Majesty’s Forces in British North America. For whatever cause, none of the society’s principal officers were present, making impossible the accomplishment of any business. Again, the exact details are unknown, but the members present took over the meeting, designated Neil Rankin and Donald Currie as chairman and secretary, and formed a “new Scottish Benevolent Society, known as St. Andrew’s Society.” From there

A committee of seven persons was...chosen to draw up rules and bye-laws, to be laid before the Society at its next meeting, and the following officers were appointed for the present year: Hon. Charles Young, LL.D., president; Hon. P. Walker and N. Rankin, Esq., vice presidents; James Purdie, Esq., treasurer; Mr. D. Currie, secretary; and Donald Mc- Fadyen, piper and messenger.

The first meeting of the new society concluded with the message that:

As the object of the St. Andrew’s Society is to cultivate a spirit of v nationality &c., among Scotsmen and their descendants, as well as to dispense the blessings of a charitable institution, it is to be hoped that all those friendly to the cause will favour us with their presence at the next

meeting..."

The St. Andrew’s Society did not survive long. Five years later, the Caledonian Club was established to take over the concerns of Scottish Islanders. But, until 1863 at least, the St. Andrew’s Society was credited as being the primary Scottish association on the Island, having ap- parently taken command from the Highland Society. It seems, though, in 1863, that the Highland Society had reappeared and the office-bearers were elected, once again, to that group.

The Caledonian Club emerged from the middle of this confusion. Its interests lay in promoting a Scottish kinship on the Island and retaining the music and athletic games of Scotland. The first objective developed, to some extent, from the degree of unfruitful rhetoric that characterized much of the Highland Society’s resolutions and discussions during that club’s years of operation. It seems likely that the proponents of change within the Society felt the time had come to fulfill all former promises, and that the best way to accomplish this was to find themselves a new image, a new club. The second objective was an extension of the first and, indeed, was begun before the new club was born. In September

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