interesting details of the interviews and correspondence between Lord
Sydenham and Dr. Ryerson, and also between Sir Charles Bagot and Dr.
Ryerson, which have not hitherto been published. There is a tone of
manly dignity and independence in this letter which commends itself, and
which were characteristic of Dr. Ryerson in his best moods as a
controversialist. From the letter, which extends to thirty-four foolscap
pages I make the following extracts. He said:--

I wish the most extended success to the general labours of the Wesleyan
Missionary Society, however much they have sought to retard those of the
Canadian Conference; nor have I ever objected to their labours among the
"destitute white settlements" and heathen tribes of Canada; I only
object to their works of schism, and division.... Did you ever think of
sending missionaries, or of employing your money and men, in our regular
circuits, before the breaking up of the Union?--Kingston, or Belleville,
or Toronto, or Hamilton, or Brantford, or London, etc.?--places where
there is no more need of missionary men or missionary money than there
is in City Road, or Great Queen street circuits in London--places in
which it is notorious that the soul, body, and strength of your
societies consists, not in converts from the world, but in secessions
from the Canadian Conference. When, therefore, four-fifths of your
missionaries (so called) in Western Canada are employed on regular
circuits of the Canadian Conference, is it surprising that I should
complain, remonstrate, and condemn?

The burden of Dr. Alder's letter is that I have been the first,
gratuitous, and wanton aggressor upon the character and motives of those
"to whom the British Conference has entrusted the transaction of its
most important business;" and, as such, the author and fomenter of the
difficulties between the British and Canadian Conferences. And it has
been more than once intimated on your part that if I, the Jonah, were
thrown overboard, the commotion of the Methodistic element of Western
Canada would soon cease, and mutual confidence and joy would be restored
to the whole ship's company.... Need I add, that in the columns of your
_Watchman_ newspaper, and in the pages of pamphlets, and in your
_Wesleyan_ in Canada, not only my public conduct, but my character, my
motives, my principles, have been impugned without delicacy or
restraint? Need I add, that the Canada Conference and myself have been
the defe