_Nov. 28th, 1828._--Mr. H. C. Thompson, of Kingston, who had charge of the re-printing in pamphlet form of Dr. Ryerson's recent letters on Archdeacon Strachan's sermon, writes to him to say:--It lingers in the press, merely for the want of workmen, who cannot be procured in this place.[23] He adds:--The changes which have recently taken place in the two provinces cannot fail to gratify every lover of his country, though the party in power will no doubt hang their heads in sullen silence. I am highly pleased with the Methodist Ministers' Address to the Governor, and the reply thereto,--Strachanism must seek a more congenial climate.
_March 19th, 1829._--Dr. Ryerson had, at this time, met with an accident, but his life was providentially spared. Elder Case, writing from New York, at this date, speaking of it, says:
Thank the Lord that your life was preserved. The enemies of our Zion would have triumphed in your death. May God preserve you to see the opponents of religious liberty, and the abettors of faction frustrated in all their selfish designs and hair-brained hopes!
I have seen a letter from the Rev. Richard Reece, dated London, 19th January, to Mr. Francis Hall, of the New York _Commercial Advertiser_ and the _Spectator_, in which he says:
I am of opinion that the English Conference can do very little good in Upper Canada. Had our preachers been continued they might have raised the standard of primitive English Methodism, which would have had extensive and beneficial influence upon the work in that province, but having ceded by convention the whole of it to your Church, I hope we shall not interfere to disturb the people. They must, as you say, struggle for a while, and your bishops must visit them, and ordain their ministers, till they can do without them. He speaks of being highly gratified at the conversion of the Indians in Canada.
[21] Rev. Henry Ryan was born 1776 entered the ministry in 1800, and died at his residence, in Gainsborough, on the 2nd September, 1833, aged 57 years.--H.
[22] The post-office endorsement on this letter was as follows:--Paid to Lewistown, N.Y., 25c. postage; ferryage to Niagara, 2d.; from Niagara to Hamilton, 4-1/2d.; total, 36 cents postage, for what in 1882 costs only one-twelfth of that amount.--H.