[47] In a letter to the writer of this Retrospect from the Very Rev. Dean Grasett in 1875, he said:—"I esteem it an honour that I should have been associated with Dr. Ryerson in his Council for so many years (30), and a privilege if I have been of the least assistance in upholding his hands in performing a work, the credit of which is exclusively his own.
"I shall carry with me to the end of life the liveliest feelings of respect for the public character and regard for the private worth of one who has rendered to his country services which entitle him to her lasting gratitude. My venerable friend has had from time to time many cheering recognitions of his valuable public services from the heads of our Government ...; but I think that in his case, as in others that are familiar to us, it must be left to future generations adequately to appreciate their value when they shall be reaping the full benefit of them."
[48] In his address at the beginning of the Normal School for Upper Canada, in November, 1847, Dr. Ryerson thus referred to the then recent decease of Bishop Power. He said, referring to the harmony which had characterized the meetings of the Provincial Board of Education:—
"One event indeed has occurred, over which the members of the Board have reason to mourn—the decease of the Right Reverend Prelate, who, by his colleagues had been unanimously chosen Chairman of the Board, and whose conduct as Chairman and Member of the Board was marked by a punctuality, a courtesy, a fairness, a zeal and intelligence which entitle his memory to the affectionate remembrance of his colleagues and the grateful esteem of every member of the community.... I cannot reflect upon the full and frequent conversations which I have had with him on subjects of public instruction, and with the scrupulous regard which ever manifested for the views, and rights and wishes of Protestants, without feelings of the deepest respect for his character and memory."
[49] Correspondence between members of the Government and the Chief Superintendent, 1850, pp. 17-20.
[50] Chief Superintendent's Annual Report for 1847-8, page 6.
[51] Lord Elgin always referred to Dr. Ryerson's library scheme in his educational addresses as the "Crown and Glory of the Institutions of the Province."
[52] Apropros of this, Dr. Ryerson, in a private note to Hon. W. H. Draper, in April, 1846, said:—
"The stables of the Government House may be fitted up for Model Schools, etc. It is a curious and not interesting fact that the stables of Louis the Fourteenth, at Versailles, are now used for the great National Normal School of France, and is the most splendid establishment of the kind on the Continent of Europe."
[53] Dr. Ryerson constantly deprecated, in these early years, this want of the spirit of Canadian Patriotism. In an eloquent paper (in the third volume of the Journal of Education) he shows that "Canadian Patriotism (is) the Lever of Canadian Greatness." He sums it up in these words: "It cannot be too strongly impressed upon every mind that it is on Canadian energy, Canadian ambition, Canadian self-reliance, skill and enterprize—in a word, on Canadian patriotism—that depends Canadian prosperity, elevation and happiness."—Page 40.