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COPIES OF CORRESPONDENCE 
 
 BETWEEN THE 
 
 ROMAN CATHOLIC BISHOP OF TORONTO 
 
 AHV THE 
 
 CHIEF SUPERINTENDENT OF SCHOOLS, 
 
 ON THE SUBJECT OF 
 
 SEPARATE COMMON SCHOOLS, 
 
 ^ 
 
 
 IN 
 
 UPPEE CANADA; 
 
 WITH 
 
 AN APPENDIX, 
 
 CONTAINING ' 
 
 DOCUMENTS REFERRED TO IN THE CORRESPONDENCE. 
 
 h 
 
 
 llrintfb lit) (ftrtrr jif i\}t ft^Mm ^tssfmbli). 
 
 QUEBEC: 
 
 PRINTED BY JOHN LOVELL. AT HIS STEAM PRINTING ESTABLISHMENT. 
 
 MOUNTAIN STREET. 
 
 , 1852. 
 
To I. 
 
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 KET UR N 
 
 To AN Address of the Legislative Assembly, to His Excellency the Governor 
 General, dated the 8th instant, praying that His Excellency would be 
 pleased to cause to be laid before the House " Copied) of all Correspon- 
 " dence which may have passed between the Roman Catholic Bishop of 
 '• Toronto, and the Superintendent of Education for Upper Canada, on 
 " the subject of Separate Common Schools." 
 
 By command, 
 
 Provincial Secret^.ry's Office, 
 Quebec, 17th bept. 1852. 
 
 A. N. MORIN, 
 
 Secretary. 
 
 \' 
 
 Department of Public Instruction for Upper Canada, 
 
 Education Office. 
 
 Toronto, 13th September, 1852. 
 
 Sir, — I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 9th 
 instant, requesting me, by direction of the Governor General, to furnish you at my 
 earliest convenience for the information of the Legislature, with a copy of all the 
 Correspondence which hus passed between His Lordship the Roman Catholic Bishop 
 of Toronto, and myself, on the subject of Separate Common Schools. 
 
 On seeing the telegraphic report of the proceedings of the Legislative Assembly, 
 applying for Copies of that Correspondence, I took the requisite steps to get them pre- 
 pared. I have the honor herewith to transmit them, with an appendix, containing 
 copies of documents and proceedings referred to in that Correspondence, without which 
 some parts of the Correspondence itself cannot be fully understood, and as I suppose 
 the object of the Legislative Assembly is to ascertain the nature and position of the 
 Separate Common School Question in Upper Canada. 
 
 I have the honor to be, 
 Sir, 
 Your most obedient servant, 
 
 E. RYERSON. 
 
 E. A. Meredith, Esquire, 
 
 Assistant Secretary, 
 Quebec. 
 
SCHEDULE 
 
 Of Correspondence between Ihe Roman Catholic Bishop of Toronto and Ihe Chief 
 Superintendent of Schools for Upper Canada, on the subject of Separate Common 
 Schools in Upper Canada. 
 
 I. Letter from the Roman Catholic Bishop of Toronto, to the Chief Superintendent 
 of Schools for Upper Canada, dated Irichtown, (near Chatham, C.VV.,) 20th February, 
 1852, soliciting attention to the case of the Roman Catholic Separate School in 
 Chatham. 
 
 II. Letter from the Roman Catholic Bishop of Toronto, to the Chief Superintendent 
 of Schools, dated London, C. W,, 7th March, 1852, containing additional remarks on 
 the case of the II. C. Separate School at Chatham. 
 
 III. Letter from the Chief Superintendent of Schools, to the R. C. Bishop of 
 Toronto, dated 13th March, 1852, in reply to the foregoing. 
 
 IV. Letter from the R. C. Bishop of Toronto, to the Chief Superintendent of 
 Schools, dated Oakville, 24th March, 1852, expressing his views upon the operations 
 of the system of Public Elementary Instruction in Upper Canada. 
 
 V. Letter from the Chief Superintendent of Schools, to the R. C. Bishop of 
 Toronto, dated the 24th April, 1852, in reply to the foregoing. 
 
 VI. Letter from the R. C. Bishop of Toronto, to the Chief Superintendent of 
 Schools, dated Toronto, 1st May, 1852, stating more fully, in French, the views 
 expressed in his former letters, in English. 
 
 VII. Translation of the foregoing Letter. 
 
 VIII. Letter from the Chief Superintendent of Schools, to the R. C. Bishop of 
 Toronto, dated the 12th May, 1852, in reply to the foregoing. 
 
 IX. Note from the R. C. Bishop of Toronto, to the Chief Superintendent of 
 Schools, dated 22nd May, 1852, acknowledging the receipt of the foregoing letter as the 
 conclusion of the Correspondence with the head of the Educational Department. 
 
 X. Letter from the R. C. Bishop of Toronto, to the Chairman of the Council of 
 Public Instruction for Upper Canada, dated 26th May, 1852, on the subject of the 
 Correspondence with the Chief Superintendent of Schools. 
 
 XI. Letter from the Chief Superintendent of Schools, to the R. C. Bishop of 
 Toronto, dated the 31st May, 1852, in reply to the foregoing. 
 
APPENDIX, 
 
 Containing Documents referred to in the following; Correspondence. 
 
 No. 1. Letter from the very Reverend II. J. TeHier, S. J., Toronto, to the Chairman 
 of the Council of I'ubHe Instruction for L'j)j)er Cana<hi, dated 21st of February, l8o2, 
 enclosiuf; a letter from a Trustee of i\. C. Separate Sdiool at C'hathani. 
 
 No. 2. Enclosed in the forcgoiu}?, a Letter from Mr. J. H. Williams, Chatham, C. W., 
 to the Chairman of the Council of Public Instruction for I ppcr Canada, dated the L5th 
 of January, 1852, com))lainin<j;ofthe conduct of the lU)ard of t^chool Trustees of the Town 
 towards the R. C. School, and seeking relief. 
 
 No. 3. Letter from the Cliief Superintendent of Schools, to Mr. J. B. Williams, 
 dated the 23rd February, 1852, in reply to the foregoing. 
 
 No. 4. Letter from the Secretary of the Province, to the Chief Superintendent 
 of Schools, dated the (ith April, 1852. transmitting the extract of a letter from Mr. J. 
 B. W^illiams, Chatham, on the subject of the R. C. Separate School in that place, and 
 requesting information for llin Excellency's guidance. 
 
 No. 5. Letter from the Chief Superintendent of Schools, to the Secretary of the 
 Province, dated the 17th A|)ril, 1852, in reply to the foregoing. 
 
 No. i). Letter froni John O'liare, Escpiirc, Belleville, to the Chief Superintendent 
 of Schools, dated the 80th December, 1851, soliciting infornuUion on certain points 
 submitted. 
 
 No. 7. Letter from the Chief Superintendent of Schools, to Mr. O'lLire, dated, the 
 6th of January, 1852, in reply to the foregoing. 
 
 No. 8. Letter from the Secretary of the Board of School Trustees, Belleville, to the 
 Chief Superintendent of Schools, dated the (!th Febriuiry, 1852, submitting a letter from 
 J. O'Hare, Escpiire, and requesting an oj)inion thereon. 
 
 No. 9. Enclosed in the foregoing. Letter from John O'Hare, Escpiire, Belleville, 
 to the Board of School Trustees, Belleville, dated the 21st January, 1852, submitting 
 the case of the 11, C. Seimrate School, and enquiring what aid would be afforded it out 
 of the School Fund. 
 
 No. 10. Letter from the Chief Superintendent of Schools, to the Secretary of the 
 Board of School Trustees, Belleville, dated the 7th February, 1852, in reply to his 
 letter (No. 8.) 
 
 No. 11. Letter from John O'Hare, Esquire, Belleville, to the Chief Superintendent 
 of Schools, dated the 12th February, 1852, submitting further information in regard 
 to the preceding case. 
 
 No. 12. Letter from the Chief Superintendent of Schools, to Mr. O'Hare, dated the 
 18th of February, 1852, in reply to the foregoing. 
 
 No. 13. Letter from the Secretary of the Board of School Trustees, Belleville, to 
 to the Chief Superintendent of Schools, dated the 12th February, 1852, submitting a 
 new question for consideration. 
 
 No. 14. Letter from the Chief Superintendent of Schools, to the Secretary of the 
 Board of School Trustees, Belleville, dated 18th February, 1852, in reply to the 
 foregoing. 
 
 No. 15. Letter from the R. C. Bishop of Toronto, to Mr. Maurice Carroll, of George- 
 town, Esquesing, dated the 3rd April, 1852, on the subject of a dispute with the Trustees 
 of School Section No. 10, Esquesing. 
 
 No. 16. Letter from certain Roman Catholic inhabitants of Georgetown, Esquesing 
 to the Chief Superintendent of Schools, dated 5th April, 1852, objecting to the practice 
 of performing Protestant religious service in the School by the Teacher. 
 
 No. 17. Letter from the Chief Superintendent of Schools, to the Roman Catholic 
 inhabitants of Georgetown, dated the 8th April, 1862, in reply to the foregoing. 
 
 ' I 
 
 I 
 
6 
 
 No. 18. Letter from the Trustees ot School Section No. 10, Esijuesing, (George- 
 town,) thitcd 10th April, 1852, explanatory of their conduct to the parties in the pre- 
 ceding e()ni|)hiint. 
 
 No. !!♦. Letter from the Chief SMj)erinten(lent of Schools, to the Trustees of School 
 Section No. 10, Es([uesing, ((Jeoregtown,) dateil the 22nd April, 1852, in reply to the 
 foregoing. 
 
 No. 20. Letter from certain Roman (catholic inliahitantsof (fcorgetowu, Es(|uesing, 
 to the Chief Superintendent of Schools, dated the 12th April, 1852. Additional to their 
 former letter, (No. IT).) 
 
 No. 21. Letter from the Chief Superintendent of Schools, to Mr. Maurice Carroll, 
 School Section No. 10, Esquesing, dated the 24th April, 1852, in reply to the fore- 
 going 
 
 No. 22. Letter from the Reverend Rupert Ebner, Wilmot, to the Chief Superin- 
 tendent of Schools, dated the 26th February, 1852, complaining that the R. C. Separate 
 Schools in Wellesley had not received such aid as he thinks they were entitled to. 
 
 No. 23. Letter from the Chief Superintendent of Schools, to the Keverend Rupert 
 Elmer, dated 3rd March, 1852, in reply to the foregoing. 
 
 No. 24. Letter from the Local Superintendent of Wilmot and the German Schools 
 in Wellesley, to the Chief Su])erintendent of Schools, dated the 9th March, 1852, sub- 
 mitting the case of the R. C. Sei)arate Schools in Wellesley, and soliciting advice. 
 
 No. 25. Letter fvom the Chief Superintendent of Schools, to the Local Superin- 
 tendent of Wellesley, dated the 20th March, 1852, in reply to the foregoing. 
 
 No. 26. Letter from the Reverend Rupert Ebner, Wilmot, to the Chief Superin- 
 tendent of Schools, dated the 27th April, 1852, in retereuce to the matter contained in 
 his former letter. 
 
 No. 27. Letter from the Chief Superintendent of Schools, to the Reverend Rupert 
 Ebner, dated the 31st May, 1852, in reply to the foregoing. 
 
 No. 28. Letter trom the Chairman of the Board of School Trustees, City of Toronto, 
 to the Chief Superintendent of Schools, dated the 2nd June, 1852, requesting him to 
 obtain the opinion of the Law Officer of the Crown as to the construction of the term 
 "School Fund" in the Act 13th and 14th Victoria, Chapter 48, Section 40, in con- 
 nection with Section 19. 
 
 No. 29. Enclosed in the foregoing, Letter from T. J. O'Neil, Esquire, to the 
 Board of School Trustees, dated the 20th April, 1852, submitting the claims of the 
 Roman Catholic Separate Schools, Toronto. 
 
 No. 30. Also enclosed. — Report of the Free School Committee of the Board of 
 School Trustees, Toronto, upon the foregoing application, dated the 19th May, 1852. 
 
 No. 31. Letter from the Chief Superintendent of Schools, to the Chairman of the 
 Board of School Trustees, Toronto, dated 7th July, 1852, in reply to his letter, 
 (No. 27.) 
 
 No. 32. Table, shewing the number of Protestant and R. Catholic Separate Schools 
 in operation in Upper Canada, during the years 1850 and 1851 ; also, during 1847, 
 1848 and 1849. 
 
 No. 33. Provisions of the law (13 and 14 Victoria, Chapter 48,) relating to Separate 
 Schools in Upper Canada — Sections 14 and 19. 
 
 No. 34. Declaratory Act, (14 and 16 Victoria, Chapter 111,) relating to Separate 
 Schools in Upper Canada. 
 
 No. 35. Constitution and Government of Schools in regard to religious and moral 
 instruction — (From the Resolutions, &c. , adopted by the Council of Public Instruction, 
 on the 5 th day of August, 1850.) 
 
 No. 36. Fortieth Section of the School Act (13th and 14th Victoria, Chapter 48) 
 defining the Common School Fund of each County, Township, City, Town, and Village 
 in Upper Canada ; frequently referred to in the following Correspondence and 
 Appendix. 
 
IfT 
 
 I. Lettor from tlie Ilotnivn Ciitliolic Hisliop of Toronto, to the Chief Supcrintcndont 
 of Schools for Uj)per Cuiiadu, soliciting attention to the case of the Konum Catholic 
 Separate School la Chatham. 
 
 t IrisutoWN, 20lh Fihruary, 1852, 
 
 (near Chatham). 
 
 ReVERKND and 1)ear Dr., — I beg to recominend to your equity, and to the good 
 spirit of our Council of rnhlic Instruction, the petitioi\ ot the R. Catholics of Chatham.* 
 
 My visitation through my Diocese convini-es me more and more that this spirit, 
 80 solemnly j)rofe8sed at the laying of the corner stone of the Normal School hv diHerent . 
 interested parties, and particularly by our most excellent Cioveruor (Jeneral, is tar from 
 being prevalent in certain localities. 
 
 For Clod's sake, and for the prosperity of the country, let us combine all our exer- , 
 tions, that religious.libcrty of conscience may bo more real than nominal ; there is no'iJi/U'.' 
 other element of peace in this part of the world, «'omposetl of so many ditt'erent per- ' 
 
 suasions. 
 
 As for mc, I will do any thing and make any sacrifice for the success of a principle, 
 the privation of which is nothing short of a more or less disguised persecution. 
 
 1 remain, with the best feelings of respect, , 
 
 llevd. and dear Sir, 
 
 Your most devoted servant, 
 
 Rev. Dr. E. Ryerson, 
 
 Chief Superintendent of Schools, 
 Toronto. 
 
 (Signed,) t ARMDUS FR. MY, 
 
 Rp. of Toronto. 
 
 n. Letter from R. C. Rishop of Toronto, to the Chief Superintendent of Schools, 
 containing additional remarks on the case of the R. C. Separate School at Chatham. 
 
 t London, 1th March, 1852. 
 
 Revd. and Dkar Doctor, — I hear from Chatham, subsequently to my appeal to 
 your equity and to your answer, that there the negroes arc incomparably better trr. atcd 
 than the Catholics ; that the latter have received for their Separate School, attended on 
 an average by 46 pupils, only £4 10s., Government money, and are offered so-littlc out of 
 about £300 taxes raised for the payment of Teachers, to which the Catholics have much 
 contributed as well as to the high sum levied for the building of a new School-house ; 
 that in another Mixed School the anti-Catholic history of England, by Goldsmith, is 
 perused as a text book. 
 
 Again, Rev. dear Doctor, where is the equity of such a management ? Where 
 that liberal spirit professed in pamphlets, public speeches, reports, &c. ? And am I not 
 right to call our most deplorable system of education a regular disguised perse- 
 cution ? And still I have at hand facts of a worse character. 
 
 I remain. Rev. and Dear Doctor, 
 
 Respectfully and fr-iendly yours, 
 
 (Signed,) t ARMDUS FR. MY, 
 
 Bp. of Toronto. 
 Rev. Dr. E. Ryerson, 
 
 Chief Superintendent of Schools, 
 Toronto. 
 
 * Se« Appendix to tbia Correspondence, Numbers 1 — 5. 
 
 >w 
 
8 
 
 
 <^ 
 
 ^ 
 
 III. Lcttpr from the Cliii-f SujuTinti'iKlciit of Schools, to the II. C. Bishop of 
 Toronto, in rcplv to the foregoing. 
 
 I/Ki'AUTMENT OF PlUtMC InSTIU'CTION FOR UlTER CANADA, 
 
 Kuuu.\TioN Office, 
 
 Toronto, VMh March, 1H52. 
 
 Mv LoRT), — I have the honor to ucknowU'dgp the receipt of ^foin* lettcrn of the 20th 
 ultimo, and of the 7th instant, respccling a dilfcrcnce between the 'J'rustees of a Sej>arate 
 Hchool, and the Hoard of Trustees of the l'nl)lic Schools in the Town of i.'hathani*. 
 On the 21st idtiino, I rccciveil, through the lionorahle S. \i. Harrison, a connnunicatiou 
 from the TrusteesJ^i the Town of Chatham, on the same suhject.f 
 
 In respect to the complaint that, Goldsmith's England is read ns a text book in one 
 of the Mixed Schools of Cliatham, " there can he no reasonable ground t()r it, since the 
 14th Section of the School Act expressly provides that, " no pupil in any (.'onunon 
 School shall be re({nired to read or to study in or from any religious l)ook, or join in 
 any exercise of devotion or religion which shall l)e objected to by his or by her parents 
 or guardians." J Therefore, every Catholic and Protestant child is eHectnally protected 
 against the use of any book, or joining in any exercise to whicli his or Tier parents or 
 guardians religiously object ; and I j)resunu; the parties who made the complaint which 
 you state, will not complain as a grievance that they cannot dictate as to what text 
 books shall be used in a Mixed Seliool by the children of other parents, as long as their 
 own children are imder their own protection in this resiicct. 
 
 Though 1 had not heard licfore of the objections which you mention toOoKlsmith's 
 very defective compendium of the History of England, the book is not sanctioned by 
 the Council of Public Instruction, nor has any elementary history been recommended 
 to be taught in the Comn. m Schools, beyond what is furnished in the admirable series 
 of text books prepared and published by the National Board of Education for Ireland, 
 and which are as acceptable to Roman Catholics as they are to Protestants. 
 
 I have observed, with regret, that demands for exemptions and advantages have 
 recently been made on the part of some advocates of Separate Schools, wliich had not 
 been previously heard of during the whole ten years of the existence and operations of 
 the provisions of the law for Separate as well as Mixed Schools. I cannot but regard 
 such occurrences as ominous of evil. It is possible that the Legislature may accede to 
 the demands of individuals praying, on grounds of conscience, for unrestricted liberty 
 of teaching ; exempting them from all School taxes, with a corresponding exclusion of 
 their children from all Public Schools, leaving them perfectly free to estal)lish their own 
 Schools at their own expense ; but I am , ersuaded the people of Upper Canada will 
 never suffer themselves to be taxed, or the machinery of their Government to be em- 
 
 Sloyed for the building and support of denominational School houses, any more than for 
 enominational places of worshij) and clergy. 
 
 Pnbhc School houses are equally the prpperty of all classes of the School Munici- 
 pality in which they are erected ; and there is the best assurance that Schools will be 
 perpetuated in them according to law. But there is no guarantee that a Separate School 
 will be continued six months, as it ceases to exist, legally, (at least so far as it relates to 
 any claim upon the Public School Fund,) the moment the Public School Trustees employ 
 in the same School Division a Teacher of the same religious faith with that of the supporters • 
 of the Separate '^'chool. Should the advocates of a Separate School be able to claim exemp- 
 tion from the pa > ment of a property-rate for the erection of a Public School house, they or 
 
 • See Appendix to this Correspondence, Numbers 1-5. 
 f See Appendix to his Correspondence, Number 2. 
 X See Appendix to his Correspondence, No. 32. 
 
 anci 
 unil 
 
niiy one oCtlu'iii, nt his pli'iisurt', pii^Iit, nw ilic coiiiitK-lioii ot'f^iich liousi-, Ic^all}' claim 
 ii<lmissi(»ii i<) it \'>)V liis or tlicir cliiMirii, \i|»nii ilu' \iiv saim- coiulitlini n^^ lln' t'lllilri'ii of 
 tliosc who huilhi'C'ii taxrd lo laiililthc house. A iii.iii w(«<// m-ikI hi.s chlKh'tu toa ^'l juirati' 
 School t()-(lav; hut he has ihi' Injiil riijlil U) ,-iiul thi'iii lo tlu- JNihlic {■^•liool to-inorro\v, iflu' 
 pleases, and, as a jj;eiu'ral rule, (j(itl;;iiig iVoiu tlie iialiiri' of the ea^^e, and IVoiii tlu' ex- 
 j)v'rien<'e of several years,) he will do so, as soimi as he fiud.< that his ehiMrcii c.ui he iw 
 wilelv and more eneapl^' educated In the I'uhlie Sehool lliau in the Sepan le one. 
 I make these remaiks in reference to an ohjtction whii-h has l;ian made by Home nflhe 
 supporters of a Separate Selionl iu Challium, and in oni' or two other place s iipiinHt 
 hi-ni^ taxed for the erection of Pulilii' Siliool houses. 
 
 I herewith enclose you a copy ot my n ply In ihe Trustees ef the Separate Sihool 
 in Chalham,* and whii-li 1 had .ilr-o made to a similar eomimmieullon from Ik'llevllle. 
 
 ; 
 
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 h. 
 
 /Li lit. l{ev. PoetH»»-de ('arhon.iel, 
 'St. C. Bishop of T(fronto, 
 
 I ha\ e the honor to he, 
 M) Jjoid, 
 
 Your ohcdieul humble servant, 
 t (Si^'ued.) K. IIYEUSON. 
 
 
 rV. Letter from the Homan Catholic Dishop of 'I'oronto, to the Chief Superinten- 
 dent of Schools, expressing; his extreme dissatisiiietion with the operations ot the Hys- 
 lem of i'ublie Klementary Instruction in 1 pjjcr Ciinada. 
 
 tOAKViLi.i;, 24/// Mnrh, 1852. 
 
 Rev. Doctor, — In yoiu' answer to my letters yon do not say a single word about 
 my tw(» first complaints, viz: — the colored peo])le better treated iu (.'hatham than 
 Catholics, and the ridiculous oiler oft!: Ids, (Mil of about ,t300 taxes raised for the 
 Catholic Separate School of 4*5 children in this same town.f 
 
 With regard to my third complaint, you grant on one biiid that Coldsinith's His- 
 tory is very ilrfrr/irc, theretbre it does not do honor lo the teachers who make use of 
 it, and of otlier books of the same (hfvdlvencss to my knowled;'*, nor to the visitors who 
 tolerate such books in I'nblic Schools, nor to the Sehool system under which such viiij 
 dtfecfiir books may be used, not only again. . your sanction, but even /'ijcH;/. 
 
 For you say on another hand, that there can be wo rmsonahh' vtiitiplnhd ['or reading 
 that rcrij drffctirc. book in Mixed Schools, since the 14th Section of the Sehool Act ])ro- 
 vidcs,| That no])upil shall be re([nired (Catholics are forced to do so in certain Schools) 
 
 or 
 
 u uouiv <ioiir5iii"i iiiu j-iiiuiy oi i>ei r5>.'ii.^, in \jiv7ii, <i kJi'v-iiijuii Mnwtv 
 
 abusing all Mysteries, &c. ; all those books may be read in the same class room of your 
 Mixed Schools as well as the anti-Catholic (joldsmith's History, and that %«% .ind of 
 course without any rcasonahlc complttinf, because no pu])il is forced to read the book 
 objected to by his parent, and thereby children of all religious persuasions are equally 
 prok'cfed, 
 
 beantiful protection ! beautiful harmony! adnurablc means of teaching Cod 
 and his ordinances ! admirable way of making children improve in religion, faith, piety. 
 unity, charity, and in reading into the bargain ! 
 
 * Set! AjaieuJix to this CorrespouJeucf, Nus 3 luid 5. 
 
 J Letter II. 
 Appendix No. 33 a. 
 
 B 
 
10 
 
 And you arc aslonislied, Rev. Doctor, at our demand, of having nothing to do with 
 such a chimera, such a mixture, such a regular school of pyrrhcmism, of indifl'erentism, 
 of itindeiily, and consetjiiently of all vices and crimes ! 
 
 rieahc tell nie, \V(>-.i!d you scud your children to a School where vour ])aternal 
 authority and ianiily prescriptions would be interpreted in ten different ways, because 
 none of your children would be forceil to read those mongrel interpretations, and there- 
 by they wcnild he jirofrcfrd in their filial respect and feelings towards you? Would the 
 Governnient of Canada countenance Seliools in which pupils could read books supjiort- 
 irg annexationism or any other rebellionism, because no child would be forced to r. ad 
 the /.<fw objected to by his parents, and thereby all children would be iirolcclid in their 
 loyalty to the country and Her Majesty ? 
 
 No, most certainly no, anil religion alone, the basis of true, individual, domestic, 
 and social happiness, will be a mockery in our Public Schools; or, at least, a (juifc 
 indifferent object! and you call our demand a scruple, an omen of evil I say as well that 
 good is evil, and evil good I 
 
 Let your Mixed Schools !>e without immediate danger on the treble part of teach- 
 ers, books and fellow pupils, for the resjiective faith of all the children — which is seldom 
 the case in this sectarian country, and I will tolerate, even reconnnend them, as I do 
 sometimes, through want of a better system, but always on the condition that children 
 are religiously instructed at home or at Church, because secular instruction without 
 religious educatio)i is rather a scourge than a boon for a country: Witnesses, the 
 United Slates, Scotland, Sweden, I'russia, &c,, where, according to statistics, infideUty 
 and immorality are increasing in ])roportion to godless education. ^ 
 
 Jiutas long as most of'^our Mixed Schools shall be what they arc, as distinct from 
 the Common Schools of Ireland, justly ])raised in your answer, as night is from tne day ; 
 as Ion" as most of vour Mixed Schools shall be a danger for the faith and morals of our 
 children, they, and we their temporal and spiritual parents, will act according to the 
 doctrine of the God unknown to your Schools, as he was in Adieus : if thy hand, foot, 
 eye, is an occasion of sin to thee, cut it off, pluck it out, and cast it from thee — what 
 does it avail a man to ";ain the world if he lose his soul 't Seek first the Kiim'dom of 
 God and his Justice. ^^ 
 
 Now as to the boasted system of School buildings Q;ivin<>; more security than our Se- 
 parate Schools, as if stones, or bricks would be better than teachers and books, let the 
 Scotch Protestant Laing, in his recent " Notes of a Traveller," tell the pro]>k of U])2)cr 
 Canada, alluded to in your answer, that " in Catholic countries, even in Italy, the edu- 
 cation of the common people is at least as generally diffused and as faithfully j)ronioted 
 by the clerical body as in Scotland. Education is in reality not only not repressed, but 
 is encouraged f)y the Popish (I) Church and is a mighty instrument in its hand, ably 
 used." Hence the celebrated Protestant Statesman, Guizot, published lately that the 
 far best School of respect towards authority is the Catholic School. " In every street 
 in Home," continues, Laing. " there are at short distances, public primary Schools for 
 the education of the children of the lower and middle classes in the neighbourhood. Rome, 
 with a population of 158,078 souls, has 372 primary Schools (and some more, according 
 to the official statement) with 482 teachers, and 14,000 children attending them. Has 
 Edinburgh so many Schools for the instruction of those classes ? " ^ 
 
 And you know. Rev. Doctor, that Scotland is one of the boasted lands of Common 
 Schools. 
 
 Therefore, since your School system is the ruin of religion, and a persecution for our 
 Church ; since we know, at least, as well as any boviy else, how to encourage, difluse, 
 promote education, (Laing,) and better than you (Guizot,) how to teach respect 
 toward authority, God and his Church, parent and government, — since we are under the 
 blessed principles of religious liberty and equal civil right, we must have, and we will 
 have the full management of our Schools, as well as Protestants in Lower Canada ; or 
 the world of the 19th century will know that here, as elsewhere, Catholics, against the 
 
with 
 lisiii, 
 
 •nial 
 
 •iUlSC 
 
 icre- 
 
 1 the 
 
 i])<)rt- 
 
 j\ ad 
 
 then- 
 
 lias 
 
 I: 
 
 11 
 
 constitution of the Country, aj^aiiist its host and most sacred interests, arc jicrscciited 
 by the most cruel and hypocritical persecution. 
 
 I have the honor to be, Revd. Doctor, 
 
 Your humble and obedient servant, 
 
 (Signed,) t AMDS. FR. ^n^ 
 
 I»p. of Toronto. 
 Cliief Superintendent of Schools, Toronto. 
 
 Rev. Dr. E. Rverson. 
 
 V. Letter from the Chief Superintendent of Schools to the R. C. Bishop of Toronto, 
 in rej)ly to the fbregoini/. 
 
 Depautment of Public Instiuiction foh Ui>per Canada. 
 
 Education Uifice, 
 
 TouoNTo, 2Wi April, 18")2. 
 
 My Loun, — The receipt of your letter of the 24th ultimo, was promptly acknow- 
 led<>,cd by Mr llodgins in my absence ; and contiiuied official engagements, since my 
 return, having prevented an earlier reply, I have now to observe, that, finding j'our 
 allusicm to the colored j)eopIe of the Town ofChatham not sustained by a ccmnnunication 
 from themselves, I did not deem it necessary to correct your mistake, or advert to the 
 circumstance in my reply. Having received a complaint from the colored people of 
 Chatliani, respecting their affairs, 1 replied to them, and wrote to the ]Joard of School 
 Trustees in Chatham on the same subject. I did not, therefore, think it necessary to 
 allude further to the subject in my reply to your Lordship. 
 
 As to my alleged omission in regard to the complaint respecting the R(mian Catho- 
 lic School in the Town of Chatham, J received a letter from th'> Trustees of that School, 
 and enclosed to your Lordshij) a copy of my reply to their co (numication* 
 
 In regard to Uoldsmith's Elementary History of England, your Lordship did not 
 intmiate that the Roman Catholic children were compelled to use it, contniry to the 
 wishes of their parents or guardians, but .-dimply represented that it was used in the 
 Mixed School ; and it was to this point that my remarks on the subject in reply were 
 directed. I confined myself to general remarks on the pc^nt for another reason, 
 namely: fiom the fact that, there being a Separate Roman Catholic School in Chatham, 
 tile conductors of it could have no personal interest or concern as to what text books 
 were user! in the mixed School, from all connexion with which they had formally 
 withdrawn. 
 
 As to the claims of the Trustees of the Separate School to share in the School 
 moneys of the Town ofChatham for 1851, they could m)t be sanctioned bylaw, since 
 the School was not a])plied for xmtil March of that year, and the lOtli Section of the 
 School Act does not permit the alteration of any School Section, or the establishment 
 of any Separate School before the 25th of December in any one year. 
 
 Having thus replied to the complaint^ preferred by your Lordship, I would not 
 advert to other topics which your Lordship has introduced, were not my silence liable 
 to misconstruction, and did I not feel it my duty to defend, as well as to explain and 
 impavtially administer the Common School system which the Legislature has establish- 
 ed in Upper Canada; a system which has been in operation for ten years, Mhich was 
 cordially approved of and supported by the late lamented Roman Catholic Bishop 
 Power, which was never objected to, as far as I know, by a single Roman Catholic in 
 Upper Canada, during the life of that excellent Prelate and Patriot, nor until a recent 
 period. If your Lordship has thought proper, during the last twelve months to adopt 
 a diflerent course, and to introduce from the continent of Europe a new class of ideas 
 and feelings among tlie Roman Catholics of Upper Canada, in regard to Schools and 
 
 * See Appendix Nos. 2 and 3. 
 
 / 
 
12 
 
 and our whole School system, T must still adhere to my frequent »nu|ualified expressions 
 of iulminilion at the o[)i)osite eourse pursued by your lioiiourccl and devoted predecessor, 
 IVisliop Power; while I may note the fact that, from only three neighborhoods in 
 Upper Canada have di iiuiuds been made by Roman Catholics in accordance with this 
 new movement, not sanctioned by law ; tiiat the only Koman (.'atholie JMember ot the 
 Lef^islative Assembly elected 'u Upper Canada hys repeatedly declared himself opposed 
 to the very principle of Sep'rate Schools* and/ffu! only County Municipal Council in 
 (Ipper Canada, in which a majority of the members are Koman Catholics, has ailopted 
 resolutions aj;ain.-t the Section of tile School Act which j)ermits the establishment ef 
 Separate Scliools under any circumstances. The facts, that out of 3000 Conmion 
 Schools, not so many as 50 Separate lloman Catholic Schools have ever existed or been 
 applied for in any one year in all rj)per Canada, and that the number of such Sejmrate 
 Schools had gradually diminished to less than thirty* until within the last twelve 
 montlis, and that during ten years but one single complaint (and that during the ]ire- 
 sent uioiilh) has been made to this Department of any interterence with the religious 
 faith of Koman Catholic Children,! and that not a Koman Catholic child in L'p})er Canada 
 is kiiDwn to hive been proselytetl to Protestantism by means of our Public Schools; 
 these facts clearly show the general disinclination of Roman Catholics in Upper 
 Canada to is late themselves from their fellow citizens in school ni;itters, any jnore than 
 in othor conunon interests of the Country, and the mutually just, christian and generous 
 spirit in which the school as well as other comiium affairs of the Country have been ])ro- 
 moted by (Joverniaent, by Municipal Councils, and by the people at large in their various 
 School Sections, The exceptions to this prevading s])irit of the peo])le of U})pcr 
 Canada have been " few and far between"' and in such cases the jirovision of the School 
 law permitting the establishment of Separate Schools in certain circumstances has been 
 made uir^e of, and just about as often by a Protestant, as by a Roman Catholic minority 
 in a School Municipality. But the provision of the law tor Separate Schools was never 
 asked or advocateil until since 1850 as a thcorij, but merely as a proh'cflon in circum- 
 stances arising from llie peculiar social state of neighbourhoodjor Muncipalities. I 
 always thought the introduction of any provision for Separate Schools, in a popular 
 system of common edueaticm like that of Ui)per C;tnada, was to be regretted and in- 
 expedient ; but finding such a provision in existe;'ee, and that parties concerned at- 
 tached great importance to it, I have advocated its continuance, leaving Se[)arate 
 Schools to die out, not by force of Legislative enactment, but under the influence of 
 increasingly enlightened and enlarged views of Christian relations, rights and duties be- 
 tween different classes of the community. I have, at all times, endeavoured to secure 
 to parties desiring Sei)arate Schools, all the facilities which tne law provides — though I 
 believe the legal provision for Separate Schools has been, and is seriously injurious 
 rather than beneficial to the Roman Catholic portion of the community, as I know very 
 many intelligent members of that Church believe as well as myself. I have as heartily 
 sought to respect the feelings and j)romote the interests of my Roman Catholic fellow- 
 citizens, ivS those of any other portion of the commuaiity ; and I shall continue to do so, not- 
 withstanding the personally discoiu'teous tone and character of your Lordship's com- 
 munication. 
 
 There are, comparatively, few School Divisions in Upper Canada beyond the 
 Cities and Towns (where the Trustees have generally employed a fair portion of Roman 
 Catholic Teachers) in which it is possible for the Roman Catholics to maintatn an effi- 
 cient Separate School ; and if your Lordship pcrsistjin representing the Common Schools 
 maintained by the several religious classes of the community, as fraught with 
 scepticism, infidelity and vice, the situation of Roman Catholics, sparely scattered 
 throughout more than 2500 of the 3000 School Sections in Upper Canada, will be ren- 
 dered unpleasant to themselves; and they will be encouraged to neglect the education 
 of their childi'en altogether. By the official Return for 1849, theie were 335 Roman 
 
 • See App-udix No. 32. 
 \ See Appeuvlix Nos. 15 21 
 
 N 
 
13 
 
 Catliolic Sc'liool TcaciiCrs oniployod in Upper Caiuulji ; in 1(S50, their nuinln-r was 
 incrcasc'il to f>!)0; andlliaveas cordially 'nuloavonrcd to jjjet situations tor ^hmxI Roman 
 Catholic 'rcachers as for ^ood Protestant 'JVachci. . It is clear that the jrrcaler part of 
 the 81*0 llonian Catholic teachers have been eni])loyed hy Protestant 'J'rnstccs and 
 parents; but if the war of total se])aration in all School luatters between the Protest- 
 ants and Roman Catholics of Ujjper Canada is coniinenced, as protilaimed by your 
 Lordship, many of these worthy teachers will be ]»laced in j)ainful circumstances, anil 
 a separation will soon bcj^'in to take place between the two portions of the eomnnmitv, 
 in other relatiims and employments. 
 
 Your Lordship says, " We nmst have, and we will have the full manan;emeiit 
 of our Schools, as well as the Protestants in Jjower Canada, (;r the world of the lIUli 
 century will know that here as elsewhere, Catholics, against the constitution of the 
 Country, ajiainst its best and most sacred interests, are persecuted by the most cruel 
 and hyjiocritical ])ersecutlon.""'^ On this j)assa<>;e i remark, that I am not aware of 
 Lower Canada ])resenting a better standard than I p])er Canad.i of either reliiiious or 
 civil rights in the management of Schools by any portions of the commimity. A popu- 
 lar mrnicipal system not yet being fully established in Lower Canada, the School sys- 
 tem tliere is necessarily more despotic than here, and ihe Executive (iovernment I'.oes 
 I many things there which api)ertain to elective Mtmicii)alities to do here ; and 
 
 to accomplish what is indicated l)y your Lonlship, would involve the s'll)- 
 vcrsion of the Municipal system and liberties of the jieople of I'pper Canada. From 
 the beginning, Ui)j)er aiul Lower Canada has each had its own School system. Of the 
 annual Legislative School Grant of £50,000, Lower Cana(hi received ^20,000 ])er an- 
 niun, luitil 1851 (when the Grant was eiinally divided,) antl I'jjper Canatla ,i;:il,UUO; 
 which constituted the whole of the Legislative School Fund ot" Lpper Canada for the 
 establishment and sup])()rt of the Normal as well as Common Schools. X'p])er Canada 
 has not attempted to interfere with Lower Canada in regard to its Scliool system, nor 
 has Lower Canada attempted to interfere with Upper Canada in regard lo its School 
 system ; nor do I think the collision in Scliool matters invoked by yoin- Lordshij) will be 
 responded to by either section of United Canadal at least, for the sake of the j)eace and 
 unity of Canada, I hope it may not. 
 
 Then as to the fact which your Lordship says will be known to " the world of the 
 19th century," I may observe, that the mariagers of the 21 Roman Catholic, and 25 
 Protestant Separate Schools in Up])er Canada,f are placed upon exactly the same 
 footing ; that the managers of each class of these Schools have precisely the same con- 
 trol of them that the Trustees of Connnon Schools have over their Schools ; that each 
 class of Separate Schools and the Connnon Schools is under the same regulations ; that 
 these relations and regulations have existed for ten years \\ ,th the a])probati()n of your 
 lamented predecessor, (who was a British Colonist by birth and educaticm, as well as 
 feeling,) and with the concurrence of b(;th Roman Catholics and Protestants ; nor had 
 I ever heard before receiving your Lordship's letter, that the Goveiinnent and Legis- 
 lature had for i^o many years established and maintained, and that I in connexion 
 with the elective Municipalities of U])pcr Canada, had been administering and extend- 
 ing a system of the most cruel and hypocritical persecution against any portion of 
 the connnunity. 
 
 Nay, so perfect is the equality among teachers, as well as managers of each class 
 of Schools, that they arc all cxamhied and classed as to their intellectual attainments, 
 by the same Board of Examination, while the certificates of their respective Clergy are 
 the guarantee for their religious knowledge and character. This is ])erfect cc[nality for 
 the Teachers of Se])arate Roman Catholic, or Protestant, or Connnon Schools ; and the 
 great principle is maintained, that no part of the School Fund raised by or belonging 
 to a Municipality shall be paid to any teacher whose qualifications are not attested by 
 Examiners ap])ointed by such Municipality. 
 
 * See last paragraph of letter IV. 
 f Appendix No. 32. 
 
 A 
 
14 
 
 rr 
 
 It is true, tli.-xt no lloinan Catholic or Protestant can he c()in[)clk'(l to support a 
 Separate Sdiool, '.nloss he apphes for it or chooses to send his chihh-en to it, and it is 
 also tru*^, that every Protestant and Roman Catholic has a rit;I»t to send his children to 
 the Public School, and also the right of equal protection to his own views in regard to the 
 religious instruction of his children. It is furtheniiore true, that no ])art of tlie money 
 for Separate Schools is paid into the hands, and placed at the discretion of either the 
 Roman Catholic or Protestant Clergy, but is subject to the orders, in such case, of the 
 elected Trustees of Separate Schools in aid of the support of teachers cnijiloycd by them ) '. 
 but in each of these cases, I think the law secures individual protection and* rights, 
 rather than l)reathes ihe " most cruel and liy[)ocriticaI persecntion." 
 
 There is thus no difference whatever between Protestant or Roman Catholic Separ- 
 ate Schools and Mixed Schools, as to the examination of teachers, on the certificates of 
 their respective Clergy, no difference as to the times at which such Schools shall com- 
 mence, and the legal conditions anil regulations to wliich they are subject; no difference 
 ius to the basis of apportioning the School Fimd, to aid in the payment of the salaries of 
 the teachers of eacli class of Schools. There is thcretbrc not the slightest ground t()r 
 alleging " most cruel and hypocritical persecution" in rcgiml to the ime, any more 
 than in respect to the other class of. Schools; and the^c are the blessed principles of 
 religious liberty, and ecpial civil right,* in regard to them all. 
 ^ The demand which your Lortlship advocates in behalf of the Trustees of the Roman 
 
 ^N Co Catholic Separate Schools hi the town of Chatham, ^^ is two-fold *^ That whatever sum 
 or sums of money any ]\[nnicipality may raise for School purposes shall be regarded as 
 the legal School Fund of snch Municipality, and be c(pially divided according to attend- 
 ance between the Public and Separate School. 2. That the same principle shall be ap- 
 plied in the expenditure- of whatever moneys may be raised for the building, repairs and 
 furnishing of School houses ; that is, that the Municipalities shall be under the same 
 obligation to provide Separate School houses as Pnblic School houses; that they shall 
 not be able to provide for the latter without providing for the former. 
 
 Now, in regard to this demand, I have three remarks to make : 1st. It is novel it has 
 never been made in any comnuiiucation to this Department, until since the comraence- 
 .' , mcnt of the current year. 2. It proposes a novel interpretation of the term " School 
 
 tr / ^ Fundi' /he 40lh Section of the School Act definWi/lj; it to consist in each MunicipaUty 
 ' I of the sum of money apportioned annually by the Chief Superintendent of Schools, and 
 at least an equal siun raised by local assessment.* The 27th Section of the Act pro- 
 vides, that a County Council (and the provision is applied in another part of the Act to 
 Cities, Towns and incorporated N'illagcs) can increase at its discretion the sum required 
 to be raised by local assessment, and may ar.pl}' it to increase the local School Fund, or 
 in giving special aid to Schools recommended to its favorable consideration, as it may 
 judge expedient • I never heard it doubted before, nuich less com])lained of as a griev- 
 ance that each — Municipality after having fulfilled the conditions of the Act could apply 
 at its own discretion, any additional sum or sums of money it might think proper to raise 
 for School purposes, I have in all past years thus explained this provision of the Act in 
 my correspondence with INIunicipal Councils ; and in my letter addressed to the Pro- 
 vincial Secretary on the School Law generally, dp.ted 12th May, 184:9, are the following 
 words : " The School Act authorizes any Council to raise as large an amount as it pleases 
 for Common School ]>urposes, I have never insisted as the Common School Fimd upon a 
 larger sum in each District or Township, than that apportioned out of the Legislative 
 Grant. Any sum over and above that amount which a Council may think proper to raise, 
 may (as has been done by some Councils,) be applied in such a manner to the relief of 
 any otherwise unprovided for poor School Sections within its jurisdiction, at the pleasure 
 of each Council." {Correspondence on the School Law of Upper Canada, printed by order of 
 the Leyislative Assembli/, 1850, p. 30.) What I have regarded and averred in past years 
 to be the plain meaning of the law, and an important right of Municipalities, and that 
 without any view to Separate Schools, I sec no reason to unsay or attempt to undo now. 
 
 * See Appendix No. 86, 
 
 /^ 
 
15 
 
 Besides what the law (Icclares to constitute the School Fund, and to whatever amount 
 a Municipality may increase it, no part of* it as in Lower Canada, can he applied to the 
 erection, rents, or repairs of School houses; hut l)()th the 40th and 45th Sections of our 
 School Act expressly re([uire that such money " shall he expanded for )i(> vlluf purpusc 
 than that of paying ///'■ salnrii's of (/iifdljird (t'ltchtirs of Cimtmon Scliooh ;" 8. I remark, 
 thirdly, that as no apportionment from the Legislative School (Irant, or School Fund, 
 is made, and as no part of such Fund can l)e apjilied for the erection, rents, repairs, or 
 furnishing of School houses of any dcserij)tion, all siuns expended for these purposes 
 in any Municipality must he raised hy local voluntary assessment or suhscrifition in such 
 Municipality. The principle of the School law is, that each Municipality has a right to 
 do what it ])leases with its own; with what it does not receive from tlie Legislature ; 
 what it is not recpiircd to raise as a condition of receiving Legislative aid, hut what it 
 voluntarily provides Avithin its own jurisdiction. l]ut if, according to Your Lordship's 
 advocacy, a Munici])ality nuist he compelled to tax themselves to provide Se])arate 
 School houses for religious persuasions, in addition to Puhlic School houses, there may 
 be a high degree of " civil liherty" secured to certain religious persuasions, hut a 
 melancholy slavery imj)osed upon the Municipalities. The liherly of teaching any more 
 than the liherty of preaching, hy any religious persuasionjhas never heen imderstootl 
 in l/p])er Canada to mean the right of conipelling Municipalities to ])rovide places of 
 teaching, any more than ])lacesfor preaching, for such religious persuasion/ jTuch liherty, (I) -^ 
 or rather such desjiotic authority possessed hy any religious persuasion, is the grave of "' 
 the public Municipal liberties of Upper Canada. 
 
 Your Lordship has furthermore been pleased to designate L'pper Canada — the 
 country of my birtli and warmest afltcctious — " this sectarian Coiuitry ;" a tenn \\ hich 
 not merely implies the existence of sectarianism (for that exists in Austria and Italy, 
 as well as in Upper Canada,) but that such is the distinguished character of the country, 
 as we are accustomed to say an enlightened, a civilized or a barbarous country, according 
 to the prevailing character of its institutions and inhabitants. I think your Lordshi[)'s 
 designation of Upper Canada is an luuncrited imputation ; I am persuaded that a large 
 majority of the people are as firm believers in the " Father, the Sou, and the Holy Ghost," 
 and in all that our Lord and his Apostles taught as necessary to everlasting salvation, as 
 either your Lordshij) or mj'self. A standard English lexicographer has defined " sect" 
 as " a party in religion whicli holds tenets different from those of the prevailing deno- 
 mination in a Kingdom or State ; " and Bechirelle, in his noble " Dtctioiniaire Nalional,^'' 
 says, after ^induct, that, " Dc toutes les scdfSj il n'en est pas de plus furieuscs, tie ».^ £ 
 plus intolerantes, de j)lus injustes, que cclles (pii choississcnt pour cri de guerc la reli- / 
 gion et la liberte." But I see no application of cither of these characteristics of secta- 
 rians to the majority of the ])eople whom your Lordship reproaches — a people, in reli- 
 gious morals, in honesty, in industry, in enterprise, in the first and essential elements of 
 a nation's civilization, in advance of the mass of the people of those very States of Italy, 
 to the Schools of whose capital you have drawn my attention. 
 
 Y'^our Lordship has represented " God as unknown to our Schools as he was in 
 Athens," and by the passage of the Scripture which you have (pioted as well as by your 
 remarks upon our School regulations, you intimate that I place earth before heaven, 
 and the gain of the world before the gain of the soul. I remark, that I believe a ma- 
 jority of the members of the Council of Public Instruction, by whom the regulations 
 were made for our Schools in regard to religious and moral instruction, arc as deeply 
 impressed with the worth of the soul and the value of heaven as your Lordship ; and so 
 far from God being unknown to our Schools, the authorized version of His inspired 
 Word (the text book of the religious faith of a large majority of the people of Upper 
 Canada) is read in 2067 out of 3000 of them ; and if the regulations are criminally 
 defective in this respect, your Lordship, as a member of the Council of Public In- 
 struction, has had, and still has, ample opportunity to propose their correction and 
 amendment/ though I have perliaps learned, by personal observation and enquiry, Q^ ( 
 more of both Irish and Canadian Schools than your Lordship, and am not sensible of "^ 
 
16 
 
 
 the vast iiiforlority ot'Caiiiuliim Schools of whicli you speak ; yet it' such be the fact, in a 
 riTijfious j)()!iil of view, the faiih. iinisl lie with the Clerjry thfouj^liout llie coiuitry, and not 
 in ihe r{';j;iiialiuiis, since our rej^nhitions are horrowetl from lliose which liave operated 
 so bencricialiy in irchind.* Who is to ))rovide for, and look afler the rclijiions instruc- 
 tion of llie yonili of ihe land, but the Clerjry and the Ch •rches'r' CJovernuient was, 
 certainly, not e.^tal)li.hc(l to be the censor and shepherd oi" religious persuasions and their 
 clerjry, or to [)err( rui their tluties. 1 lai.ieiit tl...^ the clerfiv and relij^ious , crsuasions of 
 Upi)er Canada have not been more attentive to the nlijiions instruction of their youth — 
 the youth o. the land ; — but as to oiu' youth and tt'llow-countrynien in L ])j)er Canada 
 not beinjj; tauj;lit torespi-ct law and autliority as in the Schools of Home, 1 may observe, 
 that authority and law are maintained amon}r us by the ])eople themselves, without our 
 capital beiu};' oi-cnpied by forei|^n armies to keej) the citizens from cxpeUing their 
 Sovereign from the Throne. 
 
 Your Lordship draws a vivid picture of each of the children in a School being 
 taught tiom a book abusing the religion of the })arents of the other children. I have 
 only to remark on this ])oint that the ])ictnre exists in Your Lordshijj's imagination 
 alone, as there is ui) foundation for it in litct or probability. Even should the teacher 
 hear the children separately, recite once a week the catechism of their religions persua- 
 sion, as he v.ould hear them recite a fact in history or a rule in arithmetic (without any 
 regard to the merits of it) what Your Lordship fancies could not occur even in this 
 strongest case that can be put, as the catechism of no religious persuasion, as far as I 
 know, consists in abusing other religious persuasions, but in a summary of Christian 
 faith and diUy professed by its adherents 1 know not of the occurrence of a case such 
 as your Lordshi)) has imagined in all [ ])]>er Canada during the last ten years ; and 
 down to a recent period an increased friendly feeling and co-operation existed be- 
 tween Koman Catholics and Protestants — a feeling which I had hoped, and had reason 
 to believe, until within the last twelve months, would have been promoted by yoin* 
 Lordship as it was by your honored predecessor. Your Lordship says, indeed, that 
 " Catholics are forced in certain Schools to read from religious books to which their 
 parents object ; '' but why are not the names of the places and parlies mentioned? lor I 
 can promise your Lordship a promi)t and eft'ective remedy in every case which shall be 
 made known to this Department. But it appears to me that if such cases exist, they 
 would be made known, from the great importance and pubhcity which has been given 
 to the case of jNIr. Maurice CarnjU, and the School Trustees at Georgetown, in the 
 Township of Es(|uesing f — the oidy case of the kind that was ever brought under the 
 notice of this Department ; and on the very day 1 icceived Mr. Carroll's letter of com- 
 plaint, 1 answered it in strong terms of condenmation as to the proceedings of the 
 Trustees, and in maintenance of his supremacy and inviolable rights in regard to the 
 attendance or non-attendance of his children upon religious exercises in the School. 
 A day or two afterwards I rejieated the same decision and views to the teacher and 
 trustees concerned, and there the matter has ended,* \ and it would have been the oc- 
 casion of no bad feelings beyond the School Seclicm itsclf.had not the complaining 
 parties, recording to the advice of your Lordship, previously spread it in the newspapers 
 instead of first ap})ealing to the tribunal authorised by law to decide on such matters — 
 recourse being open to the Judges of the land and the Governor General in Council, 
 should I fail in im])artiality and energy to remedy the wrong comp.ained of; and I 
 nnist appeal to your Lcn-dship, and especially after your Lordship has sj)oken so de- 
 cidedly ofo-espect towards authorit}', law and <pvernment being taught in our Schools," 
 whether it was promoting either of these objects for your Lordship to encourage Mr. 
 Maiu-ice Carroll of Georgetown to go to the newspapers instead of the legal authorities 
 to remedy a legal wrong — to ap})cal to popular passion and religious animosities instead 
 of first ap]K'aling to government, and exhausting the resources provided by law for 
 
 * See Appendix No. 15. 
 
 + See Appendix Numbers 16-17. 
 
 See Appendix Numbers 18-19. 
 
17 
 
 legal protcftion against illegal ()p|)rt'!<si()ii? Should the cxaiuplcs and counsi'ls which 
 your Lordship has given to Mr. Maurice Carroll he adopted hy all parties throughout 
 the land in regard to any alleged wrong that may he conniiitted hy one party against 
 another, what respect for law would thtr- he ? What administration of law could their 
 be ? What nuist he the social state of the country other than that of unhridled pas- 
 sion, lawlessness, and anarchy? On a matter of so nmch importance to the social hap- 
 piness and best interests ot all classes of people in Upper Canada, I confidently 
 appeal fromyou'-Lordshiji under excitement to your Lordship when cahn and thoughtful. 
 
 Your Lordship has called my attention to the authority of Guhot as nmch better 
 than mine in School matters. I readily acknowledge the authority of that great, States- 
 man mul Educationist, j? />uf i'^f c tJL 
 <- I read his j)rojects for School laws in France, and his various circulars to local 
 School authorities at the time he was French Minister of Public Instruct." )n, before I 
 prepiired my own projects and circulars, and when I found under his system, a llonian 
 Catholic Priest, a Protestant Minister, and a Jewish Rabbi, in connection with several * 
 laymen, composing and acting harmoniously in each of the Educational Conunittecs^or /*V 
 our County Boards, I did not imagine that a systemi based on the same principle, could ^ 
 be regarded as " u)ost cruel and hypocritical persecution," by either Protestant or ' 
 Roman Catholic in Upper Canada. 
 
 Then Your Lordship cites me to the testimony of the " Scotch Presljyterian, Laing," 
 in regard to the number of Schools in Home, and their tendency to promote res})cct to 
 established authority. I have no w ish to (juestion the correctness of the conclusion which 
 Your Lordship would wish to esiablish by these reterences, nmch less to disparage the 
 Schools alluded to, many of which I have personally visited, and found them admirably 
 conducted, and well adapted to the purposes for which they were established. Eut I 
 must say, that I do not consider respect for existing authority to be the sole object of 
 education, or of ilic establishment and nuiltiplication of Schools, for the mass of the 
 people. Of course, the more eucrgelieally such an object is promoted in both Austria 
 and '.taly, and in all despotic countries, the more effectually will Schools and Education 
 be employed as an instrument of despotism. 1 think education and Schools fail to fulfil 
 a vital part of their mission if they (\o not develop all the intellectual powers of man, 
 teach him self-reliance as well as dej)endence on God, excite him to industry and enter- 
 prise, and instruct him in the rights as well as duties of man. That the numerous 
 Schools of Rome and Roman Italy fail in several of these particulars, notwithstanding 
 their efficiency in ether respects, is manifest from the j)roverbial indolence, dishonesty, 
 poverty and misery of the mass of the people, nowithstanding its ;enial climate, the 
 fertility of its soil, and the glory of its ancient historical recollections,' wliile hyperborean 
 Scotland, with its mountain heaths and glens, stands^by the united testimony of travel- 
 lers and liistorians, as far above modern Italy in all the elements of the intellectual and 
 moral grandeur of man, as it is below it in beauty of climate and richness of soil. And 
 this difference may be largely traced to the different systems of education in the Cl^y 
 Schools and Colleges of the two countries. OTour Lordship will recollect that Laing 
 wrote before 1848, and with a view to prompt his fellow-countrymen to still greater 
 efforts in tlie cause of j)opular education^ Oty iy-i. t^C 
 
 C Since Laing wrote, tlie re Tias been a revolution at Rome,* and the very City, the 
 streets of which were studded with Schools, expelled its Sovereign, and at this day, is 
 only kept in subjection to the existing authority by the bayonets of France and Austria ; 
 while Edinburgh maintains an inviolable and spontaneous allegiance to its Sovereign, as 
 deep in its religious convictions as it is fervent in its patriotic impvdses. I think it right 
 to say this much in reply to Your Lordship's references to Scotland, although I have 
 no connection with that country by natural birth or confession of faith. 
 
 In regard to the use of Goldsmith's abridgment of English History,^ or of any 
 other book in our Schools, I have no authority to eject from, or introduce into our 
 
 • Letter II. """" 
 
18 
 
 i, 
 
 Schools, fioldsinitli's or any otiicr book jxiblislicd in tlic British (loniinlotH, witliouf, tlir 
 previous saiirtioii of the roiincii of I'lihlic Iiistriiction, of \\liich your Lordship is a 
 inouibcr. Tiioufih (joldsuiitlrs History is, in my o[)iuion, very (U-fcclive in coiiij)aris()ii 
 U ' I t«Kother later and Ix'ttcr coinpik'dhooks on (he siune sulijcct ; yet that history has been 
 used as a text book in a large j)r()p()rtion of the best 8ehools in l)oth England mid 
 \ Aniericii during the last haifeeiitnry ; nor was I aware until 1 received your liordship's 
 \ letter/, that (Joldsiuith's was less a favorite with Roman (jatholics than with Trotestants. 
 ) Thus tiu" the ('ouncil of l*iil)lie Instruction has never, in any instance, exercised 
 the ])owcr of iinihili'illiKj the use of any book in the Schools — contenting itself with 
 reconnnendin<ran(l providing facilities f()r cheaply [)rocuringthe best books f<)r the Schools, 
 as the most likely as well as most (piiet way ot superseding the use of objectionable and 
 defective books. Ihit it is competent for your Lordship, as a member of the Council 
 of Public Instruction, to bring under the notice of that body any book, the use of which 
 you may think injurious or contrary to tlie objects of the Schools, and propose its ex- 
 clusion, or to introduce any general regulnlion or regulations which you may deem 
 necessary for improving the ciiaracter and elKciency of our Schools. 
 
 I have thus not rendered myself liable to blame for having passed over in silence 
 anyone of tlie many to|)ics which 3'()iu' Lordship has thought proper to introduce; but 
 I have carefully noticed each of them, in a belief, that your Lordship entertains 
 defective and ernmcous views of the School system and Municipal institutions of Upper 
 Canada ; with a desire of ])lacing before you the whole ([iiestion in its present and pro- 
 bable future bearings, befcire your Lordship shall enter upcm the course indicated in 
 your letter; and from a sense of duty to successive Administrations and Parliaments 
 that have eslabli->hcd our Connnon School system, and to the Municipalities and people 
 at large, who have so nobly sustained it, as well as from a deep consciousness of per- 
 sonal responsibility in this matter for the future well being and destinies of my native 
 land. 
 
 I have tlie honor to be, 
 My Lord, 
 Your obedient humble servant, 
 
 (Signed,) 
 
 The Right rievcrcnd 
 Dr. DeCharbonncl, 
 R. C. Bishop of Toronto. 
 
 E. RYERSON. 
 
 [The fiiUoidiif/ letter, and reply, sJionld have, preceded the last letter (No. V.) but 
 were aceideiit(dhj oiuiftcd. | 
 
 Letter from the Roman Catholic Bishop of Toronto to the Chief Superintendent of 
 Schools, on the subject of Roman Catholic Separate Schools in the City of Toronto. 
 
 Hamilton City, &h April, 1852. 
 
 Reverent) Doctor, — ^Whcn on your return from Europe last year you heard of the 
 proceedings of the Board of School Trustees of Toronto, towards our Catholic Schools, 
 you told mc with an energetic expression which I will not transcribe, that had you been 
 m Toronto such things would not have taken place. 
 
 Now, Reverend Doctor, that you are in Toronto, be kind enough to provide, if 
 not for the past, at least for the present and the future, that oiu' six or seven hundred 
 pupils, as well instructed as, and better educated than, all the others, may receive from 
 the common funds for education, a share which will be a little equitable. 
 
 And this beginning of redress will make me, Reverend Doctor, 
 
 Your grateful sen'ant, 
 
 (Signed,) fARM'DUS FR. MY. 
 
 ^Bishop of Toronto. 
 To Rev. Dr. Ryerson, 
 
 Chief Superintendent of Schools, ' ^ 
 
 Toronto. 
 
 ((I 
 (<l 
 
 (<l 
 
19 
 
 Letter from the Chief Siiiu'rinteiulciit of ScliooLs in reply to the foregoiig: 
 
 KDifCATioN Office, 
 Toronto, 10//, Ap-i/, 18ii2. 
 
 Mv Loud, — I have the honor lo acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the (ith 
 itistaiit, aiul to state in reply, that the conversation to which yoi'i refer, related to the 
 pstahlishnicnt of Scjjnralc ^^(•hools in the City of Toronto, and* not to any definite sum 
 to l)e given for their support, — as the i)ro|)ortion of the School Fmid given in aid of 
 each Se[)arate School was not the sni)ject of dispute, and as that is fixed by law/ f\\c Q C 
 j^niund of complaint referred to was removed hy a special Act of the LegislaUire at the '-^ 
 
 last session.''*' 
 
 The first instahneiit of the School Fund for the current year will be .payable the 
 first of next July, and should there be any hesitation on the part of the Toronto IJoard 
 of School Trustees (»»f which I have no apprehension) to give effect to the provisions 
 of the law in regard lo the Separate Schools established, I shall readily employ the 
 means provided by law for the execution of its provisions. 
 
 I have the honor to be. 
 
 i\IvL 
 
 ord 
 
 Your obctlient humble servant, 
 
 (Signed,) E. RYERSON. 
 
 The Riglit llev. Dr. DeCharbonnel, 
 
 Roman Catholic JJishop of Toronto. 
 
 VL Letter from the R. Vj. Bishop of Toronto, to the Chief S>ipcrintendent of 
 Schools ; cont;',ining a re-iteration in French of the sentiments expressed in his former 
 letters in Cimlish. 
 
 / / /L L v^ -L (^J^i7^^^\, 
 
 Toronto, 1*^ J/ay, 1852. 
 
 Mr. Supkrintexdknt, — My last letter, doubtless, on account of my Enghsh, was 
 neither clciu- nor unilerstood, I since it has caused you to address to me personalities 
 and insinuations which I repel as unworthy of you and of me. All my previous inter- 
 course with you and the Council of Public Listruction, has been polite and Christian, 
 and sometimes tolerant to an extent that I liave been required to justify. My last letter 
 was energetic only after eighteen months of observation and patient representations 
 against a School system, which my conscience, as a Catholic Bishop, rejects with all my 
 might for the syuls confided to me — a system which notwithstanding your explanations, 
 I repeat feai'lessly, and irrespective of any person, is, for us Catliolics, a disguised per- 
 secution, unanimously and strenuously condemned by other Bishops as well as myself. 
 For I read, first, in the Acts of the Provincial Councils of Baltimore, (pages 84 and 171), 
 sanctioned by the Supreme Head of our Church, one and universal: 
 
 Council Bait. Prov. 1., Can. XXXIV. — " Whereas very many youth of Catholic 
 "parents, especially among the poor, have been, and still are, in many parts of this 
 " Province, exjwsctl to great danger of losing tlieir faith, and having their morals 
 " corrupted, from the want of proper teachers to whom so important a trust can be safely 
 ** confided; wejudgeitindispcnsablynecessary to establish Schools, in which youth may be 
 *' nurtured in the principles of faith and morals, while they are instructed in literature." 
 
 * See App. to this Correspondence, No. 33. 
 f Letter IV. 
 
20 
 
 (\j tn-^ 
 
 Cnii. XXXV. — ** Since not nnfr('(|ui'nllv inniiy tilings arc foiMid in tlio IxxikH which 
 " are ffcnerallv nsed in the Schools, in which the principles of onr tiiitii are inipnjincd, 
 " onr dogmas falsely exponncU-d, and history itself perverted, on sicconnt of wliich the 
 " niinils of the yonngare filled with errors, to the terrihle loss of their souls; zeal ftir 
 *' reliuion, as well as the jjroper edncation ofyonth, and the honor itself of the Anieri- 
 *' can Union, demands that some remedy he provided for so great an evil. Therefore, 
 " we liclerminc, that, there shall he pnhlished for the nse of Selutols, as soon as possihle, 
 " l)ooks entirely expnrgated from errors, and approved by the authority of the J5isliopfl, 
 " and in which nothing may be contained which might ])ro(lnce enmity or hatred t<» 
 " tlie Catholic faith." 
 
 Council Jialt. I'rov. IV., Can. VI. — '* As it appears that the system of public 
 '• instruction, in most of the l*rovinces, is so devised and administered as to encourage 
 *' liercsies and gradually and imperceptibly to fill the minds of Catholic youth with 
 *' errors, wc admonish l^istors tliat, with the utmost zeal, they watch over the Cliris- 
 " tian and Catholic Education of Catholic youth, and to take special puins lest such 
 " youth use the Protestant version of the Scriptures, or recite the liynuis or prayers of 
 " the Sectaries. It must thus be carefully provided, that no books or exercihcs of this 
 " kind be introduced in the I'ublic Schools, to the danger of faith and piety." 
 
 Now these Canons are the perfect expression of our sentiments. 
 
 I read, secondly, in the correspondence of that great Arclibishop whom tlie whole 
 Church laments, the mediator betAveen Ireland and Enghmd, tlie Dove of Dublin : 
 
 " In Ireland it was required that, in all the Schools for the education of the ])oor, 
 " the IJible, without notes, should be read in the presence of all the pupils of the 
 " Schools, and that the Catechism and all ))ooks of that kind should be excluded." 
 
 Is not this the case in our Mixed Sciiools ? 
 
 / 
 
 " These regulations (continues the incomparable Dr. Murray) om* Bishopresistcd, 
 " and endeavored most earnestly to withdraw the Catholic pupils from ^lools of 
 "that kind*** That a remedy might be provided for this m^ st wretched state of 
 " things, our Government, strongly urged by me, and others, at length decided to 
 *' establish another system of educating the poor, which would be more acceptable to 
 " the Catholics." 
 
 Suffer me then, !Mr. Su])erintendent, to obey God rather than man, and to resist, 
 as did the loyal and conciliating Archbishop, your unhappy School system, strive to 
 rescue from it my dear children, and to remedy this great scourge by mging onr Gov- 
 ernment to give us a system whicli will be acceptable to us — a system which shall not 
 render the condition of the Irish here worse than it is in Ireland — a system worthy of 
 American or Canadian liberalism, so nuich A\/ifinted in the world; unless U})per Canada 
 prefers to continue, what I cannot, in strict logic, call anything but a cruel and dis- 
 guised persecution. 
 
 I have said, that if the Catechism were sufficiently taught in the family or by the 
 Pastor, so rare in this large Diocese — and if the Mixed Schools were exclusively for 
 secular instruction, and without danger to our Catholics, in regard to masters, books and 
 companions, the Catholic Hierarchy might tolerate it, as I have done in certain 
 localities, after having made due inquiry. 
 
 Otherwise, in default of these conditions, it is foi bidden to our faithful to send their 
 children to these Schools, on pain of the refusal of the sacraments ; because the soul and 
 heaven above everything; because the foot, the hand, the eye, occasions of sin, ought 
 to be sacrified to salvation ; becapic, finally, Jesus Christ has confided the mission of in- 
 struction which has civilized the world, to no others than the Apostles and their suc- 
 cessors to the end of time. 
 
 It is their right, so sacred and inalienable, that every wise and paternal Christian 
 Government has made laws respecting instruction only in perfect harmony with the 
 teaching Church — the Bishops united to their supreme and universal Head j and this 
 
 
 
 f 
 
 
21 
 
 ■■ 
 
 huh 
 
 I the 
 I tor 
 mori- 
 otort', 
 ■isihU', 
 hops, 
 ed to 
 
 )iil)lic 
 
 with 
 Chris- 
 it such 
 trs of 
 )f lliis 
 
 ri^lil i« so inviolahlc that of latp nn well as in fl.rmcr titncs in Franco, in 'Rcl^'inni, in 
 Prussia, in Austria, as in Irt'laud, the Ifishops, with the Pope, have dotii' cvcrvthiui,' to 
 overthrow or uioihty ovorv Scliool or University Hystcin opposed to the mission giu-n 
 by Jesus ('hrist to his sacred colU'^e. 
 
 " (Jo, tlieretine, teach all nations, and preach to every <'reatnre, (St. Mark.) leaeliinf^ 
 "them to ohserve all tliin<;s whatsoever 1 have eoiiunanded you, and lo, I am 
 *' with you even to tlie end of tlic world. (St. Matthew.) He that helieveth shall he 
 " saved, and he that helieveth not, shall he coiuh-uuied." (St. Ahuk.) 
 
 I have the honor t() he, 
 
 Mr. Superintendent, 
 YoiH" lunnl)lc and obedient servant. 
 
 (Sifrned,) 
 
 Revd. E}i;ort()n Ryerfon, D. 1)., 
 
 Chief Supcrintciuh-nt of Ethication, Toronto. 
 
 t AUM'I). V\l. MY., 
 
 IJishop of Toronto. 
 
 whole 
 
 suc- 
 
 Vlir. Letter from tlie Chief Superintendent of Schools, to the R. C. Bishop of 
 Toronto, in reply to the foregoing. 
 
 DEl'AItTMKNT oF PuilLIC INSTRUCTION TOU l^PPKR CANADA. 
 
 EmiCATION Ol^'^ICE, 
 
 Toronto, 12/h May, 1»52. 
 
 My Lord, — T linve the honor to acknowledge tlie receipt of your letter of the 1st 
 instant,* and as your Lordship has not tliought {)roper to notice the perfect e(iuality 
 which I shewed in my letter of llie 24th ultimo, * to exist hetween Protestant and 
 lloman (yatholic Separate Schools in Upper Canada, nor indeed any of the tiicls and 
 reasons I have adduced to sliew the ecpial rights and protection of Roman Catholics 
 with all other classes of the community under one Common School svstem ; and its 
 liarmoi.y with the free institutions of our (^oiuitry, in reply to tlic statements and 
 attacks contained in your letter of the 24th of ^Lu'ch, it is not necessary that T should 
 discuss these topics again, further than I may have oecasicm to allude to them in answer 
 to some portions of yorn* Lordship's letter now hef()re me. 
 
 Your Lordship refers to the friendly and cordial character of the intercourse 
 which has taken jtlace from time to time between your Lordship and the other mem- 
 bers of the Council of Puljlic Instruction, including myself. T can assure your Lordship 
 that the feelings of respect and pleasure attending that intercourse, could not huvc 
 been greater on vour part than on mine,* and I therefore felt greatly surprised, pained 
 and disappointed, when T read yom; Lordship's letter of the 24th Miux-h, denouncing 
 that whole system of Public Listruction whieh I had understood your Lordship to he a 
 colleague in promoting ; attacking the principles upon which I have acted during the 
 whole period of my official connection with that system ; impugning the motives of its 
 founders ; reflecting upon the character of the people of Upper Canada, and advo- 
 cating that which would be subversive of their hitherto acknowledged rights of local 
 self-government. 
 
 In my reply to that letter, I disclaim having cherished a feeling or intended a 
 remark in the slightest degree personnally disrespectful to your Lordship ; but I felt it 
 
 • Letter V. 
 
ss 
 
 my (liKv to answer cxpliiitly nnd I'lilly voiir Iiortl,slii|>'n HliitciiiriitK, irjif^oiiingH mid 
 rcVc'lTiK I's ; iiixl il' I hiiid 1111} lliliii;, (tif vsliicli I jiiii iiiuciiiscidiin,) \\liiili ciili lie iliar- 
 aclti'i/<(l as iiiiwoitliy '* l)'. ixiiuiiilin and iii.Nimiiitioii.s "' il was .said in n (ilv l<» niiicli 
 Hlr<»iij;;c'r and more j).)inhd ii'niarks ol'llic Minir rliarailii' ronlainid in Nonr Ijord^lniTs 
 U'ttci' ot'thc J llli Miii'clt. I had lio|)i>d thai a t'nil c'X|iiisili(in of tlu' civil and nnniicipal 
 insiitnliiiiis ot'tliis (!»anili'_y, and lh( ic I'cinal fairness and ai)itii(.'arMin lo all rtiijiions |)cr- 
 Kiiasions and flassrs of |)iii|ih' in r('}:ard to onr Common School s\sUm, ^\on!d salisly 
 your Lordslni) that whi'lhcr jaTfci-l or impii Icit, our School ^vsicni is laisi-il upon 
 the principli s of ('([na! jnslicc and ri;j;li.s tu holh I'roli'stanl ai'tl Kuma.i ('allKilic, and 
 that yon had been »|iiili' misl.ilan in prononncinfi' il u s^dUin of " most irnti ami li}J'0- 
 critical persecution" against the lioniau Catholics. 
 
 I rei.i;ret that 1 am unahh' lo prodnce any change in \oui' Ijort^ship's views as to 
 U' system of piil)lic insli'neiion, or in yoin* avowals of ho.-iiliiy to it; Km 1 >jha!l not ;ail, 
 
 01 
 
 hy 
 
 lieverlheless, to ccaiducl myself towards yoiu' LonlsLip |»er.sniially, wi h ihcsame respect 
 mid courtesy which I have endcuvotucd to ohservc in all my j)revious jnltrcourMC with 
 
 I think thai no cnomoas impri'ssion was conveyed, or disadvantage experienced 
 hy your Lordship's having; wnllen your Iciter of the ll4ti» ^Mareh, in English,* since 
 
 V yoiu" Idler of the \A instant cxjir.'^vce/ the sume sinlinu'nls, in silli slron-^ir ti'rnis, on 
 those very points, respei'ting' wlm'h i mi^hl have heen supposed to mi,-«appiclien Nonr 
 meaning. Your Lorddiip a|;'aiu desig-nates our Si-hool sysit ni, '" di^uiiiscd ))ersecuiion 
 (Viainst llomau Catholic.-" — ^^ pmif iimis (.'n/hnliijiii s kiu !>■ ,•■•-{:■■ id ion iltijui'-ii:,^^ and in 
 anollier pi. ice you ia!l il " a cruel un.l illspui.-cd per.secution " — " iiiii j)u\'«j(iilioH diuHc 
 <;/ lUtijuiscf. 
 
 pi^tA^LC 'I'lu -.e rl.•p"{^^el;t.'lt^.^s and a.-'Sci lions your Lordship rijicats aj^ainsit *lie im nnliji ' 
 -' jiroofs which I ha\e adduced to the contrary, af;aii.sl the n(»lori(ais fact thai, umUr (lu 
 School hvstem, lloman Catholics not only enjoy ecpial protection and advantages with, 
 every ouier porli(>n of the connuuuiiy, but u privilege in regard to Sejiarate Schools, 
 which is not granted to any one religioiLs j)ei.-nasion of rmtestants in either I'p))cr or 
 Lower Canada. Jn view of such fads, your Lordship.'s reiterated j.ssirlions, in 
 connection with the object for which they are made, mu.-l be regardi'd, 1 will net say 
 as you !iavc said," a cruel and disguised persecution," but an act of great injustice to 
 the Legislators and people of I'ppi'i' Canada, a contradiction lo the coiaiuct of your 
 luineuled predcccs.-or, the lale Bishop Power, and an invasion of the rights of property 
 and niunicii>alilies whicli has been re,i;,ir(led as inviolable. 1 think, tlieref()re, ihal youi' 
 Lordship has assmned the posili(ai of the persecutor, rather than the iiCgislature and 
 Muuicii)alities of Upj)er Canada. 
 
 Your Lord.hi]) says, tiiat o)U" ►''.liool system h iinanimously and strenuously 
 condeuiu^d 'oy (>i!.er iloiiuui Catholic jii.-hoj)s than youi.-clf, and in ])n<of, v(.u (jue-te 
 certain Acts of the Provincial Councils of P)a!tiii!orc, wliieh you stale, liave been 
 yaiictioued by the Poj)e ; but I can fnul nothing in the Adsquoltd, wlueh can be (liirly 
 api)Iied to our S.hools. As to the fust of the Ads <n the Pioviueial Coiuicils of 
 Baltimore, (luoted by your Lord.-hip, lu) proof can be adchiced, that the operations of 
 our Schcols in all j)iist years, have exposed to great ])eril the faiili and morals of the 
 children of Catholic parents. Li rcganl to the second of the Acts referred to, whatever 
 may be said of the books introduced by public authorily in .some of the Schools of the 
 Un'ted States, to which this Act refers, no School book has been sanctioned by the 
 Council of Public Instruction for U])per Canada, in which there is a paragraph that 
 impugns the princi])lesof the Bomau Catholic faith, or erroneously interprets its dogn;as, 
 much less falsifies the facts of history,* since, the oidy series of books sanctioned for use 
 n our Schools, are those which have been introduced into the National Schools in 
 ■^reland, with the concurrence of the lamented Dr. Murray, to whom your Lordship refers 
 
 * Letter IV. 
 
 I 
 
23 
 
 ill just tcrniH of praiMc and admiration. And in rcstK-ct to the last iVct (piotcd hy vour 
 Lordsliip, (Ni'iiiii}; forth aniun}^ oilier tilings, that tlir svstiMu of pi Mie tMlncation is mo 
 dt'visrd iiml coiiiliiclcd as t.i foster licrt-sii's, and jiradniill} and iniiit'rctplil)l_\ fill tin- 
 minds of Koinaii (,'alliolic Noiitlis witli llic filsr jnnicipli^ of llic f^cclariis, and that tlu' 
 Trii'st must walcli diligently IcHt hucIi youth should ii'ad tin- I'rotcstant vorsion of the 
 Scriptuirs, or rciilr tin- hjinnsor |ira\rrs of the Si-clarii s,) I remark thai our systi'iu 
 ofi'ublic Instrnrtion knows nothing; ol the dilhrcnl rdij^ious opinions v Inch exist ill 
 the country; does not jiiiteiid to jndj;;e what ari' heresies, or what parties ari' heretien; 
 nor does it favour one elass of nligioiis opinions more than luiother ; nor does it reepiirc 
 Uoinan Catholic children to read the J'rolestai.l version of the Holy Scriiituns, or hear, 
 much less " ri'cile the |irayers or hymns of thi' Sii laries ;'" allhonji;li I know ol' Koinan 
 Catholic Schools, the anlhurities of which, re([nire I'rolestanl youth attending; them to 
 he present at the i( cilal of llonian Catholic puiyers and hymii'', and allejilnji;, at the 
 muiv time, that there is not, lu^r shall tin re hcymy interferene'c with the religions prin- 
 ciples of su.'h youth. 
 
 Your liordshii) (|notes the W(»nls of the late Dr. IMiirray. Iiile I'onian Catholic 
 Archhishop of l)nl)lin, who, ri'ferrlng; to the former ScIioij! system in Iielnnd, under 
 the direction of a hoily called the Kildnre l*laee Society, says, " it was reeiuiied that in 
 all tlu^ Schools t<)r the education of the poor, the sacred Scriptures, witlioiit nole or 
 conmient, should he read in the presence of all tlu pupils of ihe Schocls;" and you 
 then ask me if this is not the casi- in our Mixed Schools? I answer, it is not the case. 
 Wc liuvo no regulation that re(|uires any hook whatever to he read IjcHhc all the 
 children of any one of our Mixed S< hools, nor docs our School law permit any Si'liool 
 authority whatever to re(prne the attendance of Koman Calliolii' or rrote.->tanl pupils 
 at the icadinjj; of any hook, or the recital of any hyimi or prayer to whiih the parents 
 or guardians cf such j)uplls shall ol)ject. <>ur (lovcrnment diis not a.sumc, or jn'c- 
 tend to the rijj,'hl of assnming.the power lA' ctanmanding or prohibiting anv portion of 
 the j>opiil.iiioii of rpper (Janaila in matters of ri>ligion ; what it recommends in respect 
 to moral example and instruition in the Schools, is comiiuai to all, both Ivoman Ca- 
 tholic and rroteslant, Jew and Christian, — each and all of whom ncognizc the ten 
 Commandments,' but as to religious in,- truction, it is left to the diMrclion ol'lhe parties 
 and ])areiits concerned in each School ])ivisi()ni for as .lehovah docs not authorize any 
 one liuman being to lord it over the liiilh of another hinnim being, but makes everv man 
 
 ui 
 
 personally accountable, and th('rit()re gives him an et|nal right with every otlnr man to 
 judge and act ii)r himself in the mailers of his eternal salvation, so our law does not 
 j)ermit any parent or his child to be lorded over by others in mailers of religious liiith, 
 instruction or devotion. 
 
 Your Lordship further fpiolcs Dr. ^Iiirray, in saying that he and the other 
 Roman Catholic Disliops in Ireland, most earneslly resisteil tlio former (Kildare Place) 
 system of j)oor Schools, in Ireland, and at length prevailed upon the (.Jovernmenl to 
 establish anoth.'r (the present national) system wliicli would be more accei)table to the 
 Roman Catholics. Now, the very system which was thus estal)liohed in Ireland in 
 regard to l)Ooks and religious instruction, and which Dr. I\ImTay supported to the end 
 of his life, 's that which is cslal)lished in I'l^per Canada, as I slated in my last letter to 
 your Lordship, as may be seen by comparing our general School regiilatiors with those 
 whicli Dr. Murray, and other members of the National Hoard (;f Education, have estab- 
 lished in L-cland, and which [ (pioled at 1 cngth in my correspondence on the School law 
 of Upper Canada, printed in 1S50, by order ol'lhe Legislative Assembly, (a copy of which 
 as sent you) pages 5:2 and fj-'i. Therefore, if your Lordship followed ihe example 
 
 w 
 
 of the incomparable Dr. Murray, as well as that of the late Bishop Power, you would 
 •rive your cordial support to a system of Schools which you arc now denouncing as a 
 " cruel and disguised persecution." ^ 
 
 In regard to the acts or resolutions of the Roman Catholic Provincial Council.of 
 Baltimore, (juotcd by your Lordship, I have two additional remarks to offer; the one 
 
24 
 
 is, that no Lo<j;islaturc of any Free State of the American confederacy has cstahlishod or 
 given a farthiiijr's aid for the estal)lisl»niL'nt of ". ch.is of denominational elementary 
 Schools, cither Protestant or Roman Catholic, such as arc referred to, and such as your 
 Lordship is demanding in Upper Canada. I know of but two instances of any formal 
 effort of demand l)eing made upon an American State Legislature for that pnr])ose ; the 
 one was made a few years since by Archbishop Hughes of New York, but failed of 
 success ; and the other is now being made in the State of Maryland. 
 
 Wherever such dcnominaticmal elementary Schools exist in the neighboring Statrs, 
 they are wholly supported by the religious persuasion establishing them ; nor arc the 
 members of such persuasion exempted, nor have I ever heard of dieir asking exemption, 
 on that account, from paying, with others, all taxes recpiircd for the erection of public 
 Schools Houses, and the support of the I'ublie Schools. Nay, I have reason to believe 
 that notwitstanding the Act:-' of the Councils quoted by your Lordshij), that the opposi- 
 tior of the Roman Catholic j3ishops and Clergy to Public Schools in the neighboring 
 States is very partial, if it exists at all, in many plac s. When in Boston, a few months 
 since, I learned on good authority, that the Roman Ca Jiolic Bishoi> of that Diocese, 
 when applied to l)y certain Priests, lately from Europe, to interpose in arresting 
 what they considered the great injury being done to the religious faith of Roman 
 Catholic children, by attending the Public Free Schools, replied, that he would do 
 nothing of the kind, that he received his early education in those Schools ; that ho 
 woidd never have attained his present position but for the ]iost(m system of Free 
 Schools. 1 cannot but be deeply impressed with the conviction that, it would be a great 
 blessing to the Roman Catholic youth of Upper Canada, if the Roman Catholic Bishop 
 of Toronto would imitate the example of the Roman Catholic Bishop ot Boston. But 
 that is a matter which rests with your Lordshi[), and not with mc, to decide. 
 
 My second remark is, that the acts of the Provincial Councils referred to, arc those 
 of Ecclesiastics alone, and of Foreign Ecclesiastics; and alth(mgh your Lordship may 
 refer to them as the connnands of (j(xl, they caiuiot be viewed by others as possessing 
 any more authority, or entitled to any higher consideration, than acts or resolutions on 
 the same subjects adopto' I by a Protestant Ej)iscopal Convention, or Presbyterian Synod, 
 or Methodist Conference, and approved by the Bishop, or Moderator, or President of 
 these religi:)us persuasions respectively. I likewise observe that your Lordship makes 
 no reference to the opinions of the laity on this subject; but we shouhlnot forget, what- 
 ever may be one's own wishes, that our Legislators and Municipalities in Upper 
 Canada, and our responsible ministers of the Crown, arc not the agents of any body of 
 Ecclesiastics, foreign or domestic, but the elected and responsible Representatives of the 
 whole ]K'ople«inc'ading both clergy and laily ; and the references in my last letter 
 show that yorlr Lordship is far from representing the unanimous sentiments of even 
 that portion of the Upper Canada lay electors who belong to your own Church, any 
 more than those of your lamented predecessor in oflficc. 
 
 Li regard to the alleged injustice done to Roman Catholics in the distribution of 
 School moneys, so frequently asserted by your Lordship, there is one circumstance 
 which I may mention in athlition to the facts and reasons which I have given in reply 
 to yonr Ijordship's statements and claims. The Board of School Trustees in the City of 
 Toronto have caused a very careful in(|uiry to be n\ade into the census returns and 
 tax rolls of the City, in order to ascertain the comparative amount of taxes paid by 
 Roman Catholics and Protestants. The result of that in(piiry is, that while one-fourth 
 of the entire population of the City is returned as Roman Catholics, a fraction less than 
 one iwelfth of the taxes is paid by them*; and I presume the Avealth. of the Roman 
 Catholics, in ])ro])ortion to their numbers, compares as favorably with that of Protestants 
 in the City of Toronto, as in any other nnmicipality in Upper Canada. It is therefore 
 clear that no class of the population is so nuich benefitted by the General School taxes, 
 
 
 See Appendix No. 30. 
 
25 
 
 « 
 
 
 in proportion to what they puy, as Roman Catholics ; and hence assuming (/liat the ^ 
 people and Lcgi.slaturc of Upper Canada have repeatedly repudiated) that the autho- 
 rity and officers of law onfj^ht to he employed to impose and collect taxes for any reli- 
 gions denomination, the sinns of School moi.jy which would he payahle, when appor- 
 tioned upon the htusis of property, to Jloman Catholic Separate Schools, would he much 
 less than what the School Act now allows such Schools upon the ha^.is of the attendance 
 ot>jpils. ::> >i.^ th^ ^C 
 
 ^—Of all classes in dtc community, the Roman Catholics have the stroiiffest reason to 
 desire the system of Mixed Schools; and every etfort to nr<>;e them to apply tor Separate 
 Schools, so far as it succeeds, imposes upon them additional ])ecuniary hnrdens, at the 
 same time that it must inflict upon them losses and disadvantaj^es to which they are 
 not now suhjeet. 
 
 Your Lordship says that, " if the catechism of your Church were properly taught 
 in the family and hy the Priest, so rare in this vast Diocese, and if the Mixed Scnool 
 were confined exclusively to secular ' :struction, and without danger to lioman Catholic 
 youth, in regard to the masters, hooks and companions, the Roman Catholic hierarchy 
 might tolerate it ; hut that, in the absence of these conditions, Roniiui Catholic parents 
 are forbidden to send their children to the Separate Schools under pain of the refusal 
 of the sacraments." 
 
 May I, my Lord, become the advocate of thousands of children of your own Church 
 before you carry into effect the purpose here avowed? Acliild cannot remain in igno- 
 rance of his catechism without criminal neglect of duty on the ]>avt of both his parents 
 and .Priest; but if these are guilty of inflicting upon i\w child one injury, is your Lord- 
 ship to inflict upon that imtbrtunate child the additional injury of ])rohibition of all 
 secular instruction, adding the curse of intellectual to that of spiritual ignorance? I 
 hope, upon the grounds of humanity itself, this may not be the case. 
 
 As to the School being exclusively confined to secular instruction, I am somewliat 
 surprised that your Lordship should insist upon this, after hnving alleged, in a former 
 letter, as a reproach against our Schools, that (iod was as unknown in them as he was 
 in ancient Athens; but I have already shown that a child cannot receive any other than 
 secular instruction, unless in accordance with the wishes of his parent or guardian i and J 
 that there is the same regard to parental religious rights and wishes in respect to books. 
 And in respect to masters and companions, I may add, that I am not aware of Roman 
 Catholic masters or youth possessing any superiority over Protestant masters and youth, 
 in res])ect to either morals or manners. 
 
 It appears then that no censure is to be inflicted upon the parent or Priest for 
 neglecting his duty in teaching the child the catechism, nor is the parent threater.ed with 
 any censure if he altogether neglects to send his child to the School, but he is to be 
 refused the sacraments if he sends his child without the catechism having been taught 
 iiuch child, or if there be a' .y thing in the master, or the books, or the |)npils of the 
 School, which may not receive the sanction of the Ecclesiastical surveillance estaljliohedi (7) 
 I cannot but see, that the carrying out of such a system on the ])art of your Lordship, <\ 
 must place the Roman Catholic youth of Upper Canadai in a deplorable condition, and (/ 
 tloom them and their descendants to a hopeless inferiority in comparison with other 
 classes of their fellow-citizens. I feel that I am not exceeding my duty in speaking 
 plainly and strongly on this point, since the educational interests of idl classes have 
 been intrusted to my care, and ^ am bound by official as well as Christian and patriotic 
 considerations, to do all in my power to prevent any single child in Upper Canada 
 from growing up in ignorance, and therefore in a state of vassalage and degradation in 
 our frre country, 
 
 I noticci finally. the avrwal with which your Lordship's letter concludes, containing 
 an expression of sentiment and statement of facts v.'iich I have often seen ascri'jcd to 
 the authorities of your Church, but which I have never before seen so broatUy and 
 explicitly avowed by any of its dignitaries, Jin avowal which I could not have credited, - > 
 
S6 
 
 // 
 
 h 
 
 I. 
 
 1 
 
 
 li 
 
 (lid it not aj)])ear over your Lordship's own sigiuitnrc. Youi* Lordship says, that 
 " Jtsiis Christ has coufickd the mission of instruction which 1ms civilizxd the worhl only 
 f») tiic iipostk's and llicir successors, to the end of time. It is their right, so sacred 
 t\nd so inahcniihlc, that every wise and paternal Christian <>;()vernment has made laws in 
 regard to iustructiou only in harmony with the teaching Church/ '^\\c Bisliops/ united 
 to liiiir universal and supreme Head; and this right is so inviolable, that recently as 
 herelofove in France, in Jlelgium, in Prussia, in Austria, as in Ireland, the Bishops with 
 the I'ope, have done all in their power to overthrow or modify every School or univer- 
 sity system which is in opposition to the mission given by Jesus Christ to his sacred 
 Co'llege." _ J 
 
 It is here clearly claimed, " that the Pope and Bishop of the Roman Catholic Church 
 are the onl , ])ers()ns authori/ed by God himself to direct thecducation of youth, and thcre- 
 li)re, that nil otiiers undertaking that work, are iuvading the ])rerogative of Ciod, that 
 all kgi>lation on the subject must have the sanction of^^the Bishops with the Pope," and 
 that they have done, and will do all in their power to overthrc/W or modify every sys- 
 tem of public instruction, from the School to the University, which is not under their 
 control. Such being your Lordship's sentiments and intentions, I am glad that you 
 have frankly avowed them." -j 
 
 ) 
 
 .'Tul- 
 
 ue 
 
 l)eople of Up[)cr Canada and their representatives will at nice understand 
 their pt)sition and dnty.^' But, in view of such avowals and reference. , I am surprised 
 that your Lordship should have invoked " the blessed principles of rehgious liberty 
 and cipial rightsy" rfincc in connec'don with the sentiments above avowed, there can 
 be no religious lin)erty or rights exccj)t for^he Bishops and the Pope ;" and since they 
 denounce the doctrine of " religious liberty and equal rights" as an awful heresy in 
 the Uoman States, and will not allow to Protestants even liberty ot worship or teaching. 
 nuK'h less aid from the State for that purpose, as your Lordship demands in behalf of 
 lloman Catholic Schools hi L"j)por Canada. 
 
 In conclusion, I may observe, that whatever may be the result of this correspon- 
 dence, I shall have the satisfaction of knowing that I have not left your Lordship 
 uninformed as to any feature of our Civil and Municipal Institutions involved in the 
 question, and of their perfect fairness and the equality of their a})plication to both lloman 
 Catholics and Protestants, of the ju'otection and security of the members of all religious 
 persuasions, in regard to the pecuHanties of their faithi and theref .iC, the utter ground- 
 lessness of Your Lordship's imjmtations, and the unreasonableness of your claims upon 
 the groimd of" religious liberty and etjual rights." 
 
 Indeed, the passage above ([noted froui your Lordship's last letter shows that the 
 claims set up by your jjordship are not merely for " religious liberty and equal rights," 
 but for absolute supremacy and control on the part of your Bishops with the Po})c, in 
 our system of public instruction. As Belgium, France, and some other countries in 
 Eurojie have been disturbed fur many years by the efforts of some of your Bishops for 
 the diri ;tion of systems of publi . education, and the various grades of Schools and 
 Colleges, so may C])per Canada be disturbed in like manner to some extent, by tlie 
 efforts of your Lordship ; but I iloubt whether such eff'orts will meet with much sym- 
 pathy from a large portion of the members of the Roman Catholic Church; as I am 
 persuaded they Avill not, from the people of Upper Canada at large. I can appeal to 
 the history of the past in proof of my acting towards die Roman Catholic Church in the 
 same spirit as towards any other Church* but I nnist be unfiiithful to all my past pre- 
 cedents, as well as to the trust ^jjfiposcd in me, and the almost unanimous feeling of the 
 Country, if I should not do all m my power to resist — come from what quarter it may — 
 every invasion of" the blessed principles of religious liberty and equal rights," among 
 all classes of the people of Upper Canada. 
 
 I have the honor, &c., 
 
 (Signed,) E. RYERSON. 
 
 The Right Rev. Dr. DeCharbonncl, 
 
 Roman Catholic Bishop of Toronto. 
 
27 
 
 IX. Note from the 11. C. Bi.shop of Toronto to the Cliiet Suj)crint('iuleiilof Seliools, 
 ackii()\vl('{lj;iM[>; tlie receipt of the foregouig letter, as the coiielusion of the Correspoiulenee 
 with the Ileiid of the Educational Dipartnienl : — 
 
 Salitrdin/, 2'2ii(l Miij, lSo2. 
 
 Rev. DncToit, — The conehiylon of our Corrcspoiulence inurfl lie that our ()i)inions 
 on Separate Schools are (jnile clirt'ereut. 
 
 lint I hope tliat hy making use of nil constitutional mean.-;, in order to obtain our 
 right, I will not upset the Government of Canada nor its institutions. 
 
 I have the honor to be, 
 
 Kev. Doctor, 
 Your obec'ient, humble servant, 
 
 (Signed,) t AILM'JJL'S FK. MY. 
 
 Bisiiop of Toronto. 
 Rev. Dr. E. Ryorsnn, 
 
 Chief Suj)erintenucnt of Schools. 
 Toronto. 
 
 'i 
 
 
 X. Letter from the Roman Catholic jji.shop of T lonto to tlie Chairman of the 
 Council of Public Instruction for Upper Canada, on the subject t-f the j)reeeding Cor- 
 respondence. 
 
 2G//t iVay, 18o2. 
 
 Mil. Presidknt, — T ])cg to state, that if a correspondence, exchanged bct\\( en 
 Rev. Dr. Ryersou and me, has come to the cognizance of your T'ouncil, it had no 
 reference at all to my intercourses Avith your deliberations and resolutions. My con- 
 scientious attendance at them, when sojcmrning in Toronto, my conduct at the lay- 
 ing of the corner stone of the Normal Scliool, and some of my letters to the Rev. 
 Doctor, arc evidences of my fe( lings towards a body from which I receive p.othing but 
 courtesy and kindness. Hence I wrote to his Reverence on the 20th Eel)niary last,* 
 " my visitation througii the Diocese convinces me more and more that the good spirit of 
 our Council of Publi; Instruction is far from being prevalent in certain localities"; and 
 on the 30th last, after luuing received from his Reverence 23 pages, in folio, of per- 
 sonalities and insinuations unworthy of him a- ' of me, I replied, all my precedents 
 with you, Reverend Doctor, and the Covnicil ot i unlic Instruction, have been polite and 
 Christian, and sometimes of a tolerance for which my Church made me responsible. 
 
 Were I not leaving Town again, Mr. President, I would ask of your kindness a 
 special meeting, in which I would lay before your Council " all my com])laints on the 
 operation of the pro\iso lor Separate Schools, and the course I followed to stop the 
 annihilation of that boon by a system which I cannot but call a disguised persecution, 
 come from what quarter it may." 
 
 I have the honor to be, 
 Mr. President, 
 
 (Signed,) 
 
 Judge Harrison, 
 
 President of the Council of 
 
 Pubhc Instruction, Toronto. 
 
 lour obedient, humble servant, 
 
 t ARM'DUS FR. MY. 
 
 Bishop of Toronto. 
 
 XI. Letter from the Chief Superintendent of Schools, to the R. C. Bishop of 
 Toronto, in reply to the foregoing. 
 
 • Letter I. 
 
28 
 
 u 
 
 t 
 
 dkr.vutment of publrc lvstuuctiox for urper c.axada. 
 
 Education Oitice, 
 
 Toronto, "did May, 1852. 
 
 ^Iy Loiii), — Tlio ironorahie S. B. Harrison has transferred (o ni? yonr letter of 
 the 2<>tl» instant, addressed to him as Chairman of tiie Couneil of Pnhlic Instrnetion for 
 Upiier Cana(hv ; the suhject of your letter not coming within the duties preserihed by 
 law to that body, but relatin|^ to the duties and conduct of the Chief Superintendent of 
 Schools. 
 
 I shoidd very imperfectly miderstand my duties. were I to trou1)lc the Council of 
 Public Instruction with the volnniinous correspondence of this De])artment, except the 
 cominnnications which I make at the recpiest of the Council, or such as I receive to 
 be laid before it. As a member of the Council of Public Instruction, as well as of the 
 Senate of the Toronto rniversity, I am oidy one of a body consistinij; of several mem- 
 bers ; but as Chief Superintendent '>f Schools for Upper Canada, 1 have distinct duties 
 to discharge, and in respect to which I am responsible to my Sovereign through Her Ee- 
 presentative. The several clauses of the 3Gth Section of the School Act, ])rescribe the 
 duties of the Council of Public Instruction ; and the several clauses of the 35th Section 
 prescribe my duties. It is my general duty to see that every part of the School law 
 IS duly executed ; anu especially " to see that all moneys apportioned by me are applied 
 to the objects for which they were granted, and for that purpose to decide upon all 
 nnittcrs and complaints submitted to me, which involve the expenditure of any part of 
 the School Fund." The 34th Section of the Act provides, that I '' shall be responsible 
 to and subject to the direction of the Governor General." 
 
 If your Lordship, theretbre, has complaints to make of my official conduct, the 
 •way is open ; and I am prepared at any moment to answer to the authority by 
 which I have been appointed, and to the Country on whose behalf I have labored, for niy 
 official acts. 
 
 Notice of CN cry meeting of the Council of Public Instruction is invariably sent to 
 the residence of your Loi-dship ; and at any such meeting, (as I have stated in my 
 two last letters,) your Lordship has, of course, the right of bringhig before the members 
 of the Council any subject that y(m may think proper, and should your Lordship 
 desire it, I shall bo happy to call a Special Meeting of the Council to suit your Lordship's 
 convenience. 
 
 It now 1)ecomcs my duty, my Lord, to advert to the personal imputations which 
 your Lordship has been pletised to make against me in your letter to the Honorable 
 Mr. Harrison. 
 
 Not to notice the unofficial ciiaraeter of such personal imputations in such a letter, 
 I may observe, that the statement of your Lordship is calculated to convey a very erro- 
 neous impression of the facts relative to what your Lordship is pleased to tei'm my 
 "personalities and insinuations;" while your drawing attention from the questions 
 which your Lordship has voluntarily raised, and from your Lordship's own attacks 
 upon our Schools and School law, to a matter of alleged personal discourtesy in my 
 letter to your Lordship, is what I did not expect, and what I can hardly conceive to be 
 *' worthy of your Lordship or of me." 
 
 Your Lordship's letter to Mr. Harrison conveys the impression that I addressed to 
 you " 23 ])ages, in folio, of unworthy personalities and insinuations," in reply to your 
 letter of the 4ttd. February hii-t. Your Lordship must be aware that this u not the case, 
 and I regret that the language of your letter is calculated to do me an act of gross injus- 
 tice. Permit me, therefore, rayLoi'd, to state the facts of the case. 
 
 On the 20th of February, your Lordship addressed me a short letter (dated " Irish- 
 town,"''^) recommending to my favorable attention the petition of the Roman Catholic 
 School Trustees of Chatham. On the 7th of March, your Lordship addressed me another 
 
 • Letter i ' 
 
 ■Ot 
 
29 
 
 •r of 
 
 I for 
 
 I by 
 >lof 
 
 short letter (dated " London,"*) on the sfime subject. On the 23rd of Februsiry, I 
 replied to ihe lloiuan Cutholic Tni^;1epsof Clmlli!ini,f and mv oilieial duty recjuired im; 
 to do no more, an itisnol u.^uul in Public Departtn nts lo eonespond on (luesli-ms of 
 complaint with otiiers than the eomplainini^ parties tiiemselves. Ikit I did more ; out 
 of respect to your Lordship, in auolfieial letter, dated the 13th March,:}; 1 enclosed you 
 a copy of my reply to the Roniiin Catholic Trustees of Cliatham ; and in re))ly to your 
 letters of the 20lh of February and the 7lh of March, I brielly explained tlic law in 
 reference lo the use of books in the Schools — ihe rights of parents in ie<^ai(l to tlicni — 
 Ihe wholly unobjectionable character on religious grounds of the books which the 
 Council of Public Instruction had recommended — and the claims which the Konian 
 Catholic Trustees of Chatham had made for a jiortion of the local Municipal Assessment 
 towardftlieir Separate Schooljlouse, and for <!xemplion from Muni(;ipal Assessments 
 for the erection of Public School Houses. 1| 
 
 Your Lordship cannot but admit thatthislel* -which its enclosure, could not have 
 been dictated by any other than a feeling of respect foryoiu' Lordship personally and 
 oincially, and with a strict regard to the principles and operations of the School system 
 as established by law. But what was the result ? The result was asyovu- Lordship can- 
 not, I am sure, forget, a letter dated, — "Oakville, 2|^th A.'arch, 1852,^" in which your 
 Lordship treated with sarcasm, ridicule and scorn, my letter of the 13tli March, rela- 
 tive to the School laws, employed "personalities and insinuations,'" such as I had never 
 before received from any Clergyman ; charged our Schools with being the nurseries of 
 " all vices and crimes," contrasted the character and tendencies of Primary Schools in 
 Canada, United States, Ireland, Scotland and Rome ; denounced our whole, "School 
 system as the ruin of religion and a persecution for the Roman Catholic Church," and 
 those who had established that system as cariyingon against the Roman Catholics a 
 "most cruel and hypocritical persecution." I must have been destitute of the feelings 
 of a Canadian or patriot, not to have felt on the perusal of such a letter from your 
 I<ordship under such circumstances ; but I delayed answering it until I could do so alter 
 •aim and mature consideration, and then I replied distinctly to each of the numerous 
 counts (personal and public) of your Lordship's indictment.^' And my answer to 
 the manychangesand insinuations of such a letter, your Lordship is pleased lo represent 
 as a reply to your short letter of the 20th of February, and as " 23 pages of personalities 
 and insinuations unworthy of you and of me !" 
 
 Your Lordship stales, furthermore, that in reply to my " 23 pages of personalities 
 and insinuations," you referred to the previous friendly relations existing between 
 yourself and the other Members of the Council of Public Instruciion. I never intimated 
 or imagined that those relations were otherwise than friendly and Christian ; but your 
 Lordship's letterreferredto, (dated 1st May,**)containsotheravowalsand assumptions 
 for which I know of no precedent in the history of Canadian Correspondence, and to 
 which I rei)lied in my letter of the 12th. ff 1 am aware that the "good spirit of our 
 Council of Public Instruction is far form being prevalent in certain localities" of the 
 Country ; but I am happy to know that such " localities" are comparatively few, since, 
 notwithstanding the ^oun^ls to make vigorous eilortstocstablish and multiply Separate 
 Schools, the number of such Schools is one third less according to the returns of this 
 year, than they were according to the returns of last year ;:}::}: and for such "localities,'' 
 yearly diminishing in number, the operation of the Separate School Clause of the law 
 may still be invoked. 
 
 I have only to add, that i^o. withstanding the course pursued and the language 
 employed by your Lordship in regard to me, I shall still endeavor, as heretofore, lo treat 
 
 » i-M.'. lL\ . 
 
 ■] 
 
 f 
 
 
 Yl 
 
 *Lctter II. 
 KSee App. No. 3. 
 tLettei- III. 
 J Ibid. 
 SLetter IV. 
 
 t Letter V- 
 ♦•Lctter VI-VIL 
 tfLotter VIII. 
 iJSee App. No. 31, 
 
30 
 
 my Roiimn Cutliolic fellow subjects as Iviiully mid cordially as those of any other reli- 
 gious persuasion in the Country ; and the more so as I aui satisfied the example and 
 spirit of the lamented iiishop Power are still \^idely cherished by the lloman Catholics 
 in Upper Canada, as well as the testimony home by myself and the Council of rublic 
 Instruction, and nnr.icrons others, not members of the Roman Catholic Church, to the 
 virtues and patriotism of that excellent man. 
 
 I have the honor to be, 
 My Lord, 
 
 Your Lordship's 
 Most obedient, humble servant, 
 
 (Signed,) 
 
 E. RYEllSON. 
 
 Right Rev. Dr. DeCharbonnel, 
 
 lloman Catholic Iiishop of Toronto. 
 
 r. S. Nor should I omit to remind your Lordship, that the provision of the law in 
 regard to Separate Schools, as amended by the short ]}ill of 1851, (the draft of which 
 was prepared by myself in the presence of your Lordship, and that of the very Reverend 
 Vicar General McDonald) was approved of by your Lordship.* My printed Corres- 
 pondence on the laAv in 1849, my official Circulars printed in 1850, in connection with 
 my recent letters to your Lordship, show that no change has taken place in my inter- 
 pretation, views, or atlnunistration of the law ; but that the course now pursued by 
 your Lordshij) has arisen from the adoption on your part of a new policy, and the 
 avowal of new sentiments and objects. 
 (Signed,) E. R. 
 
 Atpendix containing Documents referred to in the foregoing Correspondence. 
 
 No. 1. Letter from the very Reverend R. J. Tellicr, S. J. Toronto, to the Chair - 
 ^ ■' '^ ^^ ' '• "^nstructior 
 Separate 
 
 J.1U. 1, ajLaifi infill iiii.: vciy ivi; v 1. 1 1, i n-i j-i>. tj , J,ciiii;i ^ 
 
 man of the Council of Public Instruction for Upper Canada, enclosing a letter from a 
 Trustee of the Roman Catholic Separate School at Chatham. f 
 
 St. Michael's Palace. 
 
 215/ Fehruarij, 1852. 
 
 SiK, — ^The enclosed has been forwarded from Chatham to his Lordship, Bishop dc 
 Charbonnel, with the most earnest prayers that he would support before the Board the 
 just claims of the Catholic Schools of that Town. His Lordsnij) being absent for the visita- 
 tion of his Diocese, the gentlemen charged with the letter had not previously the oppor- 
 tunity of meeting the Board ; and new solicitations conic from Chatham to the same 
 effect. 
 
 I have the honor to be. 
 Sir, 
 Your most humble servant, 
 
 (Signed,) R. J. TELLIER, S. J. 
 
 V. Genl. Pro. tem. 
 Honorable, S. B. Harrison, Chairman, 
 Council Public Instruction. 
 
 I 
 
 No. 2. Enclosed in the foregoing. — Letter from Mr. J. B. Williams, Chatham, 
 Canada West, to the Chairman of the Council of Public Instruction for Upper Canada, 
 
 * See Appendix No 34. 
 
 f Referred to in the Correspondence, Letters I-III. 
 
31 
 
 icli- 
 
 aiul 
 
 Holies 
 
 'iiblic 
 
 () the 
 
 with 
 
 ; 
 
 complaining of the coiuln(!f of tlio Roard of School Trnsfeos of llio Town towards the 
 Roman Catholic School, and seeking relief.* 
 
 Chatham, 
 
 \bth Januari/, 1K')2. 
 
 Dkau Sir, — Permit ine the honor to address you on a subject, from which I would 
 gladly refrain, were it in my power to do so. 
 
 In the month of Marcili last, the lloinaii Ciitholics of this phu'c applied lothc Uonrd 
 of Trustees ff)r the (!stal)lishment of a Separate lloiuiin Ciilholic School, which was 
 granted, and the School was organized and has been in siuu-essful opciiMion since the 
 12th May. 
 
 The inhabitants of the Town, or rather the Trustees having dcciihd upon having 
 Free Schools during the last year, and also upon iIk; erection of a Public School Ifousi', 
 at an expenseof £1200, a heavy tax has consecpienlly been Icvi' I from us, of course, 
 amongst the other citizens ; to this we sul)mit1ed chccrfidly, under ihe impression, how- 
 ever, that we would be allowed a propor'-on thereof, for the ])ayuiciU of our Icacher, 
 and have the use of a reasonable part of the School House or an e(piivalent, but so far, 
 the Board of Trustees refuse us both, and we have received no bupjjort whatever, except- 
 ing the small sum of JEI 10s. out of the Provincial Grant. 
 
 And as they and I (representing the Trustees of the R. C. School) have 
 concluded to take the advice of your Honorable body on the svdjjecl, I will deem it a 
 particular favor if you will '.:ave the goodness to lay our case before the Council at your 
 earliest convenience, and inform me of the result. We are perl'eelly willing to support 
 the description of School we prefer for ourselves, entirely in(lep(mdent (»ft)uinciglibors, 
 and we cannot understandwhythey cannot content themselv(!s with the same privilege, 
 and not endeavor to withhold from us that to which they have no e([uilable right ; and 
 the law directs that we shall share in the Common School Fund according to average 
 attendance, and of course that fund must include all moneys accjuired I'or Counnon 
 Schoo' purposes, either by means of the Provincial grant, taxation, or School ground 
 rent, and the Board of Trustees having made amjile provisions for the ;Hip|)orl of a 
 separate colored School in the Town, we will consider ourselves very much imposed 
 upon indeed, if we are not treated even as well as them. Hoping for an early 
 reply. 
 
 I have the honor to remain. 
 Dear Sir, 
 Your most obedient servant. 
 
 Hon. S. B. Harrison, 
 
 Chairman, Council of Public 
 Instruction, Upper Canada. 
 
 (Sig:;ed,) 
 
 J. B. WILLIAMS. 
 
 I 
 
 No. 3. Letter from the Chief Superintendent of Schools for Upper Canada, to Mr. J. B. 
 Williams, in reply to the foregoing, f 
 
 Educatiov Office, 
 
 Toronto, 23rd February, 1852. 
 
 Sir, — Your letter of the 15th ultimo, addressed to the Honorable S. B. Harrison, 
 has been transferred to me, as it involves questions which do not belong to the Council of 
 Public Instruction, but to the Chief Superintendent of Schools. 
 
 * Referred to in the Correspondence, Letters I-III-V. 
 
 f R«ferred to in the Correspondence, Letters I, III, and V, and XL 
 
32 
 
 In reply, I enclose you a eopy of a leller wliiel. ! liuve reeenlly nddressed to tils 
 Board c)l TriiHteesof Piil)lic Selio()ls,uud ihe Trustees of u Separate School in the Towu 
 of IJellcville on tlie same subject.* 
 
 I have the lionor to be, 
 Sir, 
 Your most obedient servant, 
 
 (Signed,) E. IIYERSON. 
 
 J. B. Williams, Esq. 
 
 Tru&tce R. C. tSeparalc School, 
 Chatham. 
 
 F I 
 
 No. 4. Letter from the Secretary of the Province to the Chief Superintendent of 
 Schools for Upper Canada, transmitting the extract of a letter from Mr. J. B. Williams, 
 Cliatham, on the subject of the R. C. Separate School in that place, and requesting 
 information for His Excellency's guidance. 
 
 Sscretary's Office, 
 
 Quebec, Gth April, 1852. 
 
 Rev. Sir, — I am directed by the Governor General to acquaint you that His Excel- 
 lency has received a communication from Mr. J. B. Williams, of Chatham, one of 
 the Trustees of the Roman Catholic School at that place, complaining that that School 
 has not received its proper proportion of the Common School Grant for the year 1851. 
 I enclose herewith an extract from Mr. Williams' communication, with a request that 
 you will furnish me with such information upon the subject to which it relates, as 
 you may consider necessary to guide His Excellency to a right understanding oi" the 
 matter. 
 
 I have the honor to be, 
 Rev. Sir, 
 Your obedient servant, 
 
 (Signed,) 
 
 Reverend Doctor Ryerson, 
 
 Chief Superintendent of Schools, 
 
 A. N. MORIN, 
 Secretary. 
 
 Toronto, U. C. 
 
 Ui| 
 
 (Extract.) 
 
 " You are aware that the law provides for the establishment of Roman Catholic 
 and Protestant Schools under certain circumstances in Upper Canada. 
 
 " In May last, it was considered expedient (by the Catholics of this place,) to avail 
 ourselves of those provisions, and we have had a Separate School in opf-ation since 
 that time ; but I am very sorry to say that upon the distribution of last year's assess- 
 ment, and rents of the School lands of the Town, the Board of Trustees have been 
 induced to ofl'er the Trustees of the R. C. School, an amount only equal to their share 
 of the amount apportioned by the Chief Superintendent, being £4 10s., while their pro- 
 portion according to average attendance, amounts to £37 10s., there having been £225 
 raised by taxation for the payment of the teachers, &c., and say £25 received as rent, and 
 attendance being 46 to about 307, it is pretended that the 40th Section of the School 
 Actf justifies them in adopting this course, and in this they are borne out by Dr. Ryerson, 
 
 • Appendix No. 12. 
 t See Appendix No. 36. 
 
 5, 
 
 I 
 
 i 
 
 Sti 
 
 ci 
 
 otl 
 
 Ui 
 
 to 
 in; 
 th 
 w 
 
03 
 
 l)iit iioiu' ofiliciii nui Hiiy upon what principle tlicy irivc tliisso iiiircas()iial)le iiitorprc- 
 tatioii to llic law, as tor scvoral years p-sl, in almost every ^Iiinicipality in Ipper 
 < 'aiiatia, tlie amounts raised l»y assessment have exeicded the aniunnt apportioned hy 
 ihe (lovernmenl, and it was never supposed Itir a moment thai the excess did not t'oriii 
 a i)art oftlie (.-oiiiinoii School Knnd, hnt on the contrary, it was always api)lied as such, 
 until the c.slablishmcnl ol'll. ('. Schools." 
 
 i 
 
 No. ;"). Letter from ihe Chiet' Sn])erintcndeiit of Schools fi)r I'pper Canada to 
 the Sccretarv r)t'the J'rovince, in reply to the f()rc|i'oin<j;. * 
 
 Education Offkje, 
 
 ToiioxTo, 17/// Apr!!, 1852. 
 
 Sill, — I have I'.o honor to acknowledj^e tlie rcceii)t ot"y(air letter of the (Itli instant, 
 cnclosin;^; an extract ofa connnnnication from Ml. . I. \>. Williams, of Chatham, one of the 
 Trustees of the JJoman Catholic School al that place, anil reipiestinn- that 1 will i'urnish 
 yon with such information upon the subject to which it relates, as may be necessary to 
 guide His Kxccllency to a rifilit nnderstandinji of the matter. I rcuret thnt the occu- 
 jiation of my tinu- with the ])nblic annual examination of the Normal and Model Schools 
 for I'pper Canada, dnrin;;' the four days that have ilapsed since my reciipl ofyour letter, 
 lias put it out of my power until this day tocomjily with yoiu' rcipiest. 
 
 The extract of Mr. Williams' letter involves two (jnestions ; the first of which 
 rchites to the parlici|)ation, in 1(S,")1, of a ]»orli(in of the Si'hool l''niid f)r the Separate 
 School of which he is a Truslce. Mr. ^\'illiams states thai the Se])aralc School coni- 
 inenced in May last ; but the li'th Section of tlu' Act loth and lllh. A'ic, cap. 4(S, | docs 
 not permit the alteration of any School Section, or the cslablishmciil ot a Separate 
 School to take ])lacc before the 2")th December in any year, in order that the calcu- 
 hitions and arranL';enients of Trustees al the connncncement of a year may not be em- 
 l)arrasscd in the comse of sn;'h year. It was not, therefore, possible that a Separate 
 School, conuueneing in Mav lasl, could, accordin:!; to law, share in the School Fund 
 forlHol. 
 
 2. The second <piestion involved in the extract of INIr. Williams'' letter relates to 
 what constitutes the School Fund in each Munii'ij)alily in I ])per Canada, the application 
 of which the (jovernment has a riuht to control, as no a])})lication was ever made by 
 Mr. Williamsand others fctr the establishment of a Sc-parate School until about 18.")!, and 
 as he cannot know how the law is administered in other places, I may remark that his 
 statements in the latter part of the extract enclosed by you are without foundation, and 
 are contrary to I'act, as 1 have for years past, in various official communications to School 
 authorities in different Munieijialities (and not al all in reference to Separate Schools) 
 stated, that T had noauthorily to interfere in ihe expenditure of moneys raised by IMuni- 
 cipalitiesfor School ])urpo«cs, beyond the amounts they were required by law to provide — 
 that they could apply such money in fj;ivin{i; additional aid to Conmaon Schools, Separate 
 or Public, as they u'ijiht judge ex))edient, the principle of local self government, with no 
 other than a few essential limitations forming the basis of the Municipal system of 
 Upper Canada. 
 
 In niv Iciter to the Provincial Secretary on the School law generally, dated 12th 
 !May, 184!\ ire the following words : " The School Act authorizes any Municipal Council 
 to I'aisc as large an amount as it pleases for Conunon School purposes. I have never 
 insisted, as the Conunon School Fund, upon a larger sum in each District or Township, 
 than the apportionment of the Legislative Grant. Any sum over and above that amount, 
 which a Council may think jiroper to raise, may, (as has been done by some Councils) 
 
 * Kelerrcd to iu the Correspondence, Letters I. III. 
 f App. No. 33. 
 
34 
 
 I, 
 
 hv iiTiplicd ill i-iicli a niaiiiicr to tlic relief of m,v ndu iwi-e unprovided fc r T'e< r School 
 St'flioiis williiii its jiiri!-(li( tioii, iit tlic pUiiMiie ot'ejuli ( ouik il." (J rliiltd CoiK^jtoii- 
 (Iciico on (lie ?(li(iol Law of L jiper Caiiiidn, Itiid Iieforell;e ].e(.isliilive i\ss< ii.llv in 18^)0, 
 p. J')!*, L'lid eoliiiiiii.) 
 
 Jtiit llio (.l.jeet of Mr. ^Villianls'' ajipenl, iiiid of a (-iiriliir oi;e a ^Il( it lime |)r( vious 
 from Mr. O'lliue, of J'elleville, was to eiiipel tlie loeal ^elieol MiiiTk ipaliti( s to apply ii 
 )or(i(iii of all tlie moneys tliev miplit raise for the ereetic-n and repairwof ^'ejjaralc helioci 
 loiisis, as well as to iSeparale Sehool teadiers — a provision that was neV( r tdntemjilatod 
 hy the ISehool Aet, and a dcinar.d llial was i e\(r !.< H ic' n ade since I Ij.xc Ikcii eoii- 
 neeted with the l)epartiiienl. 'I he exposition I \\i\\v ^iven of the >»(hool law on this point 
 and afiiiinsl which Mr. Willimiis ;ip|)eals, is eonlaiiied in a lettf r whieh I addrox'd to 
 him, and also to Mr. U'llare, of Dc lleville, and of whieli 1 here enclose a copy.'' 
 
 'I'he IDlh Section of onr School Aet delines so explieilly the hasis of ajijxiriionnicnt 
 to S(']>arate Schools, that it is seareelv possihie tor dilh renccs to arise on \Uiii point, f 
 1 have sought toadministir the law im[);irtially and in the most liberal spirit ; hut novel 
 inoveiiicnts and demands have lately heen set on toot in I pper Canada, on the part of cer- 
 tain persons in reference to Separate SeJiooIs, ^vhich must he ref<;rettc(l hy every jntli- 
 cions friend of the Union of the (Janadas, and of the social advancement and iiileresls 
 of Li)per Canada, especially of the lloiuan Catholic portion of the population. 
 
 I 1 avc the honor to be, 
 Sir, 
 Your most obedient humble servant, 
 
 The Honorable A. N. Morin, 
 
 iSeeretary of the I'rovinec, Quebec. 
 
 (Signed,) 
 
 E. RYEllSON. 
 
 I'f 
 
 Ko' G. Letter from John 0. Hare, Esq., Belleville, to the Chief Superintendent of 
 Sehools for Upjjcr Canada ; soliciting information on certains pohits submitted relative to 
 Separate Schools, | 
 
 Eelleville, Cais-ada "West, 
 
 mh Bficmkr, 1851. 
 
 gxi^ — Since the passing of the Aet of last Session relative to Separate Sehools, the 
 Roman Catholics of this place have hula Sehool Division set apart for themselves by the 
 Board of Sehool Trustees, embracing the whole Town. 
 
 This alteration, ofeonrse, went into operation on the 25lhDeeember,Avlien tlieelcetion 
 of the Trustees for the Separate Sehool, (of whom there were three,) took i)lace, a few 
 days after the passing of the Act, and in fact even before that occurred as fur back as 
 last January, a Koman Catholic School was in o])eration. 
 
 As one of the Trustees, i wcmld beg to reciuest you to inform us, as soon after the 
 receipt of this as possible, and before the day of election, how many Trustees should be 
 eleclL'd for the Separate Sehool at the election now api)roaching ; should there be two 
 or three for the whole Town, or two for each of the four Wards into which the Town is 
 divided ? And is the election of the Separate School Trustees, their retirement, &c., to 
 be conducted precisely as those of the other Trustees? 
 
 A"-ain, — How are the Roman Catholic Trustees to proceed to obtain their share of 
 the SelioolFund, which according to Sections 19§ and 4011 of the Aet, consists of the Gov- 
 
 * Sec Ai»perulix No. 12. 
 
 \ Ibi.l No. 33 }). 
 
 t Referred to in tlic preceding Letter. 
 
 B See Apjieuilix No. 33. 
 
 •j[ Ibid do do 86. 
 
 ()l 
 
as 
 
 ornrncnt allowuKiL! iiud tin" t;i\ niscd from the Town? In lliis place thn Frrc School 
 >ysl('iii prcvjiils. 
 
 Mii:*i :ni !i|»|)licali()n for moneys ho iiiiuh! tlirongli tJu; Local Siipcriutcntlcnt, or to 
 lh(! 'I'ow n ('(Mincil din-ct, or liow «illn'r\\ isc ? 
 
 Art' our Ucporls, Kriiuiis, and siicli l)ii>inc'.'>is lo he trai.saclcil lliron^h llic Loi'al 
 Siipt-rintcndcait of tlu^ Town Schools, and is he to examine and report on ours? 
 
 The Act is iihiio>I silent ahoiil mkIi matters, othcrwisi; I would not trouhic you 
 reijardini,' them. 
 
 'I'lie Udinan Callioli(! eliihlren lierennml)er one-third of the whole. Accordingto 
 my reailin^' of thi; law, if the numher allendintj; the S())arale School is one-third of 
 tli()><e atleiidin:,' the other Seiiools, we wouhl he entitled tooiie-ihird of the (iov<'rinncnt 
 (Irant, loijeilier witli tlw; same proportion of the money raised in Town. 
 
 If 1 he correct, the (iiiestioii aris(;s, how are we to ohtain this proportion? What 
 steps are we to take, and ihroiii^h whom arc we to apply for it? 
 
 Voiu' attention will ohligc the licv. Mr. JJrennan, Col. McLcllan, and myself. 
 
 I am, Sir, 
 
 Your ohedient servant, 
 
 (Signed,) JOHN CrilARE. 
 
 No. 7. Letter, from the Chief Superintendent of Schools, to Mr. (Vllave, in reply to 
 the foregoing. 
 
 Kl)CCATIO\ Ol TICK, 
 
 Toronto, 5th January, 1852. 
 
 Sir, — T have? the honor to acknowh Igc the receipt of your letter of the oOlh ulto., 
 and to state in reply, that as the procei'dinjjsof tla; JJt)ard of Trustees, in cstaljlishinga 
 Separate S(;hool Section in the Town of neileville, could not take elli'ct heforo the 25th 
 ulto., so no lawful election of Trustees could he held l)cf(a'e that date. It will therefore 
 he ncc<'ssary, on the day of llic approaching Aiumal School ISIceting, to elect all the 
 School Trustees required hy law. 
 
 2. As to the numher of Trustees required liy law, I remark that all S(!paratc 
 Schools, whether in a City, Town or Township, are under the sauu" regulations ; and 
 therefore three Trustees, and three only, must he elected in each Separate School 
 Section. 
 
 3. Yon will ohserve that those only have aright to vote at the election of Trustees 
 of a Separat(! School, who have petitioned for or send children to such School. 
 
 4. Separate Schools are under the same superintendence as other Common Schools, 
 in each Municipality, and must report in the same manner. 
 
 5. By the 7th Clause of the 24th Section of the School Act, it will he seen that all 
 orders for School moneys in a City or Town must he given hy the Board of Trustees, 
 and therefore you umst ohtain from that Board the order for the money which may be 
 due your School Section. 
 
 6. The first instalment of the School Fund for the year is not payahlc until July, 
 when the average aUendance of pupils at the Separate and other Common Schools of 
 the Town will be taken as the basis of apportion»ncnt to each. The same course of 
 proceeding will he adopted at the end of the year in distributing the local assessment, 
 part of the School Fund. 
 
 I have the honor to be. Sir, 
 
 Your obedient servant. 
 
 John O'Hare, Esquire, 
 
 Trustee Roman Catholic 
 
 Separate School, Belleville. 
 
 ^Signed,) 
 
 E. RYERSON. 
 
36 
 
 No. H. Inciter from tlir Srcrrtiiiy of the H<i;ir(l of SclionI 'I'nisli-cs, Hrllrvillr, to llur 
 Chief Sii|)tiiiit('ii(l.'iil of Scliools, sul)iiiiuiiit,' u It'iirr from .loliii O'llarr, |•"-^(l., 
 uiul ret^iK '^liiig iiiformutioii ihcrruii. 
 
 Dm.i.kvii.i.k, 
 {\lh F'hntuiif, IH52. 
 
 Rt:v. Siu, — I li.'ivc l)iM<ii iiHfriicli'd l>y tlic noriid of Scliools, 'rriiNtccN for llic Town 
 of Hclicvillc lo Miihmit to y(»ii, for your opinion n[>oii itic ciiclost'd cojiy of a iiMtcr 
 rcMM'ivcd hy tin- Hoiird, from .lolm O'llarc, Ks(|iiin', Sc^Tftiiry of a Sj'pariilc Komnri 
 Calliolic Siliooj htfly (•stal)ii>*lw<|, and to r<'(|Ufsl yon lo favor mh' willi yonr views, s(» 
 tlial I may, if jx^isihle, receive lliem hy 'I'nesday next, when a meeting' of die Hoard 
 will l)u lielil for the piirpo-^e ol takini( llie Mnltjecl into <;oi.»itieraUon. 
 
 1 liiive the honor to be, 
 Rev. Sir, 
 Your obedient servant, 
 
 Rev. K. liyerson, I). I)., 
 
 SiiJ)eiinlend(;lU of Schools, 
 
 Upper Canada. 
 
 (Signed,) C. O. HKNSOX, 
 
 Secretary Hoard of St liool Trnf^tecs, 
 
 Jkdlcville. 
 
 ^'o. 9. Enclosed in the forej^oini,' Letter from .Tolm O'JIare, Kis(i., ndlevillc, to th* 
 
 lioard of School Trustees. 
 
 Hem-kviule, 
 2\st January, 1853. 
 
 To THE Hoard ok Schools Trustees of the Town ok HEi.r,Evii.i.E : 
 
 Gentlemen, — I bog to inform you that, in pursuance of your notire dated the 
 lOtli Septemln-r, 1H51, eallini,' u|)on the Roman Catholic inhabitants of tlie Town of 
 IJelleville, to select thre<' School Trustees for the Separalt; School then about to be set 
 apart for the Roman Catholics of said Town, a ineelinjr of taxal)le Catholics was 
 licld in lli(> lMnof.lam»^s(irant,()n the 2!)tli of September last,at which the Rev. IMieiiael 
 Hreunan, Donald McLcUan, and .lohn O'llare, were selected as 'I'rustees for said 
 Separate School Section; that tin; said School Trustees so cle(;ted eni^aged th(^ services 
 of Richard Mason, as School 'J'eachcr, iVo' i :he 25th December last — that on the Mth 
 instant, at the period for hoUling the ainiu't' el(!ction of School Trustees for "a id Town, 
 another metiinij; of the Roman ( athollc inhabitants (lualified to vole for School 
 Trustees for a Separate Roman Catholic School for the whole of the Town, was held, 
 in pursuanc(! of the direction of the Chief Superintendent of Kdiication, tlie Rev. 
 Dr. Rycrson, at which last mentioned meeting the Rev. Michael IJrennan, Donajd 
 McLellaii, and John O'llare were elected School Trustees for the present year; that 
 the said School Trustees, at a meeting held on the 20th instant, engaged the services 
 of the said Richard Mason, lo leach the said Separate School for a } ear from the time 
 the said School went into operation, viz: on the 25th ultimo — that they bargained 
 with him, subject to the right of discharge, at the end of any three months of the time 
 that they agreed in their corjumite capacity to pay the said Richard Mason for his 
 services, to the same extent, the same amount, and in the same manner as the School 
 Teachers employed by the Board are paid ; and the said Schot)! Trustees do hereby 
 request that you will be pleased to place the said Richard Mason upon the same 
 footing, and jnovide for his salary to the same amount, and in the same manner, as 
 the salaries of the Teachers employed by the Board. 
 
 0^ 
 
 C( 
 an 
 
 "1 
 bi 
 
 ti(| 
 
 £cl 
 
 rtJ 
 
 1^ 
 I 
 
07 
 
 i\iiil tin- siiid Sf)»iiriih,' Silioiil 'I'liislcfs Nvotilil riirlliif iiitiiiiitlc that tliiir ScIkioI 
 Ih how ill ()|it'ni!i()ii, iiiid tiin^lil liv llii< Hiii<l Kicliiinl Miison, in tlu> lioiisi' ntljoiiiiii^ 
 the C'oiiiit} (iiiiiiiiiiiir School, jinil that it is at all liiius open to tlii; iiis|icftioii aiul 
 jiiiiciialjlc Id the visilalinns ami i-i'|^iilalii)Ms prcx riln(| hy law for ScpMialc ScIiooIh. 
 
 I am, ^('iitlciiKMi, 
 
 V'our olwdii'iif srrvnut, 
 ^;«li»r'ic(l,) JOHN O'lIAItK, 
 
 Si'cii'lai V to, and oiu' ol" the Tnistcps 
 
 of the Separate iSeljoi)l. 
 
 No. 10. l.iiiiT from the Chief Sn|)criiil('iideiit of Schools t(» the Secretary of the 
 JJoard of School Tni.stces, Mcllcville, in reply to his It tier (No. H), 
 
 Kdiu'ation (M ri<'K, 
 ToiiONTo, Till Frirntiru, ]8r)2. 
 
 Silt, — I have tlie h(»iior to neknowl mI'^c the receipt <»f your letter of the (!ih 
 instant, eiiclosin;; a cdpy a Ictlir addres-cd hy .loliii O'llare, Kstpiire, to the Moanl 
 of Trustees for tlie Town of ndltnille, relative; to the Se[)arafe Roman Catholic 
 School in that Town, and rctpiestiiifi; my opinion as to the course which the law 
 retpiires the IJnard to pursue. 
 
 The procecdinfTs tor the estiihlishment of a Separate School appear to have been 
 <piite correct; and the School estahlished hy the rrustees elected will be eiititle»l to 
 all the advanta;fes of a Separate School from the comnieiicenient of the cmrent year. 
 
 As to the conrso wlii<'h the Hoard should pnrsne, and the extent to which the 
 Separate School is entith-d to share in the School Fund, 1 have nothinf; to add to what 
 I stated in a letter to Mr. O'llare, dated the Alh 'dtimo, and a copy of which I here- 
 with enclose. ■* 
 
 I have the hotior to be, &c., 
 
 (Signed,) 
 
 E. RYEHSON. 
 
 C. 0. Benson, Es(j., 
 
 Secy. Jioard of School Trustees, R'llcvillc 
 
 No. n. Letter from John O'llare, Escpiire, Belleville, to the Chief Superintendent of 
 Schools, submitting further iiilbrmation in regard to the preceding ease. 
 
 Belleville, 
 
 12lk February, 1852. 
 
 S]U, — The Trustees of the Separate Roman Catholic School in this Town, 
 (of whom 1 am one,) apprehend the occurrence of sonic difficulty with the Board of 
 Common School Trustees, relative to the cin])Iovment of a Teacher by the former, 
 and as we understand that the Board of School Trustees have a])plietl to you for an 
 opinion in the nuitler, we deem it right to actpiaint you with all the circumstances 
 before yon arrive at a conclusion, so as, if possible, to prevent a recourse to litiga- 
 tion. I may state that llie Rev. M. ]h"ennan, Colonel McLcUan, a ul myself, were 
 selected Trustees for the Separate School ; and after the election held last month, we 
 reported to the Board of School Trustees, and stated that we had engaged a School 
 
 * Sec Appendix No 1. 
 
 (!•! 
 
38 
 
 u 
 
 Toaclicr, and requested ihe Trustees to provide for the payment of Ills ssalary, in llic 
 same manner and to tlie same am )\mt as tlie 'J' liers employed hy them. Some 
 of the Members of t!ie Heard of Sehool Trusti.es entertain the (/uinion, 1 underj^iand, 
 that the lloiiian Catholies are only entitled to share (aeeortliny; to the niunher of 
 ehildren attending l^ehool,) in ihe (Jovernment (jirant, (say iiOU,) and an etinal amount 
 raised by taxation i'rom the Town; if tiiis were eorreet. the J{oman Catholies, who 
 number nearly one-tliird of the {lopulalion, and pay taxes in ])n>p(jrlit>ii, would 
 receive about X'2-1 only, per annum, f)r their Teaelu'rs, while l!ie Teaehers employed 
 by the Board are in reeeipt of C 100 per aninnn, eaeh, raistd iVom the taxes of 
 lionian Catholies as well as IVoteslanls. i^eetion !!• of the Seliool Aet says; — 
 
 "That eaeh Separate Sehool shall be entitled to share /// flic Srlunil Dimly 
 " ac'-ordiuii; to tho average atten.lanee of pupils alteuding siieh Sepai'ale Sehool, as 
 " eomjiared with the whole average attendanee of pupils."' 
 
 And Seetion 40 defines what the Sehool Fund is, namely : 
 
 " The sui.i of money apportioneu annually by (he Chief Superlntcnd<iit — and 
 " at Icnsf an equrd amount raised by local assessment."* 
 
 Now, what the Separate Sehool Trustees eontend for, is that not only the smn 
 of money aj^portioned by the Superiitendent, but all the other n:',)iie\s raised by 
 local taxation for Commoii Seh.ools constitute the Sehool Fiui.l, and that that sum 
 is apportioned annually, as i'\e ease may be, among all the Schools in proportion to 
 the numbers attending, as laid down in this Aet. You will please bear in mind 
 that in this Town the Board of Common School Trustees hire four Teachers, at a 
 salary of JtlOO each, and this sum of i;400, with the current expenses of the Sehool, 
 is raised by the Cia'poi-alion, at the instance oi" the Sehool 'fnisle( s. There, has been, 
 in fact, no apport'onment according to numbers heretofore; each Teacher receiving 
 £100 whether he has a greater n- a lesser number of Scholars. Now, all that we 
 ask ir^, that our Sc])arate School Tea^-her shall receive £100 ])er annum; and we 
 consider it no mor;." than rigbt to insist in the demand, as we comprise so large 
 a ]v>rtion ef the population. If t)ie T'ruslees were *n adopt the syfitem of jiaying 
 all Teaehers here in pro])!)rtion to the nnmber of cliilviivn altend!:ig eaeh School, out 
 of the Common School Fund, (i. e., out of the local tiiXiUion and the Ciovernment 
 Grant,) we would be p^n-fecily satisfied, as our Sehool, having so large an attendance, 
 woidd fare better than the rest ; but as the Trustees have not seen fit to do so, but 
 hi"e Teachers at spccifie salaries, v.'o insist that we are (Mititled \.. the same treat- 
 ment. To sum up, t'".e Trustees contend that we are only entitled to share in the 
 Government ajrporlionnieiit, (say .lOO) end au siimil ciiniiuil raiseil from taxation. 
 Tr« contend that we are entitled to share in the apportiomiieiU, and such other sum 
 as may be raised for paying Teachers' salaries in the Tcwn. If the niauifest injustice 
 towar..ls us, which :;ome of the Trustees exhibit in this mat'.er be carried out, and it 
 is found to be the result of the ])rcs>.nt law, the Jtoman Catholies, v. ho may ])e simi- 
 larly eireumstancod in other ])laees, will be obliged to commimee an agitation not 
 only against the law itself but against the Free Sehoel s\stcm aliogelher. At present 
 we arc obliged to find our Scliool house, and pay all expenses rf the School. And 
 although dicre are children of our 'lenominatiou ii J>el!evil!e stdfieiently ninncrou^ 
 to warrant wh in employing tno Teaehers, avc ask but one. 
 
 We beg leave to request a reply, and indulge ■; hope that it A\ill be such as to 
 prevent further trouble. 
 
 I am, Sir, &e., 
 
 (Signed,; JOHN O'lIAUE. 
 
 One of the Scj)arate School Trustees. 
 The Ilcv. E. Kyerson, D. T)., 
 
 Supt. Education, Toronto. 
 
 * Sec Appeudis No. 36. 
 
 
39 
 
 
 7 " ■ -^ .- , . ■ I , 
 
 insaiiit, and U) static in reply, lliat wliatcivor aiiiri or sums any ISIiinieipality may raii 
 
 over and ahovi; the sum lieclarcd by ihe 'IDtli scclioii of tin; School A(;t, lo lie iiec(^ 
 
 sary to consliliitc ila* Sfl.ool Fuiid of siutii Aliinicipalily, mnsi, of course, be ll 
 .^«,...,>„«.r .A' ll,,. i\r.. .,:..;.,.. lit .r i.. k.> -i;. ..,. .,.,i ,.(' r.r« i. ci i ,,,.-„ 
 
 property of t!ie Municipality 
 as the (Corporation aulhori/in?' 
 
 No. 12. Letlor from the Ciiief Superintendent of Schools to Mr. Ollare, in reply 
 to the fore;'^oing.* 
 
 EnucATiov OKTirr, 
 
 Touo.sTo, \Hlh Fchriiorij, ISoi. 
 
 Siu, — I have the honor to ackni»\vied;j;c, tli(^ receipt of your letler of the i2th 
 * 1' '-■ • 1 .1 . -.1 nr • . I.. raise 
 
 s- 
 , _^, , . , the 
 
 to be disposed ol lor suc!i School purposes 
 it uiay think pro|)er. 'IMie Government lias 
 no rii^ht to recinire of !i Municip dity anything more than th(^ fidlilnuMit of 
 the conditions on which such Mmiicipalily accu'pl a certain amouni of Le/fislalive 
 aid for School pnrj)oses. Jicyond th(> i'nl(llm(>nt of theses conditions, each Munici- 
 pality has a rii^ht lo dispose of its o\\ n moneys in iis own way, witiioiit the control 
 of GovernmiMit : much less could '.lovenmicnt assume the rij^iil of reciuirinq a Muni- 
 cipality to appropriate such moneys to support the institutions or ijitercsts of parti- 
 cular rtdii^ious persuasions. 
 
 It has been tlocided under llie advice of the Attorney (leneral souk^ lew years 
 since;, as a general ]jrineiple of law, that what(;ver sum or sums of nK)nry m',<y bu 
 raised under the; authority of the School Act, must Ik; ajiplied to School puij)oses, 
 and not to other purposes; l)Ut within this n^slriction tin; School aulhorities in eacl. 
 Mnnicipalily exerei.-e their own diserelioii in the disposnl of any School moneys 
 raiseil from local sources, beyond what the lOih si'clion of th(; Act deiines as essen- 
 tial to th(! ScIiodI Fund.} It is also to Ix; observed, tiiatthe lioard of Sclioo] 'i'rustees 
 is the only authority constituted in each City, Town, and incorporaled Village, lo 
 authorize th'.' raising and expenditure of School m )ni;ys in snch Municipality. The 
 members of such Board of Trustees are periodically elected by dl classes of rate- 
 payers lor that very pinpose. 
 
 T'he School law |)rovides ''or the equal protection of the peculiar re!ii,nous rights 
 and scruples of all religious persuasions ; but if the niembiTs of any ndigious deno- 
 mination in a Mrniiclpality are not satisfied with the enjoyment of e(|ual privih>gos 
 with the UKMubers of other ridiglous persuasions of their fidlow-citiz'iis, l)nt insist 
 upon a Schcol exclusively devoted to their own denomination."'! interest, they can- 
 not aslc, u))ou any ground of constitutional right or justice betwt "ii man and man, 
 that public money, M(micip;d authority iunl properly, siiall be empniyed to the same 
 extent to build uj) denominational mterest as to promote interests \\ hich are com- 
 mon to all lass(!s of citizens without r(>j;aru to sect or party. 
 
 SiK'h is the principle on whicii our successive School Acts have been r.-amed ; 
 such is the prineiph; on which 1 have explained and adiniiiist(u-ed them diu-ing the 
 whole ])eriod that I have had the charge of this iJepartmeiit ; such is the exposition 
 that I gave of the object uf the prov'"-i'_..i of the present Act, perinilting Separate 
 Schools in certain circuinstsnces, as you will ^ee by referring to my ollicial Circu- 
 lars, addressed to Township Councils ai'd Town lioards of Trusters, in August, 
 1850, as found in the appendix to my Annual ileport for 1850, pages 2t)7, 2(J8, oO-l ; 
 nt)r have 1 ever before heard of a demand being prelerivd upon a Municipality lo 
 make the same provision for the salary of a denominational School as for that of a 
 Teacher of a Public School, 
 
 I have the honor to be, Sir, 
 
 Your olxulient servant, 
 
 John OTI ire, Visq., 
 
 Trustee R. C. Separate School, Belleville, 
 
 (Signed,) E. RYERSOX. 
 
 ■\h. 
 
 * See Appcnilix, No, 3 and No, 5, 
 ■)• Sci! Appt'uJix, No. yo. 
 
40 
 
 P, S. — As llio Secrolary of the IJclleville Board of School Triisl(M\s hits iid- 
 drossi'd tin; samo ([iiositioii to iiio lliat you liavf, I shall transmit him a copy oi the 
 foregoing letter in rcjjly to his inquiry. 
 
 (Sig.iod,) E. II. 
 
 
 The provision of the 19lh Section* as far as it relates to Se[)arate Protestant and 
 Roman Catholic Schools, is snhstantially the same as that contained in the 55ih 
 and 66th sections of the School Act of 184o, and in tiie S'2ml and oJJrd sections of 
 the School Act of 1840, with the exception that the ])resent Act ini[u)sc.s more 
 effective restrictions and conditions in the eslahlislmient of such Schools, than either 
 of the former Acts referred to under tlie City and Town School Act of 1847; the 
 establishnjcnt of Separate Schools in Cities and Towns was at the discretion of tl>e 
 Municipalities, and not at that of the applicant parties. No ci>niplaints liaving been 
 made a|.".inst tliis provision of the law, even in Cities and Towns, it was at first proposed 
 to extend the application of the same princij)le and provisions to ToAvnship .Munici]>ali- 
 ties ; but objections have be jn made to it by some (both Protestant and lloman Ca- 
 tholic) members of tlu Legishilure, the pn vision of the former School Act was re-en- 
 acted, recpiiring, however, the petition of twelve heads of families instead often inhabi- 
 tants, as a condition of establishing a Separate School, and aiding it upon the principle 
 of average attendance, instead of at the discretion of the local Superiutentlent, aL nnc' '' 
 the former Act. But, notwithstanding ihee existence of this provision of the hn^ ''■ ■ 
 184o, there were last year but 31 f Separate Schools in all Upper Canada — ncany ar> 
 many of them being Protestant as lloman Catholic; so that this provision of the law 
 is seldom acted upon, except in extreme cases, and is of little consequence for good or 
 fo' .vil, the law providing effectual motection against interference with the religious 
 opinions and wishes of parents an-^'guardians of all classes, ami there being no j)roba- 
 bility that Separate Schools \\illbe more injmions in time to come, than they have been 
 in time past. It is also to be observed, that a Separate School is entitled to no aid 
 beyond u certain portion of the School Fund f()r the salary of the Teacher. The School 
 house must be provided, furnished, warmed, books procured, &c., by the persons 
 petitioning for the Separate School. Nor arc the patrons and supporters of a Separate 
 School exempted from any of the local assessment or rates for Conunon School purpose. 
 The law provides equal protection for all classes and denominations ; and if there be 
 any class or classes of either Protestants or lloman Catholics who are not satisfied with 
 the c(pial protection secured to theni by law in !Mixed Schools, but wish to have a 
 School subservient to sectional religious purjwses, they shoidd, of course, contribute 
 in proportion, and not tax a whole conununit}' for the support of sectarian interests " 
 
 :j: It may be proper for me to make an explanatory remark on the nineteenth Sec- 
 tion of the School Act, authorizing, under certain circumstances, the establishment of 
 Protestant and lloman Catholic Separate Schools. In my late circular to Township 
 Councils, I have remarked upon this provision of the Act, and shown that it is no new 
 provision, but one which has existed upwards of seven years, since the commencement 
 of our present Common School system. It has been clearly intended from the begin- 
 ning as a protection of tlie minority against any oppressive or invidious ])roc(x'dings on 
 the ]iart of the majority in any School division, in addition to the orilinary provision of 
 the Act, prohibiting the compulsory attendance of any child upon a religious exercise, 
 or reading a religious book, to which the parents or guardians shall object. The exis- 
 tence of so few Separate Schools, ''only thirty-one in 1849,) in all Upper Canada, and 
 
 ^ ■ ■ ' ' ' ,'ision for their esta])lishnient is 
 
 irly 
 
 P 
 
 narely acted upon, jus the local School autb.orilies seldom find occasion for it, and as 
 
 Appcnilix No. 
 
 t See 
 
 IIIL'OUS 
 
 Append 
 
 y ropiirtod 50, soo Noce appoudcj to the table, Appendix No. 32. 
 
 IX 
 
 V, 
 
 
 Note, 
 
 Rtl, 
 
41 
 
 f*i 
 
 /' ,- 
 
 i 
 
 tlirrc can ho no Scpnnito School in a School '.livision, inilcss the Tcjidicr of the Mixed 
 School is ofii (liHcrcnt rchj;ioiis persuasion from the :i|tj)iicaiits for such Si paiiiti S'hool, 
 the local I'oard of Trustees cau always, if thev tiiiiik jnoper to do st), make such ti 
 selection of Teachers as Mill prevent the cstahhshmeut or coutiuiiance of Separate 
 Schools." 
 
 No. 13. — Letter from the Secretary of the Board of School Trustees, nelleville, to 
 the Chief Superintendent of Schools, suhniittinir a new question ii)r consideration and 
 decision. 
 
 Ei;r,ij;viLLE, 
 
 12/// Fcliniari/, 1852. 
 
 Reverend Sir, — Your letter of the 7th instant is perteetiy satisfactory as to the 
 point submitted to you. A new question has, however, arisen upon the subject of 
 the application made by the Roman Catholic JJoard of 'frust' es for tiiis Town — that is, 
 ■what constitutes tl,>c School Fund spoken of in the 10th section of the ^chool Act, in 
 Avhich the Teacher of the Sej)arate School is to share? 
 
 Section 40 declares that it shall consist of the sum appointed by the Chiel" Super- 
 intendent, and of hdd an equal sum raised annually by assessment.'-" Do the words 
 " at least" intend that an amount raised by assessment 'Mjual to tlii' (iovernnient appro- 
 propriation, and added to it — shall together be tlie School Fund ixclusively for tlie pay- 
 ment of the Teachers ? or do they mean the amount assessed, wha<e^'er if may I)<\ so 
 that (d ka.st it equal the Ciovcrnment allowance, shall in adtlitiou thereto, constitute the 
 School Fund ? 
 
 As this is the Hrst Instance of the kind we have h.id in Relleville, I pray you uill 
 pardon our importunity. 
 
 I have the honor to be. 
 Sir, 
 Your o'jedient servant, 
 
 (Signed,) 
 To the Reverend E. Ryersoii, D. D., 
 Chi'-'f Superintendent, 
 &c., &e., (fee., 
 Toronto. 
 
 P. S. An curly reply will much oblige the Trustees. 
 
 C. 0. BENSON, 
 Scery. Board Trustees, 
 Belleville. 
 
 No. 14. — Letter from the Chief Superintendent of Schools to the Secretary of the 
 Board of School Trustees, Belleville, in reply to the foregoing. 
 
 Education Office, 
 Toronto, 18//i Fdmtart/, 1852. 
 
 Sir, — I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 12th 
 instant, and in reply to enclose you a co])y of a letter I have this day advlre sed to ^Ir. 
 John O'llare, one of the Trustees of the Separate School in the Town of I'elleville.| 
 
 I have the honor to be, kc, 
 
 C. 0. Benson, Esip, (Signed,) E. RYEUSON, 
 
 Secretary, Board School Trustees, 
 Belleville 
 
 * Appoiiilix No. 3(5. 
 
 f See Appeudix No. 13. 
 
4® 
 
 h f 
 
 No. 15. — Lottt'i- iVoiii the lloinaa Ciiiiiolic Blisliop of Ti)roiit>), lo Mr. Maurice Cirroll, 
 of (JcM)r;j;clu\vii, Esciiio;^!!};', on i])v subject of'ji dispute with the Tr\i.«tee.s of School 
 ►"•eetiou No. 10, EM|uesinj;- ; <)rijj;iiially pul)li^llC(l iu tlic Ttirmito Mirrvr of the Dlh 
 April, 185^, .iiid referred lo in I'le Corre.-^poudcucc, letter Y. 
 
 Toronto, SnI April, 1852. 
 
 Very dear Sir, — Let your Biblioj) bless you and your family for your judicious, 
 noble, i)aternal, Jiiul (|uite (.'acholic conduct, in the very painful emergency mentioned 
 in your letter of the L'!)lh nit., to the Etlitor of the Mirror. 
 
 Yon seuil to h'ch.K)! five children of yours, from five to thirteen years old. Honor 
 to your zeal for instruction, dear Sir, and let every father do the same, by steady, 
 industrious, and tonperate habits; iMid our j)arl of the Province will deserve to be the 
 Upi)er oiie. 
 
 You sent five children to the ^NDxed School of Ceorgetown, but with the pro an - 
 tion of a sentinel and a watchword. Jloiior to the siniy)licity of the dove combined 
 with the prudence of tlie serpiMit — honor to your tolerance and wisdom ; you thought 
 that a -Mixeil School, true to die law, true to ])ub)ic speeches, ])amphlcts and reports, 
 ihougli a very ineoin])]ete s. '•. m of education, is still better than no School at all ; but 
 you tlion.!;ht too tliat llicrc arc ( t .'s in Mixed Schools, danger in the teacher, danger 
 in the b'joks, danger iii f,.'l!ow-[) , danger even in religious exercises, and you safe- 
 guanlcd your little ones agaiist ail those d.mgcrs. 
 
 Let. evLM-y heal of a fa.nily, having a religious persuasion do the same, and at least 
 religion sh;iii be re.-})ected in our ?*rix?d Schools, and they shall not be Schools in which 
 such or sucli denominations is huighed at in turns. Schools of scejitic indiifercn'ismaud 
 i;ifldelity ; and we will not sec as elsewhere nothingarians becoming more and more 
 inunero;is as it is stated in every census; and the hierarchy of our Catholic Church 
 will tolerate the cduealional, or radier the instructional machinery ; and both Catholic 
 parents and children, though mixing with Mixed Schools, will be iuhniLted to the Sacra- 
 ments [)rovidcd at home or in Clun-ches ; religious instruction will be carefully attended, 
 because both ])arent and child' en are e(inally bound to the preservation of faith and 
 morals from any inunediate danger, and to the acquirement of Catholic knowledge and 
 ]>ractice of pioiy ; and because secular instruction without religion is a calamity, far 
 from being a blessing. 
 
 Y'our w^atehful chil'.li'ca refused reading the Protestant New Testament, and yet 
 were coinpelle I lo join in evening prayer. Slumic to the Teacher, to the Metho- 
 dist Divi.ie, to I he transgressor of the law ; shame to l)igotry, injustice, violence, and per- 
 secution, but honor to your l)lood, dear Maurice Can-oil, five times honor to your five 
 children ; their blood is genninj Catholic L'ish blood ; they remiud me of the soldiers 
 of St. Maurice, who resisted an emperor. 
 
 F()r redress you have a-p'plied to the Schoolmaster and Trustees; and your sacred 
 right has been abused and refused as an unjust privilege. Shame again to those trust- 
 less Trustees, and if so enormous a violaiion of the law were not remedied throughout 
 t!ie whole Upper Province, slia-ne to School Visitors, Superintendents and Counsellors, 
 and shame to myself, if Head Pastor of this Diocese, I did not protect the lambs of my 
 fold, by claiming now publicly, as I have done heretofore by all other means iu my 
 power, ag'/mst such a cruel ])ersceution, and repeating with the Divine I'astor: — "Take 
 ye great heed of false j)rophets, which conic to you in the clothing of sheep, but 
 
 inwardly are ravening wolves ; by their fruit you shall know them Do men 
 
 gather grajies of thorns, or figs of thistles. A good tree cannot yield evil fruit, neither 
 an evil tree yield good fruits;" St. Math chap. VIE, v. 15. But again, dear Sir, honor 
 to Maurice Carroll's eidightened and generous conscience, and let every Catholic do the 
 same under similar circumstances, as he is bound to do under guilt or mortal sin, and 
 our dear children, the children of 'laciiael, will not be the victims of infanticides. 
 Finally, through the Press, you have denounced those facts to the good sense of the 
 
43 
 
 oil, 
 lool 
 Dili 
 
 >:i()r 
 the 
 
 country as being in your sountl ojiinion, iiCtcr prayer, the best weapon against Satau 
 and his agent.--. Honor once more to your energy, and let every (Jalliolie be as ener- 
 getic and send to the open eolnnms of the 3[tin>r of Toronto, any eomplainl as well 
 ground- d as yours, soon ]Mixed Seliools sliall Ijc what tliey ought to be, resi)eetiid 
 towards all soetarian pers\iasions. (Quakers and iJaptists, lligi) and Low ChureJi, Epis- 
 cojialians and I'resljyterians, L'nitarians and I'niversalists, ite., kc, anil we, Catholies, 
 shall be soon j)laeed in the same position towards the majority in this section of the 
 ]*rovince, which the IVoteslant minority occupies in Lower Canada. — T(>ro,ilo Minor, 
 2nd instant. 
 
 Now, very dear Sir, my hope is, that in reward of your devotedness to your most 
 sacred duty of a Catholic falher of a family, your son, the faithful sentinel, ^lla!l be in 
 ten years, by a divine vocation, a watchman of the sanctuary in this part of the Catho- 
 lic (church, where the lua-vest is so great and the laborers so few; and that all your 
 children will remain worthy of their father, Maurice Carroll. 
 
 Such is the earnest wish of your devoted servant and Father in Xt. 
 
 Mr. Maurice Carroll, Georgetown. 
 
 t All]\L\NJ) F. .^L, 
 
 Bibhop of 'J'oronlo. 
 
 No. 1(). — Letter from e(-rtain IiO;nan Catholic inhabitants of GcMtrgelown, Escpicsing, 
 to the Chief Superintendent of .H'hoots, ol)jeeli;ig to tlie j)ractlce of perli)rming 
 Protestant religious service in their School by the Teacher.* 
 
 Geougetown, 
 i)lh Aj>i //, 1852. 
 To THE Ueveuend Egeuton Ryersox, D. D. 
 
 Rkspkcti;]) Sin, — \\\\ the Catholic inhal)itants of Georgetown, V\hose children 
 attend the Common School, beg to submit to you the f !liov\-ing grievance for redress. 
 We, the undersignc:!, Inve in ail fourteen children attending this School. The Teacher, 
 ■we understand, belongs to the ilenominati(*n known as Methodists, to whom on that 
 account w.> do not object-, but the afores:iid Teiicher is in the habit (;f u-;ing i)rayers and 
 other religious exercises as ])ractised by the above denominaiion, to which, as well as 
 the use of the Protestant version of tlie New Testament, we object. AVe have ap]illcd 
 to the Teaeler and Trustees for ])ermission. for our children to retire, at the close ol 
 School, without bei)ig compelled to take ])art in the aforesaid exercises, which re([uest 
 they have refused : the Teacher further states that unless our children comply in full 
 with his rules in this respect, h^' is instructed by the Trustees to refuse them admission 
 to the School, and therefore, althongh contributing to its supjiort, deprive us altogether 
 of the benefit of a School f)r 'ur children. All of which we humblv submit. 
 
 (Signed,) 
 
 MAURICE CARROLL, 
 THOMAS NELAN, 
 JOHN QCINLAN, 
 PATRICK LAMB, 
 THOMAS SHEA. 
 
 IM 
 
 Refci'i'cd to iu tlio Cin'ros^pondc iioc; Letter V. 
 
 lif 
 
44 
 
 fi.j 
 
 No. 17. Letter from tlio C'liiL'f SiipcMiiitcMidciit of Schools to tlic K. C. iiiliabitants of 
 
 Gt'orgc'lowii, ill rc'i)ly to the foivgoiiijj;." 
 
 Km'c'ATioN OtFirK, 
 Toronto, BIh April, 1852. 
 
 Gkntlemen, — I liuvc the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 
 r)th instant, received this day ; and I re|j;ret to learn that an attempt has been made by 
 thf^ Trustees of your School Section to iiifriii;j;e the express ])rovision of the 14lh Section 
 of the School vXct, as well as the "general Jieij^ulalion j)rej*aied under it, in both of 
 which it is deciared, that " no ])upil in any Common Scltool, shall be re(|uired to read 
 or study from any religious book, or join in any exercise of devotion or religion, which 
 shall be objected to by his or her parents or guar<lians.''f 
 
 Yours is the first instance that has been represented to me during the last seven 
 years, in rpper Canada, of a Teacher or Trustees undertaking to compel children to 
 attend religious exercises, or read from a religious book, objected to by their parents or 
 guardians; and cannot be too strongly re{)robated as tyrannical and unchristian, ami at 
 variance with the letter and spirit of the law. 
 
 I know not the names of 'the Trustees or Teacher of your School Section ; but I 
 desire yon to show this letter to them, and let a copy of it be given to them, informing 
 them at the same time, that by ])ersisting in such a violation of the law they will in"ur 
 the loss of the School Fund apportioned to their School Section, and the Trustees v ill 
 become personally liable to the Teacher for the payment of the sah'-y they have 
 agreed to pay him, without being able to collect any part of it from others. 
 
 I have the honor to be, 
 Gentlemen, 
 Your obedient servant, 
 
 (Signed,) 
 Messrs. Maurice Carroll, 
 Thomas Nelan, 
 John Quinlan, 
 Patrick Lamb and 
 Thomas Shea. 
 
 S. S. No. 10, Esquesing Georgetown. 
 
 E. RYERSON. 
 
 No. 18. — Letter from the Trustees of School Section No. 10, Esquesing, Georgetown, 
 to the Chief Superintendent of Schools, explanatory of their conduct to the parties 
 in the preceding complaint. 
 
 Georgetoavn, Esquesing, 
 
 Wh April, 1852. 
 
 Dear Sir, — We have just received a copy of a conunnnicati(m from yon to Man- 
 rice Carroll, Thomas Nelan, John Quinlan, Patrick Lamb and Tiiomas Shea, of his 
 Village, in reply, it wonld ay)pear, to a complaint against ns, being the Trnstees of tiiis 
 School Section No. 10, of Esquesing. Now Sir, we are at a loss to know what they 
 have represented to yon, but must infer from the very harsh language of your reply 
 that we have grossly violated the 14th Section of the School Act, by compelling their 
 children to read in the Testament, contrary to their Avish, and joining in devotional 
 exercises, &c. We think we understand the Act sufficiently well to avt)id implicating 
 
 * Referred to in the Correspondence Letter Y. 
 f Appendix No. 33 a and 35. 
 
 t'.3Vt*rs?t>iftfr^"^ 
 
45 
 
 ourselves in that way, bill ]ierlnij)s we do not, and if not, yon vili, ue trnst, Iiavi" the 
 goochiesH to intbrni us, has \vc will no\v represent the ease as it has oeenrred. ( hir 
 
 rn I. .. \i.. I,'..: .I.I..1 1 ... »i. . 1 ; : . r .i i i. . . i , :.. .i _ 
 
 Teacher, Mr. Friekleton, en^fa^ed at the l)eginuinjj; of the year, and lias hcen in (he 
 habit of elosinj;' the Sehool wilh prayer. \Vc also use the iS'ew TestiinienI in llu' School, 
 and have always done so. (!oin])lainants have sent to tlie Sehool the same as othern, 
 until about the last days of Mareli last past, when Mauriec Carroll a|)plied to (tne of 
 us, also to o\iv Teaehtr, to allow his children to absent theniselves l)el()rt' rea<linj; the 
 Testament and prayer. Aecordinjily we met and consiilered the matier, willing' to eon» 
 cede all we could and iiot infrln<fe on the order of the School, as well as the law, and 
 wc came to the follo\\in<r deei-iou, vi/. : That his children, or any other, whosf ]):uent8 
 may desire it, should be exempted from readin<j; in the Testament, or joiuinjj; in 
 prayer. Ihil we considered it a bad precedent to establish to allow any to leave the 
 School before the rejrular hour for dismissin{i' the School; we accordingly instructed the 
 Teacher to that effect, anil he informed those children tiie following' day, or rat her 
 attempted to inform them of our decision, but they refused to hear and ran nui of the 
 School and went home. Mr. Carroll came the next morninji; to the S 'hodl. accom- 
 panied by Thomas Nelan and two others not mentioned in the conununicalion, and pre- 
 sented to the Teacher the Catholic Catechism and IJible, an<i asked him if he would 
 teacli his children out of those books, if he sent theni, and he re])Iied that lu could not. 
 Now they have all taken their children from the School, and await the resciridlu^ of our 
 resolution, which we do not think ])roper to do until convinced that we are in error. 
 Wc therefore hope tliat you will have the kindness to reply to us, and inform ns if we 
 arc in error, and please let us know what the charge is ajrainst us, as we are not 
 informed. 
 
 Mr. Friekleton, our Teacher, will be the bearer of this, and an answer, if vou 
 please, and we will be able to answer any (piestions yon may think necessary to a-k, in 
 regard to his conduct, or our own, in the matter. 
 
 We are, dear Sir, 
 
 Yours most respectfully, 
 
 (Signed,) 
 
 The Reverend E. llyersou, 
 
 Chief Su[)erintendent of Education, 
 Toronto, Canada West. 
 
 .lOlIX I'll K KM AN, 
 II. B. WKl'.STK.:, 
 ■ ELIJAH LEANi.NS, 
 
 Trustees of Sehool Section No. 10, ENipiesing, 
 
 w 
 
 l\ 
 
 No. 19. Letter from the Chief Superintendent of Schools, to the Trustees of School 
 Section, No. 10, Escpiesing, (jii'orgetown, in rej)ly to the tbregoing."^' 
 
 Educ'atimx Oi']-jcr, 
 ToitoxTO, 22nd Ajiri/, lH,r2. 
 
 GenTI. [EN,-— I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 
 10th instant, and have been ])revcnted by the pressure of engagements, from answering 
 it earlier, the necessity for which, however, being somewhat lessened by my having seen 
 your Teacher, and stated to him the course which both law and usage inquired in your 
 case. 
 
 I doubt not, but you were actuated by honorable motives and an earnest desire to 
 promote the discipline and interest of your School in the course which you pursued ; 
 
 • Kefered to in the Ooriesiwadcni e, IcUer V. ■ 
 
4» 
 
 but you were ([iillo mistaken in the ineaniiig niul npplieation of the law, since its broad 
 uiter[)retati()n and plain dcsi^',n, \h to make every ])arent or guardian tbesole jn;l;ro an to 
 wlial religions in^lnielions or exc'reise his ehild s!iall receive or attend in anv ( oinnion 
 School. In Ire!an«l, from which this part of onr system has been adopted, Uoiiian Catho- 
 lic children n ire whenever tiic Protestant Teacher coinmences the readinj^ of the 
 Scriptures and prayer. Tiicy are previously notified by the Teacher, and their retirin;]; 
 has Ix'come a matter of nsajre, and is not considced as atR-cling the diseiplinc and order 
 of the School. 
 
 I'esides, cnmj>nlsion in religions matters, in rej>;ar 1 cv^n toehildren not l*rotestants, 
 is no principle or practice of I'rotesta .tis-n. I think the principl-j is michristiun, and 
 to act upon it is not do'.njj; to others as \vc would be done by. 
 
 I iiavc the honor to be, 
 (icntlcmen, 
 Your obedient servant, 
 
 1 7 /I »<- 
 
 (Signed,) 
 
 Messrs. Prccman, 
 
 qi. n. Webster, and 
 Elijah Leavens. 
 
 Trustees, S. S. No. 10, Esqueslng, CJcorgctovvn. 
 
 E. RYERSON, 
 
 No. 20. Letter from certain Roman Catholic inhabitants of Georgetown, Esqucsing, to 
 the Chief Suporiiitcndcnt of Schools, additional to their former letter.* 
 
 Gkoiigetown, 12//i AjrrU, 18r)2. 
 
 Respected Sir, — Wc presented a copy of your letter to the Trustees of this 
 School Section, according to your directions, but can get no answer. We understand 
 they are going to lay a statement of it before your Reverence, for your satisfiiction and 
 the public at large ; wc are prepared to take in five respectable witnesses to Toronto, to 
 prove to the facts stated in our former letter to you, who wer;* present wlieu we de- 
 manded of the Teacher l)y whose authority ho denied our children admission to the 
 School ; therefore, we knew no better source to seek for redress than to communicate our 
 grievances to you. 
 
 We have the honor to be, 
 Sir, 
 Your most obedient and humble servants, ^ 
 
 (Signed,) MAURICE CARROLL, 
 
 JOHN QUINLAN, 
 THOMAS NELAN, 
 THOMAS SHEA, 
 PATRICK LAMB. 
 To the Reverend Egcrton Rycrson. 
 
 B ■*' 
 
 • See Appendix No. 16. 
 
47 
 
 No. 21. Letter from the Cliiof f-'ii|n'rintciu!c'Pt of Sdiools, to Mr. ^^fluri(•<• Cnrroll, 
 fc3cho(»l Section No. 10, Es([uci!iiiijj;, (jicorgctowii, in \\\y\y to tin- t()ri')^()in}.i;.'''" 
 
 Educatiiin OiKin;, 
 
 ToiioNTo, -^4/// .1/-///, 18./2. 
 
 Sill, — I have the honor t()ilekno^\k■lIge the receipt of yoiirlellir of the 12lh instant, 
 signed hy vonrsell'iind otlieiv-;, and to slnle in riplv tlial, ha\ii:[^ wiitien to the Trn^-tces 
 of (jeorfretown tSeho()I,f 1 have no d(-iil)l my decision in your ease will he, it' it has not 
 uh'cady heen, carried into eH'eet, so that you will have no fin'lher ^ronnd of complaint 
 against the Trnstees and Teacher in (incslioi:. 
 
 1 mnst, however, add, that J think y()iir coi'.ilnci is pi rlictly ni jiistidahie in ap- 
 pealing; to the pnhlic, through the press, on tlie snhjeet, jiL the very tini(~ yon were 
 preterrin<r a complaint on it to this dejKU'lment, a mode of prcn-eedin;^' condemned hy 
 the connnon sense of jnstice and rc<j;ard for lawan«l pnhlic ordir in all ( ivili/cd conntries. 
 The snhjects of dispnles hetween jiarlies, or ( f even criminal prosecutioi.s, are not con- 
 sidered proper matters of newspaper diseu.sion, while tluy :n-e ])endinjr helJ-re the 
 trihimals anthori/ed to decide upon them. If snch an example wt le followed hy all 
 persons thronghont the land, whenever they conceiveil a wrong or injnstice was done 
 them, the imj)artial administration of justice, and the snjnvmacy of law, wonid soon cease 
 among ns, and revenge and anardiy prevail. The connsel an<l enconrat;emcnt whiili 
 yon seem to liavc had to pnrsnc snch a course, does not alter its (haratter, or render it 
 less rcpreliensihle. 
 
 The case itself has afforded an opportunity of shewing that the religions faith of the 
 parents and guardians of every religious persuasion can a;id will he(([ually protei'ted in 
 the Pnhlic kichools, and furnishes, therefore, an illustration a;^ainst the nece.-sity of 
 Separate Schools rather than a plea for them. 
 
 As yon have puhlished what is unofficial, and calculated to excite jw.pular passion 
 and religions animosity on this suhject, I trust you will cr.ufc to he piil)lislu'il, tliiough 
 the same medinm, the official correspondence rcspeetiiiji; it which has ti'.ktn place hutween 
 you and this Department. 
 
 I have the honor to he, 
 Sir, 
 Yonr imtmt ol)cdient servant. 
 
 Mr. Maurice Carroll, 
 
 S. S. No. 10, Esqucsing, Georgetown. 
 
 (Signed,) 
 
 R. RYERSON, 
 
 No. 22. Letter from the Reverend Rupert Ehncr, Wiln'ot, to tlie Chief Superintendent 
 of Schools, complaining that the R. C. Sejiarate Schools in Wellesley have not 
 received such aiii as he thinks they were entitled to, 
 
 S. Agati[.\, Wi l:\iot, 
 
 February 2m, 1852. 
 
 Most IIonorable Sir, — It Is the first time I see me in the case of necessity to 
 address myself to your authority, and your impartiality and love of jnstice. The case 
 belongs to the Roman Catholic Separate School, in the Township of Wellesley, Sections 
 IX. and X. The Catholic people in this place hfive erected a Schoolhousc, alxnit four 
 years ago — the first in both Sections. There was since that time a dihgently kept 
 
 * Referred to in the Correspondence, Letter V. 
 t See Appendix No. 19. 
 
48 
 
 M ] 
 
 N 
 
 J 
 
 Sfliool, six iiioiillis in fvcry year. 'I'lic School wns consldc'rcd as a Coninioii Siliool. 
 Now, al)iiiil only OIK.' yi'ar a^fo, tlicrc was (Mcclfd aiiollicr Coiniiioii Stlioollioiisf ia 
 {Si'ctioii X., wlu-re tlic liir}j;i'r parlk's ot" Catholic settlers live. As this Coiimion School- 
 lioii-.c was t;niii;i on, the Ifomaii ( 'atholic itojHiliilion of hulli m'cIIo is made up a nelilioii, 
 and iircseiileil it to the Municipal Conned of the Township ot" \Vellesie\ , in which ihi-y 
 pcliiioned that th.'ir School, estaltlished only hy the in ans ot'(-atholie people, mijihl he 
 ii)r the Cntnr.' co.isidired as a iloman Catholic Separate School, t(» whicli their i-hildi\u 
 could he sent, without any ()!)liifation towards tlu' new Connnon School, as it is under 
 stood hy itselt'. The nuniher of the undersij;iu rs of the Hai<l petition was fir larjj;er 
 than the last School Act rc(|uires, and therefore the Municipal (Council granted the 
 jK'tilion with(»ul llu' \va<\. repujrnance, as it was ohlijicd to do so according!; to the same 
 School Act. Simc then the Miniiciijal Council has granted a Uoniaii ('atholic Se|)arale 
 School for the Catholic inhahitants of hoth Sections; there is left no doiiht, [ think, that 
 the same (Jouncil has extended the limits of the said Separate Sihool as well over Sec- 
 lion 1\ as over Section X, and that iherefoie the limits fixed by l/ie Council, as the 
 School Act [)reftcril)es, e(»mj)risc hoth Section^. J Fence the Catholic family fiilhers of 
 both sections sent their children to the Separate School, and send still this very moment. 
 There wa^ never made the slightest ohj-^ction against their sending, never the slightest 
 hindrance from any side, neither from the side of the Council, nor of the JiOcal Superin- 
 tendent, ulio visited soiue time the School, nor of luiy other person else. 
 
 Thereti;rc, the Catholic population of those places was not little astonished and 
 nhvrmed, ;'.s they suddenly, in the heginuiug of this year, w(MT advised that the Catholic 
 iidiahilants of Seetitm X were ohlig<;il to pay Uixes for the Connnon School. Knowing 
 tliat I, thtir Pastor, as a Clergyman, am somewhat eoncerned in School affairs, some of 
 the Catiiolie resident fa nily fathers went to me, and informed me of the matter, and 
 aski'd my advic '. I told them that I see no reason, by which they could he compelled to 
 pay taxes for tlu* Common School ; on the contrary, the j)laiu and clear tenor of the 
 School Act dofoiids them from such an obligation; the Trustees of the ('ommon School 
 must be wHMig not knowing the School Act, otherwise they could not thiid; on such 
 taxes, which cannot be imposed on the Catholic family heads without violating the 
 School Act, and therefore without injustice. I told them finally, th.it I would write to 
 the ]jocal Su[)erinteiuknt, Mr. Schuler, and 1 wrote to him, indeed, but hitherto I 
 received from him no official answer ; he only sent nie word by a man who spoke to 
 him, that according to his view, it would be the best, that the Catholic people in Section X 
 should j)ay the imposed taxes, and he himself would then take care that the paid taxes 
 should l)e repaid to them for their indcnmification. Such an answer, as you, lb)'ior- 
 al)le Sir, may understand yourself, is good for nothing. Mr. Schuler himself appears to 
 see, that the law is for the Catholic portion. The interested parties appealed then to 
 the Muuicipal Coimcil. The matter was spoken of in the last Session, and the Council 
 decided that the Catholic ])eople couUl be taxed by no means for the sake of Common 
 School. And that, of course, because some of the same members, wlio comj)oseil the 
 Council and graiited the Sc[)arale School the last year, eomjjoscd the Council this 
 year. 
 
 I was hereafter told, that the Trustees of theCommoi> School addressed themselves 
 to Toronto, to the Chief Superintendent of Schools; therefore I resolved, in the name 
 of the Trustees of our Separate School, to do the same, in order to ])revent ])crhaps false 
 inK)rmations, and to implore, most Honorable Sir, your humane and impartial feelings in 
 this affair, that yon may, if there should arise any necessity, interpose your atithorit}', 
 lest this disgraceful matter become more disgraceful ar,d intricate, li' 1 did not live so 
 far from the Separate School under cpiestion, I would '.ake care that this my letter should 
 be nndcrsigned by the Trustees and the Catholic liouseholders that belong to that 
 School. 
 
49 
 
 Relying, most llonoriihle Sir, on vour kindness and yonr zeal for law and justice, 
 I hog you to rciK'l such a violent attncK, and to settle this ati'air as auuii uii pussiblc, that 
 the excited spirits of both parties may he shortly appeased again. 
 
 1 have the honor to he, 
 Most Honorable Sir, 
 
 Yoiu' most obcdienl servant, 
 
 '///// ^ ' (Si'?ned,) RUT'EIIT EBNER, 
 
 ii/UjL Jn^.tyt.i.'U Hi - Roman Catholic Missioqury. 
 
 The ttaiiipwnd E. Ryerson, 
 
 Chief Superintendent of Common Schools of Upper Canada. 
 
 P. S. — If your Honor should have the kindness to answer me, the address to nie 
 would be : 
 
 Rkv. Mr. Rui'Knr Eunkr, 
 Post Office, Petersbiirp, 
 
 Township of Wilmot, C. W. 
 
 No. 23. — Letter from the Chief Superintendent of Schools, to the Reverend Mr. 
 Ebner, in reply to the foregoing. 
 
 Edt'cation Office, 
 ToRo^.o, 3?y/ iHfarcA, 1852. 
 
 Reverknd Sir, — I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of 
 the 20th tdtimo, and in reply I beg to refer you to my Circular to Town Reeves of 
 Townships, on the duties of Township Councils in Upper Canada, under the present 
 School Act, dated 12th August, 1850, and published in the Journal of Education for 
 that month, and also in the Appendix to my last Annual School Report, pp. 267, 268.* 
 The part of my official Circular in which I explained to all parties the provisions of the 
 Act relative to Separate Schools, commences with ])aragraph No. 6, the last on the 
 267th page of the Appendix to the Report referred to. 
 
 I have the honor to be, 
 Reverend Sir, 
 
 Your vaoaL obedient servant. 
 
 (Signed,) 
 
 The Reverend Mr. Rupert Ebner, 
 
 R. C. Missionary, Wilmot, Petersburg, C. W. 
 
 E. RYERSON. 
 
 No. 24. Letter from the Local Superintendent of Wilmot and the German Schools 
 in Wellesley to the Chief Superintendent of Schools, submitting the case of the R. C. 
 Separate Schools in Wellesley, and soliciting advice. 
 
 The Reverend E. Ryerson, 
 
 Chief Superintendent of Schools for U. C. 
 
 Sir,— I beg leave to ask a hyr questions regarding School matters, viz : — 
 There are three Schools in one Section in one Township, one of which is a 
 Catholic Separate School. The Trustees of that Scuool, as well as the Trustees of one of 
 the other Schools, wish to put on their Sections, an extra tax, but the Trustees of the 
 thir! School wish to raise the necessary money by Rate Bill. 
 
 * See Bccond Note to letter in Appendix No. 12. 
 
1. Call, tIiorcf()re, one or two Schools, or ruthcr the Tnistccs, do it, or must they 
 all join? 
 
 ■J, If there is a ratholic Pcpanili' School, and, in the ncij^hhourhood of it, also ii 
 CoiniiKtii School, ill which limils soiiii' of tli" Calliolics ivsiiU" who scud ihcir children to 
 the Separate School, will these (.'atholie Schools he taxed in niid for the Separate or (com- 
 mon School 'i 
 
 Those Scjiaratc Schools nro indeed ii hiinlen to Siij)eriiiteiidenls and all those 
 concerned in School matters, l)ecanse the (Jatholics helieve that, whenever thev live in 
 the Township, they heloiif^ to such Separate School, and ri-fiise to pay extra taxes in 
 their own Section; wherefore I linmhiy he^ your lleverencc for information on thut 
 Buhject, 
 
 i\. Can Trustees collect the amount of Hale Bill hy force, if they neglected to 
 do so in the projier time? 
 
 These ([iieslions [ lay heforc your Heverence, and trouhic you with the snnio, 
 prayiiif^ you to ini()rm me as soon as possihie, since the matter lies liefore me for de- 
 cision, and the Act is not very iiitellij^ihlo on the suhject. 
 
 Ilopinpj to receive an answer, 
 
 I remain, Sir, 
 
 Your humhlc servant, 
 
 (Signed,) WENDLTN SCllCLKR, 
 
 Superintendent for Wihiiol and 
 
 the (Jerman Schools of VVelleslcy. 
 New llanihnri)^, 
 
 '' Wilmot," March 9th, 1852. 
 
 No. 2.'). Letter from the Chief Superintendent of Schools to the Locftl Superinten- 
 dent of Wellesley, in reply to the foregoing. 
 
 Education Office, 
 Toronto, 20/// 3Iarc/i, 1852. 
 
 SlU, — I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 9th instant, 
 and to SjUte in reply that there eaniiot he, according to law, three sets of Trustees in one 
 School S ection. There can he only one set of Common School Trustees in a Section, 
 although, under the circumstunces mentioned in the 5th clause of the 1-th Section of 
 the School Act, there may he hoth a male and female School ; there may also, he a set 
 of Trustees of a Separate School, according to the 19th Section of the School Act.* 
 There cannot, therefore, he more than two sets of lawful Trustees in any School Section. 
 
 As to the Common School, the Trustees can raise what sums they re(piire Iry Itate 
 Bill on parents sending to the School, or hy rate on property, as may he agreed upon at 
 the annuiil School Meeting, or a Special meeting called for that jiurpose. See letters, Nos. 
 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5, in the Journal of 3 1 neat ion, ibr last month, (Fehrunry,) pages 20 and 
 27, as to the authority of Trustees of Common Schools. 
 
 In regard to a S"parate School, you will perceive hy carefully examining the 19th 
 Section of the Act,f that the Trustees of such School have no authority to levy a rate 
 on any person who has not petitioned for, or who docs not send a child to such School. 
 Neither a Roman Catholic nor Protestant can he ctmipcllcd to support a Separate School 
 unless he sends his children to it. If llomau Catholics prefer sending their children to 
 the Common School, they cannot be made to contribute to the support of the Roman 
 Catholic Sejiaratc School, and the same principle of right applies to each Protestant, 
 where a Separate Protestant School is established. 
 
 ♦ Appomlix No. ;t3. 
 
 ^ Appendix No. 33. ■ , .- 
 
51 
 
 I rcMiiiirk also, tliiit llic supporters of ii Scpanifc School arc iir>t pxcmpt from any 
 jiropcrty lux whicli uuiy Ix- levied for the erection of a Coinnion Schoolhonse, or for 
 
 MK- support of th" ( 'oMii:'oii School. Sec niv circiil.ir to the heads of Township ('i)nn- 
 eils, diiled An^^iist, IH.V), n\n\ printe<l in the Appendix to ui}' last Annual Seh<K)l Report, 
 paifes 2»I7, *J(JM.* 
 
 T have the honor to he, 
 Sir, 
 Voitr-imMt oljcdient servant, 
 
 VWndlin Schiller, Ksipiire, 
 
 Snperinleinlenl of Schools, 
 
 Wihnot and Weilesle)', Now Ilainhnrj^ 
 
 (Signed,) 
 
 E. IIYERSON. 
 
 No. '2'!. lit'tler iVoMi the Kiverend liupert Khiicr, Wilmol, to the Chief Siiperinlen- 
 dcnt of Schools, in rclerence to the mutter eontainid in his former letter. (No. 21.) 
 
 Saint Aoatii ' , 
 WiLMuT, illth Ap-t., 1852. 
 
 Vkry Kkvi;ui",ni) Sir, — 1 have ihc honor to neknowledfre the receipt of your answer 
 to my letter of the L'tJth Fehrnary, ahont one month ago ; by urgent eirciiiiLstaneos I 
 was prevented to reply earlier to your otticial answer. 
 
 i lug your pardon, very Heveiend Sir, I must tell you, with regret, that I was wholly 
 disappointed in my exjieetations. You >■ Cer ine in your answer to your circular to 
 Town Reeves, dated Toronto, 12th Au^u^t, ISAO, commencing with paragraph No. (). 
 In No. (!, I (hid nothing touching our case, hut in No. 5, I found .somewhat. Therein 
 is said, that " ])atrons and su])porters of a Separate School are not exempted from any 
 " of the local assessments, or rates for Common School purjioses." Well, Keverond Sir, 
 whatever the sense of this passage may he, 1 think it cannot he the sense, that such 
 supporters of any legally eslal)lished Separate School should he obliged to pay taxes f! r 
 the salary of the Teacher at a Common School; otherwise, ns it is understood by itself, 
 the XIX Section of our School Act, would be a mere illusion and a great lie. 1 think, 
 very llevercnd Sir, you have been not fairly instructed, neither by the Trustees nor by 
 the local SupL'rintemlent, Mr. Schuler. 
 
 Whatever 1 wrote to you in my foregoing letter, is a fact, and still continues to be 
 a fact; I expected, theretbie that you, if you should refuse to give any decisive and 
 final answer, at least would make acrpiainted the local Superintendent with my letter, 
 and the eircnnistauee mentioned therein, that the Catholic School under <piestion was 
 authorized by the Municipal Council of the Township of Wellesley, as the Councillors 
 themselves cannot deny, and recommend him and perhaps the Councillors too, a new 
 sincere impiiry into the matter, and to act according to the law with candor and 
 impartiality. 
 
 As 1 received your answer, I perceived instantly that it would help ns very little 
 or nothing, if the Township Councillors should change in whatever way their view or 
 good will. For as to the local Superintendent, Mr. Schuler, he was against our Sepa- 
 rate School, as I have reason to supjiose. You say also in the mentioned circular, No. 
 7, "that the new Act ])rovides for the settlement of nearly all probable School Section 
 "disputes, by a simple system of local arbitration." But, llevercnd Sir, I think such 
 a Iccal arbitration in such cases, as in ours, will seldom be practicable ; the one or the 
 other party, and perhaps both, will seldom agree in the election of arbitrators, and at 
 least in our ease, there was no necessity of local arbitration ; there was the clear law to 
 decide upon the matter, for in accorifance with the law, the Municipal Council had 
 
 * See Becoud Doto to letter in Appendix No. 12. 
 
52 
 
 L' - ' « 
 
 H*!f 
 
 f;ranlcil tl)at Separate School, by granting tlic petition submiltcd to them by the Catlio 
 if party, wi bout restriction to any of the subscribers, among whom were a great niany 
 of the X Section ; how could, therefore in accordance with hiw, with the Cathohc family 
 fathers, residing in section X, be compelled to pay taxes for the Teacher of the Common 
 School ? But what I feared, has happened ; in their first session, in which the matter 
 was acted, the Councillors declared > that the Catholic fiimily falliers belonging to the 
 Separate School, could not be taxed lor the sake of the Conmion Scliools, they them- 
 selves vvoJild defend them ; m the next following session declared the Town llecve, 
 Mr, llawk, that ho would provide the Trustees of the Comiwon School with money, in 
 order lest the Catholics may be taxed. In the meantime, the Trustees of the Common 
 School began to enforce the taxation; and as then, some CaMiolic came to Mi Hawk 
 for redress, he told them that he could do nothing for their behalf, and that they should 
 apply themselves to a lawyer, I leave it, very lievercnd Sir, to your own considera- 
 tion what you may think, of such unmanly and unprincipled behaviour, and whether Mr, 
 Hawk is not obliged in conscience before God and man, to repair the damnification lo 
 the Catholics, whom he has caused by his inconsistency not only to be taxed, but also 
 to be fined? 
 
 The taxation was then enforced, not without great evcitement and clamours, and 
 exertions of hostility. One of the Trustees of the Common School, Mr. Feilcnheimor, 
 has since sold his land and left the place out of anger, and is gone away with all his 
 household. Antl who is guilty of that sad emergency and poj)ular outrage ? I think 
 the maintaincrs and executioners of the law. 
 
 I cannot but acknowledge in this fatal occurrence a heinous and flagrant injus\icc, 
 committed against the Catholic settlers in those places, The^' had a right to petition 
 and to obtain a Separate Scliool for their children, for there are not twelve of them, as 
 the School Act recpiires, but above twenty, and that in Section X alone, nnd with the 
 settlers, in Section IX, their nuniber surpasses far thirty; and if the Municipal Council 
 hand not granted a Separate School for them about a year and a half ago, th' y had been 
 obli<''cd by law to grant it, and still are obliged to do so. But they granted the School 
 indeed as they do not and cannot djny ; nay they confessed that openly, by declaring 
 a little while before, that the Catholics could not be taxed for the sake of the Common 
 School. I do not hei^itate at all to call that tax;ition an act of open injustice, and a kind 
 of roo-uery not very different from pillaging and robbing ; and the fault of that pillaging 
 and robbing is not in the want of law, hut in the nant of impurHuHfy anil jusiice, in main- 
 taining and executing fhe law ; I guess Mr, Schuler, the Local Superintendent, bears no 
 litde portion of guilt in that disagreeable affair; he, at least, as I wae told, encouraged 
 the Trustees to enforce the taxation, and why did he not listen to the just complaints 
 cf the Catholics? Why did he not insist upon an impartial, siiicere and quiet inquiry 
 upon their reclaims ? Why|||did he not acquiesce to the just decision of the Municipal 
 Council, that they could not be taxed ? Although he himself has told me that the whole 
 decision depen'^e upon the Municipal Council. Does such a beha"iour show impartiality ? 
 
 I read, very Reverend Sir, in the last copy of your Jonrnal of Eihicution, for the 
 month of March, many questions upon school matters, and your decisions of ihcm ; 
 and somt. of them seem to have reference to our case, and therefore proposed to you 
 b, ^'^^- Schuler. But, very Reverend Sir, there are mentioned only some secondary 
 circumstances ; the principal circumstance, that our Separate School was legally estab- 
 lished bv the authority of the Municipal Council is quite let out. Supposing that the 
 questions alluded to have been j)roposed by Mr, Schuler, I ask, is that fairness, sin- 
 cerity, impartiality necessarily connected with his position ? Therefore, because Mr, 
 Schuler did not propose that principal point, I will, a -^h your permission, take the 
 liberty to pioposc it in the followin ; questions, and lo beg an answer from you, whether 
 by a private letter or in the Journal 
 
 Question 1st. Have their morj than 20 Catholic fanily heads a right to petition a 
 Separate School for their children ? and can any Municipal Council or Local Superinten- 
 dent suppress such a right in con)pliance with law ? 
 
63 
 
 in 
 
 sin- 
 
 Qxcsfion 2ii'L Is it fhc duty of any Muniti»«\' Council to authorize sucli petitioners 
 to establish a tScpamte School ? 
 
 Qncstion 3/v<. If any Municipal Council n;raut such a petition for all subscribed 
 petitioners without restriction, without any other declaration, have the pctitoner.s not 
 reason enou}i;h to believe that their School is granted and established by legal juithority ? 
 
 Qnesluia Atlu If in such way a Separate School is erected, are the faniily fathers 
 who send their children to that School obliged to pay a portion of the salary for the 
 Teacher of the Common School in the same secti(Mi, or are they not ? 
 
 Question blh. If, notwithstandir.g that the partakers of such a Separate School are 
 coni))cllcd by violence and intrigue to pay taxes for the Teacher of the Common School, 
 is there any injustice committed or not? and are the injuring parties obliged to indem- 
 nity the injured, or are they not? 
 
 I would like to see those questions clearly answered, and should they bo aiis-.vcred 
 in a negative way, I would like to know the grounds thereof; otherwise I cannot be 
 convinced that law is resi>ected in this country, and particularly that the Section XIX 
 of the School Act is somcwliat more than a soap-bul)ble, or that Catholics can surely 
 enjoy liberty of conscience and religion, with which ic necessarily connected liberty of 
 education, without being exposed to continuous fear of trouble and vexation. 
 
 The Common Sclvool under (picstiou is as for the rest a very pretty one and worth 
 all protection. As to the nunjl)er of children, it was universally smaller than of those 
 a^rellding the Sejiarate School; two of the Trustees are two Cathclic dupes, the third is 
 a deaf man ; the Teacher, Mr. John Peter Wirz, is a drunkard of first class, well known 
 tlu'ough the country, and living separate from his wi!c; M. Scluiler himself was before 
 a Catholic, br.t because llev. Mr. Slmider, who lives new at (joderich, did not permit 
 him to instruct the people in catechism, because he has been informed (as Uev. Mr. 
 Shnider himself and the Teacher Mr. Wirz too told me) that Mr. Schuler had flebauched 
 a girl in Germany, he turned hereafter a Lullieran, and was soon made a preacher too ; 
 and perhaps one of the motives of his activity against our Separate School was to tihow 
 that he has become a good Protcstant. 
 
 I ask now, very lleverend Sir, what man of any good feeling should tliluk or sec 
 without indignation, that by such a rabble so many family fathers should have been 
 pillagetl, aiid our Separate School, established by legal authority, sl)ould be abolished ? 
 auil should there, very Ueverend Sir, also for the time to come the said Catholic faiaily 
 fathers be deprived of their right to send their children in a Catholic School, or com- 
 pelled to pay f)r two Teachers, — would that be ecpiality before the law? Many of them 
 told me that they would by no means send their cliildrcn to any Conunon School ; they 
 will have a School with religious instruction ; and the law is not opposed to their views 
 and jiaternal religious wishes. I think there would be many ways to remedy their 
 complaints, and t) satisfy their desires; but, very Reverend Sir, what will it avail, the •' 
 Law bciUj.- lUSt and good, if Local Superintendents, and Trustees and Municipal Coun- 
 cillors, set af:ide its vuthority? I cannot enforce the execution of law; it is you, very 
 Ileverend Sir, who by your position as Chiei superintendent of Schools, have the power 
 and duty to watch over the maintenance of law, to support its authority, to repel by 
 restraining your officers from all unjust (\oing, all illegal attacks, and provide equal 
 right for all ])arties in accordance with law. 
 
 Yon express, very Reverend Sir, very noble and recommcndable sentiments, and 
 worth the highest praiso, in your circular to Loca Supcrintdi Icnts, (Toronto, 12th Au- 
 gust, 1850), wliere you say : — " The spirit of the vow made by the Prussian Councillor, 
 " Dinter, should imbue the heart of every School officer in Up{)er Canada : I promised 
 " God that I would look upon every Prussian peasant child as a being who could com- 
 " plain of me before God, if I did not provide him the best education, as a man and a 
 *' Christian, which it was possible for me to provide." 
 
 I sincerely believe, very Reverend Sir, that you are truly penetrated by such a 
 noble and good spirit, but I think I have reason to doubt whetner so many Catholic 
 
54 
 
 
 chilihon could not complain of you bofiiro Cod, if yovi would do nothing for tiicir behalf 
 by interposing your authority in this disgraceful case. 
 
 But I. rely, vtry Reverend Sir, on your impartial and good spirit, and implore ns 
 I have already done o:icc, in the name of the Trustees of our Separate School, and of 
 all the Catholic inhabitants of both Sections, and in the name of justice and humanity, 
 your supreme authority, that rights grounded upon the clear words of the School Act 
 may be respected, and moie than thirty family fathers may not be jMcveiited to j)rovidc 
 their children religious instruction, or pcrha])s instruction at all, for some of them told 
 me, if they could not send their children to a Catholic School, they would send then) to 
 no School at all. 
 
 I think it would be the best and shortest way, if you, very Ilcverend Sir, would 
 please to advise the Municipal Council of the Township of Wellcslcy, to respect the .XIX 
 Section of the School Act, and to grant anew a Separate Scl.ool, and to prescribe its 
 limits for all Catholics of both sections, wl<o wish to send their children to such School, 
 and will subsigi the pctiti(m, to be made up and submitted to the i\Iunici])al Council, 
 that allows the Act, nay, that prescribes the Act, as a duty fur any Mnnici])al Council ; 
 and when that will have been done, there Avill be furnished all dispute, (juarrel, and 
 enmity. 
 
 Hoping that you, very Reverend Sir, will regard our just and humbly submitted 
 claims. 
 
 I have the honor to be. 
 
 Very Reverend Sir, 
 Your most obedient servant. 
 
 (Signed,) 
 T^" Reverend 
 
 Egerton Ryerson, D. J)., 
 
 Chief Superintendent of Schools, U. C. 
 
 RFPEKT EP.NICR, 
 
 Catholic Missionary, 
 
 J 
 
 No. 27, Letter from the Chief Superintendent of Schools, to the Ilcverend lliipcrt 
 Ebner, in reply to the foregoing. 
 
 Education Ofvice, 
 
 ToiioxTo, Slst Mmj, 1852. 
 
 Reverend Sir, — I have tl<e lumor to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 
 27th ultimo, and to state in reply, diat you will obsei've by the several Clauses of the 85th 
 Section of the School Act, that the Chief Su])erintendent of Schools has no authority 
 whatever to interfere with any Townshi]) Council in ])rescril)ing the limits of School Sec- 
 tions, whether for Sejiarate or Public Schools. Each Township Council, consisting of 
 representatives elected by the pi.'oplc interested, is the judge as to the limits of School 
 sections in such Township ; the ])()wer to act in such cases is given by law, not to me, 
 but to each Township Council. Resides, in an appeal to this department, each of the 
 parties to whom you refer should have been furnished with a copy of your letter, that 
 they might speak for thcmsolves, that 1 might hear both sides before oftbring an o])inion 
 on the acts of either. S."c forms and instructions, chapter V, miscellaneous remarks. 
 
 Whether the Township Reeve, the Local Superintendent, the Trustees, and tho 
 Teacher referred to, are the characters you represent them to be, I have no means of 
 knowing ; nor is it in my province to judge. But it appears from your own letter, that 
 two of the three Trustees of the School Section in which so much is urged for a Separate 
 School, are Roman Catholics ; and it ap])ears to me very extraordinary, that in such 
 circumstances, a second set of Roman Catholic Trustees should be deemed necessary by 
 
56 
 
 any portion of the population. It sliows how nnich personal and party fcelinp;, and a 
 desire of exemption from the ordinary School taxes, has to do in such procccdin{j;s in 
 .some cases, where no reason can he addm. d, from ditt'ereiicc of reliuious faith. 1 retrrct 
 such occurrences, so Ucstructive to the unity ot neighborhoods and the universal educa- 
 tion of youth, though I have no power to prevent thcni. 
 
 As to the (juestions to which answers have been inserted in the Jovrnul of Educa- 
 tion,!, have to observe, that not one of them was proj)osed by Mr. Sciudcr. Vou are, 
 theretbre, entirely n)istakeu in your conjectures as to the nature of ^Ir. Schuler's com- 
 uiunicutions to this Department ;* and i charitably hope you may be ecpuilly mistaken 
 in your opinion and rej)resentations as to the character of the llecve and Councillors 
 and other persons to whom you allude. 
 
 I have the honor to be, 
 Sir, 
 Your laait obedient servant, 
 
 The Reverend Rupert Ebner, 
 
 Roinan Catholic Missionary, 
 
 Wihnot, Petersburg. 
 
 (Signed,) 
 
 E. RYERSON. 
 
 No. 28. Loiter from tlio Chairman of the Board of School Trustees. City of Toronto, 
 to die Chief Superintendent of Schools, requesting him to obtain tne opinion of the 
 Law Officer' of the Crown, as to the construction of the term " School Fund," in the 
 Act 13th and 14th Victoria, chapter 48, Section 40.f 
 
 Toronto, 2nd June, 1852. 
 
 Sir, — I have been instructed by the Board of School Trustees for the City, to 
 obtain through you, the opinion of Her ^^:iicsly''s Attorney (Jeneral, widi regard to the 
 correct Ivfjid condructlon of what constiintcs the " School Fimd," as mentioned in the 
 School Act, especially with reference to Sciinratc Schools.'^ 
 
 The interpretation put upon it by the Board is, that the School Fuiid,ii> applicable 
 to the demands of parties requiring Separate Schools, consists of the Legislative grant 
 and a local assessment, at least equal in amount; thesi ^ums uniti I. forming the aggre- 
 gate School Fund described in the Act, as applicable solely to the paynu nt of (jualified 
 teachers. 
 
 The Roman Catholics who are desirous to have Separate Schools established for 
 their benefit entertain a different view, and claim to have ;'■ right of sharing in all 
 the School money raised by assessment in the City, thus virtually taxing the whole 
 community to maintain separate denominational Schools. 
 
 In order that the Attorney General may have the opportunity o? .loronghly inform- 
 ing himself as regards the views entertained by the Trustees, I i ise herewith a copy 
 of a Report recently adopted by the Board, § and as the question mvolves a pr!nci})le of 
 vci'y great ])ublic imj)ortance, and the action of the Board, in the matter of Separate 
 Schools, will have to be determined by the Attorney (jloneral's o])inion regarding the 
 law of the (jucstion, it is hoped that the legal adviser cf the Crown, will give a conclu- 
 
 • Appendix No, 24. 
 t Appondix No. 31. 
 j AppiMulix No. 36. 
 § See AppeiiUix 30. 
 
56 
 
 "if 
 
 sive opinion thereon, so as to determine for the guidance of the Board, what is the true 
 inicnt and meaning of the ehiiises of the School Act cstabHshing Scjiarate Schools, and 
 to what extent sucli Separate Schools can claim their legal share of the School Fund. 
 
 I am, Sir, 
 
 Your most obedient servant, 
 
 J. G. BEARD, 
 Chairman, Board of School Trustees, 
 
 Toronto. 
 To Reverend Dr. Ryerson, 
 
 Chief Superintendent of Schools, C. W. 
 
 No. 29. Inclosed in the foregoing. Letter from T. J. O'Neil, Esquire, to the Board 
 of School Trustees, submitting the claims of the Roman Catholic Separate Schocus. 
 
 To THE Board of City Trustees, &c., &c., &c. 
 
 Toronto, 20th April, 1852. 
 
 Gentlemen, — As Trustees of the Catholic Scl ools of this City, we beg leave, on 
 behalf of the Catholic inhabitants, to submit the accompanying statement, shewing the 
 number and chanicter of our Schools, and attendance at each, with the view to obtain 
 such proportion for the current year of the School Funds at your disposal, as you shall 
 consider our numbers are entitled to. 
 
 It is, perhaps, unnecessary to observe, that a statement rendered at this period of 
 the year cannot be taken to represent fairly the average attendance for the whole year, — 
 the poverty of a large portion of our population preventing many parents from send- 
 ing their ill-clad children to School during the winter months. 
 
 We think it, therefore, but reasonable to compute the number likely to attend our 
 Schools .Uiring the ensuing seven months, at nearly, if not fully, a-fourth more than 
 now represented, and trust, whatever may be the amount the Board shall sec fit to 
 apportion in view of our present numbers, duo consideration Avill be given, at the close 
 of the year, to the large increase which we anticipate our summer und fall's attendance 
 will exhibit. 
 
 We partake, equally with yourselves, of the desire to sec the blessing of education 
 enjoyed by all classes. Our aim, like your own, is to secure for our youth that system 
 best calculated to instruct and elevate. We hope our application will be met in the spirit 
 of equity, and that the amount placed at our dispi )sal shall be commensurate with the 
 requireraenfscf the large body we represent. 
 
 We remain, Gentlemen. 
 
 Your obedient servants, 
 
 T. J. O'NEIL, 
 (Signed on l)ehalf of Trustees.) 
 
ft7 
 
 Statement fnrnishod to llio City Bonrd of Trustees of Catliolic Sehoolfa, and child- 
 leii attending the same, Toronto, 20th April, 1852. 
 
 
 Number <>{ Teiu-hers. 
 
 Diiys. 
 
 Gills. 
 
 Tuiiil. 
 
 RichiiKind Stret-t Schmil, tniij;ht by Christian ) 
 ISi'L-ihreti ^ 
 
 3 
 
 a 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 1, & 1 Assist., (MissNiilan.) 
 
 1 
 
 a 
 
 2.1.) 
 ti.j 
 
 47 
 l:>4 
 
 30 
 
 
 St. I'tiiil's Cliurcli, ity C'liristiuii Bruihrrii, 
 
 
 St. I'litrick's, by Mr. 'I'lmfff 
 
 
 8t. l*utrii;k'», by Miss K. Hipoins, 
 
 
 Stiinlcy Street, by Miss Hi^^iiis, 
 
 
 
 Puiiice Street, (liiisseil Abbey ), by Mis< Merrick,. .. 
 Lorette, (Siincoe Street), by Ladies of Lorette, 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 1 
 7 Seliools, (equal to 10) [ 
 
 ll,u;)il 1 Ashislimt.estiiimtecl 
 nt 10 TciK.hi r> 
 
 47.-> 
 
 706 
 
 With retjurd to the ubme, we would respectfully note, thiit the prcbiible ex[)ensc.>i of susiiiiiiiiit; a s" ;iilar 
 number of Cointuon Schnol;, may be presumed to approxiiiinte to the fulluwiiij;, \iz 
 
 6 Mule Teachers ut i.110 
 
 2 Female do 
 
 2 do do 
 
 Hent of 10 School Houses. 
 Fuel for do do .. 
 
 65 
 
 4.') 
 
 20 
 
 7 
 
 £660 
 130 
 
 90 
 
 200 
 
 70 
 
 £11 -,0 
 
 (Signed on behalf of C. Trust.es.) 
 
 T. J. (/NI'UL, 
 
 No. 30. — Also inclosed. Report of the Free School Committee of thcljnardof School 
 Trustees, Toronto, upon the foregoing jipplication : Adopted 19lh May, 1852. 
 
 The Committee on Free Schools, to whom -was committed the Letters of T. J. 
 O'Neil, Esq., dated the 31st }.iarch and 20th A})ril last, relative to the appropriation 
 of fluids for the support of Roman Catholic Separate Schools, beg to rej)ort : — 
 
 That the Roman Catholic Separate Schools, which have hitherto been recognized by 
 the Board, are No. 14, male and female Schools, in St. Patrick's Market, and No. 8, 
 female school, in Stanley Street ; and these have been under the direction of two Com- 
 mittees, appointed by the Board, under the compromise made with the Roman Catholic 
 inhabitants, in February, 1851. The amount Jipyiropriated last year for their supjwrt, 
 both Sections having been voluntarily deprived of the Schools for a time, was £196 5s. 
 but the sum appropriated was equal to two Schools, at an average rate of £110 each 
 per annum. 
 
 With regard to the claims of Separate Schools, established according to law, 
 they are entitled, by the 19th Section of the School Act, to share in the School Fund, 
 according to the average attendance of pupils (the mean average attendance in sunniier 
 and winter being taken), as compared with the whole average attendance at the Public 
 Schools.* 
 
 The School Fund consists of the Legislative grant, and a local assessment at least 
 equal to it in amount. If the assessment fall short of the grant, the amount of the 
 grant is proportionately reduced ; but if the assessment be gre.ttcr, the grant is not in- 
 creased. f These ecpial sums united, form, according to the interpretation of the law 
 
 » — — . — . ■ . ^ . -. ■■ - — I. I — ■■ 
 
 * Appendix No. 33. 
 
 f 40 Sec. of the Act, 13 an-' U, Vic. cap. 48. 
 
68 
 
 by the Cliicf" SiijH'iijitciKlciit of Ediiciilioii, the Coiniiioti School Fund named in the 
 Act, and is to he a])])!ied sok'Iy to thi- payment of tlie salaries (>f (jualilled Teachers. 
 If any locality choose to levy a School Tax exceedinji; thesnm re(|u'iied to seciu'c the 
 share of the (loveniment (Irani, that excess is at the disposal of tiie Ijoard oi J'rnstees, 
 for <;eiieral School ])urposes, and cannot, with any regard f(>r propriety or jnsticc, be 
 a])[)Iied to the snpport of S('l)aratc Schools, whether IVotcstant or Konian Catholic. 
 
 Yonr Connnittee, dcsirons to meet the claim of the lloman Catholic iniiubitants, so 
 far as dnty and law recpnre, endeavomed to form a correct judgment as to the relative 
 claims of those who demand Separate Schools, whether Protestant or lloman Catiiolic, 
 and the daimsof our entire population, for whose welfare the system of Public Instruction 
 has been estal lishcd. While vour Connnittee admit that the law makes provision for Se- 
 parate Scho( 's, to meet an exigency — namely, the anticipated intrusion of the religious 
 dogmas ;;f a majority n])on a minority ; yet no ground for such complaint exists, or has 
 been urged against the Public Schools of this City, — they having been established upon 
 a broad catholic basis, rendering the demand for Separate SchooTa utterly indefensible, 
 upon any sound princij)le of political justice or morality. 
 
 It is one of the recognized principles of civilized society, that all shall contribute to 
 establish and sustain institutions deemeil essential by the majority ; provided that the 
 demand does not infringe upon the rights of conscience. Thus, the charges attendant 
 upon every branch of public legislation, jurisprudence, or any other branch of social 
 economy, security of defence, arc, or should be borne ecpiitably by all the inhabitants 
 of the country, because all are partakers of the benefits resulting from the expenditure. 
 No gooil citizen complains of being taxed to make the laws of his country, to guard it 
 to extend the benefit of public economy throughout society. Religious distinctions 
 in such cases are unknown — the sectarian is wholly merged in the citizen. We never 
 hear of separate houses of legislation being demanded by Protestants or lloman 
 Catholics — separate Courts of .Justice — separate Houses of Correction, or any other of 
 the numerous arrangements which the peace, safety, and well-being of society demand. 
 There is a universal admission of a rectitude and necessity of united co-operation in 
 public affairs, and the submission to the burthen imposed to uphold those civil institu- 
 tions which the majority may deem essential to the social existence or welfare of the 
 whole. 
 
 Among all the instrumentalities employed to secure the moral elevation, and to pro- 
 mote the best interests of society, none appear to be more important than a wise and 
 liberal sysiem of jmblic instruction, I)ased upon moral law, but free from sectarianism. 
 To promote intelligence and virtue all admit is better than to punish ignorance and 
 crime ; to pay by public tax, for the moral and intellectual imjH'ovement of youth 
 (coimnittiag their instruction in dogmatic theology entitled to parents, guardians, and 
 religicms teachers), experience has proved to be the best public economy. The system 
 of Free Schools, recently established in the City, rests upon the recognition of an entire 
 equality of rights and privileges among all classes of citizens. The religious convictions 
 of all denominations have been sernpnlonsly respected, and their rights sedulously 
 guarded by the law under which the Schools have been established. No Protestant teacher 
 can thrust his religious opinions ni)on lloman Catholic youth, nor can a lloman Catholic 
 teacher upon T'rolestant youth. In this respect, our educational system differs essen- 
 tially from that of Lower Canada; there, the Schools of the majority are essentially sec- 
 tarian ; here, on the contrary, they arc emphatically imsectarianism, — they are secular 
 but moral. When, however, twelve resident householders of different religious faith to 
 the teacher a])pc)inted to aisy School Section, or twelve colored persons, a[)ply to a Board 
 of Trustees for a Sej)arate School, it must be granted, although there is no alleged 
 grounds for complaint. Still, in such cases the law evidently guards against such Schools 
 being recognizeil as u])on an ecpiality with the Public Schools generally. It concedes a 
 certain measure of public aid, but regards their existence as an undesirable exception 
 
to a {ijrcat jM'incipli', tlmt the State sliould aflfonl an ()|)p()rtiiiiiiy to every yoiitli la the 
 hmd, to eiijoy tlie heiiefit of a fr''0(l, moral, hiil sceiilar ediieation. 
 
 Voiir ('()i;iMiilfee would further remark, that as Jiomaii Catholies an> required as well 
 ns Protestants, aceording to the assessed vahic of their ])roj)erty, to eoiUrihiile tli( ir 
 share to the entire loenl tax levied for School purjioses, — not merely that which is lerpiind 
 to secure the share of the lii'i;'islalive <;-rant, hut any excess which tiie F'oard ofTrustees 
 may determine, your Committee aekn;)wled};e that they should share in the advantages 
 of the Avhole fund e(|ually with others — not, however, asKoman Catholics or I'rolestants — 
 not of the ])rofessors of any systeui of reliji,ious faith — hut aseiti/ens. If either ])arty, 
 niemhers of the hody politic, choose to isolate themselves from the rist of their fellow- 
 citizens on the {iround of holding to certain religious opinions, if they refuse to eo-oper- 
 ute in arrangements for the general good which do not at all infringe upon their rights 
 ns religious communities, and if thus they voluntarily forfeit the ailvantages they are 
 invited to enjoy ecjually with others, the hlame rests not with the ]5oard hut with Ineni- 
 selves. Neither the general nor the local (.iovernmentsof the State have any warrant to 
 make laws or to collect taxes to build ui) anvsvstem of religious faith whatever. Such 
 functions belong exclusively to the lawful authorities of religious eomnnmities. II 
 Roman Catholics or Protestants are to share in the moral and jjolitical advantages wliich 
 arise from the promotion of intelligence and virtue in society by means of unseetarian 
 Public Schools, they are recjuired in justice, to pay for sueli advantages in common 
 with their fellow-citizens ^enerallv. If either Protestant or Roman Catholic desire to 
 super-add other Scliools to indoctrinate tiieir youth with their own jieculiar religious 
 opinion, connnon justice and jmipriety demand that it siundd l)e done by their own 
 agencies, and entirely at their own cost. The juinciple is false which makes any secu- 
 lar (lovernmcnt to become a tax-gallierer for churches ; and it bears unjustly and griev- 
 o'.ioiy n])on those who conscientiously repudiate the interference of (lovernmcnt in pro- 
 viding for the teacliing of sectarian dogmas, or for the support of religious conununi- 
 tics. 
 
 Your conmiittee are fully convinced that justice to society — to every religions ])ersua- 
 sion — can never be fully enjoyed but upon tlie invulnerable gronnd so highly eulogized 
 by the ])resent Roman Catholic Archbisliop of New York — namely that civil govern- 
 ment has no moral righ,' to legislate upon the subject of religion. That eminent eccle- 
 siastic referriny; to the r'lilits of conscience in other countries liein;'' often secured l)y 
 affirmative laws, thus refers to the superior security afforded in the United States by 
 " a Constitutional "" negation of all])owers to legislate on so sacred a subject. His words 
 are — '' In other countries tliey arc sccm-ed by some positive statute — liere they are safer, 
 " under aco!istitutionai ])r()vision forbidding any sucli statute to be ever enacted. In other 
 " countries toleration wasgrantedby the civilauthority— here the great men who framed 
 " tlie Constitution saw,with keen and delicate ])crce])tion,tliat the right to toleiale implied 
 " the C(pKiI right to refuse tv/ieration ; and on behalf of the United States, as a Civil Cov- 
 *' ernment, they denied all right to legislate in the ])remises, one way or the other ; ' Con- 
 " gress shall make no law on the subject of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise 
 "thereof.' " 
 
 The vital princij^le involved in this interesting ([notation from the lecture of the 
 Archbishop is the only rightful and efficient guarantee for the protection of the rights 
 of consci(>nce. Let civil rulers cease from legislating uj)nn the subject of religion and 
 all will be safe. Religion wants no such aid ; it will flourish the better without it ; and 
 it will live when governments will die. 
 
 The School Act, in the opinion of your Commiltee, vi;)lates the piinciple in;'>;mnch 
 as it makes jirovision for the establishment of Sectarian Schools where no reasonable cause 
 exists for their establishment, that is, in cases where no rights arc violated, or ofTence 
 is committed against the religious oj)ini()ns or prejudices of the appliciints. The end 
 would have been better attained by a legislative negation of all powers to introduce 
 sectarian religious teaching in any of our Public Schools. 
 
 i; 
 
Accompanying tlic coiiiinmucafion of Mr. O'Ncil, siihinittcd to voiir Committee, 
 dated the 20tli April, is n stiiteineiit shewing tliat the vvliole uii!nl)er ot Uoinaii (JathoMc 
 Schools in the City amounts to seven, einhra^'ing eleven teaeluTs, one assislipjt, and 706 
 
 Enpils. These inehide the Schools taught by " the Christian JJrothers," and "the 
 oretto Female Schools." The cost of these us computed l)y the Roman Catholic Trus- 
 tees, reckoning the same rate of expenditure as is recpiired for ;he support of other 
 schools, embracing Teachers' salaries, rent, and fuel, amoimts to jGllSO. This is pre- 
 sented to the Board, no doubt, as n mere ground for calculation, but afford no proper 
 data for the c(miputati(m of the amount which the parties may legally claim for the 
 support of the Separate Schools rccogni/ed by the JJoard. 
 
 In estimating the amount legally due to the lloman Catholic Trustees, assuminfr 
 the School Fund to be the (jiovernment aj)propriation and an etpiivalent amount raiseu 
 by assessment (which is the evident meaning of the Act) ; reckoning the total fund at 
 £1000, and their proportion according to the average attendance as shewn by the 
 official returns) ttb(mt l-14th the sum would be only £70. But assmiiing that the 
 School Fund embraced the Government appropriation, and the whole of the local 
 assessments for School purjioses (which your Conunittec do not allow) the sum appor- 
 tioned to the lloman Catholic Separate Schools, under the compromise of last year, ex- 
 ceeded not only the amount to which they were legally entitle(l, but the whole amount 
 of the School tax, paid by the lloman Catholic inhabitants of the City. 
 
 From a recent return submitted to this Board by its Secretary, after much tedious 
 investigation, the following facts gatliered from authentic statistical documents, exhibit 
 that the Roman Catholic inhabitants of the City, while reckoned at uj)war(ls of one-fourth 
 ot the population, contribute only about one-twelfth of the taxation. From the return 
 refcrrea to, your Conmiittee find that the toUiiannnul value of the taxable property in 
 the City amounts to £180,083 5s. : — of this the proportion held by lloman Catholics is 
 £15,750 10s. The total nctt amount of School tax for last year, at 2Jd. currency, in llie 
 pound, was £1800 : the nett proportion contributed by the lloman Catholic inhabitants 
 was £156 10s. Were the sum tluis contributed by the lloman Catholic inhabitants to 
 be placed at the disposal of the Committee now superintending their Separate Schools 
 — together with their legal share of the Legislative grant — the sum would fall short of 
 £200 : — last year the amount was rated by comj)romise at £220.* 
 
 While your Comni''^tec cannot too strongly repudiate the principle recognized by 
 the present School Act, of giving a Legislative sanction to Separate Schools, without any 
 just cause for their existence (as in Lower Canada,) they would seek most earnestly, 
 but by other and better means, to guard the rights of every class in the community. 
 Your Committee fear that to continue to carry out the principle that the State should 
 provide means to inculcate sectarian religious dogmas in our Public Schools, will result, 
 not only in the various Boards of Trustees being required, according to the plainest 
 principles of political justice, to meet the demand of other religious bodies for the es- 
 tabhshment of denominational Schools, but perhaps, even, in the entire destruction of 
 our educational system. 
 
 Your Committee having reason to believe that some members of the Board regard 
 the compromise of last year, relative to the Separate Schools, as having extended, morally 
 into this: and having given their views upon the case at some lengh, while they cannot 
 recommend an appropriation beyond that which the law evidently allows, deem it to 
 be their duty to commit the adjudication of the amount to the whole Board. 
 All which is respectfully submit<^ed. 
 
 J. LESSLIE, Chirman, 
 WM. McMASTER, 
 T>. PATERSON, 
 WILLIAM SHEPPERD, 
 WILLIAM HALL. 
 
 * Iti'fencd to in ihe Correspondence, Letter VIIL 
 
61 
 
 Aflcr soinc iviiuulxs, Mr, Lc's.slic moved tin* mloption of tlio I{t'j)ort, witli ii view to 
 the f|Uosti()ii lu'iiij;- siibiiilUcd to the Law OllicerH of the Crown for llieir opinion, whieh 
 was carried. 
 
 A resolution was then ])iissed, unthori/.inj^ the Chuirnian of the Board to submit 
 the matter to the Attorney (jeneral. 
 
 The Board tlien adjourned. 
 
 No. 31. Loiter from the Chief Superintendent of Scliools, to the Chairman of the 
 Board of Sihool Trustees, 1'oronto, in repl^- to his letter, (No. 27.) 
 
 Education Ofpick, 
 • TouoNTo, 1th July, 1852. 
 
 Sir, — I have the honor to acknowled<;e the receipt of your Unter of the 2nd ultimo, 
 requesting]; me to apply to the Attorney CJeneral, for his opinion on the subject of dif- 
 ference, respecting tlic imj)ort of the tenn, Coimnon School Fund, in the School Act, 
 between the Board of School 'Trustees for tiie City of Toronto, and the Trustees of one 
 of the Roman Catholic Separate Schools in the City. I have brou<^ht the legal (juestion 
 involved under the notice of tiie Honorable the Attorney Genen i, and I have to state 
 for the information of the Board over which you preside, that the Attorney (Jeneral 
 does not consider it compatible with his official duties, to give an opinion on such a 
 (question under the circumstances. 
 
 The Attorney General would feel it his duty, when oflicially called upon, to givehia 
 opinion and advice to the heads of Public ]\!partments, for their guidance in doubtful 
 legal (jnestions ; but he considers it an undue interference with the administration of 
 the law, and the duties of the Courts of Justice, to give an official opinion on a matter 
 which may be brought by the parties concerned l)efore the legal tribunals of the 
 Coimtry, and respecting whieh Ins opinion would not have the authority of a legal 
 decision in settling the question of law at issue between the Board of School Trustees, 
 for the City of Toronto, and the Trustees of the Separate School referred to. 
 
 I have the honor to be. 
 Sir, 
 Your obedient servant, 
 
 Joshua G. Beard, Esquire, 
 
 Chairman, Board of School Trustees, 
 Toronto. 
 
 (Signed,) 
 
 E. RYERSON. 
 
No. 3-2. 
 
 i 
 
 TaiilK .slu'wlng till' iiiiiiil)i'r of I'roti'staiit aiul I'onmn Catliorur Rcparalc Si'IiooIh 
 ill I'ppcr Caiiatla, (Uirin^ tlu; yvi\r» \HoO and l.SiJl.* 
 
 Coimty. 
 
 Lucds 
 
 Ronfrow. . 
 Addiiij^toQ 
 Fi'ontouiio 
 
 llasLiujjs.. 
 
 Do. ,. 
 Do. .. 
 
 Prince E<lwiir(l . 
 Noitliumlieilnnd 
 Do. 
 
 Durham. 
 Vovk..., 
 Siiiiciie . . 
 
 TowubUip. 
 
 WoMt Ilawkcsbiiry. , . . 
 Kitloy 
 
 Ii<'r(ls lllld FjHIlsdown / 
 
 Ifciir J 
 
 I'uckcnhaiii 
 
 ^)l'lll^itow^ 
 
 Kiiig.sl.iiu 
 
 Riiwdoa 
 
 Thiirlow 
 
 Tyoudiimgii 
 
 Athol.. 
 
 Cniiniilu' 
 
 Murray. 
 
 Cavan. . . . 
 
 ICtobiooke. 
 Medonto , 
 
 Went worth Ancnstor . , 
 
 Do. Glandford 
 
 Lincoln. 
 
 Do. . 
 
 Norfolk 
 
 Oxford. 
 
 Clinton . . . . 
 
 Cri'iiiisliy.. . . 
 Walsiiii^h.'iin 
 Burford 
 
 1U50. 
 
 I 
 
 1 
 
 
 
 1851. 
 
 I 
 
 llctnurks. 
 
 Not r.'ixprtod in IH51. 
 Ei<tal)li.tlu'd in 1811. 
 
 Kstablirthcd iHt May, 1851. 
 
 Not reported in 1861. 
 Do do do. 
 
 TluH School was not returned in the 
 eoluMin for " Hipnratr SifioolH" intiio 
 Ijoeiil Sui)eriiiteudent'n Report for 
 1H50. Kutahlished nlxiut 1848. 
 
 Supposed to have he<'n a Ronuiii Catho- 
 lic Separate School, not reported in 
 1851. 
 
 Krttal.lishod 1st April. 1850. 
 
 Su|)po8ed to have been Protestant and 
 Roman Calholic Separate Schools, 
 as Teachers belonging to both per- 
 suasions were returned in the sec- 
 tions reported as " Separate" iu 1860. 
 Not reported in 1851. 
 
 N(jt reported in 1851. 
 D(» do do. 
 
 Supposed to have been two Protestant 
 and one Roman Catholic Separate 
 Sihools, us Teachers belongnig to 
 both persuasions were returned in 
 the sections reported as "Si'jiarate" 
 in 1850. Not reported iu 1851. 
 
 Not reported in 18.")1. 
 
 Fstablished in 1847 or 1848. 
 
 This was returned as a Pnitestant Sepa- 
 rate School, in 1850, and in his Repoit 
 of 1851, the local Superintendent re- 
 marks, that " in eonseijiience of a dis- 
 agreement between the Truste(>8 and 
 people of the section, the ] iiblic 
 t/'onunon S(!h<iol was not in operation 
 during the year ; but the children 
 attended a private School which had 
 its origin in a Denominational School 
 iu 1850. 
 
 Not reported in 1851. 
 
 Supposed to have been Protestant and 
 Romati Catholic Schools, as Tcachern 
 belonging to both persuasions were 
 returned in the sections repoi ted ae 
 " Separate," iu 1850. Not reported iu 
 1851. 
 
 Reports a Dutch School iu 1851. 
 
 Not reported in 1851. 
 Do do do. 
 
 Do do do. 
 
 * Referred to in the Correspondence, Letters III, VI and XI. 
 
63 
 
 No. :i'2. 
 
 Tahi.k slipwiiij^ llic number of Protosfaiit and llninaii Ciitliolic Sep irate Sclmnls in 
 
 Upper Canada, i<ir.~-{('()nlimn(l.) 
 
 CViuuty. 
 
 Township. 
 
 Oxford N(>rwi<'h , 
 
 Do . . . 
 
 Waterloo. 
 Do . 
 
 Do 
 Do. 
 
 Middlcsox 
 
 Do 
 
 Do 
 
 Do 
 
 Perth 
 
 Essex 
 
 Do 
 
 City of Toronto . , 
 City of KiugHtoii . 
 
 Knttt Oxford. 
 
 Michol 
 
 Wuturloo. . . 
 
 WcUcHlcy . 
 
 Wihnot 
 
 Mnlulii(U> 
 
 Southwold 
 
 Wcstn\inster. . . 
 
 Yimnouth 
 
 South KuHthopo. 
 
 Miiidstono 
 
 Sandwich 
 
 City of IIiiniilt(jn . . 
 Town of ricton. . . . 
 Total . 
 
 \HW. 
 
 a 
 
 I 
 
 -2o 
 
 21 
 
 1861. 
 
 I 
 
 RciniirkH. 
 
 10 
 
 Not r<'[H)rti(i in 1^,11. 
 
 Do do do. 
 
 i)is('iintiniii'd in I^.M. 
 Ociiiiiui IinnKin l"iillii'li(' Spnnnito 
 
 Sihnnl. I'slaMishi'd ill IHI7. Now in 
 
 tho Villut,'i! of l'ri'.ston. 
 Two lloniun ('iithniii^ 'rriii'licrs oio r«- 
 
 |)orl('d in the oiii' Hfcticm. 
 I'.stiiblisliL'd siiino yt'iirs aj^o. 
 Not r('iM>rf('(l in 1851. 
 
 l)o do do. 
 
 ^EstubliHhcd in 1817. 
 
 !Kstal)li»hcd in 181!!. 
 
 |l'Mai)li-li.Mi in lH.-)ii. 
 
 'Kstiililisii.'d ill 1HI.»). 
 
 ;K-*tal)lisii.'d in 1S1',(. 
 
 Tlic Uiiaid iif Sc.'liool TnistpcH in roport- 
 iiiff ft Rninau Catlmlic So|)uiatc 
 Schnoliiitiio Citv iiilS,-,!, sti.l.s that 
 "Thoi'o is, |)rop('ilv s|H'iildmr. no Sc- 
 jiaratf Sciiool. All tho Trai'lii'iK are 
 cnf{ii>,'i'(l liy tho Hoaid, and hold ccr- 
 tiliciitfrt fi'iini tho C'liiiiity linind df 
 l'iihli(! Iiisti'iiotiiin. Tho IJi'tiirn is 
 niiido on aoi'oinit of tlio ooiisoii iitiotm 
 soi'uplcs of Bonio of tho itoard, who 
 consulor tliut as this Sohool was 
 taiii,dit liy two Nuns, and is piacti- 
 oally a Dononiinational School, it 
 nnist also ho a Si'piiiato School. 
 
 |E.-talili?hoi[ almnt lfsl8, lail wa.>- not le- 
 
 i ported in I8."i). 
 
 Msstalilishod in 1818. 
 
 I 
 
 Tlio lioiniin Catholic Sopnrato Schools 
 i.i Cliiitliani and liclicvillc aro not 
 ropoi'tod in tliis talih\ as they did 
 not «;o into ojioratiou until the 25th 
 Doccmbor, 1851. 
 
 Educfttion Offioo, 
 
 Torouto, 18th September, 1852. 
 
 Note.— The following Table shews the number of Separate Schools reportcii during the years 1817, isl8, 1840, ih.'.O, anU 
 
 1851 :— 
 
 Number of 
 Year. Separate Schools. 
 
 1847 41 
 
 ) The Pupcrintondent of Common Schools for the Ilastcm Mistrict having made an 
 
 1849 31 I ,. .^^ • ^jj Kcport for 1M9, 59 Separate Schools were reported for that 
 
 IhSO 46 J y^ 
 
 1851 20 
 
r 
 
 C4 
 
 No. '-)'.]. — I'UkvisioNS of tlic Law uiul ollicial Ucgiiliiticms rchilin^ lo Sipaialc 
 Scliooitt ill r|i|H>i' Ciiiiiula. 
 
 Provisiuiis ot (lit* law, 13tli ami 14tli Victoria, chaiiter 48. 
 
 a. XIV. And be it eiincti'd, That no toniftn hoolin in the Kii^;lish hraiu-hi'N of 
 education shall he isHticd in any Model or Coininon School, wilhont the cxjm'cnm lu-i'ini.xHion 
 of the Coiiiicil of l'ui»lic Instnictioii ; nor Nhall any piipil in any such School he reiinircd 
 to read or "iiidy in or from any religious hook, or join in any exercise of devotion or 
 religion, svhii-h shiill he objected to by his or her parents or guardian.^ ; J'rovidcMl 
 always, thnt within thi:H limitation, mi|)il« Hhall be allowed to receive such rcligioiw 
 instruction as tln-ir parents and giiarlians shall desire, according to the gcnenti regiila- 
 tionti which shall be provided according lo law. 
 
 /). XIX. And be it enacted,. That it shall bo the duty of the Municipal Council of 
 any Township, and of the Hoard of School Trusters and (Jilv, Town, or iiicorj)oratcd 
 Village, on the application in writing of twelve or more rcsidcnl heads of families, to 
 authori/.c tlu' csliiblishnient of one or more Separate Schools for Protestants, Jioinan 
 Catholics or colored people, and, in such case, it shall j)rescribe the limits of the 
 divisions or sectionn for such Schools, and shall make the same provision for th<! holding 
 of ttu' fiiM meeting for the election of Trustcss of each such Separate School or Schools, 
 us is j)rovl led in the fourth Section of this Act, for liohUng the first School meeting in 
 a new School Section ; I'rovided always, that each such Separate School shall g«) into 
 operation at the same time with alterations in School Sections, and shall be under the 
 same regulations in respect to the persons f()r whom such School is permitted to be es- 
 tablislieil, as are Common Schools generally ; IVovideil secondly, that none but 
 colored people shall be allowed to vote for the election of Trustees of the Separate 
 School for their children, and none but the ])arlies petitioning for the establisment of, 
 or sending children to a Separate Protestant or Roman (Jatholie School, shall vote ai 
 the election of Trustees of such School ; Provided thirdly, thct each such Separate 
 Protestant, or Roman Cathohc, or colored School shall be entitled to share in the 
 School Fund according to the average attendance v)f jjupils attending each such Separate 
 School, (the mean attendance of pupils for both summer and winter being taken,) and 
 compared with the wliole average attendance of ])upils attending the Common Schools 
 in such City, Town, Village or Township; Provided fourthly, that no Protestant 
 Separate School shall be allowed in any School Division except when the Teacher of the 
 Common School is a R unaii Catholic, nor shall any Roman Colholic Separate School 
 be allowed except when the Teacher of a Common School is a Protestant; Provided 
 fifthly, that the Trustees of the Common School Sections within the limits of which 
 such Separate School Section or Sections shall have been formed, shall not include the 
 children attending such Separate School or Schools, in their return of children of School 
 age residing in their School Sections. 
 
 No. 34. Declaratory Act, 14th and 15th Victoria, chapter 41, relating to Separate 
 Schools in Cities and Towns in Upper Canada.* 
 
 Whereas it is desirable to remove doubts which have arisen in regard to certain 
 provisions of the nineteenth Section of an Act passed by the Parliament of this Province, 
 in the Sessi(m thereof held in the thirteenth and fourteenth years of Her Majesty's 
 Reign, intituled, " An Act for the hotter cshihHshment and maintenance of Common Schools in 
 " Upper Canada;-^ and whereas it is expedient to deprive any of the parties concerned 
 of rights which they have enjoyed under preceding Scnool Acts for Upper Canada : Be it 
 therefore enacted by the Queen's most Excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and 
 consent of the Legislative Council and of the Legislative Assembly of the Province of 
 Canada, constituted and assembled by virtue of and under the authority of an Act 
 passed in the Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, and 
 
 • Referred to in the Correspondence, Letter XI, Postscript. 
 
65 
 
 8i'[>aruic 
 
 inchc'H of 
 'I'iniHNioii 
 riM mired 
 votioii or 
 J'rovidt'd 
 r('ii|{i<)ii!4 
 tl rcyidii- 
 
 'ouiiiil of 
 
 )rju»riitcd 
 
 iiilii's, to 
 Jloinari 
 
 tH of the 
 Iiolding 
 Schools, 
 lectin^ in 
 II f^o into 
 iiuItT the 
 
 to he f'8- 
 iioiie hut 
 
 Si'piirate 
 isincnt of, 
 iill vote ut 
 
 Si'|)unvtr 
 re ill the 
 I SejmrHte 
 ken,) and 
 I Schools 
 L*rote.stant 
 her of the 
 itc School 
 
 IVovided 
 
 of which 
 lehide tlie 
 
 of School 
 
 ) Separate 
 
 to certain 
 I'rovincc, 
 Majcst)''s 
 Schools in 
 concerned 
 »da : Be it 
 idvicc and 
 rovincc of 
 of an Act 
 iland, and 
 
 intituled, '* An Art (n rf-nnite thr Provhires of Ufjjur and Lower Oauwln, and for the 
 " Govfnmnif of (yandda,'^ and it ii* herehy enacted hy the authority of the Hanjc, 
 Thttt each of the jmrties iij)|)lvin>; aceorihn|^ to the provisions of the said Act, shuji be 
 entitled to have a Separate School in each ward, or in t\V(» or more wards united, as saiit 
 piuty ov parties shall iudge expedient, in each City or Town in I pfx-r (/anada; Pro- 
 vided always, that each such School in its estahlishinent and operations shall he siihjecl 
 to all the conditions and olili^ations, and entitled to all the advantages imposed and con- 
 ferred upon Separate Sehoolh I y the Haid nineteenth Section of the said Act. 
 
 No. .%. OHicial Ke^^nlations, ^c., adopted hy the Council of hihlir Instri.-etion on 
 the 6th (lav of Anfrnst, lH50. 
 
 *'* * *■ * # ^ * ^ 
 
 Section 5. Constitution and (lovernment of Schools in respect to reliijious and 
 moral instruction.* 
 
 As Christianity is tl)e hasis of our whole system of elementary education, thai 
 principle should pervade it throughout ; where it cannot he carried out m Mixed Schools 
 to the satisfaction of both lloman Catholics anil rr()leslants, the law provides for the 
 (establishment of Separate Schools ; and the Conmion School Act, 14th Section, securinp 
 individual right as well as recognizini^ Christianity, provides, " That ni any Model or 
 Common Scliool established under tliis Act, no child sliall be required to read or stutlv 
 in or from any reli}i;ious book, or to join in any exercise of devotion or relij^ion, which 
 shall be objected to by his or her parf 'Ms or guardians ; Provided always, that within 
 this limitation, ])n|)ils shall be allowed lo receive such reli<j;ious instruction as their 
 parents or {guardians sliall desire, according to the general regulations, which shall be 
 provided according to law." 
 
 In the section of tlie Act thus quoted, the prineiple of religions instruction in the 
 Schools is recognized, the restriction within wliieh it is to be given is stated, and the 
 exclusive right of each parent and guardian on the subject is secured, withotit any 
 interposition from Ti'ustees, Superintendents, or the Goverinnent itself. 
 
 The Common School being a day, and not a boarding School, rules arising from 
 domestic relations and duties are not required ; and i\ir. the pupils are under the care of 
 their parents and guardians on Sabbaths, no regulations are called for in respect to their 
 attenilance at public worship. 
 
 In re;i;ard to the nature and extent of the daily religious f>xerciscs of the Seliool, 
 and the sj)eeial religious instruction given to ])upils, the Council of Public Instruction 
 for Upper Canada makes the following regulations and recommendations : 
 
 1. The public religious exercises of each School shall be a matter of mutual volun- 
 tary arrangement between the Trustees and Teacher ; and it shall be a \natter of nuitual 
 voluntary arrangement between the Teacher and j)urent or guardian of each pupil, as to 
 whether he shall hear such pupil recite from the scriptures or catechism, or other sum- 
 mary of religious doctrine and duty of the persuasion of such j)arent or guardian. 
 Such recitations, however, .ire not to interfere Avith the regular exercises of the School. 
 
 2. Tint the principles of religion and morality should be inculcated upon all the 
 pupils of the School. What the Commissioners of national education in Ireland state 
 as existing in Schools under their charge, should characterize the instruction given in 
 each School in Upper Canada. 
 
 The Commissioners state, that " in the National Schools, the importance of religion 
 is constantly impressed upon the minds of children, through the works calculated to 
 promote good prmciples and fill the heart with love for religion, but which are so com- 
 
 RefeiTcd in the Correspondence, Letter V. 
 
 B 
 
T 
 
 ; b 
 
 66 
 
 piled as not to clash with the doctrines of any particular class of Christians." In each 
 .School the Teacher should cxe/t his best enclcavors, both hy exmnplc and precept, to 
 im oress upon the minds of all children and youth committed to his care and mstruction, 
 the principles of piety, justice, and a sacred reg.ird to truth; love to their countr}', 
 humanity, and universal benevolence, sobriety, industry, frugality chastity, mo deration 
 and tcmnerance, and those other virtues which are the ornament ot society, and on which 
 a free constitution of government is founded ; and it is the duty of each Teacher to 
 endeavor to lead his pupils, as their ages and capacities will admit, into a clear under- 
 ♦«tanding of the tendencies of tK: above-mentioned virtues, in order to preserve and 
 perfect the blessings of law and liberty, as well as tw promote their future happiness, 
 and also to point out to them the evil tendency of tlie opposite vices. 
 By order of the Council of Public Instruction for Upper Canada. 
 
 (Signed,) J. GEORGE IIODGINS, 
 
 Recording Gierke. PL. 
 
 No. 36. Fortieth Section of the School Act, (13 and 14 Victoria, chapter 48) , 
 defining what shall constitute the Common School Fund of each County, Township, 
 City, Town^ and Village iu Upper Canada, frequently referred to in the foregoing 
 Correspondence and Appendix. 
 
 XL. And be it enacted, .!iat the sum of money apportioned annually by the Chief 
 Superintendent of Schools to each County, Township, City, Town or Village, and at 
 least an equal sum raised annually by local assessment, shall constitute the Commoji 
 School Fund of such County, Townsliip, City, Town or Village, and shall be expended 
 for no other purpose than that of paying the salaries of qualified Teaciicrs of Common 
 Schools ; Provided always, that no County, City, Town or Village shall be entitled to a 
 share of the Legislative School grant without raising by assessment a sum at least equal 
 (clear of all charges for collection) to the share of the said School grant apportioned to 
 it ; and provided also, that should the x.iunicipal Corporation of any County, City, Town 
 or Village, raise in any one year a less sum than that apportioned to it out of the 
 Legislative School gran*, the Chief Superintendent of Schools shall deduct a sum equal 
 to the deficiency, from the apportionment of such County, City, Town or Village, in the 
 following year. 
 
 
 "frr: 
 
.n caclk 
 opt, to 
 ruction, 
 ountry, 
 ieration 
 1 which 
 cher to 
 undcr- 
 rve and 
 ppiness, 
 
 C.PL. 
 
 •tor 48) ,- 
 
 >wnship, 
 
 jrcgoiiig 
 
 ho C!iicf 
 , and at 
 Cnmmoji 
 xpendcd 
 Common 
 tied to a 
 ast equal 
 tioned to 
 ty, Town 
 It of the 
 im c{]ual 
 ge, in the 
 
 I