-r,4 PAST AND PRESENT OF Square, which had been originally reserved for a jail and courthouse, as a site and, the required amount having been pledged by in¬ dividual subscribers, the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel, and the Govern¬ ment, a contract was let on August 8, 1831 ( Note 6). When the building was approach¬ ing completion it was blown down in a se¬ vere storm (August 10, 1833). The loss was considerable, difficulties with the con¬ tractors ensued and work was not resumed until 1835. It was finished in midsummer of 1836. On August 18th of that year a grant of the site was made by the Crown to the Minister, Church Wardens and Vestry and their successors in office in perpetuity, and on August 21 st, the building was consecrated by the Bishop, who visited the Island espe¬ cially for that purpose.* As evidence of the public spirit manifested by the Lieuten¬ ant Governors it may be worthy of note that of the £1,400 required, £150 was donated by Sir Aretas Young and £50 by Colonel Ready (Note 7). Having anticipated somewhat we must needs go back to take up the thread of our story. In 1830, following the example of the mother country, the Colonial Legisla¬ ture passed an Act granting "Catholic Emancipation" and tardy justice was thus done. A spirit of toleration had been grow¬ ing for years. Since 1825, the British Gov ¬ ernment in preparing its yearly estimate for defraying the expense of the Civil Establish¬ ment of Prince Edward Island , had each year inserted an item, "allowance to Rev. note six The contractors were Isaac Smith . Henry Smith , Jabez Barnard and Nathan Wright . The sum stipu¬ lated for In the original contract, which only provided for outward finish, 728 pounds, 7s. 8d. NOTE SEVEN Colonel Ready retired in 1831. Sir Murray Max ¬ well was appointed in his place, but took ill soon af¬ terwards and died in England . Col. Aretas Young succeeded him. Aeneas Machern , Roman Catholic Mis¬ sionary in the Islands of Prince Eward and , etc., in reward for his meritorious services,'£5o." This was but in accord with the general respect in which he was held in Prince Edward Island . A warm friendship also existed between Doctor Jen ¬ kins and Father Fitzgerald, who from 1823 to 1829 exercised a salutary if somewhat rigorous rule over the Roman Catholic popu¬ lation of Charlottetown , in which his black¬ thorn stick played no insignificant part. There was little save the gradual growth of the population to especially distinguish these early years of Doctor Jenkins ' pastorate. A scholar and of a decidedly poetic tempera¬ ment he did not find existing conditions alto¬ gether to his liking for it was an open se¬ cret that in 1830 he contemplated applying for an exchange to a country parish. The contentions which life in a small colony nat¬ urally engendered and which in Prince Ed ¬ ward Island were intensified by the ever- present land question, were focused in St. Paul's, for at that time every official attended the Church of England. It must be also conceded that formality rather than spirit¬ uality was the dominant characteristic of the age. Special pews were provided for the Lieutenant Governor , the members of the Council, the members of the House of As¬ sembly and the officers of the garrison. All other pews save two which were reserved for strangers were private property and the right of exclusive ownership was jealously guarded. Consequently the poorer classes could not attend service at St. Paul's, if they desired to do so, as there was no place there for them. Many years after in the second St. Paul's it was arranged that at the evening service non-pewholders might be shown into vacant seats, but the church officers even then had