RYERSON MEMORIAL VOLUME:

PREPARED ON THE OCCASION
OF THE
UNVEILING OF THE RYERSON STATUE
IN THE GROUNDS OF THE EDUCATION DEPARTMENT
ON THE
QUEEN'S BIRTHDAY, 1889.

BY J. GEORGE HODGINS, M.A., LL.D.,
BARRISTER-AT-LAW, AND DEPUTY MINISTER OF EDUCATION.

TORONTO:
PRINTED BY WARWICK & SONS 68 AND 70 FRONT STREET WEST.
1889.

PREFATORY NOTE.

I have two reasons to give for the part which I have taken in the preparation of the latterpart of this Memorial Volume. The first is mentioned in the following paragraph from thebrief resumé of the historical and personal facts given in the volume, and which I read on theday of the unveiling of the statue, as follows:—

"It devolves upon me, as Chairman of the (Ryerson Memorial Statue) Committee, and atthe kind request of my colleagues—no less than as the life-long friend and fellow-labourer of himwhose deeds and memory we honour to-day—to trace back to their source the origin and underlyingprinciples of our system of education, and to show that these underlying principles andother vital forces were so combined by a master-hand as to form the groundwork, as they have,in their combination, become the charter of our educational system of to-day."

The second reason is contained in the following paragraphs—containing a brief recordof Dr. Ryerson's thirty-two years in the Public Service, taken from The Story of My Life,page 351.

"During my connection with the Education Department—from 1844 to 1876—I made fiveeducational tours of inspection and enquiry to educating countries in Europe and the UnitedStates. I made an official tour through each county in Upper Canada, once in every five years,to hold a County Convention of municipal councillors, clergy, school trustees, teachers and localsuperintendents, and thus developed the School system as the result of repeated inquiries inforeign countries, and the freest consultation with my fellow-citizens of all classes, in the severalCounty Conventions, as well as on many other occasions.

"During the nearly thirty-two years of my administration of the Education Department, Imet with strong opposition at first from individuals—some on personal, others on religious andpolitical grounds; but that opposition was, for most part, partial and evanescent. Duringthese years I had the support of each successive administration of Government, whether of oneparty or the other, and, at length, the co-operation of all religious persuasions; so that in 1876I was allowed to retire, with the good-will of all political parties and religious denominations,and without diminution of my public means of subsistence.

"I leave to Dr. J. George Hodgins, my devoted friend of over forty years, and my able colleaguefor over thirty of these years, the duty of filling up the details of our united labours infounding a system of education for my native Province which is spoken of in terms of strongcommendation, not only within, but by people outside of the Dominion."...

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