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Key Events in the History of Nova Scotia: 1789.
§January, 23rd: At Halifax there was a fire that destroyed the "Cochran's buildings, a range of three-storey buildings in the market square." (Akins.) (Perkins writes of the fire on February 16th: "Stephen Snow, from Lunenburg by land, informs that there was an account there that the stores of Messrs Hall, Lewis, others & Co., and the store of Messrs William & Robert Williams, with all buildings in Messrs Cochrans square, are burned to the ground, & much goods destroyed.")
§February, 9th: Notice in The Halifax Gazette: "I am directed by His Excellency the Governor, to acquaint the several gentlemen called upon on Friday last to form a Fire Company, that he desires their attendance at the 'Golden Ball. on Thursday next, at twelve o'clock, to agree to rules and regulations." (As set by Akins, "History of Halifax City.")
§March 19th, 1789, Lord Edward Fitzgerald, 54th Regiment, arrives at Halifax after traveling from Fredericton on snowshoes.
§Brigadier-General James Ogilvie is made Commander-in-Chief at Halifax and stays in that position until 1794. (Piers' The Evolution of the Halifax Fortress.)
§13 Mar: [At Liverpool:] "We begin a salmon net. My daughter Nabby begins this evening to learn to knit. I write to Esther Matthews to come & spin & learn our daughters to spin." (Perkins Diary.)
§Washington becomes the first president of the United States (1789-97) and takes office on April 30, 1789.
§At Paris, a political club or society meets in the old convent of the Jacobins (order of monks) to maintain and propagate the principles of extreme democracy and absolute equality; they became known as the Jacobins.
§29 Apr: "I yesterday rec'd my warrent on the treasurer for £41.12/6 dated April 7th, 1789, being the bounty for the brigatine Minerva, 7/6 per ton." (Perkins Diary.)
§4 May: "Mr. Benjamin Arnold arrives with his wife, & has brought a Negro girl by the name of Mary, which is indented to him for nine years from May 9th, 1785. I have purchased the girl's time from Mr. Arnold, for £10, -- 5 years and 5 days. He says she is about fifteen years old." (Perkins Diary.) [Likely this was the American who was first with the revolutionaries but then sold himself out to the British, Benedict Arnold (1742-1801). We know that Arnold had come through Halifax in 1785 and was to take up residence with the loyalists at Saint John, New Brunswick; he was to stay there until 1791, when, he returned back to England.]
§Bentham brings out his Introduction to the Principles of Morals and Legislation.
§June: In conformance with legislation previously passed, the Halifax Grammar school was set up by the nomination of certain leading men of the community as its trustees. "These gentlemen chose Mr. William Cochran, of Trinity College, Dublin, and lately Professor of the Greek and Latin languages in Columbia Collage, New York, to be master. Mr. George Glennie, who was regularly educated in the University of Aberdeen, to be usher, and Mr. Thomas Brown, already well known in this town, to be the teacher of writing, arithmetic, and mathematics. It is thought proper to give this early notification to the public, but until a suitable building can be provided, the school will be opened without delay in the room where the Assembly of the province meets." (Akins, "History of Halifax City.")
§10 Jun: "The Ship of War, the Brisk, sends her cutter, & she goes on to Port Mutton. They visit all the vessels in the harbour, and take down the names of the owners, cargo, etc." (Perkins Diary.)
§23 Jun: [At Liverpool:] "Sending a list of the shipping owned here, to Mr. Uniacke, in order to apply home for a Custom House to be established here." (Perkins Diary.) [There are 30 vessels owned in Queens county. These are listed together with their owners by Perkins in a return dated June 23rd, 1789. The vessels range from 144 tons (Benajah Collins) to 10 tons.]
§July 20: The United States raises a trade barrier by imposing duties on Tonnage.
§18 Sep: "Terrible accounts of a Revolution in France. Several Great Men have been executed by the prevailing party at Paris, where the people have The Rule, and all the public stores. magazines, fortresses, etc in their hands." (Perkins Diary.) [The French court, the envy of and model for foreign courts, was, as the 18th century closed, bankrupt. The States General (like our parliament) was called into session in May of 1789: it had not assembled since 1610 (France, for those years, was ruled by an absolute monarch). The States-General constituting itself as a majority against the ruling classes, defiantly proclaimed itself the National Assembly and took power onto itself. The French Revolution ensued. On July 14th, a Parisian mob stormed Bastille Castle, then functioning as a royal prison, hoping to find arms. The mob kills its governor, the Marquis de Launey, and releases its prisoners. ]
§22 Sep: [At Liverpool:] "Capt. Buller and Capt. Browell came on shore. They went on board the schooner Polly [mistook her for an American bottom] ... Capt Bradford and I went to the schooner, and there were some warm words about the business of seizing, etc. ... Capt. Browell made use of very indecent expressions to me, signifying I was a rebel. I answered him that I was a magistrate, & that such expressions were not proper, etc." (Perkins Diary.)
§Oct 20th, 1789: Thomas Strange appointed Chief Justice and Pemberton appointed vice Chief-Justice.
§November 3rd, Society for Promoting Agriculture organized in Nova Scotia.
§The House of Assembly for the establishment of King's College grants £500 for land at Windsor and another like sum annually for its operation.
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Peter Landry
2012 (2020)