by the diffusion of general knowledge, and good and virtuous sentiments, the political fabric may be secure, as well against open violence and overthrow, as against the slow but sure undermining of licentiousness.

It is every poor man's undoubted birthright, it is the greatest blessing which our Constitution has secured to him, it is his solace in life, and it may well be his consolation in death, that his Country stands pledged, by the faith which it has plighted to all its citizens, to protect his Children from ignorance, barbarism and vice.

The comparative progress and results of Free public and private Schools in the City of Boston itself, are clearly set forth in the following forcible language of the City Superintendent, in his Annual Report, addressed to the School Committee:

How far our system of Public Instruction supplies the educational wants of all classes in the Community, the wealthier, as well as the poorer, is a question of much interest and importance. From the first establishment of our Schools, they have been free alike to the Children of the high and of the low, and, for the purpose of maintaining them, every man is held subject to taxation in proportion to his property, without regard to the question whether he may, or may not, choose to avail himself of the advantages which they afford. A system of Schools free to all, supported by the property of all, good enough for all, and actually educating the Children of all, is an ideal perfection which we may perhaps never expect to become a reality. Private tuition will probably find patronage more, or less, extensive in every highly educated community. But the Public Schools, in proportion as they are elevated and improved, take the place of private Seminaries in educating the Children of the larger Tax-payers; and as the proportion of large Tax-payers, who send their Children to the Public Schools increases, the means provided for the support of these Schools will be more and more liberal. These propositions are fully illustrated in the history of our System of Public Education. The reason why we can afford to sustain our Schools on a scale so liberal, is found in the fact that they are universally patronized by those Parents who have the means to educate their Children elsewhere. A comparison of the statistics of the Public and Private Schools of Boston for the year 1817, with those for the present year, will exhibit our progress in this respect, which, I think, is without a parallel.

In the year 1817, the Town of Boston was thoroughly canvassed under the direction of the School Committee, to ascertain the actual state of education. The result of this inquiry was presented in a carefully prepared Report, which was printed and circulated among the people. From this interesting Document it appears that the whole number of Children in the eight Public Schools was 2,365, educated at the cost of about $22,000. At the same time there were 262 Private Schools, supported at the expense of the Parents, excepting eight, which were maintained by the charity of individuals. The number of Pupils in these Private Schools, was 4,132, and the expense of them, $49,154. It appears that the number of Pupils in the Private Schools, was 174 per cent. of the number of those in attendance at the Public Schools, while the cost of the Private Schools was more than 200 per cent. of the cost of maintaining the Public Schools. If we turn to the statistics of the present year, we shall find a very different state of things. The whole number of Pupils educated at the public expense, is 27,081, -an increase of more than 1,100 per cent. in forty-five years, while the number of Pupils in Private Schools, other than Schools of special instruction, such as Commercial Schools for teaching Book-keeping and Penmanship,-is only about 1,400, or 33 per cent. of the number in 1817, and five per cent. of the number in Public Schools.

What stronger evidences than that contained in these statistics, can be desired to prove the success of our Common Schools in supplying the educational wants of the whole Community? But the comparison of the two systems of education in respect to the cost of tuition, per Scholar, exhibits no less striking results. At the former period alluded to, the annual cost per Scholar in the Public Schools, was about Ten dollars, and in Private Schools, about Twelve dollars; now it is Fifteen dollars in the former, while it has risen to Eighty dollars in the latter. So that while the cost of educating a Scholar in the Public Schools has increased during the last forty-five years only about fifty per cent., the cost in Private Schools has increased, in the same time, upwards of six hundred per cent. Such facts as these need no comment; they speak for themselves.

The past, at least, is secure. We can look back on the earlier and later history of our School System with a just pride. It owes its origin to the Founders of our City, and it has been cherished and enlarged by the successive generations of their descendants. It has grown with our growth, and strengthened with our strength. It has been the principal fountain, humanly speaking, of our social improvement. And, while we contemplate with satisfaction its past history and present prosperity, it becomes us to remember and ever keep in mind, that to sustain, preserve, and improve it, while we enjoy its blessings, is a sacred duty which the present generation owes to posterity.

Improvements in the Common School Law.-Several provisions of the School Law were preparatory to a more matured state of things. From the experience of the past, the advance of society and the improved Municipal organization of the Country, I think the School Law may, in several respects, be simplified, and the great principle of it, while inviolably maintained, may be more comprehensively and simply applied. But I purpose and hope to be able, in the course of a few months, to make an official Tour of Upper Canada, and to confer at County Meetings and otherwise, with persons of all classes who have practical experience of the School System in each County, on the various questions relating to its working and possible improvement, when I shall be prepared to submit the results to the consideration of the Government and Legislature during the Parliamentary Session of 1866.

TORONTO, July, 1865.

EGERTON RYERSON.

DEPARTMENTAL BALANCE SHEET FOR THE YEAR ENDING THE 31ST OF DECEMBER, 1864.

$23,031 69 $17,439 93 $247,911 04 $4,440 65 $292,823 31

TORONTO, January, 1866.

$219 45 $260,070 21 $23,306 05 $9,227 60 $292,823 31

ALEXANDER MARLING, Accountant.

CHAPTER XXXVI.

EDUCATIONAL PROCEEDINGS OF THE LEGISLATURE OF CANADA, FROM JANUARY THE 19TH, UNTIL THE 18TH OF MARCH, 1865.

I. EDUCATIONAL PROCEEDINGS OF THE HOUSE OF ASSEMBLY.

On the 19th of January, 1865, His Excellency the Governor General opened the Third Session of the Eighth Parliament of Canada by the usual Speech from the Throne, in which he made no reference to any Educational

matter:

January 30th, 1865. Mr. Speaker laid before the House, the following Return of the Real and Personal Property held by the Corporation of the Children's Industrial School of the City of Hamilton, and their Receipts and Expenditure, since 30th June, 1864, in accordance with the Act, 28th Victoria, Chapter 145, Section 7.

REPORT OF THE CHILDREN'S INDUSTRIAL SCHOOL OF THE CITY OF HAMILTON.

PROPERTY, REAL AND PERSONAL, HELD BY THE SAID CORPORATION. Real Property: House and Premises used as a School and Home for Destitute Children, purchased at the price of $1,200, but upon which there has only been paid

$250 00

Personal Property: Household Furniture and Effects in and upon the said
Premises, Value

200 00

Balance of cash in the Treasurer's hands

238 50

Total

$688 50

RECEIPTS AND EXPENDITURE, SINCE THE 30TH DAY OF JUNE, 1864.

Receipts.

June the 30th, 1864-Balance of Cash in Treasurer's hands this day January the 23rd, 1865-Total of amount received from Members' subscriptions and voluntary donations up to date

Total

Expenditure.

$ cts. 558 45

450 75

$1,009 20

$ cts.

January the 23rd, 1865-Amount expended in paying instalment of the purchase money on School Premises

250 00

January the 23rd, 1865-Amount expended in the Maintenance and Education

We hereby certify, that the foregoing is a true and correct return of the Real and Personal Property held by the Children's Industrial School of the City of Hamilton, and of their Receipts and Expenditure since the passing of their Act of Incorporation, in June, 1864.

JANE R. GIVING, Treasurer.

HAMILTON, 23rd of January, 1865.

J. S. O'REILLY, First Directress.
MARGARET ROBB, Second Directress.

February 3rd, 1865. The Government submitted the Resolutions, which had been adopted at a Conference of Delegates from the various North American Provinces, held at the City of Quebec, on the 10th of October, 1864. These Resolutions were afterwards embodied in an Address to the Queen, praying for the passage, by the Imperial Parliament, of an Act for uniting the Provinces of Canada, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Newfoundland and Prince Edward Island, in one Government. The 43rd of these Resolutions provided that the:

The several Local Legislatures shall have power to make laws respecting the following subject:-Education; saving the rights and privileges which the Protestant, or Roman Catholic minority in both Canadas, may possess, as to their Denominational Schools, at the time when the Union of the Provinces goes into operation.

February 6th, 1865. Pursuant to the Order of the Day, the following Petitions were read:Of the Corporation of the Ottawa College; praying for a grant of money; of the Huron College, London, C. W., praying for aid.

February 13th, 1865. Pursuant to the Order of the Day, the following Petitions were read:Of Mr. Rowland Burr, of the City of Toronto, praying for amendments to to the Grammar School Act of Upper Canada. Of Mr. D. J. Callen and others, of the City of London, C. W., and of Mr. Peter Gibbon and others, of Port Colborne, County of Welland, severally praying that the Roman Catholic minority of Upper Canada may enjoy the same privileges, (with respect to Education,) as may be granted by the General Government to the Protestant minority of Lower Canada, in the event of a Confederation of the Provinces of British North America.

February 17th, 1865. Pursuant to the Order of the Day, the following Petition was read:Of Mr. John Ryan and others, of the Town of Stratford, praying that the Roman Catholic minority of Upper Canada may enjoy the same privileges, (with respect to Education,) as may be granted by the General Government to the Protestant minority of Lower Canada, in the event of a Confederation of the Provinces of British North America.

February 20th, 1865. Pursuant to the Order of the Day, the following Petition was read:Of Mr. Patrick McGuire and others, of the Cobourg Mission; praying that the Roman Catholic minority of Upper Canada may enjoy the same privileges, (with respect to Education,) as may be granted by the General Government to the Protestant of Lower Canada, in the event of a Confederation of the Provinces of British North North America.

February 22nd, 1865. Pursuant to the Order of the Day, the following Petition was read:Of Mr. John Doran and others, of the Town of Perth and vicinity, praying that the Roman Catholic minority of Upper Canada may enjoy the same privileges, (with respect to Education,) as may be granted by the General Government to the Protestant minority in Lower Canada, in the event of a Confederation of the Provinces of British North America.

February 27th, 1865. Pursuant to the Order of the Day, the following Petition was read-Of Mr. Michael McDonald and others, praying that the Roman Catholic minority of Upper Canada, may enjoy the same privileges, (with respect to Education,) as may be granted by the General Government to the Protestant minority of Lower Canada, in the event of a Confederation of the Provinces of British North America.

March 8th, 1865. Pursuant to the Order of the Day, the following Petition was read: Of the Reverend P. D. Laurent and others, of Amherstburg and other Townships, praying that the Roman Catholic minority of Upper Canada may enjoy the same privileges, (with respect to Education,) as may be granted by the General Government to the Protestant minority of Lower Canada, in the event of a Confederation of the Provinces of British North America.