424 APPLICABILITY OF OITE EDITCATIONAL SYSTEM. 



of all his duties, it is the duty of the State to provide that education. 

 And according to the property which a man enjoys and the protection 

 afforded to that property by the State, is he, whether he has children or 

 not, bound to contribute to the education of the children of the State, 

 upon the grounds of public policy, morality, and the laws which 

 regulate property. No police system, however well organized, is equal 

 to that of a thoroughly efficient general public school system. The 

 application of these two principles involves the whole mystery of 

 what is called Free Schools. It is palpable to every person who 

 reflects upon it that this system involves principles of the highest 

 humanity, as well as of the noblest patriotism." This, then, is the 

 system of Education adopted in Upper Canada, a system based upon 

 the principle " that the property of all shall be taxed by the majority 

 for the education of all." Each municipality, it is true, may, accord- 

 ing to the terms of the school law, either impose a rate-bill or declare 

 the schools entirely free ; still, we imagine, to test to the utmost the 

 success of the system would reqmre the general adoption of the free 

 system as opposed to the imposition of rates. What then have been 

 the results of the free system in those countries in which it has been 

 tried for many years ? How does it work in Canada ? Does it accom- 

 plish both in extent and degree that which its advocates hoped and 

 anticipated, or has it defects, inherent or accidental, which render it 

 partially if not wholly a failure ; and if so, what are these ? Do they 

 admit of removal, or are they such as to demand a radical change in 

 the system ? These are great and highly important questions, to 

 which various answers have been given according to the prejudices and 

 habits of the respondents, as well as their religious and political 

 associations. My object, however, is simply to inquire as to how far 

 the free system, under the present state of our municipal law, secures 

 the attendance at school of those for whom it is specially designed ; 

 and whether, seeing the intimate connexion there is between ignorance 

 and crime, it is not the duty of the State to declare both ignorance 

 and vagrancy criminal, and to empower municipalities that tax all for 

 the education of all to see that all are really educated. 



In examining this point statistics must, in some measure, be our 

 guide. What say they, then, respecting the state of education in 

 large cities generally, what is their evidence specially as regards the 

 City of Toronto ? The following is a comparative statement of the 

 schools, under specific headings, from 1844 to 1857 inclusive, prepared 

 by Mr. Geo. A. Barber, the Local Superintendent of Schools : 



