Chapter XLII

1844-1845.

After the Contest.--Reaction and Reconstruction.

Dr. Ryerson naturally took a deep interest in political affairs at this time, and Sir Charles Metcalfe kept him fully informed of events transpiring at the seat of Government. In a letter, dated 19th August, 1844, Mr. Civil Secretary Higginson said to him:--

You will be glad to hear that Hon. D. B. Papineau accepts a seat in
the Council. The Inspector-General and Solicitor-General of Lower
Canada are the only offices unprovided for. As to Mr. W. H.
Merritt, the state of his private affairs may operate in his case,
as in that of Mr. Harrison. If it should prove so, the Hon. James
Morris may be induced to join the Council, and a very worthy
representative of the Upper Canada Constitutional Reformers he
would be. Whether the present Parliament is to be met again, or to
be dissolved, remains for discussion. Sir Charles inclines to meet
them, and I think we can do with a majority, albeit a small one, to
support the Government.

Mr. Higginson wrote to Dr. Ryerson, Sept. 8th, and said:

Dissolution or no dissolution, still undetermined. Thorburn
declines office. We must have an Inspector-General, and from the
Upper Canada Liberals. Where are we to find one fit for the duties?

Dr. Ryerson addressed a letter, on the 10th September, to Hon. W. H. Draper, in reply to Mr. Higginson's note--

I need scarcely say that I congratulate you most heartily on your
formal appointment as Attorney-General, and on the important
additions which have been made to your strength in the Council.
Would not Mr. Scobie make a good Inspector-General? He is said to
be a good financier. His private character, sound principles, and
moderate feelings, are all that you could desire. After much
reflection, and conversation with some judicious persons who have
travelled more than I have throughout the country, and have better
opportunities of forming an opinion than I have, I am inclined to
think that you will gain much more than you can lose, by meeting
the present Parliament, and declaring your views, and taking your
stand upon the true principles of responsible government. I make
these remarks, because I spoke rather in favour of a dissolution
when I saw you last.

To this letter Hon. W. H. Draper replied, on the 17th:--

I acknowledge the force of your arguments against a dissolution,
but at the same time it appears to me you have not weighed the
arguments on the other side. These may be concisely stated. 1st.
That the ensuing session will be one certainly preceding a general
election, and therefore, one in which popular doctrines have their
fullest force. 2nd. That members having committed themselves by the
vote of last session would fear to retrace their steps and brave
the charge of inconsistency at such a time. 3rd. That the
ex-ministers would have an opportunity, which they would not
neglect, of presenting a new question for the country. You have
sickened them of the first question; they would like a second,
better selected, if they could get it. For example, if they moved a
committee to inquire how the Government has been administered
during the last ten months, would they not be very likely to carry
it? Information can do no harm; enquiry is a right of the House,
etc., etc. Who would venture to oppose when the committee was
granted? No business would be done till it had reported. Whatever
the report--and if they got a majority on the committee, we may
judge its character--their point would be gained, and they would
have a new issue to try before the country; a new topic of
inflammatory harangue, and studious misrepresentation. Whether this
would be their move I cannot say, but they would do something
tending to a similar end. The experience of 1836 will teach them
not to make a dead set against doing business, or granting
supplies, etc. They will make that a consequence, and if possible
force the Government to a dissolution, thus casting the onus of
doing no public business on the Government. Again, although not
meeting the present House may be considered as an admission of
inferiority there, I think this less injurious than that the new
Administration should be beaten there; and I cannot in any way
anticipate a different result. After going over the list in every
way I see no just ground for hoping for victory there. Again, of
those in whom we might place some hope of a vote in a crisis, there
are some who will not be in their places. Col. Prince certainly
will not, and I doubt much if Hon. W. H. Merritt, or Mr. Thorburn
can. Does no other Upper Canadian Reformer suggest himself? I
confess that I am at a great loss. Neither Harrison nor Merritt can
take office, as they say, because of their private affairs. Hon.
James Morris has given up politics. I have not failed to note your
observation respecting Mr. Scobie, and have brought the matter
before the Council.

To this letter Dr. Ryerson replied on the 19th September:--

You will observe that my remarks had reference almost exclusively
to the best means of augmenting the elective suffrage in favour of
the Government. The facilities for circulating knowledge amongst
the mass of the people are so very imperfect, that it takes a long
time, and great exertions, even out of the ordinary channel, to
inform the great body of the people on any subject.

In the present instance, the Tory party, although they approve of
my letters, do not take pains to circulate them gratuitously. It is
amongst the persons opposed to the Governor-General, that the
reading of them is the most important. That class of persons cannot
be supposed to be very solicitous to procure publications against
their own sentiments and feelings, although they--at least very
many of them--would readily read them if they were put into their
hands. I have scarcely heard of an individual who has read all my
letters who does not adopt the sentiments of them--how strong
soever his feelings might be against the Governor-General. It was
with a view, therefore, of gaining over to the Government a larger
portion of the electors, that I proposed delay, and the
intermediate means of fully informing the public mind.

From the considerations which you assign, I do not see that you can
do otherwise than dissolve the House. I can easily conceive how
some persons can absent themselves from a short session, and thus
weaken the Government more than others could strengthen it by their
presence and support; and that popular movements may be devised to
shift the question and embarrass you. You will probably not gain
as many elections now as you would six months or three months
hence; but what you may not gain in numbers you may gain in the
moderation of new members, or in a new House; especially if you can
reduce the majorities of opposition members who may be returned,
and hold before them in a new House the possibility of a second
dissolution.

Dr. Ryerson then sums up his suggestions as follows:--

The great question then is, How can you come before the country forthwith to the best advantage? I would take the liberty of offering the following suggestions, which have probably occurred to yourself, with others that I shall not mention: 1. Ought not the views of the Government, on the great questions, be put forth in some more authoritative, or formal and imposing way, than has yet been adopted? I know not whether it would be in order for the Governor-General to issue a proclamation in some such form as Lord Durham adopted, when he made his extraordinary appeal to the inhabitants of British North America. In such a document, whatever ought to be the form of its promulgation, the question and doctrine of responsible government should be stated with an explicitness that will leave the ex-Council party no room to cavil, or justify further resistance on that subject. You have this advantage, that you can state your case as you please, and as fully as you please, to the country. 2. Ought there not to be more effective means used than have yet been employed to circulate the refutations of the ex-Council's publications amongst their own supporters? Every one you gain from that side counts two, in more ways than one. And from what I have understood, I am persuaded the chief desideratum is to furnish them with the refutations of the attacks of the late Councillors. A proper improvement of means for nearly two months might accomplish a great deal, and would soon reduce them to a minority, in a large majority of the counties in Upper Canada.

On the 18th September, Mr. Higginson wrote to Dr. Ryerson:

The question of meeting the present Parliament, or of going to the
people, has at last been decided in favour of the latter measure.
There was so much to be said, _pro_ and _con_, that it was a most
difficult point to decide. If the Government could have reckoned
with any degree of certainty upon a majority in the House, which
they unfortunately could not, there would have been the strongest
reasons, as your brother so forcibly put them, for not dissolving.
Your suggestion to Hon. Mr. Draper as to Mr. Scobie filling the
Inspector-Generalship, engages the attention of His Excellency and
the Council. Can the gentleman referred to command a seat? I fear
not.

They complain of a great want of information in the Colborne
District. I mean Dr. Gilchrist's portion of it, where they see
nothing but the Peterborough _Chronicle_. Mr. Hickson may be
depended on as far as he can be of use in circulating some of your
wholesome truths. As there will now be no opportunity of speaking
to the people from the Throne previous to the elections, some other
mode must be taken to ensure our not coming before the country upon
a wrong issue, and such language used as the masses can readily
comprehend. It is to the electors we must look for victory, and
that Sir Charles Metcalfe will triumph I entertain no doubt.

In acknowledging an official letter to His Excellency, Mr. Higgins on (October 10th) informed Dr. Ryerson that he should receive an official reply through Mr. Daly. He then added:--

I doubt not that you will outlive all the abuse that foul-mouthed
radicalism can heap upon you.

It is, as you know, impossible to calculate with any degree of
certainty upon the results of the elections until the polls are
tested; but, I think I may assert with safety that our prospects in
Lower Canada are by no means so discouraging as our enemies, and, I
believe, some of our friends, would make it appear. Of the latter,
there is a class that stand still with their arms folded, fancying
that there must be a majority against the Government, and that it
will be taken by the Home authorities as an evidence of the
impossibility of working responsible government.

In sending letters of introduction to friends in England, Hon. George Moffatt, of Montreal, wrote to Dr. Ryerson in October to say:--

As to the result of the Metcalfe contest, returns have been
received from more than half of the constituencies in the two
sections of the Province, and it is gratifying to find that the
Governor-General is assured of having a good working majority in
the Assembly. I have no fears about him, and my only anxiety now is
that things may not be again grossly mismanaged at the Colonial
Office. Unfortunately, however, Sir Charles Metcalfe's health is
very precarious, and should he resign, it will be of the utmost
importance that a statesman of ability and character should be sent
out to succeed him.

I drew your attention to the ungrateful conduct of the returned
exiles, generally; and if proof were wanting of the entire failure
of the conciliation system in this section of the Province, it
would only be necessary to refer to the active part taken by these
men in the late contest.

Hon. Peter McGill, of Montreal, in his letter of introduction to Sir Randolph Routh, thus referred to Dr. Ryerson:--

The Rev. Egerton Ryerson, with whose name you, and every one
connected with Canada, must be familiar, has recently been doing
the State some service, by his eloquent writings in defence and
vindication of Sir Charles Metcalfe's Government, and in support of
law, order, and British Connection.

Having applied to His Excellency for letters of introduction to parties in England, Mr. Secretary Higginson writes:--

I have the pleasure to enclose an introduction from His Excellency
to Lord Stanley, and letters to old friends of his and mine, Mr.
Trevelyan, of the Treasury, and Mr. Mangles, M.P.

How nobly and strongly Upper Canada has come out! She will send us
at least thirty good men and true, who will not be overawed by a
French faction. From this section of the Province we shall have, on
the lowest calculation, thirteen or fourteen, which gives us a
majority of five or six to commence with, and that will doubtless
increase.

From no one did Dr. Ryerson receive during the Metcalfe contest more faithful and loving counsel than from his old friend, Rev. George Ferguson. Mr. Ferguson had been a brave soldier before he entered the ministry, in 1816, and he was, up to the time of his death, in 1857, a valiant soldier of the cross. In a letter to Dr. Ryerson, in September, 1844, he said:--

My esteemed friend, beloved brother, (and may I add) dear son:
These epithets you know come from a warm heart; a heart of
friendship, affection, and love, without dissimulation. If you have
a friend in this little wicked and deceitful world it is George
Ferguson. I have watched you in all your movements from first to
last with great anxiety and deep concern. Your welfare and
prosperity I have, do, and will rejoice in; and when you are
touched in character, or otherwise, I feel it acutely. When I
understood what you intended to undertake, and hearing the clamour
among the people, I felt awful, not that I feared that any
production or argument coming from your pen would be controverted
successfully. I believe that your last production is unanswerable
on logical, constitutional, and fair, honest principles, but I was
afraid that it would not accomplish the end for which it was
designed; for the people, generally, had run mad, formerly by the
word "reform," and now they are insane by the word "responsible." I
fear that the Governor will lose the elections in Canada West. Your
pamphlet may, it is true, be a text book to the next Parliament,
and keep them right from fear. I was not afraid that you had
committed yourself with the Conference and the Church after all the
fuss preachers and people made in this respect, (and I am of
opinion many would have been glad of it) but I had my serious fears
that it would injure your enjoyments in religion, and be a source
of temptation that would cause you to leave the ministry. But I
hope and pray that one who has stood against all the bribes, baits,
and offers made to buy him, when but a boy, will be upheld. Oh! no,
no; having Christ in the soul, walking with God, having secret
communion and fellowship with the Deity continually, with your
talents and qualifications what a treasure to the Church! and the
good you would be made the happy instrument of doing! This is true
honour, real dignity, true popularity, and eternal wealth. I would
rather go to the grave with you dying well, than ever hear that my
beloved Egerton was lost to the Church. But, my dear son, you have
need to watch, to stand fast, to be strong, and acquit thyself as a
man; to have an eye single to the glory of the Lord, to keep the
munition, to watch the way. You never will be out of danger till
you get to heaven. Be much in secret prayer and communion with your
Maker. These simple truths come from a father in his 29th year of
his ministry--one that is, in every sense of the word,
superannuated, and one that will shortly be known no more.

* * * * *

Hon. R. B. Sullivan (under the _nom de plume_ of "Legion") in a series of thirteen letters, with appendix, extending to 232 pages of a pamphlet, replied to Dr. Ryerson's Defence of Lord Metcalfe. These letters were afterwards reviewed by Dr. Ryerson in a series of ten letters, extending to 63 pages of a pamphlet. This review was in the form of a rejoinder, but in it no new principles of government were discussed. Dr. Ryerson's "Defence" proper, was originally published, as was his review of "Legion's" letters, in the _British Colonist_, then edited by the late Hugh Scobie, Esq. The Defence was afterwards published in pamphlet form, and extended to 186 pages.