JOURNAL OF EDUCATION. TORONTO, AUGUST, 1850. NOTICE TO THE CANADIAN PUBLIC. JOURNAL OF EDUCATION THE MEDIUM OF ALL OFFICAL NOTICES, &c., FROM THE EDUCATION OFFICE FOR UPPER CANADA. Copy of a Letter from the Chief Superintendent of Schools to the Provincial Secretary. EDUCATION OFFICE, Toronto, 16th July, 1850. Sm:-I have the honor to submit to the favourable consideration of His Excellency the Governor-General in Council, the propriety and advantage of my being authorized to make the Journal of Education for Upper Canada the medium of Official Notices, Instructions, &c., to the Municipal Councils, Superintendents, and other officers concerned in the administration of the School Law. This will be a great saving of expense in postage, a convenience to this Department, and to all parties concerned, and a means of diffusing much practical information on School matters. In the neighbouring State of New-York, this practice has long obtained in the School Department. The State Superintendent is authorized to subscribe annually to the amount of $2,400 for some monthly School Journal of which he approves, to be supplied to each School District (called School Sections with us), throughout the State, and to make such Journal the medium of publishing the School law, and communicating on School matters with local' School authorities. The Educational Journal selected, is not edited, but only approved of by the State Superintendent. On the contrary, I have assumed both the labour and responsibility of editing and publishing a monthly Educational Journal. The 15th clause of the New School Bill, which passed the Legislative Assembly last week, makes it the duty of each Corporation of Trustees to procure, annually, for the benefit of their School Section, some periodical devoted to Education. I suppose, that, generally, if not universally, Trustees will feel it their interest and "duty" to procure the Journal of Education for Upper Canada. Making that Journal the medium of official notices, communications, &c., would add to its value and usefulness, and render all parties interested in the School system desirous of procuring it; and as I purpose to continue to do as I have done,-devote every farthing received on account of the Journal of Education in defraying the mechanical expenses of its publication, every additional subscriber will enable me to increase its value. by illustrations in different departments of art, science, and natural history, and make other improvements, which I cannot undertake without a large subscription. The convenience and practical benefits of the suggestion which I now submit, may be inferred from the following extracts from reports by the Superintendent of Schools in the State of New-York. In his report for 1847, (pages 53, 54,) he says, "The State subscription to this periodical [District School Journal] has been continued by the undersigned [the Honorable N. S. BENTON] since his appointinent, under the full conviction of its necessity and importance, not only as a convenient medium of transmitting and diffusing the orders, regulations, and decisions of the Department, and the various laws passed by the Legislature, in relation to Common Schools to every School officer in the State, but as a most useful agent in promulgating interesting and important information equally beneficial to the public." The present State Superintendent of Schools, (the Honorable C. MORGAN) in his School Report to the Legislature (page 14) for 1849, received by me a few weeks since, says,-"The continuance of the annual appropriation for a monthly periodical, exclusively devoted to the subject of Education, and which shall serve as a medium of communication between this Department and the officers and inhabitants of the several School districts, is respectfully recommended." I do not propose that any Notices, Circulars, Acts, &c., inserted in the Journal of Education, should be charged as advertisements; REV. SIR,-I am directed by the Governor-General to state, in reply to your letter of the 16th instant, that His Excellency has been pleased to direct me to communicate to you his approval of the plan therein proposed, viz.: of making the Journal of Education the medium of communicating Official Notices, Instructions, &c., from your Department to Municipal Councils, Superintendents, and other persons concerned in the administration of the School Law in Upper Canada. I have the honor to be, Rev. Sir, Your most obedient Servant, (Signed) The Reverend J. LESLIE, Secretary. In accordance with the foregoing correspondence, we hope the Journal of Education will find its way into every Municipality and School Section in Upper Canada. Several Municipal Councils and many Trustees have already requested it. We hope all others will do the same. Trustees will not, of course, do so at their own personal expense, but at that of the School Section for which they act. And to private individuals, who wish to be informed on all School matters, and educational subjects generally, the payment of five skillings a-year is a very small sacrifice in comparison of the advanta- ́ ges and satisfaction secured by it. LEGISLATIVE PROCEEDINGS--NEW COMMON SCHOOL ACT FOR UPPER CANADA. In the last number of this Journal we inserted the new Common School Act for Upper Canada, and all the Forms, Instructions and Regulations for conducting all proceedings under it. In the present number, we insert Circulars to the various Municipal Councils, Local Superintendents, Trustees and Teachers on the principles and provisions of the Act, and the best means of giving them the greatest possible effect. We have only now to make two remarks, respecting the proceedings of the Legislature on this measure, and to give a summary view of its characteristics. The proceedings of the Legislature indicate that this Act was no party measure. It was considered as a Provincial measure; and as such, it received the sanction of all parties in the Legislature. Considering the experience of past years, and past legislation› ‹ón the Common School Law, and the circumstances under which the present Act was brought before the Legislature, and the careful and protracted examination and discussion of all its details, it may be justly regarded as embodying the deliberate judgment of each branch of the Legislature, and of all parties in it, as to the principles and provisions of the Common School Law for Upper Canada. The. friends of education throughout the Province, may therefore be satisfied that the present law in all its leading features will be perma nent, and that future Legislation will be confined to the correction of such defects as experience may detect, and the supply of such wants as the progress of education may create. We fervently hope that the amity and unanimity of all parties in the Legislature in passing the law, will be but the harbinger of the amity and unanimity of all parties throughout Upper Canada in carrying it into execution. Our second remark is of individual reference. It is well known that for years the personnel of the Chief Superintendent of Schools, and the principles and machinery of the Common School system which he has endeavoured to establish in Upper Canada, have been variously and largely discussed. The deliberate judgment of the country, through its Representatives of all parties in Parliament, has at length been pronounced on these subjects, in the manner of dealing with the salary, the department, and the recommendations of the Chief Superintendent of Schools; and that judgment thus pronounced, amounts, not only to a vote of confidence, but approval of the proceedings which he has adopted for the introduction and establishment of a system of Normal, Model and Common Schools for Upper Canada. He cannot, therefore, but view these proceedings of the Legislature with feelings of intense and grateful satisfaction, and as the strongest additional obligation which the approving voice of Parliament can impose, to consecrate himself with fresh confidence and devotion to the educational elevation of his native country. 5. It makes more effectual provision than has hitherto been made, for calling and conducting school-meetings for all purposes and at all times required by the interests of schools; and gives to Trustees means and facilities for procuring proper books, apparatus, &c., and for sustaining their school, not conferred by any preceding Act. 6. It provides for a more effective sysem than has yet been provided, for the examination and licensing of School-teachers, the inspection of the schools, and for school lectures—relieving local Superintendents of the responsibility and trouble of keeping accounts of moneys, and providing for their appointment and remuneration in a manner calculated to secure the best and most experienced men in each County for School Superintendents; and thus increasing the efficiency of the department of local inspection, which is regarded in all school countries as a most vital part of an effective system of public instruction. 7. It provides a protection and security to the just rights and interests of Teachers, not heretofore extended to them; while it provides corresponding means to enable Trustees to perform their duties and fulfil their engagements. 8. It provides more effectually than heretofore for supplying all the schools with proper text-books; and makes provision also for the establishment, miantenance and management of School-librariesa matter of the utmost importance to the whole country. It again authorizes the visitation of the schools by the Clergy generally, and other official persons, whose gratuitous visits and attention to the interests of schools for two or three years (in consequence of the provision of the law) exceeded the expectations of the most san As to the characteristics of the new Act, we remark, that while it is based upon the same great principles of co-operation between the Legislature and Government, and the local Municipalities throughout the Province, and of general supervision of the schools, as have existed since 1843, it provides for the important improve-guine friends of education, and proved most beneficial in elevating ments suggested by experience, in the several parts and details of the school law. 1. It arranges under distinct heads, and specifies in the plainest language, the duties of the several parties who have to do with the administration of the school system; an arrangement and classification which were entirely lost sight of in the School Bill of last year. 2. It provides by a simple, cheap and equitable mode for settling at least nine-tenths of the most perplexing difficulties which have arisen in years past, (and for which no provision exists in the bill of last year, or in any preceding act,) relating to the sites of schoolhouses, accounting for the expenditures of school-moneys in Schoolsections, adjusting financial disputes between Trustees and Teachers; thus saving the trouble attending appeals on such matters either to the Chief Superintendent of Schools, or to the Municipal Councils, the members of which are paid by the day, and days of whose time in successive sessions have been spent in the investigation of such matters, attended by more or less of the parties concerned during the whole of the proceedings. 3. It secures to the freeholders and householders in each schoolsection the right and the power, without any external interference whatever, of supporting their school in their own way, whether by voluntary subscription, rate-bills for pupils, or assessment according to property; a right and power which were but partially possessed under the School Act of 1846, and which were materially abridged, to the great embarrassment of Trustees, by the Bill of last year. 4. It protects School-sections against changes in their boundaries without their own consent, and secures to them the right of disposing of their own school property, when expedient, and of fairly and properly applying the proceeds of it; a right which was never before enjoyed by School-sections and parties contributing to purchase school-sites and the building of school-houses. and advancing it in popular estimation. 10. It makes better provision than has heretofore been made against the loss, perversion and diminution of any part of the Common School Fund, with a sufficient provision at the same time for the exigencies of any new or poor school-sections in any County. 11. It provides for a co-ordinate, but distinct and complete system of schools adapted to the circumstances of Cities, Towns and incorporated Villages. 12. While it provides for these improvements in the different parts and branches of our School system, it carefully guards, in the mode of introducing these improvements, against any derangement or confusion in our present school operations. Educational Intelligence. CANADA OFFICIAL APPOINTMENTS-EDUCATIONAL DEPARTMENT, U. C. HIS EXCELLENCY THE GOVERNOR GENERAL has been pleased to make the following appointments, viz: The Reverend Egerton Ryerson, D.D., to be Chief Superintendent of Schools for Up per Canada, under the Act of the present Session of Parliament for the better establishment and maintenance of Common Schools in that part of the Province. John George Hodgins, Esquire, and Mr. Thomas Hodgins, to be First and Becond Clerks, respectively, in the Education Office, U. C. The following persons to be and compose the Council of Public Instruction for Upper Canada, under the aforesaid Act, viz. : The Reverend Egerton Ryerson, D.D., Chief Superintendent of Schools i The Right Reverend François Marie de Charbonnel, D.D., Roman Catholic Bishop of Toronto ; The Reverend Henry James Grasett, A.M.; the Honble. Samuel Bealey Harrison, Q.C.; Joseph Curran Morrison, Esquire, M.P.P.; Hugh Scobie and James Soon. Howard. Esquires. The Reverend John Jennings, and the Reverend Adam Lillie. John George Hodgins, Esquire, to be Recording Clerk to said Counell. The Honourable Francis Hincks, to be the Crown Mamber and Chairman of the Eu dowment Board of the University of Toronto, and Upper Canada College and Royal Grammar School. No. 16.-Blank form of Certificate given at the close of the first and second sessions of the Normal School, to each student on leaving the Institution, 162 No. 17.-Blank Form of Certificate given at the close of the third, fourth and fifth sessions of the Normal School, to each student then ir attendance and deemed worthy of it, No. 19.-Blank form of authority to the Masters of the Normal School to examine and admit Candidates whose certificate of moral character had been approved of by the Chief Superintendent of Schools,... 163 .... 164 Revised Terms of Admission into the Normal School, Toronto, Adopted the 12th of April, 1850, by the Board of Education for Upper Canada.-The Board of Education anxious to adopt such measures as appear best calculated to render the training of the Normal School as thorough as possible, and to diffuse its advantages over every County in Upper Canada as equally and as widely as possible, adopts the following regulations in regard to the duration of the future Session of the Normal School, and the mode and terms of admitting and facilitating the attendance of Students at that Institution. PAGES. i, ii No. 19.-Blank form of requisition for any article required in the Normal and Model School for Upper Canada, . .. .. .. 1-5 5-8 8-10 10-12 .... IX. School Visits, 12, 13 13-15 13-33 33-35 35-37 37-39 121 TABLE F. School visits-by Local Superintendents, by Clergymen, Councillors, Magistrates, and other persons-Libraries, Common School, Sunday School and Public-Number of volumes therein-School requisites, maps, globes, black-boards, &c.-Colleges, Academies, Grammar and Private Schools-Students and pupils therein, and branches of study, ........ 118-120 TABLE G.-District Model School-Masters and pupils-Moneys-Miscellaneous, TABLE H. Normal and Model School for Upper Canada-Receipts and expenditure of the annual grant of £1,500, &c., and of an additional £500 granted to facilitate the attendance of students, ....... TABLE I. General Statistical Table, exhibiting the gross attendance of students at the Normal School, since its establishment in 1847-(five sessions)-the amount of weekly aid granted to them during each session-their religious faith and the Districts from which they attended, &c.-in three abstracts, numbered 1, 2, and 3, ... 123-125 APPENDIX. 122 No. 3.-General Statistical Abstract, exhibiting the state and progress of Edu- No. 4.-Circular addressed by the Chief Superintendent of Schools to the Dis- No. 7.-Address to the Inhabitants of Upper Canada-continued-Encouragement to persevere in the cause of Common School Education.-By the -Chief Superintendent of Schools, ..... 144-145 No. 8-Revised Terms of Admission to the Normal School, Toronto, ..... 146 No. 9.-Teachers Institutes in Upper Canada-a circular from the Chief Superintendent of Schools to Teachers, Superintendents, and other officers of Common Schools throughout Upper Canada, appointing a time and place for holding a Teachers' Institute in each County Town of Upper Canada, ...... 147 No. 10.-Blank form of Annual Report for 1849, furnished to each set of Common School Trustees in Upper Canada-in addition to the blank forms of Reports for Boards of School Trustees in Cities and Towns and District Buperintendents, furnished yearly, 148 No. 11.-Blank form of Annual Report, for 1849, furnished to each Board of Common School Trustees in Cities and Incorporate Towns, .... 119 No. 12.-Programme of the Semi-Annual Examination of the students and pupils in the Normal and Model Schools for Upper Canada, at the close of the winter session 1849-50, ORDERED-I. That there shall, during each twelve months, be one Session, which shall commence on the first Monday in September, and close the las; week in May. II. That no male Student shall be admitted under eighteen years of age, nor a female student under the age of sixteen years: nor unless, in addition to the qualifications heretofore specified for admission, (namely, to read and write intelligibly, and understand the simple rules of Arithmetic,) each Student be acquainted with the elements of Geography and English Grammar. III. That the weekly aid of five shillings each, heretofore allowed by the Board to approved Students to facilitate their attendance at the Normal School, shall be extended hereafter for a period of nine months, under the following regulations:-1st-The Students shall be admitted from the several Counties, Cities, and representative Towns in Upper Canada in proportion to the number of the Representatives in the Legislative Assembly: namely, three for every County member, and two for every member of a City and Town. The Township, Town and City Superintendents of Common Schools are requested to meet not later than the first Tuesday in August, (at least to the number of three) at ten o'clock, A. M., in the County Town, to examine candidates for admission into the Normal School during the ensuing Session, in accordance with the terms of admission prescribed by this Board, and recommend such as they shall judge qualified for admission, and worthy of the facilities of attendance afforded by this Board,-arranging such approved Candidates in the order of merit,-inserting the names of all whom they recommend, how many soever there may be-and forthwith transmitting their names to the Chief Superintendent of Schools. 2nd-Should any County, City, or representative Town not avail itself of the facilities here offered, a sufficient number of approved Candidates will be admitted from other places, beyond the proportion of Candidates above specified; and should not the complement of one hundred and twenty Students be thus recommended, the Board would receive a sufficient number of approved candidates, on examination, as heretofore, at the commencement of the Session. IV. That the foregoing Resolution is not to limit the number of Teachers-in-training to be admitted, on their personal application, (duly recommended) to free tuition, and the use of books, without the addition of any allowance for Board during the Session. V. That, in future, no private pupils be received into the Normal School, but that the Institution be confined exclusively, to the Instruction of Teachers-in-training; nor shall any persons be admitted as Students, unless, in addition to the qualifications required by the third Resolution, they produce a certificate of good moral character, signed by the Clergyman or Minister of the religious persuasion with which they are connected, and declare their intention to devote themselves to school-teaching, and that their object in coming to the Normal School is to qualify themselves better for the important duties of that profession. VI. That all Candidates for admission into the Normal School must present themselves during the first week, of the Session, otherwise they cannot be admitted: they shall board and lodge in such houses, and under such regulations as are approved by the Board of Education; and their continuance in the School is conditional upon their diligence, progress, and observance of the General Regulations prescribed by this Board. VII. That all communications be addressed to the Reverend Dr. RYERSON, Chief Superintendent of Schools, Toronto. By Order of the Board of Education for Upper Canada. EDUCATION OFFICE, Toronto, 12th April, 1850. N. B.--Board and lodging, for Students, may be obtained, at the Houses approved by the Board of Education, at from 7s. 6d. to 10s. per week. Messrs. Robertson and Hind, of the Normal School, Toronto, have been busily engaged during the recess in travelling through the Upper Province and lecturing on education and agricultural chemistry. Large assemblies of Teachers and others have been gathered on these occasions, and the results have proved highly gratifying. When we have a Normal School in Montreal, the Lower Canadians will also enjoy the advantage of Lectures. Perhaps it might not be amiss to procure some Lectures beforehand. We throw out this hint for the consideration of those concerned.-[Montreal Pilot, 13th August. Examination U. C. College.-The annual examination of the pupils of Upper Canada College, which took place last week, was highly satisfactory. His Excellency the Governor General was present at the distribution of prizes, and delivered an eloquent speech. The Governor General's prize was obtained by Chancellor Blake's son.-[1bid. Victoria College.-The friends of this Institution are informed that, in accordance with the decision of the Board of May last, arrangements are being made to commence the Winter Session at Cobourg, sometime in the month of September. [Christian Guardian. Acts relating to Education passed during the last Session of the Legislature and assented to by His Excellency.-An Act to remove certain doubts respecting the intention of the Act of the last Session of the Parliament of this Province for amending the Charter of the University of Toronto, and to provide for the institution and endowment of Regius and other Professorships, Lectureships, Fellowships, Schol arships, Exhibitions, Prizes, and other rewards in the said University, and for other purposes connected with the said University, and with the College and Royal Graminer School of Upper Canada College forming an appendage thereof. An Act for the better establishment and maintenance of Common Schools in Upper Canada. An Act to provide for the payment of the sum of money therein mentioned, for the use and support of three additional Grammar Schools in the County of York, for the year one thousand eight hundred and forty-nine. An Act to authorize the removal of the site of Victoria College from Cobourg to Toronto. An Act to incorporate the Saint John's Academy, L. C. Editorial Notices, &c. THE TIME OF THE NEW SCHOOL ACT COMING INTO OPERATION. -Every act of the Legislature comes into force as soon as it receives the Royal Assent, unless some express provision is made as to the future condition or period of its taking effect. The new School Act came into force the day on which it received the Royal Assent, and under its authority the Chief Superintendent and Council of Public Instruction have been appointed, the Legislative School Grant for the year has been apportioned, and all the Forms and Regulations have been adopted. All School proceedings in all the Counties and School Sections in Upper Canada must be conducted under its authority and according to its provisions. CORRECTION.-The Chapter of the new School Act for Upper Canada should be 48, instead of 9, as stated in the last number of this Journal. The number of the Chapter was set down as 9 in the list of Bills assented to by the Governor General on the 24th of July, some time before the close of the Session; but in classifying and arranging all the Bills which have been passed during the Session, and to which the Royal assent has been given, the chapter of the Common School Act for Upper Canada has been numbered 48. APPROPRIATION FOR NORMAL SCHOOL PREMISES AND BUILDINGS. The Legislature has made the handsome appropriation of £15,000 for procuring Premises and erecting Buildings for a Provincial Normal and Model School. It is intended to procure a sufficient quantity of ground for a Botanical Garden and Agricultural Experiments -80 as to furnish practical illustrations of the courses of instruction in Vegetable Physiology and Agricultural Chemistry. It is also intended to keep in view the contemplated establishment of a School of Art and Design, in the construction and accommodations of the Buildings, as well as the immediate objects of the Normal School. Accommodations will be likewise provided for the Education Office, and for a Depository of Apparatus and Books for School Libraries. This is the first appropriation which was ever made by the Canadian Legislature for the erection and permanent establishment of a Peoples' College, the direct object of which is to benefit the mass of the population. We indulge the hope that we are entering on a new era in the diffusion of popular education and useful knowledge in Upper Canada. TO CANDIDATES FOR ADMISSION TO THE NORMAL SCHOOL.For the information of such we again insert on page 127 of this Journal, the Revised Terms of Admission to the Normal School. We believe that very few county authorities have formally taken advantage of the provisions contained in these Terms of Admission. Therefore, candidates, with the required certificates of character, will be received, on examination, as heretofore, by the authorities of the Normal School, at the commencement of the Session. The next Session will commence the first Monday in September and close the last week in May. Candidates must present themselves during the first week of the Session. NOTICE TO TRUSTEES AND LOCAL SUPERINTENDENTS.-A sufficient number of the July and August numbers of the Journal of Education will be sent to each Local Superintendent in U. C., whose Post Office address is known at this Office, to furnish each Corporation of School Trustees within his jurisdiction with a copy of each. Answers to numerous inquiries, addressed to the Education Office, will be found in the various Circulars contained in this number. ANNUAL SCHOOL REPORT FOR UPPER CANADA FOR THE YEAR 1849. The contents of this Report will be found on the 127th page. The friends of Common Schoo! education will read with pleasure the following resolution, which was adopted by the Legislative Assembly two days before the close of the Session: "Hon. Mr. Price presented the Annual Report of the Normal, Model and Common Schools in Upper Canada, for the year 1849, by the Chief Superintendent of Schools. "On motion of Mr. Price, it was ordered, that a sufficient number of copies of the said Report be printed, to furnish a copy to each Municipal Council, Local Superintendent, and Common School Corporation in Upper Canada, exclusive of the usual number printed for the use of the Members of the House." TEACHERS AND EDUCATIONAL JOURNALS.-Among the Laws for the regulation of the Public Schools, in Alleghany, Pennsylvania, is the following,-"It shall be the duty of each Teacher to take at least, one Periodical devoted to Education." Ought not each Teacher in Canada be a law unto himself in this respect? Does he not owe it to himself, his professional reputation, nay, to his pecuniary interest, to take an educational periodical? CONTENTS OF THIS NUMBER. I.-CIRCULARS from the Chief Superintendent of Schools to the various Municipal and other officers concerned in the administration of the New Common School Act for Upper Canada, 13th and 14th Victoria, chapter 48, as follows: 1. To Wardens of Counties, on the duties of County Municipal Councils, under the new School Act, 2. To Mayors of Cities and Towns, on the duties of City and Town Councils, under the new School Act,.------- 3. To Townreeves, on the duties of Township Councils, under the new School Act,. 4. To Local Superintendendents of Common Schools, on their duties under the new School Act,..---. 5. To Trustees of Common Schools, on their duties under the new School Act,.... 6. To Teachers of Common Schools, on their duties under the new School Act.. 7. To County Clerks, notifying the apportionment of the Legislative School Grant for the year 1850, PAGE. 113-115 115 116-117 117-119 119-120 121-122 122-124 124 124 125-126 126-127 128 NOTICE TO TRUSTEES AND TEACHERS.-The following School Requisites may be obtained upon application to Mr. HODGINS, Education Office, Toronto: Any article of the School Apparatus (Small Globes, Orreries, Numeral Frames, &c.,) advertised in the June No. of this Journal, at the prices stated;-Reading Tablet Lessons, 1s. 4d.-Arithmetic, do. 2s. 4d.-Natural History and other Object Lessons, at various prices-National Maps and BooksJohnston's Agricultural Chemistry, 1s. 3d., &c. &c. &c. Toronto: Printed and published by THOMAS H. BENTLEY. TERMS: 5s. per annum in advance. No subscription received for less than one year, commencing with the January Number. Single Nos. 74d each. Back Numbers supplied to all new Subscribers. The 1st and 2nd Vols., neatly stitched, may be obtained upon application, price, 5s. each. All Communications to be addressed to Mr. HODGINS, Education Office, Toronto. WHAT COMMON SCHOOL EDUCATION CAN DO FOR A COUNTRY. no mines of the precious metals and little coal or iron; our climate is too severe or otherwise not adapted for any of the great agricultural staples, except Indian corn; and yet we have a population of a million. If the State of Texas were inhabited in the same proportion to the square mile, her population would equal that of the whole United States. At least I made a calculation some years ago, at the time of the first talk of annexation, that, according to the boundaries then claimed by Texas, she was twenty-six times as large as Massachusetts. How it would be with her present boundaries I do not know; I am not sure that she has any. In nearly all the Cities and Towns of the neighbouring States, public semi-annual examinations of the Elementary and better class of Schools take place under the direction of examining Committees appointed by the local School authorities for that purpose. These examinations are of several days continuance; and the examining Committees, at the close, report the results of their labours. In the City of Cambridge, Massachusetts, (the seat of Harvard. Well, sit, what is it that has led to this result, as far as MasUniversity) the examination of the Schools (all of which are free) took place the last week in July. The Cambridge Chronicle of the 8th of August says :— "The semi-annual examination of the Public Schools of this city, commenced on Thursday, July 25, with the Alphabet School, and was closed on Saturday, August 3rd, with the High School-the School Committee devoting nine days to the work. From all that we can learn we are satisfied our schools were never in a more flourishing condition than they are at the present time. We believe that it is now generally conceded that our mode of classification is one of the best that could have been devised. It consists of Alphabet, Primary, Middle, Grammar, and High School, and, we hope eventually to say, College. "It was our design to speak of the different classes of schools as they appeared on the examination; but, as the High School is a kind of focus to which all the others tend, we devote our paper to it. That which follows will show what a FREE SCHOOL, for the teaching of every thing short of College and extended scientific education, is capable of doing." Then follow the Report of the Committee on the examination of the High School, and an address from the Mayor of the City, who concluded by calling upon the Hon. EDWARD EVERETT, LL.D. (former Governor of the State, United States Minister to England, and President of Harvard College) to address the assembly. How delightful would it be to witness such examinations and proceedings twice a-year, in connexion with the Common Schools in every city and town in Upper Canada! What a brilliant prospect would it open up for our country to see the education of the people engaging the patriotic attention of the chief men in the land, and calling forth the public contributions of its first talent and learning in the periodical examinations and celebrations of Schools! Such contributions from the lips of the Honorable EDWARD EVERETT have often enriched our pages, no doubt to the gratification and profit of our readers. We shall, on the present occasion, omit those portions of his noble speech which relate to the High and other Common Schools at Cambridge, and lay before our readers that part of it which discusses the great question of patriotismthe great problem of the age-WHAT COMMON SCHOOL EDUCATION CAN DO FOR A COUNTRY. Mr. EVERETT proceeds as follows: "Our little State of Massachusetts covers about eight thousand square miles. Not much of the soil is of high fertility; we have chusetts is concerned? What has enabled our noble little State, on her rocks and her sands, and within her narrow limits,―to rear and support this rapidly increasing population;-what enables her, besides constantly sending forth a swarm of emigrants,—to keep at home a population far greater in proportion to her size than that of any other State ? "I take it that this result is mainly owing to the general intelligence of the community, promoted by many causes and influences, but mainly by the extension of the means of education to all the people. On this rock the corner stone of the infant settlement was laid; (I speak of human things) on this it has ever rested. I do not wish to claim anything for Massachusetts which is not strictly her due. I cheerfully concede to other States the possession, in some respects, of superior advantages. I acknowledge much that is good in all. I bear cheerful testimony to the liberal effort that have been made by some of them, and especially Connecticut and New-York, in this same good caus; but may I not claim for Massachusetts the palm in this respect? If the Genius of our common America should cast his eye over this great sisterhood of States, to see what they have done respectively for the education of their children, would he not apostrophize Massachusetts and say, 'many daughters have done virtuously, but thou excellest them all?' "But I do not wish to overstate the matter, and to ascribe too much to popular education as the cause of our prosperity. A great many other things, I know, have contribted to it. We have a temperate climate; our winters brace, while our summers are not long enough to enervate. Our soil, if not very fertile, no where generates disease. An extensive sea-board furnishes great facilities for commerce. Our granite and gravel make capital roads, and the former is an excellent material for building. Our abundant waterpower holds out great inducements to manufacturers. Then there are political and moral causes of prosperity of vast importance; free popular government, which extends an equal protection to all; -a greater degree of practical equality, then exists in any other highly civilized country;-a traditional respect for the law; a high state of public morals;--a pervading religious sentiment. All these are eminently conducive to the public prosperty. But I need not say, that some of these influences owe their existence to the intelligence which education has diffused and fostered in the community, and that all of them operate through that intelligence. Yes, sir, it is the intelligence of a people that makes its natural advantages available. "There are other regions of the earth as highly favoured as our State in all natural endowments. If you take a terrestrial globe and turn it round, so that every part of its surface which lies in the same latitude ;--this precious forty-second degree, (for our narrow little State does not in any part, I believe, run up to the forty |