In a letter to me, written a few days afterwards, Dr. Ryerson thus

states the conclusion which he had come to in regard to his remaining in

the Methodist Church. He said:--Last Sunday 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 enjoyments, 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 instruction 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 circumstances, 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

uncomfortable, while I think I shall secure the respect and sympathies

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 difference 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 Conference 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 myself, 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 relations and future

course which I have at length decided to maintain 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, 14th 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 matter 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, substitute 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

industriously circulating. Possibly I may not say anything at all, as

you suggest.

_Paris, 29th 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 publication, 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 Scripture. It is also an abandonment of the pretence that the

question is not a debatable or open one. There being several writers on

one side and only one on the other, gives the latter an advantage. 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 Conference 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-admitted 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

Reformation, and such men as Baxter and Howe, down to the present

time. What I said seemed to be favourably received by a considerable

portion of the Conference. I think the Spencer clique (and it is only

a clique) will be disappointed greatly 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 afternoon, on my

name being called, Rev. J. Borland moved, seconded by Rev. W. Jeffers,

the following resolution:--

_Resolved_, That as Dr. Ryerson has 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 examination 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 concerned, 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

misrepresented 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 far 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 twenty--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 Monday morning. A

large number of persons were present, and a strong popular feeling

seemed to be excited in my favour. My opponents 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

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 my unfaithfulness and unworthiness; 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, unaccompanied 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 assurances. 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.[145] The matter now before the

Conference was introduced at the Toronto District Meeting in his

absence, and without notice being given him.[146]

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 sacrifice 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. Hurlburt, recognizing the application of

the previous year as admitted by Dr. Ryerson, and as understood by the

Conference. The amendment was passed by an immense majority, only 23 out

of 150 members present voting against it.

FOOTNOTES:

[143] 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

Honorary Commissioner at the Paris exhibition. Mr. Macdonald also

endorsed my recommendation for your appointment as Deputy Superintendent

with an increased salary. His Excellency 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 my

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.

[144] 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 1842) 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 excited 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 ignorant, 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 I 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, as Dr. Green and others

know.

[145] Dr. Ryerson, in his speech at the Brockville Conference, referring

to this omission, said:--The Conference passed a resolution

complimentary and affectionate towards myself, and expressive of its

high sense of my long services in defending 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.

[146] 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 resolution passed against him. Is that Methodism? Is 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 without 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 LVII.

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 through with in order to obtain the information

and cultivation 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 alienation from you, for what I

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

paintings, 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 distinguished

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 Rome 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 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 instrument

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.[147] 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. Pantelioni." 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 describe the agony I experienced during that

period. Dr. Pantelioni was sent for, and attended me daily for

three 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,

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

despotism 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 inaugurate, 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

witnessed 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 commanded little respect or attention after his

first speech.)

3rd. Dr. Pantelioni stated, that under these circumstances, he,

with several liberal friends, agreed to go confidentially to the

Pope, who was then an exile at Gaeta, and offer 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 gentlemen 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 recovery Dr. Pantelioni invited me to visit him at his

residence. 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 published 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 government. 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

protection of the British Government for twelve months, during

which time they could establish a just and safe government, if

protected from the interference 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

recommendations of Mr. Shiel, who, although a Roman Catholic, was

a constitutional 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 Rome, 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

territories, 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 Rome, 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 Rome,

which banished him from his city and country on a notice of only

twenty-four hours! The London _Times_ 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

Continent in 1867, I stopped a day with my son at Nice, and learned

that there was an Italian physician residing there, an exile from

Rome. 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

Rome, 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 Rome, 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 Roman Hospitals.

* * * * *

In a letter from Dr. Ryerson 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 Woolwich, and dined with him at his son-in-law's (Col.

Burrows)."

FOOTNOTES:

[147] These evening parties are 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.

CHAPTER LVIII.

1859-1862.

Denominational Colleges and the University Controversy.

One of the most memorable controversies in which Dr. Ryerson was engaged

was that on behalf of the Denominational Colleges of Upper Canada.

Unfortunately, at various stages of the discussion, the controversy

partook largely of a personal character. This prevented 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 patriotic

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 defeated by 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 chiefly 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 unfortunately decided twenty years

ago, not by an independent, impartial and disinterested tribunal, but

by the parties in possession, 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 Legislature of a

memorial from the Wesleyan Methodist Conference, prepared by Dr.

Ryerson, dated November, 1859, to the following effect:--

That the Legislature in passing the Provincial University Act of

1853, clearly proposed and avowed a threefold object. First, the

creation of a University 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 University 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

colleges 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 College 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 invariably 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

University 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 expenses 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 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 unreasonable 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 comprehensive and patriotic recommendation to

give effect to the liberal intentions of the Legislature in the

accomplishment of these objects; but the Senate has preferred to

become the sole patron 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 contemplated 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 contemplated 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

curriculum, 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 exclusion of all

others. At the present time, and for years past, the noble

University 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 professors upon their own students, and not

the doings and decisions of a body wholly unconnected with the

college. Degrees and distinctions thus conferred, 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 University, 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 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 interest 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.[148]

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

denominational theology.

We also disclaim any 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 himself 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 University 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 establish

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 combined. We hold that the highest

interests of the country, as of an individual, are its religious

and moral interests; and we believe there can be no heavier blow

dealt out against those religious and moral interests, than for 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 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

withdrawal or absence of all such influence for years at a period

when youthful passions are strongest, and youthful temptations most

powerful, we cannot but 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 persons 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 sustain 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 voluminous 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 religious

instruction as their parents and guardians shall desire, according to

the general regulations which shall be provided according 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 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 community as a

condition of, and in proportion to local effort. This is a vital

principle of the school system, and pervades it throughout, 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 distributing 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 official reports.

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 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 withhold from youth at the most feeble,

most tempted, most eventful period of their educational training, the

most potent guards, helps, and influences to resist and escape the

snares and seductions 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 question 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 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 religious 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 administration 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

expression 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

contemplated; 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 Government.... 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.

Baldwin's Bill did contemplate giving aid to other institutions

than the Toronto University. 2. That the friends of Queen's,

Regiopolis, 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 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

Bill cannot consistently object to aid being given from the

University funds to institutions 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, commensurate with the wants of the entire

population; that both the University and the system should be

established and conducted upon Christian principles, 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 instruction 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 the 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 institution was not originally intended

to be a University College; nor was it sought to be made so until

after the establishment of a Presbyterian University 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 prevented 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

monument 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,

Scotland 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 Gospel 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 Victoria College

... were as unfounded as they were unbecoming.

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 defenders of the University. I shall not

enter into detail, but will give the opening and concluding parts of Dr.

Ryerson's great speech, which he made before the Committee of the

Legislature 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 occurrences 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 Representatives of the people; no

man can stand, as I feel myself standing 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 consideration this

day, is one altogether peculiar, and, I 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 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 I may have pressed my views to an extent

beyond the present standing, the present capabilities of the Province,

my views have been upward, 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 I

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 Committee, 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 fact 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 compensate for the absence of provision, or care, for the

religious and moral instruction of youth in the most exposed,

critical, and eventful periods of 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 harmony with the conscientious convictions and circumstances

of the religious persuasions, 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 institution,

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 thoroughly 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 College, 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 special classes--in which no religious test is

permitted by the charter in the admission of any 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. Ryerson 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 contemplated the whole system from

the primary school to the University)--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, without 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 mountain of which it may be said,

"Though round his breast the rolling clouds are spread,

Eternal sunshine settles on his head."

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 throughout 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 five 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 I

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 Wesleyan ministry, I

had the authoritative offer of admission to the ministry of the Church

of England (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 I am more indebted than to any other

two books in the English language, 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 movement. I am

entitled to no such honour. If I have written a line it has been as the

amanuensis of my ecclesiastical superiors; if I have done anything, it

has been in compliance with the wishes of those whom I love and honour;

and my attachment 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 have only further to add, that whatever may be my shortcomings, 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 affection 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 contribute 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;

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 I 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 institutions and character; to assist in erecting a structure

of intellectual 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.

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 of 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.

_Kingston, June 7th._--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 myself 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 8th._--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 representatives of the Conference at

Quebec, and especially to myself--requesting that the _Guardian_ might

be more and more the medium of furnishing the connexion with facts and

information 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. Jeffers, 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 members 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 13th._--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. Rev. 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 discussion, 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 Toronto University gathering.

FOOTNOTES:

[148] Since established and supported, as is the one in Montreal, by

contributions from the Methodist people.

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:--

_Brantford, 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 godliness,

as experienced and manifested in the hearts and lives of both the

Greek and Latin Fathers; and also the principal instruments of the

Reformation in the sixteenth century. O! 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 22nd._--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 devotional exercises, and after my missionary

labours realize the return of quiet peace and spiritual communion.

Recently, after much prayer, I 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 righteousness,

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

improper, 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 feet and a

half long, in which I had been accustomed for some months to row in

Toronto Harbour, between six and eight o'clock in the morning.

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 conscious 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

Toronto 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.

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.

I 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 constructed, 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 preparing 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 walked 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 surrounding objects, than in witnessing the

setting sun the 23rd 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;

Will 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 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 transported back to what was youthful, simple, healthy,

active, and happy. I can heartily sympathise with the feelings of Sir

Walter Scott when, in reply to Washington Irving, who had expressed

disapprobation in the scenery of the Tweed, immortalized 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 peculiar to themselves. I like

the very nakedness of the land. It has something bold, and stern,

and solitary about it. When I have been for some time in the rich

scenery of Edinburgh, which is ornamented garden land, I begin to

wish myself back again among my honest gray hills, and if I did not

see the heather at least once a year I think I should die.

Dr. Ryerson was very bold and skilful in the management of a sail boat,

as may be inferred from the foregoing incidents. On one occasion, a few

years ago, while sailing on the Toronto bay in his skiff, he was

overtaken by a gale, during which the steeple of Zion Church was blown

down, but, through God's goodness, he reached _terra firma_ in safety.

He frequently sailed his little craft, as he has mentioned, from Port

Ryerse and Port Rowan to his Long Point cottage--a distance of thirteen

and nine miles respectively--and that, too, in all sorts of weather, and

sometimes when much larger boats would not venture outside of the

harbour.

For many years Dr. Ryerson was considered one of the best shots at Long

Point. When over seventy years of age, he killed from seventy to eighty

duck in one day in his punt and with his own gun. In the spring of 1880,

when in his seventy-eighth year, he was overtaken by darkness, and, not

being able to reach his cottage, was compelled to remain all night in

the marsh. Rolling himself up in his blankets, in his boat, he quietly

went to sleep. In the early morning he was rewarded by capturing nine

wild geese.

He crossed Lake Ontario, between Toronto and Port Dalhousie, four times

alone in his skiff (only sixteen feet long), and three times accompanied

by his son. Fear was unknown to him, and he never lost his presence of

mind, even in the most perilous circumstances.

Another favourite recreation of his was riding. He was often seen before

six o'clock in the morning enjoying a canter in the suburbs of Toronto.

* * * * *

Writing to me from Ridgeway in August, 1866, he said:--

To-day I left Toronto in my little skiff for Port Dalhousie. The lake

was as smooth as glass the greater part of the day, and the latter part

of the day there was not a breath of wind, so that I had to row. I got

into Port Dalhousie in the evening. I was at the Queen's Own camp at

Thorold yesterday. I visited a large number of tents, and examined the

whole mode of living, and especially of cooking. It was amusing, among

other cases of the same kind, to see several young gentlemen of Toronto

cooking, and others assisting. I saw them cutting their meat, etc. They

have the reputation of being the best cooks in the battalion. I go to

Port Colborne in the rail cars, and will proceed in my skiff to Port

Ryerse, or rather to Port Dover first. I hope to get there to-morrow. I

went over the battle-ground here last evening.

* * * * *

As many people were curious to know how Dr. Ryerson spent his time at

his Long Point cottage, the following letter, written to his cousin,

Major Ryerse, in April, 1873, will supply the information. It relates to

one day's experience, and was about the average of these experiences

there:--On leaving the island cottage, I paddled and pushed my boat

about six miles in the marsh, Monday forenoon. I rowed all the way to

Port Ryerse against a head wind, one part of the way so strong that I

shipped a good deal of water, and got wet. I was from two to eight

o'clock rowing from my cottage to Port Ryerse. I was too wet and

fatigued to walk to your house, but went to bed at nine, got up at five,

and started for Simcoe at six. I walked eight miles out of ten on the

ice, from Port Rowan over--going the other two miles by water, in a

skiff which we took with us on a hand-sled. During the first eight days

I did not go out in the marsh at all, but devoted myself wholly to my

papers and books. The second week I went out three times, about three

hours each, got a little game, but not enough to leave any on the way,

except to a few friends. I am now beginning to enjoy rest more than

exertion; and am not certain when I shall come again, or whether I shall

come at all again.

* * * * *

While on his educational tour in 1866, Dr. Ryerson wrote to me from

Napanee, and said:--There was a very large meeting in Picton on Saturday

and another here to-day, and both went with me in everything, with

showers of compliments and almost enthusiastic feeling.

A large number of the oldest settlers and Methodists were invited to

meet me last night at Mr. Dorland's, in Adolphustown. The service in the

evening was to them a feast of fat things, and some of them spoke of it

as the happiest occasion of their lives. I felt very happy with them.

They said it reminded them of "old times."

CHAPTER LX.

1867.

Last Educational Visit to Europe.--Rev. Dr. Punshon.

In 1867 Dr. Ryerson made his last educational tour to Europe. On his

return he prepared two elaborate reports--one on Systems of Education in

Europe, and the other on the Education of the Deaf and Dumb. He also

went to Paris as an Honorary Commissioner to the International

Exhibition held in that city in 1867. While absent he constantly wrote

to me. From his letters I make the following selections:--

_Paris, January 22nd, 1867._--The pretended concessions of the Emperor

of France to the French nation was not much thought of in Paris, as it

is regarded here of little value. His announcement of his concessions,

as being final, will do him more harm, than the concessions themselves

will do good.

The Attorney-General told me to-day that I had won the the heart of Mr.

Adderly, M.P., Under-Secretary of State for the Colonies, who is an able

man. The Attorney-General gave me a note of introduction to him (in the

absence of Lord Carnarvon) in order to introduce me to Lord Stanley,

which Mr. Adderly did. He asked me many questions about our school

system, and told the Attorney-General I had given him an immense deal of

information in a short time.

_Nice, February 25._--We left Paris Wednesday evening, and reached

Marseilles Thursday noon--passing Lyons, Vienne, Avignon, etc., in the

valley of the Rhone, by daylight. The scenery was very beautiful,

vine-yards on the hillsides, cultivated fields, trees and shrubs green,

almonds in blossom. In the afternoon we "did" Marseilles, visiting the

Exchange, the Palais de Justice, the ancient and modern port with its

thousands of ships,--28,000 entering it per year--ascended the lofty

mount, with garden walls on its sides, to the Notre Dame church which

surmounts it--a small church of the sailors hung with innumerable

characteristic mementoes of their escapes from shipwreck, through the

intercession of their Mother-protector! The view of the city and

surrounding country, all dotted with villas, is magnificent. Next

morning we started for Nice. Toulon, the Mediterranean naval station of

France, is about thirty-six miles this side of Marseilles--about

one-third of the way to Nice. It is strongly fortified; its port, which

is admirable, contains many French ships of war. The population is about

50,000. Between Toulon and Nice lies the town of Cannes--a rival to Nice

as a resort for invalids. The scenery from Marseilles to Nice is

beautiful, and sometimes grand--the sea on one side, and the gardens,

fields, olive and orange orchards, hillsides and mountain slopes, dotted

with hamlets and villas, on the other. In the back-ground of Nice are

seen the maritime Alps. Oranges are here seen on the trees; and the

trees, shrubs and flowers are green, and some of them in blossom. The

breezes gentle, the sun bright and warm, the sky clear, and the

atmosphere soft and balmy, one seems to inhale healthful vigour with

every breath, and to behold cheerful beauty on every side.

I have here met my old friend, Dr. Pantelioni, who attended me when I

was ill in Rome, who was employed by Count Cavour to negotiate with

Prince Napoleon and the Emperor the treaty of the 15th September, by

which the French troops have evacuated Rome; but he is now an exile from

Rome, but hopes soon to return thither. He has the first medical

practice here, as he had at Rome.

_Florence, March 19th._--Since I wrote to you from Rome, we went to

Naples, in ten hours, by railway; spent three days there, and returned,

the fourth, here--in 23 hours from Naples--arriving here Sunday morning,

in time to dress, get breakfast, and go to church, where we heard the

liturgy read evangelically, and a good evangelical sermon. The Church at

Rome is High Church; that at Florence is evangelical. But I heard an

excellent service from the Dean of Ely (Mr. Goodwin), at Rome. I can

give you no particulars of our tour. I do not enjoy it. I have wished a

good many times that you were in my place, and that I had a week's quiet

on my Island. Rome was dirty, as well as almost wholly given to

superstition, though there is a strong and widespread hostility among

the masses to the temporal power of the Pope. Naples was dirty, but

evinced much business activity. Florence is clean, industrious, and all

the people cleanly and well-dressed, except some beggars--an old legacy.

But the general hostility to the priesthood is remarkable, though not

surprising. The Government had gained in the recent elections, but has a

difficult part to play, between the Church and Anti-Church parties, and

keeping up a large army, and imposing heavy taxes, of which all

complain.

_Venice, March 28th._--At Florence, the British Minister introduced me

to Count Usedon, the Prussian Minister at Florence, formerly at Paris,

a most delightful and variously learned man, who invited me to go to his

villa, but I had not time, and who told me all about the working of the

Prussian System of Public Instruction, in each neighbourhood--saying

that the law had not been changed at all since I was in Prussia; that

the Government did nothing but inspect, and see that each locality had a

school of a certain kind, and that each person educated his children;

but that each locality taxed itself for the support of its school. He

told me I could find nothing suitable to my purpose in Prussia, in

respect to the militia organization in connection with the school

system, as there was no connection between the one and the other, and

that the military system was expensive, and much interfered with the

ordinary employments; but that Switzerland was the place for me to learn

and study the blending of the school system with military training, in

consequence of which every Swiss had a good education, understood the

use of arms and military drill, and was yet practical, industrious, and

sober, while the whole system was very inexpensive. He gave me a letter

of introduction to a friend of his in Switzerland, who could give me

every information I might desire, and all needful documents.

_Lake Como, April 1st._--This is the first place of rest and retirement

that we have had since we came to Europe. We are inhaling fresh country

air every day. We are in the centre of a natural magnificence, beauty,

and grandeur such as I have never witnessed--before us the little, deep,

Y-shaped lake, abounding in fish, dotted with skiffs, skirted with

flower gardens, walks, shrubs, and villas, and overhung on either side

by snow-capped mountains--roses and plants and green flowers at the

bottom of the mountains--craggy rocks and deep snow at the top, and all

apparently within a mile's distance. Here where we stop is the villa of

the Duke of Meiningen, and the palace-residence of the late Queen

Caroline of England (now an hotel), and the villa of the King of the

Belgians--a favourite place of retirement of the late King. What I have

witnessed here, in the quiet Sabbath of yesterday, has given me more

impressive views of the varied beauty and magnificence of the works of

God than I ever had before, though I had travelled much, and finished my

sixty-fourth year the Sabbath before.

_London, 30th April._--I was present two hours at the anniversary of the

Church Missionary Society--heard the report (a very good one) read, and

heard Lord Chichester (President), the Lord Bishop of Norwich, Dean of

Carlisle, and the Lord Bishop of Cork. The speaking was

evangelical--Methodistically experimental, but nothing like so able and

effective as that at the Wesleyan Missionary meeting yesterday.

I attended a meeting this afternoon at City Road Chapel, to hear an

address from Lord Shaftesbury on Ragged Schools, and to witness the

laying of the corner-stone of a chapel school-house in an alley about

six minutes' walk from City Road Wesleyan Chapel--one of the most

wretched neighbourhoods in London. I never knew before what the ragged

poor of London, in the lanes and alleys, were. I never witnessed such a

sight of squalid wretchedness--the neighbourhood literally swarming with

children--every window of the houses around full of heads--all

indicating that lowest degradation, but many of the children had good

features and bright eyes sparkling through the encrustation of dirt. We

have no such class in Canada, and I hope we never may.

Lord Shaftesbury's remarks were of the highest type of Scriptural and

experimental truth--eminently practical and suggestive. His address to

the poor creatures, at the laying of the corner-stone of the edifice,

was full of kindness and affection--adopting even the very style of

address common among the class whom he addressed. As a specimen, his

Lordship said:--"I just heard a boy say behind me, 'which is him?' Now,

I am him; you want to see him; and I want to see you, and to talk to

you, and to do you good. We have all come here to do you good, because

we love you, and the poorer you are, and the more you suffer, the more

we wish to help you, and to do you good." He reminded me of the Saviour

going about doing good, and of the words of Job (chap. 29), "When the

ear heard me, then it blessed me, and when the eye saw me it gave

witness to me, because I delivered the poor that cried, and the

fatherless, and him that had none to help him," etc. (verses 11, 13, 15,

and 16). It was to me an impressive, affecting, and, I trust, a useful

lesson.

_London, 1st May._--We attended to-day the annual meeting of the British

and Foreign Bible Society. The Report was admirably read, and was most

gratifying and encouraging. The speeches were excellent, and some parts

of them produced a wonderful effect. The Lord Bishop of Carlisle spoke

nobly and scripturally; the Dean of Carlisle spoke fervently and

affectingly; the Rev. Dr. Miller spoke very ably and effectively; but

Mr. Calvert (of Fiji mission), spoke irresistibly to the heart; and Dr.

Phillips spoke with surpassing beauty, and charming power. The latter

two are both Welshmen, and Methodists--the former a Wesleyan, and the

latter a Whitfield Welsh Methodist. The Rev. Mr. Nolan spoke with great

excellence; Lord Shaftesbury speaks as a matter of business, naturally,

simply, but with dignity, and great force.

But the speeches of clergymen to-day, as well as yesterday, painfully

impressed me with the divided, and deplorable state of the Church of

England. Indeed, I thought to-day that it was hardly in good taste, or

even politic, for clergymen to give such prominence to the internal

heresies and divisions of the Church, at a non-denominational meeting,

and before their brethren of other denominations, and before the world.

But they feel that the evil and danger is so great that they should

speak out, and do so on all occasions. There have been disputes and

divisions among the Methodists, on personal and political

quasi-ecclesiastical grounds, but never of the grave character of those

which agitate the Church of England. It is the opinion of many of the

clergymen and laymen of the Church, that a formal and great separation

will ere long take place between the opposing parties. But, still, I

think that the heart of the Church is sound--that neither the ritualists

nor the neologists touch the masses of the labouring and middle

classes--only some speculative minds, and imaginary spirits, seeking for

excitement in religion, as they do in reading novels, and at the

theatre. But, after all, I believe, as I hope, the Church will come out

of this fiery trial, better, stronger, and more qualified to do good,

and with a deeper baptism of the Divine Spirit for its promotion. So far

as I have had opportunity to mingle with the ministers and members, and

to witness services and meetings, I think I never saw the Wesleyan body

in so good a state; so perfectly at peace and united, and so devoted to

their one great work; and with a fervour and depth of spirituality not

excelled even in Mr. Wesley's day. The personal example and influence of

the most eloquent and leading men in the Connexion is highly spiritual

and practical.

_London, 5th May._--During my present visit to England I have been so

deeply impressed with the vast benefit to my native land by a visit to

it of Rev. William Morley Punshon that I have written to him on the

subject, and have got others to speak to him about it. I was rejoiced,

therefore, to get from him a note to-day, dated Bristol, 4th May, as

follows:--The more I think about your proposition the more I am

impressed that it is in the order of Providence that I should accept it.

I have always hoped that I might some day see your great continent and

have the opportunity of acquainting myself with the capabilities of your

country, and with the work which has been done in it; and on many

accounts the present seems to be the most favourable time. If,

therefore, you should honour me with an invitation, and the British

Conference shall see good to appoint me, I shall place no hindrance in

the way, but shall endeavour to regard it as the wish of the Lord.

_London, 6th May._--I have gratefully replied to Mr. Punshon, and shall

now return to Canada, satisfied that I have, with God's help,

accomplished a great work for her, and that we shall reap a rich reward

from the services of this honoured minister of Christ.

_London, 15th May._--In a kind parting note from Rev. Dr. Elijah Hoole

to Dr. Ryerson, dated Mission House, May 15th, the former says: I have

written to Dr. Wood to-day, and have informed him how grateful it has

been to us to renew our personal intercourse with you. When you have

once taken your departure we may hardly hope to meet again, but I shall

always thankfully retain the impression of the ability and purity, and

Christian love, and missionary zeal, which have always distinguished

your personal intercourse with us.

_London, 19th June._--This day I had the pleasure of writing to Rev.

William Morley Punshon, inviting him to my house when he comes to

Toronto. I said to him,--You have probably learned, ere this reaches

you, that the Canadian Conference, (now consisting of altogether 612

ministers and preachers), has most cordially and warmly solicited your

appointment as its next President, with the request that you will visit

and travel through Canada the current year. I assume that you will

accept this appointment, and I understood from Rev. Gervase Smith that

you would probably come to Canada, in September or October next. As

Toronto is the centre of Methodism in Canada, as well as the largest

city, and capital of Canada West, I assume, for reasons I have stated in

a letter this day addressed to your friend, Mr. Gervase Smith, that you

will make Toronto your home. I shall be most happy to entertain you and

yours, on your arrival there. I shall be happy to do all in my power to

consult your wishes, and promote your comfort, as well as usefulness, in

Canada. I pray that the Lord will direct your steps, and prosper your

way, to us in this country.

_London, July 17th._--In a note from Rev. Gervase Smith to Rev. Dr.

Ryerson, dated July 17th, he says:--We all seemed to feel from your

first call at our house, that we were adding another valuable friendship

to our list, and we followed you over the water with many kind feelings

and remembrances. I am very glad to hear so cheering an account of your

Conference. As far as I can see, the way is opening out for Mr.

Punshon's visit to Canada, as clearly as you or his friends in this

country could wish. His removal from us, even for a space, will be a

great loss to us; and on grounds of friendship, especially so to myself;

but I hope it is all right. It is our earnest prayer that he, and the

Conference in his case, may be guided rightly. I should very much like

to accompany him. I do not give up the hope of seeing you and the

Canadian world, during his residence among you. I have formed a secret

resolution to steal away for a few weeks within the next year or two.

But perhaps it is wrong to anticipate. "Ye know not what shall be on the

morrow."

_Toronto, 24th July._--I was thankful this day to receive from Rev. Wm.

Morley Punshon a letter dated Bristol, 10th July, acknowledging mine to

him of the 19th June. He says:--It brought me the only intimation which

I have yet received of the request of the Canadian Conference that I

should be appointed to preside over its next session. I feel humbled and

thankful for this mark of the confidence of my brethren over the water,

and, if Providence opens my way, shall regard myself as favoured with no

mean opportunity of getting and doing good. No step in this whole matter

has been of my own motion. I am simply passive in the hands of God and

of His Church. You have very truly interpreted my wishes and feelings in

what you have said to some of my brethren. All our affairs are in higher

hands than our own; and if by God's overruling providence, I shall be

assured of welcome in Canada, and enabled to work for Christ upon that

continent, which I have so often longed to see, I shall regard the

disruption of all older ties, and the sacrifice of present position in

this country, as a small price to pay--the more, if I can aid in the

establishment of a grand Methodist confederacy which shall be one of the

great spiritual powers of the New World.

Dr. Ryerson adds, With a grateful heart at God's goodness in this

matter, I replied to the letter on the 1st of August, 1867.

While I was in England in 1867, Dr. Ryerson wrote to me (_Toronto,

August 1st_,) to say that:--The Rev. W. M. Punshon, M.A., is coming out

to Canada, in October, with his family. He has addressed me several

inquiries, which I answer by this mail; but I wrote him to say who you

were, what your address was in London, and that you could give him every

needful information and suggestion as to his best mode of proceedings. I

told him I would write you, and request you to write him a line--also

telling him your address, and where you could see him, if he came to

London, and offering him every information in your power, that he might

desire. All things go on as usual in the Office.

Rev. Gervase Smith, in a letter to Dr. Ryerson, dated at the Bristol

Conference, 4th August said:--We have had many important conversations

and decisions. Some of which will be interesting to you, and the

Canadian friends. Mr. Punshon's appointment to Canada was made by the

Conference. I need not say that we are all sorely grieved at even the

temporary loss of his presence and service. But the call from Canada

was loud, and Providence seemed to indicate the way thither. I need not

say that you will take care of him, and let us have him back again as

soon as practicable. I am sure that his sojourn among you will be made a

great blessing to multitudes, and I doubt not that the future of

Methodism in Canada will be influenced by it. He is also heartily

appointed as our Representative to the General Conference in America. I

judge that the Conference now being held here will be regarded in the

future as a very important one.

CHAPTER LXI.

1867.

Dr. Ryerson's Address on the New Dominion of Canada.

While I was in England, in 1867, Dr. Ryerson wrote to me late in July,

to say:--Some of our leading public men were anxious that I should do

something to assist in placing government upon the right foundation in

our new civil state. But before communicating with them I determined to

write boldly, an Address to the people of Upper Canada. These friends

were delighted when they learned my determination, after I had written

about half my address. It was printed last evening. It will, of course,

draw upon me a great deal of abuse. But I have counted the cost, and

thought I ought to issue it under the circumstances. I think a reaction

is already beginning. I have thought it my duty to make one more special

effort to save the country from future wretchedness, if not ruin, caused

by the bitter party spirit of the press, whatever it might cost me.... I

am wonderfully well; but take some exercise every day, and do not work

very long at a time.

The Address was issued in pamphlet form in July, 1867, and under the

title of "The New Canadian Dominion: Dangers and Duties of the People in

regard to their Government." From it I make the following extracts:

While I heartily unite in your rejoicings over our new birth as a

nation, I beg to address you some words on our national duties and

interests. I do so because my opinions and advices have been requested

by many persons deeply interested in the public welfare; because I am

approaching the close of a public life of more than forty years, during

which I have carefully observed the hindrances and aids of our social

progress, and have taken part, since 1825, in the discussion of all

those constitutional questions which involved the rights and relations

of religious denominations and citizens, and which have resulted in our

present system of free government and of equal rights among all

religious persuasions; because my heart's desire and prayer to God is,

that the new Dominion of Canada may become prosperous and happy, by

beginning well, by avoiding those errors which have in time past been

injurious to ourselves, and which have impeded the progress and marred

the peace of other peoples, and by adopting those maxims of both feeling

and conduct which the best and most experienced public men of Europe and

America have enjoined as essential to the strength and happiness, the

advancement and grandeur of a nation....

We are passing from an old into a new state of political existence. The

alleged evils of former civil relations have induced the creation of new

ones; and the denounced evils of a former system of government have led

to the establishment of a new system.... We have been raised from a

state of colonial subordination to one of affectionate alliance with the

mother country. Then the first act of wisdom and duty is, to note and

avoid the evils which marred our peace and prosperity in our former

state, and cultivate those feelings and develop those principles of

legislation and government which have contributed most to the promotion

of our own happiness and interests as well as those of other nations.

If you will call up to your recollection the events of our country's

history for the last twenty years, I am sure you will agree with me that

personal hostilities and party strife have been the most fatal obstacles

to our happiness and progress as a people--an immense loss of time and

waste of public money in party debates and struggles--a most fruitful

source of partiality and corruption in legislation and government....

During the last two years that there has been a cessation of party

hostilities and a union of able men of heretofore differing parties for

the welfare of the country, there has been an economy, intelligence and

impartiality in legislation, and in the whole administration of

government, not equalled for many years past, a corresponding

improvement in the social feelings and general progress of the country,

as well as an elevation of our reputation and character abroad, in both

Europe and America....

In no respect is the education of a people more important than in

respect to the principles of their government, their rights and duties

as citizens. This does not come within the range of elementary school

teaching; but I have sought to introduce, as much as possible,

expositions on the principles, spirit and philosophy of government, in

my annual reports, and other school addresses and documents, during the

last twenty years, and so to frame the whole school system as to make

its local administration an instrument of practical education to the

people, in the election of representatives, and the corporate management

of their affairs--embracing most of the elementary principles and

practice of civil government, and doing so to a greater extent than is

done in the school system of any country in Europe, or of any State in

America. And the strength and success of the school system in any

municipality have been in proportion to the absence of party spirit, and

the union of all parties for its promotion.... What is true in school

polity is true in civil polity; and what is true in the educational

branch of the public service, is true in every branch of the public

service.

I am aware that many good and intelligent men, of different views and

associations, regard partyism as a necessity, a normal element, in the

operations of free civil government.... I think they are in error, at

least in the Canadian sense of the term party; and that this error has

been at the bottom of most of our civil discords and executive abuses. I

think that partyism is a clog in the machinery of civil government, as

in that of school or municipal government; in which there is free

discussion of measures, and of the conduct of Trustees and Councillors;

and there have been elections and changes of men as well as of

measures.... When party assumptions and intolerance have gone so far as

to interfere with the proper functions of government, with the

constitutional rights of citizens, or of the Crown, I have, at different

times, in former years, being trammelled by or dependent upon no party,

endeavoured to check these party excesses, and oppressions, sometimes to

the offence of one party, and sometimes to the offence of another, just

as one or the other might be the transgressor. I was, of course, much

assailed by the parties rebuked; but no consideration of that kind

should prevent the public instructor--whether educator or preacher--from

... teaching what he believes to be true and essential to the

advancement of society, please or offend whom it may, or however it may

affect him personally.

I have rejoiced to observe, that many who have heretofore been men of

party and of party government have resolved to inaugurate the new system

of government, not upon the acute angle of party, but, upon the broad

base of equal and impartial justice to all parties, the only moral and

patriotic principle of government, according to my convictions, and the

only principle of government to make good and great men, and make a

progressive and happy country....

Thankful to find that the new system of civil government was to be

established upon the same principles as those on which our school system

has been founded and developed to the satisfaction of the country, and

to the admiration of all foreign visitors; and believing that the

present was the juncture of time for commencing a new and brighter era

in the history of Canada--I have felt that it had a claim to the

result, in epitome at least, of my fifty years reading and meditation,

and more than forty years occasional discussion, respecting these first

principles of government, for the freedom, unity, happiness, advancement

and prosperity of a people....

I believe there is a judgment, a conscience, a heart in the bosom of a

people, as well as in that of an individual, not wholly corrupted--at

least, so I have in time past found it in the people of Upper

Canada--and to that judgment, and conscience, and heart, I appeal. If

what I have written is true, and if what I have suggested is wise, just,

and patriotic, I am not concerned as to what any deceptive or dishonest

art can do to the contrary; for, as Robert Hall beautifully said, on a

similar occasion, "Wisdom and truth, the offspring of the sky, are

immortal; but cunning and deception, the meteors of the earth, after

glittering for a moment, must pass away."

After devoting several pages to illustrate the evils of partyism in

government, Dr. Ryerson proceeds:--This partyism in government is

contrary to the avowed principles and objects of reformers in the true

heroic age of Canadian reform. "Equal rights and privileges among all

classes, without regard to sect or party," was the motto of the

reformers of those days, and was repeated and placed upon their banners

in almost every variety of style and form. And what was understood and

meant by that expressive motto, in the whole administration of

government, will be seen from the following facts:--The reformers and

reform press of Upper Canada, hailed and rejoiced in the principles of

the government of Lord Durham, Lord Sydenham and Sir Charles Bagot. The

Earl of Durham, in his reply to the address of the citizens of Toronto,

July, 1838, said:

On my part, I promise you an impartial administration of

government. Determined not to recognize the existence of parties,

provincial or imperial, classes or races, I shall hope to receive

from all Her Majesty's subjects those public services, the

efficiency of which must ever mainly depend upon their

comprehensiveness. Extend the veil of oblivion over the past,

direct to the future your best energies, and the consequences

cannot be doubted.

The favourite phrase and avowed doctrine of Lord Sydenham was "equal and

impartial justice to all classes of Her Majesty's subjects." After the

union of the Canadas, Lord Sydenham appointed Mr. Draper

Attorney-General, and the late Mr. R. Baldwin, Solicitor-General--the

first "coalition" in Upper Canada. He also intimated at the time that he

attached equal importance to the return of Mr. Draper and Mr. Baldwin;

and that opposition to the one as well as to the other, under whatever

pretence it may be got up, is equally opposition to the

Governor-General's administration. Parties and party spirit have nearly

ruined the country; the object of the Governor-General is to abolish

parties and party feelings by uniting what is good in both parties....

Lord Sydenham's two years administration of the Canadian government

proved the greatest boon to Upper Canada, and the principles and policy

of it were highly approved by Reformers and the Reform press

generally....

Judge Story, in his Commentaries on the Constitution of the United

States, says:--

The best talents and the best virtues are driven from office by

intrigue and corruption, or by the violence of the press or of

party.

In harmony with the statement of the great Judge Story, the famous

French writer, M. de Tocqueville, in his Democracy in America,

observes:--