CHAPTER IV.

The fire in Germain Street--The first brick house in St. John-- Old Trinity--The Loyalists--Curious ideas about insurance--The rectors of Trinity--The Clock--The Royal Arms.

The fire along Germain Street was of great volume, and dealt out destruction in a thoroughly wholesale manner. A good many buildings of more than ordinary note were situate in this pleasant street, and to these may be added a large number of churches, some of them being of especial importance in an historical point of view. The fire came along briskly, carrying Foster's Corner, Foster's shoe store, and the little buildings adjoining, till it reached Dr. Ring's residence, the old Disbrow property, the first brick house in St. John. The doctor had lately improved it by extensive building operations, but in an hour or two hardly a fragment remained to mark the spot, save parts of the well-built walls and the tall chimneys. Mrs. Chas. K. Cameron's millinery store and Hamilton & Lounsbury's place of business were in the two stores in this building, and they very soon were lost to sight. Lordly, Howe & Co.'s furniture warerooms, filled with new stock, were greedily devoured by the flames, and Geo. Hutchinson, jr., who kept the time ball in working order, lost all his jewelry and stock. The precious stones and gold and silver ornaments in his safe were totally ruined also. The Mansion Hotel, a small boarding house, was soon among the general mass of debris, and the fire whizzed across the street, and directed its entire force on Old Trinity. First the steeple went, and then the whole body of the old church was in a sheet of flame, and there was barely time left to save the historic Royal Arms which Captain Frank B. Hazen got out of the building, and a few prayer books in the vestry, and the minister's surplices, which Colonel Chas. R. Ray rescued from destruction. The communion plate was in a safe, and it too was saved; but this was all. During the burning of this sacred edifice the greatest consternation prevailed among the people who lined the streets. Now surely there was no resisting the fire. The hoarse roar of the tornado of flame seemed to sound like a mocking laugh, and when the rafters of the oldest church in the city fell with a dull thud, all felt as if a friend had been torn ruthlessly from their gaze. Many exhibited real emotion; and there were women who cried that afternoon, as they thought of this last relic of their loyalist forefathers being swept away in the cruel and all-devouring fire. Trinity Church has a very remarkable history of its own, and the picture which we supply of it will be perhaps the most attractive of our illustrations to the great mass of the residents of the city. It was ever a monument of the piety and religious tenets of our first settlers. A heritage which they left to their children. It never laid claims to architectural beauty, but it was commodious and homely; and men felt while inside its grand old walls that there was something more than the mere name in religion after all, and the word which they heard was true and good. The Loyalists who settled here in 1783, on that memorable 18th of May, were composed of that stuff which the poet tells us warriors sometimes feel, and they diligently set to work to build on this sterile, rocky soil a city that future ages would acknowledge. They had thrift, integrity, great zeal, enterprise and piety, and these attributes were their strongest points. The man who possesses all these characteristics can give battle to the world and he will conquer. They had true courage in them, these pioneers. They had stability, nerve and character, and were just the men to found a city and plant the seeds of civilization in a community. They erected simple houses at first, and then a church was built in which they could worship that God who had befriended them and journeyed with them to their new homes. The first church was erected in Germain Street, between Duke and Queen Streets, in the lot where Mr. James McMillan lived till he was burned out of it the other day. The faith adopted here was that of the Church of England--as the major portion of the Loyalists were of that persuasion. When the city lots were divided, the "Old Burial Ground" was laid aside for church and burial purposes, and at the south-west corner--where the court-house now stands--it was intended to build a church, and a frame for that object was obtained. The fire of 1784, however, passed over this section of the city, and the founders changed their ideas about the locality in which the projected edifice should stand. The Germain Street building had not been consecrated, and the people continued to worship there until 1791, when the Trinity Church was erected. The first church then continued to be occupied by various denominations, by the Methodists first, and then by the Baptists, until meeting-houses and chapels of their own could be built; latterly it was used as a private dwelling-house and school-house. The first sermon in Trinity was preached on Christmas Day, 1791, by Rev. Dr. Mather Byles, rector. The following year a bell was put up, and, in 1803 or 1804, stoves, for the first time, were placed in the church. The first Bishop of Nova Scotia, Right Reverend Dr. Charles Inglis, performed the consecration services of the church. This eminent divine was grandfather of Major-General Sir John Inglis, whose deeds of valour at Lucknow will never be forgotten while glorious exploits in military history live in the memory of men. Thomas Horsfield and Fitch Rogers were the first church-wardens of Trinity, and the vestrymen were Hon. Gabriel Ludlow, Ward Chipman, Munson Jarvis, Thomas Whitlock, Nathan Smith, Thomas Elmes, William Hazen, Colin Campbell, Nehemiah Rogers, Isaac Lawton, Thomas Bean, and Samuel Hallet; vestry clerk, Colin Campbell; sexton, James McPherson. General Coffin and Thomas Whitlock gave the ground for the building, and Messrs. Bean & Dowling were the builders. This Mr. Bean was the gentleman who, in June, 1811, when the church wanted to borrow £200, agreed to lend it that sum on the express condition that the insurance policy then on the building should be at once cancelled. An order was passed cancelling the policy without delay. Thus was Trinity for a while without insurance. Had Mr. Bean's ideas prevailed to-day the congregation would, in all likelihood, mourn the loss of $20,000, which is the amount that was on the building at the time of the fire. When the edifice was finished, it was found to be of a peculiar shape, and its breadth was out of all proportion to its length. This was not an accident, however, for the builders wisely thought the city would grow, and that as the requirements of the people needed it, the church might be made larger. Little change had taken place in the interior arrangements of the church at the time of its destruction. The same pews had stood over four score of years, and all the alteration that was made was a slight cutting down of the backs of some of the centre ones. The side pews remained the original height. For seventy-three years the old organ has been in constant use in Trinity. It was brought from London in 1804, and cost a good round sum. The freight on it alone was one hundred guineas, but the owner of the vessel which brought it over, Hon. Wm. Pagan, remitted the amount back to the corporation of the church. To its last days, this organ has been a good instrument. In 1792, Mr. William Thomson presented Trinity with a bell, for which he received a cordial vote of thanks. This bell was in active service till 1857, when the bell which tolled a few days ago its last sad peals, was mounted in the belfry. The town-clock, as every one was accustomed to call the clock which told of the passing hours, too, has a history. In 1810, Mr. John Venning erected the tower and cupola. He had nearly completed his work one May morning, when owing to a light fall of snow the staging became slippery, and when Mr. Venning stepped upon it he slipped from it to the roof, and from thence to the ground, where he was picked up dead. In 1812, the clock was placed in position, and has remained there, till the events of Wednesday ended its career. Barraud, of Cornhill, London, was the maker, and it cost £221 19s. sterling; the Common Council voted £50 towards it. Up to 1814, the church paid for having the time-piece wound, and in this year the winding cost £6 15s., when the church people decided that they would no longer attend to this service, and maintained that the commonalty should see to it. The Council, on December 24th, 1814, resolved to act on the suggestions of the Church corporation, and took upon themselves the duty of keeping the clock wound up and in repair. Edward Taylor assisted in putting up the clock and assumed control of it, till Mr. Wm. Hutchinson, father of Geo. Hutchinson, jr., took charge of it. Previous to 1857, it had three dials, but in this year a fourth was added, and a spire was placed upon the church.

In 1811-12 the church was lengthened, and in 1857 it was enlarged again.

The first rector was the Rev. George Bisset, A. M., an Englishman. Before the revolutionary war he was assistant to the rector of Trinity Church, at Newport, Rhode Island. He became, two years later, the rector of that church, and remained in that position until 1779, when the British forces evacuated the island, and Mr. Bisset went to New York. At the close of the war he came to St. John and was chosen rector of the new parish. In 1786, he went to England on private and public business, and while there raised quite a large sum to further the interests of his church, and to assist materially in the building of the edifice. But in 1788, without seeing his hopes realized, he died, and was buried in the Germain Street church-yard, and subsequently his remains were interred in the Putnam tomb, in the old burial ground, where they still lie.

A Harvard graduate of the class of 1751, was the next rector of Trinity, the Rev. Mather Byles, D.D. For fifteen years, he had laboured as a Congregational minister at New London, and then left that church to link his fortunes with the Episcopalians. He joined the Church and became rector of Christ's Church, Boston, Mass. He left his charge, when the British troops abandoned Boston, and went to Halifax, N. S., where he became Garrison chaplain. When Mr. Bisset died Dr. Byles removed to St. John, was made rector, and preached, as we have said, the first sermon that was ever preached in Trinity Church. In his latter days Dr. Byles was very infirm and required an assistant. He was rector of St. John for 26 years, and died at the age of 80 in March, 1814, loved, honoured and respected. He was a man of fine parts, an excellent talker, of quick and lively nature, and he possessed a rich fund of anecdote and humour. A bundle of his sayings and doings has been published.

Rev. George Pidgeon was the third rector. He was a learned graduate of Trinity College, Dublin, and was born in Kilkenny, Ireland, in 1761. He was an ensign in the rifles, and had served in America during the war. He subsequently went to Halifax, took orders in the Church, became rector of Fredericton and Ecclesiastical Commissary for the Province in 1795, and in 1814, on the death of the incumbent, he was made rector of St. John. His health failed him, however, and for a time the church was closed, when finally he died, May 6th, 1818. He was buried in the old burial ground, and his monument may still be seen there.

The fourth rector was the Rev. Dr. Robert Willis--a Navy chaplain and a very eminent man. His ship was at Halifax coaling, when intelligence reached him that Mr. Pidgeon was seriously ill, and that the church in St. John was closed in consequence. He left at once for St. John where he officiated for several weeks, and on the death of Mr. Pidgeon was chosen rector. The Stone Church and St. George's, Carleton, were erected during his incumbency, and this caused a division in the Parish. Dr. Willis became rector of St. Paul's, Halifax, in 1825, and Arch-Deacon of Nova Scotia, which offices he held until the year 1865, when he died at the age of 80. He was the father of Rev. Cuthbert Willis, rector of Salisbury, who was formerly of the 15th regiment of foot.

In 1825 the Rev. Benjamin Gerrish Gray, D.D., succeeded Dr. Willis as rector of St. John. He was born in Boston 1768, and on the departure of the British troops from that city, while yet a child, he went with his father to Halifax. He graduated at King's College, Windsor, completed his education in England, and was ordained minister in 1796 by Bishop Inglis at Halifax. Some years were spent by him as minister among the Maroons, a discontented body of savages which the British Government placed in Nova Scotia to the great annoyance and fear of the inhabitants. The Doctor spent several years in connection with various missions throughout Nova Scotia until 1819, when he became rector of St. George's, Halifax. He laboured as rector in St. John on the death of Dr. Willis, for fifteen years, when in 1840 he resigned his position. He lived till 1854, when at the advanced age of 86 he died full of honours and respect. He was a man of elevated tastes and liberal ideas. He loved science, art and literature, and was a well informed and polished writer and thinker. In 1833 one of the greatest calamities which ever befell man happened to Dr. Gray. His house in Wellington Row took fire, and before aid could come it was burned to the ground, together with the rector's wife and a female domestic. No sympathy could alleviate the suffering of the distracted husband, no words of man could take away the agony of his deep grief and sorrow. It pressed heavily upon his mind, and he was never again the same man. At this fire he lost his valuable library which contained many rare and costly books and manuscripts, together with the complete records of his parish.

He was succeeded by his son, Rev. John William D. Gray, D.D., a very able man. He was born in 1798, at Halifax, and graduated at King's College, Windsor. He became rector of Amherst, N.S., and in 1825, when Dr. Willis resigned his office in St. John, a movement was made to get the rectorship for Dr. Gray. This was not done, however, for the father was appointed, and the son became his assistant. In 1840, on the retirement of Dr. Benjamin Gray, the sixth rector received the appointment which he held until his death, in 1868. For twenty-eight years this eminent clergyman laboured for his church and his people, and all remember him as a kindly, thoughtful, generous man. He had abilities of the highest order, and, whether as a preacher or a writer, his reputation filled no second place. He wrote with a nerve and a boldness which carried all before it, and his extensive erudition and vast powers of concentration of thought made his works valued and esteemed. His notable writings were chiefly controversial pamphlets, and few entered the lists with him and gained a victory. His vigorous pamphlets on the Catholic question, and the Moses and Colenso controversy will be remembered by many who read these pages to-day, and all will regret that the great rector never published a theological book or placed his ripe thoughts on some enduring record. He was an able exponent of the Scriptures, and he wrote in a superior and beautiful style. His sermons were models of elegant English and sound doctrinal ideas, and no rector of Trinity ever filled the position so grandly and so loyally as good old Dr. Gray. He died at the age of seventy years, and in the forty-seventh year of his ministry. He was accounted the best reader in the Province, and his delivery was forcible, and distinguished for a certain gracefulness of style. The Rev. James J. Hill, M. A. succeeded Dr. Gray. He is a native of Nova Scotia. His failing health caused him to resign the rectorship in a few years. At a meeting of the St. John Parish, held on the 21st of July, 1873, the Rev. F. H. J. Brigstocke, of Jesus College, Oxford, was unanimously nominated to the rectorship. He had been in orders twelve years, and for five years had been curate to the Dean of Canterbury. Mr. Brigstocke assumed his duties in October, 1873, and is the present rector of the parish.

The stained-glass windows in the chancel of the old church were placed there in 1859, and were presented by John V. Thurgar, Esq., a respected retired merchant of this city, whose old stand was burned down on the North Wharf during the great fire.

The old arms of Trinity Church have an historic interest of very great importance. A glance at them will reveal the fact that they are military arms and not those of the church. They have escaped fire once or twice, and in the early years of their existence witnessed many a heated controversy, and experienced marvellous escapes from destruction. The first we hear of them was in Boston where they adorned the walls of the Council Chamber of the Old Town House. On March 17th, 1776, they sailed out of Boston Harbour and were carried to Halifax, where they had a temporary abiding place in the old chapel there. They were afterwards placed, in 1791, in Trinity Church, where they have remained ever since, until Captain Hazen rescued them from the flames on Wednesday afternoon. A story is current that a hundred years ago, these arms were snatched from Trinity Church, New York, when that edifice was in flames, but this lacks confirmation, and the best authorities are unanimous in holding that their peculiar build unfitted them for church use, and that they were certainly intended to adorn the walls of council chambers. That they were with the British army, whether on its march or at its station, is settled beyond dispute. This ends the story of old Trinity, the most historic edifice in the city--the first church--the quaintest structure--the last link which bound the old and the new together. The school-house fronting on Charlotte Street was burned at the same time as the church.