88 ROYAL SOCIETY OF CANADA 



support was to be furnished from one seventh of the lands of the coun- 

 try. From the public lands also was to be derived a fund for the edu- 

 cation especially of " the more respectable class of people by the erec- 

 tion of free grammar schools, and in course of time of a college or uni- 

 versity." 



In these views the Imperial Government readily concurred. As the 

 province was surveyed, every seventh lot of land in each township was 

 set apart for " the support of the Protestant clergy." The educational 

 part of Simeoe's programme was not carried into effect until after his 

 departure from the country. In response to an address from the Legis- 

 lative Council and House of Assembly asking " an appropriation of the 

 waste lands of the crown for the establishment and support of a respect- 

 able grammar school in each district and also a college or university 

 where the youth of the countr}^ may be enabled to perfect themselves in 

 the different branches of liberal knowledge," His Majesty, under date 

 of ISTovember 4th, 1797, expressed his intention of complying with their 

 wishes. " First, by the establishment of free grammar schools in those 

 districts in which they are called for. Secondly, in due course of time 

 by the establishment of other seminaries of a larger and more com- 

 prehensive nature for the promotion of religious and moral learn- 

 ing and the study of the arts and sciences." This message was 

 communicated to the House of Assembly on the 8th of June, 1798, 

 together with a request from the Colonial Secretary for the appointment 

 of a committee of the Executive Council, the judges and the law ofh'cers 

 of the Crown to report on the extent and character of the appropria- 

 tions to be made. This committee recommended that five hundred thou- 

 sand acres of land should be devoted to educational purposes, of which 

 one-half should be reserved for the university, and that the university 

 should be located at York, and that, at certain places named, grammar 

 schools' should be established. About this time accordingly, grammar 

 schools were founded at Kingston and Cornwall, and, a little later, at 

 Niagara and York. But the lands set apart for these purposes were as 

 yet unproductive; and no funds were forthcoming for the support of 

 the schools. When in 1809 the Legislature again turned its attention to 

 the subject, and founded four new grammar schools, provision for main- 

 tenance had to be made from sources other than the land endowment. 

 Meanwhile the more pressing needs of education were met by the estab- 

 lishment through purely voluntary efforts of elementary schools, which, 

 received legislative recognition for the first time in the Act of 1816. 



In view of the condition of the colony and the unproductive nature 

 of the endowment, it is not astonishing that the more ambitious scheme 

 of a university remained in abeyance for many years. It was not until 

 about 1820, under the administration of Sir Peregrine Maitland, that 



