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d 148 seven Reconciled to Exile Over the next decade, several major themes would complicate the lives of Nova Scotia’s loyalist refugees—and that of Rev. Jacob Bailey in particular . As the Revolution dragged on, becoming international in scope, loyalist hopes for a quick return home gave way to the realization that “home” might well turn out to be Nova Scotia. For Bailey, the refugee experience included a deep resentment against Nova Scotia’s rebel sympathizers and neutralists, or “trimmers,” whose refusal to support the cause of God and king had contributed to the war and, eventually, to what he saw as its disastrous conclusion. Yet the refugees themselves were far from unified; even before their presence in Nova Scotia had swollen to a flood they were engaged in a bitter rivalry for place and profit, not only among themselves but with their unwilling Nova Scotian hosts. As the American War of Independence concluded, new contests arose, presenting Parson Bailey with new challenges for the future that saved him from dwelling too much on the injuries of the past. Following his unsuccessful inquiry concerning a chaplaincy with the British forces at Fort George in Penobscot Bay, Bailey agreed in the fall of 1779 to accept a position as missionary preacher to the little town of Cornwallis, now Wolfville, some fifty miles north of Halifax on the west shore of Minas Basin. A variety of factors influenced his choice of this location. Most obviously, Cornwallis was closer to the “metropolis” of Halifax than the several other positions open to him. But even so, having visited the community beforehand, preached and interviewed there, he was fully aware that most of the two hundred and fifty families among whom he would reside had come originally from Connecticut to occupy lands from which the Acadian French had been expelled in 1755. A New Reconciled to Exile 149 Englander himself, Bailey recognized in the inhabitants all those regional characteristics he had come to despise—“a humble cunning, creeping artifices and smiling hypocrisy.” Most were Congregationalists if they had any religious affiliation at all, with a strong scattering of religious “enthusiasts,” or New Lights. Anglicans constituted a small minority of the town’s population, only twenty families in all. Nonetheless, when the Anglican leaders offered an annual income of seventy pounds in addition to his fifty-pound yearly stipend from the Society, plus a house, firewood, a horse, and moving expenses, Bailey overlooked whatever reservations he may have felt and agreed to their terms.1 Bailey’s acceptance of the Cornwallis position became problematic when, shortly after he returned to Halifax, the Reverend Dr. John Breynton offered him the opportunity to serve as his assistant, or curate , at Saint Paul’s and as Society schoolmaster in Halifax. For the footloose refugee, this must have been a tempting offer indeed: Bailey would acquire as his patron the most prestigious church official in the province who was at the very center of provincial politics and influence, and at a salary over twice that which Cornwallis could offer. But could he, with a clear conscience, break his agreement with Cornwallis to accept Breynton ’s offer? The question may not have carried the moral weight of an oath to the king, yet it was still a moral issue whether or not he should honor his promise to the Anglicans of Cornwallis, so Bailey declined Breynton’s tempting offer. To Cornwallis he would go with a clear conscience ; but, as had occurred before in Pownalborough, a clear conscience would exact a heavy price.2 Bailey’s sense of moral rectitude may have been bolstered by several practical considerations. In the first place, Halifax was a very expensive place to live. Newly founded in 1749, the town as yet had no developed hinterland to provide food and supplies, and as a result four thousand residents depended on imports for virtually all their necessities, driving up prices to exorbitant levels. Furthermore, as a dockyard and garrison town, Halifax housed large numbers of laborers, military, and naval personnel. Adding to this number were the first loyalists who had emigrated from Boston in 1776 when British troops evacuated the city. Bailey and family may have been housed in a most genteel section of town, but elsewhere grog shops, brothels, and a turbulent, unruly, transient population gave wartime Halifax an unsavory, even dangerous, reputation. Most dangerous of all were the diseases associated with unwashed human congestion, such as typhus, and especially smallpox.3 Bailey may...

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