line. The result of the negotiation was that Webster succeeded in getting for the United States the lion’s share of the disputed territory. The treaty gave seven thousand square miles to the United States and five thousand to New Brunswick. It fixed the forty-fifth parallel of latitude as the dividing line as far as the St. Lawrence, and then traced the line up that river, and through the great Lakes as far west as the Lake of the Woods. From that point-west the forty-ninth parrallel of latitude was to be the boundary to the Rocky Mountains. The treaty also had a clause providing for the sending back to their own country of escaped criminals accused of arson, forgery, piracy, robbery and murder. This is known as the first “Extradition Treaty.”
5. Educational Progress in Upper Canada.—More important than the Ashburton Treaty was the great change made in our Public School-system by Dr. Egerton Ryerson. In 1839 the Parliament of Upper Canada had set aside two hundred and fifty thousand acres of land for the endowment of grammar schools; but little provision had been made for the common or, as we now call them, the public schools. In 1841 Parliament granted two hundred thousand dollars a year for educational purposes; but three years later it repealed the Act. In 1844 Rev. Egerton Ryerson, a Methodist clergyman, who had taken an active part in journalism and. politics, was appointed Chief Superintendent of Education for Upper Canada. He at once began to lay broad and deep the foundations of our Public School system. He crossed the Atlantic many times to examine the schools of Scotland, England, Prussia, and other European nations, and wisely selected from each system what was best adapted to a new country. His scheme was submitted to’ Parliament in 1846, and its main features adopted. Later on, in 1850, it was improved; and from that time to the present our Public School system has undergone many changes, all of which were intended to make it as perfect as possible. The system now provides for the free education of every child at the expense of the public; and gives each locality or district a large measure of control over its own schools, subject to the inspection and oversight of the Government.
In the meantime some progress had been made in higher education. In 1841 Victoria University, at Cobourg, got its charter, and
