The Civic Anniversary

THE CIVIC ANNIVERSARY. To-day is the one hundred and tenth anniversary of the landing of the Loyalists. Although there were then a few settlers at the mouth of the river, and a number along the banks of the St. John below the site of the present capital, the foundation of the city of St. John practically dates from the 18th May, 1783, when the Loyalists landed here. Since the last 18th May a citizen of St. John who took a deep interest in this important event, and in the surrounding circumstances, has passed to his rest. Although not of a Loyalist family, Mr. Joseph W. Lawrence did a vast amount of work to give the people a good idea of the character of men who were prominent in the early history of the city and to rescue from oblivion many interesting facts connected with the growth of St. John in its early days. For a generation or more the leaders of the Loyalists carried things with a pretty high head, and their poorer and unlearned associates for a long time felt their hands heavy upon them. Quarrels and squabbles commenced very early after the building of the city began; large numbers of those who came here drifted back; many of the prominent men made themselves as solid as they could with the home government while they strengthened their bonds upon the people. Many political and social evils grew out of this, and one result was to fasten upon the province the Family Compact, from which the people with great difficulty shook themselves clear. A large immigration of Scotchmen and of Irishmen and a smaller number of Englishmen added much to whatever good qualities the Loyalists themselves had, and really made the basis of the substantial and energetic character which the people of St. John to-day display. There are probably very few purely Loyalist families in the city now. Some of them have disappeared almost entirely through deterioration and decay, the greater portion have intermarried into families which have come here since, the progressive thought of the time has been fatal to the assumption of many of the Loyalists that they were better than any other class of the population, and consequently the management, control and direction of our affairs, the great work of commerce or manufacturing, the greater work of teaching the doctrines of Christianity, the task of publishing newspapers, and almost all that shows the life of the community is not very much dependent on the Loyalists now. Nevertheless, as the 18th of May comes round each year, there is an ever-growing disposition to remember the day and to think of the pluck and energy of the men who commenced the work of settlement upon the rather dreary site which this fine city occupies.