d to the Superannuation Fund, Book Room, Parsonages, Missionary,
and other objects. Dr. Ryerson, as one of a deputation, attended a large
number of meetings. Writing from Brockville, he mentions the fact that
he

Stopped at a graveyard, a few miles west of Prescott, to survey the
graves of some of the honoured dead. The remains of Mrs. Heck, the
devoted matron who urged Philip Embury (the first Methodist
preacher in America) to lift up his voice in the city of New York,
in 1766, are deposited here.

FOOTNOTES:

[105] See note on page 224.

[106] This selfish demand--"that the ministrations of our Holy Religion
be afforded without charge to the inhabitants of every township" (in
which members of the Church of England were persistently educated in
those days)--was most unfortunate in its influence on the Church, and
has borne bitter fruit in these later times. Its legitimate effect has
been to dry up the sources of Christian benevolence, paralyze the arm of
Christian effort, and secularize, if not render impossible, any
successful plan of Church extension and missionary work. Witness the
almost complete failure (as compared with other Christian bodies) to
raise sufficient funds to support even the limited number of Home
missions in most of the dioceses, and the nearly hopeless task of
infusing a genuine missionary zeal in behalf of the "regions beyond."

[107] It should be noted, in connection with this petition, that one
most important part of its prayer was granted in that year--viz., the
appointment of the Archdeacon (who went to England to present the
petitions and to receive the appointment) as first Bishop of Toronto.
His patent bears date, 27th July, 1839. The other part of the prayer was
also granted, but not until 1840, when Lord John Russell, then Colonial
Secretary, by an unprecedented and unlooked for stretch of official
authority, but no doubt with the assent of his colleagues, introduced a
bill into the House of Commons to do what even he and other Colonial
Secretaries had deprecated doing--viz., the re-investing of the reserves
in the Crown. Dr. Ryerson, then in England, strongly protested against
this act of provincial spoliation and legislative invasion, but the bill
became law. (See next chapter.)

CHAPTER XXXIII.

1838-1840.

The New Era--Lord Durham and Lord Sydenham.

In the midst of the gloom which overspread the Province, in consequence
of the long contin