ons of intellectual grandeur and
power anywhere, but which is characterized by that superficiality which
marks the proceedings of the educational institutions in the new and
Western States of the neighbouring Republic. Sir, I feel proud of the
position I occupy; that if I have gone to an extreme, I have gone to the
proper extreme; that even if I may have pressed my views to an extent
beyond the present standing, the present capabilities of the Province,
my views have been upward, my course has been onward, my attempt has
been to invigorate Canada with an intellect and a power, a science and a
literature that will stand unabashed in the presence of any other
country, while the very men who should have raised our educational
standard to the highest point, who should have been the leaders in
adopting a high and thorough course, have confessed during the
discussion of this question, that the former standard was too high, and
that they have been levelling it down, incorporating with it
speculations which have never elevated the institutions of any country,
and adopting a course of proceedings which never advanced any nation to
the position to which I hope in God my native country will attain.

The resolutions on which these proceedings have taken place, were
adopted by the Wesleyan Conference in June, 1860. Now, whatever other
changes may have taken place, I still adhere to the people of my youth,
who were the early instruments of all the religious instruction I
received until I attained manhood. Whether they are a polished and
learned or a despised people, I still am not ashamed of them, nor of the
humblest of their advocates or professors. I stand before you without a
blush, in the immediate connection, and identified with that people. The
resolutions that were adopted by the Conference, in pursuance of which
the Conference appointed a large Executive Committee, consisting of
nearly one hundred of the most experienced members of their body, to
prepare the memorial which has been presented to Parliament, are
these:--

_Resolved._ 1st. That it is the conviction of a large proportion,
if not a large majority of the inhabitants of Canada, that their
sons, in pursuing the higher branches of education (which cannot be
acquired in day schools, and rarely without the youth going to a
distance from the paternal roof and oversight), should be placed in
institutions in which their religious instruction