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 which the terms of the will required. He laid the foundation for the creation of the Faculty of Arts, and while he believed that instruction should be given in a manner consistent with the English National Establishment, he desired that the University should be open to students of all creeds with equal privileges and that Professorships should be tenable by graduates of the Scotch Universities. He retained the Principalship until 1835, when he retired, to return for a time to England. It is unnecessary here to follow in detail his subsequent career. In 1836 he was made coadjutor of Dr. James Stewart, Bishop of Quebec and became thereby Bishop of Montreal, the consecration ceremony being performed at Lambeth. After his retirement from the Principalship he continued, as we shall see, to devote much time and attention to the affairs of the growing University as a Governor, and he lived to see the College of which he was the first guardian advance to growth and usefulness even far beyond his dreams. During his last years he occupied the Anglican See of Quebec, where he died in 1863.
Rev. George Jehosophat Mountain
1789-1863
First Principal of McGill University 1829-1835
The ceremony which marked the official opening of McGill University was held on Wednesday afternoon, June 24th, 1829. It had been advertised in the press for some time, and in addition special invitations were sent out to many citizens interested in educational advancement. It was therefore attended by what the contemporary press called a gathering of “numerous and respectable individuals.” Because of the historical importance of this meeting, the report of it, which appeared in the Montreal Gazette in the issue of Monday, June 29, and which is similar in its details to the Governors' minutes of the meeting, is here given in full:
“In consequence of a notification having been published—that this College would be opened, and that formal possession of the estate of Burnside, upon which it was established, would take place on Wednesday, a very numerous assemblage of the inhabitants of this City were present at what we consider to be one of the most important and interesting ceremonies lately witnessed in this part of the Province. Though there was none of the gaudy appearance and display characteristic of religious or Masonic Processions, yet to the mind of the philosopher and friend of education, the simple and appropriate ceremony, an account of which we are about to lay before our readers, presented more charms than if decked out with all the pageantry of chivalry and romance.