Chapter LXII

1868-1869.

Correspondence with Hon. George Brown.--Dr. Punshon.

On the 24th of March, Dr. Ryerson addressed the following letter to the Hon. George Brown:--

I desire, on this the 65th anniversary of my birth, to assure you of my hearty forgiveness of the personal wrongs which, I think, you have done me in past years, and of my forgetfulness of them so far, at least, as involves the least unkindness and unfriendliness of feeling.

To express free and independent opinions on the public acts of public men, to animadvert severely upon them when considered censurable, is both the right and duty of the press; nor have I ever been discourteous, or felt any animosity towards those who have censured my official acts, or denounced my opinions. Had I considered that you had done nothing more in regard to myself, I should have felt and acted differently from what I have done in regard to you--the only public man in Canada with whom I have not been on speaking and personally friendly terms. But while I wish in no way to influence your judgment and proceedings in relation to myself, I beg to say that I cherish no other than feelings of good will, with which I hope to (as I soon must) stand before the Judge of all the earth--imploring, as well as granting forgiveness for all the wrong deeds done in the body.

On the same day Mr. Brown replied as follows:--

I have received your letter of this day, and note its contents.

I am entirely unconscious of any "personal wrong" ever done you by me, and had no thought of receiving "forgiveness" at your hands.

What I have said or written of your public conduct or writings has been dictated solely by a sense of public duty, and has never, I feel confident, exceeded the bounds of legitimate criticism, in view of all attendant circumstances. What has been written of you in the columns of the _Globe_ newspaper, so far as I have observed, has been always restrained within the limits of fair criticism toward one holding a position of public trust.

As to your personal attacks on myself--those who pursue the fearless course as a politician and public journalist that I have done for a quarter of a century, cannot expect to escape abuse and misrepresentation; and assuredly your assaults have never affected my course toward you in the slightest degree. Your series of letters printed in the _Leader_ newspaper some years ago, were not, I am told, conceived in a very Christian spirit, but I was ill at the time they were published, and have never read them. Your dragging my name into your controversy with the Messrs. Campbell--on a matter with which I had no personal concern whatever--was one of those devices unhappily too often resorted to in political squabbles to be capable of exciting more than momentary indignation.

The following letter from Dr. Ryerson to Mr. Brown, dated Toronto, April 13th, closed the correspondence:--Your note of the 24th ult., did not reach me until Saturday evening--night before last.

I wrote my note of that date with the view of forgetting, rather than reviving, the recollection of past discussions.

I never objected to the severest criticisms of my "public conduct or writings." My remarks had sole reference to your "personal attacks" and "assaults," made over your own name, and involving all that was dear to me as a man, and a father, and a Christian--"personal attacks" and "assaults" to which my letters in the _Leader_ referred to by you, and which you had engaged to insert in the _Globe_, but afterwards refused, were a reply; in the course of which I convicted you not only of many misstatements, but of seven distinct forgeries--you, by additions, professing to quote from me in seven instances the very reverse of what I had written, and your having done all this to sustain "personal attacks" and "assaults" upon me.

Besides this, on at least two subsequent occasions, you charged me with what involved an imputation of dishonesty; and when I transmitted to you copies of official correspondence relating to the subject of your allegations, and refuting them, you refused to insert it in the _Globe_, and left your false accusations unretracted to this day.

It was to such "personal attacks" and "assaults" on your part against me, and not to any legitimate criticisms upon my "public conduct or writings," that I referred in my letter of the 24th ult.

I admit the general fairness of the _Globe_ towards me during the last few months; but that does not alter the character of your former "personal attacks" and "assaults" upon me, and to which alone what you call my "personal attacks" and "assaults" upon you were but defensive replies and rejoinders.

I certainly have no reason to be dissatisfied with the results of such "personal attacks" and replies, notwithstanding your great advantage in having a powerful press at your disposal; and I am prepared for the future, as I have been for the past, though I wish, if possible, to live peaceably with all men.

* * * * *

Dr. Ryerson having been appointed delegate (with Dr. Punshon) to the American General Conference of 1868, at Chicago, he wrote to me from that city on the 14th of May:--

On our way here we stopped at London, where Mr. Punshon lectured
nobly. We reached here Tuesday evening, and were most heartily
welcomed by Bishop Janes, and by our hosts.

We were introduced to the Conference to-day, and were most
cordially received. Mr. Punshon was introduced by Bishop Janes, and
made a touching and noble address, which won the hearts of the
Conference, and vast audience, and was frequently and loudly
cheered.

I was introduced heartily and eulogistically by Bishop Simpson, and
addressed the Conference. The latter part of my address was warmly
cheered.

Rev. Dr. Richey, President, and Representative of the Eastern
Conference of British America, was introduced by Bishop Simpson,
and made a very excellent address to the Conference.

Mr. Punshon preached powerfully and gloriously before the
Conference and an immense crowd to-day; all were delighted, and
seemed deeply affected.

On the 18th of May, Dr. Ryerson wrote again to me:--

Mr. Punshon has made a wonderful impression here by his addresses
and discourses, beyond any thing they have ever heard from the
pulpit and the platform. He is to lecture to-morrow evening in the
Opera House--the largest room in Chicago--and there is a great rage
to get tickets. He preached there yesterday afternoon to several
thousand persons, a great part of whom were affected to tears
several times. I trust that many sinners were awakened, while
believers were greatly comforted and encouraged.

We went out on Saturday on an excursion train to Clinton, in Iowa,
145 miles west of this, crossing the Mississippi there, by
railroad, and crossing the prairies. The people of
Clinton--Presbyterians, etc., and Methodists--united, and prepared
an excellent dinner for three hundred and six persons, after which
speeches were delivered. The North-West Railroad Company prepared
the excursion gratuitously for the General Conference.

Dr. Ryerson having addressed a request to the British Conference for the re-appointment of Rev. W. M. Punshon to Canada, Rev. Gervase Smith replied on the 17th of August:--

Your first request was complied with without much debate. Mr.
Punshon is transferred to you for a term. The second request raised
a long discussion; the result of which was that you should be left
to elect your own President next year. Mr. Arthur, Drs. Waddy and
Rigg, and others, pleaded for Mr. Punshon's appointment on the
ground that the preceding vote placed him under Canadian
jurisdiction. But there were others who were influenced by the
consideration that to leave you to elect your own President, would
doubtless lead to Mr. Punshon's election. I pray that you all may
be guided rightly at this important juncture.

Dr. Punshon's continued residence in Canada was a source of great delight to Dr. Ryerson. Of the wonderfully beneficial effects upon Canadian Methodism of that memorable visit, it is not necessary that I should speak. The hallowed memories of those days are engraven on thousands of hearts on both sides of the lines.

Rev. Dr. R. F. Burns, of the Fort Massey Presbyterian Church, Halifax, in a letter to the _Presbyterian Witness_, gives the following graphic account of the visit of Drs. Ryerson, Punshon, and Richey to the General Conference at Chicago. The _Wesleyan_, of Halifax, speaking of Dr. Burns' letter, says:--The reminiscence is of special interest to the editor of this paper, as he was one of the party who lunched with Dr. Ryerson at Dr. Burns' on the occasion mentioned. Dr. Burns says:--

A memory of the worthy man comes up which you will excuse me for
jotting down. In the summer of 1868, during my residence in
Chicago, the Quadrennial Convention of the Methodist Episcopal
Church was held. It was then that I first made the acquaintance of
Dr. Punshon, who came out as delegate from the English Conference
to that great gathering. Dr. Matthew Richey was there representing
the Methodism of Eastern, and Dr. Ryerson of Western Canada. Quite
a colony of Canadian Methodists came over, including my old friend
Rev. A. F. Bland, to whom the celebrated Robert Collyer expressed
himself more indebted than to any other living man.

I invited several of the Methodist brethren to luncheon--Drs.
Ryerson and Richey of the number--(Punshon had a prior engagement).
Ryerson had given his speech that forenoon, and Richey too, with
characteristic ability, representing the two Canadian Conferences.
Dr. Richey had, a little before, met with the accident, but yet
though he had aged and failed considerably since the days when I
counted him the beau-ideal of elegance in manner and style in
pulpit and on platform, he bore himself with much of his former
stately demeanour and fine felicity of diction. Ryerson was hale
and hearty as of yore, and with perhaps less of the old tendency to
tremble while speaking which surprised me so much when I first
witnessed it, for, under the influence of strong feeling, and a
sort of constitutional timidity, linked in him with indomitable
pluck, his limbs--indeed often his whole massive frame--so shook
that I have felt the platform quiver. The Rev. George Goodson told
me in an undertone of an unkind remark made by a distinguished
member of the Conference to his neighbour as Dr. Ryerson got up to
speak, and that he had rebuked him for it, not knowing at the time
who he was. This gentleman, it came out in course of conversation,
was closely related to Elder Henry Ryan, a well-known minister in
the old Canada Methodist Church, with whom Dr. Ryerson, in his
early days, carried on a keen warfare. The Ryan-Ryerson controversy
is one with which the older Canadian Methodists are familiar.
Without hinting at the rudeness of his relative, I alluded to Elder
Ryan when conversing with Dr. Ryerson, and got from him in graphic
detail, the history of that ancient controversy in which he was a
principal party. It was very keen while it lasted, but there was no
bitter animus in the recital--though the old war horse pricked up
his ears and seemed to "hear the sound of battle from afar." I then
discovered a reason for the sharp tone of the gentleman's remarks,
aforesaid, which drew forth Brother Goodson's rebuke. Though but
four years of age when he left Canada, he had imbibed a dislike to
his old relative's chief antagonist, and to the very people amongst
whom the Ryerson party had proved victorious. Hence his remark on
another occasion to a lady friend of mine, with reference to his
early connection with Canada, to the effect that he was "ashamed of
being born there," which so roused her patriotic spirit that she
promptly retorted: "Well, I am ashamed of you for saying so." The
gentleman was then one of the rising hopes of that great
denomination, and has since risen to a foremost rank in it. When
this little incident was mentioned to Dr. Ryerson, he richly
enjoyed it, and before leaving the house, with his native
gallantry, he expressed a desire to use the privileges of an old
man towards the fair defendress of her country's honour, saying,
naively, as we all stood, before parting in the hall, "I would like
to kiss you for your patriotism?" (See chapter vii.)

While at Peake's Island, near Portland, Maine, in 1869, Dr. Ryerson met with a serious accident, which nearly proved fatal. In a letter to me, he said:--

On Monday a plank from the wharf to a vessel, on the outside of
which lay our boat, fell and precipitated me some feet on the deck
of the vessel; I falling on my head, shoulder, and side. I was
stunned and much injured, and have suffered much from my side; but
I am now getting better and am able to dress myself, and to use my
right arm. My head came within six inches of the band which
surrounds the hatchway. There was thus but six inches between me
and sudden death! I am truly thankful for my deliverance, and for
my blessings.