68 HISTORICAL SKETCH OF PRINCE EDWARD ISLAND 
     
    
   
   
    
     reached the Lieutenant Governor the zrst of August. On 
     
     the following day His Excellency proceeded to the Council 
     
     Chamber, where a guard of honor was drawn up composed of 
     
     the troops of' the Garrison, commanded by Captain Ruxton. 
     
     His Excellency then informed the Council of the melancholy 
     
     intelligence of the King’s death, and announced the accession 
     
     to the Throne of Prince William Henry, Duke of Clarence, 
     
     as William the Fourth. The oath of allegiance to the new 
     
     Sovereign was administered to His Excellency, the members 
     
     of the Council, and several other gentlemen. A Proclamation 
     
     having been issued and signed by His Excellency, was read by 
     
     the Herald, first in the Council Chambers, then on the Barrack 
     
     Square, at the head of King’s Wharf, and at the Market Place, 
     
     at each of which it was received with enthusiastic cheers. A 
     
     ' Royal Salute was then fired from the guns of the Battery; 
     
     after which the colors were lowered to haltimast, and minute 
     
     guns to the number of sixty commenced firing for the deceased 
     
     monarch. The colors hung at half-mast for seven days, at the 
     
     close of which they were removed from the flag-staff. 
     
    
   
   
    
     Material for the erection of a new jail on Pownal Square 
     
     having been collected, the ceremony of laying the corner stone 
     
     on the 25th was performed by the Worshipful Master and 
     
     Brethren of St. John’s Lodge of Free and Accepted Masons 
     
     in full regalia. A parchment scroll dated 25th August, 1830, 
     
     hearing the name of the Governor, John Ready, and His 
     
     Majesty William the Fourth, together with some coins were 
     
     put into a glass vessel, hermetically sealed, then deposited in 
     
     the stone. The ceremony being ended, the Brethren returned 
     
     in procession to their Lodge. 
     
    
   
   
    
     Later in the year the brig Mary arrived from Tobermony 
     
     with 330 passengers, natives of Skye, and the bark Nz'zvzts, with 
     
     80 more from Norfolk and Suffolk. 
     
    
   
   
    
     In 183x Parliament met on the 3rd February. the opening 
     
     being attended by the usual display of a guard of honor and 
     
     artillery salutes. The presence of the fair sex added consider- 
     
     ably to the splendor of the occasion. The King’s birthday 
     
     was celebrated on the 28th'May, it being the day of his 
     
     nativity, and His Majesty in his 65th year. The troops on 
     
     garrison duty here were relieved by the arrival of a detach- 
     
     ment of the 8th Regiment, Captain Machen.