The Story of My Life Part 27

_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 preceding 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. 5th._--I was in Barnsley on Friday and Sat.u.r.day; went to Wakefield on Sat.u.r.day, 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 Sat.u.r.day in Wakefield; go to Leeds on Sat.u.r.day evening, and so on. The preachers and friends shew me all possible kindness and attention. The Yorkshire people are very warm-hearted and social. Methodism there presents an aspect different in several respects from that which it presents in London, or in any other part of England I 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 enough. It is, however, only one who has been a stranger and had to beg, that can fully appreciate the feelings and embarra.s.sments of a stranger in such circ.u.mstances. 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 they 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. 11th._--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 pardon me, sir, for this expression of my grat.i.tude. 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 G.o.d, 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 otherwise unpleasant duty of collecting funds for the Upper Canada Academy, was the note written from Kensington Palace by command of Her Royal Highness the d.u.c.h.ess of Kent. It was as follows:--

I am commanded by the d.u.c.h.ess 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 Inst.i.tution, 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 connection with its establishment, Rev. William Lord said:--

There have been many circ.u.mstances and occurrences connected with this inst.i.tution which, to my mind, are indicative of Providential interference. 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 embarra.s.sments 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 applications to the Government, are to me reasons for believing G.o.d is in this business. 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 inst.i.tution 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 inst.i.tution will be mine.

In a letter from London, dated 21st July, 1836, Dr. Ryerson narrates the difficulties which he had encountered in obtaining a 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 my 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 a.s.sured me that not only Lord Glenelg, but every member of His Majesty's Government was anxious to accede to my application--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[48] 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 invested 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 myself. I 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 subst.i.tuted 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 for receiving aid from the Casual and Territorial Revenue of Upper Canada. In reply, I was a.s.sured 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 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 una.s.sisted resolution and fort.i.tude could not sustain me. I had to rely upon the unfailing support of the Lord, my G.o.d.

In my negotiations for the Charter, I was uniformly treated with courtesy and kindness in the Colonial office, and by the several members of His Majesty's Government. Praise G.o.d!

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 individually 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 circ.u.mstances of the case are briefly as follows:--Mr. Lord's sincere desire and zeal to promote the interests of the Inst.i.tution 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 a.s.sured 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 should 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 2500, 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. Lord 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 a.s.sured 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 conviction 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 from 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 fathers and brethren of the parent Connexion.

FOOTNOTES:

[48] Sir J. Campbell, afterwards Chief Justice, and Sir R. M. Rolfe, afterwards a Baron of the Exchequer.

CHAPTER XVII.

1836.

Publication of The Hume and Roebuck Letters.

In a letter from London, dated 29th April, 1836, 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 members thinned to 50 or 60 members. Under these circ.u.mstances 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 return 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 members 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, as 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 (afterwards leader of the rebels in the County of Oxford) came to England, the bearer of pet.i.tions got up by Mr. W. L. Mackenzie and his partizans and crammed Mr. Hume to make a formidable a.s.sault upon the British Canadian Government. In presenting the Canadian pet.i.tion 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 promptings, 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. Roebuck soon ceased to be Agent for the Lower Canada House of a.s.sembly. He has since become an ultra Conservative!

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 machinations 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.[49] 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 a.s.sembly, 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, and Mr. [Sir James] Stephen. 1. The Clergy Reserve question--a plan to meet the circ.u.mstances of the Province, and yet not deprive the clergy of the Church 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 and popularity may be promoted and established, so as to prevent the occurrence of that embarra.s.sment 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 doc.u.ment 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. Ryerson. 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 length, on the posture of Canadian affairs; and the parties and princ.i.p.al 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 a.s.sume, _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 const.i.tutional 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!

FOOTNOTES:

[49] The British North American a.s.sociation of Merchants had these letters reprinted from _The Times_ newspaper, and a copy sent to each member of Parliament, both of the Lords and Commons. They were signed, "A Canadian."

CHAPTER XVIII.

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 reported to Dr.