The Story of My Life; Being Reminiscences of Sixty Years' Public Service in Canada Part 39

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, unjustifiable 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. Ryerson 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 pa.s.sed. 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 Connexions."

As intimated in Dr. Ryerson's letter from Baltimore, he decided to retire finally from the Editors.h.i.+p 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. Ryerson 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 supported 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 a.s.sailed him personally, he heartily forgives; and of those whose feelings he may have wounded in the heat of discussion, he most humbly asks pardon. While he is deeply sensible of his imperfections, infirmities, and failings, he derives satisfaction from 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.

Ryerson and his brother William left for England. From his diary, written at that time, he had made the following extracts for this work:--

_July 22nd, 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.

Addressed a note 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 Lords.h.i.+p the injustice of the bill, and the probable consequences if it were pa.s.sed 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 const.i.tutional rights of the inhabitants of Upper Canada, and as the cause of the unpopularity of the British Government in that country. But his Lords.h.i.+p appeared inflexible, and seemed to regard it essential to conciliate the Bishops, but not essential to do what he considered just in itself, or to fulfil the declarations of Government 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 Prince Albert, coming from Windsor. We took a hasty view through Westminster 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 27th._--Prepared a long letter to Lord John Russell on the Canada Clergy Reserve Bill, now before Parliament. Went to the House of Commons 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 a.s.sembly contended was the right of the people to a voice in the choice of their ministers.

_July 28th._--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 southwest 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 his 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 intended to rest his fame upon that achievement. He was defeated, disappointed, 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 29th._--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 acquainted 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.

_July 31st._--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 corner 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 of 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 G.o.d, we now have a right to speak, can take our own part, and maintain the rights and interests we have been appointed to represent!

_Aug. 3rd._--The Committee of the last year on Canadian affairs had met and reported:--That the resolutions of the Committee of which the Canadian Conference had complained we unanimously confirmed, and recommended that the Conference appoint a large Committee to whom the Messrs. Ryerson and the doc.u.ments 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 a.s.signed 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 generally, and concluded by a resolution that the Liturgy be read on the princ.i.p.al 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 of 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 interviews 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 more 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 inaugurated 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 Canadian 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 of ministers, and the poverty of resources in comparison to the English Conference, besides numerous other disadvantages; but the ministers of the Canadian Conference 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 preside. 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 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 Representatives 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 following 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 peace and quietness, with the supply of his wants a.s.sured 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 Conference 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 efficiency of our Church are not depending upon me; but I am not insensible to the advantages 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 towards this Connexion. The only expedient left is that which requires no strength of intellect--no solid arguments--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 cla.s.s of adversaries, not by an appeal to reason, or even to official doc.u.ments, 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 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 unspeakable blessing to my native country, I have lost so many friends of my youth. No young man in Canada had more friends amongst all Christian denominations than I had when the Union took place. Many of them have become my enemies. I 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 Connexion. 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 important 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 a.s.sign for their own secession are variable, indefinite, personal, or trivial. But the reasons which may be a.s.signed 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 Whitehead, the President of the Canada Special Conference:--

I have been not a little pleased with the expectation of seeing you this evening, and of hearing you speak of the sorrows and joys of Wesleyan Methodism in Upper Canada. G.o.d 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 G.o.d 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 a.s.sistants) to stand up in defence of the Gospel, and have been sometimes placed near the swellings of Jordan; however, you still rejoice in your labours, and the effects thereof, and so do I; and, blessed be G.o.d, the Pilot of the Galilean lake is still on s.h.i.+pboard, and he will soon speak peace to the troubled waters, and there will be a 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. G.o.d 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 G.o.d, 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, support Her Majesty's Government in Canada. May the Holy and Blessed G.o.d give us peace, and good government 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 Wesleyan 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 multiplied against me in proportion to the want of facts. I have always resolved not to allow myself to be the ground of difference between two bodies. If I can make this circ.u.mstance 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 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 Const.i.tution 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 a.s.sembly (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 continued silence in such circ.u.mstances 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 const.i.tution 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, overweening 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, irrespective of details, with which, of course, you cannot be acquainted.

To this letter Rev. 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 Ryan. (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 compa.s.s to another. What a sad condition the people are in, according to your representation! And who shall right them? I suppose you cannot do it, although you cannot be indifferent to their interests, temporal and eternal.