Toronto of Old Part 7

On the 13th of August, we learn from other sources, Brock was on the Western Frontier with 700 soldiers, including the volunteers from York, and 600 Indians; and on the 16th the old flag was waving from the fortress of Detroit; but, on the 13th October, the brave General, though again a victor in the engagement, was himself a lifeless corpse on the slopes above Queenston; and, in April of the following year, York, as we have already seen, was in the hands of the enemy. Such are the ups and downs of war. It is mentioned that "Push on the York Volunteers!" was the order issuing from the lips of the General, at the moment of the fatal shot. From the order-book referred to, we learn that "Toronto" was the parole or countersign of the garrison on the 23rd July, 1812.

The knoll on the east side of the Garrison Creek was covered with a number of buildings for the accommodation of troops, in addition to the barracks within the fort. Here also stood a block-house. Eastward were the surgeon's quarters, overhanging the bay; and further eastward still, were the commandant's quarters, a structure popularly known, by some freak of military language, as Lambeth Palace. Here for a time resided Major-General aeneas Shaw, afterwards the owner and occupant of Oak Hill.

On the beach below the knoll, there continued to be, for a number of years, a row of cannon dismounted, duly spiked and otherwise disabled, memorials of the capture in 1813, when these guns were rendered useless by the regular troops before their retreat to Kingston. The pebbles on the sh.o.r.e about here were also plentifully mixed with loose canister shot, washed up by the waves, after their submersion in the bay on the same occasion.

From the little eminence just referred to, along the edge of the cliff, ran a gravel walk, which led first to the Guard House over the Commissariat Stores, in a direct line, with the exception of a slight divergence occasioned by "Capt. Bonnycastle's cottage;" and then eastward into the town. Where ravines occurred, cut in the drift by water-courses into the bay, the gulf was spanned by a bridge of hewn logs. This walk, kept in order for many years by the military authorities, was the representative of the path first worn bare by the soft tread of the Indian. From its agreeableness, overlooking as it did, through its whole length the Harbour and Lake, this walk gave birth to the idea, which became a fixed one in the minds of the early people of the place, that there was to be in perpetuity, in front of the whole town, a pleasant promenade, on which the burghers and their families should take the air and disport themselves generally.

The Royal Patent by which this sentimental walk is provided for and decreed, issued on the 14th day of July, in the year 1818, designates it by the interesting old name of Mall, and nominates "John Beverley Robinson, William Allan, George Crookshank, Duncan Cameron and Grant Powell, all of the town of York, Esqs., their heirs and a.s.signs forever, as trustees to hold the same for the use and benefit of the inhabitants." Stretching from Peter Street in the west to the Reserve for Government Buildings in the east, of a breadth varying between four and five chains, following the line of Front Street on the one side, and the several turnings and windings of the bank on the other, the area of land contained in this Mall was "thirty acres, more or less, with allowance for the several cross streets leading from the said town to the water." The paucity of open squares in the early plans of York may be partly accounted for by this provision made for a s.p.a.cious Public Walk.

While the archaeologist must regret the many old landmarks which were ruthlessly shorn away in the construction of the modern Esplanade, he must, nevertheless, contemplate with never-ceasing admiration that great and laudable work. It has done for Toronto what the Thames embankment has effected for London. Besides vast sanitary advantages accruing, it has created s.p.a.ce for the erection of a new front to the town. It has made room for a broad promenade some two or three miles in length, not, indeed, of the _far niente_ type, but with double and treble railway tracks abreast of itself, all open to the deep water of the harbour on one side, and flanked almost throughout the whole length on the other, by a series of warehouses, mills, factories and depots, destined to increase every year in importance. The sights and sounds every day, along this combination of roadways and its surroundings, are unlike anything dreamt of by the framers of the old Patent of 1818. But it cannot be said that the idea contained in that doc.u.ment has been wholly departed from: nay, it must be confessed that it has been grandly realized in a manner and on a scale adapted to the requirements of these latter days.

For some time, Front Street, above the Esplanade, continued to be a raised terrace, from which pleasant views and fresh lake air could be obtained; and attempts were made, at several points along its southern verge, to establish a double row of shade trees, which should recall in future ages the primitive oaks and elms which overlooked the margin of the harbour. But soon the erection of tall buildings on the newly-made land below, began to shut out the view and the breezes, and to discourage attempts at ornamentation by the planting of trees.

It is to regretted, however, that the t.i.tle of Mall has not yet been applied to some public walk in the town. Old-world sounds like these--reeve, warden, provost, recorder, House of Commons, railway, (not _road_), dugway, mall--like the chimes in some of our towers, and the sung-service in some of our churches--help, in cases where the imagination is active, to reconcile the exile from the British Islands to his adopted home, and even to attach him to it. Incorporated into our common local speech, and so perpetuated, they may also be hereafter subsidiary mementoes of our descent as a people, when all connection, save that of history, with the ancient home of our forefathers, will have ceased.

In 1804, there were "Lieutenants of Counties" in Upper Canada. The following gentlemen were, in 1804, "Lieutenants of Counties" for the Counties attached to their respective names. We take the list from the _Upper Canada Almanac_ for 1804, published at York by John Bennett. The office and t.i.tle of County-Lieutenant do not appear to have been kept up: "John Macdonell, Esq., Glengary; William Fortune, Esq., Prescott; Archibald Macdonell, Esq., Stormont; Hon. Richard Duncan, Esq., Dundas; Peter Drummond, Esq., Grenville; James Breakenridge, Esq., Leeds; Hon.

Richard Cartwright, Esq., Frontenac; Hazelton Spencer, Esq., Lenox; William Johnson, Esq., Addington; John Ferguson, Esq., Hastings; Archibald Macdonell, Esq., of Marysburg, Prince Edward; Alexander Chisholm, Esq., Northumberland; Robert Baldwin, Esq., Durham; Hon. David William Smith, Esq., York; Hon. Robert Hamilton, Esq., Lincoln; Samuel Ryerse, Esq., Norfolk; William Claus, Esq., Oxford; (Middles.e.x is vacant); Hon. Alexander Grant, Esq., Ess.e.x; Hon. James Baby, Esq., Kent."

Another old English term in use in the Crown Lands Office of Ontario, if not generally, is "Domesday Book." The record of grants of land from the beginning of the organization of Upper Canada is ent.i.tled "Domesday Book." It consists now of many folio volumes.

The gravelled path from the Fort to the Commissariat Stores, as described above, in conjunction with a parallel track for wheels along the cliff all the way to the site of the Parliament Buildings, suggested in 1822 the restoration of a carriage-drive to the Island, which had some years previously existed. This involved the erection or rather re-erection of bridges over the lesser and greater Don, to enable the inhabitants of York to reach the long lines of lake beach, extending eastward to Scarborough Heights and westward to Gibraltar Point.

All the old accounts of York in the topographical dictionaries of "sixty years since," spoke of the salubriousness of the peninsula which formed the harbour. Even the aborigines, it was stated, had recourse to that spot for sanative purposes. All this was derived from the article in D.

W. Smith's Gazetteer, which sets forth that "the long beach or peninsula, which affords a most delightful ride, is considered so healthy by the Indians, that they resort to it whenever indisposed."

So early as 1806 a bridge or float had been built over the mouth of the Don. In the _Gazette_ of June 18, in that year, we have the notice: "It is requested that no person will draw sand or pa.s.s with loaded waggons or carts over the new Bridge or Float at the opening of the Don River, as this source of communication was intended to accommodate the inhabitants of the town in a walk or ride to the Island. York, 13th June, 1806."

In a MS. map of this portion of the vicinity of York, dated 1811, the road over the float is marked "Road from York to the Lighthouse." In this map, the lesser Don does not appear. A pond or inlet represents it, stretching in from the bay to the river. A bridge spans the inlet. There is a bridge also over the ravine, through which flows the rivulet by the Parliament Buildings.

Health, however, was not the sole object of all these arrangements. A race-course had been laid out on the sandy neck of land connecting the central portion of the peninsula with the main sh.o.r.e. Here races were periodically held; and we have been a.s.sured, by an eye-witness, that twelve fine horses at a time had been seen by him engaged in the contest of speed. The hippodrome in question was not a ring, but a long straight level stadium, extending from the southern end of the second bridge to the outer margin of the lake.

When invasion was threatened in 1812, all the bridges in the direction of the Island were taken down. An earthwork was thrown up across the narrow ridge separating the last long reach of the Don from the Bay; and in addition, a trench was cut across the same ridge. This cut, at first insignificant, became ultimately by a natural process the lesser Don, a deep and wide outlet, a convenient short-cut for skiffs and canoes from the Bay to the Don proper, and from the Don proper to the Bay.

On the return of peace, the absence of bridges, and the existence, in addition, of a second formidable water-filled moat, speedily began to be matters of serious regret to the inhabitants of York, who found themselves uncomfortably cut off from easy access to the peninsula. From the _Gazette_ of April 15, 1822, we learn that "a public subscription among the inhabitants had been entered into, to defray the expense of erecting two bridges on the River Don, leading from this town towards the south, to the Peninsula." And subjoined are the leading names of the place, guaranteeing various sums, in all amounting to 108 5s. The timber was presented by Peter Robinson, Esq., M.P.P. The estimated expense of the undertaking was 325. The following names appear for various sums--fifty, twenty, ten, five and two dollars--Major Hillier, Rev. Dr. Strachan, Hon. J. H. Dunn, Hon. James Baby, Mr. Justice Boulton, John Small, Henry Boulton, Col. Coffin, Thomas Ridout, sen., W.

Allen, Grant Powell, Samuel Ridout, J. S. Baldwin, S. Heward, James E.

Small, Chas. Small, S. Washburn, J. B. Macaulay, G. Crookshank, A.

Mercer, George Boulton, Thomas Taylor, Joseph Spragge, George Hamilton, R. E. Prentice, A. Warffe, W. B. Jarvis, B. Turquand, John Denison, sen., George Denison, John and George Monro, Henry Drean, Peter McDougall, Geo. Duggan, James Nation, Thomas Bright, W. B. Robinson, J.

W. Gamble, William Proudfoot, Jesse Ketchum, D. Brooke, jun., R. C.

Henderson, David Stegman, L. Fairbairn, Geo. Playter, Joseph Rogers, John French, W. Roe, Thomas Sullivan, John Hay, J. Biglow, John Elliot.

On the strength of the sums thus promised, an engineer, Mr. E. Angell, began the erection of the bridge over the Greater Don. The _Gazette_ before us reports that it was being constructed "with hewn timbers, on the most approved _European_ principle." (There is point in the italicised word: it hints the impolicy of employing United States engineers for such works). The paper adds that "the one bridge over the Great Don, consisting of five arches, is in a forward state; and the other, of one arch, over the Little Don, will be completed in or before the month of July next, when this line of road will be opened." It is subjoined that "subscriptions will continue to be received by A. Mercer, Esq., J. Dennis, York, and also by the Committee, Thomas Bright, William Smith and E. Angell."

By the _Weekly Register_ of June 19, in the following year, it appears that the engineer, in commencing the bridge before the amount of its cost was guaranteed, had calculated without his host; and, as is usually the case with those who draw in advance on the proceeds of a supposed public enthusiam, had been brought into difficulties. We accordingly find that "on Friday evening last, pursuant to public notice given in the _Upper Canada Gazette_, a meeting of the subscribers, and other inhabitants of the town of York, was held at the house of Mr. Phair, in the Market-place, for the purpose of taking into consideration the circ.u.mstances in which the engineer had been placed by constructing a bridge, the charge of which was to be defrayed by voluntary subscription, over the mouth of the river Don."

Resolutions were pa.s.sed on the occasion, approving of Mr. Angell's proceedings, and calling for additional donations. A new committee was now appointed, consisting of H. J. Boulton, Esq., Dr. Widmer, S. Heward, Esq., Charles Small, Esq., and Allan McNab, Esq.--The editor of the _Weekly Register_ (Fothergill) thus notices the meeting: "It is satisfactory to find that there is at length some probability of the bridge over the Don in this vicinity being completed. We are, ourselves," the writer of the article proceeds to say, "the more anxious on this account, from the hope there is reason to entertain that these and other improvements in the neighbourhood will eventually lead to a draining of the great marsh at the east end of this town; for until that is done, it is utterly impossible that the place can be healthy at all seasons of the year. The public are not sufficiently impressed with the alarming insalubrity of such situations. We beg to refer our readers,"

the editor of the _Register_ then observes, "to a very interesting letter from Dr. Priestly to Sir John Pringle in the Philosophical Transactions for 1777; and another from Dr. Price to Dr. Horsley in the same work in 1774; both on this subject, which throw considerable light upon it." And it is added, "We have it in contemplation to republish these letters in this work, as being highly interesting to many persons, and applicable to various situations in this country, but particularly to the neighbourhood of York."

The desired additional subscriptions do not appear to have come in. The works at the mouth of the Don proper were brought to a stand-still. The bridge over the Lesser Don was not commenced. Thus matters remained for the long interval of ten years. Every inhabitant of York, able to indulge in the luxury of a carriage, or a saddle horse, or given to extensive pedestrian excursions, continued to regret the inaccessibleness of the peninsula. Especially among the families of the military, accustomed to the surroundings of sea-coast towns at home, did the desire exist, to be able, at will, to take a drive, or a canter, or a vigorous const.i.tutional, on the sands of the peninsula, where, on the one hand, the bold escarpments in the distance to the eastward, on the other, the ocean-like horizon, and immediately in front the long rollers of surf tumbling in, all helped to stir recollections of (we will suppose) Dawlish or Torquay.

In 1834, through the intervention of Sir John Colborne, and by means of a subsidy from the military chest, the works on both outlets of the Don were re-commenced. In 1835 the bridges were completed. On the 22nd of August in that year they were handed over by the military authorities to the town, now no longer York, but Toronto.

Some old world formalities were observed on the occasion. The civic authorities approached the new structure in procession; a barricade at the first bridge arrested their progress. A guard stationed there also forbade further advance. The officer in command, Capt. Bonnycastle, appears, and the Mayor and Corporation are informed that the two bridges before them are, by the command of the Lieutenant-Governor, presented to them as a free gift, for the benefit of the inhabitants, that they may in all time to come be enabled to enjoy the salubrious air of the peninsula; the only stipulation being that the bridges should be free of toll forever to the troops, stores, and ordnance of the sovereign.

The mayor, who, as eye-witnesses report, was arrayed in an official robe of purple velvet lined with scarlet, read the following reply: "Sir--On the part of His Majesty's faithful and loyal city of Toronto, I receive at your hands the invest.i.ture of these bridges, erected by command of His Excellency the Lieutenant-Governor, and now delivered to the Corporation for the benefit and accommodation of the citizens. In the name of the Common Council and the citizens of Toronto, I beg you to convey to His Excellency the grateful feelings with which this new instance of the bounty of our most gracious sovereign is received; and I take this occasion on behalf of the city to renew our a.s.surances of loyalty and attachment to His Majesty's person and government, and to pray, through His Excellency, a continuance of royal favour towards this city. I have, on the part of the corporation and citizens, to request you to a.s.sure His Excellency the Lieutenant-Governor that His Excellency's desire and generous exertions for the health and welfare of the inhabitants of this city are duly and gratefully appreciated; and I beg you to convey to His Excellency the best wishes of myself and my fellow-citizens for the health and happiness of His Excellency and family. Permit me, Sir, for myself and brethren, to thank you for the very handsome and complimentary manner in which you have carried His Excellency's commands into execution."

"Immediately," the narrative of the ceremonial continues, "the band, who were stationed on the bridge, struck up the heart-stirring air, 'G.o.d save the King,' during the performance of which the gentlemen of the Corporation, followed by a large number of the inhabitants, pa.s.sed uncovered over the bridge. Three cheers were then given respectively for the King, for His Excellency the Lieutenant-Governor, for the Mayor and Council of the City of Toronto, and for Capt. Bonnycastle. The gentlemanly and dignified manner in which both the addresses were read did credit to the gentlemen on whom these duties devolved; and the good order and good humour that prevailed among the spectators present were exceedingly gratifying."

We take this account from the Toronto _Patriot_ of August 28th, 1835, wherein it is copied from the _Christian Guardian_. Mr. R. B. Sullivan, the official representative of the city on the occasion just described, was the second mayor of Toronto. He was afterwards one of the Judges of the Court of Common Pleas.

The bridges thus ceremoniously presented and received had a short-lived existence. They were a few years afterwards, seriously damaged during the breaking up of the ice, and then carried away bodily in one of the spring freshets to which the Don is subject.

The peninsula in front of York was once plentifully stocked with goats, the offspring of a small colony established by order of Governor Hunter, at Gibraltar Point, for the sake, for one thing, of the supposed salutary nature of the whey of goat's milk. These animals were dispersed during the war of 1812-13. Governor Hunter may have taken the idea of peopling the island at York with goats from what was to be seen, at an early day, on Goat Island, adjoining the Falls of Niagara. A mult.i.tude of goats ran at large there, the descendants of a few reared originally by one Stedman, an English soldier, who, on escaping a ma.s.sacre of his comrades in the neighbourhood of what is now Lewiston, at the hands of the Iroquois, soon after the conquest of the country, fled thither, and led, to the end of his days, a Robinson-Crusoe-kind of life.

[Ill.u.s.tration]

V.

KING STREET, FROM JOHN STREET TO YONGE STREET.

After our long stroll westward, we had purposed returning to the place of beginning by the route which const.i.tutes the princ.i.p.al thoroughfare of the modern Toronto; but the a.s.sociations connected with the primitive pathway on the cliff overlooking the harbour, led us insensibly back along the track by which we came.

In order that we may execute our original design, we now transport ourselves at once to the point where we had intended to begin our descent of King Street. That point was the site of a building now wholly taken out of the way--the old General Hospital. Farther west on this line of road there was no object possessing any archaeological interest.

The old Hospital was a s.p.a.cious, unadorned, matter-of-fact, two-storey structure, of red brick, one hundred and seven feet long, and sixty-six feet wide. It had, by the direction of Dr. Grant Powell, as we have heard, the peculiarity of standing with its sides precisely east and west, north and south. At a subsequent period, it consequently had the appearance of having being jerked round bodily, the streets in the neighbourhood not being laid out with the same precise regard to the cardinal points. The building exhibited recessed galleries on the north and south sides, and a flattish hipped roof. The interior was conveniently designed.

In the fever wards here, during the terrible season of 1847, frightful scenes of suffering and death were witnessed among the newly-arrived emigrants; here it was that, in ministering to them in their distress, so many were struck down, some all but fatally, others wholly so; amongst the latter several leading medical men, and the Roman Catholic Bishop, Power.

When the Houses of Parliament, at the east end of the town, were destroyed by fire in 1824, the Legislature a.s.sembled for several sessions in the General Hospital.

The neighbourhood hereabout had an open, unoccupied look in 1822. In a _Weekly Register_ of the 25th of April of that year, we have an account of the presentation of a set of colours to a militia battalion, mustered for the purpose on the road near the Hospital. "Tuesday, the 23rd instant," the _Register_ reports, "being the anniversary of St. George, on which it has been appointed to celebrate His Majesty's birthday, George IV., [instead of the 4th of June, the fete of the late King,] the East and West Regiments, with Capt. b.u.t.ton's Troop of Cavalry, which are attached to the North York Regiment, on the right, were formed in line at eleven o'clock in the forenoon, on the road in front of the Government House, and a Guard of Honour, consisting of 100 rank and file from each regiment, with officers and sergeants in proportion, under the command of Lieut.-Col. FitzGibbon, were formed at a short distance in front of the centre, as the representatives of the militia of the Province, in order to receive the rich and beautiful Colours which His Majesty has been graciously pleased to command should be prepared for the late incorporated Battalion, as an honourable testimony of the high sense which His Majesty has been pleased to entertain of the zeal and gallantry of the militia of Upper Canada."

The _Register_ then proceeds: "At 12 o'clock, a Royal Salute was fired from the Garrison, and the Lieutenant-Governor with his staff having arrived on the ground, proceeded to review the widely-extended line; after which, taking his station in front of the whole, the band struck up the nation anthem of 'G.o.d save the King.' His Excellency then dismounted, and accompanied by his staff, on foot, approached the Guard of Honour, so near as to be distinctly heard by the men; when, uncovering himself, and taking one of the Colours in his hand, in the most dignified and graceful manner, he presented them to the proper officer, with the following address:--"Soldiers! I have great satisfaction in presenting you, as the representatives of the late incorporated Battalion, with these Colours--a distinguished mark of His Majesty's approbation. They will be to you a proud memorial of the past, and a rallying-point around which you will gather with alacrity and confidence, should your active services be required hereafter by your King and Country.'--His Excellency having remounted, the Guard of Honour marched with band playing and Colours flying, from right to left, in front of the whole line, and then proceeded to lodge their Colours at the Government House."

"The day was raw and cold," it is added, "and the ground being very wet and uneven, the men could neither form nor march with that precision they would otherwise have exhibited. We were very much pleased, however, with the soldier-like appearance of the Guard of Honour, and we were particularly struck by the new uniform of the officers of the West York, as being particularly well-adapted for the kind of warfare incident to a thickly-wooded country. Even at a short distance it would be difficult to distinguish the gray coat or jacket from the bole of a tree. There was a very full attendance on the field; and it was peculiarly gratifying to observe so much satisfaction on all sides. The Colours, which are very elegant, are inscribed with the word Niagara, to commemorate the services rendered by the Incorporated Battalion on that frontier; and we doubt not that the proud distinction which attends these banners will always serve to excite the most animating recollections, whenever it shall be necessary for them to wave over the heads of our Canadian Heroes, actually formed in battle-array against the invaders of our Country. At 2 o'clock His Excellency held a Levee, and in the evening a splendid Ball at the Government House concluded the ceremonies and rejoicings of the day." The Lieut. Governor on this occasion was Sir Peregrine Maitland, of whom fully hereafter.

The building on King Street known as "Government House" was originally the private residence of Chief Justice Elmsley. For many years after its purchase by the Government it was still styled "Elmsley House." As at Quebec, the correspondence of the Governor-in-Chief was dated from the "Chateau St. Louis," or the "Castle of St. Louis," so here, that of the Lieutenant-Governor of the Western Province was long dated from "Elmsley House." Mr. Elmsley was a brother of the celebrated cla.s.sical critic and editor, Peter Elmsley, of Oxford. We shall have occasion frequently to speak of him.

On the left, opposite Government House, was a very broken piece of ground, denominated "Russell Square;" afterwards, through the instrumentality of Sir John Colborne, converted into a site for an educational Inst.i.tution. Sir John Colborne, on his arrival in Upper Canada, was fresh from the Governors.h.i.+p of Guernsey, one of the Channel Islands. During his administration there he had revived a decayed Public School, at present known as Elizabeth College. Being of opinion that the new country to which he had been transferred was not ripe for a University on the scale contemplated in a royal Charter which had been procured, he addressed himself to the establishment of an inst.i.tution which should meet the immediate educational wants of the community.

Inasmuch as in the School which resulted--or "Minor College" as it was long popularly called--we have a transcript, more or less close, of the inst.i.tution which Sir John Colborne had been so recently engaged in reviving, we add two or three particulars in regard to the latter, which may have, with some, a certain degree of interest, by virtue of the accidental but evident relation existing between the two inst.i.tutions.

From a paper in Brayley's Graphic and Historical Ill.u.s.trator (1834), we gather that Elizabeth College, Guernsey, was originally called the "School of Queen Elizabeth," as having been founded under Letters Patent from that sovereign in 1563, to be a "Grammar-school in which the youth of the Island (_juventus_) may be better instructed in good learning and virtue." The temple or church of the suppressed Order of Gray Friars (Friars minors or Cordeliers), with its immediate precincts, was a.s.signed for its "use," together with "eighty quarters of wheat rent,"

accruing from lands in different parts of the Island, which had been given to the friars for dispensations, ma.s.ses, obits, &c. By the statutes of 1563 the school was divided into six cla.s.ses; and books and exercises were appointed respectively for each, the scholars to be admitted being required "to read perfectly, and to recite an approved catechism of the Christian religion by heart."

In all the six cla.s.ses the Latin and Greek languages were the primary objects of instruction; but the Statutes permitted the master, at his discretion, "to add something of his own;" and even "to concede something for writing, singing, arithmetic, and a little play." For more than two centuries the school proved of little public utility. In 1799 there was one pupil on the establishment. In 1816 there were no scholars. From that date to 1824 the number fluctuated from 15 to 29. In 1823, Sir John Colborne appointed a committee to investigate all the circ.u.mstances connected with the school, and to ascertain the best mode of a.s.suring its future permanent efficiency and prosperity, without perverting the intention of the foundress. The end of all this was a new building (figured in Brayley) at a cost of 14,754 2_s._ 3_d._; the foundation-stone being laid by Sir John in 1826. On August the 20th, 1829, the revived inst.i.tution was publicly opened, with one hundred and twenty pupils. "On that day," we are told, "the Bailiff and Jurats of the Island, with General Ross, the Lieutenant-Governor [Sir John Colborne was now in Canada], his staff, and the public authorities, headed by a procession consisting of the Princ.i.p.al, Vice-Princ.i.p.al, and other masters and tutors of the school (together with the scholars), repaired to St. Peter's Church, where prayers were read by the Dean, Dr.