HISTORICAL SKETCH OF EDUCATION

IN

UPPER AND LOWER CANADA.*

BY J. GEORGE HODGINS, LL. B., F. R. G. S

SECTION I.

UPPER CANADA,-INTRODUCTORY.

By very many writers in Europe and America it has been asserted, and the assertion has been received without question, that in the United States of America, before the recent civil war, education was more generally diffused, and was in a more flourishing condition than in any other part of the world.. It has also been stated that the institutions of most of the United States and their systems of government were and are more favorable, if not more peculiarly adapted to this educational success, than in any other part of America; but of late years a change has taken place in public opinion in this respect,-an efficient system of popular education having in the meantime been established in Canada. If this system continues to be properly directed and vigorously maintained, as it has been hitherto, the result will strengthen the conviction in the public mind that an

*This paper is divided into two sections and each section into three parts. The first part of each section contains a brief historical sketch, in chronological order, of the progress of education, including the universities, colleges, grammar, common and other schools. The second part contains an account in detail of universities, colleges, professional and other schools, together with a list of various other educational appliances in operation in each portion of the province. The third part contains various statistical information.

entire compatibility exists between the working of free colonial institutions, founded upon a monarchical basis, and the development and growth of a highly popularized, yet efficient system of public instruction-such as has hitherto been said to flourish only in a democratic country.*

The necessity for a national system of education in Canada, had long been admitted by all parties, but the final establishment of such a system did not take place until within a comparatively recent period. For, when public attention was first practically directed to the accomplishment of that object in 1836-7, the seething turmoil of political strife prevented the immediate realization of those hopes of the friends of popular education, which had only then been reawakened.

The political union of the Canadas in 1840 did not long include an educational union of Upper and Lower Canada, for since 1843, they have each had their own separate educational systems.

PART FIRST-CHAPTER I.

EARLY EDUCATIONAL EFFORTS IN UPPER CANADA, 1783–1805. THE references to the state of education in Upper Canada, in books of travel and in other publications of 1783-1805, are very meagre. All the writers, who do allude to the subject, describe the education provided in the few schools then in existence as very inferior in its character, and the facilities

*The editor of the Massachusetts Teacher, in giving an account of his visit to Upper Canada, thus refers to the educational system in the Teacher of November, 1855: He says, "So much has been written and said about the Prussian system of schools, that well-informed teachers have become familiar with most of its prominent features; but a system of education in some re spects more complete and more imposing than that of Prussia has sprung up on our own borders, which appears to have attracted less general attention among us."

for acquiring it but scantily diffused throughout the coun try. This was chiefly owing to the sparseness of the popu lation and the remoteness of the new settlements.

One reason assigned by a highly intelligent American traveller for the fewness of the schools in Upper Canada, in 1794-9, throws so much light upon the political policy and social state of the province at that time, that we quote the passage entire. This traveller, on visiting Kingston, (then the most important town in Upper Canada,) makes the following observations: "The object of the British nation is to people and cultivate this country, and to make it as perfect a part of the empire as possible. Dreading revolutions, they are cautious in receiving republicans from the States, and wish to encourage husbandmen and laborers only. Clergymen, lawyers, physicians, and schoolmasters from the States, are not the first characters who would be fostered. Many congregations would have been formed, and schools opened, if the policy in this particular had been different.

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"An extensive field is opened for men of letters in every profession. Destitute of colleges, academies and schools, and confiding in the qualifications of the clergy ordained by the bishops in the States, Governor Simcoe* wished to have introduced such, but an act of the British parliament disconcerted his design.

"When the Bishops of England were permitted to con

* Colonel John Graves Simcoe was born in England in 1752. He entered the army at nineteen, and commanded the Queen's Rangers (Hussars) during the American revolutionary war, 1775-83. In 1792 he was appointed Lieutenant Governor of Upper Canada; and in September of that year he opened the first Parliament of the province, at the town of Niagara, then called Newark. In 1796, he removed the seat of government to Toronto, then called York. He induced many of the American United Empire Loyalists to settle in Upper Canada, and sought in every way to promote the prosperity of the province. He constructed Yonge street, thirty-six miles, as a military road to the lake which now bears his name. He was appointed Governor of St. Domingo in 1796, and was made a Lieutenant General in 1798. He died on his return to England, in 1806, aged fifty-four years.

secrate bishops for the States, a clause was inserted in the act passed by parliament for the purpose, that nothing therein contained should 'enable such bishops or clergymen ordained by them, to exercise their functions within the limits of the nation.' This act of course applies to Canada." The writer further remarks, that, under this law, "the clergy born and ordained in the States are excluded from the parishes in the provinces ;" and that its operation "has certainly defeated the extending of religion and learning in the provinces."*

So far as we have been able to ascertain, the first school opened in Upper Canada, was in 1785. In that year a classical school was opened at Cataraqui, (Kingston,) by the Rev. Dr. Stuart; another by Deacon Trayer at Port Rowan, (Lake Erie,) in 1789.

The Duke de la Rochefoucault, who visited Kingston in July, 1795, thus refers to the state of education in that part of the country at that early date. He says: "In this district are some schools, but they are few in number. The children are instructed in reading and writing, and pay each a dollar a month. One of the masters, superior to the rest in point of knowledge, taught Latin; but he has left the school without being succeeded by another instructor of the same learning." He also states that "No newspaper is published in Kingston; that of Newark [Niagara] is the only one published in Upper Canada, which being a mere imperfect extract from the Quebec Gazette, is here taken in by no one. I know but of two persons who receive even the Quebec paper. As to the interior of the country, no news penetrates into that quarter, a circumstance that excites there very little regret."

From the Upper Canada papers it appears that private schools were established shortly after this time in several

*A Tour through Upper and Lower Canada. By a citizen of the United States. Printed at Litchfield, (according to Act of Congress,) 1799. Pp. 55-57.

parts of Upper Canada. Among the rest a school was established for the Six Nation Indians, and the teachers paid by the king, at Mohawk, (Grand River,)—" the principal village of the Six Nations, in a tract purchased from the Missassaga Nation for them by his present Majesty, (George III.) on account of their loyalty and attachment during the late rebellion, in which they lost their possessions on the Mohawk River, New York."*

The military chaplains at the different stations also did what they could to promote education, but their efforts were chiefly confined to their own immediate circle. The New Testament, with Webster, Lindley Murray, or Dilworth's Spelling-book, were the principal text-books, in general use.

At a very early period in the history of the province, and but six years after the first settlement of Upper Canada, (1789,) a memorial was presented to Lord Dorchester, (Sir Guy Carleton,) the then Governor General of British North America, representing the great deficiency in all means of instruction, and requesting his lordship to establish a public school at a central place, such as Kingston, or Frontenac, (the old French post,) which was then the principal town in Upper Canada. In compliance with this request, Lord Dorchester gave directions to the surveyors-general to set apart eligible portions of land for the endowment of schools in all the new townships. These lands, however, long remained unproductive; and before any benefit could be derived from this solicitude on the part of the Governor General, Canada was divided, by the constitutional act of 1791, into two distinct provinces; and, in 1792, John Graves Simcoe, Esq. was appointed the first Lieutenant Governor of Upper Canada. In that year Rev. Mr. Addison established a classical school at Newark, the seat of government,

• Topographical description of His Majesty's Province of Upper Canada. By David Wm, Smith, Esq., Surveyor General of Upper Canada. London, October, 1799.