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PROCEEr>II^GS

THE INAUGURATION

OF THE

mum HOLSON HILL

M^GILL UNIVERSITY,

HIS EXCELLENCY THE RIGHT HON. VISCOUNT MONCK,

Governor General of British North America, (('c,

ON FRIDAY AFTERNOON, OCTOBER 10, 1862.

MONTREAL:

Printed i:r M. Longuookk & Co., Gazette Stkam Press, 8(; Great St. Jamks Street.

1862.

*- 'i-ia*

> -, -•^■'

PROCEEDINGS

THE INAUGURATION

OK TJIK

mLim Mim oul

MCGILL UNIVERSITY,

HIS EXCELLENCY THE EIGHT HON. VISCOUNT MOXCK,

O'ooermr General of Jiritish North America, dx.,

ON FPvIDAY AFTERNOON, OCTOBER 10, 18(52.

MONTREAL :

I'rimei. i!v -M, I.O.N GMouitE .^ Co., UazettkSteam I'uKss, r\i] Grkat Sr, James Stu

KKr.

THE INAUGURATION

OF THE

WILLIAM MOLSON HALL

OF THE

McGILL UNIVERSITY

In accordance with the arrangements previously
made by a Committee of the Corporation of the McGill
University, the Convocation assembled in the Library
of the University on Friday, 10th October, 1862, at
3 P. M., for the purpose of receiving His Excellency
the Governor General. On the arrival of His Excel-
lency, the members of Convocation present were
severally introduced by the President of the Uni-
versity, the Honorable Charles D. Day. After
which His Excellency and Suite, accompanied by the
Convocation, proceeded to the Convocation Hall, in
which a large number of spectators and the students
of the College were already assembled.

There were present on the occasion: His Excel-

luncy the Riglit Honorable Viscount Monck, Governor
General of British North America, &c., &c., Visitor
oi' the University, attended by Dennis Godiey, Esq.,
Governor General's Secretary; Sir W. Fen^vick
Williams; the Honorable Col. Hollo; Captain De
Winton; the Honorable P. J. O. Chauveau, LL.D.,
&c., Superintendent of Education ; the Honorable
A. A. Dorion ; Honorable L. H. Holton, M.L.C. ; and
the following Members of the Convocation and
Officers of the University : the Honorable Charles
Dewey Day, LL.D., President ; the Honorable James
Ferrier, M.L.C; Thomas Brown Anderson, Esq.;
David Davidson, Esq.; Benjamin Holmes, Esq.;
Andrew Robertson, M.A. ; William Molson, Esq. ;
Alexander Morris, M.A., D.C.L., M.P.P.; the Hon-
orable John Rose, M.P.P. ; John William Dawson,
LL.D., F. R. S., &c., Principal of the University ;
Reverend Canon Leach, D.C.L., LL.D., Vice-Principal
and Dean of the Faculty of Arts ; Henry Aspinwall
Howe, M. A., Rector of the High School ; T. Walter
Jones, M.D.; George W. Campbell, M.A., M.D., Dean
of the Faculty of Medicine ; J. Graham, M. A., Prin-
cipal of St. Francis College ; William Fraser, M. D.,
Professor of the Institutes of Medicine ; William
Sutherland, M.D., Professor of Chemistry ; William
E. Scott. M. D., Professor of Anatomy ; Robert P.
Howard, M. D., Professor of the Theory and Practice
t>f Medicine ; Frederick W. Torrance, M. A., B. C. L.,
Professor of Civil Law; P. R. Lafrenaye, B. G L.,

rrolcMsor of Jurisprudence and Legal Bibliography;
]{. G. Lalianime, B.(J.L., Profensor of Customary Law
and Law of Real Kstate ; Charles Snialhvotfd, M.D.,
LL.D., Professor of Meteorology ; Charles F. A. Mark-
graf, Professor of German Language and Literature ;
D. C. McCallura, M.I)., Professor of Clinical Medicine
and Medical Jurisprudence ; Alexander Johnson,
LL.D., Professor of Mathematics and Natural Philo-
pophy ; Reverend George Cornish, B.A., Professor of
CLassical Literature ; Pierre J. Darey, M.A., Profusssor
of French Language and Literature ; Robert Craik,
M. D., Professor of Clinical Surgery ; T. A. Gibson,
M. A., Classical and Senior English Master of High
School ; John Johnson, B. A., Classical and Senior P'n-
glisli Master of High School ; William Craig Baynes,
B. A., Secretary and Registrar ; W. H. Hingston, M.
D. ; Romeo H. Stephens, B. C. L. ; David S. Leach,
B.C.L.; Ro])t. A. Leach, M.A., B.C.L.; Melbourne Tait,
B.C.L.; JohnRedpathDougall, B.A.; Duncan Dougall,
B.A.; Wm. McKay Wright, B.A.; Robert W. Ferrier,
M.A.; James Kirby, M.A., B.C.L.; Caleb J. DeWitt,
B. A.; Charles G. B. Drummond, B.A.; Francis Gilman,
B. A.; Joseph Savage, G.C.E., with many other Gra-
duates of the University.

After the meeting had been opened with prayer
by the Rev. Canon Leach, D.C.L.,

The Honorable C. D. Day rose and called upon
Mr. Baynes, the Secretary, to read the following
letter : —

• •

" Montreal, lOlli October, 1862.

" To the Royal Institution fur the Advancement of Learning :
" Governors of McGUl College :
" Gentlemen :

" Eighteen months ago, T announced to yoii my intention
0** completing the original design of the McGili College Buildings, by
erecting the Western Wing and Corridors ; and I am thankful to God,
who has spared me to see the work fmished, and to afford mc the
satisfaction this day of handing them over to you as Guardians of the
College Property.

" I have only to express my most sincere desire that, with the
extended accommodation, there may be, on the part of the University,
increased usefulness, — a desire in which, I am persuaded, you, as my
colleagues, cordially unite.

" I remain,

" Gentlemen,

" Yours most sincerely,

« WILLIAM MOLSON."

The President (Hon. C. D. Day) said : —

" Ml/ Lord, Ladies and Gentlemen, —

" The letter which has just been read indicates
at once the object for which we have assembled our
friends here to-day. It is to aid in the observance
of a time-honored custom, in the public and solemn
dedication of this Hall to the important purposes for
which it has been erected. It is an epoch in the
history of this University ; and those of our friends
who have been with us from the beginning, and who
know something of the difficulties and anxieties
through which it has struggled steadily on, will
pardon, if they do not share the feeling of deep
interest which the occasion excites in our minds.

" We desire to express our respectful welcome to
the noble Visitor of this University, the Representa-
tive of our Queen, who honors us by his presence

here, and gratel'iilly to acknuwle<lge the encourage-
ment we leel in hioking around thin ample yet
crowded Hall, honored by so many of the highest in
rank and the Ibremost in intelligence, — and last, but
not least, graced by those fair friends of every good
enterprise, whose propitious smiles strengthen the
labor which commands success, and give to the
success itself its most valued charm.

" As in human life there are periods of repose and
of retrospection, so in arduous undertakings there
are points of attainment from which men look back
upon the trodden road, and seek in what they have
already accomplished a measure of the means and
limit of future progress. Such a period is now
reached by this University, and it is fitting, in order
that its position may be truly appreciated, that a
brief outline should be given of its history and
operations. Its existence is due to the benevolence
of the late Mr. Jamks McGill, formerly a merchant
of this city. He died in 1813, leaving a will by
which he bequeathed to the Royal Institution (a
corporation established by the Provincial Parliament
for the advancement of learning) his estate of Burn-
side, consisting of some forty -six acres of land in the
immediate neighborhood of the city, and the sum of
£10,000 in money, as a foundation for a University.
The will was contested, and Avith the exception of
obtaining a Royal Charter in 1821, no action was

hen upon it until x829. The first step toward the
establishment of a University was the organization
in that year of the Faculty of Arts and the Medical
Faculty. The former met with many difficulties
and made little progress ; but the latter, being a

professional school and composed of men ranking tlie
first in their profession, has been and still is sustained
with admirable ability and vigor.

" In 1835 the Rev. Dr. Bethune was appointed
Principal of the University, and increased eftbrts were
made toward the establishment of the Faculty of
Arts, — and after a further interval of some years it
was formally opened, in September 1843, in the
buildings erected for that purpose. The undertak-
ing, however, was not successful. The College re-
ceived no support, and at length its utterly prostrate
condition attracted attention, and the Provincial Go-
vernment Jwas moved by a number of gentlemen to
aid in an endeavour to place it on a better footing.
A careful Report was prepared on the state of the
University, and suggestions were made of the course
which it was advisable to follow for its amelioration,
which became the basis of much that has since been
done.

'^ A new Charter was applied for, and was received
in August 1852, differing favorably from th former
one in many of its most important provisions. Upon
the reception of the Charter the newly-appointed
Governors immediately entered upon the labors of
their trust. They began by reforming the Statutes
of the University, in a manner to introduce a more
simple administration, and absolutely to do away
with all religious tests and privileges. The College
was involved in debt, and its income, about £400,
fell far s^iort of its expenditure. Measures were at
once taken to stop the increase of the debt, and in
order to improve the income a Provincial Act was
obtained, modifying that of 1801^ under which the

Royal Institution existed, and granting authority to
sell such portion of the veal estate bequeathed by
Mr. McGiLL as the Govt luors might deem advisable.
By the sale of lands under the sanction of that law,
the income of the University has been from time to
time augmented until it has now reached the sum of
about $7000. Application was also made to the
Legislature, before the adoption of the present system
for the distribution of the fund in support of educa-
tion, and pecuniary aid was granted, — but in sums
less than the Governors were reasonably entitled to
expect, and altogether inadequate to place the Uni-
versity on the footing which it ought to occupy.

" In consequence of the want of substantial support
from the Government, which the Governors had
relied upon in accepting their charge, it now became
evident that they must either so contract the opera-
tions of the University as to render it of little value,
or obtain assistance from other sources. An appeal
was consequently made, in December of the year
1856, to the Protestant population of Montreal, and
was met, as such appeals always have been by its
leading citizens, in a spirit of ready and unrestrained
generosity. An Endowment Fund, amounting to
£16,000, was subscribed by a number of gentlemen,
not exceeding fifty. Of this sum £5000 were given
by the Messrs. Molson (the three brothers) for found-
ing a Chair of English Literature, the remainder
was made up in sums varying from £500 to £150.
It will be gratifying to the subscribers of the fund
to know that their help, both in money and moral
support, came at a time of great need, and has been
of incalculable benefit. Their names will stand ujwu

I I

the Records of this Institution so long as it endures.
" It wouhl be tedious and unprofitable to follow in
detail the difficulties and embarrassments which have
been encountered in the progress of the University,
and the efforts made to surmount them. The last
formal application to the Legislature was made in
1858. The applicants asked for a sum of money
large enough to free the University from debt ; and
also for a permanent endowment sufficient for its
maintenance upon an extended scale of usefulness.
The application was based upon grounds formally set
forth in the Petition, from which, with the permis-
sion of Your Excellency and the audience, I will now
read an extract : —

"'First: — The late Mr. McGill undoubtedly made his bequest
under the expectation and implied promise that a further and sufficient
endowment would be made by the Provincial Goveinment.

"'His endowment was long anterior to the establishment of any
Protestant College in the Province, and still is the only one made in it for
that purpose. Since that time hundreds of thousands of pounds have
been bestowed by annual grants on other Educational Institutions in
Lower Canada; while, in Upper Canada, several Universities have been
founded, all of them participating more or less in the grants of public
moneys ; one of them, the University of Toronto, enjoys an endowment
of 226,201 acres of land conferred by Royal grant in 1828, from which
a sum exceeding ^6293,883 has been already derived, and, in addition to
this, it received during many years for the College connected with it a
grant of jei,lll annually ; Upper Canada College, established in 1832,
was endowed by various grants between that year and the year 1835,
with 63,805 acres of land, which has yi( fled JG55,434, and has also
received an annual grant of £1000, which still continues. Yet no
permanent provision whatever has ever been made for McGill College,
and all the moneys received by it from public sources (of which the first
was in 1854) do not together amount to one-fourth part of the annual
revenues of the University of Toronto, or to one-tenth of the value of
Mr. McGill's bequest.

" * The largeness of that bequest, and the munificence with which the

fund has lately been increased in the sum of jC 15,000 by subscription in
the City of Montreal, coupled with the character of the University,
justify the claim that a corresponding spirit should be manifested by the
Legislature, and that after so much has been done by private beneficence,
the work may be completed by granting the relief sought, and providing
a permanent public endowment.

" * Second : — The University of McGill College is the only one in
Lower Canada which is non-sectarian. As such it possesses the
confidence of the Protestant community of every religious denomination.

" ' Third : — The University is not a mere Private Institution founded
by individual benevolence, but is Public and Provincial in its character.
It is prepared to confer degrees not only upon the students of its own
College, but under just and salutary rules, upon those of any others which
may be established in the Province, — thus rendering it unnecessary, as
without doubt it is inexpedient, to multiply the number of Educational
Institutions possessing that power.

"'The Governing Body is appointed by the Crown and is removable
at pleasure. His Excellency the Governor General is its Visitor.

" * A large number of Scholarships in the Faculty of Arts are at the
disposal of His Excellency, and he has the presentation to thirty
Scholarships in the High School Department.

" ' Fourth : — This Provincial character of the University, and the
prosperity and influence which it has attained, mark it out as the great
centre and support of the higher Protestant Education in Lower Canada.
As such, the establishmGnt and management of the Normal School tias
been confided to it with the approbation of the whole community, and
the confidence has been justified by a complete success.

" ' The importance and claims for support of such a Central Institution,
great as they now are, will be augmented by the increase of population,
wealth and intelligence, bringing with them an appreciation of the value
of learning and a demand for the means of its general cultivation. The
University of McGill College ought not then to be confounded with the
ordinary Schools and other Educational Establishments, sectarian and
non-sectarian, which abound in Lower Canada. It stands alone in its
character and objects, and requires from the Government, a direct and
special support adequate to its importance and its wants. To place it,
in the distribution of Legislative aid, upon the same footing with those
minor establishments which share in the fund placed in the hands of the
Superintendent of Education, is an error and an injustice, not only to

the UniverMty itself but to the whole Protestant community of Lower
Canada.'"

" The Petition was without result, in so far as the
great end sought by it is concerned. I must, how-
ever, not be guilty of ungrateful forgetfulness of the
cordial and active interest which was manifested bv
more than one of the gentlemen who then formed
the Provincial Administration. Much was done by
them toward the temporary relief of the University,
and in its name I would return the thanks to w4iich
they are justly entitled. Nevertheless, the para-
mount object of a permanent public endowment was
not accomplished, and lomains still unattained.

^' I have placed in brief review the various acts of
beneficence by which this University has been
established and hitherto sustained. I now arrive at
the last one which it is my pleasing duty grate-
fully to acknowledge. I mean the completion of
the College buildings by Mr. William Molson. I
approach the subject of this munificent gift with
some diffidence, lest in the sincere expression of the
sentiments which it naturally excites, I may be
betrayed into a warmth and earnestness of language
displeasing to the giver, and which in his presence
good taste and delicacy forbid. I shall, therefore,
content myself with little more than a simple narra-
tion of the manner in which this important benefac-
tion was tendered and carried out by him.

" The inconvenience and difficulties arising from
the want of room for carrying on the business of the
University, were not unfrequently a subject of con-
versation among the Governors, of whom Mr. Mol-
son is one of the most zealous and useful, end

regrets were uften expressed that no means were
available for adding to the College buildings. Mr.
MoLSON said little, for he belongs to a class of
men who love better the eloquence of action
than of words ; but at one of the meetings he quietly
announced, to the joyful surprise of his colleagues,
his intention of building the new wing in which we
are now assembled, and forthwith set about the work.
Having begun a good thing he is not at all the sort
of person likely to stop half way, and he soon deter-
mined to build not only the wing but also the con-
necting corridors, and thus complete the range of
buildings according to the original plan. And here
I must whisper a secret, to the ladies only. I have
my suspicion that there was a lady in this case;
and we have it from ' our special correspondent,' as
the editors say, that Mr. Molson did what I have
no doubt all sensible men do, consulted his wife.
She, of course, advised the right thing, and he, as
husbands (to their shame be it said) are not always
wise enough to do, followed her counsel. This is
told in confidence, and not to be repeated to any body
but the newspaper reporters. I am glad this was so,
for sentiments of respect and gratitude arise so
spontaneously and rest so grticefully when the gentler
sex is their object, that men should rejoice in every
opportunity of thus bestowing them. Well, tl ;
work was finished, the wing containing this spacious
Convocation Hall, and the Library with its convenient
and handsome fittings, and the corridors containing
a Museum and a Chemical Laboratory. The whole
has been executed at an expense and with a liberality
of spirit, which, it is no idle or unnecessary compli-

ment to say, distinguish the donor as one of the very
foremost benefactors of the country, and entitle him
to the respect and gratitude of all who know how to
honor a large-hearted generosity judiciously directed
by a sound common sense. I say judiciously directed
by a sound common sense — for I held that no wiser
use can be made of surplus wealth than the appro-
priation of it to building up institutions of education
and learning. It is not unfrequently said by keen-
witted and shre:'^d men of business, that educational
establishments should be self-supporting, — that, like
any other object of demand and supply, when a
want of the article is felt, it will be sought and
paid for. But this is a great and dangerous error.
Universities, from the very nature of the interests
they have to deal with, can rarely be self-supporting.
I doubt whether any instances can be found in which
they are so.

"As an almost universal rule, the promoters of
the higher education, particularly in a new country,
must place themselves in advance of the community
in which they live. The first step is to create an
appreciation of the value of scholastic training, and
to arouse a desire for it, — for the less there is of
education among a people, the less is their anxiety
to increase it, — and all initiative steps in this direc-
tion have to strugp-le with the indifference or hostility
of those who can see in learning no value which
is not reducible to a money standard. It is the few
only who recognize, in this apathy of ignorance, the
strongest motive for persevering efforts in the
establishment of means for removing it, and for
creating an intelligent appreciation of the true nature

of knowledge. Whether, then, a College be self-sup-
porting in entirely a eecondury consideration. The
important question is whether it is training up youth
to a higher measure of intelligence and consequent
usefulness than has been hitherto attained, — whether
it is raising the general standard of knowledge in
society, — and thus, within its sphere, helping to
humanize and civilize it. To secure these objects
the public purse, as well as that of private wealth,
ought to be freely opened.

" There is another mischievous error in relation
to the importance of Universities. The amount of
popular knowledge now diffused throughout all
classes, is apt to make us feel that the labors of
science and the toilsome studies of the professional
scholar, are less necessary than they formerly were
— that in our enlightened generation there is so much
more learning abroad than in the days of our fore-
fathers, that we no longer require the same painful
and costly pursuit and accumulation of abstract
knowledge. A moment's reflection will show how
false this notion is. The popular knowledge of
which we boast may cover a broad surface, but it
sinks no deeper than the surface. It may be very
general, but it is certainly very superficial. It is to
true learning but little more than shadow is to sub-
stance, — perpetuating nothing, — producing nothing.
It is a mere parcelling out of the treasures provided by
the genius and labors of other men. A little learn-
ing may not be a dangerous thing in the individual ;
but a little learning in a nation, with no provision
for its increase, will soon be exchanged for no learning
at all; — it will dwindle into hopeless ignorance.

" There must be somewhere deep fountains, Pie-
rian springs, from which the living generation may
draw and still leave to the generations to come a
perennial supply. This supply is secured by Univer-
sities. They are at once the laboratories of thought
and knowledge, and the storehouses of its treasures,
as they are slowly gathered in the unfoldings of
successive ages, — and although many of the acquisi-
tions in abstract knowledge seem at first and for long
periods to have no practical or perceptible value, yet
as the years glide on, and the secrets of nature are
more fully revealed and better understood, these
supposed useless conquests of science and philosophy
one after another become the bases of wonderful
inventions and noble institutions, which minister
sometimes to the convenience and luxury, and
sometimes to the higher welfare and social progress
of the world. In estimating then the value of
Universities, they are to be considered not merely as
a means for the education of youth, but of the whole
people, and as agencies in producing the more refined
and excellent elements of a true civilization. What
could supply in England or in the great nations of
Europe the want of their venerable seminaries of
learning, shedding abroad from age to age their golden
fruits, the luxuriant growth from the small beginnings
of a generation which lived a thousand years ago ?
But most especially in this new country do we need
those mighty instruments of mental and moral cul-
ture. We need them for our statesmen and legisla-
tors, we need them for our judges, for our professional
men, our merchants; we need them in short as uni-
versal educators for every class of our people. In an

[IS, Pie-
3n may
come a
Jiiiver-
hought
iasures,
ings of
icquisi-
br long
ue, yet
ire are
, these
osophy
iderful
liiiister
J, and
regress
lue of
rely as

whole
refined

What
ions of
ries of
golden
nnings
's ago ?
e need
•al cul-
egisla-
^sional
[IS uni-

In an

immature condition of society, where all are engaged
in the struggle, first for the means of suhsistence and
then for the acquisition of wealth, the tendencies are
to lose sight of the liigher ends of life. The first use
to which surplus wealth is naturally applied by the
nation, is to great physical improvements, canals,
harbors, railroads, and other enterprizes for multiplied
accumulation, — and by individuals, to an increase of
comfort and luxurious indulgence. This may be well
enough within a certain limit ; but material prosperity
and the sensuous enjoyment of life, unattended by
the restraining influences which the careful culture
of man's higher powers affords, have a downward
proclivity, and sooner or later lead society back to
barbarism. As a great, the greatest Instrument, after
Christianity, for counteracting such a tendency, we
must look to institutions of learning, with their
assemblages of studious and thoughtful men. Apart
from the proper business of these as instructors, such
a body of men surround themselves with a moral
power which reaches far and wide, and inoculates the
population not only with respect for their pursuits,
but also with a desire to raise themselves or to see
their children raised to a better level.

" The man who rests his whole importance upon tb'
thousands he has lieaped and holds together, is viit
in the balance with the man of science and litera-
ture, who is content with his mental riches and his
three or four or five hundred a year ; and the old
understand, and the young are taught, that men's
material prosperity is not civilization ; and more, the
intelligent man of wealth learns silently to recognize
that his riches are made incomparably more valu-

able by being used in ih promotion of objectH which
benefit hiH race.

" I ought not to detain you longer, but I beg your
patience, for I have a little more to Hay. The com-
pletion of this edifice marks the reality and solidity
of the progress of the University. It will remain a
standing record of such progress, and a memorial of
the man to whose wise liberality it is due. It is,
moreover, a most encouraging evidence of the im-
possibility of foreseeing how far the genial influence
of one act of beneficence may extend. Mr. McG ill's
bequest has been the foundation upon which, in
various way«, has been built up an Institution se-
cond to none in the Province for the numbers it
educates and the aid it affords to the growing in-
telligence of a large portion of the population.
Alone, that bequest, munificent as it was, was inade-
quate to such a result. But it has awakened the zeal
and stimulated the efforts of others, and produced
a kindred generosity which has shown itself in the
unstinted contributions already noticed, and in the
noble gift which we are this day acknowledging.
But these are not all the fruits which lie in the germ
of that one generous act. This University is but
entering upon its career. Its work must grow into
a higher and wider scope of usefulness, — and its
wants must grow with its work. One meets us now.
Here is the Library Hall, complete in its appoint-
ments, — but where is the Library ? In the expe-
rience of the past let us find hope for the future :
these empty shelves must be filled, but how is it to
be done? — by another combined movement of our
citizens* generally, — or, better t^till, by the gift of

i which

ig your
le com-
jolidity
main a
)rial of

It is,
-he im-
fluence
dGill's
ich, in
ion se-
bers it
ing in-
ilation.
inade-
he zeal
oduced
in the
in the
idging.
egerm
is but
w into
nd its
s now.
)point-

expe-
iiture :
! it to
3f our
dft of

some one among us, who, comprehending the true
use and hixury of wealth, will take to himself the
privilege of providing for this urgent want, and thus
ally his name inseparably with the cause of educa-
tion ? The names are not rare in the Old World or
the New which have thus embalmed themselves in
perpetual and grateful remembrance, — and as years
grow into decades, and decades swell into centuries,
an increasing reverence will gather also around the
names of our early benefactors, thus interwoven in
the history of the country, and in that best portion
of it, — the history of its progress in knowledge and
virtue, — the history of the philanthropy and public
spirit of its sons. However true it may be that in
the pursuit of riches the better manhood is too often
dwarfed and the higher qualities dwindle and perish
in the grasp of a concentrated and abiding desire to
gather gold, it is equally true that if wealth be
contemplated in its better aspect, the pursuit of it
may become a dignified employment, worthy of the
best and most gifted natures. It is the pursuit of a
power of beneficence upon a scale far broader than
can be covered by the efforts of mere personal exer-
tion, — a power mighty for all great social ends, poli-
tical, scientific, philanthropic, religious. It creates
and governs influences which move and pulsate
throughout the whole frame of society, and help to
make men freer, wiser, happier, and better. It is a
multiplication in an almost infinite degree of the
power of doing good. Who does not long for such a
power of leaving his footprints upon the sacred track
of human progress, of building all along the pathway
of his life noble and enduring monuments that he

Ims not lived in vain? Hut thure is a considefatioit
above all this, — the consideration of duty. Every
one of u» owes something, — owes all he can bestow
of talent, industry, money, in sustaining the world
in the position it has reached, and in aiding it to
yet higher attainments. To this great structure of
knowledge and moral culture which we call civiliza-
tion every child of humanity is bound by sacred
obligation to contribute. Its mission and end have
been to transmute the brutal naked savage into the
educated, polite, Christian man. What slow prepa-
ration has been elaborated for agen to produce this
high result, — what combination of sciences, — what
invention and application of arts, — what painful toil,
— what costly self-sacrifice, — what pourings out of
happiness and life ; — sum them up, that we may
know how much throughout the rolling centuries
mankind has paid for what it has become. The
man of this nineteenth century in his highest form
of accomplishment is the expression of a civilization
which, with undying vitality, has been growing and
struggling and forcing its upward way from the
thick darkness of ignorance and barbarism to the
illumined heights of science and philosophy and
social order, since the birthday of our race. * It has
' taken eternity,' says a great writer, ' to produce you,
* and now eternity is awaiting what you will do.'

" I have spoken of the wisdom shewn by the
individual possessors of riches in devoting a portion
of them to the promotion and maintenance of those
Institutions which are indispensable to the growth
of a country in intelligence and refinement. I trust
I may be permitted without presumption to add, that

',1

:.?f

it' the obligation attached to private wealtli he Hueh
Its I luive Htated, the duty of GovernmentH in yet
more imperative.

*' The building up by permanent and sufficient
cndowmentH of great central luHtitutions which shall
establish and preserve a high standard of learning,
and possess the means of producing profound and
accomplished scholars, can be done only by a wise
spirit in our rulers; and an Administration suffi-
ciently enlightened and energetic to make the higher
education a National cause, and to place it upon a
sound and liberal footing, will be remembered with
honor long after the excitement of party triumphs
and the agitation of ephemeral politics are forgot-
ten.

" In the Upper portion of the Province judicious
and far-seeing men at an early period of its history
secured an ample fund for such a purpose, and we
see to-day the fruits of their foresight in the prin-
cipal University there. I am not envious of the
wealth of that Institution. I rejoice in it ; — and
without presuming to pronounce an opinion upon its
administration or management hitherto, I see in its
large income the means of producing an incalculable
amount of public good. In this part of the Province
we are not so fortunate. We have no publicly en-
dowed University. Why should this be so ? Why
have we not also a Central University with a public
endowment ? — or, as the difference of language and
religion in our population seems to render necessary,
two great Universities, with ample mesons for carry-
ing on their work, — vying with each other, not in
hostile jealousy, but in a spirit of generous emula-

<)0

tlon, which shall do mont in improving and elevating
the class to which it helongs.

" The public purse is opened freely for the con-
struction of canals and railroads and harbors and
costly buildings; — why should it be closed with
a jealous care when the higher and nobler elements
of national greatness demand its aid ? If. we can
continually expend millions upon the one, why can
we not for once bestow a hundredth part as much
upon the other ? Is it that our public men have not
yet risen to the level in which these things are un-
derstood and appreciated ? Have we no administra-
tion, no statesmen enlightened and firm and patriotic
enough to take themselves for a time out of the
clamours and excitements of the day, to deal with
these great interests as they deserve ? None who
will earnestly apply themselves to the raising of so
noble a monument of devotion to the most vital
welfare of the country ? It is not so. On the con-
trary, I firmly trust that we have such men among
us, and that the time is not far distant when the
consideration of this important matter will mature
into wise and vigorous action.

" I close abruptly, with thanks for your patience,
which has been too much tried by the length into
^vhich an unexhausted and not easily exhaustible
subject has drawn me. In conclusion, we invite you
to join w^ith us in the public inauguration of this
building under the name and title of * The William
MoLSON Hall,' and in declaring its solemn dedica-
tion, witii the blessing of God, to the service of the
People of this Province, in the promotion of sound
learning and good morals for all time to come. May

you
this

it long continue to honor the name of itn founder by
being the scene of frequent well-contested and hardly-
earned scholastic triumphs, — and by sending forth
from year to year its bands of generous youths pre-
pared by careful culture and faithful training to do
the work of men and Christians on the battle-field
of life."

Dr. Kingston having been called upon by the
President, came forward and said : —

" My Lord^ Ladies and Gentlemen, —

" It is the privilege of the McGill University
Society to take part to-day in the pleasing ceremony
of inaugurating this magnificent ^William Molson
Hall;' and the Graduates of that Institution are
unwilling to permit this happy occasion to pass by,
without, on their part too, giving public expression
to their appreciation of the high-minded liberality,
with which a private citizen — whose wealth confers
on him a far less enviable claim to distinction, than
the industry and integrity with which it has been
acquired, and his general truthfulness and probity of
character — has erected and ornamented the building
in which we are now assembled. It is often-times
less difficult to amass wealth, even in this country
of general prosperity, than to make a judicious use
of it when once it has been gathered together; but
no one, on looking around this commodious Hall,
where, for the first time, such a large assembly has
been comfortably seated; or at the Library beneath,
where ample and elegant accommodation xias been
made for those volumes of learning, to which, I trust,
constant additions will be made ; or to the Museum,

where already, in obedience to the command of the
learned Principal, a representative, a dead one 'tis
true, of every family, and of almost every species, of
beast, bird and creeping thing, has leaped, flown or
crawled into its place, with an alacrity which is ra-
ther alarming to those who are accustomed to believe
in the inertia of dry bones ; or to the Curators' Room,
where specimens are prepared for the places they
are to occupy ; or to the Chemical Lecture Room
and Laboratory, so well suited to their purposes; —
one, I say, who would take the trouble to

look to any of these things could continue to doubt
— if ever a doubt he had — of the wisdom of the ex-
penditure, or of the correct taste which gave it form.
It is an application of gifts such as this that engraves
William Molson's name in the annals of this rapidly
augmenting city as a judicious and liberal friend of
education. And, when I say a friend of education,
I believe I say a friend of the best interests of his
fellow-men. Mr. Molson has now attained that pe-
riod of life when a man, instead of looking forward
to a course of future exertion, is more naturally
inclined to take a survey of the past; and I can
conceive few things better calculated to afford him
unalloyed satisfaction in the course of such retro-
spect, than what he has done for this College
and University. This Institution, Your Excellen-
cy is probably aware, throws open its portals to
all who choose to enter them. The student who
may desire to drink at its fountains of learning, finds
himself opposed by no bar or impediment, social or
religious. The benefits of a liberal education are
conferred on all, and on all alike. Wliatever may be

the student's rank, whatever niny he his religious
denomination, he here finds nothing to offend his most
sensitive feelings, in regard either to the one or to
the other. The Anglican, the Catholic, the Protestant
Dissenter of whatever name, and the Israelite, here
meet on a footing of the most perfect equality, and,
I may add, in a spirit of the most perfect harmony.
Nor is there any distinction made (except such as parts
and diligence confer) hetwixt the son of the wealthy
merchant, who may have been brought up from
infancy in the lap of luxury, and the student whom
we may not un frequently see turning over the leaves
of Horace and Homer with hands whose horny cuticle
sufficiently attests the rudeness of the labour their
owner endured to drink at the sacred fountain of the
muses. Myself, an alumnus of this Institution, it
would ill-become me to say much of what it has
accomplished for its children ; but the tongues of
nearly five hundred graduates (except those that
are for ever silent), some occupying i le highest posi-
tions in the learned professions, and some of them,
even adorning science at its source beyond the sea,
speak for themselves, and in a manner and in words
to which I can lay no claim ; and such of us as have
had an opportunity of comparing the instruction we
received here, with what we have afterwards enjoyed
in Europe, have found much less cause for humilia-
tion in the thought that our Alma Mater was far
behind the rest of the world in her educational faci-
lities, than we have found cause of congratulation
and surprise, that she was so closely treading in the
footsteps of older and more favoured Institutions.
It is not for mo, nor is this the time and place,

to distribute their various meed of praise to those
who labour as Professors in the various Faculties ;
but I express an opinion, which no one I am sure
will gainsay, that to our gifted, judicious, and labo-
rious Principal, this Institution owes a very large pro-
portion of the success which may have attended it ;
and if ever its history shall be written, the name
of Dr. Dawson, though in another department, will
be found with James McGill and William Molson,
as one of its great benefactors ; and that, my Lord, is
an association sufficient to satisfy the highest desire
of honorable ambition.

" Here I probably should stop, but Your Excellen-
cy's presence and seeming attention seduce me, into
what, I hope, may not be deemed the too heavy indis-
cretion of saying a few words of those less favoured
localities, which are now, I believe, looking forward to
Your Excellency's enlightened interest in the cause of
education for encouragement and fostering care. (I
have to ask pardon of the College authorities for quit-
ing this pleasing scene for others perhaps less agreea-
ble ; and for passing from this, the apex of learning in
this Province, to the wide circumference of its base.)
But the Institutions of which I intend saying a few
words are as necessary to our advancement as the
spongioles and delicate fibrils are to the parent tree.
No part of the country feels their healthful influence
more than this part; no city more than this city;
and no Institution, perhaps, more than this Unver-
sity. Those who live in cities, with education at
their doors, as inexpensive almost, and as easy of
attainment, as in Germany, or France, or Scotland,
can form but a feeble conception of the efforts required

to convey the merest elements of instruction to the
children of new and thinly populated districts. T
have myself been acquainted with such districts —
and they will serve as types ot many others — where
children, of from ten to fourteen years of age, walked
five, six, or seven miles to school every morning, and
as many to their homes in the evening ; and how-
ever disproportioned such fatiguing journeys may
appear to their years and strength, they were always
performed cheerfully, whenever schoolmasters could
be obtained with courage equal to passing a twelve
months in such uninviting parts. (How some of
those gentlemen ever strayed so far away from higher
civilization ; on what kind of food they were fed ; in
what raiment they were clothed ; and in what kind
of currency they were paid, after they had strayed,
shall be left to your imagination to decide.) Dur-
ing part of the year, the little schoolroom would
be filled ; at other times, it would be nearly empty.
At seed time and harvest, and occasionally for a
few days in summer, the children are required to
assist their parents in the labours of the field ; but
with such exceptions, the pupils' ordinary atten-
dance at school may be described with truth as
a * pursuit of knowledge under difiiculties.* With
that indomitable energy so characteristic of the early
settler, and the children of the early settler, neither
heat nor cold, nor rain nor snow, will interpose its
barrier with effect. In summer, when every animate
being instinctively seeks the shade, he will be found
— ' creeping ' it may be, but not ^ like a snail unwil-
lingly to school.' In winter, when all is cold and
frozen — when hungry feels the air around, and hun-

gry looks the sky above, he will be found braving
chilling blasts which make those seated around the
fire shudderingly exclaim : ^ Surely the God who
tempers the wind to the shorn lamb, tempers it to
their young bodies.' In early spring and in late
autumn many of our country roads are well nigh
impassable for rider or for footman ; but here is the
pupil's log house, and there five or six miles distant
is his school, and no obstacle shall prevent him from
reaching it. He trudges through the woods or across
the fields j he scrambles over fences ; or he finds his
least miry path along the banks of a stream ; and
of such study — interspersed with labour, sufficient, as
you must admit, to whet the appetite to both — he is
only enabled to obtain one or two years before he is
forced to return to level the forest and plant the corn,
fiO' that cereals and fruits could grow where none had
ever grown before. Thus, Your Excellency will
perceive, the order of things that we observe to
prevail in Europe, is here, to some extent, reversed.
There, I believe, the elder children of the humbler
classes have generally an equal, if not a better, chance
of being educated. Amongst our rural population it
is more frequently the younger ones. Our hardy sons
of toil are for the most part the emigrants of yester-
day who landed on our shores penniless, perhaps, and
friendless. Thanks to a beneficent Providence and
their own right arm, their circumstances rapidly
improve ; but the elder children's labour is generally
necessary to till the land or to aid in paying for it ;
and in those outskirts of civilization the parent
considers, and wisely too, that in the language of
Montesquieu (though he never heard of him)

' L'Honneur a uonc ses rdgles supr^mes, et I'^ducatioii
est obligee de s'y con former.' But before the younger
children have ceased to be of an age for school, the
farm is cleared and out of debt ; villages and small
towns have sprung up ; schools and schoolmasters are
within a more moderate distance ; and it has perhaps
become the parents' ambition to send their younger
son to College — where, as they hope, ' a gen-
tleman would be made of him.' The difficulties
which obtain in many localities in the way of
primary education, to which I have thus cursorily
alluded, are now indeed less considerable than they
were in the time of some of Your Excellency's not
very remote predecessors, — and in their gradual
elimination, the Province gratefully recognizes the
hand of tiie Honorable Superintendent of Education.
But as the whole outward aspect of the country, as
Your Excellency has not failed to perceive, is so
rapidly undergoing those changes that, to-day, wheat
and oats, and rye and barley are growing where but
yesterday the pine, the cedar, the beech and maple
waved their heads as if they should wave them for
ever, it is found to be almost impossible to meet the
requirements as they arise. But wise legislation —
not meddlesome — can accomplish much; and I am
anxious to insinuate how desirable it is that those
primary schools should meet with Your Excellency's
fostering care and favour. This primitive — this log-
hut education — which follows so closely the echo of
the woodman's axe, is peculiarly a Canadian feature.
It is doing its shai'e and aiding other classes of insti-
tutions in the education of a hardy, intelligent people
— and in the building up of a virtuous, an educated

Canadian nationality — alowly, 'tin true, but as ntoa-
dily and as surely, yet as noiselessly, as those humble
creatures build the huge coral rock in the depths of
the Pacific. And when, to continue the simile, that
structure shall have appeared above the surface —
complete and fashioned in all its parts — it will then,
and I hope not till then, announce the lu -^omplish-
ment of its mission."

Dr. HiNGSTON was about to resume his seat, when
he again came forward and said :

" I had travelled so far from this scene and place
that I had almost forgotten to thank Your Excel-
lency on behalf of the graduates for your presence
here to-day. The graduates have their own way
of doing things, and resolved to commemorate
this occasion and Your Excellency's visit by plant-
ing a tree in your name. They intended also that
one should be planted for the Earl of Mulgrave,
whom they expected to see present to-day to represent
Nova Scotia. And now, ladies and gentlemen, I shall
relate to you a little circumstance from which you
may draw any inference you please. Two tall and
stately maples, to commemorate the visit of the noble
representatives of the two sister Provinces, were
brought to this College ground, but they were found
to be so closely joined — so intimately incorporated
with each other — that they could not be separated
without endangering the vitality of one or of both ;
and it was resolved — I hope you will say wisely —
that what nature had joined so closely together, no
ruthless hand should ever tear asunder."

Principal Dawson then rone and said :
*' My Lord, Ladies and Gentlemen, —

** In appearing on this occauion, I speak not merely
on my own behalf, but on that of the Professors of
the University, and beg to express their gratitude to
the kind benefactor who has given us these buildings,
and our obligations to Your Excellency and the many
friends who have honoured us with their presence on
an occasion, which we regard as marking an important
epoch in our educational history. We, as officers of
instruction, fully appreciate that enlightened policy
of the Board of Governors, which has induced them
to gather around this University a large and efficient
staff of teachers, and to develope its means of training
to the utmost, rather than to expend its limited
resources in the vain show of costly buildings. At
the same time we understand the disadv£^ntages at-
tending a mean exterior, the difficulty of realizing
that the best means of education may be associated
with no outward grandeur, and the influence which
may be exercised on the student by the aspect of
his Alma Mater. We, therefore, return our hearty
thanks to him who, by his munificence, has relieved
us from the reproach of our unfinished and unsightly
buildings, and has given us all the accommodation
that could be desired for the prosecution of our
work.

" It is farther a cause of congratulation and
honest pride, that this has been done for us by a.
citizen of Montreal. In Upper Canada there is a
munificent public University endowment, and in
Lower Canada nearly two millions of acres are stated
to be devoted to the support of institutions specially

intended for the education of tliose who speak the
French language ; but no public endowment exists
for an English University, and the aid that can be
given from the annual educational grants is too
small to be of any material avail for this purpose.
In these circumstances, those, in this part of the
Province, who desire an English University education
for their sons, have had the responsibility thrown
on them of providing for themselves; and the Pro-
testant citizens of Montreal have, as became them,
nobly assumed this responsibility on behalf of the
whole of their countrymen, and determined to es-
tablish a University. We must not forget that
the father^ not only of this University, but of
University education in Canada, was James McGill,
a citizen of Montreal. His endowment in 183 1 was
the first practical step toward the erection of our first
University. Subsequently, his College, which had
fallen into decay in the hands of a Board scattered over
the Province, was resuscitated by gentlemen resident
in this city, its present Board of Governors. Still
later came the liberal gift of $60,000 from citizens of
this place, with a multitude of smaller benefactions
and acts of kindness ; and now Mr. Molson has, by
the erection and completion of these buildings, placed
himself, with James McGill, in the rank of great
educational benefactors. Canada should honour such
men, and should honour the city which produces them,
and which thereby takes rank with those great and
enlightened cities of the Old and New Worlds, which
have distinguished themselves by the erection and
maintenance of institutions of learning.

" The support which the University has thus re-

8.1

celvod IVoni this city is not witliout deep HignifH'ance
and hi<rh promise. It shows our citizens to ])e men
not penurious and locally selfish, hut nohly •••enerous
in theii" views; and tlie tact that so many liundreds
of young men trom all [)arts of Canada have enjoyed,
and are enjoy ing, the henefits of their liherality, has in
it a douhle promise of more liheral and united public;
sentiment in Canada for the time to come. Further,
the interest which the Inisiness men of this connnei*-
cial metropolis take in our work is an evidence of its
practical value, and a pledge that in this country the
higher learning will not be dissociated from the active
pursuits of life. Still further, it nuirks the McOill
University as a spontaneous growth of the British
Canadian mind, — something which has originated
here, and been nurtui-ed and matured here, not a
thing forced upon us or of extraneous origin. This
character, which is more or less apparent in our
whole organization, is one of the best guarantees of
success, and if it causes us to lack some of the peculi-
arities of Universities abroad, it gives us the hardy
constitution of natives of the soil.

*^ It has long been my belief that in a country
like this, institutions of the higher education can
attain their full development only in our larger
cities, and by availing themselves of every legiti-
mate means of growth Avhich these centres of popu-
lation afford. It is easy, in almost any locality,
to organise an institution that shall resemble one
of the smaller Colleges of a great University ; but
it wnll want the energy and variety which result from

tlie union of many Colleges, from the influence of the

old Univernity, and from the intelloctiuil lile which
pervadcH a hirgo and cnltivated community. It may
Hoon prove an jjarren and naploHH m would a hnmch
of one of the great oaks of our mother hind, if cut
from its trunk and [danted in a foreij-n soil, i confenH
that when, after some experience in educational aihiirH
in another colony, I was invited to connect myself
with this University, I saw in its position here, in
the greatest British American city, in its Board of
Governors, composed of resident business men, in its
liberal constitution, which secured the support of
various religious bodies, and in its tendency to develope
itself in the direction of professional education, the
best omens of its prosperity.

" In my inaugural address, delivered at that time,
I ventured to state the aims which we should pro-
pose to ourselves in the farther growth of the
University, under the following heads : — First, that
we should not descend to the sphere of the higher
schools, academies, and colleges of the country,
but should build up our course of study from the
highest level to which they can raise their pupils.
Secondly, that in our under-graduate course in arts
we should aim at the thorough discipline in classics
and mathematics of the old Universities, but should
add thereto as much as possible of culture in modern
literature and in those sciences which have in our day
attained to so vast proportions, and that we should
provide honour courses for all whose abilities and
inclinations might induce them to enter on such
studies. Thirdly, that we should add to our course
in arts, special courses of science and literature lead-
ing to the more important pursuits of active life, and

hIiouIiI dovt'lojn' to llic utmost our prolossional lacul-
ticH. Wc well knew liow imidi wiis involved in these
promises, and how hard mi<j,ht be the struggle to per-
lorni them even in part ; but we believed that we did
Avell to propose to ourselves high ends, and to labour
earnestly and hopefully toward their attainment.

"■ Seven years have passed away, and though wo
have had to lament uuniy losses and disa|)[)()iutnients,
our way has been greatly ])rospered. We have steadily
pursued the path then marked out, and have found
ourselves sustained by public aid and countenance at
evervstei). In these seven years we have sent forth
more than 200 graduates, the number of our students
has increased from 97 to 202, and the nuni))er of pupils
in our schools from 185 to 033. Our stj^lf has been
increased, important additions have been made to
libraries, collections and apparatus, and our various
faculties and departments are lodged in a mamier bolit-
ting their work. Our professional schools have been
most prosperous. We have established schools of En-
gineering and Practical Chemistry. We have been
enabled to co-operate with the Superintendent of
Education in the establishment of the McGill Normal
School, and have Ijecn aJjle to extend a helpful co-
operation to the Natural History Society of Montreal,
to the admira])le meteorological researches of Doctor
Smallwood, and to the Board of Arts and Manufac-
tures, an institution which, I may Hay here, all who
know the deficiency of the means of art education
in this country, regard as one of the most important
movements of our Government in the direction of
enlightened progress. For all this we have reason

t.) exproHs our tliankfiiliieH.s to God, and to tlie
IVieiids He has raised up for us.

•' But we by no means regard our work as finished.
Our University is vigorous and useful, but the full
measure of its growth has yet to be attained. Nor do
we think that in the present state of the world any
University can afford to be stationary. In no pro-
fession have more important improvements been made
in our day than in that of communicating the higher
kinds of instruction. While some subjects may remain
of permanent educational importance, the value of
others is constantly changing. Some methods and
usages of the older Colleges may admit of little
change, Init others are susceptible of multiplied im-
provement* and new adaptations. It is the part of the
enlightened educator to be ever striving after a more
nice and delicate appreciation of the relative impor-
tance of difterent studies, of the equal development
of the varied powers of the mind, of the special cul-
ture of particular eminent endowments, of the rela-
tions of the physical, the intellectual, the moral and
the aesthetic in the work of education, of the changing
wants of the age and country. These are points to
which our attention is constantly directed, and in
which we strive to make at least an approximation to
the right path. Nor is the work of our friends still
complete. The shelves of our library are gaping for
books, and we w^ant books to till them. Our grounds
might Avell admit of a Botanical Garden. An Astron-
omical Observatory might well be added to tliat which
we are erecting for meteorological and magnetical ob-
servations. Much iiood miixht be done 1)V the founda-
tion of bursaries for poor and talented students. We

earnestly dewire the affiliation of theological semina-
ries with the University. Nor will our mission be
accomplished until the desire for the benefits of the
higher education shall be far more extended than at
present, until a greater public aid and encouragement
shall be given to the higher schools and colleges which
send students to the University, and|until a higher legal
value shall be attached to an academical degree as a
qualification for the learned professions and for the
civil service of this country. These are subjects on
which much could be said^ to which we have given
much consideration, and to which I would earnestly
invite the attention of the friends of education and of
our public men. But this is not the time to dwell on
such topics, and I shall close with a brief reference
to one important peculiarity in our position, and one
on which we have reason to congratulate ourselves.
I refer to our relation to religion.

" In its religious aspect our University is not
denominational. It does not profess to work for
one body of Christians more than for another. But
it is Christian and Protestant. It is neither a
proselytizing institution on the one hand, nor an
irreligious one on the other. It endeavours to
secure the services of men of high religious and
moral character, and to exercise through them the
best influence on its students. It daily invites its
students to supplicate the Divine blessing on their
work, and it requires them to avail themselves of the
means of spiritual advantage to be found in their
several communions. Its influence is thus positively
religious, and is exercised in such a way as to
unite the members of different denominations in love

and liariuoiiy, and to liuld Ibrtli a practical example
of that great unity wliicli underlies all the superfi-
cial divisions of our common Christianity. Such a
position we feel to be the true ground for a great
educational institution, one on which we can stand
fearlessly before our fellow-men, and on which we can
honestly invoke the blessing of God. But while we
thus more especially invite the aid and sympathy of
all who prefer that S3'stem of education which prevails
in the Protestant Universities of Great Britain, and
while our endowment is derived from such persons,
we occupy" no position of antagonism to those of our
fellow-subjects who profess a different faith. On the
contrary, we regard with pleasure their progress in
educational affairs ; we offer to them on equal terms
all our advantages and honours, and wherever we
differ in our views as to the best means of promoting
the higher education, we are willing to run with
them a race of friendly rivalry, and shall be happy if,
either directly or indirectly, we can be of service to
them, while we shall be at all times ready to borrow
anything in which they may excel us.

" I have referred to the history and position of the
University, because I felt that in this way I could
best vindicate the wisdom of those who are benefactors
of the higher education, and show that we earnestly
strive to apply to the best uses the means which they
afford. But as representative of the professors, I
must not forget to thank Mr. Molson on behalf of the
students who are under our care. We cannot have
all our students here to-day, because two of our
faculties have not yet opened for the session ; but I
know that they all share our feelings on this occasion.

r>o

McGill College alreiidy has its graduates in the Go-
veriimeiit and Legislature of this country, and in the
highest walks of professional life here and abroad;
and these young men are going forth to do likewise,
andj if possible, to excel their predecessors. It is in
this perennial stream of living mind, trained and dis-
ciplined for the work of life, that those who endow
institutions like this, and we who teach, see the
fruits of our labour, going forth, as we humbly trust,
for the highest good of our country and for the glory
of God."

Hon. Mr. Ciiauveau having been invited by the
President to address the meeting, said that he was
most happy that it had fallen to him on behalf
of the Educational Department to congratulate
both the University and the noble donor on the
great improvement Avhich had been achieved. Such
a congratulation, however, on his part, was su-
perfluous, since the highest sanction was given to
the proceedings of the day by the presence of His
Excellency the Governor General. He took it
for granted that no one would expect him to review
the several educational opinions and criticisms which
had fallen from the orators who had preceded him.
He might say, however, that if the Government had
made a mistake in giving too scanty an assistance to
the University (a thing which of course he could only
admit hypothetically) it was certainly on their part
felix culpa, since the result of that fault Avas the most
generous gift made by Mr. Molson, which was worth
both in itself and as a great public example a great
deal more than all the Government could have afforded.
The controversy between the relative importance of

superior education, and that of elementary or common
school education, wa8 one that would be easily wet at
rest by this plain consideration, that both were
requisite and indispensable. If he had, however, to
express an opinion between the two, although common
school education was more specially entrusted to his
care, and on that ground should apparently enlist all
his sympathies, he could not shut his eyes to the fact
that superior education was as necessary and as indis-
pensable to society iiself as elementary education to
every one of its members. He was at no loss to find
an example in point. The present condition of Lower
Canada was itself a great historical fact, showing that
a society may reach a certain degree of prosperity,
may attain a high degree of morality, may provide
with energy for the preservation of its institutions
and of its social autonomy, and may at last redeem
itself from the disadvantages inflicted by the neglect
of elementary education, while superior education has
been carefully fostered within its bosom. Lower Canada
formerly was left a whole century with scarcely any
other educational provisions than the establishment of
the Seminaries of Quebec and of Montreal, the former
endowed chiefly from the private donations of Mgr.
DE Laval and other friends of education. These in-
stitutions had spread superior education, grounded on
the sure basis of religion and of morality ; from them
had sprung a clergy and a laity able to fight Avith the
people the cause of general education, and the success-
ful results which the government had obtained in
the end could not have been realized without their
efforts. In the cause of education an attempt to level
by the ordinary p^- )cess would be absurd. Let the

level of common school education be brought as high
as possible, if you please, but there must still be higher
and deeper fountains of learning, without which
education itself in the masses will perish or will
become more harmful than usefuh. A whole commu-
nity of men, having, every one of them if you like,
what is called practical education, but nothing more,
would certainly be inferior as a social and political
body to a nation where humanities and sciences would
have been cultivated in their highest form or expres-
sion. That the two causes of superior and of elemen-
tary education were intimately blended together;
that the former, while it was fed and nourished by
the latter, ought for its own sake to foster and support
the common schools, was well illustrated by the fact
that this University had consented to co-operate with
him in the establishment and direction of a normal
school chiefly intended for the English speaking and
Protestant section of the community. He though o
this conduct on the part of the University would
strengthen their claims on public support, while the
result would contribute to that harmony and good
understanding between all classes of society of which
Lower Canada had always given so noble on example.
(Applause.)

His Excellency the Governor General then rose
and briefly addressed the meeting. Among the many
pleasant duties which had devolved upon him in the
course of his tour, this was one of the most agreeable.
He felt bound to say that the good will with
which he hiA everywhere been received, could not
be equalled. He had now completed his tour through
this magnificent Province, and he and others with him

must have been struck with the great future which
awaits this country as regards its progress. We had
all the materials for prosperity, and the knowledge
how to use them. Notwithstanding the strictures
of previous speakers, as to the provision which had
been made for the cause of education, he felt bound
to say, judging from what he had seen in other coun-
tries, that Canada had distinguished herself by pro-
viding for the moral and intellectual improvement
of the people, and now occupied a position of which
she might justly feel proud. They had met
there that day to inaugurate a beautiful building,
which was due to the liberality and beneficence of a
private individual. He would remind them that the
great institutions of learning in the Old Country had
been reared up and sustained in an integrity which
the falling of dynasties or political changes could not
affect. Those venerable educational establishments
v/ere due not to parliamentary grants and donations,
but to the liberality of private individuals, such as
characterized him in whose honor they had met that
day. He could conceive no greater pleasure than that
derived from the erecting and naming of institutions
for the education of our country-people ; and he could
only hope that the spirit of liberality which had
actuated Mr. Molson, might long continue to exist in
his fellow-countrymen in Canada. He would con-
clude by earnestly wishing for the long continued
success of this institution, and by hoping that it might
never flag in its labor for the moral and intellectual
advancement of the people.

His Excellency sat down amidst the continued
applause of the audience.

The Rev. Prof. Cornish pronoun ed the Benediction,
and the meeting broke up.

His Excellency, accompanied by Sir Fen wick
Williams, the President and Principal, and other
gentlemen, then visited the Museum, several of the
Class-rooms and the Laboratory, the whole of which
with the Library were thrown open to the large au-
dience which had filled the Convocation Hall. His
Excellency then proceeded to the grounds in front
of the College buildings, and witnessed the planting
of the trees provided by the Society of GraduTites.

/,^T