The Story of My Life Part 23

Dr. Ryerson has left nothing in his "Story" to ill.u.s.trate this period of his personal history, nor the strife and division which followed the consummation of the union of the British and Canadian Conferences. These untoward events are, however, fully described in the "Epochs of Canadian Methodism," pages 247-311: They arose chiefly out of the differences which disturbed the British and Canadian Methodist Societies in Kingston and other places, and the separation in the Societies generally, caused by the establishment of the Methodist Episcopal Church in 1834.

I have already given, in chapter xi., page 128, an extract of a letter to Dr. Ryerson, from his brother John, indicating the causes of strife between the British and Canadian Societies. I give the following letter, also from the same gentleman, written from Hallowell early in November, 1833, in which he said:--

Brother William and I called on the Rev. Mr. Hetherington at Kingston. He said:--That there could be no union; that we were Radicals; that they would not be united with us; that the District Meetings of Lower Canada, Halifax, etc., intended to make common cause with them; especially they intended to remonstrate against giving up York and Kingston. They also intended to appeal to the British Conference, and if they were not heard by it they would appeal to the British people. If the British Conference will allow its members to throw firebrands, arrows, and death around in this way, and reciprocate their proceedings after this manner with impunity, they are very different men from what I have taken them to be.

_Nov. 20th._--In a subsequent letter to Dr. Ryerson, his brother John says:--

I fear much for the Union from the English Missionary party. Should they, from any consideration, undertake to retain Kingston and York, our cause there will be ruined. In case of such an event, I will retire immediately, and bid farewell to the strife and toil in which we have been engaged ever since we have been travelling preachers. Let me know who have thrown up the _Guardian_. You will have seen the Cobourg _Reformer's_ attacks. It is of much more importance for you to expose Mr. Radcliffe, the editor, than any one else, and point out that, in his present enmity to Methodist principles, this is not the first time he has endeavoured to break the Methodist ranks, and to sow the seeds of discord among her friends. I would take good care not to lean a hairsbreadth towards radicalism. One reason of their making this onslaught is to scare you, and induce you to say something which will excite the jealousy of the Government, and the disapprobation of our British brethren, and thereby destroy us with them as they seek to do with other parties.

_Nov. 22nd._--What is thus stated by his brother John was corroborated by his brother William, who was stationed at Kingston, and who, in a letter to Dr. Ryerson, said:--

I need not say what my feelings were when I arrived at this place, and found that arrangements had been made by Mr. Marsden, in violation of the understanding with the Conference, and in defiance of the opinions and wishes of every one of our friends in the town and country, whose feelings have not only been wounded and grieved, but have rendered the prospects of a union in this place more than ever entirely hopeless. I have not been considered fit (probably for want of ability) to act as Superintendent of such an important station; I have no authority to receive or expel a member, or even to preside in a meeting of Stewards and Leaders; while my Superintendent is in Montreal or Quebec; whether or not he will so stoop as to visit us at all, we cannot say. Besides being shut out of the British Wesleyan Chapel, every possible means is being used to prevent a single individual of their Society from attending our Chapel; and my field of labour is not only greatly circ.u.mscribed, but the prospect of usefulness is nearly destroyed. What my feelings must be, under such circ.u.mstances, you can easily judge. I can only say that as soon as I can see a way opened, and can do so consistently, I will not labour as a travelling preacher one day longer.

_January 8th, 1834._--His brother John, in another letter to Dr. Ryerson from Hallowell, said:--

Whoever may be the agents in making alterations in our economy, I will not be one. With "improvements," alterations, unions, and disunions, we have been agitated long enough. I am done with such business, henceforth and forever. At our last Conference it was understood, and expressly stated that no alterations would hereafter be attempted; and so we have a.s.sured the people. But behold, before they receive that a.s.surance, some alterations are mooted. Do away with the Presiding Elders, lessen the Districts, etc., and a dozen other things which will necessarily follow. The reason urged for these changes is worse than the things themselves--namely: If we don't, the British Missionaries will write to the Superintendents and raise such a storm in England, etc., etc. If this is the way we are to be governed, and if this is the state of the Connexion at home, the Resolutions on Union, on parchment or paper, are a miserable farce. The more I think on this subject, the worse I like it.

In a letter from Kingston to Dr. Ryerson on this subject, Rev. Joseph Stinson says:--

I have done my utmost to promote the union of the two Societies in this town. If things are carried with too high a hand, we shall lose our Kingston Chapel and congregation altogether; and, should the Kingston people shut their Chapel against us, it will be impossible to keep things quiet in Lower Canada. I do not think it necessary to sacrifice the Union to Kingston, nor is it necessary to sacrifice Kingston, because a number of disaffected radicals in the Bay of Quinte like to make the state of things here an excuse for their anti-methodistical proceedings. If there were no Kingston in existence, these men would never cordially love the Union.

_April_, 1834.--Dr. Ryerson received a letter from the new President of the Canada Conference (Rev. Edmund Grindrod) dated London, England, in which the latter said:--

One object of my visit will be to allay the hostility of our Societies in the Lower Province to their union with us.

Mr. Alder (said Mr. Grindrod) was to have accompanied him, but at Mr.

Bunting's suggestion this plan was abandoned in the hope that--

The friends in Lower Canada, when they have had time to reflect, would return to better views and feelings.

_Dec. 3rd._--Writing to Dr. Ryerson from Kingston, at this date, Rev.

John C. Davidson[44] says:--

I have been told by the most influential members of the Leaders'

Meeting here that pledges to the following effect have been most solemnly given to them by Mr. Alder and Mr. Grindrod, viz:--That the members of the British Society here did not, and were never to make a part of the Societies governed by the Canada Conference; that they were to remain as they always were; that their numbers were to be returned to the home Conference; that our Society was to be merged in theirs; and Kingston become the head of the Missionary establishment in Canada,--always to be the residence of the Superintendent, who was to control and regulate the Kingston Societies; and that the Presiding Elder was to have nothing to do with the town; that a large chapel was to be forthwith built,--to be deeded to the British Conference; and that the minister in charge of Kingston was always to be an Englishman.

Towards the close of this year, the Methodist Episcopal Church in Canada was organized. Full details of this division are given by Dr. Ryerson in the "Epochs of Canadian Methodism," pages 270-288. Happily this separated branch of the great Methodist family is being re-united to the parent stock in 1883. Further reference to the subject is, therefore, unnecessary in this "Story." Nevertheless it should be remembered that in the discussion and controversy which for years followed this event, Dr. Ryerson occupied a foremost place as the champion on the Wesleyan Methodist side.

FOOTNOTES:

[44] This gentleman entered the Methodist Church in 1827, joined the Church of England in 1854, and was for many years a minister of a congregation in the Province of Quebec. He died in 1881.

CHAPTER XIII.

1834-1835.

Second Retirement from the "Guardian" Editors.h.i.+p.

As already intimated in Chapter xi., the publication of Dr. Ryerson's "Impressions" of England, etc., in the _Guardian_ of 1833, excited quite a political and social sensation. Public men of all shades of opinion had their feelings at once enlisted for or against the Editor of that paper, and condemned or commended his course accordingly.

Such a result did not cause much immediate concern to Dr. Ryerson. He, as Editor, claimed from the first, and his opponents outside of the Connexion admitted, that in battling for religious equality and denominational rights, he should be left untrammelled. In other words, that as Editor of a leading paper like the _Guardian_, he should be left free to counsel, to advise and warn, and, if necessary, to take strong ground on all questions involving purely civil rights, and the const.i.tutional exercise of the prerogative on the part of the Executive.

This was the more necessary, as civil and religious freedom were largely identical in those days of undefined prerogative, irresponsible government, and inchoate inst.i.tutions.

All parties, therefore, tacitly conceded what the Editor of the _Guardian_ claimed--a wide lat.i.tude and a reasonable discretion in discussing questions of the day which involved either civil rights or religious freedom. This wise discretion was the more necessary from the fact that the _Guardian_ was unquestionably the leading newspaper during these years, and was edited with more than ordinary ability and power.[45]

Besides, there were many thoughtful men who took little part in politics, and yet who looked with alarm on the claims and encroachments of the Family Compact,--a powerful and influential party, and dominant alike in church and state. Many of the able public men of the day, who were moderate in their views, were nevertheless the champions of popular rights. These men were Messrs. Bidwell, Baldwin, Dunn, and others. Their influence was strongly felt in the House of a.s.sembly, and was sustained by their great moral worth and high social position. To such men the powerful aid of the _Guardian_, in advocating the principles of equal justice to all parties alike, was indispensable; and from its support they derived much strength, and were greatly aided in maintaining their position in the House and in the country.

It was under these circ.u.mstances, and amid the peculiar exigencies of the times, that the _Christian Guardian_ became the great organ of public opinion on the liberal side in Upper Canada. It can, therefore, be well understood how at such a time, when the supremacy of party was the question of the hour, the publication of Dr. Ryerson's "impressions"--candid and moderate as they were--fell like a bombsh.e.l.l amongst those in Canada who had set up as political idols such men as Hume and Roebuck in England. To dethrone such idols was of itself bad enough; but that was not the head and front of Dr. Ryerson's offending.

What gave such mortal offence was that Dr. Ryerson saw any good whatever in the moderate English Conservative (though he saw none in the English Tory). And worse still, that he saw many undesirable things in the English Whigs, and nothing good in the English Radicals. To give special point to these criticisms and comparisons Dr. Ryerson stated that:--

Radicalism in England appeared to me to be another word for Republicanism, with the name of King instead of President ... and that the very description of the public press, which in England advocates the lowest Radicalism, is the foremost in opposing and slandering the Methodists in this Province. Hence the fact that some of these editors have been amongst the lowest of the English Radicals, previous to their egress from the mother country.

The point of this criticism struck home; and, on the very day on which it appeared, the cap was fitted upon the head of the leading radical of the province. In fact, he placed it there himself, and thenceforth proclaimed war to the knife against the Editor of the _Guardian_. (See page 125.)

With singular ability and zeal did Mr. W. L. Mackenzie carry on this warfare. He at once saw what would be the effect of the new departure.

And so promptly and energetically did he denounce the "arch-apostate Egerton, _alias_ Arnold, Ryerson" as a deserter, that he secured with little difficulty an impromptu verdict from the public against him. This he the more readily accomplished, by the aid of at least half a dozen editors of newspapers in various parts of the province, while Dr.

Ryerson was single-handed. Not only did these editors join with great vigour in the hue and cry against Dr. Ryerson (for they had many scores of their own to settle with their powerful rival), but many of Dr.

Ryerson's own brethren were carried away by the sudden outburst of pa.s.sion against him. Hundreds of the supporters of the _Guardian_ turned from him, as a deserter, and many gave up the paper.

It is true that the tide soon turned; and those who had refused at first to heed, or even to listen to, the words of warning uttered by Dr.

Ryerson in this crisis, were afterwards glad to profit by them, and thus saved themselves in time from the direful consequences which followed during the sad events of 1837-38.

The effect, however, of that severe and unexpected encounter with irrational prejudice (joined to the hostility of those whose plans were prematurely disclosed and frustrated) was too much for one who, as a Christian minister and a lover of his country, was filled with higher aims than those of a mere politician.

In the course of the discussion which followed, Dr. Ryerson came into contact with some of the more unreasoning of his brethren. (See pages 130-133.) The question was raised as to how far the _Guardian_ should be involved in conflicts like the present, which from their very nature introduced an apple of discord into the Connexion, as they partook more of a political than of a religious character. This question was pressed upon members of the Conference by the British Missionaries, whose national prejudices and political sensibilities were, as they alleged, wounded by the adverse strictures of the Editor of the _Guardian_ on Church Establishments, the Clergy Reserve question, and kindred topics.

Knowing the impossibility of reconciling views so opposite as those expressed by the British Missionaries and those of the great majority of Canadian Methodists (as represented by the _Guardian_), Dr. Ryerson resolved to retire from the editors.h.i.+p. This, by a vote of his brethren in the Conference of 1834, he was not permitted to do. But, like a wise and prudent counsellor amongst men of differing views, he determined to take the initiative in settling, on a satisfactory basis, the future course of the _Guardian_ as to the discussion of political and social questions. At that Conference, therefore, he prepared and submitted a series of resolutions to the following effect:--

1. That the _Christian Guardian_, as the organ of the Conference, shall be properly and truly a religious and literary journal, to explain our doctrines and inst.i.tutions, and, in the spirit of meekness, defend them when necessary; to vindicate our character, if expedient, when misrepresented; to maintain our religious privileges, etc. 2. To publish general news, etc. 3. That the _Christian Guardian_ shall not be the medium of discussing political questions, nor the merits of political parties; as it is injurious to the interests of religion, and derogatory to our character as a religious body, to have our Church amalgamated or identified with any political party.

These resolutions were cordially adopted by the Conference.

_October 4th, 1834._--In a letter received by Dr. Ryerson from Rev. G.

Marsden, Liverpool, the latter referred to this subject and said:--

Your continuance in office, as editor, is of very high importance; indeed, in some respects it is essential to the consolidation of the Union. Loyalty to our Sovereign, and firm attachment to the British Const.i.tution will be supported by it. You will also be able to defend, and to support sound Wesleyan Methodism; and the foundation being now laid, you will be able to guard it well.

Rev. E. Grindrod, also writing from England, said:--