was hailed with delight by the people
generally. He came to give practical effect to pressing measures of
reform--to unite the provinces, and to introduce a new element of
strength into the administrative system of the country.

* * * * *

The year 1839 was noted for the enthusiasm with which "Durham Meetings"
were held throughout Upper Canada. These meetings were for the purpose
of endorsing the famous report of Lord Durham, and for approving of the
many valuable reforms which that report suggested. Much opposition and
even violence characterized these meetings; but they revived and again
inaugurated the right of free speech on public questions. The only
record which Dr. Ryerson has left of this period of his history is as
follows:--

In 1838 I yielded to persuasion and remonstrances, and was again
re-elected Editor, and continued as such until June, 1840, when I
relinquished finally all connection with the Editorship of the
_Christian Guardian_.

It was during this period, from 1833 to 1840, that the most important
events transpired in Upper Canada; the controversy respecting the clergy
reserves, and a church establishment, was steadily and earnestly
maintained.

The constitution of Lower Canada was suspended for two years, and an
Executive Council Government was established in its place. The dominant
party in Upper Canada by liberal professions succeeded in the elections,
in 1836; but, instead of adopting a just and liberal policy, they sought
to exclude all Reformers from a share in the Government as virtual
rebels, and set themselves to promote a high-church establishment
policy, to the exclusion of the Methodists and members of other
religious denominations.

This unwise, unjust, and inverted-pyramid policy laid the foundation for
a new agitation. The Methodists were the only party capable of coping
with the revived high-church policy to crush out the rights of other
denominations and the liberties of the country, and to paralyze their
influence. The Presbyterians being divided, the Canadian Conference was
not to be deterred, or moved from its principles, avowed and maintained
for more than ten years; the result was a contest between the English
and Canadian Conferences, which culminated in 1840 in a separation of
the two bodies, and a conflict of seven years--wholly political--for
London Wesleyan, English superiority, and tory ascendancy on the one
side, and Canadian Methodist and Canadian liberty o