OPINIONS OF THE PRESS,
OF
STATESMEN AND OTHERS,
ON
REV. DR. RYERSON'S "HISTORY OF THE LOYALISTS OF AMERICA AND THEIR TIMES, FROM 1620 TO 1816."
_From the Toronto_ Daily Mail, _July 7th, 1880._
In a lengthened review of more than two columns, the _Mail_ says:
"It is with great pleasure that we introduce and commend to our readers these portly volumes, which together contain nearly a thousand pages. Dr. Ryerson deserves well of his country on account of his long and inestimable services to the cause of popular education. He is the still surviving father of our public school system, and for over thirty years directed its progress with characteristic zeal and activity. But apart from the author's public work, these volumes--the result of twenty-five years'
labour--are exceedingly valuable on their own account. * * * Dr.
Ryerson has performed his task with great thoroughness, inspired by a deep interest in his subject. The style is easy and flowing; the facts stated are almost superabundantly established by reference to the authorities; and wherever it becomes necessary to demonstrate the misrepresentations of American writers, the author's forcible way of putting the subject-matter in dispute is at once clear and cogent. In short, the narrative is interesting, whilst the arguments that crop up now and again are pointed and convincing. We had some doubts as to the venerable author's age; but he leaves no doubt upon the point in a passage relating to the war of 1812 (Vol.
II., p. 353). At the outbreak of the war, amongst the Norfolk volunteers who went with General Brock to the taking of Detroit were the elder brother and brother-in-law of the writer of these pages (he being then ten years of age). Dr. Ryerson must be consequently seventy-eight, or thereabouts; still, as his father lived to the ripe old age of ninety-four, the author may have a long lease of life before him."
_From the Hamilton_ Evening Times, _June 13th, 1880._
"It has been well said, that Dr. Ryerson needs no monument to perpetuate his industry, zeal, ability, and aptitude for literary work, and successful management other than the system of public and high schools of Ontario, which he may be said to have created nearly forty years ago, and nourished until 1876, when he retired from the position of Chief Superintendent of Education. But if he do, that other monument will be found in his _History of the Loyalists of America and their Times_. This contribution to native literature is not the work of a day. It is the result of twenty-five years of more or less arduous labour and diligent inquiry. It is therefore all the more valuable and trustworthy.
When one carefully examines the tersely-written pages of the two volumes comprising the History, one can, in a measure, conceive the pains taken by the venerable author to do justice to his subject.
* * * The History is a mine of information. It stands alone as a voluminous authority, and will probably do so for many years. It is admirably written, thoroughly systematised, and clear and concise.
It is just such a work as should adorn the shelves of every Canadian library."
_From the Hamilton_ Spectator, _June 19th, 1880_.
"No book issued in Canada in recent years is more worthy of cordial reception than the one which forms the subject of this notice. With the name of U. E. Loyalists most Canadians are familiar, but with the experience, the noble deeds, the unswerving loyalty to king and country, of those who took part in the events of the early history of America, very many are lamentably ignorant; or such knowledge as they have has been derived from unfriendly or unreliable sources.
* * * The work Dr. Ryerson undertook was no light one. The time was long past when the events treated of took place, and when the actors in them could be consulted. But though the actors in the stirring scenes of our early history had passed away, there were authentic documents and records of them left behind, and these the author has searched out and consulted. The results of his researches appear as a work which must be commended for the vast amount of information it contains, its accuracy of detail, and the supplying of a want long felt and often deplored. * * * Altogether, the book is one which should be read throughout the length and breadth of Canada; and even across the sea it should, and doubtless will, find a place. The Rev. Dr. Ryerson's efforts in the cause of education have borne good fruit; it is certain that his great literary work will also accomplish high beneficial results.
"The mechanical part of the book is in every way creditable to the publishers."
_From the_ Evangelical Churchman, _Toronto, June 24th, 1880_.
"This is, without exception, the most important and elaborate historical work which has yet issued from the Canadian press. The incidents of the memorable struggle, which resulted in the separation of the colonies from the Empire, are given in nervous and graphic language, and shed a flood of light on the contest itself. The subsequent privations and sufferings of the "United Empire Loyalists" are most vividly portrayed. Their settlement in this and other Provinces are feelingly and touchingly described.
Reminiscences, recollections and experiences of expatriated Loyalists are also given, and illustrations of the hardships endured by them are related in the work by many of the living descendants of these Loyalists. This portion of the history is deeply interesting and instructive, but space forbids us to enter into it. Our readers cannot do better than possess themselves of these entertaining volumes, which we most cordially commend as a most valuable addition to our colonial historical literature."
_From the Toronto_ Christian Guardian, _July 14th, 1880_.
"This new book by the venerable Dr. Ryerson is the most important literary work of his life. It fitly crowns a career of unusual intellectual activity with a standard history of the formative period of Anglo-American civilization. The range and scope of the work are much wider than most persons would suppose from the announcement. Most people looked for a work that would be mainly made up of biographical sketches of the U. E. Loyalist pioneer in the settlement of Canada. But Dr. Ryerson goes back to the beginning, and traces the whole origin and growth of the English in America, the relation of the Colonists to the Home Government, the character and doings of the Colonial Governments, and the political causes which produced dissatisfaction, and ultimately led to rebellion and independence.
"The first thing that strikes us in examining this work is the evidence it presents of extensive research, in the examination of original documents, and consequently the extent to which it must be a valuable repertory of important historic facts for future historians of American civilization.
"One thing that invests this work with special interest to all Canadians and Britons is that nearly all the histories of the United States, as well as the popular literature of that country, glorify the deeds and character of all who took a part in the Revolutionary war, on the Republican side; but the Loyalists who could not feel justified in fighting against their Sovereign and country, are uniformly painted in the blackest colours, as if they were cowardly and base wretches who had no redeeming qualities. All that is hateful and mean is suggested by the word 'Tory' or 'Royalist' in the annals of the United States. They have never had fair play; because they were generally painted by those who bitterly hated them. But while the author admits fully the folly and unconstitutional despotism that goaded the colonists into rebellion, and the patriotic feeling of many on the Republican side, no one can read his work without feeling that great injustice has been done to the Loyalists, whose wrong acts were generally provoked by the relentless persecution of the other party. In the light of the real facts, it does not appear criminal or discreditable that they were unwilling to join in open war against the land of their fathers and the Government to which they owed allegiance. * * * The account of the war of 1812 will possess still greater interest for Canadians. The part played by the people of Canada at that time, in resolutely resisting an unjustifiable invasion, made by a greatly superior power, at a time when England was contending almost single-handed against the immense forces Napoleon I. had combined against her; and the fact that eleven different attacks were repelled without loss of territory, are achievements of which Canadians have no need to be ashamed."
_From the Montreal_ Gazette, _June 26th, 1880_.
In the course of an elaborate review of three columns of this work, the editor of the _Montreal Gazette_, June 26th, 1880, says:
"This most important work, whose approach to completion we had the pleasure some months ago of announcing to our readers, is now an accomplished fact, and the people of Canada will have an opportunity of gratifying their desire for a full and fair history of one of the most interesting and meritorious elements of our population. For the laborious, and in some respects perilous task of writing such a history, few, if any, of our prominent men of learning could have been so well fitted as Dr. Ryerson. Himself the son of a leading Loyalist, of a family which had given Canada many men of earnest thought and strenuous act, familiar from his childhood with the traditions of those heroic settlers who were mainly the founders of his native Province, and having himself had no small share in extending the progress and perpetuating the prosperity of which, at the cost of their fortunes and the risk of their lives, they laid the firm basis, he was indignantly conscious of the many calumnies propagated by hostile pens, from which, for nearly a century, they had suffered almost undefended. Not alone, indeed. Happily there were others also who longed to see the story of the Loyalists written by an impartial and skilful hand. And when those who represent what was best in the public life, the literature, the pulpit and the press of the two united Provinces a quarter of a century ago, looked around on each other and beyond their own circle for a person to whom they might entrust the performance of so needed a duty, they unanimously fixed upon the Superintendent of Education of Upper Canada as that person. Thus selected, and not unmoved, besides, by potent inward urgings, Dr.
Ryerson accepted the honourable but difficult charge." [Then follows an analysis of the principal facts and arguments of the work.]
_From the_ Morning Chronicle, _Halifax, Nova Scotia, August 4th, 1880._
"This is undoubtedly one of the most notable of recent works from the press of Canada. It is a work of such interest as to its subject, and, we must add, of such merit as to its execution, that no proper justice can be done to it in any such review as can be afforded within the limited eligible space of a daily newspaper."
_From the_ Morning Herald, _Halifax, N. S., July 24th and August 4th, 1880._
The _Herald_ devotes two articles in review of this work, commencing with the following words:
"The author of this work is so well known to the people of this country, that any publication in which his name appears is a sufficient guarantee of its value, its accuracy, and the interesting nature of its contents. No work ever published in Canada is more worthy of a cordial reception from our people than the 'Loyalists of America and their Times,' and none will be read with more intense interest by the descendants of those noble men and women, 'who, stripped of their rights and property during the war, * * * were driven from the homes of their birth and of their forefathers,' because of their loyalty to their king, to seek new homes in the (then) wilderness of Nova Scotia and New Brunswick."
N.B.--Numerous other notices, of a similar character to the above, are said to have appeared in various provincial newspapers.
Letter from Sir Stafford Northcote.
"79 Portland Place, July 26th, 1880.
"My Dear Sir,
"I ought long ago to have thanked you for so kindly sending me your work on the 'Loyalists,' but I have been so busy since it came that I have had little time for reading. I have been much interested with it, and am very much obliged for it.
"Believe me, yours very faithfully,
(Signed) "Stafford H. Northcote."
Letter from Lord Carnarvon.
"Highclere Castle, Newbury, Sept. 1st, 1880.
"My Dear Sir,
"I have received the 'History of the Loyalists of America' which you have been good enough to send me. I have as yet only been able to turn the pages, but before long I hope to find the leisure to become acquainted with the contents of these two volumes, of which I have seen enough in my rapid glance to be sure that they embrace not only much that is most interesting, but in a historical point of view very valuable matter.
"I remain, my dear Sir, yours faithfully,
(Signed) "Carnarvon."
Letter from Alpheus Todd, Esq., Librarian of the House of Commons.