'sick nigh unto death,' but who have been spared to us, lest, in their cases, we 'should have sorrow upon sorrow,'-and spared, as we hope, for years of usefulness in the husbandry of God."

After the visitation at Montreal, the Bishop paid a visit to a rude and secluded settlement, in reaching which an hour and a quarter were occupied in making a distance of three miles. The clergyman lived in "two little unpainted rooms: his dinner consisted of a plate of fried salt pork, and another of potatoes, with bread and butter, both very good, a jug of milk, and another of water; such fare he was content to live upon."

There

In one of his letters to the S. P. G., at this date, the Bishop says, with reference to the general condition of the diocese, "There are some pleasing incidents and promising appearances, but it is not all a sunny or smiling landscape. are difficulties, perplexities and discouragements enough, and something more than enough, for powers such as mine, but I still hold on by the hope that while it is the will of God to keep me at the post I shall not be wholly deserted or left to myself."

CHAPTER XVIII.

Re-appearance of cholera at Quebec-Preparations for synodical actionMeeting with the Bishop of Toronto-Erection of a see at Montreal, and arrival of the new Bishop-Triennial circuit continued-Visit to the Magdalen Islands-Statistics.

IN 1849, the cholera re-appeared at Quebec, and the Bishop thought it a fitting time to establish a daily early morning service, although the mortality did not at all approach the number which it had reached even in 1834. The community sustained some very severe losses. Among these the Bishop had to deplore his faithful friend and counsellor, before mentioned, the Hon. A. W. Cochran. In all matters relating to legal affairs, and in many other points, the Bishop found another sincere friend and adviser after this loss, and this he always regarded as a special cause for thankfulness. The best legal advice that could be obtained in Lower and in Upper Canada was always ready in the cause of the Church, and afforded in the most disinterested manner. Towards the close of 1849, the Bishop, who very rarely indeed took any part in political affairs, felt it his duty to print, for private circulation among members of the Church, some " Thoughts on Annexation," which he had originally drawn up in the shape of a pastoral letter. The necessity, however, for sending it forth in this form had happily passed away before it could be issued, but he was anxious, as far as possible, to exhibit the duty of churchmen towards the Church and Realm of England, to which he was himself thoroughly and devotedly

attached, and to dissuade them from being carried away by any passing excitement of discontent. The two great institutions, for the establishment of which he had laboured so long, were both now fairly established, and, by God's blessing, prospering. But they still demanded a large share of his time and thought, as well as frequent journeyings to Lennoxville and Montreal, the former not being, for several years after the date we have now reached, accessible by railroad. The college, indeed, was at this time in temporary difficulty of a financial kind, but this was met, partly by a subscription of £250 a year for three years, raised in a few days at Quebec, and partly by the voluntary sacrifice, by all the professors, of a portion of their salaries. In reference to this, the Bishop wrote to the S. P. G.: "The college has received a check, but it has been met by a spirit of faith and resolution on the part of those whose private interests are immediately affected: they are willing to do all they can to recover, by prudence and exertion, what the institution has temporarily lost, and are prepared, if they must suffer, to suffer cheerfully, and still to do their duty as heretofore." But there was another object, and one of wider interest, another need which had been long felt, to provide for which matters began now to be put in train. In his charge delivered in 1848, the Bishop referred to "the grievous detriment done in many ways to the Church, by the denial to her of her inherent privilege to meet, by her accredited representatives, in stated and solemn deliberation, whether in general or diocesan synods, upon her own affairs, and some peculiar consequences of this anomaly affecting the colonial branches of the Church," in which "a weight of labour and responsibility, often very oppressive and very disheartening, is thrown, as things now are, upon individual Bishops, of which they ought to be relieved, as well by opportunities of reference to the great council of the Church at home, as by the collective wisdom of both prelates and clerical deputies within the

colonies, assembled in the same formal manner, and seeking, in united supplication, the guidance of the Spirit of truth and love." In the hope of maturing some plan for the accomplishment of this great object, he was engaged in correspondence with the other North American Bishops, now five in all, that a preliminary conference might be held on the subject. This took place two years later, as we shall presently see. Since the departure of Bishop Stewart, a few days after his own arrival at Quebec in 1836, he had not seen the face of a brother Bishop of the Anglican Church, until he visited Fredericton in 1847. It was in 1849 that he met the Bishop of Toronto, for the first time after his consecration ten years previously: they met when each was engaged in administering confirmation on the Ottawa, where it is spanned by a bridge. "Their opportunities of conversation were brief, but the mutual greeting was cordial, and no inconsiderable interest attached to their interview." It was in this year, too, that the efforts he had used for the establishment of a bishopric in Prince Rupert's Land, were brought to a happy issue,* and he began more earnestly than ever to labour for the farther division of his own diocese. The S.P.G. resolved, in April, "in compliance with his urgent and frequently-repeated recommendations" to do its part towards the establishment of a see at Montreal. The Clergy Reserves, of which the administration had been confided to the Crown Lands Department of the provincial Government (the Clergy Reserve Corporation having been dissolved), had become available, to a very small extent, in Lower Canada. An accumulated sum of about £9000, in addition to the annual revenue, had been placed at the disposal of the S. P. G.,

* In his letters to the S. P. G., on hearing of this, he says, "I bless God to learn that my prayers have been heard, (though better prayers than mine have been given for the attainment of the object) on behalf of Red River. It is a measure of special interest to me, and I am full of thankfulness that it has been accomplished."

the legal trustee of the fund, and the Bishop proposed that this block sum should form the nucleus of an endowment fund for two bishoprics in Lower Canada. The urgency of the case seemed now, however, so great that it was proposed to provide at once for the new see. But the Secretary of State for the Colonies objected to its appropriation for this object, while no provision existed for the endowment of the see of Quebec itself, and it was accordingly arranged that it should be so applied instead, and allowed to accumulate during the continuance of the parliamentary grant. The Society, however, took immediate measures for raising, by private subscription, a sum for the endowment of the proposed new see, on behalf of which a special appeal was issued by the Council for colonial bishoprics, on the 12th March, 1850. This appeal was so successful, that on St. James' Day, in the same year, the present Metropolitan of Canada was consecrated at Westminster abbey, to the great joy* and relief of him who surrendered to him the title of Bishop of Montreal, receiving himself fresh letters patent appointing him to the see of Quebec, which he had administered for fourteen years. The new Bishop arrived in Canada on the 11th September, and was met, on first setting foot in his diocese, by the Bishop of Quebec and a large number of clergy at St. John's, where

In a letter to the secretary S. P. G., dated 10th August, 1850, he says: "With deep and unfeigned thankfulness have I received this morning your letter of the 26th July, announcing the consecration of Bishop Fulford, and I am gratified to learn that the ceremony in the abbey was performed with so much solemn and impressive effect. My prayers are with him, and I shall gladly give him the hand of a brother, and pass to him a portion of my charge, in the firm hope that his supervision of it will be to the glory of God and the benefit of His church." And again, on the 26th October, 1850, "Nothing can be greater matter of thankfulness on behalf of the interests of the Church of England in Canada, than to witness the passing of the new diocese, with the important city of Montreal as the see, into hands such as those of Dr. Fulford, and to observe the general appreciation of his eminent qualifications for his charge, on which I pray and trust that the blessing of Almighty God will be seen to rest."