I-IASZAR.D’S G A Z |*I'l"I‘ia,

OCTOBER 11.

wine aged female. farmer's daughter, or some young woman from a nei hbcruig town, who mnnot find any better emp oyinent for four or Ive of the summer months; and thus, the sys- tem goes on from ear to year. With us, no one can teach wi out having first undergone an examination, and chtsined a licence: every an ent must be for 12 months at least, while men of our Teachers remain in the same mites for t rec or four years ; and some a much ger period. Of course, our system has _not arrived ata state of perfection ; it is susceptible ofiin rovement, as all human institutions are. But t at we are alive to this fact, is shewn by our being assembled here this evening. _ _ peat it,—the basis of our_System of Education is sound, without any radical defect. and equal to anythin of the kind with which 1 am acquaint- ed in ct er countries. This excellence is owing to the liberal fooling on which our School Sys- tem is placed, byt c Legislature, in the first instance ; and, in the next lace, to the impor- tial and able manner in which it is adminis- tered. Hence it is, that it challenges the sup- port and sympathy of all classes without dis- _ tinction; and so long as our Act for the Encou- idea of preparing, and laying before our Legis- rugonint of Education shall be conceived in the lature, a measure for the establishment of a same spirit. and administered with the some system of Free Education throughout the Colo- impartinliiy, we shall have little to apprehend ny, took fixed mo: in my mind. In the Legis- for the future of our Island. lative Session after my return from the States,

The learned gentleman concluded with It well- the Act of Education then in operation would turned and wellmerited com liment to the

expire: and, in order that l might have_time

ladies,reniarkin on the matciless display of to perfect my ooheme,| succeeded in indu-

beauiy prescnte by the gallery. cing the Legislature to continue that Act for

[This speech wss—-as itwell merited to be— another year. My_ intention having become

listened to with profound attention through- public. there was iniinediatcly spread shroud.

out; and the learned entleman, on its conclu- through jealousy and ignorance, a report that, sion, was warmly app auded.]

for the purpose of sustuinin my system, a His Excsnuscv, in submitting the Resolution, "‘”“°“' '4“ W°“ld b° "“P°'° “ °“ "M f"' observed that it was scarcely necessary for him

mers ; and, groundless and absur as it wits, it to ask, in the usual way, whether " mu “,9 found credence among some of the least intel- leasure of the Meeting to agree to it: and, as

li nt among the co le._ With a view to e anticipated, it was carried unanimously. counteract the efiects 0 this baseless rumour, with the ‘ "‘ ‘ -' “ I ' Iwas instrumental in causing the Distrilpt Tog- '’ ". . hers themselves to take action upon t a su - dih. Resolved, That the thanks of this Meeting 9 , - - g are due to the Committee of Management for their Jen’ find’ in pursuance of In ‘dnrhumen excellent arrangements for this Soiree.

calling them together, in order that they might _ _ calmly deliberate upon the scheme, and express Th” "0-‘L C°"°-‘""- S‘°""“Wr "1 °°“‘Pl.Y“"8 their opinions concerning it,a lar number ‘ml ‘he ‘-'0“ °f Hi‘ E‘°°"°“°.Y *0 Pl'°P°9° Fl” of tliem,in which were to be found some of the ‘b°V° R°'°l‘“i°“v 'P°k° i“ ii“ l°“°“'“"E most experienced and ablest members of the “Tm” 5-‘ “profession—held a meeting in r. a Your Excellency, Ladies and Gentlemen. I school-rooin, which meeting I attended,in com- account this day the proudest of my life: for, pliaince with an invitatoin, sent to me directly in the inau uration of the Charlottetown Nor- from it, that I would do so, for the purpose of mal and Model Scliool.I behold the com letion, tinting to it clearly. and as fully as possible, as a means for the universal diflusiou oI)know- the nature iind probable bearing of my inten- Iedge among the youth of this colony, of the (led measure. The invitation I cheerfully s stem of Free Lducation which I have had accepted; and, having met the assembled Tea- t e great honour of being rivile d to intro- chers, I gave them,as they had requested and duce into this my native is and. cannot but cxpectedl would. a full exposition of my s s- remember,thut I had a great deal of trouble in teni, stating to them the probable amount of bringing forward and carryin the measure in the salaries which would be received by them, the Legislature ; but I feel niysclfamply repaid under its operation, and showing that so light for my labors by the crownin proceeding of would be the burthen individually im osed this day. The obstacles whic I had to en- upon parents, thatjt would be fully entitled to counter, and the impediments which were the name of"I‘he Free Education System’. thrown in my way, were mainly from without; My exposition was well received by the meet- but the good sense of the poo le finally trium- ing; and I have reason to believe that, not only phed over the misrepresentations of prejudice 5 was every one presentoonvinced b itofthe wis- and jealousy, and, in the end, the mcasure,dom of the scheme, and ofits er oct ractica- was, happily, called for by the great body ofibilit withoutaddiiigtotlie in ividual urthens the people. 'I‘o the measure, in the Legislature of tie people; but also fully impressed with there was never evinced by any, a directly . the conviction that, were the scheme curried hostile spirit, or any thing like positive oppo-'into elfect, it would not only materially im- sition; although it was seriously uestioned, prove the condition of District 'l‘oacliers an by some of its members, whether t e revenue elevate their position asa professional body,hut and resources of the Colony could bear the would also reduce, to what might be esteemed additional burthen which, it was presumed, nothing butn mere nominal exaction, the lor- the establishment of the system would im ose mer expense of public instruction ; as the tax and entail upon them. Some individua s, I to be levied upon l:in-l-holders for the support regret to have to say, carried on, either from of the Free System, would amount to no more ignorance. or something less pardonalile, a re- than about one-lialfponny an acre. Thus en- gular agitation throughout the country against lightened upon the question, the Teachers who my educational scheme; and were. for a time, attended that meetin returned to their several to some extent successful in creating a spirit Districts, and were, fbelieve, by their faithful of hostility to it, nmon the least informed of’ representations, concerning the scheme, among our community. Con dent, however, in the the people, the means of leading many who goodness and wisdom of the measure, pcrse- were previously either adverse to. or doubtful yercd, nothing daunted by such opposition ; and concerning the propriety and practicability of in the end, success crowned my endesvorswthe contemplated measure, to comprehend its Throughout the country, my most valuable V resl merits, and to appreciate, in some degree,

so. Accordingly my temporary friend andl repaired to the school ; and, after having been gratified by an inspection of it. lnaturally enquired, how itwas suppori»0d- To my sur- prise, my friend said, “ there is an old gentle-

acrcs of land in the district, and we contrive make him y for the education of our chil- dren.” On my further enquiring how they con- trived to extract so great a ii from_ the pro- prietor, I was told it was by im sing a tax upon his land for the support of _ucation._ I then enquired, whether parents paid any thing at all in the shape of tuition fees; and was in- formed that the only expense falling. upon rents, besides the trifling tax u it their own and, was what they paid for oks, school stationsry,and the findingof fuel ; and the great wish of most of them was. that they had more children to receive the benefit of such ratui- tous education. The information w ich I received upon this occasion, at once_ 0 ned my eyes to what might be done,in a similar we , in this colony; and, from that moment, t e

I." r

auxiliaries in duly informing the public mind, the great advantages to the whole community‘

concerning the benefits to all, which would , which would resu tfrom its being broughtiuto accrue from the measure, should it be ado ted ‘ gperation. The better understanding concer- by the Legislature and carried into operation, ing the System and the means in contemplation were the District Teachers; and I now be for its support, which was thus in a manner leave to tender to them m respectful an infused into the public mind, caused many grateful acknowledgments, or the great and 1 Petitions to hesent up to the Legislature, pray- veryvaluahle assistance they, therehy,rendered'ing for the enactment of the measure, on the ins towards the establishment of m educati-ibasis on which I had proposed it. It is true. anal views. Some years a , but on y a short; however, that some Petitions, presented to the

be ore introduced t e measure to thai Legislature concerning it, were adverse to the '

consideration of our Legislature, I was travel-, scheme; and others. although not dirsctl lingin the United States; my aim in doing so , against it, were not, in the working ofit whic being to_niskc_ myself acquainted, by personal they recommended, quite in harmony with the ebsss-vstion,witli some of the many innovations I irit of the measure as originall conceived. or improvements, for whiohthe intelligent and ulicisnt for the present to say Iurther con- sn ‘ of the American Union osruing the rise, ess, and establishment have, for several years. been so justly cslehro. of the measure, thrifi was, with the general ted. In the progress of my tour, it was my concurrence of the epic, eventually carried fortune, when in the State of Ohio, to fall in triumphantly through the Legislature. I say with a very intelligent, eonversible, and eon. triumphantly, not with reference to any party snunieative gsntiemsn,with whomlformed some triumph obtained b its pnllge; for. greatly gggrea ofintisinoy. On one on,when we to the credit of tdc Le islsture, all parties been (real convening on di rent suhjeets therein gave their free a full sanction to the connected wit liapicvsment, he asked principles involved in it, and lent their aid to me if I would like to visit their school. In make itas perfseta measure as possible. Its‘ reply, I told him, I would be very glad to do 3 jmsssgs, however, was ssrtainlya triumph; but

man, who is the proprietor of 8000 or 10000 eeed

it was a triumph in which all had reason to

rejoice ; for it was the triumph of intelligence,

liberalit and pro css, over i cranes, error,

and prejudice.-I ave ggsst p sssurs in sssisg

so many of our District eaohers present at the

inauguration of this Institution ; and the pro- ings of this day, will, I trust, Ion be re- membered by them with feelings of slight;

for, in them, the behold at once the triumph of liberality an intelligence amongst us, and witness the rateful homage which is paid to learning, am? the respect which is most wil-

lingly accorded to those whose most important an responsible roviiicc it is to impart it to the youth of the golony. The adoption of the Resolution which I hold in my hand, I have much pleasure in movin . That the thanks of this meeting are decided y due to the Commit- the of Management, must be evident to all here present. In the srrsn ments and prepa- rations msde by them, or the reception.

accommodation, and entertainment of the meeting, all has been done which propriety, judgment and 0d taste required; and this, I doubt not, wilIobe full scknowled d by the manner in which this esolution s all be re- ceived.—-When I knew that the Normal School was to be 0 ned at this time. I was anxious that it shou d be done in as public a manner as possible, and with all the ceremony and obser- vances due to so great an event; and that it should be, not merely an act of the Master of the Institution, and the knowledge of it be confined to some hundred individuals, or so, in the country; but that it should be so conducted as to excite the general interest and sympathies of the community on behalf of the future pros- perity of the Institution. I, therefore, thought that, to such end, it would be best to issue cards of invitation to all the District School- masters and Mistresses throughout the Colony, the doin of which would also prove an intima- tion of t e approaching event, to many whose presence on t is occasion would be desirsblc,on account oftheir influential position in the coun- try, and their appreciation of education; and now,in this inaugural demonstration ,ws have a most gratifying result of such a course, in the lsr attendance of most respectable and intel- ligent individuals from dilerent sections of the country, who, on their return to their several

5 localities, will._no doubt, speak with enthusi-

sstic approbation of the proceedings and tri- umph of this day. I am certainly very rate- ful—-as I am sure others who have direct y ex- erted themselves in promoting the cat event ofthis day, also arc—lor the atten ance of so many friends of the Institution from the coun- try. Sonic remarks have been made respecting the smallness of the Salaries allowed to our Teachers under the Educational Act; but no discontent on that account ought to be mani- fested by them,or sought to be excited amongst

sou ht to aid in the adoption of the measure by the egislature, they had been made acquain- ted with what would, in all probability be the inoximum and minimum of their salaries, and were generally satisfied on that head. With reference to this subject, I will now observe only, that all our colonial interests have, of late, received a progressive increase, and all our prospects, with regard to the future are cheering and bright : let our Di-trict Teachers, therefore, continue to devote themselves faith- fully and zealously to the discharge of the im- poriant duties of their honorable profession; and. doing so, feel satisfied that the community will eveniuall make them sharers in the fruits of the Island a increasing prosperit .—In the your 1804, the first step towards me ing some provision for the encoiirngenient of education in this colony, was mode by the Secretary of State's, giving authority, by acertaiii dt-spatcb to the Governor of the Colony at that time, to appropriate the Rent of the Warren Farm, (government property.) towards the support of a school in Charlottetown. But it was not until the year l8l9,thiita directappropriation of the rents arising from that farm were made by the erection of the building which yet stands in the front of that in which we are now assembled. Such was the feeble cifort at first made for the encouragement of education in the Colony; and, in further tracing the educational move- ment, so commenced, it would be seen how slowly ii progressed ; as evidenced b the small annual amounts of the Legislative grants made for a succession of years, in aid ofit. In 1808. the legislative grant, for the encourage- ment of education throu bout the Island, was , 6s 8d; in 18 , it was £501 19s 0d; "502 10s; in 1839, I £1271 l0s, including the grant to the Academy; in 1845, £1725 2s 0d, includin the grant to the Academy: in 1850, £1824, Ids 8d, includ- ing the grant to the Academy: in .

2s7{d; in 1855, £11909 3s 11d; and, in the Legislative session of the present year, 1850, the grant was £12000 ! a most tifying proof that the wise, enlightened nndfllibcral spirit which 0 rated in the Le islsture to the pas- sin of t e Fresldducation ct, in 1852, instead of ing diminished in vigor, is rowing in strength with the growing linancis resources of the colony.

contemplate the high position, to which.

so insignificant a beginning as a paltry andow- '

them, at present; for, when they themselves.

605; in 1841, '

T ment of £26 a car, car scholssti

ments have llofiylliililldd ; and t not out the im ition, for their su port, of “ tax upon t s pscnle beyond one _ii’.i{.;.,,,,,. ’ sore upon their ands, whilst they are. sit lild same time, relieved from the payment of on

the time the tax was im sed, the w sensibl relieved, on th? score cyf Il'I:iI‘°O:,t tsxss, y a reduction of one penny a pound on the duty on tea, and of 3s. per ewt. on the upon sugar; so that, it is clear that whilst the great boon of F ion for the risin generation, has been extended to the peoplox taxation has, at the same time, been sotusuy diminished: and, ms I not now add, that even independently of all rateful consideration of the almost inestimablc icon of Free Edueo. tion, the people have, of late, had most goon. dant reason to be thankful for the free boom of Providence and the pros rity of trod. which have accompanied or fo lowed the course of the propitious events in the Colony.—Stran. gets from the United States who have lately visited this Colony, and with whom I have con- versed, have expressed to me their astonishment at the ease with which we have carried out, almost to perfection, our new System of mo. cation ; and the have besides stated to me how much they have een surprised b the politeness and respect, manifested tower them, by the children of schools which they have happened to ss at times of dissmissal—the boys having always saluted them by uncovering their heads, and the girls by courtesying. This is highly creditable to our DistrictTeachcrs, as it proves that they duly impress upon their pupils the propriety, as we esteem it, of payin due defe- rence to su riors ; but which woufd perhaps, be rgarded, y the independent outh of theGrsat Re ublic, as s token of slavishuess of spirit. (T e honorable gentleman then advsrted to his boyhood- at which season of his life there was not in the country, not even in Charlotte- town, one school in rank or eficienc much above a Dame’: ScIiool,—and stated t t, not only be, but several of those who now occupy the most res ctablc positions in our commu- nity, recciv their early training and the ru- diments of education, under a good old lady, long familiarly known by the name of Mass ulpil. About that time, said the honorable gentleman, there w s in Charlottetown, a teacher of the name of Robinson ; but he was not generally countenanced. A son of Mrs. Bulpit, quite nyoun man, next 0 ned school; and then came Mr. Iiellis, who his taught in the Island, for no less a period, I believe, than thirty years, and who, for some years, was the Master of the school long taught upon the ground of this Institution. These comparatively speakin . were days of darkness; and feeble was the ight which the sun of knowled then shed upon the youthful minds of this lony. But now that sun, although it was slow in its ascent, has nearly attained to its meridian height ; and bright and cheering are the beams which he sheds upon the Island. in our Aca- demy,which has long.—of late years, especiall —been most successfully conducted, it usefu , ‘superior, and comprehensive education is im- rted to the youth who attend it; and, from it, have been sent forth a band of well-trained and well qualified teachers, who, dis er_ throughout the country, are successful y im- arting, to the youth who attend their several istrict Free Schools, the learning and know- ledge acquired by themselves. in the'Parent Seminary of the lsland—the Central Academy. The evidences of the extent to which education is being im arted throughout the Colony. il cheering an delightful indeed. The car be- fore the passing of the rec Education Act. there were not more than 90 District Schools in operation throughout the whole Island, Ind the number of pupils attending them did not nniount to more than 4000; but now the null- ber of Free Schools in the Island, amounts“) 200; and the number of youngopeovplc being educated in them, is at least 1200 ! ‘he being- fits which teachers mny derive from tfls lusti- tution are well worth their attention. 3! making themselves ac usinted vlith the mod! of teachin , practise and taught in it. the may be on led to impart to their pupils, 11100 more real knowledge in six months, then. bl the old mode of teaching, they could convey 10 them in twelve. This, I beg leave to observe. not by any means said for the purpose of dis- raging the established teachers of the islands Fir were I not myself well aware of their pro’ fcssional worth, the snoomiums which have ust now p pon them. by ‘I'- snny, would be suficicnt to convince me Of the hi h estimation in which, gensrsll Uri‘ ing, t eir services entitle them to old. But, as has been convincingly observed by ill‘ Ilon. Colonel Swabcy, it s surel quite 0| necessary that young persons intcn _ed fol‘ ii“ profession of teachers, should be trained III ii“ art of teaching or communicating lino_wl¢d8°' as that they who would become p_rsctition_eI'| in surgery, or the law, should. besides bavinl

us

Yes, it must surely be truly» atifyiog to every true friend of the colony 2 rom

received a good education in schools or colleges. have the advantages of regular profession training. A man me be a ver good sch? “'9 and yet be almost destitute oi such qualifies- tions as would be requisite tomske lm I teacher: in order to become so, he ought ‘it