256 PAST AND PRESENT OF Revolution and gain a measure of insight into the religious thought of our pioneer forefathers. On the 29th June, 1795, the first official step was taken towards the erection of a church. The following is an extract from the Minute of Council: "The Lieut Governor ( General Fan ¬ ning) acquainted the board that "he had convened them at this time in order to take into consideration a petition that had been referred to himself and the members of this board by a committee for superintending the building of a church in Charlottetown by subscription of sundry persons, praying that a grant might be made to them, their heirs and assigns of an interest in the site and building to be erected thereon in proportion to their respective subscriptions, when such subscriptions shall have been respectively paid. Upon consideration it was unani¬ mously advised that a grant be made in trust to the Right Honourable Lord Dorchester . Governor of the Island, and in his absence rto the Lieut. Governor and Commander in Chief for the time being, to Peter Stewart , Esquirej Chief Justice , and to the Chief Jus ¬ tice for the time being, to Thomas Des- Brisay , Esquire, Secretary, and to the Secretary for the time being, to John Stew ¬ art, Esquire, Speaker of the Assembly , and to the Speaker of the Assembly for the time being, to the Rev. Theophilus DesBrisay , Rector and Curate of the Parish of Charlotte for the time being, and to the Rev. Richard Grant , Governor's Chaplain , and to the Chaplain for the time being, to and for the use of the several subscribers agreeable to the prayer of the said petition and the Attor¬ ney General is to prepare a draft of a grant agreeable to this order." This church was to be "for the use of the Established Churches of England and Scot¬ land" but beyond obtaining this grant and soliciting subscriptions nothing further seems to have been done this year or the next. But by the 8th of May, 1797, the list of subscriptions had been so far completed and the plans so far advanced as to warrant their drawing for pews. But it was not until April 23, 1800, that the actual work of erec¬ tion was commenced. On that day accord¬ ing to Benjamin Chappell 's diary, there was a general muster including all the soldiers to level the square (on the site of the present Dominion Building) for the new church. They finished this portion of the work next day but it was October before the frame was set up. This year the Rector moved into town, taking up his residence at "," where he spent the remainder of his life. Realizing how impossible it was for him to minister to the needs of churchmen throughout the Island, urgent application was made to the S. P. G, recommended by the Bishop and approved of by Buckingham, secretary of state for the colonial department, for the appointment of missionaries, but it was re¬ fused on the ground that there were a num¬ ber of individuals of fortune on the Island "who will not contribute to the funds of the society and the Government allows salary of a military chaplain on the garrison staff as a sinecure by a person who was never in the colony." New Brunswick and Nova Scotia were liberally dealt with but Prince Edward Island was thus placed outside the pale, and suffered accordingly. In the session of 1802 the following act (43 Geo. Ill, Cap. 6) was placed on the statute book: "For as much as His Majesty upon the settlement of this Island was graciously