The Anglican Church of Canada by Philip Carrington part III

Chapter 3: The Coming of the Loyalists

Coming from the States but desiring to be a Canadian this chapter in Canadian history caught me by surprise when I first read history from a Canadian perspective seven years ago. As an American of course I had always learned history from the perspective that the American revolutionaries were the good guys and that the Loyalists were traitors to the cause. They were the ones who would rather be loyal to a distant and tyrannical king rather than loyal to their local communities. Now this is simplistic of course, but we are talking about high school American history courses. But it is also the case that this is the reading of history one gets if they tour around the revolutionary sites in the States.

I have enjoyed reading Canadian histories written from a Canadian perspective because it really does bring home the truth that history sounds very different depending on who writes it. In this chapter of the ACC it is not the revolutionaries who are at the heart of the story but rather those who did not betray their country and allegiance, but rather those who stayed loyal regardless of the personal cost. And as Carrington tell us the cost was great indeed. These were the loyalists. For Carrington, these families and individuals are “entitled to at least as much sympathy as we bestow on the Acadians of unfortunate memory.” The idea is that for political reasons they were uprooted from their homes and communites losing much in the process and emigrated north to what was still British North America. A great many of these loyalists became refugees in Halifax, and the city had a hard time coping with the masses. It was here that the were given the nickname Blue-Noses which was a parody of their title of honour the True Blues. And it is here in this influx that we get the feeling that the Anglican Church of Canada truly begins.

In Carrington’s telling of the story two names really stand out, John Stuart and Charles Inglis. John Stuart was one of those indefatigable men on the frontier that we often read about. However, in this case he was an Anglican priest. Just reading his story makes me tired. I can’t imagine traveling the distances he did to preach the Gospel and serve his various congregations. He was a large man, six foot four inches and had quite a presence. He traveled north with the Mohawks who remained loyal to the British crown. He worked closely with the chief Joseph Brant who would become known as another great Canadian. Together they build up the mission and built a new church at Ft. Hunter. Together they would translate the prayer book and parts of the Bible into the Mohawk tongue. Stuart was a prisoner for two years then served as a military chaplain, opened a school and looked after several congregations during the war. After the war he was given charge of the parish in Kingston but he really traveled all over upper Canada from settlement to settlement ministering to the people. For awhile he was the only priest in Upper Canada. His range was tremendous and while he never  became a bishop he has been given the title, “the father of Upper Canada.”

The second person of note was Charles Inglis. In the buildup to the war he was a staunch loyalist reading the prayers for the King and the Royal Family right up to the time when there were rebel troops in the city. He had all of his property confiscated and went to England. It was at this time that England was thinking about creating a Bishop for Canada. Part of the problem lay with the fact that the church had been reduced to a subservient branch of the government by this point. The Georges had to approve all of the Bishops and they largely used these appointment to reward people who did favours to the crown or for family.  But after much deliberation they finally consecrated Inglis as the Bishop of Nova Scotia but with jurisdiction going much further west. He was not however to be called a Lord Bishop and was not given a seat on the Legislative Council. One amusing fact when he arrived in Nova Scotia is that he did not think much of his clergy. He wrote, “of eleven clergy four are diligent useful clergymen, three are indifferent neither doing much good nor harm; as for the remaining four, it would be happy for the Church if they were not in her orders.” Right away he started doing visitations, issuing injunctions and directives on various points. He performed the first Confirmations in Canada at St. Paul’s. It is at this point that the ACC really seems to be taking root. There are regular services in all of the areas of Canada and a church structure is being established. Of course all of this in a time that is leading up to yet another war.