of the conditions of the tenure of property, and one of the means by which the security and value of property are maintained and promoted. Had this principle been recognized in England and Ireland from the period of the Reformation, as in the Protestant Countries of the Continent of Europe, the lower classes would have been among the best, instead of being the worst educated in Europe, except in some parts of Southern and Central Italy. The Annual Parliamentary Grants for elementary education in the United Kingdom involve a much larger sum than is provided by the Legislature even in France for both elementary and secondary education; but the education for which those Grants provide does not keep pace with the increase of the uneducated classes. Nor do I believe that any material progress in the extension of Elementary Education in England will take place, until the system of local Rates on Property for that purpose is established, for the object of the education of the masses. 3. Co-operation of Religious Denominations in Education. Religious differences need not, and should not, prevent the co-operation of all classes in the one great interest and duty of educating the whole people. No greater religious differences can exist in any Country than those which have been encountered in Holland, in the Prussian Provinces of the Rhine, in Baden in Wurtemburg, in Bavaria, in German Austria, in several Cantons of Switzerland, and I may add in France; yet in each of these Countries the difficulties arising from religious differences have been overcome; all the children receive religious as well as secular instruction to the general satisfaction and mutual amity of all parties, and in all degrees of Education, from the Primary School up to the University; and in no one of these Countries has there been any desire expressed, from any quarter, to repeal the laws which relate to Primary Education. 4. Practical Schools for Trades and the Arts. It is worthy of remark, that the European Systems of Public Education, provide not merely for the Elementary and higher Classical, or Collegiate Education, and for the regular training of Teachers and Professors, but also for practical education in connection with the different pursuits and employments of life. The Universities, to enter which what we call Graduates are alone eligible; in which are the Faculties of Law, Medicine, Theology, and in some Philosophy. Besides these Educational Institutions, there are various more practical Schools, all of which are sequels of the Primary Schools, and require an Entrance Examination of all Canadidates for admission. In nearly all of these Schools French, German, English, and sometimes other Modern Languages are taught; also Natural History, Chemistry, Mineralogy, elements of Natural Philosophy, Mechanics, Geometry, Practical and Descriptive Drawing, History, Book-keeping, etcetera. Among these special Schools, are Industrial Schools, Real Schools, Technical Schools, Commercial Schools, Schools of Arts and Trades, of Agriculture, of Architecture, of Drawing and Painting, of Forests, of Navigation, of high and even Commercial Schools for Girls, Military Schools, etcetera. In most of these Schools the course of instruction is four years; in some of them, six, or seven, years. The Technical Schools are frequented mostly by labouring Mechanics and Tradesmen in the evenings; the Industrial Schools are superior to the Technical, and are next to the Real Schools, from which Students often advance to Polytechnic Schools-the highest order of practical Schools. Professional education on the Continent of Europe implies merely a preparatory education for any of the ordinary occupations of life, and not for the professions of Law, Medicine, etcetera, as with us. There are also different kinds and orders of Normal Schools for the special training of Instructors of all these Schools, Colleges and Universities. It is thus, that in all the Continental Countries of Europe, provision is made by the State for the education of all classes, from the Pauper to the Prince, and, in the preparatory Studies for all the productive, Mechanical, and Manufacturing employments, and for all the pursuits of Agriculture, Trade, Commerce, Navigation, the fine Arts, Literature, Science and the Professions, which make up the industry, wealth, refinement, and civilization of a nation. 5. Conditions of Efficiency. In reviewing the European Systems of Instruction, it will be observed that there are four conditions essential to the efficiency of their Elementary Schools. (1.) Suitable Buildings, Furniture and Apparatus. (2.) A high standard of qualification for Teachers, and their regular training. (3.) A liberal support of Teachers, and a high minimum of Salary, especially as in Holland, some of the Cantons of Switzerland, Baden, Wurtemburg, and some of the Provinces of Prussia. (4.) Thorough inspection of Schools by Inspectors, who are competent and practical Instructors themselves. 6. True Method of Educating a People-its Effect. Nor is it less obvious from the preceding review, that the method of educating a whole people is, not to attempt to do everything for them as in England, but, to enable the people to educate themselves, and to compel those who neglect, or refuse, to attend to this highest national interest and first right of individual humanity. I think the preceding review also demonstrates, that just in proportion as a Country provides liberally and systematically, for the support of a truly National System of Education, that Country advances in all the elements and characteristics of national prosperity. XVIII. COMPULSORY EDUCATION. From the last Report to the Emperor of the French, of His Excellency M. Duruy, Minister of Public Instruction, I make the following extracts: 1. Introductory-Reforms Required in France. "There is one particular remedy which many persons demand, which many Countries practice, and which it is necessary to examine; it consists in imposing upon primary instruction an obligatory character, not only as to admission to the School, but as to the duration of attendance." 2. Primary Instruction Compulsory-Hictorical Sketch. The system of compulsion in our country is ancient and of noble orgin. In the States of Orleans, in 1560, the article 12 of the character of nobility proceeds: "The raising of a contribution upon Ecclesiastical Benefices for the reasonable support of Teachers and Men of Letters in all the Towns and Villages, for the instruction of the poor children of the Country; and that Fathers and Mothers be required under penalty of fine, to send said children to the School, and that this be compelled by the Nobles and ordinary Judges." In 1571, the general States of Navarre, on the proposal of Queen Joan of Albret, made Primary Instruction compulsory. The Kings Louis XIV. and Louis XV., decreed in the declarations of the 15th April, 1695, 13th December, 1698, and 14th May, 1724, that the high Justices should be found to prepare each month a statement of the children who did not attend School, and that the Attorney-General should take proceedings in that respect. The Convention resolved, 25th December, 1793, that all children throughout the extent of the Republic should be compelled to attend the Schools. Frederic II prescribed it for Prussia in 1763. "It is our will" he says, "that all our Subjects, Parents, Guardians and Masters, send to School the children for whom they are responsible, both Boys and Girls, from their fifth year, and keep them there regularly until the age of 13 or 14 years." This Royal Order is revived in the code of 1794, and in the law of 1819, with a severe penalty; namely, warning, fine, even imprisonment, against offending Parents, Guardians, or Masters. According to the Regulations of the Province of Silesia, School age extends from 5 to 14 years of age, with the same prescriptions. Besides the principle of compulsory instruction is so vigorously applied in Prussia, that the duty of attending school corresponds with the duty of military service. It results, from the official statistics of 1864, that out of 3,090,294 children of age to attend the Primary Schools, 130,437 only did not attend; and of this limited number, there must be deducted all those children who have received instruction in the secondary Schools and at home, and those in regard to whom it was physically or morally impossible to go to School. Thus in the Prussian army, of 100 young Soldiers, 3 only on the average are completely illiterate. As to the rest of Germany, numerous testimonies show that the Compulsory System has been perfectly accepted by the populations. The following Regulations exist on the subject: Austria. Since 1774, instruction is compulsory, under penalty of fine throughout the whole Empire; but this Regulation is only really observed in the German Provinces of the Empire. Bavaria. The school obligation exists in Bavaria, as in Prussia, since the second half of the last century, the offenders incurring imprisonment. Every Bavarian sub ject accepts the obligation. Baden. The obligation has the sanction of a fine, and in case of repetition, of imprisonment. All the children receive instruction. Wurtemburg. Instruction is obligatory under penalty of fine and imprisonment until fifteen years of age complete; and every locality composed of 30 families must have a school.* Kingdom of Saxony.-The obligation exists from 6 to 14 years of age, under pain of fine and imprisonment. In the first years of the application of the law of June 6th, 1835, the Authorities had to combat with the negligence of Parents in submitting to the forced regime of the Schools. But soon the benefit of a general and punctual attendance at the Schools, and its salutary results convinced even the opposers. The present generation of Parents do not think of keeping their children from School. Duchy of Nassau.-Instruction since 1817 is obligatory, under pain of fine; but instruction is free, or gratuitous, except for furnishing the School. Grand Duchy of Hesse.-For each day of absence of the child from School, the Parent is liable to a small fine. In default of payment the total fine is converted into days of labour, for the benefit of the Commune. Electoral Hesse.-Instruction is obligatory from 6 to 14 years. Grand Duchy of Mecklenburg. The same Regulation. Grand Duchy of Oldenburg.-The same legislation and the same results. Grand Duchy of Sax-Coburg-Gotha.-The obligation is found here as in all the Saxes, and dates back 200 years. *The general diffusion and excellence of primary instruction in Wurtemburg are certainly very remarkable and that which most strikes a stranger. There is not a peasant, or servant girl, of the lowest class, who does not know how to read and to write and to cipher. Besides, education appears as perfect as primary instruction. Nowhere are the laboring classes more respectful, more obliging and more industrious. Sare Meiningen.-Instruction is obligatory from 5 to 14 years of age, until confirmation, under penalty of fine and even imprisonment. Grand Duchy of Weimar-Eisenach.-No child remains deprived of instruction. The obligation exists under penalty of fine and imprisonment. Duchy of Altenburg.—(The Compulsory System has existed since 1807). Duchy of Brunswick.-It is the same in the two Duchies with very rare examples of the application of the penalty. For all Germany, we may say, that obligatory instruction is regulated by the following principles: Lists of children are prepared by those who keep the Registers of the Civil State, and are remitted to the Teacher that he may be able to attest the absences. Registers of absence are kept by the Teacher, who remits the list of absentees to the Chairman of the School Commission. Allowance is made in case of bad and exceptional weather, or on account of great distances, and of harvest. In Sweden, Norway and Denmark, Parents who do not cause their children to be instructed are equally subject to fine. Switzerland.-Instruction is obligatory in Switzerland, except in the Cantons of Geneva, Schwitz, Uri and Unterwalden. In the Canton of Zurich, according to the legislation of 1859, the school age extends from five to sixteen years inclusive. In the Canton of Berne, the young soldiers must, as in Germany, give proof that they know how to read, to write a Letter, draw up a Report, do any ordinary question in Arithmetic. Holland.-In Holland public relief is withdrawn from all indigent families who neglect sending their children to school. This procedure has been adopted in several cities in France. Italy.—Instruction is free and obligatory, in principle at least, in the Kingdom of Italy, by the law of 1859, under pain of reprimand, fine and imprisonment. The unlettered are declared incapable of the elective franchise. Portugal.-Negligent Parents are liable, since 1844, to fine and the privation of political rights for five years. Spain. Instruction has been declared obligatory by the law of September 9th, 1857, under pain of reprimand and fine. United States of America.-At the foundation of the New England Colonies, instruction was made strictly obligatory by law, which, its object having been attained, fell into disuse. But the emigration from Europe carried thither new elements upon which it was necessary to operate. A Law of 1850 authorized the Cities and Towns of Massachusetts to adopt measures of compulsion against children who did not attend school. A Law of the 30th of April, 1862, imposes upon all the Towns of Massachusetts the duty of taking measures against vagrancy and non-attendance at school. In Connecticut a law of 1858 denies the electoral right to every citizen who does not know how to read. UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. My epitome of Foreign Systems of Public Instruction would be essentially defective, did I not refer to the neighboring States, to whose example and experience we are so much indebted for the establishment and success of our Canadian School System. But I must confine my notice chiefly to four States, with which we have the most intimate and largest connections-Massachusetts, New York, Pennsylvania and Ohio. XIX. HISTORICAL SKETCH OF EDUCATION IN THE STATE OF MASSACHUSETTS. The System of Public Instruction in Massachusetts commenced with the establishment of Harvard College, and by a public appropriation for its support. In 1636— 16 years after the landing of the Pilgrims from the Mayflower, and 6 years after the settlement of Boston, the General Court of the Colony of Massachusetts Bay, passed an Act appropriating £400 towards the establishment of a College. Two years afterwards, in 1638, the Reverend John Harvard left by will to the College the sum of £779, and upwards of 300 Volumes of Books. Again, two years later, in 1640, the General Court granted to the College the proceeds of Charlestown Ferry; and two years later still, in 1642, the Governor, with the Magistrates, Pastors and Elders of the Churches, were empowered to establish Statutes and Regulations for the government of the College; eight years afterwards, in 1650, a Charter was granted, which was protected by an Article in the first Constitution of the State, adopted after the Revolution, in 1780, and which, remains at this day the fundamental Law, or Charter, of the oldest Collegiate Institution in America. In the same year of 1642 the General Court laid the foundation of the general educational instruction, character, and prosperity of the Colony by the following enactments:— Forasmuch as the good education of children is of singular behoof and benefit to any Commonwealth; and whereas many Parents and Masters are too indulgent and negligent of their duty in this kind: It is therefore ordered by this Court and the authority thereof, That the selectmen of every Town, in the several precincts and quarters where they dwell, shall have a vigilant eye over their brethren and neighbours, to see, first, that none of them shall suffer so much barbarism in any of their families, as not to endeavor to teach, by themselves or others, their children and Apprentices so much learning as may enable them perfectly to read the English Tongue, and knowledge of the Capital Laws, upon penalty of twenty shillings for each neglect therein; also, that all Masters of families do, once a week, at least catechise their children and Servants in the grounds and principles of Religion, and if any be unable to do so much, that then, at the least, they procure such children, or Apprentices to learn some orthodox Catechism, without book, that they may be able to answer to the questions that shall be propounded to them out of such Catechisms by their Parents, or Masters, or any of the Selectmen, when they shall call them to a trial of what they have learned in this kind, etcetera. It is therefore ordered by this Court and authority thereof: That every Township of fifty householders, within this jurisdiction, shall appoint one within their Town to teach all such children as shall resort to him, to write and read, whose wages shall be paid, either by the Parents, or Masters of such children, or by the inhabitants in general, by way of supplying. And it is further ordered: That where any Town shall increase to the number of one hundred families, or Householders, they shall set up a Grammar School, the Masters thereof being able to instruct youths so far as they may be fitted for the University, and if any other Town neglect the performance hereof above one year, then every such Town shall pay five pounds per annum to the next such School till they shall perform this order. Such was the commencement of Public Instruction in the United States. The first Educational Institution was an endowed College; and the first System of Elementary Education was a compulsory one. The Common School education of each child was an original condition of settlement; a fundamental principal of the social compact as between Parents and children, Masters and Apprentices and Servants, under the guardianship of the State; and from this seed-plot have grown and multiplied the Educational Institutions and Systems which now enrich and bless this Continent. Such was the School System of Massachusetts for 200 years,- -a System sustaining Collegiate Education out of public revenue, and providing for Elementary Education, |