86 HISTORICAL SKETCH OF PRINCE EDWARD ISLAND

his Staff—who were also mounted—took their place in the rear of the Masons. Headed by a band of music, the procession moved up Kent Street to Great George Street, thence to Queen Square, where the Masons formed arch, through the lines of which His Excellency and suite passed.

Having entered the excavation where the stone was deposited His Excellency was presented with a trowel and mallet. When a vase which contained a scroll, and some coin of the Realm, was placed in a niche of the stone and was then laid in its place in a bed of mortar. When this part of the ceremony having ended, His Excellency said: “The Legislature having granted means for the erection of a Provincial Building, and the corner stone having been now laid, I trust that a new era of prosperity will open in this colony, and am satisfied that the walls about to rise over this stone will resound with sentiments expressive of British feelings, British principles, and British loyalty.” A Royal salute then proclaimed the ceremony ended, when the procession reformed and His Excellency .was escorted back to Government House in the same order in which he had advanced therefrom.

In the twelfth year of this century, upon a site bounded by Dorchester, Great George and Sydney Streets,a neat little edifice having a capacity of seating from three to four hundred worshippers was erected. Its tower or cupola was surmounted by the Holy Cross, within the tower a sweet—toned bell was suspended. But as the population of the diocese increased in number, a much larger house of worship became necessary. Accordingly the little church was removed and on the same site, on the 20th July, the Right Revd. Bernard Donald McDonald, Roman Catholic Bishop of Charlottetown, assisted by the Revd. Fathers Renolds, Brady and Melville, laid the corner stone of a new Cathedral. At the close of that ceremony, His Lordship and the Revd. Fathers, preceeded by the Benevolent Irish and Temperance Societies, headed by a Band, marched in procession to the St. Peter’s Road, where the consecration rites were solemnized over the Burial Ground of the Roman Catholic Church.

The Steamer Pom/zooms, as a mail carrying vessel, was superseded during August by the arrival of the Steamer St. George, from Liverpool, England. This commodious vessel was purchased by a company, formed in Charlottetown, to