-OO 



iriSTOinCAL SKETCH. 



laud Cathedral, several churclies and many public building:*. 

 ■The loss was estimated at three million pounds sterling. 



SI'IKIT or THE PEOPLE. 



Tin; spirit and energy of the j)eople may be estimated from the 

 fact that they met these repeate<l calaniities with courage and 

 tirniness, and in each instance the city rose from its ashes greatly 

 improved and l)eautitied. This is specially true of the last cala- 

 mity of 1892. In two yeai's, a large proportion of the liouses 

 destroyed by the tire, were rebuilt, many of them being of a 

 jgreatly improved lype, and in another yeai- or two hardly a trace 

 .of the tire will be visil)le. The new ]K)rti(in is a great improve- 

 ment on that which was destroyed. 



VICTORY WON VILLAGE HAMI'DENS. 



The enteri)rise and calm courage which have marked the peo- 

 ple of St. John's in grappling with and overcoming their misfor- 

 tune, have been in ai-cord with the spirit displayed by the whole 

 ])eople during those long years when they cari-ied on the struggle 

 for freedom against such heavy odds. Tliat \\as tiuly a battle, 

 .and was won, not through bloody strife, but by sore toil, and 

 patient endurance amid sufferings and hardshi])s. No colony of 

 the British Empire evei' recei\ed sticIi harsh and unnatural treat- 

 ment from the Impeiial ^Mother. When Lord Salisbury described 

 it in euphonious terms as having been "the sport of historic mis- 

 fortunes,"' he would have been nearer the mark had he said "the 

 victim of liistoric wrongs and cruelties." For a century 

 and a lialf its peoitle were forbidden under heavy penalties 

 to cultivate the soil or buihl houses, or do anything to make 

 a home for themselves in tlie wilderness. They were left to the 

 tender mercies of Fishing Admirals and Surrogates, and every 

 means used to drive them from their adopted country. That 

 they held their ground and tinally gained the victory, is proof 

 siltilcient that there were among them many " Village Hamjidens"' 

 who with " dauntless In'east" confronted tyranny and resisted the 

 .oppressor. Even when by Imperial Treaties the 1 )est half of their 

 island home was torn from them and virtually given over to the 



