-the only Collegiate Institution in the Province endowed at the public charge. If, as has been pleaded, the total exclusion of the Religious element became necessary, because of the impossibility of reconciling the different branches of the Christian Church existing among us, upon any Catholic basis, we regret the result all the more, on account of the alleged necessity; and we declare to your Excellency our belief that the catholic union of Christians in the matter of Public Education, whether common, or collegiate, is the duty of all Christians in the circumstances of this Country, and that if this Measure had been generally entertained, no effort would have been wanting on our part to promote it.

Signed at Kingston in Name, in Presence, and by appointment of the Synod of the Presbyterian Church of Canada, in connection with the Church of Scotland, by

KINGSTON, 17th July, 1849.

JAMES C. MUIR, Moderator.

III. EDUCATION PROCEEDINGS OF THE SYNOD OF THE (FREE) PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH IN CANADA, 1849.

In 1848, a Committee was appointed by the Synod to watch over any Bill which might be introduced into the Legislature for the amendment of the Charter of King's College. In 1849, that Committee reported verbally through the Reverend Doctor Robert Burns, Convener. The Report was sustained. It was then moved by Doctor Burns, seconded by Mr. McMurray and,—

Resolved, 1. That seeing that essential changes have been made in King's College by the Legislative Act of 1849, lately passed, and with the intention of putting the benefits of this Literary Endowment within the reach of all classes of Her Majesty's subjects in this Province, the Synod resolve to petition for such changes in the internal management of King's College as shall supesede the necessity of a separate Literary Establishment for our Knox College students, and with this view shall name a small Committee to hold intercourse with the Commissioners appointed, or to be appointed, to digest a plan for the adaptation of the studies of that Institution to the present state of this Province and the necessities of Evangelical Churches; resolving, at the same time, to give every countenance to the Toronto Academy as an elementary Institution, and to maintain in vigorous operation our own Institution of Knox College in its purely theological character.

It was moved by the Reverend John Bayne, seconded by the Reverend John M. Roger and Resolved. 2. That a Committee be appointed to consider what alterations in the internal management of King's College would be sufficient to warrant the Synod in reducing Knox College to a purely Theological Institution, to prepare a Petition to the Commissioners empowered to make such alterations; embodying the conclusions to which they may come, and to report to the Synod at a subsequent Session.

After lengthened discussion, the vote was taken, when there voted for Doctor Burns' motion, five; for Mr. Bayne's motion, twenty-eight; three Members declined voting.

The Reverend John Bayne's motion was accordingly declared to be the deliverance of the Synod.

The Synod called for the Report of the Committee on King's College. The Reverend Alexander Gale gave in the Report, which was read. After deliberation, the Synod adopted the following Resolution: That the Synod sustain and approve of the Report, and adopt its recommendations, and instruct the Committee to put themselves in communication, with the Commissioners that may be appointed under the amended King's College Act of 1849; and use every proper means to obtain the alterations in the University, recommended by the Committee, and the appointment of suitable Professors.

Subsequently the Reverend Alexander Gale gave in a Report from the Committee on King's College, when, after deliberation, it was agreed: That these Reports be received and sustained; and that the thanks of the Synod be given to the Committee, for the attention which they have given to the matters entrusted to them. That the College Committee endeavour to get such arrangements in the University of King's College, as will answer the purposes of Knox College, as they deem best, for the purposes of promoting its objects, and the advancement of the students in the prosecution of their studies.

The Committee appointed to draft a Constitution for Knox College, (as per Resolution inserted on page 266 of the Seventh Volume of this Documentary History,) submitted a Draft of such Constitution, including arrangements for its Government and Dicipline, and suggesting a Curriculum of Study for the College.

The Convener of the Committee, the Reverend William Reid, reported that he had, in accordance with the directions of the last Synod, written to the Reverend Doctor Cunningham of the New College, Edinburgh, but had received no answer; that he had, therefore, himself, prepared a very general outline of a proposed Constitution, and that, being unable to convene

the Members of the Committee he had transmitted the outline prepared to the Professors of Knox College, to obtain their assistance in filling up the details. The Reverend Alexander Gale, on behalf of the Professor's Court, reported a draft, Constitution, prepared, in consequence of the remit, from the Synod. The draft, Constitution was read, when, on motion made and seconded, it was agreed.-That the Synod approve generally of the draft Constitution submitted by the Professors' Court, and remit the same to them, with instructions to put the Draft in proper form, and transmit it forthwith to Presbyteries, which are hereby enjoined to report their opinions on the proposals contained in the same, on or before the 1st of March, 1850, in order that the Professors' Court may prepare a full Report, exhibiting the views of the Church, as thus obtained, to be laid before the Synod at the next ordinary Meeting. And further, that, in the meantime, the Professors' Court be authorized to take the recommendations of the Report, for their interim guidance, in conducting the business of the next Session of the College, so far as they find it practicable and expedient.

(NOTE. This interim Constitution gave general powers of discipline to the Senatus, or Professors' Court, of Knox College, and committed the general affairs of the College to a large Committee, which is appointed annually by the Synod.)

A Committee was appointed to consider the present and prospective state of the College fund, with authority, (after conference with the Professors), to determine whether any and what reduction can be effected in the present College expenditure, so as to bring it within the probable annual contributions of the Church, consistently with the efficiency of the Institution. The Committee was instructed to make an appeal to the Church, in behalf of the funds of the Institutiod. The Professors' Court was continued, and also the College Committee for the current year.

IV. THE METHODIST CHURCH AND THE UNIVERSITY QUESTION OF 1849.

As a Church, the Methodist people took no part in the discussions, pro or con, which took place in Upper Canada, in 1849, on the Baldwin University Bill of 1849. Neither the Board of Victoria College, nor the Conference, considered, or discussed, the matter in any form. The "Christian Guardian," or Conference Organ, controlled and edited at the time by the Reverend George R. Sanderson, refered to the Baldwin Bill in any thing but complimentary terms, but there was no official, or formal utterance of the Denomination, as such, on that Bill.

A Petition from the University of Victoria College, to the Legislature, asking for aid to the College will be found on pages 121-126 of this Volume.

What Mr. Sanderson said on the subject, I have compressed as follows:

In the discussion of this great Question, as we urged in 1847, political parties should be left out of sight and the Question settled upon its own intrinsic merits, irrespective of all parties. The wise and righteous settlement of this long-agitated subject is of incomparably greater importance to the present and future generations of our Country than the name of a political party by which this desideratum may be effected. A Measure ought to be esteemed good or bad, according to its merits, and should be opposed, or supported, accordingly, whether it be brought forward by Lord John Russell, or Sir Robert Peel, the Honourable J. A. Macdonald, or the Honourable Robert Baldwin. Such, at least, are our views of the required action of all Christian

men.

With such views we entered upon the discussion of the University Question in 1847; unchanged we take it up again in 1849. We judge of the Baldwin Bill before the Country upon its merits. We look to the principles upon which it is founded more than to its details, to its ultamate results upon community more than to its ability to satisfy the present noisy clamour of a small portion of the inhabitants of Upper Canada. We look to the Measure and lose sight of the men who support it, and those who oppose it.

The whole basis of the Bill is bad. It is founded upon principles subversive to the best interests of the Country,-principles alike repugnant to the Religious feelings of the great majority of the Canadian public, and to their sense of justice and good faith. We dwelt in our last number upon the godless character of the Measure, and showed that anything approaching to it could only be found in infidel France. This cannot be denied. And we ask, can any Measure, the great leading principle of which is a repudiation of Christianity, find favour with

the Religious people of Canada. Not merely is sectarianism excluded, but Religion itself is outlawed; those great principles on which all Christians agree, are shut out from the University by the provisions of the Bill. The leading principle of the Bill is then Infidelity.

Another of its leading principles is Centralization. It provides most amply for the secular instruction of the youth in and about Toronto; but for the thousand young men scattered over a territory six hundred miles in length, it makes no provision whatever. The favoured few residing in the City of Toronto and its vicinity will have easy access to the University; but the disfranchised many residing in and around Chatham, London, Brantford, Hamilton, Cobourg, Brockville, Perth and Bytown, must content themselves with such secular education as the Common School in their own neighborhood can furnish, while the means benevolently provided for their liberal education, conducted on Religious principles, are expended on the fortunate ones in Toronto. Can any sane man suppose that an equal amount of good can be accomplished by one Giant University in an extensive Province, as can be accomplished by a dozen University Colleges scattered over the whole. Is it possible to suppose that the same number of youth will be educated at one Institution, even were its position happily chosen, as would be instructed in several Institutions judiciously located. Many young men avail themselves of an education at Cobourg who would not do so, did not a College exist there, and many more attend College at Kingston who would never be the inmates of a College were they compelled to go to Toronto, in order to secure a University education. And still further eastward as well as westward of Toronto there are hundreds of whom similar remarks may be made.

The newspapers of the day ascribed this and other articles which appeared in the Christian Guardian on the University Question to the pen of the Reverend Doctor Ryerson. The Editor, Reverend George R.K(afterwards Doctor,) Sanderson positively stated in reply that Doctor Ryerson neither saw nor knew any thing about this, or other, articles on the subject, until they appeared in print. The Editor of the Montreal Register was incredulous, and frequently attacked Doctor Ryerson as, at least, the inspirer of such articles, and also that he knew something about a proposed division of the Endowment of King's College, as indicated in his Letter of the 17th of March, 1846, addressed to the Governor General, and printed on pages 104-106 of the Sixth Volume of this Documentary History. In his reply to the Montreal Register, Doctor Ryerson said :

"You know perfectly well that my Letter of the 17th March, 1846, was written in reply to an inquiry addressed to me, by the Government, as to the views and wishes of the Authorities of Victoria College on the University Question. I explained their views, quoting the Resolutions which they had, at different times, adopted on the subject; and I referred to no then existing plan of dividing the University Endowment, beyond the only two plans that had been mooted, already,-those of Messieurs Baldwin and Draper-the former by Mr. Baldwin, in 1843, which contemplated a provision for others than one College at Toronto, and the latter, by Mr. Draper, in 1845.

The University Measure of Mr. J. A. Macdonald, (who was not even a Member of Government in March, 1846,) was not introduced till the Summer of 1847, (more than a year after the date of my Letter,) and was as entirely unknown to me, as to yourself, until I read it in the reported proceedings of the Legislative Assembly . . ."

In a previous number of the Christian Guardian, the Editor thus pointed out, by way of contrast how the Legislature of the States of New York and Massachusetts did not concentrate their interest on one College in each State but with an equal hand made liberal grants to all. The Editor said :

The Albany Argus publishes "by authority" an Act passed at the recent Session of the Legislature appropriating portions of the income of the United States Deposit and Literature Funds to certain Colleges and Academies, and for other purposes.' The Act appropriates $3,000 in each year. for two years ending 1st of August, 1849, to each of the following Colleges, videlicet-Geneva College, (Episcopal,) New York University, Madison University, (Baptist), College, and Saint John's College at Fordham, Westchester County, (Roman Catholic.) It also appropriates $40,000 in each of the two years aforesaid, towards the support of certain Academies and Schools in the State; the apportionment to be made by the Regents of the University, on the usual basis.

The Joint Committee on Colleges in the Massachusetts Legislature, have reported in favour of allowing the School fund, now limited to $1,000,000 to accumulate to $1,500,000, and to divide the surplus interest, $30,000; among Cambridge, Amherst, and Williams' Colleges. This fund is also derived from the sale of public lands in Maine.

CHAPTER XIII.

MEASURES FOR THE IMPROVEMENT OF THE UPPER CANADA SCHOOL SYSTEM, 1849.

I EXPLANATORY REMARKS ACCOMPANYING A DRAFT OF BILL, MAKING FURTHER PROVISION FOR THE IMPROVEMENT OF THE SYSTEM OF COMMON SCHOOLS IN UPPER CANADA.

THE CHIEF SUPERINTENDENT OF EDUCATION TO THE PROVINCIAL SECRETARY.

I have the honour to transmit, for the consideration of the Governor General-in-Council, the annexed Draft of Bill for Upper Canada.

For convenience, I have included in the annexed Draft of Bill all the provisions of the Draft of Bill which I had the honour to transmit, with explanations, the 14th of last October.

The first fourteen Sections of the annexed Draft of Bill are identical with the Draft of Bill of the 14th of October; and I have nothing to add to the explanations and remarks on the Upper Canada School Law generally, which accompanied that Draft of Bill.*

The Fifteenth Section of the annexed Draft of Bill provides for giving legal effect to the proposition of the Provincial Board of Education, and the 4th of March last, and approved of by the Governor General in Council, as communicated in your Letter of the 31st of October.† The Proviso in this Section will show that it is not intended to encroach upon the amount of aid now given to the Common Schools of Upper Canada; and it will, therefore, not only guard the amount of aid thus given, but will also prevent any dissatisfaction arising in the minds of its recipients.

PROPOSAL FOR THE ESTABLISHMENT OF A SCHOOL OF ART AND DESIGN.

The Sixteenth Section proposes a small provision for the establishment of a Provincial School of Art and Design, on the vast importance of which I need not enlarge. I have treated the subject at some length in the concluding part of a Lecture just published in the number for February of the second volume of the "Journal of Education for Upper Canada."§

I may remark, that the Governor of the State of New York has recently recommended the Legislature of that State to make a grant for the establishment of a School of Art and Design, to be under the direction of the same Body that manages the State Normal School. There is room, and there are facilities, for establishing such an Institution on the premises and partially in connection with the Normal School for Upper Canada, at much less than half the expense required to establish it under any other circumstances, or in any other place.

PROPOSED PROVISION FOR PUBLIC SCHOOL LIBRARIES. (SEE PAGE 221.)

The additional amount coming to Upper Canada on a new and equitable division of the Legislative School Grant of £50,000, will meet the expenditures proposed in this Bill for the establishment of Common School Libraries, a Provincial School of Art and Design, and to facilitate the attendance of Candidates for School teaching at the Normal School. When the actual operations of those departments of public instruction shall have been witnessed, the Legislature will then be able to judge whether, or not, they ought to be extended.

PROVINCIAL CERTIFICATES OF QUALIFICATION FOR TEACHERS.

The Seventeenth Section proposes to confer upon the Chief Superintendent and Masters of the Normal School, authority to give Provincial Certificates of Qualification as Teachers to Students of the Normal School, a power which is possessed by the Superintendent of Common Schools for the State of New York in regard to any Common School Teacher, on the recommendation of a local Superintendent. I can imagine no objection to this Section; and I am satisfied that it will be advantageous in several respects.

*This Communication will be found on page 83-94 of that volume.

+ See page 283 of the Seventh Volume of this Documentary History.

For copy of a Petition on this subject see page 112 of this Volume.

§ An Address on Canadian Mechanics and Manufacturers." This Address will be inserted in one of these Volumes subsequently.

A SECOND ASSISTANT IN THE EDUCATION DEPARTMENT FOR UPPER CANADA.*

The Eighteenth Section is in harmony with the gracious decision of the Governor General in Council, as communicated in your Letter of the 19th ultimo, in reply to my application aud the recommendation of the Board of Education for the employment of a Second, or Assistant Clerk, in the Education Office for Upper Canada. I have also to remark, that should this Section be approved of in its present form, the Chief Superintendent of Schools for both Sections of the Province will be placed upon the same footing in respect to salaries. I will add, probably, from £20 to £40 per annum, for two, or three, years to what the Chief Superintendent of Schools for Upper Canada will be otherwise entitled to, on a redivision of the Legislative School Grant.-which is a portion only of the expenses incurred by him in publishing the Frst Volume of the Journal of Education, besides the labour of editing it. If it be desired by the Government that the Chief Superintendent of Schools for Upper Canada should make Official Visits to the several Districts, he can then be enabled to do so, either by having his salary made the same as that of the Chief Superintendent of Education for Lower Canada, or by being allowed his travelling expenses; but he is not able to do so, nor can it be reasonably expected of him, at his own expense, from his present salary. On the accumulated duties of the Education Office for Upper Canada, during the last two years, or, on a comparison of them with the duties of the Education Office for Lower Canada, I have no inclination to remark; and I will only add, that, allowing travelling expenses to the Chief Superintendent of Schools for Upper Canada will be more advantageous to him than making his salary the same as that of the Chief Superintendent of Schools for Lower Canada.

POWER OF TRUSTEES TO COLLECT RATE-BILLS LIMITED. THEIR RESPONSIBILITY.

The Nineteenth Section proposes to limit the power of Trustees to collect Rate Bills for the salaries of School Teachers, to the year, for which they are levied, and to make them personally responsible for what may be due à Teacher, in case of neglect of duty in collecting it. A most fertile source of disputes and embarrassment in School operations is found in the delays in collecting Rate-Bills.-the Trustees of one year refusing to collect the Rate-Bill debts of the preceding year. The Nineteenth Section will be a help to Trustees who insist upon the regular payment of Rate-Bills, and will prevent the evils arising from delays.

To HARMONIZE THE SCHOOL AND MUNICIPAL LAW VERY DESIRABLE.

These first Nineteen Sections of the annexed Bill, I have the honor to recommend are necessary so as to render the Common School Law of Upper Canada efficient, without any reference to the new "Municipal Corporations Bill;" and should not the "Municipal Corporations Bill" become law this Session of the Legislature, I most earnestly hope the first nineteen Sections of the annexed Bill will be passed, as I explained in my Communication of the 14th of October last, these Sections propose no alterations in the provisions of the present School Law, but the remedying of defects, which the omissions of clauses in the Drafts of previous Bills have caused, and the supply of wants which the progress of the School System has created. Many facts and recommendations from local Superintendents, and two, or three, District Councils, have come to my knowledge since last October, in favour of the principal Sections of the Draft of Bill then transmitted,—and especially in favour of the Second and Third Sections ; and the only amendments in the School Law which have been urged by the Municipal Councils of the Brock, Talbot, and Home Districts, at their recent Sessions, are embraced in the annexed Draft Bill.

I have not seen any recent proceedings of any other District Council in Upper Canada, on the subject of the School Law.

II. SECTIONS DESIGNED TO ADOPT THE SCHOOL LAW TO THE PROPOSED "MUNICIPAL CORPORATIONS BILL" OF 1849.

The last six Sections of the annexed Draft of Bill, are designed to adapt the School Law to the contemplated change in the Municipal Councils of Upper Canada.

There is a great difference in the comparative efficiency of the School System in different Districts; and I believe that difference is chiefly owing to the character and efficiency of the local School Superintendents. Where the District Superintendent is an intelligent, practical, active, industrious man, and heartily alive to the great interests of the work in which he is engaged, there the progress of the School System is abvious and most gratifying, and the Municipal Council is disposed to carry out the judicious and various practical recommendations of the District Superintendent. As examples, I may refer to the Brock, Talbot, Niagara, and indeed to more one-half of the Districts in Upper Canada. But in other Districts, where the

See Proceedings of the Provincial Board of Education, Chapter XV.

+ Printed on pages 82-94 of this Volume.