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the effect before the cause, than was exhibited in the course pursued by the friends of education in England and other Countries, who for a series of years, busied themselves in building Schools, and endeavoring to induce children to attend those Schools, without ever inquiring whether competent persons to conduct them could be procured, and without taking any efficient and vigorous steps to supply the admitted want of competent Teachers.

Sir, it appears to me, that, in this instance, as in many others,- this young Country has had the advantage of profiting by the experience of older Countries,-by their failures and disappointments, as well as by their successes, and that experience, improved by your diligent exertions and excellent judgment, (for I should neither satisfy my own feelings, nor the claims of justice, if I were not, on this occasion, to express my high sense of the ability and the zeal with which you have conducted the important Department which has been committed to your care); I say, that experience, so improved and fortified by the support of the Council of Public Instruction, the Government and the Parliament of the Province, has enabled Upper Canada to place itself, (as you have justly observed in your Address,) in the van among the Nations in the great and important work of providing an efficient System of General Education for the whole community.

And now, let me ask this intelligent audience, who have so kindly listened to me up to this moment, let me ask them to consider, in all seriousness and earnestness, what that great work really is. I do not think that I shall be chargeable with exaggeration when I affirm that it is the work of our day and generation; that it is the problem in our modern society which is most difficult of solution;-that is the ground upon which earnest and zealous men unhappily too often, and in many Countries, meet, not to co-operate, but to wrangle; while the poor and the ignorant maltitudes around them are starving and perishing for lack of knowledge.

Well then, how has Upper Canada addressed herself to the execution of this great work? How has she sought to solve this problem,-to overcome this difficulty? Sir, I understand from your statements, and I come to the same conclusion from my own investigation and observation, that it is the principle of our Common School Educational System; that its foundation is laid deep in the firm rock of our common Christianity. I understand, Sir, that, while the varying views and opinions of a mixed religious society are scrupulously respected,-while every semblance of dictation is carefully avoided,—it is desired, it is earnestly recommended, it is confidently expected and hoped, that every child who attends our Common Schools, shall learn there that he is a being who has an interest in eternity as well as in time;-that he has a Father towards whom he stands in a closer and more affecting, and more endearing relationship than to any earthly Father, and that that Father is in Heaven; that he has a hope for transcending every earthly hope, a hope full of immortality, -the hope, namely, that the Father's Kingdom may come; that he has a duty which, like the sun in our celestial system, stands in the centre of his moral obligations, shedding upon them a hallowing light, which they, in their turn, reflect and absorb; - the duty of striving to prove by his life and conversation the sincerity of his prayer, that that Father's will may be done upon earth, as it is done in Heaven.

I understand, Sir, that upon the broad and solid platform which is raised upon that good foundation, we invite the Ministers of Religion, of all Denominations,-the de facto spiritual guides of the people of the Country,-to take their stand along with us. That, so far from hampering, or impeding, them in the exercise of their sacred functions, we ask,-and we beg them, to take the children,-the lambs of the flock, which are committed to their care,-aside, and to lead them to those pastures and streams where they will find, the food of life and the waters of consolation.

Ladies and Gentlemen, this is not the fitting, or proper, time to enter into details. Indeed, I have not voice, or strength, to enter now at any length into the details of the excellent system of secular education which is provided in our Common Schools. When, however, you tell us, Sir, that an increasing supply is going forth, from year to year, from this Normal School, of well qualified Teachers;-that you have procured in abundance. excellent, well selected, and cheap Text-books ;-that Libraries in connection with the Common Schools, are being multiplied all over the Country;-and, above all, that the zeal of the people themselves in the cause of education, is evinced by the augmented taxation, self-imposed, for the promotion of that great object; when you tell us all this, I feel that little is wanting to fulfil the desires of the most ardent philanthropist and lover of education; I feel that if these influences are left to operate freely,-if no untoward causes arise to disturb them,-they must eventually leaven the whole mass of our society.

Permit me, then, without detaining you any further from what is the special business of the day,-permit me, in conclusion, to say, both as an humble Christian man, and as the head of the Civil Government of the Province, that it gives me unfeigned pleasure to perceive that the youth of this Country of all Denominations, who are destined in their mature

years to meet in the discharge of the duties of civil life upon terms of perfect civil and religious equality,-I say it gives me unfeigned pleasure to hear and to know, that they are receiving an education which is fitted so well to qualify them for the discharge of those important duties; and, that, while their hearts are yet tender, and their affections green and young, they are associated under conditions which are likely to promote among them the growth of those truly Christian graces,— mutual respect, forbearance and charity.

At the close of His Excellency's remarks, the Right Reverend Doctor de Charbonel presented to the Governor General, on bahalf of the Council of Public Instruction, a Silver Trowel, addressing His Excellency as follows:

MONSEIGNEUR, -Je suis très heureux et très honore d'avoir été choisi par le Conseil de l'Instruction Publique, dont sent Excellence a daigné me fair Membre, pour lui présenter cette Truelle d'argent, aux industrieuses emblèmes due blazon des Bruces.

L'établissement dont Votre Excellence va poser la Pierre Angulaire, Monseigneur, sera un des plus glorieux monuments de tout ce que son libéral Government aura fait pour la prospérité de ce Pays and aedificationem.*

* My Lord :

"It affords me much pleasure, and I esteem it a great honour, to have been chosen by the Council of Public Instruction, of which your Excellency has condescended to make me a Member,-to present to you, on their behalf, this Silver Trowel, engraved with the industrious emblem of the Arms of the Bruces.

"The Institution of which your Excellency is about to lay the Corner Stone, is destined to be My Lord, one of the most glorious monuments amongst all those which your liberal Government has devised for the prosperity of this Country."

The Trowel was beautifully carved, having on the blade the armorial bearings of the Earl of Elgin, in ornamental characters. It also has the following inscription:

THE CHIEF CORNER STONE

OF

THE NORMAL AND MODEL SCHOOLS AND EDUCATION OFFICES FOR UPPER CANADA,

WAS LAID ON

WEDNESDAY, THE SECOND DAY OF JULY, 1851,

IN THE FIFTEENTH YEAR OF THE REIGN

OF

HER MOST GRACIOUS MAJESTY QUEEN VICTORIA,

BY

THE RIGHT HONOURABLE THE EARL OF ELGIN AND KINCARDINE, K.T.,

On the reverse was :

GOVERNOR GENERAL OF BRITISH NORTH AMERICA.

PRESENTED

ΤΟ

THE RIGHT HONOURABLE THE EARL OF ELGIN AND KINCARDINE, K.T.,

BY

THE COUNCIL OF PUBLIC INSTRUCTION

FOR UPPER CANADA,

TORONTO, 2ND OF JULY, 1851.

The edges near the centre of the blade of the Trowel were ornamented with frosted leaves, in the midst of which, on each side, was a spider set in gold,-emblematical of the ancient tradition of the Family of the Bruces.

The Handle was of burnished silver, ornamented with a frosted wreath, consisting of the Rose, Shamrock, Thistle and Maple Leaf; the whole being set in a socket of frosted silver leaves. On the extreme end of the handle rested a richly ornamented Coronet, beautifully wrought in silver and gold; and at the base a wreath of frosted silver, around which entwined the Rose, Shamrock, Thistle and Maple Leaf.

[graphic]

FRONT PERSPECTIVE OF THE EDUCATIONAL DEPARTMENT BUILDINGS ERECTED IN 1851.

His Excellency and the Council of Public Instruction then descended to the Stone, where the inscription on the plate was read by Mr. Joseph C. Morrison, M.P.P., as follows:

THIS

THE CHIEF CORNER STONE

OF

THE NORMAL AND MODEL SCHOOLS AND EDUCATION OFFICES FOR UPPER CANADA,

WAS LAID ON

WEDNESDAY, THE SECOND DAY OF JULY, 1851,

IN THE FIFTEENTH YEAR OF THE REIGN

OF

HER MOST GRACIOUS MAJESTY QUEEN VICTORIA,

BY

THE RIGHT HONOURABLE THE EARL OF ELGIN AND KINCARDINE, K.T.,

GOVERNOR GENERAL OF BRITISH NORTH AMERICA,

IN THE PRESENCE OF

THE PRESIDENT AND MEMBERS OF THE EXECUTIVE COUNCIL,
THE SPEAKER AND MEMBERS OF THE LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL,
THE SPEAKER AND MEMBERS OF THE LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY,

THE CHAIRMAN AND MEMBERS OF THE COUNCIL OF PUBLIC INSTRUCTION,
THE MAYOR, MUNICIPAL COUNCIL AND CITIZENS OF THE CITY OF TORONTO.

THIS INSTITUTION,

ERECTED BY THE ENLIGHTENED LIBERALITY OF PARLIAMENT,
IS DESIGNED FOR THE

INSTRUCTION AND TRAINING OF SCHOOL TEACHERS UPON CHRISTIAN PRINCIPLES.

THE COUNCIL OF PUBLIC INSTRUCTION, FOR UPPER CANADA ;

THE REVEREND EGERTON RYERSON, D.D., CHIEF SUPERINTENDENT OF EDUCATION,
THE HONOURABLE SAMUEL BEALY HARRISON, Q.C, CHAIRMAN.

THE RIGHT REVEREND A. F. M. DE CHARBONELL, D.D., ROMAN CATHOLIC BISHOP OF TORONTO.
THE REVEREND HENRY JAMES GRASETT, A. M.

JOSEPH CURRAN MORRISON, ESQUIRE, M.P.P.

HUGH SCOBIE, ESQUIRE.

JAMES SCOTT HOWARD, ESQUIRE.

THE REVEREND JOHN JENNINGS, D.D.

THE REVEREND ADAM LILLIE, D.D.

JOHN GEORGE HODGINS, ESQUIRE, RECORDING CLERK,

FREDERIC W. CUMBERLAND AND THOMAS RIDOUT, ESQUIRES, ARCHITECTS.

MESSIEURS METCALFE, WILSON AND FORBES, CONTRACTORS.

Enclosed also in a Bottle were the following:

1. Report by the Superintendent of Education on a System of Public Elementary Instruction for Upper Canada, 1846.

2. Journal of Education for Upper Canada, of August, 1849, containing the Annual Report of the Normal, Model and Common Schools in Upper Canada for 1847, including an account of the Opening of the Normal School in November, 1847.

3. Common School Act of 1843, 7th Victoria, chapter 29.

4. Common School Act of 1846, 9th Victoria, chapter 20.

5. Common School Act of 1847, 10th and 11th Victoria, chapter 19.

6. Common School Act of 1850, 13th and 14th Victoria, chapter 48, with Forms, Regulations, Instructions, and Circulars.

7. Parchment copy of the Inscription on the Plate deposited in the cavity of the Corner Stone.

8. Journal of Education for Upper Canada of May, 1848, containing an account of the first Examination of the Normal School.

[graphic]

SIDE VIEW AND PERSPECTIVE OF THE NORMAL, MODEL AND EDUCATION OFFICE BUILIDNGS, ERECTED IN 1851.

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