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