[50] Chief Superintendent's Annual Report for 1847-8, page 6. Contrast the enlightened discussion of such questions to-day with the ignorant dogmatism of that day, and you can form some idea of the magnitude of Dr. Ryerson's labors,--not only in laying broad and deep the foundations for his superstructure, but in seeking to overcome the deep-rooted and unreasoning prejudices of those days--days indeed of anxiety and toil and fierce opposition, which I so well remember. ESTIMATE OF LORD ELGIN'S CHARACTER BY THE HON. W. H. DRAPER. On the arrival in Canada of Lord Elgin, as Governor-General, Dr. Ryerson wrote confidentially to Hon. Attorney-General Draper (on the 16th February, 1847), asking him for his "opinion of the new Governor-General." Mr. Draper replied on the 22nd as follows:-- "As far as my opportunities of judging go, I think Canada will find cause of satisfaction in having Lord Elgin for a Governor. He is industrious in habit, pleasing in manner, extremely courteous and affable in bearing. I find him also diligent and shrewd in inquiry; and the observations which fall from him show that he has studiously kept pace with the great questions of the day (I do not mean our Canadian politics simply), and besides the cultivation of classical education in its broader sense, he possesses a mind stored with facts bearing on and illustrative of those questions. In these respects, or more correctly speaking in the latter, and as regards trade and finance, he reminds me more of Lord Sydenham than any other governor of my time. I think he possesses also caution and firmness;--that he will not resolve hastily, that he may not have to change his resolves. He has large ideas of the capabilities and resources both of Canada and of the British North American Provinces, and, as it strikes me, without any reference to a political union of these provinces, thinks that a course might be taken to develop the whole, by separate parts taking a common course in matters in which they have a common interest--internal communication, favorable to our European commerce and connections will serve as an illustration of the sort of questions to which I allude.... All this, of course, is mere opinion, but such are my first impressions, and as such, and no more, I readily give them to you in reply to your enquiry, etc." Subsequently, Dr. Ryerson met Lord Elgin in Montreal, and, in a letter to me, dated 24th July, 1847, he says:-- "At his own request I have had an interesting interview with Lord Elgin. He is exceedingly well versed in systems of education, and is a thoroughly practical man on the subject." INVALUABLE ASSISTANCE GIVEN TO DR. RYERSON BY LORD ELGIN. It was fortunate that just at this crisis Canada was favored with the presence of one of the most accomplished, in every sense of the term, of the Queen's representatives, the Earl of Elgin and Kincardine.