; and in 1827 a
defence of the Methodists and other religious denominations was put
forth by the writer of these remarks in the form of a "Review of a
Sermon preached by the Archdeacon of York." Up to this time not one word
was said on "the church question" by the Methodists. But it was so
warmly agitated by others, that in the early part of 1827 Archdeacon
Strachan, an executive and legislative councillor, was sent to London to
support the claims of the Episcopal clergy at the Colonial Office. His
ecclesiastical chart and other communications were printed by order of
the Government, and soon found their way into the provincial newspapers,
and gave rise to such a discussion, and excited such a feeling
throughout the Province as was never before witnessed. The shameful
attack upon the character of the Methodist ministry, whose unparalleled
labours and sufferings, usefulness, and unimpeachable loyalty were known
and appreciated in the Province, and the appeal to the King's
Government to aid in exterminating them from the country excited strong
feelings of indignation and sympathy in the public mind. The House of
Assembly investigated the whole affair, examined fifty-two witnesses,
adopted an elaborate report, and sent home an address to the King
condemning the statements of the agent of the Episcopal clergy, and
remonstrating against the establishment of a dominant church in the
Province.[35] The determination to uproot the Methodists was carried so
far in those by-gone days of civil and ecclesiastical despotism, that
the Indians were told by executive sanction that unless they would
become members of the Church of England, the Government would do nothing
for them! In further support of my statement, I quoted four Episcopal
addresses and sermons, sufficient to show who were the first and real
aggressors in this matter--certainly not the Methodists.

* * * * *

As a sample of Dr. Ryerson's controversial style in 1826, when he wrote
the Review of Archdeacon Strachan's sermon (to which he refers above) I
quote a paragraph from it. In replying to the Archdeacon's "remarks on
the qualifications, motives, and conduct of the Methodist itinerant
preachers," which Dr. Ryerson considered "ungenerous and unfounded," he
proceeded:--

The Methodist preachers do not value themselves upon the wealth,
virtues, or grandeur, of their ancestry; nor do they consider their
former occupation an