246 PAST AND PRESENT OF gestion in this last undertaking, for instead of building a church and other public build¬ ings with it, he appropriated it all to pay the salaries of the civil list, which, owing to the failure of the proprietors to pay their quit rents, had fallen hopelessly into arrears, so much so that the officials were hard set to procure the necessities of life. * Thus, notwithstanding ample provision had been made for it, the colony had to do without a church for the next twenty years and then it was built by private sub¬ scriptions. It is difficult to conceive of the state of a community absolutely cut off from all the ordinances of religion—yet such for many years was the condition of the inhabitants of the Island of St. John ( Prince Edward Island ). The adventurous character of their lives, the absence of conventional restraints and the extent to which they indulged in the use of intoxicants, necessarily rendered them rather lax in matters of morality and religion, yet the early colonists were essen¬ tially men of sound judgment and fully real¬ ized that such a condition of affairs could not with safety be long permitted to con¬ tinue. This sentiment finds expression in the following dispatch: From Walter Patterson , Governor and Commander -in- Chief Island of St. John, 2nd Sept., 1773. To Lord Hillsborough . Secretary of State, Colonial Department, London. My Lord: I can no longer forbear representing to your Lordship that the minister appointed to this town has not yet made his appearance amongst us, although appointed near four years; nor has he * (B)PhlUlpe Calbeck. writing to Lord Dartmouth 5th Jan - nary, 1770, states that though he had served as attorney ge*1' era! for six years he had, up to that time, only received one ever once thought proper to assign any reason for his absence, nor do I believe he has ever made application anywhere for leave. The want of one is a cause of great complaint among the in¬ habitants and a reason given by some persons for quitting the Island after coming to it with a design to settle. We have our children of all ages unchristened. I myself have two, one of them upward of two years old. These are circum¬ stances of such a nature that no cause but the non-payment of our salaries could have prevented my taking notice of them before. But lest we forget that there is such a thing as religion en- Urely, I must with the greatest deference beg your Lordship's interposition in this matter and If Mr. Caulfleld does not immediately take pos¬ session of his living that we may have some other minister appointed to it who will." Evidently he felt that the situation did not admit of his awaiting a reply to this dispatch, for in the minutes of Council of 1784 there is to be found the following entry: "Cash paid the Rev. John Eagleson for performing divine service in the years 1773- 1774, £35 10s. Stg." Mr. Eagleson was stationed at Fort Cumberland 1769-1779. At the instance of the government of the Island of St. John, he visited that colony, with the consent .of the S. P. G ., and min¬ istered at Charlottetown , St. Peter 's, Stan¬ hope, Tracadie , Malpeque and Princetown . The proprietors had also requested the secretary of state for the colonies to inter¬ pose in this matter and their action elicted the following letter from Lord Dartmouth to the Rev. Mr. Caulfield : Sir: The proprietors of the Island of St. John hav¬ ing represented to me that, notwithstanding your having been appointed by His Majesty's warrant minister of Charlotte parish in that Island as long ago as the month of August, 1769, you have not yet been inducted or officiated in your parish, I think it fit to acquaint you that such neglect of duty in a clergyman will not, as it ought not to, be passed over. Although I am aware that the cure of your parish is granted to you during your life, yet if you do not immediately repair to your charge I shall think It my duty to recom-