9-27-26-177W! Notice. DR. C. DUNCOMBE gives notice that he will on Monday next move this House to go into Committee of the Whole to allow him to move for a grant of a sum of money to defray the expense of sending two persons to the United States to obtain information respecting the building and conducting a Lunatic Asylum; any recent improvements in Roads, Canals, Harbors, and Light Houses; Schools and Colleges; Currency, Banks and Finance; Commerce and intercourse with the United States or other countries. Resolution. RESOLVED, That there be granted to His Majesty the sum of one hundred and fifty pounds to pay the expense that three commissioners may be put to in obtaining the best information, plans estimates of a Lunatic Asylum, and such information as ey may deem necessary relative to the management and good government of such institutions, and also respecting the system and management of Schools and Colleges, and such other matters as are connected with the interest, welfare, and prosperity of this Province; and to Report to this House the result of their labor and investigation, at its next Session, and that Messrs. Drs. C. Duncombe, Morrison and Bruce be commissioners for the said purpose. COMMITTEE ROOM, HOUSE OF ASSEMBLY, } RESOLVED, That we, two of the Commissioners appointed by a resolution of the Commons House of Assembly, at its late Session, to obtain information relative to a Lunatic Asylum and other matters, agree that Doctor Charles Duncombe, one of the Commissioners by the said resolution also appointed, should go on any journey to the United States or elsewhere, to obtain such information as is desired by the said resolution. A Copy of a Letter from the Commissioners to the Honorable the Speaker of the House of Assembly. SIR, TORONTO, 24TH FFERUARY, 1836. Doctors Duncombe, Morrison and Bruce being by a resolution of the Honorable the House of Assembly, appointed commissioners to inquire into "the system & management of schools 403472 4 and colleges," in order to report fully upon the systems of education pursued in the United States, one of our Commissioners, Dr. Charles Duncombe, was requested and authorised to visit that country, acquire a knowledge of the subject, and report thereon. That Gentleman has done so to our most entire satisfaction, and we have the honor herewith to hand you the result of his arduous labors and minute inquiries, in the documents now presented, viz :-A Report upon Education, accompanied by a Bill for the Regulation of Common Schools in this Province: this being our Second Report. We have the honor to be, Sir, Your most obedient humble servants, To the Honorable the Speaker of the Commons House of Assembly. WM. BRUCE. Letter from Mr. Secretary Joseph, transmitting Lord GOVERNMENT HOUSE, TORONTO, SIR,-I am commanded by the Lieutenant Governor to forward I have the honor to be, Sir, Your most obedient, humble servant, Charles Duncombe, Esq. M.P.P. Acting Commis'e for obtaining information on various subjects. No. 11. [Copy.] (Downing-street, Sir. I have had the honor to receive Sir John Colborne's despatch of the 4th November, No. 61, enclosing the copy of a letter from Mr. Duncombe, one of the commissioners appointed by the House of Assembly of Upper Canada to obtain information respecting certain questions of public interest to the Province, and in reply I take the earliest opportunity of transmitting for that Gentleman's assistance, copies of the Parliamentary Reports for which he has applied. I have, &c. [Signed.] GLENELG. Lieutenant Governor SIR FRANGIS BOND HEAD, K. C. H. the REPORT. To the Honorable the Commissioners appointed to obtain certain information during the recess of Parliament. Doctors MORRISON & BRUCE, GENTLEMEN, In obedience to your instructions to me at our meeting at the close of the last session of Parliament, I proceeded immediately to the United States, to make observations and collect information in the best manner I could, upon the various subjects which this special committee had been required to investigate, but feeling the importance, if not the absolute necessity, of combining practical skill with extensive and critical observation upon the great variety of subjects entrusted to my care, I obtained introductions to the Governors and heads of the departments in many of the States, and at Washington, to whom I feel myself in duty bound to acknowledge the great obligations I am under to them for their liberal indulgence and kind attendance to my numerous enquiries, for the zeal and philanthropy with which they communicated their own ideas upon the subjects of their particular departments, and furnished me with letters and references to men of science and to reports and recent publications upon those subjects respectively. Their names deserve to be recorded and their memories to live in the affections of a grateful public-but the immensity of the number of those persons who have aided my inquiries precludes the possibility of my even naming them; and from the variety and multiplicity of subjects to which my attention was directed by the Resolution of the honorable the House of Assembly at its last session, and by your resolution honoring me with the situation of acting commissioner for procuring information upon certain subjects, I have been unable, as the importance of the subject of education required, to condense and digest the information placed within my reach by the heads of departments and officers of the literary institutions which I visited during my journeying in the Western, Middle, Eastern, and some of the Southern States, where every opportunity was afforded me for accomplishing my object, by the many valuable industrious labourers in the cause of science and literature who aided me in my inquiries as well by their opinions, freely expressed upon the literary institutions of foreign countries, where many of them had studied, and the honors of which had long been their boast, as by the progress of the same sciences and arts in America, under their own immediate superintendence, as also by books, pamphlets, and reports collected or made by authority of the different Legislatures of the states, by the different literary institutions, or by the philanthropy and enterprise of individuals, generally made by practical men, and after long and careful investigations, both in Europe and America, of the subjects upon which they have practically treated, especially where popular education has been made the subject of legislation. In this report I have made free use of the information contained in the written and printed documents placed at my disposal, as well as the verbal information afforded me by those gentlemen who have so materially aided me in iny pursuits. Upon this point I feel the obligations I am under to many gentlemen in various parts of the Union, and had commenced my report with an account of the information derived from the Rev. Mr. Peers, who had by the authority of the state of Kentucky, travelled, examined, and reported upon the subject of education in several other states to the Legislature of Kentucky, and by expressing my gratitude to Lieutenant Governor Morehead, acting governor of the state, for the philanthropy, zeal, and intelligence with which he freely communicated to me the information I desired upon this and many other subjects, connected with my inquiries; as well as to Professors Dudley and Caldwell of the Transylvanian University, but I found my report would have necessarily extended to an unpardonable length, so as never to have been read; and thereby the object for which this information was desired would have been defeated; I find myself therefore compelled to make such extracts from all the papers and other sources of information as have been placed within my reach as in my humble judgement would best conduce to the object designed-that of placing before the honorable the House of Assembly in as condensed a form as possible, the present state of the literary institutions most worthy of our imitation both in Europe and America. In doing this I shall endeavour to be as concise as possible, using the opinions and even language of other men where they express my views of the subjects upon which they treat: the books, reports, addresses, and papers from which I have made the most lengthy and important extracts, are the reports and addresses made by the officers and members of Yale College of the common school committes Reports of most of the Western, Middle, and Eastern states, especially the cities of Boston, New York, Albany, Philadelphia, Baltimore and |