Documentary History of Education in Upper Canada

IV. Explanatory Remarks to School Trustees in regard to Financial Matters.. 302
V. Duties of Teachers of Common Schools, under the Act of 1846
VI. General Remarks in regard to the Status of School Teachers..
VII. Duties of Common School Visitors, under the Act of 1846..
VIII. Appeals to the Chief Superintendent of Education, under the Act of 1846. 304
CHAPTER XVI, REMINISCENCES OF SUPERANNUATED COMMON SCHOOL TEACHERS

1. Michael Gallagher. 2. Adam Robinson. 3. J. Bremner. 4. James
Elliott. 5. Patience S. Courtney. 6. James Robinson.
Palmer. 8. William Gorman. 9. Robert Phillips.
O'Sullivan.

11. John Monaghan. 12. Pringle Shaw.
C. Clark. Mr. A. Shaw, Trustee, Kingston..

7. J. W. 10. Patrick

13. James

303

304

305

CHAPTER I.

HISTORICAL SKETCH OF THE FOUNDATION AND PROSPECTS OF QUEEN'S COLLEGE, KINGSTON, IN 1842.

IN A SERIES OF LETTERS TO THE HONOURABLE WILLIAM MORRIS, BY THE REVEREND ROBERT MCGILL.

In Chapters I.-V. of the Fifth Volume of this Documentary History, I have given, in extended form, the Proceedings of the Presbyteries and Synods of the Church of Scotland in Canada, which led to the establishment of Queen's College at Kingston.

On page 11 of Chapter III. of that Volume, the reasons why Queen's College was established are given. In substance they were, that the adherents of the Church of Scotland in Upper Canada were:

"Led to make efforts for the support of a separate Presbyterian University, only when, as it appeared to them that all hope was precluded of having King's (Anglican) College placed on a footing, such as should commend the confidence of the public in general."

These being the circumstances, under which Queen's College was first projected and established, it will be understood, that the scheme must have been, in its early stages, somewhat tentative in its character. It was not, therefore, and could not, at the time, be so carefully, or systematically, thought out, as if it had been an original plan, drawn up with deliberation. Nor could it, in its development, be guarded against the contingencies which embarrassed the promoters of that College for many years. These difficulties and contingencies are graphically set forth in the correspondence relating to a special endowment for Queen's College, printed in Chapter VI. of the Fourth Volume of this History.

Of these difficulties and embarrassments, there was one Chronicler, who was a typical chiel amang" his fellows, “takin' notes," which he afterwards printed. This Chronicler was the Reverend Robert McGill, of Niagara, a Moderator of Synod, and one of the Trustees of Queen's College, which was first named on the Royal Charter of that Institution, which was granted, under the Privy Seal of Her Majesty, in October, 1841.

This gentleman published, in 1846, a series of elaborate Letters-seven in number-"On the Conditions and Prospects of Queen's College, Kingston, addressed to the Honourable William Morris, Chairman of the Board of Trustees" of that College. Mr. Morris, as will be seen from Volume Five of this History, was one of the principal and most active of the promoters of Queen's College.

The first of the series of these Letters criticises, with more or less pungency, the proceedings of his co-Trustees, as indicating undue haste, or want of thoughtful circumspection, in directing things to be done, while not at the same time foreseeing-and providing for-difficulties in the way of their being done, which seemed to be very apparent to him. Most of this criticism may have been unjust, and may have been, (as is too often the case,) based upon after-knowledge, and in the light of subsequent events.

It is not my intention to give more space to this kind of criticism than what may seem to be necessary to give fulness and completeness to the narrative, as a whole. For, after all, the Letters only reveal the state of affairs as they were in the early forties, and as they formed part of the then current history of the College and its early vicissitudes, which it may be desirable and interesting to know.

Such, too, in other forms, was the chequered history, as recorded in previous Volumes of this work, of King's College and Victoria College, and, to some extent, of Regiopolis College. In fact such was, almost invariably, the staple and, practically, the only kind of history of these Colleges, which has been recorded of the early days of their existence, and which has come down to us.

This series of Letters, by the Reverend Robert McGill, was begun in 1842; but they were not published until 1846, when Mr. McGill appended to them a Note," written four years after the Letters themselves were penned. In that "Note," addressed, as were the Letters, to the Honourable William Morris, Mr. McGill explained the reason for the publication. I have not abridged, or curtailed, this "Note," because, as may be inferred, it contained "the sober, second thought" of the Writer of the Letters themselves; but, in that " Note" no part of the hostile criticism in the Letters was withdrawn; and, therefore, it must be assumed that, at all events, the criticism was, in the main, not hypercritical.

The chief value of these Letters, written nearly sixty years ago, is that they record, even in a somewhat censorious spirit, the history, the varying fortunes, the discouragements and vicissitudes through which Queen's College-equally with King's, Victoria and Regiopolis Colleges-passed in its early days.

SKETCH OF THE REVEREND ROBERT MCGILL, WRITER OF THESE LETTERS.

Miss Janet Carnochan of Niagara, in her historical paper on St. Andrew's Church, Niagara, 1794-1894, gives a sketch of the Writer of this series of Letters. on Queen's College in its early days. She says that :

In 1829 a call was sent to the Presbytery of Glasgow, offering One Hundred and Fifty pounds (£150) as the salary of a Minister for St. Andrew's. The result was that the Reverend Robert McGill was ordained there to the office of Minister of St. Andrew's Church, Niagara. After further remarks, Miss Carnochan says that :-To the zeal of the Reverend Robert McGill is due the Congregational Library of St. Andrew's, as, through his influence, many books were presented from friends in Scotland. In 1839, in acknowledgement of sacrifices made by Mr. McGill. by remaining in Niagara, instead of accepting a call to Glasgow, a subscription

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