stirrings within them of noble impulses and patriotic devotion to
their country, should have been compelled to depend upon themselves
for intellectual enlightenment and advancement. The flippant sneer
of many persons of to-day at such "self-made" men is unworthy of
those who enjoy the advantages which these self-made men laboured to
secure. They belonged to that noble band of pioneers, who achieved
for us the civil and religious freedom which we now so richly enjoy.
All honour to them, therefore!
CONTINUED EDUCATIONAL EFFORTS BY MR. BURWELL IN THE HOUSE OF
ASSEMBLY.
In January, 1832, Mr. Burwell made a motion similar to the defeated
one of Dr. C. Duncombe, which led to considerable discussion. It was
as follows:--
"That this House do address His Majesty, humbly beseeching that
His Majesty will be graciously pleased to grant an appropriation
of one million of acres of waste lands of the Crown in this
Province for the maintenance and support of common schools
within the same."...[36]
In the same month Mr. Burwell introduced a bill "for the
establishment and support of common schools throughout the
Province." It was printed but was not proceeded with that session.
Mr. Burwell's object clearly was to keep the subject before the
House and to promote discussion on it. In this he succeeded. The
House of Assembly was alive to the importance of the question,
but the Legislative Council was obstructive in regard to the same
subject.
In November, 1832, Mr. Burwell again had a committee of the House of
Assembly appointed to enquire into the manner in which the King's
wishes had been carried out in regard to the royal grant of lands
for educational purposes in 1798. To expedite this enquiry the
important despatches and reports formerly asked for by him and sent
down to the House by the Governor, with others, were printed and
distributed.
Mr. Burwell also introduced a bill "for the establishment,
maintenance and regulation of common schools," in the Province. He
made several motions, too, on the subject of the King's College
charter and school lands. On the 21st November he submitted the
first report of his "Select Committee on the Subject of Education."
The historical part of this report being somewhat interesting in its
statements, I quote it as follows:--
"The committee have been forcibly struck with the uniform
anxiety which has been manifested at all times by the
Legislature and Provincial authorities for the establishment of
a university.
"It formed part of the prayer of both Houses in their address to
the King in 1797.
"It was strongly recommended by the Executive Government, the
judges, and law officers of the Crown, in 1798.
"In 1806 the Legislature, to show that something more was even
then required than grammar schools, did all their limited means
permitted, in providing a small apparatus for the instruction of
youth in physical science, that they might enter the world with
something more than a common district school education; such an
institution was again noticed in 1820, and an earnest desire
expressed by the Legislature, which knew best the wants of the
Province, for its speedy establishment.
"In 1825 so many young men were found turning their attention to
the learned professions that the Executive Government thought
that the establishment of a university could be no longer
delayed without the greatest detriment to the Province, and,
therefore, applied to His Majesty for a Royal Charter, which
was granted in 1827, in terms as liberal, it is said, as the
then Government would allow; but such has proved by no means
satisfactory to your Honorable House."[36]
[36] See also the opinion of Archdeacon Strachan on this subject, in
a subsequent part of this Retrospect.
About the middle of December, 1832, Mr. Burwell brought in the
second and very elaborate report of the Select Committee on
Education. This report was chiefly based upon the opinions of
several witnesses examined by the committee on the subject of
school lands, King's College charter, U. C. College, and education
generally. The witnesses examined were Chief Justice Robinson,
Archdeacon Strachan, Chairman, and the Hon. G. H. Markland,
Secretary to the Provincial Board of Education; Hon. Joseph Wells, a
member of the Board, and Treasurer of U. C. College; Rev. Dr. Joseph
H. Harris, Principal of U. C. College; Rev. Dr. Thomas Phillips,
Vice-Principal, and Mr. S. P. Hurd, Surveyor-General of the Province.
The general views of these noted men on the subject of education
are both interesting and instructive in the light of to-day. The
report itself deals with the then pressing question of the extension
of educational facilities to the entire Province. It points out
in strong language the undesirability of continuing a system of
district, or grammar, schools which were quite adequate to the wants
of the Province when the population was only 50,000, but which was
not at all equal to the requirements of Upper Canada when that
population had increased to nearly 300,000. These references show
how wonderfully the Province has progressed in population and in its
educational advantages since that time.
EARLY OPINIONS ON THE NECESSITY FOR MANUAL, OR INDUSTRIAL, EDUCATION.
The following passage from the report of 1832 is prophetical in its
anticipation of the future. By way of illustration I may mention the
fact that a somewhat similar utterance was made by Sir Lyon Playfair
in his address as president of the British Association, at Aberdeen,
in 1887. The passage in the report of 1832 is as follows:--
"That the situation of the Province in wealth and commerce,
and in its demand for superior attainments in the various
professions is very different from what it formerly was; and
that unless opportunities are immediately furnished by the
establishment of superior schools for the instruction of our
youth in the higher branches of science, we must fall behind the
age in which we live."
What was thus put forth as a local thought, but yet as an
educational axiom, by these educational pioneers of Upper Canada,
upwards of fifty years ago, is thus forcibly and beautifully
amplified by the president of the British Association in 1887.
Speaking generally, and contrasting the educational policy of the
colonies and that of the mother country, he said:--
"The colonies, being young countries, value their raw materials
as their chief source of wealth. When they become older they
will discover it is not in these, but in the culture of
scientific intellect, that their future prosperity depends....
Jules Simon tersely puts it:--'The nation which most educates
her people will become the greatest nation, if not to-day,
certainly to-morrow.' Higher education is the condition of
higher prosperity, and the nation which neglects to develop the
intellectual factor of production must degenerate, for it cannot
stand still.... The illustrious consort of our Queen was not the
first prince who saw how closely science is bound up with the
welfare of states.... How unwise it is for England to lag in the
onward march of science, when most other European powers are
using the resources of their states to promote higher education
and to advance the boundaries of knowledge. [She] alone fails
to grasp the fact that the competition of the world has become
a competition of intellect.... A nation in its industrial
progress, when the competition of the world is keen, cannot
stand still.... I contend that in public education there should
be a free play to the scientific faculty, so that the youths who
possess it should learn the richness of their possession during
the educative process.... Science has impressed itself upon the
age in which we live; and as science is not stationary, but
progressive, men are required to advance its boundaries, acting
as pioneers in the onward march of states. Human progress is so
identified with scientific thought, both in its conception and
realization, that it seems as if they were alternative terms in
the history of civilization."
In giving these extracts so fully I have done so for two reasons:
First, I desire to do honour to the zeal and to acknowledge the
forethought and prescience of those members of the House of Assembly
who, in 1832, placed so strong an emphasis upon the value of "the
instruction of our youth in the higher branches of science;" and
secondly, to point out, in the weighty words of Sir Lyon Playfair,
the immense importance (in the light of past experience) which he
and other leaders of thought in regard to England's industrial life
and practical progress, attach to the teaching of elementary science
in the schools. He touches upon this point in another part of his
address, in pointing out the absurdity of requiring all pupils to
study the same subjects. He says:--
"In a school a boy should be aided to discover the class of
knowledge that is best suited to his mental capacities, so
that in the upper forms of the school, and in the university,
knowledge may be specialized in order to cultivate the powers
of the man to the fullest extent.... The adaptation of public
schools to a scientific age does not involve a contest as
to whether science or classics shall prevail, for both are
indispensable to true education. The real question is, whether
schools will undertake the duty of moulding the minds of boys
according to their mental varieties."
LATER OPINIONS ON THE NECESSITY FOR MANUAL TRAINING IN OUR SCHOOLS.
So deeply impressed was I of the immense importance of this subject,
and of the necessity of providing in our school system for a
practical solution of the question which was then, and is now, of
pressing importance--viz., manual training in our schools--that in
1876 I prepared and delivered a lecture on the subject, in various
parts of the Province. The lecture was founded on the industrial
lessons taught to us so impressively at the Centennial Exhibition,
Philadelphia, in 1876. These lessons, in their educational aspects,
were even more forcibly impressed upon me at the great Industrial
Exhibition held in New Orleans, in 1885. Having been there six
weeks, as an Educational Juror, on behalf of the United States
Bureau of Education, I had abundant and admirable facilities for
studying the whole question, and for seeing how it was being worked
out (more or less effectually) in the various national school
systems which came under review during that enquiry--especially in
France. Thus the French school law of 1882 provides that "primary
education includes [among other things] the elements of the natural,
physical and mathematical sciences, and their application to
agriculture, to hygiene, and to the industrial art; manual work, and
the use of tools of the principal trades, the elements of drawing,
modelling, etc." Apprenticeship schools have also been established,
the object of which is to form workmen, as distinguished from
foremen, and in which various trades are taught. An official report,
published by the United States Bureau of Education in 1882, states
that the apprentices of these schools "find employment readily after
they have left the workshops, at wages, it is said, varying from
five to even as much as eight francs per day."
In discussing this question in the lecture to which I have referred,
these passages occur:--
"It is not assumed that every pupil in our schools is qualified, or
that he should be compelled, as a matter of course, to engage in
the study of elementary science or practical drawing. Far from it.
But what I do say is, that those pupils who exhibit a taste for any
of the various subjects of natural history, elementary science or
practical mechanics, should have an opportunity in the Public and
High Schools (of cities and large towns) of learning something about
them. In an address by Mr. Gladstone on this subject, he stated that
the boys of the English schools, and it is so in our schools, had
not yet had fair play in the study of elementary science and natural
history....
"There are few schools in which there are not boys possessing
talent scientific, inventive, or industrial talent, or constructive
genius, which are never evoked, much less aroused or stimulated. As
to the question whether for the few the country should be put to
the expense of their special training, I answer it in the words of
Professor Huxley, who says:--
"To the lad of genius, even to the one in a million, I would make
accessible the highest and most complete training the country could
afford. Whatever it might cost, depend upon it the investment
would be invaluable. I weigh my words when I say: that if the
nation could purchase a potential Watt, or Davy, or Faraday, at the
cost of a hundred thousand pounds down, he would be dirt cheap at
the money.... It is a mere commonplace and an every-day piece of
knowledge to say that, what these three men did, (in their special
departments of practical science), has produced untold millions
of wealth for England and the world, speaking in its narrowest
economical sense of the word."
The educational mind of the United States, as well as Europe, is
being constantly directed to the consideration of this interesting
practical subject. Magazines and reviews, as well as educational
journals, freely discuss it. One of the most useful articles on
"Manual Training in the Public schools," will be found in the
_Andover Review_ for October, 1888. The United States Bureau
of Education has also published various reports and papers on
the subject. One of the most valuable is an elaborate report on
_Industrial Education in the United States_, published in 1883. Some
of the more important railways in that country have also established
training schools for their employés.
FURTHER EDUCATIONAL EFFORTS IN THE HOUSE OF ASSEMBLY, 1835, 1836.
For the four years during which Dr. Duncombe was a member the
Legislature of Upper Canada, his efforts to promote the cause of
education were unceasing. With the exception of Mr. Burwell, who
devoted himself almost entirely to the interests of education in
the House, none excelled Dr. Duncombe in his zeal for the cause
of public education. His efforts were chiefly directed to awaken
an interest amongst his fellow members in the subject generally,
and especially on behalf of the education of the deaf and dumb,
in asylums for the insane, in prison discipline and similar
matters. At length his efforts in the session of 1835 culminated
in the appointment, by resolution of the House of Assembly, of
Doctors Charles Duncombe, Thomas D. Morrison and William Bruce,
Commissioners, to enquire, amongst other things, into "the system
and management of schools and colleges" in the United States and
elsewhere. Two of these commissioners deputed their colleague, Dr.
Duncombe, to "go on a journey to the United States, or elsewhere, to
obtain such information as is desired by a resolution" of the House
of Assembly in that behalf. Six hundred dollars were granted by the
House to defray the expenses of this enquiry.
Late in 1835 Dr. Duncombe went on his mission of enquiry to the
United States, and visited literary institutions in the Western,
Middle, Eastern and some of the Southern States of the Union. He
also obtained detailed information as to education in England,
France and Prussia, and embodied the result in an elaborate
report of nearly sixty pages and an appendix of one hundred and
sixty pages. To this report he annexed the draft of a School
Bill, extending to twenty-two pages, with a variety of forms and
instructions appended. The whole document embraced two hundred and
sixty pages of printed matter. The report is minute and exhaustive
in its treatment of the subject in hand, although somewhat
discursive and speculative in many parts. It is, nevertheless, in
the light of to-day, both interesting and instructive. It presents
a vivid picture, and not a very flattering one, of the condition of
education in the United States and in Europe. Its discussions of
special subjects--such as female education, classical studies, the
management of colleges and universities, etc., etc.--are fair and
enlightened, and, on the whole, intelligent and practical in their
character.
It is clear that the Legislative Council of the day did not
sympathize with Dr. Duncombe and his colleagues in their zeal for
popular education.
The bill which he had so carefully prepared, although adopted by the
House of Assembly by a vote of 35 to 10, early in 1836 failed to
receive the sanction of the Council. His proposition to increase the
common school grant from $22,600 to $80,000 per annum was considered
too great a step in advance, and was not therefore pressed to a
vote in the House of Assembly. He, however, got two influential
committees appointed to deal with the questions of public education
and school lands. These committees were subsequently united and
enlarged. They did good service and kept public interest awakened as
to the value of the important subjects entrusted to them.
ANALYSIS OF DR. DUNCOMBE'S REPORT ON EDUCATION, 1836.
The report, be it remembered, speaks of events and educational facts
of more than fifty years ago. They are of special interest to us
of to-day, since they form the background, so to speak, of our own
educational history and progress. I shall make a few extracts from
the report:--Dr. Duncombe says:--
"The first principles of the system recommended in this report
with regard to common schools, schools for the education of
the poorer classes, and for the education of teachers (or the
normal schools) made their appearance almost simultaneously in
Great Britain and on the Continent, as appears by the voluminous
reports of Lord Brougham ... and by Mr. Dick's very able and
splendid report upon the common schools ... of Scotland, and by
M. Cousin's reports of the schools in Prussia and Germany, and
Bulver's observations upon education as a prevention of crime
in France.... The glimmering of this beacon light was soon seen
across the ocean, and lighted up a similar flame in the United
Slates. Commissioner after commissioner was sent to Scotland and
to England by the authority of their State Legislatures to light
their lamps at the fountain of science, that the whole continent
of America might be ignited by the flame."
Dr. Duncombe's observations in regard to the state of education in
the United States are interesting, as by contrast they illustrate
the remarkable progress made in that country during the last half
century in the matter of public education. He says:--
"In the United States, where they devote much time and expense
towards the promotion of literature, they are equally destitute
of a system of national education with ourselves: and although
by their greater exertion to import the improvements made in
Great Britain and on the Continent, and their numerous attempts
at systematizing these modern modes of education ... they have
placed themselves in advance of us in their common school
system. Yet, after all, their schools seemed to me to be good
schools on bad or imperfect systems; they seem groping in
the dark, no instruction in the past to guide the future, no
beacon light, no council of wise men to guide them, more than
we have, upon the subject of common schools. Our schools want
in character, they want respectability, they want permanency
in their character and in their support.... It should be so
arranged that all the inhabitants should contribute something
towards the [maintainance of the school fund], and all those who
are benefited directly by it should pay, in proportion to such
benefit, a small sum, but quite enough to interest them in the
prudent expenditure of their share of the school moneys."
The objection to a liberal education being too freely given for the
benefit of the learned professions seems to have been urged even in
these days. Dr. Duncombe answers it in the following language:--
"It has been supposed that there are too many in the learned
professions already, and that, therefore, there are too many who
obtain a liberal education. But this opinion is founded upon two
errors: One is, that every liberally educated man must be above
manual labor, and must, therefore, enter one of the learned
professions; and the other is, that all who do enter these
professions do it, and have a right to do it, from personal and
family interests, and not for the public good--whereas a liberal
education ought not to unfit a man, whether in his physical
constitution or his feelings, for active business in any honest
employment; and neither ought men who enter any of the learned
professions to excuse themselves from labor and privation for
the good of the world. There is a great and pernicious error on
this subject."
The question of free education is thus discussed by Dr. Duncombe:--
"Nothing is more important in the formation of an enterprising
character than to let the youth early learn his own powers;
and in order to this, he must be put upon his own recourses,
and must understand, if he is ever [to be] anything, he must
make himself, and that he has within himself all the means
for his own advancement. It is not desirable, therefore, that
institutions should be so richly endowed as to furnish the
means of education free of expense to those who are of an age
to help themselves; nor is it desirable that any man, or any
society of men, should furnish an entirely gratuitous education
to the youth of the Province. All the necessary advantages for
educating himself ought to be put within the reach of the young
man, and if, with these advantages, he cannot do much towards it
he is not worthy of an education."
After discussing several other topics in his report, Dr. Duncombe
made a striking forecast of the educational future of Upper Canada.
He said:--
"Was there ever a more auspicious period than the present for
literary reform? If I rightly understand the signs of the
times, we stand upon the threshold of a new dispensation in
the science of education, and especially in the history of
common schools, colleges and universities in this Province. The
flattering prospects of our being permitted legally to dispose
of the school lands of this Province, so long dormant--the
sale and appropriation of the clergy reserves for the purposes
of education, and, above all by our having control of the
other natural resources of the Province, we shall be enabled
to provide respectably and permanently for the support of
literary institutions _in every part of the Province_, while
by remodelling the charter of King's College, so as to adapt
the institution to the present state of science of education,
and the wishes and wants of the people of this Province....
With such charming prospects before us, with what alacrity
and delight can we approach the subject of education to make
liberal, permanent and efficient provision for the education of
all the youth of Upper Canada, to cause 'the blind to see, the
deaf to hear and the dumb to speak,' and, above all, to make
certain and extensive provision for the support of schools for
teachers and tutoresses."...
It is sad to think that to the writer of these cheering, hopeful
words, the future so vividly pictured by him became suddenly
darkened, and the pleasant hopes in which he then indulged were
never realized by him, or by many of those who, more than half a
century ago, were like him so active in promoting the great cause of
popular and collegiate education in this Province. Within one year
Dr. Duncombe was a "proscribed rebel," as were many others who with
him saw as in a vision the future which, he then pictured for Upper
Canada.
SUMMARY OF, AND REFLECTIONS ON, THESE EDUCATIONAL EFFORTS, FROM 1830
TO 1839.
During the next session of the Legislature, in the winter of
1836, Mr. Burwell sought to give effect to Dr. Duncombe's liberal
resolution of the preceding session, viz., to provide, out of the
public in revenue, a grant of $80,000 a year for support of the
common schools. He proposed two resolutions: one was to the effect
that $40,000 a year be granted out of the public revenue for the
support of these schools; the other was as follows:--
"That the sum of ten thousand pounds ($40,000), be raised
annually by assessment, by order of the Quarter Sessions in the
several districts on the ratable property of the inhabitants, in
aid of the Provincial grant for the common school fund, in the
same manner as other assessments are now made."
When the matter came before the House of Assembly in February, 1837,
the committee of supply reported a grant of only $22,400 for the
year. The assessment proposition was not adopted, as the question of
local taxation for school purposes though often before it had not
yet been practically entertained by the Legislature.
Next year, however, another effort was made to provide somewhat
liberally for the common schools. But as the Bill as passed by the
House of Assembly, embodied in it the principle of local taxation
for schools for the first time, it was not concurred in by the
Legislative Council. That body proposed a conference to explain the
reason, and appointed the Honorable Messrs. Allan and Hamilton as
its conferees. The House of Assembly nominated Messrs. Boulton,
Cartwright, Thompson and Rykert as its representatives at the
conference.
The Legislative Council stated that:--
"It could not pass the Bill, because it proposes to levy an
assessment at the discretion of the Justice of the Peace, to
the extent of 1-1/2d. [3 cents] in the £ [$4] to support Common
Schools; and as acts have lately passed imposing rates on the
inhabitants of several of the districts, for the purpose of
defraying the expense of building jails and court-houses and for
the construction of macadamized roads, the Council fear that
the proposed assessment for common school education might be
burthensome," etc.
Thus, because jails, court-houses and roads were considered more
necessary and important than schools, the last Act for the promotion
of education ever passed by the Upper Canada House of Assembly was
rejected by the Legislative Council! Such was the untoward state of
affairs when the Legislative Union of Upper and Lower Canada took
place in 1840.
EXTRACTS FROM OFFICIAL REPORTS ON EDUCATION IN UPPER CANADA IN 1838.
I shall now give a few extracts from official returns illustrative
of the state of education in the Province in 1838 and 1839, while
these efforts of improvements were being made. They also show how
entirely practical were the views of those who took an active part
in educational affairs of the time, how keenly alive they were to
the educational deficiencies of those days.
Other extracts from official reports and proceedings of the House
of Assembly might be given to illustrate this part of the subject,
but they would make this retrospect too long. They are all of a most
interesting and instructive character, and well deserve publication
in a connected form. They throw a vivid light upon the educational
chaos which existed at the time. They also show how enlightened
comparatively, as well as how darkened also, were the views of
those who took part on both sides in the educational debates and
proceedings of those years--especially during 1830,--1836, 1838 and
1839. What were then problematical theories and merely tentative
schemes, are to-day educational truisms and successful fields of
operation.
The growth of the schools under the fitful system which prevailed
in Upper Canada from 1816 to 1842 was painfully slow. The number
of what was called "schools" was small, and the quality of them,
with rare exceptions, was exceedingly inferior. Anything beyond the
three R's was generally taught by itinerants. Dr. Ryerson mentions
in an autobiographical letter, as an example, that his knowledge
of English grammar was derived entirely from the "lectures" of a
peripatetic teacher of that subject. He also mentions several of
his after contemporaries who acquired a knowledge of grammar and
other special subjects in the same way. No one, as he said to me,
ever heard in these days of the possibility of a "royal road to
learning." It was hard work, of the hardest kind, and few ever
dreamt of reaching a higher eminence than that of mastering the
first two R's--Reading and 'Riting. Arithmetic was approached with
caution, and its higher "developments" with consternation. How could
such a state of things be otherwise when "transient persons" and
"common idlers" were with rare exceptions, the kind of "teachers"
employed. Education had no money value then, except in so far as
it receded from a rate of payment to that of a day laborer or a
pensioner.
The following are the extracts from the official reports:--
INFLUENCES BY AMERICAN TEACHERS AND SCHOOL BOOKS DEPRECATED.
_Schools in the Home District--No United States books
permitted._--The schoolmasters, with the exception of two Americans
who have been long in the Province, are all British subjects--that
they have all taken the oath of allegiance--that during the last
year the salary allowed was £10 (ten pounds each), and no books from
the United States are permitted to be used in the schools.--_John
Strachan, Wm. Allan, Toronto, 8th March, 1839._
_Schools in the Eastern District--Transitory Teachers._--Were
the allowance to be increased teachers would come forward better
prepared and be induced to remain. Many at present seem to continue
for a few months, as a matter of convenience, and to assist
themselves in following other occupations, which greatly retards
the improvement of the children.--_Joseph Aderson, D. McDonell,
Cornwall, 9th May, 1839._
_Schools in the Western District: Their State and Suggestions for
Improvement._--The situation of the school houses is not always
judiciously chosen, it being situated often more for the convenience
of some one influential person than for that of the inhabitants
generally of the settlement.
The school-house is often a wretched log hut, or a ruinous building
altogether unfit for the purpose--especially in the winter season.
In too many cases the teachers are badly qualified for the task
which they undertake; and some of them having taken up the
profession more from necessity than choice are seldom permanent, and
consequently very ineffectual teachers.
The remuneration which the teachers of common schools receive for
their services are by no means sufficient to induce respectable and
well qualified teachers to undertake the irksome and laborious task.
_Hints for the Improvement of the Schools of the Province
(condensed)._--1. The school should be erected in a dry and healthy
situation if possible, and situated so as to suit the majority of
the inhabitants of the settlement in which it is erected. It should
be a neat and commodious building, sufficiently large to render it
airy and healthy in the summer season and well finished inside and
out to cause it to be comfortable in the winter.
2. A comfortable dwelling should be erected for the accommodation of
the teacher and his family.
3. Teachers throughout the Province might be divided into three
classes, allowance from Government to be not less than £100, £75 and
£50 respectively.
4. Every teacher, previous to receiving any appointment, should be
examined as to his literary acquirements, his political opinions and
his moral character.
5. A uniform set of elementary books should be compiled and
published for the use of the common schools of the Province, and
those republican productions that tend to poison the minds of the
youth of the country should be driven out of the Province.
6. A discreet and competent person should be appointed by his
Excellency the Lieutenant-Governor to visit the schools in each
district eight, or at least four, times in the year to examine the
scholars and the internal economy of the schools and to report
thereon--_W. Johnson, Sandwich, 21st February, 1839._
_Schools in the London District--"Boarding Round"--American
Books._--The Board of Education cannot abstain from remarking upon
a system commonly practiced by teachers and generally encouraged by
the employers in the country, of receiving the teachers as members
or lodgers with each family who are subscribers to the school in
succession for the period of engagement, which in its influence
and consequence has not hitherto been productive of good; and more
especially in cases where the teachers have been Americans, a system
than which none can be more mischievous in its effects, added to
which the circumstance, as will be seen by reference to the books
used in the schools, that a portion of American books, particularly
geographies, have been permitted to be used (notwithstanding the
Board have the power to order the discontinuance of such) because
others could not be procured in the country, nor has any provision
been made by the legislature for the formation of depots where
proper books could be had.--_John B. Askin, London, 12th February,
1838._
Names of text-books used in the common schools of Upper Canada in
1838, viz.:--
Old and New Testaments.
_Readers_--English, Murray's, Canadian and Reading Made Easy.
_Spelling Books_--Mavor's, Cobb's, Webster's, Graham's,
Universal.
_Grammars_--Murray's, Lennie's, Kirkham's, McCulloch's.
_Arithmetics_--Walkingame's, Gray's, Dillworth's, Daboll's,
Watson's, Pike's, Adams', Morrison's, Hutton's, Rogers',
Bailey's, Hall's, Joyce's, Keith's, Allison's, Bonnycastle's.
_Geographies_--Goldsmith's, Hutton's, Olney's, Woodbridge's,
Willett's, Evans', Stewart's, Parley's, Elvey's.
_History_--English, Goldsmith's, Tytler's, Hume's, Simpson's.
_Geometry and Euclid_--Ingram's, Hutton's.
_Dictionaries_--Walker's, Cobb's, Walker Johnson's.
_Miscellaneous_--Dillworth's Teachers' Assistant, Burham's
Primer, Mason's Primer, Child's A, B, C, Scott's Lessons,
Morrison's Book-keeping, Blake's Natural Philosophy, Blair's
Rhetoric.
Number of schools in Upper Canada in 1838 (estimated), 835.
Number of pupils in attendance, " 23,776.
EXTRACTS FROM THE REPORT OF A COMMISSION APPOINTED TO ENQUIRE INTO
THE SUBJECT OF EDUCATION IN UPPER CANADA IN 1839.
The Commissioners appointed to conduct this enquiry were the Rev.
Dr. McCaul, Rev. H. J. Grasett and S. B. Harrison, Esq. James
Hopkirk, Esq., was appointed Secretary. The following are the
extracts:
_Preliminary Educational History._--In 1797 both Houses of the
Legislature petitioned the King for an appropriation of waste lands
of the Crown to form a fund for the support of a Grammar School in
each district and a College or University for instruction in the
different branches of a liberal education. In 1807 an Act, limited
to four years, was passed granting £800 for the support of eight
district Grammar Schools. In 1808 the limiting clause (to four
years) was repealed. In 1816 an Act establishing common schools
was passed and £6,000 were granted for their support. In 1819
an amending Act was passed requiring annual examinations in the
schools; that reports to the district Board of Education should be
made each year; that "ten children of the poorer inhabitants," to
be selected by ballot, should receive free tuition in each Grammar
School, and that trustees should give certificates to teachers. In
1820 the grant to common schools was reduced from £6,000 to £2,500
per annum. In 1824 £150 per annum was granted for the supply of
common schools, with books, tracts, etc., and that teachers must be
examined and licensed by the District Board of Education, one member
of which might certify as to the ability of the teacher before the
payment to him of the public grant. In 1833, the annual grant to
common schools was increased from £2,500 to £5,650. No grants to a
teacher is to be made "unless the trustees shall make it appear that
they have made provision for his support so as to secure him for his
services in a sum at least equal to double the amount which may be
allotted by the Board of Education from the public money." No school
legislation took place during the years from 1833 to 1841.
_District Grammar Schools._--The Commissioners made several
recommendations for the improvement of the schools, viz:--1.
Uniformity in the system applicable to all the schools. 2.
Examination of teacher, so as to test his qualification for the
office of teaching. 3. Assistant in each school where there are 30
pupils. 4. School-house built on a uniform plan. 5. Admission of a
certain number of free pupils. 6. Quarterly reports from each school
and systematic inspection of them.
_Common Schools._--The Commissioners also made recommendation for
the improvement of these schools, viz.:--1. That there should be
a model school with two rooms in each township, and at least two
acres of land attached thereto for the use of the master. 2. In
each of these schools there should be a male and female teacher
(married desirable), and, in addition, other "teachers licensed to
itinerate through the township, beyond the sphere of the permanent
school," say at places "more than two miles distant from it." "Thus
provision is made for one permanent and four occasional schools in
each township." 3. Fees to be $2 per quarter, while one pupil in
five might be admitted free. 4. The subjects of the instruction
should be: Spelling, reading, writing, the Holy Scriptures,
geography, history, arithmetic, book-keeping, mensuration, and in
girl's school sewing and knitting. 5. Books should be provided
at a cheaper rate from Britain, or a series of compilations, or
republications should be prepared and printed here, and that they
should be appointed to be used in all the schools of the Province.
6. The general control of the schools should be vested in a Board of
Commissioners, with a secretary at Toronto. One of the Board should
be chairman and inspector general of the schools--having control
over the Grammar and Common Schools, and should be the medium of
communication between the District Boards and the Council of King's
College. 7. There should be elected township director of schools.
The Commissioners add:--
_Normal School._--"No plan of education can be efficiently carried
out without the establishment of schools for the training of
teachers." They, therefore, recommended that the Central School of
Toronto should be a Normal School--others to be added afterwards.
_Grants._--The Commissioners recommend that £21,410 be granted for
District Grammar Schools--£12,000 from the sale of Grammar School
lands, and £24,300 for Common Schools--£15,000 of the latter to be
raised by taxation at the rate of 3/4d. in the £.
EDUCATIONAL OPINIONS OF PROMINENT PUBLIC MEN IN 1839.
_Hon. G. S. Boulton._--In his replies to the Commissioners, he
said:--Teachers should be British subjects and should be examined by
the Board of Education and approved previous to appointment. Each
teacher should receive at least $20 per annum, exclusive of fees
from pupils.... I recommend the passage of an Act appropriating
500,000 acres of land for the support of Common Schools, as proposed
in the last session of the Legislature by a joint committee of both
Houses."
_Hon. Wm. Morris,_ in his reply to the Commissioners, said:--The
hundreds of the youth of the country who, for want of convenient
institutions of learning, have been sent to and educated in the
neighboring Republic, where, if they have not imbibed a predilection
for that form of government, have been greatly exposed to the
danger of losing that attachment to monarchical government, and the
principles of the British Constitution, which is the essential duty
of those who administer the affairs of this colony to cherish in the
minds of the rising generation.
_Hon. James Crooks._--The system of Common Schools, although in
some instances abused by the employment of improper persons,
indeed sometimes aliens, as teachers, yet, on the whole, I think
highly beneficial; perhaps were the system of parochial schools,
as established in Scotland, with such modification as would be
necessary under the different circumstances of this Province,
engrafted upon the Common School system, it might be found to work
well.
_Hon. P. B. De Blacquiere._--The present condition of teachers is
truly wretched, and reflects great disgrace upon the nation, and
what but the actual results can or could be expected? I think a
difficulty will arise as to finding inspectors properly qualified,
or who, in the present state of the country, can be trusted....
_Rev. Robert McGill._--I know the qualifications of nearly all
the Common School teachers in this (Niagara) District, and do not
hesitate to say, that there is not more than one in ten fully
qualified to instruct the young in this the humblest department. I
should doubt, therefore, whether the money granted to them being an
equivalent good, or whether the state of education in this Province
would be worse were those funds entirely withdrawn.
_Rev. Robert Murray._[37]--The great difficulty attending any change
in the present wretched system of education in the Province is to
ensure the efficiency of that scheme which may be adopted in its
room. To leave the supervision in the hands of the electors in
each district, or to a few individuals appointed by them, probably
themselves without education, would certainly tend to perpetuate the
system of gross oppression to which teachers have been subjected,
and to disappoint the reasonable expectations of the Government....
It appears absolutely necessary to ensure the efficiency of a system
(as suggested) that men of education, who themselves have had
large experience in the education of youth should be appointed to
superintend the whole system of operation....
[37] First Superintendent of Education for Upper Canada, and the
immediate predecessor of Rev. Dr. Ryerson.
_Malhon Burwell, Esq._--I cannot conceive anything more wanting in
efficiency than our present system for Common School education. I
annex for the notice of the Commission of Investigation a copy of
a Common School bill, which I have several times endeavored to get
passed through the House of Assembly.
(NOTE.--See Bishop Strachan's estimate of this bill in next extract.)
_Right Rev. Bishop Strachan._--The Common School Bill, drawn up
by Mr. Burwell, appears to be an able performance; it has several
times been entertained by the House of Assembly, and once passed
that body, but was unfortunately lost in the Legislative Council.
It is based on true principles, and contains within it the power of
expansion as new townships, counties and districts are organized. It
may, perhaps, admit of a few modifications, but is, on the whole, by
far the best measure for the establishment of common schools which I
have seen.
SEPARATE EDUCATIONAL FORCES SHAPING THEMSELVES IN UPPER CANADA.
I will now take up the thread of the historical narrative of
education in Upper Canada from page -- of this Retrospect.
During the early settlement period, and that preceding the union
of Upper and Lower Canada in 1840, two social forces (which took
an educational form later on), were slowly shaping themselves into
an antagonism to each other which culminated in the events or
political crisis of 1837-38. This was apparent from the position
which the representatives of these forces assumed on the religious,
political and other questions of the day. As yet the question of an
educational system for the Province--beyond that of a University and
district Grammar Schools--had, down to 1836, taken no definite shape
in the public mind. Indeed, such a thing, as we now regard it, was
not deemed practical, except by a few leading men, as I have shown,
who were years in advance of their times.
NOTED REPRESENTATIVE EDUCATIONAL LEADERS--DR. STRACHAN AND DR.
RYERSON.
It will simplify my statement of the case if I revert back to the
transition period between the establishment of the district Grammar
Schools in 1809 and the university charter of 1827; and from thence
take a somewhat prospective view of events in the order in which
they afterwards transpired. For convenience I would, therefore,
select two noted men of their times as representatives of the two
social forces to which I have referred, and of the opposite opinions
on education and other subjects which then prevailed.
The first was the Rev. Dr. Strachan (afterwards first Church of
England Bishop of Toronto), and the other was the Rev. Dr. Ryerson,
the representative and trusted leader of the members of the
Methodist Church in the Province.
Dr. Strachan was the undoubted representative of the English and
particularly the Scotch views on educational matters. Dr. Ryerson,
on the other hand, was the equally true and faithful exponent of the
British Colonial, or United Empire Loyalist, views and opinions on
the same subject. What these latter views and opinions were may be
gathered from a reference to the educational chapter in the colonial
history of the thirteen colonies, as given in an earlier portion of
this Retrospect.
THE EDUCATIONAL EFFORTS OF THE U. E. LOYALISTS AND THE RULING PARTY.
The first settlers of Upper Canada were "exiled tories," so called,
from the revolted colonies. In that, and in the other Provinces,
they were warmly received and welcomed as the heroic defenders of
the royal cause. They sacrificed everything but their principles and
their honor in maintaining "the unity of the Empire." Even after
the struggle was ended, they adhered to the "lost cause" with the
same devotion as they had shown in following the royal standard,
not only to victory, but even to disaster and defeat. They were
men of wonderful resolution and daring, as well as of superior
intelligence. Such were the first settlers of Upper Canada.
Soon after the arrival of the "U. E. Loyalists" in Upper Canada, a
tide of emigration set in, chiefly from the three kingdoms. These
immigrants brought with them the feelings and habits of home life
in the old world, with the opinions and prejudices of their class,
illustrating the truth of the old Latin quotation, "_Cælum, non
animum, mutant qui trans mare currunt_."
By degrees portions of the U. E. Loyalists and of these immigrants,
whose views on "Church and State" coincided, united their forces and
formed a powerful and dominant party. They ruled the Province with
a high hand for many years. From their social position and frequent
intermarriage they became a compact and exclusive party, and were
distinguished by the _sobriquet_ of the "Family Compact." Against
this powerful party was arrayed many of the U. E. Loyalists and
their descendants, and the entire liberal and progressive party.
It is sufficient to say in this connection that under the skillful
leadership of Dr. Ryerson and other prominent men of moderate views
who acted with him, the power of the Family Compact was broken, the
compact itself was gradually dissolved. Its opponents became in turn
the ruling party in this Province, a position which their legitimate
successors still occupy.
The Family Compact party, in the heyday of their power and
influence, were not averse to education. Far from it; for they were
men of education themselves. But it took the form of zeal for higher
education and for the higher classes. Rev. Dr. Strachan, who was the
most energetic and powerful leader of this party, occupied a seat
in the Legislative Council (Senate) by appointment of the Governor.
He devoted all his energies to the establishment of a university,
with district classical schools as feeders. He practically ignored
elementary schools, or rather made no provision for them; and it was
not until nine years after these district classical schools were
established that the U. E. Loyalists, (combined with the progressive
party of which it formed no inconsiderable portion), were able to
get a measure passed by the Legislature for the establishment and
maintenance of common schools.[38]
[38] See remarks on this anachronism on page 64.
AN EDUCATIONAL GLANCE BACKWARDS.
But in order to understand more fully the sequence of events which
led to the development of the educational spirit in this Province,
it will be necessary to give a condensed summary of the facts. With
this historical background in prospective view, the distinguishing
features of that comprehensive system of education which, in later
years, Dr. Ryerson was privileged to found, can be more clearly seen.
The U. E. Loyalists removed to British America in 1783, the year
of their exile. Most of them settled in Upper Canada, along the
north shore of the Upper St. Lawrence, and the corresponding margin
of Lakes Ontario and Erie. They brought with them from the old
colonies their educational traditions and their devotion to the
flag of the Empire. Those of them who had settled along the Bay of
Quinté, united in 1789, in framing a memorial to Governor-General
Lord Dorchester (Sir Guy Carleton), in which lamenting the
educational privations which they had endured since their settlement
in Canada, they prayed the Governor to establish a "seminary of
learning" at Frontenac (Kingston). Their prayer was granted, so
far as the setting apart of lands for the support of the seminary
was concerned, as well as the support of schools wherever the
expatriated colonials had settled, or might settle, in the country.
Immediately after the passing of the Constitutional or Quebec Act,
of 1791, by which, among other things, Upper Canada was separated
from Quebec, the Governor of the new Province (J. Graves Simcoe),
sought the co-operation of the Church of England Bishop (Mountain),
of Quebec, who had ecclesiastical jurisdiction over both Provinces,
in urging upon the Home Government the necessity of providing for
a University and for classical schools in Upper Canada. Provision
for elementary schools formed no part of this scheme. The British
Colonial idea of providing for such schools never crossed the
minds of the leaders of public opinion in these days nor that of
the bishop. They were chiefly Englishmen, with the old-fashioned
English ideas of those times, that the education of the masses was
unnecessary, for it would tend to revolution and the upsetting of
the established order of things.
In April, 1795, Governor Simcoe addressed a letter to the Protestant
Episcopal Bishop of Quebec--then having jurisdiction in Upper
Canada--urging him to seek to promote the establishment of a
"Protestant Episcopal University" in Upper Canada. The reasons which
he gave for this appeal were characteristic of the English Churchmen
and of the times, and reveal somewhat of the social and religious
state of the colony. They showed, too, that he was a statesman as
well as a Churchman. He said:
The people of this Province enjoy the forms as well as the
privileges of the British constitution. They have the means
of governing themselves; and, having nothing to ask, must
ever remain a part of the British Empire, provided they shall
become sufficiently capable and enlightened to understand
their relative situation and to manage their own power to the
public interest. Liberal education seems to me, therefore, to
be indispensably necessary; and the completion of it by the
establishment of a university in the capital of the country, * *
* would be most useful to inculcate just principles, habits, and
manners into the rising generation; to coalesce the different
customs of the various descriptions of settlers * * * into one
form. In short, from distinct parts and ancient prejudices to
new-form, as it were, and establish one nation, and thereby
strengthen the union with Great Britain and preserve a lasting
obedience to His Majesty's authority.
* * * * *
I naturally should wish that the clergy requisite for offices
in the university, in the first instance, should be Englishmen,
if possible. * * * I most earnestly hope that * * * by giving
the means of proper education in this Province, both in its
rudiments and in its completion, that from ourselves we may
raise up a loyal, and in due progress, a learned clergy, which
will speedily tend to unite not only the Puritans within the
Province, but the clergy of the Episcopal Church, however
dispersed * * * and on all sides, to bring within the pale [of
the Episcopal Church] in Upper Canada a very great body of
sectaries, who in my judgment, as it were, offer themselves to
its protection and re-union.
These objects would be materially promoted by a university in
Upper Canada, which might, in due progress, acquire such a
character as to become the place of education to many persons
beyond the extent of the King's dominions. * * * The Episcopal
clergy in Great Britain, from pious motives as well as policy,
are materially interested that the Church should increase in
this Province. I will venture to prophesy its preservation
depends upon a university being erected therein. * * * I have
not the smallest hesitation in saying that I believe if a
Protestant Episcopal university should be proposed to be erected
(even in the United States) the British nation would liberally
subscribe to the undertaking. * * * The universities of England,
I make no doubt, would contribute to the planting of a scion
from their respectable stock in this distant colony.
There are two or three things worth noticing in this vigorous letter
of the Governor:--
(1) Among the objects sought to be attained by the establishment
of a university was the conservation of "the privileges of the
British Constitution"; (2) the fusing of the various nationalities
represented in the colony; (3) the absorption of "Puritans" and
"sectaries" into the Episcopal Church; (4) the growth and spread of
loyalty to the King's authority.
Two things also are noticeable: First, the Governor did not ignore,
or underestimate, the necessity of popular education, or "education
in the rudiments;" second, he gives no hint of a desire to
appropriate the public domain to the building up of an "Episcopal
university." On the other hand, he assumes that, if done at all, it
is to be aided by contributions from England. I call attention to
these two points, from the fact that they were quite lost sight of
by those who afterwards took up the cause of university education in
Upper Canada where he had left it.
PROVISION FOR HIGHER EDUCATION IN U. C. BY THE IMPERIAL GOVERNMENT.
Governor Simcoe, having received a higher appointment in the
colonial service, left soon after. The Bishop of Quebec, however,
acted upon his suggestion and wrote to the Colonial Minister on the
subject, in June, 1796. In November, 1797, the Legislature of Upper
Canada addressed a memorial to King George III, asking:
"That His Majesty would be graciously pleased to direct his
Government in this Province to appropriate a certain portion of
the waste lands of the Crown as a fund for the establishment
and support of a respectable grammar school in each district
thereof, and also of a college, or university, for the
instruction of the youth in the different branches of liberal
knowledge."
To this memorial the King directed a gracious answer to be sent. The
duke of Portland, Colonial Minister, therefore instructed the acting
Governor, President Russell, to give practical effect to the prayer
of the petitioners. In doing so he used the following language:
[His Majesty] being always ready ... to assist and encourage the
exertions of his Province in laying the foundation for promoting
sound learning and a religious education, has condescended
to express his [desire] to comply with the wishes of the
Legislature ... in such a manner as shall be judged to be most
effectual--
_First_, by the establishment of free grammar [classical]
schools in those districts in which they are called for, and--
_Secondly_, in due process of time, by establishing other
seminaries of a larger and more comprehensive nature, for the
promotion of religious and moral learning, and the study of the
arts and sciences.
Such were the terms in which the King, through his Colonial Minister,
intimated his desire that classical and university learning should be
promoted in this Province. The very comprehensiveness and express
terms of the duke of Portland's dispatch on this subject gave rise
to a protracted controversy in after years, especially as the
controverted expressions were embodied in substance in the royal
charter for a university obtained in 1827 by Rev. Dr. Strachan
(afterwards first Church of England Bishop of Toronto). Around the
expressions--"religious education," "religious and moral learning,"
and "other seminaries of a larger and more comprehensive nature,"
etc., a fierce war was waged for many years, which, though virtually
over now, has yet left traces of the bitter conflict.
The result of the instructions to President Russell was, that
549,217 acres of crown lands was set apart for the twofold purpose
set forth in the Colonial Minister's dispatch. Of these acres,
225,944 were, in 1827, devoted to the university that was virtually
established, on paper, in that year, and by royal charter in 1828.
As these lands thus set apart were, in those early days,
unproductive of revenue, nothing could be done to give practical
effect to the gracious act of the King. A principal for the proposed
university was, however, selected in Scotland. The position was
first offered to the afterwards justly celebrated Rev. Dr. Thomas
Chalmers, but declined. It was then offered to a successful parish
schoolmaster, Mr. (afterwards so distinguished in this Province as
the Rev. Dr.) Strachan.
THE REVEREND DOCTOR STRACHAN AS AN EDUCATOR.
Rev. Dr. (afterwards Bishop) Strachan, though not a versatile man,
was in many respects a many-sided one. In his day he had to do with
all of one great public questions which came before the country.
On many of them (and in their settlement), he has left the impress
of his active mind and persistent will. This was particularly the
case in regard to those questions which more deeply touched the best
interests of Canadian life, in its religious and social aspects. And
it was a singular yet characteristic fact, that the more he was
opposed by those who differed _in toto_ from the policy of his acts,
the more strenuously he persevered in his purpose--even against the
wiser counsels and calmer judgment of many leading public men of his
time. But this opens up a question which it is not my purpose to
discuss.
Dr. Strachan, as I have said,--although not versatile,--was a
many-sided man. And this was quite true in regard to that department
of his career which I desire to illustrate. He was both an educator
and an educationist. In the former capacity he was successively the
parish schoolmaster, near St. Andrew's, and at Kettle, (Scotland).
He had there as a pupil the afterwards celebrated Sir David Wilkie.
In Canada, he was first a tutor in the family of the Hon. Richard
Cartwright, at Kingston; then master of the Cornwall Grammar School,
at which most of the distinguished public men of the Bishop's later
years were educated. Subsequently he was Chairman of the Provincial
Board of Education at York. He was named by the late Hon. Peter
McGill as first Principal of McGill College, Montreal--although he
never was in a position to undertake its duties. He was afterwards
President of King's College, Toronto, and subsequently President of
Trinity College University.
In his capacity as an educator, Dr. Strachan was considered one of
the most successful teachers which this Province has yet produced.
His aim was to call into active play the varied mental powers of
his pupils, and to stimulate any desire which they had to excel in
knowledge and virtue. One of his earliest _brochures_ is _a Letter
to his Pupils_, and is in the nature of an appeal on behalf of the
Christian religion. This, he inscribed, "as a mark of esteem to
Mr. Andrew Stuart and Mr. James Cartwright, students-at-law." This
letter was printed at Montreal, in 1807, in the quaint old type of
the time. It is evidently a warning appeal against the infidelity
and excesses of the French revolutionists.
Dr. Strachan's early and practical experience as a teacher gave to
him an additional and keen sense of the educational wants of the
country. His success as an educator proved to him what could be
done in that direction. It also enlisted his feelings and fired his
ambition to be the founder of an institution of superior learning,
in which the young men of the Province could be thoroughly educated.
The education of the masses was not provided for by him, but in
an Act passed in 1819 and relating to classical schools (which he
promoted), it was agreed--
That in order to extend the benefits of a liberal education
to promising children of the poorer inhabitants, trustees [of
common schools wherever established] shall have the power of
sending scholars, not exceeding ten in number, to be chosen by
lot every four years, to be taught gratis at the [classical]
schools.
Thus, in this exceptional manner, provision was made so that, should
a limited number of the children of the poorer inhabitants develop
ability or taste for learning, they should not be wholly excluded
from the privileges so liberally provided for children of the richer
classes. These class distinctions have, happily, forever disappeared
from our statute book. They were no doubt conceived in a benevolent
spirit, and were characteristic of the social ethics of the times,
but they were pernicious as a principle to embody in a school law.
In his "Appeal" in behalf of a university in Upper Canada, published
early in 1827, Dr. Strachan gave a fuller expression to this idea of
providing education only for the wealthier classes. He said:--
It is indeed quite evident that the consequences of a university
... possessing in itself sufficient recommendations to attract
to it the sons of the most opulent families, would soon
be visible in the greater intelligence and more confirmed
principles of loyalty of those who would be called to various
public duties required in the country--_i.e._, the governing
classes.
In justice to Dr. Strachan, it is proper to state that a few years
afterwards (in reply to a question put to him by a committee of
the House of Assembly) he laid down a broader, a nobler and a more
comprehensive principle in regard to a system of national education.
He said:--
The whole expense [of education] in a free country like
this should be defrayed by the public; that promising boys,
giving indication of high talent, though poor, might have an
opportunity of cultivating their faculties, and, if able and
virtuous, taking a lead in the community.
LACK OF COMPREHENSIVENESS IN THE EDUCATIONAL POLICY OF THE TIMES.
The policy of the country in regard to education in these early
times was further marked by a lack of comprehensiveness in its aims.
The framework of the educational system, then projected, was
constructed on a principle the very reverse of natural. And this
fact led to the existence, subsequently, and for many years, of
a singular anachronism as the result of its application of that
principle. Thus, in 1797, lands were set apart in Upper Canada by
the Crown for the establishment of district grammar schools and a
university. But no provision was thought of for the establishment of
elementary schools. These grammar schools were first established in
1807--eight in all, viz., at Sandwich, Townsend (London District),
Niagara, York, Cobourg, Kingston, Augusta (District of Johnstown),
and Cornwall. But no provision was made for elementary schools (and
then only for four years) until 1816--nine years after the district
grammar schools were established.
Dr. Strachan's feelings in this matter were evidently in harmony
with this spirit of the times, and he directed his efforts
exclusively to the establishment of these higher institutions of
learning. He never lost sight, however, of the crowning institution
of all--the university. His speeches and addresses on education all
pointed to "this consummation, devoutly to be wished."
Referring to this educational anomaly, or anachronism, of
establishing higher institutions of learning before providing for
elementary schools, an English resident in a book entitled "Three
Years in Canada," and published in 1839, thus forcibly points out
the singular want of foresight in this matter. He says:--
"The Provincial Board of Education either assumed that
elementary education in Upper Canada had attained its zenith
or deemed it better to begin at the apex and work downward to
the base of the structure they were called upon to rear than to
follow the old-fashioned custom of first laying the foundation
and then working upwards."
The fact was, and the chief reason for the perpetration of this
educational anachronism was, that the friends of popular education,
while all-powerful in the House of Assembly, were few and
consequently uninfluential in the Legislative Council. They were,
therefore, not able at all times to influence that body so as to
secure its assent to the elementary education bills passed by the
popular branch. We have seen that, in 1838, the Council refused to
concur in the Common School Bill passed in that year by the House of
Assembly. Before another School Act was introduced, both Houses had
ceased to exist in the Union of the two provinces in 1840.
REV. DR. STRACHAN'S REASONS FOR ESTABLISHING A UNIVERSITY IN UPPER
CANADA.
The reasons which Dr. Strachan gave for urging the early
establishment of a Provincial University were reasonable and
weighty in themselves, had the other necessary kind of school been
established and provided for. I shall give these reasons in Dr.
Strachan's own words. They are characteristic of the Bishop's own
feelings in regard to American institutions and their influence on
the young. He said:--
"There is not in either province any English seminary ... at
which a liberal education can be obtained. Thus the youth of
300,000 Englishmen have no opportunity of receiving instruction
within the Canadas in law, medicine or divinity.
"The consequence is that many young men ... are obliged to look
beyond the province for the last two or three years of their
education--undoubtedly the most important and critical period
of their whole lives ... The youth are, therefore, in some
degree, compelled to look towards the United States, where means
of education, though of a description far inferior to those of
Great Britain, are yet superior to anything within the province,
and a growing necessity is arising of sending them to finish
their education in that country."
Dr. Strachan then proceeds to point out in his own graphic language,
the peculiarly adverse influences to which loyal Canadians from
youth were then subjected while attending schools and universities
in the United States. He says:--
"Now, in the United States a custom prevails unknown to or
unpractised in any other nation; in all other countries morals
and religion are made the basis of public instruction, and
the first books put into the hands of children teach them
the domestic, the social and religious virtues; but in the
United States politics pervade the whole system of education;
the school books, from the very first elements, are stuffed
with praises of their own institutions, and breathe hatred to
everything English."
Dr. Ryerson came to the same conclusions as did Dr. Strachan in
regard to the character of American school books. Speaking on the
same subject, twenty years afterwards, he said:--
"With very few exceptions American school books abound in
statements and allusions prejudicial to the institutions and
character of the British nation."
Dr. Strachan still further refers to the anti-British influences of
education obtained by Canadian youth in the United States. He said:--
"To such a country our youth may go, strongly attached to their
native land ... but by hearing its institutions continually
depreciated, and those of the United States praised ... some may
become fascinated with that liberty which has degenerated into
licentiousness, and imbibe, perhaps unconsciously, sentiments
unfriendly to things of which Englishmen are proud."
Dr. Strachan then proceeded to point out the advantages of having
the youth of the province "carefully nurtured within the British
Dominions." He said:--
"The establishment of an university at the seat of Government
will complete a system of education in Upper Canada from the
letters of the alphabet to the most profound investigations of
science.... This establishment, by collecting all the promising
youth of the colony into one place, will gradually give a new
tone to public sentiment and feelings ... producing the most
beneficial effects through the whole province. It is, indeed,
quite evident that the consequences of an university ...
possessing in itself sufficient recommendations to attract to
it the sons of the most opulent families would soon be visible
in the greater intelligence and more confirmed principles of
loyalty of those who would be called to various public duties
required in the country."
From these wise and practical remarks, it will be seen how truly
Bishop Strachan estimated the great advantages to the youth of the
country of university training obtained within our borders. In
this view he was far-seeing enough. But yet his range of vision,
as to its beneficial effects, did not extend beyond "the sons of
the most opulent families"--which was another indication of the
prevailing feeling of the times, that higher education in the form
of university training was not thought of even for "the promising
children of the younger inhabitants." Happily our public men,
and the Bishop himself, outgrew this narrow feeling and social
prejudice. He even lived to see, and with great satisfaction as
to the results, that, under the fostering care of men of large
sympathies and more generous impulses, the doors of the educational
institutions of the country, from the highest to the lowest, were
thrown wide open to every boy, rich and poor, high and low, and
to all the youth of the province, without distinction of race, or
creed, or social rank.
Rev. Dr. Strachan succeeded in getting a Royal Charter for the
university in 1828. This charter virtually placed the proposed
university under the control of the Episcopal Church. When its terms
were known in Upper Canada it was fiercely assailed. The charter
was subsequently modified, in deference to public opinion; but it
was not until many years afterwards that the university was, by
statute, declared to be free from denominational control. Out of the
controversy which the Duke of Portland's despatch and the charter
caused, arose other colleges and universities, viz, Victoria and
Queen's.
REV. DR. STRACHAN, THE FOUNDER OF TWO UNIVERSITIES IN TORONTO.
In the Rev. Dr. Scadding's most interesting sketch of the "First
Bishop of Toronto,--a Review and a Study"--occurs the following
striking passage in regard to the founding of the "Twins of
Learning" in Toronto:--
The results of the life of the first Anglican Bishop of Toronto
are tangible realities.... He built the principal church edifice
appertaining to his own communion four times.... "Twins of Learning"
witness for him; he founded two universities in succession
(1842 and 1852), both invested with the character borne by such
institutions as originally instituted, by Royal charter--procured
in both instances by his own personal travail; the later of the two
by an individual and solitary effort, to which it is not easy to
find a parallel. He saw both of them in operation, investigating,
conserving and propagating truth, on somewhat different lines
indeed, but probably with co-ordinate utility, as things are. The
very park, with its widely renowned avenue, the Champs Elysées
of Toronto, in which the bourgeoisie of the place love to take
their pastime, are a provision of his--that property having been
specially selected by him, as President of King's College, with the
same judiciousness and the same careful prescience of the need of
amplitude for such purposes which guided him also in choosing the
fine site and grounds of Trinity College.
THE UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO.
This university was originally established under the charter
obtained by Rev. Dr. Strachan in 1828. But it only existed on paper
until 1842-43.
In April, 1842, the corner-stone of the new institution was laid
by Governor-General Sir Charles Bagot, (M.A. of Christ Church,
Oxford). In June, 1843, it was opened under the style and title of
the "University of King's College," Toronto, by the Right Rev. John
Strachan, D.D., LL. D., President of the University. In October
of that year, an effort was made by Hon. Attorney-General Baldwin
to introduce a comprehensive scheme of university reform, but it
was defeated in the Legislature. In 1845 and 1847 other abortive
attempts were made to "reform" the university; but in 1849 a
comprehensive measure was introduced into the Legislature and passed
into a law, by which it was reincorporated under the name of the
"University of Toronto," and made a purely provincial institution,
by placing it under the sole control of the Government, and of a
senate and officers appointed by the Government.
In 1853 another Act was passed, under which the University was
constituted with two corporations, "The University of Toronto," and
"University College," the functions of the former being limited to
the examination of candidates for degrees in the several faculties,
or for scholarships and honors, and the granting of such degrees,
etc.; those of the latter being confined to the teaching of subjects
in the Faculty of Arts.[39] By this Act certain institutions,
from which students might be examined, were affiliated with the
University.
[39] By recent legislation University College has been merged in the
University of Toronto.
In 1873 further amendments were made in the constitution of the
University. The Chancellor was made elective for a period of three
years by Convocation, which was then re-established. By this Act the
powers of the Senate were extended to all branches of knowledge,
literature, science and arts, and also to granting certificates
of proficiency to women; the power of affiliation was likewise
extended; the Senate was also empowered to provide for local
examinations.
Latterly, the faculties of law and medicine have been restored and
other extensions of the University course have been made.
THE UNIVERSITY OF VICTORIA COLLEGE, COBOURG.
The Rev. Dr. Ryerson, who was the founder of this University, thus
speaks of its early history, in an address to the students when he
was appointed its first principal in 1841. He said:--
His late Most Gracious Majesty William IV., of precious memory,
first invested this institution, in 1836, with a corporate
charter as the Upper Canada Academy--the first institution of the
kind established by Royal Charter unconnected with the Church
of England, throughout the British colonies. It is a cause of
renewed satisfaction and congratulation that, after five year's
operation as an academy, it has been incorporated as a university
and financially assisted by the unanimous vote of both branches of
the Provincial Legislature--sanctioned by more than an official
cordiality, in Her Majesty's name, by the late lamented Lord
Sydenham, Governor-General, one of whose last messages to the
Legislative Assembly was a recommendation to grant £500 as an aid to
the Victoria College.... We have buoyant hopes for our country when
our rulers and legislators direct their earliest and most liberal
attention to in literary institutions and educational interests. A
foundation for a common school system in this Province his been laid
by the Legislature, which I believe will, at no distant day, exceed
in efficiency any yet established on the American continent;[40]
and I have reason to believe that the attention of the Government
is earnestly directed to make permanent provision for the support
of colleges also, that they may be rendered efficient in their
operation and accessible to as large a number of the enterprising
youth of our country as possible.
[40] This memorable prophecy, made by Dr. Ryerson in 1841, was
abundantly verified in after years, chiefly as the result of his own
labors in maturing the school system, of which he was the founder.
This institution originated with the Wesleyan Methodists in 1828-30.
The conference in the latter year agreed to establish it as an
Academy, and the following year, Dr. Ryerson, in the _Christian
Guardian_ newspaper, of which he was then editor, issued a strong
appeal in behalf of the proposed institution on the 21st April,
1831. On the 7th June, 1832, the foundation stone of the Academy
was laid; and on the 18th June, 1836, it was formerly opened under
the designation of "Upper Canada Academy." In the previous year
Dr. Ryerson was deputed to go to England to collect subscriptions
on behalf of the institution. He was there enabled to obtain a
Royal Charter for the Academy and a grant of $16,400 from the Local
Legislature.
Amongst the last public acts performed by Lord Sydenham was the
giving of the Royal assent to a Bill for the erection of the Upper
Canada Academy into a College with University powers. This he did on
the 27th August, 1841. Dr. Ryerson thus refers to the event, in a
letter written from Kingston on that day:--
The establishment of such an institution by the members of the
Wesleyan Methodist Church in Canada attests their estimate of
education and science; and the passing of such an Act unanimously by
both Houses of the Legislature, and the Royal assent to it by His
Excellency in Her Majesty's name, is an ample refutation of recent
statements and proceedings of the Wesleyan Committee in London
... while the Act itself will advance the paramount interests of
literary education amongst Her Majesty's Canadian subjects.... For
the accomplishment of this purpose, a grant must be added to the
charter--a measure ... honorable to the enlightened liberality of
the Government and Legislature. When they are securely laying a
broad foundation for popular government, and devising comprehensive
schemes for the development of the latent resources of the country,
and the improvement of its internal communication, and proposing a
liberal system of common school education, free from the domination
of every church, and aiding colleges which may have been established
by any church, we may rationally and confidently anticipate the
arrival of a long-looked for era of civil government and civil
liberty, social harmony, and public prosperity.
The Academy was thus incorporated as a University, in August, 1841.
In October, 1841, Rev. Dr. Ryerson was appointed the first president
of the University, a position which he held until he was appointed
Chief Superintendent of Education for Upper Canada in 1844. He was
succeeded by the Rev. Dr. Macnab, now rector of Darlington. In 1850
the late accomplished president (Rev. S. S. Nelles, D.D., LL.D.) was
appointed. He had been a pupil under Dr. Ryerson, but finished his
university education at the Wesleyan University, Middletown, Conn.,
and graduated there. He received the degree of D.D. from the Queen's
University, Kingston, and that of LL.D. from his own university.
His career was an unusually long and prosperous one; and under his
administration the university has taken high rank amongst the sister
universities of Ontario.[41]
[41] It it a gratifying fact that Victoria College was the first
university in Upper Canada whose doors were open to receive
students. The first session commenced in October, 1841; that of
Queen's College University in March, 1842, and King's College
University in June, 1843. The first graduate in arts who received
a diploma in Upper Canada was sent out from Victoria College in
1845-46.
In the original appeal made by Dr. Ryerson in England on behalf
of the Academy (in 1835), he stated the "specific objects of the
institution" to be as follows:--
1. To educate, upon terms equally moderate with similar institutions
in the neighboring republic of the United States, and with strict
attention to their morals, the youth of Canada generally.
2. To educate for common school masters, free of charge, poor young
men of Christian principles and character, and of promising talent,
who have an ardent thirst for knowledge.
3. To educate the most promising youth of the recently converted
Indian tribes of Canada as teachers to their aboriginal
countrymen.[42]
[42] Several promising Indian youth were educated at Victoria
College, and some of them became useful teachers and missionaries.
These extracts are highly interesting, as showing the noble and
comprehensive aims, in these early days of educational effort, which
Dr. Ryerson had in view in founding this valuable institution of
learning. He goes on then (apart from these objects) to show the
grave necessity which existed for the early establishment of such an
institution. He said:--
For want of such an institution upwards of sixty of the youth of
Canada are now attending seminaries of learning, under a similar
management, in the United States, where nearly two hundred Canadian
youth have been taught the elementary branches of a professional
education during the last eight years. There is good reason to
believe that nearly, if not quite, all the Canadian youth now being
taught in the United States seminaries of learning, will return to
Canada as soon as this institution shall have been brought into
operation....
In behalf, therefore, of this institution--most important to
the best interests of a healthy, fertile and rapidly improving
British colonial possession, the inhabitants of which have in
this, as in other instances, shown the strongest desire to help
themselves to the utmost of their very limited means--a respectful
and earnest appeal is made to British liberality, an appeal which
it is devotedly hoped will be responded to in a manner that will
contribute to draw still closer the bonds by which the loyal
Province of Upper and the British population of Lower Canada are
united to the Mother Country.
This appeal was endorsed by the Governor of the Province, Sir John
Colborne (afterwards Lord Seaton), in the following terms:--
The Rev. Egerton Ryerson proceeds to England ... to solicit
subscriptions ... to enable [the conference here] to bring into
operation a seminary established at Cobourg, in Upper Canada.... As
I am persuaded this colony will derive the greatest advantage from
the institution and from the exertions of the conference to diffuse
religions instruction, I cannot but strongly recommend that it may
receive encouragement and support from all persons interested in the
welfare of Upper Canada.
The "appeal" was also heartily endorsed by the Hon. Peter McGill,
founder of McGill College University, Montreal, and by other
distinguished gentlemen and merchants in Montreal. In his letter Mr.
McGill referred to Dr. Ryerson as "a gentleman who has distinguished
himself in Upper Canada by his writings in defense of religion,
order, and good government."
After much delay and great discouragement, Dr. Ryerson succeeded in
the objects of his mission--money and a royal charter; but at the
close of his mission he writes to the Academy Committee as follows:--
Thus terminated this protracted [business], ... though I had to
encounter successive, discouraging and almost insurmountable
difficulties [in obtaining the charter]. Not having been able to
effect any loan ... on account of the agitated state of the Canadas,
and being in suspense as to the result of my application to the
Government, I was several months pressed down with anxiety and fear,
by this suspense and by reason of the failure of my efforts to
obtain relief. In this anxiety and fear my own unassisted resolution
and fortitude could not sustain me. I had to rely upon the unfailing
support of the Lord my God.
I have given these particulars somewhat in detail, as they afford
a striking narrative illustration of the almost insurmountable
difficulties which the early pioneers of education in this Province
encountered in endeavoring to found these valuable institutions
which have been so useful to this country, and which have shed
such lustre upon their founders' names. It is also due to Victoria
University, and (as I shall show) to Queen's University also to
state these particulars, from the fact that the first practical,
yet entirely abortive, attempt to make King's College a provincial
university, was made in 1843, two years after the Methodists
and Presbyterians had, in self-defence, been compelled to found
universities of their own. This they did at a great sacrifice.
By the time that the liberation of King's College took place, in
1849-'53, the really provincial universities at Cobourg and Kingston
had become recognized as most important factors in our educational
system; and from them alone, up to that time, could students of all
denominations obtain a university education.
In connection with the university, Faraday Hall, or School of
Practical Science, was erected in 1877. It is a handsome and
spacious building, and is admirably fitted up for the purpose of
science teaching.
THE QUEEN'S COLLEGE UNIVERSITY, KINGSTON.
As early as 1829 it was felt among the members of the United
Presbytery of Upper Canada that a seminary, or college, for the
training of their ministers was highly desirable. As the management
of King's College at Toronto was in the hands of the adherents of
the Church of England, it was felt that such an institution could
not be made available for Presbyterian theological instruction.
A committee of the British House of Commons, to which had been
referred petitions from Canada in 1828 and 1830 against the
exclusive character of the charter of King's College, Toronto, were
disposed to solve the difficulty by suggesting that two theological
chairs be established in King's College (and did so recommend)--one
for students of the Churches of England and Scotland, respectively.
Nothing, however, of the kind was done; nor was there any arts
college then open on equal terms to all the youth of the country.
The Presbyterians, like the Methodists, had, therefore, to found
an institution of their own. Steps were taken by the synod of the
Church in 1831 and 1839 to found such an institution. At a meeting
held in Hamilton, in November, 1839, the commission appointed for
that purpose prepared the draft of a charter for the proposed
college. Kingston was selected by the synod as the site for the new
institution.
An Act embodying the charter was passed by the Provincial
Legislature in February, 1840, incorporating the "University
of Kingston." The Act was, however, disallowed by the imperial
authorities, on the ground that it conflicted with the royal
prerogative of granting charters. A royal charter was, however,
issued in 1841, incorporating the institution under the name of
Queen's College, with "the style and privileges of a university."
The opening of Queen's took place on the 7th of March, 1842. Rev.
Thomas Liddell, D.D., of Edinburgh, was the Principal and Professor
of Divinity, and Rev. P. C. Campbell, of Brockville, Professor
of Classics. Rev. James Williamson, D.D., LL.D., in 1842, became
Professor of Mathematics and Natural Philosophy. He is, therefore,
the oldest college professor in Ontario.
After the opening of King's College, Toronto, in 1843, an agitation
commenced with the view to unite the three universities then in
operation into a single provincial institution. Many plans were
proposed, and several measures tending to that end were introduced
into Parliament and fully discussed. In 1843 the Hon. Robert Baldwin
introduced a university bill, which, though it presented many
popular features, was strongly objected to by the churches named and
others also, because it was deficient in providing for religious
instruction.
A bill was introduced by Hon. W. H. Draper, in 1845, to amend the
law so as to make it more generally acceptable to the religious
bodies of the country; and in 1847 the late Hon. John Hillyard
Cameron introduced a measure in which it was proposed to devote a
large part of the endowment to increased support of high schools and
also to largely subsidize the denominational colleges. The measure
failed to carry in Parliament, however, and this practically ended
the agitation for the union of colleges for many years.
In 1846 Dr. Liddell resigned his position as Principal and returned
to Scotland. Rev. J. Machar, D.D., was next appointed Principal, and
under his administration there was slow but real improvement.
Rev. Dr. Cook, of Quebec occupied the position of Principal for
a time, but he refused to accept the position permanently. Rev.
Dr. Leitch was next appointed, but his early death deprived the
institution of his services. He was followed by the Rev. Dr.
Snodgrass, and on his retirement the Rev. George Monro Grant, D.D.,
of Halifax, was appointed. Dr. Grant entered on his arduous duties
with his accustomed energy, and occupies that position with great
acceptance. He is an able speaker and a wise administrator. Queen's
College has now faculties of arts, theology, and law, and there are
affiliated with it the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons,
also in a prosperous condition, and the Kingston Women's Medical
College.
In 1869 it was resolved to make an appeal to the country for aid.
The people of Kingston raised about $25,000, and the result of the
whole effort was that about $103,000 was raised for the equipment of
the college.
In 1878 Principal Grant made the proposition to raise $150,000,
in order to provide new buildings, additional professors, and
apparatus. The appeal was successful; additional ground of about
twenty acres was at once purchased--a site of rare beauty and
convenience--and the present noble building was erected.
THE UNIVERSITY OF TRINITY COLLEGE, TORONTO.
The immediate cause of the founding of this College and University
was the suppression, in 1849, of the Faculty of Divinity in King's
College, now the University of Toronto. In consequence of this the
Right Rev. J. Strachan D.D., Bishop of Toronto, issued in February,
1850, a pastoral appeal to members of the Church of England for
funds to enable him to establish a Church University and College. In
response to this pastoral, the Bishop succeeded in raising a large
endowment from voluntary subscriptions from churchmen in Canada,
England, and the United States, so that on April 30, 1851, the
foundation stone of the college building was laid, and on January
15, 1852, the work of instruction was begun, the staff consisting
of four professors in arts, besides those in the faculties of law
and medicine. During the last thirty years the endowment has been
largely increased by liberal contributions made from time to time,
so that the original amount is now about trebled. In 1878 a large
and handsome convocation hall was erected, and in 1884 a long felt
want was supplied by the erection of a finely proportioned and
beautiful chapel.
The University of Trinity College at present consists of the
faculty of arts and divinity, of an affiliated Medical School with
a commodious building and a large staff of professors, and an
affiliated Women's Medical College. Provision is also made for the
higher education of women in connection with the Bishop Strachan
School in Toronto, and connected with the University is a large
school for boys at Port Hope.
THE R. C. UNIVERSITY COLLEGE AT OTTAWA.
The College (or University) of Ottawa is under the direction of
the Roman Catholic Church. It was founded in 1848 by the Right
Reverend Joseph Eugene Guignes, O.M.I., D.D., first R. C. Bishop of
Ottawa. In 1856, the Bishop confided the direction of the college
to the "Society of the Oblate Fathers of Mary Immaculate." The
total value of the college building and grounds is about $75,000.
It has also a good library and cabinet of natural philosophy (or
physics), and of chemistry and natural history. The college obtained
university powers in 1866. It confers degrees in arts, science, and
literature--B. A., B. Sc., B. L., as well as M. A.
THE WESTERN UNIVERSITY, LONDON.
This institution, in connection with the Church of England in
Canada, was incorporated in 1878, with power to affiliate with
Huron Theological College and to confer Degrees in Arts, Divinity,
Medicine and Law. The affiliation between that College and the
University took place in 1881, and the University was inaugurated in
the month of October of that year. The object of its establishment
was, as a Church of England Institution in the Diocese of Huron, to
obtain the same power of conferring Degrees as was possessed by the
sister University of Trinity College; also, that a liberal Education
in Arts, Science and Literature might be extended to that extensive
portion of the Province of which London is the geographical centre.
THE MCMASTER UNIVERSITY.
By the munificence of the late Hon. Wm. McMaster, McMaster
University is being established on a sound financial basis. McMaster
Hall, Woodstock College and Moulton College (for ladies) are
affiliated institutions.
UPPER CANADA COLLEGE.
Upper Canada College was founded in 1828 upon the model of the
great public schools of England, and was endowed with a grant of
66,000 acres of public lands, from which it now derives an annual
income of $15,000, in addition to its building and grounds in the
city of Toronto. It is governed by a committee of the senate of the
Provincial University. The curriculum extends over a six years'
course of study in the same number of forms, and embraces the usual
subjects.
In other forms, known as the lower and upper modern, commercial and
scientific training can be obtained. Scholarships may be established
by the different county councils, while four exhibitions have
been founded out of the University funds. This college and the
high schools constitute the principal feeders of the Collegiate
Institutes and provincial University.
ALBERT COLLEGE, BELLEVILLE.
This institution, founded in 1854, was the product of the zeal
of the Methodism of that early day. Accordingly, the General
Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church, in 1854, adopted a
scheme--initiated in the Bay of Quinté Conference in the preceding
year--for the erection and maintenance of an educational institution
of high grade in Belleville. Having been chartered by Parliament in
1857 as "Belleville Seminary," it was opened in July of the same
year, and entered upon its work under very favorable auspices.
In the year 1886, by Act of Parliament, the name was changed to
"Albert College," and a senate created with ample powers. By the
terms of the union of the Methodist Churches of Canada, Albert
College was retained in Belleville, and adopted by the General
Conference of the United Church as a church school. The charter was
amended and the college was affiliated to the Victoria University,
Cobourg. The senate has full powers to examine, grant prizes,
scholarships, medals, honor certificates, and diplomas in music,
fine arts, commercial science, collegiate courses, etc.
WOODSTOCK COLLEGE.
Woodstock College, formerly "The Canadian Literary Institute," was
founded in 1867, principally through the exertions of the late R. A.
Fife, D.D. Under his presidency, ably assisted for eighteen years
by Prof. J. E. Wells, M.A., the school constantly increased in
efficiency and power, until from a small beginning it has attained
its present large proportions and wide influence.
THE SCHOOL OF PRACTICAL SCIENCE, TORONTO.
Prior to the year 1871 there was no institution in the Province
for practical instruction in the industrial sciences. In 1870 the
Government of the Province issued a commission to Dr. Hodgins,
Deputy Superintendent of Education, and to Dr. Machatt of London,
directing them to proceed to the United States for the purpose of
inspecting and reporting upon any Technical or Science Schools or
Colleges there established, as to their buildings, departments of
study and general appliances. On their return a report was submitted
to the Government, with full details as to the cost of the proposed
institution. The Government acted upon the information contained in
their report, and with a grant of $50,000 established a "College of
Technology" in Toronto. In 1877 the name was changed to the School
of Practical Science, and the Hon. Adam Crooks, Q.C., Minister of
Education, had a suitable building for it erected close to the
Provincial University, four of the University Professors are engaged
in Departments of the School. The new building was opened for
students in September, 1878.
VARIOUS OTHER COLLEGES AND SCHOOLS, ETC.
There are numerous superior colleges and schools for boys and
colleges for ladies in Ontario, but the limits of this paper forbids
a further reference to them, or to the other numerous educational
institutions--theological, literary and commercial--in the Province.
REV. DR. RYERSON'S ADVOCACY OF POPULAR RIGHTS, 1827-1841.[43]
[43] In the preface to the _Story of My Life_, I thus referred to
this period of Dr. Ryerson's labours:--"Public men of the present
day looked upon Dr. Ryerson practically as one of their own
contemporaries--noted for his zeal and energy in the successful
management of a great Public Department, and as the founder of a
system of Popular Education.... In this estimate of Dr. Ryerson's
labours they were quite correct. And in their appreciation of the
statesmanlike qualities of mind, which devised and developed such a
system in the midst of difficulties which would have appalled less
resolute hearts, they were equally correct.
"But, after all, how immeasurably does this partial historical view
of his character and labours fall short of a true estimate of that
character and of those labours!
"In a point of fact, Dr. Ryerson's great struggle for the civil
and religious freedom which we now enjoy, was almost over when he
assumed the position of Chief Director of our Educational System.
No one can read the record of his labours from 1825 to 1845, as
detailed in the pages of this 'story' without being impressed with
the fact that, had he done no more for his native country than that
which is therein recorded, he would have accomplished a great work,
and have earned the gratitude of his fellow-countrymen."
During all this time the friends of popular education were not idle.
From 1827 and for many years Dr. Ryerson was engaged in waging war
with the opponents of liberal institutions and religious equality.
His chief antagonist was Dr. Strachan. The subjects in dispute
related to a dominant church, the application of clergy-reserved
lands to the purposes of education, and the liberation of the
provincial university from exclusive control under the presidency
of Dr. Strachan, first as archdeacon and afterwards as bishop. Not
being eligible to the popular branch of the Legislature (being a
minister), Dr. Ryerson had to develop his powers of resistance to
the dominant and ruling party in other directions; and this he
did with wonderful success. As a writer and debater few equalled
him in his presentation of facts, and in his skill in detecting
the weak points of his adversary's position or argument. As a
controversialist and pamphleteer he had confessedly no rival. He,
therefore, was able to furnish his friends in the House of Assembly
with facts and arguments which were irresistible. They passed
resolutions and school bills time and again, but could not always
induce the Legislative Council (Senate) to concur in their adoption.
This state of things continued for many years, and with disastrous
effects on the intellectual growth and well-being of the province.
This fact is attested by indubitable witnesses, and is recorded in
the proceedings of the House of Assembly of the time, as is shown in
the extracts from its proceedings which I have already given.
EDUCATIONAL LEGISLATION IN THE UNITED PARLIAMENT OF 1841 AND 1843.
In 1840 the House of Assembly and Legislative Council of Upper
Canada ceased to exist, and the two Provinces of Upper and Lower
were united under one Legislature.
The momentous political events which preceded this union, and
which led to the total disruption of all political parties and
combinations, were very salutary in their effects. Under the
liberal policy pursued by the Home Government, after the publication
of Lord Durham's report, grievances were redressed, and a broad and
comprehensive scheme of popular government inaugurated. The result
was that the wise and statesmanlike measures, designed to promote
public tranquility and local self-government, were proposed to and
adopted by the Legislature.
Amongst these was a measure providing for the establishment of a
municipal council in each local division of the Province of Upper
Canada (and partly so in Lower Canada) for the regulation of
internal matters.
In recommending the scheme of Common School Education to the
favorable consideration of the first Parliament of United Canada, in
1841, Lord Sydenham, the first Governor-General, used the following
language:--
A due provision for the education of the people is one of the
first duties of the State, and, in this province especially,
the want of it is grievously felt. The establishment of an
efficient system, by which the blessings of instruction may be
placed within the reach of all is a work of difficulty, but its
overwhelming importance demands that it should be undertaken.
I recommend the consideration of that subject to your best
attention, and I shall be most anxious to afford you, in your
labours, all the co-operation in my power. If it should be found
impossible so to reconcile conflicting opinions as to obtain a
measure which may meet the approbation of all, I trust that, at
least, steps may be taken by which an advance to a more perfect
system may be made, and the difficulty under which the people of
this province now labor may be greatly diminished, subject to
such improvements hereafter as time and experience may point out.
The enlightened expectations of the Governor-General were, happily,
realized. But so diverse were the populations of the two Canadas
thus united, and so different were their social conditions, that the
School Act then passed was repealed two years afterward (in 1843),
and a school bill for each Province was passed by the Legislature
in that year. Provision for Roman Catholic and Protestant Separate
Schools was made in both Acts.[44]
[44] This Retrospect would not be complete without reference, in
fuller detail, to the history of the Separate School question and
to legislation on it in Upper Canada. It was found, however, to be
so extensive a subject that no adequate justice could be done to
it in this somewhat brief Retrospect. The writer has, therefore,
prepared a full and exhaustive paper on the subject, which will be
published separately, should it be considered desirable. The details
given are largely personal, and, therefore, of special interest.
In addition to private letters bearing on the subject, the paper
contains official and other authentic information in regard to the
whole question.
On this system was ingrafted, by means of a separate Act applicable
to the whole Province, a scheme of public education, with a liberal
provision ($200,000 per annum) for its maintenance.
ORIGIN OF THE ANNUAL GRANT OF $200,000 FOR THE COMMON SCHOOLS IN
1841.
In a letter to the writer of this Retrospect, from the Hon. Issac
Buchanan, dated 11th April. 1883, in reply to some enquiries in
regard to the appointment of Dr. Ryerson, Mr. Buchanan thus related
the circumstances under which the munificent sum of $200,000 a year
was granted by the Legislature in 1841 for the support of the then
newly-established Common Schools in Upper and Lower Canada. He
said:--"This first attempt of mine to get an endowment for education
(out of the Clergy Reserve Fund), failed as there was no responsible
government then. But five years afterwards when my election for
Toronto had carried Responsible Government, and before the first
parliament met, I was talking to the Governor-General (C. Poulett
Thompson, Lord Sydenham). He felt under considerable obligation to
me for standing in the breach when Mr. Robert Baldwin found that
he could not succeed in carrying Toronto.... He spoke of Canada as
'a drag upon the mother country.' I replied warmly ... for I felt
sure (as I told him), that if we were allowed to throw the affairs
of the Province into regular books ... we would show a surplus over
expenditure. His Excellency agreed to my proposal, and I stipulated
that, if we showed a yearly surplus, one half would be given as an
endowment for an educational system. Happily we found that Upper
Canada had a surplus revenue of about £100,000 ($400,000), one half
of which the parliament of 1841 laid aside for education, the law
stipulating that every District Council getting a share of it would
tax locally for as much more, and this constituted the fund of your
educational system."
EDUCATIONAL EFFORTS OF DR. RYERSON UP TO THIS TIME.
Up to this time Dr. Ryerson's energies, as I have shown, were wholly
engrossed in contending for the civil and religious rights of the
people. He had also, ten years before, projected and collected money
for the establishment of an academy or college for higher education
at Cobourg, on the north shore of Lake Ontario. His efforts in this,
and in the establishment of the Victoria College at Cobourg, as a
university, in 1840, aroused a widespread interest in education
generally, which bore good fruit afterward. This university has now
been in operation forty-eight years, and from it the first arts
graduate in Upper Canada was sent forth in 1846. Its first president
was the Rev. Dr. Ryerson; the second was the Rev. Dr. Macnab, now
of Bowmanville. Its late distinguished president, the Rev. Dr.
Nelles, was Dr. Ryerson's pupil. He held his position with honor to
himself for thirty-six years, and died in October, 1887, deeply and
universally regretted by the entire community.
FIRST APPOINTMENT OF A SUPERINTENDENT OF EDUCATION FOR UPPER CANADA.
In the _Canada Gazette_ of May, 1842, the following announcement was
made:--
"SECRETARY'S OFFICE, KINGSTON, 11th May, 1842.
"His Excellency the Governor-General has been pleased to make
the following appointments:--
"The Honorable Robert Sympson Jameson, Vice-Chancellor, to be
Superintendent of Education, under the Provincial Act, 4th and
5th Victoria, chapter 18.
"The Reverend Robert Murray and Jean Baptiste Meilleur, Esquire,
to be Assistant Superintendents of Education for Western and
Eastern Canada, respectively.
"By command,
"S. B. HARRISON, Provincial Secretary."
Had the Governor-General, Lord Sydenham, not met with the fatal
accident which terminated his life, in September, 1841, the Rev.
Dr. Ryerson would, without doubt, as I have shown in "The Story of
my Life," have been appointed in that year. Mr. Murray, who was
neighbor and friend of the Hon. S. B. Harrison, of Bronte, near
Oakville, then Provincial Secretary, was nominated by him, and
received his appointment from Lord Sydenham's successor, Sir Charles
Bagot.
In point of fact, the appointment was first spoken of to Dr. Ryerson
by Lord Sydenham himself, in the autumn of 1841. The particulars of
that circumstance are mentioned in detail in a letter written by Dr.
Ryerson to T. W. C. Murdoch, Esq., Private Secretary to Sir Charles
Bagot, on the 14th January, 1842. Dr. Ryerson said:--
"In the last interview with which I was honoured by [Lord Sydenham],
he intimated that he thought I might be more usefully employed
for this country than in my present limited sphere; and whether
there was not some position in which I could more advantageously
serve the country at large. I remarked that I could not resign my
present official position in the Church, with the advocacy of whose
interests I had been entrusted, until their final and satisfactory
adjustment by the Government, as I might thereby be represented as
having abandoned or sacrificed their interests; but that after such
adjustment I should feel myself very differently situated, and free
to do anything which might be beneficial to the country, and which
involved no compromise of my professional character; that I knew
of no such position likely to be at the disposal of the Government
except the superintendency of Common Schools (provided for in the
Bill then before the Legislature), which office would afford the
incumbent a most favorable opportunity, by his communications,
preparation and recommendation of books for libraries, etc., to
abolish differences and jealousies on minor points; to promote
agreement on great principles and interests; to introduce the best
kind of reading for the youth of the country; and the not onerous
duties of which office would also afford him leisure to prepare
publications calculated to teach the people at large to appreciate,
upon high moral and social considerations, the institutions
established amongst them; and to furnish, from time to time, such
expositions of great principles and measures of the administration
as would secure the proper appreciation and support of them on the
part of the people at large. Lord Sydenham expressed himself as
highly gratified at this expression of my views and feelings; but
the passing of the Bill was then doubtful, although His Lordship
expressed his determination to get it passed if possible, and
give effect to what he had proposed to me, and which was then
contemplated by him."
"What afterwards grew to be the Department of Education was (under
the first general school law, passed in 1841, for the whole of
the Province of Canada) originally a subordinate branch of the
Provincial Secretary's office at Kingston. That for Upper Canada was
managed by Assistant Superintendent Rev. Robert Murray, M.A., and
one clerk (Mr. Robert Richardson). The nominal Chief Superintendent,
as above noted, was the Hon. Vice-Chancellor Jameson. On the repeal
of the General School Act of 1841 and the passing of a separate Act
for each province in 1843 the Education branch of the Provincial
Secretary's office was divided and reconstructed. The divisions
then made were designated respectively "Education Office (East) and
Education Office (West)."[45]
[45] The _Evangelical Churchman_ of the 21st February, 1887,
thus refers to the vicissitudes of the Education office:--The
Education Department for Ontario, or rather Upper Canada as it
was then called, had its first Toronto office in Bay Street, in
the building now occupied by the publishers of the _Evangelical
Churchman_. From 1841, when the first Provincial School Law was
passed, until 1844, the office was a mere adjunct to the Provincial
Secretary's Department at Kingston. In that year Rev. Dr. Ryerson
was appointed to the office which he so ably filled until 1876, when
he retired. In 1844 the Education office was removed to Cobourg,
when the present Deputy Minister of Education became its chief and
sole officer under Dr. Ryerson. In 1846 it was again removed and
transferred to Toronto, and was placed in a room over the front
door of the present _Evangelical Churchman_ office. The first
Council of Public Instruction for the Province held its meetings
in the west portion of the printing office, upstairs. In the room
over the door the first reliable statistical report of the number
of schools, etc., in this province was compiled. It was printed in
the shape of a broad sheet, 12x15, on light blue paper, and bears
date "September, 1846." This report, which is full of interesting
statistics, has long since been out of print, but we have been
fortunate enough to obtain a copy. The Education office had various
vicissitudes in those early days of its existence. In 1847 it was
removed from this building to the Secretary's office at the old
Government House--long since demolished. In 1849, when the seat of
Government was removed from Montreal to Toronto, it was transferred
to the "Albany Chambers," now the Revere House, on King street.
Thence, in 1852, it was finally removed to its present handsome
quarters in St. James' square.
APPOINTMENT OF REV. DR. RYERSON AS SUPERINTENDENT OF EDUCATION.
In 1844 Mr. Murray was made Professor of Mathematics in the
University of King's College, and the Rev. Dr. Ryerson was appointed
as Superintendent of Schools in his place. The announcement of this
appointment appeared in the CANADA GAZETTE of October, 1844, as
follows:--
"SECRETARY'S OFFICE, MONTREAL, 18th October, 1844.
"His Excellency the Governor-General has been pleased to
appoint:--
"The Reverend Egerton Ryerson, D.D., to be Assistant
Superintendent of Education for that part of the province
formerly Upper Canada, in place of the Reverend Robert Murray,
appointed a Professor in the University of King's College, and
all communications connected with the Education office for Upper
Canada are to be addressed to him at Cobourg.
"By command.
"D. DALY,
"Secretary of the Province."
Dr. Ryerson was notified of the appointment by letter in September,
1844, but was not gazetted until the 18th of the next mouth. It
was my good fortune to be associated with him from the time of his
appointment in 1844 until he retired from office in 1876.
DR. RYERSON'S REPORT ON A SYSTEM OF PUBLIC INSTRUCTION FOR UPPER
CANADA.
Immediately after his appointment Dr. Ryerson went to Europe,
and remained away for over a year in familiarizing himself with
the systems of education there. On his return he published an
elaborate report on his projected scheme of "Public Instruction for
Upper Canada." That report was approved by the Governor-General
in Council, and he was directed to prepare a bill to give effect
to his recommendations, which he did in 1846. A brief analysis of
that report may be interesting:--It is divided into two parts: 1.
Principles of the system and subjects to be taught; 2. machinery of
the system.
After defining what was "meant by education," the principles of the
system were laid down as follows:--