igniory, under a
species of feudal tenure, with respect to the conditions of which a
controversy has arisen which threatens, unless some equitable mode of
adjusting it be speedily devised, to be productive of very serious
consequences. A certain class of jurists contend, that by the custom
of the country, established before its conquest by Great Britain, the
seigniors were bound to concede their lands in lots of about 100 acres
to the first applicant, in consideration of the payment of certain
dues, and of a rent which, never, as they allege, exceeded one penny
an acre; and they quote edicts of the French monarchs to show that the
governor and intendant, when the seignior was contumacious, could
seize the land, and make the concession in spite of him, taking the
rent for the Crown. The seigniors, on the other hand, plead the
decisions of the courts since the conquest in vindication of their
claim to receive such rents as they can bargain for. Independently of
this controversy, the incidents of the tenure are in other respects
calculated to exercise an unfavourable influence on the progress of
the Province; and its abolition, if it could be effected without
injustice, would, no doubt, be a highly beneficial measure.[6]

Still more important and interesting at this time is the following sketch
of the Educational System of Upper Canada; the 'Common Schools' and 'Public
School Libraries,' which have attracted so much the attention of our own
educationists. Nor is it uninstructive to note the contrast between what
had been achieved in the colony nearly twenty years ago, and the still
unsettled condition of similar questions in the mother-country: a contrast
which may perhaps call to mind the remarks of Lord Elgin already quoted, as
to the rapid growth which ensues when the seeds that fall from ancient
experience are dropped into a virgin soil.[7]

[Sidenote: Education.]

In 1847 the Normal School, which may be considered the foundation of
the system, was instituted, and at the close of 1853, the first volume
issued from the Educational Department to the Public School Libraries,
which are its crown and completion.... The term school libraries does
not imply that the libraries in question are specially designed for
the benefit of common school pupils. They are, in point of fact,
public libraries intended for the use of the gene