Chapter IV: Education in Ontario--Past and Present (5)

[45] The _Evangelical Churchman_ of the 21st February, 1887,
thus refers to the vicissitudes of the Education office:--The
Education Department for Ontario, or rather Upper Canada as it
was then called, had its first Toronto office in Bay Street, in
the building now occupied by the publishers of the _Evangelical
Churchman_. From 1841, when the first Provincial School Law was
passed, until 1844, the office was a mere adjunct to the Provincial
Secretary's Department at Kingston. In that year Rev. Dr. Ryerson
was appointed to the office which he so ably filled until 1876, when
he retired. In 1844 the Education office was removed to Cobourg,
when the present Deputy Minister of Education became its chief and
sole officer under Dr. Ryerson. In 1846 it was again removed and
transferred to Toronto, and was placed in a room over the front
door of the present _Evangelical Churchman_ office. The first
Council of Public Instruction for the Province held its meetings
in the west portion of the printing office, upstairs. In the room
over the door the first reliable statistical report of the number
of schools, etc., in this province was compiled. It was printed in
the shape of a broad sheet, 12x15, on light blue paper, and bears
date "September, 1846." This report, which is full of interesting
statistics, has long since been out of print, but we have been
fortunate enough to obtain a copy. The Education office had various
vicissitudes in those early days of its existence. In 1847 it was
removed from this building to the Secretary's office at the old
Government House--long since demolished. In 1849, when the seat of
Government was removed from Montreal to Toronto, it was transferred
to the "Albany Chambers," now the Revere House, on King street.
Thence, in 1852, it was finally removed to its present handsome
quarters in St. James' square.

APPOINTMENT OF REV. DR. RYERSON AS SUPERINTENDENT OF EDUCATION.

In 1844 Mr. Murray was made Professor of Mathematics in the University of King's College, and the Rev. Dr. Ryerson was appointed as Superintendent of Schools in his place. The announcement of this appointment appeared in the CANADA GAZETTE of October, 1844, as follows:--

"SECRETARY'S OFFICE, MONTREAL, 18th October, 1844.

"His Excellency the Governor-General has been pleased to
appoint:--

"The Reverend Egerton Ryerson, D.D., to be Assistant
Superintendent of Education for that part of the province
formerly Upper Canada, in place of the Reverend Robert Murray,
appointed a Professor in the University of King's College, and
all communications connected with the Education office for Upper
Canada are to be addressed to him at Cobourg.

"By command.

"D. DALY,
"Secretary of the Province."

Dr. Ryerson was notified of the appointment by letter in September, 1844, but was not gazetted until the 18th of the next mouth. It was my good fortune to be associated with him from the time of his appointment in 1844 until he retired from office in 1876.

DR. RYERSON'S REPORT ON A SYSTEM OF PUBLIC INSTRUCTION FOR UPPER CANADA.

Immediately after his appointment Dr. Ryerson went to Europe, and remained away for over a year in familiarizing himself with the systems of education there. On his return he published an elaborate report on his projected scheme of "Public Instruction for Upper Canada." That report was approved by the Governor-General in Council, and he was directed to prepare a bill to give effect to his recommendations, which he did in 1846. A brief analysis of that report may be interesting:--It is divided into two parts: 1. Principles of the system and subjects to be taught; 2. machinery of the system.

After defining what was "meant by education," the principles of the system were laid down as follows:--

1. It should be universal.

2. It should be practical.

3. It should be founded on religion and morality.

4. It should develop all the intellectual and physical powers.

5. It should provide for the efficient teaching of the following subjects: Biblical history and morality, reading and spelling, writing, arithmetic, grammar, geography, linear drawing, vocal music, history, natural history, natural philosophy, agriculture, human physiology, civil government, political economy. Each of these topics was fully discussed and illustrated in the first part of the report.

* * * * *

The second part explained the machinery of the system, which was summarized as follows:--

1. Schools--their gradation and system.

2. The teacher and his training.

3. The text-books recommended.

4. Control and inspection on the part of the Government.

5. Individual and local efforts.

These several topics wore also fully discussed and illustrated, so that the whole comprehensive scheme of education proposed by Dr. Ryerson was clearly and fully understood. The report occupied nearly 200 pages.

The school law founded upon this report provided, amongst other things, for--

1. A general Board of Education for the Province, to take charge of a normal school, and to aid the Chief Superintendent in certain matters.

2. A normal school, with practice or model schools attached.

3. The regulation of school libraries.

4. Plans of school houses.

5. Appointment of district, instead of county and township, school superintendents.

6. Apportionment of school moneys to each school according to the average number of children in each school district, as compared with those in the whole township.

7. Levy of a school rate by each district (county) municipal council, of a sum at least equal to the legislative grant to each such district.

8. The collection, by the local school trustees, of the balance required to defray the expenses of their school, in any way which the school ratepayers (at the annual meeting) might determine.

9. The recommendation of a uniform series of text books, with the proviso that no aid would be given to any school in which books disapproved of by the general Board of Education might be used.

10. The establishment of district model schools (reënacted from the Act of 1843).

11. Examination and licensing of teachers.

12. Visitation of schools by clergymen, magistrates, municipal councillors, etc.

13. Protection of children (reënacted from the Act of 1843) from being "required to read or study in or from any religious book, or join in any religious exercise or devotion, objected to by parents."

14. Establishment (reënacted from the laws of 1841 and 1843) of Roman Catholic Separate Schools, where the teacher of the locality was a Protestant, and _vice versa_. (These schools received grants in accordance with their average attendance of pupils.)

15. Levy of rates by district municipal councils, at their discretion, for the erection of school houses and teachers' residences.

Such were the principal provisions of the first School Act, proposed and adapted from other school laws by Dr. Ryerson in 1846, so far as rural schools were concerned. In the following year he prepared a comprehensive measure in regard to schools in cities, towns and incorporated villages.

CHIEF FEATURES OF DR. RYERSON'S FIRST REPORT AND SCHOOL BILL OF 1846.

In sending his draft of School Bill to the Government, early in March, 1846, Dr. Ryerson, in a private letter to Hon. Attorney General Draper, dated 30th of that month, thus explained its general features:--

"I thank you sincerely for your kind favor of the 23rd instant, and feel not a little gratified that you approve of the draft of Bill which I had prepared for your consideration. I feel the justice of the high ground on which you place the moral qualifications of teachers and their duties....

"That to which I attach the highest importance in the measure is the authority of trustees to levy a rate-bill upon all the inhabitants of a school section. The rate-bill will thus be a second edition of the school tax imposed by the District Council. The principle, once established, it will be seen after a while that the Council may as well impose the whole of the school tax at once as to have the imposition of it divided between the Council and the trustees....

"I attach the greatest importance to the Normal School. I have no doubt the Legislature will be disposed to support it when once established.... I hope, however, that you will have in view the providing for it hereafter, and some appropriation for school libraries ... from which an offer to a district or township, five pounds for example, upon the condition that it would also contribute so as to purchase books from a list recommended by the Provincial Board of Education, and, therefore, the most suitable for the young and grown-up people of the country....

"It has been mentioned to me, and I have thought that the term inspector, instead of superintendent, would be the better designation of the District overseer of Schools....

"I this day transmit to Mr. Secretary Daly my 'Report on a system of Elementary Instruction for Upper Canada.'... I have introduced no debatable topics, except that of Christianity, the principle of maintaining which as the basis and cement of a system of public instruction, I have discussed at large. On the defective modes of teaching those branches (viz., reading, writing, arithmetic, grammar and geography), which are taught in the Common Schools, I have also dwelt at some length in order to furnish District Superintendents and other persons concerned with a proper standard of teaching and examination, and in order to inculcate the true principles of teaching which are applicable to all subjects. I hope the Report will be the means of laying a good foundation in the leading minds of the country on the great work of public instruction.

"I should add in respect to my Report that, in pointing out defects in systems of instruction and modes of teaching, I have almost invariably quoted American authors, and have thus incidentally exposed the defects of almost every part of the American system, and have practically shown that every redeeming feature of the American school system has been or is being borrowed from European governments."

OBJECTIONS TO DR. RYERSON'S SCHOOL BILL OF 1846 ANSWERED.

In a private letter to Hon. Attorney-General Draper, dated 20th April, 1846, Dr. Ryerson replies to several objections made in the House of Assembly and by the press to his first School Act of 1846. I quote the following:--

"The Montreal _Pilot_ objects to appointing trustees for three years. This is one of the improvements adopted in the New York law of 1843. The superintendents, in their reports, speak largely of the evils of the annual system, and strongly on the advantages of the triennial one. The opposition to the Bill seems to be based on notions derived from what the State of New York system was several years ago. The opponents do not seem to be aware that it was amended in 1841, and amended again in 1843. Messrs. Price, Roblin, etc., seem to be where the Americans were ten years ago.

"I anticipate the objection to the rate-bill clause. I look upon that above all others to be the poor man's clause, and at the very foundation of a system of public education. It is objected to by precisely the class of persons or rather by the individuals that I expected. I have heard of one rich man objecting to it, who educates his own children at colleges and ladies' seminaries, but who looks not beyond his own family. He says, I am told, that 'he does not wish to be compelled to educate _all the brats_ in the neighborhood.' Now, to educate 'all the brats in every neighborhood' is just the very object of this clause; and, in order to do so, it is proposed to compel selfish, rich men to do what they ought to do, but what they will not do voluntarily.[46]

[46] In this matter of trustees' rate bill or school rate on the
property of the school section, Dr. Ryerson was quite in advance of
his times. The rate-bill clause, as he had prepared it, was rejected
by the House of Assembly and a school fee substituted for it. In
a brief, private note from Mr. Draper, dated 22nd April, 1846, he
said:--

"Last night, or rather this morning at one, I got the School Bill
through Committee of the Whole. I have been forced to submit to some
changes, none very serious.... The rate-bill is to be on people
sending children to school--not on the whole section. I fought this,
but was well beaten."

In his reply, Dr. Ryerson said:--

"I deeply regret the loss of the original rate-bill clause. It
involved a new and important principle.... I am persuaded that it
will on a future occasion pass by a strong majority."

It did so pass in 1850; but it was not until 1871 that the Municipal
Council was authorized by the Legislature to impose the whole of the
school tax as desired and predicted by Dr. Ryerson in 1846.

"Mr. Gowan's statements as to the evils of not extending the period of keeping a school open in each district beyond three months of the year are substantially what have been communicated to me in many reports and letters. In several of the annual district reports which I have received, it is stated that giving public money to districts in which a school is not taught more than three months of the year is an actual injury rather than a benefit, and an abuse of the intentions of the Legislature."

FIRST AND SECOND COUNCILS OF PUBLIC INSTRUCTION, 1846 AND 1850.

Dr. Ryerson was assisted in his important work by an able council of representative men, who were appointed in 1846. The members of this first council were as follows:--

Rev. Egerton Ryerson, D.D., Chief Superintendent of Schools; Right Rev. Michael Power, D.D., Roman Catholic Bishop of Toronto; Rev. Henry James Grasett, M.A., Rector of Toronto; Hon. Samuel Beaty Harrison, Q.C., Judge, County of York; Joseph Curran Morrison, Q.C., M.P.P.; Hugh Scobie, Esq., Editor of the _British Colonist_; James Scott Howard, Esq., Treasurer, County of York.

Dr. Ryerson proposed to Bishop Strachan that he should represent the Church of England on the new Board. The Bishop was quite pleased at his request, and so expressed himself. He declined, however, on the ground that he feared his appointment might embarrass, rather than aid, in the promotion of the new scheme of education. He suggested that Rev. H. J. Grasett be appointed in his place.[47] He also gave friendly advice to Dr. Ryerson to be careful not to recommend a personal enemy for appointment on such a board.

[47] In a letter to the writer of this Retrospect from the Very Rev.
Dean Grasett in 1875, he said:--"I esteem it an honour that I should
have been associated with Dr. Ryerson in his Council for so many
years (30), and a privilege if I have been of the least assistance
in upholding his hands in performing a work, the credit of which is
exclusively his own.

"I shall carry with me to the end of life the liveliest feelings of
respect for the public character and regard for the private worth
of one who has rendered to his country services which entitle him
to her lasting gratitude. My venerable friend has had from time to
time many cheering recognitions of his valuable public services
from the heads of our Government ...; but I think that in his case,
as in others that are familiar to us, it must be left to future
generations adequately to appreciate their value when they shall be
reaping the full benefit of them."

Two more members were added in 1850, viz., Rev. John Jenning, D.D., Presbyterian Minister; Rev. Adam Lillie, D.D., Congregational Minister. Not one of the gentlemen named survive; but, in their day, they rendered effective service to the country as members of the first and second Councils of Public Instruction.

The Hon. S. B. Harrison (afterwards Judge of the County of York) was nominated by Rev. Dr. Ryerson, as Chairman of the reconstructed Board of Education in 1850 (then named the Council of Public Instruction), as successor to the lamented Bishop Power, who died in 1847.[48] Mr. Harrison held that position until his death, in 1862.

[48] In his address at the beginning of the Normal School for Upper
Canada, in November, 1847, Dr. Ryerson thus referred to the then
recent decease of Bishop Power. He said, referring to the harmony
which had characterized the meetings of the Provincial Board of
Education:--

"One event indeed has occurred, over which the members of the Board
have reason to mourn--the decease of the Right Reverend Prelate,
who, by his colleagues had been unanimously chosen Chairman of
the Board, and whose conduct as Chairman and Member of the Board
was marked by a punctuality, a courtesy, a fairness, a zeal
and intelligence which entitle his memory to the affectionate
remembrance of his colleagues and the grateful esteem of every
member of the community.... I cannot reflect upon the full and
frequent conversations which I have had with him on subjects of
public instruction, and with the scrupulous regard which ever
manifested for the views, and rights and wishes of Protestants,
without feelings of the deepest respect for his character and
memory."

Dr. Ryerson did not enter practically upon the duties of his office until about the middle of 1846. In the meantime, the correspondence and routine duties of the Education Office were (on Dr. Ryerson's suggestion) placed in the hands of his friend, the Rev. Alexander MacNab, D.D., now Rector of Darlington (Bowmanville).

RELIGIOUS INSTRUCTION IN THE COMMON SCHOOLS, 1846.

Among the first duties of the new Provincial Board of Education was the establishment of a Normal School, the authorization of a series of text-books, and the preparation of regulations for the government of the Common Schools. The most important of these regulations was the one relating to religious instruction in the schools. Before submitting it to the Board for adoption Dr. Ryerson consulted various representative persons on the subject. In a private letter to Hon. Attorney-General Draper, dated December 17th, 1846, Dr. Ryerson thus explained his proceedings in regard to the preparation of the clause in the new regulations relating to religious instruction in the schools. He said:--

"I submitted the clause first to Rev. Mr. Grasett. He quite approved of it, as he felt exceedingly anxious that there should be such an explicit recognition of Christianity in our school system. I then waited on the Roman Catholic Bishop, who examined it and concurred in it.... I showed it also to the Bishop of Toronto. After he had read the section he said he believed I had done all that could be done on that subject, and that ... he would write a circular to his clergy, recommending them to act as school visitors, and to do all in their power to promote the efficiency and usefulness of the Common Schools."

In his report for 1847, Dr. Ryerson stated that he consulted other ministers on the subject. The Hon. Mr. Draper, in a private note to Dr. Ryerson, dated 1st January, 1847, said:--

"I am more gratified than I can express that you have so successfully met the difficulty about the religious instruction of children in Common Schools. You (to whom I expressed myself about three years ago on the subject of the importance of not dividing religion from secular instruction) will readily understand the pleasure I feel that in Common Schools at least the principle and promoted application of it, for mixed schools, has been approved by the Bishop of my own Church and by the Roman Catholic Prelate."

In a letter to the late Hon. Robert Baldwin, written in 1849, Dr. Ryerson thus refers to the question of religious instruction and the Bible in school: "Be assured that no system of popular education will flourish in a country which does violence to the religious sentiments and feelings of the churches of that country. Be assured, that every such system will droop and wither which does not take root in the Christian and patriotic sympathies of the people--which does not command the respect and confidence of the several religious persuasions, both ministers and laity--for these in fact make the aggregate of the Christianity of the country."

Speaking in a subsequent letter of another feature of the question of the Bible in schools, Dr. Ryerson says: "The principal opposition which, in 1846 and for several years afterwards, I encountered was that I did not make the use of the Bible compulsory in the schools, but simply recognized the right of Protestants to use it in the school (not as an ordinary reading book), as it was not given to teach us how to read but to teach us the way to Heaven), as a book of religious instruction, without the right or the power of compelling any others to use it. The recognition of the right has been maintained inviolate to the present time; facilities for the exercise of it have been provided, and recommendations for that purpose have been given, but no compulsory authority assumed, or right of compulsion acknowledged; and the religious exercises in each school have been left to the decision of the authorities of such school, and the religious instruction of each child has always been under the absolute authority of the parents or guardian of each child."

To the objection urged against the reading of the Bible in the schools because "a majority of the teachers are utterly unfit to give religious instruction," Dr. Ryerson replied: "The reading of the Bible and giving religious instruction from it are two very different things. The question is not the competency of teachers to give religious instruction, but the right of a Protestant to the reading of the Bible by his child in the school as a text-book of religious instruction. That right I hold to be sacred and divine."

STATE OF COMMON SCHOOL EDUCATION IN UPPER CANADA, 1845.

From the reports then made to him by the County Superintendents of Schools, I select the following extracts, showing what was the actual state of education in the province when Dr. Ryerson commenced his labors as Superintendent of Education.

Mr. Hamilton Hunter, Superintendent of Schools in the Home District (County of York), in his report for 1845, says:--

"There is one fact with which I have been forcibly struck,
in my visits to the schools, which shows, in the clearest
manner, the great necessity that existed in this Colony for the
establishment of a system of Common School education. It is
this: That in our schools the amount of attainment, on the part
of the pupils, is generally in an inverse ratio to their size
and age, after they have reached their twelfth or thirteenth
year. The largest scholars that attend our schools are by
far the lowest in point of attainment, which shows how sadly
the education of that portion of the community, now about to
attain the years of manhood and womanhood has been neglected.
In many of our country schools, it is a very common thing
to find persons advanced to the age of young men and women
commencing to learn the first rudiments. The mind feels pained
upon contemplating this; but it is gratifying to think that a
remedy has been provided against it in the establishment of our
Common Schools, by which the elementary branches of education
are brought within the grasp of all. It leads us to reflect upon
the melancholy state of ignorance that must have existed at no
distant period in this Province had no means been provided other
than those which formerly existed for placing the elements of
knowledge within the reach of the rising generation."

Hon. Hamnett Pinkey, Superintendent of Schools in the District of Dalhousie (Carleton, etc.), in his report, says:--

"The Common Schools are very indifferently conducted, and the
masters in general very inadequately perform the duties required
of them; a reform is expected from the establishment of the
District Model School."

Rev. Alexander Mann, M.A., Superintendent of Schools in the Bathurst District (Lanark, etc) says:--

"In existing circumstances I have declined giving a regular
certificate to any teacher.... I made an effort on my own
responsibility, and at my own expense to improve teachers, by
opening a private school, solely for their benefit, but as I did
not meet with proper encouragement I was obliged to relinquish
my purpose."

Richey Waugh, Esq., Superintendent of Schools in the Johnstown District (Leeds and Grenville), says:--

"The trustees of many schools employ teachers only for whatever
time the school fund will pay their wages, and they receive but
little benefit from the public money thus expended."

Patrick Thornton, Esq., Superintendent of Schools in the Gore District (Wentworth, etc.), says:--

"It is a matter of regret that the old parrot system of
repeating words without attaching ideas to them, does still in
too many instances prevail; and the dregs must remain till some
of the old formal teachers are off the field."

Rev. Newton Bosworth, F.R.S., Superintendent of Schools in the Brock District (Oxford, etc.), says:--

"The diversity of books and modes of teaching referred to in
my last report, still exists, nearly to the same extent; and
in the qualifications of teachers also, as great a variety was
observable as before.... It appears to me that parents should
be impressed, to a much greater extent than at present, with a
sense of the necessity and importance of education for their
children."

George Duck, jr., Esq., Superintendent of Schools in the Western District (Kent, etc.), says:--

"In many townships little or nothing was raised by rate-bill.
In many places the poverty of the settlements prevented it; and
the only school that was kept open in these districts was just
during the time that the allowance from the aggregate fund was
sufficient to pay the teacher. This course is, in fact, of very
doubtful benefit, as the school is seldom kept open for more
than three months in the year, and the children lose so much
benefit continuous education produces."

SCHOOL HOUSES AND SCHOOL TEACHERS IN 1845-1850.

The Rev. Dr. Ryerson, in his report for 1845-46, speaking of school houses in the Province, says:--

"With a few exceptions, the school houses are deficient in almost every essential quality of places adopted for elementary instruction. Very few are furnished with any thing more than desks and forms of the most ordinary kind, and have no apparatus for instruction, nor appendages, or conveniences either for exercise or such as are required for the sake of modesty and decency."

In his annual Report for 1847, Dr. Ryerson incidentally refers to the character of teachers in some districts. He says:--

"In one district, where intemperance heretofore prevailed to a considerable extent, even among school teachers, the Superintendent gave notice that he would not give a certificate of qualification to any but strictly sober candidates, and that, at the end of six months he would cancel the certificates of all teachers who suffered themselves at any time to become intoxicated.... I know of two other districts in which the Superintendents have acted thoroughly on the same principle, with the same happy results.... In a note in reference to it in the printed Form of Regulations, I remarked that 'no intemperate or profane person should be intrusted with the instruction of youth.'... No one will doubt that there are fewer unqualified and immoral teachers employed now than there were before the passing of the present School Act (of 1846)." Pages 8 and 9.

In his circular issued to the newly formed County Boards of Examiners, dated 8th October, 1850, Dr. Ryerson thus referred to this matter:--

"Many representations have been made to this Department respecting intemperate and profane and Sabbath-breaking teachers.... I cannot but regard it as your special mission to rid the profession of common school teachers of unworthy character, and ... to protect the youth against the poison of a vicious teacher's example." _Report for 1850, pages 305, 306._

DR. RYERSON'S PRACTICAL AGENCIES TO GIVE INFORMATION AND REMOVE PREJUDICE.

It will thus be seen from the foregoing, that at this time educational affairs were at a low ebb. Dr. Ryerson, therefore, sought in every practical way to overcome this educational apathy and inertia. His pen and personal effort were freely used. The first circular to municipal councils--prepared by him--was issued by the new Provincial Board of Education in August, 1846. This he followed up by one from himself addressed to county councils, in which he explained fully and at length the scope and objects of the new scheme of popular education. This was done under three heads:--1. That it was "based upon the principles of our common Christianity." 2. That "upon the duty of educating the youth of our country there exists but one opinion, and, therefore, there should be but one party." 3. That "the system of elementary education is public, not private."

Another agency Dr. Ryerson sought to employ to aid the Department in its great work. And by it he hoped to educate and rightly influence public opinion in favor of the new departure then in progress. The plan he proposed to the Government in 1846, to authorize the issue, under his direction, of a departmental _Journal of Education_, "to be devoted," among other things, to the exposition of every part of our school system," then new to the people, ... "and to the discussion of the various means of promoting the efficiency of the schools." This the Government felt unwilling at the time to do. He, therefore, undertook the expense and responsibility of the publication himself in January, 1848. And it was not until years had demonstrated the practical value and success of the proposed agency that the expense of the publication was provided for by an annual vote of the Legislature.

A third agency which Dr. Ryerson successfully employed to aid the Department was that of personally holding county school conventions. In explaining this project to the Government in 1846, he said:--

"I propose ... to visit and employ one or two days in school discourse and deliberation with the Superintendent, Visitors, Trustees and Teachers in each of the several Districts of Upper Canada. I know of no means so effectual to remove prejudice, to create unanimity of views and feelings, and to excite a general interest in the cause of popular education," etc.

This project was concurred in by the Government, on condition that the expense of the proposed nearly three months' visitation "should not exceed £75."

Thus was inaugurated, in 1846, a series of county school conventions which, at intervals of about five years each, were held all over the country. The early ones involved travelling in all kinds of weather and in all kinds of conveyances, so as to keep engagements made weeks before. They were, however, of immense service to the Department in removing prejudice, settling difficulties and solving doubts as to the practicability of plans proposed for improving the condition of the schools and raising the intellectual and social status of the teacher.

COMBINED OPPOSITION TO THE PROJECTED SYSTEM OF EDUCATION.

It was not to be expected that so comprehensive a scheme of education as that proposed by Dr. Ryerson in 1846 and 1847 would meet with general acceptance. The very reverse was the fact. It was assailed as revolutionary and oppressive. It certainly was revolutionary in the best sense; but not oppressive, for it was largely permissive and wholly tentative. And, for many years the Town of Richmond, in the County of Carleton, refused to establish schools under its provisions. The new measures were so far revolutionary that they differed almost wholly from the former projected school acts. The system proposed was composite. Its machinery was adopted chiefly from the State of New York. The principle upon which the schools were to be supported was taken from New England--Normal schools, from Germany, and the uniform series of school books, from Ireland. All were, however, so blended together and harmonized, to meet the requirements and circumstances of the country that they became, in Dr. Ryerson's moulding hands, "racy of the soil."

Up to this time no one but Dr. Ryerson had been able to give a practical turn to the rather crude theories which had been held on the subject of popular education. He, however, had to pay the penalty of all such reformers; but yet he lived to see the fuller details of his system of education worked out on his own lines.

It is needless to say that Dr. Ryerson's scheme was assailed as impracticable. This I have explained. It was held to be too comprehensive for the country. Even his reference to the compact and systematized plan adopted in Prussia was seized upon as an indication of his covert design to introduce the baneful system of so-called "Prussian despotism." His commendation of "free schools," as a prospective feature of our educational system was denounced as an attempt to legalize an "outrageous robbery," and as communistic "war against property." As an example of the injustice of these criticisms on Dr. Ryerson's scheme of education, he said in a lecture on education in 1847:--

"I have seen in certain of the public prints, a provision of our school law ascribed to Prussia, which was borrowed from the school law of the City of Buffalo; and another provision declared to be incompatible with the rights of man which forms the basis and glory of the common school system of Massachusetts."

Although opposition to Dr. Ryerson's educational plans, as embodied in his school acts, was somewhat general, yet it was singularly illogical. The sore point was that it touched men's pockets in the form of school rates.

EDUCATIONAL PROCEEDINGS OF DISTRICT COUNCILS IN 1847, 1848.

An influential district council in the West sought to influence all of the others against the new system, especially against the establishment of a Normal School. In a memorial to the Legislature (which it sent broadcast), dated Hamilton, 10th November, 1847, and signed by James Little, Chairman of the Education Committee, John White and Francis Cameron, and adopted by the Gore District Council, the following passages occur:

"With respect to the necessity of establishing a Normal, with
Elementary Model Schools in this Province, memorialists are of
opinion that, however well adapted, such an institution might
be to the wants of the old and densely populated countries of
Europe, where services in almost every vocation will scarcely
yield the common necessaries of life, they are, so far as this
object expected to be gained is concerned, altogether unsuited
to a country like Upper Canada.... Nor do your memorialists hope
to provide qualified teachers by any other means, in the present
circumstances of the country than securing as heretofore, the
services of those whose physical disabilities from age render
this mode of obtaining a livelihood the only one suited to their
decaying energies, or by employing such of the newly arrived
emigrants as are qualified for common school teachers year by
year as they come amongst us, and who will adopt this as a means
of temporary support, until their character and ability are
known and turned to better account for themselves."

This memorial having been sent to each of the district councils in Upper Canada for their concurrence, and with a view to procure the repeal of the School Act, 9 Vic., ch. 20, the Colborne District Council not only refused to concur in it but subjected it to severe criticism. In regard to the foregoing extract from the Gore District Memorial, the Colborne Council (now Peterboro' and Victoria) in its report on that memorial said:

"That the moneys required to pay for the establishment and
support of Normal and Model Schools are little less than a waste
of so much of the Legislative grant, is an opinion in which your
committee are so far from concurring, that they believe it is
from these sources must mainly arise the instrumentality through
which the friends of education can alone hope for the first
considerable amelioration of the evils they lament.... Nor can
your committee reconcile it either with their just expectations,
or their sense of duty to rest satisfied with the services of
those whose physical disabilities from age and decaying energies
render them unfit, or of those 'newly arrived emigrants,' whose
'unknown character and abilities' render them unable to procure
a livelihood by any other means than by becoming the preceptors
of our children; the dictators of their sentiments and manners;
the guardians of their virtue; and in a high degree the masters
of their future destinies in this world and the next."

This report was prepared by Mr. Thomas Benson, Chairman of the Education Committee, and Warden of the District (father of Judge Benson of Port Hope). It was adopted by the Colborne District Council in February, 1848.[49]

[49] Correspondence between members of the Government and the Chief
Superintendent, 1850, pp. 17-20.

The Western District Council, in its memorial to the Legislature against the School Act, represented that "spite, hatred and malice between neighbors and friends," existed, and was "occasioned by the present School Act." It added:

"So numerous are the petitions on the subject that more than
half of the time of the Council is taken up in endeavoring to
settle the differences, but unfortunately without any beneficial
effect."

The Chief Superintendent, in his report, referring to this statement says:

"Now, in examining the printed report of the committee, to
whom all these petitions were referred, I find that of the
twenty-nine petitions presented to the Council, one prayed for
the establishment of a female school in one of the sections
(which was granted); one prayed for a local school tax in a
section; two related to the formation of new school sections,
and the remaining twenty-five related to the disputes as to the
boundaries of school sections and the non-payment of school
moneys by township superintendents. Thus not one of these
disputes could have arisen out of the School Act, but must have
all been caused by an improper division of the school sections,
either by the township superintendents under the late Act, or by
the Council under the present statute."

In this (Western) District the Council says:

"We well know that a very large number of the trustees can
neither read nor write, and, therefore, it must be obvious that
the greater part of the requirements of the law remain undone."

On this statement the Chief Superintendent remarks:

"In other districts where the trustees can read and write,
and where the councillors an correspondingly intelligent
and discreet in their school proceedings, no disputes or
inconvenience have, as far as I am aware, occurred on this
subject."

In the District of Dalhousie, the Chief Superintendent states:

"Still greater dissatisfaction and confusion were created by
the mode of proceeding adopted by the council. Before the
passing of the present School Act the council of this district
never imposed a school assessment.... The introduction of a
district assessment (under the new Act) would naturally excite
some dissatisfaction, and especially in a district bordering on
counties in Lower Canada where the school assessment had been
resisted.... In addition the Chief Superintendent adds:

"The Council in the autumn of 1847 passed a by-law to this
effect:

"Whereas the school section division mode by this Council at
its last session, are in many instances, discordant to the
convenience and wishes of the inhabitants, and that to correct
them satisfactorily this present session is impracticable. The
District Superintendent is empowered and required to make a
distribution of the school fund (legislative grant and county
assessment) 'share and share alike,' among qualified teachers
without reference to the number of scholars under their tuition,
but in proportion to the time such teachers may have been
teaching, etc."

Thus the Superintendent remarks, "this by-law contemplated
the abolition of the statute requiring the school grant to be
distributed according to the school population of each section.
It made no distinction between the able teacher who taught
sixty scholars and the young one who taught twenty; it had no
regard to the engagements which may have been made by trustees
according to law; it required of teachers conditions which the
law had not enjoined, and proposed to deprive many of them of
advantages which the law had conferred.... Of course I pointed
out the illegality and injustice of the by-law and it was
not acted upon. At the session of the Council lately held, a
resolution was adopted praying the Governor-General to dissolve
the Council that the sense of the inhabitants of the Dalhousie
District might be taken on the school law.... It is doubtless
probable that many of the inhabitants have not distinguished
between the provisions of the law and the proceedings of their
own Council--attributing to the former what has been occasioned
by the latter."[50]

[50] Chief Superintendent's Annual Report for 1847-8, page 6.

Contrast the enlightened discussion of such questions to-day with the ignorant dogmatism of that day, and you can form some idea of the magnitude of Dr. Ryerson's labors,--not only in laying broad and deep the foundations for his superstructure, but in seeking to overcome the deep-rooted and unreasoning prejudices of those days--days indeed of anxiety and toil and fierce opposition, which I so well remember.

ESTIMATE OF LORD ELGIN'S CHARACTER BY THE HON. W. H. DRAPER.

On the arrival in Canada of Lord Elgin, as Governor-General, Dr. Ryerson wrote confidentially to Hon. Attorney-General Draper (on the 16th February, 1847), asking him for his "opinion of the new Governor-General." Mr. Draper replied on the 22nd as follows:--

"As far as my opportunities of judging go, I think Canada will find cause of satisfaction in having Lord Elgin for a Governor. He is industrious in habit, pleasing in manner, extremely courteous and affable in bearing. I find him also diligent and shrewd in inquiry; and the observations which fall from him show that he has studiously kept pace with the great questions of the day (I do not mean our Canadian politics simply), and besides the cultivation of classical education in its broader sense, he possesses a mind stored with facts bearing on and illustrative of those questions. In these respects, or more correctly speaking in the latter, and as regards trade and finance, he reminds me more of Lord Sydenham than any other governor of my time. I think he possesses also caution and firmness;--that he will not resolve hastily, that he may not have to change his resolves. He has large ideas of the capabilities and resources both of Canada and of the British North American Provinces, and, as it strikes me, without any reference to a political union of these provinces, thinks that a course might be taken to develop the whole, by separate parts taking a common course in matters in which they have a common interest--internal communication, favorable to our European commerce and connections will serve as an illustration of the sort of questions to which I allude.... All this, of course, is mere opinion, but such are my first impressions, and as such, and no more, I readily give them to you in reply to your enquiry, etc."

Subsequently, Dr. Ryerson met Lord Elgin in Montreal, and, in a letter to me, dated 24th July, 1847, he says:--

"At his own request I have had an interesting interview with Lord Elgin. He is exceedingly well versed in systems of education, and is a thoroughly practical man on the subject."

INVALUABLE ASSISTANCE GIVEN TO DR. RYERSON BY LORD ELGIN.

It was fortunate that just at this crisis Canada was favored with the presence of one of the most accomplished, in every sense of the term, of the Queen's representatives, the Earl of Elgin and Kincardine.

That distinguished statesman, who afterwards filled with great dignity the highest post in the civil service of Great Britain, that of Governor-General of India, reached Canada at a critical transitional period in our history. Few can recall the incidents of those days without a feeling of admiration for the fearlessness, tact, and ability with which he discharged the delicate and difficult duties of his high office.

When Lord Elgin arrived in Canada in 1847, and when he removed to Toronto, after the riot and burning of the Parliament House in Montreal in 1849, educational affairs were fiercely discussed and were yet almost at the low ebb at which Dr. Ryerson had found them. Not that they had previously reached a higher plane and had gradually settled down to a lower one. The reverse was the fact, but the question of education had only then (in Dr. Ryerson's hands) begun to attract serious public attention. It was, however, as I have explained, in an adverse direction, for the whole subject, in the advanced form in which it was presented by Dr. Ryerson, was unpopular. It involved taxation and other unpalatable "burdens," as its opponents averred. Notwithstanding the zeal and ability with which Dr. Ryerson had collected and arranged his facts, analyzed the various systems of education in Europe and America, and fortified himself with the opinions of the most experienced educationists in these countries, the system which he projected, and the school law which embodied it, continued to be fiercely assailed by a portion of the press, and by hostile politicians. This hostility culminated in an event which brought things to a crisis in 1849.

At this time, an administration was in office, one or two members of which were personally unfavorable to Dr. Ryerson's continuation in office. One of these, a prominent and popular member of the cabinet (Hon. Malcolm Cameron, who afterward became a warm friend of Dr. Ryerson) induced his colleagues to assent to the passage of a school bill which practically legislated Dr. Ryerson out of office, besides being objectionable in other respects. He at once tendered his resignation. The Hon. Robert Baldwin, Attorney-General, declined to recommend its acceptance. By advice of the Cabinet, the operation of the bill was suspended until a new one, framed by Dr. Ryerson, could be prepared and passed. The result was the passage of the School Act of 1850--popular in its character and comprehensive in its provisions. It now forms the broad basis of the present school system of Ontario.

It was at this period of our educational history that Lord Elgin first came into official contact with our educational system. Being familiar with the Scottish parochial school system, he soon mastered the whole subject, and perceived the great importance to the whole country of the question which was then being so fiercely discussed.

Being in England in 1853, Dr. Ryerson wrote to me there:--

"I was glad to learn that Lord Elgin was to go in the same steamship with you from Boston. I have no doubt it will have proved interesting to him as well as to you, and perhaps useful to you. I miss you very much from the office, but I do not like to employ any more aid without sanction of the Government, though I could get no one to take your place. I would wish you to write me what Lord Elgin may have thought or have said as to our doings and plans of proceeding. If the library plan succeeds, it will achieve noble results.[51] I feel that our success and happiness in the Department are inseparably united."

[51] Lord Elgin always referred to Dr. Ryerson's library scheme
in his educational addresses as the "Crown and Glory of the
Institutions of the Province."

It was indeed fortunate for my mission that I was on the same Cunard steamer to England with His Excellency the late lamented Lord Elgin, to whom I entered into full detail in regard to the objects of that mission. Before leaving the steamer, Lord Elgin most kindly promised to aid me in every way he could while in England, and wrote me his address as "Broom Hall, Dumfermline," in case I should have occasion to refer to him. He also added the following paragraph to the letter of your instructions and authority, which, in more than one instance, I found to be of essential service to me:--

"I believe the object of Mr. Hodgins' mission to be most
important to Canada, and I trust that he will meet with all
support and encouragement.

(Signed) "ELGIN AND KINCARDINE,
"Governor-General.

"September, 1853."

One of my letters, reporting to Dr. Ryerson as far as I had gone, my proceedings in England, having been enclosed to the Hon. Mr. Hincks, he said in reply:--"I return you Mr. Hodgins' interesting letter, with thanks for its perusal. It was fortunate he went by the same steamer as Lord Elgin. I am much interested in the success of your libraries, which is beyond my most sanguine expectations.

"QUEBEC, 11th Oct. 1853."

I recall with pleasure the great services which Lord Elgin then rendered to the cause of education at a critical period of its history in this Province. His speeches and addresses on the subject at that time had a wonderful effect in moderating the opposition which Dr. Ryerson received while laying the foundations of our system of education. They had also the potent effect of popularizing that system in the estimation of the people which it was designed to benefit. That popularity has, happily, continued to this day, thanks in a great degree to the dignity imparted to the subject by the persuasive eloquence of Lord Elgin. His eminence as a distinguished graduate of Oxford, and his general knowledge of European systems of education, enabled him to speak with a precision and certainty which few could gainsay. It was a gratifying fact that he identified himself personally, as well as officially, throughout the whole of his seven years' administration, with the general education and intellectual improvement of the people of Canada. The first bill to which His Excellency assented in the Queen's name was the School Act of 1850, to which I have referred.

PROCEEDINGS OF THE FIRST COUNCIL OF PUBLIC INSTRUCTION--THE NORMAL SCHOOL.

One of the first and necessary acts of the Provincial Board of Education, or first council of public instruction, was the adoption of a uniform series of text-books--one only on each subject. Those chosen were the Irish National Series, with two additions. The next important step taken by the Board was the establishment, in November, 1847, of a Normal School, with the necessary adjunct of a Model School. The old Government House was fitted up as a Normal School, and the stable connected with it was renovated and converted into a Model School, or school of practice for teachers-in-training.[52] On the removal of the seat of government to Toronto, in 1849, the Normal School was held in the Temperance Hall, and other arrangements were made.

[52] _Apropros_ of this, Dr. Ryerson, in a private note to Hon. W.
H. Draper, in April, 1846, said:--

"The stables of the Government House may be fitted up for Model
Schools, etc. It is a curious and not interesting fact that the
stables of Louis the Fourteenth, at Versailles, are now used for the
great National Normal School of France, and is the most splendid
establishment of the kind on the Continent of Europe."

So successful were these schools in raising the status of the teaching profession that the government of the day--the memorable Baldwin-Lafontaine administration--willingly listened to a proposition of the Provincial Board of Education to grant funds for the purchase of a site and the erection of suitable buildings for these schools. The Hon. Francis Hincks, who was Inspector General, had (upon Dr. Ryerson's estimate) a proposed grant of £15,000 put in the estimates of 1850 for the purposes named. A site of seven acres and a half of land was purchased from the estate of the Hon. Peter M'Gill. The writer of this retrospect had the pleasure (in the absence of Dr. Ryerson in Europe) of signing the cheque for the purchase money, £4,500, and of seeing that the deed was duly made out in the name of Her Majesty the Queen and her successors, and transferred for safe keeping to the Crown Lands Department.

After the plans for the buildings had been approved, certain important additions were considered desirable (chiefly a theatre, or central lecture hall, etc.). As the grant already made was quite insufficient for the proposed additions, Mr. Hincks was once more appealed to. He responded very promptly and heartily, and recommended to his colleagues that a further grant be made, which was done, and an item of £10,000 additional was placed in the estimates of 1851 and concurred in by the Legislature. The work then proceeded and near the close of the second year it was brought to a conclusion.

So carefully had these two grants been husbanded that when the buildings were completed and furnished, there was a balance left over of £90. With this sum the expense of fitting up the Departmental Library was defrayed. The result was highly gratifying to Mr. Hincks, and he so expressed himself at the opening of the buildings in the following year.

LAYING THE CORNER STONE OF THE NORMAL SCHOOL BUILDING, 1851.

On Wednesday, the 2nd of July, 1851, the imposing ceremony of laying the corner stone of the new edifice took place. The guard of honor was the 71st Highlanders, under Sir Hew Dalrymple. Ministers of both Houses of Parliament, the city corporation, etc., attended. The inscription on the brass plate--I quote from the original, as written by Dr. Ryerson--was as follows:

"This Institution, Erected by the Enlightened Liberality of
Parliament, is Designed for the Instruction and Training of
School Teachers upon Christian Principles."

Right Rev. Bishop Charbonnell, to whom was assigned the duty of presenting the Governor-General with the silver trowel, spoke with great cordiality, and with French grace and eloquence. He said: