ally different in some respects,
from personal observation, from what they had been by hear-say and
reading.

On the very evening of the day in which the foregoing appeared, Mr. W.
L. Mackenzie (in the _Colonial Advocate_ of Oct. 30th), denounced the
writer of these "Impressions" in no measured terms. His denunciation
proved that he clearly perceived what would be the effect on the public
mind of Dr. Ryerson's candid and outspoken criticisms on men and things
in England--especially his adverse opinion of the English idols of (what
subsequently proved to be) the disloyal section of the public men of the
day in Upper Canada and their followers.

Mr. Mackenzie's vehement attack upon the writer of these "Impressions"
had its effect at the time. In some minds a belief in the truth of that
attack lingered long afterwards--but not in the minds of those who could
distinguish between honest conviction, based upon actual knowledge, and
pre-conceived opinions, based upon hearsay and a superficial
acquaintance with men and things.

As the troubled period of 1837 approached, hundreds had reason to be
thankful to Dr. Ryerson that the publication of his "Impressions" had,
without design on his part, led to the disruption of a party which was
being hurried to the brink of a precipice, over which so many well
meaning, but misguided, men fell in the winter of 1837, never to rise
again.

It was a proud boast of Dr. Ryerson (as he states in the "Epochs of
Canadian Methodism," page 385), that in these disastrous times not a
single member of the Methodist Church was implicated in the disloyal
rebellion of 1837-8. He attributed this gratifying state of things to
the fact that he had uttered the notes of warning in sufficient time to
enable the readers of the _Guardian_ to pause and think; and that, with
a just appreciation of their danger, members of the Society had
separated themselves from all connection with projects and opinions
which logically would have placed them in a position of defiant
hostility to the Queen and constitution.

But, to return. The outburst of Mr. Mackenzie's wrath, which immediately
followed (on the evening of the same day) the publication of Dr.
Ryerson's "Impressions," was as follows:--

The _Christian Guardian_, under the management of Egerton Ryerson,
has gone over to the enemy,--press, types, and all,--and hoisted
the colours of a cruel, vindictive, Tory priesthood.... The
contents of