Mechanics' Institute

MECHANICS’ INSTITUTE. Rev. D. D. Currie on “The Loyalist Idea.” “Love the Brotherhood; fear God; Honor the King.” The Rev. D. D. Currie lectured, last evening, in the regular Mechanics’ Institute course, taking for his subject “The Loyalist Idea.” He was introduced by the President of the Institute, Mr. T. A. Rankine. Judge Palmer, Messrs. J. W. Lawrence, Silas Alward, J. Fleming and D. P. Chisholm were on the platform. Mr. Currie commenced by saying that in the spring of 1783 a fleet of twenty vessels sailed from New York, carrying upwards of 3,000 passengers. These passengers were Loyalists, who had adhered to the British Crown during the war of the American Revolution. They were seeking a new home on British soil and under the jurisdiction of the British Government. The foremost vessel of that fleet dropped anchor in the harbor of St. John on the 10th of May; within a few days the other vessels of the fleet arrived. On Sunday, 18th, most of them landed at that part of the Upper Cove, which is now the Market slip. More Loyalists came during the summer and 1,200 more in October of the same year. Loyalists also went at the same time to Nova Scotia, the Canadas and England. About 30,000 Loyalists came altogether to this new country which was then a wilderness. Perhaps as many more sought refuge in other lands. This coming of those Loyalists should ever be a memorable event in this Province. The story of their allegiance to God and their loyalty to the King should never be forgotten. It is well that we should not lose sight of their example. They were men of strong convictions. They had an idea that possessed their souls. That idea included a trinity of parts which, in their minds, became blended into a vital unity. It included allegiance to the Brotherhood, to God and to the King. They accepted the inspired counsel of King Solomon, who said, “My son, fear thou the Lord and the King, and meddle not with them that are given to change.” That was the Loyalist idea. Ideas are more powerful than armies; ideas rule the world. The Loyalists were loyal to their God, to themselves and to the King. Loyalty means fidelity to the Constitution and, of course, to the Sovereign powers representing it. The lecturer then went on to speak of the division of parties which took place in the days of Queen Elizabeth, into Cavaliers and Roundheads, now Tories and Whigs, or Conservatives and Liberals. He alluded to the coming of the Pilgrim Fathers to this continent in 1620, the beginning of the Anglo-Saxon history in this Western hemisphere. There the loyalist idea in America had its birth. In the agreement the Pilgrims signed in the cabin of the Mayflower is a declaration of loyalty to the King of England. In the Loyalists of 1783 we have the legitimate successors of the Pilgrim Fathers. The former suffered in the confiscation of their property and their hardships in the wilderness, and laid the foundation of those advantages which we are reaping to-day. Besides the Pilgrim Fathers there were the Puritans who settled at Massachusetts Bay, about the year 1630. Both Pilgrims and Puritans were seeking larger liberty in church and state; both believed in the oracles of God. There were, however, great differences between them, to which he referred, the chief being that the Pilgrims were tolerant, the Puritans intolerant; the former were loyal, the latter were disloyal from the beginning. The landing of the Pilgrim fathers is celebrated by a commemoration day, the landing of the Puritans is not celebrated at all. The great quality of the Pilgrim fathers was their thirst for truth and their faith in it. During the 70 years of the separate Governments of the Pilgrims and Puritans there were occasionally differences between them. The Puritans acquired the ascendancy when the Governments were amalgamated in the reign of William III. During all the succeeding years, however, the Loyalist idea preserved its existence. The Declaration of Independence of 1776 was the crystallization of the Puritan idea. The long struggle of the descendants of the Pilgrims to preserve the connexion between the Mother Country and the colonies was the development of the Loyalist idea. He referred to the worthy part acted by the colonists in the French war, which ended with the Conquest of Canada in 1760. Then followed the errors of the English Ministry and the attempt to impose taxation on the colonies without representation. The science of government was not thoroughly understood by the kings and cabinets of that day. There were no precedents to guide the country as to the proper treatment of colonies. Civil society has two problems to solve, personal liberty and constitutional order. Sometimes it seems difficult to reconcile these two forces. The ever flowing tide of emigration to the old thirteen colonies strengthened the ties between England and the colonies, and counteracted to a certain extent the influence of the Puritans. A few powerful writers, however, on the side of the Revolutionary Party made their force felt, and caused many loyal men to reluctantly come to the conclusion that they could find no cure for their grievances but in separation from the Mother Country. The more pronounced and intelligent Loyalists of that time were hoping for a closer union and the creation of a grand Anglo-Saxon Empire. The lecturer rapidly sketched the first movements of the War of the Revolution to the feelings of hatred that were engendered, and to the Acts of Confiscation that were passed against the Loyalists by the Revolutionary conventions of the several States. He quoted the resolutions passed in New York by which the Loyalists were placed under a ban. In New Jersey some of the Loyalists were hanged; in other States they were attainted. They were unable to collect any debts; all civil rights were denied them. The Loyalists of the army of Cornwallis, which were surrendered, were denied any participation in the terms of the Act of Capitulation. Because of the harsh and cruel edicts which were pronounced against the Loyalists, it became necessary for them to seek another land. Like Abraham they went out, not knowing whither they went like the Pilgrim fathers they went out trusting in God. Their sufferings have made them worthy of a high claim to the respect and admiration of posterity. Of the 30,000 Loyalists about 9,000 came to New Brunswick and 11,000 to Nova Scotia, while others went to P.E. Island. It was they who sowed the seed of a new empire. We their descendants wait for the growing harvest. The God whom the Loyalists revered meant to lay the foundation of a new Empire in the Western Hemisphere, and he used for that purpose the small band of Loyalists who would not bow down to their conquerors. Many of those Loyalists were men of large acquirements and of great ability. They came to this new country with intelligence, experience and courage. When that band of Loyalists came to St. John there was nothing to brighten the prospect or cheer the heart. He referred to La Tour and the fort which he built in 1635; and to the subsequent history of the fort as Fort Frederick. It was deserted when the Loyalists came, and there was only a blockhouse on Fort Howe. The first English settlers on St. John River came in 1762; and Messrs. Simonds, White and Peabody obtained grants in 1764. The total population of the country at the end of 1783, including the Loyalists, was only 11,500. There were upwards of 500 framed buildings erected at St. John by October of the year the Loyalists landed. He described the primitive modes of conveyance in that day and the progress of the institutions of the country and the organization of the Civil Government. He spoke of the erection of New Brunswick into a separate Province and its first legislative session in 1786, which was held in St. John. Among the Loyalists were men in every way competent to serve as judges and in other high and responsible positions. The Loyalists took the lead in all the Provinces and the Loyalist idea has lived and flourished until the present hour. The laws they passed were not without faults; they were not sufficiently liberal towards the non-Conformists and about half a century passed before these laws were amended. Finally the narrow and irresponsible policy was condemned and responsible Government was ushered in to its triumph. He then referred to the creation of the Dominion in 1867 and attributed the strength of that new organization to the Loyalist idea. He continued as follows: -- It may be claimed that in the establishment of the Republic of the United States of America there was the accomplishment of a part of a divine purpose. The ideas which lie at the root of the constitution of the United States recognize the worth of manhood, and the preciousness of the liberty of the citizen. Let us remember that the Revolutionists did not contend against paying a duty of three pence per pound on tea because such a payment was burdensome. It was the right only of the Parliament of Great Britain to tax them, without their consent, that they disputed. Taxation without representation was, in the estimation of both Revolutionist and Loyalist, a wrong against the manhood, and against the liberty of the people. For the great principles of human liberty the Revolutionist and the Loyalist alike were ready to contend. But in the great crisis which was precipitated, those two parties assumed widely different positions. Some of the clearest thinkers and most forceful writers among the revolutionists were Atheists in theory and in practice. No adherents of the revolutionary cause in that day wielded a more potent influence over the popular mind by their writings than Thomas Paine and Thomas Jefferson, and both of these men were professed infidels. Having disclaimed all allegiance to God, it was not difficult for them to renounce all honor to the King. The Loyalists, however, having contended for the widest liberty of the brotherhood of the people, both feared God and honored the King. If we may with propriety admit that the establishment of the Republic of the United States was, as has been affirmed, the carrying out, in part, of a divine purpose, we claim that the coming of the Loyalists to these Provinces, and their bringing with them the Loyalist idea was also part of a Divine purpose. They came hither with duty as their polar star, with justice in their right hands, with truth in their left, with the fear of God in their hearts, and clad with loyalty as with a garment. They planted the Loyalist idea in this British soil, under the ægis of the red cross banner of England, and for the promotion of the purposes of Providence and of the beneficent designs of God. That idea has taken root. Its developments are apparent to-day throughout this prosperous Dominion, from the Atlantic to the Pacific, in the forests and on the prairies, in the ever widening fields of industry, and in our growing villages, and towns and cities. When Napoleon, during his campaign in Egypt, was about to meet his opposing forces in the stern array of battle, he, addressing his soldiers, pointed to the tall and mystic pyramids, and said: “Lo! forty centuries look down upon your deeds.” If we may not claim that upon us is fixed the gaze of forty centuries, we may, at least, remember, with inspiring effect, that upon us is now fixed the gaze of contemporaneous peoples, who expect that the descendants of the Loyalist fathers will prove, by their deeds, that they are worthy of their sires. By their sublime adherence to duty; by their lofty patriotism; by their noble self-sacrifice; by their heroic endeavors to preserve and to perpetuate English civilization in an Anglo-Saxon Empire on this continent, they have shown, not only what men inspired by the Loyalist idea have done, but what their descendants, in coming years, may attempt and may accomplish. This land is the sepulchre of many American Loyalists. They lived not for themselves, but for their country, which they have given to us for an inheritance. Being dead yet they speak. They are our instructors in the duty of the disinterested and successful patriotism. They teach us how to be self-sacrificing for the sake of principle. And they call unto us and to our fellow Canadians, who have descended from another ancestry, but who are one with us in loyalty to our institutions, to build upon the foundations they so well laid, a national superstructure that shall be worthy of them and of ourselves. What the future of this broad Dominion will be must depend, under the divine blessing, upon the character and virtues of ourselves, and of our posterity. If we, and they, shall be true to the Christian religion; if we, and they, shall cherish sentiments of Christian morality, and shall maintain such conscientious convictions of duty as shall control the heart and the life, we may entertain the brightest anticipations concerning the future of our country. The lecturer then proceeded, in eloquent terms, to deny that the devotion of the Loyalists to the king and their flag was a mistake, and held that their act had no more right to be so regarded than the soldier who dies for his country on the field of battle or the act of any man who pursues, through dangers and troubles, the path of duty. His concluding remarks were as follows: -- While we should nourish and maintain the sentiment of loyalty in its broad aspect as concerning the whole Dominion, and also as it relates to the wide-reaching empire of that illustrious lady Victoria, by the grace of God our noble Queen, who wears the empress diadem of India, as well as the brilliant crown of England, we should also remember that there is another claim upon our loyalty. This city of Saint John, more indebted than any other of this Dominion, to the Loyalists of 1783, whose streets were first surveyed, first cleared, first trodden upon by those Loyalists, and whose prosperity has been the result of their endeavors, rightfully claims the earnest, the devoted and the intelligent loyalty of its citizens, and of the people of the province of which it is the chief commercial centre. Seeing that, in the providence of God, we are permitted to stand upon the threshold of the one hundredth year since the Loyalists landed on these coasts, does it not become us to consider whether we may not desire some judicious measures for the benefit of this metropolis of New Brunswick? Why may not the eighteenth day of May, 1883, witness the enlargement, to a considerable extent, of the boundaries of St. John, so that by its broadened area, there shall be ample room for a largely increased population, and for the extension, within the city limits, in grand proportions, of our mechanical and commercial enterprises? One of the old Hebrew prophets, looking down through the corridors of time, saw, with his inspired eye, an era when some of the sons and daughters of the people should prophecy, and when the old men should dream dreams, and the young men should see visions. Is not this a time when we may prophecy large things concerning our Dominion, and also concerning our city of St. John? If a claim to be considered either a young man, or an old man, were urged, in my behalf, such claim, in both directions, might be open to dispute. There may be, however, accorded to me the advantage of a middle ground, and the privilege of dreaming the dreams of the old man, and of seeing the visions of the young. Is it my privilege to dream? Whither does the unbridled imagination carry me? Westward I am taken, following the star of empire in its course. The great North-west is divided into provinces. All over the prairie, all along the Assiniboine and the Saskatchewan, on the slopes of the Rocky Mountains and along the Pacific shores, there is an industrious and prosperous people, dwelling in homes of comfort in rural districts and in growing villages and towns. Eastward my dream brings me on the wings of fancy. Here in every town the artisan is contentedly toiling to the music of the spindle, or to the ring of the anvil, as he is weaving into form or moulding into shape, manufactures for our western field. Here, in my dream, this city so many times smitten by fire, has grown into considerable proportions. Its boundaries run abroad from the old barrack grounds, across the mouth of Courtenay Bay and up the rising ground towards the high lands on the farther shore, they sweep around, taking in all the town of Portland, and they include large parts of Simonds and Lancaster. There is one Mayor over all, one board of works, one water and sewerage department, one police organization, and one fire service. There are better financial arrangements. There are diminished taxes. Courtenay Bay is covered over with streets, and bridges, and factories, and warehouses. Here and there are grain elevators and storehouses. There is a new and magnificent Railway station. The harbor is filled with shipping. And St. John is the winter port of the Dominion. This dream, may we not hope, is not all a dream? Then again there are visions as backwards as we take our glance. The city disappears. The streets, the houses, the churches, the wharves, the shipping dissolve like the morning dew. Shrubs, stunted trees, marshes and rocks greet the vision. Here and there on a narrow patch of clearing there is the log cabin of the lonely settler. It is a May morning. A vessel comes up the harbor and takes her moorings near Navy Island. Other vessels follow in her wake. The fog comes up the Bay and covers land and sea with its wide and watery embrace. It is now the eighteenth day of May, 1783. The fog lifts. The bright sun looks down upon the land and the sea. There are twenty vessels in the harbor. There is unusual activity on board them all. From every vessel, in small boats, men of every age, of strong arm, of stout heart and of earnest purpose, are coming to the shore. There is the old continental dress. There is the well worn, flint-lock musket which the long war had taught them how to handle. There is the music of the fife and the drum. They have come from many a battle-field. They have come from many a post of duty. They have come from many a weary bivouac. They have left their cultivated fields. They have left their commercial enterprises. They have left their homes of comfort, their churches, and the tombs of their ancestors. Their houses and their lands have been confiscated. They are exiles. What brought those homeless wanderers hither? It was because they loved the brotherhood, and they feared God, and they honored the King. Let that idea – the Loyalist idea – live amongst us, and throughout this Dominion, forever. The audience was one of the largest of the season and the lecturer, who was in good voice, was frequently and loudly applauded during its delivery and at its close. Judge Stevens was announced as the lecturer for next Monday evening.