On the 7th of May, 1860, the 26 members of the first Legislative Assembly--among them the three Ministers of the Crown--having been returned, Parliament was summoned to meet at Brisbane on the 22nd of that month, just a few days before the maximum limit of delay specified by the Queen's Order in Council. On 1st May Sir William Denison had appointed 11 members for a five years' term to the Legislative Council, and three weeks later Sir George Bowen, conceiving the number insufficient, appointed four members additional for a life term, raising the total number to 15. Thus the first Parliament of Queensland was at length fully constituted, and all preliminaries had been completed for entering upon the work of the first session.[a] On the 22nd of May the session opened, and after members had been sworn in Sir Charles Nicholson, for some years Speaker in the Sydney Parliament, was elected President of the Council, and Mr. Gilbert Eliott--formerly an officer of the Royal Artillery--the member for Wide Bay, Speaker of the Assembly. Both Houses then adjourned for a week. The Governor's Speech, which was of great length, having been delivered, the Address in Reply was moved in both Houses. In the Council the leadership had been entrusted to Captain Maurice Charles O'Connell, Minister without portfolio, who had long been in the Port Curtis district as a trusted official of the New South Wales Government, and in early life had served with great distinction as a British soldier in Spain. In the Council no difficulty arose in adopting the Address. But in the Assembly an amendment moved for the adjournment of the debate at an early stage was only defeated by the Speaker's casting-vote, one member being absent. It thus appeared that the Assembly was almost equally divided. This was a dangerous position to be faced by a new Premier without a day's previous experience in Parliament, and with the two most formidable debaters in the House, Mr. Macalister and Mr. (afterwards Sir) Charles Lilley, in active opposition. Mr. Herbert made a diplomatic speech, however, and the Address passed without much further contention. The division list showed that, despite the efforts of the Governor and his Premier to avoid identification with the squatters, the votes of the latter were essential to the existence of the Ministry, since the members of the Opposition consisted almost exclusively of town representatives. The following day (30th May) the Government nominee for the Chairmanship of Committees, Mr. C. W. Blakeney, was defeated by 15 votes to 7, and Mr. Macalister, who was nominated by the Opposition, was thereupon elected on the voices. The division of parties evidently made compromise indispensable to the passing of much-needed legislation. But much had been gained by the Government. All its members had been elected by the constituencies, and the Assembly had practically acknowledged that it was entitled to a fair trial. Seeing that