disappoint, instead of satisfying him. The Governor's principal informant, in reference to this interesting matter, was a Mr. John Bland, of Bona Vista, who seems to have given much attention to the aborigines -so far as to have shaped out for himself theories respecting them-but does not furnish very reliable information; what he gives appears to be at secondhand. The substance of what he had to tell in relation to them, as apparent matters of fact, lies in the following sentences:

It is so long ago, as I am informed, since an Indian named June died. This savage, the first remembered to have been in our possession, was taken when a boy, and became expert in all the branches of the Newfoundland business. An old man in this bay, who knew June, has told me that he frequently made visits to his friends in the heart of the country. Since the death of June, August, who died a few years ago, has been the only Indian in our possession. This man was taken when an infant. August fell from his mother's back, who was running off with her child when she was shot, and I have been told by those who were intimate with August, that he has frequently expressed a wish to meet the murderer of his mother, that he might revenge her death. I only mention this circumstance to show that a Newfoundland Indian is not destitute of filial affection.

Rather a curious illustration!

The Church of England in Newfoundland is deeply indebted to Admiral Waldegrave. It has been mentioned in a previous page that the place of worship in St. John's had fallen into such a dilapidated condition as to be unfit to hold service in, and that the Courthouse had to be fitted up for that purpose. This was an evil state of things, which the Governor employed

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himself earnestly to remedy. He subscribed liberally himself; he procured a generous donation from the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel. He obtained a gift of 500l. from the king, a grant which was afterwards increased. With these helps, conjoined with the spirited endeavours of the merchants and chief inhabitants of the capital, His Excellency had the satisfaction, before his rule ended, of seeing a commodious church edifice growing up to completion. He also exerted himself, and successfully too, to acquire for the church a large space of ground for the burial of the dead. While thus mindful to augment and improve the material property of the Church, he manifested an equally lively solicitude on behalf of its clergy. He made their case (a sufficiently hard one) known both to the British Government and the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel, with such effect as to obtain for them an increase to their stipends; and this, too, on a basis of greater certainty than that on which they had hitherto been received. According to Anspach, who arrived in Newfoundland in 1799, the Governor had occasion to be grieved by the extensive inoculation of the community with the low infidel sentiments derived from such works as 'Paine's Age of Reason,' to counteract which, he caused to be distributed 250 copies of Bishop Watson's 'Apology for the Bible.' Gratefully appreciating the efforts of His Excellency to promote the interests of the Church, the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel passed the following resolution at its annual meeting in 1798:

Resolved, that the thanks of this Society be given to the Honourable Vice-Admiral Waldegrave, for his active services in the cause of religion in Newfoundland.

Charity, as well as religion, engaged the thought, and called forth the exertions of this active Governor. In a letter dated August 31, 1797, addressed to the magistrates and principal inhabitants of St. John's, he writes feelingly on a subject which has since become of serious importance to the colony, viz.—some regular provision for the poor. In that communication, he states that the first object which attracted his attention on his landing was the wretchedness of the lower inhabitants of the town. This led him to enquire into the provision which he conceived the wisdom of the laws must have made for the poor;' when, to his astonishment, 'he was informed no such provision was made.' After acknowledging the liberality of the richer inhabitants, in relieving cases of destitution, he urged the formation of an organization, to raise by annual subscription among the people generally a fund sufficient to administer some regular and permanent relief, offering himself as a subscriber of 201. This suggestion was cordially embraced by the inhabitants assembled in public meeting, all classes contributing to the fund.* It was followed by a proclamation containing a plan for the general relief of the poor in the island. This scheme, though on a voluntary basis,

* The number of persons relieved from this fund during the winter of 1798-9 was 626, in St. John's alone, many of whom, it is stated by the distributors, must, in all likelihood, but for such aid, have absolutely perished for want.

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seems to have been the first attempt to make regular provision for the necessities of the pauper population. Could Admiral Waldegrave have foreseen to what portentous dimensions the plan initiated by him would grow, and what form it would assume, in little more than sixty years from his day, he would probably have been filled with a measure of surprise and sadness, equal to what he felt when he first came into contact with the poverty of St. John's. In the estimate laid before the House of Assembly for the year 1863, the public expenditure of the colony is set down at 90,000l., of which 30,000l. is for pauper relief!

The Governor formed no very high opinion of either of the two classes of the population subject to his authority. The labouring population he considered to contain such elements of misrule and danger as to lead him to make urgent representations to the Ministry of the necessity of the chief justice being under obligation to winter in the island. On his suggestion being acted upon, so far as to forbid the judge to leave his post without a special permission, the admiral thus writes to the Duke of Portland:—

May I be permitted to represent to your Grace, that no such indulgence can be granted for the present, without a risk of its being attended with the most fatal consequences to the Island of Newfoundland. Your Grace is well acquainted that nearly nine-tenths (?) of the inhabitants of this island are either natives of Ireland or immediate descendants from them,

The above Chief Justice Routh was very wishful to leave the island, to spend the winter in England, and return in the spring. Two years from this date (1798) he set sail from England to Newfoundland, and was never heard of afterwards.

and that the whole of these are of the Roman Catholic persuasion. As the Royal Newfoundland Regiment has been raised in the island, it is needless for me to endeavour to point out the small proportion that the native English bear to the Irish in this body of men. I think it necessary to mention this circumstance, in order to show to your Grace how little dependence could be placed on the military in case of any civil commotion in the town of St. John's. It is therefore to the wise and vigilant administration of the civil power that we must look to preserve peace and good order (the present times considered *), in this settlement.

His Excellency's estimate of the merchant class was scarcely more favourable than that which he formed of the labourers. Some of the former had made complaints on the subject of the emigration of some of the inhabitants from the Bay of Placentia to Nova Scotia and the United States of America.

In forwarding a letter containing such complaints to the Duke of Portland, the Governor accompanied it with the following remarks-'That the merchants of Burin should consider the emigration in question as a very serious grievance to them, I can readily suppose, as, could these emigrations be checked, the whole of the money carried off from Burin and its environs by the emigrant would find its way to the pockets of the merchants of that place. The accompanying letter from Mr. Ogden will sufficiently explain the cause of the emigration of the wretched inhabitants. To remedy this evil will be no easy matter to devise; but one point seems clear, and this is, that

* This letter was written in June 1798, immediately after the outbreak and suppression of the Irish Rebellion.