Of the military posts left to the British in 1803, Kingston was the largest and most populous of the Upper Province. It was founded in 1784 on the site of old Fort Frontenac, and was the main _entrepôt_ between Montreal and the settlements along the lakes. It was three hundred and seventy-five miles from Quebec, one hundred and ninety-five from Montreal, and one hundred and fifty-three from York. Governor Simcoe had designed to make the latter a fortified shipping town, but this had been vetoed by Lord Dorchester who preferred Kingston for this purpose. [Sidenote: Newark or Niagara] Fort George was on the west bank of the river Niagara, about a mile from its entrance into Lake Ontario. It was, in 1803, a low square fort with earthen ramparts and palisades of cedar. It contained very badly planned loop-holed barracks of logs, and mounted no heavier metal than nine pounders. Newark, or Niagara, for it resumed its {57} old name in 1798, by act of parliament, was the village near by, and had enjoyed for a brief period the distinction of being the capital of the Upper Province. It lay directly opposite Fort Niagara where the river is eight hundred and seventy-five yards wide. Here the first parliament of Upper Canada met in 1792, and to add to the glory of the occasion we are told that a guard of the 26th Cameronians, then stationed at Fort Niagara, was brought across the river to escort Governor Simcoe in state to the opening. Five sessions were held here before the seat of government was removed to York, and during the last years of the eighteenth century Newark was, next to Kingston, the most flourishing place in Upper Canada. It was here at Navy Hall that Governor Simcoe and his wife dispensed their gracious hospitality. Among their distinguished guests were the Duke of Kent, who rode from their house to see the famous falls of Niagara, and the Duke de Rochefoucauld de Liancourt, who wrote a lengthy account of his visit. The 5th Regiment and part of the 26th Cameronians were then stationed at Fort Niagara, and Butler's Rangers and the Queen's Rangers occupied the barracks at Newark. The first newspaper in the country, the _Upper Canada Gazette_, was published here, and there was a public library and a court-house and churches (St. Mark's and St. Andrew's) long before York, {58} its rival and supplanter across the lake, was provided with any public buildings. It was Governor Simcoe who planned Fort George and gave to it its first rough outlines. In 1803 there was a lighthouse on Mississaga Point, at the entrance of the river near where a fort of that name was afterwards constructed. A dockyard where many workmen were employed, was one of the industries of the place, and here was built and launched in 1792 the first Canadian merchant vessel.