The Church Missionary Society and the Rossville lMission Press Joyce M. Bankst There is a wonderful anachronism in the English Bible which provides a most fitting introduction to any consideration of the history of missionary printing, and particularly to the study of the missionary field press in Rupert's Land. It is taken from one of Job's laments: Oh that my words were now written! Oh that they were printed in a book! That they were graven with an iron pen and lead in the rock forever! Job 19:23-24. An iron pen is a splendid metaphor for the printing press, and graven with an iron pen and lead in the rock forever clearly reflects the aims of the missionary printer, who strove to make an indelible impression. For the Wesleyans and the Anglicans, printing was at work on two levels in Rupert's Land: to achieve the transmission of the scriptures to the aboriginal peoples; and to entrench the syllabic system for a literate society. In 1853 and I854 an attempt was made by the Church Missionary Society to gain control of the Rossville Mission in the Hudson's Bay Company terrtories. Established by the Wesleyan Missionary Soci- ety in 1840, the Rossville Mission was the best situated of any mission in Rupert's Land. At the very hub of the Hudson's Bay Company transportation system, I it was located at the head of Lake Winnipeg, a few miles from Norway House, which was the mar- shalling point for the great Rupert's Land fur and freight brigades. The Mission was seven days downstream from York Factory, the t Joyce M. Banks is Curator of the Rare Book Collection at the National Library of Canada. Her doctoral dissertation, completed at the University of London, is entitled 'Books in Syllabic Characters Printed for the Use of the Church Mission- ary Society Among the Cree, Saulteaux, Slave and Tukhud Indians and the Eskimos of Little Whale River in the Diocese of Rupert's Land: 1852-I872.' An earlier draft of her paper was read at the Annual Meeting of the Bibliographical Society of Canada in Hamilton, Ontario, on I6 June 1993- 32 Papers of the Bibliographical Society of Canada 32/ I principal Hudson's Bay Company port. The missionary at Rossville received a stipend of £2oo per annum from the Hudson's Bay Company.z The Rossville Mission also had a printing press. Three missionary groups served in the Company's territories: the Wesleyan Missionary Society (Methodist), the Church Missionàary Society (Anglican), and the Oblats de Marie Immacul6e (Romian Catholic). Although policy and practice did not always correspond, the policy of the Hudson's Bay Company was to maintain a balance among the three and to treat all equally. The Wesleyan Missionary `Society missions were few in number, but this was offset by Ross- ville, with its fine location and its press. Despite the differences in their religious philosophies, all three groups recognized the value of books printed in syllabic characters and used them to proselytize, and all three established field presses. Any discussion of missionary printing in Rupert's Land is indebted to the scholarship of Bruce Peel. His seminal work on James Evans and the Rossville Mission Press as it evolved under the responsi- bility of the Wesleyan Missionary Society and of the Canada Con- ference of the Wesleyan Methodist Church has provided a splendid foundation for this paper, which is meant to relate the work of the Church Missionary Society to the Rossville Mission Press. The impact of the Rossville Mission Press on the Oblats de Marie Immacul6e has yet to be investigated. The Rossville Mission Press was the first press in the Hudson's Bay Company territories, and, for twelve years, the only one. It had been established by James Evans of the Wesleyan Missionary Soci- ety on his arrival in Rupert's Land in I840. Using a makeshift press and home-made types, he printed books for the aboriginal peoples using the syllabic characters, now commonly called'Cree syllabics.' Within a decade of its introduction, the syllabic system was wide- spread, and accepted by the aboriginal peoples to the extent that it could then be regarded as the native writing system. Although James Evans is famous as the printer of Rossville, in fact, he printed only seven books there. He began printing in September 1840, and, in I841, sent a request to England for a printing press and a fount of syllabic character types, which arrived in I845. No printing is recorded between mid-I84I and I845,3 but Peel assumes that some unrecorded items did appear during that period. By the time Evans received his press and types from England, he was unable to use them. He was in ill health, and depressed by his accidental killing of a young convert, Thomas Hassel. Moreover, in I846, he was being hounded about 'allegations of moral turpitude involving 33 Banks : Rossville Mission Press Indian women,' a charge of which he was acquitted in a church trial under the Wesleyan discipline which he ordered convened at Ross- ville. At that time, Sir George Simpson, Governor of the Hudson's Bay Company, wrote to the Wesleyan Missionary Society in London asking that Evans be removed. In 1846 Evans returned to England where he was examined by the Society's secretaries and again found innocent of the charge. He died in the autumn of 1846.4 William Mason was the printer at the Rossville Mission Press from 1845 to 1854. He carried out an ambitious printing program, and was of key importance to the Church Missionary Society as well as to the Wesleyan Missionary Society. While the Wesleyan press at Rossville was the first press in Rupert's Land, the Wesleyans were not the first missionaries to serve there. The Church of England, through the Church Mission- ary Society, had supported missions in the Hudson's Bay Company terrtories since the early 1820s, but no book was printed in any aboriginal language for Church Missionary Society use there before the 1850s. Church Missionary Society missionaries were certainly aware of the Rossville Mission Press. John Smithurst, who served at Indian Settlement, Red River, had two items printed at Rossville in 1848: the National Anthem in English and the English-Cree- Oiibway Word Book.s Obviously, there was a fount of roman type at Rossville. But it was not until the Anglican missionary Diocese of Rupert's Land was established in I849, that the attention of the Church Missionary Society was focused on translation and printing of the scriptures and devotional works for use among the aboriginal peoples. The 'primary object' established by the Society for David Anderson, the first Lord Bishop, was 'the translation of the scriptures into Indian language, the printing and dispersing of them.'6 The success of the 'primary object' depended entirely upon the ability of the peoples to read the books printed for them. For this reason, the Church Missionary Society missionaries chose, or were compelled, to print their books using syllabic characters which were widely used in Rupert's Land by I849. For many years there was a conflict between those who favoured the syllabic characters and those who favoured the roman alphabet. When the Diocese of Rupert's Land was established, Anderson's initial response to the syllabic characters was unfavourable. He believed then that the aboriginal people should be taught to read their own languages and dialects using the roman alphabet as a first step towards learning English.' In this he was opposed by Henry Venn, Honorary Secretary 34 Papers of the Bibliographical Society of Canada 32/I of the Church Missionary Society, who was not convinced that European civilization was a prerequisite for the establishment and growth of a Christian church. Venn maintained that each society should develop its Christian church within the framework of its own culture. The introduction of books in native languages, he argued, was the first step towards a self-sufficient church. Venn regarded the use of a standard orthography as one of the roots of a sound growth in missions among peoples who did not use the roman alphabet, and he identified the syllabic characters as the orthogra- phy to be used in Rupert's Land. This enlightened policy, coupled with Anderson's personal observations of the successful use of the syllabic system among the native peoples of the diocese, persuaded the bishop of its efficacy, and he eventually became a supporter of the syllabic characters. Of major importance in reinforcing Ander- son's opinion was the success of the Church Missionary Society field press established at Moose Factory in 1853. Under the direc- tion of John Horden, a capable printer and an excellent translator, the Moose Press issued twenty-three imprints in syllabic characters in some 7,3oo copies between 1853 and I859 for the use of the aboriginal peoples in the James Bay region. In the 1850s Rossville Mission Press books in Cree, printed in syllabic characters, were used by the Church Missionary Society, but only two books in syllabic characters were printed at Rossville specifically for Church Missionary Society use.8 A prayer book and a hymnal were printed at the request of James Hunter of Cumber- land Station on the Saskatchewan River. Although Hunter was an opponent of the syllabic system, he planned to give these little books to the old people in his region who could read and write syllabic characters.s 500 copies of the prayer book were printed in the spring of 185 3. The hymnal, translated by Hunter's wife, Jean Ross Hunter,Io was ordered when Hunter visited Rossville on his way to York Factory in August of that year.