quisite time for study, in order to
write instructively and effectively on general subjects.

In the same letter, Dr. Ryerson thus referred to his determination to
take no further part in the discussion of public affairs, owing to the
hostility which his support of Lord Sydenham's policy had excited in
various quarters[112]:--

In retiring from taking any public part in the civil affairs of this
country, I beg to express my grateful sense of the frankness, kindness,
and condescension which I have experienced from Your Excellency. You are
the first Governor of Canada who has taken the pains to investigate the
character and affairs of the Wesleyan Methodist Church for himself, and
not judge and act from hearsay; the first Governor to ascertain my
sentiments, feelings, and wishes from my own lips, and not from the
representations of others. As a body, considering our labours and
numbers, we have certainly been treated unjustly and hardly by the Local
Government. Every effort was used here to deprive us of the Royal
liberality, and Lord Glenelg's recommendations in regard to the Upper
Canada Academy. I think Lord John Russell himself was prepossessed
against me by the representations of Rev. Mr. Alder, and probably of Sir
George Arthur and others. But by your condescension and courtesy I have
been prompted and emboldened to express myself to Your Excellency on all
questions of civil government and the affairs of this country, more
fully than I have to any man living. My private opinions and public
writings have been simultaneously before Your Excellency, together with
all the circumstances under which I have expressed the one and published
the other. I feel confident, therefore, that however I may be
misrepresented by some, or misunderstood by others, I shall have justice
in the estimate and opinions of Your Excellency--that I have been
anything but theoretical or obstinate--that I have shrunk from no
responsibility in the time of need and difficulty--and that my opinions,
whether superficial or well-considered, are such as any common-sense,
practical man, whose connection, associations, and feeling are involved
in the happiness and well-being of the middle classes, might be expected
to entertain.

It is not my intention or wish to obtrude my opinions upon your
attention, except in so far as may be necessary to acquaint Your
Excellency with the interests and wishes of the body whom I have been
appointed to represent