CHAPTER XXXVIII.
Contents—Mr. Stuart’s school—Simcoe—State Church and College—Grammar Schools—Hon. R. Hamilton—Chalmers—Strachan—Comes to Canada—Educational history—Arrival at Kingston—The pupils—Fees—Removes to Cornwall—Pupils follow—Strachan, a Canadian—Marries—Interview with Bishop Strachan—His disappointment—A stranger—What he forsook—300 pupils—Their success—Stay at Cornwall—Appointments at York—A lecturer—At Kingston—Member of Legislative Council—Politician—Clergy Reserves—Founds King’s College—The thirty-nine articles—Monopoly swept away—Voluntaryism—Founds Trinity College—Bishop Strachan in 1866—What he had accomplished—Those he tutored—Setting up a high standard—“Reckoner”—Sincerity—Legislation, 1797—Address to the King—Grammar Schools—Grant, 1798—Board of Education—Endowment Of King’s College—Its constitution—Changes—Upper Canada College—Endowment—“A spirit of improvement”—Gourlay—The second academy—At Ernesttown—The trustees—Bidwell—Charges—Contradicted—Rival school—Bidwell’s son—Conspicuous character—Bidwell’s death—Son removes to Toronto—Academy building, a barrack—Literary spirit of Bath—Never revived—York.
HIGHER EDUCATION—FOUNDATION OF UNIVERSITIES—STRACHAN—BIDWELL.
Up to the time that Upper Canada was set apart from the Province of Quebec, as a distinct Province, and even until 1799, when Dr. Strachan came to Kingston, the Rev. Mr. Stuart continued to be the only teacher who imparted anything like a solid education. But his scholars consisted mainly of boys not far advanced. No doubt many of them, however, received from him the elements of a sound, and even classical education.
Governor Simcoe, soon after assuming office, impressed with the importance of higher education, even for an infant colony, took early steps to procure from the mother-country a competent person to place at the head of a College he had determined to establish in connection with a State Church. His scheme of education to further that object, was to establish a system of grammar schools, and a University as the head.
The Hon. Robert Hamilton, of Queenston, had at this time a brother living in Scotland, and it was through him that an offer was made first to the celebrated Dr. Chalmers. But not desiring to come, although he had not yet attained to his greatness, he mentioned the name of his friend Strachan, to whom the offer was then made. Mr. Strachan decided to come. Thus it was the veteran school-teacher, the divine, the founder of Universities, who but recently passed away, was led to Canada to become the occupant of one of the most conspicuous places in the Province of Upper Canada. So intimately is the name of Dr. Strachan associated with the history of education, as well as with the Episcopalian Church, that it becomes necessary to supply here a somewhat lengthened account of his educational history. He arrived at Kingston the last day of the year, 1799, having sailed from Greenock the latter part of August, and having been over four months on the way. But when Strachan arrived, Simcoe had been recalled, and his scheme was at least, in abeyance.
Col. Clark says that “a school was established at Kingston, 1800, by the Hon. R. Cartwright for his sons, having Mr. Strachan for teacher, who had the privilege of taking ten additional scholars at £10 each per annum.” Among these ten were the late Chief Justice Robinson, Chief Justice Macaulay, the Hon. George Markland, Bishop Bethune, the successor of Dr. Strachan; the Rev. W. Macaulay, Picton; Captain England, Royal Engineers; Justice McLean, Col. John Clark, and the two sons of Hamilton, James and Samuel. These, with four sons of Richard Cartwright, formed Mr. Strachan’s first school for the higher branches of education.
Mr. Strachan continued to teach in Kingston for three years, when he removed his school to Cornwall.
All of his pupils at Kingston, except John Clark, of Niagara, followed him to that place, and continued for years under his instruction.
The high standard of education now set up by Mr. Strachan had a beneficial effect. He trained here for usefulness and distinction, some of the first men of the Province. In addition to those mentioned as distinguished pupils, was Christopher Hagarman. Here Mr. Strachan, it may be said, became a thorough Canadian, and began to identify himself with the higher interests of the country. He shortly after married a lady of Cornwall, Miss Woods, who lived to within a few years of the Bishop’s death.
Dr. Strachan, in conversation with the writer, referred to the time of his coming to Canada with no little feeling. He evidently felt the disappointment arising from the departure of Governor Simcoe very keenly, which left him quite to his own resources in the new country, far from his home which he had forsaken, in view of certain promises of advancement, congenial to his taste. He was, to use his own words, “a lonely stranger in a foreign land, without resources or a single acquaintance.” But in coming to speak of his pupils, of which there had been about 300, and whose course in life he had been permitted to see; whose success he had been proud to note, he spoke of them with all the kindness and regard of a parent. He dwelt upon the character and high position to which so many had attained, especially the late Chief Justice Robinson. Speaking of himself, he said his “early life was of too busy a nature to allow him to keep a journal.” And we find it stated that he had to support a mother and two sisters.
Mr. Strachan continued at Cornwall nine years, teaching, when he removed to York. The Government recognised his ability, and to increase the sphere of his usefulness, and to establish a Provincial College, he was requested to remove to the capital of Upper Canada, and had offered to him every advantage, pecuniary and otherwise. In these early efforts to establish higher education, says the Rev. Mr. Smart, whose testimony is important, too much praise cannot be given to Dr. Strachan.
Although Mr. Strachan had removed to Cornwall, Kingston was occasionally favored by his presence as a public lecturer, as the following notice which appeared in the Gazette, December, 1810, will show:
“Mr. Strachan’s annual course of popular lectures on Natural Philosophy, will commence on the second Monday in January, the course consisting of thirty-six lectures, to be completed in two months. Tickets of admission, four guineas; students taught at any of the District Schools of Upper Canada, entitled to tickets for one guinea. This money to be appropriated to the purchase of scientific books, for the use of those who attend the lectures.”
In 1818 Dr. Strachan was appointed a member of the Legislative Council, and also of the Executive Council. In these positions he was a consistent worker to secure the establishment of a State Church; and for the twenty-two years he took part in the politics of Upper Canada he ceased not to work for the cause, and the preservation of the Clergy Reserves. Dr. Strachan never forgot the original purpose which brought him to Canada, the foundation of Grammar Schools and a University. In 1827, after using the influence which his political position allowed him to secure this object, he procured a royal charter for a University which he named King’s College after his Alma Mater. This institution was intended for the exclusive benefit of those who would subscribe to the Thirty-nine Articles. For nearly twenty years this University continued under the control of the Church of England. But the spirit which obtained in the public mind of Canada was hostile to this monopoly, and the time came when the University he had founded became more truly a national one. Although at this time an old man, when it might have been supposed he would yield to the adverse influence which had overcome his college, he never thought of resting satisfied, but, in direct opposition to the principle against voluntaryism, for which his life had been so far spent, he set about laying the foundation of another University, and the Trinity College of Toronto is a second monument to his untiring energy and success; a monument which renders another unnecessary to commemorate him.
We penned the following remarks in 1866: This widely known worthy still animates the church he has been mainly instrumental in erecting to a high and ever influential position in Canada, and whose untiring energies, guided by a brilliant intellect and a noble purpose, has made him the parent of higher education in the Province. The result of his doings—the traces of his vigorous mind, the repletion of his noble life may be seen, not alone upon the page of Episcopalian Church History; but in all the departments of Provincial life—in the halls of learning, in the recorded charges from the Bench, by the mouth of those he educated; in the speeches of many of Canada’s earliest and foremost statesmen. For it was he tutored the mind of a McLean, a Hagerman, a Robinson, of the Sherwoods, Jones, besides a large number of others who have acted a conspicuous part in the history of the country. While the trees of the forest yet overshadowed the muddy soil where Toronto now proudly rears her graceful spires and domes, and while the wild duck found a safe resting place in the bay, now thickly dotted with crafts of every size, Dr. Strachan by pen, and by word of mouth, was setting up a high standard of learning; and by worthy means, was stimulating the minds of the future men of Canada to attain that high mark. Read the easy flowing words that appeared in the Kingston Gazette, over “Reckoner,” and it will strike one that if he took the Spectator as a model, he abundantly succeeded in imitating the immortal Addison. His school at Cornwall was pre-eminently good, “he had the welfare of those committed to him at heart, (says the Rev. Mr. Smart,) as well as the youth of the country generally.”
Five years after the erection of Upper Canada into a distinct Province, 1797, steps were taken by the two Houses of Parliament to establish schools for the higher branches of learning. A joint address was presented to His Majesty, Geo. III., asking that he “would be graciously pleased to direct his Government in this Province, to appropriate a certain portion of the waste lands of the Crown, as a fund for the establishment and support of a respectable Grammar School in each District thereof; and also a College, or University, for the instruction of youth in the different branches of liberal knowledge.” The Imperial Government replied, enquiring in what manner, and to what extent, “a portion of the Crown lands might be appropriated and rendered productive towards the formation of a fund for the above purposes.” The Executive Council of Canada recommended “that an appropriation of 500,000 acres, or ten townships, after deducting the Crown and Clergy sevenths, would be a sufficient fund for the establishment and maintenance of the royal foundation of four Grammar Schools and one University.” It was also suggested, that the Grammar Schools be established at Cornwall, Kingston, Newark (Niagara), and Sandwich, and the University at York. It is not known what action was taken on this recommendation.—(Lillie). But, in 1798, “a grant was made of 549,000 acres of land in different parts of the Province, to carry out the design of the Grammar Schools and University.” “Of the above land endowment, 190,573 acres were, up to the year 1826, assigned to (or disposed of by) a public body, known as the Board of Education, the proceeds having been applied to the support of Common and Grammar Schools.” The residue of the grant, amounting to 358,427 acres, appears to have been regarded as properly constituting that portion of the royal gift which had been intended for the support of the contemplated University.
Through the influence and exertion of Dr. Strachan, the University of King’s College was established by Royal Charter of Incorporation, 15th March, 1827, with an endowment of “225,000 acres of crown land, and £1,000 for sixteen years.” The Council or Governors were to consist of the Chancellor, President, and seven Professors or Graduates of the institution. All were to be members of the Church of England. This exclusive feature of the College continued to exist until 1843, when the charter was modified whereby parties were eligible to hold office by a declaration of their “belief in the authenticity and Divine incorporation of the Old and New Testaments, and in the doctrine of the Trinity.” Various changes were made by Legislative enactment until the present institution became established, in 1853, when the faculties of Law and Medicine were abolished, the name changed from King’s College to University College, and the University and College made two distinct institutions.
The Royal Grammar School was merged into Upper Canada College in 1829, and this institution was opened the following year. “In the years 1832, 1834, and 1835, it received endowments of land, amounting, in all, to 63,268 acres, irrespective of two valuable blocks in York—on one of which the present College buildings stand.” “The College further received an allowance from Government of £200 sterling, in 1830; £500 in 1831; and £1,000 sterling per annum since.”
ACADEMY AT ERNESTTOWN—BIDWELL.
While to Dr. Strachan belongs the honor of establishing the first school whereat a liberal education might be obtained the efforts and labors of others must not be forgotten. Shortly after the commencement of the present century, there arose, perhaps as a result of the teaching of Strachan, a greater desire for advanced learning. Says a writer in 1811, “A spirit of improvement is evidently spreading, the value of education, as well as the want of it, is felt. Gentlemen of competent means appear to be sensible of the importance of giving their children academical learning, and ambitious to do it without sending them abroad for the purpose. Among other indications of progress in literary ambition, I cannot forbear referring to the academy lately erected in Ernesttown, by the subscription of public-spirited inhabitants of that, and the neighbouring townships, who appear to be convinced that the cultivation of liberal arts and sciences is naturally connected with an improvement of manners and morals, and a general melioration of the state of society.”
The academy above referred to was the second school of importance established in Upper Canada. It was also situated upon the shores of the Bay of Quinté. The following is from the Kingston Gazette:
“Ernesttown Academy.—The subscribers hereby inform the friends of learning that an Academical School, under the superintendence of an experienced preceptor, is opened in Ernesttown, near the church, for the instruction of youth in English reading, speaking, grammar and composition, the learned languages, penmanship, arithmetic, geography, and other branches of Liberal Education. Scholars attending from a distance may be boarded in good families on reasonable terms, and for fifteen shillings a year can have the use of a valuable library. School Trustees: Robert McDowel, Benjamin Fairfield, William Fairfield, Solomon Johns, William Wilcox, Samuel Neilson, George Baker.—Ernesttown, 11th March, 1811.”
The person selected for teacher was Mr. Barnabas Bidwell, who had a few years previously come to Canada from the State of Massachusetts, where he had been, according to a writer in the Kingston Gazette, Attorney-General of that State. The same writer made charges of a serious nature against Mr. Bidwell, as to the cause of his leaving his country; but one of the above committee vindicated Mr. Bidwell’s character; by asserting that although Mr. B. had been “unfortunate in business, and became embarrassed, he was honest, and had left property to pay his debts when he left—that he had been a tutor at the first college in America—that he avoided politics and devoted himself to literary pursuits.” It was about the commencement of the present century, when Mr Bidwell came to Bath to live.
Probably the academy at Bath was regarded somewhat as a rival to the school existing at Cornwall.
Barnabas Bidwell remained at Bath about eight years when he removed to Kingston, with his son, Marshal Bidwell, who became a lawyer, and a very conspicuous character in Canada. B. Bidwell died at Kingston, July 26, 1833, aged 70. His son removed to York in 1830, where he practised his profession until the eventful year of 1837.
The academy, at the commencement of the war of 1812, was in a prosperous state, but very soon all was changed,—the school was broken up, and the building converted into a barrack. The close of the war unfortunately saw no return of the old state of things, the teacher was gone, and the students scattered, “having resorted to other places of education, many of them out of the province. The building is now, (1822), occupied as a house of public worship, and a common school. It is to be hoped, however, that the taste for literary improvement may be revived, and this seminary be re-established.” But these hopes were never realized. The literary glory of Bath had departed. The capital of York was now to become a centre to which would gravitate the more learned, and where would be established the seats of learning. The limited, though earnest rivalry which had existed between Kingston and Bath, was to be on a more important scale, between the ancient capital, Kingston, and the more promising one of York.