name of Lunt, prowled and raved among the inhabitants, with such address and success, that at length many hundreds of them believed him little less than a special messenger and prophet sent to them by the Most High. For a long time nothing was too good for him; but at length his excesses, and his violation of virgin chastity, roused public indignation against him, and obliged him to fly from the province. I was informed that he immediately afterwards became an attorney in the United States, and ridiculed all religions.* For a long time after the first settlement of the colony, the benefits of education were slenderly provided for. At present, a liberal education may be obtained in the province at a moderate expense. Soon after the arrival of Sir Howard Douglas as governor, a new charter was obtained for the College of New Brunswick, which allows the matriculation of students, without subscribing to the Thirty-nine Articles, except on taking degrees in divinity, which is confined to the Church of England. I believe Sir Howard applied, or intended to apply, for some arrangement to obviate this inconvenience, in respect to students at the College of New Brunswick, who might wish to become ministers of the Church of Scotland. A plat of six thousand acres of excellent land is immediately attached to the college for its benefit. * It is the conduct and success of such wretches which afford materials to many travellers for all they write in ridicule of Methodists, New Lights, and Baptists. In the British colonies, generally, all the Wesleyan ministers are men of respectable ability, and correct, inobtrusive private characters. The Baptist ministers are equally so. The college was built under the auspices of Sir Howard Douglas. I have already described its situation. It has been opened for some time; and great and happy results may be expected from so wellfounded an institution. The grammar schools are supported partly by legislative aid. The one at St. John's receives annually 250l.; that at St. Andrew's, 200l.; those in the other counties, 1751. each. Schools on the Madras system are established in all the settlements, under the control of the governor and some of the most respectable gentlemen in the province, who are incorporated under the designation of the "Governors and Trustees of the Madras School in New Brunswick." The legislature grants about 20l. in aid of each school on this system. From the casual revenue a donation is given of 1000l. to King's College: this will not continue to be satisfactory to the legislature, unless some modification is made on taking degrees in divinity. In concluding an account of New Brunswick, which has hitherto been only known in England as a timber colony, I observe that Colonel Bouchette, Surveyor-General of Canada, has formed conclusions which are in perfect accordance with my description of this province. He says, "Great as is its extent, and almost incalculable as are its resources, so small a portion of the former has been appropriated, and so little of the latter called into action, that it may almost yet be termed a vast wilderness. " Its luxuriant forests bear strong testimony to its fertility; its extent of sea coast, and abundance of harbours, so inviting to commerce; its multiplicity of navigable streams, affording ready access to its very heart, furnishing such facility of intercourse; and its intersection in every direction by chains of settlement, give at once an earnest of what may be done; and convince all those who have the hardihood to tax the productiveness of nature for subsistence, and subdue her ruggedness to the sagacity and industry of man, that nowhere can a more profuse reward, a more certain or more profitable result, be promised to their perseverance." To avoid recapitulation, further details of revenue, expenditure, salaries of public officers, customs, and post-office regulations, granting of lands, companies, and recapitulation of the trade, stock, cultivated lands, and total fixed and movable property, will be included under one general head, for all the colonies, at the conclusion of this work. |