enabled to marry Miss Elizabeth Ridge in 1759 on receiving through his chief, “a small establishment as crown-agent of Nova Scotia,” as a wedding gift.

Cumberland accompanied the Earl of Halifax (appointed Lord Lieutenant) to Ireland as Ulster secretary, and in acknowledgment of excellent service was offered a baronetcy, which he declined and gave offence, causing the loss of several positions, including the Nova Scotia connection.

It is here that Mauger came into the picture. Several years later, 1768, Cumberland succeeded Mauger as regular Nova Scotia representative and is supposed to have retained the post until 1800, though the Nova Scotia Assembly tried to replace him with Brook Watson in 1783 and with Philip Sansom in 1793.

In 1785 Cumberland reported a long-sought mail service between Canada and Great Britain had been authorized and Falmouth-New York packets would call at Halifax both ways in summer—the start of “All-Red” postal service.

Brook Watson was London Agent for New Brunswick, 1786-1794, in 1784 Member of Parliament for City of London, first Ministerial supporter to win that borough, Director and Deputy Governor of Bank of England, for a term of years. Lord Mayor, 1796, a Baronet, 1806 and died 1807. The last holder of the title, William Ireland Kay, was killed in action in France in 1918, when the baronetcy became extinct.

Watson was the first member of Lloyd’s to attain to the Bow Bells civic distinction associated with Dick Whittington. For a time Sir Brook Watson had been a partner of Joshua Mauger in the wine trade in London. Watson was born at Plymouth, England, 1735, was sent to Boston an orphan in 1749 to relatives, who had died, and shipped as cabin boy on a vessel going to Havana. While swimming at that harbour a shark bit off the youth’s right leg, which was replaced with a wooden limb. Watson was taken to Chignecto, Nova Scotia, 1750, as an apprentice in business and gradually distinguished himself at Halifax, Boston, New York, Quebec, London and Amsterdam as a man of affairs.

In 1775, Brook Watson, wooden leg and all, travelled through American colonies, a secret agent of the British Government, to report on popular feeling and is described by American authors as the first Crown “spy” of the Revolution, which is plainly incorrect, as separation was not then contemplated.

The first considerable emancipation of Negroes in America was under a New York proclamation of 1783 by Sir Guy Carleton, afterward Governor General of Canada, guaranteeing freedom to slaves who had escaped to coast ports from Southern plantations and were sent to New York. One Negro corps, the “Black Pioneers,” said to be the first Negro regiment in the British Army, assisted General Howe. At peace, there was consternation among these people at the report they were to be delivered to former owners, some of whom, arriving in New York from Virginia and the Carolinas, attempted to “seize” living property on the streets. The British Commander-in-Chief intervened with a declaration, faith should be kept with Negroes, who, in seeking refuge within British lines had claimed protection publicly offered by British commanders.

Congress called attention to a clause in the Peace Treaty, which prohibited the removal of slaves or other property of Americans. Carleton, in reply, quoted a decision of Lord Mansfield, 1773, in the case of a slave taken to England from America, that setting foot on English soil, the man was automatically freed.

In a conference, it was agreed the British Government would make a per capita payment for the discharge of the Negroes in question. A list of slaves covered by this arrangement, with names of owners, was prepared and a copy furnished General Washington. The amount was never paid, as stipulations in the Treaty of Versailles, assuring Loyalists compensation for loss of property were disregarded.

The freedom of 2,000 slaves was forthwith proclaimed by Carleton. Each beneficiary was presented with a “Liberty” certificate by the Commander-in-Chief. One anecdote regarding the distribution of the precious “papers,” describes a colored man rousing a sleeping comrade with the announcement:—“Wake up Joe, you has shook de Lion’s paw and he’s your friend.”

The Mansfield judgment on slavery, an institution the antiquity of which Noah’s maledictions on Hamm suggests a dating prior to the Flood, gave a definite start to British anti-slavery agitation in reference to Negroes. Wilberforce’s motion in the House of Commons was March 1789.

Carleton’s New York proclamation of 1783 attracted wide interest, especially when freed negroes elected to go to Old Acadia or Nova Scotia, then the “North Star of Freedom” in America. Colored people were conveyed to Halifax and to Saint John (Parrtown). A majority located at Shelburne, Nova Scotia, where they were visited in 1788 by Prince William Henry who was entertained at dinner by Colonel Bluck and officers of the “Pioneers.” John Wesley repeatedly wrote the Shelburne colored colony and planned to see them personally.

In 1787, Sierra Leone colony was organized by Wilberforce, Thomas Clarkson and Macaulay as an African national home for Christian Negroes. In 1791 Lieutenant John Clarkson, R.N., brother of Thomas Clarkson, was delegated to Nova Scotia to arrange a transfer of the freed slaves. After difficult preparations, on January 15, 1792, a fleet of 15 vessels with 1,190 happy Negroes sailed from Halifax under the supervision of Lt. Clarkson. The fleet arrived at Freetown, Sierra Leone, in March, reporting deaths of two captains and sixty passengers. Clarkson became the first Governor of the Sierra Leone experiment.

Robert Thorpe, an Irishman, at one time Chief Justice of Prince Edward Island, and later Puisne Judge of Upper Canada was transferred to the bench in Sierra Leone in 1806. Thorpe lost the position of Chief Justice, through letters printed in London exposing the seamy side of African charity. Zachary Macaulay, father of the historian, and secretary of the African colony, was pilloried in the press for spending £14 on “clothing African boys at school,” while £107 went for a “piece of plate for Mr. Macaulay.” All the big-wigs in London were associated with the Sierra Leone philanthropy and Thorpe was dismissed.

Slavery was never legalized in Nova Scotia, which is also true of several Northern States and of Ontario. It is related a Southern planter applied to a country squire in Vermont for an order for the apprehension of a fugitive. Documents proving title to the slave were produced in Court, but were not satisfactory. The judge was asked what additional evidence would be necessary and specified “a bill of sale from the Almighty.”

In 1787 the Nova Scotia Legislature rejected a bill virtually recognizing slavery, but disguised as an act “for the regulation of servants.” Chief Justice Strange in Nova Scotia Supreme Court 1794 administered a death blow to slave holding in the province in rejecting an application for the arrest of a slave and resting the decision on Mansfield’s ruling of 1773.

In 1776 Strange entered Lincoln’s Inn as a student and received much help from the family’s friend, Lord Mansfield. The Strange decision in Nova Scotia was reflected in other provinces. An immediate local effect was that numerous slaves in Nova Scotia were exported to New England and the West Indies. John Wentworth, baronet and Lieutenant Governor of Nova Scotia, arranged a wholesale baptism of 19 slaves at St. Paul’s church and shipped the lot to a relative in canebrakes of Dutch Guiana. Men were invoiced as trained in carpentry and various trades while the women were reported physically strong and considered fitted to add to the slave population.

In 1689 Louis XIV reluctantly consented to importation of Negroes into New France but advised caution on account of the climate. Slavery was formally abolished in Lower Canada in 1803, which ended the business in Canada.

When the British Imperial Emancipation Act went into operation August 1, 1834, 781,000 slaves were liberated throughout the British Empire and $100,000,000 compensation was distributed. Not a dollar came to Canada.

The first recorded slave sale in Canada was by Sir David Kirke at Quebec, 1628, when a Madagascar boy was sold for “fifty half-crowns.” Kirke was a deputy of Sir William Alexander and had just come from Port Royal, Acadia, where he probably obtained the colored boy. In a French census of Acadia of 1686 there is included in a list of “fifteen souls” at Cape Sable:—“La liberte le neigre.” Slaves were ironically nicknamed “Liberty.”

Churches at first apparently were not hostile to slavery and it was reserved for laymen to inaugurate opposition to this pagan practice. Hallam notes a slave was willed to the “use and benefit of the wardens and vestry of St. Paul’s, Halifax.”

The baptism of slaves was general. There are regular entries in an early parish register of Maugerville, New Brunswick. Rev. Daniel Cock, Truro, Nova Scotia, owned two slaves, mother and daughter, which aroused fiery debate in Presbyterian circles in 1788. To make it clear that Civil and Religious freedom are not the same, in 1781, the legislature of Prince Edward Island passed an Act that baptism of slaves does not release them from human bondage.

It is an unwritten plan of organization which guides the British Commonwealth of Nations!

In 1927 Rt. Hon. Stanley Baldwin was the first Prime Minister of Great Britain to visit North America, while holding office. The Prince of Wales, Prince George, Premier and Mrs. Baldwin went to Canada to the Diamond Jubilee celebration of Canadian Confederation of 1867, the Dominion status of which has become the model of Dominions of the British Empire. In an Imperial agreement of 1921, for instance, it is specified the constitution of the Irish Free State shall be analogous to the Canadian.

As part of Jubilee proceedings at Ottawa July 1, 1927 a carillon of bells was brought into operation at Parliament Buildings, designed to reproduce notes of Big Ben and Westminster Chimes of London. The smallest of fifty-three Canadian bells weighs fifteen pounds and the largest, ten tons. Congratulatory messages were received at Ottawa from Australia, Irish Free State, New Zealand, Newfoundland, South Africa, Austria, Belgium, Czechoslovakia, Denmark, France, Finland, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Netherlands, Peru, Poland, Sweden, Switzerland, Norway.

Colonel Charles A. Lindbergh, heading a squadron of United States Air Force, flew from Washington to Ottawa in recognition by the American Government of the Canadian Jubilee. On August 6, a deferred opening of the Peace Bridge over the Niagara River was attended by the Prince of Wales, Prince George, Charles G. Dawes, Vice-President of the United States, Frank B. Kellogg, U. S. Secretary of State, Governor Alfred E. Smith of New York, Rt. Hon. Stanley Baldwin, Rt. Hon. W. L. Mackenzie King, Hon. G. Howard Ferguson.

At Saint John, August 16, the British Premier referred to the late Andrew Bonar Law:—“Whom I served many years and loved. From December 1916 until his illness and death in 1923, I worked with him in some capacity month by month. The great part Mr. Law played, from the time he joined the Government in the early stages of the War until his retirement, will only be realized by the public at large when the history of that time comes to be written. I think his figure will emerge as one of the greatest of the time.”

Confederation of Canada—Upper picture was taken outside of the Parliament Building, Charlottetown, P. E. Island, when the first Confederation Conference assembled, 1864. Lower photo is a tablet in the Council Chamber, erected 1914. See Page 282.

At attractive Charlottetown, August 16, Mr. Baldwin came into contact with the Legislative Chamber where the first Canadian Confederation Conference took place in 1864. On the 50th anniversary of that gathering in 1914, a bronze mural tablet had been erected, quietly, on account of current hostilities, which reads:

At Halifax, August 18, 1927, the British Premier alluded to the flag on Citadel Hill:—“I notice on the chain of office worn by the Mayor the date 1749. . . . Those were as gloomy and depressing years as Great Britain ever passed through. In those years the City and Port of Halifax stood as sentinels. It was the one spot where the Union Jack was never lowered. It waves now and will wave as long as there is a flag on a flagstaff anywhere in the world.” From 1713 to 1763 Nova Scotia and Hudson Bay were the only parts of present Canada under British sovereignty, which is doubtless what the speaker had in mind.

On Friday, August 19, 1927, Mr. Baldwin and party completed the Canadian tour, and at North Sydney embarked for home on S. S. “Empress of Scotland.” Prime Ministers of Overseas Dominions had frequently been in Great Britain, but this was the initial occasion when the head of the Imperial Government had crossed the Atlantic. Premier J. Ramsay MacDonald later visited President Hoover at Washington, October 1929, to discuss naval armaments and also in a succeeding season went to Nova Scotia for a holiday.

The “first” English Governor in “Acadia,” was Colonel Samuel Vetch, an Ayrshire Scot, who died a prisoner for debt in a London gaol in 1732. Vetch was born 1668.

At Annapolis Royal, Nova Scotia, a monument to Governor Vetch has been erected. Governor Vetch’s grandfather, father, three uncles, a brother and collateral kinsmen were Covenanting clergymen. The father opposed Charles II efforts to suppress Presbyterianism and establish Episcopacy. Sentence of death was passed against him and he fled to Holland.

The subject of this sketch was intended for the ministry, but at the Revolution of 1688 young Vetch accepted a commission in the Cameronian regiment raised by William, Prince of Orange.

Vetch served ten years on the continent and joined Paterson’s ill-starred Darien colony at Panama. The bubble burst and principals moved to American colonies. At New York, December, 1700, Captain Samuel Vetch wedded a daughter of Robert Livingstone, Indian Secretary, and connected with prominent families.

Samuel Vetch and a brother-in-law attracted attention in reported smuggling of wine, brandy and furs from Quebec in exchange for provisions and ammunition.

In 1705 Major Vetch was commissioned by Governor Dudley of Massachusetts to visit Quebec for an exchange of prisoners. The Commissioner kept an eye open for military information and took soundings in St. Lawrence River. In New York, there was further publicity as to illegal trading with French Canada and Vetch is known to have boasted that he was familiar with every foot of the St. Lawrence shore below Quebec. Governor Dudley was said to be a silent partner in the boot-legging.

In 1706 Colonel Vetch was despatched to Port Royal, Acadia, to ransom prisoners. Again Vetch and associates were accused of illicit dealings with M. de Subercase, French Governor of Acadia and Commander at Port Royal. The complaint was investigated by the Massachusetts Assembly, the defendants found guilty and fined £200 each. The sentence was disallowed by authorities in London.

In 1708 Colonel Vetch visited his aged parents at Dumfries, but the principal object of the mission to England was a proposition laid before the Cabinet at Westminster to conquer Acadia, Canada and Newfoundland. The Queen approved and Marlborough endorsed the suggestion. A fleet and 3,000 troops were ordered to be forwarded in the spring of 1709.

A warship was provided to convey Vetch to New York, armed with power to enlist Colonial Governments. Different assemblies were addressed by Vetch in secret session. Vetch intimated that after French Canada had been captured it was the intention to expel the Spaniards from Florida, when “Her Majesty shall be the Empress of the vast North American continent.”

American Colonies entered whole-heartedly. Funds were voted, enlistment authorized, transports chartered and stores and ammunition contracted. Vetch was the hero of the hour.

Concurrent with a naval assault on Quebec, a military contingent was to proceed overland via Lake Champlain. April 10, 1709 was zero hour, but the promised British armament did not arrive, having been diverted to Portugal. Weeks and months of praying, fasting and weary waiting ensued in New England before information was received that the Canadian project had been cancelled.

*          *          *

Colonial forces were dispersed to their homes pending new plans. It was generally believed that Colonel Vetch would be the first Governor General of America.

A Congress of Governors and Delegates was assembled at Rhode Island. Vetch enjoyed the confidence of American authorities to a degree only exceeded by Washington. Colonel Vetch was empowered to proceed to London, along with Colonel Nicholson, to effect another arrangement for concerted action in 1710. It transpired that Nicholson was a secret enemy of Vetch.

In England the Ministry had experienced a change of heart. It was thought the public were war-weary and the Canadian enterprise too great to undertake.

It was agreed, however, in 1710, that an expedition would be sent against Port Royal. British warships and marines arrived at Boston and were joined by transports with New England Volunteers. The combined forces landed at Port Royal, Acadia, September 24, 1710, the first foreign service of Colonial corps. One week later, the Fort surrendered. October 5, 1710, the keys of Port Royal, emblematic of the first step in transfer of continental sovereignty visioned by Vetch, were turned over to Colonel Vetch as special representative.

By Royal Command Colonel Vetch became,—“Governor and Adjutant General, of all Her Majesty’s of Great Britain’s forces, General and Commander-in-Chief of all her troops in these parts and Governor of the Fort of Annapolis Royal and country of L’Accady and Nova Scotia.”

This was the first official use of the name, “Annapolis Royal.” In 1711, Governor Vetch was requested by American Governors to accompany a disastrous Walker naval move against Quebec. A sloop-of-war was sent to Port Royal for Vetch but his suggestions were rejected.

Not a shot was fired, but tremendous loss of life and tonnage overtook the British flotilla in shipwreck and explosion. The Queen and Court went into mourning.

In October 1712, Hon. Samuel Vetch was superseded as Governor of Acadia by Colonel Francis Nicholson and the deposed official charged with profiteering. One allegation accused Vetch of a design to “build a city at Annapolis Royal,” with a view to creating a large trading center. Vetch recommended making Annapolis Royal a “Free Port,” the first in America. Accounts of the Fort were minutely examined. Colonel Vetch went to London and demanded a complete inquiry, with the result he was fully exonerated.

In January 1715 Hon. Samuel Vetch was reinstated Governor of Acadia and Nicholson recalled. Vetch held the position till August, 1717, but resided in London. The death of Queen Anne, in 1714, deprived Vetch of a protector. The services of Colonel Vetch seem to have been forgotten in the ministerial shuffle connected with the accession of the House of Hanover.

There are records of Samuel Vetch applying for compensation for losses and for half-pay allowances. Colonel Vetch died in poverty. Grandsons held commissions in the British Army in the War of Independence. One, Samuel Vetch Bayard, was major in the King’s Orange Rangers. At the peace he settled in Nova Scotia and died at Wilmot, Annapolis, 1832. In 1793 he was Lieutenant Colonel in a Nova Scotia Regiment raised by Governor Wentworth.

Biographies of Rt. Rev. Samuel Seabury, D.D., give scant notice to Bishop Seabury’s visit to Canada—Nova Scotia and New Brunswick—prior to returning to United States following consecration at Aberdeen, Scotland, Sunday, November 14, 1784.

In 1934, the Protestant Episcopal body in the United States celebrated the 150th anniversary of Dr. Seabury’s consecration as Bishop of Connecticut.

The War of Independence severed ecclesiastical connection with the Church of England, so adherents and clergy were faced with a necessity to re-organize the Church in America.

Separate action was taken in Connecticut to secure the appointment of a Bishop. The move had to be private in prevailing unsettlement, as there was no knowing what popular reaction would be.

Dr. Seabury and associates were anxious that American succession should be derived from the mother church. In 1724 Rev. John Talbot, Burlington, N. J. had obtained irregular consecration, but did not exercise episcopal functions and later submitted.

Thousands in the United States had never seen a bishop and Dr. Seabury thought it wise to treat the office with dignity. Full canonicals were procured, including an imposing mitre ordered through a close friend, Rev. Dr. Charles Inglis, London.

At this place, interest in Rt. Rev. Dr. Seabury centres in the circumstance that the first Anglican prelate in the Western Hemisphere first set foot in America, as a Bishop, in Canada, in old Nova Scotia or Acadia.

Bishop Seabury’s first sermon in America, after consecration, was at St. Paul’s church, Halifax. Rt. Rev. Dr. Seabury also assisted at Divine service at Annapolis Royal and preached or read lessons several Sundays at Trinity church in Loyalist Saint John. A letter from Rev. Dr. Breynton, rector of St. Paul’s, Halifax, expresses gratification that the first Episcopal sermon in America had been heard in St. Paul’s, which by coincidence is the oldest Protestant church in Canada.

Rt. Rev. Samuel Seabury was American born, graduate of Yale, native of Connecticut and member of a family numbering four generations in holy orders. Bishop Seabury studied medicine in Edinburgh before entering the ministry and occasionally practiced.

Provisional peace between Great Britain and the Colonies came into force January 20, 1783. The terms reached New York in March. The city was evacuated November 25. Dr. Seabury’s election to the Connecticut Bishopric was March 25, 1783, at Woodbury, Connecticut, the first choice being Rev. Dr. Jeremiah Learning, who declined through ill-health.

On March 21, 1783, eighteen Anglican clergymen signed a memorial to Sir Guy Carleton, New York, recommending a Nova Scotia Episcopate. To fill the post, they nominated Rev. Dr. Thomas Bradbury Chandler, an “American, compelled by the present commotions to take refuge in England.” Inglis, Seabury, Learning are the first three signatures.

Carleton transmitted the Nova Scotia papers, with approval, to London receiving a reply from Lord North, stating Dr. Chandler was favorably known, but it would be necessary to learn the disposition of the laity in Nova Scotia.

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Years afterward a letter of Rev. D. Fogg, a member of the Woodbury Convention, was discovered, stating proceedings had been kept a secret, except to clergy at New York. After consecration, if Connecticut and other States would not accept a bishop it was suggested that Dr. Seabury would be Bishop of Nova Scotia, which Carleton “highly approved.” The clergy instructed Dr. Seabury to go to Scotland, if refused consecration in England. Apparently from this memo Dr. Seabury was really the first elected bishop of Nova Scotia, with Chandler an alternative.

The Bishop Elect of Connecticut sailed June 7, 1783, to endeavour to change, single-handed, a fundamental condition of ministry in the national church of Great Britain,—the Oath of Allegiance—and arrived at London one month later. The Archbishop of York, Bishop of London, Dean of Canterbury and clergy favored eliminating the oath of allegiance. His Grace of Canterbury dissented, stating the Prime Minister would not appoint a bishop for the United States, without a request from Congress.

It was explained Congress did not recognize any particular creed and religion was a State matter. Through correspondence, a special act was passed in Connecticut assuring freedom of worship to all communions and a certified copy was forwarded to London.

A series of fresh objections were pressed. Spokesmen said it was not expedient to deal with Connecticut, until projected Nova Scotia episcopate had been settled. They declared the Seabury nomination did not represent the voice of the laity, that a diocese had not been defined and that no provision had been made for support of the Episcopal dignity. Further it was objected that never having granted the prayer of thirteen colonies for Bishops, while they were subject to Great Britain, it would perhaps augment ill-will to appoint any now.

Back and forth the London discussion continued fifteen months, July 1783 to November 1784, the lone petitioner meanwhile supporting himself and family at home as best possible. The only concession was an act of parliament in 1784 authorizing omission of the oath of allegiance for ordination of Americans as ministers, but not for consecration of bishops.

It was evident further effort in London would be time wasted and correspondence was opened with non-juring Scottish prelates. About this date, August 1784, the Secretary of the S. P. G. at request of the Archbishop of Canterbury, offered Dr. Seabury a missionary appointment in New Brunswick, Canada, which was accepted, subject to nothing better developing. On receipt of favorable information from Scotland, Rev. Dr. Seabury cancelled the New Brunswick arrangement and apprised the Archbishops of the Scottish plans.

The consecration of Rev. Dr. Seabury at Aberdeen and the possibility of further extension of Scottish succession to the United States, undoubtedly influenced a change of policy at Westminster. British Episcopal legislation was amended in 1786, omitting the oath of allegiance.

In the spring of 1787, two Americans were elevated in London, Bishop White for Pennsylvania and Bishop Provost for New York. In the same year Rt. Rev. Charles Inglis became Bishop of Nova Scotia, as Dr. Chandler declined appointment for reasons of health and returned to the United States. Sabine states Chandler had been one of several applicants for 100,000 acres of land in Nova Scotia.

In reference to the Scottish consecration, the only comment attributed to the Archbishop of Canterbury was that Dr. Seabury had been “precipitate.” On March 15, 1785, the Bishop of Connecticut wrote from London he had called on the archbishops, “who parted with me in the most friendly manner. I have taken passage (sailing today) on ship ‘Chapman,’ Captain Dawson, for Halifax that I may visit my children before I sit down at Connecticut.”

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On June 20, 1785, Bishop Seabury landed at Newport, Rhode Island, “from England via Halifax. The Sunday following did the duties of Trinity and preached A. M. and P. M. to a crowded audience from Hebrews 12:1-2, Monday proceeded by water to New London where he is to reside.”—Item from “Gospel Messenger,” July, 1785.

When Bishop Seabury landed in America at Halifax the second week of May, 1785, he remained ten days and was entertained. At Annapolis, the Bishop visited his youngest half-brother, David Seabury, who was born 1749, the same year Halifax was founded.

Before the Revolutionary War, the firm of Remsen & Seabury were importers at Hanover Square. The partners took opposite sides. David Seabury, a loyalist, continued in business during the British occupation of New York. In 1783 in the loyalist migration, David Seabury, Mrs. Seabury, one son and six daughters moved to Annapolis, Nova Scotia, and later to Halifax.

In December, 1785, David Seabury was elected to Nova Scotia House of Assembly to represent Annapolis. It is understood two daughters married in Nova Scotia. In 1806 this family returned to New York and Mr. Seabury resumed business at Chatham Street. After the War of 1812, David Seabury went to Nova Scotia the second time to reside, but only for a few years. Again he was in New York in 1820 in a position in the Custom House and died 1840, aged 91.

Two daughters of Rt. Rev. Dr. Seabury were residents of Saint John, New Brunswick—the wife of Colin Campbell and the wife of Charles Nicol Taylor, loyalists, who had been officers in DeLancey’s Brigade during the Revolution. Lt. Taylor and family subsequently removed from Saint John to Norfolk, Virginia, and when Mr. Taylor died a young man, the widow and children lived with Bishop Seabury at New London.

Colin Campbell had been a member of the New York Bar. He was Clerk of the Supreme Court of New Brunswick and a member of the vestry of Trinity Church, Saint John, where his father-in-law, the Bishop, shared services several Sundays. Lieutenant Campbell died at St. Andrews, N. B., 1843. A son was sheriff of Charlotte County, New Brunswick. Bishop Seabury evidently travelled by coastwise packet from Saint John to Newport.

Bishop Seabury had several sons and daughters, but the only living descendants of the first American Bishop bearing the name, Seabury, are those who trace from the youngest son of the Bishop, Rev. Charles Seabury, named after Rt. Rev. Charles Inglis, Bishop of Nova Scotia. Hon. Samuel Seabury, New York, is a great-grandson of Rev. Charles Seabury.

One of Canada’s oldest Protestant places of worship is conspicuous that it is spireless and creedless—St. John’s church, Barrington, Nova Scotia. St. John’s church was raised in 1763 by Congregationalists and Quakers.

The frame came from Cape Cod. Anglican Episcopacy has graced the high pulpit in the bare interior, “New Light” enthusiasm has been proclaimed there, fervor of Yorkshire Methodism has been expounded, stiff Puritanism has been taught, while “thee” and “thou” principles of the Society of Friends has been sedately advocated, with hats on, inside these walls.

Local annalists ascribe to Barrington Township the aristocracy of a larger percentage of blue-blood “Pilgrim Father” stock than, “any township of similar size on the continent.” The explanation is that “New England Planters,” who migrated to Nova Scotia, 1756-1760, to take up lands left vacant by “Expulsion of the Acadians,” were groups from typical “Mayflower” areas, and concentrated at Barrington. At the earliest opportunity they built the “Old Meeting House,” which is represented by architectural critics to be a perfect example of Puritan design.

A roll call in the professions, shipping, literature, politics, business of Nova Scotia would reveal scores of names that were imported into Canada from New England at Barrington, Nova Scotia—Nickerson, Doane, Crowell, Hopkins, Coffin, Sargeant, Homer, Pinkham. July 18-19, 1912, a Doane reunion at Barrington was made the occasion to mark the grave, near St. John’s church, of Elizabeth Osborn Myrick Payne, grandmother of John Howard Payne, author of “Home Sweet Home.”

The aria was first heard at Covent Garden, London, May 8, 1823, in the opera “Clari—The Maid of Milan,” starring Maria Tree. Theatre and publishers made millions. 100,000 copies of the score were sold in a year. “Home, Sweet Home” was the favorite encore of Lind and Patti.

Payne, the author, was in Paris, poor, having reserved no rights in the composition. The verses were written ten years previously, addressed to a southern girl, who reciprocated the sentiments of the young composer. Parents of the girl prevented the marriage and Payne, died unwed, alone, American Consul at Tunis, April 9, 1852, aged 60:—“Homeless the bard, who sang of home so well.”

Thirty years later the remains were conveyed to Washington and re-interred with pomp. Elizabeth Osborn, of Barrington, married three times. The first husband, Myrick, was lost at sea, 1742. In 1744 the widow became the wife of William Payne, magistrate, Eastham, Mass., who joined the 1745 expedition against Louisburg, where he lost his life and occupies a nameless grave. An infant son, William Payne, Jr., a music teacher in New York, married Sarah Isaacs, a convert from Judaism, who was the mother of John Howard Payne, actor, playwright and poet, born June 9, 1791.

In 1749 the widow Payne married Edmund Doane and in 1761 the family removed from Cape Cod to Barrington, Nova Scotia, where Mrs. Doane died May 24, 1798. The paternal grandfather and grandmother of the author of “The Deathless Song” both rest in Nova Scotia, one in Cape Breton and the other at Barrington.

Simon Newcomb, astronomer, began life a poor boy at Wallace, Nova Scotia. Newcomb walked barefoot to village schools, to economize shoe leather, only wearing boots in classes.

At 14, the savant was “bound out” to a farmer for board and at 16 was apprenticed to an itinerant physician. After serving the “doctor” two years, Newcomb gave leg bail and reached Salem, Mass., by shipping on a lumber schooner at Saint John, New Brunswick.

The runaway obtained work with a printer and later taught school. Newcomb struggled through Harvard Scientific School, obtained a connection with the Naval Department at Washington and rose to become “one of the most productive astronomers of all countries and centuries.”

Honorary degrees were conferred on Professor Newcomb by 17 Universities in Canada, United States, Britain, Germany, Holland, Norway, Poland, Russia. 45 honorary memberships were bestowed by learned societies throughout the world. After Franklin, Newcomb was probably the first native Canadian or American to be elected a Foreign Associate of the French Academy, which was organized by Royal Command in 1635, though members had been meeting informally from the time Richelieu formed the Company of 100 Associates to administer New France and Acadia.

Simon Newcomb was born at Wallace Bridge, Nova Scotia, March 12, 1835. On August 30, 1935, the 100th Anniversary of Newcomb’s birth was celebrated at his native place with ceremonies shared by the Lieutenant Governor of Nova Scotia, the Chief Justice, and the Premier of the Province, the United States Minister to Canada, Dr. Charles A. Eaton, Congressman, Plainfield, N. J., Cyrus Eaton, Cleveland, Ohio, native of Pugwash, near Wallace, Dr. Raymond Archibald, Brown University, Rhode Island, Mrs. J. Newcomb Whitney, New Haven, former member Connecticut Legislature, and Mrs. Emily Newcomb Wilson, M.A. Columbia, consulting psychologist, New York, daughters of Simon Newcomb.

Another daughter Dr. Anita Newcomb McGee, writer, not present, at one time was acting assistant surgeon of United States Army and head of nurses in Spanish American War, one of few women members of United States War Veterans Association. For taking volunteer nurses to the Russian-Japanese War, Dr. McGee was decorated by the Japanese Government.

At Wallace the Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada have erected a Newcomb Monument, native cut freestone, with bronze tablet:—

On August 30, 1935 the Newcomb Memorial, draped in flags was unveiled by Dr. Hildegarde Wilson, grand-daughter. Mrs. J. Newcomb Whitney told the gathering her father’s “character was built up here in his native province.”

Among Newcomb’s accomplishments, it was pointed out he was a pioneer in air conditioning. The first instance was the assassination of James A. Garfield, 20th President, lawyer and Civil War Officer, inaugurated Friday, March 4, 1881 and shot at Washington July 2, the same year, by Charles J. Guiteau.

In an effort to save the President’s life it was imperative to relieve midsummer temperature. Ordinary devices were unsuccessful. Professor Newcomb prescribed a formula and Alexander Graham Bell was requested to locate the bullet, which evaded surgeons. Bell and Newcomb, identified with Nova Scotia, or Acadia, were friends and labored together to prevent or delay fatal termination.

The first Newcomb in Nova Scotia or Acadia was Deacon John of Lebanon, Conn., who in July 1761 settled on land made vacant by Expulsion of Acadians. A nephew was arrested at Amherst, Nova Scotia, in 1777 as a rebel. In 1852 John B. Newcomb 4th generation, school teacher and father of the scientist, moved with another son, Thomas, to United States, residing in Massachusetts, Illinois, Wisconsin and Minnesota. In 1871 he was principal of a school at Burnet, Texas and in 1879 at San Antonio issued an 81 page book “What I Know About Grammar.”

This eminent scholar passed away at Washington, July 1909, receiving a military funeral, befitting the rank of Rear Admiral. Professor Newcomb is the first Canadian born American citizen to attain high Naval distinction in the United States and has been nominated for New York University Hall of Fame, where a bust was unveiled May 28, 1936, in the presence of distinguished guests.

A New York painting “The Atlantic Cable Projectors,” by Daniel Huntington, 1894, contains a curious omission that the prime mover of the cable is not in the picture.

There are nine in the picture but only six in an Act of Newfoundland Legislature April 15, 1854, incorporating “The New York, Newfoundland and London Telegraph Company,” who undertook to complete the Atlantic Cable, started two years earlier. Incorporators named in Newfoundland are Peter Cooper, Moses Taylor, Cyrus W. Field, Marshall O. Roberts, Chandler White, and Frederic N. Gisborne.

Frederic Newton Gisborne of Halifax was the projector of the cable and brought the possibilities to the attention of Field and associates in New York in January 1854.

FREDERIC N. GISBORNE, C.E.,—Halifax promoter of the first Atlantic Cable. See pages 155 and 292.

A charter had been obtained by Gisborne and landing rights secured in Newfoundland, Prince Edward Island and Maine. A similar application in Nova Scotia was not granted. Surveys were made across Newfoundland. A short cable was laid from Tormentine, New Brunswick to Carleton Head, Prince Edward Island. London and New York were visited.

In building a land-wire through Newfoundland, American backers were not able to supply all necessary funds and Gisborne went to the United States a third time for assistance.

In New York the Halifax promoter enlisted Cyrus W. Field, just back from a holiday in South America and ready to take up something. Professor Morse and marine experts, were consulted and it was decided to go ahead. Gisborne was appointed chief telegraph engineer of the company, formed to take over existing cable and telegraph interests that Gisborne controlled.

It is artistic license to exclude Gisborne from “Atlantic Cable Projectors” and introduce, for instance, the artist who sketched the group 40 years later, when the principals had passed away.

The Atlantic cable of 1858 was the first transoceanic telegraph. The Western Union land merger was effected in 1856 and in 1861, they extended a line to the Pacific Coast.

British and United States Governments sponsored the Atlantic cable and supplied steam war vessels—H. M. S. “Agamemnon” and U. S. Frigate “Niagara,” loaned for cable laying work sailing ships could not perform.

Two attempts failed—one in August 1857 and the second in June, 1858. Cables snapped and were lost. The promoters tried again and in August 1858 announced a continuous strand stretched from shore to shore.

In a retrospect an editor declared:—“The two hemispheres were joined together amid universal rejoicings,” and: “The first Atlantic message (which went through Acadia) voiced the sentiment of Christendom.”

It was the Gloria that was transmitted under the waves:—“Europe and America are united by telegraphy. Glory to God in the Highest, on earth peace, goodwill toward men.”

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The pioneer cable connected Great Britain and Nova Scotia via Ireland and Newfoundland. The telegraph fleet met in mid-ocean Wednesday, July 28, 1858, made a splice and separated next day, the “Agamemnon” and “Valorous” bound for Valentia, Ireland, and “Niagara” and “Gorgon” for Trinity, Newfoundland. Weather was propitious. Cable was paid out from both ships at the same speed. A couple days delays occurred landing, trenching and housing the western end ashore, which was finished August 5, 1858.

On August 16, 1858, Queen Victoria and President Buchanan exchanged greetings. Replying to Her Majesty from Washington the President observed in part:—“It is a triumph more glorious because more useful to mankind than ever won by conqueror on the field of battle.”

The communiques between White House and Buckingham Palace did not “burn” Nova Scotia cable channels. The current was feeble. The Queen’s message to Washington commenced 10.50 A. M. August 16, and was not completed until 4.30 A. M. next day, occupying 17 hours 40 minutes. The Royal missive continued 99 words and 509 letters, averaging two minutes for each letter and ten minutes for each word.

Permalloy duplex cables in 1935 have a capacity of 1,400 letters per minute each way, or 3,000 letters per minute combined.

The 1858 Atlantic cable enjoyed a butterfly existence of one month and went dead September 3. Insulation succumbed to oversize induction coils thought necessary in England and installed it is said, contrary to Gisborne’s advice.

One of few business messages, the first transmitted, is credited to Hon. Samuel Cunard, London, to a son, William Cunard, at Halifax. In 1851, Hon. Mr. Cunard was president of Nova Scotia Electric Telegraph Company, controlling Nova Scotia land lines, which later connected with the submarine cable. It has been suggested Cunard was one of the backers of Gisborne’s early cable efforts.

After the collapse of the cable, land lines through Newfoundland and parts of Nova Scotia were maintained by Atlantic Telegraph Company, which had been formed in England. Field and associates in New York did not feel justified in undertaking the entire enterprise, land and sea, without British technical and financial co-operation, private and Government. The transoceanic division of the cable undertaking was temporarily abandoned after the break.

In 1865 at the conclusion of the American Civil War, Cyrus Field procured a new cable. The steamship “Great Eastern” was equipped with tanks adequate to store the entire cable in coils for smooth delivery. Laying started at Valentia July 22, 1865. At 1062 miles the cable broke and sank and could not be located.

The Atlantic Telegraph Company was reorganized as Anglo American Telegraph Company Limited and $3,000,000 new money subscribed. The undertaking was resumed in 1866. No difficulties were encountered. Friday, July 27, the “Great Eastern” landed the western end at Heart’s Content, Newfoundland. It was Sunday, July 29, before the good news reached the outside world. In Canada and United States church chimes were ringing the morning services. The cable squadron returned to sea, recovered the 1865 cable, added nearly 1,000 miles and carried it to shore, making a duplicate transatlantic connection.

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Apart from geographical advantage it was American thirst for European information that made Nova Scotia or “Acadia” a center of submarine telegraph activity in 1850-1866 and brought about construction of a cable earlier than would otherwise have taken place.

A telegraph line was built from Boston to Halifax to expedite despatch of European intelligence in advance of Cunard mail steamers proceeding to New York and Boston. The last link to tidewater—Amherst to Halifax,—was built by the Nova Scotia Government as a public work.

The telegraph line built by the Provincial Government of 1849 in Nova Scotia was possibly the first publicly owned wire in America, a stretch of 140 miles from Halifax to Amherst to meet the through line from New York, “and unite Europe and America.” The work was entrusted to a Commission of Five, with Hon. Joseph Howe, chairman. F. N. Gisborne superintended construction and was afterward manager of the Nova Scotia Government telegraph service.

Gisborne was a native of Broughton, Manchester, good education, interested in electricity who celebrated his 21st birthday with removal to Canada in 1845. O. S. Wood, a pupil of Professor Morse was sent to Canada to introduce telegraphy and opened a school for beginners at Montreal. Gisborne joined the class, passed with honors and was given a choice of offices. He selected Quebec and opened the first telegraph office there, afterward overseeing the building of a line to Rivière du Loup on behalf of British North American Electric Telegraph Association organized to unite Quebec and Halifax by wire.

Gisborne was detailed to visit Saint John, Charlottetown and Halifax. Opposition was met. New Brunswick opinion favored a Boston and New York wire connection first. It was not until 1860 that a through telegraph line to Quebec and Montreal was joined at Woodstock.

Finding it impossible to make headway on an intercolonial wire, Gisborne in 1849 entered Nova Scotia Government employ, settled in Halifax and later married in that city. Telegraph offices which were opened at Halifax, Truro and Amherst in Nova Scotia were probably the first Government telegraph offices anywhere.

Gisborne managed the Nova Scotia Government telegraph service until the plant was sold in 1851 to Nova Scotia Electric Telegraph Company formed to take over all wires in the province and extend east and west to Sydney and Yarmouth with a spur to Port Hood. At first the Strait of Canso was crossed with an overhead wire between towers.

Gisborne relinquished the telegraph management in 1851. The Nova Scotia Commission handed him a testimonial certifying satisfactory service had been rendered and offering best wishes for success in the “new sphere of exertion you have selected.”

During Gisborne’s eighteen months conduct of the Halifax telegraph office, there was constant friction between Halifax representatives of New York and Boston, each claiming priority in forwarding steamer news. The disputes flared out in the American newspapers. Besides the Associated Press, an opposition press group and certain cotton brokers and speculators had resident agents at Halifax.

One enterprising correspondent arranged with a confederate to release carrier pigeons from a stateroom window on incoming mail steamers. A loft was rented adjoining the telegraph office on Hollis Street with a bell attachment to announce arrival of birds, night or day. Messages attached to the legs of the pigeons were flashed to the United States.

A complaint was lodged and the pigeon device was stopped. It was these experiences spurred Gisborne to attempt to promote an ocean cable, which New York newspapers declared would be wonderful, if it could be accomplished.

An assortment of new steamship services was talked about. A short line was projected from Galway, Ireland, to St. John’s, Nfld., which would cut several days off the passage. Fast local boats were to proceed to Halifax to tap telegraph lines and forward Old World news to American centres.

In a letter in 1867, Hon. Joseph Howe states that in 1850 the Nova Scotia telegraph manager was granted leave of absence to visit St. John’s, Newfoundland to investigate extension of telegraph lines and:—“On your return you asked further leave to go to New York to promote an extension of the line to England and spoke confidently of being able to extend it across the Atlantic and connect Europe with America. Up to this time, I never heard the idea suggested. . . . Until you went to New York nobody had taken any steps towards promoting an Atlantic telegraph.”

Retiring from Nova Scotia Government service in June 1851, Gisborne proceeded to Newfoundland. The Newfoundland Electric Telegraph Company was formed, exclusive right-of-way and cable landing privileges secured and a preliminary survey made for a land telegraph line of 400 miles.

With letters from Nova Scotia and Newfoundland, Gisborne in 1852 interested Tebbets & Holbrook, New York, and proceeded to London to confer with John W. Brett, who with associates had laid a cable from Dover to Calais. July 12, 1852, Brett advised the Halifax man at his London hotel:—“Major Carmichael-Smyth, has just called and gave me your plans.”

Brett endorsed Gisborne’s cable scheme and calculated the cost at £750,000. He wrote asking:—“Can you find £375,000 and good names in America if I can find £375,000 and good names here?” Also:—“Is it clearly understood this is to be carried out between us, namely, as Brett & Gisborne’s Atlantic Telegraph here, and vice versa in America?”

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The matter of land route came up. The Nova Scotia Electric Telegraph Company asked exorbitant terms for use of their wires. An alternative line through Prince Edward Island was determined upon and while in London in 1852 Gisborne ordered a supply cable sufficient to be laid between New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island. This short cable across Northumberland Strait was the first step on the underseas road to Europe. First cable rights in Prince Edward Island, were held by Hon. W. H. Pope, one of the “Fathers of Confederation” and were acquired by Gisborne’s Company, incorporated at Charlottetown, April 16, 1853.

Gisborne commenced work on the land line through Newfoundland. In 1853 New York brokers notified him they were not able to furnish further funds. It was at this point Field and friends were approached. As a result Cyrus W. Field, David Dudley Field, Chandler White and F. N. Gisborne journeyed to Newfoundland via Halifax in March, 1854.

A new company “New York, Newfoundland and London Telegraph Company” was organized. The telegraph line through Newfoundland was completed and 85 miles of submarine cable laid to Cape Breton and 140 miles land-wire strung through Northern Cape Breton via Baddeck to connect with existing Nova Scotia system.

Nova Scotia Electric telegraph company modified their original terms when the cable promoters indicated an intention to side-track Nova Scotia and traverse Prince Edward Island.

A cable across Cabot Strait, between Cape Breton and Newfoundland was the first in which stranded wire replaced a solid conductor. This cable was used exclusively until 1867 when a direct cable, avoiding long land lines in Newfoundland and Cape Breton, was laid from Placentia Bay to Lloyd’s Cove, North Sydney, one of present cable termini in Nova Scotia. The Cape North cable was an auxiliary until 1872.

From 1856 to 1866, during suspension of the Atlantic cable the Associated Press arranged that westbound ships as often as possible would transfer European news packets at Cape Race. A flag was the day signal and a flare at night. A 24-hour watch was maintained ashore and strongly manned boats sent off from Trepassy for the packets. In rough weather the communiques were dropped overboard in a water-tight can, half gallon size, with a flag on a stick. Return despatches from New York were sometimes put on board.

In 1861, American and Canadian interest hung on European news of British feeling on the “Trent” affair.

In 1934 local authorities at Cape Race wireless station celebrated the 75th anniversary of the first European “Canned” press message put on the land-wire to Canada and United States headed “Via Cape Race by the ship-to-shore-tin-can-telegraph,” which was superseded when the Atlantic cable was restored in 1866.

Echoes of the Atlantic cable collapse of 1858 penetrated distant circles. A line was surveyed from Scotland to Iceland, Greenland, Labrador. At the same time an American agent in Russia induced the Western Union to undertake a land line from San Francisco through British Columbia and across Behring Straits to meet a line of 6,000 miles from Moscow to be constructed by the Russian Government. The Siberian line was built by Russian authorities and was tapped by the British Government with a southern wire to India, bringing Calcutta into telegraph communication with London through Russia.

The Western Union transcontinental line reached Frisco October 24, 1861. Special securities were sold for the “Overland” line to Europe via Siberia. Parts of 800 miles of pole line and right-of-way in British Columbia wilderness areas are still seen. The first message from New York to New Westminster was the assassination of President Lincoln in 1865.

Both Greenland and Siberian projects were dropped in 1866 when the Atlantic cable was successfully revived.

During a conference in 1866 concerning a cable across Behring straits Premier Gotchakoff expressed renewed willingness to sell Alaska, first mentioned during Crimean War. Diplomatic negotiations were opened with Russia. The purchase of Alaska by United States was arranged and a treaty proclaimed June 20, 1867, which terminated Asiatic property in America. Eleven days later the Dominion of Canada commenced legal existence.

On May 1, 1879, F. N. Gisborne was appointed Superintendent of Canadian Government Telegraphs, the first to hold this position, and died at Ottawa 1892. A younger brother was director of telegraphs in Egypt. Francis H. Gisborne, K.C., Ottawa is a son of F. N. Gisborne. Mrs. H. C. Burchell of Windsor, Nova Scotia, was a daughter. In 1932 the Dominion Government operated 9,000 miles of pole line, 11,000 miles of wire, 367 knots of cable and 700 telegraph offices.

Twenty years discussion of the advantage of telegraph communication between Canada and the West Indies was partly realized June 21, 1890, Halifax Natal Day, when the shore-end of a Bermuda cable was laid at Halifax. On July 1, 1890, Dominion Day, the first message “a service” was received from Bermuda announcing steamer Westmeath had arrived from Halifax having paid out 800 miles of cable. The final splice was July 7. On July 12, the Governor of Bermuda sent formal despatches to Queen Victoria, the President of United States and the Governor General of Canada. On January 31, 1898 an extension was opened from Bermuda to Barbados, Turks Island, Jamaica, Trinidad.

In 1917, the British Government seized a German cable operating from New York to the Azores and Emden. The wire was cut 600 miles from New York and the end taken into Halifax. This wire is now Imperial No. 1.

The European end was diverted to Porthcurnow. The French authorities attached the twin German Atlantic cable and it now works between Brest and New York. In 1920 the British Government purchased an 1875 cable from Direct United States Cable Co. This line works between Ireland and Halifax and was acquired as a safeguard in case Imperial No. 1 should break at any time. This cable is known as Imperial No. 2.

At the present time there are twenty-one transatlantic cables connecting North America and the European continent, of which ten are owned or controlled by the Western Union. Thirteen transatlantic cables pass through Nova Scotia and annually handle 6,000,000 messages or 100,000,000 words, two-thirds of the total being relays to and from United States points. The first cable at Canso was 1881, and at Halifax 1874. The first cable at North Sydney was 1867. At Aspy Bay 1856. At Cape Tormentine 1852.

*          *          *

In 1866 at the consummation of the Atlantic cable, Cyrus Field was tendered a complimentary banquet by New York Chamber of Commerce. A newspaper clipping of the proceedings has been preserved in an authorized 1858 cable volume by a former owner of the book, the late W. H. Wiswell of Halifax, who for years was an official of the Telegraph Company of Nova Scotia and custodian of records.

In opening remarks, Mr. Field said:—“It is nearly thirteen years since a half-dozen gentlemen of this city met at my house for four successive evenings, and around a table covered with maps, charts, plans and estimates, considered a project to extend a line of telegraph from Nova Scotia to St. John’s, Nfld., thence to be carried across the ocean. It was a pretty plan on paper.”

The date mentioned, “nearly thirteen years” previous to August 1866 and the number of persons that met at Mr. Field’s house—six, not nine—identify the occasion as the notable telegraphic gathering that the painting, “Atlantic Cable Projectors” is intended to portray, but actually distorts. F. N. Gisborne was an important member of the six conferees, whose names are indelibly embodied in Newfoundland legislation incorporating the cable plan.

In 1856 a larger corporation became necessary and the “Atlantic Telegraph Company” was registered in London to take over land lines and short cables already constructed in Cape Breton, Prince Edward Island and Newfoundland and furnish the greater capital required to pursue the transatlantic programme.

Reorganization had to be effected in London as Field’s experience with major cable financing was similar to Cunard’s steamship promotion in 1839—it was essential to go to London to get big money and technical skill.

The Board of the enlarged cable company was increased to twenty-seven, 15 British, 7 Americans, 4 Canadians and Hon. E. M. Archibald, British Consul at New York, of Nova Scotia. The British Government subsidized the undertaking and were entitled to name one director, but did not do so.

The Canadian directors were Hon. George E. Cartier, Quebec, Hon. John Ross, Toronto, Hon. John Young, Montreal and Hon. John Robertson, Saint John. Sir Samuel Cunard was a cable shareholder but it is understood for private reasons did not join the 1858 cable board to represent Nova Scotia and P. E. Island.

Cyrus Field became general manager, not a director. Charles Bright at first was not a director, but was appointed general engineer in place of Gisborne. The latter had remained in the service of the Cable Company until 1857, when he retired to undertake a different promotion.

At leaving in 1857, the New York directors handed Mr. Gisborne an official letter of good wishes for future success:

There are similar letters from D. Daly, Lt. Gov. P. E. Island; J. Gaspard Le Marchant, Lt. Gov. Nova Scotia; Sir Alex. Bannerman, Governor of Newfoundland, and various authorities to the same effect.

Citizens of St. John’s, Nfld., presented F. N. Gisborne with an elaborate, inscribed piece of plate. At the summit of a rocky eminence, in frosted silver, is a figure of Science, with a wreath of immortelles, ready to crown the deserving. “Enterprise,” an allegorical figure of Roman character, hatchet in hand, indicating vigor, and a pair of compasses, evidencing calculation, has struggled almost to the highest point and is handing the compasses to Science. The rocky heights are studded with Cape Breton and Newfoundland fir-trees. The front of the base is decorated with a cable coil. On the reverse side is a vessel laying the first deep-sea cable across Cabot straits. Seals and beavers are inserted in the ornamentation of this striking cable statuette.

SILVER STATUETTE PRESENTED BY THE PEOPLE OF NEWFOUNDLAND TO F. N. GISBORNE, AS PROJECTOR OF THE ATLANTIC CABLE. (See page 299)

The northeast coast of North America has been embroidered with a succession of names bestowed by Indians, Norsemen, Basques, Portuguese, French, Spanish, Irish, Italians, English, Scotch. Two specially conflicted—Acadia, of supposed Greek derivation and “Nova Scotia,” which is schoolbook Latin.

These terms, one French, the other Scottish, were applied to much the same ground and resulted in another, “Hundred Years War,” fomented at a fresh battleground in the west.

Euphonious “Acadia” has been selected for present literary purposes, being older than “Nova Scotia” or “Virginia” or “New England.” In popular fancy the two titles, “Acadia” and “Nova Scotia” have become almost interchangeable and they furnish an assortment of “First Things” as variegated as an axminster pattern.

“Nova Scotia” was auld Scotia’s first ewe-lamb colonial venture and was dear to the heart of James VI—James I of England—first of English Stuarts and the first sovereign to compose age-old differences between North Britons and South Britons and wear warring crowns.

Henri IV of France was the progenitor of Bourbon dynasties of Europe and the first to reconcile discordant religious factions in France and rule a united French Kingdom. Henri IV was born a Huguenot and became a Roman Catholic. James I was baptized a Roman Catholic and became an Episcopalian.

“Acadia” was the pet project of “Henri the Great” of France and “Acadia” was destined to witness the first cleavage in 500 years friendship between Scotland and France—Thistle versus Fleur de Lys. At first the rift in the lute in America did not disturb the main current of domestic relations at Edinburgh and Paris.

On May 1, 1625, Charles I, son and successor of James I, was married by proxy to Henrietta Maria, youngest daughter of Henri IV, deceased. An assassin’s knife, described as the eighteenth attempt, terminated the French king’s career in 1610 in the middle of measures of the highest importance, “Acadia” among them.

On July 12, 1625, in order to promote permanent settlement in Nova Scotia, King Charles created the Scottish Order of Baronets of Nova Scotia, who were the first Baronets of Scotland and this was the first hereditary dignity put into effect in connection with the western hemisphere. This action was partly a legacy from James I, when he lay upon his deathbed, where, “with plaintive but earnest words, he spoke of it. . . . for the good of the Kingdom of Scotland in general, as well as for the particular interest of every baronet.”

A series of feudal baronetcies were instituted in Nova Scotia, from Cape Breton to Anticosti, three miles by six miles, with civil and criminal jurisdiction and plenary rights, “at least equal to an independent Prince or Margrave,” and a hereditary seat and voice in all legislative assemblies of Nova Scotia.

For convenience “infeftment was ordered by the charter to be taken on the Castle Hill of Edinburgh, by reason that the Royal Province of Nova Scotia was held of the Kingdom of Scotland and formed part of the County of Edinburgh.”

Baronial appointments were accordingly gazetted and an insignificant amount of 500,000 merks (28 cents) collected, obviously not a revenue device, as sometimes suggested. Leading Scottish families became interested.

It is pointed out Scottish feudal relations were based on clanship ties and were devoid of objectionable continental features. The same is said to be generally true of Quebec seigneuries, which continued long after the early ending of the Nova Scotia entails.

The first Baronet of Nova Scotia or of Scotland was technically Sir William Alexander, the grantee and Lord Paramount, afterward first Viscount Canada and Earl of Stirling, who is credited with the advice which influenced James I in 1604, contrary to popular feeling and in the face of parliamentary hesitation, to summarily proclaim himself first “King of Great Britain.” The form continued to be used, but unofficially, until the reign of Anne and legislative union, a century later, 1707, when it was confirmed by law.

A crown of massive gold, weighing 7 lbs. 6 ozs., ornamented with crosses and fleur de lis, was made for the Stuarts and in 1649 along with other regal insignia, was broken up and defaced at Cromwell’s command.

Queen Anne, 1702-1714, was the last of the Stuarts. In Treaty of Utrecht negotiations in 1713, British Commissaries insisted on permanently retaining “Acadia” or “Nova Scotia,” at least in part, prompted, it is surmised by the Queen’s sentimental desire that “Nova Scotia” should be a memorial of the Stuarts and of their connection with Scotland’s first colony and other efforts to found a British Empire. A silver communion service, which Queen Anne ordered sent to the Anglican church at Annapolis Royal, Nova Scotia, was the first in Canada with a royal monogram.

In 1625 Champlain had acquainted Cardinal Richelieu, French Chancellor, with the immense value of the resources and the strategic potentialities of “Acadia” and 400,000 crowns ($500,000) of Queen Henrietta’s marriage portion were withheld from Charles I, when the creation of the Nova Scotia order of chivalry in 1625 indicated English intention to remain in “Acadia.” Louis XIII, brother of Queen Henrietta, in 1627 authorized formation of a company of “One Hundred Associates” to colonize “Acadia” and New France, with power to institute French titles overseas, countering the Nova Scotia Baronets, with a view to enlisting the French noblesse. In 1629, French-English friction grew acute, when Sir David Kirke, deputy of Sir William Alexander and a refugee Huguenot, attacked and captured Quebec, following occupation of Port Royal, capital of “Acadia”, in 1628.

The upshot of the embargo on the dowry was the familiar Treaty of Saint-Germain-en-Laye, 1632, whereby, forgetful of James I last wishes, King Charles agreed to return Quebec and cede “Nova Scotia” holus bolus to his brother-in-law, Louis, for payment of the dowry and other considerations, which torpedoed the vested rights of 150 Baronets of Nova Scotia, after a butterfly existence of seven years. Cromwell later repudiated this fifty million acre real estate transaction between two kings and a queen, but extended no compensation to dispossessed Scottish nobility, partly perhaps, because some supported the Stuart cause and the Protector did not spare axe, imprisonment and forfeiture. In 1715 and 1745 others of the ill-starred Nova Scotia order, faithful to the last, donned the white cockade and fought and fell in the lost cause, that Burns bewailed. Queen Henrietta is pictured a superior woman, whose father and husband met violent deaths.

On both sides of the English channel there was relative peace and prosperity at the inception of the 17th century. November 8, 1603, the King of France granted Sieur de Monts an American Empire, then wholly unsettled, from 40 North to 46 North, to organize “Acadia,” as Europe’s first serious attempt at settlement in North America.

“Virginia” followed in 1607, Quebec 1608 and New England in 1620. On September 10, 1621, the King of Scotland (also of England), ignoring French activity in “Acadia” conferred much of the “Acadian” ground on Sir William Alexander, a Scot, to found New Scotland, expressed as “Nova Scotia,” in the official language of the patent. Baronets of Nova Scotia were given large areas in the Province and several parties of Scottish settlers were despatched to take up residence, erect forts and buildings and establish communities. British and French settlements were concurrent in different parts of Nova Scotia between 1625 and 1632, when British settlers were finally ordered to withdraw.

In a pamphlet in 1624 Sir William Alexander explained the origin of Nova Scotia that Scotland wished a share in overseas expansion:—“I showed them,” he wrote, “that my countrymen would never adventure on such an enterprise, unless it were, that as there was a New France, a New Spain and a New England, they might likewise have a New Scotland.” The fly in the amber was that London Companies had already pre-empted and obtained grants of the entire Atlantic seaboard from Virginia to the St. Lawrence, all based on Cabot’s Discovery. They apparently induced the inexperienced courtier and poet, Alexander, to accept a section overlapping French “Acadia,” rather than surrender American locations further south.

The tussle largely centreing at “Acadia” (Nova Scotia) between France and England, lasted from 1613 until 1763. Intertwined events, touching “Acadia” and “Nova Scotia” are perpetuated side-by-side at Annapolis Royal, Nova Scotia.

On June 22, 1904, the corner stone of a monument to DeMonts and the spirit of France was laid on behalf of the Government of Canada.

On August 31, 1921, a bronze tablet re the “Charter of New Scotland” was unveiled by a representative of the Government of Nova Scotia, which recalls it was a Scottish King, James I, who encouraged and is responsible for British settlement in America.

On May 6, 1925, a tablet to the “Order of Baronets of Nova Scotia” was erected by present holders of the dignity, principally eminent North Britons, who cherish an especial attachment, though academic, for Nova Scotia propinquity.

In dealing with one-hundred-and-one subjects it has been necessary to apply for information in many quarters and uniform kindness has been experienced. Obligations are tendered New York Public Library, Dominion Archives, Ottawa, the Geological Survey and other branches of the Canadian Government, Pierre G. Roy, Provincial Archivist, Quebec, Prof. W. F. Ganong, Northampton, Mass., Dr. H. P. Biggar, Canadian Archives, London, Canadian High Commissioner, London, Various Embassies, Washington, Historical Societies of Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Massachusetts, Maine, Florida, Government Departments at London and Washington, Bermuda, the West Indies, the President of Cuba, Library of the Vatican, and of Congress, Lord Lyon’s Court, Edinburgh, Departments of Geology Dalhousie University, McGill, British Columbia, Legislative Library, Halifax, Lord Mayor of Bristol, Commercial Cable, Western Union Cable, Marconi Co., Canadian Pacific Railway and Telegraph, Canadian National Railways, Hon. Thos. Cantley, New Glasgow, N. S., F. W. Gray, Sydney, N. S., Hon. Michael Dwyer, Sir Joseph Chisholm, R. V. Harris, K.C., F. J. G. Comeau, E. E. Kelley, H. Piers, G. Mullane, W. D. Taunton, E. A. Saunders, Prof. D. C. Harvey, Halifax, Dr. J. C. Webster, Shediac, N. B., R. P. Gorham, Fredericton, N. B., H. R. Stewart, A. E. Morrison, Charlottetown, P. E. Island, Mr. Justice Leblanc, Moncton, Prof. W. J. Belliveau, Church Point, N. S., Geo. E. Graham, Kentville, N. S., Rev. Father Pacifique, Restigouche, F. W. Baldwin, Baddeck, Secretary of Fort Anne Museum, Annapolis Royal, Consolidated Gas Co., New York, J. M. Barbour, Anglo-American Telegraph, St. John’s, Nfld., Hon. Philippe Roy, Paris, Yarmouth, Nova Scotia, “Herald,” Bell Telephone Co., Cunard-White Star Line, H. O’Leary, Richibucto, N. B., Mrs. F. A. Richardson, Cambridge, Mass., University of Copenhagen, different College Presidents, Church Heads and others who have kindly answered inquiries, but none of whom are responsible for facts and comments that are incorporated.

Spelling and punctuation have been changed, except in quotations, to be consistent. Obvious typographic and spelling errors have been corrected. The two spellings, Louisburg and Louisbourg, have been retained as in the original.

Images have been repositioned to more appropriate locations in the text. This has caused minor changes in page numbering.

[The end of First Things in Acadia, "The Birthplace of a Continent" by John William Regan (as John Quinpool)]