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The Pamphlet Collection of Sir Robert Stout: Rare Volume

(1.) Services in the earlier periods of European inter course with New Zealand, and at the time of its colonization

(1.) Services in the earlier periods of European inter course with New Zealand, and at the time of its colonization.

New Zealand became known to Europe about the middle of the seventeenth century; and the first representation given to the world of its inhabitants was that they were "a bloodthirsty race who had commenced hostilities with their western visitors without provocation."* Even Cook suspected them of evil, and some untoward collisions took place between the natives and the ships of his expedition, in spite of his steady discipline and friendly policy. A few years later, the island had acquired a character which made them the very bye-word of abhorrence in the civilized world.

"New Zealand was at this time proposed in the House of Commons as an eligible field for convicts; but the cannibal propensities of the aborigines overpowered every argument in favour of the scheme." Indeed "it is difficult to convey an idea of the terror in which the New Zealanders were held about this

* Thomson's Story of New Zealand, vol i., p. 229.

Ib. p. 231, 232.

Ib. p. 241.

page 3 period. Sailors groaning under scurvy, and in sight of a country covered with vegetables—the specific of the dire disease—preferred toothless gums to contact with cannibals. As the deer drend the tiger so do all men dread the eaters of men. . . In 1791, Captain Vancouver anchored in Dusky Bay, in the Middle Island, on his voyage round the world; but no vessel entered any of the northern harbours during that year; and an idea of the dread in which the natives were held even by educated travellers might be drawn from the following incident:—Admiral d'Entrecasteaux, when searching for La Perouse, arrived off New Zealand in 1793. His naturalist represented the importance of obtaining several flax plants, but the Admiral refused, out of terror, to approach too near to the const, although the natives were friendly, and paddled in their canoes to the ship to barter mats and weapons of war for iron and fish-books."*

The South Sea whale fishery, the excellence of New Zealand flax, and the establishment of penal and other settlements in the neighbouring seas, gradually led to further intercourse between our commercial navy and New Zealand. New Zealand chiefs found their way, not only on board our ships, but to Sydney and even to England. But this growing confidence was checked by lamentable instances of disgraceful cruelty and breach of faith on the part of our misguided navigators; till in 1809 the illtreatment of Tarra, the son of a Wangawa chief, issued in the well-known massacre of the Boyd; the captain, crew, and passengers of which, were, with four exceptions, treacherously murdered and eaten, and soon after as remorselessly avenged. The natives were denominated "the enemies of mankind"; and so great was the estrangement between the two races that "every vessel approaching the coast had boarding nets, and during the three years ending 1817, one hundred New Zealanders were slain by Europeans in the immediate vicinity of the Bay of Islands."

At this crisis it was, that the Missionary stepped upon the scene. Missionaries, indeed, had been ready to enter upon the work in 1810; but the state of excitement on all sides was such as to render a postponement of their enterprise imperative, and it was not till the end of 1814, and while a bloody feud between two native tribes, arising

* Ib. p. 241.

Ib. p. 252.

Ib. p. 253.

page 4 out of the massacre of the Boyd, ran high, that the Rev. Samuel Marsden, with his little band of followers, landed in the Bay of Islands. With noble intrepidity, Mr. Marsden and Mr. Nicholas spent the night among the chieftains of Wangaroa, the very perpetrators of the massacre; and by this bold act healed at once the open sores which existed between the hostile tribes, and laid the foundation of that better understanding which, with few, though sometimes fearful interruptions, has reigned between the European and the Maori to the present day; and which, there is good ground to hope, will, under God, be yet perpetuated.

The influence gained by the Missionaries may be traced in the records of the Missionary Societies which have laboured in the island, in Mr. Marsden's interesting memoirs, and in Miss Tucker's beautifully delineated "Southern Cross."* It is sufficient here to adduce, in proof of it, the thankful recognition of it by those who have since realized the substantial benefits thus secured to them.

The Governor of New Zealand, on opening the second session of the Legislative Council (Dec. 14, 1841) said :—

"Whatever difference of opinion may be entertained as to the value and extent of the labours of the Missionary body, there can be no doubt that they have rendered important services to this country, or that, but for them, a British colony would not at this moment be established in New Zealand."

And these words have received the imprimatur of Mr. Swainson, who was at that time and for many years afterwards, Attorney-General of New Zealand:—

"Whatever difference of opinion may be entertained by the settlers of the extent of Missionary influence among the natives, all are now agreed that the Missionaries have rendered important services to both races, and that but for their labours, a British colony would not at this moment have been established in the country."

New Zealand, which by various public acts had been ac-

* Life of Marsden, by the Rev. J. B. Marsden. The Southern Cross and Southern Crown, by Miss Tucker.

Purl. Papers, Aug., 1812, p. 199.

Swainwon's New Zealand, p. 93.

page 5 knowledged independent,* became a part of the Queen's dominions by cession, under the treaty of Waitangi, in 1840.
It is well known that the Missionaries were "prominently forward" in obtaining this treaty. Mr. Taylor, in whose handwriting the treaty was drawn up, observes that "this was mainly accomplished by the influence of the Missionary body." Captain Hobson bears the most decisive testimony to the same effect. In a letter dated May 29, 1840, and addressed to Mr. Davis, he says :—

"The period having arrived for proclaiming the sovereign authority of Her Majesty over these islands, it accords no less with my public duty than it gratifies my personal feelings, to acknowledge in the most ample manner the efficient and valuable support which I have received from the resident members of the Church Missionary Society, in carrying into effect with the native Chiefs the views and objects of Her Majesty's Government.

"As the official organ of that body, I beg you will accept and convey to every member of the Mission in New Zealand my cordial and hearty thanks for the very zealous and effective assistance which they have rendered me in the execution of this duty.

"The station which I have the honour to fill may justify my recording in this public manner, my thankful sense of the personal attention which I have received from the gentlemen of the Mission, &c."

Captain Hobson further manifested his confidence in the Missionaries and the high sense he entertained of their qualifications for regulating the intercourse between the natives and the colonists, by appointing Mr. George Clarke, for sixteen years a catechist in the Mission, to the important office of "Protector of the Aborigines."

The state of the Colony at the beginning of 1840 was critical, and it was of great consequence to secure the cession of the sovereignty both cordially and without delay. In the effort to secure this important object, the Missionaries rendered a service deeper and more opportune than is conveyed in the mere assertion of their having assisted in the negociation. But it is not so much to this service, valuable as it was, that the Governor and Mr.

* Pari. Papers, Apr. 1840, p. 68. Thomson, vol. ii. p. 11.

Taylor's New Zealand, p. 210.

Report of the Church Missionary Society for 1840-1, p. 95.

page 6 Swainson refer in the passages cited above, as to previous exertions extending over a period of a quarter of a century, by which the native race had been prepared to welcome British settlers, and to allow "the shadow" of a British Queen to rest upon their beautiful and productive islands.