"The story of my life"

In Short

Constructed from private diaries, official correspondence, and retrospective commentary, this monumental autobiography records six decades of tireless public service by a central figure in early Canadian history. The narrative traces an extraordinary personal trajectory, beginning with an earnest young Methodist preacher studying classical poetry by candlelight and laboring alongside Indigenous Ojibwe communities. It expands into a high-stakes chronicle of political and ecclesiastical combat across the nineteenth century. As Upper Canada struggles to define its identity, the writer emerges as a fierce advocate for religious equality, spearheading the battle against the Anglican establishment's monopoly on public land grants and official status. Beyond church politics, the record captures the turmoil of the 1837 Rebellion, diplomatic missions to London, the establishment of a unified public education system, and late-life historical scholarship. The volume endures as an uncommonly vivid primary witness to the birth of Canadian democracy, documenting how private spiritual discipline and relentless institutional defense combined to reshape a colony into a modern civil society.

The Story

The narrative opens in the 1820s with the intimate, deeply introspective daily records of a young man consumed by rigorous self-examination, physical fatigue, and intense religious zeal. Balancing demanding classical studies with grueling circuit preaching across Upper Canada, he spends long days studying Virgil's Georgics from dawn until eleven at night, strictly disciplining his mind while battling fears of worldly vanity. His early ministry takes him directly into Indigenous communities around the Credit River, Rice Lake, Scugog Lake, and Lake Simcoe. Here, he labors physically in agricultural fields, assists local Ojibwe families with farming, learns the Chippewa language, and repeats the Lord's Prayer in Chippewa for the first time before an moved congregation. He helps establish the first Indian quarterly conference in British North America, witnessing native converts travel by canoe across back lakes to spread Christian teachings. These formative years foster a enduring conviction that spiritual instruction, civil rights, and practical education are inextricably linked.

As the young preacher's prominence grows, his focus expands from rural mission circuits to the turbulent provincial public arena, where a bitter conflict over Upper Canada's social and religious future is unfolding. Bishop John Strachan and the high-church Anglican establishment assert that the Church of England is the sole legal state church of the province, claiming exclusive entitlement to the vast, lucrative lands known as the Clergy Reserves, as well as state tithes and political dominance. Recognizing this monopoly as an unjust threat to civil liberty and religious equity, the author launches a relentless, multi-decade counter-campaign. Through general petitions to Parliament, incisive essays, and aggressive journalism as editor of the newly founded Christian Guardian, he demands complete religious equality, the abolition of state church domination, and the redirection of reserve funds toward public benefit.

To advance these principles and secure educational charters, the author undertakes repeated transatlantic voyages to England during the 1830s. Landing in Portsmouth and traveling to London, he preaches at John Wesley's historic City Road Chapel, attends services led by Edward Irving, and interacts with prominent British Wesleyan leaders like Dr. Jabez Bunting, Dr. Richard Watson, and Rev. Richard Reece. In official halls, he negotiates with Colonial Office leaders, including Lord Glenelg and Assistant Colonial Secretary James Stephen. However, his commitment to constitutional reform without violent revolution puts him in direct collision with radical politicians like William Lyon Mackenzie and British MP Joseph Hume. When Hume writes a controversial letter praising a prospective Canadian crisis that would break connection with Great Britain, the author fearlessly publishes a full exposure of Hume and Mackenzie's treasonable aims, enduring intense public backlash to protect his church from revolutionary entanglement.

This political powder keg explodes during the Rebellion of 1837. Armed skirmishes erupt near Toronto, leading to military maneuvers under Lieutenant-Governor Sir Francis Bond Head and commanders Allan Macnab and Fitzgibbon. Royal forces attack rebel strongholds at Montgomery's Tavern, firing artillery, capturing prisoners, and burning the headquarters to the ground while leaders like Mackenzie flee with bounties on their heads. While the author's family witnesses nearby buildings consumed by flames and faces death threats from political enemies, the author steadfastly maintains that true social progress must occur through constitutional law rather than violent rebellion. This principled stance sparks further turmoil when the British Wesleyan Conference attempts to exert coercive, tory control over Canadian Methodists, resulting in a painful, seven-year ecclesiastical separation in 1840 over Canadian self-governance.

During the mid-1840s, the author steps directly into civil administration. Appointed as Chief Superintendent of Education for Upper Canada in 1844, he simultaneously writes powerful public essays defending Governor-General Sir Charles Metcalfe's constitutional governance, successfully rallying public sentiment against partisan factionalism. As the head of the provincial educational system for over thirty years, he overcomes flawed legislative bills, revokes defective school acts, and constructs an enduring, non-sectarian public school system designed to elevate every citizen regardless of wealth or denomination. In 1860, during intense university debates in Quebec, he delivers a masterly address before a Parliamentary Committee, defending denominational institutions like Victoria College against elite provincial monopolies and appealing directly to the heart, conscience, and judgment of the Canadian public.

In his final decades, the veteran leader turns his remaining energies to historical scholarship, institutional consolidation, and deep spiritual reflection. Working up to fifteen hours a day on New Year's Day alone, he authors a monumental two-volume history of the United Empire Loyalists and Their Times, documenting the sacrifices of Canada's founding families. His late correspondence reveals profound personal tranquility, marked by vibrant devotional joy, constant scriptural study, and warm reconciliations with former institutional rivals, including prominent Anglican leaders like Dean Grasett and Bishop Bethune. The life narrative closes in profound contentment, anchored in an unwavering Christian faith and the satisfying realization that six decades of public labor have successfully established a free, educated, and religiously equitable society.

How It Unfolds

Dawn of devotion and classical discipline A young circuit preacher begins his diary with rigorous self-scrutiny, deeply wrestling with spiritual shortcomings while maintaining an exacting daily study schedule. Working tirelessly from the dawn of day until near eleven at night, he translates Virgil's Georgics in a single week while traveling exhausting rural circuits to preach, fast, and pray among frontier assemblies.

Laboring among the Ojibwe Assigned to mission work along the Credit River, Rice Lake, and Lake Simcoe, the young minister works physically alongside Indigenous Ojibwe families in their agricultural fields. He masters phrases in the Chippewa language, recites the Lord's Prayer in native tongue to a deeply moved congregation, and helps organize the first Indian quarterly conference in British North America.

Taking up the quill for religious equality As Anglican leader John Strachan asserts that the Church of England holds an exclusive legal entitlement as Upper Canada's established church, the writer steps directly into public controversy. As editor of the newly founded Christian Guardian, he organizes province-wide petitions against the Anglican monopoly on the Clergy Reserves, demanding equal civil rights for all religious denominations.

Crossing the Atlantic for the cause The author voyages across the Atlantic to present Canadian educational charters and religious petitions directly to imperial authorities in London. He preaches at John Wesley's historic City Road Chapel, interacts with leading British Methodists like Jabez Bunting, and negotiates directly with Colonial Office statesmen such as Lord Glenelg and Assistant Colonial Secretary James Stephen.

Exposing the seeds of rebellion Observing radical politician William Lyon Mackenzie and British MP Joseph Hume advocating revolutionary overthrow, the author publicly breaks with his former political allies. He publishes fierce journalistic denouncements of their disloyal manifestos, enduring intense personal criticism while warning Canadian citizens that armed revolutionary violence will destroy civil freedom rather than secure it.

A colony consumed by fire and arms Political tension explodes in the Rebellion of 1837, bringing direct military conflict to Toronto and nearby Montgomery's Tavern. Government forces under Lieutenant-Governor Sir Francis Bond Head fire artillery, scatter rebel troops, burn rebel headquarters to the ground, and issue bounties for fleeing leaders, while the author's family watches nearby homes consumed by flames.

The rift across the sea The political fallout creates severe strain between Canadian Methodists and the British Wesleyan Conference, which seeks to enforce conservative British political loyalty. Resisting attempts by English church authorities to dictate Canadian ecclesiastical policy, the author navigates a painful seven-year separation to safeguard the independence and democratic liberties of Canadian Methodism.

Building a national school system Appointed Chief Superintendent of Education for Upper Canada in 1844, the author turns his administrative genius toward founding a comprehensive public school system. He successfully overturns flawed legislative acts, manages complex provincial governance, and establishes free, non-sectarian educational opportunities accessible to children of every social class and religious persuasion.

Defending public education at Quebec Appearing before a Parliamentary Committee in Quebec in 1860, the author delivers a landmark, impassioned speech defending regional denominational colleges like Victoria College against centralized university monopolies. Speaking from five in the morning preparations, he appeals directly to the conscience and judgment of the Canadian people, insisting on equitable state support for higher education.

A quiet sunset of faith and scholarship In his final years, the aging reformer retreats to his cottage to research and author a monumental two-volume history of the United Empire Loyalists and Their Times. Writing for up to fifteen hours a day on foolscap paper, he reflects on a deeply joyful spiritual life while receiving warm, affectionate tributes from former political and Anglican adversaries.

The People

Egerton Ryerson desires above all else personal Christian perfection, complete religious equality in Upper Canada, and a free, universal public school system open to every child. Standing in his path are powerful state-church monopolies, radical political agitators who threaten violent revolution, complex imperial bureaucracy in London, and constant physical exhaustion. Through decades of relentless writing, diplomatic missions, and administrative leadership, he transforms from a struggling, self-doubting young circuit rider studying Latin by candlelight into a serene, universally revered elder statesman whose foundational educational and civil reforms shape an entire nation.

John Strachan, the formidable Anglican Bishop of Toronto, seeks to establish the Church of England as the exclusive, legally recognized state church of Upper Canada, funded entirely by public land grants from the Clergy Reserves. His ambitious monopoly is thwarted by Ryerson's persistent public campaigns, changing parliamentary majorities, and the reality of a religiously diverse colonial population. Ultimately, Strachan is forced to witness the complete collapse of his state-church policy; in his later years, he painfuly laments that his followers fail to support their own church voluntarily, though he eventually exchanges warm, respectful greetings with his long-time Methodist antagonist.

William Lyon Mackenzie wants rapid political transformation, the destruction of executive privilege, and the ultimate severance of Upper Canada's colonial ties to Great Britain. His radical revolutionary agenda is blocked by moderate constitutional reformers like Ryerson and the armed military power of the colonial government. Mackenzie's political trajectory ends in absolute catastrophe when his attempted armed uprising of 1837 is swiftly crushed at Montgomery's Tavern, leaving his political reputation ruined and forcing him to flee into American exile as a hunted fugitive with a heavy royal bounty on his head.

Jabez Bunting, the influential leader of the British Wesleyan Conference in London, seeks to preserve traditional Wesleyan doctrine, centralized imperial control, and unwavering tory loyalty across all colonial Methodist societies. His efforts to dictate Canadian church affairs are continually challenged by the Canadian Conference's fierce demand for local self-governance and democratic civil rights. Though Bunting initially presides over a painful seven-year schism between British and Canadian Methodists, he ultimately receives Canadian representatives cordially, voting to welcome them into official proceedings and fostering eventual ecclesiastical reconciliation.

In Its Own Voice

In a private letter written to the Lieutenant-Governor's secretary during the political crisis of 1844, the author analyzes the rapidly changing landscape of public sentiment across Upper Canada.

The party of the opposition have become organized--organized under circumstances more formidable than I have ever witnessed in Canada. Their ranks and influence have been increased by numbers who, two months since, were neutral, and who could have been forthwith brought to the side of constitutional government.

Addressing the Parliamentary Committee in Quebec in April 1860, the author reflects upon the intense emotional weight of standing before his country's representatives to defend public education.

No man can stand in the presence of the Representatives of the people; no man can stand, as I feel myself standing this morning, not merely in the presence of a Committee, but, as it were, in the presence of my native country, the land of my birth, affections, labours, hopes, without experiencing the deepest emotion.

Writing late in his career, the veteran public servant offers a philosophical summary of his life's work and his ongoing efforts to establish constitutional freedom for the Canadian nation.

Thankful to find that the new system of civil government was to be established upon the same principles as those on which our school system has been founded and developed to the satisfaction of the country, and to the admiration of all foreign visitors; and believing that the present was the juncture of time for commencing a new and brighter era in the history of Canada--I have felt that it had a claim to the result, in epitome at least, of my fifty years reading and meditation, and more than forty years occasional discussion, respecting these first principles of government, for the freedom, unity, happiness, advancement and prosperity of a people....

What It's Really About

Beneath its historical chronicling of colonial politics, this volume is fundamentally an extended meditation on the relationship between religious equality, civil liberty, and national identity. The core argument insists that a healthy democratic society cannot exist under the shadow of state-sanctioned religious monopoly. By challenging the high-church Anglican claims to the Clergy Reserves, the narrative asserts that true civil freedom requires equal rights upon equal conditions for every religious denomination.

Simultaneously, the text explores the crucial distinction between principled constitutional reform and destructive revolutionary extremism. In rejecting the armed radicalism of William Lyon Mackenzie and Joseph Hume while continuing to oppose high-church privilege, the author argues that enduring social progress must be built through legal, educational, and institutional channels rather than violent rebellion. Public education emerges as the ultimate guarantor of this civic vision, serving as the equalizer that transforms a fractured colony into an enlightened self-governing public.

At its deepest level, the book examines how individual spiritual faith informs public duty. The private diary entries reveal that relentless political labor and administrative leadership are not driven by worldly ambition, but by a profound sense of divine stewardship. Personal holiness, rigorous intellectual discipline, and public service are portrayed as unified aspects of a single calling, demonstrating how moral conviction can shape the institutional foundation of a rising nation.

Why Read It Today

This volume will deeply absorb readers interested in Canadian history, religious liberty, political biography, and the foundational development of public education. Reading it feels like stepping directly into the council chambers, mission camps, and printing offices of a fledgling nation. The prose carries a candid, authoritative rhythm that vividly conveys the intense urgency of nineteenth-century colonial life, where every legislative vote and editorial essay carried profound consequences for future generations.

What stays with the reader is the remarkable synthesis of private spiritual intensity and public administrative triumph. The transition from a youthful preacher translating Latin poetry in frontier cabins to a seasoned diplomat negotiating in London office halls creates a compelling human narrative. The book offers a rare front-row seat to the crucial debates that forged modern Canadian democracy, illustrating how moral conviction and persistent compromise successfully built non-sectarian public institutions.

However, modern readers should approach the work with an honest awareness of its period difficulties. As a dense nineteenth-century documentary memoir compiled from diaries, letters, and legislative proceedings, the text is undeniably long and occasionally repetitive. The prose reflects the formal, highly elevated rhetorical style of the Victorian era, filled with lengthy sentence structures and extensive theological arguments. Furthermore, the record reflects nineteenth-century colonial attitudes regarding religious governance, imperial relations, and missionary outreach among Indigenous populations. While these period perspectives require contextual understanding, they also provide invaluable primary evidence of how historical figures viewed their own world.

Ultimately, the work remains an essential testament to the power of principled civic engagement. It rewards patient readers with a deeply nuanced portrait of a nation wrestling with its core values, offering timeless insights into how dedicated leadership, equal rights, and universal education can transform civil society.