r favour.

Rev. Hannibal Mulkins,[52] writing from Whitby on this subject, said:--

The agitation which was anticipated by some of the preachers at the
last Conference, and which has existed in some degree has happily
subsided, notwithstanding the most vigorous efforts have been made,
and all the arts of calumny and misrepresentation, employed to
harrass, to worry, and devour.

I was very glad to see your "review" of the opinions of the Judges
in the Chapel case. I have read it with much satisfaction. On this
circuit, notwithstanding the prejudices of some individuals, it has
been perused with general delight, and to our friends in particular
it has been highly satisfactory.

Dr. Ryerson, in a letter from New York, dated November, 1837, says:--

I have just returned from an extended tour of about 500 miles in
the Middle and Southern States, in order to obtain information and
evidence relative to the organization of the Methodist Church in
America, the character of its Episcopacy, and the powers of the
General Conference--points which involve the issue of our chapel
property case. From the mass of testimony and information I have
been able to collect, by seeing every preacher in this continent
who was in the work in 1784, relative to the character of Methodist
Episcopacy, and the powers of the General Conference, I feel no
doubt as to the result.[53]

Rev. Joseph Stinson, in making his report on the same subject, said:--

I spent a whole day with Bishop Hedding, and had much conversation
with him about our affairs generally. He told me that the American
Methodist Church had never regarded Episcopacy as a Divine
ordinance--nor as an essential doctrine of the Church--but as an
expedient form of ecclesiastical government, which could be
modified by the General Conference, or even dispensed with without
violating the great principles of Methodism. The Bishop is of the
opinion, however, that if our Courts decide against us, we shall
have to return to Episcopacy, and that the first Bishop should be
ordained by the Bishops of the American Church.

Dr. Ryerson, in the same November letter, says:--

I have also accompanied Mr. Stinson to render him what assistance I
could, in examining Manual Labour Schools, with a view to
establishing one for the benefit of