Methodist
Church for the honour conferred upon me in deeming my humble exertions
in the cause of Christian education worthy of their approbation, and I
trust I shall never forget their good opinion. I cannot, at the same
time, pass by the opportunity of thanking you for the terms in which you
have communicated that resolution to me, and of expressing my
satisfaction that I have in any degree contributed to the success of
your unwearied exertions in behalf of the Upper Canada Academy in
England. I sincerely rejoice that you were enabled to obtain that aid
for its completion, which was so necessary and so well deserved.

[56] In a letter to Dr. Ryerson, his brother William thus accounts for
the failure to get the grant: To the miserable Missionary grant of L900
to the English Conference we are chiefly indebted for the loss of the
Bill for the relief of the Upper Canada Academy, as we are positively
informed by our best friends in the House of Assembly. It has also been
the means of depriving many of the preachers of a considerable part of
their small salary, and in one or two instances, of the whole of it. It
has, and still does more to weaken our hands, and to embarrass our
labours, and also to strengthen the hands and to increase the number of
our enemies, than almost any or all other causes put together.

CHAPTER XXII.

1838.

Victims of the Rebellion.--State of the Country.

Early in 1838 the trials for treason took place. Messrs. Lount and
Matthews were found guilty and sentenced to death. Other parties were
also tried: among them was Dr. Thomas D. Morrison, a prominent Methodist
in Toronto.[57] In a letter to Dr. Ryerson, at Kingston, his brother
John mentions that Dr. Morrison was triumphantly acquitted. He also
mentions (as an amusing incident at the trial) the success of the two
counsel for Dr. Morrison, in showing that statements entirely
contradictory to each other could be fully proved from Sir F. B. Head's
own speeches and dispatches. He said:--

Mr. Macdonald, of St. Catharines, stated that Sir Francis had
declared in his speech at the opening of the Parliament, that he
knew of the rebellion long before it occurred, and that he was the
cause of it. Mr. Boswell, of Cobourg, admitted that Sir Francis had
said he knew a good deal. But the Governor was very fond of a fine
style; he liked rounded periods, or, as Lord Melbourne had
expressed it, "epigrammic" flight