s, as should prevent further legislation with
reference to the disposal of them; but we are nevertheless of
opinion that the claims of existing incumbents should be treated in
the most liberal manner; and that the most liberal and equitable
mode of settling this long-agitated question, would be for the
Imperial Parliament to pass an Act providing that the stipends and
allowances heretofore assigned and given to the clergy of the
Church of England and Scotland, or to any other religious bodies or
denominations of Christians in Canada, and to which the faith of
the Crown is pledged, shall be secured during the natural lives or
incumbencies of the parties now receiving the same ... subject to
which provision the Provincial Parliament should be authorized to
appropriate as, in its wisdom, it may think proper, all revenues
derived from the present investments, or from those to be made
hereafter whether from the proceeds of future sales, or from
instalments on those already made.

As the agitation proceeded, Bishop Strachan and Dr. Ryerson again became
involved in it. The Bishop took the lead, and addressed a letter to Lord
John Russell on the subject. Dr. Ryerson at once joined issue with the
Bishop, and prepared the following able rejoinder in reply to the
Bishop's letter. He said:--

The statements of the Lord Bishop of Toronto, in his letter to Lord John
Russell, dated Canada, February 20th, 1851, and in his Charge delivered
to the clergy of the Diocese of Toronto, in May, 1851, relate to the
same subjects, and appear to be designed for perusal in England, rather
than in Canada. These statements, as a whole, are the most extraordinary
that I ever read from the pen of an ecclesiastic, much less from the pen
of a Bishop of the Church of England, and an old resident and prominent
actor in the affairs of the country of which he speaks. These statements
are not only incorrect, but they are, for the most part, the reverse of
the real facts to which they refer; and where they are most groundless,
they are the most positive. To discuss them _seriatim_ would occupy a
volume. I will, as briefly as possibly, notice the most important of
them under the following heads:--

1. The circumstances and objects of the original Clergy Land
Reservation.

2. The position of the Church of England in Canada, and the professed
wishes of the Lord Bishop.

3. The condu