Bequeatbeo
to tbe
%fbrar\> of tbe
.ITlniversit^ of {Trinity Colleoe,
TToronto,
Bl" THE
VENERABLE JOHN WILSON, M. ,L
ARCH.DKACOX OF PETERBOROUGH
AND
RECTOR OK (1RAFTOX, IN THE DIOCESE"
OF TORONTO.
JANUARY, 1891.
Ri.
LIBRARY,
FROM-THE- LIBRARY OF
TRINITYCOLLEGETORONTO
ir of tlj IStift anb
GEORGE AUGUSTUS SELWYN, D.D.
BISHOP OF NEW ZEALAND, 18411869;
BISHOP OF LICHFIELD, 18671878,
VOL. I.
LONDON :
R. CLAY, SONS, AND TAYLOR, PRINTERS,
BREAD STREET HILL.
/^
JKnnotr of t&e Hift antr
OF
GEORGE AUGUSTUS SELWYN, D.D,
BISHOP OF NEW ZEALAND, 1841-1869;
BISHOP OF LICHFIELD, 1867-1878.
BY THE
REV. H. W. TUCKER, M.A.,
.WriiOR OF UNDER HIS BANNER," " MEMOIR OF BlSHOP FEILD," ETC., ETC.
WITH PORTRAIT, LITHOGRAPHS, AND MAP
"IMPLE3TI MEK1TIS SOLIS UTRAMQUH DOMUM."
IN TWO VOLUMES.-VOLUME I.
J)ork:
E. P. BUTTON AND COMPANY
713, BROADWAY.
All Rights Reserved..
Oh I have seen, nor hope perhaps in vain,
Ere life go down, to see such sights again:
A Veteran Warrior in the Christian field.
Who never saw the 8 word lie could not wield ;
Grave without dulness, learned without pride,
Exact, yet not precise, though meek, keen-eyed.
**$**
Who, when occasion justified its use,
Had wit as bright as ready to produce:
Could fetch from records of an earlier age,
Or from Philosophy s enlightened page,
His rich materials, and regale your ear
With strains it was a privilege to hear :
Yet above all, his luxury supreme
And his chief glory was the Gospel Theme.
TO HER,
WHO FOR FORTY YEARS
ENCOURAGED AND SHARED HER HUSBAND S LABOURS,
THESE VOLUMES,
WRITTEN AT HER REQUEST, ARE RESPECTFULLY
PREFACE.
" How should a great man s life be written ? " " How
for example should you wish your own life to be written
if it ever were written ? "
These two questions were put to the subject of this
Biography not many months before his death. He paused
for a minute, repeated the second question, and then
said, " Tell first all my faults, and then tell whatevei
the grace of God has enabled me to do in spite of them."
I am quite conscious of having failed to comply with
both of these conditions : indeed I have not attempted
to do so. As to the first, I know that it is often objected
to Biographies of Christian men that they portray a per
fect character, and thus defeat one of the great objects
of such memoirs : that instead of inciting readers to
imitate a bright example, they discourage by descriptions
of holiness which are felt at once to be ordinarily
unattainable. It is said, and with truth, that Holy Scrip
ture never conceals the faults or the sins of the greatest
saints, whose examples are thereby more valuable, in
asmuch as we recognise common infirmities of mankind :
but I think that there is a flaw in this argument. In
spired records are not to be compared with other books :
viii PREFACE.
the pages which reveal the sins and errors of Saints
and Apostles are written by HIM, " unto whom all hearts
are open, all desires known, and from whom no secrets
are hid : " it is not the duty of a biographer to assume
the place of a judge : censure and panegyric are alike
to be avoided by him. If therefore any one wishes
to know what were the sins and infirmities of him
whose career is chronicled in these volumes, I have
helped him in the search only so far that I suppress
nothing : to " draw his frailties from their dread abode,"
I have considered to be no more my function than to
insult his saintly memory by feeble words of praise.
A long series of noble works, humbly commenced and
patiently carried on for God s glory, I have indeed
chronicled ; they do not exhaust the list ; and such as
they are I leave them to win their way to the hearts
of my readers. The great task which, however im
perfectly, is now completed, was not sought by me; it
was not undertaken willingly : there were others more
qualified both by personal acquaintance and by literary
ability and to whom leisure is a less rare possession
than it is to myself who, as I had hoped and expected,
would have given to the Church a Biography more
worthy of the great subject than these pages can pre
tend to be : but to those whose wish in this matter
commanded obedience it seemed otherwise, and when
I was invited, and even urged, to accept a trust so
onerous and so honourable, 1 had nothing to do but
to comply.
I wish it to be understood that these pages pretend
to be nothing more than a compilation. My duty has
PREFACE. ix
been to study and carefully to analyse many hundreds
of letters and documents which have been placed in my
hands. I considered that I should discharge my task
the better, just in proportion as I brought into greater
prominence the very words and letters of my subject,
and as illustrating these, the testimony of his friends
and colleagues, and kept myself and my own opinions
in the background. My aim therefore has been rather
to arrange the materials at my disposal in due relation
and proportion, than to write an original monologue.
If I had desired to paint an ideal picture, or to
adjust my materials so as to fulfil my own concep
tions, or to meet possibly my prejudices of the noble
life which for many months has been my daily and
nightly study, it would have been easy to have done
so : but I can truly affirm that I have suppressed
nothing, coloured nothing, distorted nothing.
I have been freely entrusted with all papers and
letters in the possession of the family of the late bishop
which could assist me in iny work : indeed I regard
myself as little more than the amanuensis of those
at whose request I have written these volumes; but it
is right to add that I have been perfectly unfettered
in my labours, and for the use made of the materials
at my disposal I alone am responsible.
I have to express my thanks and obligations to many
persons who were connected with the late bishop by ties
of friendship only : the amount of service rendered to me
differs probably in each case, bat to all alike I desire to
offer an expression of gratitude for the ready help which I
have received on all occasions, whether offered voluntarily
VOL. T &
jc . PREFACE.
or extended iu answer to my application. It is impos
sible to give the names of all whom, mentioned or
unmentioned in these pages, I heartily thank ; but espe
cially I must record the benefit which these volumes
have received from the assistance and co-operation of
Bishop Abraham and Bishop Hobhouse ; the Most Rev.
the Primate of New Zealand ; the Bishops of Quebec
and Wellington ; the Right Hon. the Earl of Powis ;
Sir W. Martin, late Chief Justice of New Zealand ;
the Rev. Edward Coleridge, Fellow of Eton College, the
unfailing friend of Bishop Selwyn, and the unwearied
supporter of the Colonial Church generally ; the Rev.
C. B. Dalton, the Rev. E. J. Edwards, and the Vener
able Sir Lovelace Stamer, Bart. , Archdeacon of Stoke.
My obligations to the admirable work on New Zealand
by Mr. Swainson, late Attorney-General of that colony,
are acknowledged elsewhere. I must further thank ray
friend J. E. Gorst, Esq., Q.C., M.P., for valuable advice and
information, and for use freely made of his outspoken
book The Maori King.
LONDON, Lent, 1879.
CONTENTS,
CHAPTER I.
EARLY YEARS AND EDUCATION, 1809-1831
CHAPTER II.
ETON, 1831-1841 16
CHAPTER III.
CONSECRATED BISHOP or NEW ZEALAND, 1841 . . . .62
CHAPTER IV.
NEW ZEALAND: ITS EARLY HISTORY AND COLONIZATION 93
CHAPTER V.
SYDNEY AND NEW ZEALAND, 1842-1843 .... 105
CHAPTER VI.
NEW ZEALAND, 1844-184G 165
xii CONTENTS.
CHAPTER VII.
PAOK
NEW ZEALAND, 1847 220
CHAPTER VIII.
MELANESIA AND NEW ZEALAND, 1848 253
CHAPTER IX.
MELANESIA AND NEW ZEALAND, 1849 279
CHAPTER X.
NEW ZEALAND, SYDNEY, AND MELANESIA, 1850-1851 : . . 328
PORTRAIT OF THE BISHOP [1877J .... Frontispiece.
" TRIAL MAP " IN LETTER TO DR. KEATE . To face page 299
GEOEGE AUGUSTUS SELWYN, D.D.
CHAPTEK I.
EARLY YEAKS AND EDUCATION,
[18091831.]
THE memories of the servants of God are not less the
treasures of the Church than are the active services
which they were enabled to render on earth ; and if the
present age is rich, beyond all its predecessors, in bio
graphies of those who have endured hardness in the
mission field, and counted not their lives dear unto them,
the fact must be accepted as only another proof of the
revival of spiritual life and zealous devotion, of which the
Anglican Communion has been the favoured exponent
during the past forty years.
The accident that the great men, whose labours we
reverence and whose memories we cherish, found the
sphere, in which their gifts were more prominently called
forth, amid the plains of India or the snows of North
America, in the sparsely peopled wastes of Southern Africa,
or in the blue waters of the far Pacific, only brings into
greater prominence the fruits of the magnificent move
ment which having its origin in the Mother Church has
| made itself felt in the ends of the earth. Those noble
VOL. I. R
2 LIFE OF BISHOP SELWYN. [CHAP. i.
spirits who went out to distant lands, there to extend the
frontiers of the Anglican Communion and to gather in the
heathen to her fold, were the very men who had drunk
most deeply of the spirit which has made the Church of
England what she now is, and has revealed her almost
incalculable capacities alike of growth and of influence :
they were grudged as one by one they went forth from our
struggling Church, which seemed to need their gifts only
too sorely ; but by that law of our spiritual life which pro
vides that no venture of faith is allowed to be without its
reward, and that what seems to be loss shall prove to be
certain gain, the exile of these chivalrous souls has had the
most distinct and potent influence on the Church which
they have left ; each act of self-sacrifice which has moved
a man to sever himself from home and friends, and to
bury himself in the wilderness, has raised, almost at a
bound, the standard of ministerial obligation at home, and
has inspired the whole heart of the Church which sent
him forth.
It has been no book-making instinct but a true appre
ciation of the value of high example and sacred memories
which has given us the biographies of the great pioneers
of the Church in these last days; which has shown us
how the Poet Heber and the scholarly and statesman-like
Cotton laboured and died at their posts in Hindostan;
which has permitted us to study the varied gifts of the
ascetic Stewart, Bishop of Quebec ; of the far-seeing
Strachan, Bishop of Toronto ; of the patient Feild, the
apostle to the fishermen of jSTewfoundland ; of Eobert
Gray, the dauntless confessor of Southern Africa ; of John
Armstrong, all too early, as we think, removed from his
task of laying the foundations of the See of Grahams-
town ; of Charles Frederic Mackenzie, the simple-hearted
martyr, whose body rests beside the waters of the African
stream ; of Addiugton Venables, who held on, in spite of
bodily weakness and personal griefs, labouring while his
day lasted, for his poor negro flock in the Bahamas ; of
1809-1831.] THE COLONIAL EPISCOPATE. 3
Patteson, who poured out his life for the people for
whom he had already given up family and friends and all
that this world can offer.
The Church which in the course of hardly more than
one generation has sent forth sons such as these can be no
barren Church : nor are these all : others there have been,
in no degree inferior in spiritual gifts or in the use
which they have made of them, whose labours have been
none the less abundant, whose memories are only the less
treasured because they have not found a chronicler. Such
were Bishop Coleridge, the friend of Keble, the first Bishop
of Barbados, and the first Warden of St. Augustine s
College, Canterbury ; Bishop Broughton, the first Bishop
of Australia, whom no distance wearied, no difficulty
daunted, and whose far-reaching counsel, with an instinct
.that may without exaggeration be called prophetic, traced
out the boundaries of Sees and Provinces which to ordinary
minds seemed but the mere creatures of an idle fancy :
Bishop Milman, whose great intellect compels our admira
tion hardly more than the patience with which he exer
cised his many gifts on a people who promised small
results to his efforts ; H. A. Douglas, successively Dean
of Capetown and Bishop of Bombay, whose Counsels on
the Work of Missions are a possession for all time ;
Bishop Fulford, the calm and thoughtful Metropolitan
of Canada.
These memories point not only to the past : they are
full of life and encouragement for the future. There must
be a noble future for a Church whose store in Para
dise is already so rich; and it is not the least of the
rewards accorded to those who have aided in the propaga
tion of the Faith in other lands, that amid the distractions
and the controversies, the unfaithfulness and the timidity
which harass us at home, we can look abroad, .and in the
Churches to whose foundation our own self-denial has con
tributed, can discover, not indeed the "pomp and cir
cumstance " which counts for so much in the estimation
B 2
4 . LIFE OF BISHOP SELWYN. [CHAP. I.
of the world, but the undoubted token of a living faith
and of a vigorous apostolate.
The subject of the present memoir was, in the conditions
of his ministerial life, unlike any other ecclesiastic of our
communion. A parallel case has indeed been discovered
by those who are fond of tracing analogies in the person
of the Eastern prelate Innocent, who in the year 1868
was translated from the Bishopric of Kamschatka, where
for many years he had been doing the work of an evan
gelist, to the See of Moscow ; but in the English Church it
has only been given to one man to lay as a wise master-
builder, the foundations of a Christian Church in the
uttermost part of the earth, to unite in the bonds of the one
Faith two races as unlike to each other as it is possible to
conceive, and after more than a quarter of a century of
work in which he was the pioneer, guided by no precedents
more recent than were furnished by the Apostles and the
immediate successors of their missionary labours, to return
to England and, succeeding to a diocese whose traditions
stretch back into the past for a thousand years, to raise the
dignity and the usefulness of a position thus venerable to
a level never obtained before.
Non cuivis Jiomini contingit adire Corinthum. But more
than this ; while personally the most humble of men, he
became by no effort of his own the foremost personage in the
whole Anglican Communion : he headed no party ; he uttered
no shibboleths ; in spite of himself, by the mere force of his
character and example he was the leading spirit in the
Australasian Churches in whose development he had had
so large a share : and in the Lambeth Conference of 1867,
and in the Upper House of the Convocation of Canter
bury, he was listened to with an attention which no other
prelate could command: while in the United States
amid the people of another land, citizens of the great
Republic and members with ourselves of the same Com
munion, he exercised an influence which no one person
ever before wielded or possibly ever coveted. Each branch
1809-1831.] PEDIGREE. 5
of the Church looked to him for advice, in full confidence
that the counsel given, whatever it might be, would
be biassed not a hair s breadth by any secondary
consideration.
If it be asked what was the cause of this homage thus
voluntarily accorded, it may be said in reply that sub
sidiary causes were many : no one could be insensible to
the charm of that gracious presence, that bright incisive
speech, that gentle manner, that playful wit : physical
beauty and mental culture were his in highest measure, and
these gifts will always make themselves felt ; but beyond
all these it was the knowledge of the man s true nobility
of character, the unselfishness which was so much a part
of himself as to seem to be without effort, the obedience
to rule and order which was the guiding principle of his
life, and the assurance that nothing mean or sordid would
ever be connected with aught that he said or did, that
compelled the not unwilling homage which men paid
to him.
George Augustus Selwyn was born at Hampstead in
1809, the descendant of an ancient family whose mem
bers have made their mark in their several callings. Jasper
Selwyn, admitted at Lincoln s Inn in the twenty-sixth year
of Elizabeth, was twice elected Treasurer of the Inn, and
his name and arms are in the west window of the chapel
which was consecrated in 1623. Major-General Selwyn,
the great-great-grandfather of the bishop, was Governor of
Jamaica at the beginning of the last century : one of his
three sons, Colonel John Selwyn, was aide-de-camp to
Marlborough. The famous wit, George Selwyn the friend
of Horace Walpole, was of the same family.
The grandfather of the future Bishop of New Zealand
and Lichfield was King s Counsel and Treasurer of Lin
coln s Inn. He had two sons : George, who died soon after
taking a degree at Cambridge ; and William, the father of
the subject of this biography. He was sent to Eton,
6 LIFE OF BISHOP SELWYN. [CHAP. i.
and was one of the eleven whom the school sent forth
to uphold its reputation in the cricket-field : in 1793 he
entered St. John s College, Cambridge, and graduated in
1797, as Senior Optime, afterwards gaining the first
Chancellor s medal. The fellowships at St. John s being
limited to the natives of particular counties, he had
migrated in his second year to Trinity. He resigned
without a contest his claim to a Fellowship in favour of
others whose circumstances made the possession of that
reward more necessary to them. He published in 1806
" Selwyn s Nisi Prius" with which his name was ever
afterwards connected; in 1827 he was appointed King s
Counsel, and in 1840 was Treasurer of Lincoln s Inn.
Soon after the marriage of her present Majesty he was
selected as " the Instructor of Prince Albert in the
Constitution and Laws of his adopted country," and the
tenth edition of his book on " Nisi Prius " was dedicated
"ALBERTO PBINCIPI,
LEGUM ANGLLE STUDIOSO."
At the time of his deat^, in 1855, he was Senior
Queen s Counsel.
If it be worth while to go back to early years there is no
lack of testimony, that in the nursery the same disposition
was apparent in George Augustus Selwyn which charac
terised his subsequent life, but, as may be expected, rough
hewn and undisciplined. " My brother," writes one of his
sisters, " was a strong self-willed child, and my mother had
to use Solomon s remedy. The nurse was injudicious and
complained, but the result proved the wisdom of the
parent." And side by side with this resolute will there
was the unselfishness " which made him energetic and
ready to assist in any emergency which might arise in the
nursery. If any case of distress was mentioned in his
hearing, his pocket-money was at once devoted to its relief.
I trembled under his eye if I took a little more at table than
he thought (in his self-denying goodness) to be necessary."
1809-1831. BOYHOOD. 7
Further testimony is borne by his sisters to " the influence
which he had over our home life he was truly the family
friend and counsellor, ever ready to help in all difficulties.
I have known him spend many hours of the few brief
holidays he allowed himself in endeavouring to amuse his
suffering mother, who laboured for many years under a
most painful depression of spirits. He was in fact the
only person who could rouse her from the morbid state
of feeling produced by her malady, and though with the
zeal and devotion which characterized her through life
she willingly gave him up to his Master s service, yet she
never recovered the loss of his affectionate attentions, and
I found her in a state of insensibility kneeling at her
evening prayers beneath his picture, under which she died :
she never spoke again, but lingered for a few hours and
expired on the first anniversary of his consecration,
October 17, 1842. All the bishop s earlier letters with
interesting accounts of his voyage were addressed to her,
but few reached their destination till after her death ; the
news of this loss deeply affected him, and in one pathetic
passage of a letter written just after receiving the intelli
gence he described himself as going heavily as one that
mourneth for his mother. "
The same contempt for softness and luxury, it may
be said the same indifference to comfort, which enabled
him in later years to endure so much hardness on board
ship, in camp and on Melanesian coral-reefs, charac
terized him when a boy. The story is still current
in the family, that when he came home from Eton one
Easter-tide he wished to invite a friend to stay with him,
the friend being none other than Mr. Gladstone. His
mother said it was impossible, that " the spring cleaning
was going on," and guests would be in the way. " George
rushed up stairs and soon reappeared with a great mattress
which he hurled down on the wet boards, saying, There
now, where s the difficulty ? "
When he was seven years old in 1816, he was sent
8 LIFE OF BISHOP SELWYN. [CHAP. i.
to a famous preparatory school at Ealing, which was kept
by a Dr. Nicholas, whose pupils rarely fell below three
hundred in number, and who had included in their ranks
the brothers J. H. and F. W. Newman. Here he acquired
two accomplishments, of which at least one is not generally
affected by high-spirited lads of seven. He was a great
dancer, and taught his sisters the Mazurka during the holi
days, saying that " exercise was good : " he also acquired
a knowledge, strange and incongruous as it seems, of the
Racing Calendar ! Some of his companions were the sons
of gentlemen who owned race-horses, and they took a
precocious interest in their fathers tastes. George Selwyn
thus got to know the names and qualities of famous
horses, and although he never at any time cared for the
sport, he used many years later to astonish his friends
by his familiarity with the names and pedigrees of great
performers on the Turf.
Childish precocity has no bearing on the character of
maturer years, but these reminiscences, treasured by those
who loved him well, are not out of place in a memoir
such as the present aims at being : from the earliest years
to its close there is an eminent consistency in the life
which these pages record, and to suppress these stories
would be to mar its unity. In the very letter from which
they were extracted sisterly affection has written :
" There was nothing that was pious, noble, self-denying
and generous, that my brother did not exhibit in his daily
life, and as years drew on he was more than ever constant in
prayer, never ceasing in the service of his heavenly Master."
In due course he was sent to Eton, where his career was
marked by proficiency both in scholarship and in athletic
sports; nor was his reputation wanting for even higher
things : the late Bishop Trower, who acted as his commis
sary at Lichfield in the year 1868, when he paid a hurried
and farewell visit to New Zealand, used to relate that George
Selwyn effectually put down the use of profane, language
1809-1831.] CAMBRIDGE. 9
among the boys in his division of the school. The Selwyns
did much for Eton, as Eton had done much for them. There
were four brothers at Eton and Cambridge. William, the
eldest, was Sixth Wrangler, Senior Classic, Craven Scholar,
and Chancellor s Medallist, and died Lady Margaret
Professor of Divinity. The third, Thomas Kynaston, died
young, but carried the fame of a Newcastle Scholar with
him to Cambridge, where a Fellowship at Trinity was
awaiting him when he died : to him as to his eldest brother
had fallen the distinctions of Craven Scholar and Chan
cellor s Medallist. The fourth, who died in 1869, was for
many years one of the Members for the University and
became Lord Justice. 1 The future bishop graduated in
1831. 2
1 The following touching sonnet, suggested by the last hours of Lord
Justice Selwyn, was written by Professor Selwyn, his eldest brother :
THE NIGHT OF SORROW, AUGUST 10-11, A.D. 1869.
" strange dark night ! the weary watches through
I moved between my brothers, to and fro ;
One deeply slumbering, worn with toil and won,
And one who never sleeping, faintly drew
His failing breath ; yet with firm heart and true
Confest his faith in Christ, the risen Life ;
"With smiles of comfort, cheering his sad wife.
And blessing all ; our love no more could do ;
But we could feel a gracious Presence nigh
Turning our night to day ; and with the spring
Of morn we gathered round the sacred bed
And on the Bread of Life together fed ;
The Bishop spake, * Death, where is thy sting ?
The Judge, Grave, where is thy victory ? "
2 He was not a reading man at the University, and for mathematics ne
had an actual distaste. A brother undergraduate, who survives him, and
whose name appears in the first class of each Tripos in 1831, says that he
positively hated the necessary preparation to secure a place, however low,
in the Mathematical Tripos which would allow him to go in for the Clas
sical Tripos ; that he spoke of his degree as his jubilee, and used to score
off on a diary which hung over his chimneypiece each day which marked the
approach of the Examination. He came out with very little to spare,
being low down among the Junior Optimes ; when the class list, however,
was read out, and he saw how low his position was, he went off with his
10 LIFE OF BISHOP SELWYN. [CHAP, r
His scholarship seems to have been unusually exact
even for an Eton boy in the days of Keate ; and the follow
ing anecdote recorded in Mr. Maxwell Lyte s History of
Eton College would testify as much to the boy s con
scientious determination to render his author exactly as
to his keen perception of. his words :
" He was translating to Dr. Keate Horace s account of
the auctioneer at the barber s shop, proprios purgantem
leniter ungues cleaning his own nails (Ep. I. vii. 51).
Keate corrected him cleaning his nails. Go on. Again
and again the boy said his oivn nails. Keate scolded
him ; but he held out against the less emphatic his, and
argued the point thus : * If you please, sir, Horace lays the
stress on the word proprios, because most of the dandies
made the barbers pare their nails ; and when Philippus
saw Mena paring his own nails, vacud in umbra though
nobody was engaging the barber s time he thought him a
man of some energy, and likely to become a good farmer.
Dr. Keate generously appreciated the criticism, and said,
Well, there s something in that. Lay the stress, then, on
proprios " (P. 367.)
The four brothers boarded in the same house with Mr,
Gladstone, and took their full share in all the activities,
physical and intellectual, of the famous school. George
and Mr. Gladstone, with others who subsequently attained
high distinction in the world, were among the contributors
to the Eton Miscellany. In the Eton College Chronicle of
June, 1878, a contributor under the well-known initials
" C. J. A." writes :
"The name of Selwyn has long been enrolled in the
Eton Lists, and long held in honour. The eldest brother
of the late Bishop was the best sculler of his day at Eton,
and the best scholar of his day at Cambridge. George, the
friend to the bathing-place, three miles distant. It was January, but they
bathed daily. For a long time he was silent. At last he said, " Well,
I ve had many a licking at Eton, but I never felt so beaten as I do now."
In due course he went into the Classical Tripos and came out Second
Classic. Few Wranglers have turned their mathematical attainments to-
such use as this " Junior Optime " did his, as may be seen infra pp. 10&,
109, 114, 259, 266, 283.
1809-1831.] UNSELFISHNESS. 11
second brother, was one of the best oars in the Boats at
Eton. Charles Jasper, the youngest, was the Umpire of
the Thames for many years. In the sporting newspapers
the Bishop of New Zealand used to be spoken of with
respect, but always as the brother of the Umpire of the
Thames. In the spring of 1869, when the two brothers
attended the Queen s Levee together and Charles was pre
sented at Court on becoming Lord Justice, the Queen
audibly said to one of the Princesses, He is a brother of
the Bishop of Lichfield ; which George used afterwards
humorously to quote against his brother as being more than
a set-off for the language of the sporting newspapers.
Thomas Kynaston, the third brother, figures in the List
as the second Newcastle Scholar. He died young."
Amid all the engrossing pleasures of Eton there appears
the same unselfishness and the same spirit of " co-opera
tion" (a word so often used by him) in George Selwyn
which was so much the ruling principle of his after-life.
The following story, taken like the preceding from the
Eton College Chronicle, illustrates what is meant :
" Our boats in those days were clumsy and the oars
clumsier. In Selwyn s long-boat there were seven oars
not very good and one superlatively bad. The boys used
to run " up town " as hard as they could to Bob Tolladay s,
and seize upon one of the seven moderately bad ones, and
the last-comer got the * punt-pole. Of course he was
sulky all the way up to Surly, and the other seven abused
him for not pulling his own weight. Every one was out
of temper. So George Selwyn determined always to come
last. The other fellows chaffed him, but he used to laugh,
and at last characteristically said, It s worth my while
taking that bad oar. I used to have to pull the weight of
the sulky fellow who had it; now you are all in good
humour. This story really illustrates his whole after-life,
He always took the labouring oar in everything, and he
greased the rowlocks in every work."
The following letter from a contemporary who has since
been known as a distinguished Cambridge Tutor shows
that as at school, so in the intermediate and anomalous
1? LIFE OF BISHOP SELWYN. [CHAP. r.
position, when no longer a schoolboy and not yet a Uni
versity man, he exercised the same influence for good
among his elders :
"In July of the summer of 1827 a Heading Party/
under the lead of Birkett, then a noted private tutor and
fellow of St. John s (he might be called now, crammer ),
assembled at Teignmouth, South Devon : who made up
the number I really forget, and the rest signifies little:
to all intents and purposes the party was William Selwyn,
late Professor, and his brother George, then on his way
to be Freshman, A. Paget and his brother George, now
Eegius Professor of Medicine, resident in Cambridge;
and myself. The two Selwyns lodged in one house, and
the Pagets with me in the adjoining one. If I remember
right, we boarded together all five at any rate dined in
company and in general associated. The one chief bond
of associated exertion was the boat, a four-oar galley,
in which we rowed usually after dinner, and by it made
rather extensive explorations of the coast one perhaps
each week. The most notable one was that in which we
visited Berry Pomeroy Castle, starting from our place
about 4 A.M., coasting to Dartmouth ascending the Dart
to Totnes, having a two or three mile walk to the
Castle. At that place in a homely inn we dined, returned
as we came as far as Dartmouth, where I think the weather
changing, or wind having arisen, induced us to take the
road back to Teignmouth. An amusing incident helped
the recollection of the visit. The guide at the Castle
was an old dame, who manifestly had the story by heart,
and George Selwyn used the discovery mischievously by
interrupting the flow of her story ; and she could only get
through it by each time harking back to the beginning,
unable to pick up the thread of her discourse. On the
whole of this expedition we calculated on having done
upwards of sixty miles within the twenty-four hours,
reaching home about 2 or 3 A.M.
" Our rowing, far and near, was done without guide or
help. Once, if not oftener, we had to be very thankful
for safety. One evening on our return from the customary
exercise, coming to the mouth of the river Teign, we found
a heavy sea on the bar ; we must needs get through, and
1809-1831.] UNIVERSITY LIFE. 13
went at it. The passage was very narrow and the swell
high ; the boat, going high on the crest of one wave as it
passed, swayed round, and but for a vigorous pull by the
bow oar (George Selwyn) would have been taken on broad
side by the next wave and capsized.
" This association, besides affording much enjoyable
intercourse and leading to much useful information during
the three months work, led to sustained companionship
and friendship. His calm decision and quiet firmness in
conduct, speech, and action was always to be observed and
produced indirectly, if not directly, good effect and whole
some influence. I believe I owe to him some reformation
in the tone and tenor of my conversation. Though of a dif
ferent and not neighbouring college, I used to see not a
little of him ; and frequently sought him without finding,
though at the cost of ascending five flights of steps ; for he
occupied the topmost set in the south end of the new
building of St. John s. In his preparation for college life
he was the same as in it steady and successful, active,
agreeable and approved.
" I was not happy enough ever to see the bishop again
after his first appointment, but my recollection of him is
unimpaired in strength and satisfaction."
The careers of the brothers were, as has been detailed
above, as distinguished at Cambridge as they had been at
Eton, and year after year from 1826 to 1834 the proud
parents used to go up to Cambridge and partake in their
sons triumphs.
Success on the river and in athletics generally was not
purchased at the cost of defeat in the Senate House : when
the challenge sent by Oxford led to the first of the now
long series of University races, George Selwyn was among
those chosen to contend for the fame of Cambridge : it
would have been impossible to pass him by. He
seems to have formed a little society of athletes, who
bathed every day, whatever the weather or state of the
river, and who did many wonderful feats. In company
with Bishop Tyrrell, with whom nearly a quarter of a cen
tury later he shared some more perilous expeditions in the
14 LIFE OF BISHOP SELWYN. [CHAP. i.
Pacific, he walked to London on one occasion in thirteen
hours without stopping. To the last he was a great advo
cate of out-door exercise, and in a characteristic letter
which appeared in Dr. De Morgan s book on University
Oarsmen he wrote in June 1872 :
"I was in the race of 1829. The great benefit of our
rowing was that we were by rule, if not by inclination,
habitually temperate ; and I suppose all medical men will
agree that little danger can arise from strong exercise in
youth if the body is always kept in a fit state. Active
exercise, combined with strict diet and regular habits, had,
I think, a most beneficial effect upon the constitution, and
certainly enabled Bishop Tyrrell and myself on horseback
and foot in Australia and New Zealand "to make very long
journeys without inconvenience. My advice to all young
men is in two sentences Be temperate in all things and
Incumbite remis! "
Towards the close of his undergraduate days he dis
covered on coming home at the end of term that his
father was without a carriage and horses. On inquiring
the reason he found that four sons at Eton and Cambridge
were a heavy drain, and that necessary retrenchment had
found expression in the discontinuance of the luxuries in
question. He then declared that he would get his own
living, and never burden his parents ; and his high posi
tion in the Tripos, followed at a later period by a Fellow
ship at St. John s, enabled him to put his resolution into
practice.
The intermediate time which occurs between taking the
B.A. degree and commencing serious work was in the case
of Mr. Selwyn of brief duration, but while it lasted it was
spent in foreign travel. Probably no one would blame a
young man of twenty-two, fresh from the successful labours
of the University, if he devoted some time to the recreation
and teaching which are to be found in continental ram-
blings. In after life the bishop looked on this as a perilous
time : it had been probably no wasted time to him ; but
there was no settled irpoaipea^ and purpose of mind
1809-1831.1 FOREIGN TRAVEL. 15
about it, and mere enjoyment without such an object he
always deprecated, although no man more keenly enjoyed
" nature and human nature " than he did when he Came
upon them in the way of duty.
How vivid was the remembrance of the temptations
which this period had brought to himself was shown by
the anxiety which he felt when his elder son arrived at a
similar stage in his career. One who was often by his
side and in his counsels in New Zealand writes :
" We were in a dinghey making for a large ship bound
for England, in which he was thinking of sending his wife
home to look after his elder son who was just going to
take his B.A. decree. I was regretting that he did not
wait two years and then go home himself with Mrs. Selwyn
and bring his son back with them to New Zealand : No
he said; I remember the wasted time I .spent after
leaving Cambridge, having no definite plan of life and
fancying myself free to please myself ; so I wish the boy s
mother or myself to be on the spot to direct his steps at
that important epoch of life. "
To his younger son, soon after he commenced residence
at Cambridge, he wrote words of counsel which have a
wider range, and are capable of a more extended appli
cation :
" I remember my first going to Cambridge and how
unpleasant it seemed after Eton; but after a while the
absence of the many distractions of Eton rather recom
mended the place as one where lost time might in some
measure be made up. And yet, in spite of many resolu
tions, I lost much time there also. I see in every letter
that you have the same disposition as my own, a strenua
inertia, active, but not pressing towards a point: never
actually idle, and yet never really working to an end ; and
yet Christian life in all its varieties is nothing but pressing
towards a mark ; and that mark must be a distant one ;
not a boat-race to-day, or a drill to-morrow, or a party
the next day, but a fixed and steady sight of a distant
prize, to be won only by long and steady perseverance in
well doing."
LIFE OF BISHOP SELWYN. FCHAP. n.
CHAPTEE IT,
ETON.
[18311841.]
IN May 1831, only four months after taking bis degree, the
continental ramblings came to an end, and more serious
work began. Mr. Selwyn returned to Eton, which, in the
words of Mr. Gladstone, " he loved with a love passing the
love of Etonians/ and acted as private tutor to the present
Earl of Povvis. He was one of many young graduates who
held similar appointments : the mere fact of their being
chosen for the work which they had to do proves them to
have been men of more than common attainments ; some
of them had attained higher distinction at the University
than himself, and yet, while he never assumed the leader
ship in anything, all his companions naturally regarded him
as their leader, whether in study or in recreation ; and not
the least notable sign of the honour in which he was held,
and of the conviction, almost prophetic, that there was a
career before him which would one day lend a value to
the records of each period of his life, is afforded by the fact
that his sayings and doings were chronicled by more than
one of his contemporaries, and that these pages are in
debted to the carefully-preserved jottings of a friend who
nearly half a century ago acted towards him the part of a
Boswell.
From these records, and from the testimonies of his
friends who survive, it is clear that he was, as one describes
1831-1841.] LIFE AS A PEIVATE TUTOR. 17
him, " the leading spirit of a happy circle." In all bodily
exercises he was facile princeps : he delighted in the river,
and was in great request as the " Charon " of ladies : he
was wont to take prodigious walks, finding his way across
country by the help of a pocket compass ; and often when
taking the daily constitutional he would run across a
ploughed field " to improve his wind." On one occasion
being the subject of some friendly banter because he had
not kept a good place in the hunting-field, he privately
hired horses and literally rode steeplechases, making his
way in a straight line across country to some church or
other given landmark, and allowing nothing to divert him ;
and this skill, so painfully acquired, did him good service,
when, as in New Zealand, he had to travel much on horse
back. It was to his perseverance in this respect that he
owed the great /cvSos, which he acquired at Wellington, by
riding a horse which a chief had lent to him. As he went
along the beach he was hailed by every Maori, " Tcna
korua ko " (" There you go, you and buck-jumper ! ") ;
and on asking the reason of the unwonted salutation, he
was told that he was riding the worst buck-jumper in the
country.
Another instance of his skill, valueless in itself, but
which witnesses to his indomitable patience, was the way
in which he broke a vicious horse called by the Maoris
Rona, or the Man in the Moon. For two long hours he
tried in vain to put the pack-saddle on his back. At last,
covering the horse s eyes with his pocket-handkerchief and
holding up one fore leg with one hand he put the pack-
saddle on with the other. His patience in all things, small
or great, was indomitable. When Sir George Grey brought
some zebras into the country and vain attempts were made
to ride them, a native chief asked if the Bishop had ever
tried to break them in. On being told that it was im
possible to do so, he replied, " How so ? He has broken us
in and tamed the Maori heart, why not the zebra ? "
As a swimmer, too, he accomplished feats which had never
VOL. L C
18 LIFE OF BISHOP SELWYN. [CHAP. n.
been performed before, aiid in all his pleasures there was a
degree of earnestness and of order which made them
serious matters. He was not content with taking a header
over a bush, which to this day is known as " Selwyn s
bush " with a perfectly horizontal body (for his maxim was
" fancy yourself a dart ") or with diving from Upper Hope
to Middle Hope, but he was the President of a Society
which was called " The Psychrolutic Club." The less
ambitious members who bathed only under conditions that
were agreeable, called themselves Philolutes, but those
who had bathed five days in every week for a whole year
were called " Psychrolutes," and were entitled to take the
degree <l> *, which was conferred on them by the President
in the Thames. His enthusiastic love of the river led
him to accommodate Shakespeare to say
" Men s evil manners live in brass, their virtues we drink in water."
To his care it is due that boating was no longer made a
forbidden pastime to the Eton boys, and that at the same
time that it was legitimatized it was robbed of its dangers.
No rules are likely to restrain some hundreds of boys who
live on the*banks of a river from the pleasures of rowing.
The interdicted amusement had been so commonly in
dulged in that the authorities could only connive at the
irregularity, but the boys could not all swim and fatal ac
cidents were of frequent occurrence. The influence of Mr.
Selwyn, supported by the drawing-master, Mr. W. Evans,
obtained the establishment of the " swimming system,"
by which no boy was allowed to boat until he had " passed "
in swimming. Watermen were stationed in punts at the
weir and the bathing-places who were ready with help in
case of accident. These watermen were very much changed
by coming under Mr. Selwyn s moral influence. He was
conscious of his popularity with them, and he turned it,
like his other gifts and opportunities, to the best account.
But this time was every day more and more becoming
the great seed-time of his ministerial equipment* One of
1831-1841.] THEOLOGICAL STUDIES. 19
his friends says of him that his whole school and college
career had made him loved and respected, had been full of
excellence, and everything that was cheerful and manly,
but that a man with less moral courage would probably
have been led to be idle ; there was no idleness, but much
strenuous industry now ; another of his friends records
that " he seemed to be always preparing himself for some
unrevealed future of usefulness." The early bathe was fol
lowed by an hour s study of Hebrew with some of his
fellow private tutors. He read Hebrew and Italian with a
Jew named Bolaffey who resided in Eton, and he arranged
with his friends "the Eton cycle," according to which
they studied certain things in turn and for a fixed portion
of each year. The comparative leisure before ordination
was devoted to a most careful study and analysis of such
works as Pearson, Hooker, Barrow, and Butler. The two
first he knew almost by heart, and he made a rule of read
ing Hooker through during the annual Christmas vacation
which he spent with his pupil. His mother had thoroughly
imbued him with the language and the spirit of the Holy
Scriptures, and the wonderful power which he had of ap
plying Scripture was noticeable in every sermon which he
preached. About this time he wrote to one of his fellow-
students : " When I was at home before Easter I hit upon
a most agreeable way of reading the Scriptures with my
mother ; she took the English and I translated to her out
of the Hebrew (without reading), and she corrected me, and
supplied words when I did not know them. This plan is
both quick and sociable, and pleased her by showing her
the accuracy of the received version. At home, the great
problem is to be co-operative without losing too much
time. It is difficult, but I think it may be solved, at least
where the rest of the family have any pursuits and feelings
in common with your own. My sister is a Hebrew scholar,
but she has grammaticized so exclusively that she can
hardly read and knows very few words."
In 1833, on Trinity Sunday, June 9, he was ordained
c 2
20 LIFE OF BISHOP SELWYN. [CHAP. n.
Deacon on his fellowship with letters dimissory from the
Bishop of Ely to the Bishop of Carlisle (Percy), who held
his ordination in St. George s, Hanover-Square. Such was
the fashion in which " things were done " half a century
ago. As a labour of love, he took the curacy of Boveney,
continuing his work as private tutor, and encouraging
others to join him in theological studies. He took
an active share in the work of Sunday-schools, and per
suaded his friends to form themselves into a staff of dis
trict visitors, and to teach a certain number of hours of
each week in the day-schools at Eton. He became secre
tary of the book club, and acted as auctioneer at the
periodical sale of the books to the members ; his remarks
on each book as he offered it showed that he had thoroughly
studied it, and knew its strong and weak points. On Trinity
Sunday, 1834, he was ordained priest, as .in the previous
year, by Bishop Percy, in St. George s, Hanover-square. In
the summer school-time of this year, his brother, Thomas
Kyiiaston, died ; Mr. Charles Selwyn, the youngest brother,
was the only relative who was with him ; they had come
out of Wales and reached Chester, and there he had died.
Letters had miscarried, and George, in going down to the
funeral, passed on Hounslow Heath Mr. Charles Selwyn,
who had just come from his brother s grave in Chester
Cathedral. On the Sunday when he was lying dead, Mr.
William Selwyn had preached a sermon written by George
on the text " Thy brother shall rise again," and, in com
memoration of this circumstance, dvaa-rrjcreTai is carved at
the bottom of the epitaph in Trinity College Chapel at
Cambridge.
It needed not this sorrow, which was a very heavy one,
to draw out his sympathy with others, for it is recorded
by one who still survives that " if there were any mis
understanding among friends, he would not rest until they
were reconciled ; if pecuniary difficulty fell upon any one,
he would make every endeavour to extricate him : if his
friends were ill, he was their nurse and companion, if they
1831-1841.] SYMPATHY IN SORROW. 21
lost relations, or fell under any great sorrow, he was with
them at any hour to console and uphold them. He was
the friend, the adviser, the comforter, of all who would
admit him to their confidence." (Guardian newspaper,
April 24, 1878.) And these words were not lightly written :
they were but the record of what had been the writer s
own experience. In 1835 he had lost a very near relative
who was drowned at Maidenhead weir. The parents were
far away and were unable to come to Eton, but Selwyn
took all arrangements on himself, comforting the living and
caring for the dead. How difficult it is to say all of com
fort and sympathy that we would wish to say at such times,
every one has experienced who has made the effort ; but
probably the cause of such inability has never been more
truly detected and exposed than in the following extract
from a letter which he wrote to the sorrowing family.
"All our hearts require to be softened, and the most
distressing evidence of their hardness is the imperfect
sympathy which they display for the sorrow of others."
When all was over and his mourning friend was ex
pressing to him his thanks he said "Nollem accidisset
tempus in quo scires quanto te faciam," and he added that
he had always thought that Cicero had in this passage
beautifully expressed what one ought to feel on such oc
casions. There was yet another act to be performed, which
testified both to his kindness of heart and to his unsus
pected accomplishments. He went for several days to the
spot, consecrated to the bereaved family by so many mourn
ful memories, and at length he produced an artistic water-
colour drawing of the fatal scene ; until the occasion had
called forth his powers, none of his friends knew that he
was a painter ; but in truth he was a born artist, and to
anticipate events somewhat, it may be added that his
earlier letters from New Zealand and Melanesia were
enriched with very clever pen-and-ink drawings which he
made for the enjoyment of his father, after whose death he
22 LIFE OF BISHOP SELWYN. TCHAP. n.
abstained from sketching, lest it should prove a snare to
him and engross too much of his time.
At the Advent Ember- tide of 1835 the ordination of a
friend led to the following letter, a remarkable commentary
on ministerial duty, coming as it did from one who had
only been himself a few months in Holy Orders.
To THE EEV. C. B. DALTON.
Powis CASTLE, WELSHPOOL,
Dec. 2Uh, 1835.
******
" Accept my most sincere and Christian congratulations
on your admission into the ministry. It is the peculiar
privilege of the young men of the present day to have
their eyes opened to the real situation of the Church. It
is the greatest folly to undertake the ministerial duties
in the present time with the hope of temporal advantage.
Of all professions, this will in future be the most laborious
and the least lucrative. Yet still there are labourers
enough ; and this is the great ground of hope that the
destruction of the Establishment is not yet at hand. So
long as the Universities continue to send out annually
hundreds of men of sound principles and well-directed
zeal, of the best of whom at least one half enrol them
selves as defenders of that which we believe to be the
true Faith, we need not fear what man can do to us. The
real danger of the Church was from within ; but every
year will reduce the number of those who endanger their
own cause by their supiueness. We ought to enter into
a compact with one another to correct all those natural
dispositions which stand in the way of the effective
discharge of our duties ; to admonish, and suggest when
ever it may seem necessary, that so the mind of every
one iii our circle of acquaintance may be endued, not with
its own simple strength, but with the aggregate steadfast
ness of many minds, all alike invigorated by the same
power from above. We have peculiar advantages at Eton,
as you justly observe. I have scarcely made a single
acquaintance there from whom I have not derived some
advantage. And now that more of our number have
taken Orders, I think that our system of mutual assistance
1831-1841.] CO-OPERATION. 23
may be made even more effective. You will understand
by one instance, what I think may be extended to a
general practice. Your communication made to me with
C on a passage in my Sermon is a most appropriate
illustration of this. Whenever a shadow of a doubt
occurs as to the truth or propriety of any action, senti
ment, or mode of expression, let the objection be stated
and freely discussed. It can always be done in a Christian
spirit, if we establish one peremptory law (which can
always be maintained by clergymen, as they are not subject
to the absurd jurisdiction of the law of honour), viz.,
never to take offence. I have witnessed the want of this,
in my own parish of , which is convulsed by the
discord of two rival curates.
" We must endeavour to retain C in some way.
I very much regret the failure of my attempt with L
D . It would have been a great delight to me to
have had him in the same house, instead of a stranger.
I dread the return to long dinners, and wine-drinking, and
sitting after dinner, which I have discontinued so long
that I have lost all inclination to resume them. C s
habits would have been the same as my own ; but possibly
I shall be obliged to conform in many points to the wishes
of the new-comer.
"I have certain misgivings about the Sunday-school,
which are allayed solely by confidence in G . I fear
that at present He is the sole stay of the institution;
which, in its infancy, must of course be in a precarious
state. Your nursling (a Windsor Infants School) I think
is safe. When I was at home for a day on December 9,
I visited the Infants School, and was further confirmed
in the favourable opinion which I had formed from seeing
similar establishments.
"The infusion of new associates into our Eton party
will require some judgment. P by all accounts will
be a valuable coadjutor. Of the Cambridge man who is
coming to Mrs. V s I know nothing. If you and
C will undertake to bring out P I will do
my best to associate the Cantab. But I should particu
larly wish that no reference should at any time be made
to me, as in any way the Coryphaeus of the party, because
when circumstances prevent the influence of our actual
24 LIFE OF BISHOP SELWYN. [CHAP. n.
head from being much felt, the only way to preserve
unity is to discountenance the assumption of any nominal
precedency. The origin of the dispute between our two
curates was the old question, which should be the greater,
and there was no resident vicar to silence the disputants.
In the same way many men quarrel with those who wish,
not to lead, but to co-operate with them, upon the same
grounds as those gentlemen whom you told me of, who
objected to be tied to the chariot-wheels of Mr. W .
I believe that, as clergymen, we ought on the contrary to
be willing to be tied like furze-bushes to a donkey s tail,
if we can thereby do any good by stimulating what is
lazy and quickening what is slow. In many cases more
good may be done by submitting to be led than by
attempting to lead ; at least where good is the object of
both parties. From report, I think Mr. may be
rather a difficult man to manage ; but if he has all the
agreeable qualities for which he is famed, we cannot well
fail to agree.
"Many thanks for the Oxford paper. I was much
amused with the offended dignity of the Oxonian Press.
In future, however, I shall know what Philological Pro
fessor means. I have proposed a plan for attaching
the Hebrew Professorship at Eton to the Conductship,
which I hope H will take into consideration. I see
no other way of getting a respectable teacher of Hebrew
resident in the place. Between the Conduct s stipend,
and the Hebrew pupils, and the prospect of a living, the
situation would be very good for a young man, and now
there are Hebrew Scholarships at the Universities there
would be no lack of Candidates when P goes.
" Believe rue, your sincere friend,
"G. A. SELWYN.
" P.S. Since I last wrote, I have thought that some
parts of my letter must have been unintelligible to you ;
as you were not at Eton when the miserable feuds were
raging among the private tutors. It was that circumstance
which first led me to think whether it was not possible
that a body of men engaged in the same employment,
should associate constantly without ill-will. You cannot
conceive how I value the unity of the last two years after
1831-1841.] SYSTEM OF STUDY. 25
the warfare of the preceding. We must try to preserve it,
whenever our society receives accessions of force by new
arrivals. Pray let me know what I can do for you at
Eton. The books I shall send out as a matter of course.
I have no fears of being detained beyond my day, as I
intend to leave this place on Saturday next, to meet
B , at D s, at Middleton.
" I look forward to the daily Hebrew meeting as a new
and most useful plan for promoting religious intercourse.
I propose that we should meet by weeks at each other s
rooms. I have begun the Hebrew Scriptures with the
New Year, and proceed at the rate of three chapters per
diem, which, with the omission of Sundays, will, I hope,
bring me to the end of Malachi before the conclusion of
the year. This will not interfere with the other plan. I
find that keeping a clerical calendar is a check to idleness,
and strongly recommend you to enter all your services.
You will have the satisfaction of beginning well.
" The return to your morning calls will be most agree
able to me, for I have grown very lazy and o-v/ra//,ar?7? ; it
is now almost 1 A.M. and I am seldom earlier in retiring.
This of course involves a corresponding idleness in the
morning. I am taking leave of my friends in this neigh
bourhood, as I have quite decided not to devote any more
holidays to secular employments. Whether I shall stay
at Eton after my present engagement ends, i.e. after next
election, is still uncertain ; but I think that it will end in
my remaining for a time upon a new basis of agreement/
It was about this time that the town of Windsor was
thrown into a fierce controversy on the subject of educa
tion, a subject less fruitful of strife then than now. Some
Nonconformists presented a memorial to Lord J. Eussell,
praying for help to the British and Foreign Schools on the
ground that there were 800 children in the town whom the
existing schools could not receive. Selwyn doubted the
accuracy of these figures, and all the more so when he found
that the statement which contained them had been drawn
up by an agent from London, who sat in a room in an
inn and was interviewed by all and sundry that chose
2G LIFE OF BISHOP SELWYN. [CHAP. n.
to come to him with their allegations. Accordingly he
incited his fellow private tutors to join with him in taking
a census of the whole town ; they divided the place into
districts, and between them they visited every house and
took down the numbers and names of the children and the
schools which they attended, and they finished their labours
by presenting a report of 80 instead of 800 children un
provided with, or unable to avail themselves of, existing
schools.
It is incorrect to say that their labours ended here, for
the deficiency thus revealed led to an infant school an in
stitution very rarely found forty years ago being built in
Windsor. Mr. Selwyn was foremost in the work of build
ing, as he was afterwards in the task of superintending and
teaching in the school. He visited newly-established
infant schools in London during his vacation, and with
characteristic thoroughness lost no opportunity of studying
the results of other persons experiments.
He gave up the charge of Boveney and became the
duly licensed curate of Windsor. The then vicar lived at
Datchet, the living of which parish he held as well as that
of Windsor. Mr. Selwyn was therefore practically in sole
charge, for the vicar had full confidence in him and left
everything in his hands. The parish was in great pe
cuniary difficulty: a debt of 3,OOOZ. had been incurred
by the churchwardens on pulling down an old and build
ing a new church : two years and a half had elapsed and
neither principal nor interest had been paid : the creditor
had obtained a mandamus from the Court of Queen s
Bench commanding the churchwardens to raise the neces
sary sum (3,3 00.) by a rate on the inhabitants. A vestry
meeting was summoned and assembled, with a certain de
gree of fitness, at the workhouse, for a rate of six shillings
in the pound would have pauperised the parish : after
much recrimination it was proposed to raise a subscrip
tion, not to pay the debt but to indemnify and defend all
who might be proceeded against for refusing to pay the
1831-1841.] PAROCHIAL WORK. 27
rate : one proposal pointed to that accustomed remedy
for sloth and parsimony, a system of pew-rents, varying
from 21. 2s. to 51. 5s. per seat per annum, which sanguine
arithmeticians thought would bring in 500
Mr. Selwyn asked permission to address the meeting, as
one who took a great interest in the parish, though not a
ratepayer. In calm and measured language he pointed
out that the parish did owe 3,000/. to the lady who had
generously lent that sum on the security of the rates, that
the Queen s Bench was determined to enforce the payment,
and that the only question was how the sum was to be
raised. He showed that to resist the Queen s Bench would
lead to suits in the Ecclesiastical Court and then to suits in
the Court of Chancery, and that this indefinite legislation
would not only cost vast sums of money but would destroy
all good feeling in the parish for many years. He sug
gested therefore that a vigorous effort should be made to
free the parish from the burden, and he would follow up
that suggestion, in order to commend it to others, by
promising cheerfully to perform his duties as curate for
two years without receiving any remuneration. By thus
relinquishing a stipend of 150/. per annum for two years
he would be able to relieve the parish of a tithe of its
obligation.
The offer took the meeting wholly by surprise, but made
as it was distinctly " as a peace-offering to the parish," it
was irresistible, and within a month the sum of more than
3,000. was raised, the creditor giving up, under Mr. Sel-
wyn s advice, her claim for interest, and thus practically
making a donation equal to his own.
Peace being thus restored to the parish the curate could
carry out his schemes for its welfare with some better hope
of success : he set on foot soup-kitchens, mothers -meetings,
and those numerous parochial organizations, now so com
mon, but then so rare ; he was not satisfied with the educa
tion that was given in the middle-class schools in Windsor,
and he endeavoured to improve it by instituting public
28 LIFE OF BISHOP SELWYN. [CHAP. II,
examinations and by giving prizes to the successful can
didates. "While the National Society was, in a tentative
manner, providing inspection of the schools in certain
dioceses, he had arranged a complete system of inspec
tion and of tabulating the results over a considerable area,
of which Windsor was the centre.
The collection made for wiping out the debt had left a
surplus, and this was set aside as a nest-egg for a new
church which would meet the wants of the growing popu
lation of Windsor, and serve also as a church for the soldiers.
Hitherto a chaplain had always been appointed to minister
to the regiments both of cavalry and infantry quartered in
Windsor. Prayers were said in the barrack-yard or in the
riding-school, the men standing under arms. The nest-
egg grew, and soon Mr. Selwyn hoped that he saw his way
to building the church : it was expected that the War De
partment and Horse Guards would contribute liberally : but
Lord Hill was " a little afraid of religion among soldiers
because two majors had lately committed some acts of in
subordination in preaching, &c." Mr. Selwyn suggested that
their "very exuberance of zeal might be attributed to the
soldiers having so little that was doctrinal in their own
religious services." He went to Mr. Macaulay, then Secre-
tary-at-War, who thought 1,300/. a sufficient contribution-
He wanted, and hoped for 2,00(U, because as the whole
cost, including endowment, would be 6,000, and the
church at one of the three Sunday services would be given
up to the soldiers, it was fair that they should contribute
one-third. Among other objections Macaulay urged that
perhaps the time might come when the Queen would not
reside at Windsor, and when consequently so many troops
would not be quartered there. Selwyn said he felt in
clined to suggest to him that this was not thought of when
70,OOOZ. was spent on the stables !
His popularity did not always serve him : who, indeed,
that does his duty, can be always and with all persons
popular ? He used to tell a story of the churchwardens and
1831-1841.] SUBOKDINATION. 29
himself being outvoted and outwitted by the Dissenters at
a vestry meeting : they assembled at the proper vestry-
room which would hold a dozen people ; a hundred crowded
round, evidently bent on mischief; a loud voice proposed
an adjournment to the schoolroom, which was at once
filled: the same voice proposed an adjournment to the
town-hall, which was filled : the churchwardens pro
posed their unpalatable scheme, countenanced and sup
ported by the presence at least of the curate, and they
had to walk out of the town-hall and through the streets
amidst roars of laughter and loud hisses, being a minority
of about five to 100. The story used to be told by him
many years afterwards, and the great point was that all
along he did not agree with the policy of the church
wardens, but as curate he felt bound to be loyal to the
vicar and to the authorities. " This," says one who was
always in his confidence, " was his principle throughout
his life. He deeply regretted the passing of Public Worship
Eegulation Act, but would not oppose the heads of the
Church and State who were bent on bringing it in, and he
took his share of the unpopularity of the bishops in
general."
It was a subject of comment and admiration when per
sons observed the relations of the vicar, Eev. Isaac G-osset,
who put everything in Windsor into his hands, and the
curate who kept himself carefully to the background.
Windsor was rapidly taking the lead among the parishes
of the neighbourhood and when any new organization was
spoken of to the vicar in terms of praise he used to say,
" It s all Selwyn s doing," and Selwyn on his part referred
everything to the vicar. Never did man more thoroughly
and conscientiously put into action (what he used after
wards as bishop to impress on deacons and curates) the
promise of his ordination, reverently to obey [not only]
the ordinary and other chief ministers of the church [but
also] them to whom the charge and government over him
was committed.
30 LIFE OF BISHOP SELWYN. [CHAP. n.
In 1838 the recent action of the Cathedral Commis
sioners called forth from Mr. Selwyn a powerful defence,
not of cathedrals as they were, but of cathedrals as they
would be, if the intentions of their founders, as revealed
by their statutes, were carried out. The pamphlet was
not originally published, but was circulated privately
among friends whose criticisms were freely invited. By
some the suggestions were laughed at as visionary ; others
accepted portions and proposed alterations and modi
fications ; these were carefully considered : in a letter
to a friend who had taken exception to one expression,
the author wrote: "Your objection has been confirmed
by Manning, a friend of Gladstone s, and I must recon
sider the whole of that part." Probably forty years ago
those persons were not to be lightly blamed who thought
the author s views Utopian : but on a small scale, with
no endowments, with no past on which to build but with
everything to be done by himself and under his own
direction, the author was permitted in New Zealand to
carry out in detail every portion of the scheme which
he had elaborated for the full utilization of the old and
wealthy foundations, and subsequently at Lichfield he
year by year adapted the resources of the chapter to the
needs of his vast diocese, and succeeded in obtaining an
amended set of statutes, feats of patience and zeal, in-
. credible to those who know the difficulty of moving by
moral suasion a large body of men with separate in
terests, who have inherited traditions of a different
state of things. To one friendly critic he wrote, " I do
not consider any of my remarks very Utopian if only
right principles could entirely get the better of private
interests, which perhaps you will say is the most Utopian
supposition of all."
When he contended against the diversion of cathedral
revenues to parochial endowments, it was not for the sake
of the revenue itself, for he wrote, " No amount of income
can dignify an inefficient minister," but he claimed the
1831-1841.] CATHEDRAL REFORM. 31
retention of temporal endowments in order to secure that
" effectual organization which the clergy are more in need
of than of money; for their character rests not on the
possession of wealth but on the due performance of their
duties." The cathedral was, in his opinion, " supplemen
tary to the parochial system, " a sort of bank of supply
upon which the great body of the clergy might draw for
almost every kind of clerical assistance."
When he observed " so strange an agreement in opinion
between bishops of the Church of England and ministers
of the British Government, and senators of different poli
tical parties, on the propriety of curtailing the revenues
and privileges of the chapters," he could only account for
such a phenomenon by the hypothesis that " they had all
taken it for granted that the cathedral canon is a less useful
minister of Christ than the parish priest," and what was his
remedy ? He wrote as follows : " The only clear course
of action open to the chapters, therefore, is to claim from
the rulers both of Church and State the privilege of a
more extended and diffusive usefulness, the power of de
veloping the capabilities of their holy office and of restoring
their order to the efficient exercise of its legitimate func
tions."
In the opinion of our author, "a cycle of canonical
visitation by ministers selected for their piety, learning,
and eloquence, would meet those cases in which religion
suffers relapses where the resident minister, either from
age or other circumstances is inefficient in the discharge of
his duty," and if the prebendaries " were always j udiciously
selected," he conceived that " no clergyman would consider
such visits intrusive." He deprecated the fashion still pre
valent in some places by which the clergy of a given locality
exchange pulpits according to a definite cycle, " for," he
wrote, " a parochial minister is out of place everywhere
except in his own church and parish : the effort of his exer
tions here depends mainly upon their continuity and upon
the concentration of all his energies upon one definite
32 LIFE OF BISHOP SELWYN. [CHAP. n.
object : he departs from his character when he becomes a
home missionary."
In the divinity schools of the cathedrals where, as in
some cases divinity lecturers are endowed, students should,
he thought, be trained for the ministry, and a class of
deacons kept on probation, employed wherever needed and
sent forth as curates when sufficiently trained. Of the
students thus under education some might be taken from
the humblest ranks of society. The resolution adopted by
most of the English bishops at this time [1838], of ordain
ing no one who was not a member of an English university
debarred from the ministry many deserving men who
were unable to meet the expense of an academical course,
but the cathedral funds could supply scholarships by which
the most promising members of this class might be main
tained at the university. " My fervent prayer," he wrote,
" is that the ministry of the Church may take root down
wards : that many a rustic mother may feel an honest
pride in the profession of her son, and bless the Church
which has adopted him into her service. But these must
not be Jeroboam s ministers, the lowest of the people/
but men, who by their talents and virtues have proved
themselves worthy of a higher station. If sufficient cau
tion be used in selecting ministers from the great body of
the people, the Church must be strengthened and cannot be
degraded. It seems to be essential to the permanent effici
ency of all orders of men that they should be recruited from
time to time by well-chosen reinforcements from the ranks
below them. The cathedral institutions have the means
of providing such a course of probation in youth, and such
a system of encouragement to the deserving in after life
as might be sufficient, under the blessing of God, to ensure
the good conduct of their students at the universities ;
and thus, without injury to the character or efficiency of
the ministry, they might become the avenues by which the
poorest man of merit might arrive at academical distinc
tion and pass on to the highest offices in the Church."
1831-1841.] TRAINED TEACHERS. 33
Forty years ago no normal school existed for the train
ing of schoolmasters : they learned the mechanical routine
of the system by attending for a month or two at some
central school which " made them drill-sergeants and
nothing more." "The degenerate free-schools which are
at present attached to some cathedrals, do not realize the .
intentions of their founder, who required the scholars to
come already prepared with a knowledge of reading, writing
and grammar." It was the evident design of the founder
that they should be trained for higher service, and it was
part of Mr. Selwyn s scheme that the more promising
pupils of national schools should be received into the
cathedral schools and there be trained to teach, and in
cases of exceptional ability become chapter scholars at the
university.
Our author observed that a request had recently been
made to the Dean and Chapter of St. Paul s to allow the
cathedral to be open to the public, " as a means of purifying
the taste and exciting the emulation of the people by the
sight of the memorials which it contained of departed
genius and virtue." But he claimed a higher destiny for
our cathedrals than to become walhallas : with their doors
always opened he conceived that they would offer all the
day long those opportunities for private prayer which
were then only to be enjoyed in "the solemn and still
interval which occurs between the opening of the doors
of the cathedral and the commencement of the service,
when the minster has the privacy of a chamber without
the adaptation to the purposes of every-day life, and
becomes, as it were, a domestic oriel, invested with the
dignity of its own sacred and awful character as the House
of God." Besides purifying the taste and exciting the
emulation, he wished to employ the cathedral in developing
the spiritual energies of the nation : he hoped "that the
enlightened judgment which values it as a monument of
human genius will uphold it still more earnestly as a place
of divine worship : that they who acknowledge its effect
VOL. I. D
34 LIFE OF BISHOP SELWYN. [CHAP. n.
upon the mind of men, will desire to extend its influence
over their spirit, and that they who would teach the
nation how Nelson did his duty to his country, will think
it a far higher object to teach them to know what God
demands of them as the Christian conquerors of so large a
portion of the unconverted world."
After running the gauntlet of private criticism from
many friends at the Universities the pamphlet was pub
lished and dedicated to Mr. Gladstone, " who," the author
said, " suggested the whole idea in a paragraph of a letter
to me."
Having shown in something of detail how the various
needs of a diocese might be met by the organization arid
ministry of a chapter, Mr. Selwyn drew a sketch of a
Cathedral Institution, " rather as an aid to reflection on the
subject than as an exemplar of what such an institution
ought to be." It is so complete a sketch, and is so striking
an evidence of the author s power of organization, that it
would be impossible to exclude it from these pages.
; The Cathedral Church of was founded in the
year 1539 by Henry VIII. for the diffusion of religious
knowledge and works of piety of every kind throughout
the diocese of to the Glory of Almighty God and
the general welfare of his Majesty s subjects. The cathe
dral establishment consists of the bishop, the dean, the
canons, the minor canons, the divinity lecturer, the upper
and lower masters of the cathedral school, the probationary
deacons, the theological scholars, the cathedral university
scholars, the scholars of the cathedral school, the organist,
the lay clerks, and other inferior officers.
" The Bishop is the spiritual head of the whole cathedral
establishment, the president of the cathedral council, and
the visitor, empowered to require obedience to the cathedral
statutes from every member of the body.
The Dean and Canons are men selected for their learning
and piety. They are all distinguished as eloquent inter
preters of the word of God, as powerful advocates of the
cause of charity, and as active promoters of the spiritual
welfare of mankind. They form the council of the bishop,
1831-1841.] MODEL OF CATHEDRAL STATUTES. 35
" . and act as his advisers in all questions of difficulty, as his
examining chaplains, and as his supporters on all public
occasions. They reside in their prebendal houses the
greater part of the year, and hold no living with their
cathedral preferment.
" The Diocese is divided into as many districts as there
are canons in the cathedral, and every canon is considered
responsible to the bishop for the effectual diffusion of the
word of God in his own district. For this purpose he
arranges a cycle of visitation, including all the places in
which the aid of a powerful and impressive preacher is
most needed ; and endeavours, by frequent visits, to
awaken his hearers to a sense of the blessings of the
Gospel, to refute errors of doctrine, and to explain and
enforce such Christian ordinances as may be endangered
by the spirit of the times.
" The Parochial Clergy are far from considering this as
an intrusion, because the canon is in all other ways their
friend and coadjutor. If they are in want of a school
room, or a chapel, they have only to apply to him ; and
he is willing, both by preaching and by exerting his
influence in the diocese, to forward their plan to the
utmost of his power.
" The Canons are also secretaries of the great societies
of the Church, the S.P.G., the S.P.C.K, the Society for
Building and Enlarging Churches and Chapels, the
National Society for the Education of the Poor, &c. By
their preaching, the principles and operations of those
societies are effectually made known throughout the
diocese, and liberal contributions obtained. The effect
of these frequent visits of the canons to the parish
churches in the districts is seen in the improvement of
the general tone of preaching throughout the diocese.
" The Chapter meet once every fortnight as a Clergy Aid
Society to inquire into the spiritual wants of the diocese.
At this board all applications for clerical assistance and
clerical employment are received. In some cases one of the
probationary deacons is sent as a regular assistant to an
aged minister in a populous pariah ; another is sent to take
the duty of a clergyman during a temporary illness ; a third
is appointed to officiate for an incumbent during a short and
unavoidable absence. These are supported by ths chapter
D 2
36 LIFE OF BISHOP SELWYN. [CHAP. n.
or incumbent, according to circumstances. Many of the
probationary deacons become curates in the diocese upon
the recommendation of the chapter sometimes, when the
population of a parish has increased so much as to require
an additional church, the influence of the chapter is
exerted to procure the sum requisite for the building,
and a deacon is appointed to do the duty till a sufficient
income has been raised for a regular incumbent. The
lectures of the divinity lecturer are attended by as many
of the probationary deacons as are not employed in other
parts of the diocese, by the students in the missionary
class, and by the theological students who have completed
their university education, but have not yet been admitted
to orders. Many other students not on the foundation
are admitted into the class of the professor on sufficient
recommendation, and prepare themselves for orders under
his direction.
" A general examination is held annually by the dean
and chapter, with the assistance of the divinity lecturer
and the masters of the cathedral school. At this time
the theological students are examined, and the best selected
to be presented to the bishop for ordination. After this
they become probationary deacons. At the same time
the cathedral university scholars present their testimonials
from the colleges in which they have graduated, and
request to be re-admitted upon the cathedral foundation
as theological students. The missionary scholars also
present their certificates of having completed the required
course. The scholars of the cathedral free school are
also examined, and the most promising are chosen to fill
the vacancies among the cathedral university scholars.
A second class is selected for the service of foreign mis
sions. Those of inferior talent but of equally good general
character are recommended by the examiners as qualified
to be masters of parochial schools. Of the remainder,
some are apprenticed by the chapter, others become lay
clerks of the choir, and others obtain situations as parish
clerks, on account of their skill in music. It very rarely
happens that any scholar is expelled. The examination
of candidates for admission into the cathedral school
comes next in order. They are required to be poor and
for the most part -destitute of friends, and to come
1831-1841.] CATHEDRAL PATRONAGE. 37
prepared with a knowledge of reading and writing. The
greater number of the candidates are sent up from the
national schools of the diocese with testimonials from
their clergyman and schoolmaster. Some are the orphan
children of clergymen and other professional men. The
best proficients in the knowledge and application of
scripture are admitted into the trial class, but their
election is not confirmed till the examination of the
following year.
" When a cathedral living is vacant, the dean and chapter
meet to appoint a new incumbent. The names of the
minor canons and of the probationary deacons (whether
employed in curacies or resident at the cathedral) are
read over, and the appointment is made with due con
sideration of the peculiar circumstances of the parish and
of the merits of the candidates. If the living is given to
a minor canon, one of the probationary deacons is elected
at the same meeting to fill his place. Livings which are
not accepted by any member of the cathedral body are
given to the most deserving of the diocesan schoolmasters,
who are admitted into holy orders by the bishop upon
special recommendation of the clergy, and serve as curates
of the vacant benefices during their year of deacon s orders.
" At all times of the year the dean and chapter devote
themselves to the duties of hospitality. The cathedral
library is open to all clergymen resident in the diocese.
The parochial clergy look upon the canons as their
advisers in all doubtful cases, and the probationary
deacons, after they have passed into permanent employ
ment, return with delight from time to time to draw from
them fresh stores of spiritual wisdom.
"Among this variety of employments the daily service
of the cathedral is not neglected. The value of that
divine ordinance is never forgotten. God is glorified by
the daily prayers of His ministers and people ; intercession
is made for the sins of the nation and of all mankind ;
the book of the revealed word of God is read day by
day, the song of praise and thanksgiving continually
ascends to Heaven as a morning and evening sacrifice.
" The above sketch of cathedral institutions, acting, as it
is presumed, in accordance with the intentions of the
38 LIFE OF BISHOP SELWYN. [CHAP. n.
founder, may serve to show that there are important
benefits which the chapters may confer on the parochial
clergy, without any improper alienation of revenues or
violation of statutes. The plan proposed by the commis
sioners has not yet passed into law ; and there is still
hope that the cathedrals may be spared. If it should
please God to inspire the rulers of our nation with a
deeper sense of what is due to His glory and what is
necessary for the spiritual welfare of His people, we may
still hope to see the institutions of our ancestors restored
to their ancient dignity, and fulfilling the intentions of
their founders. We may still hope to see every cathedral
acting as the spiritual heart of the diocese, diffusing its
episcopal and pastoral influence into every parish, pro
moting all works of charity and piety, publishing the
glad tidings of salvation by the mouth of its chosen
ministers, distributing the scriptures into every cottage,
building and enlarging the houses of God, propagating
the gospel in foreign parts, and educating the children of
the poor at home. The chapters may then become the
foster-fathers of the friendless and orphan, the patrons of
that order from which Jesus chose His disciples, the
guardians of every humble soul in which Christ has
quickened the seed of holiness and faith. And being
thus in favour both with God and man, the cathedral
clergy may be encouraged to carry on their good a.nd
useful work, to minister to the increasing wants of the
people, to supply the deficiencies of sick and aged clergy
men, to ensure regularity in the performance of divine
service throughout the country, to furnish the parochial
schools with a more enlightened class of instructors, and to
fill every parish church with the melody of harmonious
voices praising God. And as they may be the friends
of the people generally, so also may they be the guides
and counsellors of the parochial clergy, the connecting
link between the hierarchy and the ministry, the spiritual
hosts and patrons of the young and inexperienced deacon.
And, finally, in their own proper and local priesthood
they may be reverenced as the ministers of the eternal
God, while they offer to Him their daily tribute of prayer
and thanksgiving in the noblest temples that were ever
consecrated to His worship and honour."
1831-1841.] CRITICISMS ON SCHEME. 39
The action of the Cathedral Commissioners and of the
Government had caused so much excitement that every
contribution to the subject was certain to attract attention.
Mr. Selwyn s pamphlet distinctly challenged criticism,
and it was promptly considered by persons in high
position. The author thus deals with the strictures of
Bishop Blomfield, of London, in a letter to his brother,
the Rev. W. Selwyn :
[Post-mark, March Sth, 1838.]
MY DEAR WILLIAM,
I send you the address of Mr. Richard Cobbett, which
will speak for itself in language which seems as if it had
been curtains incequali tonsore. I believe him to be a
respectable man and creditable tonsor.
I have received from J. F. the strictures of the Bishop
of London on my pamphet. The following are his remarks
as stated by J. F. :
" 1. His first objection was that in your plan you would
put prebendaries in the bishops places, or rather make
them quite independent of bishops.
" 2. That it would be impossible to give them such large
charges, and to keep them in at the same time.
" 3. That it would not do to put them to preach in
parochial pulpits.
" 4. That it could not be their bminess to preach charity
sermons consistently with giving the parochial minister
leave to ask the aid of others.
" 5. That it would be undesirable that such men as So
and so and So and so, should be the only persons whom a
clergyman might go to for such purposes.
" 6. That the thing had been tried and failed ; that
prebendaries would never consent to be prebendaries
without other offices and emoluments."
I confess that these seem to be mere objections of detail,
founded upon a mistaken view of the object of my remarks.
The main question seems to be, yes, or no, shall the cathe
drals be influential in the dioceses? My remarks were
nothing more than a classification of such duties as pre
bendaries might perform consistently with, iheir statutes.
Does not No. 6 neutralize Nos. 1 and 2. Would No. 6 be
40 LIFE OF BISHOP SELWYN. [CHAP. n.
the case if anything approaching to Nos. 1 and 2 were to
be the case ?
3. The answer seems to be that they do so already,
wherever they can be procured. Clergymen are too
happy to catch a prebendary, which is not very easy, as
they have livings of their own.
4 and 5 object to an exclusive privilege which I never
hinted at. I never . said that prebendaries only should
preach.
Gladstone speaks very favourably, and has sent for
some more copies in addition to those which I first sent.
Kiviugton has had twenty-five. Gladstone s names are :
The Bishop of Exeter, Dr. Pusey, Manning, Sir E. Inglis,
Lord Ashley, W. B. Baring, T. D. Acland, Viscount Mahon,
Mathison.
Meanwhile in the Houses of Parliament things were
improving, owing, in some degree, probably to the tren
chant criticism of the opponents of the commissioners
and in the following letter Mr. Selwyn made known his
strategy and his hopes :
To THE EEV. W. SELWYN.
ETON, May 21st, 1838.
MY DEAR WILLIAM,
The cause of cathedrals seems to be slowly gaining
ground. The most important advantage gained is the
abandonment of the principle of the Commissioners in the
Church Leases Bill brought in lately by ministers. The
Bishop of Lincoln says, p. 38 of his letter, that "this
measuie is directly at variance with the recommendation
of the Ecclesiastical Commissioners." This is a good
wedge to be driven home, because the Cathedral Bill will
not pass the House of Lords on any other credit than the
sanction of the episcopal members of the commission.
Lord John Russell has shown that he uses the com
mission only so far as he thinks it useful, and dispenses
with its recommendations as soon as he pleases. This
frees the clergy from all deference to the Episcopal Com
missioners, because it is clear that in the end the bill
will be the bill of the Whig ministers, and not a measure
of the Tory bishops. Many persons still cling to the bill
for the bishops sake, but this will open their eyes.
831-1841.] LEGISLATURE MORE FAVOURABLE. 41
The next point in favour of cathedrals is that the
parochial clergy are beginning to petition. .
Manning, the author of a letter to the Bishop of
Chichester against the principle of the commission, writes
thus :
" We are petitioning the Queen and the two Houses of
Parliament against the Cathedral Bill, and our petition
will I hope receive the signatures of a large majority of the
clergy beneficed or resident in the archdeaconry of
Chichester, with the archdeacon at our head. It is very
short, taking the ground of the sacredness of bequests, and
injustice of defeating the intention of founders, &c."
Copleston, Fellow of Exeter College, and now of Exeter
city, writes :
"You will be glad to hear that on the very day on
which I received your letter, the day of our archdeacon s
visitation, we signed two petitions to both Houses, one
deprecating the adoption of the 4th Report of the E. C.
as unjust in principle, and ultimately subversive of the
main object of cathedral institutions. The other petition
attacks the commission on the ground so nobly taken and
maintained by Manning, as unchurch-like and unconstitu
tional in principle, a violation of the Bill of Rights. This
example will, no doubt, be followed by other archdeaconries,
for this county is by no means slack in such matters. "
Oxford University Convocation agreed to a most capital
address on the 5th of May. I quote one sentence :--
" That the cathedral institutions are an integral branch
of the establishment, tracing their origin to the first
planting of Christianity among our Saxon ancestors, and
many of them revived and re-established, with the most
comprehensive views of the general well-being of the
Church by the great authors of the Reformation."
I have a copy, which I will reprint if I find that the
petitions do not get on for want of models. I do not know
how my little book has sold. P is rather slow, or
R rather sulky, for no copies are to be had at the
latter place. Pernaps he is angry that he did not publish
after distributing privately.
I have had a letter from your bishop in acknowledgment
of my large-paper copy, in which he says : " I hope that
you will excuse me adding that it was upon the principles
42 LIFE OF BISHOP SELWYN. [CHAP. n.
laid down in the eighth chapter (i.e. of the pamphlet)
that I performed my residence for more than thirty years
in Westminster Abbey, with only one mulct for absence,
owing to illness, during that long period."
That no stone might be left unturned, Mr. Selwyn drew
up the following petition to the House of Lords :
" To THE LOEDS SPIRITUAL AND TEMPORAL OF GREAT
BBITAIN AND IRELAND IN PARLIAMENT ASSEMBLED.
" The humble petition of the undersigned clergymen of
the Church of England showeth :
" That your petitioners have seen with very deep con
cern, that a Bill has passed the House of Commons, having
for its object the suppression of many offices and dignities
in the cathedral foundations of the Church of England.
" That, while they abstain from expressing an opinion
on the alienation of the revenues of the chapters, they
deprecate in the most earnest manner the abolition of any
office dedicated, by the piety of our forefathers, to the
perpetual service of Almighty God.
" That your petitioners therefore pray your Lordships to
respect the spiritual character of the cathedral dignities
themselves, which they believe to be in itself a sufficient
inducement to men of piety and learning to undertake
the duties of those offices, even without any revenue or
emolument whatever.
"That the cathedral dignities, even without an endow
ment, would be highly valuable, as affording the means of
giving to the examining chaplains, and other diocesan
officers, that official connexion with their bishop which
is required by the canons ecclesiastical, and recognised by
the charter and statutes of many of the cathedral founda
tions.
" That your petitioners therefore pray your Lordships to
preserve the framework of our cathedral bodies in their
present integrity ; and even if it should be finally deter
mined to alienate any portion of the chapter revenues,
they would still entreat that their lordships the bishops
may be empowered to appoint to the unendowed stalls, at
their discretion, such clergymen as may be found willing to
discharge the duties of those offices freely and gratuitously,
1831-1841.] SCEIPTUKE HEADERS. 43
for the service of their respective dioceses, and for the
spiritual welfare of the Church."
It was while his mind was fully occupied with these
practical matters that he wrote the following letter to
one who had for long been his alter ego, but from whom
he had by circumstances been separated for some years.
No man had been more zealous than he in the work of
district-visiting, and he had induced his fellow-tutors and
some of the Eton masters to combine in this unwonted
duty, but the scheme of hired lay missionaries and Scrip
ture readers did not commend itself to his judgment, and
he set forth his reasons very freely and fully :
LETTER TO THE LATE KEY. JOHN FRERE.
ETON, May 10th, 1837.
MY DEAR JOHN,
I think that there are few things more pleasing than to
find, on renewing an acquaintance with an old friend, that
your mind and his have been steering the same course,
and that the intercourse can be resumed upon the old
basis of similar opinions and habits. You and I, I find,
have come to the same conclusion about the Clerical Aid
Society. The principle already is in existence, and doing
as much good as can reasonably be expected of it, by
means of district-visiting societies, &c. ; but it works
much better as a voluntary than as a stipendiary system.
As long as the service rendered to the minister is purely
voluntary, numbers of tradesmen and others will be will
ing to devote their spare time to the Christian work of
ameliorating the condition of their poorer neighbours.
But is it likely that they will equally respect a function
which is discharged by a person, perhaps inferior in station
and acquirements to themselves, for the wages of a day
labourer ? And can the services of one paid agent be an
equivalent for the voluntary assistance of many who are
willing to work in the same way for the pure love of God ?
But if the persons employed as assistants are in orders
their services are then performed as their bounden duty
rather than as their stipulated work. It cannot be said
41 LIFE OF BISHOP SELWYN. [CHAP. n.
that the curate is paid for his duty by the 801. which he
receives ; and therefore the motive which urges him to an
active discharge of the duties of his ministry must be a
professional and not a pecuniary obligation. A clergy
man dedicates himself to God, and is bound to work, as it
may happen, for much, or little, or even for no worldly
remuneration. He cannot measure the degree of exertion
required of him by the amount of his stipend. For this
reason I think that clerical agents will be certainly more
efficient than lay agents, and probably not less cheap.
But if a question arise, from what source is this addi
tional demand for ordained ministers to be supplied? I
answer, from that class from which Christ selected His
apostles from the poor. Let the Church take root down
wards. Let every peasant in the country have an interest
in the Establishment in the person of a son, or brother, or
cousin. We have the best materials for the formation of
a plebeian ministry that ever were possessed by any nation.
We have a peasantry who have grown up under the
fostering care of the Parochial Church system, and have
been trained in religious principles by a sound and scrip
tural course of instruction. Our national schools are sending
out from year to year supplies of talent improved to a
certain point, but under the present system to be improved
no further. Our national schoolmaster at Windsor sighs
over the constant loss of his best and most promising
boys, whom he sees passing off to places where the master
discourages religion in the servant, lest he should become
better than himself. The Clerical Aid Society may draw
upon this bank to any amount, upon a very simple plan :
1. A school to collect the elite of the national schools
from fourteen years old and upwards.
2. A committee to examine the above scholars at the
age of eighteen, and determine from their proficiency
whether they could be advantageously sent to the univer
sity as sizars, &c., with a view to future ordination. The
inferior scholars might be immediately employed as
schoolmasters in national or other schools.
Normal schools upon the present plan are most ridicu
lous. A man of little or no education goes for two months
to a good national school, where he is occupied solely in
teaching and patting boys through their inanreuvres, and
1831-1841.] SERMONS. 45
then lie is pronounced fit to be a schoolmaster. But he
can never open their minds, because his own has not been
opened. Then people complain and with truth, of the
cramped and irrational system of our national schools.
It was part of Mr. Selwyn s plan for securing the utmost
efficiency of the clergy that they should invite each other s
friendly criticisms on their sayings and doings, with a view
to mutual improvement ; and in days when sermons were
too exclusively regarded as the test of clerical ability, it
was natural that these should be among the first subjects
of such criticisms. On one occasion Mr. Selwyn preached
a sermon on Church Building, of which a friend asked
permission to borrow the plan, and even to make extracts
if it were not intended for publication. The following
reply not only gave the permission sought, but also entered
at some length into the general question of sermon writing
and other matters :
LETTEK TO REV. C. B. DALTON.
ETON, March 5th, 1838.
MY DEMI DALTON,
I can assure you that I have no present intention of
publishing sermons, as I believe the world to be already
overstocked with that commodity, and that every new
publication which is not likely to achieve immortality, is
only forming one of a tribe, which is thrusting our
immortal ancestors into the corner. All therefore that
I have which you think would in any way interest your
audience, is entirely at your service, to adopt either the
plan or the words, as you may think fit. When I have
more sermons to write than I can well manage, I may
claim my right of reciprocity.
I congratulate you most heartily on the success of
your Early- Service ; for I call any congregation above
twenty very satisfactory, and I should not feel solitary
with ten. I hope that you will never be reduced to the
situation of Elijah. When I think of the danger of losing
sermons, I always think of the dialogue between Barrow
and a rich friend, when they were travelling together and
expected to be robbed. Barrow showed some uneasiness
46 LIFE OF BISHOP SELWYN. [CHAP. n.
about losing his portmanteau, which was stuffed with
sermons. His friend readily offered to guarantee the
safety of his portmanteau, oil condition that Barrow should
be answerable for his pocket-book, which was full of bank
notes. I have therefore sent the sermon to share the fate
of all other parcels.
I like your text, but think that your divisions involve
too much matter. Such texts as " Our life is hid with God "
are sermons in themselves, and require a great length of
explanation, which withdraws the mind from the principal
subject. 1 think one rule good, and that is, never to quote
a text in support of an argument which requires itself to
be explained. The original argument is lost sight of in
the parenthetical explanation.
Your first sentence suggests one objection which I will
call a parallelistic objection. " Immoral men, who seek
excuse, and men of narrow enthusiasm, are apt to think
that there is less religion in the world than there is."
Parallelize this sentence with the text.
1. Elijah thought that there was less religion, &c.
2. Immoral men think &c. &c.
3. Men of narrow enthusiasm &c. &c.
Ergo: either Elijah was an immoral man or the other
kind, or the text does not lead out to appropriate con
clusions ; at least if my parallelistic objection be just.
Try the contrary, as an illustration :
Elijah thought, &c.
Holy men under similar circumstances think, &c.
Holy men in solitude think, &c.
Single good men in ungodly situations think, &c.
Consequence.
Elijah was inclined to despond.
Some good men are, &c. &c.
Contrast.
All good men are not so inclined to despond.
The seraph Abdiel faithful among the faithless.
Abraham &c &c.
Noah &c. &c.
There are other texts which are more appropriate to
the reproof of loose Christians who plead in excuse the
general depravity. As Eccl vii. 10.
A gain you say :
1831-1841.] CHURCH UNION. 47
" True religion is naturally unobtrusive. " This again
implies that true religion though unobtrusive was still
sufficiently abundant. Was this the case ? God does not
speak of the abundance of true religion in Israel, but says
that there was more of it than Elijah thought. It seems
to me a topic of encouragement to Elijah in his fancied
loneliness, rather than an expression of satisfaction at the
state of Israel.
Besides : the unobtrusiveness of the 7,000 was owing
to the state of the times rather than to a right principle.
A Jew s religion was essentially public ; and could not be
rightly performed in private except in great emergencies.
Therefore the parallelism again fails.
1. True religion is naturally unobtrusive,
in the same manner as
2. The 7,000 Jews were unobtrusive ;
therefore
3. True Judaism is unobtrusive, and therefore private.
But
the principle of unobtrusiveness is different in the two cases.
I send you these remarks because I think that you
like this sort of free communication ; and shall be very
glad if you will retaliate in kind. Fungar vice cotis, &c.
Do not think that I pretend to have arrived at the power
of writing according to my own ideas of how things ought
to be written. The specimens of translation in Tytler s
Essay on that subject are bitterly bad. So you will take
me, as I wish to be taken, as a monitor multum ipse
monendus.
There would seem to have been complete reciprocity in
the friendly criticism of each other s works, for in a letter
only a week later in date than the above there occurs the
following passage :
" I have not thanked you for your discovery of Sternhold
and Hopkins in my sermon, which is a gross fault in
style."
In 1838 Mr. Selwyn w T as able to accomplish a scheme
that had long been in his mind, and had been discussed by
him whenever he could persuade his friends to criticise his
48 LIFE OF BISHOP SELWYN. [CHAP. n.
proposals. The scheme, which he called TeTpd<yu>vov, was
a " Church Union " combining the work of the Society for
Promoting Christian Knowledge, the Society for the
Propagation of the Gospel, the National Society, and the
Church Building Society. This plan he thought might be
extended all over England ; and that the system of work
ing for all at once would be far preferable to the pre
sent plan, whereby some people took up one work and
some another ; the Additional Curates Fund he thought
should be "strictly and solely diocesan." His scheme
contemplated the " housing " of these four societies under
one roof, and at the head of the whole group would be
placed " a chaplain of the archbishop, or some influential
clergyman such as Mr. Lonsdale, who would have been
peculiarly qualified, if he had not King s College as
having been an archbishop s chaplain, as having a good
income from his stall, and as being connected by his
preachership at Lincoln s Inn with a large body of laymen."
Over each of the four departments he would place as
Secretary a prebendary or canon the archbishop would
be president all the bishops would be members of the
committee, which should be a general committee over the
whole organization, with a special committee to each
department : similar committees would be formed in each
cathedral town with one of the canons for secretary, and
archidiaconal and ruri-decanal branches in correspondence
with the Diocesan Boards throughout the country. " The
canonries at St. Paul s/ he said, " would soon be worth
40,00 01. a year, and these if properly managed might
.conduct all the machinery of the four Church societies,
one canon being placed over each, but he much feared
that the Bishop of London designed to seize upon these
funds and appropriate them to the endowment of his
churches."
On the principle of doing " what he could " in his own
sphere, and of leaving others to follow the example, he-
succeeded in establishing the Windsor and Eton Church
1831-1841.] SYMPATHY WITH MISSIONARY WORK. 43
Union Society, which was inaugurated at a public meeting
on November 5, 1838, the Bishop of Winchester having
preached in the church of New Windsor on the Sunday
previous. The object of the Union was one which was
always present to the founder s mind, " Co-operation/
the uniting of the clergy of a given locality in a general
system of mutual help and support, and the " combining
all orders of the clergy and the laity in the union and
fellowship of the Church of Christ, that they may work
together for the good of all men, in the fear of God."
This was the germ of action which produced so great
results in the other hemisphere. Co-operation and union,
in labour and in the Faith, these were the things at which
he always aimed, in the belief that only by these could
he build up the church on a wide and enduring basis, and
fill it with a spirit of self-help and self-reliance in things
temporal.
Here and there is apparent in his earliest correspondence
after his ordination a sense of the duty of sharing in
missionary work : it was perhaps chiefly for the sake of
the Church abroad that he established the Windsor Church
Union, and everywhere in his plans for the development
of Cathedral Institutions his range of thought included
the edifying of the Church in distant lands. The follow
ing letter shows his satisfaction at having at length secured
for Eton and the College an opportunity of taking part in
these works of love and mercy :
LETTER TO EEV. C. B. DALTON.
ETON, Nov. list, 1838.
MY DEAR DALTON,
You are probably aware that Eton has long laboured
under the disadvantage of being a Peculiar, and has there
fore been exempted from all Queen s Letters, and other
incentives to charity. The ice has been broken as far as
regards the little chapel ; for the Provost sent for me a few
days ago, and in the most civil and complimentary manner
expressed his wish that I would procure a preacher for
VOL. I. E
50 LIFE OF BISHOP SELWYN. [CHAP. n.
the Church Union Society in that chapel. I of course
assented, and immediately turned over the selection to
p 1 who is not a little pleased. Now for the College
Chapel. 1 was too cautious to risk my credit by asking
too much, and therefore I held my tongue on that subject ;
but I had in my heart the great advantage which the
boys would derive from occasionally hearing some account
of the great missionary operations of the Church ; and be
ing thereby excited to the exercise of practical charity.
Will not Mr. Lonsdale feel this even more strongly than I
do, and feeling it, make an offer to the Provost and Fellows
to preach a sermon in aid of our quadruple alliance ? He
is the very man; and you the most convenient channel
through which a hint to this effect can be conveyed to
him ; as I must remain perdu, having already established
in some quarters too great a resemblance to Zedekiah the
son of Chenaanah. Mr. Lonsdale has, I hope, received
some of our papers, from which he may learn the plan of
the society.
Although not yet thirty years of age, Mr. Selwyn had
formed definite opinions on many questions of Church
polity, as well as on Cathedral Reform, which have since
been worked out, but which at that time were problems
awaiting solution and his opinions, which were sought
even by his elders, have not been forgotten. On the
question of the division of large parishes he thought the
best way was not to divide a parish into two equal parts
but, if a new parish were to be formed, to draw off from
the old one such a district as would really form a manage
able parish. Then the want of still more churches would
remain apparent and more good would be done, because
some part would be really well looked after. He said
moreover, that Mr. Gladstone had put this to him very
clearly. One of his friends writes :
"I spoke to Selwyn about the project of having a general
Psalmody and I told him that tne Archbishop and the
Bishop of London were warmly in favour of it. I asked
him what he thought about getting it sanctioned by the
1831-1841.] ENGAGEMENT. 51
Queen in Council. He thought it would certainly be
desirable on the principle that n + 1 is more than n . I
suggested that some persons would rather not see it
sanctioned by the State, if it were put out with authority
by the Bishops. This sentiment he could not agree to ; for
though as Gladstone has suggested the time may come
when the Church must disunite itself, that time has not
yet come."
In November, 1838, he announced his engagement to
the lady who in the following year became his wife. To
a friend who reproached him for needless reticence he
wrote :
" Most gladly would I have made known my happiness
to you and to all my friends, and small advantage did I
see in concealment, but I was overruled. In vain I pleaded
that the secret would be known at Charing Cross long
before some of the friends of the parties would hear it (as
it has turned out), but certainly there must be some peculiar
attraction in the very idea of a secret, even when the
reality of it is a thing impossible."
His future father-in-law, Sir J. Eichardson, a Judge of
the Court of Common Pleas, had a country house called
The Filberts, near Bray. It was a long distance from Eton,
as the road led round by the way of Maidenhead bridge,
but there was a ferry on the Berkshire side of the river
which brought the two places much nearer to each other.
On a certain night Mr. Selwyn was returning to Eton
at an hour much later than those kept by the ferrymen ;
there was no difficulty in his punting himself across;
but then what of the owner of the punt in the morn
ing ? what of the early passengers coming perhaps
to their work, if the Windsor curate had appropriated
the punt at the midnight hour ? Was there no way of
combining late hours at the Filberts with the rights
and comforts of the ferryman and his passengers ? It
was part of his nature always to have unselfish thoughts
for others : and the present difficulty was solved in a way ,
E 2
52 LIFE OF BISHOP SELWYN. [CHAP. n.
that cost him less effort than would have been the case
with most men. A modern Leander, he punted himself
across the river, and then, having undressed, ferried
himself back, made the boat fast and swam back
to his clothes : thus gratifying himself and causing no
inconvenience to others.
In view of his marriage he offered to seek for clerical
duty in London, in order that his future wife might be near
her father, Lady Eichardson having died between the
betrothal and the marriage of her daughter: but it was
with satisfaction that he wrote to a friend, " She declined
the proposal, and is perfectly contented to live at Eton.
Then as to inclination, I love Eton and I love my pupils,
and I love Windsor as the place in which my clerical
feelings have been most kept alive. In fact, I never was
more contented with my present situation than I am now,
because the only drawback, the want of domesticity, is
now in a fair way of being removed. I confess to being
a little tired of living in tents."
About this time he added to his other avocations the
task of correcting for the press the Greek and Hebrew
edition of Bagster s Polyglot Bible.
By his marriage he vacated his Fellowship, but it will
be noted that he had held it for six years and had not
resided. A friend, himself a fellow of a College at the
sister university, once consulted him as to the responsi
bilities of a non-resident fellow, and the following is a
r&umS of the conversation which elicited his own ex
perience, and which was committed to writing at the time
when this counsel was given.
" He had always looked on the matter in this light.
When the Fellows of St. John s College are elected, they
take an oath to reside, if necessary. When he was elected
ho was told with many others that his residence was not
necessary; but he always felt that if ever the master
should require it, even without assigning a reason, he was
bound to go into residence or to resign. I suggested that
1831-1841.] DUTIES OF A FELLOWSHIP. 53
even this might not be fair, because, if after having en
joyed the benefits of the college so long you suddenly
resigned as soon as called upon to do your duty, you
forced the college to have recourse to some younger and
less experienced fellows. He thought this argument not
quite sound : there were always men of other colleges, if
need so be, to take the Fellowship and Tutorship together.
I asked him his opinion as to the pecuniary responsibility ;
he said he had always looked upon his dividend as ep^auov
ri or (as he once expressed it to me at Eton he apponed
it to lucre, ) had never felt at liberty to apply this to
selfish purposes, had thought that one good way would have
been to give a sum annually to the master to increase his
fund for poor students. During all the time, however,
that he had held his fellowship 201. out of 160/. per annum
had been taken away for the new buildings at St. John s ;
he had also found vent for the money, of which he wished
so to dispose, in privately supporting several deserving
young men at St. John s College, so that he had never
begun any systematic plan. He thought thp dividend
might be looked on as only a retaining fee paid by the
college to the non-resident fellow for possible future
services : he thought the idea of the fellowship being a
reward for past services or industry absurd, as it was quite
reward enough to a man for three years industry (which
has been undertaken for his own good and not that of the
college) that he has gained the means of making his
livelihood. The Senior Fellow told him on his election
that he was that day presented with 60,OOOZ."
On June 25, 1839, Mr. Selwyn was married, his father
laying aside for a time the cares of law and taking his son s
duties as private tutor to his pupils, in order to allow him
to go on a wedding tour. He would seem to have had his
course shaped for him, and to be justified in looking
forward to a career of competence and easy prosperity.
Mr. Gladstone, in an appreciative letter to the editor of
the Times, on April 17, 1878, has stated that in the case
of Mr. Selwyn a distinguished and honourable future was
assured to him in England, and that he had contemplated
54 LIFE OF BISHOP SELWYN. [CHAP. 11.
nothing beyond it. The testimony of one so eminent in
himself, and so qualified to speak of the friend of his
earliest years, should find a place in his Biography :
" Until almost the eve of his accepting the bishopric of
New Zealand he had never thought of such a step. Every
influence that could act upon a man appeared to mark him
for preferment and prosperity in England. Connected as
tutor with families of rank and influence, universally
popular from his frank, manly, and engaging character,
and scarcely less so from his extraordinary vigour as an
athlete, he was attached to Eton, where he resided, with a
love surpassing even the love of Etonians. In himself he
formed a large part of the life of Eton, and Eton formed a
large part of his life. To him is due no small share of
the beneficial movement in the direction of religious
earnestness which marked the Eton of forty years back,
and which was not, in my opinion, sensibly affected by
any influence extraneous to the place itself. At a
moment s notice, upon the call of duty, he tore up the
singularly deep roots which his life had struck into the
soil of England."
But, pace tanti viri, there is more than hypothesis on
the other side. There are those of his contemporaries, still
living, who are of opinion that Selwyn was always prepar
ing himself for a probable future of which he had himself
no clear conception. One thing, however, is certain, that
he did not look forward with any eagerness to the lot of
an easily placed well-benefice d English rector : the con
ditions of such a ministry would not satisfy his aspirations
for active service nor exhaust his burning zeal. The great
extension of the Colonial Episcopate had not commenced
in 1839, neither had any foreshadowing of that remarkable
movement been revealed to the Church : but the chivalrous
spirit which dwelt in the breast of such men as Henry
Martyn, in our own communion, and in Xavier, Schwartz,
Ziegenbalg, and Carey, men of different creeds and hardly
less varied gifts and powers, possessed in fullest measure
the heart of Selwyn : he held, and made no secret of the
1831-1841.] PROSPECTS. 55
fact, that the soldiers of the Cross ought to consider them
selves always at the command of their superiors, ready to
go anywhere and to do anything.
When a quarter of a century later (in 1854) he said in
one of the four famous Advent sermons preached before
the University of Cambridge, " offer yourselves to the
Archbishop of Canterbury as twelve hundred young men
have recently offered themselves to the Commander-in-
chief " [for service in the Crimea] : in thus appealing to
the zeal of his audience he was but inculcating what had
been to himself a rigid rule of duty : only thus can we
account for the testimony of his friends that "he was \s
always preparing himself for work in the future, of what"
ever kind it might be ; " and it is certainly true that on
his marriage he took a pledge from his wife that she
would never oppose his going wherever he might be ordered
on duty. Preferment came in his way, as was likely,
more than once, but he was not keen to accept it : his
thoughts were evidently directed to more distant scenes,
and it is worthy of notice that in a letter written in
August, 1839, some six weeks after his marriage, the
purport of which was to offer congratulations to a friend
on the marriage of a member of his family, the following
passage occurs, having no connection with any other part
of the letter, and by its very abruptness showing how
firmly the matter had taken possession of his thoughts :
" A good deal of interest is being exerted about a new
colony in New Zealand, and strong wishes are expressed
that the Church should be well established at first on a
good footing, and not be left as in Australia to be built up
after Dissent and Popery had taken deep root. Have you
heard anything about it ? "
But in the autumn of the same year he said to a friend
with whom he was walking to the coach at Old Windsor,
Well, our days here are numbered ; " and then added that
the Powis family had offered him a living to which he
56 LIFE OF BISHOP SELWYN. [CHAP. n.
supposed lie should not be obliged to go until Easter, 1841,
by which time he hoped " that the new Church at Windsor
would be complete, and Cotton and Balston established as
curates : " He added that " there was another living of
greater value promised to him when it should become
vacant, but he was indifferent about the whole matter."
Even in January, 1841 (the year which witnessed his de
parture for New Zealand), he had contemplated a country
benefice as his lot, for it is recorded that he "came to
Lincoln s Inn, on Sunday, January 24, 1841, and described
his future vicarage as antique without being venerable,
and ruinous without being picturesque : yet he did not
despond about the place, for although told that the Squires
were of the worst sort of Squire Westerns/ he replied,
that however that might be Lord Powis and his brother
were determined to get their estates arid livings into
good order, that it was a great privilege to act with
such men, and that the very fact of the living being in
a bad state ought to be encouragement to take it : that
if he could hold it three or four years he might bring
things a little into order and smooth the way for after
comers."
It has already been mentioned incidentally, that Mr.
Selwyn was zealous in the cause of education, which had
not then attracted a tithe of the thought and attention
which have since been bestowed upon it. There was no
regular system of inspection instituted, neither were the
teachers trained for their work. It was at this time that
the Government proposed a scheme of inspection, the
results of which would regulate the amount of grant from
the Imperial Treasury ; and when asked his opinion, Mr.
Selwyn thought that the National Society was right in
declining public money if made dependent on Government
Inspection, inasmuch as being a Church Society they were
bound to recognise no head but the Archbishop : at the
same time he thought an individual might do so ; but his
expectation was that the Government would abandon the
1831-1841.] NATIONAL SOCIETY. 57
scheme of inspection on the ground of expense. Con
currently with these plans the National Society established
a Training Institution for Masters, and the office of
Principal was pressed on Mr. Selwyn. It was a sphere
of duty very congenial with his tastes, but he had for
many years determined to take no office that was not
strictly ecclesiastical, and under the immediate control of
the Bishops. He said that " nothing was so near to his
heart as the restoration of cathedrals to their statutable
usefulness." In his letter to Mr. Gladstone on the func
tions of cathedrals, a very prominent place had been
given to the training of schoolmasters ; he however
declined the proposed office, unless he were appointed to it
by the Archbishop ; he said he " would much rather be a
prebendary at any cathedral, with little or no pay, and
work out the system, than be at the head of the new estab
lishment while the system at head-quarters was as deficient
as it was. In the provinces, especially at Exeter, the
system was better, but the Bishop (of London), the Arch
bishop, and the Chapter of St. Paul s, ought to put them
selves at the head of the education of the country."
His views on the position of affairs were expressed in
the following letter.
To THE EEV. C. B. DALTON.
ETON COLLEGE, "WINDSOR,
August 25th, 1840.
As to the Training School, I believe that I may consider
the negotiation at an end. The Bishop of London offered
me an honorary stall at St. Paul s ; but I felt obliged to
adhere to my first resolution of not undertaking the office,
except upon the distinct understanding with the Arch
bishop of Canterbury and the Bishop of London, that it
is to be considered an ecclesiastical office, and a direct
mode of carrying into effect one great object of the cathedral
foundation. If I am not satisfied on this point, I feel
that I do not sufficiently understand the line of duty
required of me, to be able to give satisfaction ; and there-
53 LIFE OF BISHOP SELWYN. [CHAP. n.
fore I would rather not undertake it. The Bishop of
London added to my difficulty by saying in the House
of Lords : " That he wished to record it as his solemn
opinion that non-residentiary stalls were without value,
except as honorary distinctions." What have I to do with
an honorary distinction ? What distinctions are there in
the Church, but differences of ministration ? Altogether,
I do not see my way out of the present position of the
National Society, with Diocesan Boards growing up around
it, better constituted than itself, and with very little
disposition on the part of the Archbishop to make the
Society, what it ought to be, the Metropolitan Board of
Education, conducted by a synod of bishops. So I sup
pose you will hear of my taking flight to Bishop s Castle in
the course of another year or so.
In a, letter of a date later by a few days he wrote thus
humorously :
" If you hear any strictures about the principalship, you
may explain that I never agreed to take the office except
as recognised by the competent authorities as a strictly
ecclesiastical office : no personal distinction conferred upon
myself individually would effect this object. As an
Algebraist you will easily understand the following :
Let S = Selwyn.
HC = Honorary Canonry.
P = Principalship.
Then P x HC - Ecclesiastical office,
and S x (P x HC) = my proposal about the
principalship.
But
S x HC = an individual Canon,
and S x P = a Secular Person.
. . S x HC + S x P = S(HC + P) = Proposal of my
friends :
but S(HC + P) does not = S x (P x HC}/
The principalship being declined, a country living seemed
imminent: yet at this time (the autumn of 1840) he
often talked about the Colonial Churches. It was not
1831-1841.] COLONIAL EPISCOPATE. 59
until the spring of 1841 that Bishop Blomfield brought
the increase of the Episcopate abroad prominently before
the Church. So great a step was not taken hurriedly :
thoughtful men had sought and given counsel : they saw
the yearly increasing tide of emigration to New South
Wales, and the truer views of the Church s Divine Organi
zation which had been adopted had made men think with
shame of the "history of our colonization in America : they
remembered how the dreary ecclesiastical history of the
eighteenth century was studded with piteous and impor
tunate appeals for the Episcopate from the Church in
America, and that the spiritual gift which the civil power
refused was obtained directly the States had achieved their
political independence : they saw how the West Indian Sees
had not been founded until a whole century after they had
been promised : the Sees of Madras and Bombay had been,
as it were but yesterday, established for the better super
vision of the chaplains, for of missionary work in India
neither bishops nor chaplains were supposed to take heed.
Was a better day about to dawn? Were wiser counsels
to prevail ? Was it to go forth that Episcopacy and Pres-
byterianism differed so little that while the former was a
luxury and a dignity for home work, the maimed organiza
tion and mutilated regime of the latter were sufficient for
all practical purposes abroad ? Mr. Selwyn was admitted
into the counsels of those who were aiming at a better
system. On one occasion he said that " he had been talk
ing with the Dean of Chichester, and he thought that he,
with the Bishop of London and a few others, were the
only persons who had really enlarged views about the
extension of the Church."
Malta was one of the first places at which the promoters
of the movement hoped to place a bishop, and the import
ance of the position was considered by Mr, Selwyn to be
very great. "What would a Bishop of Malta have to
do ? " it was asked ; and he replied with warmth, " What
would he have to do ! What would he not have to do ?
60 LIFE OF BISHOP SELWYN. [CHAP. 11.
" Not only to care for our foreign congregations, a very wide
" field, but all Africa ! where a noble attempt might be
" made to rekindle the fires of the early Churches all the
" places mentioned in the second chapter of the Acts of the
1 Apostles ! Conceive/ he said, "300 bishops in Egypt
alone ! " " Especially he hoped that inferior men would
not be put into Colonial Bishoprics : he could conceive no
hopes nor fancies (however high they might be raised)
which would imagine greater things than had realty been
done : we ought not to think of what could soon be done,
or done in our time, but we should act on sound and com
prehensive principles, and be content that in ages to come
the end should be attained."
It is fair therefore to assume from what has been
recorded, his indifference to the prospect of the placid
labours of a country benefice, his ever considering himself
at the command of his ecclesiastical superiors, and his
sound views on the subject of Christian colonization or
church extension, that without any sort of seeking the
episcopate, there was a readiness to respond to the call if
it should come and an instinctive anticipation that such a
summons would come.
The proposed Sees being, some entirely and others par
tially, supported by the offerings of private persons, and
not, as in the cases of the most recent precedents of the
bishops in the East and West Indies, maintained by
public money, it seemed right that the selection of the
new bishops, in other words, the " patronage," should not be
vested in the Crown ; and this opinion has in recent times
established itself by its inherent justice and fitness : but
Mr. Selwyn did not care for the patronage, and his views
on this point, and on the remedies which the Church has
in her own hands if threatened with improper exercise of
patronage, are set forth in the following letter to one who,
as these pages show, was at this period a very frequent
correspondent :
1831-1841.] STATE PATRONAGE. 61
ETON COLLEGE, WINDSOR,
March 1st, 1841.
MY DEAR D ALTON,
I care very little about the patronage question. As a
question of principle, I do not consider that the Govern
ment appoint a bishop, so long as they do not pretend to
consecrate him. The consecrating bishops are ecclesiasti
cally, I think, the senders, as they will not be compelled
to consecrate an unfit person. The state gives protection
and support in return for the right of recommendation.
As a question of expediency, while the state can recom
mend any one to be Archbishop of Canterbury, it seems un
important to question their recommendation of Bishops
of New Zealand. If the appointment were in the hands
of the Archbishop, it would be only a state recommenda
tion once removed. As to the question, who provides the
funds for the endowment, that will pass away and be
forgotten in twenty years.
Most of the present bishoprics were endowed by private
individuals, and yet the state recommends. Do not think
me Erastian ; because the real reason why I care so little
about the matter is because we must always have the
remedy in our own hands. The State can never consecrate
or ordain; therefore they can never vitally affect the
Church. If the state show a disposition to appoint unfit
men, the bishops must take care that no such men are
ordained or consecrated. All that we can suffer, is certain
penalties- of premunire, &c., which would be an easy
exchange for martyrdom. Any persecution at home
would have the effect of "sending out the disciples
everywhere preaching the word." So that if the worst
come to the worst, it will all tend to the propagation of
the Gospel.
The Bishopric of Malta seems to be a question of
names. There can be nothing to prevent having a Koman-
ist bishop with a Protestant one in the same country, but it
would be well that they should be called by different
names. The Bishop of Malta would not be a title de
scriptive of the duties required of our bishop, for these will
range over the Mediterranean.
62 LIFE OF BISHOP SELWYN. [CH. in.
CHAPTER III.
CONSECRATED BISHOP OF NEW ZEALAND.
[1841.]
IT was in April 1841 that the Colonial Bishoprics
Council was formally established, and on the Whitsun-
Tuesday of the same year the Archbishops and Bishops
" declared it to be their duty to undertake the charge of
the fund for the endowment of Bishoprics in the Colonies,
and to become responsible for its application." They
specified thirteen countries as being the cases in which the
need of the Episcopate was most urgent, and the first in
the order of urgency was New Zealand. It was the most
recently acquired of all our colonial dependencies, but
there were special circumstances connected with its
history that separated it from all others. Missionaries
had been at work among the Maoris since 1814, when
Dr. Samuel Marsden had first effected a landing on
their shores with impunity : in 1839 a Company had
been formed whose object it was to possess the soil of
New Zealand and to sell it to English settlers : of this
more will be said hereafter : side by side with this
Company, whose objects were strictly commercial, if not
speculative, there sprang up the Church Society for New
Zealand, which aimed primarily at helping the settlers in
that country, which was then no part of the British
Empire, in building a church and establishing suitable
schools in which the children of the natives and of the
1841.] NEW ZEALAND EARLY DAYS. 63
colonists would be brought together for the purpose of
education.
From these modest plans there was developed the
larger scheme which aimed at providing " such a Church
establishment for New Zealand as shall be complete and
sufficient for all present purposes, and so to endow this
establishment as to enable it "to keep pace in its resources
with the growing prosperity of the colony." The Church
Society set forth that " the appointment of a bishop or
bishops for New Zealand was highly important, and that
each bishop should be accompanied by three or more
clergymen, who should fix: their residence, together with
their bishop, in one spot which may form, as it were, a
centre of religion and education for that part of the
country." The Church Society of New Zealand was in
advance of its day : the committee had seized on the true
secret of Church extension, the formation of well-chosen
centres to whose consolidation all efforts are directed, rather
than the planting of a large number of weak and isolated
stations : it was owing probably to the manifesto of this
committee that the claims of New Zealand were so fully
acknowledged by the council. The question of income
was a primary one. All the clergy in New Zealand had
been maintained by the Church Missionary Society, until
in 1840 it was declared to be a British Colony, and one
or two colonial chaplains were appointed. In 1838
Bishop Broughton had made an offer to the Church
Missionary Society to visit their missions and to supply
the things that were lacking in what for just a quarter of
a century had been a Church Mission without Episcopacy.
The committee of the society had grave doubts about the
legality and validity of episcopal functions exercised
beyond the limits of the empire and of the area assigned
to the bishop by letters patent: but Bishop Broughtou
represented that while undoubtedly he had no legal juris
diction in New Zealand, his spiritual office might be
exercised validly in a country which formed part of no
64 LIFE OF BISHOP SELWYN. [CHAP. in.
diocese, and on these terms he visited New Zealand and
the Society s missions : but had it been sufficient that he
should do so, it was impossible that amid the daily increas
ing demands of New South Wales he should ever again
find time to repeat so laborious a Visitation. The idea of
having a resident bishop among them was distasteful to
the majority of the Church missionary clergy, and
was loudly condemned by the secretary at home ; but
ultimately a grant of 600/. per annum was voted by the
society towards the bishop s income, and an equal sum
was expected to be granted from public moneys.
The nomination of the bishop was vested in the Crown,
and the Colonial Office and Archbishop of Canterbury were
in conference on the question of selection. The future
bishop had now no expectation of being sent to New
Zealand: it has been already stated, that while he held
himself ready to go anywhere, there was no semblance of
seeking the labours of the Episcopate for himself, and now
New Zealand had been offered to his elder brother, the late
Professor Selwyn, who seemed obviously marked out for
the position, not only by his high gifts both intellectual
and spiritual, but also by the active part which he had
taken as a member of the Committee of the Church
Society for New Zealand. George Selwyn s interest in
the land in no degree waned because another and not him
self was to be sent to lay the foundation of the Church in
that remote region; in May, 1841, he wrote to a friend,
" I have seen an extract from a letter from the Bishop of
Australia about New Zealand which grieves me much
with respect to the failure of Mr. : Port Nicholson
left to a catechist, to stand against a Eomish bishop and
six priests ! All that one can say to such things is that
we must work, if not for love, at least for shame s sake."
Other evidence is not wanting of the interest which he
felt in the new venture of faith to which the Mother
Church in the freshness of her new life was committing
herself. At length his brother was obliged to decline the
1841.] BISHOPRIC OFFERED. 65
offer that had been made, and the quest for a suitable
bishop was renewed. It was suggested to the Bishop
of London that Mr. George Selwyn would go, if he were
called upon to do so by the authorities of the Church. Mr.
Ernest Hawkins, who shares with Bishop Blomfield for all
time the credit of having initiated and directed the great
movement which has now studded the world with our
missionary dioceses, wished " to start immediately to Eton
and sound him " but one who knew Mr. Selwyn better
restrained him, and said that the proposal, if it were to be
accepted, must come to him officially. So the Bishop made
the formal offer, and received for answer the following
letter.
ETON COLLEGE, May 27th, 1841.
MY LORD,
Whatever part in the work of the ministry the Church
of England as represented by her Archbishops and Bishops
may call upon me to undertake, I trust I shall be willing
to accept with all obedience and humility-. The same,
reasons which would prevent me from seeking the office of
a bishop, forbid me to decline an authoritative invitation
to a post so full of responsibility, but at the same time of
spiritual promise.
Knowing to Whose ministry I am called, and upon Whose
strength alone I can rest my hopes, I cannot suffer the
thought of my youth and inexperience to have more than
their due weight. I must trust that my Master s strength
will be made perfect in my weakness, so that my youth
may not be despised.
It has never seemed to me to lie in the power of an in
dividual to choose the field of labour most suited to his
own powers. Those who are the eyes of the Church and
have seen him acting in the station in which God has
placed him, are the best judges whether he ought " to go up
higher." Whether that advancement be at home or abroad
is a consideration which, as regards the work to be done,
must rest with those who best know what that work is,
and how many and of what kind are the labourers, but
which can in no way affect the purely spiritual question of
the duty of a minister to his Church : wherever or what
ever that duty may be ; with whatever prospects or adjuncts
VOL. I. K
66 LIFE OF BISHOP SELWYN. [CHAP. in.
of emolument or dignity, or without any ; the only course
seems to be to undertake it at the bidding of the proper
authority, and to endeavour to execute it with all faith
fulness. There is no question about the spiritual duty
itself ; the only question is, whether in the discharge of that
duty we shall be obliged to be tent-makers or not. But all
these and similar points may be left to be settled by the
proper persons, having no bearing upon the real merits of
the case.
Allow me to offer my best thanks to your Lordship for
your kind letter, and to place myself unreservedly in the
hands of the Episcopal Council to dispose of my services
as they may think best_for the Church.
I am, &c., &c.,
G. A. SELWYN.
The bishop was impressed and delighted, but declined
" hastily to take advantage of a spirit so noble." He sent
Mr. Ernest Hawkins to Mr. Selwyn, and he reported that
he was assured of his readiness to go. " Not only did he
express no hesitation on his own part, but he said that he
could answer for his wife, for they had married with that
understanding " ; at the same time he admitted to a friend
that the death of Sir John Eichardson in that same year
had facilitated his decision, for, said he, " How could I have
taken away that old man s daughter ? " Meanwhile the
Archbishop had sent to the Bishop of London a letter to Lord
John Eussell (Colonial Secretary), which the bishop was to
send or withhold, as he thought fit. The letter was sent,
but considerable delay occurred. There were not wanting
those who would, if they only had the power, have de
prived the Church of the services of this greatest of mis
sionary bishops. A contemporary of Mr. Selwyn s, on
whose memory all the events connected with that period
are clearly impressed, writes : " With George Selwyn the
feeling was Here am I ; send me ! and probably no man in
England could have been found equally qualified for that
difficult post, but there were some among the ranks of those
who called themselves Low Churchmen (some of whom are
1841.] POSSIBLE OBJECTIONS. 67
high in office or position at the present time), and one who
was then a member of the Government, of whom the
bishop told me that he had urged as an objection to his
appointment, that Mr. Selwyn was a Tractarian. Now it
so happens, said the bishop-designate to myself, that I
have never read any of the Tracts." l
It would seem from the following letter that the un-
1 The selection of George Selwyn was no surprise to those who knew
him ; for to know him was to detect in him gifts of rare excellence and the
promise of a future that was certain to attain distinction. The Obituary
notice which appeared in the Times newspaper would have failed in the
completeness of the sketch had it not mentioned as it did this promise of
its early years : as it was, it was an admirable portrait, as the following
extract will show :
" The foundations of society are perpetually renewed, and among those
foundations it may be said that the most important part are the new types
of characters from time to time presenting themselves. Long before
George Augustus Selwyn was thought of for a bishopric, a certain bright
ness surrounded his name and seemed a hope of something to the hopeful.
Old things had become worn out or worked very dry, and there was then
more than ever the need of new springs for the fresh start this country was
making in every direction. We were, or at least we believed ourselves, a
nation of scholars, of gentlemen, of statesmen, of divines, and of good
Christians, besides being very fair examples of the human species gener
ally, and we now found ourselves committed to the immense task of
peopling, organising, and evangelising half the world. In this work that
which related to the spiritual improvement of our new fellow-subjects was
of paramount obligation. But the men were wanting. True, there are
not wanting men who would be moved from a study to a throne, who
could write a Latin preface, rectify the text of a Greek chorus, or deliver an
occasional Charge, and who, if the dispute were a question of words, would
be sure to have the last of it. But these were not the men to deal with
busy colonists, simple savages, roaming adventurers, or even with the vast
masses of humanity cast in the early forms of Indian tradition. Nay, it
had come over us, even at home, that something more was wanted to cope
with our own difficulties. Among others, for he was not alone, though he
was pre-eminent in the group, George Selwyn was the Christian, yet the
man of the world ; the scholar, yet the athlete, first and foremost in all
the tests of English courage and skill, wise and witty as well, with a
word, a look, and a deed for everybody ; holding his own yet denying to
no one else that privilege. So many good men in this country have
adorned society and built up their families without having the oppor
tunity, or even the wish, to do much more, that it would have been quite
in accordance with the old ideas had George Selwyn just shone for a time
and passed into the gloom. By a happy venture* he was chosen to found
a see at the Antipodes at the early age oif thirty-four, and when the people
he had to convert were still fresh, so to speak, from banquets on the flesh
of their murdered fellow-men. As late as 1828 cannibalism was general
in New Zealand, and in the year 1841 George Selwyn was consecrated
bishop of the islands known under that name."
F 2
68 LIFE OF BISHOP SELWYN. [CHAP. in.
certainty t)f the moiety of the income expected from the
Government was expected to turn Mr. Selwyn from his
purpose, and that the authorities would thus be spared the
trouble of deciding as to his fitness ; but on hearing of the
doubt he replied that he considered himself now pledged,
and that he would go even if no income were forthcoming.
LETTER FROM THE ARCHBISHOP OF CANTERBURY TO EEV.
G. A. SELWYN.
LAMBETH, July \1tli, 1841.
MY DEAR SIR,
I have this morning received a letter from Lord J.
Russell (who is at present on a visit to Lord Minto in
Scotland), of which the following is an extract.
"The only remaining doubt I have is whether Mr.
Selwyn will, upon a full consideration, undertake the
Episcopal Office in New Zealand. I wish you would be
so good as to inform him that I wish he would make in
quiries at the Colonial Office of Mr. Stephen, as to the
probable condition of a New Zealand bishop, especially if
Government should not obtain from the House of Commons
a grant of 600/. a year. If he shall then be of opinion,
and signify to me that he is prepared to go, I will at once
recommend him to the Queen, and have the Letters Patent
prepared."
It is, I think, very reasonable on Lord J. Russell s part,
to wish that you should obtain full information in all
respects before you undertake an office which may subject
you at first to many hardships and privations. The 600/.
a year I should hope will not be refused by the House of
Commons ; but I agree with Lord John in desiring that you
should clearly see your way before you undertake an office
which has little else to make it desirable, than the prospect
which it holds out of promoting the spiritual welfare of a
colony, which in the course of time will probably be ex
ceedingly populous, by completing the Church Establish
ment, before dissent and indifference have made any pro
gress in the country. I have every reason to think that
you have considered this matter well, and I am fully per
suaded that under the blessing of Divine Providence, your
1841.] BISHOPRIC ACCEPTED. 69
piety, moderation, and zeal, will be useful in the highest
degree. At the same time, I could not in fairness press you
to engage in a work, of which you might afterwards repent,
however deeply I should regret the loss of your services to
the Church.
I am going early on Wednesday morning into Kent, on
a round of Confirmations, which will keep me out nearly
three weeks. But any letter directed to Saltwood, near
Hythe, Kent, will reach me towards the end of this week.
After you have seen Mr. Stephen you may possibly obtain
further particulars from Archdeacon Hale, at the Charter
House.
I remain, my dear Sir,
Your faithful and obedient servant,
W. CANTUAE.
I have received a letter from the Bishop of Oxford
speaking of you in the kindest and highest terms.
Not only did the uncertainty of income fail to influence
him, but he considered the letter as finally fixing his desti
nation (although no appointment was made for many weeks),
and under that impression he communicated the fact to his
father in commonplace fashion.
LETTER TO WILLIAM SELWYN, ESQ.
ETON COLLEGE, "WINDSOR,
July IBth, 1841.
MY DEAK FATHER,
A letter from the Archbishop arrived this morning,
fixing our destination for New Zealand, with the consent
of her Majesty s Government. It has happened most
fortunately that my mother has been here to receive the
earliest intelligence. We hope that you will come down as
soon as you can, as my mother will be so glad to have you
with her on the present occasion, if you can be spared from
Nisi Prius.
We hope to be at Eichmond during the holidays, or at
least a portion of them.
Many thanks for your kind letter.
I remain,
Your dutiful and affectionate son,
G. A. SELWYN.
70 LIFE OF BISHOP SELWYN. [CHAP. in.
The Melbourne Administration had been going through
troublous times at this period, in which the question of
appointing a Colonial bishop might be expected to be laid
aside amid the engrossing questions which involved its own
continuance in power. On June 4, 1841, Sir Eobert Peel
had carried a vote of want of confidence by a majority of
one, the numbers being 312 311 ; whereupon ministers
dissolved Parliament, and appealed to the country. After
the general election, a vote of want of confidence was car
ried in both Houses, in the Lords on August 24, in the
Commons on August 29, whereupon the Ministry resigned,
and the second Peel Administration was formed, and Lord
Stanley became Colonial Secretary in the room of Lord
John Eussell.
The change of Ministers did not have any effect in
relieving the suspense of the future bishop and his
friends : to the latter it was a period of great anxiety,
but it was said at the time that Mr. Selwyn s frame of
mind was exactly described by the words of Ps. cxii. 8
" His heart is established and will not shrink." Mean
while anxiety was succeeded by something like indignation
on the part of his friends, one of whom ventured to ask
a member of the Government the cause of the delay.
The answer shows how very little pains were taken by
those in authority to sift reports and to ascertain facts,
and on how very slight and rotten a thread hung
the future career of the great bishop, and consequently
the immediate destiny of many Melanesians and New
Zealanders.
The cabinet Minister whispered " that the real cause of
the delay was a doubt that had been entertained both by
the previous and by the present Government, whether Mr.
Selwyn was fit for the position : he had been writing some
very bigoted articles in the Quarterly Review about Eoman
Catholics, and especially about the Jesuits, and that Lord
John Eussell had done quite right in not appointing a
Fire-eater." The reply was immediately ready, that it was
1841.] PREPARATION. 71
Sewell, and not Selwyn, who had written the articles in
question ; whereupon the Minister whistled and said, " Oh
if that s the case, it is a very different thing," and in a few
days the consent of the Crown was given. Thus it is only
reverent to believe that the Divine Head of the Church
had guided the selection and overruled the shortsighted
prejudices of those in high places, and had assigned to
each brother the sphere in which he could most conduce
to the glory of God: probably the elder brother would
have rendered a smaller measure of service as a missionary
bishop, and the younger would have been less distinguished
as Margaret Professor of Divinity than he was as Bishop
of New Zealand and of Lichfield.
The time that elapsed between his nomination and his
departure was fully occupied : there were hosts of questions
which each day brought into prominence, and which de
manded settlement ; there were few precedents to guide
him, and of those that existed the majority were untrust
worthy and unorthodox. The draft of his Letters Patent
which were framed on those of the Bishop of Australia,
shocked him by their apparent profanity : a statement of
objections, drawn up after consultation with Doctors Hope
and Badeley, was sent in to the authorities, but received
no attention. The bishop -designate then sought an
interview with the Crown lawyers, and succeeded in
carrying most of the points for which he chiefly cared,
especially that his patent should not be revocable at the
pleasure of the Sovereign, a hyper-Papal assumption of
power which had been tolerated in all previous documents
of the kind, and to this day is to be found in the few
remaining cases in which bishops in Crown colonies,
having no local legislatures, are still possessed of Letters
Patent. Another point for which the bishop contended
successfully was the appointment of archdeacons by his
own act; these officers, whose duties once formed
the subject of a laborious joke in the House of Lords,
were, in the view of the Colonial Office, ornamental
72 LIFE OF BISHOP SELWYN. [CHAP. in.
dignitaries and their designations merely titles of honour :
and as the Sovereign is the fountain of honour, the Letters
Patent claimed for the Crown the sole right of distributing
such honourable distinctions ; but in the mind of the
bishop-designate, as the office of the Episcopate had been
declared by Venerable Bede to be a " title not of office but
of work," so the archdeacon s office, in his diocese at least,
was deemed to be "no peacock s feather to distinguish
one clergyman above another, but a partnership of help
fulness and work ; " and if these were the conditions of
selection for such office the choice must be vested not in
members of the Government who lived on the other side
of the world, but in the bishop whom they were to aid,
and who alone could judge of their competence for the
position.
Another expression still more offensive he was unable
to get removed. He was anxious to get rid of the Erastian
expression of the Queen " giving him power to ordain," the
profanity of which is only equalled by its absurdity : but
the Grown lawyers were inexorable and the Letters Patent,
which have since been declared to be utterly valueless,
were issued with the offensive clause in the full force of
its impotent assumption. Against this preposterous claim
the Bishop could only protest, and this he did formally in
a document which is probably among the archives of the
Colonial Office.
" I think it right, in expressing my readiness to accept
the Patent as now framed, to state to your Lordship that,
whatever meaning the words of it may be construed to
bear, I conceive that those functions which are merely
spiritual are conveyed to the bishop by the act of con
secration alone."
But if the authorities of the Colonial Office were suc
cessful in claiming for the Crown the right to allow a
bishop of the Christian Church to confer the charismata
of the Holy Ghost in the ordination of priests and deacons,
1841,] BLUNDER IN LETTERS PATENT. 73
the geographical knowledge of the department was hap
pily deficient, and this ignorance led to the insertion in
he said Letters Patent of a blunder which by a mere
stroke of the pen invested the Bishop of New Zealand, by
the same Eoyal authority, with the spiritual charge of
68 degrees of latitude more than was intended to be
assigned to him : but he took with amused gravity the
clerical error which made his diocese to stretch from the
50th degree of S. latitude to the 34th degree of north,
instead of (as was intended), south latitude ; and in com
pliance with the injunction of Archbishop Howley, launched
in 1849 a small yacht of 21 tons on these unknown seas,
and became the pioneer and apostle of Melanesia.
He was now daily forming plans, the conception of
which was made much more difficult by the complications
which existed in New Zealand. The New Zealand Company
made grants of land to the Church, but it was expected
in return that the bishop should fix his head-quarters
on the land thus given, or in the towns suggested by the
donors, whose property would of course increase pro
portionately as ecclesiastical or civil centres were formed
on it.
He was told that his " popularity would be sacrificed
if he did not make his home and build his cathedral " at
a certain place. Of course until he had personally gone
through the land he could not make his selection, and he
determined " to rent a house for his family and to pitch a
tent near to it as soon as he landed, and the very next
day to begin daily service, never, he hoped, to be inter
rupted. He meant then to go away and visit all the
islands, and when his choice was made to move his tent
thither and continue the services, and by its side build a
wooden church, and outside of the wooden building to
begin to build a chancel of stone in Norman style, and as
soon as any part of the stone cathedral was finished the
wooden work would be taken down."
However numerous his plans, self found no place in
74 LIFE OF BISHOP SELWYN. [CHAP. in.
them, either now or at any other time. One of his sisters
writes
" He was wonderfully skilful in providing for his in
tended New Zealand life. I recollect sitting up half the
night helping him to make a waterproof belt for his watch
and pedometer. He meant to swim the rivers, pushing his
clothes in front of him."
On Sunday, October 17, he was consecrated in the
chapel of Lambeth Palace by the Archbishop of Canter
bury and the Bishops of London, Lincoln, and Barbados,
the last-named prelate preaching the sermon. It was
surely a great occasion, and it might have been so used as
to have greatly impressed the whole Church, but the
authorities of those days had not learned the value of
opportunities. Mr. Selwyn wished that the service might
be in the Abbey, and herein was in advance of his fellows.
Jt is impossible now to go back to the seclusion and the
dulness of the private Chapel at Lambeth, when we have
witnessed the solemn and impressive ceremonial of the
consecration service as it is to be seen, at present, only in
S. Paul s Cathedral ; but in 1841 it was considered to be
impossible to use the Abbey or S. Paul s, and of his
numerous friends many were unable to gain admission :
as it was, the chapel was crowded to a degree never re
membered on a similar occasion ; " and the ladies were not
allowed to communicate, lest the service should be too
long and fatiguing."
Zeal and devotion are contagious, and it is not remark
able that many men of highest gifts, intellectual and
spiritual, offered themselves to the leader of so great a
work as lay before the first bishop of New Zealand.
Among those who were thus moved to volunteer was one
who felt bound, in justice to the work in which he was
then engaged, while making the offer, to defer the fulfil
ment of his pledge until it could be done without injury
to others. Among the reforms which were instituted at
1841.] REV. C. J. ABRAHAM. 75
Eton about this time, the foremost and most urgent was
the improvement of the condition of the collegers ; they
were better housed and better fed ; a proper staff of
servants "abrogated much of the elaborate code of un
written law which fixed the relations of master and fag,
and the boys were relieved from the crushing weight of
a traditional discipline, most hurtful to individual develop
ment." 1 But these reforms would have been incomplete
and futile but for the decision that a master should sleep
under the same roof as the collegers and maintain
discipline. To quote from a work that may be considered
an authentic history : " In the ordinary course of things,
an appointment of the kind, only worth about 20 01. a year,
might have been given to some young master little
accustomed to deal with boys. Every one therefore
doubly honoured the noble self-sacrifice of so experienced
a teacher as Mr. Abraham in giving up an overflowing
house to take the novel position of assistant-master in
college. To his personal influence we must in great
measure ascribe the immense change in the moral tone
of the King s scholars. Without intruding on any one,
he walked about in the evening and made the boys his
friends, and without the display of any peremptory
authority, helped to modify materially the system of
fagging."
The immediate interests of his pupils and two years
later the successful establishment of this reform, detained
Mr. Abraham in England, while his own wish would
have led him to accompany his friend ; the two duties
were weighed in the balance, and it was decided that
each must stand in its order. The bishop fully recognised
the prior claim of Eton, but the offer cheered his heart, and
for the next nine years there are frequent allusions in his
letters which show how, amid disappointments and sorrows,
he leaned with confidence on the fulfilment of the promise
1 Eton College, by H. C. Maxwell-Lyte. Macmillan, 1875.
2 Ibid. p. 422.
78 LIFE OF BISHOP SELWYN. [CHAP. in.
which had been made. And here it may be stated that in
1850, when the work in Eton was completed, and the
gratitude of the collegers took the visible form of a Font in
the restored Collegiate Church, " as a tribute of regard for
Mr. C. J. Abraham." the pledges given so long before were
fulfilled, and for eighteen eventful years, as head of the
College of St. John, as Archdeacon, and as Bishop of
Wellington, a trusted counsellor and friend was ever at
the command of the Bishop of New Zealand.
This offer of service was made to the bishop two days
after his consecration, and the following letter has an
especial value and interest. It is impossible to read
either letters or sermons of Bishop Selwyn without being
impressed by the depth of his spiritual character. The
same impression was conveyed by his conversation ; but
in common with all the truest saints, there was ever a
reserve and a reticence which restrained him from speak
ing freely about himself : in this case out of the abundance
of his heart he wrote to his friend, and the letter is a
beautiful outpouring of his own devout soul, and shows
in what spirit he was going to his great work.
LETTER TO EEV. C. J. ABRAHAM.
ETON COLLEGE, WINDSOR,
Oct. 2Qth, 1841.
MY DEAR ABRAHAM,
I am quite overwhelmed with joy at your letter, and
have just risen from my knees after having poured forth
my thankfulness to God for His special mercies to His
Church. When I think of the position in which the
course of His providence has placed me, as foremost in a
mighty movement, at which " the multitude of the isles "
will be glad; when I think of the fulfilment of the
promise that the Word should go forth into the uttermost
parts of the earth ; and read that fulfilment in the estab
lishment of my own branch o Christ s Universal Church ;
1841.] LETTER ON CONSECRATION. 77
I tremble at the thought of my weakness, and though I
know the sufficiency of Divine Grace, still I long for
brethren of a like mind, to share with me the labours and
the joys of the coming harvest.
Men talk of sacrifices as a loss. I thank God that the
enlarged comprehension of His scheme of mercy, which
He has lately given me, has made me feel that no worldly
advancement could compensate for the loss of one single
moment of the peaceful and thankful and yet humble
state of mind which I have enjoyed since the scales of
all earthly objects of desire fell from my eyes. It is
because I feel that this is no less the path of happiness
than of duty that I encourage you to cherish the feelings
in which your letter was written ; to dwell upon them ;
and in the end to act upon them ; not on the spur of the
present occasion, but with the calm, deep, and deliberate
devotion of a balanced judgment. Men think enthusiasm
necessary to missionary enterprise. May we be enabled
to show that the highest range of spiritual thought, the
most entire and uncompromising obedience to the letter of
the Gospel, being no more than our bounden duty, is
compatible with the most perfect evenness of niind, and
with the most subdued and rational exercise of the
understanding.
Pray let me have an opportunity of talking more fully
than I can write on this subject ; but as a guide to our
conversation, I add a few leaders of thought.
Being called to the Episcopate at an early age, I feel at
liberty, in submission to Providence, to look forward to a
long course of pastoral superintendence over the Church
of New Zealand. In that course many great and impor
tant changes must occur, for which I must be prepared.
After much discussion with Government, I have gained the
full power of organizing my own diocese, without inter
ference on the part of the State. With regard to my own
part of the organization, I have solemnly dedicated all
that I am to the permanent establishment of the bishopric.
Could I find a few men like yourself, who would silently
work with me by the devotion of themselves, and their
means, to the same cause, we should see year after year
parish after parish, archdeaconry after archdeaconry, start
into life, not with the mere appurtenances of temporal
78 LIFE OF BISHOP SELWYN. [CHAP. in.
endowment, but with the provision of a living head to
give life and spirit to the institution. The substance
therefore of myproposition is this :
"Will you be now one of the feeders of my Church,
with the view of being in course of time one of its pastors ?
Your continuance at Eton, which I believe to be at present
deeply important to the interests of the school, will also
enable you to carry out the plan of the temporal endow
ment of an archdeaconry, to which when you shall have
given of your goods, you will be ready to say :
" Memet super ipse dedissem."
Believe me to be,
My dear Abraham,
Your affectionate and grateful friend,
Gl. A. N". ZEALAND.
On October 26, the bishop took his degree of D.D. at
Cambridge, and the ceremony was one of unusual solemnity
and interest. It is recorded that "when he knelt down
before the Vice-Chancellor it was a noble sight. Dr.
Turton, the Regius Professor of Divinity, made an admir
able speech in Latin, alluding to Constantine, to the
missionary labours of England, to the bishop s own zeal,
to his high qualifications, and to the fine prospects before
him." Here he was joined by his friend and chaplain, the
Itev. T. Whytehead. October 31 was his last Sunday at
Eton, and was an occasion of solemn and memorable
interest to all concerned. Forty guests assembled at the
house of his staunch friend, Mr. Edward Coleridge, drawn
by ties of long-standing affection to bid the youthful
prelate God-speed. If a man is known by his friends,
the gathering on this day bore striking testimony to the
character of the bishop. There were those who had
attained the highest honours in their several callings, and
others who have since realized the promises of their
earlier years. Two judges, than whom- the bench has had
no nobler representatives, Coleridge and Patteson; the
1841.] FAREWELL TO ETON. 79
future Bishop of Oxford and Winchester, then recently
appointed Archdeacon of Surrey (Samuel Wilberforce) ; the
present Lord Coleridge and Mr. Justice Cotton, Mr. Glad
stone, Mr. Durnford, now Bishop of Chichester, and Mr.
Chapman, who four years afterwards became the first
Bishop of Colombo, were among the guests : the host, in
proposing the bishop s health, said with much emotion
that "he had not a single good feeling which had not
been deepened and improved by intercourse with George
Selwyn." The parish church of Windsor, the scene for
some years of his labours, was crowded all day. Arch
deacon Wilberforce preached in the morning on the Unity
of the Church : there were nearly 300 communicants ; the
bishop preached in the evening. His text was a favourite
one, on which he often preached : " Thine heart shall fear
and be enlarged, because the abundance of the sea shall
be converted unto thee, the forces also of the Gentiles
shall come unto thee ; " and when he spoke of going out to
found a Church and then to die neglected and forgotten,
the pent-up feeling of the people who loved him could not
be restrained. In the afternoon " to revive old recollec
tions with Chapman," who preached, he said the prayers
and baptized some children; in fact he hardly left the
church for the whole day. On the Monday he again
spoke at the meeting of the Windsor and Eton Church
Union, which had been founded by himself, and was
received with much affection.
Much of what he said was written down at the time,
and the " Notes " of his speech were published in the
following form :
" I would willingly have brought this memorable year
to a conclusion in my native land ; but it has otherwise
seemed good to God. It will ever be memorable by
reason of an act, which may, I trust, be one step toward
the re-establishment of godly discipline in our Church
a recurrence to the system of pure and apostolic times.
The act to which I refer is the meeting of many of our
80 LIFE OF BISHOP SELWYN, [CHAP. in.
bishops for the purpose of sending to our colonies which
have a civil governor, but no spiritual ruler, men imbued
with powers like our own. I looked upon this as
the first exercise of her lawful authority in a collective
character ; and I asked myself, What is the duty of every
priest ? There could be but one reply, To obey. To test
my own feelings, I put to myself what then seemed to
me to be of all the most improbable case, that I should
ever be called upon to go ; and the answer could be but
this, I am ready. In order to try myself further, I put
this further question, Are you ready to go wherever you
are sent ? A similar answer was given, I am ready.
Are you ready to go even into the centre of Africa,
though it be morally certain that within a few years your
bones will be bleaching together with those who have
perished in those pestilential sands ? I was prepared to
go even to Sierra Leone, to cancel, as far as my efforts
might, one item of the debt of sin and woe which
England s commercial prosperity had entailed upon the
sons of Africa. I thought, that should I refuse to go, the
bones of those who fell in Walcheren would rise up in
judgment against me. Many of you know not where
Walcheren is, but you must have heard of Chusan ; many
of those whose bodies are still wasting on the isle of
Chusan would rise up in judgment against me ; for there
the British arms have been sullied by the most ignoble
and humiliating warfare in which this country was ever
engaged, and yet not a soldier refused to go, even into
that warfare the principle of which he could not approve.
And should any soldier of Christ refuse to go to support a
cause to which he has been pledged by a far more solemn
engagement? So when I heard that, not the shores of
Africa, but that land of promise, New Zealand a land
literally flowing with milk and honey -was to be mine,
there was no doubt, no hesitation, no fear ; enlargement of
heart alone was mine, that, through my humble instru
mentality, the abundance of the isles might be converted
unto God."
Oxford conferred on him the degree of D.D., honoris
causa, and his visit to that university enabled him to
1841.] BISriOPEIC OF JERUSALEM. 81
renew his acquaintance with his old schoolfellow, J. H.
Newman.
On November 7, he took part in the consecration of the
Eev. M. S. Alexander as " Bishop of the United Church of
England and Ireland in Jerusalem." The circumstance
caused some surprise to his friends, and the mention
of it in these pages may be a matter of regret to those
who here learn it for the first time. It is due therefore
to the memory of the bishop to record that " the request
that he should assist at the consecration found him
reluctant to accede to it, that he had grave doubts as
to the propriety of the measures connected with the
establishment of that See, but that he consented only
on the understanding with the Archbishop, that by so
doing he did not pledge himself to any approval of the
measure beyond that of a bishop being sent to minister
to English residents in Jerusalem, and to confer with
the authorities of the Greek Church." These indeed
were the functions which he had considered as specially
justifying the erection of a bishopric of Malta (or Gib
raltar), in which he felt very warm interest. He was
startled, however, by the preacher, who dilated at great
length " on the re-establishment of a bishop in the line
of the Circumcision," and who also declared that the
Greek Church was " idolatrous."
The circumstance that the Archbishop asked the preacher
to print the sermon much vexed Bishop Selwyn. He
thought " the point about the Bishop of the Circumcision
unsound and unscriptural -" but as it was mere theory
he did not feel it to be so important : but the charge of
idolatry against the Greek Church he thought " very dan
gerous." After the consecration he sat next to the preacher
at luncheon and talked over the whole matter, and he
left him having a hope that if the sermon were published,
the accusation which had been made against the Greek
Church would be omitted. It would seem that the bishop,
whose life had for some years been divided between
VOL. L G
82 LIFE OF BISHOP SELWYN. [CHAP. in.
parochial work and theological study was now for the first
time brought face to face with opinions and people of
whom he had hitherto had no experience. Chevalier
Bunsen was present at the luncheon, and in returning
thanks for the health of the King of Prussia, among other
extraordinary utterances, said :
(1). " That as every other Church was represented in the
East, so ought Protestants to be." (2). " That he hoped
the time would soon ccme when all Protestant bodies
would be united."
There was no lingering on the bishop s part, when the
needful preliminaries had been completed. He arranged
to sail early in December, but, as commonly happens with
sailing ships, delays occurred, and it was not until S.
Stephen s Day that the ship left Plymouth Sound. The
few intervening weeks were fully occupied, and in the
many utterances of the bishop, whether in pulpit or on
platform, in different parts of the country, there was evident
to all the well-considered system on which he proposed to
work, and the strict consistency between the theories
which as a priest he had formed, and the action which as a
bishop he proposed to take. His plans were clear as a well-
drawn diagram : he went forth intending to apply ancient
precedents to new circumstances ; he aimed at nothing origi
nal or novel, although no man was more ready or competent
to adapt himself to altered circumstances, but he was con
tent with adapting already existing and proved materials.
His theories were strictly speaking not theories, but prin
ciples, which had been tested and approved by holy men
of old : his was a mind of unusual sagacity, but he was
superior to the temptation (if it existed) to give the rein to
his own originality and to think that it was in his power
to improve on the examples of the great evangelists of the
world. Thus he was always congratulating himself on
the unique position which he occupied, " a position such
as was never granted to any English bishop before, with a
1841.] SERMON AT EXETER. 83
power to mould the institutions of the Church from the
beginning according to true principles."
The cathedral as the centre of all life and organization
was insisted on now, when the practical difficulties in the
way confronted him daily, with as much earnestness as
when from the quiet of Eton he published his memorable
letter on the Duties of Cathedral Bodies. One of the last
sermons which he preached was in the cathedral at Exeter
on December 12, and by not a few who heard it has never
been forgotten. The text " How shall we sing the Lord s
song in a strange land?" (Ps. cxxxvii. 4), furnished the
preacher with an opportunity of setting forth his own plans,
and among them the cathedral centre occupied the chief
place. These were his concluding words :
" May we have both the spirit to preach the Gospel and
the strength to arise and build the Temple of the Lord !
May we also have our cathedral church, in which we may
sing the Lord s song with a voice of melody ! And may
God grant that from that central reservoir we may pour
forth streams of living water to feed the sheep whom God
has given to our care. There may the young be taught
and the servant of Christ be trained up for His ministry ;
there may the books of the holy Fathers of the Church
minister to the godly learning of every succeeding genera
tion ; there may the elders of the Church sit in council for
the public good, and there may the ordinances of daily
prayer and weekly communion shadow forth the unwearied
service of the angels of God ; there, too, may the hungry
be fed, and the naked clothed, and the sick healed ; and,
above all, there may the poor have the Gospel preached to
them."
It must be added in fairness that his highest anticipa
tions he never realised. He had never even in rudiment
a cathedral church or body : up to the year 1854 S. John s
College fulfilled some of the most important functions of a
cathedral body, but not afterwards.
G 2
P4 LIFE OF BISHOP SELWYN. [CHAP. in.
Archbishop Howley when taking leave of him at Lam
beth urged him to do what he could to extend the know
ledge of the Gospel to the scattered islands of the Pacific,
and on this apostolic commission rather than on the clerical
error in his Letters Patent already mentioned he based the
obligation, the fulfilment of which led him first, and after
wards Bishop Patteson, to the toils of the Melanesian
mission. In addition to kindly words and deeds (for
the good primate gave the departing bishop a large
sum of money towards the purchase of a diocesan ship),
the Archbishop addressed the following valedictory
letter on behalf of himself and his suffragans, in which
the duty of the New Zealand Church to the islands of
the Pacific is stated in very cogent terms, terms which
to a man of Bishop Selwyii s disposition, in which
obedience was ever a ruling principle, were equivalent
to a command.
LAMBETH, Nov. mh, 1841.
MY DEAK LOED,
I have been requested by such of the bishops as
attended the last meeting of the Committee appointed to
manage the funds for the endowment of bishoprics in the
colonies, to address a valedictory letter to your Lordship
expressive of their personal respect, and of the deep in
terest they take in your high and holy mission.
There is not, I am persuaded, a prelate of our united
Church who would not have joined in this demonstration
of good-will to yourself and to the great cause to which you
have devoted your talents and energies, had it been in rny
power to call them together at this season. I could not
indeed have suffered you to depart without repeating the
assurances of my friendly regard and esteem, and of my
confidence in your ability, zeal, and discretion, which were
grounded originally on the report of others, and which have
since been confirmed and greatly increased by personal
intercourse.
I am better satisfied, however, to speak in behalf of
my brothers as well as myself, as the testimony of many
will naturally be more gratifying to your Lordship.
1841.] VALEDICTORY LETTER OF ARCHBISHOP. 85
The mission over which you preside is founded on the
recognition of a principle which, unfortunately, has not
always been acted on in the first establishment of our
Colonies. Whilst towns have been built and wilds have
been cultivated, whilst ample provision has been made for
defence against enemies, and the administration of justice,
no adequate care has in the first instance been taken for
the religious and moral improvement of the settlers or
natives. The Colonists have been abandoned to dissent
or infidelity, the Aborigines in some cases consigned to
almost total extinction. Your Lordship will have the great
satisfaction of laying the foundation of civilized society in
New Zealand, on the basis of an Apostolical Church and
a pure religion.
On your arrival you will be surrounded by a body of
clergy prepared under your directions to minister to the
spiritual wants of the settlers, and to impart the blessings
of the Christian faith to the native tribes.
As the population is multiplied, the number of ministers
will be increased in proportion, and the incorporation of
all classes within the pale of our Church may, with the
blessing of God, be the happy result of their exertions.
Nor can our views be confined within the limits at present
assigned to the exercise of your spiritual authority. Your
mission acquires an importance exceeding all calculation
when your See is regarded as the central point. of a system
extending its influence in all directions, as a fountain
diffusing the streams of salvation over the islands and coasts
of the Pacific : as a luminary to which nations enslaved
and debased by barbarous and bloody superstitions will
look for light.
In these glorious prospects your Lordship will find sup
port and encouragement amidst the trials and difficulties
of various kinds, which as you have not engaged without
forethought in this arduous service, you are fully prepared
to encounter. The consciousness of going forth in the
name of the Lord as the messenger of mercy and peace
will reconcile you to the sacrifices you have made in
obedience to the call from on High. The prayers of your
friends, the pious, the good, and the philanthropic, will be
offered up for your safety and comfort, and for the complete
success of your ministry ; and by none more sincerely and
86 LIFE OF BISHOP SELWYN. [CHAP. in.
heartily than by myself, and by the prelates in whose names
I write.
Among the blessings which will lighten your labours
there is one which I mention, not for the purpose of in
creasing your sense of its value, which you know from
experience, but in order to gratify my own feelings in re
gard to the amiable daughter of the late excellent Judge
Richardson, and, as it appears to Mrs. Howley and myself,
the inheritress of his estimable qualities. The influence of
Mrs. Selwyn s kindness and piety will, I am persuaded/ not
only promote the comfort and happiness of her domestic
circle, but will be extensively useful in bettering the con
dition and improving the morals of all who come within
its sphere.
I must now conclude with assuring you that you may
at all times depend on my disposition to render you all the
assistance in my power. I venture to say as much for the
Bishops in general, and for the great Missionary Societies
in connection with the Church.
Looking forward to the pleasure of hearing from you as
soon after your landing as you may find leisure to write, I
most heartily commend your Lordship, your family, and all
the clergy in your train, to the protection of the Lord Jesus
Christ, and to the guidance of His Holy Spirit.
I remain,
My dear Lord,
Your affectionate Brother and Friend,
W. CANTUAK.
The Tomatin, the ship in which the bishop and his party
were to sail, was detained in the Channel by contrary winds
for many days ; during this period of waiting the bishop
was the guest of the late Sir T. D. Acland, at Killerton,
near Exeter. Day by day the bishop came to Exeter and
worshipped in the cathedral, and on Saturday December
18th he went to Plymouth, where the Tomatin arrived on the
following morning. On Sunday the bishop preached twice
in the Church of S. Andrew, and each morning during
his enforced sojourn at Plymouth he went to the early
service, accompanied by the clergy and the catechists who
were going out with him. Each day was declared to be
1841.] PLYMOUTH. 87
the day of sailing, and the continued suspense was most
trying. One by one friends and relatives took leave and
returned to their own duties, the approaching Christmas-
tide making it absolutely necessary for the clergy to get
home to their parishes. Canon Selwyn left on the 22nd,
and to him on parting his brother gave a Bible, writing
on the first page, " Ready to depart on the morrow."
His whole spiritual life was so nurtured in the Holy
Scriptures that apposite texts were always at his com
mand without effort. Mrs. Selwyn s brother parted from
her on the same day. The Eev. Edward Coleridge, who
remained to the last, recorded many of the events of these
anxious days in his diary, and by his permission they
are here reproduced :
"December 22nd. We spent a comfortable evening with
them, Dr. Yonge and the Eton brethren coming in to en
large the circle round the tea-table. After dinner we drank
Floreat Etona, and in necessary connection with that toast
Dr. Keate s health. About nine o clock Mr. Cole, whom
we had been anxiously expecting, arrived from Andover.
The whole party was then collected, and nothing now seemed
likely to prevent their sailing on the morrow but the wind
being unfavourable. We did not kneel down to prayers till
eleven o clock. The bishop used the greater part of the
form of prayer to be used at sea, intermingling some collects
from other parts of the Liturgy.
"December 23rd. This has been indeed a most deeply
interesting day. Such a day as we can scarcely ever ex
pect to see again. At ten o clock we were all with one
accord in S. Andrew s church, the clergy to the number of
forty, in their robes, and sitting together. Mr. Hatchard
read the prayers : the Old Hundredth Psalm was sung, the
bishop and Whytehead officiated at the altar. The former
preached a most affecting sermon on St. Matt. xxvi. 29.
Some two hundred persons received the sacrament. After
the communion the bishop, accompanied by all the clergy
present, went down the church to the vestibule, or
ante-chapel, where a very proper address was read and
presented to him by Nutcombe Oxenham.
83 LIFE OF BISHOP SELWYN. [CHAP. m.
The Address was in the following terms :
" We, the undersigned Clergy, resident in the town and
neighbourhood of Plymouth, crave for a few moments your
attention. We crave it at this solemn time, when your
Lordship has just concluded with your blessing this last
service, as it seems, which you are likely to attend in an
English Church before you leave the shores of your native
land, and when within a few hours of embarking for that
distant country in which it has pleased God to appoint you
to superintend His Church. At such a time we feel, that if
our hearts be full, our words should be few. We feel also
that there are more private, yet hallowed considerations,
deeply interesting to your own mind, in which, so far as we
can bear sympathy, we shall best express it by silence. But
when we think of the great object of your mission when
we remember the special character in which you go forth
as an anointed Bishop in Christ s Holy Catholic Church,
venturing to those coasts whereon the shadow of death has
so long rested, and the light of the Gospel so recently
and partially arisen, to plant the Church for the first time
in her integrity, and be a mighty instrument (we trust) in
the hand of the Most High, for advancing His glory, and
promoting the salvation of souls through Jesus Christ;
when we regard the many thousands, both of natives and
colonists, among whom (if it please God) you will long
labour as a Missionary Bishop, and the head, under Christ,
of the Church in those parts, not only are our hearts filled
with strong feelings, but we think we may not unfitly at
tempt briefly to express them. Sure are we that you agree
with us in being thankful to God for that He has put it
into the mind and will of the members of our Church to
be increasingly zealous in fulfilling His command, that we
should make disciples of all nations/ and that in His name
His ministers should proclaim Peace to him that is afar off
as well as to him that is nigh. We humbly thank our
God for this increase of zeal evinced in many ways ; and
especially we will now refer to the wise and earnest efforts
made for the multiplication of our Colonial Bishoprics. We
rejoice that these efforts have been made, and for the success
which has even already attended them. We rejoice that we
have now the privilege of saluting with a Christian farewell
1841.] ADDRESS FROM CLERGY OF PLYMOUTH. 89
and of commending to the grace of God the first-fruit of
these recent efforts the first Bishop of o.ur Church in New
Zealand. May God our Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ,
and his Spirit, guard, guide, and keep you in all your ways.
May He bless you and yours, and all dear to you in your
native, -and in your future country. May He, above all,
make you, as a Christian Shepherd and Bishop, a blessing
to all those on whose eternal interests we are well con
vinced that you will watch as one that shall give account
hereafter of his stewardship. And, finally, for we may not
detain you with more words, whether it please God that
we meet again on earth or not, may our prayers, one for
another, meet ever at the throne of God, and before that
throne may we at last stand together with our flocks,
both joined in one blessed company for ever. God grant
it, for His dear Son s sake."
Mr. Coleridge s journal continues :
" The bishop was evidently much affected, but notwith
standing this he made a most pertinent, dignified, and affec
tionate reply. Everybody was much moved. It could not
be otherwise, for there were passages in his reply enough
to try any heart. All crowded round him and besought
him to shake hands with them and to bless them indivi
dually, so that he was some time in making his way through
them back to the vestry. Indeed it is quite delightful to
see the moral influence he has gained in this place within
so short a time, and how many hearts he has drawn towards
him and his holy cause. Owing to some mistake Mrs.
Selwyn did not hear the address presented and answered,
but returned to her lodgings directly the service was over.
The Eton brethren all walked home with the Bishop. At
two precisely some of the party with baggage, &c. went to
the Barbican and embarked in the Trinity House cutter
with Captain Nelson, while the Bishop, with Abraham,
Balston, and myself, walked to the foot of the Hoe and got
aboard the barge of the Caledonia, in which we rowed
through a gallant sea to the Tomatin. I watched the last
pebble on which the good man set his foot, and picked it up
as one of the last reminiscences of his presence amongst us.
After inspecting the ship we dined on board in a manner
very satisfactory to every one but , who was obliged
90 LIFE OF BISHOP SELWYN. [CHAP. ITT.
to bolt out of the cabin as soon as he had bolted his soup.
Finding that the wind continued dead against their sailing
that day, we put off again about four o clock in the Trinity
House cutter and returned to shore. We then met at Dr.
Yonge s, and round his fireside spent three pleasant hours,
though our numbers gradually diminished by the departure
one after another of C. Kichardson, Abraham, Balston, Durn-
ford, and C. Marriott. Thence I accompanied our dear
friends to their lodgings, and helped them to pack their
remaining articles, and took down their last instructions on
several points. We then knelt down once more together
in prayer, and bade each other good night.
" Friday, December 2&h. After breakfast I went to the
Bishop s, and helped him to prepare for their final em
barkation. This done, he and I went to see poor Woof,
the Welsh herdsman, who is lying ill at the ( Boot Inn,
and cannot accompany them to New Zealand as he wishes.
We then returned to the house, and put Sarah [Mrs.
Selwyn], the nurse, and dear baby into a fly, with parcels
innumerable ; we, the males of the party, walked to the
Barbican, where we found Cuptain Nelson awaiting our
arrival with boats and the cutter lying off. Sarah, baby,
and nurse were hoisted up in the accommodation chair
enveloped in flags.
" After remaining some little time with my dear friends
in their cabin, I returned to shore to fetch my wife, and
at 3 we again went off in the agent s boat to the ship, to
which we were soon followed by Dr. Yonge, who found
dear Mrs. Selwyn so unwell that he urged her returning
to shore and taking up her abode at his house with us till
the wind should become favourable. So, the Bishop agree
ing with us that she would be better on shore than on
board, we brought her off, and made her snug and com
fortable at my good cousin s, who prescribed for her and
sent her early to bed.
" Christmas Day. The Bishop had his first service on
board this morning. While we were at dinner the Bishop
arrived and gave us a very enthusiastic account of his first
night on board, of the skill with which he had arranged
the cabin, and of the great capabilities which he had dis
covered in the space allotted to them for their temporary
residence. He stayed with us till nearly 8 o clock, when
1 41.] DEPARTURE FROM PLYMOUTH. 91
I walked with him to the Barbican, and saw him off to
the ship. He is already beginning to get his fellow-
voyagers into some degree of order, and is arranging their
several studies, and setting each his most suitable lesson,
so that I doubt not he will make the Tomatin one of the
first training schools in the world.
"Sunday, December 2Gth ; Feast of S. Stephen. Our
beloved friends are gone. While we were at breakfast
at Dr. Yonge s the Bishop entered with a cheerful coun
tenance, having come from the ship to announce that the
wind was favourable, and that she would sail immediately
after Divine Service on board. Accordingly we soon col
lected those of the passengers who were on shore, and
hastened to the Barbican, where we took boat and rowed
to the ship. We were soon on board, where all was ready
for sailing. In a few minutes we all assembled for Divine
Service, and the Bishop, having given notice of the Holy
Communion for the next Sunday, concluded, after the
prayer for the Church Militant, with a Collect for a safe
voyage and a blessing. We all remained on our knees
some time after this in perfect silence, and in fervent
prayer each for the other s happiness, now that we were
about to part for how long God alone knows. This done,
we went into the cabin of our dear friends : the Bishop
wrote a few lines to his mother and a few words of affec
tion in my Bible, 1 while they were weighing anchor. It
was a dire moment of trial, but we all bore it better than
I had expected. At half-past 12 we embraced each other
fervently as those who did not expect to see each other
again in this world, and we tore ourselves away, as the
ship was now on her way. Having bidden farewell to
Mrs. Martin, to Cotton, Whytehead, the captain and
others of the crew, we were lowered into the boat amid
the prayers and good wishes of many on board, and in a
moment the ship with her goodly freight was on her way.
The Bishop, Whytehead, and others stood on the poop
looking at and blessing us, the Bishop repeatedly waving
his hat around his honoured head. When about a hundred
yards off I stood up in the boat and called to him in a
1 With the readiness which never failed him, the Bishop wrote in Mr.
Coleridge s Bible, " "When we had taken our leave one of another, we too 1 *
chip and they returned home again." Acts xxi. 6.
92 LIFE OF BISHOP JSELWYN. [CHAP.
loud voice, God bless you ! God bless you ! Floreat
JEcclesia / Floreat Etona ! After landing we stood for
some time on the Hoe looking at the Tomatin as she
crowded her sails and glided away from us, becoming
smaller and smaller, but no less an object of the most
intense interest. Surely no ship since that which carried
S. Paul has ever gone to sea with a holier or more pre
cious freight none to which every Christian and friend
to humanity may more justly address the prayer of
Horace l
Navis, quse tibi creditum
Debes Virgilium, finibus Atticis
Keddas incolumem, precor.
to which I may add
* Et serves anirnse dimidium mese. " :
The good ship could hardly have gone out of sight when
this true and warmhearted friend wrote the following brief
letter to the late Professor Selwyn :
S. STEPHEN S DAY, 2.30.
MY DEAR W. SELWYN,
Precisely at half-past 12 on this auspicious day, and
immediately after Divine Service on board, the Tomatin
weighed anchor and sailed. She is now twenty miles down
Channel, with a favourable breeze N.TsT.W. The Bishop,
Sarah, and baby were all well and in good spirits. I have
sent your mother the very last words he wrote, and I have
preserved the pen with which he wrote them. God bless
them and prosper them in their arduous but noble under
taking.
Ever yours heartily,
E. COLERIDGE.
1 Odes, Lib. 1, III. vi.
[V .] NEW ZEALAND. 93
CHAPTER IV. 1
NEW ZEALAND : ITS EAKLY HISTORY AND COLONIZATION.
THE last chapter has left the Bishop and his party on
board the Tomatin : it will serve to the better understand
ing of the difficulties of the work which lay before them,
and the many vicissitudes which marked and too fre
quently hindered its progress, if some account, is given of
the early history of New Zealand, its aboriginal inhabitants,
its early settlers, and the first efforts that were made to
compass its evangelization.
Discovered by the Dutch navigator Tasman in 1642,
the soil of New Zealand was trodden by no European
foot for more than 120 years. Tasman had been unable
to effect a landing, and Cook in 1769, having sailed first
round it and then through Cook s Straits, and thereby
disproved the hypothesis that it was part of a great south
ern continent, landed on several spots and made acquaint
ance with the natives. The New Zealanders or Maoris
can trace back their genealogy for more than twenty
generations, but for their origin we can only turn to the
ethnologist and the student of languages. They are be
lieved to be the purest branch of that Polynesian race
which had its cradle in the Hawaiian group : to this
belief their language, their superstitions, and their tradi
tions all point. They all agree that they came from a
1 For very much that is contained in this chapter the author desires
to acknowledge his obligation to Swainscn s. New Zealand.
9-1 LIFE OF BISHOP SELWYN. [CHAP.
country called " Hawaiki," which they describe as lying
N.E. of New Zealand ; they further agree in the tradition
that they were not driven off by stress of weather, but
that, being harassed by wars and dissensions, they deter
mined to seek for a new and peaceful shore, and that they
embarked in several canoes specially fitted out for the
unusual expedition. They also retain the terms of the
valedictory address of the patriarch whom they left behind,
who impressed on them the duty of abandoning war and
following peaceful occupations.
The first immigrants are said to have landed on the
Frith of the Thames, but proceeding up the Frith and
leaving at many spots names which continue to this day
to bear witness to their having visited them, they dragged
their canoes across the narrow isthmus which separated
the eastern from the western sea, and, sailing southward,
they reached Kawhia, a small harbour midway between
Manukau and Taranaki, and there they settled, throwing
off s warms from time to time along the coasts. The chief
of a tribe called the Tainui, who are to be found at
Kawhia to this day, claims direct descent from these
adventurous founders, and a rock shaped like a canoe is
believed to be the petrified Tainui in which their
fortunes were borne across the Pacific.
The early colonization of these islands was so frag
mentary and irregular as hardly to deserve the name of
colonization : it was rather an intercourse between the two
races, destined in course of time to see much more of each
other, and in which the white race was represented by
some of its worst specimens. Whale ships frequented the
northern parts in large numbers, and their dealings with
the people too often were accompanied by deeds of ini
quity, which led to the massacres of innocent victims:
the deeds which were considered the reckless and uncon-
sidered acts of unreasoning savages were more frequently
the carefully-calculated retaliation and repayment for
wanton injuries of which they had been the victims :
iv.] FIEST COLONIZATION. 95
runaway sailors, escaped convicts, travelling traders, and
adventurous speculators who had left the neighbouring
colony of New South Wales, these were the not very
creditable representatives of what claimed to be the
" superior race " with whom the New Zealanders became
acquainted.
The first genuine colonist, that is to say, the first im
migrant who came intending to effect a permanent settle
ment for himself and for his successors, was the Christian
missionary, whose strength was in his very weakness,
occupying a place by sufferance of the Chief and people
who were his protectors and friends : herein New Zea
land differs widely from any other colony. Dr. Marsden j
a Government Chaplain in New South Wales, had seen
something of the Maoris who had come thither, and was
possessed by a desire to visit New Zealand in the interests
of the spread of the Gospel. For years he was unable to
realize his wish : at length in 1814 he made good his land
ing, and from that time New Zealand was never without
a witness for the Truth. But these missionaries were only
in one corner of the Northern Island, and were the fore
runners of a vast horde of less desirable visitors : in other
parts lawless Englishmen vied with each other in their
work of making the natives more degraded than they
found them.
The necessity of some authorized system of government
or colonization became apparent : a Eesident was appointed
to the Bay of Islands as some sort of check on the British
settlers and sojourners who resorted there, but in a foreign
country he had no sort of authority, and no means of en
forcing his authority if he possessed it. All settlers whose
occupations were legitimate petitioned the Crown for pro
tection ; but before these complaints and representations
reached England an Association had been formed, which,
deeply impressed with the evils in question as well as
with the importance of New Zealand as a field for coloni
zation, had formed a deliberate project of organizing a
% LIFE OF BISHOP SELWYN. [CHAP.
colony on a large scale and on sound principles. The
" New Zealand Association " consisted of two classes of
persons (1) heads of families and others who, attracted
by a good climate and cheap land, determined to establish
themselves in the proposed colony, and make it the Eng
land of the Pacific ; (2) public men, who, for the sake of
public objects alone, were willing to form the executive
body who should carry the measure into execution.
The Government in 1837 expressed its willingness to give
to the Association a Eoyal Charter, incorporating it and
committing to its members the settlement and government
of the projected colony for a term of years, according to
the precedent of chartered colonies in the 16th and 17th
centuries ; but this offer was burdened by the condition
that the Association should become a joint-stock trading
company, and this the Association, having excluded
from its object all idea of private profit, was unable to
accept. The chairman, Sir F. Baring, M. P., brought into
Parliament a bill " for the Provisional Government of
British Settlements in the Islands of New Zealand." The
bill proposed to appoint Commissioners under the Crown,
who should treat with and purchase land from the natives
and convert it into British territory, to be governed by
British law ; making, however, exceptional laws in favour
of the natives to protect them from their own ignorance,
and to promote their moral and social improvement. It
proposed also to exercise legal authority over all lawless
British subjects in all parts of the islands. The Colonial
Government was to afford an adequate provision for
religious worship of all denominations, and a bishop, to be
appointed by the Crown, was to reside in the islands.
The Government opposed the bill, and it did not pass,
but the subject received a great deal of attention and was
brought prominently before the public by the debate which
took place. The New Zealand Association was dissolved
and a joint-stock company, calling itself The New Zealand
Land Company, which fitted out expeditions and proceeded
iv.] DISPUTED LAND TITLES. 97
to possess itself of large tracts of land, was called into
existence. Among the directors were several men of high
character, whose motives were purely disinterested and
patriotic ; there were others " in whose minds sound prin
ciples of colonization and colonial government were as
nothing compared with pounds, shillings, and pence." 1
Before any lands had been purchased (and of the value of
the title of these acres more will be said presently), they
offered for sale in England the right of selection of the
lands which they expected to acquire, and although the
country was, at that time, synonymous with barbarism
and although the directors were officially warned that their
proceedings could not be sanctioned by Government
they obtained purchasers in England to the amount of
more than 100,0002.
Without waiting to hear whether any and what lands
and where situated had been purchased by their agent, the
Company sent out several ships filled with emigrants, to be
deposited wherever land had been procured for their settle
ment. Here was a seed-plot well and thickly sown with
future dissensions and wars ; the whole of the land had
owners ; the natives were perfectly accurate in their know
ledge of the boundaries of each property ; tracts which to
the European appeared worthless were to the Maori of
especial value ; moreover, the tenure of land was based
on tribal not individual ownership. As soon as survey
ing parties began to cut boundary lines and purchasers
took actual possession of their lands, natives from various
parts of the country, who knew nothing of any sup
posed sale, came forward to assert their rights and to
oppose the occupation of their land. Neither was the
Company s agent the first in the field ; old residents, ab
sentee Sydney speculators, land-jobbing adventurers, and
some of the agents of the Church Missionary Society,
who held more than 100,000 acres, had already procured
1 Evidence of Mr. E. G. "Wakefield before a Committee of the House
of Representatives.
VOL. I. H
98 LIFE OF BISHOP SELWYN. [CHAP.
from the natives sites that appeared most promising for
pasturage, or for the settlements of the future ; meanwhile
the unhappy Agent, daily expecting shiploads of emigrants
from England, all of whom would claim at once to be put
in possession of the land for which they had paid, bought
land of natives who asserted themselves to be the sole
owners, and was soon in a position to report that he had
bought the harbour of Port Nicholson, a large tract of
the surrounding country, and a coDsiderable portion of the
northern part of the Southern Island.
But the agent of the Company knew nothing of the
native law of real property, paid no attention to the ques
tion of the vendors title, and learned only by painful
experience that " to complete a safe and satisfactory pur
chase of land from the natives of New Zealand is a work
of as much difficulty, requires as much time, careful inves
tigation and knowledge of native law and custom, as to
complete the purchase of an English baronial estate."
The Joint Stock Company had urged the Government
to establish a colony and to assume supremacy, but for
the selfish reason that their land would instantly rise in
value manyfold if made part of the British empire. The
Church Missionary Society, on the other hand, believing
that the occupation of the country by English settlers
would prove injurious to the morals of the natives, and
would hinder the spread of the Gospel, resisted the idea of
colonizing it. There could be no doubt that the example of
the reckless adventurers who had found their way into
the colony had been wholly bad, but the opposition was
unwise, both because the evils already existing were likely
to be counteracted by a system of colonization, conducted
by responsible persons, and also because to expect to ex
clude a group of islands nearly 1,000 miles in length
from intercourse with the rest of the world, is Utopian
and visionary ; the objections were strongly supported by
evidence given before a Committee of the House of Lords
in 1838. The French were contemplating the establish-
iv.] TEEATY OF WAITANGI. 99
nient of a settlement in the islands at this period, and this
fact, combined with the representations made to Govern
ment that two races were now living side by side, that the
emigrants were likely soon to lapse into lawlessness, and
that a war of races was imminent, forced upon Parliament
the duty of colonizing New Zealand.
Captain Hobson was sent by the Crown " to establish
a settled form of civil government," and, while no claim of
sovereignty was made, he was instructed to urge on the
chiefs the impossibility of extending to them any effectual
protection unless the Queen were acknowledged as the
sovereign of their country. It was a hard task to persuade
the warlike chiefs of a warlike race, to whom restraint
had been unknown, to cede to the Crown of England all
their rights and powers of sovereignty ; they long failed to
see that in ceding the sovereignty they did not part with
their property in the soil. Striking must have been the
scene when, at the assembly of chiefs at Waitangi, Captain
Hobson explained to them that " the shadow would go to
the Queen and the substance would remain, and that they
might rely implicitly on the good faith of Her Majesty s
Government."
Many of the chiefs, prompted by disaffected Europeans,
opposed the cession of sovereignty with much skill and
eloquence. The timely interference of a Northern chief
turned the scale. " You must be our father," said Tamati
Waka, to Captain Hobson; "you must not allow us to
become slaves ; you must preserve our customs, and never
permit our land to be wrested from us." Thus the ma
jority of the chiefs became parties to the treaty of Wai
tangi ; but many steadily refused, under the belief that if
they signed the treaty their lands would be taken from
them. They said they had heard of what the British
Government had done in America, in New South Wales.
and in other colonies. In some instances those who
signed the treaty refused to accept any present, lest it
might be construed as payment for their land. Before
H 2
100 LIFE OF BISHOP SELWYN. [CHAP.
these negotiations were completed, Captain Hobson heard
that the settlers at Port Nicholson had organized a system
of government under the native chief; and regarding this
as treasonable, he proclaimed the Queen s sovereignty over
both islands in February, 1840, without waiting for the
completion of the cession ; at first it was a dependency of
New South Wales, but in November, 1840, it was erected
into a separate independent colony.
Captain Hobson had now among his first duties the
selection of a site for the seat of government, and his
decision earned for him the bitter hostility of the New
Zealand Company and their settlers. They had planted
their chief settlement at Wellington, but Captain Hobson,
knowing that the main object of the establishment of
British authority in the islands had been the protection
and advancement of the natives, was influenced in his
selection by the fact that nineteen-twentieths of the whole
Maori population of New Zealand were settled in the
Northern Island : the great majority of these were clus
tered in the northern portion of that island, attracted by
a climate congenial to a race whose ancestors had come
from a tropical home. Auckland therefore, with its great
natural advantages, which made the epithet bimaris as
appropriate to it as to Corinth in the days of Horace,
with water communication radiating in all directions, was
chosen as the seat of Government, and all subsequent ex
perience has justified the choice : but the disappointment
and hostility of the settlers were increasing, and Captain
Hobson is declared to have been " driven into his grave by
clamouring competitors." He died in September 1842,
having lived to welcome the bishop to New Zealand, and
to recognise his fitness for his position. He had said,
"What can a bishop do in New Zealand, where there are
no roads for his coach ? " But when some six weeks after
his landing he heard that he had come overland to Auck
land on foot, he said, " Ah, that s a very different thing.
He is the right man for the post."
iv.] RELATIONS OF THE TWO RACES. 101
There was one problem which the Government, the
Bishop, and all friends of humanity had to solve : in New
Zealand a great experiment was about to be tried on a
large scale : it was no less than this, " whether a fragment
of the great human family, long sunk in heathen dark
ness, could be raised from its state of social degradation,
and maintained and preserved as a civilized people ?
whether it were possible to bring two distinct portions of
the human race, in the opposite conditions of civilization
and barbarism, into immediate contact, without the de
struction of the uncivilized race ? " The work of deterio
ration had already commenced : the heathen had become
familiar with the vices which the professing Christians had
introduced : but along with this deterioration the mission
ary had brought the salt of Christianity, and out of the
mass had raised a considerable body of Christians whose
consistent lives were a witness to the reality of their con
version. The ministers of the Crown had given a pledge
that in New Zealand the natives should be defended from
that process of extermination which in other lands had
followed in the steps of the white man, and to the fulfil
ment of this pledge all right thinking men gave their
energies.
But their efforts were immediately thwarted by the
results of the New Zealand Company s precipitate action
in selling land which they had themselves never bought.
The deluded settlers had no remedy : appeals to the Crown
for protection were fruitless : the Queen had by the Treaty
of Waitangi " confirmed and guaranteed to the chiefs of
New Zealand the exclusive and undisturbed possession of
their lands." The New Zealand Company had not only not
received so much as a tacit permission from the Crown
but they had been distinctly warned, before the sailing of
their expedition, that their actions could not be recognised
and that no pledge could be given that the titles of any
lands purchased of the natives would be admitted by
Her Majesty : in fact, the Company had boasted that they
102 LIFE OF BISHOP SELWYN. [CHAP.
" colonized New Zealand in spite of the Government." It
was impossible that any long time should elapse without the
disputed land claims developing into quarrels, and, where
one party were savages, into bloodshed : and in 1843 the
dispute at Wairau led to a fierce engagement, in which
the first party to fire was not the Maoris but the English
men who were also the first to run away in great disorder,
although numerically superior. The defeat of the English
on this occasion lowered the estimate which the Maoris
had hitherto formed of their prowess : emboldened by their
victory at the Wairau in 1843, they two years later did
not hesitate to measure their strength in the open field
against disciplined English troops. Kororareka was de
stroyed the flag-staff cut down the military block
house taken ; the soldiers, seamen, and civil population took
refuge on board ship, and the whole of the humiliating and
painful scene " was enacted within range of the silent guns,
and in the unmoved presence of a foreign ship of war."
Martial law was proclaimed, but for two years, 1845 1847,
peace was a stranger to the land. From time to time
wars broke out, and culminated in the terrible war and
accompanying apostasy of 1863, and the native difficulty,
which was an euphemism for the land question, was at the
root of all. These events will find their proper place in
the following pages, but this brief mention of them here
is essential to any sketch of the position which the Bishop
of New Zealand and his clergy filled. The missionaries
had been called on by Governor Hobson to use their influ
ence with the natives to persuade them to accept the
Waitangi Treaty : they pie dged their own credit that its
terms would be scrupulously kept, and when it was found
that the Government proposed to repudiate it and to take
possession of allunoccupied land in the country, the mission
ary body were placed in a position of much embarassment,
and their influence for good was compromised. The Maoris
would have shed the last drop of their blood for the inheri
tance of their tribe; but they were quite willing to sell
v.] MAORI MYTHOLOGY. 103
large tracts of land for a price that was only nominal, and
by such a recognition of their title peace might in all
cases have been preserved. As the Bishop wrote in a
Pastoral Letter in 1855, "Nothing is easier than to extin
guish the native title ; nothing will be more difficult than
to extinguish the native war."
Enough has been said to show that the Maoris, savages
as they became on small provocations, and cannibals as
they had been up to a recent date, were a race of great
capacity. British officers declared them to be as soldiers
equal to any people in the world : lawyers and statesmen
who had to deal with their claims for land found that they
argued their case with astuteness and eloquence ; and the
missionaries after nine years of fruitless toil discovered
that, when once they could get them under their influence,
they showed religious susceptibilities of a remarkable kind.
Their Pantheon is a large one. Everything is invested
with supernatural power, and every circumstance of their
lives is supposed to be directed by an ever active, ever
present Divine agency. They have Gods of the day and
of the night; innate powers in earth and heaven, which
separate the firmament from the land. Every tribe wor
ships some one or more of its departed ancestors, whom
it consults with much reverence as an oracle on matters of
grave importance, and the Atua has been supposed to
answer in a mysterious sound, " half whisper, half whistle."
The Tapu which prevails over the whole of the Pacific
Ocean, and of which some traces are to be found even in
Madagascar, was no childish arbitrary custom entailing
needless restraint and inconvenience. The Spirit of their
most honoured relative was to their belief the guardian of
their family, and his Atua was thought to take an active
interest in the ordinary affairs of their lives : the things
which were under the Tapu were supposed to be things in
which this Spirit or some portion of it had rested, and it
was a reverent feeling which guarded against the sacrilege
involved in touching it. A strange circumstance, and one
104 LIFE OF BISHOP SELWYN. [CHAP. iv.
which had much to do both with their facile, though at
first tardy, reception of Christianity and their subsequent
apostasy, was the fact that when the Missionaries first
brought the Gospel to the Maoris they consulted their
Atuas whether the white teacher s message was true, and
in every case they received an affirmative answer.
It was while the Maoris were in the full zeal and ardour
which is the characteristic of the neophyte, and before the
seeds sown by the worst disposed of the settlers had
begun to bear fruit, that Bishop Selwyn arrived in his
diocese. As far as spiritual things were concerned his
prospects were very bright: the clergy welcomed him
cordially: even those who would rather have continued
in the old way, with no bishop to counsel or guide, were
won by his personal charms when they came to look on
him and to know him ; and the Maori people, who were
the bishop s chief care and attraction, were eager to assi
milate his teaching, and to receive the spiritual gifts which
were his to confer. The Bible and Prayer-book had been
translated into the vernacular, and many churches had
been built. Humanly speaking, that the Church of New
Zealand survived the terrible shocks which in subsequent
years it was made to endure, was owing to the fact that,
as Bishop Broughton had advised in 1838, the Church
had been planted in the full integrity of its system, and
a bishop had landed on the shore of New Zealand as soon
as it became a colony, and so had anticipated the full
force of the evils which follow in the train of immigration.
The bishop fully realized the bright prospect before him at
the first, and was ever
" Haunting a holy text, and still to that
Returning as a bird returns at night."
His favourite text was (Ps. xvi. v. 7), " The lot is fallen
unto me in a fair ground : yea, I have a goodly heritage."
1842-1843.] OCCUPATIONS ON BOABD SHIP. 105
CHAPTEE V.
SYDNEY AND NEW ZEALAND.
[18421843.]
THE bishop s party on board the Tomatin consisted of his
two chaplains Mr. Cotton, a student of Christ Church, and
Mr. Whytehead, Fellow of S. John s College, Cambridge ;
Messrs. Cole, Dudley, and Eeay, missionary clergy ; three
catechists, Messrs. Butt, Evans, and NiMH; and a school
master and mistress. Another clergyman, the Eev. B. Lucas
Watson, was also on board, bound for Australia. A not un
important passenger was a Maori lad, by name Eupai, who
had been brought to England and placed under the care of
a clergyman at Battersea, with a view to his being properly
educated. Him the bishop eagerly sought out, and engaged
his services as a living grammar and lexicon, just as years
afterwards both Bishop Selwyn and Bishop Patteson were
wont to use the Melanesian lads whom they brought from
their native islands. It is commonly said that the leisure
on board ship, to which busy people look forward as a
time in which to overtake arrears of reading or writing,
is not conducive to profitable work, and that it requires a
really resolute will to accomplish much under these con
ditions. To the bishop and his party it was no idle time,
neither were the results inconsiderable, but what was
done, and how the time was employed, and what were
the mishaps of the voyage, are best told in the bishop s
106 LIFE OF BISHOP SELWYN. [CHAP. v.
own words in the two letters which, he wrote to his
mother, and sent, the one by a passing ship, the other on
his arrival at Sydney. A third brief letter, earlier in point
of time, was written on board a small brig, the Retrench, on
January 11, 1842, in "Tropic of Cancer; long. 21 9 W."
They had left the Tomatin in calm weather, without any
intention of coming on board, and so had not brought with
them their unfinished letters ; but as the vessel would part
company when a breeze sprang up, he wrote a few lines to
his mother, and intrusted the letter to the captain of the
brig, which was bound to Sierra Leone, and thence to
England.
The following letters tell their own tale :
SHIP " TOMATIN,"
Lat. 6 N., Long. 21 W.
Jan. 18, 1842.
MY DEAREST MOTHER,
The hurried note which I sent by the brig Retrench will,
I hope, have reached you ; though as it was to go by way
of Sierra Leone, it may have been delayed. We have had
a most delightful passage to this point of our voyage, with
the wind continually fair since we left England ; and never
too strong to produce any serious inconvenience to Sarah
or myself. In the three days preceding last Sunday at
noon we ran 600 geographical miles, or ten degrees of lati
tude ; and though we expected the wind to fail us in lat.
10 N.j we are still going on at the rate of five geogra
phical miles an hour. The present state of the tempera
ture would not suit you, as the thermometer where I am
sitting is 79 ; but, as the fresh breeze still continues, the
heat is not very oppressive.
I proceed now to give you an account of our proceed
ings. We set sail on the afternoon of Sunday, December
6th, with a fair wind from the north and a most beautiful
bky overhead, which made Plymouth Harbour look most
lovely, and enabled us to go away with the most pleasing
recollection of the last sight of our native country.
Mr. and Mrs. Coleridge stayed with us till we were in
full sail out of the harbour, and then took a most affec
tionate leave of us. We passed the Breakwater about
1842-1843.] CHURCH AT SEA. 1C7
one, and were off the Lizard Lighthouse at 10 P.M. This
was our last glimpse of anything belonging to England,
and I remained on deck watching it as it appeared from
time to time when the ship rose upon the waves, till at
last its reappearances became less and less frequent ; and
even the tenth wave failed to bring us within sight of it,
and we saw it no more. We are now watching the Pole-
star with the same interest, as in two or three days it will
sink beneath the horizon. But the constellations which
we used to see low in the south, but which are now blazing
over our heads, will still unite us together in thought by
the " bands of Orion, and the sweet influences of the
Pleiades." We have not yet had a favourable view of
the Southern Cross, or of its neighbour the southern tri
angle, as they come to the meridian in the day time.
Nothing of any particular note occurred during our first
week, most of the party being unwell, not including Sarah
and myself, who have not been disturbed. Little William
was uncomfortable for one day, but soon recovered.
Our first Sunday on board was most delightful. I had
given notice of the communion at the service on the 26th,
which some thought rather premature, as we could not be
sure of our weather ; but when the 2nd January came, we
celebrated divine service on board in such a calm as fell
upon the sea of Galilee, when Jesus said to its troubled
waters, Peace, be still. Our church was arranged thus:
Our communion-table was spread with Mr. Mackarness s
altar service-books and Mr. Few s communion plate, with
a cloth given to me by one of my parishioners in Windsor.
We had the full service with communion, and prayed for
you all, as I doubt not we were remembered in your
prayers. In the evening we had prayers in the dining-
room, the darkness having prevented an evening service
on deck, and as the ship hours of dinner are between one
and five.
I forgot to mention that we had service on the poop
deck on the morning of the Circumcision, and in the same
manner on the Epiphany. Last Sunday we began evening
prayers on the poop deck at six, and hope to have full
service next Sunday, as our days are now lengthened two
hours.
You would be much pleased with our church. I and my
108 LIFE OF BISHOP SELWYN. [CHAP. v.
chaplain sit at the part of the ship which is used for our
communion-table, which is covered with a red flag. The
capstan, covered with another flag, is our pulpit and desk,
and the seats are arranged round, covered with all the
ship s signals. Sarah leads the hymns and psalms, which
are well sung, as four of our gentlemen are practised
singers, and several of the steerage passengers join in
good tune. Dr. Blyth s Psalmody is our text-book.
I have already given you a programme of our week
day employments. Soon after sailing I gave notice that
I should open school on the first Monday in the new year,
allowing a week for sickness and convalescence. Accord
ingly on Monday, January 3, we began regular habits :
reading the daily prayers at eight in the morning, and the
Psalms and Lessons, in the original languages, each at their
appointed hour. Besides this, there is a New Zealand class,
comprising nearly all the party, and a mathematical class
for the study of navigation. The whole of the morning is
thus occupied, leaving the evening to the discretion of the
party, and for preparation for the next day. On Church
festivals, when the full service is read, the Eton practice of
a whole holiday is followed. The advantage of this regular
plan is generally admitted, as, instead of the voyage being
tedious, very few find the day long enough. My father
will explain to you this description of our life
" Excepto, quod non simul esses, cpetera Icetus."
We have taken different departments for the study of
the New Zealand language. Mr. Cotton and Mr. Eeay
are making a Concordance of the native Testament. I am
compiling from the Karotonga, Tahitian, and New Zea
land translations of the New Testament, a Comparative
Grammar of those three dialects, which are all from the
same root, and illustrate one another. I hope to be quite
familiar with the three dialects by the end of the voyage,
which will much facilitate the plan which I have con
ceived and which may God give me grace to carry into
effect of extending the branches of the Church of New
Zealand throughout the Southern Pacific.
I am studying practical navigation under our captain
(a most intelligent man) in order that I may be my own
Master in my visitation voyages. It gives me great pleasure
1842-1843.] LESSONS IN NAVIGATION. 109
to find that I am quite at my ease at sea, which makes
me look forward to the maritime character of my future
life with more comfort and hope. My chronometer and
sextant are in constant use. Last night I learned a new
observation, viz., to find the angular distance between the
moon and a fixed star. William gave me at Plymouth a
log-book and chart, in which I keep the ship s reckoning,
which is of great use in preventing those ill-defined ex
pectations of arriving at certain places before the time
which make journeys seem tedious. I always know the
ship s place exactly, and the probable time of her reaching
any given point.
Sarah has hitherto been much occupied in attending to
her lady companions, who are now rapidly gaining ground.
Mrs. Martin is on deck nearly all day, and Mrs. Dudley
has just taken her place by her side, having been confined
to her cabin for some days.
Long. 20 32 W. ; lat. 5 41 ; January 18th ; noon.
We are now in the midst of flying-fish, large shoals
of which have been seen every day skimming the sur
face in all directions. Yesterday the sharks began to
appear, and Rupai succeeded in catching a small one
this morning.
Lat. K 3 12 ; long. 20 15 W. ; 3 P.M. ; thermometer 82.
A brig has just come in sight, which we hope may con
vey this to you ; so I must close it up for the present to
be re-opened if the ship should prove not to be homeward
bound.
As we cannot hope to hear from you for many months,
it is a comfort to think that you may perhaps receive
letters from us before the end of February.
Sarah unites with me in kindest love, and with loving,
dutiful, and affectionate remembrances to my father, and
with kindest love to my brothers and sisters, and to all
friends, who are happily too numerous to be mentioned by
name,
I remain,
Your dutiful and truly affectionate son,
G. A. NEW ZEALAND.
Pray send our special love to aunts, Eliza and your
sisters, of whom one may be now at rest. All well.
110 LIFE OF BISHOP SELWYN. [CHAP. v.
BARQUE " TOMATIN," AT SEA,
A.M. April 13,
Long. 151-20, Lat 34 30,
Ended 10 P.M. April, off Sydney, N.
MY DEAREST MOTHER,
You will see by looking at the map that at the time of
this letter being begun we were approaching Sydney. We
are now coasting along the sunny shore of Australia,
within ten or fifteen miles of land, and with a full view
of the scenery. With our telescopes we can discover the
clearings of the settlers dotted along the coast ; but for
the most part the country appears to be covered with
forests. Since the date of my last letter we have had
no opportunity of sending letters to England, and have
seen very few ships, and those outward bound like our
selves. By referring to my " log-book I find that I sent
letters to you by the brig Vixen on Friday, January 21st,
which I hoped you would receive before the end of March
at the latest. From that time our voyage has been most
agreeable and prosperous, with one single exception, viz.,
the melancholy loss of two of the seamen, who were
drowned yesterday, as I will describe in order of time.
Our passage through the tropics, contrary to my ex
pectation, was exceedingly pleasant ; the thermometer
never rose above 83 Fahrenheit in the shade ; and in,
general we were refreshed by the trade winds, which
were carrying us along at the rate of eight or nine miles
an hour. Even during a short cairn which occurred on
the line, we did not find the heat so oppressive as we
expected our cabin, having two windows opening to the
stern and one to the side, was always cool and airy, and
the bath adjoining was a very great luxury.
On January 26th we crossed the line, and purchased an
exemption from the customary shaving, by presenting Nep
tune with a bone shaving brush (like my father s) enclosing
five sovereigns for the whole episcopal party.
Our services on deck, which I described in my last,
continued without interruption till the fourth Sunday
in Lent, up to which day not a single Saint s Day or
Sunday occurred on which we were prevented by weather
from having at least one service on deck. I suppose
I told you in my last that I had appointed one of our
1842-1843.] EASTEK AT SEA. Ill
clergymen, Mr. Cole, as chaplain to the steerage or forward
passengers, seventeen in number, and Mr. Eeay and Mr.
Dudley as chaplains to the crew. Mr. Cole performed
divine service every day in the forward cabin during
great part of the voyage, and Mr. Eeay and Dudley read
prayers with the sailors at suitable opportunities. The
steerage passengers attended our public services most
regularly ; but the sailors, from various difficulties, were
more remiss, which the late melancholy event has led
me more than ever to regret.
During Lent our usual services were extended to
Wednesdays and Fridays, and continued without inter
ruption till we were in latitude 40 S., when, the weather
being too cold for service on deck, we arranged the lower
deck for service.
But I wish you could have seen us on Easter Sunday.
But first I must tell you of our Passion week. . On Palm
Sunday we were in lat. 40 S., long. 62 E. four hours
before your time ; therefore, when you were at your early
devotions at half-past six A.M., we were assembling every
day to divine service. Having six clergymen on board
besides myself, I appointed a sermon for every day in
Passion week, on the subject of one of the events of the
day. The six clergymen took the six days, and I preached
on Palm Sunday, the second sermon on Good Friday, and
on Easter Sunday. I have requested the clergymen to
write their sermons in a book in memory of our Passion
week on the ocean.
When Easter Day came we were in lat. 38 S., long. 89 K,
and a more lovely day could not be seen. Orders were
therefore given to prepare the quarterdeck for service.
Mr. Few s communion plate was arranged on a large pro
jection covering the hatchway of the lower-deck. Mr.
Mackarness s altar services, and one of the many cloths
which I have received for the use of the altar, gave
the appearance of the Lord s table at church. But you
may judge of our delight when nine of the forward pas
sengers, who had not before attended our communion,
joined us on this occasion. I trust that we were with
you in the spirit, as I doubt not those of your thoughts
which were not in heaven were with us. In all we had
thirty-four communicants.
112 LIFE OF BISHOP SELWYN. [CHAP, v;
OUT last service has been of a different character. On
Sunday last, April 10th, I gave notice that (God willing)
a service of thanksgiving would be performed on the
evening before the day on which it was probable that we
should reach Sydney.
We were then off Cape Otway, at the west entrance of
Bass s Straits, but we made such a rapid passage through
the straits that it very soon appeared probable that we
should reach Sydney on Wednesday. At twelve on Tues
day, therefore, I gave notice that the service would be held
that evening, and prepared a sermon for the occasion, of
which the following was the beginning :
Psalm cvii. 30 " He Iringeth them unto the haven where
they would be."
" You will easily believe, brethren, that we have invited
you to join us this evening in a solemn act of thanks
giving to Almighty God, with no common feelings of
Christian joy, or of brotherly love one towards another.
It might have been ordained by God that our intercourse
should have been mingled with sorrow ; and it may still
be so, for we can never forget that there is but a step be
tween us and death, and that the little space which now
seems to separate us from the haven where we would be,
may be the spot chosen by God for some visitation of His
heavy hand. We rejoice, therefore, with trembling, with
hope subdued by a spirit of reverential submission to His
will, prepared either to accept His mercies with thankful
ness, or to acquiesce in His judgments."
While I was concluding my sermon, about 5 P.M. on
Tuesday, April 12th, the service being appointed for 6 P.M.,
I heard the cry, " Man overboard I " and, rushing up on
deck with my " life preservers " in hand, I caught sight of
the man swimming a great distance astern, the ship being
then going at the rate of seven miles an hour. My first
impulse was to go overboard after him, but I had read that
the difficulty was generally increased by this, and there
fore I waited to see the boat lowered, in hopes that the
man would keep himself up till he was relieved ; but, to
my horror, I heard that he was intoxicated, and I then
felt sure that he would spend all his strength in a few
moments, and go down. And so it proved, for the boat
came too late. In the meantime the ship tacked and
1842-1843.] LOSS OF LIFE. 113
stood towards the boat, which came alongside, and was
being secured, when a roll of the ship swamped her, and
she sank with three sailors in her. As she passed the
stern half sinking we called out to the men to cling to the
boat, which we saw was rising again to the surface, when
the weight of their bodies was lessened by their immersion
in the water ; and for a time it appeared as if all the men
had seized the boat or oars, and might wait in safety till
another boat could be lowered to their assistance. But
when we thought them safe we saw one of them sink,
and he never rose again. This was the most painful part
of all ; for I had my life-preservers filled (with air), and
could, I have no doubt, have saved him if I had jumped
in. But the whole scene was so new to me that I was
paralysed, and knew not what to do for the best. The
other two men could swim, one very well, the other a
little. Both had parted from the boat, and were soon
some way astern, but not out of sight. When I saw the
man sink, I threw my life-preservers into the water for the
two survivors, and, thank God, the weaker swimmer caught
one of them, and supported himself upon it till the second
boat came and took them in.
While this heartrending scene was passing at sea the
sun was setting gloriously behind the Australian Alps, in
marked and most melancholy contrast with the gloom in
the heart of every one on board. Our thanksgiving service
was changed into a solemn service of death, of which the
following is a plan :
Sentences : " There is but a step between me and
death;" "Man that is bom of a woman," &c., with the
other sentences from the Burial Service; Confession; Ab
solution ; Lord s Prayer ; Proper Psalms from the Burial
Service ; First Lesson, Jonah ii. and iii. ; Psalm li. ; Second
Lesson, Matt, xxiv., from verse 29; Psalm xlii. ; Creed;
End of Commination Service, from " Lord have mercy upon
us ; " Thanksgiving of the two men saved ; First Thanks
giving from Prayers at Sea, slightly altered ; Thanksgiving
of passengers for prosperous voyage ; Second Thanksgiving
from the Prayers at Sea ; Prayer and blessing from the
Visitation of the Sick.
All the sailors who could be spared from deck attended;
and all the passengers, cabin and steerage. The service
VOL. i. I
114 LIFE OF BISHOP SELWYN. [CHAP. v.
was very solemn and mournful, and, I hope, not without
its effect upon the crew. This is the only circumstance
which has occurred to break the continued prosperity of
our voyage.
We arrived in sight of Sydney Lighthouse at sunset on
Wednesday, April 13th, and were off the heads of the
harbour by 9 P.M. ; the wind then sank, and we passed
the night in a dead calm. At present 10 A.M. April 14th
the land-wind is blowing gently, and we do not make
much progress towards the shore ; but after noon we hope
that the usual sea-breeze, which then sets in, will take us
into port.
I must now tell you about ourselves. Sarah is very
well, but rather weakened by want of rest, as she is not
a good sleeper, and the noises overhead at night much
disturb her. But her general health has been excellent,
and I have every hope that she will in the end be much
benefited by the voyage.
Baby (now William, as being two years old) has not
had a day s illness all the voyage. Lord Powis s cow has
never failed to supply him with milk twice a day, except
during a few days following her premature accouchement.
And he has had fresh or preserved meat almost every day,
so that his diet has been as good as it could have been on
shore.
I can now converse with Eupai fluently in New Zea
land, and catechise him always in his own language. His
company has been of the greatest service to me, as it has
guided my pronunciation, and given me a continual reason
for talking. All the New Zealand party have made some
progress. Among the young men, Mr. Evans is the best
scholar. This will give us great weight with the natives,
as they will not be a little pleased at the arrival of a whole
party of English speaking their language.
My navigation has also prospered, so that I can now find
the ship s latitude and longitude, and shape her course.
Our last lunar observation was most useful, as we de
tected an error of four minutes in the ship s chronometers,
which made our place a degree behind our real position.
This made the captain cautious on entering Bass Straits,
where we found ourselves suddenly close to an island
called Kodondo, near Wilson s Promontory, at two in the
1842-1843.] SYDNEY. 115
morning, where we should not have been (if the chrono
meter reckoning had been true) till past sunrise. The
lunar observation had led to a good look-out being kept at
night, and all that was necessary was to " lie to " till day
break, when we steered splendidly through the groups of
islands in the straits, enjoying one of the most lovely morn
ings, and one of the most splendid sea- views that can be
imagined. The same evening that we cleared the straits
a furious south-west wind came on, which would have made
our situation the previous night very dangerous. This was
the only strong gale that we had through the whole voyage,
and it only lasted a few hours. We are, therefore, full of
thankfulness for a most delightful voyage, during which
we have not been obliged to close the dead-lights of our
cabin once, nor has a single drop of sea- water (except a
little spray) ever come in through the windows.
I have sent enclosed a little chart, from which Charles
will be able to prick off our weekly course on your map
of the world on Mercator s projection. Pray send on the
draft to William, who gave me the chart on which I have
kept the ship s course.
The breeze has sprung up, and we are rapidly entering
the harbour, where we may find a ship homeward-bound;
therefore, I must now close, with my most affectionate
love to all.
God bless you, my dearest mother, and believe me ever
Your dutiful and truly affectionate son,
G. A. NEW ZEALAND.
On April 14th, 1842, the Tomatin came to an anchor in
the harbour of Sydney, and the Bishop of New Zealand
had an opportunity of conferring with the experienced
Bishop of Australia on many important matters connected
with his own diocese. Never since New Holland had been
discovered had two Christian bishops met on the shores of
that vast continent, and the occasion was one full of in
terest to both prelates. Bishop Selwyn was always prone
to seek the counsel of his elders, and the venerable Bishop
Broughton rejoiced in the extension of his order in the
southern hemisphere ; and was especially thankful to find
I 2
116 LIFE OF BISHOP SELWYN. [CHAP. v.
that the first Bishop of New Zealand was such as he was.
He wrote on May 13th, 1842 :
" On the 14th ultimo I enjoyed the gratification of wel
coming into my diocese the Bishop of New Zealand, with
his family and attendant clergy. It is not in my power to
express my feelings on this occasion, whether arising from
respect and affection towards the eminent man with whom
I have now formed for the first time a personal acquaint
ance, or from a remembrance of the important object which
his mission appears destined to accomplish for the Church
and for the islands of the south, which may be brought into
it through the Divine blessing attending his exertions.
From the intercourse which we have already held, I trust
that both the Bishop of New Zealand and myself may
derive advantages which will compensate for the delay
which by touching here he may experience in reaching
his ultimate destination."
In going up Sydney harbour the Tomatin received
some damage by "taking the ground," and as the needful
repairs involved a delay irksome to the bishop, who longed
to be at his work, he and his chaplain, and others of the
party, took ship in a small brig, the Bristolian, on May
19th, reaching Auckland on May 30th.
His landing was characteristic, and no bad omen of his
future career. His Chaplain, Mr. Cotton, used to relate
how the bishop s first act was to kneel down on the sand
and give thanks to God. The wife of a missionary thus
gave her impressions to a friend in England :
I must tell you that our good bishop has arrived. . . .
He took us all by surprise. . . . He had been becalmed
off the heads, and, with his chaplain and his native servant,
took to the boat : the two latter rowed, his Lordship steered,
and they reached this place soon after dark. . . . W. and
H. were soon down at the beach, where they found the
head of our New Zealand Church busily engaged in assist
ing to pull up the boat out of the surf. Such an entree
bespoke him a man fit for a New Zealand life. We are all
much delighted with him ; he seems so desirous of doing
good to the natives, and so full of plans for the welfare of all.
1842-1843.] FIRST IMPRESSIONS. 117
To-day the Tomatin has arrived, bringing Mrs. Selwyn
and the rest of his numerous party. . . . We admired
him before, but he has completely won our hearts to-day
by his reception of his wife and family.
As long as she lived, his mother was the most favoured
recipient of the bishop s letters. To cheer her spirits,
which were always depressed, he wrote his brightest and
most cheerful journals, and frequently illustrated them
with pen and ink sketches of considerable artistic power.
From the journal sent on this occasion are to be gathered
the emotions with which, as he approached his diocese, he
contemplated the work that lay before him.
Friday, May 27th. We made the " three kings " before
midnight. Bright moonlight and fair wind. Remained on
deck till midnight, full of thoughts suggested by the first
sight of my diocese. God grant that I may never depart
from the resolutions which I then formed, but by His
grace be strengthened to devote myself more and more
earnestly to the work to which He has called me.
Saturday, May ZSth. Saw North Cape at daybreak,
and ran gently along all day, with Mount Camel and the
high lands from North Cape to Cape Brett in sight. Sea
perfectly smooth, and weather lovely.
Sunday, May 29th. At daybreak, off the Bay of Islands.
Ean along with smooth sea and favourable wind. Service
on deck at 10.30. At noon, just at the conclusion of the
service, we were off Bream Head, a noble cape, which we
saw under every advantage of weather and sunshine, and
which gave us the first impression of the beauty of New
Zealand. All "the rest of the day we glided quietly along
close to the shore, tracing every headland and bay in the
map, and enjoying such reflections as a scene of such deep in
terest, and seen under such highly favourable circumstances,
could not fail to excite. On reaching the mouth of Auck
land harbour, the wind, which had before been fair for sail
ing to the south, changed enough to enable us to sail west
of the harbour, where we cast anchor at midnight, under
a bright moon, and every outward circumstance agreeing
with our inward feelings of thankfulness and joy.
118 LIFE OF BISHOP SELWYN. [CHAP. v.
" So Thou bringest them unto the haven where they
would be."
Monday, May 30th. Rowed in my boat (KB., which I
bought at Sydney) to Mr. Chief Justice Martin s at sun
rise. Found him in bed, but slid my card under his door,
which soon brought him out. You may easily conceive
his pleasure at hearing of the safe arrival of his wife.
We took him and the Attorney-General (Mr. Swainson) to
breakfast on board, and afterwards escorted them to their
house in the Governor s barge. After giving them my
blessing, I left them to themselves, and went to Govern
ment House.
Tuesday, May 3lst Went to stay with the Governor
and Mrs. Hobson, whom I found most hospitable and
agreeable.
Sunday, June, 5th. Preached at Auckland in the Court
house, at present used for a church.
" If I take the wings of the morning and remain in the
uttermost parts of the sea" &c. .
To the astonishment and delight both of the Maoris
and the Missionaries the bishop said prayers and preached
in Maori on this the first Sunday which he spent in his
Diocese.
Many plans had been carefully matured before leaving
England, for mistakes trivial in themselves were, in a
Colony and Church both in their infancy, liable to be
fraught with serious consequences. Thus it was of set
purpose that the bishop took the title of New Zealand,
contrary to primitive and general custom ; but in these
islands, each of which had its rival settlements, to have
taken a title from a particular city, and thereby made it
an ecclesiastical centre, would have provoked jealousy in
every other town, and have put hindrances in the way of the
Gospel. On similar grounds the actual residence of the
bishop was left an open question : he himself inclined to
Auckland, which he said he should call Bishop s Auck
land ; and this, ultimately, but not at first, became his
Cathedra. Great pressure was put on him to settle at
Wellington, where the largest number of English had
1842-1843.] FINANCIAL AEKANGEMENTS. 119
fixed their abode : the Agent of the New Zealand Church
Society had secured considerable holdings of land in the
neighbourhood, and he wrote that "great anxiety pre
vailed/ and he " felt it his duty to inform the society
that if, unfortunately, it should be determined that the
bishop should fix his principal residence at Auckland,
instead of being received with affectionate regard as our
best friend, he will be coldly looked upon as instrumental
to our injury, and a main prop of a rival settlement." The
good man went on to express his opinion of " the great im
portance of rendering the bishop powerful in popularity as
well as in station and character ; " and to that end urged
that he should " reside in the midst of his people/ by
which was meant the Company s colonists.
The principle which guided the bishop was not personal
popularity, but the good of the flock, composed as it was
of natives and immigrants in the proportion of ten natives
to one immigrant.
Financial arrangements were also made on a very definite
plan before the bishop left England. He looked forward
to the Church in New Zealand becoming self-supporting
at an early date, and it was for that condition of things
that he took measures from the first. He was conscious
of the evils of the system of endowments, which robbed the
laity of the privilege of paying for their religion, and he
was equally aware of the failure of the voluntary system,
by which the clergy are often at the mercy of their con
gregations; he therefore aimed at combining the two systems,
and at obtaining the advantages of both. He had unfolded
his plans to the Eev. Ernest Hawkins in the following
letter, very soon after his nomination to the See :
WANLIP RECTORY, LEICESTER,
Aug. 30th, 1841.
MY DEAR HAWKINS,
In a former conversation with you on the subject of
the stipends of the Society s missionaries, 1 think that I
mentioned to you the course which seemed to me to be
120 LIFE OF BISHOP SELWYN. [CHAP. v.
most desirable for the payment of the clergy in New
Zealand. I have long thought that the plan of annual
salaries, whatever advantages it may possess in other
quarters, does not apply to New Zealand, where there is
comparatively no arrear of past neglect to be made up,
and where we may hope to proceed deliberately in build
ing up the parochial system. Do you think that the
Society, instead of giving annual salaries to my clergy,
would enable me to endow annually one permanent bene
fice ? The sum of 1,000/. laid out at interest in the colony
would produce at least 100/. per annum, which, with such
additions as I might obtain from the settlers themselves,
would form the basis of a lasting endowment. The same
sum laid out in land in the new settlements would, in a
few years, yield an ample income to a clergyman. Town
land is now letting at Wellington on leases for fourteen
years at 251. per quarter of an acre in the best situations.
We have already two sections of land at Wellington, which
will, I hope, endow two parishes at no very distant period.
A thousand pounds spent at Nelson, and another next
year at Auckland, would, I think, secure the permanent
establishment of the Church in both -places, My object
would be to keep all new clergymen with myself, working
in my central institutions, till the growth of population
required the creation of a new benefice, and I would then
draft them off according to character and seniority I
should thus hope to know all my clergy intimately. What
I most of all deprecate is the continuance of annual
salaries, which leave a Church always in the same depen
dent state as at first, and lay upon the parent Society a
continually increasing burden. If the Society would en
trust to me an annual grant for the purpose of endowment,
I would husband it to the uttermost, and I think that
under the peculiar circumstances of the colony their funds
could not be more beneficially employed. I am not
anxious to take out many clergymen at first, as the land
is not yet ready for the formation of a central establish
ment ; and all my communications with Government have
ended by my being referred to the Governor on the spot.
Under these circumstances, if the Society would furnish
me with some assistance for the passage-money of two
clergymen and their wives, two schoolmasters and wives,
1842-1843.] STATE AID REFUSED. 121
to go with me in November, and send out to me annually
one or two clergymen and schoolmasters, I shall be
satisfied.
The Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in
Foreign Parts acceded to the request of the bishop, who,
eight years afterwards, was able to point out that it had
thoroughly succeeded. He wrote [again to Mr. Hawkins]
" I hope it is a satisfaction to you to think that you have
endowed in perpetuity three chaplaincies in New Zealand,
even at English interest, at a price not exceeding sixteen
years purchase. If the Society could have spent all its
income in the same way for a century and a half you would
now have endowed for ever nearly 1,000 chaplaincies at 150/.
per annum, and have altered the whole face of the Colonial
Church. This, you will say, was one of Selwyn s crotchets,
and I am content that you should so call it, so long as I
enjoy the fruit of your departure in my favour from your
old practice." The clergy were in no case dependent on
local boards : they received their stipends from the Arch
deaconry Funds. If local subscriptions failed, no exten
sion of the Church could take place, and thus in time .the
spirit of local exertion was awakened.
From the first the Bishop declined assistance from the
State under the " Church Act," which was copied from the
New South Wales Act, " which professes to give its assist
ance to the Church only as one of the many denominations
of Christians, at the same time hampering the Churches so
assisted with a Board of Trustees and other unecclesiastical
machinery, which has already proved injurious to the
Church in Sydney." He said he "preferred to maintain
the Church s independence, and to commit her support to
the free charities of the servants of God."
In the early days of his residence in New Zealand, he
wrote to the Rev. E. Coleridge :
" I have felt obliged to assume a position of entire inde
pendence : offering to buy whatever land might be required
for the Church, rather than submit to restrictions of which
122 LIFE OF BISHOP SELWYN. [CHAP, v
I cannot approve. One good effect of this has already
appeared in the appropriation of burial-grounds that I
have obtained two grounds to be consecrated for the burial
of the dead according to the usage of the Church of
England, and vested in myself as trustee, instead of being
mixed up with a general Protestant Cemetery for all
denominations.
And now the time had come when theories and plans
were to be tested by daily work. On the first Sunday
after landing, the bishop, as has been already mentioned,
preached his " thanksgiving sermon " in the Court-house
of Auckland, the church of S. Paul being only half-built. 1
The sermon was remarkable as an expression of thank
fulness for a safe voyage, and also as showing the frame of
mind in which the bishop commenced his work, the source
of that supernatural strength which supported him, and
the simple way in which he put aside what to others
would have been great and serious difficulties. Having
shown " how small is the change of our true life by the
mere change of our dwelling-place," he said :
" A great change has taken place in the circumstances
of our natural life, but no change has taken place which
need affect our spiritual being. We have left home, and
friends, and all that was dear to us ; we have passed over
many thousand miles of sea, and have come to a land
where there is not so much as a tree resembling those of
our native country. All visible things are new and strange,
but the things that are unseen remain the same. Many
bodily comforts are abridged, many worldly enjoyments are
lost, many outward circumstances are changed, but the
inward and spiritual realities of our Christian life are still
1 Before this church, was consecrated a discussion arose as to the allot-
me.nt of seats. A man who had given a large sum suggested that those
who had given most should have priority of choice. To the surprise of
all the bishop seemed to assent, but added, " How are we to find that
out?" "No difficulty," said the donor; "there s the subscription
list." "Very true," said the bishop ; " but you know we have read of a
poor widow who only gave two mites, and the highest authority tells us
that she gave more than they all."
1842-1843.] THANKSGIVING SEEMON. 123
unaltered. The same Spirit guides, and teaches, and com
forts, and watches over us ; the same Saviour prays for us
at the right hand of God, and is in the midst of us on
earth, when we are met together in His name. The
God and Father of us all numbers every hair of our heads,
that not one of us may be lost. The same Church of
Christ acknowledges us as her members, and stretches out
her arms to receive and bless our children in baptism, to
lay her hands upon the heads of our youth, to break and
to bless the bread of the Eucharist, and to call all true
believers to the Supper of the Lord ; and lastly, to lay our
dead in the grave in peace and with the same sure and
certain hope of a resurrection to eternal life.
" If then there be a change in our present state, it is
only in the things which we see and touch and taste and
handle, and which perish in the handling. The things
unseen by which we live in the spirit with God are like
God Himself, Who cannot change. The love of the
Father never faileth; the intercession of Christ never
ceaseth: the Comfort of the Spirit abideth with us for
ever : the ministry of the Church goes on in perpetual
succession : the prayers of the Church come up, as the
morning and evening sacrifice to God: the inward in
fluences of a true and lively faith still act upon every
willing heart. In short there is no Christian duty and
no Christian comfort or principle or hope which is not
essentially the same to us under our present circumstances,
as when we were enjoying the more settled ordinances and
visible forms of our Mother Church. The only difference
is that ours is a Church built upon faith and hope : a
Church, of which we see nothing but believe everything :
a seed now hidden in the ground, but which, we trust in
God, will grow up into a great tree."
After this memorable Sunday the bishop and a mis
sionary accompanied the Aborigines Protection Commis
sioner to the Thames District, their object being to inquire
into a massacre that had recently been committed, and
which had threatened to lead to serious consequences, the
natives having assembled to the number of 1,000 to
revenge the crime.
124 LIFE OF BISHOP SELWYK [CHAP. v.
On S. John the Baptist s Day the Tomatin reached the
Bay of Islands, and there the divided party were re-united
with one exception, the Rev. T. Whytehead being obliged
to remain behind with friends in Sydney for a time.
This was a disappointment to the bishop, and the early
removal of his dear friend and chaplain was one of
the chief sorrows of his episcopate : his delight at securing
him had been great : " My stationary man ! one whom I
can leave in charge in my absence," had been his descrip
tion of him : he had great influence with young men :
and in New Zealand, whither slanderous reports had pre
ceded him, all were won over. It was a fair sight to see
the old grey-haired catechist sit at his feet as the younger
prepared the elder for ordination, and to hear it said, " It
was an angel unawares that we have received among us."
The bishop had already chosen the Waimate as his head
quarters, where the Church Missionary Society possessed
houses which could receive all the party, and abundantly
the selection was justified so long as the circumstances of
the diocese allowed of its continuance. In 1843, the
Bishop wrote :
" Every day convinces me more and more that we are
better placed here than in one of the English towns. The
general laxity of morals, and defect of Church principles,
in the new settlements, would make them dangerous places
for the education of the young, and render it almost im
possible to keep up that high tone of religious character
and strictness of discipline which is required, both as a
protest against the prevailing state of things, and as a
training for our candidates for Holy Orders. At the
Waimate, I am fettered by no usages, subject to no
fashions, influenced by no expectations of other men ;
I can take that course which seems to be the best, and
pursue it with unobtrusive perseverance. When we have
been strengthened in our entrenched camp (if it be God s
will), we will sally forth."
But the daily work of the entrenched camp had to be
done by subordinates. A few days were given to settling
1842-1843.] SICKNESS AND DEATH. 125
in his party, in arranging a plan of work and study
during his absence, and the bishop returned to Auckland
to commence his first visitation. A delay arose in conse
quence of the brig not being ready, and during these few
days he was busy selecting sites for churches, parsonages,
and cemeteries, and receiving visits from natives, to each
of whom he gave a copy of S. Matthew s Gospel in
Maori which he had had printed in England. On July 28,
realizing the truth of the text "they that have wives
[shall] be as though they had none," he was off on a long
visitation by land and sea, on horseback, and more often.
on foot, to Wellington, Nelson, and the Southern Island,
hoping to reach Auckland early in December, and to spend
Christmas at home, having seen " every settlement and
every clergyman and catechist in the country." .
At Wellington he had the task of nursing on his death
bed his friend and companion W. Evans, who had sailed
with him from England, and on whose assistance he had
rested hopefully. The Chief Justice, who joined him at
Wellington, in October, was much struck by the effect of
anxiety on the bishop, and wrote thus to his wife.
WELLINGTON, Oct. IMh, 1842.
As our boat neared the beach the bishop stood there
to welcome us. It was very joyous to meet him, but I
was struck by his pale, worn face. He was nursing the
sick in the house where I lodged last year. The sick man
was poor Evans, who had then been given over by the
physicians; he was to all appearance sinking . . .
The bishop was watching and tending as a mother or wife
might watch and tend. It was a most affecting sight. He
practised every little art that nourishment might be sup
plied to his patient ; he pounded chicken into fine powder,
that it might pass in a liquid form into his ulcerated
mouth. He made jellies, he listened to every sound, he
sat up the whole night through by the bedside. In short,
he did everything worthy of his noble nature. It went to
my heart. ... A morning or two ago I strolled up
one of those sunny hills that I might breathe the fresh
air before going into court, and there, amidst the life and
126 LIFE OF BISHOP SELWYN.- [CHAP. v.
beauty of a spring morning, a boy was digging the grave
of poor Evans. . . . The bishop and I have slept side by
side, on two stretchers in a huge loft, ever since I came."
On this journey the bishop spent the first anniversary
of his consecration, and in the following letter to his
mother, who at the time of its being written was removed
from earthly cares, he describes what his feelings were :
WAIKANAE, Oct. 23rd, 1842.
You would be surprised with the comparative comfort
which I enjoy in my encampments. My tent is strewn
with dry fern or grass. My air-bed is laid upon it. My
books, clothes, and other goods lie beside it ; and though
the whole dimensions of my dwelling do not exceed eight
feet by five, I have more room than I require, and am as
comfortable as it is possible for a man to be when he is
absent from those whom he loves most. I spent Oct.
17th, the anniversary of my consecration, in my tent on
the sand hills, with no companion but three natives ; my
party having gone on to Wanganui to fetch Mr. Mason s
horse for me ; and while in that situation, I was led natu
rally to contrast my present position with the very different
scenes at Lambeth and Fulham last year. I can assure
you that the comparison brought with it no feelings of dis
content ; on the contrary, I spent the greater part of the
day, after, the usual services and readings with my natives,
in thinking with gratitude over the many mercies and
blessings which have been granted to me in the past year ;
among which, the cheerfulness and comfort with which
you bore our separation was not forgotten. Indeed in
looking back upon the events of the year ; upon my happy
parting from all my friends, my visit to the Bishop of
Australia, my prosperous voyages, eight in number, my
happiness in the reports of Sarah s health and contentment
during our separation, my favourable reception in every
town in my diocese, my growing friendship with the
natives, who have now heard of me in every part of the
country, and welcome me with their characteristic cordi
ality, all form an inexhaustible subject for thoughts of
joy and thanksgiving, which sometimes fill the heart
almost to overflowing. The loss of my faithful friend and
1842-1843.] CHRISTIANITY OF NATIVES. 127
companion, W. Evans, and the intelligence of the death of
my brother-in-law, which I knew would deeply afflict
Sarah, are the only interruptions to this continued course
of happiness. . . .
Waikanae is the station of the Rev. 0. Hadfield, who
is a most valuable and zealous missionary. I enjoyed
his society much during the time that he was able to
accompany us on our way. We slept at his house, and
the next day assembled the natives to service ; more
than 500 had come from various parts, so that the
chapel and the space outside the walls were quite
full. I preached to them as well as I could, and gathered
from their faces that they understood what I was saying.
In fact, my progress through the country involves rne in
almost daily preaching and teaching. So that I hope soon
to be fluent, if not correct. At Waikanae I saw the
preparations -for a new chapel on a large scale. The
Ridge Piece was formed out of a single tree, and is
76 feet in length, a present from the neighbouring
settlement of Otaki, which till Mr. Had field s arrival
was at war with the people of Waikanae, but has made
peace, and presented them with this appropriate token of
friendship.
On Wednesday, Oct. 12, we walked ten miles to Otaki,
another of Mr. Hadfield s stations, and slept in his house,
where I left the greater part of my stores to be ready for
my journey up the Manawatu river to Ahuriri, on the
east coast.
As has been already mentioned, the first anniversary of
his consecration was the day on which his mother entered
into her rest. It had been allowed to him specially to
comfort and cheer her when, as was often the case, her
morbid depression was proof against the sympathy of
others, and his parting from her a short year previous had
been a sore trial; when, therefore, the news of her not
unexpected decease came, many months after the event, he
described himself as " going heavily, as one that mourneth
for his mother." What his own feelings were may be in
ferred from a striking letter of condolence which he
addressed to a friend under similar sorrow :
128 LIFE OF BISHOP SELWYN. [CHAP. v.
I have not intruded upon the privacy of your sorrow
at an earlier period, because I felt that I could add nothing
to the motives to resignation which you already have, both
in yourself and in the various members of your united
family. May it be still an united family, though one main
link is broken ; for the Christian spirit of her who used to
be the centre of domestic comfort, and the example of
Christian conduct, will still pervade every member, and
unite them more closely by its purely spiritual influence.
In the lifetime even of the best of mothers, there may be
some mingling of human frailties with the holy influence
which God gave her power to exercise ; some trifling draw
backs to the full effect of her bright example ; but death
removes the human hindrances and effectuates the opera
tion of parental counsel upon the heart of the child. It is
then that every well-remembered word has the force of one
of those laws which could not be altered by the Athenians
because the Solon who made them was dead. If you have
been more particularly blessed in the character and dispo
sition of the parent whom you have lost, there is no fear
that the late event will cause any diminution of that
blessing. The only character of which this can be said
with truth, is that of the Christian parent. There is no
other attachment which does not sustain an irreparable
breach by the hand of death. The father is bereaved of
the support of his old age by the death of a child, the
husband of the companion of his bosom by the death of a
wife ; but the child is not deprived of that which constitutes
the great value of the parental character its Christian
exemplariness by the death of the parent upon whose
model, refined and purified by religion, his own disposition
has been trained and matured. Death, which cuts short all
other sympathies, exalts and ennobles the influence of a
parent upon a child.
Strange were the adventures in this long journey : at
one time the bishop was cheered by the well-ordered
mission of the Eev. 0. Hadfield (the present Bishop of
Wellington), who was his travelling companion for some
days: at another he was received with all honour in a
fortified Pa, at a place rendered notorious by a recent
1842-1843.] POLYNESIAN COLLEGE. 129
murder which was followed by an act of cannibalism, " the
principal murderer being most assiduous in his attentions,"
which took the form of shaking of hands and shouts of
" Haeere mai : " a few miles further on he was the guest of
a missionary at whose station was also staying the acting
Governor, with a suite of secretaries and interpreters, who
had come down to investigate the circumstances of the
murder and to bring the offenders to justice; the Chief
Justice was the bishop s companion at this part of his
visitation, and thus the heads of the State, the Law, the
Army, and the Church, were at one and the same time the
guests of the Mission, which afforded to all alike a place
of safety in spite of the turbulent spirits that were abroad,
no small testimony to the value of the missionary s labours.
His wife commended herself much to the bishop in that
she " pursued the even tenor of her domestic duties, not
deviating from their usual mode of living, which was
most suitable to the character of a mission station."
At the close of this year the bishop received a com
munication from his brother of Australia, whose mind,
like his own, had conceived the idea of a central College,
at which the pupils should be gathered from all the islands
of the Pacific, but with Mr. Whytehead sinking rapidly
into his grave, where was the man to be found who could
preside over such an institution while the bishop was
absent on his . extensive journeys ? He wrote thus his
views and feelings to Mrs. Selwyn :
" I am about to answer the Bishop of Australia s letter.
His proposal completely falls in with my wish to form a
Polynesian College for the different branches of the Maori
family scattered over the Pacific ; and therefore I shall
write an answer in entire accordance with his views. But
you know how much I have built upon my dear friend s
(Mr. Whytehead s) assistance in all my plans for central
institutions ; and if it please God to remove from rne the
human pillar of my whole edifice as He has already taken
from me one who promised to be in his lower station a
trustworthy foundation-stone, how little shall 1 have left
VOL. I. K
130 LIFE OF BISHOP SELWYN. [CHAP. v.
of support upon which I can really depend, and yet how
fully ought I to continue to "believe that this is God s
work ; and that He has ways yet in store, by which He
will bring it to completion ? Perhaps I trusted too much
to human instruments ; perhaps I was proud of being so
attended, though indeed I know that I was often humbled
by being meekly waited upon by one whose prayers I
needed more than he could profit by > my blessing. I
seemed to be but a body to his mind ; and yet in such a
combination of material power with spiritual meekness
there seemed to be a purpose of God to supplement the
weakness of the one by that in which the other was
strong. God s will be done. Only may I duly profit
by the deeply written lesson which this holy vision, for so
it seems, has fixed upon my heart. Let me not be back
ward to render thankfully to God that which is so
evidently His own Believe me, I am cheerful still ;
but it will be as the death of a brother to me, when he
dies : and I cannot but dwell upon the prospect, as if a
cloud were hanging over the once sunny landscape of my
goodly heritage and my fair land. Still there is a light
that shines in the darkness, though I cannot fully com
prehend it. "
On December 30, the Chief Justice and the bishop
separated: the former to spend New Year s Day under
his own roof, but for the bishop it had long been evident
that he must abandon the hope of reaching home for
Christmas, or even for New Year s Day. A visitation of the
Waikato had to be made, and on January 1 he " reviewed
with much thankfulness the various events of the past
year, so full of new and important features/ On January
3, 1843, the bishop s diary contains the following charac
teristic entry, which has often been quoted but which must
not on that account be excluded from these pages, which
aim at being a memoir of what he said and did :
" My last pair of thick shoes being worn out, and my
feet much blistered with walking the day before on the
stumps, which I was obliged to tie to my insteps with
1842-1843.] VISITATION ENDED. 131
pieces of native flax, (phormium tenax,) 1 borrowed a horse
from the native teacher, and started at four A.M. to go
twelve miles to Mr. Hamlin s Mission- station at Manukau
harbour, where I arrived at seven A.M. in time for his
family breakfast. After breakfast, wind and tide being
favourable, I sailed in Mr. Hamlin s boat ten miles across
Manukau harbour; a noble sheet of water, but very-
dangerous from shoals and frequency of squalls. A beauti
ful run of two hours brought us to Onehunga by noon.
I landed there with my faithful Maori Eota (Lot), who
had steadily accompanied me from Kapiti, carrying my
bag and gown and cassock, the only remaining article in
my possession of the least value. The suit which I wore
was kept sufficiently decent, by much care, to enable me
to enter Auckland by daylight ; and my last remaining
pair of shoes (thin ones) were strong enough for the light
and sandy walk of six miles which remained from Manukau
to Auckland. At two P.M. I reached the Judge s house,
by a path, avoiding the town, and passing over land which
I have bought for the site of the cathedral ; x a spot which,
I hope, may hereafter be traversed by the feet of many
bishops, better shod and .far less ragged than myself. It
is a noble site for a large building, overlooking the whole
1 Mr. Swainson, in his excellent work New Zealand and its Colonization,
to which these pages are already under great obligations, has a good
. passage on this entry in the bishop s journal, and it is interesting, as on
other grounds, so for the way in which the tables are turned on Lord
Macaulay s mythical New Zealander, of whom we are all weary. He
writes (p. 219) :
" By the provident foresight of Bishop Selwyn this commanding
position has been secured for the site of the Metropolitan Cathedral of
New Zealand. And at some remote period in the far distant future, when
the projected cathedral shall have become a venerable pile, it will be a
matter of no little interest to its then ministers (should the tradition be so
long preserved) to read how, in the dark or early ages of New Zealand,
A.D. 1843, its founder, the first bishop, returning from a walking Visita
tion of more than a thousand miles, attended by a faithful companion of a
then, it may be, extinct race, his shoes worn out and tied to his instep by
a leaf of native flax, travel-worn but not weary, once more found himself
on this favoured spot, arrested for a moment by the noble prospect pre
sented to his bodily eye, and cheered by the prophetic vision of a long
line of successors, Bishops of New Zealand, traversing the same spot,
better clad and less ragged than himself. Such a scene illustrative of
* The Hour and the Man in the hands of a true artist, would afford a
fitting subject for a painting to adorn the walls of the future Chapter
house of St. ."
K 2
132 LIFE OF BISHOP SELWYN. [CHAP. v.
town, and with a sea view stretching out over the numerous
islands of the gulf of Hauraki."
From Auckland the bishop hurried away on learning
that his dear friend Mr. Whytehead had reached Waimate
only to die, and that probably he had already entered into
rest. Letters had partly prepared him, but when the blow
came he wrote " it almost overpowered me, for we have
walked together in God s spiritual house so long, that his
death will be like the loss of another brother. When I
recollected the last scene before I quitted Wellington, the
interment of dear W. Evans, my journey seemed like the
rebuilding of Jericho, to be begun and ended in the death
of my children. Still I thank God that the clouded side
of the pillar was not always before my mind, but from
time to time the light would appear : and it seemed as
though the death of those whom I loved and trusted most
was another proof of the profusion of His bounty in
giving such men to be buried under the foundations of my
infant Church, for the generations that come after to
remember and imitate."
The voyage was occupied by reading Exodus with the
Maori fellow-passengers ; and for the soothing of his own
spirit the bishop read much of the volume of poems by
his loved chaplain, then, as he had reason to think, beyond
the veil. But on January 9, 1843, he reached the Waimate
and Mr. Whytehead 1 was one of the first to greet him,
"his pale and spectral face telling its own story." Thus
ended the first Visitation, having extended over more than
six months in which 2,277 miles were traversed, 762 on
foot, 86 on horseback, 249 in canoes or boats, and 1,180
by ship.
It had been part of the bishop s plan to have at the
head of the college at the Waimate his trusted and ac
complished friend, and for a little while he filled that
office with such measure of strength as was given to him.
1 Vide Dean Howson s Memoir <of Rev. T. B. Whytehead : Mission Life,
vol. iv. Unknoivn and yet Well-known, No. 1.
1842-1843.] DEATH OF MR. WHYTEHEAD. 133
In addition to affording the daily example of a saintly
character, it was his privilege to introduce to the Maoris
in their own tongue the evening hymn of Bishop Ken.
They liked it, and used to sing it under his window,
calling it " the new hymn of the sick minister." He
died on Sunday, March 19, 1843, and was buried at the
east end of the churchyard in a spot which would be
under the chancel window when the stone church should
be built. His departure was a sore loss, but the bishop
wrote, " to have lived with such men as those who are
gone to their rest, and to have their graves to endear this
country to me, and to live with them in the spirit in the
midst of works to which they had devoted themselves, is
a privilege which time cannot impair so long as faith do
not fail." A quarter of a century passed away and the
members of St. John s College at Cambridge erected a
new chapel, and adorned the vaulted roof with a series of
figures, illustrating the successive centuries of the Christian
sera, and among the five who were selected as represen
tatives of the nineteenth century, all having been members
of the college, was Thomas Whytehead, the others being
* Henry Martyn, William Wilberforce, William Wordsworth,
and James Wood.
Immediately after the funeral of Mr. Whytehead, the
bishop had to leave home for the extreme northern part of
the island, where two parties of natives were engaged in a
war that threatened to become general. This was a new
experience, but even in their warfare there was a strange
recognition on either side of Christianity which was
strikingly ak variance with their unchristian occupation.
The bishop wrote :
" I arrived on the Saturday, and immediately took up
my position midway between the hostile camps, in a field
of Indian corn, which had been partially destroyed.
From this neutral ground I opened my communications
with the rival chiefs. On the next morning, Sunday, the
whole valley was as quiet as in the time of perfect peace,
134 LIFE OF BISHOP SELWYN. [CHAP. v.
the natives walking about unarmed among the cultivations,
it being perfectly understood that neither party would
fight on the Lord s day, Going *early in the morning to
one of the Pas, I found the chief reading prayers to his
people. As he had just come to the end of the Litany, I
waited till he concluded, and then read the Communion
Service, and preached to them on part of the lesson of
the day, A new commandment I give unto you, that ye
love one another. I spoke my opinion openly, but without
giving any offence; and the chief, after the service,
received me in a most friendly manner."
The college at fche Waimate was declared by the bishop
in 1843 to be in full working order, and from its students
he looked forward to obtaining a regular supply of candi
dates for the ministry, a necessity made more apparent to
him day by day as the prospect of obtaining suitable men
from England dwindled away. With the college was con
nected a boarding-school, which for the convenience of
parents living at a distance, and in a country where means
of locomotion were deficient, did its work continuously
from March 1 to November 1, and gave a long vacation
of the four summer months. The college was entirely the
bishop s own creation, "founded," as he was wont to act,
" on the best precedents of antiquity," and the following
paper shows how completely he had worked out the whole
idea in his own mind. [The title of the College and the
list of Officers are omitted.]
"ST. PAUL S RULE AND PRACTICE.
" 1 Thess. 4. 11. That ye study to be quiet, and to do
your own business, and to work with your own hands, as
we commanded you.
" 2 Thess. 3. 8. Neither did we eat any man s bread for
nought, but wrought with labour and travail night and day,
that we might not be chargeable to any of you : not because
we have not power, but to make ourselves an ensample
unto you to follow us. For even when we were with you,
this we commanded you, that if any would not work,
1842-1843.] PRINCIPLES OF THE COLLEGE. 135
neither should lie eat. For we hear that there are some
which walk among you disorderly, working not at all, birfc
are busybodies. Now them that are such we command
and exhort by our Lord Jesus Christ, that with quietness
they work, and eat their own bread.
" 1 Thess. 2. 9. Ye remember, brethren, our labour and
travail : for labouring night and day, because we would
not be chargeable unto any of you, we preached unto you
the gospel of God.
11 1 Cor. 4. 11. Even unto this present hour we labour,
working with our own hands.
"Acts 20. 34. Yea, ye yourselves know, that these
hands have ministered unto my necessities, and to them
that were with me. I have showed you all things, how
that so labouring ye ought to support the weak, and to
remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he said, It is
more blessed to give than to receive.
- " Acts 18. 3. Because he was of the same craft, he abode
with them and wrought : for by their occupation they
were tent makers.
" GENERAL PRINCIPLES.
"The general condition upon which all Students and
Scholars "are received into St. John s College, is, that they
shall employ a definite portion of their time in some use
ful occupation in aid of the purposes of the Institution,
The hours of study and of all other employments will be
fixed by the Visitor and Tutors. No member of the body
is at liberty to consider any portion of his time as his
own ; except such intervals of relaxation as are allowed
by the rules of the college.
" In reminding the members of St. John s College of the
original condition upon which they were admitted, the
Visitor feels it to be his duty to lay before them some of
the reasons which now, more than ever, oblige him to
require a strict and zealous fulfilment of this obligation.
" The foundation of St. John s College was designed 1.
As a place of religious and useful education for all classes
of the community, and especially for Candidates for Holy
Orders. 2. As a temporary hostelry for young settlers on
their first arrival in the country. 3. As a refuge for the
13-6 LIFE OF BISHOP SELWYN. [CHAP. v.
sick, the aged, and the poor. The expenses of those
branches of the Institution which are now open already
exceed the means available for their support : and a
further extension will be necessary to complete the system.
The state of the colony has made it necessary to receive
a larger number of foundation scholars than was at first
intended. The general desire of the Maori people for
instruction will require an enlargement of the native
schools for children and adults. The rapid increase of the
half-caste population in places remote from all the means
of instruction must be provided for by a separate school
for their benefit. The care of the sick of both races, and
the relief of the poor, will throw a large and increasing
charge upon the funds of the college.
" The only regular provision for the support of the
Institution, is an annual grant of three hundred pounds
for the maintenance of students, from the Society for the
Propagation of the Gospel. It is the intention of the
Visitor and Tutor to devote the whole of their available
income to the general purposes of the college ; but as the
sources from which the greater portion of their funds is
derived are in some measure precarious, and as this supply
must cease with their lives, it is the bounden duty of ever/
one to bear always in mind, that the only real endowment
of St. Johns College is the industry and self-denial of
all its members.
" Even if industry were not in itself honourable, the pur
poses of the institution would be enough to hallow every
useful art, and manual labour, by which its resources might
be augmented. No rule of life can be so suitable to the
character of a Missionary College as that laid down by the
great Apostle of the Gentiles, and recommended by his
practice :
" Let him labour, working with his own hands the
thing which is good, that he may have to give to him that
needeth. *
" It will therefore be sufficient to state once for all ; that
any unwillingness in a theological student to follow the
rule and practice of St. Paul, will be considered as a proof
of his unfitness for the ministry, and that incorrigible
idleness or vicious habits in any student or scholar will
lead to his dismissal froin the college.
1842-1843.] INDUSTRIAL TRAINING. 137
"DETAILS OF INDUSTRIAL SYSTEM.
" The Industrial System is intended to provide in a great
measure for the supply of food and clothing to the schools
and hospital ; for the improvement of the college domain ;
for the management of the printing press ; and for the
embellishment of churches with carved work of wood and
stone. Some parts of the system are already in operation,
and the remainder, it is hoped, will be gradually developed.
" The Industrial Classes are divided under two heads of
Active and Sedentary employments. Every student and
scholar, when not hindered by any bodily infirmity, will be
required to practice one active and one sedentary Trade.
The classes for active employments will be arranged ac
cording to age and strength ; but in the sedentary some
liberty of choice will be allowed.
" The Classes for Active Employments are the following:
I. GARDENERS. Lower School.
Duties. Care of the Flower Gardens and Apiary,
Weeding, Picking, Handsowing, Propagation
of choice plants and seeds, &c.
IT. FORESTERS. Upper School.
Duties. Care of the Woods, Plantations and
Roads, Clearing, Planting, Roadmaking, Fenc
ing, Propagation of choice trees, Seasoning
Timber, &c.
III. FARMERS. Adult School.
Duties. Agriculture in all its branches. Care
of stock, &c. &c.
IV. SACRISTS. Theological Students.
Duties. Care of the Churches, Chapels and
Burial Grounds, Cleaning and beautifying the
Churches and Chapels, Clearing. Fencing,
Planting, Turfing, Draining the precincts of
the Chapels and Burial Grounds.
" The Classes for Sedentary Trades will be arranged in a
similar manner. The Trades at present open for selection
are, Carpenters, Turners, Printers, and Weavers.
" The time allotted to manual industry will be divided
138 LIFE OF BISHOP SELWYN. [CHAP. v.
"between active and sedentary employments, according to
the state of the weather, and other circumstances.
" Every class will be placed under the direction of a
Foreman, who is expected to study the best practical books,
explaining the principles of the arts and employments
practised in his class, and to be able to teach them to his
scholars. After a certain probation every Foreman will
be allowed a Deputy, whom he will be required to instruct
in the practical duties of his office. When the Deputy is
sufficiently instructed, the Foreman of the class will be
allowed to devote a larger portion of his time to study,
with a view to his admission into the class of Theological
Students.
" CONCLUSION.
" In conclusion, the Visitor desires to impress upon the
minds of all the Members of St. John s College, that it is
the motive which sanctifies the work ; and to urge them, to
carry into the most minute detail of their customary
occupations the one living principle of Faith, without
which no work of man can be good or acceptable in the
sight of God ; and to endeavour earnestly to discharge
every duty of life, as part of a vast system, ordained by
Christ himself, from whom/ St. Paul teaches us the
whole body fitly joined together and compacted l>y that which
every joint supplieth, according to the effectual working in the
measure of every part, maketh increase of the body unto the
edifying of itself in love! (Eph. 4. 16.)"
The bishop in the midst of his pressing spiritual duties
did not overlook the temporal concerns of his diocese.
He was anxious as soon as possible to carry out the plans
which he had formed when in England to throw the Church
on her own resources, and to provide for moderate endow
ments, while still eliciting on the part of the people a
spirit of self-help. There were large tracts of land the
property of the Church which would not attain to any
sensible value for some years, but which in time would
begin to produce rental. In every settlement which pos
sessed a local bank an Archdeaconry Church Fund was
established, into which were paid private contributions and
1842-1843.] FINANCIAL ARRANGEMENTS. 13
all offertories, surplice fees and Easter offerings ; and tins
fund which was managed by five trustees, was applicable in
each archdeaconry to the building of churches, schools, and
parsonages, and to the payment of the stipends of the
clergy, who were thus saved the feeling of being dependent
on their flocks for their maintenance, while the laity were
likewise taught that their fees and offerings were given
not to the individual clergymen but to the Church.
Every town clergyman was pledged to learn the native
language, and to be ready to minister to the Aborigines,
and the bishop found it necessary to establish the converse
rule, that every missionary to the natives should also be
ready to minister to the Europeans, which the Church
Missionary Society s clergy had not reckoned among their
obligations. Each deacon was responsible for the schools
and public charities, and was required to attend in school
from nine till twelve daily, and to take all the religious
instruction. His own stipend, which was 1,2001. per annum,
paid in equal proportions by the Government, and by the
Church Missionary Society, the bishop threw into a com
mon Diocesan Fund : the scale on which he fixed the
payment of the clergy was as follows : Deacons 1001. per
annum, gradually rising, in the case of priests to 300/.,
archdeacons 400/., bishops 500/., house provided in each
case if possible, but not guaranteed. When in 1852 the
colony received an independent legislature, and all im
perial charges were thrown on colonial funds, the moiety
hitherto paid to the Bishop by the Crown failed. The
bishop still carried 6001. to the diocesan account until the
consecration of Archdeacon Williams in 1859 to the wholly
unendowed diocese of Waiapu. As a missionary Mr.
Williams received 2001. per annum from the Church Mis
sionary Society, and the bishop urged him to throw this
into the common fund, and that each should take 40 01.
by this plan he sacrificed another 2001. per annum of the
income to which he was entitled.
. Experience gained at home had revealed only too plainly
140 LIFE OF BISHOP SELWYN. [CHAP. v.
the perils of large and unequally distributed endowments ;
in his own words he "guarded against the possibility of a
New Zealand Stanhope," 1 and the Bishop therefore, while
asking for assistance in gathering these endowments which
formed so essential a part of his scheme, was careful to
publish the restrictions which he should impose, and the
way in which patronage would be exercised. His language
was perfectly intelligible and outspoken.
" The evils to be guarded against in an Endowed Church,
are these, 1. Abuse of Patronage. 2. Inequality of
Endowment. 3. Removal from one benefice to another
for the sake of pecuniary advantage.
" The endowment of the Church in NQW Zealand will
therefore be conducted, as much as possible, on the follow
ing principles :
1. That all deserving persons- shall be duly promoted
after stated periods of service.
2. That all similarly situated persons shall receive the
like emoluments.
3. That an increase of income shall be secured to every
Clergyman after stated periods of service, without the
necessity of removal to- another station.
" All contributions for endowment are therefore recom
mended to be made to the Archdeaconry Endowment
Fund, the income of which will be divided among all the
Clergy of the Archdeaconry upon the above principles.
The Bishop s general Endowment Fund will be applied
to regulate the inequalities of the Archdeaconry Funds.
"Endowments restricted to particular places will be
accepted subject to the condition, that the surplus income,
beyond the proportion payable to the incumbent according
to his standing, shall be added to the Endowment Fund
of the Archdeaconry.
" No endowments will be accepted, subject to the con
dition of Private Patronage. Vacancies will be filled up
by the ordination of those deacons whom the Bishop shall
judge to be best qualified for the particular stations. As
a general principle, the income of the clergy will depend
on their length of service, their location upon their
1 A benefice in the Diocese of Durham.
1842-1843.] THE WAIRAU MASSACRE. 141
personal qualifications. Thus the Bishop will neither
exercise the right of pecuniary patronage himself, nor
allow that power to others."
The year 1843 was memorable for the outbreak at the
Wairau which has been alluded to in a previous chapter.
It was an event which to the most sanguine spirit must have
been appalling, threatening as it did to destroy the evan
gelistic work of nearly thirty years, and to embroil two
races in internecine strife. The bishop wrote to a friend
in England a long and dispassionate account of the terrible
outbreak and its immediate cause.
ST. JOHN S COLLEGE, THE WAIMATE,
BAY OF ISLANDS,
NEW ZEALAND,
July, 1843.
Last Monday, July 17, was the gloomiest day which I
have spent in New Zealand. God grant that the evils
which now seem to threaten this portion of my diocose
may be averted. What has occurred at Nelson will, I
trust, be a salutary, though an awful lesson to us all. I
send you an account upon the general correctness of which
you may depend : for fear that incorrect and distorted re
ports should reach you through the public newspapers.
You are aware that great uncertainty has continued up to
the present day with respect to the boundaries of the land
purchased from the natives by the agents of the New
Zealand Company. The company seem to have had no other
idea than that a purchase had been made by which the
whole southern extremity of the Northern Island and the
northern extremity of the Southern Island had been ceded
to their agents. Of this arrangement I have every reason
to believe that the natives had no comprehension; their
own ideas of boundaries and territorial rights being re
markably definite, though complicated in many cases by
the number of the joint proprietors. One native chief
for instance may have the sole property in one portion of
land, and a common right in another : if he were disposed
to sell both he might speak of them both as his land,
though the purchaser in the one case would be buying the
whole fee-simple of the land, in the other, only the
142 LIFE OF BISHOP SELWYN. [CHAP. v.
separate interest of a particular chief holding it in common
with others.
A second custom of the natives is, that in all sales
an immediate payment is required, answering to our
" deposits/ and a second on taking possession of the land,
at which time the purchase is supposed to be completed.
It is a remarkable fact, and one necessary to be
known before a right judgment can be formed of the late
fatal affray at Nelson, that hundreds of thousands of acres
have been transferred by the natives to the English settlers
in all parts of the country without the slightest dispute,
where all the points necessary to the completion of a sale
according to the native usages have been duly attended
to. The courts of the commissioners of land claims have
been conducted without the slightest interruption, except
in one case, where land had been sold by one chief, which
was alleged to be the property of another. Where the
title has been first ascertained, and all the formalities of
sale duly executed, hundreds of deeds have been passed
through the commissioners courts, not only without dis
pute, but with the full support of the evidence of the
native proprietors, by whom the land was conveyed to the
English purchasers. In the course of my journeys through
the country, I have constantly been told the exact bound
aries, and the price (even to a blanket or an axe) of the land
so alienated in the districts through which I have passed.
I make these preliminary remarks, because the first
impression of our friends in England on hearing of the
slaughter at Nelson, will be that we are living among a
nation of bloodthirsty savages; and this feeling encour
aged, would give such a tone to all legislation with regard
to our native people, as would soon give birth to a war
with them, which, as in all former cases, would be nothing
else than a war of extermination.
It appears that early in the month of June, the sur
veyors employed by the Nelson Company were carrying
on their operations in Cloudy Bay, upon land the sale of
which was disputed. In so doing they met with the
usual molestation from the natives, wherever a doubt
exists as to the title of the claimant ; their marks and flags
were removed, and other petty interruptions were caused.
At last, a small hut, belonging to the surveyors, built of
1842-1843.] THE FIRST SHOT. 143
materials collected on the spot, was burnt down, all the
property contained in it having first been carefully taken
out by the natives to be returned to the owner. Upon this
the Company s principal Agent applied to the police
magistrate for a warrant against Te Kauparaha and, Ran-
gihaeata, the two principal chiefs concerned in burning the
hut. The magistrate granted the warrant, arid having
assembled a force amounting in all to forty-nine men,
proceeded in the Victoria Government brig to Cloudy Bay.
After landing, and going up a river about ten miles they
found the two chiefs, whom they required to accompany
them on board the brig. This being refused the agent of
the company returned to his men, who were on the other
side of a deep creek, to bring them forward to assist in the
seizure. It appears that the disposition of the natives
was at first altogether peaceable : that they proposed to
leave the question of right to be settled by the Govern
ment Commissioner, who has given great satisfaction to
the natives, and I believe to all parties, by the impartiality
of his inquiries ; the chiefs are said to have alleged that
they had burnt nothing but what belonged to themselves,
that the materials of the hut were the produce of the
ground, which was still theirs ; that all the property found
in it had been preserved, and would be restored ; but that
they would not go as prisoners on board the Government
vessel. This not having satisfied the officers, the agent,
as I have said, returned to lead his men across the creek,
the only passage across which was by a canoe stretched
from side to side. During the confusion of crossing the
firing began (it is said accidentally), on the side of the
English, and by the first discharge the wife of Eangiaeta
was killed. The .old chiefs started up, crying out after the
native manner : " Hei kona te maraina. Hei kona te ra.
Haere mai te po." "Farewell the light. Farewell the
day. Come hither night," and immediately returned the
fire. The English labourers of the party (most of whom
had no previous knowledge of the errand on which they
had come, only one, I believe, having been sworn in as
a special constable), took to flight at the first discharge.
The natives swimming across the creek pursued them in
all directions. The agent with a view no doubt to save
his men who were being killed, hoisted a flag of truce,
144 LIFE OF BISHOP SELWYN. [CHAP. v.
and gave himself up to the chief. For a time it seemed
as if their lives would be spared ; but at last Eangiaeta,
the chief whose wife had been killed, demanded the lives
of the English gentlemen, as payment for her death ; a
demand, which according to native custom, could not
be refused. They were all put to death! with sixteen
others killed by the natives in pursuit in all twenty-
three persons ; twenty-six escaped, some to the brig and
some into the woods, where they remained till the return
of the vessel from Wellington.
The attack upon the natives is generally considered to
have been illegal throughout ; but it must be attributed
altogether to a mistaken sense of duty on the part of the
principal persons concerned in it. The police magistrate
has always acted in behalf of the natives in the most
friendly manner, and I believe that a more humane or
judicious man than the Company s Agent did not exist,
or one more desirous of promoting a good understanding
between the two races. Unhappily they had little know
ledge of the native language or character, a defect which
is the fruitful cause of daily misunderstandings. The
settlers at Wellington and Nelson are forming themselves
into a militia, and erecting batteries ; but I am fully con
vinced that these preparations are unnecessary, so long as
strict justice, in a form intelligible to the native mind is
visible throughout all the transactions of the English
settlers.
I may add as a striking contrast to the foregoing narra
tive, that the son of the principal chief engaged in the
slaughter, Te Eauparaha, was engaged at the same time
in another part of the same island, on a missionary
journey of inquiry into the number and condition of the
native inhabitants, undertaken at the request of Mr.
Hadfield, the missionary at Kapiti. Te Eauparaha himself,
though he has not been converted, still acknowledges
Mr. Hadfield s pastoral authority over his people, by
speaking of them to him as, taua, tamariki ! " The
children of us two." Eangihaeata, his companion in the late
affray, is one of the few natives of New Zealand to whom
the name of savage can justly be applied.
The effect of this disaster will be, I should fear,
materially to retard the progress of the settlement for
1842-1843.] COLLEGE SYSTEM. 145
which I shall be very sorry, as the plans of the Nelson
Company were formed with a regard to religion and edu
cation, which I still hope will not be without the fruit
which was expected from it. The colony will I trust still
prosper, though there has been a grievous blow to it in
its infancy. Unhappily Mr. Eeay, the clergyman now
stationed at Nelson, and who on former occasions had
acted as mediator between the settlers and the natives,
had gone to Auckland when the calamity occurred.
The bishop during his stay at Otaki had kept school
at which the chiefs Rauparaha and Eangihaeata at
tended his classes: the former protested against killing
the prisoners taken at the Wairau, and wished to go to
Wellington to show that he harboured no unfriendly feel
ings towards the settlers, but he was afraid to go alone.
The bishop allowed him to join his party, but when he
got into the town he was so frightened that he begged to
be allowed to sleep at the parsonage under the bishop s
protection. Rangihaeata the bishop would never receive
after the evil deed of which he believed him guilty, and
he continued to be troublesome till Sir G. Grey made
peace with him and gave him a gig. In order to use this
luxury he caused roads to be made, and thus was kept out
of mischief.
Before this unexpected and calamitous outbreak, and
which, humanly speaking, was limited to the scene of its
origin wholly by the influence of the Rev. 0. Hadfield
with the natives, the bishop was working hopefully at
the little College, and an amusing letter to his sister
explains the manner of life which obtained under the roof
of the Episcopal Palace.
ST. JOHN S COLLEGE, WAIMATE,
July 4th, 1843.
Mr DEAR FANNY,
Our little college assumes a regular form, and already
gives me promise of a supply of men duly qualified to
serve God in the ministry of His Church. We have
already nine students, three of whom Ihope will be admitted
to deacon s orders in September.
VOL. I. L
146 LIFE OF BISHOP SELWYN. [CHAP. v.
I suppose that Sarah has given you an account of our
mode of life, which will amuse you. Mrs. Watts is college
cook, and bakes and cooks for the whole body, so that
ladies as well as gentlemen are free to attend to reading
and teaching. The college kitchen is regulated upon the
plan of a kitchen at Cambridge, supplying regular " com
mons" to every member; and providing " sizings " or
extras to those who like to order. Each person s " com
mons," including tea, sugar, meat, bread, and potatoes,
amounts to one shilling per diem, which is the uniform
expense of every person in the establishment. We all
dine together in hall, in all forty-two persons, thus :
Upper Table. Bishop, Mrs. Selwyn, Mr. and Mrs. Dudley, Mr
Cotton, and two visitors
Student s Table. Four married and three unmarried students
Collegiate School Boys
Native School Boys (Boarding School)
i
11
7
11
Household Five English, one Native 6
42
It is supposed that we equal Downing College, Cambridge,
in the number of our married students, but as the Cam
bridge calendar takes no notice of ladies, I am not certain
on this point.
Many of our students are able to sing, so that we have
the Psalms chanted morning and evening, but at present
we have no organ. The effect, however, of our nine or ten
voices, with the ladies and schoolboys, is far from being
inharmonious.
At the end of seven years, if we may look forward to so
distant a period, we hope to send William to England. I
used to think of bringing him, but the more I see of my
diocese the less prospect I have of being able to be absent
for a year within the next ten or fifteen years. If I could
get some good archdeacons from England the case would be
altered, but there seems to be a conspiracy of papas and
mammas against New Zealand and me, four of my personal
friends, if not five, being prevented by such interference
from following the leading of their own hearts, and joining
me.
Sarah is in high favour with the natives, who love a
cheerful eye, and friendly manner. Her name is " Malla
1842-1843.] THE "GENTLEMAN HERESY." 147
Pihopa," Mother Bishop, a title of respect with them
though not conveying a similar idea when translated
literally into English. They all say that her " atawai"
(grace) is great, a praise w^hich she has in common with
Mrs. Martin, who with the aid of Mrs. Smith, wins golden
opinions from the Maoris. Our native school on board the
Tomatin has been of the greatest possible service to us all,
though I regret to say that our schoolmaster, Rupai, my
native boy, has fulfilled the predictions of Sir William
Hooker and others, and returned to his native habits.
We have also a little printing-press in constant opera
tion, printing native lessons, and skeleton sermons for the
native teachers ; college regulations, bills, receipts ; in fact
doing everything that we require for the routine of our
business. We have also in the press a translation of Arch
deacon Wilberforce s Ayatlios for the use of the natives.
Mr. Nihill is syndic of the press with William Watts for
his pressman, who is also time-keeper, and rings the bell
(given to us by Mr. Whytehead s brother, out of the metal
of the bells in York Minster), at stated times, ending by
striking the hour.
I have held two Ordinations, one at Wellington, at which
Mr. Mason was admitted to priest s orders, in the presence
of 400 natives, the other at the Waimate, when Mr. Davis,
one of the senior catechists of the Church mission, was
ordained deacon. I have also held six Confirmations, at
which 700 natives and a few English have been confirmed.
After the aristocratic recollections of Eton, it is amusing
to compare our school at the Waimate : fustian jackets and
corduroy trousers are the order of the day, which are so far
from being a disadvantage that they facilitate the industrial
plans of the school, the boys being employed in gardening,
turning, carpenter s work, printing, and the like. Many
years must elapse before there will be room for a fine
gentleman in this country, and therefore we endeavour, as
much as possible, to keep out what some one has called the
" gentleman heresy " from among us
You will gather from this letter that we are very happy
and beginning to feel settled for life, with roots striking
deeper and deeper into the soil of this loveable country,
which from the similarity of its climate to England and
the friendly character of its inhabitants, soon acquires that
L 2
148 LIFE OF BISHOP SELWYN. [CHAP. v.
power and influence over the heart by which domestic
feelings and sympathies are established.
In September 1843 the Bishop held an Ordination at
which the three students of his little College men
tioned in the letter to his sister were made Deacons, and
four days later in a little schooner of twenty tons he
was off for Auckland, and thence for an extended
Visitation, while the deacons were scattered, one going to
Tauranga, one to Taranaki (New Plymouth), and one to
Nelson. The establishment at the Waimate was closed
for the long vacation. At the Kerikeri, in the Bay of
Islands, in a stone house which had been a store of
the Church Missionary Society whence the Missionaries
had obtained their supplies, the Bishop was at home
amid the delights of precious books. His diary has the
following entries :
" October 5. Wind still contrary. Cleared the Cathe
dral Library at the Kerikeri store, of all superfluous
lumber. Dusted and arranged the theological parts on
the shelves already there, and piled up all the general
literature in one corner, to remain till new shelves can be
made. Many hands made light work : Eev. H. Williams,
Eev. E. Burrows, Eev. W. C. Cotton, myself, Mr. Nihill,
and Mr. Fisher, all assisting and receiving payment for
their work in Gospels of St. Matthew in the native
language.
" October 6. Completed the arrangement of the library.
Wind still contrary.
" October 7. A day of literary luxury. Sat looking upon
the books, occasionally dipping into them. The very
sight of so many venerable folios is most refreshing in
this land, where everything is so new. The Eton books
have a row to themselves."
The wind would seem to have continued perverse, and
two days later enabled the Bishop to write the following
letter :
1842-1843.] LUXURY OF BOOKS. 149
CATHEDRAL LIBRARY, THE KERIKERI,
BAY OF ISLANDS,
NEW ZEALAND,
October 9th, 1843.
MY DEAR LORD Powis,
I have never been more forcibly reminded of Powis
Castle than during the last four days, in which I have
been detained at this place by contrary winds, and have
occupied myself and my party in arranging the valuable
library which was presented to me by numerous friends
before my departure. The building in which they are
placed, and in which I am now writing, is of massive
stone, not equalling in thickness the walls of Powis
Castle, but giving the same character of solidity, which
accords well with the solid and venerable character of the
contents of the library, including a complete set of the
Fathers, and many ancient folios of Commentators, Coun
cils, and Annals of the Church. Truth, however, compels
me to add that, on an upper shelf, high out of reach, my
eye lights upon a smart set of Scott s novels, calf extra, for
the special use of the ladies who from time to time may
honour me with their company. It may be that in course
of time, when St. John s College increases in numbers, and
easy chairs are multiplied (at present our stock here is one
broken-backed chair and two planks laid upon bullock
trunks) that this will be (as it is at the Cambridge Univer
sity Library) the most frequented and best-read portion of
my library. Among the lower and more venerable shelves
I see as I sit Scptuaginta Aldi, 1518, once well known in
the left-hand corner of the glass book-case in my room at
Powis Castle ; Barrow s works, presented to me by Lady
Powis on my marriage ; Leighton, from the same source, I
do not see, as it is at the Waimate. On the top of a copy
of IrensBus, with the largest margin that I ever saw, and
lying down for want of shelves sufficiently lofty, are the
Bible and Prayer-Book presented (as the title-page bears)
to the Bishop of New Zealand, " with the best wishes of
his affectionate pupils at Powis Castle." With these
memorials before my eyes, I write to express my best
wishes to your lordship and Lady Powis, and all " my
affectionate pupils at Powis Castle," with my prayers
that every blessing, temporal and eternal, may be upon
you
150 LIFE OF BISHOP SELWYN. [CHAP. v.
The first term of six months at St. John s College has
just closed, and the long vacation of five months has just
begun, during which I propose to pay a second visit to the
southern settlements, and to work my way along the
eastern coast of the Middle Island towards the south, and
then to cross over to Stewart s Island ; from thence to take
ship to the Chatham Islands, and so, God willing, to return
home to the Waimate about the middle of March. Mrs.
Selwyn intends to spend the summer with her friend and
fellow-voyager Mrs. Martin (the wife of the Chief Jus
tice) at Auckland.
My last term ended with the ordination of three deacons,
who had been a long time under preparation for Holy
Orders. Here I have felt deeply the loss of my dear
friend Mr. Whytehead ; in other respects I can scarcely
think him lost, so much does his memory still seem to
bless and hallow the place where we laid him in his grave.
Lord Clive will share my sorrow, as he knows what a com
panion I have lost. . . .
The late fatal affray at Nelson will, I fear, have given a
bad impression of the natives of this country. This, as a
general apprehension, is altogether unfounded. The assur
ance of safety given by the character of the people is so
remarkable, that I question whether the thought of
danger ever entered the minds of any one of our party,
except when a " taua," or armed party, came to the
Waimate to demand payment for some ducks which some
of our young men had shot upon a " tapu," sacred water.
Of course I refused to recognise their heathen customs,
but finding that the " tapu " meant no more than our
English word " preserve," I confessed that the young men
had done wrong in poaching, and referred them to the
text of Zacchasus as my rule in such matters, viz. to restore
fourfold. The authority of a text of Scripture being undis
puted even by the heathen part of the nation, I paid them
twenty-four shillings, being four times the market price of
the six ducks, with which they went away apparently
satisfied.
We have no fastenings to our windows, even on the
ground-floor, and the door is rarely locked. In travelling
I pitch my tent at whatever place I happen to reach at
nightfall, and am always hospitably received. In the
1842-1843.] THE KERIKERI. 151
course of some hundreds of miles of travelling I have never
lost anything. In the matter of land, about which the
quarrel at Nelson arose, hundreds of thousands of acres of
land have been regularly sold and conveyed to the Eng
lish in other parts of the island, written deeds being duly
signed, and in no instance, that I am aware of, has a sale
ever been disputed, when all the conditions have been
duly fulfilled in the first instance. This is in fact a very
wonderful people, and I grow more and more attached to
them the longer I live among them. It will still, however,
require much time and perseverance before they can be
made a civilized nation.
The enforced leisure at the Kerikeri produced another
letter of abooit the same date, addressed to theEev. Edward
Coleridge.
CATHEDRAL LIBRARY, THE KERIKERI,
Oct. 7th, 1843.
MY DEAR FRIEND,
A windbound party is assembled here, at this place
which is the Aulis of our Argonautic expeditions, waiting
for a change of weather to allow of our sailing for
Auckland. We arrived on Wednesday the 4th, and
Sarah immediately went on board the Union, a small
schooner now lying waiting for us about four miles down
the river ; but she had scarely reached the vessel when
the wind changed to the eastward, and sealed the outlet of
the Bay of Islands against us. We therefore returned to
the Mission Station occupied by Mr. Kemp; and were
thankful to find ourselves in good quarters, when the wind
increased to a violent gale ; which has continued without
intermission to the present day. On the 5th and 6th we
busied ourselves in clearing and arranging the cathedral
library, and are now enjoying the fruits of our labour,
sitting quietly reading and writing in the best and best-
furnished roof in New Zealand. Mr. Cotton is on one
side of the fire sitting on a box, Sarah on the other side,
reading a large folio upon the original desk which I had
in my study, and sitting upon the only chair of which the
room at present can boast. Mrs. Burrows (wife of the*
clergyman of Kororarika) is sitting reading at my left
hand on a seat composed of two long planks intended for
152 LIFE OF BISHOP SELWYN. [CHAP. v.
idditional shelves, resting upon three bullock-trunks, and
covered with mauds. You will understand therefore that
my eulogies of the furniture of the room apply to the
books, which are now disposed on five kauri shelves reach
ing the whole length of the room, 27 feet ; the central
shelf being occupied by a brilliant row, for which I am
indebted to Eton alone : beginning with a long line of
bright octavos reaching to the centre, where St. Augustine
stands like a tower, between the light bindings of the
Eton books and the deeper shades of W. E. Gladstone s
goodly store of English divinity. Massive folios of Fathers
and Commentators fill the lower compartments. The build-
ng in which these treasures are contained deserves some
description. It is a structure of solid stone with walls
2 feet in thickness, nearly 40 feet long by 30 wide, and
two stories in height. The library is on the first floor,
27 feet by 19, with four windows, from one of which I
look out upon the windings of the Kerikeri Biver towards
the Bay; from another on the waterfall, which lulls us to
sleep every night (and sometimes be it confessed in the
day also) by its murmur : the third, as I sit, shows the
Mission House, and the fourth is admitting the gleams of
the setting sun, which give us hopes of a change of weather
for to-morrow. When the Sunday s calm shall have rested
upon the waters, we hope to sail on Monday for Auckland.
Sarah hopes to stay with Mrs. Martin during my absence
at the south, where the perfect quiet of an invalid s
house, and the absence of all domestic cares of her own,
will, I hope, recruit her strength, which has been much
tried by the new and unsettled life which she has led for
the last two years. Everything now, I thank God, tends
to repose. In case the college should be too much for
her, I have now secured her a most charming retreat in
the cathedral library, and another room of equal size in the
lower story ; where the quiet is as unbroken as the most
nervous person could desire ; and in this respect entirely
different from the inevitable noise of wooden buildings.
Here also, I may retire in my old age (which will pro
bably be premature), and superintend my college at the
Waimate without being subject to all its perturbations.
But all these matters are in the hands of God ; and there
I am content to leave them ; but the thought binds me
1842-1843.] DIFFICULTIES OF TEAVEL. 153
more to this country ; and that is the feeling which I wish
to encourage. I now seem to know where I should most
wish to be in my manhood, in my old age, a,nd after my
death.
The charm of this library is that it is so utterly un-
colonial. Its atmosphere is the true f< OJDic mus." 1 Its
walls are worthy of a college. My books carry me back to
the first ages of the Church. It is true that when I step
outside the door I stumble over a mass of utilitarian
treasures. Bales of blankets, iron pots, barrels of all kinds,
rusty rat-traps and saws, old chains, grindstones, &c., are
the miscellaneous furniture of my ante-chambers ; but
within everything that can most elevate and purify the
mind is to be found. Leisure alone is at present wanting
to us to use our treasures : but as the Church system is
developed, and active archdeacons stationed at all the prin
cipal settlements, I hope to be able to give myself more
to meditation and eveiy other profitable exercise, that
there may be some abundance in my own heart to flow
forth for the benefit of my diocese.
The voyage that was thus inauspiciously commenced
was of unusual duration, lasting into the second quarter
of the next year. There were also unusual difficulties of
travelling in the Visitation on land, and some of the
bishop s companions were not as proficient in the art of
travel as himself. The rivers were in flood and fording
{ was dangerous. Mr. Taylor, a missionary in the bishop s
party, could not swim, and the bishop s air bed was in
flated and fixed in an impromptu framework of sticks, and
towed across the river with Mr, Taylor enthroned upon it.
December brought the bishop to the Wairau, and here
he preached from Isaiah v. 30. "If one look unto the
land, behold sorrow," making special reference to the un
happy collision between whites and natives in the previous
year.
The festival of Christmas found him in the mission of
Mr. Hadfield, at Waikanae, admiring the beautiful church
built since his last visit, of which the ridge pole, hewn
1 " Etdivina Opici rodebant carmina Mures." Juvenal iii. 207.
154 LIFE OF BISHOP SELWYN. [CHAP. v.
from a single tree was the appropriate peace-offering of a
people with whom the Waikanae people had long been at
war. On the last day of the year (which fell on Sunday)
the bishop preached to a full church and ministered to
130 communicants. In the afternoon, accompanied by
Mr. Hadfield, he rode to Otaki, where the first persons to
meet him at the entrance of the Pa were Te Rauparaha
and Rangihaeata, names only too well known in connection
with the Wairau massacre.
" Thus ended a year of mercies and blessings," is the
entry in the bishop s diary on December 31, 1843.
1844-1846.1 RELIGIOUS DIVISIONS. 155
CHAPTER VI.
NEW ZEALAND.
[1844-1846.]
THE first three months of 1844 were given to the com
pletion of the Visitation commenced at Michaelmas in the
preceding year. The bishop reached Otago, the southern
most portion of the diocese, and on his journey down was
confronted, in a region which he probably expected to find
a spiritual desert, by religious dissensions. In a place
where no English teacher had ever been seen the natives
had been carefully warned by teachers of their own race
against Hahi (Church), and had been prejudiced in favour
of "Weteri (Wesley). The miserable dissensions thus
generated destroyed much of the bishop s satisfaction at
this part of his Visitation, as his time was taken up " in
answering unprofitable questions."
The voyage in the little Perseverance belonging to Tuha-
waiki, a native chief, was made the most of : the little
cabin, nine feet by five, was assigned to the bishop, re
serving only the right of way to the master and his wife
when passing to their berth amidships ; but the wind
allowing the ship to sail near the dangerous coast, and th e
crew being perfectly familiar with every nook in which a
vessel could lie, the bishop availed himself of the instruc
tion thus to be acquired and stored up against a future
day, and spent his time between reading in the cabin and
156 LIFE OF BISHOP SELWYN. [CHAP. vi.
frequently emerging up the companion-ladder to take
marks of the coast, and to write down places on the map.
One of the bishop s companions was Tamihana, the sou
of Te Eauparaha, who had been mixed up in the Wairau
outbreak : the son had formerly traversed as a Christian
teacher the whole of the region which the father had over
run with a war party.
"While on board the little Perseverance the bishop wrote
to Mr. Hadfield a letter which has special significance, as
showing that he declined to recognise the mere presence
of a Dissenting teacher in a given district as a proof that
that district was under Christian instruction. This is the
more important, inasmuch as the bishop s caution in re
fraining from occupying any islands in the Melanesian
group where teachers had already settled themselves, and
of which he was wont to say, "Nature has divided our
mission field for us," has been often quoted as a precedent
for abstaining from work in countries which some Sect had
already claimed on the ground of a very partial occupation.
The letter of the bishop shows that, with all his moderation
and respect for the work of others who differed from him,
he was very decided in saying, " We must hold our own."
SCHOONER " PERSE VEKAXCE," CHIEF TUHAWAIKI,
AT SEA OFF OTAKOU, Feb. IZth, 1844.
MY DEAR MR. HADFIELD,
As I may have little time to write to you from Akaroa,
towards which place we are rapidly advancing with a fine
southerly breeze, I begin to prepare a letter for my friend
Tamihana to convey to you. You will have heard from
Mr. Cole that I left Wellington on the 6th of January in
the schooner Richmond. . . . Throughout this island
controversy has preceded truth, and as usual darkened
true knowledge. The position of affairs is very singular.
I cannot learn that Mr. Watkin [the Wesleyan teacher]
or any of his teachers visited the principal native settle
ments, Te Wai-a-te Euati, Euapuke, and Earotonga, before
1844-1846.] WESLEYAN CLAIMS. 157
your teacher s arrival. It is agreed by all these that their
karakia began in consequence of our teacher s visit. During
three of the four years that Mr. Watkin has been at
Waikouaiti, he had but one Testament; and his weak
health prevented him from visiting, so that I do not find
that he has been to any places but Otakou and Moerangi,
besides his own settlement of Waikouaiti. All at once, a
few months ago, his committee seem to have recollected
that there was such a person in the world, and sent him
down a flood of 500 Testaments, after leaving him for three
years with one only: and with these his teachers have
contrived to withdraw from us one half or more of our
congregations at Te Wai-a-te Euati, and Euapuke. At
Earotonga they are still united with us, under Te Maua-
blea, a native baptized by you. This little village, the
most distant point of my journey, is a bright spot in the
midst of a good deal of misgiving, for I found there a
chapel built; a united congregation of more than 100
(when all assembled); a reading class of sixteen or
eighteen, of whom I baptized two, who appeared to feel
deeply. Mr. Watkin complains of your obtruding your
teachers upon his district ; but I cannot ascertain that any
attempt was made by him or his friends to make it their
district till after our teachers had spent a whole year in
teaching the people, and had been blessed with a con
siderable measure of success. I cannot recognise the mere
fact of his residence at Waikouaiti as entitling him to the
spiritual care of all the southern islands. Our interview
was most friendly, and I stayed one day and a half in his
house ; but I told him that I could make no transfer of
catechumens ; that we must hold our own.
The half-caste population in the Straits cannot be less
than 100 ; they are at a very critical age. Something
vigorous must be done for them. Where the fathers and
mothers had been living together for some years I
married them and baptized their children : in all twenty-
five couples married and sixty-one children baptized. I
must have a visiting clergyman in the Straits as soon as
possible, but where to find a man fit for the work I know
not. His life must be amphibious ; and the animal mag
netism of his home capable of being overcome. Many of
the old whalers and sealers are settling down into a more
158 LIFE OF BISHOP SELWYN. [CHAP, vi
quiet life, and are to a man anxious that their children
should not follow the course of life which they have led
themselves.
I have been much pleased with Tamihana. He is not
very adroit in controversy, and sometimes a little over
bearing ; but he is a good-hearted and earnest youth, and
I shall be happy to see him at the Waimate whenever you
think it desirable to send him.
The controversy which confronted the bishop on this
journey did not cease to distress him when he had left it
behind him, and reflection did not suggest to him the
usual resource of a timid and indifferent compromise.
Soon after his return to the Waimate he wrote to a friend
in England :
" My first charge, if I ever find time to write it, will be
an attempt to deduce a plan of operations, suitable to the
peculiar case of New Zealand, from the records of the
first three centuries of the Church. In my endeavours to
avoid all party shibboleths I am much assisted by the
natural effect of the native Church in enforcing simplicity
of doctrine and regularity of discipline. I hope to make
this a fulcrum for moving the chaotic mass of the English
settlements, which are more like a fortuitous concourse of
atoms than anything else, with the additional disadvantage
that every atom has an opinion and voice of his own, and
tl links himself a mountain. So that my first problem is,
how to give tenacity to a rope of sand."
It was probably with the hope of gaining some of this
tenacity that the bishop summoned in September of this
year a Synod of the Clergy of his diocese : three arch
deacons, four other priests, and two deacons assembled : it
was the first experiment of the kind which the Anglican
Communion had witnessed since Convocation was silenced
in England. The avowed object of the gathering was " to
frame rules for the better management of the mission and
the general government of the Church," and the subjects
debated were limited to questions of Church discipline
and Church extension : nothing would seem more simple
1844-1S46.] FIRST SYNOD, 159
or natural than such a gathering ; nevertheless the news of
its doings reached England with the utmost speed com
patible with a voyage of 12,000 miles, and some good
people saw in it priestly assumption, and others discovered
in it an infringement of the royal supremacy. But strange
to say, nothing happened save that the precedent thus
acquired led to a more formal synod being held in 1847,
and ultimately to a synodal organization, provincial and
diocesan, as perfect as can anywhere be produced.
Unfortunately while the little synod attracted unfriendly
criticism, its modest canons did not attract an equal
measure of publicity : they were well worthy of careful
and attentive study, dealing as they did in a practical way
with problems which confront a missionary in a new
country, and sometimes are to be met with even in England.
In the case of infants being brought to baptism in places
where sponsors could not be obtained, instead of the
superfluous and unecclesiastical method of allowing the
parents to become sponsors, it was decreed that the children
should be baptized on the application of their parents, who
also gave a written pledge to submit their children to the
education of the Church. A separate registry was kept
of all children thus baptized, who were considered to be
" undei the sponsorship of the Church."
On the difficult question of admitting polygamists to
the order of catechumens the Synod decreed that no
bigamist or polygamist should be received, but that u a
woman, being one of two or more wives of a heathen man,
not having power over her own body, but subject to her
husband, may be received and admitted to baptism with
out separation from her husband." No heathen was
admissible to marriage according to the rites of the
Church, neither was the baptism of heathens to be
hastened with a view to their marriage, " but rather, inas
much as it is reasonable to believe that a lower degree of
faith may be accepted as a qualification for marriage than
that which is necessary for the due reception .of baptism,
160 LIFE OF BISHOP SELWYN. [CHAP. vi.
that they be marriageable on their admission into the class
of catechumens."
In August 1844, in conjunction with the Chief Justice
and Mr. Swainson, the Attorney-General of New Zealand,
the bishop selected a site near to Auckland, accessible
both by land and by water, to which he determined to
remove St. John s College. At the Waimate it had passed
through the experimental stage and had proved its utility ;
and now it was to assume a more permanent position, and
be located in stone buildings instead of lightly constructed
wooden houses. While providing for the material con
dition of the college, the bishop looked forward eagerly to
the day when his friend Mr. Abraham should fulfil his
promise of joining him and should take spiritual charge
of the institution, and amid scenes and anxieties from
which even colonial bishops may expect an immunity, but
which were in full measure the lot of Bishop Selwyn, he
wrote the following letter :
H.M.S. "HA.ZARD," COOK S STRAITS,
August 7th, 1844.
MY DEAR FRIEND,
Among all the disappointments which I have ex
perienced in the failure, from various causes, of all the
support which I expected from other friends, your stedfast
adherence to your original purpose has been the comfort
and refreshment of my heart. My hopes of co-operation
are now limited to you alone ; but this alone is far more
than I could have had any right or reason to expect. Still
more does it give me pleasure to think, that the step which
you have just taken, so far from seeming to stand in the
way of my wishes, gives me the strongest hope of ulti
mately enjoying your assistance. For by your resignation
of the most lucrative portion of your office, you have
weaned yourself from that to which many cling too closely
to be willing to devote their services to a poor bankrupt
colony, to preach as one said " to savages and settlers."
Rejoicing most heartily in the spirit which has led you to
undertake the charge of the collegers, I pray that God s
blessing may be with you in that work till the time shall
1844-1846.] DIOCESAN ORGANISATION. 1 61
come when yon may see fit to transfer your services to the
Church of New Zealand.
In the meantime, I think that it may he well to put
before you some definite idea of the position in which it
would be the wish of my heart to see you placed.
The Northern Island of New Zealand I purpose to
divide into five Archdeaconries: viz. 1. The Waimate;
2. Waitemata ; 3. Tauranga ; 4. Waiapu ; 5. Kapiti.
The Archdeaconry of Waitemata will be the metro
politan district, in which St. John s College and my central
schools will, I hope, be situated. I had designed the
office of Archdeacon of this district for my dear friend,
Mr. Whytehead, intending to place him in the position of
Principal and Kesident Manager of my collegiate insti
tution ; from which my duties of visitation take me away
more frequently than is good for the young men and boys
in statu pupillari. Still with Mr. Cotton s most friendly
and zealous assistance we are able to hold on, and I think
are in a fair way to gain the confidence of the public ; but
if we should succeed in this we shall immediately want a
much greater regularity of system in consequence of the
increase of numbers. For the next few years we may do
very well, but nothing would give me greater pleasure
than to be able to look forward to your joining me at the
critical time, to take Mr. Whytehead s office upon you, as
Archdeacon of Waitemata and Principal of St. John s
College. If you will allow me to look upon you in this
character, I will endeavour in the interval to nurse endow
ments for scholarships and exhibitions, and to erect
buildings, which shall enable you at once to feel that you
are in a position of efficiency, small it may be in its
amount of usefulness, as compared with those institutions
which you will have left, but not on that account the less
full of hope and cheerful anticipation for the future.
*****
I rejoice in the prosperity to which Eton has been raised.
The progress and increase of the schools cannot safely be
attributed to anything else than to the gradual elevation
of the minds of the masters by the influence of religion.
The privilege which some masters have enjoyed of occa
sionally sanctifying and searching their hearts by minis
terial duties seems to have been, under God, the means by
VOL. I M
1G2 LIFE OF BISHOP SELWYN. [CHAP. vi.
which, this has been effected : in proof of which it may
safely be alleged, that the pupils of those masters who
have followed that course have been eminent for their own
consistency of conduct, and apparent depth of religious
principle.
In concert with the Bishop of Australia the bishop was
all this time steadily aiming at synodal action being
established in Australasia, and the letter which follows
shows how much he rested on it, and how lightly he
thought of State alliance and support :
H.M.S. "HAZARD," AT SEA, BAT OF PLENTY,
August 16th, 1844.
MY DEAR BROTHER,
A disagreement between the natives and the settlers at
Taranaki, which seemed at first to threaten serious con
sequences, has brought me away from home in the middle
of .my college term, and I am now returning in company
with the Governor, who has, I hope, appeased the com
motion. I avail myself as usual of the leisure of ship
board to write as many letters as I can; and though I
have no papers on board with me, I am conscious of being
in your debt.
The case of Tahiti still presses upon my mind ; but I
scarcely "know how to act. In the present state of this
country, I dare not be absent for so long a time as would
be necessary for a run to the islands and back ; and I am
doubtful about the expediency of writing a friendly letter
to the missionaries, to invite any of their youths, and
especially the queen s sons, to come to me for education.
My native schools are now open; therefore I should be
able to receive them ; but I fear that difference of religious
persuasion would make the island missionaries more
willing to send their youths to some of their own brethren
in the neighbouring countries, than to me. If, however,
any opening should occur, you will understand me to be
as willing as ever, and perhaps better prepared than before,
to act upon your suggestion.
As I have now entered upon my third year in New
Zealand, I am reminded of our engagement to meet, if
possible at Sydney ; but as you are my senior, I wish I
1844-1846.] CHURCH AND STATE. 163
could say ecclesiastically my Metropolitan, I must await
your suggestion as to the time ; premising that I cannot
conveniently obey your summons earlier than June 1845.
It seems that our Tasmanian brother is in some difficulty,
which I do not fully understand, but which appears to
arise from the dependence of his clergy upon the Colonial
Government ; and that the difficulty is of such magnitude
as to induce him to detach his archdeacon to negotiate at
home. On such points as these, where the defects of the
old system in any one of our dioceses are apparent, it may
be well to avail ourselves of the proposed meeting to agree
upon some strong remonstrance, which may help to
strengthen the hands of those friends who are working in
England on our behalf. For myself, I have little to com
plain of, but am perfectly satisfied with the position in
which the State has been pleased to place the Church and
myself : knowing that the State here has nothing to give
to the Church ; and being able to take care that it takes
nothing away from us of that which is our own. But I
will gladly unite in any remonstrance, which may be likely
to help to free our good brother from the difficulties of
which he complains. If you will collect from your own
experience and his observation such important points as
these, on which it is desirable for us to confer, we shall
have data, upon which it may be possible to frame such a
memorial or representation to influential friends at home
as may help us to a better code of laws for the colonial
churches. In all these matters, I place myself under your
guidance.
You will have received a little note from me announcing
the birth of our second son, whom we have called John
Richardson after his excellent grandfather, some of whose
good qualities we pray that he may inherit. Mother and
babe I hope to find quite well on my return, God willing,
before the end of this month.
Captain Fitzroy is very friendly and co-operative;
though we do not altogether agree on Church matters. In
compliance with his instructions, but without my con
currence, he applied to the Legislative Council for an
increase of salary for me, ,and for the payment of my
travelling expenses ; but was left in a minority of two, all
the non-official and most of the official members voting
M 2
164 LIFE OF BISHOP SELWYN. [CHAP. vi.
against him. This decides the question of my position as
regards the colony ; and I am glad of it, because now no
one can say that I have separated the Church from the
State. They have themselves cast us off ; avowing as a
reason for their refusal, that all denominations were equal
in the eye of the State.
The prospectus of the Bishop s College has shown
[p. 134] how highly he valued industrial training and
now he found time for the humble, but not on that account
insignificant task of introducing a knowledge of knitting
and spinning among the Maoris : it grieved him to see
wool buried in the ground as a thing of no value, because
the natives knew not how to transfer it from the backs of
the sheep to their own, and he sought assistance in this
matter from one who he knew would willingly help.
To THE COUNTESS OP Powis.
ST. JOHN S COLLEGE, THE WAIMATE,
BAY OF ISLANDS, NEW ZEALAND,
April 18th, 1844.
Your kind letter of the 14th June [1843] met me on the
6th March, on which day I returned to Auckland from my
southern tour to the Middle Island and Stewart s Island,
where I have been making an inroad upon the whaling
and sealing stations, not without necessity, as may be
judged by the fact that I baptized seventy-one children
in places hitherto unvisited by a clergyman. These were
chiefly the children of English fathers by native mothers,
a race which in the Southern Islands is rapidly replacing
the native population, which is dying away. I have now
a bird s-eye view in my mind of my whole diocese, and
a beautiful mental map it is, if looked upon, as it may be,
at the distance of fifty years, peopled with an orderly and
godly race of settlers, residing in the hundreds and
thousands of fertile valleys, watered by the clear and
sparkling streams, which flow from the fine wooded hills
with which the neighbourhood of the coast is bounded.
1844-1846.] WEAVING INTRODUCED. 165
The interior alone presents features of desolation, in the
vast tracts of volcanic ground thinly covered with a
stunted vegetation. . . .
Knowing your interest in such matters, T wish for
advice, founded on your Scotch and Welsh experience,
as to the mode of introducing the manufacture of coarse
cloth into my native schools, with a view to enabling
the natives to clothe themselves. If the Welsh are obliged
to make their own clothes by hand-looms, though they are
so close to Manchester, because they have no export to
give in exchange for manufactured goods, it seems evident
that we can never have our natives effectually clad for the
same reason, except by domestic manufactures. They do-
not like horned cattle, from the difficulty of managing
them ; but I think that they would be induced to keep
sheep if they could see the intermediate processes by
which the fleece is transferred from the back of the sheep
to that of the man. If the Welsh peasantry have any
simple machinery for their cottage manufactures which
could be introduced into my industrial schools it would be
most acceptable, either in model or full-size. As my
children are all boarders they have plenty of time to
devote to such employments, and some of them already
sew very nicely. They are certainly as tractable and
docile as English children. Knitting-pins and worsted
would be very useful. A very general desire for English
clothing at present prevails, which may be turned to good
account. My brother Charles will be happy to take care
of anything which you may be able to procure to assist in
Cambro-Britonizing my people. Wales supplies me with
many arguments both to the natives and English. I tell
the former that one large portion of the British nation still
make their own clothes from their own flocks ; and to the
latter I argue that if farming will maintain families in
North Wales, where the crops are sometimes on the
ground at Christmas, much more will it in New Zealand,
where the harvest seldom if ever fails.
Some of our settlers are in a great hurry to abolish the
native language and substitute English ; to them I cite the
example of Oswestry, an English town with Welsh service
in the parish to this day. It is true that in Welshpool it
was supposed to be so completely abolished that the refined
166 LIFE OF BISHOP SELWYN. [CHAP. vi.
ears of the congregation objected to a certain curate s
Welsh accent, but this is a rare case.
If I should ever return to England, of which however I
have no idea, I am afraid my speech will have such a
Maori accent that I shall be inadmissible to Mr. Olive s
pulpit. Certain it is that whenever I attempt to speak
French I inadvertently fall into native words, which
caused great amusement when I dined on board the French
corvette Le Rhin, now stationed at Akaroa.
The political aspect of the colony had grown increasingly
threatening through the whole of this anxious year, and to
the bishop the anxiety thus caused was quite as great as it
was to the civil authorities. But the whole story must
be told, and cannot be told more truly or more graphically
than in the bishop s own words. The account which
follows, of two very anxious and disturbed years, is taken
from the bishop s letter to the Rev. Ernest Hawkins.
II. M. COLONIAL BRIG "VICTORIA,"
BAY OF PLENTY,
Easter Eve, 1845.
I now proceed to the m^in subject of my letter, which
is, the relations between the English settlers and the abori
ginal inhabitants of New Zealand.
You may recollect, that in my former letter on the
disaster at the Wairau, I expressed the opinion that we
had nothing to fear from the native people, if they were
treated with ordinary justice. Recent events make it
necessary that I should state how far this opinion is now
qualified or changed. In two principal respects the above
assertion is too broad and general.
1. The state of anarchy among the natives themselves.
2. The discontented and insubordinate temper of our own
settlers.
1. The authority of the native chiefs over their own
tribes has been much weakened by many causes ; among
which the following are perhaps the most weighty :
The pacification of the country leading to the dispersion
of the people into detached hamlets, where the authority
of the chief is feebly felt, if at all.
1844-1840.] CAUSES OF WAR. 167
The establishment of the order of native teachers,
whose influence in many cases is as great as that of the
chiefs.
The abolition of many heathen usages, by which the
respect for the chiefs was maintained.
The emancipation of slaves reducing the power of the
chief, who was the great slaveholder in former times.
The practical effect of this breaking-lip of the old
feudal system, before any other had been established to
supply its place, has been to leave each man, in a measure,
free to do what seems good in his own eyes. Though I
would still repeat my former opinion, that we have nothing
to fear from the native people in a mass, I am not prepared
to say that there are not many individuals among them
of whom we must be cautious, because they neither
recognise our laws nor are under awe of any authority
among themselves.
2. The second general qualification of my former
opinion is rendered necessary by the discontented and in
subordinate temper of our own settlers.
This source of evil to the country I was inclined
formerly to underrate : believing that the quickness and
intelligence of the natives would enable them to see
through the insidious statements which were made to
them, by designing persons, against the government, the
missionaries, myself, and all persons who took an active
part on their behalf. The one general imputation against
all of us was a concealed intention of dispossessing the
natives of their land, and reducing them to slavery. In
support of this, the acts of our countrymen in other
lands were related to them ; they were told how the
coloured man had been used in New South Wales, in
Van Diemen s Land, and in India : it was insinuated that
a different policy was adopted in New Zealand, only
because they were a strong and warlike people, with arms
in their hands : that here the plan was, first to send
missionaries to soften the fierceness of their disposition,
and to suppress their habits of war : and then gradually
to garrison the country with soldiers ; and so to proceed
to enslave and exterminate the inhabitants. Against these
reports we have all had to contend from the first, paying
the penalty, by a just principle of retribution, for the acts
168 LIFE OF BISHOP SBLWYN. [CHAP. vi.
of our countrymen in other lands. The treaty of Waitangi
was asserted to be a document, in which the native chiefs
were induced to sign away their rights and possessions :
and the missionaries were constantly blamed for having
assisted the governor in recommending it to them for
adoption. We all on the contrary declared it to be a
measure highly beneficial to the people ; by which they
obtained the protection of the British Government, instead
of becoming an object of contention to the great com
mercial nations of the world, and assured them in the
most solemn manner, that no land would be taken from
them which they were not willing to sell: and that all
their other rights of person and property would be respected.
To our great surprise and grief, all our assertions have been
falsified, by the late Report of the House of Commons, by
which all lands not actually occupied by the natives are
declared to be vested in the Crown : and by a despatch of
Lord Stanley, in which it seems to be proposed to tax
their waste lands, and in default of payment to confiscate
them to the Crown. The natives of New Zealand will
not bear this uncertainty ; they can see the merits of a
question as clearly as we can but if they detect us in a
falsehood, or even in a change of purpose, the reason of
which they cannot understand, our influence with them is
lost.
The British Government further came into this country
with great professions of the good which it would do to
the native people : much was said of native reserves and
funds for the support of native institutions ; no part of
which has ever been fulfilled. Native Protectors were
appointed, who for some time were employed chiefly in
conducting the purchases of land made by the Govern
ment ; and since their exemption from this duty, in
consequence of the loss of influence with the natives
which it caused, they have done nothing more than meet
the current difficulties of the day, without advancing the
people in civilization or intelligence. The Government was
consequently left without any moral witness in the eyes of
the natives of its desire to promote their real interests, 01
to hasten their amalgamation with ourselves. The in
sinuations of our disaffected settlers were left to work
without any antidote to neutralize the poison.
1844-1846.] JOHN HEKE ; KORORAREKA. IG J
Though there were many defects in the mission system,
and though the acts of some of the missionaries had gone
to favour the general imputation of a desire to dispossess
the natives of their land, yet in the main, it had this
advantage over the Government, that its principal object
was the benefit of the aboriginal race ; and that this
desire was visibly attested by the chapels, schools, and
mission-houses which were to be seen in all parts of the
country. That the difference was not unremarked by the
natives is evident from the fact, that when Kororareka
was destroyed by fire, house after house, the two chapels,
and the two parsonage houses were studiously preserved.
The first indication of disaffection to the British Govern
ment which I observed was in March 1843, from the
same John Heke who has since made himself so con
spicuous in his opposition to our government. Being
engaged in taking a census of the native population of
the Waimate district, I went to his place, a village named
Kaikohe, and asked the names of himself and several
other chiefs with whom he was sitting ; upon which they
all rose, and left me sitting by myself. I found on inquiry
that they suspected me of an intention of sending their
names to the Queen. For a long time my residence at the
Waimate was supposed to have some connexion with the
general scheme for taking forcible possession of the
country. These suspicions were studiously favoured by
travelling dealers, who abused their small knowledge of
the native language to misrepresent the government and
slander the missionaries
About the middle of the year 1844, the flagstaff on the
hill above Kororareka began to be talked of, as a sign of
the assumption of New Zealand by the British Govern
ment. The decline of the prices of native produce, which
had taken place since the removal of Governor Hobson to
Auckland, was attributed to signals made on the staff to
keep vessels of other nations from entering the port. The
queen s flag flying upon it was considered a proof that the
sovereignty of the native chiefs was at an end. Meetings
began to be held, at which John Heke was the chief
speaker, the subject of discussion being the cutting down
of the flagstaff. In the month of August, 1844, Heke
assembled a party of armed men, and proceeded to Koro-
170 LIFE OF BISHOP SELWYN. [CHAP. vi.
rareka, where he spent Saturday and part of Sunday in
alarming the inhabitants, and early on Monday morning
mounted the hill, and cut down the staff. I was at Paihia
at the time, engaged in the native school, at the close of
which the first words which I heard were " kua hinga te
kara : " " the colour has fallen." I shuddered at the
thought of this beginning of hostilities ; so full of presage
of evil for the future. Heke then crossed to Paihia, and
with his party danced the war-dance in my face ; after
which many violent speeches were made and they then
returned to Kaikohe.
The governor, on hearing of this, despatched a vessel
to Sydney for troops, which returned to the Bay of Islands
in three weeks with 200 men. The governor had gone in
the meantime in the Hazard sloop of war to settle a
disturbance with the natives at Taranaki ; whither I
travelled by land and met him, and we returned together
by sea to the Bay of Islands soon after the arrival of the
troops. The whole force, naval and military, was collected
at the Kerikeri ready to debark, and march into the
interior ; but at the urgent request of the friendly natives,
the Governor went to the Waimate, attended only by
Colonel Hulme of the 96th Eegiment, and Captain
Eobertson of the Hazard sloop. We received his Ex
cellency with such collegiate hospitality as we could
provide ; and assisted at a great meeting, at which he
explained to the natives clearly and fully the intentions
of the British Government ; and assured them that he had
no desire to take any violent means to vindicate the
honour of the Crown ; but should demand ten guns to be
given up as an acknowledgment for the insult. A general
cry of " Here they are ! " was immediately raised, and some
of the principal chiefs of the place brought them and laid
them at his feet. The whole manner of the chiefs on the
occasion was very pleasing and impressive. But Heke
stood aloof and would not come to the meeting. The
next day when the governor had gone he came to hear the
particulars of the meeting ; and to ascertain the reasons
of my leaving the Waimate, which I assured him had no
connexion whatever with the disturbed state of the country,
but that letters which I had received from England had
determined me to remove to Auckland. Accordingly in
1844-1846.] FIGHTING PARTIES. 171
the middle of November we embarked on board the
Victoria, and sailed to Auckland, when Mr. Cotton
settled at the college ground on the Tamati, and Mrs.
Selwyn in a house hired for her near the town. In the
beginning of December, I set out on my tour of confirma
tions through the districts of Manukau, Waikato, Waipa,
Taupo, and Whanganui.
At Whanganui I found a " Taua " or fighting party of
170 natives, headed by Te Heulieu, the old chief of Taupo,
who had come to avenge the manes of some relations, who
had fallen in battle at Te Ihupuka, a Pa about twenty
miles to the northward of the Whanganui river. The Taua
encamped at the English settlement, and alarmed the
inhabitants so much that an express was sent to Wellington
for assistance. Accordingly, on the day after my arrival
the Hazard came from Wellington, with Major Richmond,
the superintendent of the southern division, on board.
Major Richmond, Captain Robertson, and Messrs. McLean
and Forsaith, native protectors, went immediately to the
party, and insisted upon their behaving properly to the
settlers, upon pain of being considered the queen s enemies,
and left to the discretion of Captain Robertson and the
force under his command. The threat was scarcely out of
the superintendent s mouth before the Hazard was blown
out to sea: and she did not return for a week. That
night we watched with some anxiety in Mr. Taylor s house,
on the opposite side of the river, where Major Richmond
and Captain Robertson were lodged, in fear lest the Taua,
resenting the threat which had been held out, should
attack and plunder the English town, and then paddle in
their canoes up the Whanganui river, which flows in a
great chasm between wooded precipices, through a country
covered with a dense forest, into which no English force
could follow them without being cut off to a man. We
had a party of 300 Christian natives assembled for con
firmation, who had been already much exasperated by
seeing their cultivations plundered by the strangers, and
were well inclined to protect us. It was arranged that in
the event of an attack upon the English town they should
be ready to row to an appointed place, where the in
habitants were to form a hollow square on the beach for
the protection of the women and children, till they could
172 LIFE OF BISHOP SELWYN. [CHAP. vi.
be embarked on board the canoes, and ferried to the oppo
site shore. The night, however, passed away without any
alarm ; and the threat, unsupported by any physical force,
was sufficient to stop the petty pilferings which had been
committed nightly before the arrival of the Hazard. The
principal chiefs, especially Te Heuheu, exerted themselves
to repress these irregularities among their followers.
After a few days of negotiation, conducted chiefly by
Mr. McLean, the protector, during which I had the more
agreeable duty of examining and admitting to confirmation
more than 300 native converts, it was agreed that the
war party should go within sight of their enemies, fire
off their guns, and dance their war-dance, in order to
" whakapata te aitua," i.e. to let out the ill-omen (as a
cenotaph would let out the " aitua," $709 ekavvew, of
leaving a relation unburied) ; and then to return peaceably
to their own place.
All these communications were conducted in the most
friendly manner, with the single exception of one chief,
who took occasion of offence at an allusion which 1 made
to his ears being stopped, when he refused to listen to me,
unless I would give him some tobacco. The ear and the
whole of the head of a chief is considered sacred by the
heathens ; and may not be trespassed upon even by word
of mouth. Of course I tendered an apology, which was
not accepted ; and his wife, a perfect virago, attacked me
with genuine extract of the bush (" expressa arbusto
convicia "), to which my ears were as deaf as her husband s
sacred organ had been to me.
The principal chief Te Heuheu claimed acquaintance
with Mr. Taylor and me, as having received us hospitably
at Taupo in the previous year ; a hint which we under
stood to mean that he wished for a present. We told him
that we could give nothing till we knew his intentions,
but that when we were sure that he would return quietly
to his place, the gratitude for his kindness would be shown
in some present to himself and his son : a promise which
we afterwards performed by presenting him and his brother
chiefs with four blankets, and as many trousers and shirts.
This was construed by the English settlers into bribing
the natives to go ; and so far resented by them, that some
absented themselves from church the following Sunday in
1844-1846.] FRIENDLY OVERTURES. 173
consequence of " the conduct of their ministers. " Their
wish seemed to be to bring on an engagement between the
Hazard s men and the natives, a disposition unhappily
too common among the settlers ; but which they have
now to unlearn.
In the hope of making peace between the two parties,
Major Richmond and I walked to Te Ihupuku, where
Mr. McLean, Mr. Bolland, and Mr. Skevington and Turton,
Wesleyan missionaries, were engaged in communicating
with the Taranaki natives on the same point. About
midway we found a present of food and a letter addressed
to Te Heuheu. The letter was friendly, but the food so
scanty that it was considered by the Taua as an intentional
insult ; as they were not willing to consider that a force
of 1,000 men assembled at one point for several weeks
must have exhausted the provisions of the neighbour
hood. As soon as Iwikau, the second in command to Te
Heuheu, arrived at the spot and saw the present, he affected
to fall into a violent passion, and acted to the life all the
gestures of an infuriated savage ; declaring that it was an
intentional insult, and that we were the authors of it. We
of course said nothing, and in a few minutes he changed
his tone, and conversed with us as usual in a friendly
manner. An old priest then approached the pile of food,
circling round it at first at a cautious distance, but ap
proaching nearer and nearer at each turn, and mumbling
his prayers as he moved slowly along. When his kara-
kia" (charm) was completed, the suspected food was
ordered to be burnt.
The war party slept that night at Kai-Iwi, half-way
between Whanganui and the Waitotara river, on which
Te Ihupuku stands. Major Richmond, Mr. Forsaith,
and myself proceeded to the Pa, which we approached at
sunset, just as the chapel bell was ringing for evening
prayers. The Pa was much changed in appearance since
my last visit; extensive fortifications having been added
after the native fashion, formed of rows of upright stakes,
crossed by longitudinal bars of wood : the whole bound
firmly together with native flax and supplejack. We
were welcomed with the greatest cordiality by the natives,
and immediately invited to a general meeting, at which
from 800 to 1,000 armed men of the Ngatiruanui and
174 LIFE OF BISHOP SELWYN. [CHAP. vi.
Ngatimaru tribes were present. The principal chief
opened the proceedings by a recommendation little at
tended to in civilized assemblies, requesting the orators
to make short speeches. Mr. Forsaith, the protector
of aborigines, then gave an account of all that had
taken place of the arrival of the war party from Taupo,
of the negotiations between us ; and of our desire to
make peace between the hostile tribes ; and inquired
whether they were willing that the war party should come
to the opposite side of the river Waitotara, which flows
at the foot of the hill on which the Pa is built, to agree
upon the conditions. A general assent seemed to be given
to this proposition ; but on the following morning we
were informed that a small body of the natives were
intending to rush out upon their enemies and attack
them, which must have brought on a general engagement,
though the great majority were peaceably inclined. Major
Eichmond and I, therefore, returned to meet the Taupo
party, to let them know that if they advanced to the Pa,
we could not be answerable for the consequences. We
met them on an open sand-hill about four miles from the
place, all crouching in the manner of a native force waiting
for the signal to attack. Mr. Forsaith made a short speech,
explaining the reasons of our return : upon which the old
chief Te Heuheu rose and said, " I hoki rangatira mai
koutou " (you have acted like gentlemen in coming back),
and then called upon his men to do honour to the Pakeha.
The whole body rose, fired a salute, and danced their war-
dance ; and in a few minutes were in full retreat along the
beach to Whanganui, and I thanked God, that all danger
of bloodshed was at an end. The rapidity of the retreat
made us suspect that some of the young men intended to
plunder the English settlement ; the custom of all fighting
parties on their return being to lay hands on everything
that comes in their way. Major Eichmond and I therefore
walked as fast as we could after them, but without much
probability of overtaking theiri. On coming up with
Te Heuheu, who had stopped to rest on the road, we
found that he agreed with us in our suspicion ; and the
old chief accordingly despatched a special messenger to
run on before to warn the English settlers of their return.
On our way we fell in with my old acquaintance Ngawaka,
1844-1846.] NELSON. 175
whose sacred ear it had been my misfortune to offend,
heavily dragging along his bulky person over the dead
sandy beach ; an.d looking as if he would have much
preferred a seat in a canoe on the gentle Waipa (from the
banks of which he came) to the honour and glory of a
campaign in Taranaki. His voluble wife, who had amply
retaliated upon my ears the injury done to her husband s,
was walking painfully along by his side. To my surprise
they both addressed me with smiling faces, and the lady
held out her hand to me in token of reconciliation. When
I asked the reason of this change of feeling towards me,
she said, " Because you have made them go back." So I
found that the good scold was a lover of peace after all.
Finding everything quiet at Whanganui after the
return of the Taupo chiefs, I. took leave of the friendly
party of more than 300 natives, whom I had examined
and confirmed, and embarked with Major Richmond on
board H.M. sloop Hazard on 22nd January.
The little settlement of Whanganui has now about 200
inhabitants, but from its unprotected situation, I should
fear that it could not be maintained in the event of any
general collision with the natives. The church lands of
which so much has been said, and which were selected in
this district, are still in the possession of the natives, with
the exception however of the town allotments ; on one
of which the Church has been built.
We arrived at Nelson on the 24th January, and found
that an express had been sent to Wellington for assistance,
in apprehension of an attack from the natives : some of
whom had burnt the house of a settler and committed
other depredations. The question was found to relate
to a disputed boundary line between the native land and
that sold to the settlers, and was speedily adjusted by
Major Richmond going to the ground and fixing the
boundary according to the surveyor s plan which had
been agreed upon by all parties.
The chief improvement in Nelson since my last visit
was a handsome brick school-house, built as usual, partly
by subscription and partly by grant, under the direction of
Mr. Reay. Here I had the great pleasure of seeing eighty
children assembled, including the scholars of the grammar
school who are under the instruction of Rev. H. Butt, and
176 LIFE OF BISHOP SELWYN. [CHAP, vi
whom I examined, and was well pleased with their progress.
Nelson is the only place at which I have been able as yet to
carry out the plan of education which will, I hope, in time
be generally adopted : viz. the placing the whole education of
the young under the charge of a deacon, with proper assist
ants under him for the mechanical routine of the schools.
The religious instruction will be entirely in his hands.
The subordinate departments will, I hope, be generally
filled by candidates for deacon s orders, so that there will
be, if possible, no distinct order of schoolmasters, and no
one will have to look forward to continuing beyond a
certain time in the more irksome duties of the school.
The scriptural knowledge of the boys in the Nelson
school gave me good hopes that this system may be the
means of correcting that want of feeling and irreverence
which is complained of in English national schools, and
which seems to arise from the manner in which religious
instruction is confounded with the most ordinary branches
of school education. The points required to be attended
to seem to be, feeling in the teacher, reverence in the tone
in which the instruction is given, and separation of that
from all the other studies of the school. This can scarcely
be accomplished in any other way than by making the
clergyman, not the mere occasional visitor and examiner,
but the actual teacher of religion
The Hazard being required to return immediately to
Auckland to carry to the governor despatches which
arrived by the Stains Castle, I bade farewell to my friends,
Eev. Messrs. Eeay and Butt, and sailed for Wellington,
where I arrived on the 29th January. A large wooden
chapel had been completed since my last visit, and was
now in use. Here also, as at every settlement which I
have visited, there were rumours of wars with the natives,
arising out of the anarchy which I have described. The
governor a few months ago completed, as he believed, the
purchase of the valley of the Heritaonga or Hutt river
from the chiefs Te Eauparaha and Eangiaeta, and paid
the purchase-money on condition that the land should be
vacated at the end of February 1845. Within a month
of the expiration of the term assigned for the occupation
of the natives, a lawless body of stragglers, recognising the
authority of no chief, settled themselves on the land,
1844-1846.] WAIKANAE. 177
defied the authority of Major ."Richmond, and brought in
canoe loads of seed potatoes with the evident intention of
retaining possession. The month of March was the time
fixed for employing active measures to put the English
settlers upon their land, and I determined accordingly to
return to Wellington with the view of -residing at the
mission station at Waikanae, to prevent, if possible, the
old chief Te Eauparaha and his people from taking any
part in the expected affray. My present voyage is the
result of this determination, to which I have been forced
by the mortal illness of my dear friend Mr. Hadfield, who
is now lying at Wellington (if indeed he be yet alive)
" with but a step between him and death." It has pleased
God, in this season of peculiar trial, to take from us some
of the youngest and best beloved and most influential of
our brethren; as if to try our faith in the wisdom and
goodness of His providence, and in Christ s assurance
that, though we know not now what He doeth, we shall
know hereafter. His station is the key to the tranquillity
of this district, containing among its population some of
the best and some of the worst of the native race. Among
the former I may reckon Te Kauparaha s son Thompson and
his cousin Martin, two young men of singular steadfast
ness of purpose. When the gospel was first preached
among their people by some natives who had received
instruction at the mission stations in the north, they
readily received it, and determined to go to the Bay of
Islands to ask for an English preacher to be stationed
among them. The old chiefs objected to their plan, on the
ground of some hereditary feud with the northern tribes,
some death as yet unexpiated, which might be visited upon
the young men. Failing in obtaining the consent of their
relations, they embarked by night on board of a whale
ship then anchored at Kapiti, and sailed to the Bay of
Islands. About that time an order had been issued by
the Church Missionary Society to concentrate the mission
in the northern district, in consequence of the wars which
still continued in the south, and the application of the
young chiefs for some time was unsuccessful. At last
the urgency and evident sincerity of their appeal decided
Mr. Hadfield to offer himself as their minister; and he
went accordingly, accompanied by Mr. H. Williams, to
VOL. I. N
178 LIFE OF BISHOP SELWYN. [CHAP. vi.
form the new station afc Waikanae, where his presence has
since been acknowledged by all to have been the means,
under God s blessing, of averting still more fatal con
sequences of the affray at the Wairau.
To conclude the history of my friends Thomson and
Martin. At the request of Mr. Hadfield they undertook
a missionary voyage to the Middle Island and Foveaux
Straits voyaging in an open boat more than a thousand
miles : sometimes remaining on the sea all night with a
compass which had been given them, but the use of which
they very imperfectly understood ; and returned after an
absence of fourteen months, having catechized and preached
at every native settlement in the Southern Island and in
Foveaux Straits. On my visit to those places last year, I
found that the natives uniformly ascribed their conversion
to them. Thomson accompanied me on my journey to
the south, and I have already remarked upon the pleasing
contrast, that while the father was the terror of the settlers
of Port Nicholson, the son was engaged with me in
evangelizing the heathen. I mention these redeeming
characters in the native people, because, though they do
not strictly belong to my main subject, viz. their relation
to ourselves, yet they may serve to counteract a growing
feeling, too much resembling the wish of Nero, that the
whole people had but one neck that he might cut it off at
a blow.
From Wellington I returned to Auckland in the Hazard,
encountering off the East Cape a most fearful storm, in
which seven of the ship s guns were obliged to be thrown
overboard. I am most thankful that my little schooner
Flying Fish was . still on the western coast, having been
detained to bring on a mail which had been left behind.
It has happened to me, by God s gracious providence, that
in the many voyages which I have been obliged to make
I have never met with any tempestuous weather except in
this case, where we had all the appliances of human skill
and strength of material, to withstand the storm. On
Sunday, February 9th, I returned thanks on board the
Hazard, together with the officers and ship s company, on
arriving in safety at Auckland
During my stay at Auckland, I had a most pleasing
proof of the confidence of the natives. My little schooner
1844-1846.] HOSTILITIES RENEWED. 179
Flying Fish arrived from Kapiti, bringing four scholars
for the native school, the children of Christian parents at
Otaki, one of Mr. Hadfield s stations. The eldest was
about twelve years of age. These little lads had sailed
from Otaki to Nelson 80 miles, from Nelson to Welling
ton 140, from Wellington to Auckland 500, in all more
than 700 miles, to come to our school ; and I learned from
them that several more were ready and wishing to come.
In the midst of great discouragements and anxieties, these
are the signs which comfort and support us.
On the 6th March, the news arrived at Auckland of a
collision between the natives and the Hazard s pinnace.
The flagstaff had been replaced on the hill over Kororareka,
and again cut down by John Heke. A new one was
placed, and protected by a block-house of thick planks,
guarded by a body of twenty soldiers. A second block
house half-way down between the flagstaff and the beach
was also erected ; and two guns mounted in front of it.
A large house on the beach belonging to Mr. Polack was
stockaded as a place of refuge for the women arid children,
in the event of an attack upon the town. Another gun
placed on a height above the church, commanded Matavai
Bay a sheltered bay communicating with the town by
a hollow valley a few hundred yards in length.
Hostilities began on the 1st or 2nd of March, by an
attack of a plundering party upon the house of a settler
residing near the Kawakawa. The Hazard s pinnace,
armed with a gun in the bow, pursued the party and drove
them ,ashore, from whence a fire was opened upon the
pinnace by parties concealed in the brushwood. The fire
was returned, but without effect, and the pinnace returned
to the ship.
For several days after this the natives were evidently
gathering their forces round Kororareka, and desultory
skirmishing began to take place without loss of life on
either side. Lieutenant Phillpotts of the Hazard, riding
out to reconnoitre with Mr. Parrott, a midshipman of the
ship, were surprised by a party of natives, who seized them
and flourished their hatchets over their heads, and then
allowed them to return. The report which reached Auck
land of the first shot having been fired, which we had
always looked upon as the beginning of evils, made me
N 2
180 LIFE OF BISHOP SELWYN. [CHAP. vi.
very uneasy for the safety of the northern missions, and
finding this feeling increase upon me, on the departure of the
government brig with a reinforcement of soldiers, I sailed
in the Flying Fish on the 8th March, and arrived at the
mouth of the Bay of Islands early on the morning of
Sunday the 9th. Here I was becalmed the whole day,
and occupied myself in morning and evening prayers with
my native crew, and with the one Englishman who manages
the vessel. In the evening a light breeze sprang up,
which carried us in at midnight to the anchorage at
Kororareka amidst such a solemn stillness that every
ripple upon the rocks was distinctly heard. A single
light from the watch-tower on the hill alone gave sign of
any hostile preparation. On approaching the Hazard,
however, we found her anchored head and stern with her
broadside to the beach, and all the small coasting vessels
which usually lie close to the shore moored by themselves
off the further end of the town. We had just anchored
when one of the lieutenants of the Hazard came on board
the Flying FisJi, and informed me that they were in hourly
expectation of an attack, that Heke had fixed that day,
Monday, March 10th, for assaulting the flagstaff. That
day, however, passed away without any alarm ; but the
natives were understood to have received a considerable
accession of force
Before daylight on the morning of the llth, Captain
Robertson with the small-arm men of the Hazard and
some of the marines, went forward to reconnoitre this
valley, and met a large body of natives advancing to
the attack. A sharp engagement immediately began,
in which the natives were repulsed; but a portion of
the body which had been lying in ambush near the
church cut off Captain Eobertson from the main body of
his men ; and a native coming within a few paces of him
fired a shot which shattered his thigh. At this time
he was surrounded by the natives, but his men rallied and
rescued him, and he was carried off to the ship. The
sergeant of marines also fell, with four others. The gun
on the height was found to be exposed to a continual fire
from the brushwood, and was ordered to be abandoned.
The brave seaman, who was ordered to spike it, dis
charged his duty amidst a constant fire of musketry, and
1844-1846.] ENGLISH REPULSED. 181
at last fell dead by the side of his gun. The repulse
which the natives sustained at this point was so severe,
that no serious attack was made from* that quarter during
the remainder of the engagement.
A little before sunrise, while I was viewing the move
ments on shore with my telescope, my native crew called
my attention to a party of natives mounting the hill to
the flagstaff, and almost before I could direct my glass to
the point, they said, " They have gained it." A few musket
shots were fired, and a body of soldiers appeared retreating
down the ridge leading to the middle block-house, into
which they entered and disappeared. A loud voice called
out from the height, " They have got possession of the flag
staff." The whole object of the native attack was gained
in a moment. I have been informed that the officer in
command had drawn off the men to some distance to
strengthen the entrenchments ; and that the party which
we had seen ascending the hill had taken them by sur
prise, and cut off their retreat to the block-house. They
then killed the sentinels, and rushing into the house,
killed a poor little half-caste girl who had hidden herself
under some blankets, no doubt supposing her to be one of
the soldiers. The keeper of the signals was severely
wounded, and his wife and daughter taken prisoners and
conducted to Heke, who sent them down with a flag of
truce to our nearest post ; the party of natives who con
ducted them remaining within gun-shot of the fort, till
they saw the woman and child safely lodged under shelter.
At this time there seemed to be a disposition to treat,
and a young man acquainted with the native language was
sent up to hold communication with Heke, but he re
turned without accomplishing anything ; but a white flag
still continued flying on the summit of the hill near the
flagstaff. ....
The order was then issued for all the force to retreat on
board the Hazard, which was done without molestation
from the enemy. About the same time the Matilda, whale
ship, sailed into the harbour. Her commander, Captain
Bliss, most promptly and humanely offered every assist
ance to the settlers, and received on board as many as
could be accommodated. All the other vessels received
their share. The complement of the Flying Fish amounted
182 LIFE OF BISHOP SELWYN. [CHAP. vi.
to four mothers and ten children. One gallant lad 1 of
fourteen, to whom I offered an asylum with his mother
and sisters, answered me, " Thank you, sir, but I should
like to stay with my father." I could only say, " God
bless you, my boy, I can say nothing against it ; " and away
he went to rejoin his father in the hottest part of the fire.
Happily he escaped unhurt, and is now at St. John s
College. The Flying Fish with her infant freight then
shifted her station, and came to an anchor off the mission
settlement of Paihia.
The firing having now ceased, Mr. Williams and I went
on shore to recover and bury the bodies of the dead,
fearing, lest the barbarous custom, now almost extinct,
should have been revived by that portion of the native
force, which was still in an unconverted and heathen state.
We found the town in the possession of the natives, who
were busily engaged in plundering the houses. Their
behaviour to us and to Mr. Philip King of Tepuna, who
accompanied us, was perfectly civil and inoffensive. Several
immediately guided us to the spots where the bodies were
lying, where we found them with their clothes and ac
coutrements untouched, no indignity of any kind having
been attempted. The corpses of those who fell near the
church were laid as we found them, in the burial-ground
at Kororareka, together with the burnt remains which we
found in the ruins of the stockaded house. I buried six
in one grave, just as the sun went down upon this day of
sorrow. Mr. Williams collected five bodies on the nag-
staff hill, including the corpse of the half-caste girl,
which he carried in his boat to the Hazard, where another
was added to the number during the night, by the death of
one of those who were burned by the explosion
The state of the town after the withdrawal of the troops
was very characteristic. The natives carried on their
work of plunder with perfect composure, neither quarrelling
among themselves nor resenting any attempt on the part
of the English to recover portions of their property.
Several of the people of the town landed in the midst of
them, and were allowed to carry off such things as were
not particularly desired by the spoilers. With sorrow I
observed that many of the natives were wheeling off casks
1 Nelson Hector, now Captain of the P. & 0. S.S. Siam.
1844-1846.] MODERATION OF NATIVES. 183
of spirits ; but they listened patiently to my remonstrances,
and in one instance they allowed me to turn the cock and
let the liquor run out upon the ground. Another assured
me that he would drink very little of it. On ascending
the hill to the flagstaff, we found the staff lying upon the
ground, having been chopped through near the bottom. A
few musket shots had buried themselves iu the walls of
the block-house, but the building was otherwise uninjured.
A large body of natives were resting in the valley below,
and other large parties were filing off along the paths over
the hills. Altogether there must have been about 500 men
on the ground. As far as I have been able to ascertain,
they lost about thirty-four men killed : the number of
the wounded I could not learn. By request of the post
master, I went to his house to ascertain whether he could
safely go on shore to recover his papers. The house was
being plundered, but when I asked the natives in posses
sion to spare the written papers, one immediately answered,
" I will save them." The private despatches of the police
magistrate were brought off by Mr. Williams. When we
left the beach a little after sunset, many of the inhabitants
were engaged in removing their property ; and some of our
countrymen, I fear, were taking part with the plunderers. .
On Wednesday morning, March 12th, T crossed to
Paihia, and interred the bodies of six of the slain in the
burial-ground at that place ; Archdeacon Brown and Eev.
Mr. Dudley attending me at the service. In the afternoon
I procured a horse, and rode to the Waimate. On the
way one of those circumstances occurred which mark more
than words can express the confidence with which the old
settlers live among the natives of the country. I bad gone
about half-way to the Waimate when I met a settler from
Hokianga riding quietly down to the bay, with one native
on horseback behind him, to learn the particulars of the
engagement. He had come thirty miles through the
country from which Heke s forces were drawn, and was
going to the scene of action ; and I afterwards met him
returning by the same route, without the slightest appre
hension of danger. The truth is, that there is something
in the native character which disarms personal fears in
those who live among them, and are acquainted with their
manners. All suspicion of treachery seems to be at
184 LIFE OF BISHOP SELWYN. [CHAP. vi.
variance with the openness and publicity of all their pro
ceedings. Heke published beforehand his determination
to attack Kororareka, the day on which it was to be done,
and even the particulars of his plan for the assault.
As I reached the Waimate, the sky was lighted up with
a lurid glare, which was soon discovered to be caused by
the flames arising from the town of Kororareka. From a
hill near the Waimate, the whole outline of the town could
be seen lighted up by the blaze of the burning houses. My
approach to the station was greeted by a large body of
Christian natives, with a louder and heartier shout of
welcome (Haere mai !) than I had ever heard before. They
invited me to a general meeting, at which all the principal
persons expressed their determination to defend the mis
sionaries and their families to the last, and begged me
earnestly not to think of removing them. Their feeling
was responded to by Mr. and Mrs. Burrows, and Mr. and
Mrs. Davis, the missionaries of the station, who had
resolved to stand firm in the assurance that the same
Power which had guarded the mission through thirty years
uf trial and anxiety would defend it to the end. The
native school, which I left with only thirty children, had
thriven in the midst of the troubled times, and had risen
to seventy. No sooner was it heard that I was in the
house, than a stream of little children flowed down from
the bedrooms in the upper story, their black eyes and
white teeth sparkling in the candlelight as they crowded
about me with smiling faces to shake me by the hand.
As some of the Christian natives remarked, " Though the
heavens were black around us, this was the bright spot of
blue sky, which gave hopes that the storm would soon
pass away."
At two in the morning of Thursday, 13th March, I
left the Waimate to be in time for the tide at a creek on
the way to Paihia. A short time before sunrise, I reached
the summit of the last hill which overlooks the entrance
of the Bay of Islands, and the town and anchorage of
Kororareka. The whole surface of the bay was calm and
glassy, reflecting the dark outline of the hills, and the
bright straw-coloured light of the eastern sky above
them. The Hazard and Matilda lay motionless in middle
channel between Paihia and Kororareka. In the bosom
1844-1846.] THE BISHOP MISUNDERSTOOD. 185
of the dark hills, the smoke of the town " went up like
the snioke of a furnace." All that had been devoted to
mammon was gone : but heathen vengeance had spared the
patrimony of God. The two chapels and the houses of
the clergy remained undestroyed.
A curious circumstance is related, with every evidence
of truth. An inhabitant of Kororareka residing near the
house of Bishop Pompallier, had concealed a store of
specie in the panels of his house, amounting, it is said,
to two thousand pounds. The natives engaged in destroy
ing the town, fearing that if they burned this house the
flames would communicate to the bishop s, preferred pulling
it down, and in so doing discovered the treasure. A good
lesson for the rioters of Bristol
Our chief subject of anxiety now is, the effect which
this disaster will have upon the other tribes among whom
the English settlements are placed. The Waikato race
in the neighbourhood of Auckland have hastened to offer
to the governor their renewed assurances of friendship and
allegiance. We are not so sure of the Xgatiraukawa and
Ngatiawa near Wellington, and Mr. Hadfield s mortal
illness weakens our position in those parts to an incalcu
lable extent. Weighing these considerations I have felt
my post of duty to be for the present at Wellington and
Waikanae (Kapiti), and I therefore sailed on the 20th
March in the Victoria brig, with Mrs. Selwyn and one of
my children ; and we are now, I thank God, within sight
of Cape Palliser, the last headland to be passed before we
reach the heads of Port Nicholson.
The progress of the Church was indeed uphill, when
in a small colony race was thus arrayed against race:
the bishop, while keeping the mission free from the
contentions that raged, was obliged to take action : one in
so prominent a position, could not be neutral, and his high
sense of justice exposed him now to the suspicion of the
natives, and now to the animosity of the colonists. The
repulse of the white force at the Wairau in 1843 had
given confidence to the natives, who saw that the English
were no longer invincible ; and now in the north, in the
oldest settlement in the colony, the power of the British
186 LIFE OF BISHOP SELWYN. [CHAP. vi.
had teen defied. When the insurrection was approaching
the climax, the bishop went, as was explained in the letter
to Mr. Hawkins, to the scene of warfare, hoping to act as
peace-maker, and on his way he wrote to the Eev. E.
Coleridge a Sunday letter breathing the spirit of the errand
on which he was bent.
EPISCOPAL SCHOONER, "FLYING FISH," OFF PAPEKA, BAY OF ISLANDS,
9 P.M. Sunday, March Qth, 1845.
MY DEAR FRIEND,
In obedience to your request for frequent communi
cation, I send you a Dominical letter, which, like a Sabbath
day s journey, must be short, especially as the day is far
spent. But this same feeling, that my day is passed, re
minds me often that yours is but just beginning, and
therefore I can always spend another with you in thought
when my own is at an end. My present position favours
such a reduplication, for I am sitting in my little cabin, in
the schooner Flying Fish of seventeen tons burden ; with no
other companions than my sailing master, Champion, late
boatswain of the Government brig Victoria, and my crew of
three New Zealanders. As you have taken me to task
for omitting to write to you from a similar cabin on board
Tuhawaiki s vessel in the Middle Island, I am resolved not
to give you another opportunity ; but to write to you a small
letter from every litCie cabin in which I happen to sail.
In answer to your noble offer of a schooner similar to
that given to the Bishop of Newfoundland, I must tell
you, that any thing above twenty tons is considered large
in our harbours, the greater number of our coasting vessels
being about that size ; and, if managed by steady men,
they perform their voyages with great safety. The Flying
Fish, in coming from Otaki, where she had been lying
useless for two years, performed the quickest passage that
has ever been made from Wellington to Auckland. I
must give you the history of my little yacht, which is likely
from association to hold a high place in my affection.
When Mr. Hadfield (now perhaps of blessed memory) was
stationed at Kapiti, four years ago, his missionary zeal led
him to cross Cook s Straits in open boats, to minister to
the inhabitants of the Middle Islands. The Committee,
or rather Mr. H. Williams, alarmed at the danger which
1844-1846.] MEMORIES OF FRIENDS. 187
Mr. Hadfield was in the habit of incurring, had the
Flying Fish built for him at the Bay of Islands, and sent
her to Kapiti. As soon as she arrived, Mr. H. resolved to
attempt a visit to the Middle and Stewart s Islands, which
he had long wished to make, but had never been able to
obtain the services of the missionary schooner, Columbine,
for the purpose ; as by the system of the C. M. S. the
vessel was under the command of the Local Committee in
whose district she happened to anchor ; but as Mr. Had
field lived on the other side of the islands, far away from
her usual beat, she never came under his authority at
all The vessel was laid up in the river at Otaki,
where she has remained for two years useless ; Mr. Eeay s
residence at Nelson having superseded the necessity of
Mr. Hadfield s visits to the Middle Island. She was
made over to me as some compensation for the large
expenses which I had incurred in repairing the buildings
of the Waimate, on faith of an agreement with Mr.
Kempthorne, afterwards disallowed by the .Home Com
mittee. You will easily understand why I value anything
which serves to bring the memory of Mr. Hadfield to my
mind, when I tell you that I left him at Wellington
smitten with an incurable disease, and scarcely dare to hope
that I may see him again in this life. So true a Chris
tian, so influential a Missionary, and so valuable a Friend,
like others whom I have lost before, can never be replaced.
Their deaths must be in themselves the benefits, which
they were designed by God to bestow upon this country.
This is the history of the little vessel, in which I am now
sitting, and associating you with Mr. Hadfield, Mr. Whyte-
head, Willy Evans, and other dear friends with whom I can
now live only in memory, but with whom I would rather
live in this way, than enjoy all the fleshpots of Egypt in
what is called " society " with most men. My store of
distant friends has grown since I came to this country.
It is now 20 minutes past 11, P.M. and you have just
gone to the duties of your day ; which w r ill be of a different
character from those which I have enjoyed. I left nay
dear wife on the beach at Auckland, at 12 (noon) yesterday.
and at 8 this morning 1 was at Cape Brett : but the
usual calm of the Lord s day, which we used to remark on
board the Tomatin, came on, and instead of arriving as I
188 LIFE OF BISHOP SELWYN. [CHAP. vi.
expected in time to assist Mr. Dudley at Kororareka, I
have held my Church on the deep, in my own little ship,
just the length of the ten- oar in our time (45 feet), arid
with congregations just equalling the number of the ser
vices, four in all, Native and English, but unequally divided,
three natives to one Englishman, and myself for the fifth.
A slight breeze has just brought us within sight of Koro
rareka ; the chant of the native crew, one which you have
often heard in Eton Chapel, and which they have learned
from the native boys in our school, has lately ceased ; a
cloudless sky overhead connects me with you " by the
bauds of Orion, and the sweet influence of the Pleiades,"
now setting over the Waimate : a light breeze fills our
sails, without rippling the water ; the wake of the schooner
gleams with phosphoric light, and the solemn stillness of
the dark heights of Tapeka is unbroken by any noise ;
though a camp of armed men is formed on the summit to
guard the flagstaff, which has been twice cut down in re
sentment of the aggression supposed to be intended as the
sequel of the treaty of Waitangi. Two vessels of war,
the Hazard, and an American corvette, are at anchor, near
which my little peaceable schooner will shortly drop its
anchor.
The position of the bishop during these stirring times
was to the uninitiated anomalous, but there was nothing
that was not most fully consistent with his office. In
the midst of the carnage and passion which raged he
was ever aiming at peace, and exercising his office for the
spiritual comfort of the wounded, using his influence to
lessen the horrors of the strife. The Auckland Times of
March 18, 1845, had the following notice of his conduct :
"His lordship the Bishop of New Zealand was an
active witness, and participator in this business ; and it is
only due to him to record, that it is impossible for the rap
ture of praise -to exceed that with which every tongue loads
him. Fearless in the very midst of the contest, Dr. Selwyn
sought to allay the heat of blood, and to arrest the fury of
the fight; he was also seen bearing the wounded from
the field ; afterwards unwearied at the bedside of the
dying : much more than this he was the nurse, and the
1844-1846.] H.M.S. HAZARD. 189
surgeon, and the servant of the sick, as well as their
spiritual attendant."
In the following week the same newspaper published
the subjoined letter from the commanding officer of the
Hazard, who himself fell some months later in an en
counter with the natives, which shows the impression
which the bishop had made on the ship s company :
To THE EIGHT EEV. THE LOED BISHOP OF NEW ZEALAND.
H.M.S. "HAZAKD," AUCKLAND,
March 19th, 1845.
MY LOED,
Nothing but the number of official reports that I have
been compelled to write has delayed me in addressing
your Lordship to express my personal feelings of gratitude,
and also the thanks of the officers and ship s company
of the Hazard, for your kindness and attention, not only
to the sick and wounded, but also, generally, to all the
unfortunate sufferers in the late melancholy encounter at
the Bay of Islands.
Although I feel that it would be impertinent in me to
thank you for the Christian feeling which you evinced on
that, as you do upon every, occasion, I cannot help assuring
your Lordship that there is not a single man on board who
does not appreciate your conduct. Both officers and men
are unanimous in the expression of their feelings towards
you. Go where you will, you will carry with you the
good wishes of all who saw you under the late trying
circumstances.
I have the honour to be,
Your Lordship s most obedient servant,
GEORGE PHILLPOTTS,
Lieut, in Command, &c. &c.
In this time of great emergency, when it was feared
that the news of the native successes in the north would
lead to a general uprising, especially in the Middle Island
and around the scene of the first native victory, the bishop
went to the endangered locality, where his presence was all
the more necessary, inasmuch as Mr. Hadfield, whose in
fluence had prevented bloodshed in 1843, was now no longer
190 LIFE OF BISHOP SELWYN. [CHAP. vi.
available. Three letters written about this time tell
the story dispassionately : it will be seen that the bishop
claims for Christianity the credit of inducing the natives
to carry on the straggle with due regard to the amenities
of civilized nations.
To W. SELWYN, ESQ., Q.C.
H.M. COLONIAL BRIG "VICTORIA,"
CLOUDY BAY, COOK S STRAITS,
March, 28th, 1845.
MY DEAREST FATHER,
We i.e. Sarah, William, and I left Auckland on the
20th March and reached Wellington on the 26th. We
are now on our way to Mr. Hadfield s Mission Station at
Waikanae, from the duties of which he has been removed
by mortal illness, at a most critical time for the safety of
the settlement of Wellington. My object in going to
reside there for a few weeks is to watch the effect upon
the minds of the natives of this district of the news which
they will receive of the defeat of the English forces at
Kororareka, and to endeavour to keep all who are reli
giously minded among them to the quiet discharge of
their own duties and the avoidance of political excitement.
We cannot yet calculate the effect which the destruction
of Kororareka will have upon our position and pro
spects. At present all ministers of religion seem to be
recognised as neutral persons and treated with the usual
consideration and respect, though our ministrations are of
course less effectual, and our admonitions less heeded, in
this troubled state of affairs. I intended to have written
you a full account of all that has happened to relieve your
mind from any vague anxieties on our account, but our
voyage has been so rapid that I have not had time to write
more than one full report, which I have sent by this mail
to the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel, to explain,
as far as I could, the causes of disagreement between the
natives and the Government. My hope is, that, by
cautious and judicious management, the Church interest
in this country may be kept clear of all political dissen
sions. On one point I think that I may speak decisively,
that there is no evidence of any general or indiscriminate
hatred of the natives towards the English settlers, or any
1844-1846.] INCIDENTS OF THE WAR. 191
disposition to bloodthirsty or savage acts of violence.
The proceedings at Kororareka were conducted with all
the usages of European warfare. Two officers captured
and sent back unhurt ; one woman taken and sent back
with an escort, and under a flag of truce ; the bodies of
the slain respected ; the inhabitants of the town allowed
to land during the plunder and take away such portions of
their property as they wished. In the midst of much that
was fearful, there was much also that proved the indirect
effect of religion and civilization upon the minds of the
natives. I may add the following : First, the wounded
and the women and children allowed to embark without
molestation ; then, after the explosion of the fortified house,
the whole force suffered to retreat on board the ships
without a shot being fired ; a single soldier, who was left
behind after the abandonment of the town, allowed to be
carried off by a boat from the ship ; guards placed to pro
tect the houses of the English clergyman and the French
bishop ; all these indications of character will, I hope,
relieve your mind from a portion of the fears which you
would naturally feel on our account. There are many
signs which give us great hopes for the future ; besides the
never-failing confidence, that all that is must be for the
best. You will, I am sure, remember us in your daily
prayers.
I remain,
Your dutiful and affectionate Son,
G. A. NEW ZEALAND.
To Miss SELWYN, FROM MRS. G. A. SELWYN.
H.M. COLONIAL BRIG "VICTORIA,"
COOK S STRAITS,
March 28th, 1845.
That date will a little surprise you, as I am not given to
roam, and had no thought of it when I last wrote to you.
But much has happened since then which has a little altered
the complexion of our lives. George came home, as you
know, somewhat unexpectedly in the Hazard from Wel
lington, arriving in Auckland the first week in February.
He meant to stay a few weeks, and return to the south for
three months to supply Mr. Hadfield s place during a
critical period for the natives and the settlers, the former
192 LIFE OF BISHOP SELWYN. [CHAP. vi.
intending to return to the occupation of some disputed
land near Wellington. Near Waikanae reside the two
native chiefs, Te Eauparaha and Hangihaeata, who were
at the head of affairs in the Wairau matter, therefore it is
the key to the tranquillity of the southern district. Poor
Mr. Hadfield is to all appearance lying on his deathbed at
Wellington, and it is clearly impossible for any other
clergyman to be detached for this service ; and now more
especially, after what has happened in the north. But you
must hear it all, chapter and verse. We had all this time
uncomfortable accounts from the north, where things
seemed lowering, and the missionaries much out of spirits.
George became so anxious on their account that he deter
mined to go up and see them ; if he could not strengthen,
their hands, at least he might comfort their hearts, for the
bond of union between him and his clergy grows and
strengthens day by day. So he arranged with the Governor
that the brig should call on her way to the south for him
at the Bay of Islands, and set sail in the Flying Fish on
Saturday morning, March 8, for Paihia. There, and in the
neighbourhood, were five clergymen, including Archdeacon
Brown, who had moved down to Paihia with his still
afflicted son, who lies now in just the same state. Rota
and I watched the little vessel shoot out of the harbour,
little thinking to what a scene and to what dangers it was
taking its precious freight. . . .
On Friday the 14th the brig returned from the bay ; a
small coaster the day before had brought terrible tidings,
and confused rumours of fighting and burnings were
afloat. I did not believe them all, but every one felt
anxious, and when I saw the brig disembarking shoals of
people^ men, women, and children, I felt sure that some
thing more than usual had occurred. Presently came
divers people from all parts to tell rne of the conflict, and
assure me that when the brig left the bishop was safe,
also that he was intending to come down again. " The
flagstaff is down," " the English have been worsted," and
" Kororareka is burnt," were the true part of all the evil
tidings which poured in on this black day. It was also
said that the captain of the Hazard had lost both his legs,
and much besides of the horrid kind. I was in full pre
paration for the Dudley and Williams girls, who were
1844-1846.] PANIC. 193
said to be coming with George in the Flying Fish. I
watched the harbour till it was dark, and listened to every
sound all the evening, till the south wind began to rise, which
I knew would keep them out. One of our school servants
(Mrs. Steele), who had been staying at the Waimate till we
should summon her, came to see me. She had come
down with her children in the brig from Kororareka,
where she had been with the Dudleys, and so had come in
for all the disturbance. Her haggard face frightened me,
and really her narrative did not reassure me. I felt quite
moved when she described her being with Mrs. Dudley on
board the Hazard when they heard that the bishop was
come, and how they clapped their hands for joy. Poor
Mrs. Dudley had been exceedingly anxious about her
husband. George arrived in the brig on Sunday, the
clergy gathered on board on Monday morning, when he
took the Dudleys to Paihia, and spent the day in con
ference with the party there. Tuesday was the day
of the attack. George s letter will of course best de
scribe this, but it will not tell you, as others have all
told me, how instrumental he was in saving the lives of
the women and children in the stockade. He saw that
nothing was being done in this matter, and having first
brought off four women and nine children from a private
house to the Flying Fish, he collected all the boats he
could, and brought off those assembled in this place, which
was also the powder magazine, and shortly after it blew
up, killing and wounding the few stragglers who remained
in and near it.
Now you must return to Auckland, and fancy me expect
ing them all day. Food and clothing were all ready. I
rejoiced in the prospect of sharing our large possessions
with the needy. The evening tide did not bring them.
At one o clock I pricked up my ears at the sound of foot
steps, and not in vain, for presently in came dear George,
and you may fancy how glad and thankful I felt to see
him safe and sound. I was startled to hear that every
man, woman, and child- had left Kororareka, and were
now in Auckland harbour, an American man-of-war
who was in the Bay to watch our British prowess, and
a large whaler, being quite full. Poor Captain Eobertson
of the Hazard was dangerously wounded, and George bid
VOL. i. o
194 LIFE OF BISHOP SELWYN. [CHAP. vi.
me prepare to receive him next day, but he did not
come, as it was thought better for him to remain in his
own ship at present, George preached on behalf of
the houseless sufferers on the morrow, which was Palm
Sunday. On Monday the poor things were to be landed.
Twelve children and several papas and mammas came to
our house for the day, and out of the stores, with which
by the liberality of friends at home we had been so well
supplied, I rigged the children out nicely. The next day,
having concocted a plan with Mrs. Tilly Kay, and offering
to be receiver-general, I received contributions from all
Auckland, adding out of our own stores, and arranging
them, with Mrs. Dudley s aid, for the distribution the
next day.
Then we heard that the brig was going south, and
after many pros and cons George settled to take me with
him to Waikanae. I felt much pulled both ways, but
indeed he has had so much to harass him of late, that
I did feel that it was right I should go. The question
of where there would be disturbance seemed equal. I
left Johnny and nurse at Auckland, for though I might
find disturbances I knew I should not find a cow at
Waikanae. Well ! this will not be amusing to you.
Suffice it to say, that we came on board on Thursday even
ing the 20th, and sailed for Taranaki ; my maidens twain
are with me, Kota also, who is in a state of ecstasy at
going among his own people ; George, Willy, and I make
up our party. The brig is very full, some going to
Hobart Town because they are afraid to stay in New
Zealand, and some to Taranaki. Many people have left
New Zealand, and many more would if they could.
But though it will surely be that the country is un
settled for some time, and possibly many outbreaks may
occur which will make it very unpleasant, perhaps more,
I cannot say I have yet felt personally afraid. Wait
till you are tried, perhaps you will say, and say right too ;
but unless the future is characterised by what did not
appear at the Bay of Islands, savageness, personal violence,
and the like, the mere loss of property, though unpleasing
in a great degree, need not alarm us or make us run away.
However, we are beyond the reach of such thoughts, for,
of course, the same reasons which induce other people to
1844-1846.] EFFORTS FOR PEACE. 195
depart ought only to strengthen ours to remain. We may
more and more need your prayers, dear people, more and
more, then, will you pray for us I am well assured.
The captain was obliged to alter his course on Friday
(Good Friday it was) and go south, so that I fear I shall
miss that beauteous Taranaki and the Bollands. We hay e
had a most calm and beautiful passage, and anchored in
Port Nicholson on the morning of the 26th. I was not
disappointed in the beauty of the place, though it rain ed
nearly without ceasing during the day and a half we w ere
there. We spent one evening at Mr. Coles , and the next
day in going about a very little, paying a long visit at
Mrs. St. Hill s, where Mr. Hadfield is, dining with Dr. and
Mrs. Featherstone, and coming on board in the evening.
We weighed anchor at four this morning, and have been
beating against a foul wind till now, when we are nearly
becalmed off Cloudy Bay. I must not omit to say that
Mr. Govett is with us. He is reading for orders, and
George hopes to ordain him on Trinity Sunday, and
leave him at Waikanae. I saw Mr. Hadfield yesterday
for a short time. I am afraid he is dying ; to our erring
judgment his loss seems incalculable, but I looked on
the composed and holy expression of his face with awe
and envy, thinking how happy was he whose short
life had been spent in fulfilling his ministry in so emi
nent a degree, and in doing such active service. I did
not stay long with him, for he was eager to see George, and
hear all his tale, and talk of his own beloved flock. He
was very glad that we are going among them, and there I
really expect to enjoy myself greatly, that is if I have any
leisure from the incessant physicking in which my days
will surely be passed. I amuse myself with thinking that
while you are picturing me in scenes of woe and danger,
I shall have been passing my time very tranquilly in
making pills and spreading plaisters at Waikanae. But
this sort of friendly offices binds the natives to you. The
brig is going on to Hobart Town to fetch troops for the
defence of Wellington, which I by no means say are not
wanted now, but I hope we may be able to do a little at
Waikanae towards keeping the peace of the district ;
George a good deal, for I cannot put my woman s minis
trations in the same balance as his.
2
196 LIFE OF BISHOP SELWYN. [CHAP. vi.
To Miss SELWYN FROM MES. G. A. SELWYN.
WAIKANAE, NEW ZEALAND,
April 24th, 1845.
I have a short time allowed me in which to write a few
lines to Wellington. I do so upon the chance, though not
with the hope, of there being a vessel or an opportunity
for England, as the recent accounts from New Zealand will
have excited some anxiety in your minds, and you will be
anxious for further tidings of us. I wrote to you last in
the brig, about the end of March, and left my letter with
others in the care of the captain, to be sent on to England
by way of Hobart Town. We landed at Waikanae, the
point of destination, March 29th, since which time, with
the exception of a small party of whalers, who came to
church at Otaki, we have not seen the face of any English
person excepting our own party, and we certainly have
felt much more at our ease living entirely among the
natives than in the settlements, where people get frightened
and frighten themselves by reports of their evil intentions.
I do not pretend to judge of the real state of the case or to
offer any opinion of the intentions of the Maoris, if they
have any, for we do not see the evil-disposed people much.
I can only say that all we have had to do with are most
friendly and hospitable, and after a week s tour among
them, I have returned with no alarming impressions about
them. My intercourse, with them is of a character so en
tirely apart from all the formidable ideas people have now
the habit of entertaining about them, that I have to rouse
myself to think of the fears with which they are in so
many cases regarded. Teaching and doctoring are the
staple we deal in; more of the latter than the former,
and in physicking a community, for it is wholesale
work, you cease from overpowering alarms. They are so
comical and so willing to take anything you give, and to
think it all very good, and that they know nothing and you
know everything ; this is the point of the matter, if you
live among them you find them looking up to you and
clinging to you at all points, and so the fear ceases.
But this is of the nature of a prose, so I will tell you
that Waikanae is in the sand hills near the shore^opposite
1844-1846.] BUSH LIFE. i J7
to Kapiti ; from here towards Wellington nine miles, and
towards Manawatu twenty miles, the sands are mag
nificent, and on the other side, beyond the sand-hills
and a little plain of tolerably good land, rises a most
pretty range of hills, for the most part wooded. Mr.
Hadfield s horses are here. We brought our saddles, and
I have greatly enjoyed some rides. How little did I ever
think to be galloping with George along the shores of the
Pacific Ocean ! You cannot think how fine it is, and such
a tonic. We went to Otaki a fortnight ago, spent a week
there and saw a good deal of Te Kauparaha, the man con
cerned in the Wairau matter. He was very civil to us,
and his son, William Thompson, is one of the best natives
I have seen. Thence George took me a little bush expedi
tion up the Manawatu. I longed to go and see with my
own eyes how so large a part of his life is spent. There
was no walking for I rode to the banks of the river, and
then went in a canoe two days journey to such a beautiful
pass between the hills on either side; but- 1 slept four
nights in a tent, and the other three in a little raupo hut.
Yesterday we returned to Waikanae, and here I shall
remain till the brig comes to take me to Auckland, but I
hope she will not do so till the 19th May, when George
will be ready to return also.
Many more troops have arrived from Sydney, and some
are expected from Hobart Town.
Will you let folks know that we are alive and well and
living quietly here ? By the last news from Auckland all
was quiet there also. That is very old news.
But if there were no indiscriminate hatred and blood-
thirstiness on the part of the natives, the same could not
be said of many of the colonists. On May 19, the bishop
embarked on board the Victoria, nothing loth to be free
from the quarrels that raged on shore, and in the
leisure of his voyage he wrote to friends in England a
letter which shows that amid the cares and anxieties
which surrounded him like the atmosphere, his heart was
large enough to care for and to sympathise with the
troubles of the Mother Church.
198 LIFE OF BISHOP SELWYN. [CHAP. vi.
" \Ye are now jnst outside Barrett s reef, at the mouth of
Port Nicholson, almost becalmed, and enjoying that repose
of body and mind which is rarely to be found in such per
fection on shore. When I came down to write, the sea
was covered with aquatic birds brooding on the smooth
waters, and seeming to rejoice in the cessation of a cold
southerly wind, which has been blowing for several days.
If they had ears to hear, as some birds are said to have,
and minds to understand, they would be as much rejoiced as
we are to be out of the reach of the turmoil of Wellington.
Hatred to the natives is now the keynote, not to harmo
nize with which is to be a traitor to one s country, and
unworthy of respect. And yet all disinterested observers
see that a friendly understanding with the native people
must be the only means whereby, for many years to come,
quiet possession of the interior of the country can be
obtained. Two days ago I was denounced for having
brought Te Eauperaha into the town, and harboured him
at the parsonage. You will not be deeply affected by the
report of my unpopularity. The real subject of grief is
the injury which is done to religion by the un-Christian
feelings and language which many permit and justify in
themselves. In this perversion of public feeling it becomes
necessary to stand firm and let the flood sweep by ; as it
must be followed by a reaction, at least if there be truth
and religion in the world. And if my present unpopu
larity be unfavourable to my religious influence, I must
remember that the minds of those who can entertain such
un-Christian feelings cannot at present be susceptible of
religious impressions.
" What we shall find at Auckland, I know not ; but we
shall probably retire as soon as possible from the town
(where drilling is the order of the day, the Church loop-
holed and trenched) to the college ground, to which no
alarms have yet found their way, though it would be pre
sumptuous to hope that we shall enjoy a perpetual immunity
from the disasters of our fellow-settlers. May God give us
grace to sympathize with their troubles, and strength to
bear our own.
" On Trinity Sunday, May 18th, I had the happiness of
admitting to deacon s orders Mr. Henry Govett, son of the
vicar of Staines, to replace so far as he can " my Southern
1844-1846.] "UNSATISFIED MEMBERS." 199
Whytehead," the Eev. Octavius Hadfield, upon whom it
has pleased God to lay His hand, at the very time when
the faithless would say it was most expedient he should
live. He is still alive ; and much wisdom and comfort I
have been allowed to draw forth from the ebbing well
which will soon be spent, to flow again in fulness with
living water at God s appointed time. It has been my lot
to lose my best and holiest friends in the midst of the
greatest distraction of outward circumstances ; so that
their deaths have not been to me so personally and in
wardly profitable as I felt such intercourse at such a time
ought to be. Mr. Whytehead died when all our college
and domestic plans were in confusion and discord ; and
now Mr. Hadfield s room and death-bed are contrasted
still more strongly with the fears and evil- speaking of the
world without. It needs a mind of more tried and
matured temper than mine to adjust itself or to be un
affected by the course of these alternations of moral
temperature ; but perhaps it may please God to enable
these trials to work in me their own remedy, that I may
give Him thanks for the operation of His hands. At
present the thought will occur, that if the righteous be
taken away, there must be evil to come/ ....
" If any of our unsatisfied members long for more self-
denial than the Church affords, why do they not follow the
example of Xavier, and try whether true self-denial be not
as well practised in a missionary life as in a monastery or
a hermitage ? I have at command a rill of water, a shady
wood, a rocky cave, and roots of fern, for every one of
these would-be anchorites who desires to walk in the
steps of St. Winifred or St. Dunstan. While they are dis
satisfied with the Church of England for lack of self-
denial, and yet do not throw themselves into the dark
wastes of our manufacturing towns, or upon the millions of
the unconverted heathen (where they may practise without
observation and without reproof all the austerities which
may best express their sense of bearing the daily cross),
there must be something akin to the sad countenance of
the hypocrite in the lamentations which they utter from
thei-r quiet collegiate retreats over the defects of the
Church of England as it now is. God forbid that I
should impute anything of the kind to Dr. Pusey or
200 LIFE OF BISHOP SELWYN. [CHAP. vi.
Mr. Newman ; but some of their young followers are open
to the suspicion.
" My chief feeling with regard to our Anglo-Catholic
Church is that as I have never yet attained to the full and
beneficial use of her measure of good, I dare not fix my
eyes upon any higher standard of devotional excellency,
as attainable at least by me. When I look upon the
immense dormant powers of our Church, which for secular
reasons are inoperative, its Convocation, its Synod of bishops,
its Cathedral system, its Diocesan organization, all of which
powers are at real work in the Church of Kome, and might
be brought into use with us, I cannot doubt that it is our
duty to develop all the energies of our own Church before
we pronounce upon her insufficiency. My desire is, in
this country, so far as God may give me light and strength,
to try what the actual system of the Church of England
can do, when disencumbered of its earthly load of seats in
Parliament, Erastian compromises, corruption of patronage,
confusion of orders, synodless bishops, and an unorganized
clergy. None of these things are inherent in our system,
and therefore are not to be imputed as faults."
One testimony to the bishop s doings at this period yet
remains to be quoted, and it comes from another Con
tinent. The Bishop of Quebec at the assembling of his
Diocesan Synod in 1878, shortly after the bishop s
decease, with a full heart and in glowing words thus gave
his own recollections of what he had himself seen thirty-
five years ago in New Zealand, and the impressions which
had been made on his own mind :
" During his first year in New Zealand, Bishop Selwyn
occupied one of the Church missionary houses at Waimate,
in the northern part of the Northern Island. My avoca
tions took me, then little more than a boy, into the
neighbourhood. And, as I approached the first cultivated
spot I had seen in the country, my ears were greeted with
loud yells, and the firing of guns. Heke, the chief who
afterwards burnt the town of Kororareka, was, with a
hundred, and fifty armed men, at that moment, on account
of some infraction of native customs by one of the new
comers, making an unsuccessful attempt to intimidate the
1844-1846.] BISHOP OF QUEBEC. 201
bishop, who in the calm dignity of undisturbed self-
possession gave smiles for his threats, and reason for his
passion ; until the savage, like a wild beast that had missed
its spring, slunk away crestfallen ; and the bishop rose
proportionately in the native opinion.
"At Waimate, in the common diiiing-hall, where the
whole communion forming the Episcopal household, con
sisting of the bishop himself in his academic robes, his
chaplains, the students in their gowns, a missionary out of
health, with all the ladies of the party, and the servants
at another table, dined together, I was, with a young man
of my own age, my companion, a welcomed guest for a
month. And during the two years that followed I fell
in with the missionary bishop in different parts of the
country, in journey ings often.
" One such appearance lives with especial vividness in
my memory. A disturbance had broken out in the neigh
bourhood of Auckland, then the capital of the province ;
and, fearing that this would lead to a conflict. between the
whites and the Maoris, suddenly, with that energy and
celerity which made him almost ubiquitous, he appeared
upon the scene. We were assembling for morning prayer
on the Sunday, when a coasting schooner dropped her
anchor in the harbour ; and, without waiting for the land
ing of his baggage, the bishop stepped as it were from the
ship to the Church. I can see him now, as he stood by
the altar in the plain black gown which was the only
robe he had time to procure. I can hear the tones of his
voice, as he poured out his fervent expostulation, pleading
for justice, and demanding equal rights for all. Every
argument, every figure, every illustration of that sermon,
except one they have all passed long ago out of my
mind ; but the sermon has been one of the most powerful,
and abiding influences upon my life.
" Passing swiftly through the outworks of the special
occasion, the preacher at once took possession of his
hearers conscience ; and from that commanding eminence
controlled his audience. And the oft-repeated refrain with
which he closed each several demonstration of the cen-
soriousness, and the haughtiness, mixed up so often with
our judgment of others, and with our maintenance of our
own rights, sank so deep, and imprinted itself so indelibly
202 LIFE OF BISHOP SELWYN. [CHAP. vi.
in my taind, that I have never since been able to con
demn the conduct of any man without hearing in the
still small voice of conscience those words, And Nathan
said to David, Thou art the man ; nor often without a
clear picture of that Church in New Zealand on that
bright Sunday morning rising before my mind s eye, and
the ambassador of Christ standing there, clothed with all
the authority and power of his mission, and speaking in
his Master s name the message home to my soul.
" I have been led on to recount these recollections by
personal feeling a feeling indeed which I have made no
effort to check, because I thought that, though more in
teresting to me, they would not be uninteresting to you ;
for in truth he of whom I have been speaking belongs to
us all. All felt, when the tidings of his death came,
that a prince and a great man had fallen in Israel. His
memory is our common inheritance. God grant that
some portion of his spirit may rest upon us ; and that in
largeness of heart, in forgetfuluess of self, in devotedness
of life, we may be imitators of him, as he of Christ."
In the midst of these distractions and anxieties, his own
countrymen possessed by bitter hostility towards him, and
the natives threatening at any time to apostatize from
Christianity and to break out into open war, it is easy to
understand how the bishop longed for reinforcements, and
especially for the refreshment of one mind in harmony
with his own. Naturally he wistfully looked to the fulfil
ment of the promise which Mr. Abraham had given that
he would join him, but he would not hurry his departure
from England until he could leave without injustice to
other claims, neither would he receive him at any time
under the delusions of a rose-coloured expectation, and
therefore he wrote the following letter :
H.M. COLONIAL BRIG "VICTORIA," AT SBA,
OFF THE THREE KINGS, NORTH CAPE, NEW ZEALAND,
November 6th, 1845.
MY VERY DEAE FRIEND,
Being now at the first point from which I first saw the
shore of New Zealand on the 20th May, 1842, with hopes
1844-1846.] "A COMMONPLACE LIFE." 203
brighter, it is true, than T can new indulge in, yet not so
full of real practical love of the country as those with
which I now regard it; I cannot choose a more fitting place
for beginning a letter to thank you for your cheering and
stedfast letters of January 11 and May 6, 1845, which,
received shortly before my annual journey, have sent me
again on my way rejoicing. When I tell you how I long
for the time when you will look (God willing) from ship
board upon these northern pillars of iny diocese, before you
turn southward to gladden our hearts by your arrival at
Auckland, I would not have you suppose that I wish to
cut short one day, which you have dedicated to other duties,
but I must assure you again and again, and more earnestly
as the time draws near, that the day of your coming is the
bright spot in the prospect of my future life, upon which
my mind s eye fixes itself \vith increasing pleasure, as
troubles thicken around me, and friend after friend is
taken away.
Your letter of January last has relieved my mind of a
fear which I sometimes felt, lest you should think too
highly of our state, and be disappointed. Your words are,
" 1 can picture to myself a hard common-place life. " My
dear friend, keep to that idea. I should be deceiving you
if I were to lead you to think, that we have achieved any
of those great realities which are so bright and prominent
in the true Bride of Christ ; I am but a z^eoo/copo?, with
some zeal, I hope, for God s house ; but still only such as to
enable me to do something to sweep the outer court, and
even that work sometimes perturbs and distracts me so
much, that I doubt whether I shall ever enter into the
Holy of Holies, after the first crowd of secular incum-
brances is removed. To feel the presence of the living
God upon His own mercy-seat ; to see the true shewbread
upon the eternal altar ; to enter into the Holiest of all with
the blood of the atonement, is more than I can presume to
say that I have attained, and almost more than I can dare
to hope for. And because I feel that this inward life and
power of holiness is still so faint, I fear to delude you by
a false light, burning only at the outer gate, and to tempt
you to unite yourself with our unformed and infant Church
in the hope of spiritual aid, which neither she nor I are
able to impart. Let me warn you, that we are still rather
204 LIFE OF BISHOP SELWYN. [CHAP. vi.
in a negative than in a positive state, rather avoiding what
is evil, than attaining to that which is good. A very little
negation of evil unhappily may pass for positive good,
where corruptions of long standing in our Mother Church
lower men s standard of judgment, and make them praise
and wonder at mere " reasonable service." My main hope
is (and this is all that I can dare to hold out to you), that
in our unincumbered and uncompromising Church we may
breathe a freer air ; and have more singleness of heart, and
therefore more inward light, to seek for the things " which
belong unto our peace." But do not come to us as if we
had attained anything, but pray that we may be enabled,
from our present state of fightings without and fears with
in, from this turmoil of much serving, which has more in
it of Martha than of Mary, more of practice than of devo
tion, to press forward together to the higher crown, to the
better part, to the state of rest and contemplation, first at
the feet and then in the bosom of Christ.
I have already expressed my feelings to Coleridge on
this subject, in a letter in which I likened myself to a
Cardinal Deacon in the conclave of Koine. Mine is a
Deacon Bishopric, and I am content that it should be so,
except so far as it distracts my mind from contemplation
of its own state, and of the purer glories of the spiritual
Church and the unseen world. To move my diocese in any
perceptible degree, I must multiply my own single force
through a multitude of wheels and powers; alone I am
powerless. Before me lies an inert mass, which I am
utterly unable to heave ; and there is no engine ready by
which I can supply the defects of my own weakness. Some
of the wheels have to be made, some newly fitted to work
into others, and when all is ready, an impulse has to be
given sufficient to disturb the vis inertia of the complicated
machine, after which there is hope, that even a smaller
force than mine may keep it in motion. In constructing
this, I am bewildered by the multitude of details, and
sometimes doubt whether I am right in complicating the
episcopate with all the machinery of the subordinate
ministries ; and yet I feel that without that pervading in
fluence, the whole system will be powerless, not being
" compacted by that which every joint supplieth, nor
" holding to the head." And then if this bewilderment of
1844-1846.] "A DEACON BISHOPRIC." 205
minute cares cause me to lay hold less firmly, upon the
great Head, which is ahove all, the crowd which hangs upon
me loosens my grasp upon the Eock, and all fall together.
This is what I am bound most solemnly to warn you, not
to look to me for strength to bear you up, but rather to
come to me prepared to be an Aaron to stay up my feeble
hands when the very causes which most require earnest
ness in prayer make me more unable to pray as I ought.
These are not idle cautions, but the real feelings of my
heart, known only to my dear wife, and now disclosed to
yourself, lest I should deceive you into trusting to me for
support and counsel, who need the like reinforcement from
you.
I am now on my way to another Visitation, in the course
of which I have just visited the "Waimate, and found it in
a state even more mournful than when I first saw it. Then
it only showed the first symptoms of decay ; now almost
everything, except the church and our own house, was in
utter disorder; every window broken, all the rooms filled
with the filth of the soldiers, the fences destroyed : but
what I missed most was the cheerful faces and bright dark
eyes of the seventy little native children, who greeted me
with a hearty welcome on the day after the battle of
Kororareka. This unhappy place seems doomed to have
all its hopes of good blighted as fast as they spring up.
Believe me, yours ever affectionately,
G. A. NEW ZEALAND.
The year 1846 was a year of hard and peaceful work,
although the colony was riot free from wars and rumours
of wars : the waters of strife which had for so long raged
were not likely to be calmed in a few months ; indeed the
elements of past collisions were still at work and threaten
ing to lead at any time to fresh outbreaks ; but the bishop
took no active part in the colonial feuds. The work of
transplanting the college from Waimate to a site five
miles from Auckland, rendered necessary by the refusal
of the Church Missionary Society to grant a lease of the
ground and buildings, was happily accomplished, and the
gifts of friends in England had provided the bishop with
" solid stone buildings with noble sea views : " here a " happy
206 LIFE OF BISHOP SELWYN. [CHAP. vi.
party of fifty of all ranks, bishop, archdeacon, priests,
students and boys," was housed in comfort. A hospital,
native schools, servants, houses, and a temporary chapel,
followed in due course and absorbed the munificent gift,
which had been sent from the Mother Church. The
disaster at Kororareka had driven fifteen boys to the
college, whose ever-open doors welcomed them as students.
Fencing and cultivating the college estate, added to the
cost of removal, had " well nigh drained the church
account," but, wrote the bishop, with that humour which
rarely forsook him, "when our swainps are in the same
condition, we shall have bread enough and to spare. "
What were the hopes and plans of the bishop with
regard to the college, and with how great patience he
awaited their development, are revealed in a playful letter
written about this time, during the leisure of a voyage, to a
friend in England :
H.M.S. "HAZARD," AT SEA OFF KAPITI.
Having introduced you to the greater part of New
Zealand in my continuous journals to my family and other
friends, I have now determined to confine myself for the
future to select morsels of information, lest you should
have too much of New Zealand, and wish us again sub
merged, as we were before the God Maui fixed his fishhook
upon the mountain Buapelm, and dragged up my diocese
from the bottom of the sea, an exploit which you, as an
experienced angler, will know how to appreciate. My See
may therefore be considered to be established sub signo
piscatoris. This letter was intended to have been written
at Taupo, the central point of my Northern Island, and to
have come to you, like the Pythoness,
/j.ea 6/j.(pa\oi yas Xiirovcra yva\ov t
in which case it would probably have been as unintelligible
as her predictions, as I had scarcely spoken a word of
English for a fortnight,
"Et quod tentabam dicere Maori fuit."
Since that time I have had some intercourse with my
countrymen, and have resumed the use of my own language.
1844-1846.] " SEEDLINGS." 207
The old chief Te Pairata received me very hospitably,
and told me that he altogether disapproved of the war ex
pedition ; that he was desirous of living as a Christian, and
giving up the practices of the unbelievers. He has several
sons, one of whom I selected for the central school. My
dear friend, can you conceive a more interesting employ
ment than hunting in this wild country for hopeful plants
to stock my nursery at Auckland. One of my main em
ployments during this journey has been to collect the
children of the native settlements, and examine them ; and
where I found any one who especially pleased me, to invite
his father to bring him up to my school. In no case have
I met with a refusal. So completely has the old objection
vanished, with which I was always met when I proposed
the system of boarding schools, that the natives could not
be induced to part with their children. I have now
seventeen from the Waimate, three from Taupo, three or
four from Kapiti, and I have no doubt that I can have as
many as we can afford to maintain collected from all parts
of the island. My Eton experience I hope will be of use
to me in this search, for nothing used to interest me more
than to form opinions of the character of boys from their
physiognomy, and then watch their progress through the
school, and at the university. I think that I have heard
you say, as a dahlia fancier, that Brown, of Slough, is in
the habit of growing thousands of seedlings in the hope of
raising one rare and valuable flower ; and so I feel that we
must gather all the seedlings of our native people, and
train them carefully, in the hope of rearing some few who
may hereafter be admitted to the ministry. That they have
intellectual powers of a high order I have no doubt ; what
they want is an entire correction of habits.
Connected with the whole group of collegiate institu
tions there were now not fewer than 130 persons, English
and Maori ; all alike, according to age and ability, laboured
at the cultivation of the college estate, and no task was
considered menial. Here was the practical carrying out,
with very scanty material resources, the entire scheme
which the bishop had often sketched and insisted on as
the true ideal of collegiate life which should be aimed
208 LIFE OF BISHOP SELWYN. [CHAP. vi.
at by ancient foundations at home. He hoped to have
seven deacons, who should have " Sunday duties in
chapels in the surrounding district, which will soon be
oi/cov^evrj /cara tcw/Aas sufficiently to keep them all in
employment," and the whole scheme he thought could be
accomplished by prudence and industry.
Two-thirds of all produce of land and increase of stock
on the estate of S. John s College were appropriated in
equal proportions to the several institutions to the Hos
pital, to the Visitor for Household and Hospitality, to the
Teaching Staff, the Lay Associates, the Native Adult
School, the Foundation Scholars at the English School, the
Native Boys School, the Native Girls School, the Half-
caste School, and the English Primary School. The whole
organization was started from the first, necessarily to a
large extent in outline, waiting for means and time to
fill up the deficiencies ; but this was done advisedly, the
bishop being guided by the analogy of regiments of Militia,
whose staff was kept at head-quarters ready at all times
for service, even when the regiment was disembodied.
The Hospital, as it was the most ambitious, so probably
it was, next to the Theological College, the most useful of
all the institutions thus grouped together at Auckland,
and the provision which was made for its management
shows how far the bishop was in advance of his contem
poraries. The Crimean War had not then revealed the
latent talent of Miss Nightingale, and raised the vocation
of a nurse to the level of a Christian ministry and of a
high accomplishment. There were few hospitals in England
that were not content with the services of hireling nurses
when Bishop Selwyn appealed to a higher motive than
wages, and having organized a Brotherhood and Sisterhood
of St. John s Hospital, framed the following Eules for the
Brethren and Sisters of the Hospital of St. John.
" 1. The object of this Association is to provide for the
religious instruction, medical care, and general super
intendence of the Patients in the Hospital, without the
1844-1846.] COMMUNITY OF S. JOHN. 209
expenses usually incurred in the salaries of Chaplains,
Surgeons, Nurses, and other attendants,
" 2. The general principles upon which this Community
is founded are contained in the following passages of Scrip
ture, or may be deduced from them :
" Matt. xxv. 40 Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch
as ye have done it unto one of the least of these
my brethren, ye have done it unto ME.
" Matt. xxii. 39 Thou shalt love thy neighbour as
thyself.
" Luke x. 37 Go, and do thou likewise.
" John xiii. 14 If I then, your LOKD and MASTER
have washed your feet, ye also ought to wash
one another s feet.
" Matt. v. 46 If ye love them which love you, what
reward have ye? do not even the publicans the
same?
" Galatians v. 6 FAITH, which worketh by LOVE.
" James ii. 17 Faith, if it hath not w.orks, is dead,
being alone.
" 1 John iii. 18 Let us not love in word, neither in
tongue, but in deed and in truth.
"Luke xvii. 10 When ye shall have done all these
things which are commanded you, say, We are un
profitable servants ; we have done that which it
was our duty to do.
" 3. The Brethren and Sisters of the Hospital of S.
John are a Community who . desire to be enabled, by
Divine Grace, to carry the above Scriptural principles
into effect; and who pledge themselves to minister, so
far as their health will allow them, to all the wants of
the sick of all classes, without respect of persons or
reservation of service, in the hope of excluding all hire
ling assistance from a work which ought, if possible, to
be entirely a labour of love.
" 4. The Brethren and Sisters of S. John are prohibited
from receiving payment for any services performed in the
Hospital, but will be entitled to expect for themselves and
their families, in cases of sickness, the active sympathy
and aid of the other members of the Community, and the
free use of such medical advice, and other comforts, as the
College can supply.
VOL. L P
210 LIFE OF BISHOP SELWYN. [CHAP. vi.
" 5. Candidates for admission into the Community must
be presented to the Bishop, and in his presence pledge them
selves to follow out (so far as their health and strength will
allow them) the course of duties which may be assigned to
them.
" 6. The duties of the Community are arranged accord
ing to day and night courses, to secure, as far as possible,
the constant presence of one superintendent of each sex,
to administer food and medicine at the hours which may
be appointed by the House Surgeon.
" 7. Those members who reside at a distance from the
College will be exempt from the duty of personal attend
ance, and will be considered to discharge their duties
sufficiently by regular contributions of meat, poultry, eggs,
milk, butter, and other necessaries, or by assistance in
needlework, washing, and the like.
" 8. A tithe of the share of produce and increase, ac
cruing to the College, will be regularly set apart for the
maintenance of the Hospital ; and the greater part, if not
the whole, of the proceeds of the weekly Offertory at S.
Thomas s Church. But, as these sources of supply are not
likely to be sufficient, the contributions of all friends and
neighbours will be most thankfully received, and espe
cially the stated supplies of those who have been enrolled
as Brethren of S. John.
. " 9. It is a fundamental principle that all Patients, of
whatever race, station, or religious persuasion, shall re
ceive the same kind and brotherly treatment, without
distinction of persons.
" 10. The usual regulations will be enforced against the
admission of Patients afflicted with contagious or infec
tious disorders; the present Hospital not being on a
sufficient scale to admit of separate classification."
As has been already stated, this year was one of quiet
and hard work in and around Auckland. Am id all the
discouragement caused by disturbances in the south, the
bishop had the comfort of knowing that Mr. Hadfield,
whose life had been prolonged, as it were, by a miracle,
was again able to make his influence to be felt in the
interests of peace.
1844-1846.] VISITATION BY SEA. 211
The instances which every day revealed of the good
services of the missionaries in keeping up a loyal feeling
among the native allies were valued as highly by the com~
manding officers as by the bishop, although probably on
different grounds. The bishop saw the necessity of sending
more clergymen into the districts in which disaffection
was threatened, but just as his need was greatest, his
supplies failed : two trusted missionaries were invalided :
others who had been promised from England "passed
away into other employments," and nothing w r as left but
to look to his own students, whose education was of course
a work of time. While thus unable to provide for the
outlying stations the bishop as usual did " what he could."
The Syndicate met at Auckland and finally revised a
new version of the Liturgy before sending it to England
to be printed.
The month of October found the bishop again at sea,
spending the comparative leisure of the Flying Fish in
letter-writing to the great advantage of these pages.
To THE COUNTESS OF Powis.
SCHOONEll "FLYING FlSII," AT SEA,
MY DEAH LADY POWIS, October 1st, 1846.
This being the first year that I have felt myself settled
at home, I have begun to look over all my arrears of
gratitude for letters and other proofs of kindness received
from my kind friends in England during nearly five years.
You may think that this is an cdd beginning to a letter
dated from the sea, but the Flying Fish forms a part of my
idea of home, being the little vessel of seventeen tons burden
in which I make periodical cruises round my home dis
trict, including a half circle of about fifty miles radius.
At present I am on my way to the Thames Eiver, fifty
miles from Auckland, to see one of our missionaries, who
is said to have returned in very bad health from a journey
into the interior, and for the double purpose of bringing
him to Auckland if necessary, and of taking the Chief
Justice and Mrs. Martin across the water on an excursion
to the Lakes. With such pleasant companions, and per
fectly still water, with the prospect of a long day of calm
p 2
212 LIFE OF BISHOP SELWYN. [CHAP. vi.
before me, I naturally feel disposed to multiply the enjoy
ments of my present position, by adding to the charms of
New Zealand air and scenery the recollection of scenes
and persons most dear to me in England. It is, perhaps,
singular that every increase of happiness in this country
seems to make me cherish more warmly than ever the re
collection of home friendship, and yet without suggesting
a single wish to return. Both Mrs. Selwyn and I look
forward to nothing with greater satisfaction than to be
allowed to remain here with some measure of health and
strength to the end of our lives. But this is no hindrance
to the growth of a fuller sympathy with those whom we
have left, a feeling which seems to gain strength from the
very causes which, in other ways, separate us so com
pletely. If you could see the pleasure with which I am
arranging on the deck of the schooner all the letters which
I have received from you since we reached this country,
you would, I think, feel convinced that I have a very
grateful sense of your kindness in writing, and be en
couraged to persevere. . . .
I am happy to report that the loom, spinning-wheel,
knitting-pins, yarns, cards, &c., have arrived safely, though
I feared that they had been lost in the Tyne ; and we are
now building a proper place for putting up our machinery.
We have in our establishment one Dame Bruce, related, I
know not in what degree of affinity, to the hero of Scottish
history, belonging to that class of Scotch peasantry who,
as she tells me, are in the habit of making their own
"trousseau " instead of buying it, a practice most desirable
for the undowered maidens of New Zealand, who otherwise
could only procure their wedding garments by an unsenti
mental traffic in potatoes and pigs. Two or three of our
missionaries also know how to weave, and with their
assistance before we left the Waimate we had begun our
manufactory by putting together the fragments of an old
loom sent out by the Church Missionary Society. This
arid its apparatus we left at the Mission Station for the
use of the native schools, which were continued there till
they were broken up by the war. We have now fifty
scholars, men, women, and children, in our native college,
out of whom we may organize, without much difficulty, a
little body of spinners and weavers.
1844-1846.] WELSH BISHOPRICS. 213
The same voyage allowed leisure for the production of
a letter to the late Earl of Powis, on matters of far more
widely spread interest than teaching Maoris to spin and
to knit. The opinions of our brethren at the antipodes on
our doings at home are often very valuable : they see
things through a clearer medium than is compatible with
the strifes and self-interest which so often hamper deci
sions and cripple action on the spot. To the late Earl of
Powis was granted the high distinction of contending
successfully against a threatened suppression of some of
our all too few bishoprics at home. The bishop s call to
throw ourselves, when the State deserts us, upon the in
herent Spiritual Power of the Church herself, is a lesson
which English people need to learn, whether the State de
serts them or not ; and the bishop s letter, written more
than thirty years ago, is as full of importance and of
instruction for the present generation as for the last.
TO THE LATE EARL OF POWIS.
SCHOONER "FLYING FISH," OFF WAIHIKI.
October 2nd, 1846.
MY DEAR LORD Powis,
During the leisure of a short cruise, with light contrary
winds, the most favourable time of all for writing
letters, I find, as usual, much reason to fear that I
have omitted to express my thanks for many acts of
kindness received from you. Two letters I think
that I have acknowledged those of June 4, 1843, and
August 20, 1844 containing much interesting detail
of my pupils. I will not use your word " late " pupils if
they will consent to be still under my tutelage, in respect
of any benefit they may receive from my counsel or my
prayers. In this respect we shall ever, I trust, stand to
one another in the same relation as before. I have already
written on the Welsh Bishoprics question, on which I
have to thank you for your excellent speech and the other
papers which accompanied it. When I said in a former
letter that I wished I were again at your side to help you
in the contest (a species of " gunning " in which I might
do more execution than among your lordship s pheasants
214 LIFE OF BISHOP SELWYN. [CHAP. vi.
and hares) I did not think that after so promising a begin
ning you would still require so much assistance. If the
State deserts you, can we not move the Church, especially
as the Bishop of London has given way, and come at least
to a neutral position ? I ventured, rather presumptuously
perhaps, as the youngest suffragan of my metropolitan, and
therefore by the custom of courts-martial privileged to
speak first, and as the most distant of His Grace s children,
and therefore the farthest removed from all personal
interest in the matter, to write to the Archbishop of
Canterbury such an expression of dissent as I conceive
every English bishop ought to have an opportunity of
avowing publicly if the Convocation of the Church were
duly established. At the same time I wrote to the Bishops
of London and Lincoln in the forlorn hope that a voice
from the antipodes might have some effect in righting
the opinions of some of those Fathers of the Church who
have combined with the laity to turn the Church upside
down.
The last resource now seems to be to assert the spiritual
existence of the sees, their indestructibility by any power
of the State ; to draw a clear distinction between the tem
poralities of the bishoprics which the State can handle,
whether rightfully or not, and their divine and perpetual
character, which is as impalpable to the grosser touch of
the civil ruler as the soul of man is exempt from the
power of the gaoler who may confine his body, or the
hangman who may put an end to its life. Let the State
be, if it pleases, the gaoler or the hangman of the body of
the Church; let it suspend or alienate its revenues at
pleasure, provided always that the soul of the Church,
its living principle, its scripless and purseless spirit, its
divine origin, its holy and inward energy, be not con
founded with such beggarly elements, as seats in the
House of Lords, and thousands a year, and parks and
palaces, things which statesmen love " to touch, and taste,
and handle ; but which perish in the using." The want
of this distinction caused the destruction of ten bishoprics
in Ireland. If the same distinction had not been drawn,
the greater part of the canonries would have been* de
stroyed with the confiscation of their revenues, instead of
being held as now by preachers of the first eminence in
1844-1846.] " THE PATRIMONY OF THE CHUKCH." 215
the diocese, whose periodical cycles of preaching in the
Cathedral Church will impart as much life and energy to
the central heart, by their experimental eloquence and
unbought service, as the canons of the old school deadened
and destroyed, by the worn-out prose and heartless dulness
of their hireling ministrations.
Even in the peerage this principle is true. Can any one
say that the Earldom of Powis or the Dukedom of North
umberland is not a distinct thing from the possession of
Walcot or A] n wick ? There may be finer houses and larger
domains in the possession of a cotton lord or an ironmaster,
but the name and hereditary dignity of an ancient house,
the yearly increasing sum of old prescriptions and time-
honoured recollections, has a distinct and independent exist
ence of its own, secured by its own incorporeal nature, the
safest of all entails, from the danger of being squandered by
some spendthrift minor, or seized by some unprincipled
administration. Much more safe is the hereditary patri
mony of the Church; not its revenues, derived perhaps
from the fears of some profligate baron on his death-bed ;
not its seats in the House of Lords, forced upon the
bishops at a time when the State, with an illiterate aris
tocracy, needed them more than they needed the State ;
these may be taken away as they were given, by the will
of man ; but the true essence of the Church, which man
can neither give nor take away, that patrimony and
perpetual inheritance which it possessed, even when its
Founder had not where to lay His head, when His disci
ples had but a few tattered nets and leaky boats, and had
left even them, and when they went out without scrip or
purse, and yet lacked nothing.
My object in the above remarks is to prepare you to
receive a petition from the Colonial bishops of this region,
praying that no see may be destroyed, but reserved, with
out endowments or worldly honours, for those who, after
spending their strength in struggling under the burden of
the Episcopal duties in dioceses as large as all England,
may wish to die with the vestments of their order on their
backs, instead of returning to that very questionable posi
tion at present occupied by a Colonial bishop after his
retirement. For myself I can safely say that no sense of
imbecility or entire incompetence to the duties of my
216 LIFE OF BISHOP SELWYN. [CHAP. vi.
present office would be so painful as the thought of
returning to England to cease to be practically a bishop.
If I cannot continue to walk over my diocese, I would
rather crawl over it on all fours than retire into private
life, and suffer the functions of my office to be cut short
at once by my own act of resignation. If the Church of
England has more sees than it requires can it not spare us
a resting-place in one of those easy chairs, which may be
looked upon as sinecures at home, but which w r e should
value as places of repose for broken constitutions and im
paired powers, amidst associations commending themselves
to all our holiest sympathies, and with a range of duties
which we might still be able to discharge ? Why should
not the Church of England allow St. Asaph or Gloucester
to be the Chelsea or the Greenwich for its Colonial vete
rans ? All that we shall ask for is the preservation of the
sees. We neither know nor care anything about the value
of seats in the House of Lords, or the necessity of 5,000
a year, points which seemed to be insisted upon in the
debates as essential to a bishopric. If so, there were cer
tainly no bishops before the time of Constantino, arid so
the apostolicity of our Church is at an end ; and there are as
certainly no Colonial bishops, and so also its Catholicity is
lost ; and without these two notes what will become of its
pretensions to be a true Church ?
I am writing what will be held to be treason in some
quarters, but I am sure that I love the Church of England,
and desire to serve it faithfully till the day of my death ; but
I cannot bear to see these peerages and revenues stand in
the way of its spiritual advancement, like iron crowns to
sear and blind its ethereal sight, and beds of steel to rack
and cramp and distort its members. Why will not a liberal
administration, which professes to give boons to all reli
gious bodies without any " conditions to impair the grace
or favour of the gift," allow the Church of England to have
as many bishoprics as it requires ? Nothing so much strikes
me at this distance as the inconsistency of the legislation of
late years in respect of principle. In England I suppose this
is concealed by some expediency which we do not see at
this distance. What strikes us is the glaring absurdity of
building up new bishoprics by destroying others : a course
which reminds me of the walks of S. John s College in
1844-1846.] WELSH BISHOPRICS. 217
spring, where every rook seemed to be doing nothing but
plundering his neighbour s nest.
I remain,
My dear Lord Powis,
Yours very gratefully and sincerely,
G. A. NEW ZEALAND.
The same topic formed, with a project for Church Legis
lation in the Colonies, the subject of an important letter
to the Bishop of Sydney which Bishop Broughton said,
"ought to be placed in the hands of Bishop Selwyn s
biographer."
S. JOHN S COLLEGE, Bisnor s AUCKLAND,
ZEALAND, August 14th, 184t>.
By the last mail I have received an important letter
from W. Gladstone, an extract from which I have sent in
the inclosed letter to our Tasmanian brother, in case he
should be still with you. The subject is one which I
hoped to discuss in our Triangular Synod, if we had been
permitted to meet. He asks :
" The principal thing I have to say at the present
moment is this : write to me fully all you think and feel
concerning the wants of the Church under you. I do not
mean as to money, but as to organization ; as to good laws,
as to the inward means of strength for the performance of
her work ; as to giving her a substantive aspect in the face
of the State and the public, though a friendly one. My
own thoughts turn to the question whether our Churches
in the colonies do not want something in the nature of an
organization beginning from below, from each congregation
and its members. Whether it is not now a great problem
to consider if any and what more definite functions should
be given to the laity in Church affairs. Their representa
tion through the Parliament becomes, it is manifest, daily
less and less adequate."
What would I not give for an opportunity of flying
over to Sydney and working out a full answer under your
advice ; but the state of Wellington is quite as much a
subject of anxiety to me as the north ever was, and there
fore I must hope to receive your communication by letter.
As you mention the Sees of Bangor and St. Asaph, I
218 LIFE OF BISHOP SELWYN. [CHAP. vi.
am emboldened to submit to you a plan of attack upon the
Church Commission similar to one by which the Canonries
were saved, though with the loss of their endowments.
When it seemed quite clear that the revenues must go,
we made a stand for the offices; and the point was carried,
I suppose, because the present race of legislators cannot
see that the office is in fact everything, and the endow
ment merely an accident of the office. The bishops are now
using the disendowed canonries to bring the best preachers
and ablest men into immediate connexion with their cathe
dral. Now, what I should like to do in aid of Lord Powis
is this. The point is despaired of by all. But a Church
is never really stronger than when it s life is despaired of;
as Isaac was never more fully the child of promise than
when he lay bound upon the altar. It seems to be the
time now to assert the pure spirituality of the office ; to
claim that as the inalienable property of the Church ; to
yield to, without acquiescing in, the power of the State to
confiscate revenues ; but to deny the power of the Legisla
ture to remove from its place a candlestick, which is older
than the British Constitution itself. If you agree with me,
let us prefer it as a claim, that we have the penniless
bishoprics, whether in Ireland or Wales, as places of re
tirement for ourselves, where we may exercise episcopal
functions within a range more suited to our impaired
powers of body and advanced age. Let us state boldly,
even impudently, " Oportet me gnaviter esse impudentem,"
that we care little for revenues, less still for seats in the
House of Lords ; but that which we do care for is the holy
and spiritual character of our office, which we desire to be
allowed to exercise with such powers as God may permit
us to retain to our lives end. How can we discharge our
present duties when once the body has lost its energy ?
and why are we to be obliged to vacate our duties, which no
English bishop is allowed to resign, when at least thirteen
bishoprics of the Church of Christ are vacant, the duties
of which are so limited that unthinking men have looked
upon them as sinecures ? Let them give us chairs to sit
and die in, and cathedral crypts for our bury ing-place,
that we may feel that we have a home within our Mother
Church in death, if not in life.
Do think of this, for the Bishop of Lincoln tells me
1844-1846.] NEW AUSTRALIAN SEES. 219
that when the Corn Laws are gone, he believes that tithfjs
will be given up as a boon to the landed interest. It is
time, then, to put forward the imperishable spirituality of
the Church in all its offices, as a bright reality, dimmed
and tarnished by secular rust, but still the same as when
it first received the promise that the gates of hell should
not prevail against it.
Whatever we do, I accept and subscribe to your de
claration : that is done in the full persuasion, " that there
is a Catholic Church, and that its spirit is embodied in
our Anglican branch."
While politicians, and even Churchmen, were trying to
lessen the number of English sees, the increase of the
Episcopate was steadily prosecuted abroad. At this
time it was proposed to subdivide the See of Australia ;
and the following year saw the Sees of Melbourne, Ade
laide, and Newcastle established within the original limits of
Bishop Broughton s Diocese. This cheered the Bishop of
New Zealand, who had already seen the necessity of sub
dividing his own diocese, small as it was in comparison
with Australia. He wrote : " From my heart I rejoice to
hear of the subdivision of one at least of these unwieldy
dioceses. Some time or other I suppose my turn will come
to be relieved ; in the meanwhile I am content to go on
with such measure of grace and strength as God may allow
me, but with an increasing sense of my own inefficiency.
I have given up housekeeping at Auckland, and have
brought all my income to bear on the College, and there
fore I hope our financial prospects may now begin to be
brighter. Our land also begins to yield something, upon
which must depend, in great measure, the future mainte
nance of our institutions. However, as I have quite made
up my mind to go to the plough myself rather than give
them up, you may draw upon my special fund for 100/.
for Mr. s passage, with no other fear than that of
making me an unworthy follower of Cincinnatus."
220 LIFE OF BISHOP SELWYN. [CHAP. vn.
CHAPTER VII.
[1847.]
"WiTH wars still breaking out at intervals in the south,
and with an epidemic running its course at Auckland,
the year 1847, which was destined to be a period of
great activity, and to witness the initiation of several im
portant steps, did not begin auspiciously.- The hospital,
which had been so important a part of the group of
collegiate institutions, became the centre of a pestilence.
A woman, the wife of a labourer in the neighbourhood,
who was extremely ill, but not known to be suffering from
any infectious disorder, was admitted by the Bishop with
his usual kindness, and the result was that an epidemic
ran through the whole college and attacked his own
children.
The time had come when the bishop had to contemplate
that great trial of married missionary life, the parting from
his elder son ; and he was anxious, if it might be, that he
should go to England under the care of Mr. Hadfield, to
whom he wrote, on this and other subjects, the following
etter :
COLLEGE SCHOONER "UNDINE,"
OFF BREAM HEAD, March 25th, 1847.
MY DEAR AND VALUED FEIEND.
First I must express my thankfulness for the abatement
of your sufferings, which I hear has taken place; and
though it is not said to give hopes of ultimate recovery,
vet it cheers me with the prospect of another interview
1847.] SICKNESS. 221
with, you, if it should please God to prolong our lives till
November. You are said to have now resolved to go to
England : if this be the case, may I beg you to let me
confide my dear little boy to your care. Mr. Cotton is
likely to go at the beginning of spring, in September
or October, and Mr. and Mrs. Bambridge, so that you
would have store of kind friends and nurses, including
our excellent friend Eota Waitoa, who would be charmed
with the idea of going with you. Pray let me know your
thoughts on this subject, as the time approaches.
The state of the Wellington district has never for a day
been absent from my thoughts ; but a grievous lack of
instruments stands in the way of any improvement in
English and native education. I can barely get my own
school system into order at the college, by throwing the
chief part of my time and attention into that work. The
young men do not know how to teach, and the natives find
out that they are careless and lukewarm in their work.
The result of a year s work in the native schools is far
from what I wished, because, unfortunately, some of my
coadjutors are so little aware of their own defects that
they think that I work in their schools instead of, rather
than in addition to them, arid so relax their own efforts,
already insufficient. There is a grand opening now for
founding a college for the southern division, probably at
Porirua, but where to find a staff I know not. In a few
years I hope to have a supply of young men fairly qualified
for such employments, but the crop has not yet ripened . . .
My plan for the next summer, God willing, is to spend a
considerable time at Wellington and Otaki, and then to
visit Nelson, Akaroa, Otakou, the Chatham Islands, and
Eoveaux Straits. If the ship in which I hope that you
and my little boy will sail together should not sail before
that time, I should hope to bring him with me, to enjoy
the last of his society, and then to consign him to the
great current of human life, not in an ark of bulrushes,
but in the ark of Christ s Church, in full trust on the mercy
of an ever-watchful Providence.
Meanwhile the child, for whose guardianship the bishop
had been preparing, was hovering between life and death
with typhus fever running its course. At this anxious time
222 LIFE OF BISHOP SELWYN. [CHAP. vn.
the bishop left home one Sunday morning for Auckland,
with little hope of finding his children alive on his return.
The first lesson in the morning service was 1 Kings xvii.,
and he preached, with that felicitous choice of subjects and
of treatment in which he had no rival, on the words " thou
man of God ! art thou come unto me to call my sin to
remembrance, and to slay my son ? " When he came back
to the college he found the crisis was over, and that his
children had rallied. Tn the midst of these distractions
the bishop was preparing for future plans and voyages,
as well as supplying by his own personal efforts the
deficiencies in the teaching staff of the college. These
circumstances come to light in two letters written about
this time.
(i.) To EEV. 0. HADFIELD.
S. JOHN S COLLEGE,
April 2Qth, 1847.
MY VERY DEAR FRIEND,
When I last wrote to you about our dear little boy
William, I did not think that I should so soon be watching
by his bedside, with my mind wavering between hope and
fear, and endeavouring to grasp the promises of eternity
as a substitute for both. We have been visited by an
epidemic fever, similar to that which you may remember
carried off William Evans and two other of my fellow-
passengers in October, 1842. Hitherto it has been fatal
only in one instance ; that of a native man, who came to
us in a very advanced state of disease, so much so that
we could not reject him, as his own friends deserted him
because of the loathsomeness of his complaint. But we
have had sixteen or seventeen cases altogether, including
both our children, the elder of whom is still in a precarious
state. I am sure that we shall have your prayers for
patience under our sufferings, and a happy issue out of all
our afflictions.
In the midst of this untoward state, a number of new
boys arrived from the south, &c. Perhaps you will have
the kindness to tell Mr. St. Hill, for the satisfaction of
the parents, that they will all be stationed a mile from the
1847.] "ULTRA-EPISCOPAL" DUTIES. 223
college, and that intercourse between the two places will
be properly restricted till all our patients are well or
removed.
I hope to hold a second meeting of the Diocesan Synod
in September, at which the two main subjects of conside
ration are to be
The Canons of the former Synod, considered with the
aid of all remarks and objections made by any of the
clergy who did not attend the former meeting. Perhaps
you may feel able to send me your remarks for this
purpose.
Secondly, the consideration of a general Church Consti
tution for the diocese, to be first considered by the clergy
in synod, and then presented for consideration to the lay
members of the Church ; the whole to be finally approved
by the .Archbishop. The chief points of this subject I
hope to embody in a paper of inquiries to be placed in
every clergyman s hands before the time of meeting.
On this subject also I request such remarks as you
may be able to gather from the surface of your mind,
without effort or burden to yourself.
(ii.) To A FEIEND IN ENGLAND.
S. JOHN S COLLEGE, NEW ZEALAND,
May 3rd, 1847.
I can assure you that since I returned from my last
long journey I have been so occupied with the petty
details of schools, buildings, students, and scholars, that I
have scarcely ever felt clear in mind to undertake any
thing requiring consecutive thought. Between ourselves,
I have undertaken this work of a college with a very
inefficient body of coadjutors ; and every day some one or
other of its numerous branches shows signs of weakness
and premature decay, by reason of the neglect or incom
petence of the person in charge ; and I am so well aware
that it would have been better to have attempted nothing,
than to allow it to fail, that I am kept in a continual state
of uneasiness, unable to be satisfied that any part is in a
safe or permanent state. This obliges me to throw my
personal attention into the details of every branch of the
institution to an extent which would both surprise and
amuse you, if you could see how ultra-episcopal my duties
224 LIFE OF BISHOP SELWYN. [CHAP. vn.
are as the overseer of everybody and everything, and the
referee on all subjects, however minute. This state of
things will not last for ever, for I must in time bring the
young men to a greater feeling of responsibility for their
own duties. But the bane of all colonial work is sloven
liness ; and my own body are deeply infected with it. It is
not easy to teach them that what is worth doing is worth
doing well. I do not mean to say that I could not have
written to you under these circumstances ; but I could not
have written as freely and heartily as I could wish, because
my mind for the time being is a mixture of theology, Latin
grammar, Euclid, algebra, geography, medicine, husbandry,
gardening, &-c., &c., as if an old encyclopedia had fallen
in pieces and its leaves flown in Sibylline confusion
about my head. Some improvement had been made,
when it pleased God to visit us with an epidemic fever,
with which more than thirty of our body have been
attacked, which has added materially to my anxiety and
work.
Amid the burthens of sorrow and anxiety the bishop with
his wonted unselfishness wrote to his most helpful friend
in England, 1 deprecating a monopoly of his beneficence, and
disclaiming any personal regard for himself as a claim for
aid in the works to which he was pledged.
S. JOHN S COLLEGE, NEW ZEALAND,
April 27th, 1847.
MY VEKY DEAR FKIEND,
If you have reason to complain of a dearth of letters
from me during the past year, pray remember that I have
this year been chiefly on land, and that the well-known
effect of salt water in quickening my faculties has there
fore been wanting. The sea is my telegraph to you ; it
was on that element that we exchanged our last loving
words of parting ; and it is that which keeps up such
epistolary intercourse as we now have. No wonder, then,
that when I am dancing over the dark blue* sea, with
neither schools, nor visitors, nor business to interrupt me,
I should visit you on the wings of the sea-breeze with a
more full and flowing companionship of affection. Your
letters also, no doubt from the pressure of the care of all
1 Rev. E. Coleridge.
1847.] "SOKROW AND SICKNESS." 225
the colonial Churches, have been less frequent ; but if there
were none, I should never doubt the continuance of your
love, but feel that in the Catholic expansion of the widest
charity, I and every other object of your regard will
receive in fact a larger individual share. The more you
enlarge your central boiler, and heat it sevenfold, the more
shall we, in common with every other part of the system,
feel its effects upon our distant wheels. Not that I value
private love less, but that I value Catholic love more,
because, among other reasons, it is more catching and
transferable : it is a mantle which you can bequeath to
any one who neither knows nor cares for George Selwyri,
but will gladly work in your train in behalf of the Bishop
of New Zealand. In the same manner I trust that we
shall acknowledge your untiring zeal and affection, if not
by such fulness of personal expression as it deserves, yet
perhaps more surely and effectually by building up the
works which your assistance enables us to found ; and
burying your image and name, where God alone can read
it, deep under the rising walls of a goodly superstructure.
It will please you, I am sure, to know that your efforts in
our cause are among the strongest of the earthly arguments
which continually urge me to persevere.
I write from a place of sorrow and sickness, where
our nightly vigils are kept by the sick beds of our dear
children and scholars. Fifteen among us are now ill of
an epidemic fever, including our dear little boys. William
has been and may be still very near to death ; but God is
merciful, and it may be, He will not visit the sins of the
father upon the child. AVho knoweth whether God may
not be gracious, that the child may live. Our resolution
of sending him to England has prepared the heart for any
separation, and why not resign him to his heavenly Father
as willingly as we resolved to send him to receive his
grandfather s blessing. We intended to place him in Mr.
Cotton s hands to conduct him to England : may we not
trust that he will be safer with Thomas Whytehead in the
world of blessed spirits ? Still I cling carnally to the hope
that you will see him in England, and that rny heart will
be gladdened in this distant land by hearing rov TralBa
apiicvSeov elvai.
In all public matters we are in a state of perfect repose ;
VOL. I. Q
226 LIFE OF BISHOP SELWYN. [CHAP. vn.
and the friendly intercourse which we used to have with
the Fitzroys has begun to grow with the present Governor
and his wife. We have this advantage among others of
our entire separation from the State, that we are almost
sure to be friends with the Governor. We are not bound
to be always opposing him in Council, and therefore we
seldom meet except upon some friendly ground.
Believe me, ever your truly affectionate and grateful
friend,
G. A. NEW ZEALAND.
This letter, written on land, was quickly followed by
another written at sea, to the same correspondent.
COLLEGE SCHOONER " UNDINE,"
MAXWELL S HARBOUR, ISLAND OF WAI HERE,
Whit- Monday, 1847.
MY DEAK FRIEND AND PROXEN,
At this still hour, with no sound but the roaring of the
wind above the hills which shelter us, and the rippling of
the gentle swell which fritters itself away into the " sinus
reductos " of our anchorage, I feel much of that influence
which you describe in your letter from St. Leonard s, of
the soothing power of the sea in connecting our thoughts
with distant friends. Perhaps the noble bay, in which
the Undine is lying, may claim some superiority in this
respect over an English watering-place, for nature is here
exempt, at present at least, from all the parade of fashion ;
and nothing but a native village and a few sawyers houses
interfere with the simple beauty of the place. Here, then,
let me pour out my whole heart in thankfulness to my
heavenly Father who, while He seemed to send me to the
abodes of savage life, and the wildness and loneliness of
these thinly -peopled islands, gave me in return the most
cheering sense of intercourse, unbroken by time or distance,
with many of the best-beloved and most faithful of friends.
The winds which sweep so rapidly over my head would
convict me of ingratitude, if my thoughts, which are
quicker even than the storm, did not fly away to be at
peace with God and with you.
My companions (now asleep) are Mr. Bambridge, who
avails himself of a cruise for a change of scene and air
1847.] REV. C. MARRIOTT. 227
and that dear boy, Nelson Hector, 1 whom I have mentioned
in my Kororareka letter, and whom Sarah and I look upon
as our adopted son.
In the leisure of the same voyage another letter, giving
a graphic account of an episcopate of smallest matters was
written to the late Eev. Charles Marriott ; he had been
among the friends who followed the Bishop to Plymouth
when he sailed, and had said at the time that " nothing
but a firm conviction that he was where God had placed
him would enable him to resist the temptation of throwing
in his lot with the bishop and his companions."
COLLEGE SCHOONER "UNDINE,"
OFF WAIHEKE, June 7th, 1847.
MY DEAR FRIEND,
I believe it is the tendency of all correspondence to
grow slack, in spite of every good intention and even effort
to the contrary. For my own part I seem to be always
writing, and yet I am always in arrear. But you will
have the goodness to remember that a year in college in
New Zealand is very different from a year at Oriel, where
your whole routine of system and all your collegiate
arrangements have been settled for some generations back;
and where your venerable buildings prove that the present
body have had very little trouble in constructing them.
With us it is very different. Everything in the way of
system, from the cleaning of a knife upwards, passes in
some form or other through my mind ; and in the progress
of our buildings I am practically conversant with every
detail, and almost know by sight the stones arid timbers
which are to be used. In anticipation of this state of
things I appointed you, with your consent, to be my
deputy-thinker : the tenure of which office seems to imply
that you will write more letters to me than you will receive
from me, unless indeed you should be so greedy of pay
ment as to take letters without thought, expressed out of
the dry residuum of my brains, in satisfaction for your
own thoughtful and valuable suggestions. The night before
last I read over the whole of your letters in the quiet of
my cabin till past midnight; a practice which I have
1 See page 182.
Q 2
228 LIFE OF BISHOP SELWYN. [CHAP. vii.
lately adopted during my short circuit voyages with the
letters of my most valued correspondents, in order that
I may gather the full amount of the gratitude which I
owe them, and be somewhat rilled with their spirit before
I begin to write to them.
To yourself I feel that I owe the greatest of all benefits,
a mind continually engaged in thought and in prayer with
special reference to us ; and though we are unable, from
the multiplicity of petty cares, to profit fully by your
meditations in carrying out the plans which you suggest,
yet the other benefit of prayer is one of which we cannot
be deprived. It is a comfort to a working college, like
ours, to know that there are some cells in the English
universities which have not yet been invaded by the
demon of whist or science, but still maintain their primitive
character of self-denial, retirement, and prayer.
When I spoke of science, I did not mean to exclude
from my thanks the astronomical magic lantern and micro
scope which you sent for the use of our schools, and which
have been exhibited to their great satisfaction. I meant
that false science, which was the bane of Cambridge when
second-rate men spent all their time in hearing or telling
some new discovery ; while the true knowledge of the real
interests cf mankind were so little regarded that men like
Whytehead, even with a strong feeling of the duty of
residing in college, were forced from it by lack of sympathy
with the pursuits and habits of the body
Your suggestions on Penitential Discipline came at a
time when the subject was much upon my thoughts. The
number of young men of good family and education who
have been thrown away in this country is quite frightful.
They are sent out by their fathers to settle, because they
showed no disposition to settle at home ; as if a mind
could be formed amidst savage life and the unformed
elements of society, which had refused to submit itself to
the established customs of a civilized country, and the
ordinances of the Church in which it has been brought up
from infancy. The end is, that these young men are found
in the lowest state of life ; in personal appearance fit to be
studies for a painter in a picture of the prodigal son ; and
so lost in mind as scarcely to have the will, much less the
energy, to reform. One of them is now at the little
1847.] "PRODIGAL SONS." 229
village formerly occupied by the college, about a mile
from the present building. He has opened his heart very
freely to me, and disclosed the despair which was- driving
him on to self-murder. He is lawfully married to a Maori
woman, with whom he had cohabited ; and his earnest
desire now is, that they may both be received to the
Holy Communion, as a bond of union one with another,
and as the stay of his soul against the terrors which
encompassed him by day and night. The little rush
house, which I have lent him, he speaks of as an asylum
from the temptations and restlessness of the town. The
simple and gentle manners of his Maori wife add much
to the interest which I feel in his case. She seems so
much attached to him, and devoted to her children, in
the midst of their troubles.
I fear that this letter will not be much inducement to
you to continue your benefactions, unless you are one of
the few who grow more benevolent upon insufficient
returns of gratitude, in remembrance of Him who gave
most and received nothing in return."
This seems to have been a time prolific of letters. Among
the English news was the grateful intelligence that the
attack on the Welsh Sees had failed ; and the Bishop sent
cordial congratulations to his old friend and patron, with
whose efforts he had so thoroughly sympathised.
To THE COUNTESS OF Powis.
S. JOHN S COLLEGE, NEW ZEALAND,
April 30th, 1847.
MY DEAR LADY Powis.,
. . . We have heard by the last mail that Lord
Powis has at last succeeded in saving the Welsh sees : on
which my heart most thankfully acknowledges the mercy
of God in raising up from amongst the laity defenders of
the ancient bishoprics, which some of my own order would
have destroyed. The effect of Lord Powis s endeavours
seems to have gone far beyond the point immediately con
tended for, and to have drawn forth even from Whig
statesmen an acknowledgment that more bishoprics are
necessary in the present state of the country with its
230 LIFE OF BISHOP SELWYN. [CHAP. vn.
multiplied population. These signs of improvement are
most cheering to me in my most remote corner of the
world ; and encourage me to pace over a few more thou
sand miles of wood and mountain and swamp, in the hope
that when I am old and crippled, the tide of opinion will
have risen high enough in England to convince all rea
sonable men that our colonial dioceses are as absurd in
theory as they are contrary to the practice of the primi
tive Church. I shall not be satisfied until all my present
archdeaconries are constituted and endowed as distinct
sees.
Little William is still very seriously ill, but he is
reported to be rather better to-day. If it should please
God to restore him, he may be too much enfeebled to bear
a sea voyage this year, and therefore we shall probably
detain him till October 1848. But 1 speak blindly of the
future, not knowing whether the hand of death may not
be even now upon him. The state of my diocese is more
hopeful than I could have expected, and I think with good
sense at home and practical knowledge of this people and
country, this colony may still realize the hopes which were
formed at its foundation. We have been cursed by a more
than usual share of speculative talk ending in nothing ;
more philanthropy has been written about New Zealand
and less practised than about any other country in the
world. If people will now talk less and do more, we may
still have the happiness of adding another noble people to
the family of civilized man. . . .
As he had written some months before, so now, on May
22, the bishop wrote again to Mr. Abraham, in reference
to his joining him. The prospect seems always to have
been present to the bishop s mind as the one thing which
most cheered him, and at the same time there was also
present the fear lest the reality of the work should lead
to the disappointment of exaggerated expectations.
COLLEGE SCHOONER " UNDINE,"
KAWATJ COPPER MINE, May 22nd, 1847.
MY VERY DEAR FRIEND,
Last night, during a perfect calm, I refreshed myself
by reading all the letters which I have received from you
1847.] AN OEDEELY COMMUNITY. 231
since I left England, in number, seventeen. In a state of
no less perfect repose, at anchor in smooth water, within,
a furlong of the copper-mine, on the island of Kawau,
with my thoughts still full of the joy and thankfulness
which your letters always cause, I sit down in my now
spacious cabin to commune with you. This community
adds much to the pleasure of my thoughts, for instead of
a reckless and godless band of drunkards, the great body
of the labouring people are sober, and well-disposed to
religion. On my first visit, though their rush huts were
streaming with water over the mud floors, nearly forty
children assembled to school in as neat attire as could be
seen in any village in England. The congregation at
divine service was nearly one hundred, all apparently
attentive and devout. As you may suppose, it is a mixed
community of all religious persuasions, and sometimes a
Wesleyan preaches, and sometimes a local preacher, and
sometimes myself. But I make a rule to ask no questions,
and assume all to be Churchmen till they declare their
unwillingness to listen to me, which is never the case. To
morrow (Whitsun-Day) I hope to hold two services with
them, and superintend, or rather assist at, the distribution
of prizes to the school children.
The growth of these distant communities, and the evi
dent good effect of a regular system of visiting them,
makes me naturally more anxious about the college, which
must be deprived of my superintendence the more these
settlements multiply. Eor this reason, among a thousand
others, I look forward to the " end of the half century "
with eager longings, more intense perhaps than I am right
in feeling after so many warnings from God that I should
not set my affections upon any human friend, so as to
murmur if he be not granted to me. But who can for
bear to hope for such aid as your letters stedfastly promise,
(more and more stedfastly, I see with delight, as the time
draws nearer,) when I feel the feebleness of my own
powers to follow out the openings for good which, in spite
of all adversaries, are still to be seen on every side.
Perhaps I never felt so much stricken as of late, when
the time that I had reckoned upon for the consolidation of
the College System has been absorbed almost entirely in
the cares attendant upon an epidemic fever, winch has
232 LIFE OF BISHOP SELWYN. [CHAP. YJI.
affected thirty of our body in the last three months, in
cluding four strangers whom we received into the hospital
from places where they would probably have died for want
of assistance.
Now that the excitement is over I feel unusually de
pressed, partly by the prospect of another long visitation
tour in which the college will not have either Mr.
Cotton s or my superintendence ; partly the dispersion of
my last year s schools, with much less advance than I
had hoped to see ; and partly my own besetting sense of
a dilemma at present inextricable, that I cannot cope with
my work without a more spiritual mind ; and that my
spiritual growth is checked by this ceaseless intercourse
with petty thoughts and cares. I do not wonder that
there is no diaconal system in England, for it seems to
be a task of almost hopeless difficulty to persuade young
men that for a time they may do God more service by
leaving their elders free to pray and to preach, than by
rushing into the higher duties of the ministry which they
have not proved, and making presbyters and bishops to be
the hewers of wood and drawers of water.
What I have to contend with is a constant habit of
deputing to incompetent persons duties which I leave in
the charge of the deacons. Our native population of
course encourages this, as they are most willing to be
employed, but have no order or method in anything that
they do, except under superintendence ; and this superin
tendence I find it so difficult to enforce. I have scarcely
a person in the place who has any eye for minute and
careful arrangement, without which no barbarous people,
I am sure, can ever be thoroughly Christianised. Through
out the whole mission the delusion has prevailed more or
less, that the Gospel will give habits as well as teach prin
ciples. On the contrary, my conviction is, that habits
uncorrected will be the thorns which will choke the good
seed and make it unfruitful. What for instance is in reality
gained by a man, even a native teacher, who is consistent
in his own religious practice, but, as is commonly the case,
takes no thought whatever for the improvement of his wife
or children. How rarely we find in the poorer classes in
England that religious principle is strongly developed
without producing orderly habits. But to get that
1847.] DISCOURAGEMENT. 233
personal and parental care bestowed upon the native children
which may qualify them to be hereafter Christian parents
in every sense, is the difficulty which almost weighs me
to the ground, and makes every approaching journey more
and more the subject of anxious consideration ; because
while my body is wandering, my heart must be with my
seedlings at home. If my nursery-garden prosper, and
send forth its harvest of ministers and teachers like a field
which the Lord has blessed, then my heart and my work
may grow lighter together; if not, my diocese and its
increasing wants will crush my failing powers of mind and
body to the ground.
But as the time draws near, bear in mind more and
more the caution I gave you in a former letter : to expect
nothing from us, but to bring with you as large a stock of
spiritual treasure as you can. Come to help rather than
to be helped. I cannot answer for myself what may be
the effect of the next three years upon an over-detailed
mind. You may find me jaded in mind with the unceas
ing serving of tables, and from the lack of any companion
with whom I can take " sweet counsel " on equal terms,
or some Gamaliel at whose feet I might sit. I have long
resolved to pine at nothing, however secular or distracting,
during the first seven years, or what I consider my epis
copal diaconate. But the thought which now most presses
upon my mind is, that I do not see, as I draw nearer to
the time when I feel that I ought to resign such matters
to younger hands, that there are any young men who will
undertake them with the same interest. But God, who
has begun the work, will, I doubt not, bring it to the end
ordained : whether it be for my personal good, by the
failure of plans conceived, it may be, in pride rather than
in faith, or for the general good of the diocese by their
success.
With very kind remembrances to your father, whom, as
you request, I remember in my prayers (would they were
better),
1 remain,
Your very affectionate Friend,
G. A. NEW ZEALAND.
234 LIFE OF BISHOP SELWYN. [CHAP. vn.
It was after all humble work, which derived its glory
only from the object which prompted it, and the spirit
in which it was done, that tied the Bishop to the college,
and the divers duties which each day presented. The
epidemic having ceased, and war being at a distance he
could write cheerfully the following account of his pupils :
June 29ta, 1847.
MY DEAREST FATHER,
The seat of war being now changed to the South, we
are profoundly quiet here.- It will be some time, I fear,
before the Temple of Janus will be finally closed in New
Zealand, and still longer before the fruit of peace will be
seen in an Augustan age of literature.
We are, as usual, busy upon the first elements of gram
mar and the rule of three laying the foundation for future
Porsons and Newtons in generations to come. I do not
think even your love, which led you to undertake the
charge of the Herberts during our honeymoon, would
reconcile you to the charge of my present pupils.
"Boeotum in crasso jurares aere natos."
On September 19th of this year the bishop held an
ordination of four deacons, three of whom had been trained
in the college and were a welcome addition to the clerical
staff, and of one priest; and in the following week he
held his second Synod, and delivered his primary Charge.
This was a very remarkable document, full of learning and
sound doctrine, and absolutely overflowing with sound
common sense when dealing with the condition and needs
of his diocese.
He thus anticipated the criticisms of a friend in England
to whom he sent a copy :
" I daresay it will please nobody, as I have supposed
myself writing from a New Zealand forest, exempted, by
the non-conducting media of large kauri-trees, from the
necessity of avowing myself to belong to any party or
school, but speaking as a sort of wild man of the woods,
1847.] SECOND SYNOD. 235
who has his own way of thinking, and knows very little
about the thoughts of others. You will not too minutely
criticise either style, printing, or binding; as the whole
professes to be homespun, expressa arlusto, or Extract
of Bush, without professional assistance. If it is not
thought worthy of England, you may console yourself
that a very small fire will consume the whole number of
copies, as the whole impression is only 200."
The Charge is far too lengthy to be given in full in
these pages ; but copious extracts are necessary both in
justice to the document itself and in consideration of the
valuable counsel which it gives to all who study it, and
these will be given under the heads of the different sub
jects dealt with.
(1.) ON THE NATUKE AND AUTHORITY OF A SYNOD.
" Our present meeting may be looked upon as one of
a long series, beginning at the Council of Jerusalem,
in which it has been attempted, with very various success,
to discover the will of God by the assembling together
of the ministers of Christ for social prayer and mutual
counsel.
" We cannot ascribe a necessary or absolute infallibility
to any such meetings, even when convened by the highest
authority, and attended by representatives from all Chris
tian Churches ; neither on the other hand can we deny,
that even an humble meeting like our own, composed of
the clergy of one of the youngest branches of the Church
of Christ, may hope for a share in that peculiar blessing
which is promised to those who shall agree together to ask
anything in their Master s name. The whole history of
Synodical meetings of the clergy is full both of encourage
ment and of warning. The cases of failure are so nume
rous, that many not only question whether a Divine
blessing be granted to their deliberations, but also reject
them on the mere human ground of inexpediency. Others
again, who look to the glorious stand in defence of Catholic
truth which was made by the first General Councils, can
scarcely recognise any other form of Church-government
236 LIFE OF BISHOP SELWYX. [CHAP. vn.
as likely to be effectual. Even in our own Church, the
treasure which we enjoy in her Articles and Liturgy may
well make many thoughtful men lament the fallen autho
rity of her Convocation
" I need not disguise from you my belief that the cause
which has led to the almost entire suspension of the
synodical action of the Church has been the forgetfulness
of the spiritual character of such an assembly of the
clergy. Convocations and Synods have been made the
battle-field on which questions relating to the prerogative
of Kings, the authority of Bishops, and the rights of the
Clergy, have been fiercely disputed. They seem to have
followed the State in the form and manner of their delibe
rations ; to have sheltered themselves under its power ;
to have availed themselves of the secular arm to enforce
their spiritual censures; and so, by close alliance with
worldly systems, to have lost their own inherent strength,
and to have become unable to wield the sword of the
Spirit. It is not surprising that in bodies so constituted,
the earnest endeavour to attain to a closer likeness to
Christ should have been postponed to the old question,
which should be the greatest. The heavenly nature of
our Lord s kingdom, and His spiritual dominion over all
the Churches of the earth, could not fail to be neglected
amidst questions of dignity and prerogative between the
rulers of the Church and the State.
" If I did not believe that our position in this country,
both as regards the simplicity and primitive character of
our Church establishment, and its entire freedom from all
political connexion, gives us good reason to hope that we
may be enabled to avoid the evils into which other Synods
have fallen, I should have shrunk from the course which
I now propose to you, and fallen back upon the practice,
sanctioned by custom, if not approved by reason, of a
formal Charge ex cathedra, upon the authority of the
Bishop alone. I might then have found, as has often
been the case, that some would have assented ex animo,
some without assenting would have obeyed conscientiously,
some would have denied that their promise of canonical
obedience applied to the points of which they disapproved.
At the best there would have been much to check co-ope
ration and engender distrust."
1847.] CONTROVERSY. 237
(2.) ON THE MISSIONARY OBLIGATIONS OF THE NEW
ZEALAND CHURCH.
" Though it is far from my wish to reap the fruit of
other men s labours against their will, or to invade the
territory which they have won, yet I live in hope that we
may be permitted to frame an uniform system of education
for the youth of all Polynesia ; that from New Zealand,
as from a Missionary centre, the strictest knowledge, and
the most confirmed faith, may be carried back by our
students to their distant homes. We cannot consider our
work accomplished till every dialect in the South Seas has
its representative members in our Missionary College.
" God has already so abundantly blessed the work of
His servants, that not an island remains to the eastward of
New Zealand to which the Gospel has not been preached.
But there is still a dark expanse, over which the banner
of Christ has not yet been advanced. If any motive
could justify the wish to live the full period -of the patri-
archial age, it would be to see Borneo, Celebes, New
Guinea, and all the islands on our north, converted to the
faith. It may be presumptuous to wish, yet it cannot be
wrong to think of such things ; for it seems to be an
indisputable fact, that however inadequate a Church may
be to its own internal wants, it must on no account suspend
its Missionary duties ; that this is in fact the circulation
of its life s blood, which would lose its vital power if it
never flowed forth to the extremities, but curdled at the
heart. We may hope that a statement of the highest aims,
and most comprehensive definition of duty, will be a means
of raising the whole tone of our minds ; that we shall
feel thereby the full weight of the unfulfilled purposes of
our ministry ; and be humbled, even in the midst of our
success, by thinking how far greater is the work which
still remains than that which has been done."
(3.) ON CONTROVERSY.
" Of controversy in general I would say, that it is the
bane of the Gospel among a heathen people. When we
preach to them of one God of perfect truth and wisdom ;
and one Mediator between God and man ; and one Spirit
238 LIFE OF BISHOP SELWYN. [CHAP. vii.
pervading all things, and sanctifying all the people of
God ; they can understand far more easily the mysterious
doctrine of the Trinity, how all the works and Persons of
that heavenly Being agree in one, than how that Being
can be the one, only, true God, and yet His doctrine and
His worship not be one also. I can never forget the
pointed illustration of the old chief of Taupo, when I
asked him why he still refused to believe. Show me the
way/ said he. I have come to the cross road. Three
ways branch out before me. Each teacher says his own
way is the best. I am sitting down and doubting which
guide I shall follow. He remained in doubt ; till a land
slip burst from the mountain under which he lived, and
rushing down at midnight, overwhelmed him with all his
house. In another place I have found a fierce dispute on
the subject of the Reformation ; the one side alleging the
fires of Queen Mary s reign; the other retorting similar
acts of Edward and Elizabeth. I do not scruple to avow
my opinion, that such subjects are not merely injurious to
the influence of the Church, but are even a hindrance to
faith in the Christian religion itself. To commit a living
body to the flames, an act which a New Zealander would
scarcely have done, in his wildest paroxysm of savage
fury, or in the indulgence of the most devilish revenge,
cannot be reconciled with the history of a merciful
Saviour, and the doctrines of a Gospel of Peace. That
such deeds should have been done in the name of Christ,
after the Gospel had been preached on earth fifteen hun
dred years, must be to him a doubt, admitting of no
solution, but sapping the very foundations of his faith, s
" The simple course seems to be to teach truth, rather
by what it is, than by what it is not. Let us give our
converts the true standard, and they will apply it them
selves to the discovery and contradiction of error. Above
all, let us teach them the right use of the Holy Scriptures,
by prayer, by class reading, by catechising, by comparison
of parallel passages, by analysis of doctrines, by careful
definition of words, and every other method by which
they may be able to refute error, and give a reason for the
faith that is in them. All this may be done with no other
weapon than the Word of God itself; and there is no
other which a simple people can wield.
1847.] OXFORD MOVEMENT. 239
"Much of what has been said applies also to our rela
tions with our own countrymen. We cannot expect
unanimity ; let us at least seek peace. Much has been
written upon unity, but as yet little has been done
towards an union of all religious bodies in one. This at
least seems to be clear, that such a union, however highly
desirable, must not be effected by a compromise of truth.
When all shall have thoroughly examined the grounds of
their own belief, and rejected such errors as they may find,
then it is certain that all must come to unity of doctrine,
because all will have been conformed to the same unalterable
standard of Truth. To fuse together all religious persua
sions in their present state, while they are still mixed
with alloy, would be to make the process of refinement
still more difficult than before. Let each purify itself to
the uttermost, and then the day of union will not be far
distant. In the meantime, let Christian unity be the
subject of our prayers, as it was of our Lord s, and with
especial reference to our peculiar ministry for the conver
sion of the Heathen. It follows from what has been said,
that in the present state of the Christian world we should
seek peace rather than union with other religious bodies."
(4.) ON THE OXFOED MOVEMENT OF 1833.
" We are called upon to join the ranks of unreasoning
men, who, while they are tolerating and uniting with
every other form of error, are pouring out their unmea
sured invective against one. We dare not so abuse our
sacred office, as to lend ourselves to cursing, when we have
received commandment to bless. May God of His infinite
mercy bless even our bitterest enemies, every class of
Christians, who, with the misguided zeal of Saul, persecute
our Church, and think that they do God service : may He
have mercy upon the Church of Eome, reform all her
errors, pardon all her subtleties, and abate all her false
assumptions ; and so restore to all Christendom that unity
of heart and purpose, in which the wounds of religion
were healed in the first ages, by the Catholic Councils of
the Church. And in a more private, and therefore on a
lower ground, on which I might have been silent, if I
had not been called upon to speak, lest silence should be
240 LIFE OF BISHOP SELWYN. [CHAP. vn.
construed into agreement with error, or fear of rebuking
it ; here also, when we are expected to censure, we find it
rather in our hearts to bless to bless those servants of
God, who, when much of our apostolical discipline had
been decayed and lost, devoted all the energies of their
mind, and all the intensity of their prayers, to building up
again the walls which seemed to be tottering to their fall
those three men, mighty in the Scriptures, who, when
they found us hemmed in with enemies, and thirsting
for Catholic unity, went forth to draw water for us from
the well of primitive antiquity ; but one was taken captive
by the foreign armies which had usurped the well. May
we not respect the motive, commend the effort, and bless
the men, even while we reject the gift ?
" You are entitled to receive this statement of my feel
ings, that you may know how far I sympathise with the
religious movement of which Oxford was the centre, and
at what point I stop. I am not called upon to censure
men whose private character I revere, while I differ widely
from the conclusion to which some of them have been led.
While it seemed that the one object of all their endea
vours was to develop in all its fulness the actual system
of the Anglican Church, neither adding aught to it, nor
taking away aught from it : but purifying its corruptions,
calling forth its latent energies, encouraging its priesthood
to higher aims, and to a more holy and self-denying life ;
exhorting us to fast, and watch, and pray, more frequently
and more earnestly ; to be more abundant in our alms
giving, more diffusive in our charity ; and to that end to
retrench our expenditure, and to look upon ourselves as
the stewards of God in one word, while they seemed to
teach us to do in our own system and ritual what the
apostles did in their days, and what our own Church still
prescribes ; I felt that I could not disobey their calling,
because it was not theirs, but the voice of my Holy
Mother whom I had sworn to obey, and the example of
the apostles which it was my heart s desire to follow. But
when a change came upon the spirit of their teaching, and
it seemed as if our own Church were not good enough to
retain their allegiance ; when, instead of the unity for
which we had prayed, we seemed to be on the verge of
a frightful schism; then indeed I shrunk back, as if a
1847.] SPIRITUAL DISCIPLINE. 241
voice had spoken within me : Not one step further ; for I
love my Church in which I was born to God, and by His
help I will love her unto the end."
(5.) ON THE QUALIFICATIONS OF A PREACHER.
" He who, in the exercise of his cure of souls, stores up his
mind, and softens his heart, with the confessions of con
trite sinners ; and watches the slow and painful processes
of moral cure, by which a depraved life is gradually
reformed; or hears the solemn thoughts of dying men,
and the remorse of a conscience ill at ease ; and feels in
every case for his beloved parishioner as if he were his
brother or his friend : that preacher will never lack argu
ment for his sermons ; and the word preached by him will
have such success that it will never be spoken in vain.
We, who have tasted these joys of the parochial ministry,
and from it have been called to the Episcopate, can tell from
our own experience how much we have lost in ceasing to
be the bosom friends of the suffering poor arid the dying
penitent. It is well for us, if we can find compensation
for the loss, in imparting to those upon whom we lay our
hands, the same source of ministerial comfort."
(6.) ON THE OFFICE OF ARCHDEACONS.
" If this be said to be a system which exalts the Arch
deacon above other presbyters, I pray, in the name of our
crucified Master, that we may never here discuss the ques
tion, Which shall be the greatest ? It is to be hoped
that the title of a Dignitary of the Church will never be
heard in New Zealand. No earthly dignity, either in
Church or State, can equal the moral grandeur of the
leathern girdle and the raiment of camels hair, or
the going forth without purse or scrip, and yet lacking
nothing."
(7.) ON THE EXERCISE OF SPIRITUAL DISCIPLINE.
"I find that the native mind has run wild upon the
love of power, and the eagerness to wield the censures of
the Church. A native teacher will often do in his own
village what I should have recourse to with fear and
VOL. I. K
242 LIFE OF BISHOP SELWYN. [CHAP. vn.
trembling, and only in extreme cases, in the English
towns. It is a matter of history, that nothing is more
fatal to the exercise of real discipline, than the assumption
of unwarranted authority. The excessive rigour of native
judgments, the public and unscriptural mode of trial of the
offender, the absence of all desire to bring back and recon
cile those who have been excommunicated, are evils which
lie at the root of the whole Native Teacher System, and
threaten to overthrow it before a supply of clergymen can
be trained up to undertake their work. No better course
can be adopted, than to follow strictly the rule of our
Lord in S. Matt, xviii. 15 17, beginning first with private
admonition ; then with the addition of two or three
witnesses ; and lastly by an appeal to the authority of the
Church. It ought to be impressed upon the Native Teachers
that they have only authority to admonish and report to
their minister, but no authority whatever to excommunicate
the offender. By holding a public trial, and exposing
a weak brother to the shame of having his offence dis
cussed before all the men, women, and even the children
of the place, we shall harden his heart against every
thought of penitence, and defeat the main object of
Church discipline, which is not punishment, but repentance
and reconciliation.
" You will see the difficulty in which I am placed by
the excessive and arbitrary rigour of discipline in the
Native Church, and by the total absence of it in the
English settlements. We cannot allow this state of things
to continue without exposing alike our laws and our law
lessness to the contempt of all thinking men. A moderate
exercise of penitential correction, uniformly acted upon in
all cases without distinction of persons, would be a bless
ing to the country, and fulfil the wish which we express
on Ash Wednesday, that the godly discipline of the primi
tive Church may be restored. I am well aware that there
is no function of my office more difficult of administration
than this ; and that I shall incur the suspicions of many
in attempting to exercise it. But it is impossible to doubt
that a law is right which is enjoined in Scripture, and that
a course is practicable which is actually practised by all
other Christian communities but our own. The strict
communions and the prompt expulsion of notorious evil
1847.] CAUSE OF FAILURE OF DISCIPLINE. 243
livers are the boast of all the dissenting bodies, and the
point of all others upon which they regard their system
as superior to that of the Church. Not that we can be
said to recognise no penitential system of discipline, but
that we seldom put it into operation. And thus we are
censured for every ungodly sinner who continues among
us unreproved ; and for every notorious profligate whose
remains we consign to the earth with the same words of
sure and certain hope of a joyful resurrection. And
worse than all, it is not we alone that suffer, for it may be
good for us to be reviled, but our erring brethren, for
whom Christ died, may be lost for ever by our timidity,
for lack of that solemn and even awful warning which the
Church prescribes, but which we dare not pronounce.
" If we seek the cause of all failure of Church discipline
among ourselves, while it remains in force among other
religious communities, we shall find, I think, that our
Church departed from her vantage-ground when she sought
the aid of the secular arm to enforce her censures. It was
not the mourning of the mother over the child whom she
repels from her bosom ; it was not the Church of the
apostles holding the keys, and one day using them to
exclude the sinner, and the next day to readmit the peni
tent : but it was the merging of her own spiritual autho
rity in worldly ordinances ; and, as if unworthy to judge
the smallest matters/ vacating the power which she had
received to judge angels and the world (1 Cor. vi. 2, 3).
In the train of this false alliance with the civil power
came the yain and fatal attempts to constrain men to
uniformity, not by force of reason, or by her own purity of
doctrine, but by the terrors of the law : till men started
aside like a broken bow/ and the power which had been
abused to coerce conscience, became useless for its own
proper work of reforming sin
" The last solemn warning, when all others have failed,
is the sentence of excommunication. And if we cannot be
safe in withholding the lower and less striking warning,
how can we dare, in extreme cases, to keep back that
which is the most solemn and impressive of all ? To allow
a man to go down without repentance to his grave, while
any means remained untried for his conversion, would be
worse than the act of a physician, who, having tried many
R 2
244 LIFE OF BISHOP SELWYN. [CHAP, vn,
of the usual remedies in vain, suffered the sick man to die
without trying the effect of the strongest of all. What a
false charity is this, to shrink from giving pain, while
time is still allowed for repentance ; and so to leave the
pain to be felt first in all its agony, when repentance will
be unavailing ? . . . .
" In no other way can we come to peace of conscience
in the discharge of our ministry, than by fulfilling the law
of the Church relating to discipline. Neither can a clergy
man discharge his full duty to a sinner while he withholds
from him any of the appointed warnings of the Gospel;
nor can he avoid the obligation to use the Burial Office,
without alteration or omission, unless the final warning
shall have been given in the most solemn form of excom
munication. It remains then only to state, what seems to
be the practical course to which we are bound to adhere.
In few words : if any parishioner, after repeated warnings,
continues to live in such a state, that his Clergyman could
not with a safe conscience use the Burial Service over his
grave, he must be presented formally to the Bishop, to be
by him again and again admonished and exhorted to
repent. As a last resource, and with fear and searching
of heart, I would pronounce the sentence of excommuni
cation, which would release you from the obligation of
violating your own consciences by giving Christian burial
to one who persisted in an unchristian course of life.
This burden falls upon me, and not upon you, and, with
God s help, I will not shrink from it. God forbid that
you should incur the hatred of your people, or raise up
angry passions over the graves of the dead ; let it be
known to be your plain duty, from which you cannot
swerve ; founded on a law which you cannot alter ; com
mended to your conscience by reasons drawn from the
word of God itself ; and directed in its special application
by an authority to which you have promised obedience."
(8.) ON DlVOKCE, AND THE MARRIAGE OF UNBAPTIZED
PERSONS.
" On the subject of divorce, I am thankful to be able to
state at once that I have no power or jurisdiction whatever
in such matters. I believe that the difficulty of obtaining
1847.] DIVORCE AND RE-MARRIAGE. 245
a divorce is one great security against the occurrence of
the only cause for which it could be claimed, in accordance
with the precept of the Gospel. Most certainly I will
never consent to assist in introducing into this country
any system by which the offending parties, if they are
rich enough to incur the expense of the process, can obtain
legal sanction for their unlawful desires, and bring in
a second breach of the law of Christ as a direct conse
quence of the first. Though I am in doubt upon the
general question, upon this point it is my duty to speak
clearly and decisively, that in the event of any power
being created in the Colony by which divorces can be pro
nounced, you have my full authority to refuse to re-marry
those who have been divorced, and 1 will take upon myself
the consequences of your refusal. We must obey the law
of Christ at all hazards, whatever may be the ordinances
of men
" A doubt seems to have occurred, whether unbaptized
persons could be married with the rites of the Church.
In the case of unbelievers I think that we ought not to
use the Christian ordinances ; but where persons have
already professed their belief, and are only hindered from
baptism by the prescribed course of probation, I see no
reason to think that they may not rightly receive the
marriage benediction. As a practical observation, founded
upon the state of the native people, I should very much
prefer that marriage should be allowed first, to be followed
by baptism in its own convenient season, than that baptism
should be unduly hurried as a qualification for marriage.
There is a doubt in either case which may be expressed in
the form of a dilemma. We hesitate to marry persons
because they are not baptized ; and we hesitate to baptize
them because they are living in sin. No doubt the clear
course would be to postpone marriage and enforce separa
tion till both persons had been duly examined and bap
tized : but we must remember that we are legislating for
a Church of proselytes, and that there is a rule of the
Gospel which teaches us not to put new wine into old
bottles. The doubt is of a temporary nature, and in the
next generation, we may hope, will be entirely removed
by the administration of infant baptism. f>
246 LIFE OF BISHOP SELWYN. [CHAP. VH.
(9.) ON THE NATURE AND LIMITS OP EPISCOPAL
AUTHORITY.
" You have heard already the definition of the Venerable
Bede, that the Episcopate is a title, not of honour, but of
work ; and in that spirit I trust to be enabled to exercise
my office. I do not consider myself exempt from any
duty which can fall upon any Priest or Deacon in the
Diocese, except so far as my own purely Episcopal duties
shall absorb my time, and demand a priority of attention.
Only in the throne will I be greater than you. It is
not so much that I have vacated any other order to which
I was formerly ordained, but that I have been consecrated
to another office, the duties of which are added to those
for which I was responsible before.
" Upon this principle it follows at once, that I am placed
here to act, not so much over you, as with you. For one
point in which I seem to be placed over you, that is, in
the power of coercion and government, there are many in
which I am associated with you in the discharge of the
duties of the same Divine Ministry. And even in the
power of coercion, which I seem to exercise, it is not so
much in my own person that I so act, as in the spirit of
the whole Clergy, or rather of the Church Catholic, the
execution of -whose decrees is vested in me. / believe the
monarchical idea of the Episcopate to be as foreign to the
true mind of the Church, as it is adverse to the Gospel doctrine
of humility. Let it ne^er be thought that I alone arn
interested in the good government of our Church ; and
that you are merely subjects to obey. Whatever interest
I have in the work, you have also. If an offending
brother is to be brought under the censure of the Church,
what am I but the organ of the general sense of the
Clergy, which demands that the unclean thing shall be
put away, as a scandal to their order ? I might consult
my own ease by conniving at disorder; but you would
reap the bitter fruit in the decay of your influence, and in
the growing indifference, if not contempt, of your people.
You must recognise therefore a joint interest in the office
of the Bishop, looking upon him not as a tyrant to compel
yon to do what you would not ; but as your own agent
1847.] PATRONAGE. 2-17
and instrument to carry into effect what you know to be
right, and wish to do, but which you could not accomplish
of yourselves.
" It was in days of persecution and of danger, when
the crown of martyrdom was at hand, that Cyprian said
to his presbyters, I will do nothing in your absence ;
and in proportion as we feel the difficulties and sorrows of
our work, the loss of our dear brethren in the ministry,
the falling away of our native converts, and the grow r th of
evil ; so much the more are we drawn together into one
cause, resolved to allow no questions of dignity, no private
interests, to rend asunder our social system and divide
our house against itself. We have difficulties enough to
overcome, without adding to them the only one which is
insuperable, that of disunion among ourselves. The ex
pression ma of our native language, I pray may always be
affixed to my name. I would rather resign my office, than
be reduced to act as a single and isolated being. In such
a position, my true character, I conceive, would be entirely
lost.
" It remains then to define, by some general principles,
the terms of our co-operation. They are simply these :
that neither will I act without you, nor can you act
without me. The source of all diocesan action is in the
Bishop ; and therefore it behoves him so much the more
to take care that he act with a mind informed and rein
forced by conference with his Clergy. He cannot delegate
his power of action to any, for it is inherent in himself ;
but he may guard himself from arbitrary and ill-considered
acts, by giving to his council a salutary power of control.
In works of which the effect must depend upon moral
influence and willingness of heart, it is better not to act at
all, than to act against the declared opinion of those who
are conjointly interested in the plan, and mainly respon
sible for the execution of it."
(10.) ON PATRONAGE.
" The present state of the Church of England is a proof
of the enormous evils which have sprung from the abuse
of patronage, the perversion of ecclesiastical offices, and
the worldliness of mind induced by the tmeaual distribution
248 LIFE OF BISHOP SELWYN. [CHAP. vn.
of the revenues of the Church. These we are not bound
to imitate, but to cast them off, as evils which the Fathers
of the Eeformation recognised as blots upon their system,
forced upon them by the State as the price of its support.
The spiritual system of doctrine and discipline fixed by
the Eeformation is that to which we owe our unqualified
allegiance, as agreeing with Scripture and with the practice
of the Primitive Church."
The main business of the Synod was the revision of
the Canons of the Synod of 1844, against which only one
protest had been received, and the formation of a plan of
Church-government as the basis of a body of law for the
diocese, which had been suggested to the bishop and the
Archbishop of Canterbury by Mr. Gladstone, while holding
the office of Secretary of State for the Colonies.
The week which witnessed the assembling of the Dio
cesan Synod found the bishop engaged in another work
from which many a man would have shrunk. Long before
New Zealand had become a colony, before even the
question arose whether France or England should colonize
it, some of the missionaries had acquired by purchase
large tracts of land, which for the most part were still
uncultivated. The time had now come when the value of
land was increased, and the Government fixed a limit to
the number of acres which any one person could hold :
this ordinance could not be retrospective in its action
but the fact that the missionaries did in some cases possess
large holdings aroused the jealousies of the colonists and
the prejudices of the natives. The Government was pre
pared to offer them liberal terms if they would give up their
lands, but they could not be compelled to do so. Sir George
Grey therefore asked the bishop to use his influence. The
bishop did not shrink from the task, and in a weighty letter
implored them, u for the sake of a few waste and worthless
acres,not to alienate the confidence of those who offered most
zealous friendship and assistance." While admitting that
in the acquisition of so much land they had been actuated
1847.] ARCHDEACON WILLIAMS. 249
by an earnest desire for the welfare of their children, the
bishop added, " I have trusted that the time would come
when your children would learn, as some have done already,
to renounce the barren pride of ownership for the moral
husbandry of Christ s kingdom, in the harvest-field of
souls. For yourselves, I have only further to express my
conviction that when the first sting shall have passed away
of alleged misconduct, and of imputation which you be
lieve to be unjust, you will be the first to acknowledge that
there is a Christian meekness and an active zeal, by which
the Christian missionary may inherit the earth, though he
have no other possession in it than a grave."
Before this year ends another letter is sent to the Eev.
E. Coleridge by the hands of the Eev. W. Cotton, who re
turned to England after six years service in New Zealand.
It shows the fertility of the bishop s mind. While planning
the extension and subdivision of his own diocese he had
had very clear conceptions of the need of the Mother
Church : and now the consolidation of the New Zealand
Church and its augmented staff seemed to him but a
stepping-stone to the regions beyond, whose evangelization
had never been absent from his thoughts, although duties
more imperative in their nature had hitherto prevented his
doing more than think of it.
ST. JOHN S COLLEGE, NEW ZEALAND,
Dec. 7th, 1847.
. . . Herewith I commend to your good offices Leonard
Williams, the eldest son of the Archdeacon of Waiapu,
who will not, I think, disgrace his excellent father or
St. John s College. Only one thing I stipulate, that yon
do not steal him from us, but send him back replenished
with every good and holy knowledge to follow in his
father s steps.
On the subject of the said Archdeacon of Waiapu I
have somewhat confidential to say. He is an episcopally-
minded man, and it would give me great pleasure to divide
my diocese with him. Yea, let him take all, as I cannot
pretend to equal his piety or maturity of wisdom. The
250 LIFE OF BISHOP SELWYN. [CHAP. vii.
Bishop of Australia is of the same mind. He said of him :
" He is the man that I should like to have with me when
I am dying." Now, experience has proved to me that a
collegiate bishopric in a simple country like this may be
maintained with credit, and dignity, for the sum stated in
the Church almanac for " bishops," viz. 500/. a year.
The archdeacon s present income is about 30QL a year, and
I should be very glad to begin by transferring 200 of the
Church Missionary payment to the Colonial Bishoprics
Fund in augmentation of his income
You have gladdened our hearts by the report of the
steadfastness of our dear friends at Oxford. let us not
desert our Holy Mother at the very time when she shows
signs of returning vitality! The experience of a new
colony convinces me that the Church of England system
fully worked
1. Under an able and pious head ;
2. With sufficient clergy of one mind;
3. With no pecuniary bias ;
4. With no State interference ;
5. With free power of expansion;
a. In its own field,
6. Over the heathen world ;
6. With a " sacramentum " of obedience ;
" Here am I, send me ; "
" I go, sir ; "
as well understood as in the army and navy ;
7. With a definition of the duties of
Bishops,
Archdeacons, Eural Deans,
Priests,
Deacons, Schoolmasters,
Clergymen s wives ;
8. With an exclusion of all interference of relations, as
in the military and naval service :
That, these postulates granted, the Church of England
would speedily become a praise upon the whole earth. I
omit all esoteric points of discipline, ministerial confession,
&c,, as I believe them even now to be in the power of any
clergyman who acquires an influence over his people. . . .
Our ordination in September was worthy of England.
Thirteen clergymen partook of the Holy Communion. Our
1847.] FIKST VOYAGE TO MELANESIA. 251
native and English schools chanted the Glorias and sang
the Veni Creator. The church was filled as I have not
seen a church filled since I took leave of my dear friends
at Windsor.
Our College Chapel has been opened and consecrated ;
and now we feel wha-t it is to have again a heart, for you
may assure all your pupils who go to the daily service,
that a few years in a colony would convince them of the
value of the blessings which are despised in England.
Let them persevere in their work of intercession ; and in
their prayers remember New Zealand. Tell them from me
that a college without a daily service is like a body without
breath or circulation of blood. Our consecration was not
without its fruit ; several of our college boys then com
municated for the first time. The Windsor plate emerged
again, having slumbered since our last communion at the
Waimate. Pray tell Sharman and the Windsor co-opera
tives, and dear old Mr. Meyricke, that we thought of them
on that day
You will perhaps be surprised to hear that I am likely
to sail soon for the Navigator Islands in Her Majesty s
ship Dido. The hero of my ^Eneid will be no less a
personage than Mr. Fritchard of oecumenical reputation.
It seems that the good man has had some quarrel with the
natives about a horse, and has written for a man-of-war to
wreak his wrongs. Such a proceeding on the part of a
man of such missionary note in former times, though now
cnly a trading Consul, seems likely to have the effect of
estranging the natives from the London Mission, to which
he belonged, and throwing them upon the Papists, who are
on the watch in all parts of these seas. To obviate this,
and in remembrance of the Archbishop s valedictory letter,
in which I am solemnly urged to watch the spread of the
Gospel over the Pacific Ocean, I think of accepting the
offer of Captain Maxwell of a place in his cabin, and shall
probably sail in a week for the Samoan or Navigator group.
My endeavour will be to bring back some promising boys
to associate with our native scholars, as a beginning of the
Polynesian branch of S. John s College, which is deeply
impressed upon my mind as a thing essentially necessary.
There is a floating body of rogues and vagabonds who
wander from island to island successively as British justice
252 LIFE OF BISHOP SELWYN. [CHAP. vn.
overtakes one place after another; setting up their grog
shops just outside the pale of civilization, and there
poisoning the work of the missionary and breaking his
heart. Such was Kororareka before the country was
colonized ; at least so I have heard it described. If it
please God that I carry this into effect, I will not fail to
send you a choice letter on the Samoans and their illus
trious Consul.
Sarah has just remarked that Mr. Cotton s visit will
have a good effect in setting before you our real state ; as
opposed to the rose-coloured idea. . . . We are in a very
matter-of-fact state ; making slow progress, but prepared
to be thankful so long as we make any progress at all ...
1848.1 H.M.S. DIDO. 253
CHAPTEK VIII.
[1848.]
SEVEN years had been spent in active labour before the
bishop could feel that New Zealand was suitably cared for
in spiritual things, and that he was at liberty to extend
the sphere of his ministrations. From Kaitaia at the
North to Stewart s Island at the South, over a length
of 1,000 miles, he had discovered by personal observa
tion that there was not a village in which the Scriptures
were unknown. Out of a native population of 100,000
more than one-half had embraced Christianity, and the
remainder had ready access to the means of grace when
ever they would accept them. This indeed had been known
for some time, but the fatal affray at the Wairau, the burning
of Kororareka, and the subsequent wars at the Waimate,
at Whanganui, and at Porirua had kept every one at their
posts, from the governor to the private soldier, and from
the bishop to his youngest catechist. Just as peace was
restored in New Zealand a fatal affray between the crews
of two English vessels and the natives of Eotuma and
Granville Islands called for the intervention of the Govern
ment. At the request of Sir George Grey, H.M.S. Dido
went to inquire into the circumstances of the affray ; and
her commander, Captain Maxwell, by allowing the bishop
to act as chaplain and instructor while the chaplain of the
254 LIFE OF BISHOP SELWYN. [CHAP. vnr.
ship spent a few weeks on shore at Auckland to recruit
his health, gave him the opportunity so long desired, but
which could not earlier have been embraced, even had it
been offered, of acquiring some practical knowledge of
the vast and almost unexplored field of Melanesia, and of
observing the method pursued by those missionaries who
had commenced to explore it.
These were many in number, and represented only too
adequately the divisions of Christendom. A Roman
Catholic Bishop had resided for some time in New Caledonia,
and another bishop of the same communion had lost his
life on the island of Ysabel in the Solomon group. John
Williams, of the Congregationalist body, had lost his life
at Erromango in the New Hebrides, and not a few of the
native teachers had died what might be called martyr
deaths in Futuna, Fate, and the Isle of Pines. In the
New Hebrides and in the Loyalty group native teachers
of the Congregationalists were working, and the Wesleyaris
had also sent emissaries of their denomination to several of
the islands.
On Dec. 23, 1847, the bishop thus found himself on
board H.M.S. Dido, and on the Feast of the Epiphany,
1848, while the ship was lying at anchor at Tonga Tabu,
he wrote a letter of which a facsimile is given as the
frontispiece of Vol. II., as an example of the letters which
he used to write for the solace of his father ; so long as
the exercise of his great artistic talent would give pleasure
to his father he did not grudge the time which was
necessary, but when death had removed those to whom
his drawings gave pleasure, he never indulged in what
was to him the great delight of sketching ; as he said
the beauty of the scenery in the midst of which he
constantly lived and travelled would be a snare to him.
The letter which is reproduced is only a specimen of very
many of the same style.
1848.] SHIBBOLETHS. 255
The bishop s chief object on this voyage was to study
the method of existing Missions, and his attitude towards
the dissenters who had there anticipated the Church in
her duty is a matter of interest. He felt himself precluded
from joining in their public services, but was glad, while
the guest of the missionaries, to unite with them in their
family worship.
" Nature," he said, " has marked out for each missionary
body its field of duty. The clusters of islands grouped to
gether like constellations in the heavens seem formed to
become new branches of the Church of Christ, and each a
Church complete in itself. It is of little consequence
whether these babes in Christ have been nourished by their
own true Mother, or by other faithful nurses, provided that
they are fed by the sincere milk of the word. The time
must come, I think, when they will be no longer under tutors
or guardians, for this present government by English Socie
ties is admitted to be preparatory to the introduction of
self-government into the native Churches, and then I shall
be free to communicate with every branch of the great Poly
nesian family, as with bodies in no respect liable to the im
putation of schism or dissent."
But while the bishop thus refrained from puzzling
heathens by the claims of contending creeds, others were
not so moderate. At Pangopango, on the small island
of Tutuila, the bishop landed on January 19 with Captain
Maxwell, and he wrote :
" In this sequestered spot, schism presented itself in the
most singular form. Some years ago the Wesleyan Mission
sent two of its body to the Navigator Islands, with a large
body of native teachers, who stand in the same relation to
the missionary, as the -vJaXot and ro^orat to the birXlrai of
the Greek armies. By agreement between the Wesleyan
and London Missionary Societies, the English missionaries
were withdrawn, but the light-armed force owing no alle
giance to Bishopsgate Street, holds its ground by orders of
the king of Tonga, who is the nursing father of the
Wesleyan interest in the Friendly Islands. The consequence
is that one-half of a small village adheres to Mr. Murray
256 LIFE OF BISHOP SELWYN. [CHAP. vm.
and the other half to the Tonga teacher, and separate
chapels, services, and systems attest the power of Satan,
even in this peaceful island, in dividing the house of
Christ against itself. The Tonga teacher, much as he
wished to hear the news from Tonga and Vovau, would not
come with us to the house of the rival teacher, where we
were going to dine. This is one instance out of many ; and
it will surely strike every thoughtful Christian, that I, who
have been charged with bigotry and intolerance for advo
cating unity and opposing dissent, should have had the evils
of schism again and again brought under my notice by
members of the English Independent body and of the
Scotch secession."
This was avowedly a voyage of observation, and the
bishop s eye was keen to discern every, even the minutest
circumstance which could help him in the great under
taking on which he hoped to enter. He explored, more
or less thoroughly, the Friendly, Navigator, and New
Hebrides groups. When at the Isle of Pines he met with
unsuspected good fortune : the island bore an evil name,
and Captain Maxwell demurred to allowing the bishop to
land. The bishop was bent on entering the lagoon : in vain
the officers dissuaded him : he borrowed a small boat and
sculled himself inside ; and no sooner had he entered the
narrow passage than just round the corner in a sequestered
nook he saw an English trading schooner, with one white
man on deck, smoking a pipe arid quite at his ease. He
said to him, " Why, how is this ? This is one of the worst
islands of the Pacific : here is a man-of-war afraid to enter,
and yet you seem to be here in perfect contentment ? " The
owner of the schooner, Captain Paddon, was on shore,
trafficking with the natives for sandal-wood which he
carried to China for use in their Joss-houses ; but he came
on board soon and explained to the bishop the reason of
his lying in safety in the harbour. He said, " By kindness
and fair dealing I have traded with these people for many
years. They have cut many thousand feet of sandal- wood
for me, and brought it on board my schooner. I never
1848 ] CAPTAIN PADDON. 257
cheated them, I never treated them badly we thoroughly
understand each other."
Here then was a valuable secret acquired, and the bishop
was always wont to speak of Captain Paddon as " My
Tutor." In subsequent years he never went to those
islands without first finding out where Captain Paddon
was, and what islands were really dangerous at that time,
and what crimes and offences had recently been perpe
trated in those seas. Captain Paddon on his side had a
great affection for the bishop, and called one of , his
schooners the Bishop ; and thus in turn got access readily
to those islands on which the bishop had effected a landing
but which were new to him. The name of " Bishop " got
so popular in these latitudes, that when Captain Penham
of H.M.S. Herald, on a voyage of exploration, landed on one
of the islands and began setting up his theodolites, and
the natives menaced him and his party, on his observing
to the mate that one of the natives had a terrible wound
apparently inflicted by a fish-hook, the man mistook the
word for "Bishop," and the people at oncu were friendly.
But even thus early the infamous conduct of unprin
cipled English traders was sowing those seeds of ill-will
and of righteous retaliation, the full harvest of which was
reaped in 1870, when Bishop < Patteson was massacred at
Nukapu. The Bishop recorded the following incident :
" When we rounded the western point, and came under
the shelter of the island, an English pilot came off to us
in a canoe ; and the captain took him on shore with us in
the ship s boat. On our way he produced a register of
the ships which had touched at the island, with the objects
for which they came. Among the last arrivals was the
following entry :
-
) di f Cannibals !! !"
Schooner Velocity )
" This was the transaction into which Captain Maxwell
was instructed to inquire ; and it cannot be better described
than in the words of the pilot of Botuma. The business
of the vessels was to trade for cannibals ; and, when they
VOL. I. s
258 LIFE OF BISHOP SELWYN. [CHAP. vm.
could not be obtained by fair means, to take them by force.
The following was the result of the inquiry, taken by
Captain Maxwell on the island, and confirmed by a separate
examination of two New Zealanders whom I conversed
with while he was engaged in his own conference with the
natives of the place.
" It appeared that Messrs. Boyd of Sydney had engaged
the above vessels to sail to several islands in the Pacific
to procure natives to be brought to Australia to serve as
shepherds and herdsmen ; that they sailed first to Uea, one
of the Loyalty group near New Caledonia, and induced a
young chief to embark with thirty of his men, as the
captains of the vessels allege with a written engage
ment to serve a term of years at fixed wages : but as two
of the Uea men whom we saw at Roturna, again and again
declared, with no agreement at all, but only for the
purpose of seeing the country (kal hanua). When the
natives of Uea were taken on board, the vessels sailed to
Eotuma in hopes of completing their cargo ; but fail
ing in obtaining men there they went on to the line, to the
Kingsmill or Gilbert Archipelago, and there procured more
men, but on what inducement I do not know. On their
return from the Kingsmill they stopped a second time at
Rotuma ; and there the Uea men, having been then two
months on board, and having sailed several thousand miles,
and being then further from Sydney than when they set out,
jumped overboard and swam to the shore. The captain
of one of the vessels went on shore with his boats to
demand the surrender of the men. Konas, the chief of
Motusa, met him at the landing-place, and told him that
the men were not with him, but with Tilotolas, a greater
chief than himself, at the other end of the island. The
captain upon this attempted to seize Konas as an hostage,
and when the natives resisted, he ordered his crew to fire ;
and an affray ensued, in which one native was killed, and
two Englishmen killed or wounded. The boat s crew was
obliged to retire, leaving the captain s double-barrelled gun
in the hands of the natives, by whom it was given up to
Captain Maxwell. Tilotolas, whom we saw the next day,
when he was asked whether the affray had caused much
exasperation among his people, coolly answered : " No, we
considered it settled ; as we believed that we killed two for
1848.] A DAY AT SEA. 259
one." The greater part of the Uea men were taken back to
their country by an American ship, but seven remained
at Rotuma, two of whom were examined by Captain
Maxwell."
On March 4, 1848, the bishop was able to write
in his log : " Anchored in Waitemata at 10 P.M. eco
Xa pis." He had seen for himself the islands among
which it was afterwards his privilege to carry the Divine
message, and had learned many things which would aid
him in his task. On the 24th of the same month, after
a few busy days at the college, he set sail in the little
Undine, of which much will be recorded in these pages
before she becomes unseaworthy and is supplanted by
a larger vessel. This cruise lasted until July 4, and
during the leisure thus secured the bishop wrote many
letters : among them was one of congratulation to the
late Dean Peacock, who had recently married his younger
sister. It will be seen, as the writer apologetically says,
that the congratulations were reserved until the end, but the
letter is not less interesting to the reader on that account.
TO THE LATE DEAN OF ELY, THE VERY REVEREND
GEORGE PEACOCK.
"UNDINE" SCHOONER, AT SEA,
March 28th, 1848.
MY DEAR BROTHER,
My congratulations to you will not be the less appro
priate, because my day, which has begun by taking a lunar
observation, and teaching some of my college associates the
elements of navigation, will now be devoted to communi
cation with one whose name alone is enough to reproach
me with my own lack of mathematical knowledge. If you
should look upon me as an unworthy brother, I must plead
in extenuation, that, though I neglected mathematics at
Cambridge, and navigated the Cam, without thought of
sun or star, I am now becoming of necessity a Palinurus
in my latter days ; and endeavour to follow the example
of him, who
"inter media aequora semper
Stellarum cselique plagis superisque vacavit."
S 2
260 LIFE OF BISHOP SELWYN. [CHAP. vm.
This motto Charles Selwyn wrote in the case of my
sextant before I left England, in correct anticipation
of the course of my episcopal life in New Zealand.
My own vivid recollections of Ely, (a place to which
I was so much attached, that I once walked from Cam*-
bridge to the morning service, and back again to hall),
enable me to picture to myself your happiness in living
in constant sight of that glorious gateway in the Deanery
garden, and under the shadow of the walls of the
cathedral, and enjoying your daily services with one, who
has been trained up to value all the ordinances of our
Church, and is able to drink in the soul of sacred harmony
in your choir. And I have looked so much into the
charter and statutes of Ely, in former times, that I can
fully rejoice in your having now another mind associated
with you to enter into the spirit of all your improvements,
not only the beautiful restoration of your fabric, but the
moral energy of your cathedral action, and the develop
ment of the expansive good for which your body is
designed. Instead of a disjoined prebendal ministry,
and a few forlorn " empty housekeepers," and all the
other anomalies of a Chapter so well, yet so painfully
sketched by Pugin, you w r ill have hearts that \vill rise
upon the inspiration of the place, till they fill out that
outline which Cranmer drew, and are strengthened to extend
themselves beyond it.
While you are in the midst of these time-honoured asso
ciations, I am in the midst of everything new ; even the
steep and barren hills are of recent formation : the inhabit
ants tracing their descent to a migration dating only a
few generations back : our colony, only six years old, and
yet administered during its brief life, by six Secretaries of
State at home, and four Governors here, all succeeding one
another with such rapidity, that their doings and undoings,
like the + s and s in an involved equation, have left but
a miserable value of x after all. And now the newest of
all new things, the pleistocene of New Zealand, is its new
Constitution, to work out which I hope they will appoint
Sir John Herschel as governor, for no one less intimately
versed in the systems of double and treble stars can
unravel a form of government, in which one governor-in-
cliief, two governors, and two lieutenant-governors, are to
1848.] CATHEDRAL DUTIES. 261
reign in New Zealand, not fixed, but like Shakespeare s
moon, whirling one about another " with wondrous
motion," till the whole country will be scribbled over with
their courses, "centric and eccentric, cycle in epicycle,
orb in orb."
Still you must not suppose that I envy you your
cathedral repose ; and the luxurious interchange of elevat
ing thoughts with kindred minds, which the neighbourhood
of the university affords : still less your domestic ha] (pi-
ness ; for in that, on my return from every long journey, I
feel myself blessed beyond all other men : nor even your
opportunities of holy meditation and prayer in places
where the mind feels at once that it is holy ground : all
these I cannot envy you, because I am convinced that you
have all these things, not for your own good only, but
also as stewards for us who have them not. Your vener
able cathedrals, if rightly used and reverently kept, will
send forth, even to us, a prescriptive power, which will
dignify even our boarded chapels with a known relation
ship to the noblest of all the temples of God on earth.
Your daily intercession will bring down blessings upon
us, who in the wild forests, and the restless seas, and in
the care of all the churches, find scarcely leisure so much
as to pray. Your daily advances in science will enable
you to simplify the elements of knowledge down to the
level of the understanding of our colonial youth. The
shadow of your cathedral will nurture plants, which here
after will bear removal to the ruder climate of the New
Zealand Church. Your excellence in music will enable
you to send us teachers trained up in the true spirit of
cathedral music.
It has long been a cherished thought with me, that the
time would come, when every English cathedral would
take under its especial patronage and protection one of
the colonial dioceses, thus affiliated especially to itself.
Without the sacrifice of Catholic unity, this would unite
all parts of the Anglican Church with that peculiar and
esoteric love which would secure the greatest warmth of
personal feeling with the fullest development of the whole
of her system. As in private feeling bound, I claim Ely
as my foster-parent. Her late dean was my patron and
friend, to whom I arn mainly indebted for my present
262 LIFE OF BISHOP SELWYN. [CHAP. vm.
position in life. Her present dean, I am now thankful to be
able to call my brother. My brother William and ,1 have
fought side by side in defence of Ely, at a time when it
was thought almost folly to say a word in defence of
cathedrals. Above all, though I did not receive Holy
Orders from a Bishop of Ely, yet it was through his letters
dimissory that I was ordained both Deacon and Priebt.
You see that I have already gone beyond your expecta
tions in my claim of relationship with you : but Fanny
must make my peace, if I am unreasonable. You have
already offered one brotherly office nearest to my heart : to
share in the guardianship of our dear boy : and I presume
upon this to ask you to be a father to my diocesan children ;
to act with William in training up students for our college,
and stamping them with your approval : (for we have had
many failures for want of this) : to send us out all that is
most good and useful in elementary education : among
other things, anything a year in advance which can give
our Church Almanac a more useful character : Church
music : architectural plans : in short, the whole apparatus
of diocesan improvement ; of which you may take it for
granted, that we lack everything. Above all give us the
benefit of your public intercession, with special application ;
and of your private prayers, now 7 no longer single, but
blended with those which for many years have never
ceased to ba offered up on our behalf.
When you have done all this for me, the time may
come when I may ask another favour of your bishop
and his chapter. When we contended for the Honorary
Canonries (as they were miscalled), I did not think that
I should turn my eyes to those offices as a resting-place
for weary and crippled colonial bishops, when necessity,
not will, should oblige them to retire from their work.
I could crawl up your pulpit-stairs long alter I had lost
my strength to breast a New Zealand hill, or plunge
through a swamp, or dance over the w 7 aves, as now, in the
lively little Undine. A definite and recognised con
nexion with a cathedral during old age, and a cloister
grave, would be the only change that I should desire from
my present life, and that only when I am worn out.
You will think that I am a strange person, to write a letter
of congratulation, and to postpone so long the main subject.
1848.] NAVIGATION. 263
But such events nre parts of the one mystery of the
" union betwixt Christ and his Church," or if not, they
are no proper subjects of congratulation. And because I
feel that your marriage with my sister has been contracted
in this spirit, I have looked upon it rather in its outer
range of Catholic love, than in its more private character
of domestic affection. And yet I know that this will not
be wanting ; for I know my sister s depth and warmth of
feeling ; and her letters already show how much of her
fulness of affection has been transferred to you, yet with
out being taken from us. We are sure that she will love
us all the more for having her whole heart and all its
powers called forth into action. Above all the growth of
piety, which must follow a marriage so contracted, will
ensure us a full compensation for the more undivided love
which we have enjoyed hitherto. Most heartily then do I
congratulate you, and pray that every blessing may attend
you till your symbolical marriage has its completion in the
communion of saints.
Your affectionate brother,
G. A. NEW ZEALAND.
As you are now my mathematical tutor, I send you the
results of my " day s work."
1. Forenron, March 30.
Cross bearings. Cape Maria . . . E. and by N.
March 30, 8h. Three Kings . . . N. W. by W.
Longitude by cross bearings . . . 172.28 W.
Latitude by . . 34.26 S.
Longitude by chronometer at 8 A.M. . 172.38
N.B. Rolling sea and altitudes uncertain.
2. Noon.
Latitude by Obsn. Meridn. Alt. . . . 34.26.30.
N.B. A northerly current had more than neutralized a light
wind with which we sailed to the south. No ground gained
between 8 and 12 ; North Cape still open on Cape Maria.
3. Longitude by Lunar distance, taken at 9 A.M. Day. h. m. s.
Time by Lunar 29 9 53 39
Chronometer 29 9 55 32
4. Cross bearings at 3 P.M.
Great King N.W. by N.
Cape Maria . E.N.E.
By cross bearings Long 172. 19.
Lat . .
Afternoon sights for time-
Longitude by observation at 3 P.M. . 171.lo.dU
264 LIFE OF BISHOP SELWYN. [CHAP. vm.
The discrepancies in the above will show the degree of
dependence on observations in a small vessel of twenty
tons in a rolling swell."
It will be remembered that the statutes of Ely Cathedral
had been quoted by the bishop when he addressed his
printed letter on Cathedrals to Mr. Gladstone in 1838, and
he seems ever to have been much attracted to that magni
ficent cathedral. Five months later, in a letter to his
father, he wrote his congratulations on his prospect of
often worshipping within its walls :
" I can picture to myself, from intimate knowledge of
Ely, your joy and comfort iu passing many hours in
prayer and praise within the beautiful gates of that
temple, in which your sons and daughters are so often
gathered together. I have visited Ely in almost all ways :
I have w r alked and skated and rowed, and driven and rode
thither : flying and swimming are the only known modes
of locomotion of which 1 have not availed myself to enjoy
the architectural beauties of Ely Cathedral, at a time when
I was unworthy of its daily prayers and unmoved by its
songs of praise. If I were ever to return to England, what
a blessing it would be to meet you all in that House of
God, where, with matured feelings and thoughts full of
immortality, the father to the children and the children
to the father, might make known His truth/ "
This voyage, to the leisure of which the foregoing letters
/owed their existence, was the first made in the Undine
the little craft destined to carry her precious freight on
errands of mercy over thousands of miles of water ; though
not concerned with unknown seas and strange races, it was
fraught with more danger and tended to more immediately
useful ends than the cruise made in the Dido. It reached
to the southern part of New Zealand, which is now in
the Diocese of Dunedin, and included a visitation of the
Chatham Islands. The bishop visited Kororareka, the scene
of the Heke rising, and found the chapel, which had been
9 1848.] SERVICES OF MISSIONARIES. 265
spared, still standing, and the obnoxious flagstaff not re
placed. Wars and rumours of native disturbances were
flying about like scattered fragments of cloud when the
storm itself had ceased, but the bishop thought he dis
covered a far better and healthier feeling between the
two races than at any previous time. At first an injudi
cious mixture of philanthropy and curiosity had petted
and pauperized the natives, and when it was found that
to civilize a race was a work of time and patience, curiosity
was satisfied and philanthropy disheartened, and contempt
and insult took their place, until the natives were wont to
say that, except by the Government officials and by the
missionaries, and a few others, they were treated like pigs
and slaves. It was. largely owing to the missionaries that
peace had been preserved, and the power which they had
exercised had not made them popular with those who
wanted war. The bishop used to say long afterwards
that he well remembered how he used to be greeted by his
fellow-countrymen with " Here comes the bishop, to prevent
us fighting with the natives."
" That I have counselled peace," he wrote, " is no more
than saying that I am a minister of the Gospel ; and this
I freely confess to have done, at a time when a general
gathering of the tribes could have destroyed the colony,
and when it needed no more than that we should be silent
to agitate the native people from one end of New Zealand
to the other. Often has the question been asked of us,
What is the Queen going to do ? Does she wish to take
away our lands ? and we have steadily and in places
unvisited by Governors or officers of Government avouched
the good faith of England, and recited the authoritative
declarations of successive Secretaries of State, affirming
again and again the validity of the Treaty of Waitangi.
If we had held our peace, without a word spoken, we
should have confirmed all the worst suspicions of the
native people. We spoke the truth, and the result has
been peace ; for those who have rebelled are not one in
thirty of the whole male population ; and upon this ground
266 LIFE OF BISHOP SELWYN. [CHAP. Tin.
we fearlessly assert, that only those who gainsay that
truth and tamper with the faith of treaties, will be the
future agitators of New Zealand."
At Otaki, " a green spot in the midst of a crop which
seemed to be withering away because it had no root or
deepness of earth," the bishop saw much to cheer him ;
and from thence the good people, many of whom had
been in his native school and college of S. John s, Auck
land, accompanied him in a search over their land for the
best site for a college, which was fixed at Porirua, near the
main road to Wellington, some ten miles distant. At
Wellington the bishop found Mr. Hadfield still alive, but
" with the symptoms of his disease showing no irnprove-
ment. But," he wrote, " it was a great blessing to hear that
I might again enjoy the benefit of his counsel, and listen
to -the wisdom of a Christian death-bed. For four years
his whole life has been nothing more than commentatio
mortis! From Wellington, the course lay to the Chatham
Islands, and, after attending the Governor s levee on the
Queen s birthday, a ceremony which he had never wit
nessed since his landing in New Zealand, the bishop em
barked on board the Undine, and ran rapidly out of Port
Nicholson. For the first time the Undine had to go out
of sight of land, and it was necessary to rely on his pocket
chronometer, and strict reckoning by log and observation
was kept. The bishop was his own sailing-master, and
this is the entry in his log :
" On Saturday evening, May 27, W3 had run down our dis
tance, and the wind being strong, and the weather thick and
stormy, we shortened sail and lay- to for the night. The
next morning the Sisters, or Itutahi rocks, to the north of
the great Chatham Island, appeared in s ght, and the shore
of the large island was dimly seen through the haze. At
this time the sea was very high and the wind boisterous ;
and, not daring to run for the harbour, we stood out to
sea and again lay-to. In the afternoon a great American
whaler passed us, running to the north-west, and con-
1848.] OTAGO. 267
descended to show us her colours, though we must have
looked like a mere fishing-boat in the heavy sea which was
then running. Towards evening the gale abated, and we
enjoyed our afternoon prayers, with the Thanksgiving from
the Prayers to be used at Sea. We all felt very thankful
that we had kept a good reckoning, for if we had not
lain-to when we did, we should have been close upon the
Sisters in the middle of the night."
The longest stretch of open sea had yet to be crossed,
and the season was late ; but the bishop was anxious to
reach Otago : although the colony w r as avowedly Presby
terian, he wished to be of service to new settlers by giving
them particulars of local information and to explain to
them the relations of the white to the native race, and to
encourage feelings of confidence and esteem. The Undine
ran before a gale, and on the fifth day glimpses of sun
through the thick mist enabled observations to betaken,
and on the next day the bishop found the value of his
sketches and notes made on board the little Perseverance
in 1844, for he recognised the places at once, and had no
difficulty in mating the harbour.
H.M.S. Fly was in these- waters, having on board a
Government agent with instructions to buy all the land
in the Middle Island not included in former purchases.
The tribe which had assembled to receive the purchase-
money had not dispersed, and the bishop was able to
converse with them, and he found them perfectly satisfied
with 2,OOOZ., for which they had given plains, mountains,
rivers, &c., as far as Foveaux Straits, trusting to the good
faith of the Government to make suitable reserves for their
use. The Bishop wrote :
" This is a curious commentary upon the opinions first
expressed by the Committee of the House of Commons in
1845, and since avowed by Earl Grey; and will tend to
put an end to all further discussion on the rights of the
New Zealanders, when it is seen that lands which would
have cost millions to take and to keep by force, are quietly
268 LIFE OF BISHOP SELWYN. [CHAP, viu
ceded for less than a farthing an acre. But it is a great
point, after all that has been said, that the right of the
native owners, even to unoccupied lands, has been thus
recognised over so wide a surface."
On July 4 the eventful voyage terminated, "and the
good little Undine worked up to her anchorage, after a
voyage of fourteen weeks, with sails, ropes, and spars un
injured, having sailed 3,000 miles, and visited thirteen
places ; thus fulfilling the wish with which the good Arch
bishop, now gone to his rest, accompanied a donation of
50/. towards her purchase, that the new vessel for the
Bishop of New Zealand might prove as TreiQ^vios as the
Flying Fish! By the good providence of God we were so
blessed, that no illness occurred either among the pas
sengers or the crew during the whole voyage. My party
of native boys, eleven in number, collected from Otaki,
Ooixille s Harbour, Waikanae, and the Chatham Islands,
arrived at the college full of health and good spirits, after
sailing from 1,500 to 2,000 miles from their homes."
While the remote parts of the diocese were thus re
ceiving the bishop s personal care, the institutions at
Auckland, which he described as " my residence, if resi
dence it can be called where I am seldom able to be
stationary for more than a few months at a time," were in
thorough working order. The native villages near to the
college supplied the residents with friends and neighbours
in whom they took increasing interest, and from whom
they would have been loth to be separated ; it seemed
likely that the tribe would scarcely outlive the present
generation, for the death-rate was high and the number of
children miserably small ; yet it was a comfort, the bishop
said, " to be able to minister even to a dying people, and
to be able to certify that they have passed away by the
will of God." A large number of pensioners being placed
by the Government in villages round Auckland, supplied
a considerable English population who also demanded the
bishop s care.
1848.] INDUSTRIAL TRAINING. 2fi9
Following, as was his wont, the examples of ancient
times, and endeavouring to realize the obligations of
cathedrals, the bishop established seven Chapelries at dis
tances varying from half a mile to five miles from the
college, which were served by the deacons. The college,
library and school, printing-house, and native school, each
had its place. No difficulty was found in obtaining as
many native lads as could be received ; neither did any
difficulty hinder the work of civilizing them except an
inadequate supply of suitable English teachers.
" We are apt to forget," the bishop wrote, " the laborious
processes by which we acquired in early life the routine
duties of cleanliness, order, method, and punctuality ; and
we often expect to find ready made in a native people, the
qualities which we ourselves have learned with difficulty,
and which our own countrymen rapidly lose in the un
settled and irresponsible slovenliness of colonial life. We
want a large supply of Oberlins and Felix Keifs, who,
having no sense of their own dignity, will think nothing
below it ; and who will go into the lowest and darkest
corner of the native character, to see where the difficulty
lies which keeps them back from being assimilated to our
selves. They have received the Gospel freely, and with
an unquestioning faith : but the unfavourable tendency of
native habits is every day dragging back many into the
state of sin from which they seemed to have escaped.
There is scarcely anything so small as not to affect the
permanence of Christianity in this country. We require
men who will number every hair of a native s head, as part
of the work of Him who made and redeemed the world."
The printing-house [work in which and in the hospital
ranked next in dignity to the work of the clergy,] the
farm, the barn, and the carpenter s shop, all were intended
to catch the earliest dispositions to industry which the
scholars might evince. The variety was necessary, for
systematic industry in some one line was an essential of
all native training. The system was not understood even
270 LIFE OF BISHOP SELWYN. [CHAP. vin.
in New Zealand, and in New South Wales it was ridiculed ;
but the bishop was right notwithstanding. His self-defence
was ample. He said :
" It is not likely that men like Mr. Cotton and myself,
brought up at the most aristocratic school in England, in
the midst of amusement, luxury, and idleness, should have
theorized a system which reduced us to a style and habits
of life altogether different from those to which we have been
accustomed ; but the complicated problem of the founda
tion of the Church in New Zealand seemed to find no
other solution than that to which we have been led by
the guidance, first of Scripture, and then of Church
history and of practical observation. We found a native
people, whose bane was desultory work interrupted by
total idleness. With them the belief was fast gaining
ground, that work was incompatible with the character of
a gentleman. To waste their occasional earnings, the
price of their lands, on useless horses or cast-off dress
coats, seemed to be the sum of their political economy.
To appear in full dress at the morning service, and then
to relapse into the more congenial deshabille of a blanket,
was the form in which their respect was shown to the
Sunday. Their houses still conitnued to be the herding-
place of men, women, and children ; where the young at
one time heard sacred words, which lost their reverence,
and even their meaning, from constant repetition ; and,
at another, were fed with all the ribaldry and scandal
of the district, by the most minute and circumstantial
details of other men s sins, which were publicly discussed
in the common dwelling-houses. The faith of hundreds
and thousands I believe to be sincere ; but it is held in
conjunction with habits dangerous to the stability of the
adults, and destructive to the religion of the children.
At the Waimate it was evident, at a glance, that the
middle-aged men attended our churches and schools, but
that the youths were in training for the service of Heke
and Hawiti.
" Nor were there wanting indications, which seemed to
show that the rising generations of the English would
sink to the same level of indolence and vice with the
native youth. The presence of a race presumed to be
1848.] " A TURBULENT PRIEST." 271
inferior to our own, will naturally lead our English boys
to the same false pride and assumption of superiority
which the free native is taught by his own authority over
his slaves. We are in danger of having honest labour
made disreputable, by the class of servile natives who
cluster round the towns, too often in a progressive state
of demoralization. This, then, was the difficult problem :
To raise the character of both races, by humbling them ;
to hinder, so far as positive institutions may avail, the
growth of that shabby, mean, and worthless race of upstart
gentlemen, who are ashamed to dig but not to beg, whose
need never excites them to industry, and whose pride
never teaches them self-respect. Such a class is a nuisance
at home, but it would be intolerable in a new country."
While the bishop was thus caring for the most remote
settlers in his diocese and for the heathen scattered amid
the islands of the Pacific, he was winning notoriety, if not
fame, at home. Lord Grey, who had succeeded Lord
Stanley as Colonial Secretary, had been induced, under
circumstances which it is not necessary for the purposes
of this memoir to record, to send out a Despatch to which
allusion has already been made respecting the lands pos
sessed by the natives. Against this document the bishop
and the missionaries, as well as the Chief Justice, felt
bound to protest, and the action of the bishop on this
occasion won for him the honour of being described by Mr.
Hume in his place in Parliament as " a turbulent priest."
How much the bishop was disturbed by Mr. Hume s
wrath, or by the censures of Lord Grey, and how far he
was deserving of either, may be gathered from the letter
which at this time he addressed to the Eev. E. Coleridge :
S. JOHN S COLLEGE, AUCKLAND,
Sept. 4th, 1848.
MY VERY DEAR FRIEND,
I think that our correspondence of late has not been
so brisk as usual, but you know my feeling on this point,
that I should be very sorry to suppose for a moment
272 LIFE OF BISHOP SELWYN. [CHAP. vm.
that such love as yours, and such gratitude as mine, needs
the continual expression of some outward sign or form of
words. The power of corresponding must depend upon
leisure, health, and opportunity ; and when I think that
it is a long time since I received a letter from you, I
always attribute your silence to the pressure of those
benevolent designs which are every day increasing upon
you. The fact that I am now the eighth on a list of
twenty- one colonial bishops is enough to convince me that
I should have my share, if you were to bestow upon me
only one letter in the year. I know that you will not
withhold from me your prayers, and that is enough.
It has become our turn to think anxiously of you, with
all Europe shaken to its foundations, while we are enjoying
the most profound repose from everything but the winds
of our mild winter. The famine, the influenza, and now
the civil commotions, especially in Ireland, have made us
think much of you ; and we now wait for every mail with
increased anxiety. But God is with you, as He has been
with us, and -./ill bring us through greater troubles even
than these.
When I tell you that we are in a state of repose, you
will conclude that none of those evil consequences which
were anticipated from the turbulence of " agitating bishops "
have come to pass. If, on the contrary, Lord Grey s prin
ciple had been avowed by the Governor as the rule of his
policy, the safety of the English settlements could not
have been guaranteed for a day. It has not escaped my
notice that some of my best friends have looked with a
doubtful eye upon my conduct in the matter of the Protest.
My brother William notices the matter thus : " I am not in
a position to judge of the merits of the question ; " and
this is all that I have ever heard from my own family.
Now I can assure you, that so far from that Protest being
the result of any sudden excitement, it was written after
repeated conferences with the Governor and in constant
communication with the Chief Justice, and it was ulti
mately sent to his Excellency, after consent previously
obtained ; and after an assurance that he himself would
be equally unable to hold any office under a Government
which should direct him to carry those principles into
effect. The only difference between Governor Grey on
1848.] REPLY TO LORD GREY. 273
the one hand, and Mr. Martin and myself on the other, has
been this, that the Governor thought that the Instructions
were only a satisfaction to Lord Grey s theoretical opinions,
to which he was pledged, and that he neither would nor
could carry them into practice in New Zealand ; we, on
the contrary, affirmed that the abstract injustice of the
principle was in itself an evil to be protested against ; and
that in its practical consequences upon future measures
of Government, not only in New Zealand, but in any
other lands in these seas which may hereafter be colonized,
it was most dangerous to suffer such a principle to gain
validity by tacit consent. We looked in vain in the
English newspapers for any condemnation of a doctine
which we believe to be so essentially false, and so danger
ous to New Zealand in particular. If the matter had
been well taken up in England, nos homunculi would not
have been indignant.
I have written an answer to Lord Grey s reprimand,
which I hope you will think temperate and respectful.
The chief point which I have thought it necessary to
mention is the letter which the Governor sent with the
Protest ; or rather the twoJetters between which it stands
in the Blue Book, placed apparently like two tame ele
phants to keep the " turbulent " savage in order.
The tone of those letters certainly tended to make the
Protest appear frivolous and unnecessary ; and therefore
I have been obliged to make one or two struggles to get
ut of the mud into which I seemed to be let down.
You will not suppose that we have ever been in any
other position than that of uninterrupted friendship, and
our wives are as loving as sisters. But between governors
with their short tenure of office, and bishops with their
rustication for life, there will naturally be the same differ
ence as between the quinguennes olcce and the sylvestria
coma; the one may be smooth and courtly, the other must
contract, in spite of all efforts to the contrary, some of
the nature of the Bush. I have sent a copy of my answer
to Gladstone, fiom whom you will be able to procure it, if
there should be any interest alive on the subject when
my letter reaches England. We consider the danger at
an end for the present, as our good friends in the House
have spoken out so decisively.
VOL. L T
274 LIFE OF BISHOP SELWIN. [CHAP. vm.
This letter was soon followed by another to the same
correspondent, which shows still more clearly what was
the bishop s standpoint, and on how true and just founda
tions his action was based.
ST. JOHN S COLLEGE, NEW ZEALAND,
Oct. 7th, 1848.
MY DEAE FKIEND,
I send a short letter by the Indian now about to sail,
lest you should think that I omit opportunities of writing
to tell you of our welfare, and to acknowledge the un
wearied kindness of which every mail and every ship
brings new proof. We have received a box of books by
the Acheron or ffavannah, I cannot say which, as neither
ship has yet arrived in New Zealand. The box was for
warded from Sydney. For this and for your exertions in
the matter of the " Protest," and the correspondence with
Mr. Hornby, accept my warmest thanks
There is now a new subject of discussion, viz., the pam
phlet printed at the College press, and not denied to be
the work of Chief Justice Martin. The turn for a repri
mand has now come round to him ; because five copies of
the book have been given by me without the judge s know
ledge or consent, to the following persons : Major Rich
mond, Mr. Justice Chapman, Mr. Hadtield, Rev. G. A.
Kissling, and, at Mr. Martin s desire, hearing of the above
issue, to Governor Grey. A .few copies were sent to
England to our friends ; the rest are safe in brown paper
in my study.
The circumstances are these :
1. Alarm began the first year of our arrival in New
Zealand, by hearing the talk of settlers and the suspicions
of natives.
2. Alarm grew to a practical evil when the Report of
the House of Commons of July 8th, 1844 came out to
New Zealand, in which the principle of spoliation is
avowed ; and by the counter-resolutions of Mr. Cardwell, I
infer that it was advised to carry out that principle if
necessary by an armed force, though this may not be dis
tinctly avowed in the Report. The publication of this
report in New Zealand was followed immediately, in
March, 1845 bv the destruction of Kororareka. Lord
1848.] A NEW ZEALAND CERBERUS. 275
Howick, Secretary for the Colonies, and Mr. Hawes,
Under-Secretary, were members of the Committee which
presented the Keport.
3. Exactly three years after the Eeport of the House of
Commons, viz., in July, 1847, we were greatly alarmed by
an authoritative avowal by the Colonial office, of the same
principles as those put forth in the above Eeport, to which
Lord Grey and Mr. Hawes were parties.
4. With Mr. Martin s concurrence I waited upon his
Excellency, Governor Grey, to offer our joint assistance,
as persons acquainted with the native language and cha
racter, in support of any declaration which he might be
pleased to make on the injustice and inexpedience of
the principle in question. The Governor agreed with us
on the principle, but was satisfied with the belief that
Lord Grey had not instructed him to carry it into
execution.
5. We felt that the wrong was done in the assertion of
the principle, and that we should be parties to. the wrong if
we suffered the assertion to pass without remark. The
Governor having declined to call upon us to avow our
opinions, we were obliged to express our own opinions
independently of him.
Lord Grey has forwarded to me a very complimentary
message through the Governor, for which I am much
obliged to his lordship, and value his good opinion, as
that of a son of an honourable house, who has not im
paired in his own person his ancestral character. But I
would rather that he cut me in pieces than induced me by
any personal compliments to resign the New Zealanders
to the tender mercies of men who avow the right to take
the land of the New Zealanders, and who would not
scruple to use force for that purpose. There is a Cerberus
in New Zealand which cannot be sopped by any other
cake than one composed of English and native rights in
equal proportions.
The Dido we hear has been ordered to England, and I
have thoughts of availing myself of Captain Maxwell s
kindness to entrust our dear little William to his charge.
My acquaintance with the chaplain, Mr. Browne, and the
other officers of the ship, with whom I am on friendly
terms all favour the plan. I shall hope to hear of your
T 2
276 LIFE OF BISHOP SELWYN. [CHAP. vm.
favourable report, to make me stalk with long strides in
joy of heart over my wastes of fern.
Pray give my love to Mary and your children, and all
the co-operatives. I have not much time to write by this
ship, but will endeavour to send more letters by the Dido.
No one knows with what a multiplicity of A B C matters
my mind is continually filled, to the great injury of
regularity in correspondence. With scarcely a person who
knows the details of his own business, and with incessant
complaints of parents of the inefficiency of our schools,
and now with the additional charge of four pensioners
villages thrown upon our collegiate body, and all with a
straitened finance (from the high prices caused by Govern
ment expenditure), which makes me look upon every
blade of grass with a scrutinizing eye, my excellent friends,
to whom I am so deeply indebted, and among the rest the
S.P.G.F.P. must excuse me if my heart is not so lightsome
or my pen so free as they may desire.
God bless you, and prosper all your works for His glory.
Your affectionate and grateful friend,
G. A. NEW ZEALAND.
The prospects of Melanesia were now becoming more
defined : at the end of this year, in which so much import
ant work had been done, the bishop was enabled to point
cheerfully to what had been done, and to clearly marked
opportunities for fresh ventures among the heathen. He
wrote a friend in England :
My visit to the Isle of Pines, though of a few hours
duration, has left upon my mind the deep conviction, that
an effort made there would not be in vain ; and that the
spiritual conquest of that little island would open the
way to New Caledonia and its adjacent islands of the
Loyalty group. This is the point upon which the mission
ary energies of the New Zealand Church ought to be be
stowed, as a sign of its own vitality, in giving to others freely
what it has freely received. The most frightful crimes of
rapine and massacre are now being committed by the very
people who received Captain Cook, seventy years ago, with
a friendly disposition beyond that even of the people of the
" Friendly Islands. " The change must be attributed to
1848.] PAETINGS. 277
the fact that we have followed up our first knowledge of
New Caledonia with the most sordid and unscrupulous
schemes of avarice, instead of sending out men with the
heart of Cook, and with the powers and graces of the
ministerial calling. You will not be surprised if you hear
of my visiting those islands again, for something must be
done, and I am waiting only for some door to be opened
by which God may show His willingness that the work
should be begun. If only I had competent men to help
me, I feel as if I might be strengthened to search out the
choicest youth among all the neighbouring islands, and
bring them into our college ; and with this centre once
formed, the work of grace might spread to all " the regions
beyond."
The habits formed in these vast dioceses tend to set
aside all thoughts of time and distance. The young men
of the college, before my last voyage in the Dido, begged
me to accept their assurance, that if I should discover any
opening where their services might be more required than
in New Zealand, they held themselves in readiness to
answer to the call.
In October, the bishop was again afloat in the Undine,
and from Mahurangi he wrote to the Rev. Ernest Hawkins
on many matters. He was about to part with his eldest
son, for whom he desired no brighter lot than that of a
missionary in Melanesia.
Oct. 2Qth, 1848.
I am closing this letter on board the Undine, now lying
in the little harbour of Mahurangi, and waiting for a
storm to pass away, that we may go to spend the Sunday
at the copper mine (already mentioned) on the Island of
Kawau. Captain Maxwell, of H.M.S. Dido, is with me on
board, and will be the bearer, I hope, of this letter, and
the protector of our eldest boy, William, whom I commend
to the prayers and counsel of all who love his father. I
know that he will never lack friends to encourage him in
every holy disposition, or to reprove him when he goes
astray ; and in this confidence, and, above all, in reliance
on his Heavenly Father, I consign him to God, to the
Church of England, and to my friends. If our lives should
278 LIFE OF BISHOP SELWYN. [CHAP. vm.
be spared, I can form no better wish for him, than that he
should be approved by your Society, and sent out as a
missionary to this diocese. By that time, it may have
pleased God to widen our field of labour, vast though it
be already, and to multiply the labourers in a like
proportion.
The pious desire has been fulfilled, if not literally, yet
substantially : little did the Bishop think in 1848 that ere
his own services on earth were completed he would have
given his younger son to the widened field of labour in
the Pacific as the second Bishop of Melanesia.
1849.] PORIRUA." 279
CHAPTEE IX.
[1849.]
THE month of January is in New Zealand the busiest
time of harvest ; and in the bishop s diary for 1849 there
are sundry records of harvest work, and of interruptions
to the ingathering of the crops caused by weather. The
college being largely dependent on the produce of its lands,
as well as boasting itself of its self-contained system by
which servants were abolished and all contributed their
labour to the common stock, it was obvious that teachers
and students would now be engaged in clearing the fields.
But this accomplished, on the Feast of the Purification the
Undine was again put in commission, and her head was
turned southward. Before embarking on this Visitation
the bishop learned with thankfulness that Mr. Hadfield,
after four years of suffering, was recovering, and he had
reason to hope that he would again be equal to missionary
work. For the headship of Trinity College about to be
established at Porirua, no one so competent could be
found, and the bishop sought to secure his services in
the following letter :
To EEV. 0. HADFIELD.
ST. JOHN S COLLEGE, Jan. 27th, 1849.
MY DEAR FRIEND,
I desire to thank God most fervently for the report
which Dr. Fitzgerald makes of the prospect of your
restoration to health. In the midst of sorrows which
have crowded upon my mind from the illness of Mr.
280 LIFE OF BISHOP SELWYN. [CHAP. ix.
Cotton, Mr. Dudley, and Mr. Stock, and the deaths of Mr.
Bolland and Mr. Eeay, this inercy has given me the
greatest consolation. Still it would be too much to expect
that you should be able to resume the active habits of a
missionary for which your strength was never adequate ;
but I think that I know your mind sufficiently to feel
assured that you will dedicate your returning health to
such employment as is nearest to the missionary work.
I would point to the Porirua College as a post in which
your influence would be brought to bear on all those in
whom you are most interested, without much bodily
fatigue.
If you will consent to find head and heart for the
new college, I will do my best to provide you with arms
and legs.
The report of your returning health further encourages
me to fulfil the long-cherished wish of appointing you to
the Archdeaconry of Kapiti, which has been kept vacant
in the hope, however faint, that you might be able to fill
the office. I inclose the letter of appointment, which I
beg you to accept for my sake, and much more for the
good of the Church. You have already acted as my com
missary and adviser on all occasions, and this will only
give a formal and legal sanction to the duties which you
have already discharged.
Your excellent host and hostess must be truly rejoiced
at the sight of your returning health and strength. I hope
to share in your happiness, God willing, in about two
months, if my present voyage to the south be brought to
a safe conclusion.
With sincere thankfulness for your improvement in health,
I remain,
My dear Mr. Hadfield,
Your affectionate Friend and Brother,
G. A. N. ZEALAND.
I commend to your advice and instruction, Eev. T. B.
Hutton, appointed to act as Eesident Deacon and Inspector
of Schools at Wellington. Pray tell him all that you
have written and said to me on the subject of schools.
The Chatham Islands, Wellington and Nelson, were
again visited between February 2 and April 21, and later
1819.] UNPOPULARITY. 281
in the year the bishop contemplated an independent
voyage in the Undine, and not as in the previous year in
H.M.S. Dido, to the Melanesian groups. The colonists
disliked the idea of the bishop spending so much time at
sea and at a distance from his diocese proper : although
Bishop Selwyn had no opportunity of benefiting the
trade of the place which he made his home by dispensing
a large income, there was the same jealous contention for
the honour of a bishop resident among them which has
been found in towns in England, covetous of the dis
tinction of being raised to the dignity of a city by giving
a title to newly-founded Sees. There was also lingering
still in the colonial mind the memory of the reproof
which the bishop had fearlessly administered, when he
saw the greed of land embroiling the whole country : and
so the popularity, which he never coveted, did not fall to
his share, and people did not hesitate freely to criticize his
doings, whatever they were. The kindlier folks thought
he was fond of yachting/ and accepted the condition of
things, little knowing the discomforts of a 17-ton schooner
with a dozen or so of native lads crowding the cabin, and
with a crew of only four hands, neither considering the
perils of navigation in unknown waters and among people
reputed to be savage and bloodthirsty, and with not a
single defensive weapon of any kind on board.
During these first ten years of his episcopate he was
most unpopular in Wellington, though later on there was
no place where he was more highly esteemed. Landing
late in the evening in a little dinghey, he heard two men
on the beach talking about his schooner, and one of them
asked, " What s that schooner that has come in this even
ing ? " to which the other replied, " Oh, that old fool the
bishop s." Just then the dinghey grounded on the shore,
and, rubbing his hands and chuckling, he jumped out of
the boat saying, " Yes, and here s the old fool himself."
On another occasion of his putting in to Wellington
harbour, he was amused to learn that a Dissenter had
282 LIFE OF BISHOP SELWYN. [CHAP. ix.
recently exhumed and reprinted an old tract which had
had a run in England, whose title was " Why I am a Dis
senter." One of the reasons given was " Because Bishops
have 10,OOOZ. a year, and go about in carriages, whereas
the Apostles went on foot, and had neither silver nor gold."
The time of publication was ill-chosen : for side by side
with the little Undine, the John Wesley, on her duty
of carrying the Wesleyan Superintendent round his
much smaller circuit, dropped her anchor, a well-found
schooner of 200 tons. The retort was tempting and
obvious, if not ad rem ; and a zealous Churchman published
a leaflet with the title " Why I am not a Dissenter " the
chief reason assigned being " Because the W^esleyan Super
intendent sails in a schooner of 200 tons, while the Bishop
of New Zealand goes much longer voyages in a yacht of
20 tons."
From Auckland several letters were written. For the
new institution at Porirua he sought to obtain from his
brother-in-law the Dean of Ely the sympathy and sup
port which it seems to be the duty of ancient Foundations
to extend to struggling efforts in a new world : this was a
case of unusual claims, the college-lands being the offering
of natives for the benefit of both races.
ST. JOHN S COLLEGE, July 12th, 1849.
May I solicit your good offices in favour of a new in
stitution, which we are beginning to found, called Trinity
College, Porirua : to be the centre of education for the
southern division of this island ?
My native scholars, formerly at this college, have made
over 600 acres of their own land, with consent of the other
owners, for the purpose, as they express it, " of a College
for the native and English youth, that they may be united
together as one people, in the new principle of faith in
Christ and obedience to the Queen."
The reason for the name of Trinity College is because
our family were equally divided between Trinity and
St. John s, e.g. :
1849.] NEW ZEALAND ALMANAC. 283
W. Selwyn, Esq.
Trinity.
T. K. Selwyn.
St. John s.
I
W. Selwyu, jun.
C. J. Selwyn. G. A. Selwyn.
G. Peacock.
0. Richardson.
W. Richardson.
The addition of your name and of my wife s two brothers
gives a preponderating claim to Trinity, of which I hope
all brothers and brothers-in-law will show their sense by
their vigorous exertions to place Trinity before St. John s,
though second, as at Cambridge, in order of time.
I will send you further particulars when the plans are
more matured ; but the Secretary of the Society for the
Propagation of the Gospel, Mr. Hawkins, has all the
details of the proposal, and would be happy to receive the
assistance of all who would be willing to take an interest
in the plan.
Sarah and I hope to go to Porirua to spend the summer,
and to break ground. In about a fortnight I hope to sail
for New Caledonia and the Isle of Pines ; and to bring
back with me some swarthy youths for education at our
Polynesian College. Perhaps I may be able to send you
some contributions to your ethnographical stock ; for I
find that your learned men are still indebted to Cook s
scanty vocabulary of the New Caledonia language.
We are in want of such mathematical books as are
sufficient for a common degree at Cambridge. We do not
aspire higher at present. Perhaps you could tell me which
are the best and simplest TroXX books now in use, and
direct them to be sent out in sets of twenty.
I send a copy of our Almanac, in hopes of eliciting
from you some scraps of European science by means of
which we may shine in borrowed plumes " pavone ex
Pythagoreo"
The calculation of eclipses frightens me by the terribly
long formula in the Nautical Almanac. I have not yet
attained to accuracy in the rising and setting of the moon ;
the error I suppose lying in some misapplication of the
horizontal parallax. If Fanny would use her scissors
in extracting the most useful statistical and other informa-
284 LIFE OF BISHOP SELWYN. [CHAP. ix.
tion, at much less length than the British Almanac, but
in the same style, and send them out pasted in a paper
book, it would tend much to invest our Annual with a
value not its own. By this organ I convey a knowledge
of the Church system into all parts of the diocese, and
therefore I am most anxious that it should be generally
useful and popular.
I have found it most useful to have recognised irpb^evoi
for different parts of the works in this country, to
represent me in England, in that behalf. If you would
allow me to consider you as an honorary irpo^evos or agent
of Trinity College, Porirua, as a centre and nucleus of
information and interest on that subject, it would very
much tend to promote the success of the undertaking.
We do not intend to go on fast, but to make some
progress if possible every year."
Friends both in New Zealand and in England were
doubtful about the wisdom or the possibility of the work
which the bishop was proposing for himself in Melanesia.
It was essentially a work of unwearying patience. Year after
year he contemplated no immediate result of his landing,
unarmed and alone, on the shores of these islands, generally
among menacing crowds of savages and cannibals, beyond
the establishing a good understanding, the obtaining a
recognition of himself and his ship as being distinct
from other captains and vessels, and the acquisition of
some of the multitude of dialects which were spoken. It
is courage of the highest type which thus patiently
grapples with a work whose details must be small, slow
in development, and leading, even supposing the maximum
of success to be attained, only to the loan of a few lads
born and bred amid the defilements and cruelties of
heathenism, on whom the influence of Christianity and
civilization is to be brought to bear. The bishop had
clearly arranged his plans, and was quite satisfied that
only in this way could the work be done. He had faith
enough to foresee a vision of groups of boys entrusted to
his care at St. John s and Porirua, and these returning to
1849.] ANAITEUM. 285
their homes as in some sort Missionaries, and again and
again coming to the college for further training ; some of
these he foresaw would be sent back with the grace of
Orders and the gifts of the Priesthood, to impress, with a
force which no European could hope to possess, the
consciences and hearts of their heathen brethren, and to
build up the Church of Christ in their islands. It was
an entirely original as well as a noble conception, and
subsequent events have amply proved its wisdom.
On August 1st the Undine left her moorings for Anai-
teum, a run of 1,000 miles being made in ten days, spite
of heavy weather and cross winds. In the episcopal log
on August llth, is this entry "1,000 miles in 10 days.
To Him, whom the winds and the sea obey, be praise
and glory for ever and ever, Amen." Here, as had been
arranged, he met H.M.S. Havannali, whose captain (Ers-
kine), in common with all who sailed with him, had a
warm respect for the bishop. The obligation was not
wholly on one side. The man-of-war was beholden to
the tender (for the bishop spoke of Captain Erskine as
his " commanding officer," and of the Undine as the tender
to the HavannaJi), not merely for performing the duties
of a pilot, and also to the character and courage of its
" Bishop-Skipper " for free and safe intercourse with the
people. In his first voyage among the Melanesian groups
he had absolutely no charts, and subsequently, until his
own drawings became available, he had only some very
ancient Eussian and Spanish charts.
From Anaiteum he addressed a letter of remonstrance
to a friend in England, who had expressed both anxiety
for his safety and doubt as to the wisdom of devoting
to the Melanesian work the amount of time without
which failure was certain : the letter showed how care
fully and patiently his plans had been laid, and how
anxious -he was that they should not be misunderstood or
misrepresented.
286 LIFE OF BISHOP SELWYN. [CHAT. ix.
COLLEGE SCHOONER "UNDINE," AT ANCHOR,
ANAITEUM, NEW HEBRIDES,
Lat. 20 S.; Long. 170 E.,
August 12th, 1849.
MY DEAE FKIEUD,
The first fruits of the new chronometer are justly due
to you, to whom I am indebted for this, and for a large
portion also of the Undine. May God enable me to make
the only return which you desire by using them to His
glory, and for the extension of His kingdom. In this peace
ful harbour, unknown to the civilized world, at least to the
hydrographers, I can commune with you in heart and in
perfect rest, during a portion of the Lord s day, which I am
now enjoying after a voyage of a thousand miles. . . .
In such a place, and under such circumstances, love
would be born, if it did not exist; and existing, grows
apace with that tropical luxuriance which is produced by
warmth of the heart. There is something of truth, as
well as of poetry in the idea of Virgil, that the hearts of
the Carthaginians are not deadened by the being too far
removed from the chariot of the sun. But while I thus
recognise the effect of tropical heat upon warmth and
kindliness of affection, I must acknowledge the greatness
of that inward heat, independent of place and circum
stances, which can produce in Lat. 51 30 1ST. such fruits of
genuine friendship as I experience continually from you.
You will accept it I hope as an evidence of this gush of
gratitude towards you which has come upon me to-day,
that I tax your unwearied friendship for new efforts.
There are not many persons whom I could ask to do
anything more after all that you have done. But at the
same time that you have supplied my present wants, you
have always stimulated me to further demands ; and that
by the most powerful of all arguments, that it does good
to the Church at home to have its diffusive duties so
brought before its view. Here then is the substance of
this day s meditations, conceived, I hope, in no pre
sumptuous spirit, nor without prayer, but with the fullest
confidence that they are all within the scope of our
Christian obligation, and that therefore means and strength
will be supplied for the work which it is our duty to
undertake.
It has been the concurrent feeling of many wise and
1849.] ACQUISITION OF LANGUAGES. 287
pious men, and even of Gibbon, that New Zealand would
become the Britain of the Southern hemisphere. Setting
aside all other points of similarity involved in the pre
diction, I fix my thoughts steadily upon one, and pray for
God s grace to make my diocese the great missionary
centre of the Southern Ocean. The thought upon which I
commented so feebly at Windsor on November 4, 1841, has
grown irresistibly upon me, "the abundance of the sea
shall be converted unto thee " ; it seems as if God had
marked out " my path upon the mountain wave, my home
upon the. deep." Few men are so entirely at their ease at
sea, or so able to use every moment of time, perhaps more
effectually because with less distraction than on shore.
The effect of this is, that in a voyage of reasonable
duration I can master the elements of a new language
sufficiently to enter at once into communications, more or
less, with the native people, and thus to secure a further
progress every day by the removal of the first difficulty.
Here then is the first step. I feel myself called upon by
these natural advantages to carry the Gospel into every
island which has not received it, and which, within wide
limits, may be considered as affiliated in faith and hope to
the New Zealand Church.
But do not suppose that I wish to devote myself to the
life of a sea-bird, dropping here and there a seed, which
the nearest land-bird may forthwith devour ; but I look
(still in faith and submission) to those " twins of learning,"
Trinity and St. John s, as the central reservoirs into which
all my phials will be poured from the wells and springs of
many nations. There I should hope to spend such
being conformed to the "one tongue
Here then is my second point. I need men of a right
stamp to conduct the central organization of a system,
which will require an entire devotion, in a spirit of the
most single-minded love, of every faculty of body and
mind, to duties apparently of the humblest kind, to the
most petty and wearisome details of domestic life, and to
the simplest rudiments of teaching ; but all sanctified by the
object in view, which is to take wild and naked savages
from among every untamed and lawless people, and to
88 LIFE OF BISHOP SELWYN. [CHAP. ix.
teach them to sit at the feet of Christ, " clothed and in their
right mind." .Religion, civilization, and sound learning ;
all, in short, that is needful for a man, seems to be meant
by those three changes the feet of Christ ; the clothing ;
and the right mind.
I almost checked myself, while I was writing the above
words, with something like a fear that you would think
me visionary, arid that I should lose your confidence by
proposing too much. But I assure you I am not mad, but
speak forth the words of truth und soberness. " Reasonable
service" are words which have haunted me for years past.
All that I have proposed is being done by emissaries of
the world ; except, of course, that part in which the world
feels no interest, and can take no share. While I
have been sleeping in my bed in New Zealand, these
islands, the Isle of Pines, New Caledonia, New Hebrides,
New Ireland, New Britain, New Guinea, the Loyalty
Islands, the Kingsmills, &c. &c., have been riddled through
and through by the whale fishers and traders of the South
Sea. That odious black slug, the beche-la-mer, has been
dragged out of its hole in every coral reef, to make black
broth for Chinese mandarins, by the unconquerable daring
of English traders, while I, like a worse black slug as I
am, have left the world all its field of mischief to itself.
The same daring men have robbed every one of these
islands of its sandal-wood, to furnish incense for the
idolatrous worship of the Chinese temples, before I have
taught a single islander to offer up his sacrifice of prayer
to the true and only God. Even a mere Sydney speculator
could induce nearly a hundred men from some of the
wildest islands in the Pacific to sail in his ships to Sydney
to keep his flocks and herds, before I, to whom the
Chief Shepherd has given commandment to seek out His
sheep that are scattered over a thousand isles, have sought
out or found so much as one of those which have strayed
and are lost. Is this then enthusiasm, or is it " reasonable
service ? "
Nor is this without regard to New Zealand itself. May
we not hope that as England has doubtless felt the reflex
effect of its missionary efforts, so the decaying fire of
missionary spirit may be rekindled in New Zealand, by
its awakened interest in the island missions. I leit the
1849.] REASONABLE SERVICE. 280
Governor and Chief Justice and some of our senior
Missionaries organizing a plan for this very purpose. The
voyage of the Undine gave a point and impulse to their
feelings. If it should please God to open a door for some
good beginning during this present voyage, I do not doubt
that I shall find liberal hearts and hands in New Zealand
to assist in the commencement of the work. But I look
to you for aid in the main design ; not only, I mean, as
regards the means, but also for helping others to under
stand, who are sometimes more ready to question than to
assist.
" What is the bishop about ? " " Setting up another
college before he has established the first ? " " Off again to
the islands, when he is so much wanted at home." " I
fear he has too many irons in the fire." These are some of
the remarks which I am prepared to expect, but which I
write now to deprecate. Not that I suspect you of any
such ideas, but I wish you to be clearly informed that you
may assist in stretching the minds of others.
All these things are parts of a connected work which I
do not, of course, expect to live to complete, but which, I
have no doubt, a succession of faithful bishops of New
Zealand would be enabled by God s blessing to accomplish.
Am I to presume upon a succession of sluggards, or lay
out plans so poor and miserable as to involve the seeds of
failure in their own original insufficiency ? If a man finds
but one talent given to him, we are taught to expect that
he will think it useless and bury it in the ground. If God
should enable me before my death to lay out the ground
plan of a great design, and to leave it in a hopeful and
progressive, though incomplete state, I should die in
faith that succeeding bishops would not refuse to add each
his course of stone to the rising edifice, in which, as in
our cathedrals, all individual pride of foundership would
be lost, and buried in the venerable line of spiritual
architects.
You see then what I shall require. In the course of two
or three years, if this work grows upon me, a larger vessel
will be needed ; not for comfort or safety, for the dear little
Undine, under God s protection, has borne me safely over
so many raging waves that it would be ungrateful to
discard her for any personal consideration. But I could
VOL. i. u
290 LIFE OF BISHOP SELWYN. [CHAP. ix.
not with any prudence or propriety crowd her with my
scholars in these hot climates, as I do in the south, where
for weeks together I have had a mess of sixteen in a space
not so large as an Eton boy s smallest single room. But
this is the very point and key of the whole system, the
constant interchange of scholars between the college and
their own homes. If I were to keep them away altogether,
not only would the parents (very properly) send to take
them away ; but even while they remained at school, the
great benefit to the parents, and the great impulse to the
system, which is afforded by the sight of the progressive
improvement of the youths, would be entirely lost. Again,
to transplant scholars from the college too soon, would be
to lose the best fruit of their training ; lor we gain little
if we do not succeed in rearing native teachers and
ministers, but scarcely any would stay from early youth to
such an age as would qualify them for any responsible
situations, without ever returning to their parents. We
have youths who have been with us six years, in which
time they have gone home frequently for the holidays and
have returned again. To carry out a system of frequent
intercourse with their own countrymen, which would be
necessary and beneficial in every respect, would require a
vessel of considerable size; that is, from 100 to 150 tons;
whereas the little Undine is only 21, new measurement.
But this is a matter of no immediate importance, as at
present there are not funds for the current expenses of such
a vessel, though the first cost might perhaps be supplied.
At present I wish you to bear in mind, and to communicate
with K. Palmer, Gladstone, and others, that, if it please
God to prolong my present health and strength, I am
prepared, if means be supplied, to undertake the personal
inspection and supervision of the whole of Melanesia
that is, of all islands lying between the meridian of the
East Cape of New Zealand or nearly 180 degrees, to
the meridian of Cape York and the Eastern Coast of
Australia ; and I am convinced that I could do this, not
only without injury, but with the greatest possible benefit
to my own work in New Zealand.
You will observe, that I have said nothing about men,
except the organizing staff for the two colleges ; one reason
1849.] MISSIONARY QUALIFICATIONS. 291
is, that these Northern Islands are very unhealthy, and it
is likely that a great and unprofitable waste of human life
would be caused by relying upon an English ministry. A
native agency is the great thing needed ; and the reason of
my extreme caution in applying for men of peculiar quali
fications is my belief that there is not one man in a
thousand of generally good and pious clergymen, who has
or can have the least idea of what would be required of
him in the conduct of a native teachers college. This I
suppose to be the reason of the failures, or at least of the
limited success, of such institutions as have been already
formed in other heathen countries. I gather from the
Visitation Journal of our dear brother of Colombo, that
his experience in this respect coincides with mine.
Here ends my day s meditation, and as I have just con
sulted your chronometer, which ticks loudly in front of me,
and find that by Greenwich time it is just eleven, that is,
by local time, twenty minutes past ten, it is time for me to
prepare for bed by remembering you, and all yours, and
your works, in my evening prayer, which I trust, will go
up to heaven with those, which you are now just offering
up in the morning service of the Church. . . .
August nth, 1849.
Still at Anaiteum ; and not sorry to be in harbour, as the
weather has been very thick and rainy, and therefore not
favourable for encountering the reefs of New Caledonia.
The time, however, is not lost, as this little place is the
centre of information on all matters relating to the sandal-
wood trade, which extends over all the neighbouring islands.
By information which I have received since I have been
here, I am led to hope that an opening into New Caledonia
may be made at a place called Jengen, on the east coast,
and about midway between Capes Colnet and Coronation.
The French Mission formerly occupied a station at Balade,
where Cook anchored in 1774 ; when he found the people
to excel all other islanders whom he had seen in honesty
and friendliness of disposition. To our shame be it con
fessed, that three-quarters of a century, during which they
have been left to receive and inflict every kind of outrage,
have so entirely altered their original character for the
worse, that there are many places where I should not think
u 2
292 LIFE OF BISHOP SELWYN. [CHAP. ix.
of risking the schooner or myself. But I assume it as
an axiom, that where a trader will go for gain, there
the missionary ought to go for the merchandise of souls.
The issue of the undertaking I leave to Him who pro
vides, far better than we ourselves, for the course of the
future.
I have spent much time with the Protestant missionaries
who have been placed here since my visit in the Dido;
one of whom, a Presbyterian from Nova Scotia, I had seen
before in the Navigator s Islands ; the other, Mr. Powell, is
connected with the London Mission. You are probably
aware of the rule which I make in visiting missions con
nected with other bodies of Christians. I abstain from
taking any part in their public services, but I endeavour
to give them every encouragement and advice which my
acquaintance with the mission work enables me to suggest.
With the Wesleyan Missions I can go no further, as the
popery of their system, in spreading the name of Wesley,
and the authority of the Conference over their whole
mission field, precludes all hope of communion, till "the
main body in England shall have changed its present
opinion on the advantage of separation from the Church,
which their founder loved and venerated to the day of his
death. But the London Mission leaves the field open for
the development of native churches, unconnected, as such,
with any particular body in England, and to which they
do not profess to prescribe any particular form of govern
ment. I therefore live in hope, that the time will come,
when the work of the English missionaries, under God s
blessing, will have raised up a native ministry in every
group of islands, and that these ministers, meeting in
conference or convocation, will adopt such a form of Church
government as would at once enable the native and Eng
lish Church of New Zealand to communicate with them.
My visits then, if I should be allowed to see that day,
would be that of a helper to their faith, and a partner of
their joy. On the contrary, to inflict upon these simple
islanders all the technical distinctions of English dissent,
would be indeed to contradict that spirit of unity which
is our only warrant for the hope of success in the mission
field.
The only incidents which have occurred to break the
1849.] NUMEROUS DIALECTS. 293
quiet of my sojourn here have been the capture of a small
whale, and the excitement of the whole native population
in cutting up the flesh, which fell to their share after the
blubber had been removed. This enabled me to see an
animated picture of the native character ; which is still in
as primitive a state, in respect of appearance and manners,
as when Captain Cook first discovered these islands in this
very month of August, 1774. The distribution of the
whale naturally led to a native feast, of which the follow
ing is an idea.
In the foreground is a pile of taro, behind it a supply of
sugar-cane, and in the corner near the house a heap of
cocoa-nuts arranged as regularly as the cannon-balls in
Woolwich arsenal. The feast had not begun while I
stayed, but the preparations were made. The wide-
spreading tree with the twisted stems is a banian-tree, of
which there is generally one in all places in the South
Seas where public meetings are held.
You may conceive with what interest I shall look upon
the progress of the Gospel in these islands, where at present
there is not so much as one single believer. In New
Zealand the work had been carried on thirty years before
I came into the country, and all the other stations which I
have seen have been of, at least, ten or twelve years stand
ing. But from this point, to the north, south, and west,
all is dark; and it will therefore be most delightful to
watch the Sun of Eighteousness rising from the east, and
lighting up in succession every island to the westward, till
the whole of this marvellous labyrinth, into which God
has scattered the sons of Shem, be evangelized by the
enlargement of Japhet. One sure ground of hope is the
verification which we find here of the Scripture narrative,
confirming of course also the truth of the promises of
Scripture. Nothing faut a special interposition of the
Divine power could have produced such a confusion of
tongues as we find here. In islands not larger than the
Isle of Wight we find dialects so distinct, that the in
habitants of the various districts hold no communication
one with another. Here have I been for a fortnight,
working away, as I supposed, at the language of New
Caledonia, by aid of a little translation of portions of
Scripture made by a native teacher sent by the London
294 LIFE OF BISHOP SELWYN. [CHAP. ix.
Mission from Rarotonga, and just when I have begun to
see my way, and to he able to. communicate a little* with
an Isle of Pines boy whom I found here, I learn that this
is only a dialect used in the southern extremity of the
island, and not understood in the part which I wish to
attack first. This however will be no discouragement, as
it would be very hard if so many learned men can devote
so much of their time to ethnography, and to learning
languages, which are useful to them only for general com
parison and research, and yet that those to whom the
commandment is given to preach the Gospel to every
creature should shrink from the same work, as if the
promise were of no value that Christ will be with us
always, and that His Spirit will give us a mouth and
wisdom, which all our adversaries shall not be able to
gainsay nor resist. But we shall need a Propaganda with
regular professors, having the double duty of teaching new
missionaries the languages of the stations for which they
are designed, and of training the young natives who come
to the college for instruction. What should you think of
an Eton at the Antipodes, in which a different language
was spoken at every master s house ?
I have now closed up my letter, but I shall not seal it
till the John Williams arrives, as we may sail some days
in company ; and thus I shall be able to fill up my journal
to the last day of her final departure.
It was with a full consciousness of the perils which lay
before him that the bishop had entered on this voyage :
it was not his wont to talk about them, but he had made
all provision both in regard to his private affairs and
diocesan- funds for the very possible contingency of his
not returning.
One who loved him well and shared to the full the
mingled feelings of hope and fear with which his friends
saw him sail forth on these unknown perils, thus described
the scene of his departure :
"We have just parted with our bishop, and seen him
go off on his lonely mission voyage. Our feelings have
been strangely varied. We rejoice to see him enter on
1849.] PEKILS. 205
such a work, and are thankful for these opening pros
pects ; and yet saddening thoughts and human fears will
mingle with high hopes : fears of perils by sea and of
perils by the heathen yea, even to that bitterest thought
that we may see his face no more.
" All was ready at 6 P.M., but there was no breeze ; so
the boat was ordered back till the early morning tide, and
we drew round the fire, thankful for a reprieve. The
bishop read out of a large old-fashioned volume the
account of Captain Cook s first visit to New Caledonia
and the Isle of Pines. It was about the same time of
year seventy years ago, so he got some account of the
prevalent winds as Cook s ship ran from New Caledonia
to New Zealand. We lingered till past midnight, unwill
ing to part, and then knelt down to receive his blessing.
" Some at home and here may talk of risks, and that
the bishop has enough to do in his immediate diocese,
and that it is better to build up what is planted, and the
like. But it seems like a great instinct in- our bishop s
mind that he must dig foundations and hew stones, and
heave them up single-handed ; and they that come after
him will do the polishing and ornamenting, and look with
satisfaction on the symmetrical buildings of which he in
care and sorrow laid the first stones. Not that he is
unfitted for the fine work. Few better able than .he to
construct and build up. But then everybody likes the
nice work. Nobody likes the rough beginnings which
bring no present results and small glorification. How we
have waited for the St. Bernards to join our Stephen of
Citeaux. Perhaps it is not to be that we shall have men
like-minded. Perhaps the very thing needful for him is
to go with care on his lonely path sowing precious seed.
But the harvest will come, and at the Eesurrection morn
ing he will have abundant joy.
" We would fain see him go in a larger vessel. But he
is anxious about incurring any extra expense. A few
tons difference brings more cost, sails, cordage, hands, &c.
He has no fear, and has run so many voyages in his little
schooner that it is difficult to say much. He and his wife
are scrupulously careful in all their own expenses while
so large-hearted and handed in everything for the public
good."
296 LIFE OF BISHOP SELWYN. [CHAP. ix.
The record of the cruise which Captain Erskine pub
lished in 1853 1 is full of admiring and independent
testimony to the bishop s courage. The commander of a
ship of war is liable to no antecedent suspicions of ultra-
missionary tendencies, and it will be seen that the moral
courage of the bishop prompted him to do things from
which a naval officer shrunk and would have risked only
at the call of duty ; but then the bishop was always " on
duty." Two or three extracts from Captain Erskine s
pages must be given :
" It must be admitted that the enterprise undertaken by
the bishop, who would not permit an arm of any descrip
tion on board his vessel, was one of no little risk ; and
when informed by him that he had permitted many of the
Erromangans, whose hostility to white men is notorious, to
come on board in Dillon s Bay, I was ready to allow that
it required the perfect presence of mind and dignified
bearing of Bishop Selwyn, which seemed never to fail in
impressing these savages with a feeling of his superiority,
to render such an act one of safety and prudence.
" Sunday, September 2nd. A canoe with several men
ventured on board the Undine in the morning, but did not
as yet dare approach the large ship. The bishop preached
on board the Havannah to a very attentive congregation,
and after service I took him in one of our cutters to
the shore, to open a communication with the people,
several of whom were seen on a rocky eminence over
looking a small cove. They seemed to be pleased at our
landing, but were evidently in a great fright, and it was
not without much coaxing that three of them were
persuaded to enter the boat. A red worsted comforter
given to him who appeared the boldest of the party
excited their cupidity, but did not allay their fears, as they
repeatedly asked if they might return when they pleased,
and were more than once on the point of jumping over
board to swim back to the shore, as we rowed off to the
ship. The principal personage of the three, who w r ere all
young men, sat in the stern-sheets, laughing and trembling
1 A Cruise among the Islands of the Western Pad fie in H.M.S. " Havan-
n&h," by John Elphinstone Erskine, Capt. R.N. London: John Murray,
1853.
1849.] LETTER TO DR. KEATE. 297
by turns, now and then patting the bishop or myself on
the back and calling us " Alihi Asori " (great chiefs), which
he explained was also his own rank, one of his comrades
being merely an " Alihi," and the third no chief at all.
Arrived alongside, their fears returned, and they would
not venture on board, until the bishop, to overcome their
hesitation, stepped into a canoe containing three or four
other men, which had followed our boat, when they
cautiously mounted the side."
The object of the voyage was satisfactorily attained, for
the bishop was able to take away with him to New Zea
land five lads from the islands of New Caledonia, Lifu
and Mare, and the two ships parted company, Captain
Erskine recording
" At 5 P.M. we weighed, and ran out of the roads, ad
miring, as we passed and waved our adieu to the Undine,
the commanding figure of the truly gallant Bishop of New
Zealand as, steering his own little vessel, he stood sur
rounded by the black heads of his disciples."
The compulsory leisure while lying at anchor at Anai-
teum produced a humorous letter from the bishop to
his old master, Dr. Keate. The facsimile of the bishop s
" Design Map " will not be without interest for old Etonians ;
and it will be observed that the bishop anticipated a
modern poet in giving to Eton boys the title of " young
barbarians."
" UNDINE," AT ANCHOR, ANAITEUM,
HEBRIDES, S. Lat. 20.10 ; Long. 170 E. August 19th, 1849.
MY DEAK DR. KEATE,
You will not perhaps consider it as a compliment that
I am reminded by the wild and untrained barbarians,
among whom I am now cruising, to fulfil an intention,
which I have long had in my mind, of writing a letter
to you, to whom in gratitude and justice I owe so many.
But such is literally the fact, that Anaiteum, strangely
enough, connected itself in my mind with Eton ; and
these lawless natives with the recollection of the state
in which I and many others were before our "general
293 LIFE OF BISHOP SELWYN. [CHAP. ix.
conduct " was reformed, sometimes by judicious forbear
ance, and sometimes by well-deserved castigation. I have
often thought how much the office of a missionary needs
these qualities, which enable the head-master of a public
school to coerce the troubled waves of that " boy sea "
which is so essentially barbarian in all its impulses and
appetites. Without that patience and forbearance which
I experienced from you when I was among the most im
pudent savages of your division, I might now have been
one of those wandering and restless spirits, whom I meet
at every place, cast off by some early impatience of con
trol into a life of effort without purpose, spent in continual
and random motion, like that rolling stone which prover
bially gathers no moss. From the experience of my own
youth, I gather, I hope, many useful lessons for my pecu
liar ministry, where nothing would ever be done if we
did not look beyond the outside appearance, and discern
the signs of latent good beneath the most unpromising
surface.
I do not know whether I have clearly explained the
connexion of idea between Anaiteum and yourself; but
on the simpler and more obvious ground of the power of
learning to tame the savage mind " Ingenuas didicisse, &c"
one of the Koman Catholic priests at this place gave
me an amusing example. Some years ago they had a
mission 011 the northern end of New Caledonia, from
which they were driven ; but they still have with them
a native boy from that country, who, as the priest in
formed me with evident satisfaction, had learned Latin.
As I was not requested to examine him, I cannot speak
of the amount of his knowledge ; but the effect of the
literce humaniores, or other causes, had certainly reformed
the savage, and converted him into a very orderly and
pleasing youth. I hope to carry back with me to S.
John s a decade of Melanesian youths; but I fear that
I must postpone the administration of the Latin remedy
till the English doctors at the college can write their
prescriptions in a more Ciceronian style. At present we
are at the Shakspearian standard of small Latin and less
Greek, and any attempt to raise the standard at present
would, I fear, only raise the value of Smart s Horace, and
Dawson s Lexicon. Abraham has a noble field before him,
1849.] "BEHOVE TRIALS." 299
as Komulus had, to build up a college (in all its literary
character) from the very foundation. He will find, how
ever, some appetite awakened by the tantalizing effect of
a name without a reality. While we have been striving
on from year to year, with a much larger body than our
funds could maintain, and for that reason doing many
things for ourselves, which are usually procured by hired
labour, parents have asked what use it is for their sons to
be taught to dig and to plough, and now ask for more
Latin and Greek, of which, if it had been offered to them
at first, they would have been the first to question the
utility. Circumstances seem to make it likely that this
will become a learned colony by the negation of learning
in the first instance. The time seems to be approaching
when the growing appetite may safely be gratified, and
I hold in my hands the sluice-gates of " As in Prccscnti"
to irrigate the thirsty land as soon as the paedoineter has
risen to its proper level.
Another recollection of Eton is supplied by the charts,
which I am obliged to make for my own use, of these
seas, at present but little known to hydrographers. As
a recollection of Remove Trials, and of one of the many
pieces of impudence for which I now beg forgiveness, I
now send in my new " trial map," with a " device " as
old as 1822 ; but not done as most of the best devices
were in later days by " the Miss Keates."
I am now waiting for the Havannah frigate, as Captain
Erskine consented to meet me here on the 25th of August,
to accomplish which I started on the 1st of August, and
enjoyed such an unexpected rapidity of voyage that I
have now been here ten days (23rd), and it is still two
days from the day appointed for meeting. The little
Undine ran the distance of 1,000 miles in exactly ten
days, out of which nearly two were spent in that state
which is called professionally " lying-to," when the wind
is contrary, or the sea too high to allow of our running
before it. The genius of the Anglo-Saxon race in New
Zealand is more likely to be shown in " spinning yarns,"
in nautical phrase, than in that which Sydney Smith con
siders its peculiar province, the manufacture of calico ; for
every inhabitant of our sea-girt islands becomes a mariner
more or less by force of necessity. I trust that this may
300 LIFE OF BISHOP SELWYN. [CHAP. iz.
lead, as it has in England, to a diffusive energy of com
mercial enterprise, and especially of that commerce which
has for its object the gain of souls and the extension of
the dominion of the Gospel.
I must congratulate you and Mrs. Keate on the appoint
ment of my friend John to the living of Hartley, a concen
tration of family interest and feeling which I have learned
to value by the severing of all such visible and outward
bonds of union in my own life and ministry. But as every
man is generally led by Providence into the work for which
he is naturally fitted, or is taught some measure of fitness
by the practical exercise of his duties, I have no doubt
that John will be happy, neither more nor less, in his little
parish of Hartley, than his predecessor, the Bishop of
Sydney, and I shall be in a field of duty which can be
measured only by degrees of latitude and longitude. John
will, I am sure, accept my warmest congratulations and
best wishes for that blessing upon his ministry which is
equally needed in the smallest or the largest work.
With my most affectionate regards to Mrs. Keate, Anna,
Margaret, and Louie, and Miss Brown, and to any other,
whether Coleridge or Durnford, who may be with you,
I remain, my dear Doctor Keate,
Your affectionate and grateful friend and scholar,
G. A. NEW ZEALAND.
On the homeward voyage the following letter, showing
the difficulties of the work and the bishop s plans, was
written :
To WILLIAM SELWYN, ESQ.
" UNDINE SCHOONER, OFF NEW CALEDONIA,
S. Lat. 20.58.; Long. 166.18 E.
Sept. 15th, 1849.
MY DEAE FATHER,
As you are a great traveller yourself within the limits
of your home circuit of Brighton, Tunbridge Wells, Mel
bourne, Ely, and Cambridge, I generally dedicate to you
the narrative of my wanderings, which, in the present
instance, will be embodied in the form of a new number
of the Illustrated Melanesian News?- the chief part of my
present voyage having brought me into communication
1 This letter contained many pen and ink sketches.
1849.] VARIETY OF DIALECTS. 301
with the posterity of Ham, with some small admixture of
the blood of Shem. The darker skin, the woolly hair ; and
the projecting mouth, have been predominant in all the
islands which I have visited. But a distinction still more
remarkable is seen in the amazing multiplicity of lan
guages, as if the curse upon the builders of Babel had
fallen with tenfold weight upon the race of Ham, and
had involved them in a " confusion worse confounded "
than that which fell upon the rest of the human race.
Among the Asiatic or Malay race, which has spread itself
over the islands to the eastward, the differences of lan
guage amount to no more than dialects of the same
languages ; so that a person well acquainted with one
may readily acquire any of the others. Even small de
tached islands retain a greater similarity one to another
than is found in the larger groups. With natives of Baro-
tonga I converse almost as freely as with New Zealanders;
and an islander from a small and nameless spot on the
equator, who was picked up at sea adrift in his canoe,
w T as delighted to hear from me a dialect so much nearer
to his own than that of the Samoan (Navigator) islanders,
among whom he was living.
On the contrary, every island in the New Hebrides and
New Caledonia groups has at least one language of its
own ; and sometimes in the same small island the dia
lects are sufficiently different to preclude all intercourse
between the tribes. In Tanna there are at least three
dialects which would require a separate study. In New
Caledonia there will probably be found to be a still
greater diversity. Each of the Loyalty Islands, IJea, Lifu,
and Mare, has its own speech. The same confusion is
found among the Australian tribes, and has retarded, I
fear I may say prevented, the introduction of Christianity.
But you must not suppose that these fragments of the
one primeval language have become so shattered and cor
rupted as to show no sign of systematic organization. On
the contrary, the language of the little island of Anaijom,
which is spoken by no more than 1,500 people, is so com
plicated in its structure that the natives of other islands
who come to reside there are said to be unable to master
it ; but that an Anaijom man (as is usually the case) can
acquire readily the language of any other country.
302 LIFE OF BISHOP SELWYN. [CHAP. ix.
In common with the Asiatic islanders, the black races
have that delicate use of the exclusive and inclusive pro
noun, which is so powerful in some modes of speech ; as
in the noble speech of Abijah (2 Chron. xiii. 11) : "We
keep the charge of the Lord our God; but ye have
forsaken Him." How confused is our " We," or the Greek
^yu-etsr, or Latin Nos (which might include the persons to
whom Abijah was speaking), compared with the emphatic
Polynesian tl matou" \ , ,
or the Melanesian (Anaijom) aijcnma," / 1 )l you
as opposed to the " tatou " and " akaijea" which would
include the persons addressed.
But the Melanesian dialects have a distinction unknown
to the eastern Polynesians in a separate pronoun, which
we call a triplial, or trial, for the special use of the num
ber Three. The Greek is as much behind the languages
of Tanna and Anaijom in lacking the Trial, as we are
inferior to the Greek by the defect of the Dual. The
force and clearness with which an Anaijom man would
translate the witches song " When shall ive three (etmai-
taij) meet again" would far exceed the languages of
Europe. Even the teaching of the doctrine of the
Trinity is aided by this refinement of language in a
people supposed to be so barbarous.
This preface on the languages of the Western Islands is
not intended simply as a general heading to usher in a
long disquisition, like one of Cicero s Procemia, for I have
neither knowledge nor inclination for such a work ; but it
is necessary in order to explain to you the reasons which
will make this voyage entirely barren, at least for the
present, of all spiritual fruit, viz., that I am unable to
communicate with the people in their own languages ; and
therefore that I shall have no conversions or baptisms to
report. But in the same manner as travellers penetrate
into a dark cave, and, when they find that daylight fails
them, send for torches to enlighten the gloom, which, when
kindled, are reflected by a thousand mirrors from the spars
and stalactites on all sides, the crystals which had never
seen the light before, now proving their fitness to receive
and to diffuse it ; so, after once groping in the dark among
these heathen islands, I hope to be enabled, by God s bless
ing, to return again with some willing and faithful men,
1849.] DANGERS OF THE VOYAGE. 303
who will devote themselves to this work of making their
Master s light shine in the darkness ; with the fullest con
fidence that in this, as in all other cases, it will not be
long before it will be caught and reflected by the native
youths, who have always been found the most willing
instruments in imparting to others the blessing which
they have received.
The voyage of H.M.S. Havannah round many of the
islands in the Pacific, which began in June last, seemed
to be a favourable opportunity for visiting many places,
which axe scarcely safe for a small vessel unprovided with
arms, and engaged in a mission of peace. The death of
Mr. Williams, at Erromango, in the New Hebrides, and of a
French bishop at Ysabel, in the Solomon group, besides the
almost numberless reports of affrays with trading vessels,
were quite enough to point out the danger of going
alone ; and, even if I had felt myself worthy of the crown
of martyrdom, it would have been sufficient to know that
it was never granted by the Primitive Church to those
who needlessly exposed themselves to death. The ex
ample of the great Apostolic Missionary teaches us to find
some basket by which to escape down the wall, or some
friendly soldier to guard our retreat by night, till the time
come when we are now, by God s appointment, " ready to
be offered," and when " the time of our departure is at
hand." But no one can go through these seas without
finding with humiliation how the martyrs of the Cross fall
short, both in number and in energy, of the martyrs of
the world. Almost every place which I have visited has
its record of English lives sacrificed to the love of gain ;
and of that kind of gain so dear to our enterprising race,
which is acquired by exposure to danger. The efforts of
the sandal-wood traders for their own worldly ends have
shown the spirit, if not the wisdom, " of the children of
this world," and reduce all the works of the children of
light to their own true and humble level of " reasonable
service." In conformity with this general principle of
avoiding all unnecessary risk, I availed myself of the
kindness of Captain Erskine to appoint a time for meet
ing at Anaiteum, the southernmost of the New Hebrides,
where he intended to arrive from the Navigator and Fiji
Islands on or about the 25th August.
304 LIFE OF BISHOP SELWYN. [CHAP. ix.
Accordingly, on the 1st August, the Undine put to sea,
attended, as I know is the case always, by the prayers
and good wishes of many Christian friends at Auckland
(among whom at this time was Archdeacon Brown, of
Tauranga) who felt and expressed the deepest interest in
this attempt to make our Colonial Church in New Zea
land a new centre of missionary light to the neighbouring
islands, which still lie in darkness. Beincr aware of the
great multiplicity of dialects, and having only two .months
to bestow upon the voyage, I limited my hopes to the two
objects of obtaining a general knowledge of the principal
islands and their chiefs, and of bringing back with me
some native youths for education at S. John s. This, I
hoped, would be the first beginning of the Polynesian
College spoken of in my Charge, to which, if it be God ?
will, " the isles " will send " their sons from far unto the
name of the Lord, and to the Holy One of Israel."
On October 1st the cruise ended ; the bishop and his
party landed at Auckland at midnight, and in the clear light
of a full moon walked out to the college. His arrival was
hardly expected ; but doors had been left unbolted, and
he came into his own house rubbing his hands, and arousing
Mrs. Selvvyn by exclaiming, " I ve got them!" It was
a triumph for which to be thankful ; the five wild little
islanders were the forerunners of the indigenous clergy of
Melanesia. One of the lads, Thol, from Lifu, the youngest
of the party, was very ill during his sojourn at S. John s,
and was nursed by the bishop and Mrs. Selwyn as though
he were their own child. Writing to her son in England
Mrs. Selwyn thus describes him and his doings :
S. JOHN S COLLEGE, Nov. 6tJi, 1849.
<( I think that I have not written to you since papa
came back from his cruise in the Undine. He went to
New Caledonia, to the New Hebrides, and to the Loyalty
Isles, and brought back five natives from some of those
islands to teach them here, that they may go back and teach
their own countrymen ; to make a beginning towards teach
ing them to be Christians ; at present they know nothing
1849.] FIRST MELANESIAN SCHOLARS. 305
about religion and the things that you have been taught
from your youth. But we do not get on very fast, for in
all these little islands a different language is spoken. The
youngest of the party, too, a boy named Thol, from the
island of Lifu, has been very ill lately, so that schooling
has been- changed into nursing. He lies in the library,
and we all take care of him, and wonder to see one who
has been so little taught behave so well. On the table
lies a list of Lifu words, which we learn from him, and
with these and the little English he has picked up we can
converse a little. He made me laugh to-day by suddenly
asking me if nurse would fight him if he had a cocoa-
nut. He meant, of course, if she would be angry. . . .
" He wants to have a large ship, and take a great many
of us to Lifu ; but especially is Johnny to go ; and there,
he says, his mother will carry Johnny on her back, and
give him too much sugar-cane. The other islanders
look strange enough, because of their dark skins and
yellow hair. Their names are Siapo, Uliete, and Ka-
teingo ; and there is also a boy named Thallup, from the
Isle of Pines. They all appear to be very happy, only they
would like it better if they could get sea-water to drink."
The story of this voyage, so full of interest and of prac
tical results, is told in two letters addressed by the bishop
to his father, and written, the first when on a Diocesan
Visitation by sea in December, 1849, and the last on the
return voyage to Melanesia, when the boys were restored
to their homes and their native latitudes before the cold
of the New Zealand winter could reach them.
To WILLIAM SELWYN, ESQ.
* UNDINE " SCHOONER, AT SEA,
FRITH OF THE THAMES,
MY DEAR FATHER, *>&. 6th, 1349.
My last Melanesian news ended at the island of
Futuna. My stay at this island did not exceed one
day, in which time I could not do more than make a
preliminary acquaintance with the inhabitants, which may
be improved hereafter. A young lad of pleasing demeanour
who wished to go with us to school was detained by his
friends
VOL. I. X
306 LIFE OF BISHOP SELWYN. [CHAP. ix.
At Tanna, we had scarcely anchored when our decks
were crowded by a party of thirty or forty natives, who
behaved with perfect honesty, though they are reputed
to be great thieves. We had taken care not to put
temptation in their way by leaving any movable articles
on the deck. In the harbour were two sandal-wood traders,
the Rover s Bride and the Phantom, which seemed to enjoy
a larger amount of popularity, as trading vessels, than I
could expect to obtain without the use of tobacco, which
I never carry with me. It seems to be unjust to take the
food, for which the natives have laboured, and to pay
them in a slow poison, which will gradually unfit them
for labour. There are three native teachers in this island,
who soon came on board, when they heard that the
Undine was a Mission vessel. They are natives of Baro-
tonga, the dialect of which island so closely resembles
that of New Zealand that I could converse freely with
them. They could not report any large number of con
verts, nor is it likely that men of their class will ever
make much impression upon heathen minds ; but they
are of great use in preparing the way for English mis
sionaries, and in acting as interpreters for them on their
first arrival. This has now become the uniform practice
of the London Mission, and it has some advantages; but
in many respects I cannot approve of it. My chief objec
tion is that it is lowering the whole character of the mission
work to confide to a subordinate agency the preliminary
operations of a mission, which, by the nature of the case,
involve greater danger and require more self-denial. If
there be danger of life to the early missionary, this is
surely the post of duty which the servant and soldier of
the Cross, who is best acquainted with his Master s will,
would claim for himself. If there be no danger, then the
chief argument for native agency falls to the ground.
There are places where the Gospel can be preached only
by natives, from the pestilential character of the climate ;
but this is not the case in the New Hebrides, at least
in the southern islands of the group. In every other
case it seems to be foreign to the high and self-denying
principle of Christian love to expose a fellow-creature to
danger because his life is held to be of less value than
that of his English brother. Who can tell whether Mr.
1849.] TANNA. 307
Williams did not really serve God more effectually by his
death than by any act of his laborious and enterprising
life? May not the awakened interest in England, and
the active zeal of surviving missionaries, be traced in some
measure to the example of those who "jeopardised their
lives unto the death," like the martyrs of old time, whose
loss was requited tenfold to the Church by the still more
numerous band of confessors who followed in their steps ?
You will not suppose that I wish to speak unfavourably
of the work of the London Mission, for I am happy to be
able to say that, after considerable observation, I have
received a very favourable opinion of the success of their
work and of the character of their missionaries. I am
bound to acknowledge with gratitude the good feeling and
cordiality with which the Navigator Islands Mission at
once resigned the Loyalty Islands and New Caledonia, as
the natural appendages of the New Zealand Church, and
placed their native teachers in those islands in con
nexion with me. The same rule does not apply to the
New Hebrides, where the Society hopes to be able to station
English missionaries. Tanna was formerly occupied by
Messrs. Turner and Nesbitt, both of the London Mission,
but they were driven away by the intestine wars among
the tribes.
In the afternoon I went on shore with the master of the
Phantom to a sandal- wood station of a Mr. Eichards, which
seemed to prove that the time had come when the mission
work might be resumed without molestation. The car
penter of the station had been left alone in charge of the
house and property, and during that time was attacked by
a severe fever, from which he was convinced that he could
not have recovered if he had not been constantly waited
upon and fed by the natives.
The Tannese are not very prepossessing in their appear
ance. Like our own forefathers, their great delight is to
case themselves in a complete suit of parti-coloured paint.
The most acceptable presents seem to be a little vermilion
to smear over their faces, a red binding to tie round their
heads, and a few blue beads to hang round their necks. In
selling their gigantic yams they are more cautious, and often
demand an axe as the price of the largest, which are some
times six feet in length and sixty pounds in weight. . . . ,
x 2
308 LIFE OF BISHOP SELWYN. [CHAP. ix.
An opportunity was offered by the sailing of the Phan
tom cutter for obtaining a knowledge of the neighbouring
island of Erromango, so well, but painfully, known by the
death of Mr. Williams. The master of the Phantom, by
name Oliver, kindly undertook to show me the best
anchorages on the shore of the island, for harbours there
are none. We sailed out in company on Thursday, August
30th, though very unwilling to leave this pretty harbour
after so short a stay. But the object of my present voyage
being rather to obtain preliminary knowledge of the whole
field of operations than to attempt anything, I was obliged
to be content to pass rapidly on, in hope that the experi
ence thus obtained may, by God s blessing, be turned to
good account hereafter
You would have been amused to see the Undine racing
with the Phantom before a sparkling tradewind, the
Sydney racing cutter having rather the advantage till we
set all sail, and took the lead. My motto I think must be,
" Nave ferar magna an parva, ferar unus et idem."
For on one day it is my lot to keep company with sandal-
wood traders, and on the next with her Majesty s men of
war. As sources of local information the sandal-wooders
are most useful companions, and I must say of them, as I
have before said of many of the whale-fishers, that I have
received much kindness and civility from them. In the
history of the sandal-wood trade there have been many
things done disgraceful to the civilized man and revolting
to humanity, but these enormities are not by any means
chargeable upon the traders as a class. I have reason to
think Mr. Paddon, of Anaiteum, and Eichards, of Tanna,
conduct their trade in an humane and equitable manner.
I hear an equally good account of other traders, with
whom I have had no personal intercourse. It is not my
desire or my office to hold up any man to public execra
tion, otherwise the names of certain miscreants, who have
disgraced their country and belied their religion by their
evil deeds among these islands, would meet with the ex
posure which they have deserved. But I have learned to
leave vengeance to Him to whom it belongs ; and to His
justice and to the remorse of their own conscience I con
sign them.
1849.] SYSTEM OF REPRISALS. 309
The island of which I am now writing (Irumanga or
Erromango) is one of those which has suffered most, and
has retaliated most vindictively. In outward appearance the
people bear the character of the negro race, with little or no
admixture of the Asiatic or Polynesian feature. I am
unable to say how far their language would confirm this,
as I have only a small collection of their words. But it is
certainly most remarkable to see even on this small island
the visible traces of the curse which has so long desolated
Africa. They are supposed to be the enemies of every
trader, and have proved themselves to be the murderers
even of the missionary. Not that I would impute to them
any knowledge of the character in which Mr. Williams
landed on their shores, but would rather believe that he
was sacrificed to an indiscriminate thirst for vengeance,
provoked by wanton and barbarous aggression. The shores
of this island are remarkably favourable for that dastardly
practice, followed by the French at Tahiti, of sailing round
the coast at a safe distance, and firing into the dwellings
of the inhabitants. They have no canoes, and have not
even the poor chance of revenge by surprising a vessel in
a calm. Their huts, perched on the wooded sides of steep
acclivities, or nestled under the cocoa-nut trees, on the
small margin of coral banks, which in some places look
almost the towing path of a navigable river, present too
fair a mark to be missed even by the clumsy gunner and
the rusty swivel of sandal-wood traders. The deep water
close to the rocks and the steady trade wind (experto
crede) enable the small vessels to run along within a
cable s length of the shore. Can it be wondered at that the
most rancorous hatred should have grown up, in such a
situation as this, between two bodies of combatants, who
can never decide their quarrel by fair and open war, because
the one cannot board and the other dares not to land.
The first sight of Mr. Williams and his party on the
beach of Dillon s Bay was enough to awaken the thirst for
blood, by placing, perhaps for the first time, the power of
revenge within their reach.
But I cannot agree with those who think that Mr.
Williams was too rash. It is the duty of a missionary to
go to the extreme point of boldness short of an exposure
to known and certain danger. In these islands something
310 LIFE OF BISHOP SELWYN. [CHAP. ix.
must be risked if anything is to be done. It is quite
uncertain from visit to visit in what temper the natives
may be found. If any violence or loss of life should have
occurred in the interval between the missionary s visits,
his blood may be required, as much as that of any other
white man ; for it is only by the refinement of justice and
by the power of true religion that man is taught to visit a
crime upon the individual offender, rather than to exact
the penalty from his whole race. In New Zealand it is
only of late years that an aggression by any Englishman
would not have been considered a sufficient reason for re
prisals upon any of our countrymen. If the opportunity of
satisfaction should happen to have been afforded, it is
probable that the next visitor would be better treated; the
debt of blood being considered to have been paid. In a
former letter I think that I told you how quietly the chief
of Eotuma (Granville Island) spoke of an affray with the
captain of an English vessel, which he said was an affair
quite settled, because one native only was killed, but two
Englishmen. In a book recently published by a Mr.
Coulter, surgeon of a whale ship, a sudden and unpro
voked attack by the natives of JDrummond Island upon
a vessel commanded by a captain who had often traded
with them before on the most friendly terms, is attributed
to the fact that since his last visit one of their towns had
been burnt and many lives destroyed by a ship, the name
of which he could not ascertain. If the date of his voyage
had not been given, I should have concluded that the
unknown ship was the Vincennes, commanded by Com
modore \Vilkes, who vainly thought, in common with many
other captains, that an indiscriminate massacre of the
innocent with the guilty is the course by which these
islanders will be taught to fear the power and to respect
the laws of civilized nations. Experience seems to prove
that such " demonstrations " of " physical power," more
properly called "brute force," are as fruitless as Don
Quixote s interference in behalf of the boy who had been
whipped, which only led to his receiving a second and a
more severe flogging as soon as the knight-errant was gone.
Unless the civilized nations mean to garrison every island
in the Pacific, they must trust more to the effect of moral
influence and good example to preserve the lives of their
1849.] INTERCOURSE WITH NATIVES. 311
subjects, than to the exploits of naval knights-errant,
who, in default of regular war, are ambitious of signalizing
their courage by actions worthy only of the buccaneers.
It was long supposed that a broadside from the Alligator
man-of-war, on the west coast of Taranaki, had frightened
all New Zealand into submission ; when now it has been
found that two thousand soldiers and five ships of war
had been barely enough, even with justice on our side,
and therefore with the alliance also of a large majority of
the native people.
"UNDINE," AT SEA, AprillZth, 1850.
Lat. S. 24 ; Long. E. 171.
MY DEAREST FATHER,
In consequence of various delays, the last letter of my
Melanesian news has been postponed till I am again at sea,
and far advanced on another cruise to the same islands.
This letter then, like the " Homeric Hours," will be able
to hold converse with its successors as it passes over the
threshold upon which they are entering. For the sake of
distinctness I shall make no further mention of my present
voyage, lest you should become as much confused by the
dates of my whereabouts as you were formerly by the
alibis of the rogues who appeared before you as Recorder
of Portsmouth ; but I shall revert at once to the date at
which my last letter ended
On Wednesday, September 12, we sailed at daybreak,
gliding along the still w T ater of the lagoon with only a
faint breath of wind. Two native canoes lay about a mile
from us, slowly crossing to the reef for the purpose, pro
bably, of fishing. As they were of small size, and with
few men on beard, it seemed to be a favourable opportunity
for opening a communication with the people. Our little
boat has the excellent quality of never causing any alarm ;
while the man-of-war s boats, on the contrary, often send
the canoes paddling off as fast as they can to the shore.
My two New Zealand boys, James and Sydney, rowed me
to the nearest canoe, and, after all that 1 had heard of the
savage and treacherous character of the New Caledonians,
I was delighted to find on iny first interview that all
Captain Cook s report of their friendliness of disposition
was fully confirmed. After the usual parley of signs, we
exchanged tokens of amity with the three men in the
312 LIFE OF BISHOP SELWYN. [CHAP. ix.
canoe, I presenting them with fish-hooks, which they re
quited with shells. I then invited one of them to visit
the vessels, upon which he stepped most readily into the
boat, and left his canoe to pursue its own course to the
reef. It is impossible to believe that men who trust them
selves so confidingly with strangers are in their own nature
treacherous or cruel. The character of a people ought to
be judged by the unpremeditated acts of single individuals
rather than by those of large bodies. In the absence of
any means of oral communication, the individual character
remains almost unknown. If a murder is committed, it
is said to be committed by " the natives " ; if a war breaks
out, " the natives " are said to be in rebellion ; and by the
force of this habitual error of language the whole native
race is condemned for the acts of a few, till the domineering
Anglo-Saxon unconsciously follows Nero in wishing that
the whole native race had but one neck that he might
cut it off at one blow. Surely it is a matter worthy of
the gravest consideration when we find that even a great
and generous nation like our own, priding itself upon its
strict adherence to justice, and accustomed to hold as
sacred and inviolable every right, however insignificant, of
every citizen, however worthless, loses practically a large
portion of its own most darling principle when it comes
in contact with uncivilized tribes. . . . All the great and
gallant nations of the world, who possess naval power,
have crimes to answer for, which will be impartially
adjudicated hereafter, in cases in which, in defiance of
their own laws and their own principles, they have burned
whole villages and massacred hundreds of men, women,
and children for the untried and unproved offence of
"some person or persons unknown." The captain of a
man-of-war is made judge, jury, and executioner. Some
interested witness, perhaps an escaped convict, the only
person who can be found acquainted with the native
language, is the sole evidence. This is called " summary
justice," which is in fact a violation of all justice ; and
" salutary terror," which, so far from cowing the native
tribes, makes them more terrible to all sea-faring men,
and even to the great bullies themselves. This same
process is going on in every part of the Southern Pa
cific, and if it be not arrested by wise measures will
1849.] REMEDIAL MEASURES. 313
lead everywhere to the same results, of bloody retaliation
and endless strife ; and all because the civilized nations,
in their intercourse with these islanders, have gone back
live centuries in their code of international laws, and
descended into the grade of feudal chieftains, or border
marauders, or, still lower, into the usages of the very
savages whom they condemn. Instead of the grave and
impartial administration of British justice, or the solemn
declaration of war by the British nation against an offending
people, we see trading consuls invested with a power of
life and death, not against tried and convicted offenders
only, but against native tribes in general, and naval officers
wielding the prerogative of her Majesty to declare war, and
to burn and massacre in the name of Her who, while she
holds the sword of justice, is also the fountain of mercy.
Great as is the evil and danger of the present state of
things, the remedy is not so difficult as might be supposed.
The prolonged presence in these seas of a really enlight
ened naval officer, one of those who believe that
" It is excellent to have a giant s strength,
But tyrannous to use it like a giant ; "
a man like Captain Sotheby, or Captain Maxwell, or
Captain Erskine, or Sir Everard Home, who will enter
into the spirit of the work, and carry it out, in spite of
the attractions of Sydney society, where officers dance at
balls, and imbibe, in that congenial region, antipathies
against all coloured races such an officer permanently
stationed in these seas, and constantly visiting all the
islands, would live himself in a perpetual summer, and,
wherever he went, would be like Shakspeare s sun, " to
make glorious summer out of the winter of discontent."
While the hurricanes are sweeping from Tahiti to New
Caledonia he would enjoy the perfection of weather in
New Zealand. In April, when our south-western gales
begin to cool themselves from the icebergs which have
floated northward into Mr. Enderby s antarctic principality,
he will fly, as we are now doing (April 16) before them
into the steady breezes of the eastern trades, which just
now, like unhappy France, are the more anxious to
be settled, because of the hurricanes by which they
have lately been disturbed. A known ship and a known
314 LIFE OF BISHOP SELWYN. [CHAP. ix.
commander would "bring out every friendly native from every
little nook in the coral reef in .which his canoe is secured ;
many would take short voyages to and fro, and speedily
acquire the English language ; the young officers taking
each a language in charge, and, encouraged by the hope
(as in New Zealand) of some appointment as interpreters,
would master the island dialects ; and the days of Captain
Cook would return again, when ships visited foreign coun
tries to do good to the people, and not merely to while
away the commission, to collect shells, or to practise with
"ball cartridge upon the native villages. England enjoys
at present the best reputation of all the naval powers ; and
it is for her to take the lead in making this ocean as pacific
in its moral character as it is already in its climate and in
its name.
My narrative has been becalmed so long at the entrance
of the lagoon of Jengen, that I must take advantage of a
light breeze now springing up to pursue my course. I lost
no time in taking my New Caledonian friend on board the
Havannah, where he was soon happy in the midst of end
less objects of curiosity, and liberal largesses of tobacco.
In this respect, the Undine must always be content to be
less attractive than her consort, whose very name is redo
lent of cigars
In the morning of September 22, I breakfasted with
Captain Erskine, the Roman Catholic Bishop of Amatha
being also of the party. He is the first of his order whom
I have ever met in society, and we had much friendly
conversation. I state this at once lest I should seem to
suppress it, for fear of the old charge against me of a
tendency to Rome, which is as reasonable and as charitable
as if one were to accuse me of Judaizing because I once
bought pencils of a Jew in Piccadilly. I hope that the
Record and the other discord-makers in the Church of
England have by this time learned either more charity or
more sense, than to reckon among the enemies of the
Church some of her warmest friends arid most obedient
children
Our south-west wind was now fair for New Zealand, and
so much were we favoured that on Sunday, the 30th Septem
ber, the ninth day after leaving the Isle of Pines, we were
off Cape Brett, in the Bay of Islands, before sunset ; and
1849.] RETURN VOYAGE. 315
on the following day, October 1, we anchored at Auckland,
exactly two months from the day of sailing, having com
pleted a course of 3,000 miles, 2,000 of which, viz., the
passages out and home, had been accomplished in less
than twenty days. I could not but thank God for a voyage
in which the wind had always been fair and the weather
tempered to the powers of our vessel.
The walk from the town of Auckland to the college was
most amusing, from the frequent exclamations of surprise
raised by my native companions at every new object which
they saw. The number of houses in the town, the herds of
oxen and horses, which, after colonial fashion, were reposing
in the middle of the road ; the breadth of the road itself,
and a variety of similar subjects of remark, kept them in
a state of constant excitement till we reached home. And
so ended my Melanesian voyage, with new and multiplied
occasions of thankfulness both for things abroad and for
things at home.
May llth, 1850.
P.S. Jengen, New Caledonia, Lat. 20. 40, East Coast.
As I am thus far advanced upon my second Melanesian
voyage, having followed nearly the same course as in the
former, I may confine myself to a simple mention of dates
and places, without dragging you after me again to the
places already described.
The object of my present voyage has been to carry back
my native scholars to their own homes, lest the damp and
cold of our New Zealand winter should take effect upon
them, and so cause an unfavourable impression, which
might impede our future operations. Our little Lifu boy
Thol was nearly lost in the early spring by an inflamma
tory attack upon the lungs. All five are now perfectly
well, and nourishing in the congenial warmth of their
own climate. The first of them, Thallup, will remain here,
and has already begun to prepare himself for assimilation
to his own people by distributing his clothing among his
relations. This is to be expected ; and to attempt to keep
him clothed by supplying him with more would be only
to follow the error of those benevolent persons who give
clothes to the ragged without inquiry, thereby offering a
high premium for the encouragement of raggedness.
We find that even this first experiment, small and
316 LIFE OF BISHOP SELWYN. [CHAP. ix.
imperfect as it has been, has opened to us a way for future
usefulness in this missionary field. We no longer visit
these islands as strangers, but we have our own scholars
as friends and interpreters to explain our objects. The
report seems to be favourable, as we have now several
applications from the New Caledonian youths for leave
to go to New Zealand. At present I have no intention of
taking any, as the winter is coming on, and they would
find the change to our climate very uncomfortable. But
if it should please God to prolong my life, I hope to return,
and with increased means of information to select care
fully the next class of scholars and take them with me to
New Zealand
From this place our course, God willing, will be to
Lifu, Loyalty Islands (Chabool), to restore Thol to his
friends ; thence to Mare, Loyalty Islands (Britannia), to
take back three scholars, Siapo, Uliete, and Kateingo ;
and lastly to the Isle of Pines, and possibly to Norfolk
Island ; and so to New Zealand, where the object now
nearest and brightest in prospect is the meeting with Mr.
and Mrs. Abraham. But it may be God s will that I may
be disappointed in this, which seems almost too great a
blessing to be granted to me.
I believe that I have made sufficiently clear, in the course
of these letters, the plan which I purpose, in the hope
of the Divine blessing, to follow for the conversion of the
Melanesian tribes ; which is, in few words, to select a few
promising youths from all the islands, to prove and test
them, first lay observation of their habits on board a floating
school, then to take them for further training to New
Zealand ; and, lastly, when they are sufficiently advanced,
to send them back as teachers to their own people, if
possible with some English missionary, to give effect and
regularity to their work. In the meantime, all the ordinary
losses by sickness, violence, and theft, which occur fre
quently where missionaries are stationed at once on
unknown ground, will be avoided by the migratory mission
station, which will never be in the power of the evil, but
will always be within reach of the well-disposed. What
the issue of this attempt may be, God only knows, and
time alone can disclose. I am sure that I may rely upon
your co-operation> especially in that form of aid, which
1849.] REV. C. J. ABRAHAM. 317
can never fail, in the earnest prayers which you will offer
up in the quiet of your own retirement for us who live
continually in the hurry of new works, and the babble of
new tongues, and are least free in mind to pray when
most we need those blessings which prayer alone is able
to procure.
Another letter, written at the end of 1849 to the Rev.
E. Coleridge, shows how the college was justifying itself
until it threatened to overflow its bounds, and to over_
strain the powers of its teachers.
S. JOHN S COLLEGE, AUCKLAND,
Dec. 21st, 1849.
MY VERY DEAE FEIEXD,
I cannot keep numbers down. As the English scholars
fall off, from the dislike of the parents for our mixed
system, the native youths flow in, with evident apprecia
tion of a system which was designed primarily for them,
and now the great Polynesian fountain begins to pour in
its supplies, so that if it were only now possible to organize
an effective teacherhood, by God s blessing, we might at
once begin a work at which your hearts would rejoice.
I returned in safety, by the grace of God, on the 1st of
October, bringing with me five native youths : one from
New Caledonia, three from Mare, and one from Lifu. I
could have filled the Undine with youths from most of
these islands if I had had more time, but a day or two at
each was too short a time for explanation with the parents.
Many nice boys were lost by my being unable to wait till
they had seen their friends.
I have sent to my father some account of my voyage,
which you will probably see ; but I had such rapid runs
from place to place that I did not complete my journal on
board, and at home I have no leisure for writing-. If it
were not for my floating study you would get no letters
from me at all.
My heart beats with joy at the prospect of Abraham
coming. what a blessing it will be to a mind not only
beginning to be over-wrought but beginning to be conscious
of it. I have now a practised man of business, who will
act as Eegistrar, and relieve me of the accounts. Abraham
318 LIFE OF BISHOP SELWYN. [CHAP. ix.
will sustain part of the spiritual and intellectual strain
which falls upon the head of such an institution as this.
I have other young men who are becoming useful in the
domestic department. Mr. Parris, our farm superintendent,
is both a Christian man and a most able and willing bailiff*.
Champion, my navarch, is beginning his sixth year of faith
ful service. We have an excellent master carpenter, one
Hunter, who is organizing successfully a class of native
apprentices. The last batch of pensioners has yielded us
a veteran, who unites the offices of weaver and drill-ser
geant. All promises well, but to keep all these wheels in
gear is a heavy strain upon one whose mind revolves in an
orbit from New Guinea to the Auckland Islands. Yet the
two works are one ; for I cannot dare to bring home islanders
from the South Seas without a thriving and comprehensive
college to receive them. Mr. Lloyd will perhaps help me
with the Polynesian branch of the college. But where to
find a governing head and first-lieutenant for the whole
I know not ; that I may be where I ought to be, in every
island in the Pacific, and in every village in New Zealand,
and, at home, in the chapel and the lecture-room. . . .
I must be a tyrant, and to be a good-natured tyrant is the
great difficulty. If I were once to loose the rein by which
self-seeking is restrained, the college in its present form
would come to an end. The explosive element in all
countries having a mixed population is the disposition of
the one to domineer over the other. We are succeeding at
last, I hope, in amalgamating the two races on an equality of
privileges and position ; but it is up-hill work ; it seemed
so natural to every English boy and man to have a Maori
for his fag. I think that by God s blessing we shall
succeed at last, and if we do, it will be a glorious measure
of success ; for our college will be a propaganda of twenty
or thirty languages, sending out missionaries and native
teachers to places whose names are not in the charts, and
the language of whose people is unknown even to Hawtrey
and Latham. Pray for us and for the work ; and if it fall
in your way to interest some rich friend in the enlarge
ment of the college vessel, rest assured that the Salaminia
or the Paralus shall not rot in my Piraeus, if health and
strength be prolonged to me.
I hope to meet the Australian brotherhood in Synod at
1849.] VERBAL ANALYSIS OF THE BIBLE. 310
Sydney in April or May, 1850, eight years after my first
landing there ; yet the time seems "but a few days" for the
love that I bear to New Zealand and to the work to which
God has called me. If I could but feel that I was so growing
in grace as to increase in fitness for the work as the work
itself increases, I could then bound over the sea, and over
every New Zealand forest and mountain, with the lightest
of hearts and the most buoyant of hopes. But if the work
should increase faster than the supply of inward strength
to bear it, and if help should be withheld in the form in
which it would be most welcome, by the subdivision of the
diocese, it is not any bodily decay which I fear so much
as that over-much serving may make my mind careful and
troubled about many tilings, and unable, even in old age,
to sit in contemplation at the feet of Christ.
The mention which has been made of the patience, which
was the first condition of the working of the Melanesian
Mission, would be incomplete without a notice of a most
aborious task which the bishop undertook in the inter
ests of this work. This was nothing less than a " Verbal
Analysis of the Bible," and it is a characteristic circum
stance that the idea was first suggested to him by Captain
Marryat s international code of signals. On board the
Undine the bishop had had the representatives of races
speaking different languages, and it was necessary with the
least possible delay to provide them with some means of
communication. At first this was attained by that policy
of " masterly inactivity," which is generally the synonym
for impotence. The bishop was, in fact, impotent, and
watched with some curiosity the process by which the
natives of many islands established for themselves a
conventional currency of words, which indeed consisted
of scraps of many languages aided by impromptu signs.
In New Zealand he made all the clergymen whom he
ordained learn Maori ; and he declared that if the mission
aries had contented themselves with English, the num
ber of their converts would have been insignificant : but
in Melanesia, where the languages were even more in
320 LIFE OF BISHOP SELWYN. [CHAP. x.
number than the islands, the case was different, and here he
made English the common language of all. But the larger
portion of the population of every island was not likely
to learn English, and for these some further provision had
to be made.
The bishop saw that by Captain Marryat s international
code of signals, ships were enabled to communicate by
symbol ; and thus he conceived the idea of attaching to
each word in the Bible its numerical symbol. By these a
missionary would be able to make himself understood by
people with whose language he was utterly unacquainted.
The conjunction of Captain Marry at with Cicero is a
strange one ; but the Tusculan Questions in which (book iv.
chap, vii.) is suggested the plan of bringing together into
one view all words having the same general meaning, also
laid the bishop under obligations. It was found that all
the words in the Bible could be classified under about 250
heads, and under these, by following the root of thought
rather than the root of language, the delicate lights and
shades of each idiomatic expression were brought out.
The simplest languages are often the richest in these deli
cate distinctions. Not only have the Latin words video,
tueor, specto, and their Greek equivalents opaa), /3XeV&&gt; and
Sectoral, their exact equivalents in Maori, but where in
English we speak indiscriminately, for example, of breaking
a bone, the skin, or a sinew, in the New Zealand language
a bone, is broken by one word, the skin is burst by another,
and the sinew parts by a third. Limited observation had led
the bishop to expect to find the same variety of expression
in the Melanesia n tongues ; on Hearing one of the Loyalty
islands he ordered a native to go aloft and look out for
land ; but the native word which he used was that which
signified ground. The lad immediately said, pointing
downwards, "ground here, land out there," and thus the
distinction was pointed out and recorded.
The work is an abiding testimony to the industry of the
bishop, and to his ability in doing what is so rarely done
1849.] METHOD OF ANALYSIS. 3?1
satisfactorily, viz., the cutting " a royal road to learning. "
He intended his Analysis to be of use not merely among the
heathen of Melanesia, but in the schools of New Zealand.
In a young colony, where the demand for labour is abun
dant, he saw that the English system of education, con
tinuing for fourteen or fifteen years, was doomed to failure,
and that the question was "how to impart in one or two years
a clear and comprehensive knowledge of all subjects really
important to be known." The only solution was, that
the English system must be reversed, and that principles
must be taught, not by going in a long course of reading
through a variety of books, but as collected in one point of
view and illustrated by every light that can be thrown
upon them.
Each page in the Analysis was capable of being used by
all the children of a school, from the oldest to the youngest,
as well as by Divinity students, and would at the same
time furnish heads for a catechetical instruction which an
intelligent teacher could easily work out. Thus uni
formity of religious teaching was to a great degree secured
throughout the diocese to pupils of all ages and conditions.
The work was so original, and is such a monument of
ungrudging labour, that it is well worthy of further illus
tration,, To take therefore the word bread and its sub
divisions pulse and herbs; to this the symbol 50 was
given, and on page 50 of the Analysis the word Bread
is given as the lesson for the Tuesday in the fourth week
after the Epiphany, in the following table :
VOL. I.
322
LIFE OF BISHOP SELWYN.
[CHAP. ix.
E-PIPHANY. FOURTH WEEK. TUESDAY. BREAD.
PULSE.
50. HE UBS.
OLD TESTAMENT.
NEW TESTAMENT.
Reference.
ENGLISH.
Reference.
1
Exod. 29. 2.
FLOUR.
2
Levit. 14. 10.
Fine flour.
3
Levit. 14. 10.
Deal of flour. _,
4
5
^
1 Kings, 17, 12.
Num. 5. 15.
Meal.
Barley meal.
6
Gen. 18. 6.
KNEAD.
7
Exod. 12. 34.
Kneading trough.
8
Exod. 12. 39.
Dough.
9
LEAVKN, s
Matt. 13. 33.
10
Old leaven . . .
1 Cor. 5. 7.
11
Exod. 12. 15.
Leavened.
12
Leaven, v.
GaL 5. 9.
13
Exod. 12. 39.
Unleavened.
14
Lump
1 Cor. 5. 6.
15
New lump . . .
1 Cor. 5. 7.
16
Exod. 16. 23.
BAKE.
17
Hosea 7. 6.
Baker.
18
Gen. 40. 17.
Hakemeats.
19
Hosea 7. 4.
Ovens.
20
Psalm 104. 15.
BREAD.
21
Levit. 26. 26.
Staff of bread.
22
Shewbread . . .
Hebr. 9. 2.
23
Loaf
Mark 8. 14.
24
Levit. 23. 17.
Wave loaves.
25
1 Kings 17 12.
Cake.
26
Exod. 29. 23.
Wafer.
27
1 Kings 14. 3.
Cracknels.
28
Ezek. 27. 17.
Pannag.
29
Crumb . . . .
Luke 16. 21.
30
Morsel . . . ,
Hebr. 12. 16.
31
Josh. 9. 5.
Mouldy.
32
Exod. 16. 15.
MANNA . . . .
John 6. 31.
33
Psalm 105. 40.
Bread from heaven.
34
Psalm 78. 25.
Angel s food.
35
Deut. 8. 8.
SONEY.
36
Honeycomb . . .
Luke 24. 42.
37
Dan. 1. 12.
PULSE.
38
2 Sam. 17. 28.
Beans.
39
Gen. 25. 34.
Lentiles.
40
Gen. 25. 29.
Pottage.
41
Jonah 4. 6,
GOURD.
42
2 Kings 4. 39.
Wildgourd.
43
Isaiah 1. 8,
Cucumber.
44
Num. 11. 5
Melon.
45
Prov. 15. 17.
HERBS.
46
Num. 11. 5.
Onion.
47
Num. 11. 5.
Leek.
48
Num. 11. 5.
Garlick.
49
Mint
Matt. 23. 23.
50
Rue , . . .
Luke 11. 42.
51
Anise
Matt. 23. 23.
52
Cummin. . .
Matt. 23. 23.
53
Cant. 4. 14.
Saffron.
54
Exod. 16. 31.
Coriander.
55
Job 30. 4.
Ma lows.
56
fien. 30. 14.
Mandrakes.
57
FQ
Gen. 37. 25.
Balm.
03
59
60
1849.] CATECHETICAL LECTURE. 323
It was intended that the missionary when seated among
his scholars, learning their language while teaching them
"the tongue of immortals," should elicit from them the
different meanings of the several words in column 4. The
native " scholiasts " soon entered into it, and the missionary
would write down their scholia " in the blank column,
2 or 6, and with this be prepared to translate with
idiomatic accuracy the words which occur in the sacred
writings, and of which they are the equivalents.
From a MS. catechetical lecture in the bishop s own
writing, which has been preserved and is printed verbatim,
the reader will be able to see how carefully he worked out
his own idea from the specimen page of synonyms and
references given on the other side.
LESSONS ON FOOD, PAGE 50.
I. MAKING BREAD.
Question on the manner of making bread : From what
grain, how made into flour or meal. Explain the uses made
of fine flour by the priests under the Jewish law, the mea
sures used by them. Refer to passages describing the offer
ings of flour, &c., also to the widow s handful of meal and its
sufficing her for so long by the power of God given to
Elisha. Question on the likeness between that miracle
and our Lord s multiplying the loaves and fishes. Lesson
to be drawn from these miracles ; all food the gift of God,
therefore thanks must be given to Him whenever we
partake of food.
Explain the process of making bread, the need of leaven
to make it fit for food, the reason of the Israelites carrying
away the dough "before it was leavened, the process of
baking, the story of the baker in Genesis, the meaning of
"b&kemeats, the reason why the word bread is used to
signify any kind of food and even our whole support ; refer
to the expressions staff and stay of bread. Illustrate all
the foregoing questions by passages from Scripture.
Explain the wave loaf and its meaning, as a thank
offering and a sign that the bread is God s gift.)
Y 2
324 LIFE OF BISHOP SELWYN. [CHAP. ix.
VARIOUS KINDS OF BREAD,
From 25 30. Explain the several forms of bread here
mentioned, the name given to minute fragments, the lesson
so frequently given and enforced by our Lord s own
example, never to waste even the crumbs of food.
32 34. Question on the giving of the manna ; why
called bread from heaven and angels food, though coming
direct from heaven, yet the manna was no more the gift
of God than the bread we eat ; both are bread from heaven,
the one did not want man s own labour, the other does,
yet as man s labour must make the wheat grow, is it not
truly said that man doth not live by bread alone, but by
every word that proceedeth from God s mouth ? Mention
persons who have lived many days without food, or with
a very small portion, in proof of the truth of this saying :
Moses, Elisha, and our Lord when He became man.
OTHER KINDS OF VEGETABLE FOOD.
35 57. Other kinds of food are here mentioned, pas
sages of Scripture to be found where they are mentioned.
Persons who lived on some of these kinds of food and never
on bread, yet were nourished and strengthened by them.
Daniel and his companions, John the Baptist, Jacob s
pottage of leu tiles, Jonah s gourd, and his discontented
complaints at its loss. Poisonous food how and when made
harmless ; the various herbs of which the Pharisees paid
tithes.
SPIRITUAL APPLICATION OF THE LESSON ON FOOD.
The soul needs food as much as the body to strengthen
and nourish it. As the body becomes weak and sickly if
deprived of daily food, so does the soul if without the
bread of life. Our Lord is the bread of life, unless by
faith we feed on Him in our souls we cannot have eternal
life. Explain that as food must be regularly and often
taken for the health of the body, so must our prayers for
the grace of Christ and for the strengthening power of His
body and blood, be constant and earnest. The health of the
1849.] CATECHETICAL LECTURE. 325
body cannot be preserved beyond the time allotted for our
lives, but the soul may be nourished unto eternal life.
Which then should be our chiefest care? Eefer to our
Lord s own words, John vi., on labouring for the meat that
perish eth ; and again to Matt, vi., 25 33. The want of
food for the body cannot and does not injure the health of
the soul, as is shown in the story of the rich man and
Lazarus ; the beggar, though suffering from hunger and
disease, was yet a partaker of everlasting life, the rich man,
who fared sumptuously every day, was eternally miserable.
See Matt, xvi., 26.
Explain the words " daily bread " in the Lord s prayer,
and refer to our Church Catechism, which teaches us that by
those words are meant " all things needful for our souls and
bodies." As we are taught that we must labour for the
food we eat since the curse passed upon Adam, " In the
sweat of thy face thou shalt eat bread," as God gives
nothing without means, and ordains that we must work
together with Him not idly expecting Him to supply our
wants without our own exertions, so we must labour for
the bread from heaven, strive, pray, watch, seek for it, in all
the appointed means of grace, in reading God s Word, in
worshipping Him, and above all, in partaking of the Lord s
Supper. Give examples of persons who like David es
teemed the Word of God more than their necessary food,
who risked the loss of earthly wealth and plentiful living
rather than disobey God or put their souls in danger. Also
other examples, or with warnings from the history of
persons, who, like Esau, for one morsel of meat sold their
birthright, forfeited their hopes of heaven, for some worldly
gain or enjoyment. Refer to all the passages in which our
Lord is spoken of as nourishing our souls. Show how this
can only take place when we are joined to Him; as food
cannot do us good if we only look at it, so neither can we
be nourished by our Lord s grace unless we be joined to
Him as mouths to a head, branches to a vine, &c.
326 LIFE OF BISHOP SELWYN. [CHAP. x.
CHAPTEE X.
[1850-1851.]
WINTER had nearly set in, when, on June 4th, the Undine
returned to Auckland, having carried back to their native
islands the five boys who had spent the summer in the
College. On the homeward voyage, full of the sense of
the needs of the work, and looking in all directions for
helpers, the bishop wrote to a friend at Eton, urging him to
do, as he himself did later, dedicate a son to the life of a
Missionary :
"UNDINE" SCHOONER, AT SEA,
Long. 170 E.; Lat. 27 S.
MY DEAR FRIEND,
I am writing to you in the midst of a majestic thunder
storm, on the bosom of the wide Pacific, and about half
way from New Caledonia, which I have left, and New
Zealand, to which I am returning. The little Undine is
alone on this wide waste of water ; yet not alone ; for here
we see the wonders of God without distraction from the
works of man. Your letter of 12th September, 1849, is
lying before me, and though you are not a very good cor
respondent, I have taken it up first out of a heap of forty
other letters a compliment which, I hope, will make you
mend your manners for the future. Accept my hearty
congratulations on your attainment of the " Jus trium libe-
rorum ; " but please to remember, that as you are only a
junior assistant, and therefore a " Proletarius," you are
bound to hold at least one of your boys liable to military
or naval service, at the command of the Bishop of New
Zealand, or any other amphibious power invested with the
right of conscription. It is not enough that you should
1850-1851.] MISSIONARY DIGNITY. 327
buy inferior substitutes by pecuniary contributions; you
have learned and taught Greek Grammar long enough to
know that summary of missionary duty, the more forcible,
in some respects, as coming from a mere heathen orator,
v Seifcreov etVtpepovra?
Dedicate your very best boy to the mission work ; and,
without forcing his inclination, lead him steadily to look
upon a wild hill in New Caledonia as a more noble post
than a Fellowship at Eton, or even the Provostship of
Kings. For such it is. What man in his sober senses,
and with his Demosthenes before him, to say nothing of
the Bible, would sit down in the prime of life with the
deliberate purpose of spending a quarter of a century, like
-- -- , in collecting butterflies. And yet there
are butterflies too in New Caledonia, glorious butterflies,
which flew across my path as I climbed up a lovely water
fall at Weine, on the east coast of that Island, radiant
with the deepest blue, and as large as dragon-flies. Did I
catch one 1 Not I ; I would not catch, much less impale
upon a pin, that type of the Immortality of the Soul, es
pecially in a country where man is still in the grub, and
waiting to be adorned, like those bright insects, with wings
of silver and feathers like gold. When will the day of
bursting come to all these human chrysalides in these dark
islands ? May one of your sons be there to see a whole
pagan nation spring up out of the ground, and mount up
on the wings of the converted soul. I have no better wish
for him or for you, than that he may be a zealous evangelist,
and that you, when you are dazed and flattened by your
work, may be lightened and leavened by the report of
God s blessing upon his labours. Do not suppose that
I undervalue your present duties, but understand me to
mean only that TraiftcvywyLa and TraiSoTroua are both vain,
unless they send forth more labourers into Christ s harvest
field.
Your affectionate Friend,
G. A. NEW ZEALAND.
His experiences on this voyage with mingled humour
and pathos the bishop recounted in a letter to his frequent
correspondent, the Kev. E. Coleridge :
328 LIFE OF BISHOP SELWYN. [CHAP. x.
JENGEN, NEW CALEDONIA,
Lat. 20.40. East Coast.
May llth, 1850.
MY VERY DEAR FRIEND,
WHEN I arn put out of my present stewardship by Joseph
Hume, or auy other potentate, I shall hope to have the offer
of the Mastership of the Itemove at Eton, that blissful
region which enjoys a monopoly of the little knowledge of
geography, which the school possesses. My stock is daily
increasing, as you will find to your cost by the list of out
landish names, unknown to Arrowsmith and to Wylde,
which stand at the head of my letters. You will wish me
back again at one of those modem examples of " fanum
putre Vacunse," Boveney Chapel or Dorney Church, as a
relief from the annoyance of a correspondent, who carries
you beyond the limits of all existing Gazetteers. Well,
then, my dear friend, comfort your heart with the thought,
no matter where I am, that I am still the same friend, who
lived next door to you in Keate s Lane, where we were
wont oapi^efjiev a\\r)\oicn,, as you went to and fro about
your work, and as I looked out of the window for the lack of
work. Be sure that " my heart untravelled still returns to
you ; " and that no foreign travel, unconnected with duty,
would ever compensate me for the removal from Eton. I
would rather be at the Weir than at Niagara ; in Poet s
Walk rather than at Helicon ; and in your " lane of
Hems ! ! " rather than on the Bridge of Sighs. But when
travel comes with a duty for its motive, how enjoyable it
then is. If I could have wafted you during the last week
to the calm, sunny, blue waters of these reef lagoons, with
the bright green and tree-bespangled hills of New Cale
donia towering over the topmasts of my consort, H.M.S.
Fly, how truly and sympathetically we should have enjoyed
the combination of everything that is highest in interest,
or brighest in colouring, or most graceful in form, or most
majestic in size. But this may not be, till modern science
shall have attained to the utmost limit of locomotive
power, by enabling the electric telegraph to carry passen
gers as well as messages. Surely New Caledonia is a
lovely country. Such waterfalls as I saw yesterday, such
rocky piles and minarets of dark grey stone as I am now
surrounded by; such a river as I have rowed into this
afternoon, with tufted groves of cocoa-nuts sheltering the
1850-1851.] "PKOPAGANDA BEGUN." 329
neatest bee-hive houses, and hanging gardens of yams and
taro on the heights ; and dingles of dark wood, which tell
where the hidden watercourse has fed the trees during the
scorching heat ; and bright green mountains towering over
all, and running up into the deep blue sky, as if to teach
us how prodigal nature is of her charms, to waste them
thus upon eyes which cannot discern beauty, and hearts
which cannot admire it.
But believe me that it is not true that " only man is
vile." This race of men are not vile ; but, as Cook found
them, the most friendly people in the world. How could
they be vile, for whom Christ paid the price of II is blood ?
How* can they be vile to us, who have been taught by God
not to call any man common or unclean ? I quarrel with
the current phrases of the "poor heathen," and the
"perishing savages," et id genus omne. Far poorer and
more ready to perish may be those men of Christian
countries who have received so much, and can account for
so little. Poorest of all may we be ourselves, who, as
stewards and ministers of the Grace of God, are found so
unfaithful in our stewardship. To go among the heathen
as an equal and a brother is far more profitable than to
risk that subtle kind of self-righteousness, which creeps
into the mission work, akin to the thanking God that we
are not as other men are. Who can say, that the heathen
are more guilty because they have not the Gospel, than
we who have received that Gospel, and of whom its fruits
will be required ?
I am now far advanced in my second round of in
spection, for it is nothing more at present, of this Mela-
nesian field. I am waiting for the opening of the door
which is now just creaking on its hinges. I wrote to you
an explanatory letter from Anaiteum in August last ; l and
I need only now add, that a second course of observation
over the same field has confirmed the impressions under
which that letter was written : and that I have now no
reasonable doubt of the gradual success of a steady, per
severing, and faithful effort to evangelize the "mingled
peoples " who have flowed forth among these islands from
every story and every window of Babel. Our Propaganda
is already begun, and it is time that it should be ; for on
1 P. 286.
330 LIFE OF BISHOP SELWYK [CHAP. x.
the little deck of the Undine, I have had at the same
moment the representatives of ten languages or dialects.
Here they are to send you again, " pertusum terebrare
salinum," to bore yourself by poring into Arrowsmith for
salt which you will not find
1. English.
2. New Zealand.
3. Sainoau, Navigators .
4. Earotonga.
6 Lifu 6 } L y a % Islands -
7. New Caledonia one out of many.
8. Auaiteum. 1
9. Tanna. > New Hebrides.
10. Futuna. J
Was not that an ethnographical feast to be all collected
in a cabin 12 feet by 8?
"Five and twenty blackbirds baked in a pie,
And when the pie was opened the birds began to sing,"
a literal fact for eight of the above languages, exactly
twenty-five " black birds " in all, with ten white ones, were
baked, boiled, and stewed in the Undine for two days
between Tanna and Anaiteum in bad weather; and I
promise you, that when the pie was opened the birds did
begin to sing ; and I the eVo^ of the party at least as
heartily as the rest. The occasion was the restoration to
their country of fifteen Anaiteum men, who had been
taken to Tanna, and the removal of the families of some
native missionaries from Samoa and Rarotonga, whom we
found ill at Tanna. However, I have never yet felt any
thing equal to the cabin of the Victorine, a French egg-boat,
in which I once crossed from Cherbourg to Southampton,
and with this assumed datum of discomfort, everything that
I now meet with stands higher in the scale. You will say
that this is poor comfort, but try it before you reject my
panacea for every evil of life.
Your truly affectionate
Gr. A. NEW ZEALAND.
Two months later the long hoped-for presence of Mr.
Abraham was an accomplished fact. It seemed almost
1850-1851.] EEV. C. J. ABRAHAM ARRIVES. 331
too good to be true ; and in the fulness of his heart the
Bishop wrote words of greeting out of a full heart on
Mr. Abraham s arrival in Auckland Harbour :
S. JOHN S COLLEGE, AUCKLAND,
July 24th, 1850.
MY VERY DEAR FRIEND,
And now dearer than ever welcome to hearts large
enough to hold you, and to houses small enough to pinch
you, that between the largeness of heart-room, and the
narrowness of house-room, you may enjoy that happy
mean of comfort and discomfort, which represents most
truly our state of trial on earth. Lose not one moment in
coming to us, either by land or water. Captain Rough
will point out to you the best way of proceeding, either by
crossing at once to the College Creek, or by going to the
Chief Justice at Taurarua, from which the College Force,
av$p$ r rjlffeoL re /cal e/X/7roSe9 e\ifces /3ov?, will fetch
you and your baggage, as soon as we hear of your arrival.
Your truly affectionate and ever
Grateful Friend,
G. A. NEW ZEALAND.
With Mr. Abraham at the head of the College, and
subsequently acting as Archdeacon of the district of
Waitemata, the bishop felt more free to devote a larger
measure of care to the remote parts of the diocese. First
impressions of a place have always the charm and fresh
ness of novelty, even though experience may clothe them
with more sober colours ; but in the estimate and judg
ments formed of such a man as Bishop Selwyn, seen, after
a separation of many years, day by day in the midst of
the institutions which his own genius had created and
moulded, the first impressions of devoted friends, whom
personal affection had led to throw in their lot with him
and with his work have no common interest.
These "first impressions" are graphically given by a
lady in the following letter: her husband contributed
his impressions some three weeks later in the second letter
that is here printed :
332 LIFE OF BISHOP SELWYN. [CHAP. x.
S. JOHN S COLLEGE, AUCKLAND, NEW ZEALAND,
Thursday, August 29th, 1850.
MY DEAR
You will hear from my sisters of our safe arrival here
on the 6th of this month, and something of our lirst
impressions ; and I dare say if you like it, you will see
the daily details of our life at the college during the last
three weeks, so I am not going to repeat these things now ;
but to give you, as far as I can, the result of our first view
of all around us, while it is fresh and lively, and to trace,
as far as I can, the likeness of the reality to the picture
and imagination which we have so long had before the
mind s eye, and so often talked of with you. I used to
think that when we were here
" Although tis fair,
Twill be another Yarrow ; "
but it is, I think, both within and without, strangely like
one s fancy and conception of what it would be ; so much
so that our first evening with the Martins at Taurarua was
so true to one s fancy of such evenings, that I was con
tinually asking myself whether it was not all a vision of
fancy, instead of a real scene before one s bodily eye and
ear. And so also when we accompanied the Bishop and
Sarah home next day. Everything was so like one s
imagination of it, that I became quite bewildered at first.
Now we have settled down quite into a " homy " feeling
and habit as to the reality of our existence here and all
around us, which will soon absorb all former ideajs of the
place, and the community, and the work ; and even now I
wish I could hear your questions, in order that I might
know on what points to enlighten you. First, however, as
to the Master mind, the great founder, the humble lowly
worker of all. Is he still what he was when he left us ?
What we have believed him to be all these years while
the world was between us ? What do we find him ? All
that he was ; all that we believed ; all that you can under
stand better than any one can describe. You can feel, too,
the glow of heart, the deep joy it is to feel this, day by
day pressed home to one s conviction, and unveiled before
one s eyes in all the sobernpss of truth and reality. To
find, as my husband says, " that it was nob any mere fancy,
1850-1851.] FIRST IMPRESSIONS. 333
any imaginary greatness and goodness, with which memory
and friendship had invested him in absence, but that he is
in his simple, unvarnished reality, more than all he had
thought and trusted to and reverenced for these nine years
past. You can think how happy it is whenever we are
alone together, to hear him sum up all he told me of
their converse, with such thoughts as these, and with the
thankful expression of his sense of the blessedness of our
own lot in being thus made members of a Holy House ;
and of the way in which Bishop Andrewes words came
home to one now with an individual appropriation of the
thought, as well as an intercessory petition for others in
our own land, which we have been wont to associate with
the expression, especially in this day s (Thursday s) prayer.
As Charles says, the singleness of purpose, the entire de
votion of himself and all he is, and all he has the entire
renunciation of self and all belonging to him in compari
son with the duty and the object of the present moment,
is so shown forth in his daily life, so transparently open to
all who have eyes to see and hearts to receive the witness
of such an example, that one must be dead and dull in
deed not to feel continually the all-pervading power of
such a life. And great, indeed, must be the responsibility
of living thus in the light, as the lesson of our first Sun
day here seemed to teach in the warning of Gehazi s sin,
that a man might live in a prophet s house and serve
him, who is a servant of God, and yet have a worldly
heart and spirit.
Gradually, however, as we hear more and more, and see
the real state of things here, how much what is planted
must need time to grow, and how lie is obliged to wait and
lay by, as it were, for the periods of renewed action ; and
still more, as one feels that he is the one man to pioneer
the way and lay foundations, as all this comes to one
my husband owns that he " cannot gainsay or resist the
wisdom with which he speaks," though he is thankful to
find the judge. quite joins with him in his feeling that a
drag-chain rather than a spur is needed on his favourite
Melanesian Mission ; and is disposed to watch his widening
schemes in that direction with a zealous regard for this
country, which (as he agrees with Charles) must after all
be the real battle-field in behalf of the coloured race, and
334 LIFE OF BISHOP SELWYN. [CHAP. x.
also with anxiety for the personal health and safety of the
bishop himself, which they all feel is certainly risked in
each one of these voyages. It is some satisfaction to find
that the chief and most influential means which he looks
to for the accomplishment of the object, is the education
of youths from these islands at this college, and not to the
planting of mission stations in the islands themselves.
The great varieties of language amongst them is a bar to
this, and points rather, as he thinks, to the need of gather
ing them together from all parts, and teaching them
English, and so making our tongue the missionary lan
guage, as the Roman was in former days ; a conclusion,
as you will see, very different from that which he upholds
so strenuously for this country, where the speech is one,
the needs of mastering the language, in order to reach the
people in this generation ; while he would do his best to
teach English to the rest. I do not wonder at the hold
these islands have upon him, after hearing his stories of
his intercourse amongst them, and especially about the
boys he had here last summer, and whom he hopes to
fetch again when the climate makes it safe. One little
fellow from Lifu especially, who was like a child in this
house to him and Sarah, and a brother to Johnnie, and
whom they nursed so tenderly in his sickness, the bishop
earnestly hopes may return again. You will hear more
about this little Thol ; and if a letter reaches Willy from
his father, as I trust it will in which he tells him of his
parting with the little fellow when he took him home last
April how they went apart into the copse wood, and how
Thol knelt down and said the Lord s Prayer, and a little
prayer for Johnnie ; and how he begged him to come back
again and fetch him. Johnnie talks about his little com
panion still, and how he used to say that Johnnie should
go home with him, arid his mother would carry him about
on her back and give him sugar-cane.
You should hear his stories of the quiet way in which
he walks through any mention of State interference and
ecclesiastical law, apart from Church authority. They
would amuse you greatly ; such as his refusal at Welling
ton to marry an English gentleman to <a Jewess (the civil
form, or the Jewish, being open to him), or to open the
1850-1851.] ENCROACHMENT OF CIVIL POWER. 365
burial-ground of the Church of England to all denomina
tions (the only reason why they desired it being to save
the expense of fencing the ground allotted to themselves).
How quietly in both instances, when the legal penalties
attached to the refusal were alluded to, he replied by a
common-sense protest against the introduction into a new
country of the burthens and precedents of the old (es
pecially in regard to the Church which had no State aid
here, but which would nourish, he doubted not, under
persecution), which were found to work ill even there ;
while he expressed his readiness to submit to the sentence
of the law, playfully remarking, " that after weeks in his
tiny schooner at sea, the prison-rooms would be spacious,
and the prison fare luxurious, and the leisure of a few
weeks to write letters and do business, rather a boon than
otherwise." You can fancy how this sort of appeal turns
off and disarms objection, and how he walks through oppo
sition of this kind, like a giant rejoicing to run his
course
If he can ever find time to put on paper all his thoughts
and plans for the college and its foundation in a system, I
think there would spring out of it his earnest view of the
duty of the Church as to education : that the clergy must
take it into their own hands by doing the work. " Deacon
schoolmasters all over England would make speeches and
agitation at Willis s Rooms needless," he says ; and I be
lieve if anything brought him back to England, that is the
crusade which he would preach and lead ; that, and an Epis
copate of " 500/. a year bishops," given to hospitality, and
not "clothing flunkeys in purple." These are the two
points on which all our conversation on home affairs ends.
These,, with the restoration of Cathedral Institutions to
their true objects, are the burden of his song ; and I be
lieve he thinks, if the Church will not arise and work out
this reformation in herself, that the scourge will chastise
her into a better mind.
S. JOHN S COLLEGE, AUCKLAND,
Sept. IMh, 1850.
MY DEAR DR. HAWTREY,
If I have deferred writing to you among my letters to
Eton friends, it was because I thought you would be most
interested in hearing of the bishop, and Mrs. Selwyn, and
336 LIFE OF BISHOP SELWYN. [CHAP. x.
of my college life not that I have forgotten you or yours,
and all your kind interest in us. Indeed, Eton and its
people are bound up in my " bundle of life," in a way that
I hope will never admit of loosening. To tell you the
truth, there is nothing that pains me more in my brief
acquaintance with the people in Sydney and here, generally
speaking, than their utter lack of sympathy or interest in
England and English life. The bishop, and Judge Martin,
and my colleague, Mr. Lloyd, are the only men that have
a heart large enough to contain much beyond the local
interests of the colony. I should add, however, the
Governor, who is really a large-hearted, large-minded man
a thorough gentleman, whom it is a positive pleasure to
meet and know. He was an old Sandhurst cadet and
student, and consequently we have many points of rapport^
and besides is a literary man, and takes delight in many
studies which I could wish I were more versed in, but can
only profess interest about. Your handsome present of
French Mathematics has delighted him exceedingly.
The bishop and myself are the only persons in the
colony almost that possess libraries ; and the taste for such
things has to be created, as at present a mere utilitarian
idea of education prevails. Perhaps, for the purposes of
the settlers here and the clergy, a practical education is the
best suited, and I must confess that I quite quail before the
attainments of some of my scholars, who will make most
valuable missionaries among natives, and round a " sea
girt isle." Only conceive what a thoroughly avrdpK^
man will be formed out of a boy who, at the age of 19
knows more Divinity than most of the boys at Eton in
the Sixth Form, who is thoroughly acquainted with French
and Maori ; and as there are some of the former people
here as settlers, this is an utilitarian acquirement, as well
as a literary one. He is a good musician, and able to
teach the natives singing a good mathematician, and able
to sail the Undine from hence to the New Hebrides and
back taking sights and managing the rigging, &c. He is
gentle withal and humble, and the only thing I desiderate
in him is a little life, and somewhat of the quickness of an
Eton boy. That is the most trying part of my school
duties. After the alertness of an Eton boy s mind, it
requires some patience to see the sluggishness of the
1850-1851.] CONDITION OF CONVERTS. 337
colonial movement. Of course none of them are scholars
in our sense of the word ; they devote too little time to
mere scholarship, having to pay for their support by bodily
work (for none of their parents can or will pay for them),
so that two hours a day, four times a week, is all a boy
gets of school. He is either printing, or farming, or
weaving, or digging, or making shoes, &c., the rest of his
time. Altogether, it is a strange life we lead here. I am
sure I never realized it before I came, and I suppose I
thought about it as much as most people at Eton ; but I
will try and put you in possession of our principle and
practice ; and when I say our, I mean the bishop s, for
only his vast head and noble heart could conceive and
execute so complicated a plan.
The first generation of converts to Christianity is passing
off rapidly from this scene, and the middle-age d folk now
are very nominal Christians indeed. They have abandoned
cannibalism certainly, and the horrors of frequent war,
thank God; but their moral and religious state is very
questionable. The old chief, close by us, is a heathen, for
example, and he and many of his people point to the bad
lives of the Christian people as their stumbling-block
just as people at home point to the bad lives of the com
municants as a reason for their not becoming so them
selves. The fact is, that they are not educated ; they are
instructed a little, but all their habits are heathenish. The
bishop was told by the missionaries, that it was impossible
and visionary to attempt to break through these habits.
His faith was too great to allow him to leave it unattempted,
and his perseverance too strong to be ea.sily deterred or
baffled. He established the college, to which he draws as
many as he can afford, which is only fifty for the funds
from England have failed this last year or two by 1,OOOJ.
He first has a native school for children (it stands about
100 yards from this ; his house, and the chapel is between
us). There are twenty or twenty- five of these little brown
mice, living in a wooden Swiss-like cottage, with a master
(a candidate for Holy Orders) and an assistant one of the
scholars, nineteen or twenty years of age to look after
them. They learn English, arithmetic, singing, writing, and
Scripture dig in the garden, and keep the kitchen-garden
in order make and mend their own clothes, which are not
VOL. i. z
338 LIFE OF BISHOP SELWYN. [CHAP. x.
extensive, a suit of Nottingham drill, i.e. a pair of trousers
and a little smock-frock, and a shirt. They are guiltless
of shoes and stockings. When they are 13 or 14 years
of age, they are drafted off into the labour departments
(to which about twenty-five more belong, and live in
different houses, under the superintendence of students),
and become either bakers or cooks, weavers or shoemakers,
carpenters or farmers, &c., attending school half the day,
and working the other half at their trade or occupation.
We are fortunate enough to have a good kind of people
about us in the college establishment, to superintend these
departments. We have, for instance, living close by, op
posite the college, an old pensioner, who was a weaver ;
then the farmer is an excellent man, who failed rather on
his own account, and is glad to conduct our farm, which
he does admirably. It is to the interest of every one of
these departments to make the members work, as the firm
receives two-thirds of the profits, after all the expenses are
paid, the other third going to the college general account.
At 7 o clock A.M. we all meet at chapel, and the service
is partly chanted; the natives know enough English to
chant the Te Deum, Jubilate, &c. You know how deeply
I felt the need of such a commencement, of every day at
Eton, and yet how inexpedient I felt it to have all the
school compulsorily in our whole service, without the relief
of music. The bishop authorises here a curtailed ser
vice, and, as Ordinary, suits it to our wants and circum
stances. At half-past 7 they all breakfast in hall from
9 to 10, religious instruction from 10 to 2, different
classes, either for study or work. I have the scholars and
candidates for Holy Orders, in the Bishop s absence. At
2, hall we all dine together. There is an upper table for
the clergy and ladies : the different departments dine
together, presided over by their foreman, at different
tables plain, good, wholesome fare. From 4 to 6, school,
or work at 6, tea in hall 7, chapel. The evening is
their own for reading, &c. I found that they had not been
in the habit of preparing their lessons for school, but learnt
them in school. I have introduced the goodly Eton prac
tice ; and so get an extra subject done, and less idleness
and gossip in the evenings.
Of course, in the above account, farmers and carpenters
1850-1851.] SYDNEY. 339
cannot break off their work for school ; so they have two
whole days devoted to school the rest to work
The attachment of the natives to the bishop is wonder
ful : they fully appreciate his care for them. Some ill-
conditioned English people were trying to poison their
minds the other day, about his having so much land here,
while he forbad the clergy to purchase land for themselves.
They saw the fallacy in a moment. One lad cried out,
" Ah ! but the Pihopa does not buy the land for Willy and
Johnny, but for tatou katoa (us all] ; while the other
Pakehas buy for their Willies and Johnnies."
Apropos of Willy and Johnny, you will all be delighted
to hear that Mrs. Selwyn has a little girl, born on the 5th
of this month both mother and child are doing well. It
was a great comfort to us that she was born before the
bishop left us for Sydney, on the 7th, to attend the Synod
of Bishops
I have been very little away from the college, and
hardly know any of the people at Auckland
The bishop will now be able to move about his diocese,
or visit the Northern Isles with more confidence and
comfort. He is certainly more aged than I at first fancied,
but Mrs. Selwyn looks much the same I must not
omit to tell you and my Eton friends, that we have
bought 300 acres of land round the college, with some of
the Scholarship Endowment, you all so kindly founded
and it takes in a fresh-water lake, with the auspicious
name of Waiata Eua, " the two Psalms." Gentem faciemus
utramque Unam animis.
Believe me ever,
Your attached and grateful Friend,
C. J. ABRAHAM.
In September the bishop went to Sydney to take part
in the \Synod of the Bishops of Australasia, who, six in
number, took counsel together concerning the condition of
their dioceses ; it was the first foreshadowing of that Pro
vincial Organization which in Canada and in Southern
Africa, as well as in New Zealand, has since been wisely
consolidated, and has done so much for the peace as well
as for the progress of the Church. In Australia itself,
z 2
340 LIFE OF BISHOP SELWYN. [CHAP. x.
which witnessed the first essay at such organization, the
advance has not been either assured or rapid. A variety
of causes may be assigned ; but foremost among them is an
inadequate conception of the spiritual character of the
Church, which has been fostered by an admiration of Letters
Patent and State connexion, which lingers and helplessly
yearns for such perilous possessions, even long after they
have been finally withdrawn. What the bishop thought
of the prospects of the Synod and its importance, and how
largely it was indebted to him for its existence and for
its results, may be gathered from a passage in a letter
written on board the Undine on August 31st, and by a
study of the official Report of the proceedings :
" I am just on the point of setting out on a most in
teresting errand, to meet the Bishops of the Australian
Province at Sydney on the 1st October. We have many
important subjects to consider, among others the formation
of a Board of Missions for the dark and almost un
known Archipelago, into the skirts of which T have thrice
penetrated, and the third time with some clear hope of
success, by the introduction from the five scholars whom I
carried back in May last to the Loyalty Islands and New
Caledonia. I hope to interest the sister Churches in the
same work, of which I am willing, if required, to take the
active part, if they will supply me with the funds. Very
soon there will be nothing in me but will suffer a sea
change. May my sacrifice be salted with salt, and with
fire. Pray for me, from your equally missionary position,
as one amongst thousands who scarcely know God."
On his voyage to Australia the bishop s thoughts were
not wholly absorbed by the coming Synod: they were
largely given to his diocese, and in the interests of his
nascent College at Porirua he thus wrote to his brother-in-
law. Dr. Peacock
1850-1851.] PORIRUA COLLEGE. 341
To THE VERY EEV. THE DEAN OF ELY.
"MoA" BRIG, AT SEA,
Lat. 34. S.j Long. 164. E.
Sept. 13th, 1850.
MY DEAR BROTHER,
Your ready acceptance of the office of irpol; ei/o? for one
of my " twins of learning," scarcely yet born, emboldens
me to write to you again and communicate some further
particulars of the plan of Trinity College, Porirua. And
first I must remove an objection raised chiefly by members
of my own family, that I am attempting too much.
To this I answer that those who assigned to me all
New Zealand as my diocese must bear the blame of this,
for I cannot see any part of my diocese destitute of the
means of obtaining " sound learning and religious educa
tion " without making an effort to supply the defect.
There is little or no communication between Auckland
and Wellington : each town therefore requires its own
distinct institutions.
I have devoted much money, time, and effort to the
establishment of S. John s College ; and I am now able
to leave it with comfort and satisfaction in the hands
of two trustworthy presbyters, Eev. J. F. Lloyd arid Rev.
C. J. Abraham. Under these circumstances I consider
myself bound to do as much as I can, during the next
few years, for the southern settlements.
Experience has proved that collegiate institutions must
be set on foot very early in the outset of a colony, or the
difficulty, as at Sydney, will be found almost insuperable.
We have abundant experience of the willingness of
friends in England and in New Zealand to assist in
founding such institutions, as we have already at S.
John s an estate of 1,000 acres, buildings to the value of
5,000, and stock of various kinds, by which our expenses
are already much reduced. The name of Trinity College,
Porirua, was no sooner announced, than Mr. Harrington,
secretary to the New Zealand Company, gave 300 guineas
towards the endowment fund.
But the immediate cause of the early establishment (if
early it can be called) of Porirua College, was the good
will and zeal of my native scholars of the Ngatiraukawa
342 LIFE OF BISHOP SELWYN. [CHAP. x.
tribe, who, having spent twelve months at S. John s, even
while we were still in the roughest state, were so satisfied
of the goodness of our intentions, that they voluntarily
gave 500 acres of land, in the place which of all others I
should have chosen, as the site of a college for " the
English and native youth, to be brought up together in
the new principles of obedience to the Queen, and faith
in our Lord Jesus Christ."
This latter clause is a literal translation of the words of
the native grant, dictated by the donors themselves.
Eight or wrong then I have been led into this under
taking, without any seeking of my own ; and now in the
words of Bishop Bull
" IN I AM, AND ON I MUST."
The most emphatic monosyllables that ever were written ;
and most applicable to the state of a Bishop of New
Zealand.
The first part of the plan has already gone to England
for the consideration of the trustees of the Wellington
Endowment Fund, and contains a proposal for investing
4,OOOZ., on the security of the college lands and buildings.
The college must take its distinctive character from the
definition contained in the grant of the land. It must be
for the benefit of the English and native race. This in
volves the necessity of an industrial foundation ; for it
seems to be generally agreed, that the native race are not
yet ripe for a system, in which their whole time would be
devoted to study alone.
By an industrial foundation, I mean, an organized
system of useful arts, printing, weaving, carpentering,
farming, &c., to which select youths of both races may be
bound in the usual manner, but with the understanding
that a definite portion of their, time shall be left free for
instruction. We find at S. John s that a boy of eighteen
can maintain himself at college as a printer by working
five hours a day ; and we expect them to bestow five hours
more upon their own improvement in learning.
This is the point from which we begin ; and is in fact
the servitor system as adapted to the wants of a new
colony, and especially to one in which there are two
distinct races. The rule of industry is binding, in some
1850-1851.] SYSTEM OF COLLEGE. 343
form or other, upon all members of the foundation, but is
regulated in its application by due regard to the physical
and mental qualities of the scholars.
We have not yet arrived at the second stage of develop
ment, but we are looking forward to the addition of an
order of " oppidans," or " commoners," who may live in
private houses under their own tutors, and enjoy the full
benefit of the All-Souls statute, being allowed to be " bene
vestiti and mediocriter docti." We shall probably not
admit them into the college hall, but allow them, as at
Eton, to dine with their own tutors, in such luxurious
manner as the parents may be willing to pay for ; but
without the power to make our college fare contemptible
by the side of their better-furnished tables. These
separate houses will in fact be smaller colleges, where
the tutors will cater for the public taste, with as much
freedom as may be compatible with the general statutes of
the whole collegiate body. At Eton there are three
grades
Master s House,
Dames Houses,
College :
all conducted on different scales of expense.
All the students will be united in one general system of
academical instruction, and public examination. Zou
must not think that I am resting these plans upon pure
theory, for my own short experience has> supplied the
following facts in favour of the industrial system as a
preparation for Holy Orders.
I have ordained
2 Country Settlers,
2 Farmers,
1 Printer,
1 Weaver,
1 Spinner,
besides three medical men. I aui not therefore inventing
a new plan, but only endeavouring to give full effect to a
course of events which I found already in progress. The
only difference between us and the old universities in
this respect will be, that we shall at once place all our
344 LIFE OF BISHOP SELWYN. [CHAF. x.
poor scholars in some working department instead of
giving them exhibitions in money or commons before
their ability or industry has been sufficiently proved. All
trades alike, and all the oppidan or commoner students,
will have equal access to the college examinations, and
through them to the Theological Studentships.
You may accept my assurance that, if you will kindly
interest yourself and your Trinity friends in this plan, you
will never find me exceed in any respect the amount
which may be available in England. I say this in self-
defence, as I have lost my character with Letitia and
Fanny, who look upon me as an inveterate spendthrift.
As I have the opposite character in the colony, I can strike
a mean between the two extremes of my character, as
contrasted at the antipodes. The truth is, that with five
large settlements all craving for everything, I have never
been able hitherto to prevent the local trustees from
spending more than their allowance. But I have now
taken effectual means to prevent this excess for the
future.
The scholarships at S. John s College are now ten in
number, endowed with sums of from 500/. to 700Z. each.
This in itself may be taken as a proof that it is better to
begin early. Five years produce but little effect in our
slow operations ; but to have laid such a foundation is B.O
inconsiderable help for the future
I am now on my way to meet the Bishops of the
Australian Province in Synod on the 1st October. After
that, God willing, I must visit Mr. Enderby in his
antarctic principality, and return by Stewart s Island,
Otokou, Akaroa, Port Cooper, Wellington, and Nelson.
A grand campaign in New Caledonia is in store, God
willing, for next winter.
I remain,
Your affectionate brother,
G. A. NEW ZEALAND.
On the same voyage he wrote another letter full of
interest to the Rev. E. Coleridge.
1850-1851.] WASTE OF POWER. 345
"UNDINE" SCHOONER, AT SEA,
Sept. 2nd, 1850.
MY DEAR AND INEXHAUSTIBLE FRIEND,
If ever letter from you was precious to me, you may be
sure it was the one which Abraham brought to me in
person, to enhance a pleasure which in itself scarcely
admitted of increase
Though your letter was chiefly on matters of business,
yet friendship in you is so practical, that even details of
money matters evince the fulness of your affection. By
spending every shilling that I could get, and cutting down
everything like an expense to the lowest point, I have just
been able to receive Abraham and Lloyd into an institu
tion, which has enough in it, I hope, to show, in working-
model, its spirit and principle, though still far short, of
course, of its possible development, the extent of which
is incalculable. With what joy and thankfulness I have
seen those two good men, my rose and shamrock, twine
themselves together in conference, and vie with one an
other which should do most to root up the thistles, moral
and material, which have grown up in my path ! They
seem to feel them more than I do, for I am so accustomed
to them, I suppose, that
" Similes habent labra lactucas,"
as Cato, aTra% ye\d<ra<;, said when he saw an ass eating
thistles ; and from familiarity with such food, I have
ceased in some degree to feel the prickles. But I am
conscious sometimes, that a mind upon which physical
difficulties make little impression, has been worn by con
tinual conflict with minds incapable of even understanding
the principle of the work in which they are engaged. If
England wishes to waste men in her colonial bishoprics,
let her continue to send them out without a staff of
competent assistants; and then feed them with the dis
ciples of fifth-rate grammar and middle schools, in which
class of men, the lowest order of attainment is usually
found in combination with the highest standard of as
sumption. My imprisoned sorrow, of which I have rarely
complained before, breaks out thus in thankfulness, now
that its day is past, and the comfort has come.
And now, my dear friend, as you will have received my
34(5 LIFE OF BISHOP SELWYN. [CHAP. x.
letter from Anaijom, think what you can do, as for our
Board of Missions, for the benefit of all the " News"
N.
New South Wales.
New Zealand.
New Hebrides.
New Caledonia.
New Britain.
New Hanover.
New Ireland.
New Guinea.
s.
w.-
E.
"They shall come from
the east, and from the
west ; from the north, and
from the south ; and shall
sit down in the kingdom
of GOD."
I hope to bring the subject before the Australasian Synod;
and draw resources if possible from all the dioceses. . . .
If you could have seen the joy and greeting when we took
the lads back in the second voyage from which I returned
(God be thanked) on the 8th of June last ! It was evident
at once that I was free of the islands, and could walk
where I pleased, or row about in the little two-oared boat
of the Undine, with that intuitive feeling of security,
which is never felt, I believe, without good reason ; and
which is the greatest comfort to a cautious old married
man like myself. It would take a whole volume to tell
you how the mind comes to repose entire confidence in
some " savages," and to feel no such confidence in others ;
and in the meantime, for want of better information. I
must leave you to the lucubrations of Robertson, who
moralized about savage nature, sitting in an easy-chair at
Glasgow or Edinburgh, with about as much truth as might
be expected under the circumstances.
You will be amused to hear of my growing friendliness
with the London Mission. Think of Stoughton l and me
as reconciled at length. Not that I take part in their
religious system, but I cannot deny to their agents the
acknowledgment of faithful service, nor withhold from
them the right hand of friendship. But I am most drawn
to them by their native teachers, men, who even in the
infancy of their Faith, have left home and friends, to live
amongst men of another speech, and in the lowest depths
of barbarism, as the pioneers of the Gospel to prepare a
1 Mr. Stoughton was minister ot the Independent congregation at Wind
sor when Mr. Selwyn was curate of the parish church.
1850-1851.] HELP TO THE TANNESE. 347
way by which the English missionary may enter and take
possession. Forty martyrs, men, women, and children, from
Samoa and Rarotonga, have lost their lives by disease and
violence, in the New Hebrides, and in the New Caledonian
group ; every one of whom was as worthy of the name as
the martyr of Erromango, or the French bishop who died
at Ysabel. My feelings are so strong and so full of affection
towards these faithful men, with whom the affinity of the
New Zealand tongue enables me to communicate freely,
that I lose no opportunity of showing them kindness. In
the last voyage, an unusual opportunity was afforded me.
While we were lying at Anaiteum waiting for H.M.S.
Fly, the chiefs of the island came to me with an earnest
request that I would go to the neighbouring island of
Tanna to fetch some of their people, who had gone over
in a trading vessel and had not returned. They had
begun to be uneasy about them, and any report of the
death of one of them would, by native custom, have led to
the strangling of his wife. They offered many pigs as
payment for the service. I told them that I valued their
missionary (Mr. Geddie from Nova Scotia) more than their
pigs ; and that his word would probably prevail. Mr.
Geddie made the application and volunteered to go with
me in person. We had a pleasant night voyage down the
trade wind, guided by the light of the blazing volcano of
Tanna, and at dawn of day ran into the now familiar
harbour of Port Resolution. Here my breakfast-party
was that feast of " tongues/ which I have described to
Dr. Haw trey, as the chief ethnographer at Eton. We soon
found our Anaiteum friends, who had been long waiting
for an opportunity to return and crowded on board.
But a new need of our assistance had occurred, which
we had not foreseen. Two of the native teachers, whom
I had seen in the last voyage, had died, and another was
in a critical state of sickness with fever and ague. The
poor survivor s face brightened up with thankfulness, when
he came on board with Mr. Geddie to be removed to
Anaiteum. His wife and child and the widow of one of
the deceased teachers, with fifteen Anaiteums formed the
addition to our party, with whom we were to beat back, as
well as we could, against the trade wind to Anaiteum,
Our party was distributed thus :
\
348 LIFE OF BISHOP SELWYN. [CHAP, x
CABIN.
Bishop and three scholars, of S. John s College . 4
Mr. Geddie 1
Two women and one child 3
Sick teacher . . . . 1
9
HOLD.
One New Zealander 1
Five New Caledonians 5
Fifteen Anaiteums 15
30
FOEECASTLE.
Four seamen 4
TOTAL . 34
I fear that we transgressed such navigation laws as
are left, by carrying more passengers than we are
allowed for our size; but there was no help for it. It
cost us forty eight hours of hard beating to get back
to Anaiteum where we found the Fly at anchor.
Mr. Geddie was dubbed a chief of the first rank, and
invited to live and die (that is be naturalized) on the
island. I received neither thanks nor pigs ; though I
have no doubt they felt the one and would have given
the other
All our short voyages (such as the one from which
I am now returning round the Frith of the Thames, to
assist a new missionary, Mr. Lanfear, in conducting his
adult baptisms) are performed without any extra cost,
as our own scholars form the crew under the direction
of Champion, whom I impose upon them, with rather
more necessity than appeared to us in the case of the
cads who presided formerly, uniting " otium cum digni-
tate" over the lower boats. My present party is
STARBOARD WATCH.
The Bishop.
N. Hector, Appleyard Scholar.
E. Hammond, Associate Printer.
1850-1851.] H.M.S. HAVANNAH. 349
PORT WATCH.
Champion.
J. Wilson, Maria Blackett Scholar.
S. Taiwhanga, Maori Carpenter.
STEWARD.
Simeon Mataku, Maori Scholar.
You would enjoy thoroughly this quiet sailing, with a
pleasant anchorage at some native village every night,
and a willing congregation and docile catechumens at
all times. Now and then we get a good blow to make
a variety, as we did last Tuesday, when we lost a boat,
which was towing astern, in a sudden squall. But the
balance is decidedly in favour of enjoyment, in this, as
in all other parts of the New Zealand ministries. I am
the more free to enjoy these blessings, as I did not
seek them.
It was impossible to make another voyage to the islands
this year; Captain Erskine, however, in H.M.S. Havannah,
penetrated as far north as the Solomon Islands, and brought
back to the Bishop s College four boys, one from the
Solomon Islands, two from Erromango, and one from Fate.
The Synod met on October 1, and sat for a month.
They published a report of their proceedings, of which
Mr. Keble said that it would be "one of the most re
markable documents of our times." It was a period of
much tension. The Mother Church had but recently
suffered the grievous wrong done to her by the " Gorham
Judgment," and men s minds were much unsettled : in
the colonies the validity of Letters Patent had come under
such suspicion that no bishop liked to put them to the
test : free constitutions were being given to our colonies,
under which no religious body had the pre-eminence, and
each had to trust to its own strength, the Sects to the
wealth and personal influence and weight of the individuals
that composed them, the Church to her divine and inherent
strength.
350 LIFE OF BISHOP SELWYN. [CHAP. x.
The bishops were in fact driven to act on the advice
which Mr. Gladstone had given in the preceding year to
all Colonial Churches, that in view of the rapid removal
of the seeming support of the civil power they should
" organize themselves on that basis of voluntary consensual
compact which was the basis on which the Church of
Christ rested from the first."
Before the bishop left New Zealand to attend the
Synod in Australia he had received without surprise
but with entire sympathy an address signed by the
Governor, the Chief Justice, the Attorney-General, and
all the most thoughtful of the laity, praying that the
Church might be constituted in some way that would
secure to her the power to manage her own affairs,
and that in any such constitution the laity might have
their full weight. The matter will be dealt with in sub
sequent pages, when the history of the Synodal action of
New Zealand is traced : it is mentioned here as an event
that must find its proper place chronologically.
Doubts as to the limits of the Queen s supremacy
led the assembled bishops to refrain from exercising the
powers of an ecclesiastical Synod on the present occasion,
but they affirmed the necessity of provincial and diocesan
Synods, of the subdivision of dioceses and the election of
bishops without interference on the part of the secular
power, of the laity being represented in each Synod, and
consulting and deciding with the clergy on all questions
affecting the temporalities of the Church. They dis
claimed all wish to exercise the arbitrary power possessed
by bishops to suspend and revoke at their discretion the
licences of clergymen, and affirmed that in all cases of
ecclesiastical offences bishops should be tried by the
Bishops of the Province, and priests or deacons by the
Synod of the Diocese : neither did they fall into the
vulgar error, so dominant in England, which assumes
that only the clergy are liable to spiritual discipline, for
they provided for spiritual admonition, and, this failing,
1850-1851.] BOARD OF MISSIONS FORMED. 351
for the exclusion from Holy Communion, and, in the
last resort, for the excommunication of persons living in
notorious sin.
The bishops put forth, for the comfort of the faithful,
a declaration of the Catholic doctrine of Baptismal Re
generation, which was signed by five of their body, the
sixth, the Bishop of Melbourne, stating his views in a
separate paper. They declined to appear to countenance
the education given by general or local boards, believing
that the religious instruction given in the schools under
their superintendence was " defective, erroneous, or indefi
nite," and they constituted an Australasian Board of
Missions charged (1) with the conversion and civilization
of the Australian Blacks ; and (2) with the conversion and
civilization of the Heathen races in all the islands of the
Western Pacific.
It was understood that this latter work would be
undertaken jointly by the Australian and Xew Zealand
Churches; and in 1851 a Branch of the Australasian
Board of Missions was formed at Auckland. Of the
former there were five dioceses, while in New Zea
land Bishop Selwyn was the sole representative of the
episcopate. The Bishop of Newcastle, who had been
Bishop Selwyn s comrade in the Lady Margaret boat at
Cambridge, undertook to share with him the first voyage,
which was made in 1851, but after that time the whole
work of the mission was left to Bishop Selwyn, until Mr.
Patteson joined him in 1855. The Australasian dioceses
contributed money from time to time, and on this occasion
they furnished a ship of nearly 100 tons, the Border Maid,
the Undine being too small for the number of students
who, it was hoped, would now be gathered from the islands.
The Synod ended, the bishop returned to Auckland in
the brig Emma} and thence sailed southward ; and on
1 The commander of the Emma made the following entry in his log :
"One good to me of the Bishop being a bit of a sailor was exhibited
during service on Sunday ; he noticed that we should do better on the
other tack, and could see that I was impatient to go about, so before
352 LIFE OF BISHOP SELWYN. [CHAP. x.
January 3, 1851, there is the following entry in his log :
"Anchored in Port Cooper, 1 6J P.M. %apt? ro5 0e&&gt; ;" and
on the following day, " Went on shore at 8 ; breakfast with
Mr. Godley. Synod with four clergymen. Pleasant and
useful conference. Much spirit of unanimity and concord
in the body. At 1 walked to the new road to visit the road
parties of natives, and to invite them to service. Visited
settlers from house to house. Contented and pleased with
the country."
The Chatham Islands were included in this visita
tion, and on April 18 (Good Friday) the Undine dropped
her anchor at Auckland, never again to carry the noble
freight of the great missionary bishop and his spiritual
children.
In this year the perilous responsibility of free civil legis
lation came almost within the possession of New Zealand ;
to no colony had the privilege been extended at so early
a period of its existence. In 1.842 the local legislature
of New Zealand had passed a measure, based on the prin
ciples of representative self-government, for the local
government of the various settlements, but the enactment
was disallowed by the Crown ; and for the first ten years
of its existence the colony was treated as one undivided
community, and a Legislative Council, consisting of the
nominees of the Crown, was the sole law-making power,
with no element of popular representation. In 1846 Lord
Grey had attempted to frame a constitution for New Zea
land, which was no sooner submitted to the local authorities
than it was pronounced a failure, and was with much moral
courage withdrawn by its author. In 1852 a representative
constitution was given to New Zealand, which for the
beginning the Communion Service he looked at me in a way I quite
understood, so I gave the order, Bout ship, my lads, and when she s
round, come aft again. So we put her on the other tack, trimmed sails,
and mustered again on quarter-deck, and knelt down to prayers again.
Few bishops would have so understood the necessity for this manoeuvre,
and with most preachers I should have hesitated to move till the service
ended, by which time we might have lost some miles of ground."
1 Now Lyttelton Harbour.
1850-1851.] DOMESTIC SORROW. 353
purposes of civil government was divided into six
provinces.
While in the mother country the civil government of
New Zealand was being secured, events were happening
in the Mother Church which made themselves felt to the
remotest limit of her frontiers: the utterance known as the
Gorham judgment, had led some of the most sound, if
not the most calm-judging, sons of the Church to despair
of her catholicity. The letters written on the broad
seas are a better record of the bishop s views on passing
events than formal extracts from his diary; and the
following, brief though it be, has a special interest;
it deals with things that happened on either side of
the world, and shows the entire devotion of the bishop
to the work whose claims seemed each year to be < T rowin<>-
v O O
in urgency :
"UNDINE" SCHOONKR, AT SEA,
April 15i7i, 1851.
MY DEAR LADY Powis,
. . . I am just returning from a voyage of 4,000
miles to Stewart s Island, Otakou, Canterbury, Chatham
Islands, Wellington, Nelson and New Plymouth, and am
now within 100 miles of home, after an absence of four
months. Our house, like yours, has been one of sorrow, for
our dear little daughter, born in September 1850, has been
taken from us. I had only known her for twelve days,
and those full of business, so that I can scarcely call her
features to mind ; and " when I shall meet her in the
courts of heaven, I shall not know her." We had hoped
that she would have been the companion of her mother,
and comfort her for the separation from her sons ; but her
lot is cast in a better state by Him in whom is the whole
disposal : and we can rejoice in thinking of her as one of
the spotless Innocents who follow the Lamb whitherso
ever He goeth. The loss is less to me than to her mother :
for I cannot and must not look to children as a source
of personal and domestic enjoyment : but may hope to
rejoice, if it be God s will, in reports of their well doing
under the care of the other parents and friends with whom
they are so abundantly supplied.
VOL. I. A A
354 LIFE OF BISHOP SELWYN. [CHAP x.
How much I should like to see you all once more ! but
the work increases upon me. New Caledonia and the
Islands are opening and the good people of Sydney with
the greatest kindness have bought me a larger vessel to
supersede the dear little Undine which has now carried
me 24,000 miles, a space equal to the whole circumference
of the globe. If it were not for these calls of duty, I
think that I should have been tempted to visit England at
the end of my ten years of service, to seek for comfort and
refreshment from the fountain head : for there is but one
real privation in colonial life, the being cut off from inter
course with so much that is great and good and holy in the
mother country. Perhaps even in this respect I have
less to complain of than others of my order, as I have
the society of friends, whose cultivated minds and high
tone of principle supply as much moral and intellectual
converse as I have any right to expect. . . .
Lord Powis, I do not doubt, is much disturbed by the
present prospects of the Church in England. Every letter
and every newspaper brings new cause of anxiety and
sorrow. May we all remain stedfast in allegiance and
love to our own Holy Mother ; and if we are ever forced
to change our present position, at least let us never seek
for refuge in the most corrupt Church and the most corrupt
State upon earth. Better ten Privy Councils to adjudicate
upon doctrine than that monstrous coalition of triple
crowns and .cardinal hats and French bayonets, which is
now the state of Eome. We are not without our share of
the characteristic trial of the day, the attempt of the
State to coerce conscience ; but my little vessel rides quietly
over the waves with New Caledonia and the dark Islands
of the Pacific under my lee. I will never leave the
Church of England, happen what may, but I may be
forced to serve her and her Lord in some other portion
of this field : a little more, and Lord Grey would have
made me a Missionary Bishop with " my path upon the
mountain wave, my home upon the deep." But I pray God
that we may do nothing rashly : but dwell rather upon our
many grounds of thankfulness than upon the few causes
of discontent. .
1850-1851.] CANTERBURY PILGRIMS. 355
There was some hope (destined, however, to be rudely
disappointed,) that the bishop would shortly be relieved of
a portion of his episcopal .cares. The Canterbury settle
ment had been formed under circumstances of unusual
promise, and it was probable that a Bishop of Lyttelton
would take charge of the Southern Island ; to this end he
formally resigned the charge of that portion of his diocese
in 1851. He made a point of meeting the ships which
brought out the first detachments of "the Canterbury
pilgrims," and here is a letter describing their condition
and his own disappointment :
"UNDINE" SCHOONER, AT ANCHOR, LYTTELTON,
alias PORT COOPER.
MY DEAR FRIEND,
Here I am among the Canterbury pilgrims ; and a very
good set of colonists they are, as far as I can judge. But
a great mistake has been made in sending out too many at
once, and in allowing any consideration to prevent their
instant occupation of land. They are not allowed, I find,
to choose till two months after their arrival, by which
time the prime of the summer will have passed away, and
many will have become demoralized by idleness and desul
tory habits forced upon them, rather than chosen by them
selves. These are all the old mistakes, which I hoped you
would have avoided after so much experience and so many
warnings. 1 repeat again and again the same advice : send
out your parochial staff ready organized clergyman, land
owners, labourers, not turned adrift upon an interminable
plain : far less cooped up in a Dutch oven at Lyttelton ;
but to go at once to a parish known and chosen by them
selves, and to a church and school already built ; so that
not one single day s delay may occur in resuming those
good habits in their new country which they have learned
in England, and continued under their own chaplain on
board their ship.
I find neither church, nor school, nor parsonage in ex
istence. Money enough has been spent, but all in civil
engineering. Last Sunday I administered the Holy Com
munion in a crowded loft over a store. 1 do not care for
these things if they are unavoidable ; but where it has
A A 2
356 LIFE OF BISHOP SELWYN. [CHAP. x.
been part of the whole plan from the first to put religion
in its right place, I do object to spacious and costly offices,
long lines of wharves, roads, piers, &c., and not one six
pence of expenditure in any form for the glory of God, or
for the comfort of the clergy. Mr. Godley is doing all
that he can to remedy the defect ; and I shall of course
make the best of the matter.
I have written to you on the subject of the bishopric.
The simplest course would be for Dr. to go to Sydney
to be consecrated. After the resolution passed at our meet
ing at Sydney, I cannot advise his returning to England
for that purpose. The more Catholic course will be to
obtain consecration within his own province.
There are many very excellent people, to all appearance,
with whom I have made acquaintance, and I hope to see
more of them on my return from the Auckland Islands,
to which I am now sailing, to see the " Antartic Prince of
Whales," 1 who is now almost alone in his glory; but still
with a sufficient number of English and New Zealanders
to require a visit. I wish also to take the opportunity of
seeing my numerous god-children in Stewart s Island and
Foveaux Straits, before I resign them to the charge of the
new bishop.
It is sufficient to state here that until the consecration
of Bishop Harper, in 1856, Bishop Selwyn continued to
te the sole bishop in New Zealand.
Nothing now hindered the commencement of the Mela-
nesian voyage, as the joint undertaking of the Australian
and New Zealand Churches, but the arrival of the Border
Maid, with the Bishop of Newcastle. To this prelate the
whole undertaking was one of novelty, but the more ex
perienced bishop wrote :
" This time I shall not have an escort, which will oblige
me to be a little more cautious ; but the larger vessel will
afford greater protection, as the Undine is so low on the
water that it would be impossible to keep out boarders.
You must not expect speedy results in this work, for even
1 Mr. Enderby.
1850-1851.] BISHOP OF NEWCASTLE. 357
the soft Tahitians stood a siege of sixteen years, and the
New Zealanders the same time, before they yielded to the
Gospel. Among these mingled peoples we must expect
even slower progress : but 1 am full of hope that they
also will at last be numbered among the heathen for whom
the prayers of Christ have been heard and granted."
Thus he girded himself for the work, expecting no im
mediate results, content with patiently doing a humble
and perilous work of sowing seed if haply the harvest
might be gathered by another hand. Sixteen years of
resultless work was what he anticipated, and for this
barren toil he was prepared.
On the afternoon of Whitsun-Day, June 8, the Border
Maid was seen in the offing, and just before the " Unity
Service," a gathering held on Sunday evenings of all the
clergy and lay teachers who had been dispersed for their
widely scattered duties during the day, the Bishop of
Newcastle landed.
On Mr. Abraham s leaving Eton the previous year, it
had been determined that S. Barnabas Day should
annually be observed by the friends and supporters of the
New Zealand Church as a day of special intercession for
the work and those employed in it. Here in New Zealand
the first anniversary seemed to be specially auspicious.
Not only was the originator of the plan present in person,
but also the Bishop of Newcastle, who was taking a part
in the Melanesian enterprise. It was a happy gathering.
On the previous evening there had been much grave talk
on the patience and hope needful to carry on any real
foundation work, whether in temporal or spiritual matters ;
and Bishop Selwyn said that " Hope was at the bottom of
the box," and that he considered that the present genera
tion was indebted most to Mr. Pettigrew, who had brought
the mummy peas to England, and had grown them, thereby
revealing a vital power in that which had been buried
wrapped round a mumniy for 3,000 years. " After such
358 LIFE OF BISHOP SELWYN. [CHAP. x.
proof of latency/ who need despair ? The seed we sow
here may be hid for thousands of years, but still, remem
bering latent vitality and Mr. Pettigrew, he should never
despair."
On St. Barnabas Day there was a full service in the
church, and a large number of communicants. One who
was present thus recorded the subsequent proceedings :
" After dinner the Bishop placed his brother of New
castle in his chair (John Frere s oaken chair in Hall), and
the clergy presented to him an address of welcome. The
bishop acknowledged it very nicely, and alluded to his
friendship with G. A. N. Z. Then our bishop spoke of the
joy of meeting on this day, when the love and friendship
of apostles are commemorated with two fellow-collegians
at S. John s, the Judge and Bishop Tyrrell. He touched
very nicely on the witness which such feelings gave of the
brotherhood of such societies, and expressed his hope that
this seedling from their own S. John s, would grow up in
strength of love and purity. Then he alluded to the day,
only six years ago, when he and the judge stood on the
same spot, then only a wild heath, and Mr. Whytehead s
legacy of 600/. was all that he had with which to begin
the work ; and now, when he looked around and saw this
College of S. John, supporting itself in great measure by
its own labour, and the recognized centre of the Missions
of the Pacific, ready to receive students of divers nations
and languages, he could not but feel encouraged to go
onwards/
Not until July 17 was the Border Maid in condition to
undertake her voyage, which came to an end on September
20, on which day, at sunrise, the bishop landed his brother*
at Newcastle, and at sunset greeted Bishop Broughton at
Sydney. It was a very eventful voyage, more full of
peril and of substantial results than any that had gone
before. Instead of making copious extracts from the logs
and journals kept on board ship, it seems preferable to give
a connected and not very condensed account of it. Here
1850-1851.] RESUME OF VOYAGE. 359
then, is a resumS, written by one who was enthusiastic in
her sense of the courageous devotion which inspired the
undertaking, and full of sympathy with all who were
concerned in it :
S. JOHN S COLLEGE, N.Z.,
Kov. 7th, 1851.
It was early in the morning of the 7th of October that
we heard that the Border Maid had anchored off Kohima-
rama in the night, and the bishop was on shore and gone
to Taurarua, where Mrs. Selwyn and Johnnie were then
staying.
After morning service in chapel a party were seen
coining up from the vessel, and soon a long file of black
boys became visible, and thirteen were counted as they
came nearer.
Mr. Abraham went to meet them, and soon returned
with the joyful news that two of our old friends, who had
gone away with the bishop in July, Tom and Meste, had
returned ; and also three of the set he had here the year
before little Thol, the sick boy from Lifu, grown into a
big,, fat boy; Siapo, the chief s son from Mare, and
another.
Many of our Maori boys had gone to meet them, and
there were many greetings and much shaking of hands
between old friends, and with the strangers. Thol was at
home directly in this house, and came to see nurse, and
inquired for Johnnie ; and Tom and Meste wanted to come
in and see Mrs. Selwyn and me.
When Tom was asked about Bob, his little brother, he
said, " Bob no come ; " but he brought up another little
boy from Errornango, whom he introduced as " all the
same, Bob ! " and seemed very proud of ; and in fact little
Umao is a ditto of our last pet, little Bob, in many ways,
with his merry face and white teeth.
Then we learnt something of the story of the voyage
from Mr. Mhill and Nelson Hector, and, by dint of pump
ing, from the bishop afterwards. I will give you the
sketch of it as well as I can.
I described to you the hold, fitted up as a schoolroom
by day, when the hammocks were taken down, and left in
a good airy place. Here they kept school regularly all the
860 LIFE OF BISHOP SEIAVYN. [CHAP. x.
voyage the bishop, Mr. Nihill, and Nelson being the
teachers ; the hours of school and work alternating as
they do here.
Anaiteum was their first point, and there the bishop
found Mr. Gedclie still persevering in his work, though
with reduced means and impaired health; with a slowly in
creasing Christian population around him, and a promising
set of scholars, one of whom the bishop has brought to the
college at his request, to learn printing. Captain Pacldon
was also there, going on with his sandal-wood trade on the
conciliatory and pacific plan which he finds answers so
much better than the contrary ; in witness whereof the
guns which he brought with him in the first instance, lie
rusting in the sand. And there also is the iron house, the
only remains of the Roman Catholic Mission in the island,
which the bishop visited on first landing there in 1848,
filled with a large body of clergy, and all means and appli
ances for defence against the natives, and for their conver
sion ; but which he found deserted in 1851 the whole
body gone, like the shifting-scene in a phantasmagoria
no one knows why.
Futuna was the next place they reached, and both -the
bishops went on shore there. The people were friendly,
and they returned with two nice-looking boys, whom the
Bishop of Newcastle selected for their amiable counte
nances and gentle manners; bat nevertheless an instance
occurred with them which showed how independent the
cruelty of their national customs is of individual charac
ter. Irai, the younger of the two was very ill on board,
and Sadua, the elder, his relation, or brother, as he calls
himself, wanted to throw him overboard, because he said
he was unhappy himself and made others unhappy ; his
life was " no good."
Tanna was their next point, and here they found the
little Erromango boy, Umao, taking care of a sick Eng
lishman who had been put ashore by his companions
covered with wounds in such a dreadful state that they
feared contagion in the ship. He sterns to have been
kindly treated at Erromango, and to have been brought to
Tanna for the hot baths, this little boy still accompanying
him, and tending him most carefully, though the man was
always scolding, and often striking him. The bishop
1850-1851.] ERROMANGO. 361
offered to take the man to Sydney, and the little boy
c ame with him, and then was the bishop s " earning " to
bring him home. They say little Bob s delight wasgreat
when Umao came on board he was of his tribe in a
state of nature, but in five minutes Bob had dressed him,
and they went running about together hand in hand, all
over the vessel.
But this did not last long, for when they came to Erro-
mango, Tom and Bob were to be landed there. The
bishop was very careful about landing here, knowing the
feeling there was against the island, in consequence of
Williarns s death here. He used to say to Tom that they
would fight him if he went to Erromango ; but Tom was
always earnest in his denial, and his assurance " No fight ;
no fight."
The land they first made was Dillon s Bay, the scene of
Williams s massacre. Tom did not know the place, and
said the people spoke another language ; so they went on
to his own shore, and some of his own people came out to
the vessel ; but still, Mr. Nihill says, they were very
doubtful whether they had come to the right place, they
took so little notice of Tom, though they knew him, and he
seemed so bewildered; he wont on speaking to them in
English, " How you do ? " " Very good me come home."
They were very dirty, too, and ill-favoured, as Meste
thought, when he went down and told Mr. Niliill, " Plenty
yam Salems on deck; much dirty."
At last the bishop took the boys on shore, and sent
for the chief to give Tom up in due form. He was
long coming, and they saw no women about, which made
him cautious. He did not land until the chiefs came
down, and then he sent them off to the ship while he
accompanied Tom and Bob to their home, two miles inland.
Tom was very happy then, and ran off to find yams and cook
them. His house was an arbour of large dimensions, having
about 30 feet depth from the front. The bishop remained
outside with his companions, and partook of their food.
He knelt down with Tom and Bob and said prayers with
them, and then bade them tell their friends what they
362 LIFE OF BISHOP SELWYN. [CHAP. x.
were doing, and what it meant. But though not offensive
in their manners, they were not attractive in any way,
and took more notice of Bob s cat than anything else.
Tom and Bob came down to the beach when he left them,
and cried when he parted from them ; Tom saying, how
ever, several times, " Me say no fight ! " as if appealing to
the veracity of his statements.
The stories he tells of the fighting that prevails between
the different tribes in the island are very unfavourable to
obtaining a hearing even, still less for any religious im
pressions.
They next went to Mare (Nengone is the native name),
and found the Samoan teachers still there, and with in
creasing congregations and schools ; and to the bishop s
great joy he found that Siapo had been stedfast, and had
kept close to them and improved in reading and writing,
and in all ways.
He was on shore here for two days, and much pleased
with the progress made. A large native chapel is built,
and well filled with Christian worshippers. He joined
in the services preached in Samoan and visited the
schools ; and earnestly wished he could leave some perma
nent minister, in answer to their urgent entreaties, as he
thinks this island now ready for the formation of a mission
station. As it was, he could only bring away five of the
youths for training here this year ; two of them being old
friends. Another young chief desired to come very much,
but his father would not let him, and he sat by the Bishop
crying bitterly ; he has his name down, however, and says
he shall call for him next time.
The Isle of Pines is now entirely taken possession of by
the 11. C. Mission, and they did not land there
At Lifu he was immediately greeted as " Kanie Thol."
" Thol s father " and Thol was sent for, being inland. He
came directly, quite prepared to return to school, and
bringing a relation with him, whom he begged might come
too. The first night he said the Lord s Prayer in English,
and several other things which the bishop had taught him.
From what they could learn, there were no Christians on
the island.
They reached Malicolo on the 25th of August, and were
well received, though the natives did not even know the
1850-1851.] MALICOLO. 363
words " missionary " and " tobacco," which seem to be the
first English words known in these seas. The bishop and
his party walked about the island and made special
acquaintance with a very pleasing elderly man and his
son, a very fine, intelligent youth, whom the bishop much
wished to bring away. They found a 1 well of good water
on a hill near the shore, and next morning the bishop
returned with a party to replenish their water casks. He
had two boats, some of the sailors, two English and some
Maori boys, and Siapo. One English lad and one sailor
stayed in the boat, and the bishop went up the hill with
the rest to the spring. His quick eye, however, saw that
all was not as he left it the preceding evening. Strangers
were there, and there seemed a questioning and disputing
among them and the friendly natives, who still seemed as
friendly as ever. One of the strangers followed them
making faces, when the bishop turned and fixed his eye
upon him and motioned him to begone : he slunk back,
but still followed. He was always most particular in
keeping his party together on shore; and this day an
Italian sailor who was always making short cuts, was
nearly separated from them, but was called back in time.
They had filled their casks, and were walking down the
hill again, when the bishop saw a man above them throw
something which fell near them, and immediately a yell
was heard from below. He desired his party not to run,
nor to show any fear, but to walk on with their water casks
as if regardless of all around them.
The accounts vary as to the number of the natives
gathered together : the Maori youth says there were very
mam/t\ie English lad agrees with him. The bishop
thinks there might be 200 in all, and only a few of them
were evil disposed. Certain it is there were quite enough
to have surrounded and murdered him and his little band
had that been their intent, As it was they did no violence,
for though they threw stones and let arrows iiy, none of
them hit ; and they are too sure marksmen to miss their
aim if taken 1 .
When they came within sight of the boats, they saw that
one had pushed off towards the vessel, while the other
was surrounded with natives, who were brandishing their
clubs about Nelson Hector, and making all sorts of bragging
364 LIFE OF BISHOP SELWYN. [CHAP. x.
and threatening gestures ; in short, as the bishop said,
" hectoring Hector," while he sat unmoved, a worthy
disciple of the bishop, only quietly resisting their attempts
to take the oars from him.
The bishop and his train of water-bearers made their
way steadily onward to the water s edge. He said, " Go
on," and they walked on into the water, lifting their casks
higher and higher as they advanced, till, seeing Siapo
inarching on with his, lifting it above his head, and the
waves dashing into it, he called on him to empty it, as the
water was spoiled ; but even then he was very unwilling
to lighten his burden. As they approached the boat the
natives around it made off, and in a few minutes more
they were on their way to the Border Maid, with only one
cask missing. One of the sailors had let it fall, and it
rolled down the hill, and the bishop would not let him go
back for it.
As they went, they could plainly see the two parties on
shore, the friendly natives and the adverse ones disputing
still ; and after they reached the vessel, they saw a party
of their friends bringing the missing cask after them.
They had no sooner received these on board than they
were followed by the mischief-makers, but they kept them
from entering the vessel.
T have given you the details of this adventure, because
it seems to illustrate several points in the nature of the
difficulties of this enterprise, and the peculiar fitness of
the bishop to cope with them. His quick-sighted reading
of countenance, and apprehension of gestures ; his habits
of order and forethought, besides his calmness and courage,
humanly speaking, contribute to his safety, and enable
him to walk unscathed where others would be in danger.
If you read the account of William s s death, you will see
that he and his party acted in every respect differently
from the bishop in this similar adventure at Malicolo :
they separated one from another ; they ran when alarmed ;
they threw stones and fired when attacked.
I think some of his friends at home think him rash .
they would not if they heard the details. Though he is
bold and fearless, his thought for every one, and prepara
tion for every contingency, and his judicious selection .of
persons for different trusts, is wonderful. For instance, no
1850-1851.] LYDIA. 365
one perhaps but Nelson Hector would have kept his post
with the boat as he did. By dint of great pumping we
drew from him the story : how he and the sailor waited
till he saw the natives coming down with menacing ges
tures. He then ordered the sailor to put off towards the
vessel, to be free to come back to the bishop s aid if his
boat should be taken : he stayed himself where he was
placed. They came up, got into his boat, felt him all over,
and bullied and threatened him in all ways ; and he pas
sively suffered them to do anything but take the oars.
Sometimes he thought they were going to dash the club at
his head, but more often that it was bravado ; and so he
kept them in play till the bishop returned ; and no doubt
their safety was in a great measure owing to his nerve not
failing them.
After this island they tried to proceed towards Lydia,
but the weather and the state of the rigging was against
it, and reluctantly they turned homewards ; dropped the
Bishop of Newcastle at Newcastle ; touched at Sydney,
and reached home on the 7th of October.
I must not omit, however, that they called for Tom at
Bunkhill, on Errornango, though they did not land again :
they went near shore in a boat, and he soon appeared.
Meste called to him and told him his story ; " Me go back
college you come college." So Torn swam off ; his
clothes, he said, " sit down at home ; " and he wanted to
fetch them and little Bob ; but being afraid they might lose
him too, they did not let him go, but Meste dressed him
in some of his gear. So poor little Bob is left. Tom
assured us that he and Bob said their prayer together
every night, and other people laughed, he said. He is just
as amiable and happy as he was, but is not bright in
learning. Meste gets on well, and can read English in the
first reading-book, and write pretty well ; but he is often
sad about not getting home, and sometimes says he will
not come again. His moral sense of truth and honesty is
very keen ; but he is very anxious to get a bottle of poison
from the surgery, to poison his enemies when he goes
home ; and, on Hector s expressing horror at the idea, he
said, " Why ? They no white men ! "
The Mare" boys are the most advanced ; they can read
their own language, and have more idea of the distinctive
366 LIFE OF BISHOP SELWYN. [CHAP. x.
doctrines of Christianity. Siapo is thought by his teachers
to be really anxious for religious instruction, and to be a
Christian. To read the Bible seems his great object in
coming here. He is very national, and will not allow any
thing to be better here than in his own country. To learn
and go back is one great object with him ; and another, to
have an English clergyman on the island. He tells Hector
they are tired, of the Samoan teachers ; they can do no
more than they have done. The wild note of savage life
appears much more in them (the boys from Mare) than in
Meste. One of them hit an English boy by accident
throwing a spear and they all set off and hid themselves,
and were not found till next day : it was the custom,
Siapo said, and they could not make him ashamed of it.
They take to wearing clothes, after a little trouble, very
readily, and learn to make them ; but they resist the
cutting of their hair stoutly. However, the bishop carried
his point, and the shearing of the three Mare boys filled a
tub, he. said. The first taming process, he says, is to put
on a shirt, or blue Jersey ; then to cut their hair, beginning
with the least boy, and so on ; every one who is shorn being
in his turn on the side of shearing like the old story of
the fox.
The danger to which the bishop was exposed at Malicolo
was thus described by the Bishop of Newcastle in a letter
to a friend in England :
MOHPETH, N. S. WALES,
Sept. 23rd, 1851.
The main danger to which we have been exposed has
arisen from the character of the natives of the islands, and
their deep-rooted desire of revenge for previous injury.
They are very treacherous, or rather, I would say, when
they have, from any cause, decided to attack and kill they
effect their object by pretending to and showing in their
manner the greatest cordiality and goodwill, until the
moment of attack. The captain of a sandal-wood trader,
whom we met at the first island which we visited, told me
that on visiting one of the islands to which we were going,
some years ago, he had so numerous a crew that he thought
himself quite secure, and that the natives would not dare
to attack them. He therefore allowed as many as liked
1850-1851.] ATTACK AT MALICOLO. 367
to come on the deck ; many came and appeared in great
good humour, most pleased and friendly : \vlion in one
moment, without the slightest warning, seventeen of his
crew were laid dead on the ship s deck. Their revenge,
or retaliation, is with them a principle or point of honour,
and as they can draw no distinction between one white
man and another, however different they may be in calling
or even in country, when they have received any injury
from a ship or boat, they will always retaliate, if they can,
upon the next white men who come to their island, and it
is of course quite impossible to know what ship or boat
may have visited an island some few days or weeks before
you visit it, or how they may have treated the natives.
The greatest danger to which we were exposed arose
from the evil design and attempt of the natives in Sand
wich Harbour, at the Island of Malicolo. Only one ship
is known to have visited this harbour before the Fly man-
of-war, and the natives did not know one word of English
or of the language of the other islands. Numbers collected
on the shore as we entered the harbour about noon, and as
we wanted to replenish our water, we at once communicated
with them went in our boat close to the shore, persuaded
two to swim to us, took them as guides to the place where
fresh water could be obtained, gave them some little pre
sents, and dismissed them. The place shown by them as the
best for obtaining water proved so inconvenient that the
Bishop of New Zealand and myself rowed in the evening all
along the shores of the harbour to find, if possible, a more
convenient stream or pool. We found one more accessible
and returned after an absence of two hours to the ship.
Whenever we left the ship, we always gave directions to
the chief mate to allow a few of the natives to come on
board, at a time, if they came in their canoes, and wished
to see the ship, and seemed quiet and friendly. On our
return, the mate told us that they had allowed one or two
small parties to come on board, but that afterwards so
many came and some looked so questionable, armed with
their clubs and spears, that he had thought it prudent to
refuse permission to them to come on deck. The Bishop
of New Zealand still thought it important to procure some
water, and we arranged that we should not both go in the
boats, as we had usually done, but that he should go in the
368 LIFE OF BISHOP SELWYN. [CHAP, x
boats to the place we had selected as the best for obtaining
water (which was retired, and near the settlement of a
nice old man, with whom we -had made friends the pre
vious evening) while I remained in charge of the ship.
At dawn the boats went with casks to fetch the water, and
I was left in the ship with the mate and one sailor, and
two or three of the native boys from the other islands.
The natives had probably observed, the evening before,
how many sailors were in the ship, and perhaps had been
annoyed that they had not all been allowed to come on
board when therefore they saw the boats go away with
so many hands in them, they would know how few must
be left in the ship and feel assured that if some ten or
twelve of them could get on board, under pretence of
merely seeing the ship, they could watch their opportunity,
overpower the few in charge, take possession of the ship,
and then have also the whole party in the boats at their
mercy. Within an hour after the boats had left the ship,
two or three canoes came off to the ship, tilled with huge
men, most of them were armed with their clubs, and bows,
and spears. In the first canoe the chief man was such a
ferocious looking ruffian, with a formidable club, that I at
once determined he should not come on board. When,
therefore, the canoe came close to the ship, and they asked
by signs whether they might come on board, I refused to .
allow them, but made them understand by pointing to the
sun, and tracing its course in the heavens, that they might
come on board about noon, when it was over our heads.
By this time I knew the boats would be returned : and
then if we only admitted a few on board at a time, making
them leave their arms in their canoes, there would probably
be no great risk. They seemed much disappointed, and in
order to keep them in good humour, I talked to them,
asked their names for different things and wrote down the
words in a book. I then got them to tell me their names,
and in order to carry on this amusement and pass the time,
I pointed to an old man in the canoe and made signs that
he might come and sit on the side of the bulwarks, and
tell me the names of things which I wanted to know.
The old man came and seated himself beside me, and as I
wrote down the first word he gave rue, I saw him looking
most anxiously all over the ship : and as I wrote down the
1850-1851.] DANGER. 369
second word, I detected him making signs to the ferocious
chief, with a look which seemed to say distinctly, " It s all
right, only one or two left in -the ship : let us get quietly on
deck and the ship is ours and the white men in our power."
I immediately sent the old man back to the canoe, and
made them understand that no one could come on deck
till the sun was over our heads. Five or six other canoes
had by this time come off to the ship, and there must
have been at least fifty of these huge men in them, many
armed, and some five or six looking as if they could do
anything. For more than two hours they kept close to
the ship, asking again and again to come on deck, which I
again and again refused. Every now and then, one more
forward than the rest would take hold of the ship and
plant his foot on a slight projection, so that one good
spring would bring him on deck. No sooner had he
planted his foot and looked up, than he saw me just over
him, directing him very calmly but decidedly to get back
into his canoe. All this time the native boys from the
other islands, who were on board, were in the greatest
terror. One came to rne with a countenance of livid pale
ness and said, " Those, very bad men, they want kill you
and me, they no come on ship, you no let them come. "
Another, the biggest of the boys, a stout strong fellow,
came to me with a countenance so ludicrous from the
excess of terror depicted on it, that I could not help
laughing. Well ! after two hours, the men in the canoes
consulted together, evidently came to the conclusion that
it was no use to try any longer, and began to move off.
My work was then done, and the chief mate came up to
me and said, " I am rejoiced, my lord, that those fellows
are gone : we have been in great danger : if your calm
firmness had not disconcerted them, and three or four had
once got on the deck, the ship would not have been now
in our possession."
Next came the most anxious hour that I have ever
passed in my whole life. When the canoes had moved off
a little way, they stopped, and every eye was directed
towards the two boats of the ship, which were lying off
the shore, where the water was being fetched from a pool
about a quarter of a mile inland, up a rocky wooded bank.
The men in the canoes consulted together, then changed
VOL. I. B B
370 LIFE OF BISHOP SELWYN. [CHAP. z.
their places, filling tiie two largest canoes with those who
were evidently the greatest lighters, and these two canoes
paddled towards the "boats. While I was called upon to
act and protect the ship, I was perfectly calm, and though
I was conscious of the danger of my position, felt no fea,r.
Now I was full of alarm. As the two canoes went slowly
towards the boats, I could see other natives running along
the shore in the same direction. With the telescope, I
could see one man in each of the boats and about one
hundred -natives on the shore. The danger was, lest the
two canoes should reach the boats and overpower the two
men before the Bishop of New Zealand came down with
his body of men from the water pool in which case the
natives would be in possession of the boats deprive the
bishop and his party of all means of reaching the ship,
and destroy them at their leisure. The canoes neared the
boats, I called to the mate and asked, " Can we render any
assistance ? " " None, my lord." I pointed to a third small
boat still on the ship. " That would sink if put into the
water, and we have only one oar to it." I paced the deck
a few seconds, and then asked again, " If anything should
happen on shore, and the natives taste blood there, have
we any means of self-defence in the ship ? " The answer
was " None." This information did not disconcert me: I
felt it a duty to inquire whether anything could be done ;
and if anything could have been suggested, should at once
have set about it. But the thought that something fatal
might happen on shore brought with it a sickening feeling
of reckless disregard as to what might happen to myself.
I therefore paced the deck and rendered the only aid I
could render that of fervent prayer to Almighty God,
asking in our Saviour s Name that He would guard and
protect and restore to us in safety my dear friend and his
companions. I saw soon the canoes reach the boats : I
saw two of the natives in one of the boats : I heard a
noise and the shout from shore I could not trust my eyes,
when I thought I saw the boats move from the shore,
rowed by our own men I gave the telescope to the mate
and eagerly asked whether he could see "the men in the
boats and the bishop with them, lie looked and answered
" Yes they are all there and his lordship steers the first
boat." You can imagine my thankfulness . . . ."
1850-1851.] GRIEF OF PARTINGS. 371
The Border Maid returned to Auckland on Oct. 7. The
voyage had been as usual made available for meeting the
demands of correspondents to whom, it will be noticed,
the Bishop makes no mention of the perils to which he
had been exposed on the voyage. Among those thus
remembered was the Countess of Powis, to whom the
Bishop wrote.
To THE COUNTESS OF Powis.
SCHOONER, " BONDER. MAID,"
Sept. I&th, 1851.
MY DEAR LADY Powis,
As I am now approaching Sydney, on my return from
a Missionary voyage to the islands with the Bishop of
Newcastle, I am encouraged by the hope of a speedy mail
to prepare a letter to you, in acknowledgment of one
received shortly before I left home, dated 30th July, 1850.
I fear that the box, which I should value so much, con
taining the engraving of iny late dear friend and patron,
has been mislaid. I have never yet seen it, aud my only
hope now is that, as we live in one small house with Mr.
and Mrs. Abraham and several of our native scholars all
crowded together, the box, as it sometimes happens, may
have been laid under others during my absence, and so
have remained unseen and UE opened. In fact, since
5th September, 1850, I have scarcely been two months at
home. It will give me a melancholy pleasure to see the
likeness of my kind friend hanging in my study by the
side of my excellent father-in-law, Sir John Richardson.
I often say that in my present state of separation, probably
for life, from all my relations and friends, I have an ad
vantage over those who remain in England, for when the
course of actual conversation is once interrupted, the
greater part of the " bitterness of death is past," and the
mind, divested of the hope of further intercourse on earth,
looks forward the more easily to a reunion at the last day,
and to an eternal communion in heaven.
In September last, two days before my departure for
Sydney, it pleased God to bless us with a little daughter,
whom I found on my return, blooming with all the health
B B 2
372 LIFE OF BISHOP SELWYN. [CHAP. x.
and cheerfulness in which children born in New Zealand
rival their English relations. For about ten days I was
allowed to love this new treasure, and looked forward to
the comfort that she would be to my dear wife when her
second son should have followed his brother to England.
I then went away again on my summer voyage of
four months and had reached Wellington on my
return home when I learned that our dear little Margaret
had been cut off after a day s illness. It has been a
grievous blow to my dear Sarah, as the child was about
six months old, and at that age, as you do not require to
be told, had twined her little cords of love about her
mother s heart. To me these losses had not so much of
grief as of a softening and humbling chastisement, teach
ing me to pray that in the midst of cares and works, all
tending to roughen, if not harden, the surface of the heart,
the spirit of my little babe may be given to me that I
may be converted and become like her.
In the midst of the sorrow comes also abundant con
solation. You may have heard, I dare say, of the kindness
of the people of Sydney and Newcastle in subscribing
1,2 OO/. for a new vessel for me. We have just made our
first voyage in the Border Maid a name which will gratify
your national feeling, especially as the vessel was built at
Aberdeen. She is a schooner of nearly one hundred tons,
that is full four times the size of the Undine. A singular
providence has reunited me with my old college friend,
Bishop Tyrrell, who was No. 7 in the S. John s boat when
I was captain. We were in the same year at S. John s
and constantly together. He succeeded me in my college
rooms in the new court, which were afterwards occupied
by Lord Powis, and after him, I think, by Eobert Olive.
Our voyage of three months has been most pleasant
though not so expeditious as others in the Undine. We
are bringing back with us, as usual, a party of native
scholars, thirteen in number, from six different islands and
speaking six different languages. Among the rest is my
dear little boy Thol from Lifu, who was with us last year
and returned in such a doubtful state of health that I
scarcely expected to find him alive. He is again in good
health, and most happy to return with me to keep his
second term at the college.
1850-1851.] S.P.G. JUBILEE. 373
In this same year the Church kept the third Jubilee of
the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign
Parts. It was hoped that in every part of the world
prayers and thanksgivings would be offered by those who
had at heart the extension of the kingdom : Days of Inter
cession have within the last few years made us realise how
truly the Anglican Communion has girdled the world, but
in 1851 the idea had not been so prominently presented
to Church people : probably no more appropriate greeting,
whether in regard to the place where it was written or to
the circumstances and surroundings of the writer, reached
the Society than the following letter from the Bishop of
New Zealand.
SCHOONER "BOEDER MAID," AT SEA,
Sept. 17 th, 1851.
MY DEAR ME. HAWKINS,
I think that I cannot acknowledge the Society s Jubilee
letter from a more appropriate place than the bosom of
the wide sea, over which, in its length and breadth, it has
pleased God that the work of His Church should be ex
tended. The vessel on board of which I write will also
attest the blessing granted to the Society s labours, for it
is the gift of the dioceses of Sydney and Newcastle, where
the good seed has been sown and nurtured, under Divine
protection, mainly by your efforts. It has pleased God in
a remarkable manner to verify the words which I wrote in
an early letter that those who thought that our venerable
Society was doing little for the conversion of the heathen,
might well consider whether there could be any surer way
of spreading the gospel to the uttermost parts of the
earth than by building up the colonial churches as
Missionary centres. The movement at Sydney last year,
of which I am now enjoying the fruits in company with
my dear brother of Newcastle, is a signal proof of the
diffusion and fructifying character of your work. Your
contributions to Australia and New Zealand have awakened
a zeal and established a precedent, by which the gospel
has now been carried over a range of 4000 miles, to islands
of which even the names are almost unknown in London.
We have with us in the mission vessel thirteen youths
374 LIFE OF BISHOP SELWYN. [CHAP. x.
from six different islands, besides two of our own New
Zealanders, who are going with us to St. John s (now
recognised as the central Missionary College) for such
instruction as we hope will qualify them, in due time, to
return as teachers to their own countrymen. Our little
flock is as follows : 5. Nengone or Mare. 2. Lifu Loyalty
Islands. 2. Futuna. 2. Erromango. 1. Anaiteum New
Hebrides. 1. Solomon Islands. 2. New Zealanders. 15
speaking 7 languages. This is the choicest offering which
I can make on the occasion of your jubilee ; for there is
no treasure dearer to my own heart than these youths ;
not for themselves only, but for the inchoate and potential
good which faith and hope represent as now concentrated
in them, and to be propagated by them hereafter. Silver
and gold we have none, for what we have we receive from
you and your kindred Society (would that it were still
more united) ; but we offer to you these treasures of our
mission field, as proofs that your efforts have not been
unblessed, and that your prayers do not return to you void.
You may affirm, with perfect truth, that in our college
mainly promoted and encouraged by your support- you
are educating the children of the most distant races of the
earth. There is no inhabited spot so near to the actual
antipodes of Greenwich, as the Chatham Islands, from
which we have six youths, now under education at the
college. And it is mainly owing to the efforts of the
society, under God s blessing, that I have been enabled,
during the last nine months, to visit, with ease and
comfort, inhabited countries stretching over thirty-three
degrees of latitude, or one eleventh part of the circum
ference of the globe. The range of our native scholars is
over thirty-four degrees of latitude, from the Solomon
Islands, in 10 S. lat., to the Chatham Islands in 44 S.
These distances may serve as a lively type of the length
and breadth of the love of Christ ; for surely it is not the
Avork of the Church itself, much less of societies or indi
viduals, but His free love and His all-sufficient sacrifice,
which is bringing these things to pass. How gladly then
shall we join in your special prayers and thanksgivings :
ascribing all glory to Him, to Whom it is due ; and counting
all past successes only as proofs of His presence with His
Church always, even to the ends of the earth.
1850-1851.] JUSTIFICATION OF PLANS. 375
On my return to Auckland 1 shall hope to find your
second letter (promised in the circular of 7 Nov.), with
instructions as to the mode in which it is wished that the
Jubilee should be observed.
Trusting to the blessing of the Almighty that your year
of Jubilee will be one in which many slaves of Satan will
be set free,
I remain,
Your grateful and faithful friend,
G. A. NEW ZEALAND.
The complaints, some more heavy than others, which
the colonists had made of the bishop defrauding them
selves of this measure of his services while he was
"yachting" among the Solomon and other groups- were
now repeated, losing nothing of virulence by distance, in
England. The bishop sent his justification .together with
remarks on divers topics in a letter to his constant friend,
the Eev. E. Coleridge.
S. JOHN S COLLEGE, AUCKLAND,
Oct. Stk, 1851.
MY DEAR AND INEXHAUSTIBLE FllIEND,
On my return yesterday from the " News," the mass of
matter which they suggest must be my excuse for at once
proceeding to business, when I would much rather linger
within the playground of affection.
1. Ship Money. I fear that I have been guilty of the
offence of Charles I. of levying this tax without sufficient
authority misled unintentionally by your letter . . .
It is a great satisfaction to me to find from you that I
may appropriate the ship fund to any purpose connected
with the mission, because I shall now feel able to carry
out some other plans necessarily resulting from the use of
the vessel, but not actually naval . . .
Lest you should be afraid of being reduced to a mere
" dealer in marine stores," I will do my best to supply
you with matters of higher interest " ad salutem animarum
pertinentibus."
2. Touching my Diocese. You say that questions have been
raised about my neglecting my own diocese. Pray inform
all complainants that my diocese extends from the Auck-
376 LIFE OF BISHOP SELWYN. [CHAP. x.
land Islands to the Carolines ; i. e. from 50 south latitude,
to 34 north latitude ; upwards of
80 degrees of latitude by 20 of
longitude : and that having a dio
cese so like a rolling pin, I must
needs be a "rolling stone;" though
I am well aware that such stones,
Equator. :
whether heaved by Sisyphus, or
borne by torrents, "gather no
moss." But it is not for me to
question the wisdom of an ap
pointment, of which it is my
simple duty to endeavour, so far
as God may give me grace, to discharge the duties. At
present, as I have not visited much more than 30 of the
given .80 degrees of latitude, it seems to be premature to
accuse me of extending majores niclo pennas.
If it should be said that the definition of the Colony of
New Zealand, which has been copied into all the Patents
and Public Documents of New Zealand, by which it is made
to extend to 34 north latitude, is a clerical error, I rest
upon a surer ground in the parting charge of the dear
archbishop now gone to his rest, who, with the bishops
forming the Board for Colonial Bishoprics, consigned to
me, in 1841, the oversight over the progress of religion in
" the Coasts and Islands of the Pacific " a charge which
neither his successor, nor any other Church authority has
revoked ; and which it is therefore my duty to attempt at
least to fulfil. For seven years, during the troubles of New
Zealand, I neglected altogether this part of my diocese, and
now bitterly rue the consequences of this delay ; as fields
then untrodden by the foot of missionary, are now overrun
with Papists and others ; and I have to retreat rejected and
baffled from places which were freely open to me on my
first voyage in the Dido. Considering that, within the last
twelve months, I have visited every English settlement in
New Zealand (except Whanganui) of 150 inhabitants, from
Stewart s Island to the Bay of Islands, including the
.Chatham Islands, distant 400 miles from the main, two
visits to Lyttelton, two to Wellington ; and that the larger
settlements have been visited every year, upon the average
at least once, since I arrived, instead of the triennial obli-
1850-1851.] OBJECTIONS OF FRIENDS. 377
gation imposed by the Canons ; and that I have visited on
foot twice every mission station ; and am now preparing at
the end of my ninth year to visit them a third time, in the
course of a walk of about 1000 miles, but unhappily not
one which can be done, in Captain Barclay s style, in 1000
houi-s considering, I say, all these things, I think that
objectors had much better hold their tongues, and not
" compel " me to seem to " boast," when I would much
rather dwell in silence upon my own infinite shortcomings.
3. Touching your confidential " kernel " of esoteric
advice, I shall not forget your caution ; but you hold, and
have often expressed an opinion, that the Colonial Church
must re-act upon the Mother ; and to say the truth, the
agony of parting with such men as Manning, caused, as it
seems, by the delay of our Church in asserting her own
principles and carrying them into practice, does make one
almost desperate, and in bitterness of heart one may often
steep too much nasturtium, if not gall even, in friendly
correspondence. But believe me that 1 have always felt
that I have much greater aid, both in men and money,
than I could possibly have expected ; that I am deeply
grateful for these blessings ; and that if I ever speak of
" enterprizes of great pith and moment turned aside by the
interference of relations," it is only because I am convinced
that the Church can never secure the respect or confidence
of her most thoughtful sons so long as such things are
done . . .
I cannot for very shame go to Scripture to rebuke such
interference with a clergyman s sense of duty, but having
seen our soldiers and sailors in their wearisome and profitless
warfare in this country, I feel disposed to make a low bow
to every military and naval man because they do so
cheerfully for the Horse Guards and the Admiralty what
elvdrepes rydkow re will not allow clergymen to do for the
Church, and so being ashamed, as I say, to go to Scripture,
I fall back upon Euripides, Phosnissce, 1000 :
v f\fvdepot
KOUK fls dvayRJiv Scu/xoVou d<piyfjLfvoi t K T.\.
and then I confess that a little Spirit ytteVo?
through the nostrils, when I think of the whole Pacific, or
rather the whole world overrun by the disciplined forces
of the Jesuits, who have practically restricted the Catholic
378 LIFE OF BISHOP SELWYN. [CHAP. x.
duty of obedience to the followers of Loyola, as the virtue
of temperance was once confined to the house of Eechab.
But you must tell me when I do more harm than good by
this sputtering, and in all cases acquit me of censoriousness
or malevolence. I only wish to see our Church acting, I
would not say as other churches act, but as every organised
body must act with a view to success. Give us the dis
cipline of the Church of Eome, and its principles of obe
dience, and we shall hear no more of " Papal aggression."
What is the answer to the plain questions, Why are Papal
countries aggressive in nothing but religion ? and Protestant
countries aggressive in everything but in religion ? Even
Thucydides will supply an answer, where he shows why
the aggressive policy of the Athenians always failed by
the turbulent and unorganised character of its democracy.
Do not suppose that we vaunt our own perfections in
speaking plainly. Our own Colonial churches, witness the
* domestic comfort " declaration of the clergy of Adelaide
and Tasmania the Land Question in New Zealand will
all wither and die with the parent stock unless we can all
agree to uphold and act upon higher principles than the
secular system which fills the four volumes of Burn s
Ecclesiastical Law, the root of the Gorharn Question and of
all evil the fact that a clergyman has a legal status beyond
the control of his own order and of the Church ; by which,
whether bishop or priest, he ceases to be a soldier of a
marching regiment, and becomes one of the Household
Brigade, which could not bear to serve in Canada.
4. And lastly, I invoke your aid for pressing the point
of the Wellington Bishopric, which would do more to
enable me to grow " moss " than anything else that you
could do for me. Wellington and Auckland have nearly
equal claims ; if anything, Wellington has the priority.
Press the point with all the vis Coleridgiana.
On All Saints Day, 1851, confirmation was administered
in the college chapel to some of the native students, and
others were baptized. The candidates, " clothed in white
robes, represented people speaking ten languages, gathered
from one-fifth part of the earth s circumference, from east
to west, and one-tenth part from north to south." Such
was the entry which the bishop wrote in his diary. Ten
1850-1851.] RESUME OF TEN YEAKS. 379
days later he was again on board the Border Maid and off
on a visitation to the Chatham Islands and the southern
portions of New Zealand, from which he did not return to
Auckland until March 29, 1852.
Ten years have now passed since the see of New
Zealand was founded : it is by looking back over such a
period that we can estimate the full results of labour and
not by a continuous record of daily doings ; such a resume
has kindly been supplied by one who, unconnected with
the Mission, was no unconcerned onlooker during the
whole of the period.
" The first ten years of the bishop s life and work in
New Zealand can be but imperfectly understood unless
some account is given by those who were eye-witnesses of
the struggles he underwent in the founding and carrying-
on of S. John s College.
" At the Waimate, indeed, as soon as he had returned
from his long visitation through the country in January,
1843, he began to organise his collegiate system. But
though he encountered many difficulties, and though the
removal of his chaplain, Mr. Whytehead, by death, was
like the loss of his right hand, the work there was com
paratively easy. In the old Mission Station he found
houses enough for all his staff, and he soon turned deso
late-looking and ruinous sheds and outhouses into infant
and native boys schools, hospital, printing-office, &c.
" There was already on this ground a house for English
boys and their master, and a room in it large enougli to be
used as a college hall. There was a good deal of pasture
land, which only needed care to be made profitable ; and
within three minutes walk there was the old mission
chapel, in which daily prayers and Sunday services could
be held. When we visited our dear friends, in October,
1844, we were surprised and delighted with the progress
made. There were fiity native boys, from three to fifteen
boarders, under the charge of one of the C.M.S. mis
sionary s sons, and a native girls school, under the care
of Mrs. Dudley. The bishop had found in a loft a num
ber of spinning wheels, sent out years before by the
Society, and had had them put in order; and here the
330 LIFE OF BISHOP SELWYN. [CHAP. x.
little brown-faced maidens sat and spun every afternoon,
and sang merrily over their work. The whole place was
a scene of busy, cheerful life.
" Far different was the state of things when the bishop
shortly after had to leave the north just as every effort of
his was beginning to prosper. The immediate cause of the
removal was the unwillingness of the C.M.S. Committee
in England to grant a lease of the land and buildings to
the bishop ; but the war which broke out four months later
would probably have compelled him to leave the Waimate.
" Some months previously the Bishop, the Chief Justice,
and the Attorney- General had chcsen a site for the future
college on high ground, about five miles from Auckland by
land and three by water, and running down to a navigable
creek.
" The Tamaki land was considered very good, and some
settlers were already on farms in the neighbourhood. But
there was hardly a tree and not one house on the estate,
and the greater part of the land turned out to be stiff and
clayey, and very difficult to work. The party of students
and Maori and English boys were put into tents and into a
large barn beside the creek till better accommodation could
be provided. As soon as they were settled, under the care
of Eev. W. C. Cotton, the bishop s chaplain, the bishop
had to start off again on a long visitation tour, and on his
return, in March, 1845, when he was hoping to give his
whole time for a while to the oversight of the college
buildings, the war in the north broke out, and he had to
go up to the Bay and to the Waimate, and on his return
thence to sail with wife and child to the south, and to re
main in charge of the Mission Station at Otaki for three
months. Mr. Hadfield s dangerous illness and the need of
some one who could speak Maori, and who could mediate
with authority between the English and natives, rendered
this necessary. He was back again in .July, superintending,
planting, encouraging, going with parties of the boys, native
and English, to neighbouring islands in the little Flying
Fish to buy timber, always taking the heaviest share of
the work, whatever it was, and selecting the roughest ac
commodation for himself. Difficulties and cares were press
ing heavily on him. His trusted friend, Mr. Hadfield, was
lying, as was supposed, in his last illness at Wellington.
1850-1851.] KESUME OF TEN YEARS. 381
Mr. Mason, of the C.M.S., had been drowned the year be
fore, when swimming a stream near Wanganui, so that iu
all that large and disturbed district he had only one clergy
man, Eev. E. Taylor, in charge, and one deacon, whom he
had trained and ordained in the winter. And during his
few months stay in Auckland he and his wife were ten
derly nursing Mrs. Dudley, who died in their house on
September 19th, 1845. He had hoped to place her and
her husband about that time on a station thirty miles
from Auckland, and to see her in charge of a large native
girl s school, for which work she was eminently fitted. But
this was not all. The destruction of Kororareka brought
many destitute families to Auckland, who had young sons
growing up, with no means of paying for their education.
Several of these made earnest application to Mr. Cotton
in the bishop s absence to receive their boys, and the chap
lain, knowing his master s large heart, agreed. So on the
bishop s return he found eight or nine lads, who must be
taught and boarded and lodged as foundation scholars.
Some men would have refused the responsibility, for he
had no regular provision for the support of the institution,
save a grant of 3001. for the maintenance of students from
the S.P.G. For the rest he was dependent on the sym
pathy and support of friends in England and on his and
his chaplain s private means. The colony was in a state
of great depression ; labour scarce ; wages high. But the
very difficulties seemed to brace him to the conflict. The
Pauline Kules were drawn up and printed, and the strug
gles began. Looking back now at those years of toil, I
can but wonder at his faith and patience.
" By May, 1846, on the bishop s return after five months
weary travel through every part of his diocese, he and his
family removed to St. John s College, and the work fairly
began. It looked bare and bleak enough. A grey scoria
building, which formed two houses, with eight rooms in
each. In one of these the bishop lived ; in the other was
the English boys school. The native party was still at
Purewa, and on the opposite side of the road were three
cottages for the college servants. The meals were taken
in a scoria kitchen, and cooked in an outhouse. By the
end of the year a little hospital was built, and things be
gan to look more bright. Then comes the time of the
382 LIFE OF BISHOP SELWYN. [CHAP. x.
fever, which attacked from twenty to thirty of the college
party, and stopped all work for two months, save the
constant nursing of the sick, which the bishop took share
in night and day. His own party were just recovering
when the sad news arrived of the death of Rev. Mr.
Bolland, of fever, at New Plymouth. It was needful for
the bishop to go off at once to the south to make arrange
ments for supplying his place. This could only be done
by removing Mr. Govett from Otaki to succeed his friend
and to send down Mr. Samuel Williams, the son of old Arch
deacon Williams, to take his place among the native people.
This was a great loss to the college, as Mr. Williams, who
had been born in the country, was invaluable as master of
the native school ; for he had not only idiomatic know
ledge of the Maori language, but acquaintance with the
ways of thinking of the people, and an affectionate in
terest in them, and besides, was a man of business. At
the end of 1847 Mr. Cotton also had to fulfil his promise
to his father and family of returning for a while to Eng
land ; and so the machines had to be worked by young
and often inefficient hands during the bishop s long ab
sences. Many anxious thoughts about the college work
and workers weighed him down in his long lonely voyages
and land journeys. And no sooner did he arrive home, after
months of separation from his family, than he plunged into
work at S. John s, teaching, auditing accounts, &c., as if
he had no other claims on his time. And amid many
discouragements the work grew. By the end of 1847 the
beautiful chapel was consecrated, and daily service begun ;
and the hospital was open again for only uninfectious
cases ; and primary native and English schools, all at
work. About that time the college servants cook, butler,
and butcher, all for various reasons determined to leave ;
one man and his wife to return to Tasmania ; another to
go on a farm ; and after much thought and counsel with
his friends the bishop decided to have the work done by
the college party, instead of paying exorbitant wages to
persons who had no interest in the success of his under
taking. He had seen young officers on board Her Ma
jesty s ships standing daily by while the rations were
served out, and keeping strict account of everything, and
he tried to infuse a like sense of responsibility into the
1850-1851.] RESUME OF TEN YEARS. 383
minds of his young men that they should do the serving
of tables faithfully and cheerfully. Unhappily this was
a very unpopular step, and met with little sympathy and
approval within or outside the college, though it was only
asking the students to do for Christ s sake what every
settler in the bush had to do for his own. It was then
that he preached a grand sermon at the Tamaki, which his
friends used to call the sublimation of Carnifex.
" I well remember listening to a talk of his to a student
one morning on the consequences of faithfulness or unfaith
fulness in the discharge of his duties as house steward.
How it seemed probably a small thing to him to entrust
some Maori boy with the keys to give out Hour or rice,
and yet a little waste each clay might in a few months
amount to a sum of money which would have enabled the
bishop to bring some native child to be taught and trained.
Perhaps the young man at the time only received the talk
as a lecture/ but judging by his faithfulness in an office
of trust in after years, the seed bore fruit. The bishop was
delighted to get hold of a little book of directions, printed
by Colonel Gold, of the 65th Eegiment, for the use of
his men. After an appeal to the elder men, the drummer-
boys were exhorted to step smartly forward for the honour
of the 65th. With one of his happy playful turns, he used
to call this book the Golden Rules.
" How his eyes used to kindle and his whole face light
up with a smile as he read this, for this was the spirit
which he desired to infuse into all his workers. And they
did respond in a way ; but most of them were young and
inexperienced, and the college system was little under
stood, even by older men, whose sons were reaping the
benefit of the bishop s self-denying exertions in the cause
of education. The notion of English and natives working
side by side on equal terms and with common privileges
was unpopular, and so was the industrial system, though
it alone enabled the larger number of youths of both races
to get a sound education.
" For it must be remembered that during all these first
years, from 1842 to 1851 or 52, there were no English
schools in any of the settlements save day schools, for
the poor settlers sons learned early enough to saddle and
ride a horse, and to drive a bullock-waggon, but were
384 LIFE OF BISHOP SELWYN. [CHAP. x.
liable to grow up in the ordinary sense uneducated. Nor
were the catechists of the C.M.S. able to provide a liberal
education for their many sons. Most of these were
brought up at S. John s. It was not till 1848 that Mr.
Maunsell, stirred by the sight of the college work, began
a native boarding school at Waikato Heads. This was
followed up by similar schools up the Waikato, and in the
south, which were aided by government grants.
" There was, too, afloat a latent dread of Puseyism, and
if that subsided, then all that was new was the bishop s
way. That some did, however, from the first appreciate
the bishop s work may be seen by the endowments given
to the college : (1) by a lawyer in Auckland ; (2) by a
C.M.S. clergyman, in memory of his only son, who had
been at S. John s College, Waimate, and tenderly nursed
in his last illness by the bishop and Mrs. Selwyn ; (3) by
a gentleman in Auckland, in memory of his wife.
" The arrival of a large body of military settlers in the
provinces at the end of 1847 and in 1848 increased the
college work greatly. The government imported several
bodies of pensioners, with their families, from England,
and planted them in four villages within six to eight miles
of S. John s College, without making provision in the way
of chaplains, or a salary for such. A good number of the
men were Roman Catholics, but the others had to be
looked after. A wooden church for Howick was all pre
pared by the College Corporation at St. John s, and the
college carts took the framework over, and at the bishop s
expense the building was put up ; and before the end of
1848 he had pretty little wooden churches open for the
use of the pensioners at Panmuir, three miles ; Otahuhu,
five, and Onehunga, six miles from the college ; and all
served every Sunday by deacons resident at S. John s.
In all weathers the bishop and his young clergy went a-foot
through mud and mire to their different posts, he always
taking the hardest part of the work and the largest num
ber of services. One by one they dropped in between
seven and eight in the evening, and after High tea, the
whole party used to gather into the chapel for what was
always called the Unity Service.
" It was a happy ending to a day certainly not of rest.
After 1848 we were used to see dark- faced Melanesian
1850-1851.] RESUME OF TEN YEARS. 385
youths among the crowded ranks of English and Maori
boys of all ages. The bishop s letters have shown how,
on his visit to the Chatham Islands and to the whaling
stations, his heart was sad when he saw boys and girls
growing up nominally Christian, but in entire ignorance,
and so lapsing into heathen ways ; and how he longed to
crowd his little vessel to overflowing with these stray
lambs. He was very happy and hopeful when a native
girls school was built and opened on ground near to
Auckland, given in part by the government.
" This institution was under the care of the Eev. G. A.
Kissling, of the C.M.S., and his wife ; and his face would
beam with satisfaction at the prospect of suitable wives
being trained there for his native teachers. Several mar
riages did take place, the old tribal feeling being overcome
after some difficulty ; the faithful Eota Waitoa, who had
risen step by step from being a bare-footed lad in a
blanket, with a pack on his back, up to a well-dressed
house-steward and a schoolmaster, to the diaconate, and
after some years to the priesthood, chose an excellent help
mate from S. Stephen s. The weddings were always held
at the college, and the young couples generally settled
down there in the bishop s house, which had wonderful
powers of expansion.
" Then came the Annus Mirdbilis, as our dear friend
used to call 1850, when Mr. Lloyd and Mr. Abraham
came out to work at the college. Mr. Lloyd learned Maori
readily, and won the boys hearts. The college worked on
under difficulties, but successfully, until 1853, when it
was necessary to disperse the school for a time : before
it could be reassembled, the clergyman at S. Paul s, Auck
land, died, and Mr. Lloyd took his place. The native
side of the work was never resumed at S. John s, for indus
trial schools on the same principles were now at work in
several parts of the islands where boys could be fed and
taught at half the expense.
"It was grand and thankworthy to walk through the
fields which he had sown, amid trees which he had planted,
towards a church which he had built, and filled with scholars
whom he had reared, whose mouths he had fed, whose
oodies he had clothed, whose minds he had taught, that
they might do the same for others after them, by the
VOL. L C C
386 LIFE OF BISHOP SELWYN. [CHAP. x.
labour of his own head and hands, and all through a vast
amount of opposition and lack of sympathy."
Yet another letter, which falls within the limits of this
year, serves as a mirror in which to reflect the bishop s
labours and manner of life. It was written to a friend
in England by a competent witness :
S. JOHN S COLLEGE, AUCKLAND, NEW ZEALAND,
August llth, 1851.
" I may suppose you to be pretty well acquainted with
the localhVy of the college from the bishop s letters which
have been published. When new comers arrive at Auck
land and ask for the bishop s palace, I own it is very
amusing to watch their faces as I point to a dingy scoria
building, with four windows in front, and the same at the
back, at which may be seen, however, some right cheerful-
looking Maori faces, and sundry English figures ; for this
small house of eight rooms is crami ull of married men
and women, and boys of several ages. I say it is very
amusing to watch the faces of the persons inquiring and
I can pretty well tell now the animus of the visitor by
his expression of countenance on seeing the palace. One
man s eye brightens up as he says : Well, this is more
like the exterior appendages of an apostolic bishop ;
another says (but not to me) : It is a beggarly hole ;
and so on. But it is a curious fact that the people who
in England railed at bishops for their luxurious mode of
living are here rather offended at ours for his utter dis
regard of personal comfort and show, though he is as
soignt and particular as any one about the church s orna
ments, or, indeed, his own house, such as it is. I mean
that he combines simplicity and neatness, and shows as
much taste in the order and arrangements of his humble
and straitened cabin or study as any captain of a man-of-
war, or member of the Eoxburgh Club.
" Would you like to spend a day with us while the bishop
is here ? (which is seldom enough) ; well, then, you would
come to morning service at seven, and see issuing from
three different buildings lines of mixed English and Maori
lads streaming to the pretty little wooden chapel. There
are settlers in our neighbourhood that say they like to
1850-1851,] METHOD OF TEACHING. 387
come to our chapel, for it is more like England than
anything in the country. In fact, it is almost the only
ecclesiastical-looking building, I believe, in the country,
and Mr. Waile s painted glass at the east end gives it a
home look of antiquity and sacred association very
different from the generality of buildings here.
" The bishop reads the service half in Maori, half in Eng
lish ; an English scholar reads the First Lesson ; a Maori
scholar reads the Second Lesson. At nine o clock school
begins. The bishop only takes Scripture classes, and has
them in chapel. First comes a class of Maori lads and
men, who are separated into the baptized and the con
firmed ; one set usually come one day; the other another
day. The teaching is very graphic and lively. The
Maori mind cannot take in anything abstract ; everything
is taught by illustration.
" I don t know that I can better describe his mode of
teaching the young, or of warning the elder, than by
telling you of a visit I paid with him to the chief in the
neighbourhood, who will not become a Christian because
he has two wives, and he must give up one. Are you
not thinking of becoming one of us ? says the bishop.
Yes, perhaps, said the chief. There the conversation
dropped ; but I saw the bishop hold up two fingers, and
then bend down one. The chief nodded assent. At the
time I did not understand it, and I said to the bishop
afterwards, What was that symbolical communication
you held with him, which he seemed to take in so
readily? and then he told me that the chief had two
wives and must put down one.
"I have learnt the character of many of the boys by
watching the questions he puts to them. I heard him
single out one boy in rather a marked way (when read
ing of Samuel) to ask him what sort of men Eli s sons
were. The boy hung down his head and gave no answer.
The others looked hard at him. I found he was the rather
unworthy son of a worthy father.
" The great value of his teaching, however, is his wonder
ful perception of the capacity of the pupil, and his thought-
building, if I may so call it. He lays the foundation of
his teaching so admirably. Tt is like building stone upon
stone. You never see a huge dome or cupola of iron on a
c c 2
388 LIFE OF BISHOP SELWYN. [CHAP. x.
weak wooden framework. The point he wants to instil
does not come out till the end of the lesson, and perhaps
the actual thing to be brought out does not occupy five
minutes of the lesson all the rest of the hour he has
been gradually building up to that point. The Maoris
delight in it. It is so LightUke, they say so clear,
that is.
" After an hour or so with these natives, you would see
some of the Melanesians come in. They have only been
with us a few months, and yet they have managed to pick
up words and ideas that make us very hopeful of being
able to make them native teachers for their own people
some day. . . .
" It was rather trying to one s nerves, however gratifying
to one s mind, to hear the following illustration or expla
nation come out. The bishop was trying to teach them
that bad words and lying were wrong. He could not make
out whether or no he had made himself clear, when the
biggest boy left no doubt on our minds by retailing
some words which they had learned on board ship :
Does God love boys, said the bishop, who do some
thing, and say they have not done it ? No ; gammon
no good, was the quaint reply. And indeed their keen
moral sense in matters of truth and honesty is very ex
emplary, I use the word advisedly. They are positively
an example to both English and Maori boys in matters
of this kind.
" When these have spent an hour with the bishop, in
come some English scholars, of twenty or thereabouts,
and with them the principle of teaching is the same,
though the matter is higher. Words and passages in the
Greek Testament, teaching and illustrating the Love of
God, or the Power of God, Eedemption, Sanctification,
&c. These are most carefully analysed, and the prin
ciples of language worked out at the same time that a
vast deal of collateral instruction is given by catechising.
I mean the bishop always works on the Socratic plan of
extracting the knowledge of the pupil, and making him
teach himself. He does not play at perch-fishing in
Virginia Water/ as George the 4th did ; that is to say,
he does not put in the perch one minute, and pull it
out the next; but he stocks his fish-pond, and lets it
1850-1851.] ROUTINE OF DAY S WORK. 389
reproduce, and then goes a-fishing ; or he gives them the
flour and expects a loaf of bread.
"Another hour or two is occupied with the highest class
the candidates for Holy Orders and a like process
carried on.
" The bishop is specially a man whose knowledge is self-
wrought and applied. Cave Uominem unius libri is fully
exemplified in him. He knows the Bible thoroughly, and
the only other book he seems to know well is Pearson on
the Creed. With these two he seems to master every
subject.
" But let us go on with our day. A dinner in hall at
two o clock is of the simplest, yet most substantial kind,
and is attended by the whole college. The bishop by this
means is able to offer chance hospitality without pressing
hard on his limited resources,
" If business permits, after dinner we may start off round
the college to see the working departments. There is not
one of these which he is not well able to superintend. If
he had not been a good bishop he might have made a
capital farmer, or a good carpenter, or a weaver, or a
printer, all of these works are going on with our Eng
lish and native lads, and I need hardly say that he still
more understands seamanship and navigation. He is, in
fact, a first-rate officer. I was asking a common sailor the
other day about the different vessels that leave this port,
and their captains, and who he had sailed with ; and then
I said, Who would you prefer sailing under out of this
port ? He immediately said, Well, I had as leave go
with the bishop as any man, evidently lo oking at him
merely on the sailor side of his character.
" It was a glorious sight the day the new mission ship
(the Border Maid) first left her moorings near the college.
All the boys were on board, and Champion, her captain,
was piloting her up to Auckland, the bishop at the helm.
Luff, my lord. Luff it is. With him it is no playing
at seamanship, but downwright hard work. He knows
where every store is, and every rope ; he keeps his
watches regularly, indeed, much more regularly than any
captain of a ship, who never keeps watch on deck except
in bad weather. He takes the sights, teaches the oldest
sailor and the youngest boy. Every person and every-
390 LIFE OF BISHOP SELWYN. [CH\P. x.
thing coines under his eye and care. And then his
sermons on board ship, under .the open eye of heaven,
are so grand and sublime. Only fancy how this told the
other day. There was a man-of-war in harbour which
had been to the Northern Islands in his company last
year, and he went on Sunday before he went off the
other day, and held divine service on board. He took
with him our four Melanesian boys, and the Gospel for
the day was the 14th chapter of S. Luke (2nd Sunday
after Trinity). You could see by the rapt attention of
the sailors how they took in every word he said about
those that were picked up in by-lanes of the city. Doubt
less their thoughts flew to Kotherhithe and Wapping ; and
he contrasted the advantages of their orderly and disci
plined life on board ship with their careless life on shore ;
and then he spoke of the hedges and highways of the
ocean, and pointed to the black boys who had come to
us originally from on board a man-of-war; and he told
them how good a training for the Christian life we had
found the order of a ship had been to these boys ; how the
regular habits on board this vessel had prepared the minds
of these boys for subjection to a higher discipline and
training for immortality.
" The sailors seemed to be thankful to know that they
had in their way, by example, been of service in the good
cause. They were so extremely fond of these black boys,
and when they were sick or sorry, they used to take such
care of them.
" I have never seen the bishop s mode of dealing with
the Melanesians in their own islands, but I fancy the way
he wins their hearts at first is by his innate humour, com
bined with thorough fearlessness, and above all, of course,
a constraining love of souls for whom Christ died. They
seem to know instinctively, like dogs and children, that
he loves them, and means their good. At one savage place
he was eyed suspiciously at first ; but he brought forward
one of his own little boys he was bringing back to one of
the islands, and pointing to the lantern jaws of a little
native of the island, and then pulling out the fat cheeks
of our little fellow, he made them understand that he
would do the same, for any of their children they would
let him take. When they saw him poking his fingers
1850-1851.] GOLD SEEKING. 391
into the hollows of one s cheeks, and pulling out the fat
of the other, they danced and shouted with joy at the fun,
and would have let him carry off dozens.
" I will give one specimen of his sermon to the Maoris,
and one to our English fellow-countrymen on the Cali-
fornian money-mania, and end my tale. The Maoris are,
I am sorry to say, falling back, many of them, to heathenish
practices. This was very much the case in one tribe ; so the
bishop preached on Saul, and without pointing or explain
ing the application to them, it was very striking to see
how they caught it all, and fitted the cap. The warrior
Saul brought into immediate contact with Divine truth,
admired for his prowess in arms, having Samuel for his
guide and adviser, rebelling against him and God, gradu
ally leaving the service of the true God, betaking himself
to sorceries and witches. It was just what they are and
do; and they saw its application exactly. Parable and
history supply all his religious teaching, and fables and
proverbs all his moral.
" What a description is this of the soul which is cut off
from Christ ! A ship driven from its anchor, by which it
held to the rock, tossed by the raging waves, and unable
to bear up into the wind, with devils howling for joy amid
the storm, Let her drive ! It is a true account of all who
have lost their hold of Christ. Let her drive ! To them
neither sun nor stars appear ; no small tempest lies upon
them. * Who will deny that the manifold changes of the
world were never more manifest than at the present time.
All human powers alike are proved to be unstable as water.
A torrent of unruly wills is sweeping away everything
before it, and when it has done its work of destruction
it is itself overwhelmed by the next wave that follows it.
And in the midst of this wild and frenzied fever of the
world, as if in mockery of human madness, Satan opens
out his last remaining lure. When all the kingdoms of
the world and the glory of them have been seen to be
worthless, he points to the rivers which flow with golden
sands. Now in the last ages of the world he reveals his
hidden treasures as fuel for the fire he has himself kindled
upon earth. Lest nations should be too poor to war, he
first inflames their passions, and then supplies them with
the means. And then he who has roused the storm looks
392 LIFE OF BISHOP SELWYN. [CHAP. x.
on with his own cry of joy at the sight of the vessel
hastening to destruction. Let her drive ! he seems to
say with bitter scorn ; gold is no longer needed for the
thrones and the crowns of kings ; cast it into the midst
for the multitude to quarrel for/
" You may well imagine the feelings called forth by this
stirring appeal. I hope many have been warned against
going to California and Bathurst for gold. Some that did
go write back to their friends > and remember this sermon
now it is too late.
" But apart from its intrinsic worth, I thought it was so
characteristic of our bishop s nautical tastes and habits."
END OF VOLUME I.
INDEX TO VOLUME I.
INDEX.
ABRAHAM, Rev. C. J. (afterwards
Bishop of Wellington), 75, 76, 1(31.
202, 230, 310, 317, 331, 336, 341,
371, 385
Acland, Sir T. D., the late, 86
Asaph, S., See of, 216
Anaiteuni, 285, 286, 291, 297, 298,
347, 374
Anaijoin, 301, 346
Languages of, 302
Analysis, verbal, of Bible, 319 et seq.
Albert, Prince, 6
Alexander, Bishop of Jerusalem, 81
Adelaide, See of, 219
Alligator, H.M.S., 311
All Souls Statute, 343
Armstrong, Bishop, 2
Arnold, Dr., 83
Atuas Maori, 104
Auckland, 118
Times, 188
Islands, 318
" Annus Mirabilis" (1850), 385
BEAT FERRY, 52
Baring, Sir F., 96
Balade, French mission at, 291
Babel, 301
Baptism, declaration of Australasian
bishops on, 351
Barnabas Day, S., 357
Barclay, Captain, 377
Berry Pomeroy, 12
Bede Ven.. 72
Beche-la-mer, 288
Bernard, S., 295
British and Foreign Schools, 25
Bishop s Castle, 58
Brought on, Bishop, 3, 63, 104, 102
217, 250, 358
Bolaffey, Mr., 19
Boveney, 20
Blcmfielil, Bishop, 65
Brown, Archdeacon, 183, 304
Board of Missions (Australian), 340,
351
Harder Maid, the, 352, 371
Bunsen, Chevalier, 82
Butt, liev. H., 175
Butterflies (in New Caledonia), 327
Bull, Bishop, 342
CATHEDRAL COMMISSIONERS, 30
System, 31
Open for private prayer, 33
Reform, 3438, 4042, 50, 335
Chapman, Bishop, 79
Caledonia, H.M.S., 89
Chatham Islands, 221
Caledonia, New, 311, 327
Canterbury Pilgrims, 355
Clerical Aid Society, 43
Cerberus in New Zealand, 275
Circumcision, bishop in line of, 81
Cicero s Proaemia, 302
Cotton, Bishop, 2
Coleridge, Bishop, 3
Copleston, Rev. R, E., 41
Co-operation, 49
Colonial Bishoprics Council, 59, 62
Consecration of Bishop Selwyn, 74
Coleridge, Sir J. T. Right Hon., 78
Rev. Edward, 87, 121, 186, 204,
224
Lord, 79
Cotton, Mr. Justice, 79
Rev. W., 105, 380
Cole, Rev., 105
396
INDEX.
College at Waimate, 146, 160, 234,
269
Columbine schooner, 187
Controversy, 237
Colombo, Bishop of (Dr. Chapman),
291
Courage and rashness, 310
Cook, Captain, 311
Church Missionary Society, 97
Church and State 164
Church Constitution, 223
DALTON, Eev. C. B., 22, 45, 49, 57, 61
De Morgan, Dr., 14
Degree of Eev. G. A. Selwyn, 10, 78,
80
" Deacon Episcopate," 203
Design map, to face p. 299
Discipline, Spiritual, 241
Divorce and re-marriage, 244
Dido, H.M.S., 251, 264, 275, 281, 292
Dissenters, relations towards, 292, 387,
346, 347
Dillon s Bay, 309
Durnford, Rev. B., 79
Dudley, Kev. H., 105, 183
Dunstan, S., 199
Dunedin, 264
E
EVANS, William, 125, 222
Exeter, sermon at, 83
Episcopal authority, limits of, 246
Erskine, Captain, 296, 297 29?, 313
Eton Miscellany, 10
College Chronicle, 10
Boats, 11, 18
Sermons, 49
At Antipodes, 343
Endowments, 120, 140
Erromango, 303, 309, 374
Ely Cathedral, 260
F
FEFLD, Bishop, 3
Frere, Eev. J., 43
Few, Mr., Ill
Free churches, 122
Fitzroy, Captain, 163
Fitzgerald, Dr., 279
Food, lesson on, 323
Fulford, Bishop, 3
Flying Fish, 187, 193
Fly, H.M.S., 267, 328, 347
Futuna, 305, 374
G
GRAY, Bishop, 2
Gladstone, Eight Hon. W. E., 7, 53,
152, 217, 273, 290, 350
Granville Island, 253
Grey, Sir G., 17, 275, 336
Greek church, 81
Grey, Earl, 267, 271, 352
Geddie, Mr., 347
Gosset, Eev. I., 29
Govett, Eev. H., 195, 198, 382
Gorham case, 341
Godley, Mr. 356
Golden Eules of H.M. 65th Eegiment,
383
Gold, Colonel, 383
Gold, sermon on discovery of, 391
Guinea, New, 318
HAWKINS, Eev. Ernest, 65, 66, 119,
166, 186, 277
Hatchard, Eev. J., 87
Hadfield, Archdeacon, 127, 128, 145,
153, 187, 189, 266, 279, 380
Hahi ( = Church), 155
Hazard, H.M.S., 170, 171, 175, 178,
189, 256
Hawes, Mr., M.P., 275
Havannah, H.M.S, 285, 299, 303, 349
Hawtrey, Eev. Dr., 335
Harrington, Mr., 341
Harper, Bishop of Christchurch, 356
Heber, Bishop, 2
Heke John, 168, 169, 179, 200
Heuheu Te, 172174
Hector, Captain, 182, 227, 349, 359,
364
Herald, H.M.S.. 257
Howley, Archbishop, 68. 69, 84
Hobson, Captain, 99, 100, 102, 169
Hospital at College, 208
Brethren and sisters of, 208
Home, Sir E., E.N., 313
Hume, Joseph, 271, 328
Button, Eev. T. B., 280
INTERCESSION, days of, 373
Innocent, Bishop, 4
Industrial training, 270, 342
JEROBOAM S MINISTERS, 3
Jerusalem, Bishop of, 81
INDEX.
397
Jengen, 291, 314, 315
Jesuits, obedience of, 378
John s, S., College, Cambridge, 52,
208
Jus trium liberorum, 327
Jubilee of S.P.G., 373
KAWAU MINE, 230, 277
Kapiti, Archdeaconry of, 280
Kateiugo, 305, 316
Keate, Dr., 10, 297
Ken, Bishop, 133
Kerikeri, 148
Keble, Rev. J., 349
Knitting taught to Maories, 165, 212
Kissling, Rev. G. S., 385
Kororareka, 102, 169, 179, 181, 184,
188, 190, 192, 205
Konas, 258
LAND DIJTICULTIKS, 141, et seq., 16
248, 265, 272, 339
Language, idioms of, 320
Lanfear, Mr., 348
Laity in Synod, 350
Latency, 358
Lessons on food, 323
Listen the comedian, 15
Lifu, 301, 304, 374
Lonsdale, Rev. J., 48, 50
London Missionary Society, 255
Loyalty Islands, 304
Lloyd, Rev. J. F., 336, 341
Lyte Maxwell, Mr., 10
Lyttelton, proposed Bishop of, 355
Lydia, 365
MACAULAY, Right Hon. T. B., 28
Manning, Archdeacon, 30, 377
Marriage of Bishop Sehvyii, 53
Malta, Bishopric of, 59, 61
Marsden, Dr., 62, 95
Mackarness , Mr , gifts, 10T, 111
Martin, Chief Justice, 125, 160, 273
354
Marriage of converts, 157
McLean, Mr., 172
Maui God, 206
Maxwell s Harbour, 226
Marriott, Rev. C., 227
Maxwell, Captain, 254, 256 268, 277,
313
Mare, 307
Marryat s, Captain, code of signals,
319
Malicolo, 362, 367, tt seq.
Mackenzie, Bishop, 2
Melbourne administration, 70
See of, 219
Bishop of, 351
Melanesia, 276, 284
Dialects of, 302
Meste, 309
Milmau, Bishop, 3
Moa brig, 341
N
NATIONAL SOCIETY, 56
Ngatiraukawa, 185
Ngatiawa, 185
Nengone (or Mare), 362, 374
Newman, J. H., 8, 81, 200
F W., 8
Newfoundland, Bishop of, 186
Newcastle, See of, 219
Bishop of, 351, 356, 358, 366 et
seq., 371
Nesbitt, Mr., 307
Nihill,Mr., 147,359, 361
Non-interference, 156
Northumberland, Dukedom of, 215
Nursing (Bishop Selwyn), 126
OTWAT, Cape, 112
Otago, 155
Organization, Church, 339
Oxenham, Rev. N., 87
Oswestry, 165
Obedience of Jesuits, 378
Ordination of Rev. G. A. Selwyn, 20
Candidates for, 32
Oriel College, 228
Oliver, Captain, 308
Oxford movement, 239
Opposition at Wellington, 281
PATTESON, Bishop, 3, 84
Psalmody, authorized, 50
Paul s, S., honorary stall at, 67
Patronage, 61
Patent, letters, 71, 349
Errors in, 73, 84
Patteson, Sir J., 78
Pauline rules, 134
398
INDEX.
Pairata Te, 207
Patronage, 247
Pangopango, 255
Paddon, Captain, 256, 257, 80S
Palmer, Sir R., 290
Phantom, vessel, 306308
" Palace," Bishop s, 386
Patrimony of the Church, 215
Peel, Sir R., 70
Pew system, 122
Perseverance, schooner, 155, 186
Preachers qualifications, 241
Peacock, Dean, 259, 283
Pettigrew, Mr., 358
Philolutes, 18
Philpotts, Lieutenant, 179, 189
Printing house, 239
Pines, Isle of, 283
Privy Council judgments, 354
Powis, Earl of, 1(3, 149, 213
Countess of, 164, 211, 229, 353,
371
Polynesian College, 129, 317
Polygamy, 159
Porirua, 253, 279, 282, 284, 285, 340,
341
" Poor heathen," 329
Psychrolutes, 18
Public Worship Regulation Act, 29
Plymouth clergy, address of, 88
Pusey, Dr., 199
Purseless, scripless spirit of Church,
215
Q
QUEBEC, Bishop of, 200
RATTPARATA TE, 145, 176, 196, 198
Raugiaeta T<-, 145, 176
Rarotonga, mission at, 294, 301
Rashness and courage, 310
Reay, Rev., 105
Retrench, brig, 106
" Remove trials," 299
Record newspaper, 314
Regiment, 65th, H M., 383
Richardson, Sir J., 51, 66, 371
Lady, 52
C., 283
W., 283
Rhin Le, French corvette, 166
Richards, Mr., 307, 308
Rona, or Man in the Moon, 1-7
Rota Waitoa, 131, 221
Robertson, Captain, 193
Rotuma, 253
Roman missions, 298, 314, 360
Hover s Bride, 306
Robertson, Mr., 346
Rome, Church of, 354
"Rolling-Pin " Diocese, 376
Russell, Lord John, 66, 70
Rupai, 105
Ruapaho, 206
STRACHAN, Bishop, 2
Stanley, Lord, 70, 168
Swainson, Mr., 131, 160
Stanhopes, New Zealand, 140
Plains Castle, 176
Samoan teachers, 301
Seamanship, 297, 352, 389
Stewart, Bishop, 2
Selwyn, Jasper, 5
Major-General, 5
Colonel John, 5
George, 5
William, Q.C., 2, 5, 69, 283, 305
Rev. Professor, 9, 64, 87, 283
T. K., 9, 20, 283
Miss, 145
Lord Justice, 9, 11, 283
William, Jun., 222
Sermons, criticisms of, 46
Advent, 55
S^lf-support, 138
Stephen of Citeaux, 295
Separation, bitterness of, 371
Stipend of bishop of New Zealand,
139
Siapo, 305, 316, 359, 363
Societies, Church, union of, 48
Sponsorship of the Church, 159
Sotheby, Captain, R.N., 313
Schoolmasters, deacon, 335
Stoughton, Dr., 346
Sydney, 115
Synod of 1844, 158
Syndicate for translation, 211
Synod, diocesan, 223, 234 et sen., 248
Sydney, synod at, 339, 340, 349 et seq.
Supremacy, Royal, 350
Summary of ten years, 1841 1850
379, et seq.
TRAINING INSTITUTION, principalship
of, 57
Tasman, 93
Tamati Waka, 99
Tapu, 103
Thames district, 123
INDEX.
309
Taranaki, 148, 311
Taua. 150, 170
Tamahana, W., 156, 158
Tanna, 301, 306, 307, 360
Thallup, 305, 315
Teignmouth, 12
Teaching, method of, 387
Times newspaper, 67
Triplials, 302
Trower, Bishop, 8
Tomatin, 82, 92, 115, 116, 187
Thompson (Rauparaha s sou), 177,
197
Tonga Tabu, 254
Fac-simile letter from, to face p.
254
Thol, John, 304, 315, 359, 362
Tamaki, 380
Tyrrell, Bishop, 13, 14, 351, 356, 358,
372
Turton, Professor, 78
Turner, Mr., 387
U
UMAO, 360, 361
" Unsatisfied members," 199
Uea, 301
Union, Windsor and Eton church, 48,
79
Speech addressed to, 80
Undine, 220, 230, 259, 266, 268, 279,
281, 285, 290, 304, 305, 311, 326,
352
Ub ete, 305, 316
" Unity Service," 357
W
WAKEFIELD, Colonel, 98
Waitangi, treaty of, 99, 101, 102
Wairau, 102, 141, 153, 185
Watson, Rev. B. L., 105
Wales, N. S., Church Act, 121
Waimate, 124, 132, 134, 158, 201, 285
Waikato, 130
Waiapu, 249
Weteri (Wesley), 155
W caving taught Maoris, 164, 212
Welsh bishoprics, 213, 230
Wesleyan missions, 255
Wesley, John, ship, 282
Windsor schools, 25
Church dispute, 26
New church, 28
Winchester, Bishop of (Sumner), 49
Wilberforce, Bishop, 79, 147
Williams, Archdeacon (afterwards
Bishop of Waiapu), 139
Rev. H., 178, 186
John, 254
Rev. Leonard, 249
Williams, John, ship, 294, 307, 309
Winifred, S., 199
Wilkes, Captain, 310
Whytehead, Rev. T., 78. 87, 105, 124,
132, 199, 379
X
XAVIER, S. Francis, 199
YSABEL, 303
VENABLES, Bishop, 2
Vixen, brig, 110
Victoria, brig, 197
Vincennes slu p, 310
Victorine, eggboat, 330
Voyaging, risks of, 294
ZEALAND, New, Co., 62, 96, 101, 341
Church Society for, 62, 63
History of, 93, et scq.
Association, 96
Landing in, 116, 117
Constitution for, 352
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