These proceedings compelled the government to take more active measures, and orders were given to the commanding officers at the out stations, to destroy the Indians wherever they met them, and a premium of ten guineas was offered for every Indian killed or taken prisoner, this offer was in consequence of the large rewards offered by the French to the Indians for English scalps. Orders were given for raising two independent companies of rangers, one of one hundred men by Major Gilman, who was sent to Piscataqua for that purpose,[19] the other a company of volunteers by Captain Wm. Clapham, who with Goreham's Indian Rangers, now returned from their stations at the head of the Basin with a company of Philips' Regiment, were to scour the whole country around the Bay. The St. John Indians having kept the treaty, received from Governor Cornwallis a present of 1000 bushels of corn, and an order was also given to purchase at Minas 500 bushels of wheat, to be baked into biscuit for the same purpose. Captain How was intrusted with these and other presents, and was directed to bring back with him, if possible, some of the tribe to go against the Mic-Macs. The preparation necessary to the protection of the town against French-Indian hostilities tended to expedite the progress of the settlement; before the middle of October, about three hundred and fifty houses had been completed, two of the square forts finished and the barricade carried all around. A number of store houses and barrack buildings for the accommodation of the troops had been also erected and the Governor's residence completed. The Council met there on the 14th October. About 30 of the French inhabitants were employed on the Public Works, and in cutting a road from the town to the Basin of Minas. A number of influential and industrious families from New England and other places had already become settlers, and Halifax Harbor was the resort of a large number of fishing vessels.
About this time a destructive epidemic made its appearance in the town, and it is said nearly 1000 persons fell victims during the autumn and the following winter. On the 14th day of October, the Government found it necessary to publish an ordinance, commanding all Justices of the Peace, upon the death of the settlers, to name so many of the neighbourhood or quarter (not exceeding 12) to which the deceased belonged, to attend at the burial and carry the corpse to the grave, and whoever refused to attend without sufficient reason should have his name struck off the Mess Book and Register of Settlers as unworthy of His Majesty's bounty; again in December, another order was made commanding all householders to report their dead to a clergyman within twenty-four hours.
Owing to the frequent alarms of invasion from the Indians and French stragglers during the winter, it was resolved in Council to organize a militia force for the protection of the settlement, and on the Sunday following the 6th day of December, after divine service, all the male settlers, between the age of sixteen and sixty, were assembled on the parade, and drawn up in the following order:—"Those of Mr. Ewer's and Mr. Collier's divisions to face the harbor, those of the quarters of Mr. Galland and Mr. Foreman to face the Citadel, and those of Mr. Callendar's division at one end of the parade." The proclamation bears date the 7th day of December, 1749. On the 16th, information arrived that a French force had been dispatched overland from Canada, to attack Halifax, and that the Indians were to co-operate with them, also, that two vessels with six hundred men were in the Bay Verte under LeCorne, and with ammunition and stores of all kinds for a winter expedition. The people having been again assembled on the parade after divine service, the proclamation was read and the settlers commanded to fell all the trees around the town without the forts and barricades. No attempt was, however, made upon the town, either by the Indians or French during the winter. These hostilities were being carried on by the Government of Canada, while the two Crowns were nominally at peace, under pretence that the Treaty of Utrecht only ceded to the Crown of Great Britain the peninsula of Nova Scotia proper.
The Governor deeming it expedient that some permanent system of judicial proceedings to answer the immediate exigencies of the Colony should be established, a committee of Council was accordingly appointed to examine the various systems in force in the old Colonies. On 13th December, Mr. Green reported that after a careful investigation, the laws of Virginia were found to be most applicable to the present situation of the province. The report was adopted. It referred principally to the judicial proceedings in the General Courts, the County Courts, and other tribunals.
Before concluding this chapter, which comprehends all that can be collected relative to the affairs of the settlement during the first year of its existence, it will be proper to observe that in founding the City, the spiritual wants of the settlers were not lost sight of by the British Government. Preparatory to the embarkation of the settlers, a letter was addressed by the Lords of Trade and Plantations to the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts, dated Whitehall, April 6th, 1749, recommending to the Society to appoint ministers and school-masters for the new settlement at Chebucto, and for such other townships or settlements as should from time to time be formed in Nova Scotia, and requesting the Society to make some provisions for them until arrangements should be made for their sufficient support, by grants of land, etc.[20] The Society resolved immediately to act on this recommendation, and undertook to send six clergymen and six school-masters, when the settlements should be formed. The first missionaries appointed under this arrangement, were the Rev. William Tutty, of Emmanuel College, Cambridge, and the Rev. Mr. Anwell, who both came out with the settlers in June, 1749. Mr. Tutty officiated in the open air until the necessary church accommodation could be obtained. On laying out the town, a spot was assigned by Government for the church. The site was first selected at the north end of the Grand Parade, where Dalhousie College now stands, but it was changed immediately after for the present site of St. Paul's Church, which was erected at the expense of Government and ready for the reception of the missionary, who preached his first sermon there on the 2nd day of September, 1750. The pews and inside finish were not completed for several years after. The name of Mr. Tutty does not appear among those of the settlers who came with Cornwallis. He probably, however, accompanied him. Mr. Anwell came with the expedition, but his name does not again appear; he died shortly after his arrival. Mr. Tutty spoke German and administered the Lord's Supper to the German settlers in their own language. The other missionary, J. Baptiste Moreau, who came out as school-master, and afterwards went to England for ordination, returned to the settlement and went down to Maligash with the Germans, 1752. Mr. Halstead was the school-master in charge of the Society's schools at Halifax during the first two or three years.
Governor Cornwallis in 1749, assigned the lot at the south-west corner of Prince and Hollis streets for a Protestant Dissenting Meeting house. The old building known as Mather's, or as it was afterwards called St. Matthew's Church (destroyed by fire in 1859,) was soon after erected on this site. It was appropriated originally to the Congregationalists, many of whom came from New England to settle in Halifax. It was called Mather's Church after the celebrated Cotton Mather, one of the leading divines of that denomination at Boston, in early days. The Presbyterians, and all who did not belong to the Established Church, attended divine service in this building. The Rev. Mr. Cleveland, who came from one of the old colonies, was the first minister who officiated in this building. It afterwards fell into the hands of the Presbyterians and became the property of the Church of Scotland, and the name of Mather's was changed to that of St. Matthew. This old Church was destroyed by fire, which consumed a large portion of the buildings in Hollis Street, in 1859. The lot of ground on which it stood was afterwards sold to Mr. Doull, who erected the fine stone store thereon, now known as Doull and Miller's building.
FOOTNOTES:
[1] One Thomas Coram, whose name appears frequently in the history of the state of Maine, is said to have suggested a scheme for building a town at Chebucto in 1718, and applied to Government for a grant of land, but was prevented by the agents of the Government of Massachusetts Bay, who supposed that such project might interfere with their fishing privileges, and he was compelled to abandon his enterprise. This, however, has not the weight of much authority.
[2] Copies of several of Shirley's letters were furnished Governor Cornwallis on leaving England, as part of his instructions.
[3] Cornwallis was gazetted 9th May, 1749.