A small committee was appointed to arrange details, and the reception was organised with the greatest care. The Volunteer regiments were pledged to turn out in plain clothes, with walking-sticks; the societies also agreed to be out, the Orangemen did their part, the lawyers were canvassed to be in the streets, and all were asked to act as private detectives, and watch carefully any attempt to throw stones by any disaffected parties if there were any. The citizens illuminated their houses and shops on the route from North Toronto Station through Yonge and King Streets to Government House. Members of the Toronto Hunt Club, mounted and in plain clothes, formed an escort; but, what was not known to the public, twenty-five picked men of my corps, the Governor-General's Body Guard, in plain clothes, with Lieut.-Colonel Merritt, my adjutant, in charge, rode as members of the Hunt Club, along with them, and guarded the carriage of his Excellency. About four hundred men of the Queen's Own, all in plain clothes, marched along the street alongside the carriage. The Orange body arranged for a torchlight procession with about a thousand torches, and the police were entirely withdrawn from the streets on which the procession marched. I do not believe anyone was ever more carefully guarded, for the people as a mass took it in hand themselves. On the morning of the day on which his Excellency was to arrive, I learned that the General commanding had ordered a guard of honour to meet him at the station. I went at once to the Mayor, and we went together to see the Governor's military secretary, and urged him to ask his Excellency to countermand the order and dispense with the guard. This was done, and no man in uniform was to be seen. The reception was a remarkable success. The streets were filled with most enthusiastic crowds, and no Governor-General ever made such an entry into Toronto. The people took him to Government House, and the whole neighbourhood and the carriage drive were packed with cheering crowds. Lord Lansdowne stood up in his carriage at the door, and made a speech thanking the people, and he must have felt that he was among friends. A few days later a great meeting was held in the Queen's Park, when a number of prominent citizens made speeches condemning Mr. O'Brien's proposed visit to Toronto and resolutions were passed in that sense. The Mayor, on behalf of the citizens, sent a telegram to O'Brien requesting him not to come to Toronto.