I recall with pleasure the great services which Lord Elgin then rendered to the cause of education at a critical period of its history in this Province. His speeches and addresses on the subject at that time had a wonderful effect in moderating the opposition which Dr. Ryerson received while laying the foundations of our system of education. They had also the potent effect of popularizing that system in the estimation of the people which it was designed to benefit. That popularity has, happily, continued to this day, thanks in a great degree to the dignity imparted to the subject by the persuasive eloquence of Lord Elgin. His eminence as a distinguished graduate of Oxford, and his general knowledge of European systems of education, enabled him to speak with a precision and certainty which few could gainsay. It was a gratifying fact that he identified himself personally, as well as officially, throughout the whole of his seven years' administration, with the general education and intellectual improvement of the people of Canada. The first bill to which His Excellency assented in the Queen's name was the School Act of 1850, to which I have referred. PROCEEDINGS OF THE FIRST COUNCIL OF PUBLIC INSTRUCTION--THE NORMAL SCHOOL. One of the first and necessary acts of the Provincial Board of Education, or first council of public instruction, was the adoption of a uniform series of text-books--one only on each subject. Those chosen were the Irish National Series, with two additions. The next important step taken by the Board was the establishment, in November, 1847, of a Normal School, with the necessary adjunct of a Model School. The old Government House was fitted up as a Normal School, and the stable connected with it was renovated and converted into a Model School, or school of practice for teachers-in-training.[52] On the removal of the seat of government to Toronto, in 1849, the Normal School was held in the Temperance Hall, and other arrangements were made. [52] _Apropros_ of this, Dr. Ryerson, in a private note to Hon. W. H. Draper, in April, 1846, said:-- "The stables of the Government House may be fitted up for Model Schools, etc. It is a curious and not interesting fact that the stables of Louis the Fourteenth, at Versailles, are now used for the great National Normal School of France, and is the most splendid establishment of the kind on the Continent of Europe."