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 a.s.sure 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 circ.u.mstances. 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 a.s.suredly your a.s.saults 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 Sat.u.r.day 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 "a.s.saults," 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 "a.s.saults" 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 "a.s.saults" 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 "a.s.saults" 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 "a.s.saults" upon me, and to which alone what you call my "personal attacks" and "a.s.saults" 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 n.o.bly. 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 n.o.ble 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 Sat.u.r.day 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 Ma.s.sey 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 const.i.tutional timidity, linked in him with indomitable pluck, his limbs--indeed often his whole ma.s.sive 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 princ.i.p.al party. It was very keen while it lasted, but there was no bitter animus in the recital--though the old war horse p.r.i.c.ked 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.
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.