IMMORALITY. 



121 



mediate request, the child of his daughter, 

 born of fornication, and cast away by her, as 

 living in adultery. I deeply lamented the cir- 

 cumstance, but felt the obligation to defer the 

 administration of the sacrament, from the con- 

 viction that the profligacy of the case called 

 for an example which might deter others 

 among the Swiss from acting in the like 

 manner ; and at the same time be a public 

 expression of disapprobation, on my part, of 

 such unblushing depravity, in the eyes of a 

 numerous young people growing up at the 

 Colony. Unless chastity be considered as a 

 virtue, what hope can be entertained of forming 

 any organized society ? and if the Colonists 

 fearlessly commit crimes, because they have 

 stepped over a certain line of latitude ; and 

 live in a wild profligacy, without the curb of 

 civil restraint, the Settlement can hold out but 

 faint hopes of answering in any way the ex- 

 pectations of its patrons. Till morality and 

 religion form its basis, disappointment must 

 follow. Nor can I imagine that the system 

 taught by the Canadian Catholic priests will 

 avail any thing materially in benefitting the 

 morals of the people ; they are bigotted to 

 opinions which are calculated to fetter the 

 human mind, to cramp human exertion, and to 



