votion or religion objected to by his or her parents or guardians; but within this limitation pupils shall be allowed to receive such religious instruction as their parents or guardians desire, according to any general regulations provided for the government of common schools."

2. These general regulations are as follows:

(1) "With a view to secure the Divine blessing, and to impress upon the pupils the importance of religious duties, and their entire dependence on their Maker, the council of public instruction for Upper Canada recommends that the daily exercises of each common school be opened and closed by reading a portion of Scripture and prayer.* The Lord's Prayer alone, or the forms of prayer provided, may be used, or any other prayer preferred by the trustees and master of each school. But the Lord's Prayer should form part of the opening exercises, and the Ten Commandments be taught to all the pupils, and be repeated at least once a week. But no pupil should be compelled to be present at these exercises against the wish of his parent or guardian, expressed in writing to the master of the school.

(2) "The clergy of any persuasion or their authorized representatives, shall have the right to give religious instruction to the pupils of their own church in each common school house, at least once a week, after the hour of four o'clock in the afternoon; and if the clergy of more than one persuasion apply to give religious instruction in the same school-house the trustees shall decide on what day of the week the school-house shall be at the disposal of the clergymen of each persuasion at the time above stated. But it shall be lawful for the trustees and clergymen of any denomination to agree upon any hour of the day at which

It may be interesting and gratifying to state, in connection with the foregoing, that of the 4,019 common schools in Upper Canada, 2,381 of them are reported in 1861 as being regularly opened and closed with prayer, and 2,879 of them in which the Holy Scriptures are read daily.

such clergymen or his authorized representative may give religious instruction to the pupils of his own church, provided it be not during the regular hours of the school."

Of the 4,500 teachers employed in the common schools in 1861, 1,250 were Presbyterians, 1,250 were Methodists, 800 were Episcopalians, 322 were Roman Catholics, 230 were Baptists, and 85 were Congregationalists. Before being admitted to examination for certificates of qualification to teach, these teachers had to present to the examiners a certificate of good moral character signed by the clergymen of their own religious persuasion, thus giving a guarantee for their moral if not religious character.

II. PROGRESS OF ELEMENTARY EDUCATION IN UPPER CANADA.

As has already been intimated, the sum first granted by the legislature for common school education in Upper Canada amounted to $24,000. This sum was afterwards reduced to $10,000 per annum. In 1841, however, when the foundations of the present system were laid, the noble sum of $200,000 was granted to carry it into effect in the entire province, $80,000 to Upper Canada and $120,000 to Lower Canada. They were afterwards equalized to $100,000 each. By the census taken in 1851-2, it was found that Upper Canada so far exceeded Lower Canada in population (on which the division of the grant was based) that $103,000 were appropriated to Upper Canada, and $97,000 to Lower Canada. The grant to the entire province in 1862 was $384,000; of this sum the share coming to Upper Canada was about $213,000 and $171,000 to Lower Canada. About $150,000 are annually appropriated to the common schools;* $10,000 for libraries, maps, and apparatus; $14,200 to the normal

*The amount set down for libraries is less than that granted by the act, but it represents the average sum. The amount set down for common schools is more than the net sum available; but it is augmented by old balances.

and model schools; $6,000 to the model grammar school; $4,000 for the support of common-school superannuated teachers; $1,800 for a monthly journal of education; $2,800 for an educational library and museum; $1,000 for the inspection of grammar schools; and $2,000 for a school of art and design. Thus has the liberality of the legislature kept pace with the growth and prosperity of the province, and thus has provision been made for the promotion of every branch of the great work of popular education in Upper Canada.

As we have hitherto referred only to what has been done by the government and legislature for the promotion of popular education, we now turn to consider the corre sponding exertions of the people themselves.

In 1842, after the passage of the act of 1841, we find that 1,271 common schools had been established. The number has now increased to upwards of 4,000. The school population between the ages of five and sixteen years has increased from 141,000 in 1842 to 385,000 in 1861, or 173 per cent. The attendance of pupils at the common schools has increased from 66,000 in 1842 to 330,000 in 1861, or 400 per cent.; and at the grammar schools from about 1,000 in 1847 to 4,766 in 1861, or nearly 380 per cent.,—a most gratifying increase, certainly, in each branch of the system, and one that strongly indicates the increased anxiety of the Canadian public to avail themselves of the largely increased facilities of instruction afforded by these "colleges of the people." The greatest test, however, of the love of the Upper Canadians for their common schools is indicated by the amount which they contribute for their support. In 1842, the total sum raised by assess ment, rate-bills, and subscriptions, independent of the legislative school grant, amounted to $100,000; in 1850, to $334,400; and in 1861, to $1,215,000. The total expenditure for the salaries of common school teachers

amounted in 1842 to $166,000; in 1850, to $329,000; and in 1861, to $918,113,-or nearly 300 per cent. in ten years.

The library system of Upper Canada having been only put into operation in 1853-4, we can only report the result of about eight years' efforts of the department to supply the public with suitable reading books for the winter evenings. During that time, however, including books for school prizes, there have been dispatched from the depository at Toronto about 260,000 volumes, and these have gone into almost every part of Upper Canada, conveying light and intelligence into many a settler's dwelling.

In order to carry out efficiently a system of public instruction so comprehensive in its details, suitable officers and appliances were found to be necessary, and have, therefore, been provided. We will state what has been done in that direction, and give a short sketch of

III. THE EDUCATIONAL DEPARTMENT FOR UPPER CANADA.

Cotemporaneous with and indicative of the growth and development of the educational system of Upper Canada, has been the history of the department itself. Originally a branch of the provincial secretary's department, (who was, ex officio, chief superintendent of education,) with an assistant superintendent and a clerk, it has gradually expanded into a distinct and important branch of the public service. It now occupies, with its four excellent accessory schools, a handsome structure which was specially erected by authority of the legislature for that purpose.

The Education Office was first opened in 1841 at Kingston, the then seat of government. In 1844, it was, for convenience, removed to Cobourg, (one hundred miles further west,) and, in 1846, to a building adjoining the old government house, at Toronto. In 1852, it was removed to the new buildings which were erected on a square facing on

Gould, Church, Gerrard, and Victoria Streets, which is now nearly in the heart of the city.

The duties devolving upon the educational department include those relating to the general administration of the common and grammar school laws; the giving of explana tions to municipal councils, local superintendents, school trustees, teachers, and others on doubtful points of law and modes of proceeding; decisions on appeals and complaints; auditing municipal school accounts; the oversight of the normal and model grammar and common schools, and the granting of provincial certificates to teachers; paying and accounting for all the legislative grants for grammar and common schools; providing teachers' registers, blank reports and returns for trustees, local superintendents, clerks, and treasurers of municipalities, and the Journal of Education (besides editing it) to each local superintendent and school corporation in Upper Canada; general correspondence relating to the promotion of education, &c.

Some idea may be formed of the gradual progress of work in the department from the following statement of the correspondence of it since 1850:

During the years 1850. 1851. 1852. 1853. 1854. 1855. 1856. 1857. 1858. 1859. 1850. 1861. 1962. Letters received,.. 1,180 2,026 2,996 4,015 4,920 5,338 5,739 6,294 6.431 6,468 7,121 7,215 6,495 Do. sent out,.. 760 1,136 1,430 1,936 2,581 3,764 3,966 3,542 4,627 5,823 6,015 5,656 4,955

No power has been employed by the department but that of persuasion; and no attempt has been made to advance faster than the felt necessities and convictions of the country would justify. To educate the people through themselves is the fundamental principle of the Upper Canada school system; and to assist them to advance their own best interests and manage their own school affairs has been the spirit and sole object of its administration.

2. Roman Catholic Separate Schools.

The privilege of establishing dissentient or separate