The neighbourhood hereabout had an open, unoccupied look in 1822. In a Weekly Register of the 25th of April of that year, we have an account of the presentation of a set of colours to a militia battalion, mustered for the purpose on the road near the Hospital. "Tuesday, the 23rd instant," the Register reports, "being the anniversary of St. George, on which it has been appointed to celebrate His Majesty's birthday, George IV., [instead of the 4th of June, the fête of the late King,] the East and West Regiments, with Capt. Button's Troop of Cavalry, which are attached to the North York Regiment, on the right, were formed in line at eleven o'clock in the forenoon, on the road in front of the Government House, and a Guard of Honour, consisting of 100 rank and file from each regiment, with officers and sergeants in proportion, under the command of Lieut.-Col. FitzGibbon, were formed at a short distance in front of the centre, as the representatives of the militia of the Province, in order to receive the rich and beautiful Colours which His Majesty has been graciously pleased to command should be prepared for the late incorporated Battalion, as an honourable testimony of the high sense which His Majesty has been pleased to entertain of the zeal and gallantry of the militia of Upper Canada."
The Register then proceeds: "At 12 o'clock, a Royal Salute was fired from the Garrison, and the Lieutenant-Governor with his staff having arrived on the ground, proceeded to review the widely-extended line; after which, taking his station in front of the whole, the band struck up the nation anthem of 'God save the King.' His Excellency then dismounted, and accompanied by his staff, on foot, approached the Guard of Honour, so near as to be distinctly heard by the men; when, uncovering himself, and taking one of the Colours in his hand, in the most dignified and graceful manner, he presented them to the proper officer, with the following address:—"Soldiers! I have great satisfaction in presenting you, as the representatives of the late incorporated Battalion, with these Colours—a distinguished mark of His Majesty's approbation. They will be to you a proud memorial of the past, and a rallying-point around which you will gather with alacrity and confidence, should your active services be required hereafter by your King and Country.'—His Excellency having remounted, the Guard of Honour marched with band playing and Colours flying, from right to left, in front of the whole line, and then proceeded to lodge their Colours at the Government House."
"The day was raw and cold," it is added, "and the ground being very wet and uneven, the men could neither form nor march with that precision they would otherwise have exhibited. We were very much pleased, however, with the soldier-like appearance of the Guard of Honour, and we were particularly struck by the new uniform of the officers of the West York, as being particularly well-adapted for the kind of warfare incident to a thickly-wooded country. Even at a short distance it would be difficult to distinguish the gray coat or jacket from the bole of a tree. There was a very full attendance on the field; and it was peculiarly gratifying to observe so much satisfaction on all sides. The Colours, which are very elegant, are inscribed with the word Niagara, to commemorate the services rendered by the Incorporated Battalion on that frontier; and we doubt not that the proud distinction which attends these banners will always serve to excite the most animating recollections, whenever it shall be necessary for them to wave over the heads of our Canadian Heroes, actually formed in battle-array against the invaders of our Country. At 2 o'clock His Excellency held a Levee, and in the evening a splendid Ball at the Government House concluded the ceremonies and rejoicings of the day." The Lieut. Governor on this occasion was Sir Peregrine Maitland, of whom fully hereafter.
The building on King Street known as "Government House" was originally the private residence of Chief Justice Elmsley. For many years after its purchase by the Government it was still styled "Elmsley House." As at Quebec, the correspondence of the Governor-in-Chief was dated from the "Château St. Louis," or the "Castle of St. Louis," so here, that of the Lieutenant-Governor of the Western Province was long dated from "Elmsley House." Mr. Elmsley was a brother of the celebrated classical critic and editor, Peter Elmsley, of Oxford. We shall have occasion frequently to speak of him.
On the left, opposite Government House, was a very broken piece of ground, denominated "Russell Square;" afterwards, through the instrumentality of Sir John Colborne, converted into a site for an educational Institution. Sir John Colborne, on his arrival in Upper Canada, was fresh from the Governorship of Guernsey, one of the Channel Islands. During his administration there he had revived a decayed Public School, at present known as Elizabeth College. Being of opinion that the new country to which he had been transferred was not ripe for a University on the scale contemplated in a royal Charter which had been procured, he addressed himself to the establishment of an institution which should meet the immediate educational wants of the community.
Inasmuch as in the School which resulted—or "Minor College" as it was long popularly called—we have a transcript, more or less close, of the institution which Sir John Colborne had been so recently engaged in reviving, we add two or three particulars in regard to the latter, which may have, with some, a certain degree of interest, by virtue of the accidental but evident relation existing between the two institutions. From a paper in Brayley's Graphic and Historical Illustrator (1834), we gather that Elizabeth College, Guernsey, was originally called the "School of Queen Elizabeth," as having been founded under Letters Patent from that sovereign in 1563, to be a "Grammar-school in which the youth of the Island (juventus) may be better instructed in good learning and virtue." The temple or church of the suppressed Order of Gray Friars (Friars minors or Cordeliers), with its immediate precincts, was assigned for its "use," together with "eighty quarters of wheat rent," accruing from lands in different parts of the Island, which had been given to the friars for dispensations, masses, obits, &c. By the statutes of 1563 the school was divided into six classes; and books and exercises were appointed respectively for each, the scholars to be admitted being required "to read perfectly, and to recite an approved catechism of the Christian religion by heart."
In all the six classes the Latin and Greek languages were the primary objects of instruction; but the Statutes permitted the master, at his discretion, "to add something of his own;" and even "to concede something for writing, singing, arithmetic, and a little play." For more than two centuries the school proved of little public utility. In 1799 there was one pupil on the establishment. In 1816 there were no scholars. From that date to 1824 the number fluctuated from 15 to 29. In 1823, Sir John Colborne appointed a committee to investigate all the circumstances connected with the school, and to ascertain the best mode of assuring its future permanent efficiency and prosperity, without perverting the intention of the foundress. The end of all this was a new building (figured in Brayley) at a cost of £14,754 2s. 3d.; the foundation-stone being laid by Sir John in 1826. On August the 20th, 1829, the revived institution was publicly opened, with one hundred and twenty pupils. "On that day," we are told, "the Bailiff and Jurats of the Island, with General Ross, the Lieutenant-Governor [Sir John Colborne was now in Canada], his staff, and the public authorities, headed by a procession consisting of the Principal, Vice-Principal, and other masters and tutors of the school (together with the scholars), repaired to St. Peter's Church, where prayers were read by the Dean, Dr. Durand, and Te Deum and other anthems were sung. They then returned to the College, where, in the spacious Examination Hall, a crowded assembly were addressed respectively by the Bailiff and President-director [Daniel de Lisle Brock, Esq.], Colonel de Havilland, the Vice-President, and the Rev. G. Proctor, B.D., the new Principal, on the antiquity, objects, apparent prospects, and future efficiency of the institution."
Under the new system the work of education was carried on by a Principal, Vice-Principal, a First and Second Classical Master, a Mathematical Master, a Master and Assistant of the Lower School, a Commercial Master, two French Masters and an Assistant, a Master of Drawing and Surveying, besides extra Masters for the German, Italian, and Spanish languages, and for Music, Dancing, and Fencing. The course of instruction for the day scholars, and those on the foundation, included Divinity, History, Geography, Hebrew, Greek, Latin, French, English, Mathematics, Arithmetic, and Writing, at a charge in the Upper School of £3 per quarter; and in the Lower or Preparatory School, of £1 per quarter; for Drawing and Surveying, 15s. per quarter. The terms for private scholars (including all College dues and subscriptions for exhibitions and prizes of medals, &c.) varied from £60 annually with the Principal, to £46 annually with the First Classical Teacher.
The exhibitions in the revived institution were, first, one of £30 per annum for four years, founded by the Governor of Guernsey in 1826, to the best Classical scholar, a native of the Bailiwick, or son of a native; secondly, four for four years, of, at least, £20 per annum, founded by subscription in 1826, to the best scholars, severally, in Divinity, Classics, Mathematics, and Modern Languages; thirdly, one for four years, of £20 per annum, founded in 1827 by Admiral Sir James Saumarez, to the best Theological and Classical scholar; fourthly, one of £20 per annum, for four years, from 1830, to the best Classical scholar, given by Sir John Colborne in 1828. There were also two, from the Lower to the Upper School, of £6 per annum, for one year or more, founded by the Directors in 1829.
The foregoing details will, as we have said, be of some interest, especially to Canadians who have received from the institution founded by Sir John Colborne in Russell Square an important part of their early training. "Whatever makes the past, the distant and the future predominate over the present, advances us in the dignity of thinking beings." So moralized Dr. Johnson amidst the ruins of Iona. On this principle, the points of agreement and difference between the educational type and antitype is this instance, will be acknowledged to be curious.