cv)'cvv^ cAo VV- ^ ^ c^wvvtTv^ ^I ty/yr ({Pa^v.u "THE STORY OF MY LIFE." BT THE LATE REV. EGERTON RYERSON, D.D, LLD., (Being Reminiscences op Sixty Years' Public Service in Canada.) I BBV. S. 8. NKLLS8, DM., LL.D., THB RBV. JOHN POTTSt D.D., AND J. OBOBOB BODOINS, UQ., IJUD. J. GEOlibffi^H'OD'Gl'l^s; Esq., LL.D. *' His life was gentle ; and the elements So mix't in him, that Nature might stand ap. And say to all the world, This was a Man !" — Shaksspkarb. Julius CouaVf Act v., w. &. Justum et tenacem propositi virum Non civium ardor prava jubentium, Non vultus instantis tyranni Mente quatit solida— — HORACB. Od««, iii.8. WITH PORTRAIT AND ENGRAVINOa TORONTO: WILLIAM BRIGGS, 78 and 80 KING STREET EAST. 1884. It'? Entered, accordincr to the Act of the Parliament of Canada, in the year one thousand eight hundred and eighty-three, by Mart Rtsrson and Charlks Eobrton Rtkrsov, in the OfSoe of the Minister oi Agriculture, Ottawa. CONTENTS. PiGE Prefacb ix Estimate of Rev. De. Ryerson's Character and Labours 17 CHAPTER I.— 1803-1825. Sketch of Early Life 28 CHAPTER IL— 1824-1825. Extracts from Dr. Ryerson's Diary of 1824 and 1825 32 CHAPTER III.— 1825-1826. First Year of Ministry and First Controversy 47 CHAPTER IV.— 1826-1827. Missionary to the River Credit Indians 68 CHAPTER v.— 1826-1827. Diary of Labours among Indians 64 CHAPTER VI.— 1827-1828. Labours and Trials. — Civil Rights Controversy 80 CHAPTER VIL— 1828-1829. Ryanite Schism. — M. E. Church of Canada organized 87 CHAPTER VIII.— 1829-1832. Establishment of the Christian Guardian. — Church Claims resisted 93 CHAPTER IX.— 1831-1832. Methodist Affairs in Upper Canada. — Proposed Union with the British Conference 107 CHAPTER X.— 1833. Union between the British and Canadian Conferences 114 CHAPTER XI.-— 1833-1834. *' Impressions of England " and their effects 121 CHAPTER XII.— 1834. Events following the Union. — Division and Strife 141 CHAPTER XIII.— 1834-1835. Second Retirement from the Guardian Editorship 144 ^,>:l}^::f&7 iT CONTENTS. Pass CHAPTER XIV.— 1835-1836. Second Mission to England. — Upper Canada Academy 152 CHAPTER XV.— 1835-1836. The •'Grievance " Report ; Its Object and Failure 155 CHAPTER XVI.— 1836-1837. Dr. Ryerson's Diary of his Second Mission to England 158 CHAPTER XVII.— 1836. Publication of the Hume and Roebuck Letters '. 167 CHAPTER XVIIL— 1836-1837. Important Events transpiring in England 170 CHAPTER XIX.— 1837-1839. Return to Canada. — The Chapel Property Cases 172 CHAPTER XX.— 1837. The Coming Crisis.— Rebellion of 1837 175 CHAPTER XXL— 1837-1838. Sir F. B. Head and the Upper Canada Academy 179^ CHAPTER XXIL— 1838. Victims of the Rebellion. — State of the Country 182 CHAPTER XXIIL— 1795-1861, Sketch of Mr. "William Lyon Mackenzie 185 CHAPTER XXIV.— 1838. Defence of the Hon. Marshall Spring Bidwell 188 CHAPTER XXV.— 1838. Return to the Editorship of the Guardian 199 CHAPTER XXVI.— 1838-1840. Enemies and Friends Within and Without 205 CHAPTER XXVIL— 1778-1867. The Honourable and Right Reverend Bishop Strachan 213 CHAPTER XXVIIL— 1791-1836. The Clergy Reserves and Rectories Questions 218 CHAPTER XXIX.— 1838. The Clergy Reserve Controversy Renewed 225 CHAPTER XXX— 1838-1839. The Ruling Party and the Reserves. — " Divide et Impera. " 236 CHAPTER XXXL— 1839. Strategy in the Clergy Reserve Controversy 245 CHAPTER XXXII.— 1839. Sir G. Arthur's Partisanship. — State of the Province 250 CONTENTS. Y CHAPTER XXXIII.— 1838-1840. ^^^" The New Era. — Lord Durham and Lord Sydenham ; 257 CHAPTER XXXIV.— 1840. Proposal to leave Canada. — Dr. Ryerson's Visit to England 269 CHAPTER XXXV.— 1840-1841. Last Pastoral Charge. — Lord Sydenham's Death 282 CHAPTER XXXVL— 1841. Dr. Eyerson's Attitude toward the Church of England 291 CHAPTER XXXVIL— 1841-1842. Victoria College. — Hon. W. H. Draper. — Sir Charles Bagot 301 CHAPTER XXXVIII.— 1843. Episode in the case of Hon. Marshall S. Bidwell 308 CHAPTER XXXIX.— 1844. Events preceding the Defence of Lord Metcalfe 812 CHAPTER XL.— 1844. Preliminary Correspondence on the Metcalfe Crisis 819 CHAPTER XLI.— 1844. Sir Charles Metcalfe Defended against his Councillors 328 CHAPTER XLIL— 1844-1845 After the Contest. — Reaction and Reconstruction 337 CHAPTER XLIII.— 1841-1844. Dr. Ryerson appointed Superintendent of Education 842 CHAPTER XLIV.— 1844-1846. Dr. Ryerson's First Educational Tour in Europe 852 CHAPTER XLV.— 1844-1857. Episode in Dr. Ryerson's European Travels. — Pope Pius IX. 365 CHAPTER XLVL— 1844-1876. Ontario School System. — Retirement of Dr. Ryerson 868 CHAPTER XLVII.— 1845-1846. Illness and Final Retirement of Lord Metcalfe 875 CHAPTER XLVIII.— 1843-1844. Clergy Reserve Question Re-Opened. — Disappointments 378 CHAPTER XLIX.— 1846-1848. Be-Union of the British and Canadian Conferences 883 CHAPTER L.— 1846-1853. Miscellaneous Events and Incidents of 1846-1853 410 CHAPTER LI.— 1849. The Bible in the Ontario Public Schools 423 vi CONTENTS, Paok CHAPTER LII.— 1850-1853. The Clergy Reserve Question Transferred to Canada 483 CHAPTER LIII.— 1851. Personal Episode in the Clergy Reserve Question 454 CHAPTER LIV.— 1854-1855. Resignation on the Class-Meeting Question. — Discussion 470 CHAPTER LV.— 1855. Dr. Ryerson resumes his Position in the Conference 491 CHAPTER LVI.— 1855-1856. Personal Episode in the Class-Meeting Discussion 499 CHAPTER LVII.— 1855-1856. Dr. Ryerson's Third Educational Tour in Europe 614 CHAPTER LVIII.— 1859-1862. Denominational Colleges and the University Controversy 618 CHAPTER LIX.— 1861-1866. Personal Incidents. — ^Dr. Ryerson's Visits to Norfolk County 634 CHAPTER LX.— 1867. Last Educational Visit to Europe. — Rev. Dr. Punshon 639 CHAPTER LXI.— 1867. Dr. Ryerson's Address on the New Dominion of Canada 647 CHAPTER LXII.— 1868-1869. Correspondence with Hon. Geo. Brown — Dr. Punshon 654 CHAPTER LXIIL— 1870-1875. Miscellaneous Closing Events and Correspondence 659 CHAPTER LXIV.— 1875-1876. Correspondence with Rev. J. Ryerson, Dr. Punshon, etc 673 CHAPTER LXV.— 1877-1882. Closing Years of Dr. Ryerson's Life Labours 685 CHAPTER LXVI.— 1882. The Funeral Ceremonies 693 Tributes to Dr. Ryerson's Memory and Estimates of his Character and Work. 698 LIST OF ILLUSTEATIONS. PA6B Portrait of Rev. Dr. Ryerson Frontispiece Indian Village at River Credit, in 1837 69 John Jones' House at the Credit, where Dr. Ryerson Resided.. 65 Old Credit Mission, 1837 73 Old Adelaide Street Methodist Church 283 Victoria College, Cobourg 302 Ontario Educational Department and Normal School 421,422 Educational Exhibit at Philadelphia 584, 685 Metropolitan Church 664 Dr. Ryerson's Residence ik Toronto •••••••• ^ •-••«•••«..• •« 687 PREFATORY NOTE. TWELVE months ago, I began to collect the necessary material for the completion of " The Story of My Life," which my venerated and beloved friend, Dr. Ryerson, had only left in partial outline. These materials, in the shape of letters, papers, and documents, were fortunately most abundant. The difficulty that I experienced was to select from such a miscellaneous collection a sufficient quantity of suitable matter, which I could afterwards arrange and group into appropriate chapters. This was not easily done, so as to form a connected record of the life and labours of a singularly gifted man, whose name was intimately connected with every public question which was discussed, and every prominent event which took place in Upper Canada from 1825 to 1875-78. ' Public men of the present day looked upon Dr. Eyerson prac- tically as one of their own contemporaries — noted for his zeal and energy in the successful management of a great Public Department, and as the founder of a system of Popular Education which, in hi« hands, became the pride and glory of Canadians, and was to those beyond the Dominion, an ideal system — the leading features of which they would gladly see incorporated in their own. In this estimate of Dr. Ptyerson's labours they were quite correct. And in their appreciation of the statesmanlike qualities of mind, which devised and developed such a system in the midst of difficulties which would have appalled less resolute hearts, they were equally correct. But, after all, how immeasurably does this partial view of his character und labours fall short of a true estimate of that char- acter axwJ of those labours ! PREFACE. As a matter of fact, Dr. Ryerson's great struggle for the civil and religious freedom which we now enjoy, was almost over when he assumed the position of Chief Director of our Educational System. No one can read the record of his labours from 1825 to 1845, as detailed in the followiug pages, without being im- pressed with the fact that, had he done no more for his native country than that which is therein recorded, he would have accomplished a great work, and have earned the gratitude of his f ello w-country m en. It was my good fortune to enjoy Dr. Ryerson's warm, personal friendship since 1841. It has also been my distinguished privilege to be associated with him in the accomplishment of his great educational work since 1844. I have been able, therefore, to turn my own personal knowledge of most of the events outlined in this volume to account in its preparation In regard to what transpired before 1841, I have frequently heard many narratives in varied forms from Dr. Ryerson's lips. My own intimate relations with Dr. Ryerson, and the character of our close personal friendship are sufficiently indicated in hi private letters to me, published in various parts of the book, but especially in Chapter liii. And yet they fail to convey the depth and sincerity of his personal attachment, and the feeling of entire trust and confidence which existed between us. I am glad to say that I was not alone in this respect. Dr. Ryerson had the faculty, so rare in official life, of attaching his assistants and subordinates of every grade to himself personally. He always had a pleasant word for them, and made them feel that their interests were safe in his hands. They therefore respected and trusted him fully, and he never failed to acknow- ledge their fidelity and devotion in the public service. I had, for some time before he ceased to be the Head of the Education Department, looked forward with pain and anxiety to that inevitable event. Pain, that he and I were at length to be separated in the carrying forward of the great work o. our lives, in which it had been my pride and pleasure to be his principal assistant. Anxiety at what, from my knowledge of him, I feared would be the effect of release from the work on fully accomplishing which he had so earnestly set his heart. Nor were my fears groundless. To a man ox his application and PREFACE. ardent temperament, the feeling that his work was done sen- sibly affected him. He lost a good deal of his elasticity, and during the last few years of his life, very perceptibly failed. The day on which he took official leave of the Department was indeed a memorable one. As he bade farewell to each of his assistants in the office, he and they were deeply moved. He could not, however, bring himself to utter a word to me at our official parting, but as soon as he reached home he wrote to me the following tender and loving note : — 171 VicTOKiA Street, Toronto, Monday Evening, February 21st, 1876. My Dear Hodgins, — I felt too deeply to-day when parting with you in the Office to be able to say a word. I was quite overcome with the thought of severing our official connection, which has existed between us for thirty-two years, during the whole of which time, without interruption, we have laboured as one mind and heart in two bodies, and I believe with a single eye to promote the best interests of our country, irrespective of religious sect or political party — to devise, develop, and mature a system of instruction which embraces and provides for every child in the land a good education ; good teachers to teach ; good inspectors to oversee the Schools ; good maps, globes, and text-book 3 ; good books to read ; and every provision whereby Municipal Councils and Trustees can provide suitable accomo- dation, teachers, and facilities for imparting education and knowledge to the rising generation of the land. While I devoted the year 1845 to visiting educating countries and investigating their system of instruction, in order to devise one for our country, you devoted the same time in Dublin in mastering, under the special auspices of the Board of Education there, the several different branches of their Education Office, in administering the system of National Education in Ireland, so that in the details of our Education Office here, as well as in our general school system, we have been enabled to build up the most extensive establishment in the country, leaving nothing, as far as I know, to be devised in the completeness of its arrange- ments, and in the good character and efficiency oi its officers. Whatever credit or satisfaction may attach to the accomplishment xu PREFACE. of this work, I feel that you are entitled to share equally with myself. Could I have believed that I might have been of any service to you, or to others with whom I have laboured so cor- dially, or that I could have advanced the school system, I would not have voluntarily retired from office. But all circumstances considered, and entering within a few days upon my 74th year, I have felt that thi^ was the time for me to commit to other hands the reins of the government of the public school system, and labour during the last hours of my day and life, in a more retired sphere. But my heart is, and ever will be, with you in its sympathies and prayers, and neither you nor yours will more truly rejoice in your success and happiness, than Your old life-long Friend And Fellow-labourer, E. Kyerson. Dr. Kyerson was confessedly a man of great intellectual re- sources. Those who read what he has written on the question — perilous to any writer in the early days of the history of this Province — of equal civil and religious rights for the people of Upper Canada, will be impressed with the fact that he had thoroughly mastered the great principles of civil and religious liberty, and expounded them not only with courage, but with clearness and force. His papers on the clergy reserve question, and the rights of the Canadian Parliament in the matter, were statesmanlike and exhaustive. His exposition of a proposed system of education for his native country was both philosophical and eminently practical. As a Christian Minister, he was possessed of rare gifts, both in the pulpit and on the platform ; while his warm sympathies and his deep religious experience, made him not only a "son of consolation," but a beloved and welcome visitor in the homes of the sorrowing and the afflicted. Among his brethren he exercised great personal influence ; and in the counsels of the Conference he occupied a trusted and foremost place. Thus we see that Dr. Kyerson's character was a many-sided one J while his talents were remarkably versatile. He was an PREFACE. xiii able writer on public affairs ; a noted Wesley an Minister, and a successful and skilful leader among his brethren. But h;s fame in the future will mainly rest upon the fact that he was a dis- tinguished Cana'dian Educationist, and the Founder of a great system of Public Education for Upper Canada. What makes this widely conceded excellence in his case the more marked, was the fact that the soil on which he had to labour was unprepared, and the social condition of the country was unpropitious. English ideas of schools for the poor, supported by subscriptions and voluntary offerings, prevailed in Upper Canada; free schools were unknown ; the very principle on which they rest — that is, that the rateable property of the country is responsible for the education of the youth of the land — was denounced as commun- istic, and an invasion of the rights of property ; while " compul- sory education" — the proper and necessary complement of free schools — was equally denounced as the essence of " Prussian despotism," and an impertinent and unjustifiable interference with '•' the rights of British subjects." It was a reasonable boast at the time that only systems of popular education, based upon the principle of free schools, were possible in the republican American States, . where the wide diffusion of education was regarded as a prime necessity for the stability and success of republican institutions, and, therefore, was fostered with unceasing care. It was the theme on which the popular orator loved to dilate to a people on whose sympa- thies with the subject he could always confidently reckon. The practical mind of Dr. Eyerson, however, at once saw that the American idea of free schools was the true one. He moreover perceived that by giving his countrymen facilities for freely discussing the question among the ratepayers once a year, they would educate themselves into the idea, without any interference from the State. These facilities were provided in 1850 ; and for twenty-one years the question of free-schools versus rate-bill schools (fees, &;c.) was discussed every January in from 3,000 to 5,000 school sections, until free schools became voluntarily the rul§, and rate-bill schools the exception. In 1871, by com- mon consent, the free school principle was incorporated into our school system by the Legislature, and has ever since been the universal practice. In the adoption of this principle, and in the liv PREFACE. successful administration of the Education Department, Dr. Ryerson at length demonstrated that a popular (or, as it had been held in the United States, the democratic) system of public schools was admirably adapted to our monarchial institutions. In point of fact, leading American educationists have often pointed out that the Canadian system of public education was more efficient in all of its details and more practically successful in its results, than was the ordinary American school system in any one of the States of the Union. Thus it is that the fame of Dr. Eyerson as a successful founder of our educational system, rests upon a solid basis. What has been done by him will not be undone ; and the ground gone over by him will not require to be traversed again. In the " Story of my Life," not much has been said upon the subject with which Dr. Ryerson's name has been most associated. It was distinctively the period of his public life, and its record will be found in the official literature of his Department. The personal reminiscences left by him are scanty, and of themselves would present an utterly inadequate picture of his educational work. Such a history may one day be written as would do it justice, but I feel that in such a work as the present it is better not to attempt a task, the proper perform- ance of which would make demands upon the space and time at my disposal that could not be easily met. There was one role in which Dr. Ryerson pre-eminently excelled — that of a controversialist. There was nothing spas- modic in his method of controversy, although there might be in the times and occasions of his indulging in it. He was a well- read man and an accurate thinker. His habit, when he medi- tated a descent upon a foe, was to thoroughly master the subject in dispute ; to collect and arrange his materials, and then calmly and deliberately study the whole subject — especially the weak points in his adversary's case, and the strong points of his own. His habits of study in early life contributed to his after success in this matter. He was an indefatigable student ; and so thor- oughly did he in early life ground himself in English subjects — grammar, logic, rhetoric — and the classics, and that, too, under the most adverse circumstances, that, in his subsequent active career as a writer and controversialist, he evinced a power and readiness with his tongue and pen, that often astonished PREFACE. those who were unacquainted with the laborious thoroughness of his previous mental preparation. It was marvellous with what wonderful effect he used the material at hand. Like a skilful general defending a position — and his study was always to act on the defensive — he masked his batteries, and was careful not to exhaust his ammunition in the first encounter. He never offered battle without having a suffi- cient force in reserve to overwhelm his opponent. He never exposed a weak point, nor espoused a worthless cause. He always fought for great principles, which to him were sacred, and he defended them to the utmost of his ability, when they were attacked. In such cases. Dr. Kyerson was careful not to rush into print until he had fully mastered the subject in dispute. This statement may be questioned, and apparent examples to the contrary adduced ; but the writer knows better, for he knows the facts. In most cases Dr. Eyerson scented the battle from afar. Many a skirmish was improvised, and many a battle was privately fought out before the Chief advanced to repel an attack, or to fire the first shot in defence of his position. A word as to the character of this work. It may be objected that I have dealt largely with subjects of no practical interest now — with dead issues, and with controversies for great prin- ciples, which, although important, acrimonious, and spirited at the time, have long since lost their interest. Let such critics reflect that the " Story " of such a « Life " as that of Dr. Eyer- son cannot be told without a statement of the toils and diflGiculties which he encountered, and the triumphs which he achieved ? For this reason I have written as I have done, recounting them as briefly as the subjects would permit. In the preparation of this work I am indebted to the co- operation of my co-trustees the Eev. Dr. Potts and Eev. Dr. Nelles, whose long and intimate acquaintance with Dr. Eyerson (quite apart from their acknowledged ability) rendered their counsels of great value. And now my filial task is done, — imperfectly, very imperfectly. I admit. While engaged in the latter part of the work a deep xvi PREFACE. dark shadow fell — suddenly fell — upon my peaceful, happy home. This great sorrow has almost paralyzed my energies, and has rendered it very difficult for me to concentrate my thoughts on the loving task which twelve months ago I had so cheerfully begun. Under these circumstances, I can but crave the indulgence of the readers of these memorial pages of my revered and honoured Friend, the Rev. Dr. Eyerson — the fore- most Canadian of his time. Toronto, 17th May, 1888. On the accompanying page, I give a facsimile of the well- known hand-writing of Dr. Eyerson, one of the many notes which I received from him. d^ 3 /ea ut^ ^'^— — ^ ^--^ Ot x^ ^ ^ /^ "^ Y\ ESTIMATE OF THE REV. DR RYERSON'S CHARACTER AND LABOURS. By the Rev. William Ormiston, D D., LL.D. New York, Oct. Cth, 1882. My Dear Dr. Hodgtns, — It affords me the sincerest pleasure, tinged with sadness, to record, at your request, the strong feelings of devoted personal affection which I long cherished for our mutual father and friend. Rev. Dr. Ryerson ; and the high estimate, which, during an intimacy of nearly forty years, I had been led to form of his lofty intellectual endowments, his great moral worth, and his pervading spiritual power. He was very dear to me while he lived, and now his memory is to me a precious, peculiar treasure. In the autumn of 1843, 1 went to Victoria College, doubting much whether I was prepared to matriculate as a freshman. Though my attainments in some of the subjects prescribed for examination were far in advance of the requirements, in other subjects, I knew I was sadly deficient. On the evening of my arrival, while my mind was burdened with the importance of the step I had taken, and by no means free from anxiety about the issue. Dr. Ryerson, at that time Principal of the College^, visited me in my room. I shall never forget that interview. He took me by the hand ; and few men could express as much by a mere hand-shake as he. It was a welcome, an encourage- ment, an inspiration, and an earnest of future fellowship and' friendship. It lessened the timid awe I naturally felt towards one in such an elevated position, — I had never before seen a Principal of a College, — it dissipated all boyish awkwardness, and awakened filial confidence. He spoke of Scotland, my native land, and of her noble sons, distinguished in every branch of philosophy and literature ; specially of the number, the diligence, the frugality, self-denial, and success of her college students. In this way, he soon led me to tell him of my parentage, past life and efforts, present hopes and aspirations. His manner was so gracious and paternal — his sympathy so quick and genuine — his counsel so ready and cheering — his assurances so grateful and inspiriting, that not only was my heart his from that hour, but my future career seemed brighter and more cer- tain than it had ever appeared before. 18 ESTIMATE OF THE BEV. DK RYERSON'S Many times in after years, have I been instructed, and guided, and delighted with his conversation, always replete with interest and information ; but that first interview I can never forget : it is as fresh and clear to me to-day as it was on the morning after it took place. It has exerted a profound, enduring, moulding influence on my whole life. For what, under God, I am, and have been enabled to achieve, I owe more to that noble, unselfish, kind-hearted man than to any one else. Dr. Ryerson was, at that time, in the prime of a magnificent manhood- His well-developed, finely-proportioned, firmly-knit frame ; his broad, lofty brow ; his keen, penetrating eye, and his genial, benignant face, all proclaimed him every inch a man. His mental powers vigorous and well-disciplined, his attain- ments in literature varied and extensive, his experience extended and diversified, his fame as a preacher of great pathos and power widely-spread, his claims as a doughty, dauntless cham- pion of the rights of the people to civil and religious liberty generally acknowledged, his powers of expression marvellous in readiness, richness, and beauty, his manners afiable and winning, his presence magnetic and impressive,— he stood in the eye of the youthful, ardent, aspiring student, a tower of strength, a centre of healthy, helpful influences — a man to be admired and honoured, loved and feared, imitated and followed. And I may add that frequent intercourse for nearly forty years, and close official relations for more than ten, only deepened and confirmed the impressions first made. A more familiar acquaintance with his domestic, social, and religious life, a more thorough know- ledge of his mind and heart, constantly increased my apprecia- tion of his worth, my esteem for his character, and my aliection for his person. Not a few misunderstood, undervalued, or misrepresented his public conduct, but it will be found that those who knew him best, loved him most, and that many who were constrained to difi'er from him, in his management of public afiairs, did full justice to the purity and generosity of his motives, to the nobility, loftiness, and ultimate success of his aims, and to the disinterestedness and value of his varied and manifold labours for the country, and for the Church of Christ. As a teacher, he was earnest and efficient, eloquent and inspiring, but he expected and exacted rather too much work from the average student. His own ready and affluent mind sympathized keenly with the apt, bright scholar, to whom his praise was warmly given, but he scarcely made sufficient allowance for the dullness or lack of previous preparation which failed to keep pace with him in his long and rapid strides ; hence his censures were occasionally severe. His methods of CHABAGTERAND LABOURS, 19 examination furnished the very best kind of mental discipline, fitted alike to cultivate the memory and to strengthen the judg- ment. All the students revered him, but the best of the class appreciated him most. His counsels were faithful and judicious ; his admonitions paternal and discriminating; his rebukes seldom administered, but scathingly severe. No student ever left his presence, without resolving to do better, to aim higher, and to win his approval. His acceptance of the office of Chief Superintendent of Education, while ofiering to him the sphere of his life's work, and giving to the country the very service it needed — the man for the place — was a severe trial to the still struggling College, and a bitter disappointment to some young, ambitious hearts. Into this new arena he entered with a resolute determination to succeed, and he spared no pains, effort, or sacrifice to fit him- self thoroughly for the onerous duties of the office to which he had been appointed. Of its nature, importance, and far-reaching results, he had a distinct, vivid perception, and clearly realized and fully felt the responsibilities it imposed. He steadfastly prosecuted his work with a firm, inflexible will, unrelaxing tenacity of purpose, an amazing fertility of expedient, an exhaustless amount of information, a most wonderful skill in adaptation, a matchless ability in unfolding and vindicating his plans, a rare adroitness in meeting and removing difficulties — great moderation in success, and indomitable perseverance under discouragement, calm patience when misapprehended, unflinching courage when opposed, — until he achieved the con- summation of his wishes, the establishment of a system of public education second to none in its efficiency and adaptation to the condition and circumstances of the people. The system is a noble monument to the singleness of purpose, the unwaver- ing devotion, the tireless energy, the eminent ability, and the administrative powers of Dr. Ryerson, and it will render his name a familiar word for many generations in Canadian schools and homes ; and place him high in the list of the great men of other lands, distinguished in the same field of labour. His entire administration of the Department of Public Instruction was patient and prudent, vigorous and vigilant, sagacious and successful. He repeatedly visited Europe, not for mere recreation or personal advantage, but for the advancement of the interests of religion and education in the Province. During these tours, there were opened to him the most extended fields of observation and enquiry, from which he gathered ample stores of informa- tion which he speedily rendered available for the perfecting, as far as practicable, the entire system of Public Instruction. 20 ESTIMATE OF TEE BEV. DB. RYEBSON'S A prominent figure in Canadian history for three score years, actively and ceaselessly engaged in almost every department of patriotic and philanthropic, Christian and literary, enterprise, Dr. Byerson was a strong tower in support or defence of every good cause, and no such cause failed to secure the powerful aid of his advocacy by voice and pen. His was truly a catholic and charitable spirit. Nothing human was alien to him. A friend of all good men, he enjoyed the confidence and esteem of all, even of those whose opinions or policy on public questions he felt constrained to refute or oppose. He commanded the respect, and secured the friendship of men of every rank, and creed, and party. None could better appreciate his ability and magna- nimity than those who encountered him as an opponent, or were compelled to acknowledge him as victor. His convictions were strong, his principles firm, his purposes resolute, and he could, and did maintain them, with chivalrous daring, against any and every assault. In the heat of controversy, while repelling unworthy insinua- tions, his indignation was sometimes roused, and his language not unfrequently was fervid, and forcible, and scathingly severe, but seldom, if ever, personally rancorous or bitter. When violently or vilely assailed his sensitive nature keenly felt the wound, but though he carried many a scar, he bore no malice. His intellectual powers, of a high order, admirably balanced, and invigorated by long and severe discipline, found their expression in word and work, by pulpit, press, and platform, in the achievements of self-denying, indefatigable industry, and in wise and lofty statesmanship. His raoral nature was elevated and pure. He was generous, sympathetic, benevolent, faithful, trusting, and trustworthy. He rejoiced sincerely in the weal, and deeply felt the woes of others, and his ready hand obeyed the dictates of his loving, liberal heart. His religious life was marked by humility, consistency, and cheerfulness. The simplicity of his faith in advanced life was childlike, and sublime. His trust in God never faltered, and, at the end of his course, his hopes of eternal life, through Jesus Christ our Lord, were radiant and triumphant. Dr. Ryerson was truly a great man, endowed with grand qualities of mind and heart, which he consecrated to high and holy aims ; and though, in early life, and in his public career, beset with many difliculties, he heroically achieved for himself, among his own people, a most enviable renown. His work and his worth universally appreciated, his influence widely acknow- ledged, his services highly valued, his name a household word CHABAGTEB AND LAB0UB8. 21 throughout the Dominion, and his memory a legacy and an inspiration to future generations. And while Canada owes more to him than any other of her sons, his fame is not confined to the land of his birth, which he loved so well, and served so faithfully, but in Britain and in the United States of America his name is well known, and is classed with their own deserving worthies. "Whatever judgment may be formed of some parts of his eventful and distinguished career as a public man, there can be but one opinion as to the eminent and valuable services he has rendered to his country, as a laborious, celebrated pioneer preacher, an able ecclesiastical leader, a valiant and veteran advocate of civil and religious liberty — as the founder and administrator of a system of public education second to that of no other land — as the President and life-long patron of Victoria University, whose oldest living alumnus will hold his memory dear to life's close, when severed friends will be reunited ; and whose successive classes will revere as the first President and firm friend of their Alma Mater, as the promoter of popular education, the ally of all teachers, and an example to all young men. I lay this simple wreath on the memorial of one, whom I found able and helpful as a teacher in my youth — wise and prudent as an adviser in after life — generous and considerate as a superior officer — tender and true as & friend. He loved me, and was beloved by me. He doubtless had his faults, but I cannot recall them ; and very few, I venture to think, will ever seek to mention them. The green turf which rests on his grave covers them. His memory will live as one of the purest, kindest, best of men. A patriot, a scholar, a Christian — the servant of God, the friend of man. *' Amicum perdere est damnorum maximum." Yours, very faithfully, in bonds of truest friendship, W. Oemiston. To J. George Hodgins, Esq., LL.D., Toronto THE STOEY OF MY LIFE. CHAPTER I. 1803-1825. Sketch of Early Life. I HAVE several times been importuned to furnish a sketch of my life for books of biography of public men, published both in Canada and the United States ; but I have uniformly declined, assigning as a reason a wish to have nothing of the kind published during my lifetime. Finding, however, that some circumstances connected with my early history have been misapprehended and misrepresented by adversaries, and that my friends are anxious that I should furnish some infor- mation on the subject, and being now in the seventieth year of my age, I sit down in this my Long Point Island Cottage, retired from the busy world, to give some account of my early life, on this blessed Sabbath day, indebted to the God of the Sabbath for all that I am, — morally, intellectually, and as a public man, as well as for all my hopes of a future life. I was born on the 24th of March, 1803, in the Township of Charlotteville, near the Village of Vittoria, in the then London District, now the County of Norfolk. My Father had been an officer in the British Army during the American Revolution, being a volunteer in the Prince of Wales* Regiment of New Jersey, of which place he was a native. His forefathers were from Holland, and his more remote ancestors were from Denmark. At the close of the American Revolutionary "War, he, with many others of the same class, went to New Brunswick, where he married my Mother, whose maiden name was Stickney, a descendant of one of the early Massachusetts Puritan settlers. 2* THE STORY OF MY LIFE. [Chap. I. Near the close of the last century my Father, with his family, followed an elder brother to Canada,* where he drew some 2,500 acres of land from the Government, for his services in the army, besides his pension. My Father settled on 600 acres of land lying about half-way between the present Village of Vittoria and Port Ryerse, where my uncle Samuel settled, and where he built the first mill in the County of Norfolk. On the organization of the London District in 1800, for legal purposes, my uncle was the Lieutenant of the County, issuing commissions in his own name to militia officers; he was also Chairman of the Quarter Sessions. My Father was appointed High Sheriff in 1800, but held the office only SIX years, when he resigned it in behalf of the late Colonel John Bostwick (then a surveyor), who subsequently married my eldest sister, and who owned what is now Port Stanley, and was at one time a Member of Parliament for the County of Middlesex. My Father devoted himself exclusively to agriculture, and I learned to do all kinds of farm-work. The district grammar- school was then kept within half-a-mile of my Father's residence, by Mr. James Mitchell (afterwards Judge Mitchell), an excellent classical scholar; he came from Scotland with the late Rt. Rev. Dr. Strachan, first Bishop of Toronto. Mr. Mitchell married my youngest sister. He treated me with much kind- ness. When I recited to him my lessons in English grammar he often said that he had never studied the English grammar himself, that he wrote and spoke English by the Latin grammar. At the age of fourteen I had the opportunity of attending a course of instruction in the English language given by two professors, the one an Englishman, and the other an American, who taught nothing but English grammar. They professed in one course of instruction, by lectures, to enable a dili- gent pupil to parse any sentence in the English language. I was sent to attend these lectures, the only boarding abroad for school instruction I ever enjoyed. My previous knowledge of the letter of the grammar was of great service to me, and gave me an advantage over other pupils, so that before the end of the course I was generally called up to give visitors an illustration of the success of the system, which was certainly the most effective I have ever since witnessed, having charts, etc., to illustrate the agreement and government of words. This whole course of instruction by two able men, who did * My father's eldest brother Samuel was known as Samuel Ryerse, in consequence of the manner in which his name was spelled in his Army Commission which he held J but the original family name was Ryerson. 1803-25] THE STCRY OF MY LIFE. 25 nothing but teach grammar from one week's end to another had to me all the attraction of a charm and a new discovery. It gratified both curiosity and ambition, and I pursued it with absorbing interest, until I had gone through Murray's two volumes of "Expositions and Exercises," Lord Kames' " Elements of Criticism," and Blair's " Lectures on Rhetoric," of which I still have the notes which I then made. The same professors obtained sufficient encouragement to give a second course of instruction and lectures at Vittoria, and one of them becoming ill, the other solicited my Father to allow me to assist him, as it would be useful to me, while it would enable him to fulfil his engagements. Thus, before I was sixteen, I was inducted as a teacher, by lecturing on my native language. This course of instruction, and exercises in English, have proved of the greatest advantage to me, not less in enabling me to study foreign languages than in using my own. But that to which I am principally indebted for any studious nabits, mental energy, or even capacity or decision of character, is religious instruction, poured into my mind in my childhood by a Mother's counsels, and infused into my heart by a Mother's prayers and tears. When very small, under six years of age, having done something naughty, my Mother took me into her bedroom, told me how bad and wicked what I had done was, and what pain it caused her, kneeled down, clasped me to her bosom, and prayed for me. Her tears, falling upon my head, seemed to penetrate to my very heart. This was my first religious impression, and was never effaced. Though thoughtless, and full of playful mischief, I never afterwards knowingly grieved my Mother, or gave her other than respectful and kind words. At the close of the American War, in 1815, when I was twelve years of age, my three elder brothers, George, William, and John, became deeply religious, and I imbibed the same spirit. My consciousness of guilt and sinfulness was humbling, oppressive, and distressing ; and my experience of relief, after lengthened fastings, watchings, and prayers, was clear, refresh- ing, and joyous. In the end I simply trusted in Christ, and looked to Him for a present salvation ; and, as I looked up in my bed, the light appeared to my mind, and, as I thought, to my bodily eye also, in the form of One, white-robed, who approached the bedside with a smile, and with more of the expression of the countenance of Titian's Christ than of any person whom I have ever seen. I turned, rose to my knees, bowed my head, and covered my face, rejoiced with trembling, saying to a brother who was lying: beside me, that the Saviour was now near us. The change within was more marked than 26 THE STORY OF MY LIFE. [Chap. I. anything without and, perhaps, the inward change may have suggested what appeared an outward manifestation. I hence- forth had new views, new feelings, new joys, and new strength. I truly delighted in the law of the Lord, after the inward man, and — " Jesus, all the day long, was my joy and my song." From that time I became a diligent student, and new quickness and strength seemed to be imparted to my under- standing and memory. While working on the farm I did more than ordinary day's work, that it might show how industrious, instead of lazy, as some said, religion made a person. I studied between three and six o'clock in the morning, carried a book in my pocket during the day to improve odd moments by reading or learning, and then reviewed my studies of the day aloud while walking out in the evening. To the Methodist way of religion my Father was, at that time, extremely opposed, and refused me every facility for acquiring knowledge while I continued to go amongst them. I did not, however, formally join them, in order to avoid his extreme displeasure. A kind friend offered to give me any book that I would commit to memory, and submit to his examination of the same. In this way I obtained my first Latin grammar, " Watts on the Mind," and " Watts' Logic." My eldest brother, George, after the war, went to Union College, U. S., where he finished his collegiate studies. He was a fellow-student with the late Dr. Wayland, and afterwards succeeded my brother-in-law as Master of the London District Grammar School. His counsels, examinations, and ever kind assistance were a great encouragement and of immense service to me ; and though he and I have since differed in religious opinions, no other than most affectionate brotherly feeling has 3ver existed between us to this day.* When I had attained the age of eighteen, the Methodist minister in charge of the circuit which embraced our neighbour- tiood, thought it not compatible with the rules of the Church bo allow, as had been done for several years, the privileges of a member without my becoming one. I then gave in my name tor membership. Information of this was soon communicated bo my Father, who, in the course of a few days, said to me : " Egerton, I understand you have joined the Methodists ; you must either leave them or leave my house." He said no more, and I well knew that the decree was final ; but I had formed * This brother of Dr. Ryerson's passed quietly away on the 19 th of December, 1882, aged 92. Dr. Ryerson died on the 19th of February of the same year, aged 79. Their father, Col. Ryerson, died at the age of 94.— J. G. H. 1803-25] THE STORY OF MY LIFE. 27 my decision in view of all possible consequences, and I had the aid of a Mother's prayers, and a Mother's tenderness, and a conscious Divine strength according to my need. The next day 1 left home and became usher in the London District Grammar School, applying myself to my new work with much diligence and earnestness, so that I soon succeeded in gaining the good- will of parents and pupils, and they were quite satisfied with my services, — leaving the head master to his favourite pursuits of gardening and building ! During two years 1 was thus teacher and student, advancing considerably in classical studies. I took great delight in "Locke on the Human Understanding," Paley's "Moral and Politica] Philosophy," and "Blackstone's Commentaries," especially the sections of the latter on the Prerogatives of the Crown, the Rights of the Subject, and the Province of Parliament. As my Father complained that the Methodists had robbed him of his son, and of •the fruits of that son's labours, I wished to remove that ground of complaint as far as possible by hiring an English farm-labourer, then just arrived in Canada, in my place, and paid him out of the proceeds of my own labour for two years. But although the farmer was the best hired man my Father had ever had, the result of his farm-productions during these two years did not equal those of the two years that I had been the chief labourer on the farm, and my Father came to me one day uttering the single sentence, * Egerton, you must come home," and then walked away. My first promptings would have led me to say, " Father, you have expelled me from your house for being a Methodist ; I am so still. I have employed a man for you in my place for two years, during which time I have been a student and a teacher, and unaccustomed to work on a farm, I cannot now resume it." But I had left home for the honour of religion, and I thought the honour of religion would be promoted by my returning home, and showing still that the religion so much spoken against would enable me to leave the school for the plough and the harvest-field, as it had enabled me to leave home without knowing at the moment whether I should be a teacher or a farm- labourer. I relinquished my engagement as teacher within a few days, engaging again on the farm with such determination and purpose that I ploughed every acre of ground for the season, cradled every stalk of wheat, rye, and oats, and mowed every spear of grass, pitched the whole, first on a waggon, ana then from the waggon on the hay-mow or stack. While the neighbours were astonished at the possibility of one man doing so much work, I neither felt fatigue nor depression, 28 THE STOBY OF MY LIFE. [Chap. I. for "the joy of the Lord was my strength," both of body and mind, and I made nearly, if not quite, as much progress in my studies as I had done while teaching school. My Father then became changed in regard both to myself and the religion I professed, desiring me to remain at home ; but, having been enabled to maintain a good conscience in the sight of God, and a good report before men, in regard to my filial duty during my minority, I felt that my life's work lay in another direction. I had refused, indeed, the advice of senior Methodist ministers to enter into the ministerial work, feeling myself as yet unqualified for it, and still doubting whether I should ever engage in it, or in another profession. I felt a strong desire to pursue further my classical studies, and determined, with the kind counsel and aid of my eldest brother, to proceed to Hamilton, and place myself for a year under the tuition of a man of high reputation both as a scholar and a teacher, the late John Law, Esq., then head master of the Gore District Grammar School. I applied myself with such ardour, and prepared such an amount of work in both Latin and Greek, that Mr. Law said it was impossible for him to give the time and hear me read all that I had prepared, and that he would, therefore, examine me on the translation and construction of the more difl&cult passages, remarking more than once that it was impossible for any human mind to sustain long the strain that I was imposing upon mine. In the course of some six months his apprehen- sions were realized, as I was seized with a brain fever, and on partially recovering took cold, which resulted in inflammation of the lungs by which I was so reduced that my physician, the late Dr. James Graham, of Norfolk, pronounced my case hopeless, and my death was hourly expected. In that extremity, while I felt even a desire to depart and be with Christ, I was oppressed with the consciousness that I should have yielded to the counsels of the chief ministers of my Church, as I could have made nearly as much progress in my classical studies, and at the same time been doing some good to the souls of men, instead of refusing to speak in public as I had done. I then and there vowed that if I should be restored to life and health, I would not follow my own counsels, but would yield to the openings and calls which might be made in the Church by its chief ministers. That very moment the cloud was removed; the light of the glory of God shone into my mind and heart with a splendour and power that I had never before experienced. My Mother, entering the room a few moments after, exclaimed ; " Egerton, your countenance is changed, you are getting better!" My 1803-251 THE STORY OF MY LIFE. 29 bodily recovery was rapid ; but the recovery of my mind from the shock which it had experienced was slower, and for some weeks I could not even read, much less study. While thus recovering, I exercised myself as I best could in writing down my meditations. My Father so earnestly solicited me to return, that he offered me a deed of his farm if I would do so and live with him ; but I declined acceding to his request under any circumstances, expressing my conviction that even could I do so, I thought it unwise and wrong for any parent to place himself in a position of dependence upon any of his children for support, so long as he could avoid doing so. One day, entering my room and seeing a manuscript lying on the bed, he asked me what I had been writing, and wished me to read it. I had written a medi- tation on part of the last verse of the 73rd Psalm : *' it is good for me to draw near to God." When I read to him what I had written my Father rose with a sigh, remarking : " Egerton, I don't think you will ever return home again," and he never afterwards mooted the subject, except in a general way. On recovering, I returned to Hamilton and resumed my studies ; shortly after which I went on a Saturday to a quarterly meeting, held about twelve miles from Hamilton, at "The Fifty," a neighborhood two or three miles west of Grimsby, where I expected to meet my brother William, who was one of the ministers on the circuit, which was then called the Niagara Circuit — embracing the whole Niagara Peninsula, from five miles east of Hamilton, and across to the west of Fort Erie. But my brother did not attend, and I learned that he had been laid aside from his ministerial work by bleeding of the lungs. Between love-feast and preaching on Sunday morning, the presiding elder, the Rev. Thomas Madden, the late Hugh Willson, and the late Smith Griffin (grandfather of the Rev. W. S. Griffin), circuit stewards, called me aside and asked if I had any engagements that would prevent me from coming on the circuit to supply the place of my brother William, who might be unable to resume his work for, perhaps, a year or more. I felt that the vows of God were upon me, and I was for some moments speechless from emotion. On recovering, I said I had no engagements beyond my own plans and purposes ;. but I was yet weak in body from severe illness, and I had no means for anything else than pursuing my studies, for which aid had been provided. One of the stewards replied that he would give me a horse, and the other that he would provide me with a saddle and oridle. I then felt that I had no choice but to fulfill the vow THE STORY OF MY LIFE. [Chap. 1. which I had made, on what was supposed to my deathbed. 1 returned to Hamilton, settled with my instructor and for my lodgings, and made my first attempt at preaching at or near Beamsville, on Easter Sunday, 1825, in the mornmg, from the 5th verse of the 126th Psalm: "They that sow in tears shall reap in joy;" and in the afternoon at "The Fifty," on "The Resurrection of Christ." — Acts ii. 24. Toronto, Nov. llth, 1880. Such was the sketch of my life which I wrote on Sabbath in my Long Point Island Cottage, on the 24th of March, 1873, the 70th anniversary of my birthday. I know not that I can add anything to the foregoing story of my early life that would be worth writing or reading. [In his cottage at Long Point, on his seventy-fifth birthday. Dr. Rycrson wrote the following paper, which Dr. Potts read on the occasion of his funeral discourse. It will be read with profoundest interest, as one of the noblest of those Christian experiences which are the rich heritage of the Church. — J. G. H.] Long Point Island Cottage, March 24th, 1878. I am this day seventy-five years of age, and this day fifty- three years ago, after resisting many solicitations to enter the ministry, and after long and painful struggles, I decided to devote my life and all to the ministry of the Methodist Church. The predominant feeling of my heart is that of gratitude and humiliation ; gratitude for God's unbounded mercy, patience, and compassion, in the bestowment of almost uninterrupted health, and innumerable personal, domestic, and social blessings for more than fifty years of a public life of great labour and many dangers ; and humiliation under a deep-felt consciousness of personal unfaithfulness, of many defects, errors, and neglects in public duties. Many tell me that I have been useful to the Church and the country ; but my own consciousness tells me that I have learned little, experienced little, done little in comparison of what I might and ought to have known and done. By the grace of God I am spared ; by His grace I am what I am ; all my trust for salvation is in the efficacy of Jesus' atoning blood. I know whom I have trusted, and " am persuaded that He is able to keep that which I have committed unto Him against that day." I have no melancholy feelings or fears. The joy of the Lord is my strength. I feel that I am now on the bright side of seventy-five. As the evening twilight of my 1803-25] THE STORY OF MY LIFE. 31 earthly life advances, my spiritual sun shines with increased splendour. This has been my experience for the last year. With an increased sense of my own sinfulness, unworthiness. and helplessness, I have an increased sense of the blessedness of pardon, the indwelling of the Comforter, and the communion of saints. Here, on bended knees, T give mj^self, and all I have and am, afresh to Him whom I have endeavoured to serve, but very imperfectly, for more than threescore years. All helpless, my- self, I most humbly and devoutly pray that Divine strength may be perfected in my weakness, and that my last days on earth may be my best days — best days of implicit faith and unreserved consecration, best days of simple scriptural minis- trations and public usefulness, best days of change from glory to glory, and of becoming meet for the inheritance of the saints in light, until my Lord shall dismiss me from the service of warfare and the weariness of toil to the glories of victory and the repose of rest. E. Ryerson. CHAPTER IL 1824-1825. Extracts from my diary of 1824 and 1825. THE foregoing sketch of my early life may be properly fol- lowed by extracts from my diary ; pourtraying my mental and spiritual exercises and labours during a few months before and after I commenced the work of an itinerant Methodist Preacher. The extracts arc as follow, and are very brief in comparison to the entire diary, which extends over eight years from 1824, to 1832, after which time I ceased to write a daily diary, and wrote in a journal the principal occurrences and doings in which I was concerned.* Hamilton^ August 12th, 1824. — I arrived here the day after I left home. Mr. John Law (with whom I am to study) received me with all the affection and kindness of a sincere and disinterested friend. Even, without expecting it, he told me that his library was at my service ; that he did not wish me to join any class, but to read by myself, that he might pay every attention, and give me every assistance in his power. Indeed he answered my highest expectation. I am stopping with Mr. John Aikman. He is one of the most respectable men in this vicinity. I shall be altogether retired. At the Court of Assize, the Chief-Justice and the Attorney-General will stop here, which will make a very agreeable change for a few days. To pursue my studies with indefatigable industry, and ardent zeal, will be my set purpose, so that I may never have to mourn the loss of my precious time. Aug. 16th. — This day I commenced my studies by reading Latin and Greek with Mr. Law. I began the duties of the day in imploring the assist- ance of God; for without Him I cannot do anything. God has been pleased to open my understanding, to enlighten my mind, and to show me the neces- sity and blessedness of an unreserved and habitual devotion to his heavenly will. I have heard Bishop Hedding preach, also Rev. Nathan Bangs. 1 am resolved to improve my time more diligently, and to give myself wholly to God. Oh, may his long-suffering mercy bear with me, his wisdom guide, his power support and defend m'e, and may his mercy bring me off triumphant in the dying day ! Aug. i7th.—l have been reading Virgil's Georgics. I find them very diffi- * These voluminous diaries and journals are full of detail, chiefly of Dr. Ryer- son's religious experience. They are rich in illustration of the severe mental and spiritual disciplinary process — self-imposed — through which he passed during these eventful years of his earlier life. They are singularly severe in their personal reflec- tions upon his religious shortcomings, and want of watchfulness. They are tinged with an asceticism which largely characterized the religious experience of many of the early Methodist preachers of Mr. Wesley's time— an asceticism which strongly marked the Methodist biography and writings, which were almost the only religious reading accessible to the devoted Methodist pioneers of this country, — J. G. H. 1824-25] THE STORY OF MY LIFE. 33 cult, and have only read seventy lines. In my spiritual concerns I have been greatly blessed; and felt more anxiously concerned for my soul's salvation, iiave prayed more than usual, and experienced a firmer confidence in the blessed promises of the Gospel. I have enjoyed sweet intercourse with my Saviour, my soul resting on his di\'ine word, with a prayerful acquiescence in his dispensations. But alas! what evil have I done, how much time have I lost, how many idle words have I spoken ; how should these considerations lead me to watch my thoughts, to husband my time with judgment, and govern my tongue as with a bridle! Oh, Lord bless me and prosper me in all my ways and labours, and keep me to thyself ! Aug. 18th. — The Lord has abundantly blessed me this day both in my spiritual and classical pursuits. I have been able to pursue my studies with facility, and have felt his Holy Spirit graciously enlightening my mind, showing me the necessity of separating myself from the world, and being given up entirely to his service. Atcg, 19th. — I have this day proved that, with every temptation, the Lord makes a way for my escape. I have enjoyed much peace. Oh, Lord, help me to improve my precious time, so as to overcome the assaults and escape the snares of the adversary ! Aiig. 20th. — In all the vicissitudes of life, how clearly is the mysterious providence and superintending care of Jehovah manifested! how strikingly can I observe the divine interposition of my heavenly Father, and* how sen- sibly do I realize his benevolence, kindness, and mercy in the whole moral! and blessed economy of his equitable and infinitely wise government ! On no object do I cast my eyes without observing an affecting instance of a bene- volent and overruling power; and, while in mental contemplations my mind is absorbed, my admiration rises still higher to the exalted purposes and designs of Almighty God. I behold in the soul noble faculties, superior powers of imagination, and capacious desires, unfilled by anything terrestrial, and wishes unsatisfied by the widest grasp of human ambition. What is this but immortality 1 Oh, that my soul may feed on food immortal! Another week is gone, eternally gone ! What account can 1 give to my Almighty Judge for my conduct and opportunities ? Has my improvement kept pace with the panting steeds of unretarded time % Must I give an account of every idle word, thought, and deed? Oh, merciful God! if the most righteous, devoted, and holy scarcely are saved, where shall I appear 1 How do my vain thoughts, and unprofitable conversation, swell heaven's register ] Where is my watchfulness ] Where are my humility, purity, and hatred of sin ? Where is my zeal ] Alas! alas! they are things unpractised, unfelt, almost unknown to me. How little do I share in the toils, the labours, or the sorrows of the righteous, and consequently how little do I participate in their confidence, their joys, their heavenly prospects ? Oh, may these awful considerations drive me closer to God, and incite to a more diligent improvement of my precious time, so that I may bear the mark of a real follower of Christ ! Aug. 22nd — Sabbath. — When! arose this morning I endeavoured to dedi- cate myself afresh to God in prayer, with a full determination to improve the day to his glory, and to spend it in his service. Accordingly, I spent the morning in prayer, reading, and meditation ; but when I came to mingle with the worldly-minded, my devotions and meditations were dampened and distracted, my thoughts unprofitable and vain. I attended a Methodist Class-meeting where I felt myself forcibly convinced of my shortcomings. Sure I am that unless I am more vigilant, zealous, and watchful, I shall never reach the Paradise of God. I must be willing to bear reproach for Christ's sake, confess him before men, or I never can be owned by him in the presence of his Father, and the holy angels. 8 34 THE STORY OF MY LIFE. [Chap. IL Merciful God! forbid that I should barter away my heavenly inheritance for a transient gleam of momentary joy, and the empty round of worldly pleasure: *' Help me to watch and pray, And on thyself rely, Assured if I my trust betray, I shall forever die." Aug. 23rd, — I have been abundantly prospered in my studies to-day; and have been enabled to maintain an outward conformity in my conduct. But alas! how blind to my own interest, to deprive myself of the highest blessings and exalted honours the Almighty has to bestow. Oh, Lord! help me henceforth to be wise unto salvation. May I be sober and watch unto prayer! Amen. Aug. Mth. — Through the mercy of God I have been enabled in a good degree to overcome my besetments, and have this day maintained more con- sistency in conversation and conduct. Still I feel too much deterred by the fear of man, and thirst too ardently for the honours of the world. Merciful God! give me more grace, wisdom, and strength, that I may triumphantly overcome and escape to heaven at last! I shall finish the first book of the Georgics to-day, which is the seventh day since I commenced them. I expect to finish them in four weeks from this time. My mind improves, and I feel much encouraged. My labour is uniform and constant, from the dawn of day till near eleven at night. I have not a moment to play on the flute. Aug. 25tJi. — There is nothing like implicit trust in the Almighty for assist- ance, protection, and assurance! His past dispensations and dealings with me leave not the least suspicion of his inviolable veracity, and his efficacious promises cheer the sadness, calm the fears of every soul that practically reposes in and seeks after him. The truth of this, blessed be God, I have in some measure experienced to-day. Help me, O Lord, with increasing grace to attain still more sublime enjoyments and triumphant prospects! Aug. 26th. — I feel a growing indifterence to worldly pleasures, and increas- ing love to God, to holiness, and heaven. Entire confidence in a superin- tending Providence heals the wounded heart of even the disconsolate widow, and gives the oil of joy for sorrow, and the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness. Aug. 27th. — This day I attended a funeral; those connected with it were very ignorant; how strikingly this showed to me the advantages of a good education. God forbid that I should idle away my golden moments. Help me to choose the better part, and honour God in all things ! Aug. 28^/i.— The labours of another week are ended; during it I have enjoyed much of the presence of God; surely the religion of Christ dazzles all the magnificence of human glory; were I only to regard the happiness of this lite, I would embrace its doctrines, practice its laws, and exert my influ- ence for its extension. Aug. 29th — Sabbath. — The blessings of the Lord have abundantly sur- rounded me this day, and my heart has been enlarged. Aug. 30th. — In observing my actions and words this day, I find I have done many things that are culpable; and yet, blessed be God, his goodness to me is profuse. Help me to watch and pray that I enter not into temptation. Aug. Blst. — How many youths around me do I see trifling away the greatest part of their time, and profaning their Maker's name 1 My soul magnifies His name that I have decided to be on the Lord's side; how many evils have I escaped; how many blessings obtained; what praise enjoyed, through the influence of this religion. To God be all the glory! 1824-25] THE STOBY OF MY LIFE. 35 September IsL — In no subject can we employ our thoughts more profitsibly than on the atonement of Christ, and justification through his merits. With wonder we gaze on the love of Deity ; with profound awe we behold a God descending from heaven to earth. Unbounded love! Unmeasured grace ! And while in deep silence his death wraps all nature; while his yielding breath rends the temple and shakes earth's deep foundations; may my redeemed soul in silent rapture tune her grateful song aloft ; and fired by this blood-bought theme, may I mend my pace towards my heavenly inheritance! I generally close up the labours of the day by writing a short essay or theme on some religious subject. In doing this I have two objects in view : the improvement of my mind and heart. And what could be more appropriate than to close the day by reflection upon God, and heaven, and time, and eternity 1 No private employment, except that of prayer, have I found more pleasing and profitable than this. Youth is the seed-time of the life that now is, as well as of that which is to come. Youthful piety is the germ of true honour, lawful prosperity, and everlasting blessedness. One day of humble, devotional piety in youth will add more to our happiness at the last end of life than a year of repentance and humiliation in old age. I have no intention of entering the ministry, and yet I prefer religious topics. To-day I have chosen the atonement of our Lord, and have written a few thoughts on it. Sept 2nd. — Implicit trust in a superintending Providence is a constant source of comfort and support to me. Sept. Srd. — God has blessed me to-day in my studies. I have also felt the efficacy of Divine aid. Help me still, most merciful God! Sept. 4th. — In the course of the past week I have experienced various feel- ings, especially with respect to the dealings of Divine Providence with me; but in all I have had this consolation, that whatever happens, " the will of the Lord be done." It is my duty to perform and obey. Sept. 5th. — This morning I attended church and heard a sermon on Ezekiel xviii. 27. When we consider the importance of repentance, its connection with our eternal happiness, surely every feeling heart, and ministers especially, should exhibit with burning zeal the conditions of salvation, the slavery of vice, the heinousness of sin, the vanity of human glory, and the uncertainty of life. Sept. 6th. — ^When I laid aside my studies to commit my evening thoughts to paper, my mind wandered on various subjects, until much time was lost ; the best antidote against this is, not to put off to the next moment what can be done in this. We should be firm and decided in all our pursuits, and whatever our minds " find to do, do it with all our might." Sept. 7th. — The mutual dependence of men cements society, and their social intercourse communicates pleasure. If we are called to endure the pains and inconveniences of poverty, possessing this we forget all; and in the pleasant walks of wealth, it adds to every elegance a charm. Friendship associated with religion, elevates all the ties of Christian love and mutual pleasure. Sept. 8th. — I have found myself too much mingled with the common crowd, and like others, too indifferent to the subject of all others the chief. Sept. 9th. — We " cannot serve God and Mammon." May I be firm in my attachment to the Saviour, remembering that " godliness has the promise of the life that now is, and of that which is to come." Sept. l^th. — I heard a practical sermon on making our " calling and elec- tion sure," which closed with these words, " He that calleth upon the name of the Lord shall be saved." I felt condemned on account of my negligence, and resolved, by God's help, to gain victory over my tendency to incon- sistencies of life and conduct. 36 THE STORY OF MY LIFE. [Chap. II. Sept. 14lh. — I observe men embarked on the stream of time, and carried forward with irresistible force to that universal port which shall receive the whole human family. Amongst this passing crowd, how few are there who reflect upon the design and end of their voyage; surfeited with pleasure, involved in life's busy concerns, the future, with its awful realities, is forgotten and time, not eternity, is placed in the foreground. Sept. I5th. — In a letter to my brother George, to-day, I said: — It would be superfluous for me to tell you that the letter I received from you gave me unspeakable pleasure. Your fears with respect to my injuring my health are groundless, for I must confess I don't possess half that application and burning zeal in these all-important pursuits that I ought to have. For who can estimate the value of a liberal education ] Who can sufliciently prize that in which all the powers of the human mind can expand to their utmost and astonishing extent ? What industry can outstretch the worth of that knowledge, by which we can travel back to the remotest ages, and live the lives of all antiquity ? Nay, who can set bounds to the value of those attain- ments, by which we can, as it were, fly from world to world, and gaze on all the glories of creation ; by which we can glide down the stream of time, and penetrate the unorganized regions of uncreated futurity 1 My heart burns while I write. Although literature presents the highest objects of ambition to the most refined mind, yet I consider health, in comparison with other temporal enjoyments, the most bountiful, and highest gilt of heaven. I have read three books of the Georgics, and three odes of Horace, but this last week I have read scarcely any, as I have had a great deal of company, and there has been no school. But I commence again to-day with all my might. The Attorney-General stops at Mr. Aikman's during Court. I find him very agreeable. He conversed with me more than an hour last night, in the most sociable, open manner possible. Sept. 16th. — There is nothing of greater importance than to commence early to form our characters and regulate our conduct. Observation daily proves that man's condition in this world is generally the result of his own conduct. When w^e come to maturity, we perceive there is a right and a wrong in the actions of men; many who possess the same hereditary advan- tages, are not equally prosperous in life ; some by virtuous conduct rise to respectability, honour, and happiness; while others by mean and vicious actions, forfeit the advantages of their birth, and sink into ignominy and disgrace. How necessary that in early life useful habits should be formed, and turbulent passions restrained, so that when manhood and old age come, the mind be not enervated by the follies and vices of youth, but, supported and strengthened by the Divine Being, be enabled to say, "0 God, thou hast taught me from my youth, and now when I am old and grey-headed, O God, thou wilt not forsake me! " Sept. 2ist. — I have just parted with an old and faithful friend, who has left for another kingdom. How often has he kindly reproved me, and how oft have we gone to the house of God together! We may never meet again on earth, but what a mercy to have a good hope of meeting in the better land ! Sept. 23rd. — When I reflect on the millions of the human family who know nothing of Christ, my soul feels intensely for their deliverance. What a vast uncultivated field in my own country for ministers to employ their whole time and talents in exalting a crucified Saviour. Has God designed this sacred task for me 1 If it be Thy will, may all obstacles be removed, my heart be sanctified and my hands made pure. Sept. 26th. — I have been much oppressed with a man-fearing spirit, but what have I to fear if God be for me? Oh, Lord, enable me to become a bold witness for Jesus Christ ! Sept. 28th. — In ell the various walks of life, I find obstructions and 1824-25] THE STORY OF MY LIFE. 37 labours, surrounded with foes, powerful as well as sulDtle ; althougli I have all the promises of tlie Gospel to comfort and support me, yet find exertion on my own part absolutely necessary. When heaven proclaims victory, it is only that which succeeds labour. I consider it a divine requisition that my whole course of conduct, both in political and social life, should be governed by the infallible precepts of revelation ; hypocrisy is inexcusable, even in the most trifling circumstances. Sept. 29Lh. — I find difficulties to overcome in my literary pursuits, I had never anticipated ; and it is only by the most indefatigable labour I can succeed. I am much oppressed by the labours of this day. I need Divine aid in this as well as in spiritual pursuits. Sept. ^Oth. — I have been enabled to study with considerable facilit7. Prayer I find the most profitable employment, practice the best instructor, and thanksgiving the sweetest recreation. May this be my experience every day ! October J 2nd. — I am another week nearer my eternal destiny ! Am I nearer heaven, and better prepared for death than at its commencement ? Do I view sin with greater abhorence ? Are my views of the Deity more enlarged ? Is it my meat and drink to do his holy will 1 Oh, my God, how much other- wise! From the Zrd to the 9lh Oct. — During this period the afflicting hand of God has been upon me ; thank God, when distressed with bodily pain, I have felt a firm assurance of Divine favour, so that all fear of death has been taken away. My soul is too unholy to meet a holy God, and mingle with the society of the blest. Oh, God, save me from the deceitfulness of my own heart ! Oct. lOth. Sabbath, — I am rapidly recovering health and strength. The 1 ord is my refuge and comfort. Surrounded by temptations, the applause of men is often too fascinating, and my treacherous heart dresses things in false colours. But, bless God, in his goodness and mercy he recalls my wandering steps, and invites me to dwell in safety under the shadow of hia wing. Oct. nth. — No graces are of more importance than patience and persever- ance. They give consistency and dignity to character. We may possess the most sparkling talents and the most interestmg qualities, but without these graces, the former lose their lustre, and the latter their charms. In religion their influence is more important, as* they form the character, by enabling us to surmount difficulties and remove obstacles. I am far from thinking them constitutional virtues, with a little additional cultivation, but I consider them the gift of heaven, less common than is generally imagined, though sometimes faintly counterfeited. They differ from natural or moral excel- lence in this being the proper and consistent exercise of those virtues. Oct. I2th. — It is two weeks to-day since I first wrote home. A week ago I received a kind letter from my brother George, but was too ill with fevei to read it, or to write in reply until to-day. I said : " I feel truly thankful to you for the tender concern and warm interest which you express in youi letter. Tell my dear Mother that I share with her her afflictions, and that I am daily more forcibly convinced that every earthly comfort and advantage is transient and unsatisfactory, that this is not our home, but that our high- est happiness amidst these fluctuating scenes, is to insure the favour and pro- tection of him who alone can raise us above afflictions and calamities." November 20lh. — More than a month has elapsed since I recorded my religious feelings and enjoyments on paper. During this period, I have sometimes realized all the pleasures of health ; at other times, borne down with pain and sickness, the spirit would be cast down. At such seasons ol dtpression, religion would come in as my only comfort, and with the S8 THE STORY OF MY LIFE, [Chap. II. Psalmist I would exclaim, " Hope thou in God, for I shall yet praise him who is the light of my countenance, and my God." Thus I find from blessed experience, that in every state and condition, union and intercourse with God brings true peace, joy, trust, and praise. If there be any honour, here it is. If there be any wealth, this is it. " I would rather be a dot)r-keepei in the house of my God than dwell in the tents of wickedness. " Lord, give me more of the mind of Christ 1 Nov, 25th. — In entering on the field of life, I find my mind much per- plexed with the variety of objects presented to my view. The comforts and tranquility of domestic happiness attract my attention, and excite warm de- sires in my heart. Am i not to taste the pleasures which two hearts reciprocally united in one, miitually communicate ? or must I give up the home of domestic enjoyment to the calls of duty, and the salvation of men 1 Has heaven designed that I should spend my days in seeking the lost sheep of the House of Israel ? May divine wisdom direct me, and suffer me not to follow the dictates of my own will I Nov. 26th. — By taking a retrospective view of what is past, we learn to ask more wisely in the time to come. The cool dictates of reason, assisted by that inward monitor, conscience, placedwithin the breast of every individual, strongly condemns every deviation from propriety, justice, or morality. By mingling with society we learn human nature, and the scenes of public resort afford us a field for useful observation, yet retirement is the place to acquire the most important knowledge — the knowtedge of ourselves. What would it avail us to dive into the mysteries of science, or entertain the world with new discoveries, to acquaint ourselves with the principles of morality, or learn the whole catalogue of Christian doctrines, if we are unacquainted with our own hearts, and strangers to the business of self-government 1 February I2th, 1825. — During the long period since I last penned my religious meditations, my feelings, hopes, and prospects have been extremely varied. While I was promising myself health and many temporal pleasures, God saw fit to show me the uncertainty of earthly things, and the necessity and wisdom of submission to his will, by the rod of affliction. During my sickness I have derived much pleasure and profit from the visits of pious friends, so that I have felt it is good to be afflicted,* Feb. 13(7i.— I am resolved, by God's assisting grace, to keep the following resolutions : — (1) Endeavour to fix my first waking thoughts on God ; (2) By rising early to attend to my devotions, and reading the Scriptures ; (3) By praying oftener each day, and maintaining a more devotional frame of mind ; (4) By being more circumspect in my conduct and conversation ; (5) By improving my time more diligently in reading useful books, and study ; (6) By watching over my thoughts, and keeping my desires within proper bounds ; (7) By examining myself more closely by the scripture rule; (8) By leaving myself and all that concerns me to God's disposal ; (9) By reviewing every evening the actions of the day, and especially every Sabbath, examining wherein I have come short, or have kept God s precepts. Feb. 16th. — I have lately been closely employed in reading Bishcp Burnet's History of the Reformation. How sad to reflect on the cruelti*}8 that were tlien practised against the professors of true religion ! What a reason for thankfulness that the sway of papal authority can no longer inflict papal obligations on the consciences of men ! But after careful research into this highly authentic history, I find but few vestiges of that apostolic purity which churchmen so boastfully attribute to that memorable period of Chris - * In a previous and subsequent chapter Dr. Ryerson refers more particularly tc this illness (pp. 28, 39, and elsewhere). It was a turning point in his life, and decided him to enter the ministry on his twenty-second birthday. — J. G. H. 1824-25] THE STORY OF MY LIFE. 39 tian history. Great allowance, is, however, to be made when we consider tlia^ they were just emerging out of the superstitions of popery. That doctrines, discipline, and ceremonies, cannot be established without the royal assent, even when they are approved both by ecclesiastical and legis- lative authority, is a practice so different from anything that the Primitive Church authorizes, it seems to me to originate from quite a different source ; that a whole nation should b6 bound in their religious opinions by a single individual, savours so much of popery, I think it may properly be called its offspring. Pretentions to regal supremacy in church affairs were never made till a late period, although this interference of papal authority in matters entu'ely spiritual, does not annul any ecclesiastical power, or prove its doctrines to be corrupt, or its ordinations illegal, it may be justly ranked among the invasions of modern corruption. Feb. 17 th. — Since I drew up, four days since, several resolutions for amendment, I bless God I have reason to believe I have made some im- provement. I have applied myself more closely to study, prayed oftener, and governed my thoughts with more rigour. Feb. 27th.~l am now emerging into life, surrounded by blessings and opportunities for usefulness and improvement ; but, alas ! where is my gratitude, my love to God, my zeal for his cause, and for the salvation of those who are ignorant of the great truths of the Gospel ] If, God, thou hast designed this awfully important work for me, qualify me for it ; increase and enlarge my desires for the salvation of immortal souls ! March Ibth. — This day 1 have recommenced my studies with Mr. John Law, at Hamilton. How necessary that 1 should be very careful in my con- duct for the credit of religion and Methodism ! March 24th. — I have tiiis day finished twenty-two years of my life. I have decided this day to travel in the Methodist Connexion and preach Jesus to the lost sons of men. Oh, the awful importance of this work ! How utterly unfit I am for the undertaking ! How little wisdom, experi- ence, and, above all, grace do I possess for the labours of the ministry ! Blessed Jesus, fountain of wisdom, God of power, I give myseK to thee, and to the Church, to do with me according to thy wilL Instruct and sanctify me, that whether I live, it may be to the Lord, and when I die it may be to the Lord ! April 3rd. — Easter Sunday. — I this day commenced my ministerial labours. Bless the Lord, he has given me a heart to feel. He hears my prayer. Oh, my soul, hang all thy hopes upon the Lord ! Forbid I should seek the praise of men, but may I seek their good and God's glory. In the morning I endeavoured to speak from Ps. cxxvi. 5, and in the even- ing from Acts ii. 24 — a subject suitable for the day ; bless the Lord, I felt something of the power of my Savioui'^s resurrection resting on my soul. April 8th. — The Lord being my helper, my little knowledge and feeble talents shall be unreservedly devoted to his service. I do not yet regret giviug up my worldly pursuits for the welfare of souls. I want Christ to b& all in all. April 10th. — Sabbath. — I endeavoured this morning to show the abundant provisions, the efficacy, and the triumphs of the Gospel from Isaiah xxv. 6, 7, 8, and in the afternoon I described the righteous man and his end from Prov. xiv. 32. I felt much of the presence of the Lord, and I do bless the Lord he has converted one soul in this place to-day. I feel encouraged to go on. ApritlSth. — I have been depressed in spirit on account of having no abode for domestic retirement, and becoming exposed to all the besetments of public life. Aprit 15th.- — So bowed down with temptation to-day, I almost resolved to- 40 THE STORY OF MY LIFE. [Chap. IL return to my native place. But, in God's strength, I will try to do my best during the time I have engaged to supply my brother William's place. Ajpril IQth, — In reading Rollin's account of the conquest of Babylon, I conceive more exalted ideas of the truth of the Word of God, whose predic- tions were so exactly fulfilled in the destruction of that city. A]prii 17th. — Sabbath. — My labours this day have been excessive, having delivered three discourses. In the morning my mind was dull and heavy, in the alternoon warm and pathetic, in the evening clear and fertile. I feel encouraged to continue on. April 23rd. — I feel nothing but condemnation in reviewing the actions of the past week. Would it not be better for me to return home until I gain better government over myself. Oh, Lord, I throw myself Upon thy mercy! "Take not thy Holy Spirit from me! Eestore unto me the joy of thy salvation ! " Aprit 2oth and 26th. — And thus I go on, depressed and refreshed ; almost discouraged because of the way, and then cheered by the kind and fatherly conversation of Rev. Thomas Madden. April 29th. — In travelling to-day a tree fell across the road four or five rods before me, and another not far behind, but I escaped unhurt. My heart glowed with gratitude ; I felt that the Lord was indeed my protector. But whilst so narrowly escaping myself, two persons, a woman and her son, who were travelling a short distance behind me, were suddenly killed by the fall- ing of a tree, and thus in an instant hurried into eternity. May 4th. — I watched to-day a large concourse of people assembled to witness horse-racing. I stood at a distance that I might observe an illustra- tion of human nature. Curiosity and excitement were depicted in every countenance. What is to become of this thoughtless multitude 1 Is there no mercy for them ] Surely there is. Why will they not be saved 1 Because they will not come to Him. May bth. — During the day I preached once, to a listening but wicked assembly. In the afternoon I heard my brother William. I was affected by the force of his reasoning, and the power of his eloq^uence. I hope the Lord will help me to imitate his piety and zeal. May 7th. — A camp-meeting was commenced this afternoon on Yonge Street, near the town of York. Eev. Thomas Madden preached from, " Lord help me!" Every countenance indicated interest, and every heart appeared willing to receive the word. In the evening a pious, aged man spoke (Mr. D. Y.) His discourse was full of God. Several were converted and made very happy. May 8th. — The people rose at 5 a.m. After prayers and breakfast, there was a prayer meeting, during which God was especially present. At 8 a.m. I preached from Hosea xiii. 3. This was followed by two exhortations; then Eev. Eowley Heyland preached from, " Buy the truth, and sell it not." About two o'clock the people were again assembled to hear the Rev. James Eichardson (formerly a lieutenant in the British Navy) from the words, " Be ye reconciled to God." His style was plain but unadorned, his reasoning -clear, and his arguments forcible. The services concluded with the celebra- tion of the Lord's Supper. About three hundred communicated, sixty-two professed to have obtained the pardon of their sins, and forty-two gave their names as desirous of becoming members of the Methodist Society. After this, a concluding address was delivered by the Eev, Wm. Eyerson, in which he gave particular directions to the Methodists as subjects under the civil con- •stitution, as members of the Church of Christ, as parents, as children, as individuals. He animadverted on the groundless and disingenuous asper- sions that had been thrown out through the press against Methodism, on account of the suspected loyalty of its constitutional principles. He warmlj 1824-25] THE STORY OF MY LIFE. 41 insisted on a vigorous observance, support, and respect for the Civil Govern- ment, both from the beneficence of its laws and the equity of its administra- tion, as well as from the authority of God. The concluding ceremony was the most affecting I ever witnessed, especially in the affection which the people showed for their ministers. May 12th. — I have this day ridden nearly thirty miles, preached three times, and met two classes. I felt very much fatigued, yet the Lord has given me " strength equal to my day." May I9th. — I have been much blessed in the society of pious friends. A part of the week I felt very sick, but was greatly comforted by the conversa- tion and affectionate treatment of my kindest friend, Mrs. Smith. Since I commenced labouring for my Master I have found fathers and mothers, brothers and sisters, all ready to supply my every want. May 24th. — A Camp-meeting commenced at Mount Pleasant. The presence of both Mississauga and Mohawk Indians added greatly to the interest of the meeting. Peter Jones addressed his people in their own tongue; although I did not understand, I was much affected by his fervency and pathos. He spoke in English in a manner that astonished all present. Another Indian Chief addressed his brethren in the Mohawk tongue. I could not understand a word of it, but was carried away with his pathos and energy. These Indians thanked the white people for sending them the Gospel. He said that upwards of sixty Indians had been converted, and could testify that God had power to forgive sin. He, i. g., a young Chippewa said that the most earnest desire and prayer of the Christian Indians was that God would drive the horrid whislcey from their nation. It was truly affecting to see this young man arise and testify in the presence of God and this large assembly, that "he had the witness in his own soul, that God for Christ's sake had forgiven all his sins." The congregation wae much moved, and prayers and praises were heard in every part of the assembly. At the close of the exercises, on the following day, the Mohawk Chief said, " They considered that they belonged to the Methodist Church, as they had done all for them.'' May 29th. — For many days I have been cast down by a weight of care. My Father is exceedingly anxious that I should return home, and remain with him during his lifetime. A position in the Church of England has pre- sented itself, and other advantageous attractions with regard to this world, offer themselves.* It makes my heart bleed to see the anxiety of my parents. But is it duty? If they were in want I would return to them without hesita- tion, but when I consider they have everything necessary, can it be my duty to gratify them at the expense of the cause of God] Surely if a man may leave father and mother to join himself to a wife, how much more reasonable to leave alt to join himself to the Christion ministry. My parents are dear to me, but my duty to God is dearer still. One thing do I desire, that I may live in the House of the Lord for ever ! And shall I leave a Church through whose faithful instructions I have been brought to know God, for any advantages that the entrance to another might afford me ? No, far be it from me ; as I received the Lord Jesus, so I will walk in him. Earthly distinctions will be but short ; but the favour of God will last forever. Besides, is it a sacrifice to do my duty ? Is it not rather a cause of gratitude that I know mv duty, and am allowed to perform it ] My heart is united with the Methodists, my soul is one with theirs ; my labours are acceptable, and they are anxious that I should continue with them. I believe in their Articles, I approve of their Constitution, and I believe them to be of the Church of Christ. * Dr. Kyerson refers in another chapter to the overtures which were made to him at this time to enter the ministry of the Church of England. — J. G. H. 42 THE STOBY OF MY LIFE. [Chap. II. Saltfleet, May SOth. — [Amongst Dr. Ryerson's papers I find the two following letters. The first addressed from Saltfleet, on this day, to his brother George ; the second to his Mother on the following day. — J. G. H.] [To his brother, Eev. George Ryerson, he said : I suppose your first inquiry is to know my spiritual condition and prospects. As to my religious enjoyments, I think that I have reason to believe I am daily blessed with the divine presence to enlighten, to instruct, and to assist me in my researches and meditations, and in the other arduous duties I have to discharge. Never did I so sensibly feel the importance of the work in which I am now engaged, as I have these few days past. I feel that I am altogether inadequate to it ; but God has in a very special manner, at different times, been my wisdom and strength. I do not feel sorry that I have commenced travelling as a preacher. I think I feel more deeply the worth of souls at heart. I feel willing to spend my all, and be spent in the cause of God, if I may become the unworthy instrument in doing some good to the souls of men. The greatest assistance I receive in my public labours, is that which results from a firm dependence on God for light, life, and power. When I forget this I am visited with that barrenness of mind, and hardness of heart which are always the companions of those who live at a distance from God. In discharging every public duty, my prayer to God is, to renew my commission afresh, and give me wisdom and energy, and I do not find him slack concerning his promise. I am striving to pursue my studies with unabating ardour. My general practice is to retire at ten o'clock, or before, and rise at five. When I am travelling, I strive to con- verse no more than is necessary and useful, endeavouring at all times to keep in mind the remark of Dr. Clarke, that a preacher's whole business is to save souls, and that that preacher is the most useful who is the most in his closet. On my leisure days I read from ten to twenty verses of Greek a day, besides read- ing history, the Scriptures, and the best works on practical divinity, among which Chalmers' has decidedly the preference in my mind, both for piety and depth of thought. These two last studies employ the greatest part of my time. My preaching- is altogether original. I endeavour to collect as many ideas from every source as I can ; but I do not copy the expression of any one. For I do detest seeing blooming flowers in dead men's hands. I think it my duty, and I try to get a general know- ledo"e, and view of any subject that I discuss before-hand ; but not unf requently I have tried to preach with only a few minutes previous reflection. Remember me to my dear Mother, and give her this letter to read, and tell her that I will write soon.] 1824-25] THE STORY OF MY LIFE. 43 Saltfleet, May Slst. — [To his Mother he writes: My dear Mother, I am thankful to say that I ani well, and am trying in a weak way to serve the Lord, and persuading as many others to do so as I can. I feel that I am almost destitute of every necessary qualification for so important a work. The Lord has blessed me in a very special manner at many difierent times. Our prospects are very favourable in some places. Our congre- gations are generally large, and still increasing. We have twenty- four appointments in four weeks. I have formed some very useful and pious acquaintances since I left home. The Lord seems to be with me, and renders my feeble efiorts acceptable in general. My acquaintance seems to be sought by all classes, and I try to improve such advantages in spreading, by my example and conversation, the blessed religion of Christ among all ranks. I have many temptations to contend with, and many trials to weigh me down at times. Some of these arise from a sense of the injustice which I have done to important subjects, on account of my ignorance, which drives me to a throne of grace, and a closer application to my studies. My situation is truly a state of trial, and none but God could support and direct me. And I do feel the comforting and refreshing influence of his divine power at times very sensibly. I am determined, b}'^ his assistance, never to rest contented until he not only becomes my wisdom, but my sanctification, and my full redemption. And blessed be the Lord, my dear Mother, I do feel a hope, and a confidence that the same divine power and goodness which supports and comforts you in your ill state of health, and which gives you victory over your trials, and consolation in your distress, will conduct me, too, through this stormy maze, and we shall yet have the blessedness of meeting at our Father's table in Heaven. And God being my helper, my dear Mother, when you have gone home to rest with God, I am determined to pursue the same path, which you have strewn with prayers, with tears, and living faith, until I reach the same blessed port. I hope that you will pray that the Lord would help and save me forever ! If I had no other inducement to serve God, and walk in the path of religion, but your comfort, I would try and devote my life to it while I live; but when Heaven's trans- cendant glory beams forth in prospective view, my soul burns to possess the kingdom, and my heart is enlarged for the salvation of others. I wish you would get George to write immediately, and let me know the state of your mind, and your opinion about my returning home, also his own opinion ou that subject. —J. G. H.] July 2ntZ.— This week has been a season of trial. I have left my Fathera house once more, and arrived on my Circuit. 44 TEE STORY OF MY LIFE. [Chap. II. Jidy Zrd— Sabbath.— I have preached twice to-day in Niagara for the first time ; felt very embarrassed, but my trust was in God, and my prayer to Him for assistance. July 4th. — This evening I have been distressed in mind on account of leaving my parents. My heart melts within me when I think of my Father's faltering voice, when lying on his bed he said, " Good-bye, Egerton," and reached forth his trembling hand, saying by his countenance that he never expected to see his son a resident in his house again. He laid himself back in his bed in apparent despair, no more to enjoy the society of the child he loved. Oh, my God ! is it not too much for humanity ? Nature sinks be- neath the weight. It is only God that can sustaiiL May I endure manfully to the end ! July 6th and 1th. — I have been much interested in reading Dr. Coke's dis- courses, also Wesley's sermons on " The Kingdom of God." July 9th. — I have crossed the river to the United States to-day for the first time. The manners of the people are not pleasant to me. July 10th — Sabbath. — The Lord has greatly blessed me this day. I have preached three times. My heart overflowed with love for immortal souls. Many wept, and God's people seemed stirred up to engage afresh in His ser- vice. In the evening, I preached to very a wicked congregation, from Matt, xvi. 24. My mind was clear, particularly in argument, but they seemed to be unaffected. July I4th. — I have been afflicted with illness, but the Lord has comforted me. Again had to mourn over light conversation, still I think I have gained some victory. I am determined to watch and pray until I obtain a triumph over this trying besetment. July nth.—l felt so ill this morning that I could not attend my appoint- ment, but recovered so as to preach feebly in the afternoon. The Word seemed to rest with power on the people. July 2lst. — For several days I have been much interested in reading Fletcher's " Portrait ot St. Paul." When I compare my actions and feelings with the standard there laid down, I blush on account of my ignorance in the duties and labours connected with my calling. Did the ministers of the Gospel obtain and possess a deeper communion with God ? Did they cultivate primitive piety in their lives, and Gospel simplicity in their preaching, surely the power of darkness could not stand before them ! How many learned discourses are entirely lost in the wisdom of words, whereas plain and simple sermons, delivered with power and demonstration of the Spirit, have been attended with astonishing success. July 27th. — I have been considerably agitated in my mind for the last two days, having lost my horse. The fatigue in searching for her has been con- siderable. Thank God she is found ! July dlst — Sabbath. — Greatly blessed in attending a Quarterly meeting in Hamilton ; also in hearing an interesting account of the Indians receiving their presents at York. Peter Jones had written to Col. Givens to enquire just what time they must be there, stating that as many of them had become Christianized and industrious, they did not want to lose time. The Colonel was surprised at the news, and replied, giving the necessary information. Peter Jones' letter was shown to Rev. Dr. Strachan and His Excellency the Governor. It excited great curiosity. When the Indians arrived, the Colonel had, as usual, brought liquor to treat them, but as Peter Jones in- formed him the Christian Indians would not drink, he very wisely said "the others should not have it either," and sent it back. How the Lord honours those who honour Him. Rev. Dr. Strachan and several ladies and gentlemen assembled to see the distribution of presents. The Christian Indians were requested to separate from the others, that they 1824-25] THE STOBY OF MY LIFE. 45 might read and sing. The company was much pleased, and Dr. Stiachan prayed with them. On the following Sabbath, the Dr. visited the Credit settlement, and attended one ot the meetings which was addressed by Petei Jones. Dr. Strachan proposed their coming under the superintendence of the Church of England ; but after holding a council, they declined, deciding to remain under the direction of the Methodists. May the Lord greatly prosper his work amongst them, preserve them from every delusive snare, and may their happy souls be kept blameless unto the day of Jesus Christ ! August 1st. — This day I have been admitted into the Methodist Con- nexion, licensed as a Local Preacher, and recommended to the Annual Con- ference to be received on trial. How awful the responsibility ! How dread- ful my condition if I violate my charge or deal deceitfully with souls ! Oh, God, assist me to declare Tliy whole counsel ! and help me to instruct by example as well as precept. How swiftly am I gliding down time's rapid stream ! I am daily reminded of the uncertainty and shortness of life. I went to-day to visit a friend, and (as usual) smilingly came to the door, when behold ! all was mourning and sorrow ! An infant son had just taken its everlasting flight to the arms of Jesus. He was a fine boy, active and promising, but he had suddenly gone to return no more ! The father's philosophy forsakes him now ; parental feeling has uncontrolled sway I recommended religion as the only sufficient support and comfort. I touched on the mysterious government ol God ; that truly " Clouds and darkness are round about him." yet " righteousness and judgment are the habitation of his throne." I pointed out the happiness of the beloved babe, which should lead us to devote our all to His service, that we might eventually share in the unspeakable blessedness to which the lovely infant is now raised. Aug. 10th. — My soul rejoices at the news I have heard from home, that my eldest brother (George) has resolved to join the Methodists, and become a missionary among the Indians. How encouraging and comforting the thought that four of us are now united in the same Church, and pursue the same glorious calling. My Father has become reconciled, and my Mother is willing to part with her sons for the sake of the Church of Christ. Aug. I4th— Sabbath. — Never did I feel my pride more mortified in the dis- charge of public duty. I was desirous of delivering a discourse, in Niagara, which would meet the approbation of all, after carefully adjusting the sub- ject, by the assistance of a variety of authors ; but through fatigue (having rode twelve miles), and embarrassment, I was scarcely able to finish. My heart felt hard and my mind barren, conscience reproached me that I had not acted with a single eye to the glory of God. In the afternoon, I threw myself on the mercy of God ; my tongue was loosened and my heart warmed. Surely, " They that trust in the Lord shall not be confounded." Aug. 17th. — This morning a lady died with whom I had considerable con- versation on the subject of Methodism, and on the propriety of her daughters joining the society contrary to her wish. She appeared to be satisfied with my account of the principles and nature of Methodism, but did not like to acknowledge the propriety of her daughters' proceedings, although her judg- ment seemed convinced as I adverted to the principles of her own church. I am informed that yesterday she said, "The girls are right and I am wrong." How comforting this must be to her daughters, who have entirely overcome her opposition by their kindness, afi'ection, and gospel simplicity. Au^. 22nd. — Yesterday I delivered a discourse on the subject of Missions, for the purpose of forming a Missionary Society in this place (Niagara). September Zrd, 1825. — I took tea this afternoon at Youngstown, U.S., for the first time. Sept. 6th. — Had the pleasure of meeting my brother to-day, whom I have not seen for a year. How comforting to meet with those who are not only 46 THE STORY OF MY LIFE. . [Chap. II. aear by the ties of nature, but much more by the changing power of divine grace. Sept. 9th. — Have been greatly benefitted to-day by hearing Bishop Hed- ding preach from Rev. iii. 5. Sept. 16th. — I bless God for what mine eyes hath seen, and mine ears have heard to-day, being the first anniversary of the Canadian Missionary Society. The Hon. John Willson, M.P.P., was requested to take the chair. Several Indians, who had been brought to a knowledge of the truth, through the efforts of this Society, were present and spoke. How delightful to see the warlike Mohawk, and the degraded Mississauga, exchanging the heathen war-whoop for the sublime praise of the God of love! This is the commence- ment of greater things which the Lord will do for the aboriginies of Canada. Sept. 2Zrd. — I have this day received my appointment for York and Yonge street. Never did I feel more sensibly the necessity of Divine help. Help me, God, to go forth in Thy strength, and contend manfully under the banner of Christ I Ameiu CHAPTER IIL 1825-1826. First Year op my Ministry and First Controversy. MY first appointment after my admission on trial was to the (what was then called the York and Yonge Street Circuit), which then embraced the Town of York (now the City of Toronto) Weston, the Townships of Vaughan, King, West Gwillimbury, North Gwillimbury, East Gwillimbury, Whitchurch, Mark ham, Pickering, Scarboro', and York, over which we travelled, and preached from twenty-five to thirty-five sermons in four weeks, preaching generally three times on Sabbath and attending three class meetings, besides preaching and attending class meetings on week days. The roads were (if in any place they could be called roads) bad beyond description ; could only be travelled on horse-back, and on foot ; the labours hard, and the accommodations of the most primitive kind ; but we were received as angels of God by the people, our ministrations being almost the only supply of religious instruction to them ; and nothing they valued more than to have the preacher partake of their humble and best hospitality. It was durifag the latter part of this the first year of my itinerant ministry (April and May, 1826) that I was drawn and forced into the controversy on the Clergy Reserves and equal civil and religious rights and privileges among all religious persuasions in Upper Canada.* There had been some contro- versy between the leaders of the Churches of England and Scotland on their comparative standing as established churches in Upper Canada. In my earliest years, I had read and studied Blackstone's Commentaries on the laws of England, especially the rights of the Crown, and Parliament and Subject, Paley's Moral and Political Philosophy; and when I read and observed the character of the policy, and state of things in Canada, I felt that it was not according to the principles of British liberty, or of the British Constitution ; but I had not the slightest idea of writing anything on the subject. t At this juncture, (April, 1826,) a publication appeared, entitled " Sermon Preached and Published by the Venerable Archdeacon of York, in May, 1826, on the Death of the Late Bishop of * A fuller reference to this subject will be found in Chapters vi and viii. — H. 48 THE STOBY OF MY LIFE. [Chap. Ill Quebec," containing a sketch of the rise and progress of the Church of England in these provinces, and an appeal on behalf of that Church to the British Government and Parliament. In stating the obstacles which impeded the progress of the Church of England in Upper Canada, the memorable Author of the able discourse attacked the character of the religious persuasions not connected with the Church of England, especially the Methodists, whose ministers were represented as American in their origin and feelings, ignorant, forsaking their proper em- ployments to preach what they did not understand, and which, from their pride, they disdained to learn ; and were spreading disaffection to the civil and religious institutions of Great Britain. In this sermon, not only was the status of the Church of England claimed as the Established Church of the Empire, and exclusively entitled to the Clergy Reserves, or one seventh of the lands of Upper Canada, but an appeal was made to the Imperial Government and Parliament for a grant of £300,000 per annum, to enable the Church of England in Upper Canada, to maintain the loyalty of Upper Canada to England. And these statements and appeals were made ten years after the close of the war of 1812-1815, by the United States against Britain, with the express view of conquerins: Canada and annex- ing it to the United States ; and during which war both Metho- dist preachers and people were conspicuous for their loyalty and zeal in defence of the country. The Methodists in York (now Toronto) at that time (1826) numbered about fifty persons, young and old ; the two preachers arranged to meet once in four weeks on their return from thsir country tours, when a social meeting of the leading mem- bers of the society was held for conversation, consultation, and prayer. One of the members of this company obtained and brought to the meeting a copy of the Archdeacon's sermon, and read the parts of it which related to the attacks upon the Methodists, and the proposed method of exterminating them. The reading of those extracts produced a thrilling sensation of indignation and alarm, and all agreed that something must be written and done to defend the character and rights of Metho- dists and others assailed, against such attacks and such a policy. The voice of the meeting pointed to me to undertake this work. I was then designated as '' The Boy Preacher," from my youth- ful appearance, and as the youngest minister in the Church. I objected on account of my youth and incompetence; but my objections were overruled, when I proposed as a compromise, that during our next country tour the Superintendent of the Circuit (Rev. James Eichardson), and myself should each write on the subject, and from what we should both write, some- 1825-20] THE STORY OF MY LIFE. 49 thing might be compiled to meet the case. This was agreed to, and at our next social monthly meeting in the town, inquiry was made as to what had been written in defence of the Metho- dists and others, against the attacks and policy of the Archdeacon of York. It was found that the Superintendent of the Circuit had written nothing ; and on my being questioned, I said I had endeavoured to obey the instructions of my senior brethren. It was then insisted that I must read what I had written. I at length yielded, and read my answer to the attacks made on us. The reading of my paper was attended with alternate laughter and tears on the part of those present, all of whom insisted that it should be printed, I objecting that I had never written anything for the press, and was not competent to such a task, and advanced to throw my manuscript into the fire, when one of the elder members caught me by the arms, and another wrenched the manuscript out of my hands, saying he would take it to the printer. Finding my efforts vain to recover it, I said if it were restored I would not destroy it but rewrite it and return it to the brethren to do what they pleased with it. I did so. Two of the senior brethren took the manuscript to the printer, and its publication produced a sensation scarcely less violent and general than a Fenian invasion. It is said that,, before every house in Toronto might be seen groups reading and discussing the paper on the evening of its publication in, June ; and the excitement spread throughout the country. It was the first defiant defence of the Methodists, and of the equal and civil rights of all religious persuasions ; the first protest and argument on legal and British constitutional grounds, against the erection of a dominant church establishment supported by the state in Upper Canada. It was the Loyalists of America, and their descendants, in Upper Canada who first lifted up the voice of remonstrance against ecclesiastical despotism in the province, and unfurled the flag of equal religious rights and liberty for all religious persuasions. The sermon of the Archdeacon of York was the third formal attack made by the Church of England clergy upon the charac- ters of their unoftending Methodist brethren and those of other religious persuasions ; but no defence of the assailed parties had as yet been written. In a subsquent discussion on another topic, referring to this matter, I said ; "Up to this time not a word had been written respecting the clergy of the Church of England, or the Clergy Reserve question, by any minister or mem- ber of the Methodist Church. At that time the Methodists had no law to secure a foot of land, on which to build parsonages, Chapels, and in which to bury their dead ; their ministers were not allowed to solemnize matri- 4 50 THE STORY OF MY LIFE. [Chap. Ill, mony ; and some of them had been the objects of cruel and illegal persecu- tion on the part of magistrates and others in authority. And now they were the butt of unprovoked and unfounded aspersions from two heads of Episco- pal Clergy, while pursuing the ' noiseless tenor of their way,' through track- less forests and bridgeless rivers and streams, to preach among the scattered inhabitants the unsearchable riches of Christ."* The Review, in defence of the Methodists and others against such gratuitous and unjust imputations, consisted of about thirty octavo pages, appeared over the signature of " A Methodist Preacher ;" it was commenced near Newmarket, in a cottage owned by the late Mr. Elias Smith, whose wife was a sister of the Lounts — a woman of great excellence. It was written piecemeal in the humble residences of the early settlers, in the course of eight days, during which time I rode on horse- back nearly a hundred miles and preached seven sermons. On its publication I pursued my country tour of preaching, &c., little conscious of the storm that was brewing ; but on my return to town, at the end of two weeks, I received newspapers containing four replies to my Review — three of them written by clergymen, and one by a scholarly layman of the Church of England. In those replies to the then unknown author of the Review, I was assailed by all sorts of contemptuous and crimin- .ating epithets — all denying that the author of such a publication -eould be " a Methodist Preacher," — but was "an American," '^a rebel," "a traitor," — and that the Review was the " prodigious effort of a party." My agitation was extreme ; finding myself, against my own intention and will, in the very tempest of a discussion for which I felt myself poorly prepared, I had little appetite or sleep. At length roused to a sense of my position, I felt that I must either flee or fight. I decided upon the latter, strengthened by the consciousness that my principles were those of the British Constitution and in defence of British rights. I devoted a day to fasting and prayer, and then went at my adversaries in good earnest. In less than four years after the commencement of this controversy, laws were passed authorising the different religious denominations to hold land for churches, parsonages, and bury- ing grounds, and their Ministers to solemnize matrimony; while the Legislative Assembly passed, by large majorities, resolutions, and addresses to the Crown against the exclusive pretensions oi the Church of England to the Clergy Reserves and being the exclusive established Church of Upper Canada, though the Clergy Reserve question itself continued to be discussed, and was not finally settled until more than ten years afterwards. * Letters to the Hon. W. H. Draper on ^^ The Clergy Reserve Question ; as n Matter of History, a Question of Law, and a Subject 0/ Legislation," Toronto, 1839, pp. 11, 12. 1825-26] THE STORY OF MY LIFE. 51 Several months after the commencement of this controversy I paid my tirst annual visit to my parents, and for the first two days the burden of my Father's conversation was this con- troversy which was agitating the country. At length, while walking in the orchard, my Father turned short, and in a stern tone, said, " Egerton, they say that you are the author of these papers which are convulsing the whole country. I want to know whether you are or not ?" I was compelled to acknowledge that I was the writer df these papers, when my Father lifted up his hands, in an agony of feeling, and exclaimed, " My God ! we are all ruined !" The state of my own mind and the character of my labours during this first year of my ministry, may be inferred from the following brief extracts from my diary : — October 4th, — I have this evening arrived on my Circuit at York. I feel the change to be awfully important, and entirely inadequate to give proper instruction to so intelligent a people. The Lord give me his assisting grace. I am resolved to devote my time, my heart, my all, to God without reserve. 1 do feel determined, by God's assistance, to rise early, spend no more time than is absolutely necessary, pray oftener, and more fervently, to be modest and solemn in the discharge of my public duties — to improve every leisure moment by reading or meditation, and to depend upon the assistance of Almighty God for the performance of every duty. Oh, Lord, assist an ignorant youth to declare thy great salvation! Oct. 9th. — Commenced my labours this day. In the morning, the Lord was very near to help me, giving me a tongue to speak, and a heart to feel. But in the evening, after I got through my introduction, recollection failed and my mind was entirely blank. For nearly five minutes I could scarcely speak a word ; alter this my thoughts returned. This seemed to be the hand of God, to show me my entire weakness. Oct. 16th — Sabbath. — Oh, God, water the efforts of this day with thy grace ! If I am the means of persuading only one soul to embrace the Lord Jesus, I shall be amply rewarded. " Paul planted, ApoUos watered, but God gave the increase." 1 Cor. iii. 6. Oct. tiOth, — Once more, my Saviour, I renew my covenant and give myself away ; 'tis all that I can do. Oct. 27th. — For several days past the Lord has been very gracious to my soul, and has greatly helped me in declaring His glorious counsels. But to- day, my heart felt very hard while preaching to a company of graceless sinners. It was in a tavern, and I doubt the propriety of preaching in such places. Oct. Slst. — I am one month nearer my end; am I so much nearer God and heaven 1 There are many precious hours I can give no favourable account ♦of. Had I been more faithful, I might have led some poor wanderer into the way of truth. Oh, God, enter not into judgment with me! Spare the barren fig-free a little longer. Novernber 4th — Friday (Fa^t Day.) — One reason why my labours are not more blessed, is because I feel and know so little of spiritual things myself. There is too much of self about me. ** When, gracious Lord, when shall it be. That I shall find my all in Thee; The fulness of Thy promise prove, The s«ai of Thine eternal love. " THE STORY OF MY LIFE. [Chap. III. Nov. Gth. — I felt greatly blessed while addressing a large Sabbath-school of more than a hundred scholars. iVbv. 7th. — [On this day, the following letter was written from York by Dr. Ryerson to his Father. He said : On leaving the old home lately, I promised to write to you, my dear Father, and let you know how I am getting on. I arrived here a few days after I left home. I have received a lettpr from brother William, who told me that his prospects are encourag- ing. I received a letter also from brother John. He reached Perth about a fortnight after he left home, and was cordially received by all classes. He preached the Sabbath after he got there to large and respectable congregations. He was very much pleased with his appointment, and his prospects are very favourable. On the first evening of his preaching, one professed to experience justification by faith, and several were deeply con- victed. He thinks, from several circumstances, that his appomt- ment is of God. I am very well pleased with my appointment. I travel with a person who is deeply pious, a true and disin- terested friend, and a very respectable preacher. I travel about two hundred miles in four weeks, and preach twenty-five times, besides funerals. I spend two Sabbaths in York, and two in the country. Our prospects on the circuit are encouraging. In York we have most flattering prospects. We have some increase almost every week. Our morning congregations fill the chapel, which was never the case before ; and in the evening the chapel will not contain but little more than three-quarters of the people. Last evening several members of Parliament were present. I never addressed so large an audience before, and I never was so assisted from heaven in preaching as at this place. I have spent the last two Sabbaths in York, and I go to-day into the country. I was requested yesterday to address the Union Sunday-school, which contains about 150 or 200 children. It was a public examination of the School. I never heard children recite so correctly, and so perfectly before, as they did. There was quite a large congregation present, as it was designed to make a contribution for the support of the School. I first addressed a short discourse to the children, and then addressed the assembly. It was the most precious season that I ever ex- , perienced. It is, my dear Father, the most delightful employ- ment I ever engaged in, to proclaim the name of Jesus to lost sinners. I feel more firmly attached to the cause than ever. The Lord has comforted, blessed, and prospered me beyond my expectations. I am resolved to devote all that 1 have and am, to his service. Get George to write shortly all the news of the day. Remember me to my dear Mother. — H.] 1825-26] THE STOBY OF MY LIFE. 53 [After writing to his Father, he wrote on the same day to his brother George, as follows : — I have just heard the Governor's Speech to the two Houses of the Legislature. In the latter part of his address he hinted at a certain communication, which, by the permission of His Majesty, he would make by Message, to remove apprehensions that affected the civil rights of a very considerable part of the community. As to my religious enjoyments, I think that Christ has been more precious to me than ever. When I came into this Circuit, I began to fast and pray more than ever I had done before, and the Lord has greatly blessed me. I have scarcely had a barren time in preaching. I feel more strongly attached to the cause than ever. While the Lord will help, I am resolved to go forward. Rev. James Richardson is a man of good sense, and deep piety, and a very acceptable and useful preacher. — H.] Nov. lOth. — Travelled twenty-two miles and preached twice. My views of Scripture of late have been obscure; I can recall the truths to my mind, but they don't make that impression they have hitherto done. Is this change of feeling inherent, or the effect of neglect of duty, and want of watchfulness ] I will examine this point more fully. I know it is my privilege to enjoy peace with God, but whether it be my privilege at all times to possess equal feeling, I am not certain. C Nov. 2drd. — I think Mr. "Wesley's advice indispensably necessary, *' to rise as soon as we wake." I am resolved to be more punctual in rising for the time to come. 7 Nov. 29th. — How painful does my experience prove the truth of the Apostle, that *' when 1 would do good evil is present with me." I have thought sometimes it would be impossible to forget God, or to be lukewarm in His cause ; but alas I I am prone to evil continually. December 14th. — The Lord has greatly delivered my soul from the burden of guilt and fear with which I have been so painfully bowed down for several days past ; and, blessed be the name of the Lord, He begins to revive His work on the circuit. Five more have been added to the Church this week. Glory to God lor His mercy and love ! Dec. SOth.—A part of the day I spent in the Legislature. The first three months of last year I was in bad health, confined to my bed part of the time. The last nine months I have spent in trying to seek the lost sheep of the house of 1 srael. Yorkf January 1st, 1826. — How faithful is the Saviour to that promise, " Lo, 1 am with thee, even to the end of the world." Though weak in body I have had to preach three times a day, and travel many miles. Jesus has ■ been very precious to my soul. February 2rd. — I have travelled to-day in an Irish settlement, and preached twice to them. My life is a scene of toil and pain, I am far from well, and far from parents and relatives. While others enjoy all the advan- tages of domestic life, I am doomed to deny myself. Oh, my soul, behold the example the Saviour has set. " He had not where to lay his head." Is the servant above his Lord ? Feb. 11th.— For several days I have been visiting my friends. I think they are improving in religious knowledge. "What an unspeakable blessing 54 THE STORY OF MY LIFE, [Chap, IIL to see them showing a desire to walk in the narrow way that leads to life eternal. Feh. 18fh. — I have just returned to my Circuit. This is the first time I ever dropped appointments for the gratification of seeing my friends. It has taught me the lesson, that labouring in the vineyard of the Lord is more blessed than any personal gratification. Feb. 28th. — This month presents the most mournful portrait I have ever beheld in retrospect of my past time since I began to travel. Since I visited my friends everything has gone against me. The season of recreation was not improved as it ought to have been ; I lost the unction of the Holy One, and returned to my Circuit depressed in mind. Shall I sink down m des- pair 1 No, I will return unto the Lord. He has smitten, He will heal. I will go to the fountain open for sin and uncleanness. I will renew my cove- nant, and ofi'er my poor ail to him once more. March 2drd. — This day closes my twenty-third year and the first of my ministry. How mysterious was the providence which induced me to enter the itinerant ministry. It was the Lord's doing, and it is marvellous in my eyes. Since I have devoted myself to Him in a perpetual covenant, how great has been His paternal care over me. I have felt the rod of affliction, but, He has sanctified it. I have been assailed by temptation, but He has delivered me. I have been caressed and flattered, but the Lord, in great mercy, has saved me from the dangerous rocks of vanity and pride. Mv soul has at times been overspread with clouds and darkness, but the " Sun of Righteousness has again risen " with brightness on his wings. I have oft been cast down, but blessed be the Lord who has given me the *' oil of joy for mourning, and the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness." My mind at times has been filled with doubts and fears, and I have been tempted to say, " I have cleauped my heart in vain, and washed my hands in innocency," but the Lord has saved my feet from slipping, and established my goings upon a firm foundation. He has put a new song into my mouth, and en- abled me to say, " What time I am afraid I will trust in Thee." April 17th. — This day, for the first time, I have declared to the aborigines of the country that "Jesus is precious to those who believe." My heart rejoiced in God, who is claiming the heathen for His inlieritance. April Idlh. — [On this day Dr. Ryerson wrote from Saltfleet to his Mother. He said : — As you, my dear Mother, were always anxious about my health, I write to-day to assure you tha,t since I left home it has been extremely good. I think I am making some small progress in those attainments which are only acquired by prayer, and holy devotedness to God. I find the work I have undertaken is an all-important one. I have many things to learn, and many things to unlearn. I have had some severe trials, and some mortifjdng scenes. At other times I have been unspeakably blessed, and I have been greatly encouraged at some favourable prospects. Several times my views have been greatly enlarged, and my mind enlightend, while, with a warm and full heart, I have been trying to address a large and much affected congregation. It is not my endeavour to shine, or to please, but to speak to the heart and the conscience. And with a view to this, I have aimed at the root of injurious prejudices, and notions that I have found prevalent in diSerent places. I 1825-26] THE STOBY OF MY LIFE. 55 find, by experience, that a firm reliance on the power and grace of Christ is everything. I hope that you, my dear Mother, will pray for me that the Lord will give me grace, power, and wis- dom to do my whole duty. • I am very sorry to hear of your ill-health. I hope and pray that the Father of all mercies will continue to support, comfort, and deliver you, in the midst of your afflictions and sorrows. Blessed be the Lord, dear Mother, the day is not far distant when you can rest your weary spirit in the arms of Jesus ; and should I survive you, while you are pursuing the blessed, triumphant theme of redeeming love, in strains the most exalted, I will endeavour in my feeble way to follow you to the same blessed kingdom. Brother William received a letter from John last week. His health is very* bad His excessive labour has overcome him. He has forty appointments in four weeks. He is now stationed in Kingston. — H.] April 25th. — For several days past I have been altogether engaged in writing a controversial pamphlet, and have attended little to the^duty of self- examination. Aprit 28th. — I have been much blessed in reading the Journal of John Nelson. When I compare the unwearied labours, and severe sufferings of that brave soldier of the Cross, with my little efforts and sufferings, I blush for my lukewarmness, and am ashamed of my tearfulness. May 10th. — [In these early days, the Methodist ministers had but little time for study before commencing their ministerial labours, and, as Dr. Ryerson often told me, they had to resort to many expedients to secure the necessary time for reading and study. This had often to be done on horseback. Dr. E-yerson's eldest brother, George, who had attended Union College, N.Y., turned his advantages in this respect to a good account. He sought to stimulate his younger brothers to devote every spare- moment to suitable preparation for their work. In reply to a letter on this subject, from Hev. George Ryerson to his brother William, he said : — I thank you for your kind advice respecting composition, and shall endeavour to follow it, although my necessary duties leave but very little time for literary improvement. Since I saw you, I have been principally engaged in Biblical studies, which I find both profitable and interesting. I am now engaged in reading the Bible through in course with Dr. Adam Clarke's notes, also Paley's books. I received a letter from brother John a few days since. He had received a number into the Society, and there were a number more who appeared to be seriously awakened. Elder Madden, who was at York last week, says that Egerton is well, and that the cause of religion is prospering in York, and on the Yonge Street Circuit. We have had but very littie increase in Niagara since I saw you, although^ our congregation is very large and attentive. — H.] 56 THE 8T0BY OF MY LIFE. [Chap. III. May IStk — [In writing to-day to his brother George, Dr. Ryer- son mentioned that he and Elder Case had visited the Credit Indians. Elder Case, he said, had come up to get Mrs. Wm, Kerr {nee Brant) to correeVthe translation of one of the Gospels, and some hymns, in order to have them printed. He also wished Peter Jones to go down and preach to the Indians on the Bay of Quinte (Tyendinaga). It was there, he said, that the work of religion had begun to spread among them. About twelve had experienced religion, and others are under awakening. They do not, he said, understand enough English to receive religious instruction in that language • and, therefore, he wished Peter Jones to go down for two or three weeks. In this letter Dr. Ryerson said : I think the cause of religion is prospering in different parts of the Circuit. Upwards of thirty have been added to us in this town^York) since Confer- ence, and our present prospects are equally encouraging. My colleague is a man who is wholly devoted to the work of saving souls. I hope that God will give us an abundant harvest. I am employing all my leisure time in the prosecution of my studies. 1 also practice composition. I am reading Rollin's Ancient History, Greek, and miscellaneous works. Are Father, and Mother, and all the family well ? How are their minds iisposed towards God and heaven ? We have formed a Missionary Society in this place. I think we shall collect $40 or $50. I hope that period is not remote when the whole colony will be brought into a state of sal- vation ! — H.] June 1th. — My mind has been much afflicted with care and anxiety, for some days, on account of the controversy in which I am engaged. I feel it to be the cause of God ; and I am resolved to follow truth and the Holy Scriptures in whatever channel they will lead me. Oh, Lord, I commend my feeble efforts to thy blessings ! Grant me wisdom from above ; and take tlie cause into thy own hands, for thy name's sake ! June 2bth. — I have spent some days in visiting my friends, and also at- tending a Camp-meeting. The weather has been very unfavourable ; but the showers that watered the earth are now past, and showers of Divine blessing are descending. The song of praise is ascending, and sinners are crying for mercy. Oh, Lord, carry on the glorious work ! July 1th. — The enemy gained victory over me to-day, by tempting me to neglect Class for other employments. But I was defeated. Company com- ing in, I was hindered from doing what I desired. Conscience condemned, and darkness and distress followed. Oh, Lord, henceforth help me to do my ■duty I July 9th.— Sahhath. — I was called this evening to a drunken, dying man. He was entirely ignorant both of his bodily and spiritual danger. What a scene ! An immortal soul just plunging into hell, and yet hoping for heavenl How awful is the state of one whom God gives over to believe a liel His ■life is ended, his family destitute, and liis soul lost ! ■Juli/ 19th, — Suiely nothing can afford more pleasure to an enquiiing mind 1826] THE STORY OF MY LIFE. 57 bent on historical researches, than the perusal of documents relating to the ancient chosen people of God. That a people who could, according to their legitimate records, number more than eight hundred thousand fighting men, should slip from the records of men, hide themselves from human observa- tion, and inhabit limits beyond geographical research, is a phenomenon un- precedented in the world's history ; and that they should remain in this state more than two thousand years, among the vast discoveries which travellers have made, is still more surprising. Such is the wonderful government of Him whose ways are past fiinding out. I trust the day is not iar distant when the lost will be found, and the dead be alive ! July 2Qth. — For several days I have been holding meetings and conferences with the Indians. Their hearts are open to receive instruction, and their hands extended to receive the bread of life. If the Lord will open the way, I will try to acquire a knowledge of their language. My soul longs to bring them to the Word of Truth. July ^Oth—A day or two since I had the pleasure of seeing a brother whose ecclesiastical duties have separated us for nearly a year. How many tender recollections of God's care and merciful dealings, since our last meet- ing rushed upon our minds. But while enabled to rejoice together, we were called upon to mourn the loss of one brother, taken away to the world of spirits August 17i7i.— Scarcely a day passes without beholding new openings to ex- tend my ministerial labours. To-day, in an affecting manner, I witnessed the hands of suffering humanity stretched forth to receive the word of life. More than five hundred aborigines of the country were assembled in one place. In a moral point of view, they may be said to be " sitting in the valley of the shadow of death." " The day star from on high" has not yet dawned upon them. Alas ! are they to perish lor lack of knowledge ? Can not the dry bones live ? Oh, thou who art able to raise up children unto Abraham ' speak the word, devise the means, and these long lost prodigals shall return to their father's house ! I noticed activity, both in body and mind, superior skUl in curious workmanship; genius flashed in their coun- tenances ; and yet shall these noble powers be bound fast in the cruel chains of ignorance, and these immortal spirits go from a rayless night to midnight tomb? Oh, Thou Light of the "World, shine upon them ! One of their nation whom God has plucked as a brand from the burning, attempted to explain the Christian religion to them. They listened and bowed assent, saying "ha, ha." Oh, Lord, if Thou wilt qualify me and send me to dis- pense to them the Bread of Life, I will throw myself upon Thy mercy, and submit to Thy will. August ^Oth. — Amongst all the authors with whom I am acquainted, who treat on Church Government, the Rev. Dr. Campbell is the most clear and satisfactory. With a great deal of talent, penetration, and research, he exhibits the Church in all her various forms, till her power made empires tremble, and her riches bid defiance to poverty. His excellent lectures have enlarged my mind on the subject of ecclesiastical polity, and rendered my feelings more liberal. I am convinced that form of government is best which most secures order and union in society. August 20th — Sahbath. — To-day closes my ministerial labours at York, where I have been stationed for two years. Many precious seasons have I enjoyed ; and, blessed be the Lord, He has set His seal to my labours, and I think I can call God to witness that I have not failed in my feeble way to declare the whole counsel of God, Oh, Lord, seal it with Thy Spirit's power 1 CHAPTER IV. 1826-1827. Missionary to the River Credit Indians. AT the Conference of 1826, I was appointed Missionary to the Indians at the Credit, but was required to continue the second year as preacher, two Sundays out of four, in the Town of York, of which my elder brother, William, was superintendent, including in his charge several other town- ships. He was aided by a colleague, who preached in the country, but not in the town. The Chippewa tribe of Indians had a tract of land on the Credit River, on which the Government proposed to build a village of some twenty or thirty cpttages, with the intention of building a church for them and inducing them to join the Church of England, upon the pretext that the Methodist preachers were Yankees. As my Father had been a British officer, and fought seven years during the American Rebellion for the unity of the Empire, was the first High Sheriff in the London District (having been appointed in 1808); and had, with his sons, fought in defence of the country in the war of the United States with Great Britain, in 1812-1815, and my father's elder brother having been the organizer of the Militia and Courts of the London District, the name Ryerson became a sort of synonym for loyalist throughout the official circles of the province ; and my appointment, therefore, as the first stationed Missionary among the Indians, and from thence to other tribes, was a veritable and standing proof that the impu- tation of disloyalty against the Methodist Missionaries was groundless. When I commenced my labours among these poor Credit Indians (about two hundred in number) they had not entered into the cottages which the Government had built for them on the high ground, but still lived in their bark-covered wigwams on the flats beside the bank of the River Credit. One of them, made larger than the others, was used for a place of worship. In one of these bark-covered and brush-enclosed wigwams, I ate and slept for some weeks; my bed consisting of a plank, a 1826-27] THE 8T0BY OF MY LIFE. 5S mat, and a blanket, and a blanket also for my covering ; yst I was never more comfortable and happy : — God, the Lord, was* the strength of my heart, and — " Jesus, all the day long, was my joy and my song." Maintaining my dignity as a minister, I showed the Indians that I could work and live as they worked and lived. Having learned that it was intended by the advisers of the Lieutenant-Governor, on the completion of the cottages, to erect an Episcopal Church of England for the absorption of the Indian Indian Village at the Rivee Credit in 1827 — Wintek. converts from the Methodists into that Church, I resolved to be before them, and called the Indians together on the Monday morning after the first Sunday's worship with them, and using the head of a barrel for a desk, commenced a subscription among them to build a house for the double purpose of the worship of God and the teaching of their children. Never did the Israelites, when assembled and called upon by King David, (as recorded in the 29th chapter of the first book of Chronicles) to subscribe for the erection of the Temple, respond with more cordiality and liberality, in proportion to their means, than did these converted children of the forest come forward and present their humble offerings for the erection of a house in which to worshio God, and teach their children. The squaws 60 THE STORY OF MY LIFE. [Chap. IY. came forward to subscribe from shillings to dollars, the proceeds of what they might earn and sell in baskets, mats, moccasins, &c., and the men subscribed with corresponding heartiness and liberality of the salmon that they should catch — which were then abundant in the river, and which, I think, sold for about twelve and a half cents each. On the same day, a plan of the house was prepared, and I engaged on my own individual responsibility, a carpenter- mason, by the name of Priestman (who had been employed by the Government to build the Indian cottages), to build and finish the house for the double purpose of worship and school, and then mounted my horse and visited my old friends in York, on Yonge Street, Hamilton, and Niagara Circuits, and begged money to pay for all, and at the end of six weeks the house was built and paid for, while our "swell" friends of the Govern- ment and of the Church of England were consulting and talking about the matter. It was thus that the Church-standing of these Indian converts was maintained, and they were en- abled to walk in the Lord Jesus as they had found Him. My labours this season were very varied and severe. I had to travel to York (eighteen miles) on horseback, often through very bad roads, and preach two Sundays out of four (my second year in town). After having collected the means necessary to build the house of worship and school-house, I showed the Indians how to enclose and make gates for their gardens, having some knowledge and skill in mechanics.* Between daylight and sunrise, I called out four of the Indians in succession, and showed them how, and worked with them, to clear and fence in, and plow and plant their first wheat and corn fields. In the afternoon, I called out the school-boys to go with me, and cut and pile, and burn the underbrush in and around the village. The little fellows worked with great glee, as long as I worked with them, but soon began to play when I left them. In addition to my other work, I had to maintain a heavy * When about fourteen years of age, an abridged " Life ot Benjamin Franklin" fell into my hands, and I read it with great eagerness. I was especially attracted by the account of his mechanical education and of its uses to him in after years, during and after the American Revolution, when he became Statesman, Ambassador, and Philosopher. My father was then building a new house, and I prevailed on him to let me work with the car- penter for six months. 1 did so, agreeing to pay the old carpenter a York, shilling a day for teaching me. Daring that time, I learned to plane boards, shingle, and clapboard the house, make window frames and log floors. The little knowledge and skill I then acquired, was of great service when I was labouring among the Indians, as well as my early training as a farmer. I became head carpenter, head farmer, as well as missionary, among these interesting people, during the first year of their civilized life. 1826-27] THE STOBY OF MY LIFE. 61 controversy with several clergymen of the Church of England on Apostolic Ordination and Succession, and the equal civil rights and privileges of different religious denominations.* A few months after my appointment to the Credit Indian Mission, the Government made the annual distribution of presents to the Georgian Bay and Lake Simcoe Indians — all of whom were assembled at the Holland Landing, on the banks of the Holland River, at the southwest extremity of Lake Simcoe. They consisted chiefly of the Snake tribe, the Yellowhead tribe (Yellowhead was the head Chief), and the John Aissance tribe. Peter Jones and I, with John Sunday, had visited this tribe at Newmarket, the year before, and preached to them and held meetings with them, when they embraced the Christian religion, and remained true and faithful. Peter Jones and my- self attended the great annual meeting of the Indians, and opened the Gospel Mission among them. In my first address, which was interpreted by Peter Jones, I explained to the assembled Indians the cause of their poverty, misery, and wretchedness, as resulting from their having offended the Great Being who created them, but who still loved them so much as to send His Son to save them, and to give them new hearts, that they might forsake their bad ways, be sober and indus- trious ; not quarrel, but love one another, &c. I contrasted the superiority of the religion we brought to them over that of those who used images. This gave great offence to the French Roman Catholic Indian traders, who said they would kill me, and beat Peter Jones. On hearing this. Col. Givens, the Chief Indian Superintendent, called them together and told them that the Missionary Ryerson's father was a good man for the King,, and had fought for him in two wars — in the last of which his sons had fought with him — and that if they hurt one of these sons, they would offend their great father the King ; that Peter Jones' father had surveyed Government lands on which many of the Indians lived. Th's representative of the Government, a man of noble feelings and generous impulses, threw over us the shield of Royal protection. After the issuing of the goods to the Indians, Peter Jones remained with the Huron and Georgian Bay Indians, and preached to them with great power ; while I went on board a schooner, with the Yellowhead Indians, for the Narrows, on the northern shore of Lake Simcoe, near Orillia, where the Indians owned Yellowhead (now Chief) Island, and which I examined with a view of selecting a place for worship, and for establishing a school. A Mission-school was established on this island. It was afterwards removed by Rev. S. (now Dr.) Rose and others * See note on p. 85 ; also Chapters vi, and viii. — H. 62 THE STOBY OF MY LIFE, [Chap. IV. to the mainland at Orillia, and was faithfully taught by the late William Law (1827) and by the Rev. S. Rose (1831). An amusing incident occurred during this little voyage on the schooner, which was managed by the French traders who had threatened my life two days before. The wind was light, and the sailors amused themselves with music — one of them playing on a fife. He was attempting to play a tune which he had not properly learned. 1 was walking the deck, and told him to give me the fife, when I played the tune. The Frenchmen gathered around my feet, and looked with astonishment and delight. From that hour they were my warm friends, and offered to paddle me in their canoes among the islands and along the shore wherever I wished to go. By the advice of some of my brethren, I called on the Lieu- tenant-Governor, Sir Peregrine Maitland, after I arrived in Toronto, for the purpose of giving him a general account of the progress of the Christian religion amongst the Indian tribes I said to him : — " The ohject I have in view is the amelioration of the condition of the Indians in this Province. The importance of this, both to the happiness of the Indian tribes, and the honour of the govenment under which they live, has been deeply felt by the parent state, so forcibly that a church was built and the Protestant religion introduced amongst the Six-Nations at the Grand River, about the beginning of the century. This effort of Christian benevo- lence has been so far successful as to induce some hundreds of them to receive the ordinances of the Christian religion. But the Chippewa tribes have hitherto been overlooked, till about four years ago, when the Methodists in- troduced the Christian religion amongst them. Inashort time about one hundred embraced the religion of Christ, exhibit- ing every mark of a sound conversion. Their number soon increased, and a whole tribe of Mississaugas renounced their former superstitions and vices, and became sober, quiet Christians. They then felt anxious to become domesticated; their desire being favourably regarded, a village was established at the Credit, and houses built for them. They have this season planted about forty acres of corn and potatoes, which promise an abundant harvest. About forty children attend the com- mon school, nearly twenty can write intelligibly, and read the Holy Scrip- tures and the English Reader. At Belleville a change especially interesting has been effected. The work was commenced there about two years ago, and now in their whole tribe, numbering about two hundred, there is not one drunkard ! They are also becoming domesticated and are building a village on one of their islands in the Bay of Quinte, which they had squandered away in their drunken revels, but which is now repurchased for them by some benevolent indivi- duals. A Day and Sunday School are established in which upwards of fifty children are taught. From the Belleville Indians the Gospel spread to the tribes which inhabit the country adjacent to Rice Lake. Here also may be seen a wonderful display of the "power of God unto Salvation to every one that believeth." In less than a year, the whole of this body, whose census is 300, renounced their idolatrous ceremonies and destructive habits, for the principles, laws and blessings of that kingdom which is righteousness, peace, and joy in the 182G-27] THE STORY OF S^Y LIFE, 63 Holy Ghost." They are all, save a few, converted and changed in their hearts and lives, and earnestly desire a settled life. The uniform language of all, so soon as they embrace the Christian religion is, " Let us have houses, that we may live together in one place, learn to till the ground, hear the word of the Great Spirit, and have our children taught to read the good book." ^(^nother field of Christian labour is already ripe amongst the Lake Simcoe Indians, who number about 600 souls. About two months ago an opportunity opened for introducing the Christian religion to them, and such was their readiness to hear and believe the words of sal- vation, that more than 100 have already professed the Christian faith, and are entirely reformed. A school is established in which forty are taught by a young man named William Law, lately from England. This extensive reformation, has been effected and continued, by means, which, to all human appearance, are altogether inadequate to the accomplish- ment of such a work. A school at the Grand Kiver containing thirty scholars, one at the Credit forty, another at Belleville upwards of thirty, and one lately established at Lake Simcoe containing forty, and the missionaries who have been employed amongst the Indians, together with the boarding of a number of Indian boys, have only amounted to a little more than £150 per annum. It is of the last importance to perpetuate and extend the im- pressions which have already been made on the minds of these Indians. The schools and religious instruction must be continued ; and the Gospel must be sent to tribes still in a heathen state. But in doing this our ener- gies are weakened, and the progress of Christian labour much impeded by serious difficulties which it is in the power of the government to remove. These obstacles are principally confined to the Lake Simcoe Indians, the most serious of which is occasioned by the traders, who are Eoman Catholic Frenchmen, employed to accompany the Indians in their hunting for the purpose of procuring their furs, and who are violently opposed to the refor- mation of the Indians. These traders are about eighty in number, and have long been accustomed to defraud and abuse the Indians in the most inhuman manner ; they have even laid violent hands on some of the converted Indians, and tried to pour whiskey down their throats ; but, thank God, have failed, the Indians successfully resisted them. To shake the faith of some, and deter others from reforming, they have threatened to strip them naked in the winter, when they were at a distance of 100 miles from the white settlement, and there leave them to freeze to death. Col. Givens, when he was up issuing their presents about a month ago, threatened the traders severely if they disturbed the Indians in their devo- tions, or did any violence to their teachers. He also suggested the idea of your Excellency issuing a proclamation to prevent any further abuses. Sir Peregrine replied : *' When the Legislature meets, I shall see if something can be done to relieve them more effectively, but I do not think that I can do anything by the way of proclamation. If, upon deliberation, I find that I can do some- thing for them, I shall certainly do it." I observed : The civil authority would be an ample security, while the Indians are among the white inhabi- tants ; but these abuses are practised when they are one or two hundred miles from the white settlements. The traders follow them to their hunting grounds, get them intoxicated, and then get their furs for one fourth of their value, nay, sometimes take them by force. These Frenchmen are able- bodied men, and have abused the Indians so much they are afraid of them ; and, therefore, have not courage, if they had strength to defend themselves. Under these circumstances your Excellency will perceive the Indians have no means of obtaining justice, and from their remote situation the power of civil authority is merely nominal in regard to them. His Excellency observed, " 1 am very much obliged to you for this information ; I shall do ail in my power for them." CHAPTER V. 1826-1827. Diary of my Labours Among the Indians. THE following extracts from my diary contain a detailed account of my mental and spiritual exercises and labours at this time, as well as many interesting particulars respecting the Indians, not mentioned in the foregoing chapter : — Credit, September 16th, 1826. — I have now arrived at my charge among the Indians. I feel an inexpressible joy in taking up my abode amongst them. I must now acquire a new language, to teach a new people. Sept, nth, — This day I commenced my labours amongst my Indian brethren. My heart teels one with them, as they seemed to be tenderly alive to their eternal interests. May I possess every necessary gift to suffer labour, and teach the truth as it is in Jesus. Sept. 23rd. — Greatly distressed to-night on account of a sad circumstance. Three or four of the Indians have been intoxicated ; and one of them, in a fit of anguish, shot himself ! This was caused by a wicked white man, who persuaded them to drink cider in which he mixed whiskey, [See letter below.] Sept. 24th. — Sabbath. — I tried to improve the mournful circumstance that occurred yesterday, as the Indians seemed much affected on account of the awful death of their brother. Sept. 25th. — We have resolved upon building a house, which is to answer the double purpose of a school-house, and a place for divine worship. In less than an hour these poor Indians subscribed one hundred dollars, forty of which was paid at once. What a contrast, a short time ago they would sell the last thing they had for whiskey ; now they economize to save something to build a Temple for the true God ! Sept. 2Qth. — To-day I buried two Indians, one the man who committed suicide, the other a new-born babe. Oct. 8th. — For many days I have been employed in an unpleasant contro- versy, for our civil and religious rights, which has taken much of my time and attention. Oct, 9th. — One of my brethren has been suddenly called from his labotirs, to his eternal home. Alas ! my beloved Edward Hyland is no more. He entered the field after me, but he has gone before me ! Oct. 14th. — I have been employed the whole week in raising subscriptions for the Indian Church j we have now enough subscribed. Oct 19th — [In a letter, to-day, to his brother George, who wished to hear something about the Indian work, Dr. Ryerson 1826-271 THE STORY OF MY LIFE. 65 said : I have to attend to various things previous to settling myself permanently at the Credit. I preached there to the Indians the two succeeding Sabbaths after I left home, and have been employed since that time in building a chapel for them at the Credit. The Indians in general, appear to be steadfast in their religious profession. They are faithful in their religious duties, and exemplary in their lives. One unhappy circumstance occurred there. [See entry in Diary of 23rd September.] I preached a solemn discourse on the subject of guarding against temptation and intemperance John Jones' House at the Credit, where Dr. Ryerson resii>ei>.- the same day, illustrating it throughout by this lamentable example. The Indians appeared to be much affected; and, I think, through the mercy of God, it has, and will prove a salutary warnin.sj to them. The Indians were very spirited in building their chapel. They made ,up more than a hundred dollars towards it, and are willing to do more, if necessary. By going in different parts of the country, I have got about enough subscribed and paid to finish it. I have now per- manently resided at the Credit Mission not quite a fortnight. I board with John Jones; have a bed-room, but no fire-place, except what is used by the family. I can speak a little Missis - auga^ and understand it pretty well. As to my enjoyments in religion, I have lately had tlie severest conflicts I ever ex- perienced ; but at times the rich consolations of religion have 66 TEE STOBY OF MY LIFE [Chap. V, flowed sweetly to my heart and God has abundantly blessed me, especially in my pulpit ministrations. It is the language of my heart to my blessed Saviour, Thy will, not mine, be done. Our prospects in little York are favourable. The chapel is en- larged, and the congregation greatly increased, some having lately joined. — H.] Nov. 9th. — This evening in visiting a sick Indian man, I endeavoured, through an interpreter, to explain to him the causes of our aflSictions, the sympathy of Jesus, and the use of them to Christians. We afterwards had prayer, many flocked into the room. The sick man was filled with peace m believing, insomuch that he clapped his hands for joy. Nov. ^26th. — Sabbath. — This has been an important day. We opened our Indian Chapel by holding a love-feast, and celebrating the Lord's supper. The Indians with much solemnity and feeling expressed what God had done for them. Rev. Wm. Case addressed them. In the evening he gave them most important instruction, as to domestic economy and Christian duties. After this a short time was spent in teaching them the Ten Commandments, the Indian speaker repeating them audibly sentence by sentence, which was responded to by the whole congregation. At the close, eight persons, seven adults and one infant were baptized. Three years ago they were without suitable clothes, home, morality, or God. Now they are decently clothed, sheltered from the storm by comfortable dwellings, and many of them rejoicing in the hope of a glorious immortality. Nov. 29th. — Last evening, in addressing a few of the Indians, who were collected on account of the death of one of them, (John Muskrat) I felt a degree of light spring up in my mind. This Indian was converted about a year ago, and has ever since maintained a godly walk and holy conversation. Thus missionary labour has not been in vain. This is the third that has left an encouraging testimony behind of a glorious resurrection. Nov. ZOth. — I have this day divided the Indian society into classes, selected a leader for each, from the most pious and intelligent. I meet th§se leaders once a week separately, to instruct them in their duty. Dec. 1th — I have been often quite unwell, owing to change of living, be- ing out at night ; my fare, as to food is venj 'plain, but wholesome, and I generally lie on boards with one or two blankets intervening.* Dec. Sth. — I am feeling encouraged in the prosecution of the Indian language, and in the spirit of my mission. There is a tenderness in the disposition of many of the Indians, especially of the women, which endears them to the admirers of natural excellence. One of them kindly presented me with a handsome basket, which is designed to keep my books in. This afternoon I collected about a dozen of the boys, to go with me to the woods, in order to cut and carry wood for the chapel. Their exertions and activity were astonishing. Dec. I6th. — I have this week been trjdng to procure for the Indians the exclusive right of their salmon fishery, which I trust will be granted by the Legislature, t I have attended one of their Councils, when everything was conducted in the most orderly manner. After all the business was adjusted, they wished to give me an Indian name. The old Chief arose, and approached the table where I was sitting, and in his own tongue addressed me in the loilowing manner : " Brother, as we are brothers, we will give you a name. *My home was mostly at John Jones', brother of Peter Jones ; sometimes at Wm. Herkimer's, a noble Indian convert, with a noble little wife. + See page 78. 1826-27] THE STORY OF MY LIFE. 67 My departed brother was named Cheehock; thou shalt be called Cheehock."* I returned him thauks in his own tongue, and so became initiated among them. Dec. 22nd. — My brother John, writing from Grimsby, thus acknowledges the kind advice of brother George: I thank you for your kind advice, and I can assure you I have felt of late, more than ever, the importance of preaching Christ, and Christ alone. It is my aim and constant prayer to live in that way, so that I can always adopt the language of the Apostle, Romans xiv. 7, 8. 1 wish you to write as often as convenient. Any advice or instruction that you may have at any time to give, will be thank- fully received. January 4th, 1827. — After the absence of more than a week, I again return to my Indians, who welcome me with the tenderest marks of kindness. Watch-night on New Year's Eve was a season of great rejoicing among them. About 12 o'clock, while their speaker was addressing them, the glory of the Lord filled the house, and about twenty fell to the floor. They all expressed a determination to commence the New Year with fresh zeal. My soul was abundantly blessed at the commencement of the year, while speaking at the close of the Watchnight services in York. My engagement in controversial writing savours too much ot dry historical criticism to be spiritual, and often causes leanness of soul; but it seems to be necessary in the present state of matters in this Colony, and it is the opinion of my most judicious friends, that I should continue it till it comes to a suc- cessful termination. Jan. 10th. — [Having received a letter of enquiry from his brother George, Dr. Eyerson replied at this date, and said : — I have been unwell for nearly two months with a con- tinuance of violent colds, occasioned by frequent changes from a cold house and a thinly-clad bed at the Credit, to warm rooms in York. My indisposition of body has generally induced a depression of spirits, which has often unfitted me for a proper discharge of duties, or proficiency in study. However, in the midst of bodily indisposition, the blessings of the Holy Spirit have been at times abundantly poured into my soul, insomuch that I could glory in tribulation, and rejoice that I am counted worthy to labour and suffer among the most unprofitable and worthless of the labourers in my Saviour's vineyard. The Indians are firm in their Christian profession, and some of them are making considerable im- provement in the knov/ledge of doctrine and duties of religion, and of things in general. They are affectionate and tractable. I am very unpleasantly situated at the Credit, during the cold weather, as there are nearly a dozen in the family, and only one fire-place. I have lived at different houses among the Indians, and thereby learned some of their wants, and the * Cheehock, "A bird on the wing," referring to my going about constantly among them. Qh THE STOBV OF MY LIFE. [Chap. V proper remedies for them. Having no place for retirement, and living in the midst of busthi and noise, I have forgotten a good deal of iny Greek and Latin, and have made but little progress in other things. My desire and aim is, to live solely for the glory of God and the good of men. By the advice of Mr. M. S. Bid well and others, I am induced to continue the Strachan controversy, till it is brought to a favour- able termination. I shall be heartily glad when it is concluded. — H.] Jan. 16lh. — One of the Indians (Wm. Sunegoo) has been tempted to drink. I visited Lim as soon as "he returned to the villaore. I entreated him to tell me the whole truth, which he did. After showing him his sin and ingratitude to God and his friends, he wept aloud, almost despairing of mercy. I pointed him to the Saviour of penitent sinners. He fell on his knees, and we spent some time in prayer. After evening service he con- fessed his sin publicly, asked forgiveness of his brethren, and promised in the strength of (^od to be more watchful. Thus have we restored our brother in the spirit of meekness. Jan. 26th. — Last Sunday we held our quarterly meeting at York. About thirty of the Indian brethren were present ; their cleanliness, modesty, and devout piety were tlie subject of general admiration, Feb. 4th. — To-day I preached to the Indians. Peter Jacobs, an intelligent youth of 18, interpreted, and afterwards spake with all the simplicity and eloquence of nature. A scene never to be forgotten was witnessed by me in visiting an Indian woman this evening; after months of severe suffering, she sweetly yielded up the ghost in the triumphs of faith. She embraced the Christian religion about eight months ago, and was baptized by Eev. T. Madden. Notwithstanding her many infirmities, she went to the house of God as long as her emaciated frame, with the assistance of friends, could be supported. A few days previous to her decease, she gave (to use her own words) " her whole heart into the hands of Jesus, and felt no more sorry now, but wanted to be with Jesus." While addressing a number assembled in her room, who were weeping around her bed, her happy spirit took its criumphant flight to the arms of the Saviour she loved so much. How would the hearts of a Wesley and Fletcher burst forth in rapture, could they have seen their spiritual posterity gathering the wandering tribes of the American forest into the fold of Christ, and heard the wigwam of the dying Indian resound with the praises of Jehovah ! Feb. 10th. — A blessed quarterly meeting — Elder Case preached in the morning, and my brother George in the evening. The singing was delight- ful, aud the white people present were extremely interested. At the close a collection of $26, 75 was taken up, principally from the Indians ! Peter Jacobs was one of the speakers. Feb. 16th. — The importance of fostering our school among the Indians, and of encouraging the teacher in this discouraging and very difficult task, can- not be overestimated. Rev. Wm. Case, thinking that I had some aptitude for teaching, wrote me a day or two ago, as follows : — Do you think the multitude of care, and burden of the school does some- times mar the patience of the teacher? If so, you would do well to kindly offer to assist him occasionally, when he is present, and so by example, as well as by occasional kind remarks, help him to correct any inadvertencies of taste. I know the burden of a teacher in a large school, and a perpetual sameness in the same employment, especially in this business, is a tiresome 1826-27] TEE STOBY OF MY LIFE. 69 task. I consider this school of vast importance, on several accounts, and especially considering the hopes to be entertained of several interesting youths there. Feb, 2*1 th. — I have written from fifteen to sixteen hours to-day in vindi- cating the cause of dissenters against the anathemas of high churchmen. March bthy 1827. — To-day I am on my way to see my parents. My Father is becoming serious, and my younger brother Edwy has joined the Methodist Society. I thank God for this blessed change. York, March 8th. — [As an interesting bit of personal history, decriptive of Dr. Ryerson's manner of life among the Credit Indians, I give the following extract from a letter written by Rev. William to Rev. George Ryerson. William says : — I visited Egerton's Mission at the Credit last week, and was highly delighted to see the improvement they are making both in religious knowledge and industry. I preached to them while there, and had a large meeting and an interesting time. The next morning we visited their schools. They have about forty pupils on the list, but there were only thirty present. The rest were absent, making sugar. I am very certain i never saw the same order and attention to study in any school before. Their progress in spelling, reading, and writing is astonishing, but especially in writing, which certainly exceeds anything I ever saw. They are getting quite forward with their work. When I was there they were fencing the lots in the village in a very neat, substantial manner. On my arrival at the Mission I found Egerton, about half a mile from the village, stripped to the shirt and pantaloons, clearing land with between twelve and twenty of the little Indian boys, who were all engaged in chopping and picking up the brush. It was an interesting sight. Indeed he told me that he spent an hour or more every morning and even- ing in this way, for the benefit of his own health, and the improvement of the Indian children. He is almost worshipped by his people, and I believe, under God, will be a great blessing to them. — H.] March 14th, — After several pleasant days absence I return again to my Indian brethren. Have been much profited by reading the lives of Cranmer, Latimer, Burnet, Watts, Doddridge, and especially that of Philip Skelton, an Irish Prelate, The piety, knowledge, love, zeal, and unbounded charity, are almost beyond credit, except on the principle that he that is spiritual, can do all things. March 19th. — An Indian who has lately come to this place, and has embraced the religion of Christ, came to Peter Jones, and asked him, what he should do with his implements of witchcraft, whether throw them in the fire, or river, as he did not want anythir^g more to do with them. What a proof of his sincerity I Nothing but Christianity can make them renounce witchcraft, and many of them are afraid of it long after their conversion. March 20th, — Busy to-day selecting suitable places for planting, and employed the school boys in clearing some land for pasture. Macrh 24th. — I am this day twenty -four years old. During the past year 70 THE STOBY OF MY LIFE. [Chap. V. my principal attention has been called to controversial labours. If the Lord will, may this cup pass by in my future life. March 26th — Sahbath. — This day is the second anniversary of my minis- terial labours. My soul has been refreshed, my tongue loosened, and my heart warmed. April 1st, 1827 — Sabbath. — In speaking to my Indian brethren, the word seemed deeply to affect their hearts. April 2nd. — In meeting Class this evening, I spoke for the first time in Indian. My mind was much affected. The Indians broke forth in exclama- tions of joy to hear a white man talk about God and religion in their own tongue. April Qih. — My dear brother William and Dr. T. D. Morrison have spent a night here, and greatly refreshed me by their converse. April 9th. — Another lesson of mortality in the deat!h of Brother John Jones' only child. I have been trying to comfort the parents, who seem to bear their trial with Christian fortitude York, April loth. — [In a letter to his brother George at this date, Dr. Byerson thus speaks of the work under his care : — We are all well, and are blessed in our labours at this place, and at the Credit. I think the Indiaiis are growing in know- ledge and in grace. They are getting on pretty well with their spring work. But in some respects they are Indians, though they have become Christians. I came from Long Point with a full determination to live wholly for God and His Church. Through the blessing of God I have received greater manifestations of grace than I had felt before during the year. I have lately read " Law's Serious Call to a Devout and Holy Life," which has been very beneficial to me. My greatest grief of late is, that my love to God and His people is not more humble, more fervent, and more importu- nate. could I feel as Jesus felt when he said, " My meat and drink is to do the will of him that sent me." How much more happy and useful I would be 1 I pray that I may. John and Peter Jones seem to thirst after holiness, and are growing in grace. The Society in this place (York) appears to be increasing in grace and in number. I was abundantly assisted by heavenly aid to-day, while preaching. The congregation seemed to be deeply affected this evening. I hope the word has not gone forth in vain. The Sunday-schools are prosper- ing in this place. I proposed the new method of increasing the Sunday-schools, by giving a reward ticket to every scholar who would procure another that had not attended any other school. In two Sabbaths between twenty and thirty new scholars were procured in one school. — H.] April 16th. — The last part of last week I was powerfully assailed by the devil, and became greatly dejected. Alas! I fear I was more disturbed on account of my own reputation than for the cause of Jesus. While preaching on Sabbath evening, heavenly light broke in on my soul, and all was peace. I am now among the dear objects of my care. My heart leaped for joy aa 1826-27] THE STOBY OF MY LIFE. 71 I came in sight of the village, and received such a hearty welcome. Much refreshed with meeting them in Class, and particularly in private conversa- tion with Peter Jones, about the dispensations of God towards us in the increase of our graces and gifts. We- had about thirty boys out at work this evening clearing land. They are very apt in learning ta work. April I8th. — I was impressed to-day with the fact that the untutored Indian can display all the noble feelings of gratitude, love, and benevolence. An Indian, who has lately come to this place and embraced the Christian religion, has ever since shown great attachment to me. He has, without my knowledge, watered, fed, and taken care of my horse, saying he lived closer to the stable than I did. Yesterday I got out of hay, and could not get any till this afternoon. When I came to the stable I found grass in the manger; the Indian was there, and had just fed him. I said I was very glad, for he must be very hungry, but the Indian replied, " No, he not very hungry. I took him down where grass grow, and let him eat plenty." Oh, God, thought I, do such principles dwell in the people whom the white man despises ? Is not this as noble and pure as it is simple? Though the circumstance is small in itself, it involves a moral principle to which many mighty men are strangers. He gave the widow's mite. Enfeebled by sickness, he exposed himself; touched by compassion, he relieved the sufferer. A few weeks ago, a heathen from the forest, he now performs an act that might make many Christians blush. How many professing Christians consider it a condescen- sion to attend upon the servant of Christ and his beast, but this wild man of the woods esteems it a privilege to wash His disciple's feet. " Many that are first shall be last, and the last shall be first." April 25th. — Last Sunday, four Indians came from Lake Simcoe, over fifty miles, to hear the words of eternal Hfe, while many professors will scarcely go a mile. Does not this fulfil prophecy, " Many shall come from the east, and the west, and sit down in the kingdom of God, while the children of the kingdom are thrust out ] " Last summer they heard Peter Jones, at Lake Simcoe, tell the story of the Saviour's love. They then determined to renounce ardent spirits, and pray to the Great Spirit. With this little pre- paration, they had been enabled to totter along in the path of morality froni that time till now. The old man (Wm Snake) seems under deep convictions, weeps much, and expresses much sorrow lor his fofmer bad doings. They have gone back, determined to get as many of their tribe as possible to return by the first of June. Surely this is "hungering and thirsting after righteousness." April 29th — Sahhath. — In our Class-meetings, one of the Indian Leaders ex- pressed himself thus: — " I am happy to-day. It is not with my life alone I love Jesus, but I love Him right here (pressing his hand upon hiB heart.) If I did not serve Him, what would I tell Him when He came 1 Would I tell Him a lie ] No, my brothers, I will tell Him no story. I will serve Him with my whole heart. When I hear any of my brothers or my sisters praying, in the daytime alone,* it makes my heart feel so glad. The tears run out o my two eyes, I feel so happy. I love Jesus more and more. Pray for me, that 1 may hold on to the end; and when Jesus comes, I may go with Him and all of you up to heaven," Another one said, " Three of us have been two or three days in the bush, but we prayed, three poor Bouls of us, three times a day, and Jesus did make our souls so happy. April doth. — According to announcement, we assembled in the Chapel to examine into the cases of several who had acted disorderly. We were com- pelled to expel two from the Society. Many were deeply affected, and groans,, and sighs might be heard in the different parts of the house. Alter a long * They often retire to the woods for private prayer, and sometimes their souls. are so blessed, they praise God aloud, and can be heard at a considerable distance. 72 THE 8T0BY OF MY LIFE. [Chap. V. and wise address from the old Chief, Joseph Sawyer, I said, " We must turn them out of the Society. What do you think about sending them away from the village 1 Tell us." Several spoke, and it was at last decided, by holding up the right hand, that they must go. I then said, " I am sorry to hear one or two have been drinking." I asked one if this was true. He confessed that he drank some beer, being coaxed by a white man. He felt very sorry, as he wished to be a good Christian. I then reproved with con- siderable severity, and showed him it was as bad to get drunk on cider or beer as whiskey. The devil often cheats us in this way, but we are exhorted not to " touch, taste, or handle " the accursed thing. This talk was explained to them in Indian by Peter Jones, and their opinions requested. Several spoke, but Brother William Herkimer, with a pathos that affected us all, said, " Brothers, the white man can't pour it down your throat, if you will not drink. When white man ask me to drink, I tell him, ' I am a Christian, I love Jesus,' and they go right away and look ashamed." He then concluded with a most pathetic prayer: " Oh, Jesus, let us poor, weak creatures be faithful, and serve Thee as long as we live." Having adjusted these matters, I iiext observed, " Our God has given us another command- ment which was, * To keep holy the Sabbath day.' Now, brothers, if a man gave you six dollars, and kept only one for himself, would you not think it very bad to rob him of that one ? Oh, yes, you will say. Well the Lord has done more for us. He has given us our lives, our clothes, our health, nay, everything we have, and six days too, to do all our work in ; but He has kept out one day for Himself. Let us not rob God of this day, but let us keep it holy. I am sorry to hear that one of you went to York on Sunday." I turned to the guilty Indian, and told him I wanted him to tell us why ho had done so. He stated he had got out of provisions, and he was afraid the wind would rise on Monday, and unthinkingly he started on Sunday after- noon. He promised to do so no more. I then spoke a few words from Gal. vi. 1, and Peter Jones closed with an affecting exhortation and prayer. May 2nd. — Yesterday I was almost in despair, and I was really devising means to relinquish my present work ; when in the height of agitation I took down a package of tiacts, and providentially (surely not by chance) cast my eyes upon one entitled, " Disobedience Punished, Kepented of, and Par- doned." This was no other than the history of Jonah ; and was made the means of reviving my expiring faith, and showing me how God alone could give me victory over myself. I cried to Him like Jonah, and He delivered me out of my distress.- May 3rcZ.— To-day I have felt peace with God and good will towards men. Several Indian women have arrived from Scugog Lake. They report that the Indians there have all stood firm, daily meeting for prayer to the Gr^at Spirit, and that there has only been one case of into.vicatioii since Peter Jones was there last autumn. This unhappy circumstance was caused by one (Carr) an old Methodist back-slider (a fit emissary of the devil), who took his barrel of whiskey, in order to trade with the Indians. He tjied in vain to persuade them to taste, till at length he made some of the wlnssjiey into bitters, whichhe called medicine, and prevailed on one unwary m^n to take for his health. This he repeated several times, till at length the poor fellow got to relish it, and becoming overpowered he fell into the water 1 The Indians immediately assembled for prayer, and through the mercy of God, he is now restored to his former steadfastness. They then ordered Carr to take his whiskey away, or they would destroy it. He took it on the ice, on the lake, no doubt hoping that it would, tempt some of them to drink. But in this the devil was disappointed, the ice thawed, and the barrel floated on the water. What an instance of human depravity, does this man's con- duct exhibit, and what a picture of the power of Divine grace is seen in the 1826-27] THE STOEY OF MY LIFE. 73 inflexible firmness of the Indians! May we not sing in the language of Paradise Regained — "The tempter foiled In all his wiles, defeated, and repuls'd, And Eden raised in the waste wilderness." The Indian woman who related the above, gave another proof of the amiable and benevolent character of her race, especially when sanctified by grace. In token of their esteem for Peter Jones, who had been the means of open- ing their eyes to immortality and eternal life, they brought him several pounds of maple sugar, which one of them presented in a wooden bowl. No doubt this sugar, which they had carried sixty miles, was nearly their all. Is not this a feeling of gratitude and love to the disciple for the master's sake 1 Oh ! that I may learn lessons of simplicity and contentment from- these children of the forest, for they are taught of God only. Oh 1 that I may have Mary's lot in time and in eternity. May Gth— Sunday. — A number of white people being present this morning I addressed them on the subject of the barren fig-tree. In the evening we had a precious time ; the Indians were enraptured, and we all, as it were, with one heart, dedicated ourselves afresh to God. In the class meeting we all wept tears of joy and holy triumph. Several of them saidj "Jesus is the best master I ever served. " I love Jesus better than anything else." May 8th. — I witnessed an affecting instance of how pleasant a thing it is for brethren to dwell together in unity, in the departure of two. Indians who had paid us a few days' visit from Belleville. Nearly the whole village, according to Apostolic custom, collected to bid them farewell m John Crane's house, when an Indian arose (in the absence of the chief) inviting any of the Belleville Indians who might like to come and settle amongst them. Others rose and spoke on Christian love, pointing them forward to that period when they should meet to part no more. How does the spirit of primitive Christianity lead to the adoption of the same customs which were practised by the first followers of our Lord, when the multitudes of them that believed were of one heart and soul. We then sang a few verses and aU knelt down, commending our dear brothers to the care of Him who never leaves nor forsakes his children. After this one of the Indians from Belleville delivered a pathetic parting address ; they then all shook hands, exhorting one another to cleave to Je.sus. This Indian appeared to me to be one of the most heavenly minded men I ever saw, not an able speaker but with a peculiar nervou.sness in his word.s, spoken with energy and pathos that deeply affected us all. May I3th— Sunday. — I spent the last week in assisting the Indians in their agricultural pursuits. They are teachable, willing, and apt to learn. This constant change of employment debars me from literary and theologi- cal improAsement, and leaves me less qualified to expound Scripture to refined assemblies. Thus I am perplexed to know what is best tor me to do. The Lord direct me in this momentous matter I May l^th. — The temporal and spiritual interests of the Indians bring upon me much care, and weigh me down. I experienced some comtort in the class meeting. Spoke in Indian, and for the first time repeated the Lord's prayer in Chippewa. Many of my dear brethren praised the Lord. June 9th — Sabbath. — This day we held quarterly meeting at York — about twenty Indians present. I am informed that some of the Indians on Lake Simcoe are hungering for the bread of life, and that twelve of them were at worship at Newmarket, and expressed a desire to become Christians. Sixteen Indian children attend a Sabbath-school established there whose parents encamp near, for that purpose. Several of these children learnt the alphabet in four hours. This awakening arose throufjh four of the Rice Lake Indians ^« 74 THE STORY OF MY LIFE, [Chap. V. influenced by the divine love, traversing in tlieir canoe the back lakes to tell their benighted brethren about Jesus, and exhorting them to become Christians. June 7th. — The first quarterly conference ever held amongst Indians in British America was held to-day. After deliberating on several subjects, that of sending some of their pious and experienced men on a missionary tour to Lake Simcoe, and the Thames was proposed for consideration. Four of them soon volunteered their services. Their hearts seemed fired at the thought of carrying the news of salvation to their benighted brethren. At their own suggestion $12 was soon taken up to help pay expenses. June 10th. — About fifty converted Indians from Rice Lake, Scugog Lake, Mud Lake, and the Credit, assembled in York to-day for the purpose of worshipping God. The Rice Lake Indians have come to see the Gover- nor about building them a village, and deduct the money due them from the lands their fathers have ceded to the British Government, and likewise for getting boundaries of their hunting-grounds established. The other Indians have come for the purpose of attending the approaching camp-meeting, as they have never had but three days' instruction from Peter Jones last autumn. As soon as any of them experience the love of Jesus in their own souls, they begin to feel for others, and, like the ancient Christians, go wherever they can preaching the Lord Jesus. Here is a whole tribe converted to God, with the external aid of only three days' instruction, except what they communicate to one another, and who for six months have proved the reality of their Christian experience by blameless and holy lives. Surely " this is the Lord's doing, and marvellous in our eyes." Elder Case told me that on his way from Cobourg to York, he saw an Indian sitting by the road- side, he asked him where his brothers and sisters were, he replied, encamped in the woods. Elder Case told him to call them, as he wanted to talk some good words to them. They soon came together to hear the me-ko-to-wik^ or black coat man. They 'pitched a little Bethel of logs, about breast high, over-topped with bushes, for the purpose of worship- ping iTes/iamiznec^o (God.) After kneeling down to implore God's blessing, they took their seats. As soon as Elder Case commenced to speak, their hearts seemed to melt like wax. So much for the Scugog and Mud Lake Indians. The Rice Lake Indians appear to be more intelligent, and are the handsomest company of men I have seen. Potash, their chief, is very majestic in ap- pearance, possesses a commanding voice, and speaks with great animation, June 12th. — My ta-other William, who came from Newmarket yesterday, informs me that he preached to more than fifty of these bewildered enquirers after truth on Sunday — none of them could interpret, but some could understand English, and tliey told others what the good man said. An Indian woman came to a little white boy, holding out her book (as most of them have bought books) and said, " boy, boy," showing great anxiety that the boy would teach her, but the little fellow was afraid, and slipped off. Then a little Indian boy about his age, held out his book that he might teach him, the white boy complied, and by the time he had showed him three or four letters, he was unable to contain his grateful feelings, clasped the white boy round his neck, and began to hug and kiss him. June 15th. — A camp-meeting commenced this afternoon on Yonge street, about twelve miles from York. A large number of white people haVe assembled, and about seventy-five Indians. About a dozen of these embraced Chiistianity about six months ago, the rest are heathens from the forest. How interesting a sight that they should travel forty miles to hear about the Great Spirit, and what he would have them do. As soon as they arrived they commenced building their tents. Our Saviour said to His disciples, "Go ye into all the world, &c.," but we here see heathens coming to the 1826-27] THE STOBY OF MY LIFE. 75 disciples of Jesus and asking for tlie Gospel The services were commenced by Rev. James Richardson, followed by the Rev. Tiiaddeus Osgood, who is a great lover of Sunday-schools, Peter Jones interpreted, when they were directed to Jesus, who came to save the Indian as well as the white man, they were melted to tears. Jime 16th. — Rev. D. Yeomans preached this morning, also the Rev. Thad- deus Osgood, first to the children, then to the Indians, which was interpreted by Peter Jones. A lame boy, fourteen years old, seemed to have his whole soul broken under the hammer of the word. The Ten Commandments were recited in their own tongue, and they repeated them sentence by sentence. It was a very impressive exercise, giving great solemnity to the sacred decalogue. June nth, Sunday, — The first sermon this morning was delivered by Rev. John Ryerson, on the sufferings of Christ, followed by Rev. James Richardson. By this time the concourse of people was immense — when the Rev. William Ryerson preached from Gen. vii. 1, a most able and affecting discourse, interpreted by Peter Jones, who afterwards addressed the white people, telling of the former degradation of his people, their present happy condition, the feeble instruments God had made use of to accomplish this glorious work; he thanked the white people for their kindness, and earnestly entreated them to pray on, that the good work might go on and prosper — he concluded by saying, " My dear brethren, if you go forward the work will prosper, till the missionary from the western tribes, shall meet with the missionary from the east, and both will shake hands together." June I8th. — About mid-day the Camp-meeting was brought to a close, it was very solemn and refreshing, three hundred and thirteen whites partook of the Communion, and about forty Indians. Thirty-five Indians, men, women, and children were baptized; with others it was deferred till further instructed. July drd. — Peter Jones has just returned from Lake Simcoe, bringing a glorious account of the steadfastness and exceeding joy of the Indians there. Thirty more are added to their number; a school is established, taught by Bro. Wm. Law, in a temporary building, put up by themselves. The traders are showing great opposition, threatening to beat the Indians and burn their camps if they will attend the meetings; their craft is in danger. They that trust in the Lord need not fear. July 5th. — Rev. Wm. Ryerson, under this date, writes from Lake Simcoe: If Yellowhead, the Head Chief, embraces religion, his influence will counteract the opposition of the traders, which is very strong. I think if Peter Jones can come and remain with them awhile, as soon as possible, they will embrace Christianity. July Ibth. — Peter Jones and I arrived at Lake Simcoe this evening, for the purpose of being present during the distribution of Indian goods. The change in their appearance since a year ago is most striking. The traders are still very hostile. July 16th. — In the morning I gave the Indians a long talk. I showed them the superiority of the Christian religion over that of those who wor- shipped images. At this remark, the French traders present looked very angry, muttering, but making no disturbance. Peter Jones then spoke at length, answering and correcting statements the traders had made. Colonel Givens soon arrived and the meeting closed. July 17ih. — Collected the Indians again, and preached from Matt. xi. 28. Peter Jones expounded the Lord's Prayer. The Frenchmen were much dis- pleased at his remarks on the subject of forgiving sins. They afterwards tried to force some of the Christians to drink, but failed. The Lord have mercy on these wicked men, and open their eyes before it is too late! When the presents were to be given out, the men were seated by themselves, and 76 THE 8T0BY OF MY LIFE [Chap. V. also the women ; tlie boys and girls according to their ages. The chiefs then requested all who were Christians, or wished to be, to sit together, and about 150 rose and did so. The difference in their countenances, as well as their appearance and manners, was most marked. They looked healthy, clean, and happy, whereas many of the others were almost naked; some with bruised heads, and black faces, and almost burnt up with liquor. When the distribution of presents ended, an Indian Council was held at Phelps' Inn, at which I was invited to be present. Chief Yellowhead spoke first, saying " The desire of his heart was that their Great Father would grant them a place where they might all settle down together. His people wished to throw away their bad ways, and worship the Great Spirit." Many others spoke, particularly requesting the Indian Agent to do what he could to quiet the rage of the French traders. We have reason to thank God for the kind friendly influence the Indian agents exert, especially in closing the mouths of the traders. Oh, Lord, I will praise Thee! July 20th. — I left the Holland Landing this morning for the purpose of visiting the islands north-east of Lake Simcoe, to ascertain their desirability for a settlement. I find the situation very pleasant. The chief has a com- fortable house containing four rooms, with everything decent and convenient. This island contains about four hundi ed acres of beautiful basswood, beech, and maple. The chief told me that the Mohawks once had a village there, probably a century ago ; as there is a navigable creek running to the mouth of the nver, there was every attraction for a convenient settlement. The chief also offers any one who will come and teach the children, two rooms in his house for that purpose, and the Indians will support him. Such is the field of philanthropic and Christian labour in this place, and which demand most vigorous cultivation. July 22nd. — I assembled the Indians this morning, and gave them my parting advice; after which the Chief (Wahwahsinno) spoke with great power. He is the most interesting, intelligent Indian I ever saw. He warned them to beware of the evil spirit which was lurking around them on every side; to be honest and cheat nobody; not to get drunk, but buy food and clothing for their children. You know, he said, how our fathers, grandfathers, and great-grandfathers have been killed by liquor — now, don't do as they have done. We are thanklul to our Great Father, over the waters, for the clothes he has given us, and to our good brother for the good things he has taught us. We then embraced each other and bade farewell. July 23rd — Arrived again at the Narrows, and found the Indians firmly established in the faith. I have now spent eight days among these long- neglected and injured people, and happy are my eyes that have seen these glorious things. [The missionaiy efforts of these times were in Upper Canada chiefly directed toward the Indians. Of this abundant evidence is given in the preceding pages. That these efforts were also put forth by the Church of England, may be gathered from the fact that at a public meeting held in York, on the 29th of October, 1830, a Society was formed, under the presidency of the Bishop of Quebec, " for the converting and civilizing of the Indians of Upper Canada." In his address, on that occasion, the Bishop stated that the Rev. G. Archbold, with true missionary zeal, had resided among the Indians on the north side of Lake Huron during the greater part of the summer, and at his departure had left them in care of Mr. James W. Cameron. Mr. Cameron was, 1826-27] THE STORY OF MY LIFE. in 1832 succeeded by Mr. (now Archdeacon) McMurray at Saulfc Ste. Marie. Funds for the support of this Indian Mission were collected in England, by the Bishop in 1831, and also by Rev. A. N. (subsequently Bishop) Bethune. The scope of this Society was soon enlarged to " Propagating the Gospel among Desti- tute Settlers." The missionaries employed in 1831 were Rev. J. O'Brian (St. Clair), Rev. Salteen Givens (Bay of Quinte), ^nd Mr. James W. Cameron (La Cloche, Saulte Ste. Marie, etc.) That this interest was not confined to spiritual matters is evident from many letters and other references to the domestic and material improvement in the condition of the Indians, which I find in Dr. Ryerson's papers. I select the following, which touch upon many different matters relating to the tem- poral and spiritual interests of the Indians : — In a letter written by Rev. William Case, from Hallowell, to Dr. Ryerson, he thus speaks of the success of a school established by the Conference among the Indians. He says : Last evening (10th March) was exhibited the improvement of the Indian School, at Grape Island, one boy, whose time at schoor amounted to but about six months, read well in the Testament. Several new tunes were well sung and had a fine effect. The whole performance was excellent. More than twenty names were given in to furnish provisions for the children of the school These exhibitions have a good effect. It animates the children and the teachers, and affords a most gratifying opportunity to the friends of the Missions to witness that their benevolence is not in vain. — H.] [Shortly after this letter was written, Elder Case went to New York, to solicit aid on behalf of the Indian Schools. He was accompanied by John Sunday and one or two other Indians. Writing from there, on the 19th April, to Dr. Ryerson, then at Cobourg, he says : We have attended meetings frequently, and visited a great number of schools and other institutions, both literary and religious. This has a fine effect on our Indian brethren. The aid we are obtaining will assist us for the improvement of our Indian Schools. We have an especial view to the Indians of Rice Lake. Please look well to the school there, and to the com- fort of the teacher. The Indians should be encouraged to cultivate their islands. The most that we can do is to keep them at school, &c., and instruct them in their worldly concerns. The managers of the Missionary Society in New York, as well as in Phila- delphia, are very friendly. In case we shall be set off as a Conference, they will continue to afford us assistance in the Mission cause. You will judge something of the feeling of the people here, when I inform you that a neice of the unfortunate Miss McCrae, who was killed by the Indians in the revo- lutionary war, has given us $10 towards the Indian schools, and two sets of very fine diaper cloths for the communion table. We shall bring with us an Indian book, containing the decalogue, the creed, hymns, and our Lord's Sermon on the Mount. This will stimulate our schools, as well as afford instruction to the Indian converts. I wish you to encourage the Indian sisters to make a quantity of fancy trinkets, we could sell them to advantage here. They should be well made. We have been introduced to Mr. Francis 78 THE STORY OF MY LIFE, [Chap. V. Hall, of the New York Spectator^ and about forty ladies, who are enpraged in preparing bedding, clothing, &c., for our missions and schools. We gave them a short address on the happy effects of the gospel on the mind and con- dition of Indian female converts. John Sunday's address to them in Indian was responded to with sobs through the room. Brother Bangs addressed those present on behalf of the Indians exhorting them to diligence and faith- fulness. He said that we would always find in the Christian females true encouragement and aid." — H.] [Elder Case was anxious to re-open the school for Indian girls at Grape Island. In writing from the Credit, he says : " When we gave up the female school it was designed to revive it, and we had in view to employ one of the Miss Rolphs. If she can be obtained we shall be much gratified. We wish everything done that can be done to bring forward the children in every necessary improvement, especially at the most important stations, and the Credit is one of the most important. Can you afford any assistance to Peter Jacobs 1 We are very solicitous to see some talent in composition among some of our most promising scholars. We are authorised by the Dorcas Society, of New York, to draw for $20 to purchase a cow for the use of the mission family at the Credit, and you are at liberty to get one now, or defer it till the Spring. As probably the $20 will purchase a cow, and pay for her keeping through the winter. Our way this far has been prosperous. I never saw the pulse of Missionary ardour beat higher. Tickets of admission at the anniversaries might be sold by hundreds for a dollar each. But they were d stributed gratis. The col- lection at the female anniversary was $217, and a handful of gold rings (about 20). The superintendent is truly missionary ; rejoicing in the plan of our aiding them in the conversion of the Indians on this side of the lines. Bros. Doxtadors and Hess' visit is well received, and a good work commenced at the Oneida."— H.] [In a letter written to Dr.Ryerson, by the Rev. James Richard- son, on the 2nd Oct., 1829, referring to the privilege granted to the Indians of taking salmon (as mentioned on p. 6Q), he said : As I came home, I stopped at James Gages', and found that he was much displeased with the Indians for bolding their fish so high. He says his son could obtain them for less than l/3d. currency (25c.). Some of them were not worth half that. He remarked that Wm, Kerr and others expressed great dissatisfaction with the Indians for taking advantage of the privilege granted to them, and also for haughtiness in their manner of dealing with their old friends. I am afraid that unless they be moderate and civil, a prejudice will be excited against them, which may prove detrimental to the missionary cause. The respectable part of the inhabitants would be pleased to have the Indians supported in this privilege, if they could purchase fish of them at a moderate price. — H,] [Elder Case, who was greatly interested in the success of the Indian Schools, and who — with a view to demonstrate the usefulness of the schools — proposed to take two of the Credit In- dian boys to the Missionary Meetings in January, 1830, says : — I should be glad to have something interesting at the York Anniversary. Perhaps we may have a couple of promising boys from this Station. Henry Steinheur will accompany me to Lake Simcoe, and perhaps Allen Salt* will come up as far as York. They are both fine boys, and excellent singers.] ♦ These Indian boys subsequently became noted for their piety and mis- sionary zeal on behalf of their red brethren. — H. 1826-27] TEE STORY OF MY LIFE. i 9 [A providential opening having occurred for getting the Scriptures translated into the Indian language, Rev. Wm. Eyerson, in a letter to Dr. Ryerson, dated York, 24th February, 1830, says:— I lately received a letter from the Kev. Mr. West, one of the agents for the British and Foreign Bible Society, expressing the anxiety he I'elt that the Scriptures should be translated into the Chippewa language. He said that if proper application were made, he would take great pleasure in laying it before the Committee of the Parent Society, and use his influence to obtain any assistance that might be wanted. Viewing this as a providential opening, I think that steps should be taken to have the translation made. From your residence among the Indians, and knowledge of their manners and customs, and your acquaintance with those natives that are the best advanced in religious knowledge and experience, do you not think that the Joneses are the best qualified to translate the Scriptures 1 — H.] Note. — [The reply was in the affirmative, and Peter Jones was entrusted by the U. C. Bible Society with the work.* — H.] April 7th, 1829. — [Writing to Dr. Ryerson, from Philadelphia, at this date, Elder Case says : There is a fine feeling here in favour of the Canada Church and the Mission cause. Peter Jones and J. Hess are in New York overlooking the printing of the gospels, etc. We hope to bring back with us the Gospel of Mark, with other portions contained in the Book of Common Prayer. The Spelling-book and a Hymn book in Mohawk, and a Hymn-book in Chippewa They are all in the press, and will be ready by 5 th Maj, when we leave to retura — H.] * An unexpected delay occurred in getting the translation made by Rev. Peter Jones printed, as explained in a letter from Rev. George Ryerson to Dr. Ryerson, dated Bristol, August 6th, 1831. He says : — Peter Jones, after his return from London, experienced several weeks' delay in getting his translation prepared for the press, in consequence of a letter from the Committee on the Translations of the U. C. Bible Society — Drs, Harris, Baldwin, and Wenham — stating that the translation was im- perfect. He had, in consequence, to go over the whole translation with Mr. Greenfield, the Editor of the Bible Society Translations. Mr Greenfield is a very clever man, and has an extensive knowledge of languages. He very soon acquired the idiom of the Chippewa language so that he became better able to judge of the faithfulness of the translation. Mr. Greenfield went cheerfully through every sentence with Mr. Jones, and made some unim- portant alterations, expressed himself much pleased with the translation, and thinks it the most literal of any published by the Bible Society. It is now passing through the press, and will soon be sent to Canada. CHAPTER VL 1827-1828. Labours and Trials — Civil Rights Controversy. AT the Conference of 1827 I was appointed to the Cobourg Circuit, extending from Bowmanville village to the Trent, including Port Hope, Cobourg, Haldimand, Colborne, Brighton, and the whole country south of Rice Lake, with the townships of Seymour and Murray. On this extensive and labourious Circuit I am not aware that I missed a single appoint- ment, notwithstanding my controversial engagements* and visits to the Indians of Rice Lake and Mud Lake. I largely com- posed on horseback sermons and replies to my ecclesiastical adversaries. My diary of those days gives the following par- ticulars : — Hopej Newcastle District, Sept. 2^rd, 1827. — I have now commenced my ministerial labours amongst strangers. Religion is at a low ebb among the people ; but there are some who still hold fast their integrity, and are " asking the way to Zion with their faces thitherwards." I have preached twice to-day and been greatly assisted from above. Sept. 25{h. — I have laboured with much heaviness to-day. I spent part of the day in visiting the Rice Lake Indians. They seem very healthy, and are happy in the Lord, We have selected a place for building a school house. "With gratitude and joy they offer to assist in the building. Sept. 30th. — Another month gone I I review the past with mingled feel- ings of gratitude and regret. October 2nd. — Yesterday and to-day I have laboured under severe affliction of mind. I am as one tempest driven, without pilot, chart, or compass. Oct. 4th. — This evening at the prayer-meeting, how delightful was it to hear two children pour out their melting supplications at the throne of grace. *' Out of the mouths of babes and sucklings thou hast perfected praise." Oct. 9th. — I began my labours last Sunday, weak and sick, but my strength increased with my labour, and I was stronger in body and happier in soul at night than in the morning. Oct. 10th. — I have now finished my first journey round the circuit. My health has not been good. Two persons have joined the society to-night, and several more in class expressed a determination never to rest till they found peace with God through Jesus Christ. Oct. 17th. — I have been employed in controversial writing, and sorely tempted to desist from preaching. Oct. 20th. — I have been greatly interested and strengthened in reading the " Life of Dr. Coke." The trials with which he was assailed, and the spirit in which he encountered them, afforded encouragement to me. His meeting * The first of these controversial engagements extended from the spring of 1826 until the spiing of 1827; the second from the spring of 1828 until near midsummer of the same year. — H. 1827-28] THE STOIiY OF MY LIFE. 81 with the venerable Asbury, in the Church built in the vast forest, is one of the most affecting scenes I ever read. Oct. 21st. — To-day we held our first quarterly meeting on the circuit, and, bless the Lord, it was a reviving time. Oct. 27th. — [Archdeacon's Strachan's Ecclesiastical Chart had so excited the righteous indignation of Elder Case, that he wrote to Dr. Ryerson, at this date, from Cobourg, in regard to it. 1 insert his letter, as it expresses (though in strong language) the general feeling of those outside of the Church of England in regard to this Chart.* He said : — Notice the providence which has brought to light the mis- statements of the Ecclesiastical Chart. This is one instance out of many in which false representations have gone Home in regard to the character of the people and the state of religion. As such a spirit of intolerance is altogether averse to the mild spirit of the gospel, so it is also a most dangerous and daring assumption of power over the rights of conscience. Against this high-handed and domineering spirit, God himself has ever set his face. Let the Doctor be reminded of the case of Haman and the despised dissenting Jew, who refused to bow down to the courtiers of the king. The Doctor's wrath is. kindled against those whom he calls "dissenters," and who. refuse to submit to his Church rule. We have said, " whom the Doctor calls * dissenters.' " I aver that the term is not at all applicable to the religious denominations in this country. From what Church have they dissented ? Indeed most of the first inhabitants of this country never belonged to the Church of England at all. They were from the first attached to the denominations. Some to the Presbyterian, some to the Baptist, some to the Methodist, and only a small portion to the Church of England. Nor had they any apprehensions, while support- ing the rights of the Crown, that an ecclesiastical establishment of ministers of whom they have never heard, was to be imposed, upon them, as a reward for their loyalty ! Indeed, they had the faith of the Government pledged, that they should enjoy the rights of conscience. And in view of this was the charter of the Province formed, to secure liberty of conscience and free- dom of thought. The blow at a loyal portion of Her Majesty's subjects was aimed at them in the dark, 4,000 miles away, 'and without an opportunity of defending themselves. An act so ungenerous, and in a manner so impious too, cannot be endured. We must defend ourselves against the unjust slanders of the Doctor. — H.] * The nature and purpose of this Chart are fully explained and discussed by Dr. Kyerson in his "Epochs of Canadian Methodism," pp. 165-220."— H. 6 82 THE STOBY OF MY LIFE. [Chap. VI. Nov. I9th. — I have been blessed with more comfort this evening in preaching from Matt. xxii. 11-13, to a congregation composed principally of drunkards and swearers. My heart was warmed, my tongue loosened, and my understanding enlarged. Nov. 20th. — I have been to the Rice Lake Mission : found them still growing in grace. The children are clean — many of them handsome. The school teacher is happy in his work. Dec. I2th. — My mind has been greatly afflicted this evening in settling a difference between two brethren. Dec. 25th. — Last night we had a service in this place (Presque Isle) to celebrate the incarnation of our blessed Saviour. Seven souls professed to experience the pardoning love of Christ. Many who came mourning went home rejoicing. January 1st, 1828. — I am now brought to the close of another year, and the commencement of a new era of existence. The first part of the year I spent principally amongst the Indians, and have reason to believe the Lord blest my labours amongst those needy and loving people, but my own soul was oft in heaviness. The latter part of the year I have been on a Circuit, and have found my enjoyments and improvement increased. The Societies are growing in piety, my bodily wants have been all supplied, and I ha^•e experienced the fulfilment of the promise, If ye forsake father and mother, the Lord will take thee up. May I ever rest on it ! Jan. 2nd, — [The following letter was written at this date to Dr. Ryerson by his Mother. She says : — My not writing to you, I understand from your letter to Father, has given you much uneasiness ; but I can assure you I have felt much concerned about it myself, for fear that you should entertain the thought of its proceeding from unkindness ^r neglect : but let the feelings of affection of a Mother suffice and answer it all. Be convinced that her happiness depends upon your welfare, and that her daily prayers will ever be offered up to the throne of grace in yours and the rest of her children's behalf. that the Lord may keep you humble and faithful, looking unto him for grace and strength to enable you to work in His blessed cause, to proclaim the glad tidi-ngs of salvation through a dear Redeemer to lost and perishing souls ! This is a great comfort to me, and more than I deserve. None other compensates for all my trials and afflictions here, as that God, of His goodness, should have inclined the hearts of many of my dear children to seek His face and to testify to the ways of God being the ways of pleasantness and peace. At so much goodness my soul doth bless and praise my God and Redeemer. My dear boy, you must not forget to pray for your poor unworthy Mother, that she may be daily renewed in the inner man, and so kept by the grace of God, as to be able to endure unto the end, and at last to be received among those that are made perfect, to praise Him that hath redeemed us for ever and ever. Your kind and anxious enquiries about home, I shall endeavour to answer. Your dear Father has returned, and is 1827-281 THE STORY OF MY LIFE. 83 as well as usual, but still suffers much at times. Your heavenly Father has been pleased to lay His hand of affliction once more upon your sister, Mrs. Mitchell, by taking away her youngest boy in November last. Edwy, I am happy to say, appears to persevere in serving God, which, with the blessing of God, may he continue to do. Your brother George has left for England. He desires that all your letters be sent to him in England, which contain anything interesting about the Indians, or of the work of religion. The state of religion in this part, L think, is rather on the rise, that is to say, they attend better to public worship, and receive their preacher in a more friendly manner than before. Write as often as you can to let us know how you are, and how the work of religion is progressing. — H.] Jan. 3rd. — I have this day visited the Indiana at Rice Lake : all prosperity here. I have been much refreshed this evening in meeting my beloved brother and fellow-labourer in the Gospel, Peter Jones. These pleasing inter- views bring to mind many refreshing seasons we have enjoyed together, when seeking the lost sheep of the house of Israel. This year thus far, has been attended with peculiar trials; my health has not been good; I have had con- flicts without, and fears within. Jan. SOth.— Visited a poor woman to-day in the last stage of consumption, she gives evidence that her peace is made with God. I find it a heavy cross to visit the sick. Help me, Lord, to search out the mourner, bind up broken hearts, and comfort the sorrowful. February 22nd. — [A Central Committee at York having, of behalf of the various non-Episcopal denominations, deputed Rev. George Ryerson to proceed to England to present petitions to the Imperial Parliament against the claims of the Church of England in this Province,'"^ the Rev. William Ryerson was requested to write to his brother George on the subject. In his letter he gave the following explanation of the sources of in- formation from which Archdeacon Strachan'Sj Ecclesiastical Chart was compiled. He said : — It may be proper to apprise you that the Church of England has been making an enquiry into the religious state of the Province, the result of which they have sent home to the Im- perial Parliament. And in order to swell their numbers as much as possible, they have sent persons through almost every part of the Province, who. when they come into a house, enquire of the head of the family as to what Church he belongs. If he says, to the Methodist, or any other body of dissenters, they next enquire if their children belong to the same Church. If they say no, they set the children as members of the Church of England ! If they say that neither themselves nor their children belong to any particular Church, they set them all down as • See " Epochs of Canadian Methodism," p. 222. 84 THE STORY OF MY LIFE. [Chap. VL members of the Church of England ! So that should they make a parade of their numbers you can tell how they got them. The Report of the Society for the Promotion of Christian Knowledge, for 1821, gives the number of communicants in the Church of England here as between 4,000 and 5,000. In the Chart, the Methodist communicants only have been returned, which is about 9,000. The number of those who call them- selves Methodists, is, at least, four times that number, or 36,000. This is the way in which almost all the other bodies estimate their numbers, the Baptists excepted. Cobourg, Feb. 27th. — Dr. E-yerson's youngest brother, Edwy, who remained at home, wrote from there on the 20th, in regard to his Father's health and religious life. He says : — 1 think there is no doubt but that he will, in a short time be able, with the care and the mercy of Almighty God, to enjoy himself again at the family altar. He says that, by the grace of God, the remainder of his days shall be devoted to the service of God. He feels that he has acceptance with God ; that God condescends to receive him — blessed be God ! My dear Egerton, although we have had great difficulties and many trials to contend with, yet the Lord has stood by us, and by His good- ness and mercy He has kept us from sinking under them, by pointing out ways and means for our escape, and He has brought our aged Father to the knowledge of Jesus Christ, our Lord. Oh, my dear brother, let us praise the name of God forever, who hath dealt so bountifully with us. Mother is much better than when you were here. Father and Mother send their love to you. May the Lord give you good speed, and crown your labours with success in the saving of souls. April Srd. — With a view to throw an incidental light upon the personal influence which prompted Dr. Ryerson to controvert certain statements made by Archdeacon Strachan,* I quote a letter which Dr. Ryerson's brother William wrote to him from York, on the 1st, as follows : — I send you a pamphlet containing Dr. Strachan's defence before the Legislative Council. If I had time I would write a *•* Letters from the Reverend Egerton Hyerson to the Honourable and Reverend Dr. Strachan. Published originally in the Upper Canada Herald^ Kingston, U.C., 1828. Pp. 42 — In his "advertisement" or preface, Dr. Ryerson illustrates the pressing nature of his engagements at the time when he was engaged in the controversy with Archdeacon Strachan. He also referred to the unusual difficulties with which he had to contend in writing these "Letters" to the Archdeacon. Of many important and most forcible arguments against estab- lishments, especially those derived from the Holy Scriptures, the author has not availed himself, nor has he referred to so many historical authorities as might have been adduced, * * * as he has had to travel nearly two hundred miles, and preach from twenty to thirty sermons a month." (See note on p. 80 and also Chapter viii. — H. 1827-28] THE STORY OF MY LIFE. 85 reply, at least to a part of it. I think you had better write a full answer to it. You will perceive that the Doctor's defence consists in telling what he told certain gentlemen in England and what they told him. The misstatements and contradictions with which he has been charged, he has not noticed. Such as that " the Church is rapidly increasing, and spreading over the whole country, and that the tendency of the population is towards the Church of England, and that the instructions of dissenters are rendering people hostile to our institutions, civil and religious." He says : " It is said I have offended the Methodists." Who told him so ? I presume it must have been his own conscience. If you write a full answer would it not be better to do it in the form of letters, addressed to the doctor, and signed by your real name ? Write in a candid, mild, and kindly style, and it will have a much more powerful effect upon the mind of the public. Do not cramp yourself, but write fully, seriously, and effectually. Dr. Ryerson's reflections upon the peculiar difficulties of his itinerant life at this time are recorded in his diary, under date of April 13th, as follows : — No situation of life is without its inconveniences ; but, perhaps, the Metho- dist itinerant Preacher is more exposed to privations than most others. His home is everywhere, and amongst persons of every description ; and if he needs retirement or books, where can he find a retreat to hide himself, or a secret place where he can, like Jacob, wrestle till the dawn of day ? He is a target to be shot at by every one; his weaknesses and failings tried every way; and, after his youth, his health, his life, his all are spent, he too often dies an enfeebled and impoverished man. But, bless the Lord, all does not end here. We have " a buiWing of God, eternal in the heavens;" and we have a home '* where the wicked cease from troubling, and the weary are at rest." Dr. Ryerson resumes his diary on the 9th of May. He says : My time has of late been much taken up with provincial affairs. I have felt a hardness towards those who I think are injuring the interests of the country, and with whom it has fallen to my lot to be much engaged in con- troversy. Necessity seems at present to be laid upon me, from which I cannot free myself. May lOth — Sunday, — To-day J delivered a discourse on Missions. I had intended much, this being a favourite topic with me, but I made out nothing, and I felt truly humbled. Aiig. 1st. — For months past I have been greatly tried. My controversial labours have occupied too much of my time and attention. I thank God, the day ot deliverance seems to be dawning. The invisible hand of the infinitely wise Being Is clearly at work, and I have no doubt the result will be to His glory. Dr. Ryerson then continues the narrative of his life. He says : — A change in my domestic and public life now commenced, 86 THE STORY OF MY LIFE. [Chap. VI which involved my marriage, and my appointment to the Hamilton alid Ancaster Circuits. In my diary I say : — Aug. 24th. — I soon expect to alter my situation in life. What an im- portant step ! H ow much depends upon it in respect to my comfort, my literary and religious improvement, and my usefulness in the Church ? I have kept up a correspondence with a lady since and before I was an itinerant preacher; but postponed marriage since I became a minister, thinking that I should be more useful as a single man. My ministerial friends all advise me now to marry, as every obstacle seems moved out of the way and I have now travelled three years. Ancaster, Oct. 31st. — I have passed through a variety of scenes since I last noted the dealings of the Lord with me. On the 10th of September, 1828, 1 entered into the married state with Miss Harnah Aikman, of Hamilton, Through the tender mercy of God, I have got a companion who, I believe, will be truly a help-meet to me, in spiritual as well as temporal things,* The Hamilton and Ancaster Circuit reached from Stoney Creek, east of Hamilton, to within five miles of Brantford, including the township of Glandford ; thence including the Jersey settlement, Dundas Street, and Nelson, to ten miles north of Dundas Street, embracing Trafalgar, the mountain bej^ond the town of Milton, Credit, and back to Stoney Creek. The death of the Kev. Wm. Slater, my colleague and Super- intendent, about the middle of the year, was a great loss and affliction to me, as I had to take his place. Brother Slater had been the colleague of my brother John for two years, and he was now mine for the second year. He was a true Englishman, a true friend, and a faithful and cheerful minister. About the middle of this year (1828) were held the Ryan Conventions at Copetown, in West Flamboro', and Picton, Prince Edward District, of which I have given an account in " The Epochs of Canadian Methodism," pp. 247-269. * This union was of comparatively short duration. Mrs. R^^erson died on the 31st of January, 1832, at the early age of 28. (See the latter part of Chapter ix.) CHAPTER VII. 1828-1829. Ryanite Schism — M. E. Church of Canada Oeganized. THERE is a break in Dr. Ryerson's "Story" at this point; no record of any of the events of his hfe, from August, 1828, to September, 1829, was found among the MSS. left by him. The Editor, therefore, avails himself of ihe numerous letters preserved by the venerable author, from which he is enabled to continue a narrative, at least in part, of the principal events in his then active life. — H. Hamilton, Qth Nov. — Writing at this date, from Cobourg, to Dr. Ryerson, on the expediency of petitioning the Legislature to give the Methodist Ministry the right to perform the mar- riage ceremony amongst their own people. Elder Case, says : — Should not the petition include all "dissenters," and the prayer be for authority to perform the marriage rite for members of our congregations? I would rather not have any law in our favour, but that which gives the privilege to the Calvinists. If the Church of England is not the established religion of this province (and who believes it is ?) " dissenters " at least, have au equal right with the Church. If numbers and priority are to determine the right, the " dissenters " have a superior right, for they were first here, and they are more numerous. We cannot but feel a pious indignation at the idea, that all should not inpy the same privilege, in regard to marriage ; and can this be the fact when one denomination, in any sense whatever, has a con- trol over the marriage ceremony of another denomination ? The Ryanite Schism, which commenced in 1824?, is fully described by Dr. Ryerson in his " Epochs of Canadian Method- ism," pp. 247-269. In a letter from his brother John, dated River Thames, January 28th, 1824, the strife caused by this schism is thus referred to. Mr. Ryerson also describes the state of the Societies in the London District during this crisis. He said: — I am happy to hear that Mr. Ryan's plans are defeated, and that the measures you have adopted to frustrate his machina- tions against Elder Case, have proved successful. I hope you will continue to assist and support Elder Case, especially in this- 88 THE STOBY OF MY LIFE. [Chap. VIl. affair, and on many other accounts he is deserving of much esteem ; his disinterested exertions in behalf of the Missionary interest in Canada, are deserving of the highest praise. The work is prospering in the different parfs of this District. Niagara and Ancaster Circuits are rising. There is a good work in Oxford, on the Long Point Circuit, as also on the Lon- don and Westminster Circuits. The Indian Mission, on the Grand River, is progressing finely. At the Salt Springs, about thirty have been added to the Society, amomg whom are some of the most respectable chiefs of the Mohawk andTuscarora nations. Visiting them, from wigwam to wigwam, they in general appear to be thankful. — H.] The Ryanite controversy turned chiefly on the refusal at first of the American General Conference to separate the Canada work from its jurisdiction. Rev. John Ryerson, in a letter from Pittsburg, Pa., dated May, 1828, gave Dr. Ryerson the particulars of the reversal of that decision. He says : — A Committee of five persons has been appointed on the Canada Question. Dr. Bangs is the chairman. The Committee reported last Thursday pointedly against the separation ; declaring it, in their opinion, to be unconstitutional. Dr. Bangs brought the report before the Conierence, and made a long speech against the separation. William and myself replied to him pointedly, and at length, and were supported by the Rev. Drs. Fisk and Luckey. Dr. Bangs was supported by Rev. Messrs. Henings, Lindsey, and others. The matter was debated with astonishing ability and deep-felt interest on both sides, for two days, when the question being put, there were 105 in favour of the separation, and 43 against — a majority on our side of 62. Our kind friends were much delighted, and highly gratified at our singular and remarkable triumph ; and those who opposed us, met us with a great deal of respect and affec- tion. You will, doubtless, be surprised on hearing of Dr. Bangs' opposing us as he has done, but you are not more surprised and astonished than we were ; and we had no knowledge of his opposition to the separation until the morning of the debate, when he got up and commenced his speech in Conference. But, blessed be God for ever, amidst the painful and trying scenes through which we have passed in the Conference business, the God of David has stood by us, and has given us a decided victory. Nov. 22nd, — Elder Case, in a letter from Cobourg, gives a detailed account of the efforts put forth by Rev. Henry Ryan to foment discord among the societies. He says : As in the west so in the east, Elder Ryan had induced several members to attend as delegates at his convention 1828-29] THE STORY OF MY LIFE. 89 in Hallowell. At Matilda, Geor^^je Brouse ; at Kingston, Bro. Burchel and Henry Benson have been elected to go. Mr. Case then urges that a circular be issued to the societies settinor forth "that the Conference, so far as they have had evidence, has laboured in every instance to do justice to Mr. Ryan, and even to afford him greater lenity, on account of former standing, than, perhaps the discipline of the Church would justify. In a subsequent letter, dated Prescott, 27th November, Elder Case thus describes the proceedings of Mr. Eyan. He says : On my way down, I spent a few hours at Kingston, one day at Brockville, and one here. I have learned all the circum- stances of Mr. Ryan's proceedings. At one place he would declare in the most positive manner that he would " head no division," that he "would even be the first to oppose any such work," he "would esteem it the happiest day in his life if, by their assistance, he could regain his standing in the Church," and that " the measures which he w^as now professing would prevent a division." But when he thought he had gained the confidence of his listeners, and they had entered fully into his views, he would throw off his disguise, and openly declare, as ! he did at Matilda, " Now, we will pull down the tyrannical spirit of the Conference. There will, there must be a split," &c. Brother, there is one very material obstacle in the way of effect- ing a " split," in our societies, and raising a " fog " of any con- siderable duration, i. e., the authors of this work may, by their strong and positive statements, make a people mad for a " divi- sion." But, when there is a sense of religion in the mind, they will become good natured — they can't be kept mad long. Our people in these parts are becoming quite good natured, and now perceive their arch friend has made a fool of them. To show how deeply the Ryanite schism had affected the Societies, and how widely the agitation had spread, we give a few extracts from a letter written from London (U.C.), to Dr. Ryerson, by his brother John, dated 2nd January. He says : — The day I left you I rode to Oxford (52 miles), and after preaching, I gave an explanation of Ryan's case, an hour and a half long. My dear brother, this is a desperate struggle. I am using every possible exertion to defeat Ryan. I go from house to house to see the friends I don't see at the meetings. Could you not go to Burford and see Mr. Matthews, as he has a great deal of influence in Burford and the Governor's Road ? Eger- ton, by all means, try and go, even if you have to neglect appointments. Though I know it is hard for you, I am sure the approbation of your conscience, and the approbation of the Church, will afford you an ample reward. It will also be necessary for you to keep a look out about Ancaster. Write to 90 THE STORY OF MY LIFE. [Chap. VII Rev. James Richardson, and tell him to look out, and also write to Rev. S. Belton, and Rev. A. Green. Don't fail to go to Bur- ford and, if you can, to Long Point also, and hold public meetings on the subject.* Nov. 26th.— At the Conference held this year (1828), at Switzer's Chapel, Ernestown, Bishop Hedding presiding, reso- lutions were adopted organizing the Canada Conference into an "independent Methodist Episcopal Church in Canada." Subse- quently, Rev. Wilbur Fisk, A.M., Principal of the Wilbraham Academy, U.S., was elected General Superintendent, or Bishop, of the newly organized Church. Dr. Ryerson was deputed to convey the announcement of this election to Mr. Fisk, which he did on this day, as follows : — The Canada Conference of the M.E. Church have taken the liberty of nominating you for our General Superintendent, agreeably to the resolutions of the General Conference. I take the liberty, and have the pleasure of observing that the nomina- tion was warm and unanimous ; and I hope and pray, that while our wants excite your compassion, our measures, in this respect, will meet your cordial approbation and receive your pious com- pliance. Although writing to a person whom I have never seen, yet the pleasure and profit I have derived in perusing your successful apologies in favour of the pure Gospel of Christ against the invasions of modern libertinism, remind me that I am not writing to an entire stranger ; and your able and affec- tionate appeal to the late General Conference in behalf of Canada — of which my brothers gave a most interesting account — emboldens me to speak to you " as a man speaketh with his friend." Rev. Dr. Fisk's reply to this letter is" as follows :— The deep solicitude I have felt, to weigh the subject well, to watch the openings of divine providence, and decide in the best light, have induced me to deliberate until this time [April]. All m'y deliberations upon this subject have resulted in a confirma- tion of my earliest impressions in relation to it — that it will not be prudent for me to accept of the affectionate and flattering invitation of the Canada Conference. I feel, however, the influence of contrary emotions. My high sense of the honour you have done me, is enhanced by the consideration that '' the nomination was unanimous and warm." I highly appreciate, and cordially reciprocate those warm and concurrent expressions of confidence and aflection. The information I Jiave of the character of the Conference, joined with my personal acquaint- ance with some of its members, convinces me, that whoever • Rev. Henry Ryan was born 1776^ entered the ministry in 1800, and died at his residence, in Gainsborough, on the 2nd September, 1833, aged 67 years. — H. 1828-29] THE STORY OF MY LIFE. 91 superintends the Canada Church, will have a charge that will cheer his heart, and hold up his hands in his official labours. Equally encouraging and inviting, are the growing prospects of your country and your Church, and especially of your mis- sionary stations. These to a man of missionary enterprise, who loves to bear the banner of the cross, and push its victories more and more upon the territories of darkness and sin, are motives of high and almost irresistible influence. And they have so affected my mind, that although my local attachments to the land of my fathers, and for that branch of the Church where I was, and have been nutured, are strong ; although my aged parents lean upon me to support their trembling steps, as the}'' descend to the tomb; although I might justly fear the influence of your climate upon an infirm constitution; yet these considerations, strengthened as they are by a consciousness of my own inability, and by the almost unanimous dissuasives of my friends, would hardly of themselves have induced me to decline your invitation, were it not that I am connected with a literary institution that promises much advantage to the Church and to the public, but which, as yet, will require close and unremitting attention and care on my part for some time to come, to give it that direction and permanency which will secure its usefulness.* Nov. 2Sth, 1828.— Mr. H. C. Thompson, of Kingston, who had charge of the re-printing in pamphlet form of Dr. Eyerson's recent letters on Archdeacon Strachan's sermon, writes to him to say : — It lingers in the press, merely for the want of work- men, who cannot be procured in this place. f He adds : — The * The post-office endorsement on this letter was as follows : — Paid to Lewistown, N.Y., 25c. postage; ferryage to Niagara, 2d.; from Niagara to Hamilton, 4^d.; total, 36 cents postage, for what in 1882 costs only one- twelfth of that amount. — H. t The title ot this pampTilet (in possession of the Editor) is : Claims of Churchmen and Dissenters of Upper Canada brought to the test in a Contro- versy between several Members of the Church of England and a Methodist Preacher, Kingston, 1828. pp. 232. (See note on page 80, and also Chapter viii.) Kev. Dr. Green, in his Life and Times, thus speaks of the effect of the publication of these letters upon Rev. Franklin Metcalf and himself: — The sermon was ably reviewed in the columns of the Colonial Advocate, in a communication over the signature of "A Methodist Preacher." Mr. Metcalf and I took the paper into a field, where we sat down on the grass to read. As we read, we admired; and as we admired, we rejoiced; then thanked God, and speculated as to its author, little suspecting that it was a young man who had been received on trial at the late Conference (1825). We read again, and then devoutly thanked God for having put it into the heart of some one to defend the Church publicly against such mischicvcus statements, and give the world the benefit of the facts of the case. The " Reviewer " proved to be Mr. Egerton Ryerson, then on the Yonge Street Circuit. This 92 THE STOEY OF MY LIFE. [Chap. VII. changes which have recently taken place in the two provinces cannot fail to gratify every lover of his country, though the party in power will no doubt hang their heads in sullen silence. I am highly pleased with the Methodist Ministers' Address to the Governor, and the reply thereto, — Strachanism must seek a more congenial climate. March 19th, 1829. — Dr. Ryerson had, at this time, met with an accident, but his life was providentially spared. Elder Case, writing from New York, at this date, speaking of it, says : Thank the Lord that your life was preserved. The enemies of our Zion would have triumphed in your death. May God preserve you to see the opponents of religious liberty, and the abettors of faction frustrated in all their selfish designs and hair-brained hopes ! I have seen a letter from the Rev. Richard Reece, dated London, 19th January, to Mr. Francis Hall, of the New York Commercial Advertiser and the Spectator, in which he says : I am of opinion that the English Conference can do very little good in Upper Canada. Had our preachers been continued they might have raised the standard of primitive English Metho- dism, which would have had extensive and beneficial influence upon the work in that province, but having ceded by convention the whole of it to your Church, I hope we shall not interfere to disturb the people. They must, as you say, struggle for a while, and your bishops must visit them, and ordain their ministers, till they can do without them. He speaks of being highly gratified at the conversion of the Indians in Canada. was the commenceraent of the war for relij^ious liberty, pp. 83, 84. (See also page 143 of Dr. Ryerson's " Epochs of Canadian Methodism.") — H. For specimens of Dr. Ryerson's controversial style in this his first encounter, see the extracts which he has ^iven from tne pamphlet itself on pages 146 — 149, etc., of "Epochs of Canadian Methodism." — II CHAPTER VIIL 1829-1832. Establishment of the "Christian Guabdian — " Chuech Claims Resisted. DR. RYERSON takes up the Story of his Life at the period of the Conference of 1829. He says that ; — At this Conierence it was determined to establish the Christian Gfuardian newspaper. The Conference elected me as Editor, with instructions to go to New York to procure the types and apparatus necessary for its establishment.* In this 1 was greatly assisted by the late Rev. Dr. Bangs, and the Rev. Mr. Collard, of the New York Methodist Book Concern. The hardships and difficulties of establishing and conducting the Christian Guardian for the first year, without a clerk, in the midst of our poverty, can hardly be realized and need not be detailed. The first number was issued on the 22nd Novem- ber, 1829. The list of subscribers at the commencement was less than 500. Three years afterwards (in 1832), when the first Editor was appointed as the representative of the Canadian Conference to England, the subscription list was reported as nearly 3,000. The characteristics of the Christian Guardian during these three eventful years (it being then regarded as the leading newspaper 'of Upper Canada) were defence of Methodist insti- tutions and character, civil rights, temperance principles, educa- tional progress, and missionary operations. It was during this period that the Methodist and other denominations obtained the right to hold land for places of worship, and for the burial * The following is a copy of the document under the authority of which Dr. Ryerson was deputed to go to New York to procure presses and types for the proposed Christian Guardian newspaper : — This is to certify that the Bearer, Rev. Egerton Ryerson, is appointed agent for procuring a printing establishment for the Canada Conference, and is hereby commended to the Christian confidence of all on whom he may have occasion to call for advice and assistance for the above purpose. (Signed) William Case, Superintendent Ancaster, Upper Canada, ) James Richardson, Secretary. Sept. 4tb, 1829. J 94} THE STORY OF MY LIFE. [Citap. VIII. of their dead, and the right of their ministers to solemnize matrimony, as also their rights to equal civil and religious liberty, against a dominant church establishment in Upper Canada, as I have detailed, in the " Epochs of Canadian Method- ism," pp. 129-246. The foregoing is the only reference to this period of his life which Dr. Ryerson has left. I have, therefore, availed myself of his letters and papers to continue the narrative. June— August, 1830. — With a view to correct the mis- statements made in regard to the Methodists in Canada, and to set forth their just rights. Dr. Ryerson devoted a considerable space in the G/tristian Guardian of the 26th June, and 8rd, 10th, 24th, and 31st July, and 14th August, 1830, to a concise history of that body in this country, in which he maintained its right to the privileges pi'oposed to be granted to it under the Religious Societies Relief Bill of that time.* He pointed out, as he expressed it, that — His Majesty's Royal assent would have been given to that bill had it not unfortunately fallen in company wnth some ruth- less vagrant (in the shape of a secret communication from our enemies in Canada) who had slandered, abused, and tomahawked it at the foot of the throne Oct. llUi. — Being desirous of availing himself of his brother George's educational advantages and ability in his editorial labours, Dr. Ryerson, under this date, wrote to him in his new charge at the Grand River, He said : — I am glad to hear that you enjoy peace of mind, and feel an increasing attachment to your charge. It is more than 1 do as Editor. I am scarcely free from interruption long enough to settle my mind on any one thing, and sometimes I am almost distracted. On questions of right and liberty, as well as on other subjects, I am resolved to pursue a most decided course. Your retired situation will afford you a good opportunity for writing useful articles on various subjects. I hope you w^ill write often and freely. Nov. Ist — Another reason, which apparently prompted Dr Ryerson to appeal to his brother George for editorial help, was the fear that the increasing efforts of the influential leaders of the Church of England to secure a recognition uf her claims to be an established church in Upper Canada might be crowned with success. He, therefore, at this date wrote to him again on the subject, and said . — The posture of affairs in England appears, upon the whole, * These seven papers, taken toj^ether, were the first attempt to put into a connected form the history of the Methodist Church id (Janada, down to 1830.— H. 1829-32] THE STOBY OF MY LIFE. 95 more favourable to reform than in Upper Canada. We are resolved to double our diligence ; to have general petitions in favour of the abolition of every kind of religious domination, circulated throughout the Province, addressed to the Provincial and Imperial Parliaments, and take up the whole question — decidedly, fully, and warmly. We must be up and doing while it is called to-day. It is the right time. There is a new and Whig Parliament in England, and I am sure our own House of Assembly dare not deny the petitions of the people on this subject. Nature of the Struggle for Religious Equality. During this and many succeeding years the chief efforts of Dr. Ryerson and those who acted with him were directed, as intimated before, against the efforts put forth to establish a "dommant church" in Upper Canada. A brief resume oi the question will put the reader in possession of the facts of the case : — The late Bishop Strachan, in his speech delivered in the Legislative Council, March 6th.. 1828, devoted several pages of that speech (as printed) to prove that " the Church of England is by law the Established Church of this Province." This statement in som-e form he put forth in every discussion on the subject. The grounds upon which this claim was founded were also fully stated by Rev. Wm Betteridge, B.D. (of Woodstock), who was sent to England to represent the claims of the Church of England in this controversy. These claims he put forward in his "Brief History of the Church in Upper Canada," published in England in 1838. He rests those claims upon what he considers to have been the intention of the Imperial Parliament m passing the Clergy Reserve sections of the Act (31 Geo in., c. 31) in 1791. and also on the " King's Instructions " to the Lieutenant-Governor of Upper Canada in 1818. He further contended that the "Extinction of the Tithes Act," passed by the Upper Canada Legislature in 1823, inferentially recognized the donnnancy of the Church of England in Canada as a Church of the Empire. Beyond this alleged inferential right to be an Established Church in Upper Canada, none in reality existed It was, therefore, to prevent this inference, — which was insisted upon as perfectly clear and irresistible, — from receiving Imperial or Provincial recognition as an ad- mitted or legal fact, that the persistent efforts of Dr. Ryerson and others were unceasingly directed during all of those years. Few in the present day can realize the magnitude of the task thus undertaken. Nor do we sufficiently estimate the signi- ficance of the issues involved in that contest — a contest wajied 96 THE STORY OF MY LIFE, [Chap. VIII for the recognition of equal denominational rights and the supremacy of religious liberty. All of these questions are now happily settled " upon the best and surest foundation." But it might have been far otherwise had not such men as Dr. Ryerson stepped into the breach at a critical time in our early history ; and if the battle had not been fought and won before the dis- tasteful yoke of an " establishment " had been imposed upon this young country, and burdensome vested interests been thereby created, which it would have taken years of serious and protracted strife to extinguish. As the fruits of that protracted struggle for religious equality have been long quietly enjoyed in this province, there is a disposition in many quarters to undervalue the importance of the contest itself, and even to question the propriety of reviving the recollection of such early conflicts. In so far as we may adopt such views we must necessarily fail to do justice to the heroism and self-sacrifice of those who, like Dr. Ryerson, encountered the prolonged and determined opposition, as well as the contemptuous scorn of the dominant party while battling for the rights which he and others ultimately secured for us. Those amongst us who would seek to depreciate the importance of that struggle for civil and religious freedom, must fail also to realize the importance of the real issues of that contest. To those who have given any attention to this subject, it is well known that the maintenance of the views put forth by Dr. Ryerson in this controversy involved pergonal odium and the certainty of social ostracism. It also involved, what is often more fatal to a man's courage and constancy, the sneer and the personal animosity, as well as ridicule, of a powerful party whose right to supremacy is questioned, and whose monopoly of what is common property is in danger of being destroyed. Although Dr. Ryerson was a gentleman by birth, and the son of a British officer and U. E. Loyalist, yet the fact that, as one of the " despised sect " of Methodists, he dared to question the right of " the Church" to superiority over the "Sectaries," subjected him to a system of petty and bitter persecution which few men of less nerve and fortitude could have borne. As it was, there were times when the tender sensibilities of his noble nature were so deeply wounded by this injustice, and the scorn and contumely of his opponents, that were it not that his intrepid courage was of the tinest type, and without the alloy of rancour or bravado in it, it would have failed him. But he never flinched. And when the odds seemed to be most against him, he would, with humble dependence upon Divine help, put forth even greater effort; and, with his courage thus reanimated, would unexpectedly turn ti-o flank of his enemy ; or, by concentrating all his iorces on tlie 1829-32] THE 8T0BY OF MY LIFE. 97 vulnerable points of his adversary's case, completely neutralize the force of his attack. It must not be understood from this that Dr.Ryerson cherished any personal animosity to the Church of England as a Divine and Spiritual power in the land. Far from it. Jn his first *' campaign " against the Venerable Archdeacon of York (Dr. Strachan), he took care to point out the difference between the principles maintained by the aggressors in that contest and the principles of the Church itself. He said : — Whatever remarks the Doctor's discourse may require me to make, I wish it to be distinctly understood that 1 mean no reflection on the doctrines, liturgy, or discipline of the Church of which he has the honour to be a minister. Be assured I mean no such thing. I firmly beheve in her doc- trines, I admue her liturgy, and I heartily rejoice in the success of those principles which are therein contamed. and it is for the prosperity of the truths which they unfold that I shall ever pray and contend. And, with respect to Church government, I heartily adopt the sentiments of the pious and the learned Bishop Burnet, that "that form of Church government is the best which is most suitable to the customs and circumstances of the people among whom it is established."''^ Such was Dr. Ryerson's tribute to the Church of England in 1826. His disclaimer of personal hostility to that Church (near the close of the protracted denominational contest in regard to the Clergy Reserves), will be found in an interesting personal correspondence, m a subsequent part of this book, with John Kent, Esq., Editor of The Cnurch newspaper iil 1841-2. With a view to enable Canadians of the present day more clearly to understand the pressing nature of the difficulties with which Dr. Ryerson had to contend, almost single-handed, fifty years ago, I shall briefly enumerate the principal ones : — 1." The whole of the official community of those days, which had grown up as a united and powerful class, were bound together by more than official ties, and hence, as a " family compact," they were enabled to act together as one man. This class, with few exceptions, were members of the Church of England. They regarded her — apart from her inimitable liturgy and scriptural standards of faith — with the respect and love which her historical prestige and assured status naturally inspired them. They maintained, without question, the tra- ditional right of the Church of England to supremacy every- where in the Empire. They, therefore, instinctively repelled all attempts to deprive that Church of what they believed to be her inalienable right to dominancy in this Province. 2. Those who had the courage, and who ventured to oppose the Church claims put forth by the clerical and other leaders of *" Claims of Churchmen and Dissenters," &c., 1826, p. 27. (See p. 80.) 7 98 THE STOBY OF MY LIFE. [Chap. VIII. the dominant party of that time, were sure to be singled out for personal attack. They were also made to feel the chilling effects of social exclusiveness. The cry against them was that of ignorance, irreverence, ir religion, republicanism, dis- loyalty, etc. These charges were repeated in every form ; and that, too, by a section both of the official and religious press, a portion of which was edited with singular ability ; a press which prided itself on its intelligence, its unquestioned churchmanship and exalted respect for sacred things, its firm devotion to the principle of " Church and State" — the main- tenance of which was held to be the only safeguard for society, if not its invincible bulwark. An illustration of the profession of this exclusive loyalty is given by Dr. Kyerson in these pages. He mentions the fact that the plea to the British Government put forth by the leaders of the dominant party, as a reason why the Church of England in this Province should be made supreme and be subsidized, was that she might then be enabled " to preserve the principles cf loyalty to England from being overwhelmed and destroyed "by the "Yankee Method- ists," as represented by the Ryersons and their friends ! 3. The two branches of the Legislature were divided on this subject. The House of Assembly represented the popular side, as advocated by Dr. Ryerson and other denominational leaders. The Legislative Council (of which the Ven. Archdeacon iStrachan was aii influential member,) maintained the clerical -views so ably put forth by this reverend leader on the other side. 4. Except by personal visits to Er gland — w^here grievances could alone be fully redressed in those days — little hope was entertained by the non-Episcopal party that their side of the question would (if stated through ofi&cial channels), be fairly or fully represented. Even were their case presented through these channels, they were not sure but that (as strikingly and quaintly put by Dr. Kyerson, on page 94) . In company with some ruthless vagrant — in the shape of a secret com- 'mnnication from enemies in Canada — it would be slandered, abused, and -tomahawked at the foot of the throne. As an illustration also of the spirit of the Chief Executive in Upper Canada in dealing with the questions in dispute, I quote the following extract from the reply of Sir John Colborne to an address from the Methodist Conference in 1831.* He said : Your dislike to any church establishment, or to the particular form of Christianity which is denominated the Church of England, may be the * For various reasons (apparently prudential at the time) this reply was never published in the Christian Guardian, as were other replies of the Governor. — H. 1829-32] . THE STORY OF MY LIFE. 99 natural consequence of the constant success of your own efficacious and organ- ized system. The small number of our Cliurch* is to be regretted, as well as that the organization of its ministry is not adapted to supply the present wants of the dispersed population in this new country ; but you will readily admit that the sober-minded of the province are disgusted with the accounts of the disgraceful dissensions of the Episcopal Methodist Church and its separatists, recriminating menu rials, and the warfare of one Church with another. The utility of an Establishment depends entirely on the piety, assiduity, and devoted zeal of its ministers, and on their abstaining from a secular interfer- ence which may involve them in political disputes. The labours of the clergy of established churches in defence of moral and religious truth will always be remembered by you, who have access to their writings, and benefit by them in common with other Christian Societies. You will allow, I have no doubt, on reflection that it would indeed be im- prudent to admit the right of societies to dictate, on account of their present numerical strength, in what way the lands set apart as a provision for the clergy shall be disposed of. The system of [University] Education which has produced the best and ablest men in the United Kingdom will not be abandoned here to suit the limited views of the leaders of Societies who, perhaps, have neither experience nor judgment to appreciate the value or advantages of a liberal education. . . . Such was the spirit in which the Governor in those days replied to the respectful address of a large and influential body of Christians. He even went further in another part of his reply, and referred to " the absurd advice offered by your missionaries to the Indians, and their officious interference. "f Such language * This expression, *' our Church," illustrates the fact which I have indicated in first paragraph on page 97. t This charge, preferred by such high authority, was taken up boldly by the Methodist authorities. Rev. James (afterwards Bishop) Richaruson, Presiding Elder, was commissioned to inquire into its truthfulness. He made an exhaustive report, proving the entire incorrectness of the statement, and that the whole difficulty arose from the persistent efforts of a Mr. Alley (an employ^ of the Indian Department) to promote his own interest at the expense ot that of the Indians, and to remove out of the way the only obstacle to the accomplishment of his purpose — the Methodist Missionary. Dr. Ryerson having pointed out these facts in the Guardian, Capt. Anderson, Superintendent of Indian affairs at Cold- water, questioned his conclusion "that the advice given to the Indians was both prudent and loudly called for, and perfectly respectlul to His Excellency." Dr. Ryerson then examined the whole of the evidence in the case, and (See Guardian, vol. iii., p. 76) came to the following conclusion : — I. That sometimes the local agents of the Indian Department are men who have availed themselves of the most public occasions to procure ardent spirits, and entice the Indians to drunkenness, and other acts of immorality ; being apparantly aware that with the introduction of virtue and knowledge among these people will be the departure of gain which arises from abuse, fraud, and debauchery. 2. That these agents are not always men who respect the Sabbath. 3. That the Missionary's " absurd advice " was in effect that the Indians should apply to their Great Father to remove such agents from among them. 4. That their '* craft being endangered," the agents and parties concerned, " with studied design, sought to injure the missionary in the estimation of His Excellency, and to destroy all harmony in their operations, in order, if possible, to compel the Missionary to abandon the Mission Station." The effect of this controversy was very salutary. His Excellency, having reconsidered the case, *'gave merited reproof and suitable instructions to the officers of the Indian Department in regard to their treatment of the Methodist Missionary." Dr. Ryerson adds : — \Ve had no trouble thereafter on the subject. 100 THE STORY OF MY LIFE. [Chap. Vlll. from the lips of Her Majesty's Representative, if at all possible in these days, would provoke a burst of indignation from those to whom it might be addressed, but it had to be endured fifty years ago, when to question the prerogative of the Crown, or the policy of the Executive, was taken as prima facie evidence of disloyalty, and republicanism. 5. Into the discussion of the claims of the Church of England in Upper Canada, two questions entered, which were important factors in the case. Both sides thoroughly understood thesigni- ticance of either question as an issue in the discussion ; and both sides were, therefore, equally on the alert — the one to maintain the affirmative, and the other the negative, side of these questions. The first was the claim that it was the inherent right of the Church of England to be an established church in every part of the empire, and, therefore, in Upper Canada. Both sides knew that the admission of such a claim, would be to admit the exclusive right of that Church to the Clergy Reserves as her heritage. It was argued, as an unquestionable fact, that the exclusive right of the Church of England in Upper Canada to such reserves must have been uppermost in the mind of the royal donor of these lands, when the grant was first made. The second point was, that the admission of this inherent right of the Church of England to be an established church in Upper Canada, would extinguish the right of each one of the nonconformist bodies to the status of a Church. It can well be understood that in a contest which involved vital questions like these (that is, of the exclusive endowment of one Church, and its consequent superior status as a dominant Church), the struggle would be a protracted and bitter one. And so it proved to be. But justice and right at length prevailed. A portion of the Reserves was impartially distributed, on a common basis among the denominations which desired to share in them, and the long-contested claims of the Church of England to the exclusive status of an established church were at length emphatically repudiated by the Legisla- ture ; and, in 1854, the last semblance of a union between Church and State vanished from our Statute Book.* — J. G. H.] * Another disturbing element entei-ed subsequently into this controversy. And this was especially embarrassing to Dr. Ryerson, as it proceeded from ministers in the same ecclesiastical fold as himself. I lefer to the adverse views on church establishments, put forth by members of the British Con- ference in this country and especially in England (to which reference is made subsequently in this book). Dr. Ryerson was, as a matter of course, taunted with maintaining opinions which had been expressly repudiated by his Meth- odist '* superiors " in England. He had, therefore, to wage a double warfare. He was assailed from within as well as from without. Besides, he had to beai the charge of putting forth heretical views in church politics, even from a Methodist standpoint. He, however, triumphed over both parties — those within as well as those without. And his victory over the former was the 1829-32] THE STORY OF MY LIFE. 101 Dec. 18th, 1830. — In the Guardian of this day, Dr. Ryerson puhlished a petition to the Imperial Parliament, prepared by a large Committee, of which he was a member, and of which Dr. W. W. Baldwin was Chairman. In that petition the writer referred to the historical fact, that, had the inhabitants of this Province been depend nt upon the Church of England or of Scotland for religious instiuction, they would have remained destitute of it for some years, and also that the pioneer non-Episcopal ministers were not dissenters, because of the priority of their existence and labours in Upper Canada. The petition, having pointed out that there were only five Episcopal clergy in Canada during the war of 1812, and that only one Presbyterian minister was settled in the Province in 1818, declared that : The minL-^ters of several other denominations accompanied the first influx of emigration into Upper Canada, (^1783-1790,) and liave shared the hard- ships, privations, and sufferings incident to missionaries in a new country. And it is through their unwearied labours, that the mass of the population have been mainly supplied with religious instruction. They, therefore, do not stand in the relation of Dissenters from either the Church of England or of Scotland, but are the ministers of distinct and independent Churches, who had numerous congregations in various parts of the Province, before the ministerial labours of any ecclesiastical establishment were, to any consider- able extent, known or felt. Jan. 20th, 1831. — As an evidence that the views put forth by Dr. Ryerson. in the Guardian, against an established Church in Upper Canada, were acceptable outside of his own denomination, I give the following letter, addressed to him at this date from Perth, by the Rev. Wm. Bell, Presbyterian : Though differing from you in many particulars, yet in some we agree- Your endeavours to advance the cause of civil and religious liberty have generally met my approbation. Some of your writings that I have seen discover both good sense and Christian feeling. The liberality, too, you have discovered, both in regard to myself and in regard of my brethren, has not escaped my observation. Be not discouraged by the malice of the enemies of religion. Your Gkiardian I have seldom seen, but from this time 1 intend to take it regularly. Consider me one of your " constant readers." The matters in which we differ are nothing in comparison of those in which we agree. Feb. 9th. — Some members of the Church of England in the Province evinced a good deal of hostility to the Methodists of this period, chiefly from the fact that they had been connected with the Methodist Episcopal Church in the United States, and that the Canada Conference had formed one of the Annual Con- ferences of that Church, presided over by an American Bishop. more easily won, as the views of the " British Methodists," on this question were almost unanimously repudiated bv the Methodists of Canada. See ♦* Epochs of Canadian Methodism," pp. 830-353.— H. 102 THE STORY OF MY LIFE. [Chap. VTII. As an evidence of this hostility, Dr. Ryerson stated in the Guardian of this date, that Donald Bethune, Esq., and others, of Kingston, had petitioned the House of Assembly : — To prohibit any exercise of the functions of a priest, or exhorter, or elder of any denomination in the Province except by British subjects ; 2nd, to prevent any religious society connected with any foreign religious body to assemble in Conference; 3rd, to prevent the raising of money by any religious person or body for objects which are not strictly British, etc. The Legislature appointed a Committee on the subject, and Dr. Ryerson, as representing the Methodists, Rev. Mr Harris the Presbyterians, and Rev. Mr. Stewart the Baptists, were summoned to attend this Committee with a view to give evidence on the subject. This Dr. Ryerson did at length, (as did also these gentlemen). Dr. Ryerson traced the history of the Methodist body in Canada, and showed that, three years before this time, the Canada Conference had taken steps to sever its connection with the American General Con- ference, and had done so in a friendly manner.* The petition was aimed at the Methodists, as they alone answered the description of the parties referred to by the petitioners. The petition was also a covert re-statement of the often disproved charge of disloyalty, etc., on the part of the Methodists. The House very properly came to the conclusion — " That it was inconsistent with the benign and tolerant principles of the British Constitution to restrain by penal enactment any denomination of Christians, whether subjects or foreigners," etc. This, however, was a sample of the favourite mode of attack, and the system of persecution to v^^hich the early Methodists were exposed in this Province. At the same session of Parliament in 1831, the Marriage Bill, which had been before the House each year for six successive years, was finally passed. This Bill gave to the Methodists and to other non-Episcopal ministers the right for the first time to solemnize matrimony in Upper Canada. Feb, Idth. — Sir John Colborne, the Lieutenant-Governor, having nominated an Episcopal chaplain to the House of Assembly, the question, "Is the Church of England an established church in Upper Canada ? " was again debated in the House of Assembly and discussed in the newspapers. With a view to a calm, dispassionate, and historical refutation of the claims set up by the Episcopal Church on the subject, Dr. Ryerson reprinted in the Guardian of this day, the sixth of a series of letters which he had addressed from Cobourg to Arch- deacon Strachan, in May and June, 1828. It covered the whole ground in dispute.*|* * See pages 63, 64 of the Christian Guardian for 1831; also page 90, ante. t See Christian Guardian of Feb. 19 th, 1831, and also the pamphlet con- 1829-32] THE STORY OF MY LIFE. 103 .Nov. 6th, 1882. — Archdeacon Sfcrachan, in his sermon, preached at the visitation of the Bishop of Quebec at York, on the 5th of September, speaking of the Methodists, said that he would — Speak of them with praise, notwithstanding their departure from the Apostolic ordinance, and the hostility long manifested against us by some of their leading members. In reply to this statement, Dr. Ryerson wrote from St Cath- arines to the Editor of the Guardian. He pointed out that : — It was not until after Archdeacon Strachan's sermon on the death of the former Bishop of Quebec was published, in 1826, that a single word was written, and then to refute his slanders. In that sermon, when accounting for the few who attend the Church of England, the Archdeacon said that their attendance discouraged the minister, and that — His influence is frequently broken or injured by numbers of uneducated, itinerant preachers, who, leaving their steady employment, betake themselves to preaching the Gospel from idleness, or a zeal without knowledge , . . and to teach what they do. not know, and which from their pride they disdain to learn.* Again, in May, 1827, Archdeacon Strachan sent an " Ecclesi- astical Chart " to the Colonial Office, and in the letter accom- panying it stated that : — The Methodist teachers are subject to the orders of the United States of America, and it is manifest that the Colonial Government neither has, nor can have any other control over them, or prevent them from gradually rendering a large portion of the population, by their influence and instruc- tions, hostile to our institutions, civil and religious, than by increasing the number of the Established Clergy. Who then [Dr Ryerson asked] was the author of contention ? Who was the aggressor ? Who provoked hostilities ? The slanders in the Chart were published in Canada, and in England, by Dr. Strachan before a single effort was made by a member of any denomination to counteract his hostile measures., or a single word was said on the subject. Nov. 19th, 1834. — In connection with this subject I insert here the following reply (containing several historical facts) to a singularly pretentious letter which Dr. Ryerson had inserted in the Guardian of this date, denouncing the opposition of a certain " sect called Methodists " to the claims of the Church of England as an established church in the Colony, The reply was inserted in order to afford strangers and new settlers in taining the whole of this series of eight letters, entitled: "Letters from the Reverend Egerton Ryerson to the Honourable and Reverend Doctor Strachan, published originally in the Upper Canada Herald; Kingston, 1828," pp. 42,. double columns. See page 80. — H. ♦ For reply to this statement see extract from Review given on p. 105.— H.. 104 THE STORY OF MY LIFE. [Chap. VIIL Upper Canada correct information on the subject, and to disprove the statement of the writer of the letter, Dr. Ryerson mentioned the following facts : — The pretensions of the Episcopal clergy began to be disputed by the clergy of the Church of Scotland as soon as it was known that the former had got themselves erected into a corporation. This was, I believe, in 1820.* The subject was brought before the House of Assembly in 1824, and the House in 1824, '25, '26, '27, passed resolutions remonstrating against the exclusive claims of the Episcopal clergy. From 1822 to 1827 several pamphlets were published on both sides of the question, and much was said in the House of Assembly; but during this period not one word was written by any minister or member of the Methodist Church, nor did the Methodists take any part in it, though their ministers were not even allowed to solemnize matrimony — a privilege then enjoyed by Calvinistic ministers — and though individual ministers had been most maliciously and cruelly persecuted, under the sanction of judicial authority But in the statements drawn up for the Imperial Government by the Episcopal clergy during the years mentioned, the extirpation of the Methodists was made one principal ground of appeal by the Episcopal clergy for the exclusive countenance and patronage of His Majesty's Govern- ment. Some of these documents at length came before the Canadian public; and in 1827 a defence of the Methodists and other religious denominations was put forth by the writer of these remarks in the form of a " Review of a Sermon preached by the Archdeacon of York." Up to this time not one word was said on " the church question " by the Methodists. But it was so warmly agitated by others, that in the early part of 1827 Archdeacon Strachan, an executive and legislative councillor, was sent to London to support the claims of the Episcopal clergy at the Colonial Office. His ecclesiastical chart and other communications were printed by order of the Govern- ment, and soon found their way into the provincial newspapers, and gave rise to such a discussion, and excited such a feeling throughout the Province as was never before witnessed. The shameful attack upon the character of the Methodist ministry, whose unparalleled labours and sufferings, usefulness, and unimpeachable loyalty were known and appreciated in the * In "a Pastoral Letter from the Clergy of the Church of Scotland in the Canadas to their Presbyterian Brethren " issued in 1828, they say : — We did, in the year 1820. petition His Majesty's Government for protection and support to our Church, and claimed, by what we believe to be our constitutional rights, a participation in the Clergy Reserves." Montreal, 1828, p. 2. This Pastoral Letter gave rise to a protracted discussion for and against the Presbyterian side ol the question. — H. 1829-32] THE STORY OF MY LIFE. 105 Province, and the appeal to the King's Government to aid in exterminating them from the country excited strong feelings of indignation and sympathy in the public mind. The House of Assembly investigated the whole affair, examined fifty-two witnesses, adopted an elaborate report, and sent home an address to the King condemning the statements of the agent of the Episcopal clergy, and remonstrating against the establish- ment of a dominant church in the Province.* The determin- ation to uproot the Methodists was carried so far in those by-gone days of civil and ecclesiastical despotism, that the Indians were told by executive sanction that unless they would become members of the Church of England, the Government would do nothing for them ! In further support of my state- ment, I quoted four Episcopal addresses and sermons, sufficient to show who were the first and real aggressors in this matter — certainly not the Methodists. As a sample of Dr. Ryerson's controversial style in 1826, when he wrote the Review of Archdeacon Strachan's sermon (to which he refers above) I quote a pavagraph from it. In replying to the Archdeacon's " remarks on the qualifications, motives, and conduct of the Methodist itinerant preachers," which Dr. Ryerson considered " ungenerous and unfounded," he proceeded : — The Methodist preachers do not value themselves upon the wealth, virtues, or grandeur, of their ancestry ; nor do they consider their former occupation an argument against their present employment or usefulness. They have learned that the Apostles were once fishermen ; that a Milner could once throw the shuttle ; that a Newton once watched his mother's flock. , . . They are likewise charged with " preaching the Gospel out of idleness. " Does the Archdeacon claim the attribute of omniscience ? Does he know what is in man ? How does he know that they preach " the Gospel out of idleness ?"..,. What does he call idleness ? — the reading of one or two dry discourses every Sabbath .... to one congregation, with an annual income of X200 or £300 ? . . . , No ; this is hard labour ; this is indefatigable industry ! . . . . Who are they then that preach the Gospel out of idleness 1 — those indolent, covetous men who travel from two to three hundred miles, and preach from twenty-five to forty times every month ? — who, in addition to this, visit from house to house, and teach young and old " repentance towards God, and faith in our Lord Jesust Christ ? — those who continue this labour year after year . . . , at the enormous salary of £25 or £50 per annum I — these are the men who " preach the * The Report was adopted by a vote of 22 to 8. It stated: — The ministry and instructions [of the Methodist Clergymen] have been conducive — in a degree which cannot be easily estimated — to the refonnation of their hearers, and to the diffusion of correct morals — the foundation of all sound loyalty and social order. . . , . No one doubts that the Methodists are as loyal as any other of His Majesty's subjects, etc. Full particulars of this controversy will be found in Dr. Ryerson'a "Epochs of Canadian Methodism," pp. 165-218. — H. 106 THE STORY OF MY LIFE. [Chap. VIII. Gospel out of idleness 1" O bigotry I thou parent of persecution; O envy! thou fountain of slander; covetousnessi thou god of injustice 1 would to heaven ye were banished from the earth!* Jan. 22nd, 1831. — In the Guardian of this day Dr. Ryerson publishes a letter from the E-ev. Richard Watson to the trustees of the Wesley an University, in Connecticut, declining the appointment of Professor of Belles Lettres and Moral Philosophy. He says : — To Belles Lettres 1 have no pretensions ; Moral Philosophy I have studied, and think it a most important department, when kept upon its true principles, both theological and philosophic. Being, however, fifty years old, and having a feeble constitution, I do not think it would be prudent in me to accept. During this year (1831) Dr. Ryerson engaged in a friendly controversy with Vicar-General Macdonnell, Editor of the Catholic, published in Kingston. This controversy included six letters from Dr. Ryerson, and ^ve from the Vicar-General, published in the Christian Guardian. It touched upon the leading questions at issue between Roman Catholics and Protestants. The correspondence was broken off by the Vicar- Geaeral. * In "An Apology for the Church of England in Canada, by a Protestant of the Established Church of England," the writer thus refers to this controversy : — ** Our Methodist brethren have disturbed the peace of their maternal Church by the clamour of enthusiasm and the madness of resentment; but they are the way- ward children of passion, and we hope that yet the chastening hand of reason will sober down the wildness of that ferment," etc Kingston, U.C., 1826, p. 3.— H. CHAPTER IX, 1831-1832. Methodist Affairs in Upper Canada — Proposed Union WITH THE British Conference. OF the events transpiring in Upper Canada during 1831 and 1832, in which Dr. Ryerson was an actor, he has left no record in his " Story." His letters and papers, however, show that during this period he retired from the editorship of the Christian Guardian, and that plans were discussed and matured which led to his going to England, in 1833, to negotiate a union between the British and Upper Canadian Conferences. His brother George had gone on a second visit to England in March, 1831. This second visit was for a twofold purpose, viz., to collect money with the Rev. Peter Jones, for the Indian Missions, and also to present petitions to the Imperial Parliament on behalf of the non-episcopalians of the Province. I give extracts from his letters to Dr. Ryerson, relating his experiences of, and reflections on, Wesleyan matters in England at that period. Writing from Bristol, on the 6th of August, 1831, Rev. George Ryerson said : — In ray address to the Wesleyan Conference here I stated that we stood in precisely the same relation to our brethren of the Methodist Conference in the United States as we do to our brethren of the Wesleyan Conference in England — independent of either — agreeing in faith, in religious discipline, in name and doctrine, and the unity of spirit, — but differing in some ecclesiastical arrangements, rendered necessary from local circumstances. I also expressed my firm conviction that the situation in which we stand is decidedly the best calculated to spread Methodism and vital religion in Canada. This statement did not, 1 think, give so much satisfaction to the Conference as the others, for what Pope said of Churchmen : ** Is he a Churchman ? then he's fond of power," may also be literally applied to Wesleyan ministers, and, I may add, to Englishmen generally. 1 have reason to know that they would gladly govern us. 1 was, therefore, very pointed and explicit on this subject, I rejoice that our country lies beyond the Atlantic, and is surrounded by an atmosphere of freedom. A few months' residence in this country would lead you to value this circumstance in a degree that you can scarcely conceive of; and you would, with unknown energy, address this exhortation to the Methodists and to the people of Canada: "Stand fast, therefore, in the liberty wherewith God's providence hath made you free, and in this abound 108 THE STORY OF MY LIFE. [Chap. IX. more and more." I also assured tliem of our respect and love for them as our fathers and elder brethren, and mentioned my reasons lor giving this information to prevent future collision and misunderstanding. The Conference or Missionary Society have, however, not given up their intention of establishing an Indian Mission in Upper Canada, but, in consequence of my remonstrances, have delayed it. Brother James Richard- son's letter to the Missionary Committee, which I submitted, and was told by Rev. Dr. Townley, one of the Secretaries, that they would by no means withdraw their missionary at Kingston, as it was still their iiitention to establish a mission to the Indians in Upper Canada, and this station would be very necessary to them. I see that they are a little vexed that emigrants from their Societies should augment our membership. The whole morning service of the Church of England is now read in most of the Wesley an Chapels, and with as much formality as in the Church. Many of the members, when they become wealthy and rise m the world, join the Church, and their wealth and influence are lost to the Society. Organs are also introduced into many of their Chapels. In a letter dated London, Feb. 6th, 1832, Rev. Geo. Ryerson writes a^ain to Dr. Ryerson, and says that he and Peter Jones: By request, met the Rev. Richard Watson, and some others of the Missionary Committee. They wished to consult us respecting the resolutions forwarded to them from your Missionary Committee. They profess that they will not occupy any station where there is a mission, as Grand River, Pene- tanguishene, etc., except St. Clair. But they declare that as it regards the white population, the agreement with the American Confeience ceased when we became a separate connexion. I opposed their views, as I have invariably done, in very strong and plain terms, and explained to them the character and object of the persons who were alluring them to commence this schism. They proposed that we should give up the missions to them. I told them we could no more do so, than they give up theirs. They finally acquiesced, and voted the £300 as Rev. Dr. Townley wrote. At the Conference, at Bristol, 1 explained thata union of the two Conferences would be inexpedient and unprofitable, any further than a union of brotherly love and friend- In another letter to Dr. Ryerson from his brother George, dated London, April 6th, 1882, he says : — I have been detained so long on expenses, and continually advancing money for the Central Committee at York, that I hope it will be repaid to Peter Jones. I was a long time attending to the business of my mission to bring it to the only practicable arrangement, that is, having it submitted to the Legislature of Upper Canada, with such recommendations and instruc- tions as would give satisfaction to the country by consulting the wishes and interests of all parties. I have never before in my life been shut up to M^alk in all things by simple faith more than 1 have for some months past ; yet I was never kept in greater steadfastness and peace of mind, nor had such openings of the Spirit and life of Jesus in my soul. The judgments of God are spreading apace — the cholera is more deadly in London, and it has now broken out in Ireland, and in the centre of Paris, where it is said to be very destructive. You need no other evidence of its being a work of God, than to be informed that it is made the public mock of the infidel population of this city ; a state of feeling and conduct in regard to this pestilence that never, perhaps, was witnessed from any country, and that would make a heathen or Mahommedan ashamed. I have seen gangs of men traversing the streets 1831-32] THE STORY OF MY LIFE. 109 and singing songs in ridicule of the cholera, and have seen caricatures of it in the windows. August 29th, 1832. — To-day, in a valedictory editorial. Dr. Ryerson took leave of the readers of the Christian Guardian, having been its first editor for nearly three years. In that vale- dictory Dr. Ryerson said (p. 116): — I first appeared before the public as a writer, at the age of two and twenty years. My first feeble effort was a vindication of the Methodists, and several other Christian denominations against the uncalled-for attack made upon their principles and character. It also contained a remonstrance against the intro- duction into this country of an endowed political Church, as alike opposed to the statute law of the Province, political and religious expedience, public rights and liberties. I believe this was the first article of the kind ever published in Upper Canada, and, while from that time to this a powerful combination of talent, learning, indignation, and interest has been arrayed in the vain attempt to support by the weapons of reason. Scripture, and argument, a union between the Church and the world — between earth and heaven ; talents, truth, reason, and justice have alike been arrayed in the defence of insulted and infringed rights, and the maintenance of a system of public, religious, and educational instruction, accordant with public rights and interests, the principles of sound policy, the economy of Provi- dence, and the institutions and usages of the New Testament. Dr. Ryerson also published in this number of the Guardian the general outline of the arrangements proposed at Halloweli (Picton) on behalf of the Canada Conference to the English Conference, and designed to form the basis of articles for the proposed union between the two bodies. Rev. Robert Alder was present at the Conference, and was a consenting party to the basis of union. December 7th, 1832. — The prospects of Union with the British Conference were not encouragmg in various parts of the Connexion, and chiefly for the reasons mentioned by Rev. George Ryerson in his letters from England (see pp. 107, 8). Rev. John Ryerson, writing to Dr. Ryerson from Cobourg, also says : — The subject of the Union appears to be less and less palatable to our friends in these parts, so much so, that I think it will not be safe for you to come to any permanent arrangements with the British Conference, even should they accede to our proposals. I am of the opinion that, except we give ourselves entirely into their hands in some way or another, no Union will take place. I tell the preachers, and they and I tell the people, that, Union or no Union, it is very important that you should go home ; that you will endeavour, in every way you can, to convince the British Conference of the manifest injustice and wickedness of sending missionaries to this country. 110 THE STOBY OF MY LIFE. [Chap. IX. November 21st, 1832. — The proposed union with the British Conference excited a good deal of discussion at this time in vari- ous parts of Upper Canada. Dr. Ryerson, therefore, addressed a note on the subject to Rev. Robert Alder, the Enghsh Con- ference representative. I make a few extracts : — At the Hallowell Conference (1832) the question of the union was principally sustained by my brothers, and was concurred in by the vote of a large majority of the Conference. . . . But in some parts of the country, where Presidential visits have been made, certain local preachers have found out that the Societies ought to have been consulted ; that they have been sold (" by the Ryersons,") without consent ; that no Canadian will hence- forth be admitted into the Conference ; that our whole economy will be changed by arbitrary power, and all revivals of religion will be stopped, etc. The first of the objections is the most popular, but they have all failed to produce the intended effect, to an extent desired by the disaffected few. The object con- templated is, to produce an excitement that will prevent me going to England, and induce the Conference to retrace its steps. The merit or demerit of the measure has been mainly ascribed to me ; and on its result, should I cross the Atlantic, my standing, in a great measure, depends. If our proposals should meet with a conciliatory reception, and your Committee would recommend measures, rather than require concessions, in the future proceedings of our Conference, everything can be accomplished without difficulty or embarrassment. You know that 1 am willing, as an individual, to adopt your whole British economy, ex aniTno. You also know that my brothers aie of the same mind, and that a majority of the Conference will readily concur. May the Lord direct aright! Dr. Alder's reply to Dr. Ryerson in February, 1833, was that : You must look at the great principles and results involved in this most important aifair, and not shfink from the duties imposed on you, to avoid a lew present unpleasant consequences. It is not for me to prescribe rules of conduct to be observed by you, but I must say, that I am surprised that any circumstance should cause you to waver for a moment in reference to your visit to Europe. If you were to decline coming, would not the many on the other side, who are strictly watching your movements, at once say that the whole arrangements are deceptive, and merely designed to make an impres- sion on me lor a certain purpose. You know they would. Of course you will act as you please. I neither advise nor persuade, but say : Be not too soon nor too much alarmed. There are no jealousies, no evil surmisings, no ambitious designs in the matter, but a sincere desire to promote the interests of Methodism and the cause of religion in Upper Canada ; and nothing will be desired from, or recommended to, you, but for this purpose. It is 8 noble object that we have in view. Kev. Richard Watson takes a statesmanlike view of the whole case, and will, I am persuaded, as will all concerned here, meet you with the utmost ingenuousness and liberality, and, if they be met in a similar manner, all will end welL If you can agree to 831-32] THE STORY OF MY LIFE. Ill the following recommendation, I thin^ everything else will easily be settled, viz., to constitute two or three districts, to meet annually, as District Conferences, and to hold a Triennial Conference, to be composed of all the preachers in the Provinces, under a President, to be appointed in the way mentioned in the plan of agreement proposed by your last Conference. Several of your preachers wish it; Bro. Green, the presiding Eider, is in favour of it. January 10th, 1883. — It being necessary to collect funds to defray Dr. Ryerson's expenses to England, his brother, William, wrote to him from Brockville at this date, giving an account of his success there as a collector. He said : — After the holidays I commenced operations, and having besieged the doors of several of our gentry, most of whom contributed without much resistance, on most honourable terms, of course, such as paying from $3 to $6, with a great many wishes, and hearty ones too, for your success. More than two- thirds of the sum collected are given by the gentlemen of the village, most of whom expressed and appeared to feel a pleasure in giving, and who have never been Known to give anytiiing to the Methodists before on any occasion whatever. Our congregation has greatly increased, so that we now have about five hundred, some say more, in the evening. A majority of the first families in the village attend our chapel. Among many others, Mr. Jonas Jones, and several of the families in the same connection ; Mr. Sherwood, the High Sheriff, and several others, most of whom have never been known to attend a Methodist meeting before. You will be surprised to hear that Mrs. James Sherwood has become my warm friend, treating me with the greatest attention and kindness ; and also on various occasions speaking most kindly and respectfully of me and all our family, especially yoursell. January ^Ist, 1833. — Under this date, Dr. Ryerson has recorded in his diary the following tribute to his first wife : — A year ago this morning, at half-past five o'clock, the wife of my youth fell asleep in Jesus, leaving a son and daughter (John and Lucilla Hannah), the former two years and a half old, and the latter fourteen days. Hannah Aikman (her maiden name) was the daughter of John and Hannah Aikman, and was the youngest of eleven children. Hannah was born in Barton, Gore District, on the 4th of August, 1804. Her natural disposition was most amiable, and her education was better than is usually afforded to farmer's daughters in this country. At the age of sixteen she was awakened, converted, and joined the Methodist Church, of which she remained an exemplary member until her death. I became intimately acquainted with her in 1824, when she was twenty years of age, and after taking the advice of an elder brother, who had travelled the circuit on which they lived, at the strong solicitation of my parents, and the impulse of my own inclinations, I made her proposals of marriage, which were accepted. This was before I had any intention of becoming a preacher in the Methodist Church, either travelling or local. About this time the Lord laid his aflflicting hand upon me;* I was brought to the gate of death, and in that state became convinced by evidence as satis- factory as that of my existence, that in disregarding the dictates of my own conscience, and the important advice of many members of the Church, botl7 * See note on page 86 and page 28. 112 THE STORY OF MY LIFE. [Chap. IX. preachers and lay, in regard to labouring in the itinerant field, I had resisted the Spirit of God ; and on that sick, and in the estimation of my family, dying bed, I vowed to the Lord my God, that if He should see fit to raise me up and open the way, I would no more disobey the voice of His Providence and servants. From that hour I began visibly to recover, and, though the exercises of my mind were unknown to any but myself and the Searcher of hearts, before I had sufiiciently recovered to walk two miles, I was called upon by the Presiding Elder, and several official members, and solicited to go on the Niagara Circuit, which was then partly destitute through the failure in health of one of the preachers. I could not but view this unexpected call as the voice of God, and, after a few days' deliberation and preparation, I obeyed, on the 24th of March, 1825, the day on which I was twenty-two years of age. This unanticipated change in the course of my life, while it involved the sacrifice of pecuniary interests and some very flattering offers and promises, presented my contemplated marriage in a somewhat different light ; though the possibility of such a change was mentioned as a condition in my pro- posals and our engagement. And I will here record it to the honour of the dead that she who afterwards became my wife, wrote to me a short time after 1 commenced travelling, that if a union between us was in any respect opposed to my views of duty, or if I thought it would militate against my usefulness, I was perfectly exonerated by her from all obligations to such a union; that, whatever her own feelings might be, she begged that they would not influence me, — that God would give her grace to subdue them, — that she shuddered at the thought of standing in the way of my duty and usefulness. Knowing, as I did, that her fondness for me was extravagant, I could not wound the heart which was the seat of such elevated feelings, or help appre- ciating more highly than ever the principles of mind which could give rise to such noble sentiments, and such martyr-like disinterestedness of soul. In subsequent interviews, we mutually agreed — should Providence permit — and (at her suggestion) should neither of us change our minds, we would get married in three or four years. During this interval, I had at times agita- tions of mind as to the advantages of such a step, in regard to my ministerial labours, but determined to rely on the Divine promise, " Blessed is the man that sweareth to his own hurt, and changeth not." This promise has been abundantly fulfilled in me. We were maiTied on the 10th of September, 1828. A more affectionate and prudent wife never lived. She was beloved and respected by all that knew her. I never saw her angry, nor do I recollect that an angry or unkind word ever passed between us. Her disposition was sweet, her spirit uniformly kind and cheerful, sociable, and meek. Her professions were never high, nor her joys rapturous. But in everything she was invariably faithful, and ready for every good word and work. In her confidence, peace, and conduct, as far as I could discover, without intermis- sion, the poet's words were clearly illustrated : — *' Her soul was ever bright as noon, and calm as summer evenings be." Though her piety for years excited my respect, and in many instances my admiration, it was nevertheless greatly quickened and deepened about six months before her death, during the Conference held at York. From that time I believe she enjoyed the perfect love of God. At least, as far as I can judge, the fruits of it were manifest in her whole life. Several days previous to her death, when her illness assumed .a mortal aspect, and she became sensible that her earthly pilgrimage was closing, her usual unruffled confidence rose to the riches of the full assurance of under- standing, faith and hope, and she expressed herself with a boldness of language, a rapture of hope, and triumph of faith that I never before 1831-32] THE STOBY OF MY LIFE. 113 witnessed. Passages of Scripture, and verses of hymns, expressive of the dying Christian's victories, triumphs, and hopes, were repeated by her with a joy and energetic fervency that deeply affected all present. Her death-bed conversations and dying counsels were a rich repast and a valuable lesson of instruction to many of her Christian friends. The night before she took her departure, she called me to her and consulted me about disposing of the family and all her own things, with as much coolness and judgment as if she had been in perfect health, and was about leaving home on a few days' visit to her friends. A little beiore midnight she requested the babe to be brought to her — kissed it — blessed it, and returned it. She then called for the little boy (John), and, embracing and kissing him, bequeathed to him also the legacy of a pious mother's dying prayer and blessing. Afterwards she embraced me, and said, " My dear Egerton, preach the Word ; be instant in season and out of season, and God will take care of you, and give you the victory " She then bid an affectionate farewell individually to all. She continued in the perfect possession of her reason, triumphing in the Rock of her salvation, until the messenger arrived and her spirit took its departure with the words, " Come, Lord Jesus," lingering upon her lips. Thus lived and died one of the excellent of the earth, — a woman of good, plain sense, a guileless heart, and a sanctified spirit and life. Such is the testimony respecting her, of one who knew her best. In his deep sorrow and affliction, at that time, Dr. Ryerson received many sympathizing letters. I give an extract of one from his brother George, dated London, Eng., 29th March, 1832. He says : — I deeply sympathize with you in your affliction. I know how to feel for-,- you, and you as yet know but a very small part of your trials. Years will not heal the wound. I am, even now, often quite overwhelmed when I allow myself to dwell upon the past. I need not suggest to you the common- place topics of comfort and resignation, but I have no doubt you will see the hand of God so manifestly m it, that you will say "It was well done." I will further add that the saying of St. Paul was at no time so appEcable as at the present (1 Cor. vii. 29, etc.). The years 1830-1832 were noted in the history of the Methodist Church in Upper Canada for two things : 1st. The establishment of the Upper Canada Academy — the radiating centre of intellectual life in the Connexion. 2nd. The erection of the Adelaide St. Chapel, which for many years was the seat and source of Church life in the Societies. At the Conference of 1830 it was agreed to establish the Upper Canada Academy. In the Guardian of the 23rd of April, 1831, Dr. Ryerson gave an account of the new institution and made a strong appeal in its favour. On the 7th June, 1832, the foundation stone of the Academy was laid at Cobourg. On the 16th June, 1833, the new brick church on Newgate (Adelaide) St. was opened for Divine Service. In the Guardian of June 19th, Dr. Ryer- son says : " For its size — being 75 by 55 feet — it is judged to be inferior to very few Methodist Chapels in America." P. 126. 8 CHAPTER X. 1833. Union between the Beitish and Canadian Conferences I UNDERTOOK the mission to England to negotiate a Union between the British and Canadian Conferences with great reluctance. I determined in the course of the year, from various circumstances, to abandon it ; but was persuaded by letters from Rev. Robert Alder, the London Missionary Secre- tary (one of which is given on page 110), and the advice of my brother John, to resume it The account of my voyage and proceedinii^s in England are given in the following extracts from my journals : — March 4th, 1833. — This morning at 6 a.m. I left York via Cobourg, King- ston, and New York, on my first important mission to England, an under- taking for which I feel myself utti-rly incompetent ; and in prosecution of which I rely wholly on the guidance of heavenly wisdom, imploring the special blessing of the Most High. Kingston, March llth. — I find that considerable excitement, and in some instances, strong dissatisfaction, exists on the question of Union, by misrepre- sentation of the proceedings and intentions of our Conference respecting it. FuU explanations have in every instance restored confidence, and acquies- cence. A correction of these misrepresentations, and the reply of the Wesleyan Missionary Committee to the proposals of our Conference have given universal satisfaction, and elicited a general and strong desire for the accomplishment of this all-important measure. My interviews with my brothers (William and John) have been interesting and profitable to me. Watertoion, N.Y., March 12. — Came from Kingston here to-day, twenty- eight miles. This Black Eiver country is very level, and appears to be fertile, but the people generally do not seem to be thriving. Utica, March 12th. — This is a flourishing town of about 10,000 inhabitants, beautifully situated on the south side of the Mohawk river. I travelled through a settlement and village called Renson, consisting principally of Welsh, where the Welsh language is universally spoken ; there is a Whitefield Methodist chapel, but I was told they retained more of the name, than of the genuine spirit of their founder. " Because of swearing the land mourn eth." Hartford, March 16th. — The southern part of Massachusetts and the northern part of this State, are mountainous and rocky and barren. The inhabitants are supported by manufactures, grazing and dairies. They appear to be rather poor but intelligent. In my conversation to-day with a professed infidel I felt sensibly the importance of being skilled in wielding any weapon with which theology, history, science, so abundantly furnishes the believer in the Christian revelation; and never before did I see and feel 18331 THE STORY OF MY LIFE. 115 the lofty superiority of the foundation on which natural and revealed truth id established, over the cob-web and ill-shaped edifice of infidelity. Harlfordj March llth. — I have attended service three times to-day, and preached twice. Keligion seems to be at a low ebb. Yet I have not heard religion spoken of, or any body of religious people referred to, in any other way than that of re>'pect. New York, March 20 What will be the result of your remarks in the Guardian on Political Parties in England, I cannot say. They will occasion much speculation, some jealousy, and bad feeling. I have sometimes thought you had better not have v/ritten them, particularly at this time, yet I have long been of the opinion (both with regard to measures and men) that we leaned too much towards Radicalism, and that it would be absolutely necessary to disengage ourselves from, them entirely. You can see plainly that it is not Reform, but Revolution they are after. We should fare sumptuously, should we not, with W. L. Mackenzie, of Toronto, and Radcliffe, of Cobovirg, for our rulers! I have also felt very unpleasant in noticing the endeavours of these men (aided by some of our members) to introduce their republican leaven into our Ecclesiastical polity. Is it not a little remarkable that not one of our mem- bers, who have entered into their politics, but has become a furious leveller in matters of Church Government, and these very men are the most regard- less of our reputation, and the most ready to impugn our motives, and defame our character, when we, in any way, cros3 their path. There are some things in your remarks I don't like; but, on the whole, I am glad of their appearance, and I hope, whenever you have occasion to speak of the Government, you will do it in terms of respect. I am anxious that we should obtain the con- fidence of the Government, and entirely disconnect ourselves from that tribe of levellers, with whom we have been too intimate, and who are, at any time, ready to turn around and sell us when we fail to please them. Nov. 20th. — In another letter to Dr. Ryerson from his brother John, at this date, he says : — 1833-34] THE STOEY OF MY LIFE. 129 I deeply feel for you in the present state of agitation and trial. My own heart aches and sickens within me at times ; I have no donbt, however much of a philosopher you may be, that you at times participate in the same feelings ; but, pursuing a conscientious course, I hope you will at times be able to say : ** Courage, my soul ! thou need'st not fear, Thy great Provider still is near." The following sympathetic letter from Dr. Ryerson's friend, Mr. E. C. Griffin, of Waterdown, written at the same time, gives another proof of the unreasoning prejudice of those whose knowledge of the outer world was circumscribed and superficial In England, Dr. Ryerson saw things as they were. He was, therefore, not prepared for the burst of wrath that followed the plain recital of his " impressions" of men and things in England. Mr. Griffin writes : — The respect I have for you and yours should at all times deter me from bearing evil tidings, yet the same consideration would make it a duty under peculiar circumstances. You have already learned that the public mind has been much agitated in consequence of your remarks in the Guardian on Mr. Joseph Hume, M.P., and Mr. Thomas Attwood, M.P. (see page 123). On this Circuit it is truly alarming — some of our most respectable Methodists are threatening to leave the Church, The general impression has obtained (how- ever unjustly) that you have "turned downright Tory," which, in this country, whether moderate or ultra, seems to have but one meaning among the bulk of Reformers, and that is, as being an enemy to all reform and the correction of acknowledged abuses. This general impression among the. people has created a ferverisli discontent among the Methodists. The excite- ment is so high that your subsequent explanation has seemed to be without, its desired effect. 1 should be glad if you would state distinctly in the Guardi&m, what you meant in your correspondence with the Colonial Secretary, when you said you had no desire to interfere with the present emoluments of the Church clergy (or words to that effect); and also of the term " equal protec- tion to the different denominations." You are, doubtless, aware of thfr use made of these expressions by some of the journals, and, I am sorry to. say, with too much effect. These remarks, ta^en in connection with those against Mr, Hume, is the pivot on which everything is turned against you, against, the Guardian, and against the Methodists. A few days later Dt. Ryerson received another letter from Mr. Griffin, in which he truthfully says : — Perhaps there have not been many instances in which sophistry has been applied more effectually to injure an individual, or a body of Christians, as in the present instance. Whigs, tories, and radicals have all united to crush, I may say at a blow, the Methodists, and none have tried to do so more effectually than Mr. W. L. Mackenzie. He persisted in it so as to make his friends generally believe that the cause of reform was ruined by you. His abuse of you and your friends, and the Methodists, is more than I can stand. He has certainly manifested a great want of discernment, or he has acted from design. I see that the Hamilton Free Press has callect in the aid of Mr. F. Collins, of the Canadian Freeman, to assist in abusing you and your whole family. From Augusta, Rev. Anson Green wrote about the same time, and in a similar strain, but not so sympathetically. He says : — 9 130 THE STORY OF MY LIFE. [Chap. XI. I fear your impressions are bad ones. Our people are all in an uproar al)out them. Nov, 22nd. — Kev. William Ryerson writing from Kingston "at this time, reports the state of feeling there. He sa^^s : — As to the Guardian^ I am sorry to inform you that it is becoming less popular than formerly. If your English " impressions " are not more acceptable and useful in other parts than they are here, it will add little to your credit, or to the usefulness of your paper to publish any more of them. I know that you have been shamefully abused, and treated in a most base manner, and by no one so much so as by Mr. Radcliffe of the Cobourg Reformer. I hope you will expose the statements and figures of the Reformer to our friends. It is rather unfortunate that if you did intend, as is said, to conciliate the Tory party in this country, you should have expressed yourself in such a way as to be so much misunderstood. Nov. 23rcZ. — Rev. Alvah A. Adams, writing from Prescott, says : — There are a few disturbances in our Zion. Some are bent on making mischief. You need not be surprised that the Grenville Gazette speaks so contemptuously of you and the cause in which you have been, and are still, engaged. There are reasons why you need not marvel at the great torrent of scurrilous invectives with which his useless columns have of late abounded. Nov. 23rd — Although not so intended by Dr. Ryerson, yet the publication of his " impressions," had the effect of developing the plans of Mr. W. L. Mackenzie, and those who acted with him, much more rapidly and fully than they could have anticipated. In the second supplement to his Golomal Advocate, published November 23rd, Mr. Mackenzie used this unmistakeable language : — The local authorities have no m.eans to protect themselves against an injured people, if they persist in their unconstitutional career There are not military enough to uphold a bad government for an hour, if the Rubicon has been passed; and well does Sir John Colborne know that although he may hire regiments of priests here, he may expect no more red- coats from Europe in those days of economy He also knows that if we are to take examples from the Mother Country, the arbitrary \ ro- ceedings of the officers of his government are such as would warrant the pt ople to an open and armed resistance. Dec. 6th. — Dr. Ryerson having received a protest from five of his ministerial brethren in the Niagara District,* against his * Rev. Messrs. David Wright, James Evans, William Griffis, jun,, Henry Wilkinson and Edwy Ryerson. The protest was as follows: "We, the undersigned ministers of the W. M. Church, desirous to avert the evils which may probably result to our Zion from "impressions" made by certain political remarks in the editorial department of the Guardian, take this opportunity of expressing our sentiments for your satisfaction, and to save our characters from aspersion. First. "We have considered, and are still of the same opinion, that the clergy of the Episcopal Church ought to be deprived of every emolument derived from Govern- mental aid, and what are called the Clergy Reserves, Secondly. That our political views are decidedly the same which they were previous to the visit of the editor of the Guardian to England, and we believe that the views of our brethren in the ministry are unchanged. 1833-34] 'THE STCRY OF MY LIFE. 131 "impressions" he wrote a remonstrance to each of them, but this did not appease them. Rev. David Wright said : — As an individual I am not at all satisfied either with the course you have taken or the explanation given. Could you witness the confused state of our Church on Stamford Circuit ; the insults we receive, both from many of our members and others of good standing, you would at once see the propriety of the steps we have taken for our defence. Hardly a tea-party or meeting of any kind, but the Guardian is the topic of conversation, and the conversion of its editor and all the preachers to Toryism. The Ranters and the Ryanites are very busy, and are doing us much harm. I am more and more convinced of the imprudence of the course you have taken, especially at this trying time in our Church. In Queenston, Drummondville, Chippewa, Erie, St. Davids, the Lane, and Lyons' Creek the preachers are hooted at as they ride by. This is rafeiier trying, I assure you. Rev. James Evans said : — You request me not to solicit any to continue the Guardian who are dis- satisfied, and who wish to discontinue. This is worse than all beside. And do you suppose that, in opposition to the wish of the Conference, and interest of the Church, I shall pay attention to your request ? No, my brother, I cannot; I will not. It shall be my endeavour to obtain and continue sub- scribers by allaying as far as practicable, their fears, rather than by telling them that they may discontinue and you will abide the consequences. I am astonished 1 I can only account for your strange and, I am sure, un-Ryer- sonian conduct and advice on one principle — that there is something ahead which you, through your superior political spyglass, have discovered and thus shape your course, while we land-lubbers, short-sighted as we are, have not even heard of it. Dr. Ryerson, therefore, challenged these five ministers to proceed against him as provided by the Discipline of the Church. In his reply to them, he lays down some important principles in regard to the rights of an editor, and the duty of his ministerial accusers. He said : — I beg to say that I cannot publish the criminating declaration of which you speak. You will therefore act your pleasure in publishing it elsewhere. The charges against me are either true or false. If they are true, are you proceeding in the disciplinary way against me? Though I am editor for the Conference, yet 1 have individual rights as well as you ; and the increased responsibility of my situation should, under those rights, if possible, be still more sacred. And if our Conference will place a watchman upon the wall of our Zion, and then allow its members to plunge their swords into him whenever they think he has departed from his duty, without even giving him a court-martial trial, then they are a different description of men from what I think they are. If, as you say, I have been guilty of imprudent conduct, or even "misrepresented my brethren," make your complaint to my Presiding Elder, accord- ing to discipline, and then may the decision of the Committee be published in the Gimrdian, or anywhere else that they may 132 THE STORY OF MY LIFE. [Chap. XI. say. So much for the disciplinary course. Again, if "the clamour," as you call it, against the Guardian be well founded, are you helping the Guardian by corroborating the statement of that clamour? Can Brother James Evans consistently or conscientiously ask an individual to take, or continue to take the Guardian, when he or you publish to the world the belief that its principles are changed? Will this quiet the "clamour?" Will this reconcile the members? Will this unite the preachers? Will this promote the harmony of the Church ? Will it not be a fire-brand rather than the " seeds of commotion ? " One or two others here got a meeting of the male members of the York Society, and proposed resolutions similar in substance to yours, which were opposed and reprobated by brother Richardson, on the very disciplinary and prudential ground of which I speak, and rejected by the Society. In your declaration you say (not on account of "clamour," or accusations of editors or others, but on account of editorial remarks in the Guardian), "you express your sentiments to save your character from aspersion " In this you imply that the editor of the Guardian has misrepre- sented your sentiments, and aspersed your character ; and, if so, has he not changed his principles ? And, if he has changed his principles, is he not guilty of falsehood, since he has positively declared to the reverse ? You therefore virtually charge him with inconsistency, misrepresentation, and deliberate falsehood. Is this the fruit of brotherly love ? Again, you say that " our political sentiments are the same as before the visit of the editor of the Guardian to England." Is not this equal to asserting that the editor's sentiments are not the same ? You therefore say that you love me ; that you desire the peace of the Church, and the interests of the Guardian, yet you propose a course which will confirm the slanders of my enemies — to implicate me with inconsistency and falsehood — to injure the Guardian, and deprive yourselves of the power, as men of honour and truth, to recommend it — to kindle and sanction dissatisfaction among our Church members — to arm preacher against preacher — and to criminate a brother before the public, without a disciplinary trial. You say " our friends are looking out for it." Is this the way, my brother, that you have quieted their minds, by telling them that you also were going to criminate the editor ? If this be so, I am not surprised that there is dissatisfaction on your circuit. Brother Evans said that nothing but a denial of having changed my opinions, and an explicit statement of them, would satisfy our friends. I did so, and did so plainly and conscientiously. Yet you do not even allude to this expression of my sentiments, but still insist upon doing what is far more than taking my life — stabbing my 1833-341 THE STORY OF MY LIFE. 133 principles and integrity. I ask if this is my reward for endangering my life and enduring unparalleled labours, to save the Societies heretofore from being rent to the very centre, and enduring ceaseless storms of slander and persecution for years past in defending the abused character of my brethren ? Are they the first to lift up their heel aginst me? Will they join in the hue and cry against me, rather than endure a " hoot," when I am unjustly treated and basely slandered ? I hope I have not fallen into such hands. Dr. Ryersou received at this time a candid and kindly characteristic letter from his youngest brother, Edwy, at Stam- ford, which indicated that a reaction was taking place in regard to the much discussed " impressions." He says : — The present agitated state of the Societies, partly from the Union, and, in a greater degree, from your "impressions" (which would have been a blessing to our Societies, had they never been published) make it very unpleasant to ask even lor subscriptions to the Guardian. We are here in a state of com- motion ; politics run high, and religion low. " The Guardian has turned Tory," is the hue and cry, and many appear to be under greater concern about it, than they ever were about the salvation of their souls. Many again, have got wonderfully wise, and pretend to reveal (as a friend, but in reality as an enemy) the secrets of your policy. Under these unpleasant circum- stances, the Ranters have availed themselves of the opportunity of planting themselves at nearly all our posts, and sowing tares in our Societies. You have received a protest, signed by several preachers, and my name among them. Those were my impressions at the time. Therefore I thought it my duty, in connection with my brethren, to make my protest. I have, however (since seeing the Guardian)yheen led to believe you had not changed from what you were. Many of the preachers are rejoiced that you were put in the editorial chair, and feel strongly disposed to exert their influence that you may not be displaced. Dec. 2nd. — On this day Dr. Ryerson received a kind word of encouragement from Mr. Alex. Davidson, a literary friend in Port Hope, afterwards of Niagara. He said : — I have had an opportunity of seeing most of the provincial papers. They exhibit a miserable picture of the state of the press. The conduct of the editors ought, I thmk, to be exposed. I have been afraid that from such unmerited abuse, you would quit the Guardian in disgust, and I am glad to see that, though your mind may be as sensitive as that of any other person, you remain firm. Another indication of the reaction in regard to the " impres- sions" is mentioned in a note received from Rev. Ephraim Evans, Trafalgar. He says : — Mr. Thos. Cartwright, of Streetsville, who had given up the Guardian, has ordered it to be sent to him again so that he may not seem to countenance the clamour that has been raised against you. Mr. Evans adds : " I am happy to find that the agitation produced by the unwarrantable conduct of the press generally, is rapidlv subsiding ; and, I trust, nay, am certain, that the late avowal of your sentiments, will be perfectly satisfactory to every sensible and ingenuous mind. I am, upon the whole, led to believe that Methodism will weather out this storm also, and lose not a spar." 134 THE STORY OF MY LIFE. [Chap. XI. Dec. 6th. — Among the many letters of sympathy received by Dr. Eyerson at this time, was one from his Father, in which he says : — I perceive by the papers that you have met with tempestuous weather. I devoutly hope that the Great Pilot will conduct you saiely through the rocks and quicksands on either side. Jan. 6th, 1834. — In a letter from Rev. Anson Green, at Augusta, it was apparent that the tide of popular opinion against Dr. Ryerson had turned. He said : — I have been very much pleased indeed with the Guardian during the last few months. There is a very great improvement in it. In this opinion I am not alone. Your remarks on the Clergy Keserve question were very timely and highly satisfactory. A number of our brethren have wished me to express to you the pleasure they feel in the course which you have pursued as editor. There has been very great prejudice against you in these parts,amoiig preachers and people, but I think they are dying out and will, I trust, shortly entirely disappear. I hope we shall soon see " eye to eye." March 5th. — In the Guardian of this day, Dr. Ryerson intimated that : — Among many schemes resorted to by the abbettors of Mr. Mackenzie to injure me, was the circulation of all kinds of rumours against my character and standing as a minister. For proof, it was represented that I was denied access to the Wesleyan pulpit in this town. When these statements were made early in the year, the stewards and leaders of the York Society met on the 11th of last January, and passed a resolution to the effect That being anxious, lest, under exciting circumstances, you might be tempted to withhold your ministrations from the York congregation, they desire their Secretary to inform you that it is their wish, and they believe it a duty you owe to the Church of Christ, to favour it with your views on Hiiv unsearchable riches as often as an opportunity may present itself. As these rumours have now been revived, I published this resolution in the Guardian of to-day. The capital offence charged against Dr. Ryerson in publishing his " impressions " was his exposure of Joseph Hume, M.P., the friend and patron of Mr. Mackenzie. (See pages 118 and 123.) In the Guardian of December 11th, Dr. Ryerson fully met that charge. Among other things he pointed out: — 1st. That, having voted for a Church establishment in India, Mr. Hume was the last man who should have been entrusted with petitions from Upper Canada, against a Church establish- ment in Upper Canada. 2nd. That Methodists emigrating to this country, when they learn that Mr. Hume is regarded as a sort of representative of the principles of the Methodists in Upper Canada, immediately imbibe strong prejudices against them, refusing to unite with them, and even strongly opposing them, 1333-34] THE UTOBY OF MY LUE. 185 saying that such Methodists are Radicals — a term which, in England, conveys precisely the same idea that the term Republican does in this Province. Thus the prejudices which exist between a portion of the Canadian and British Methodists here, are heightened, and the breach widened. 3rd. That even adherents of the Church of England here who were Reformers in England join the ranks of those opposed to us when they know that Mr. Hume is a chosen representative of our views in England ; for the personal animosity between the Whigs and Reformers and Radicals in England is more bitter, if possible, than between the Radicals and Tories, and far more rancorous than between the Whigs and Tories. There is just as much difference between an English Reformer and an avowed Eng- lish Radical as there is between a Canadian Reformer and an avowed Canadian Republican. In the interests of the Method- ists, therefore, religiously and politically, the allusion to Mr. Hume was justifiable and necessary. Dr. Ryerson continues: — I may mention that so strongly impressed was I with these views, that in an interview which I had with Mr. Secretary Stanley, a few days before the Clergy Reserve petitions were presented by Mr. Hume, I remarked that the people of Upper Canada, not being acquainted with public men in England, had sent them to the care of a gentleman of influence in the financial affairs of Great Britain, but that I was apprehensive that he was not the best qualified to advocate a purely legal and religious question. Mr. Secretary Stanley smilingly interrupted rue by asking " Is it Hume ? " 1 replied, " It is, but I hope this circumstance will not have the least influence upon your mind, Mr. Secretary Stanley, in giving the subject that important and full consideration which its great importance demands." Mr. Stanley replied : " No, Mr. Ryerson, be assured that the subject will not be in the least prejudiced in my mind by any circum- stance of that kind ; but I shall give it the most important and grave consideration " May 2Uh. — Within three months after Dr. Ryerson had stated these facts in regard to Mr. Hume, overwhelming evidence of the correctness of his statement that Mr. Hume was^ ujifit to act as a representative, in the British Parliament, of the* people of Upper Canada, was given by Mr. Hume himself in a letter addressed to Mr. W. L. Mackenzie, dated 29th March, 1834. In that letter Mr. Hume stated that Mr. Mackenzie's Election to, and subsequent ejection from the Legislature, must hasten that crisis which is fast approaching in the affairs of the Canadas, and which will terminate in independence and freedom from the baneful domination of Uie mother country. 136 THE STORY OF MY LIFE, [Chap. XI He also advised that The proceedings between 1772 and 1782 in America ought not to be forgotten ; and to the honour of the Americans, for the interests of the civilized world, let their conduct and the result be ever in view. Dr. K-yerson added : There is no mistaking the revolutionary and treasonable character of this advice given to Canadians through Mr. W. L. Mackenzie. Yet I have been denounced for exposing the designs of such revolutionary advisers ! The following is an extract from Mr. W. L. Mackenzie's remarks in the Colonial Advocate on Mr. Hume's letter : — The indignant feeling of the honest old Reformer (Hume), when he became acquainted with the heartless slanders of the unprincipled in grate Ryerson, may be easily conceived from the tone of his letter Mr. Mackenzie will be prepared to hand the original letter to the Methodist Conference. June Uh. — In the Guardian of this date, Dr. Ej^erson replied at length to Mr. Hume's letter, pointing out how utterly and totally false were Mr. Hume's statements in regard to himself. He, in June, 1832, expressed his opinion of Mr. Hume^ (pages 118 and 123). He then said: — That was my opinion of Mr. Hume, even before I advocated the Clergy Keserve petition in England, — such it was after I conversed with him personally, and witnessed his proceedings, — such it is now, — and such must be the opinion of every British subject, after reading Mr. Hume's revolutionary letter, in which he rejoices in the approach of a crisis in the affairs of the Canadas, " which will terminate in independence and freedom from the baneful domination of the mother country! ** I stated to Mr. Mackenzie more than once, when he called upon me in London, that I could not associate myself with his political measures. But notwithstanding all my caution, I, in fact, got into bad company, for which 1 have now paid a pretty fair price. ... I cannot but regard it as a blessing and happiness to the Methodist connexion at large, that they also, by the admission of all parties, stand so completely distinct from Messrs. Hume and Mackenzie, as to be involved in no responsi- bility and disgrace, by this premature announcement of their revolutionary purposes. Oct. 2oth. — As to the final result of the agitation in regard to the " Impressions," Rev. John Ryerson, writing from Hallo- well (Picton), at this date, says : — The work of schism has been pretty extensive in some parts of this District. There have as the result of it left, or have been expelled, on the Waterloo Circuit, 150 ; on the Bay of Quinte, 40; in Belleville, 47; Sidney, '50; Cobourg, 32; making in all 320. There have been received on these circuits since Conference 170, which leaves a balance against us of 150. 1833-34] THE STORY OF MY LIFE. 137 Remarks on the Result of the "Impressions." The result (on the membership of the Societies) of this politico-religious agitation was more or less the same in other parts of the Connexion. The publication of the " impressions " was (to those who had for years been in a state of chronic war with the powers that be) like the falling of the thunderbolt of Jove out of a cloudless sky. It unexpectedly precipitated a crisis in provincial affairs. It brought men face to face with a new issue. An issue too which they had not thought of ; or, if it had presented itself to their minds, was regarded as a remote, if possible, contingency. Their experience of the working of " British institutions " (as the parody on them in Upper Canada was called), had so excited their hostility and embittered their feelings, that when they at first heard Dr. Ryerson speak in terms of eulogy of the working of these institutions in the mother country, they could not, or would not, distinguish between such institutions in England and their professed counterpart in Upper Canada. Nor could they believe that the great champion of their cause, who in the past had exposed the pernicious and oppressive workings of the so- called British institutions in Upper Canada, was sincere in his exposition of the principles and the promulgation of doctrines in regard to men and things in Britain, which were now declared by Mr. W. L. Mackenzie to be heretical as well as entirely opposed to views and opinions which he (Dr. Ryerson) had hitherto held on these important questions. The novelty of the "impressions" themselves, and the bitterness with which they were at once assailed, confused the public mind and embarrassed many of Dr. Ryerson's friends. In these days of ocean telegraphy and almost daily inter- course by steam with Britain, we can scarcely realize how far separated Canada was from England fifty years ago. Besides this, the channels through which that intercourse was carried on were few, and often of a partizan character. " Downing Street [Colonial Office] influence," and " Downing Street interference with Canadian rights," were popular and favourite topics of declamation and appeal with the leaders of a large section of the community. Not that there did not exist, in many instances, serious grounds for the accusations against the Colonial Office ; but they, in most cases, arose in that office from ignorance rather than from design. However the causes of complaint were often greatly exaggerated, and very often designedly so by interested parties on both sides of the Atlantic. This, Dr. Ryerson soon discovered on his first visit to England, in 1833, and in his personal intercourse with the Colonial 138 TEE STORY OF MY LIFE. [Chap. XI. Secretaries and other public men in London. The manly generosity of his nature recoiled from being a party to the misrepresentation and injustice which was current in Canada, when he had satisfied himself of the true state of the case. He, therefore, on his return to the Province, gave the public the benefit of his observation and experience in England. ' In the light of to-day what he wrote appears fair and reason- able. It was the natural expression of pleased surprise that men and things in England were not so bad as had been repre- sented ; and that there was no just cause for either alarm or ill feeling. His comparisons of parties in England and in Canada were by extreme political leaders in Canada considered odious. Hence the storm of invective which his observations raised. He showed incidentally that the real enemies to Canada were not those who ruled at Downing Street, but those who set them- selves up — within the walls of Parliament in England and their prompters in Canada — as the exponents of the views and feelings of the Canadian people. The result of such a proceeding on Dr. Ryerson's part can easily be imagined. Mr. Hume in England, and Mr. W. L. Mackenzie in Canada, took the alarm. They very properly reasoned that if Dr. Ryerson's views prevailed, their occupation as agitators and fomenters of discontent would be gone. Hence the extraordinary vehemence which characterized their denunciations of the writer who had so clearly exposed (as he did more fully at a later period of the controversy), the dis- loyalty of their aims, and the revolutionary character of their schemes. ^ This assault on Dr. Ryerson was entirely disproportionate to the cause of offence. Were it not that the moral effect of what he wrote — more then what he actually said — was feared, because addressed to a people who had always listened to his words with deep attention and great respect, it is likely that his words would have passed unchallenged and unheeded. I have given more than usual prominence to this period of Dr. Ryerson's history — although he has left no record of it in the " Story " which he had written. But I have done so in justice to himself, and from the fact that it marked an im- portant epoch in his life and in the history of the Province. It was an event in which the native nobility of his character asserted itself. The generous impulse which moved him to defend Mr. Bid well, when maligned and misrepresented, and Sir Charles Metcalfe, whom he looked upon as unjustly treated and as a martyr, prompted him to do full justice to English insti- 1833-34] THE STORY OF MY LIFE. 139 tutions, and to parties and leaders there, even at the expense of his own preconceived notions on the subject. By doing so he refused to be gf those who would perpetuate an imposition upon the credulity of his countrymen, and especially of those who had trusted him and had looked up to him as a leader of men, and as an exponent of sound principles of government and public policy. And he refused the more when that, imposition was practised for the benefit of those in whom he had no confidence, and to the injury of those for whose welfare he had laboured for years. Dr. Ryerson preferred to risk the odium of interested partisans, rather than fail to tell his countrymen truly and frankly the real state of the case — who and what were the men and parties with whom they had to do in England — either as persons in official life, or as members of Parliament, or writers for the press. He felt it to be his duty to warn those who would heed his warning of the danger which they incurred in following the unchallenged leadership of men whose aim he felt to be revolution, and whose spirit was disloyalty itself, if not a thinly disguised treason. After the storm of reproach and calumny had passed away, there were thousands in Upper Canada who had reason to cherish with respect and love the name of one who, at a critical time, had so faithfully warned them of impending danger, and saved them from political and social ruin. Such gratitude was Dr. Ryerson's sole reward. It would be impossible, within the compass of this " Story," to include any details of the speeches, editorials, or other writings of Dr. Ryerson during the many years of contest for civil and religious rights in Upper Canada. The Guardian, the newspaper press (chiefly that opposed to Dr. Ryerson), and the records of the House of Assembly contain ample proof of the severity of the protracted struggle which finally issued in the establishment on a secure foundation of the religious and denominational privileges and freedom which we now enjoy. To the Presbyterians, Congregationalists, Baptists, etc., who joined heartily with the Methodist leaders in the prolonged struggle, the gratitude of the country must always be due. — J. G. H. March 7th. — In the midst of his perplexing duties as editor, and the storm of personal attack which his " impressions " had evoked, Dr. Ryerson received a letter from his Mother. It must have been to him like " good news from a far country." Full 140 THE STOBY OF MY LIFE. [Chap. XI. of love and gratitude to God, it would be to him like waters of refreshment to a weary soul. His Mother said : — With emotions of gratitude ,to God, I now write to you, to let you know that the state of my health is as good as usual. Surely the Lord is good, and doeth good, and His tender mercies are over me as a part of the work of His hands. I find that my affections are daily deadening to the things of earth, and my desires for any earthly good decreasing. I have an increase of my desire for holiness of heart, and conformity to all Ihe will of God. I can say with the poet, "Come life, come death, or come what will, His footsteps I will follow still." I long to say, "I live, yet not I, but Christ liveth in me." Besiege the throne of grace, dear Egerton, in my behalf. Pray that the Lord would finish his work, and cut it short in righteousness, and make my heart a fit temple for the Holy Ghost to dwell in. Oh, my son, be continually on your guard. You have need to believe firmly, to pray fervently, to work abundantly. Live a holy life, die daily; watch your heart; guide your senses ; redeem your time ; love Christ, and long for glory. Give my love to your wife, and to all whom who may enquire for me, and accept a share yourself, from your afiection- mother, Mehetabel Ryerson. Charlotteville, March 4th, 1834. After his return from England, Dr. Ryerson received a letter from Rev. Wm. Lord, dated Manchester, 25th March, 1834, in which he referred to an incident of Dr. Ryerson's visit to his house while in England. He says : — Your company, I am thankful to say, was very useful to several members of my family. The last time you prayed with us, an influence was received by one or two, the effects of which have remained to this day. I now allude more particularly to , who, more than twenty times since, has met me at the door, saying, " Have you a letter from Mr. Hyerson i '* , CHAPTER XII. 1834. Events following the Union. — Division and Strife. DR. RYERSON has left nothing in his " Story " to illustrate this period of his personal history, nor the strife and division which followed the consummation of the union of the British and Canadian Conferences. These untoward events are, however, fully described in the "Epochs of Canadian Methodism," pages 247-311 : They arose chiefly out of the differences which disturbed the British and Canadian Methodist Societies in Kingston and other places, and the separation in the Societies generally, caused by the establishment of the Methodist Episcopal Church in 1834. I have already given, in chapter xi., page 128, an extract of a letter to Dr. Ryerson, from his brother John, indicating the causes of strife between the British and Canadian Societies. I give the following letter, also from the same gentleman, written from Hallowell early in November, 1833, in which he said • — Brother William and I called on the Rev. Mr. Hetherington at Kingston. He said : — That there could be no union; that we were Radicals; that they would not be united with us ; that the District Meetings of Lower Canada, Halifax, etc., intended to make common cause with them; especially they intended to remonstrate against giving up York and Kingston. They also intended to appeal to the British Conference, and if they were not heard by it they would appeal to the British people. If the British Confer- ence will allow its members to throw firebrands, arrows, and death around in this way, and reciprocate their proceedings after this manner with im- punity, they are very different men from what I have taken them to be. I^ov. 20th. — In a subsequent letter to Dr. Ryerson, his brother John says : — I fear much for the Union from the English Missionary party. Should they, from any consideration, undertake to retain Kingston and York, our cause there will be ruined. In case of such an event, I will retire im- mediately, and bid farewell to the strife and toil in which we have been engaged ever since we have been travelling preachers. Let me know who have thrown up the Guardian. You will have seen the Cobourg Reformer's attacks. It is of much more importance for you to expose Mr. Radcliffe, the editor, than any one else, and point out that, in his present enmity to Methodist principles, this is not the fir!=it time he has endeavoured to break the Methodist ranks, and to sow the seeds of discord among her friends. 142 THE STORY OF MY LIFE. [Chap. XIL I would take good care not to lean a hairsbreadth towards radicalism. One reason of their making this onshinght is to scare you, and induce you to say something which will excite the jealousy of the Government, and the disapprobation of our British brethren,' and thereby destroy us with them as they seek to do with other parties. Nov. 22nd. — What is thus stated by his brother John was corroborated by his brother William, who was stationed at Kingston, and who, in a letter to Dr. Ryerson, said : — I need not say what my feelings were when I arrived at this place, and found that arrangements had been made by Mr. Marsden, in violation of the understanding with the Conference, and in defiance of the opinions anu wishes of every one of our friends in the town and country, whose feelings have not only been wounded aad giieved, but have rendered the prospects of a union in this place more than ever entirely hopeless. I have not been considered fit (probably for want of ability) to act as Superientendent of such an important station; I have no authority to receive or expel a member, or even to preside in a meeting of Stewards and Leaders; while my Superin- tendent is in Montreal or Quel)ec; whether or not he will so stoop as to visit us at all, we cannot say. Besides being shut out of the British Wesleyan Chapel, every possible means is being used to prevent a single individual of their Society from attending our Chapel; and my field of labour is not only greatly circumscribed, but the prospect of usefulness is nearly destroyed. What my feelings must be, under such circumstances, you can easily judge. I can only say that as soon as I can see a way opened, and can do so consi&t- ently, I will not labour as a travelling preacher one day longer. January Sth, 1834. — His brother John, in another letter to Dr. Ryerson from Hallo well, said : — Whoever may be the agents in making alterations in our economy, I will not be one. With " improvements," alterations, unions, and disunions, we have been agitated long enough. I am done with such business, hence- forth and forever. At our last Conference it was understood, and expressly stated that no alterations would hereafter be attempted; and so we have assured the people. But behold, before they receive that assurance, some alterations are mooted. Do away with the Presiding Elders, lessen the Districts, etc., and a dozen other things w^hich will necessarily follow. The reason urged for these changes is worse than the things them selves — namely: If we don't, the British Missionaries will write to the Superintendeirts and raise such a storm in England, etc., etc. If this is the way we are to be governed, and if this is the state of the Connexion at home, the Resolutions on Union, on parchment or paper, are a miserable farce. The more I think on this subject, the worse I like it. In a letter from Kingston to Dr. Ryerson on this subject, Rev. Joseph Stinson says : — I have done my utmost to promote the union of the two Societies in this town. If things are carried with too high a hand, we shall lose our Kingston Chapel and congregation altogether; and, should the Kingston people shut their Chapel against us, it will be impossible to keep things quiet in Lower Canada. I do not think it necessary to sacrifice the Union to Kingston, nor is it necessary to sacrifice Kingston, because a number of d saffected radicals in the Bay of Quinte like to make the state of things here an excuse for their anti-metliodistical proceedings. If there were no Kingston in existence, these men would never cordially love the Union. 1834] THE STORY OF MY LIFE, 143 April, 1834. — Dr. Ryerson received a letter from the new President of the Canada Conference (Rev. Edmund Grindrod) dated London, England, in which the latter said : — One object of my visit will be to allay the hostility of our Societies in the Lower Province to their union with us. Mr. Alder (said Mr. Grindrod) was to have accompanied him, but at Mr. Bunting's suggestion this plan was abandoned in the hope that — The friends in Lower Canada, when they have had time to reflect, would return to better views and feelings. Bee. Srd. — Writing to Dr. Ryerson from Kingston, at this date, Rev. John C. Davidson* says : — I have been told by the most influential members of the Leaders' Meeting here that pledges to the following effect have been most solemnly given to them by Mr. Alder and Mr. Grindrod, viz : — That the members of the British Society here did not, and were never to make a part of the Societies governed by the Canada Conference; that they were to remain as they always were; that their numbers were to be returned to the home Conference; that our Society was to be merged in theirs; and Kingston become the head of the Missionary establishment in Canada, — always to be the residence of the Superintendent, who was to control and regulate the Kingston Societies; and that the Presiding Elder was to have nothing to do with the town; that a large chapel was to be forthwith built, — to be deeded to the British Con- ference ; and that the minister in charge of Kingston was always to be an Englishman. Towards the close of this year, the Methodist Episcopal Church in Canada was organized. Full details of this division are given by Dr. Ryerson in the " Epochs of Canadian Method- ism," pages 270-288. Happily this separated branch of the great Methodist family is being re-united to the parent stock in 1883. Further reference to the subject is, therefore, unneces- sary in this " Story." Nevertheless it should be remembered that in the discussion and controversy which for years followed this event. Dr. Ryerson occupied a foremost place as the cham- pion on the Wesleyan Methodist side. • This gentleman entered the Methodist Church in 1827, joined the Church of England in 1854, and was for many years a minister of a congregation in the Province of Quebec. He died in 1881. CHAPTER XIII. 1834-1835. Second Retirement from the "Guardian" Editorship. AS already intimated in Chapter xi., the publication of Dr. Ryerson's " Impressions '[ of England, etc., in the Guar- dian of 1838, excited quite a political and social sensation. Public men of all shades of opinion had their feelings at once enlisted for or against the Editor of that paper, and con- demned or commended his course accordingly. Such a result did not cause much immediate concern to Dr. Ryerson. He, as Editor, claimed from the first, and his opponents outside of the Connexion admitted, that in battling for religious equality and denominational rights, he should be left untrammelled. In other words, that as Editor of a leading paper like the Guardian, he should be left free to counsel, to advise and warn, and, if necessary, to take strong ground on all questions involving purely civil rights, and the constitutional exercise of the prerogative on the part of the Executive. This was the more necessary, as civil and religious freedom were largely identical in those days of undefined prerogative, irre- sponsible government, and inchoate institutions. All parties, therefore, tacitly conceded what the Editor of the Guardian claimed — a wide latitude and a reasonable discretion in discussing questions of the day which involved either civil rights or religious freedom. This wise discretion was the more necessary from the fact that the Guardian was unquestionably the leading newspaper during these years, and was edited with more than ordinary ability and power.* * The amount of postage paid by newspapers would be a fair indi- tion of their circulation. For instance, in 1830-1, the postage on the Christian Guardian was ^228 sterling ($1,140), which exceeded by £Q the aggregate postage paid by the thirteen following newspapers in Upper Canada at that time, viz. : — Mackenzie's Colonial Advocate, £67; The Courier^ £45 ; Watchman, £24 ; Brockville Becorder, £16 ; Brochville Gazette, £6 ; Niagara Gleaner and Herald, £17 ; Hamilton Free Press, £11 ; Kingston Herald, £11; Kingston Chronicle, £10; Perth Examiner, £10; Patriot, £6^ St. Catharines Journal, £6; York Observer, £3. Total £222, as against £228 paid by the Guardian alone. — H, 1834-35] TEE STORY OF MY LIFE. 143 Besides, there were many thoughtful men who took little part in politics, and yet who looked with alarm on the claims and encroachments of the Family Compact, — a powerful and influential party, and dominant alike in church and state. Many of the able public men of the day, who were moderate in their views, were nevertheless the champions of popular rights. These men were Messrs. Bidwell, Baldwin, Dunn, and others. Their influence was strongly felt in the House of Assembly, and was sustained by their great moral worth and high social position. To such men the powerful aid of the Guardian, in advocating the principles of equal justice to all parties alike, was indispensable; and from its support they derived much strength, and were greatly aided in maintaining their position in the House and in the country. It was under these circumstances, and amid the peculiar exi- gencies of the times, that the Christian Guardian became the great organ of public opinion on the liberal side in Upper Canada. It can, therefore, be well understood how at such a time, when the supremacy of party was the question of the hour, the publication of Dr.Ryerson's "impressions" — candid and moderate as they were — fell like a bombshell amongst those in Canada who had set up as political idols such men as Hume and Roebuck in England. To dethrone such idols was of itself bad enough ; but that was not the head and front of Dr.Ryerson's ofiending. What, gave such mortal offence was that Dr. Ryerson saw any good: whatever in the moderate English Conservative (though he saw none in the English Tory). And worse still, that he saw many undesirable things in the English Whigs, and nothing good in- the English Radicals. To give special point to these criticisms ^ and comparisons Dr. Ryerson stated that : — Radicalism in England appeared to me to be another word for Eepublican- ism, with the name of King instead of President. . . . and that the very description of the public press, which in England advocates the lowest Radicalism, is the foremost in opposing and slandering the Methodists in this Province. Hence the fact that some of these editors have been amongst the lowest of the English Radicals, previous to their egress from the mother country. The point of this criticism struck home ; and, on the very day on which it appeared, the cap was fitted upon the head of the leading radical of the province. In fact, he placed it there himself, and thenceforth proclaimed war to the knife against the Editor of the Guardian. (See page 125.) With singular ability and zeal did Mr. W. L. Mackenzie carry on this warfare. He at once saw what would be the effect of the new departure. And so promptly and energetically did he denounce the "arch-apostate Egerton, a^ias Arnold, Ryer- 10 UO THE STOBY OF MY LIFE. [Chap. XIII. son" as a deserter, that he secured with little difficulty an impromptu verdict from the public against him. This he the more readily accomplished, by the aid of at least half a dozen editors of newspapers in various parts of the province, while Dr. Ryerson was single-handed. Not only did these editors join with great vigour in the hue and cry against Dr. Ryerson (for they had many scores of their own to settle with their powerful rival), but many of Dr. Ryerson's own brethren were carried away by the sudden outburst of passion against him. Hundreds of the supporters of the Guardian turned from him, as a deserter, and many gave up the paper. It is true that the tide soon turned ; and those who had refused at first to heed, or even to listen to, the words of warning uttered by Dr. Ryerson in this crisis, were afterwards glad to profit by them, and thus saved themselves in time from the direful consequences which followed during the sad events of 1837-38. The effect, however, of that severe and unexpected encounter with irrational prejudice (joined to the hostility of those whose plans were prematurely disclosed and frustrated) was too much for one who, as a Christian minister and a lover of his country, was filled with higher aims than those of a mere politician. In the course of the discussion which followed. Dr. Ryerson came into contact with some of the more unreasoning of his brethren. (See pages 130-133.) The question was raised as to how far the Guardian should be involved in conflicts like the present, which from their very nature introduced an apple of discord into the Connexion, as they partook more of a political than of a religious character. This question was pressed upon members of the Conference by the British Missionaries, whose national prejudices and political sensibilities were, as they alleged, wounded by the adverse strictures of the Editor of the Guardian on Church Establishments, the Clergy Reserve question, and kindred topics. Knowing the impossibility of reconciling views so opposite as those expressed by the British Missionaries and those of the great majority of Canadian Methodists (as represented by the Guardian), Dr. Ryerson resolved to retire from the editor- ship. This, by a vote of his brethren in the Conference of 1834, he was not permitted to do. But, like a wise and prudent coun- seller amongst men of differing views, he determined to take the initiative in settling, on a satisfactory basis, the future course of the Guardian as to the discussion of political and social questions. At that Conference, therefore, he prepared and submitted a series of resolutions to the following effect : — 1834-35] THE STORY OF MY LIFE. 147 1. That the Christian Guardian, as the organ of the Conference, shall be properly and truly a religions and literary journal, to explain our doctrines and institutions, and, in the spirit of meekness, defend them when necessary; to vindicate our character, if expedient, when misrepresented ; to maintain our religious privileges, etc. 2. To publish general news, etc. 3. That the Christian Giiardian shall not be the medium of discussing political questions, nor the merits of political parties; as it is injurious to the interests of religion, and derogatory to our character as a religious body, to have our Church amalgamated or identified with any political party. These resolutions were cordially adopted by the Conference. October Mh, 1834. — In a letter received by Dr. Ryerson from Rev. G. Marsden, Liverpool, the latter referred to this subject and said : — Your continuance in office, as editor, is of very high importance ; indeed, in some respects it is essential to the consolidation of the Union. Loyalty to our Sovereign, and firm attachment to the British Constitution will be supported by it. You will also be able to defend, and to support s -und Wesleyan Methodism ; and the foundation being now laid, you will be able to guard it well. Rev. E. Grindrod, also writing from England, said : — From the Christian Guardian, I perceive that you have had a hard battle to fight, but you have proved victorious ; and at a future day, I have no doubt, you will rejoice that the Lord counted you worthy to suffer in the achievement of an object which will probably result in immense benefit to a whole Province for generations to come. January 2Sth, 1835. — About this time Dr. Ryerson received a , remonstrance on the subject from his brother John, who said : — The more I think of your leaving the office, the more unfavourably I think of it. There is a tremendous opposition to it in these parts (Hallowell), among both preachers and people. I think it will do the paper a great wrong; you had better remain undisturbed until next Conference." Fehy, 20th. — Rev. William Ryerson, in a kind letter from St. Catharines, said : — The spirit and feeling displayed in your most interesting letter has made the deepest impression on my mind. I know that you have your own difficulties and troubles, yet they do not appear to prevent the outflow of your sympathy for others. How sincerely do I pray that the God of mercy and truth may graciously support you under all your trials and difficulties, and in His good time bring you out of them, purified as gold. I am exceed- ingly fearful that we shall have more, and great difficulties, at our next Conference. Every article and word in the Guardian is criticised and noted, and made the subject of a large and constant correspondence, especially with the local preachers, in different parts of the Province. We shall be much embarrassed about the editorship of the Guardian. Perhaps Providence will point out some suitable person should you retire. May 27th. — In the Guardian of this date, Dr. Ryerson again gave expression to his long-cherished desire to retire from the editorial management of that paper. He did so for reasons already given — Besides (he said) it was the understanding entered into with the Conference of 1834, when I consented to undertake the duty of editor for one year. It 148 THE STORY OF MY LIFE. [Chap. XIII. is gratifying to notice that the vituperation of paity interest and malevolence are nearly, if not quite, spent. I have, in this and the last two n umbers of the Guardian, endeavoured to leave nothing for my successor to settle on. that score. My editorial career in the past has been during an eventful and agitated period of our Provincial history. I have steadily endeavoured to keep one object in view — the promotion of Christianity and the prosperity of the country. In severing my connection with a large portion of the reading public, I am moved with feelings not easily expressed. *My interest in the cause which I have advocated, and in the general welfare of my native Province (which has been intense for years past), will not be less so in any future fields of labour. When it was found that Dr. Ryerson had finally decided to retire from the editorship of the Guardian, various sugges- tions were made to him as to his future field of labour. The Connexion in Lower Canada were anxious to secure him as a minister there. The question came up at an official m^eeting in Quebec, and Rev. William Lord, who presided, wrote to Dr. Ryerson on the subject, in May, 1835, as follows : — Respecting your future appointment to this Province, I may mention that several of the brethren objected to your leaving the Upper Province, lest it should be thought you were sent away in disgrace. I think, however, that I can obtain a station, that will be deemed honourable to yourself, and, I think, quite agreeable, affording a fine field of usefulness. I am now sitting in the Quarterly Meeting, and when the question of preachers for the next year came on, I mentioned that I had conversed with you respecting taking a circuit in this Province. They unanimously requested that Brother Wm. Squire and Brother Egerton Ryerson might be appointed to them next year. 1 shall soon be in York, when I will endeavour to obtain the consent of the friends there, and I think you will be pleased with the place. As an indication amongst others of the appreciation in which Dr. Ryerson's services were held, Rev. R. Heyland, in a letter to him from Adolphustown, said : — The people in these parts are very desirous of seeing and hearing the champion who has WTitten so much in defence of Methodism, and rescued the character of our Church from the odium which its unprincipled enemies iiave been endeavouring to heap upon it for years past. Be so good as to gratify them this once, and come and dedicate our new chapel here. June I7th. — On this day, for the second time, Dr. Ryerson took leave of the readers of the Guardian — having been relieved by the Conference of the duties of Editor, at his own request. He said : — T was, however, elected Secretary of the Conference, and was stationed at Kingston. In addition, I was appointed, with Rev. William Lord, President of our Conference, a delegate to the American General Conference. In his valedictory he said : — In relinquishing my present position my thoughts are spon- taneously led back to the period — ten years since — when I first commenced public life. At that time the Methodists were an obscure, a despised, an ill-treated people ; nor had their church 1834^35] THE STOBY OF MY LIFE. 149 the security of law for a single chapel, parsonage, or acre of land. . . . Now the political condition and relations of the Methodist connexion are pleasingly changed. Ten years ago there were 41 ministers and 6,875 church members ; now there are 93 ministers and 15,106 church members. We may well thank God, therefore, and take courage. I have no ill-will towards any human being. I freely and heartily forgive the many false and wicked things said of me, publicly and privately. I have written what I thought best for«the cause of religion, the cause of Methodism, and the civil interests of the country. I have never received one acre of land, nor one farthing from Government, nor of any public money, i I have never written one line at the request of any person connected with the Government. I count it to be the highest honour to which I can aspire to be a Methodist preacher ; and in this relation to the Church and to the world I shall count it my highest joy to finish my earthly course. Dr. E-yerson's wish having been fully gratified, and the Con- ference of 1835 having relieved him of the editorship, he was stationed at Kingston. This place, of all others, had been the scene of strife and division between the British and Canadian branches of the Church, and was the key to the position held by the British Missionaries in Upper Canada. (See pages 128 and 141). Dr. Ryerson's arrival there and his reception by the people at Kingston are described in a letter which he wrote to his friend, Mr. S. S. Junkin, of the Guardian ofiace, dated July 15th : We have just arrived, and are for the present staying at the house of Mr. Cassidy, the lawyer, where we receive every possible kindness and attention. (See Chapter xxiii.) ' I have been very kindly received by the members here. Strong prejudices have existed in the minds of individuals against me. But they are not only broken down, but in the principal cases are turned into warm friendship already. Some who were as bitter as gall, and croaking from day to day that "the glor}^ has departed," are now like new-born babes in Christ ; are happy in their own souls, praying for sinners, and doing all they can to build up the cause. I can scarcely account for it. I never felt more deeply humbled than since I came here. I have indeed resolved to give my whole soul, body and spirit, to God and to His Church anew, but I have had scarcely a tolerable time in preaching. Yet the Divine blessing has specially accompanied the Word. On Wednesday night last the fallow ground of the hearts of . prof essors seemed to be completely broken up. On Thursday night I was in the country, but was told the prayer-meeting was the largest that had been held for 150 THE STORY OF MY LIFE. [Chap. XITI- two years. On Sunday evening we had prayer-meeting after preaching. Several came to the altar, two or three of whom found peace. I closed it at nine o'clock, but some stayed and others came in, and it was kept up until near one o'clock in the morning. On Monday night the altar was surrounded with penitents, and the meeting, I was told (for I was not there), was better than any former one, and was kept up until after mid- night. At our preachers and leaders' meeting last night there was a good time. We have preaching and prayer-meeting again to-night. We have formed the leaders' meeting of both chajiels into one, to the satisfaction of the brethren on both sides. I now begin to hope for better times. My soul was bowed down like a bulrush for some days after I came here. But I thank God I have a hold upon the salvation of Christ that I had not felt for a long time before ; and I do believe the Lord our God will help us and bless us. I have preached at Waterloo twice since I came down. The last time, several penitents came to the altar ; two professed to find peace, but it was upon the whole a dry time to me. They are hard cases there. I attended a very blessed quarterly meeting on the Isle of Tanti, on Thursday last. It was the best day to my own soul that I have experienced for years. I feel like a man liberated from prison ; but I have reason to believe that the people are in general amazingly disappointed in my pulpit exercises. They expected great things — things gaudy, stately, and speculative, — and I gave them the simplest and most practical things I can find in the Bible, and that in the plainest way. You would be amused at the sayings of some of the plain Methodist people ; they think that it is the "real pure Gospel, but they did not expect it so, from that quarter." I am told that Dr. Barker has said in his Whig, that my " pulpit talents are nothing." I am very glad to have this impression go abroad ; it will relieve me from distressing embarrassments, and enable me to do much more good in a plain way; for I know the utmost I can attain in the pulpit is to make things plain, and sometimes forcible. We had a very blessed prayer-meeting last night, after preaching. A considerable number of penitents came to the altar, and some found peace. The work seems to be deepening among the Society, I think we shall have a comfortable and prosperous year. September 24ith. In a subsequent letter to Mr. Junkin, Dr. Ryerson speaks of a sudden and severe bereavement which had overtaken him. He said : — My poor little son John* has been removed to the other and better * John William, aged six years, one month, and eleven days. (See pages ]llandll3.)— H. 1834-35] THE STORY OF MY LIFE, 151 country. He continued to walk about until within ten minutes before his death, on the 22nd inst. After attempting to take a spoonful of milk, he leaned back his head and expired in my arms, without the slightest visible struggle. He has suffered much, but expressed a desire that he might live, so that he could see his little sister. He told me a few days before he died, that he hoped to go to Heaven, because Jesus had died for him, and loved him. I feel as a broken vessel in this bereavement of the subject of so many anxious cares and fond hopes. But this I do know, that I love God, and supremely desire to advance His glory, and that He does all things for the best. I will therefore magnify His name when clouds and darkness en- velope His ways, as well as when the smiles of His providence gladden the heart of man. may He make me and mine more entirely and exclusively His, than ever 1 In a letter to Mr. Junkin, dated November 14th, Dr. Eyer- son says : — : We all go into one chapel to-morrow, which will complete the Union. Thank the Lord for it ! Every one of our members of the "American" Society (so called heretofore) has already taken sittings in the newly enlarged chapel, and all things appear to be harmonious and encouraging. Every pew in the body of the chapel has already been taken by our brethren and intimate friends ; and, notwithstanding the new chapel will hold more than both the old ones, we are not likely to have enough sittings to meet the applications that are likely to be made, when it is known out of the Society, though the whole chapel above and below (except one tier around the gallery) is pewed. I have learned that I shall have to take another trip to England. We had just got comfortably settled here in Kingston ; had become acquainted with the people on all sides, and are happy in our souls, and in our work. Nothing but the alternative, as Rev, William Lord deeply feels, of the sinking or success of the Upper Canada Academy, could have induced me this year to have undertaken such a task. But my motto is — " the cause of God, not private considerations," CHAPTER XTV. 1835-1836. Second Mission to England.— -Upper Canada Academy. SCARCELY had Dr. Ryerson been settled at Kingston in the enjoyment of the freedom and pleasure of his new life as a pastor, than the exigencies of the Upper Canada Academy called him a second time to England. The causes of this sudden call upon his time and energies, on behalf of the Academy, were many and pressing, They were caused chiefly by the miscalculations, if not indiscreet zeal, of Rev. William Lord, who, as President of the Conference and Chairman of the Trustee Board of the Academy, had, by inconsiderate expendi- ture, plunged the Board into hopeless embarrassment. (See page 166.) Mr. Lord was sanguine that what he did in Canada, on behalf of the Academy, would, if properly represented, be cor- dially endorsed by the brethren and friends in England. He, felt that although he himself might not be able to realize these hopes by a personal appeal, yet he was certain that the presence in England of Dr. Ryerson on such a mission would be highly successful. He, therefore, as President of the Oanada Conference, called upon him to undertake this task. He furnished Dr. Ryerson with such letters and appeals to influential friends as he hoped would ensure success. Dr. Ryerson, acting on his motto, that "the cause of God, not private considerations," should influence him, obeyed the call, and set out for England on this difficult, and, as it proved, arduous and protracted mission, on the 20th November, 1835. The nature and extent of the embarrassments of the Academy are stated in the letters written to Dr. Ryerson after he had left for England. His brother John said : — While you are travelling in England making collections for the Academy, there are, I can assure you, a great many heartfelt prayers and fervent sup- plications being offered in this country for your success. The whole concern IS in an extremely embarrassed state. If Rev. William Lord had not urged us to expenditure, it would have been at least £1,000 better for us, although what he did at the time, he doubtless did for the best. Mr. Lord was the 1835-36] THE STOBY OF MY LIFE. 15*^ means of inducing the building committee to make an unnecessarily ex- pensive fence, out-houses, furniture, &c., saying at the time that money would be forthcoming, and that John Bull never failed to respond to such calls. We have applied to the Legislature for assistance, but I think with but little prospect of success. Should we not get anything there, and you raise no more than ^2,000, we must go down, and the concern be sold. It will require £4,000 or £5,000 to get us out of debt. If you should collect no more than £2,000 before you return home, don't fail to make some arrangements for borrowing two or three thousand more. Rev. Mr. Lord,'"writing to Dr. Ryerson, said : — By the delay in finishing the buildings, and the excitement caused by the falsehood of the ultra-Radicals, confidence was gone, money could not be raised, either by begging or borrowing ; and if something had not been done, the consequence would have been ruinous. I expect that you will have me greatly blamed for not considering before I drew bills on England for the debt, but there was no time. The mischief would have been done before we could have heard. The man would have been arrested immediately, — our character ruined, — societies divided, — and subscriptions would have been withheld. Our difficulties are great, and we must make a desperate eflfort to extricate ourselves. Everything depends upon your making a good case, which you can do. In another letter to Dr. Ryerson, from Canada, Mr. Lord said : — Let me urge you to lose no time in obtaining a Charter and grant froiu Government. I expect our Radical friends will be using their influence through their friends to prevent your success. Be diligent in procuring sub- scriptions. You possess great advantages now, by the introductions with which you have been favoured. Mr. Alder tells me that my bills will be dishonoured. If so, in addition to the loss of character, there will be a waste of property in fines, &c. "We are all distressed, our drafts are coming due and the Banks have ceased to discount, in consequence of. the stagnation of trade, through " stopping the supplies." We have agreed upon a temporary mode of relief, by drawing upon you for about £500. It has given me great surprise and sorrow to ascertain that upwards of £5,000 are wanted to relieve us from our difficulties. What an unfathomable depth this building has reached. You must stay in England until the money is got. Use every eflfort, harden your face to flint, and give eloquence to your tongue. This is your calling. Excel in it ! Be not discouraged with a dozen of refusals in succession. The money must be had, and it must be begged. My dear Brother, work for your life, and I pray God to give you success. Do not borrow, if possible. Beg, beg, beg it all. It must be donef Such were the circumstances under which this important mis" sion was undertaken by Dr. Ryerson. As a set ofi to these dis- hearteninof letters, Dr. Ryerson received the following from some of his brethren in Canada. Rev. Ephraim Evans said : — I have become a consenting party to your being solicited, at considerable sacrifice of feeling, to undertake a tedious journey at the most untoward season of the year, for the good of the common cause, and I sincerely tender, in common with my Brother James, my best thanks for your kind compliance, and my hearty wishes for your complete success. Indeed I feel most deeply that upon your success depends, under God, the prosperity or downfall of the Upper Canada Academy. Be assured that my most fervent prayers will bb 154 THE STORY OF MY LIFE, [Chap. XIV. daily offered up for your health and safety, for a happy issue to attend your generous endeavours again to promote the interests.of the Church of our mutual affection. 'I entertain not the slightest hope of being able to procure such a Charter as we would be justifiable in accepting, or any support to the institution from our own Legislature. Eev. John Ryerson, writing from Hallowell, said : — Your friends in Kingston (and all the Methodists there seem to be such) spoke much about you and your successful labours there. Brothers Counter, Jenkins, and others, say they are resolved to have you for their preacher next year, on your return from England. I hope and pray that good luck will attend your efforts. Everything depends on the issue of your mission. May the Lord give you favour in the eyes of the people, and good success in your vastly important work. Rev. Joseph Stinson, writing from Kingston, said : — We all feel very strange now that you are gone, but be of good cheer; we follow you with our sympathy and prayers. We doubt not but God — that God in whose cause you are making this additional sacrifice, will succeed your labour, and cause all things to work together for your good. In a letter from London, England, Dr. Eyerson says : — Mr. Lunn and other friends have arrived from Quebec, and have given me Canadian news, among other items the stations of various ministers : Eev. James Richardson and Rev. J. S. Atwood withdraw from the Conference, and Rev, Mr. Irvine goes to the States. The President and I remain at Kingston. I have been appointed, by a unanimous vote, the representative to the British Conference, and I am to present to Lord Glenelg an Address from the Conference to the King. On the 18th of June, 1836, the Upper Canada Academy was opened, and the Principal (Rev. M. Richey) in- augurated. Dr. Ryerson added : — I am to stay in Birmingham, at the house of a worthy and wealthy Quaker, by the name of Joseph Sturge. At the general meeting of the Missionary Committee, held recently the resolutions of the Committee relative to the withdrawal of the Government grant for the work in Upper Canada were read. Dr. Bunting rose and mentioned its restoration, and kindly and cordially mentioned me as the means of getting it restored. He gave a flattering account of my proceedings in the affair, I thanked him afterwards for his great kindness in the matter. The labours and result of this, Dr. Ryerson's second mission to England, are given in Chapter xvi., pages 158-166. CHAPTER XV. 1835-1836. The " Grievance " Report ; its Object and Failure. AMONGST the Committees of the House of Assembly at this time was a useful one called the " Committee on Griev- ances." To this Committee was referred all complaints made to the House, and all projects of reform, etc. At the close of the Session of 1835, Mr. W. L. Mackenzie, as Chairman, brought in an elaborate Report which, without being read, was ordered to be printed. In that Report, Mr. Mackenzie endeavoured to create a diversion in his favour by showing that while Dr. Ryerson professed to be opposed to Government grants to religious bodies, yet he was willing to receive one for the Wes- leyan Conference. The Report stated that : — The ''British Wesleyan Methodist Conference," formerly the M.E. Church, received £1,000 in 1833, and £611 in 1834, to be applied . . . , " to the erection, or repairing of chapels and school-houses, and defraying the general expenses of the various missions." This appropriation to the Methodists, as an Ecclesiastical Establishment, is very singular. In the year 1826 .... Dr. Strachan informed the Colonial Minister that the Methodist ministers acquired their education and formed their principles in the United States They appealed to the House of Assembly, which inquired into and reported on the matter in 1828. Upon another occasion they received a rebuke from Sir John Colborne . . . . in answer to the Address of the Conference requesting him to transmit to His Majesty their Address on the Clergy Eeserves. Since, how- ever, a share of public money has been extended to and received by them, there seems to have been established a mutual good understanding. To this Report, Dr. Ryerson replied to the effect — That the grant was made to the British Conference in England (over which we had no control) and not to the Canada Conference; that the grant in question was made by Lord Goderich, as part of a general scheme agreed upon in 1832, to aid Missionaries in the West Indies, Western, and Southern Africa, New South Wales, and Canada, "to erect chapels and school -houses in the needy and destitute settlements;" that the Kev. K. Alder had come from England, in 1833, to establish separate and distinct missions from those under the Canada Conference with a view to absorb this grant; that when the Union was formed, in 1833, the missions in charge of the Canada Conference became the missions of the British Conference, and 156 THE STOBY OF MY LIFE, [Chap. XV. were managed by their own Superintendent; tliat the Canadian Missionary Society from that time became a mere auxiliary to the parent Society in England; that the Canada Conference assumed no resposibility in regard to the funds necessary to support these missions; and that, in point of fact, they had cost the British Methodists thousands of dollars over and above any grant received from Lord Goderich as part of the general scheme for the support of missionaries in the extended British Colonies. Dr. Kyerson, in concluding these explanations, adds : — We trust that every reader clearly perceives the unparalleled parliamentary imposition that has been practised upon the public by the " Grievance Com- mittee," and their gross insinuations and slanders against the Methodist ministers. In 1836, the Report of the Grievance Committee came up in the House again. On this subject Rev. John Ryerson wrote in March, 1836, to Dr. Ryerson, in London, as follows : — The altercations and quarrels which have taken place in the' Assembly this session on the part of Peter Perry and W, L. Mackenzie, especially about the " Grievance Report," have raised you much in the estimation of the people. The correctness of your views and statements are now universally acknow- ledged, and your defamers deserted by all candid men.' Political things are looking very favourable at the present time. The extremer of the Radical party are going down headlong. May a gracious Providence speed them on their journey! To Mr. Perry, Dr. Ryerson replied fully and explicitly. He said : Mr. Perry has charged me with departing from my former ground in regard to an ecclesiastical establishment in Upper Canada. My editorials and correspondence with Her Majesty's Government will be considered conclusive evidence of the falsity of the charge, and will again defeat the attempts of the enemies of Methodism to destroy me and overthrow the Conference. Another cause of attack by Mr. Perry is, that amongst several other sug- gestions which I took the liberty to offer to Lord Glenelg, Colonial Secretary, was the appointment of a certain gentleman of known popularity to the Executive Council, Mr. Perry seemed to consider himself as a sort of king in Lennox and Addington, and appears to regard it as an infringement upon his sovereign prerogatives that I should be stationed so near the borders of his empire as Kingston. But many -of his constituents can bear record whether the object of my ministry was to dethrone Peter Perry, or to break down the power and influence of a much more formidable and important personage — the power of him that ruleth in the hearts of the children of disobedience.* March SOth, London. — During his stay in England, Dr. Ryer- son had been able to look upon public affairs in Upper Canada with more calmness, and more impartiality, than when he was there in the midst of them as an actor. In that spirit he, at this date, addressed a letter to the Guardian on what he regarded as an approaching crisis of the highest importance to the Province. He said: — 156 * Dr. Ryerson's reply to Mr. Perry was afterwards reprinted as an election fly sheet, headed "Peter Perry Picked to Pieces by Egerton Ryerson," and cir- culated broadcast in the counties It resulted in Mr. Perry being rejected as M.P.P. for Lennox and Addington in the elections of 1836. (See Chapter. xxiii.) 1835-36] THE STORY OF MY LIFE. 157 It is not a mere ephemeral strife of parti zanship; it is a deliberate and bold attempt to change the leading features of the Constitution — a Constitution to which allegiance has been sworn, and to which firm attachment has been over and over again expressed in addresses to the Governor up to 1834. Such being the case, it becomes every man who fears God and loves his country to pause, to think, to decide. I have told the Colonial Secretary, that whilst the Methodist Church asked for nothing but " equal and im- partial protection," yet I believed the attachment to the Constitution of the country and to the Britisli Crown, expressed in petitions and addresses from the Methodist Conference and people of Canada, to be sincere, and that they would prove to be so in their future conduct. They had been falsely charged as being Republicans, but they had always repudiated this charge as a calumny. Nor would they be found among those who, like Messrs. Peter Perry and W. L. Mackenzie, had recently avowed their inten- tion to establish republican elective institutions in the Province. As to the charges of the "Grievance Committee" party, I can truly say that I have never received one farthing of public money from any quarter, and my humble support to my King and country is unsought, unsolicited, and spontaneous. May 21st — London. — At this date Dr. Ryerson wrote : — During my exile here in England I have more and more longed for news irom Canada, and cooling water to the panting hart could not be more refreshing than late intelligence from my dear native land has been to me. I can now listen with an interest and sympathy that I never did before, to the patriotic effusions of the warm-hearted and eloquent Irishmen, whom I have recently heard, respecting " the first flower of the earth, the first gem of the sea." The news from Canada presents to my mind strange con- trasts. A few years ago effbrts were made to prove that the Methodist ministers were the " salaried hirelings " of a foreign republican power. Now efibrts are being made to persuade the Canadian public that the same ministers are the salaried hire- lings of British power, because tliey refuse to be identified with men and measures which are revolutionary in their ten- dencies. Our motto is " fear God and honour the King," and " meddle not with them that are given to change." Many who were influenced to take part in the former crusade have long since given proof of a better spirit; so it will be, I trust, with those who have now been hurried on into the present shame- less and malignant opposition, against a cause which has con- fessedly been of the highest spiritual and eternal advantage to thousands in Upper Canada. I venture to predict that not a few of our partizan adversaries will ere long lament their mad- ness of political idolatry and religious hostility. In the former case, Methodism survived, triumphed, and prospered ; in the present case, if we are true to our principles and faithful to our God, He will again " Cause the wrath of man to praise Him, and restrain the remainder of that wrath." CHAPTER XVI. 1836-1837. Dr. Eyerson's Diary of his Second Mission to England THE following is from Dr. Ryerson's diary (which is incom- plete) giving the result of his experiences and labours in England, during his second mission there. London^ January 1st, 1836. — I am again in the great metropolis of tlie Christian world. My wife and I left our native land, and affectionate pastoral charge, on the 20th of November, 1835, and arrived here the 30th of December, after a voyage of tempest and sea-sickness. But to the Ruler of the winds, and the Father of our spirits, we present our grateful acknow- ledgments for the preservation of our lives. To our Heavenly Father have I, with my dear wife, presented ourselves at the commencement of this new year. 0, may we through grace keep our vows, and henceforth abound in every Christian grace and comfort, every good word and work ! We have been most kindly received by the Missionary Secretaries and other brethren; the prospects appear encouraging for the success of our mission : another ground of thankfulness, increased zeal, and faithfulness. Jan. 2nd. — Called at the Colonial Office to present my note of introduction from Sir John Colborne to Lord Glenelg. We were admitted to an interview with Mr. (afterwards Sir James) Stephen, Assistant Colonial Secretary, who promised to present Sir John Colborne's letter to Lord Glenelg, and inform me when he would receive me. To-day I received a call from m}'- kind and excellent friend, Rev. John Hannah, a thorough scholar, a profound divine, an affectionate, able, and popular preacher. He heartily welcomed us to the country. Jan. ^rd — Sahbath. — It being the first Sabbath in the year, I attended that most solemn and important serdce — the renewal of the covenant. It was conducted by Rev. Dr. Bunting, in a manner the most impressive ^nd affecting I ever witnessed. There were but few dry eyes in the chapel. He spoke of the primary design of Methodism as not to oppose anything but sin — not to subvert existing forms of faith, but to infuse the vital spirit of primitive Christianity into them. Dr. Bunting said that the renewal of the covenant was a service peculiar to Methodism, and expatiated on the importance of its being entered upon advisedly, and in humble dependence upon Divine grace. After singing, the whole congregation knelt down, remaining some time in silent prayer. After Dr. Bunting, as their mouth- piece, read the covenant, all then rose and sang "The covenant we this moment make," etc. The Lord's Supper was administered to several hundred persons, and the services concluded with singing and prayer. Jan. 4th. — I spent the evening at Rev. Mr. Alder's, in company with Dr. Bunting, Rev. John Bowers, and Rev. P. L. Turner. In conversation, the religious and general interests of the Methodist Connexion were introduced. I was no less edified than delighted with the remarks of Dr. Bunting, 1836-37] THE STOBY OF MY LIFE. 159 especially those which related to the former distinction between, and the present confounding of, supernumerary and superannuated preacliers, and the desirableness of restoring the ancient distinction. He spoke of the experience requisite to, and evils of general legislation in, Church affairs — introducing matters of legislation into Quarterly Meetings, etc. Dr. Bunting's prayer at parting was deeply spiritual. Jan. 5th. — Spent the day in writing an article for the Watchman, on the present state of the Canadas ; and in drawing up some papers on the Upper Canada Academy. Had a pleasant visit from Rev. John Beecham, one of the Missionary Secretaries. Jan. 6th. — Met at the Mission House with Rev. Richard Reece, President of the Conference. He is, I believe, the oldest preacher who has filled the presidential chair since the days of Wesley. Jan, 10th, Sunday. — In the morning heard Rev. Mr. Cubitt, and in the evening endeavoured to preach for him. Jan. ISth. — Received a note from Lord Glenelg fixing the time when he would receive me. Jan. 14th. — Spent a delightful evening in company with Rev. John Hannah and wife, Dr. Sandwich (Editor of the Watchman) and wife, and several others. The conversation principally turned upon the learning of the ancients, and the writings of the early Protestant Reformers and their successors. Dr. Sandwich is a very literary man, Mr. Hannah an excellent general scholar. Jan. I6th. — Spent the evening with Rev. "William Jenkins, an old super- annuated minister, in company with several friends. Mr. and Mrs. Jenkins are a venerable couple about 80 years of age. Jan. 11th — Sabbath. — Heard the Hon. and Rev. Baptist Noel. The Church was plain, the congregation large, and very attentive and solemn. A large number of school children were present ; the little girls all dressed alike ; they all had prayer and hymn books ; they read the f espouses and sung with the utmost correctness. In the afternoon we went to that splendid monu- ment of art and wealth — St. Paul's. The sermon was more evangelical than I expected. In the evening I preached to a very large congregation in St. George's Chapel, Commercial Road. A gracious influence seemed to rest on the congregation. Jan. 24th — Sabbath. — Preached in the Hinde-street Chapel. In Surrey Chapel I heard Rev. James Parsons, of York, one of the first preachers of the day. Surrey Chapel is the place of the celebrated Rowland Hill's pro- tracted ministry. Its shape is octagon, and it will seat 3,000 persons. The church service was read well by a person of strong, sonorous voice. At the conclusion of the church service Mr. Parsons ascended the pulpit. His prayer was simple, unaffected, and scriptural. His text was Luke xi. 47-48. His manner was by no means pleasing ; he stood nearly motionless, and appeared to be reading his sermon. Yet attention was riveted ; the current ot thought soon began to rise, and continued to swell, until he came to a pause. Then there was a general burst of coughing ; after which the preacher proceeded in an ascending scale of argument, until he had his audience entranced, when he would burst forth upon his captives with the combined authority and tenderness ot a conqueror and deliverer, and press them into the re'uge city of Gospel salvation. Jan. 25th. — Attended a Missionary-meeting in Southwark Chapel. Mr. Thomas Farmer, presided. Several spake : one a New Zealander, whose wit and oddities amused all, but profited none. Jan. 2^th.—B.'xdL an interview with Lord Glenelg, on the subject of my mission. We can get a charter for the Upper Canada Academy, but assist- ance i.3 uncertain. His Lordship was very courteous and communicative. He thanked me for the information I gave him concerning the Colonies. 160 THE STOBY OF MY LIFE. [Chap. XVI. Jan. Slst, Sunday. — Preaclied twice to-day (in City Road and Wilderness Row). The Lord was with me, and I believe I did not labour in vain. Feb. 13th. — Had an interview with the Rt. Hon. Edward EUice ; was re- ceived with great kindness ; he promised to use his utmost influence to pru- mote the object of my mission at the Colonial office. Feb. I8th. — Called at the residences of several of the nobility; found none at home, but Lord Ashburton, who gave me £5. Feb. 20th. — Made no progress in the way of collecting ; much ceremony is necessary. Have obtained some useful information, and written to Sir Robert Peel on the object of my mission. Feb. 2lst, Sunday. — Heard the Rev. Peter McOwan preach. It was the best sermon I have heard from a Methodist pulpit since my arrival in Eng- land. I preached in Great Queen-street Chapel in the evening, on the new- birth. I think the Lord was present to apply the word. Feb. 22nd. — Called upon Lord Kenyon. I was very courteously received; but His Lordship declined subscribing on account of the many objects to which he contributed in connection with America. He expressed his good wishes. I next called upon the Earl of Aberdeen — Colonial Secretary under Sir Robert Peel's government. He expressed himself satisfied with my letters from Upper Canada, but said that he would enquire of Mr. Hay, late under Colonial Secretary, and directed me to call again. I was also received by Dr. Blomfield, Lord Bishop of London. Dr, Biomfield is a handsome and very courteous man. He declined subscribing on account of its not having been recommended by the Bishop of the Diocese ; was not unfriendly to my object ; said he had a high respect for the Wesleyan body, and con- sidered they had done much good; he had expressed this opinion in print. Feb. 23rd. — Addressed a letter to Lord Glenelg requesting an early answer to our application, stating our pressing circumstances. Called upon Thomas Baring, Esq., M.P., who gave me £b. I find it very hard and very slow work to get money. Feb. 24th. — Received an answer from Sir Robert Peel in the negative. His reason is non-connection with Upper Canada ! A gentleman of the house of Thomas Wilson & Co. gave utterance to a sentiment which singularly con- trasted with the selfishness of Sir Robert PeeL He said : Education was the same thing throughout the world, and that was the light in which this institution should be viewed. His house gave me ten guineas, and have kindly engaged to furnish me with names of other gentlemen. Feb. 25th. — Obtained £21 for the Academy. TJie sentiments expressed by two of the gentlemen on whom I called deserve to be recorded. Mr. A. Gillespie, jun., who is connected with Lower Canada, after subscribing £10 and furnishing me with a list of names of merchants engaged in trade with the Canadas, said: — " I am a member of the Church of Scotland, but I have a high respect for John Wesley and Dr. Bunting. I admire the principles of John Wesley, and hope you will abide by them, and that they will be taught in this institution. Above all things keep out Socinianism." I then called on a Mr. Brooking, who said: — "I feel happy in the opportunity of contributing to such an object. I have been in the North American provinces and know that nothing is wanted more than good institutions for the education of youth, and especially under the superintendence of the Methodists. From what I have seen I believe they have done more good in the colonies than any other Church. Though I am a member of the Church of England, I feel it my duty as a Protestant, and a friend to religion, to give my utmost mite to the labours of your ministers in the colonies. 1 believe in those new countries the Methodists are the bulwark of Protestantism against popery and infidelity, and 1 am glad you are establishing such an institution." Feb. 27ih. — Received the greatest kindness from Mr, E. H, Chapman, 1836-37] THE STOBY OF MY LIFE. 161 who was in Upper Canada last sumraer, and had seen the institntion at Cobonrg. He expressed himself happy in the opportunity to subscribe, and said he had travelled two days with Sir John Colborne. Mr. Chapman considered, of all people, the Methodists the most active and successful in imparting religious instruction to the Colonists. Feb. 28th — Sabbath. — Preached at Islington; then dined with a Mr. Bruns- kill, who was well versed in the history of Methodism. From this date until the close of July there is no record in Dr. Ryerson's diary. From letters written by him to Canada, I therefore continue the narrative : — Birmingham, April 11th. — During a delightful visit here at the missionary anniversaries I had an opportunity of hearing and conversing with two of the most remarkable men of the present day : William (or, as he is called, Billy) Dawson, the Yorkshire farmer, and the venerable Gideon Ousley, the patriarchal Irish missionary. Mr. Dawson excelled in his own characteristic way any man I ever heard. His great strength lies in a matchless power of graphic description, dramatic imitation, and hallowed unction from the Holy One. He is a man of an age. At the missionary breakfast I sat be- side the venerable Ousley, and told him of some of his spiritual children in Canada that I knew. He gave God the praise, and desired me to deliver this message to his old friends and spiritual children in Canada : *' I am now in my 75th year, labouring as hard as ever ; am well, and strong. Be faithful unto death. I will meet you in Heaven." London, Jum 8th. — To-day my brethren are assembling in Annual Con- ference at Belleville. It is the tirst conference in the proceedings of which I have not been permitted to take a part since I entered the ministry. A considerable part of the day I spent in imploring the divine blessing upon the deliberations of my brethren. After reckoning the difference of time, I retired at the hour when I knew they would be engaged in the conference- prayer-meeting in order to unite with them at the throne of the Heavenly grace ; and truly, I found it refreshing indeed to be present in spirit with> them in beseeching the continual direction of the Divine Pilot to guide the Wesleyan ship over the tempestuous sea. I long to be with my fellow- labourers in Canada in their toils as well as joys. "If I forget thee," O' thou Spiritual Jerusalem of my native land, "let my right hand forget its cunning, and my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth. Peace be within thy walls, and prosperity within thy palaces !" June I2th. — Although I find that collecting for the Upper Canada Academy is a wearisome work, yet I must not slacken my exertions so long as our friends in Upper Canada are in such straits for funds. Brother John has written me an urgent letter from Hallowell, in which he says: — I hope the Lord will give you good success in collecting for our Seminary. Everything depends on the success of your exertions. £4,000 is the least that will answer. 0, how awfully we have got involved in this painful and protracted business ! 0, if you can help us out of this mire, the Lord reward you ! I am greatly at a loss what to do. I had concluded to leave, and go to the States ; but thought I had better wait your retnrn and take counsel with you. I hope the Lord may direct me ! Lublin, July 2nd. — I have just come over here to the Irish Conference, and was affectionately received by the Irish preachers. While in Dublin I stayed with a very intelligent and kind family. I attended the Irish Conference, which was held in Whitefriar's Street Chapel — a building rented for a preaching-place by the venerable Wesley himself. Here in the midst of the sallies of Irish wit and humour, mingled with evident piety and kind- ness, I sat down and wrote a letter to the dear friends in Canada. 11 162 THE STORY OF MY LIFE. [Chap. XYI. From this letter I make an extract : — The preachers are warm-hearted, pious men, some of them very clever ; warm in their discussions, abounding in wit; talk mucli in doing their business; several are sometimes up at a time. They are certainly a body of excellent men. In their financial reports it appears that many of them are really examples of self-denial, suffering, and devotion. The following are extracts from Dr. Ryerson's diary : — July 26th. — Attended the Conference at Birmingham. When Dr. Fisk wiis introduced, the address of the American General Conference was read. Silence and attention were marked until the words "negro slavery" were mentioned, when there was a general cry of " hear, hear," and " no, no, no." During the Conference a Mr. Robinson was called upon to explain his reason for preaching to a secret society called " Odd Fellows." Dr. Bunting and Dr. Newton had always refused to preach to such societies. Dr. Fisk made some remarks on Masonry in the United States, and the evil of the Methodist preachers being connected with, or countenancing, such societies. Sept. 2 «.d— Presented to Lord Glenelg the Address, to the King, of the Canadian Conference. He read it carefully, and expressed himself pleased with it. He enquired as to the charges against Sir Francis Head, and the appoint- ment of those persons only to office who are truly attached to the British Constitution. I answered his lordship on each of these points mentioned, and assured him of the loyal British feelings of the inhabitants of Upper Canada. I pressed upon him the importance of an early settlement of the Clergy Eeserve question. His lordship thanked me for the communications which I had from time to time made to him on Canadian affairs. He requested me to write to him on any matter, relative to the Canadas, I thought proper. Sept. 4th — Sunday. — Attended the Hon. and Eev. Baptist Noel's Church at 8 a. m., when he administered the Lord's Supper to such as could not at- tend at any other hour. 1 communed for the first time in the Established Church. I heard this evangelical minister preach a* 11 a.m. Preached my- self in Spitalfields in the evening. Sept. Qth. — Came here (Birmingham) from London on a collecting tour. Have been kindly received by my Quaker friends, the Sturges. In com- memoration of the first Wesleyan Conference being held in Birmingham, gold medals were presented to Dr. Bunting and Dr. Newton, and silver medals to representatives of other Conferences — the Irish and American. My name as representative not having been received in time for a presenta- tion at Conference, a medal was subsequently presented to me as Canadian representative, and to Rev. Richard Reece, ex-President, by the ladies of the Society in Birmingham. The addresses on the occasion were made by the President and Secretary — that to Mr. Reece in a few choice words by Dr. Bunting ; and to me, in a kindly manner, by Dr. Newton. In reply I acknowledged the unexpected compliment, not as paid to me, but to the . country and connexion which I represented. Sept. 1th. — Have been kindly received by the preachers in Birmingham. .'Spent a pleasant evening at Mr. Oldham's (son-in-law of Rev. John Ryland), where I met no less than six clergymen of the Established Church; the . conversation was wholly of a religious character, perfectly free and social. il was informed that all the clergymen in Birmingham, except one, were truly evangelical. Mr. Ryland told me that Rev. J. A. James had expressed his conviction that there is decidedly more piety amongst the mass of the Established Clergy than among the Dissenting Clergy. It was altogether the most unaffectedly genteel, and truly religious party I have met with in England. Sept, 9th. — Busy and successful. Very kindly received by the following 1836-37] THE STOBY OF MY LIFE. 163 Clmrcli of England ministers, viz., Rev. Mr. Mosely, Rector, Rev. Dr. Jeune [afterwards Master of Pembroke College], and Rev. William Marsh, who is Irequently called the model of the Apostle John, on account of the depth and sweetness of his piety, the purity of his life, and the heavenly expression of his countenance. [His daughter is a noted evangelist and writer, 1883.] Sept. 10th. — Took tea with Mr. Meredith, a Swedenborgian, upwards of 80, perfectly sincere in his belief, and sweet in his spirit. Also met the celebrated Dr Philip, of South Africa, and the more celebrated John Angel James, of Birmingham. The conversation of the evening was principally turned upon the means by which the great measure of emancipation was carried — the conduct of Mr. Stanley and Mr. Buxton. I was struck with Mr. Sturge's remark, that he " believed such men as Sir A. Agnew, Sir Harry Inglis, and Lord Ashley [now, in 1883, Lord Shaftesbury], were the most honest men in the House of Commons." Sheffield. Sept. 17th. — Here I met with my old friends, Revs. Messrs. Mars- den, Grindrod, and Moss. Sept. ISth— Sunday.— I' rediched in Craven street Chapel in the morning, and at Brunswick Chapel in the evening. Sept. '20th. — Attended the Financial District Meeting. It was stated that 900 persons had seceded in Sheffield in the Kilhamite schism, and yet the finances were better at the end of the quarter than they had been the pre- ceding one. Kind references were made to myself, and the object of my mission. Dr. Ryerson's Diary ends here. From his letters to Canada I make the following extracts : — Sheffield, Oct. 6th. — I was in Bamsley on Friday and Saturday; went to Wakefield on Saturday, and preached there on Sunday. Addressed about 40 circulars to gentlemen in Wakefield on Monday morning. Returned to Sheffield and spoke at the Missionary Meeting; begged yesterday; spoke at the adjourned meeting last evening; have been begging to-day. Spent Friday and Saturday in Wakefield; go to Leeds on Saturday evening, and BO on. The preachers and friends shew me all possible kindness and attention. The Yorkshire people are very warm-hearted and sociaL Methodism tr.ere presents an aspect diflferent in several respects from that wliich it presents in London, or in any other part of England 1 have visited; more warm, energetic, and unaffected — something like Hallowell Methodism in Upper Canada. Oh ! I long to get home to my circuit work. Amidst all the kindness and interest that it is possible for piety, intelligence, Yorkshire generosity and wit to impart, I feel like an exiled captive here in England. Bradford, Oct. 10th. — The time I am here appears very dreary, as I am from morning until midnight in public labours or society of some kind. I have collected ^83 last week, and for much of it I have begged very hard — though some think that I do not beg hard enougli. It is, however, only one who has been a stranger and had to beg, that can fully appreciate the feelings and embarrassments of a stranger in such circumstances. This work and sacrifice have not been of my own seeking — but against my seeking. I was comfortably settled amongst kind friends in Kingston, but am now cast forth in this distant land, and engaged in the most disagreeable of all employments, — and for what? Oh ! it is for the sake of Him to whose cause and glory I have consecrated my life and all. I shall love, honour, and value my pastoral labours more than ever. I hope that tjiey may be more useful. During the past week I have been enabled more fully than for a year past to adopt the language of St. Paul. Gal. ii. 20. Oct. ll^A^.— While here I was truly gratified to receive a letter from Miss Clarissa Izard, of Boulogne (France), in which she says : — I trust you will 1G4j the story of MY LIFE. [Chap. XVI. pardon me, sir, for this expression of my gratitude. If it had not been for a sermon preached by you on the 21st of February last, I might have been where hope never cometh ; but, blessed be God, now I have a hope — a hope which lifts me above this world, and which, I trust, I shall retain until I obtain the crown of righteousness which fadeth not away. Among the many pleasing incidents in Dr. Ryerson's other- wise unpleasant duty of collecting funds for the Upper Canada Academy, was the note written from Kensington Palace by command of Her Royal Highness the Duchess of Kent. It was as follows : — I am commanded by the Duchess of Kent to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 22nd inst., and accompanying statement of " The Upper Canada Academy, for the education of Canadian youth, and the most promising youth of converted Indian tribes — to prepare them for school- masters." Her Royal Highness is most happy in patronizing, as you request, so useful and benevolent an Institution, and calculated especially to promote the best interests of the native population, the British emigrants, and the aboriginal tribes of that valuable and important British Province. Her Royal Highness desires that her name be placed on the subscription list for £10. Referring to- the great importance of the Upper Canada Academy, and to the services rendered by Dr. Ryerson in con- nection with its establishment, Rev. William Lord said : — There have been many circumstances and occurrences connected with this institution which, to my mind, are indicative of Providential inter- ference. The bitterness manifested against it by the enemies of Methodism and of the peace of the country ; the difficulties which stood in the way of its completion; the distressing, overwhelming, and unforseen embarrassments of its funds, which forced the Committee to send you to this country to seek relief, just at a time when the affairs of the Province had arrived at a crisis, and at a time when you could render special service, by communicating with the Home Government — service, allow me to say, greater than any other man could render, or than you could have rendered at any other time or place — the favourable turn which public affairs have recently taken, and, I know, in some degree through your instrumentality; the perplexing and most painful disappointments experienced in obtaining suitable teachers, now happily overcome; the share of public favour which the Academy has obtained on the commencement of its operations; and, lastly, the great services you have rendered the Missionary Society, in the advantage you have secured to our Indian Missionaries by your representations and applica- tions to the Government, are to me reasons for believing God is in this busi- ness. You may, I think, take courage, and go on in the name of the Lord. I can sympathize with you; I have also suffered in this cause. I would not endure the anxiety and mental agony I have experienced on account of this institution for any earthly consideration. But if it flourish, I have my reward. And now the reflection that, at much personal risk, I have more than once saved innocent and deserving men from imprisonment, and Methodism from indelible reproach, is cheering and consoling. I will still stand by your side and share in your difficulties. My honour in this matter is united with yours, and the ruin of this institution will be mine. In a letter from London, dated 21st July, 1836, Dr. Ryerson narrates the difficulties which he had encountered in obtaining: a 1836-37] THE STORY OF MY LIFE. 1G5 Charter for the Upper Canada Academy. The correspondence with the Colonial Office embraced twenty-nine letters, and extended over a period of six months. In conducting it, Dr. Ryerson states : — I found those in the Colonial Office, and those who retired from it (during that time) equally favourable to the object of aiy mission, and equally desirous of promoting the best interests of the Colonies. In his report of the negotiations for the Charter," Dr. Ryerson says : — The Attorney-General assured me that not only Lord Glenelg, but every member of His Majesty's Government was anxious to accede to my applica- tion — that the difficulties were purely legal — that though the doctrines and rules of the Methodist body in Canada were doubtless very sacred, yet they were unknown in law, (in England.) I, therefore, laid before the Crown officers* a copy of the statutes of Upper Canada (which I had borrowed from the Colonial office), and showed the grounds on which we professed to be in- vested with the clerical character by the statutes of the Province, as well as by the formularies of our connexion, and were recognized as ministers by the Courts of Quarter Sessions ; that we might be defined as ministers (for the purposes of the Charter) as in the Marriage Statute of U.C., which would be the same thing as being defined according to the Rules of our Discipline. Placing the question before the Crown officers in this simple light, their scruples were at once removed, and they cordially acceded to my proposition to recognize our ministerial character. As I was required to name in the Charter the first trustees and visitors, and as I had no list of those who had been appointed by the Conference, I was obliged to furnish names my- self. 1 was also required to name in the Charter the time and place of the next Annual Meeting (Conference) of Ministers. I inserted the second Wednesday of June as the time of meeting ; Cobourg, or Toronto, as the place of meeting. With the aid of a professional gentleman (whom I could only get for a small portion of each day) the draft of Charter was prepared after a delay of five weeks. This draft was approved, with the exception of the words : Wesleyan Methodist Church, for which the Solicitor-General had substituted the words: Wesleyan Methodist Connexion, as the designation of the Body on whose behalf a Charter was to be granted. In a letter to Sir George Grey I stated my reasons why the word Church should be retained, as the Wesleyan ministers, under whose superintendence the Academy is to be placed, had been licensed (under the Provincial Statute referred to in the Charter) as Ministers of the Wesleyan Methodist Church in Canada. To these reasons the Crown Officers yielded, and thus the Charter was completed. I then renewed my application ioi receiving aid from the Casual and Territorial Revenue ol' tipper Canada. In reply, I was assured that the Lieutenant-Governor would be directed to bring the claims of the Academy before the notice of the Provincial Legislature. Dr. Ryerson concludes : — Thus terminated this protracted correspondence of more than six months, during the whole of which time I was enabled to cleave to and maintain my original purpose ; though I had to encounter successive, discouraging, and almost insurmountable difficulties. Not having been able to effect any loan from private individuals, on account of the agitated state of the Canadas — being in suspense as to the result of my application to the Government, I * Sir J. Campbell, afterwards Chief Justice, and Sir R. M. Rolfe, afterwards a Baron of the Exchequer. 166 THE STOBY OF MY LIFE. [Chap. XVL was several months pressed down with anxiety and fear by this suspense, and by reason of the failure of my efforts to obtain relief. In this anxiety and fear my own unassisted resolution and fortitude could not sustain me. I had to rely upon the unfailing support of the Lord, my God. In my negotiations for the Charter, I was uniformly treated with courtesy and kindness in the Colonial office, and by the several members of Hia Majesty's Government. Praise God 1 In a letter written to Dr. Alder, after Dr. Ryerson had returned from England, the latter said : — We have not yet received a farthing of the Government grant to our Academy. The Governor's reply still is, there is no money in the treasury ; but he has given us his written promise, and offered his word to any of the banks, that it shall be paid out of the first money which had not been previously appropriated. But, strange to say, there is not a bank or banker in Upper Canada that will take the Governor's promise for ^100. Mr. Receiver- General Dunn kindly lent, out of his own pocket, to my brother John, about ^1,200 for the Academy, upon my brother's receipt, remarking at the same time that he did it upon his credit, and out of respect to the Methodists, but that he could place no dependence upon the word of Sir Francis in the matter. We are thus pressed to beg or borrow in relation to the Academy as much as ever, or even worse, for several of us are individu- ally responsible for ;^2,200, besides Mr. Farmer's loan of ;^800. At our recent Academy Board Meeting, the damages of Mr. Lord's protested bills came under consideration. The circumstances of the case are briefly as follows: — Mr. Lord's sincere desire and zeal to promote the interests of the Institution and Connexion generally, were admitted and appreciated by all the brethren; but it appears, 1. That a large portion of the debts were incurred in compliance with the advice of Mr. Lord, and in consequence of his influence as the representative of the British Connexion. He assured the Sub-Committee at Cobourg that money should be forthcoming, and if necessary he would go to England and beg it , that John Bull never stopped when he commenced a thing, etc.; that Mr. Lord did that contrary to the recommendation of the Conference Committee, and against the advice and even remonstrance of the Chairman of the District (John Ryerson), who had been appointed by the Conference to see that the Sub-Committee bhould not exceed the appropriations of the Conference, as they had done in former years. 2. The premises were mortgaged to Mr. Lord as security for the sum of ^^2,500, some of which has not been advanced, and the payments of which he did advance were provided for (with the exception of two or three hundred pounds) by the brethren in this Province. 3. After Mr. Loid received information from the Committee in London that his bills would not be honoured, he called a meeting of the Board — stated his difficulties — got individuals to allow him to draw upon them to meet the bills on their return, and sent me to England. 4. Mr. Lord assured our Conference at Belleville, June, 1836, that the brethren here would never be called upon to pay a farthing of the damages for non-payment of his bills. I believe that no man could feel more earnestly desirous to promote the interests of the Canadian Connexion in every respect than he did. It is also the full con- viction of our leading brethren that had I attended the American General Conference, instead of being in England, such an arrangement would have been made as to have secured to our Connexion what was due us fiom the New York Book Concern — which amounts to more than I obtained in England, besides the mortification and mental suffering which I experienced in my most unpleasant engagements, notwithstanding the sympathy and never-to-be-forgotten kindness of many of my lathers and brethren of the parent Connexion, I CHAPTER XVIL 1836. Publication of The Hume and Roebuck Letters. N a letter from London, dated 29th April, 1 836, Dr. Ryerson said : — This day week I went to the House of Commons to hear the debates on the motions relative to the Canadas, of which Messrs. Roebuck and Hume had given notice. As Mr. Roebuck was about to bring forward his motion, the House of 202 mem- bers thinned to 50 or 60 members. Under these circumstances he postponed it for a week, in the hope that a sufficient number of members would give him an opportunity to make a speech in leturn for the £1,100 a year paid to him as Agent of " the poor and oppressed Canadians." When Mr. Hume brought forward his motion there were only 43 members present. I thought how much Canada was benefitted by such men who- could only command the attention of 50 out of the 658 mem- bers of the House of Commons ! I know not a man more disliked and despised by all parties in the House than is Mr. Roebuck — a man who has been employed to establish (as he says in one of his letters to Mr. Papineau) a " pure democracy in the Canadas." One of the serious drawbacks to the credit and interests of our country, amongst public and business men of all parties in England, is their supposed connection with such a restless political cynic as Mr. Roebuck, and such an acknowledged and avowed colonial separationist as Mr. Hume. In regard to these proceedings of Messrs. Hume and Roebuck, Dr. Ryerson writes, in this part of the Story of his Life, sls follows : — It was during the early part of 1836 that I was accosted by almost every gentleman to whom I was introduced in England with words, "You in Canada are going to separate from England,, and set up a republic for yourselves !" I denied that there was any such feeling among the people of Canada, who desired certain reforms, and redress of grievances, but were as loyal as any people in England. After the Canadian elections of 1836, Dr. Charles Duncombe 1G8 THE STORY OF MY LIFE. [Chap. XVII. (afterwards leader of the rebels in the County of Oxford) came to England, the bearer of petitions got up by Mr. W. L. Mac- kenzie and his partizans, and crammed Mr. Hume to make a formidable assault upon the British Canadian Government. In presenting the Canadian petition Mr. Hume made an elaborate speech, full of exaggerations and mis-statements from beginning to end. I was requested to take a seat under the gallery, and, while Mr. Hume was speaking as the mouth -piece of Dr. C. Duncombe, I furnished Lord Sandon and Mr. W. E. Gladstone with the materials for answers to Mr. Hume's mis-statements. Mr. Gladstone's quick perception, with Lord Sandon's prompt- ings, kept the House in a roar of laughter at Mr. Hume's expense for more than an hour ; the wonder being how Mr. Gladstone was so thoroughly informed on Canadian affairs. No member of the House of Commons seemed to be more astonished and confounded than Mr. Hume himself. He made no reply, and, as far as I know, never after spoke on Canadian affairs ; and Mr. Eoebuck soon ceased to be Agent for the Lower Canada House of Assembly. He has since become an ultra Con- servative ! In a letter from London, dated 1st June, Dr. Ryerson says: — Before Dr. Duncombe arrived in England, and seeing how much injury was being done to the reputation and influence of Canada by these representations, I commenced a series of letters, in the London Times, designed to expose the machin- ations and mis-statements of Messrs. Hume and Roebuck in England, in regard to matters in Upper Canada, showing from their own letters to Messrs. Papineau and Mackenzie that they were the first prompters of the project.* To-day I also addressed a letter to Sir George Grey, Under-Secretary for the Colonies, on the political crisis in that Province. After discussing several matters relating to the recent election of a new House of Assembly, I concluded as follows: — As the affairs of the Province will now be taken into consideration by His Majesty's -Government, there are three subjects on which I would respectfully request an interview with Lord Glenelg, yourself, iind Mr. [Sir James] Stephen. 1. The Clergy Reserve question — a plan to meet the circumstances of the Province, and yet not deprive the clergy of the Churqh of England of an adequate support. 2. The Legislative Council — how it may be rendered more influential and popular, without rendering it elective, or infringing (but rather strengthening) the prerogatives of the Crown. 3. The Executive — how its just authority, influence * The British North American Association of Merchants had these letters reprinted from The Times newspaper, and a copy sent to each member of Parlia- ment, both of the Lords and Commons. They were signed, " A Canadian." 18361 THE STORY OF MY LIFE. IGf) and popularity may be promoted and established, so as to prevent the occurrence of that embarrassment in which it is now involved, not from improper acts, but from an actual deficiency of the requisite operative means to secure the Royal Prerogative from insult and invasion. I am aware that each of these subjects is surrounded with difficulty, and that no plan proposed will be entirely free from objection, but I should like to state the views which my acquaintance with the Province has impressed on my own mind, and which I have not seen suggested in any official document or public journal, but which have been favourably thought of by two or three respectable gentlemen connected with Canada, to whom I have stated them. In reply, Lord Glenelg appointed the following Monday for the desired interview. I afterwards embodied the substance of my views in a letter to Sir George Grey. No further reference is made to this interview by Dr. Eyerson. But in a letter from him, dated 21st July, he says : — I was applied to, and did, in my individual capacity, communicate to the Colonial Secretary frequently, and in one or two instances at great len^^th, on the posture of Canadian affairs ; and the parties and principal questions which have divided and agitated the Canadian public. I repeatedly received the thanks of the Secretary of State for the Colonies, for the pains which I had taken in these matters ; but what influence my communications may have had, or may have, on the policy of His Majesty's Government towards the Canadas is not for me to say, as I desired Lord Glenelg not to assume, prima facie, as correct, any of my representations, but to examine my authorities — to weigh my arguments — to hear what could be said by others — as I had no friends to recommend to office, and no personal interests to promote, only the religious and general peace and prosperity of the Canadas, and the maintenance of a firm and mutually beneficial connection between these Colonies and the parent State. I think I have good reason to believe that much more correct and decided views are entertained by His Majesty's ministers and many public men in England, in respect to the interests and government of the Canadas, than were possessed by them six months ago ; and that all of those inhabitants of the Colonies, who patriotically maintain their Christian and constitutional allegiance, will ensure the respect, equal and firm protection, and parental regard of their Sovereign and his government, by whatever party it may be administered. In a letter from London, dated 26th July (page 154), Dr. Ryerson says: — Mr. William Lunn, of Montreal, has just arrived from Quebec. He informs me that — My letters to the London Times, on Hume and Roebuck, have produced the most amazing effect upon the public mind of the Province, of anything that I ever wrote. To the Lord be all the praise for his great goodness, after all our toil and suffering. There is nothing like integrity of principle and faithfulness in duty, in humble dependence upon the Lord, and with an eye to His glory I CHAPTER XVIIl. 1836-1837. Important Events Transpiring in Upper Canada. DR Ryerson was absent in England from 20th November, 1835, to 12th June, 1837. On the 15th of January, 1836, Sir John Colborne, by order in Council, endowed fifty-seven Rectories in Upper Canada out of the Clergy Reserve Lands. On the 23rd of that month Sir F. B. Head, the new Governor, arrived in Toronto. On the 14th of January following, he opened the Session of the Legislature. What followed was re- ported to Dr. Ryerson by his friend, Mr. S. S. Junkin, in a letter, dated, Toronto, 1st May: — Our Parliament was prorogued on the 20th April, after such a session as was never before known in Upper Canada. You will form some idea of the state of affairs when I tell you that it " stopped the supplies," and the Gov- ernor reserved all of the money bills, (twelve) — including that for the contin- gences of the House, — for the King's pleasure. The immediate cause of the rupture between the new Gover- nor (Sir F. B. Head) and the House of Assembly — Arose out of the resignation of the Executive Council. On the 20th February, the Governor (as directed by Lord Glenelg) added three Reformers to his Council, viz. : Messrs. Robert Baldwin, John Rolph, and John Henry Dunn. On the 4th March, these gentlemen and the Conservative members, (Messrs. Peter Robinson, George H. Markland, and Joseph Wells) resigned. They complained that they were held responsible for measures which they never advised, and for a policy to which they were strangers. In reply the Governor stated in substance that he alone was responsible for the acts of his government, and was at liberty to have resource to their advice only when he required it; but that to consult them on all questions would be "utterly impossible." This answer was referred to a Committee of the House of Assembly, which brought in a report censuring the Governor in the strongest terms. Oft the 14th March, Sir F. B. Head appointed Messrs. R. B. Sulli- van, William Allan, Augustus Baldwin, and John Elmsley, as his new Executive Council. On the 17th the House declared its entire want of confidence in the new Council, and stated that in retaining them the Governor violated the instructions of the Colonial Secretary to the Gover- nor, to appoint Councillors who possessed the confidence of the people. Much recrimination followed ; at length Sir F. B. Head dissolved the House, and directed that a new election be held. In regard to this election. Dr. Ryersofi, in the " Epochs of Canadian Methodism " (page 22C) says : — 183G-37] THE STORY OF MY LIFE, ' 171 Sir F. B. Head adroitly turned the issue, not on the question of the Clergy Keserves, or of other practical questions, but on the question of con- noction with the mother country, and of Republicanism vs. Monarchy, as • had been recommended by Messrs. Hume and Roebuck, and advocated by Messrs. Mackenzie and Papineau. This was successful, inasmuch as those Reformers who would not disavow their connection with Messrs. Mackenzie, Hume and Roebuck, lost their election ; for though not more than half a dozen had any sympathy with the sentiments of Messrs. Hume, Roebuck, Papineau, and Mackenzie, they did not wish to break the unity of the Reform party by repudiating them, and suffered defeat in consequence at the elections. The succcessful candidates, generally, while they repudiated Republican separation from the mother country, promised fide'ity to the oft- expressed and well-known wishes of the people in the settlement of the Clergy Reserve question, which, however, they failed to fulHL In a letter to Dr. Ryerson, from Hallowell, his brother William said: — Our loyal address, a very moderate one, to the Governor, was carried unanimously — all the young Preachers on trial being allowed to vote on that occasion. This is equally gratifying and surprising to all the friends of British supremacy. A gentleman from Montreal, who was present, was so surprised, and I may say, delighted, that he could hardly contain himself. I did not know for a short lime, but he would be constrained from the violence of his feeling to jump up and shout. The Conference also adopted a very good address to the King. (See page 162.) We are on the eve of a new election. The excitement through the country at large exceeds anything I have ever known. There would be very little cause for doubt or fear as to the results, were it not for one of the last act.s of Sir John Colborne's administration, in establishing and endowing nearly sixty Rectories. Knowing, as I do, that the public mind is fctrongly opposed to any measure of that sort, or any step towards legalizing a church establishment, yet I could not believe the feeling was so strong as it actual y is. If the elections should turn out disastrously to the best interest of the country, the result can only be attributed to that unjust and most unpolitic act. We are willing to do all that we consistently can, but everywhere the rectory question meets us. While I am compelled to believe that a vast majority are devotedly loyal to our gracious Sovereign, yet the best and most affectionate sulijects of the King would almost prefer revolution to the establishmei^t of a dominant Church thus sought to be imposed on us. In a letter to Dr. Eyerson, from Toronto, his brother John says : — The late elections agitated the Societies very much in some places, but they are now settling down to " quietness and assurance." I hope that the worst of the storm is over. The Governor is a talented man, but very little magisterial dignity about him. He takes good care to let every one know that he esteems every day alike, travelling on Sabbaths the same as otlier days. Indeed he seems to have no idea of religion at all, but is purely a man of pleasure. His popularity will soon be upon the wane if he does not mend in these respects. The friends in Kingston are very anxiously looking for your return, and are becoming quite discontented and out of patience. They complained bitterly to me of your long absence, and were anxious to have me stay with them until you return. CHAPTER XIX. 1837-1839. Retuen to Canada. — The Chapel Pkoperty Cases. IN this part of the " Story " of his life, Dr. Ryerson has only left the following sentence : — At the Conference held after my return to Canada, in June, I declined re-election as Editor of the Christian Guardian, having promised my Kingston brethren, from whom I had been suddenly removed in Novem- ber, 1835, that I would remain with them at least one year on my return from England. After Conference, Dr. Ryerson (with Rev. E. Healy) attended as a deputation to the Black River Conference. He said : — The Conference was presided over by Bishop Hedding, who, in strong and affecting language, expressed bis feelings of respect and love for our Con- nexion in Canada. In reply, I reiterated the expression of our profound respect and affection for our honoured friend and father in the Gospel ; by the imposition of whose hands, I, and several other brethren in Canada, have been set apart to the Holy Ministry. After my return to Kingston, brother Healy and I received from the Black River Conference a compli- mentary resolution in regard to our visit. In enclosing it to me, Rev. Jesse T. Peck, the Secretary [afterwards Bishop], said :— Allow me humbly, but earnestly, to beg a continuance of that friendship with yoti, which in its commencement has afforded me so much pleasure. In August of this year, 1837, the celebrated trial of the Waterloo Chapel case* took place before Mr. Justice Macaulay, at the Kingston Assizes, and a verdict was given against the Wesleyan Methodists. It was subsequently appealed to the Court of King's Bench, at Toronto. Three elaborate judgments were delivered on the case. Rev. John Ryerson was a good deal exercised as to the ill effects, upon the connexional church property, of Judge Macaulay 's adverse decision. In a letter to* Dr. Ryerson, he said ; — We are much troubled and perplexed, here in Toronto, about the Waterloo Chapel case. I saw the Attorney-General on the subject to-day. When Judge Macaulay 's judgment is published, I hope you will carefully review the whole matter, and lay the thing before the public in such a way as to produce conviction. Everybody is inquiring whether or not you will take up the subject. * Between the Episcopal and Wesleyan Methodists for the possession of the Church property. Waterloo was four miles north of Kingston. 1S37-39] THE STORY OF MY LIFE. . 173 An appeal was made to the King's Bench at Toronto. This Court — Set aside the verdict of the lower Court, and ordered a new trial. . . At this second trial, as also that respecting the Belleville Church property case, [November, 1837], .... the whole matter was "ventilated," and the result was that the legal decision of the highest judicial tribunal of the land confirmed the Wesleyan Methodist Church as the rightful owner of the Church property, it being the true representative and successor of the original Methodist Episcopal Church in Canada. These litigations extended over more than two years, and the friends of Zion and of peace greatly rejoiced when they were brought to a just and final settlement. (Epochs of Canadian Methodism, pages 278, 279.) In regard to these three judgments on the case, Dr. Ryerson said : — During the latter part of this month I have devoted such time as I could spare to a lengthened review for the Guardian^ of the elaborate judgments of Chief Justice Eobinson, and Justices Macaulay and Sherwood, on the Waterloo Chapel case.* The opinion of the Chief Justice displays profound research, acute discrimination, and sound judgment. The opinion of Mr. Justice Macaulay indicates great labour and strict religious scrupulosity. The opinion of Mr. Justice Sherwood betrays great want of acquaintance with the discipline, usages, and general history of Methodism. To the Methodist Connexion the conflict of opinion and confusion of reasoning of these learned judges are most prejudicial and disastrous. I have therefore sought, in the "review," to set forth the true facts of this abstruse case — facts connected with the history of Methodism — facts, with the most material of which I am personally acquainted, and in the progress of which I have been called to act a conspicuous part. In regard to this "review," Rev. E. Healy wrote to Dr. Kyerson, from Brockville, and said : — I have read your review of the opinion of the judges, and am happy to see it. What the judges will do with you, I do not know. You are con- sidered, 1 believe, by some in this part of the country, as part man and part demon. This is one reason, doubtless, why I am also so bad a man, as I have said so much in your favour. Rev. Hannibal Mulkins,-|* writing from Whitby on this subject, said : — The agitation which was anticipated by some of the preachers at the last Conference, and which has existed in some degree has happily subsided, notwithstanding the most vigorous efforts have been made, and all the arts of calumny and misrepresentation, employed to harrass, to worry, and devour. I was very glad to see your " review " of the opinions of the Judges in the Chapel case. I have read it with much satisfaction. On this circuit, notwithstanding the prejudices of some individuals, it has been perused with general delight, and to our Iriends in particular it has been liighly satisfactory. * The Review is inserted in the Grmrdian^ vol. viii., pages 169-178. The Belleville case was published in pamphlet form. t This gentleman entered the Wesleyan ministry in 1835, but joined the Church of England in 1840. He was for many years Chaplain to the Penitentiary, at Kings- ton, and always retained a warm regard for Dr. Byerson. He died in 1877, aged 65 years. 174 ' THE STORY OF MY LIFE [Chap. XTX. Dr. Ryerson, in a letter from New York, dated November, 1837, says :— I have just returned from an extended tour of about 500 miles in the Middle and Southern States, in order to obtain information and evidence relative to the organization of the Methodist Church in America, the character of its Episcopacy, and the powers of the General Conference — points which involve the issue of our chapel property case. From the mass of testimony and information I have been able to collect, by seeing every preacher in this continent who was in the work in 1784, relative to the character of Methodist Episcopacy, and the powers of the General Confer- ence, I feel no doubt as to the result. J Rev. Joseph Stinson, in making his report on the same subject, said : — I spent a whole day with Bishop Hedding, and had mnch conversation with him about our aifairs generally. He told me that the American Methodist Church had never regarded Episcopacy as a Divine ordinance— nor as an essential doctrine of the Church — but as an expedient form of ecclesiastical government, which could be modified by the General Conference, or even dispensed with without violating the great principles of Methodism. The Bishop is of the opinion, however, that if our Courts decide against us, we shall hdve to return to Episcopacy, and that the first Bishop should be ordained by the Bishops of the American Church. Dr. Eyerson, in the same November letter, says : — I have also accompanied Mr, Stinson to render him what assistance I could, in examining Manual Labour Schools, with a view to establishing one for the benefit of our Indian youth — an object of the very greatest importance, both to the religious and civil interests of our aboriginal fellow countrymen. Also to get from the New York Missionary Board a sum of money for the Indian work which was expected from them before our Union with the English Conference. In a letter to Dr. Alder, written from New York in the same month. Dr. Ryerson said : — The concern of our preachers and friends on the Chapel case is deep and truly affecting. As I took so responsible a part in the Union, I cannot describe my feelings on this question. At the request of our brethren I have undertaken to do what I could to secure our Church property from the party claiming it. I have travelled nearly 500 miles this week for that purpose. But it is cheering amidst all our difficulties, and the commotions of the political elements, that our preachers, I believe, without exception, are of one heart — that our societies are in peace — that the work of our blessed Lord is reviving in many of the circuits, although the cause in Kingston suffers, and my dear brethren there complain, in consequence of my connexional engagements and absence from them. X The particulars here referred to are given in detail in the ** Epochs of Cana- dian Methodism," pages 279-281.' CHAPTER XX. 1837. The Coming Crists. — Rebellion of 1837, AS Dr. Ryersoii had anticipated, the combined effects of the publication of his "impressions," in 1833; his letters expos- ing the designs of Messrs. Hume, Roebuck, and Mackenzie in 1837 ; the secession of a section of the Methodist Church, and the disputes consequent thereon (culminating in the Waterloo and Belleville Chapel suits) — in which he took a leading part — provoked the parties concerned to active hostility against him. He had, however, many warm friends, especially among his ministerial brethren. One of these was Rev. John Black, in the Bay of Quinte District, — a quaint, but true and warm-hearted man. In inviting him to take part in the Quarterly Meeting services, at Napanee, Mr. Black indulges in a little playful satire, as follows : — It appears that there are some amongst us here whom we dare not nnmher amongst your friends, and who prophesied that you would never return from England— that you dare not, etc. Now we wish to afford them living proof of their vanity in prophesying, by your presence amongst them. Besides, on the other hand, the good-hearted brethren amongst us greatly rejoiced on hearing of your successful mission to England, and they wish to see and hear you once more. Somewhat in Rev. John Black's spirit of kindly raillery, Rev. John C. Davidson, of Hallo well, in inviting Dr. Ryerson to take part in a Camp -meeting (and after mentioning several inducements), said : — I would mention another inducement for you to come, viz. : the multi- plicity of warm friends and virulent enemies you have on this circuit Your presence and preaching will atford pleasure and profit to your friends, and will very much tend, in my opinion, to disarm the groundless prejudice entertained by many others against you. In a more serious letter to Dr. Ryerson, dated Cobourg, 16th November, 1837, Rev. Anson Green gives expression to a general feeling of uneasiness and distrust which prevailed everywhere in the country at that time : — I pity you most sincerely. You have a storm about your ears that you must bear, if you do not bow before it. In these perilous times a man 176 THE STOEY OF MY LIFE. [Chap. XX. scarcely knows what to advise. I fear that destruction awaits us on either hand. With the Kadicals we are Tories ; and with the Tories we are Rebels. It is said by the Rebels here that they have money enough, and men enousjh, and guns enough, and that the plans are so laid that there can be no mistake. The Government appears to be in possession of these facts. Thus far the proceedings of the Rebels do not show much wisdom, or skill, in laying plans, or in executing them. I am mistaken if they stop short of a civil war. I very much regret that you should be under the necessity of coming in contact with Governor Head in any one thing. I could not be a rebel ; my conscience and religion forbid it ; and, on the other hand, I could not fight for the Rectories and Churcli domination- I think them both to be great evils, and I have resolved to choose neither. I believe that in Haldimand and Cramahe townships there are twenty rebels to one sincere loyalist. Brother Wilson, (son of old Father Wilson), says that his life has been threatened for circulating the petition which you sent down, and others are iu a similar condition. What will be the effect of all this I cannot say, but I have thought from the beginning that either the Rectories must be abolished, and a suitable disposition made of the Reserves, or a change of Government will ensue. And if the Church party have it all in their own hands to make peace, by allowing other Churches to enjoy equal privileges with themselves, and do not do so, they must bear the responsibility of all the bloodshed and carnage that may ensue. I fear that they are so perfectly infatuated that they will suffer utter destruction, and choose it rather than equal and impartial justice. On the 5th December, 1837, Dr. Kyerson reached Cobourg on his way to Toronto. When he arrived there, Elders Case and Green, and other friends, thought that as his life had been threatened it would be unsafe for him to proceed to Toronto.* He, therefore, waited there for further news, and, in the mean- time, wrote to a friend in Kingston, on the 6th, as follows : — You will recollect my mentioning that I pressed upon Sir Francis the propriety and importance of making some prudent provision for the defence of the city, in case any party should be urged on in the madness of rebellion so far as to attack it. He is much blamed here on account of his overweening confi- dence, and foolish and culpable negligence in this respect. There was great excitement in this town and neighbourhood last night. To-day all is anxiety and hurry. The militia is called out to put down the rebellion of the very man whose seditious paper many of them have supported, and whom they have countenanced. The precepts of the Bible and the example of the early Christians, leave me no occasion for second thoughts as to my duty, namely, to pray for and support the " powers that be," whether I admire them or not, and to implore the defeat of " fiery conspiracy and rebellion." And I doubt not that the sequel will in this, as in other cases, show that the path of * Dr. Ryerson in his " Epochs of Canadian Methodism," page 314, says : — It had been agreed by W. L. Mackenzie and his fellow rebels, in 1837, to hang Kgerton Ryerson on the first tree they met with, could they apprehend him. 1835-36] THE STORY OF MY LIFE. 177 duty is that of wisdom, if not of safety. I am aware that my head would be regarded as something of a prize by the rebels ; but I feel not in the least degree agitated. I trust implicitly in that God whom I have endeavoured — though imperfectly and unfaithfully — to serve ; being assured nothing will harm us, but that all things, whether life or death, will work together for our good if we be followers of that which is good. Let us trust in the Lord, and do good, and He will never leave nor forsake us ! About 700 armed men have left this district to-day for Toronto, in order to put down the rebels There is an unani- mity and determination among the people to quash rebellion and support the law that I hardly expected. The country is safe, but it is a " gone day with the rebel party." In a graphic letter to Dr. E-yerson, written on the 5th December, by his brother William, at Toronto, the scenes at the emeute in that city are thus described : — Last night, about 12 or 1 o'clock, the bells rang with great violence ; we. all thought it was an alarm of fire, but being unable to see any light, we- thought it was a false alarm, and we remained quiet until this morning,, when, on visiting the market-place, I found a large number of persons serving out arms to others as fast as they possibly could. Among many others we saw the Lieutenant-Governor, in his every-day suit, with one double-barrelled! gun in his hand, another leaning against his breast, and a brace of pistols in. his leather belt. Also, Chief Justice Robinson, Judges Macaulay, Jones,, and McLean, the Attorney-General, and Solicitor-General, with their muskets, cartridge boxes and bayonets, all standing in the ranks as private soldiers, under the command of Colonel Fitzgibbon. ' I assure you it ia- impossible for me to describe my feelings. I enquired of Judge McLean, who informed me that an express had arrived at the Government House late last night, giving intelligence that the Radicals had assembled in great force at Montgomery's, on Yonge Street, and were in full march for the city ; that- the Governor had sent out two persons, Mr. A. McDonell and Aid. J. Powell, to obtain information (both of whom had been made prisoners, but escaped). Dr. Home's house is now in flames. I feel very calm and composed in my own mind. Brother John thinks it will not be wise for you to come through all the way from Kingston. You would not be safe in visiting this wretched part of the country at the present. You know the feelings that are entertained against you. Your life would doubtless be industriously sought. My dear brother, farewell. May God mercifully bless and keep you from all the difficulties and dangers we are in ! Rev. William Ryerson further writes, on the 8th December : About 10 o'clock to-day about 2,000 men, headed by the Lieut.-Governor, with Judge Jones, the Attorney-General and Capt. Halkett, as his aides-de- camp, and commanded by Cols. Fitzgibbon and Allan N. Macnab, Speaker of the House, left the city to attack the rebels at Montgomery's. After a little skirmishing in which we had three men wounded but none killed, the main body commenced a very spirited attack on their head-quarters at Montgomery's large house. Alter a few shots from two six-pounders, and a few volleys of musketry, the most of the party fled and made their escape. The rest of them were taken prisoners. There were also three or 12 173 THE STOBY OF MY LIFE. [Chap. XX, four killed and several wounded. After which His Excellency ordered the buildings to be burnt to the ground, and the whole force returned to the city. All the leaders succeeded in making their escape, A royal proclama- tion has just been issued offering ^1,000 for the apprehension of Mackenzie, and £500 for that of Samuel Lount, David Gibson, Silas Fletcher, and Jesse Lloyd; so that now, through the mercy of God, we have peace, and feel safe again, for which we desire to feel sincerely thankful. Dr. Ryerson, having reached Toronto safely, and knowing how anxious his parents would be to know something definite as to the state of affairs, wrote a letter to his Father on the 18th December, as follows : — I have been trying to get time to make you and Mother a visit of at least one night ; but I iind it quite out of my power to secure the enjoyment of so precious a privilege. It is remarkable that every man, with very few exceptions, who has left our Church and joined in the unprincipled crusade which has been made against us, has either been an active promoter of this plot, or so far connected with it as to* be ruined in his character and prospects by the timely discovery and defeat of it ! I have been deeply affected at hearing of some unhappy examples, among old acquaintances, of this description. I feel thankful that I have been enabled to do my duty from the beginning in this matter. Four years ago, I perceived and began to warn the public of the revolutionary :tendency and spirit of Mackenzie's proceedings. Perhaps you may recollect that in a long article in the Guardian, four years ago this winter, headed " Revolutionary Symptoms," I pointed out, to the great displeasure of even some of my friends, what has come to pass. It is also a matter of thankfulness that every one of our family and marriage connections, near and remote, is on the side of law, reason, and religion in this affair. Such indications of the Divine goodness are a fresh encouragement to me to renew my covenant engagement with my gracious Redeemer, to serve Him and His cause with greater zeal and faithfulness. I hope, my dear Father, you are employing your last days in preparing for your approaching change, and for standing before the bar of God. My poor prayers are daily offered up in your behalf. Much travelling and other engagements have hitherto prevented me from writing to you as I would ; but, hereafter, the first Monday in each month shall be considered as belong- ing to my dear aged Parents, in praying for or writing to them. '^j dutiful respects and love to my dear Mother. I would esteem it a great favour and privilege to receive a few lines from you or her. CHAPTER XXL 1837-1838. Sir F. B. Head and the Upper Canada Academy. LORD Glenelof, as agreed, when Dr. Ryerson was in England, (page 165,) directed Lieutenant-Governor Sir F. B. Head to bring the pecuniary claims of the Upper Canada Academy before the Legislature. This he did in February, 1837. A committee (of which Hon. W. H. Draper was chairman)* brought in an excellent report on the subject. The House of Assembly by a vote of 31 to 10 agreed to advance $16,400 to the Academy. The Legislative Council, on motion of Hon. J. Elmsley, made such onerous conditions as virtually defeated the bill, and no relief was granted. -|- Dr. Ryerson, then in England, pressed the matter most urgently upon Lord Glenelg, who in April 1837, sent directions to Sir F. B. Head to advance the money without delay. This, on various pretexts, he refused to do; but when the Legislature opened in January, 1838, he sent a message to the House, which Dr. Ryerson, then in Toronto, thus describes, in a letter to a friend at Kingston, dated February 3rd, 1838. He said: — * At the Conference of this year resolutions of thanks were passed to Mr. Draper, and were sent to him by Dr. Ryerson, the Secretary. Mr. Draper's reply was as follows : — I feel deeply indebted to the Conference of the Wesleyan Methodist Church for the honour conferred upon me in deeming my humble exertions in the cause of Christian education worthy of their approbation, and I trust I shall never forget their good opinion. I cannot, at the same time, pass by the opportunity of thanking you for the terms in which you have communicated that resolution to me, and of expressing my satisfaction that I have in any degree contributed to the success of your unwearied exertions in behalf of the Upper Canada Academy in England. I sincerely rejoice that you were enabled to obtain that aid for its completion, which was so necessary and so well deserved. t In a letter to Dr. Ryerson, his brother William thus accounts for the failure to get the grant : To the miserable Missionary grant of £900 to the English Conference we are chiefly indebted for the loss of the Bill for the relief of the Upper Canada Academy, as we are positively informed by our best friends in the House of Assembly. It has also been the means of depriving many of the preachers of a considerable part of their small salary, and in one or two instances, of the whole of it. It has, and still does more to weaken our hands, and to embarrass our labours, and also to strengthen the hands and to increase the num- ber of our enemies, than almost any or all other causes put together. 1 so TEE STOBY OF MY LIFE. [Chap. XXI. Instead of giving us the promised money for the Upper Canada Academy, Sir Francis Head has sent a part of the corres- pondence with Lord Glenelg and with me down to the House of Assembly, with a message in which he implicates me, as also a letter to Lord Glenelg, written a few weeks after my return from England, in which he impeaches me. I have, in consequence, drawn up a petition to the House, filling six large sheets, exposing the whole of his conduct towards us, vin- dicating myself from the charges contained in his despatches, and proposing to establish every fact which I have stated before a select Committee of the House of Assembly. My petition was presented this morning. According to rule, a petition has to lie on the table for twenty-four hours before it is read. But a motion was made and agreed to, to dispense with the rule, and read my petition. It was then read, and created a great sensa- tion. It was then moved that 200 copies of it be printed, together with all the documents sent down by the Governor, to which the petition referred. After discussion the motion was carried by a vote of 33 to 4. This was, of course, very gratifying to my feelings, as it must be extremely mortifying to the Governor. This is the first petition that has been ordered to be printed by the present — Sir Francis' own — Parliament. The dispensing with the rule, and giving such a petition the preference, was the highest mark of respect which the House could have shown me. I have not felt so much agitated with anything for years, as with this matter. I am now greatly relieved. I feel as if the Lord God of Hosts was on our side. The Governor clearly thought that as he was so greatly lauded and had become so famous a conqueror, we would not dare to come out against him before the public, or meet him face to face before the Assembly. On the 16th, Dr. Ryerson again writes to Kingston: — This Academy "business is a most painful one to me. The Legislative oouncil and the House of Assembly have each appointed a select Committee on the subject. But I am afraid we will get nothing until we hear Irom Lord Glenelg. My mind has been, and is, in a great degree depressed beyond expression, in regard to our circumstances. My only trust is in Him who has thus far- brought us through, and turned the designs of our enemies to our account. For the last two days I have been as low as I was at my lowest in London. In addition to Dr. Ryerson's petition to both Houses, he made a separate Appeal to members of the Assembly. In it he stated in substance that Sir Francis Head — Had already issued his warrant for $8,200 ; that he was informed in December, 1837, not merely verbally, but in writing, by Hon. J. H Dunn, Receiver-General, that he had iunds with which to pay the balance ($8,200), yet the Governor refused to issue the requisite warrant for it, on the plea of 1837-38] TEE STORY OF MY LIFE. 181 much business ; but said that Mr. Dunn had all the warrant that was necessary. In January he again declined to issue the warrant, and excused himself by saying that Mr. Dunn required no further authority. When, later in the month. Dr. Ryerson had not only removed every variety of objection and excuse, but sent a note from Mr. Dunn saying that he had the necessary funds. Sir F. B. Head stated that he '* must see one or two of his councillors." After he had done so, he wrote a note to Dr. Ryerson to say that he had misled him, as to the advance being a grant instead of a loan, etc. On 21st February, the House of Assembly recommended that the balance be paid over at once. It pointed out that Dr. Ryerson had become personally liable to the banks for $3,400, and Revs. John Ryerson and E. Evans for $2,000 of the balance due ; that although grants were constantly being made by the House, yet there was no precedent for a loan ; and that as to whether the advance was to be a grant or a loan they would abstain from offering an opinion. This report had the desired effect. The money was paid. On the 22nd February, Dr. Ryerson was, therefore, enabled to write to his friend in Kingston, to say that The prayer of my petition has been this day complied with by a unani- mous vote of the House of Assembly; and the Hon. Mr. Draper told Brother Evans that His Excellency would issue his warrant for the money as soon as the Address of the Assembly is presented. Not a man in the Assembly would risk his reputation in defence of the conduct of the Governor in this affair. The Report of the Committee was received, and the Address passed two readings last night and one this morning, and without one word from any member of the Assembly in the way of comment or remark. The Com- mittee of the Legislative Council has actually declined entering into the investigation of the subject at all, as had been desired by His Excellency. Thus has Sir Francis Head not only disgraced himself, but helped us*. I thank the Lord for His blessing thus far. We will still trust in Him, and not be afraid. Tories, Radicals, and the Governor, have each had their turn at us. I hope we may now be allowed to live in peace. The result of this affair has in some measure compensated me for the anxiety of mind I have endured. After this unpleasant controversy with Sir F. B. Head was over. Rev., Anson Green wrote to Dr. Ryerson as follows: — How do you feel after your brush with Sir Francis ? You need not feel very downcast, having attained so triumphant a victory. I doubt not but Sir Francis would willingly pay double the amount claimed by us, if he could have prevented the result which has happened. It is too late, however, to recall it now. I hope he will learn wisdom from the past, and not be so self-willed and headstrong in future. No one seems pleased with him but those whose praise is a reproach. Rev. W. H. Harvard, in a letter from Kingston, said : — I am truly pained at the conduct of the Lieutenant-Governor, and Sympathize with you in thus being brought into such an unavoidable collision with him. I am more than grieved that he should use us so ungenerously. I am glad that you are the warrior, for you will combine caution and courage, and will come off more than conqueror. You are at present the centre of our solicitude. I pray that your heart may be comforted and con- trolled from above. We are the Lord's covenanted, consecrated servants. In His work we are employed. By His Holy Spirit may we ever be actuated and aided 1 CHAPTER XXII. 1838. Victims of the Rebellion. — State of the Country. EARLY in 1838 the trials for treason took place. Messrs. Lount and Matthews were found guilty and sentenced to death. Other parties were also tried': among them was Dr. Thomas D. Morrison, a prominent Methodist in Toronto.* In a letter to Dr. Ryerson, at Kingston, his brother John mentions that Dr. Morrison was triumphantly acquitted. He also mentions (as an amusing incident at the trial) the success of the two counsel for Dr. Morrison, in showing that statements entirely contradictory to each other could be fully proved from Sir F. B. Head's own speeches and dispatches. He said : — Mr, Macdonald, of St. Catharines, stated that Sir Francis had declared in his speech at the opening of the Parliament, that he knew of the rebellion long before it occurred, and that he was the cause of it. Mr, Boswell, of Cobourg, admitted that Sir Francis had said he knew a good deal. But the Governor was very fond of a fine style ; he liked rounded periods, or, as Lord Melbourne had expressed it, " epigrammic " flights, so well, that he could hardly make his pen write the words of truth and soberness on such occasions. Mr. Boswell read several extracts from Sir Francis' despatches to Lord Glenelg, which were in direct opposition to the extracts read by Mr. Macdonald, A gentleman whispered to me that anything (no matter what) could be proved from Sir Francis' writings and sayings ! In reply to the Attorney-General, Mr. Macdonald said: — That if the suspicion of treasonable motives and doings in others, and not informing or using prompt measures to correct or prevent what might follow, was treason, then Sir Francis was the greatest traitor in the country, for he said he knew all about the pro- posed outbreak. Mr. Boswell said, that after Sir Francis had seen the " Declaration," and had taken the advice of the Attorney-General, he had sent a despatch to the Colonial Secretary declaring that there was nothing treasonable in the country j that everything was as it should be ! To * Dr. Morrison had been a clerk in the Surveyor-General's office, — had, indeed, while there, collected materials for Dr. Strachan's Ecclesiastical Chart, — but, with- out any charge, or the slightest deficiency in faithfulness and efficiency, was dis- missed, for the simple reason that he had become a Methodist ! He then devoted himself to the medical profession. He was once elected to the House of Assembly for York, defeating the Attorney-General. He was also once elected Mayor of Toronto. He was the writer's [and the editor's] i)hysician during life; died in great peace, strong in faith, giving glory to God. — "Epochs of Canadian Method- ism," pages 188, 189.— H. 1S38] THE STORY OF MY LIFE. 183 demonstrate this, he had sent away all the troops. Thus, you see, the two lawyers made poor Sir Francis prove everything. The jury returned with a verdict of " not guilty," which caused great cheering, and which could not be suppressed for some time. Several of the jury were warm Tories, but they acquitted the Doctor. In another letter to Dr. Ryerson, his brother John gives an account of the efforts made to induce Sir George Arthur, the new Governor, to commute the sentence of Lount and Mathews. He says : — 1 have signed a petition for the mitigation of Lount and Mathews' punish- ment, as did Brother William. I have just seen Eev. James Richardson, who has been with Lount and Mathews. Mathews professed to have found peace. Lount is earnestly seeking. A good deal of feeling has been excited respecting the execution of these unfortunate men. A petition signed by 4,000 persons in their behalf was presented to His Excellency. It was agreed that Rev. Mr. Brough (Church of England minister from Newmarket) and I should go and present the Toronto petition, and that we should seek a private interview with him. • Instead of having a private interview, we were called into the Council Chamber in the presence of the Executive Council. This was rather embarrassing to me, as I did not wish to say what I had intended to say in the presence of Sir Francis' old Executive Council. After presenting the petition, Mr. Brough introduced the conversation and referred Sir George to me. I told him that I was extensively acquainted with the country, — that I had travelled lately through the Niagara, Gore, Home> Newcastle, Prince Edward, and part of the Midland Districts, — had con- versed with a great many persons, many of whom, even persons of high respectability, and were strongly attached to the interests of His Majesty's Government, and the pervading feeling was that the severe penalty of the law should not be executed on those victims of deception and sin. I also read an extract of your last letter to His Excellency [p. 188] — relating to the inexpediency of inflicting severe punishment " in opposition to public senti- ment and policy, for political offences," etc. After having listened to me very attentively. His Excellency said, that after the fullest consultation with: his Executive, and the most serious and prayerful consideration of this pain- ful matter, he had come to the conclusion that Lount and Mathews must be executed. I also mentioned to the Governor that you and Rev. J. Stinson had waited on Sir Francis about four weeks previous to the insurrection, — that you informed him of insurrectionary movements about Lloydtown and other places, which you had learned from me, — that you had strongly urged Sir Francis to raise volunteers, and put the city and other places in a state of defence, — that you and I had waited on the Attorney-General next day, and that we had urged these tilings on him in a similar manner ; — but that these statements and advice had been disregarded, if not disbelieved. In a subsequent letter he thus related the closing scene : — At eight o'clock to-day, Thursday, 12th April, Lount and Mathews were executed. The general feeling is in total opposition to the execution of those men. Sheriff Jarvis burst into tears when he entered the room to prepare them for execution. They said to him very calmly, "Mr. Jarvis, do your duty; we are prepared to meet death and our Judge." They then, both of them, put their arms around his neck and kissed him. They were then pre- pared for execution. They walked to the gallows with entire composure and firmness of step. Rev. J. Richardson walked alongside of Lount, and Rev. J.. 184 THE STOEY OF MY LIFE. [Chap. XXII. Beatty alongside of Mathews. They ascended the scaffold and knelt down on the drop. The ropes were adjusted while they were on their knees. Mr. Kichardson engaged in prayer; and when he came to that part of the Lord's Prayer, " Forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those that trespass against us," the drop fell ! In a letter written to Dr. Ryerson the next day, his brother John mentioned a sad incident connected with Lount's trial: Lount's daughter, a young woman, was present when her father was con- demned. It had such an effect on her, that she went home and died almost immediately afterwards. These are indeed melancholy times ! The evil effects upon the country of the arbitrary conduct of Sir F. B. Head, are thus described in a letter to Dr. Ryerson from his brother William, dated Toronto, 22nd April : — The very painful excitement caused by the execution of Lount and Matthews has in some degree subsided, but dissatisfaction with the state of things is, I fear, increasing from day to day. Emigration to the States is the fear of the hour. It is indeed going on to an extent truly alarming and astonishing. A deputation has been sent from this city to Washington to negotiate with the American Government for a tract of land on which to form a settlement or colony. They have returned, and say that they met with a most gracious reception, encouragement and success beyond their most sanguine expectations. An emigration society has been formed, em- bracing some of the leading citizens. Its object is to commence a colony in the. Iowa Terrritory, on the Mississippi River.* A very large class are becoming uneasy, and many of the best inhabitants of the country, as to industry and enterprise, are preparing to leave. My own spirit is almost broken down. I feel, I assure you, like leaving Canada too, and I am not alone in those feelings ; some of our friends whom you would not suspect, often feel quite as much down in the throat as I do. If ever I felt the need of faith, and wisdom, and patience, it is at the present. I have just returned from visiting the prisoners. After all, we know but little of the calamities and miseries with which our once happy land is now afflicted, and yet Sir Francis, the most guilty author of this misery, escapes without punishment ; yes, with honour and praise! How mysterious are the ways of Providence — how dark, crooked, and perverse the ways of man. * This disposition to remove from Upper Canada to Iowa was not confined to Toronto and its vicinity. In the following chapter the case of a Mr. John Camp- bell, M.P.P. for Frontenac county, is mentioned. He was on his way to Iowa when he saw and read Dr. Ryerson's defence of Mr. Bidwell. The reading of that defence changed his plans, and he remained in Canada. (See page 192.) CHAPTER XXIII. 1795 1861. Sketch of Me. William Lyon Mackenzie. THE story of Dr. Ryerson's life would scarcely be complete without giving some information in regard to the chief opponents whom he encountered in the earlier part of his career — men well known at the time, but whose names and memories are now passing away. With the exception of Bishop Strachan, no man came so immediately in contact with Dr. Ryerson in the first years of his public life as did Mr. W. L. Mackenzie. Mr. Mackenzie was born in Scotland, in March, 1795. He died in Toronto, on the 28th August, 1861, in the 67th year of his age. He came to Canada in 1820, and until 1824 was engaged in mercantile pursuits. In May of that year he entered public life, and commenced the publication of the Colonial Advocate at Queenston. From that time until near the close of his life, he maintained his connection, more or less, with the press ; but he was always on the stormy sea of politics, even when not a journalist. The reasons which induced him to enter public life are thus given in Mr. Charles Lindsey's " Life and Times of Mackenzie," page 40. They are in Mr. Mackenzie's own words, and were written some time after the rebellion of 18.37-8 :— 1 had long seen the country in the hands of a few shrewd, crafty, covetous men, under whose management one of the most lovely, desirable sections of America remained a comparative desert. The most obvious public improve- ments were stayed ; dissension was created among classes ; citizens were banished and imprisoned [Gourley, Beardsley, etc.] in defiance of all law; the people bad been forbidden, under severe pains and penalties, from meeting anywhere to petition for justice; large estates were wrested from their owners in utter contempt of even the forms of the courts ; the Church of England, the adherents of which were few, monopolized as much of the lands of the Colony as all the religious houses and dignitaries of the Roman Catholic Church had had the control of in Scotland at the era of the Reformation. Other sects were treated with contempt, and scarcely tolerated; a sordid band of land-jobbers grasped the soil as their patrimony, and with a few leading officials, who divided the public revenue among themselves, formed "the family compact," and were the avowed enemies of common 186 THE STOBY OF MY LIFE. [Chap. XXIIT. schools, of civil and religious liberty, of all legislative or other checks to their own will. Other men had opposed and been converted by them. At nine-and-twenty I might have united with them, but chose rather to join the oppressed ; nor have I ever regretted that choice, or wavered from the object of my early pursuit. So far as I, or any other professed reformer, was concerned in inviting citizens of [the United States] to interfere in Canadian affairs, there was culpable error. So far as any of us, at any time, may have supposed that the cause of freedom would be advanced by adding the Canadaa to [tha^ confederation, we were under the merest delusion. Mr. Lindsey adds : — In some respects the condition of the Province was worse than Mr. Mackenzie described it. He dealt only with its political condition. With a Scotchman's idea of justice and freedom, he felt a longing desire to right the wrongs which he saw everywhere around him. This, therefore, constituted, as he believed, his mission as a public man in Canada, and it furnishes the key to his life and character. Mr. Mackenzie was a political pessimist. He looked upon every abuse which he attacked, with a somewhat severe, if not a jaundiced, eye. Every evil which he discovered was, in his estimation, truly an evil; and all evils were about of equal magnitude. Besides, in attacking an evil or an abuse, he did not fail to attack the perpetrator or upholder of it also, and that, too, with a strength of invective, or of cutting sarcasm, which brought every foible, and weakness of his, and even those of his father before him, vividly into view. This was thebalef ul secret of his strength as an assailant ; but this, too, caused him to be regarded by his victims with intense dislike, bordering on hatred. This style of attack, on the part of Mr. Mackenzie, did not necessarily arise from anything like vindictiveness, but rather from a keen sense of dislike to what he conceived to be wrong in the thing he was attacking. In 1849 (12 years after the rebellion), Mr. Mackenzie, in a letter to Earl Grey, used the following remarkable language : — A course of careful observation during the last eleven years has fully satisfied me that, had the violent movements in which I and many others were engaged on both sides of the Niagara proved successful, that success would have deeply injured the people of Canada, whom I then believed I was serving at great risks. . . I have long been sensible of the errors committed during that period. . . No punishment that power could inflict or nature sustain, would have equalled the regrets I have felt on account of much that I did, said, wrote, and published ; but the past cannot be recalled. . . There is not a living man on the continent who more sincerely desires that British Government in Canada mav long continue, etc Page 291, 292. No man was more unselfish than Mr. Mackenzie. He would rather suffer extreme hardship than accept a doubtful favour. Even in regard to kindly and reasonable offers of help, he was morbidly sensitive (as mentioned on page 298 of his " Life and Times ") ; and yet, looking at the conduct of many men in like 1795-1861] THE STORY OF MY LIFE. 187 circumstances, he deserved commendation rather than censure for his extreme conscientiousness. Mr. Mackenzie did the State good service in many things. His investigations into the affairs of the Welland Canal were highly valuable to the country, greatly aided as he was by Mr. (now, Sir) Francis Hincks as chief accountant. His inquiries in regard to the Post Office and Prison management were also useful. Besides, he advocated many important reforms which were afterwards carried out. Mr. Mackenzie was the first Mayor of Toronto. Towards the close of his life he and Dr. Ryerson were not on unfriendly terms ; and when in 1852, as a member of the Legis- lature he instituted an inquiry into the management of the Educational Depository, he expressed himself satisfied with its usefulness * At a later period when Mr. John C. Geikief — then a bookseller in Toronto — commenced his attack upon the Depository in 1858, Mr. Mackenzie thus rebuked him in his Weekly Message of April 9th, of that year: — At one time we thought with the redoubtable Geikie that Dr. Eyerson'a book concern was a monopoly, but a more thorough inquiry induced us to change that opinion. We found that great benefits were obtained for the towuiships, the country schools, and general education through Dr. Ryerson's plan which could in no other way be conferred upon them, etc. Dr. Ryerson, on his part, felt kindly towards Mr. Mackenzie. He mentioned to the Editor of this book near the close of the year 1860, that on the ensuing New Year's day he (Dr. Ryerson) would call upon and shake hands with his old antagonist, and wish him a " Happy New Year." * Mr. Mackenzie frequently visited the Educational Depository to make in- quiries, etc. The Editor of this book had frequent conversations with him on the subject, and explained to him the details of management. He was pleased to know that through the agency of the Depository thousands of volumes of good books were being yearly sent out to the schools. + Now the Rev. Dr. Cunningham Geikie, of England, and author of the "Life and Words of Christ," and other valuable books. He declined the use of the title of reverend in his controversy with Dr. Ryerson. CHAPTER XXIV. 1838. Defence of the Hon. Marshall Spring Bidwell. PROM various papers and letters left by Dr. Ryerson, I have compiled the following statement in regard to his memor- able defence of the Hon. M. S. Bidwell, in 1838. I have used Dr. Ryerson's own words throughout, only varying them- when the sense, or the construction, or condensation of a sentence, required it. He said : — On Dr. Duncombe's return to Canada, I believe the conspiracy was commenced by him, Mr. Wm. Lyon Mackenzie, and others, sought to accomplish their objects by rebellion; but in this the great body of Reformers tooK no part except to supress it. I had warned them that Mr. Mackenzie's proceedings would result in rebellion. I afterwards received the thanks of great numbers of Reformers for having by my warnings and counsels saved them and their families from being involved in the conse- quences of the rebellion. I was so odious to Mr. Mackenzie and his fellow rebels, that they determined to hang me on the first tree could they get hold of me. Of this, I had proof from one of themselves ; yet I afterwards succeeded by my representations and appeals, to get several of them out of prison. My brother John, who was then in Toronto, presented to Gover- nor Arthur and advocated a largely signed petition against the execution of Lount and Matthews. He also read a letter from me (then a stationed minister in Kingston) against their execution, and on the impolicy of capital punishment for political offences. After the suppression of the rebellion — in the putting down of which the great body of the Reformers joined — the lead- ers of the dominant party sought, nevertheless, to hold the entire party of the Reformers responsible for that rebellion, and to proscribe and put them down accordingly. The first step in this process of proscription was the ostracism of Mr. M. S. Bidwell, an able and prudent politician, and a gentleman who took a high place in the legal profession. * * According to the books of the Law Society, Mr. Bidwell commenced his legal studies in Kingston, the 14th March, 1816, in the office of Mr. Daniel Washburn, 1838] THE STORY OF MY LIFE. 18\j During my stay in England, from December, 1835, to April, 1837, I had many conversations with Lord Glenelg, Sir George Grey, and Sir James Stephen (Under Secretaries), on the Gov- ernment of Canada, shewing them that the foundation of our Government was too narrow, like an inverted pyramid, con- ferring the appointments to .all offices, civil, military, judicial, to one party — excluding all others, however respectable and competent, as if they were enemies, and even aliens. I mentioned that not one member of the Reform party, (which had commanded for years a majority in the House of Assembly) had ever been appointed to the Bench, though there were several of them able lawyers, such as Bidwell, Rolph, etc. (Page 169.) Lord Glenelg, in a despatch, directed Sir F. B. Head to appoint Mr. Bidwell to a judgeship on the first vacancy. Sir F. Head refused^ to do so, for which he was recalled, and Sir George Arthur* was appointed in his place. In the meantime the House of Assembly was dissolved by Sir Francis, and a general election ordered. I had warned the public against Mr. Mac- kenzie's doings in converting constitutional reform into repub- lican revolution, in consequence of which he attacked me furiously. Peter Perry, in the parliamentary session of 1836, attacked me also, and defended Mr. Mackenzie in a long speech. This speech reached me in England I sat down and wrote a letter in reply, which reached Canada, and was published there on the eve of the elections, of which I then knew nothing. The constitutional party in Lennox and Addington had my letter printed by thousands, in the form of a large handbill, headed : " Peter Perry Picked to Pieces by Egerton Ryerson ' Although Mr. Bidwell took no part in the controversy, he was on the same electoral ticket with Mr. Perry, and both were defeated. * and completed them in the office of Mr. Daniel Hagerman, of Emestown. He was admitted as a barrister- at -law in April, 1821. Mr. Bidwell was first elected to the House of Assembly in 1824 ; re-elected and chosen Speaker in 1828. On the death of George IV., in 1830, a new general election took place, when the Reform party were reduced to a minority, and Mr. Bidwell was not re-elected Speaker ; but he greatly distinguished himself in the debates of the House. In 1834, a new general election took place ; a large majority of Reformers were returned, and Mr. Bidwell was again elected Speaker. In May, 1836, Sir F. B. Head dissolved the House of Assembly, and Mr. Bidwell and his colleague, the late Peter Perry, were defeated in the united counties of Lennox and Addington, which Mr. Bidwell had represented in Parliament during twelve years. From that time (May, 1836) Mr. Bidwell never attended a political meeting, or took any part in politics. * Aa stated by Dr. Ryerson, in the above note, Mr. Bidwell took no part in politics after his political defeat in May, 1836. In a note to Mr. W. L. Mac- kenzie, dated August 3rd, 1837, Mr. Bidwell said : Having learned from the Con- titution of yesterday that I was chosen as a delegate to a Provincial Convention, I think it right without delay to inform you . . that I must be excused from undertaking the duties of that appointment. . . I cannot but regret that my name 190 THE STORY OF MY LIFE. [Chap. XXIV. The Radical party being defeated at the polls, its leaders : Mr. Wm. L. Mackenzie, Dr. Charles Duncombe, and many- others, sought to accomplish by force of arms what they had failed to accomplish by popular elections ; the rebellion of 1836-7 was the result. As Mr. Bidwell was known to be the intimate friend of Dr. Rolph, and as Dr. Rolph was thought to be implicated in the rebellion, it was assumed by Sir F. Head that Mr. Bidwell was concerned in it also. But this was perfectly untrue. Besides, Mr. Bidwell entertained the strongest views that not a drop of blood should be shed to obtain the civil freedom of a country — that only moral suasion and public opinion should be employed for such purposes. Sir F. Head thought that now was the opportunity to revenge himself alike upon Lord Glenelg and the Whig Gov- ernment, which had ordered him to appoint Mr. Bidwell to a judgeship, and also upon Mr. Bidwell as a former leader of the ■ Reform party who had opposed him. Mr. Bidwell's letters having reached the Governor, he sent for that gentleman. What transpired is thus related by Mr. Bidwell, in a letter written to me some time afterwards : — Sir Francis assured me that the letters had been sent to him without his orders, and that he never would allow my letters to be opened. I asked him to open them, as I did not wish to have any suspicions about them indulged afterwards ; but he refused to do it, and said he had too much respect for me to allow it. Indeed, on the Wednesday previously, I expressly informed the Attorney-General of my own anxiety, (and that I was willing) to undergo the most full and unreserved examination, and to let all my papers be examined. The terms of my note of the 8th December — the evening of the day of the interview — were dictated, or at least, suggested to me by Sir Francis, and referred particularly to his expressions of personal regard. The object of drawing such a note from me is now apparent — but I was not then aware that he had received orders from Lord Glenelg to make me a Judge. Before leaving Toronto (as he intimates), and after his arrival at Lewiston, Mr. Bidwell wrote to Sir F. Head (December 11th, 1837), protesting his innocence and against the injustice of the means used to compel him to leave his country. The conclusion of Mr. Bidwell's note from Toronto is as follows : I am confident , . that the investigations, which will now of course be made, will fully remove those suspicions from the mind of your Excel- should have been used without my consent, or previous knowledge, by which I am driven to the disagreeable necessity of thus publicly declining [the] appointment, etc. In the Guardian of 27th September, where this letter appears, it is stated that Mr. Mackenzie did not publish it in the Constitution until the 20th Septem- ber — six weeks after he had received it. In a letter from Mr. Bidwell, dated, the 30th April, 1837, to Dr. O'Callaghan, of Montreal, he said : Retired from public life, probably for ever ; I still look with the deepest sympathy on the efforts of those who are actively contending for the great principles of liberty, and good government, etc. — ^'Political History of Canada, 18i0— 1855, by Sir Francis Hincks, 1877, page 7." 18381 THE STOEY OF MY LIFE. 191 lency, and will prove that I had also no knowledge or expectation that any such attempt [i. e. insurrectionary movement] was in contemplation. To accomplish his revengeful purpose, however, Sir F. Head wrote or inspired an editorial to the Toronto Patriot news- paper (then the organ of his Government) stating that as Mr. Bidwell had left the country, under circumstances that proved his consciousness of guilt, it was therefore the duty of the Benchers of the Law Society to erase his name from their rolls. I was then stationed at Kingston. When I saw the editorial in the Patriot, I at once recognized Sir F. Head's hand in it, and was horror-struck at the idea of a man being exiled from his country, and then deprived of his professional character and privileges without a trial ! I passed a sleepless night. The late Mr. Henry Cassidy was then mayor of Kingston ; a staunch Churchman and Conservative. His wife was a relative of mine, so a sort of family intimacy existed between us. Mr. Cassidy had been a student in Mr. Bid well's law-office and was now his law agent. Mr. Bidwell enclosed to Mr. Cassidy the correspondence which had taken place between himself and Sir F. Head and Attorney-General Hagerman, and Mr. Cassidy had shown it to me. The morning after I saw the article in the Patriot, proposing the erasure of Mr. Bid well's name from the books of the Law Society, I went to Mr. Cassidy, saying that I had not closed my eyes all night, in consequence of Sir F. Head's article in the Patriot ; that I was the only person besides himself who knew the facts of the case, and though I had been assailed by the newspapers of the party with which Mr. Bidwell had been connected, I felt it in my heart to prevent a gross act of injustice and cruelty being inflicted upon a man, in his absence and helplessness, who had introduced and carried through our Legislature the laws by which the different reli- gious denominations held their Church property, and their ministers solemnized matrimony. I asked Mr. Cassidy if he would allow me the use of the letters which Mr. Bidwell had enclosed to him, justifying his own innocence, and showing the injustice done him by the misstatements of Sir F. Head. After some hours of deliberation, Mr. Cassidy consented. I sat down, and over the signature of " A United Empire Loyalist," I detailed the case, introducing as proofs of Mr. Bidwell's inno- cence the injustice proposed to be inflicted upon him, referring to Mr. Attorney- General Hagerman's own letter, and appealing to the Law Society, and the country at large, against such injustice and against such violation of the rights of a British subject. I got a friend to copy my communication, so as not 192 THE STORY OF MY LIFE. [Chap. XXIV. to excite suspicion.* It was the first article that had appeared in the public press after the rebellion, breathing the spirit of freedom, and advocating British constitutional rights against illegal oppression.-f- The effect of this article upon the public mind was very- remarkable. As an example, Mr. John Campbell, member of the Legislative Assembly for the County of Frontenac, despairing of the liberties of the country under the " tory " oppression of the day, determined to sell his property for whatever it might bring, and remove to the States. He was on a steamboat on Lake Ontario, on his way to the Territory of Iowa to buy land and settle there, when the newspaper containing my communication fell into his hands ; he read it, rose up and said that as long as there was a man in Canada who could write in that way there was hope for the country. He returned home, resumed his business, and lived and died in Canada. The Attorney- General was annoyed at the publication of his letter to Mr. Bid well, and attempted a justification of his conduct, At the conclusion of a letter to me, he said that I had con- cealed my name for fear of the legal consequences of my .'^editions paper. I at once sat down and wrote the most argu- * Sir Alexander Campbell, now Minister of Justice, in a note to the Editor, thus explains this circumstance : — In the winter of 1837-38, I was a student-at- law, and a resident of Kingston. Dr. Ryerson was then the Methodist minister in charge of the only congregation of that body in town. The rebellion of 1837-8, had led to excited, and very bitter feelings — arrests had. been frequent \ and it was not prudent for any one to try to palliate the deeds of the rebels, or to seek to lessen the odium which covered their real, or even supposed allies and friends. Dr. Ryerson, however, desired to bring out the facts connected with Mr Bidwell's banishment, and to change the current of public feeling on the subject — but it was not wise to send letters to the press in his own handwriting, or in any other way suffer it to become known that he was the author of the letters in defence of Mr. Bidwell. Under these circumstances he asked me to copy them, and take them to the Herald office — then the most liberal paper in Upper Canada. I was l>roud of the Confidence placed in me, and copied the several letters, and went with them to the publisher. The letters were signed in words which I have not since seen, but which remain impressed upon my memory, and which were as follows : — *• I am Sir, by parental instruction and example, by personal feeling and exer- tion, A United Empire Loyalist " The letters constituted an eloquent defence of Mr. Bidwell, who certainly took no part in the counsels of those who were afterwards engaged in the rebellion, when it became evident that they intended to push matters to extremes. The incident made a great impression on me at the time, and was the begmning of a friendship with which Dr. Ryerson honoured me, and which ended only with his life. A. Campbell. Ottawa, 29th December, 1882. t The defence was afterwards reprinted in a pamphlet on the 10th of May, 1838, with the following title: "The Cause and Circumstances of Mr. Bidwell's Banish- ment by Sir F. B. Head, correctly stated and proved by A United Empire Loyalist." Kingston, 1838, pp. 16. 1838] THE STORY OF MY LIFE. 193 mentative paper that I ever penned (and for the recovery of which I afterwards offered five pounds, but without success), reducing the questions to a series of mathematical propositions, and demonstrating in each case from the Attorney- General's own data, that my conclusions were true, and his absurd. I concluded by defying his legal threat of prosecution, and signed my name to the letter. The effect of my reply to Mr. Attorney-General Hagerman was marvellous in weakening the influence of the first law adviser of the Crown, and in reviving the confidence of the friends of liberal constitutional government.* Subsequently, (in June, 1838), I received a letter from Mr. Hagerman, in which he stated that in my observations on Mr. Bidwell's case I had made assertions that impeached his char- acter, and desired me to inform him on what evidence I had based my statements. He said : — The first assertion is that I was the author of certain remark? published under the editorial head of the Patriot newspaper of this city, injurious to the reputation of Mr. Bidwell. . . The second statement is that I desired to procure his expulsion from the Province, because he had been preferred to me for the office of judge. My reply to Mr. Hagerman was brief and to the point : I beg to say, in reply to your letter, that I am not conscious of having', made either of the assertions which you have been pleased to attribute ta me.. I think it only just to the late Mr. Hagerman to add, that the sharp discussions between him and me did not chill the friend- liness, and even pleasantness, of our personal intercourse after- wards; and I believe few men would have more heartily welcomed Mr. Bidwell's return to Canada than Mr. Justice * Some time after Sir George Arthur's arrival as Governor, he sent for me, and stated that his object in doing so was to request me, for the sake of the Govern- ment and the country, to withdraw the letter I had written in answer to Attor- ney-General Hascerman; that it greatly weakened the Government; that my power of argumentation was prodigious, but he believed I was mistaken ; that Mr. Bid- well had called to pay his respects to him at Albany, on his way to Canada ; and that he (Sir George) believed Mr. Bidwell was guilty, as far as a man of his caution and knowledge could be concerned in the rebellion; and though my argument on his behalf seemed to be irresistible, he believed I was wrong, and that the withdrawal of my letter would be a great help to the Government. I replied that my weekly editorials in the Ghristian Ouardian (of which 1 had consented to be re-elected Editor) showed that I was anxious to suppress the factious and party hatreds of the day, and to place the Government upon a broad foundation of loyalty and justice; that what I had written in the case of Mr. Bidwell had been written by me as an individual and not as the editor of the organ of a religious body, and had been written from the firm conviction of Mr. Bidwell's innocence, and that his case involved the fundamental and essential rights of every British subject; and that, however anxious I was to meet His Excellency's wishes, I could not withdraw my letter. I then bowed myself out from the presence of Sir George, who, from that hour became my enemy, and afterwards warned Lord Sydenham against him as ** a dangerous man," as Lord Sydenham laughingly told me the last evening I spent with him in Montreal, at his request, and before his lamented death. 1.3 194 THE 8T0BY OF MY LIFE. [Chap. XXIV. Hagerman himself. Mr. Hagerman was a man of generous impulses. He was a variable speaker, but at times his every gesture was eloquent, his intonations of voice were truly musical, and almost every sentence was a gem of beauty. The discussion ended there ; but no proposal was ever made to, much less entertained by, the Law Society to erase Mr. Bidwell's name from its rolls. Mr. Bidwell's case did not, however, end here. In 1842, on the recommendation of Hon. Robert Baldwin, any promise given by Mr. Bidwell not to return to Canada — of which no record was found in any of the Government offices — was revoked, in 1843, by the Governor-General (Lord Metcalfe). Mr. Bidwell was also strongly urged to come back, and a promise was given to him by the authority of the Governor-General that all of his former rights and privileges would be restored to him, with a view to his elevation to the Bench. He, however, declined to return. Again, some years afterwards, when Sir W. B. Richards was Attorney-General, he was authorized to offer Mr. Bidwell the position of Commissioner to revise our Statute Law. He declined that offer also. In conversation, in 1872, with Sir John Macdonald in relation to Mr. Bidwell's early life. Sir John informed me that some years before, he himself had, while in New York, solicited Mr. Bidwell to return to Canada, but without success. Sir John said that he had done so, not merely on his own account (as he had always loved Mr. Bidwell, and did not believe that he had any •connection whatever with the rebellion), but because he believed that he represented the wishes of his political friends, as well as those of the people of Canada generally. Mr. Bidwell was an earnest Christian. He was also a charm- ing companion. A few weeks before his lamented decease, he visited his relatives and friends in Canada, spent a Sabbath in Toronto, occupying a seat in my pew in the Metropolitan Church. While here he presented me with a beautiful likeness of himself on ivory. I have placed it in the Canadian room of our Departmental Museum. I little thought it was my last meeting with him, as I had long anticipated and often intended to visit him in New York, where he promised to narrate to me many incidents of men and things in the Canada of former years, which had not come to my knowledge, or which I had forgotten. A suitable monument would be an appropriate tribute to his memory by our Legislature and country. The following are extracts of letters written to Dr. Ryerson, by Mr. Bidwell, at the dates mentioned : May 2\8ty 1828 — Kingston. — I admire and fully approved of your plan (as 1838] THE STOBY OF MY LIFE. 195 I advised Mr. H. C. Thompson) of striking off a large number of copies, in pamphlet form, of your Review of Archdeacon Strachan's Sermon. (See page C8. ) I have no doubt it will be really a great service to the country to do so. Indeed, I sincerely think that you could not in any other way be instru- mental in promoting so much the cause of Christ, as in the labours which you have undertaken. The concerns of this Colony, as you see in the news- papers, are attracting the attention of the British Parliament; and the decided expression of public opinion here at present will outweigh all that Dr. Strachan and his junto can say and do. My father and I will shortly give the subject oi Church Establishment in this Province, contended for by Dr. Strachan, a full and careful examination, and communicate to you the result. January I9th, 1829 — York. — I rejoice once more to receive a letter from you. . . I sincerely thank you for your congratulations on my elevation to the Speakership. I am sensible how much I need the prayers and counsels of my friends in discharging the duties of my station. I wish Christians would reflect what important consequences may follow from every step taken by those in public life, and especially in the Legislature. . . I send you a copy of Wilbur's Reference Bible, which I beg you will accept as a testimony of my respect and friendship. March lOth, 1829 — York. — The Marriage Bill has been passed, with amendments made by the Legislative Council. The House is about equally divided on trying questions, so that we often forbear attempting measures which we would wish to pass. This unpleasant state of things produces anxiety, uncertainty, and (worst of all) violent party spirit. 1 can with great truth declare that I have received but little satisfaction in my public Hfe. To you and your brother the Province owes a large debt of gratitude. For one, I feel it sensibly, and wish most sincerely that we could have the benefit of your counsel in our House. Two or three such men would be a comfort, a relief, a support, and an assistance, beyond what you have any idea of. April 6th, 1831 — Kingston. — I am very glad to see your commendations of the Attorney-General. """^ I think they are just. They are certainly politic and seasonable. Indeed, I had thought of hinting to you the propriety of some such notice of his liberality, etc. I was afraid otherwise the coldness of the courtiers towards him might make him repent of such liberality. But I think that your remarks have come at the right time, and are exactly of the right sort.* June 14:th, 1833 — York. — We have heard with pleasure of your safe arrival in England : and pleasing indeed this has been to your many friends in the Province, whose prayers, good wishes, and friendly recollections, have accompanied you across the Atlantic. . . Mr. John Wilison, M.P.P., of Saltfleet, has, within a day or two, obtained from the Receiver-General, on the warrant of the Lieutenant-Governor, ^600 of the public money, to aid in building chapels, I suppose, for the Ryanites. (See page 87). The fact was mentioned to me privately this morning, but I deem it so important as to justify and require mc, to inform you confidentially of it, leaving it to your judgment to use the intelligence in the most discreet manner that may be consistent with the duty you owe to liberty and religion. It excites surprise, pain, mortification, indignation, and contempt, to see the Executive Government here making unjust and invidious distinctions between His Majesty's subjects in the appropriations of the Clergy Reserves, thereby endeavouring to secure an unconstitutional and corrupt influence, especially after Lord Goderich's declaration in his despatch (which he * These remarks will be found on page 83 of the Guardian of 2nd ApriL 196 THE STOEY OF MY LIFE. [Chap. XXIV. directed to be publisTied), that if any preference was shown to one denomin- ation of Christians more than another, it was contrary to the policy of His Majesty's Government, and against repeated instructions sent to the Govern- ment here. As a Presbyterian I lament the grant to the Presbytery, and will do all I can to get it repealed, for I am convinced it will do injury to liberty and religion, and to the very persons who may wish, or wicked enough, to receive it. '^ I suppose the Province is indebted to Sir John Colborne for these grants. If it is the Government at home, it ought to be known : if it is not, tliey ought not only to remove Sir John, but also reform this abuse. Have the Government ever given your Society sixpence, or even a foot of land for your chapels ? — although it is the oldest and most numerous body of tlie kind in the Province; is not wealthy, and has rendered the most valuable services, and at a time when no other Church evinced the least interest for the religious instruction or the welfare of the people. April I2th, 1838— New VorJc.—YouT letter of the 23rd ult. and its enclosure [the defence], I need not say, have affected me deeply, too much, indeed, for me to describe my feelings. I thank you from the bottom of my heart for this instance of your kindness ; not less valued, certainly, because it was unexpected, not to say undeserved. If my misfortunes shall be the means of recovering a friendship which I formerly enjoyed and always prized, I shall feel not a little reconciled.* I took the precaution some time ago, to send to England a plain, distinct statement of all that had occurred between Sir Francis Head and myself. This was transmitted to a Iriend to show to Lord Glenelg. My only object was the vindication of my character. I have never had the least expecta- tion of obtaining justice or redress from the Colonial office. There seems in that department utter incapacity. The very persons they select for the Government of Upper Canada are enough to prove this And yet I believe that Lord Glenelg is an able, as well as amiable, devout, good man. May Iblh, 1838 — New York. — I have received a letter from the gentleman in England, to whom I had written. He had seen Lord Durham, and shown him my letter. Ee expressed no opinion ; but the gentleman thinks that the matter stands favourably before him. He has not yet seen Lord Glenelg. August 10th, 1839 — New York. — Mr. Christopher Dunkinf is very anxious * This loss of friendship with Dr. Ryerson may be explained by the following reference to Mr. Bidwell, in a letter from Dr. Ryerson, to his brother John, dated, Kingston, 29th May, 1838 :— Fiom an intimate religious friend of Mr. Bidwell, 1 learn that during the last few years he had acted more after a worldly policy, common to politicians, and had, therefore, partly laid himself open to the censure which he has received. I am also sensible of his prejudices against me of late years, and of the great injury which I have thereby sustained. I had some diffi- culty to overcome my own feelings in the first instance. But as far as individual feelings and interests are concerned, "it is the glory of man to pass over a trans- gression," generous as well as just, as we have received help from Bidwell himself when wo could not help ourselves, and were trampled upon by a desperate party. If others had seen the letters from Bidwell to Mr. Cassidy, which I have been permitted to read, I am sure the noble generosity of their hearts would be excited in all its sympathies. I do not think, however, that he will ever return to this Province to reside. That appears to be altogether out of the question with him ; but that does not alter the nature of the case. 1 have replied to Mr. Hagerman with calmness, but with deep feeling. My reply will occupy about eight columns in to-morrow's Herald. + Mr. Dunkin afterwards became a noted politician, and member of the Parlia- ment of United Canada, from 1857, until Confederation. He was the promoter of the "Dunkin Act." He was one of the contributors to the Monthly Review^ 183S] THE STORY OF MY LIFE. 197 to have the honour of an introduction to you. I am very hnppy to be the means of gratifying him. Mr. Dunkin was editor of the Montreal Courier, in the latter part of 1837, and beginning of 1838. He was after- wards appointed by Lord Durham on the Commission relating to education, and has latterly resided in the United States. About the time of Mr. Bid well's defence, Dr. Ryerson also wrote an explanatory letter to the Colonial Office in regard to his excellent friend, Hon. John H. Dunn, the Receiver-General, whose generous conduct towards the Upper Canada Academy is mentioned on page 166*. In a letter of acknowledgment from Mr. Dunn to Dr. Ryerson, he said : — I am very glad to learn from your letter that you have written to Lord Glenelg. It is but just to put His Lordship in possession of facts which may counteract the influence of misrepresentation, and enable His Lordship to exercise his own humane disposition in putting matters right, which have been so wrong and arbitrary towards the individual Mr. Bidwell, whom you have taken the interest in, and trouble, to restore to his position and his country. I feel exceedingly obliged for the kind' feeling which you entertain towards me. Believe me, that you have only done me justice by mention- ing my name to Lord Glenelg, I have laboured hard since I have been in the Province to discharge my duty to my God and my Government. I have entertained different opinions at times of the " Powers here," but they have been the dictates of an honest heart. I cannot guide my opinions to the service of any party. Whatever they may be, I shall lament if they should result in any other than for the best interests and wellare of the Province of Upper Canada. You were so good as to read me your letter to Lord Glenelg, on the sub- ject of the late execution of Lount and Matthews. Your version too, of the rtial meaning of the representation which caused Sir Francis Head to compel us to retire Irom the Executive Council, is- so correct, that I cannot suggest any amendment ; besides, I am bound by my oath not to divulge any trans- action arising at the Council Board. I shall be very happy to see the letter published. (See page 170.) You hctve seen my name kindly mentioned in the public prints. What has been said has been the spontaneous expressions of other persons, quite unknown to me. I am grateful to those persons who have vindicated me against a party, eager to destroy me, and my family. I leave them to a Judge who kiiows the secrets of all hearts, and before whom we all shall soon appear. 1 have liad my share of afflictions and troubles in this world, established by Lord Sydenham in 1841. He was subsequently appoini;ed to the Bench, and died a few years since. * The Hon. John Henry Dunn was a native of England. He came to Canada m 1820, having been appointed Receiver-General of Upper Canada, and a mem- ber of the Executive and Legislative Council. He held the office of Receiver- General until the union of the Provinces in 1841, when the political exigencies of the times compelled him to resign it. He and Hon. Isaac Buchanan contested the city of Toronto, in the Reform interest, in 1841, and were returned. Mr. Dunn received no compensation for the loss of his office, and soon afterwards returned to England, where he died in 1854. He was a most estimable public officer. His son. Col. Dunn, greatly distinguished himself during the Crimean w.ir, and, on his visitJwg Canada soon afterwards, was received with great enthu- siasm, and a handsouib aword was presented to him. — H. 198 THE STOBY OF MY LIFE. [Chap. XXIV. and to which I feel little or no attachment whatever, "When the heart ia sick, the whole body is faint. Dr. Kyerson (in the Guardian of 22nd January, 1840) thus referred to Mr. Dunn as one of the speakers in the Legislative Council on the popular side of the clergy reserve question : — I was glad to hear Mr. Dunn speak so well and so forcibly, — nniversally and affectionately esteemed as he is beyond any other public functionary in Upper Canada. Some months after the exile of Mr. Bidwell, Mr. James S. Howard was dismissed by Sir F. B. Head from the office of Post- master of Toronto. The alleged ground of dismissal was that he was a Radical, and had not taken up arms in defence of the country. Dr. Kyerson, with his usual generous sympathy for persons who in those days were made the victims of Governor Head's caprice, at once espoused Mr. Howard's cause. In his first letter in the Defence of Sir Charles Metcalfe, he said : — After the insurrection of 1837-8, unfavourable impressions were made far and wide against the late Postmaster of Toronto, and Mr. Bidwell. But subsequent investigations corrected these impressions. The former has been appointed to office, and Sir F. B. Head's proceedings against the latter have been cancelled by Sir Charles Metcalfe. (Page 16.) Again, in the " Prefatory Address " to the Metcalfe Defence, he said : — While God gives me a heart to feel, a head to think, and a pen to write, I will not passively see honourable integrity murdered by grasping faction. . . I would not do so in 1838, when an attempt was made to degrade and proscribe, and drive out of the country all naturalized subjects from the United States, and to stigmatize all Reformers with the brand of rebellion. . . I relieved the name of an injured James S. Howard from the obloquy that hung over it, and rescued the character and rights of an exiled Bidwell from ruthless invasion, and the still further effort to cover him with perpetual infamy by expelling him from the Law Society. (Page 7.) CHAPTER XXV. 1838. Return to the Editorship of the " Guardian." THE Rebellion of 1837-38 was suppressed by the inherent and spontaneous loyalty of all classes of the Canadian people. Yet, after it was over, the seeds of strife engendered by the effort to prove that one section of the community was more loyal than the other, and that that other section was chiefly responsible for the outbreak, bore bitter fruit in the way of controversy. Dr. Ryerson took little part in such recriminatory warfare. It was too superficial. He felt that it did not touch the underlying points at issue between the dominant, or ruling, party and those who were engaged in a contest for equal civil and religious rights. He, and the other leaders who influenced and moulded public opinion, clearly saw that this recriminatory war was carried on by the dominant party as a mask to cover their ulterior designs — designs which were afterw^ards developed in the more serious struggle for religious supremacy which that party waged for years aiterwards, and which at length issued in the complete triumph of the principles of civil and religious freedom for which Dr. Ryerson and the representatives of other religious bodies had so long and so earnestly contended. (See page 452.) Besides, Dr. Ryerson was anxious to fulfil the engagement made with the Kingston Society that he would resume his pastoral charge there, after his return from England in June, 1837. He was, however, repeatedly pressed by his friends to write for the Guardian, or other newspaper, on the vital questions of the day. In reply to his brother John, who had urged him in the matter, he wrote (March, 1838) saying tiat he was so happily engaged in his pastoral duties at Kingston that he could not then devote the necessary time to the discus- sion of public questions. His brother, in remonstrating with him on the subject, said : — Your letter affords me great satisfaction, accompanied with sortow. I am. afflicted to think of the state the Province is in. Never did high-churchism take such rapid, strides towards undisputed domination in this country as it is now taking. Never were the prospects of the friends of civil and religious- liberty so gloomy and desperate as they are now. You say that you have not time to write on these subjects. I will say, if you had, it would not now, I fear, accomplish much. Indeed, it would require the undeviating I 200 THE STORY OF MY LIFE. [Chap. XXV. course and the whole weight of the Guardian to accomplish anything at this time, so completely is all moral power in the country enervated and liberty prostrated. It is a great blessing that Mackenzie and radicalism are down, but we are in imminent danger of being brought under the domination of a military and high-church oligarchy, which would be equally bad, if not infinitely worse. Under the blessing of Providence there is one remedy, and only one ; and that is, for you to take the editorship of the Guardian again. Several preachers have spoken to me on this subject lately. One of them said to me (and he could think of nothing else) that that alone would save us and the country from utter ruin, and urged the necessity of the Conference electing ^ou, whether you would consent to serve or not. The truth is, it is abso- utely neccessary for the sake of the Church and the country that you reside in Toronto, and have direction of affairs here. I wish all of our proceedings to be calm and moderate, but that we be firm, and that the great principles of religious freedom and equality should be uncompromisingly maintained. In a subsequent letter to Dr. Kyerson his brother John said : In fact there is no way of escape out of our troubles but for you to take the Guardian. The feeling of dissatisfaction at the present state of things is becoming exceedingly strong among the preachers and people. I participate in their feelings. Dr. Ryerson yielded to these appeals, and did write for the Guardian. In a letter, dated Kingston, April 4th, he said : — I have recently written at considerable length to Lord Glenelg respecting the Academy and other local matters. What you say in regard to myself, and my appointment next year, I feel to be a delicate and difficult matter for me to speak on. In regard to myself 1 have many conflicting thoughts. My feelings, and private interests, are in favour of my remaining where I ■am, if I remain in the Province. I have been very much cast down, and my mind has been much agitated on the subject. For the present 1 am some- what relieved by the conclusion to which I have come, in accordance with Dr. Clarke's *' Advice to a Young Preacher," not to choose my own appoint- ment, but after making known any circumstances, which I may feel it necessary to explain, to leave myself in the hands of God and my brethren, as I have done during the former years of my ministry. If the Lord, there- fore, will give me grace, I am resolved to stand on the old Methodistic ground in the matter of appointment to the Guardian. I thank you for Chief Justice Robinson's address at the trial of the pris- oners. It is good. My own views are in favour of lenity to these prisoners Punishmeii's for political oflFences can never be beneficial, when they are inflicted in opposition to public sentiment and sympathy. In such a case it will defeat the object it is intended to accomplish. It matters not whether that sentiment and sympathy are right or wrong in the abstract; the effect of doing violence to it will be the same. But I would not pander to that feeling, how carefully soever one may be disposed to observe its operations. The fact, however, is, that Sir Francis Head deserves impeachment, just as much as Samuel Lount deserves execution. Morally speaking, I cannot but regard Sir Francis as the more guilty culprit of the two, I admire, as a whole. Sir George Arthur's reply to the address of the ^'Constitutional Reformers." There is good in it. They will see the folly of continuing the former party designations, and pretended grounds of com- plaint. I think, however, that their address will do good, from the large number of names attached to it. I was surprised, and it has created quite a sensation here, that there are so many as 772 in Toronto, who still have the moral coarage to designate themselves " Constitutional Reformers." It 1838] "rrHE STOBY OF MY LIFE. 201 will teach the other party that they are not so strong, and so absolute in the voice of the country, as they thought themselves to be. I am satisfied that there never was such a time as from the termination of the trial of the prisoners to the next session of Parliament, for us to stamp upon the public mind at large, our own constitutional, and Scriptural, political, and religious doctrines ; and to give the tone to the future Govern- ment and Legislation of the Province, and to enlarge vastly a sphere of usefulness. I shall write some papers for the Guardian with this view. In a letter from Brockville, Rev. William Scott said : — My humble opinion is, that in order to our safety as a Church — our preservation from high church influence — you must be at Toronto. I assure you that is the opinion of our influential men in this quarter, who under- stand the state of the province, and the position of Methodism. Permit me to add that the one hour's conversation which I had with you amply repaid me for all the furious battles which I have fought on this circuit in your defence. Rev. Joseph Stinson, in a letter to Rev. John Ryerson, said : I am quite of your opinion that your brother Egerton ought to take the Guardian next year. There is a crisis approaching in our afiairs which will require a vigorous hand to wield the defensive weapon of our Conference. There can be no two opinions as to whom we should give that weapon. We now stand on fair ground to maintain our own against the encroachments of the oligarchy, and we must do it, or sink into a comparatively uninfluential body — this must not be. As urged by these letters from his brethren, Dr. Ryerson, early in May, 1838, prepared several articles for the Guardian. His brother John, who was a member of the Book Committee, thus speaks of the series of articles sent to that paper ; — I cannot express to you how much I am gratified and pleased with your article on " Christian Loyalty." It will, no doubt, do immense good. We have had a regular campaign in our Book Committee, in reading and dis- cussing your articles. The one on " Christian Loyalty " occupied nearly the whole time. Your article on " The Church " is one of the most admirable papers I ever read. Not a word of that is to be altered. Your communica- tion on " Indian Affairs," I cannot speak so highly of. I hope you will pardon me for leaving out some of the severe remarks on Sir Francis. I am afraid they will do harm with the present Government. At the Conference of 1838, Dr. Ryerson was re-elected Editor of the Christian Guardian. In his first editorial, dated 11th July, 1838, he said:— Notwithstanding the almost incredible calumny which has in past years been heaped upon me by antipodes-party-presses, I still adhere to the principles and views upon which I set out in 1826. I believe the endowment of the priesthood of any- Church in the Province to be an evil to that Church. . . I believe that the appropriation of the proceeds of the clergy reserves to general educational purposes, will be the most satisfactory and advantageous disposal of them that can be made. In nothing is this Province so defective as in the requisite available provisions for, and an efficient system of, 202 THE STORY OF MY LIFE. [Chap. XXV. general education. Let the distinctive character of that system be the union of public and private effort. . . To Government influence will be spontaneously added the various and combined religious influence of the country in the noble, statesmanlike, and divine work of raising up an elevated, intelligent, and moral population.* In combatting the idea that his editorial opinions in the Guardian were necessarily " the opinions of the Methodists " as a body, and that they were responsible for them, Dr. Ryerson, in the Guardian of August 15th, thus defines the rights of an editor : — To be the mere scribe of the opinions of others, and not to write what we think ourselves, is a greater degradation of intellectual and moral character than slavery itself. . . In doctrines and opinions we write what we believe to be the truth, leaving to others the exercise of a judgment equally unbiassed and free. In the exuberance of loyal zeal, and yet in a kindly spirit which was characteristic of him, Eev. W. M. Harvard, President of the Canada Conference, issued a pastoral on the 17th April, 1838, to the ministers of the Church, enjoining them not to recognize as members of the Society those whose loyalty could be impeached. The directions which he gave were : — Should there be a single individual for whose Christian loyalty the preacher cannot conscientiously answer for to his brethren, in the tirst place such individual should not be included in the return of membership; and in the second place such individual should be dealt with kindly and compassion- ately, but hrmly, according to the provisions of the Disci[)line. No man who is not disposed to be a good subject can be admissible to the Sacraments of the Church. . . Should any person apply hereafter for admission into our Church, who may be ill-affected to the Crown . . tell him kindly, but firmly, . . that he has applied at the wrong door. As soon as this extraordinary pastoral had appeared.. Dr. Ryerson addressed a letter of some length to the Guardian, objecting in very temperate, but yet in very strong language to ihe doctrine laid down in it by the President of the Conference. Before publication, however, he sent it to Mr. Harvard for his information and perusal. He showed from the writings of John Wesley, Richard Watson, and others, and from examples which he cited (John Nelson, "the apostolic fellow-labourer of John Wesley," etc.) that such a doctrine savoured of despotism, and was harsh and inquisitorial in its effects. He concluded thus : — None of the various political opinions which men hold, and their respectful and constitutional expression of them, is any just cause of excluding from the * Even at this early date, Dr. Ryerson indicated the comprehensive character of the system of education which he was afterwards destined to found in Upper Canada. 1838] THE STORY OF MY LIFE, 203 Lord's Table any human being, provided his religious character is unexcep- tional. The only condition of membership in our ( hurch is " a desire to flee from the wrath to come,"* and none of the opinions mentioned is incon- sistent with the fruits by which that desire is evidenced. The Tlficipline of the Church, or the Scripture itself, does not authorize me to become the judge of another man's political opinions — the Church is not a political association — any man has as good a right, religiously and politically, to his opinions of public matters as 1 have to mine — and laymen frequently know much more, and are better judges, than ministers in civil and secular affairs. It can be well understood what would be the effect of the Pastoral, and not less so of Dr. Ryerson's clear and dispassionate disclaimer of the doctrines which it officially laid down. It required courage and firmness, in the loyal outburst and reaction of those days, to 'question the propriety or expediency of any reasonable means by which the unimpeachable loyalty of members of the Church could be ascertained. What added to the embarrassment of Dr. Ryerson in discussing such a question w^as the fact that the Methodists were being constantly taunted with being disloyal. Knowing this, and sensitive as to the disgrace of such a stigma being cast upon the Church, the Pre.'sident felt constrained to take some decisive, and yet, as he thought, kindly and satisfactory means of ridding the Church of members who were the cause, in his estimation, of such a disgrace and reproach to that Church. Among many other strong letters of commendations of his reply to Mr. Harvard, which Dr. Ryerson received, were two, — one from a representative minister of the Canadian section of the Church, and the other from an equally excellent representa- tive of the British missionaries. Thus : Rev. Anson Green, writing from Picton, said : — I was sorry, though not surprised, to hear that you were very much perplexed. I could easily understand your feelings, and quite sympathize with you. Your recent efforts for the peace and prosperity of the Church have very much endeared you to my heart. I am fully prepared to believe the assertion which you made while in England, " that you love Jerusalem above your chief joy." This you have fully proved by your untiring efforts on behalf of the Academy, the Chapels, and on the Church question ; but in nothing more, allow me to say, than in the firm, manly, and Christian spirit, in which you have come out, publicly, in defence of the membership of the Church, and of sound principles. I had resolved when Rev. Mr. Harvard ■wrote to me to cany out the principles of his instructions and Pastoral in this district, to write him a letter respectfully and yet firmly declining to do so. But when I saw the storm gathering in every quarter, I could only exclaim in the despondency of my soul: — When will our brethren cease to destroy us, and when will the Church again have rest from internal commotion and strife ! And just at this crisis (a memorable crisis to thousands of our Canadian friends) your excellent rejoinder to Mr. Harvard's Pastoral came out in the Guardian. It was a balm to the afflicted heart. It was a precious cordial poured forth. Your letter was sent from house to house, from cottage * These words as to membership are identical with those which Dr. Ryerson uttered hlteen years afterwards in his discussion on the Class-meeting question. 204. THE STORY OF MY LIFE. [Chap. XXV. to cottage, and met with uneqiiivical applause from all. The lowering sky- began to clear up, and we are encouraged once more to hope for clear sun- shine. You have had the courage to speak the truth in opposition to men in high authority. Your letter was in every respect just what it should have been, and thousands do most sincerely thank you lor it. Rev. Joseph Stinson, writing from Simcoe, said : — As far as I can ascertain, your appointment as Editor of the Guardian next year will give general satisfaction. The President's Pastoral and your reply are producing quite a sensation. Most people give Mr. Harvard credit for purity of intention, but regret that the subject of politics has been adverted to by him in such a form. Your remarks on the Pastoral have hushed the fears of many who were greatly disturbed ; but some think that your state- ment of abstract right is carried too far, and may at a future day be appealed to in support of measures which you would utterly condemn. Some of your old tory friends think that there is design in all you write on these questions, and do not hesitate to designate you by the amiable title of a "Jesuit," etc. You can bear all this and much more in carrying out your design, to show them that their tactics are understood, and their proceedings are closely watched, so as to prevent them from obtaining those objects which would be alike unjust to us as a Church, and ungenerous to themselves. It is well that in all of the " burnings which your fingers " have had, you have not yet lost your nails ; for I expect that you will need them before long. The high church party have the will, if they can muster the courage, to make a renewed and desperate attack upon you. Fear not ; while you advocate the truth, you can defy their rage. The public mind seems to me to be in a state of painful suspense. The people hate and dread rebellion. They are not satisfied with the present leading political party. They hope to see a new man rise up with sufficient talent and influence to collect around him a respectable party to act as a balance between opprtpsion and destruction. Some talk of a new election; eiome talk of leaving the country ; all seem to think that something must be done ; none know what to do. How ought we in this awful crisis (for an awful crisis it is), to pray for the Divine interposition in behalf of our dis- tracted province. . . I saw your venerable father last night. He very much wishes you to write to him. On the 7th of November, 1838, the first number of the 10th volume of the Guardian was issued. In it there is an elaborate article signed by Dr. Ryerson (although he was then Editor), on the state of public affairs in Upper Canada. In his intro- ductory remarks he said : — From the part I have usually taken in questions which aff'ect the founda- tions of our Government, and our relations with the Mother Country,— and from the position I at present occupy in respect to public affairs, and in relation to the Province generally, it will be expected that I should take a more than passing noti'^.e of the eventful crisis at which we have arrived. In conclusion, he says : Having faithfully laid before the Government and the country the present posture of affairs, and the causes of our present dissatis- faction and dangers, I advert to the remedies : (1. Military defence.) 2. Let the Government be administered as much in accordance with the general wishes of this country, as it is in England. 3. Abolish high-church domi- nation, and provide perfect religious and political equality. 4. Let them be at equal fidelity to obey the authorities when called upon. . . He who does most to bring about this happy state of things in the Province will be the greatest benefactor of his country. CHAPTER XXVI. 1838-1840. Enemies and Friends Within and Without. Any controversialist, whose honest belief in his own doctrines makes him terribly in earnest, may count on a life embittered by the anger of those on whom he has forced the disagreeable task of reconsidering their own assumjjtions. — Canon Fakrar. ALL throuiJjh his public career, Dr. Ryerson had many bitter enemies and many warm and devoted friends. This was not to be wondered at. No man with such strongly marked individuality of will and purpose, and with such an instinctive dislike to injustice and oppression, could fail to come in contact with those whose views and proceedings were opposed to his sense of right. The enmity which he excited in discussing pub- lic questions was rarely disarmed (except in the case of men of generous impulses or noble natures) by the fact that he and those who acted with him were battling for great principles — those of truth, and justice, and freedom. When these principles could not be successfully assailed, the usual plan was to attack the character, and wound the tender sensibilities of their chief defender. This was a mistake ; but it was the common error with most of Dr. Ryerson's assail- ants. And yet those who did so in his presence, and in the arena of debate, rarely repeated the mistake. With all his kindness of heart and warmth of friendship, there was, when aroused, much of the lion in his nature. Few who assailed him in Conference, or made a personal attack upon him in other places of public discussion, could stand before the glitter of his eye when that lion-nature was aroused ; and fewer still would care to endure the effect of its fire a second time. Most of the personal attacks made upon Dr. Ryerson were in writing, and often anonymously. He had, therefore, to defend himself chiefly with his pen. This he rarely failed to do, and with good effect.* On such occasions he used strong and vigor- * Dr. Ryerson, early in his controversial career, adopted Lord Macaulay's motto: No misrepresentation should be suffered to pass unretuted. We must remember that misstatements constantly reiterated, and seldom answered, will assuredly bo believed. 206 THE STORY OF MY LIFE. [Chap. XXVI. ous language, of which he was an acknowledged master. Very many of these attacks were ephemeral, and not worthy of note. Others were more serious and affected character, and these were more or less bitter and violent. They, of course, called forth a good deal of feeling at the time, but are only referred to now as part of the story of a life, then singularly active and stormy. The Editor of the Toronto Patriot having published extracts from a pamphlet issued in the Newcastle District (County of Northumberland), in 1832, in which attacks were made upon Dr. Ryerson's character, he replied to them in the columns of that paper. In 1828, his circuit was in the Newcastle district, and the person who made these attacks resided in Haldi- mand, about eight miles east of Cobourg. Among other things, this man said that Dr. Ryerson "read seditious newspapers at his house, on the Sabbath day !" In reply, Dr. Ryerson said : — As my plan of labour prevented me from, reaching this person's locality until Sunday evening, and then preach in the Church there, it would be impossible for me to do as he has alleged. Were J to have done so, I would be unworthy of the society of Christian men. But the author of this libel, which was published by him four years after the alleged circumstance took place, was defeated as a candidate for the House of Assembly, on account of a personal attack which he made upon me at the hustings ! Hinc itlce lacrymcB. This person also said that I " hoped yet to see the walls of the Church of England levelled to the dust." In my reply to this I said: — I solemnly declare that I never uttered such a sentiment, nor have I cherished any hostility to the Church of England. Some of my friends desired me to take orders in the Church of England [see page 41] ; and a gentleman (now an Episcopal clergyman) was authorized by the late Bishop of Quebec to request me to make an appointment to see him on his then contemplated tour through the Niagara District, where I was travelling. After mature, and I trust, prayerful deliberation, I replied by letter declining the proposals made, at the same time appreciating the kindness and partiality of my Iriends. A short time afterwavds, I met the friend who had been the medium of this communication from the late Dr. Stewart. He was deeply affected at my decision. W hen I assigned my religious obligation to the Methodists as a reason for declining the offer, he replied that all of his own religious feelings had also been derived from them, but he thought the Church required our labours. Some person having written, professedly from Kingston, a diatribe against Dr. Ryerson, in the London (Eng.) Standard, Rev. Robert Alder replied to it, and apprised him of the fact : — An attack having been made on you in a letter from Kingston, and inserted in the Standard, I have been stirred up to write in your defence. I expect also to have a battle to fight with Sir Francis Head, lor " I guess" he knows something of your Kingston friend. From Mr. Alder's reply, I make the following extracts : — There is no man, either in the Canadas or at home, better acquainted with the former and present state of these fine provinces than Mr. Ryerson, as his letters in the Times, signed " A Canadian," testify. Even his Kingston 1838-40] THE STORY OF MY LIFE. 207 slanderer admits that the facts stated in these letters were, in the main exceedingly correct, indispntably trae, and for the publication of which he is entitled to the grateliil thanks of every loyal subject throughout British North America. But the malice of an adversary is too often swifter than the gratitude of those who have derived benefit from our services. This is proved in the case of Mr. Ryerson; for while every radical and republican journal in the province has teemed with communications vilifying his character and motives in the strongest terms, a stinted meed of praise has been doled out to him No wonder that persons in this country deeply interested in Canada frequently consulted him; no wonder that the British North American Land Company republished his letters from the Times at their own expense. And it is to the honour of the noble lord at the head of the Colonial Department, that he did obtain from so intelligent and influential an individual as Mr. Ryerson, information respecting the state of parties in a country so well- known to him. If his information and advice, and that of another " Meth- odist Parson " in Canada, had been received and acted upon elsewhere, there is reason to believe that Mackenzie and his traitorous associates would not have been permitted to unfurl the standard of rebellion in the midst of a peaceful and loyal people. (See pages 176 and 183.) The inspired truth that "A man's foes shall be they of his own household " received many a painful illustration in Dr. Ryerson's history. In 1838, it was reduced to a system. The assailant w^as often " A Wesleyan," or, " A True Wesleyan," and under the friendly cegis of four or five papers, which were usually hostile to Methodism itself, the attack would be made. From numerous examples noted in the Guardian, I select a specimen : — The rebellious Guardian is shut against us; its cry is war, havoc, and bloodshed, with Wesley on the lips, but implacable hatred to him in the heart of its editor and his friends. . . One of two things remain for us, either to expel the Ryerson family and their friends from our Society, who are the root of all our misfortunes, or . . for all true Wesleyans to withdraw from them and their wicked adherents, as the Israelites did from Egypt, or a leper. In Dr. Ryerson's effort to protect individuals who were oppressed, and who had no means of defence, except in the columns of the Guardian, he was often virulently assailed, and even his life threatened. On the 22nd December, 1838, he received a letter of this kind from an influential gentleman in Toronto, who threatened legal proceedings unless the name of a writer in the Guardian was given to him. He said : — In reply to your letter of last evening, I have to say that the writer of the communication in the Guardian, to which you refer, is one of the "peaceable members of the Methodist Society," whose character had been gratuitously and basely assailed by the Editor of the Patriot and his associate. He is a poor man, whose living depends upon his daily industrj'. Were he a rich man, I might consult with him on the subject of your letter ; but being in those circumstances of life which disable him from sustaining himself 208 THE STORY OF MY LIFE. [Chap. XXVI. against your wealth, and relentless persecution, I at once determine to shield him from your power. I will not, therefore, fuinish you with his name. In the published paragraph of his communication, the writer has asserted that certain things were published some time since in the Patriot, respecting the associate of its Editor, and an attempt was made to blast the character and prospects of several unoffending members of the Methodist Society — men, the daily bread for whose families must be taken out of their mouths, if the political or private character of their protectors is, in times like the present, believed to be what this associate has represented it to be. These men do not, like you, get rich upon " wars and rumours of wars ;" their high church zeal would not, like yours, treble their business, and bring them into possession of a tolerable fortune in a few years. It is to blunt the assassi- nating dagger of a marked, and hitherto privileged slanderer, against the character of such men that I admitted the paragraph in question into the Guardian. If you are not the associate of the city Editor in this "crusade against the character of peaceable members of the Methodist Society," then you are exonerated from the remarks in the letters, and the columns of the Guardian are open to you for any reparation you can desire. Notwithstand- ing your attacks upon borh my public and private character for years past; notwithstanding your late unprovoked attack upon my private character in a city newspaper ; notwithstanding your late indirect threats upon my life, and the Guardian office in the event of an invasion ; notwithstanding all tbis, and much more, I am still ready to open the columns of the Guardian to you, if you think that any kind of injustice has been done you. The letter to which you refer, mentions no name, but adverts to an already published portrait of a certain character who is, upon good grounds, believed to be figuring behind the scenes in this high church warfare against Method- ists and others, and who is known to be indiscriminately scattering "fire- brands, arrows and death," amongst all of Her Majesty's subjects who will not contribute to the profits of his newspaper craft in crying up his golden idol of a dominant church. It is amusing to see you, sir, who have availed yourself so lavishly, in all time past, of the freedom of the press to assail others, so sensitive at the mere suspicion of a mere report against causeless attacks upon private individuals, having been intended for yourself. Dr. Ryerson concluded in the following vigorous language : — Sir, — After having exhausted the resources of a free, I may add a licentious press to destroy me, with a view of extinguish- ing the principles of civil and religious liberty which I advocate, 3^ou and your party now seek to have recourse to the " glorious uncertainty of the law " to accomplish what you cannot effect by free discussion before an intelligent public; but I am not concerned at your threats. I know the malice of the party of which you are a convenient, active, and useful tool ; I know its resources ; I know its power ; but I also know the ground on which I stand. I know the country for whose welfare I am labouring ; above all, I rely upon the wisdom and efficiency of that Providence, whose administration, J believe, if I can judge of the signs of the times, has better things in store for the inhabitants of Upper Canada (my native land) than the despotism of a dominant oligarchy, upheld and promoted- by the persecuting, the anti-British, and anti-patriotic spirit of such partizans as yourself. 1838-40] THE 8T0BY OF MY LIFE. 209 Rev. Matthew Richey wrote to Dr. Ryerson from Cobourg, in January, 1839, stating that some of the leading Methodists in Montreal were inducing subscribers to give up the Guardian, on the alleged ground of some disloyal sentiments contained in that paper of the 12th December.* Mr. Richey adds: — I have written to a leading friend in Montreal, earnestly expostulating with him upon the precipitancy of such a course. I have not failed to apprise him of the bitter hostility of tlie Kingston Chronicle, the Toronto Patriot, the Cohourg Star, and The Church, to Methodism, and to say that, did they read these papers, they would not be surprised at the pungency with which you express yourself on the questions at issue between the arrayed parties of the Province. To intimate that the faithful discharge of your duty may expose you to gaol or gibbet . . is not very complimentary to the freedom of the Government under whose protection you are placed. Situated as you are iii the burning centre of excitement, and aware ol the high hopes, as well as high-handed measures of your opponents, yoa have great need of patience and forbearance. The leading Methodists in Montreal to whom Rev. Matthew Richey refers in the foregoing letter, having written to Dr. Ryerson on the subject of their complaint, he replied to them, on the 7th January, as follows: — Your letter of the 24th ult. being rather unusual, both in matter and form*,, seems to demand more than a silent acknowledgment. I shall have much, pleasure in complying with your request; but I should despise myself, were I capable of making any reply to the allegation contained in your letter. Not a few of you impugned both my motives and principles in former years , I have lived to furnish a practical commentary on your candour and justice, by being the first to excite in the Colonial Otiice in England a determination to protect British interests in Lower Canada against French ambition and prejudice. I may yet have an opportunity of furnishing a second similar commentary upon your second similar imputation. It is true that I am not of the high church school of politics, nor of the Montreal Herald school of bloodshed and French extermination; but I, nevertheless, think there still remains another basis of Scripture, justice, and humanity, on which may rest the principles of a loyalty that will sacrifice * The article in the Guardian to which reference is made, is the reply of Dr. Ryerson to several Methodists in Toronto who had signed the Address of the British Missionary party to the Governor; and who, in a letter to hira, had repudiated the construction put upon the Address by the Patriot. Among other things the Editor said-. The manly fiimness with which the signers of this Address have resisted the cunning wiles of Egertou Ryerson, is a solemn pledge of their love and veneration for the glorious institution of the Empire. . . Thus ever thought we of British Wesleyans; and thus thinking was our impelling motive for persevering for the first three years of our editorial career, in one incessant battering of the pernicious, seditious principles of Egerton Ryerson ; the very first number of whose paper betrayed him to us, flagrante delicto, a pestilent and dangerous demagogue. . . If his ambition were as legitimate and praiseworthy as his talents are commanding, he would be a far more valuable member of society than he can ever hope to be while hankering to return to the flesh pots of Yankee Episcopal Methodism, etc. Dr. Ryerson's reply was an elaborate defence of his opposition to the eflfbrts of the Patriot party to create a dominant Church, the application of the reserves to high church uses, and the establishment of the fifty-seven rectories. 14 210 THE STORY OF MY LIFE. [Chap. XXVI. life itself in the maintenance of British supremacv, in perfect harmony with a vigorous support of the constitutional rights of the subject, — unmoved at one time by the fierce denunciations of revolutionists, and unshaken at another time by tlie imputations of ultra-sycophantic partizanship. Twice have the leading members of the Methodist Society in Montreal had the opportunity of insulting (and if their influence could have done it, of injuring) me — and twice have they improved it, — in May, 1834 [see page 148], when I was in Montreal; and in December, 1838 — a juncture when a stain might be inflicted upon the character and reputation of any vulnerable minister of the Church that would tarnish his very grave. It is a pleasing as well as singular circumstance, and one that will be engraved upon the tablet of my heart while memory holds her seat, that when in 1834 I was insulted in Montreal, I was invited to preach in Quebec ; and now that I am honoured from Montreal a second time in a similar way, I have this day received from Quebec a second token of "respect for my character and love to Methodism" of ten new subscribers to the Guardian, with a promise "ere long of from ten to twenty more."* On the other hand, Dr. Ryerson, in the Guardian of October 17th, 1838, exposes the kind of warfare which was carried on against him by the high church party : — I have been informed, upon the authority of creditable eye witnesses, that the number of the Patriot which, contained four or five columns of attacks on the Editor of the Guardian in his private and public relations, has been THE STORY OF MY LIFE. [Chap. XXIX. any reference of the questions to the British Parliament as a pusillanimous, and yet an interested, party abnegation of Canadian rights. He, therefore, prepared and circulated extensively a petition to the House of Assembly on this and kindred subjects. This proceeding called forth a counter petition, urging the Legislature to recognize the principle of an established church, etc. Dr. Ryerson, therefore, lost no time in inserting in the Guardian of 24th October, a stirring appeal, in which he urged the Methodist ministers and members throughout the country to sign the petition which he had pre- pared without delay. He insisted upon the abolition of the rectories surreptitiously established by Sir John Colborne, on the ground that, although authorized by the Act of 1791, yet that their establishment was not in harmony with the terms of the despatch of Lord Ripon, dated November 8th, 1832, which stated that — His Majesty has studiously abstained from the exercise of his undoubted prerogative of founding and endowing literary or religious corporations, until he should obtain the advice of the representatives of the people in that respect. He concluded the appeal with these words: — It becomes every man who properly appreciates his civil and religious rights and privileges, and those of posterity after him, to give his name, his influence, and exertions, in the final effort to place those rights and privileges upon the broad foundation of equal justice to all classes of the inhabitants. In a subsequent appeal, issued in November, he said : — Let every man who has a head to think, a foot to walk, and a hand to write, do all in his power to circulate the petitions for the entire abolition of high church domination, and the perfect religious and political equality of all denominations of Chris- tians. . . The majority of the people of England are willing to have glebes, rectories, tithes, church rates, etc. ; but the majority of the people of this Province want nothing of the kind. . . The right of the inhabitants of this Province to judge, and to have their wishes granted on everything con- nected with the disposition of the clergy reserves, and the proceeds of them, has been formally recognized in gracious despatches from the Throne. Few in the present day can realize the storm which these petitions and appeals provoked Every efibrt was made (as will be seen) to silence the voice and stay the hand of l)r. Ryerson, the chief promoter of the petitions, and the able opponent of the establishment of church ascendancy in Upper Canada. Thus matters reached a crisis in the latter part of the year 1838. So intense was the feeling evoked by the 1838] TBE STORY OF MY LIFE, 233 ruling party against Dr. Ryerson's proceeding, that in many places the promoters of the petitions were threatened with personal violence, and even with death, as may be seen by letters published in the Guardian at this time. The publica- tion of these letters at the present time would excite feelings of amazement that such a state of things was ever possible in a free country like Canada. Not only was this policy of intimidation pursued in the rural parts of the country, but the newspapers in Toronto and the larger towns, controlled by his opponents, made a com- bined assault upon Dr. Ryerson, as the central figure in this movement. On the 19th December, 1838, he inserted an able defence of himself. He said : — The question of the Clergy Reserves, or in other words, of a dominant ecclesiastical establishment in this Province, embracing one or more Churches, has been a topic of public discussion for nearly twenty years. For thirty years after the creation of Upper Canada (in 1783) there was no ecclesiastical establishment in the country, except in the letter of an Act of Parliament. During that time there was no weakening of the hands of Government by discussing the question of a dominant church. . . But from the time that the Episcopal clergy commenced the enterprise of ecclesiasticnl supremacy in the Province, there has been civil and religious discord. The calumnious and persecuting measures they have pursued from time to time to accomplish their purpose, I need not enumerate. For twelve years I have sought to restore peace to the Province, by putting down their pretensions. I have varied in the means I have employed, but never in the end 1 have had in view, as I have always avowed to them and their parti- zans, and to the Colonial and Imperial Governments, on every suitable occasion. It was a favourite weapon of attack to denounce as rebels and republicans all those who opposed the exclusive claims of the then representatives of the Church of England. And this stigma was, in 1838, a personal and social one which every person to whom it was applied resented. But the more such persons resented the charge of disloyalty the more was the charge reiterated, and they were harassed and denounced as " radicals " and "republicans." In repelling this unfounded charge, Dr. Ryerson did not descend to vindication or explanation. He became in turn the assailant, and began to " carry the war into Africa." With scorn and invective he replied to the charge, and showed that his opponents, with all their boasting and professions of loyalty, had failed to render the necessary aid in time of need. Thus : It has been said that I prevented the militia from turning out when first called upon. . . It is true that I did not exhort any one to volunteer. . . One reason . . was that I desired to have the country furnished with a prac- tical illustration of high-church patriotism and loyalty in the 234 THE STORY OF MY LIFE. [Chap. XXIX. hour of need. The Church and the Patriot had boasted of their multitudes ; but those multitudes shrivelled into a Falstaffs company in an hour which detectevi the difference between the loyalty of the lip and the heart. . . The elongated countenances in certain quarters for a few days [in December, 1837], will never be forgotten! From the Govern- ment House to the poorest cottage the omnipotent power of the Guardian was proclaimed as producing this alarming state of things ! Indeed, I received a verbal message from His Excel- lency on the subject. At this juncture . . the heads of the Presbyterian and Methodist Churches formally addressed [their adherents] exhorting them to rally to the standard of their country, and from that hour we have heard nothing but congratulations and boasts in regard to the readiness . . with which the militia came forward in all parts of the Pro- vince at the call of the Government. It has been insinuated that I attacked the local Government. . . The charge is unfounded. When the local Government was attacked for having pursued a different course from that of Lord Durham towards the political prisoners, I reconciled the course of the two administrations. Several numbers of the Guardian con- taining that dissertation were requested for the Government House, and . . were sent to England. . . But when both my position and myself stand virtually . . impugned by proclamation, I am neither the sycophant nor the renegade to crouch down under unmerited imputations, come from whence they may, even though I should suffer imprisonment and ruin for my temerity. I am at length exhorted to silence, but not my opponents. . . A royal answer was returned to an address of the Episco- pal Clergy a few weeks since.* Nor is silence imposed upon me until the entire weight of the Chief Magistracy is thrown into the Episcopal scale. If the injunction had been given to all parties . . then we might have felt ourselves in some degree equally protected. . . But at the moment when the Province is turned into a camp — when freedom of opinion may be said to exist, but scarcely to live — when unprecedented power is wielded by the Executive, and the Habeas Corpus Act is suspended, for one party in the Province to have free range of denunciation, intimidation, etc., against Methodists and others . . and then for silence to be enjoined on me and those who agree with me . . does excite, 1 confess, my * In their address they designated themselves as the Bishop, Archdeacons, and Clergy of the Established Church of Upper Canada ; but Sir George Arthur, in his reply, addressed them as the Bishop, Archdeacons, and Clergy of the esta- blished Church of England in Upper Canada. 1838] THE STOBY OF MY LIFE. 235 anxious concern, as the object of it in regard to myself and a large portion of the country cannot be mistaken. The despatches of Lord Ripon (Nov. 8th, 1832) and Lord Glenelg (Dec. ]5th, 1835) recommended a "comprehensive liberality " in every department, and in all the acts of the Government, they conceded in full the popular demands on the clergy reserve question, and deprecated the establishment of any religious corporations until the advice of the local Legis- lature had been obtained — these very despatches Sir F. B. Head promised to carry out. . . But has that pledge been re- deemed by him ? Has it not been grossly violated ? . . In his appointments and dismissals from office, and in the whole tone and spirit of his government, did not Sir F. B. Head become the head of a party instead of the Governor of the Province ? . . The result of his new system of government already is derangement of the currency — insurrection — bloodshed — ^loss of property — demoralization, by calling large bodies of men from rural to military employments — decrease of population — cessation of immigration — decrease of credit — decrease of reve- nue — increase of the public debt — decrease of the value of property — increase of popular dissatisfaction — vast military expenditures from the taxes of an overburthened British popu- lation — insecurity of person and property, and general distrust. Under these " Church and King " counsels, for two years more, and this province will be a Paradise ! . . We have laboured liard to obtain and secure many blessings for our native land, but certainly not such blessings as these ! In connection with this discussion, a Kingston paper stated that Dr. Ryerson was moved by ambitious motives. In reply Dr. Ryerson said : — As to my motives of ambition, etc., my enemies will probably concede to me two or three things. 1. That long before Sir F. B. Head came to Upper Canada I had been honoured by as large a share of popular favour in this province as any individual could reasonably expect or desire. . . 2. That the path to royal favour has been opened as widely to me as it is possible for it to be opened to any clerical individual who has laid it down as a rule, and stated it to Ministers of the Crown and Governors, that he never could knowingly receive a farthing from any quarter, or in any way, which was not pointed out and authorized by the discipline of his Church. But as a love of popular favour has not obliterated from my recollection the rightful prerogatives of the Crown, I cannot see why I should thereby be disqualified from a disinterested maintenance of constitutional rights, especially when many n>ore are immediately concerned in the latter than in the former. CHAPTER XXX. 1838-1839. The Ruling Paety and the Reserves. — " Divide et Impera." IN dealing with so large and influential a body as the Method- ists, made up, as it was years ago, of two distinct elements, somewhat antagonistic to each other, it can easily be understood that the more astute among the high church or " family com- pact " party clearly saw that their only hope of success in the clergy reserve controversy was by taking advantage of the presence of this antagonistic element in the Methodist body, and to turn it to practical account against Dr. Ryerson, so as to checkmate him in the contest. Queen Elizabeth's motto: Divide et impera^ was therefore adopted. And every effort was made to inte-nsify the feelings and widen the breach which already existed between the two sections of the Methodists. This was the more easily done by the appeal which was made to the national prejudices of Methodists of British origin, as against the alleged republican tendency of their colonial breth- ren.* In thk effort the ruling party were publicly and privately aided by mtnnbers of the Missionary Committee in London. To discuss this* question now would be practically useless. None but actors in the scenes and conflicts of those times could realize the strong, even bitter, feelings which existed in the chief towns between the two parties at the time. Cherished sentiments of loyalty, strong home feelings, and orthodox Methodist principles, were appealed to, and alternately asserted their influence on opposite sides in the contest. Added to the difficulty which Dr. Ryerson experienced in conducting »the clergy reserve controversy was the fact, that many Methodists of British origin fully sympathized with the claims of the old national and historical Church of England — * Dr. Kyerson, in the Guardian of October 31, 1838, says: — Five columns of The Ourch, of the 20th ult,, are occupied with an appeal to the old country Methodists, to induce them to oppose the Conterence and Connexion in this Pro- vince in the clergy reserve question. The Cobourg Star follows in the wake oi The Church, in the same pious crusade. The Patriot of the 26 th inst. also copies the 8chi&inat:c appeal of The Church. 838-39] THE STORY OF MY LIFE. 2^7 they held that it was ipso facto the "established" church in every British Colony, as often asserted by the Missionary party. As the clergy reserve question gradually became the absorbing topic of discussion in the country (with Dr. Ryerson as one of the chief leaders in that discussion), it was natural that so important a matter should receive the attention of Conference. This it did at an early date. In 1837 strong resolutions were passed upon the subject, which excited much uneasiness among the English Missionary party. The Rev. W. H. Harvard, President of the Conference, in writing to Dr. Ryerson on the subject after Conference, said : — Since I came away from the Conference, 1 have been greatly concerned as to the anti-church impression likely to be made on the mind of our people by our recent resolutions of Conference ; and I would fain engage your interest with Rev. E. Evans, our Editor, to accompany them with some saving paragraph on the general principle of an establishment which may keep our people from the danger of imbibing the principle of dissent, the operation of which will always foster a religious radicalism in our body, and the influence of which our fathers at home strongly deprecate. I think with you, that in the altered circumstances of our Colonial relations, we have reason to plead for concessions of equality of rights and privileges which would never be granted in the Mother Country. In that respect I do not dissent from the spirit of the resolutions. But I more and more think and feel that there is a middle path of respectful deference to the principle of an establishment even in the Colonies, which, so modified, would not be injuri- ous, but rather helpful, to our good cause, — and which is a vantage ground on which none of our enemies could touch us. It is true, that from Wesleyan high quarters you have had encouragement to believe an independent stand against Church domination would not be disapproved; yet even there a denial of the principle of an establishment (or that the Government should profess some one form of Christianity, with equal privileges to other Chris- tians) would meet with reprobation ; and if not, who does not see, if we take that anti- Wesleyan ground, it may involve the question of Wesleyan con- sistency on our part, while at the same time it would be in danger of throwing our people into the arms of the Radical-popish-infidel faction, where they will, bear -like, be hugged till the breath of piety is pressed out of them. Of course, it would drive away from our congregations many of those pious or well-disposed Church people who occasionally mingle with and derive good from us. It was Mr. Wesley's conviction that the Method- ists were in part raised up to spread scriptural holiness in the Church of England, as well as in the world at large. I must repeat my wish, that you had yielded to my suggestion to admit into the resolution the phrases, " that the principle of an establishment should be so administered in this Province as to secure perfect equality of rights and privileges among all other communities." You may have ulterior views which I am. too short-sighted to perceive. But I am fully convinced, that if the Guardian does not save us from identi- fication with dissent from the Church of England at this crisis, the real friends of our Zion will bitterly deplore it another day.* * Even Rev. J. Stinson (who heartily sympathized in many things with the Canadian Methodists), in a letter to Dr. Ryerson, written in February, 1839, said: — I have read your address to Hon. W. H. Draper, on the clergy reserve question, 2f^S THE STORY OF MY LIFE. [Chap. XXX. Here was a broad and distinct declaration of principle, as fully in harmony with the views of the dominant party as they were entirely opposed to those held by the Canadian Confer- ence party. They were perfectly sincere, too, and were uttered by one of the most moderate, and yet most thoroughly repre- sentative agents of the British Missionary party in this Pro- vince. It can be easily seen how tempting an opportunity it was for the ruling party to foster this feeling amongst the English Missionary section of Methodists, by strong appeals to their well-known loyalty — their respect and love for the old mother-church, which John Wesley so venerated. Even conde- sension and flattery were employed. The Church and other newspapers made appeals with tact and ability* (see page 236); the Lieutenant Governor himself took the trouble to address a letter on the subject direct to the Missionary Committee in London, and Archdeacon Strachan never failed to single out for respectful mention and commendation the representatives of the British Missionary party in Canada, as distinguished from the " disloyal and republican section of the Methodists."-|- with considerable attention ; and while there is much in it which I admire, I must honestly tell you, en passant, that it contains more against the principle of an establishment in this Colony than I like. * Not satisfied with these strong appeals in the newspapers, resort was had to personal ones, made to leading members of the missionary party. In a kind and yet candid letter which Dr. Ryerson received in November, 1838, Rev. Jose^ih Stinson says: — I sincerely sympathize with you in your present perplexing and trying circumstances. I heard to-day that some of the dominant church champions are appealing to me to array myself against you. They may save them- selves the trouble of making such appeals. Whenever I have differed in opinion with you, I have told you so, and shall do so again, — but shall never, unless you become a revolutionist, either directly or indirectly sanction any factious opposition to you. I think, as Wesleyan Methodists, we ought, openly and fearlessly, to advocate the righteous claims of our own Church; but we ought to do it without detracting from the merits or opposing the interests of that Church which is so closely connected with our Government, as is the Church of England. I know that the exclusive spirit — the arrogant pretentiousness — the priestly insolence — the anti-Christian spirit of certain members of that Church richly deserves chastise- ment. . . I know that your public services have been undervalued ; your faults have been shamefully exaggerated ; your motives have been misrepresented ; your influence (connected as you are with a large and influential body of Christians) is feared, and your enemies are as bitter as Satan can make them ; but, if you are conscious that, in the sight of God, you are aiming at the right object, why not leave your cause in His hands? why so frequently appeal to the people? You may not see it ; but there is a recklessness in your mode of writing, sometimes, which is really alarming, and for which many of the members of the Conference of our Society do not like to be responsible. I know well, that the acts of the high church party are far more likely to excite rebellion than your writings. There is a strong, a very strong, feeling against a dominant Church ; but a majority of the Province would rather have that, and connection with Great Britain, than repub- licanism. t On the other hand, the Editor of The Church thus sketched Dr. Ryerson : — As The promoter, if not originator, of prejudices ol indigenous growth, against the 1838-391 THE STORY OF MY LIFE. 239 Referring to this period, Rev. John Ryerson, in his Historical Recollections of Methodism (as annotated by Dr. Ryerson) in- forms us that — After aiding to suppress the rebellion, the Guardian resumed the diJ'ais- sion of the clergy reserve question, and insisted that it should be settled. But nothing was farther from the thoughts of Dr. Strachan and Sir George Arthur. They contended that the mooting of the question at such a time was evidence of disloyalty on the part of those who were endeavouring to despoil the Church of its lawful rights. The Editor of the Guardian (Dr. Ryerson) was threatened with personal violence, with prosecution, and banishment. Yet the Guardian kept on the even tenor of its way ; and in proportion to the fury of the monopolists, did the Editor increase his exer- tions to wrest from them their unjust gains. Then the oppressors of equal rights, seeing that nothing else would do, called into requisition the old craft to divide the Methodists, or, by other influences, to coercively control them. Sir George Arthur, the amanuensis of Dr. Strachan in these matters, wrote to the Missionary Committee in London of the evil and disturbing doings of the Guardian, and called on them for their interference. This flattering appeal received a very complimentary reply. The Committee also wrote to their missionary agents in Canada, directing them to interpose and arrest the unjustifiable course of the Guardian, The objection was that the paper "had become party-political ;" that " its course was disquieting to the coun- try, and disreputable to Wesleyan Methodism," . . etc. It is not denied (adds Rev. J. Ryerson), that the Guardian at this time was very political for a religious journal. . . On this Dr. Ryerson remarked — It is true, as my brother has intimated, that the Guardian was "very political," because the Editor was intensely in earnest on the great object for which he had been elected by the Conference. . . The times of his former proposed con- ciliations and compromises were now past. He felt the awful- ness of the crisis and the responsibility of his position. The Reform party had been crushed by the rebellion of 1837, and the Reform press silenced ; there was, in fact, no Reform party. The high-church party thought that their day of absolute power and ecclesiastical monopoly had dawned. It had been agreed by Mr. W. L. Mackenzie and his fellow rebels . . that Egerton Ryerson [should be their first victim]. He alone stood above successful calumny by the high-church party, and Church of England, and as the thoughtless scatterer of the seeds of political error and of antipathy to the national church. Notwithstanding these counteracting influences, the Editor does not despair of seeing the day when Methodists in Canada will join with Churchmen in vindicating the Church's right to the property of the reserves, which will enable them to plant the established church in every corner of these Provinces. And this they will do, not upon the ground merely of filial partiality, but on the most rational security for the permanence and purity of our Protestant faith, etc. Cinder these circumstances. Dr. Ryerson said : — I have felt it due to the Guardian connexion to enter my protest against the claims of the Episcopal Church, and to combat and explain the opinion of my English brethren as not those prevalent in this Province. A lengthened communication, embodying those views, appearing on page 109 of the Guardian of May 16th, 1838. 240 THE STORY OF MY LIFE. [Chap. XXX. backed as he was by his Canadian Methodist brethren, he determined to defend to the last, the citadel of Canadian liberty. . . He knew that, as in a final struggle for victory between two armies, when that victory was trembling in the scales, the wavering of a single battalion on either side might animate and decide victory in favour of the enemy; so a compromising sentence or ambiguous word from the Editor might rouse the high-church party tb increased confidence and action, and pro- portionally weaken the cause of civil and religious liberty in Upper Canada. The Editor of the Guardian had no fear, and he evinced none. . . I contended that all the political ques- tions then pending had a direct or indirect bearing on this great question ; . . that I would not be turned aside from the great object in view until it was obtained ; that the real object of the Government and of the Missionary Committee was not so much to prevent the introduction of politics into the Guardian, as the discussion of the clergy reserve question itself, and of the equal religious rights of the people alto- gether, so that the high-church party might be left in peace- able possession of their exclusive privileges, and their unjust and immense monopolies, without molestation or dispute. Rev. J. Ryerson adds: Had Dr. Ryerson "yielded to the dictation of Sir George Arthur's government, and the inter- ference of the London Missionary Committee, one-seventli of the land of the Province might now be in the hands of the Church of England. But the course of the Guardian in this matter, however right, brought upon [the Canadian Methodist Church] calamities and sufferings of seven years' continuance." About a month before the Conference of 1839 met, Sir George Arthur received a reply, by the hands of Dr. Alder, from the Missionary Committee in London (signed by Dr. Bunting and the other Secretaries), which he published in the Patriot newspaper. Dr. Ryerson inserted the letter in the Guardian of the 22nd May, with these remarks : — We copy from the Patriot a letter, addressed by the Wesleyan Missionary Secretaries in London to Sir George Arthur, disclaiming " all participation in the views expressed in the Guardian on the ecclesiastical questions of this Province." He then goes on to show that the views expressed in the Guardian were identical with those embodied in the proceedings of the Wesleyan Conference in Upper Canada from the begin- ning, and that they were explicitly avowed and understood by both parties at the time of the union of the Conferences in 1833. The object of the publication of the letter was evidently two- fold : 1st. To put a weapon into the hands of the friends of a dominant church in Upper Canada. 2nd. To paralyze the efforts 1838-39] THE STORY OF MY LIFE. 241 of Dr. Ryerson to secure equal rights for all religious bodies, and thus to weaken his powerful influence as a champion of those rights. It was a noticeable fact that all of the disclaimers from the British party first appeared in the Church of England organs, and were there triumphantly appealed to as the unbiassed expression of Methodist opinion from headquarters in England. In supple- menting Rev. John Ryerson's Historical Narrative of events at this period, Dr. Ryerson stated, in substance, that : — It was soon found that Sir George Arthur had thrown himself into the hands of the oligarchy on the question of the clergy reserves — he would not consent to have them applied to any other purpose than the support of the clergy, and was anxious to have them revested in the Crown. When Sir George's views and plans were brought before the Legislature, I opposed them. The Missionary Committee interposed (at Sir George's own request) and supported him on that question. However, Her Majesty's Government sub- sequently set aside the proceedings of Sir George Arthur, upon the very same grounds on which I had opposed them ; but that made no diiference in the feelings towards me of Dr. Alder and his colleagues. Early in June, 1839, Dr. Alder addressed a letter to the Guardian, explaining and defending his views on church establishments. On the 12th of that month. Dr. Ryerson replied to him at length, and, at the close, put a series of questions to Dr. Alder. From the 2nd and 6th I make the following extracts : — 2. Are you satisfied that you are providentially called of God to attempt to make Methodism an agency in promoting a national establishment of religion in a new country, in the teeth of an overwhelming majority of the inhabitants 1 6. Are you warranted from any writings or authority of Mr. Wesley to insist that, " under no circumstances," the principle of an establishment shall be abandoned ? . . Mr. Wesley and his coadjutors have left it on record, in the minutes of their Conference, as their deliberate judgment, that " there is no instance of, or ground at all for, a national church in the New Testa- ment;" that they " apprehended it to be a merely political institution," How can any true Wesleyan convert that into a matter of faith and religious principle for which Mr. Wesley declared there " was no instance or ground at all in the New Testament]" . . I know that the local Executive is most intent to secure the aid of the Missionary Committee to support the recent re-investment act of spoliation ; I believe that your letter . , emboldened and encouraged them in the re-investment scheme, and His Excellency stated some months since that he had written for you to come to this country; they think that they -can bargain with you upon more advan- tageous terras than they can with the Methodist Conference in this Province, hut I entreat you to pause before you proceed to insist that that which Mr. Wesley declares . . to be "a merely political institution," forms any part of Wesleyan Methodism.* * Witn a view to increase the clamour against the Editor of the Chmrdian on this subject, Mr. Alex. Davidson, writing to Dr. Ryerson from Niagara, said: — Dr. Alder's letter to you had been printed and circulated there in the form of a hand-bill. Mr. E. C. Griffin, of Waterdown, writing from Hamilton on the same subject, said : I have learned from brother Edward Jackson what are the feelings of the Society 16 242 THE STORY OF MY LIFE. [Chap. XXX. Dr Ryer son's account of what transpired at the ensuinor Con- ference is in substance as follows : — Dr. Alder attended the Conference at Hamilton, June, 1839, and intro- duced resolutions expressive of his views, to which he insisted upon the concurrence of the Conference. The resolutions were discussed for three days. On the last day Dr. Ryerson replied, after which the resolutions were negatived by a vote of 55 to 5.* At the same Conference Dr. Ryerson was appointed secretary, by a vote of 4l to 14 But it was in regard to the election of Editor that the greatest interest was taken, not so much amongst the Canadian section of the Methodist people as amongst the members of other religious bodies. The Guardian stated : — For the last two months the several provincial journals have renewed their efforts of vehement vituperation against the Editor ; . . they have sought and hoped to create a division in the ranks of the Methodist family, and, by thus dividing, to conquer ; they even triumphed by anticipation — so much so, that the Editor of The Church oracularly predicted the speedy release of the Editor of the Guardian from his editorial duties. The chagrin which was felt by these parties can be well imagined when the ballot announced that Dr. Ryerson had been re-elected editor, by a vote of 60 to 13 ! Speaking of this memorable triumph, Dr. Ryerson declared that : — Never before did I receive, directly or indirectly, so many unequivocal itestimonies of respect and confidence, not merely from the Methodist Church at large, but also from members of other churches. In the meantime (as Dr. Ryerson stated elsewhere) the discussion on the question of a dominant church monopoly and party . . proscription waxed hotter and hotter ; . . rumours prevailed of a change of Governors in Upper Canada; the high church party felt that this was their time, and perhaps their last chance to confirm their absolute power. . . Under these in Hamilton, respecting the letter of Dr. Alder. He says, that if the leaders' meeting is any index of the views of the entire Society here, they are a " unit" to a man (except the preacher) in their determination to support you in your prin- ciples and proceedings. * The following incident in connection with this vote is mentioned by Dr. Ryerson: Dr. Alder (he said) appeared disappointed and depressed; and, after the close of the Conference I said to him : Dr. Alder, you see how entirely you have mistaken the state of Canadian society, and the views and feelings of the Method- ist people. Now, I do not wish that you should return to England a defeated and disgraced man. I purpose to write a short editorial for the Guardian, stating that the differences and misunderstandings which had arisen, after having been carefully considered and fully discussed, were adjusted in an amicable spirit, and the unity of the Church maintained inviolate. Dr. Alder appeared delighted and thankful beyond expression. I prepared the editorial. Dr. Alder used and interpreted this -editorial on his return to England, to show that the Canadian Conference and its Editor had acceded to all of his demands, and that he had been completely successful in his mission to Canada ! The English Committee adopted resolutions complimentary to Dr. Alder in consequence ; but I did not imagine that Dr. Alder's fictitious repiesentation of the results of his mission would afterwards be made the ground of charges against myself ! 1838-39] THE STORY OF MY LIFE. 243 circumstances, I stated to the Conference thut the moment that the clergy reserve and other questions affecting our consti- tutional and just rights as British Canadian subjects, and as a religious body, were adjusted, we ought to abstain entirely from any discussions in reference to civil affairs. When Dr. Alder's resolutions were rejected by our Conference, one prepared by myself was agreed to, as follows : — While this Conference has felt itself bound to express its sentiments on the question of an ecclesiastical establishment in this Province, and our constitu- tional and religious rights and privileges, and our determination to maintain them, we disclaim any intention to interfere with the merely secular, party- politics of the day. This resolution, as it afterwards appeared, did not go far enough to meet the wishes and designs of Dr. Alder. He, there- fore, brought the matter before the Book Committee, Toronto, in October, 1839. To that Committee he stated at length his decided objection to the course pursued by the Guardian since Conference as " a violation of the known design of the resolu- tion adopted by it." Dr. Ryerson, while fully justifying the course which he had pursued, nevertheless tendered to the Committee his resignation as Editor. The Committee, however, instructed Rev. William Case to write to him as follows : — By request of the Book Committee, I beg leave to communicate the result of their deliberations on the subject of your proffered resignation of the editor- ship of the Guardian. ^^Besolved, That the Committee do not feel themselves at liberty to accept of the resignation of the Editor of the Guardian, and that he be affectionately requested to withdraw it, and to continue his services in accordance with the deliberately framed regulations of the Committee until the ensuing Conference, the regulations to which he objects having been adopted, not for the purpose of reflecting in any way upon the Editor ; and that we assure him that we have the utmost confidence in his abilty, his integrity, and his anxious desire to promote the best interests of the Connexion " Dr. Ryerson withdrew his resignation at the time, but re- solved to press it at the next Conference. This he did ; and peremptorily declined re-election at the Conference of 1840 — in fact other and more serious matters were pressed upon him. He thus finally retired from the editorship of the paper which he had established in 1829, and which he had made such a power in Upper Canada. He justly felt that, with the enlarged Methodist constituency which the Guardian at this time repre- sented, it would be impossible for him, while great questions remained unsettled, to harmonize the conflicting opinions on politico-religious matters which were then held by opposite and influential sections of the Methodist Church. He clearly fore- saw further conflict on these and other inter-connexional sub- jects, and was, therefore, the more anxious to free himself from the unwise, oflicial trammels, which a hostile, anti-Canadian and 244 THE STORY OF MY LIFE. [Cr^^v. XXX, unpatriotic party sought to impose upon him, — sinj^le-handed as he was. He longed for more congenial work. He also felt that literary freedom was essential to him in his thorough and practical discussion of the all absorbing questions of the day.* This it was well known he could do, in dealing with these questions, not only on their own merits, but with the com- prehensive grasp which his enlarged experience, intuitive clear- ness of perception, and naturally statesmanlike views on grave public questions, eminently qualified him for. As an illustration of the acknowledged ability, fairness, and conclusiveness of argument with which he dealt with questions which touched the sensibilities and even prejudices of leading members of the British Missionary party in Canada, it is a striking fact that when these gentlemen were not under the direct and potent influence of the Mission House, they were Dr. Eyerson's personal friends, and gave him an active support. This was particularly the case with the late Rev. Dr. Stinson, a man of noble and generous impulses ; Kev. W. H. Harvard, always kind and courteous ; Kev. Dr. Richey, a man of much refinement and culture, and others. In the important crisis of 1888, both Dr. Stinson and Dr. Richey voted for Dr. Ryerson as Editor. The former w^rote a strong letter urging his appoint- ment as Editor. (Page 201.) The latter, on his way to Halifax, after the Conference of 1839, wrote from Montreal to Dr. Ryerson, as follows : — Sir John Colborne, on whom I called, and by whom I was graciously received, is delighted with the continuance of the Union. So are all oui Montreal friends, after my explanations. They will immediately order the Guardian. Sir John paid a handsome tribute to your talents, as who with whom I conversed did not? however they might happen to view your course. They all say you commenced admirably, — that the moment the paper passed into your hands, it manifestly improved ; and they all approve of your course for the last six months, just about as well as you know I do. Adhere most religiously, my dear brother, to the spirit and letter of the resolutions, by which the Conference has expressed its will that you should be guided. Your friend Joseph Howef begins, I perceive, to mingle with tories, as they ar6 invidiously designated. I do not wish you to be a tory ; and I will not insult you by expressing a desire that you were a high con- servative. I do not flatter you in saying, that on no man in Upper Canada does the peace of our Church and of the Province so much depend, as on yourself. May all your powers be employed for good ! Guard against the fascination of political fame. It will do no more for you on a dying bed than it did for Cardinal Wolsey. ! that your fine mind were fully concentrated upon the TToXiTev/na of Heaven ! * Dr. Ryerson gave full expression to these views in a letter addressed to the Governor- General in April, 1840. (See chapter xxxiii., page 266.) t See letter from Mr, Howe to Dr. Ryerson on page 258 ' CHAPTER XXXL 1839. Steategy in the Clergy Reserve Controversy. THE year 1839 was somewhat noted for the prolonged and animated discussions which took place in and out of the Legislature on the clergy reserve question. There were some new features in the discussion of the preceding year which had their effect on the clergy reserve legislation of that year. And while they partially ceased to be influential in the discussions of 1839, yet the legislation of that year was practically brought to the same issue as that of 1838, only that it was more de- cisive. It may be interesting, therefore, to refer to these special features in the discussion of 1838-9. The first was the final change of tactics on the part of the leaders of the Church of England party in the contest. The second was the persistent and personal efiforts which Lieutenant Governor Arthur put forth in behalf of that party, so as to enable them to accomplish their object, and, at the same time, to counteract the eflforts of those who were seeking to uphold Canadian and popular rights. The third was (as shown in the last chapter) the plan adopted to foment discord in the Methodist body — which was by far the most formidable opponent of the scheme of monopoly and aggrandisement which the ruling party was seeking to promote. At this distance of time it is easy to survey the whole field of conflict, and to note the plans and strategies of the combat- ants. Although eflforts had hitherto been made to shift the battle-ground from Upper Canada to England, yet, as the Colonial Secretary had discouraged such eflforts as unwise, and as an unnecessary interference with the rights of the Provincial Legislature, the matter was not openly pressed in 1839. Nor was it pressed at all to a conclusion in 1838. For, by a singular coincidence, the very day (29th December, 1837) on which Mr. Cartwright had moved to bring a bill into the House of Assembly to revest the clergy reserve in Her Majesty, Sir George Grey penned a despatch to Sir George Arthur, in which he disclaimed, on behalf of the Imperial Government, 246 THE STOBY OF MY LIFE. [Chap. XXXT. any wish or intention to interfere, in the settlement of the •clergy reserve question, with the functions of the Provincial Legislature, on the ground that — Such interference would tend to create a not unreasonable suspicion of the sincerity with which the Legislature have been invited to the exercise of the power [to vary or repeal] reserved to them on this subject by the Consti- tutional Act of 1791. It is lilsely that the publication of this despatch prevented the House of Assembly from proceeding any farther with Mr. Cart Wright's bill, than ordering it to a second reading on the 26th February, 1838. In this dilemma the ruling party were evidently at a loss how to act. It required much tact and skill to break the ranks of the chief forces arrayed agaiuvSt the scheme to revest the reserves in the Crown — a scheme dis- tasteful to Canadians generally, and subversive of the legis- lative independence of Upper Canada. Two methods were therefore adopted : The first was to divide the Methodists (as shown in the last chapter). The second and more astute one was to appeal to the professed loyalty of that class which hitherto had been held up to scorn as disloyal, and denounced as republican in its tendencies, as well as seditious in their conduct. The appeal was varied in form, but it was in substance that as those who made it were not themselves afraid to trust their interests in the hands of the Sovereign, their opponents should be equally trustful in the equal and entire justice which would be meted out to all of her Canadian subjects.* This appeal, from its very speciousness, and the skill with which it was pressed, had its effect in many cases. But, as a general rule, it failed. The object of the decisive change of tactics was too transparent to deceive the more sensible and thoughtful men to whom the appeal was addressed. The two other methods adopted (already referred to) were only partially successful; but the three combined, no doubt, strengthened the hands of the advocates of the scheme for the re-investment of the reserves in the Crown. They, however, ceased to press the matter upon public attention, being deter- mined to bide their time, and (as events proved), to carry their point in another and more skilful way. In the meantime, and early in 1839, Dr. Ryerson was deputed by several important circuits to present loyal addresses to Sir George Arthur. This he did on the 2nd February ; and in en- closing them to the Governor's secretary, used language which sounds strange in these days of religious equality. He said: — * In the Ouardian of Se^temhev 19th., 1838, the question is put in this form and discussed : "Why do you not appeal to Her Majesty's Privy Council, or to the High Court of Parliament instead of appealing to the public here?" The answer was conclusive. 1839] THE STORY OF MY LIFE. 247 I feel myself fully authorized, by various communications and my official position, to assure His Excellency that the members of the Wesleyan Methodist Church will not be contented with subordinate civil standing to any other church, any more than the members of the Church of Scotland. They do not, and never have asked for any peculiar advantages ; but they feel that upon the principles of justice, by labours, by usefulness, by character, by numbers, and by the principles laid down in royal despatches, they are ' entitled, in the eye of the law, and in the administration of an impartial government, to equal consideration, and equal advantages with any other church. I am confident that I but state a simple fact, when I express our belief that the Methodist Church, in its doctrines, ministry, and institutions, furnishes as formidable a barrier against the irreligion and infidelity of the times as any other section of Protestantism. Nor is it possible for us — not- withstanding our unfeigned respect for His Excellency — to feel ourselves under any obligations to tender our support to another section of the Protestant Church, whose clergy, in this Province, collectively, officially, and individually (with solitary exceptions), have resisted the attainment of every civil and religious privilege we now enjoy — have twice impeached our character and principles before the Imperial Government — who deny the legitimacy of our ministry, who, in their doctrines respecting Church polity, and several points of faith, do not represent the doctrines of the Church of England, or of the established clergy in England as a body, but that section only of the established clergy that have associated with all arbitrary measures of government against various classes of Protestant non-conformists which have darkened the page of British history, and also the dark ages, notions of rites and ceremonies, and the conductor of whose official organ in this Province has recently represented the Methodist ministry as the guilty cause of those divine chastisements under the influence of which our land droops and mourns. I am sure my brethren, as well as myself, freely forgive the great wrongs thus perpetrated against us; but we feel ourselves equally bound in duty to ourselves, to our country, and to our common Christianity, to employ all lawful means to prevent such exclusive, repulsive, and pro- scriptive sentiments from acquiring anything more than equal protection in the Province. I might appeal to circumstances within His Excellency's knowledge, to show that from 1836 to the close of the last session of our Provincial Parlia- ment, I have spared no pains — without the remotest view to personal or even Methodistic advantage — to second, to the utmost of my humble ability, any plan to which the Province might, under all circumstances, be induced to concur, in order to settle the protracted controversy on the clergy reserve question ; and that it has not been, until I have had indubitable proofs that that there was no disposition or intention on the side of the Episcopal clergy to yield a single iota any further than they were compelled. It was not until all these circumstances had transpired, that we reluctantly determined! to appeal against the exclusive and unjust pretensions of the Episcopal clergy, to the bar of public opinion — a power recognized by our free constitution,. and which no party or administration can successfully resist many years. The reply of the Governor was friendly and conciliatory; but in it he expresses his Surprise to find that his appeal on a late occasion to the Wesleyan Methodists, to give the Church of England their most cordial support, had been misunderstood and construed into an expression of sectarian preference. By inviting the Methodists to such a course of conduct, His Excellency thought that he was only appealing to a feeling of attachment for the Church ol England, which he had always been induced to consider — especially from 24S THE STORY OF MY LIFE. [Chap. XXXI. personal observation — as a badge of " legitimate Wesleyan Methodists " all over the world. Dr. Ryerson in his remarks on this reply, said : — The questions at issue about the clergy reserves do not involve the principle of " attachment for the Church of England " from the well known fact that many respectable members of that Church, in every district throughout the Province, concur in the views advocated in the Guardian on tliat question — therefore an appeal to " attachment for the Church of England " as the rule of judgment in this controversy, much less as a "badge of legitimate Wesleyan Methodists," is the very cUmax of absurdity. The discussions on the clergy reserve question up to the time when the House reassembled (27th February, 1839), must have convinced the dominant party that it was, and ever would be, hopeless, in the face of the determined opposition which their schemes encountered, to obtain that which they wanted from the local legislature. Thej' could not again openly bring in a bill (as they did last year) to revest the reserves in the Grown, in the face of the declarations of the Colonial Secretary, that — Imperial Parliamentary Legislation on any subject of exclusively internal concern, in any British colony possessing a representative assembly is, as a general rule, unconstitutional. It is a right of which the exercise is reserved for extreme cases, in which necessity at once creates and justifies the excep- tion. (Lord Glenelg to Sir F. B. Head, 5th December, 1835.) They therefore adopted what events proved to be a ruse, to accomplish their object. It is true that Sir George Arthur, in his opening speech, urged that — The settlement of this vitally important question ought not to be longer delayed. . . I confidently hope, that if the claims of contending parties be advanced . . in a spirit of moderation and Christian charity, the adjustment of them by you will not prove insuperably difficult. The Governor then adroitly added — But, should all your efforts for the purpose unhappily fail, it will then only remain for you to re-invest the reserves in the hands of the Crown, and to refer the appropriation of them to the Imperial Parliament, as a tribunal free from those local influences and excitements which may operate too powerfully here. Both Houses, in apparent good faith, sought to carry out the wishes of the Governor as expressed in the first part of his speech. The managers of the scheme indicated in the latter part of the speech initiated a totally different bill in each House, apparently liberal and comprehensive in character, but yet objectionable in detail. Dr. Ryerson felt this so strongly that he petitioned to be heard at the Bar of the House of Assembly against the bill which had been introduced into it. His request was at first granted on the 7th April, by a vote of :24 to 22, but afterwards refused by a vote of 21 to 17. After 1839] THE STORY OF MY LIFE. 249 protracted debates in the House of Assembly and about forty- four divisions, that House sent up its bill to the Legislative Council for concurrence. The Council struck out the whole of the bill after the word " whereas/ and substituted one of its own, and in turn sent it down to the House of Assembly for concurrence. That House, not to be outdone by the other, struck out the whole of the Legislative Council bill, and sub- stituted a bill of its own, totally different from the one first sent up to the Legislative Council, the last clause of which read as follows : — The moneys to arise, and to be procured and henceforth received for auy sale or sales [of clergy reserve lands] shall be paid into the hands of Ht-r Majesty's Receiver-General of this Province, to be appropriated by the Pro- vincial Legislature for religion and education. The bill thus constructed needed but the alteration of the last five words to adapt it admirably to the object and purpose of the Church party. The Legislative Council, therefore, changed the concluding words in the last clause into the words "Imperial Parliament for religious purposes." In this apparently simple way, but in reality, fundamental manner — and without any attempt at a conference betw^een the Houses, with a view to adjust differences — the Legislative Council, taking advantage of a comparatively thin House of Assembly, made the desired change on the last day of the session. By adroit manoeuvring the agents of the Church party carried the bill in the House of Assembly thus altered. In this way they succeeded in destroy- ing the whole object of the bill, as passed by the House of Assembly. Sir George Arthur, in his despatch to the Colonial Secretary, virtually admitted that the passage of the altered bill was due to the fact that it was carried in the House of Assembly by a majority of one vote [22 to 21], in a House of 44 members, and at a late hour on the night preceding the prorogation ! Such were the discreditable circumstances under which the bill re-investing the clergy reserves in the Crown was passed. It, however, required the assent of the Queen before it became law. This it was destined never to receive, owing to a technical objection raised in England in the following October, that such a delegation to the Imperial Parliament could not be made by a subordinate authority. This defeat, however, proved to be a moral victory for the vanquished, as it gave them time for farther deliberation ; it incited them to greater caution in their mode of warfare, and induced them to adopt tactics of a more secret and, as it proved, effective character. CHAPTER XXXII. 1839. Sir G. Arthur's Partizanship. — State of the Province. THE bill for revesting the clergy reserves in the Crown barely escaped defeat (as just mentioned) in the House of Assembly, on 11th May, 1839. On the 14th Sir George Arthur sent the bill to Lord Normanby (successor to Lord Glenelg) for Her Majesty's assent, with an elaborate despatch. On the 15th, Dr. Eyerson also addressed to Lord Normanby a long letter on the same subject. In it he called the attention of the Colonial Secretary to the following facts, which he discussed at length in his letter: — 1. That the great majority of the House of Assembly in four successive parliaments had remonstrated against the exclu- sive pretensions of the Church of England in Upper Canada; and that the claims of the Church of England to be the established Church of the Province had from the beginning been steadily denied by such representatives, and elsewhere. 2. That the ground of dissatisfaction in the Province was not merely between the Churches of England and Scotland, but between the high-church party, and the religious denomina- tions and the inhabitants of the Province generally. 3. That from the beginning the House of Assembly had protested against any appropriation of the clergy reserves being made to the Church of England, not granted equally [for educational purposes] to the other Christian denominations. 4. That notwithstanding the annual remonstrances of the House of Assembly, large grants had been paid since 1827, to the Episcopal Clergy, exclusive of grants by the Imperial Par- liament and the Propagation Society. 5. That under these circumstances it was not surprising that there should be a widespread and deeply seated dissatisfaction. It is rather surprising that a vestige of British power exists in the Province. 6. That Sir George Arthur has for the last five months endeavoured — by official proclamations and other published 1839] THE STOBY OF MY LIFE. 2ol communications through public offices, and by military in- fluences in various parts of the Province — to prevent any expression of opinion on this subject, even by petition to the Legislature. 7. That the Lieutenant-Governor has been induced to make himself a partizan with the Episcopal Church in the clergy reserve discussion ; the entire influence of the Executive has been thrown into that scale ; the representation of impartial sovereignty has been made the watchword of party. 8. That under the pretense of resisting brigand invasion, large militia forces have been raised ; violent penniless partizans have been put on pay in preference to respectable and loyal men; and these forces have not been placed on the frontier where invasion might have been expected, but have been scattered in parties over many parts of the interior, in order to exterminate discontent by silencing complaint. These, with a reference to the embarrassed financial condition of the Province, were the chief points to which Dr. Ryerson called the attention of the Colonial Secretary in this elaborate letter. On the 22nd of the same month (May) Dr. Ryerson addressed another vigorous letter to Lord Normanby, on the clergy reserves and kindred questions. " That letter," he says, he writes " with feelings which he has no language to express." The main points of the letter were as follows : — 1. For thirty years (up to 1820) nothing was heard of an ecclesiastical establishment in the Province: all classes felt themselves equally free, and were, therefore, equally contented and happy. 2. From the first open and unequivocal pretensions to a state establishment being made, the inhabitants of Upper Canada, in every constitutional way, have resisted and remonstrated against it. 3. Every appropriation and grant to the Episcopal clergy out of the lands and funds of the Province has been made in the very teeth of the country's remonstrance. 4. The utter powerlessness of the representative branch of the Legislature has rendered the officers and dependents and partizans of the Executive more and more despotic, overbearing, and reckless of the feelings of the country. 5 This most blighting of all partizanship has been carried into every department of the Executive Government — the magis- tracy, militia, and even into the administration of justice. Its poison is working throughout the whole body politic ; it destroys the peace of the country; rouses neighbour against neighbour; weakens the best social affections of the human ^^2 THE STOKV OF Ml LIFE. [Chap. XXXII heart, and awakens its worst passions ; and converts a healthy and fertile province into a pandemonium of strife, discontent, and civil commotion. 6. While upwards of $220,000 (besides lands) have been given to the Episcopal clero^y since 1827, the grants made by the Imperial Parliament to the clergy of Upper Canada amount to over $400,000, being over $620,000 in all. 7. A very large sum has been expended in the erection of Upper Canada College, on the grounds of King's College, and with an endowment of $8,000 or $10,000 a year. This institution is wholly under the management of Episcopal clergy- men, while the Upper Canada Academy, which has been built at Cobourg by the Methodists at a cost of about $40,000, could not without a severe struggle get even the $16,000 which were directed to be paid over to it by Lord Glenelg. The matter had to be contested with Sir F. B. Head on the floor of the House of Assembly before he could be induced to obey the Royal instructions. (Page 179.) 8. In the recent legislation on the clergy reserve question, the high church party resisted every measure by which the Methodist Church might obtain a farthing's aid to the Upper Canada Academy. And, to add insult to injury, the high church people denounce Methodists as republicans, rebels, traitors, and use every possible epithet and insinuation of contumely because they complain, reason, and remonstrate against such barefaced oppression and injustice — notwithstand- ing that not a singie member of that church has been convicted of complicity with the late unhappy troubles in the Province. 9. A perpetuation of the past and present obnoxious and withering system, will not only continue to drive thousands of industrious farmers and tradesmen from the country, but will prompt thousands more, before they will sacrifice their property and expatriate themsielves, to advocate constitutionally, openly, and decidedly, the erection of an " independent king- dom," as has been suggested by the Attorney-General, as best both for this province and Great Britain. 10. It rests with Her Majesty's Government to decide whether or not the inhabitants shall be treated as strangers and helots ; whether the blighted hopes of this province shall wither and die, or revive, and bloom, and flourish ; whether Her Majesty's Canadian subjects shall be allowed the legitimate constitutional control of their own earnings, or whether the property sufficient to pay off the* large provincial debt shall be wrested from them ; whether honour, loyalty, free and respon- sible government are to be established in this province, or whether our resources are to be absorbed in support of preten- 1839] THE STOBY OF MY LIFE. ^ZS sions which have proved the bane of religion in the country ; have fomented discord ; emboldened, if not prompted, rebel- lion ; turned the tide of capital and emigration to other shores;, impaired public credit; arrested trade and commerce, and caused Upper Canada to stand " like a girdled tree," its drooping branches mournfully betraying that its natural nourishment has been deliberately cut off. In a third and concluding letter to Lord Normanby, Dr. Eyer- son uses this language : — The great body of the inhabitants of this province will not likely again petition on the question of the clergy reserves and a church establishment in this province. They will express their sentiments at the hustings with a vengeance, to the con- fusion of the men who have deceived, and misrepresented, and wronged them ; . . A petition would acknowledge the right of the Imperial Parliament to interfere — which ought not to be admitted. If past expressions of public sentiment will not satisfy Her Majesty's Government, none other can do it ; and more efficient means (such as the coming elections), must and ought to be adopted, instead of the fruitless method of asking by petition for what has been guaranteed to the constituencies of the country as a right. The validity of the recent Act of the Legislature, revesting the reserves in the Crown, never will be acknowledged, or recognized by the electors of this province. Any Ministers of the Crown in England would more than lose their places, who should press through the House of Commons, on the last night of the session, in a thin house, a great public measure which had not only been repealed by four successive parliaments, but had been negatived from six to twelve times during the same session of the existing parliament. Nor would the British nation ever submit to any public measure (much less to loss of the control of one-seventh of their lands, and the infliction upon them of an uncongenial ecclesiastical system) which had been forced upon them. The declarations of the Representative of Royalty have here- tofore been regarded in this province as sacred and inviolable; but the reliance of the Canadian electors upon those declarations from the lips of Sir Francis Head has cost them bloodshed, bank- ruptcy, and misery. . . The electors will employ the elective franchise to redress their accumulated wrongs to the last farthing. It is, of course, my good or bad fortune :o be assailed from week to week, whether I write or not. . . I am no theorist. I advocate no change in the Constitution of the Province. I have never written a paragraph the principles of which could not be carried cut in accordance with the letter and spirit of 254 TEE STOBY OF MY LIFE. [Chap. XXXII. the established Constitution. I desire nothing more than the free and impartial administration of that Constitution for the benefit of all classes of Her Majesty's subjects. I only oppose or support men, or measures, for the attainment of that object. Entertaining such strong feelings in regard to the personal conduct of Sir George Arthur in respect to the passage of the clergy reserve bill, Dr. Ryerson felt that he could not accept any social courtesy at his hands. In reply, therefore, to an invitation from Sir George, for Her Majesty's birthday, he felt constrained to decline it. In his letter to the A.D.C., he said : — After the most mature deliberation up to the last moment in which it is proper to reply, I feel it my duty respectfully to decline the honour of His Excellency's invitation. I most firmly believe that the office of impartial sovereignty has been employed by His Excellency for partial purposes ; that an undue and an unconstitutional exercise of the office of royalty has been employed by His Excellency to influence the public mind, and the decisions of our constitutional tribunals on pending and debatable questions between equally loyal and deserving classes of Her Majesty's subjects in this Province ; tliat His Excellency has also employed the influence of the high office of the Queen's representative to procure and afterwards express his cordial satis- faction at the passing of a Bill, in a thin House, on the very last night of the session, the provisions of which had been repeatedly negatived by a consider- able majority of the people's representatives, and which deprive the faithful but embarrassed inhabitants of this Province of the control of a revenue and lands sufficient in value to pay off the whole public debt — a proceeding at complete variance with the fair and constitutional administration of a free monarchical government, and the imperial usages since the accession of the present Royal Family to the throne of Great Britain ; and, finally, that His Excellency has employed the influence of his high office to the disparagement of the large section of the religious community whose views, rights, and intertists, I have been elected to my present offices to advocate and promote. I beg that my declining the honour proposed by His Excellency may not De construed into any disrespect to His Excellency personally, or to the high office His Excellency holds — for the inviolableness and dignity of which I feel the jealous veneration of a loyal subject — but I beg that it may be attributed solely to a fixed determination not to do anything that may in the slightest degree tend to weaken, but on the contrary, to use every lawful means, on all occasions, to advance those civil and religious interests which I am most fully convinced are essential to the happy preservation of a prosper- ous British Government in this country, and to the happiness and welfare of the great body of Her Majesty's Canadian subjects. In order to insure the assent, of Her Majesty to the Bill which had been sent to the Colonial Secretary by Sir George Arthur, the authorities of the Church of England in the Pro- vince circulated a petition for presentation to the Queen and the British Parliament* containing the following statement and request : — . *' Your petitioners, consisting of the United Empire Loyalists and their children, took refuge in this Province alter the American Revolution, under the impression that they possessed the same constitution as that of * See note on page 224. 1839] THE STORY OF MY LIFE. 255 the Mother Country, which includes a decent provision for the administration of the Word and Sacraments according to the forms of the Church of England." The prayer of the petition was — That the proceeds of the clergy reserve lands be applied to the mainten- ance of such clergy, and of a bishop to superintend the same, so that the ministrations of our Holy Religion may be aflorded without charge'*' to the inhabitants of every township in the Province. Dr. Ryerson, having with difficulty procured a copy of this petition, pointed out in the Guardian of July 3rd, 1839 : 1st. Its historical misstatements, and denounced the selfish and exclusive character of its demands. He showed in effect that the Province was settled in 1783, whereas the constitutional Act (which was invoked as though it had existed long before that date), was not passed until 1791 — eight years after " the United Empire Loyalists and their children took refuge in Upper Canada." 2nd. That for forty years and more, nine- tenths of the United Empire Loyalists and their descendants, with all their " impressions," might have perished in heathen ignorance had not some other than the Episcopal clergy cared for their spiritual interests ; and that after these forty years of slumbering and neglect, and after the incorporation of the great body of the old Loyalists and their descendants into other churches, the Episcopal clergy came in, and now seek, on the strength of these apocryphal " impressions " (which never could have existed), to claim one-seventh of the lands of the Province as their heritage, f In proof of these facts Dr. Kyer- son referred to the testimony of fifty-two witnesses, given before a select Committee of the House of Assembly in 1828, and published in full at that time. * This selfish demand—" that the ministrations of onr Holy Religion he aiforded without charge to the inhabitants of every township" (in which members of the Church of England were persistently educated in those days) — was most unfortu- nate in its influence on the Church, and has borne bitter fruit in these later times. Its legitimate effect has been to dry up the sources of Christian benevolence, paralyze the arm of Christian effort, and secularize, if not render impossible, any successful plan of Church extension and missionary work. Witness the almost complete failure (as compared with other Christian bodies) to raise sufficient funds to support even the limited number of Home missions in most of the dioceses, and the nearly hopeless task of infusing a genuine missionary zeal in behalf of the **reo:ions beyond." t It should be noted, in connection with this petition, that one most important part of its prayer was granted in that year— viz., the appointment of the Arch- deacon (who went to England to present the petitions and to receive the appoint- ment) as first Bishop of Toronto. His patent bears date, 27th July, 1839. The other part of the prayer was also granted, but not until 1840, when Lord John Russell, then Colonial Secretary, by an unprecedented and unlooked for stretch of official authority, but no doubt with the assent of his colleagues, introduced a bill into the House of Commons to do what even he and other Colonial Secre- taries had deprecated doing — viz., the re-investing of the reserves in the Crown. Dr. Ryerson, then in England, strongly protested against this act of provincial spoliation aud legislative invasion, but the bill became law. (See next chapter.) 256 THE STOBY OF MY LIFE, [Chap. XXXII. I have purposely abstained from making any special refer- ence to discussions in the clergy reserve question with which Dr. Ryerson had no connection. An important one, however, took place between Hon. Wm. Morris and Archdeacon Strachan in 1838-39, chiefly in regard to the claims of the Church of Scotland. Mr. Morris, however, did good service in the general discussion. In November, 1838, Dr. Ryerson received a letter from Thomas Farmer, Esq., of London, England, in regard to the Cen- tenary Celebration, to which he replied as follows : — Our prospects as a country are rather gloomy. We have lately had the excitement and loss produced by Lord Durham's departure, and the second rebellion in Lower Canada, followed in a few days by a brigand invasion of this province to distract and destroy us. You refer to a Centenary Offering. I cannot say what we shall be able to do. ^' e have not the slightest provi- sion yet for the education of preacher's children ; nor a contingent fund to aid poor circuits, or to relieve the distressed preachers' families ; and an unpaid for Book Eoom, and not an entirely paid for Academy; — all of which subjects have engaged our most anxious consideration ; — but in the present entirely unsettled state of our public affairs, we scarcely know what to do in respect to the future. We cannot, therefore, as yet fix upon the objects of our Centenary Offering. The Methodist Centenary Year occurred in 1839. The Con- ference set apart the 25th October for its celebration. By holding religious " services in all of our chapels and congregations, for the purpose of calling to mind the great things which the Lord has done for us as a people ; of solemnly recognizing our obligations and responsibilities to our Heavenly Father ; and of imploring, on behalf of ourselves and the whole Wesleyan Methodist family throughout the world, a continuance and increase of religious happiness, unity and prosperity." Meetings were held all over the Province during the months of August, September and October, for the collection of a centenary offering, to be applied to the Superannuation Fund, Book Room, Parsonages, Missionary, and other objects. Dr. Ryerson, as one of a deputation, attended a large number of meetino^s. Writing from Brockville, he mentions the fact that he Stopped at a graveyard, a few miles west of Prescott, to survey the graves of some of the honoured dead. The remains of Mrs. Heck, the devoted matron who urged Philip Embury (the first Methodist preacher in America) to lift up his voice in the city of New York, in 1766, are deposited here. CHAPTER XXXIII. 1838-1840. The New Era — Lord Durham and Lord Sydenham. IN the midst of the gloom which overspread the Province, in consequence of the long continued exercise of irresponsible and arbitrary power on the part of the local executive, Dr. Eyer- son, like many other loyal-hearted Canadians, rejoiced at the advent of Lord Durham, — a man possessed of plenary powers to- inquire into and report on the grievances existing in Canada.. Those who wished to perpetuate the reign of the ruling party, strongly deprecated Dr. Kyerson's advocacy of Lord Durham's schemes of reform. One of the most respectable organs* of that party (Neilson's Quebec Gazette) in a complimentary editorial on Dr. Ryerson (in May, 1839), expressed regret that a man " of his undoubted talents and great industry" should have endorsed Lord Durham's system of Responsible Government. In the Guardian of the 5th June, Dr. Ryerson replied, pointing out the fair and equitable system of Responsible Government advo- cated by Lord Durham, as compared with the crude one put forth by Messrs. W. L. Mackenzie and L. J. Papineau. He then illustrates the necessity for the reform proposed by Lord Dur- ham, by referring to the arbitrary and irresponsible acts of Sir Francis Head. He said : — The published word of the Representative of Royalty had [until Sir F. B. Head's time] been sacred and inviolable in Upper Canada; the majority of the people believed him. In 1836 they elected a House of Assembly in accordance with his wishes. He fulfilled his pledges by dismissing many of the magistrates and militia officers, because they voted against his candidates at the elections, and finished his career by plunging the country into misery, and thereby insuring its ruin. Now, where (he asked) was the " responsibility " under which . . such a Governor acts ? He abuses the confidence reposed in him, — where is his cencure ? He disobeys the orders given * The organs of that party in Upper Canada spoke of Dr. Ryerson's advocacy ol Lord Durham's reforms with far less courtesy, and for obvious reasons. 17 25S THE STORY OF MY LIFE, [Chap. XXXIII. him from England, — where is his punishment ? He ruins men [Bid well, etc.] whom he was ordered to appoint, — where is their redress, and his accountability ? They are exiles, and he is made a Baronet ! He disgraces and degrades numbers of per- sons without colour of reason, or justice, or law — yet they are without redress, and he is even without reproof. He tramples upon the orders from Her Majesty's Government, and attacks her ministers in their places — then returns to England, and boasts of his disobedience. . . And there are those who tell us of the responsibility of our Governors to the Queen and Parliament! . . The history of Sir F. B. Head's administra- tion is enough to make the veriest bigot a convert to "Respon- sible Government." For these and other important reasons it can be seen how the great question of the day (in 1839) was that of responsible government for these provinces. Dr. Ryerson and others had written freely on the subject, claiming that the government of the country should be administered, as it was then ex- pressed — " according to the well understood wishes of the people." This could only be done by men representing their wishes, and responsible to the legislature for their exercise of power and for every official act of the Governor. In October, Dr. Ryerson received a letter on this subject from a well-known advocate of the principle of responsible govern- ment in Nova Scotia — Hon. Joseph Howe. He said : — May I beg your acceptance of a little work on responsible government, the object of which is to advance the good cause in which you have so heartily and with so much ability embarked. It is a great satisfaction to the friends of responsible government here, that the cause has been taken up in Canada by men about whose intentions and loyalty there can be no mis- take. So long as we deprive the family compact of their only defence, which the folly of rebels and sympathizers raised for them, and act together with- out jast cause for suspicion that we are anything but what we say, there can be little doubt of ultimate success. Should your electors return a majority favourable to responsibility at the next election, and all the colonies unite in one demand, it will be yielded. Our legislature, and any that can be chosen here, will uphold the principle. So will the majorities in Newfoundland, and Prince Edward Island, and New Brunswick. I cannot speak with cer- tainty, but hope they will soon understand the question thoroughly in that province. It may be necessary for all the provinces to send delegates at the same time to England, to claim to be heard on the subject at the Bar of the Commons and Lords, and to diffuse, through every fair channel, correct views of the question. Think of this, and drop me a line at your leisure. This Dr. Ryerson did in due time. The coming of Lord Durham was the first harbinger of better days for Canada. His mission was one of enquiry, and for the suggestion of remedial measures. The mission of Mr. Poulett Thompson (who followed Lord Durham as Governor- 1838-40] THE STORY OF MY LIFE. 259 General) was hailed with delight by the people generally. He came to give practical effect to pressing measures of reform — to unite the provinces, and to introduce a new element of strength into the administrative system of the country. The year 1839 was noted for the enthusiasm with which " Durham Meetings " were held throughout Upper Canada. These meetings were for the purpose of endorsing the famous report of Lord Durham, and for approving of the many valuable reforms which that report suggested. Much opposition and even violence characterized these meetings ; but they revived and again inaugurated the right of free speech on public questions. The only record which Dr. Ryerson has leffc of this period of his history is as follows : — In 1838 I yielded to persuasion and remonstrances, and was again re-elected Editor, and continued as such until June, 1840, when I relinquished finally all connection with the Editorship of the Christian Guardian. It was during this period, from 1833 to 1840, that the most important events transpired in Upper Canada ; the controversy respecting the clergy reserves, and a church establishment, was steadily and earnestly maintained. The constitution of Lower Canada was suspended for two years, and an Executive Council Government was established in its place. The dominant party in Upper Canada by liberal professions succeeded in the elections, in 1836 ; but, instead of adopting a just and liberal policy, they sought to exclude all Reformers from a share in the Government as virtual rebels, and set themselves to promote a high-church establishment policy, to the exclusion of the Methodists and members of other religious denominations. This unwise, unjust, and inverted-pyramid policy laid the foundation for a new agitation. The Methodists were the only party capable of coping with the revived high-church policy to crush out the rights of other denominations and the liberties of the country, and to paralyze their influence. The Presbyterians being divided, the Canadian Conference was not to be deterred, or moved from its principles, avowed and maintained for more than ten years ; the result was a contest between the English and Canadian Conferences, which culminated in 1840 in a separation of the two bodies, and a conflict of seven years — wholly political — for London Wesleyan, English superiority, and tory ascendancy on the one side, and Canadian Methodist and Canadian liberty on the other side. 230 THE STOBY OF MY LIFE. [Chap. XXXIII. It is not my purpose to enter into detail, except in so far a's Dr. Ryerson became an actor in the new scenes and events which followed the appointment of Mr. Charles Poulett Thomp- son as Governor-General. Mr. Poulett Thompson arrived in Quebec on the 19Lh October, 1839, and in Toronto on the 21st November. As Governor- General, he superseded both Sir John Colborne at Quebec and Sir George Arthur at Toronto. On the 3rd December, the Governor- General opened the Upper Canada Legislature ; and on that very day Dr. Ryerson addressed to him an elaborate letter on the chief object of his mission. In referring to the clergy reserve question, he said : — For sixteen years this question has been a topic of ceaseless discussion ; and one on which the sentiments and feelings of a very large majority of the inhabitants have been without variation expressed ; notwithstanding that Governor has suc- ceeded Governor, and party has succeeded party. . . From the time when, at the elections of 1824, the sentiments of the country were first called forth to the present moment, its collective voice has demanded, what your Excellency has avowed on another subject, "equal justice to all of Her Majesty's sub- jects." This question is the parent of social discord in Upper Canada ; all the other party questions have originated in this. The elevation of one class above all others in a community where there is little diversity of rank or intelligence, begets a necessity for special means to support that elevation. Hence partizan appointments to office ; hence partizan administration of offices ; hence party animosities, enibittered by the jealousies of conscious weakness on one side, and a deep sense of unmer- ited exclusion and provocation on the other. . . Hence on the one side a selfish, insolent, baseless ecclesiastical and poli- tical oligarchy, and, on the other side, an abused, an injured, and dissatisfied country. The bill providing for the vesting of the proceeds of the reserves in the Imperial Parliament, to which I have referred in the proceeding chapter, was not sanctioned by Her Majesty. This was " a sore blow and a heavy discouragement " to those who had laboured so assiduously to carry such a bill through the local Legislature. The objection raised to it by Lord John Russell was twofold. The chief reason, however, was thus expressed : — It appeared to Her Majesty's Government that strong objections existed to this delegation to Parliament by a subordinate authority of the power of legislation. The proceeding should have been by address to the three estates of the Realm, asking them to undertake the decision of the question. 1838-40] THE STORY OF MY LIFE. 2G1 Thus by a stroke of Lord John Russell's pen, the whole of the pet scheme of the ruling party, devised after three months' anxious local legislation, was irrecoverably lost. And yet it was not lost, for by the after careful manipulation of Lord John and his colleagues by Bishop Strachan, Lord Seaton (Sir John Colborne) and Sir George Arthur, that bill afterwards proved to be, for ten years, the basis of a far more sweeping and unjust measure than even the most reckless and partizan mem- ber of the Legislature in Upper Canada would have ventured to propose. When it was known that Her Majesty had declined to sanction Sir George Arthur's bill, steps were taken by the Governor- General to devise such a measure as would meet with the approval of the great mass of the people in Upper Canada. To aid him in accomplishing this desirable end, Mr. Poulett Thompson privately sought the aid of leading public men in the Province. Having obtained their assistance, he, with the advice of his Council, prepared a compromise measure which was designed to be just and equitable to all parties concerned. On the 6th January, 1840, the Governor-General sent a message to the House of Assembly, in which he thus outlines the measure which, with his sanction, Hon. Solicitor- General Draper submitted to the House : — The Governor- General proposes that the remainder of the land should be sold, and the annual proceeds of the whole fund, when realized, be dis- tributed [one half to the Episcopal and Presbyterian Churches, and the other half among other religious bodies desiring to share in it] for the support of religious instruction within the Province, and for the promotion there, of the great and sacred objects for which these different bodies are established or associated. On this bill. Dr. Eyerson remarked : — From this message, the hopelessness of success in any further attempts to get the annual proceeds of the reserves appropriated to exclusively secular objects, is apparent. . . Up to the present time I have employed my best efforts, by every kind of argument, persuasion and entreaty, to get the pro- ceeds applied simply and solely to educational purposes. , . This is un- attainable, and is rendered so by an original provision of our Constitution (of 1791), as stated by the Governor-General. The bill was fiercely attacked by the then newly-appointed Bishop of Toronto. He denounced it as — Depriving the National Church of nearly three-fourths of her acknowledged property, and then, in mockery and derision, offering her back a poition of her own, so trifling as to be totally insufficient to maintain her present Esta- blishment ; it tramples on the faith of the British Government by destroying the birthright of all the members of the Established Church who are now in the province, or who may hereafter come into it; it promotes error, schism and dissent, and seeks to degrade the clergy of the Church of England to an ei|uality with unauthorized teachers, etc 262 THE STOBY OF MY LIFE. [Chap. XXXIII. The Bishop then uttered, that which events proved to be a memorable and true prophecy, that the Church — Need be tinder no great apprehension in regard to any measure likely to pass the Provincial Legislature on the subject of the reserves : — reckless injustice in their disposition will not be permitted; although the Church may appear triendless and in peril, from the defection and treachery of some professing members. . . If any of her children incline to despondency, let them turn their eyes to England, where we have protectors both numerous and powerful, watching our struggles, and holding out the hand of fellowship and assistance, [See next page.] Dr. E-yerson at once joined issue with the Bishop, and — Confuted the pretensions of " John Toronto " by the doctrines and state- ments of "John Strachan," who, when in England in 1827, published a pamphlet in which he stated that " the provincial legislatures have nothing to do, either directly or indirectly, with the Romish Church; but the same legislatures may vary, repeal, or modify the 31st Geo. III., cap. 31, as far as it respects the Church of England. Dr. Ryerson pertinently asked the Bishop — How could a " birthright " be " varied, repealed, or modified," as he had admitted that the constitutional act could do, " as far as it respects the Church of England?" Can (he asks) the Legislature " vary or repeal" the deeds by which individuals hold their lands ^ — Which of the "dissenting" denominations recognized by law is not as orthodox in doctrine as the Church of England, and far more orthodox than those who endorse the Ox- ford " Tracts tor the Times 1" . * The bill was finally passed in the House of Assembly, by a vote of 31 to 7, and in the Legislative Council, by a vote of 13 to 4, notwithstanding a remarkably outspoken and defiant speech from the Bishop. In it he used the following language : Feeling that the bill provides for the encouragement and propagation of error; intlicts the grossest injustice by robbing and plundering the National Church; that it attempts to destroy all distinction between truth and false- hood; that its anti-Christian tendencies lead directly to infidelity, and will reflect disgrace on the Legislature, I give it my unqualified opposition. The Bishop again utters his prediction, and stated that what he wanted would be secured in England. He said — At the same time I have no fear of its ever becoming law. But it may be useful, for its monstrous and unprincipled provisions will teach the Imperial Government the folly of permitting a Colonial Legislature to tamper with those great and holy principles of the Constitutiou, on the preservation of which the prosperity and happiness of the British Empire must ever depend. Although it was almost impossible to reason with any one who would deliberately use such extravagant language, yet Dr. E-yerson replied to the Bishop s statements seviatiim. With a touch of irony, he said : — After penning such an effusion, the Bishop might well betake himself to the Litany of his Church, and pray the good Lord to deliver him— from all blindness of heart ; from pride, vain glory and hypocrisy; from envy, hatred and malice, and all uncharitableness. 183S-401 THE STORY OF MY LIFE. 26J The fate of the bill is thus described in a statement on the subject, prepared by Dr. Ryerson. What he details clearly reveals the powerful and sympathetic influences which the Bishop of Toronto was able successfully to bring to bear upon " Henry of Exeter " — the then leader of the Bench of Bishops, — and, through him, upon the other Bishops in the House of Lords. Besides, Sir John Colborne (now Lord Seaton) took strong ground in the House of Lords in favour of the views of his old friend. Bishop Strachan, and aided the English Bishops in giving them practical effect. Thus the reiterated prophecy of the Bishop of Toronto was not uttered without abundant foreknow- ledge. It proved too true. Knowing this, he no doubt felt free to deal in strong language, both against the Legislature of Upper Canada, and the 'members of the Church of England in both Houses; who were too patriotic, just and reasonable, as well as far-seeing, to second his efforts to aggrandize the Church at the expense, and against the strongly-expressed and oft-repeated wishes, of the majority of the people of Upper Canada. He said : On the bill being sent to England (accompanied by a most energetic despatch from the Governor-General, imploring Her Majesty's Government not to disallow, but to sanction it), the Bishop of Exeter moved in the House of Lords, that the question of the right to the clergy reserve property in Canada should be referred to the twelve Judges of England ; but the decision of the Judges having proved adverse to the exclusive pretensions of the Bishop of Exeter and his party in England and Canada, the English Bishops then conferred with Lord John Russell, in order to set aside Lord Sydenham's Canadian bill, and introduce one into the Imperial Parliament which would accomplish as far as possible the objects aimed at by referring the question to the Judges. Lord John Russell became a consenting party and^ agent in this unconstitutional act of injustice and spoliation against the rights and feelings of a large majority of the people of Upper Canada. It was against this act that Messrs. W. and E. Ryerson (then in England), on behalf of the Wesleyan Church in Canada, remonstrated in an elaborate and strongly- woided letter to Lord John Russell — the only communication of the kind made by any religious body in Canada against the bill while it was before the British Parliament, or for several years afterwards. Knowing the strong influences which had been brought to bear upon Mr. Poulett Thompson against Dr. Ryerson, by Sir George Arthur (page 193), and against the Methodist body generally by interested parties in this discussion, Dr. Ryerson addressed a letter to the Governor-General on the 25th March, 1840, in which he reviewed the course of the Guardian and his own attitude on public questions during the preceding ten years. The letter was evidently written with deep feeling, and under a keen sense of the injustice done to the Methodist people by means of the prolonged and persistent misrepresenta- tion of these years. He said : — [ address your Excellency with feelings of the highest respect and strong afiection. You are the first Governor of Canada who has exerted his personal 264 THE STORY OF MY LIFE. [Chap. XXXIIT. inflaence and tlie authority of his station, to accomplish that in Upper Canada which has been avowed and promised by every Colonial-Secretary during the last ten years — framing enactments and administering the Government for the equal protection and benefit of all classes of Her Majesty's Canadian subjects. . . In doing so, your Excellency has been told that you have patronized " republicans and rebels." . . The Guardian^ which you have been pleased to honour with an expression of your approbation, has been charged with opposite crimes from different quarters. . . You have been told that the ministers of the Wesleyan Methodist Church — whose rights you have justly and kindly consulted — have formerly come from the United States ; and that the Guardian, during the first years of its existence, was nothing but a vehicle of radicalism, disaffection, and sedition. . . As to the former, I may say that the Methodist ministers have not come from . . the United States during the last twenty years. . . As to the latter, I furnish three columns of extracts from the Guardian^ . . from which the following may be adduced : — 1. That in 1830 I entertained less friendship towards our American neigh- bours than I do in 1840. "■ 2. That in 1830 I advocated the very principles in the administration of the Provincial Government that your Excellency has declared to be the basis of your administration in 1840. 3. That in 1830 I was as strongly opposed to an exclusiye, or sectarian, spirit as I am in 1840. 4. That the very advice which I gave to the electors in 1830, as to their rights and interests, I could now repeat with a view to support your Excel- lency's administration. 5. That the very principles upon which your Excellency has commenced your administration, . . were actually promised and assured to the people of Upper Canada by a Tory Government in 1830. In 1830 the Colonial-Secretary and Sir John Colborne proclaimed the " good laws and free institutions," and the non-preference system amongst religious denominations, which your Excellency is determiced to carry into practice. . . When the hopes created by these avowals have not only been deferred for these years, but those who have indulged these hopes have been maligned and proscribed for constitutionally seeking a realization of them, you cannot be surprised if many of their hearts have been made sick, ^nd that confidence and hope has yielded to distrust and despair. The Governor-General, through his private secretary, often requested Dr. Eyerson, while Editor of the Guardian, to correct misstatements which were made in regard to His Excellency's proceedings.* After an interview with His Excellency, at his request, Dr. Ryerson, in a letter dated 4th April, 1840, made a practical sug- * Thus in a note dated 8th April, 1840, the Private Secretary said : — I know^ that His Excellency would wish you to comment on Lord John's despatch in the sense in which it is treated in the Montreal Gazette. [This was done in the Guar- dian of 15th April.] There is no ^oiibt also that it is absurd in Hon. Henry Sherwood to pretend that he is supporting the Government when he opposes their own Solicitor-General, but not less so in the Examiner to support him and oppose Mr. Draper, or to stand up for a kind of responsible government which both His Excellency and Lord John Russell have declared to be inadmissible. I know that His Excellency would wish you to do everything in your power to support both Mr. Draper and Mr. Baldwin. Should any article come out which you consider would interest His Excellency, may I request you to send me a copy. 1838-40] THE STORY OF MY LIFE. 265 gestion as to the desirability of establishing the Monthly Review, as a means of disseminating the liberal views which he enter- tained in regard to the future government of this country, and also as an organ of public opinion in harmony with these views. It was at first proposed that Dr. Ryerson should edit the Review, but after fuller consideration of the matter he declined, and the editing and management of it was, at his suggestion, placed in the hands of John Waudby, Esq., Editor of the Kingston Herald. It was issued in Toronto early in 1841, but ceased on the death of Lord Sydenham, in September of that year. In Dr. Ryerson's letter to the Governor he said : — About a fortnight after your Excellency left Toronto, I happened in the course of conversation with Hon. R. B. Sullivan to mention the subject of establishing a monthly periodical, such as I had mentioned to you. Mr. Sullivan was anxious that something of the kind should be undertaken ; I stated to him that I understood that your Excellency would highly approve of such a publication, if it could be successfully established. Mr. Sullivan pressed me to prepare a prospectus and submit it for your Excellency 's con- sideration. I drew up a prospectus, and got an estimate of the cost, covering all expenses. Mr. Sullivan fully concurred in the prospectus, except the first paragraph. He was afraid it might be construed into an expression of opinion in favour of " responsible Government," and proposed another para- graph in place of it. The one was as acceptable to me as the other. A feeling of apprehension and embarrassment at the responsibilities of such an undertaking, and the course of exertion which a successful accomplishment of it would require, has deterred me from forwarding, until now, the accom- panying prospectus for your Excellency's perusal and signification of your pleasure thereon.* • The following was the prospectus agreed upon and issued : — A Monthly Review, Devoted to the Civil Government of Canada. The Canadas have been united under an amended constitution ; the foundation has been laid for an improved system ol govei-nment. The success of that consti- tution will greatly depend upon a correct understanding and a just appreciation of its principles ; and the advantages of the new system of government will be essentially influenced by the views and feelings of the inhabitants of the Canadas themselves. At a period so eventful, and under circumstances so peculiar, it is of the utmost importance that the principles of the constitution should be carefully analysed, and dispassionately expounded ; that the relations between this and the Mother Country, and the mutual advantages connected with those relations, should be explained and illustrated ; the duties of the several branches of the government, and the ditferent classes of the community, stated and enforced ; the natural, commercial, and agricultural resources and interests of these Provinces investigated and developed ; a comprehensive and efficient system* of public edu- cation discussed and established ; the subject of emigration practically considered in proportion to its vast importance ; the various measures adapted to promote the welfare of all classes of the people originated and advocated ; and a taste for intellectual improvement and refinement encouraged and cultivated. As the Editor's views on all the leading questions of Canadian policy accord with those of His Excellency the Governor-General, who has been pleased to approve of the pian of the Monthly Review, it will be enabled to state correctly the facts and principles on which the government proceeds ; yet the writers alone will be held responsible for whatever they may advance. * Dr. Ryerson, who wrote this prospectus, evidently had in view such a system of Education as he afterwards esublished. 266 THE STORY OF MY LIFE. [Chap. XXXIII. I cannot "but see that the puhlic mind in this country is in a chaotic state, without any controlling current of feeling, or fixed principle of action, in civil affairs' ; but susceptible, by proper management and instruction, of being cast into any mould of rational opinion and feeling ; yet liable, with- out judicious direction, to fall into a state of "confusion worse confounded," I know that now is the time — perhaps the only time — to establish our insti- tutions and relations upon the cheapest, the surest, and the only permanent foundation of any system, or form of Government — the sentiments and feel- ings of the population. But I alone have not the means or the power of contributing to the accomplishment of these objects. To the utmost of my humble abilities and acquirements, I am willing to exert myself ; and that without a shillings' remuneration — although my present salary is less than ^200 per annum. I believe the government about to be established in these provinces may be made the most enduring and loftiest memorial of your Excellency's fame, and the greatest earthly blessing to its inhabitants ; and it will be to me a source of satisfaction to contribute towards the formation and cementing of materials for the erection of a monument at once so honour- able to its founder, and so beneficial to Her Majesty's Canadian subjects. The personal influence of your Excellency in Lower Canada will be required to induce two or three of the cleverest men in Lower Canada to contribute to the columns of the Review ; especially on questions and sub- jects which grow out of the state and structure of society in that province. Mr. Sullivan thinks he will be able to contribute one, if not two, articles for each number. I am acquainted with several other gentlemen who are com- petent to contribute very ably on some subjects. I know from experience that furnishing matter for any periodical, as well as giving it character, must chiefly devolve upon the conductor of it. He must give it soul, if it have any ; he must combine, concentrate, and direct its power. And such a pub- lication, got up under so high and favourable auspices, and properly con- ducted, and embodying the productions of the leading minds of both provinces, cannot fail to prove an engine of immense and even irresistible moral power in the country ; and must materially contribute to its intellec- tual as well as political elevation. As to my own views and feelings, I would greatly prefer retiring altogether from any connection with the press in all discussions of civil affairs in every sliape and form, and I can consistently and honourably do so in June. But if this course be not justifiable in the present circumstances of the province; if it be deemed expedient for me still to take a part in public matters, I am sensible I ought to do more than I do now, or can do through the organ of a religious body. The relation, character and objects of the publication I now conduct, impose a restriction upon the topics and illustrations which are requisite to an effective discussion of political questions. Under such circumstances I can neither do justice to myself, nor to the subjects on which I occasionally remark, or might discuss. I have felt the more disposed to make this communication, because your Excellency's avowed system and policy of Government is but carrying out and reducing to practice those views of civil polity in Canada which have guided my public life, as your Excellency will have observed trom the articl s and references which have appeared in the Guardian. I have been defeated and disappointed heretofore, because the local executive itself has been for the most part rather the head of a party, than the Government of ■the country, and the opposition, or " Reform" party, has often gone to equal extremes of selfishness and extravagance ; so that 1 have occupied the unen- viable and uncomfortable position of a sort of break- water — resisting and checking the conflicting waves of mutual party violence, convinced that the exclusive and absolute ascendancy of either party would be destructive of the ends of just Government, and public happiness ; a position which, pre- 1838-40] TEE STORY OF MY LIFE, 267 viously to your Excellency's arrival in Canada, I had determined to abandon, as I found myself possessed of no adequate means of accomplishing any permanent good by occupying it. I think the appearance in this province of Lord John Kupsell's despatch on " Responsible Government " is timely. The " Reformers " are too fully committed to Government to fly off ; and a large portion of the old " Con- servative " party are glad of an excuse to change their position. Neither party can triumph, as both must concede something. This mutual concession will prepare the way for mutual forbearance, and ultimately for co-operation and union. Having perceived that the Editor of the Examiner was seeking, under the pretence of supporting the Government, to get a House of Assembly returned, consisting wholly of the old Reformers, who had identi- fied themselves in 1834-5-6, with the Papineau party of Lower Canada, I thought it desirable to check such a design in the bud, by insisting upon the support of Hon. W. H. Draper, and that he should be returned upon the same grounds as those of Mr. Baldwin. The elucidation and description of this one case will affect the position of parties in the character of the elections throughout the province, and make them turn, not upon Lord Durham's " Report," or any of the old questions of difference, but upon 'your Excel- lency's administration. This, I have no doubt, with a little care, will, in most instances be the case. Thus will the members returned from Upper Canada, be isolated from the French anti-unionists of Lower Canada, and be more fully, both in obligation and feeling, identified with the Govern- ment. I have not, therefore, been surprised at the Examiner's indignation, as it is so ultra, and thorough a partizan, and as it has some discernment, though but little prudence. In reply, the Private Secretary of the Governor-General said : I am to express to you His Excellency's approbation of the plans you have suggested, and he desires me to say that he requests that you will visit Montreal, on your way to New York, as he is anxious to see you on the subject contained in your letter. The Special Council meets this day for the first time. The Secretary further added : — His Excellency agrees that the line which you have taken is most judicious. There is no doubt that the gentleman to whom you refer is doing very great mischief both to Hon. Robert Baldwin and the Government, by the extremes to which he is pushing his cry for responsible government, and his opposition to Hon. W. H. Draper. Dr. Ryerson (who was on his way to the General Conference at Baltimore) in a note, dated Montreal, 4th May, said : — The Governor-General having kindly invited me to visit him and converse on matters relating to public affairs, I did so, and was most cordially received by him. I also had a long interview with him on Friday afternoon, and am desired to spend the evening with him on Saturday. His Excellency has given every requisite information as to his plans. I am thus enabled to accomplish the object of my visit far beyond what I expected when I left home. i In a letter from New York (dated 9th May) Dr. Ryerson said : — Much to my surprise to-day, while in New York on my way to Baltimore, I received a note from the Governor-Gen- eral's Secretary, T. W. C. Murdoch, Esq., as follows : — 268 THE STORY OF MY LIFE. [Chap. XXXIII. By direction of the Governor-General I send you the enclosed bill of exchange for ^100 stg., the receipt of which I would request you to acknowledge. You will have seen the English papers which hold out every prospect that both the Union and the Clergy Reserve Bills will be satisfactorily settled. I feel that I may congratulate you, and every friend of Canada, on such a result I acknowledged this kind and generous act, but at once returned the Bill of Exchange to His Excellency — at the same time respectfully assuring him, that under no circumstances could I receive anything for what I had done, or might do, to support the policy and administration of Her Majesty's Govern- ment, in the peculiar circumstances of the Province. One of the chief points discussed in Upper Canada, in con- nection with the proposed union of the provinces, was the effect it would have on the Protestant character of the government and institutions of the county. Mr. John W. Gamble, a public man, and a leading member of the Church of England, in Vaughan, writing to Dr. Kyerson on the subject, said : — I feel deeply the conviction that the time has now arrived when Pro- testants must sink all points of minor consideration, and unite in defence of our common faith. The union of the provinces will most assuredly result in giving not only a preponderance, but a large majority to the Roman Catholics in the united legislature ; and this taken in conjunction with the plans now in operation for pouring a large Roman Catholic population into these provinces, surely ought not only to excite the fears, but rouse the energies of those who know and love the truth as it is in Jesus. I am alto- gether ignorant of your opinion upon the union question, but 1 call upon you as a Protestant to unite with me in endeavouring to avert the threatened calamity. Mr. Gamble was for many years afterwards an earnest opponent in the Legislature of United Canada of the extension of the Separate School system in the province. Although greatly enfeebled in health, yet Dr. Eyerson's Mother was enabled to write to him occasionally. In a letter written by her in 1839, after returning from seeing him, she said : — I suppose you are anxious to know the state of my mind. I yet feel that the Lord is my trust, and I am waiting daily till my change come. I feel that when the " earthly house of this tabernacle be dissolved, I have a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens." Dear Egerton, I feel very much as I did when I left you — a great deal of weakness. I am anxious to live to see you all once more, perhaps for the last time. Do not neglect to come up, one and all, as soon as convenient, if you only stay one day. When you come fetch some books, such as you think would be profitable for me, and one of your good-sized Bibles ; also three of your likenesses. I thought that your Father had brought them up when he came. Do not fail to come up and see us. Don't l«t me be denied the happiness of seeing you soon. CHAPTER XXXIV. 1840. Proposal to leave Canada — Dr. Ryerson's Visit to England. THE year 1840 is somewhat memorable in the Methodistic history of Upper Canada, for three things : 1st. The final retirement of Dr. Ryerson from the editorship of the Christian Guardian ; 2nd. Visit of Revs. William and Egerton Ryerson to England, and the painful, y^i fruitless, discussions with a Committee of the British Conference on the lapsed Union; 8rd. The annual and special Canada Conferences of that year — at the latter of which the formal separation of the British and Canadian sections of the Conference took place under peculiarly affecting circumstances. Dr. Ryerson and his brother John attended the American General Conference at Baltimore, May, 1840. In a letter from there he said : — The Methodist Connexion here are much in advance of us, and, as a whole, even of the British Connexion. 1 have never seen a more pious, intelligent, and talented body of men than the preachers assembled here at Conference; nor more respectable, intelligent congregations. The manners of the people in these Middle States are very like the manners of intelligent people in Upper Canada — alike removed from the English haughtiness and Yankee coldness — simple, frank, and unaffected. Bishops Roberts, Soule, Hedding and Waugh dined with us to-day. They are venerable and apostolic men. We have had cordial invitations to come to this country, and did we consult our own comfort, brother John and I would do so without hesitation. Bishop Hedding hopes to visit us at our approaching Conference. Bev. R Newton, of England, will not visit Canada. Mr. has told him that it was not worth while to go to Canada; and all that can be said to induce him to come is unavailing. We in Canada are not worth so much trouble, or notice 1 In a letter from Baltimore, dated May 25th, 1840, Dr. Ryer- son states the reason why he proposed to leave Canada : — I am still at the General Conference. Rev. Dr. Bangs says that I ought to remain until the close. After much consideration I have decided upon a step which, for many reasons, appears desirable. Instead of coming to this country for a few months, in order to avail myself of some collegiate lectures, to pursue certain branches of science, I have concluded and have made arrangements to take a station in the city of New York for one, if not for 270 THE STOBY OF MY LIFE. [Chap. XXXIV. two years. My brother John would have done the same if we could have both left Canada this year. If things in the province do not go on better with us he will do so another year. I have seen the new constitution which is about to be adopted by the British Parliament for the future Government of Canada. I do not approve of it. To interfere any more in civil conten- tions will be wasting the best part of my life to little purpose, for there seems to be no end to such things. To remain in Canada and be silent, will incur the hostility of both parties. The government will regard my neutrality as opposition, and the popular party will view it as indifference to the rij^hts of the people; and, in such circumstances, I shall neither be useful nor happy. While, therefore, I am on good terms with the Government and the country at large, my brother thinks with me that it is by all means best to withdraw from such scenes. I have the offer of one of the three or four largest Meth- odist Chapels in New York. I shall be appointed to one of the largest and most elegant in the city, where all the great public meetings are held. There are, however, tliree or four vacant, equally desirable. I much prefer this to my taking a district in Canada. I would not return to the Guardian again for any Earthly consideration. Dr. Ryerson went to the Conference at Belleville after his return from Baltimore. Writing from there, he said : — Previously to proceeding to elect the Secretary, an English brother remarked that he had certain communications from the Committee in London, which he wished to read. I observed that no communications could be read until the Conference was organized, and the Conference could not be organized until the Secretary was elected. The brother persevered, and then stated that the documents referred to me. I then arose, and observed that the proceeding was at variance with law, Methodism, and justice. The' Conference was justly roused to indignation by my remarks, which were followed by some observations from my brother John, in the same strain. Not a man spoke in favour of the English brother's proceeding, and he was com- pelled to withdraw his proposal. Such an anti-Methodistic and barbarous attempt to sacrifice me (as some of the preachers afterwards expressed it), excited a strong feeling in my favour, and, I was told, increased my majority of votes for the Secre- taryship. When the Conference balloted for Secretary, the votes stood as follows : — Matthew Richey, 1 ; Anson Green, 1 : , Wm. Case, 2; E. Evans, 12 ; Egerton Ryerson, 43. The circum- stance has so deeply affected me, that I feel it to be like tearing soul from body to be separated from brethren who stand by me in the day of trial, and who will not suffer me, as one of them expressed it to me, to be sacrificed at the pleasure of my enemies.* But I see no reason to change my purposes ; and * The more important parts of the painful proceedings at this Conference are given in "Epochs of Canadian Methodism," pages 341-358. The result of this for- midable attack on Dr. Eyerson by the English Missionary party before the Canada Conference, is thus stated by Rev. Dr. Carroll: "Wheii the Rev. Mattlie\^ Richey's motion of condemnation on the Rev. Egerton Eyerson for his interfer- ence in the matter [of the Government grant of £900 to Wesleyan missions] was 1840] THE STOBY OF 3IY LIFE. 271 my brother John thinks I can do more good to the Connexion by being in New York, than by remaining in Canada. I desire, with humble dependence upon the wisdom and providence of God, to commit my all to Him. I hunger and thirst after the mind which was in Christ Jesus. Subsequently Dr. Kyerson wrote, saying : — My plans in regard to the United States must now be changed. The charges of the London Committee, and the state of the Connexion in regard to the Union, render my absence from the Province, in the judgment of my brethren, unjusti- fiable and out of the question. Some of the preachers insist that I must go to England, and meet Mr. Alder before the British Conference. Such a mission is not impossible, but, I hope, not probable. After the election of Secretary, the charges against Dr. Ryer- son were read. They were embodied in a resolution to the effect that he had improperly interfered and sought to deprive the British Conference of its annual grant from the Imperial Government for the extension of missions in the province. The resolution was negatived by a vote of 59 to 8, and a series of resolutions sustaining Dr. Ryerson, in the strongest manner, was passed. He and his brother William were appointed as Representatives at the British Conference, with directions "to use all proper means to prevent collision between the two Con- nexions." As intimated in Dr. Ryerson's letter from Baltimore, he decided to retire finally from the Editorship of the Christian Guardian. This he did at the Belleville Conference, and on the 24th of June, 1840, he laid down his pen as Editor of the Christian Guardian, and was succeeded by Rev. Jonathan Scott. In his valedictory of that date. Dr. Ryerion said : — The present number of the Guardian closes the connection of the undersigned with the provincial press. To his friends and to those of the public who have confided in him, and sup- ported him in seasons of difficulty and danger, he offers his most grateful acknowledgments ; those who have opposed him honourably, he sincerely respects ; those who have assailed him personally, he heartily forgives ; and of those whose feel- ings he may have wounded in the heat of 'discussion, he most humbly asks pardon. While he is deeply sensible of his imper- fections, infirmities, and failings, he derives satisfaction from put to the Conference, there were only eight in its favour, several of whom, after obtaining further light, wished to change their votes; and fifty-nine against it. Three were excused from voting." — Case, etc., vol. iv., page 298, note. 272 THE STORY OF MY LIFE. [Chap. XXXIV. the consciousness that he has earnestly aimed at promoting the best interests of his adopted church and his native country. Egerton Ryerson. Immediately after the close of the annual Conference of 1840, Dr. Eyerson and his brother William left for England. From his diary, written at that time, he had made the following extracts for this work : — 22ndf 1840. — After landing at Liverpool, I called upon an old and kind friend, Mr. Michael Ashton, and I had much conversation with him and Rev. R. Young, on the affairs of our mission. I and my brother William arrived in London on the 23rd. Took up our lodgings with my old hostess, 27 Great Ormond Street. Ad«lre?sed anote to Lord John Russell, on the object of our mission ; an interview was appointed for the next day. Went to the House of Commons in the evening, having an order for admission to the Speaker's gallery, through the kindness of Lord Sandon. July 24th. — Went to the Colonial office; had a long interview with Lord John Russell, on the Canada Clergy Reserve Bill. Mr. [afterwards Sir James] Stephen was present. We pointed out to His Lordship the injustice of the bill, and the probable consequences if it were passed in its present shape. We spoke at some length, but with great plainness ; intimating that we regarded the measure as the forfeiture of good faith on the part of Her Majesty's Government, as the violation of the constitutional rights of the inhabitants of Upper Canada, and as the cause of the unpopularity of the British Government in that country. But his Lordship appeared inflexible, and seemed to regard it essential to conciliate the Bishops, but not essential to do what he considered ju?t in itself, or to fulfil the declarations of Govern- ment to the inhabitants of Upper Canada, or to consult their oft-expressed views and wishes. In the afternoon we went to see Mr. Charles Buller, but he was not in town. In going through Hyde Park we saw the Queen and Piince Albert, coming from Windsor. We took a hasty view through West- minster Abbey, and in the evening we called upon the Rev. Mr. Stead, formerly a missionary to India, and received from him many useful suggestions respecting the object of our mission. July 21th. — Prepared a long letter to Lord John Russell on the Canada Clergy Reserve Bill, now before Parliament. Went to the House of Com- mons in order to hear the debate on the third reading of said bill. Lord John Russell was not present. But we heard a long debate on the China opium trade, etc. Mr. W. E. Gladstone introduced the discussion. Afterwards Sir Robert Peel spoke on the present position of the Church of Scotland in resisting the decision of the House of Lords. Mr. Fox Maule [Lord Panmure] spoke in reply, and contended that the point for which the General Assembly contended was the right of the people to a voice in the choice of their ministers. July 2^th. — Visited the City Road Chapel Grave-yard, the Bank, various book establishments, and St. Paul's Cathedral. July 30th. — Left London yesterday; entered the city of York by the south- west gate ; got a glimpse of the Minster ; the country exceedingly beautiful, and in a high state of cultivation. Heard of the death of poor Lord Durham. The attacks upon him in the House of Lords as Governor-General of Canada, the abandonment of him by the Government, the mortification experienced by him in consequence of the Royal disapprobation at hi& sudden return from Canada before his resignation had been accepted, are said to have hastened, if not caused his death. His heart seems to have been set upon making Canada a happy and a great country, and I think he 1840] THE STORY OF MY LIFE. 273 intended to rest his fame upon that achievement. He was defeated, disap- pointed, died ! How bright the prospect two years ago— how sudden the change, how sad the termination ! Oh, the vanity of earthly power, wealth and glory ! July 29«/i.— Arrived this morning at Newcastle-upon-Tyne by stage, eighty miles from York. The next morning we went to the Conference, and sent in our cards to Rev. G. Marsden; he came out and kindly received us, and hoped our mission would be for good. We met with a very cool reception from several of the preachers, with whom I was aquainted and on friendly terms 'during my former visits. Not feeling very well, or- very much at home, we enquired our way to our lodgings, and left. JulyZlst. — Went to the Conference this morning at 7 a.m. We were furnished with the President's card of admittance, and shown a seat in a comer at the side of the Chapel, and could hear but a part of the debates. In the afternoon we addressed a note to the President, to which we only received a verbal reply. Aug. 1st. — This morning we were engaged in writing a strong letter to the President concerning our treatment, our position, the objects ot our mission, etc., but we were saved the pain of delivering it, as, on our arrival, we were met and introduced as accredited Representatives of the Canada Conference. Rev. J. Stinson and Rev. M. Richey were also introduced at the same time. My brother William then presented the address and resolutions of the Canada Conference. A comfortable seat was now provided for us, in front of the President. Thank God, we now have a right to speak, can take our own part, and maintain the rights and interests we have been appointed to repre- sent ! Aug. drd. — The Commiteee of the last year on Canadian affairs had met and reported : — That the resolutions of the Committee of which the Cana- dian Conference had complained we unanimously confirmed, and recom- mended that the Conference appoint a large Committee to whom the Messrs. Ryerson and the documents of the Canadian Conference be referred. The cases of Circuits proposed to be divided were next taken up. This caused many amusing remarks. Rev. R. Newton thought they were losing the spirit of their fathers in travelling, who had insuperable objections to solitary stations. Dr. Bunting assigned as a reason for the failure of the health of so many young men, the custom of giving up horses: said it was an innovation; quoted some of the last words of Wesley ; " I cannot make preachers — I cannot buy preachers — and I will not kill preachers." A long conversation ensued on the subject of reading the Liturgy gen- erally, and concluded by a resolution that the Liturgy be read on the principal Sabbath at each Conference. On the subject of reading the Liturgy by the preachers themselves. Dr. Bunting said : It was very well for men to spend their strength in preaching, and let others read the prayers, when Methodism was only a Society supplementary to the Church ; but having in the order of Providence grown up into an independent and separate Church, the preachers were something more than mere preachers of the Word — they were ministers of the Church, and ought to read as well as preach. The address of the Irish Conference was read. Rev. T. Jackson said he could bear testimony to the very respectful manner in which the address ol the British Conference had been received by the Irish Conference, and he trusted the brethren would understand the import and bearing of that remark. Rev. Mr. Entwistle referred to the liberality and cheerfulness of the Irish preachers in their difficulties, when Dr. Bunting replied that if they had been in such difficulties their heads would have hung down. Dr. Ryerson's diary ends here. A full account of the inter- 18 274 THE STORY OF MY LIFE. [Chap. XXXIV. views and discussions with the Wesleyan authorities in England are given in the Epochs of Canadian Methodism, pages 407- 426. The result was, that the Committee on the subject reported a series of resolutions adverse to the Canada representatives, which were adopted by the Conference after " more than four- fifths of its members had left for their circuits." The pacific resolutions of the Upper Canada Conference were negatived by a majority, and it was declared " that a continuance of the jnore intimate connection established by the articles of 1833 [was] quite impracticable." Thus was ignominously ended a union between the two Conferences which had (nominally) existed since 1833, and which had promised such happy results, and thus was inaugu- rated a period of unseemly strife between the two parties from 1840 to 1847, when it happily ceased. What followed in Upper Canada is thus narrated by Dr. Ryerson : — The English Conference having determined to secede from the Union which it had entered into with the Canadian Conference in 1833, and to commence aggressive operations upon the Cana- dian Conference, and its societies and congregations, a special meeting of the Canadian Conference became necessary to meet this new state of things, to organize for resenting the invasion upon its field of labour, and to maintain the cause for which they had toiled and suffered so much for more than half a century. The prospects of the Canada Conference were gloomy in the extreme ; the paucity oH ministers, and the poverty of resources in comparison to the English Conference, besides numerous other disadvantages ; but the ministers of the Canadian Con- ference with less than a dozen individual exceptions, had hearts of Canadian oak, and weapons of New Jerusalem steel, and were determined to maintain the freedom of the Church, and the liberties of their country, whatever might be the prestige or resources of their invaders; and "according to their faith it was done unto them;" out of weakness they waxed strong. They sowed in tears, they reaped in joy. Their weeping seed- sowing was followed by rejoicing, bringing their sheaves with them. The Special Conference caused by these events Was held in the Newgate (Adelaide) Street Church in October, 1840. The venerable Thomas Whitehead, then in his 87th year, opened the proceedings, after which Rev. William Case was elected to pre- side. Rev. Mr. Whitehead was subsequently elected President. Dr. Ryerson was elected Secretary, but declined, and Rev. J. C. Davidson was appointed in his place. The whole matter of differences between the two Conferences was discussed at 18401 THE STORY OF MY LIFE. 275 great length, and with deep feeling on the part of the speakers. Dr. Ryerson spoke for five hours, and his brother William for nearly three. Finally a series of eleven resolutions were adopted, strongly maintaining the views of the Canadian Representa- tives to England, and protesting — Against the Methodistic or legal right or power of the Conference in England to dissolve, of its own accord, articles and obligations which have been entered into with this Conference by mutual consent. In consequence of the adoption of these resolutions, the fol- lowing ministers requested permission to withdraw from the Canada Conference with a view to connect themselves with the British Missionary party, viz : — Rev. Messrs. William Case, Ephraim Evans, Benjamin Slight, James Norris, Thomas Fawcett, William Scott, John G. Manly, Edmund Stoney, James Brock, Thomas Hurlburt, Matthew Lang, John Douse, William Steer, John Sunday, and C. B. Goodrich. The leave-taking was said to have been very tender and sorrowful. Of the members of the Canada Conference who left it. Dr. Ryerson said : — Among the ten who seceded from the Canada Conference to the London Wesleyan Committee was the venerable William Case, who took no part in the crusade against his old Canadian brethren, but who wished to live in p<^ace and quietness, with the supply of his wants assured to him in his old, lonely Indian Mission at Alnwick, near Cobourg, isolated alike from the white inhabitants and from other Indian tribes, where he continued until his decease. The character of this untoward contest with the British Con- ference party — so far as it related to Dr. Ryerson — can be best understood from the conclusion of his five hours' speech before the Special Conference. He said : — I am aware that a combined effort has been determined upon and is making to destroy me as a public man, and to injure this Connexion, as far as my overthrow can affect it. I rejoice to know that the strength and effi- ciency of our Church are not depending upon me; but I am not insensible to the advatages which it is supposed will be gained over the Church if I can be put down. Our adversaries seem to have abandoned the idea of answering my arguments, or of diverting me from my purposes, in regard to my position, and views and feelings towaids this Connexion. The only expedient left is that which requires no strength of intellect. — no solid argu- ments — no moral principle — but abundance of confidence, malignity, and zeal. It is the expedient of impeaching my moral integrity, and blackening my character. And this is attempted to be accomplished. One class of adversaries, not by an appeal to reason, or even to official documents, but by the importation and retail from one side of the Atlantic to the other, and one end of the province to the other, and from house to house, of bits and parcels of perverted private conversations — a mode of warfare disgraceful to human nature, much more to any Christian community. History apprizes me that, in such a warfare, some of the best of men have not triumphed until long after they slept in death, when the hand of time and the researches of impartial history did them that justice which the cupidity and jealousies 276 THE STOBY OF MY LIFE. [Chap. XXXIV. of powerful contemporaries denied them, I know not the present result of existing combinations against myself. On that point I feel little concern, though I am keenly alive to their influence upon my public usefulness. I engaged in the Union, because I believed the principles upon which it was founded were reasonable, and the prejudices against it on all sides were unreasonable. I do not regret the opposition which I have experienced — the reproaches which I have incurred — the labours I have endured ; but I do regret — and every day's reflection adds fresh poignancy to my regrets — that in carrying out a measure which I had hoped would prove an unspeak- able blessing to my native country, I have lost so many friends of my youth. No young man in Canada had more friends amongst all Chris- tian denominations than I had when the Union took place. Many of them have become my enemies. 1 can lose property without concern or much thought; but I cannot lose my friends, and meet them in the character of enemies, without emotions not to be described. I feel that I have injured myself, and injured this Connexion, and I fear this province, not by my obstinacy, but by my concessions. This is my sin, and not the sins laid to my charge. I have regarded myself, and all that Providence has put into my hands from year to year, as the property of this Conneidon* I can say, in the language of Wesley's hymn — ** No foot of land do I possess, No cottage in the wilderness ; A poor wayfaring man." And it is to me a source of unavailing grief, that after the expenditure of so much time, and labour, and suffering, and means, one of the most impor- tant measures of my life may prove a misfortune to the Church of my affections and the country of my birth. I have only to say, that as long as there is any prospect of my being useful to either, I will never desert them. We have surveyed every inch of the ground on which we stand : We have offered to concede everything but what appertains to our character, and to our existence and operations as a Wesleyan Methodist Church. The ground we occupy is Methodistic, is rational, is just. The very declarations of those who leave us attest this. They are compelled to pay homage to our character as a body; they cannot impeach our doctrines, or discipline, or practice; nor can they sustain a single objection against our principles or standing; the very reasons which they assign for their own secession are variable, indefinite, personal, or trivial. But the reasons which may be assigned for our position and unity are tangible, are definite, are Methodistic, are satisfactory, are unanswerable. The effect of this disruption was disastrous to the peace and unity of the Wesleyan body, especially in the towns and cities. Some time after the Conference, Dr. Ryerson received the following characteristic letter from the venerable Thomas White- head, the President of the Canada Special Conference : — I have been not a little pleased with the expectation of seeing you this even- ing, and of hearing j'-ou speak of the sorrows and joys of Wesleyan Methodism in Upper Canada. God grant that you and I and all of us, when our labours, sorrows and joys on earth are ended, may meet around the throne of God and the Lamb. Your labours, sorrows and joys for these years past have been unparalleled, and to the present they are increasing. Well, you have been called (with not a few invaluable assistants) to stand up in defence of the Gospel, and have been sometimes placed near the swellinf;s of Jordan; however, you still rejoice in your labours, and the effects thert\^f, and so do I; and, blessed be God, the Pilot of the Galilean lake is still on shipboard, and he will soon speak peace to the troubled waters, and there will be a 1840] THE STORY OF MY LIFE. 277 great calm. I have no doubt but Brother Green and Brother Bevitt (a comical soul) and yourself have had cold travelling (I hope good lodging) in your western rides; I am persuaded you have met with friends, and a generous people. God bless them ! I greatly rejoice that our brethren in the ministry are faithful, affectionate, and successful in defence of all that appertains to the privileges of the glorious Gospel of the Son of God, long, long preached by the Wesleyan Methodist ministers in the wilds of Upper Canada, and I trust they will, by all Christian means and measures, eupport Her Majesty's Government in Canada. May the Holy and Blessed God give us peace, and good govern- ment in our day. I have been a little vexed with the travelling gab of one of our own former friends, who is pleased to inform the people that you were the sole cause of the late rebellion. I must tell him, the first time I meet with him, that the meaning of his sing-song is not understood, and that if he will explain his hidden meaning, it will be, that he is ready to prove that the Rev. Egerton Ryerson was the sole cause of the rebellion in Heaven, by the fallen angels. In that case no one would mistake his meaning. In a letter of congratulation, written in May, 1841, to Rev. Dr. Bangs, on his appointment to the Presidency of the Wes- leyan University, Middletown, Conn., Dr. Ryerson said : — I hope and pray that you may be able to continue without abatement to favour and edify the religious public with the rich results of your varied reading and matured thinking. On this ground I desire to express my personal obligations; and not the least for your "Letters to young Ministers of the Gospel," which were the first I recollect of reading. Many of your remarks and suggestions, on the subjects which they treat, have been of great service to me. Speaking of the rupture of the union between the British and Canadian Conferences, and of alleged personal obstacles which he presented in the way of a reunion, Dr. Ryerson said : — The agents of the London Missionary Committee have not injured the Societies generally ; although the scenes of schism which have been and are exhibited in many places are highly disgraceful. I am not aware that Elder Case has taken any active part in these transactions, and he has continued an acting and useful member of the Academy Board, notwithstanding his strange secession from our Conference. I have observed by the discussion, especially in the pamphlet lately published by the Committee in London, that the whole affair is made to appear, as much as possible, a matter of difference between the Committee and me personally, and epithets have been multi- plied against me in proportion to the want of facts. I have always resolved not to allow myself to be the ground of differ- ence between two bodies. If I can make this circumstance instrumental in effecting an amicable adjustment of differences, such as would be agreeable and advantageous to my brethren, I have thought it would be best to do so, and retire personally from the Conference, either employing my pen for the religious and general interests of my native land, or seeking a more 278 THE STOBY OF MY LIFE. [Chap. XXXIV. peaceful field of labour in your part of the world, where I almost wish I had gone last year as proposed — although I know not that I could have done otherwise than I did, in accordance with what is due to personal honour and character. The Imperial Parliament has disposed of the clergy reserves in a manner the most unfair, unjust, and corrupt, although the old Constitution of Canada provides for the disposal of them by the Provincial Legislature. Wide-spread, secret dissatisfaction exists in the country ; a majority of the new Assembly (which has not yet met) are friends of the people, but many are afraid to move, or to say what they think. My own apprehension is that, notwithstanding all exertions to the contrary, under the present system of things the morals and intelligence of the people will be on a level with their liberties. Whether my con- tinued silence in such circumstances is a virtue, or a crime ; or whether I should retire from the country, or remain and make one Christian, open, and decisive effort to secure for my fellow- countrymen a free constitution and equal rights among their churches, is a perplexing question to me, as well as to my brothers. It is believed by some intelligent men, who have talked on the subject, that if I would come out as the advocate of the country, there would be no doubt of success, from my knowledge of the subject, from a general, and, as I think, over- weening confidence on the part of my friends in my powers of concentration, perseverance and energy, and from the feelings of the country. It is also thought that, if there should be a failure of success, I could then honourably retire to the United States. I am no theorist, but I hate despotism as I do Satan, and I love liberty as I do life ; and my thoughts and feelings flow so strongly in favour of the religious and civil freedom of my native country, that with all my engagements and duties, I cannot resist them, at least half of the time. I would be most grateful to you for your opinion on this general matter, irre- spective of details, with which, of course, you cannot be acquainted. To this letter Kev. Dr. Bangs replied as follows : — I feel much for my Canadian brethren, and I can never be indifferent to their weal or woe. I have never had but one opinion respecting your separation from us, and that is, that it was an erroneous step at the time, originating with the ambition of one man— Henry Kyan. (See page 87.) Regrets, however, are useless now. The die has been cast; but from that unhappy moment you have been tossed about from one point of the compass to another. What a sad condition the people are in, according to your representation ! And who shall right them 1 I suppose you cannot do it, although you cannot be indifferent to their interests, temporal and eternal. Respecting your leaving the country, I would say, that if your brethren judge it best, you will receive a cordial welcome among us; as I am sure you would from me. In the meantime, you would do well to consult Bishop 1840] THE STOBY OF MY LIFE. 279 Hedding, who presides among us this year. I thank you for the expressions of affection. Whatever of good you may have received from my poor labours, let God have the praise and glory. I never undertook any duties with more appalling feelings than I did the present ones; and yet I have been wonderfully blessed and favoured by providential indications. Wnen I was called to the Presidency of the Wesleyan University, I dared not eay no; but I accepted it with a trembling sense of my responsibilities, and thus far I have been greatly blessed and comforted. I shall be glad to see you, and remember that I have a prophet's room, and a bed and a table for you. From Rev. Dr. D. M. Reese, a noted member of the New York Conference, Dr. Rjerson received the following letter : — I am at a loss to say what is the opinion of our great men here, touching your Canadian conflict with the British Conference; though all our sym- pathies are with you. All concur that you have the victory in your pamphlet war. I have not heard a different opinion from any one who has read them. J suppose you may have learned how cpy to sup[)ort Hon. S. B. Harrison, if he could form a ministry from the majority on the question at issue. 1844] THE STORY OF MY LIFE. 315 advocates. Mr. Merritt requested me to examine for myself the documents and correspondence to which he had referred, but enjoining secresy as to his conversation with me — and which I never mentioned to any human being during his life. After Mr. Merritt returned to St. Catharines he wrote to Dr. Ryerson early in January, 1844 on the subject, as follows: — There can be little doubt that both the Governor and his late administra- tion have erred. A conciliatory spirit would have avoided this crisis ; they had an opportunity of placing this Province in a most enviable situation — they have neglected, or did not possess the ability to avail themselves of it; and I am sorry to say, that I am neither satisfied with their measures, nor can I place confidence in their judgment. At the same time I feel so tlioroughly convinced of the necessity of having under the control of our Legislature the entire management of our internal concerns — without which any^ attempt at a thorough reformation would be useless — that I have my ai^pVehensions, that any movement which would have a tendency to check its onward progress, would be injurious — the principle does not appear to be fully understood, or fully conceded. The time has not arrived — neverthe- less I feel satisfied the Governor- General would admit it, and act fully up to it with any Cabinet which possessed his confidence, and thus bring it into action much earlier than persisting in the opposite course. On the other hand, you are subject to the imputation of abandoning men who resigned for the maintenance of that principle, and few can doubt the honesty of purpose of Lafontaine and Baldwin. Being thus placed on the horns of a dilemma, the wisest plan is, perhaps, to let matters take their course — at all events I have made up my mind to do so. I should be most happy to hear from you on the subject, knowing you have given those subjects much attention; and believing that your mind is devoted to promoting the best interests of your fellow countrymen, your opinions are received with attention, and always carry great weight with me. To this letter from Mr. Merritt, Dr. Ryerson replied on the 20th January, 1844, as follows : — After you called upon me, I turned my at^ntion to the state of our public affairs, and reflected on them from various points of view. I concluded to state my views to His Excellency, if he requested me to do so, and also to Hon. S. B. Harrison, if I should see him. Dr. Ryerson having gone to Kingston at the request of Sir Charles Metcalfe, saw Mr. Harrison, who urged him to state his views fully to the Governor-General. In the same letter to Mr. Merritt, Dr. Ryerson said : — The next day, in compliance with His Excellency's expressed wish, I laid before him the result of my reflections on the present state of our affairs, in an interview of three hours and a half. In them His Excellency expressed his full concurrence, and thanked me cordially for the trouble I had taken to wait upon him and state at large what he considered of so much importance. In addition to the question at issue between Sir Charles Metcalfe and his late Councillors, Dr. Ryerson discussed with him the subject of the reconstruction of his Cabinet. The result he thus states in his 316 THE STORY OF MY LIFE. [Chap. XXXIX letter to Mr. Merritt : — I cannot of course enter into every one of the subjects to which I referred in my conversation with the Governor-General. Mr. Harrison has doubtless written to you on the whole matter. The result was that Mr. Harrison will take office if you will.* As to your superior qualifications for the position offered you, there can be but one opinion in the country. I am satisfied that, without the slightest sacrifice of principle or consistency — upon the broadest principles of responsible government, and in harmony with the best interests of the country — you can accept of office. I think that when the views I have expressed to His Excellency are fairly and fully stated to the country, you would, in office, have a large majority of at least the Upper Canada members of the present House of Assembly to support you ; and, in case of a general election, I doubt not but you would have an ample majority in the new Parliament. Should you consent to take office, I think you need not fear the result. 1 think there is a fair opportunity for you to render a great service to the country, and to establish still more widely and permanently an already honourable reputation of no common order. I shall be glad, at your earliest convenience, to learn the result of your deliberations. I should also be happy to see you, if you should soon proceed to Kingston. Whatever the Gover- nor-General may have heretofore thought of either the theory or practice of responsible government, he is certainly right on the subject now. And when His Excellency avows what Sir F. Head denied, and offers everything that has been demanded, surely, as far as principles of government are concerned, the country wants, and ought to have, no more. I think it will be a fearful calamity to the country, if we drive Sir Charles Met- calfe away from us. I doubt whether England can produce his like for Canada. To this letter Mr. Merritt replied, on the 25th January: — I regret to say that my own private affairs, arising from circumstances which, have occurred since I saw you, prevent my assuming any situation under the Government which must necessarily occupy my undivided atten- tion. I have heard from and replied to Mr. Harrison to the same effect. * In regard to this proposal, Mr. Harrison wrote to Dr. Ryerson on the 17th of January, to say that he had an interview with the Governor-General, and that : His Excellency expressed himself favourably disposed upon all the points touched upon, and was willing to consider the means of carrying out the ol jocts contem- plated. It appears, therefore, to me, that the matter may be arranged if our friend Merritt can be persuaded to join. I have written to him in that view. Should that be the case, I am prepared, and a communication should be made to Hon. W. H. Draper, which I will make immediately upon hearing from you and Mr. Merritt. As Mr. Draper will be here by the latter end of this week, it would be better, ou hearing from Mr. Merritt, that you should be here yourself. 1814] THE STORY OF MY LIFE. 817 No person can more regret the unfortunate position in which we are placed than I do, and I agree with you that the loss of Sir Charles Metcalfe will be a public calamity. I have no doubt he will honestly carry out the principles of responsible government, and with a competent council, who understand what the country requires, and with competent individuals to carry those measures into effect, he would render more essential service to Canada than any former Governor whatever. I am under some apprehension that you mistake the feelings of the ma- jority of Upper Canada members. A mere majority would ensure defeat; they must act in a body to give a majority in the present House ; and from recent indications, there appears to be a change in the minds of those who were under very different impressions some time since. Although I was under a differ- ent impression some time since, I cannot see any chances of a new ministry being sustained, unless by a dissolution. 1. A majority seems indispensable to secure which the Reformers of Upper Canada must unite — and every Conservative must support them also ; — the first cannot be relied on, there- fore it is unnecessary to discuss the second. Most of the present members will feel themselves committed by their recent vote ; they will all be press- ing for a new election ; and shape their course to the prevailing opinions. No ministry can have time to bring their measures before the public to pro- duce any general impression ; and no ministry can have confidence in the ultimate success of the wisest measures. In short, they will have no chance to exercise their ability, with a view of commanding success. Whereas, were a new election to take place (on the declaration by the Governor- General, that from the difficulty he experienced in making up a ministry which would command a majority of the present House, in conformity to the principles he avowed), the Governor-General could appeal to the people to return a lepre- sentation from which he could select a Council possessing their confidence. Such an appeal would not be inconsistent with his former declarations, which must have been predicated on his obtaining a Council which would command a majority. Under such circumstances members would feel very naturally a much greater anxiety in sustaining any ministry with a chance of four years to test their measures, than as many days, as in the present instance. As far as I am individually concerned, even in that case, I could not accept of office unless I succeeded in arranging my own personal concerns, which I hope to effect during the season. I hear that in this district a strong feeling prevails in favour of the late ministry, who resigned, as they believe, to support the principle of respon- sible government; and they cannot understand that the Governor-General adheres to the same. This impression is natural; and it takes a long time to remove error. No man doubts the motives of Mr. Baldwin ; none other of the administration is named, or possesses the least weight. I have not moved about or corresponded with a single member of the House, and I shall re- main as passive as possible. I fully agree with you, that with the present Governor-General a fair oppor- tunity offers to carry out useful projects ; nay more, I am sure that one half of the present revenue now wasted, could be saved (not less than £100,000) for useful objects ; but I cannot at present assist in carrying it into effect, which you cannot regret more than I do. In a note received from Mr. Civil Secretary Hif^ginson, dated 10th April, he gave Dr. Ryerson the reasons for the unexpected delay in the formation of a new Cabinet. Hon. S. B. Harrison had also written to him on the same subject, so far as he and the other proposed Upper Canada members were concerned. Mr. Higginson said : — 318 THE STORY OF MY LIFE. [Chap. XXXIX. The formation of a permanent Council has been most vexatiously, but unavoidably, delayed, owing to the extraordinary timidity — I can call it by no more appropriate name— of our friends in Lower Canada — the most eligible of wiiom have hitherto shrunk Irom the responsibility they would incur by the acceptance of office. Hon. D. B. Viger, who is still in Mon- treal, and who ought from long experience, to have a good knowledge of his countrymen, expresses himself confident of the result, and is of opinion that the delay, of which we complain, produces good and strengthens His Exel- lency's position. It is very evident that it has a different effect in the West ; and it is to be hoped that as soon as the Montreal election is over (of which, barring violence, Mr. Molson is certain) immediate steps will be taken to fill up the offices now vacant. In reply to Mr. Higginson's note, Dr. Ryerson said : — I do not think that much evil arises at the present time, even in Canada West, from delay. Could the vacancies be filled up two or three months ago, the government would have secured the support of thousands who have since swelled the ranks of the ex-Councillors. But the loss by delay was, I think, incurred to its full extent during the months of January, February, and March. The proceedings of the late meeting of the Leaguers in Toronto have doubtless added some- thing to their strength. But some portions of these very pro- ceedings will meet them in a way they little expect — not, to be sure, before a jury of twelve men, as did the nine months' proceeding of O'Connell and his associates, but before the jury of the whole country, and upon principles sanctioned by the Constitution and "history of England, which, I believe more confidently than when I wrote last, will result in a triumphant acquittal and justification of the Yice-Regal defendant. On the 23rd May, Mr. Civil Secretary Higginson wrote to Dr. Ryerson, as follows : — You will be sorry to hear that Hon. Mr. Harrison has failed to make cer- tain private arrangements which he so much hoped for, and that he has declined to take office. He is, therefore, unable to join the Cabinet. CHAP TEE XL. 1844. •Preliminary Correspondence on the Metcalfe Crisis. WITH a view to a thorough understanding of the question at issue between Sir Charles Metcalfe and his Coun- cillors, the following statement by Dr. Ryerson is necessary : — After the conversation with Hon. W. H. Merritt, in January, 1844, and after subsequent communications with him on the sub- ject, I most carefully and minutely examined the documents and correspondence and other statements of parties, and was satisfied of the correctness of Mr. Merritt's statements and conclusion. The question then arose in my own mind, whether, after I had so much to do in the establishment of responsible government and was morally so largely responsible for it, I should silently witness its misapplication, and see a man stricken down for maintaining, as the representative of his Sovereign, what Reformers had maintained in all previous years — that the patronage of the Crown, like the administration of justice, should be administered impartially according to merit, without respect to religious sect, or political party. Dr. Ryerson also states (26th February) that -.—After a pro- longed and interesting interview with the Governor- General, I addressed a letter to him on the subject of that interview. In it I said : In looking over what I have from time to time, during the last eight years, written on the best government for Canada, I find that I have invariably insisted upon precisely the same views which I expressed to your Excellency, and with a frequency and fulness that I had no recollection of when I was honoured with the late interviews by you. These views were then warmly responded to by that portion of the public for whom I wrote. I am, therefore, the more fully (if possible) convinced of their correctness and importance to the best interests of Canada, and that they will be sustained when pro- perly brought before the public — at least in Western Canada. In reply to a note from Mr. Civil Secretary Higginson, dated 2nd March, Dr. Ryerson, on the 7th, addressed a reply of some length to His Excellency. In it he said : — 320 THE STORY OF MY LIFE. [Chap. XL. The aspect of things in Western Canada has clearly changed for the worse during the last two months — since my first interview with Your Excellency in January. The party of the opposition have become organized — organized under circumstances more formidable than I have ever witnessed in Canada. Their ranks and influence have been increased by numbers who, two months since, were neutral, and who could have been forthwith brought to the side of constitutional government. Private letters to me (on which I can rely) ppeak in a very different tone as to the state of public sentiment and feeling. Unless a change to a very considerable extent be affected in the public mind, I think a dissolution would rather strengthen than weaken the ex-Council party. I am confident I do not overrate their strength — and it is a danger- ous, though common error, to underrate the strength of an adversary. They are likewise organizing their party, and exciting the public mind to such a degree as to prevent any sentiments or measures from the present adminis- tra'tion from being regarded or entertained at all. Such being the case, I have felt that delay lias been loss. Whether that loss can be repaired pre- sents to my own mind a problem difficult of solution. Speaking of his former relations with the Lieutenant-Gover- nors of Upper Canada, Dr. Ryerson said : — I love liberty, personal and public, as much as any man. I have written much in its defence ; but as much sl^ I love liberty, and as ultra liberal as some may have supposed me to be, I have always regarded an infringement of the prerogative of the Crown as a blow at the liberty of the subject, and have, in every instance, resisted and repelled it as such. I did so in support of Sir F. Head in 1836. I did so in support of Sir George Arthur, in the difficult and painful task of administering the criminal law after the insurrection of 1837. I did so in support of the Eoyal instructions and recommendations of which Lord Sydenham was the bearer and agent ; but in each instance, after having been lauded without measure, I was abandoned, or pursued, without protection or mercy. Sir .Francis Head took offence at certain communications which Rev. Dr. Alder and Rev. Peter Jones justly made to the Imperial Government respecting his treatment of the Indians, and swore that, "as he had put down the radicals, he would now put down the Methodists;" and the Bishop of Toronto avowed and rejoiced that, radicalism having been extin- guished, "the Church" would and should be maintained inviolate in all its (assumed) rights and immunities. Sir George Arthur having got through his many difficulties (in the course of which he gave me many thanks) determined, when the Session of the Legislature came, not to split with the Bishop of Toronto ; not to grant, under any circumstances, the Methodists more than a mouse's share of public aid, and none at all except as salaries for their clergy, actually employed. He embodied these views in resolutions, and employed Hon. R. B. Sullivan to advocate them in the Legislative Council. It was with extreme reluctance that I could at all assent to the measure of Union of the Canadas. The agents of the Lon- 1844] THE STORY OF MY LIFE. 321 don Wesleyan Committee vehemently opposed it, and wished me to write against it. I wished to remain neutral. Lord Sydenham most earnestly solicited my aid — promised a just measure on the clergy reserve question, and assured me against any hostility of the agents of the London Committee, of all the protection and assistance that the Government could give. He died, — and I have been left, without the slightest assistance or protection on the part of the Government, to meet alone the hostile proceedings and influence of the London Wesleyan Committee. In order to sustain myself in these reverses, and especially in the last, but most painful one, I have been com- pelled to put forth physical and intellectual efforts that I am absolutely incapable of repeating. I have adverted — even at the expense of being tedious and egotistic — to these unpleasant details, that Your Excellency may fully understand and appreciate my present position, and my caution in embarking in another conflict without a reason- able hope that I will not be made a victim of abandonment and of oppression, after I have employed the utmost of my humble efforts in support of the principles of the constitution and pre- rogatives of the Crown. In the present crisis, the Government must of course be first placed upon a strong foundation, and then must the youth- ful mind of Canada be instructed and moulded in the way I have had the honour of stating to Your Excellency, if this country is long to remain an appendage to the British Crown. The former, without the latter, will only be a partial and tem- porary remedy. Anything like a tolerable defence of Your Excellency's posi- tion — anything approaching to an effective exposure of the proceedings of the late Council in their demands, the grounds of their resignation, their explanation, their tribunal of appeal, their variations of position, the principles and consequences involved in each step of their course, and the spirit and doctrines they now exhibit, appears to me to be a desideratum. They could be convicted out of their own mouths on every count of the charges they have brought against the Governor- General, and from the same source might evidence be adduced that they advocate sentiments and sanction proceedings which are unknown to the British Constitution, and which appertain only to an independent state. Yet, in place of exposition, and arguments and illustrations that would tell upon the public mind, we have' nothing but puerile eff'usions, thread-bare asser- tions, and party criminations — nothing that would convince adversaries and make friends of enemies. Your Excellency's replies, and a few passages in the Montreal Gazette, and in a . 21 322 THE STORY OF MY LIFE. [Chap. XL. pamphlet whicli lately appeared in the Kingston Chronicle, are all that I have seen which are calculated to produce practical effect upon the public mind. Hon. D. B. Viger's pamphlet is too limited in its range of topics, and too speculative and refined to be effective upon any other than well-educated statesmen. The desidefatum required I would attempt to supply, and then devise measures, put forth publications, and employ efforts to direct the public mind into new channels of thinking, and furnish the youthful mind with instruction and materials for reading that would render this country British in domestic feel- ing, as I think it now is intentionally in loyalty. To do any- thing effectual toward the accomplishment of such a task, my position should be made as strong as possible. At best my qualifications for a work so difficult and varied are extremely limited, but more especially under present circumstances. After weighing the matter carefully, and pondering (in com- paring small things ,with great) upon the part which Bishop Burnet took in settling the disordered elements of British intellect after the revolution of 1688, I have resolved to do as he did — place my humble services at the disposal of my Sovereign — and in whatever situation Your Excellency is of opinion I can render most service to the government and the country under existing circumstances. I will hazard the enter- prise, and stand or fall with the Governor-General in the present crisis, notwithstanding the increased cloudiness of our political a-femosphere. I would rather aid as a private individual, and as an independent volunteer in the service of the Crown and country — as I have been on former occasions — than be placed in any official situation. To this letter Dr. Ryerson received the following reply from Mr. Secretary Higginson, dated 12th March : — I am directed to convey to you the expression of the Governor -General's cordial thanks for the public spirited offer of your able and valuable services in the present crisis of public affairs ; an offer which His Excellency accepts with a high degree of satisfaction, feel- ing confident that you will bring most efficient aid to the Government. On March 18th Dr. Ryerson replied to this note from Mr. Higginson. He said : — I think there will be but little difficulty in disentangling the question from the perplexing confusion in which it has been involved, and placing it upon the true issue as to a government of party, or of justice. If, in elucidating and applying it, I can incorporate some of Lord Brougham's Culmi- nations on the evil of party with my own conceptions, I may be able to add the occasional discharge of a cannon, or the bursting of a bombshell, to the running fire of ordinary musketry. Though 1844] THE STORY OF MY LIFE. C2J I am no stranger to contests, I cannot divest myself of palpita- tions at the approach of an engagement. When once the fire has commenced, I feel but little concern except to keep cool and good-natured, and to have an ample supply of ammunition for all exigencies — satisfied of the righteousness of the cause and the government of an over-ruling Providence. In February the Rev. John Ryerson wrote to Dr. Ryerson on the Metcalfe crisis, and said : — While I believe that the late Executive Council, in the main, and in prin- ciple, was right, and Sir Charles wronunday, — Went to the cathedral; paintings by Rubens; earnestness and oratory of the preacher. Went to St. Pauls ; the streets very quiet. March 3rd. — Visited the Jesuit's church, and three schools; phonic and Lancasterian method of teaching. Visited the museum, the city, the view from the tower of the cathedral, statues of Rubens, of the Virgin and Saviour. Proceeded to Brussels; visited three schools; courteously received; arrangements good. Visited the Hotel de Ville; Gobelin tapestry; history of Clovis; abdication of Charles V. Paintings. Reflections. March 4th. — Spent three hours in examining the field of Waterloo. Went to Nivelles and visited the Normal School for south Belgium; all the arrange- ments perfect. Returned to Brussels. March 3rd — Left Brussels for Ghent; met a commissioner at the railway station, and visited the Government Model School ; the views of the intelli- gent master were very excellent. Called on a Doctor to whom I had a letter of introduction. He explained the school system of Belgium with great clear- ness. Visited the prison, the celebrated establishment that excited the admiration of Howard, and after the model of which several prisons in England and America have been built. There were about twelve hundred prisoners — arrangements wonderful, discipline apparently perfect — kept by twenty-eight men. Visited a poorhouse, a benevolent establishment to assist poor old people; about three hundred inmates; grateful feelings, sympathy. Visited the celebrated convent, containing about eight hundred nuns, who come and remain voluntarily ; none, it is said, have ever left. Visited the university buildings — the best I have seen on the continent ; lecture- rooms very fine. Left for Lille, in France; courteously treated at the French custom house. March 8th — Paris. — On our way from Lille we crossed a branch of the Rhine and the Meuse on the ice; country level and well cultivated; passed Cambray and other towns. Walked to the park, Tuileries, to the Triumphal Arch of Napoleon — a world of magnificence. March 9th. — Studying French; walked through a^^d around the Palais Royale in the boulevards — noble, splendid. March 10th — Sunday. — Attended the Wesleyan chapel — about one hundred present — then the English Church; thence to the Madeleine Church — most magnificent; congregation vast; music and chanting excellent beyond descrip- tion ; discourse read; paintings and sculpture fine; church built by Napoleon. March llth. — Went to Dr. Grampier, the director of the French Protes- tant Evangelical Mission, a pious man, an able author, at the head of an excellent institution having missions in Africa as well as in different parts of France. March 12th. — Removed to new lodgings ; tolerably comfortable. March Idth. — Went to the university; heard lecture on history ; Attended an evening party at Dr. Grampier's; was introduced to several gentlemen of rank and wealth. Singing and reading of the Scriptures ; much pleased with the party ; as many ladies as gentlemen; assembled at eight, broke up At eleven o'clock. 356 THE STORY OF MY LIFE. [Chap. XLIV. March 14th. — Heard a most splendid lecture on astronomy from the celebrated Arago ; audience very large ; the professor had no notes ; the subject was light — comets, causes of the changes in the color of the stars, etc., etc.; lecture two hours, much cheered. March I5th. — Went to the French Chamber of Deputies ; saw Guizot. Difference between the French Chamber of Deputies and the British House of Commons struck me — 1st. The more ample accommodations for mem- bers ; 2nd. The little attention which appeared to be paid to the President of the Chamber ; 3rd. In the members going to the tribune to speak, and reading their speeches ; 4th. In the position of the different officers of the House ; 5th. The fine appearance of the servants, and the very convenient accommodations for them ; 6th. The superior accommodations for strangers. Heard two lectures at the university, one on mineralogy; lecture good ; specimens numerous — the other on electricity ; splendid lecturer ; fine illus- trations. March IQth — Sunday. — Went to the Oratoire, the principal Protestant place of worship; about seventy catechumens admitted; the dress of the females white. Sermon by Mr. Monod; text — "Mon Jlls, donne-moi ton coeur;" very practical and impressive; the singing peculiarly touching. He is a complete talking machine; read from Lamartine, as did M. Delille beautifully and effectively. March llth. — Close application to the study of French all day. Anecdotes at breakfast respecting tlie pride of Victor Hugo. Walked along the Seine, then across the river into Notre Dame — the Westminister Abbey of Paris — worthy of the appellation. March ISth. — Pursued my studies till 7 p.m., when I attended a party given by Count Gasparin, M.H.D., who, with his father, is styled the Wil- berforce of France — the one being a member of the House of Peers, the other of the House of Deputies. They are regarded as the representatives of Protestantism in the French Legislature. Had a good deal of conversa- tion with Dr. Grampier, on the strength, state, and prospects of Protestantism in France; also the mode of instructing young persons for public recognition in the Church, and admission to the Holy Communion. These catechumens are instructed two or three times a week, for six months, in the evidences, doctrines, and morals of Christianity. They are then examined, and if they shew themselves qualified, they are publicly admitted. The ceremony of admission takes place twice a year, a little before Easter, and at Pentecost. None are admitted under fifteen years of age. Dr. Grampier considered that Protestantism was decidedly gaining upon Popery; and that his own university had been as successful amongst the Catholics, as amongst Protes- tants, in genuine heart conversions; that whole congregations in some parts of France had embraced Protestantism. His remarks respecting Guizot were interesting and curious. The mother of this great man is now eighty- four years of age, a woman of great vigour of mind; a saint, and nursing- mother in Israel; she offers daily prayers for her son. Guizot is an orthodox Protestant, employed Dr. Grampier to instruct and prepare his children for the Holy Communion, but never goes to church himself, but has told Dr. Grampier that he prays every day. He has been much afflicted in the loss of two wives whom he greatly loved; and also of a son, about twenty-one, a young man of most amiable disposition, great acquirements, talents and virtues. Conversed also with Count Gasparin, who appears to be a truly converted man; spoke of the inefficiency of a formal religion, and the neces- sity of the religion of the heart. Mentioned the readiness of Koman Catholics to hear Protestant missionaries. He believes that God is about to do a great work in France. The Count is an author; his father has been Minister of the Interior. March Idth. — Heard lecture on chemistry by Prof. Dumas, one of the ablest chemists of the present day, and a most eloquent lecturer. 1844-46] THE STORY OF MY LIFE. 357 March 20th — Good Friday. — Went to hear a Protestant clergyman, one of the most pious and able ministers in Paris ; his manner unaffected, eloquent, and impressive. No organ ; singing good, all sang. It being a holy day, crowds were everywhere ; streets for miles were filled with three, and some- times four lines of carriages, of all descriptions ; the broad sidewalks were literally crowded with pedestrians, forming solid masses from twenty to fifty feet wide, and extending two miles. Order was preserved by soldiers and cavalry, stationed at short distances. I never saw such a moving mass of people, embracing, no doubt, every nation in Europe and America. The attractions of the harlequins, jugglers, hucksters, etc., of all descriptions, surpass imagination. I walked to Napoleon's Arch of Triumph ; observed the inscriptions and remarkable figures on that elegant and extraordinary structure ; ascended to the top, and there enjoyed one of the most magni- ficent views I ever beheld, embracing all Paris and its environs for many miles, the day being cloudless ; the serpentine Seine, the richly cultivated country, its parks, its gardens, its arcades of trees, its villas, churches, colleges, hospitals, palaces, squares, and monuments, together with the elegant Tuil- eries, the noble Louvre, the magnificent Champs Elysees, the playing foun- tains, the spacious streets, and the moving masses of people, presented a scene which for variety, splendour, and I may add, solemnity, could not be excelled by any prospect that might have been commanded on the pinnacle of Jeru- salem's Temple. In fifty years the mass of this vast multitude will be numbered amongst a bygone generation; and these stately works of art shall perish. What a worm am I amongst such a multitude ! yet I am destined to immortality ; have but a few years to live in a probationary state, but an eternity to exist ! March 21st. — Went to the Louvre to see the paintings ; about two thousand in number ; some large and splendid, many beautiful, and some affecting ; none of the paintings from sacred history equal those I have seen in England, Holland, and Belgium, especially in Antwerp. March 22nd — Easter. — Went to the Oratoire, where a discourse was delivered, and the Lord's Supper celebrated. The preacher, Mons. Venueil, was so impressive and affecting that the greater part of the congregation were in tears several times. Being Easter Sunday, his subject was the resurrection of Christ, He reminded me of Saurin. The spectacle presented of the communicants standing around a long table, and the minister in the midst, at one side, distributing the emblems with suitable addresses, reminded me of pictures I have seen of Christ at the Last Supper. The catechumens who had been received on the previous Sabbath, first partook. I, for the first time, communed with French Protestants, and T felt it good to be there. I attended the Wesleyan chapel ; service in French ; congregation about seventy-five ; preacher (a little Frenchman), quite animated ; he quoted many passages of Scripture, chapter and verse, proving the universality of the Atonement. The communion followed. March 24th, 1845. — This day I am forty-two years of age! My life is more than half gone, at the best. The recollections of the past year are painful and humiliating beyond expression. It has been the least spiritual year of my Christian life. For some weeks past I have been revived in my purposes, devotions and enjoyments. By God's grace, my future life and labours shall be His. I have never before felt so keenly the weakness and depravity of the human heart ; nor have I ever felt so deeply the necessity and the sufficiency of the atoning blood of Christ. He is all. All is wretched* ness and death without Him. March 26lh. — Worked very hard at my French studies; much discouraged, but must not abandon my efforts to speak a new language. Visited the Pantheon — wondrous structure — a sovereign's pride, and a nation's monu- ment Visited the tombs of the dead ; ascended to the dome— magnificent 358 THE STORY OF MY LIFE, [Chap. XLIV. view; fine paintings in fresco. My impressions will never be effaced. This evening was in company with Count Gasparin and his noble father, and Mr. Monod, one of the principal Protestant ministers in Paris. Mr. Monod spoke strongly of Puseyism ; mentioned that he was at a school this week where there were twelve Protestant young ladies sent from England to be educated in a Papal school, and every one of them had become Roman Catholics. He told me there was no intercourse between the Protestants in France and Holland ; he considers vital religion is advancing in Holland. March 27th. — Went to the Observatoire ; heard lecture from Mons. Arago ;; room crowded. Visited the beautiful gardens of the Luxembourg. March ZOth. — Heard Mons. Armand Delille (my host) preach, in Dr. Grampier's Church ; impressive service, and a comfortable place of worship outside the gates of the city. March Zlst. — Commenced receiving lessons in French from Mons.. O.De Lille; believe I shall soon be able to speak. The name of God be praised for His help and blessing ! April 2na. — Went to the College (Sorbonne) ; heard a lecture on Botany. Ayril 3rd. — Was strongly talked with for not speaking French ; Oh, that God would help me ; I desire to employ it to His honour. Heard Mons. Arago on Astronomy. April 5th. — Commenced conversing in French, in good earnest. Heard a lecture by Mons. Depretz on Modern History, in which the eloquent lecturer drew a parallel between France and Rome, and the reign of Augustus and the career of Buonaparte, of course in favour of the latter. April 6th — Sabbath. — Attended church both morning and evening. Re- ceived this morning a present of several books in French from the pious author of them ; read the description and reflections upon " J^sus B^nissant les Enfants " ; was deeply affected with the remembrance of the manner in which my most pious and excellent mother brought me, in various ways, to the Saviour, when I was a little boy. I owe my all to her, as a divinely- owned instrument, in my early conversion and dedication of myself to God and His Church. She is now on the verge of heaven — may grace strengthen me to meet her there. April 7 *^ a, e, 00, ah. V A > <^ pa, pe, poo, pah. U D C D ta, te, tooh, tah. n U J U cha, che, choo, chah. "D CJ jD Q na, ne, noo, nah. Q P "O O" J^a,, ke, koo, kah. "1 r J L. ma, mee, moo, mah. H H H h sa, see, soo^ sah. ^ > ^ ;^ ya, yee, yoo, yak The following is the mode of forming words:— L Q C Mah-ne-tooh — Great Spirit. ^ p r Oo-mee-mee — Dove. Q < O" Nah-pah-ne — Flour-making. CHAPTER L. 1846-1854. Miscellaneous Events and Incidents of 1846-1854. AFTER his return from England, Dr. Ryerson was engaged in the preparation of his Report on a " System of Public Instruction for Upper Canada," from which I have given extracts on page 368. In that report he gave the broad outlines of his proposed scheme of education, and fully explained the principles of the system which he proposed to found. He also prepared a draft of a Bill designed to give effect to some of the most press- ing of his recommendations. In a letter to a friend, dated 18th April, 1846, he said: — My report on a system of public elementary instruction occupies nearly 400 pages of foolscap. It will explain to all parties what I think, desire, and intend. But I would not hesitate to resign my situation to-morrow, and take my place and portion as a Methodist preacher, if I thought I could be as useful in that position to the country at large. My travels have added to my limited stock of knowledge, but they have not altered my principles, or changed my feelings. To another friend he wrote about the same time: — As the science of civil government is the most uncertain of the uncer- tain sciences, if I should fail in my exertions — if counteracting influences vshould intervene which I cannot now foresee, and give success to the opposition against me, or paralyze my influence — I would not remain in office a day, or would I retain it any longer than I could render it a means of strength to our system of government as well as of good to the country. I would rather break stones on the street than be a dead weight to any govern- ment, or in any community. It may be of interest at the present time to learn what was Dr. Ryerson's opinion of Mr. Gladstone in 1845. Writing in the Guardian of March 18th, 1846, in reply to strictures on that statesman, Dr. Ryerson said : — During my late tour in Europe, I was one evening present at the proceedings of the British House of Commons, and heard Mr. Gladstone, the Secre- tary of State for the Colonies, avow a change in his opinions in regard to ecclesiastical and educational matters. Sir Robert Peel's Government had determined to establish several colleges 1846-54] THE STORY OF MY LIFE. 411 in Ireland, not connected with the Established Church. Mr. Gladstone, in his book on " Church and State," had maintained that the National Church was the only medium through which the Legislature ought to instruct the nation in every depart- ment of knowledge. . . There was, therefore, a complete antagonism between Sir Robert Peel's policy and Mr. Glad- stone's book. On the night I was present, Mr. Gladstone . . frankly stated that he had written a book advocating an oppo- site policy to that which Her Majesty's Government had deemed it their duty to pursue, in establishing secondary colleges in Ireland; that further reflection and experience had convinced him that his views were not correct; that he fully concurred in the policy of the Government in respect to those colleges, and should, as an individual member of Parliament, give it his sup- port; but that should he do so as a Minister of the Crown, after having publicly avowed very different sentiments, he would not be in a position to place his motives of action above suspicion. To exonerate himself, therefore, from the imputation, or sus- picion, of being actuated by a love of oflBce or power, to support, as a Minister of State, what he condemned as an author, he resigned his office; and to do justice to his present convictions of what he conceived the interests of Ireland demanded, he avowed his change of opinion, and his determination to support the Irish policy of Sir Robert Peel, with whom he declared he cordially concurred in every measure which had been discussed in the Cabinet. Sir Robert Peel followed in a beautiful and touching speech — appealing to the sacrifice which the Cabinet had made in the loss of so able a member as Mr. Gladstone, as a proof of the sincerity of the Government, and the strength of its convictions in its Irish educational policy. The conduct of those two distinguished statesmen (Dr. Ryer- son adds) towards each other on that occasion, presented one of the finest examples of strong personal friendship between two public men that I ever witnessed. No man excelled Dr. Ryerson in his respect and love for his parents. This was apparent from many incidents, and from the tone of his mother's and father's letters to him, as given in this volume. He generally wrote to them at the beginning of each year. His letter dated Toronto, 1st January, 1847, is, however, the only one which I have. It is as follows : — My Dear and Most Venerated Parents, — As heretofore, the first work of my pen is employed in presenting to you my filial respects, and offering you my duti- ful and affectionate congratulations at the commencement of 412 TEE STOBY OF MY LIFE. [Chap. L. another year, — ^lifting up, as I niost earnestly do, my heart to Ahuighty God, that, having brought you at so advanced an age to the beginning of this year, He will make it the happiest, as well as the holiest of your lives ! I cannot but regard the lengthening out of your earthly pilgrimage so much beyond the ordinary period of human life — so much beyond what I expect to reach — as a special means and call of God to become fully ripe for heaven. You stand a long time on the margin of eternity — may that margin prove the verge of eternal glory ! As the body grows feeble, may the soul grow strong ! As the bodily sight becomes dim, may the heavenly vision become brighter, and the heavenly aspirations and assurances stronger ' How great the privilege, and how soul-cheering the thought, especially at the approach of death, to know that " your life is hid with Christ in God." It is in safe keeping, and the dis- closure of it bye-and-bye will be glorious beyond conception ; for " when Christ, who is our life, shall appear, shall we then appear like Him in glory." The sufferings of the present life, however severe and protracted, are not worthy to be compared with the glory which that life shall reveal. 0, my dear parents, may that glory be yours in all the fulness of its splendour, and in all the perfection of its beatitudes ! I thankfully acknowledge the receipt of the two pairs of socks — ^the last of the many like tokens of my Mother's affection, and the work of her own hands. I scarcely ever put them on without a gush of feeling which is not easily suppressed. They every day remind me of the hand which sustained my infancy and guided my childhood, and the heart which has crowned my life with its tenderest solicitudes, and most fervent and, I believe, effectual prayers. Praised be God above all earthly things, for such a Mother ! May I not prove an unfaithful son I We are all well. I was at brother George's to-day. I hope to see you in the course of the winter. Each of the family unite with me in expressions of dutiful respect and affection to you. Please remember me to all those who reside with you, and to all relatives, and old acquaintances and neighbours. With daily prayers at the family altar for your health, com- fort and happiness, and anxiously desirous of hearing from you, I am, my most honoured Parents, your affectionate son, Toronto, 2nd January, 1847. Egerton Ryerson. Between Dr. Ryerson and Rev. Peter Jones a life-long friend- ship existed. In a note to Dr. Ryerson, dated Credit, Noy. 1st, 1847, Mr. Jones says : I had the pleasure of receiving a set of your School Reports, for which I thank you from the bottom of my heart, and I trust I shall receive much valuable informa- 1846-54] . THE STORY OF MY LIFE. • 413 tion which may prove beneficial in our Indian School schemes.* My brother, I thank you for all the kindness jon have ever shown to me and my dear family, and I hope and pray that the friendship which was formed between us many years ago will last for ever. Pray for us. Rev. Peter Jones had been an in- mate of Dr. Ryerson's house during his last illness in 185G. As the crisis approached he desired to return to his own home in Brantford. After he reached there, Ven. Archdeacon Nelles visited him, and in a note to Dr. Ryerson, dated 25th June, said : — Mr. Jones has been gradually sinking ever since his return from Toronto. He enjoys great peace of mind, and I believe truly trusts on that Saviour whom he has so often pointed out to others as the only refuge and hope of poor sinners. May my last end be like his. After the change of administration, consequent on the result of the recent elections, it was confidently stated that Dr. Ryer- son would be removed from office. Having written to his brother John on the subject, his brother replied, on the 9th of February, 1847, as follows : It is quite certain that combined and powerful efforts are being made against you by certain parties, no doubt with a determination to destroy you as a public man, if they can. The feeling of the "radical" party is most inveterate. They are determined, by hook or by crook, to turn you out of the office of Chief Superintendent of Education. All the stir among the District Councils, and about the school law, etc., are but the schemes and measures set on foot by the party in power for the purpose of compassing the great object in view of ousting the " Superintendent of Education." In a letter which I received from Dr. Ryerson, while at the Belleville Conference, dated June 13th, 1848, he said : — Every distinction has been shown me in the appointments and arrange- ments of the Conference ; and I believe the great body of the preachers will sustain me in all future contingencies. The Conference thus far has been the most delightful I ever * Being a member of the Conference Committee appointed to confer with the Government on the establishment of Manual Labour Schools for the Indians, Rev. Peter Jones, in writing to Dr. Ryerson from the Credit, on the subject, in Septem- ber, 1844, said : — You will be glad to see that our Indian brethren have subscribed liberally, which shews their ardent desire to have Manual Labour Schools estab- lished amongst them. We forwarded a copy to the Governor-General, and His Excellency was pleased to approve of the liberality of the Indian tribes. From the manner in which His Excellency has always spoken of Indian Manual Labour Schools, I am sure that he will take great pleasure in aiding their establishment. As you have access to the ears of our Great Father at Montreal, may I beg the favour of your explaining to him the object of my visit to England, and the necessity of His Excellency's sanctioning the payment of my expenses. As I intend to visit England for the purpose of augmenting the funds of the Manual Labour Schools, I think at least my expenses should be paid out of the Indian subscriptions of $400. 414 THE STOBY OF MY LIFE. [Chap. L. attended. I took the evening service of yesterday, and preached with considerable freedom to an immense congregation ; text, John xvii. 17 — first part of verse. There has been an advancement in every department of the interests of our Church during the year. This is very encour- aging, and a ground of special thankfulness. Judge then of Dr. Ryerson's surprise and of mine on seeing the following paragraph in theGlobe newspaper, about the same time: It is said that Egerton Kyerson is trying to get the Methodist Conference to deprive him of his clerical standing, because of his holding a permanent Government situation. In the course of his reply. Dr. Ryerson said: — When the situation in connection with elementary education was offered to me, in February, 1844, before replying to the offer, I laid the letter containing it before the large Executive Committee of the Wesleyan Conference, and was authorized by that disin- terested body to accept of the appointment. When, in the latter part of the May following, I placed the appointment again at the disposal of the Government, as absolutely as if no offer had ever been made or accepted, and determined in June not to accept it under any circumstances, should the offer again be made, a written address was got up to me, numerously signed by the Wesleyan ministers of the Conference which assembled that month, requesting me not to refuse it, should the offer be again made ; and it is to the influence of that judgment, in which I confided more than in my own feelings, that the Globe and some other papers are indebted for the opportunity and privilege of abusing me in my present position these last four years. Sir, the Wesleyan Conference is as incapable of enter- taining such a proposition as you have attributed to me, as I am indisposed to make it ; and, though I am not insensible to the honour and importance of my educational office, I hold it as in all respects consistent with my relations and obligations to the Church, through whose instrumentality I have received infinitely greater blessings than it is in the power of any civil government to bestow. At the proper time I shall be prepared to show ^that I was personally as disinterested (whether right or wrong) in what I wrote in 1844, as in what I wrote in 1838 and 1839 in con- nection with the names of Marshall S. Bidwell and J. S. Howard, Esquires. I have ever maintained since 1827 what appeared to me right and important principles, regardless of man in high or low places, and favour or oppose what party it might. I have never borrowed my doctrines from the conclaves or councils of party, nor bowed my neck to its yoke; nor have I made my office subservient to its interests in any shape or form, but to the interest of the country at large, so far as in my power, 1846-541 THE STOBY OF MY LIFE. 415 irrespective of sect or party. I should contemn myself if I could perform one act or say one word to court party favour, or avert party vengeance, if such exists. I shall do as I have done, endeavour faithfully to perform the duties and fulfil the trusts imposed upon me, and leave the future, as well as the past, to the judgement of my native country, for the equal rights of all classes of whose inhabitants I contended in ''peril- ous times," and for years before the political existence of the chief public men of any party in Canada, with the exception of the Hon. William Morris. The question, incidentally raised by the Globe newspaper, after the Conference of 1848, as to Dr. Ryerson's retaining a ministerial status, while holding and administering a civil office was brought up at the next Conference, held at Hamilton, in June, 1849. In a letter to me from the Conference, dated 11th of the month, he said : — I brought my position before the Con- ference in consequence of a remark from one of the preachers, saying, while Mr. Playter's case was under consideration, " that there was a general opposition among the members of the Conference, occupying the position that Mr. Playter did, or a civil situation." Several of the senior members of the Conference spoke in a very complimentary way respecting me ; and a strong satisfaction was expressed from all parts of the Conference with my position — the manner in which I had filled it, and consulted the interests of the Church — expressing their earnest desire that I would continue in it. In a letter to Dr. Ryerson from his brother, Rev. K M. Ryer- son, from Brantford, on July 2nd, 1848, it would appear, from the foregoing, that some hostile movement was being generally formed against him. His brother said: — I found upon my re- turn from Conference to Brantford that the general topic of conversation was your dismissal from your present office. When I told them it was not the case, some rejoiced, while silent grief and disappointment were visible on the countenances of others. Dr. Ryerson having been called to Montreal on educational matters, in April, 1849, wrote a letter to me from that city, dated 27th of the month, in which he gave a graphic account of the state of the city during the crisis at that time: — You may well imagine my surprise and regret, on reaching Lachine yes- terday, to learn that the Parliament House had been burnt, together with a noble library of 25,000 volumes, containing records of valuable books which can never be replaced. On arriving in Montreal, I found nothing but confusion and excite- ment, which, instead of subsiding, are increasing, and it is 416 THE STOBY OF MY LIFE. [Chap. L. apprehended that to-morrow will be a more serious day than any that has preceded it. Yesterday, the court of the Govern- ment House was filled with soldiers, while the street in front of it was crowded with a multitude, who saluted every appearance of any members of the Executive Council, or any of their Par- liamentary supporters with hisses and groans. This continued from one o'clock until eight or nine o'clock in the evening. Mr. Lafontaine came out in care of Colonel Antrobus and soldiers, to get into a cab, and he was pelted with eggs and stones. Not one of the Ministers can walk the streets. Last night Mr. Lafontaine's house was sacked, and his library destroyed ; and Mr. Hincks' house was also sacked, but he had removed nearly all of his furniture, as well as his family. The scene of to-day was similar to that of yesterday. This afternoon a meeting of several thousands of persons was held in the Champs de Mars. I heard some of the speeches. They were moderate in tone, but the feelings of disgust and contempt for Lord Elgin exceed all conception. There have been two vast assemblages this evening — the one French, the other British — in different parts of the city. Companies of soldiers have been stationed in the streets between them, preventing persons going from one party to the other. I have heard their shoutings since I commenced this letter. The next day Dr. Ryerson wrote to me again to say : — Nothing has occurred in the city since last night, worth noticing. Soldiers meet you at every turn almost. Two com- panies of soldiers were stationed to-day in the building in which the Legislative Assembly met. There was a long debate on the causes of the recent disturbances, and strong protestations from all sides of the House against " annexation." An opportunity to appoint Hon. M. S. Bidwell to the Bench in Upper Canada having occurred. Dr. Ryerson, on the 3rd September, 1849, addressed the following letter to Hon. Robert Baldwin, urging the appointment : — There is one subject I take the liberty of mentioning, although it is contrary to my practice to interfere in any matter of the kind ; but the peculiarity of it may excuse me on the present occasion. I allude to the appointment of Mr. Bidwell as one of the new judges in Upper Canada. The recent history of Europe affords many illustra- tions of circumstances being seized upon by despots to compel the departure of valuable and dreaded men from their own country. You know that it was under such circumstances that Mr. Bidwell was compelled to leave Canada. You know that it was the order of the Imperial Government to elevate Mr. Bidwell to the Bench, that prompted Sir Francis Head to adopt 1846-54] THE STORY OF MY LIFE. 417 the course towards him that he did. You know, likewise, how long, and faithfully, and ably, Mr. Bid well laboured to promote the principles of civil and religious liberty which are now established in Upper Canada ; and that at a time when great responsibility and obloquy attached to such advocacy. Mr. Bidwell was the author, as well as the able advocate of the laws by which the religiolis denominations in Upper Canada hold Church property, and by which their ministers solemnize matrimony. I believe he has never altogether abandoned the hope of returning to Canada ; but I believe he has felt that he was entitled to the offer of that position, which the Home Government contemplated conferring upon him in 1837. I felt it too delicate a question to propose to Mr. Bidwell when I saw him the other day; but my friend Mr. Francis Hall, of the New York Commercial Advertiser (who sees and converses with him every week), expressed his full conviction that Mr. Bidwell would accept a Judgeship in Upper Canada — that Mr. Bidwell had constantly taken the Canadian Law Reports, and procured the Canadian and English Statutes, and kept up his reading of them as carefully as if he had lived in Canada. I believe the appointment of Mr. Bidwell would be an honour to the Canadian Bench, and an act of moral and political gratitude most honourable to any party, and of great value to Upper Canada. You are aware of the reasons for which I feel a deep interest in this subject, and which will, I trust, excuse in your mind the liberty I take — believing, as I do, that it will be as grateful to your feelings as it will be noble in your character, to remember a man to whom our common country is so much indebted. To this letter Mr. Baldwin replied, on the 20th September With respect to the principal object of your letter, you need not, I assure you, have made any excuse for introducing it, even independently of the part taken by you formerly with reference to the case of my friend Mr. Bid- well, and which alone would give you a just claim to address me. I can never feel any suggestion, no matter from what quarter, having his good foi its object, to be an intrusion on me, and be assured that nothing could have afforded me greater pleasure than to have had it in my power to have ad- vised his appointment to the Bench. Nor have I ever ceased to do all that I could with propriety to get him to put himself in the position which might lead to such a result. You are aware of the steps I took in 1843 to have his pledge to Sir Francis Head cancelled. I sent you, I think, the correspond- ence respecting it. (See page 308.) On that being done, I wrote him a letter of which I preserved a copy, from which I send you one. By this you will see how earnestly- 1 pressed him to return then. Had he come in, as I suggested, it was my intention to have offered him the Crown business on whichever of the Circuits he might have chosen. I have subsequently, as often as I felt I dared to do so, urged his return. But it has been felt impossible, until he had placed himself in the position of a practitioner, as formerly, at our own, and not at a foreign, Bar, to advise his appointment to 27 418 THE STORY OF MY LIFE. [Chap. L. the Bench of the Province. For myself, although friendship might have led me to have overlooked, or overstepped, this difficulty, my judgment, when appealed to, forced me to admit, with my colleagues, that the objection was insuperable. I am not acquainted with the income he realizes from his profession in , New York, but I doubt not it is much beyond what could be obtained in Toronto. Still, if he really does wish to return to Canada, the time is most propitious as far as professional prospects are concerned. Mr. Sullivan, Mr. Blake, and Mr. Esten being taken from the Bar leaves a space to be filled that, I should say, offers the best possible opening. Had Mr. Bidwell been in his proper professional position here when the Government was called upon to appoint to the places now filled, or on the eve of being filled, by those gentlemen, there is not one of those high judicial positions to which it would not have been at once a pride and a pleasure both to myself and my colleagues to have advised his appointment. Vice- Chancellor Jameson's health, too, will probably ere long lead to his retire- ment. When that time arrives, will our friend's continued absence be still a barrier to the gratification of our wishes ? If the affairs of the Province shall be then conducted by the same Councils as now sway them, I may say, with almost the same confidence of that future as I do of the past, that it will be the only obstacle to such gratification. I should add, too, that last winter one of my colleagues who, as well as myself, has always taken a particular interest in Mr. Bidwell's return to the Province, wrote to him, informing him of the Judiciary measures intended to be intro- duced by the Administration, and giving him to understand as distinctly as could properly be done, that, if he had returned to this country when those measures were to go into operation, it would afford us and our colleagues the greatest j^leasure to have it in our power to advise his being placed in a situa- tion alike agreeable to his tastes, deserving of his talents, and satisfactory to the public at large. And though, when he wrote first, he expressed some doubt of the Bills becoming law during the last session, yet shortly after, when it was felt expedient to carry them through, he again wrote to inform Mr. Bidwell that this would be done if the sanction of Parliament was ob- tained to the measures. Whether, in my letters to Mr. Bidwell, on the subject of his return, I have appeared to him not to speak with sufficient warmth, I know not. It has, at all events, not been from indifference to the object. I certainly have felt that, in the uncertainty that must for the future attach to political power, there was a great responsibility in urging one in good business elsewhere to leave that and throw his fortunes again in with us here. I am naturally cautious, and my caution may have led me to speak less warmly than I felt, particularly when I found my first appeals unsuc- cessful. But he ought, and I hope, does, appreciate my motives. It is true his ear may be poisoned by having had unjust suspicions poured into it. I know I have never afforded any just grounds for such suspicions, and I feel confident that his generous nature would have been far above conceiving any such, had they not been suggested by others. I am, however, perhaps doing wrong. It may be that none such have ever been thought of by anyone. I trust it is so. If otherwise, it is but just to myself to say that they are the foulest, basest and most malignant that mortal ever breathed. Rev. Dr. Bangs attended the Conference at Brockville in 1850, as a delegate from the American General Conference. On his return to New York he wrote a letter to Dr. Ryerson on the 3rd July :— I think my trip to Canada was one of the most pleasant tours I ever made, 1846-54] THE STORY OF MY LIFE. 419 and shall reflect upon it with peculiar delight. I have commenced, as you will perceive by the Christian Advocate, to give the public an account of my visit to your Conference. The pleasure we enjoyed in our visit to Canada, and especially your hos- pitality at Toronto, makes us feel truly thankful to God for such hallowed friendships, and reminds us more forcibly than ever of that eternal union which the spirits shall enjoy in a future world. Dr. Ryerson made a second educational trip to Europe in October, 1850. Writing to me from London on the 8th Novem- ber, he said : — The day before yesterday, I left Lord Elgin's note of introduction, with my card, at the Colonial Office ; the same evening I received a note, appointing 3'esterday for an interview. Mr. (afterwards Sir B.) Hawes, the Under-Secretary was present. It was most agreeable and gratifying. Lord Grey seemed much delighted with what had been done, educationally, in Upper Canada; and of which he was until then, entirely ignorant. Mr. Hawes asked if I had published any report of my tour in Europe, or the results of it ; and as I happened to have a copy of each of the documents I brought with me, I presented Lord Grey with copies of them. He seemed surprised that he had not seen them before, and said he must write to Lord Elgin to send him a copy of each of them for the office. The conversation extended to the United States — our system of Government as contrasted with theirs, etc. Lord Grey and Mr. Hawes appeared entertained and pleased. His Lordship offered to aid me in any way, in his power, that I might devise ; and asked me to dine with him. Last evening, I received from Lord Grey letters of introduction to the Marquis of Lansdowne (President of the Privy Council Committee of Education) to the Rt. Hon. T. B. Macaulay, and Mr. Lingard, successor of Sir J. P. Kay Shuttle worth, and an unsealed letter of introduction from Mr. Hawes, to Sir Henry Ellis, Librarian of the British Museum, in which he said : This will be presented to you by Dr. Ryerson, of Canada, who has rendered great services to the cause of education, not only by his writings, but by his great exertions. Both Lord Grey and Mr. Hawes seemed to know something about me; and the above copy of note shows the spirit in which they are desirous of aiding me. I shall now commence my work here in good earnest. Lord Grey introduced the subject of the Toronto University, and of the Bishop of Toronto's Mission to this country, and when he found that I had a copy of the amended University Bill, and the proceedings of the Wesleyan Conference on the subject, he requested them for perusal. In my next interview with His Lordship I shall introduce the subject of the clergy reserves. 420 THE STOBY OF MY LIFE. [Chap. L, I have been very cordially received at the Wesleyan Mission House. I was affected to see Dr. Bunting's great bodily weak- ness, and surprised to see his intellect clear, quick, and powerful as ever. When he walks, he can only step about six inches at a time. I expect to hear him on Sunday morning, in the same Chapel (Spitalfields Chapel — a once French church, in which the eloquent Saurin has preached, and made a collection for the refugee Huguenots to the amount of £3,000) in which I preached last Sunday, and aided in administering the Lord's Supper. On the 10th January, 1851, Dr. Ryerson addressed the follow- ing note to Sir Benjamin Hawes, from Paris : I saw Cardinal Wiseman on the strength of your kind note of introduction. He appeared to be pleased with the compliment which my call involved — invited me to hospitalities which I think it would not be prudent for me to accept, and promised to have a list of popular (but not denominational) reading books prepared, and the books selected for my inspection on my return to London. I most fervently hope that you will be prepared to bring before Parliament, early in the approaching session, a Bill to settle the Canadian clergy reserve question — the only remain- ing obstacle to the social harmony of Canada, and to its affec- tionate and permanent union with the Mother Country. In 1852, the new buildings of the Education Department and Normal School, as shown in the accompanying engravings were completed. For Dr. Ryerson's Office see page 422. Being in England in 1853, Dr. Ryerson wrote to me there : — I was glad to learn that Lord Elgin was to go in the same steamship with you from Boston. I have no doubt it will have proved interesting to him as well as to you, and perhaps useful to you. I miss you very much from the office, but I do not like to employ any more aid without sanction of the Government, though I could get no one to take your place. I would wish you to write me what Lord Elgin may have thought or said as to our doings and plans of proceeding. If the Library plan succeeds, it will achieve noble results.* I feel that our success and happiness in the Department are inseparably united. In 1854 Dr. Ryerson was appointed a member of Commission to enquire into matters connected with King's College, Fred- ericton, N.B. His fellow-commissioners were Hon. J. H. Gray, Dr. Dawson, Hon. J. S. Saunders, and Hon. James Brown. Mr. Grey the Chairman, in transmitting the Report of the Com- mission to the Provincial Secretary of New Brunswick, said : — I beg to express, with the full conscience of my fellow-commissioners, our acknowledgment of the very valuable assistance offered us by Dr. Ryerson. His great experience, and unquestioned proficiency in all subjects connected with Education, justly entitles his opinions to great weight. * Lord Elgin always referred to Dr. Ryerson's library scheme in his educational iiddresses, as the " Crown and Glory of the lustitutions of the Province." CHAPTER LL 1849. The Bible in the Ontario Public Schools. EARLY in 1849 an important crisis occurred in the history of our Public School system, the evil effects of which were only prevented by the prompt and emphatic protest on the part of Dr. Ryerson, and the equally prompt measures taken by Hon. Robert Baldwin in the matter. The event to which I refer was the hurried passage of a revolutionary School Bill at the end of a Session of Parliament by parties hostile to Dr. Ryerson — a Bill the effect of which would have been the exclusion of the Bible and religious teaching and influence from our Public Schools. In regard to that calamitous event, Dr. Ryerson stated that within three hours of learning that such a Bill was law he informed Mr. Baldwin that the office of Chief Superintendent of Education was at his disposal. I was absent from Toronto at this time. Dr. Ryerson there- fore wrote me a letter on the subject, dated December, 1849, in which he said : — I am happy to say the scandalous School Bill of last session is upset. The members of the Government (including the Governor-General) have examined my letter to Mr. Baldwin, of July last, and have come entirely into my views. Mr. Malcolm Cameron is also out of office, and is striving to create opposition against his former colleagues. Some of the ex- treme radical papers {Examiner, Mirror, Canada Christian Advocate, Provincialist, &c.,) all state that I had tendered my resignation, and had been persuaded by one or two members of the Government to withdraw it, and they speak piteously of the Government having succumbed to me. The Canada Christian Advocate says I have watched my opportunity to get "Mr. Baldwin and the Government under my thumb." I have been permitted to publish the correspondence of July last, and it has placed me in this new and proud position. I thank God for His goodness in thus opening before me a wider field of useful- ness than ever, and for sealing at so early a period, with His approbation, adherence to great principles of Christian truth and social advancement, irrespective of men or parties. I 424) THE STORY OF MY LIFE. [Chap. LI. shall commence the New Year with new courage and hope, and I am anxious to see you that we may together devise and prosecute the best means to promote our great work. The circumstances under which this abortive School Bill, as it proved, of 1849, was passed, is thus described by Dr. Ryerson in a letter written ten years afterwards (in 1859) : — From 1846 to 1849 a host of scribblers and would-be school legislators appeared, led on by the Globe newspaper. It was repre- sented that I had plotted a Prussian school despotism for free Canada, and that I was forcing upon the country a system in which the last spark of Canadian liberty would be extinguished, and Canadian youth would be educated as slaves. Hon. Mal- colm Cameron, with less knowledge and less experience than he has now, was astounded at these " awful disclosures," and was dazzled by the theories proposed to rid the country of the en- slaving elements of my Prussian school system. Mr. Cameron was at length appointed to office ; and he thought I ought to be walked out of the office. Messrs. Baldwin and Hincks (as I have understood), thought I should be judged officially for my official acts, and that, thus judged, I had done nothing worthy of evil treatment. The party hostile to me then thought that, as I could not be turned out of office by direct dismissal, I might be shuffled out by legislation ; and a School Bill was pre- pared for that purpose. That Bill contained many good, but more bad provisions, and worse omissions, but of which only a man who had studied the question, or rather science, of school legislation could fully judge. Mr. Cameron was selected to submit it to his colleagues, and get it through Parliament. He executed his task with his characteristic adroitness and energy. Mr. Hincks never read the Bill, and had left for England before it passed. Mr. Baldwin, amid the smoking ruins of a Parliament House and national library, looked over it, and thought from the representations given him of its popular objects, and a glance at the synopsis of its provisions, that it might be an improvement on the then existing law, while the passing of it would gratify many of his friends. On examining the Bill, I wrote down my objec- tions to it, and laid them before the Government, and proceeded to Montreal to press them in person. I left Montreal in April, 1849, with the expectation that the Bill would be dropped, or essentially mended. Neither was done ; the Bill was passed in the ordinary manner of passing bills during the last few hours of the Session ; and within three hours of learning that the Bill was law, I informed Mr. Baldwin that my office was at his disposal, for I never would administer that law. As to the effect of Mr. Cameron's Bill on Dr. Ryerson's future, he said :— The new Bill on its coming into operation, leaves me 18491 THE STOBY OF MY LIFE. 425 but one course to pursue. The character and tendency of the Bill clearly is to compel me to relinquish office, or virtually abandon principles and provisions [in regard to the Bible in the Schools] which I have advocated as of great and vital impor- tance, and become a party to my own personal humiliation and degradation — thus justly exposing myself to the suspicion and imputation of mean and mercenary conduct. I can readily retire from office, and do much more if necessary, for the main- tenance of what I believe to be vital to the moral and educa- tional interests of my native country; but I can never knowingly be a party to my own humiliation and debasement. I regret that an unprecedented mode of legislation has been resorted to to gratify the feelings of personal envy and hostility. I regard it as a virtual vindication of myself against oft-repeated allega- tions, that it was felt I could not be reached by the usual straightforward administration of Government. Lately, in the English House of Lords, the Marquis of Lansdowne stated, that Mr. Lafontaine had returned to Canada, and boldly challenged inquiry into any of the allegations against him in reference to past years. I have repeatedly done the same. No such inquiry has been granted or instituted. Yet I am not only pursued by the base calumnies of certain persons and papers, professing to support and enjoy the confidence of the Government, but legis- lation is resorted to, and new provisions introduced at the last hour of the Session, to deal out upon me the long meditated blows of unscrupulous envy and animosity. But I deeply regret that the blows, which will fall comparatively light upon me, will fall with much greater weight, and more serious conse- quences, upon the youth of the land, and its future moral and educational interests. . . Acting, as I hope I do, upon Chris- tian and public grounds, I should not feel myself justified in withdrawing from a work in consequence of personal discourtesy and ill-treatment, or a reduction of means of support and use- fulness. But when I see the fruits of four years' anxious labours, in a single blast scattered to the winds, and have no satisfactory ground of hope that such will not be the fate of another four years' labour; when I see the foundations of great principles, which, after extensive enquiry and long deliberation, I have endeavoured to lay, torn up and thrown aside as worth- less rubbish ; when I see myself deprived of the protection and advantage of the application of the principle of responsible government as applied to every other head of a Department, and made the subordinate agent of a Board which I have originated, and the members of which I have had the honour to recommend for appointment ; when I see myself officially severed from a Normal School Institution which I have devised, 426 THE STOBY OF MY LIFE. [Chap. LI, and every feature and detail of which are universally com- mended, even to the individual capacities of the masters whom I have sought out and recommended ; when I see myself placed in a position, to an entirely novel system of education at large, in which I can either burrow in inactivity or labour with little hope of success; when I find myself placed in such circum- stances, I cannot hesitate as to the course of duty, as well as the obligations of honour and self-respect. . . I think it is my right, and only frank and respectful, on the earliest occasion to state, in respect to my own humble labours, whether I can serve on terms and principles and conditions so different from those under which I have, up to the present time, acted ; though I cannot, without deep regret and emotion, contemplate the loss of so much time and labour, and find myself impelled to aban- don a work on which I had set my heart, and to qualify myself for which I have devoted four of the most matured years of my life. Having now fulfilled my promise — to communicate to you, in writing, my views on this important and extensive subject — I leave the whole question in your hands. The result of this letter was, the suspension and abandon- ment of the Act of 1849, and the preparation and passing of the Act of 1850. Now Mr. Cameron might naturally feel deeply at the repeal of his own Act without a trial ; but after he had time for fur- ther examination and reflection, and a more thorough knowledge of the nature and working of the system I was endeavouring to establish, I believe no man in Canada more sincerely rejoiced than Mr. Cameron at the repeal of the Act of 1849, and no man has more cordially supported the present system, or more frankly and earnestly commended the course I have pursued.* The letter to Mr. Baldwin was written on the 14th July, 1849. Speaking of it. Dr. Ryerson said : — In the former part of that letter I stated the circumstances under which the Act of 1849 had passed, and the fact that my remonstrance against it had not been even read. I then stated what I considered insuperable objections to it. I will quote part of my eighth and tenth objections : — the former relating * Mr. Cameron's avowals on the subject are frank and manly. On the occasion of his nomination for the County of Lambtou, in October, 1857, he thus referred to the School System, and to its founder: — On the whole, the system had worked well, the common schools of Canada were admirable, and had attracted the commendation of the first statesmen in the United States, and even in Great Britain they proposed to imitate Canada. He was opposed to Dr. Kyerson's appointment politically, but he would say, as he had said abroad, that Canada and her children's children owed to him a debt of grati- tude, as he had raised a noble structure, and opened up the way for the elevation of the people. 1849] THE STOBY OF MY LIFE. 427 to the exclusion of ministers as school visitors — the latter relat- ing to the exclusion from the schools of the Bible and books containing religious instruction. They are as follows: — Another feature of the new Bill is that which precludes Ministers of Religion, Magistrates, and Councillors, from acting as school visitors, a pro- vision of the present Act to which I have heard no objection from any quarter, and from which signal benefits to the schools have already resulted. Not only is this provision retained in the School Act for Lower Canada, but Clergymen — and Clergymen alone — are there authorized to select all the school books relating to " religion and morals " for the children of their respective persuasions. But in Upper Canada, where the great majority of the people and Clergy are Protestant, the provision of the present Act author- izing Clergymen to act as School Visitors (and that without any power to interfere in school regulations or books) is repealed. Under the new Bill, the Ministers of religion cannot, therefore, visit the schools as a matter of right, or in their character as Ministers, but as private individuals, and by the permission of the teacher at his pleasure. The repeal of the provision under which Clergymen of the several religious persuasions have acted as visitors, is, of course, a virtual condemnation of their acting in that capacity. When thus denuded by law of his official character in respect to the schools, of course no Clergyman would so far sanction his own legislative degradation as to go into a school by suffrance in an unministerial character. . . The character and tendency of such a change in connection with the Protestant religion of Upper Canada, in contrast with a directly opposite provision in connection with the Roman Catholic Religion of Lower Canada, must be obvious to every reflecting person. To the school-visiting feature of the present system I attach great import- ance as a means of ultimately concentrating in behalf of the schools the influence and sympathies of all religious persuasions, and the leading men of the country. The success of it, thus far, has exceeded my most sanguine expectations ; the visits of Clergy alone during the last year being an average of more than five visits for each Clergyman in Upper Canada. From such a beginning what may not be anticipated in future years, when infor- mation shall become more general, and an interest in the schools more generally excited. And who can estimate the benefits, religiously, socially, educationally, and even politically, of Ministers of various religious persua- sions meeting together at quarterly school examinations, and other occasions, on common and patriotic ground, and becoming interested and united in the great work of advancing the education of the young. The last feature of the new Bill on which I will remark, is that which proscribes from the Schools all books containing " controverted theological dogmas or doctrines." [Under a legal provision containing these words, the Bible has been ruled out of schools in the State of New York.] I doubt whether this provision of the Act harmonizes with the Christian feelings of members of the Govemment ; but it is needless to enquire what were the inte^tions which dictated this extraordinary provision, since construction of an Act of Parliament depends upon the language of the Act itself, and not upon the intentions of its framers. The eff'ect of such a provision is to exclude every kind of book containing religious truth, even every version of the Holy Scriptures themselves ; for the Protestant version of them contains " theological doctrine " controverted by the Roman Catholic ; and the Uouay version of them contains " theological dogmas " controverted by the Pro- testant. The " theological doctrine " of miracles in Paley's Evidences of Christianity is "controverted" by the disciples of Hume. Several of the "theological doctrines" in Paley's Moral Philosophy are also "controverted;" 428 THE STORY OF MY LIFE. [Chap. LI. and indeed there is not a single doctrine of Christianity which is not con- troverted by some party or other. The whole series of Irish National Eeaders must be proscribed as containing "controverted theological doc- trines;" since, as the Commissioners state, these books are pervaded by the principles and spirit of Christianity, though free from any tincture of sectarianism. I think there is too little Christianity in our schools, instead of too much ; and that the united efforts of all Christian men should be to introduce more, instead of excluding what little there is. I have not assumed it to be the duty, or even constitutional right of the Government, to compel any thing in respect either to religious books or religious instruction, but to recommend the local Trustees to do so, and to provide powers and facilities to enable them to do so within the wise restric- tion imposed by law. I have respected the rights and scruples of the Roman Catholic as well as those of the Protestant. By some I have been accused of having too friendly a feeling towards the Roman Catholics ; but while I would do nothing to infringe the rights and feelings of Roman Catholics, I cannot be a party to depriving Protestants of the Text-book of their faith — the choicest patrimony bequeathed by their forefathers, and the noblest birthright of their children. It affords me pleasure to record the fact — and the circumstance shows the care and fairness with which I have acted on this subject — that before adopting the Section in the printed Forms and Regulations on the " Constitution and Govern- ment of the Schools in respect to Religious Instruction," t submitted it, among others, to the late lamented Roman Catholic Bishop Power, who, after examining it, said, [he could not approve of it upon principle, but] he would not object to it, as Roman Catholics were fully protected in their rights and views, and as he did not wish to interfere with Protestants in the fullest exercise of their rights and views. It will be seen that New England or Irish National School advocates of a system of mixed schools did not maintain that the Scriptures and all religious instruction should be excluded from the schools, but that the peculiarities of sectarianism were no essential part of religious instruction in the schools, and that the essential elements and truths and morals of Christi- anity could be provided for and taught without a single bitter element of sectarianism. The advocates of public schools meet the advocates of sectarian schools, not by denying the connection between Christianity and education, but by denying the connection between sectarianism — by comprehending Christianity in the system, and only rejecting sectarianism from it. The same, I think, is our safety and our duty. ... Dr. Ryerson concludes this part of his letter with these em- phatic words : Be assured that no system of popular education will flourish in a country which does violence to the religious sentiments and feelings of the Churches of that country. Be assured, that every such system will droop and wither which does not take root in the Christian and patriotic sympathies of the people — which does not command the respect and confidence of the several religious persuasions, both ministers and laity — for these in fact make up the aggregate of the Christianity of the country. The cold calculations of unchristianized selfishness will never sustain a school system. And if you will not embrace Christianity in your school system, you will soon find that Christian persuasions will soon commence establishing schools 1849] THE 8T0BY OF MY LIFE. 429 of their own ; and I think they ought to do so, and I should feel that I was performing an imperative duty in urging them to do so. But if you wish to secure the co-operation of the ministers and members of all religious persuasions, leave out of your system the points wherein they differ, and boldly and avowedly provide facilities for the inculcation of what they hold in common and what they value most, and that is what the best interests of a country require. Speaking in a subsequent letter of another feature of this question of the Bible in schools. Dr. Ryerson says : The principal opposition which, in 1846 and for several years afterwards, I encountered was that I did not make the use of the Bible compulsory in the schools, but simply recognized the right of Protestants to use it in the school (not as an ordinary reading book, as it was not given to teach us how to read, but to teach us the way to Heaven), as a book of religious instruction, with- out the right or the power of compelling any others to use it. The recognition of the right has been maintained inviolate to the present time; facilities for the exercise of it have been provided, and recommendations tor that purpose have been given, but no compulsory authority assumed, or right of com- pulsion acknowledged ; and the religious exercises in each school have been left to the decision of the authorities of such school, and the religious instruction of each child has always been under the absolute authority of the parents or guardian of each child. . . Now many a parent may not exercise the right of using the Bible as a text-book of religious instruction for his child in school, but would even such parent (much less every Protestant parent) be willing to be deprived of that right ? To the objection that the Bible is " often read in a formal and perfunctory manner without any real benefit being derived from it by the pupils," Dr. Ryerson replied : Is not the Bible often read in the family, and even in the Church, " in a formal and perfunctory manner," without any benefit to either reader or hearers : but should we, therefore, take away even " the abstract right of reading the Bible " in the family and in the Church ? To the objection urged against the reading of the Bible in the schools because " a majority of the teachers are utterly unfit to give religious instruction," Dr. Ryerson replied : The reading of the Bible and giving religious instruction from it are two very dift'erent things. The question is not the competency of teachers to give religious instruction, but the right of a Pro- testant to the reading of the Bible by his child in the school as a text-book of religious instruction. That right I hold to be sacred and divine- 430 THE STOBY OF MY LIFE. [Chap, LI. To a rejoinder that " the cry for the Bible in the schools is a sham," Dr. Ryerson thus replies : Apart from religious instruc- tion, apart from even the reading of the Bible in the schools, the right of having it there — its very presence there — is not " a sham," but a sign, a symbol of potent significance. The sign of the Cross . . is not a " sham," but a symbol precious to the hearts of hundreds of thousands of our brethren; the coat of arms which stands at the head of all royal patents, nor the sparkling crown which encircles the brow of royalty, is not " a sham," but a symbol which speaks more than words to every British heart ; the standard that waves at the head of the regiment, nor the flag that floats at the ship's masthead is not " a sham," but a symbol that nerves the soldier and the sailor to duty and to victory. So the Bible is not "a sham," but a symbol of right and liberty dear to the heart of every Protestant freeman, to every lover of civil and religious liberty— a standard of truth and morals, the foundation of Protestant faith, and the rule of Protestant morals ; and " the cry " for the Bible in the schools is not a " sham," but a felt necessity of the religious in- structor, whether he be the teacher or a visiting superintendent or clergyman, — is the birthright of the Protestant child, and the inalienable right of the Protestant parent. . . No man attaches more importance than I do to secular educa- tion and knowledge, and few men have laboured more to provide for the teaching and diffusion of every branch of it ; yet, so far am I from ignoring the Bible, even in an intellectual point of view, that I hesitate not to say, in the language of the eloquent Melville, that — Whilst every stripling is boasting that a great enlargement of mind is coming on the nation, through the pouring into all its dwellings a tide of general information, it is right to uphold the forgotten position, that in caring for man as an immortal being, God cared for him as an intellectual, and that if the Bible were but read by our artizans and our peasantry, we should be surrounded by a far more enlightened and intelligent population, than will appear to this land, when the school-master, with his countless magazines, shall have gone through it, in its length and its breadth. With a view to supply an omission, and to provide a Manual on Christian Morals for the schools. Dr. Eyerson, in 1871, pre- pared a little work, entitled First Lessons in Christian Morals. This work was recommended by the Council of Public Instruc- tion for use in schools. It was objected to by the Olobe news- paper on several grounds. To each of these objections Dr. Ryerson replied. The first and second objections referred to alleged errors and defects in style. In a letter on the subject, written in April, 1872, Dr. Ryerson said: — Your third objection is against any book of religious instruc- tion being recommended for use in the public shools. To this 1849] THE STORY OF MY LIFE. 431 objection I reply, firstly, that the want of such a book has been not only felt, but expressed, from different quarters. Secondly, the Irish National Board have not only books on this subject, in their authorized list of school text books, but the Council of Public Instruction has long authorized three of them : each of which contains more reading than any one book of mine. Thirdly, in the Toronto University College, not only is Paley's " Evidences of Christianity " an authorized text book, but also Dr. Wayland's " Moral Science," of the most essential parts of which my books are an epitome. A fourth objection is that I have given a summary of the " Evidences of Christianity," in respect especially to the inspir- ation of the Scriptures, miracles, and mysteries. In reply, I observe, first, that if young men, before they finish their colle- giate education, should be fortified on this ground, it is equally necessary that those youths who finish their education in the public schools should not be left unarmed on this point. Secondly, pupils in the public schools of the fourth and fifth years are quite as capable of understanding the few pages in which I have condensed and simplified the answers to the common infidel objections, as are young men at college to master the large text books prescribed on the subject. Thirdly, the Irish National Board has provided a book on the subject to which I have devoted two lessons. On the list of text books authorized by the Irish National Board is one entitled, " Lessons on the Truth of Christianity, being an appendix to the Fourth Book of Lessons, for the use of Schools." This book enters far more largely into the subject of miracles than I have done, besides the additional two lessons of answers to infidel objec- tions. A fifth objection is that I have pointed out the defects of the teachings of Natural Religion, and shown the superiority of the teachings of Revelation over those of Natural Religion. In this I have followed the example of Rev. Dr. Way land. Presi- dent of Brown University, R. I. A sixth objection is, 'that I have not confined myself to those " laws which regulate our natural obligations ; " that I have taught the " positive institutions " of Christianity, such as re- pentance, faith, reading the Scriptures, personal devotion, family worship, attendance at public worship." In this I have also followed Dr. Way land. In the conclusion of this letter Dr. Ryerson offers this " apology " for writing his little book on " Christian Morals : " Besides desiring a small amount of re- ligious teaching, one hour (Monday morning) in the week, for the senior pupils of the Public Schools, which the trustees and parents might approve, I did desire a united testimony on the 432 TEE STORY OF M7 LIFE. [Chap. LI. part of Protestantism, as there is a united testimony on the part of Koman Catholicism, as to religious teaching in the schools. One County Inspector writes, that the Roman Catholic priest, in a separate school which the Inspector visited, said, *' Your schools are atheistic. You don't acknowledge God." The same charge has been often repeated by the same authority against the public schools. While I have provided and con- tended for full provision by which the Roman Catholics could teach their own children in their own books of religious in- struction, I did desire that there might be a somewhat corres- ponding unity of testimony and teaching in religious principles and duties of common agreement among Protestants, being first most strongly impressed with its feasibility by the remarks of the late excellent Rev. A. Gale, who, when principal of Knox's Academy, on closing a public examination of the pupils, said that he was persuaded, from his own experience, that all needful religious teaching could be given to pupils at schools without infringing upon any denominational peculiarity. I had long meditated, and at length sought to realize this grand idea in our public schools. One discordant note has interrupted the harmony. The responsibility of the failure, if it is to be a failure, is not with me. I hope the Protestant Christians of Canada will yet realize it, and that my country will yet enjoy the untold advantages of it, though I may die without the sight. CHAPTER LII. 1850-1053. The Clergy Reserve Question Transferred to Canada. THE re-opening of the clergy reserve question by Bishop Strachan, with a view to obtain relief in the temporary distress mentioned in Chapter xlviii., proved to be a fatal step, so far as his hopes for securing " better terms " were concerned In the next year after he had issued his pastoral appeal for* help, the clergy reserve fund yielded an increase, "and an. expectation of a gradual increase annually was officially ex- pressed." ("Secular State of the Church," page 11.) The Bishop's complaint against the Provincial Government (Chapter xlviii., page 379) was that its management of the clergy reserve lands was wasteful and extravagant. An effort was therefore made, in 1846, to vest these lands in the religious bodies then entitled to a share in the income derived from their sale. Mr. Gladstone communicated with the Governor-General on the subject, with this view, in February, 1846. The pro- posal, was, however, viewed with alarm, as well as was the fact that such efforts being made in England showed that, as in 1840, so in 1846, the rights of the Canadian people to this patrimony could be at any time alienated or extinguished by the Imperial Government, without the official knowledge or consent of the Canadian Parliament. These two facts, when they became known and appreciated by the people of Upper Canada, led to the taking of decisive steps to prevent them from becoming realities. The represen- tatives in the Canadian House of Assembly of the Bishop of Toronto sought to get an address to the Crown passed, with a view to vesting a portion of the lands in the Church Society of Toronto. Hon. Robert Baldwin warned the friends of the Bishop of the impolicy and imprudence of such a proposition, and pointed out that if the clergy reserve question was thus re-opened, the former fierce agitation on the subject would be resumed, which might "end in tlie total discomfiture of the Church." His warning was unheeded, and although the motion for vesting the lands as proposed was rejected, by a vote of 37. 28 434 THE STORY OF MY LIFE. [Chap. LIL — ( _____ to 14, yet the Bishop in his charge, delivored the next year (in June, 1847), said : — After all, our great desire continues to be to acquire the management of what is left to the Church of the reserves ; and why this reasonable desire is not complied with remains a matter of deep regret (page 19). The question thus brought before the Legislature, led to its being brought before the people, until it became a subject of discussion in political meetings and election contests. Finally, in 1850, the Government of the day secured the passage in the House of Assembly of an address to the Crown, praying for the repeal of the Imperial Clergy Reserve Act of 1840. In that address it is stated that — During a long period of years, and in nine successive sessions of the Pro- vincial Parliament, the representatives of the people of Upper Canada, with an unanimity seldom exhibited in a deliberative body, declared their opposi- tion to religious endowments. , . The address further pointed out that the wishes of the people were thwarted by the Legislative Council, a body con- taining a majority avowedly favourable to the ascendancy of the Church of England. That the Imperial Government, from time to time, invited the Provincial Parliament to legislate on the subject of these reserves, disclaim- ing on the part of the Crown any desire for the superiority of- one or more particular Churches ; that Your Majesty's Government, in declining to advise the Eoyal assent being given to a Bill, passed by a majority of one, for in- vesting the power of disposing of the reserves in the Imperial Parliament, .admitted that from its inaccurate information as to the wants and general opin- ions of society (in which the Imperial Parliament was unavoidably deficient), ±he question would be more satisfactorily settled by the Provincial Legisla- rture ; that subsequently to the withholding of the Royal assent from the last-mentioned Bill, the Imperial Parliament passed an Act disposing of the proceeds of the clergy reserves in a manner entirely contrary to the formerly X'epeatedly expressed wishes of the Upper Canadian people, as declared through their representatives, and acknowledged as such in a message sent to the Provincial Parliament by command of Your Majesty's Royal predecessor. That we are humbly of opinion that the legal or constitutional impedi- ments which stood in the way of provincial legislation on this subject should have been removed by an Act of the Imperial Parliament ; but that the ap- propriation of revenues derived from the investment of the proceeds of the public lands of Canada, by the Imperial Parliament, will never cease to be a source of discontent to Your Majesty's loyal subjects in this Province ; and that when all the circumstances connected with this question are taken into consideration, no religious denomination can be held to have such vested interest in the revenue derived irom the proceeds of the said clergy reserves, as should prevent further legislation with reference to the disposal of them ; but we are nevertheless of opinion that the claims of existing incrtmbents should be treated in the most liberal manner ; and that the most liberal and equitable mode of settling this long-agitated question, would be for the Im- perial Parliament to pass an Act providing that the stipends and allowances heretofore assigned and given to the clergy of the Church of England and Scotland, or to any other religious bodies or denominations of Christians in Canada, and to which the faith of the Crown is pledged, shall be secured during the natural lives or incumbencies of the parties now receiving the same . . . subject to which provision the Provincial Parliament should be authorized to appropriate as, in its wisdom, it may think proper, all revenues 1850-53] THE STOBY OF MY LIFE. 435 derived from the present investments, or from those to be made hereafter' whether from the proceeds of future sales, or from instalments on those al- ready made. As the agitation proceeded, Bishop Strachan and Dr. Eyerson again became involved in it. The Bishop took the lead, and addressed a letter to Lord John Russell on the subject. Dr. Ryerson at once joined issue with the Bishop, and prepared the following able rejoinder in reply to the Bishop's letter. He said : — The statements of the Lord Bishop of Toronto, in his letter to Lord John Russell, dated Canada, February 20th, 1851, and in his Charge delivered to the clergy of the Diocese of Toronto, in May, 1851, relate to the same subjects, and appear to be designed for perusal in England, rather than in Canada. These statements, as a whole, are the most extraordinary that I ever read from the pen of an ecclesiastic, much less from the pen of a Bishop of the Church of England, and an old resident and prominent actor in the affairs of the country of which he speaks. These statements are not only incorrect, but they are, for the most part, the reverse of the real facts to which they refer ; and where they are most groundless, they are the most positive. To discuss them seriatim would occupy a volume. 1 will, as briefly as possibly, notice the most important of them under the following heads : — 1. The circumstances and objects of the original Clergy Land Reservation. 2. The position of the Church of England in Canada, and the professed wishes of the Lord Bishop. 3. The conduct of the Imperial and Canadian Governments towards the Church of England. 4. The effect of the union of the two Canadas on the pro- ceedings and votes of the Legislative Assembly in regard to the Church of England. 5. Public grants to the Church of Rome, and the endowment of that Church in Lower Canada. 6. The Toronto University and Public Schools. I am to notice in the first place the statements of the Lord Bishop respecting the circumstances and objects of the Clergy Land Reservation. He speaks of it as having been sug- gested by the circumstances of the American revolution, and as having been intended as the special reward of those who ad- hered to the Crown of England during that seven years' contest. The Bishop says : — At the close of the war, in 1783, which gave independence to the United States, till then colonies of the British Crown, great numbers of the inhabi- tants, anxious to preserve their allegiance, and, in as far as they were able, the unity of the empire, sought refuge in the western part of Canjida, beyond THE STORY OF MY LIFE. [Chap. LIl the settlements made before the conquest under the King of France. These loj-alists, who had for seven years perilled their lives and fortunes in defence of the throne, the law, and the religion of England, had irresistible claims when driven from their homes into a strange land (yet a vast forest), to the immediate protection of government, and to enjoy the same benefits which they had abandoned from their laudable attachment to the parent State. The Bishop subsequently states [See Chapter xxviii., page 219] that the object of the Constitutional Act of 1791 was More especially to confer upon the loyalists such a constitution as should l)e as near a transcript as practicable of that of England, that they might liave no reason to regret, in as far as religion, law, and liberty were con- cerned, the great sacrifices which they had made. Allusions of this kind pervade a considerable part of the Bishop's letter, and furnish the first example, within my knoAv- ledge, of any writer attempting to invest the dispute between the American colonies and the mother country with a religious character; when every person the least acquainted with the history of those colonies, and of that contest, knows that the question of religion was never alluded to on the part of the colonists — that General Washington and other principal leaders in the revolution were professed Episcopalians — that the Church of England did not exist as an established church in any of those colonies, unless adopted as such by the local legislature, as in the case of Virginia — and that in the northern and east- ern parts of those colonies, whence the first emigration to Upper Canada took place after the peace of 1783, the Church of Eng- land never did exist as an established church. Therefore, for the " religion of England " in^that sense, those " loyalists" never could have " perilled their lives and fortunes ; " nor could they have been influenced by any predilections for an establishment which they had never seen. The Bishop says truly that : The noble stand which the Province made against the United States in the war of 1812, in which the attachment of its inhabitants to the British empire was a second time signally displayed, brought the country into deserved notice. But nothing can be more fallacious than the claims he would found upon this fact, any more than those of the American revolution of 1776, to the clergy reserve land. For the Lord Bishop himself, when Archdeacon of York, in a printed dis- course on the death of the first Bishop of Quebec, represents the benefits of the establishment as " little felt or known " in Upper Canada, and states that down to the close of the Ameri- can War of 1812 — namely, in 1815 — there were but five clergy- men of the Church of England in that vast province. And a few years afterwards, December 22nd, 1826, the Upper Canada House of Assembly, consisting of the representatives of the Loyalists and their sons, who had twice " signally displayed 1850-53] THE STORY OF MY LIFE. 437 their attachment to the British empire," adopted, by the extra- ordinary majority of 30 to 3, the following remarkable and significant resolution : — Resolved, that the Protestant Episcopal Church in the Province bears . a very small proportion to the number of other Christians, notwithstanding the pecuniary aid long and exclusively received from the benevolent society in England by the members of that Church, and their pretensions to a monopoly of the clergy reserves. The original Loyalist settlers of Upper Canada, and their immediate descendants, must be held to have understood their own feelings and sentiments better than the Lord Bishop : and the almost unanimous expression of such sentiments, through their representatives twenty-five years since, together with other circumstances to which I have referred, show how greatly mistaken is his Lordship, and how perfectly baseless are his assumptions and frequent allusions and appeals in reference to the hopes, wishes and sentiments of the original settlers of Upper Canada as a ground of claim to the clergy reserves in behalf of the Church of England. I have next to say a few words on the Bishop's statement as to the position of the Church of England in Canada, and tlie professions which he makes in respect to her position. He says, " Our position has, for some time, been that of a prostrate branch of the National Church ; " and that position he, in another place, calls " a condition of inferiority to other religious denominations;" and he says, "she has been placed below Protestant dissenters, and privileges, wrested from her, have been conferred upon them." As to the position in which the Bishop would wish the Church of England in Canada to be placed, he says, " We merely claim equality, and freedom from oppression." These expressions are deeply to be regretted, when it is perfectly notorious that the pre-eminence and peculiar civil advantages claimed by the Bishop for the Church of England, have been the ground of all the disputes which have agitated the Legislature and people of Upper Canada for more than twenty-five years ; when every person of the least intelligence in Canada knows that the Church of England, besides other large educational and pecuniary patronage of government, enjoyed until 1840 an exclusive monopoly of the clergy lands which the Legislative Assembly of Upper Canada long con- tended, and which the judges of England have decided, extended by law to Protestants generally — that the Church of England enjoys at this moment the greater part of the annual proceeds of the sales of those lands, besides rectory endowments of portions of them — that every political and religious party in 438 THE STORY OF MY LIFE. [Chap. LIT. Canada awards every thing to the Church of England that they ask for themselves — " equality and freedom from oppression." During the present session of the Legislature, Bills have passed the Assembly giving the Church of England in Lower Canada all the facilities of holding property and managing her affairs which have been desired by the Bishop of the Diocese, as had been granted a few years since in Upper Canada ; and when it was objected that privileges were given by such Bills to the Church of England not possessed by any other religious per- suasion, it was replied that others might obtain them by asking for them, and the Bills in question were passed with only two dissentient votes. I repeat the expression of my regret that the Bishop should draw entirely upon his imagination for such statements, and that his feelings should prompt him to represent objections to his own particular views and pretensions as oppression and persecution of the Church of England. The next class of the Bishop's statements which I shall notice, relate to the conduct of the Imperial and Canadian Govern- ments towards the Church of England. Throughout his volumi- nous documents the Bishop represents the conduct of govern- ment, both Imperial and Colonial, as hostile to the Church of England; and employs, in some instances, terms personally offensive. The great question at issue is thus stated by the Bishop himself in his recent charge to his clergy : — In 1819, the law officers of the Crown gave it as their opinion that the words Protestant clergy embraced also the ministers of the Church of Scotland, not as entitling them to endowment in land, but as enabling them to participate in the proceeds of the reserves, whether sold or leased. In 1828, a select committee of the House of Commons extended the construc- tion of the words Protestant clergy to the teachers of all Protestant de- nominations ; and this interpretation, though considered very extraordinary at the time, was confirmed by the twelve judges in 1840. In his letter to Lord John Russell, the Bishop alludes to two of these decisions in terras peculiarly objectionable, while he omits all reference to the latter. He says : — The Established Church of Scotland claimed a share of those lands, or the proceeds, as a National Church within the Empire ; and in 1819, the Crown lawyers made the discovery that it might be gratified, under the 37th clause of the 31st of George III., chap. 31. Next, the select committee of the House of Commons, in 1828, on the Civil Government of Canada, influenced by the spurious liberality of the times, extended this opinion of the Crown lawyers to any Protestant clergy. The Bishop thus impugns the impartiality and integrity of the opinions expressed by the law officers of the Crown in Eng- land, and by the select committee of the House of Commons, sarcastically calling the one a "discovery," and ascribing the 1850-53] THE STORY OF MY LIFE. 439 other to "spurious liberality;" 'while he declares that the Act 8 and 4 Victoria, chapter 78 (which only carried partially into effect the decision of the twelve judges, and was, as he states, agreed to by the Archbishop of Canterbury and the other Bishops in London), "deprived the Church of England in Canada of seven-twelfths of her property." In other documents the Bishop has designated this Act " an act of spoliation," and " robbery " of the Church of England. When the Bishop employs language of this kind in respect to Acts of Parliament and the official opinions in regard to their provisions, he cannot reasonably complain if other parties should respect them as little as himself, much less regard them as a " final settlement " of a question to which they have not been parties, and against which they have always protested. Under any circumstances, it is singular language to be employed by a person towards a government by whose fostering patronage he has become enriched. The fact is, that the successive Gover- nors of Upper Canada have been members of the Church of England ; that the principal cause of their unpopularity, and the most serious difficulties which both the Imperial and local governments have had to encounter in the colony, have arisen from their efforts to secure as much for the Church of England, in the face of the popular indignation and opposition, so much inflamed and strengthened by the irritating publications and extreme proceedings of the Bishop himself. It is understood that the report of the committee of the House of Commons on the civil government of Canada, in 1828, was written by Lord Stanley. However that may be, the sentiments of that report on the clergy reserve question were strongly expressed by his Lordship in his speech on the subject, 2nd May, 1828 ; and he and the other distinguished men who investigated the subject at that time, know whether they were " influenced by a spurious liberality " in the conclusion at which they arrived, or whether they were guided by a sense of justice, and yielded to the weight of testimony. At all events, the grave decision of the twelve judges of England to the same effect ought to have suggested to the Bishop other terms than those of " spurious liberality," "spoliation," and "robbery," and to have protected not only the " powers that be," but the great majority of the Canadian people, from the shafts of his harsh imputations. Here I think it proper to correct the Bishop's repeated refer- erences to the origin and circumstances of the differences of opinion in Upper Canada, as to the import of the words " Pro- testant clergy," and the "right of dissenting denominations" to participate in the benefit of the clergy reserves. He repre- sents those differences as having originated with the clergy of 440 THE STORY OF MY LIFE. [Chap. LII. the Kirk of Scotland, and that the idea that any other than the clergy of the Church of England had a right to participate in the benefit of the reserves was never entertained in Upper Canada until the friends of the Kirk of Scotland commenced the agitation of the question. So far from this representation being correct, it appears that the first submission of the question to the law officers of the Crown in England took place at the request of Sir P. Maitland, in reference, not to the clergy of the Kirk of Scotland, but to " all denominations " of Protestants — a question on which Sir P. Maitland, then Lieutenant-Governor of Upper Canada, states in a despatch to Earl Bathurst, dated 17th May, 1819, that there was not only a " difference of opinion " on the subject, but " a lively feeling throughout the Province/* It appears that certain " Presbyterian inhabitants of the town of Niagara and its vicin- ity " (not at that time in connexion with the Church of Scot- land), petitioned Sir P. Maitland for "an annual allowance of I £100 to assist in the support of a preacher," to be paid " out of I funds arising from the clergy reserves, or any other fund at His Excellency's disposal." In transmitting a copy of this petition to Earl Bathurst, Sir P. Maitland ("York, Upper Canada, 17th May, 1819,") remarks as follows : — The actual product of the clergy reserves is about ^700 per annum. This petition involves a question ou which I perceive there is a difference of opinion, viz., whether the Act intends to extend the benefit of the reserves, for the maintenance of a Protestant clergy, to all denominations, or only to those of the Church of England. The law officers incline to the latter opinion. I beg leave to observe to your Lordship, with much respect, that your reply to this petition will decide a question of much interest, and on which there is a lively feeling throughout the Province. [See page 221.] Earl Bathurst 's reply to this despatch is dated " Downing Street, 6th May, 1820, and commences as follows: — Having requested the opinion of His Majesty's law officers as to the right of disstiuting Protestant ministers, resident in Canada, to partake of the lands directed by the Act of the 31st George III., c. 31, to be reserved as a provision for the support of a Protestant clergy, I liave now to state that they are of •opinion that though the provisions made by the 31st George III., c. 31, 83. 36 and 42, for the support and maintenance of a Protestant clergy, are not confined solely to the Church of England, but may be extended also to the clergy of the Church of Scotland, yet that they do not extend to dis- 8 nting ministers, since the terms Protestant clergy can apply only to the Protestant clergy recognized and established by law. It is thus clear that the question of the right of different Protestant denominations to participate in the benefit of the ■clergy reserves did not originate in any claims or agitation commenced by the clergy of the Church of Scotland ; that as early as the beginning of 1819, (only four years after the close of the last American War, during which, as the Bishop truly 1850-53] THE STORY OF MY LIFE. 441 says, " the attachment of the inhabitants to the British empire was a second time signally displayed,") there was "a lively feeling throughout the Province " on the subject. The first Loyalist settlers, and their immediate descendants, were opposed to the Bishop's narrow construction of the Act 31st George III., chapter 31 ; their representatives in the Legislative Assembly maintained invariably the liberal construction of the Act ; the select committee of the House of Commons in 1828, on the Civil Government of Canada, after taking evidence as to the intentions of the original framers of the law, expressed the same opinion, and that opinion was ultimately confirmed by the de- cision of the twelve judges in 1840. The Bishop is, therefore, as much at fault in his facts on this point, as he is in the lan- guage he employs in reference to Imperial legal opinions, and an Imperial Act of Parliament. It now becomes my duty to examine another large class of statements, which I have read with great surprise and pain; and which are, if possible, less excusable than those which I have already noticed. I refer to the Bishop's statements in regard to the influence of the union of the two Canadas on the votes and proceedings of the Legislative Assemby of the united Pro- vince, on the question of the clergy reserves. The Bishop, in* his letter to Lord John Russell (referring to the Address of the Legislative Assembly, at the session of 1850, to the Queen), states as follows : — Before the union of Upper and Lower Canada, such an unjust proceeding could not have taken place, for, while separate, the Church of England pre- vailed in Upper Canada, and had frequently a commanding weight in the Legislature, and at all times an influence sufficient to protect her from injustice. But since their union under one Legislature, each sending an equal number of members, matters are sadly altered. It is found, as was anticipated, that the members returned by dissenters uniformly join the French Roman Catholics, and thus throw the members of the Church of England into a hopeless minority on all questions in which the National Church is interested. The Church of England has not only been prostrated by the union under that of Rome, and the whole of her property made dependent on Roman Catholic votes, but she has been placed below Protestant dissenters, and privileges wrested from her which have been conferred upon them. In his recent charge to the clergy of his Diocese, the Bishop remarks again : — So long as this diocese remained a distinct colony, no measure detrimental to the Church ever took effect. Even under the management and prevailing influence of that able and unscrupulous politican, the late Lord Sydenham, a Bill disposing of the clergy reserves, was carried by one vote only — a result which sufficiently proved that it was not the general wish of the people of the colony to legislate upon the subject. I «iball first notice that part of the Bishop's statement which 442 THE 8T0BY OF MY LIFE. [ChaA LII. relates to Upper Canada, before the union with Lower Canada. The Bishop asserts it not to have been " the general wish of the people of the colony to legislate upon the subject " of the clergy- reserves; that the Church of England prevailed, and had sufficient influence to maintain what he regards as her just rights. The Bishop has resided in Upper Canada nearly half a century, and such a statement from him, in direct contradiction to the whole political history of the Province during more than half that period, is difficult of solution, though perfectly easy of refuta- tion. I have already transcribed one of a series of resolutions, adopted by the Legislative Assembly as early as December, 1826, by a majority of 30 to 3, objecting entirely to the exclu- sive pretensions made in behalf of the Church of England. But I find that nearly a year before this, namely, the 27th of the January preceding, the House of Assembly of Upper Canada adopted an Address to the King on the subject, in which it is stated, respectfully, but strongly, — That the lands set apart in this Province for the maintenance and support of a Protestant clergy ought not to be enjoyed by any one denomination of Protestants to the exclusion of their Christian brethren of other denomina- tions, equally conscientious in their respective modes of worshipping God, and equally entitled, as dutiful and loyal subjects, to the protection of Your Majesty's benign and liberal Government ; we, therefore, humbly hope it will, in Your Majesty's wisdom, be deemed expedient alid just, that not only the present reserves, but that any funds arising from the sales thereof, should be devoted to the advancement of the Christian religion generally, and the happiness of all Your Majesty's subjects of whatever denomination ; or if such application or distribution should be deemed inexpedient, that the profits arising from such appropriation should be applied to the purposes of education and the general improvement of this Province. The following year (January, 1827), the House of Assembly passed a Bill (the minority being only three), providing for the sale and application of the whole of the proceeds of the reserves for purposes of education, and erection of places of public wor- ship for all denominations of Christians. And, on examining the journals, I find that from that time down to the union of the Canadas in 1841, not a year passed over without the pass- ing of resolutions, or address, or bil], by the House of Assembly of Upper Canada, for the general application of the proceeds of the reserves, in some form or other, but always, without excep- tion, against what the Bishop claims as the rights of the Church of England in respect to those lands. It is difficult to conceive a more complete refutation than these facts furnish of the Bishop's statement, that the Church of England prevailed in Upper Canada, and had a commanding weight in the Legislature; nor could a stronger proof be required of "the general wish of the people of the colony to legislate upon the subject," than such a course of procedure on the part 1850-53] THE STORY OF MY LIFE. 443 of" their representatives for so many years during successive Parliaments, and amidst all the variations of party and party politics on all other questions. It is also incorrect to say that the Bill of Lord Sydenham in 1840 " was carried by a majority of one vote only." A Bill did pass the Assembly of Upper Canada the year before, by "a majority of one vote only;" but that was a Bill to re-invest the reserves in the Imperial Parliament for " general religious purposes," — a Bill passed a few hours before the close of the session, during which no less than forty-eight divisions, with the reco»d of yeas and nays, took place in the Assembly on the question of the clergy reserves ; and after the Assembly had passed, by considerable majorities, both resolutions and a Bill to give the Church of England one-fourth of the proceeds of the clergy reserves, and the other three-fourths to other religious denominations and to educational purposes — a Bill which, with some verbal amendments, also passed the Legislative Council, and against which the Bishop, joined by one other member, recorded an elaborate protest. But just at. the heel of the session, and after several members of the Assembly voting in the majority had gone to their homes, a measure (which had been previously negatived again and again) was passed by a "majority of one vote only " (22 to 21), to re-invest the reserves — a measure which the law officers in England pronounced "unconstitutional," as the manner of getting it through the Canadian Legislature was unprecedented. [See page 249.] But the measure of Lord Sydenham was carried in the As- sembly by a majority of 4, and in the Legislative Council (of which the Bishop was a member and voted against the bill) by a majority of 8. A considerable majority of the members of the Church of England of both Houses of the Legislature voted for the bill, and were afterwards charged by the Bishop with "defection," and "treachery" for doing so. [See page 262.] On this point Lord Sydenham, in a despatch to Lord John Russell, dated Toronto, 5th February, 1840, stated as follows: — It is notorious to every one here, that of twenty-two members being com- municants of the Church of England who votedupon this Bill, only eight recorded their opinion in favour of the views expressed by the right reverend Prelate ; whilst in the Legislative Council the majority was still greater ; and amongst those who gave it their warmest support are to be found many gen- tlemen of the highest character for independence and for attachment to the Church, and whose views in general politics differ from those of Her Majesty's Government. After this epitome of references to the proceedings of the people of Upper Canada, through their representatives, from 1825 to 1840, on what the Bishop terms the "rights" and " patrimony " of the Church of England, it is needless to make 444 THE STOBY OF MY LIFE. [Chap. LII more than one or two remarks on his statements as to the influ- ence of the union of the Canadas on the proceedings and votes of the Legislative Assembly upon the subject. My first remark is, that the question of the clergy reserves has not been intro- duced into the present Legislative Assembly by any member, or at the solicitation of any member, from Lower Canada. I remark, secondly, that though there is not a Roman Catholic among the forty-two members elected for Upper Canada ; yet when a resolution was introduced into the Assembly, both at the last and during the present session, expressing a desire to maintain the present settlement of the clergy reserves, as pro- vided in the Act, 3 & 4 Vic, chap. 78, only sixteen in the first instance, and thirteen in the second, voted for it — only about one-third of the members for Upper Canada. Should, therefore, the union of the Canadas be dissolved to-morrow, the Bishop would be in as hopeless a minority as he was before the union. The following remarks of a recent speech of Mr. Lafon- taine (the leader of the Roman Catholic French members of the Assembly) will show how entirely groundless are the Bishop's imputations upon that portion of the Assembly. He thoiigkt the clergy reserves should be fairly divided among the Pro- testant denominations, and that they should be altogether taken out of the hands of the Govf rnment, as the only way to take them out of the ] each of agitation. He thought the rectories were vested rights, and should not be disturbed, unless by due process of law, if, as was pretended, they were im- properly obtained. If there were any claims in the Act of 1791 which seemed to connect the Church of England to the State, though he did not think they did, they might be repealed, and the Bishop of Toronto seemed to be of opinion that that might be done. Let the appointment of the in- cumbents to the rectories, too, be taken from the Government, if it were thought proper, and given to the Church for other uses. He merely suggested that without wishing to impose it. He would conclude with one reflection : Let his Protestant fellow-countrymen remember they would never find oppo- sition to their just rights from Eoman Catholics and French Canadians. The latter had repeatedly passed Acts in Lower Canada to give equal rights to those who were called dissenters, and Jews, which were rejected by members of the Church of England in the Council, and it was worthy of remark that, at a moment when in England a pretended aggression had given occasion for persecution, the' Church of England here had to rely upon Catholics to protect it against the aggression of other Protestant sects. I shall now make a few observations on the Bishop's state- ments respecting government grants to the Church of Rome, and the endowments of that Church in Lower Canada. The Bishop, framing his statements with a view to the Protes- tant feeling of England, inveighs in general terms against the Government on account of its alleged patronage of the Church of Rome ; makes exaggerated statements on one side, and omits all references to facts on the other side which would enable the Protestants of England, to whom he appeals, to understand 1850-53] THE STOBY OF MY LIFE. 445 the part which he has himself taken in favour of grants to the Church of Rome, the manner in which those grants are paid at the present time, and the alliance which he has Jong endeavoured, and would still wish to form with that Church in respect to endowments. The Bishop says : — In Upper Canada, the Koman Catholic clergy do not, at present, exceed seventy in number, and the provision lor their support is very slender. It depends chiefly on their customary dues, and the contributions of their re- spective flocks ; unless, indeed, they receive assistance from the French por- tion of the Province, where the resources of the Romish Church are abundant^ Now, while the Bishop presents an overdrawn and startling picture of the emoluments of the Church of Rome in Lower Canada, he omits all statements of public grants and payments to the clergy of that church in Upper Canada. The Bishop must know, that in addition to their " customary dues, and the voluntary contributions of their flocks," the clergy of the Church of Rome receive £1,066 per annum, and that that sum is paid out of the clergy reserve fund under the provisions of the very Act, 3 & 4 Vic, chap. 78, for the perpetuation of which he contends. The first instructions to support the Roman Catholic clergy in Upper Canada out of public funds, were given by Earl Bathurst, in a despatch to Sir P. Maitland, dated 6th October, 1826, and which commenced in the following words : — You will receive instmctions from the Treasury for the payment, from funds to be derived from the Canada Company, of the sum of ^750 per annum, for the salaries of the Presbyterian ministers, and a similar sum for the sup- port of the Roman Catholic priests. But what is remarkable is, that this very policy of granting aid to the Roman Catholic priests in Upper Canada, for which Government has been so much blamed by the Bishop's friends in England, was urged by, if it did not originate with, the Bishop himself. For, in a speech delivered by the Bishop in the Legislative Council of Upper Canada, 6th March, 1828, and afterwards published by himself, I find his own statement of his proceedings in this matter, as follows : — It has always been my wish to see a reasonable support given to the clergy of the Church of Scotlifnd, because they belong to a Church which is estab- lished in one section of the empire ; and to the Roman Catholic Church be- cause it may be considered as a concurrent church with the establishment in the sister Province ; and to this end I have, at all times, advised the leading men of both those churches to make respectful representations to His Majesty's Government for assistance, leaving it to Ministers to discover the source from which such aid might be taken.— His Excellency, the Lieutenant-Governor of this Province (Sir P. Maitland), having represented in the strongest manner to His Majesty's Government the propriety of making some provision for the clergy in communion with the kirk,- and also of the Roman Catholic clergy resident in Upper Canada, a reference was made to me on that subject, 446 THE STOBY OF MY LIFE, [Chap. LII. while in London, in June, 1826. On this occasion I enforced, as well as I could, the recommendations made by His Excellency, in respect to both churches. Thus four months before Earl Bathurst sent out instructions to give salaries to Roman Catholic priests in Upper Canada, the Bishop states that he urged it upon the favourable consideration of His Lordship. The Bishop then significantly adds : — I did flatter myself that they would have been satisfied, as indeed they ought to have been, and that henceforth the clergy of the two denominations, the Roman Catholic and Presbyterian, while discharging their own religious duties, would cordially co-operate with those of the establishment in pro- moting the general peace and welfare of society. It is gratifying to me to state that, as far as I know, the Roman Catholic clergy, during this contest, have observed a strict neutrality. However ingenious it may be, I cannot regard it as ingenuous that the Bishop should promote the endowment of the Roman Catholic clergy in this country in order to secure their political alliance and support against other Protestant denominations, and then appeal to Protestants in England against the Govern- ment and Legislature in Canada, because of the countenance given to the Church of Rome. It is hardly fair for the Bishop to act one part in Canada and another in England ; and it is fallacious and wrong to represent the votes of Roman Catholics as exerting any influence whatever on the state of the question in Upper Canada — as of the twenty-live Roman Catholics who voted on the question last year, twelve voted on one side and thirteen on the other ; and they are known to hold the opinion declared by their leader, Mr. Lafontaine, that the proceeds of the clergy reserves belong to the Protestants of the country in contradistinction to Roman Catholics. The Bishop's statements in regard to the endowments of the Roman Catholic Church in Lower Canada are most extravagant. They cannot affect, in the least, the merits of the question which has so long agitated Upper Canada; and they appear to be introduced merely for effect in England, where the social state and position of parties in Canada are little known or understood. It is needless to examine the Bishop's statements on this subject in detail ; but I will make two or three remarks, to show the fallacy of both his assertions and his reasoning. He gives no data whatever for his perfectly gratuitous and improbable assumption of four hundred parish priests in Lower Canada at a salary of £250 each, exclusive of those employed in colleges, monasteries, and religious houses, making, he says, The revenue of the Roman Catholic Church in Lower Canada, ^100,000 per annum, a sum which represents a money capital of at least ^2,000,000 ! This imaginary .estimate of the Bishop is simply absurd, and supposes in Lower Canada ten-fold the wealth that really exists. 1850-53] THE STORY OF MY LIFE. 447 The Bishop also gives a return of the seignorial lands of several religious orders of the Roman Catholic Church in Lower Canada, then invests those lands with a fictitious value, and sets them down as representing " a capital of £700,000 ! " whereas the rights to these lands are simply seignorial, and the annual revenue arising from. them does not amount to three- pence per acre. The Jesuits' estates, 891,845 acres — by far the largest item in the Bishop's paper — are in the hands of the Government, and not of the Roman Catholic Church at all. The fallacy of the Bishop's reasoning on this point will appear from the facts, that the British Crown has never made a grant or endowment to the Roman Catholic Church in Lower Canada, or to any religious order of that Church ; that what- ever lands or endowments that Church or its religious com- munities may possess, were obtained either from the Crown of France, and therefore secured by treaty, or by the legacies of individuals, or by purchase. The island of Montreal was obtained by purchase ; the rights are merely seignorial, or feudal, and yield to the seigneurs £8,000 per annum. There is, therefore, no analogy whatever between endow- ments thus obtained and held, and lands appropriated by the Crown for certain general objects, which have been vested in the hands of no religious community, and over which Parlia- ment has expressly reserved the power of discretionary legis- lation. I shall now offer a few remarks on the Bishop's statements respecting the Toronto University and system of public schools in Upper Canada. As these are questions which have been set at rest by local legisl&,tion, by and with the sanction of the Imperial Government, I need only refer to the Bishop's state- ments so far as to remove the erroneous impressions and unjust prejudices which they are calculated to produce. In reference to the Bishop's statements, that " graduates in holy orders are declared ineligible as members of the Senate," I remark that such graduates are and have been members of the Senate from the commencement. And when the Bishop pronounces the University "essentially unchristian," he must have known that not only a Parliamentary law, but a Univer- sity statute, exists for the religious instruction and worship of all the students of the University ; whereas, when the Bishop had the management of it, no provision whatever existed for the religious instruction and worship of any of the students except members of the Church of England. The statement, therefore, of the Bishop, that — There is at present no Seminary in Upper Canada in which the children of conscientious churchmen can receive a Christian and Hberal education. 44S • THE STORY OF MY LIFE. [Chap. LII. is contradicted by the fact that the children of many churchmen, as " conscientious " as the Bishop himself, are receiving such an education at a " Seminary in Upper Canada." The lands out of which the University has been endowed were early set apart by the Crown, not on the application or recommendation of any authority or dignitary of the Church of England, but on the application' of the Legislative Assembly of Upper Canada; and the cause of all the agitation on the subject is, that the Bishop, unknown to the Canadian people, and by representations which they, through their representa- tives, declared to be incorrect and unfounded, obtained a Uni- versity Charter in England, and the application of those lands as an endowment, which the Legislative Assembly never would recognize. And now that that Assembly has at length got these lands restored to the objects for which they were origin- ally appropriated, but from which they had for a time been alienated, the Bishop seeks, by the most unfounded imputations and representations, to do all in his power to damage a Semin- ary which he ought to be the first to countenance and support. In his recent charge to his clergy, the Bishop has sought to damage the public elementary schools ; and here his statements are equally at fault with those noticed in regard to the Univer- sity. The Bishop says, "Christianity is not so much as acknow- ledged by our School law." This statement is contradicted V)y the 14th section of the School Act, and the general regulations which are made under its authority, headed, "Constitution and government of schools in respect to religious instruction," and which commence with the following words : — As Christianity is the basis of our whole system of elementary education, that principle should pervade it throughout. The Bishop says again : — - To take away the power of parents to judge and direct the education of their children, which is their natural privilege from God, as our schools virtually do, will never be allowed in Great Britain. The Bishop makes this statement in the face of the express provision of the 14th section of the School Act, which declares that " pupils shall be allowed to receive such religious instruc- tion as their parents or guardians shall desire." The Bishop furthermore states that " the Bible appears not among our school books," and says also that the "system is not based on a recognition ot* the Scriptures." It would be strange if the Bishop were ignorant that in a lengthened correspond- ence, printed by order of the Legislative Assembly, the Chief Superintendent of Schools objected to any law or system which would exclude the Bible from the schools, — that the Govern- 18j0-53] the story OF MY LIFE. 449 ment sanctioned his views, — that his annual reports show that the Bible is used in the great majority of the schools in Upper Canada. By the returns of last year, the Bible was used in 2,067 of the 3,059 schools reported — being an increase of 231 schools over those of the preceding year in which the Bible was used. The Bishop likewise says: — A belief of Christianity is not included among the qualifications of school- masters ; and I am credibly informed that there have been instances of c mdidates for schools disavowing all religious belief. There is no law to prevent the vilest person? from being " candidates" for any office, even that of holy orders ; but "can- didates for schools," and "school-masters," with legal certificates of qualification, are two very different things. . According to the school law, no person can be a legally qualified teacher, or receive any portion of the school fund, without appearing before a County Board of Examiners (who consist, in all cases, more or less of clergymen), produce to them " satisfactory evidence of good moral character," and be examined and approved by them. Even the name of the church to which the "school-master" be- longs is specified, and the annual reports of the Chief Superin- tendent of Schools include this item of information. A teacher may also, at any time, be dismissed for intemperance or any immoral conduct. It is notorious that the standard of qualifi- cation for teachers, both moral and intellectual, and the pro- visions and reojulations for reli^^ious instruction in the schools, ar€ much higher, and more complete and efficient, than under a former school law which the Bishop himself introduced into the Legislature, when he was Chairman of the Provincial Board of Education. Again, the Bishop states that All that is wanting is, to give power to the different boards or authorities to grant separate schools to all localities desiring them. This is precisely what the school law provides ; for the 24th section of the Act expressly authorizes and empowers the Board of School Trustees in each city or town, "to determine the number, sites, kind and description of schools which shall be established in such city or town." The Boards of School Trustees may therefore establish as many " separate schools " in all the cities and towns in Upper Canada, as they shall think proper. But they are not willing to establish such separate schools as the Bishop desires ; and when an amendment to the school law was proposed at the last session, to compel the local "boards or authorities" to do so, it was almost unanimously rejected. The Bishop says, indeed, referring to this circum- stance, that " when the Church of England requested separate 29 450 TEE STORY OF MY LIFE. [Chap. LIT. schools for the religious instruction of her own children, her prayer was rejected by the votes of Romanists." The fact is, that that proposition received the votes of but five members of the Legislative Assembly, in which there are upwards of fifty Protestants. It is lamentable to see the Bishop making such statements to damage and pull down the educational institutions of the country, merely because they are not under his denominational control, and subservient to his denominational purposes, — a system of schools which he has, from the commencement, endeavoured to establish in Upper Canada, and for which he has agitated the country these many 3^ears. That I do the Bishop no injustice in this statement, I may remark- that in his letter to the Under-Secretary of State for the Colonies, in 1827, applying for t\\e so-much -agitated Charter of the Provincial University, he states his object to be, that the clergy of the Church of England in Upper Canada may " acquire by degrees the direction of education which the clergy of England have always possessed." Now that the Legislative Assembly, since the establishment of free constitutional government, have de- feated the peculiar objects of the Bishop, he labours by ground- less imputations and statements to bring the whole system of public instruction into contempt. It is to be hoped that such efforts will be as unsuccessful in England as they have been in .Canada, where his appeals for agitation have not been responded ^o by one out of ten of the congregations of the Church of England, and are not sustained by the greater part of the iraembers of the Church of England in both branches of the Legislature. Not a petition has been presented by members of -the Church of England against the present system of public schools^ except one, adopted by a meeting presided over by the Bishop, and signed by himself; and the Legislative Council within the last few days, by a majority of more than two to one, concurred with the Legislative Assembly and Administra- tion in regard to the clergy reserves and University. The Bishop's extreme policy and proceedings have been and are a great calamity to the Church of England in Canada — a calamity which can only be mitigated and removed by the discountenance of such proceedings, and by the adoption of a more Christian and judicious policy on the part of members of the Church, both in England and in Canada. In reviewing the history of this question from 1840 until its final settlement by the Canadian Parliament, in 1854, Dr. Kyerson said : — Messrs. William and Egerton Ryer»on had been appointed representatives 1850-53] THE STORY OF MY LIFE. • 451 of the Canadian to the British Conference in 1840. On their arrival in England, they found Lord John Russell's Bill for the disposal of the Cana- dian Clergy Reserves to the Churches of England and Scotland before Par- liament ; and, as representing the largest religious denomination in Upper Canada, they requested an interview with Lord John Russell on the subject of His Lordship's Bill before Parliament. In the interview granted, they pointed out to His Lordship the injustice, impolicy, and danger of the Bill, should it become law, and respectfully and earnestly prayed His Lordship to withdraw the Bill ; but he was inflexible, when the Messrs. Ryerson prayed to His Lordship to assent to their being heard at the Bar of the House of Commons against the Bill ; at which His Lordship became very angry — thinking it presumptuous that two Canadians, however numerous and re- spectable their constituency, should propose to be heard at the Bar of the British House of Commons against a measure of Her Majesty's Government. But the Messrs. Ryerson knew their country and their position, and after- wards wrote a respectful but earnest letter to His Lordship against his measure, and faithfully warned him of the consequences of it if persevered in ; they went so far as to intimate that the measure would prove an opening wedge of separation between Great Britain and the people of L^pper Canada ; and lest they should be considered as endeavouring to fulfil their own predictions, they did not publish their letter to Lord John Russell, or write a line on the subject for more than ten years — knowing that a wound so deep would, with- out any action or word on their part, fester and spread so wide in the people of Upper Canada as ultimately to compel the repeal of the Act or sever their connection with Great Britain. The result was as they, Messrs. Ryerson, had apprehended ; for in 1853 the Act was repealed by the British Parlia- ment.* Early in 1852, the Government of which Earl Grey was Secretary of State for the Colonies, was superseded by that of the Earl of Derby, with Sir John Pakington as Secretary of State for the Colonies, who, in a despatch to Lord Elgin, dated April 22nd, 1852, says :— By a despatch from my predecessor, Earl Grey, of the 11th July last, you were informed that Her Majesty's then servants found themselves compelled to postpone to another Session the introduction of a Bill into Parliament giving the Canadian. Legislature authority tp alter the existing arrangement:? with regard to the clergy reserves. With reference to that intimation, I have to inform you that it is not the intention of Her Majesty's present advisers to propose such a measure to Parliament this Session. " The result would probably be the diversion to other purposes " of the clergy reserves than " the support of divine worship and religious instruction in the colony." Sir John Pakington was soon undeceived as to the continued Canadian sentiment on the subject, for Sir Francis Hincks, then Inspector-General and Premier of Canada, who happened to be in London on official business on behalf of the Canadian * Earl Grey had intended to propose its repeal in 1850-51, and had requested the writer of these papers (who was then on an educational tour in Europe) to re- main in England in order to furnish His Lordship with data and details to enable him to answer objections which might be made to his Bill in the House of Lords, and wrote to Lord Elgin, then Governor-General of Canada, requesting the pro- tracting ot Mr. Ryerson's leave of absence for two or three months. But the Bill had to be deferred until another Session, and Mr. Ryerson returned immediately to Canada. (See page 455. ) 452 THE STORY OF MY LIFE. [Chap. LII. Government, enclosed to Sir John Pakington an extract from a report, dated 7th April, 1852, approved by His Excellency, in which the Executive Council said : — The assurances of Her Majesty's late Government that such action would be taken, had prepared the people of Canada to expect that no further delay would take place in meeting their just wishes upon a question of such para- mount importance to them ; the Council, therefore, recommend that their colleague, the Inspector-General, be requested by the Provincial Secretary to seek an interview with Her Majesty's Ministers, and represent to them the importance of carrying out the pledges of their predecessors on the subject of the clergy reserves, and thus empower the Colonial Legislature to deal with the question in accordance with the well-understood wishes of the people of Canada. The Derby ministry resigned office in December, 1852, and the Duke of Newcastle succeeded Sir John Pakington as Secretary of State for the Colonies. On the 15th January, 1853, the Duke adressed a despatch to the Earl of Elgin announcing the decision of the new ministry to propose the repeal of the Imperial Act of 1840, which was sucessfully accomplished. After the passing of the Imperial Act transferring the final settlement of the clergy reserve question to Canada, a coalition Government was formed by the aid of Sir Allan McNab, called the Hincks-Morin Ministry. After protracted negotiation (with the beneficiaries under the Imperial Act) and discussion in the Legislature, a Bill was passed providing for the interests of these claimants, but " secularizing " the remaining proceeds of the reserves to municipal purposes. This was the last of the Acts assented to by Lord Elgin previous to his departure from Canada. Sir Edmund Head, his successor, speaking on this subject, said : — An Act assented to by my predecessor has finally settled the long pending dispute with regard to the clergy reserves, and it has done so in such a manner as to vindicate liberal principles, whilst it treats the rights of indi- viduals with just and considerate regard. Thus was a struggle of more than twenty-five years ended, equality before the law of all religious denominations esta- bished, and constitutional rights of the people of Upper Canada secured, to their great joy. But the Bishop of Toronto, whose policy and measures had caused so much agitation in Upper Canada, regarded this settlement of the clergy reserve question as an irreparable calamity to the Church of England in Canada. On the 16th of March, 1853, the Bishop addressed a letter to the Duke of Newcastle, of which the following are extracts : — Power and violence are to determine the question ; vested rights and the claims of justice are impediments to be swept away. Hence the spoliation sought to be perpetrated by the Legislature of Canada has no parallel in 1850-53] THE STORY OF MY LIFE. 463 colonial history. Even in the middle of the American Revolution, the old colonists, during the heart-burnings and ravages of civil war, respected the ecclesiastical endowments made by the Crown against which they were contending. . . . The grants made by the Crown were all held by the same tenure — whether to individuals or corporations — not reserva- tions for certain purposes, with power expressly given to Colonial Assemblies to "vary or repeal" them. The Bishop proceeded : — I feel bitterly, my Lord Duke, on this subject. Till I heard of your Grace's despatch, I had fondly trusted in Mr. Gladstone and his friends, of whom you are one, notwithstanding the present doubtful Administration ; and I stiU argued in my heart, though not without misgivings, that the Church was safe, I have cherished her with my best energies for more than half a century in this distant comer of God's dominions ; and after many trials and difficulties I was beholding her with joy, enlarging her tent, lengthening her cords, and strengthening her stakes, but now this joy is turned into grief and sadness, for darkness and tribulation are approaching to arrest her onward progress. Permit me, in conclusion, my Lord Duke, to entreat your forgiveness if, in the anguish of my spirit, I have been too bold, for it is far from my wish or intention to give personal offence. And of this rest assured? that I would most willingly avert, with the sacrifice of my life, the calamities which the passing of your Bill will bring upon the Church in Canada. There is a touching pathos in the close of this letter ; but the Bishop himself lived to see his apprehended calamities turned into blessings; for the most prosperous and brightest days of the Church of England in Upper Canada have been from 1853 to the present time. CHAPTER LIII. 1851. Personal Episode in the Clergy Reserve Controversy. DR. RYERSON made another educational tour in Europe in 1850-51. While in London, early in 1851, Earl Grey- sought Dr. Ryerson's counsel on the clergy reserve question, which had been lately re-opened in Canada. The proceedings and result of the interviews which he had with Earl Grey, are detailed in several letters which he wrote to me from London during a period of four months. I give such extracts from these letters as will explain the nature of Dr. Ryerson's confer- ences with Earl Grey on the subject. His first letter was writ- ten on the 7th February, in which he said : — You will rejoice to learn that Her Majesty's Government have adopted the prayer of the Canadian Legislature on the question of the clergy reserves, and have determined to bring forward a measure on the subject. Whether Lord Grey will desire me to remain longer on account of the question I have not had time to learn. Mr. [afterwards Sir Benjamin] Hawes says that he will pro- cure me admission to the speaker's gallery to hear Lord John Eussell bring forward his measure on the Papal Question. In a letter written by Dr. Ryerson the following week, dated 14th February, he enclosed to me a confidential letter on the clergy reserve question, in which he explained the likelihood of his being detained in England by Lord Grey in connection with it. He said : — I send this to you, so that you may know all the circumstances which are likely to protract my stay for some months in this country ; and for the same reason, and that you may co-operate with me, I entrust you with the perusal of my confidential letter — another proof of my unreserved confidence in your prudence and fidelity. I think it would not be well for you to mention anything as to my probable delay in England, and especially as to the reasons of it, until it becomes known to the public. My position is, indeed, a gratifying one, after so long labour and so much abuse in connection with the great clergy reserve question, that I should be desired to aid in its final settlement according to the voice of the people of Canada, and should now be called upon to aid Lord John Russell himself to undo his own measure of 1840, against which I then protested. I am sure you will be prepared to perform any additional labour to enable me to fulfil such a mission. I trust that I will be enabled to confer a benefit upon Canada. It is a gratifying position in which such a concurrence of circum- 1851] THE STORY OF MY LIFE. 455 stances will place me, and my personal character and history in regard to a question which has engaged so large a portion of my past life — the ground of all the opposition I formerly met with from the London Wesley an Com- mittee and Conference. Verily there is a God that ruleth over all things, that makes the wrath of man to praise Him, that rules in ways we know not of. We should indeed fear Him, bow down in the dust before Him, but at the same time most calmly and implicitly trust Him. Please write me as to the effects produced by Lord Grey's despatch, the manner in which it is received, etc. In a letter, dated 13th March, Dr. Ryerson said : — I have received a letter from a member of the Government in Canada, expressing a wish that I would remain in England until after the great Exhibition, as the Canadian Parliament would not meet until May. This, in anticipation of what Lord Grey has desired, has quite settled my mind on the subject of remaining until May or June. I shall remain in Paris until I am wanted in London on the clergy reserve question — I suppose until . the middle of next month. Listening some hours each day in Paris to some of the most learned men in Europe, giving the results of all their researches and reflections on various branches of lite- rature and science, wUl be of great advantage to me in my future lectures, writings and labours, and this I shall continue until the voice of war on the clergy reserves shall echo across the Atlantic. I suppose my presence in England at this time will be a great annoyance to the exclusive Church party, and it will perhaps make them more cautious than they might other- wise be in their statements. As the ministry in England continue firm, I hope no effort will be wanting in Canada to sustain Lord Grey, should an opposition be raised against his proposed bill, the bringing in of which may be delayed some time by the late long ministerial crisis in England. In a letter, dated 11th April, Dr. Ryerson said : — In regard to the clergy reserves, I have been inclined to think the Bishop of Toronto and his friends would not attempt to renew the agitation of the clergy reserve question in Canada^ but would prepare the strongest statement of their case for the Parliament here, in the mouths of some of their ablest friends in both the Commons and Lords, and thus take the Government here by surprise, and try and defeat the Bill in the Lords, after having reduced the majority in favour of it in the Commons as much as possible. On the 18th April, 1851, Dr. Ryerson wrote again : — The Scotch Presbytery of Kingston, U. C, have sent a petition to the House of Commons against Lord Grey's Bill, or agaiijst complying with the prayer of the address of the Canadian Assembly, and sent to me with the request that I would prepare an answer to it. I think of preparing my answer in the form of a communication or two to the Times newspaper, and thus bring the whole subject before the Members of Parliament and the- public. Should I succeed in this, Lord Grey may not think my longer stay to be necessary. I am anxious to get away as soon as possible; the season is advancing, and I have so much to do before the close of it in the autumn. Business and embarrasments have so accumulated in the House of Com-^ mons that it is pretty nearly decided to bring the clergy reserve Bill into- the Lords by Lord Grey himpelf, and he expects to do so about the middle of May. Should it be brought into the Lords, of course there would not be 60 long delay there before deciding the question one way or the other. But the chances are so strong against its success if brought into the Lords first^ that Lord Grey is unwilling to adopt that course until it is seen that that is tf.56 THE STORY OF MY LIFE. [Chap. LTIL Ihe only alternative. If it should be lo?t in the Lords now, he, of course, thinks it would soon be carried by a pressure from Canada, such as the rejection of the Bill by the Lords would probably call forth. On the 25th April, Dr. Ryerson wrote : — The late crisis has made no change in the intentions of the Government in regard to the clergy reserve question, I send you a copy of the Times of the 23rd instant, the day before yesterday, in which you will see the first of my papers on " The Clergy Reserves of Canada." The second and third will occupy a column and a half or two columns, each. I finished and handed in the remaining papers this morning. Lord Grey spoke to me twice on the subject of writing something for the press, and Mr. Hawes, the last time I saw him, seemed to think the Bill would be lost in the House of Lords, but the Government would send out a despatch to Canada saying that the ques- tion was not abandoned, but would be brought forward again the next Ses- sion. I have thought this was a very poor consolation for the loss of the Bill, and that it was best to see what could be done. I have written strongly, and with an express view to the House of Lords — confining myself wholly to the question of the right of the people of Canada to judge and decide in the matter. What may be the efl'ect of these papers, I cannot, of course, tell ; but if Lord Grey should be of opinion that the publication of them will supersede the necessity of my longer stay for that purpose, I will leave as soon as possible —by the third week in May. I wrote fully to Dr. Rjerson on this subject, pointing out the relation of parties in Canada on this subject, and deprecat- ing his taking any further active part in the discussion which had become so heated in this country. On the 2nd May, Dr. Ryerson replied : — What you have communicated on the clergy reserve question has changed riiy mode of proceeding in some respects ; and the .second and third articles I prepared for the Times will not appear as first intended ; but I will explain by and by. 1 was at the great Exhibition yesterday. It was the grandest of all grand affairs I ever witnessed. I had a place near the centre, within a few feet of the " Iron Duke," until he left to join the procession. On the 9th May, Dr. Ryerson wrote his final letter : — On reflection, and from what I found to be the relations of parties in Can- ada, and the turn the clergy reserve question was likely to take, I came to the same conclusion you have expressed in your last letter — not to come into collision with any party on the question, beyond what is expressed in the short article in the Times newspaper — namely, that Canada should judge for itself on the question. I have determined to furnish Lord Grey with a memorandum of facts and principles on the question. I have seen Lord Grey and stated my wish not to remain longer, and not to be further mixed up with the question— that I was now on good terms with all parties — had thus great facilities for usefulness — that party agitation in Canada was becoming violent — two extreme parties, uniting against the Ministerial measure. I told him that I would furnish him with a memorandum, with all the chief points of the question on which he was likely to be opposed. 'He seemed to be disappointed, but said if I thought my Department would suffer by my longer absence, he would not insist upon my staying. I told him that all parties would approve of my staying lor the Great Exhibition, and that I thought a memorandum, such as I would prepare on the question ■of the clergy reserves, would be as serviceable as my presence, etc. 1851] THE STORY OF MY LIFE. 457 Memorandum on the Clergy Reserve Question. The following is the memorandum which Dr. Ryerson pre- pared for Lord Grey on the clergy reserve question, and to which he refers in his letter to me of the 9th May, 1851 : — Fully concurring in the remark of the Bishop of London, in a late reply to the deputation of the inhabitants of St. George's, Hanover Square, that " there is no kind of intestine division so injurious in its character and tendency as that which is grounded on religious questions ; " and firmly believing, as I do, that the long continuance of Canada as a portion of the British Empire depends upon the proceedings of the British Parliament on the question of the clergy reserves, I desire, as a native and resident of Upper Canada, as a Protestant and lover of British institutions, to submit the following brief observa- tions on that question, in order to correct erroneous impressions in England, and to induce such a course of parliamentary pro- ceedings as will conduce to the honour of Great Britain, and to the peace and welfare of Canada : — 1. My first remark is, that this is a question agitated for more than twenty-five years, almost exclusively among Pro- testants in Canada, and the agitation of which, at the present time, has not, in any way whatever, been promoted by Roman Catholic influence. An attempt has been made in some quarters to create a contrary impression in England; but that I am correct in my statement will, I think, appear from the following facts : — First, though the question of the clergy reserves nom- inally relates to Lower as well as Upper Canada (since the union of the two Canadas under one Legislature), it is histori- cally and practically an Upper Canadian question. The agitation of it originated in Upper Canada; it never was agitated in Lower Canada before the union of the two provinces; it is discussed chiefly by the Upper Canada press, and pressed most earnestly by the Upper Canada members of the Legisla- ture. So strongly is it viewed as an Upper Canadian question, that a considerable portion of the press of L pper Canada has objected to Lower Canadian members of the Legislature inter- fering in its discussion or influencing its decision by their votes.^ Secondly, all the Upper Canadian members, both of the Execu- tive Council and of the Legislative Assembly, are Protestants. Of the forty- two members of the Legislative Assembly elected in Upper Canada, not one of them is a Roman Catholic ; of the five Upper Canadian members of the Executive Council, all are Protestants, and all were in favour of the late Address of the Assembly to the Queen, praying for the repeal of the Imperial Act, 4 & 5 Yic, chap. 78. and for restoring to the people of 458 , THE STORY OF MY LIFE. [Chap. LIIL Canada the constitutional right of judging for themselves as to the disposal of the clergy reserve lands in that country. It ought, therefore, to be remembered in England, that this question relates chiefly to Upper Canada, which is, for the most part, a Protestant country, and which has not a single Roman Catholic in the Legislative Assembly. 2. I remark, in the next place, that it is not a question of Church and State union, or whether the State shall contribute to the support of religion in one or more forms. It is whether the Canadian people shall judge for themselves as to the mode of supporting their religious worship, as well as to the religious creed they shall adopt. This right was clearly secured to them by their constitutional Act of 1791, 31st George III., chap. 31, but was taken from them by the Imperial Act of 1840, 3 & 4 Vic, chap. 78. In what manner the people of Canada, through their representatives, may exercise the constitutional right, the restoration of which they claim, for the support of religion, I am not prepared to say. But whether they shall exercise wisely or not that, or any other right constitutionally vested in them, is a matter appertaining to themselves, and not to parties in England. I am not to be the less anxious for the restoration to my country of its constitutional rights because it may not exercise them wisely, or exercise them in a manner opposed to my personal views and wishes. The constitutional rights of legislation in Great Britain may not have always been exercised most judiciously, but who would adduce that as an argument for the annihilation of those rights, or against the existence of constitutional freedom in England ? Is Canada to be made an exception to this rule ? 3. I remark, thirdly, that neither is this a question which affects the vested rights of any parties except those of the people of Canada generally. When one-seventh of the wild lands of Canada was reserved for the support of a Protestant clergy, by the Act of 1701, 31st George III., chap. 31, the Canadian Legis- lature, created by the same Act, was invested with authority, under certain forms, to " vary or repeal " the several clauses relating to that clergy land reservation. That vested right the people of Upper Canada possessed from 1791 to 1840. All other vested rights are subordinate to those of a whole people, and are not to be exalted above them. The Canadian Legis- lative Assembly has proposed to secure all parties who have acquired rights or interests in the revenue arising from the sales of the clergy reserve lands during the lives of the incumbents or recipients ; but, beyond that guarantee, it claims the right of " varying or repealing," as it shall judge expedient, the landed reservation in question, and the application of the revenues arising from it. 1851] THE STORY OF MY LIFE. 459 4. The real question for consideration in England being thus separated from other questions with which it has sometimes been erroneously and injuriously confounded, I proceed to remark that the Imperial Act 3 and 4 Vic, chap. 78, is at variance with what the Imperial Governments without excep- tion and without reservation, for twenty-five years, have, ad- mitted and avowed to be the constitutional rights of the people of Canada. It has at all times been admitted in the first place, that the Act 81st Geo. III., ch. 31, which created a legislature in Canada, and authorized the clergy land reservation, invested the Canadian Legislature with authority to legislate as to its disposal, and the application of revenues arising from it ; and secondly, that whatever legislation might take place on the subject should be in harmony with the wishes of the Canadian people. The Imperial Act 3 and 4 Vic, ch. 78, deprives the Canadian people of that right of legislation which they had possessed for forty years, and does violence to their wishes and opinions in the disposal which it makes of the revenues of the lands in question. Now the rights of the people of Canada on this subject were explicitly stated by the late Sir George Murray in 1828, by the Earl of Ripon in 1832, by His late Most Gracious Majesty in a message to the Legislature of Upper Canada in 1833, and by Lord Glenelg in 1835 and 1836. I give a summary of the whole in the words of Lord Glenelg, in a despatch to the Lieutenant Governor of Upper Canada, dated December 5, 1835, in reply to an attempt on the part of the latter to induce Imperial legislation on the subject. Lord Glenelg says, in behalf of the Imperial Government, that Parliamentary legislation on any subject of exclusively internal concern, in a British colony possessing a representative assembly, is as a general rule unconstitutional. It is a right of which the exercise is reserved for extreme cases, in which necessity at once creates and justifies the exception. After showing that no necessity existed for setting aside the constitutional rights of the Canadian people. Lord Glenelg expresses himself in the following language of enlightened poli- tical philosophy: — It is not difficult to perceive the reasons which induced Parliament, in 1791, to connect with a reservation of land for ecclesiastical purposes, the special delegation to the Council and Assembly of the right to vary that provision by any Bill which, being reserved for the signification of His Majesty's pleasure, sliould be communicated to both Houses of Parliament for six weeks before that decision was pronounced. Kemembering, it should seem, how fertile a source of controversy ecclesiastical endowments had sup- plied throuohout a large part of the Christian world, and how impossible it was to foretell with precision what might be the prevailing opinions and feelings of the Canadians on this subject at a future period, Parliament at once secured the means of making a systematic provision for a Protestant clergy, and took full precaution against the eventual inaptitude of that 460 THE STORY OF MY LIFE. [Chap. LIII. system to the more advanced stages of a society then in its infant state, and of which no human foresight could divine the more mature and settled judgment. In the controversy, therefore, respecting ecclesiastical endowments, which at present divides the Canadian Legislature, I find no unexpected element of agitation, the discovery of which demands a departure from the fixed princi- ples of the constitution, but merely the fulfilment of the anticipations of the Parliament of 1791, in the exhibition of that conflict of opinion for which the statute of that year may be said to have made a deliberate preparation. In referring the subject to the future Canadian Legislature, the authors of the Constitutional Act must be supposed to have contemplated the crisis at which we have now arrived — the era of warm and protracted debate, which, in a free government, may be said to be a necessary precursor to the settle- ment of any great principle of national policy. We must not have recourse to an extreme remedy, merely to avoid the embarrassment which is the present, though temporary, result of our own legislation. I think, therefore, that to withdraw from the Canadian to the Imperial Legislature the question respecting the clergy reserves, would be an inlringe- ment of that cardinal principle of colonial government which forbids par- liamentary interference, except in submission to an evident and well- established necessity. In January, 1840, the two branches of the Legislature of Upper Canada passed a Bill (the Legislative Assembly by a majority of 28 to 20, and the Legislative Council by a majority of 13 to 4) relative to the clergy reserve — provided for the interests of their existing incumbents, and dividing the pro- ceeds of the sales of said lands among various religious persua- sions according to a census taken once in five years, and leaving each religious persuasion free to expend the sum or sums to which it should be entitled according to its pleasure, whether for the support of its clergy, the erection of places of worship, or for purposes of education. Though the great majority of the people of Upper Canada desired the application of the proceeds of these lands for educational purposes only ; yet a majority of both branches of the Legislature agreed to a compromise which could be defended as just to all parties, whatever preferences might be entertained on the subject in the abstract. But instead of the Royal assent being advised to be given to that Canadian Bill on a local Canadian question, a new Bill was introduced into the Imperial Parliament, giving about three-fourths cf the proceeds of the clergy reserves (including past and future sales) to the clergy of the churches of England and Scotland, giving nothing to any other church, but leaving the remaining one-fourth (or half of future sales) at the discretionary disposal of the Executive for religious purposes. This part of the Imperial Act has proved inoperative to this day ; and should any religious persuasion receive any portion of this comparative pittance of the clergy land funds, it would do so not as a matter of right (as do the Churches of 18511 TEE STORY OF MY LIFE. 461 England and Scotland in receiving their lion's share), but at and during the pleasure of any party in power — a position in which no religious community should be placed to the Execu- tive, and in which the Executive ought not to be placed to any religious community. Such an Act can be justified upon no principle of justice or sound policy, and is at variance with the almost unanimous and often recorded wishes of the people of Upper Canada. The Christian Examiner — a monthly organ of the Church of Scotland in Upper Canada — expressed not only the general sentiments of the members of that Church, but also of people at large, in the following words, contained in an elaborate editorial which appeared in that publication a few months before the passing of the Imperial Act of 1841 : Year after year, at least during the last decade, the general sentiment in this colony has been uttered in no unequivocal form, that no church in- vested with exclusive privileges derived from the State, is adapted to the condition of society among us. It cannot be doubted that this is the convic- tion of nine-tenths of the Colonists. Except among a few ambitious magnates of the Church of England, we never hear a contrary sentiment breathed. Equal rights upon equal conditions is the general cry. And although several Assemblymen of the present House have chosen to misinterpret the public voice, and to advocate a different principle, we doubt not that on their next appearance before their constituents, they will be taught that this is not the age, nor this the country, in which the grand principle of equal rights can be departed from with impunity. Now, although the Imperial Act of 1840 may have induced " a few magnates " of the Church of Scotland to unite with other " magnates," whom they once considered '* ambitious," in denying the "grand principle of equal rights" to their more numerous Methodist brethren, and other religious persuasions, yet the "convictions of nine-tenths" of the Canadian people remain unchanged ; nor will they, because of the changed cir- cumstances of a few clergymen of the Church of Scotland, suffer " the grand principle of equal rights to be departed from with impunity." 5. I observe, likewise, that the continuance of the Imperial Act of 1840 is desired by a mere fraction of the Canadian popu- lation, while its repeal is demanded by that country at large. The assertions of any ' interested parties on a matter of this kind are of little weight against the proceedings and statements of the representatives of the people. The Address of the Legislative Assembly to Her Majesty must be regarded as the authoritative and true expression of the opinions and wi3hes of the Canadian people. It is true, there was diversity of opinion as to the manner in which the incumbents on the clergy reserve fund should be dealt with, and also as to certain other declara- tions contained in the Address of the Assembly ; but no membei 462 THE STORY OF MY LIFE. [Chap. LIII. of the Canadian Legislature ventured to justify the provisions of the Imperial Act, and very few ventured to vote in favour of its continuance, even upon the ground of expediency, in behalf of the " magnates " of two favourable Churches. When the resolutions of the Address to Her Majesty were moved in the Legislative Assembly of Canada on this subject, an amend- ment was moved by the supporters of the present exclusive privileges of the Churches of England and Scotland in Canada an amendment which contained the following words : — That in the opinion of this House it is inexpedient to disturb or unsettle, by resolution or enactment, the appropriations or endowments now existing in Upper and Lower Canada for religious purposes ; that the well-being of society and the growing wants of the various Christian bodies in Canada demand that the several provisions of the Imperial Act 3 and 4 Vic, cap. V8, should be carried out to their fullest extent. In favour of the amendment, that is, in favour of the con- tinuance and operations of the Imperial Act of 1840, voted sixteen ; against it voted fifty-two. Who would think of per- petuating a law in England at variance with the sentiments of three-fourths of the members of the House of Commons, and even of a large proportion of the constituency of Great Britain ? Could the present constitution of government in England be maintained, could revolution be long prevented, if laws were retained on the statute book condemned by three-fourths of the Commons, and more than three-fourth of all classes of people in the land, and those statutes involving religious questions ? And is that to be perpetuated in Canada which would not be retained in England for a month ? 6. Into the origin and progress of the controversy connected with the clergy reserves, it is needless for me to enter. They are sufficiently stated in the Address of the Legislative Assembly of Canada to the Queen, a copy of which is herewith annexed, together with the majorities by which each of the thirty-one clauses of the Address was separately voted. It will be seen that the first twenty-three clauses of the Address were carried by a majority of 52 to 18; the 24th clause by 51 to 20; the 20th clause by 48 to 19 ; the 27th and 28th clauses by 47 to 20 ; the 29th clause by 36 to 34 ; the 30th clause by 40 to 28 ; the 31st clause, containing the prayer of the Address, by 45 to 23. The only clause of the Address, therefore, in favour of which the majority of the Assembly was not large and decided, was the 29th ; and in a vote to that clause, I have shown that the smallness of the majority was occasioned by objections to dif- ferent parts of the clause upon quite opposite grounds, of three classes of members — the sixteen supporters of the present pre- eminence of the Churches of England and Scotland, a section 1851] THE STORY OF MY LIFE. i^^ of the Roman Catholic members, and what in England would be called the extreme dissenters. In the vote referred to, I have explained the ground of the opposition to this clause by each of these three classes of members. It will be seen that the 29th clause is rather speculative than practical, and, does not affect the character and completeness of the Address, every other clause of which was carried by a large majority. It is, however, curious to remark, that while the supporters of the present exclusive privileges of the Churches of England and Scotland are indebted to the assistance of Roman Catholic * members for the only vote in which the minority was large ; yet in England some of these same parties represent the Address as having been carried chiefly by Roman Catholic votes, with a view of destroying all Protestant institutions in Canada. 7. No enlightened and candid person can lofk at the religious history and social state of Canada and desire the perpetuation of the Imperial Act 3 and 4 Vic, ch. 78. It is now quite sixty years since Upper Canada was formed into a province with a representative government. Its population was then 7,000 souls ; it is now about 700,000. During the first and most eventful half of that sixty years, the ministrations of the Churches of England and Scotland can scarcely be said to have had an existence there. The present Bishop of Toronto, in a discourse published on the occasion of the death of the first Canadian Bishop of the Church of England, states that down to the close of the war between Great Britain and the United States in 1815, there were but four resident clergymen or mis- sionaries of the Church of England in all Upper Canada — a statement which is confirmed by the annual reports of the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts ; and the same reports will show how few were the clergy of the Church of England in that province down to a recent period. We learn from the same authority, that till 1818 there was but one clergyman of the Church of Scotland in Upper Canada, and that in 1827 there were but two. It is, therefore, clear that during the first half of its sixty years' existence as a province, Upper Canada must have been indebted almost en- tirely to other than clergy of the Churches of England and Scotland for religious instruction ; yet during that thirty years, it is admitted that the people of Upper Canada were a religious, an intelligent, and loyal people. To whom the people of that province were mainly indebted for their religious instruction, and for the formation and development of their religious char- acter, appears in a report of a Select Committee of the Upper Canada House of Assembly, appointed. in 1828, on the religious tt64 THE STORY OF MY LIFE. [Chap. LIII. condition of the country, and before which fifty witnesses, chiefly members of the Church of England, were examined. I quote the following words from the report of that Committee, (which was adopted by the Assembly by a majority of 22 to 8), a report which was partly prepared in reference to a letter addressed by the present Bishop of Toronto to His Majesty's Secretary of State for the Colonies in 1827 : — The insinuations (says the report) in the letter against the Methodist clergymen, the committee have noticed with peculiar regret. To the dis- interested and indefatigable exertions of these pious men this province owes much. At an early period of its history, when it was thinly settled, and destitute of all other means of religious instrilction, these ministers of the Gospel, animated by Christian zeal and benevolence, at the sacrifice of health, and interest, and comfort, carried among the people the 'blessings, and consolations, and sanctions of our holy religion. Their influence and instruction have been conducive in a degree which cannot be easily esti- mated, to the reformation of the vicious and to the diffusion of correct morals, the foundation of all sound loyalty and social order. This religious body, has now 180 regular ministers in Upper Canada, about 1,100 churches and preaching places, and em- braces in its congregations one-seventh of the population.* Yet this oldest religious community in Upper Canada, together with the Free Presbyterian Church of Canada, the United Presby- terian Church, the Baptists and Congregationalists, are treated as nobody by the Imperial Act, while the more modern Churches of England and Scotland are exclusively endowed, and that by setting aside legislative rights which the Constitution "of 1791 had conferred upon the people of Upper Canada ! In Great Britain the Established Churches are associated with the early and brightest periods of British history, and are blended with all the influences which distinguish and exalt British character ; but the feelings and predilections arising from such reminis- cences and associations are not the proper rule of judgment as to the feelings, predilections and institutions of Canadian society. As Englishmen best know their own feelings and wants, and claim and exercise the sole right of judging and legislating for themselves ; so do the people of Canada best know their own wishes and interests, and ought to judge and legislate for them- selves in all local matters w^hich do not infringe any imperial prerogativ'd. No Englishman can refuse this who wishes to do to others as he would have others do to him. 8. But it should also be observed, that down to the passing of the Imperial Act of 1840, the influence of the Church of Scotland itself was adverse to any such act of partiality and injustice, and in favour of applying the proceeds of the clergy reserves even to educational as well as religious purposes. The * Since the foregoing was written, it has been ascertained that the Wesleyan Methodists number 142,000, or more than one-fifth of the entire population (1850). 1851] . THE STORY OF MY LIFE. 465 discussion of this question was first introduced into the Legis- lative Assembly of Upper Canada in 1823, by the Hon. William Morris — a gentleman of great respectability, and who has always been regarded and acknowledged as the guardian of the interests, and representative of the sentiments, of the Church of Scotland. December 22nd, 1826, Mr. Morris moved a series of resolutions on this subject, of which the following are the 9th and 10th : 9. Resolved, — That it is the opinion of a great proportion of the people of this Province that the clergy lands, in place of being enjoyed by the clergy of an inconsiderable part of the population, ought to be disposed of, and the proceeds of their sale applied to increase the provincial allowance for the support of district and common schools, and the endowment of a provincial seminary for learning, and in aid of erecting places of public woi*ship for all denominations of Christians. [Carried by a majority of 31 to 2.] 10. Resolved,- -That it is expedient to pass a Bill, authorizing the sale of the clergy lands within this Province, for the purposes set forth in the fore- going resolution ; and to address His Majesty, numbly soliciting that he will be graciously pleased to give the royal assent to said Bill. [Carried by a ^majority of 30 to 3.] On the 28th of the same month, Mr. Morris reported a draft of Bill for the sale of the clergy reserves, pursuant to the fore- going resolutions. The Bill passed the Assembly by a majority of ^0 to 3; was sent to the Legislative Council, and was rejected. Similar attempts to legislate having in like manner and from the same cause proved abortive, another address to the King on this subject was adopted by the Assembly in March, 1831, and supported, if not introduced, by Mr. Morris. That address, which was adopted by a majority of 30 to 7, con- tains the following words : — That a large majority of the inhabitants of this Province are sincerely attached to your Majesty's person and government, but are averse to any exclusive or dominant Church. That this House feels confident that, to promote the prosperity of this portion of your Majesty's dominions, and to satisfy the earnest desire of the people of this Province, your Majesty will be graciously pleased to give the most favourable consideration to the wishes of vour faithful subjects. That, to terminate the jealousy and dissension which have hitherto existed on the subject of the said clergy reserves — to remove a barrier to the settlement of the country, and to provide a fund available for the promotion of education, and in aid of erecting places of worship for various denominations of Christians : it is extremely clesirable that the said land reserved should be sold, and the proceeds arising from the sale of the same placed at the disposal of the Provincial Legislature, to be applied exclusively for those purposes. This address was replied to the January following, 1832, by a formal message from the King, from which I extract the following sentences : — The representations which have at different times been made to His Majesty and his Royal predecessors of the prejudice sustained by his faith- ful subjects in Upper Canada, from the appropriation of the clergy reserves, 30 THE STORY OF MY LIFE. [Chap. LIII. have engaged His Majesty's most attentive consideration. . . It has, there- fore, been with peculiar satisfaction that, in his inquiries into this subject. His Majesty has found that the changes sought for by so large a portion of the inhabitants of Upper Canada, may be carried into effect without sacri- ficing the just claims of the established Churches of England and Scotland. . . . His Majesty, therefore, invites the House of Assembly of Upper Canada to consider how the powers given the Provincial Legislature by the Constitutional Act to vary or repeal this part of its provisions, can be called into exercise most advantageously, for the spiritual and temporal interests of His Majesty's faithful subjects in the Province. It will be seen that the Address to the Crown and reply, above quoted, contemplated the application of no part of the proceeds of the clergy lands for the support of the clergy of any religious persuasion, but the application of the whole to the promotion of education, and in aid of erecting places of worship. I do not make these references to advocate this view of the question, but to show that the Crown has long since assented to the alienation of the whole of the proceeds of the reserves from the support of the clergy of any Church, should the Canadian Legislature think proper to do so, and that the Church of Scotland in Upper- Canada agreed with the other religious persuasions, and the great majority of the Canadian people, in the advocacy of such an alienation of said reserves. The same parties cannot now object on constitutional and moral grounds to what they heretofore advocated on those same grounds. 9. It has, however, been alleged that the people of Canada have acquiesced in the provisions of the Imperial Act, and are satisfied with it. At the time of passing the Imperial Act, in 1840, and down to within the last two years, the discussion of questions relating to the organization and system of government itself occupied the attention of the public mind in Canada ; but no sooner was the public mind set at rest on those paramount and fundamental questions, than the Canadian people demanded the restoration of their rights on the question of the clergy reserves. What they have felt for two years, and often and strongly spoken, through the local press and at the hustings, they now speak in the ears of the Sovereign of the Imperial Parliament. That there must be deep and general dissatisfaction in Canada on this subject, will appear from the following cir- cumstances: (1) The Imperial Act infringes the rights, and contravenes the wishes of the Canadian people ; (2) It inflicts an injustice and wrong upon the great majority of the religious persuasions in that country, where the " convictions of nine- tenths " or rather ninety-nine one-hundreths, of the inhabitants are in favour of " equal rights upon equal conditions," among all classes and persuasions ; (3) The Legislative Assembly, by 1851] THE STORY OF MY LIFE. 467l a majority of 51 to 20, declare that the Imperial Act, "so far from settling this long agitated question, has left it to be the subject of renewed and increased public discontent ;" (4) The comparative silence of the Wesleyan body — the oldest, the most numerous, and the most unjustly treated, of all the excluded denominations — is expressive and ominous. Its representatives, having proceeded to England in 1840, remonstrated against this Bill, then before Parliament; they sought the assent of Her Majesty's Secretary of State for the Colonies to be heard at the Bar of the House of Commons against it, and having been refused, they presented to him, July 27th, 1840, a most earnest remonstrance against the Bill. On the Bill becoming law, they silently submitted, and on grounds which were ex- plained, a few months since, by the official organ of the Wes- leyan Methodist Church in Canada, in the following words : — On Lord John Kussell's Bill becoming a law, the question was changed from a denominational to a Provincial one— from an ecclesiastical to a con- stitutional one. It was no longer a question between one denomination and another, but a question between Upper Canada and the Imperial Parliament. As Canadians, and acting in behalf of a large section of the Canadian com- munity, the representatives of the Wesleyan Methodist Church expressed their convictions, their feelings, and their apprehensions to Her Majesty's Government while the question was pending before Parliament ; but when the execrable Bill became an Imperial Law, it was as much out of place for them as clergymen, or of any religious persuasion to strive to fulfil their own predictions, or set on foot a Colonial civil contest, as it would have been pusillanimous in them not to have remonstrated before the consummation of such an act of wrong against the people of Upper Canada. The question is now being taken up in the right place, and, we trust, in the right spirit 10. Under such circumstances it is impossible that the ques- tion can long remain in its present state, and it is for the Im- perial Parliament to say what shall be done. It is admitted upon all hands that the members of the Churches of England and Scotland in Canada are more wealthy in proportion to their numbers, and, therefore, less needful of extraneous aid than the members of any other religious persuasion ; and in proportion to their numbers and wealth will be their comparative influence and advantages in the proceedings of their own Legislature. It is a grave question, whether the Imperial Parliament will place itself in an attitude of hostility to the Legislative Assem- bly and people of Canada for the sake of conferring question- able pecuniary distinctions upon the clergy of the two most wealthy denominations in that country ? Should any members of Parliament be disposed to pursue this course, and hazard this experiment, I beg them to pause and consider the following questions : — (1) Can the real interests of the Churches of England and 468 THE STORY OF MY LIFE, [Chap. LIIL Scotland themselves be advanced by occupying a position of antagonism to the acknowledged equal rights of the great majority of the people of Canada ? And is it desirable that these Churches should be the instruments and emblems of wrong to a country, rather than natural and powerful agencies of its unity, advancement, and happiness ? Interested parties in Canada may not be able to see this, but British and Christian statesmen ought not to overlook it. (2) Ought the members of the Churches of England and Scotland, who take a part in public affairs in Canada, and who may be candidates for popular power, to be placed in circum- stances in which they must either war against the position and authorities of their own Church, or war against all other religious persuasions, or retire from public life altogether ? (3) What will be the natural, or apparently inevitable, result of thus singling out two classes of Canadian people, and dis- tinguishing them from all others by pecuniary endowments, and sustaining them in that position, not by the free Legislature of their own country — not by the original principles of their constitution of government to which Canada may have pledged itself — but by a recent Imperial Act, to the preparing or pro- visions of which the Canadians were no parties, and against which they protest ? Is it likely that the will or predilections of a transatlantic House of Lords, so largely composed of and influenced by one class of ecclesiastical dignitaries, can long determine the mutual relations of religious persuasions in a country constituted as Canada is, and bordering on the northern free Anglo-States of America ? What the Canadians ask they ask on grounds originally guaranteed to them by their constitu- tion ; and if they are compelled to make a choice between British connection and British constitutional rights, it is natural that they should prefer the latter to the former ? It is also to be noted that the Imperial Act in question has to be administered through the local Canadian administration. Such is the ma- chinery of the Act. The revenue that it appropriates is Canadian, and it is worked through Canadian agency — through Canadian heads of departments, responsible to the representa- tives of the people of Canada. Should the Canadian people, then, find that their respectful and earnest appeal to the Imperial Parliament, through the Sovereign, is in vain, they will naturally look to their own resources and elect representatives at the ensuing general elections who will pledge themselves to oppose the administration of the Imperial Act — representatives who will support no Inspector or Receiver- General that will be responsible for the payment of even any warrant for moneys under such Act. The consequence must soon be, not only 1851J THE STORY OF MY LIFE. 469 injury to existing incumbents whom the Canadian Assembly now propose to secure, but collision between the Government and the Legislative Assembly, and ultimately between the latter and the Imperial authorities ; and finally, either the establish- ment of military government in Canada (an impossibility), or the severance of that great country from Great Britain. On the other hand, if the reasonable demand and constitutional rights of the people of Canada be regarded in this question, I believe Canada will remain freely and cordially connected with the Mother Country for many years, if not generations, to come. I will conclude these observations in the expressive words of Lord Stanley, to the spirit of which I hope every British statesman will respond. On the 2nd of May, 1828, in a speech on this subject. Lord Stanley expressed himself in the following terms : — That if any exclusive privileges be given to the Church of England, not only will the measure be repugnant to every principle of sound legislation, but contrary to the spirit and intention of the Act of 1791, under which the reserves were made for the Protestant clergy. 1 will not enter further into it at present, except to express my hope that the House will guard Canada against the evils which religious dissensions have already produced in this country and in Ireland, where we have examples to teach us what to shun. We have seen the evil consequences of this system at home. God forbid we should not profit by experience ; and more especially in legislating for a people bordering on a country where religious intolerance and religious ex- clusions are unknown — a country to which Parliament looked in passing the Act of 1791, as all the great men who argued the question then expressly declared. It is important that His Majest/s Canadian subjects should not have occasion to look across the narrow boundary that separates them from the United States, to see anything there to envy. CHAPTER LIV. 1854-1855. Resignation on the Class-Meeting Question. — Discussion. THE last important connexional discussion in which Dr. Ryerson was engaged was on the Class-Meeting Question. For years he had objected, chiefly privately, amongst his breth- ren, clerical and lay, to making attendance at class-meeting a condition of membership in the Wesleyan Methodist Church of Canada. For various reasons, few members of the Conference desired to have the subject publicly discussed in Conference. They felt that a serious practical difficulty surrounded the question itself — difficulties which could not be surmounted by public discussion. Many of them also knew that in calmly dis- cussing, without personal feeling, the abstract principle involved in the rule, it would be found that their judgment and loyal feeling to the Church would go one way, while their uniform practice in the adminstration of the rule would often be at variance with both, owing to peculiar circumstances. On the other hand, Dr. Ryerson thought, that not only should preaching and practice in this matter agree, but that theory and practice should also agree. And hence he felt that as his preaching and practice agreed in opposition to the rule, he was not loyal to the Church in ministering at her altars, while he was heartily and conscientiously opposed to the fundamental rule of mem- bership prescribed by that Church. Hence, on the 2nd of January, 1854, he addressed the following letter to the Rev. Dr. Wood, President of the Wesleyan Methodist Conference (I omit extraneous matter) : — I hereby resign into your hands, my membership in the Con- ference, and my office as a minister of the Wesleyan Methodist Church — herewith enclosing my parchments of ordination, thu& taking my place among the laity of the Church. I have resolved to take this step after long and serious deliberation, but without consulting any human being. I take this step, not because I do not believe that the Wesleyan ministry is as fully authorized as the ministry of any other branch of the universal Church, to exercise all the functions of 1854-55] THE STORY OF MY LIFE. 471 Christian priesthood ; not because I do not as unfeignedly as ever subscribe to all the doctrines of the Wesleyan Church ; not because I do not profoundly honour the integrity and devoted- ness of the Wesleyan ministry; not because I do not think that Christian discipline is as strictly, if not more strictly, main- tained in the Wesleyan Church than in any other Christian Church in the world. Bub I resign (not my connection with, but) my ministerial office in the Wesleyan Church, because I believe a condition of membership is exacted in it which has no warrant in Scripture, nor in the practice of the primitive Church, nor in the writings of Mr. Wesley ; and in consequence of which condition, great numbers of exemplary heads of families and young people are excluded from all recognition and rights of membership in the Church. I refer to attendance upon class-meeting — without attendance at which no person is acknowledged as a member of the Wesleyan Methodist Church, however sincerely and cor- dially he may believe her doctrines, prefer her ministry, and support her institutions, and however exemplary he may be in his life. I believe the class-meetings, as well as love-feasts, have been and are a means of immense good in the Wesleyan Church, and that both should be employed and recommended as prudential and useful, means of religious edification to all who may be willing to avail themselves of them. But attendance at love- feast is known to be voluntary and not to be a condition of membership in the Church; so I think that attendance at class-meeting should also be voluntary, and ought not to be exalted into an indispensable condition of membership in the Church ; I am persuaded that every person who believes the doctrines, and observes the precepts and ordinances enjoined by our Lord and His Apostles, is eligible to membership in the Church of Christ, and cannot, on Scriptural or Wesleyan grounds, be excluded from its rights and privileges upon the mere ground of his or her being unable to reconcile it to their views to take a part in the conversations of class-meetings. The views thus stated, I have entertained many years. After having revolved the subject in my mind for some time, I ex- pressed my views on it in 1840 and 1841. . . But since my more direct connection with the youth of the country at large, and having met with numbers of exemplary persons who prefer the Methodist Church to any other, but are excluded from it by the required condition of attending class-meeting, besides thousands of young people of Wesle3^an parents and congrega-^ tions, I have become more deeply than ever impressed with the importance of the question, to which T referred in remarks 472 THE STOBY OF MY LIFE. [Chap. LIV. made at the last and preceding Conferences. I had intended until within a short time to defer any decision on the step I now take until the next annual Conference, and until after bringing the question in the form of distinct propositions before the Conference ; but, after'the best consideration in my power, I have thought it advisable to resign my office in the Church at the present time — fearing the revival and results of unpleasant- nesses from my bringing the question formally before the Con- ference, . . and from a deep conviction that I should no longer delay taking the most effectual means in my power to draw the attention of the ministry and members of the Wesleyan Church to this anomaly in her Disciplinary regulations, and secure, if possible, to tens of thousands of persons the rights and privileges of membership in that branch of the Church of Christ which they prefer — rights and privileges to which I am persuaded they are justly entitled upon both Scriptural and Wesleyan grounds. I do not think it is honest or right for a man to hold the office of a minister in a Church, all whose essential regulations, as well as doctrines, he cannot justify and recommend. I say essential regulations; for there may be many regulations and practices in a Church of which a minister may not approve, and the existence of which he may deplore, but which would not prevent him from maintaining, as usual, his relations and course of labour. An enlightened Christian mind can and will, without any compromise of principle, allow a wide latitude in modes of proceeding, and in matters of opinion, taste, and prudence. But a regulation which determines who shall and who shall not be recognized as members of the Church of Christ, involves a vital question, the importance of which cannot be overrated, and which must be determined by Divine Revelation, and not by mere conventional rules. Now, while as an individual I may value and wish to attend, as far as possible, all prudential as well as instituted means of grace in our Church, I cannot as a teacher, by word or office, declare that all persons who will not attend class-meetings, in addition to observing all the ordinances of Christ, should be rejected and excluded from the Christian Church. I cannot say so — I cannot think so — I cannot believe it Scriptural or right, in respect to great numbers of estimable persons, and of the sons and daughters of our people, who believe Wesleyan doc- trines, who respect and love the Wesleyan ministry, support Wesleyan institutions, are exemplary in their lives, and who wish to be members of the Wesleyan Church, but who, from education, or mental constitution, or other circumstances, cannot face much less enjoy, the developments and peculiarities of the 1854-55] TEE STCRY OF MY LIFE. 473 class-meeting. I have met and sympathized with many who have sought to reconcile their views and feelings to the per- sonal speakings and communications of class-meetings, but who could not succeed ; and not being allowed otherwise to enjoy the privileges of membership in the Wesleyan Church, were driven to seek admission into some other Christian communion. Our Lord and His Apostles have prescribed no form of reli- gious communion but the Lord's Supper. The New Testament meetings of Christian fellowship, in which the early Christians edified one another, are appropriately adduced as the exemplars of Wesleyan love-feasts — that voluntary and useful means of religious edification. But it is remarkable that a person may neither attend love-feast nor the Lord's Supper, and yet retain his membership in the Wesleyan Church, while he is excluded from it if he does not attend class-meeting, though he may attend both the Lord's Supper and love-feast, as well as the preaching of the word and meetings for prayer. Nay, I find in the latter part of the section of our Discipline on " Class Meetings," that the minister in charge of a circuit is required to exclude all "those members of the Church who wilfully and repeatedly neglect to meet their class," but to state at the time of their exclusion, " that they are laid aside for a breach of our rules of Discipline, and not for immoral conduct." I know of no Scrip- tural authority to exclude any person from the Church of Christ on earth, except for that which would exclude him from the kingdom of glory, namely, *' immoral conduct." But here is an express requirement for the exclusion of persons from the Wes- leyan Church for that which it is admitted is not "immoral conduct," namely, neglect of class-meeting. This is certainly going beyond Scriptural authority and example. I have said that I do not regard as Wesleyan, or having the sanction of Mr. Wesley, the making attendaijce at class-meeting an essential condition of membership in the Church of Christ. Mr. Wesley declared that the sole object of his labours was, not to form a new sect, but to revive religion in the Church and in the nation ; that each class was a voluntary society in the Church, but was no more a separate Church organization than a Bible Society, or Temperance Society, or Young Men's Chris-, tian Association, is a separate Church organization. Nor did Mr. Wesley regard the admission of persons into, or exclusion from, any one of his societies as aflfecting, in the slightest de- gree, such person's Church membership. Nay, Mr. Wesley insisted that all who joined his societies, in addition to attend- ing class-meeting, and the ministrations of his preachers, should regularly attend the services and sacraments of the Church of England. In his sermon " On Attending Church Service," Mr. 474 THE STOEY OF MY LIFE. [Chap. LIV. Wesley says, " it was one of our original rules, that every member of our society should attend the church and sacrament, unless he he had been bred among Christians of another denom- ination." In his Tract, entitled "Principles of a Methodist Further Explained," (written in reply to the Rev. Mr. Church,) Mr. Wesley says : — The United Society was originally so called, because it consisted of several smaller societies united together. When any member of these, or of the United Society, are proved to live in known sin, we then mark and avoid them ; we separate ourselves from every one that walks disorderly. Some- times if tjie case be judged infectious (though rarely) this is decided openly ; but this you style " excommunication," and say, " does not every one see a separate ecclesiastical communion ? " Mr. Wesley- replies : — No. This society does not separate from the rest of the Church of Eng- land They continue steadfast with them both in the apostolical doctrine^ and in breaking of bread, and in prayers. And in further reply to the charge, that in excluding dis- orderly persons from his societj^, he was usurping a power committed to the higher order of the clergy, Mr. Wesley says : — No ; not in the power of excluding members from a private society, unless on the supposition of some such rule as ours is, viz. : " That if a man separate from the church, he is no longer a member of our society." These passages (from scores of similar ones in Mr. Wesley's works), are sufficient to shew what Mr. Wesley understood and intended by admission into, or exclusion from, any one of his societies — that it did not in the least affect the relations of any person to the Church of which he was a member. Now, the rule which Mr. Wesley imposed as a condition of membership in a private society in a Church, we impose as a condition of membership in the Church itself. It is also worthy*bf remark, that attendance at class-meeting is not required of members in the general rules of the society — those very rules which our ministers are required to give to persons proposing to join the Wesleyan Church. In those rules no mention is made of class-meeting, nor is it there required that each member shall meet the leader, much less meet him in a class-meeting, in the presence of many others; but that the leader shall see each person in his class, and meet the minister and stewards once a week. Yet, by constant and universal practice, we have transferred the obligation from the leader to the member, and made it the duty of the latter (on pain of excommunication), to meet the former in class-meeting; an obligation which is nowhere enjoined in the {general rules. In those rules it is said : 1854-551 THE STORY OF MY LIFE. 475 ^ There is only one condition previously required of those who desire admis- sion into these societies — a desire to flee from the wrath to come, and to be saved from their sins. The rules then truly state, that wherever this desire is really fixed in the soul, it will be known by its fruits. These fruits are briefly but fully set forth under three heads. (1) By doing^ no harm. (2) By doing good. (3) " By attending all the ordi- nances of God : such as, the public worship of God ; the ministry of the word, either read or expounded ; the Supper of the Lord ; family and private prayer ; searching the Scriptures, and fasting or abstinence. These are the general rules of our societies, all of which we are taught of God to observe, even in His written word, which is the only rule, and the sufficient rule, both of faith and practice." Now, neither class-meeting nor love-feast is mentioned among the " ordinances of God " enumerated in the general rules of the society; nor is it mentioned in Mr. Wesley's Large Minutes of Conference among the instituted means of grace. So far as the general- rules themselves are concerned, there is nothing which makes attendance at class-meeting a condition of membership, even in Mr. Wesley's societies as he originally instituted them ; nor did the idea of holding class- meetings at all occur to Mr. Wesley until after the general rules were drawn up and published.* But what was not re- * Mr. Wesley's own account of the origin of the office of class-leader and class- meetings, illustrates the accuracy of what I have stated. The office was first created at Bristol, 15th February, 1742, for financial purposes alone. A few weeks after- wards, it was instituted for religious purposes also ; and for the twofold object of religion and finance, it was embodied in the General Rules, which were drawn up and signed by Mr. Wesley, 1st May, 1743 ; but in which there is no mention made of class-meeting, or of the duty of any member to meet in class. In his " Plain Account of the People called Methodists," Mr. Wesley thus states the origin of the office of class-leader and the institution of class-meetings. At length (says he,) while we were thinking of quite another thing, we struck upon a method for which we have had cause to bless God ever since. I was talking with several of the Society in Bristol (Feb. 15, 1742,) concerning the means of paying the debts there, when one stood up, and said, ' Let every member of the Society give a penny a week till all are paid. ' Another said, * But many of them are poor, and cannot afford to do it.* 'Then,' said the other, * put eleven of the poorest with me, and if they can give anything, well: I will see them weekly; and if they can give nothing, 1 will give for them as well as for myself. And each of you will call upon eleven of your neighbours weekly, receive what they give, and make up what is wanting.' It was done. In a little while some of these informed me, they found such and such an one did not live as he ought. It struck me immediately, This is the very thing we have wanted so long. I called together the Leaders of the classes (so we used to term them and their companies,) and desired that each would make particular inquiry into the behaviour of those whom he saw weekly. They did so. Many disorderly walkers were detected. Some turned from the evil of their ways. Some were put away from us. Many saw it with fear, and rejoiced in God with reverence. As soon as possible, the same method was used in London, and in all other places. The following is Mr. Wesley's account of the first appointment of class-leaders in London, extracted from his Journal, Thursday, March 25, 1742 : I appointed several earnest and sensible men to meet me, to whom I showed the great difficulty I had long found of knowing the people who 476 THE 8T0BY OF MY LIFE. [Chap. LIV. quired by the o^eneral rules soon became a condition of member- ship in another way — this was by the system of giving tickets. Mr. Wesley says in his Plain Account of People called Meth- odists : As the society increased, I found it required still greater care to separate the precious from the vile. In order to this, I determined, at least once in three months, to talk with every member myself, and to inquire at their own mouth, as well as of their leaders and neighbours, whether they grew in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. To each of those whose seriousness and good conversation I had no reason to doubt, I gave a testimony under my own hand, by writing their name on a ticket prepared for that purpose. Those who bore these tickets, wherever they came, were ackjiowledged by their brethren, and were received with all cheerfulness. These tickets also supplied us with a quiet and inoffensive method of remov- ing sny disorderly member. He has no ticket at the quarterly visitation (for sc often the tickets are changed) ; and hereby it is immediately known that he is no longer of the community. It was at length required by a minute of the Conference, (as our own discipline enjoins,) that a preacher should not give a desired to be under my care. After much discourse, they all agreed there could be no better way to come to a sure, thorough knowledge of each person, than to 'iivide them into classes, like those at Bristol, under the inspection of those iii vhom I could confide. This was the origin of our classes at London, for which I can never sufficiently praise God ; the unspeakable usefulness of the institution tiaving ever since been more and more manifest. In his * ' Plain Account of the People called Methodists," Mr. Wesley says, "At first they (the Leaders) visited each person at his own house ; but this was soon found not so expedient, and that on many accounts." Mr. Wesley assigns several reasons for this change, and proceeds to answer several objections to class-meetings. The following passage shows the exact ground on which Mr. Wesley based the institution of class- meetings : Some objected, * There were no such meetings when I came into the society first ; and why should there be now ? I do not understand these things, and this changing one thing after another continually.' It was easily answered: It is a pity but they had been from the first. But we knew not then either the need or the benefit of them. Why we use them, you will easily understand, if you will read over the Rules of the Society. That with regard to these little prudential helps, we are continually changing one thing after another, is not a weakness or fault as you imagine, but is a peculiar privilege which we enjoy. By this means we declare them all to be merely prudential, not essential, not of divine institution. Now, while it is proper for each person, as far as may be consistent with his ance at class-meeting that condition, is to require what the Lord hath not com- manded, and to change essentially the character and objects of a means of good which Mr. Wesley (with whom it originated) declared to be "merely prudential, not essential, not of divine institution. " That Mr. Wesley conceived the basis of a church should be much more compre- hensive than the rules he drew up and recommended in regard to the "little prudential helps " which were suggested to him from time to time, is obvious from the eighth of his twelve reasons against organising a new church — reasons published many years after the preparation and adoption of all his society rules. His words are as follows: "Because to form the plan of a new church would require infinite time and care, with much more wisdom and greater depth and extensiveness of thought than any of us are masters of." 1854-55J THE STORY OF MY LIFE. 477 ticket of membership to any person who did not meet in class. In our own Discipline, in the section on class-meetings, will also be found the following question and answer : — Question. — What shall be done with those members of oiir church who ml- fully and repeatedly neglect their class 1 Answer. — 1. Let the chairman, or one of the preachers, visit them when- ever it is practicable, and explain to them the consequence if they continue to neglect, viz., exclusion. 2. If they do not attend, let him who has charge of the circuit exclude them (in the church), showing that they are laid aside for a breach of our rules of discipline, and not for immoral conduct. By this added ministerial authority and duty, a condition of membership in the society is imposed which is not contained in the General Rules, and which subjects a member to exclusion, for that which is acknowledged to be " not immoral conduct." This appears a strange regulation in even a private religious society within a Church ; but no objection could be reasonably made to any such regulation in such a society, if its members desired it, and as it would not affect their Church membership. But the case is essentially different, when such society in a Church becomes a Church, and exercises the authority of admitting into, and excluding from the Church itself, and not merely a society in the Church. In England, and especially in the United States and Canada, the Wesleyan Societies have become a Church. I have repeatedly shewn in past years, that they have become organized into a Church upon both Wesleyan and scriptural grounds. I believe the Wesleyan Church in Canada is second to no other in the scriptural authority of its ministry and organization. Believing this, I believe that exclusion from the Wesleyan Church (either by expulsion or refusal of admission) is exclusion from a branch of the Church of God — is an act the most solemn and eventful in the history and relations of any human being — an act which should never take place except upon the clear and express authority of the word of God. Far be it from me to say one word other than in favour of every kind of religious exercise and communion which tends to promote the spiritual-mindedness, brotherly love, and fervent zeal of professing Christians. That class-meetings (notwith- standing occasional improprieties and abuses attending them), have been a valuable means in promoting the spirituality and usefulness of the Wesleyan Church, no one acquainted with her history can for a moment doubt ; and I believe that myriads on earth and in heaven have, and will ever have, reason for devout thankfulness and praise for the benefits derived from class- meetings, as well as from love-feasts and meetings for prayer. But attendance upon the two latter is voluntary on the part of 478 THE STORY OF MY LIFE. [Chap, LIV. the members of the Wesleyan Church ; and what authority is there for suspending their very membership in the Church of Ood on their attendance upon the former ? The celebration of the Lord's Supper, and not class-meeting, was the binding characteristic institution upon the members of the primitive Church. So I am persuaded it should be now ; and that Chris- tian faith and practice alone (and not the addition of attendance upon class-meeting,) should be the test of worthiness for its communion and privileges. While, therefore, as an individual I seek to secure and enjoy all the benefits of the faithful minis- trations and scriptural ordinances of the Wesleyan Church, I <;annot occupy a position which in itself, and by its duties requires me to enforce or justify the imposition of a condition of membership in the Church of Christ, which I believe is not required by the Holy Scriptures, and the exclusion of thousands of persons from Church membership and privileges, to which I believe they have as valid a right as I have, and that upon the sole ground of their non-attendance at a meeting, the neglect of which our own Discipline admits, does not involve "immoral conduct," and which Mr. Wesley himself, in his Plain Account of the People called Methodists, has declared "to be merely prudential, not essential, not of divine institution." It is passing strange, that while the Wesleyan Church is the avowed "friend of all and enemy of none" — is the most Catholic of any Protestant body towards other religious communions — she should close the door of admission into her own fold even to attendance upon class-meeting. I regard it as the misfor- tune rather than the dishonour of the Wesleyan Church, that she repels thousands that seek her communion rather than relax this term of admission. If her success has been so great under disadvantages unparalleled, I cannot but believe, that, with the same divine blessing, and upon a basis of membership less narrow and more scriptural, the Wesleyan Church, would, be- yond all precedent, increase her usefulness, and enlarge her borders. I will not permit myself to dwell upon associations and recol- lections which cannot be expressed in words, any more than they can be obliterated from the memory, or effaced irom the heart. Though I retire from councils in the deliberations of which I have been permitted to take a part during more than twenty-five years, and relinquish all claims upon funds to which I have contributed for a like period, I should still deem it my duty and privilege to pray for the success of the former, and -continue my humble contributions to the latter ; while I protest in the most emphatic way in my power against shutting the doors of the church upon thousands to whom I believe they 1854-55] THE STOBY OF MY LIFE. 479 should be opened, and against making that essential and divine, which, as Mr. Wesley says, " is merely prudential, not essential, not of divine institution." I hope the day is not remote when the Wesleyan Church will be as scriptural in her every term of membership as she is in her doctrines of grace and labours of love. To this letter of resignation, Rev. Dr. Wood, President of the Conference, replied on the 4th of January : — To accept the enclosed documents would be assuming a responsibility at variance with my judgment and affections. If the proposal you make of withdrawing from the Methodist ministry be ever received, it must be with the concurrence of the collective Conference ; or, should the question require immediate attention, that of its executive committee. I shall be glad to see the enactment of any regulation which will promote the usefulness of our Church to the benefit of a large and intelligent class of adherents now re- ceiving no recognition beyond their contributions to our institutions ; and also the adoption of practical measures by which the youth baptized by Wesleyan ministers may be more personally cared for, and affiliated to our ordinances. Your distinguished ability and matured experience eminently qualify you as a safe legislator and counsellor on such grave questions, which by some cannot be separated from ancient usages greatly blessed to the grow- ing spirituality of true believers, without injury to the vital character of the Church. After so long and useful a career, your separation from our Confer- ence and work would be a connexional calamity. You stand among the few in Canada to whom the present independent and legal position of the "Wes- leyan Church stands deeply indebted. Future generations of ministers and people will partake, imperceptibly to themselves, of the advantages a few of the more gifted and noble-minded brethren struggled and contended for against so many obstacles. You are as capable of remedying anything wrong, or suppljdng anything wanting within the Church, as you were many years ago, to overcome impediments to her usefulness without. Nothing further was done in the matter until at the Belleville Conference of 1854 Dr. Ryerson moved the following resolu- tion : — 1. That no human authority has a right to impose any condition of mem- bership in the visible Church of Christ, which is not enjoined by, or may be concluded from the Holy Scriptures. 2. That the General Rules of the United Societies of the "Wesleyan Metho- dist Church being formed upon the Holy Scriptures, and requiring nothing of any member which is not necessary for admission into the kingdom of grace and glory, ought to be maintained inviolate as the religious and moral standard of profession, conduct and character, in regard to all who are ad- mitted or continued members of our church. 3. That the power, therefore, of expelling persons from the visible Church of Christ, for other than a causa sufficient to exclude a person from the king- dom of grace and glory, which the fourth question, and answers to it, con- tained in the second section of the second chapter of our Discipline, confer and enjoin upon our ministers, is unauthorized by the Holy Scriptures, is inconsistent with the Scriptural rights of the members of Christ's Church, and ought not to be assumed or exercised by any minister of our Church. 4. That the anomalous question and answers referred to in the foregoing resolution, be, and are hereby expunged from our Discipline and are required to be omitted in printing the next edition of it. (See page 477.) 480 THE ST0R7 OF MY LIFE. ("Chap. LIV. These resolutions having been negatived by a considerable majority on the 12th June, Dr. Ryerson wrote to the President: The decision of the Conference this afternoon on the scriptural rights of the members of our Church, and the power of our ministers in respect to them, makes it at length my painful duty to request you to lay before the Conference the letter which I addressed to you the 2nd of last January, and that you will consider that letter as now addressed to the Conference through you. I hereby again enclose you my parchments of ordination. I propose to do all in my power to promote those important measures in regard to the college and means for the regular training of received candidates for the ministry which have been recommended by the Conference. I cannot attempt to add anything more to what is contained in my letter of the 2nd January, expressive of what I feel on the present occasion, except to say that, although I gave no intimation during the discussion of the result of the decision on this subject upon my own official relations to the Conference, I retire from it with feelings of undiminished respect and affection for my Reverend Brethren, and my earnest prayer for their welfare and useful- ness. In reply to this letter Dr. Wood said : — The purpose you aim to accomplish can be effectually secured by a dif- ferent resolution to that introduced yesterday ; if you will stay and hear what the brethren may say about the appointment of a large committee to take up this subject before I lay your resignation before them, I shall feel much gratified. I again say, I look upon your proposed withdrawal with deep sorrow, and must say, I cannot bring myself to believe that on such grounds you can be justified in taking so serious a step. Dr. Ryerson did attend the Conference as suggested, after which he wrote to Dr. Wood : — I listened with delight and hope to the observations and recommendations which you made. I anticipated happy results from the appointment of the very large committee which you nominated, and which might be considered as representing the sentiments and feelings of the Conference. But from the lengthened meeting of that committee, in the evening, it was clear that no disposition existed to modify the power of min- isters to expel persons from the Church for non-attendance at a meeting which, in the 12th section, chap. 1st, page 47, of our own Discipline, taken from the writings of Mr. Wesley, is de- clared to be " prudential," even among Methodists — that thus the highest and most awful penalty that the Church can inflict — a penalty analagous to capital punishment in the administra- tion of civil law — is to be executed upon members of the Church 1854-55] THE STORY OF MY LIFE. 481 for the omission of what our own Discipline does not exalt to the rank of a " prudential " means of grace among Christians, — only among Methodists. It was also clear that views of baptism prevailed (I cannot say how widely) at variance with the 17th Article of Faith in our Discipline,* and altogether opposite to those set forth by Mr. Wesley in his sermons and in his Treatise on Baptism. But that for which I was not prepared (which I supposed to have been settled, and which I therefore assumed), was the obviously prevalent opinion against the Church membership of children baptized by our ministry. It will be recollected that I had not proposed any other condition or mode of admitting persons into our Church from without, than that which already exists amongst us ; but I urged in behalf of both parents and children, the practical recognition of the rights and claims of children who were admitted and acknowledged as members of the Church by baptism, as implied in our Form of Baptism, and according to our Catechism, and according to what the Conference unanimously declared at Hamilton, in 1853, our Church holds to be among the privileges of baptized persons, — namely, that " they are made members of the visible Church of Christ." Persons cannot, of course, be members of the "visible" Church of Christ without becoming^ members of some visible branch or section of it ; and it is not pretended that children baptized by our ministry are members of any other visible portion of the Church of Christ than the Wesleyan. To deny, therefore, that the baptized children of our people are members of our Church, and that they should be acknowledged as such, and as such be impressed with their obligations and privileges, and as such be prepared for, and brought into, the spiritual communion and fellowship of the Church, on coming to the years of accountability, is, it appears to me, to make the Sacra- ment of Baptism a nullity, and to disfranchise thousands of children of divinely chartered rights and privileges. Mr. Wesley, in his Treatise on Baptism, in stating the third benefit of baptism, remarks : — By baptism we are admitted into the Church, and consequently made members of Christ, its Head. The Jews were admitted into the Church by circumcision, so are the Christians by baptism. Mr. Wesley, speaking of the proper subjects of baptism, says : If infants are capable of making a covenant, and were and still are under the evangelical covenant, then they have a right to baptism, which is the • The following is the Article of Faith referred to : — XVII. Of Baptism. Baptism is not only a sign of profession, and mark of diflference, whereby Christians are distinguished from others that are not baptized, but it is also a sign of regeneration or the new birth. The baptism of young children is to be retained in the church. 31 482 THE STOBY OF MY LIFE. [Chap. LIV. entering seal thereof. But infants are capable of making a covenant, and were and still are under the evangelical covenant. The custom of nations and common reason of mankind prove that infants may enter into a covenant, and may be obliged by compacts made by others in their name, and receive advantage by them. But we have stronger proof than this, even God's own word : " Ye stand this day all of you before the Lord, — your captains, with all the men of Israel ; your little ones, your wives, and the stranger, — that thou shouldst enter into covenant with the Lord thy God." — Deut. xxix. 10-12. Now, God would never have made a covenant with little children, if they had not been capable of it. It is not said children only, but little children, the Hebrew word properly signifying infants. And these may be still, as they were of old, obliged to perform, in aftertime, what they are not capable of performing at the time of their entering into that obligation. The infants of believers, the true children of faithful Abraham, always were under the Gospel covenant. They were included in it, they had a right to it, and to the seal of it ; as an infant heir has a right to his estate, though he cannot yet have actual possession. — Vol. x., English Edition, pp. 193, 194. Vol. vL, American Edition, pp. 16, 17. Again, Mr. Wesley's third argument on this subject is so clear, so touching, and so conclusive, that I will quote it with- out abridgement, as follows : — If infants ought to come to Christ, if they are capable of admission into the Church of God, and consequently of solemn sacramental dedication to Him, then they are proper subjects of baptism. But infants are capable of coming to Christ, of admission into the Church, and solemn dedication to God. That infants ought to come to Christ, appears from his own words : " They brought little children to Christ, and the disciples rebuked them. And Jesus said, Suffer little children to come unto me, and forbid them not ; for of such is the kingdom of heaven." — Matt. xix. 13, 14, St. Luke expresses it still more strongly : " They brought unto him even infants, that he might touch them." — xviii. 15. These children were so little, that they were brought to him ; yet he says, " Suffer them to come unto me : " so little, that he "took them up in His arms;" yet he rebukes those who would have hindered their coming to Him. And his command respected the future as well as the present. Therefore His disciples or ministers are stiU to suffer infants to come, that is, to be brought, unto Christ. But they cannot now come to Him, unless by being brought into the Church ; which cannot be but by baptism. Yea, and '* of such," says our Lord, " is the kingdom of heaven ; " not of such only as were like these infants. For if they them- selves were not fit to be subjects of that kingdom, how could others be so, because they were like them? Infants, therefore, are capable of being admitted into the Church, and have a right thereto. Even under the Old Testament they were admitted into it by circumcision. And can we suppose they are in a worse condition under the Gospel, than they were under the law ? and that our Lord would take away any privilege which they then enjoyed ? Would He not rather make additions to them ? This, then, is a third ground. Infants ought to come to Christ, and no man ought to forbid them. They are capable of admission into the Church of God. Therefore they are proper subjects of baptism. — Vol. x., English Edition, pp. 195, 196. Vol. vi., American Edition, pp. 17, 18. Upon these Wesleyan and Scriptural grounds, I believe that the promise and privileges of membership in the Church belong to the baptized children of our people as well as to their parents; 1854-551 THE STOBY OF MY LIFE. 483 that the parents have a right to claim this relationship and its privileges for their children until such children are excluded from the Church by the lawful acts of its executive authorities. Otherwise, the youth baptized by our ministry are in the most pitiful and degrading religious position of the youth of any Church that recognizes the doctrine of infant baptism ; and it appears to me that we ought rather not to baptize infants at all, or recommend their parents to take them to other churches for baptism, than thus to treat the feelings of such parents, and to regard their children as having no more membership and privi- leges in our Church than the rest of the youth of the land, or even the world at large. It is happily true, that many of the children of our people, as well as those of other people, are converted and brought into the Church under the faithful ministrations of the Word ; but how many ten thousand more of them would never wander from the Church, would more easily and more certainly be led to experience all the power of inward religion and the blessings of Christian fellowship, were they acknowledged in their true position and rights, and taught the significancy, and obligation, and privilege of all that the outward ordinances and their visible relations involve were intended to confer. It ought to make a Christian heart bleed to think that our largest increase of members, according to returns over which we are disposed to congratulate ourselves, falls vastly short of the natural increase of population in our own community, apart from the increase of the population of the country at large, and, there- fore, that perhaps five or more persons are sent out into the world, as worldlings, from the families of our Church, while one is retained or brought into it from the world by all our ministrations and agencies. The prophets did not deny to a Jew his membership in the Jewish Church, in order to make him a Jew inwardly. Mr. Wesley did not un-church the tens of thousands of baptized members of the Church of England to whom he successfully preached salvation by faith : he made their state, and duties, and privileges, as baptized members of the Church of Christ, the grounds of his appeals ; and this, vantage ground was one great means of his wonderful success. But I will not enlarge. I will only add, that as in former . years, I, with others, maintained what we believed to be the rights of Canada and of our Canadian Church against preten- sions which have long since been withdrawn, and the erroneous information and impressions connected with which have long since been removed ; so, I now feel it my duty to do what I can to secure and maintain the Scriptural and Wesleyan rights of members of our Church against the exercise of ministerial THE STORY OF MY LIFE. [Chap. LIV. authority which has no warrant in Scripture nor in the writings of Mr. Wesley ; and I feel myself specially called upon by my position in respect to the youth of the country, as well as by my strong convictions, to claim and insist upon the Scriptural and Wesleyan rights of church membership in behalf of the many thousands of children baptized by our ministry — believing upon both Scriptural and Wesleyan grounds, it is due to such children and to their parents. • I have no object in view, beyond what is avowed in this correspondence. If I have had any personal ambition, it has been more than satisfied both in the Church and in the country at large. I have nothing more to seek or desire, than to em- ploy the short and uncertain time that remains to me in striving to become more and more meet for the intercourse of the saints in light, to matuVe and promote for my native country the great educational system in which I am engaged, and to secure to all members of our Church, and to all parents and children baptized into it, what I am persuaded are their sacred rights and privileges. I am satisfied that Scriptural and Wesleyan truth will, as heretofore, prevail, and that the Con- ference and the Church will yet rejoice in it, however it may, for the moment, be clouded by error and misrepresentation, or impeded by personal feelings, groundless fears, or mistaken prejudice. On the 13th June Dr. Ryerson made a request to the Confer- ence that the documents connected with his resignation be published in the Guardian. He said : — I wish the church to know the reasons which have influenced me on this occasion — especially as I believe them to be both Wesleyan and Scriptural. As I have for thirty years contributed to all the funds of the preachers and Church, without receiving or expecting to receive a farthing from them, and from the period and kinds of labours I have performed in the Church, and from my wish to live in connexion with it, I think my letters of resignation might at least not be withheld from the members of our Church. If any expense attend the publication of the correspondence between us, I will defray every farthing of it. I do not think any other member of the Conference is called upon to do as I have done — my circumstances being peculiar. But I do not wish to be wronged and blackened by misrepresentations ; I only desire that my breth- ren and old friends through the land may be permitted and enabled to read my own reasons and views on this the last occasion of my official intercourse with them."^ * I have understood, nevertheless, that a resolution was adopted expressing the sense of the Conference as to my past labours in the Church ; but the publication of it has been suppressed in the official organ, as also in the printed minutes, of the Conference. The correspondence in the subsequent pages shows with what feelings and senti- ments I retired from the councils of the Conference ; and I could not have supposed that any members of that body were capable of excluding from the public records of its proceedings what the Conference had deemed a bare act of justice to ao 1854-55] THE STOBY OF MY LIFE. 485 This request was denied, so that Dr. Ryerson published the documents in a pamphlet himself. In doing so he said: — A more vitally important and deeply affecting subject can scarcely be laid before the Wesleyan community ; but in order fco present it to the pious judgment of that body at large, I have had no other alternative than to assume the position I now sustain — otherwise being compelled to observe, as in past years, a strict silence beyond the walls of the Conference room. But from what I have witnessed and heard in that room, I appeal to the calm consideration of the intelligent and devout members of the Wesleyan Church, either in their closets with their Bible before them, or at their firesides with their children around them. Whether I have or have not overrated the im« portance of the question, I leave everyone to decide after read- ing the following correspondence. It will be seen that the question is not one of a personal nature — is not one which ought to excite any unkind feeling between persons who may take different views of it. The question is as to whether, on the Wesleyan Conference assuming the position and functions of a distinct and independent Church, a condition of member- ship has not been imposed which is a departure from the prin- ciples of Mr. Wesley and the doctrine and practice of the Apostolic and Primitive Church — a condition which ignores the church relation, rights and privileges of the baptized children of the Wesleyan body, and excludes thousands from its mem- bership upon unscriptural and un- Wesleyan grounds. It will be seen by an extract on page 20, that Mr. Wesley's disciplinary object in giving quarterly tickets was, "to separate the precious from the vile," "to remove any disorderly member;." but in vain have I sought for an instance of Mr. Wesley ever exclud- ing, even from his private societies in a Church, an upright and orderly member for mere non-attendance at class-meeting. That, however, he might have consistently done in a society in a Church, if he had thought it expedient to do so, as it would not have affected the membership of any parties in the Church individual who had laboured nearly thirty years in connection with it, and often performed most difficult services and labours in its behalf. Such a proceeding will reflect more dishonour upon its authors than upon me, in the judgment of every honourable and Christian mind in Upper Canada, of whatever persuasion or party. I am happy to believe that this poor imitation of the system of the " Index Ex- purgatorius " cannot blot from the memories of an older generation in the Church recollections of labours and struggles of which the expurgators know nothing but the fruits — among which are the civil and religious privileges they enjoy. I have also been credibly informed that, while the real grounds of my resignation and the judgment of the Conference upon my conduct and labours during many years' connection with it, are withheld from the Wesleyan public, insinuations are circulated, that my resignation has been dictated by ulterior political objects — an idea which I have never for one moment entertained, and which is foreign, as far as I know, to the thoughts of every public man in Canada. 486 THE STOBY OF MY LIFE. [Chap. LIV. to which they belonged. The three paragraphs of our Discip- line, containing three sentences against which I protest, had no place in the Minutes of Conference finally revised and printed by Mr. Wesley in the year of his death ; nor do they exist in the Minutes of the British Conference to this day. From what is therefore modern and unauthorized by Scripture, by the practice of the Primitive Church, or by Mr. Wesley, I go back to first principles, and say, as did Mr. Wesley to Dr. Coke and Mr. Asbury, when he sent them to organize the Societies in America into a Church, let us " simply follow the Scriptures and the Primitive Church." It is often said that "nobody objects to attending class- meeting except those who have no religion." Persons who thus judge of others show more of the Pharisaical, than of the Chris- tian, spirit, and evince but little of the " wisdom that cometh from above" in thus " measuring others by themselves." The following correspondence shows that 1 am second to none in my appreciation of the value and usefulness of class meetings; but I have had too much experience not to know that the best talkers in a class-meeting are not always the best livers in the world ; and I attach less importance to what a person may say of himself in a class-meeting, than to uprightness in his deal- ings, integrity in his word, meekness in his temper, charity in his spirit, liberality in his contributions, blamelessness in his life. Doings, rather than sayings, are the rule of Divine judg- ment. . . It may not be improper for me to observe, that there are ministers who loudly advocate attendance at class-meeting as a Church-law, and yet do not observe that law themselves perhaps once a year, much less habitually, as they insist in respect to private members ; and the most strenuous of such advocates pay no heed to the equally positive prohibitions and requirements of the discipline in several other respects, especially in regard to band-meetings, which were designed, as the Discipline ex- pressly states, " to obey that command of God, * confess your faults one to another, and pray for one another, that ye may be healed.'" I am far from intimating, or believing, that there are many advocates of class-meeting tests of this description. But history shows, from our Lord to the present time, that the most vehement advocates for the " mint, annise and cummin " of particular tests and forms, are not proportionably zealous for the " weightier matters of the law." It is easier for men to impose and enforce law upon others than to observe it them- selves. But when a man's words and actions contradict each other, the argument of his actions is the more forcible, as well as the more honest and sincere. 1854-55] THE STORY OF MY LIFE. 487 It has likewise been alleged, that if attendance at class- meeting be not made a church-law, and the capital punishment of expul- sion be not attached to its violation, class-meetings will fall into disuse. I answer, this is beside the question. The question is, whether there is such a law in the Bible ? Has our Lord or His Apostles given authority to any conclave or conference to make such a law ? Our Lord and the Apostles knew better than their followers what was essential to membership in the Christian Church, as well as what was essential to its existence and prosperity. I may also observe, that if the existence of class-meetings cannot be maintained except by the terror of the scorpion-whip, or rather executioner's sword, of expulsion from the church, it says little for them as a privilege, or place of delightful and joyous resort. My own conviction is, that if class-meetings, like love-feasts, were maintained and recom- mended as a privilege and useful means of religious edification, and not as a law, the observance of which is necessary to membership in the visible Church of Christ, but made volun- tary, like joining the Missionary Society, class-meetings would be more efficient and useful than they are now, and attendance at them would be more cordial and profitable, if not as, or even more, general. But what might be or not be in any supposed case, is foreign to a question as to what is enjoined in the law and testimony of the Holy Scriptures as essential to disciple- ship with Christ. It is well known that meeting in class, by a large portion of the members of the Wesleyan Church, is very irregular — that their absence from class-meeting is the general rule of their practice, and their attendance the exception. Yet such persons are not excluded, as it would involve the expulsion of the greater part of the members of the body, including several of its min- isters. It is, therefore, so much the more objectionable, and so much the more wrong, to have a rule which ignores at one sweep the membership of all the baptized children of the body, which sends and keeps away tLe conscientious and straight- forward, who would not think of joining a religious com- munity without intending habitually to observe all its rules, and yet, after all, habitually disregarded by a large portion of both preachers and people, and is made, as far as my observa- tion goes, an instrument of gratifying individual hostility, rather than a means of promoting the religious and moral ends of Christian discipline. It is, however, the bearing of this question upon the relation- ship and destinies of the youth of the Wesleyan body that has most deeply impressed and affected my own mind, as may be inferred from the correspondence on the subject. It requires less 488 TEE 8T0BY OF MY LIFE. [Chap. LIV. scriptural zeal, and an inferior order of qualifications, and it is much more exciting and easy, to minister or attend at special meetings, and in the ordinary public services of the Church, than to pursue " in season and out of season " the less con- spicuous and more detailed labour of teaching and training up children and youth in the knowledge and experience of the doctrines of Christ, and thus secure them to the Church, and to the Saviour, and secure to them the " godliness which has the promise of the life that now is, and of that which is to come."* And what is the result of the general adoption (with a few line exceptions), of the former in preference to the latter — in- stead of the union of both ? It is the humiliating and most painful fact that the great majority of Methodist youth are lost to the Church, if not lost to Christ and to heaven — that in a large proportion of instances, Methodism is not perpetuated to ' Of the utter insufficiency of public ministrations alone, even for grown up Christians, much more for children, Mr. Wesley thus speaks in his large and authorized Minutes of Conference: — ** For what avails public preaching alone, though we could preach like angels ? We must, yea, every travelling preacher must, instruct them from house to house. Till this is done, and that in good earnest, the Methodists will be little better than other people. Our religion is not deep, universal, uniform ; but superficial, partial, uneven. It will be so, till we spend half as much time in this visiting, as we now do in talking uselessly." *' For, after all our preaching, many of our people are almost as ignorant as if they had never heard the gospel. I speak as plain as I can, yet I frequently meet with those who have been my hearers many years, who know not whether Christ be God or man. And how few are there who know the nature of repentance, faith and holiness. Most of them have a sort of confidence that God will save them, while the world has their hearts. I have found by experience, that one of these has learned more from one hour's close discourse than from ten years' public preach- ing." **Let every preacher having a catalogue of those in each society, goto each house. Deal gently with them, that the report of it may move others to de- sire your coming. Give the children the instructions for children, and encourage them to get them by heart. Indeed, you will find it no easy matter to teach the ignorant the principles of religion. So true is the remark of Archbishop Usher — * Great scholars may think this work beneath them. But they should consider, the laying the foundation skilfully, as it is of the greatest importance, so it is the masterpiece of the wisest builder. And let the wisest of us all try, whenever we please, we shall find that to lay this ground-work rightly, to make the ignorant understand the grounds of religion, will put us to all our skill.' " "Unless we take care of the rising generation, the present revival will be res unius aetatis (a thing of one generation) ; it will last only the age of a man." There are several ministers who earnestly labour in the spirit of these extracts from Mr. Wesley's Minutes of Conference — printed the year of his death. But their labours are the promptings of individual zeal and intelligence, and not dic- tated or backed by the authoritative example of the ministry and Church at large, or the recognition of the Church relations of the interesting subjects of their instructions. The efi'ect of the general disuse or neglect of systematic individual instruction of children, not speaking of such instruction of adult members, and reliance upon public ministrations and meetings alone, must be instability of religious profession, want of clear and acute views of the grounds, doctrines, nature, institutions and duties of religion, indifference to all religion, or wandering from denomination to denomination according to circumstances or caprice ; but in all cases the loss to the Wesleyan Church of the greater part of the harvest which she should and might gather into the garner of Christ. 1854-55] THE STORY OF MY LIFE. 489 the second generation of the same family — that in the great majority of instances it is only so perpetuated very partially, and in very few instances to all the children of Methodist parents ; while there is each year the conversion of only a few hundreds, or thousands, mostly from without. The return of prodigals, and the accession of strangers and aliens to the body, are indeed causes of thankfulness and rejoicing ; but prevention is better than cure — piety from childhood is better than refor- mation in manhood. The judgment of the Apostle upon him " who neglects to provide for his own house," even in temporal matters, is well known ; and must there not be a radical defect and wrong in any religious organization which loses the great majority of its own youth, and depends largely on infusions from without for the recruit of its numbers ? Such an organiza- tion may do much good, and widely extend in many places for the time being, especially in a new and unsettled state of society; but the vital element of permanent strength and lasting pros- perity is wanting, where, by its repulsion or neglect, the great majority of its baptized youth are alienated from, and lost to its communion. It is not in the promise of God, or in the genius of Scriptural Christianity, that " children trained up in the way they should go," will, in many instances, much less generally, depart from it in after years. . . Impressed with the magnitude of the wrongs and evils above referred to, dreading personal collision in the Conference, an- ticipating but little success from it, and feeling uncertain as to how few were likely to be the days of my earthly career, and believing that a special duty was imposed upon me in this respect by Providential circumstances, I addressed to the Presi- dent, the 2nd of January, . as the most likely means, without collision with any person or body, to draw practical attention to the subject, on the part of both the ministry and the laity of the Church. . . I have the satisfaction of know- ing that, if the first efforts of my pen, after joining the Conference in 1825, were to advocate the right of the members of the Church to hold a bit of ground in which to bury their dead, and the right of its ministers to perform the marriage service for the members of their congregations, my last efforts in connection with the Conference have been directed to obtain the rights of Christian citizenship to the baptized children and exemplary adherents of the Church. While I maintain that each child in the land has a right to such an education as will fit him for his duties as a citizen of the state, and that the obli- gations of the state correspond to the rights of the child-, so I maintain, upon still stronger and higher grounds, that each child baptized by the Church is thereby enfranchised with the rights and privileges of citizenship in it, until he forfeits them 490 THE STOBY OF MY LIFE. [Chap. LIV. by personal misconduct and exclusion, and that the obligations of the Church correspond to the rights of the child. I also maintain that each member of Christ's visible Church, has a scriptural right to his membership in it as long as he keeps the " commandments and ordinances of God," whether he attends or does not attend a meeting which Mr. Wesley (who instituted it), declared to be "merely prudential, not essential, not of divine institution," and for not attending which he never excluded, or presumed to authorize excluding, a person from Church mem- bership. It is a principle of St. Paul, in the 14th chapter of Romans, of all true Protestantism, as well as^ of the writings of Mr. Wesley, "in necessary things unity, in non-essentials liberty, in all things charity." In a letter, written from Quebec to a dear friend in Toronto.. Dr. Ryerson thus refers to his religious experience at that time of personal trial on the class-meeting question. He said : — In compliance with the entreaties of the Hon. James Ferrier and the Rev. Wm. Pollard, I preached here last Sunday evening, and perhaps seldom with so much elFect — certainly, never in Lower Canada. The congregation was very large; many members of the Legislature were present ; and some were much affected. I had felt condemned for not preaching in New Brunswick when solicited ; and I have felt that I have done right in obeying the powers that be in this respect in Quebec. I am solicited to remain and preach here again next Sunday, as many public persons have expressed disappointment at not having heard me last Sunday evening. A leading mem- ber of the church from Montreal was so comforted and edified, that after having spent the evening in my room until after ten o'clock, he went to write out all of the discourse he could remember. The friends here seem delighted to think I will still preach, and say that I would sin against God and man if I refused. My discourse on Sunday was the result of my re- flections and prayer here without books or notes ; and I feel much better since I consented to do what all seemed to think I ought to do. They are quite satisfied with the course I have adopted, and think it will result in great good, if I will not refuse to preach. The words of St. Paul (1st Cor. ch. 9, verse 16), in a chapter to which I opened the other day, have affected me much ; and I know not that I can otherwise do so much good during the very few years at most that now remain to me, as to preach when desired by those who have authority in the matter, in any church or place. I feel deeply humbled under a sense of my own unfaithfulness, and am amazed at the great goodness, long-suffering and compassion of God towards me. CHAPTER LV. 1855. Dr. Ryerson Resumes his Position in the Conference. ALTHOUGH the great majority of the Conference of 1854, after much conflict of feeling — in which regret and sym- pathy were mingled — rejected the resolutions proposed by Dr. Ryerson on the class-meeting question, yet sorrow at the loss from their councils of so distinguished a man as Dr. Ryerson prevailed amongst them. This feeling deepened as the year advanced, and much personal efibrt was made to induce him to consent to some honourable means by which his return to the ministerial ranks could be secured. At length, as the Conference year neared its close, he yielded to the wishes of his friends, and, on the 26th May, 1855, addressed the following letter to Rev. Dr. Wood, President of the Conference : — From the conversations which have taken place between you, my brother, and some others of our ministers and myself, in reference to my present and future relations to the Conference and to the Church, I think it but respectful and an act of duty to state my views in writing, that there may be no misappre- hension on the subject, and that you may adopt such a course as you shall think advisable. When I wrote n)y letters of resignation of office in the Church, the one dated 2nd January, 1854, and the other the 12th day of June following, I had but faint expectations of being in the land of the living at this time. In what I wrote and did, I acted under the apprehension of having no longer time for delay in attesting, in the most decisive and practical way in my power, what I believe, to be the divine rights of mem- bers of the visible Church of Christ whether they are baptized children or professing Christians. Since then I have reason to be thankful that the alarming symptoms in respect to my health have in a great measure subsided, and that I have the prospect of being able to continue my labours with undiminished strength and vigor, at least for some time to come. In my first letter to you I stated and explained at length my belief that making attendance at class-meeting an essential con- 492 THE STORY OF MY LIFE. FChap. LV. dition of membership in the Church of God, is not only requiring what is not enjoined in the word of God, but excluding, on other than scriptural grounds, exemplary persons from the Church of Christ, and unchurching the baptized children of our people who, as well as their parents, are scripturally entitled to member- ship in the Church. Having given the subject much further consideration during the last twelve months, and having ex- amined all the works on it within my reach, I am, if possible, more fully confirmed in the views I expressed last year, as both Wesleyan and scriptural, than when I penned them. And it is not unworthy of remark, that the only two newspapers in Canada which have combatted my views have been The Church and The Catholic Citizen ; and both of these papers have done so upon the ground that my views were not compatible with the due authority of the Church to decree dogmas, rites and cere- monies. I acknowledge myself a heretic according to their creed of ecclesiastical authority; and I confess that the position I have been unexpectedly compelled to assume during the last two or three years as to the right of every man to the Bible, and the rights of individuals and municipalities against com- pulsion in regard to taxation for the support of sectarian schools, has more deeply impressed upon my mind than ever that the Bible is the only safeguard of civil liberty, and that " the Bible only ought to be the religion of Protestants ; " and especially in a matter so important as that which determines who are members and what are the conditions of membership in the Church of Christ. I must, therefore, in all frankness and honesty, still declare my conviction that there is no scriptural authority for the power which is given to a minister, by the answers to the 4th question in the 2nd section of the 2nd chapter of our Discipline, to exclude a person from the Church of God for what is ex- pressly stated not to be " immoral conduct," namely, not attend- ing a meeting which is not ranked among the ordinances of the Church in the General Rules of our Societies, which the 12th section of the 1st chapter of our Discipline does not enumerate among the " prudential means of grace," even among Methodists, and which Mr. Wesley stated to be " not spiritual, not of divine institution." I would never exercise such author- ity myself ; I never have exercised it ; but I will not assume to judge those who think and act otherwise. I beg, however, that it may not be forgotten, that while I thus speak and quote the authorities of the Church in respect to class-meeting as a test or condition of Church membership ; yet as a prudential means of grace and a mode and means of Christian fellowship, I regard class-meetings (as stated in my 1855] ' THE STORY OF MY LIFE. 493 former letters above referred to), as well as love-feasts and prayer-meetings, as of the greatest value and importance. But when I think of class-meeting being converted into a condition of membership in the Church of Christ, and thus made the occasion of excluding from its pale the whole early generation of our people and many other sincere Christians, I cannot view it as I would wish, and as I could otherwise do, with the same feelings that I view love-feasts and prayer-meetings. In regard to the other aspect of the question, as it applies to the baptized children of our people, and in which the nature and office of Baptism are involved, I feel it to be of such vital importance that I must beg to make some observations which I hope may not be considered out of place, or prove altogether useless. The circumstances which have caused me to feel so strongly on this point were stated in my letter to you on the 2nd January, 1854, and afterwards more fully justified in my letter of the 12th of June following; and it is with no small degree of surprise that I have found my views misapprehended and pronounced unsound. It has been alleged that they involve baptismal rageneration. Nothing can be further from the fact. What I maintain is simply what is stated in the 17th Article of Faith professed by our Church, and by the catechism used in the Methodist Church on both sides of the Atlantic, and what is set forth at large in the writings of Mr. Wesley and Mr. Watson. Baptism, like the Lord's Supper, is an outward sign ; but, of course, neither can be that of which it is the sign. Baptism (as the l7th Article of our Faith expresses it), is not only a sign of profession, and mark of difference whereby Christians are distinguished from others that are unbaptized, but it is also a sign of regeneration, or the new birth. What I maintain is, that baptism is the outward and visible sign, while regeneration, or the new birth, is the inward spirit- ual grace ; that by baptism we are born into the visible Church of Christ on earth, while by the Holy Ghost we are born into the spiritual or invisible Church of Christ in heaven, the same as in the Lord's Supper ; there is the visible act of the Church and of the body of commuuicants, and the invisible act of the Saviour by the Holy Ghost and of the soul of the communicant. The two are distinct ; the one may not accompany the other ; but they may, and often do, accompany each other. The parent should bring his child in faith to the Lord's baptism, the same as the communicant should come in faith to the Lord's Supper. The communion of the Lord's Supper is the act of a professed member of Christ's visible Church ; the receiving of the Lord's baptism, is receiving the seal of membership in Christ's visible 494 THE STORY OF MY LIFE. [Chap. LV. Church, that *' mark of difference whereby Christians are dis- tinguished from others that are not baptized." Hence in the Wesleyan catechism, the question is asked, — What are the privileges of baptized persons ? The answer is, — They are made members of the visible church of Christ ; their gracious relation to Him as the Second Adam, and as the Mediator of the New Covenant, is solemnly ratified by divine appointment ; and they are thereby recognized as having a claim to all the spiritual blessings of which they are the proper subjects. I maintain, therefore, that the language of our Articles of Faith and Catechism, as well as of our Baptismal Service and the writings of Mr. Wesley, explicitly declares baptism an act of the Church by which it receives the children baptized into its bosom — that all baptized children are truly members of Christ's visible Church, although they be not communicants in it until they personally profess the Faith of their Baptism, and evince their desire to flee from the wrath to come by the nega- tive and positive proofs so briefly and fully enumerated in the General Rules of our societies. The Church membership of baptized children is known to be the doctrine of all parties in the Church of England, as well as of Mr. Wesley. It is equally the doctrine of all sections of the Presbyterian Church, in which the baptized children are re- garded as members of the Church, but not communicants until they make a personal profession of conversion, and receive a token or ticket of admission to the Lord's Supper. On this point it is sufficient to cite the following passages from the fifteenth chapter of the fourth book of Calvin's Institutes. Baptism is a sign of initiation, by which we are admitted into the society of the Church, in order that being incorporated into Christ, we may be num- bered among the children of God. . . For as circumcision was a pledge to the Jews, by which they were assured of their adoption as the people and family of God, and on their parts professed their entire subjection to Him, and, therefore, was their first entrance into the Church ; so now we are initiated into the Church of God by baptism, are numbered among His people, and profess to devote ourselves to his service. . . How delightful is it to pious minds, not only to have verbal assurances, but even occular proof, of their standing so high in the favour of their heavenly Father, that their posterity also are the objects of his care ! This is evidently the reason why Satan makes such great exertions in opposition to infant baptism : that the removal of this testimony of the grace of God may cause the promise which it exhibits before our eyes gradually to disappear, and at length to be forgotten. The consequence of this would be an impious ingratitude to the mercy of God, and m gligence of the instruction of our children in the principles of piety. For it id no small stimulus to our education of them in the serious fear of God, and the observance of His law, to reflect, that they are considered and ackuowledged by Him as His children as soon as they are born. Wherefore, iinle:*s we are obstinately determined to reject the goodness of God, let us present to Him our children, to whom He assigns a place in His family, that is, among the members of His church. Richard Watson, the great expounder of Wesleyan Christian 1855] THE STORY OF MY LIFE. 495 doctrine, treats this subject elaborately in the third chapter of the fourth part of his Theological Institutes. I will only quote the following sentences : — Infant children are declared by Christ to be members of His Church. That they were members of God's Church, in the family of Abraham, and among the Jews, cannot be denied. . . The membership ot the Jews comprehended both children and adults ; and the grafting-in of the Gentiles, so as to partake of the same " root and fatness," will, therefore, include a right to put their children also into the covenant, so that they, as well as adults, may become members of Christ's Church, have God to be their God, and be acknowledged by Him, in the special sense of the terms of the covenant, to be His people. ..." Whosoever (says Christ) shall receive this child in my name, receiveth me ; " but such an identity of Christ with His disciples stands wholly upon their relation to Him as members of His " mystic body, the Church." It is in this respect only that they are " one with Him ; " and there can be no identity of Christ with "little children" but by virtue of the same relation, that is, as they are members of His mystical body, the Church ; of which membership baptism is now, as circumcision was then, the initiatory rite. . . The benefits of this Sacrament require to be briefly exhibited. Baptism introduces the adult believer into the covenant of grace and the Church of Christ ; and is the seal, the pledge, to him, on the part of God, of the fulfil- ment of all its provisions, in time and in eternity ; whilst on his part, he takes upon himself the obligation of steadfast faith and obedience. To the infant child, baptism is a visible reception into the same covenant and church, a pledge of acceptance through Christ — the bestowment of a title to all the grace of the covenant as circumstances may require, and as the mind of the child may be capable of receiving it ; and as it may be sought in future life by prayer, when the period of reason and moral choice shall arrive. It conveys also the present blessing of Christ, of which we are assured by His taking children in His arms, and blessing them ; which blessing cannot be merely nominal, but must be substantial and efficacious. It secures, too, the gift of the Holy Spirit in those secret spiritual influences, by which the actual regeneration of those children who die in infancy is effected ; and which are a seed of life in those who are spared to prepare them for instruc- tion in the word of God, as they are taught by parental care, to incline their will and affections to good, and to begin and maintain in them the war against inward and outward evil, so that they may be divinely assisted, as reason strengthens, to make their calling and election sure. In a word, it is, both as to infants and adults, the sign and pledge of that inward grace, which, though modified in its operations by the difference of their circumstances, has respect to, and flows from, a covenant relation to each of the Three Persons in whose one name they are baptized, — acceptance by the Father — union with Christ as the head of His mystical body, the Church — and communion with the Holy Ghost. To these advantages must be added the respect which God bears to the believing act of the parents, and to their solemn prayers on the occasion, in both of which the child is interested ; as well as in that solemn engagement of the parents which the rite necessarily impb'es, to bring up their child in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. To these impressive words of Richard Watson, I add the following equally impressive extract from the pastoral address of the Wesleyan Conference in England to the Societies under its charge in 1837 : — By baptism you place your children within the pale of the visible Church, 496 THE STORY OF MY LIFE. [Chap. LV. and give them a right to all its privileges, the pastoral care of its itiDiRters, and as far as their age and capacity will allow, the enjoyment of its ordinances and means of grace. These children are not offshoots of the Church, enjoy- ing only a distant relation to it, but they are of it, as a fact ; they are grafted into the body of Christ's disciples ; they are partakers of an initiatory and provisional state of acceptance with God, and can forfeit their right to the fellowship of the saints only by a course of sin. Besides, when this sacred ordinance is regarded by parents in the spirit of prayer and faith, it cannot be unaccompanied by the divine blessing. Grace is connected with every institution of the Christian Church ; and when children are constituted a part of the flock of Christ by being placed within the fold, they have a pecu- liar claim on the care of that good Shepherd who " gathereth the lambs with his arms and carries them in his bosom;" and they will receive instruction, spiritual influences, tender care, and the exercise of mercy, agreeing with the relation in which they stand to God. On these grounds we affectionately exhort you to place your beloved offspring within the " courts of the house of our God," and amongst the number of His family, by strictly attending to this divinely appointed ordinance of our Saviour.* Dr. Ryerson's views were, therefore, the same in 1834 as they were in 1854 — that by Baptism children stand in the relation of members of the Church, and should be enrolled in its registers, and entitled to its privileges, until they, by their own voluntary irregularity or neglect, forfeit them. The coincidence mentioned, and the consistency of the views expressed by Dr. Ryerson twenty years before, are very remarkable. Now what are these solemn and affecting words of John Calvin, of Richard Watson, and of the British Conference, but a mockery and a snare, if the baptized children are not to be acknowledged and treated as members of the visible church of Christ ? Ought not then children baptised by the Wesleyan ministry to be recognized and cared for as members of the Wesleyan Church ? It is absurd, and leaves them in a state of religious orphanage, to say that they are members of the visible Church of Christ, but not members of any particular branch of it. As well might it be said, that the children born in Canada, are members of the Canadian family, but not members of any particular family in Canada. To be the former without being the latter, would indeed allow them a country, but would leave * As early as 1834, Dr. Ryerson was deeply impressed with the correctness of these views. Having, in the Guardian of the 9th of April, 1834, called the attention of his ministerial brethren to the pressing; duty of giving effect to the section of the Discipline on the "Instruction of Children," he proceeded to point out in the Guardian of the 23rd of that month, the privileges which baptism confers upon Methodist children, fortifying his views by the following quotation from Rev. R. "Watson's Institutes : — Baptism introduces the adult believer into the covenant of Grace, and the Church of Christ. . . To the infant child it is a visible reception into the same covenant and Church. . . In a word, it is both to infants and adults a sign and pledge of that inward grace, which has respect to and flows from a covenant relation to each of the three persons, in whose one name they are baptized — acceptance with Christ as the Head^of His mystical body, the Church, and of communion of the Holy Ghost. 1865] THE STORY OF MY LIFE. 497 them without a home, without a parent, without a protector, without an inheritance — homeless, houseless, destitute orphans. Is this the relation in which the baptized children of our people are to be viewed to the Church of their parents ? In doing so, are not the most powerful considerations, motives and influences brought to bear upon both parents and children ? In not doing so, is not the greatest wrong inflicted upon both, the ordinance of baptism virtually ignored, and its blessings lost ? But in denying that any one is or can be a member of the Church except one who meets in class, are not the baptized children of our people refused a place within its pale ? deprived of their baptismal birthright, before they are old enough to forfeit it by transgression ? shut out from the family of God's people, and as practically unchurched as if they had never received a Christian name, in the name of the Father, of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost ? I cannot reflect upon the subject or contemplate its consequences, without the deepest pain and solicitude. I will pursue it no further, but will leave it with you and those on whom the responsibility of deciding upon it devolves. It will be remembered that I have never said anything as to the mode of receiving adult persons from without into the Church ; nor as to the class of members who alone should be eligible to hold office in the Church ; nor have I entertained the idea that any other than the scriptural summary of Chris- tian morality contained in the General Rules of our Societies should be applied to all members of the Church, whether in full communion or not. Nor have I other than supposed that all persons recognized as a part of the Church, would, as far as circumstances can permit, be registered as classes, and called upon regularly by a leader or steward for their contributions in support of the ministry and other institutions of the Church, the same as persons meeting weekly in a class. What I have said applies AvhoUy and exclusively to the Church relation and rights of the baptized children of our people, and to the rights of persons otherwise admitted into the Church, who, I believe, ought not to be excluded from it except for what would exclude them from the kingdom of grace and glory. Anything appertaining to myself personally is unworthy of mention in such a connexion. I banish from my mind and heart the recollection and feeling of anything I consider to have been uncalled for and unjust towards myself on the part of others. Though I have resigned the ecclesiastical or outward authority to exercise the functions of the Christian ministry, I have never regarded myself as a secular man ; I have felt, and do feel, and especially with improved health, the inward, and, I trust, divine conviction of duty to preach, as occasion 32 498 THE 8T0BY OF MY LIFE. [Chap. LV. m^y offer and stren.ojth permit, the unsearchable riches of Christ to dying men. And if after the past publication and fore- going statement of my convictions on the point of Church Discipline and its administration, as affecting baptized children and other scrip turally blameless members of the Church, and m}' purpose to maintain them on such occasions, and in such manner as are sanctioned by the Discipline, the Conference thinks it proper and desirable that I should resume my former relations to it and to the Church, I am willing to cancel my resignation, and to labour, as heretofore, to preach the doctrines and promote the agencies of the Church which I have sought by every earthly means in my power, though with conscious unfaithfulness before God, to advance during the last thirty years, and which are, I believe, according to the Scriptures, and calculated to promote the present and everlasting well-being of man. The reading of this letter at the London Conference of 1855 led to a great deal of discussion and various explanations, which unfortunately afterwards resulted in much misunderstanding and recrimination. The Conference, however, with a unanimity and heartiness which reflected great credit for its calm judg- ment and Christian love of unity, passed the following resolu- tion by a nearly two-thirds majority : — That while this Conference declares its unaltered determination to main- tain inviolate the position held respecting the views contained in Dr. Ryer- son's communications of last year, and upon which his resignation was tendered and accepted; yet upon the application which the latter part of Dr. Ryerson's present communication contains, this Conference restores him to his former standing and relations to the Conference and the Church. After the resolution was passed. Dr. Ryerson went to the Conference at London, and in a letter which he wrote to me, dated January 9th, he said : — My entrance into the Conference was cordially greeted. I was very affectionately welcomed and introduced by the Presi- dent, Rev. Dr. Wood, after which I briefly addressed the Con- ference, and I have since taken the same part in the proceedings as heretofore. After a long discussion yesterday, a very important change was made in the Discipline. By this change a minister may be stationed in the same circuit during five years, if requested by the quarterly meeting. A prominent member made a long and violent speech against it. I replied at length, and stated the general grounds on which I thought the change recom- mended by the Stationing Committee should be adopted. After the adoption of the resolution, I congratulated the Con- ference on this indication of progress in a direction to what 1855] THE STORY OF MY LIFE. 499 was regarded as heretical when I first introduced the proposi- tion five years ago. Some preacher said I was a little too soon. I said perhaps I had the misfortune of having been born a few years too soon. Another said that he supposed I expected that other changes would also follow. I replied, time would show. I was informed that all (even Messrs. Jeffers and Spencer) expressed a desire for my return to the Conference. The lengthened discussion was based upon certain parts of my letter to Mr. Wood, which it was held were not courteous, but a bearding of the Conference. On the other hand, it was contended that my sentiments even on the class-meeting condi- tion of membership were the practice of those very preachers who objected to them. Examples were given, much to the surprise of certain parties, who professed to be the greatest sticklers on the subject. It was professed by all, without ex- ception, that but for certain phrases in my letter (to the senti- ments of which, it was maintained, the Conference would be committed by the resolution proposed) the vote in regard to me would have been unanimous. Amongst other congratulatory letters received by Dr. Ryer- son, none were more gratifying to him than the following characteristic letter from Rev. John Black, in township of Rawdon, written on the 16th of June : — My good Mr. Lever, of Sidney, in a letter from the Conference, informs me that " Dr. Ryerson is once more among his brethren, and, as usual, taking an active part in the affairs of Conlerence." Athough three o: my children were confined to bed by sickness, yet on hearing such nev^ s I was almost ready for a shout. Permit me to say that your departure from us at Belleville, twelve months ago, lay heavy on my heart ; and now to hear the above intelligence is good to my soul. For many years I have been much attached to Mr. Egerton Ryerson. We were "takt-n on trial" at the same time, and togetlier were ordained to the great work of the ministry. And although you, Mr. R., have been near the head, and I, Mr. B.,near the foot, yet we are in the same ranks, fighting the battles ot the Lord, and exercising our talents in behalf of truth and righteousness. I know that your time is precious, yet I believe you will spare a minule or two in reading a few lines from your affectionate, and now almost worn-out, friend and well-wisher. Long may you live for the purpose of using your talents lor the benefit of Church and State! This fervent wish stands at a distance from mere compliment and liom flattery, and is the free emotion oi a Methodist heart. CHAPTER LVI. 1865-1666. Personal Episode in the Class-Meeting Discussion. I HAVE already referred to the character of the discussion which resulted in Dr. Ryerson s restoration to the Confer- ence. In the heat of that discussion some things may have^ been said by Dr. Ryerson's friends which were not warranted by the terms of hjs letter of the 26th of May ; or what was said may have b^en construed (designedly or otherwise) into au admission or assurance on Dr. E-yerson's part that he would cease to agitate the question, or that he would hold his opinions in abeyance. The discussion on the Class-meeting question was the chief event in the proceedings of the Wesleyan Conference of 1855. Yet not the slightest reference to the subject, or to Dr. Ryerson's return to the Conference was made in the report of the pro- ceedings which were published in the Guardian of the 1.3th and 20th of June in that year. It was not until some time after the adjournment of the Conference, and the departure of Dr. Ryerson for Europe, that the subject was mentioned in that paper, and what did appear was apparently an after- thought.* After Dr. Ryerson had gone, an editorial appeared in the nardtan extract : — Qwirdian of the 27th of June from which the following is an * Dr. Ryerson left Toronto for Quebec immediately after Conference, to confer with the Government there on matters connected with his Department. While there he wrote to me a private letter as follows : — At Mr. Attorney-General Macdonald's suggestion I have been appointed Hon- orary Commissioner at the Paris exhibition. Mr. Macdonald also endorsed my recommendation for your appointment as Deputy Superintendent with an increased salary. His Rxcellency appointed you yesterday according to my recommendation, and you will be gazetted on Saturday. . . Sir Edmund Head has given me very flattering letters of introduction to Lord Clarendon and Lord John RusselL . . I leave here for Boston on niy way to England. . . I have no doubt but that you will do all things in the best manner, and for the best. I fervently pray Almighty God greatly to prosper you, as well as guide and bless you in your official duties. 1855-56] THE STOBY OF MY LIFE. 601 We did not notice in our summary account of the proceedings of the Con- ference the return of Dr, Ryerson to his former position with that body, but as erroneous statements have appeared in the paper respecting it we think proper to give the facts of the case. A short time previous to the sitting of the Conference Dr. Ryerson ad- dressed a letter to the President, in which he stated that his views remained unaltered respecting the points of difference between himself and the Con- ference ; he expressed a desire to resume his ministerial duties in the Church. The communication was accompanied with a verbal assurance that his own peculiar views on the questions at issue would be held in abeyance in defer- ence to the determination of the Conference to maintain inviolate those parts of the Wesleyan Discipline to which his communication referred. This was the position in which the application of Dr. Ryerson was presented to the Conference, and, after a somewhat animated discussion on the subject, the resolution [for his re-admission] was adopted by nearly a two-thirds majority. Immediately on the publication of this article, I sent it to Dr. Ryerson at Boston, where he was about to take the steamer for England. He at once replied to the Editor, and sent the letter to me for insertion in the Gvxirdian. In his private note to me, dated 3rd July, he said : — I think the GuardiarCs statement is the most shameful attack that was ever made upon me — one that I did not expect even from him — one that I would not have believed had I not seen it. What may be the end of this affair, I cannot yet see. But I am satisfied in my own conscience as to the course I have pursued, and as to my present duty. As to rescinding the clause of the Discipline relating to the exclusion of persons for not attending class- meetings, no determination was expressed to enforce it. On the contrary, it was declared to be a dead letter in many places. What I maintained was, that the practice and the rule should be in harmony. You will see what I have said to the Editor of the Guardian in a private note. Remember me affectionately to all ; and may Almighty God prosper you in your educational work during my absence. The following is a copy of the private letter to Rev. J. Spencer, which accompanied Dr. Ryerson's reply to the editorial : I was not a little surprised and pained at your unfair and unjust statement respecting me, and especially after what passed on my leaving the Conference, and your careful silence on the subject until I had left home, and would not therefore be likely to have it in my power to furnish an antidote until your injurious statement had accomplished its object as far as possible. But I am thankful that, through the prompt kindness of Mr. Hodgins, and by that means alone, I have been furnished with a copy of the Guardian in time to write a hasty reply before embarking for the other side of the Atlantic. I have requested Mr. Hodgins to take a copy of my communication to you, as I have not time to transcribe it. You can as easily command my letter to the President of the Conference as you did the resolution of the Conference. I ask for no indulgence or favour ; I ask for nothing but truth and justice. 502 THE STORY OF MY LIFE. [Chap. LVI. I will thank you to inform Mr. Hodgins as early as possible as to whether you intend to perpetuate the wrong you have done me, by refusing to insert my letter to the President of the Conference, and the note I have this evening addressed to you in reference to your statement. I wish Mr. Hodgins to inform mo of the result by the next mail to England, and also to act otherwise by me as I v/ould by him in like circumstances.* Having got Dr. Ryerson's reply to the Guardians attack of 27th June, inserted in the Toronto city papers, I wrote to him to that effect. His reply is dated, London (Eng.,) 3rd August: — I thank you sincerely for the pains you have taken in regard to my letter to the Guardian. I am thankful that, by your zeal and good management, the Methodist body, as well as the public at large, will have an opportunity of learning my own views from my own pen ; but considering the intended course * The antagonism between Mr. Spencer (now Editor of the Guardian) and Dr. Ryerson was of long standing. Thirteen years before the date of this attack upon Dr. Ryerson, Mr. Spencer was proposed, in 1842, as a candidate for a Mastership in Victoria College. Dr. Ryerson advised him to attend the Wesleyan University at Middletown, Conn., so as to fit himself for the post. He did so. But the Board of Victoria College refused to appoint him. He was very indignant, and so expressed himself to Dr. Ryerson. He afterwards wrote to him a letter (in 184:2) as follows : — You were no doubt surprised at the remarks I made to you, and perhaps you thought they were unnecessarily harsh and severe, and made under the momentary impulse of exited feelings. If so, you are mistaken. I spoke deliberately, though strongly. You know the circumstances under which, at your request, I went to the College, and that the situation, though congenial to my feelings, was not sought for by me. Of the decision of the members of the Board, to give the Principal permission to employ me part of the year, I express my decided disapprobation. Now, Sir, I consider such a resolution a downright insult. Had I come before that Board as a stranger, or under the character of a mercenary hireling, and one concerning whose qualifications you were entirely ignor- ant, then there would have been some appearance of propriety in making such a proposition, as a safeguard, and against imposition. But I am a member of that Conference under whose direction the affairs of that institution are placed ; its interests are closely connected with those of the Church of which I am now, and expect to remain, a member. I believed I could render greater service to the Church in labouring to promote the prosperity of that institution. I trust 1 have yet too much of public spirit, and too ardent a desire for the prosperity of our College, to wish to remain there if my labours were not conducive to its efficiency. But what is the spirit of that resolution ? "Why, we wish to get rid of you, and the easiest way to do it is, to employ you for a specified time, and then we can dismiss you with propriety. But the absurdity of that resolution is its most prominent feature. I intend, at the first opportunity, to express my mind more fully to you personally upon this subject." In one of his letters in this controversy, Dr. Ryerson thus refers to this Victoria College episode. He says : In regard to Mr. Spencer, I am aware of his feelings toward me during these many years ; ever since he failed to procure an appointment to the Chair of Chemistry and Natural Philosophy in Victoria College, for which he had devoted a year of special preparation. I believe he has attributed his disappointment to me, and that I had not acted toward him in a brotherly way, in not securing his appointment, as he supposed I could have done from my connection with the College. The fact was, I recommended his appointment, at least for a trial, but my recommendation was not concurred in by any other member of the Board, a» Dr. Green and others know. 1855-561 THE STOBY OF MY LIFE. SOS of the Guardian, and what he alleges to be the feelings of many others, I have great doubts whether I can be of any use to the Wesleyan body, or of much use to the interests of religion in connection with the Conference, and that I shall rather em- barrass, and be a burden to my friends in the Conference, than be a help to them. My only wish and aim as a minister is, to preach the evangelical doctrines I have always proclaimed, and which are preached with power by many clergymen of the Church of England and Presbyterian Churches, and often more forcibly, than by many Methodist ministers. I confess, from what you state, I see no prospect of effecting the changes in the relation and privileges of baptized children, and the test of membership in the Methodist Church, which I believe to be required by the Scriptures, and by consistency. I apprehend that anything proposed by me on these subjects will be made the occasion of violent attacks and agitation, and that personal hostility to me will be made a sort of test of orthodoxy among a large party in the Conference and in the Church — thus exposing my friends to much unpleasantness and disadvantage on my account, and reducing, if not extinguishing, all opportunities on my part to preach, as I should be (as in times past) wholly dependent upon the invitations of others. From this incident a private and confidential correspondence on the subject was maintained for months between Dr. Ryerson in Europe and myself, in Canada. It was clear to my mind at the time that the Editor took an unfair advantage of Dr. Ryerson 's absence from the country to injure (as he supposed) his brother in the ministry. In this he was mistaken ; and, in his chagrin, he attacked me personally in the Guardian for my zeal on behalf of Dr. Ryer- son. Events proved that my interposition was opportune and just; and that, had I not done so, the Methodist people would have been improperly and cruelly misled, and irreparable injustice would have been done to the character and motives of a noble and generous man, who, in this instance, ought not to have been held responsible for the utterances of warm hearts, but of possibly indiscreet tongues. I speak advisedly when I say that I understood perfectly well the two men with whom I had to deal. Rev. James Spencer was well known to me, when I was a student at Vic- toria College forty years ago. He was a good man, no doubt ; but no student at that College ever thought of comparing him with the Principal of the College. How he ever got to be Editor of the Guardian was always a mystery to me. I never had the slightest difference with him — quite the reverse ; but 504 THE STOBY OF MY LIFE. [Chap. LVI. no comparison could be instituted between James Spencer and Egerton Ryerson. Tn this matter I had no personal feeling. Both men were Methodists, while I am an Episcopalian, and both have gone to their final account. Moreover, the question was not one of doctrine, or of denominational preference. It was one of simple justice and fair play between man and man. Hence, I took the earliest opportunity of apprising Dr. Ryerson of the unjust and anomalous position in which he had been placed by the Editor of the Guardian. The following private letters were successively received by me from Dr. Ryerson while he was in Europe : — Paris, 2Srd August. — I enclose my answer to Rev. James Spencer. I wish you would have it inserted in the Globe and Colonist. As you are acquainted with all the circumstances in Canada, being on the spot, if you think it best to abridge, omit, or modify the words of any part of my communication, I would wish you to do so. Whatever course I may think it my duty to pursue in future, I wish in this communication to preserve that tone of remark which can give no offence to any minister or member of the Wesleyan Church. I will not be the offend- ing party, and the responsibility of a wider breach between the Conference and myself will not be with me. What course duty may require me to pursue, I still leave to the direction of Infinite Wisdom, and to future consideration. . . The Queen is in Paris this week, during which all business in my way seems to be suspended. She is received with great enthusiasm. We have seen her and the Emperor two or three times. Paris y SOth August. — Rev. Dr. Wood's denial of my having given him any pledge, or any thing that would be so con- strued, is full and decided, and if my brother John says anything at all, it will be, I have no doubt, less than I have stated in my letter. But still the main question of my position in the Con- ference is unaffected by these disclaimers. It appears from Mr. Spencer's statement (in which he seems to be sustained by others) that the terms of my letter were not acted upon or com]ilied with by the Conference, but that the Conference acted upon a verbal assurance that I never made, or authorized. The simplest and most natural way for me to act, is, to withdraw my letter on these grounds, and to decline availing myself of, or recognizing an act of, the Conference based upon what I never proposed or authorized. Thus the responsibility of this irregular and absurd proceeding will rest with others, and I will stand, in the maintenance of all that I have stated and done, 1855-56] THE STOBY OF MY LIFE. 606 with the advantage of having acted a most conciliatory part. But what I shall do must not be decided upon hastily, as I act for life, and finally. If it ultimately appears to me, as it does at present, that there is no consistent or justifiable ground on which I can remain a member of the Conference, it will then be for me to consider whether I can occupy the position of a lay- man, or enter the ministry of some other section of the Christian Church. I would like to have your own impressions and views on this point, in reference to my future standing and usefulness in Canada. Paris, 20th September. — In my reply to Mr. Spencer I did not allude to the cases of Montreal and Quebec. Perhaps the dis- claimer which has been adopted by quarterly meetings in those places may require from me a remark or two. What I said was founded upon what was told me on reliable authority that no preacher had enforced, or dare enforce, the rule. I under- stand the same at Quebec. I have been assured, and I have no doubt the enquiry will establish the fact, that there are men, trustees of the Churches, in either or both Montreal or Quebec, who do not meet in class, and whose names are not, and I think whose names never have been, on any class book. But I think the natural and necessary effect of the whole is, to terminate my connection with the Methodist Church. I still remain undecided; but I see no other course on the ground of consis- tency, propriety, or duty, as well as of religious enjoyment. But this is only to yourself. The remaining question will be whether I should remain a private member of a Church, or enter another Church. On this point I am quite undecided. May I be divinely directed ! In a further letter directed to me from Paris in September, 1855, Dr. Ryerson discussed the whole question at issue. After pointing out the unfair conduct of the Editor of the Guai^dian in attacking and misrepresenting a member of the Conference, and then saying that his columns were closed against any further discussion of the subject, Dr. Ryerson said: — The Editor of the Guardian and others represent me as hostile to class- meetings. This may do injury, in the estimation of some per- sons, to a means of religious edification which I regard as one of the most efficient human agencies for promoting spiritual- mindedness among religious people. The responsibility of such a proceeding is with themselves. The Editor of the Guardian represents this as a matter of dispute between the Conference and myself. This is wholly incorrect. The resolution of the Conference is avowedly based upon my letter, and upon that alone. That record cannot be falsified. The variation between the wording of the resolution of the Conference and the latter 506 THE STORY OF MY LIFE. [Chap. LVI. p'art of my letter referred to in it, is not of the slightest conse- quence. The acts of the Conference, as well as of the Legisla- ture, are to be judged of, not by what may have been said by individual members in the course of discussion, but by its attested records and official papers. Now with the same truth and propriety that my assailants charge me with having written against class-meetings, might I charge them with being opposed to prayer-meetings and love- feasts, and even the Lord's Supper, because they do not make the observance of all or of any one of these institutions (though the latter is expressly instituted by our Lord himself), a condition of membership in the Church of God. Because I have avowed my long-settled conviction that class-meetings ought not to be exalted above all the other ordinances and institutions of religion — giving as an authority the words of John Wesley himself — am I to be charged with having written against class- meeting ? So far from having written against these meetings, I have expressed myself in the strongest terms in their favour ; and I repeat that, after the public preaching of the Word, and the Lord's Supper, I believe class-meetings have been the most efficient means of promoting personal and vital piety among the members of the Wesleyan Societies. Yet I am not insensible to the fact that Mr. Wesley found the prototype of this kind of religious exercises, not in any insti- tution or practice of the Primitive Church for fifteen hundred years, but in a society of Monks called La Trappe, whose ardent piety Mr. Wesley greatly admired, the lives of some of whose members (such as the Marquis de Renty, etc.,) he wrote, and whose manual of piety (Imitation of Jesus Christ) he translated and abridged, for the use of his own Societies, and several of whose questions in conducting what may be called their weekly band or class-meetings, Mr. Wesley adopted, translated and modified, for conducting his own meetings of a similar charac- ter. These weekly exercises in the Society de la Trappe were eminently instrumental in reforming, and kindling the flame of devotional piety among its members; and Mr. Wesley found them equally useful among the members of his own Societies, and so they have continued till the present time. But will any Wesleyan minister in England or Canada — will any man of in- telligence and honesty — venture to assert that Mr. Wesley ever intended that attendance at such weekly exercises should be an essential condition and fundamental test of membership in the visible Church of God ? Will any one assert, or can he believe, that Mr. Wesley ever could have anticipated, or supposed, that such an application would, or could, be made of an institution which he expressly stated to be " merely prudential, not essen- 1865-56] THE STCRY OF MY I IFF. 607 tial, not of divine origin ? " But I am again met with the charge, on another ground, of having departed from Mr. Wesley. It is said, in substance : " Mr. Wesley has committed class- meeting to us as a trust ; it is not for us to inquire into the origin of the institution ; it is our duty to maintain inviolably the trust committed to us — which trust Dr. Ryerson has violated." In reply, I remark that the statement of the question itself is fallacious, and the charge groundless. In the first place, the question assumes, what is contrary to fact, that Mr. Wesley instituted and committed the trust of class-meetings as a con- dition of membership in the visible Church of God, whereas he instituted and transmitted it as a means of grace among the members of a private society in a church. In the next place, the trust of class-meetings was only one part of a system which Mr. Wesley committed as a trust to his followers. The one part of that trust was as sacred as another, and the connection of one part with another is essential to the fulfilment of the obligation. Now one part of Mr. Wesley's trust, and that on which he insists ten times more voluminously and vehemently than he ever spoke of class-meetings, was that his followers should attend the services of the Church of England, should receive the ordinances of Baptism and the Lord's Supper in it, should abide in the Church of England, and that whenever they separated from the Church of England they separated from him. These are so many trusts that Mr. Wesley committed to his followers in England, and on which he insisted as tests of membership in his Society; and in connection with these trusts, he committed the trust of class-meetings — " as the observance and practice of members of a private society in the Church of England." Have Dr. Bunting and others, who charge me with being anti-Wesleyan, fulfilled these trusts committed to them by Mr. Wesley ? Have they not wholly separated from the Church of England — ordaining their own ministers, administer- ing the ordinances, claiming and exercising all the attributes of a Church, as much as the authorities of the Church of England herself. And while Mr. Wesley disclaimed exercising the office of excommunicating Church members, and denied that admission into or exclusion from his Societies was admission into or exclusion from the visible Church of Christ, my accusers exercise this authority in the highest degree — confessedly and avowedly admitting into and excluding persons from the visible Church, and making the attendance at class-meeting a test of Church -membership — which Mr. Wesley never believed, much less authorized. I leave it, therefore, to the judgment of every man of common sense to say whether there is the shadow of a reason for the pretensions and charges of my assailants. I am 508 THE STORY OF MY LIFE. [Chap. LVI. not surprised that Dr. Bunting and others should feel sensitive on the class-meeting test of church-membership, as it so enor- mously increases clerical power — the ruling idea of Dr. Bunt- ing's legislation throughout his whole life. It virtually places the membership of each member in the hands of the minister. The quarterly class ticket, signed by the minister, is the only proof and title of membership for each member. If the minister withholds this (and he may be prompted to do so on many grounds, personal and others, irrespective of any suspi- cion, much less charge, against the moral or religious character of the member) the member is deprived of his membership, and this I believe has occurred in more than twenty thousand instances, in England, du^ring the last six years, during which period the connection has experienced the lamentable and unprecedented loss of nearly a hundred thousand members, the fruits of the labours of an age. London, oth October. — I know that my brother John was not pleased with my letter to Mr. Wood, read in the Conference. He told me so on the way to the Conference ; he wished me to write a short letter, couched in general terms, and that the affair might be passed over in the Conference as quietly as possible — believing that to be the best way to accomplish the object I had in view. In this I could not agree with him, and stated that unless received in the terms of my letter, I did not wish to be received at all ; nor did I wish the letter read if any opposition were apprehended. What has transpired shows, I think very clearly, that had I not been as explicit as I have, I should have been more grossly misrepresented, and with some degree of plausibility. I am exceedingly glad that I wrote as I did. It has removed all uncertainty on the subject. There can now be no mistake or misunderstanding. I do not think my friends have been frank with me in not telling me all that has transpired in the Conference. But it is not worth while to refer to these things now. The question is settled. I shall write to Dr. Beecham on the subject of the remarks reported to have been made in reference to me by Dr. Bunting and Mr. Methley, in the English Conference, and respecting my settled and avowed convictions and position — affording him an oppor- tunity of stating how far he and others think such views are consistent with the relations I sustain to the Wesleyan Body. I shall also advert to the propriety of such men as Mr. Methley, or any member of the English Conference, assuming to exercise a censorship over the character of any members of the Canada Conference. After receiving Dr. Beecham's answer, I shall iinally decide as to my future course. I look upon my connec- tion with the Wesleyan body as virtually terminated. I have 1855-56] TEE STORY OF MY LIFE. 609 not been in one of their chapels, or seen one of their ministers, since I left America. On seeing, at Boston, what Mr. Spencer had written, and what was likely to occur, I thought I would keep myself entirely aloof until the final issue of the whole affair. London, 10th October. — I wrote you on the 5th inst., under the influence of strong and indignant feelings. But I have since calmly, and with much prayer and many tears, for days considered the whole matter of Church relations. I have resolved to stand my ground in my present position, and fight out the battle with my assailants. In a letter to me, written a few days afterwards. Dr. Kyerson thus states the conclusion which he h,ad come to in regard to his remaining in the Methodist Church. He said : — Last Sun- day I heard a very powerful sermon from Dr. Cumming on, " No man liveth to himself, and no man dieth to himself ; " and I resolved, by meditation and prayer, to come to a conclusion on the subject of my Church relations, and future course. I walked, and wept, and prayed over the subject from seven till twelve o'clock last night, and the conclusion at which I have now arrived is to stand in my present position and relation, and maintain my views, and let my opponents do their worst, and thrust me out if they will or can. If I lived to myself, that is, if I consulted my taste, feelings, personal comforts, and enjoy- ments, I could not remain in the Methodist Church a week ; I have more views and sympathies with the evangelical clergy and members of any Protestant church than I have with such men as Mr. Spencer. But still I have, in the Providence of God, been called to labour in connection with the. Methodist Church, and have been prospered in it ; and I think, all things considered, I can do more good to stand my ground. If I do nothing else than secure to Methodist children and youth the recognition of their rights and privileges, and the appropriate religious in- struction and care, that point alone will involve more good in the end than all I could do in any other section of the Christian Church. If Methodist pulpits should be closed against me, others will be opened to me in abundance. Paris, 18th October. — I feel very happy in my own mind since I have finally decided upon my future course, and which, I have no doubt you will think with me, is, under all the cir- cumstances, the best that I could take. After the course which has been pursued towards me, I shall be free from all restraints on the matters respecting which they hoped to impose silence. I shall make the James Methleys, and the James Spencers, of both the English and Canadian Conferences, feel very uncomfort- able, while I think I shall secure the respect and sympathies 510 THE STOBY OF MY LIFE. [Chap. LVI. of various religious persuasions and parties in Canada, and the ultimate accomplishment of the great and divine end I have had in view. Mr. Spencer's remarks that you enclosed are very weak and flat — more so than I expected. He speaks of a differ- ence between the Conference and me. The difference is between him and his abettors (as individuals) and me, not between the Conference and me. The Conference has avowedly based its proceedings upon my letter — which is all I care for since my letter is published. If the terms of the resolution of the Con- ference are not in harmony with the terms of my letter, that is of no consequence to me now — it is for the judgment or taste of those who wrote it. I am glad to hear that my remarks on Mr. Spencer are favourably received by all my friends. Mr. Malcolm Cameron has said that if I never wrote another word on the subject I had mooted, or were I even to leave the Body, the subject would not sleep — it would be taken up by others — it could not sleep — and their attacking me, and I defending my- self, was, in effect, discussing the question in the most telling manner. Paris, 8th November : — I am glad to learn that at that period when I was undecided, you entertained the views as to my rela- tions and future course which I have at length decided to main- tain and pursue. I will stand my ground and battle the affair with my adversaries, on both sides of the Atlantic, to the last. In order to exclude me from the Conference they must now bring charges against me ; and, in attempting this, they will raise a difficulty such as they have never yet encountered, and will invest the whole question with an interest and importance that they little dream of. Indeed, they have done so already. Paris, 14ttk November. — I am happy to learn that you also entirely concur in the course I have decided to pursue. I care not a fig for all that the parties to whom you refer may do or try to do. I have not a shadow of doubt as to the result. It is most strange that rashness should be attributed to you in the matter. It was the course best calculated to defeat the objects they wish to counteract. I do not think my letters would have appeared at all in the Guardian had you not pressed the mat- ter as you did ; and had I not taken the course I did at Belleville, the questions could not have been brought before the body as they can and must. I have written a reply to the Guardian — it contains sixteen pages of letter paper. But after your suggestion, I will keep it another week, and may, perhaps, sub- stitute for it a note making my acknowledgements to the daily press of Toronto, and stating my position and intended course of proceedings. I think something of this kind may be best to counteract the misrepresentations which they are no doubt in- 1855-56] THE STORY OF MY LIFE. 511 dustriously circulating. Possibly I may not say anything at all, as you suggest. Paris, 29tli November. — I cannot but smile at the pamphlet on the Class-meeting question, after it had been declared as the determination of the Conference that the subject of my letters was not to be agitated. I could not be more effectually aided in what I would wish to see accomplished than by such a pub- lication, as it will afford me an opportunity to re-consider the subject, and to say what I please on the general subject, and expose every petty sophism and absurdity of my opponents, and to show what are really the rights of the members of the Church in more senses than one. The strength of the opposite side of the question is silence and Conference authority; the strength of my side is discussion. For one on the opposite side to write and publish a pamphlet is to give up Conference authority, and to come upon the ground of reason and Scrip- ture. It is also an abandonment of the pretence that the ques- tion is not a debatable or open one. There being several writers on one side and only one on the other, gives the latter an advan- tage. He can point out the variations and weak points of the former, illustrating the criteria of error and truth. The whole will afford me an opportunity to deal with general principles, and curiosity and enquiry will be attached to what I can say in reply to such efforts to prove me heretical. I look upon all such occurrences as the ways of Providence to open the way of truth and righteousness. Dr. Ryerson returned to Canada in time to attend the Con- ference at Brockville. While there he wrote to me, on the 6th of June, 1856: — Mr. Spencer has given me notice that, as I have denied and repudiated the terms upon which I had been re-ad- mitted into the Conference, when my name comes up in the examination of character, it will be moved that the resolution re-admitting me into the Conference be rescinded. I am glad of this. It will afford me an opportunity of exposing the conduct of my assailants, and of entering into the whole question. To-day the subject of class-meetings came up, by a philippic on the subject by one of the ministers, in connection with the return of members, and the manner of administering the Discipline. I at once accepted the challenge — reiterated my sentiments, and stated when the time came I should be prepared to show that they were founded on the Scriptures, the primitive Church, the Fathers of the Protestant Reforma- tion, and such men as Baxter and Howe, down to the present time. What I said seemed to be favourably received by a con- siderable portion of the Conference. I think the Spencer clique (and it is only a clique) will be disappointed greatly 512 THE STORY OF MY LIFE. [Chap. LVI- when the affair comes up. I feel that I stand upon the Rock of Truth. I would that my soul were more fully baptized with the Spirit of the Truth, the principles of which I maintain. On the 9th of June, he also wrote as follows ; — This after- noon, on my name being called, Rev. J. Borland moved, seconded by Rev. W. Jeffers, the following resolution : — Resolved, That as Dr. Ryerson lias denied the authority of the verbal assurances given in his behalf at the Conference in London, and repudiated the basis upon which the resolution restoring him to his former standing in the Conference was founded; therefore, all that part of the said resolution which relates to his re-admission be, and is hereby, rescinded. When the President came to the question as to the examina- tion of character, he observed that that question was always considered with closed doors, and intimated to strangers to withdraw. I arose at once, and said that as far as I was con- cerned, notice had been given to me of a resolution to exclude me from the Conference, and that upon the ground of what had appeared in the public papers — that I had been misrepre- sented and maligned in the official organ of the Conference — in professed reports of what had taken place in the Conference, and I demanded, as a matter of right and equity, that the proceedings of the Conference should be public as far as I was concerned. A discussion then took place in regard to reporting. I at length moved an amendment that the proceedings of the Conference should be public as f^r as I was concerned. This was adopted by a large majority, though voted against by the whole clique hostile to me. Several of them made speeches against me. My brother John, Rev. E. Wood, Rev. R. Jones, Dr. Green, as well as others, stated what was said as to my pledge, just what I had supposed and intended ; and my brother John made a most powerful speech, and scathed Mr. Spencer and others. His references to me were warmly cheered by an evident majority of the Conference. The cheers to the remarks maligning me seemed to be made by about fifteen or cwenty — many less than I had supposed. I have no doubt they will be defeated by a very large majority. When the hour of adjournment arrived, the President asked me if I wished to make any remarks ; I stated to the Conference I was willing to give my assailants the advantage of leaving their strong statements and attacks unrefuted and unnoticed until Mondny morning. A large number of persons were present, and a strong popular feeling seemed to be excited in my favour. My oppon- ents have themselves in the very position in which I have desired to get them, and I shall now have the best possible opportunity of exposing them. At the request of the friends here, I have consented to preach 1855-50] THE STORY OF MY LIFE. 513 to-morrow evening, notwithstanding the opposition of the preachers hostile to me. I feel as if God the Lord would help me on this occasion, notwithstanding ray unfaithfulness and un worthiness ; He has never failed me in such an extremity. On the following Monday Dr. Ryerson's case was brought up for discussion. Rev. J. Borland made a strong appeal on behalf of his resolution. The Canadian Independent, of July 16th, in speaking of the debate said : — Mr. Borland had not spoken long in support of this before he was interrupted by Rev. Dr. Wood, the President, who made this most important declaration, that — He gave no verbal assurance for, or in behalf of Dr. Ryerson; that he received no such assurance from him; that the document he received from Dr. Ryerson was laid on the table, and read before the Conference, unaccom- panied by any verbal statements or assurances of any kind from him. This he afterwards repeated, when Rev. J. Spencer, the Editor of the Guardian, re-asserted the giving of such assur- ances. The co-delegate. Rev. J. Ryerson, also said that — He never thought of pledging Dr. Ryerson to silence on any of these questions, and he was sure the Conference would not ask him to do so, as the Conference never gagged any man. The Independent then proceeds : — Dr. Ryerson has been most unfairly treated. He has not denied having made application for re-admission, but only an application with pledges of silence. The resolutions of Conference, in 1854, accepting his resignation and warmly acknowledging his past services, and, in 1855, consenting to his re-admission, were never communicated to him, and were suppressed by the Guardian. This was most unmanly and unjust.* The matter now before the Conference was introduced at the Toronto District Meeting in his absence, and without notice being given him. t * Dr. Ryerson, in his speech at the Brockville Conference, referring to this omission, said : — The Conference passed a resolution complimentary and aflfection- ate towards myself, and expressive of its high sense of my long services in defend- ing the rights and advocating the interests of the Connexion. The copy of that resolution has never been communicated to me to this day ; Mr. Spencer suppressed the publication of it in the Guardian, and thus defeated the noble and generous intentions of the great majority of the Conference in regard to myself. t To this proceeding. Dr. Ryerson also referred in his speech as follows : — How did my opponents bring up their charge against me? Did they inform the defendant of the approaching ordeal, and secure his presence in an ecclesiastical court prior to his attempted execution ? No, Sir; the defendant obeys the call of duty, at personal sacrifice, to attend to a meeting of the senate and annual public exercises of the students of Victoria College ; and, while absent, these professed advocates of Methodistic rule, arraign him without notice, and seek to get a resolu- tion passed against him. Is that Methodism ? I3 that old Methodism ? If these, my assailants, believe, as they say, that the interests of the Church will be greatly promoted by my expulsion, then let them do it on Methodistic principles. Now, although I was well aware that they were opposed to me personally, yet I thought, though I was absent from the district meeting, they would treat me, at least, honourably. If I had done wrong, let them accuse me — ^give me a specific charge and due notice of trial, and let me prepare for my defence. This would be the manly course — this would be Methodism ; and if I had committed no offence, if no charge could be brought against me, why seek to exclude me from this body with- 33 614 THE STORY OF MY LIFE. [Chap. LVI He uttered some memorable things in his eloquent defence. I believe the true foundation or test of membership in the Church of Christ is not the acute angle of a Class-meeting attendance, but the broad bases of repentance, faith, and holiness. I can have no sympathy with that narrow and exclusive spirit, the breadth of whose catholicity is that of a goat's track, and the dimensions of whose charity are those of a needle's point, whether inculcated by the Editor of The Church on the one hand, or by the Editor of the Guardian on the other. He would give no pledges, had no concessions or promises to make; would be accountable to the rules of the Church as others, and would stand in that Conference on the same footing as other members, or not at all. While he subscribed to all that had been said as to the utility of Class-meetings, and reiterated the grounds on which he had recommended and maintained them; yet, on the ground of Scripture; obligation he demurred, and averred, in the language of Mr. Wesley, with whom they originated and who best knew their true position in the Church, that they are merely prudential, not essential, not of Divine institution. The Editor of the Independent, in conclusion, said : — We congratulate Dr. Ryerson on his successful defence. . . We should esteem it a dire calamity, could any dishonour be attached to his name. He is one of the most devoted, conscientious, able and successful officers in the public service. In the school system of Upper Canada, he has built for himself an enduring monument, as a benefactor of the Province. He is a brave yet courteous champion for some of our most precious rights. May those who watch for his halting be confounded and put to shame ! After a reference to some personal matters, Dr. Ryerson, in the course of his remarks, showed that he was prepared to sacri- fice much for the maintenance of the truth. He said : Shortly after the occurrence to which I have just referred, an act was got through the Legislature at the end of the Session of 1849, which excluded clergymen from visiting the public schools in their official character, and which would have excluded the Bible from the schools. What was my conduct on the occasion ? Why, I forthwith placed my office at the disposal of the Head of the Government sooner than administer such a law. The result was the Government authorized the suspension of the Act, and caused its repeal at the next Session of Parliament. The debate lasted over two days, and was finally closed by the adoption of an amendment by the Rev. A. Hurl hurt, recog- nizing the application of the previous year as admitted by Dr. Ryerson, and as understood by the Conference. The amend- ment was passed by an immense majority, only 23 out of 150 members present voting against it. out a charge and without a crime ? Is not this course opposed to all proceedings of civil and ecclesiastical tribunals, and to every principle of civil and religious liberty — to true Protestant freedom and to genuine Methodism, whether new or old! CHAPTER LYII. 1854-1856. Dr. Ryerson's Third Educational Tour in Europe. WHILE in Europe in 1854 and 1856, Dr. Ryerson, under the authority of the Government, commenced the collection of objects of art for the Educational Museum in the Education Department. While there he met Hon. Malcolm Cameron, who after Dr. Ryerson returned to Canada, wrote to him from London on the subject of his mission. In a letter, dated 3rd of January, 1857, Mr. Cameron said : — I have myself witnessed the result of the labour and reading which you must have gone tli rough with in order to obtain the information and culti- vation of judgment necessary to get the things our young Canada can afford ; things, too, of such a character and description as shall be useful, not only in elevating the taste of our youth, but of increasing their historical and mythological lore, as well as inform them of the facts of their accuracy in size and form. I was much flattered to find that my humble efforts to begin, in some degree, a Canadian gallery — by securing a few of Paul Kane's pictures in 1851 — had been followed up by you in your universally-acknowledged enlightened efforts for education, which (in my bitterest moments of aliena- tion from you, for what T esteemed a sacrifice of Canadian freedom, and right to self-government), I have ever cheerfully admitted. Your determination to obtain a few works of art and statuary, a few paint- ings, prints of celebrities, and scientific instruments, has cost you much labour, anxiety and thought, which I never would have conceived of had I not met you, and gone with you, and seen your notes and correspondence. You have passed through many trials, and in most of them I was with you. The period that presses on my mind (as Lord Elgin said of Montreal), I do not want to remember. God grant that we may see, in all matters for the rest of our few days, eye to eye, as we do now on all the subjects in which you are now engaged, publicly and privately. I think God is with you, and directing you aright in that Conference matter which is nearest to your heart, and I am confident that you will have a signal triumph. Dr. Ryerson has written the following account of a distin- guished physician whom he met at Rome : — One of the most remarkable men with whom I became acquainted in Italy, in my tour there in 1856-7, was Dr. Pantelioni, a scholar, physician, patriot, and statesman ; to whose character and banishment from Kome the London Times* newspaper devoted about three columns. Prefatory to the circumstances of my acquaintance with this remarkable man, I may observe, that when in England in 1850-1, I had a good deal of 5^0 THE STORY OF MY LIFE. [Chap. LVII. correspondence with Earl Grey, who was then Secretary of State for the Colonies, and through whom I was able to procure maps, globes, and essential text-books for Canadian schools, at a discount of forty-three per cent, from the published selling prices. Earl Grey was much pleased in being the in- strument of so much good to the cause of public education in Canada ; wrote to the English booksellers and got their consent to the arrangement, shewed me much kindness, and invited me to dine at his residence, in company with some distinguished English statesmen, among whom was Sir Charles Wood (afterwards a peer), and the late Marquis of Lansdowne, the Nestor of English statesmen, and beside whom I was seated at dinner. The Countess of Grey shewed me many kind attentions, and the Marquis of Lansdowne invited me to call the next day at Lansdowne House, and explain to him the Canadian system of education, as he was the Chairman of the Privy Council Committee on Education, and wished to know what had been done, and what might be done for the education of the labouring classes. I called at Lansdowne House, as desired, and explained as briefly and clearly as possible the Canadian school system, its popular comprehensiveness and fairness to all parties, its Christian, yet non-sectarian, character. At the conclusion of my remarks, the noble Marquis observed, " I cannot conceive a greater blessing to England than the introduction into it of the Canadian school system ; but, from our historical traditions and present state of society, all we can do is to aid by Parliamentary grants the cause of popular education through the agency of voluntary associations and religious denominations." Five years afterwards, in another educational tour in Europe, myself and daughter spent some months at the Paris Exhibition in 1855. The Earl and Countess of Grey, seeing our names on the Canadian Book of the Exhibition, called and left their cards at our hotel. We returned the call the following day, when the Earl and Countess told us they had an aunt at Rome devoted to the fine arts, who would have great pleasure in assisting us to select copies of great masters for our Canadian Educational Museum ; that they would write to her, and, if we left our cards with her on our arrival, she would gladly receive us. We did so, and, in less than an hour after, we received a most friendly letter from Lady Grey, saying that she had been expecting and waiting for us for some time, and writing us to come to her residence that evening, as she had invited a few friends. ''^ In the course of the evening, I was introduced to Dr. Pantelioni with this remark, " Dr. Ryerson, if you should become ill, you cannot fall into better hands than those of Dr. Pante- lioni." I replied that " I was glad to make his personal acquaintance, but hoped I should not need his professional services." But the very next day I was struck down in the Vatican while examining the celebrated painting of Raphael's Transfiguration and Dominichino's Last Communion of St. Jerome, with a cruel attack of lumbago and sciatica, rendering it necessary for four men to convey me down the long stairway to my carriage, and from thence to my room in the hotel, where I was confined for some three weeks, requiring three men for some days to turn me in bed. Language cannot de- scribe the agony I experienced during that period. Dr. Pantelioni was sent for, and attended me daily for thr^e weeks, and never charged me more than a dollar a visit. After two or three visits, finding that I was otherwise well, and had knowledge of government and civil affairs in Europe and America, * These evening parties aie conversazioni on a small scale. There were no suppers, but cups of tea and biscuits, chiefly for ladies ; the gentlemen did not take off their gloves or sit down, but kept their hats in their hands or under their arms. We were introduced to, and conversed with various parties. Lady Grey seemed to be ubiquitous, and to know everybody, and to make all feel at home. She is the widow of General Grey, and is said to have been in early days a belle and bright star in the highest London society. 1854-56] THE STORY OF MY LIFE. 617 he entered into conversation with me on these subjects. I found him to be one of the most generally read and enlightened men that I had met with on the Continent. He frequently remained from one to three hours conversing with me ; and in the course of these frequent and lengthened visits, Dr. Pantelioni related the following facts : 1st. That he was one of the liberal party in Rome that opposed the des- potism of the Papal government, and contributed to its overthrow, when Garibaldi for a time became supreme at Rome. 2nd. That he, with many other liberals, became convinced that the government which Garibaldi would inuagurate, would be little better than a mob, and would be neither stable nor safe. (Garibaldi was a bold and skilful party leader, but no statesman. I wit- nessed his presence in the Italian Legislature, then held in Florence ; he could declaim against government, and find fault, with individual acts ; but he seemed to have no system of government in his own mind, and com- manded little respect or attention after his first speech.) 3rd. Dr. Pantelioni' stated, that under these circumstances, he, with sev- eral liberal friends, agreed to go confidentially to the Pope, who was then an exile at Gaeta, and ofi'er their offices and influence to restore him to power at Rome, provided he would establish a constitutional government, and govern as a constitutional ruler. The pope agreed to their propositions, but when they reduced them to writing for his signature, and those of the gentle- men waiting upon him, he declined to sign his name ; in consequence of which Dr. Pantelioni and his friends felt they had no sufficient ground upon their own individual word, without a scrap of writing from the pen of the pope, to influence their friends, and risk their lives ; they, therefore, retired from the presence of his holiness, disappointed but not dishonored. 4th On my recoverv Dr. Pantelioni invited me to visit him at his resi- dence. I did so and found him possessed of the best private library I had seen in Italy, or even on the continent. It filled three large rooms ; one of which contained books (well arranged) of general history and literature, comprising the latest standard works in English (published both in England and America), French, German, Italian and Spanish. The second room was equally filled with shelves and books, beautifully arranged, on medical and scientific subjects of the latest date, and highest authority, in English, French, Italian, German, and Spanish, &c. The third room contained a fine and extensive collection of the latest standard works which had been pub- lished in England and the United States, France, Spain Germany, and Italy, on Civil Government. I was not before aware that the Italian language was so rich in political literature. I selected the titles, and ordered several books in that language for myself. 5th. In the course of these conversations. Dr. Pantelioni related the efforts of himself and friends to establish a constitutional government, despairing, as they did, of any competence of the Garibaldi party to establish such a gov- ernment. A deputation (of whom Dr. Pantelioni was one) went from Rome to Florence to consult the Right Honourable Richard Shiel, then the British Ambassador, or representative of the British Government, at Florence, as the British Government had no diplomatic relations with Rome. Mr. Shiel asked them what they wanted ? They replied, nothing more than the pro- tection of the British Government for twelve months, during which time they could establish a just and safe government, if protected from the in- terference of other governments. Mr. Shiel agreed to support their views, and Dr. Pantelioni and one or two others of the deputation took letters from Mr. Shiel on the subject to the late Viscount Palmerston and Lord John Russell, who encouraged their undertaking, entirely agreeing with the recom- 518 THE STOBY OF MY LIFE. [Chap. LIL Mendations of Mr. Shiel, who, although a Eoman Catholic, was a constitu- tional liberal. But it unfortunately happened that on the very day on which Dr. Pantelioni and his friends, after their mission to England, had intended to carry their plans into operation, the French army landed at Civita Vecchia, and having subdued the Garibaldi party at Eome, restored the Pope to the Vatican, with all his former pretensions and power. 6th. Some time afterwards, when the King of Italy overran the Papal ter- ritories. Dr. Pantelioni was nominated to the Italian Legislature for one of the new electoral divisions, but declined at once the acceptance of the nomination, and sent his resignation by the first post, well knowing the effect it might have upon his personal safety and interests at Eome, which was still under the rule of the Pope. But the partiality shown to Dr. Pantelioni by his newly enfranchised fellow-countrymen enraged the Court of Eome, which banished him from his city and country on a notice of only twenty-four hours ! The London I'imes newspaper devoted some two articles to Dr. Pantelioni's history and banishment, eulogizing him in the strongest terms. 7th. Dr. Pantelioni then took up his abode at Nice, in the south of France, and there pursued his profession. Some years afterward, when making my last educational tour on the Con- tinent in 1867, I stopped a day with my son at Nice, and learned that there was an Italian physician residing there, an exile from Eome. I knew it must be my old physician and friend, and immediately called upon him. We were, of course, both delighted to see each other again ; and he invited myself and son to spend the evening at his house, which we did. He had,. since I saw him at Eome, married an English lady, who seemed in every respect worthy of him. When in the course of the evening I expressed my sympathy with him in his exile, privation of his beautiful residence and fine library, he replied with energy, bringing his hand down strongly on the table, " I have such faith in the principles on which I have acted, and in the providence of God, that I shall just as surely go back to Eome, as that I am sure I am now talking to you." Some one or two years afterwards I learned from the newspapers, that Dr. Pantelioni had been recalled to Rome by the King of Italy, and appointed to the head of all the Eoman Hospitals. In a letter from Dr. Kyerson dated London, 30th October, 1857, he said : " On the 28th inst. we witnessed the consecration of Dr. Cronyn as Bishop of Huron, and were afterwards invited to lunch with the Archbishop of Canterbury. Several bishops were present. Afterwards we went with Dr. Cronyn to Wool-^ wich, and dined with him at his son-in-law's (Col. Burrows)." CHAPTER LVIII. 1859-1862. Denominational Colleges and the XJNivERSiTy Controversy. ONE of the most memorable controversies in which Dr. Ryer- son was enorasred was that on behalf of the Denominational Colleges of Upper Canada. Unfortunately, at various stages of the discussion, the con- troversy partook largely of a personal character. This pre- vented that clear, calm, and dispassionate consideration of the whole of this important question to which it was entitled, and hence, in one sense, no good result accrued. Such a question as this was worthy of a better fate. For at that stage of our history it was a momentous one — worthy of a thoughtful, earnest and practical solution — a solution of which it was then capable, had it been taken up by wise, far-seeing and pat- riotic statesmen. But the opportunity was unfortunately lost ; and in the anxiety in some cases to secure a personal triumph, a grand movement to give practical effect to somewhat like the comprehensive university scheme of the Hon. Robert Baldwin, of 1843, failed. Mr. Baldwin's proposal of that year was de- feated \)j the defenders of King's College, as a like scheme of twenty years later was defeated by the champions of the Toronto University. The final result of the painful struggle of 1859-1863 was in effect as follows : — 1. Things were chiej9y left in statu quo ante bellum. 2. An impetus was given to the denominational college principle ; and that principle was emphasized. 3. Colleges with university powers were multiplied in the province. 4. Life and energy were infused into the denominational colleges. 5. Apathy and indifference prevailed (and, to some extent, still prevails) among the adherents of the Provincial University. I have already stated that the issues raised in the memorable university contest of 1859-1863 were important. So they were, as after events have proved. The question, however, was un- fortunately decided twenty years ago, not by an independent, 520 THE STOBY OF MY LIFE. [Chap. LVIII impartial and disinterested tribunal, but by the parties in pos- session, whose judgment in the case would naturally be in their own favour. Besides, members of the Government at the time felt no real interest in the question, and were glad, under the shelter of official statements and opinions, to escape collision with such powerful bodies as the Wesleyan Methodists and the Church of Scotland. This discussion originated in the presentation to the Legisla- ture of a memorial from the Wesleyan Methodist Conference, prepared by Dr. Ryerson, dated November, 1859, to the follow- ing effect : — That the Legislature in passing the Provincial University Act of 1853> clearly proposed and avowed a threefold object. First, the creation of a IJDiversity for examining candidates, and conferring degrees in the Faculties of Arts, Law, and Medicine. Secondly, the establishment of an elevated curriculum of University education, conformable to that of the London Uni- versity in England. Thirdly, the association with the Provincial University of the*^ several colleges already established, and which might be established, in Upper Canada, with the Provincial University, the same as various col- leges of different denominations in Great Britain and Ireland are affiliated to the London University — placed as they are upon equal footing in regard to and aid from the state, and on equal footing in regard to the composition of the Senate, and the appointment of examiners. In the promotion of these objects the Conference and members of the Wesleyan Methodist Church cordially concurred ; and at the first meeting after the passing of the University Act, the Senatorial Board of Victoria Col- lege adopted the programme of collegiate studies established by the Senate of the London University, and referred to in the Canadian Statute. But it soon appeared that the Senate of the Toronto University, instead of giving effect to the liberal intentions of the Legislature, determined to identify the University with one college, in contradistinction and to the exclusion of all others, to establish a monopoly of senatorial power and public revenue for one college alone ; so much so, that a majority of the legal quorum of the Senate now consists of the professors of one college, one of whom is invari- ably one of the two examiners of their own students, candidates for degrees, honors, and scholarships. The curriculum of the University studies, instead of being elevated and conformed to that of the London University, has been revised and changed three times since 1853, and reduced by options and otherwise below what it was formerly, and below what it is in the British Universities, and below what it is in the best colleges in the United States. The effect of this narrow and anti-liberal course is, to build up one College at the expense of all others, and to reduce the standard of a University degree in both Arts and Medicine below what it was before the passing of the Uni- versity Act in 1853, Instead of confining the expenditure of funds to what the law prescribed — namely, the "current expenses," and such "permanent improvements or additions to the buildings " as might be necessary for the purposes of the University and University College — new buildings have been erected at an expenditure of some hundreds of thousands of dollars, and the current ex- penses of the College have been increased far beyond what they were in former times of complaint and investigation on this subject. Your memorialists therefore submit, that in no respect have the liberal and enlightened intentions of the Legislature in passing the University Act been fulfilled— a splendid but unjust monopoly for the city -and college of 1859-62] THE STORY OF MY LIFE. 621 Toronto having been created, instead of a liberal and elevated system, equally fair to all the colleges of the country. A Provincial University should be what its name imports, and what was clearly intended by the Legislature — a body equally unconnected with, and equally impartial to every college in the country ; and every college should be placed on equal footing in regard to public aid according to its works, irrespective of place, sect, or party. It is as unjust to propose, as it is un- reasonable to expect, the affiliation of several colleges in one University except on equal terms. There have been ample funds to enable the Senate to submit to the Government a comprehensivt; and patriotic recommendation to give effect to the liberal intentions of the Legislature in the accomplish- ment of these objects ; but the Senate has preferred to become the sole pntron of one college to the exclusion of .all others, and to absorb and expend the large and increasing funds of the University, instead of allowing any surplus to accumulate for the general promotion of academical education, as contem- plated and specifically directed by the statute. Not only has the annual income of the University endowment been reduced some thousands of pounds per annum by vast expenditures for the erection of buildings not contem- plated by the Act, but a portion of those expenditures is for the erection of lecture-rooms, &c., for the Faculties of which the Act expressly forbids the establishment ! But whilst your memorialists complain that the very intentions of this Act have thus been disregarded and defeated, we avow our desire to be the same now as it was more than ten years ago, in favour of the establishment of a Provincial University, unconnected with any one college or religious persuasion, but sustaining a relation of equal fairness and impartiality to the several religious persuasions and colleges, with power to prescribe the cur- riculum, to examine candidates, and confer degrees, in the Faculties of Arts, Law, and Medicine. We also desire that the University College at Toronto should be efficiently maintained ; and for that purpose we should not object that the minimum of its income from the University Endowment should be even twice that of any other college ; but it is incompatible with the very idea of a national University, intended to embrace the several colleges of the nation, to lavish all the endowment and patronage of the state upon one college, to the exclu- Bion of all others. At the present time, and for years past, the noble Uni- versity Endowment is virtually expended by parties directly or indirectly connected with but one college ; and the scholarships and prizes, the honors and degrees conferred, are virtually the rewards and praises bestowed by pro- fessors upon their own students, and not the doings and decisions of a body wholly unconnected with the college. Degrees and distinctions thus con- ferred, however much they cost the country, cannot possess any higher literary value, as they are of no more legal value, than those conferred by the Senatus Academicus of the other chartered colleges. It is therefore submitted that if it is desired to have one Provincial Uni- versity, the corresponding arrangement should be made to place each of the colleges on equal footing according to their works in regard to everything emanating from the state. And if it is refused to place these colleges on equal footing as colleges of one University, it is but just and reasonable that they should be placed upon equal footing in regard to aid from the state, according to their works as separate University colleges. It is well known that it is the natural tendency, as all experience shows, that any college independent of all inspection, control, or competition in. wealth— all its officers securely paid by the state, independent of exertion or success — will in a short time, as a general rule, degenerate into inactivity, indifference, and extravagance. In collegiate institutions, as well as in the 522 THE STORY OF MY LIFE. [Chap. LVIII. higher and elementary schools, and in other public and private affairs of life, competition is an important element of efficiency and success. The best system of collegiate, as of elementary education, is that in which voluntary effort is developed by means of public aid. It is clearly both the inters et and duty of the state to prompt and encourage individual effort in regard to collegiate, as in regard to elementary, education and not to discourage it by the creation of a monopoly invidious and unjust on the one side, and on the other deadening to all individual effort and enterprise, and oppressive to the state. We submit, therefore, that justice and the best interests of liberal education require the several colleges of the country to be placed upon equal footing according to their works. We ask nothing for Victoria College which we do not ask for every collegiate institution in Upper Canada upon the same terms. We desire also that it may be distinctly understood that we ask no aid towards the support of any theological school or theological chair in Victoria College. There is no such chair in Victoria College; and whenever one shall be established, provision will be made for its support independent of any grant from the state.* We claim support for Victoria College according to its works as a literary institution — as teaching those branches which are embraced in the curriculum of a liberal education, irrespective of denomi- national theology. We also disclaim an}' sympathy with the motives and objects which have been attributed by the advocates of Toronto College monopoly, in relation to our National School system. The fact that a member of our own body has been permitted by the annual approbation of the Conference to devote him- self to the establishment and extension of our school system, is ample proof of our approval of that system : in addition to which we have from time to time expressed our cordial support of it by formal resolutions, and by the testimony and example of our more than four hundred ministers throughout the Province. No religious community in Upper Canada has, therefore, given so direct and effective support to the National School system as the Wesleyan community, but we have ever maintained, and we submit, that the same interests of general education for all classes which require the maintenance of the elementary school system require a reform in our Uni- versity system in order to place it on a foundation equally comprehensive and impartial, and not to be the patron and mouthpiece of one college alone ; and the same consideration of fitness, economy and patriotism which justify the state in co-operating with each school municipality to support a day school, require it to co-operate with each religious persuasion, according to its own educational works, to support a college The experience of all Protestant countries shows that it is, and has been, as much the province of a religious persuasion to establish a college as it is for a school municipality to estat3lish a day school ; and the same experience shows that, while pastoral and parental care can be exercised for the religious instruction of children residing at home and attending a day school, that care cannot be exercised over youth residing away from home and pursuing their higher education except in a college where the pastoral and parental care can be daily com- bined. We hold that the highest interests of the country, as of an indi- vidual, are its religious and moral interests ; and we believe there can be no heavier blow dealt out against those religious and moral interests, than foi the youth of a country destined to receive the best literary education, to be placed, during the most eventful years of that educational course, without the pale of daily parental and pastoral instruction and oversight. The results of such a system must, sooner or later, sap the religious and moral * Since established and supported, as is the one in Montreal, by contributions from the Methodist people. 1859-62] THE STORY OF MY LIFE. 523 foundations of society. For such is the tendency of our nature, that with all the appliances of religious instruction and ceaseless care by the parent and pastor ; they are not always successful in counteracting evil propensities and temptations ; and therefore, from a system which involves the with- drawal or absence of all such influence for years at a period when youthful passions are strongest, and youthful temptations most powerful, we cannot out entertain painful apprehensions. Many a parent would deem it his duty to leave his son without the advantages of a liberal education, rather than thus expose him to the danger of moral shipwreck in its acquirement This danger does not so much apply to that very considerable class of per- sons whose home is in Toronto ; or to those young men whose character and principles are formed, and who, for the most part, are pursuing their studies by means acquired by their own industry and economy ; or to the students of theological institutions established in Toronto, and to which the University College answers the convenient purpose of a free Grammar School, in certain secular branches. But such cases form the exceptions, and not the general rule. And if one college at Toronto is liberally endowed for certain classes who have themselves contributed or done nothing to promote liberal education, we submit that in all fairness, apart from moral patriotic considerations, the state ought to aid with corresponding liberality those other classes who for years have contributed largely to erect and sus- tain collegiate institutions, and who while they endeavour to confer upon youth, as widely as possible, the advantages of a sound liberal education, seek to incorporate with it those moral influences, associations, and habits which give to education its highest value, which form the true basis and cement of civil institutions and national civilization, as well as of individual character and happiness. The various statements and propositions in this memorial were fully and ably discussed on both sides at the time before a Committee of the Legislature. The discussion itself and volu- minous papers and documents on either side were published in pamphlet form and in the newspapers, so that no further reference to them is necessary. The only other point raised in the discussion which is not mentioned in the memorial, is one on which Dr. Ryerson has expressed himself clearly. That is the relations of denominational colleges to the national system of public schools. On that point he says: — The denominational collegiate system which I advocate is in harmony with the fundamental principles of our Common School system. . . The fundamental principle of the school system is two-fold. First, the right of the parent and pastor to provide religious instruction for their children ; and to have facilities for that purpose. While the law protects each pupil from compulsory attendance at any religious reading or exercise against the wish of his parent; it also provides that within that limitation "pupils shall be allowed to receive such rehgious instruction as their parents and guardians shall desire, accord- ing to the general regulations which shall be provided accord- ing to law." The general regulations provide that the parent may make discretionary arrangements with the teacher on the subject; and that the clergyman of any Church shall have the 524 THE STOBY OF MY LIFE. [Chap. LVIIT. right to any school house being within his charge for one hour in the week between four and five, for the religious instruction of the pupils of his own Church. Be it observed, then, the supreme right of the parent, and the corresponding right of the pastor in regard to the religious instruction of youth, even in connexion with day schools, where children are with their parents more than half of each week day, and the whole of each Sunday, is a fundamental principle of the Common School system. The less or greater extent to which the right may be exercised in various places, does not affect the principles or right itself, which is fundamental in the system. The second fundamental principle in the school system is the co-operation and aid of the State with each locality or section of the com- munity as a condition of, and in proportion to local effort. This is a vital principle of the school system, and pervades it through- out, and is a chief element of its success. No public aid is given until a school house is provided, and a legally qualified teacher is employed, when public aid is given in proportion to the work done in the school; that is, in proportion to the number of children taught, and the length of time the school is kept open; and public aid is given for the purpose of school maps and apparatus, the prize books and libraries, in proportion to the amount provided from local sources. To the application of that principle between the State and the inhabitants of localities there is no exception whatever, except in the single case of dis- tributing a sum not exceeding £500 per annum in aid of poor school sections in new townships, and then their local effort must precede the application for a special grant. Such are the two fundamental principles of the school system, on which I have more than once dwelt at large in ofl^cial re- ports. Now apply these principles to the collegiate system of the country. First, the united right and duty of the parent and pastor. Should that be suspended when the son is away from home, or should it be provided for ? Let parental affection and conscience, and not blind or heartless partisanship, reply. If, then, the combined care and duty of the parent and pastor are to be provided for as far as possible when the son is pursuing the higher part of his education, for which he must leave home, can that be done best in a denominational or non-denominational College ? But one answer can be given to this question. The religious and moral principles, feelings, and habits of youth are paramount. Scepticism and partisanship may sneer at them as " sectarian," but religion and conscience will hold them as supreme. If the parent has the right to secure the religious instruction and oversight of his son at home, in connection with 1859-62J THE STOBY OF MY LIFE. 525 his school education, has he not a right to do so when his son is abroad ? and is not the State in duty bound to afford him the best facilities for that purpose ? And how can that be done so effectually — nay, how can it be effectually done at all — except in a college which, while it gives the secular education required by the State, responds to the parent's heart and faith to secure the higher interests which are beyond all human computation, and without the cultivation of which society itself cannot exist? It is a mystery of mysteries, that men of conscience, men of religious principle and feeling, can be so far blinded by sectarian jealousy and partizanship, as to desire for one moment to with- hold from youth at the most feeble, most tempted, most event- ful period of their educational training, the most potent guards, helps, and influences to resist and escape the snares and seduc- tions of vice, and to acquire and become established in those principles, feelings, and habits which will make them true Christians, at the same time that they are educated men. Even in the interests of civilization itself, what is religious and moral stands far before what is merely scholastic and refined. The Hon. Edward Everett has truly said in a late address, " It is not political nor military power, but moral sentiments, principally under the guidance and influence of religious zeal, that has in all ages civilized the world." What creates civilization can alone preserve and advance it. The great question, after all, in the present discussion, is not which system will teach the most classics, mathematics, etc. (although I shall consider the ques- tion in this light presently), but which system will best protect, develop, and establish those higher principles of action, which are vastly more important to a country itself — apart from other and immortal considerations — than any amount of intellectual attainments in certain branches of secular knowledge. Colleges under religious control may fall short of their duty and their power of religious and moral influence ; but they must be, as a general rule, vastly better and safer than a College of no religious control or character at all. At all events, one class of citizens have much more valid claims to public aid for a College that will combine the advantages of both secular and religious education, than have another class of citizens to public aid for a College which confers no benefit beyond secular teaching alone. It is not the sect, it is society at large that most profits by the high religious principles and character of its educated men. An efficient religious College must confer a much greater benefit upon the State than a non-religious College can, and must be more the benefactor of the State than the State can be to it by bestowing any ordinary amount of endowment. It is, therefore, in harmony with the first fundamental principle of 526 THE STORY OF MY LIFE. [Chap. LVIII. the Common School system, as well as with the highest interests of society at large, that the best facilities be provided for all that is affectionate in the parent and faithful in the pastor, during the away-from-home education of youth ; and that is a College under religous control, whether that control be of the Church of the parent or not. I have already given on page 344, Dr. Ryerson's opinions in regard to the provisions of Hon. Robert Baldwin's University Bill of 1843. From the extract there inserted it will be seen that the practical objection which he raised in 1859, to the adminis- tration of the University Act of 1853, was in general harmony with the views and opinions on University matters which he had expressed fifteen or sixteen years before. A fuller expres- sion of these opinions was given in a letter which Dr. Ryerson wrote to the British Colonist on the 14th of February, 1846. From that letter I make the following extracts : — The Board of Victoria College took no part in the University question until after the introduction of a Bill into the Legislature which affected the -chartered rights and relations of Victoria College. On that occasion a special meeting of the Board was called, to decide whether it would, under any circumstances, acquiesce in that Bill, and upon what terms. The Board expressed a strong opinion in favour of the general terms of the Bill, but expressed an unfavourable opinion respecting some of its details, -especially the project of the " Extra mural Board," and the non-recognition of Christianity, The Board also objected to the smallness of the amount proposed to be given to Victoria College. It stated that Victoria College, having been erected by public subscription, for the purpose of "teaching the various branches of science and literature upon Christian principles," could not cease to be a literary institution, as some supposed the Bill contem- plated ; it stated the peculiar hardships of the aspect of the Bill to the Methodist institution, under all the circumstances (which it explained), and submitted them to the honourable and generous consideration of the Govern- ment. . . Mr. Baldwin's Bill proposed to grant the sum of ^500 per annum each for several years to no less than four seminaries [besides the University]. . . It was objected to on the part of both Presbyterians and Methodists, that its application to them was not liberal enough ; it was objected to on the part of King's College Council that it gave even a farthing to any of them. Afterwards King's College Council objected to the Bill, and employed counsel to oppose it, on the ground that the Legislature had no right to interfere with their charter, or to divert any portion of King's College funds in aid of other institutions. To this plea of the King's College Council an individual member of the Victoria College Board offered an argumentative reply, contending that the endowment of King's College was the property of the Province, and upon legal, constitutional, and equitable grounds, came within the limits of Provincial legislation. This principle, I believe, is now generally admitted. From this summary of well known facts it is evident — 1. That Mr. Bald- win's Bill did contemplate giving aid to other institutions than the Toronto University. 2. That the friends of Queen's, E-egiopolis, Victoria and King's Colleges did expect to derive assistance from the University funds. 3. That the objections to Mr. Baldwin's Bill on the part of the Presbyterians and 1859-62] THE STORY OF MY LIFE. 527 Methodists were, not that any portion of the University funds should be applied in aid of their institutions, but that the portion proposed was entirely too small. 4. That those who supported Mr. Baldwin's BiU cannot consistently object to aid being given from the University funds to institu- tions in connection with the Church of England, Roman Catholics and Methodists. The amount and duration of such aid is a mere prudential consideration ; the principle is the same, whether the amount of aid be five hundred or five thousand pounds, whether the duration be five years or five hundred years That there should be a Provincial University, furnishing the highest academical and professional education, at least in respect to law and medicine; that there should be a Provincial system of common school education, com- mensurate with the wants of the entire population ; that both the University and the system should be established and conducted upon Christian princi- ples, yet free from sectarian bias or ascendancy ; that there should be an intermediate class of seminaries in connection with the different religious persuasions, who have ability and enterprise to establish them, providing on the one hand a theological education for their clergy, and on the other hand a thorough English and scientific education, and elementary classical instruc- tion for those of the youth of their congregations who might seek for more than a common school education, or who might wish to prepare for the University, and who, not having the experience and discretion of University students, required a parental and religious oversight, in their absence from their parents ; that it would be economy and patriotic on the part of the Government to grant liberal aid to such seminaries, as well as to provide for the endowment of a University or a common school system ; — these are views which I explained and argued at length when the University question was under discussion, from 1828 to 1834 ; these are tlie views on which the Methodists asked in establishing the Upper Canada Academy, now Victoria College ; these are views, by pressing which, a royal charter and government aid were obtained for that institution ; these are the views which received strong confirmation in the recommendation of a despatch from Lord Goderich to Sir John Colborne in 1832, and which greatly encouraged the friends of the Upper Canada Academy in their commencing exertions. That institu- tion was not originally intended to be a University College; nor was it sought to be made so until after the establishment of a Presbyterian Univer- sity College at Kingston ; when, prompted by example and emulation, and encouragement of aid, it was thought that the operations of a University might be grafted upon those of the academy, without interfering with the more extended objects of the latter More than a thousand youth have received more or less instruction at the Cobourg Institution ; very few of them, apart from other considerations, have gone from it without forming a high standard of education, and a deeper conviction of its importance than they had before entertained; it has pre- vented hundreds of youth from going out of the country to be educated, upon whom, and upon hundreds of others, it has conferred the benefits of a good practical education. Its buildings present the most remarkable monu- ment of religious effort and patriotic energy which was ever witnessed in any country of the age and population of Upper Canada The Wesleyan Methodists have not, like the Churches of England, Scot- land and Rome, derived any assistance from the clergy reserve fund, or other public aid to their clergy or churches. It is much easier to figure upon a platform than to establish educational institutions, or to preach the •Oospel throughout new countries. Those who have been in Canada twelve months can do the former, and sneer at the latter. The flippant allusions of certain speakers at the late Toronto meeting to the Methodists and to Vic- toria College . , . were as unfounded as they were unbecoming. 528 THE STORY OF MY LIFE. [Chap. LVIII. The discussions on the University question at Quebec in 1860 were, as I have intimated, bitter and largely personal. Dr. Ryerson, being in the fore front of the University reformers, was singled out for special attack by some of the ablest de- fenders of the University. I shall not enter into detail, but will give the opening and concluding parts of Dr. Rj'crson's great speech, which he made before the Committee of the Legis- lature on the 25th and 26th of April, 1860 :— I am quite aware of the disadvantage under which I appear before you to-day. I am not insensible of the prejudices which may have been excited in the minds of many individuals by the occurences of the last few days ; . . I am not at all insensible of the fact that the attempt has been made to turn the issue, not on the great question which demands attention, but upon my merits or demerits, my standing as a man, and the course which I have pursued. This subject, of very little importance to the Committee, . . possesses a great deal of importance to myself. No man can stand in the presence of the Representa- tives of the people ; no man can stand, as I feel myself stand- ing this morning, not merely in the presence of a Committee, but, as it were, in the presence of my native country, the land of my birth, affections, labours, hopes, without experiencing the deepest emotion. But how much more is that the case when attempts have been made, of the most unprecedented kind, to deprive me of all that is dear to me as a man, as a parent, as a public officer, as a minister of the Christian Church. More especially do I thus feel because reading and arranging the papers on this subject, to which my attention has been called, occupied me until five o'clock this morning. . . Sir, the position of the question which demands our considera- tion this day, is one altogether peculiar, and, 1 will venture to say, unparalleled in this or any other country. The individuals connected with myself — the party unconnected with what may be called the National University of the country, stand as the conservators of a high standard of education, and appear before you as the advocates of a thorough course of training that will discipline, in the most effectual manner, the powers of the mind, and prepare the youth of our country for those pursuits and those engagements which demand their attention as men. Christians, and patriots, while the very persons to whom has been allotted this great interest, this important trust, stand before you as the advocates of a reduction, of a puerile system which has never invigorated the mind, or raised up great men in any country ; which can never lay deep and broad the foundations of intellectual grandeur and power anywhere, but which is characterized by that superficiality which marks the 1859-62] THE STOEY OF MY LIFE. 529 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 1 may have pressed my views to an extent beyond the present standing, the present capabilities of the Province, my views have been up- ward, 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 1 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 Com- mittee, 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 and moral oversight, as well as their literary training, are carefully watched over and duly provided for ; a conviction practically evident by the I'act that not only the members of the Wesleyan Methodist Church, and other Methodists, but the members of the Churches of England, Scotland and Rome have contributed largely, and exerted themselves to establish colleges and higher seminaries of learning for the superior education of their children. 2nd. That no provision for instruction in secular learning alone, can com- pensate for the absence of provision, or care, for the religious and moial instruction of youth in the most exposed, critical, and eventful periods oi their lives. 3rd. That it is of the highest importance to the best interests of Canada that the Legislative provision for superior education, shall be in harmonj 84 530 THE STOBY OF MY LIFE. [Chap. LVIII. with the conscientious convictions and circumstances of the religious per- suasions, which virtually constitute the Christianity of the country. 4th. That the exclusive application of the Legislative provision for superior education, to the endowment of a college for the education of the sons of that class of parents alone who wish to educate their sons in a non-denominational instit.ution, irrespective of their religious principles and moral character, to the exclusion of those classes of parents who wish to educate their sons in colleges or seminaries where a paternal care is bestowed upon their moral and religious interests, at the same time that they are carefully and thor- oughly taught in secular learning ; is grossly illiberal, partial, unjust and^ unpatriotic, and merits the severest reprobation of every liberal and right- minded man of every religious persuasion and party in the country. 5. That the ministers and members of the Wesleyan Methodist Church, aided by the liberal co-operation of many other friends of Christian education, have largely and long contributed to establish and maintain Victoria Col- lege, in which provision is made for the religious instruction and oversight of students, independent of any Legislative aid— in which there are fifty- nine students in the Faculty of Arts, besides more than two hundred pupils and students in preparatory and si3ecial classes- in which no religious test is permitted by the charter in the admission of arfy student, or pupil, and in which many hundreds of youths of different religious persuasions, have been educated and prepared for professional and other pursuits, many of whom have already honourably distinguished themselves in the clerical, legal and medical professions, as also in mercantile and other branches of business. 6th. That Victoria College is justly entitled to share in the Legislative provision for superior education, according to the number of students in the collegiate and academical courses of instruction. 7th. That we affectionately entreat the members of our Church, to use their influence to elect, as far as possible, public men who are favourable to the views expressed in the foregoing resolutions, and do equal justice to those who wish to give a superior religious education to the youth of the country, as well as those who desire for their sons a non-religious education alone. Dr. Byerson concluded his speech on the 26th April. Towards its close he said : — [One of the speakers] thought to amuse the Committee, by a reference to an expression of mine, used in a letter written by me several years since, that I had meditated my system of public instruction for this country — (for I con- templated the whole system from the primary school to the Uni- versity) — on some of the highest mountains in Europe, and said, using a very elegant expression, it must therefore be rather " windy." . . No one can have read the history of Greece or Scotland, or the Northern and Western parts of England, with- out knowing that, from elevated and secluded places, some of the finest inspirations of genius have emanated which have ever been conceived by the mind of man. There are mountains in Europe where the recluse may stand and see beneath him curling clouds, and roaring tempests spending their strength, while he is in a calm untroubled atmosphere, on the summit of a moun- tain of which it may be said, '* Though round his breast the rolling clouds are spread, Eternal sunshine settles on his head." 1859-62] THE STORY OF MY LIFE. 531 And I ask whether it was unphilosophical for an individual who had examined the educational systems of various countries, and who was crossing the Alps, to retire to a mountain solitude, and there, in the abode of that "eternal sunshine," and in the presence of Him who is the fountain of light, to contemplate a system which was to diffuse intellectual and moral light through- out his native country, to survey the condition of that country as a whole, apart from its political-religious dissensions, and ask what system could be devised to enable it to take its position among the civilized nations of the world ? . . After giving expression to his views on what he conceived to be a proper and suitable University system for the Province, he concluded with these words : — It is perfectly well known to the Committee that its time, for the last four or fiv^ days, has been occupied, not in the investigation of these principles, but by -attempts to destroy what is dearer to me than life, in order to crush the cause with which I am identified ; and a scene has been enacted here, somewhat resembling that which took place in a certain committee room, at Toronto, in regard to a certain Inspector-General. Every single forgetfulness or omission of mine has been magnified and tortured in every possible way, to destroy my reputation for integrity, and my standing in the country. A newspaper in Toronto, whose editor-in-chief is a man of very great notoriety, has said, since the commencement of this inquiry, that, in my early days, I made mercenary approaches to another church, but was indignantly repelled, and hence my present position. I showed the other day that [ might have occupied the place of Vice-Chancellor of the University which Mr. Langton now holds, had I desired (and the proposal was made to me after my return from Europe in 1856), and I have similar records to prove that in 1825, after the commencement of my Wesley an ministry, I had the authori- tative offer of admission to the ministry of the Church of Eng- land (see pages 41 and 206). My objection, and my sole objections was, that my early religious principles and feelings were wholly owing to the instrumentality of the Methodist people, and I had been providentially called to labour among them ; not that I did not love the Church of England. Those were " saddlebag days," and I used to carry in my saddlebags two books, to which 1 am more indebted than to any other two books in the English lan- guage, except the Holy Scriptures, namely, the Prayer Book and the Homilies of the Church of England. At this very day. Sir, though I have often opposed the exclusive assumptions of some members of the Church of England, I only love it less than the Church with which I am immediately associated. I have been charged with being the leader of the present 532 THE STOBY OF MY LIFE. [Chap. LVIIL movement. I am entitled to no such honour. If I have written a line it has been as the amanuensis of my ecclesiastical supe- riors ; if I have done anything, it has been in compliance with the wishes of those whom I love and honour ; and my attach- ment to the Wesleyan body, and the associations and doings of my early years, have been appealed to, as a ground of claim for my humble aid in connection with this movement. Sir, the Wesleyan people, plain and humble as they were, did me good in my youth, and I will not abandon them in my old age. I iiave only further to add, that whatever may be my short- comings, and even sins, I can say with truth that I love my country ; that by habit of thought, by association, by every possible sympathy I could awaken in my breast, I have sought to increase my aifection for my native land. I have endeavoured to invest it with a sort of personality, to place it before me as an individual, beautiful in its proportions, as well as vigorous in all the elements of its constitution, and losing sight of all distinction of classes, sects, and parties, to ask myself, in the presence of that Being, before whom I shall shortly stand, what I could do most for my country's welfare, how I could contri- bute most to found a system of education that would give to Canada, when I should be no more, a career of splendour which will make its people proud of it. I may adopt the words of a poet — though they may not be very poetical : — * Sweet place of my kindred, blest land of my birth, The fairest, the purest, the dearest on earth j Where'er I may roam, where'er I may be, My spirit instinctively turns unto thee.' Whatever may have been the course of proceeding adopted towards me in this inquiry, I bear enmity to no man ; and whatever may be the result of this investigation, and the decision of the committee, I hope that during the few years 1 have to live, I shall act consistently with the past, and still endeavour to build up a country that will be distinguished in its religious, social, moral, educational, and even political insti- tutions and character ; to assist in erecting a structure of intel- lectual progress and power, on which future ages may look back with respect and gratitude, and thus to help, in some humble degree, to place our beloved Canada among the foremost nations of the earth. The following private letters, written to me at the time from Quebec and Kingston, by Dr. Ryerson, throw additional light upon the nature of the contest in which he was engaged. They also reveal what the character of his personal feelings and the exercise of his mind during that eventful time were. 1851] THE STORY OF MY LIFE. 533 On the 20th April, Dr. Ryerson said : — I have had a very painful and laborious week ; but I hope to-morrow to be able by divine help, to answer two of my principal opponents effectually. One of these gentlemen made a very plausible speech yesterday in defence of the University, and in reply chiefly to me, but full of fallacies and misquotations. April 27th. — I finished my defence yesterday in the presence of a densely crowded room — consisting of a large number of Legislative Councillors and members of the House of Assembly — several of whom, I was told, were quite moved when I closed, and cheered me heartily when I sat down. I was congratulated on all sides by them in the afternoon, upon the manner in which I had triumphantly defended myself. I can only say, to God be all the praise. I felt myself as weak as water. I was so depressed and affected the night before, and the morning of commencing my defence, that I could not speak without emotion and tears ; but I prayed and relied upon Him who had never failed me in the hour ot trial, and my personal friends were also engaged in prayer in my behalf. As soon as I commenced, I felt as if an army of such assailants were as so many pigmies, and, my friends say, I handled them as such. The remarks of members of both Houses are various, and some of them amusing — all agreeing in the completeness of the defence. All agree also as to the extravagance and defects of the system, and the unquestionable claims of denominational colleges. I cannot review the great goodness of God to me during this mortifying week without an overflowing heart and tears of gratitude. More conscious and manifold help from above I never experienced. I hope I may never be called to pass through such another conflict. I spoke two hours and forty minutes on the day before yesterday, and one hour and three- quarters yesterday. May 8th. — I shall be able to send you to-morrow a copy in slips of my reply to my two principal opponents. I know not what will be the result, but I trust in God, who has done better for us than all our fears or our hopes thus far. I hear that the general conviction of members is with me. One of the Senators told me that he had heard but one opinion on the subject. There are some who are satisfied that I have gained in the contest, but who are not in favour of dividing the endowment. All seem to feel that the present system is bad, and that something must be done, and that denominational colleges must be sustained. I think the House will refuse to do anything until the evidence, etc., on the subject is laid before the country. I thank you for your very kind sympathy in my conflicts. 534 THE STORY OF MY LIFE. [Chap. LVIII- Kingston, June 7tk — The Conference met yesterday, and seems to be in a very good spirit. A Committee was appointed^ named by myself, and moved by Rev. Dr. Wood — to arrange for proceedings on the University question. The Committee met last night, and agreed to have a public meeting ; and my- self and one or two more to draw up resolutions to be submitted to it. I am desired to address the meeting in the evening, when it is expected there will be a great gathering. I find the preachers to be very cordial and grateful. Kingston June Sth. — The official lay members of the Church in the city of Kingston presented a congratulatory address to the Conference this forenoon, in which they referred with great feeling and force to the University question, also to the repre- sentatives of the Conference at Quebec, and especially to my- self — requesting that the Guardian might be more and more the medium of furnishing the connexion with facts and informa- tion on the subject, and that my Defence should be inserted in it for the information of our people. Rev. G. R. Sanderson, seconded by Rev. W. Jefi*ers, moved a vote of thanks to the official members of Kingston for their address. Rev. J. Spencer, Editor of the Guardian, regarded the address as an attack upon himself, and said the lay mem- bers had been instigated to make the attack upon him. Dr. Wood showed that the address simply made a request. Mr. Spencer was considered to have made a great mistake for himself. The feeling of Conference in regard to myself is very cordial and very enthusiastic on the University question. The article in The Canadian Church is much admired. A copy of it has been sent to the Montreal Gazette, also to the Kingston Daily News. It is an able and most scholarly article. Kingston, June IMh. — Yesterday afternoon, the Conference considered and unanimously and cordially adopted a series of resolutions on the University question — thanking those who were at Quebec, especially myself— endorsing the memorial pamphlet. My name was received with cheers, whenever mentioned in the resolutions. In the evening, a public meeting was held, and it was a perfect ovation to myself. Some of those present thought that that was the object of the meeting. Kev. W. Jeffers, the new editor, made an excellent speech. Rev. Lachlan Taylor read extracts in a most amusing and effective manner from the Hamilton Spectator, Colonist, Echo, and Church Press. The Hon. Mr. Ferrier spoke most happily on the effect of the dis- cussion, and also of the effect of my speech on the members of both branches of the Legislature. I was cheered throughout, and sat down with four long rounds of cheers. There was much laughter, and occasional deep feeling during my criticisms on the variations, and some of the topics of the speeches of my opponents at Quebec, especially the after-dinner speeches at the To- ronto University gathering. CHAPTER LIX. 1861-1866. Personal Incidents. — Dr. Ryerson's Visits to Norfolk Co. DURING the years of 1861-1866, Dr. Ryerson was chiefly engaged in his official duties, and part of the time with the University question. There is, therefore, little to record during these years except personal matters. The following letters from two of his brothers indicate how strong was their attachment to him : — Brantfordy 4th October, 1861. — Rev. John Ryerson writes : I have derived more benefit from reading Milner's History this time than I ever did before; especially the experience, writings, &c., of St. Augustine, Cyprian, Bernard, Luther and Zwingle. St. Augustine's conversion and " confessions " have been much blessed to me. I have been led to examine with more care and prayerful attention than ever before, the power, influence, and fruits of vital godhness, as experienced and manifested in the hearts and lives of both the Greek and Latin Fathers ; and also the principal instruments of the Refor- mation in the sixteenth century. ! the power, wisdom, and goodness of God ; displayed in all these scenes, matters and lives ! • Kingston, May 8th, 1862. — The Rev. Geo, Ryerson writes : We arrived here safely this morning. I write this by the first mail because I feel anxious concerning you. I fear that if you undertake a journey to Quebec in your present state of weakness and disease, that it will be fatal to you. You are providentially unable to bear the bodily and mental exertion. God does not send a sick man to labour in any good work, and he requires us to use ourselves tenderly, when he weakens us. Brantford, May 9th. — Rev. John Ryerson writes : I had no idea that you had been so seriously ill. It is, however, gratifying now to learn that you are convalescent, and the loss of a little of your "fleshly substance" may prove no great calamity. Were I to lose " forty pounds," as you have, there would be very little of me left ! Brantford, December '2,2nd. — Rev. John Ryerson writes : During my long missionary tour I preached about ten times, always with liberty and freedom. Since I returned home I have resumed all of my domestic and private devo- tional exercises, and after my missionary labours realize the return of quiet peace and spiritual communion. Recently, after much prayer, T received a great blessing to my soul, the peace of God coming down upon my heart and going all over me, and I still have peace. God is my portion, my righteous- ness, and my salvation all the day long. In September, 1864, Dr. Ryerson wrote the following account of visits which he made to his native county of Norfolk : — In compliance with many requests, I have thought it would not be im- 536 THE 8T0BY OF MY LIFE. [Chap.LIX. proper, and might be acceptable to my Norfolk friends, for me to give an account of my visits during the last two years to my native place, and to the Island within Long Point, which my father obtained from the Crown, and which now belongs to me — marked on old maps as Pottahawk Point, but designated on later maps, and more generally known, as " Ryerson's Island." I may remark, by way of preface, that for more than thirty-five years of my public life my constitution and brain seemed to be equal to any amount of labour which I might impose on them ; but of late years, the latter has been the seat of alarming attacks and severe pain, under any protracted or intense labour ; and the former has been impaired by labour and disease. Change of scene and out-door exercise have proved the most effectual remedy for both. My first adoption of this course (apart from foreign travel) was two years since, when a month's daily sea-bathing, boating and walking, at Cape Elizabeth, near Portland, State of Maine, contributed greatly to the improvement of my health and strength. After again resuming my usual work for several weeks, I found that my relief, if not safety, required a further suspension of ordinary mental labour, and diversion of my thought by new objects. I determined to visit the place of my birth and the scenes of my youth. At Port Ryerse I made myself a little skiff after the model of one I had seen at the sea-side, and in which I rowed myself to and from Ryerson's Island, a distance of some thirteen miles from Port Ryerse, and about four miles from the nearest mainland — the end of Turkey Point. Last autumn I lodged two weeks on the farm on which I was born, with the family of Mr. Joseph Duncan, where the meals were taken daily in a room the wood-work of which I, as an amateur carpenter, had finished more than forty years ago, while recovering from a long and serious illness. When invited to meet and address the common schools of the county of Norfolk, at a county school picnic held in a grove near Simcoe, the 24th of last June, I determined to proceed thither, not by railroad and stage, as usual, but in a skiff fifteen ftet and a half long, in which I had been accus- tomed for some months to row in Toronto Harbour, between six and eight o'clock in the motning. Providing, as far as possible, against the double danger of swamping and capsizing, by a canvas deck, proper ballast, and fittings of the sail, I crossed Lake Ontario alone from Toronto to Port Dalhousie in nine hours ; had my skiff conveyed thence to Port Colborne on a Canadian vessel, through the Welland Canal, and proceeded along the north shore of Lake Erie, rowing in one day, half- way against head wind, from the mouth of Grand River to Port Dover, a distance of forty miles, taking refreshments and rest at farm houses, and bathing three times during the day. The following day scarcely con- scious of fatigue, I delivered two addresses ; the one to a vast assemblage of school pupils and their friends, in a grove ; the other a lecture to teachers and trustees in the evening. After visiting my island and witnessing the productive and excellent garden of the family that occupies it, I returned to Toronto in my skiff, by the way of Niagara river, sailing in one day between sun-rise and sun-set (stopping for three hours at Port Colborne) from Grand River to Chippewa, within two miles of the Falls. I had my skiff conveyed on a waggon over the portage from Chippewa to Queenstown (ten miles), and started from Niagara to To- ronto about noon of the first Friday in July. When a little more than half way across the lake, I encountered a heavy north-east storm of rain and wind, and a fog so thick as to completely obscure the Toronto light-house, which was within a mile of me. When it became so dark that I could not see my compass, I laid my course, with the sail reefed, by the wind and waves," reaching (a mile west of my due course) the east side of the Humber Bay, between ten and eleven in the evening, and making my way, by a hard pull, to the Toronto Yacht Club House a little before midnight. 1861-66] THE STOBY OF MY LIFE. 537 About four weeks since my son and myself made the voyage in the same skiff from Toronto to Long Point, but proceeding by railroad from Port Dalhousie to Port Colborne, intending to spend a week or two on the farm, and two or three days on the Island. T conclude this epitomised sketch with three remarks. I am satisfied of the truth of what I have long believed, that a small boat is as safe, if not safer, than a large one, if properly con- structed, fitted out, trimmed, and managed. I believe that many a large open boat, if not capsized by the wind, would have been swamped by the waves over which my little craft rode in safety. I have never experienced the benefit of out-door exertion and the comfort of retirement to the same degree as during these excursions, besides daily riding on horseback and prepar- ing all the wood consumed at my cottage. Between two and three years ago I found it painful labour to walk one mile, I have since v/alked twelve miles in a day, besides attending to other duties — an improvement of my general system, which is already acting sensibly and encouragingly on the seat of thought and nervous influence. In my lonely voyage from Toronto to Port Ryerse, the scene was often enchanting, and the solitude sweet beyond expression. I have witnessed the setting sun amidst the Swiss and Tyrolese Alps, from lofty elevations, on the plains of Lombardy, from the highest eminence of the Appenines, between Bologna and Florence, and from the crater summit of Vesuvius, but I never was more delighted and impressed (owing, perhaps, in part to the susceptible state of my feelings) with the beauty, effulgence, and even sublimity of atmospheric phenomena, and the softened magnificence of sur- rounding objects, than in witnessing the setting sun the 2'3rd of June, from the unruffled bosom of Lake Erie, a few miles east of Port Dover, and about a mile from the thickly wooded shore, with its deepening and variously reflected shadows. And when the silent darkness enveloped all this beauty, and grandeur, and magnificence in undistinguishable gloom, my mind experienced that wonderful sense of freedom and relief which come from all that suggests the idea of boundlessness — the deep sky, the dark night, the endless circle, the illimitable waters. The world with its tumult of cares seemed to have retired, and God and His works appeared all in all, suggesting the enquiry which faith and experience promptly answered in the affirmative — With glorious clouds encompassed round Whom angels dimly see ; WiU the unsearchable be found ; Will God appear to me ? My last remark is the vivifying influence and unspeakable pleasure of visiting scenes endeared to me by many tender, and 538 THE STORY OF MY LIFE. [Chap. LIX, comparatively few painful recollections. Amid the fields, woods, out-door exercises, and associations of the first twenty- years of my life, I have seemed to forget the sorrows, labours and burdens of more than two score years, and to be trans- ported back to what was youthful, simple, healthy, active, and happy. I can heartily symyathise with the feelings of Sir Walter Scott when, in reply to Washington Irving, who had expressed disapprobation in the scenery of the Tweed, im- mortalized by the genius of the Border Minstrel, he said, — It may be partiality, but to my eyes these gray -hills and all this wild border country have beauties peculi. Young, Rev. R., 272. INDEX TO SUBJECTS. American General Conference of 1868, attend- ance at, 556. Ba^ot, Government of Sir Charles, 306. Bethune, Correspondence with Bishop, 564. Bible, The, in Pubhc Schools, 423, 564. Bidwell, Defence of, 188 et seq. 306, 416, 567. British Conference, Union with, 107 et seq. 114, 121, 141, 269. Separation from, 269, 272, 277, 383. Cartier, Sir George, Correspondence relating to, 569. Chapel Property Cases, 172. Christian Guardian, 93, 107, 109, 121, 131, 144, 172, 199, 201, 230, 239, et seq., 259, 269, 271. Christian Guardian, Discussion witn, 499. Church of England, Dr. Ryerson's attitude towards, 291. Church Property, Right of Conference to hold, 303. Civil Rights Controversy, 81. Class Meeting Question, 470, etseq., 491, etseq., 499. Clergy Reserve Question, 47, 68. 81, 83, et. seq., 91, 95, et seq. 119, 155, 168, 170, 216, 218, 225, et seq., 236 et seq., 245, 250, et seq., 260 et seq., 278, 286, 300, 378, et seq., 387 et seq., 433 et seq., 454 et seq. Confederation, Dr. Ryerson's Address on, 547. Connecticut University, 106. Controversy with W. L. Mackenzie, 124, 135, 145. Controversy with Rev. W, M. Harvard, 202. Controversies, Newspaper, 205, et seq. Council, Legislative, 168, 170. Denominational Colleges Controversy, 518, et seq. Dominion, Dr. Ryerson's Address on the New, 547. Durham, Government of Lord, 257, et seq., 312. Early Life, Sketch of, 23. Early Education, 24. Education, Appointment as Chief Superintend- ent of, 342. Retirement from Office of, 337. Educational Administration, 352, 368, et seq. Educational Tours, 352, 365, 371, 419, 454, 514, 639, 577. Education, Dr. Ryerson's status in the Confer- ence while holding Office of Chief Superin- tendent of, 415. England, Visits to, 115, et seq., 121, 152, et seq., 158, 269, 272, 352, 371, 419, 454, 514, 539, 577. Estimate of Dr. Ryerson's Character and La- bours, by Rev. Dr. Ormiston, 17. Estimates of Dr. Ryerson's Character and Work, 695. 698, 60O, et seq. Family Compact, 145. Funeral Ceremonies, 593. Grievance Report, 155. Hume and Roebuck Letters, 167. "Impressions" of England, 121, 137. Indians, Labour among, 64, et seq. Infant Baptism, 470, et seq., 491, et seq. " Legion's " Letters, 341. Loyalists, U. E., History of, 577, 585, 590. Matrimony, Right of Methodist Ministers to Celebrate, 303. Metcalfe, Defence of Sir Charles, 198, 312, et seq., 319, et seq., 328, et seq., 349. Metcalfe, Administration of Sir Charles, 198, 312, et seq., 319, et seq., 328, et seq., 337, et seq., 376. Methodist Union, 571. Metropolitan Church, 662. Minister, Work as, 80, 86, 149, 282, 287. Mission to River Credit Indians, page 58, et seq. Norfolk County, Visits to, 534. Presidency of General Conference, 575. Rebellion of 1837, 175, et seq., 182. Rectories Question, 218, 226, et seq., 236, et «eg., 245, 250, et seq. Red River Expedition, 559. Religious Experiences, 25, SO, 32, 42, 51-57, 82, 85. Religious Instruction in Schools, 423, 564. Responsible Government, 257, et seq. Roebuck and Hume Letters, 167. Ryanite Schism, 87. School Act, 370. Spencer, Controversy with Rev. Mr., 499. Style, Controversial, 105. Sydenham, Administration of Lord, 260, 284, 286, -290, 301. Thompson. Mr. Charles Poulett, Government of, 260. Union, Methodist, 571. United Empire Loyalists, History of, 677, 585, 590. University Controversy, 518, et seq. Upper Canada Academy, 113, 152, 161, et seq., 164, et seq., 179, 301, 305, 307. Victoria College, 113, 152, 161, et seq., 164, et seq., 179, 301, 306, 307. OPINIONS OF THE PRESS, STATESMEN AND OTHEES, ON REV. DR. RYERSON'S "HISTORY OF THE LOYALISTS OF AMERICA AND THEIR TIMES, FROM 1620 TO 1816." From the Toronto Daily Mail, July 7thj 1880. In a lengthened review of more than two columns, the Mail says : " It is with great pleasure that we introduce and commend to our readers these portly volumes, which together contain nearly a thousand pages. Dr. Ryerson deserves well of his country on account of his long and inestimable services to the cause of popular education. He is the still surviving father of our public school system, and for over thirty years directed its progress with characteristic zeal and activity. But apart from the author's public work, these volumes — the result of twenty-five years' labour — are exceedingly valuable on their own account. * * * Dr. Ryerson has performed his task with great thoroughness, inspired by a deep interest in his subject. The style is easy and flowing ; the facts stated are almost superabundantly es- tablished by reference to the authorities ; and wherever it becomes necessary to demonstrate the misrepresentations of American writers, the author's forcible way of putting the subject-matter in dispute is at once clear and cogent. In short, the narrative is interesting, whilst the arguments that crop up now and again are pointed and convincing. We had some doubts as to the venerable author's age ; but he leaves no doubt upon the point in a passage relating to the war of 1812 (Vol. II., p. 353). At the outbreak of the war, amongst the Norfolk volunteers who went with General Brock to the taking of Detroit were the elder brother and brother-in-law of the writer of these pages (he being then ten years of age). Dr. Ryerson must be conse- quently seventy-eight, or thereabouts ; still, as his father lived to the ripe old age of ninety-four, the author may have a long lease of life before him." From the Hamilton Evening Times, Jun^ 12th, 1880, " It has been well said, that Dr. Ryerson needs no monument to perpetuate his industry, zeal, ability, and aptitude for literary work, and successful man- agement other than the system of public and high schools of Ontario, which he may be said to have created nearly forty years ago, and nourished until 1876, when he retired from the position of Chief Superintendent of Education. OPINIONS OF THE PRESS. But if lie do, that other momiment will be found in his History of the Loyalists of America and their Times. This contribution to native literature is not the work of a day. It is the result of twenty-live years of more or less arduous labour and diligent inquiry. It is therefore all the more valuable and trust- worthy. When one carefully examines the tersely-written pages of the two volumes comprising the History, one can, in a measure, conceive the pains (taken by the venerable author to do justice to his subject. * * * The History is a mine of information. It stands alone as a voluminous authority, and will probably do so for many years. It is admirably written, thoroughly systematised, and clear and concise. It is just such a work as should adorn the shelves of every Canadian library." From the Hamilton Spectator, June lOth^ 1880. " No book issued in Canada in recent years is more worthy of cordial re- ception than the one which forms the subject of this notice. With the name of U. E. Loyalists most Canadians are familiar, but with the experience, the noble deeds, the unswerving loyalty to king and country, of those who took part in the events of the early history of America, very many are lamentably ignorant ; or such knowledge as they have has been derived from unfriendly or unreliable sources. * * * The work Dr. Ryerson undertook was no light one. The time was long past when the events treated of took place, and when the actors in them could be consulted. But though the actors in the stirring scenes of our early history had passed away, there were au- thentic documents and records of them left behind, and these the author has searched out and consulted. The results of his researches appear as a work which must be commended for the vast amount of information it contains, its accuracy of detail, and the supplying of a want long felt and often deplored. •* * * Altogether, the book is one which should be read throughout the length and breadth of Canada ; and even across the sea it should, and doubtless will, find a place. The Rev. Dr. Ryerson's efforts in the cause of education have borne good fruit ; it is certain that his great literary work will also accomplish high beneficial results. " The mechanical part of the book is in every way creditable to the publishers." From the Evangelical Churchman, Toronto, June 24th, 1880. " This is, without exception, the most important and elaborate historical work which has yet issued from the Canadian press. The incidents of the memorable struggle, which resulted in the separation of the colonies from the Empire, are given in nervous and graphic language, and shed a flood of light on the contest itself. The subsequent privations and sufferings of the " United Empire Loyalists " are most vividly portrayed. Their settlement in this and other Provinces are feelingly and touchingly described. Reminis- cences, recollections and experiences of expatriated Loyalists are also given, and illustrations of the hardships endured by them are related in the work by many of the living descendants of these Loyalists. This portion of the history is deeply interesting and instructive, but space forbids us to enter into it. Our readers cannot do better than possess themselves of these enter- taining volumes, which we most cordially commend as a most valuable addition to our colonial historical literature." OPINIONS OF THE PRESS. From the Toronto Christian Guardian, July 14th, 1880. "This new book by the venerable Dr. Ryerson is the most important literary work of his life. It fitly crowns a career of unusual intellectual activity with a standard history of the formative period of Anglo-American civilization. The range and scope of the work are much wider than most persons would suppose from the announcement. Most people looked for a work that would be mainly made up of biographical sketches of the U. E. Loyalist pioneer in the settlement of Canada. But Dr. Ryerson goes back to the beginning, and traces the whole origin and growth of the English in America, the relation of the Colonists to the Home Government, the character and doings of the Colonial Governments, and the political causes which pro- duced dissatisfaction, and ultimately led to rebellion and independence. " The first thing that strikes us in examining this work is the evidence it presents of extensive research, in the examination of original documents, and consequently the extent to which it must be a valuable repertory of important historic facts for future historians of American civilization. " One thing that invests this work with special interest to all Canadians and Britons is that nearly all the histories of the United States, as well as the popular literature of that country, glorify the deeds and character of all who took a part in the Revolutionary war, on the Republican side ; but the Loyalists who could not feel justified in fighting against their Sovereign and country, are uniformly painted in the blackest colours, as if they were cowardly and base wretches who had no redeeming qualities. All that is hateful and mean is suggested by the word * Tory ' or ' Royalist ' in the annals of the United States. They have never had fair play ; because they were generally painted by those who bitterly hated them. But while the author admits fully the folly and unconstitutional despotism that goaded the colonists into rebellion, and the patriotic feeling of many on the Republican side, no one can read his work without feeling that great injustice has been done to the Loyalists, whose wrong acts were generally provoked by the re- lentless persecution of the other party. In the light of the real facts, it does not appear criminal or discreditable that they were unwilling to join in open war against the land of their fathers and the Government to which they owed allegiance. * * * The account of the war of 1812 will possess still greater interest for Canadians. The part played by the people of Canada at that time, in resolutely resisting an unjustifiable invasion, made by a greatly superior power, at a time when England was contending almost single- handed against the immense forces Napoleon I. had combined against her ; and the fact that eleven different attacks were repelled without loss of terri- tory, are achievements ol which Canadians have no need to be ashamed. From the Montreal Gazette, June 26th, 1880. In the course of an elaborate review of three columns of this work, the editor of the Montreal Gazette, June 26th, 1880, says : *' This most important work, whose approach to completion we had the pleasure some months ago of announcing to our readers, is now an accom- OPINIONS OF THE PRESS. plislied fact, and the people of Canada will have an opportunity of gratifying their desire for a full and fair history of one of the most interesting and meri- torious elements of our population. For the laborious, and in some respects perilous task of writing such a history, few, if any, of our prominent men of learning could have been so well fitted as Dr. Ryerson. Himself the son of a leading Loyalist, of a family which had given Canada many men of earnest thought and strenuous act, familiar from his childhood with the traditions of those heroic settlers who were mainly the founders of his native Province, and having himself had no small share in extending the progress and per- petuating the prosperity of which, at the cost of their fortunes and the risk of their lives, they laid the firm basis, he was indignantly conscious of the many calumnies propagated by hostile pens, from which, for nearly a century, they had suffered almost undefended. Not alone, indeed. Happily there- were others also who longed to see the story of the Loyalists written by an impar- tial and skilful hand. And when those who represent what was best in the public life, the literature, the pulpit and the press of the two united Provinces a quarter of a century ago, looked around on each other and beyond their own circle for a person to whom they might entrust the performance of so needed a duty, they unanimously fixed upon the Superintendent of Educa- tion of Upper Canada as that person. Thus selected, and not unmoved, besides, by potent inward urgings. Dr. Ryerson accepted the honourable but difficult charge." [Then follows an analysis of the principal facts and argu- ments of the work.] From the Morning Chronicle, Halifax, Nova Scotia, August J/th, 1880. " This is undoubtedly one of the most notable of recent works from the press of Canada. It is a work of such interest as to its subject, and, we must add, of such merit as to its execution, that no proper justice can be done to it in any such review as can be afforded within the limited eligible space of a daily newspaper." From the Morning Herald, Halifax, N. S., July 2Jfth and August J^th, 1880. The Herald devotes two articles in review of this work, commencing with the following words : '' The author of this work is so well known to the people of this country, that any publication in which his name appears is a sufficient guarantee of its value, its accuracy, and the interesting nature of its contents. No work ever published in Canada is more worthy of a cordial reception from our people than the * Loyalists of America and their Times,' and none will be read with more intense interest by the descendants of those noble men and women, * who, stripped of their rights and property during the war, * * * were driven from the homes of their birth and of their forefathers,' because of their loyalty to their king, to seek new homes in the (then) wilderness of Nova Scotia and New Brunswick." N.B. — Numerous other notices, of a similar character to the above, are said to have appeared in various provincial newspapers. OPINIONS OF THE PRESS. Letter from Sir Stafford Northcote. " 79 Portland Place, July 26th, 1880. " My Dear Sir, " T ought long ago to have thanked you for so kindly sending me your work on the * Loyalists,' but I have been so busy since it came that I have ]ia J little time for reading. I have been much interested with it, and am very much obliged for it. " Believe me, yours very faithfully, (Signed) " Stafford H. Northcote." Letter from Lord Carnarvon. "HiGHCLERE Castle, Newbury, Sept. 1st, 1880. " My Dear Sir, " I have received the 'History of the Loyalists of America' which you have been good enough to send me. I have as yet only been able to turn the pages, but before long I hope to find the leisure to become acquainted with the contents of these two volumes, of which I have seen enough in my rapid glance to be sure that they embrace not only much that is most interesting, but in a historical point of view very valuable matter. " I remain, my dear Sir, yours faithfully, (Signed) " Carnarvon." Letter from Alpheus Todd, Esq., Librarian of the House op Commons, " Ottawa, September l€th, 1880. " My Dear Dr. Ryerson, " I have just returned from a visit to England, much refreshed. I found your two interesting volumes on my desk, and am very grateful for your kind remembrance of me. I shall prize them highly. " We have all reason for congratulation that you have completed this great book, which is a noble retrospect of the loyalty of our forefathers. I earnestly hope that it may be the means of quickening and strengthening the present generation in this land in the endeavour to render themselyes worthy of the noble inheritance that the zeal and devotion of our ancestors obtained for us, and that it will deepen our attachment to the British Crown and Imperial connection. " Always with much respect and regard, " Your sincere friend, (Signed) « Alpheus Todd." OPINIONS OF THE PRESS. Letter from His Excellency the Marquis op Lornb. " Citadel, Quebec, June 10th, 1880. " My Dear Dr. Ryerson, " I have to-day received your most vrelcome gift, and hasten to tell you my gratitude for what was to me a very pleasant surprise — a surprise, for I had not heard that you were engaged in the task you have now completed, and had I heard it, I could not have expected the kindness which has made me the recipient from the author of such a full and extremely interesting history. " It should become a household book in Canada ; and I can well imagine the delight it will give to those who are able through the work, as you have been in its composition, to trace the actions and live again in sympathy with the thoughts of heroic ancestors. " Believe me, with very many thanks, " Yours very truly, . (Signed) " Lornb." Letter from Lord Dufferin. " St. Petersburg, September 6th, 1880. " My Dear Dr. Ryerson, " I have just received your two beautiful volumes. I cannot tell you how grateful I am to you for your kind thought of me. There is no present I value more than that of a book from its author. Indeed, I have now a very interesting library composed of volumes given to me at different times by the various distinguished men of the present generation whom I have had the happiness to know, and your work will find an honoured place upon its shelves. " You well know how fully I understand and appreciate all that you have done for education in Canada, and that there are few people in the Dominion for whom I have always entertained a greater regard or respect. " Believe me, my dear Dr. Ryerson, " Yours most sincerely, (Signed) " Dufferin." Ganadian Methodism: ITS EPOCHS AND CHARACTERISTICS, WRITTEN AT THE REQUEST OF THE LONDON, TORONTO, AND MONTREAL CONFERENCES. REV. EGERTON RYERSON, D.D., LL.D. This Volume is elegantly bound in Extra English Cloth, with ink and gold stamping, 12m,o. size, containing JfJf.8 pages, WITH STEEL POETEAIT, This Volume is not a mere reprint of the Essays that appeared in the Magazine from month to month, but contains a large amount of new matter which has not heretofore appeared. It possesses also, to the many admirers of its beloved and honoured author, a melancholy interest, as being the latest production of that pen which, during a long and busy life, was ever wielded in defence of civil and religious liberty. ^W Agents wanted to sell this important Work."^ Address — WILLIAM BRIGGS, Publisher, 78 & 80 King- St. East, Toronto. The Loyalists of America AND THEIR TIMES. EEV. EGEETON EYEESON, D.D., LL.D., Chief Superintendent of Education for Upper Canada from ISUU to 1876. ^FHIS book is one of national importance. It is the most ample and minute X account of the U. E. Loyalists and their Times which has hitherto been published. It describes very fully the early Colonial History of America, and traces the important distinction, often overlooked, between the Pilgrim Fathers and the Puritan Fathers in New England, who maintained separate Govern- ments for seventy years. The religious persecutions of the Quakers and other dissidents from Puritan creed and civil constitution are reviewed, and the stern intolerance of the latter is shown. The fortunes of the Colonies under the Long Parliament, the Commonwealth, and the Restoration, are carefully traced. The prolonged conflict between France and England for the possession of the Continent, with its battles, sieges, and adventurous campaigns is given in detail. The growing estrangement between Great Britain and the Colonies, and the stormy events of the Revolutionary War, are recounted. This epoch is very fully discussed from a British Loyalist point of view. The author avows his sympathy with the colonists in their assertion of their rights as British subjects, and avers his belief that but for their revolutionary Declaration of In- dependence they would within a twelvemonth have obtained all that they desired without the shedding of blood, without the unnatural alliance with France, much less a war of seven years. But the outbreak and conduct of the war are emphatically condemned. No portion of this history will be read with greater interest than that which describes the sufferings, in maintaining their allegiance to their King, of the U. E. Loyalist Founders and Fathers of Canada. For the first time, the full and detailed account of these sufferings is now published. The account of the early development and organization of the Government of the Maritime Provinces and of Upper Canada is full and minute. The stirring events of the War of 1812-15 are also given with much copiousness of detail. The grand patriotism of our country, struggling against tremendous odds, is amply asserted and illustrated. To this work the venerable author has devoted several of the best years of his life. Of U. E. Loyalist stock himself, he writes with hearty sympathy with his subject. He has devoted many years to the study of historical and consti- tutional questions. He has made laborious and extensive research. And he famishes in these volumes copious documentary evidence of the validity of his assertions and conclusions. It is beautifully printed on extra calendered paper, and forms TWO HANDSOME OCTAVO VOLUMES, containing 1,055 pages, with Steel Portrait of the Author. Strongly bound IN EXTRA EN-GLISH CLOTH, - - - - $5 00 IN HALF MOROCCO, 7 00 AGENTS WANTED. Address for particulars, WILLIAM BRIGGS, Publisher, 78 & 80 KING STREET EAST, TOBOHTO. UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LIBRARY BERKELEY Return to desk from which borrowed. This book is DUE on the last date stamped below. ^UPR*^ M .i..^ - -260ct'55NV RECD LD 'JAH 13 1959 27l^eb'59CS RECD LD APR 2 1959 RECD LD LD 21-100m-7,'52(A2528sl6)476 Y^' S5:C787 THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LIBRARY