It is true that I am not of the high church school of politics, nor of the Montreal Herald school of bloodshed and French extermination; but I, nevertheless, think there still remains another basis of Scripture, justice, and humanity, on which may rest the principles of a loyalty that will sacrifice life itself in the maintenance of British supremacy, in perfect harmony with a vigorous support of the constitutional rights of the subject,—unmoved at one time by the fierce denunciations of revolutionists, and unshaken at another time by the imputations of ultra-sycophantic partizanship.
Twice have the leading members of the Methodist Society in Montreal had the opportunity of insulting (and if their influence could have done it, of injuring) me—and twice have they improved it,—in May, 1834 [see page 148], when I was in Montreal; and in December, 1838—a juncture when a stain might be inflicted upon the character and reputation of any vulnerable minister of the Church that would tarnish his very grave. It is a pleasing as well as singular circumstance, and one that will be engraved upon the tablet of my heart while memory holds her seat, that when in 1834 I was insulted in Montreal, I was invited to preach in Quebec; and now that I am honoured from Montreal a second time in a similar way, I have this day received from Quebec a second token of "respect for my character and love to Methodism" of ten new subscribers to the Guardian, with a promise "ere long of from ten to twenty more."[74]
On the other hand, Dr. Ryerson, in the Guardian of October 17th, 1838, exposes the kind of warfare which was carried on against him by the high church party:—
I have been informed, upon the authority of creditable eye witnesses, that the number of the Patriot which contained four or five columns of attacks on the Editor of the Guardian in his private and public relations, has been carried from house to house for the edification of Methodists; that in one instance the wife of a rector had carried and read the Patriot to members of the Methodist Church and friends of the Editor, and then asked if they could be led by such a man as Egerton Ryerson?
In the Guardian of the 31st October, Dr. Ryerson says:—
Another example of this vicious and disgraceful mode of warfare is contained in a pamphlet published at the Kingston Chronicle office, with a view of preventing the soldiers from deserting to the United States.... I copy the following infamous passages, purporting to be written by a deserter [name and regiment not given]:—Well, I deserted. Ryerson never rested till he worked me up to the deed. I was like a child in his hands—he led me as he pleased.... It was only to get clear off, and then the road to all that I ever wished for was open before me—so said Ryerson, etc.... Ryerson has two or three more on hand, etc.
Dr. Ryerson adds:—
I had marked other passages of a like character, from the Patriot, the Cobourg Star, and the Statesman.... Such are the barbarous weapons used to pull down the religious liberties of the people of this Province, and to establish a church domination.
While Dr. Ryerson was at the Conference at Hamilton, in 1839, Rev. D. McMullen, of Hillier, in a letter to him, said:—
I have read the Guardian with some attention during the past year. I believe the general principles of political, civil, and ecclesiastical policy advocated in it are such as must be supported and ultimately prevail, or our country will be ruined. Yet, while I admire the talent displayed by you, it is still a question with me whether you, as a Methodist minister, in conducting a religious journal, are justifiable in going the lengths you do in discussions of a political character. I know that your ability and your intimate acquaintance with the state of things in the country, with parties, and all the questions at issue, etc., render you a very competent person (perhaps the most so of any other in the country) to write on these subjects; nor do I think that you ought to bury this talent, but that through some other medium than the Guardian, you should employ it for the country's good, and in a way that would occasion less dissatisfaction among our people, and excite and stir up less bad feeling against us and you from without.