otbiniere,
and many more. The Council chamber was crowded in every
part long before the governor arrived. 'The Ladies
introduced into the House' were 'without Hat, Cloak, or
Bonnet,' the 'Doorkeeper of His Majesty's Council' having
taken good care to see them 'leave the same in the Great
Committee Room previous to their Introduction.' 'The
Ladies attached to His Excellency's Suite' were admitted
'within the railing or body of the House' and 'accommodated
with the seats of the members as far as possible.'
Outwardly it was all very much the same in principle as
the opening of any other British parliament--the escort,
guard, and band, the royal salute, the brilliant staff,
the scarlet cloth of state, the few and quiet members of
the Upper House, the many of the Lower, jostling each
other to get a good place near Mr Speaker at the bar,
the radiant ladies, the crowded galleries corniced with
inquiring faces and craned necks, the Gentlemen Ushers
and their quaint bows, the Speech from the Throne and
the occasional lifting of His Excellency's hat, the
retiring in full state; and then the ebbing away of all
the sightseers, their eddying currents of packed humanity
in the halls and passages, the porch, the door, the
emptying street. But inwardly what a world of difference!
For here was the first British parliament in which
legislators of foreign birth and blood and language were
shaping British laws as British subjects.

In September 1793 Carleton returned from his two years'
absence and was welcomed more warmly than ever. Quebec
blazed with illuminations. The streets swarmed with eager
crowds. The first session of the first parliament had
been better than any one had dared to hope for. There
was a general tendency to give the new constitution a
fair trial; and all classes looked to Carleton to make
the harmony that had been attained both permanent and
universal. Dr Jacob Mountain, first Anglican bishop of
Quebec, also arrived shortly afterwards and was warmly
greeted by the Roman Catholic prelate, who embraced him,
saying, 'It's time you came to shepherd your own flock.'
Mountain was statesman and churchman in one. He had been
chosen by the elder Pitt to be the younger's tutor and
then chosen by the younger to be his private secretary. The
fact that the Anglican bishop of Quebec was then and for
many years afterwards a sort of Canadian chaplain-general
to the Imperial troops and that most of the leading
officials and l