PROTESTANT CLERGY
| Episcopal or English Church | |
| Salaries. | |
| M. de Lisle, Montreal | £ 200 |
| Tunstall | 100 |
| De Montmolten, Quebec | 200 |
| Toosey | 200 |
| Veyssiere, Three Rivers | 200 |
| Doty, William Henry | 100 |
| Stuart, Kingston | 100 |
| Bryan, Cornwall | 50 |
| Langhorn, near Kingston (missionary from ye society for propagating ye gospel with £50 and from government £100) | 150 |
| Church of Scotland | |
| Messrs. Henry and Spark, Quebec; Bethune near Oswegatchie | 50 |
| ——— | |
| £1,350 | |
PROTESTANT SCHOOLS
No returns yet made up of ye Protestant schools in ye counties of Gaspe, Lunenberg, Mechlenburg, Naysau and Hesse.
Although, therefore, the educational outlook was not very great[1] in 1790, yet already there was foreseen the necessity of an established system of public education in connection with the government. For this funds were badly needed.
In pursuing the history of the educational movement in which Montreal shares, notice must be now taken of the Jesuit estates, for upon the funds accruing from these, an early movement started to rear the means of an educational system in Canada. After the suppression of the Society of Jesus in 1774 in Canada these estates had been promised to Lord Amherst as a recognition of his services. This met with consistent opposition, and a contra-movement arose to secure the estates as a means of rearing up a public educational system. A petition of November 19, 1787, was signed at Quebec by 195 inhabitants transmitting a “case” in which it was claimed that “as Canadians and citizens they had a right therein by title, and law, the College of Quebec having been founded for their education. It is their patrimony which they have cleared and cultivated. Even as subjects they have a right to public education which exists in every government.” The “case” insists that the Jesuits were only the rectors, professors and managers: that the Hundred Associates and others had founded the colleges for educational purposes. The petitioners demand that the troops then using the college as a barracks should be dislodged and pray the government “to restore the antient professors of the college or to name others and regulate the recompense due to their talents and attentions.” It is but just to note that the Jesuits never ceded their claims to the complete possession of their estates, nor recognized a mere trusteeship.
A similar petition to that of 1787 was addressed by the inhabitants of Montreal in 1793, and again in 1800, praying that on reversion of the Jesuit estates the revenue should be diverted to the education of youth. Three Rivers similarly protested against the policy of the Amherst grant. At the first legislative assembly a recommendation was made for the divergence of the Jesuit funds to popular education. Thus Amherst’s patent was not signed. The death of Perè Casot, the last surviving Jesuit of the old régime, occurring in 1801, the governor claimed the estates for the crown, which hitherto had been administered by the Society. A majority in the house preferred that they should be devoted to educational purposes and demanded the titles. But it was not till 1831 that they were finally ceded, with the exception of the Jesuit College at Quebec which became converted into a barracks. Meanwhile the Anglican bishop of the diocese and other English leaders, especially the merchants, deploring the lack of educational facilities, agitated for a general school system, one of the arguments being the usefulness this would have of encouraging the English language through the province. At this time three classes of schools were in contemplation: parish schools (elementary), grammar schools and superior seminaries or universities, schools on the line of Westminster, Winchester and Eton. With regard to a university the committee of the executive council thought it premature to formulate any plan, but recommended that an appropriation should be made to cover any plan that might be adopted.
The future of education was reported on in answer to the following questions: “The establishing of schools and seminaries for the education of youth from those funds now unemployed as well in England as in this province and particularly a respectable college in this city with able professors and erecting free schools at convenient distances throughout this extensive province for the purpose of opening and enlarging the human mind, conciliating the affections of all His Majesty’s subjects and having a tendency to render this a happy and flourishing province.” Observation: “There remains for us to advert to a subject which we consider as the surest and best means of obtaining a cheerful and dutiful obedience to the laws and government from subjects in general, and that is by establishing throughout the province at proper distances public schools for the education of youth. We hardly know of a single school in any country part of the district for teaching boys and it is to the zeal of the few sisters of the congregation that we are indebted for all the little which is taught to girls throughout the country. The captains of militia who are frequently called upon to enforce law and order are so illiterate that not one in three can write or even read. The consequence is confusion and disorder and frequent suits and complaints between them and the militiamen.” They then suggest that for funds the estates of the Jesuits, which they understood likely to revert to the crown, could be conveniently applied for the purpose; that also, owing to the separation of the American states, there might be some unappropriated funds in England which could be applied for. The report reverts to the former petition of 1785 for a house of assembly, suggesting this as the only way to promote the welfare of the province as a British colony. In 1793, therefore, a further recommendation was made to the legislative assembly which presented an address to the governor urging upon the crown the propriety of devoting the Jesuit estates for educational purposes. No answer having been given, another on the same subject was presented to the governor in 1800.