Books, examinations etc.

Giving orders

for money on

Treasurer.

Common and Grammar Schools; but when the Trustees of the Common Schools shall exceed six in number, then they shall reduce their number to six in the joint Board.

Fifthly, To see that the pupils of such Grammar School are supplied with proper Text-books; that public half-yearly examinations of the pupils are held, and due notice given of them; and that such School is conducted in accordance with the Regulations which shall be provided according to law :

Sixthly, To give the necessary orders upon the [City Chamberlain, or] County Chamberlain or Treasurer for the amount of Public Money to which such School is entitled, and, upon their own Treasurer for any [ balance ] Moneys in his hands, for the payment of the salaries of the Officers of such School, and of any necessary expenses; to Reporting yearly to Chief prepare and transmit, before the Fifteenth day of January, to the Chief SuperinSuperintendent. tendent of Education, an annual report, which shall contain a full and accurate account of all matters appertaining to such School, in accordance with a Form of Report which shall be provided according to law.

Names by which
Grammar

designated.

XII. And be it enacted, That each County Grammar School shall be distinguiSchools shall be shed by prefixing to the term " County," the name of the City, Town, or Village, within the limits of which it may be situate ; [ and, in the event of their being more than one City Grammar School, within any City, the second, or other, Grammar School shall be known and designated as City of- -Grammar School, Number two, [or three, as the case may be, ] and that the Trustees of all such Grammar Schools shall severally use such distinguishing titles as their corporate name.

Which shall be

the Senior

Grammar

School of any
County.

County Municipalities may establish addi

Schools in cer

tain cases.

XIII. And be it enacted, That the Grammar School of the County, or Union of Counties, situate at the County Town of every County, or Union of Counties, in Upper Canada, shall be the Senior County Grammar School of such County, or Union of Counties, and, if the Courts of Assize and Nisi Prius for any of such Counties, or Union of Counties, are usually held in a City, such City, for the purposes of this Section, shall be considered a County Town.

XIV. And be it enacted, That from and after the time when this Act shall come in force, the several County Municipalities shall have power and authority to tional Grammar establish additional Grammar Schools within their limits, and appoint Trustees therefor, according to the Tenth Section of this Act, but no new Grammar School shall be established until the state of the Grammar School Fund shall permit the application of a sum equal, at the least to Fifty Pounds annually to such new School, after paying to each Senior County Grammar School the sum of One Hundred pounds annually, and to the other Grammar Schools within such County [or Union of Counties, the amounts ] an amount which, [have been usually applicable to their support and maintenance before the passing of this Act, ] on the average, would equal, at least, the annual sum of Fifty Pounds to each of such Schools:

Where

Grammar Schools shall be kept.

Change of site.

Recital.

Masters of

Schools to keep

Provided, always. That the sum, or sums, of Money apportioned out of the Grammar School Fund, to each County shall be distributed amongst the several Grammar Schools of such County within the restrictions imposed by this Act, under such Rules and Regulations as may, from time to time, be made by the Council of Public Instruction for Upper Canada, and approved by the Governor-in Council.

XV. And be it enacted, That the Grammar Schools at present established, or which may be established, at the time this Act comes into force, shall be continued at the places where they are respectively held; but the Board of Trustees of each of the said Schools may change the place of holding such School by a Resolution to be passed for that purpose and approved by the Governor-in-Council: But the place of holding any Grammar School to be established after this Act comes into force, may be changed by the County Council of the County within which it is established.

XVI. AND WHEREAS it is desirable, at Seminaries and places of Education to direct attention to Natural Phenomena, and to encourage habits of observation ; AND WHEREAS a better knowledge of the Climate and Meterology of Canada will be serviceable to Agricultural and other pursuits, and be of value to scientific enquiries:

Be it therefore enacted. That it shall be part of the duty of the Master of every Senior Grammar Senior County Grammar School, to make the requisite Observations for keeping, Meteorological and to keep, a Meterological Journal, embracing such Observations, and kept according to such Form as shall, from time to time, be directed by the Council of Public Instruction; and all such Journals, or Abstracts of them, shall be pre

Journals.

sented annually by the Chief Superintendent of Education to the Governor, with his Annual Report :*

Every Senior County Grammar School shall, on, or before, the last day of And to be supplied with November, One Thousand, Eight Hundred and Fitty four, be provided, at the certain expense of the County Municipality with the following Instruments :

One Barometer :

One Thermometer for the Temperature of the Air:

One Daniel's Hygrometer, or other Instrument, for showing the Dew-Point :
One Rain-guage and Measure.
One Wind-vane :

instruments.

Instruments at

And it shall be the duty of the Chief Superintendent of Education to procure Chief Superinthese Instruments at the request of the Municipal Council of any County, and to tendent to furnish the Master of the Senior County Grammar School with a Book for register- provide ing Observations and with Forms for Abstracts thereof, to be transmitted to the the request and Chief Superintendent by such Master, who shall certify that the Observations cost of the Municipality. 1equired have been made with due care and regularity. XVII. And be it enacted, That the Act of the Parliament of Upper Canada, Act of 1807; passed in the Forty-seventh Year of the Reign of King George the Third, and 47th Geo. 3, intituled; An Act to Establish Public Schools in each and every District of this Province;" and the Act of the said Parliament, passed in the Forty-eighth Year of the same Reign, and intituled: "An Act to amend an Act passed in the Forty-seventh Year of His Majesty's Reign, An Act to establish Public Schools Geo. 3, ch. 16. in each and every District of this Province ;" and the Act of the said Parliament, passed in the Second Session held in the Fifty-minth Year of the same Reign,

66

ch. 6.

Act of 1808: 48

and intituled "An Act to Repeal part of, and to Amend the Laws now in force Act of 1819: for Establishing Public Schools in the several Districts of this Province, and to 59th Geo. 3, ch. extend the provisions of the same," and the Act of the said Parliament, passed in 4. the Seventh Year of the Reign of King William the Fourth, and intituled: "An Act of 1837: 7th Act to Repeal part of an Act passed in the Fifty-ninth Year of the Reign of His Will. 4, ch. 106. late Majesty King George the Third, intituled : An Act to Repeal part of, and to amend the Laws now in force fer Establishing Public Schools in the several Districts of the Province, and to establish the Public School for the London District in the Town of London ;" and the Act of the Parliament of their Province, passed in the Session held in the Fourth and Fifth Years of Her Majesty's Reign,

9th Vict. ch. 19.

Act of 1850:

and intituled: "An Act to make Temporary Provision for the appropriation of Act of 1841: the Funds derived from the Sale of School Lands in that part of the Province 4th and 5th Vict. formerly Upper Canada, and for other purposes;" and the Act of the Parliament ch. 19. of this Province, passed in the Ninth year of Her Majesty's Reign, and intituled: "An Act to Amend the Act therein mentioned, relating to the appropria- Act of 1846: tion of Monies derived from the Sale of School Lands in Upper Canada ;" and the Act of the Parliament of this Province, passed in the Session held in the Thirteenth and Fourteenth Years of Her Majesty's Reign, and intituled : 66 An Act to provide for the Payment of a sum of Money therein mentioned, for the 13th and 14th use and support of Three additional Grammar Schools in the County of York, for Vict. ch. 91. the year One Thousand Eight Hundred and Forty-nine;" and the Act of the Parliament of this Province, passed in the Session held in the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Years of Her Majesty's Reign and intituled: "An Act to Repeal the Act of 1851 : provisions limiting the Distance between the County Town and any additional 14th and 15th Grammar School in the same County in Upper Canada ;" all other Laws and Vict. ch. 55, Statutes, relating to the Grammar Schools, or Grammar School Monies, in Upper inconsistent Canada, so far as they are contrary to the provisions of this Act, shall be, and the with this Act same are hereby, repealed from and after the day that this Act shall come into repealed. force.

and other laws

Provided always, That all appointments of Trustees, Masters, or Teachers, of Proviso.
Grammar Schools. shall continue in force, as if made under the authority of this
Act, until revoked, or changed, according to the provisions of the same.

XVIII. And be it enacted, That this Act shall have force and effect upon, Commencement from, and after, the first day of January, One Thousand Eight Hundred and of Act. Fifty-four, and not before.

*For particulars as to establishment of these Meterological Stations in Upper Canada, see the Correspondence with the Directors of the Provincial Observatory, in a subsequent Chapter of this Volume. See also, on this subject, the Proceedings of the Senate of the University of Toronto during 1853.

10 D. E.

CHAPTER XIII.

DRAFTS OF BILLS ON EDUCATIONAL SUBJECTS, 1852-1853.

The first of Documents which I insert in this Chapter is the Draft of a proposed University Bill of a general and comprehensive character, prepared by the Chief Superintendent of Education, after consultation on the subject with the Honourable Inspector-General Hincks, who, in 1852, had charge of the Educational Legislation, in the House of Assembly, on behalf of the Government. Subsequently, the Honourable William B. Richards, Attorney General, took charge of this legislation.

On its being drafted, the proposed University Bill was sent to the InspectorGeneral,* accompanied by a Letter, containing a full explanation of the projected Scheme, and of its various details.

This Letter contains a very sharp criticism on the management of the University of Toronto in the early Fifties, and points out, in strong language, the striking failure of the University to induce more than a very small attendance of students, at its Lectures. This Letter is the more notable from the fact that it foreshadowed, the memorable arraignment, on the same lines, of the University and its management which took place at Quebec in 1860, 62,-nearly ten years after this Letter was written.

The reply of Mr. Hincks to this Letter is also given in this Chapter. The following is a copy of the Chief Superintendent's Letter to Mr. Hincks, dated the 11th of July, 1852 :—

GENERAL OBSERVATIONS AND REFLECTIONS ON UNIVERSITY EDUCATION.

According to promise, I now proceed to state in writing the result of my observations and reflections on that part of the System of Public Instruction in Upper Canada which relates to a Provincial University and to University Colleges.

In order to prevent any misapprehension of the views and suggestions I venture to submit, I beg to make a few preliminary remarks.

EXPLANATORY AND PRELIMINARY REMARKS ON THE CHARACTER OF THIS LETTER.

(1) I have always been accustomed to contemplate and discuss public questions from a Provincial, rather than from a Denominational, point of view,--in reference to their bearing upon the condition and interest of the Country at large, and not upon those of particular Religious Persuasions, as distinct from public interests, or upon the interests of any one Religious Persuasion, more than those of another. And this, I think, is the true difference between a mere Sectarian and a Patriot,-between considering the Institutions and Legislation and Government of a Country in a Sectarian, or patriotic, spirit. The one places his Sect above his Country, and supports, or opposes, every public Law, or Measure of Government just as it may, or may not, promote the interest, of his own Sect, irrespective of public interests, and in rivalship with those of other Sects; the other views the well-being of the Country as the great end to be proposed and pursued, and the Sects as among the instrumentalities tributary to that end. Some, indeed, have gone to the extreme of viewing all the Religious Persuasions as evils to be dreaded, and, as far as possible, proscribed, rather than as

A copy of this Draft of Doctor Ryerson's proposed University Bill is inserted immediately at the end of this Letter, which accompanied it.

distinct agencies, more or less. promotive of morality and virtue, and their rivalships tending to stimulate to greater activity, and, therefore, as a whole, more beneficial than injurious.

(2) My second preliminary remark is, that, as the Educational, as well as other, Institutions of a Country, must have reference to, and be greatly modified by, its social state and character; so, in the Collegiate, as well as in the Elementary Department of Public Instruction, the Religious Persuasions of the Country cannot be disregarded, as they form some of the most powerful and important of the Social elements, which enter into the Constitution of the Moral and Intellectual character of the people of the Country. In Upper Canada the number of people who would theoretically, or practically, exclude Christianity in all its forms, as an essential element in the education of the Country, is exceedingly small; and to base any of our Educational Institutions upon the sentiment of such persons will inevitably ensure their abandonment and rejection by the people at large. A System of Education, whether Collegiate, or Elementary, which ignores the Religious sentiment of a people, cannot prosper, or long exist, among them, except by coercion. I believe it was a mistake on this important,-I may say, vital,-point, in the University Legislation of 1849 which has placed the Toronto University in its present solitary and ignoble position,-defended by nobody, cared for by nobody but by its salaried Officers and paid Students, without a single self-paying Freshman in the Undergraduate Course, every one of the six Freshmen, (for there are only six,) having a Scholarship, and, therefore, receiving pecuniary aid, as well as instruction, from the University. The advisers of the Crown in 1849 clearly designed to abolish Denominational ascendancy in the University; but the pressure, under the influence of which, the details of the Bill, in regard to Religious Instruction, were framed, was hostile to any Religious teaching of Students by any Denomination whatever; and, when a Bill remedying that error was introduced in the following year and passed into a law, the pressure upon the Government against any sort of regard to the views of the Religious Persuasions of the Country was such as to prevent the adoption of any proceedings which might have issued in securing their co-operation. It is remarkable, that, while scrupulous care was taken to secure the interest and fulfil the highest possible expectations of every person at all connected with the University,--how much soever he might have profited by the System which it was found necessary to change; not only was nothing done to induce, and facilitate, the co-operation of the Religious Persuasions, who had evinced the deepest interest in promoting the higher branches of Education, but it was deemed necessary, in deference to the anti-denominational spirit of a small junto of persons, to avoid the very appearance of communication with the Representatives of any Religious Persuasion on the subject. The result is what might have been expected under such circumstances. Instead of any one of the four most numerous Religious Persuasions in the Country, giving the Provincial University their support, and associating their Institutions with it, they have each turned their back upon it, and proceeded, with renewed effort, to establish and promote separate Institutions of their own, and with unprecedented success, while the Provincial University, with its prestige of Professors, means and patronage, has not twenty Students, in the three years Undergraduate Course, and only six in the first year of the Course, and all of them assisted by the funds of the Institution.

(3). Nor is there the least prospect of the Provincial University advancing in public confidence and support; but, on the contrary, I think there is little reason to doubt, but it will decline more and more. It is true, as I believe, there is not a more accomplished Classical Scholar in America than the President of the Toronto University; but it is a notorious fact, that the sixty, or seventy, young men who have graduated at the University since its establishment, have not at all distinguished themselves in the several professions into which they have entered, from the same number of other young men who have entered the professions from any of the other less endowed Colleges, or even Academies of the Country. It may be fairly assumed that young men who have graduated at the Toronto University have, on an average, equal natural talents with the professional young men who have received their preparatory training in the other Educational Institutions of the Country, and that if, therefore, the Toronto University conferred such unrivalled benefits upon the Country, its Graduates would be preeminently distinguished by that elevation of character, that grasp of mind, that refinement of taste, in a word, by those elements of mental greatness and superiority which superior mental and moral discipline, comprehensive and thorough scholastic and scientific training, do not fail to impart. I have certainly no disposition to undervalue the labours of the University; but I am sure that the warmest of its advocates, (if it still has any beyond the circ e of parties pecuniarly interested,) cannot claim the exclusive Endowment of the University upon the ground of this appeal to fact. Nor is it pretended, that either the quantity, or quality, of the University teaching has been improved. On the contrary, it has been maintained by the Authorities of the University, that its Course of Studies and System of Instruction were in no respect inferior to those of the English Universities.

(4). Then, there is the fact, and a painful fact it is, --that, whether a student keeps, or violates, the Sabbath,-attends Public Worship, or frequents taverns,-is virtuous, or vicious,

is no matter of concern in the University; in respect to the oversight of which, each Student may say, as if he were in the land of pagan darkness and death, no man careth for my soul." I do not think that this may be so, constituted as the University now is; it is not so in the administration of the Provincial Normal School. But it is certain, that few parents in Upper Canada, would entrust their sons from home, and during the most eventful years of their educational training, under the care of any Institution, whose authority and oversight never extend to those principles, habits and dispositions, without which the best educated man is but an accomplished knave and a curse, rather than a blessing, to a community.

(5). If an examination were instituted, it would also be found that, comparing the annual expenditure of University Funds with the annual number of University Graduates more than twice as large a sum has been expended as would have been required to send each of those Graduates to the best University in America, or Europe, and pay all the expenses of his journeys, residence, Books, Lectures, clothing, etcetera. And the yearly income of the Institution is rapidly increasing, while the number of Students is yearly diminshing.

(6). Under these circumstances, I see no economical, or public, grounds on which the present system of University expenditure and instruction can be justified; nor do I think the public feeling, when the subject comes to be discussed, will suffer such an application, or rather waste, of the most splendid University Endowment in America to be perpetuated. As now expended, this Endowment is injurious, rather than advantageous, to all the leading Religious Persuasions of the Province, and, self defence, as well as other considerations, will prompt them to unite with that portion of the people who deem no State University Endowment necessary, to abolish it altogether, and apply the proceeds to purposes of Common School Education.

II. THE QUESTION DISCUSSED AS TO HOW THE UNIVERSITY CAN BE MADE MORE USEFUL.

The question then arises, in what way can the University Endowment be applied, so as to render it most useful to the Country at large, and so as to interest all classes in perpetuating it inviolate for the purposes originally contemplated by their deriving manifest advantages from its application.

2. The first step to a "consummation so devoutly to be wished" is, that the system of University Education, to which the Endowment should be inviolably applied, should be such as will receive the approval and support of the great body of the people,-especially of the better educated classes. This can only be done by the recognition of the principle regarded as important and vital by more than nine-tenths of the people,-namely, Religious Instruction and oversight, forming an essential part of the education of the youth of the Country. I believe that no attempt to deny,-to counteract, or to evade, the recognition and application of this principle can succeed, in respect to either Common School, or University, Education. I lay it down then as a fundamental principle, that Religious Instruction must form a part of the Education of the Youth of our Country, and that, Religious Instruction must be given by the several Religious Persuasions to their youth respectively. The Common Schools are, as a general rule, brought within an hour's walk of each family in the land; and, therefore, the oversight and duties of the Parents and Pastors of the children attending those Schools, are not, in the least suspended, or interfered with. The Constitution, or Order of Discipline and Liturgy of each Religious Persuasion enjoins upon its Clergy and Members the duty of teaching their children the summary of Religious Faith and Practice, which is required to be taught to the children of the Members of each such Persuasion. To require, therefore, any sort of Denominational teaching in the Common Day School is not only a work of supererogation, but a direct interference with the liturgical, or disciplinary, codes and functions of each Religious Persuasion, and thus providing by law for the neglect of clerical and parental duties, by transferring those duties to the Common School Teacher, and thus also sanctioning the neglect of a positive duty on the part of Pastors and Parents, which must, in a high degree, be injurious to the interests of public morals. The demand for Denominational Day Schools which has been raised by two, or three, Ecclesiastics in Upper Canada, is as improper and unjust as it is unpatriotic and selfish.* It is practically a demand that the Schoolmaster shall do the personal work of the Clergyman, and that the State shall pay him for it; a scheme under which the expenses of educating the whole people would be multiplied many fold, and, under which, a large portion of the poorer Youth of the Country would be left without any means of education, upon terms within reach of the pecuniary resources of their parents, unless, at the expense of their Religious Faith. Economy, as well as Patriotism requires the Schools for all to be open to all upon equal terms, and upon principles common to all,-leaving to each Religious Persuasion the performance of its own recognized and appropriate duties in the

* This demand is strongly put forth in a Charge to his Clergy by Bishop Strachan as will be seen by reference to that Charge in another part of this Volume.