ROMAN CATHOLIC BODY. 5 



The Eoman Catholic bodj in Halifax is strong and 

 growing, chiefly through the yearly accessions of emi- 

 grant Irish and their descendants, who here appear to 

 thrive, and are said to be well-behaved. The Pres- 

 byterians nsed to be, and probably still are, the most 

 numerous of the religious sects in Halifax, and next to 

 them the Episcopalians of the Church of England. The 

 Roman Catholics have of late years increased, and they 

 have obtained an advantage over the non-Episcopal sects 

 in the title of " My Lord," lately conceded to their bishop 

 by order of the Home Government, and in virtue of which 

 he takes rank with the Church of England bishop, and 

 precedence of all the dissenting clergy. 



That this is a great grievance in the eyes of the Pres- 

 byterians and others, in the two colonies of Nova Scotia 

 and New Brunswick, I was scarcely a day in Halifax till 

 I had learned. Until recently, the bishop of the " Church 

 of England in the colonies " was the only person 

 addressed as " My Lord," — a solitary and invidious title 

 among a people composed, for the most part, of what we 

 call dissenters in England, and in a country where so 

 little distinction of ranks prevails. It became less singu- 

 lar when the same title was conceded to the Roman 

 Catholic bishops, and, of course, a greater number of 

 persons became interested in keeping up this distinction. 

 But the hostile feeling was in consequence only made 

 stronger in the breasts of the majority of the people. 



Such distinctions in a colony, it appears to me, ought 

 to be conceded, not for an imperial, but for a provincial 

 reason — not because a certain religious body is powerful 

 in Europe, but in consideration of the feelings and wishes 

 of a large body of the colonists themselves. Now, if this 

 latter reason had been influential, there are other sects 

 to whom some equal distinction ought to have been con- 

 ceded. The Presbyterians and Baptists are both stronger 

 bodies than either the English Episcopal or the Eoman 



