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University Consolidation: 
 
 A PLEA FOK 
 
 PIIGIIBR EDUCATION 
 
 IN OiN^I^ARIO. 
 
 BY CANADENSIS. 
 
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 its own standard .... authority lodged in a central institution would become a 
 potent means for the elevation and co-ordination of all our .... colleges ? 
 Who does not see that the tendency of such a provision would give us even- 
 tually a grand national system of education." — Hon. J. W. Hoyt, Judge in 
 the Department of Education at the Centennial Exhibition, (jn an American 
 *' National University." 
 
 " What is wanted in this country is an example which will stamp into the 
 minds of our people what a true University o\ight to be." — President White, 
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PREFATORY NOTE. 
 
 The following paper discusses the desirability of some change 
 being made in our present university system, so as to make it 
 more thoroughly national in its character and Working. 
 
 The question has been often mooted, but as yet with no prac- 
 tical result. It involves " money." It is also said to touch upon 
 " denominationalism," or rather " sectarianism" (a more distasteful 
 term), as well as various other delicate and difficult matters 
 which even politicians cannot touch without hai-m, and hence the 
 subject is let alone. " Laissez /aire " is felt to be the only safe 
 policy. And yet the conviction is clear in the minds of many 
 thinking men, that our present system is unsatisfactory and 
 anomalous ; that it is of a hybrid type, and in its present shape 
 is not capable of producing the satisfactoiy national results, in 
 the interest of higher education, which it ought to do, and which 
 every well-wisher of his country so earnestly desires. 
 
 The State pays handsomely for its share of the expenses of 
 primary and secondary education ; but it pays only a comparative 
 sum for the entire university work done in the country, and yet 
 it only performs not one-half of that work itself. 
 
 This seems scarcely fair ; and, for a rich and high-spirited Pro- 
 vince like Ontario, is scarcely compatible with its dignity and 
 obligations. This partial pecuniary interest, in university educa- 
 tion, for which it only pays a part of its share, paralyzes its hand, 
 and no doubt prevents it from making any comprehensive effort to 
 raise the character of the whole university work done, or of super- 
 vising it as it should. No doubt it is hard to deal with a question 
 beset with so many and grave dificulties. But that should not 
 deter patriotic men from looking at the future of this great 
 
iv PHKFATORY NOTE. 
 
 (luestion, and giving it their best and most earnest con«idera- 
 tion. 
 
 There are a few suggestive facts referred to in the following 
 pages, based on the experience of our Anjerican neighbours, which 
 are worthy of our best consideration : — 
 
 1. The first is that, even with the great multiplication of Ame- 
 rican Colleges, " the number of students seeking a college educa- 
 tion" in that country has relatively declined for some years. 
 
 2. The second is that the relative number of college or univer- 
 sity men in pul)lic life has steadily declined since the days of 
 the American revolution. ,, , ' . 
 
 3. That but comparatively few college or university men are 
 guilty of acts of coiruption, unfortunately so charactteristic of 
 political life in the United States and elsewhere. ■ ,. • 
 
 4. That religious parents will not, as a rule, send their children 
 to a college in the discipline and oversight of which they have not 
 confidence — no matter how richly endowed, or prosperous, the 
 college may be. ' 
 
 These are facts to which our public and university men should 
 give due woight, in considering and settling the question of higher 
 education in Ontario. 
 
 To aid in the settlement of this question, the writer has en- 
 deavoured to discuss and illustrate the following points in these 
 pages, which he has thus summarized : — 
 
 The General Questionof Universities in Europe and America — 
 Opinions of Prof Andrews, Dr. Newman, and Mr. Oathorne Hardy 
 on Colleges and Universities — " The Standards of Harvard and 
 Yale" Explained — Early Colonial Policy^ — Abandonment of it, 
 and Results — Degeneracy of the Modern System — Undue Multi- 
 plication of " Degree-giving " Colleges— Rev. Dr. McCosh, of 
 Princetofi, and President White, of Cprnell University, tfn Con- 
 solidation — Evil of the present system felt in the United States 
 — Efforts to Remedy it — Scheme of Reform — Revival of tlie Wash- 
 ington-Madison-J. Q. Adams' Plan of an American National 
 
PREFATORY NOTE. ▼ 
 
 University at Washington — Opinions of President Eliot, of Har- 
 vard, and President White, of Cornell, on the Scheme — Legiti- 
 mate Influence of such a University — Supineness of our University 
 Men — " Dignified Neutrality " in Canada and England — Pro- 
 ceedings at Convocation characterized — Conjparative Value of 
 University Degrees in Ontario — Criticism on Colleges appointing 
 their own Professors as Examiners — How the System Works — 
 Classification of Colleges as represented by the Head Masters of 
 High Schools — Intermediate Examinations — Their Eflfect — Policy 
 of Extinguishing the Outlying Colleges illustrated — Recent Uni- 
 versity Reforms or " Innovations " in England and the United 
 States — Mode of dealing with Scholarships in England and On- 
 tario — Original plan of one College and University for the Pro- 
 vince — Recent policy of the Legislature — No Data for dealing 
 with the Question. — Practicable Scheme of uniform University 
 Examination — Teaching Colleges need not be of equal Scholastic 
 Rank — One Degree-giving Institution preferred to half-a-dozen 
 — Three ways of effecting University Consolidation — Power of 
 the Legislature in University matters — The Logic of Facts in the 
 Practice of Parents — Conclusion. 
 
; . ' ' • • I • 1 . '• • 
 
 1.' fij 
 
 . v?(i' '■♦, 
 
 
 'u 
 
UNIVERSITY CONSOLIDATION 
 
 IN ONTARIO. 
 
 The gi'eat difference between the University Systems of Europe 
 and America is the tendency in the one, as in England, to a common 
 centre, and, as iu Germany, to a common standard, and in the 
 other to various centres and different standards. In England, 
 university life centres chiefly in Oxford and Cambridge — both, 
 somewhat under competitive influences, aiming at a common 
 standard of high excellence. In Germany, each of the universities 
 is designed to furnish instruction of the highest order in eveiy 
 branch.* In the United States, on the other hand — after the 
 modem, or post-revolution example, of which our university 
 system seems to have been unfortunately modelled — the " uni- 
 vei-sities " have many standards — all profe.ssedly acknowledging, 
 if not adopting, the standards of Harvard and Yale. Following, 
 however, a universal law of animal life, the farther each of these 
 " universities " is from the acknowledged centre and spring, or 
 heart of university life, the weaker are its pulsations, and the 
 lower are the standards of excellence which they each adopt and 
 
 * This is the University ideal of Prof. Andrews, President of the British Association, 
 who says : " A University, or Studiuin Generate, ought to embrace in its arrangements 
 the whole circle of studies which involve the material interests of society, as well as 
 thise which cultivate intellectual refinement." — Address at meetimj in Glatyow, Sept. 6, 
 
 The difference between the German and English College systems is thus pointed out 
 by Rev. Prof. Seoley in his Liberal Education in Universities : " In the German Uni- 
 versities the whole field of knowledge is elaborately divided and assigned in lots to 
 different lecturers. . . . At Cambridge scarcely anything but classics and mathe- 
 matics is lectured on in the colleges at all, and at every college the lectures are substan- 
 tially the same." — Page 150. 
 
 Dr. Newman in his Office and Work of Universities distinguishes the University and 
 College thus : — " The University is for the world, and the College is for the nation. 
 
 . . . The University is for the philosophical discourse, the eloquent sermon, or the 
 well contested dispvitation ; and the College for the catechetical lecture." — Pages 344-5. 
 Mr. Gathorn Hardy, in discussing the Oxford University Bill last June, also speaks 
 of the professional teaching of the university as having the advantage of giving a large 
 and general view of great subjects, though it could not, he thought, impress special 
 parts of subjects on the minds of pupils as well as the individual (i. e. tutoral) teaching 
 of collegesdid. This ])oint is more fully elaborated in discussing the American prospect 
 of a "National University," in another part of this paper. 
 
8 UNIVERSITY CONSOLIDATION IN ONTARIO. 
 
 follow. The natural consequence of the two systems is, that in 
 England, a high standard is constantly maintained ; while in the 
 United States, the tendency, until latterly, has been the other 
 way, towards diffusiveness in the curriculum, and haste and super- 
 ficiality in the mode of teaching the subjects of the course.* 
 Another evil, traceable to the scantiness of "foundation," which 
 has crept into ambitious " universities." is, for their managers, 
 either to prescribe a so-called " eclectic " course of special subjects, 
 or an "omnibus" one which (on paper) shall be extensive enough 
 to satisfy the most fastidious scholar, but which, nevertheless, 
 includes a long list of "honorary" subjects which, it is well under- 
 stood, shall bide their time until the stern hand of poverty shall 
 relax its hold on the " university. "-f" 
 
 When we speak of the " standards of Harvard and Yale," as the 
 highest American ideal of superiority in a university, it should 
 not be understood that we regard them as the only universities 
 of real merit in the United States. This, it is true, is the popular 
 idea, — regarding them as representative institutions, and in this 
 sense we use the expression, but it is not by any means correct — 
 as recent university movements and reforms in the United States 
 show. Most of the old colonial foundations, including Harvard 
 and Yale, which now exist, still maintain a high standard of their 
 order, quite above the average modern American college, but 
 that the standard has been lowered is admitted by more than one 
 recent American writer. Mr. Ten Brook, in his Ayrterican State 
 Universities, says: — 
 
 " Most of the colonies established or aided (the colleges which 
 they founded). The principle of State support to higher learning 
 w;as not merely accepted, but was the prevalent one. A period of 
 decline, however, in the desire, and perhaps in the means of 
 culture, followed .... Intercourse with the mother country 
 was for a time cut off; resources were diminished; the spirit of 
 
 * " An American Graduate," in the International Bevkw for May-June, 1876, draws 
 a graphic picture of the mode of teaching in American "universities" as compared with 
 that in the universities of Germany. He says "the American community in general 
 little knows h'lw bad the teaching in our higher sch' ols (universities) is. "—Page 291. 
 American educationalists of late years have shown to effect a university " reform," in 
 this particular as in others. 
 
 tThe N. Y. Nation of Sept. 28th, in discussing this question says :—" The great 
 source of the weakness of small colleges now lies in the fancy of founders, or boards of 
 trustees, thatN;he mot-e ground a college curriculum covers, or tries to cover, the more 
 of a coUege it is. " 
 
UN^VBBSITY CONSOLIDATION IN ONTARIO. 
 
 91 
 
 intellectual progress was depressed in the toils and privations of 
 pioneer life .... From these causes .... there had 
 arisen, or was arising, a comparative apathy, which .... 
 continued for a generation to increase." — Pages 17, 18. 
 
 This continued degeneracy from colonial times is still further 
 illustrated by another writer in the North American Review, for 
 October, 1875. His remarks are significant and full of warning to 
 those among us who either uphold the American College 
 multiplying system, which we have unfortunately adopted, or 
 knowing evils of our present pernicious system, take no steps to 
 prevent its continuance. The writer says : — 
 
 '* We have no doubt that the immense number of our colleges is 
 very generally deplored. But we are not sure that the public is 
 ready to admit either the extent of the evil, or the fact that the 
 evil is the legitimate and necessary product of our system. . • 
 We believe that as soon as it, was determined that the colleges 
 and universities were not to be supported in the same manner as 
 the lower schools are supported, * it was fixed as a necessary 
 consequence that while the lower schools would flourish, the col- 
 leges and universities would multiply beyond all demand, and a 
 vast majority of them would languish beyond all recovery. We 
 believe that under [this] change of policy, -j* . . the importance 
 of higher education has declined in public estimation ; that, while 
 a comparison of the state of the learned professions at the present 
 time with the same of fifty years ago will reveal a degeneracy, 
 a careful study of statistics prepared by President Barnard [of 
 Columbia College, New York] in 1870, will show that the number 
 of students seeking a college education has relatively declined.J > 
 
 * The writer, on this point Bays : — ''During tho whole of our colonial history, the 
 support of the publio treasury was comprehensively bestowed alike upon the colleKds and 
 the lower schools." — Pages 386, 3S7. Again; — "The state had formerly supported 
 generally both the higher schools and tho lower ; now, it retainei control of the lower, 
 while it substantially abandoned all interest in the colleges and universities." — Page 387* 
 
 t The same writer says : — "The most immediate result of this abandonment of the 
 early policy of the country was an enormous increase in the number of colleges." — Page 
 387. 
 
 + President Barnard's table is as follows : — 
 
 United States. 
 
 1840. 
 
 1860 
 
 1869. 
 
 Pouulation 
 
 14,582,029 
 
 9,416 
 
 1.1,549 
 
 27,490,266 
 13,661 
 1.2,012 
 
 .%,ooo,nno 
 
 14,141 
 1.2,546 
 
 Students 
 
 Ratio 
 
10 UNIVERSITY CONSOLIDATION IN ONTARIO. 
 
 " We believe that nothing but a return to the early [colonial] 
 policy of our country [as to State aid '"comprehensively bes- 
 towed "] will reinstate the general cause of higher education in 
 the position of relative importance which it formerly occupied," — 
 Pages 373, 374. 
 
 Thus we see that the modei;n American university system, in 
 its relation of the colonial university idea, has been largely a 
 failure — so far in many cases, as thorough and accurate scholarship 
 is concerned. It may have done good, however, as a pioneer system- 
 which, so to speak, hoisted the standard of education, as the colo- 
 nist plants the flag of advancing civilization in many a spot which 
 would otherwise have no opportunity of tasting, much less of 
 drinking deep, of the Pierian spring. Such a system may do for 
 a new country and a young community ; but it is not adapted to, 
 nor should it be deliberately chosen, as it appears to have been, 
 by a Province so old and so educationally conservative as Ontario. 
 
 The Germany university system with its provision for " learned 
 leisure " on the part of the professors, and which is so well adapted 
 to promote research, has been much discussed of late years in 
 England. The preponderance of feeling there is still, however, in 
 favour of " teaching colleges," rather than of universities for re- 
 search. The promoters of the Oxford University Bill of last 
 summer, while providing greater facilities for scientific research 
 than before existed, deprecated any vital departure from the 
 English system of teaching colleges in favour of the German uni- 
 versity idea of research. 
 
 In the United States, as we shall show in another part of this 
 paper, there is a strong feeling in favour of the German ideal of a 
 university. As to the characteristics of the modern college and 
 university of the United States, which we seem to have copied in 
 Ontario, we shall quote an impartial witness. Mr. Oilman, in the 
 North American Review for January, 1876, says : 
 
 " Soon after the revolution was over new colleges were project- 
 ed. .. . They were kindred in organization and plan, im- 
 perfectly endowed, abounding in aspirations, sustained by sacrifice, 
 and restricted in scope. Instead of maintaining one strong 
 [degree -giving] Institution in each state, . . . the friends of 
 education entered upon a rivalry which in some states was fatal 
 and in some injurious, to the cause they advocated. ... In 
 1873, General Eaton, the United States Commissioner of Education 
 
UNIVERSITY CONSOLIDATION IN ONTARIO. 11 
 
 reported tlie names of ... . 545 [arts, law and medicine] 
 degree-giving institutions within the United States, Most of these 
 colleges are inadequately endowed ; . . . thus we see that 
 to-day the three colleges of 1700, the nine colleges of [before] 
 177G . . . have multiplied far beyond all expectation . . . 
 If these numerous colleges had been called academies, or high 
 schools, or collegiate seminaries, or gymnasia, eveiy body at home 
 and abroad would have applauded their organization . . . but 
 because they are called by the same name as Harvard, Yale, 
 Princeton and Columbia, . . . they appear to disadvantage 
 by comparison ; and it is not uncommon to hear them spoken of 
 in terms of collective depreciation. But it should be borne in 
 mind that they would not have been called into being except by 
 the magic name of " colleges," which suggests to the enlightened 
 American an idea inherited from colonial times for which he will 
 contribute labour, time, thought and money." — Pages 216-218. 
 
 The Americans themselves are beginning to feel the burthen of 
 the multiplication of " degree-giving " colleges in the United States. 
 The writer in the North Aintierican Review, which we have quoted 
 strongly deprecates it, and quotes the opinions of advocates of his 
 views, as follows : — / 
 
 " Rev. Dr. McCosh, in his inaugural address at Princeton, pro- 
 posed that the colleges of each State should be associated in one 
 university, somewhat after the form of Queen's University in 
 Ireland, and this proposal is favoured by others ; but no measures 
 have been taken looking in that direction.* 
 
 " President White, of Cornell University, . . . urges as a 
 remedy for the present distracted state of higher education, that in 
 the oldei States public and private aid should be concentrated upon 
 a small number of the broadest and strongest foundations already 
 laid," etc.— Page 219. 
 
 * The remarks made by Rev. Dr. McCosh, in his inaugural, were as follows : — 
 " I have sometimes thought that as Oxford University combines some twenty-two 
 colleges, and Cambridge eighteen, so there might in this country be a combination of 
 oollei;es in one university. Let each State have one UniverEity to unite all its colleges, 
 and appointing examiners, and bestowing of considerable pecuniary value im more 
 deserving students. Some such a combination as this, while it would promote a whole' 
 some rivalay among the colleges, would, at the same time, keep up the standari of eru- 
 dition. Another benefit would arise : the exnmination of the candidates being conducted, 
 not by those who taught them, but by elected examiners, would give a high and catholic 
 tone to the teaching in the colleges. I throw out the idea, that thinking men may 
 ponder it." 
 
Tlf% UNIVERSITY CONSOLIDATION IN ONTARIO. 
 
 Among university men in the United States, the evil of so many 
 " degree-giving " institutions, has been severely felt. In 1871 and 
 1872, tlie question " of the value of College Degrees," was discussed 
 in a report, and orally at the American National Education As- 
 sociation. The following " outline of a scheme " of university re- 
 form was presented by the Committee in 1872. It shows how 
 strongly the Americans feel the necessity of some " reform " in the 
 system of degree-giving in the United States. 
 
 1. *' Let each State organize a University Senate composed of a 
 ■definite number of members, selected from among the oldest and 
 most scholarly of its citizens. In this body, each college and uni- 
 versity should be represented. 
 
 2. " This Senate should have the power, and it should be its 
 duty : — 
 
 a. " To prescribe the qualifications for each degree conferred by 
 the institutions rej)resented at it. 
 
 b. " To enact the statutes regulating all examinations for de- 
 grees. .■ ' ' ■ 
 
 c. " To conduct, in accordance with these statutes, all such ex- 
 aminations by examiners of its own appointment. 
 
 Note. — " These examinations could be conducted by printed 
 papers, either at the seat of each institution of instruction, or at 
 some convenient place where all of the candidates could be con- 
 vened. 
 
 d. " To pass [judgment] on the qualifications of candidates. 
 
 e. " To certify the result to the colleges, and countersign their 
 diplomas. 
 
 Note. — " Other powers might be vested in the Senate by the 
 Legislature. 
 
 3. " The degrees should be conferred by each college or univer- 
 sity on its own commencement-day, and the usual diploma given, 
 which should bear the seal both of the institution of instruction 
 conferring the degree and of the university senate, and be signed 
 by the officers of both. , , . - ,.• .v . .,. 
 
 4. " The entire expense of this senate, and of conducting these 
 examinations, should be borne by the state. 
 
 5. " The consent of the university senate should be required, 
 in order that any college or university might confer an honorary 
 degree. For all such degrees the necessary qualifications should 
 
UNIVERSITY CONSOLIDATION IN ONTARIO. 1^ 
 
 be proscribed definitely, and they should be conferred upon no 
 man destitute of them. 
 
 6. " This senate should have power to distinguish those who 
 are entitled to special honors, and to establish scholarships and 
 fellowships for the encouragement of the worthy." — Proceedings^ 
 pages 227, 228. 
 
 This latter suggestion is a good and practical one. There is 
 no reason why (if a " university consolidation " should take place 
 in Ontario) the Legislature should not authorize the establishment 
 of " scholarships and fellowships for the encouragement of the 
 worthy." Under no circumstances, however, is it desirable that 
 the sum necessary to do so be taken out of the Toronto uni- 
 versity endowment. It should be voted direct by the Legislature 
 as an encouragement to higher education as tested by a uniform 
 and provincial standard, as in the case of high schools. 
 
 Another plan for giving a higher eminence to university cul- 
 ture, which has received a good deal of attention from American 
 educationists, is the revival of Washington's project (when Presi- 
 dent) of a " national university at the capital of the Republic." 
 Washington liimself, by will, left 130,000 towards founding the 
 university ; and President Madison, in 1810, and J. Q. Adams, 
 in 1825, both recommended Washington's scheme to the favour- 
 able consideration of Congress. In 1870 the charter of the law 
 college of the proposed national university was granted, and in 
 1872, President Grant, as first Chancellor, conferred degrees on 
 thirty-one candidates. In the same year the plan was elabor- 
 ately brought forward in two Bills, which were introduced into 
 the United States Senate. One of these Bills, after careful con- 
 sideration by a Committee, was unanimously reported to the 
 House and its passage recommended. 
 
 President Eliot, of Harvard University, who was unfavourable 
 to the scheme, chiefly on political grounds, described the bills 
 as " tentative plans for creating a crowning university, richer, 
 better, and more comprehensive than any existing institution, 
 and under the patronage of the general Government." 
 
 The approved bill submitted to Congress proposes the estab- 
 lishment of ten faculties in the university, and an endowment of 
 twenty millions of dollars, yielding an annual revenue for the 
 purposes of the university, of one million of dollars. 
 
14 UNIVERSITY CONSOLIDATION IN ONTARIO. 
 
 The promoters of this great national university, in which is 
 an embodiment of the German idea, propose, in regard to it, — 
 
 " 1. That it should be broad enough to embrace every depart- 
 ment of science, literature, and the arts, and every real profes- 
 sion. 
 
 " 2. That it should be high ei t lugh to supplement the highest 
 existing institutions of the country, and to embrace within its 
 field of instruction the utmost limits of human knowledge. 
 
 " 3. That in the interest of truth and justice, it should guaran- 
 tee equal privileges to all duly qualified applicants for admission 
 to its courses of instruction, and equal rights and the largest 
 freedom to all earnest investigators in that domain which lies 
 outside the limits of acknowledged science. 
 
 " 4. That it should be so constituted and established as to 
 command the hearty support of the American people, regardless 
 of section, party, or creed." 
 
 " 5. That its material resources should be vast enough to en- 
 able it not only to furnish — and that either freely or at nominal 
 cost — the best instruction the world can afford, but also to pro- 
 vide the best known facilities for the work of scientific investiga- 
 tion, together with endowed fellowships and honorary fellowships, 
 open respectively to the most meritorious graduates and to such 
 investigators, whether native or foreign, as, being candidates 
 therefor, shall have distinguished themselves most in the advance- 
 ment of knowledge. 
 
 " 6. That it should be so co-ordinated in plan with the other 
 institutions of the country, as not only in no way to conflict with 
 them, but, on the contrary, to become at once a potent agency for 
 their improvement, and the means of creating a complete, har- 
 monious and efficient system of American education." 
 
 The necessity for a truly National University, on this broad and 
 comprehensive basis, is thus set forth by President White of Cor- 
 nell University : — 
 
 " Look the whole number of our colleges through, and you do 
 not find, save in one or two, any regular provision for instruction 
 in political economy and social science. Take the plainest results 
 as to social science. Every year the cost is fearful. Nearly forty 
 State Legislatures, and nearly forty times forty County and Local 
 Boards dealing with matters relating to pauperism, crime, lunacy, 
 idiocy, the care of the deaf, dumb and blind, making provision re 
 
UNIVERSITY CONSOLIDATION IN ONTARIO. 15 
 
 garding them at a cost of millions upon million.s, and very rarely 
 with any fundamental study of the complicated questions involved. 
 Yonder is England suffering from errors in those respects, made 
 centuries ago. Here are our States repeating many of the same 
 errors. 
 
 " Take next the simplest results as regards political science. 
 Look at our National Legislature, containing always a large num- 
 ber of strong men, and patriotic men — but the strongest of them 
 often given up to theories, which the most careful thinking of the 
 world, '^and the world's experience, as recorded in history, long 
 .since exploded. 
 
 " But the analogy extends beyond the internal affairs of our 
 Nation and States ; it extends to our external relations. I do not 
 speak of the diplomatic service, though the want of higher know- 
 ledge with reference to that uas long been felt ; but I refer to an 
 
 analogy of another sort foiced upon us in these times 
 
 The warfare to which men are educated at West Point and An- 
 napolis, is not the only warfare between mode in States 
 
 The greatest modern warfare is rapidly becoming an industrial 
 
 warfare. Every great nation is recognizing this And 
 
 this warfare is as real as the other Not only does a 
 
 true regard for the material prosperity of the nation, demand 
 a more regular and thorough provision for advanced education, but 
 
 our highest political interests demand it From all sides 
 
 come outcries against the debasement of American politics, and 
 
 especially against gross material corruption .This gives 
 
 much food for serious thought. , ^ . 
 
 " Now I assert that, as a rule, our public men who have received 
 > an advanced education, have not yielded to gross corruption. 
 n 'Understand the assertion. It is not that men who have not had 
 the advantage of an advanced education, yield generally to cor- 
 ruption, — far from it. Some of the noblest opponents of corruption 
 we have had, have been men debarred by early poverty from 
 thorough education. But what I assert is simply this, '^o 
 among the men who disgrace our country by gross corruption, — 
 whether in City, State, or National Council, — and you find the 
 ,Teat majority of them of the class that has received just educa- 
 tion enough to enter into the struggle for place or pelf, and not 
 enough to appreciate higher considerations 
 
 " The struggle for place or pelf (by a man) of higher education, 
 
16 UNIVERSITY CONSOLIDATION IN ONTARIO. 
 
 whether in science, litciature, or history, is, as a rule, mo<lified by 
 confliderationH to which a man of lower education Ih very often a 
 stranger. He is lifted up to a place from which he can look down 
 upon success in corruption with the scorn it deserves. 
 
 " The letting down in character of our National and State 
 Councils has notor'ously increased, just as the predominence of 
 men of advanced education in these (.Councils has decreased. 
 President Barnard's admirable paper (referred to on page 9), 
 showing the relatively diminishing number of men of advanced 
 education in our public stations — decade by decade, — marks no 
 less the rise — decade by decade, — of material corruption. . . . 
 There is a relation here of cause and effect." 
 
 We give these extracts, not with a view of suggesting the adop- 
 tion of any scheme so broad and comprehensive as the one here 
 explained, and the necessity for it enforced. Our object is rather to 
 show what efforts the leading educationists of the United States 
 are making to retrieve their educational position, and to place 
 university culture on a higher level than ever, far above a modest 
 scheme of " university consolidation " such as we advocate. We 
 have also another object in view, and that is to show, pei' contra, 
 that, while the Americans are anxiously alive to the importance 
 of this question, as it affects their educational future, yet how 
 little, I may say nothing, we are doing in Ontario to place 
 the system of university education upon a national basis, so that 
 its standard must rise, and cannot be lowered at the pleasure of 
 collegiate corporations, which may spring into existence at any 
 moment, ad infinitum, as we have seen. 
 
 A further reason influences us in giving these extracts. Every 
 word uttered in them is true, and no less true as applied to the 
 United States than they are as applied to Canada. They contain 
 significant, and even solemn words of counsel and warning, which 
 it is not wise in us to ignore. Some day we too must look the 
 same " social " and " industrial " problems in the face as stem 
 facts, and must seek to solve them also. For the present we may 
 be content to take our experience second-hand ; but we would be 
 unworthy of the great future which we trust is before us, if we 
 should not even now so shape our educational plans that we shall 
 not hereafter have to waste precious time in useless regrets, as our 
 American neighbours are now doing. 
 
 As Canadians, another consideration should influence us. The 
 
UNIVEIWITY CONHOLIDATION IN ONTARIO. 17 
 
 liigh educational pc^iition whivih Ontario confossodly took at the 
 recont rntornationnl Exhibition, irivolv«!.s, if not a plodgo, at h^aHt 
 an uliligation tliat we must not .stand still. Recent High School 
 movements of the Minister of Education in an upward direction, 
 shoidd b(!ahint to univcirsity men, to whom ihe country looks, 
 that their /(t/wf^^/Ju'r^ policy is unjust to the great interests in 
 their hands. They should see to it, as their AuKsrican brethren 
 are doing, that our university system is placed on a solid, if not 
 " consolidated " Imsis. Nor should we, as the leading educating 
 Province in the Dominion, ignore the educational problems which 
 are being di.scussed and worked out, with more or less success, by 
 our neighbours. They see the evil, and .seek to remove or remedy 
 it. We see the evil, but let it not Im; .said that vre do nothing. 
 
 Some of the remarks of other America:; writers on a National 
 University scheme, are so pertinent to this portion of our subject 
 that we should like to quote them. We have only I'ooiii, however, 
 for those of the author of the Bill, of which the Upper House of 
 CJongress approved. The Hon. J. W. Hoyt, (Chairman of the 
 American Education Judges at the late Centennial,) in closing his 
 remarks on the National University Bill, used words which should 
 have a meaning and significance for us. He says : — 
 
 " The logic of party and reason will not permit [the United 
 States Government] to stop .short of the most complete provision 
 
 for every department of Am,erican Edncntioii The 
 
 variety and vastne.ss of the national resources, and the rapid pro- 
 gress of other nation.s, are making a strong and growing demand 
 upon the industrial arts, which they are powerless to meet with- 
 out the help of the best technical schools ; while the conspicuous 
 place we of necessity hold among the great nations of the earth, 
 the nature of our Government, and the genius and aspirations of 
 our people, are reasons deep and urgent for a high and thorough 
 culture, that must early move the nation to adopt measures that 
 will give to the United States a true Univei-sity." 
 
 With such an educational programme before our Eepublican 
 neighbours, can we, as their monarchical rivals and immediatb 
 and intimate neighbours, sit still and fold our hands and care 
 nothing for our higher educational future ? We trust not. 
 
 There is one fact in connection with this matter of University 
 Consolidation in Ontario to which we have only incidentally re- 
 ferred, and which to thoughtful men would appear inexplicable 
 
18 UNIVKUSITY CONSOLIDATION IN ONTAUIO. 
 
 Were not tliu causes producinj^ it well known. Evoryoiic whose 
 opinions on univ«!rsity tnatti^rs are of any value has long since 
 coMK! to tluj cMJiiciuHioii tluit oue univi'isity — a real university — 
 with as many teaching colleges in connection with it as can bo 
 established — is ain[)ly sufKcient for Ontaiio for years to come;* 
 and yet not one of our pui)lic men or univt'rsity scholars has made 
 an earnest suggestion, or taken any real })ractical steps towards 
 the accomplishment of such a purpose — the consolidation of our 
 present univtM'sity system. Desultory lemaiks have now and 
 then been made on the subject by individuals; and newspapers 
 have sometimes referred hesitatingly to it, not having thouglit it 
 desirable seriously to discuss the question on its merits as one of 
 national importance; but it is .singular that, sine*' the close of the 
 last university cont«^st in 1800, no steps have been taken to re- 
 medy a profes.se(l evil, which at the time both .sides feared would 
 result from the multiplicati(^n of universities in the Province. 
 Indeed, as a matter of fact, the so-called evil has been allowed 
 to grow and develop itself to a large extent; so that, instead of 
 /ouv universities, a^ at that time, we have now seven chartered 
 with full university powers. While this unusual extension was 
 taking place, universit}- men, who should have made their voice 
 heard, stood aloof and allowed the matter to go l)y default. But 
 unfortunately university men in Ontario have rarely, if ever, 
 acted in concert. They have either beeii in antagonism to one 
 another, or clioseri to maintain the position of •' dignified neutral- 
 ity," rather than, in tlie couuuon interest of higher education to 
 have protested against the unwi.se multiplication of not very 
 strongly equipped universities in the Province. Merely to have 
 protested against the erection of colleges into " universities," would 
 have savoured of querulous exdusiveness ; it was, nevertheless, 
 a grand opportunity lost for uniting to place our university .sys- 
 tem on a firm and comprehensive footing. Thus, the cause of 
 higher education has suffered, because university men, who ought 
 
 * Ah illustrative of this point, the Nortli American Review for October, 1875, says :- - 
 . " Tlie advantages of a concentration of energies for higher education have long been 
 felt in every nation in Europe. England, Ireland and Scotland, with a population 
 not much less than our own, have scarcely half a score of institutions empowered to 
 grant ■' -i^rees. In France there in, strictly speaking, but a single one. In Germany, 
 where the system of education has been brought to tlie highest perfection, the number 
 is only twenty-one, or one for about two millions of inhabitantH. In our own country the 
 latest announcement is thf.t we have 322 colleges and universities, each entitled to 
 rank itself as one of our highest institutions of learning." — Page 372. 
 
UNIVKIISITY <;ONS<)f,II)ATI()N IN ONTARIO. H) 
 
 to havo boon iU diampioiis ami ^fiuirdians, oIiomc t-o^aot upon the 
 laiHMez falt't' principh; nitluT than tVoni thi- noldcr iinpulHo of pa- 
 ti'iotic niotivos. This apathetic state of fedin;^ which .soeinn 
 chronic, is, we fcsar, unfortunate for the university future of On- 
 tario. By juM-sistin^ in such an explo(le«l Japanese system of non- 
 intercourse, (a systenj which the .lapanesi' themselves liave noMy 
 re|)U(l:ate(l, ami tsspccially in (Mlucation,) wo are inHictin;,' an evil 
 u[»on our country and doin^j an injury to its hij^hor scholarship. 
 
 It may he alhi}.(ed that there is little or no intercour.s(! am<»n<^ 
 rival university men (!ven in Knj^dand, Hut this is not suhstan- 
 tially true. As university men seekin<^ a connnon end tlu-y may 
 have occasion for 1 ut little intercouisc ; nevertlieless, in the end- 
 less literary, .scientific, educational and i-eli}j;ious discussions, writ- 
 ings and meetings wliicli take place constantly, within the small 
 area of th(! three kingdoms, they are pijrpetually Wrought into 
 close contact. In this country, beyond a local " institute," or reli- 
 gious meeting, or other gathering, they have little" or no personal 
 or literary intiu'course, and .seek none. Tliis is greatly to he de- 
 j)recat(Ml ; for it tends (perhaps uncon.sciously) to foster a certain 
 amount of local university pride and exclusivene.ss. 
 
 Profe.ssoi' Andrews, President of the British A.ssociation, in his 
 inaugural speech at CJlasgow on the ()tli Septembei-, refers to a 
 feature of univeisity isolation, which also prevails in (.'anada, and 
 strongly reconnnends an abandonment of English exclusivene.ss as 
 it is evinced towards the Scotti.sh universities. He ,says : " The 
 
 Universities ought to admit freely to university positions, 
 
 men of high repute from other universities Not less im- 
 portant would it be for the encouragement of learning tliroughoub 
 the country that the ETigli.sh universities .should be pre- 
 pared to recognize the ancient universities of Scotland as freely 
 as they have always recognized the Elizabethan University of 
 J)ublin. Such a measure would invigorati; the whole university 
 
 system of the country more than any other I can think of. 
 
 As an indirect result professors would be promoted from 
 
 smaller positions in one university to liigher positions in another, 
 after they had given proofs of industry and ability ; and stagna- 
 tion, hurtful alike to professional men and professional life, would 
 be effectually prevented." 
 
 Another pha.se of university life (if " life " it can be called), we 
 desire to notice. At some of the universities the annual gather- 
 
20 UNIVKHSITY rONSOUDATfON FN ONTARIO. 
 
 in^s at " Convocations," or " Conimonccmont," (to borrow an 
 Ainorican word somotiniOH in use,) whicli mi^'ht \)v ina<l« n^ally 
 t'njoyal)l(! jus a univcrHity pila <lay, as in houui coiintrii's, \h Huf- 
 fert'd to l)(! barely toleralilo, if not a positive infliction, by reason 
 of its (by stift'iu'SM and forniality. Such a "crowning' day" to 
 the graibiates is ()bs(frvo<l in ho Hoienin an<l formal a manner that, 
 under the benumbin;,' intbmnce, the student at the closo of his 
 successful college career nnght feel as tliough he were about toV)e 
 led to execution rather than as the recipient of the highest honour 
 or gift which his university could bestow. All this indicates the 
 absence of judgment an<l tact in not making an imjjortant offi- 
 cial yet social univi>rsity gathering a pleasant one for all partil^s 
 concerned. It tends to repress that spirit of enthusiasm with 
 which young men naturally do, and should, enter on the real busi- 
 ness of life. Not that we would seek to introduce into (Janada the 
 boisterous, yet playful, rudeness of English university con'oca- 
 tionSr which of late years has had to be checked ; but we think 
 that if a little less time were devoted to the wholesale and ster- 
 eotyped eulogies on particular stud(!nts which kind-hearted pro- 
 fes.soit) generally indulge in, and a little more given to the utter- 
 ance of phort populai' ad<lres.ses by two or three leading public or 
 university men, selected beforehand, it would add greatly to the 
 interest and pleasure of these annual university g.atherings, and 
 give them a practical character and value which they do not now 
 possess. To old graduates, and certainly to the general (lublic, 
 the present mode of conducting convocations is insufferable from 
 its sameness and tameness. 
 
 It is not our purpose here to discuss the actual or comparative 
 ' value of the academic degrees which issue from seven (in reality 
 five) universities in Ontario. Such a task would be invidious 
 in the extreme, and productive of no good. It must, however, be 
 patent to every man, competent to judge in such matters, that these 
 degrees are not, and cannot, under the existing system, be of equal 
 value.* Indeed, it is almost impossible for us to estimate their 
 
 * Th« editor of the Queen^s College Journal, in reply to this portion of our paper says : 
 " Does it occur to Canadensis that there may be as much, nay more difference betweei 
 the value of two degrees from the same university as there may be between two degreec, 
 one from the university that he considers best and the other from the one which he con- 
 siders furthest from it in point of efficiency." What the editor says maj' be true in ex- 
 ceptional cases ; but it is not true as a rule and, therefore, we cannot admit the validity 
 of the argument baaed upon it% There is one security which we would have under a 
 
UNIVKKSITY CONHOl.lDATION IN ONTAUIO. 21 
 
 • 
 
 intrinsic, much Iohh thturcoiiiparativo, value as ovidonces of scho- 
 liM"sl»i|), since iivi'iy iniivt'iHity has its own Htanilaicl, its own ox- 
 amini'is, an<l its own coui-hc of instruction. * We wouKl, tluifo- 
 foi'e, have to reconcile tiirei' diHcring, if not antagonistic, eleuu'nttt 
 of university training and examination before we could leach a 
 common grouJid, or basis, on which, or from wliicli, toestinuite the 
 aca<li-mic vahie of the (h'grees gmnted by our five or seven uui- 
 ver-sities. What eidiances the evil of such a manifest diversity of 
 university standards for degrees is t}ie fact, that by law wo 
 authorize every one of these univei-HJ^-.'S to Hx the standard of 
 
 toiiHolidftted iinivt'iHity HyHttMii which we do not and, hm wu liivvu Mho'wn, we cannot 
 jKmHesM muh'i- thi- i it'Hunt Hyst nt. All of thf dtf^ivcM giMnti'd undt-r the Hyitttmi wliii-lj 
 we advocuto would ut leiiHt poNMCMM ii Hxt-d niininiiini value- 'I'Im; variiition would he 
 above that ntindard and not Iwluw it, aH very likely ii« the caHe umlur the |ireHent 
 HyHteiu. 
 
 * lleferrint; t ' the HyHteni of each collegt; appoiiitinK itn own prufeHHori ao exaniinera, 
 3Ir. Lowe, in luM *|)eech on the Oxford UniverMity Hill, laxt June, raya : "Since the 
 time of the IJefonnatiim and the dawniiif,' of learniu^^, the uftice of the University had 
 been limited very much to examining, ami very hailly it exantiiied, hecaiiHo it Helected 
 a« it« examiuerH i)ergon« who were alHo tutorH, and who were IntereHted, therefore, iu 
 the paHHingof tlieir pujiilH." 
 
 lievd. Dr. Newman, in his " Office and W^ork of UiUrernUku,"' hIiows that thiuiju were 
 at one time even wor^e at Oxford than Mr Lowe'a Htatement would indicate. He Hays : 
 " At the beginning of this century, when thin^rH were at the worst at Oxford, s^mie 
 zealoUM j)erHon« attenipte<l to brinj,' the UniverBity to bear upon the colleges. The degrees 
 were at that time taken upon no lonajidt examination. The youth who had pasaed 
 Idu three or four j'ears at the place, aiul wished to graduate, chose hiu examiners, and 
 invited them to dinner ! " . . . It " is notorious that for thirty years one college, 
 by virtue of ancient rights, was able to stand out against the University, and denmnded 
 and obtained degrees for its junior members without examination." Pages ;J")G, 3")7. 
 
 It is only ((uite recently that the Uiuversity of (Jottingen renounced the right of con- 
 ferring doctor's degrees without oral examination. VVe have discussed the practicability 
 of university uniform exandnation on page M of this i)ampldet. 
 
 The working of this system of examination by tiie professors themselves is thus 
 truthfully pointeil out in a " Report on College Degrees," jiresented by President Wal- 
 lace to the American Natioiuil Kducatioii Assouiation in 1872 : - 
 
 " We have in tin- United States hundreds of colleges and uidversities authorized to 
 confer degrees. . . The professors themselves are commonly the examiners. . , 
 Tlie faculty of each college passes on the (nullifications of its own candidates. Tho 
 familiar with tlio practical workings of the present system know that it is very difficult 
 to make examimitions as severe as they ought to be ; very difficult to prevent unworthy 
 candidates from receiving the degrees, which they desire. An accommodating system 
 that jjasses every one that ijoea over the prescribed course, and regards no one who pre- 
 sents any colour of valid claim is much the easiest of administration. . . . Every 
 professor commonly becomes attached to his students His sympathy with them is and 
 ought to be, that of a father or elder brother. He consetjuently overlooks their failings 
 and magnifies their excellences, honestly over-estimates them. Many times gentleman- 
 liness of conduct, or high-toned morality is regarded as a compensation for lack of 
 scholarsliip. Hence profensors admit to a deifree candidates whom impartial examinera 
 would have tinhesitatin<jhj rejected" 
 
22 UNIVKRSITV CONSOLIDATION IN ONTARIO. 
 
 qualification of all tho head masters of our high schools and col- 
 legiate institutes. The possession of a degree from any cne of the 
 seven universities in Ontario, or from any university in the British 
 dominions, (with the addition of .some slight cxjx'ric^nce in teach- 
 ing), entitles tlic holder to hecome the head master of any of om- 
 high sclujols and collegiate institutes, witliout further examination. 
 
 In other words : we have made the seven universities in On- 
 tario important factors in our system of public instruction, and 
 yet we have taken no steps to see that a common standard of ex- 
 cellences and culture is mrintained in these universities, or that 
 the qualifications of these head mastia-s shall be of an uniform, or 
 oven of a fixed minimum, value. * The Legislature has, how- 
 ever, got rid of the difhcidt} by recognizing these degrees en bloc, 
 and giving to each of them an intrinsic and legal value. We do 
 not for a moment mean to say that a high stan<hird of scholarship 
 lias not been reached by the head masters of our various high 
 schools and collegiate institutes, who are graduates of the uni- 
 versities in q\iestion ; but what we do maintain is, that, undei' our 
 present university system, there is no guarantee, except a moral 
 one, that the evil to which we refer nuiy not and does not exist. 
 
 It may be interesting just here to note the nundier of graduates 
 of the various Canadian and other universities which, under the 
 present system, have furnished the head masters of our high 
 schools and colh^giate institutes. 
 
 From otHcial returns we derive the following information: — 
 
 High School Masters from Canadian Universities. 
 
 Toronto 0.,Univeisity hasfurni.shed. ... 39 Head Masters. 
 
 Victoria, 0., " " " .... 14 " 
 
 Queen's, 0., " " " 10 " 
 
 Trinity, 0., " " " 8 " 
 
 Albert, ()., " " " 4 " 
 
 McGill, O., " " " 8 " 
 
 Bishop's, Q„ " " " .... 1 " 
 
 Acadia, N.S., " •' " 1 
 
 (( 
 
 
 Total 80 
 
 *The editor of the Quccii'x Col Cf/v Jdin-iial says, in respect to our remark :- -" Now, we 
 cannot see any reason why the attainments of the old masters sliould be uniform . , 
 
 One may confine himself to classics, another to mathematics, etc' 
 
 In the fii-st jilace we may say that the law requires so far a imiformity in the qualifi- 
 cations of head masters that they must be graduates ju Arts. They must also, in ad- 
 
university consolidation in ontario. 23 
 
 Head Mastkrs from Variouh other Sources. 
 
 Trinity (Dublin,) has furnished 5 Head Ma.iters. 
 
 Marisehal (Aher.,) " 4 
 
 Queens's (Ireland,) " 1 
 
 Cambridge (Eng,) " 1 
 
 Wesleyan (Cimn., U.S.) " 1 " " , • 
 
 Gicssen (Gernianv,) " 1 
 
 . Provincial Certiticates. " 7 " " >' 
 
 Grand Total 100 
 
 The July intermediate examinations at the liigh schools and 
 collegiate institutes, has also furnished some valual)le informa- 
 tion, which has been published in the papers, and from which we 
 gather the following interesting facts as to the status of the 
 schools and institutes taught by the graduate-; of the various re- 
 cognized universities. 
 
 Status of First C^lass G (collegiate institutes) 
 
 " Second '• 14 (2 collegiate institutes, 12 high schools.) 
 
 Third " 21 (1 " " 20 " 
 
 " Fourth " 2.-) (high schools.; • 
 " Fifth " 34 ( " " ) 
 
 ■ Total 100 
 
 The colleges represented at the same examination by the masters 
 of the first-class collegiate institute, as above, we learn, are as fol- 
 lows : — 
 
 ' Toronto, 2 Head Masters. 
 
 A^ictoria, 2 
 
 McGill, Q 1 
 
 Queens's (Ireland) 1 
 
 
 Total G 
 
 The colleges represented by the masters of the second-class insti- 
 tutes and Idgh schools are as follows : — 
 
 dition, jwssess a practical knowledge of the science and art of teaching, to the satisfac- 
 tion of the Minister of Education. Secondly, we liad reference solely to the uniformity 
 required by the statute as " Graduate in Arts, " and not to the personal tastes or 
 8t>ecialities of individual teachers 
 
2.4! UNIVERSITY CONSOLIDATION IN ONTARIO. 
 
 Toronto, 7 Head Masters. 
 
 Victoria, 2 
 
 Trinity, O ] 
 
 Acadia, N.S 1 
 
 Wesleyan, U.S. (Victoria ad eundcm) 1 " " 
 
 Trinity, Jhihlin ] 
 
 Provincial Certificate 1 " . " 
 
 » Total 14 
 
 The Dceianber intermediate examinations alters but little, the 
 college representation as given above. From the published state- 
 ments we learn the following : — 
 
 Status of First C^lass G (collegiate institutes.) 
 
 
 Second " 
 
 13] 
 
 liigh s 
 
 choi 
 
 
 Third " 
 
 4 
 
 (< 
 
 « 
 
 
 Fourth " 
 
 IG 
 
 (( 
 
 a 
 
 
 Fifth " 
 
 4 
 
 (C 
 
 i( 
 
 
 Sixth " 
 
 4 
 
 it 
 
 a 
 
 
 Seventh " 
 
 27 
 
 tt 
 
 ti 
 
 
 Eighth " 
 
 2G 
 
 u 
 
 11 
 
 100 
 
 The colleges rcipresented by the masters of the first-class colle- 
 giate institutes, at the December examination, are as follows : — 
 
 Toronto, 2 Head Masters. 
 
 Victoria.0 2 " « 
 
 McGill.Q 1 
 
 Queen's (Ireland) 1 
 
 6 
 
 The colleges represented by the masters of the second-class high, 
 schools, at the same examination, are as follows : — 
 
 Toronto, O 8 Head Masters. 
 
 Victoria.0 2 
 
 Wesleyan, U. S., Victoria ad eundem . . 1 " " 
 
 Trinity, Dublin.., 1 
 
 Provincial Certificate 1 " " 
 
 « 
 
 Total 13 
 
 ^ It is not necessary to pursue this classification further, as the- 
 examples which we have given sufficiently indicate the quality of 
 the academic or literary training and teaching power which the 
 
UNIVERSITY CONSOLIDATION IN ONTAltlO, 26 
 
 head masters of our best high schools and collegiate institutes 
 possess. We think, too, that the test which has been applied by 
 the first of these intermediate examinations was, in the main, and 
 substantially, an impartial one. The next examination, held in 
 December, was more perfect as to its details, but it did not, 
 materially change the results of the first examination. The real 
 significance and value of these examinations was, however, 
 more distinctly brought out at the December one, which, for many 
 reasons, took place in the same year as did the first. This we 
 think was desirable. But we very much question the expediency or 
 necessity of subjecting these schools to so severe a strain as these 
 examinations involve, more than once a year. Two such exam- 
 inations in the year would, as a rule, interfere with the proper 
 routine and daily progress of the school, and subject it to the inev- 
 itable " cramming " process, which a test examination, like that of 
 the " Intermediate," would be sure to promote. 
 
 From this digression we turn to the main subject of this paper. 
 Before, however, discussing the mode of university consolidation 
 which has been suggested, there are one or two preliminary ques- 
 tions to be con.sidered, which incidentally affect the main one. 
 
 Suppose that every one, or a majority of the outlying universi- 
 ties chartered by the Legislature, were closed to-morrow, would 
 that, it is fair to ask, prove a substantial gain to collegiate training 
 and higher education in the Province ? Would it be desirable to 
 break up and disperse the knot of literary men, now found at the 
 seat of these universities, devoted to the promotion of higher 
 education ? If not, then, in the interests of that higher education, 
 we hold that these institutions should be efficiently maintained. 
 Suppose also, on the same principle, that the instruction now 
 given in one hundred high schools and collegiate institutes was 
 in future to be given only in the eight or nine collegiate insti- 
 tutes now existing, or in a limited number of institutes placed 
 in large and more convenient local centres. We think we have 
 only to state these questions to practically answer them. Why, 
 we would also ask, has it been found necessary to establish a 
 second normal school at Ottawa, and project another at London ? 
 It may be answered that the Toronto school being full, it was 
 found necessary to build another. Yes ; but why not build it 
 and all others as an enlargement of the existing one at Toronto — 
 the head-quarters of the department, and under the very eye of . 
 
116 UNIVERSITY CONSOLIDATION IN ONTARIO. 
 
 tho Minister charged with the; management of such institutions ? 
 The answer is simple : tlie teachers of the eastern part of tlie Pro- 
 vince did not, and would not come to Toronto — the mountain 
 would not go to Mahoinet ; Mahomet had, therefore, to go to the 
 mountain. Hence the (juestion had to be dealt with as a practical, 
 not as a theoretical, one. Hence also, normal schools are, as a ne- 
 cessity, being established, and model schools projected in different 
 parts of the Province — care being taken to subject the students of 
 each to the same public exaniinatioji icr a conuiion system of 
 instruction and oversight. Every one concerned commends the 
 wisdoin of the cour.se ])ursuetl.* 
 
 Even in Old England, with her intensely conservative Oxford 
 and CJambridge, and in New England with her moderately con- 
 servative Harvard and Yale, the subject in the one case of 
 "University Extension," and in the other of "University Cosmopoli- 
 tanism" (if we may apply such a term to a university movement), 
 has been variously discussed and practically illustrated. The < 
 tendency in both cases is tentatively in the same direction. The 
 promoters seek to bring the college as near every man's door 
 and circumstances as possible. They seek to modify its course 
 and period of study so as to adapt it to the modern requirements 
 of the various callings in life which require scholastic training and 
 special knowledge. 
 
 Thus in England for instance, the first feeler in the direction 
 which we have indicated was, to establish a system of local middle 
 class examination, — to give a fixed value in the results, and then to 
 bestow a special academic rank on the successful candidates. This 
 system, as any one can see, is capable of indefinite extension and. 
 diffusion — and that extension and diffusion aie only questions of 
 time and experience. 
 
 Again, public discussions on the subject have indicated a strong 
 
 *Rev. Professor Seeley, in his e.ssay on " Liheral Education in Univevsities," is strongly 
 in favonr of the multiplication of universities in England. He says, " Education in fact 
 in England is what the [two] iniiversities choose to make it. This seems to me too great 
 a power to be possessed by two corporations, however venerable or illustrious. . . I 
 wish we had several more universities ; I mean teaching as well as examining universities. 
 I hope that the scheme which ^^^ announced some time ago of creating a university for 
 ^Manchester will not be allowed to sleej). I should like to see similar schemes started 
 in three or four more centres of pojjulation and industry." He then asks this pertinent 
 ■question, which might also be asked in C'anada, " Is there anything more undeniable 
 , than that our material progress has outrun our intellectual, that we want more culti- 
 vation, more of the higher education, more ideas ? "—Pages 140, 147. 
 
UN1\ ..USITY CONSOLIDATION IN ONTARKJ. 27 
 
 <lesire to convert university fellovvsliipa into college exhibitions, 
 and abolish "conipulsory residency within college walls." The 
 Rev. Mark Pattison, B. D., Rector of Lincoln (Jollege, Oxford, in 
 his Sii;/<j('f<tiun>^ on Acudemical Orjptniz'ifioii, discusses this mat- 
 ter at length ; and in dealing with the question of " compulsory 
 residence," says : — 
 
 " We are now back again, after fifteen years delay, face to face 
 with the inevitable conclusion, — compuUor^i residence within 
 college walls nuist cease to be the law of the university. So cer- 
 tain is it to come, that it is better to regard it already a- a f<iH 
 accompli, and to consider what the situation will carry with it." 
 He furtlu^r argues, " that permission to lodge out of town should 
 not be fettered b}' any obligation to belong to a college."* 
 
 As to New England, the following remark V)y a writer in the 
 J\\)rth America Revleiv for January, 1876, will best illustrate the 
 university movements of the present day in the United States. 
 
 " One of the first innovation.s' [on the typical American College, 
 •and it routine and discipline] was made when the University' of 
 Virginia allowed its scholars to elect their own courses, gave 
 prominence to examinations, and laid no stress upon the system 
 of four-year classes. Nearly half a century later, Cornell Univer- 
 sity sprung at once into great prominence by the freedom with 
 . which it threw off traditional fetters, allowing great freedom of 
 choice of study, introducing abundant means of illustration and 
 pr.ictical laboratories, engaging non-resident professoi's of distinc- 
 tion to supplement the oi'dinary teachers, and favouring technical 
 instruction in the usefid arts, as well as general insti'uction in the 
 liberal arts. Yale (yollege has . . . side by side successfully 
 promoted in the Sheffield School, for a quarter of a century new 
 courses of study in the modern sciences. Brown, Rutgers, Dart- 
 mouth, Princeton, and others of the older [Colonial] Colleges, 
 maintain schools of science akin to the Sheffield School of Yale. 
 But by far the bolde it innovations which have been made in any 
 American College, are those inaugurated at Harvard under the 
 administration of President Eliot. The interior working of the 
 institution has been remodelled, and great freedoin of ch(*ice (ex- 
 tending to the modern departments of science, as well as to the 
 
 *In the Dublin University we believe it ha.s lonjj been the practice to admit outsider.*) 
 to sizarships, Hcholarshiiis, and degrees, on passing the prcscribeil examination. This has 
 been a great boon to many students in Ireland who may lot have much means. 
 
28 UNIVERSITY (,'ONSOLIDATION IN ONTARIO. 
 
 various branches of literature, history and philosophy) is now 
 permitted to every student with results, which appears to have 
 dissipated nearly all doubts as to the wisdom of the plan, and to 
 have attracted increasintr numbej's of students. ■ 
 
 "These modiHcations" (the wiiter j^oes on to say) "of the 
 American College are likely to be attended with the best results, 
 for they accord with the best experience of other countries." — 
 Padres 219, 220. 
 
 If such a scheme of " university extension," as we have indicat- 
 ed, is ])i'actical»le, or desirable in England, there is no reason why 
 it should not substantially and in effect be tested in Canada. And 
 there can be no conclusive reason why there should not be scholar- 
 ships provided by the Province open to the students of the var- 
 ious colleges which are gratuitously doing provincial work — 
 especially when the value of such work can be tested by a pro\in- 
 cial standard and by provincial authority. Why should not i^he 
 Legislature, by a system of uniform examinations, as in the 
 case of high schools and collegiate institutes, authorize a competi- 
 tion in the literary subjects of the arts course, to be open to all the 
 colleges which are " doing the State good service ;" and, if earnedi 
 let it be enjoyed by the successful candidates in their own colleges. 
 
 One of the hardest tilings which the outlying coDeges have to 
 submit to, in the doing of bona fide provincial university work (of 
 which the country gratuitously reaps the benefit), is the present 
 system of awaixling scholarships. Foi the scholarships established 
 by the University of Toronto no student of the outlying colleges can 
 honourably compete, unless he turns his back upon his own univer- 
 sity. It is, we submit, neither right nor fair to ask him to do so 
 when, in the general competition, he comes up to the required 
 standard demanded by the Province. 
 
 But if the Legislature would institute a number of additional, 
 scholarships to be competed for by the outlying colleges, as we 
 have indicated, no jealousies could arise ; and the Province could 
 then recognise and equally reward these colleges for doing bona 
 Jide university work for the country.* 
 
 * Under no circuniistanceH would it be desirable to touch one cent of the endowment of 
 the Toronto University either for the purpose of securing " university consolidation " or 
 for encouraging and rewarding those who perform ajjproved university work in the out- 
 lying colleges. The Jjcgislature should be disposed rather to recognise work done for 
 the Province, and pay for it accordingly. ' ' • 
 
UNIVERRSITY CONSOLIDATION IN ONTARIO. 29 
 
 Now, looking at this matter in the light of" our own oxporionce, 
 another etjually practical (piestion ari.se.s in dealing with this 
 university consolidation question. > 
 
 The Legislature, or rather the advisers of George TIL, provided 
 means for the establishment of a central college and univ<}i'sity at 
 Tojonto for the entire youth of the Province ; and we have never 
 outgrown that one idea of a single State college and universitv 
 for the whole Province. The reason of this is, that we have assumiMl 
 theoretically at least, that the youth of thii country would not fail 
 to come to Toronto. But our youth — many of them seeking col- 
 lege honours and university scholarships — have not, however, for 
 the last twenty-five or thirty years, and will not (as in the case of 
 the normal school), come to Toronto. Large numbei's of them 
 prefer to go to the outlying colleges, with university powers, 
 in other parts of the country, while the Legislature, with abundant 
 means at its disposal, has shown no disposition to establish or 
 support more than the one teaching college originated l)y Goorge 
 III. for the whole Province, eighty or ninety years ago. 
 
 Probably this has arisen from the fact that no definite informa- 
 tion in regard to the universities is availal)le. The public are, 
 therefore, at a loss to know what is the aggregate number of 
 students which go to college, or what is the comparative num- 
 ber of matriculated students which have been yearty entered 
 at the Universities of Toronto, Victoria, Queen's, Trinity, Albert, 
 and others, or of the number which have graduated in the several 
 faculties. The annual reports of University College, and of the 
 University of Toronto, have not been published, and the calendars 
 of the other colleges reach only a few individuals. The attention, 
 therefore, of the Legislature, or of the public, has not been called 
 to the subject, and no available infoi-mation is at hand for their 
 guidance. The Legislature is consequently ignorant of tne facts 
 of the case and the necessities of the Province in this matter, and 
 has left these outlying and self-supporting colleges, to supply 
 a pressing want which its own central institution does not 
 meet. It may be asked: Was this the object which the Legisla- 
 ture had in view in recently multiplying universities with a 
 free hand all over the country ? We cannot say that it was not ; 
 and we do not like to say that it was done to promote political 
 purposes ; nor can we say that it was solely to gratify influential 
 religious bodies. We must therefore take higher ground. We 
 
80 UNIVERSITY (JONSOLIDATION IX UNTAUK). 
 
 must aHHumo that j^rave public policy (lictati'd tliat tho Le((islature 
 .shoiild tliUH, without cost to itstilf, oxt((n<l the splicrc of collegiate 
 tniiniug, localize facilities for it at various points in the Province, 
 by placing the burthen on other shouldei-s than its own, and legal- 
 ize, prolably for wise, competitive purposes, institutions which, 
 as rivals jO each other, and to the Provincial one of Toronto, would 
 together griiatly promote, at a cheap ratt^ to the State, the interests 
 of sound training and higher education in the Pn/vince. This 
 being the case, as we must assume from the facts just stated, the 
 next question to be answcM'cd is : H<jw shall these university 
 privileg s, thus (iiffused broadcast, be best combined so as to enable 
 the country, with e([ual fairness to all, to apply to the results of 
 local training a Provincial test, and to give to these results thus 
 tested (if found satisfactoiy), a Provincial value?* To answer 
 this question in a satisfactory manner may be difficult, but we 
 think it can be answered. T(» do so satisfactorily is to point out, 
 we think, the otdy way in which the university privileges which 
 the Province possesses, can be turned to the ]>est practical account, 
 and rendered subsei-vient to the great purposes which the Legisla- 
 ture doubtless had in view in s) lai-gely ujultiplying, without 
 charge to itself, our higher educational advantages. 
 
 •As to the practicability of a satisfactory scheme of uniform ex- 
 aminations for all of the colleges, that question has been happily 
 set at rest by actual experiment. In old England the uniform 
 Rystem of middle class as well as teachers' examinations has for 
 some years been in successful operation. In Ontario the plan of 
 an iniilorm examination for the high schools and the |)ublic school 
 teachers respectively, has worked admiral )ly. In the United 
 
 * The editor of the Quteu's Colkijc Jonntdl Joes not answer this queHtion, Ijut op- 
 poses " uiiiveraity couHolidation " chiefly on the ground that "the inherent function- 
 of IV university (adoptini,^ the dictuia of Prof. An(h-uws), is to teach as well a« ex- 
 amine, " that it would be manifestly unfair to test the knowledge of students from 
 different institutions, by a Boai-d of Examiners unfamiliar with the method of teach- 
 ing adopted at those colleges ; and that "we would find our.selves reduced to a rigid 
 inflexible system of text-books, with professors turned into mere teaching machines, 
 a system which the writer thinks might " do in Normal and High Schools, etc. " 
 
 Our answer is three-fold : — 1st. 'Ihe preponderance of feeling in England, as we 
 have stated elsewhere, is in favour of " teaching colleges " in a university, but not 
 necessarily a ' teaching university. " 2nd. In regard to the propriety of professors 
 being examiners of their own students, wc have fully answered that indefensible 
 plea on page 21. 3rd. The objection that a comprehensive university system, would 
 reduce colleges to a " ngid inflexible system," is fully answered elsewhere in this 
 paper. Facts and experience' paint the other way. 
 
UMVKUSHY CONSOLIIMTION IN ONTAIUO. 31 
 
 StatoH, the Harvard College uniform entrance exaiiilnations, hold 
 sinniitancjously at Harvard ('ollege, at New York, and at ('inein- 
 nati, have, with tlie (\xaniple« which we have (luotc^d, proved he- 
 yond (|ue.stioii the feasil)ility and economy of thi.s mode of 
 hrinj^ing to a common examination statidard, the re.snltH of dis- 
 tant and varied training and preparation. 
 
 The idea of uniformity in university matriculation in Scotland 
 lias impressed itself forcibly on the mind of Sir Alexander (Irant, 
 the Principal of Edinhurgh University. In his opening address 
 on the 1st Nov., Sir Alexander .said, that one of the " three great 
 measures required for the improvement of the University of Edin- 
 burgh was a uniform matiiculation examination for the universi- 
 ties of Scotland, imposed by ordinance." 
 
 There would be no diHiculty in carrying out a uniform systiMu 
 of university examination in Ontario. Sealed envelopes, with 
 prescribed examination papers enclosed, could be sent down to 
 each college, which, at a given hour on a given day, and under 
 proper supervision, could be opened and the papers placed before 
 the candidates for degrees. The answers, when collected, could in 
 like manner, be returned under seal to a Central Body at Toronto. 
 Of course, such a body should be a rcpi-esentative one, in which 
 each of the colleges would have confidence. The ceremony of 
 conferring degrees could take place at each College under the 
 local president, f)r in presence of some distinguished university 
 officer appointed for thatpurjiose. 
 
 For all practical purpo.ses it is not a matter of prime necessity 
 that all of the teaching colleges of a univt^rsity should be togethei-, 
 or be of equal scholastic rank and standing. They are not so at 
 Oxford and Cambridge. And it is amusing to see evidences of 
 the jealousy which exists between the strong and the weak col- 
 leges at Oxford. Rev. Prof. Seeley, in his essay on a Liberal 
 Education in Universities, says : 
 
 "Trinity College refuses to let the men of other colle-ges attend 
 its good lectures, and the small c<jlleges refuses to excuse its own 
 students from attending its own infei-ior lectures." — Page 107. 
 
 It is necessary, however, that the college of a university sliould 
 be good teaching colleges. It will be a sufficient guarantee to the 
 country if the students who pass the final examination be found 
 to give satisfactory evidence of educational training, and evince 
 an acquaintance with certain prescribed subjects in the curriculum,. 
 
82 UNIVKRSITY CONSOLIPATIDN IN ONTARIO. 
 
 which would (Miahlo th(>m to rocoivo adc^^reo, or provincial certi- 
 ticato of HtnosH tor tlu' ^'rav»i (hitics of lif*;. 
 
 Now comes the m liu (iiu^stion : Is it drsirablo, in the int(U"ost.H 
 (if hi'dier cuhication in tiuH Piovincc, that thcso curtiticateM or 
 diplomas, as evidiMicos of schohistic training and litorary culture, 
 should issu«; from u hij^h (usntral authority alone, or from half a 
 <lozen ditferent soiu'ces, havinj,' varying standards, and degrees of 
 indeterminate values ^ VV(! think that all lovers of sound learninj^ 
 and excellence in scholaiship will unhesitatingly answer the first 
 part of this (piestion in the affirmative, and ne<^ativ(^ the latter part. 
 The further cpiestion then arises : How can this j^reat univiM-sity 
 reform he accomplishiid at the hiast possihle cost to this Province, 
 and of injury to the existing institutions. There arc three ways 
 of (U)in<' it. (1.) The Hrst and simplest, an<l yet the most unjust, 
 would be for the Legislature, by the exercise of its sovereign power, 
 to undo its own work and to abrogate the charters of all the rival 
 colleges to tho provincial university, and declare that from hence- 
 forth none of the colleges shall grant degrees but the central uni- 
 versity at Tonmto alone. This plan we dismiss, therefore, as 
 unwise, unjust, and impracticable. (2.) A second mode of accom- 
 plishing the object aimed at might be to enter into negotiations 
 with each of the outlying chartered universities to surrender, upon 
 certain conditions, their university powers, and vest the sole 
 authority to grant degrees in the central university of Toronto. 
 (3.) The third and most feasible plan would be, to induce the' 
 various colleges to hold their charters granting university powers 
 in abeyance, in consideration of the payment to them half-yearly 
 of the interest on a capitalized sum, on certain conditions named 
 hereafter, to be nuitually agreed upon by the parties concerned, to 
 be stopped, should the contract he broken, annulled or avoided 
 by the colleges.* 
 
 As a preliminary, however, io the entertaining of such a propo- 
 sition as the last, we hold it to be essential that, before the pay 
 ment of any grant as an equivalent for the suspension by them of 
 ' university powers, each of the colleges should be required to com- 
 ply with certain conditions. These conditions should have 
 
 * We have purposely avoided entering into details as to the financial aspects of the 
 question ; this not being the purpose of tho pai)er. We would merely reiterate what 
 we have said elsewhere, that not one cent of the endowment of Toronto University 
 should be touched for any purpose but its own. 
 
INIVKUSITY roNSOMDATloN IN OXTAHIO. 88 
 
 rofoivnce to the college huildiii^s ami tht'ir ('(luipnu'nt, to tho 
 oinlownient mist'd an<l investo«l in good st'cuiitit's, ami to the 
 nuinlicr of tcaclu'is and tiitoiM wliich tlu* collogn slionid lie n>(|uir('d 
 to t'liiploy. Tilt' collc^datc iiistitut«'s aic r('(|uin'd, as a coiiditioii 
 of n^c'ognition, and of rccpiviri"; a special ^'lant, to havt- suitaldo 
 ImililingH and appurtcnanct's ; to tt'acli the classics, and to employ 
 at least foui- regular niasteis, l»esid»!s having an aveiage attend- 
 ance of not less than sixty pupils, studying (Ji'eek and Latin. It 
 would, therefore, he hut just and reasonahle to apply the sanio 
 principle to the colhiges on their Itecoining niend>ers of a central 
 university, iind rec<^iving a gmnt from the Legislatiu'e. 
 
 It niiglit he difficult to Hx upon a hasis satisfactory to all partit'S 
 concerned, on which to make acapitalize<l grant to the outlying 
 colleges. There are, however, three or four cotiditions wliich we 
 woidd venture to suggest as esst^ntial in making these giants — 
 
 1. That no grant he mad(! to a college tho invested capital in i 
 good securities of which did not amount to at least .*!f5(),()0l), inde- 
 pendent of huildings an<l e(juij)ment. 
 
 2. That the.se securities should he lodged, either in the hands of 
 the Government, as Trustees of the endowment, or in the hands of 
 trustees named jointly hy the C/ollege and the Govenunent. 
 
 3. That any grant made hy the Legislatuie should not he paid 
 over to the College, hut remain entirely in the hand.s of the 
 Government as trustees of the fund 
 
 4. That the interest on the Ligislative Suhsidy he paid to the 
 College half-yearly, hut that it he withheld, should the College 
 resume its charter, or shouM the College not he kept up effici- 
 ently in the arts department, and in huildings and equipment,, 
 according to stipulations agreed to hy the College and the Govern- 
 ment, and ratified hy the Legislative. 
 
 These conditions would ensure permanence and efficiency in the 
 College, and would he ample security to the country, that the 
 COUi"se of higher education would he strengthened and promoted. 
 
 In the exercise of its powers, the Legislature might, as a preli- 
 minary to making a grant, inquire into the quality, value, and, 
 substance of the education given in institutions which it has 
 chartered, and to the scholastic diplomas, or degrees of which it, 
 has affixed a lecognized and substantial value, by giving the. , 
 holders of them a legal status as masters of high schools and coK 
 legiate institutes. 
 3 
 
84 rMVKllMTV (•(►NHOI.IDATION IN ONTAUIO. 
 
 Hliould the (|iioHti()ii 1)0 rai.sed oh to the liglit of tho LtgiMlature 
 to institutt'! tluH inquiry, thn ati.swer is Hiinple. It is iiilicvcnt in 
 tlio Legislatviro, in tho intciests of tin; piihlic, to inquire undt-r 
 certain circniuHtanccs into tlu' inoccodings of any corporation 
 which it has cliartt-rod— -to see if the tiMiiis and conditions of tlie 
 cliaiter are observed. 'I'his is the more necessary wlien the acts 
 of that corporation are recognized hy tlie FiCgishiture «s conferring 
 special rani<, as well as certain legal rights and privileges, upon 
 persons suhject to its control and direction through the Minister 
 of Education. 
 
 At this point tho question might be asked : Why should the 
 Legislatui'o be callcl upon U) make a grant to the colleges on con- 
 dition that they suspen<l their functions, so far as the granting of 
 degrees is concerned ^ It is right and proper to ask this (juestion, 
 as the ansv/er to it involves the application to the case not only of 
 a legcd but of an ecjuitablc principle. To each of these colleges lias 
 been assigned, by the voluntary act of the Legislature, certain va- 
 luable rights, as well as a recognized legal status as training schools^ 
 t)r normal colleges, for high .school ma.ster8. Relying on the good 
 faith of the Legislature iti granting these j)owers and privileges, and 
 trusting to their pernuinency while exercised in the same good 
 faith, these colleges have secured sites and erected buildings with- 
 out charge to the public treasury. In agreeing to suspend tlieir 
 cliarters these colleges surrender substantial rights, and forego 
 their legal status as universities. It does not require any demon- 
 stration to show that in doing these things each college not only 
 voluntarily denudes itself of important and influential functions, but 
 also surrenders a potent source of influence, as a public institution, 
 among its own adherents or friends. To ask any corporation to 
 thus voluntarily divest itself of its substantial character and func- 
 tions, without some quid pro quo, would be unreasonable and 
 unjust. 
 
 Of coui'se, we know that each corporation concerned would not 
 be disposed to estimate the value of what it surrenders, too lightly. 
 A commission, or other impartial body could, therefore, be ap- 
 pointed to take all the circumstances of the case into considera- 
 tion, and report accordingly. This we have no doubt the govern- 
 ment would do impartially, should any project on the subject be 
 entertained. 
 
 We have not touched upon a vital point which is involved in 
 
irNIVKHSlTY roNSOI.in.VTInN IN ONTAHIO. ))6 
 
 this tiut'Mtion : that of (loiioiiiinationHl rs. state, or so-calleil tiational 
 collo^es.* We think it heiicath the dignity of the real (jiiestion 
 at isNiie to (Uscumh tliin matter. It in itivariahly and nnwarmnt- 
 ahly assumed by the friends of state coUcgeH tluit hoeauso a purely 
 Hcientitie and literary training, is received in a denominati(mal 
 college that, therefore, aid given to promote it involves " sectarian " 
 endowment. This begging of the substantial (piestion at issue is 
 utterly unwoithy of a writei- with any pretentions to impartiality, 
 or a desire, as a statesman, to deal partieally with a state of things 
 wliich exists in every Chiistian country, and will always exist. 
 No on«' will ventuie to say that the elassies, mathematics, natural 
 Idstory ov j)hiloso})hy taught in these colleges are in any way tinged 
 with a denominational shade or hue. No one has ever been able 
 to detect the slightest U>aning of the kind in the works of Newton 
 or Laplace, or in those of the inmnnerable wiiters of standard 
 text books. And this is all the pul)lic has to do with the nuitter. 
 
 Time and events have shown us for many years that, in this 
 free country of ouns, people will prefer sending their boys, at a 
 critical and impressible age, to the care of persons in who.se reli- 
 gious principles and faithful oversight they have contidenco. Such 
 people regard education without tiii.-> influence and oversight 
 dear at any pi'ice ; and if the education of their children could only 
 be obtained without the.se safeguards, they would never ])eimit 
 them to receive it. They are not persons to be misled by the pre- 
 tended analogy wliich is sometimes set u}) ])etween the state; gram- 
 mar school and the state college. They know too well that the 
 analogy does not exist — that, in the one case, their children are. 
 constantly under their own supervision at home, while, in the 
 other case, they are without any kind of parental, or religions, or 
 even anything more than a mere nominal moral oversight. 
 
 If the state could throw around the young neo[)hyte tlie moial 
 and religious safeguards of the ordinary christian homk, the (ques- 
 tion as to a choice between the richly endowed state university 
 and a semi-moderately equii)ped denominational one might be g| 
 easily settled. But it does not, and cannot, from the very nature 
 of the case. 
 
 * President Eliot, of Harvard UniverBity very aptly defines a State univerHity to l>e 
 *' one managed directly by the State, arid not through a clone corjwration provided for 
 by the State." This diHtinction is very generally lost sight of ; the two are generally 
 confounded. 
 
86 UNIVERSITV CONSOLIDATION IN ONTARIO. 
 
 It is not to be wondei-ed at, therefore, that ho large a })r()porti()n 
 of those who have sons to (nhieate, should deliberately pass by the 
 rich university of tiie state, in favour of the scantily endowed and 
 less attractive one of the denomination. We can anticipate the ex- 
 planation which can be at once given to this apparent paradox : 
 That religious fanaticism or prejudice will often lead a man to 
 sacrifice the best interests of his child to some mistaken views of 
 duty, of obligation, or of conscience.* This may be so in som«i 
 instances, but not so in the generality of cases, with which we 
 have to do in dealing with this question. A wise and sagacious 
 statesman will look these things fairly in the face, will weigh ^fehe 
 argument on both sides, and provide for the case accordingly. 
 
 However, we shall not pursue this matter further. Our j)ur- 
 pose is, we think, a higher and better one : to consider how best 
 to turn to real substantial [)rofit to the country, our higher educa- 
 tional advantages as they exist, wliether in the hands of denom- 
 inations or of the state. Our plan would be to extract from the 
 outlying and self-supporting colleges all that was really good in 
 theni, for the promotion of sound learning and literary culture, 
 and to give to their degrees, or certificates of scholai-sliip, a pro- 
 vincial, rather than a denominational and local value. 
 
 * The writer of the article on State Universities in the North American Reviev: iov 
 October, 1875, argues against cienominational, and in favour of state colleges. He ad- 
 mits that while the college is small, the supervision is satisfactory ; but it partially 
 ceases, except as an influence or tradition, when the college becomes large. He thinki* 
 the absence of it is more than made up in " a great university. " For he holds that 
 " the best education is an inspiration rather than an actjuisition. It comes not simply 
 from industry and steady habits, but far more largely Ivom that kindling and glovving 
 zeal, which is best begotten by familiar contact with boys, libraries, and museums, and 
 enthusiastic specialists. . . While the small college affords guidance and protection, 
 the large one offei-s guidance, inspiration and opportunity." -Pages .S70, 371. ^Cot al- 
 ways ; but even if it did, this is not all that a college should do with impressible yoimg 
 men, placed under its care at a very critical age. 
 
 The editor of a leading American Educational Journal, in a recent article says : — 
 " By far the larger part of those who sui)port and i)atronize oin- colleges are Christian 
 men. In the minds of these men, educational and religious ideas are indissolubly 
 Redded. A purely secularized education they do not want, and will not have. The 
 very principle of loyalty to their religious ctmvictions holds them loyal to these Chris- 
 tian colleges. These men do indeed see the grand mission of the more completely secu- 
 larized State institutions ; but they see also other interests which these institutions 
 cannot subserve. They are the interests of characteristically Christian education. And 
 who shall tell what our country owes to this style of education ? What does it owe on 
 the score of men whom it has trained and given to the country ? What on the score of 
 the type of civilization, it has developed ? What, for the political and educ^itional sys- 
 tems it has created and fostered ? " 
 
UNIVERSITY CONSOLTDA.TION IN ONTARIO. 
 
 87 
 
 We must take things as they are ; and we should accept the 
 educational situation in this matter. We cannot extinguish the out- 
 lying colleges. They will not die, as was prophesied and thought 
 possible when the legislative grant was taken from them. It would 
 be a calamity if they were extinguished, for they are sources and 
 centres of intellectual light all over the Province. They are, more- 
 over, doing the state noble service, faithfully and efficiently, ac- 
 cording to their ability, and for which the state pays nothing. So 
 far, therefore, as they are disposed to promote the great object of 
 our system of public instruction, we should accept their assistance 
 and seek to give a national direction and value to theii" labours in 
 the common work of uplifting our country to a,high state of in- 
 tellectual culture, refinement, and intelligence. 
 
 . . • , , , > < ■ 
 
 
 • • • I . i . . 
 
 
TREVELYAN, (G- O)— The Life and Letters of Lord 
 
 Macaulay, '>y l>is Nephew, G. Otto Trevelyan, M.P. With 
 Portrait on Steel. Complete in 2 vols. 8vo., Cloth, $3.00 ; Half Calf, 
 $5.00 ; Full Morocco, $8.00. 
 
 " Mr. Trevelyan has written the memoir of his uncle with as much good taste as 
 [jrateful and affectionate feelinjj. » * * Mr. Trevelyan has chiefly relied on copious 
 selections from a mass of tlie most unreserved family correspondence ; for from his 
 boyhood to the latest days of his career Macaulay lived with his sisters on terms of 
 the most lovinj^ intimacy, makinj^^ them the confidants of all his hopes and feelings. 
 His letters to lady Trevelyan and others, while tiiey bubble over with vcn'c and play- 
 fulness, resemble rather those private journals which some men keep for their own 
 satisfaction, but scrupidoiisly reserve for ]iersonal reading. They make us intimately 
 acquainted with the great author and statesman. We are presented to a man of most 
 affectionate and lovable nature, with the gift of inspiring intense attachment and ad- 
 miration in those who were the nearest and dearest to hnn. " — London Times. 
 
 " The correspondence which fills so large a space is remarkable for its naturalness 
 and freedom, written without the slightest aim at literary effect, and relating the cur- 
 rent events of tlie day with the frankness and hilarity of a roystering school-boy. 
 Macaulay's warm domestic affections crop out on every occasion, and the whole tone 
 of the letters indicates a man of unaffected simplicity of character and true nobleness 
 of purpose. His sketches of the literary society of London, of which he was not to 
 * the manner born,' will charm many readers who retain a taste for personal gossip 
 about famous writers." — N. Y. Trihitnc. 
 
 " We do not doubt that these volumes will be I'ead throughout the world with a 
 curiosity and an interest only to be surpassed by the success of Lord Macaulay's own 
 writings. " — Edinburgh Rcrieii'. 
 
 " Mr. Trevelyan has produced, from very rich and attractive materials, a very 
 delightful book." — Spectator, London. 
 
 " A delightful surprise even to the most insatiable devourer of biographies. * * * 
 Sure to be a classic among biographies. — N. Y. Times. 
 
 "It is rarely that a biography of a man of letters, a poet and a statesman, a man 
 of the world and a retired student, a favourite in society and a lover of home, can be 
 otherwise than interesting. It would be difficult to find one half so full of interest in 
 its details, and narrated so simply, eloquently, and judiciously, as this Life of Macau- 
 lay by his neidiew. "•* * * There is not merely not one page that is dull, but ihere is 
 not a page which has not some variety of charm to attract and absorb the delighted 
 reader." — Notes and Queries, London. . . . 
 
 " The biography is in every respect worthy of the subject. Mr. Trevelyan has 
 executed his task with most praiseworthy motlesty and good taste, and with great 
 literary skill. * * * Macaulay's life forms a most interesting book, living as he did 
 in the thick of the literary and i)olitical activity of his time. It affords us many fresh 
 pictures of incidents in which he played a part, and amusing and instructive anecd(jtes 
 of the celebrities with whom he came in contact, and above all, it throws a great deal 
 of unexpected light on his own personal character."— /cU"rtw/«tV, London. 
 
 " In the pages of Mr. Trevelyan, readers will find that which ought to be studied 
 and can hardly be abridged."— Gladstone in the Quarterly Revi<.ii.K 
 
 "There has not been so good a biography since Stanley's Arnold." — Westminster 
 Review. 
 
 " The biographies of three men, .Samuel Johnson, 1709-1784 (Boswell) ; Walter 
 Scott, 1771-1832 (Lockart) ; and Thomas Habington Macaulay, 1800-1859 (Trevelyan), 
 cover one hundred and fifty years of the literary history of England, and are probably 
 the best works of their class written." — Am Bibliopotist. 
 
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 Eead what the Press says of the first number : — 
 
 " It has been looked for with interest, and we venture to express the belief that 
 public expectation will not bp disappointed. They have started well, and they will 
 continue as they have i)egun, we do not doubt."— Toronto Mail. 
 
 *' To judj^e from its literary character and mechanical execution, it will stand an 
 equal chance with other candidates for public favour. " — Toronto Globe. 
 
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 both varied and attractive in the extreme. The printing, paper, and general appear- 
 ance are hijjhly creditable to the publishers." — Quebec Chronicle. 
 
 " Evei y lover of literature in Canada should subscribe to this magazine." — Goderich 
 IJuron Sii^nal. 
 
 '* It is ]irinted in the highest style of the art, elegantly illustrated, and is without 
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 the old world." — St. Thomas Weekly Times. 
 
 " One feature of this truly excellent magazine we must not omit to mention, and 
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 (not alone because it is a Canadian enterprise) that the magazine will have unbounded 
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