ty. It was only the
firm determination and the undefeated optimism of those who believed in
its destiny that kept it from being merely the hope or the dream of a
Scottish pioneer rather than a place of everlasting influence in our
national life. The struggle of those years was not always without great
disappointment, and even bitterness. But the product that emerged from
the turmoil was perhaps greater and stronger for that fact.

CHAPTER IV

THE COLLEGE OPENED

The Principal who guided McGill College in its infancy and for six years
after its opening, was the Rev. George Jehosophat Mountain. He was
appointed to the Principalship in 1824, while the University was a name
only. The family from which he was descended had won distinction in
education and in the church, and it was fortunate that the young College
should be cradled under the care of a guardian of his learning, his
traditions and his breadth of vision. His father, the Rev. Jacob
Mountain, was given livings by the younger Pitt in Lincolnshire and
Huntingdonshire in England, and later a prebend's stall in Lincoln
Cathedral. When a diocese was created in Canada his name was at once
suggested, because of his success at home, and in 1793 he came to Canada
to become the first Anglican Bishop of Quebec. He subsequently acted as
Principal of the Royal Institution for the Advancement of Learning and
as such he had an active part in the educational affairs of the
Province. His son, George, was born in England in 1789 and when he
arrived in Canada with his parents he was but four years old. He
therefore justly regarded himself as a Canadian. He received his early
education in Quebec and continued his studies in England, where he took
his B.A. degree at Trinity College, Cambridge. He then returned to
Canada and assisted his father as Secretary until he was ordained in
1816, at a time when the establishment of McGill College and the methods
of fulfilling James McGill's desire were under discussion. In 1817 he
became Rector of Quebec, and in 1821 Archdeacon of Lower Canada. When in
1824 the Board of the Royal Institution found that it was necessary, in
order to secure the McGill bequest, to appoint Professors to the
proposed College they selected Archdeacon Mountain as Honorary Professor
of Divinity and Principal of McGill College. But he gave no lectures and
received little or no remuneration for his work. His duty seems to have
been mainly to preserve the forms