dent in London, otherwise they cannot be forwarded from this Province."

The Civic Government of the period was paternal enough, as the following proclamation shows:

"CITY AND DISTRICT OF MONTREAL,

Wednesday, 1st January, 1789.

"At a meeting of His Majesty's Justices of the Peace this day, it is ordered that the price and assize of bread, for the present month, be as follows:—

The white loaf of 4 lbs., at 9d. or 18 sols.

The brown loaf of 6 lbs., at 10d. or 20 sols.

And that the several bakers of the city and suburbs do conform thereto and mark their bread with the initial of their name.

A primitive condition of affairs, sure enough, is disclosed by these facts.

The trade of the city, we would now say, was exceedingly insignificant. The entire carrying capacity of the ships annually entering at Quebec did not exceed 12,000 tons and a very small proportion of these vessels made their way to Montreal. The exports of furs and other colonial produce from Quebec, in the year 1786, were valued at £445,116 sterling less than two millions and a quarter dollars, of which this city's share can be imagined as trifling. The amount of wheat leaving Quebec in 1787 was 200,000 bushels. To see what our commercial progress has been in the century, compare these figures with the trade returns for Montreal alone during the year 1885. There entered this port last year, 441 ocean steamships

with a tonnage of 619,647, and 188 sailing vessels, carrying 64,207 tons; while 5,003 inland vessels visited the harbor with a tonnage of 724,975. The imports entered at the harbor office were valued at $37,042,659 and the exports at $25,209,813. And this does not embrace the inland traffic done by railways centring in the city. The population of the city in 1805 was only 12,000, and we are therefore safe in saying that in 1786 it did not reach half that number.

The story of the progress of the Presbyterian Church from the day on which Mr. Bethune began a regular service according to the forms and practice of the Church of Scotland, up to the present time, is, therefore, in reality, the story of the advancement of Montreal, from a small walled town to the great and beautiful city which it has become, gradually spreading over the whole island. The growth of Presbyterianism has kept pace with that of the community. The seventeen Presbyterian congregations, all told, of to-day, are a good showing of work achieved in the century. The little seed has become a tree of goodly proportions.

From May, 1787, till 1790, there exists no record of services held according to the Presbyterian forms. During this period all the Protestants in the city seem to have worshipped together, attending the services of the Rev. David Charbrand Delisle, who was styled "Rector of the Parish of Montreal and Chaplain to the Garrison." When the Bishop of Nova Scotia visited Montreal in 1789,—before the advent of Bishop Mountain to Quebec—an address was presented to him by the Church Wardens and a Committee of the Protestant inhabitants of Montreal, who went as far as Pointe aux Trembles to meet him; and amongst the names are to be found many of those who were afterwards forward in the erection of the Scotch Church. Among others who up to 1790 supported the Church of

England were William England, William Hunter, Adam Scott, John Russell and Duncan Fisher, who were afterwards appointed trustees for the Presbyterian Church, their names being mentioned in the original deed; as well as Joseph Provan, Thomas Busby, Robert Aird, Alexander Fisher and Finlay Fisher. Mention is made in the Hunter Manuscript, from which we gather a good deal of our information respecting those early days, of occasional services held by Scotch military chaplains; but they do not appear to have kept up regular public worship or to have dispensed ordinances.

The gentleman, to whom the credit has to be given of getting the Presbyterian cause placed on a solid and permanent footing, was the Rev. John Young. Like Mr. Bethune, though born and educated in Scotland, he had come as a young man to America and was settled for some time in the United States. Born at Beith, Scotland, he was licensed by the Presbytery of Irvine on the 29th November, 1785. As it is of consequence to have a full and accurate knowledge of this minister's status when he came to take up his residence in Montreal, and of his relations to the Church of Scotland and to the Presbyterian Church in the United States, I give extracts from the official records :—

IRVINE, 29th Nov., 1785, P. M.

After Prayer,—"The Presbytery, now considering that Mr. John Young had gone through all the pieces of trial prescribed by Act of Assembly, to their satisfaction, they resolved to license him to preach the Gospel as a Probationer of this Church. He being called in, and having answered the questions appointed to be put to probationers by the 10th Act of Assembly, 1711, and having signed the formula of said Act, the Presbytery, after suitable admonition, did, and hereby do, unanimously license the foresaid

Mr. John Young to preach the Gospel of Christ, as a probationer within their bounds and elsewhere, as he may be regularly called.”

Mr. Young's next appearance is in the State of New York.

"At South Hanover, June 19th, 1787.

"The testimonials of Mr. John Young, a probationer from the Presbytery of Irvine, having been approved by the Synod, were read, and he was received under our care. Mr. Young was appointed to visit the vacancies, northward and westward of Albany."

The above extract and the three extracts which follow are taken from the minutes of the Presbytery of New York.

"At Goshen, October 17th, 1787.

"A call from Cambridge, and another from Schenectady and Currie's Bush, were brought in and put into Mr. Young's hands, and he declared his acceptance of the latter."

"October 18th.

The Presbytery appointed Mr. Young for an Exegesis. An Christus qua Mediator sit adorandus?"

"At Elizabeth Town, May 7th, 1788.

"The Presbytery examined Mr. John Young on his experimental acquaintance with religion, and his views in entering the ministry; with which they were unanimously satisfied; and accepted his sermon delivered at the opening of Presbytery, and his Exegesis now delivered,` as parts of trial; and examined him in Hebrew, Greek and Latin, Logic, Rhetoric, Geography, Astronomy, Natural and Moral Philosophy, Church History and Government, and Systematic and Casuistic Divinity; and sustained the

examination.

'Mr. Young adopted the Westminster Confession of Faith, and approved of the Directory."

"May 8th.

"The Presbytery hearing there were difficulties in the congregation of Schenectady, respecting arrears due to their former minister, appointed Dr. Rodgers to write to them, and Mr. McDonald to meet with them and see that all matters be arranged previous to Mr. Young's ordination, which is to be at Schenectady the second Thursday in August; Mr. King to preach, Dr. Rodgers to preside, and Dr. McWhorter to give the charge."

Schenectady, August 14th, 1788.

"The Presbytery proceeded to the ordination of Mr. Young, and in the absence of Mr. King, Mr. Schenck preached from Acts x. 29, last clause, and Mr. Young, having publicly adopted the Confession of Faith of this Church, and declared his assent to the form of government, worship and discipline, the Presbytery set him apart to the work of the Ministry, by prayer and imposition of hands; and, with the mutual consent of both parties, installed him pastor of the United Congregations of Schenectady and Currie's Bush. Dr. Rodgers concluded the whole with a charge to the pastor and people; and Mr. Young took his seat, and Mr. James Shuter sat as his elder."

It follows that Mr. Young was a minister of the Presbyterian Church of the United States, rather than of the Church of Scotland. It is the act of ordination, not the licensure, that confers ministerial status. License leaves the licentiate, according to the order of the Presbyterian Church, still "a layman,"—to use a convenient word, to which some have objection from an ecclesiastical point of view.