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The Intellectual Development of the Canadian People

J >> John George Bourinot >> The Intellectual Development of the Canadian People




Previous to 1867, different communities of people existed throughout
British North America, but they had no general interest or purpose, no
real bond of union, except their common allegiance to one Sovereign. The
Confederation of the Provinces was intended, by its very essence and
operation, to stimulate, not only the industrial energy, but the mental
activity as well, of the different communities that compose the
Dominion. A wider field of thought has, undoubtedly, been opened up to
these communities, so long dwarfed by that narrow provincialism which
every now and then crops up to mar our national development and impede
intellectual progress. Already the people of the Confederated Provinces
are every where abroad recognised as Canadians--as a Canadian people,
with a history of their own, with certain achievements to prove their
industrial activity. Climatic influences, all history proves, have much
to do with the progress of a people. It is an admitted fact that the
highest grade of intellect has always been developed, sooner or later,
in those countries which have no great diversities of climate.
[Footnote: Sir A. Alison (Vol. xiii. p. 271). says on this point:
'Canada and the other British possessions in British North America,
though apparently blessed with fewer physical advantages than the
country to the South, contain a noble race, and are evidently destined
for a lofty destination. Everything there is in proper keeping for the
development of the combined physical and mental qualities of man. There
are to be found at once the hardihood of character which conquers
difficulty, the severity of climate which stimulates exertion, and
natural advantages which reward enterprise.'] If our natural conditions
are favourable to our mental growth, so, too, it may be urged that the
difference of races which exists in Canada may have a useful influence
upon the moral as well as the intellectual nature of the people as a
whole. In all the measures calculated to develop the industrial
resources and stimulate the intellectual life of the Dominion, the names
of French Canadians appear along with those of British origin. The
French Canadian is animated by a deep veneration for the past history of
his native country, and by a very decided determination to preserve his
language and institutions intact; and consequently there exists in the
Province of Quebec a national French Canadian sentiment, which has
produced no mean intellectual fruits. We know that all the grand efforts
in the attainment of civilization have been accomplished by a
combination of different peoples. The union of the races in Canada must
have its effect in the way of varying and reproducing, and probably
invigorating also, many of the qualities belonging to each--material,
moral, and mental; an effect only perceptible after the lapse of very
many years, but which is, nevertheless, being steadily accomplished all
the while with the progress of social, political, and commercial
intercourse. The greater impulsiveness and vivacity of the French
Canadian can brighten up, so to say, the stolidity and ruggedness of the
Saxon. The strong common-sense and energy of the Englishman can combine
advantageously with the nervous, impetuous activity of the Gaul. Nor
should it be forgotten that the French Canadian is not a descendant of
the natives of the fickle, sunny South, but that his forefathers came
from the more rugged Normandy and Brittany, whose people have much that
is akin with the people of the British islands.

In the subsequent portions of this review, the writer will endeavour to
follow the progress in culture, not merely of the British-speaking
people, but of the two races now working together harmoniously as
Canadians. It will not be necessary to dwell at any length on the first
period of Canadian history It is quite obvious that in the first
centuries of colonial history, but few intellectual fruits can be
brought to maturity. In the infancy of a colony or dependency like
Canada, whilst men are struggling with the forest and sea for a
livelihood, the mass of the people can only find mental food in the
utterances of the pulpit, the legislature, and the press. This
preliminary chapter would be incomplete were we to forget to bear
testimony to the fidelity with which the early Roman Catholic and
Protestant missionaries laboured at the great task devolving upon them
among the pioneers in the Canadian wilderness. In those times of rude
struggle with the difficulties of a colonial life, the religious
teachers always threw a gleam of light amid the mental darkness that
necessarily prevailed among the toilers of the land and sea. Bishops
Laval, Lartigue, Strachan, and Mountain; Sister Bourgeois, Dr. Burns,
Dr. Jas. McGregor, Dr. Anson Green, are conspicuous names among the many
religious teachers who did good service in the early times of colonial
development. During the first periods of Canadian history, the priest or
clergyman was, as often as not, a guide in things temporal as well as
spiritual. Dr. Strachan was not simply the instructor in knowledge of
many of the Upper Canadian youth who, in after times, were among the
foremost men of their day, but was as potent and obstinate in the
Council as he was vigorous and decided in the pulpit. When
communications were wretched, and churches were the exception, the
clergyman was a constant guest in the humble homes of the settlers, who
welcomed him as one who not only gave them religious instruction, but on
many a winter or autumn evening charmed the listeners in front of the
blazing maple logs with anecdotes of the great world of which they too
rarely heard. In those early days, the Church of England clergyman was a
man generally trained in one of the Universities of the parent state,
bringing to the discharge of his duties a conscientious conviction of
his great responsibilities, possessing at the same time varied
knowledge, and necessarily exercising through his profession and
acquirements no inconsiderable influence, not only in a religious but in
an intellectual sense as well--an influence which he has never ceased to
exercise in this country. It is true as the country became more thickly
settled and the people began to claim larger political rights, the
influence of many leading minds among the Anglican clergy, who believed
in an intimate connection between Church and State, even in a colony,
was somewhat antagonistic to the promotion of popular education and the
extension of popular government. The Church was too often the Church of
the aristocratic and wealthier classes; some of its clergy were sadly
wanting in missionary efforts; its magnificent liturgy was too cold and
intellectual, perhaps, for the mass: and consequently, in the course of
time, the Methodists made rapid progress in Upper Canada. Large numbers
of Scotch Presbyterians also settled in the provinces, and exercised a
powerful influence on the social, moral and political progress of the
country. These pioneers came from a country where parish schools existed
long before popular education was dreamed of across the border. Their
clergy came from colleges whose course of study cultivated minds of rare
analytical and argumentative power. The sermon in the Presbyterian
Church is the test of the intellectual calibre of the preacher, whose
efforts are followed by his long-headed congregation in a spirit of the
keenest criticism, ever ready to detect a want of logic. It is obvious
then that the Presbyterian clergyman, from the earliest time he appeared
in the history of this country, has always been a considerable force in
the mental development of a large section of the people, which has given
us, as it will be seen hereafter, many eminent statesmen, journalists,
and _litterateurs_.

From the time the people began to have a voice in public affairs, the
politician and the journalist commenced naturally to have much influence
on the minds of the masses. The labours of the journalist, in connection
with the mental development of the country, will be treated at some
length in a subsequent part of the review. At present it is sufficient
to say that of the different influences that have operated on the minds
of the people generally, none has been more important than the Press,
notwithstanding the many discouraging circumstances under which it long
laboured, in a thinly populated and poor country. The influence of
political discussion on the intellect of Canada has been, on the whole,
in the direction of expanding the public intelligence, although at times
an extreme spirit of partisanship has had the effect of evoking much
prejudice and ill-feeling, not calculated to develop the higher
attributes of our nature. But whatever may have been the injurious
effects of extreme partisanship, the people as a rule have found in the
discussion of public matters an excitement which has prevented them from
falling into that mental torpor so likely to arise amid the isolation
and rude conditions of early times. If the New England States have
always been foremost in intellectual movement, it may be attributed in a
great measure to the fact that from the first days of their settlement
they thought and acted for themselves in all matters of local interest.
It was only late in the day when Canadians had an opportunity given them
of stimulating their mental faculties by public discussion, but when
they were enabled to act for themselves they rapidly improved in mental
strength. It is very interesting to Canadians of the present generation
to go back to those years when the first Legislatures were opened in the
old Bishop's Palace, on the heights of Quebec, and in the more humble
structure on the banks of the Niagara River, and study the record of
their initiation into parliamentary procedure. It is a noteworthy fact
that the French Canadian Legislatures showed from the first an earnest
desire to follow, as closely as their circumstances would permit, those
admirable rules and principles of procedure which the experience of
centuries in England has shown to be necessary to the preservation of
decorum, to freedom of speech, and to the protection of the minority.
The speeches of the leading men in the two Houses were characterized by
evidences of large constitutional knowledge, remarkable for men who had
no practical training in parliamentary life. Of course there were in
these small Assemblies many men rough in speech and manner, with hardly
any education whatever but the writers who refer to them in no very
complimentary terms [Footnote: For instance, Talbot, I, chap. 23. He
acknowledges, at the same time, the great ability of the leading men,
'who would do credit to the British Parliament.'] always ignore the
hardships of their pioneer life, and forget to do justice to their
possession, at all events, of good common-sense and much natural
acuteness, which enabled them to be of use in their humble way, under
the guidance of the few who were in those days the leaders of public
opinion. These leaders were generally men drawn from the Bar, who
naturally turned to the legislative arena to satisfy their ambition and
to cultivate on a larger scale those powers of persuasion and argument
in which their professional training naturally made them adepts. With
many of these men legislative success was only considered a means of
more rapidly attaining the highest honours of their profession, and
consequently they were not always the most disinterested guides in the
political controversies of the day; but, nevertheless, it must be
admitted that, on the whole, the Bar of Canada, then as now, gave the
country not a few men who forgot mere selfish considerations, and
brought to the discussion of public affairs a wide knowledge and
disinterested zeal which showed how men of fine intellect can rise above
the narrower range of thought peculiar to continuous practice in the
Courts. As public questions became of larger import, the minds of
politicians expanded, and enabled them to bring to their discussion a
breadth of knowledge and argumentative force which attracted the
attention of English statesmen, who were so constantly referred to in
those times of our political pupilage, and were by no means too ready to
place a high estimate on colonial statesmanship. In the earlier days of
our political history some men played so important a part in educating
the people to a full comprehension of their political rights that their
names must be always gratefully remembered in Canada. Papineau, Bedard,
DeValliere, Stuart, Neilson, Baldwin, Lafontaine, Howe, Wilmot,
Johnstone, Uniacke, were men of fine intellects--natural-born teachers
of the people. Their successors in later times have ably continued the
work of perfecting the political structure. All party prejudice aside,
every allowance made for political errors in times of violent
controversy, the result of their efforts has been not only eminently
favourable to the material development of the country but also to the
mental vigour of the people. The statesmen who met in council in the
ancient city of Quebec during the October of 1864 gave a memorable
illustration of their constitutional knowledge and their practical
acumen in the famous Resolutions which form the basis of the present
Constitution of Canada.

But it is not within the limits of this review to dwell on the political
progress of Canada, except so far as it may influence the intellectual
development of the people. It will be seen, as we proceed, that the
extension of political rights had a remarkable effect in stimulating the
public intelligence and especially in improving the mental outfit of the
people. The press increased in influence and ability; but, more than
all, with the concession of responsible government, education became the
great question of the day in the legislatures of the larger provinces.
But to so important and interesting a subject it will be necessary to
devote a separate chapter.




CHAPTER II.

EDUCATION.


The great educational advantages that the people of Canada now enjoy,
and more especially in the premier Province of Ontario--as the splendid
exhibit recently made at Paris and Philadelphia has proved to the
world--are the results of the legislation of a very few years. A review
of the first two periods of our political history affords abundant
evidence that there existed in Canada as in Europe much indifference in
all matters affecting the general education of the country. Whatever was
accomplished during these early times was owing, in a great measure, to
the meritorious efforts of ecclesiastical bodies or private individuals.
As long as France governed Canada, education was entirely in the hands
of the Roman Catholic Church. The Jesuits, Franciscans, and other
religious male and female Orders, at an early date, commenced the
establishment of those colleges and seminaries which have always had so
important a share in the education of Lower Canada. The first school in
that province was opened in 1616 at Three Rivers, by Brother Pacifique
Duplessis, a Franciscan. The Jesuits founded a College at Quebec in
1831, or three years before the establishment of Harvard and the
Ursulines opened their convent in the same city four years later. Sister
Bourgeoys, of Troyes, founded at Montreal in 1659 the Congregation de
Notre Dame for the education of girls of humble rank, the commencement
of an institution which has now its buildings in many parts of Canada.
In the latter part of the seventeenth century Mgr. Francois Xavier de
Laval-Montmorency, a member of one of the proudest families in Europe,
carried out a project of providing education for Canadian priests drawn
from the people of the country. Consequently, in addition to the Great
Seminary at Quebec, there was the Lesser Seminary where boys were taught
in the hope that they would one day take orders. In this project the
Indians were included, and several attended when the school was opened
in 1668, in the humble dwelling owned by Mme. Couillard, though it was
not long before they showed their impatience of scholastic bondage. It
is also interesting to learn that, in the inception of education, the
French endeavoured in more than one of their institutions to combine
industrial pursuits with the ordinary branches of an elementary
education. For instance, attached to the Seminary was a sort of
farm-school, established in the parish of St. Joachim, below Quebec, the
object of which was to train the humbler class of pupils in agricultural
as well as certain mechanical pursuits. The manual arts were also taught
in the institutions under the charge of the Ursulines and Congregation.
We find, for example, a French King giving a thousand francs to a
sisterhood of Montreal to buy wool, and the same sum to teach young
girls to knit. We also read of the same Sovereign maintaining a teacher
of navigation and surveying at Quebec on the modest salary of four
hundred francs a-year. But all accounts of the days of the French regime
go to show that, despite the zealous efforts of the religious bodies to
improve the education of the colonists, secular instruction was at a
very low ebb. One writer tells us that 'even the children of officers
and gentlemen scarcely knew how to read and write; they were ignorant of
the first elements of geography and history.' These were, in fact, days
of darkness everywhere, so far as the masses were concerned. Neither
England nor France had a system of popular education. Yet it is
undoubted that on the whole the inhabitants of Canada had far superior
moral and educational advantages than were enjoyed during those times by
the mass of people in England and France. Even in the days of Walpole
and Hannah More the ignorance of the English peasantry was only equalled
by their poverty and moral depravity. [Footnote: Green in his 'History
of the English People' says:--Purity and fidelity to the marriage vow
were sneered out of fashion; and Lord Chesterfield, in his letters to
his son, instructed him in the art of seduction as part of a polite
education. At the other end of the social scale lay the masses of the
poor. They were ignorant and brutal to a degree which it is hard to
conceive, for the vast increase of population which followed on the
growth of towns and the development of manufactures had been met by no
effort for religious or educational improvement. Not a new parish had
been created. Hardly a single new church had been built. Schools there
were none save the grammar schools of Edward and Elizabeth. The rural
peasantry, who were fast being reduced to pauperism by the poor-laws,
were left without moral or religious training of any sort. 'We saw but
one bible in the parish of Chedda,' said Hannah More, at a far later
time, 'and that was used to prop a flower pot.' p. 707, Harpers' ed.
1870. Parkman also admits that 'towards the end of the French regime the
Canadian habitant was probably better taught, so far as concerned
religion, than the mass of French peasants.'--_The Old Regime in
Canada_.]

Sensuality was not encouraged in Canada by the leaders of society, as
was notoriously the case in the best circles of England and of France.
Dull and devoid of intellectual light as was the life of the Canadian,
he had his places of worship, where he had a moral training which
elevated him immeasurably above the peasantry of England as well as of
his old home. The clergy of Lower Canada confessedly did their best to
relieve the ignorance of the people, but they were naturally unable to
accomplish, by themselves, a task which properly devolved on the
governing class. But under the French regime in Canada, the civil
authorities were as little anxious to enlighten the people by the
establishment of schools as they were to give them a voice in the
government of the country. In remarkable contrast with the conduct of
the French Government in this particular were the efforts of the Puritan
pioneers then engaged in the work of civilization among the rocks of New
England. Learning, after religion and social order, was the object
nearest to the hearts of the New England fathers; or rather it may be
said that they were convinced that social order and a religious
character could not subsist in the absence of mental culture. As early
as 1647, Governor Winthrop sanctioned a measure [Footnote: This measure
provided that 'every township in this jurisdiction, after the Lord has
increased them to the number of 50 householders, shall then forthwith
appoint one within their town, to teach all such children as shall
resort to him, to write and read, whose wages shall be paid, either by
the parents or masters of such children, or by the inhabitants in
general, by way of supply.' And it was further ordered that 'when any
town shall increase to the number of one hundred families, or
householders, they shall set up a grammar school, the master thereof
being able to instruct youth so far as they may be fitted for the
University.'] which was the first school law ever passed in America, and
outlined just such a system as we now enjoy on an extended scale in
Canada. Wise men those stern Puritans of the early colonial times! It is
not surprising that intellectual food, so early provided for all
classes, should have nurtured at last an Emerson, an Everett, a
Hawthorne, a Wendell Philips, a Longfellow, a Lowell, a Howells, and a
Parkman.

After the Conquest the education of the people made but little progress
in Lower Canada. Education was confined for the most part to the Quebec
Seminary, and a few other institutions under the control of religious
communities, permitted to remain in the country. Lord Dorchester
appointed a Commission in 1787, to enquire into the whole subject, but
no practical results followed the step. In 1792 the Duke de
Rochefoucauld wrote that 'the Canadian who could read was regarded as a
phenomenon.' The attempt of the 'Royal Institution for the Advancement
of Learning' to establish schools was comparatively a failure; for after
an existence of twenty years it had only 37 schools, attended by 1,048
pupils altogether. The British Government, at no time after it came into
possession of the province, ever attempted anything for the promotion of
general education. Indeed, the only matter in which it appeared in
connection with education was one by no means creditable to it; for it
applied the Jesuits' estates, which were destined for education, to a
species of fund for secret service, and for a number of years maintained
an obstinate struggle with the Assembly in order to continue this
misappropriation. No doubt the existing antagonism of races, then so
great an evil in Lower Canada, prevented anything like co-operation in
this matter; but added to this was, probably, a doubt among the ruling
class in Canada, as in England, as to the wisdom of educating the
masses. An educational report of 1824 informs us that 'generally not
above one-fourth of the entire population could read, and not above
one-tenth of them could write even imperfectly.' In the presentments of
the grand juries, and in the petitions on public grievances so
frequently presented to Parliament, the majority of the signers were
obliged to make their marks. During the year 1824, the Fabrique Act was
passed with the view of relieving the public ignorance, but unhappily
the political difficulties that prevailed from that time prevented any
effective measures being carried out for the establishment of public
schools throughout the province.

Nor was education in the western province in a much better state during
the first period of Parliamentary Government, that is from 1792 to 1840.
It is noteworthy, however, that high schools for the education of the
wealthier classes were established at a very early date in the province.
The first classical school was opened in the old town of Kingston by the
Rev. Dr. Stuart. In 1807 the first Education Act was passed,
establishing grammar schools in each of the eight districts in which the
province was divided, and endowing them with an annual stipend of one
hundred pounds each. In 1816 the first steps were taken by the
Legislature in the direction of common schools--as they were then, and
for some time afterwards, designated--but the Acts that were then and
subsequently passed up to the time of the Union were very inadequate to
accomplish the object aimed at. No general system existed; the masters
were very inferior and ill paid. A very considerable portion of the
province was without schools as well as churches. Of the lands which
were generally appropriated to the support of the former by far the most
valuable portion was diverted to the endowment of King's College. In
1838 there were 24,000 children in the common schools, out of a
population of 450,000, leaving probably some 50,000 destitute of the
means of education. The well-to-do classes, however, especially those
living in the large towns, had good opportunities of acquiring a sound
education. Toronto was well supplied with establishments, supported by
large endowments: Upper Canada College, the Home District Grammar
School, besides some well conducted seminaries for young ladies. For
years Cornwall Grammar School, under the superintendence of the
energetic Dr. Strachan was the resort of the provincial aristocracy.
Among the men who received their early education in that famous
establishment were Robert Baldwin, H. J. Boulton, J. B. Macaulay, Allan
McNab, John Beverley Robinson, Dean Bethune, Clark Gamble, and many
others afterwards famous in politics, in law and in the church. Dr.
Strachan was not only a sound scholar but an astute man of the world,
admirably fitted to develop the talents of his pupils and prepare them
for the active duties of life in those young days of Canada. 'In
conducting your education,' said he on one occasion, 'one of my
principal duties has always been to fit you for discharging with credit
the duties of any office to which you may hereafter be called. To
accomplish this it was necessary for you to be accustomed frequently to
depend upon and think for yourselves. Accordingly, I have always
encouraged this disposition, which, when preserved within due bounds, is
one of the greatest benefits that can possibly be acquired. To enable
you to think with advantage, I not only regulated your tasks in such a
manner as to exercise your judgment, but extended them for you beyond
the mechanical routine of study usually adopted in schools.' [Footnote:
Scadding's 'Toronto of Old,' p. 161.] None of the masters of the high
schools of the present day could do as much under the very scientific
system which limits their freedom of action in the educational training
of their scholars. But whilst the wealthier classes in the larger
centres of population could avail themselves of the services of such
able teachers as the late Bishop of Toronto, the mass of people were
left in a state of ignorance. The good schools were controlled by
clergymen of the different denominations; in fact, the Church of England
was nearly dominant in such matters in those early times, and it must be
admitted that there was a spirit abroad in the province which
discredited all attempts to place the education of the masses on a more
liberal basis.

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