Chapter XLIX (2)

The difficulties in the way of any proper adjustments of our
differences seem to be almost insurmountable. Prejudices so strong
and so extensive, have been excited against us that we, as the
representatives of the Canada Conference, are looked upon with
shyness, if not fear and contempt. Our situation is anything but
pleasant; it is even distressing and painful.... Rev. Joseph
Stinson is most cordial and affectionate, and is doing his utmost
to further the object of our mission and promote peace in Canada;
this is also the case of Rev. William Lord.

Subsequently Rev. John Ryerson wrote to say that:--

Dr. Alder presented the address of our Conference, and also the
certificate of our appointment to the British Conference. It was
moved by Dr. Bunting, and seconded by Dr. Alder, that the address
be received, and that we be affectionately and cordially requested
to take a seat in the Conference. The resolution was opposed, and
it called up a warm debate. The opposers contended that their
connection with the Canada Conference and its matters had only been
a source of trouble and injury to themselves, and that, as the
Union was now dissolved, they should keep aloof from all
intercourse with us. The resolution was warmly supported by
Doctors Bunting, Alder, Beaumont, Dixon, Mr. Lord, and Mr. Stinson.
It at length passed triumphantly, and all things are coming out
right, and will end well.

Rev. John Ryerson again wrote to Dr. Ryerson from Bristol:

Although we took our seats in the Conference last week, yet we were
not formally introduced until yesterday. It is clear that Dr. Alder
and others were resolved that we should not take our seats on the
platform, but Mr. Lord and Mr. Atherton (the President) and others
were resolved that we should. The President accordingly stated that
the brethren from Canada, Representatives of the Canada Conference,
would be introduced to the Conference, and would take their seats
on the platform, which we did. What Dr. Alder may hereafter do, I
know not; up to this time his conduct has been cold and repulsive;
he, however, continually declares that he is in favour of an
adjustment of matters in Canada.

In looking at matters here, I cannot express the painful anxiety of
my mind; sometimes I can neither eat nor sleep, and it quite
destroys all the satisfaction which I might otherwise enjoy from a
visit to England. Had I known that things would be as I find them,
I should never have come to England. I left Canada distressed in
mind about our mission; the distress has only continued to increase
every day since. Were I to follow the strong impulse of my mind, I
should leave at once and return to America.

All this was changed, however; and on the 15th September Rev. John Ryerson thus writes to Dr. Ryerson as to the final issue of negotiations with the British Conference:--

After four days' conference in committee on Canada affairs, the
whole business was brought to a happy and most amicable conclusion.
When I wrote my last letter I was under most painful apprehensions
respecting the results of our mission. Little change took place in
the bearing of the leading men towards us, until we met in
committee on the 9th inst. Then a most full, frank, and undisguised
explanation of all missionary and domestic matters was entered
into. After this full unburthening of ourselves, the one to the
other, a totally different feeling seemed to come over Drs.
Bunting, Alder, and the whole committee--which consisted of about
thirty leading members of the British Conference. In consequence of
the strong feeling which exists chiefly in Lower Canada, the
British North American plan mentioned by Dr. Dixon in his letter to
you, was thought not practicable at present. The plan of settlement
to which we have agreed, is a union with the British Conference, on
a basis similar to that by which the British and Irish Conferences
are united. The British Conference appoints our President and the
Superintendent of Missions, as in the former union; all of our
missions become missions of the Wesleyan Missionary Society; our
Missionary Society is auxiliary to their Society. The £700 grant is
to be placed under the Missionary Committee, to be appropriated for
missionary purposes in Canada. On the other hand, all the regular
British Missionary circuits in Canada, are to be placed under the
Canada Conference, the same as any other circuits; and there are to
be no missionary districts; but the missionaries are to be members
of the different districts in the bounds of which their missions
are situated. The missionaries are to be stationed by our
Stationing Committee, the same as other ministers. The British
Conference is to appropriate £600 sterling annually to our
contingent fund; and the Missionary Committee is to place £400 at
the disposal of our Conference for contingent purposes.

More kindness, more nobleness of sentiment and feeling, I never
witnessed than was manifested towards us after we had succeeded in
removing suspicion, and allaying fears, etc. In the course of the
conversations, your name came up frequently, but always in terms of
great respect; only they all seemed to think that you got astray in
the matter of the disruption of the union. I assured them, however,
that no man in Canada was more desirous of a settlement of
differences than you were, and in order to the attainment of it,
you were desirous that all the past should be forgotten, and that
henceforth in these matters all should become new. I assured Dr.
Alder that no man in Canada would receive him more cordially than
you would. This assurance seemed to be very gratifying to him and
all the other ministers present.

On the 24th November, 1846, after the return of the Conference delegation from England, Dr. Ryerson addressed the following letter to Drs. Bunting and Alder:--At the suggestion of my brother, Rev. John Ryerson, and in accordance with my own feelings, I take the liberty of addressing you a few lines on adjustment of differences between the English and Canadian Conferences, and the concentration of the work of Methodism in Upper Canada. In the arrangement which has been mutually agreed upon between your Committees and the Canadian Representatives, I entirely concur. Into the consideration of a measure so purely Christian and Wesleyan, I have never allowed, and could not for a moment allow, any sense of personal injury to enter. I have had the pleasure of expressing to the Conferential Committee of the Canadian Connexion my appreciation of the honourable and generous arrangement to which you have agreed, and to propose a resolution expressive of the concurrence of that Committee in that arrangement, to which it assented cordially and unanimously. I have also had the pleasure of moving that Rev. M. Richey be invited to occupy the relation to Victoria College which I have for some years sustained, and to which the College Council has also unanimously agreed. Nor shall I hesitate to use every exertion in my power to complete and render beneficial an arrangement so honourable to the British Conference, and so eminently calculated to promote the best interests of Methodism in Western Canada.

Your treatment of my dear and most beloved brother, John, I regard and acknowledge as a favour done to myself. I did not do myself the honour of calling upon you personally when I was in England, nor should I feel myself at liberty to do so even now, were I again to visit London. It is not that you have objected to many things that I have said and done, and have expressed your objections in the strongest language. In this you have acted as I have done, and for which I ought not either to respect or love you the less. But, in your resolutions of April, 1840, you were pleased to charge me "with an utter want of integrity;" and in a subsequent series of resolutions, you were pleased to represent me as unworthy of the intercourse of private life. These two particulars of your proceedings attracted the painful notice of the late Sir Charles Bagot before I ever saw him, and, I have reason to believe, made no slight impression on the mind of his successor, the late venerated Lord Metcalfe; and they have sunk deeply into my own heart. But I have not so much as alluded to them in my official intercourse with my Canadian brethren, nor will I do so; and as a member of the Canadian Conference, I shall (if spared) receive and treat Dr. Alder with as much respect and cordiality as I ever did, and shall do my best to render his contemplated visit to Canada agreeable to himself, and successful in its objects. I have, more than once, through the press, disclaimed any imputation upon his integrity, motives, or character; but with his recorded declaration of my "utter want of integrity," and my unfitness for social intercourse in private life, I feel that my own conduct towards him should be confined to official acts and official occasions; in which I shall treat him with as much cordiality as I would any other member of the English Conference. Had it not been for the two particulars in your former proceedings to which I have referred, I should have as readily sought the opportunity of paying you my personal respects, during my recent visit to England, as I did in 1836.

I have thought this explanation, at the present moment, due both to you and to myself. I assure you at the same time of my personal regard, and of my desire and purpose to promote, in every possible way, the great objects which you have proposed, viz., the amicable reunion between the English and Canadian Connexions. [The _amende_ was subsequently made.]

* * * * *

In order to place the English and Canadian reunion question fully and fairly before the English Wesleyan public, Dr. Ryerson was requested to prepare an article on the subject for the London _Watchman_. This he did. Rev. M. Richey writes from Montreal, on the 28th June, 1847, and thus acknowledges the service which Dr. Ryerson had rendered in this matter:--

Your promptitude in preparing an article for the _Watchman_, and
the ability, as well as noble spirit of Wesleyan catholicity by
which it is characterized, have afforded to Dr. Alder the highest
satisfaction. The article perfectly corresponds to the ideal he had
conceived of a production adapted to place the whole matter before
the transatlantic public so as best to accomplish the important
object. The article will doubtless appear in the earliest
impression of the _Watchman_, to the joy of thousands of hearts. He
has also to acknowledge the receipt of the address of the Canada to
the British Conference. Permit me to assure you that Dr. Alder and
myself most affectionately reciprocate your expressions of kindness
and regard, and we have every confidence that no elements will be
ever hereafter permitted to disturb either our ecclesiastical
relations or our personal friendship.

On his return from Canada, Dr. Alder wrote to Dr. Ryerson, under date of the 17th September, expressing his grateful feelings at the result of his visit. He said:--

I assure you of the recollection which I cherish of the candid and
manly part which you took, both in public and in private, in
connexion with the various important matters of business which were
brought before us during the sittings of the last Conference in
Toronto, as well as previous to the meeting of that assembly. I
have not failed in my communications since my return, to do you
that justice to which you are so well entitled; and I trust, as I
doubt not you do, that the good understanding which has thus been
restored, will be as permanent as it is gratifying. Much will
depend upon you, as well as upon myself, in securing the harmonious
working of the union which has been accomplished; and I shall
always be happy to receive from you free and full communications,
which will be regarded by me as confidential.

Dr. Alder in a subsequent letter, to Dr. Ryerson, said:--

In the _Watchman_ I have prefaced an account of our Missionary
Anniversary by a few observations, in which I have taken occasion
to bear testimony to the spirit and conduct of your brother
William, as well as of your own, with a view, not merely to perform
an act of justice to you, but to prepare the way for the
appointment of one, or you both, coming, either now, or at some
future period, in a representative character, to our
Conference,--an arrangement which, I am persuaded, will be
productive of much good in various ways.

In carrying out practically so great a measure as that of the
union, difficulties of no ordinary kind will be felt. I have
pressed upon, and fully explained our financial matter to, Earl
Grey, who has, I believe, written to Lord Elgin on the subject. I
think I have made Earl Grey understand the peculiarity of our case.
You must press the matter on your side.

In the union matter you must have the greatest practical freedom of
operation. I have explained my views to Dr. Dixon, your new
President, who sailed last Saturday in the best of spirits.

In a fraternal letter, written in July, 1847, to the Rev. Dr. Olin, President of the Wesleyan University, Middletown, Conn., Dr. Ryerson gave some particulars as to the union with the British Conference. He said:--

You have, doubtless, ere this, heard that a complete adjustment of
past differences between the Wesleyan Conferences in England and
Canada, has been effected, and that provision has been made for a
perfect _oneness_ of their interests and labours in Upper Canada.
This important object has been accomplished with a cordiality, and
unanimity, and devotion, that I have never seen surpassed, and
without the loss--so far as has yet been ascertained--of a single
minister or member of either body, and to the universal
satisfaction and even joy of both parties. We look upon it with
gratitude and wonder, as the Lord's doing, and as marvellous beyond
expression in our eyes.

In a reply to this letter written to Dr. Ryerson, in September, 1847, Dr. Olin discusses the question of the Union, and also the relations of the Church, North and South, on the Slavery question:--

I do most cordially rejoice at the happy termination of your
negotiations with the Wesleyan body in England. I must confess,
however, that I have been somewhat disappointed at the results of
your attempts to get on as an independent Conference. In theorizing
upon the subject, I have concluded that union would be far more
likely to embarrass than to facilitate your movements. I have since
learned that there were disturbing influences not discernible by
observers at a distance, growing out of the occupancy of the field
by conflicting agencies; the heterogenous character of your
population and the power of home associations, etc. I rejoice that
you have overcome these various obstacles, and are likely to have
harmony for the future. All parties will probably be warned and
instructed by the temporary interruption in your connexional
relations. All must be now deeply impressed with the importance of
forbearance and concessions after an experience so memorable of the
necessity of union.

I deeply regret that you should have received anything but kindness
from our side of the line. I think I can assure you that, as a
Church, our sympathies are, and have been, strongly with you; but
the natural and spontaneous feelings of the Body are not well
expressed; and they are in imminent danger of being perverted on
certain questions, which, unfortunately, become party questions
amongst us. The Methodist Episcopal Church is passing through a
crisis. It has fallen upon her to decide momentous questions under
peculiar temptations to error. The ministers are pure and high,
above all liability to be influenced by corrupt motives; but we are
calamitously enough thrown into a position where we must judge
between ourselves and our brethren, with powerful interests and
more potent prejudices to mislead us. Beyond all reasonable doubt,
we are coming to an issue for which, it is my opinion, the Church
of Christ, the world and history, will not cease to reproach us.
And yet we are coming to that issue with a good conscience,
honestly, so far as party spirit and blind prejudice, and the most
unfortunate leading, has left us the power of being honest. I wish
my convictions of the right were not quite so unchangeably settled.
It would afford me unspeakable relief to be able to suspect that
the predestined course of the Church could be other than a flagrant
violation of justice. I would gladly surrender my opinion, if I
could avail myself of even the benefit of a doubt in favour of
retraction. How we shall hereafter be looked upon by the world, is
a consideration of less interest than another which perpetually
thrusts itself upon my fears--what will God pronounce upon our
policy? My only hope is in the indulgence wont to be extended to
errors, and even to high offences which are the result of haste,
excitement, or prejudice. All of these mitigations may be claimed
in anticipation in behalf of the measures which will certainly
prevail at our next General Conference. Of the vast majority, which
will deny to the South what I esteem their unquestionable rights, I
am sure I shall never suspect a man of doing an intentional wrong.
I hope your public sentiment and your press will enable to temper
their disapprobation with this needful infusion of charity.

After his return to England Rev. Dr. Dixon, in a letter to Dr. Ryerson, thus referred to the impression which his visit to Canada made upon him. He said:--

My impressions are strong respecting the importance of Methodism in
Canada. It is at present a glorious religious element in the
country, and will become much more powerful. The colony is destined
to become, either in its present, or some new connection, a great
empire. It is consequently of great importance to adapt your
religious system to existing things, preserving points of doctrine.

I must say, that I never think of my intercourse with you; my
journeys with your brother; my connection with the Conference; and
the kindness of the brethren, but with feelings of intense
interest. In imagination, I try to live everything over and over
again. Many faces and persons are imprinted on my mind; and almost
every scene through which I passed lives in vivid reality. I am
often journeying down your glorious lakes and rivers, gazing on
your woods and forests, and stretching myself in the expanse, as if
there were room to live and breathe. Then, the affection and
kindness of everybody! The people and the scenery agree. All is
magnificent in America. I hope you may be able, by the divine
blessing, to preserve the purity of religion amongst you. I have
strong feelings on one point--viz.: the necessity of giving to all
our movements an evangelic and aggressive character. We Methodists
are so fond of organizations of every sort, and hence of
legislating and placing everything under rule and order, that we
leave no room for extension and for development. I am convinced
that a religious system which does not act on the evangelic
principle; and, moreover, have good people free to work and
exercise the divine affection, must break down.

I consider myself much more in the character of an observer now,
than an actor in anything. I have finished my mission, as regards
public work. It ended in Canada; and the above are my last, and, I
believe will remain, my unalterable convictions. Our danger is
over-legislation; cramping the energies of living piety by decrees
and rules; laying too much weight on the springs of individual
movement; destroying the man in society, the committee, etc.

I am glad to hear that you preach constantly. This is all that I
care about--to endeavour to do some little good in the way of
saving souls. Noble work this! So let me intreat you never to let
your other avocations interfere with this glorious calling. It is
painful to see some men merge the ministerial character in some
pitiful clerkship--some book-keeping affair. And worst of all,
these parties take it into their head, generally amongst us, to
consider themselves and their office as much higher than that of
the messengers of Christ!

* * * * *

Two deaths of notable representative men in Canadian Methodism occurred during 1846:--Rev. Thomas Whitehead and Rev. James Evans. Rev. Thomas Whitehead was the venerated representative of the early pioneers of Methodism in Upper Canada, and Rev. James Evans was a remarkable type of the self-sacrificing and devoted missionaries of that Church in the great North-west. A brief sketch of each of these ministers will illustrate points in the history of Methodism in Upper Canada, without which the account of Dr. Ryerson's career and labours would be incomplete,--especially as he had to do with both of these ministers during his lifetime. Rev. Mr. Whitehead was one of these so-called "Yankee Methodists," whom Dr. Ryerson so often and so strenuously defended against the charge of disloyalty; and Rev. James Evans was one of the five brethren with whom he remonstrated so earnestly and yet so kindly in 1833. (See page 131.)

Rev. Thomas Whitehead was in many respects a strongly-marked representative man. He was elected President at the memorable Special Conference held, in the dark days of the Church, in 1840. (Page 274.) A characteristic letter from him to Dr. Ryerson will be found on page 276. Mr. Whitehead was born in Duchess County, New York, in December 1762, when it was still a British Province. He was, therefore, not a "Yankee Methodist," but a United Empire Loyalist. He commenced his ministry in 1783, and went on a mission to Nova Scotia and New Brunswick, where he remained from 1786 until 1804. In September, 1806, he was sent by Bishop Asbury to Upper Canada, where he resided for forty years. He preached his last sermon on Christmas Day, 1845. He was in the ministry 62 years, and died at Burford in January, 1846, aged 83 years.

Rev. James Evans was one of the most noted missionaries of the North-west; and was specially so from the fact that, by his wonderful inventions of the syllabic character in the Cree language, he has conferred untold blessings upon the Indian tribes and missions of all the Churches in that vast North-West territory, in which he only was permitted to labour for six years.

Mr. Evans was born in England in 1800. He was converted in Upper Canada, and in 1830 entered the Christian ministry, and was a member of the Canada Conference from that year. In 1840 he volunteered his services as a missionary to the North-west. At his station of Norway House, he devoted himself to his great work. Rev. E. R. Young, in the _Canadian Methodist Magazine_ for November, 1882, thus speaks of Mr. Evans' eminent service to the mission cause by his famous invention. He says:--

The invention of what are known as the syllabic characters was
undoubtedly Mr. Evans' greatest work, and to his unaided genius
belongs the honour of devising and then perfecting this alphabet
which has been such a blessing to thousands of Cree Indians. The
principle on which the characters are formed is the phonetic. There
are no silent letters. Each character represents a syllable, hence
no spelling is required. As soon as the alphabet is mastered, the
student can commence at the first chapter in Genesis and read on,
slowly of course, at first, but in a few days with surprising
facility.

When the invention became more extensively known, and other
Churches desired to avail themselves of its benefits, the British
and Foreign Bible Society nobly came to the help of our own, and
the kindred Churches having missions in the North West, and with
their usual princely style of doing things, for years have been
printing, and gratuitously furnishing to the different Cree Indian
missions, all the copies of the Sacred Word they require.

Rev. Mr. Young relates an interesting anecdote connected with this alphabet, which occurred when he was a missionary in the North-West. During Lord Dufferin's visit there he conversed with Mr. Young in regard to the Indians in these distant regions, and expressed his solicitude for the welfare and happiness of these wandering races, and made general enquires in reference to missionary work among them. Mr. Young adds:--

In mentioning the helps I had in my work, I showed him my Cree
Indian Testament, in Evans' Syllabic Characters, and explained the
invention to him. At once his curiosity was excited, and jumping up
he hurried off for pen and paper, and had me write out the whole
alphabet for him, and then with that glee and vivacity for which
His Lordship was so noted, he constituted me his teacher, and
commenced at once to master them. Their simplicity, and yet
wonderful adaptation for their designed work became clearly
recognized by him, for in a short time he read a portion of the
Lord's Prayer. Lord Dufferin became quite excited, and, getting up
from his chair, and holding the Testament in his hand, exclaimed,
"Why, Mr. Young, what a blessing to humanity the man was who
invented that alphabet!" Then continuing, he added, "I profess to
be a kind of literary man myself, and try to keep up my reading of
what is going on, but I never heard of this before. The fact is,"
he added, "the nation has given many a man a title, and a pension,
and then a resting-place, and a monument in Westminster Abbey, who
never did half so much for their fellow-creatures." Then turning to
me again, he asked, "Who did you say was the author, or inventor of
the characters?" "The Rev. James Evans," I replied. "Well, why is
it, I never heard of him before, I wonder?" he answered. My reply
was, "Well, my lord, perhaps the reason why you never heard before
of him was, because he was a humble, modest Methodist preacher."
With a laugh he replied, "That may have been it," and then the
conversation changed. (Pages 437, 438.)

The following are examples of the

CREE SYLLABIC CHARACTERS.

[Cree characters] a, e, oo, ah.
[Cree characters] pa, pe, poo, pah.
[Cree characters] ta, te, tooh, tah.
[Cree characters] cha, che, choo, chah.
[Cree characters] na, ne, noo, nah.
[Cree characters] ka, ke, koo, kah.
[Cree characters] ma, mee, moo, mah.
[Cree characters] sa, see, soo, sah.
[Cree characters] ya, yee, yoo, yah.

The following is the mode of forming words:--

[Cree characters] Mah-ne-tooh--Great Spirit.
[Cree characters] Oo-mee-mee--Dove.
[Cree characters] Nah-pah-ne--Flour-making.

FOOTNOTES:

[130] In a letter to him from the Rev. A. Green, dated November, 1842, the desirability of a union with the Episcopal Methodists was pressed upon his attention. Mr. Green said:--The Episcopal Methodists are gaining ground in many circuits. It would be of much service to us, could we take them on board the old ship again. I learn from Brother Richardson that they are anxious for this, and that Mr. Reynolds would give up his claims, and many of their preachers would retire, could they effect it. But in some parts of the Province the re-union would be opposed; and some members have said, that they would even join the English missionaries if we were to be united with them (the Episcopals). You are a wise man, tell us what we should do. If we do not take steps soon, it will be entirely too late. I understand that they talk of having a Bishop elected soon,--and should Mr. Richardson or Mr. Smith be appointed, it would add greatly to the influence of the party; and yet I cannot now see what steps we could safely take, until we settle the English Union question, for they would take advantage, I fear, of such a reconciliation, to prejudice the old country members against us.

I wish also to obtain your views upon the propriety of petitioning the Governor-General, at once, for a share of the public money granted for the purchase of Sabbath-school books. The sum of £150 goes into the hands of Dr. Strachan annually, for that purpose; and where is it? We are never benefited a farthing by it! Could we obtain one-half, or even one-third of the sum for our schools, it would be of great service to them.[b]

[b] I have no copy of the reply sent to this letter. The letter itself, however, shows what subjects were being discussed in Methodist circles in 1842.

[131] Epochs of Canadian Methodism, pages 292-294.

[132] Dr. Thomas Bond, Editor of the New York _Christian Advocate_, having suggested in December, 1842, the basis of settlement of the differences between the English and Canadian Conferences, Rev. W. M. Harvard wrote from Quebec to Dr. Bond, dissenting from his proposition. Dr. Bond, in a letter to Dr. Ryerson, commenting on Mr. Harvard's objections, thus refers to the Canadian Connexion:

The Canada Conference was sound in the faith, and well affected to primitive Wesleyan discipline, and when it came of age, the Methodist Episcopal Connexion allowed them, and aided them, to go to housekeeping by themselves. We knew of no objection on either subject, when we, with the kindest of feelings, have now hinted at the possibility of an amicable arrangement between our British and Canadian brethren.