Moody sends this resolution on behalf of the Colonial Church Committee. They request that
a clergyman be sent out immediately to be the Military Chaplain specially attached to Moody and the Military Department.
The minutes discuss payment for said clergyman and transportation options.
Draft Resolution for the Colonial Church Committee
That as it is desirable that the plan of this Committee for British
Columbia should be rendered as generally useful as possible, and as it
appears that no regular Military Chaplain has been appointed; and as Her
Majesty's Chief Commissioner for Lands and Works, also in command of the
Military Department, has expressed his readiness to concur in such an
arrangement, provided it met with the sanction of the Colonial & War
Departments of Her Majesty's Government:
Resolved I—That one of the Clergymen proposed to be sent out by
this Committee, be, if the Government approve of it, specially attached
to Colonel Moody & the Military Department; that his salary (£300 a year)
be defrayed by this Committee, with such further assistance as the
Government may be disposed to accord.
Resolved II—That, if this can be arranged, the Clergyman for that
post be sent out as quick as possible without waiting for a second one;
that his positive engagement be only for two years, with a view to his
coming home at the end of that period to make a full personal report on
the moral & religious state of the Colony, leaving it an open question
whether he himself should be expected to return there permanently, or,
not.
Resolved III—That communication be openedwith with the
leading Christian people in New York, expressing our desire
to cooperate with them in every way for the benefit of the
large mixed population which is rapidly gathering in the Colony.
Minutes by CO staff
Mr Merivale
Ack: rect of this communication from Coll Moody. 1. Inform the
Col: Church Committee that Sir. E. Lytton is gratified at learning
the intention of the Cee to send out a Clergyman to B. Columbia:
but that it must be left to the Governor & the local Authorities to
determine whether any pecuniary grant can be made to him. State
that with respect to the Colonial Ch: Cee Clergymen being
attached to the R. Engineers though the S. of S for the Colonies
would offer no objection to such an arrangement the proposal is one
which must be submitted to & must obtain the sanction of the War Office.
At the same time it sd be added very distinctly that the fact of
being attached to the R.E.—if the proposal is entertained by the
W.O.—must not be held to confer any claim or title on a future occasion
either to employment or pension or compensation. The clergyman in
question will be attached not at our wish or at the request of the W.O.
but to place him in an easier position in the Colony as regards himself.
As regards the other facilities wh the Col. Ch. Society request
may be extended to him what they wish is a free passage to the Colony as
in the case of the S.P.G. Clergyman whom we have promised to send out by
the 'Thames City'. If there are two ships conveying the troop—as I
suppose there will be—and if the Engineers are divided into two
detachments—one to sail by each ship—the S.P.G. Missionary might go by
the 'Thames City', & the Col. Ch. S. missionary might go by the other.
But if all the troops are to be sent in one ship I do not think that the
two clergymen sd go by the same vessel?