[bukwash] a REYJEW of THE UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO 41 



York, ex-officio President of the college. On the 3rd of January, 18'<i8, 

 the new lands for endowment already selected were conveyed by letters 

 patent to the Corporation of King's College thus created, and steps were 

 taken to secure, for the erection of buildings, the payment of the grant 

 of a thousand pounds a year which had been obtained from the Imperial 

 Government by Dr. Strachan. This grant was equivalent to a further 

 «xtension of the original land grant, and the money was derived from 

 payments by the Canada Company for the large tract of land which had 

 been ceded to them. A registrar and l)ursar were also appointed. These, 

 together with the president, were placed under salary, and through these 

 ■officers the work of selling or leasing the endowment land was at once 

 ■ commenced. In a short time a considerable income was available. 



The President and Council next proceeded to select and purcha-îe 

 lands for a suitable site for the university. Whatever may be said of 

 ■other ])arts of their policy, for their work in this direction they will 

 deserve the gratitude of all coming generations. The purchase at one 

 hundred dollars an acre, of one hundred and sixt3-eight acres of beau- 

 tiful park lands on which have been erected both our parliament and 

 university buildings, was one of the wisest investments ever made on 

 behalf of the university, and is an enduring memorial to the large views 

 of these men. It is only to be regretted that the next generation did not 

 inherit these ideas, and marred their work by alienating and dividing 

 the magnificent estate thus secured. The expenditure of six thousand 

 seven hundred and five pounds in planting and improving Queen's 

 Avenue has not been so well justified by tlie result. It is the natural 

 beauties of the park, not the exotics of the avenue, that lend the chief 

 charm to the university site. The expenditure of a thousand pounds on 

 plans for new buildings was not extravagant; and although the build- 

 ings themselves were never erected in full; the plans still survive as 

 another testimony to the grand ideals of the men of that original Uni- 

 versity Council. 



In 1828, on the return of Sir Peregrine Maitland to England, Sir 

 John Colborne was appointed Lieutenant Governor. The result of the 

 select committee of the British House of Commons appeared in instruc- 

 tions from the Colonial Office, which Sir John did not at once communi- 

 cate to the council, but under which he ordered that proceedings for the 

 erection of the imiversity buiidings should be discontinued. In the 

 meantime he brought into operation, outside of the charter, but througii 

 the Corporation of King's College, a minor college, which absorbed and 

 was in a measure an enlargement of the Eoyal Grammar School founded 

 more than twenty years before. Thus it was that Upper Canada College 

 originated, which for two full generations, sustained most important 

 financial as well as educational rehitions to the university, and has ever 



