record whether the object of my
ministry was to dethrone Peter Perry, or to break down the power
and influence of a much more formidable and important
personage--the power of him that ruleth in the hearts of the
children of disobedience.[47]

_March 30th, London._--During his stay in England, Dr. Ryerson had been
able to look upon public affairs in Upper Canada with more calmness, and
more impartiality, than when he was there in the midst of them as an
actor. In that spirit he, at this date, addressed a letter to the
_Guardian_ on what he regarded as an approaching crisis of the highest
importance to the Province. He said:--

It is not a mere ephemeral strife of partizanship; it is a
deliberate and bold attempt to change the leading features of the
Constitution--a Constitution to which allegiance has been sworn,
and to which firm attachment has been over and over again expressed
in addresses to the Governor up to 1834. Such being the case, it
becomes every man who fears God and loves his country to pause, to
think, to decide. I have told the Colonial Secretary, that whilst
the Methodist Church asked for nothing but "equal and impartial
protection," yet I believed the attachment to the Constitution of
the country and to the British Crown, expressed in petitions and
addresses from the Methodist Conference and people of Canada, to be
sincere, and that they would prove to be so in their future
conduct. They had been falsely charged as being Republicans, but
they had always repudiated this charge as a calumny. Nor would they
be found among those who, like Messrs. Peter Perry and W. L.
Mackenzie, had recently avowed their intention to establish
republican elective institutions in the Province.

As to the charges of the "Grievance Committee" party, I can truly
say that I have never received one farthing of public money from
any quarter, and my humble support to my King and country is
unsought, unsolicited, and spontaneous.

_May 21st--London._--At this date Dr. Ryerson wrote:--

During my exile here in England I have more and more longed for news
from Canada, and cooling water to the panting hart could not be more
refreshing than late intelligence from my dear native land has been to
me. I can now listen with an interest and sympathy that I never did
before, to the patriotic effusions of the warm-he