udices against it on all sides were unreasonable. I do not
regret the opposition which I have experienced--the reproaches
which I have incurred--the labours I have endured; but I do
regret--and every day's reflection adds fresh poignancy to my
regrets--that in carrying out a measure which I had hoped would
prove an unspeakable blessing to my native country, I have lost so
many friends of my youth. No young man in Canada had more friends
amongst all Christian denominations than I had when the Union took
place. Many of them have become my enemies. I can lose property
without concern or much thought; but I cannot lose my friends, and
meet them in the character of enemies, without emotions not to be
described. I feel that I have injured myself, and injured this
Connexion, and I fear this province, not by my obstinacy, but by my
concessions. This is my sin, and not the sins laid to my charge. I
have regarded myself, and all that Providence has put into my hands
from year to year, as the property of this Connexion. I can say, in
the language of Wesley's hymn--

"No foot of land do I possess,
No cottage in the wilderness;
A poor wayfaring man."

And it is to me a source of unavailing grief, that after the
expenditure of so much time, and labour, and suffering, and means,
one of the most important measures of my life may prove a
misfortune to the Church of my affections and the country of my
birth. I have only to say, that as long as there is any prospect of
my being useful to either, I will never desert them.

We have surveyed every inch of the ground on which we stand: We
have offered to concede everything but what appertains to our
character, and to our existence and operations as a Wesleyan
Methodist Church. The ground we occupy is Methodistic, is rational,
is just. The very declarations of those who leave us attest this.
They are compelled to pay homage to our character as a body; they
cannot impeach our doctrines, or discipline, or practice; nor can
they sustain a single objection against our principles or standing;
the very reasons which they assign for their own secession are
variable, indefinite, personal, or trivial. But the reasons which
may be assigned for our position and unity are tangible, are
definite, are Methodistic,