"The story of my life"

by Egerton Ryerson

Brother William and I called on the Rev. Mr. Hetherington at Kingston. He said:—That there could be no union; that we were Radicals; that they would not be united with us; that the District Meetings of Lower Canada, Halifax, etc., intended to make common cause with them; especially they intended to remonstrate against giving up York and Kingston. They also intended to appeal to the British Conference, and if they were not heard by it they would appeal to the British people. If the British Conference will allow its members to throw firebrands, arrows, and death around in this way, and reciprocate their proceedings after this manner with impunity, they are very different men from what I have taken them to be.

Nov. 20th.—In a subsequent letter to Dr. Ryerson, his brother John says:—

I fear much for the Union from the English Missionary party. Should they, from any consideration, undertake to retain Kingston and York, our cause there will be ruined. In case of such an event, I will retire immediately, and bid farewell to the strife and toil in which we have been engaged ever since we have been travelling preachers. Let me know who have thrown up the Guardian. You will have seen the Cobourg Reformer's attacks. It is of much more importance for you to expose Mr. Radcliffe, the editor, than any one else, and point out that, in his present enmity to Methodist principles, this is not the first time he has endeavoured to break the Methodist ranks, and to sow the seeds of discord among her friends. I would take good care not to lean a hairsbreadth towards radicalism. One reason of their making this onslaught is to scare you, and induce you to say something which will excite the jealousy of the Government, and the disapprobation of our British brethren, and thereby destroy us with them as they seek to do with other parties.

Nov. 22nd.—What is thus stated by his brother John was corroborated by his brother William, who was stationed at Kingston, and who, in a letter to Dr. Ryerson, said:—

I need not say what my feelings were when I arrived at this place, and found that arrangements had been made by Mr. Marsden, in violation of the understanding with the Conference, and in defiance of the opinions and wishes of every one of our friends in the town and country, whose feelings have not only been wounded and grieved, but have rendered the prospects of a union in this place more than ever entirely hopeless. I have not been considered fit (probably for want of ability) to act as Superintendent of such an important station; I have no authority to receive or expel a member, or even to preside in a meeting of Stewards and Leaders; while my Superintendent is in Montreal or Quebec; whether or not he will so stoop as to visit us at all, we cannot say. Besides being shut out of the British Wesleyan Chapel, every possible means is being used to prevent a single individual of their Society from attending our Chapel; and my field of labour is not only greatly circumscribed, but the prospect of usefulness is nearly destroyed. What my feelings must be, under such circumstances, you can easily judge. I can only say that as soon as I can see a way opened, and can do so consistently, I will not labour as a travelling preacher one day longer.

January 8th, 1834.—His brother John, in another letter to Dr. Ryerson from Hallowell, said:—

Whoever may be the agents in making alterations in our economy, I will not be one. With "improvements," alterations, unions, and disunions, we have been agitated long enough. I am done with such business, henceforth and forever. At our last Conference it was understood, and expressly stated that no alterations would hereafter be attempted; and so we have assured the people. But behold, before they receive that assurance, some alterations are mooted. Do away with the Presiding Elders, lessen the Districts, etc., and a dozen other things which will necessarily follow. The reason urged for these changes is worse than the things themselves—namely: If we don't, the British Missionaries will write to the Superintendents and raise such a storm in England, etc., etc. If this is the way we are to be governed, and if this is the state of the Connexion at home, the Resolutions on Union, on parchment or paper, are a miserable farce. The more I think on this subject, the worse I like it.

In a letter from Kingston to Dr. Ryerson on this subject, Rev. Joseph Stinson says:—

I have done my utmost to promote the union of the two Societies in this town. If things are carried with too high a hand, we shall lose our Kingston Chapel and congregation altogether; and, should the Kingston people shut their Chapel against us, it will be impossible to keep things quiet in Lower Canada. I do not think it necessary to sacrifice the Union to Kingston, nor is it necessary to sacrifice Kingston, because a number of disaffected radicals in the Bay of Quinte like to make the state of things here an excuse for their anti-methodistical proceedings. If there were no Kingston in existence, these men would never cordially love the Union.