1

donable to omit all notice, though we must content ourselves with a short one, of the Rev. John Stuart, styled by the Bishop of Toronto the "Father of the Church in Upper Canada." He was recommended to the Society by Sir William Johnson as Missionary to the Mohawks. He arrived at Fort Hunter, December 2, 1770, and was received with great joy by the Indians. The number of inhabitants was then about 170. On Christmas-day following he preached at Canaijohare, a village about thirty miles distant, and administered the Holy Communion to twenty Indian converts.

He describes them as "attending divine service constantly, and making the responses with the greatest regularity and seeming devotion." "Indeed," he says, "their whole deportment is such as is but rarely seen in religious assemblies that have been better instructed."

In 1774, he says-" Their morals are much improved since my residence among them." In this year they lost by death their best friend and patron, Sir William Johnson, who, during the whole period of his administration, had shown a most laudable desire to improve their condition; and by whose advice and encouragement it was, that Mr. Stuart was induced to prepare a Mohawk translation of the Gospel according to St. Mark, with a compendious history of the Bible, and an exposition of the Church Catechism in the same language.

Mr. Stuart says, in 1775, when parties had become violent, that the Indians were attached to him, and had publicly declared that they would protect and defend him as long as he continued to reside among them. In 1781, he gives the following account of the troubles and priva

1 Charge, 1842.

tions which he had to endure personally, and of the scandalous profanation of his church:

"At the commencement of the unhappy contest betwixt Great Britain and her colonies, I acquainted the Society of the firm reliance I had on the fidelity and loyalty of my congregation, which has justified my opinion; for the faithful Mohawks, rather than swerve from their allegiance, chose rather to abandon their dwellings and property; and accordingly went in a body to General Burgoyne, and afterwards were obliged to take shelter in Canada. While they remained at Fort Hunter I continued to officiate as usual, performing the public service entire, even after the declaration of Independence, notwithstanding by so doing I incurred the penalty of high treason by the new laws. As soon as my protectors were fled I was made a prisoner, and ordered to depart the province, with my family, within the space of four days, or be put into close confinement; and this only upon suspiçion that I was a loyal subject of the king of Great Britain. Upon this I was admitted to 'paroles,' and confined to the limits of the town of Schenectady, in which situation I have remained for upwards of three years. My house has been frequently broken open by mobs, my property plundered, and, indeed, every kind of indignity offered to my person by the lowest of the populace. At length my farm, and the produce of it, was formally taken. from me, in May last, as forfeited to the state; and, as the last resource, I proposed to open a Latin school for the support of my family. But this privilege was denied, on pretence that, as a prisoner of war, I was not entitled to exercise any lucrative occupation in the state. I then applied for permission to remove to Canada, which, after much difficulty and expense, I obtained upon the following conditions:-to give bail in the sum of 4007. to send a rebel colonel in my room, or else return to Albany, and surrender myself a prisoner whenever required. In consequence of which I set out on my journey from Schenectady on the 19th of September last, with my wife and three small children; and, after suffering much fatigue and difficulty, we arrived safe at St. John's, in Canada, on the 9th instant. . . . I cannot omit to mention that my church was plundered by the rebels, and the

Y

pulpit-cloth taken away from the pulpit; it was afterwards employed as a tavern, and the barrel of rum placed in the readingdesk. The succeeding year it was used for a stable, and now serves as a fort."1

On his arrival in Canada he immediately repaired to the Mohawk village, where he was affectionately welcomed by his Indian flock. They offered to build a house for him, that he might continue to reside amongst them; but he preferred fixing his residence at Montreal, and going over to them once a month. He was soon afterwards appointed chaplain to the 2d battalion of the Royal Yorkers; and in addition to this duty, he opened a school, which had long been wanted in the city.

Another clergyman also, the Rev. John Doty, not long before appointed to the Mission of Schenectady, after having twice been made prisoner, was happy to escape (in 1777) with his family into Canada, where he was soon afterwards appointed by Sir John Johnson to a military chaplaincy.2

The loyalty of the clergy in the northern and eastern states drew down upon them the resentment of the republican authorities, and many of them, of course, sought protection under the royal flag, while not a few of those who survived the troubles were afraid to remain in America. A large number of refugees, among whom were several clergy, sought an asylum in New York; and, as the churches did not afford sufficient accommodation, it became necessary to make suitable arrangements for the celebration of divine worship in the City Hall, where the refugee clergymen ministered to their brethren in affliction.

1 Original Letters, vol. xix. 1. 204.

2 Journal, vol. xxi. p. 344.

CHAPTER XIV.

NEW YORK.

Rev. Charles Inglis appointed to Dover Mission-Becomes Assistant to Dr. Auchmuty at New York-Urges the appointment of Bishops-Plan for conversion of the Indians-Letter recounting the progress of the Civil War and the sufferings of the Clergy-Death of Dr. AuchmutyElection of Mr. Inglis as Rector of Trinity-Treaty of 1783-Confiscation of Mr. Inglis's Property-He retires to Nova Scotia-Bishop of Oxford's Testimony to the conduct of the Missionaries-Address of the Clerical and Lay Deputies of the American Church.

ON Mr. Neill's removal, in 1758, from Dover to the less laborious Mission of Oxford, in the same province (Pennsylvania), Mr. Charles Inglis was recommended to the Society as his successor. He had, during the last three years, conducted the free-school at Lancaster to the satisfaction of all, and had thus become favourably known to the clergy of the neighbourhood, who now testified of him "as a young gentleman of unblemished character, discreet in his behaviour, and free from even the suspicion of anything unbecoming." With these high testimonials he came to England, was admitted by the Bishop of London to holy orders, and re-embarked for his humble Mission, to which a salary of 50l. a year was attached. Such was the modest commencement of a career, which was destined to be marked by various fortunes, and distinguished by services of the highest value to the Church.

Mr. Inglis, after a long and dangerous voyage, arrived at Dover on the 1st of July, 1759; and at this distance of

eighty-six years, it is impossible not to remember with thankfulness, that the son is still administering, with unimpaired vigour and energy, one division of that important diocese which, when it was first placed under the father's spiritual superintendence, comprehended the whole of the British colonies in that quarter of the world. So long a period of service (and still, let us hope, to be considerably extended) to the colonial church, deserves, surely, special notice and remembrance.

Mr. Inglis, on-coming to his Mission, found the situation unhealthy from the neighbourhood of low, marshy lands. There were within it three churches, but that at Dover was in a most ruinous condition. He soon, however, contrived to restore it, and to build a fourth on the borders of Maryland. The Mission comprised the whole county of Kent, thirty-three miles in length and ten in breadth, with a population of 7000, of which a third belonged to the communion of the church.1

A method which he had adopted to abate the drunkenness, debauchery, and riots, which were the usual consequence of meetings to hear candidates for the office of representative or sheriff, was to announce a sermon at the same place and hour; and by this he drew off many.

In 1763, he informed the Society of the flourishing state of his Mission, as evidenced by the erection and restoration of churches, the crowds who attended Divine service, the return of dissenters to the Church, and the revival of a spirit of piety in many persons. His own health he described as much affected by the dampness of the situation, as well as by the excessive fatigue of having to attend stations distant severally fourteen, seventeen, and eighteen miles from his own residence.'

1 Journal, vol. xv. p. 279

2 Ibid. vol.xvi. p. 68.