o proceed to Kingston (June, 1841), to ascertain what measures the
Government were disposed to adopt; when I learned from Lord Sydenham
that he had been empowered to settle the question of the grant, and that
in that and all other respects he would consult the interests of our
Church to the utmost of his power. It was not his wish to communicate
his decision officially until near the close of the session of the
Legislature, which, unhappily, proved to be the end of his life. What
has since transpired is within the personal knowledge of Your
Excellency.

* * * * *

After all this correspondence, the question of reunion with the British
Conference was often and earnestly discussed privately between leading
members of the Canadian and British Conferences, as well as in the
American Methodist journals.[132]

In October, 1843, Rev. Joseph Stinson, then in Sheffield, England, wrote
to Dr. Ryerson on the subject, and said:--

There is a strong desire on the part of many of our most
influential ministers that the work in Canada should be
consolidated and made one. It is certainly most desirable that
there should be one vigorous, united, and prosperous Methodist
Church; in which the pure doctrines of Methodism, and of the
Gospel, shall be preserved, and a refuge for those who really want
to be saved shall be presented--to all those, I mean, who prefer
our religious system to any other. Now, my dear sir, allow me to
say, that I think that the only two men in the world who can effect
this most desirable object, are yourself and Dr. Alder. If any plan
could be adopted by which you and he could be reconciled to each
other, the work would be done; and it will not be done effectually,
I fear, until this is the case. I still entertain the hope of
spending many happy and useful years in Canada; and I thank you
sincerely for your kind offer with reference to Cobourg. I cannot
forget the happy, and, I may say, holy hours we have spent together
before God in prayer; and I hope and trust we shall yet be found
side by side in the Church militant and in the Church triumphant.

Rev. Joseph Stinson wrote again in December, and was very urgent in
regard to the reunion of the Conferences. He says:

Let us still labour and pray for the great object of union. Every
day, and every aspect which the Church and the world presents,
deepe