Chapter LXIII

1870-1875.

Miscellaneous Closing Events and Correspondence.

On the 23rd of April, 1870, Rev. Drs. Punshon, Wood and Taylor, Chairman and Secretaries of the Central Board of Wesleyan Missions, addressed a letter to Sir George Cartier, Minister of Militia, on the subject of sending a Methodist chaplain with the Red River expedition under General Lindsay and the present Lord Wolseley. In their letter they said:--

Believing that many who will volunteer to complete this enterprize
will be members of our own church, we are desirous of securing your
official sanction to the appointment of a Wesleyan Minister as
Chaplain to that portion of the military expedition who are
professedly attached to our doctrines and ordinances, upon such
terms as may be agreed upon, affecting personal rights and military
operations and duties.

This letter was merely acknowledged, and no action was taken upon it. In the following June Conference, the subject was brought up, and much feeling was evoked at Sir George Cartier's apparent want of courtesy to the Missionary Board. Sir Alexander Campbell, on seeing a report of the Conference proceedings on the subject, wrote a very kind note to Dr. Ryerson, in which he expressed his opinion that some mistake must have occurred in the matter, and that he was sure no discourtesy was thought of on the part of Sir George Cartier. To this note Dr. Ryerson replied on the 18th of June:--

I yesterday received your very kind letter of the 13th inst. I think you know too well my high respect, and even affection for you, and my expectations long since formed of your success and usefulness to the country, as a public man, to doubt my implicit confidence in any statement made by you, and my desire to meet your views as far as possible.

In the matter as relating to Sir George E. Cartier, I may remark, that the President of the Wesleyan Conference stated to me the week before its annual meeting, that a communication had been addressed by himself, and the Missionary Secretaries, to Sir George Cartier respecting our sending a Wesleyan Minister with the Red River expedition, to supply the spiritual wants of many members of our own congregations, and proposing to confer with him (Sir G. C.) as to the arrangement; that he regarded the treatment of their letter by Sir George as discourteous, and that he thought the Conference should be informed of it, and that it should take some action on the subject. The Rev. Dr. Wood, senior Missionary Secretary, read to the Conference the correspondence and the draft of four resolutions, on the subject of which he gave notice. I was not in the Conference when this took place. On reading Dr. Wood's resolutions, I suggested some modifications of them, and prepared resolutions which he preferred to his own, and which I proposed for adoption the day after giving notice of them.

As to Sir George's courtesy, I may observe that the letter addressed to him, proposed a conference with him on the subject: that his Deputy, in reply, by direction of Sir George Cartier, as he says, acknowledged the receipt of the letter addressed to him, but though that letter was dated at Toronto, and signed officially, the answer to it was addressed simply to the "Rev. Mr. Punshon, Montreal," and no further notice taken of it to this day. And it seems that Sir George did not think it worth his while even to mention, much less submit the letter, to you and your colleagues from Upper Canada.

In regard to the question of chaplain, our view is, and the proposal contemplated by our President and Missionary Secretaries was, that the Government should not pay any salary to the chaplain, but simply provide his rations and accommodations. It is our view that the Government should not pay or appoint any chaplain, but leave to each denomination the right of doing so, if it should think proper. Each chaplain thus nominated and paid, to be recognized by the military authorities, and be subject, of course, to the military regulations. In such circumstances, it is probable there would have been three Protestant chaplains--Church of England, Presbyterian, and Methodist. I infer or assume this on the ground of experience. In our Normal School of one hundred and fifty students, each is asked his religious persuasion, and the chief minister of that persuasion is furnished with a list of the names of students adhering to or professing his Church, and the day, and hour, and place where he can give them religious instruction. The result is, that by mutual consultation and agreement of ministers, all the Presbyterians, including even the Congregationalists and Baptists, meet in one class, and receive religious instruction from one minister, the ministers agreeing to take the labour in successive sessions--one minister performing all the duty one session. The arrangement voluntarily exists among the different classes of Methodists--though Wesleyan ministers do all the work. A Church of England minister attends to the instruction and religious oversight of the Church of England students, and the chief Roman Catholic priest does the same in regard to the Roman Catholic students. Nothing can be more fair, practical, and satisfactory than a similar arrangement in regard to the Red River expedition. What may be the peculiar views, habits, etc. of the Church of England chaplain appointed and salaried by the Government, I know not; but you know as well as I do that a man being a clergyman of the Church of England is no longer a guarantee that he does not entertain and teach views and practices more subversive of unsophisticated Protestant principles and feelings than could be as successfully done by a Roman Catholic priest. Besides, as a general rule, men, especially young men, do not regard, and are not controlled, as to their own worship and pastorate, except by the services and pastoral oversight to which they are accustomed and attached; and without such influence and aid to the preservation and strengthening of moral principles, habits, and feelings, more young men are liable to be demoralized and ruined in military expeditions, such as that of the Red River, than are likely to be killed in battle or die of disease.

This is the view for which the Methodist body will contend, whatever may be the result. The Secretaries of the Bible Society went among the volunteers, while at Toronto, and proffered a Bible to each one that would accept of it, and found on inquiry, that four-fifths of the volunteers, even from Lower Canada, were Protestants, and a much larger proportion of the volunteers of Upper Canada, and a large number of them not members of the Church of England but Methodists and Presbyterians. Of course, it answers the Roman Catholic purpose, and will doubtless be acceptable to many members of the Church of England, for the Government to appoint and pay chaplains of those persuasions; but I am persuaded there will be little difference of a contrary opinion on the subject among the ministers and members of the excluded persuasions. I wish I could share with you in your expressed confidence in Sir George Cartier, but I have no such confidence in him, and especially in the ecclesiastical influence under the dictation of which he acts. Wherein I may have been misinformed, and may not have stated matters correctly, I shall be prepared to correct any such errors, when I come to reply to the various attacks which have been made upon me, in vindication of myself, and the Wesleyan Conference in regard to the complaint made, and the position assumed in respect to Sir George E. Cartier, and the Red River business.

On the 30th June, Mr. James Wallace, of Whitby, addressed Dr. Ryerson a letter on the subject, in which he said:--

A stranger to you personally, although not so to your many able,
pungent, and truthful letters, connected with public matters, that
have from time to time appeared in the public press: I trust you
will excuse this liberty, and accept my congratulations on your
last effort in that connection as published in the _Globe_.

I have some knowledge of the Red River matter, having been there
during the first stages of the rebellion, and had, therefore,
chances of becoming acquainted with its origin and progress that
few men had; and when I see one in your position come forward so
bravely and lay bare the origin of that infamous revolt, I must say
that I feel proud of you as a Canadian, and not only of you, but of
the body with which you are connected, who so nobly sustained you.

On the 24th August, 1870, the corner stone of the Metropolitan Church, Toronto, was laid. Dr. Ryerson felt that it was a memorable day in the annals of Methodism in Toronto. I was honoured (he said) by being selected to lay the corner stone of the Metropolitan Church. Rev. Dr. Punshon, President of the Conference was present, and delivered an admirable address. He also read one which I had prepared, but which I was unable to deliver myself. The auspicious event of the day amply repaid me for the anxiety which I had so long felt in regard to the success of the enterprise, and for the responsibility which, with other devoted brethren, I had personally assumed to secure the site, and carry to a successful issue the erection of a building which would be an honour to Methodism, and a credit to the cause in Toronto.

* * * * *

On the 17th March, 1871, Dr. Ryerson received a letter from the venerable Rev. Dr. James Dixon, dated Bradford, Eng., 2nd inst. In it he says:--In my eighty-third year, blind, deaf, and so paralyzed as to be unable to walk without assistance, I feel that the world is fast receding. Having sense and affection remaining, I feel desirous of holding a little fellowship once more with you, my dear old friend. The world to me looks like one of your forests with the trees cut down, except here and there one a little stronger than the rest. I look upon you as one of those, vigorous forest trees still remaining. And may you long remain, a blessing to your country and the Church! After referring to his own religious life and experiences, he concludes:--As long as I live my affection for you will never vary. I also remember other Canadian friends with great interest and affection. Farewell! my dear old friend. We shall meet again before long in a brighter world. If you can find time, I shall be most happy to receive a line from you.

Dr. Ryerson did find time to respond to the letter of his dear and valued friend Dr. Dixon. His venerable aspect was well remembered, when, as President of the Canada Conference in 1848, he did good and valued service for the Methodist Church in Canada.

* * * * *

On the 29th of June, 1871, Mr. John Macdonald and Rev. Dr. Evans having asked Dr. Ryerson to enclose to Rev. W. M. Punshon a letter urging him to continue his noble work in Canada, he did so most heartily, as the letter to be enclosed expressed the real sentiments not only of the ministers and members of the Church generally, but those of the country at large. Dr. Ryerson accompanied the letter with a note from himself, in which he said to Mr. Punshon:--To have the power, as God has given you, to mould, to a large extent, the energies and labours of six hundred ministers, and developments of the Canadian Church, and to control largely the public mind in religious and benevolent enterprises--looking at the future of our country--appears to me to present a field of usefulness that Mr. Wesley himself might have coveted in his day. All that God has enabled you to do already in this country is but the foundation and beginning of what there is the prospect of your doing hereafter by the Divine blessing. You know this is the old ground on which I first proposed to you to come to this country, and which I am sure you have no reason to regret. This is the only ground on which I ought to desire your continued connection with it.

* * * * *

A pleasing episode in the _Globe_ controversy respecting Dr. Ryerson's "First Lessons on Christian Morals," occurred in June, 1872. Bishop Bethune, in his address to the Synod of the Diocese of Toronto, spoke of the increasing spread of evil, and of the duty of the Church, under her Divine Master, to cope with it. He said:

Her work is, confessedly, to lead fallen man to the true source of
pardon, and to teach him to aim at the recovery of the moral image
in which he was at first created. If the passions, and prejudices,
and divisions of professing Christians themselves are a distressing
hindrance to the attainment of this noble and dutiful aspiration,
we have much in the condition of the world around us to warn and
rouse us to a vigorous and united effort to arrest the increasing
tide of sin and crime. The developments of a grossly evil spirit at
the present day fill us with horror and alarm; the profligacy and
wanton cruelty of which we hear so many instances, make us tremble
for our social peace and safety.

It is but right to enquire to what all this enormity of wickedness
is traceable, that we may come, if possible, to the remedy. That is
largely to be ascribed, as all must be persuaded, to the neglect of
religious instruction in early life; to the contentment of peoples
and governments to afford a shallow secular education, without the
learning of religious truth, or the moral obligations that it
teaches. The child taught and trained for this world's vocations
only, without a deep inculcation of the love and fear of God, and
the penalty hereafter of an irreligious and wicked life, will have
but one leading idea--self-aggrandizement and self-indulgence, and
will be checked by no restraint of conscience in the way and means
of securing them. Gigantic frauds will be perpetrated, if riches
can thus be acquired; atrocious murders will be committed, if these
will remove the barrier to unholy and polluting connections, or
cast out of sight the objects of jealousy and hatred.

I have no disposition to reprobate this defect in the system of
education, prevailing with the authority and support of Government
among ourselves. I know the difficulty, the almost impossibility,
of securing the temporal boon with the addition of the spiritual;
how hard it must prove in a divided religious community to
introduce among the secular lessons which are meant for usefulness
and advancement in this world, that lofty and holy teaching which
trains the soul for heaven. The irreverent and fierce assaults
recently made upon a praiseworthy effort of the Superintendent of
Education in this Province to introduce a special work for moral
and religious instruction amongst our common school pupils, testify
too plainly the difficulty of supplying that want.

I have confidence in the good intentions and righteous efforts of
that venerable gentleman to do what he can for the amelioration of
the evils which the absence of systematic religious teaching of the
young must induce; so that we may have a hope that, from his tried
zeal and unquestionable ability, a way may be devised by which such
essential instruction shall be imparted, and the terrible evils we
deplore to some extent corrected.

In response to this portion of his address, Dr. Ryerson addressed the following note to the Bishop on the 1st of July.

I feel it my bounden, at the same time most pleasurable duty, to thank you with all my heart for your more than kind reference to myself in your official charge at the opening of the recent Synod of the Diocese of Toronto; and especially do I feel grateful and gratified for your formal and hearty recognition of the Christian character of our Public School System, and of the efforts which have been made to render that character a practical reality, and not a mere dead and heartless form.

It has also been peculiarly gratifying to me to learn that your Lordship's allusions to myself and the school system were very generally and cordially cheered by the members of the Synod.

My own humble efforts to invest our school system with a Christian character and spirit have been seconded from the beginning by the cordial and unanimous co-operation of the Council of Public Instruction; and without that co-operation my own individual efforts would have availed but little.

Since the settlement of the common relationship of all religious persuasions to the State, there is _a_ common patriotic ground for the exertions of all, without the slightest reasonable pretext for political jealousy or hostility on the part of any. On such ground of comprehensiveness, and of avowed Christian principles, I have endeavoured to construct our Public School System; such, and such only has been my aim in the teachings of my little book on Christian Morals; and such only was the aim and spirit of the Council of Public Instruction in the recommendation of it,--a recommendation to which the Council inflexibly adheres, and which it has cordially and decidedly vindicated.

The Bishop replied on the 3rd of July, thus:--I have to thank you for your letter of the 1st instant, received last evening, and to express my gratification that I had the opportunity to bear my humble testimony to your zealous and righteous efforts to promote the sound education of the youth of this Province.

I believe that in the endeavours to give this a moral and religious direction, you have done all that, in the circumstances of the country, it was in your power to accomplish. I was glad, too, to give utterance to my protest against the shameless endeavours to hold up to public scorn the valuable little work by which you desired to give a moral and religious tone to the instruction communicated in our Common Schools. If more can be done in this direction, I feel assured you would assume any allowable amount of responsibility in the endeavour to effect it.

Wishing you many years of health and usefulness, I remain, dear Dr. Ryerson, very faithfully yours,

A. N. Toronto.

This correspondence affords a striking instance of the fact that the very earnest discussions between the writers of these notes in past years, had not diminished in any way the personal respect and kindly feeling which happily existed between them. And it was so with the late venerable Bishop Strachan, with whom Dr. Ryerson more than once measured swords in days gone by. Among his very latest utterances on the Separate School Question in the Synod of 1856, he thus referred to the Head of the Education Department and his labours:--

One new feature, which I consider of great value, and for which I believe we are altogether indebted to the able Superintendent, deserves special notice: it is the introduction of daily prayers. We find that 454 schools open and close with prayer. This is an important step in the right direction, and only requires a reasonable extension to render the system in its interior, as it is already in its exterior, nearly complete. But till it receives this necessary extension, the whole system, in a religious and spiritual view, may be considered almost entirely dead.

I do not say that this is the opinion of Dr. Ryerson, who no doubt believes his system very nearly perfect; and so far as he is concerned, I am one of those who appreciate very highly his exertions, his unwearied assiduity, and his administrative capacity. I am also most willing to admit that he has carried out the meagre provisions of the several enactments that have any leaning to religion, as far as seems consistent with a just interpretation of the law.--_Charge of 1856, pp. 15, 16._

* * * * *

In a note dated Toronto, 2nd October, 1872, Hon. W. B. Robinson sent to Dr. Ryerson an extract from the Barrie _Northern Advance_ containing an obituary notice of Dr. Ryerson. In enclosing it, Mr. Robinson said:--

I send you a Barrie paper that I think will amuse you. It is not
often we are permitted to "see ourselves as others see us" when
once we go "hence and are no more seen,"--but you are an exception,
and I congratulate you on such being the fact; and hope the Editor
will be satisfied that he is in "advance" of the times, and may
have cause to give you credit for much more good work in the
position you have so long held, with so much benefit to the
country. I observed the death of your brother William in the papers
a short time ago, which I suppose accounts for the mistake.

The extract from the Barrie paper is as follows:--

Most of our readers are aware of the fact that the great champion
of education in Upper Canada has gone to his rest. Coming
generations, so long as time lasts, will owe a debt of gratitude to
Dr. Ryerson, as the only real founder of a comprehensive school
system in Ontario. Through evil report and through good report he
has steadily worked on his way; neither daunted by the abuse he has
received, nor unduly elated by the unmeasured tribute of praise
paid to his efforts in the department to which his whole life was
devoted. He kept the even tenor of his way, and we think most
people, unblinded by partisan prejudice, will acknowledge that his
life purpose has, more than that of most men, been accomplished. He
leaves behind him a structure so nearly completed that men with a
tithe of his enthusiasm, and infinitely less knowledge of the
educational requirements of the Province, can lay the capstone, and
declare the work complete.

Hon. Marshall S. Bidwell died in New York shortly after his visit to Canada in 1872. Hon. Judge Neilson, his friend, wrote to Dr. Ryerson for particulars of Mr. Bidwell's early life, with a view to publish it in a memorial volume. This information Dr. Ryerson obtained from Sir W. B. Richards, Clarke Gamble, Esq., Q.C., and Rev. Dr. Givens, and, with his own, embodied it in a communication to Judge Neilson. In a letter to Dr. Ryerson, dated 30th April, 1873, the late Rev. Dr. Saltern Givens said:--

A short time since, Hon. W. B. Robinson informed me that a letter
of condolence was written by the late Mr. Bidwell to Lady Robinson
and her family, on the death of Sir John, and that he thought it
would answer your purpose.... I am sure that you will peruse it
with as much pleasure as I have done.

It ought to be a matter of devout thankfulness and congratulation
with us Canadians, that two of our most distinguished statesmen and
jurists have left behind them such unequivocal and delightful
testimonies of their faith in Christ, and of their experience of
the power of His Gospel, in extracting the sting from death and in
comforting the bereaved.

I am sure that Sir John's letters to Mr. Bidwell, under his similar
trial, if you could obtain them, would be read with a thrill of
delight and profit by their many friends throughout Canada.

When witnessing--as we have done, some forty years ago--those
fierce political contests in which our departed friends were
involved, how little did we think that in the evening of their days
they would have been united in the bonds of Christian love and
sympathy, as this interchange of friendship evinces.

The following is Mr. Bidwell's letter to Hon. W. B. Robinson, dated 24th February, 1863:--

I thank you for your kind and friendly letter, and for the
particular account of the closing scenes of the life of your
honoured and lamented brother. The wound inflicted by his death can
never be altogether healed. The grief which it produces is natural
and rational, and is not inconsistent with any of the precepts, or
with the spirit of the Gospel. It is a duty, however, to keep it
within bounds, and not to allow murmurs in our heart against Divine
Providence. The language of our hearts should be that of the
Patriarch, "The Lord gave, and the Lord taketh away, blessed be the
name of the Lord." Gratitude for the gift should be mingled with
our deep sorrow for the loss of it. In my own case, a consideration
of the unspeakable goodness of God in having bestowed upon me such
an inestimable blessing has been continually present to my mind,
and trust such feelings will abound in the bosom of Lady Robinson,
her family, and yourself. He, whose removal from earthly scenes
your hearts deplore, was all that you could have desired, in his
public and private character, and in the homage of universal
veneration and esteem. Where will you find one like him? Was there
not great and peculiar goodness in God's bestowing him upon you?
Was he not the joy and pride of your hearts continually? Did not
his presence irradiate his home, and make it like an earthly
Paradise? Every pang which you may suffer attests the value of the
blessing which you have so long had. Your gratitude to God, the
author of every good and perfect gift, ought to be in proportion to
your grief. It is to be remembered, also, that he was not cut down
prematurely in the midst of his days, but had passed the period
which Moses, the man of God, in his sublime and pathetic prayer
(Psalm xc.) considers as the ordinary boundary of human life, and
retained all his powers and faculties to the last; and that during
this long life he had not been absent from his family, at least not
from Lady Robinson (if I am not mistaken) except during the
transient separation when he was on the circuit. It is natural that
your hearts should yearn for him, should long to see him again, and
enjoy the pleasure of his company; yet death must sooner or later
have separated you, and longer life might have been a scene of
suffering. Would it not have been inexpressibly painful to you all
to have seen his mental and bodily powers decay and fade away? Such
a spectacle would have been distressing and mortifying. Now his
memory is associated with no humiliating recollections; but you
remember him as one always admired, respected and loved. Death has
set his seal upon him, and although he is removed from you to
return no more to earthly scenes, you know that it is only a
removal, and that he is now in a state of exalted and perfect,
though ever progressive, felicity. I trust you have the most
consolatory evidence that this is now his present and unalterable
state, and that you constantly think as David thought and said, "I
shall go to him, but he shall not return to me." In the meantime
you have the consolation of knowing that while you remember him
with the tenderest affection and interest, he has not forgotten
you, but has a more distinct and perfect recollection of you than
you have of him. That this is literally true is the conviction of
my understanding, founded not only upon reason and analogy, but
upon the irrefragable testimony of divine revelation. There surely
is nothing in such a thought that is improbable. We have daily
experience of the revival in our minds of past events long
forgotten; they lived there, though dormant. Then how many well
authenticated and well known instances, where persons recovered
from drowning have stated that before they lost consciousness, all
the scenes and incidents of their lives flashed instantaneously, as
it were, upon their minds, and appeared to be present to their
view. They had been treasured up there, though latent. Death does
not extinguish the mental faculties, thought does not cease, but
the conscious and thinking being passes from scenes present to
scenes eternal. "Mortality is swallowed up of life." There would be
good ground for this conviction, if revelation gave us no higher
proof; but it is explicit. "Every one of us shall give account of
himself to God." This necessarily implies a perfect recollection of
our lives. We are to answer for all the deeds done in the body; for
every idle word, for every secret and sinful thought and feeling.
This requires a perfect recollection of every event, sentiment, and
emotion of our lives. The soul, therefore, must carry into the
unseen world a perfect recollection of its associates and friends;
and as there will be no decay then of mental powers, this will be
an abiding, ever-present recollection. Every holy feeling will also
continue after death--conjugal, parental, filial, fraternal
affections are holy; they are expressly enjoined upon us by divine
authority. Love, indeed, pure, fervent affection, is the
characteristic element of Heaven. It is impossible, therefore, that
the holy affections should cease at death. I have, therefore, a
conviction that our departed friends, whose death we mourn,
remember us distinctly and with tender affection. I have dwelt upon
this subject because it has afforded me in my great affliction much
consolation, and if I had time, I might expatiate more fully upon
it, and adduce further evidence in support of its truth.

Yes! it is a truth, and therefore it is full of consolation. While
we are thinking of our departed friends with grief, they, too, are
thinking of us, with at least equal affection, and this they will
continue to do until we meet. In the meantime we may comfort
ourselves with the thought that, to use the language of a sober and
judicious commentator on the sacred Scriptures, "The separation
will be short, the re-union rapturous, and the subsequent felicity
uninterrupted, unalloyed, and eternal."

I have felt peculiar sympathy for Lady Robinson. I am sure her
affliction must be extreme. I hope the Son of God is with her in
the furnace, and that she has a consciousness of His presence. He
can give both support and consolation, and both she must greatly
need. He can gently, and imperceptibly, bind up and heal her
wounded and bleeding heart.

I wish that I could furnish reminiscences that would be interesting
to you, for I should be glad to testify my respect for the memory
of your brother, but I cannot tell you anything with which you are
not familiar. I remember distinctly his appearance the first time I
saw him. He had just returned to Canada, after his first visit to
England. I was a student at law, and had gone from Bath to Toronto,
to attend the Court of King's Bench at Michaelmas Term. He, and
Lady Robinson, came from Kingston in the steamer "Frontenac." I
think that Mr. Hagerman was on board also. From another passenger,
I heard that on the voyage they were overtaken at night by a storm,
which stove in the dead-lights, and poured a flood of water into
the cabin. It was a time of alarm, probably of danger; your brother
was perfectly composed. He came into court on his arrival, and upon
that occasion I saw him. His appearance was striking. His features
were classically and singularly beautiful; his countenance was
luminous with intelligence and animation; his whole appearance that
of a man of genius and a polished gentleman, equally dignified and
graceful. Altogether his features, figure and manners filled my
youthful imagination with admiration, which subsequent
acquaintance, and opportunities to hear him at the Bar and in
Parliament, only strengthened, and which was not diminished by the
difference between us in our views and opinions on public affairs.
I heard him frequently at the Bar, and upon some occasions, I had
the honour to be junior counsel with him.

He was a consummate advocate, as well as a profound and accurate
lawyer. He had extraordinary powers for a speech _impromptu_, and
needed as little time for preparation for an address to a jury, or
an argument to the Court, as any one I have ever known. But he was
never induced by this readiness to neglect a patient and careful
attention to his client's case.

No one could be more faithful. He studied every case thoroughly,
examined all the particular circumstances, made himself master of
its details, and considered it carefully, in all its aspects and
relations. I do not think he ever delivered a speech from memory.
He was self-possessed in the trial, his mind was vigilant, his
thoughts flowed rapidly, he had rapid association of ideas, great
quickness of apprehension, as well as great sagacity, and a power
of arranging anything in his mind, luminously and instantaneously;
his fluency was unsurpassed.

I was present upon those occasions in Parliament which aroused him
to great exertions.

He was at all times a correct, elegant, interesting speaker, but
upon those occasions he spoke with great force and effect.

The fire of his eye, the animation of his countenance and the
elegance of his manner, combined with dignity, cannot be
appreciated by any one who did not hear him. No report of his
speeches, no description of his manner and appearance, can convey
to others a just and adequate idea. To report him _verbatim_ was
impossible. His ideas flowed so rapidly, and he had such fluency of
language, that no reporter could have kept pace with his delivery.
He was an admirable parliamentary leader. He never exposed himself
by any incautious speech or act, and never failed to detect and
expose one on the other side. He was sincere and earnest in his
opinions, uncompromising, frank and fearless in the expression of
them. He never attempted to make a display of himself, or indulged
in useless declamation; but spoke earnestly and for the purpose of
producing an immediate effect. I heard that when he was in England
in 1823 (I think that was the year), the ministry had under
consideration introducing him through one of their boroughs into
Parliament. If it had been done, I have no doubt he would have
become a distinguished member of the House of Commons, and I think
it probable that he would have attained to the highest honours of
the land. During two years I had the honour to be Speaker of the
House of Assembly, while he was Speaker of the Legislative Council;
our official stations rendered it necessary for us to confer
together concerning the business before Parliament. He was always
courteous, communicative and obliging. The difference between us on
political questions while I was in Parliament precluded intimate or
confidential relations, but he was always pleasant and candid, and
more than once did I share in that elegant hospitality which was
dispensed so cordially and so gracefully by him and Lady Robinson.

I have had the honor to receive friendly letters from him
occasionally since I have been here, and after my great affliction
last spring he wrote to me two very kind letters for which I shall
ever be grateful.

I should be sincerely glad to evince my respect for his memory. I
have not space left to add anything respecting his judicial
character and career, but this is unimportant. Every one in Canada
knows it.

Writing to me after the Conference at London, in June, 1873, Dr. Ryerson said:--The proceedings of the Conference were very harmonious, and the discussions very able and courteous upon the whole. I received many thanks for my labours in connection with the scheme for Methodist Confederation and for union with the New Connexion Methodists. I trust I have been able, through Divine goodness, to render some service to the good cause.

* * * * *

In a letter to Dr. Ryerson from Rev. Dr. Punshon, dated 2nd December, the latter expressed some fears as to one or two points in the future of the General Conference arrangement. He says:--

I am looking with some solicitude to the result of the Appeal to
the Quarterly Meetings on the Union question. I hope it will be
carried, though your modifications of the scheme do not quite meet
my approval, as one who would like to see a statesman's view taken
of things. I do not see the bond of cohesion twenty years hence,
when those who are now personally known to, and therefore
interested in, each other, have passed off the stage. Then the
General Conference will meet as perfect strangers, having hardly a
common interest but that of a common name; and as there are no
General Superintendents, who know all the Conferences, there will
not be, as in the States, any link to bind them together. I trust
some remedy will be found for this, or the lack of such link will
be disastrous.

We are losing our prominent men. You will have seen that Mr. Heald
has passed away--also Mr. Marshall, another Stockport "pillar." I
am greatly concerned about my dear friend, Gervase Smith, the
Secretary of the Conference. He has overtaxed himself, and is very
ill. Absolute rest is enjoined for some time. It would be a sad day
for me, if dear Gervase were to pass from my side. We have just
heard of the loss of the "Ville du Havre," with 226 lives. Emile
Cook, from Paris, was on board, and injured by the collision. How
terrible! Now, my dear Dr. Ryerson, the good Lord be with you, and
make you always as happy in His love as you desire to be, and spare
you yet for many years, to counsel and to plan for His glory and
the benefit of Canada.

Writing from his Long Point Cottage to me on the 12th of April, 1873, Dr. Ryerson said:--Some days I have felt quite young; but upon the whole, I doubt whether the means which have been so successful in the past in renewing my strength, can be of much use any longer to "stave off" old age. A medical gentleman here from Port Rowan said yesterday, I looked the perfection of health at my age; but my strength I feel already to be "labour and sorrow." So true are the words of inspiration to practical life.

* * * * *

The union question having been carried, and the General Conference established, that body met in Toronto in September, 1874. Speaking of it Dr. Ryerson said:--In 1874 I was elected the first President of the first General Conference of the Methodist Church of Canada; consisting of an equal number of ministers and laymen, and representing the several Annual Conferences of the Dominion of Canada.

On his return home from the General Conference held in Toronto in 1874, Hon. L. A. Wilmot, a former Judge, and late Lieutenant-Governor of New Brunswick, wrote to Dr. Ryerson a note, in which he said:--How can we ever repay you and your dear family for the warm-hearted hospitality and the intellectual repast we so much enjoyed while with you? To me it is much more than a sunny memory, as you have so enriched me with treasures of thought, and words of wisdom. Really, I long to see you again, and I cannot express to you the pleasure it will afford us to welcome you all to our suburban home. We have room enough for you all, and sincerely do we pray that we may all be spared to meet again. [Mr. Wilmot has since then gone home to his reward.]