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BISHOP SELWYN
OF NEW ZEALAND, AND OF LICHFIELD
A SKETCH OF HIS LIFE AND WORK
WITH SOME FURTHER GLEANINGS FROM
HIS LETTERS, SERMONS, AND SPEECHES
BY
G. H. CURTEIS, M.A.
CANON OF LICHFIELD CATHEDRAL, EXAMINING CHAPLAIN TO THE BISHOP OF LICHFIELD
PROFESSOR OF NEW TESTAMENT EXEGESIS AT KING's COLLEGE, LONDON
AND FORMERLY FOR MANY YEARS PRINCIPAL OF LICHFIELD THEOLOGICAL COLLEGE
^RB'TR SCIi:MTI.e
HARBOR VIT't A
LONDON
KEGAN PAUL, TRENCH & CO., i, PATERNOSTER SQUARE
1889
(The rights of translation and of reproduction are reserved.')
PREFACE.
Very shortly after the death of Bishop Selwyn a brief
" Sketch " of his Hfe was written, at the request of friends
in the diocese, by Mrs. Curteis. She had been among those
who enthusiastically welcomed him on his return to
England, and had known him well during the whole
of his residence at Lichfield. The little book was very
favourably received, and went through several editions. It
was followed, soon afterwards, by a much more extended
work, in two volumes, from the able pen of the Rev. H. W.
Tucker. His only disqualification for the task was the fact
that he had no personal acquaintance with the Bishop.
But, in spite of that difficulty, there is no doubt that these
volumes will always keep their place as the main repertory
of his acts and correspondence. Since that time, however,
a considerable amount of fresh material has been placed
at the disposal of the present writer ; and many facts are
within his own personal knowledge, which .throw light on
Bishop Selwyn's episcopate in England — a period far too
slightly delineated in both the previous biographies. More-
over, the present time seemed opportune for expanding the
original sketch and weaving in these new materials.
1227943
VI PREFACE.
Immediate judgments are often crude and hasty. But
eleven years have now elapsed since the Bishop's death in
1878: and not only have many ill-considered opinions
received correction, but the relative importance of many
events and persons, at first indiscriminately commingled,
has been made manifest by simple lapse of time. Yet, on
the other hand, the interval has not been so long as to
blur the singularly vivid impression left by Bishop Selwyn
upon his contemporaries, nor to deprive the world of the
immense advantage derived from personal reminiscences of
associates and friends. Among such friends the foremost
place must here be accorded to Bishop Abraham and
Bishop Hobhouse, — the former of whom has most kindly
read all the proof-sheets of the present book, with a view
to correction of mistakes in Maori names or in important
dates and facts. For all other mistakes or misappre-
hensions, which may have occurred in these pages, he is
in no way to be held responsible. But especially are
acknowledgments due to Mrs. Selwyn — the revered and
beloved widow of the late Bishop — by whose consent this
work was undertaken, and without whose aid it could
never have been completed.
Whatever may be its imperfections, it is hoped that
some persons, at least, may gather from it a truer concep-
tion than the)' had before of Bishop Selwyn's work and
influence in England. His name has hitherto been,
naturally and rightly, associated chiefly with a long and
successful episcopate of twenty-six years in New Zealand.
It has, perhaps, been too much overlooked that his return
home in 1868 was felt by many like a blast of fresh and
wholesome colonial air let in abruptly upon a somewhat
PREFACE. VI 1
close and asphyxiating atmosphere of old-world precedent
and custom ; that to his energy is mainly to be ascribed
the great success of the Pan- Anglican Congress, now
periodically assembled at Lambeth ; that to his ubiquitous
advocacy is almost entirely due the acceptance in this
country of mixed Diocesan Conferences, as distinct from
purely clerical " synods ; " and that in his personal agency
was concentrated, as in a burning focus, that singular re-
action of the colonies upon the mother-country which is,
perhaps, the leading phenomenon of our own time. Thus
the opinion hazarded by a journalist at the time of the
Bishop's death seems to need some correction. He said,
" The eleven years' superintendence of the English dio-
cese has left no such mark on the district as the twenty-
six years at the Antipodes." Rather, the following " in
memoriam " verses struck a truer note : —
" O widowed partner of his toil,
Take comfort that his every hour —
With men, in boolvs, on wave or soil —
Budded its hundred-fruitful flower,"
Of such a man it is not easy, even yet, for us in
England to form a thoroughly just and accurate estimate.
Nor is the warning wholly superfluous which was sounded
by a very friendly critic, soon after Bishop Selwyn's
death : " The biographer of Bishop Selwyn will have to
face the temptation of drawing too flattering a portrait."
At all events, the labour of compiling the present little
work — and, amid a most baffling dearth of journals and
letters and similar easy aids, the " Lichfield period " has
involved no little toil — has been a real " labour of love."
Nor have the Bishop's own words, however little they
VI n PREFACE.
really contemplated the writing of his "biography," been
left out of view. He was one evening, as usual, full of
fun and spirit ; and was amusing the home-circle, i:;athered
round the hearth at Lichfield, by good-humoured banter
on his wife's excessive admiration — as he thought — for
Boswell's "Life of Johnson." Suddenly, after much bright
word-fence and repartee, she turned upon him with a
home-thrust: "Well, now, pray how would you like your
own life to be written .'' " He looked serious for a minute,
and then replied, " Should my life ever be written, I should
desire only two things : (i) that all my faults and failures
should be candidly confessed ; (2) that any successes I
may, in spite of them, have attained should all be faith-
fully ascribed to the grace and mercy of God." How he
himself regarded his "failures" maybe seen in many of
his letters. Take the following fragment as a specimen : —
Whether it please Almighty God to visit us with " the sickness
that destroyed! in the noonday," or with a scourge worse than
death, the moral pestilence of sin "that walketh in darkness," this
should be our comfort: "The seed is not quickened except it
die." Every seed must have its own period of latency. And
failure after failure is but like the fall of the autumnal leaf which
strips the tree of its beauty only to make the soil more fertile for
future harvests. Our soil is none the worse, because it has been
followed by many years of disappointment and watered by many
tears. " He that goeth on his way weeping shall come again
with joy, and bring his sheaves with him."
The humility and patience which prompted these words
inspired almost the whole of his long and laborious life.
They were the characteristic features of the man. But
they were balanced and completed by the presence of two
PREFACE. IX
other features of remarkable interest and of singular com-
plexity. Seldom has such indomitable and courageous
energy been witnessed in any man, as was seen in Bishop
Selwyn ; never, perhaps, has such determined energy been
observed to issue forth from a character naturally cautious
and even nervous. Seldom has such a chastened delight
been felt by any man, as was felt by Bishop Selwyn, in
handling the reins of power ; never, perhaps, has it been
felt in equal degree by any one who at the same time
positively craved to be " under authority " and to whom
the habit of " obedience " formed the joy of his life. In
short, they were not far wrong who, on the morrow of his
death, declared that " to know the man was to love him ; "
and that we are not likely, in our own generation, to " see
his equal again."
CONTENTS,
PART I.
THE PERIOD OF PREPARx\TION.
(1809-1841.)
CHAPTER I.
PAGE
Birth and Parentage — Early Life and Education — Eton and Cambridge
— Foreign Tour — Work at Eton and Windsor ... ... ... 3
CHAPTER n.
Cathedral Reform — Society at Eton and Windsor — Courtship and
Marriage ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 15
CHAPTER HI.
Bishopric of New Zealand offered — Last Days in England — Departure 22
PART II.
THE NEW ZEALAND EPISCOPATE.
(1842-1867.)
CHAPTER I.
The Voyage out — Head-quarters near the Bay of Islands — Thorough
Visitation of the Northern Island ... ... ... ... 39
PAGE
Xll CONTENTS.
CHAPTER II.
Second Visitation Journey (1843) — Visit {via the Thames Valley) to the
District of the Hot-springs and the Terraces — Lake Taupo — New
Plymouth — Wellington ... ... ... ... ... 84
CHAPTER III.
First Visit to the Southern Island — Native Schooner to Banks Peninsula
— Walk along "the Ninety-miles Beach" — Canterbury Plains —
Otago Harbour — Stewart's Island — Perilous Voyage to Wellington
— Removal from the Waimate to Auckland — "St. John's College,"
near Auckland ... ... ... ... ... ... 94
CHAPTER IV.
" Trinity College," near Wellington — Organization of the Diocese — The
General Synod — Lay Representation — The Canterbury Settlement 113
CHAPTER V.
First Visit to the Polynesian Islands in H.M.S. Dido — Second Visit in
the Undine (yi\X!n H.M.S. Havaniiah') — Third Visit — Arrival of Mr.
Abraham and Mr. Lloyd — Synod at Sydney — Fourth Visit (with
Bisho]5 Tyrrell) in the Border Maid — Voyage to England — Sermons
at Cambridge ... ... ... ... ... ... 128
CHAPTER VI.
The Bishop's Return to New Zealand — The Ten Years' Maori War —
General Synod — The Canterbury Settlement in the Southern Island
— Bishop Patteson consecrated for Melanesia — Second Voyage to
England — Pan-Anglican Synod at Lambeth — Wolverhampton Con-
gress — Summons to succeed Bishop Lonsdale at Lichfield ... 154
PART III.
THE LICHFIELD EPISCOPATE.
(1868-1878.)
CHAPTER I.
1868.
Enthronement at Lichfield — Thorough Visitation of the Diocese —
Advocacy in every Rural Deanery of the "Conference" System —
First Diocesan Conference — Rapid Farewell Visit to New Zealand... 193
CONTENTS. Xlll
CHAPTER II.
1S69.
PAOE
Return from Farewell Visit to New Zealand— Vigorous Work in Eng-
land — Dean Champneys — First Illness — The Irish Church — Speech
in the House of Lords — Consecration of Bishop Temple — General
Chapter ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 239
CHAPTER III.
1870.
The Theological College — Mr. Forster's Education Act — University
Tests Bill— Ritual Disputes at Wolverhampton — A Unitarian at
Holy Communion in Westminster Abbey — The Franco-German War
— Work in the Mining-districts ... ... ... ... 269
CHAPTER IV.
1871.
End of the Franco-German War — Deprivation of Rev. C. Voysey — The
Purchas Judgment — The Old Catholics — Oberammergau — Second
Diocesan Conference— First Visit to America — Death of Bishop
Patteson — Illness of the Prince of Wales ... ... ... 282
CHAPTER V.
1S72.
The Universities Commission — Use of the Athanasian Creed — Futile
Proceedings in Convocation— Speech at Oxford — Consecration of
Bishop Rawle — Letter from Mrs. Selwyn — Pelsall Colliery Accident
— Confusions in the Church — Bishop Selvvyn's Care for the Young... 313
CHAPTER VL
1873-
A Year of Great Funerals — The Irish University Bill — The " Gentleman
Heresy " — Mission of J. R. Selwyn to Melanesia — Ritual Dissen-
sions—The Bishop's Relations to "Young Men" — West Bronnuich
Parish Magazijie — Loyalty to the Prayer-Book — Superstition— Re-
ligious Education — The Bishop among his Theological Students ... 336
XIV CONTENTS.
CHAPTER VII.
1874.
PAGF.
Bishop Hobhouse appointed " Chancellor of the Diocese "-^Meaning of
the Appointment — The Public Worship Regulation Act — Bishop
Selwyn's Loyalty to Anglo-Catholic Principles — Second Visit to
America — Its Results — Sermon on " Sympathy '" ... ... 357
CHAPTER VIII.
1875.
Deaths of many Prominent Persons— Mr. Osborne Morgan's Bill — First
Organization of " Diocesan " Missions — Ritualism — Murder of Com-
mander Goodenough at Santa Cruz — -The Labour-traffic — Mission-
festival at Lichfield — Church Congress at Stoke-on-Trent — India and
Melanesia — Revision of the Cathedral Statutes ... ... ... 3S9
CHAPTER IX.
1876.
The Bulgarian Atrocities — Sister Dora — The Burials Bill — The " Old
Catholics " — A " Church House " — The Final Court of Appeal —
Visit to the Isle of Man — The Bishop as a " Muscular Christian " —
The Diocesan Fund ... ... ... ... ... ... 418
CHAPTER X.
1877.
Consecration of J. R. Selwyn as Bishop of Melanesia — Proposed Division
of Lichfield Diocese — F'ourth Diocesan Conference — The Barge
Mission — A Diocesan Clergy House — "Institution" and "Induc-
tion" — Proposed Conference on Ritualism ... ... ... 443
CHAPTER XL
1878.
The End approaching — Last Speech in Convocation — A Parish in the
Black Country — Confirmation in Stafiford Gaol — Love of Children —
Sermon in the Potteries — Ministries to the Sick — Death of Mrs. J. R.
Selwyn — Friendly Talk with Working People — Illness — Last Meeting
at the Theological College — Fatiguing Confirmations — Death ... 469
PART I .
THE PERIOD OF PREPARATION,
(1S09-1841.)
BISHOP SELWYN.
CHAPTER I. .
Birth and parentage — Early life and education — Eton and Cambridge — Foreign
tour — Work at Eton and Windsor.
The life of George Augustus Selwyn — bishop, first of New
Zealand, and then of Lichfield — covers seventy years of a
most interesting period. It was that great period of transi-
tion, both in the history of the State and of the Church in
England, for which the nineteenth century will probably in
future times be mainly regarded as important. For as the
Reform Bill, and the controversies which led up to it,
radically changed, in 1831, the political history of our
country, and produced results which sixty years' experience
has shown to be nothing less than a " silent revolution," so
"the Oxford movement" (or "the Catholic revival") diverted,
in 1833, the whole course of the Church into fresh channels,
and gave a fresh colour both to religious sentiment and to
practical life throughout the whole remainder of the century.
Now, both those epoch-making events — to use a common
German expression — coincided precisely with the completion
of young Selwyn's education, and with his first entrance
4 BISHOP SELWYN. [1809.
upon the world's stage. It will not be surprising, therefore,
if we find, on perusal of his life, that we have in this stalwart
son of England, at her most remarkable period of bold yet
peaceable development, a representative man, — a living
embodiment, endowed with an exceptionally " mens sana
in corpore sano," of that new spirit of progress which had
n^w taken full possession of our country. And it adds
immensely to the interest of such a study, that this man of
almost unrivalled bodily and mental powers witnessed the
rise, and helped to shape the destinies, of that " Greater
Britain " which is now so prominent an object in every
Englishman's thoughts. For his life was divided into three
very distinctly marked portions. The first thirty-two years
of it were spent — chiefly at and near Eton — in earnest many-
sided preparation for whatever tasks he might be called
to undertake ; the next twenty-seven years were given to
active service in New Zealand and Melanesia ; the last ten
years gave back to England the ripe fruits of his immense
experience, garnered from both hemispheres in succession.
The mark then made by such a man — equipped with such
extraordinary gifts of mind and bod}-, devoted during half
a century to ceaseless and well-directed work, and never for
one moment debased by a passing shadow of personal
ambition or desire for notoriety — is not to be measured by
the number of " testimonials " he may have received, or by
the world's actual consciousness of the benefits it reaped
from his untiring ministry. The men who have most per-
manently moulded the world's fortunes are rarely those
who have cared to figure in statuary or on the pages of
newspapers. Their noble and lasting work has deserved
and has received, in the impress it has left upon posterity,
i8o9.] BIRTH AND PARENTAGE. 5
a " monumentum sere perennius : " and they have been
satisfied to be, like St. Paul, " unknown and yet well-
known, sorrowful yet alway rejoicing, poor yet making
many rich, as having nothing and yet possessing all
things."
George Augustus Selwyn was born on April 5, 1809,
at Church Row, Hampstead, in the quaint old street
that still leads to the ivy-clad church. His father was Mr.
William Selwyn, an eminent Queen's Coftusel, who was
afterwards appointed " instructor to Prince Albert in the
constitution and laws of his adopted country ; " and who
lived many years to rejoice in the brilliant careers of his
three surviving sons. From him, no doubt, and from the
line of distinguished lawyers who preceded him, Bishop
Selwyn inherited that statesmanlike legislative talent which
he displayed in New Zealand ; while from two distinguished
military ancestors, in Marlborough's time, he may have
acquired that singular instinct for command which gave
rise to the often-quoted opinion that " the Bishop was a
general spoiled." His mother was the daughter of Mr
Roger Kynaston, of Witham, Essex, — a pious and loving
woman, who was in later life much afflicted with low-spirits,
and received the most tender care and unselfish devotion
from her ever cheerful and helpful son. He was not, how-
ever, her only child. He was one of six children, four sons
and two daughters, amongst whom, even in the nursery, he
took the lead ; the others, though all possessed of consider-
able talent and force of character, invariably following
wherever he led, and carrying out vvhatever he proposed.*
Ealing was the first school to which the young Selwyns
* E. A. C, "Sketch," p. 3.
6 BISHOP SELWYN. [[820.
were sent. It was a large school of some three hundred boys,
and both the Newmans — John Henry, the future Cardinal,
and Francis, the future Theist and philosopher — had
received their primary education there. But it was Eton
which mainly prepared him for his distinguished after-
career, both at Cambridge and elsewhere ; and there — as
Mr. Gladstone, his school-fellow and personal friend, has
testified — his character was already remarkable for its noble
and generous q-ualities. This is confirmed by the following
anecdote, communicated by his friend and subsequent
coadjutor, Bishop Abraham.
We belonged (he says) to the pre-scientific period as regards
athleticism as well as studies. Our boats were clumsy, and our
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 Hall ;
and the other seven abused him for not pulling his own weight,
fvvery 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 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 illustrates his
whole after-life. He always took the labouring oar in everything.*
The Bishop of \Vin:hester also (Harold Browne) once
sketched his school-boy character with a few graphic
touches, in the Upper House of Convocation.
Selwyn (he said) was the best boy on the river, and nearly the
first boy in learning. I remember his spirited speeches at the
* Eton College Chronicle, June 4, 1878.
1827.] ETON AND CAMBRIDGE. 7
Eton debating society, and some of his Greek compositions. I
believe he was the greatest diver at Eton or anywhere else. He
was always first in everything; and no one ever knew him without
admiring and loving him.
There is a bush at Eton, called " Selwyn's bush/' stand-
ing on a high bank of the Thames ; to this he used to run
up, take a spring, and go over it head foremost at a certain
angle, coming up to the surface almost immediately.
When asked how to do it, he used to say " Fancy yourself
a dart, and you will do it with ease."
In 1827, he left Eton and went to Cambridge, becoming
first " scholar " and afterwards " fellow " of St. John's Col-
lege. He occupied for some time the topmost rooms at
the south end of the new buildings ; and subsequently he
is reported to have stationed himself in the rooms over the
outer gateway. " At first," he says, in a letter written
long afterwards to his son, " I found Cambridge unpleasant
after Eton ; but, after a while, the absence of the many
distractions of Eton rather recommended the place to me,
as one where lost time might, in some measure, be made
up." Anyway, he soon threw himself heartily into the
current of university life, and poured all his wonted energy
into both the studies and the amusements of the place.
In 1829, a proposal was made by Oxford, under the inspi-
ration of Charles Wordsworth (the future Bishop of St.
Andrews), for an inter-university boat-race. Cambridge
warmly accepted the challenge, and the seventh oar. in the
boat was assigned to George Selwyn. Indeed, all through
his life he was an enthusiastic advocate for rowing. In a
letter which is printed in De Morgan's book on university
oarsmen, he says —
8 BISHOP SELWYN. [iBS'-
Many of us were great pedestrians; Bishop Tyrrell and I
walked from Cambridge to London in thirteen hours without
stopping. Many were also " psychrolutes," bathing in winter in
all states of the river. And my advice to all young men is, in
two sentences, " Be temperate in all things," and " Incumbite
remis " [" Bend to your oars ! "] *
Towards the end of his undergraduate life, he once
observed, on returning home, that his parents had put
down their carriage. Asking the reason, he learnt that the
expense of keeping two sons at Cambridge and two at Eton
was beyond their means ; and from that day he deter-
mined to earn his own livelihood. But first, after taking
his degree in 1831 — coming out "junior optime " in mathe-
matics and second classic of his year — he determined to
spend a few weeks in foreign travel : an admirable scheme,
surely, though he afterwards, with characteristic impatience
at anything like levity or self^pleasing, vehemently re-
pented of this foreign trip as merely " wasted time."
And yet it is almost incredible that any one — and still
more a young man of his exceptional intelligence — could
regard a visit to the continent, in February, 1831, as
" wasted time." For France was then seething amid the
ebullitions of a violent poli-tical " reform," while a similar
reform was also preparing, amid flaming wheat-stacks and
widespread starvation, in our own country. Just six
months before, Charles X. had been suddenly dethroned
by a three days' revolution in Paris, and the white flag of
the ancient monarchy had been finally hauled down. A
citizen-king, Louis Philippe, had taken his place ; and ere
* Saturday Review, April 20, 1878.
1831.] PRIVATE TUTOR AT ETON: 9
long the hereditary House of Lords fell with the mon-
archy it had served to support. The landed aristocracy of
France, in short, had lost at a blow their privileged posi-
tion ; and the middle-class had forcibly seized the reins of
power. In England too, under more constitutional forms
and without any change of dynasty, the self-same revolu-
tion was now impending ; and the crisis was, in no small
measure, hastened by the events which had happened in
France. The popularity of the bluff " sailor king " (Wil-
liam IV.) helped, indeed, to stave off destructive anarchy
and violence. But none the less, in English fashion, a
"revolution " had begun when, at the beginning of 1831,
the Tory Duke of Wellington found himself no longer
prime minister, and Earl Grey took office, with a Cabinet
pledged to make effectual the wishes of the nation as
expressed in the late elections, and to carry the " Reform
Bill." On March 21st, however, the House of Commons
(still, of course, unreformed) ungraciously carried the
second reading of the Bill by a bare majority of one ; and
on April 22nd, the king again abruptly dissolved Parlia-
ment and plunged the Avhole country into the turmoil of a
bitterly contested election. That election turned the scale
finally in favour of government by the middle classes ; and
the exclusive possession of power by the landed, the titled,
the privileged classes, was at an end.
In the very midst of all this political turmoil young
Selwyn returned to England (May, 1831) and settled down
at once to congenial work at his beloved Eton. He
was appointed private tutor to the sons of Lord Powis,
who were then at the school, — a post for which he was
particularly well qualified, not only by his attainments in
lO BISHOP SELIVYN. [1832.
classics and mathematics * (for both of which he had
obtained honours at Cambridge), but still more by his
natural love of teaching and by his manly force of cha-
racter. Two years were spent in this pleasant duty, and in
making full experiment of that ancient and uncontradicted
maxim, " docendo disco." No letters or other records of
this uneventful time of silent preparation have been pre-
served. Otherwise we should have learnt something about
the thoughts and discussions that were rippling the surface
of an intelligent and active society of highly educated men
at Eton ; while the country was being convulsed with the
throes of reform ; while mobs were burning down Notting-
ham Castle and devastating Bristol ; and while the sister-
island was passing rapidly into one of her many cyclones
of intestine strife and lawlessness, in the shape of an
insurrection against " tithes." Did the future Bishop now
begin to ruminate, as he walked in the Great Park at
Windsor or floated on the tranquil Thames, how possible
it might be for a Church to get on very well without levy-
ing tithes at all ; or think " how uneasy lies the head that
wears " a mitre, when even a once " liberal " Bishop
(Blomfield) had been drawn in to vote against the Reform
Bill, and the mob was shamefully insulting the "lords " in
the streets ? t
* His mathematical honours, it is true, were hardly won. The subject
was not at all to his taste. But, at that time, Cambridge sternly demanded
of her sons that they should have taken some sort of mathematical honours,
before she would allow them to compete for honours in the classical schools.
With grim determination, therefore, young Sclwyn addressed himself to the
unwelcome task, and achieved a low place among the "junior optima " class.
He then came out as "second classic " of his year,
t Bishop Blomfield, at an earlier period, had been "looked upon with
some disfavour among the neighbouring squires and clergymen, as a Liberal.
1833.] CURATE AT WINDSOR. II
At length, on Trinity Sunday, 1833, Mr. Selvvyn was
ordained "deacon," at St. George's Church, Hanover Square ;
and he immediately began to help, as a volunteer, in
the parish of Windsor, by undertaking to supply a much-
needed evening service in the parish church. After a short
time, he was engaged as a regular Curate by the then Vicar,
Rev. Isaac Gossett ; and soon made a very deep mark
upon the neighbourhood by his indomitable energy, and by
the true spirit of Christian self-oblivion which he displayed
in all that he undertook. Indeed, the Vicar, who then
resided at Datchet, left matters very much in the young
curate's hands ; and whenever, in public or private, praise
was expressed at the admirable order with which everything
was arranged, he always acknowledged that this success
was entirely due to his Curate, and would take none of the
credit to himself. " It is all Selwyn's doing," the Vicar
would say; "he is the moving spring here." He was also
the peacemaker among his neighbours, besides being a
formidable antagonist to some of their long-established
customs.
I dread, (he writes in 1835) the return to long dinners and
wine-drinking and sitting after dinner, which I have discontinued
so long.
And again —
You were not at Eton when the miserable feuds were raging
among the private tutors ; and you cannot conceive how I value
the unity of the last two years. We must try to preserve it.
Many men quarrel because they object to be "tied to the chariot-
Indeed, it was whispered he must have been christened Charles James after
the great Whig leader [C. J. Fox]."—" Life of Bishop Blomfield," i. 38.
12 BISHOP SELWYN. [1835.
wheels " of Mr. So-and-so. I believe that, as clergymen, we ought
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.*
On another occasion, when the parish was in debt and
a lawsuit was in the air, the curate led the w^ay towards a
peaceful solution of the problem by relinquishing his own
salary for the next two years. And again, when national
education was beginning to be made a battlefield for
sectarian strife, he found a means for quietly correcting
the exaggerated complaints that had been made ; while at
the same time he carefully supplemented whatever was
really deficient, and studied the education question practi-
cally by visiting many other schools of good repute in the
neighbourhood. Indeed, a friend writes —
"His whole residence at Eton was marked by kindly co-opera-
tion and cordiality. If there were any misunderstandings among
friends, he could not rest till they were reconciled. If pecuniary
difficulties fell on any one he would make every effort to extricate
him. If his friends were ill, he was their nurse and companion.
If they lost relations or fell under sorrow, he was with them at any
hour to console and uphold them. Whether (in short) it were in
spiritual work or in active exercises, or in ordinary amusements,
' whatever his hand found to do he did it with his might.' "
Among other things, while he was tutor at Eton, he
persuaded Dr. Hawtrey to let him undertake the manage-
ment of his riverside arrangements for the boys. Hitherto
the river had been " out of bounds ; " and, accordingly,
there were no rules whatever to regulate either the boating
or the bathing. The young tutor represented to Dr.
* Tucker, " Life," i. 23.
1838.] THE PARISH KITCHEN. 1 3
Havvtrey how wrong it was to treat boys as criminals
requiring to be imprisoned within narrow school-bounds.
" Let them have freedom," he pleaded, " but force them to
learn swimming before going on the water." His advice
was adopted ; and since that date (1839), it is said, not a
single fatal accident has occurred.* Another of his pro-
jects, while Curate of Windsor, was — long before the days
of cooking-schools — the establishment of a parish kitchen.
This institution was graphically described by himself,
many years afterwards, in an address to churchwardens at
Wolverhampton : —
There is another point in parochial economy which I value
very much indeed, and which has been much in place in my past
experience in New Zealand. In travelling across a wild country,
it has often happened to me that I have had to cook my own food :
and the knowledge of cookery that I possess I acquired in my own
parish kitchen at Windsor — an institution which I found most
beneficial, both for the relief of the poor and also for the education
of the children in a kind of knowledge which they needed very
much, the knowledge of cooking. Before the kitchen was started,
district-visitors used to bring reports of various sick persons who
required medical comforts or necessaries ; and the committee
issued orders for so many pounds of bread and mutton to be sent
to them. But if the Curate followed the material to its destination,
he would go into miserable places where there were only a few
pieces of coal in the grate, with a small black pot upon them ; and
in that pot would be a sort of fluid, black and greasy, with a hard
lump like a cricket ball floating in the middle. This would be the
" pound of meat," for which the committee had paid eightpence.
Why, I might as well have told them to make broth out of stones !
So the kitchen was started ; a cook was engaged ; a district visitor
attended each morning to act as housekeeper ; they made all kinds
* E. A. C, p. 7.
14 BISHOP SELWYN. [1838.
of delicacies for the sick, according to their wants ; and at twelve
o'clock the school-children carried them to the various houses,
bringing back the basins and plates when they returned to school.
The sixpennyworth of well-cooked food did more good than a
shilling's worth of raw material in unskilled hands. And I contend
that every poor person when sick ought to be ministered to in the
same way as the highest in the land." *
Thus remarkably emerges, amid the daily conduct and
the guiding maxims of a man who was all his life a strong
Conservative, the popular and (in the truest sense) demo-
cratic spirit of the Christian Church. In presence, at
any rate, of sickness, calamity, and death, " all men are
equal." And again, in tender thoughtfulness about trifles,
and in condescension of the strong to help the meanest and
most material infirmities of the weak, it is the example of
the Master which has always led His true disciples to insist
that (unlike the world's law) "de minimis curat Evangelium."
For they remember how Jesus in the sick room, after
restoring to life Jairus's little daughter, recalled the
wonder-stricken parents to a very homely duty, when "He
commanded that they should give her something to eat."
* E. A. C, p. 6.
CHAPTER II.
Cathedral Reform — Society at Eton and Windsor — Courtship and marriage.
About this time, the Conservative and Liberal camps
began to be drawn out in battle array upon another
question, which touched young Selwyn's heart far more
sensibly than any mere educational or poor-relief squabble
could do. It was the question, " What to do with the
En'^lish cathedrals ? " In no quarter, perhaps, had abuses
more rankly grown up or more thickly accumulated,
under protection of the unreformed Parliament, than
within the sacred enclosures of the various cathedral
precincts. Enormous funds were there annually wasted ;
lay hangers-on, of all kinds, there made in a few years
surprising fortunes ; and there episcopal nepotism found
its most congenial home. For what purpose, however, had
the House of Commons been reformed, if it were not to
sweep all such Augean stables clean ? " Let the cathedrals
then," it was urged, " be depleted of their superfluous wealth ;
and let their liberated funds be better employed in providing
poor and helpless parishes, throughout the country, with
the ministries and consolations of religion." Who will now
say that the intention was not a good and Christian one,
or that the scheme was in any way impracticable? Yet
1 6 BISHOP SELIVYN. [1838.
many old-fashioned people, at that time, denied that the
scheme was either good or practicable. Men, however, of
a higher stamp, like G. A. Selwyn, Conservatives by long
habit and conviction though they were, refused to go so far
as this. Their contention v/as simply — and its soundness
can hardly be called in question — that, although the State
may possess a right of interference in securing a just and
effective distribution of the Church's /"^//^^i", she has no right
whatever to meddle with any of the Church's offices. To
disendow a canonry, for instance, for the purpose of
transferring such endowment, under episcopal advice,
to half a dozen poverty-stricken parishes, might be well
within the powers of Parliament. But to suppress a
canonry, to starve the efficiency and paralyze the activity
of a cathedral, and to forget the ideal and ■ the future
because the real and the present were unsatisfactory — this
policy seemed, to such men as George Selwyn, a childish
petulance and an unfaithful use of power ; while to a mind
so gifted with organizing genius as his, the contemptuous
and ignorant destruction (so it appeared to him) of the
head-quarters, the " intelligence department," provided by
the Church in every diocese of Christendom for better
supervision and more rational dispersion of her influence,
seemed worse than a crime — it seemed a blunder. His
energies, therefore, were now braced up for a supreme
effort. " Facit indignatio versum." At any rate, there
issued from his pen a work of imagination, a pamphlet, in
which he sketched out in great detail his conception of
what a cathedral body ought to be, and what sort of work
it ought to achieve. It was a noble ideal, although in
some respects an impracticable one ; and the presentation
1838] THE IDEAL CATHEDRAL. ly
of it in this pamphlet had an undoubted effect, in recalling
to the minds of many, who were shortly to be engaged in
remodelling the cathedral systeni throughout England,
what a blessing a cathedral might become to a diocese ;
and what a mighty effect for good it might exercise both
by stimulating and by gathering up into unity all the
scattered activities of the parochial clergy. A few extracts
from the work will best reveal the mind of the author.
The cathedral establishment should consist 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 tlieological 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 [the great chapter], and the visitor empowered to require
obedience to the statutes. The dean and canons form the
council of the bishop, and act as his examining chaplains and his
supporters on all public occasions; they reside for 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 responsible for th€ diffusion
of the word of God in his own district. The canons are also
secretaries of the great societies of the Church. They meet once
a fortnight to inquire into the spiritual wants of the diocese ; in
some cases a " probationary deacon " is sent as a regular assistant
to an aged minister, another is sent to take the duty of a clergy-
man during a temporary illness, etc. They are supported by the
chapter or the incumbent, according to circumstances. A general
examination is held annually by the dean and chapter : the
theological students are examined, and the best are presented to
the bishop for ordination ; the scholars of the cathedral free school
are also examined, and the most promising are chosen to be
C
r8 BISHOP SELWYN. [i8j8.
cathedral university scholars, a second class is selected for
foreign missions, and those of inferior talent are recommended to
be masters of parochial schools. The examination of candidates
for admission to the cathedral free school comes next : they are
required to be poor, . . . and the greater number are sent up from
the national schools of the diocese. ... At all times, the dean and
chapter devote themselves to hospitality; the cathedral library is
open to all clergymen in the diocese ; and the daily service is not
neglected, intercession is made, the book of the revealed word of
God is read day by day, and the song of praise and thanksgiving
continually ascends to Heaven as a morning and evening sacrifice.
This sketch may serve to show that there are important benefits
which the chapters may confer, without any improper alienation
of revenues. The plan proposed by the commissioners has not
yet passed into law ; and we may still hope to see every cathedral
acting as the spiritual heart of the diocese.
It is obvious that such a scheme as this was crude and
impracticable as it stood. But let any one who may be
disposed to pour scorn on it, as mere " sentiment " and castle-
building, ponder the fact that in many dioceses of England
— notably in those of London and of Lichfield — the cathe-
dral has, since that time, actually realized the ideal which
is here sketched out ; that it actually is " the spiritual heart
of the diocese ; " that cathedrals are everywhere reviving
and rapidly regaining their lost popularity ; and that the
principles which underlie their almost miraculous recovery
from torpor and death are precisely the principles advocated
with so much spirit and vigour by this young Curate of
Windsor, in 1838. hideed, what else arc these principles,
after all, than the original ideas which governed the forma-
tion of these bodies within the bosom of the Church fifteen
hundred years ago? The "cathedral system" — not the
1S3S.] DISLIKE OF AUTOCRACY. 19
parochial system — was the primitive organization by which
the influence of the gospel was spread over the world. And
it is simply that arrangement which all far-seeing Church-
men are, at this day, directing their utmost energies to
recover, — viz. the government of each diocese by a bishop
surrounded and supported by his own clergy, and not by a
bishop surrounded with men of his own private choice and
dependent on his personal favour. Autocracy on the small
scale accustoms men to contemplate without abhorrence
autocracy on the large scale : and an unlimited monarchy
on every episcopal throne, unchecked by the chapter which
represents the clergy of the whole diocese, inevitably leads
its occupant to favour arbitrary systems of government,
both in Church and State. It is only men of the highest
abilit)- and of far-reaching foresight, like Bishop Cyprian *
in the third century, and Bishop Selwyn in the nineteenth,
who feel the absolute necessity of being " in touch " — by
means of chapters, synods, conferences — with their clergy
and their lay people. It was the contrary policy which
produced the revolt of Presbyterianism at the Reformation
period, and which impelled good men, like Archbishop
Ussher, amid the dreadful confusions which soon followed,
to put forth counter-schemes for " the reduction of epis-
copacy " to more moderate and primitive, and constitutional
dimensions.
Meanwhile, amid the varied and potent influences which
were gradually training the Eton private tutor and Curate
of Windsor for the great career which was now so soon —
* "A primordio Episcopatiis mei statui nihil sine consilio vestvo \i.£. of
the clergy] et sine consensu plebis, mea privatim seutentia, gerere." (Cypr.
Epist., 5).
20 BISHOP SELWYN. [1839.
like a "door" suddenly opened, as St. Paul would say — to
invite his glad and eager entry, another influence must not
be forgotten. The society already enjoyed by the Eton
private tutors was delightful and stimulating enough ; and
young Selwyn on the one hand enjoyed the friendship of
such men as Durnford, Dalton, Edward Coleridge, Dr.
Hawtrey, and all the Eton masters,- — while on the other
he became familiar with the ordinary world of men, women,
and children, in the parish of Windsor. In the school
circle, it seems, the main interest was literature — for science
was not yet born and politics were not much attended to ;
while in the Church circle the all-absorbing interest at that
day was " the Oxford revival," and every movement of
Keble, every sermon of Newman or Pusey, and every witty
remark of Hurrell Froude, were watched for with the
keenest intelligence and not a little sympathy. Amid this
society the young tutor-curate was " universally popular,
from his frank, manly, and engaging character ; and was
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 in 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 sensibly affected by any influence
extraneous to the place itself" *
But now there dawned upon this little world of intel-
lectual debate and Churchmanlike energy a new influence,
whose power could not be gainsaid. For some years it had
* W. E. Gladstone, letter to the Times, April 17, 1878.
1S30.] COURTSHIP AND MARRIAGE. 21
been the custom for Sir John Richardson, a judge in her
Majesty's Court of Common Pleas, and a man of very high
cultivation in every way, to bring his family down, to some
country-house near Windsor to spend the summer months.
Among the favoured places selected for this delightful
rustication was on one occasion " the Philberds," on the
Buckinghamshire side of the Thames : and here the bright
young masters and tutors of Eton often found a hearty wel-
come and enjoyed a society in all respects congenial to them.
Need it be said that Mr. Selwyn — the foremost in every field
of literary debate, of practical effort, and of athletic adventure
— met here with a hearty appreciation ; and that the gentle
courtesy to women, which all his life distinguished him,
was not unperceived or distasteful. In short, the high-
minded well-cultivated daughter of the house, one day,
found herself engaged in what turned out eventually to
be an unexpected and perilous adventure indeed. With
characteristic audacity, the Curate of Windsor, now the
accepted suitor, braved the fate of Leander, and swam the
midnight Thames on his return from happy evenings at
the Philberds : and at length his constancy and bravery
were rewarded. On June 25, 1839, he was married to Miss
Sarah Richardson, and exchanged his fellowship at St.
John's, with its modest ^^150 a year, for domestic life on a
very moderate competency, but with good prospects of
succeeding one day to a comfortable rural parsonage
among the wide domains of Powis Castle, on the borders
of Wales.
CHAPTER III.
Bishopric of New Zealand offered — Last days in England — Departure.
But such a vegetative rural life as that was not, in the wise
counsels of Providence, to be the end of two jDcrsons so
singularly well prepared and endowed to do good service
for the Church in some far wider and more difficult field.
The colonies and dependencies of the British empire
were just then beginning to attract the earnest attention
of all thoughtful men. The one great result of the
prolonged struggle with Napoleon had been to leave
England mistress of the seas ; and her marvellous energy
had soon made good use of the opportunity. Vast open-
ings for trade had appeared, both in East and West.
Then prosperity had, as usual, encouraged marriage,
and ere long produced a redundant population. While
the amazing success and expansion of the United States
and of Canada not only abundantly justified the long con-
flicts with France for supremacy in the New World, but
suggested that similar prosperity might also be achieved
in other vacant lands, and might provide an easy overflow
for the dangerous pressure of population at home. More-
over, not merely the State, but the Church was gradually
awakening to the splendid opportunities now inviting the
184c.] BISHOP BLOMFIELD. 23
skill and enterprise of the English race. Here, too, energy
— so long pent up and committed to aristocratic direction,
— now burst forth with astonishing impetus : and, with
irrepressible ardour organizing itself for effective action on
ecclesiastical lines, in 1833, it soon prepared to carry the
banner of English Churchmanship into lands where hither-
to only a few scattered and ill-disciplined missionaries had
precariously laboured. Even so early as January, 181 5,
the first breath of the coming spring could be felt in a
letter from a' Liberal clergyman — then a strange portent —
the subsequent Bishop of London, C. J. Blomfield.
As far as Churchmen are concerned (said he), when two
societies are formed for the propagation of Christianity, one of
which proposes to teach it as received and understood by our
Church, and the other does not, there can be no question which
of the two we are bound to support.*
The question lay, at that time, between the Bible
Society and the Society for Promoting Christian Know-
ledge ; but the principle maintained here by the Rector of
Dunton, in Buckinghamshire, is an anticipation of the lead-
ing principle of the " Oxford movement " twenty years
later on. In the same spirit, this energetic and far-seeing
man argued for a more comely ritual, in a visitation
sermon; before his Bishop, in 18 18 : —
The Church must have a certain external splendour ; and we
shall best do our duty by obeying her rules and by observing the
decent solemnity of her ritual. f
In 1824, he was made Bishop of Chester, and was after-
wards promoted to the see of London.
* " Memoir," 1853, i. 40. t Ibid., p. 63.
24 BISrrOP SELVVYN. [184 1.
And now (says his biographer) the unsatisfactory condition of
the Church in many of our colonies and dependencies — owing in
great measure to their having no bishops of their own — was
brought home to him more strongly than to any other member of
the English Church.*
No wonder ; for among the letters received, not long
afterwards, at London House, was one from an aggrieved
clergyman residing on the further side of America, who —
complained of the little attention which his lordship paid to
that part of his diocese. Indeed, there existed at that time
only five colonial bishoprics — those of Nova Scotia, Quebec,
Calcutta, Jamaica, Barbadoes — and all not included in these
belonged to him. Before 1840, the sees of Australia, Madras,
Bombay, Newfoundland, and Toronto, were added. . . . And at
length, in April, 1840, he published a letter to the Archbishop
[Howley] upon the formation of a " fund for endowing additional
bishoprics for the colonies." For (said he) an Episcopal Church
without a bishop is a contradiction in terms. In the spring of
1841, a public meeting was held in Willis's Rooms, when Bishop
Blomfield dwelt on the evils resulting from the absence of epis-
copal government [in short, of Church work carried on without
supervision or inspection]. This was followed by a council of
prelates at Lambeth, t —
and ere long by the definite establishment of the "Colonial
Bishoprics Fund." Among the colonies standing in most
urgent need of such supervision, the now rising settlement
of New Zealand stood first of all ; and the question not
admitting of delay, Bishop Blomfield — May, 1841 — offered
the See to the energetic young Curate of Windsor, who had
already shown both a deep interest in the future of the.
colonial Churches, and also a personal readiness to "go
* "Memoir," ii)53, i. 278. t Ibid., p. 284.
1841.] OFFER OF THE SEE OF NEW ZEALAXD. 25
anywhere and do anything " at the bidding of his ecclesi-
astical superiors. It was, indeed, a happy inspiration
which whispered to some one, among the perplexed com-
pany who had just received the reluctant refusal of William
Selwyn, the elder brother, that probably the younger
brother George was after all the predestined man for whom
they were in search. Nor can we doubt that such a pro-
posal, from such an ecclesiastical authority, must have
made the \-outhful recipient's heart leap within him ; and
that all other projects, — all regrets about a lately declined
training-mastership, and all ideals of a model country
parish in Wales, and even all secret aspirations after the
proposed new bishopric at Malta, with Africa and "the
fires of all the early Churches, mentioned in the Acts, to
rekindle," — that even all these magnificent schemes paled
and died away into nonentity before the animating thought
of organizing (as Theodore had done in early Britain) the
Anglo-Catholic Church in the rising Britain of the South.
Accordingly, on May 27, 1841, a letter in reply was
penned and sent from Eton College, which virtually settled
the question.
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 it with all obedience and humility. ... It has never
seemed to me to be in the power of an individual to choose the
field of labour [which might appear to him] most suited to his
own powers. . . . Allow me then to place myself unreservedly
in the hands of the Episcopal Council, to dispose of my services
as they may think best for the Church." *
* Tucker, i. 65.
26 BISHOP SELWYN. [1841.
Thus tile time had come, and the man. But innumer-
able delays and vexatious negotiations were, of course,
inevitable. The Crown lawyers would insist on drawing up
the " Letters Patent," by which the Crown at that time
exercised its rights of patronage in the colonies, in such a
way as to express the comical absurdity that the Queen
had "given him power to ordain," Against this piece of
apparent profanity the Bishop-designate wrote and lodged
a formal protest. But against another portentous blunder
he lodged no protest at all ; but with a humorous smile
accepted, in real earnest, the enormous jurisdiction thus
inadvertently committed to him. From New Zealand out-
wards, as far as the thirt}'-fourth parallel — not of south
latitude, as was intended, but actually of north latitude—
this huge diocese was made to stretch ; and a mere slip of
a clerk's pen committed to his spiritual charge sixty-eight
additional degrees of latitude, and sent him forth in after-
years, on his perilous, but successful, mission to the islands
of Melanesia. Meantime, preparation and leave-taking be-
came the order of the day ; and a perusal of the following
graphic journal, written by one who was herself present at
all these farewell-scenes, cannot fail to interest the reader.
Tuesday, September 28, 1841.
I went over to Eton, and found all in a grand bustle. The
Marriotts filled the house, and George was just going to a Church
Union meeting. That evening Sara lit the fire and arranged the
pretty little drawing-room in its winter fashion, pulling round the
sofa and the arm-chair, and calling on us to own that it was the very
prettiest and most comfortable room imaginable, which we were
nothing loth to do. It was half sad and half sweet to hear her
say so, because the thought of leaving it all for ever made it dearer
1841.] PREPARATIONS FOR DEPARTURE. 2/
in her eyes ; and a great deal more than the mere comfort of a
room went to make up Iier love for it. But yet even that sadness
was not altogether painful, because I knew full well that the sacri-
fice was a wiUing one on her part, and this consciousness gave a
higher tone to even little things and, what might seem to others,
tritiing matters. In something of the same half-playful yet chastened
tone, she asked Mrs. Marriott to play ; and we had the minuet in
" Samson," and divers other old favourites in Queen Square days,
which she called for one after another without saying why. Yet
we all felt that, in all human probability, the one would never
play them for the other to listen to again. The evening was out-
wardly most cheerful, though I fancy the under-current of feeling
was sad enough, with poor Mrs. Marriott and dear Sara too. I
shall always remember this Michaelmas with pleasure ; it was
one of peaceful enjoyment, and the hours spent with dear Sara in
church, and in quiet converse and real communion with her, were
very precious to me.
Thursday, September 30th.
It was settled, after much consultation, that the Marriotts should
stay till the morrow, and thus give Mrs. Marriott and F the
opportunity of speaking again to George before they went. It
was a sad day, for each felt it was the last. Dear Sara seemed to
dread the passing of the hours, yet was unable to use them ; and, I
know, shrank from any opportunity of real converse with Mrs.
Marriott ; and she, on the other hand, felt much the same, that it
was best for both their sakes that they should part in silence. But
she said once, as Sara left the room, " How can I look upon that
loved face which has been as familiar as my own child's to me,
and think I may see her again no more, and not feel it bitterly ! " and
she burst into tears. It was a comfort to us all to go up to St. George's
for evening service, as we all did, except Mrs. Marriott ; and the
beautiful anthem, " Thou shalt keep him in perfect peace whose
mind is stayed on Thee," seemed as fitting to our several thoughts
as the rest of the service could not fail to be. George came not
28 BISHOP SELIVYN. [1841.
to dinner, but he did arrive to tea, looking so fresh and bright,
as if his day at Southampton and his converse with congenial
spirits had been thoroughly enjoyed. He had some conversation
with Archdeacon Wilberforce (afterwards Bishop), whom he liked
much.
October 1st.
The new Curate of Windsor came into office to-day, and
baptized sev'cral children, George taking the questioning of the
sponsors, to insure the necessary particularity. Afterwards George
introduced him to the Ladies' District Visiting Society. I sat in
a recess with a book ; but was watching, the while, what was going
on at the business-table, and observing George's kind and con-
siderate way of treating even the little feelings of all concerned.
Moreover, he seemed able to make the dry business of auditing
accounts pleasant and amusing, without dawdling or gossiping
over it. Sara is an able assistant in this j^art of the matter.
Saturday, October 2ncl.
George came home to dinner after a fruitless jading day in
town, and Sara unfolded her scheme for preaching the Richmond
charity sermon. But he Avas obstinate, and said, if he preached,
he must write his sermon ; he could not preach old sermons now
with any satisfaction — they did not come up to his present feeling
or suit present circumstances, adding, " I declare, you women are
very hard upon a man's brains ; when he would rest them, you won't
let him." Mr. Edward Coleridge came in at tea-time, deploring
the failure of another friend who, he had hoped, might have gone
with him. It is really quite affecting to see the way in which Mr.
Coleridge looks at both George and Sara. He will fix his eyes on
George with that long, earnest gaze which seems to seek to retain
the image on the sight for ever, till the eye is dimmed with
gathering tears, and he will burst away with a sudden "God bless
you ! " After dinner, we begged to be allowed to remain for the
boys' evening reading. They are going through the Articles, with
the ^references to Scripture and to history, to explain them.
1841.] THE ''CHURCH-TENT." 29
Oeorge's patience with them is great, and the manner in which by
degrees he makes them draw out, piecemeal, the meaning of the
sentence, and put it all together till each fits into its own place, is
very interesting and instructive. The series of questions all lead
up to some important conclusion, which never seemed so clearly
proved before.
Monday, October 4th.
Accompanied George and Sara to town ; went with her to
Richmond's house to see the pictures. George's is an admirable
likeness and a beautiful drawing. It is really perfect, and I think
the artist must have been gifted with a retrospective sight, for it is
himself years ago at Bisham, and before he even wore a parochial
face, and the tip of the nose expresses the coming joke or banter.
We journeyed by the Blackwall Railway to Limehouse to see the
church-tent pitched. It was a real pleasure to me to stand with
them for once beneath this tabernacle, which is to be pitched
as the Lord's house in the wilderness — the first cathedral of the
island Church. Months ago, when George had explained all his
reasons for wishing to take with him something of this kind, that
there might, from the very first, be some holy place set apart for
the daily service of God, I had wished so much that I could but
see it. . . . The picture of him that evening, as he sat between
those two young men, and the countenances of all, is one which
will not fade from the mind's eye. He spoke to them both so
nicely, first in a playful strain, as though he feared to trust himself
to enter seriously into the thoughts suggested, telling them they
were his agents at Eton for kidnapping promising young men for
New Zealand service ; and then his tone got deeper, and he
touched on the way in which they might, in their separate path
of life, still strengthen his hands and assist him in his work. He
repeated to Mr. C. h. what he had before been saying to
Mr. B of his views about training his own clergy, and his wish
to draft from Eton, from time to time, to his own college any
promising boys who could be spirited to make the plunge, and he
pointed out those whom he thought most likely to succeed.
30 BISHOP SELWYN. [1841.
Mr. Coleridge came in as usual in tlie evening, and heard from
George of the failure of their last hope. I fear a lady's folly or
obstinacy was in the case here. Sara asked George why he did
not call upon the lady and set the case before her — as he could
persuade anybody, he might perhaps have persuaded her; but he
answered that, from what he heard, he did not think she had mind
wide enough to take it in, and so it would be lost labour. Mr.
Coleridge then questioned him as to what he meant to do, and rather
pressed his allowing them to make wider inquiries, and to offer as
some inducement to a superior man a higher salary, which, in his
eager way, he said could be easily guaranteed. But George
declined this, at least for the present. Then he added that he
felt strongly the lesson which these repeated disappointments
seemed to teach himself, viz. to look above all human instruments
for the strength needed to fulfil the duties before him.
October 9th, Saturday.
George went up to town. It is sad to see him so jaded with
the last three fruitless days in town, waiting at the Colonial Office
and making no way. His patience and quietness under all the
lets and hindrances are a lesson to us all.
October loih, .Sunday.
I never can forget this Sunday. George preached on, "I will
drink no more of this fruit of the vine, till I drink it new with you
in My Father's kingdom." It was a beautiful and affecting sermon,
though his object was, as it ever is, rather to touch the heart and
conscience than to excite the feelings. To those who knew him
his countenance showed the effort that his calmness cost him ; and
if many who heard him felt — as I did — that it was most probably
for the last time, I can rather estimate their feelings than describe
my own. How will his teaching and example rise up in judgment
against us when we shall meet face to face in that day — though, it
may be, we meet no more on earth — if we have failed to profit by
so great a privilege !
1S41.] COUNTING THE COST. 3 1
October nth, Monday.
I went up to town with George. We walked to Slough, and
had some talk by the way, which I shall never forget. He went,
as usual, to the root of the matter — the folly, as well as sin, of
impotent man in wilfully choosing his own path. He spoke in a
way which showed he was not blind to the danger and the trial
that lay before them, nor shrank from the avowal how he felt it
for her. But he had counted the cost, and could look the very
worst in the face calmly.
October 14th, Thursday.
Edmund Hobhouse dined with us, or rather picked his sparrow's
portion while we dined, George urging him to keep Windsor in
his eye as [offering scope for] a good working curate, and warning
him to "beware of the atmosphere of Oxford Common-rooms."
Afterwards George turned the conversation to a graver theme.
He said the "Consecration Service" had lately been his constant
study, and that, after next Sunday, his existence as an individual
must cease, and that all his own individual interests and ties must
undergo the change with him. Sara knelt down beside him, and,
looking up in his face, said, " I know, at any rate, you will not
love me any the less." He stroked back the hair from her fore-
head and kissed it, saying, " Surely not the less, but the more !
How could you ever attach the idea of deprivation to such
thoughts ? " She answered, " Why, you spoke of ceasing to exist ;
which one, who did not know you better, might think implied the
endeavour to crush and annihilate our natural feelings and affec-
tions." He said perhaps he had used a wrong word ; that he
meant rather that his very being, with all its powers and affections,
must now be dedicated to God in a more peculiar and solemn
degree than heretofore, and be absorbed into higher powers and
boundless affections.
Things had gone better to-day at the Colonial Office, and
some of the absurd restrictions are removed, the geographical
clerks having perceived the absurdity which he had in vain
32 BISHOP SELIVYN. [1841.
attempted to make plain to the comprehension of the secretaries
themselves, viz. that the three islands being in proportion to
( Treat Britain, Ireland, and the Isle of Wight, it was rather absurd
to restrict his appointment of archdeacons to '"one for each
island." He wrote for us the tickets of admission to the con-
secration [in Lambeth Chapel], the last of the old " G. A. S."
signatures, and sent me to bed.
October l6th, Saturday.
We all started together, but parted companies at Ealing, as
the Selwyn party were to go by Richmond to Fulham. The
pressure of his hand seemed at once to ask a prayer and give a
blessing. Hers, — I knew full well the meaning : how she felt that
the service of to-morrow was the sign and seal of all that, in her
natural heart and soul, she dreaded and shrank from ; while her
spirit, her conscience, and her judgment fully, entirely, and even
joyfully assented to it.
October 17th, Sunday.
I was early awake, and read George's " Sermon on St, John's
Day." Mrs. B. took me to Lambeth Chapel, and we were soon led
to the recess above the altar, where dear Sara, Mrs. Selwyn senior,
and others already were. George was very pale, and his counte-
nance wore that look of intense thought, and feeling over-mastered,
which I have sometimes observed of late. His voice was clear
and distinct, though low in tone, as he answered to each demand
'• I will, — the Lord being my helper." I can never cease to hear
that soimd of many voices, uttering the prayer that filled my own
heart and mingled with my dear Sara's quick breathing, which
came faster and faster as she knelt beside me. The group of
consecrating bishops is still before me : and it chanced that a
gleam of sunshine fell on them and him as they stood there.
Sara half hoped we might be suffered to remain where we were,
and to follow the Communion Service. But a servant came to
lead us down; and, declining the offer to be shown over the
1 84 1.] CONSECRATION AT LAMBETH. 33
Palace, we found our way round to the ante-chapel. Soon after,
dear George appeared, with all his holy honours on his beloved
head ; and with beaming countenance went up affectionately to
his mother, to give her his first episcopal blessing.
This simple action revealed, better than any words
could do, the depth and warmth of his home-feelings.
People outside (writes one of his most intimate friends) little
understood the strength of his affection for his home and his
friends. I have often thought that Wordsworth's " Happy
Warrior " admirably describes the two sides of his character —
his burning zeal and rapture in the strife, and the simplicity and
genuineness of his home-life and home-love —
"Who, thus endued as with a sense,
And faculty for storm and turbulence,
Is yet a soul whose master-bias leans
To home-felt pleasures and to gentle scenes —
Sweet images which, wheresoe'er he be,
Are at his heart. And such fidelity
It is his darling passion to approve ;
More brave for this — that he hath much to love."
It now only remained to prepare in earnest for the
voyage ; to bid a long farewell to friends in England ; and
to gather, if possible, a trusty band of fellow-workers who
should now, or at some future time, go forth to New
Zealand and act, not merely as " eyes of the Bishop," but as
hands, and feet, and mouth. For the area to be covered,
though nothing in comparison with the huge spaces hitherto
innocently assigned to the spiritual charge of single bishops
— such as those of all India or of all Australasia, — was
nevertheless immense ; and, ere Bishop Selwyn's work
was done, it had been subdivided into seven quite
sufficiently extensive dioceses. Amid many depressing dis-
D
34 BISHOP SELWYN. [1841.
appointments, some half-dozen staunch friends stuck " closer
than a brother." Foremost among them were the Rev. W.
Cotton, and the Rev. T. Whytehead, who actually sailed
with him, C. J. Abraham (sometime Bishop of Welling-
ton, N.Z., and afterwards Coadjutor-bishop and Canon of
Lichfield) who nine years later on followed him, Edm.
Hobhouse (afterwards Bishop of Nelson;, and others ;
while, at home, the constant and loyal support afforded
him by Rev. Edward Coleridge, Fellow of Eton, formed as
good and cheering an aid as an auxiliary force of twenty
ordinary missionaries might have supplied.
On October 31, 1841, the newly consecrated Bishop
preached his farewell sermon in Windsor parish church,
taking as his text, Isai. Ix. 5 : " The abundance of the sea
shall be converted unto thee, the forces also of the Gentiles
shall come unto thee." In the evening, a final assemblage
of old friends and future supporters took place in the
house of Rev. Edward Coleridge.* Some forty guests were
there ; and among them were Mr. Gladstone ; Judge Cole-
ridge and Judge Patteson ; Archdeacon W^ilberforce, Mr.
Durnford, and Mr. Chapman (afterwards Bishops respec-
tively of Oxford, Chichester, and Colombo).
In November, an interesting farewell letter was sent by
Archbishop Howley, as follows : —
My dear Lord,
I am requested by such of the Bishops as attended
the last meeting of the Committee appointed to manage the fund
for the endowment of Colonial Bishoprics, to address a valedictory
letter to your lordship expressive of their personal respect, and of
* Tucker, i. 78.
1841.] LETTER FROM ARCHBISHOP HOWLEY. 35
the deep interest they take in your high and holy mission. The
mission over which you preside is founded on the recognition of a
principle, which unfortunately has not always been acted upon in
the first establishment of our colonies. You will have the great satis-
faction of laying the foundations of civilized society in New Zealand
on the basis of an Apostolical Church. . . . 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 the seminary to which
nations, which have been hitherto blinded by debasing supersti-
tions, will look for light. . . . The consciousness of going forth
in the name of the Lord, as the messenger of mercy and peace,
will reconcile you to the sacrifices which you have made in
obedience to this call from on high. . . . The influence of Mrs.
Selwyn's kindness and piety will, I am persuaded, not only pro-
mote the comfort and happiness of her domestic circle, but will
be extensively useful in bettering the condition and improving the
morals of all who come within its sphere. I most heartily com-
mend your lordship, your family, and all the Clergymen in your
train, to the protection of the Lord and the guidance of His Holy
Spirit.
Your affectionate brother and friend,
W. Cantuar.
To this the Bishop repHed as follows : —
Richmond, December 8, 1841.
My dear Lord Archbishop,
The prevalence of contrary winds gives me an oppor-
tunity of acknowledging from this place your grace's most feeling
and Christian letter. When I say that every member of my own
and of my wife's family has acquiesced joyfully and thankfully in
the call which will separate me from them, perhaps for life, I
cannot offer a better proof of the blessing which has attended this
36 BISHOP SELWYN. [1S41.
act of tlie Church, in procuring for it the willing obedience of so
many of its members. I may add to these feelings of public duty,
that your grace's farewell letter has diffused joy and comfort on
all our relations, by the power of private sympathy mingling with
the highest and holiest thoughts of Christian obligation. That the
Church of England at home may be blessed with the spirit of
unity and peace, and in the strength of that spirit may go forth
into all the world, as it has now reached its most distant point, is
the earnest prayer of one, who — more than all others — will require
the support which is afforded by the thought that there is no
division in the Body of Christ ; but that in Him we are all joined
together in one spirit and in one faith. . . . Sir J. Richardson
w^ould have been the first to rejoice in resigning his daughter to
the service of his Redeemer and at the bidding of His Church.
I thank God that his spirit lives also in her. With our united
affectionate remembrances to Mrs. Howley, and in grateful and
recollection of all your kindness,
I remain, with great respect.
Your Grace's dutiful and affectionate son,
G. A. New Zealand.*
Finally, on December 23rd, the whole party embarked
on board the Tomatin, in Plymouth Sound : and on De-
cember 26th, St. Stephen's Day, the wind having suddenly
become favourable, about noon they stood out to sea and
were gone.
* E. A. C, p. 9.
PART II.
THE NEW ZEALAND EPISCOPATE.
(1842-1867.)
CHAPTER I.
The voyage out— Head-quarters near the Bay of Islands — Thorough visitation
of the Northern Island.
The Bishop's twenty-six years, spent in the service of New
Zealand, may most conveniently be dealt with in three
divisions. First came the six years in which he made a
thorough and searching acquaintance with his diocese.
They began with the day on w^hich he sailed from England,
December, 1841 ; and they ended with the day on which
he first embarked, at Auckland, to begin his far-reaching
mission-work among the Pacific islands, December, 1847.
Next followed ten years of incessant work, and thought,
and correspondence, issuing at last in the great feat of
ecclesiastical legislation which has made the " Province of
New Zealand " a model for all disestablished Churches
(June, 1857). Lastly followed ten years more of labour,
of deep disappointment at Maori misunderstandings and
apostasy, and of attempts to strengthen with accumulated
wisdom and energy " the things that remained," till he was
finally summoned back to ten years' labour in England
(December 1867).
A voyage to New Zealand, half a century ago, was a
thing by no means to be undertaken with a light heart. In
40 BISHOP SELIVYN. [1842.
the first place, its duration — usually four or five months —
seriously taxed every one's patience ; and besides that, the
discomforts to be endured were such as no modern "globe-
trotter," surrounded in his swift ocean-steamer with ever)'
luxury, can find it easy so much as to imagine. The
Bishop, however, had not been long at sea before he dis-
covered — to his great satisfaction — that he was quite at his
ease even in a small barque tossing in the Bay of Biscay ;
and that he would therefore be able to utilize to the utmost
the leisure afforded by a long voyage, by acquiring two
accomplishments, both of them absolutely essential to his
future success. These were the art of navigation and the
art of using with fluency the Maori language. Fortunately
the means for attaining both acquirements were at hand :
and his own intelligence and energy were abundantly read}'
to do all the rest. His own party on board consisted of
Mrs. Selwyn and her baby-boy (William, now two years
old), his two chaplains (Rev. W. Cotton and Rev. T. B,
Whytehead), three other clergymen, three Catechists, a
school-master and school-mistress, and a Maori lad named
Rupai, who had been under education at Battersea, and was
now returning to his own country.* It was from this lad
that the Bishop, during the voyage, gained so complete a
mastery of the native language that, on tlie very first
Sunday after his arrival at Auckland, he preached a sermon
in Maori and found himself everywhere at once in touch
with his half-civilized flock. As to the art of navigation, he
learnt that under the tuition of the captain ; and to such
good purpose, that he soon afterwards boldly cruised for
thousands of miles, amid the hidden reefs and treacherous
* E. A. C, p. II.
184:.] ARRIVAL AT AUCKLAND. 4 1
currents of Polynesia, in his own little mission schooner of
only twenty tons burden.
At length, after a voyage of four months' duration, on
April 14, 1842, the Tomatin cast anchor in the magnificent
harbour at Sydney ; where, singularly enough, the first
people who came alongside the vessel were a boat's-crew
of Maoris. They were tall, fine-looking fellows, and were
equally astonished and delighted to hear themselves
greeted by the Bishop in their own native tongue.* The
ship was delayed here so long to repair damages that,
after some weeks of useful intercourse with the Bishop
of Australia (Broughton), the Bishop and his clergy were
seized with an invincible longing to end such tantalizing
dela}' ; and leaving Mrs. Selwyn, with her baby and
the rest, to follow when the ship was ready, the Bishop
and a chaplain pressed forward in a little brigantine, and
on May 30, 1842, soon after sunrise, they safely arrived
at Auckland — the Bishop's first act being to kneel down
on the beach and give thanks to God. What were his
feelings on landing in this strangely interesting land ?
They may be judged of from the following passage in his
" Thanksgiving Sermon " at Auckland on the Sunday after
arrival : — ■
A great change has taken place in the circumstances of our
natural life ; but no change which need affect our spiritual being.
We have come to a land where not so much as a tree resembles
those of our native country. All visible things are new and
strange ; but the things that are unseen remain the same. The
same Spirit guides and teaches and watches over us. The same
Church acknowledges us as her members ; stretches out her arms
* Lady Marlin, " Our Maoris," p. 3.
42 BISHOP SELWYN. [1842.
to receive and bless our children in baptism ; to lay her hands
upon the heads of our .youth ; to break and bless the bread of the
Eucharist ; and lastly to lay our dead in the grave in peace.
These first few days after arrival were spent under the
hospitable shelter of Government House, to which the
Bishop had been invited by the first governor of the
colony, Capt. Hobson, R.N. ; and the honest sailor soon
found abundant reason to withdraw the question he had
rashly hazarded, on hearing of an episcopal appointment
to his half-savage islands : " What is the use of a bishop
in a country where there are no roads for his lordship's
carriage to drive on ? " * But not only were there no
roads in 1842, there were hardly any houses, — where
Auckland, the great modern city of fifty thousand souls,
now covers the vast and beautiful spaces that are mirrored
in her two land-locked harbours. Lady Martin thus
records her own first impressions : —
Of the town there was not much to see : Government House
was only a one-storeyed cottage, a few wooden houses were dotted
about in which the officials lived, there were wooden barracks
which contained about fifty soldiers, a Supreme Court House
which was used on Sundays for a church, a milliner's shop, a
blacksmith's forge, and two or three "stores." A butcher and
baker were unknown in those primitive days, for there was no
beef or mutton to sell, and no roads for carts to travel along if
there had been.f
Such were the first rude and half-finished results by
which — as in America, Australia, and elsewhere — the vast
all-changing in-rushing tide of English emigration was
* E. A. C, p. 13. t " Our Maoris," p. 9.
1842.] PREPARATORY WORK OF SAMUEL MARSDEN. 43
placing, as it were, its broad-arrow of imperial possession
upon the fair spacious lands of natives who knew not how
to use them. What, on the other hand, were the impres-
sions made upon the new comers by these so-called
" savages " themselves ?
We found the New Zealanders just emerging from barbarism.
They had, in this part of the country, only ten years before, been
wild impulsive heathens. But the old picturesque dress had now
given place to " slop " trousers and a blanket ; and a quainter
spectacle one could hardly see than a party of men squatting in a
half-circle with their blankets drawn round their bodies, and
hiding every part of their faces except a bit of tattooed forehead
and a pair of bright eyes. We found them on acquaintance to
be an independent, rough-mannered, merry, kindly race, often
obstinate and self-willed, yet very shrewd and observant, and eager
to learn English ways. ... It was very pleasant to hear from
our open windows the chatter and laughter of the people as they
ate their meal al fresco ; and, later on in the evening, and in the
sdll early morning, the sounds of hymn and prayer.*
This Christian character they owed to an English
clergyman, who nad visited them some thirty years before.
Indeed, Samuel Marsden was, in more "ways than one, a
true benefactor to New Zealand. He was born of lowly
parentage at Horspath, a village near Leeds, in 1764; and
— like Bishop Selwyn, who carried forward and completed
his work — he was educated at St. John's College, Cambridge.
After taking his degree, he married and accepted a
chaplaincy at the convict-settlement then forming near
Sydney ; and being much influenced by the simple earnest
piety of the Methodists in his youthful days, he soon turned
* "Our Maoris," p. 8.
44 BISHOP SELWYN. [1842.
his thoughts to mission work, and induced the Church
Missionary Society (in 1809) to break ground in New
Zealand. Marsden was himself in that year returning to
Sydney, and took with him two lay-teachers, Messrs. Hall
and King, for a mission to the Maoris. But it was his
natural kindness of heart and his sympathy for a Maori
sailor on board, who was sick and badly treated, which
virtually secured the success of this bold raid upon a
ferocious and cannibal race. The poor lad, Tuatara, was
the son of a chief; and, when he had been healed and
taught and hospitably entertained by Mr. Marsden for six
months at Sydney, he was sent forward, as a sort of John
Baptist, to his own country to prepare the way for the
approaching mission. With all his heart he prepared the
way. Among other gifts, he was provided with a bag of
seed wheat ; and when under his direction it was sown,
reaped, ground in an old coffee-mill, and presented finally
in the form of bread, the miracle set his friends and
relations dancing for joy and wonder ; while confidence in
the truth of his religious teaching was henceforth estab-
lished on an equally firm footing.
At length, in November 18 14, Samuel Marsden himself
obtained leave to visit New Zealand : when still further
experience of Tuatara's veracity paved the way for the
reception of Christianity. He had told the awe-stricken
chiefs of the existence of a huge animal — a thousand times
larger than their native rat — yet so good-natured as to
allow men to mount upon its back. And now, behold ! a
horse was disembarked upon the beach ; and Mr. Marsden,
amid an astonished crowd, actually bestrode it and verified
all that the tattooed sceptics had previously laughed to
1842.] REMINISCENCES OF SAMUEL MARSDEN. 45
scorn. On Christmas Day, 18 14, he held his first service
under the blue canopy of a summer sky, — three chiefs being-
present, dressed in old regimentals imported from England,
and with swords dangling by their sides and switches in
their hands. Tuatara stood by as interpreter.
And then (to quote Mr. Marsden's own words) I stood up and
began with singing the Old Hundredth Psalm ; while my soul
melted within me, as I looked round at the people and thought
of their state. It was Christmas Day : and my text was in every
way appropriate to the situation : " Behold, I bring you glad
tidings of great joy."
Thus was the first handful of Gospel seed sown. The
confidence of the chiefs had been gained ; about two
hundred acres of land at Rangiho, near the Bay of Islands
in the far north, were allowed to be bought for the
missionaries ; and the Church was fairly planted in the
land. The good " apostle of New Zealand " frequently
revisited his Christian settlement — like an unconsecrated
overseer ; and nearly lived to see a bishopric canonically
established in his beloved islands. For at the advanced
age of seventy-two he came for the last time, accompanied
by his daughter ; and was carried in triumph, reclining in
a hammock, by a crowd of Maoris through the forest to
the Waimate. He then visited all the mission stations
in H.M.S. Rattlesnake : and returned to Sydney to die.*
This was in May, 1838, — only three years before his
splendidly equipped and youthful " successor " (so to
speak), with the full consecration of the Church upon him,
landed as has been already described. " Paul had planted :
Apollos watered : and God gave the increase."
• See Buller, " Forty Years in New Zealand," p, 262.
46 BISHOP SELIVYN. [1842.
The mission of both these men was indeed a noble
venture of faith. For the Maoris, when excited by warhke
passions, were in former times the most truculent and
thorough-going cannibals that perhaps have ever existed.
Even so late as 1833, a weaker race inhabiting the Chatham
Islands is said to have been invaded by them, reduced to
abject slavery, and one by one in cold blood eaten up.*
While, so late as 1841, a traveller in the Northern Island
reports that even then " this frightful custom has not yet
entirely ceased." t
To the Bishop, naturally, it seemed essential that he
should lose no time in seeing something of this wild half-
converted flock, not merely in the vicinity of Auckland,
but amid their own haunts, in their stockaded strong-
holds, among their evergreen forests, dashing along
their rushing rivers, or stealing in noiseless array over their
fern-covered hills. Nothing could be more welcome, there-
fore, than the governor's announcement that an agent
was on the point of proceeding to the Thames Valley, not
very far eastward from Auckland, to make inquiries
concerning a recent Maori feud and massacre. The Bishop
instantly attached himself to the party of inquiry ; and the
results could not be better told than by himself, in the
following letter to his mother in England : —
H.M. colonial brig, June 30th, 1842.
My DEAREST Mother,
I have just returned from a voyage up the Thames.
It is quite a mistake to suppose that Auckland is on the Thames.
The distance from the town to the mouth of the river is about
* Mosely, "Naturalist on board the Challenger'" (1874), p. 339.
t DiefTenbach, "New Zealand" (1S43), "• 128.
1842.] VISIT TO THE THAMES DISTRICT. 47
fifty miles ; and it cost me four days to go and return, besides the
time spent tliere. I started on the 6th of June, in company witli
Mr. Clarke (the Protector General of Aborigines), and Mr. Cotton,
in a small schooner called the Ro)y O'More ; but we could make
no progress for want of wind — a prevailing inconvenience in New
Zealand, where (as far as my experience extends) calms are much
more prevalent than storms. After spending a day and night in
advancing fourteen miles, I took to my boat, which I had bought
at Sydney ; and, by the aid of a crew lent me by the governor,
accomplished thirty-six miles before night and arrived, soon after
sunset, at the mission station at the mouth of the Thames. It
became dark before we reached the shore ; but the barking of
dogs guided us to the village. There we took on board a native
pilot, who brought us up to the landing-place close under the
catechist's house.
We were met by a large party of natives with lighted torches,
who preceded us to the house, with many expressions of joy at the
arrival of Te Pihopa (myself), and Te Karaka (Mr. Clarke). The
object of our visit was to inquire into the circumstances of a
massacre perpetrated by a native chief, residing about twelve
miles from the catechist's house, assisted by the heathen portion
of the inhabitants of the village in which the mission station is
situated. The station is within a quarter of a mile of some of
these murderers, and is without so much as a bolt to the door of
the house. The persons and property of Englishmen are more
secure in this country than in England ; and whatever violence
may be used by the natives among themselves, it is very rarely
indeed that any aggression is attempted upon the settlers. It is
impossible to have any idea of insecurity, so friendly and hospitable
is the manner of the people on all occasions.
On Wednesday, June 8th, we walked twelve miles along the
beach to the fortified village (pa) of Teraia, the leader of the
massacre. On our way we passed several Christian villages,
beautifully situated among shady trees at the foot of wooded
hills sloping down to the sea. The native cultivations occupy
a narrow strip of fiat land, between the bottom of the hills and
48 BISHOP SELlVyy. [1S42.
the sea. We observed everywhere signs of the greatest abund-
ance of provisions — potatoes, maize, kumera (sweet potato), and
pumpkins, with pigs and fish in abundance. Teraia's Pa is
strongly fortified, after the native manner, with stout paHsades ;
the stronger posts being surmounted with hexds rudely carved to
represent the heads of the enemies of the tribe.
After waiting some time, we were invited to a korero (debate)
with the chief, whom we found wrapped in his blanket and seated
in such state as he could command, in the middle of his tribe.
Behind him sat a cunning-looking old man, who acted as his
prompter.
The korero was very long and animated, and ended by Teraia
consenting to give up the slaves taken by him, and to behave
peaceably for the future. This massacre was very likely to be the
cause of a general rising of all the central tribes, who met, to the
number of about one thousand, near Auckland, to deliberate upon
the best mode of wreaking their vengeance upon Teraia. I believe
that the governor has now happily succeeded in restoring peace.
On Friday, June loth, I returned on my way to Auckland; and
being again becalmed, I took to my boat on Saturday morning, in
hopes of reaching the town in the evening, to be ready for Divine
Service in the morning of Sunday. But a gale suddenly coming
on obliged me to put in at a mission station, about twelve miles
from Auckland, where I spent the Sunday, and made my first
essay in performing Divine Service in the native language.*
On returning from this interesting and instructive little
expedition the Bishop immediately set sail again from
Auckland for the Bay of Islands, near to which his future
home was now to be prepared. On that long narrow
* About 1882, an old New Zealand chief, with face tattooed in the good
old-fashioned style, visited the tomb of Bishop Selwyn in Lichfield Cathedral.
He knelt beside the beautiful alabaster effigy, and was overheard to say, in
Maori, " Ah, that is his very chin ! and that his forehead ! and there are the
very nails I saw hiin bite, when he could not get the right Maori word in his
first sermon."
1S42.] THE BAY OF ISLANDS. 49
finger of a hundred and fifty miles, which stretches out
towards the tropics and points with mute eloquence to the
Melanesian Islands, the coast-line is broken by a bay — the
first shelter that invites a ship arriving from Sydney. Here,
accordingly, the first English settlement had been made,
and the banner of Christianity had been for the first time
unfurled. It was in the very same year (18 14) in which
the English Government, with short-sighted timidity, re-
pudiated Captain Cook's annexation of New Zealand, that
the English Church, with better courage and hope, first took
possession of New Zealand by the landing of Dr. Samuel
Marsden in the Bay of Islands. When the first Bishop,
therefore, was appointed in 1841 the most natural place for
him to select as his temporary head-quarters was the
Church Missionary Society's chief station here. Two little
towns stood on the bay (Paihia and Kororarika), and a
village stood among pretty wooded hills some miles to-
wards the south-west, called the Waimate, or "dead water."
Here, then, the Bishop now landed ; and the wife of a
neighbouring missionary, who hurried down to the shore
on hearing the news of their arrival, testified audibly
to the suitableness of a Diocesan whose first act, after
landing, was to pull up the boat to safe distance from a
New Zealand surf* He next hastened to prepare a
home for his wife and infant son ; who, with piles of
books and much simple paraphernalia of civilized life,
might now at any hour be looked for in the Toinatiii.
On June 24th, the ship was announced in the ofiing, and
soon the whole party was on shore. The Bishop's heavy
boxes of books were left in the only stone building then
* Tucker, i. 116.
E
50 BISHOP SELIVYN. [1842.
in New Zealand — a missionary storehouse at Paihia ; but
the rest of the baggage was carried off some ten miles into
the interior, to the Waimate. For this remote station, how-
ever inconvenient in geographical position and unsuitable
from its semi-tropical climate, was to be the episcopal head-
quarters for all New Zealand during the next few years.
The place is thus described by one who knew it well : —
The little town of Kororarika is a sort of New Zealand Graves-
end. It had been the resort of whalers in old days, and a few
small wooden houses with verandahs, and some third-rate public-
houses were the main signs of English civilization. But we went
up to the little wooden parsonage, which stood near the church
on a hill above the town, and found a garden gay with flowers
and shrubs, and some sheltering trees. We then visited Paihia,
a mission station which nestles under some hills on the other side
of the harbour, with the clear blue water washing up almost
to the doors. The gardens here were all ablaze with flowers
[October] — honeysuckle and passion-flowers and cluster-roses
hung in masses over the verandah ; and here and there a tall
aloe or native palm rose towering up, and gave a foreign air
to the scene. Everything suggested peace and quiet ; but only
a few months later, the horrors of war came within a few miles of
the mission station.*
As for the Waimate itself —
it was the old head-quarters of the Church Missionary Society,
and had now quite a civilized appearance. A broad path led
past the houses to the church. At a little distance was a mill-
pond, with the miller's house and a clump of pines at the back,
where the Maoris, in old days, used to put their dead upon a
wooden frame till only the skeleton remained, and then came
a solemn burying and mourning. . . . Not far off was an old
forest of stately kauri pines ; and here I saw, for the first time,
* " Our Maoris," p. 41.
1S42.J HOME AT IflE IVAIMATE. 5 1
a grand old pine dying in the cruel embrace of the rata* A year
or two before, this rata had been only a vine, as thick as one's
little finger, clinging round the pine for support • and now its
strong branches were crushing him to death, and would soon
become a huge forest-tree, covered with crimson blossoms. Near
the mission station we rejoiced to see fenced fields with cattle
grazing, white houses embowered in trees and, beyond, a church.
The native girls had been taught to spin flax, and were very
merry over their work, singing many of our school songs amid the
whirr of the wheels. The infant school was delightful — plump,
jolly Maori children, who clapped their hands and sang the mul-
tiplication table with great glee.f
It was, no doubt, a fascinating scene of pastoral sim-
plicity and of, apparently, inviolable peace. One can easily
understand — one can almost forgive — the profound re-
pugnance with which these evangelical missionaries, amid
their rustic plenty and their obedient native flocks, viewed
the contaminating inrush, now fairly beginning, of old-
world immigration. One can even forgive them if, for a
moment, they gave a hesitating welcome to militant and
organizing churchmanship, although embodied in a Bishop
whose equal could not be found in Christendom, and who,
of all mankind, was best suited to the task of preparing a
Church for New Zealand which could embrace in its
mighty grasp, and mould into friendly unity, both races at
once. Here he soon afterwards had the happiness of wel-
coming Mrs. Selwyn and the rest of the party on their
tardy arrival from Sydney. The following is his own
description of their first home in New Zealand : —
* A species of myrtle, which, curiously enough, "has all the haljits of the
Indian fig (banian)" (Moseley, p. 27S).
t " Our Maoris," p. 30.
52 BISHOP SELWYN. [1842.
The distance from Auckland to the bay is only one hundred
and twenty miles ; but we had contrary winds, and did not reach
the harbour till Monday, June 20th, where we were becalmed just
inside the heads, sixteen miles from Paihia. I again took to my
boat ; and Mr. Cotton and Rupi rowed me to Mr. Williams's
house, where we arrived at sunset. The schooner did not reach
the anchorage till the following afternoon.
On Tuesday, Mr. WilHams took me in his boat to Kerikeri,
where Mr. Taylor met me with a horse, and conducted me to the
Waimate.
On Wednesday, I walked all round the mission station, and
inspected Mr. Clarke's house, which I decided would accommo-
date Sarah and such of the party as I might leave with her.
I need not send you a sketch of the house, as it is figured in
Tate's " New Zealand," with a flag planted before it. The house
is a little out of repair, but I gave directions for the carpenters to
do what was necessary before Sarah's removal from Mr. Williams's
house. The garden has been overrun with cattle, but most of the
plants are still alive, and with a little care may soon recover, ^^^e
shall then have a good garden with abundance of grass-land about
it — a rarity, I can assiue you, in New Zealand, and a most
refreshing sight after the fern and weed of Auckland. Seen from
a distance, the Waimate presents the appearance of an English
village, with a white church and spire, comfortable houses, and
gardens. This is by far the most settled place in this country.
I am informed that four hundred native communicants assemble
at the Lord's Table. This will probably be my head-quarters for
some years, till I can deliberately choose a site for my residence
and erect substantial buildings. This will be far more satisfactory
than incurring great expenses for buildings such as I could erect
now, which must be wooden structures, and could only last a few
years.
On Friday, June 24th, at noon, I saw, to my great joy, the
7ofnatin coming full sail into the bay with a fair and strong wind,
which brought her in so rapidly that I had only just time to get
a boat ready and row two miles to meet her before she dropped
1S42.] FIRST VISITATION OF THE DIOCESE. 53
her anchor off Kororarika. I found Sarah and babe and all on
board, thank God, in excellent health and spirits. The only-
drawback was that my dear friend, Mr. Whytehead, was. advised
to stay at Sydney till the spring, on account of his health, which
is very delicate. Still, if it is for his good, it is also for mine ; for
a more valuable and confidential friend could not have been
found for me.
You will be glad to hear that I accepted Mr. Williams's invita-
tion to Sarah to stay at his house till preparations were made for
her reception at the Waimate. But I advised her not to make
her stay longer than w^as necessary, as all the members of the
Williams family, in number about twenty-four, were assembled
in the house, and the addition of visitors must have been a great
inconvenience to them, though they did not betray it. I am
much pleased with the missionary clergymen whom I have seen
here. They seem to be very zealous and able ministers, and I think
myself happy in having under me a body in whom I shall see so
much to commend and so little to reprove. The state of the
mission is really wonderfully good, considering the difficulties
against which they have had to contend.
And now, having arranged his diocesan head-quarters,
and consecrated a new burial-ground for Auckland — a
lov^ely spot in a deep wooded valley, given by the governor,
who was the first to be buried in it — the Bishop was all
anxiety to see his diocese. First, in 1842, he personally
visited the whole of the Northern Island, and, in the follow-
ing year, the Southern Island. He started from home on
Jul}' 28, 1842, and did not return till January 9, 1843.
Sailing first down to Auckland, he there took passage in
the Government brig to the extreme point of this visita-
tion, Nelson ; and then, crossing Cook's Straits, he stayed
some weeks at Wellington, and nursed tenderly till his
death W. Evans, a fine, promising lad of eighteen, who had
54 BISHOP SELWYN. [1842.
come with him from England, and whose untimely loss he
deeply mourned. Joined here by his bosom friend, Chief
justice Martin, he began a most romantic and delightful
land-journey over great part of the Northern Island. The
climate was perfect ; spring in all its beauty was awakening
life in every kingdom of bounteous Nature; and everything
was new. Nay, everything was, in a sense, personally his
own ; for it was part of that magnificent diocese which had
been committed to him, and which he ever described in
the loving words of Old Testament patriotism : " The lot
is fallen unto me in a fair ground ; yea, I have a goodly
heritage." Such deeply interesting first impressions cannot,
it is thought, be more worthily presented to the reader than
mainly in his own graphic words, taken from letters to his
mother in England written during the journey.
It appears that he reached Wellington, by a small
trading ship from Nelson, in September, 1842 ; and from
thence made several excursions, the most important being
a long coast-walk northwards — one hundred and forty
miles — as far as the rising settlements at Taranaki and the
magnificent scenery of Mount Egmont, an extinct volcano,
rising 8800 feet almost directly from the sea. This volcano
forms the huge west-coast beacon, — as Mount Edgecumbe
(9630 feet), at the Bay of Plenty, forms the easternmost
beacon, — of the vast gloomy and threatening masses which
from time immemorial have heaved, and steamed, and
thundered, and poured out lovely " pink and white terraces
of calcareous matter" — all destined to a terrific cata-
strophe in 1 886. He then took passage in the Govern-
ment brig southward again, as far as Mr. Hadfield's
mission station at Waikanae, near Wellington ; and
1842.] FATAL ILLNESS OF W. EVANS. 55
from thence journeyed across the whole island to Tau-
ranga.
It was during the long walk to Taranaki that he wrote
as follows to his mother : —
My young friend, W. Evans, expired, after a lingering attack
of fever, on the 3rd of October, 1842. He was sensible to the last,
and died without a struggle, leaning upon my arm. I had been
with him three weeks, and enjoyed much comfort in the simple
manner in which he expressed the sincerity of his repentance, and
the grounds of his hope for the life to come.*
After the funeral, I immediately made my preparations for my
land journey, and left Wellington October loth, with a train of
twenty-eight natives, carrying tents, beds, food, clothes, etc.
My English companion is Mr, St. Hill, w^hom I have appointed
agent of the lands which have been chosen for the Church — an
arrangement to which I objected in England, but find it inexpedient
now to alter. . . .
On Sunday, October i6th, I was encamped on the beach,
among some low sand-hills, with a small stream of fresh water
running into the sea. In this unpicturesque situation I was
detained for three days by an inflammation in my heel, caused by
walking over flat sand for many miles. My little tent w^as pitched
in a hollow of the sand-hills, and my native attendants made
themselves comfortable round a large fire. . . .
I spent October 17th, the anniversary of my consecration, in
my tent on the sand-hills, and was led naturally to contrast my
present condition with the very different scenes at Lambeth and
Fulham last year. I can assure you, the comparison brought
* "The Bishop (wrote Judge Martin to his wife) was watching and tend-
ing, as a mother or wife might watch and tend. It \\-as a most affecting sight.
He practised every little art, that nourishment might be supplied 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 every-
thing worthy of his noble nature. It went to my heart." (Tucker, i. 125.)
56 BISHOP SELWYN. [1842.
with it no feelings of discontent. On the contrary, I spent the
greater part of the day in thinking, with gratitude, over the many
blessings which have been granted me.
After completing this northward excursion to Taranaki
— the beautiful land destined ere long to reverberate to
cannon and musketry, and to witness a deadly war of races
— the Bishop took passage in the Government brig, and
turned southward once more to meet his comrade, Judge
Martin, at Mr. Hadfield's mission station, Waikanae, near
Wellington, and then to turn boldly inland and cross the
whole Northern Island. His adventures on this first great
visitation journey shall now be told in his own graphic words.
On November 5, 1842, after native service, we started in Mr.
Hadfield's boat (twenty miles) to mouth of Manawatu river ; and
thence walked seven miles across country, avoiding the great bend
of the river, to Te Rewarewa. We arrived at the pa at 8 p.m., and
were welcomed with enormous bonfires, most appropriate to the
day. We joined the natives at their evening service, in which
they were engaged when we arrived. Two pigs were killed for our
party, and great joy was displayed at our arrival.
November 6th was Sunday. I opened the new native chapel,
and preached upon Acts vii. 47, " Solomon built Him an house,"
contrasting the state of the natives now with that of their fore-
fathers, who were " men of blood." The interior of the chapel was
beautifully fitted with variously coloured reeds. After service,
Mr. Hadfield took a class of one hundred and fifty men, and I one
of a hundred women.
On Monday, November 7th, we began the ascent of the Mana-
watu in six canoes, each containing eight pole-men. Letters and
newspapers having been forwarded from Wellington, I was supplied
with delightful reading at such times as the beauty of the scenery
did not engross my attention.
1S42.] A SUNDAY IN THE WILDERNESS. 57
At night we encamped on the banks of the river. The next four
days we spent in ascending the Manawatu — a lovely river, in its
lower part running between flat banks covered with wood ; higher
up, flowing through a beautiful mountain-pass, between high cliffs,
clothed with wood from the summit to the water, and with bold
masses of rock peeping out at intervals. In this pass is the only
rapid which cannot be ascended without unlading the canoes.
This occupied half an hour ; and we again proceeded up the river
through a succession of perfect landscapes of soft woodland
scenery. There were several small native settlements on the
banks, at which we stopped ; and at one of them the chief
brought us out a present of twenty-five baskets of potatoes,
which I acknowledged by a present of books. At all these
places we found a hearty welcome and a great eagerness for
instruction.
On Friday, November nth, we reached the highest navigable
point of the river and began our land journey. We passed through
small woods and grassy plains, and then crossed a long wood,
which occupied the whole of Saturda)^ Our encampment was
pitched on a small plain at the extremity of the wood. Evening
service closed the day, and then Mr. Hadfield returned to his
mission station.
On Sunday, November 13th, I conducted native services for
my party of thirty Maoris. It was a most happy Sunday. Our
camp lay on a lovely little plain, bounded on all sides with wood,
except on one, where a view opened upon a range of distant hills.
Below us, in a very deep valley, flowed the infant Manawatu in a
very winding channel, with precipitous wooded banks feathering
down to the stream. The day was the perfection of New Zealand
weather, which is the perfection of all climates — hot, but rarely
sultry, bright but not glaring, OAving to the vivid green with which
the earth is generally clothed. If you could have seen the fear-
lessness of our Lord's- day camp, and the repose of the whole face
of heaven and earth, you would have been relieved from many of
those fears which seem to creep into your mind when you think
of my journeys in this country. I took a Sabbath-day's walk
58 BISHOP SELWYN. [1842.
round my little plain, and then returned to the evening service
with the natives.
On Monday, November 14th, we dived down a steep bank
into a thick wood; crossed several heads of the Manawatu ; and
to our great joy came out in a few minutes upon a noble plain,
stretching as far as the eye could reach, and covered with grass,
without a bush or tree of any kind except two small clumps. To
the lefi was the snowy range of Ruahine, the parent of many
streams, giving birth to the Manawatu on its western face, and
on the east to five rivers which, uniting into one channel, fall into
the sea a few miles south of Ahuriri, a port in Hawke Bay. Our
path led us across all these rivers in succession. During the first
eighteen miles we walked over a surface of soft grass, on which
wild pigs were ranging without fear of molestation. Their security,
however, was interrupted for once : for our natives, with sharpened
appetites, gave chase and captured four. Their successful chase
gave our party a most grotesque appearance, for tlie animals being
tied to the backs of the natives, it sometimes hai)pened that the
tail of the dead animal supplied that defect in the human race
which Lord Monboddo lamented; while another man would be
double-faced, with a boar's head worthy of the festivities of St. John's
College.
Tuesday, November 15th, we walked to a small settlement
on an island in a lake, whence the natives sent canoes to bring us
to their island. The chief harangued us in a flowing blanket, with
all the dignity of a Roman senator. But when the time came for
our departure he prepared to accompany us by dressing himself in
a complete English suit of white jean, with white cotton stockings,
shoes, neckcloth and shirt complete. His wife was dressed in a
brilliant cotton gown, spotted with bright red, and a good English
bonnet, but without shoes or stockings. The canoe being in
shallow water some way from the shore, the dutiful wife saved her
husband's shoes and stockings by carrying him on her back to the
boat.
About one o'clock we had the pleasure of seeing Archdeacon
Williams and Mr. Dudley coming to meet us.
1842.] BEAUTY OF THE SCENERY. 59
On Wednesday, November i6th, we arrived at Ahuriri ; where
we found a very numerous Christian community, though they had
only once been visited by a missionary. The chapel was a sub-
stantial building capable of containing four hundred people. In
the evening, our canoe having stuck fast, we were left without tents
or food till near midnight : we then procured one tent, in which
the first Chief Justice, the first Bishop, and the first Archdeacon
of New Zealand huddled in their blankets for the night. Surely
such an aggregate of legal and clerical dignity was never before
collected under one piece of canvas !
Thursday, Novemt)er i8th, rose at four o'clock; crossed the
harbour of Ahuriri, and walked twelve miles along the eastern
coast, — being lighted to our encampment first by innumerable
insects like the glow-worm, and at last by the blaze of a burning
wood.
On Sunday, November 20th, we held services with our natives,
there being no other inhabitants in these parts. It was another
peaceful Sunday. The morning opened as usual with the morning
hymn of the birds, which Captain Cook compared to a concert of
silver bells. When this ceased at sunrise, the sound of native
voices chanting around our tents carried on the same tribute of
praise and thanksgiving, while audible murmurs brought to our
ears the passages of the Bible which they were reading. I never
felt the full blessing of the Lord's Day as a day of rest more than
in New Zealand. Here it pleased God, however, to bring us into
a state of great anxiety : one of our party was seized with a disorder
of the brain, caused, we had reason to believe, partly by the heat
and partly by the excitement of the journey. You cannot form
any idea of the effect of such a journey on the mind. I cannot
convey to you the least idea of the train of innumerable thoughts
which are suggested continually both by the beauty of the scenery,
the character of the natives, the various plants, insects, and birds,
so entirely different from those of our own land.
At last, on November 25th, w^e reached Poverty Bay, where
our invalid was at his own home, and safely committed to the care
of his wife.
6o BISHOP SELWYN. 1 184 2.
Sunday, November 27th, we liad a noble congregation, of at
least a thousand, assembled amid the ruins of their chapel, which
had been blown down. They came up in parties, headed by their
chiefs and teachers, and took their places on the ground with the
regularity of so many soldiers. We were placed under an awning,
but the congregation sat in the sun. It was a noble sight, and
their attentive manner and the deep sonorous uniformity of their
responses was most striking. During the service, Mr. W. Williams
was duly installed as Archdeacon of Waiapu, or East Cape, and
will have jurisdiction over all the country eastward of the one
hundred and sixth degree of E. longitude.
After morning service the natives formed into classes for read-
ing and saying the catechism, — old tattooed warriors standing
side by side with young men and boys, and submitting to lose
their places for every mistake with the most perfect good-humour.
On Wednesday, November 30th, we walked along the shore
of Poverty Bay and of the bays to the northward, amid the most
lovely scenery. The general character is a half-moon bay, with a
rich background of wooded hills sloping down to a iirm sandy
beach of a warm reddish-grey tone. And this, with a bright blue
sky overhead, formed a combination of the most pleasing colours ;
and, with a large party of natives forming themselves into
movable groups, presented a succession of perfect landscapes.
On December ist, we walked under a grand headland, called
by Captain Cook " Cape Gable-end." It is one of the most
striking sea-views that I ever saw. After leaving this Ave passed
through Tolaga Bay, where a house is in progress for Mr. Baker, a
catechist of the Church Missionary Society. Here we were most
kindly received by the native teacher and his wife, one of the
most worthy couples that I have seen in the country. We
arrived at Kiawa, our sleeping-place, at 9.30 p.m.
On December 2nd, we passed Anaura Bay, abounding in lovely
scenery, as before : then through a bay where a small vessel was
lying at anchor engaged in the pig trade, which is brisk along this
coast. We made a twilight ascent up a steep ridge, and then had
a long walk along the flat summit from which the outline of the
1842.] "SERVICE" IN THE OPEN AIR. 6l
distant mountains — Ikurangi (the Parnassus of New Zealand, with
its two peaks) and others near it — stood out on the face of the
sky from which the last gleam of daylight had not disappeared.
We did not reach our resting-place till 11.30 p.m., and the Chief
Justice was engaged in frying pancakes of flour and water till
midnight.
Saturday, December 3rd, after a pleasant walk over sand and
shingle, at 5 p.m., we came upon the valley of the Waiapu, and a
lovely view it was. A rich plain of grass and fern-land lay before
us, through the middle of which the Waiapu runs in a broad
shingly bed. In the centre of the plain is a large pa, and beyond
it the mission-house of Mr. Stack. Rich patches of wood are
scattered over the higher parts of the valley over which the double
head of Ikurangi rose, supported by its three satellites — Aorangi,
Taitai and Wairiki, — a noble mass of mountains with the sun
setting gloriously behind it.
On Sunday, December 4th, a very full congregation assembled,
and after morning service I had an English service with some
settlers at the place. For there is now scarcely one of the mission
settlements at which parties of white men have not settled, and
the missionaries very properly invite them to an English service
every Sunday. In the afternoon, we had Divine Service in the
open air, the natives forming orderly rows ("by fifty in a
company ") on the grass.
On Monday, December 5th, we made many inquiries about a
short cut to Opotiki : and the natives told us there was a war-path
which the old men knew, but which had been little used for some
years, and was much overgrown. We resolved to try it, and
started at 4 p.m., up the course of the Waiapu for ten miles. For
three days we pushed on. The native path went over the highest
ridges, probably from the desire of the war parties to keep the
highest ground for fear of surprise. This is the only respect in
which we suffer from the warlike character of the natives in
former times ; as their present disposition, so far as I have seen
it, is remarkably peaceable.
On December 9th, we pitched our encampment on a small
62 BISHOP SELIVYN. [1842.
piece of alluvial soil deposited in the bend of the river Kereu, the
rest of the banks being rocky and precipitous. A more glorious
woodland amphitheatre cannot be conceived. Tree ferns starred
the face of the hills on every side, and next day at two o'clock a
fresh breeze came sweeping up the valley, announcing by its
refreshing coolness that the sea was near. ... In another hour
we emerged, to our great joy, upon the coast of the Bay of Plenty,
near a place called Te Kaha. Here we encamped in the middle
of the pa, in which we were sorry to find (what is very unusual)
that the majority of the population were heathens. In the
evening, I performed Divine Service in the native chapel, the
ruinous state of which and the smallness of the congregation con-
firmed the rumour which I had heard of the relapse of the
principal chiefs from Christianity.
Next day, Sunday, December nth, I visited the principal
chief to remonstrate with him on his abandonment of religion.
It appeared that various causes had led to the relapse, especially
the unpleasant manners of the native Christian teacher, the
residence of an unprincipled English trader among them, and the
death of some of their children, which they attributed to the dis-
pleasure of their own atua (spirit) at the introduction of Chris-
tianity. The coast of the Bay of Plenty is in accordance with its
name. The native cultivations slope down the gentle hills which
skirt the sea-shore ; and the rich pohutukawa trees, covered with
crimson blossoms, give the appearance of an ornamental garden
instead of the usual bleak and barren features of the coast.
On Monday, December 12th, we found an old native who was
said to remember Captain Cook ; and in the evening came to
a native settlement with very neat and extensive cultivations,
where we found Mr. Wilson, catechist of the Church Missionary
Society, who had come from Opotiki to meet us. Next day, we
reached Opotiki, a Church Missionary Society station, where I
baptized several natives in the open air. It is not my usual
practice to baptize : but this part of the coast is under the care of
unordained missionaries, who are visited by Rev. A. Brown from
his station at Tauranga. At the present time the unsettled state
1S42.] '' HAERE MAI!" 63
of the natives at Tauranga and Rotorua prevents Mr. Brown from
visiting these parts, and I therefore felt myself called upon to
supply the deficiency.
On Thursday, December 15th, we enjoyed a fine view of
Mount Edgecumbe from Matata, about ten miles off. Its height is
overrated on Wylde's map 5 I should think it is not more than
seven thousand feet high at the utmost. Crossed a small river,
and arrived at Otamarora, where we found an English schooner,
and again sent letters to our wives.
December i6th, started at eight, and walked along the beach
to river Waiki : found a canoe on the bank, and pushed and
paddled across with our tent-poles, which in all our journeys of
this kind have many employments — sometimes forming a litter to
carry us over swamps, sometimes serving as paddles, and very
often as walking-sticks. After crossing, we went towards Maketu,
a place lately rendered notorious by a murder committed by its
inhabitants upon the people of Mayor Islands. We heard that
the governor and soldiers were at Tauranga, fourteen miles from
Maketu, to bring the offenders to justice, and therefore expected
to find the people in great excitement. When we came within
half a mile of the pa, we heard firing, which was a signal to the
natives who were with us to place themselves in our rear, — not
that they loved us less, but that they loved themselves more, and
adopted the prudent course of Thraso in Terence : " Egomet ero
post principia." We were, however, received with every sign of
goodwill, much shaking of hands, and shouting oi Haere inai* the
principal murderer being most assiduous in his attentions, and
were conducted to a store built for Mr. Chapman, the missionary
at Rotorua, who uses this place (Maketu) as his seaport. Here
we found three large tea-chests, upon which we sat, expecting the
natives to ask us to stay. But after waiting two hours, we crossed
the river, and went on to an old deserted pa, the inhabitants of
which were destroyed a {q.\n years ago by the people of Maketu.
* The Maori for "Come on!" (in a peaceful sense) or "Welcome!"
An extensive vocabulary of Maori words may be seen at the end of Dieflen-
bach's "Tiavels in New Zealand" (1843).
64 BISHOP SELWYN. [1842.
On Saturday, December 17th, we crossed the harbour of
'I'auranga, and arrived at the mission station, a pretty cottage,
of native workmanship, surrounded by rose-trees. All looked
so comfortable and suitable that I was much prepossessed in
favour of the inmates. Nor was I disappointed ; for I found
Mr. and Mrs. Brown extremely sensible and rightminded. The
acting governor and his wife, with a suite of secretaries and
interpreters, were staying at the mission. But Mrs. Brown
pursued the even tenour of her domestic duties, where other
people would have made a great fuss on receiving the heads of
the State, the law, the army, and the Church. The governor
was in considerable doubt as to the course of action to be
adopted towards the people of Maketu, not wishing to kindle
a native war, and so to throw the country back into its former
state. He had much conversation with the Chief Justice on the
subject. I did not express any positive opinion ; as I wish,
whatever may be the proceedings of Government, to keep the
mission clear of any misunderstanding with the natives.
Sunday, December i8th, preached to the natives in the
morning, and to the English afterwards. Then I went seven
miles in a boat to a small pa, where I performed the whole
service, and returned with beautiful moonlight to the station
about 8.30 p.m. The Government brig arrived with the troops
from Auckland. Some of the officers advised us not to go by
Rotorua, as the natives of that place are of the same tribe as
those of Maketu. But as we had already told the people we
intended to go that way, we determined not to alter our
route.
On Tuesday, December 20th, therefore, we left Tauranga, and
walked twelve miles over the plain, encamping in a potato-ground,
which was both bed and board.
Wednesday, December 21st, emerging from a wood, we had
a noble view of Rotorua lake, the steam from hot springs rising
in a thick cloud at the north end, and the beautiful wooded hills
of Tarawera forming the background. We assembled the natives
for evening service, and then sailed across in Mr. Chapman's
1842.] THE THAMES AND THE WAIKATO. 65
boat to the mission station. Mr. Stack, my companion from
the East Cape, had left us at Tauranga.
Thursday, December 22nd, received visits from most of the
native teachers, conversed with them, and distributed books.
Afterwards we walked to the hot springs ; and then went to the
other side of the lake and assembled the natives to evening
service. During the next two days we walked over fern hills
and through woods, till we came suddenly upon the Thames,
rushing like an arrow through the barren country, with a bright
blue stream full of life and sparkling with purity. As yet it has
no Eton or Windsor on its banks. Still its name brought to my
mind all the most happy passages of my life. Towards sunset
we came to another ridge, on surmounting which the noble
Waikato came in view, forcing its way through a most singular
valley, where the excavations made by the river have all the
evenness of the works of a railway or of a regular fortification.
The path crosses the river by a native pig-bridge, composed of
two trees with a hollow wattle of brushwood in the middle. The
whole river is here compressed into a channel from twenty to
thirty feet wide, through which it boils and rushes in a most
magnificent manner. Of course there are a sufficient number
of legends of persons swept away. In the evening, we reached
one of the small villages. A large fire had demolished the chapel
and most of the dwellings ; but we pitched among the ruins, and
found the natives most kind and hospitable.
Sunday, Christmas Day, we walked two miles to a village,
where we found a good chapel in which I officiated ; and after
morning service asked and answered questions on the Bible till
time of school. I then called upon a chief, reputed to be a
heathen, but professing Romanism, and had a long conversation
with him. He attended our evening service in the open air, but
lay at full length with his cap on. He is most likely one of the
heathen, who pretend to be Papists, merely to keep up a reason
for separation from the mission converts. Next day, we walked
through native cultivations and wheat-fields of very considerable
extent, and came to the last of the cluster of villages, where we
F
66 BISHOP SELWYiV. [1S42.
were greeted with letters from Auckland and a present of rasp-
berries from the native teacher — both quite unexpected in a small
village in the heart of New Zealand.
Tuesday, December 27th, at Otawao a large body of natives
assembled to morning service in the open air, the chapel having
been blown down. After service^ school ; at which I was much
struck by a fine old blind man catechizing his class. His whole
manner and figure were venerable. I wish that I could sketch
him for you.
Wednesday, December 28th, we embarked in Mr. Maunsell's
boat on the river ^^'aipa, with a crew of seven natives with paddles.
The ease, comfort, and speed of our journey contrasted most
delightfully with our long and slow marches overland. The Waipa
is a most valuable river for inland navigation. For fifty miles
above its junction with the ^^^aikato it is navigable for vessels of
many tons burden ; and the stream is so gentle that vessels may
ascend and descend with almost equal facility. About 4 p.m. we
came to the junction of the waters, where the Waikato comes
rushing in like an arrow, reminding one of the confluence of the
Rhone with the Saone. Towards sunset we came to Mr. Ash-
well's mission station, and pitched our tents in front of his house.
On Thursday, December 29th, we resumed our course down
tiie Waikato, stopping about midday to converse with Te Whero-
Whero, the great chief of the Waikato. His wife has all the
manners of an old lady of quality ; she entertained us with eels
cooked in the native oven. Later in the day we came to a small
creek, up which the judge wished to go in order to join a path
leading over the isthmus to Auckland. I paddled on to the
Rev. R. Maunsell's mission station at the mouth of the Waikato,
and spent December 31st in conversing with him on the [Maori]
translations of the Bible and Prayer Book. He is one of the best
linguists on the mission. I have formed a "translation com-
mittee," composed of two clergymen and two catechists. So
that I hope, in due time, to get a standard copy of both Bible
and Prayer-Book, to be published under authority.
1843. Sunday, January ist, I reviewed with great thankfulness
I843-] HOME, AFTER SIX MONTHS' ABSENCE. 67
the various events of the past year, so full of new and important
features. The next day, crossed Waikato Harbour in Mr. Maun-
sell's boat; and walked inland to a native village where the
chapel had a very respectable appearance, having large glass
windows, a gift of the late governor. The native teacher is a
Wesleyan ; but he was very attentive, and supplied us with
potatoes and goat's milk.
On Tuesday, January 3rd, my last pair of thick shoes being
worn out, and my feet much blistered by walking on the stumps,
I borrowed a horse from the native teacher, and started at 4 a.m.
to go twelve miles to Mr. Hamlin's mission station, on Manakau
Harbour. Then ten miles, by boat, across the harbour. It is
a noble sheet of water, but very dangerous, from shoals and
squalls. After a beautiful run of two hours, I landed with my
faithful Maori, Rota (Lot), who had steadily accompanied me
all the way, carrying my bag with gown and cassock — the only
articles in my possession which would have fetched sixpence in
the Auckland rag-market. My last remaining pair of shoes
(pumps) were strong enough for the light and sandy walk of six
miles to Auckland ; and at 2 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 a cathedral. It is a spot which, I hope,
may hereafter be traversed by the feet of many bishops better
shod and far less ragged than myself
Saturday, January 7th, I received letters reporting the rapid
decline of Mr. VVhytehead's health. When I recollected the last
scene before I quitted Wellington (three months ago) — the inter-
ment of poor Mr. Evans — my journey seemed, like the rebuilding
of Jericho, to be begun and ended in the death of my children.
I sent immediately to the harbour, and engaged a small vessel to
return to the Bay of Islands the same afternoon.
On Monday, January 9th, we landed ; and then rowed up the
Waitangi to the beginning of the path to the Waimate, which I
reached with a full heart at 6.30 p.m. Mr. Whytehead was one
of the first to meet me ; and his pale and spectral face told its
own story. Sarah was quite well, though she had borne much
68 BJSIIOP SELWYN. [1843.
during my absence ; William full of healtli and loquacity ; all
the young men and Mr. Cotton perfectly well. I had left home
on July 5, 1842, and returned on January 9, 1843, after an
absence of more than six months. The distance traversed was
2685 miles, of which 1400 miles were by ship, 397 by boat, 126
on horseback, 762 on foot.
Thus came to a happy termination the Bishop's first
visitation journey, giving him a full knowledge of the whole
Northern Island — by far the more important half, at that
time, of his vast diocese. The narrative is certainly one of
the greatest interest : partly, as presenting a most graphic
picture of the man, brimful of zeal and energy, inspired
with a noble courage and enterprise, and commingling in
the most curious amalgam the twinkling humour of a
healthy-minded Englishman, the classical tastes of an
Etonian, the fine sentiment for nature which is characteristic
of our nineteenth century, and the spirit of the somewhat
romantic " Catholic revival " brought here into contact
with an insular Evangelical mission long in undisputed
possession of the land.
But besides the man, there is this noble country itself
most vividly brought before us, as it w^as half a century
ago. Since that time, English settlers have crowded by
shiploads to the coast, and desperate w^ars have been
waged by these apparently peaceful Maoris to try and
stave off their inevitable subjugation ; in the then wild
valley of the Thames, gold-fields have been discovered ;
the Waikato valley and the coast south of Mount Egmont
hear the harsh whistle of the raihvay engine ; and Wel-
lington itself — so hastily fortified against Rauparaha and
Rangihaeta after the massacre of a surveying party in 1843
1843] RESULTS OF THE yOURAEV. 69
— is now the seat of government, where Maori and English
representatives sit in Parhament side by side.
Above all, the state of religion in New Zealand some
fifty }'ears ago comes out with a most curious and in
teresting distinctness. Who could have believed that the
first Bishop, on his arrival, would have found the whole
native population thus quietly and thoroughly (as it then
seemed) permeated and saturated with Christianity ?
Broadcast over the land, we see, during this journey,
chapels and mission-stations, English clergymen and native
catechists, Bible-classes and Sunday worship, mission
boats and other expensive paraphernalia. And, what is
more, the religion thus professed was evidently of the
most simple, hearty, and effective kind, exactly suitable to
the race and to their conditions — before the overwhelming
influx of English colonization had begun.
Nor was it religion only which had been taught to this
promising race. Agriculture, also, and the arts of civilized
life had long ago been introduced. So long ago as 1830,
the station at Waimate had made itself independent of
New South Wales for its supplies of provisions. More
than fifty thousand bricks were made ; seven hundred
thousand feet of timber were felled ; three wooden houses
were erected, with stabling for twelve or fourteen horses ;.
eight or ten cottages wei'e built, and ultimately a spacious
chapel ; ploughs and harrows were constructed ; and
roads were cut through the dense forest ; while January 3,
1835, was made for ever memorable by the introduction
of a printing press, to be worked by a native assistant.
Where did all these benefits come from } It was mainly
the humble quiet permeating work of the Church Missionary
/O BISHOP SELWYN. [1843.
Society.* All honour to it, and to the devoted able men
whom it sent forth ! For such a work needed self-devotion
indeed. The attention of that society (as we have already
seen) was first directed to New Zealand by Samuel
Marsden, in 1809; and the missionaries they sent out — or
rather, the "Gospel of Christ" by its own inherent power —
had produced in the course of a few years such a transfor-
mation of the native character as, had it not been actually
witnessed by competent observers, could not possibly have
been believed. For the Maoris, docile as they may now
seem, are at heart a manly and warlike, and even a
ferocious race ; and —
on account of their savage character, they were once so dreaded
by the mariner, that nothing but necessity could induce him to
land upon their shores.f
No wonder : for even their first discoverer, Tasman, two
hundred years ago (1643), had a taste of their quality;
Avhen, losing some of his men by native treachery, he
named an inlet near Nelson "Massacre Bay." In 1770,
another captain, a Frenchman, with sixteen of his crew, was
set upon and eaten. In 1 771, an English captain lost ten
men in the same way, — and this, two years after Captain
Cook had taken possession of the islands for England. In
1809, the ship Boyd \w:SiS, seized, and seventy persons were
massacred and eaten, in revenge for some ill-usage of a
young chief. Thus the Maoris came to be regarded by
* " I took leave of the New Zealand missionaries with feelings of high
respect for their useful and upright characters. . . . The march of improve-
ment, consequent on the introduction of Christianity, throughout the South Sea
probably stands by itself in the record of history." (Charles Darwin, "Voyage "
(1832-1836), 428, 505.)
t Swainson, "New Zealand" (1859), p. 67.
I843-] ^ MODERN "MIRACLES J I
civilized mankind as little better than carnivorous wild-
beasts. They were talked of as " the enemies of man-
kind ; " and every ship that approached their coasts had
boarding-nets to keep them off.* Even so late as 1836 —
only six years before Bishop Selwyn's arrival — a traveller
describes the most horrible scenes of cannibalism, witnessed
by him among the tribes that remained heathen. There
had been a battle : and —
the bodies of fallen men, weltering in their blood, are strewn about
the ground. Here, a number of bodies are laid out previously to
being cut up for the oven. By-and-by, a body is dragged into the
camp : the head is cut off, and the heart, steaming with warmth,
is pulled out and carried off. Halves of bodies, quarters, heads,
legs, are carried away ; and some of them purposely thrust into
your face. You now visit the place where the opposite party is
encamped, and where for two days they had remained to gorge
on sixty human bodies. Two long lines of native ovens mark the
spot where the bodies were cooked : and a smaller one, with a
wreath around its edge and two pointed sticks by the side, on one
of which was a potato and on the other a lock of hair, points out
the place where they set apart a portion of their horrid meal for
the evil-spirit, t
The abrupt and total transformation of men like these,
by the simple agency of preaching " the story of the Cross,"
is something more like a modern " miracle " than any event
recorded in the annals of our time. And that the trans-
forming agency was really the " Cross of Christ," and
nothing else, appears from the following letter written by
the present Bishop of Wellington (Hadfield) in 1840.J
* Thomson, "Story of New Zealand," i. 253. t Swainson, p. 67.
% These interesting letters were most kindly put into my hands by his
brother, Colonel Hadfield, of Lichfield, in 1888. The times referred to
are now long gone by.
72 BISHOP SELWYK. [1843.
I am in the midst of a sinful people, who have been accustomed
to sin uncontrolled from their youth, and who talk of it with levity.
If I speak to a native on murder, infanticide, cannibalism, and
adultery — their hitherto glaring sins — they laugh in my face, and
tell me, " I may think these acts are bad, but they are very good
for a native ; " and they cannot conceive any harm in them. But,
on the contrary, when I tell them that these and other sins brought
the Son of God, the great Creator of the Universe, from His
eternal glory to this world, to be incarnate and to be made a
curse and to die, — then they open their eyes and ears and mouths,
and wish to hear more ; and presently they acknowledge them-
selves sinners, and say they will leave off their sins. . . . The
leading men of this tribe [near Waikanae, north of Wellington],
who have hitherto resisted the Gospel, are all coming round. I
returned, about a fortnight ago, from an interesting trip among
some people of this tribe living on the banks of a most splendid
and beautiful river, the Manawatu. I came all the way down in
a canoe, visiting the natives on the banks ; nearly all of whom I
found much improved and seeming to welcome me from their
hearts. ... I am also expecting a vessel to take me to the
opposite island, to Queen Charlotte's Sound, where there are
many hundreds who (in their simple way) call themselves my
" children." I have much love for them. A party of another
tribe (Rauparaha's people) lately visited me for some days, with
all the "nobility " of the tribe. I was much pleased with some of
them. There is some talk of their coming to see me from all
parts of the straits in the summer.
Another letter, written about the same time, thus de-
scribes the transformation that was preparing the way for
the peaceful scenes witnessed b}' Bishop Selvvyn on his
first visitation tour : —
Oh that the time were come, when the Gospel of Jesus, the
" Prince of Peace," shall prevail throughout the world ! I feel
thankful that I — yet not I, but the Gospel I preach — has been the
)843.] TRANSFORMATION OF THE MAORIS. 73
means of stopping a war between the two tribes among whom I
h've. Many of the chiefs who began the war before I came [hither,
to the south, near Cook's Straits], now tell me that, though they
cannot understand all I say, they have at least learned to leave off
fighting and working on the Lord's Day. The other tribe all
attend to me : and in the one village in which I reside [Waikanae]
there are about five or six hundred at service on the Sunday. It
is not all gold that glitters. Nevertheless there is much to
encourage me : vast numbers can now read and write well [in
Maori] : and when I have lectures of an evening, it amuses me to
see the means they resort to, climbing up on stands inside the
building, and many coming half an hour before the bell rings, — so
anxious are they to hear the Word of God explained. Some
travel ten miles on the Saturday, for the services of the next day.
And it is remarkable to see gun-barrels used for bells, — instru-
ments of war turned into instruments of peace. These are very
common. . . . But this people is a very wicked people; and if
" civilized " without the influence of the Gospel upon it, they will
not be benefited in any way. The influence of the immoral
English, living in the land, is the greatest difficulty I have to
contend with ; as they continually object to me the lives and
conduct of my own countrymen. . . . There is not much beauty
in the scenery here, — a sandy shore and flat near the sea ; but the
mountains at the back are fine, and I have the hilly island of
Kapiti, or "Entry Island" [Rauparaha's domain], about three
miles out at sea, opposite me.
This, then, was Aotearoa (" the land of bright sun-
shine,") and these its Maoris ("natives," or men of the
soil), whose acquaintance Bishop Selwyn had now made,
and whose capabilities he had already learned to appreciate
so highly. But though the Church of England, even so
early as 1809, had formed a just appreciation of this
beautiful country and of its manly race, the State of
74 BISHOP SELWYN. [1843.
England lingered far behind : and so little was the
future importance of the country foreseen, that, in 1830,
King William IV. sent out a national flag to the " united
chiefs of New Zealand ; " * and not till 1 837 did the frequent
misdeeds of rough whalers and shrewd land-sharks induce
the home Government to send out a British consul to intro-
duce English law at the Bay of Islands, before the Earl of
Durham's recently formed "New Zealand Association"
should send out emigrants to the country. Then, in 1840, the
French threatening to take possession, the English ensign
was once more formally hauled up ; Colonel Wakefield
purchased, as he supposed, an enormous territory for his
New Zealand Company, on both sides of Cook's Straits ; and
the first governor. Captain Hobson, signed, along with three
hundred and twelve Maori, chiefs, the celebrated " Treaty
of Waitangi" — by which it was agreed (i) that the Queen
was to be Sovereign of New Zealand ; (2) that the chiefs of
the various tribes were to retain undisputed possession of
their lands.
But, from the very first, there seems to have been a
good deal of confusion and uncertainty about this treaty,
from which so much benefit was expected. Thus —
on October 4, 1842, at the first sitting of the Supreme Court at
Wellington, under Judge Martin, a case of great importance
to the relation between the white people and the natives
was tried. A chief, Rangihaeta, had violently taken possession
of certain buildings and had destroyed them. It appeared that he
had not signed the treaty made with the confederate chiefs. But,
it was argued, the "proclamation" of I\Iay 21, 1840, had made
him a British subject. Major Bunbury, however, distinctly states
* Silver, " Australia and New Zealand " (1S80), p. 343.
1843-] THE ''LITTLE RIFT" 75
that Rangihaeta had signed the document in question, in the
following June, on board H.M.S. Herald. It seemed odd that
neither the judge nor any of the counsel should have been in
possession of so important a paper, with all the signatures attached.
But scarcely any one knows to this day, except by rumour and
incidental evidence, who were the 312 natives that signed the
Treaty of Waitangi." *
Here, then, was already prepared a fertile cause of
misunderstanding and dispute. But when Bishop Selwyn,
two years later on, appeared upon the scene, his highly
educated eye, his " heredity " of legal acumen, and his deep
Christian sympathy, both with the natives, on the one hand,
and the English settlers on the other, soon enabled him to
detect another " little rift " which should ere long spoil the
seeming harmony and soak the land in blood. Six months
after his return home to the Waimate, there occurred in the
Southern Island the disastrous " massacre at Wairau "
(June 15, 1843). On hearing this sad news. Bishop Selwyn
writes thus to a friend in England : —
Last Monday (July 17, 1843) '^^^'^ the gloomiest day which
I have spent in New Zealand. What has occurred at Nelson
will, I trust, be a salutary warning to us all. . . . The ideas of
boundaries and territorial rights are remarkably definite [among
the Maoris], though complicated in many cases by the number of
joint proprietors. One chief, for instance, may have the sole
property in one portion of land and only a common right in
another. But if he were disposed to sell, he might speak of them
both as his land — though the purchaser in the one case would be
buying the fee-simple, in the other case only the separate interest
of one holding in common with others. . . . Yet hundreds of
thousands of acres have been transferred to the English settlers
* E. G. Wakefield, "New Zealand in 1839-1841," ii. 271.
7^ BISHOP SELWYN. [1843.
in all parts of the country without the slightest dispute, where all
the points necessary to the completion of a sale according to
native usages have been duly attended to. In the course of my
journeys I have been constantly told the exact boundaries and
the price (even to an axe or a blanket) of the land so alienated.*
In these few words we have, as in a nutshell, the cause
of the nine years' New Zealand war (i 859-1 868), and of
the political home-rule movement which, almost to the
present hour, has' jealously excluded all Europeans from
the " King Country " in the heart of the Northern Island.
Ail the bloodshed and confusion arose, as indeed such
miseries usually do arise, simply from a stupid misunder-
standing. There existed, in these early days of the colony,
two distinct centres of English influence and growth. One
was in the far north, at the seat of Government (Auckland),
where men of large views and of much colonial experience
were gathered ; the other was in the far south, on Cook's
Straits, where the New Zealand Company had purchased,
as they^ supposed, enormous tracts of land on both sides
of the strait and were pouring in settlers, fresh from Eng-
land, and innocent of ev^ery idea but that of " money down
and immediate possession." Yet had the managers of
this immigration recollected the history even of their own
country, they might have spared New Zealand all the
fratricidal bloodshed and all the heritage of political con-
fusion which half a century of effort has not even y^et
brought to an end. For of these ancient tribal or
" common " rights the England that we now pass so
swiftly over by railway shows many a trace to this very
hour ; and a little knowledge of the " land-questions " of
* Tucker, i. 141.
1 843-] THE WAIRAU MASSACRE. "J J
our own past history would save us from many ruinous
mistakes in dealing with more backward races. Thus,
even so late as 175 1 —
a statute, which altered the English calendar, recites the fre-
quency of these ancient forms of property, and provides that
the periods for commencing common enjoyment [after the
harvests have been cleared off] shall be reckoned by the old
account of time. There is but one voice as to the quarrels
and heartburning of which the " shifting severalties " in the
meadow land have been the source. But both common-fields
and common-meadows are still plentiful on all sides of us ; and
I have been surprised at the number of instances of abnormal
proprietary rights, implying former collective ownership, which a
comparatively brief inquiry has brought to my notice.*
When we go beyond England, we find in India, in
Russia, in Switzerland, and elsewhere, many opportunities
for studying this ancient but perplexed system of land-
tenure. But what should rough emigrants, half a century
ago, either know or care about these things ? Who of
them had the slightest acquaintance with the law, even of
their own country — "glorious" in its uncertainties, laby-
rinthine in its uncodified entanglements ? Much less
could they be expected to understand, or to pay any
heed to, the niceties of Maori ownership, where waste
and (apparently) no-man's land was inviting the plough-
share, and for which they had paid down hard cash
already to " the Company," Hence arose the first disas-
trous scuffle with the natives, commonly called "the
Wairau massacre," in June, 1843. The Maoris persisted
in impeding the English surveyors near Nelson, on the
* Maine, "Village Communities" (1871), p. S7.
78 BISHOP SELWYN. [1843.
southern side of Cook's Straits ; a force of fifty men was
sent in the Government brig to the spot ; a musket went
off and (as ill-luck would have it) killed a chief's wife ; and,
with a fierce cry, " Farewell the light, farewell the day,
come hither night ! " the Maoris rushed upon the small
English party and murdered twenty-three of them. This
ill-omened success, and the panic which it caused among
all the settlements, quite altered the hitherto peaceful and
admiring attitude of the natives towards their European
neighbours throughout the vv^hole length and breadth of
the land. The blood-stained chief who had ordered this
massacre Bishop Selwyn would never admit to his presence
again. Indeed he continued to give great trouble, until the
Government adroitly presented him with a gig ; on which
he turned his attention to making roads for the gig to
run over, and thus became for a time a harmless and
even useful member of society. These same roads, more-
over, (as Sir W. Martin, in a letter, points out), gave
military access to his fortified pa, across a hitherto im-
passable morass. But the old savage, though a master of
stratagems in his own method of warfare, was too simple to
suspect his English friends — " et dona ferentes."
These events, however, had no effect upon the Bishop's
determination to penetrate every part of his diocese, and
to carry far and wide, among both natives and settlers
committed to his charge, the blessings and privileges of
organized churchmanship. The gospel they already had.
It was the frame-work of Church order — the only guarantee
for the permanence and purity of Christianity in any part
of the world — which he felt commissioned and consecrated
to import among them. And no man was ever better
1843-] THE LAND-QUESTION. 79
fitted for such a task. His powers of organization were un-
rivalled ; and the leading idea in all his operations, strange
as it may sound, was that of the cathedral system — as it
had spontaneously grown up in the early Church, as St.
Augustine had developed it at Hippo in the fifth century,
and as the Oxford revival of 1833 had rediscovered it.
That idea was simply the thought how unity and efficiency
are engendered in all human affairs by harmonious and dis-
ciplined, instead of sporadic and individual, efforts. And
the first requirement for such harmony of many various
members in one body — as every general, every statesman,
every man of business knows — is a head-quarters, an
office, a "chair" (in Greek, "cathedra"), from which
orders, and therefore order, shall issue. Indeed the letters
of one of the most earnest and devoted of the Church
Missionary Society missionaries, the first man ordained
upon the soil of New Zealand, written at the Waimate not
long before the Bishop's arrival, plainly reveal the urgent
need of some Church discipline and episcopal oversight, if
the mission were not to issue in chaos and failure. He
says (Jan. 1839):—
I must confess that the ground has been well broken up here,
and the Avay opened and made easy for others. The " dry bones "
have at least begun to shake. Nor, from the instruments em-
ployed, could much more be expected. I can understand the
instrumentality of laymen in edifying souls, where there is a
ministry and where the sacraments of Christ's institution exist.
But I can see no ground to expect the originating of a Church,
otherwise than by God's appointed means. Men of all descrip-
tions — some sent out as carpenters, blacksmiths, etc. — have
acquired large property in lands and cattle ; and are of such
importance in their own eyes, that they ask what difference there
8o BISHOP SELWYN. [1843.
is between a Minister and a Layman. Now, I am a Churchman,
sent here by a bishop of the Church, canonically commissioned,
and supported' by funds derived from Church people. I am
determined, therefore, to uphold Church discipline and principles.
Indeed, the evils of the contrary system are beginning to appear,
in the radical and insubordinate notions and conduct of many of
the missionaries' children.
In a similar strain, he writes two months later ; —
There is a station at Kataia which has been formed some five
years ; but, as there is no clergyman, it is necessary to visit them, at
least once in six months, for the purpose of baptizing and adminis-
tering the Lord's Supper. It was most pleasing to see so many
natives who had received the Gospel, — ^men who, five years ago,
were the most savage in New Zealand, and (I am told) looked
ferocious beyond measure, and thought nothing of murdering any-
body they met with and devouring them. But though there is
much that pleases me, there is much that displeases me. The
persons engaged in the mission are, for the most part, ignorant
men who have been advanced be3'ond their proper station in life,
and consequently presume upon it. They likewise, having never
possessed any property, think it very fine to buy large estates of
land at a very low price, and have cattle and wheat, etc. This
grieves me to the heart.
Again : —
The worldliness of the missionaries, and their unwillingness
to proceed to those parts of the island where they are most wanted,
are to me distressing and alarming symptoms. I did once think
that, as a missionary, I should have to bear the taunts and
reproaches of an ungodly world : but I must confess I was not
prepared for reproaches by the world for conformity io the world.
All these things had almost induced me to leave New Zealand.
It is a fact that does not admit of dispute, that the Gospel has
prospered most at places ten or twenty miles from the missionary
1S42.] THE ''PALACE'' AT THE WAIMATE. 8 1
stations. I wish to live as much as possible among the natives, —
a thing which has been much neglected here.
Lastly, he writes (in April, 1841) from the south, where
he has attained his heart's desire to "live among the
natives : " —
My work is going on well : I baptized thirty-three the other
day, all of whom I think well of and some of Avhom I love much.
I hear that we have a bishop appointed for New Zealand. I hope
he will soon be out here : he is much wanted.
And now, at length, this "greatly desired," "much
wanted," Bishop had actually arrived ; and had planted
his "cathedra" (chair, seat, "see") near the Bay of
Islands, in the far north of New Zealand ; and there,
like St. Augustine, fourteen hundred years before, he had
gathered round him in his " palace " of weather-boards,
under gentle Church discipline, his college of younger men.
What if the " cathedral church " were a mean wooden
structure, painted white, and the cathedral library were ten
miles away beside the sea-shore, where tall folios disputed
for possession with marine stores of all kinds ; was not
" the interior view from the vestry, in spite of a lop-sided
east-end, sufficiently ecclesiastical " ? was there not a
cathedral choir " with seven voices of adults " ? and was
there not a good road, of ten miles, from the library to
the Bishop's house and college — "so that books can be
transported as often as they are wanted " .''
We, enjoying our convenient theological colleges and
sumptuous minsters in England, may smile at such " a
day of small things " as this. But there was a serious
earnest about it all, and a freedom from shackles in apply-
G
82 BISHOP SELIVYN. [1842.
ing afresh to the real needs of the Church her rediscovered
principles of action, which should make us rather envy
the simplicity and directness of head-quarters at the
Waimatd in 1842. The place is thus described by the
Bishop himself, in a letter to his mother : —
On my return [from the lengthened visitation journey of 1842]
I found St. John's College, Waimate, already established, and con-
sisting of the following members : tutors, Rev. T. Whytehead
and Rev. W. Cotton ; students, R. Davis and five others. The
plan of the day is this — 7 a.m. breakfast, 8 a.m. daily service in
the church, 10-12 a.m. lectures, 1.30 p.m. dinner, 7 p.m. tea,
9 p.m. prayers and bed. Next door to our own house (which is
the college) is the school, which will probably be set on foot after
Easter. My intention is to spend one day in every week in the
library — a fine stone building, partly used as a store, — as the
interruptions at the \\'aimate are numerous. It is enough to
cheer the heart to see such a body of sound divinity collected
in this most distant of the dioceses of the Church of England ;
and I did not wish to risk such a precious deposit within
wooden walls. The " store " is the most substantial building
in New Zealand. . . . On February 25, I held my first con-
firmation (at which 325 natives were confirmed) in the Church
at the Waimate. A more orderly and (I hope) impressive
ceremony could not have been conducted in any church in
England. It was a most striking sight to see a church filled
with native Christians, ready at my first invitation to obey
the ordinances of their religion. The contrast with the English
settlements is lamentable ; where the lack of candidates will
(I fear) for some time prevent me from holding confirmations.
This contrast between natives and settlers is, at first,
always most striking. But alas for human shortsighted-
ness ! Among these native Christians — who, in their
1842.] NATIVES AND SETTLERS. 83
simplicity and docility, always appear so interesting to
European missionaries — ere many years had passed away,
thousands had apostatized and gone over to a semi-
heathen fanaticism, in which they still live.* While
among the English settlers nothing worse than a tem-
porary indifference, which may easily pass away like
a cloud, has to be feared. What has been " bred in the
bone " for many generations is not so easily eradicated —
as the Church, with her firm quiet system of indefatigable
education, has from the beginning been aware, — while
rapid conversion has too often disappointed the missioner
by issuing in an equally rapid apostasy. Heredity (as the
science-men perpetually warn us) has a great deal more to
do with human affairs than we could formerly believe to
be possible.
* Nicholls, "Journey through the King-country" (1884), pp. 277: "They
[the Hau-haus] seemed to be following the same mode of life as before the
arrival of Captain Cook. . . , When the question was put to an old chief as
to his religious scruples, he spoke out frankly : ' At one time I thought there
were two "saints" in the island, Tawhiao and Te Whiti ; and I waited a
long time to see if they would be taken up to heaven in a chariot of fire. But
now I think there are no saints, in heaven or in earth.' His wife laughed
heartily, and, looking us full in the face, said : ' We believe in nothing here ;
and get fat on pork and potatoes.' This brought down roars of laughter from
the assembled Hau-haus; and we dropped the religious question." Ibid.,
p. 158: "On a low peninsula, jutting out into Lake Taupo, there were the
remains of a whare-karakia, or church, — a ruined monument. The native
settlement had dwindled away, until it had become a haunt of wild pigs, that
squealed and grunted at us, as we passed through the deserted cultivations
still marked by the peach and the rose-tree." Ibid., p. 292 : "Ere long [said
a Hau-hau chief] nothing will remain to tell you of the Maoris, but the names
of their mountains and their rivers."
CHAPTER II.
Second visitation journey (1843) — Visit {vi'd the Thames Valley) to the district
of the hot-springs and the terraces — Lake Taupo — New Plymouth —
Wellington.
Having now temporarily settled " St. John's College " and
the cathedral library at the Bay of Islands, and from thence
paid a flying visit to all the quarrelsome and warlike
nations of the extreme north, the Bishop prepared for
yet another long journey. It was a visitation to the
extreme southern limit of his diocese, and to the scattered
hamlets of Maori traders and European whalers, who then
fringed with a sparse population the now prosperous and
highly civilized Southern Island. He began by bringing
Mrs. Selwyn and her little son William safely down to
Auckland by sea. She was at that time somewhat of an
invalid, and any short land journeys in the neighbourhood
of the palace and cathedral were made in a primitive form
of palanquin. On arrival at Auckland, therefore, she was
consigned to the loving care of Chief Justice Martin and
his bright cheerful wife ; and the Bishop could go forward
with a light and thankful heart to his arduous visitation
duties in the far south. This second great exploration
began, however, by a diagonal passage through the centre
1 843-] VISITATION OF THE THAMES VALLEY. 85
of the Northern Island, from the estuary of the Thames
in the north-east, and the volcanic district behind — with
its wonderful hot lakes and petrified terraces — across to
the mouth of the Wanganui in the south-west, and so on
to Wellington. The journey thus far, as may well be
imagined, was most enjoyable ; and it was graphically
described, with many pen-and-ink illustrations, in a letter
to his father at Richmond. He sailed from Auckland at
sunset on October 18, 1843 —
taking leave of Sarah with a lighter heart than when I parted from
her last year. She was in improved health, enjoying a perfect
exemption from all domestic cares, with kind and attentive friends,
and with just enough of the character of an "invalid " to excuse
her from the fatigue of receiving and returning visits.
He was accompanied by two chaplains, Mr. Nihill and
Mr. Cotton, and by Mr. Clark, the chief " protector of Abo-
rigines ;" and, canoeing for some distance up the Thames,
at the first convenient landing-place they parted with their
eleven Maori boatmen, and addressed themselves to their
walk of three hundred and thirty miles to New Plymouth
on the west coast. The chief native food along these
rivers appears to be eels, either fresh or in a dried state ;
and the Bishop's illustrated letter supplied Justice Selwyn
at Richmond, beside the English Thames, with graphic
hints how to secure himself a dinner, if at any time the
resources of civilization and law should fail him : —
After our eel-pie-house dinner [the bishop continues] we went
on towards the formidable swamps of which so much has been
said in the missionary reports. We found them better than we
expected. None were so deep as the hips ; the general depth
86 BISHOP SELWYN. [1843.
a little above the knee. At Matamata (just beyond), we found
the Rev. Mr. Brown and two catechists of the Church Missionary
Society, who had come to meet us. We encamped in the garden
of the old mission station, Avhich had to be deserted in conse-
quence of native wars. The son of the old chief under whom
these wars took place is now^ the principal native teacher — one of
the many instances of sons of principal men being converted,
while their fathers have adhered to their old ways. October 26th,
thirty-one natives were confirmed ; and after service the heathen
portion of the inhabitants came in crowds round the tent. In
manner they were very different from the Christian converts,
being rude, vociferous, and quarrelsome.
Matamata Chapel is a noble building, erected solely by the
natives. The area is about as large as Windsor Church. The
uprights between the window-s are smooth, light-coloured, and very
thick planks; the dark interspaces being beautifully interlaced
Avith fern-stalks dyed of various colours, giving a very pretty
latticed appearance to the walls.
In the evening, the natives were thrown into great alarm by
the appearance of a relapsed native teacher ; who, having been
deposed for a gross sin, had become very troublesome, and now
came to the meeting threatening to shoot some one. Of course
we took no notice of him ; and after the usual blustering, which
ended in nothing, he retired.
The Bishop with his party then pushed on to Rotorua
and the hot springs —
clear pools of boiling water of great depth and of bright azure,
inclosed in precipitous walls of sulphurous formation. From
some of these flow down hot streams, which are guided by the
natives into artificial baths. A small native village is here, with
the usual steam-kitchen, viz. slabs of stone laid over boiling
water, steam ovens always in readiness, and holes of boiling water
in which potatoes or fish can be speedily cooked. A native swing
completes the equipments of this fashionable watering-place.
1843-] THE riNK AND WHITE TERRACES. Sy
A circumstance which we observed seemed to suggest one
cause, at least, for the decrease of the native population in other
parts of the country, viz. neglect of cleanliness in the children,
especially in infancy. Here, where the children are nursed and
cradled in warm water, and where they dabble in it at all hours
of the day, their appearance is similar to the healthy and ruddy
countenances of E^nglish children. Of all the lakes, the most
remarkable for beauty is Tarawera, and for natural curiosities
Rotomahana. While crossing one of the smaller lakes, the wind
freshened, and very soon swamped one of the canoes. The
natives at once stripped off their blankets and rolled them up,
carrying them with one hand over their heads while they held the
gunwale of the canoe with the other. Crossing a narrow isthmus,
we came at once upon the gem of the lake scenery of New
Zealand, Tarawera. The lake is not so large as Rotorua, but is
much more beautiful ; a lofty mountain overhangs it on the
southern side, with a broad serrated top, looking like the frustum
of a large cone, from which the points had been violently torn
away.
As the moon rose, we saw before us what appeared to be a
large waterfall about fifty feet in height ; but were surprised to
hear no sound of falling waters. It was in fact the white deposits
of the hot springs, covered with a very shallow stream' of warm
water. The cascade lost some of its moonlight mystery under
bright sunshine ; but it was still singularly beautiful, the bright
blue colour of the pools having the appearance of sapphires set
in the pink-white substance of the deposit. At length we landed
at the southern end, to begin our walk over the dreary country
leading to Lake Taupo. The only remarkable object on the plain
is a large Ngawha (geyser), looking in the distance like a railway-
train crossing a flat country.
November 23rd, before noon, we came in sight of the corner
of the lake, from which the Waikato finds its outlet ; and at 12.30
we came to the beach. A strong southerly blast, fresh from
Tongariro, was lashing up the lake ; a mass of dark cloud rested
upon the great mountains ; while, to the northward, bright gleams
S8 BISHOP SELIVY.V. [1843.
of sunshine burst upon the foam of the \vave=;, vvhicli rolled up as
if in deep mourning, with crests of brilliant white. A walk of
three hours and a half brought us to a kind and hospitable party of
natives of our own communion, to whom I presented Mr. Spenser
as their appointed minister — an announcement which they received
with great satisfaction ; and they promised immediately to build
a new chapel, and a small house for him to live in during his
visits. We soon reached Orona ; but found the pa itself [the
stockaded hamlet] anything but a desirable resting-place, it being
built on a fiat of dry pumice shingle, which reflected the heat
upwards. But espying a lovely grove of karaka trees * about a
quarter of a mile from the pa, we removed thither. It seemed
made for a place to spend the Lord's Day, and to assemble
the people for Divine worship.
On Sunday^ November 5th, the natives assembled under the
trees for morning service. The Lord's Supper was laid on the
large canoe ; and I confirmed nine adults and baptized five
children. The next day I fell in with a native who had stripped
an Englishman travelling near Rotoaira. Of course I thought
it my duty to demand restitution of the goods. He came and
sat in my tent-door to listen to my reproof; and told me that
God had departed from him, and that the devil had taken
possession of his heart. Admonishing him to repent, I urged
him as a first step to give up everything he had taken, which
he consented to do, and brought me three blankets, a coat and
a cloak, with some smaller articles.
The next day we were thankful to land safely at Te Rapa,
the residence of Te Heuheu.f the great man of Taupo, who had
retired to rest in his baronial mansion, a long building full of
men, women, and children, with three fire-places. His own back-
wardness of belief, he said, was owing to the bad conduct of the
baptized natives, who discredited their profession ; but that he
* A fruit-tree, the Corvnocarpus Iczvis^atus {iy\Q^^\\ho.c\\, il. 366).
t He is said to have been seven feet high, and was the most poweiTul
chief of his time. Three years later (May, 1846), he met liis death, with sixty
of his followers, by a landslip, which overwhelmed his pa, near Lake Taupo,
in the niszht.
I843-] THE BISHOP'S STATE- BARGE. 89
was considering the subject. And when he had made up his
mind between ourselves, the Wesleyans, and the Papists, he
would join that body which he should see reason to prefer,
November loth, we came to a tributary of the VVanganui,
the river Wakapapa, which gave us much trouble, the natives
being very unwilling to cross. But foreseeing more rain, I blew
up my air-bed — which is my state-barge on such occasions ; and
the natives having made a frame of sticks for it, Mr. Taylor
(who cannot swim) crossed in safety upon it. Before night all
our preparations were complete for the repose of the morrow
(Sunday), which was as perfect as the greatest admirer of solitude
could desire.
The next day, the flood increased so much, that we blew up
the Episcopal barge again ; and upon this two natives paddled
down to the next inhabited place ; while we put ourselves upon
a ration of half a pound of rice and a small piece of ham. Two
days afterwards, to our great joy, a canoe appeared; and we
paddled merrily down the swollen river, passing some rapids,
which made me thankful that we had not overloaded the canoe.
Two days later we arrived at the small English settlement, four
miles from the mouth of the VVanganui. It contains about a
hundred inhabitants ; but they are reduced to great straits by
the unsettled state of the land question. The scenery of the
Wanganui river is very beautiful throughout. In many places
the river is inclosed between walls of rock, leaving no footing on
either side. The wood is, as usual, most luxuriant.
December 4th, at New Plymouth, went on board the Victoria,
colonial brig; and after four days' sail, entered Nelson Harbour
at 9 a.m. I went to Rev. C. Reay's house, a comfortable
and pretty cottage, with six rooms, built substantially in brick for
the sum of ;^i5o. Fear of the natives had led the English to
make the Church hill into a fort; so we passed over a draw-
bridge into the building. On Sunday, at the English service, I
preached with reference to the unhappy event of the Wairau [the
massacre in 1843], which has caused very bad feeling towards the
natives.
90 BISHOP SELIVV.V. [1843.
December 13th, went on board for Wellington ; and on the
15th, at 9 p.m., anchored there. Four days afterwards there
was a trial of a native for a petty larceny. Being a person of rank,
this caused great excitement among the natives, who made some
attempts to rescue him, but were driven off. The trial lasted all
day ; during which time I sat on the bench, with a native chief
(a relation of the accused) between me and the judge. I ex-
plained to him from time to time the proceedings of the court,
with which he was perfectly satisfied ; and afterwards made a
very peaceable speech at the stormy meeting which followed the
conviction of the prisoner. He was sentenced to two months'
imprisonment, a sentence which I considered sufficiently severe ;
but the mob in court thought proper to express their spite
against the natives in general by hissing the judge. The pri-
soner was conducted back to prison by a party of soldiers some
natives having given information of an attempt at rescue. Foiled
in this, they adjourned to the pa, where about three hundred
were assembled, and the usual storm of native oratory began.
Mr. Hadfield, Mr. Cotton, and I went down to the place, and
were at first told to go, with much flourishing of hatchets of stone
and iron. But being used to such things, we remained cjuiet and
heard the debates. One old chief, who had flourished his green-
stone axe in our faces, recommended them to burn the country
village of Petoni, and then to kill the police-magistrate when he
came to see what was the matter. At last Mr. Hadfield threw in
a word in good season, with a quiet vein of raillery, which is always
effective with native assemblies, and succeeded in calming the
waters at 11 p.m. Next morning, the old chief, who had been
so fierce the night before, came up to me with an air of French
politeness, and made friends.
Thus ended the second part of the Bishop's primary
visitation of the whole diocese. And though the hot-springs
and the beautiful terraces have often been described, it is
not often that they have been described with so delicate
I843-] SUBSEQUENT CHANGES FOR THE WORSE. 9 1
and graphic a touch ; nor have mere tourists made us
acquainted with the inner Hfe and the rehgious feehngs
of the Maoris at that now distant time. Alas, both the
physical beauty and the religious simplicity then witnessed
by the Bishop have since been engulfed and almost
destroyed. The exasperations of the two races, then
beginning to compete unequally for the final possession
of this beautiful land, soon afterwards culminated in a
fierce nine-years' war (1859-1868), — a war which sub-
sided into a kind of sullen peace, but has never to this day
been formally and securely ended. The passions it aroused
threw large numbers of the native tribes in those parts into
semi-heathenism again, and thoroughly estranged them
from the Bishop and the missionaries. Till at last,
over-mastered in arms, the warlike chiefs about the
Waikato river and Lake Taupo centralized themselves
round an independent "king" of their own choice ; with-
drew sullenly within the dense forests and broken country
overlooked by the frowning volcano, Tongariro ; and made
a "mark" or boundary-line beyond which they have
suffered no European, till quite lately, to intrude. The
southward railway, therefore, from Auckland for a long
time stopped abruptly at this frontier ; and the last English
town (Alexandra), and the first Maori village (Whatiwhati-
hoe) for years frowned suspiciously at each other, where
Bishop Selwyn and his merry natives, fifty years ago,
walked and paddled and held services and confirmations
in the most innocent and friendly security.*
Perhaps the security was too innocent and too complete.
" Native races " cannot in a day put off their ingrain
* Nicholls, " The King Country " (1884), p. 19.
92 BISHOP SELWYX. I1843.
savagery of a thousand years ; nor can the corrupt and
effete Christianity of rough settlers, arriving by shiploads
from the old world, impinge upon the idyllic and simple
faith of new converts from a primaeval heathenism, with-
out spoiling — or at least without utterly transforming — it.*
But the great "stream of tendency," which is God's will,
rolls ever firmly and strongly on. And probably no one
who visits New Zealand now, while curiously recalling, by
aid of Bishop Selwyn's ancient travels, " things as they
were," will refuse his preference to " things as they are ; "
nor will fail to see in the busy English settlements, and
not in the lazy " wharries " of the Maori encampments,
the best hope for " things as they are to be."
Archdeacon Henry Williams, who worked among the
Mapris for forty-four years, speaks thus of them in a letter : —
One sad point in the native character is that, after every effort
has been made for the improvement of their general state, down
they fall — like the barometer by a sudden change of wind. We
have made many attempts to show them the advantage of possess-
ing cattle and sheep. [We show them] wool for wearing, oxen for
cultivating their land, cows for the sake of milk for their little
* This painful contrast is forcibly presented in the two following passages,
taken from Jameson's "New Zealand" (1842), pp. 308 and 293: "The
missionary was accompanied by a young chief, six feet in height and finely
proportioned. A few months previously, he had made an overland journey
to Cook's Straits, accompanied by ten of his tribe, for the sole purpose of
diffusing a knowledge of Christianity, and of establishing peaceful relations.
Previous to the hour of rest, he assembled the natives, read to them a chapter
of the New Testament, and concluded by pronouncing a short extempore
discourse." " Mr. Webster has resided here [timber-sawing, at Coromandel
Harbour] for eight or ten years, and is a great favourite with the natives. His
gieatest difficulty is the reckless and disorderly conduct of the Europeans in
his employment ; some of whom were the most persevering drunkards it has
ever been my late to encounter. Each of the mechanics lived in a semi-
connubial state with one, or perhaps two, native women."
1843-] GREAT INTEREST OF NEW ZEALAND HISTORY. 93
ones. But no : the putting up of fences is so much trouble in
their estimation, that they prefer continuing their old indolent
habits. I call their attention to the work of my own boys at their
farm : at which they express approval, and say they are a brave
set of lads who know how to work, — but that they themselves
have different ideas. The fact of the matter is, the natives have
but i&w wants and are too indolent to work, unless by fits and
starts. They do not understand steady regular work.*
There are other races also, not of Teutonic blood, who
" do not understand steady regular work." And a careful
study of New Zealand history would be found by no
means uninstructive by those who are called upon to
govern or to live with such races. Englishmen are often
too exacting ; forgetful that " non omnia possumus omnes."
* Carleton, " Life of Henry Williams."
CHAPTER III.
First visit to the Southern Island — Native schooner to Banks Peninsula —
Walk along " the ninety-miles beach " — Canterbury Plains — Otago Har-
bour — Stewart's Island — Perilous voyage to Wellington — Return to
Auckland and the Waimate.
On January 6, 1844, the Bishop sailed out of WelHngton
Harbour in the Richmond schooner, of twenty tons, for his
first visitation of the Southern Island. At that distant
time it was a very unimportant part of the vast diocese.
It was very sparsely inhabited, and that chiefly by whalers
and a few Maories scattered along the coast. The great
" Canterbury settlement " had not yet been made, and over
the site of Christ Church and its beautiful cathedral the
yellow grass still waved, Dunedin was a name unknown.
Where vast ocean steamers and multitudinous ships now
plough their busy way along the coast, only a few miserable
and leaky schooners or a whaling ship occasionally passed.
And the great sheep-runs of the Canterbury Plains lay
quite untenanted, save by a iow natives lazily catching eels
beside their huts. What can be more interesting — espe-
cially to a modern New Zealander — than to follow our
keen-sighted Bishop on his first lonely walks over this
land of promise, so soon to become the rich and energetic
Scotland of the " Britain of the South." After three days
I844-] VISIT TO THE SOUTHERN ISLAXD. 95
of very wet and uncomfortable sailing across the straits,
and then along the eastern (the only habitable) coast —
cheered one evening at sunset by " a grand view of
Tapuaenuku, a range of snow-mountains ending in two
craggy peaks, called ' the Lookers-on ' " — the little party
got on shore at a place called Pireka, just beyond the
heads of Akaroa Harbour, down which came fiery gusts
from the bays and gullies of the land. Thence, with ten
natives, the Bishop —
walked till night over the steep hills of Banks Peninsula, passing
two whaling-stations, at one of which Bibles were declared to be
of no use, as they would not be read. At sunset, from the top of
the last hill at the south-west angle of the peninsula, we obtained
a magnificent view over the vast plains of the south. Below us
stretched out the apparently interminable line of "the ninety-miles
beach " — a continuous range of uniform shingle, without headland
or bay. At night we encamped at a very small native village,
where a little party of nine or ten entertained us hospitably with
eels, which form almost their only means of subsistence. Further
on we came to another village, of about forty inhabitants, which
had not before been visited by a missionary. But some natives
were able to read ; and many were acquainted with the Lord's
Prayer, the Belief, and portions of the Catechism.
January 13th, we arrived at a native settlement standing out
of the plain like an oasis in the desert. Their lofty potato stores,
standing up against the sky, suggested the ruins of an ancient
temple.
The village population was here divided between members
of the Church of England and Wesleyans ; controversy having in
this place, as in many others, preceded truth. No English
minister had visited the place before my arrival ; but native
teachers had duly informed them of the difference between
" Hahi " (Church) and " Wetere " (Wesley). The discussions
Cj6 BISHOP SELWYN. [1844.
arising Ironi this difference of opinion took away much of the
satisfaction of my visit to the Southern Island ; as much of my
time was spent in answering unprofitable questions. The next
day we proceeded across the plains to a fresh-water lake, which
forms the end of the " ninety-mile beach ; " and here we found
the principal chief of this part of the country, Te Rehe, living
with his wife in a hut constructed of the bones of whales, with a
thatch of reeds. After half an hour's conversation with him, we
passed on to our sleeping-place near Timaru — a deserted whaling-
station, exhiljiting the usual decorations of such places, broken
boilers, decayed oil-barrels, and ruinous cabins far worse than the
generality of native dwellings. The character of the country now
changed, grassy plains being replaced by bold conical hills, with
abrupt cliffs standing out of the sea. Otago is a small harbour,
but good, and is well marked from the sea by two patches of very
white sand, which can be seen from a long distance. The sight
of a fine schooner just returning to Wellington tempted me
strongly to give up my further voyage. But I wrote a letter
instead ; and saw the vessel go off with some little feeling of home-
sickness. My tent was pitched at a small native settlement, about
a mile from the English ; from which I visited most of the inhabi-
tants, distributing books and baptizing their children.
In the evening I went on board a small schooner belong-
ing to a native chief, who had made preparations for my coming
by carefully cleaning the litde cabin (nine feet by five), and
spreading a new table-cover bought on purpose at Otago. Alto-
gether the contrast with the miserable Richmond was very
creditable to the native flag of New Zealand. Early in the
morning the Ferseverance worked out of Otago Harbour, and ran
to the southward with a fair wand. The whole coast is broken
and bold till the south-east corner of the island ; after which the
land is level for many miles along the north shore of Foveaux
Straits. We had four Englishmen on board, as passengers to the
southern whaling stations ; and these men were well acquainted
with the whole coast, having been upon it, as sealers or whalers,
for more than twenty years. I could not have been in better
I844-] VISIT TO STEWARTS ISLAND. 97
hands. Their anecdotes of the early history of the country were
very entertaining and very favourable to the character of the
native race, even in their heathen state. In the company of these
men I soon found the mystery which had hung over the southern
islands passing away ; and the map of my diocese began to be
presented to my mind in a practical form.
January 28th, we reached Ruapuke Island, one of the islets in
Foveaux Straits, and the residence of my native commodore. The
view from the beach was most beautiful, the whole length of
Stewart's Island, just opposite, forming a succession of wooded
hills ; while in the foreground was a grand mass of rocks resem-
bling granite, other blocks standing up like broken pillars among
the low brushwood.
In the afternoon, two English settlers came over to request me
to marry them to the native women with whom they had been
living many years. They appeared, by all reports, to have con-
ducted themselves well ; and one of them, though scarcely able
to read, had instructed his children in a way which surprised me.
Here, as in other places, there was too much discussion about
Wetere and Hahi (Wesley and the Church). Thus, even in the
most distant part of this most remote of all countries, in places
hitherto unvisited by English missionaries, the spirit of contro-
versy is found to prevail, in many cases to the entire exclusion of
all simplicity of faith.
February 3rd, we anchored in Horse-shoe Bay, Stewart's
Island. Two great American whalers floated, like strange sea-
birds, at the mouth of the bay ; and remembering the Bishop of
New Jersey's conversation at Eton on the unity of our Churches,
I intended to send in the morning and offer to perform Divine
Service on board. But they disappointed me by sailing at break
of day. Sailing with my native crew in a whale boat to the
principal native settlement, I began to see the extreme loveliness
of the shores of this island, with its woods feathering down to the
water's edge, and its noble bays. The place had not been visited
by any teacher, native or English ; yet some of the men knew the
Belief, and the children could repeat portions of the Catechism.
H
98 BISHOP SELWYN. [1S44.
To this, then, the most distant settlement in my diocese, the
Word of God had come ; and an opinion which I had expressed
last year was fully confirmed, that there is no part in New Zealand
where the Gospel is unknown.
Having completed my circuit of all the inhabited places on
the Foveaux Straits, I was now most anxious for a speedy return.
February 12th, a south-west wind sprang up, before which we
ran (almost without shifting a sail), till we entered Akaroa Har-
bour on February 14th. It is a noble harbour, seven miles in
length, widening into a broad sheet of water perfectly land-locked.
A French corvette and eight French and American whalers were
lying at anchor. There are about eighty French settlers, fifty
English, and a few Germans. One day I dined on board the
corvette, in a style which contrasted amazingly with my life on
board the native schooner— as I was received with a salute, the
crew drawn up in order, and a variety of other formalities.
At length the Bishop got away safely to Wellington,
though narrowly escaping shipwreck off Banks Peninsula,
in a schooner with insufficient ballast ; and from thence in
the Government brig, after a delightful voyage of six days,
he reached Auckland, and " with infinite joy and thankful-
ness," found all well. Taking wife and child on board, the
old home at Waimat^ was soon reached ; where they —
"were met by all the members of the college and of tlie schools,
some fifty souls, who formed a procession and walked before the
Bishop to his house" (March 22, 184^).
The reader is now in full possession of the physical
surroundings and the social circumstances amid which
Bishop Selwyn's long career in New Zealand was to be
passed, and it will not be necessary to describe any
more visitations and other journeys to various parts of
I844-] REMOVAL FROM THE WAIMATE. 99
his wide ecclesiastical dominions. About this time it had
become clear that the Church head-quarters and " St.
John's College " — which was destined (it was hoped) to be
the studious nursery of the future for training clergymen
of both races in common — must be removed without delay
to Auckland, if not to some still more central spot. Indeed,
this removal had now been forced upon the Bishop by the
action of the Church Missionary Society at home, as will
appear from the following letter to the Rev. Henry
Williams, dated September 20, 1844: —
Communications have been received by various persons from
Salisbury Square, which have made it necessary for me to retire
from the Waimate and to fix my residence at Auckland. As this
will withdraw me from the personal supervision of the Northern
District, I have to request that you will assist me by acting as
Archdeacon of the Waimate. Your long experience, and your
great influence with the natives, will give me the greatest con-
fidence in delegating to you the charge of this portion of my
diocese.*
A few days later, there was a great commotion at the
Waimate, a graphic account of which is thus given by an
eye-witness : —
The Maoris always used to come on Monday, to bring their
wares for sale ; and it was called "market-day." But, unlike an
English market-day, school and catechizing were held in the
chapel after morning-prayers, before the traffic began. This day
the people had heard a rumour of the Bishop's intention to remove
to Auckland, and there was a great deal of speech-making on the
subject. The speakers gathered in front of the drawing-room
windows. A "powerful speaker" opened the debate, and the
* Carleton, "Life of Henry Williams," ii. 71.
I OO BISHOP SEL WYN. \ 1 844.
audience seated themselves on either side of the path. The
orator, a man of some standing, was dressed in a handsome native
mat and had a spear in his hand. He began by trotting slowly
up and down a given space, always beginning and ending each
sentence with his run to and fro. After a while he got warmed
up and excited ; and then he rushed backwards and forwards,
leaped up from the ground, slapped his thigh, shouted and waved
his spear. Any one who had not understood the language would
have thought he was breathing out death and destruction, instead
of urging the Bishop to stay among his people. It was then very
amusing to see the two brothers Williams stand up to answer him.
They had lived so long in the land that they used Maori action,
although they did not leap and rush about. Henry Williams, a
stout old-fashioned clergyman with broad-brimmed hat and
spectacles, marched up and down with a spear in his hand and
elicited shouts of applause. Then his brother marked out a large
space on the gravel and divided it into three parts, and asked the
people whether it was not fair that the Bishop should live in the
middle of the diocese instead of at either end. There was a loud
murmur of voices, " It is just." But all the same they did not like
to lose him from among them.*
Before the end of October, however, the deprecated
removal had taken place.
The Bishop and Mrs. Selwyn and the children (writes Lady
Martin) were off by 7 a.m. Mrs. Selwyn and her little boy of five
rode : the Bishop was on foot, with his infant son (the present
Bishop of JNIelanesia) securely swathed in a plaid which was
thrown over his shoulder and wound round his waist. Friends
bade farewell ; and the Maori children came swarming to the top
of the lane, singing '' Oh that will be joyful," etc. . . . We rowed
across the harbour, and before sunset landed at the little town of
Kororeka. We then went up to the little wooden parsonage near
* Lady Martin, " Our Maoris," p. 36.
I844-] THE ENGLISH FLAGSTAFI' CUT DOWN. lOI
the church on a hill above the town, and found the garden gay
with shrubs and flowers. . . . Erelong the large party from the
Waimate, composed of English and natives, was encamped in
tents [near Auckland] till the new St. John's College was ready to
receive them.*
In fact, this action of the Church Missionary Society,
which had at first seemed so disastrous, turned out most
happily, not only for the Bishop, but for the whole future of
the diocese. For if the only hope of a peaceful fusion of
the two races lay in their common brotherhood in the
Church of Christ, the heart which was to propel to
the most distant extremities these sweet influences of the
Gospel must be suitably and centrally placed. The Bay
of Islands, therefore, and the Waimate — though natural
enough as a first and tentative settlement — lay much
too far to the north. And besides, it was already
abundantly evident that the strained relations which,
since the disastrous " Wairau massacre" in 1843, had set
the English settlers in an attitude of suspicion and the
Maoris in an attitude of defiance, were not unlikely, in
spite of all the Bishop's conciliatory efforts, to end eventu-
ally in war. And so it came about that, in August, 1844,
the turbulent natives near the Bay of Islands, under a dis-
affected chief, John Heki, had assembled and cut down
the English flagstaff, and then danced a war-dance of
defiance in the Bishop's face. A sloop of war was hurried
to the spot, and the flagstaff was replaced. But it was
again cut down, and the British ensign insulted. Again
it was replaced, and a guardhouse established to protect it.f
* Lady Martin, " Our Maoris," p. 40.
t " New Zealand," by a Resident, p. 35.
102 BISHOP SELWYN. [1845.
And now (March, 1845) for the third time it was attacked,
and shots were exchanged in earnest. A large body of
natives concealed themselves in the neighbouring brush-
wood ; the commander of the sloop was mortally wounded,
the soldiers driven away, and the flagstaff was a third time
cut down. It was the first stroke for native independence,
the first blow for home rule, the first act in the long
"native king" movement; and it was clear that the
enemy was a formidable one. He was in possession of
weapons far more deadly than his ancient tomahawk of
greenstone, and he knew well how to stand by them.
Unless moral and religious persuasion, therefore, could stay
his hand, any prolonged peace was hopeless ; and then, as
in so many other struggles of a similar kind, superiority
in weapons would have finally to decide the question — a
brutal solution (thought the Bishop) of a perplexed problem,
intended for intelligence and justice to arbitrate upon !
And so, for a long time, hoping against hope, he threw
himself between the contending factions, preaching, like
the monk Telemachus among the gladiators, a reasonable
and Christian peace. To get his hand in, he had already,
some years before, near the Bay of Islands, planted himself
between two fiercely warlike tribes of Maoris and induced
them to lay down their weapons. And now, on John
Hcki's insurrection, he hastened to the assaulted and
plundered town (Kororareka), saved the women and chil-
dren, and carried them off to Auckland, and then, in the
wild chief's face — who had once defied him with a war-dance
— he solemn!}' and calmly, with all Christian rites, buried
the dead.* This second native success, however — for so
* Carleton, ii. loi ; Tucker, i. 1S2.;
I845-] DESOLATION OF THE WAIMATk. 103
it would be regarded in every village and fortified pa
throughout New Zealand — following at no great interval
the " massacre of Wairau " in the south, was a very serious
matter, and no one knew to what it might lead.
We cannot yet calculate (writes the Bishop, on March 28, 1845)
the effect which the destruction of Kororareka ^Yill have upon our
position and prospects. At present all ministers of religion seem
to be recognized as neutral persons ; and my hope is that, by
cautious and judicious management, the Church interests in this
country may be kept clear of all political dissensions.
It was well, therefore, that the removal of the college
and of the episcopal head-quarters to Taurarua Bay, near
Auckland, had already been safely accomplished ; and the
refusal of the Church Missionary Society to grant the
Bishop any further use of their buildings at the Waimate
thus turned out most happily for the whole future of the
diocese. For on November 6, 1845, happening to revisit
the deserted spot, he thus describes its then depressing
aspect : —
I have just visited the Waimate, and found it in a state even
more mournful than when I fn-st 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 de-
stroyed. 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 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.*
* Tucker, i. 205.
I04 BISHOP SELWYN. [1845.
Archdeacon H. Williams gives the same testimony : —
Our mission (he writes) is in a sad position : not merely
brought to an absolute stand, but turned bottom-up. We sit
in great uncertainty, holding on by the wreck.*
At Auckland, on the contrary, everything seemed to
grow and prosper under his fostering and energetic hand.
Here, at Taurarua Bay, were gathered the Bishop's house
(which was also " the college "), school-rooms, library,
and dining-hall ; a hospital, a chapel, a printing-house, a
day school (kept by Mrs. Selwyn), and a native indus-
trial school in which he gathered New Zealand lads from
all parts of the diocese. That the college was con-
sidered by the Bishop as the most important part of his
diocesan machinery is evident from his letters : he con-
stantly speaks of it as " the key and pivot " of all his
operations. He saw, indeed, in the college the only
chance of keeping up a supply of clergy, when his hopes
of receiving candidates from England grew less and less ;
and as the sons of farmers were trained there under the
Bishop's eye in all things likely to be needed by them in
ordinary life, they made good servants of the Church as
laymen, even if they displayed no special qualifications for
the ministry.
By an anticipation of the system which he afterwards
pursued among the islands of Polynesia, and again in his
" probationer system " at Lichfield, he laid himself out on his
journeys to glean every promising native lad he could find,
and to transport him to his nursery-ground for a future
native-ministry at Auckland. Already, in 1846, he could
** Carleton, ii. 103.
1845-] THE ''PALACE''' AT TAURARUA BAY. I05
boast of having gathered-in seventeen from the Waimate
district, three from Taupo in the heart of the Northern
Island, and three from the WelHngton district in the far
southi And —
from ,this college there went forth, every Sunday, a goodly band
to serve the affiliated chapels, seven in number, within a radius
of five miles, after the example of the English cathedrals in their
days of primitive zeal and efficiency.*
There was also at Taurarua a Maori boys' school and
girls' school, a half-caste school, and an English school,
besides the palace and the humble pro-cathedral. Most
striking perhaps of all was a free hospital organized — at
the Antipodes, and in 1845 — o" the system nowadays
become so popular and wide-spread, the system of gra-
tuitous nursing by sisters devoted, for the love of God and
not of money, to this work of Christian charity. As the
Bishop put it, in the rules which he drew up, —
The brethren and sisters of the Hospital of St. John are a
community who pledge themselves to minister (so far as their
health will allow) to all the wants of the sick of all classes, without
respect of persons or reservation of service — in the hope of ex-
cluding all hireling assistance from a work which ought, if possible,
to be entirely a labour of love.f
Thus this noble man, like a good and faithful shepherd
of the flock committed to him, fulfilled his consecration-
vow publicly made in Lambeth Chapel five years before —
Will you show yourself gentle and be merciful, for Christ's
* E. A. C, p. 17. t Tucker, i. 209.
io6 BISHOP SELWYN. [i?45.
sake, to poor and needy people, and to all strangers destitute of
help? (^Answer.) I will so show myself, by God's help.
But what is much more remarkable still is the fact
that by this unique and extraordinarily gifted man — per-
meated with the newly awakened spirit of Churchmanship,
radiating it at every pore, and here, in New Zealand,
given a perfectly free hand to carry out its revived ideals
into practice — we see nearly all the best Church improve-
ments of the present day anticipated and displayed in
action. The mother Church at home is often said to have
learnt much, of late years, from her colonial daughters.
And the statement is true. But of all her daughters, New
Zealand has proved herself the best and the most fortunate
instructress ; partly because of the consummate ability
and energy of her first bishop ; partly from the great
length and unusual variety of his experience ; and partly
from his ultimate translation to England, and his ten years'
occupation of the great Midland see of Lichfield. Whether
it be consciously understood and acknowledged or not — a
question always of profound indifference to Bishop Selwyn
and to all men of his stamp — the fact remains, that New
Zealand was the anvil on which, for twenty-six years,
were forged almost all the instruments since found most
effective by the Church at home. And if a cause be sought
for the remarkable successes of the Anglican system during
the last decade, and for the supremacy which it appears
likely ere long to attain in English-speaking countries,
that cause is to be found (as in all similar cases), not in
events, but in a i)ta?i. And two or three letters written
at this period will best reveal what type of " man " this
1846.] DEPRESSIOA'' AND DISAPPOINTMENT. lO/
was, — how affectionate he was, how far-sighted, how liable
to occasional depression, yet how full of faith and hope,
and ready to gild every disappointment with a humour
which never failed him.
To Mrs. Selwyn.
Mission Station, Plawke Bay, January 9, 1846.
My dearest Wife,
Two days' journey from this place is the spot where
I received your letter announcing Mr. Whytehead's arrival, but
adding that he was only lent to us for a short season, I shall know
the place again : a little sparkling stream in the middle of a great
wood which, when the first bitterness of grief was past, brought
to my mind the profusion of God's bounty, in the thousands of
majestic trees, which seem to live and die only to fertilize the
ground for reproducing others like themselves. How greatly is
this land enriched by being the grave of our dear friend ! God
grant that his like may be reproduced, if only to die (as he did)
in the prime of life. Do not suppose, dearest, that this is a
sorrowful letter. These thoughts are now my chief comfort and
joy. If I could only feel myself advancing towards that state of
peace in which our dear friends have fallen asleep, I could long
to be dissolved and to be with Christ, before I see the troubles
which seem to be thickening in a dark cloud over this native
people. This coast is not what it was when I was here before.
Three years have made a fearful breach in the wall which the new
converts built for themselves, and daubed with untempered mortar.
Not only are they not advancing themselves, but they are placing
stumbling blocks in the way of those who have not yet received
Christianity. If the two new stations of Ahavin and the VVairoa
had not been formed, I believe that there would now be scarcely
a native worshipper over a country in which hundreds have been
I08 BISHOP SELVVYN. [1846.
baptized. Oh for schools — schools — schools, and for God's
blessing upon them !
Your most affectionate,
G. A. N. Z.
To Bishop Broughton, Bishop of Sydney.
St. John's College, Bishop's Auckland, New Zealand,
August 14, 1846.
My dear Brother,
By the blessing of God, I returned home on the
7 th of April, and found your letter awaiting ray arrival. Since
that time I have received 4th May and i6th May, which leave
me as usual considerably your debtor.
I am glad to hear that you have ordained . My belief is
that he is better suited to your diocese than to this. He is a man
for a more settled state of things than we can hope to attain to
for many years. Besides, he took no pains to acquire the Maori
language, which I am determined to require from candidates for
Holy Orders. It is a further satisfaction to me to know that he
was originally intended for Australia.
By the last mail I have received an important letter from W.
Gladstone, an extract from which I have sent in the enclosed
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
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 organi-
zation beginning from below from each congregation and its
members. Whether it is not now a great problem to consider
1846.] LETTER TO THE BISHOP OF SYDNEY. 109
if any and what more definite functions should be given to the
laity in Church affairs. Their representation through the ParHa-
ment 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 few answers under your advice ; but
the state of Wellington is quite as much a subject of anxiety to
me as the North ever was ; and therefore I must hope to receive
your communication by letter.
As you mention the sees of Bangor and St. Asaph, I am em-
boldened 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 ofiice is in fact
everything, and the endowment merely an accident of the ofiice.
The bishops are now using the disendowed canonries to bring
the best preachers and ablest men into immediate connection
with their cathedrals. Now what I should like to do in aid
of Lord Powis is this : It seems to be the time now to assert the
pure spirituality of the office., and to claim that as the inalienable pro-
perty of the Church : to yield to, without acquiescing in, the power
of the State to confiscate revenues ; but to deny the power of the
legislature 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 retirement 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, 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 ofiice, 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
no BISHOP SELWYN. [1846.
is allowed to resign, when at least thirteen bishoprics of the Church
of Christ are vacant ? Let them give us chairs to sit and die in, and
cathedral crypts for our burying-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 that when
the Corn Laws are gone, he believes that tithes 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.
You complain that I have not told you anything of our
domestic affairs. I, therefore, change the subject to tell you that
we are now in an airy mansion of stone, called St. John's College,
distant from Auckland by land five miles and by water three ; in
which we live with library, students, school boys, all for the first
time under the same roof; and I hope in a fair way to be a happy
and godly community.
To the Rev. Edward Coleridge.
St. John's College, Bishop's Auckland, September 19, 1846.
Mv DEAR Friend,
This is my ordination week ; but I have only one
candidate, Samuel Williams, the first of the mission children who
has devoted himself to his father's work. Others I should have
had, but the Church Missionary Society stopped me by objecting
to my ordination pledge. On this point I am immovable ; but
I will use my pledge of canonical obedience as much as possible
in accordance with their wishes, it being of no concern to me,
except the good of the natives, whether a missionary l)e at one
end of the island or another. The present state of the country
absolutely requires such an understanding ; for who can tell from
day to day in what part of the country the danger may be greatest
or the need most urgent? In the midst of these differences of
1S46.] PLAIN LIVING AND HIGH THINKING. I I I
opinion with our good friends at home I have two sources of
human comfort which are of exceeding value ; first, the almost
undivided affection and co-operation of the clergy here ; and,
secondly, the unwearied love of friends like yourself at home.
Our new college progresses. The building now almost com-
pleted is the hospital, which I hope will be a real blessing to us,
by bringing the practical duties of charity close to our own door.
I hope to incorporate the attendance upon it with the college
system, not only in a medical, but also in a spiritual sense. Your
kind exertions on our behalf, I trust, will bear fruit.
My constant thanks and my daily prayers are the only return
that I can make for your unnumbered acts of kindness.
My conscience smites me with having said little about St.
Augustine's. I have thought, I assure you, and felt much : but
the subject does not come out clear further than this — that in
itself I approve of the plan most highly, and would almost wish
myself coadjutor to Bishop Coleridge. But, my dear friend, don't
say that I throw cold water upon it (God forbid !). But when will
the Church of England and its ministry be one in all its acts and
throughout all its dependencies ? Your college, excellent in
itself, must make a separation. There will be one class of men
as clergymen for the colonies, drawn from the grammar schools,
and another class of men drawn from the Universities for home
service. You will have one Sandhurst for your household troops,
and another Sandhurst for your marching regiments. Go on and
prosper in the name of God ; but be sure of this, that the more
St. Augustine's prospers the more the Church of England will
decline. Your frugal habits and fireless rooms and exclusion of
newspapers, so far as they become part of the mmd as well as the
rule of the college, will condemn the purple varlets, parsonages,
pictures, pony-carriages, etc., which have been so long the acci-
dents that they have come to be tliought the essentials of the
English ministry. The world will look with surprise at a new
order of colonial clergymen who care for none of these things,
and will deride the old Church, which cannot do without them.
What think you of my being told that a fulfilment of the long-
112 BISHOP SELWYN. [1846.
cherished hope, conceived by a clergyman, of devoting himself to
the colonies was now hopeless, because he had married a bishop's
daughter? If I had daughters, I would let no clergyman marry
one of them who would not pledge himself to go to Nova Zembla
at the Archbishop's bidding.
Your affectionate friend,
G. A. New Zealand.
CHAPTER IV.
" Trinity College," near Wellington — Organization of the diocese — The
General Synod — Lay representation— The Canterbury settlement.
Among Bishop Selwyn's New Zealand schemes there
emerged, a little later on, a plan for a second college — to
draw the races together and to prepare the choicest
specimens of both for Holy Orders — in the far south, at
Porirua, near Wellington. But this plan for a " Trinity
College " in the south, to match (as at Cambridge) its
twin " St. John's College," in the north, never came
to anything. Indeed he was not to exhaust his strength
on mere repetitions : and before the scheme could be
matured, he felt himself called away to a far wider field
of operations, to gather in the vast unreaped harvest of
Polynesia. Another of his many schemes, however, he
was permitted to bring to a conclusion ; it was the scheme
for a complete organization of the whole Australasian
Church. To all men of large views and of practical
ability, " order " always seems " heaven's first law ; " while
anything chaotic and irrational appears to belong to the
realm of darkness and evil. Bishop Selwyn, therefore,
was at this time stimulating and arousing the like-minded
Metropolitan of Australia (Bishop Broughton) to summon
I
I r4 BISHOP SELIVYN. [1844.
a sort of " Pan-Anglican Synod of the South " to meet at
Sydney.
He wrote as follows : —
At sea, August 16, 1844.
" As I have now entered on my third year in New Zealand, I
am reminded of our engagement to meet, if possible, at Sydney.
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. For
myself, I have little to complain of; knowing that the State here
has nothing to give to the Church, and being able to secure
that it takes nothing away from us which is our own. But I will
gladly unite in any remonstrance which may help to free our good
brother from his difficulties. 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. Captain
Fitzroy, without my concurrence, applied to the Legislative
Council for an increase of salary to me, and for the payment of
my travelling expenses ; but he was left in a minority of two. 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 that all denominations are equal in the eyes
of the State.*
This proposed synod actually met in 1850, and issued
in a junction of the Churches on both sides of the thousand-
miles sea for the evangelization of the scattered Pacific
islands. On the other hand, the Bishop was framing, on
his own side of the water, a system of local government
by "diocesan conferences." He called them "synods : " but
that was not their proper name, — as, with a singular Catholic
instinct, was pointed out by that staunch Evangelical, Lord
* Tucker, i., 162.
1 844-] SVXODS AND CONFERENCES. I I 5
Harrowby, — a "synod" being, in the Church's nomen-
clature, a gathering of the clergy alone for spiritual counsel
round their bishop. The great merit of Bishop SeUvyn's
scheme was that his diocesan Church parliaments included
a large and generous representation of the laity. This
scheme did not, however, take effect all at once.
So early as 1844, the Bishop's methodical preparation for the
self-government of the New Zealand Church had resulted in the
first synod of the diocese, — the first experiment of the kind made
in our Church of England, since convocation was silenced in
1 7 17. There were present the Bishop, three archdeacons, four
priests, and two deacons ; and questions of Church discipline and
Church extension were discussed, But this meeting was held to
be "illegal" by English authorities. So in 1847 a second synod
was held, when the Bishop read a correspondence between the
Archbishop of Canterbury and Mr. Gladstone (then Colonial
Secretary) proposing a constitution in which bishops, clergy, and
laity should be represented. The six bishops of Australasia met at
Sydney in 1850, and likewise recommended a Church constitution
in which the laity should be united with the clergy.' Two years
later, the laity of New Zealand, headed by the governor, petitioned
to be allowed to take part in Church legislation. And at length,
in 1859, the first "general synod" was held; at which five bishops
and a large number both of clergy and laity were present.*
This scheme was subsequently brought home to
England, and has taken root with extraordinary vitality
and vigour in that native soil of all free parliaments. But,
as invariably happens, the plan was all the more successful
because it was not absolutely original. Genius consists in an
eye to see, by rapid intuition, what, among pre-existing ideas
and materials ready to hand, can best be constructed into
* E. A. C, p. 18.
Il6 BISHOP SELIVYN. [184^.
working and efficient forms. No one need be surprised,
therefore, to find scattered about long beforehand, on every
page of history, crude imperfect types of the coming lay
organization of the Church. Even in the earliest ages
laymen formed themselves into " monastic orders," and
exercised thereby for a ' thousand years a dominant,
though an indirect, influence both upon the theology and
the practical life of the Church. At the Renaissance, again,
— when nature began once more to reassert itself, and the
literce Jnnnaiiiorcs of classic heathendom broke down in ail
directions the artificial constructions of scholastic divhiity,
— it was lay brotherhoods w^hich stemmed the torrent of
threatening unbelief, and reversed it temporarily towards
belief. It was the lay " brothers of the common life "
which prepared Germany and the Netherlands ; it was
Wicliffe's poor lay-preachers that honeycombed England
and paved the way for the great Reformation. Then came
Calvin, himself a layman, with his ruling lay-elders and his
famous system (or " discipline ") for the sake of which the
English Church was almost pulverized by Nonconformit}'.
Then the Great Rebellion within a hair's-breadth succeeded
in implanting Scotch lay-eldership in England ; till rescue
came from an unexpected quarter indeed, — from the still
more thoroughly and uncompromisingly lay systems of
Puritan Dissent. And from the Restoration onwards, — with
a lay House of Commons assuming more and more to
govern the Church, her clerical convocations silenced and
suppressed, State-appointed bishops reflecting the lay views
of those who appointed them, and at last Wesley's lay
preachers flooding the whole country with a doctrine and
practice alien to the previous methods and traditions of the
1844.] LAYMEN ly CHURCH SYNODS. II7
Church, — a disorganized and chaotic lay supremacy was
ev'er}'where imminent. So that a return to pure clericalism —
if not the clericalism of mediaeval England, then of modern
Papal Rome — seemed to many thoughtful earnest souls the
only way left for peace and salvation.
Yet, after all, one thing alone was wanting. The vast
and clamorous lay babel, which was thus surging around
the somewhat antiquated order still reigning within each
diocese and parish, and which threatened soon to break
in and destroy it, only needed to be taken by the
hand and welcomed to the Church's franchise ; and then
order would at once begin to be restored. Had not the
American Church, when cut adrift by the " Declaration of
Independence," already tried the experiment, and nothing
but good had come of it? Her first irregular conven-
tion, held in 1784, had laid it down as a fundamental
principle that " to make Canons there be no other authority
than that of a representative body of the clergy and laity
conjointly ; " while another, held at New York for eight of
the now " United " States, ruled, " There shall be a general
convention, where the clergy and laity shall deliberate in.
one body, but shall vote separately." The third of these
"general conventions," in 1789, added the important (but
perhaps ill-advised) check upon the bishops, that "a four-
fifths vote of the laity and clergy combined should override
any episcopal veto, and carry the measure under discussion
in spite of the bishops' protest." But this proviso was,
characteristically and wisely, left entirely out of view by
Bishop Selwyn when he proceeded to adapt for New
Zealand, and afterwards for England, this admirable scheme
for the ecclesiastical enfranchisement of the laitv. Yet its
Il8 BISHOP SELWYN. [1S47.
omission was prompted b}' no love of autocratic power.
As he remarked at one of these very synods —
I 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.
The great principle of St. Cyprian was always present
to his remembrance —
From the first day of my episcopate I determined to do
nothing of my own private opinion, without taking the presbyters
into my counsels. As our mutual respect demands, we will treat
of all our matters in common.*
Or, as another great and still more amiable man, St.
Anselm, puts it —
I will endeavour, not so much to point out the way, as along
with you to seek the way.f
Accordingly, when (September, 1847) the Bishop con-
vened his second synod of the clergy, he led them to
consider with great attention a regular plan of Church
government. The Constitution then drawn up was after-
wards subjected to further revision at a " general confer-
ence " of clergy and laity, held at Auckland in June, 1857 ;
and it was still further revised at another " general synod "
held at Christchurch, in iMay, 1865, when the following
certificate was appended to it and signed b}- the Bishop : —
I hereby certify that the above-mentioned Constitution, and no
other, is the Constitution of the United Church of England and
Ireland in New Zealand.
* Epist. 5 : cf. Neander, "Church Hi^tor)," i. 267.
t " Cur Deui Homo," i. § 22.
1 847-] THE CHURCH CONSTITUTION. II9
Lastly, on returning to take a final farewell in 1868,
he determined once again to certify the same Constitu-
tion, and so to leave it to the fidelity and loyalty of all
aftertime. What, then, is this celebrated constitution ?
It begins by laying down certain unalterable rules,
thus : —
Fundamental Provisions.
I. This branch of the Church doth hold and maintain the
doctrine and sacraments of Christ ... as the United Church of
England and Ireland hath explained the same in the Book
of Common Prayer and in the Thirty-nine Articles of Religion.
And the general synod shall have no power to make any altera-
tions in the authorized version of the Holy Scriptures, or in the
above-named formularies of the Church.
II. Provided that nothing shall prevent the general synod
from accepting any such alterations ... as may be accepted by
the United Church of England, etc., with the consent of the Crown
and Convocation.
III. Provided also that, in case a licence be granted by the
Crown to this branch of the Church of England to frame new
and modify existing rules (not affecting doctrine), it shall be
lawful to avail itself of that liberty.
IV. And it is further declared that, in the event of a separa-
tion of this colony from the mother-country, or of a separation
of the Church from the State in England and Ireland, the
general synod shall have power to make such alterations in the
articles, services, and ceremonies of this branch of the United
Church, etc., as its altered circumstances may require.
V. And the said bishops, clergy, and laity do further declare
and establish as follows : There shall be a governing body for the
management of the affairs of the Church, to be called "the general
synod," which shall consist of three distinct orders, viz. the bishops,
the clergy, and the laity ; the consent of all of which Orders shall
I20 BISHOP SELIVYN. [1847.
be necessary to' all Acts binding upon the synod, and upon all
persons recognizing its authority.
VI. The above provisions shall be dtevaed fu/idai/u-ntal, and
it shall not be within the power of the general synod, or of any
diocesan synod, to alter, revoke, add to, or diminish any of the same.
Then follow a great number of " provisions not funda-
mental," — such as regulations for the election of members
of the triennial general synod and of the annual diocesan
synods ; the appointment of trustees for the management
of Church property ; the establishment of tribunals and
a court of final appeal ; .and the imposition of a declaration
of submission to the general synod, upon every clcrgy-r
man, trustee, catechist, schoolmaster, or other office-bearer
or agent, in the form following : —
I, A. B., consent to be bound by all the regulations which
may be issued by the said general synod ; and I hereby under-
take immediately to resign my appointment, together with all the
rights and emoluments appertaining thereto, whensoever I shall
be called upon to do so by the general synod, or by any person
or persons lawfully acting under the authority of the general
synod in that behalf*
Thus the Anglican Church in New Zealand was
definitely founded upon personal " consent ; " and hence-
forth no action of the State, no judgment of any tribunal
known to Englishmen, and no act even of disestablish-
ment itself could possibly be imagined, which should be
able to fetter its free action or to throw it into any sort
of confusion. It was a work for which the dual authors,
Bishop Selwyn and the Chief Justice, Sir William Martin,
* See "Statutes, etc., of the General Synod," printed in full at Auck-
land, 1868.
1847-] A TRUE '' VOLUNTARY SYSTEM." 12 1
might well be proud and thankful. Probably no other
colonial Church is equally free, under all possible circum-
stances, from the interference of State Courts and State
Parliaments. For once exhibit in any court the signature
attesting personal consent, and the contention is at an
end. The authority of the general synod remains supreme.
It was a far-seeing wisdom which placed things on this
footing. For wherever endowments do not stand upon an
engagement as their ultimate tenure, they are always
liable to be regarded by the State as " freeholds " or per-
sonal property, and then discipline becomes impossible.
Witness an instructive event, which occurred in England
many years later on. Bishop Selwyn had persuaded certain
endowed officials of his diocese, as a matter of "general
understanding," to forego part of their stipends for the
purpose of forming a pension-fund, and so aiding retire-
ment. But hardly had the great bell announced his de-
parture from the world, than " understanding " reappeared
in another form. All the pensioners with one accord flew
upon the fund, and in a few hours had divided the spoil
to the last penny. Thus the whole carefully devised
voluntary pension-system had collapsed in a day, for
want of an express personal engagement to submit, without
litigation, to some established system of Church arbitra-
tion. As the Bishop himself put it : —
Do not suppose tliat we vaunt our own perfections ; but the
colonial Churches will all wither and die, with the parent stock,
unless we can agree to uphold and to act upon higher principles
than the fact that a clergyman has a legal status, beyond the
control of his own order and of the Church.*
* Tucker, i. 378.
122 BISHOP SELIVYN. [1848.
About this time another closely related subject, the
proposed experiment of an exclusively Church of England
settlement in the Southern Island, was much in the
Bishop's thoughts. And shortly afterwards he wrote a
very interesting and thoughtful letter on the fundamental
principles of organized emigration — a letter which is well
worth}- of attention even at the present day.
To the Rev. Edward Coleridge.
Auckland, December 3, 1848.
My very dear Friend,
I have received by Mr. H your letter re-
lating to the Canterbury Settlement. The whole matter, since
I first saw the printed prospectus, has filled my mind with the
most anxious considerations. Without spending many words in
explanation, or in support of the opinions which I shall here
briefly express, but trusting to your friendly belief that I state
nothing which 1 have not reason to think I can prove, and that
all my remarks are the result of personal observation, I proceed
to arrange some brief remarks upon the w-hole scheme.
(i) I have such an intense love for New Zealand that I
cannot for a moment oppose anything so likely in itself to benefit
my diocese as a Church of England settlement, such as is
proposed.
(2) Many plans intended for the good- of New Zealand, and
especially those of the N'ew Zealand Company, have failed in
execution for want of forethought and foreknowledge. The wreck
of public and private property in this country, and the frustration
of moral purposes, can be fully known only to those who have
seen it.
(3) The general reports of prosperity among the settlers are no
contradiction to the above. A profuse government expenditure
has given a semblance of prosperity to the mercantile interest ;
1848.] THE CANTERBURY SETTLEMENT. 1 23
and the native energy of the Anglo-Saxon race, acting upon a
fertile soil, has done the rest. This last is chiefly applicable to
the labouring classes, who are to a man in a state of plenty.
(4) This prosperity of the working-men is not in consequence
of any system of colonization., whether " Wakefield " or other. It
is in defiance of all systems. For instance, the three thou-
sand people who form ihe Nelson Settlement are scattered from
Cape Farewell to Cape Campbell — a direct line of one hundred
miles, and twice that distance by the mountain roads. The extent
of barren and mountainous country, and of salt creeks, bears an
enormous proportion to the available land. To this day, most
of the Nelson settlers are without their rural land, which they
bought and paid for in 1S41 ; and this from no fault of the
colonial Government, as is pretended, but from the physical
difficulties of founding a settlement upon a place altogether un-
suited to the plan as drawn out in England. On the 4th of
September, 1841, the secretary of the company wrote thus to
the secretary of the Church Society : " Such is the confidence of
the public in the forethought and care of the company, that
more than a thousand persons, including eighty cabin passengers,
possessed of more or less property, are on the point of embarking
for the intended settlement of Nelson, even before they know
where that settlement will be."
But in truth, the company had not provided any settlement
at all : only a few weeks before the arrival of the settlers, the
boat of the pilot was borne by the tide into the narrow and
dangerous inlet now called Nelson Haven, which (for want of
a better) was adopted by Captain Wakefield, — " the thousand
settlers and eighty cabin passengers " being then daily expected.
The best proof of the unfitness of the position, though favoured
by a most genial climate, is that even at Nelson itself, without
native disturbance or fear of any, the whole selection of land has
been lately recast ; and now for the first time jjeople begin to
know W'hat and where their property will be.
The root of the mischief is, that the first point with the
company has been to sell land ; the second to explore the land
124 BISHOP SELWYN. [1848.
whicli tlicy liad previously sold. The settlers themselves have
fought their way manfully through their difficulties ; but the
company is most seriously to blame.
(5) The Wellington Settlement of one hundred and ten
thousand acres is dispersed, in like manner, from the mouth of the
Manawatu river to Point Obtuse northward of Cape Palliser. I
hold four sections on behalf of the Church, which are at least
eighty miles from Wellington.
(6) The Whanganui settlers have not an acre of land to this
day. The four thousand acres which the Church was advised to
buy for ^2000 in 1841, and demurring to which I incurred the
blame of some of my best friends, are still in the hands of the
natives ; and likely to remain so unless purchased anew. As to
forcible occupation, let the late affair at Whanganui suffice for
an answer. The Gilfillan famil}- were murdered in the evening \
but neither soldier nor policeman could be detached to the spot
till daylight. Again, an equal number of natives on the river
blockaded our troops within their forts ; fought them a whole
day in spite of bayonets, gun-boats, field-pieces, etc., on our side :
and ended by a charge in the evening, in which they killed some
of our men, and carried off one of the bodies.
(7) Without discussing the question of right, I may say, that
the whole idea of forcible possession is dispelled by the dispersion
of the company's settlements over seven or eight hundred miles of
coast.
(8) Yet in the face of these facts, the company and its agents
have always forced-on the mad and suicidal doctrine of physical
force ; and have abused every one who, like myself, endeavoured
to bring about the peaceable settlement of the country by
conciliation and moral influence, — the only basis, I am prepared
to maintain, upon which the colonization of New Zealand can be
carried on.
(9) My growing unpopularity with the company for advocat-
ing native rights is, I conclude, the reason why a plan like this
of the "Canterbury Settlement" is forced-on in the same hurried
and reckless manner which has caused all former disasters, —
1848.] THE BISHOP NOT COXSULTED. 12$
without a single inquiry of any kind being addressed to the
Bishop of the Diocese. If I were a mere land agent, my local
knowledge of every part of New Zealand, both of the coast line
and of the interior, with few exceptions, wherever human beings
are settled, might have induced reasonable men to write to me
before they pledged themselves to such a partial and profoundly
ignorant body as the JVera Zealand Company. But the company
must sell land or die.
(12) On my journey through the Wairarapa valley, I found
the sheep-stations five miles apart in the length of the valley, to
secure to each person a run of (on an average) five thousand
acres. This would defeat all the moral purposes of the plan, by
the dispersion of the people. The character of the Wairarapa
country is narrow valleys between high ridges of barren hills. My
belief is that the Wairarapa is altogether insufficient.
(13) I cannot consider Port Cooper eligible [as the harbour
for the new settlement] ; as the plain of the Southern Island is
very variable in quality, — in some places, a mere washed gravel
barely yielding a little grass, — and the great intrusive mass of
Banks Peninsula shuts out all settlement on one side. All your
calculations of the number of clergy, schools, etc., are in danger
of being frustrated, if a dispersion at all approaching that which
has already taken place should be found necessary
I cannot, therefore, compromise myself to a recommendation
of any site within the Southern Province [Island], unless the
whole be accurately mapped, and facility given to every purchaser
to know exactly what kind of land he is buying and where it is
situated. All the following places I consider more worthy of
inquiry than those which you have named : {a) Rua Taniwha
plains, in Hawke Bay. This I consider one of the finest districts
in New Zealand ; and there are few or no native inhabitants. It
would be an inland settlement, with good access to third-rate
ports (Manawatu and Ahuriri) on the east and west coasts, {b)
The heads of the Waipa and Waikato rivers, — with water commu-
nication to Auckland down the Waikato river, {c) The plain of
the Thames, — with navigable rivers communicating, through the
126 BISHOP SELWYN. [1848.
inland waters of the Frith, with Auckland, {d) Tauranga
Harbour, in the Bay of Plenty, — the best harbour on the east
coast, {e) The Wairoa and Kaipara rivers, — with a tideway of
nearly one hundred and fifty miles, and only fifteen miles of easy
land-carriage to the Waitemata river. Here also the native
population is very scanty.
Wherever the settlements be formed, the actual surface of the
country must be taken into account. Let the site of every town,
village, church, school, etc., be marked before a single acre is sold ;
and then, if people are disappointed, it will not be your fault.
Your very grateful and affectionate friend,
G. A. New Zealand.
This long letter, it is true, is concerned with events
which have now long ago become " ancient history." But
it presents a remarkable picture of the mind which
conceived and wrote it. The true principles of colonization
are here grasped firmly, and set forth with consummate
clearness. The attention to minute detail — which, when
combined with large views, is a special mark of genius —
appears in every line. And a knowledge is displayed, not
only of every coast and harbour, such as " would not have
disgraced an admiral," but also of the farming capabilities
of various districts such as indicated the practical man who
had himself handled the plough. If his criticism of the
" Wakefield system " be thought too severe, be it remem-
bered that the complaints here made about the manage-
ment of the affair are fully justified by the following remarks
of an eye-witness and fellow-passenger with the first batch
of emigrants : —
We were all full of hope and of anxiety to see what had been
represented to us as a sort of earthly paradise. Within a few
X84S.] PRINCIPLES OF COLONIZATION. 12/
short months, I was doomed to witness those very beings who
were cheering and shouting as they left the land of their nativity,
cast (as it were) upon a barren, dreary, and inhospitable shore. I
saw them turned out into flat-bottomed boats every morning for
three weeks, nearly up to their knees in water, in order that they
might erect habitations for themselves in the wilderness. I saw
them, at last, driven out of the ship like oxen, in the midst of a
storm of wind and rain, many of them having no place of shelter.
I heard their sighs ; I witnessed the feelings that overpowered
them,*
It seems, therefore, that Bishop Sehvyn was fully justi-
fied in his worst forebodings ; and — while all difficulties
of this rude kind have long ago been overcome, and the
colony of Christchurch has risen to be one of the most
flourishing, and the most English in its character, of any in
New Zealand — it still remains incredible to us of a later
generation that no counsel was taken by the promoters of
this scheme with one who was, of all mankind, the most
deeply interested in its success, and the best qualified by a
unique personal experience to give invaluable advice.
* Majoribanks, New Zealand, p. 1 1 ; cf. Haly, Counsers Opinion on the
Cantei'bury Dispute, printed 1S53.
CHAPTER V.
First visit to the Polynesian Islands in H.M.S. Dido — Second visit in the
Undine (with H.M.S. Havannah) — Third visit — Arrival of Mr. Abraham
and Mr. Lloyd — Synod at Sydney— Fourth visit (with Bishop Tyrrell) in
the Bo7-de7- Maid — Voyage to England — Sermons at Cambridge.
The sunshine of a temporary truce between the Maoris
and the English had now spread over New Zealand (1848) ;
the whole diocese, from North Cape to Stewart's Island,
had been personally inspected ; the only sound form of
Church government, the synodal system inaugurated by
the Apostles at Jerusalem, had been given to the See ; and
a permanent Constitution for the New Zealand branch of
the Church Catholic had been drawn up and published.
The following interesting letter from Archdeacon
Hadfield, written near Cook's Straits not long afterwards,
will give a good idea both of the quiet that now reigned
and also of the disquiet that was yet in the air : —
We are now very (luiet here. The wars and disturbances of
former years are now almost forgotten; and the two races live
together on very good terms. Sir George Grey's government of
the country has been very successful. I had a visit from him and
Lady Grey last week [at Otaki]. They remained over Sunday ;
and as I administered the Holy Communion to more than a
hundred natives, they had an opportunity of witnessing what was
1848.] A TRUCE WITH THE MAORIS. 1 29
going on here. It was interesting to see the governor kneehng
side by side with old Maori chiefs, who a few years ago were in
savage opposition to all law and order. The natives have given
us, at his request, about six hundred acres of very good land ;
on which a scheme of industrial education can be carried out.
It will be a great point to get a hundred boys, and as many girls,
well taught in a school managed by the missionaries : and the
Government have promised to assist in the matter. I am afraid,
from some late communications, that the committee of the Church
Missionary Society are ill-informed concerning the real state of
things here. Perhaps nothing is more difificult than to convey
adequate ideas of the actual religious feelings and knowledge of a
newly converted barbarous people to those who have had no
experience in dealing with people of this description. The
committee talk of introducing the "parochial system," under a
native ministry, into this country ; and they have written for
advice and opinions on the subject. But the scheme is at present
quite impracticable. For there is no such advance in religious
and moral knowledge as could lead the most sanguine observer
to expect that this system can be satisfactorily established for
some five, ten, or even fifteen years to come. For the Church
Missionary Society to withdraw all support at the present time
would be to undo all that has been done. Besides, the
uncertainty of the present system of colonization, and our
ignorance what effect it may have on the natives, render it
perfectly preposterous just at this time to entertain the idea
seriously. There is constant uneasiness among the natives about
the acts of the Government, which is by no means satisfactory ;
and I am quite convinced that, without the aid of the missionaries
in allaying their suspicions, the Government would find it difficult
to carry on its business peaceably for any length of time.
In short —
Bishop Selwyn had now founded a flourishing Church, and had
laid its foundations deep on Apostolic models. Like St. Paul, the
K
I30 BISHOP SELWYN. [1848.
Apostle of the Gentiles, he never spared himself, in journeying
often, in perils often. He gave the New Zealand Church a
Constitution, with a synod to govern it ; and [erelong] saw
the one diocese, to which he had been appointed, divided and
subdivided into six sees, besides that of Melanesia, A man of
noble bearing, open countenance, great powers of endurance, with
a fund of common sense and an amount of nautical knowledge
that would not have disgraced an admiral, — he was the very
Bishop for a diocese where the sea was the ordinary means of
communication.*
But the " whole diocese," after all, had not yet been
visited. By a clerical error (as we have seen) on the part
of the State, and by an express mission on the part of the
Church,t the diocese really extended far away among the
islands of the sea to the thirty-fourth degree of north lati-
tude ; and now the time seemed favourable for a voyage of
spiritual discovery in those parts. P"or he was accidentally
offered the post of temporary chaplain and " naval instruc-
tor" on board H.M.S. Dido, bound for Tonga and the
neighbouring islands ; and was enabled to begin a thorough
study of that portion of the savage flock committed to his
charge. The following letter will give some idea of this
most interesting and useful voyage : —
H.M.S. Dido, oflfCape Butt, Bay of Islands, March 3, 1848.
My dearest Father,
My first letter related to Tongatabu, an island
familiar to me from my childhood by Cook's description, and
fully bearing out the praise which it has received. On the
evening before our departure, I took leave of good Mr. Thomas,
the Wesleyan missionary, on the beach, and nearly two hundred
* The Times, April 13, 1878. f Supra, p. 35.
184S.] FIRST VOYAGE TO MELANESIA. 131
of his school-children, who took off their chaplets of wild flowers
and threw them into the boat as a parting gift. The next morn-
ing, we sailed out through the northern passage of the harbour of
Tonga with a sparkling trade-wind filling every sail, and rippling
the deep-blue water of the channel, and the light-green water
within the reefs, with the true smile of the sea, — IlornW re
KVjj.dTU)i/ avrjpiO (xov yeXacrfJia..
On Saturday, January 8th, we passed in sight of two islands,
the westernmost of the Hapai group. Tofua is said to be an
active volcano ; but we saw no signs of fire or smoke.
On Sunday morning, January 9th, we were off Port Valder in
the island of Vavau, the northernmost of the islands forming
the Friendly and Hapai group. The wind being contrary, all
tiie morning was spent in working into the harbour. Happily,
this was the only time, during the voyage, on which Divine Service
on tlie Lord's Day was suspended. Valder Harbour is formed
by a number of islets at the southern end of the island of
Vavau. The entrance is marked by the two small rocky islets
represented below. The only drawback to its security is the
great depth of the water. Krusenstein's atlas of the Pacific,
which I bought at Captain Fitzroy's recommendation, has an
admirably correct chart of the harbour. . . . Table hills rise into
abrupt crags at the summit; but are based with sloping banks
beautifully wooded and terminated at the water's edge with hollow
caves, in which the dogs of the Scylla of Vavau (if there be any)
are continually barking. In many parts of the harbour no sound-
ings were found ; and even at our anchorage we lay in twenty-
eight fathoms. This depth of water is dangerous in the season
of hurricanes, as a ship has been known to be dragged about the
harbour with all its anchors out, and at last driven upon the rocks.
This day, being Sunday, I did not go on shore ; nor did any
canoes come off to the ship. An American whaler lay at anchor
near us, and the canoe-sheds at the mission station were just
visible at a short distance.
Monday, January loth, I went on shore with Captain Max-
well, and landed at some spacious canoe-sheds, which, as well as
132 BISHOP SELWYN. [1848.
those of Tonga, look like the ship-building sheds at Greenwich in
miniature. They are generally large enough to hold a double
canoe, eighty feet long. On the beach we were met by a large
party of natives, who seemed to show the effects of intercourse
with whale-ships, more than their relations at Tonga, in a rude-
ness of manner not common at the Friendly Islands. In other
respects they seemed to be orderly and quiet. We soon reached
the mission settlement, consisting of the three dwelling-houses of
Messrs. Rabone, West, and Davis, and the printing-office attached.
The mission body received us most kindly ; but told me, good-
humouredly, that their natives had been up to inquire how I was
to be received, as I was supposed to be a Bishop of the Romish
Church. Their fears were soon removed on that point, perhaps
more easily than those of some of their brethren in New Zealand,
who have raised the Popery cry against me, with little justice and
less effect. Here we found the Wesleyan printing establishment
for the Tonga group, conducted by Mr. Davis, with the assist-
ance of native pressmen. As with us, the duty of revising the
early translations of the Holy Scriptures had engaged the attention
of the missionaries, and the Vavau press was, by a curious coinci-
dence, employed upon the same chapters of St. Matthew which
were then passing, in the new version, through our college press.
On this island the shortness of our stay deprived me of the
pleasure, which I usually enjoyed, of inspecting the schools, as
the children were all dispersed, and there was not time to collect
tliem. We visited, however, some of the principal chiefs, and saw
the empty house of King George, a beautiful specimen of native
work ; the fabric showing how useful every part of the cocoa-nut
and bread-fruit are, both for board and lodging. The wood of the
bread-fruit is not subject to the ravages of tlie ants, which destroy
almost every other kind of timber in a {q\\ years. On our return
to the mission-house, one of the principal chiefs, to whom King
George seemed to have delegated the chief authority in his
absence, came to Captain ^Maxwell with a singular request, to be
supplied with a pair of handcufTs. It appeared that a young man
was in his custody who had wilfully set fire to one of the mission-
1848] ''SLEEPING AWAKED 1 33
houses, and burnt it to the ground. The trial was deferred till
the return of the king, which was so long delayed, that the chief
said he and all his people "were tired of sleeping aivake ;" and that
they wished for the handcuffs to secure the culprit during the
night.
In the evening Captain Maxwell and I ascended one of the
flat-topped hills which overlook the harbour, and enjoyed a
glorious prospect, lighted up by the glow of a cloudless sunset.
It was a rugged scramble to get up; for the path was so well
concealed in the plantations of paper-mulberry (for the manufac-
ture of cloth) that we were unable to find it ; and climbed up the
cliff, as we could, by the projections of rock, and the natural
cordage of the parasitical plants, with which it was clothed. But
when we came to the brow, from which the view opened upon us,
we discovered the path — a narrow cleft in the rock, caused
apparently by an earthquake.
By this path we descended to the cultivated stage below the
cliff, where cocoa-nuts and paper-mulberries were in profusion ;
and soon regained the beach, where the boat was waiting for us.
And so ends my poor account of Vavau : which is all that I can
give upon a stay of ten hours ; unless, indeed, I were to indulge in
a little scandal, and abuse the missionaries, which, according to
the received practice of intuitive travellers of Dr. Laing's class,
can always be done upon hearsay, and at sight.
May the same glorious sun, which set upon me in majesty on
the cliff of Vavau, visit you with his cheerful light many happy
mornings more, till the dayspring of a new and brighter morning
rise upon you, when the Lord Himself, the Sun of Righteousness,
shall be your everlasting Light.
God bless you, my dear father, and brothers, and sister.
I remain, my dear father.
Your dutiful and very affectionate son,
G. A. New Zealand.
This voyage lasted from December 23, 1847, till
134 BISHOP SELWYN. [1848.
March 4, 1848, and it left a deep impression on his mind.
In the following letter to a friend, written shortly after his
return, the drift his thoughts were taking can be easil\'
seen : —
This year my mind has been much expanded tO-,a compre-
hension of the magnitude of the work which God has wrought in
the " multitudes of the isles " of the Pacific. In some, as in the
Friendly and Navigator's Islands, there is much to cheer and
strengthen the heart ; in others, as the New Hebrides and New-
Caledonia, all is still dark and desolate. But even in the most
favoured islands there is still something which gives me ground to
doubt whether the foundation be secure. I do not for a moment
doubt the personal faith of thousands of the converts of the various
mission bodies, but I do doubt whether they are " edified," whether
they do not still rest upon the personal character of their English
teachers. And this support will have a tendency to fall off, when
other fields of fresher interest absorb the zeal of the rising genera-
tion and carry it off to Central Africa, to China, or to Japan.
This is a point too little thought of, I fear, in missionary enter-
prise — I mean, the downward tendency of the secondary stage of
a mission. The only remedy is a ttaitve minishy. This may be
expected to press upwards to higher and holier aims with the
progress of light and knowledge, and to replace the English
ministry as it decays. My deep conviction is that the "society"
system will end in disappointment. The Wesleyan attempt, for
instance, to Wcsleyanize the Friendly Islands and the Feegees,
and to associate every convert as a member of the Wesleyan
Society, can only succeed by making Wesleyanism into a new form
of the Papacy. The London Society is in a still greater difficulty,
because it professes no form of Church government at all ; and
therefore the native converts, as they advance, must either be
excluded from all share in the management, or be admitted upon
such vague definitions of powers and privileges as must end in
disagreement among themselves. The Church Missionary Societ}-
1848.] RESULTS OF THE VOYAGE. 135
professes to wish to allow its efforts to merge gradually in the
ecclesiastical system of the country ; but its measures tend so little
to that end that, if it were now to withdraw its aid from New
Zealand, not one single thing would be found to have been built
up. The plan which occurs to me after much thought and
observation, but to which, I fear, the Wesleyans would never
accede, is for all missionary bodies to agree upon a fundamental
system as well as upon fundamental doctrine. Why should the
Friendly and Navigator's Islanders be forced into a position of
dissent from their brethren in New Zealand merely because certain
"societies" in England are supported by various classes of Chris-
tians ? Why should not I be able to recognize the native
ministers in those islands as in communion with our own? If
the societies would allow the native converts to form a Scriptural
■form of Church government, with a simple bishop presiding over
his council of presbyters, and that bishop deriving canonical
succession from America or any other neutral source, I could at
once fraternize with the Samoan or other island churches, and
could assist them by visits, by receiving their young converts, and
by all other means in my power. What a sin it seems to be to
visit our discord upon these simple-minded islanders ! Think of
my being appealed to by the London missionaries to bear witness
of the evils of divisions caused by the interference of Wesleyan
teachers !
In this voyage the practical skill which he had first
begun to learn on his voyage out to New Zealand in 1841
stood him in good stead, and as "naval instructor " he gave
perfect satisfaction. Indeed, the captain of a merchant
vessel once remarked to a New Zealand clergyman, " It
almost made him a Christian and a Churchman to see the
Bishop bring his schooner into harbour," What he saw of
the Melanesian Islands during this voyage strengthened his
determination to visit them asrain, " should some door be
136 BISHOP SELWYN. [1849.
opened by which God may show His willingness that the
work should be begun." Accordingly, in the following
year (1849), he set off on his first voyage in the little
schooner, the Undine^ cruising about the islands and trying
to open friendly communication with the natives. His
plan Mas to persuade them to allow him to take some of
their children to New Z-ealand, where they might be
civilized and taught the elements of Christianity, while
they in return might impart their own language to their
teachers. In the winter the Bishop proposed to restore
them to their homes and to leave them until the following
year, when he would again fetch them if they should be
willing to come.
These frequent removals and voyages to and fro were
rendered necessary by the peculiar climate of these tropical
latitudes. At certain seasons alone was it possible to carry
a frail mission-vessel into these tempting treacherous seas ;
where the blue water broke over innum.erable coral reefs
unmarked in any chart, and where too long delay might
involve unequal conflict with the hurricane or the tropical
thunderstorm. A graphic description both of such a hurri-
cane and such a storm may be found in the letters of Bishop
Patteson ; and will give some ideat of the dangers encoun-
tered in these seas, but so lightly passed over — if mentioned
at all — by one at whom colonists sometimes sneered as
" fond of yachting."
On May 3rd, for the first time I experienced a circular gale or
hurricane : till about 7 p.m. we could do no more, and had to lie
to. Thus the vessel [the Southern Cross] meets the seas ; v hich,
if they caught her on the beam or quarter, v. ould very likely send
her down at once. From i p.m. till 7 p.m. the next day, it blew
1849] CYCLONES AND THUNDER-STORMS. 1 37
furiously. The whole sea was one drift of foam, and the surface
of the water beaten down flat by the excessive violence of the
wind. It cut off the head of every wave, and carried it in clouds
of spray and great masses of water, driving and hurling it against
any obstacle, such as our little vessel, with inconceivable fury.
As I stood on deck, gasping for breath, my eyes literally unable
to keep themselves open and only by glimpses getting a view of this
most grand and terrible sight, it seemed as if a furious snow-storm
was raging over a swelhng heaving dark mass of waters. Add to
this the straining of the masts, the creaking of the planks, the
shrill whistle of the wind in the ropes, the occasional crash of a
heavy sea as it struck us with a sharp sound, and the rush of waters
over the decks that followed, — and you have a notion of a gale of
wind. An unlucky sea at such a time may be fatal ; and if
anything about the schooner had been unsound, it might have
been awkward. At prayers, the Bishop read the prayer to be
used in a storm : but I never entertained the idea of our being
really in peril, — for we had sea-room and no fear of driving upon
rocks.*
About all this, and a hundred similar scenes, we hear
not a single word from our (unfortunately) too practical
and reticent Bishop Selwyn. But such experiences go to
make the character of a man, and give him wealth of
memory and of resource ; while they form also the back-
ground and setting, without which any record of his life
must needs be meagre, unsatisfactory, and even misleading.
From the same deeply interesting volumes we therefore
borrow another personal description of a thunderstorm met
with in these seas.
At 7.30 the breeze came up and the big drops began : when
suddenly a bright forked flash, so sustained that it held its place
before our eyes like an immense white-hot crooked wire, seemed
* Miss Yonge, " Life of Bishop Patteson " (1874), i. 251.
138 BfSHOP SELWYN. [1849.
to fall on the deck and be splintered there. But one moment,
and the tremendous crack of the thunder was alive and around us
making the masts tremble. For more than an hour, the flashes
were so continuous that, I think, every three seconds we had a
perfect view of the whole horizon. I especially remember the
firmament between the lurid thunder-clouds looking quite blue, so
intense was the light. We have no lightning conductor, and 1
felt somewhat anxious [being this time in sole charge of the ship],
I went below and prayed God to preserve us from lightning and
fire, and read the magnificent chapter in Job. We had no wind,
but furious rain. The lightning was forked and jagged : and as
the storm was right upon us, the danger must have been great.*
It was in peril of meeting with such adventures as these
that, in August, Bishop Sehvyn put off in his own Httle
mission-schooner, the Undine, of only twenty-two tons, for
a second visit to his far-off Archipelago. After sailing a
thousand miles in ten stormy days, he reached the island of
Anaiteum, where he —
visited the Scotch missionaries already established there. He
also visited other islands, never interfering if he found any mission
work going on ; but, after an interchange of kindly intercourse
with the missionaries, he would push on further in search of fresh
unbroken ground. This rule the Bishop invariably followed out
in his mission work ; as he held, strongly, that divisions were the
ruin of the cause which all had at heart. He conferred a great
benefit on the Scotch mission at Anaiteum in the following year,
when he returned to. the island, by bringing out a wooden house
on board his little vessel for the Presbyterian minister. This
seems a simple act of brotherly kindness ; but it was unfortunately
made the source of some annoyance to the Bishop, as he was con-
sidered, in England, to have needlessly gone out of his way in
taking this trouble for a member of another mission. Happily his
* Miss Yonge, "Life of Bishop Patteson " (1874), i. 310.
1 849-] SECOND VOYAGE TO THE ISLANDS. 1 39
heart was large enough to be proof against attacks of this petty
nature.*
At Anaiteum he met, as previously arranged, H.M.S.
Havatinah, and sailed in her company to New Caledonia
and elsewhere ; standing away, at last, alone back to
Auckland with the precious cargo on board of five native
boys, gathered from the various islands, the firstfruits of
the Melanesian harvest. The following letter from Lady
Shaftesbury to a friend will show, from a most unbiased
witness, the influence for good exercised by the Bishop at
this time on all around him —
Dear Lady ,
My boy says, " at the Island of Tanna we met the Bishop
of New Zealand cruising about among the islands, in the Undine —
a small schooner yacht of about twenty-five tons; without a single
weapon of any description on board ; the people consisting of
himself, three men, and a boy. He kept company with us [the
ffavanna/i] till we left the islands for Sydney, on September 22nd.
He preached on board during the Sundays he was with us ; and
certainly I never was so struck with anybody's preaching as with
his. The effect on the men was quite electrical ; and I could
have listened to him for hours." I have copied the whole passage.
Evidently the Bishop was going to return to New Zealand when
the Havannah left him.
Yours very truly,
E. A.
In May, 1850, to withdraw them from the cold and
wet of a New Zealand winter, the Bishop sailed back to
the islands and restored the boys to their delighted
parents, himself returning alone to Auckland about mid-
* E. A. C, p. 26.
I40 BISHOP SELWYN. [185 1.
winter, on June the 4th. But in September he was off
again, this time in a merchant brig, for one thousand miles
run to Sydney, to take part in a great Pan- Australasian
Synod, — first forerunner of the still greater Pan-Anglican
Synods, of which he was to be the principal and most
energetic promoter, and which nowadays meet regularly
every ten years at Lambeth. One result of this Sydney
conference was the formation of an "Australasian Board of
Missions," and the contribution of money towards the
provision of a larger vessel, the Border Maid, of one
hundred tons burden, for conveying the Bishop and his
cargoes of pupils with greater safety to and fro. On her
first trip to the islands, she had the honour of carrying two
Bishops of the Australasian Church ; for Bishop Tyrrell,
of Newcastle, N.S.W., a fellow-oarsman in days gone by at
Cambridge, had determined to accompany his friend to the
post of honour and danger, and to witness, with his own
eyes, the great Churchman's methods of peaceable frontier
warfare against heathendom. PI is graphic letter de-
scribing what he saw in 1851 can never fail to be read
with the deepest interest. He says —
The natives of the islands are very treacherous, pretending the
greatest cordiality and goodwill until the moment of attack. A
sandal-wood trader told me that, on visiting one of the islands,
some years ago, he had so numerous a crew that he thought the
natives would not dare to attack them. He therefore allowed as
many as liked to come on the deck. Many came and appeared
most pleased and friendly ; when, in one moment, without the
slightest warning, seventeen of his crew were laid dead on the
ship's deck.
He then describes how he was left in charee of the
1851.] ''PERILS AMONG THE HEATHEN." 141
Border 2Iaid, while the Bishop and nearly all his men
went off to fill their casks with water at the island of Mali-
colo ; and how he found himself surrounded with a swarm
of canoes, full of huge, armed warriors, who tried to come
on deck, and were with difficulty prevented by the firm
attitude of Bishop Tyrrell and two sailors, who alone were
left on board. At length, from amid crowds of hostile
natives, the Bishop and his watering-party were seen to
emerge in safety and row away for the ship ; when the
malicious canoe-warriors paddled away. But he, too, had
been in imminent peril ; and it was only —
his quick-sighted reading of character and apprehension of
gestures, his habits of order and forethought, besides his calm-
ness and courage, which enabled him to walk unscathed where
others would be in danger.*
But all this would never be gathered from either his
own letters or his conversation. There all " perils of waters
and perils by the heathen " were invariably regarded as of
no account, and taken as a matter of course. Indeed this
calm indifference to danger was the secret of his safety.
His wonderful influence over savages is thus described by
one who witnessed it : —
He would not allow his crew of four men to have a musket or
any weapon of defence. His wonderful presence of mind and
dignified bearing, and a certain something quite indefinable, had
such an influence over the savage mind, that the natives never
seemed to contemplate the possibility of his molesting them ;
and therefore they never dreamed of carrying out their rule to
avenge the shooting of one of themselves by sandal-wood traders,
* Tucker, i. 364.
142 BISHOP SELlVYiV. [1851-
by killing and eating the first white man who fell into their
power.*
The Border Maid soon afterwards landed Bishop
Tyrrell in Australia, and then sailed away (with thirteen
wild native boys, to be trained at St. John's College), and
reached Auckland safely on October 7, 185 1.
The hold of the vessel was fitted up as a school-room, and the
Bishop and his fellow-workers kept school regularly. Everywhere
his quick-sighted reading of countenance, his habits of order and
of forethought, his calmness and courage, enabled him to go
through scenes of danger unhurt. All depended on his wisdom,
energy, and presence of mind. On one occasion, when a boy fell
ill, the others at once proposed to throw him overboard because,
they said, he was unhappy and made others so : his life was " no
good." The Bishop, however, was near enough to prevent this
catastrophe ; and he showed the boys that this was not the right
way to treat a sick comrade, but that they should rather lessen his
troubles and restore him to "happiness" again. ("The Island
Mission," p. 23.)
The Border Maid returned to Auckland with thirteen scholars
in October, 1851. The joyful news was brought to the college
that she had anchored off the coast during the night ; and im-
mediately after morning service, a long file of black boys were
seen coming up from the vessel with the Bishop and his party.
The warm welcome with which they were greeted can be
imagined ; and they were soon all settled down quietly at work.
"The Bishop's College," says an ofificer of H. M.S. Fanto77te, who
visited Auckland in 1853, "is a collection of Elizabethan-looking
small buildings, with farm establishments (in the same style)
attached. The Bishop is, indeed, a wonderful man. The true
Christian, the champion pedestrian, the perfect scholar, the
polished gentleman, the eloquent preacher and linguist, are
united in him. His energies are untiring. I have seen him
* Letter quoted in E. A. C, p. 26.
I853-] THE MELANESIANS AT SCHOOL. 1 43
come out of Church, hailed by a host of Maoris all holding out
their hands and shaking his with true fervour, and his lordship
having a word in their own pretty language for all. (Malone,
" Three Years in the Australasian Colonies," p. 245.)
The next year, to the Bishep's great delight, he secured two
girls to bring with him to Auckland ; and he proudly brought
them up the beach, one on each arm, arrayed in garments of his
own handiwork made out of a bed-quilt and ornamented with a
scarlet bow. Little Wabisane, and little Wasitrutru (the latter
meaning " Little Chattering Bird ") were the names of the girls,
who were afterwards called Sarah and Caroline, after Mrs. Selwyn
and Mrs. Abraham. George was the name most frequently given
to the boys ; and the first Melanesian who was ordained was
George Sarawia.*
He found the college in good and satisfactory work,
under the guidance of Mr. (afterwards Bishop) Abraham,
and Mr. Lloyd, who had come out from England for this
purpose the year before. But " what son is he whom the
Father chasteneth not ? " j In 1853, a sad cloud of
calamity — a passing tempest of moral evil — settled down
upon the college, and compelled its dispersion for a time.
Indeed, the Maori department of the college never re-
assembled ; and before long the boys from the various
islands were gathered at new head-quarters, provided for
them first at Kohi-marama, a more sunny spot beside
the sea, and then in Norfolk Island, where a warmer
climate enabled them to remain through the winter, and
where to this hour the missionary Bishop of Melanesia
makes his home.
A letter to Mrs. Selwyn, at this time, reveals the
troubled, and yet ever hopeful and manly, tone of the
Bishop's mind.
* E. A. C, p. 27. t Heb. xii. 2.
144 BISHOP SELlVYiV. [1S53.
Taranaki, January 24, 1853.
My dearest Love,
I had this day the great delight of receiving a letter
from you, by the Eclair from Manakau. How pleasant and
refreshing your letter was ! I wrote to you a trifling letter from
the coast, just to tell you of my movements. But as it was in-
tended for any chance conveyance, it contained nothing which
might not be read at Charing Cross. Now, as I have hope of
a sea-borne mail, I can pour out my soul to you, and respond to
your sorrow and your prayers, your comfort and your hopes. It has
pleased God to bless my journey (as I ventured to hope would be
the case) by restoring, in great measure, that elasticity of mind
which He has granted to me under all former and minor troubles ;
but which I feared, in this last and greatest, was in danger of
being seriously impaired. In bodily health I have rarely been
so well ; and the calm of this place, with two confirmations and
an harmonious Church-meeting, have acted as a balm to a
wounded spirit. The people here have been very kind, at a time
when I was prepared to value and feel kindness more than ever.
The presence also of the dear boys under my own eye, and our
daily intercourse in prayer, have kept alive the thought of the
college as still existing, though well-nigh destroyed. Charles's
tent has enabled me to keep them literally under my own roof, —
all seven of us stretching our weary limbs together under the
same covering. It has been a long journey, wet, slippery, and
slow ; but I have not found it irksome, though very different
from my former gallop with Rota. The dear child Simeon's
tender and sorrowful letters touch my heart. I am glad he has
opened his heart to you. He writes to me of your motherly care
and of your daily prayers with him. My thoughts for the first
time turn to England, partly on Johnnie's account, as I think he
needs to be at school. But I have no wish — except to see my
father before he dies, and to see Willie.
From your most loving husband,
G. A. N. Z.
1 853-3 THE FIRST MAORI CLERGYMAN. I45
In May, 1853, the firstfruits ol the Maori race, Rota
Waitoa, was ordained ; and on the last day of the year,
in order to overcome the intolerable obstacles to a due
organization of the New Zealand Church which the Eng-
lish law still presented, the Bishop sailed for England in
the Commodore. Mrs. Selwyn and his second son accom-
panied him, and the whole of 1854 was spent on the
voyage or in England. Indeed, he did not land at Auck-
land again till July 5, 1855. His objects in coming home
were mainly three: (i) to secure the power to subdivide
his vast diocese ; and especially to establish a Bishop at
Wellington and at the new Canterbury settlement in the
Southern Island ; (2) to secure for the Church of New
Zealand a legal power to manage its own affairs by means
of a mixed " general synod," composed of bishops, pres-
byters, and laity ; (3) to obtain a full recognition by the
Church of England of the Melanesian mission, and of her
duty ere long to provide it with a bishop of its own.
Before he returned, all these objects had been, more or less
completely, attained. The subdivision of his diocese was
facilitated by the grant of self-government to the colony in
1853, by its determination thereupon to disestablish and
disendow the Church, and by its own subdivision (till
re-union in 1876) into six local governments. The legal
power to manage its own affairs followed on disestablish-
ment as a matter of course. And the recognition of the
Bishop's noble efforts to evangelize Melanesia was so
hearty that ^10,000 were soon raised to form an endow-
ment for its future bishop ; a new mission-schooner (the
Southern Cross) was presented to the Bishop for his
voyages of inspection and education ; and (best of all) a
L
146 BISHOP SELWYN. [1854.
coadjutor in the work and a future "Bishop" of the Isles
was contributed to his staff, in the person of the Rev. John
Coleridge Patteson, who had been secretly devoted to this
service from the day when, fourteen years before, he had
heard Bishop Selwyn's stirring address at Windsor shortly
before sailing to the Antipodes. And novv^, during the
present visit, another stirring series of addresses, delivered
before the University of Cambridge, was destined to create
a still profounder admiration for the man, and a still more
widespread desire to have the privilege of working with
him, whether at home or abroad. Those " Four Sermons
on the Work of Christ in the World " were afterwards pub-
lished. But some extracts from them here will probably
be acceptable to the reader.
The first sermon merely addresses itself to the general
principle that " Christian work " is the best of all expres-
sions of Christian belief
We can add nothing to your store of learning, but we may
bring some fresh instances of the Divine love, some deep ex-
perience drawn from the fountains of the human heart, some
glimpses of primitive Christianity granted to the servants of God
in their lonely mission-field, like the tidings of a new-born Saviour
given to the shepherds who kept watch over their flocks by night.
It is this hope, and this alone, which has emboldened me to come
here to-day. ... A great and visible change has taken place
in the thirteen years since I left England. It is now a very rare
thing to see a careless clergyman, a neglected parish, or a desecrated
church. The multiplication of schools may well be made the
subject of special thanksgiving to Almighty God. The teaching
of our public schools and universities has risen to a far more
religious character. Even our cathedral system, the last to feel
the impulse of the times, has put forth signs of life while many
iS54-] A YEAR IN ENGLAND. 1 47
were predicting its extinction. The natural result of this awakened
zeal has been to extend the limits of inquiry and to give a new
value to more subtle points of doctrine and more minute points
of practice. It is easy to see how Christian zeal thus tends to
religious strife. But whatever is really necessary to reform the
sinner, to comfort the sorrowful, and to guide the dying on their
way to heaven, that, and that only, is the doctrine which God calls
on every man to receive. Thus, for instance, in our mission work
our standard of necessary doctrine is, what we can explain to our
native converts and translate into our native languages. This we
know to be all that is really necessary to salvation.
The second sermon was a still louder trumpet-call to
action.
In the covenant which we made with God in baptism, when
the question had been asked, " Dost thou believe?" then followed
immediately the other, "Wilt thou obey?" And what is more
likely than that, in an age of religious zeal, many doubts and
questions should arise about a duty so important as this ; and that,
in endeavouring minutely to adjust our duty of obedience to God
and man, difficulties should arise ? If this precision of adjustment
cannot be attained, it seems as if some thought themselves absolved
from all duty of obedience. . . . Yet we may look upon it as a
happy age, in which the chief errors arise from an excess of con-
science. Let us not harshly repel every brother who has felt the
unsettling power of this age of lawless speculation, but charitably
weigh his conscientious scruples and assist to remove them. . . .
Thus out of the mist of controversy a clear beam of light seems
to fall upon a handwriting nailed to our Saviour's cross, that "love
is the fulfilling of the law." ... At the Reformation a great prin-
ciple was enunciated, but was not carried out. The Bible was
opened, but it was not taught. Private judgment was recognized,
but it was not guided or informed. Bishoprics were not multi-
plied nor parishes subdivided as the population grew. Cathedrals
were furnished with the means of usefulness, but they were allowed
1 48 BISHOP SEL WYN. [1854.
to remain inactive. Tlie Church was to be the Church of the
people, and yet vast masses were left to grow up in ignorance.
Then came the difficulty of the connection between Church and
State, because the Church was no longer the mother of all the
people. Why should we wonder that difficulties meet us at every
step in such a state of things as this ? But the Church is not
therefore lost. Her doctrines are not compromised \ her creeds
are not abrogated ; her Articles are not convicted of error. . . .
Surely it is our bounden duty to receive this treasure into our
hearts, and then to go forth into our families, our neighbourhoods,
our parishes, our schools; to prisons and hospitals, to workhouses
and almshouses, and even into the highways and hedges ; and
there to deal with every single soul as if our own lives depended
on the issue. If this be done, the Church will soon reabsorb all
dissent within herself ; for every sect is still a part of the Church.
And may God move this great University to be foremost in the
work of Christianizing England ! Fill all your chairs of science,
follow up every hidden law of nature, and trace out the minutest
particles of matter and every microscopical form of animated life \
but let it be done by men whose profession it is. And teach the
rest of this vast body to devote themselves to the study of man and
of man's soul ; and of the works of God as seen in their noblest
exercise — in the salvation of the world.
The third sermon was a spirit-stirring appeal to the
Church at home to help the rising colonial Churches.
Vast numbers of our people — nearly a thousand a day — are
leaving their native country to go to our own colonies. But they
carry with them none of the endowments, none of the learning,
none of the privileges of the Church at home. The younger son,
when he goes into a far country, does not receive the portion of
goods which falleth to him. They go out to find the consequences
of disunion in England visited upon the colonies — the Church
separated from the State, counted as one of many sects, dependent
upon voluntary aid, and yet supposed to be subject to the same
1854-] SERMONS AT CAMBRIDGE. 14Q
restrictions as those which have been estabUshed in England. . .
Now, I ask, have hearts at home expanded as our empire has
grown ? Or has our diocesan and parochial system^-which is at
once the strength and weakness of our Church — narrowed up
minds here at home, and unfitted them for that wider range of
thought which is needed for the direction of a work now (by the
grace of God) extended throughout the world ? I answer, thank-
fully, that much has been done. My own bishopric was the first
of fourteen which have been founded — one for every year [since
1841]. And I may be allowed to express my thankfulness that
five out of the fourteen have been supplied by the ancient college
of St. John. And no less must we praise God for those faithful
servants whom their ministry has sent forth to die in the mission-
field — for Henry Martyn and for Thomas Whytehead and other
kindred spirits. It was full time that this "awakening" should
come, for the stewardship of England seemed passing away. In
every country which we occupied, the voice of our brother's blood
cried unto God from the ground. Could we be the true children
of Abraham, the foster-fathers of many nations, when we had carried
with us only the fire and the knife, but not the Lamb ? . . . And
to what have we now to trust, but to private zeal, when the State
is paralyzed by religious divisions, and when the spirit of counsel
has departed for a season from the Church ? Where is the power
to command, which shall supply every colony of the British empire
with the ministers of the Gospel, as I have seen the wild hills of
New Zealand guarded by the soldiers of the British army and its
harbours by the seamen of our fleet ? When shall we learn the
lesson that the sacrament of the soldier of the Cross binds him by
a far higher obligation to fight manfully under his Lord's banner,
and to bear it to the utmost bounds of the habitable globe ? You
know the wants of the colonial Church. I forbear to speak of
myself, because it has pleased God to cast my lot in a fair land
and a goodly heritage ; and in the healthful climate of New
Zealand, and among the clustered isles and on the sparkling
waves of the Pacific Ocean, there is too much real enjoyment for
me to be able to invite any one to unite himself with me as an
150 BISHOP SELVVVN. [1S54.
exercise of ministerial self-denial. Yet we also want men of mind
and of faith, to mould the institutions of our infant colony. . . .
There are such minds here present — hearts ready to undertake
the work of Christ in any part of His field to which they may be
called. But they are as backward to offer as the Church is back-
ward to call. One or other must break through their natural
reserve. Offer yourselves to the Archbishop, as twelve hundred
young men have already offered themselves to the Commander-
in-Chief [for the Crimean war]. Let the head of our Church have
about him a body of young men willing to go everywhere and to
do anything. Then we shall never lack chaplains, either for our
soldiers in the field or for the sick and wounded in the hospitals;
nor clergy for our colonies ; nor missionaries for the heathen.
The last of these four sermons carried the thoughts of
the vast congregation far away to the " isles of the sea,"
and to the dark masses of still unconverted heathendom.
When the missionary to the heathen comes back from his
intercourse with simple tribes, among whom his constant en-
deavour has been to teach the truth, pure and undefiled, as it
is in Jesus, — and when he finds himself in the midst of con-
troversy, such as he knows would unsettle the minds of his
native converts, and would teach them to doubt rather than to
believe, — he is naturally led to plead earnestly with his own
brethren and countrymen that they would " seek peace and ensue
it." Does our blessed Lord approve of all this bitterness of con-
troversy? ... I speak, of course, with diffidence of anything that
relates to the state of religion in England ; but I am bold to speak
of that which I have seen and heard in the mission-field. There,
I assert without fear of contradiction, schism is looked upon as
an acknowledged evil. There may be the utmost charity and
brotherly kindness among the missionaries themselves, but that
is not enough. No inward and spiritual unity can act as an out-
ward evidence. The keen-sighted native convert soon detects a
difference of system. And thus religion brings disunion, instead
I854-] POLICY OF NON-INTERFERENCE. 15T
of harmony and peace. We make a rule [therefore] never to
introduce controversy among a native people. If the ground has
been preoccupied by any other reHgious body, we forbear to enter.
And I can speak from observation, ranging over nearly half the
Southern Pacific Ocean, that wherever this law of religious unity is
adopted, there the Gospel has its full and unchecked power.
Nature itself has so divided our mission-field that each labourer
may work without interference with his neighbour. Every island,
circled with its own coral reef, is a field in which each missionary
may carry out his own system with native teachers — children in
obedience, but men in action, ready at a moment to put their
lives in their hands and go out to preach the Gospel to other
islands, with no weapon but prayer and with no refuge but in
God.* . . . Many of these islands I visited in their days of dark-
* See Miss Yonge, "Life of Patteson," i. 192: "Very nobly had the
Samoan pupils of John Williams [the Erromango martyr] carried out his
intentions, — braving dislike, disease, and death in the islands to which they
were appointed. Moreover, the language was no easier to them than to him ;
Melanesian being broken into such an extraordinary number of dialects, that
a missionary declared this people must have come straight from the Tower of
Babel and have gone on dividing their speech ever since." Cf. "The Island
Mission," p. 9: "These poor .Samoan converts had none of the prestige of
the white man ; many of them could not read ; all their bodily and mental
possessions were the garment of cocoa-leaves round their waists and a portion
of Christian truth in their hearts. Yet they found their way westward to one
of the Loyalty Islands ; and in a few years half the island had left off fighting
and cannibalism, and they had built a chapel and a house ready for a resident
missionary whenever he might come to teach them." Among the Maoris in
New Zealand the same "moral miracle" had been witnessed. Cf. "Church
in the Colonies," No. XII. (S.P.C.K.), p. 16: " The Gospel was first preached
[to the tribes near Cook's Straits] by some natives who had received instruc-
tion at the mission-stations in the north. Among them were Rauparaha's son
and nephew, who embarked by night on board a whale-ship and sailed to the
Bay of Islands ; where their urgency and sincerity decided Mr. Hadfield to
offer himself as their minister, and to form a new station at Waikanae. At
his request, these two young men undertook a missionary voyage to the
Southern Island and Foveaux Straits, sailing in an open boat more than a
thousand miles. They returned after fourteen months, having catechized and
preached at every native settlement in the Southern Island ; and, on my visit,
the natives there uniformly ascribed their conversion to them."
153 BISHOP SELWYN. [1854.
ness, and therefore I can rejoice in the light that now bursts upon
them, from whatever quarter it may come. I feel that there is an
episcopate of love as well as of authority, and that these simple
teachers, scattered over the wide ocean, are objects of the same
interest to me as Apollos was to Aquila. If in anything they
lack knowledge, it seems to be our duty to " expound to them the
way of God more perfectly," and to do this as their friend and
brother, " not as having dominion over their faith, but as helpers
of their joy." Above all other things, it is our duty to guard
against inflicting upon them the curses of our disunion, lest we
make every little island in the ocean a counterpart of our own
divided and contentious Church. And, further, I would point to
the mission-field as the great outlet for the excited and sensitive
spirit of the Church at home. There are minds which have placed
before them an ideal perfection which can never be realized on
earth. They burn with a zeal for God which cannot bear to be
confined. Such men would be the very salt of the earth if they
would but go out into the mission-field. There are five hundred
miUions of heathen still waiting for the Gospel. . . . But how, you
Avill ask, shall truth of doctrine be maintained if we tolerate in the
mission-field every form of error, and provide no safeguard for pie
purity of the faith ? I answer that, as running water purifies itself,
so Christian work is seen to correct its own mistakes. ... Is it,
then, a hope too unreasonable to be entertained, that the power
which will heal the divisions of the Church at home may come
from her distant fields of missionary work ? . . . And now, my
dear friends and brethren, and especially the younger members of
this university, I commend you to the grace of God's Holy Spirit.
I go from hence, if it be the will of God, to the most distant of
all countries. There God has planted a standard of the Cross, as
a signal to His Church to fill up the intervening spaces. Fill up
the void. The Spirit of God is ready to be poured out upon all
flesh, and some of you are His chosen vessels. Again, I say,
offer yourselves to the primate of our Church. The voice of the
Lord is asking, " Whom shall I send, and who will go for us ? "
I854-] THE '' SOUTHERN cross:' I 53
May many of you who intend, by God's grace, to dedicate them-
selves to the ministry, answer at once, " Here am I : send me."
The effect of these spirited addresses was electrical.
One young man who heard the Bishop's appeal, being
possessed of some i^ 12,000, with further expectations,
offered all his money to the mission. The Bishop, however,
positively refused to avail himself of this tempting offer ;
though its acceptance would have relieved him from the
irksome task of going about from place to place begging
for help. He refused to benefit by the enthusiasm, perhaps
transient, which his own eloquence had enkindled ; and,
while always willing unhesitatingly to accept personal
service, he would not take any of the young man's money.
Another result of this appeal was the offer of the Rev^
Charles Mackenzie to head the Universities' Mission in
South Africa. And in memory of this visit a new schooner,
called the SoutJiern Cross, was presented by friends for
the use of the Melanesian mission, to which also the profits
of the " Daisy Chain " past and future were dedicated by
the authoress.
CHAPTER VI.
The Bishop's return to New Zealand — The ten years' Maori war — General
Synod — The Canterbury settlement in the Southern Island — Bishop
Patteson consecrated for Melanesia — Second voyage to England — Pan-
Anglican vSynod at Lambeth — Wolverhampton Congress — Summons to
succeed Bishop Lonsdale at Lichfield.
In March, 1855, the Bishop sailed again to New Zealand,
taking with him the Rev. John Coleridge Patteson who
had, so many years before, on hearing the heart-stirring
words of the farewell sermon at Windsor, resolved one day
to follow him. None of all the faithful band who attached
themselves to the Bishop stood so nearly to him in the
place of a son as did this devoted chaplain, whom he
speaks of " as a sort of divine recompense for my two boys
left in England." In fact, this diligent and trustworthy
auxiliary was, almost at once, privileged to lighten the
great burden of the Melanesian mission from off the
Bishop's shoulders; and so to leave him more free to grapple
with the distressing difificulties into which rebellion and
apostasy were about to plunge his beloved New Zealand.
Mr. Patteson had already, on the voyage out in the Duke
of Portland, convinced the Bishop of his singular fitness for
this work by displaying the three indispensable qualities for
such a task. These three were, (r) the sailor's gift of endur-
I855-] RETURN TO NEW ZEALAND. I 55
ing hardness on long voyages, (2) the priest's gift of drawing
men by cords of love, and detaining them by gentle
discipline, (3) the linguist's gift of quickly mastering man}-
dissimilar tongues. And to this rare combination of
"specialties" Mr. Patteson added two more, which made
him not only useful but lovable. He possessed a loyal
and affectionate disposition ; and a graceful facility in
writing thoughtful and graphic letters to his friends, which
tempt one to wish he had always been attached as closely
to the side of Bishop Selvvyn as St. Luke was of old to the
side of St. Paul. For instance, the following description of
Auckland as he first saw it, written while he leant over the
bulwarks of the Duke of Portland, peacefully at anchor
off the town, puts us by a few strokes of the pen in full
view of Bishop Selwyn's head-quarters.
It looks like a small sea-side town [in England] ; but is not so
substantially built, nor does it convey the same idea of comfort
and wealth. Rude warehouses, etc., are mixed up with private
houses on the beach. The town already extends to a distance of
perhaps half a mile on each side of the cove, on which the
principal part of it is built. Just in the centre of the cove stands
tiie Wesleyan Chapel : on the rising ground to the east of the
cove is the Roman Catholic Chapel : and on the west side is
St. Paul's Church^ — an early-English stone building, looking really
ecclesiastical and homelike. The college, at a distance of about
five miles from the town, on some higher ground north-east of it,
is reached from the harbour by a boat ascending a creek [Hobson's
Bay] to within a mile of the buildings. So we shall not go into
the town at all, when we land. By water, too, will be our
shortest, at all events our quickest, way from the college to the
town.*
* Miss Yonge, " Life of Patteson," i. 206.
156 BISHOP SELIVYN. [1855.
Another description, from the same graphic pen, will
also be read with interest : —
St. John's College is really all that is necessary for a thoroughly
good and complete place of education. The hall, lined with
kauri-pine wood, is a large handsome room, collegiate, capable of
holding two hundred persons. The school-room, eighty feet long,
has admirable arrangements for holding classes separately. There
are two very cozy rooms, which belong to the Bishop and Mrs.
Selwyn respectively, — and in one of which I am now sitting. On
the walls are hanging certain tokens of Melanesia, in the shape of
gourds, calabashes, etc., such as I shall send you, one day. A
spade on one side — just as a common horse-halter hanging from
Abraham's book-case — betokens colonial life. . . . There is a weav-
ing-loom, a printing-press, farm-buildings, barns, etc. ; and, last of
all, the little chapel of kauri-wood (like the inside of a really good
ecclesiastical building in England), with a semi-circular apse at the
west containing a large handsome stone font. The east end is
very simple, with semi-circular apse, small windows full of stained
glass, no rails, the Bishop's chair on the north side, bench on the
south. Here my eye and my mind rested contentedly and
peacefully.*
Such was the late Maori boys'-school and present
theological college near Taurarua Bay, as it was seen in
full work in 1855. But Patteson w^as soon told-off to help
at another institution not far away, St. Stephen's College
for girls, —
a large one-storied building of wood, standing on table-land about
four hundred yards from the sea, and commanding glorious
views of the harbour and the islands which form groups close
round the coast. It is Church property all about here : and the
site of a future cathedral is within a stone's throw.f
* Miss Yonge, " Life of Patteson," p. 208. t Ibid., p. 215.
i855-] " MUD-LARKINCr 157
Only a fortnight later, the following characteristic scene
occurred : —
About 9 a.m., I saw from my windows a schooner in the
distance, and told the Bishop I thought it might be the Southern
Cross [the new mission-vessel sent out from England]. Through-
out the day, which was very rainy, we kept looking from time to
time through our glasses. At 3 p.m., the Bishop came in : " Come
along, Coley ! I do believe it is the Southern Cross." So I
hurried on waterproofs, knowing that we were in for some mud-
larking. Off we went : lugged down a borrowed boat to the
water, tide being out : I took one oar, a Maori another, Bishop
steering. After twenty-minutes' pull, we met her and jumped on
board. . . . But on Tuesday, we had a rich scene. Bishop and
I went to the Duke of Portland and brought off the rest of
our things. But it was low-water, so the boats could not come
within a long way of the beach ; and the custom is for carts to go
over the muddy sand as far into the water as they can. Well ; in
went our cart, which had come from the college with three
valuable horses, while the Bishop and I stood on the edge of the
water. Presently one of the horses lost his footing ; and then all
three slipped up. One of those in the shafts had his head under
water for a time. lustanter, Bishop and I had our coats off, and
in we rushed to the horses. Such a plunging and splashing ! But
they were all got up safe. Imagine an English bishop, with
attending parson, cutting into the water to disentangle their
cart-horses from the harness, in full view of everybody on the
beach ! " This is your first lesson in mud-larking," said the
Bishop.*
A singular and abrupt change, certainly, from the
decorous English life of only a few weeks before ; from the
full-dress dinner parties at Eton and Richmond ; from
the old-world procession of College-dons, following a
* Miss Yonge, "Life of Patteson," p. 218.
158 BISHOP SELIVYN. [1855.
" poker," to sermon at Great St. Mary's ! But the colonial
unconventionalities were much more to the Bishop's taste
than the prosaic humdrum of English life : and the dark-
skinned races had become, by this time, even dearer to him
than the " gilded youth " among whom he had been facile
princeps in times gone by. He therefore rejoiced in thus
training under his own eye one who should ere long take
his place as Bishop of Melanesia; smiled as he domesti-
cated him among the Maori girls and their teachers at
St. Stephen's ; then accompanied him repeatedly to the
islands, and handed over to him the Melanesian children
gathered at St. John's College ; then (in 1859) transplanted
him and his tender exotics to a more sheltered home,
not far away on the coast, at Kohimarama ; and, lastly,
consecrated him as Bishop (1861), and transplanted his
ecclesiastical head-quarters and his Melanesian school,
all together, to Norfolk Island. This, however, was not
accomplished without much difficulty. The State inter-
fered. And, with that morbid sentimentality which forms
the reverse side of the medal in English character, fears
were expressed lest the petted and interesting descendants
of the Bounty mutineers should be contaminated by a
school of Melanesian boys being planted on their island.
Moreover, the State had committed Norfolk Island to the
spiritual charge of the Bishop of Tasmania, some fifteen
hundred miles away, and would not transfer it. What
was to be done .■' At any rate, a woman — and especially a
Bishop's wife — has no recognized status under the canon
law. Mrs. Selwyn, therefore, might be landed among the
Pitcairners to prepare them for Confirmation, and so to
open the spiritual campaign. And landed she was, — three
1 85 5-] MRS. SELWYN AT NORFOLK ISLAND. I 59
times, for several months of single-handed labour, in three
separate years. " Bishops' wives, in those days," (as her
saying is), "did not walk in silver slippers,— I can tell
you." * At last, untiring and good-humoured patience
overcame all obstacles. And, while Mota remained the
chosen centre of the future Melanesian " Church," Norfolk
Island became (for the present) the head-quarters of the
" mission " and of the Anglican See.
Before dismissing this part of the Bishop's labours, a
letter may be given from a former chaplain of Bishop
Selwyn, containing some characteristic touches relating to
this period of his life. He writes thus : —
I must bring my reminiscences of the great Bishop to a close.
His face and form rise up before me as I recall how, on one
occasion, coming on board to find confusion when all should have
been preparedness, himself steered the ship out of the port of
Auckland, and with the one sober man on board, besides myself,
kept watch the whole night ; how, on another occasion, he walked
a Solomon Islander to the ship's side and pushed him overboard
in the face of a great crowd of his countrymen, for refusing to
understand that the licentious practices of traders and whalers
were no pattern for our ship's company ; how, on a third occasion,
he did not shrink from publicly, in the presence of Mr. Patteson
* Many amusing stories are told of Mrs. Selwyn's readiness and good-
humour. Here is one : — Weary of pork and yams, she determined to bake a
batch of bread. Some flour had just arrived in an American whaler ; but
there was no yeast. She took, therefore, some froth off a glass of stout, added
brown sugar and a few slices of potato, and corked it all into a bottle, which
she placed in the blazing sunshine. In an hour or two, a welcome " Pop "
startled her whole work-class to their feet. " Ah ! there's my yeast ! " And,
throwing work to the winds, all rushed to secure the welcome heaven-sent
leaven. It was from this sacred primeval mess (as fire from the sacred hearth,
in ancient classic story) that Pitcairn-land, for many a long day, drew successive
growths of yeast, and baked successive batches of good wholesome domestic
bread.
l6o BISHOP SEUVYN. [1838.
and myself, asking the forgiveness (ere the sun went down) of an
ofiicer to whom he thought he had spoken with undue harshness
in the morning. " Only what a Christian man should do," we
may say : but how many have the moral courage to own them-
selves in the wrong, when reflection tells them their true position ?
One incident I must detail more fully. In the year 1858, we
dropped Mr. Patteson at Lifu, Loyalty Islands, to minister to the
natives of that island, and to carry on the first winter school in
connection with the mission. This, I should remark, was in
accordance with the expressed wish of the young chief of the
island, Angadhohu, and of the regent, John Cho, who were very
anxious that the Church should take religious charge of the island.
John Cho had been to New Zealand many years before, and knew
the Bishop well, and liked our system. After leaving Lifu, we
visited Port de France, the head-quarters of the French in New
Caledonia. The approach to this harbour from the eastward is
through an immense reef-bounded lagoon, which extends from the
Isle of Pines to the south along nearly the whole west coast of
the island, with an occasional opening in the outer reef large
enough to give admission to vessels, and with shallow patches
here and there, very dangerous to those unacquainted with the
locality. On the day on which we passed up the lagoon, there
was a peculiar sheen on the water, which rendered it very difficult
to see the bottom (usually in these lagoons the bottom can be seen
with wonderful clearness, even to a depth of fifteen or twenty
fathoms). The Bishop, alternately with the captain, had been
watching on the fore-yard as we sailed along throughout the whole
morning, when suddenly the peculiar grating sound, which once
heard cannot be easily forgotten, reached our ears ; there was an
evident cessation of forward motion, followed shortly by a succes-
sion of severe bumps, and we soon found that the ship's "forefoot "
was fast aground. What was to be done ? Capt. Williams, who
had been following us in the Mary Afin Watson, as soon as he
came up to us pulled on board, and undertook to carry the news of
our mishap to Port de France, meanwhile suggesting to us to take
to our boats ; the Bishop however preferred to do his best to help
1S58.] .V£^V CALEDONIA. 161
himself before calling in other aid. Accordingly, under the direc-
tions of the captain, who certainly rose to this occasion, we all,
from the Bishop downwards, worked with a will, carrying anchors
out into deeper water, heaving on the windlass, etc. ; and finally,
about midnight, the tide having risen to the full, we had the satis-
faction of feeling the ship slip off the ledge on which she had
rested into the deep water alongside. Shortly after this, one of
the boats of H.M.S. Iris, which happened then to be lying in the
harbour, came out to us, and we warped ofif into deeper water.
In the morning, we entered the harbour, being met by the steamer
Styx putting forth to our rescue ; and found the French man-of-
war Bayonnais and several transports, in harbour, besides the Iris,
the whole making a lively scene. Now came the difficulty : the
vessel showed no signs of serious injury : but how were we to
know that her bottom, after all the bumping that had gone on
(and very hard bumping too), was fit for the voyage to New
Zealand. There was no dock, no patent slip, not even a " hard "
on which to lay the vessel, and no divers were obtainable. The
Bishop was equal to the occasion. He caused the ship to be
heeled over as far as was safe ; and then, having stripped himself
to his tweed trousers and jersey, in the presence of the captain of
the Bayonnais and some of his officers, and amid their exclama-
tions of admiration, made a succession of dives, during which he
felt over the whole of the keel and forward part of the vessel,
much to the detriment of his hands, which were cut to pieces with
the jagged copper ; and ascertained the exact condition of her
bottom, and the nature of the injuries sustained. No wonder
that the next day, after dining on board the Frenchman, he was
sent away with a salute of eleven guns !
There was in these days preserved on board an interesting, if
peculiar, relic of the earlier missionary voyages. It consisted of
neither more nor less than an article of woman's attire, the work
of the Bishop's own hands, manufactured to meet the emergency
of the arrival on board of the first female pupil for the Melanesian
school, in the shape of the affianced bride of one of the male
pupils, before any provision had been made for the clothing of
M
1 62 BISHOP SELWYN. [1858.
native pupils of the gentler sex. It was made out of an old sail,
which (tradition relates) was spread upon the cuddy table, after
the manner of a chart ; when, after careful survey, the required
outlines were traced in chalk. In latter days we all used to be
very busy in manufacturing garments when expecting a batch of
new scholars ; but then we had the enlightened assistance in
cutting out, of an old man-of-war's-man, the invaluable " Sam ; "
and the Bishop's pattern was dis-carded. Now, happily, all this
kind of work is done by the Melanesians themselves, assisted by
kind and busy "bees " in New Zealand and Australia.
I may now, I think, pass to the Bishop's shore life ; and of
this others can speak much better than I can. One or two
reminiscences from me will suffice. The Bishop was very fond of
gardening, especially of tree-planting ; a large number of the trees
at the "Deanery" [the Bishop's first house, in Auckland] and at
Bishopscourt, and at St. Stephen's were planted with his own hands.
We all used to work together, digging holes, draining, burning,
and planting, the Bishop, the Maori catechists at St. Stephen's, and
myself. About half the morning of each day was devoted to this
work. There was some little grumbling at the tree-planting ; but
certainly the hours of out-door labour were not excessive ; and
who could grumble much when the Bishop set such an example ?
The only thing that I know of to be said against morning out-of-
door hard work is, that it tends to make a man sleepy during the
afternoon and evening hours of study ; but it is certainly condu-
cive to health. The Bishop was of late years very considerate for
those whom he thought not strong. In the early days in St. John's,
being anxious that there should be not even the appearance of
self-indulgence, I believe that he prohibited the use of riding-
horses to the clergy and students whenever they could possibly be
done without ; but I have known him peremptorily bid a man who
was starting ofif on foot to some duty, sit down and wait, while he
had a horse made ready for him. In the same way I have known
him insist on a man taking a stimulant when he thought he needed
it, being more careful of others than of himself. What an
admirable nurse of the sick he was ! There are those now living
1858.] THE NEW ZEALAND WAR. 1 63
who can tell of his tenderness and patience in this capacity.
Seldom was the "Deanery" in old days without numbering
among its inmates some one or more of those who "in this
transitory life are in trouble, sorrow, need, sickness, or other
adversity." And how always ready to help in emergencies ! It
used to be said that Archdeacon Lloyd's particular /cT/t? was help-
ing at fires ; often was he to be seen hard at work in one of the
most dangerous positions on some blazing roof: but the Bishop
was good everywhere. Only the other day a friend of mine told
me how, the morning after he had been burned out in Parnell,
the Bishop appeared on the scene with his donkey-cart and man,
to render all the help he could in removing goods, and pressed
the whole family to come up to Bishopscourt and dine. I have
often heard the Bishop called a "real, plain man," the expression
being used as a high compliment. I do not think the Bishop
liked books which seemed to him of a neologian character, at any
time : he confined himself to the older writings, as a rule : and
how " mighty in the scriptures " he was ! He had not much
sympathy with the excessive review-reading of the present day.*
A very different work was now to tax his versatile
powers.
When Bishop Selwyn landed at Auckland on July 6,
1855, he found his diocese threatened with a serious dis-
aster. Disturbances had broken out among the tribes
near Taranaki ; — one tribe wishing to sell land to the
English, the other tribe forbidding it. Erelong, neigh-
bouring tribes became implicated. And the result was
a long intermittent war — ever smouldering and breaking
out afresh here and there into bloody conflict — which
lasted fully ten years. This New Zealand war cost
hundreds of lives ; retarded most disastrously the de-
velopment of the colony ; and never definitely came to
* LeUer quoted by E. A. C, p. 30, etc.
164 BISHOP SELWYX. [1S58.
an end, but simply resulted in withdrawal of the Wai-
kato and other tribes into their forests and volcanic
ranges, to maintain a sullen independence, under a (so-
called) king of their own choice. It is possible that, had
Bishop Selwyn's advice been followed, and his maxim been
borne in mind — " Nothing is easier than legally and peace-
fully to extinguish a native title ; nothing is harder than to
extinguish a native war," — this trouble might have been
avoided. Yet it may be open to doubt whether, in any
case, a struggle between the spirited and martial Maoris on
the one hand, and the ever-advancing wave of European
immigrants on the other, were not an inexorable condition
of the final settlement of the problem. In no other country
has immigration impinged upon a native race so capable,
and so well-prepared, to take care of itself. With extra-
ordinary want of foresight, the Government had permitted
immense importations of rifles and ammunition among
them ; while " red tape " deprived the colonists of four
thousand stand of arms, sent home on the eve of the war.
In the possession of artillery alone had even the English
regular troops any advantage over the Maori. His stockades
were most ingenious and formidable defences; his ruses and
surprises were skilfully planned and intrepidly carried out ;
and in hand-to-hand conflict, the lithe and muscular savage
had every advantage, on his own entangled ground, against
the drilled and hampered English soldier. Yet drill and
discipline at last prevailed. And shiploads of reinforce-
ments to the immigrants' side were continually redressing
any inequality which may at first have existed in point of
numbers. At the beginning of the war (1855), the Maoris —
at a very rough estimate — may have been 100,000 strong ;
1 858.] CAUSES OF THE WAR. 1 65
while the Europeans throughout New Zealand were only
37,192. At the end of the war the natives were consider-
ably reduced in numbers ; while the European population
had risen to 200,000. The last census (1881) shows 50,000
Maoris and 500,000 settlers. Such figures prove that the
noble struggle maintained by the primitive occupants of the
land is a hopeless one. That struggle began, as most con-
flicts do, from a pure misunderstanding.* But it was a
misunderstanding which went very deep and was ultimately
founded on two different conceptions of "ownership,"
characteristic of two widely different stages of civilization.
Tribal ownership, covering with a network of well-under-
stood claims the whole country to the water's edge, knew
of no distinction between occupied and waste lands. All
belonged to the tribe. Personal ownership, on the other
hand, was the conception of the English settlers and of
Parliament at home ; and "waste lands" were supposed to
belong to no one at all. Land-greed, moreover, had
induced both individuals and joint-stock companies to
possess themselves of enormous tracts at fabulously low
prices, and with insufficient investigation of the natives' title
to sell. Thus, in the early days, one George Green, of
Sydney, bought 20,000 acres in Stewart's Island for ^30 :
and forty miles square in the Southern Island for ^200.
And even in 1840 two Sydney merchants bought 40,000
acres in the same island for ^^752. f On the other hand,
when the natives at last woke up to what was going on and
resented it, the missionaries were accused of awakening and
instructing them.
* See Appendix.
t Majoribanks, "Travels in New Zealand " (1839), p. 164.
l66 BISHOP SELWYN. [1858.
They had not only (it was alleged) taught the natives to insist
on increased payment for lands, but had taught them to believe in
rights which they had ignored before. They had taught men to
start forward as claimants for compensation, who no longer feared
the authority of their chiefs — now destroyed by the democratic
spirit of the missionaries' teaching or influence of European laws
and customs. And they had taught all to extend over the w-aste
and uncultivated land rights and claims which had never before
entered their thoughts. *
Thus the missionaries were made scapegoats; and, from
the settlers' point of view, were held responsible for all the
mischiefs of the war. f No wonder the Bishop, when land-
ing one day at Wellington, was greeted with the murmur
" Here comes that old fool, the Bishop ! " On the other
hand, when he was seen to be ministering among the red-
coats, and regarding them too (as he was in duty bound to
do) as claiming his pastoral care, he was not unnaturally
regarded by the Maoris as an enemy and a spy. And so,
by the sheer irony of untoward circumstances, this heroic
man — who was sparing himself no fatigue and no privation,
and who risked his life repeatedly without a moment's
hesitation in passing between the two hostile forces, J if so
be he might bring about a better understanding, or at least
might remind both parties how God's laws are not "silenced
* Wakefield, "Adventures in New Zealand " (1839-1841), ii. 2CO.
t " The Church of England missionaries are accused of having been all
along, from motives of self-interest, hostile to the New Zealand Company: and
the Wesleyans are accused of urging the natives to get more payment for their
land, and of providing them with a considerable quantity of gunpowder "
(Majoribanks, p. 103).
X " When the troops were advancing up the Waikato (1863) in the steamer,
a single figure was seen advancing alone to the same point. It was Bishop
Selwyn " (General Alexander, "Bush-fighting" [1873], p. 114). See also
Tucker, ii. 203.
1858.] THE BISHOP MISUNDERSTOOD. 1 6?
amid the clash of arms " — was suspected and vilified on
both sides ; and eventually had the bitter pain of seeing
great numbers of his Maori flock, for whom he had toiled
so long and whom he regarded as his most dear and
familiar children, fall away from Christianity altogether
and relapse into savagery, and even for a moment into
cannibalism.* No wonder his heart was almost broken.
No wonder that he wrote, in the bitterness of his spirit —
I have now one simple missionary idea before me — that of
watching over the remnant that is left. Our native work is a
" remnant " in two senses ; the remnant of a decaying people, and
the remnant of a decaying faith : —
and again, —
I do not see my way to another visit to England. It is more
congenial to my present feelings to sit among my own ruins, — not
moping, but tracing out the outlines of a new foundation. f
Yes : his work seemed to have been a failure. The devilry
of violence and fanaticism had destroyed it down to the
ground, — just as the devilry of Jewish violence and
fanaticism destroyed, for a time, the work of Christ Himself;
and left mankind a symbol of victory through defeat, the
Cross. And not only was this noble and devoted man re-
pudiated by his own once faithful converts, but his very name
has been tarnished with calumny, and been handed down
among them to this hour as a by-word of reproach. As
he had been seen ministering among the invading soldiery,
a wicked slander flew round the camps and pas of these
* Alexander, "Bush-fighting," p. 211 ; Martin, "Our Maoris," p. 174;
Tucker, ii. 197.
t Tucker, ii. 209.
1 68 BISHOr SELIVYN. [1859.
simple children of nature, that the Bishop himself had
directed the troops and had even wielded a rifle against
them. Not long ago, an aged warrior pulled up his trouser
to show to the present Bishop of Auckland a bullet-wound
inflicted, as he was firmly persuaded, by Bishop Selwyn
himself Nor was this all. When at last he was summoned,
by his Archbishop and his Queen, to leave New Zealand
and bring his ripe experience to the service of the mother
Church at home, some people misconstrued his obedience ;
and the most absolutely unselfish man whom the present
generation has seen, was actually counted a deserter from
his post and an aspirant to the slender honours of the
bench of bishops at home.* These things are among the
mysteries of the world. But even the Divine Master Him-
self was " made perfect through sufferings " and " endured,
suffering wrongfully." Meanwhile, as a specimen of the
mischief done to the native character by the war, we may
take the case of a Maori woman, the wife of a native cate-
chist, David, in the Waikato country. Her husband-
worked for many years most faithfully and conscientiously. He
read prayers daily, morning and evening, in the village chapel ;
kept school ; visited the sick ; and often travelled from place to
place teaching his people. He and his wife Rebekah had a great
deal of trouble from time to time. They lost several very engaging
children. And once, when a litde daughter died, the poor mother
said, " It is all right : my child is safe, and I am not going to
sorrow ; only I shall do so " {and here she burst out crying) " when
I get back to the village and see her little clothes," — a touch of
feeling quite Shaksperian. ... At length her husband died : and
* The truth (as will appear further on) was exactly the reverse ; and Bishop
Selwyn felt in New Zealand, as Dr. Hook did at Chichester, "lam in the place
that suits me, and I don't want to ' get on.' " (" Life of Dr. Hook," p. 579).
I859-] OUTBREAK OF HOSTILITIES. 1 69
she remained peacefully in her own village, supporting herself and
her children by doing washing and needlework for settlers in the
neighbourhood. At last, one Sunday morning, General Cameron
crossed the river with a large force, and the war began. Rebekah
fled with her children and the rest of her people up into the King
Country for refuge. There, removed from Christian influences and
surrounded by malcontents, her excitable temperament made her,
after a while, believe herself to be a prophetess. And now, one
by one, the large flourishing schools on the Waikato and Waipa
rivers had to be closed, with their branch village schools under
native teachers, which had become centres of light. The fine
country which we had seen covered with wheat-crops became a
battlefield ; the mills were closed ; the churches built by the
natives were often used as barracks by the troops. No Maoris
ventured into Auckland ; no invalids were brought to be nursed ;
no canoes heavily laden with produce skimmed across the harbour.
The twenty years of pleasant intercourse with the Maoris was at
an end. " The land was defiled." *
The history of this miserable war must be very briefly
told. It will be remembered that, so early as 1843, the
Wairau massacre of armed Englishmen, in the south, had
already puffed up the Maoris with a sense of victory. Then,
in 1845, tl'^G first symptoms of a desire for independence
showed themselves, — when John Heki, in the extreme
north, boldly cut down the British flag.f And since that
* Lady Martin, " Our Maoris," p. 152.
t " The British flag has, for a long time, excited the jealousy and active
opposition of the chief Heki. He always argues against the flagstaff, as being
a token of subjection of his country to the British. He alludes to the treat-
ment of the Israelites in Egypt ; and makes comparisons between the two
nations, the English and his own people. He is a religious man, a Protestant,
and has prayers among his people every day. He never joined the other
chiefs in plundering the settlers. He contends for one object, and one only,
the non-erection of the flagstaff." (Carleton, "Life of Archdeacon H. Wil-
liams " (Auckland, 1877), Appendix).
170 :bishop seuvyn. [1860-
second apparent success, the notion of holding their own in
some way against the ever-inrushing tide of Europeans has
never ceased to haunt the native mind. In 1855, after the
Bishop's return from England, a threatening disturbance
arose among the tribes on the Waikato Rix^cr, not far south
of Auckland. But in i860 downright war broke out. A
patch of land, called " the Waitara," near New Plymouth
had been sold to the Government by a native, when his
chief intervened with a veto.* As fast as the surveyors
put in their pegs, the chief's women and others pulled
them up again. It was the Wairau passive resistance over
again. But the English were determined that it should
not again culminate in a massacre. They therefore sent
troops to the spot. A native stockade was built over
against them : it was taken, but five Europeans were soon
after caught and massacred in cold blood. Reinforcements
were sent over from Australia ; ten thousand men were
gradually collected ; and the difficult country was gradually
and skilfully penetrated, from Tauranga on the east coast
and from the Waikato mouth on the west coast, till hands
were joined and a telegraph system established in the
heart of the native country.
Driven to despair, a large number of the i\Iaoris now
abandoned, not only the cruelly maligned Bishop, but
Christianity itself — evidently regarding it (as the ancient
Saxon and Scandinavian heathens used to do) as the symbol
of union with their hated invaders. In 1864, a foraging party
* " Had the native land-court been already constituted, all these matters
would have been tried and settled by law. But the governor now sat as judge
in his own cause. Those who hindered the constitution of a land-court are,
in the first degree, guilty of the New Zealand war." (Carleton, " Life of
Henry Williams" (1877), ii. 336.)
1864.] THE '' HAU-HAUSr 171
of Englishmen was surprised and slain, and the head of their
officer, Captain Lloyd, was set on a pole and carried about
among the tribes by the emissaries of the new national
religion. In fact, they had replaced the Gospel by a
strange amalgam of biblical and heathenish ideas, invented
for them by a chief, Te Ua, of Taranaki — formerly treated
as a maniac, but now elevated to the dignity of " Liberator."
It combined a passionate feeling of patriotism with com-
munistic polygamy, wild dervish-dancing, and the use of
mesmerism and ventriloquism. Their Church Service was
a meaningless jargon of many languages, supposed to have
a magical force ; and one line in it gave the name of " Pai-
marire " to the new religion. It ran thus : Koti te Fata,
mat marire ! — in other words, " God the Father, mei
miserere ! " But as the service was accompanied with
grunts of occasional assent, by way of " amens," the new
devotees were commonly known as " the Hau-haus." At
one scene, when emissaries were sent down to Poverty
Bay to induce the Maoris there to join in the new national
Church, Archdeacon Henry Williams was actually present ;
and he afterwards describes how —
a pole, upon which the Pai-marire flag had been hoisted, had
been set up. The party [of emissaries] marched up and stood
around. The priest stood by the pole ; and the party marched
three times round, their eyes fixed with a steady gaze upctn the
pole, chanting a song. Then the priest gave out a prayer from
a book, which the people followed with great earnestness and
many inflexions of voice. Towards the close, the priest buried
his face in a cambric handkerchief, his breast heaving deep with
emotion. The people squatted down : up jumped an old can-
nibal heathen, in pure Maori costume, singing a song of the old
time. The bystanders could no longer resist, and came rushing
1/2 BISHOP SELWYX. [1864.
into the ring. Kereopa [the man who devoured the martyred
missionary's eye], now came forward ; and those who desired to
see the head of Captain Lloyd were invited into an adjoining
liouse, where, by ventriloquism, it was again made to speak.*
Then Te Kooti and 187 cpmpanions escaped from
prison on Chatham Island, and gave fresh spirit to the
war. Till at last, pa after pa having been taken, the
ground soaked with English and with Maori blood, and
the native warriors thrust back in sullen obstinate resistance
into the interior, the British troops were quietly withdrawn,
and the settlers were left to guard henceforth their own
homes. The following letter from Bishop Hobhouse, nar-
rating a visit to the British camp in company with Bishop
Sehvyn, giv-es an insight into his mind at that time : —
In November, 1864, the war was drawing towards a close.
The terms of pacification had been agreed upon ; but the British
troops kept their stations in the Waikato valley, pending the ratifi-
cation of the terms by the Queen. Long before this time, the
Bishop had undertaken to supply the absence of all Anglican
chaplains in the camp : and he was still obliged to provide for
these duties, though the army was no longer massed, but was
spread into numerous outposts stretching as far as ninety miles
from Auckland. This involved his starting every Friday, with
such clerical companions as he could get; calling at the various
stations throughout Saturday, to do any pastoral-duty required
amongst the troops ; and planning with the officers how to make
the most of his services on Sunday, by gathering the troops at
centres to meet him.
In the belief that I should be recruited by the trip, and also
be able to officiate at one or two of the services, he took me with
him on one of these Fridays. The weather was as lovely as
November in New Zealand generally is : and we started early
* Cadeton, "Life of H. Williams," ii. 34S.
1S64] A VISIT TO THE CAMP. 1/3
from Auckland by a " Cobb's coach," — a form of vehicle imported
from Western America,— high wheeled and high slung for travelling
on roadless tracks. This dropped us, after forty-five miles, on the
Waikato river, which is navigated by steamers for several miles
above that point. When the steamer arrived, it was found to be
towing some barges filled with the families of the new military
settlers, — a corps which had been raised in the Australian towns,
to be planted, as a cordon of protection, round the fringe of the
newly conquered Waikato country. The arrival of these settler-
families was an opportunity for pastoral work, which fired the
Bishop's heart. He plunged into the barges, and soon found
how much his offices were needed. One woman, the mother of
several children, was nearing her end. He induced the captain
to put her and her husband ashore, opposite to a wooden church
which had been riddled with shot and dismantled in the war.
Inside that inhospitable ruin he proposed to stay during the night,
as the comforter of the poor woman ; and bade me proceed to the
nearest military post, and await his arrival. Early on the Saturday
morning he arrived, after an unbroken night-watch, during which
he had seen his poor patient's death, had committed her body to
the grave, and had made arrangements for the charge of her
children. Without any sleep, he then hastened to depart on foot
to the missionary station where we had been expected overnight.
There he kept some horses, which, after an hour's business, we
mounted, to make a full day's ride to the farthest outpost on the
^Vaipa, a feeder of the Waikato.
At each military station we passed, the officers greeted the
Bishop, not only as a comrade who had shared their perils or as
the chaplain who had ministered to them in hospital and in the
field, but almost as a general, — as one who, in addition to a
thorough knowledge of the country and of the genius of the Maori
opponents, was thoroughly competent to form a plan of campaign,
and was known to have foreseen some of the errors of the plan
recently adopted. It was nearly 11 p.m. before we reached the
colonel's quarters, which were to be our ten?ii?tiis a quo for the
Sunday's spiritual campaign.
174 BISHOP SELWYN. [1864-
During the many hours of this day, as we passed over the
fields of action with their gloomy records of ruined churches,
abandoned pas, down-trodden enclosures, the Bishop poured out
his heart freely, more freely than was his wont. The scene was
sad enough to have overwhelmed him with acute regrets, and with
despondency for the future. The Waikato tribe — more than ten
thousand strong, the most advanced of the powerful tribes in
civilization and in Churchmanship, with churches and a complete
system of schools endowed by themselves — were now driven
from their fertile valley, estranged from British rule, and perhaps
alienated from the Christian faith. The missionary work of forty
years seemed all undone ; and the Bishop was himself regarded
as a traitor, whom any patriot might laudably shoot, if he had the
opportunity. Yet all these gloomy reflections were put away :
and his only thought was how to minister to the new settlers now
pouring in from the Australian towns, with small voucher for
either their loyalty or their Christianity. These would need fresh
missionary enterprise, which must be undertaken by the slender
funds of the young New Zealand Church. But this sudden
demand for a new kind of labour, and one far less congenial to
him, served only to kindle his missionary spirit afresh ; and he
was already busying his constructive mind with a sketch-plan of
campaign.
And now, as we passed over the scenes of bloodshed, the
Bishop was reminded of the merciful guardianship which had
sheltered him amid all the perils of the fray. " I have been in
every action that I could possibly reach," he said. " It was my
rule to minister to the wounded natives as well as to the British.
They were both part of my Christian charge, were one in Christ,
and therefore one to Christ's minister. Indeed, I always ministered
to the fallen Vidioxx first, to give a practical answer to their charge
against me of forsaking and betraying them. It was needful that
I should be in the midst of each fray and between the two fires ;
but I was never hurt. I lay on the ground at night, and shared
s )ldiers' fare ; but to this hour I know not the touch of rheumatism.
In my voyages, too, I have been preserved from ague, the usual lot
1 866.] END OF THE WAR. I 75
of Melanesian voyagers, and from all other perils. Bat it seems
as if now I must forecast for a quiet evening to my life. For in
sight of these new demands on episcopal labour, I cannot go on
long in this sphere after my day of full activity is over."
Such was the drift of his mind ; which, contrary to his wont,
he poured out freely. He even went so far as to say that, as soon
as his active powers drooped, he thought the best way of serving
his Master would be to retire to Canterbury, and there to live
alongside the College of St. Augustine, and help in the training
and inspiring of the next generation of missionaries.
We journeyed on till past eleven, when we found the good
colonel waiting for us in his tent. He had made up his own bed
in the best style he could for the Bishop's occupation ; but, finding
that I was in a very exhausted state, the Bishop insisted on my
taking the only bed, whilst he and the colonel bivouacked. The
next day's duties, including ministration at eight separate posts,
Bishop Selwyn cheerfully took upon himself. I attended the
earliest, at 8 a.m., and then mounted my horse to move home-
ward by easy stages, my kind companion fearing that I might be
laid up in the wilderness. He promised to overtake me by
Monday evening; and this he did. So that we reached Auckland
together on the Tuesday, the Bishop showing no signs of fatigue." *
By the end of 1S66 five regiments had been em-
barked, and only one was left behind. But the colonial
militia had still to carry on a bitter intermittent warfare for
many years longer, especially against the supple and wary
Te Kooti ; till at last he, too, was included in a general
amnesty, in 1883, and peace began to prevail, f But even
until 1887 the wild forest interior of the Northern Island
was "tabooed" by the natives to all intruders. The rail-
way from Auckland was pushed on to the frontier line
* Letter from Bishop Hobhouse, September 6, 18S7.
t " New Zealand," by a resident (1884), p. 56.
1/6 BISHOP SELIVYN. [1866.
drawn by the Maori king, where it stopped abruptly. The
raihvay northwards from Wellington was pushed on as far
as New Plymouth, and stopped abruptly there. If you
would travel from the one city to the other, you must take
to the sea for the intervening gap of about a hundred
miles.
Happily, however, this state of armed truce is at length
passing away, and a more friendly feeling is now arising.
The gap in the railway communications is, in 1888, being
rapidly filled up by consent and co-operation of the Maoris
themselves. Te Kooti is pardoned. The old "king" is
fast losing all influence. The civilized notion of private
property is rapidly supplanting the more primitive one of
tribal property.* And so the principles of English law are
becoming more welcomed and better understood ; the fusion
of the two races, for which Bishop Selwyn laboured so
strenuously and risked his life in a thousand ways, \vill now
probably proceed apace ; and there is little doubt that the
gospel, too, and its principal handmaid the Anglican
Church, will ere long resume their influence, and will take a
permanent possession of the Maori heart. And then the
revered name of Bishop Sekvyn, so long obscured by dark
clouds of calumny, will emerge again into honoured remem-
brance, and wnW perhaps be regarded by both races as the
watchword of unity and peace. For it is impossible to
* There seems no doubt that England often, for a time, appears to vacillate
and fail owing to her scrupulous desire to avoid harsh and overbearing ways.
Contrast the summary methods of the French in New Caledonia. " France
would not allow a savage chief to say, ' My custom is different from yours.'
One tenth of the land was reserved ' for the natives, ' and the rest was sold
to French colonists of the poorer class." (Miss Yonge, "Life of Patteson,'"
i. 370.)
i866.] CHRISTIAN HEROISM OF THE MAORIS. 1 7/
imagine that the Christianity taught by that great man
has been more than superficially effaced from the Maori
mind, when we read of the many acts of Christian heroism
which illumined even the darkest days of exasperated war-
fare. Thus —
after a defeat on the Waikato, July 12, 1863, in each of the dead
men's haversacks was found one of the Gospels or a Church of
England Prayer-book in Maori, showing that they had come under
the influence of Bishop Selwyn.*
Again, in the following September, — ■
one day several large canoes were seen coming doAvn the Waikato
from Meri-meri [a very strong pa] with a white flag flying. On
being detained at Colonel Austen's post, they were found to
contain a large quantity of potatoes and several milch goats, as
a present to General Cameron and his soldiers. The chiefs at
Meri-meri had heard that the troops were short of provisions, and
they had obeyed the scripture injunction, " If thine enemy hunger,
feed him ; if he thirst, give him drink." t
And still more strikingly, during the bloody conflicts
near Tauranga, in 1865, did these Christian principles
appear. When our troops had stormed the formidable
" Gate Pa," and been repulsed, several wounded officers
were left inside. One of them was tenderly cared for,
all through that dreary night, by the very Maori who
defended the pa, Henare Turatoa by name. He had
been educated by the Bishop, till quite lately, at St.
John's College, near Auckland. And now, when his dying
enemy feebly moaned for water and there was none inside
the pa, this noble warrior crept down, at the imminent
risk of his life, within the line of English sentries, filled
* General Alexander, p. 52. f Ibid.., p. 65.
N
1/8 BISHOP SELWYN. [1866-
a vessel with water, and bore it back to refresh the parched
lips of the expiring Englishman.* Such men as these
should never have been our enemies. Probably either
French or Russians would have seen their way to draft
foes of such splendid metal into their own armies. But
Bishop Selwyn's was, after all, a far " more excellent way ; "
it was the way of first softening by Christianity, and then
of welding firmly and finally together in peaceful industrial
intercourse, two families of the human race so admirably
fitted by nature — if not also by grace — to understand and
appreciate each other.
But this noble and apostolic servant of Christ and of
His Church had now nearly done his appointed task of
twenty-six years' labour and suffering in New Zealand.
He had brought back from England a leader (Mr. Patte-
son) for the Melanesian mission which lay so near his
heart. He had found a new centre for that mission at
Norfolk Island. He had at last succeeded in dividing
his diocese, by placing Bishop Harper in charge of the
southern island ; he had then still further subdivided
each island, by the consecration of Bishops Abraham and
Williams to Wellington and Waiapu, and of Bishops Hob-
house and Jenner to Nelson and Dunedin, Thus — Bishop
Patteson having also been consecrated in 1861 — there were
now seven bishops where twenty years before there had
been one ; the Church had been provided with an excellent
working constitution; theological training-schools had been
established ; and the foundations of a native ministry had
been successfully laid, by the ordination both of Maori and
Melanesian converts, and by their institution to pastoral
* Tucker, ii. 204.
1867.] SECOND VISIT TO ENGLAND. 1 79
charges among their own people. When, therefore, the
summons came from the Archbishop of Canterbury
(Longley) to attend at the first Pan-Anghcan Synod at
Lambeth, it was generally felt that Bishop Selwyn could
not possibly disobey such a summons, but also it was
foreboded that possibly he would not return. At any
rate, in 1867, he sailed a second time for England, and
took his seat in the Lambeth Conference — a council which
was, in his opinion, the most important event which had
happened to the Church since the Reformation. He then
attended the Church Congress at Wolverhampton ; and,
finally, when repeatedly commanded to do so by the
highest authorities both in Church and State, he accepted
the Bishopric of Lichfield, and transferred to the service
of the Church at home the unwearied energy, the bright
intelligence, the art of governing men, and the absolutely
unexampled stores of strangely varied experience, which
had for twenty-six years been placed unreservedly at the
service of the daughter Church of New Zealand.
The following letter gives us a glimpse of the first
" Lambeth Conference," as judged of by a near outsider :—
London, September 24, 1S67.
My dearest P
I wrote to you last from Bromfield, where George had
his only perfectly resting time in England. He is a hunted wretch.
As usual, his head and heart are full of this great meeting. The
work has now begun ; and the foolish talk of " What does it
mean?" and "What can come of a mere three days' conference?"
begins to vanish away. Still one cannot but feel sorry that this
statement of duration was put forth, so as to provoke a sense of
inadequacy and haste ; all the more pity, because nothing was
l8o BISHOP SEL\V\N. [1867.
said of any ulterior work which it was hoped might grow out of
it The actual conference begins at Lambeth to-day. But it has
happily been preceded by meetings of colonial and English bishops
for settling the points to be brought forward at the conference. I
may say at once that George is glad that he came ; and that your
husband's hopes and thought about his influence seem likely to
be realized, both in restraining and devising. Otherwise, it would
appear that the main part were for resolving themselves into a
court for condemning Colenso ; and Capetown felt sore and
injured at the want of sympathy (as he thought) shown by turning
the stream into another channel. George's main object has been
to afiirm the faith, not to condemn the heretic ; and for obvious
reasons — only that they are not obvious — to avoid rushing into
that which they were incompetent to do, and making the synod
an arena of conflict. Dear soul, he is quite happy now at the
result of the preliminary conferences, and in the hope that order
may prevail in the synod itself, and that something will be done.
September 29th.
He came back from the synod, sometimes happy and some-
times quite desponding, the precious time being so frittered away.
The feeling grows and grows of the more than pity it was to
appoint so short a time. Why the good easy Archbishop did so,
who can tell ? But the English bishops seem to grudge their
time just now. It is a great pit}', too, that the address was put
forth — and that through the newspapers — without the resolutions
accompanying it. Indeed, many things are a pity ; such as the
want of previous arrangement, the lack of all formality or of any-
thing to give dignity in the eyes of the public or honour to the
brethren. A sort of laisser aller pervaded the thing. Then the
resolutions are sent to the newspaper " with the compliments of
the Archbishop's attorney " ! Why not set them forth to the world
with some form as of authority ? And why not some definite
plan for hospitizing the foreigners ? This last comes of [choosing]
the four days in September, when no one was in town, and the
1S67.] VISIT TO IRELAND. 181
Eastern bishops were in haste to be gone. . . . From Bromfield
we went to Powis Castle; and en 7-oute visited St. Mary's,* a noble
old church in Shrewsbury, but not equal to Ludlow, Just now,
while all England has been restoration-mad, I do think the
churches are a little reduced to one level. One is really glad
to see anything that looks old and worn. At Powis Castle the
room we had was a delight, in its way, — grim tapestry, splendid
old cabinets with C. R. in panels everywhere, and an immensely
high solemn-looking bed, with heavy silk hangings prepared for
his sacred majesty. It was an amusing contrast to a colonial
shakedown, and great fun in its way. I think that the taste for
what is gorgeous and sumptuous has increased [since we left
England]. The standard of everything in this way is raised.
People dress more and furnish more, — not eat more, for " dinners
a la Russe " are universal, and this cuts off some display, happily.
The following characteristic letter will be read with
interest by all who care — and who does not .-" — for Ireland ;
as well as by all who know how to value a bright and
humorous letter from a female hand : —
Killarney, October 29, 1867.
My dearest P ,
If the train would only wait long enough on the way
to Cork, I might have dated my letter from Blarney ; and so have
said anything I pleased. Such a charm ! Only fancy our being
in Ireland; and also George's extreme enjoyment of the "lark."
The more, as it is enshrined in the enjoyment of a sea-voyage at
the beginning and end. Not that he, poor dear, gets much holi-
day : for he has once more plunged into S.P.G. work; and is, in
consequence, the victim of greedy secretaries, who work him to
death. So when he was desirous of this detour to see something
of the lakes — though only for one day, and that seems likely to
* The very church where, ten years later, Bishop Selwyn held his last
confirmation, and finished his labours.
1 8 2 BISHOP- SEL WYN. [ 1 86 7.
be a rainy one — we were glad ; and anyway the rain gives him
breathing-time and writing-time. The long railway journey,
through Kildare, Tipperary, Limerick, was remunerating : first,
by reason of a bright Irish girl, with whom he kept up a
constant fire ; and then, from making up arrears of sleep. So
that he arrived at Killarney, at 9 p.m., as blithe as a bird. One
object in coming over here was the deep interest felt in the Irish
Church, and the hope of strengthening the desponding by making
them acquainted with the position of the Colonial Church, — so
likely to become their own ere long. For people seem to think
the Irish Church " doomed " (as they call it) ; and some will not
take comfort because, they say, " We shall be reduced to your
position on the back of a great wrong." "How so?" said I.
" Because," was the reply, " our main property was given by
James I., out of his royal lands : " which " royal lands," I con-
clude, were confiscated or forfeited lands ; and in those days
making rebels to get their lands w^as not unknown, any more than
in our enlightened days [in New Zealand]. I do not think the
good people had much comfort ; though all have been greatly
pleased with George's visit. His presence and his words are
like a breath of fresh air. I moUified to a poor little S.P.G.
secretary, when he said, "It has done us untold good." Very
likely. They are so " established " at Dublin, so low-church, so
afraid of things, and so little used to giving — for great meetings
aad vast congregations did not produce much more than Welling-
ton in two sermons — that perhaps they will be roused. But they
are so pleasant and genial, for the most part, and so readily
" stirred," that I think they only want a poker, most of them.
The passage to Dublin was rough. I heard George say to the
skipper, " The wind's abeam ; " and I felt how vast a comfort he
drew from the opportunity for such a saline remark. The way by
Newry and Drogheda was very pretty. But Ireland is not like
England, nor a colony, nor abroad. The brogue all round you
is great fun. A well-dressed lady sitting by you on a sofa breaks
out into the richest form. And then, out of doors, you see such
thorough Milesian faces, so many old lorg-coats — who wears
1867.] LICHFIELD BISHOPRIC DECLINED.- 183
them al', when they are new ? — driving donkey-carts of Irish cut
iniirely, that we were all surprised at the outward appearances of
things. Our next move was to the Congress at Wolverhampton.
George could not come for the opening ; nor for a marvellous
speech of the Bishop of Illinois, which so moved the audience
that they started to their feet as one man when he ended.
George spoke upon Missions, doubtful (as he said) how he could
concentrate the life-time of twenty-five years into twenty-five
minutes. He followed two capital papers on the subject, from
Lord Nelson and a Church Missionary Society man, and a paper
from the Bishop of Capetown [Gray], who was received grandly,
people vying to express their sympathy with him and dissent from
Colenso. His words about [letters] patent and Supremacy and
Privy Council seemed t^\x3.-drouthy after this. Then came
George. I wish you could have heard him stand up and say —
as if in answ'er to taunts — " I do not know what failure means." He
looked it, as he waited during the burst that followed from the
people in response, before he could go on. He need have said
nothing more. He seemed an embodiment of effort and of hope.
And so they evidently took it. I was sorry for the poor little
figure that followed."
It is not surprising that such a noble and intrepid
" figure " as that which is here depicted should have been
almost instinctively designated to rule the important
diocese in which the congress was held, when the
lamented decease of Bishop Lonsdale rendered such a
step necessary.
But when the summons came to leave his beloved New
Zealand for ever, he could not, at first, seriously believe in
it. The pangs of separation from tried and self-sacrificing
friends, and from old accustomed fields of duty, were too
severe to be lightly undergone ; while the sense of a " call "
to new and still more difficult work in another quarter had
1 84 BISHOP SELIV\N. [1867.
not yet seized upon his conscience and imagination. He
therefore, without a moment's hesitation, declined the ap-
pointment. A lady relates how she happened to be walk-
ing with him in the street at Exeter : when he stopped
abruptly to send off a telegram. It was the immediate
and decisive refusal of the " promotion " just offered him.
His letter to Lord Derby, the Prime Minister who had
offered him the See of Lichfield, ran as follows : —
As your lordship's very kind letter was marked " confidential,"
I have taken counsel with no one but with God ; and I have been
led to the conclusion that it is my duty to return to New Zealand :
— (i) because the native race requires all the efforts of the few
friends that remain to them ; (2) because the organization of the
Church in New Zealand is still incomplete ; (3) because I have
still, so far as I can judge, health and strength for the peculiar
duties which habit has made familiar to me ; (4) because my
bishopric is not endowed; (5) because I have personal friends, to
whom I am so deeply indebted, that I feel bound to work with
them so long as I can ; (6) because a report was spread in New
Zealand that I did not intend to return ; to which I answered that
nothing but illness or death would prevent me. I could work
with all my heart in the Black Country, if it were not that my
heart is in New Zealand and Melanesia.
There was, however, one force, besides those of " illness
and death," which was able to sever him from the scenes
he loved so well : and on the exertion of this to remove
him (it appears) he had not calculated. It was the sense
of Loyalty, — the paramount obligation of obedience to
superiors, on which he had been harping incessantly all
his life, and to which his almost military instincts looked
as the only salvation, whether for the individual or for the
1867.] LICHFIELD PRESSED ON HIS ACCEPTANCE. 1 85
Church.* Hence, when the translation to Lichfield was
again pressed upon him, and this time with all the authority
of the Primate, to whom at his consecration he had vowed
canonical obedience, and of the Queen, to whom he felt the
deepest personal and official loyalty, his mind evidently
underwent a complete conversion. There arose before his
imagination a picture of the Church at home in deep dis-
tress and infinite distraction, at that unhappy time, from
Ritual squabbles ; of her urgent need to organize herself,
while yet there was opportunity, against the menacing
" armies of the aliens ; " and there arose also a vision of the
repulsive " Black Country " — repulsive to others, but not
to him — where his more special gifts of energy, courage,
and wide experience of untutored and untamed man,
seemed especially to fit him for efficient service in his
Master's cause. When pressed, therefore, by the Arch-
bishop to accept this difficult post, he could not find it in
his heart again to refuse.
I have been deeply touched (he wrote) by your most kind
letter, and have prayed earnestly that I might " perceive and
know what things I ought to do." Twenty-six years ago, your
grace's predecessor sent me to New Zealand. I had no other
reason for going than because I was sent. Upon this question of
obedience, I am of the same mind still. I am a man under
* Bishop Selvvya's high regard for soldiers and sailors, and his admiration
for their unhesitating obedience to oi'ders, appear at every turn of his career.
Even amid the most pressing calls upon his time, at Lichfield, he would be
seen, map in hand, emjiloying such leisure as he could command in studying
Napier's " Peninsular War," or in tracing the advance of the German armies
into France. In this respect he was like Frederick Robertson, of Brighton,
who " often, when passing a soldier in the street, would press his companion's
arm, observing, ' Poor fellows, they are but little thought of : few care for their
souls.' " (Brooke, " Life of Robertson," i. 15.)
1^6 BISHOP SELIVYX. [1867.
authority. As a matter of " promotion," conferred by the civil
power, I had no hesitation in refusing the Bishopric of Lichfield.
My love for New Zealand made me hope that the offer would
not be repeated. But I do not wish to give undue weight even
to that feeling ; because the strength of my attachment may mis-
lead me. ... As a soldier of the Church, I shall probably feel
bound to do whatever my commander-in-chief bids me.
And so it came to pass that, on the evening of Sunday,
December i, 1867, in the Queen's private room at Windsor
— " with as good a grace as I could, though I felt very-
sorrowful and still feel so " — the matter was finally settled ;
and on January 9, 1868, he was enthroned as Bishop in
Lichfield Cathedral. No one, who has any power to enter
into the feelings of such a mind as his, can fail to under-
stand its workings at a moment of trial like this. Fear,
whether of calumny or of physical suffering and death, was
a thing unknown to him ; loyalty to friends, love for the
native unsophisticated races of the earth, earnest preference
for a ministry to the poor, the weak, the troubled — these
things were a passion with him. But they were a con-
trolled, a balanced, a masculine passion. And when, as
one luminary set, another rose and summoned him to " go
forth to his work and to his labour until the evening," his
imagination easily grasped the new situation, and intuitively
discerned the possibilities of success which were open to
zeal and self-devotion. And to "discern" the opportunity
is, in such men, to seize the opportunity, and eagerly
to occupy the thoughts — without lingering regrets — in
disentanglement of fresh gordian-l^nots and solution of
hitherto insoluble problems. It is the exultation of a new
world to conquer. And then to the astonishment, and
1867.] OBEDIE.VCE WINS THE DAY. 1 8/
even scandal, of weaker souls, sentimental feelings seem to
have no place left. Serenity and self-concentration and joy,
" as in the joy of harvest," are seated in the countenance,
and radiate forth in strength and enterprise for others'
sakes from every look and word and action. The com-
mand seems to be heard by the inward ear, and to be
instinctively obeyed, " Say unto the children of Israel, that
they go forward."
The following letter, written about this time by a lady,
a very intimate . friend of the Bishop, gives an interesting
glimpse into the doings, sayings, and feelings of this critical
period of his life.
Miss F. Patteson to Bishop Patteson {in Melanesia).
Torquay, November 26, 1867.
Dearest Coley,
Since I last wrote to you I have had the great happiness
of meeting your Primate. We did not know by which train
exactly the party were coming ; but, at last, a fly drove up, and
Mrs. Sehvyn's bright voice shouted " The best is behind : only we
two women are here ! The Bishop is coming ! " Mrs. Selwyn and
Mrs. Abraham had come on with the luggage, and the Primate
and Mr. W were walking. After a few minutes, as Mrs. A.
and I were watching the boxes being taken down, she called out
" There they are ! " And I made no bones, but rushed off to meet
the Primate. I did feel so happy to see him ! There was the
dear old half-amused smile on his face, but such genuine love and
kindness as the " Where's Joan ? " came out so heartily from him.
Then came greetings with the Yonges, and laughing and talking
and taking up luggage, the Primate of com-se shouldering one box
after another, undoing the straps, and saying a merry word to
1 88 BISHOP SELWYN. [1867.
every one. At last we all vanished to our respective rooms to get
ready for high tea. . . .
Sunday was a day of such stir as one does not often wish to
encounter. The Primate preached in the morning, one of the
most instructive of the eight sermons I have had the privilege of
hearing him preach during these ten days. I had a delightful
walk with him to Anstey's Cove, he pitching stones into the water
for Scamp from a rock : then over the downs back to St. Mary
Church. He did enjoy it ; and, I am sure, so did I. After tea
we all went to St. Luke's ; and the Primate preached a fine sermon
on death and on "failure" (so-called), — showing what life was
given us for, and appealing to each of us to consider what we had
done to promote the glory of God and the spread of our Saviour's
kingdom. He did look grand in his simple dignity, as his strong
words poured forth. Then, when he turned from his own apparent
"failures" in New Zealand to the Melanesian mission — the off-
shoot of the New Zealand Church, — and said that, although the
tree itself might be cut down, yet the offshoots would perhaps
shoot up all the stronger ; and that, in God's providence, it might
be that our young missionary Bishop (as he called you) " shall
increase, as I must decrease," I fairly broke down.
Charlotte Yonge had her turn in the evening ; and, walking
home with him, naturally, lost her way. So they arrived when the
rest of the party were half-way through supper,
Thursday was a great day : up early and at the station before
8 a.m. Joan, Mrs. Selwyn, Mrs. Abraham and I had such a cosy
journey to Exeter, and much talk. Then to the cathedral : and
didn't we have a noble sermon from the Primate on Bible diffi-
culties ! And didn't it make one feel that " there are giants on
the earth in these days " ! We went afterwards to a meeting ; at
which he spoke of papa [Judge Patteson] and you. There were
hearty cheers when the names were mentioned; and confirmatory
grunts from Sir John Kennaway, when the Primate said that papa
" had never for one hour regretted the gift [of his son] which ever
since had been to him the joy and comfort of his life."
1867.] A SUNDAY AT EXETER. I 89
On Sunday afternoon I went for a walk with the Primate. He
also went to see Mrs. M who, I fear, is in a hopeless decline.
Afterwards we had an exquisite moonlight walk back to Heavitree.
He preached three times at Exeter ; and seemed really to have
enjoyed his little visit very much. He was so full of fun, always
poking it at me : and I was by no means slow to answer him.
One feels braced after his visit — braced anew to heartier work,
and to more faith, hope, and charity.
Your affectionate sister,
F. Patteson.
PART III.
THE LICHFIELD EPISCOPATE.
(1868-1878.)
CHAPTER I.
1868.
Enthronement at Lichfield — Thorough visitation of the diocese — Advocacy in
every rural deanery of the "conference" system — First diocesan con-
ference — Rapid farewell visit to New Zealand.
On January 9, 1868, Bishop Selwyn's episcopate at Lich-
field begran with his formal enthronement in the cathedral.
That most lovely and graceful of all our English cathedrals
had lately been thoroughly restored, with diligent consci-
entiousness, by the leading architect of the day, Mr. Gilbert
Scott. And although it was still incomplete — indeed, these
expressions in stone of the Church's living activity are
never finally "complete" — it was henceforth only on the
exterior of the building that any further restoration, on
the large scale, appeared to be immediately called for.*
At the great west doors, then, of this ancient and beau-
tiful church there now appeared, in the bright sunshine
of an English winter morning, a strange and unheard-of
personage indeed. It was not only a peer of the realm who
* On March 28, 1872, Mr. E. Christian (architect to the Ecclesiastial
Commissioners) presented a "Report on the .State of the Fabric," in which
occur these words : "There is nothing of real or pressing importance in any
part [of the interior] ; and the points I have mentioned may be done at any
convenient time."
O
194 BISHOP SELWYN. [1868.
often carried his own portmanteau and had never known
the services of a courier or a valet de chambre, but it was
also a dual-bishop. For he who now claimed acceptance
at the hands of his diocese as the ninetieth ruler of the
See which St. Chad, twelve hundred years before, had
planted amid the forests of heathen Mercia, was also
simultaneously bishop of a land at the Antipodes which
St. Chad never heard of, and would not have believed in
had he heard. It was indeed a curious and anomalous
case of temporary episcopal plurality. But after all, as
the Bishop humorously remarked, it was but a restoration
— on the larger scale, as became the Greater Britain of
modern days — of the time-honoured dualism involved in
the old title, " Bishop of Lichfield and Coventry." At the
enthronement itself a curious \\tt\e fracas occurred, typical
of the approaching conflict between ideas new and old on
the grander scale.
The following letter, from one who was, at that time,
a curate in Derbyshire, will both relate the trivial occur-
rence, and will also show the first impression made by the
new Bishop upon curious and observant eyes among the
younger clergy of the diocese : —
Bishop Selwyn's appearance at the Church Congress at
Wolverhampton, in 1867, had already made a great impression
upon the younger clergy ; and they rejoiced to hear of his appoint-
ment as Bishop of Lichfield. But among the older men there
was a strong suspicion of High Churchmanship against him.
This he disarmed, however, during his first tour [round the
diocese], by making common cause with the elders, by letting
them feel the weight and dignity of his character, and by correct-
ing any suspicions that he was but a novice in the episcopate.
i86S.] FIRST VISIT TO DERBY. 1 95
'•' They forget (he said) that I was a bishop two years before
Bishop Lonsdale." At his enthronement in Lichfield Cathedral
only a small number of clergy were present ; and those in
surplices were rudely ordered to disrobe by Archdeacon Moore,
because they were not on the cathedral staff. "Take off that
thing," he cried. But I and other Derbyshire clergy avoided
this by crossing to the other side of the cathedral out of the
Archdeacon's way. We were mightily struck by Bishop Selwyn's
dignity as he entered ; and were equally amused at Moore's
awkwardness when, in putting the Bishop into his throne, he con-
trived to insert his college-cap between the Bishop and his seat.*
During the Bishop's first visit to Derby, he took services (to our
surprise) at the Female Refuge and elsewhere ; and, passing along
Friar-gate under my guidance, he asked me about the number of
sick-visits I paid, — -five or six a day being his idea of the proper
number. Noticing that the vicar of St. Werburgh's had posted
on his Church-gate an announcement of some lectures on Posi-
tivism, Paulinism, etc., in the drawing-room that evening he
closely catechized the vicar's son on the meaning of the announce-
ment. His voice, at that time, was wonderful. Indeed, when he
grew excited in a sermon, it was terrific. In reading the lessons,
too, he would lay grand stress on important parts ; and he always
closed the book when he had finished. For, as he said to me one
day when he found the Bible open on the lectern, "When Jesus
had read the lesson in the synagogue, He closed the book and
sat down " (St. Luke iv. 20). The vicar of Kirk Ireton, at that
* By direction of the ancient Statutes of Lichfield Cathedral, the following
benedictioii is pronounced by the Precentor (or the Senior Canon), as the
mouthpiece of the whole presbyterate of the diocese, over the new bishop in
his throne : — " May the people honour thee : may God help thee : may the
Lord grant thee all thy petitions ! Mayst thou be decked with honour, with
purity, with knowledge, with bountifulness ! Mayst thou be just, humble,
patient, sincere ! Mayst thou be the messenger of Christ ! Receive the
blessing which may secure thee, in this day and in the days to come. May
the angels of God guard thee : may the Church be thy mother and God thy
father and the Apostles thy examples ! May peace ever be with thee, — through
the Redeemer, Jesus Christ. Amen."
196 BISHOP SELIVYN. [1868.
time, was a dignified clergyman of the old school, whose earnest
curate's unlettered pronunciation hurt his ear ; and he gave him
notice to quit. This soon brought the Bishop down to Kirk
Ircton; and the curate's provincialisms had to be endured for
some time longer by the vicar. Hence we called our Bishop
"the curates' friend," — so great was, in those days, his sympathy
with the younger men.
The new Bishop, with his wonted imperturbable equa-
nimity, smiled at the irrepressible Archdeacon's onslaught,
and understood its meaning at a glance. He did not,
however, take any further notice of it at the time. But, in
a speech made a few weeks later on in Convocation, he
thus utilized the occurrence. He was being teased as to
Avhat his proposed " conferences " could possibly find to
do ; and he replied —
At my own installation to my bishopric in Lichfield, a very
disagreeable thing took place. There w^as some doubt as to
whether the clergy who were present could wear surplices or not.
Many of them came in surplices, and were told to take them off.
Some did take them off, and some did not. Even the students of
the Theological College attend the services there on certain
occasions in surplices ; and yet it was supposed to be inadmissible
for the clergy to wear them On that occasion. Now, if the
question had been settled beforehand by a simple rule, it would
have been much better; and such questions as this might be
settled by the synod.*
In these last words there spoke, no doubt, one who was
plainly enough fresh from a colonial and unestablished
Church. In England even such trivial tilings cannot be so
authoritatively settled. But perhaps in the end they are
far more amicably and more finally settled, by means of
* Chronicle of Convocati<ui {.i^dZ), p. 1220.
i868.] RISING TIDE OF CHURCHMANSIIIP. 197
a steady growth of healthy pubhc opinion on the sub-
ject. Any way, in the course of a very few months this
"surplice-riot" on a small scale had quietly calmed
itself The Bishop's good-humoured, and often humorous,
patience under all such trifling provocations was too much
for the opposing party to resist ; and, what was far better
still, his steady determination to elevate the tone of feeling
about the capitular and, indeed, about every other depart-
ment of the Church's life, soon met with a sympathizing
response. For the tide of Churchmanship at this time was
everywhere vigorously rising; and he had the skill and
grace, by his noble example, to direct men's feelings into
right channels, and thus to prepare the way for that
remarkable unanimity by which, for many subsequent
years, the diocese of Lichfield has been happily dis-
tinguished. For instance, the beautiful Cathedral Close
has, since that day, seen scores of surpliced processions
advancing, between serried lines of interested spectators
and without one word of protest, to the sculptured door-
way between the western spires. And often, too, — dressed
in common work-day fustian, but -bearing aloft their
parish banners and singing hymns lustily and with a good
courage — hundreds of men and women from the Potteries
and the Black-country towns show that they have learnt
the first lessons of ecclesiastical order ; and, entering
simultaneously by the three great portals, solve the ques-
tion how a cathedral can be popularized. Such animating
scenes, now of frequent occurrence at Lichfield, are simply
a fulfilment of the dreams which ever floated before the
teeming mind of Bishop Selwyn, and which his own words
and actions mainly contributed to bring to a fulfilment.
19S BISHOP SELWYN. [1868.
For, as \vc have seen already, in his view the cathedral
ought to form the heart of every diocese ; * from it streams
of good influence of every kind were n:ieant to issue ; and
towards it, again, the clergy and the people on frequent
occasions, whether for conference or worship, should be
invited to converge. Thirty years before he had written
a pamphlet strongly condemning the Cathedral Commission
for its want of foresight in suppressing (as well as dis-
endowing) canonries. And the same far-seeing love of
the old cathedral system had appeared when he was
engaged in organizing the Church in New Zealand and
held it among his first duties to prepare at Auckland — at
that time the most important and generally accessible
town in the Northern Island — the future head-quarters
of the See. Indeed, by a singular anticipation, he even
then expressed a longing to pass his own declining years,
and to find a peaceful grave at last, in a cathedral close.
Thus, almost exactly thirty years before the actual event,
he wrote on board his tossing schooner at sea the following
words : —
A definite and recognized connection 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.f
"Worn out," he certainly was not, when, in 1868, he
was called upon to exchange a life of splendid activity in
the Southern Seas for the grinding and monotonous routine
of an ancient bishopric in the midland heart of England.
Indeed, no part of his career — marked as it was by an
* See above, p. i 8. t Tucker, i. 262.
i86S] THE '' PALACE'' AT LICHFIELD. 1 99
almost unparalleled energy and vigour from beginning to
end — surpassed in point of self-devoted activity the first
six months of his episcopate at Lichfield,
He at once resolved to make his home at the ancient
Palace in the Close, as the proper head-quarters of the
diocese, and as more accessible to the clergy than the remote
Episcopal " Castle " of Eccleshall, where his predecessors
had lived, fully three miles away from a small railway
station.
Hither (writes Mrs. Selwyn) George came home, on Friday
(January 31st), from Shropshire; and departed yesterday for
Cambridge — where he has been preaching, I suppose, to-day the
first of his university sermons. To-morrow I join him at Orleton,
just under the Wrekin ; and at Wellington he will go on with
the rural-deanery " synods " (so to call them), — the tenth, I
think, out of the forty-eight he hopes to hold. He states his
views, ventilates the matter, and hears over and over again the
same objections and the same surprise as erst in New Zealand.
But it always ends in their adopting sensible resolutions and
to the purpose. Then comes the " kai " [Maori for " food "] and
talk; and so he makes acquaintance with the clergy. He seems
always to vary his addresses, — as he did in the seven sermons on
one day, at the Waikato. The last address was on " the vision
of the dry bones ; " showing that if they did not come together,
they would be " dry bones " still. . . . The old limes round the
cathedral and in our garden are charming. Part of our garden
is in the fosse (of the once fortified close), and there is a kind of
bastion at one corner. It will be nice in summer, I dare say.
The following letter, from the same hand, gives an
interesting glimpse of Church-life as the Bishop found it
pulsating in London, some twenty years ago : —
200 BISIlOr SELWYN. [i86S.
Cambridge, February 23, 1868.
My dearest P ,
We are here for the fourth and last of George's
Cambridge course. Now he has nothing but his own work
before him ; so I hope he will not live on the rail as much as
he has hitherto done. He is going to synodize in Staffordshire,
having got through Shropshire and keeping Derbyshire till May
to see the pretty country in full beauty. ... In London we were
at the Hawkins', in Dean's Yard. The excellent E. H. grows
old, I think. So we all do, I see. There was a daily luncheon
for members [of Convocation], who came in eagerly talking of
debates that seem so dull in the Guardian afterwards. The
Bishop of London invited us to an evening party, " to meet
members of Convocation." Did it not sound d?-outhy ! So we
went — George and I greatly amused at rattling through London
late at night. First we went to pick up Bishop of Oxford
[Wilberforce] at Mr. Gladstone's. George was invited up ; and
presently the Bishop came for me, when they found I was there.
Mrs. Gladstone very magnificent ; Mr. Gladstone thin and care-
worn, but ver}' bright and equal to a little small-talk with an
unknown woman. And so on to London House. . . . But I
must tell you of a gathering at Canon Hawkins's house. Arch-
deacons Grant and Denison, Chancellor Massingberd, Mr. Medd
and Mr. Sadler, met to discuss the possibility of union with
Dissenters, — Wesleyans chiefly. Some spoke of their parochial
experience among Dissenters, some of the course of a particular
Dissenter who had joined the Church and knew both sides.
Chancellor Massingberd had some curious old letters and
pamphlets, of years and years ago in the last century, relating
to former endeavours. The points they brought forward were
such as these : that the great obstacle was not doctrine, but the
ministry not liking the slur upon their ordinations, and finding in
our lax preparation and easy admission, without their strict pre-
paration, a great stumbling-block. Some one thought that the
great panacea would be a bishop. "Give them a bishop !" This
i86S.] A DISCUSSIOX IX LONDON. 201
he founded upon some pamphlet. But it woke up the hitherto
slumbering Archdeacon Denison to fire his shot upon this point
about the status of the said bishop. Also it was said that a
conference between the bodies would be good. But who repre
sents us ? And so the conclusion was that nothing could be
done without a better organization of the Church, — which could
only be done by the increase of the episcopate and by " diocesan
synods." On two points all were agreed : (i) that no appeal to
the principles of Wesley availed nowadays with Wesleyans ; (2)
that the chief obstacle to union is that they do not wish it. But
still it seemed right to try. And here George arrived on the
scene, and brought his New Zealand experiences in proof of this.
Mr. Sadler is a great light. It was his book, "The Second
Adam," which the Wesleyan told Archdeacon Durnford had
floored him — no, " stumped him." We met Dean Stanley and
Lady Augusta at the Bishop's ; and were to have gone to them
the next evening, — a healing measure. But alarming symptoms
in poor H. stopped this.
Such were the new interests which were crowding upon
hira, from many and various quarters at once, as he settled
himself steadily to work in England.
But, at first, his heart was often sad with thought of
" the widowed sister diocese," as he termed it ; and he used
to pace up and down the terrace in the Palace garden, after
the 8 a.m. college service in the cathedral — from which
when at home he was rarely absent- — refreshing his eyes
with the blue waters of Stowe Pool, as a reminder of his
beloved far-away ocean. The following is an illustrative
extract from a private letter written about this time.
Wolverhampton, February 29, 1868.
My dear P ,
Here we are, once more, in this smoky, steamy, worky
town, with its masses of human beings, — yet not this time, as the
202 BISHOP SELWYN. [i86S.
appointed meeting-place of a Church congress; but as being "my
diocese " now. George has made a successful beginning of the
Staffordshire " conferences." It is funny that, while most of his
order stand aloof from such things and question his proceedings,
his chief episcopal sympathizer should be Harold [Browne] of
Ely ! Not that, as yet, he has begun a course of synods ; but he
does not shake his head at them, as some do.* At Convocation,
the other day, the bishops exacted some information from George
about them ; and, after a while, he begged them to catechize him
thereupon, which was done freely. The conclusion arrived at
was, that they should like to see how the thing worked, before
they began. They would have to wait some time, at that rate. I
dare say they begin to consider George a "foreign body" of
uneasy sort. But I speak without book : I only opine. . . . On
Ash Wednesday I went to hear Dr. Pusey preach at St. Paul's,
Knightsbridge. The sermon was unlike any that I ever read, or
thought of, as Ur. Pusey's. There was a tone of irony, as he
spake to the Belgravians of the Pharisee who " would have been
a very respectable religionist of the nineteenth century." He
never hesitated at the most familiar form of speech. . . . We are
staying here with the same old man [Mr. Parke] who entertained
the Church congress, the " Gains " of the Church, the intimate
friend of lords and ladies, and f/ie bookseller of the town. He
goes off to his shop, and talks of his business so simply. Last
night George addressed the C'hurch-workers and their friends ;
* The truth seems to be that Ely was, at that very time, engaged in
maturing a similar scheme of its own. The writer has an interesting letter
from Archdeacon Emery (of Ely), in which he says : "I think you may fairly
say that Lichfield and Ely went on independently and almost synchronously.
The former came from colonial experience, and is one of the enormous
benefits which the mother-Church has derived from her colonial children.
The latter was of home production, in part the result of two Church congresses
(1862 and 1863). When Bishop Harold Browne came to the See in 1864, he
summoned his cathedral chapter, the rural deans, and other clergy, to ask their
opinion about calling the clergy and laity together. . . . Upon the scheme
then agreed upon, the Bishop acted : and in 1865 the first formal gathering
took place. The lay and clerical representation has since been added 10."'
i868.] S/X DAYS IN THE POTTERIES. 203
about fifteen hundred present. He was very successful, both in
grave and gay.
In short, the Bishop showed no sign either of fatigue
or regret. And as it had been in New Zealand, so it
proved to be in Lichfield diocese. His very presence was
a power for good. And his own energy was caught up by
his clergy to such an extent that, probably, in no diocese in
England has so much material and spiritual progress been
made within so short a time. He came indeed at a diffi-
cult period ; but his whole previous life had trained him
to cope with difficulties. He came to work : and work he
did without ceasing until the close of his life.
A characteristic account appeared at this time in a
local newspaper of the way in which the Bishop worked.
The Bishop began in the Potteries on Saturday by preaching
a stirring sermon on the Resurrection, and consecrating a new
piece of land joined to the churchyard. Three sermons and three
consecrations were his work that day. On Sii7iday he preached
three times. On Monday an address delivered at Stoke from the
altar steps, on the ministry, with a celebration of the Holy Com-
munion ; then a two hours' meeting about establishing the
diocesan synod ; in the evening a sermon at Sneyd for the
schools. On Tuesday the bells of Newcastle told by their ringing
that something unusual was occurring, and a stately procession of
mayor and corporation, etc., welcomed the Bishop at the town
hall, and conducted him to the "Old Church." After service the
Communion was administered to some two hundred communi-
cants. A lunch followed at the hotel, and by three o'clock he
was busy again, with exemplary patience, studious attention, and
pleasant repartee, hearing and answering objections to his pro-
posal to establish a diocesan synod. A missionary meeting was
held at the town hall, attended by all classes, in which he told
204 BISHOP SELVVYN. [iS6S.
his simple manly tale how he owned the natives of Australasia for
brother-men, and how he had worked among them for six and
twenty years of his life ; which was received often with expressions
of assent, such as " That's a good un, he is ! " So ended the
fourth day. On Wednesday the village of Talke witnessed an
impressive scene. A little iron church was that day opened for
worship, having been erected by the exertions of some ladies. It
only held about one hundred people ; so the silk dresses and
broad-cloth soon filled it. But while the hymn was singing
before the sermon, the Bishop was seen leaving the tiny chancel
and forcing his way towards the door through the crowded gang-
way. People's hearts began to beat, thinking the four days' work
had exhausted him and he was obliged to go out for air. Nothing
of the kind ! The good Bishop took his stand at the porch, and,
turning to the hundreds of colliers outside, addressed them in the
most simple and touching words, which went home to their hearts,
making them feel he was indeed their own Bishop, a real man
like themselves. The Bishop's head was uncovered ; the rough
men and lads kept on their hats ; but their looks were riveted on
him, and no doubt many of them took home to their hearts the
Word of life thus made plain to their understandings. In the
afternoon the Bishop left for Ham, where he preached twice on
Thursaay, administered the Holy Communion, and held a
meeting about the proposed diocesan synod.*
The history of these six days is a good sample of the
Bishop's labour in his diocese, and of the missionary energy
with which he at once made himself acquainted with every
part of it. Meanwhile, the following letter, to a friend left
behind in New Zealand, indicates the trying fluctuations of
feeling undergone, at this time, by the Selvvyn family ; and,
on the other hand, exhibits the happy and buoyant spirit
of the Bishop amid his diocesan labours at home.
* Staffordshire Sentinel, May 4, 1 868.
i868.] LETTERS TO NEW ZEALAND. 20-
Lichfield, March 31, 1S68.
;My dear P ,
The letters have come : and they open our grief
afresh. Poor dears ! we have thought of you all, one after
another, and have so pictured the news [of our removal to
Lichfield] beforehand, and the blow it would be, that all you say
seems nothing new and quite natural. I can't help putting
myself in your places, and fancying we are somebody else, — so
entirely do my sympathies travel in your direction. I can see
you and dear Mrs. G sitting in my room bemoaning your-
selves. But, dear P , it is wonderful to have such love
poured out as it has been our happy lot to enjoy, — a faint fore-
taste of what may be [hereafter]. Hereby our lives have been
full of sunshine and brighter than ever, of late years. Our
interests, our people, our hopes and fears, have been yours ; and
yours ours. . . . George is in full swing, getting synodical action
established. Of course it is all new to them ; and over and over
again they repeat all that has been said a hundred times up and
down New Zealand. But George has patience and hope to any
extent. To the last he is just as bright as ever, and quite sure
that what is right will come right. Some have not the wish for
synods. But Mr. Gladstone's measure about the Irish Church
may modify their opinion. For many wise people think it is but
the thin end of the wedge ; and that it may be wise to be prepared
with some kind of organization for the governing of the Church,
before the blow comes.
Another letter, a few weeks later on, well describes the
feelings at that time uppermost in both hemispheres.
Lichfield, April 22, 1868.
My dearest P ,
How shall I answer the great wail which the last
letters from New Zealand have brought us ? The best way,
perhaps, is to say that we hold to our purpose of sailing on July
2nd ; and hope, if all be well, to see your faces again at the end
2o6 BISHOP SELWYN. [i868.
of August. Heartily dil 1 enter into your feeling that you were
stunned, that life seenjed to have come to a full stop, that the
wakings were so sorrowful. For I always think what 1 should
have felt if I had been you. But more and more does one now
feel that tliere is great work for George here — a work that he, of
all others, was best fitted to do, and a fight to fight for which his
armour was ready and his weapons proved. At any rate, he has
plunged into the thick of it : and, though there are many
adversaries, there are many supporters and many ready to follow
in his wake, when once he has made the course clear. . . . How
fast the minds of men do travel ! No one was more urgent with
George upon the duty of remaining in England than Mr. Gladstone.
Who would have thought that his would be the hand to light
the torch [of disestablishment for the Irish Church] ? . . . George
has summoned the archidiaconal conference of Shropshire to meet
him to-morrow at Shrewsbury. He will have Staffordshire next, —
an archdeaconry of twice the population and with a most dis-
affected Archdeacon [Moore] ; whereas Salop has a warm
supporter in Archdeacon Allen. The other Archdeacon did not
take much by his motion in Staffordshire : but he has stirred up
Derbyshire, to which George goes in May. But George feels
certain that all will work to a right end, and that all opponents
will be warm friends at last. He is just as fresh in this way as
ever \ and it is charming to see. But I quake sometimes at the
drive — the work, the meetings, the preachings, and above all the
letters — amid which he lives. It is too much both for himself and
for all. But no one but himself could do it with such effect. As
the Bishop of Capetown [Gray] said, " He should be taken care
of, and come out like a giant refreshed for his great work, — not
jaded with a heap of letters." He has three sets of services here ;
and then twenty-six letters; and about twenty more to-morrow;
and then the synod.
The next letter contains a graphic description of the
Bishop's life at Lichfield, It was written by a lady, who
i8£8.] BISHOP GRAY AT LICHFIELD. 20/
had paid a visit to the palace soon after the settlement of
the family there.
Wimbledon, April i8, i868.
I am come home after a week at Lichfield, — whence I ought
to have written and helped you to [feel present and to] share in the
daily scenes and conversations there : though there were few of
these to record, our Bishop being so cruelly pressed by business-
letters, which kept him and Johnny hard at work at all intervals
between food and services in the cathedral. On Good Friday he
had work in his study a great part of the day, but took a walk with
Sara and me to the other end of the Pool, which looks well from
the palace, owing to the tower of St. Chad's Church, which faces
it and is reflected therein. This is the only pretty view ; and he
makes the most of it. The palace stands in a sort of square of
turf, with walks and trees. This will be like a quiet college garden
at Oxford, and may be made brilliant with flower-beds. Then
there is the beautiful cathedral : and daily comes the verger in
black gown, with his silver " poker," to conduct the Bishop to his
throne. On Tuesday came Bishop and Mrs. Gray, and Dean
Green — the ejected of Colenso. They are as fond of their Africans
as you are of your JNIaoris, or Coley [Bishop Patteson] of his
Melanesians. Sara had been a little in awe of Mrs. Gray, I
think; but no one could be more unpretending, gentle, and
amiable than she was. Bishop Gray said much, and with great
warmth, about our Bishop being specially called to the great work
the Church has on hand now in England. No man, he added,
from her own body could do it. But his training, his courage,
Ins experience — having worked out the theory and carried it
through all opposition in the colony, — his thorough simplicity of
character and singleness of aim, all fitted him to carry the
emancipation of the Church from her State trammels, and to gain
the increase of the episcopate so greatly needed. He hoped that
Bishop Selwyn would go on, till he had achieved all the objects
which he brought before the astonished conference at Lambeth,
208 BISHOP SELWYN. [1868.
in burning words which would never be forgotten by those who
heard them.
Alas, as Mrs. Schvyn's watchful eye had foreseen,
this too abrupt transition from work with long intervals
of travelling by sea and land, to work so concentrated that
a railway journey of a few minutes sufficed to transport
the jaded speaker from one vast audience to another, told
even upon the Bishop's stalwart frame. Undismayed,
however, perhaps rather stimulated, by the unwonted task
before him, he at once girded up his loins ; and, with just
six months before him, determined to accomplish two
great things before he should embark on his rapid farewell
voyage to New Zealand. Those two things were (i) a
complete personal visitation of every corner of his diocese ;
(2) an earnest endeavour to persuade that diocese to equip
itself with the only modern and effective organization
by which the Church can hope nowadays to withstand
the fierce attacks of those who would destroy her. The
organization that he advocated was this : A graduated
system of mixed conferences (lay and clerical), beginning
with the small but multitudinous areas of the rural dean-
eries throughout the country ; and then gathering these
together (by representation) into diocesan conferences ;
and then again concentrating these last (by yet further
representation) into a central conference of clergy and
laity for all England.
The leading idea in this elaborate and admirably de-
vised scheme is clear at a glance. It is the admission
of the laity — by right, and not by sufferance — to a share
in the management of the Church's affairs. That some
i868.] ARCHIDIACONAL CONFERENCES. 209
such system as this had become an absolute necessity for
our time and country, was felt, at that period, by many
thoughtful persons. But here was a detailed and well-
compacted scheme, already tried during many years in
New Zealand, and found perfectly effective ; and it was
now to be advocated, in England's central diocese, by the
very man whose vast energy and statesmanlike ability had
carried the scheme through to a complete success in that
far southern hemisphere.* One only mistake — so, at least,
it was felt by some of his advisers — was apparent in the
new scheme ; and that mistake was not an irremediable one.
The good Bishop, in the ardour of his desire to make the
Church at home more thoroughly effective, had persuaded
himself that he could without much difficulty subdivide
the diocese of Lichfield into three, as he had already, by
force of will and patience, subdivided the diocese of New
Zealand into seven. It was the first indication, observed
by those around him, that he had underrated the enormous
forces of passive resistance to all new schemes which he
would have to encounter in England. For even allowing
the desirableness of subdividing all the old English dio-
ceses by the lines of their archdeaconries, still it did not
follow that such a work could, in any reasonable time, be
accomplished. Parliament must first be consulted ; the
sovereign's assent must be obtained ; and large sums of
money must be collected to endow the new Sees with a
sufficient income to maintain the dignity of their occupant.
But all these difficulties seemed nothing to our noble-
hearted enthusiast. And, therefore, to provide a promising
cleavage for future complete separation, he advocated a
* See stipra, p. 115 ; and Miss Yonge, " Life of Patteson," ii. 171.
P
2IO BISHOP SELWYN. [1868.
thing unknown before to the Church at any period of her
existence, viz., archidiaconal synods (or conferences) ; at
which every clergyman personally, and a certain number
of elected laymen, should have the right to speak and
vote. This ultimate purpose of his archidiaconal con-
ferences found clear expression in a pastoral letter, which
summed up and published the results of his inquiries, made
in every rural deanery throughout the diocese, as follows : —
It has been very generally agreed that such organization ought
to be framed on the supposition that the present diocese of Lich-
field will be divided at some future time ; and that therefore the
clergy and laity of each archdeaconry should meet annually at
their chief county town, except in one year out of three. And then
the archdeaconries will send up representatives of the clergy and
laity to a triennial meeting of the whole diocese, to be held at
Lichfield.*
This triennial system, however, was soon found to be so
cumbrous and dilatory that it was converted (as it has
been in all other dioceses) into an annual one ; while no other
diocese, it is believed, has adopted these anomalous archi-
diaconal synods.
But it was not the unwonted cleavage of a diocese by
means of its archdeaconries which aroused the fears and
suspicions of those who are apt to see in every new thing a
dangerous " novelty." It was rather — by the strangest con-
tradiction that could be imagined — the despotism that was
supposed to lurk amid these representative institutions
which aroused the anger and called forth the strenuous
opposition of many a Churchman at that time, both clerical
* " Pastoral Letter," April 13, 1868.
1 868] MANIFOLD OBJECTIONS. 211
and lay. It was in vain that the Bishop pleaded his earnest
wish —
not to be an autocrat, but to act as the bishop-in-council ; and,
if he must needs be a monarch, at least to be a constitutional, and
not a despotic, monarch ; for such a council could only strengthen
his authority by protecting him from suspicion, it being elected by
the free voice of the clergy and laity.*
No ; a considerable number of those who heard him would
not be persuaded. It seemed to them to be — as some one
has clearly put it — the first duty of free men to cherish a
watchful suspicion of those in authority. And when the
advocates of suspicion had found a determined and
ubiquitous leader, in no less a personage than the arch-
deacon (Moore) of Stafford, it seemed at one time probable
that, in this first struggle between old and new ideas, the
stalwart advocate of a fresh departure in Church govern-
ment would have to suffer a temporary discomfiture. For,
first, in every rural deanery throughout his diocese he was
exposed to a volley of hostile interrogations. " What was
it proposed that his new-fangled 'conferences' should do?
Were they to be legislative bodies t Were the minority to
be bound by the decision of the majority? Was doctrine,
was ritual, to come into discussion } Would they not pro-
vide an arena for the internecine warfare of party-spirit t
Was not a collision with Parliament, moreover, to be
expected } Would they not be a long step in the direction
of disestablishment?" Amid all this storm of questions,
this pitiless letting- loose of all imaginable and unimagin-
able " lions in the path," the Bishop remained quite patient
and unmoved. With untiring composure and simplicity
* Speech at Rugeley, March 3, 1868.
212 BISITOP SELIVYN. [1868.
he reiterated, in personal visits to every rural deanery
throughout the diocese, one and the same reply. The fol-
lowing speech, therefore, delivered at Newport, Salop, will
perhaps suffice as a specimen of his method of dealing with
the question.
I am much obliged to the last speaker for bringing back the
discussion to the point at which it left off. This was, the limits of
the action of these synods. And I suggest that it be left to
the first meeting of the synod to define for itself what subjects
shall be open for discussion. ... I should regard merely un-
restricted deliberation as involving very great dangers ; especially
as mere discussion, having no reference to action, is not unlikely
to lead to the maximum of party-spirit. It is a check upon dis-
cussion that it is to issue in some practical conclusion. I should
certainly exclude from consideration all questions of doctrine or
discipline affecting the position of a clergyman under the law.
My view is, that these assemblies are to have a practical object ;
and all I understand by the word " legislation " is practical
decisions. If a ruridecanal chapter, or a meeting like this, can
adopt resolutions, a fortiori a meeting of the whole archdeaconry
or of the diocese should not be deprived of that "power. ... In
all the eight years during which these synods have been held in
New Zealand, I have not heard so much tending to party-spirit as
on this occasion. If only the scope of the action of these synods
be limited to practical subjects, I can see no objection to the
majority binding the minority. ... As an illustration of the nature
of the business with which such bodies might deal, I may quote
the report of a select committee of the House of Commons on
" the Ecclesiastical Commission." This report suggested that
" local associations in each diocese, composed of clergy and laity,
performing some of the duties at present discharged by the Eccle-
siastical Commission, would aid the purposes of Church-extension ;
especially as such bodies would possess an intimate knowledge
of the spiritual wants and local circumstances of every diocese."
1 868.] IMAGINARY DIFFICULTIES. 21 3
These synods, then, might deal with such subjects as Church-
extension, the Poor Benefice Fund, and so on.
On the other hand, the fears of those who thought it
their duty to oppose the Bishop's schemes will be best
understood from the words used by them on various
occasions.
So careful was Bishop Lonsdale (said one) that he demurred
to the very use of the word " synod," as calculated to excite fears
lest it were proposed to invest these bodies with the powers of
synods, properly so called. ... I deprecate the transference of
power to synods — whether archidiaconal, diocesan, or provincial,
— and I fear that such a vision, the fond dream of the ecclesi-
astical mind in all ages, is floating before the eyes of my reverend
brethren. I warn the laity that the proposition before them
involves no slight change. They are really asked to inaugurate
a revolution, which must eventuate in the destruction of the
National Church. For it would lead to taking the supremacy out
of the power of the legislature, — that is, out of the power of the
nation,— and placing it in a body in which the bishops and clergy
would be the predominating element.
It was in a precisely similar strain that the first building
of Putney Bridge, in the last century, was denounced by a
panic-stricken objector as certain to ruin the trade of
London and to destroy the British Empire : and that, two
hundred years earlier still, the discovery of a " various
reading " in the Lord's Prayer brought the Lord Mayor to
the Bishop of St. Asaph in trembling anxiety for the
continuance of Christianity in the land.
A more clear-sighted Rural Dean, however, observed
that—
Churchmen have long felt the need of more Church-govern-
2 14 BISHOP SELWYN. [1868.
merit. There are a great many questions whicli it is difficult to
get properly considered ; and a great number of motions spring
up which it is very desirable should be carried into effect, if we
had the means of doing so. There is not the slightest inten-
tion of taking one step towards the disestablishment of the
Church. But as there is, at the present day, a strong tendency
on the part of her enemies to separate her from the State, it is
necessary to be prepared with some form of government upon
which we rnay fall back, if such a separation should ever take
place.*
Another speaker, who had been an Archdeacon in
British Columbia, was equally encouraging. He gave
personal testimony to the fact that such —
synods had been the greatest possible blessing in Canada, and
had thoroughly changed the condition of the Church in that
dominion, — engendering the kindliest feeling between different
schools of clergy, and promoting all kinds of practical measures
for the welfare of the Church.
But from another mouth issued the well-known harsh
note of discord and odium theologiciun.
Truth (said this speaker) is a definite thing. And the Church
is divided into two parties. One holds the truth ; the other holds
error. They are as wide as the poles asunder. One holds the
truth of Ciiristianity : the other holds deadly error.
* At a subsequent meeting the Eishop himself revealed his own views on
this important subject. He said : " I must remind the meeting that we are
beginning to hear a good deal about disestablishment. Now, that is not a
terril)le word to me. I do not wish for anything of the kind. But, as I have
lived and worked with perfect equanimity for twenty-six years where the con-
nection did not exist, I regard the subject from a different standpoint from that
occupied by those who think such a separation would be one of the greatest
evils that could befall mankind. I think we should do well to look it fairly in
the face."
i868.] A " GALLIO" IN DEBATE. 2T5
Lastly, and more humorously, a hard-headed layman
gave vent to some honest Gallio-like discouragement.
I do not wish to interpose any obstacle in the way of these
synods being tried. There naight be some confidence in the
success of diocesan synods, if any success had attended Con-
vocation. But I have not seen anything practical accomplished,
in spite of the time that has been wasted in Convocation. If
Convocation has become a mere debating society, what will be
the position of these synods ? Having said thus much, I wish
them all success : but I have not the slightest anticipation of it.
(Laughter).
Yes : cheerfulness was certainly pardonable at such a
moment. For any ray of humour which enlivens a pon-
derous debate is always hailed by a weary assembly with
tumultuous delight. But how much more does it seem
pardonable now, after the lapse of eighteen years, — during
which time the system so earnestly and patiently advocated
by Bishop Selwyn has struck root in every diocese of
England, and is thankfully acknowledged by all Church-
men to have had already the same effect as it had in
Canada. It has softened down the asperities of party
warfare ; it has promoted many kinds of practical good
works ; and it has educated great numbers of both clergy
and laity in the useful art of maintaining a good mutual
understanding. Moreover, the " diversities of gifts " and
the massive unity, displayed by the Church in these and
similar assemblies, have contributed more powerfully per-
haps than anything else could have done to render her
position in this country impregnable ; or, should it ever be
assailed with success, to assure for her a future of wide and
vigorous extension, of which her assailants appear to have
2l6 BJSnOP SELWYN. [1868.
formed but little conception. For, as Mr. Bcresford Hope,
the well-known M.P. for Cambridge University, said at the
Portsmouth Church Congress, in 1885 —
The co-operation of clergy and laity in Church work and in
such assemblies as the " diocesan conferences," has become a real
feature of our time. There can be no doubt that, by thus putting
herself on a kind of representative basis, the Church of England
has immensely strengdiened her defences. And if (as seems
probable) these diocesan conferences can be consolidated and
can be raised to something like " the general assembly " of the
Church of Scotland, those defences will become still more
formidable.
Any way, the energy and determination of Bishop
Selwyn were now to receive their reward, and to secure
for the Church at home that such an indispensable institu-
tion should be, not merely talked about and " reported "
upon, but actually tried. On April 23, 1868, the fir.st con-
ference (archidiaconal) assembled at Shrewsbury, two
hundred members being present ; and the Bishop gave an
opening address, which was both a telling exposition of
his ideas and also a characteristic specimen of his method
as a " master of assemblies." For it will be noticed how
carefully and skilfully he always avoided any assump-
tion of originality and any appearance of dictation. Had
he been present at Rehoboam's celebrated conference at
Shechem, he would have been on the side of " the old men "
who advised the king : " If thou wilt be a servant unto this
people this day, and wilt serve them, and answer them, and
speak good words to them, then they will be thy servants
for ever." *
* I Kings xii. 7.
iS68.] SPEECH AT SHREWSBURY. 21/
He spoke as follows : —
Many signs have been apparent of late years of the revival of
a spirit of counsel. The ruridecanal chapters, in this and other
dioceses, have had the happiest effect in bringing the clergy
together for mutual edification. The Convocations of the two
provinces have elicited much valuable information, contained in
the careful and weighty reports of their committees. The
Lambeth conference of last year proved that neither distance of
space, nor lapse of time, nor severance of political connection,
can estrange the daughter Churches in all parts of the world from
tlieir filial allegiance to their holy mother. The Wolverhampton
Congress was an evidence which could not be mistaken of an
earnest desire among all classes of Churchmen to be united in
closer bonds of brotherhood with a view to greater harmony of
action. In the chair of that meeting sat one whom we shall never
forget, and upon whose long episcopate I look back with only one
thought of regret — that he did not preside annually at a synod
of his diocese, with that inimitable union of courtesy, tact, forbear-
ance, and firmness, with which he presided over the Congress.
I need not repeat at length what I have said in so many
places, of the steps which Bishop Lonsdale took to ascertain the
opinion of the diocese on the subject of diocesan synods.* But
I feel bound to say, that I should not have brought this subject
before you at so early a time, if I had not found the way so far
prepared by my predecessor as to give me reason to think that I
should disappoint public expectation, if I did not carry on the
inquiry which he had begun. I therefore placed the subject
before the diocese, exactly as Bishop Lonsdale had left it. And
it will be understood that I have brought forward no plan of my
own. Every rural-deanery meeting was left free to propose and
adopt its own series of resolutions ; and, as was to be expected,
* Bishop Lonsdale had, early in the previous year (1867), issued a circular
letter of inquiry to all his rural deans : and in Convocation (June 4) he said,
" They expressed only one opinion as to the desirableness of diocesan synods
in general. I shall probably hold one, some time or other."
21 S BISHOP SELWYN. [1868.
various suggestions have been offered in the meetings of the
twenty-nine rural deaneries in which the subject has been dis-
cussed. The minutes of all those meetings are laid upon the
table, to assist you in choosing whatever plan may seem to you to
be the best.
What has been called a " diocesan synod proper," was
defined by a committee of the Upper House of Convocation as
a body, of which "the main object was that the bishop should
promulge the decrees he thought needful for the good government
of the diocese ; " and the committee added that, " whereas the
decree so promulgated bound the diocese legally, in matters in
which they did not contradict the decisions of the provincial
synod, we deem that the action of such synods would be in-
compatible with the present condition of our Church." It is
almost needless to say that no such synod as this has ever been
joroposed, either by Bishop Lonsdale or myself. Such synods
belonged to a time when the Church retained and exercised a
large measure of legislative power.
But the same report suggests that " occasions may arise, when
it would be of great use if the bishops and clergy and laity were
to assemble and consider matters needful for the well-being of the
diocese," — subject to the following conditions : — That they be
presided over by the bishop ; that the clergy and laity attend by
representation ; that the clergy and laity have an equal voice ;
and that the decisions of such gatherings do not claim any legal
authority.
It will be seen that the meetings of the bishop, clergy, and
laity, as proposed in the diocese of Lichfield, are in perfect
agreement with these suggestions. . . .
There remains, then, only that vague fear of anything new,
which may be fairly met and answered by an equally large
measure of hope. If any one fear lest these meetings should
widen the divisions already existing among us, is there not more
reason to hope — and have not our rural deanery meetings justified
the hope — that they will produce the contrary effect. At many
of our meetings there has been free speaking, and some opposition :
I86S.3 OBJECTIONS REFUTED. 219
but in no single instance has there been any unseemly altercation.
Why should we fear lest the synod, which is the aggregate of these
component parts, should conduct its proceedings, in a different
temper and spirit?
The most practical of all objections, if it could be sustained,
is — that our Church system is already perfect, lacking nothing.
I meet with this argument in the country parishes, but never in
the populous towns. It is very common for a sick man to think
himself in perfect health, while some insidious disease is preying
upon his vital organs. First of all, I point to those divisions
which some think ought to prevent us from meeting in synod. Is
this the sign of a Church already perfect ? But if the objection
means that the legal system of our Church is perfect, then the
simple answer is, that our synod will not interfere with anything
already provided for by law. The learned chancellor of my
diocese has told us that " we have legal provision in abundance,"
and I entirely agree with him. But to say that our legal system
is perfect, is to assert what the law itself denies. More than three
hundred years ago, thirty-two persons were appointed to revise
and reform the ecclesiastical laws, though their report was never
sanctioned by Parliament. . . . Yes ; we have " legal provisions in
abundance," — or, I w^ould rather say, in excess. We have decrees
of ancient councils, foreign canon law, provincial constitutions,
Acts of Parliament in great abundance extending over several
hundred years. And yet there are many points, in their nature
quite simple, on which no one can say what the law is. Thus,
because the laws which needed reformation three hundred years
ago are still unreformed, we fall into the error of seeking for
judicial decisions upon doubtful laws, instead of making the laws
themselves plain. In this state of uncertainty, we need much
patience and mutual forbearance. Doubtful laws are a temptation
to many to take the law into their own hands. The law says,
" In cases of doubt, apply to the bishop ; " but the answer is, that
the bishops themselves are not agreed ; and thus in the abeyance
of the legislative power of the Church, we are drifting into that
state, described in the Book of Judges, when "every man did
220 BISHOP SELIVYX. [i868.
that wliich was right in his own eyes." Surely this is not the sign
of a Church already perfect.
We shall not mend this state of things by allowing irre-
sj)onsible societies to set up their rival camps in all our chief
towns, whether for attack or defence ; to make every parish a
house divided against itself; to widen every breach and to
embitter every controversy. The minds by which great w^orks
are conceived and carried into effect may be led by cords of silk,
but cannot be driven. Such men may be driven out of the
Church ; but they will leave a void which cannot be filled. We
cannot spare a single man of those who have a zeal for Christ.
With Rome at the gates of our Jerusalem, and infidelity lurking
in our streets, w^e cannot waste our strength in intestine divisions.
I have thorough confidence in you all, my brethren of the clergy
and laity — trained as you have been under one of the meekest of
men to cultivate a spirit of mutual forbearance — that you will
make our synods the means by which we may edify one another.
We shall indeed have no legal power ; but we shall have that
which is better than law — united counsel, the force of sympathy,
the influence of opinion, timely mediation. We shall have no
power to make laws ; but every pious and humble-minded man
will pause before he sets up his own opinion in opposition to that
of the synod of his diocese. We shall have no power to decide
questions of doctrine, but unity of work will tend to unity of
belief; and the more we strive to do the will of God, so much
the more shall we know of the doctrine whether it be of God.
We meet to-day for the purpose of organization. The only
difiiculty is in the election of the laity. This arises from the
principle of the Act of Uniformity, by which every Englishman
is regarded as a member of the Church of England. But
recent laws have recognized the distinction between members
of the Church and Nonconformists. And it has been found
necessary to adopt a new standard of Church membership, which
you will find in the trust deeds of Church schools, in one of two
forms — viz., either a bona fide member of the Church England, or
a bo7ia fide communicant of the Church. In New Zealand and
i868.] USES OF A ''CONFERENCES 221
other colonial dioceses the right of election is extended to all homi
fide members of the Church, but the persons elected must be
bond fide communicants.
The clergy of each rural deanery, with at least two lay-
synodsmen, will, I hope, receive your authority to act as the full
ruridecanal chapter, and to discuss all subjects which are likely to
be brought before the synod, and (if it be so agreed) to elect
representatives to serve in the diocesan synod. I attach great
importance to this extension of the functions of the ruridecanal
chapters. The wants of every part of the diocese will thus be
ascertained, and be advocated at every meeting of the synod ; an
interest in the work of the Church will be generally diffused ; the
weaker and poorer parishes will be strengthened by union with
the richer ; and the bishop and archdeacon will at any time be
able to ascertain the wishes of the clergy and laity on any subject
of local interest. ... I shall request you to elect a standing
committee of the archdeaconry, to discharge such duties of an
executive kind as you may assign to it, and to act with me, as
a council of advice. I felt the value and importance of such
a council even among my small population in New Zealand.
How much more must I desire it when I am charged with
a diocese containing 1,200,000 souls. Seven clergymen and
seven laymen would, I think, be a convenient number. It has
also been suggested that the standing committees of the three
archdeaconries should form a diocesan council, to be convened
by the bishop on matters of importance to the diocese at large.
To those who think that the work of the Church is already
sufficient, and her system perfect, I have little to say. Of course
nothing can be added to that which lacks nothing. But my pre-
decessors have added many useful institutions to the diocesan
system, supposed by some to be already perfect, but really lack-
ing many things conceived and planned in most cases by our
reformers, but neglected in after-times. Our Theological College,
cur Poor Benefice Fund, our Pension Fund for Widows, our
Diocesan Church Extension Society, our Training Schools for
Masters and Mistresses, our Middle Class Schools, our Nursing
212 BISHOP SELIVYN. [1868.
Institution — -all tlicse are the offslioots of seeds which retained
their vitality, though they lay smothered for centuries under the
legal system of our Church. When charity had broken the crust
of law, then they sprang up. But the very multiplicity of these
institutions calls for the action of the whole mind of the Church
to give harmony, consistency, and permanence to them all. Much
time and expense would be saved if we could agree upon one
treasurer for all, and one central office, where all subscriptions
could be paid. Then, at our annual meeting, we might give an
impulse to these various works, and assist them by drawing public
attention to their wants.
As to another class of societies^those which profess to repre-
sent party views. The sooner they die out the better. The
Church will be better able to protect herself, and to guard her
own purity of doctrines, by her own solemn meetings, than by
the help of London societies, sending down their agents, and
setting up their branches, to widen and perpetuate our divisions.
We are all tired of our divisions. More than that, we are heartily
sorry for them ; because they rend the body of Christ and hinder
His work and give occasion to the enemies of religion to rejoice.
We long for some power to upheave our island parishes and join
them together in one continent. We have had too much of
" thine " and " mine ; " henceforward let everything be " ours "
You ask what synods are to do. Look around you. There
is not one of our institutions which is worked up to half its
nominal power. Look at our cathedrals, the mother Churches
of the diocese, the centres of gospel light, the training schools
of the clergy, the homes of the widow, the foster-parents of the
orphan, the fountains, to which, even in their state of decay,
the parish Churches have gone to seek for their choral services.
Is there no dormant vigour in those glorious institutions which
a diocesan synod may awaken into life ? Let us strive to make
Lichfield a true mother Church, a fountain from which the
streams of salvation may flow forth abundantly far and wide into
all the neighbouring places.
Look at the masses of our people, in our mining districts, half
iS68] CHORAL FESTIVAL AT LICHFIELD. 223
of them at least alienated from the Church. Is there nothing for
synods to do, when we still have p:irishes with five thousand and
ten thousand souls committed to the care of one clergyman ?
Why, at Wolverhampton and Stafford I had meetings of Church
helpers and workers, wardens, choristers, teachers of daily and
Sunday schools, district visitors, organists — even organ-blowers —
all gathered together from their various parishes, to show how the
work of the Body of Christ may be compacted by that which every
joint supplieth. Out of that vast body of willing fellow-labourers,
our synod will, I trust, select and appoint its lay readers, for
services in school-rooms, and cottages, and factories, and mines,
and prisons, and hospitals ; and when they have thus been tried,
the way to ordination will be open to those who are found worthy
through the Theological College, at Lichfield. This will be the
greatest work of our synod to organize such a lay agency as may,
by God's grace, assist the Church in redeeming the arrears of the
past century by winning back to Christ the people that have been
lost. . . .
I conclude with the words of Archbishop Leighton : —
" Perfect and universal consent, after all industry bestowed on
it, for anything we know, is not here attainable, neither betwixt all
Churches, nor all persons in one and the same Church. And,
therefore, though Church meetings and synods, as the fittest and
most effectual way to this unity, should endeavour to bring the
Church to the fullest agreement that may be, yet they should
beware lest the straining it too high in all things rather break it.
Leaving a latitude and indifference in things capable of it, is often
the strongest preserver of peace and unity."
On May 8, 1868, this first archidiaconal conference at
Shrewsbury was followed by a similar assemblage at Staf-
ford ; and, on June 12th, by another at Derby. Then, on
June 1 6th, took place the choral festival at Lichfield — a
brilliant scene, still in the memory of some, the bells
ringing merrily, and the sun dallying with white surplices
224 BISHOP SELIVYN. [1868.
and many-coloured hoods, as the bishops and clergy came
in procession along " the Dean's Walk." On the following
day was attained the " crowning mercy "(as Cromwell might
have called it), which rewarded six months of almost
superhuman labours, the first DIOCESAN CONFERENCE
ever held beneath the shadow of the mother Church.
About four hundred members were present ; and many
curious spectators crowded the Guildhall to hear the
Bishop's opening address. Condensed into a few lines, it
ran substantially as follows : —
The meeting to-day puts a colophon upon all our [preparatory]
work ; and I humbly trust it is a good and hopeful work, and one
which our dear friend who set it on foot (Bishop Lonsdale) would
have cordially approved, if he had been permitted to see it. The
number of [ruridecanal] meetings has been forty-two, — at all of
which I have been present, except two. The result was that
nearly all the rural deaneries were in favour of the proposed
synodical organization. Hearty outspoken opposition brings
with it a pleasure peculiar to itself It is wearisome always to
sail with a fair wind; a brisk breeze, even if it be contrary, is
often the seaman's delight. But, given synods, what are they to
do ? I answer, everything that for want of synods has been left
undone : half the population to be won back to the Church, fifty
colonial dioceses looking to us for help, two-thirds of the whole
human race still waiting for Christ. This is the work which
remains to be done. hxA may God give to this conference
strength and wisdom to do its part !
A lively letter from one who was present at the first
" archidiaconal synod " at Staft"ord will give a good idea of
the proceedings there, and of the spirit which reigned
among all such assemblies at this period of their infancy.
i868.] FIRST DIOCESAN' CONFEREXCE. 2
Lichfield, May ii, 1868.
My dear P ,
Johnnie and I are alone at the palace, and are very cozy
together ; and George has been two evenings at home lately. We
have had Mr. Woodyer, the architect, down to propose a plan for
the chapel and the students' rooms. This will make it rather
vast ; especially if a bishop with other views should succeed.
On Friday I went, with some of our neighbours, to Stafford for
the great day there. It began by celebration and a short address
in the noble old church. It was really a grand sight ; and would
have been finer, were we better hands at arranging a " function."
The synod was held in the Shire Hall ; where George sat on a
raised dais, with the Archdeacon on one hand and the Lord
Lieutenant (Lord Lichfield) on the other. The great men came
forward to uphold him. Lord Harrowby took a very active part ;
Lord Dartmouth was sensible and suggestive ; Lord Lichfield
laid himself out to attack the Church Association (not by name),
which met with a hearty response from most of the clergy and
laity. There were not less than 250 of each. One little "toa"
[Maori, for "champion''] among the clergy stood up on the
defensive ; but he did not get much attention. Another, equally
bold, stood forth to oppose the voting by orders ; and was
received with peals of laughter when, after all the clergy had
stood up to oppose him, he alone — in answer to the Bishop's
desire that " all who are in favour of this motion will stand up "
— appeared by himself It was all a great success ; and the
business ended by Lord Shrewsbury proposing a resolution in
favour of Church and State. It was carried almost unanimously ;
though a clever young clergyman of Wolverhampton [now
Canon Body, of Durham] stood up and spoke of his work among
mechanics there, and of the hindrance to them occasioned by this
union. Then up gets another, with a large parish, and says that
the feeling there is quite the opposite to that described by Mr.
Body. I fancy that both were right, — mechanics one way, poor
people all the other. I sat up in a gallery with a great balustrade
Q
226 BISHOP SELWYN. [1868.
before it, so far off that we could talk without being heard. My
companions were the wife of a lay synodsman (Admiral Bagot)
and two friends from the Close, Mrs. Charles Gresley and Mrs.
Curtcis (wife of the principal of the Theological College).
Through our balustrade we surveyed the world below, and enjoyed
all the fun. I thought of other synods [in New Zealand], and
wished for you, dear P .
The general tone of feeling that prevailed in Bishop
Selwyn's circle, especially in relation to Mr. Gladstone's
Irish policy at this time, may be gathered from the follow-
ing fragment of a letter to the same friend in New Zealand.
Lichfield, May 5, 1868.
My dearest P ,
I am sure that I failed in my last letter to put before
you a tithe of the stir and excitement in political matters now.
The complete success in Abyssinia is partially lost in the sudden-
ness of IVIr. Gladstone's move about the Irish Church, and in the
still greater surprise at his large majorities. Who would have
thought, a year ago, that the Archbishop [Longley] would have
to convene a meeting to uphold the union of Church and State ?
George will not go, — not because he does not desire to support
the Archbishop, still less because he likes Mr. Gladstone's course
— but because he prefers to express his opinion in synod, at
Stafford next Friday. No one believes Mr. Gladstone, when he
says he does not intend to touch the English Church, because of
the strange rapidity of his political advances. Our good old Tory
member for the county — who comes to call on us in leathers and
a green coat — is fully persuaded that the country is going fast to
the dogs ; and there are many — not in leathers — who agree with
him. There has been a great meeting at Birmingham about
women's rights and female suffrage, — an archdeacon in the chair
and Dr. Temple of Rugby to address them ! To such ladies the
old advice might be best, "Go spin, ye jades, go spin !" But I
iS6S.] ''STEAM UP'' TILL THE LAST. 22/
think the dear souls will soon lose their franchise, by voting for the
wrong people. Johnnie and I have been to Tauiworth ; and, for
the first time, I thought Staffordshire really pretty. The leaves
made such a difference ; and the spring dress of the country is
delicious. The grass is so rich and green [after New Zealand]
and the shades and tmts upon the trees make me laugh with
pleasure. It is not all to the eye. One sees things long
forgotten now starting up, like an old friend, to look you in the
face.
The great work of diocesan organization having now
been happily inaugurated, the Bishop was free to pay
his long-planned farewell visit to the sister diocese — not
yet relinquished — in New Zealand. The following extracts
from letters, written by Mrs. Selwyn on the eve of depar-
ture, will place the reader in touch with the Lichfield
circle at that stirring time : —
Lichfield, June i, 1868.
Dearest P ,
The returns for the elections to the diocesan synod
are coming in ; and George rubs his hands over the good men
chosen. Next week he will be in a different arena ; for we are
going to London, — I to prepare for sailing, he to do chaplain's
work at the House of Lords. We greatly enjoyed your last letters
from New Zealand ; though the little details about the familiar
things there give one a pang. We have just been entertaining
some members of the "standing committee" — a term that seems
to savour of George's room at Bishop's Court, New Zealand ; but
these were strange priests, and the ironmaster with them was not
as one of our laymen. The week after our return the Choral
Association assemble here ; and George meditates great things.
So there will be steam up till the last. I hope you do not
expect to see me a model of fashion when I arrive. All the
dress [in England] is hideous, — as you would think if you had
228 BISHOP SEIAVYN. [1868.
seen Mrs. J with very large chignon at the top of her head.
She and others look like Minerva; for it is of the fashion of a
helmet.
Lichfield, June 19, 1868.
De.\rest M ,
Once more, and for the last time now, I write to you.
If all goes well, in no time at all after the receipt of this
letter we shall be with you again. We sail on July 2nd, in the
Neva, I believe ; and I hear that she carries us to Colon, without
change to the branch steamer from St. Thomas's. I am afraid it
will be very hot at this time of year, till we are nearing New
Zealand. If all the young gentlemen and ladies go with us who
wish to go, we shall have an academy on board. But perhaps
they will not all come ; and if they do, will stay at Wellington,
and not come up to help me pack at Auckland.
Yesterday was a great day here. The general synod — calling
itself the " Diocesan Conference" — met and gathered into itself all
the previous work comprised in forty-five rural-deanery meetings
and three archidiaconal conferences. It all looked formidable
enough beforehand. But George has throughout been in excellent
heart ; and wnth good cause, for so far it has been a great success.
A pioneer was wanted, and you have spared him [from New
Zealand]. You will like to know, therefore, how the work grows
and spreads. " While others have been talking, this bishop has
been acting," says a newspaper ; '' there are many who looked on
his appointment as a new era — as so much new life to the English
Church — as a ground of hope for that Church's future. They
will so regard it still more, now that they have seen him go
straight to the solution of one of the greatest needs of the age."
The long voyage now about to be undertaken was no
mere pleasure-trip, no mere visit of ceremony, no grati-
fication of sentiment or of selfish feeling in any form. It
was a matter of imperative necessity ; and on his first
iS68.] FAREWELL VISIT TO NEW ZEALAND. 229
acceptance of the unexpected summons to episcopal work
at home, he had with characteristic foresight stipulated for
such a temporary absence. Not only had the: endowment
of his successor at Auckland to be provided for ; but the
organizer of the New Zealand Church and the founder of
so many new Sees was, naturally, " trustee " in a score of
important undertakings ; and the transference of financial
responsibility to other persons could not be safely accom-
plished without his personal superintendence. Then, the
numerous institutions which had grown up under his eye
during twenty-six years, and the home which he had left
for a supposed brief absence in England, all required his
presence once again, ere he should depart to see them no
more for ever.
Accordingly, on July 2, 1868 — having committed his
English diocese to the charge of Bishop Trower * — the
Bishop sailed from England, accompanied by Mrs. Selwyn
and by his younger son (afterwards Bishop of Melanesia).
He took the new route, which had lately been opened, via
Panama ; and, singularly enough, encountered more perils
to life and limb during this one voyage than had fallen
to his lot during all the twenty-six years of incessant
travelling by land and sea which he had spent as Bishop
of New Zealand. On landing at the Isthmus, he was
nearly precipitated into the water by the breaking of a
plank. The gaunt spectre of yellow fever haunted the un-
wholesome swamps and forests through which they had to
pass to the Pacific coast. And, far worst of all, the small
colonial steamer into which the party was transhipped on
reaching Wellington, ran upon a rock in Cook's Straits ;
* Late Bishop of Gibraltar.
2J,0 BISHOP SELIVYN. [i86S,
and, after a short time, slipped off and went to the bottom.
The delay was long enough, and the shore was near
enough, to save the lives of all on board. But the sudden
shock, as the Bishop's party were merrily at tea, on a
beautiful evening before dark came on, and then the rush
of a large number of rough miners and coal-diggers for
the boats, and the uncertainty at what moment the vessel
might go down, — all combined to put to a sudden test the
courage and coolness of those whose position entitled them
to take the lead. It need not be said, that neither the
Bishop nor any of his party were found wanting in these
qualities. The Bishop determined, at all hazards, to re-
main on board and give what aid he could ; and his son,
of course, remained with him. But Mrs. Selwyn, when the
boats had passed to and fro several times and had relieved
the ship of her crowd of roughs, was ordered on shore, and
unwillingly obeyed. The landing was made on the beach at
the foot of some low cliffs ; and as no one knew how high
the tide might presently reach, it was necessary to scale
these cliffs, and then to huddle together at the top, as
best they could, for protection against the cold night winds
of a New Zealand spring, — Mrs. Sehvyn's special charge
being the young wife of a Yankee whaler, quite unused to
such scenes, and needing all the comfort she could get.
The rough men soon wandered off to get assistance ; and
ere many weary hours had elapsed, a steamer was sent
from Wellington to take the shivering party off. The
Bishop, too, and his son bearing his case of episcopal robes,
got presently safe to shore. And then with a rush the
wreck went down, carrying to the bottom all the pas-
sengers' luggage, all the presents brought out from Eng-
i868.] SHIPWRECK NEAR WELLINGTON. 23 1
land as farewell keepsakes for many a New Zealander,
and the coloured sketches of Lichfield and " Stowe Pool,"
whereby old friends abroad might still fancy themselves
with those they loved "at home."
Auckland was reached at last in safety ; and the some-
what heart-breaking experience was gone through of
landing once more at the lovely Taurarua Bay, crowded
with touching memories ; of inhabiting once more the
simple " palace " and college, soon to be dismantled and
left for ever ; and of finally bidding adieu to hundreds of
devoted friends, both Maori and English, who would never
be seen again. Happily, perhaps, there was much im-
portant business to be done, and the time was very short.
On October 6th, the Bishop presided for the last time at
the " General Synod of the Church of New Zealand." Six
bishops and a goodly number of clergy and laity were
present ; and Bishop Patteson came from Norfolk Island
to bid farewell to his friend and spiritual father. To him,
above all men, the final parting from one to whom he ever
looked up as his " Primate," and his trusty adviser amid
the endless dangers and difficulties of Melanesian work,
was a wrench like that of tearing body and soul asunder.
He had written, on first hearing of Bishop Selwyn's de-
tention in England, a most touching letter : —
Bishop Patteson to Bishop Selwyn.
Norfolk Island, March, 1868.
My dear, dear Bishop,
I don't think I ever quite felt till now what you have
been to me for many a long year. Indeed I do thank God that
I have been taught to know and dearly love you. . . . Your letter
232 BISHOP SELWYN. [i86S.
reached me last night. I don't yet realize what it is to me ; but
I think much more still of those dear people at Taurarua. It is
perfectly clear to my mind that you could not have done other-
wise. I don't grudge you to the mother-Church one atom. I
know that your prayers will he around us, and that you will do all
that mortal man can do for us and for the islands. Indeed, you
must not trouble yourself about me too much. I shall often need
you, often sadly miss you — a just return for having undervalued
the blessing of your presence. I humbly trust that God's blessing
may be on us all, and that a portion of your spirit may be with us.
More than ever affectionately yours,
J. C. P.*
When this " dear son in the Lord " arrived in the
Southern Cross at Auckland, he looked much worn and
depressed, and was charitably consigned to the cheerful
hospitality of Sir William and Lady Martin, at Taurarua
Bay. At the synod, three farewell addresses were pre-
sented to Bishop Selwyn.
The first was a general farewell from the Church in
New Zealand, as follows : —
We, the bishops, clergy, and laity of this branch of the
Church of England, respectfully and affectionately address your
lordship on your resignation of your office as president of the
synod. When your lordship first came to this country, more than
twenty-six years ago, you began work as Bishop of New Zealand.
You end it now, as Primate, by providing for the permanent main-
tenance of your own Melanesian mission, offshoot of the New
Zealand Church. The synod is itself the result and witness of
your unwearied efforts for organization of the native and colonial
Church of New Zealand, and of your missionary labours in the
islands of the West Pacific Ocean. The natives of New Zealand,
* " Life of Bishop PaUeson," ii. 30S.
iS6S.] ADDRESS FROM NEW ZEALAxXD CHURCH.
-jj
the English colonist, and the Melanesian islander, are all repre-
sented here. With respect to the native Church, a Maori diocese
has been constituted and Maori S3^nods have been- held; seven-
teen native clergy have ministered and do minister faithfully and
loyally in different parts of the country ; churches and schools have
been built, endowments been provided, clergy and catechists main-
tained, collections for Melanesia made by Maoris.
We think how twenty-seven years have passed to-day since
you received episcopal office, — years marked by extraordinary
events in our history — an episcopate, marked in an extraordinary
degree, by your work of faith and labour of love and patience of
hope. We humbly believe that, by your wide and varied ex-
perience of many forms of human life, bringing you into contact
with men in every stage of barbarism and civilization, on lonely
journeys in the sohtudes of the New Zealand forest and on the
Avaves of the West Pacific, God's Holy Spirit has been training
you for an even greater work than any that you have hitherto
accomplished ; for which all that has been done may be but the
preparation, the crowning work, it may be, of your life to which
He has now called you. It seems as if you had been sent first to
warm the most distant members here, and were called now to
quicken the very heart of our dear mother-Church at home, that
so the life-blood may circulate with fresh vigour throughout the
body.
We know full well that you will never cease to pray and
labour for us ; and you need no assurance from us that we will
ever remember and pray for you. How can we ever forget you ?
Every spot in New Zealand is identified with you. Each hill and
valley, each river and bay and headland, is full of memories of
you. The busy town., the lonely settler's hut, the countless
islands of the sea, all speak to us of you. Whether your days be
few or many, we — as long as we live — will ever hold you deep in
our inmost hearts. All will pray for you and yours : the clergy
to whom you have been indeed a father in God, the old tried
friends with whom you have taken counsel, the younger men of
both races whom you have trained, the poor whom you have
2.34 BISHOP SELWYN. [iS68.
relieved, the mourners whom you have comforted, the sick to
whom you have ministered, the prisoners whom you have visited,
all think of you now, and will think of you always, with true and
deep affection, and will offer for you always their fervent prayers.
^Ve humbly pray God, who has given you the wisdom to conceive
and the power to execute your great designs, that your high and
noble example may be ever affectionately remembered and duti-
fully followed by us all ; that the mind and spirit of its first
bishop may be stamped for all generations upon the Church of
New Zealand ; and that the multitudes of the isles may learn in
years to come the name of their first great missionary, and rise up
and call him blessed.
(Signed by all the Synod.)
The Bishop replied in the following words : —
I might well say, in words of Wordsworth, "the praise of men
had often left me mourning." It is most difficult and painful to
one placed in my position to have to reply to such kind expres-
sions as are contained in the address ; but in this case the pain is
much mingled with pleasure. Sufiice it to say that I have sought
for support and counsel from many whose services are not so con-
spicuous as my own, though they deserve equal praise with myself,
if not more. I would say, as has been said on a different
occasion, " Give God the praise, we know that this man was a
sinner." All the prosi)erity of the New Zealand Church is the
work of God. The finger of God has been manifested in all that
has taken place, from the time Samuel Marsden landed here in
1814 until now. It is the comforting prophecy fulfilled that " the
little one should become a thousand." It is a coniiort that what
one man had begun should become, in little more than half a
century, what the Church of New Zealand now is. When I think
of the time when I came to Sydney and found Bishop Broughton
there with a small band of clergymen round him, and when I
reflect that now that little baud has extended into all the
provinces of New South ^^^'lles with its dioceses of I'asmania,
i868.] FAREWELL FROM THE MAORL^. 235
Western Australia, South Australia, and these provinces of New-
Zealand with all its satellites in Melanesia, I feel that the power
and influence of God's Holy Spirit is being manifested on earth,
and that it has pleased Almighty God to enable us to see His
power with our own eyes, so that we may not walk by faith alone
but also by sight. ... I leave to you the native Church as a
special legacy, and hope that no increase of European population
may absorb your interests so far as to cause you to neglect that
remnant which, though a poor one, is a remnant of the congrega-
tion of Christ*
The second address was a special farewell from the
Maori Christians : —
To Bishop Selwyn, greeting ! Ours is a word of farewell from
us_. your Maori people who reside in this island. You leave here
these two peoples, the Maoris and the Europeans. Though you
leave us here, God will protect both peoples ; and Queen Victoria
and the Governor will also protect them, so that the grace of
Providence may rest on them both. O father, greetings ! Go to
your own country ; go, the grace of God accompany you ! Go on
the face of the deep waters. Father, take hence with you the
commandments of God, leaving the peoples here bewildered.
Who can tell that, after your departure, things will be as well with
us as during your stay in this island ? Our love for you and our
* This expression, " We must care for the remnant that is left," was often
on his lips in the later New Zealand days ; when, no doubt, the Pai-marire
apostasy had made sad havoc of his flock. " But still " (writes one who was
with the Bishop to the end) " they nearly all have returned, — except, perhaps,
those in the King Country. Not long after the war broke out, I had a con-
versation with a leading chief near Wellington, and remarked that it was
hardly credible to me, that a sensible man could thus lightly abandon the
Christian faith for the Hau-hau superstition. He sharply replied, ' Of course
we don't, most of us, believe in Hau-hau-ism. But we have to fight for our
national life, and must interest every tribe in our cause, which is a matter of
life and death to us. In order to break down tribal jealousies, therefore, we
must invent a Maori religion, and cut ourselves off from everything English.
When the war is over, we shall throw off Hau-hau-ism and return to the
Christian faith.' "
2^6 BISHOP SELWYX. [i86S.
remembrance of you will never cease. For you will be separated
from us in your bodily presence, and your countenance will be
hidden from our eyes. Enough ! This concludes our words of
farewell to you, from your children.*
But by far the most touching of all was the following
address from the natives of the Waimate and the Bay of
Islands, in their own language, presented by Rev. Matiu
Taupaki, and couched in words of almost Old-Testament
simplicity : —
Sire, the Bishop ! salutations to you and to mother (Mrs.
Selwyn) ! We, the people of the places to which you first came,
still retain our affection for you both. Our not seeing you
occasions us grief, because there will be no seeing you again.
We rejoiced at hearing that you were coming to see us ; great
was the joy of the heart ; and now, hearing that it cannot be, we
are again in grief.
Sire, great is our affection for you both, who are now being
* How could the Maoris avoid being deeply attached to a man whose
humour, simplicity, and manliness, were so entirely after their own heart ?
Here is a sloiy, graphically told by one of the actors, or sufferers, in the scene.
" In the year 1855, I was travelling with the Bisliop down to Taranaki, to try
and stop a war between two native tribes. On the last day of our march, our
stores were reduced to a small slice of bacon and a handful of flour,^to be
shared by three persons. Having forty miles to walk, we agreed to defer our
single remaining meal till mid-day ; about which time, after dragging ourselves
through a black muddy creek, we bathed in a river of clear water a mile
further on, and then decided to rest and cook our bacon-puff. Just as we were
dividing the savoury morsel into three equal parts, a Maori appeared. He
was exhausted and starving, having been out in the forest two days and nights
without any food. The Bishop instantly recognized him as the very native
chief who had sat on the bench between himself and the judge at Wellington,
twelve years before ; and who had, the following night, prevented his ex-
asperated tribesmen from setting fire to the town. \\'ith a twinkle in his eye,
expressive of amusement at our coming disappointment, the Bishop whispered
to me, 'We must give him the puff.' And so wc did, — tramping off ourselves
for a further walk of twenty rough miles to the river Waitara ; where, at
length, we broke our fast."
1 868.] FINAL DEPARTURE FROM AUCKLAND. 237
lost among us. But how can it be helped, in consequence of the
word of our great one, the Queen !
Sire, our thought with regard to you is that you are like the
poor man's lamb taken away by the rich man. This is our parting
wish for you both : Go, sire, and may God preserve you both !
May he also provide a man to take your place, of equal powers
with yourself! Go, sire, we shall no more see each other in the
body, but we shall see one another in our thoughts. However,
we are led and protected and sanctified by the same Spirit.
Such is the nature of this short life, to sunder our bodies ; but in
a little while, when we shall meet in the assembly of the saints,
we shall see each other face to face, one fold under one Shepherd.
This is our lament for you in few words : —
" Love to our friend, who has disappeared abruptly from the ranks !
Is he a small man that he was so beloved ?
He has not his equal amongst the many.
The food he dispensed is longed for by me."
At last came the sad day of final departure, October
20, 1868, — a day that will not readily be forgotten of that
generation. The shops at x\uckland were all shut, crowds
filled the streets, and at the concluding service in St. John's
Church multitudes were unable to find room. The service
over, nothing remained but to escort the departing Bishop,
his wife and son and staunch friend Bishop Abraham,
down to the pier. And now an extraordinary sight pre-
sented itself. A sort of triumphal car had been extem-
porized — brilliant in colours and with a seat aloft for the
" mother," Mrs. Selwyn. All the party were embarked on
this towering construction ; and four horses slowly dragged
it to the harbour, while the Bishop, leaning over the side,
responded to the " hurrahs " and shook hands repeatedly
with the excited crowd. At length, on reaching the foot
of the pier, the horses were taken out ; and the crowd,
238 BISHOP SELWYN. [1868.
seizing the ponderous vehicle, dragged it along the pier
to the steamer's side. In a few minutes, ropes were cast
off, the screw began to churn the sea, and they were gone.
At 6.45 p.m. (wrote the Bishop), on the 21st, Cape Maria
Van Diemen melted away into the twilight mist. Another look
at the " Three Kings " was the close of all. And then the thought
came upon me with great bitterness that I should never see the
dear old land again. But the mind has now settled down upon
ils new bearings : and the magnet of English interests and work
begins to draw me on.
Another letter, written about this time to Archdeacon
Allen at home, expresses the same feelings : —
I confess that a large portion of my heart is in my old land.
But if it please God I can get Bishop Harper appointed Primate
in my room, and somebody to succeed me in my own diocese
[at Auckland], then I shall begin to feel contented with my new
lot, and shall be able to work with an undivided mind. My
excellent archdeacons and rural deans will prepare the way, by
obtaining such information as will enable us (by God's blessing)
to go to work in earnest next year. The simple question is,
" What are the wants of the diocese ? " And, having found the
answer, then never to rest till they are supplied.*
» Grier, " Life of Archdeacon Allen " (1888), p. 268.
CHAPTER II.
1869.
Return from farewell visit to New Zealand — Vigorous work in England — Dean
Champneys — First illness — The Irish Church — Speech in the House of
Lords — Consecration of Bishop Temple — First General Chapter.
On the last day of the year 1868, after precisely six
months' absence, the Bishop found himself once more " at
home " in England. He was accompanied on this voyage
by Bishop Abraham (whose wife had been compelled by
illness to leave New Zealand), as well as by his own wife
and son. The party took the route via Sydney, Ceylon,
the Red Sea, and the Mediterranean, and the journey was
completed without any misadventure. On reaching South-
ampton the Bishop began with a visit to his brother at
Richmond, and then, without loss of a day, addressed him-
self vigorously to diocesan work. The feelings of this time
are faithfully reflected in the following passage from a
private letter of one of the party to a friend in New
Zealand — *
Bromfield, January 24, 1869.
I will begin with a sketch of our doings. After reaching
London on December 30th, and listening to the London bells
240 BISHOP SEUVVy. [1869.
ringing in the new year, we went to Richmond on January 2nd.
. . . Edw. Coleridge looks white and old, but is full of life, and
talked much of Mr. Ffoulkes's letter to Archbishop Manning and
of Christopher Wordsworth's letter to the Pope, on the occasion of
his omitting the English bishops in his invitation to the great
council coming on soon. Mr. Ffoulkes, though a '"vert," can by
no means see through the eyes of his ecclesiastical superiors. He
has much to say on the subject of grace within the Church of
England, in which he believes ; and also on the schism occasioned
by the introduction of the Filioque clause on the part of the
Western Church into the Nicene Creed. The attitude of the
Church is not sleep in these days, truly. But it is restless ; and
charity does not wax where controversy runs high, even though
there is much doing, much zeal, much real work. Sadly, too,
this controversy now all runs upon the holiest of subjects. Mean-
while, it is a pleasure to find that synodical action is becoming
first familiar and then popular. The Bishop of Ely has held his
" conferences," and the Bishop of Gloucester is ready to do so too,
if his clergy wish it. It has gone on well in Lichfield, in the
careful hands of Bishop Trower, who had meetings and prepared
work. A report on the great subject of lay-agency is to be pre-
sented very soon, as its fruits. ... I am glad that George is left
free to work out his plans for enabling the Church to speak with
authority and to act with uniformity.
We came down to Lichfield on the 8th, the bells ringing a
cheery welcome and the spires looking beautiful in the winter
sunset-glow. It is right pleasant to be so greeted and welcomed
at both ends of the earth. We feel thankful and humbled to
think of the outpouring of love that is given to us. Here we
remained ten days, and then went to Bromfield to see Willie and
Co. All well, and Georgie chattering to " Grandmama Lich-
field," as he calls me. We spent one day at Hereford. I envied
nothing there but the choir, which is better than ours. But I hear
that our new Dean (Champneys) was of great value to the music
at St. Paul's, and I hope he will mend our ways.
On the 2ist, we went to Walcot (Lord Powis's), where we met
1869.3 VISITS IN ENGLAND. 24 1
most of the family, and were very happy. I wish you could see
the conservatory blazing with camellias. We came back to Brom-
field for the Sunday, and all four of us went in the evening to
Ludlow church — a glorious place. On Monday, we went to Sandon
(Lord Harrowby's). He is a good old man ; not of the highest
school in the Church, but a great supporter of George and of
conferences. Lord and Lady Shrewsbury came to dinner (another
good layman, and one ready to assist). George would only go to
a very few of these "lay figures" last year, while synodizing, but
thinks it; well now to see something of them : hence so many
lords and ladies. The whole party listened with intelligent
interest to our talk about the Maories, not ready to judge harshly
because of the complication and entanglement of right and wrong
on either side. For here we heard news that made our hearts
sink, and neutralized all pleasure in our present agrcments by the
thought that you are walking in the shadow of death. The last
telegram, which said that the Hau-haus * had been defeated, abates
our fears, but it does not heal the past. We feel that we ought to
be there, to share all. Yet One is with you, upholding you with
His love — the "Friend closer than a brother." To Him we can
only commend you. We have no letters yet. . . .
Our next move was to Burghley. Disraeli is here, and Lady
Beaconsfield, his wife, fifteen years older than he. They are a
most loving and funny pair. He is just like his pictures, only
shrunken and with a distrait look. He will bow on Lady Exeter's
hand and kiss it, like Sir Charles Grandison ; but it infuriates her.
Gladstone's majority is strong, but it is thought that the details of
settling the Irish Church will be very difficult. . . . M has
very kindly lent me a maid for all the grand visits. She is a
wholly foreign body to me at other times, being that I am sauvage.
and used to do for myself. But it is a bore going to such places
without one ; and the very grand ladies who offer their services
alarm me as much as my fit-out would amuse them. . . . Alas,
that our first news [from N. Z.] should be so very doleful ! I take
* See p. S3.
R
242 BISHOP SELIVYN. [1869
my sorrowful thoughts of you all to the cathedral, and find some
comfort there.
The following letter from one outside the immediate
circle at Lichfield, will give an idea how the Bishop's
removal from New Zealand was viewed by his friends at
home : —
Miss F. Patteson to Bishop Patteson.
Dearest Coley,
What a change for all of you at the Antipodes has
been -wrought by the Primate's move ! AVhen first you hear that
the strong persuasions of the Archbishop, and the Queen's per-
sonal request and almost command, have induced him to accept
the See of Lichfield, your feelings will be too much mixed for
utterance. I think the sense of loss must rush uppermost ; and
then the thought of England's gain, and great stirrings of heart as
to God's providence, will follow. Then will come prayer that he
may have been guided aright, and that you all may see this, and
may be helped to carry on the work in closer union with the one
only source of strength, when your greatest earthly assistance is
removed from you. I will send you a copy of Mrs. Selwyn's
letter, so that if she does not write herself 3'ou may see her
thoughts. For I should not a bit wonder if her courage fails, and
she lets the first news come to you from others. When first I saw
in the papers that, after his refusal of Lichfield, the appointment
had not been filled up and he had been asked to reconsider his
answer, my heart misgave me ; and when the paper announced
the fact, I did feel very very much cast down. Still I could see the
grandeur of the self-renunciation, and the desire to be led straight
onward and to obey. ... I cannot myself anticipate anything
but good from his coming. Such a man is of the very stamp to
battle with the heathenism of the Black Country ; and to cry aloud
until he gets a division of the work ; and, moreover, to rally men
1869.] MOTIVES MISUNDERSTOOD. 243
round him. They have seen his energy in his missionary life,
and have showed their appreciation of it by their vehement and
universal welcome of him on his return, and their rejoicings at his
promise to stay. Thus they will be ready to follow him as a leader,
when a man of more self-indulgent life would be disregarded. It
is a great boon to us personally. But I feel almost too near to
him and Mrs. Selwyn, after their visit here, to look at it from
outside. I feel with them, and not about them. . . . The M s
have a strong feeling that the Primate has almost broken his
word by this step. For they affirm that he has not only always
set his face against translations, but has continually asserted his
intention of sticking to his own diocese as long as he could work,
and has insisted upon the mischief of fresh men taking up the
management. I never heard this either from you or him, —
further than that he had cast in his lot with New Zealand, and
intended to remain there. But that is in no way a binding
assertion — simply an opinion or intention, which circumstances
may overrule. I have written to Lady M . Poor souls, I do
unfeignedly pity them !
Your affectionate sister,
F. Patteson.
Another letter, from one within the Lichfield circle,
fully corroborates all that was written to Bishop Patteson : —
Mrs. Selwyn to Miss F. Patteson.
Dearest F ,
How could I have written to you at this time, if things
had been as heretofore with the Melanesian mission, — if the child
had not left the parent nest and set up for itself? Your own kind
and loving words make that easier, which is still very hard.
There is so much that presses in every way. But at present, I
own, the thing that presses me sorest is the thought of the dear
people in New Zealand. Every thought of every one rises up with
244 BISHOP SELWYN. [1869.
a distinct and separate pain. But if the thing is right, all will
come right. You know that it was not sought, and how little it
was desired, — not at all, not one atom. He could refuse Lord
Derby's ofter by return of post, as he owned no duty there, and
acknowledged no call. But the Archbishop shook him to the
core ; for he has ever obeyed when he recognized the duty. And
then came the personal desire of the Queen. And thus he
descends from his pedestal, and remains. In that descent, in the
prospect of being misjudged in all this matter, in the thought that
after years of work and antagonism in New Zealand he had gained
the day and won his place, while here he falls upon evil times and
uphill work once more, — in all this there is a measure of satisfac-
tion. It is a test of motives, and a set-off against the unmitigated
congratulations of those who only know one side of the case.
Dear F , it is an awful thing for any man to come in upon the
back of such large expectations. You will remember him in your
prayers, that he may be strengthened for the work to which (we
may hope) he has been divinely called. Johnnie's resolution as
to his calling in life remains steadfast, although he will now be
called upon to help his father in a different way. I will send you
a photo with the beloved old signature. I am glad for one reason,
especially, that the Queen spoke to the Bishop as she did. The
Maoris will recognize and understand her command, and also the
Archbishop's ; but they would not have made anything of Lord
Derby. Farewell, dearest F .
Your very affectionate
S. H. Selwyn.
Amid all his sorrowful thoughts, connected with the
diocese which he had now for ever left, the Bishop found
his usual and never-failing source of consolation in the
sight of a vast field of action, awaiting his animating and
directing presence in the midland counties. But his first
care was to provide a successor for the See of Auckland —
1869.] ALTERATIONS AT THE PALACE. 245
the choice having been committed to him by the synod in
New Zealand. He then, amid much confusion and dis-
comfort, settled himself and his family in the half-restored
palace, where many of the alterations were still incom-
plete. He arranged things as well as he could under the
circumstances ; and hammering and painting went on with
redoubled vigour under his surveillance. Much had been
done to the old house ; and its aspect had been completely
changed by the addition of a chapel and of two large
wings in front of the main building. One of these wings
contained offices for the Bishop's secretary and clerks, with
bed-rooms above for the ordination candidates, who would
thus in the future be always boarded and lodged at the
palace, instead of being obliged to provide their own
accommodation at the inns and lodgings about the town.
The opposite wing consisted of a large hall for the ordina-
tion examinations, for lectures to the students at the
college, and for meetings of various kinds. For instance,
a missionary working-party had been started, before the
Bishop's farewell visit to New Zealand, with Mrs. Selwyn
as president ; who told anecdotes of her experiences and
adventures in the Southern Seas, and read letters from
Melanesia, while garments were made for the scholars at
Norfolk Island. This, too, found a place at the palace, the
Bishop calling it his " Stitchery." In fact, for ten years
that palace-hall formed a centre of diocesan and social life.
The hospitable long tables spread there at all the diocesan
festivals, where tired wayfarers were refreshed with simple
viands and cheered by kindly words and attentions, must
be still fresh in the memory of many. Missionary meet-
ings — prize-givings for the Sunday-school children of the
246 BISHOP SELWYN. [1869.
diocese, with a hearty shake of the hand from the Bishop
himself to each recipient — the entertainment of the work-
house children every Christmas, with a social gathering of
friends and neighbours afterwards, — everything, in short,
was held there ; and it seemed as if the great hall could
not possibly have been dispensed with. It had become, as
it were, the " parish-room " of the diocese.
While the Bishop was absent in New Zealand, a change
had taken place at the cathedral, owing to the death of
the Dean. His successor, the Rev. William Weldon
Champneys, when Rector of Whitechapel, had taken an
active part in helping forward the New Zealand mission by
penny contributions from the scholars of his vast schools,
whose interest had been excited by an address from
Bishop Selwyn in 1854. In memory of this, when the
Bishop and Dean found themselves still more closely
connected together, side by side in the palace and deanery
at Lichfield, a window was placed in the chapel, looking
towards the deanery, in which was pictured the design of
the medal which had been sent out by the Dean to be
worn by the Maori children, — a map of the world, with
England to the north and New Zealand to the south,
and on a scroll joining them together the motto written :
" Both one in Christ." The other windows in the chapel
were presented by the officers and men who had served in
New Zealand during the war, in token of their gratitude
for the Bishop's attention to their bodily and spiritual
welfare in that campaign. They all, therefore, present
military scenes taken from Old Testament and New
Testament story. But one of them had a special
meaning of its own. It is a medallion depicting David
1869.] WINDOWS IN THE NEW CHAPEL. 247
in the act of pouring out the longed-for " water of
Bethlehem," procured for him by three of his " mighty
men" at the risk of their own lives (2 Sam. xxiii. 16).
This medallion is meant to commemorate the similar
heroic action of Henere Taratoa (a pupil of the Bishop's
at St. John's College, Auckland) already narrated.* He
had there attached himself especially to Mr. Nihill ; but,
though very clever and wonderfully good at music and
drawing, he did not then commend himself to the
authorities as very " toward " and manageable. When the
war afterwards broke out, he felt bound to join his tribe :
and he was one of the defenders of the Gate Pa, near
Tauranga, where the two brave Glovers fell and the 43rd
Regiment suffered so severely. On the repulse of our
troops, a wounded officer was left inside ; and his faint
cries for water could not be responded to, — for the nearest
water was within the British lines. Whereupon this brave
young Christian Maori crept down unobserved beyond the
sentries, and brought safely back a vessel of water to
refresh his enemy's dying lips. Next day, he too died a
soldier's death ; and on his person was found the text of
Holy Scripture which had suggested this noble deed : " If
thine enemy thirst, give him drink."
One of the first changes made by the Bishop in the
diocesan arrangements was to hold confirmations annually
instead of triennially. With the assistance of his two
coadjutors (Bishop Abraham and Bishop Hobhouse) he
was enabled to carry out this arduous undertaking. And
in his pastoral letter to the clergy of the diocese in 1869,
he says : —
* Seep. 178.
248 BISHOP SELWYN. [1869.
I venture to hope, in submission to Him without whom we
can do nothing, that I shall be able to administer the rite of
confirmation annually in all the larger parishes ; and once in
two or three years in the smaller parishes, by a cycle so arranged
that the confirmation may be held in each parish in turn. I hope
it may thus be found possible to induce the parents and sponsors
of the children to attend as witnesses of their confirmation. Upon
this plan, no formal notice will be necessary to call upon you to
collect your candidates. . . . The impulse will not be lost, nor
will the dead weight have to be heaved afresh by a new effort ; as
the Bishop's invitation to hold a confirmation, and the clergyman's
continued work in preparing his candidates, will be assumed as a
matter of course.
His words later on, at a diocesan conference, on the
same subject were as follows : —
Religious education comes to its point in the apostolical
ordinance of confirmation. In that, the Holy Spirit seals and
blesses the efforts of pastors, parents and sponsors, teachers of
schools, masters and mistresses of families, to instruct the young
committed to their charge in all things which a Christian ought
to know and believe to his soul's health. With the aid of my
coadjutor Bishops, I have been enabled to carry this holy
ordinance into almost every parish in the diocese. The con-
firmations have been held annually, in order that the work of
pastoral instruction may never cease, and that the harvest may be
gathered in at the exact period of maturity. I desire the united
prayers of the clergy, the constant teaching of the yearly class,
the influence of the newly confirmed on the younger children
who are next in succession.
It was a noble idea, and one well worthy of so faithful
a pastor and so sound a Churchman. For the Church, by
her characteristic phrase " baptismal regeneration " — as
distinguished from the " sudden conversion " theory of
1869.] THEORY OF ''CONFIRMATION.'' 249
Dissent — lays her main stress on the gradual building-
up, renewal, evolution, education of the Christian child.
And so the steady catechizing of the young becomes one
of the most important and essential duties that devolve
upon the parish-priest. And it was, undoubtedly, for the
express purpose of leaving room for the fulfilment of this
ministry, that the Church has, in these Western lands,
separated confirmation from its primitive and Oriental
position as part of the ritual of baptism. Her intention was
precisely that to which practical effect was now given in
the diocese of Lichfield : viz. that the intervening time
might be continuously used in quiet religious training,
with confirmation (as the Church's "good degree") ever in
view at the end. But with dioceses so vast as that of
Lichfield — like most other English dioceses — then was,
such an annual perambulation of two or three counties for
confirmation purposes was a herculean task. Its success
depended on fortunate circumstances, which could not be
relied upon as always likely to be present — circumstances
such as the possession by the Bishop of the most vigorous
bodily powers, or his ability to command the services of
devoted and efficient coadjutors. Either therefore dioceses
must at last, in accordance with the earnest recommenda-
tion of the Puritans in 1660,* be subdivided ; or else re-
course must be had to the simple and practical system
which has for ages been prevalent in the Eastern Church,
where this particular part of the bishop's office is devolved,
by express commission, upon the parish priests. In our
own country it might easily be devolved upon the arch-
deacons. But, following the general opinion of his day,
* Cardwell, " Conferences on the Prayer-Book," p. 2S0.
250 BISHOP SELJVYK [1S69.
Bishop Schvyn preferred the former of these two alterna-
tives ; and, as has been already noticed, he expressly
arranged his "conferences" with a view to a rather minute
eventual subdivision of dioceses.
But it soon appeared that even his massive frame and
calm powerful mind would with difficulty stand the strain
that he had determined to put upon it. Before seven
months had elapsed his health gave signs of breaking down.
It is true that the huge burden of the diocese was not
alone responsible for this misfortune. The illness and
unexpected death of his brother Charles, the Lord Justice
Selwyn, whom he had so lately visited at Richmond, told
heavily upon him ; the more so, as it was abruptly tele-
graphed to him while holding a public meeting, and he
had violently to suppress his feelings till the meeting was
over. Another subject of great public anxiety at this time,
the proposed disestablishment of the Irish Church, caused
him no small mental distress. The consequence was that,
in August, 1869, while busily engaged in energetic minis-
tries of all kinds — especially to the young — in Derbyshire,
he suddenly succumbed to an attack of nervous prostra-
tion ; and a period of rest for two months was imperatively
insisted on by his medical adviser. Fortunately, he was
.staying at the time in a delightful house, near Chapel-en-le-
Frith, whose mistress was, not only a most kind, but a
most practical woman. Her thoughtfulness always pro-
vided in the spare-room a small phial of brandy, in case
any guest might be suddenly taken ill. And this pro-
vision it was which — during a night of faintness and
apparently approaching death — saved the Bishop's life.
Bishop Abraham, too, was fortunately at hand, and soon
1869.] ILLNESS IN DERBYSHIRE. 25 1
received a formal commission to hold the September ordi-
nation in Lichfield Cathedral. Indeed, every one was ready
to help in any way he could — if it were only by sup-
pressing the irritating letter, consigning the unwelcome
newspaper-cutting to the waste-paper basket, and deferring
in respectful silence the expression of some long-meditated
and time-honoured grievance. Had a similar consideration
always been shown to him, perhaps a life so unspeakably
precious to his diocese, and to the whole Anglican com-
munion, might have been much further prolonged than it
ultimately was. At all events, a certain drawer in the
Bishop's beautiful study-table, inlaid with variously grained
woods from his beloved New Zealand forests — vast soli-
tudes, where he had so often walked amid Nature's re-
storing peace — would have been less crowded than it was
with stout cartridge-paper envelopes, each docketed with
some parish squabble, or clerical complaint, or personal
dispute.
However, ere two months were passed, all hearts were
cheered by the good news that the Bishop was better,
and, with his wonted energy not much impaired, was likely
to be very soon again at work among the Dalesmen of the
Peak, the grimy puddlers of the Black Country, and the
squires or " noble lords " who would insist upon " killing
the Bishop with kindness," especially by exhibiting him
at unwelcome public luncheons, and by proposing super-
fluous votes of thanks to him (as he humorously com-
plained) for " simply doing his duty." " For doing one's
duty " — it was one of his favourite maxims — " no man
ought to be publicly thanked." No doubt he felt with
St. Paul, " If I were doing this thing as a mere volunteer,
252 BISHOP SELWYN. [1869.
I might have some claim to reward ; but if I am acting
under commission, then it is simply a case of fulfilling a
trust : and ' Woe is unto me, if I preach not the gospel' "*
Meantime the m.uch-dreaded Bill for the Disestablish-
ment of the Irish Church had (in July, 1869) been finally
passed by Mr. Gladstone's Government, and had received
the Queen's assent. Now, of all men living at that time,
there was one whose experience in the organization and
equipment of a disestablished Church was absolutely
unique. Bishop Selwyn had himself — with the invalu-
able aid of his trusty friend, Sir William Martin, Chief
Justice of New Zealand — actually carried his Church, with
brilliant and permanent success, through all the throes of
disconnection from the State. Fifteen years before, he had
undertaken a long voyage to England on purpose to clear
the way from all legal and political difficulties. And at
last (in July, 1858) the New Zealand Legislature had
passed a bill recognizing the entire independence of the
Church and sanctioning the General Synod as the govern-
ing body of the whole ecclesiastical province of New
Zealand. This synod had accordingly met in 1859; and
had sat with great regularity ever since — on the model of
the American " General Convention " — every three years.
Bishop Selwyn's experience, too, had been enriched, and
the wisdom of his method had been confirmed, by observa-
tion of somewhat dissimilar, though analogous, methods
followed by Canada in i86r, and by Australia in 1866.
And now, in 1869, this "wise master-builder" had been
removed to England — providentially, as it might have
seemed, — ^just in time to take a leading part in the re-
* I Cor. ix. 16.
1 869.] THE IRISH CHURCH. 253
arrangement of Irish Church affairs. Will it be believed ? —
his advice was never even asked ; his accumulated stores
of experience were never drawn upon. Is it that a certain
fatality overhangs everything Irish ? Or is it that, in those
days, neither Churchmen nor politicians at home had
yet awoke to the transcendent importance and profound
interest of our colonies ; and were therefore disposed good-
humouredly to smile at colonial ways, and to " pass them
by on the other side " ? On either supposition, a great
opportunity was lost. And Bishop Selwyn — though he
was the last man in the world to complain of any slight or
neglect — on one occasion, and one alone, let fall an allusion
to the subject which sufficiently revealed what he felt.
There is no doubt (he writes to Sir William Martin) that the
Irish Church may be made far more efficient than before. But
two rocks are ahead, self-interest and party-spirit. Bishop Abra-
ham and I hold up New Zealand. But people in England do
not like a little child to lead them ? Thus, pleasing nobody, I
shall probably have no part in rebuilding the Irish Church, —
though I feel as if I had served an apprenticeship qualifying me
to act as a master-builder.
But whether personally consulted or not, there is little
doubt that our great Bishop exercised, by the far-reaching
good sense of his arrangements for New Zealand, a pre-
ponderating influence upon the fortunes of the sister Church
in Ireland. For almost every icnportant provision embodied
in the "Constitution of the Irish Church" in 1870, and
since tested by many years of practical utility, had pre-
viously been proved and tested by thirteen years of success-
ful working in New Zealand. A general synod, composed
of three distinct orders — bishops, clergy, and laity, all sitting
2 54 BISHOP SELWYN. [1869.
and dcbatinc^ together, but voting separately by " orders " —
is the keystone in the constitution of both Churches. A
subordinate system of diocesan synods, formed on the same
model as the general synod, is also an essential feature
in both cases. Standing conunittees — fly-wheels, as it were,
to carry on the momentum of the machine in the intervals
between the actual session of these synods — are a device
common to both. Ecclesiastical tribunals, constituted by
the authority of the general synod, but empowered to act
only on such persons as have voluntarily consented to be
judged thereby, are in either case the extremest form
of coercive authority to be set in motion. Boards of
patronage, at which the wishes of parishioners can make
themselves heard, and which bind each parish to con-
tribute to the support of its own clergyman ; a careful
register of Church-members ; and a financial board, or re-
presentative body, recognized by the law as the responsible
manager of the property of the Church ; — these also are
arrangements common to the two communions who were
successively called upon, at opposite ends of the earth, to
take measures for their own government apart from all
further interference from the State. In one word, they both
fell back npon the living principle of primitive Christianity,
viz. voluntary consent. Divorced by " disestablishment "
from the coercive authority of the State, they both took
refuge in the persuasive authority of the Church ; and only
invoked the aid of the State when voluntary contracts had
been formally entered into — with which, of course, no
man may be permitted to play fast and loose at his own
pleasure.
It was on this point that, at the very first meeting of
1869.] ''VOLUNTARY COMPACT." 255
the New Zealand general synod (March 9, 1859), Bishop
Selwyn had spoken as follows : —
The present meeting is the fulfilment of hopes which have
been cherished by many of us during a period of fifteen years.
In the year 1844, the first synod was held at the Waimate ; but,
in the uncertainty which prevailed on the subject of Church-
government in the colonies, many high authorities in England
censured our proceedings as illegal. Being well aware that this
opinion was unfounded, I was not deterred from holding a second
synod at Auckland in 1847, at which I read a correspondence
between the Archbishop of Canterbury and Mr. Gladstone, con-
taining a proposal for a Church-constitution in which the three
orders of bishops, clergy, and laity should be associated on the
basis of voluntary compact. These diocesan synods of 1844 and
1847 were exclusively clerical : but from that time, efforts have
never been intermitted with a view to the admission of lay-repre-
sentatives. . . . We have not acted unadvisedly in avoiding, as
much as possible, all application to the Colonial Legislature.
The constitution given us in one session might have been altered
in another. These and many more reasons induced the conference
at Auckland, in 1857, to concur in founding our Church-consti-
tution on the basis of mutual and voluntary compact.
If we now turn to the disestablished Church in Ireland,
we shall find its constitution thus laid down by its own
general convention, assembled for the purpose in 1870 : —
The general synod shall consist of three orders, viz., the
bishops, clergy, and laity, — sitting together for deliberation and
transaction of business. A canon of the general synod shall
thenceforth be a law of the Church of Ireland, and binding on all
the members thereof . . . And whereas it is necessary that
ecclesiastical tribunals be established^ there shall be a diocesan
court in each diocese. . . . Where the bishop shall in open court
256 BISHOP SELWYN. [1869.
pronounce sentence according to law, . . . with liberty of appeal
to the court of the general synod.*
This phrase, "according to law," is explained by the
express language of the disestablishing Act of 1869 : —
The present ecclesiastical law of Ireland, — subject to such
alterations as may (after January i, 187 1) be duly made therein,
according to the constitution of the said Church, — shall be deemed
to be binding on the members for the time being, in the same
manner as if such jnembers had mutually conti-acted a?id agreed to
abide by and observe the same ; and shall be capable of being
enforced in the temporal courts in relation to any property. . . .
But nothing herein contained shall be construed to confer on any
bishop, or other ecclesiastical person, any coercive jurisdiction
whatsoever, f
But in spite of the great similarity betu^een these two
cases, and the remarkable avoidance in both instances of
the grave mistakes made in disestablishing other Churches,
— for instance, in Canada and Victoria, where Acts of
Parliament were unwisely invoked to arrange their general
synods in detail, — nevertheless, until the State had finally
determined on the severance of the Irish Church from the
State, Bishop Selwyn felt himself bound strenuously to
oppose the measure. No doubt he had not forgotten his
words at Auckland in 1859: "If the Church of England
were but disestablished, how grandly she would prosper."
But this had been said in the enthusiasm of triumph, at
seeing his beloved Church of New Zealand fairly launched
and afloat. When the complexities of the question, as it
presents itself in the old long-settled countries of Europe,
* "Acts of the General Convention, 1S70," pp. 4, 10, 48, 55.
t "Irish Church Act," § 20.
1S69.] SPEECH IN HOUSE OF LORDS. 2^7
came clearly before him, he modified his opinion. This
appeared so early as March, 1868, when he spoke thus in
Staffordshire : —
I am personally acquainted with ]Mr. Gladstone ; he was a
school-fellow of mine. Nevertheless, he will have my most
determined opposition [on the disestablishment of the Irish
Church], because I believe that his resolutions are but the first of
a series, which will end in attacking the Church of England. It
has been supposed that, because I lived for twenty-six years in the
midst of a non-established Church and saw it grow up in spite of
the inconveniences of the voluntary principle, I am therefore in
favour of that principle. Nothing of the kind. I tried to make
the best of the New Zealand Church ; and I succeeded by this
very organization of synods, without which we could not have
held our ground for a moment. ... I avow myself the most
determined upholder (so help me God !) of the Church established,
both in Ireland and England.
With equal clearness and decision he spoke out (June
18, 1869) in the House of Lords, during the debate on the
third reading of the Bill. That august assembly, fenced
round with every sort of factitious old-world solemnity and
expecting to be addressed in measured tones and carefully
rounded periods, formed an uncongenial audience for a
Peer ennobled by twenty-six years of rough missionary
work in New Zealand forests and on rolling Southern Seas.
The present occasion, therefore, was the only one which
ever, in all his life, drew from him any lengthened effort of
Parliamentary oratory : and the speech was (as might be
anticipated) a most curious and characteristic one.
My lords (he said), though I appear here as a young member
of your lordships' house, I am an old member of my order. ... In
S
258 BISHOP SELIVYN. [1869.
the diocese over which I presided, I was disestablished and dis-
endowed fourteen years ago. I feel, therefore, that I can trust
myself on this occasion to form an unprejudiced opinion and to
give a conscientious vote. Now, my lords, I shall vote against
this Bill, because I object to its principle and to almost every
one of its details. The United Church of England and Ireland
is one Church, and I see no reason why that union should be dis-
solved ; just as the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland
is one kingdom, and I see no reason why that union should be
repealed. But I hope, my lords, you will not think I am going
to defend abuses. I am ready to join my old friend j\Ir. Glad-
stone in cutting out all abuses, root and branch, I believe I am
as great a Radical in that respect as he. But I am not prepared
to admit that the establishment of part of the English Church
in Ireland is itself an abuse : and that, I believe, is the principle
of the Bill. ... I think '• disendowment " a very ugly word — it
seems to me a very ugly word. The question of disendowment
assumes a very serious form when it means that the State may
save its own pockets by confiscating the property of the Church.
.... If there be any property which belongs fairly to the Church
of Rome, by all means let it be given up. But the Church of
England professes no sympathy with the antiquated system of
confiscation ; on the contrary, we believe there cannot be a worse
system. New Zealand furnishes the strongest evidence that can
be found of the evil of such a policy : because there the British
Government has had to spend five millions in order to undo
its ruinous effects. . . . When the clergy consented to be taxed
in common with the laity, they did not mean that the State
should, whenever it might think proper, put its hand into the
treasury of the Church and take out what it pleased, to pay its ov>-n
debts. . . . The reasons assigned are^ — first, that the Established
Church is a badge of slavery. Now, my lords, I do not know
anything in England which is not a badge of slavery, except the
National Anthem. Scott informs us that "beef" and "mutton"
are signs of the Norman Conquest. Even the presence of the
Princess of Wales among us is a " badge of slaverv : " for we know
1S69.] "SINK OR SWIM!''' 259
that her ancestors (the Danes) overran a great part of England,
and that she has conquered the whole. . . . Let me take another
argument. Unfortunately the treasury bench is now deserted
[Lord Dufferin was, at that moment, its only occupant] : but this
is the bench on which sit the representatives of the Queen's
supremacy. Now you are responsible if, by your advice, contrary to
the honour of the crown and the advantage of the kingdom, you
abridge the number of persons who are willing to recognize her
Majesty's supremacy. ... I have myself seen how it is possible
for the three forms of establishment which you find in Ireland to
work together harmoniously. In New Zealand I was one of
three military chaplains who all held the commission of her
Majesty : there was an excellent Roman Catholic chaplain ; and
there was a Presbyterian chaplain. Charity and good feeling
prevailed. . . . You cannot expect me to vote for the expulsion
[from Parliament] of these right reverend brethren of mine ! You
cannot expect me to desert them, as mice — I will not say "rats "
— desert a sinking ship ! Sink or swim, as a bishop of the United
Church of England and Ireland, I stand by the side of these right
reverend prelates. . . . The poor are the persons for whom an
establishment provides. Speaking from my own experience in
the colonies, where we are non-established, I can bear testimony
to the fact that rivalry between the religious bodies prevents the
government making any allowance whatever for [religious in-
struction in] gaols or hospitals. . . . You have begun at the
wrong end. For the real difficulty and danger in Ireland, every-
body admits, is the land. Why not, then, go boldly into the
question of " the land " ? Why not adopt a sound solid system
which should place honest and intelligent farmers in the posses-
sion of a portion of the land which they till ? . . . I believe this
bill to be the beginning of a long war against all establishments, in
both Great Britain and Ireland. . . . But I have this consolation :
however erroneous the act of conciliation may appear to be, I
hope it will be recognized in the great council now about to be
assembled at Rome, that ... to the light of the English Bible,
which in the Reformation rose upon our land, it is owing that the
26o BISHOP SELWYN: [1869.
British Parliament is resolved, in a spirit of impartial justice and
comprehensive charity, to redress the wrongs of Ireland and to
heal her bleeding wounds.'"
It may be safely affirmed that no more " colonial " and
rough-hewn speech than this has ever been heard within
the decorous precincts of the Upper House. But who can
fail to perceive what tossing waves of conflicting sentiment
here raise their heads and heighten in mutual recoil, till
they break at last in blinding foam against the sullenly
opposing rock .'' Loyalty to his order, obedience to the
summons of superior authority, remembrance of the
splendid freedom of his own lately disestablished Church,
fear lest the poor should suffer by disestablishment at
home, hope that the irreconcilable Romanists might pos-
sibly be reconciled, dread of a great revolution in which
this measure would count but as a small instalment, — all
these discordant feelings were w'orking together, in some-
what chaotic fashion, in his mind ; and they resolved
themselves at last into a stern uncompromising resistance
to a measure which others hailed as an act of justice and
a providential withdrawal of the Irish Church from amid
the torrent-fury of approaching nationalist strife. Among
these last was one whose character and behaviour was in
many ways very similar to those of Bishop Selwyn, while
both his antecedents and his opinions were entirely dif-
ferent. The future Bishop of IManchestcr, James Fraser,
thus writes on March 4, 1869 : —
Come what may of it in the shape of consequences to the-
Church of England, I cannot resist the justice of Gladstone's
* Hansard, " Pailiamentaiy Debates," 1879.
i86y.] DR. TEMPLE. 26 1
measure; while the spirit in which he introduced his bill has
quite rehabilitated him in my eyes, as the statesman best qualified,
of all we have now, to deal with the problems of the age.*
Dr. Hook also, another representative man of the time,
took a favourable view of the measure.! Perhaps the truth
is, that it was both a righteous and an inevitable solution
of a distracting problem ; but that its "consequences " were
more shrewdly foreseen by Bishop Selwyn than by most of
those who took part in its discussion.
About this time a question, of a much narrower and
more theological character, unfortunately arose to disturb
the peace of the Church ; and on this, too. Bishop Selwyn
fearlessly gave utterance to an equally strong opinion. A
vacancy had occurred during this summer in the See of
Exeter ; and Mr. Gladstone had recommended Dr. Temple
— one of the writers in "Essays and Reviews" — for the im-
portant post. Dr. Temple was at this time head-master
of Rugby School, and had displayed in that responsible
position every quality which should render him successful
as the administrator of a diocese. But in 1869 that great
ebb of Christian belief was beginning, which has since caused
an ever-deepening anxiety to the Church. And the ecclesi-
astical leaders of the day — especially those whose opinions
had been formed at a much earlier epoch — were naturally
both alarmed and incensed. Hence, on October nth, at a
great meeting of the English Church Union held at Devon-
port, a violent opposition to Dr. Temple's appointment was
set on foot. Dr. Pusey went so far as to say it was " a
horrible scandal ; " when, "without any token of repentance,
* Hughes, "Life of Bishop Fraser" {1S87), p. 159.
t Stephens, "Life of Dr. Hook"' (7th ed.), p. 559.
262 BISHOP SELIVYN. [1SG9.
a writer with the blood of all those souls upon his head
is recommended as the guardian of the faith which once
he destroyed." And he ventured to add, " Disestablish-
ment appears to me now our only remedy." But, replied
Dr. Temple in a letter to the editor of a newspaper, " to
allow that a bishop-designate should be called upon to
make any other declaration than those required by law,
would be a serious infringement of ecclesiastical liberty;"
and it was pointed out that his essay was, after all, only
a sermon which had been preached, some time before,
from the university pulpit at Oxford, and had been re-
printed without any expression of concurrence in all the
miscellaneous opinions which " Essays and Reviews "
might contain. At any rate, honour and dignity alike
forbade the writer from publicly repudiating his colleagues,
even had he wished to do so. Nevertheless, the opposition
with dwindling force went on, led mainly by Bishop Trower
as a member of the Exeter Cathedral Chapter ; and when,
at length, the consecration took place in Westminster
Abbey (December 21, 1869), a written protest, demanding
at least further delay, was handed in by four opposing
bishops, viz., the Bishops of Gloucester, Hereford, Lincoln,
and Lichfield.
There is no question that this high elevation of one
among the most advanced skirmishers along the extremest
frontiers of orthodoxy was a true sign of the times. All
honour, therefore, to lo}-al and far-seeing Churchmen who
could not, and would not, avert their eyes from the fact
that a vast revolution in theological opinion had begun.
Nor is it undesirable that men of the " older learning "
should strongl}' resist such inno\"ations. For it is only
1S69.] ARCHBISHOP LYCURGUS. 263
by facing honest resistance that the character and the
strength of such innovations can ever really be tested.
Should they survive and grow and push their way to
the front, then it is time to leave the arena open for
free controversy to arise and to do its proper work.
Meantime the feelings and opinions of many Church
leaders, like Bishop Selwyn, at this juncture ma}- be
judged of by the following lively letter, written a few
weeks later on : —
I have never (writes Mrs. Selwyn to a dear friend in New
Zealand) seen George so well since he was ill ; and he has regained
his looks too. Our next move was to Walcot, Lord Powis's pretty
place in Shropshire, where all that remains of the largest con-
servatories in England is one grand house all ablaze with camellias.
At Walcot we met the Napiers of Magdala. A most unassuming
hero is he, and George had some pleasant intercourse with him.
General Wilhraham — a fine specimen of a godly soldier — was also
there, with his bright, tall daughter, I do not mean that he is
an exclusive Puritan, and talks good, and sits in judgment on his
fellow-creatures ; but he is after the pattern of Cornelius, and, I
doubt not, does great good at Netley, as he did before in the
Crimea. . . . With the large family party at Walcot we are always
very happy. It was an amusement to us, on Sunday, to go to
Bishop's Castle, where our tent would have been pitched had not
the course of events happily diverted us to New Zealand. Albeit,
I thought it very unhappy at the time. We came back to Lich-
field for a day, and then went to Nottingham, to the consecration
of Lincoln's suffragan. The occasion was graced by the presence
of Lycurgus, Archbishop of Syra, and his archimandrites. The
Archbishop is treated with wonderful deference by his "subs."
They neither sit nor eat in his presence ; but, haply, they smoke
the pipe of peace together. At any rate, a good whiff was left in
our bed-room. The consecration was followed by a banquet in the
264 BISHOP SELIVYX. [18:9.
tov/n-hall, where the Uishop of Luicoln read, rather than spoke,
an address in Greek, first asking his friends not to criticize his
" quantities," Ijecause the Modern Greek differs from (what is
perhaps) our barbarous pronunciation. I thought it all a bad
exchange for the rolling Greek, of which I hear so much from
George and Charles [Bishop Abraham].
On the 7th, we went up to London for convocation. The cold
set in fiercely the next day. But George is braced by frost, and
I, being Cockneyfied, am always very well in London. We had
divers Ijishops at the same hotel, who were all of one mind
touching Temple of Exeter. They came home on Thursday with
thankfulness at his consenting to withdraw his name from the
unhappy book ; but on Friday they returned disheartened and
downcast at the tone of his second speech. He evidently had
repented of his repentance, and came forward as the champion
of free-thought and free-handling. You will see, too, the dis-
cussion about a new translation [the Revised Version]. If they
confine themselves to copious marginal readings, very good ! But
if the text is altered, I hope the old one will last my time ; for
a great deal more than my strong conservative feelings would be
touched by this. On Sunday, we went to the Abbey, where the
commissionaires — a body of old soldiers — were keeping their
anniversary. Dean Stanley preached them a sermon on " man-
liness." It really was good, and we were truly glad to escape
" free-thought," and so forth. Afterwards, I ran away out of the
cold. But George felt at home among the soldiers — all the more
because the New Zealand medal had been sent to him from the
War-office the day before. . . . We called on '• Gloucester and
Bristol," who has a house in Portland Place for five months.
George thinks he should be sick of it in five weeks. But he is
happier in London now that he has established relations with
King's College Hospital, and can take services in the wards. The
new St. Thomas's looks very large, even opposite the Houses of
Parliament, and quite cclijises Lambeth Palace. But, if I were
Archljishop of Canterbury, I should like to have a hospital next
door.
1869.] EVAXGELIST ''MISSIONS.'' 265
In October, 1869, the Bishop returned to Lichfield ;
where, meanwhile, good seed was already being sown, which
has since borne admirable fruit. For in December, for the
first time, the general chapter of the cathedral was assem-
bled by the Bishop, with a special view to a thorough
revision of the ancient Latin statutes of the cathedral,
and a presentation of them in a modern English form.
This urgently-needed work— if, at least, the cathedral was
ever to become once more a real power for good in the
diocese — was gladly and even enthusiastically welcomed by
the chapter. And after five years of labour a result was
reached (in 1875) which has since been crowned, not only
with private approval, but with public sanction from her
Majesty's Cathedral Commission in 1886. For while every
other cathedral in the kingdom was then called upon to
alter and adapt its statutes, Lichfield alone received its
existing statutes back without a single proposed altera-
tion.
Another good work, of a more directly religious kind,
was also set on foot by the same chapter, under the
Bishop's inspiring initiation. This was the project of
carrying evangelist " missions " into the Black Country and
the Potteries, under the guidance and by the authority of
the chapter at the head-quarters of the diocese. No one
who has witnessed the striking developments which this
mission movement of 1869 has attained in later years,
under Bishop Maclagan, or who has taken part in the
crowded festivals of communicants (sometimes a thousand
strong) now held annually in the nave of the cathedral,
can doubt that an evangelistic work of the greatest im-
portance was thus begun ; nor can we wonder at the tone
266 BISHOP SETAVYX. [1869.
of thankful contentment which breathes through the
following letter: —
My husband (writes Mrs. Sehvj-n) is hoping to organize some
mission-work, in conjunction with the Great Chapter who are to
meet to-morrow in the cathedral. And as our sturdy Archdeacon
[Moore] himself proposed the resolution, and as the Dean
[Champneys] is interested and cooperative, there will (I hope) be
no opposition. But the mission priests — who have the mind of
the preaching Friars, I think — desire to put "confession" pro-
minently forward ; which would throw off a good many supporters.
After any awakening, such as is the special object of the mission,
the thing itself, the unburdening of the conscience, would come
naturally, — as it did with the Maories. But it does not seem
needful to call it by a controversial name which strokes the hair
of many the wrong way ... It will be a great happiness to
George to realize some part of his ancient dream that cathedrals
should fulfil their founders' wishes, and become again a source of
life and light to the world around them. The dense masses in
our neighbouring Black Country offer a fine field . . .
The chapter is over ! It has been a great success. But as
it was conducted according to some rules laid down in 1470,
which swear them to secrecy, we cannot " pump " the bishops.
Thus much we gather : that it was very satisfactory and a step
gained ; and George is very happy for his cathedral's sake. If
they were as vigorous in council as they Avere in cold collation
afterwards, they will do well.
One of the first laymen licensed by the Bishop to serve
in the diocese was the late John Nock Kagnall, one of the
principal ironmasters of South Staffordshire. He was
from his youth an earnest Churchman, and had long before
devoted his life to the service of God. He was, therefore,
especially fitted to be a pioneer in this good work of la}'-
evangelization. Accordingly, though living in the country
1S69.] JOHN NOCK BAGNALL. 2.6'J
a few miles from Lichfield, he often, at great inconvenience
to himself, went Sunday after Sunday to hold a service at
West Bromwich in the Black Countr}-. " I believe in him,"
was the remark of a passer-by to one of his congregation ;
"he isn't paid for it, and yet he leaves his home twelve
miles away to come and preach." On a fine summer
afternoon he would go out in surplice and cassock, accom-
panied by a choir headed by a cross-bearer, and conduct a
short service at some favourable spot ; and he never failed
to gather a goodly company round him, who listened
earnestly to his eloquent preaching. For ten years he
worked as lay-deacon at West Bromwich, and afterwards
offered his services to the Vicar of Ogley Hay, near Brown-
hills. Here he worked until failing health obliged him to
retire from all public life, and one of the clergy who was
serving the parish at the same time writes —
I have often said to myself, " If a layman like Colonel Bagnall
could work and do so much for Christ and His Church, what
ought not a clergyman to do ! " I learned from him, on Brown-
hills Common, what I have since tried to practise — to go out into
the highways and hedges and compel them to come in. His
example I shall not easily forget.
In conjunction with General Drake, R.E., another of the
licensed lay-deacons of the diocese. Colonel Bagnall held
special evening services in the village reading-room at
Shenstone during Advent and Lent, and by the express
sanction of the Bishop he was permitted to give some
addresses in the parish church on Sunday evenings during
Advent.
Such "missions" as these (said the Bishop, in a subsequent
268 BISHOP SELWYN. [1869.
address at Wolverhampton) will unite together in harmonious
action the divers gifts of the Spirit, which God has distributed
among different men ; will combine in one organization zealous
workers in each parish ; and, by concentrating their attention
upon the sins specially prevalent in that parish, will rouse up the
mass of the people to seek after those truths which will make
them wise unto salvation.
These words of the Bishop received striking confirma-
tion, shortly afterwards, in a parish in the Black Country.
For many years the self-devotion of the clergy had pro-
duced no visible effect whatsoever. As a last resort,
therefore, a " mission " was attempted ; and happening to
be emphasized by a violent thunder-storm, in which one
of the villagers was killed, it produced a perfect transfor-
mation in the character of the place. Pigeons kept for
betting purposes were got rid of; cards were flung into
the fire ; wives, who had never seen their husbands come
home sober, now saw them hastening to church ; and un-
married women were now no longer afraid to be out after
dark. The final result was a great confirmation, held by
Bishop Selwyn ; at which no less than one hundred and
twenty adults presented themselves — some being over fifty,
and some even over seventy, years of age. In short, "the
mass of the people were aroused to seek after the truths
which made them wise unto salvation."
CHAPTER III.
1870.
The Theological College — ^Ir. Forster's Education Act— Ritual disputes at
Wolverhampton — A Unitarian " Reviser " at Holy Communion in West-
minster Abbey — Keble College opened — The Franco-German War —
University Tests Bill — Work in the mining-districts.
The new year now opening was destined, throughout the
country, to be devoted to the subject of education. It was
appropriately begun, therefore, in the diocese of Lichfield,
by an appeal to the laity to support their Bishop's schemes
for extending and improving the training given to can-
didates for Holy Orders. The " extension" of such training
was, characteristically enough, to be carried downwards to
reach even the lower grades of society, — Bishop Selwyn
holding a firm belief that vast resources, both of energy
and devotion, lay there at the disposal of the Church, if
she had only faith and skill enough to use them. Accord-
ingly, he propounded to the diocese what he called a " pro-
bationer-scheme," — in other words, a plan for encouraging
and aiding young men, who were already engaged in lay-
work of various kinds, and who were anxious eventually
to dedicate their whole lives to their Master's service, to
prepare themselves for the ministry by a three-years' course
270 BISHOP SELWVy. [1870.
of study. Perhaps the scheme will be best explained by
quoting the words used by the principal of the college at
Stoke-on-Trent a little later on. Speaking of the increasing
number of young men who were anxious to take Holy
Orders, but who had not the means of supporting them-
selves during two years at the Theological College, he
said : —
Should such men be discouraged because they are poor ?
That would be strangely forgetful of the first principles of the
Church. In this dilemma, the Bishop has invented a scheme —
something like the Oxford and Cambridge local-examination
scheme — which secured several good objects at once. In the
first place, his own cathedral chapter was induced to take a lively
interest in the matter, and to examine the " probationers " who
might present themselves. And next, the parochial clergy all
over the diocese have been turned into the most able and efi'ective
recruiting sergeants. The clergyman recommends a young man,
directs him in his studies, employs him in parish work, and
certifies every half-year his diligence and good conduct. Then,
at the end of two years, the Theological College receives him for
one more year of final training, supporting him meanwhile by an
exhibition drawn from surplus college fees. This is the " pro-
bationer system." And we submit that such a system may draw
into the Church's service a large number of earnest and able men,
who would otherwise be lost to her; that many a bank-parlour,
counting-house, school-room, and even workshop, may thus be
laid under contribution ; and so that each class of society, being
allowed to offer its sons for her service, will find in the Church a
matter of common interest and a common field of labour.*
* E. A. C, p. 52. A few years later on, a local newspaper informed the
world how no less than twenty-three young men appeared, in April, at the
Bishop's palace for examination as " probationers." They acquitted them-
selves exceedingly well ; and "one of them — a blacksmith, from Derbyshire —
delighted a grave D.D. by his facile manner of Greek-construing, and by his
vigour and power of mind."
iSjo.] '' THE GENTLEMAN-HERESY.'-' 27I
It is possible (no doubt) that in this matter, as in some
others, the Bishop's colonial experience a little misled him.
He probably underrated the aristocratic feeling which
seems to be ingrain in the English people, and which
makes them always prefer a " gentleman " to lead them,
whether in spiritual or \\\ temporal matters. This feeling
certainly seems strangely out of place in a Church founded
by fishermen and tax-gatherers : and Bishop Selwyn was
never tired of stigmatizing it as " the gentleman-heresy." *
But if it exists, it must be taken account of And perhaps
the experience of more than fifteen years has led a good
many Churchmen to modify their first ardour for a pres-
byterate drawn from all orders of society indiscriminately ;
and to propound schemes for utilizing in lay-agency the
vast silent current of religious earnestness Avhich had
so long been allowed to run to waste. The office of
" reader," especially, seems ready to hand ; and when this
" minor order " had been somewhat elevated in dignity and
enlarged in powers by Bishop Selwyn, it at once began to
attract many devout laymen v/ho had no wish at all to be
saluted as " reverend," and who, supporting themselves,
were no drain upon the ebbing revenues of the Church.
Among the minor educational schemes of this educa-
tional year, which were warmly urged forward by the
Bishop, was the provision of college-buildings for his young
"" In England, however, as well as in New Zealand, two sorts of "gentle-
men " came under Bishop Selwyn's notice, and were easily discriminated by
his searching glance. Any man seemed instantly to acquire a claim to his
respect who did what he could for himself, instead of making use of the
services of other people ; and he often related how the Maoris used to say,
"' Gentleman-gentleman does not mind what he does; but pig-gentleman is
very particular.' " (E. A. C, p. 54.)
272 Bisiror SEI.WYX. [iSjc
theologians at Lichfield, so as to gather them together
under one roof and under one easy system of domestic
discipline. It so happened that, at this moment, a large
and suitable house, nestled under the very shadow of the
cathedral, fell vacant ; and the Bishop strongly urged the
diocese to purchase the property, and convert the house,
with its extensive stables and outbuildings, into a college.
The following letter, written by Mrs. Selwyn about this
time, will show that other and far larger educational
schemes were also in the air : — ■
I will take you first to BirmingJiam, whither we went to get
furniture for the rooms [in the palace] now finished for the ordi-
nation candidates. The rail from Lichfield to Birmingham, and
from Lichfield to Wolverhampton, is very familiar to us now. It
is not pretty ; but George looks very lovingly at the tumble-down
houses, and furnaces, and pit-mounds, indicating the vast under-
ground population. ... At Bakewell we were in a very different
region ; and I took the opportunity of going to see at Derby a
House of Mercy — a " Refuge," as they call it. By my " cabby's "
inquiries, I found the place was called " New Zealand," as he
asked his fellow "How far do you call it to New Zealand?"
When I came out, my friend had disappeared, and a passer-by
chucked his thumb towards a public-house, and said, " Ye'll find
him there, no doubt." But there were many " publics," and my
punctilio restrained me from going to their respective taps to fish
out my cabby. So I trudged on ; and after a while he ratded up,
saying, " Bless ye ! I was asleep inside all the time." The Refuge
made one's mouth water for such appliances to promote good
washing in New Zealand. They were wholly wanting in the
" Female Aboriginesses' Auckland Washing Institution " of famous
memory. But the proper conduct of these homes is beset with
difficulties. After a life of wild excitement and lawlessness, it is
very difficult to prevent this life from being so dull to the poor
iSjo.l INSTRUCTION AND EDUCATION. 2/3
things, especially in an atmosphere where amusement is thought
wrong, and " addressing the natives " is the order of the day.
The line to Bakewell is very pretty. Dr. Balston is now estab-
lished there as parson. He was very anxious to come and work
under George, who was only too glad to have this bright and
efficient man among his clergy. George confirmed about eighty
here, and preached in vigorous style without being the worse. . . .
We left in a day or so, for a great black place which has sprung
up near Wellington, Shropshire. There was a meeting of clergy
about some mission-work among the mining population, and then
a service at the church, where my old man preached. I like to
be with him, to stop off work and make him rest before any strain
on his powers. So I go about " like a parched pea " at present.
But his next visit to Ellesmere and Whitchurch I missed, alas !
and he went and preached three sermons, and held a meeting too.
Such a thing it is to have absent " cats " ! But I was very angry.
At some schools we visited, the Prussian plan of teaching
drawing side by side with writing is adopted. It is well tlxit we
" old fogies " shall have passed away before these young ones
come into play. The " masses," as they are called, will be a
most instructed race ; but, happen, not better educated than those
who learnt their Bible and catechism in the old days. Mr.
Forster's scheme gave satisfaction and surprise to many at first ;
but a shade of doubt arises as to ulterior developments, to be
evolved by Mr. Gladstone. It creates a huge stir here — -the
effects of which I should think you would feel by-and-by [in New
Zealand], as your legislators would never be behindhand. The
steam that people get up about it is astonishing. I suppose, when
it gets into the Lords, we shall go up to vote. But George does
not care for London or Lords in comparison with his confirma-
tions and diocesan work. On Sunday, he and Mr. Thatcher drove
out to a curious place called "No Man's Heath," Avhere the church
stands in three counties, and where, in former times, no end of
prize-fights were fought. A population of squatters has grown up,
who come very trim to church, have a surpliced choir, and do the
thing well.
T
2/4 BISHOP SELWYN. [1870.
We had Johnnie with us on Monday, ready to be off at
early dawn on Tuesday, April 5th (George's birthday), to London
for the boat-race. We came out in light blue, with a flag at the
top of the palace ; the Lonsdales ditto ; the deanery hoisted dark
blue. The telegram came at 7 p.m., with the good news that
Cambridge had won. The Spectator is highly superior about it —
being Oxford, I suppose ; the Times is more genial. The Sporting
niustrated came out that evening with a portrait of George —
" the rowing bishop." He thinks, however, that opinions will
vary about the pronunciation of rowing, as applied to him. . . .
At Hereford we heard Mr. Carter, of Clewer, who had come to
preach a Lenten sermon in the cathedral. It was very good ; and
the man, who looks and is so saintly, is a sermon in himself.
Liddon seems a man raised up to meet the infidelity so prevalent
in this day. He can fight with their German weapons — and with
others that are far stronger. . . .
After many protocols, the question of the college-house is
settled. There is a great house on the other side of the cathedral
(ours is on the north side), with a garden sloping to the Minster
Pool ; and the most hospitable visions float across my husband's
mind, in view of rows of empty rooms. They will hold all the
candidates that we can't take in here at the ordinations. We are
having Passion-week services every evening in the cathedral ; and
on Tuesday our Johnnie preached. I went to see my boy, but felt
horribly nervous — without cause ; for Johnny was self-possessed
and very nice, I think.
Yes, unbelief was indeed beginning to be prevalent ;
and if increased " instruction " could ward off the evil,
Mr. Forster's new bill — introduced on February 17, 1870,
into the House of Commons — could hardly fail to produce
the desired effect. For it made a new departure in
primary education, such as no other state measure has ever
done. The aim was to arouse the interest of the whole
country in education, and to spread more equably the
1870.] SCHOOL BOARDS. 275
burden of its support, by the institution of " School
Boards." Theoretically, they were to begin by supple-
menting the work of national education already long ago
set on foot by the Church and by the British and Foreign
School Society. Practically, it was hoped, they would
soon extinguish the Church schools altogether, and would
cover the country with an educational network of school-
committees (elected by the ratepayers) to whom should
be entrusted the responsibility of deciding what amount,
and what sort, of religious instruction should be given.
The Act therefore comprised five main points : (i) com-
pulsion upon parents to send their children to school ; (2)
examination of all primary schools alike, whether " de-
nominational " or not, by a public inspector ; (3) a pro-
vision that such inspector should be quite unbiased by
any religious preferences ; (4) a conscience-clause, as the
sine qua non in all cases for a grant of public money ; (5)
the election of local " boards," wherever necessary, to
whom the whole " religious difficulty " should be absolutely
committed for solution.
It need not be said that the raising of this question
gave rise to very animated discussion, both within and
without the borders of the Church of England. The
clergy feared that the measure would tend to withdraw
the children of the poor from religious influences, and
would eventually produce a rising generation of " clever
devils." The laity hoped that an increase of knowledge
would bring with it a decrease of crime, — believing prob-
ably (with Plato) that all vice arises from ignorance of
the terrible consequences that vice entails. Had the
clergy not been so strangely ill-advised as to resent, and
2/6 BISHOP SELWYN. [1870.
in many cases vehemently to resist, the milder check of a
simple "conscience-clause " — meant to secure for children
of dissenters immunity from proselytism in Church schools,
— it is probable that the stronger remedy of school boards
would never have been heard of.* But after the fulmina-
tions which had too often been launched, in Convocation
and elsewhere, against any interference at all with the
teaching-rights of the clergy, it is no wonder that, on
February 24th, a great meeting of M.P.s was held in
London, which went so far as to advocate " secular educa-
tion " pure and simple ; and that, in the House of Com-
mons, Mr. Dixon moved an amendment that no measure
would be satisfactory which left the religious question
to be settled b}' each local school board. This amend-
ment, however, was rejected on the second reading of the
bill (March i8th). And it is well known with what splendid
vigour the Church then addressed itself to make good all
that was defective in her system, and to adapt the old
ways to the new requirements of the State. Still, many
people dreaded a future predominance of merely secular
education. And hence, from the purest motives, Bishop
Selvvyn and many like-minded men gave their most
strenuous support to the "denominational" system, and
esteemed the board schools a grave and perilous mistake.
About the same time, another educational question of
the highest importance was occupying the attention of
Parliament. It was the University Tests Bill ; which, after
* So early as 1850, Dr. Hook was warned by "a good Ghiirchinan and a
man of importance, that if the Church gave a ' cold back ' unreasoningly and
per\'ersely to all educational movements, the education of the people would
be taken out of her hands." (Stephens, " Life of Dr. Hook," p. 489.)
iSjo.] UNIVERSITY REFORM. 277
passing the Commons, had been rejected by the Lords.
The bill was now introduced again, and was passed by the
Commons on May 13, 1870. But on July i4th it was
once more thrown out in the Lords, Bishop Selwyn and
nine other bishops recording their votes against it. No
doubt it seemed to him a serious blow to the Church, and
the beginning of much confusion within the universities
themselves. But — it was forcibly argued on the other side
— it was useless to shut one's eyes to accomplished facts ;
and this democratic measure had become inevitable,
because, on a wide view and under the existing circum-
stances of the country, it was both a generous and a just
policy to admit all Englishmen (without distinction of
creed) to the enjoyment of university advantages. Sub-
sequent events have fully justified the foreboding that
much confusion would ensue. But all great transitions
involve a temporary confusion. And at such periods too
much timidity, or even an excessive loyalty to political or
ecclesiastical chiefs, often brings disaster in the long-run.
Eventually the bill was carried (1871); and it has since
borne its natural fruits, not only in the opening of the
Universities to all alike, but in the erection of a Non-
conformist college at Oxford, and in the presentation of
many degrees Jioiioris causa to Dissenters. What Bishop
Selwyn probably wished to see done, and what might
easily have been done, was to amend the bill so far as to
save the colleges (as distinct from the universities) from
secularization ; and perhaps even to follow the lead given
by Dr. Pusey, who proposed that certain colleges, with
their endowments, should be fairly given up to the
Dissenters, while the Church should retain the remainder
2/8 BISHOP SELWYN. [1870.
of her beautiful homes of study uninvaded and unspoiled.
This is the natural arrangement. It exists in our rising
colonial universities ; and it is now proposed, as the latest
development of the university system, for London itself.
But, even with all his colonial predilections, Bishop Selwyn
was too loyal to his ecclesiastical compeers in England to
break away from the policy they had deliberately chosen.
He was also too sensitively on his guard against any action
which might threaten, however distantly, the welfare of the
Church, not to vote at least for delay in any measure
which appeared to curtail her powers for good. Hence his
speeches in Convocation and elsewhere steadily and con-
sistently opposed the Universities Bill. He felt keenly
what the religious atmosphere of his own college had
been to him ; and he knew what a change for good had
come over Eton from the more religious tone introduced
there by Edward Coleridge and others.
Meantime, storm-clouds had been arising much nearer
home ; and the Bishop's drawer — his " chamber of horrors,"
as he called it — was rapidly filling with embittered letters
from both parties in a great parish squabble, which had
broken out at Wolverhampton. It is needless to rake up
afresh the ashes of a conflagration which has long since
been happily extinguished. But it is worth while to retain
in honorable remembrance the means by which Bishop
Selwyn extinguished it. These means were nothing less
than the mission of one, who better represented and con-
veyed his own patient and conciliatory spirit than any one
else in the wide world could have done ; and who, with the
co-operation of his newly-married wife, perfectly succeeded
in restoring peace. His second son, John R. Selwyn — now
1870.] RITUAL DISPUTES. 279
Bishop of Melanesia — was sent as Vicar to the disturbed
parish ; and once again, for the ten-thousandth time in the
Church's history, it was shown what magic influence for
good can be exerted by the simple presence of a person, —
inspiring all around with renewed confidence and good-
humour, and healing by words and acts of peace the
bitterness of party-strife. The following letter, written
about this time, will give some idea of the Bishop's
thoughts and movements towards the end of the summer
(1870):—
My husband, who is in the thick of Shropshire work now, is
well, and says he does not feel it. Conferences and confirmations
are going on. There is a good deal to say, and to organize, about
work in the mining districts. But the Education Bill is the chief
topic. At one such ruridecanal meeting yesterday, George was
charmed to have gathered laymen to the number of thirty —
overseers, agents, folks connected with the mines, and chiefly
Radicals — together with the clergy. No sympathy with their
Radical opinions, whatever you may think ! But in view of real
work to be done, and of making existing agencies effective,
hostility disappears. I wish he could thus handle Mr. Gladstone !
But he is sailing on the top of the democratic wave, and will not
be restrained. After all these smaller conferences, the three
archidiaconal conferences will take place at George's three county-
towns, Shrewsbury, Stafford, and Derby. A good many bishops
have followed suit, and there is much life in many dioceses. Over
and above all this, there is the work of those who are pleased to
call themselves the " Catholic party," — a bad use of words, to
marry anything so grand as " Catholic " to something so base as
"party." Its last movement is the establishment of an oratory
at the west end of London, having for its laudable object a
mission (perpetual) to the upper classes, who have been neglected.
This oratory is to be served by a cycle of priests from all parts,
28o BISHOP SELWYN. [1870.
and to be a pattern in all things. It will not seek episcopal
sanction, — being truly " catholic " ! Celebrations, services,
preachings, confessions, are its object : and people may there
choose and meet their own "directors." Its advocate sets forth
the glories of its ceremonial ; goes on to one great blessing, the
'' reserved sacrament ; " and then, curiously enough, objects to
any other but our own Communion Office, and repudiates the
notion of dovetailing-in parts of other liturgies.*
So great and important, to those who were engaged in
them, seemed the petty ritual conflicts of that day ; while
a similar weight was attributed, at the time, to the question
whether the Holy Communion had been rightly or wrongly
administered in Westminster Abbey, on July 22, 1870, to
one of the Convocation's " company of revisers " who was a
Unitarian. Against this action a strong protest was pre-
sented by thirteen hundred clergyman to the Archbishop.
But the controversy gradually died away ; especially as the
thunders of the great Franco-German war had, about this
time, suddenly burst out of a clear sky, and had effectually
silenced every other sound. On September ist, the decisive
battle of Sedan was fought ; and soon afterwards Napoleon
III. — to whose friendship this country owed very much,
and the Church in France a good deal more, — became a
fugitive upon our shores. t Yet Parliament found time to
pass, ere it prorogued, one more bill seriously affecting the
Church. It was the Clerical Disabilities Bill, enabling
any clergyman — even in priest's orders — who might be so
* The scheme here mentioned never came to anything. But the repug-
nance here expressed to it will help to explain the strong anti-tractarian feelings
of some at Wolverhampton and elsewhere.
t The emperor, to his honour, had forbidden the French in New Caledonia
to " interfere with the Protestant missionaries or their converts" ("Life of
Bishop Patteson," ii. 464).
i870.] CLERICAL DISABILITIES ACT. 28 1
minded, to divest himself of his clerical status in the eyes
of the law, and to resume all the rights and duties of a
layman once more. What Bishop Selwyn thought of such
a measure, though he took no part in the Lords' final
debate on it (July 22nd), we know from his standing refusal,
all through his life, to admit that the State could touch
with one of its fingers any office whatever in the Church.
But, in fact, this interference was but one among many
events of that time, which seemed to encroach upon the
Church's rights : and which caused Bishop Patteson, in
October, to write thus to his dear " primate : " —
It is, perhaps, cowardly to say that I am thankful not to be a
clergyman in England. I am not the man to stand up and fight
such many-headed monsters. I should give in and shirk the
contest. The more do I pray that you may have strength to
endure it.*
* "Life," ii. 465.
CHAPTER IV.
1871.
End of the Franco-German war — Deprivation of Rev. C. Voysey — The
Purchas judgment — The Old Catholics — Oberammergau — Second diocesan
conference — First visit to America — Death of Bishop Patteson — Illness of
the Prince of Wales.
The census-year opened with brightening hopes for
Europe. The dreadful storm of the Franco-German war
seemed passing away. France was exhausted : the inex-
orable grip of the besiegers had reduced Paris to sub-
mission : and on January 28, 1871, she surrendered. Then
followed the furious outbreak of the Communists, the
destruction of the Tuileries, and the murder of Arch-
bishop Darboy and of several other clergy, on May 24th.
Meanwhile, at home, the census showed that the population
of England had nearly doubled during the previous forty
years. In 1831 it was 13,897,187 ; in 1871, it had risen to
22,704,108. How was the Church to overtake so enormously
increased and ever-increasing a work ? Certainly not by
indulging in repudiations of canonical discipline ; nor by
invoking (without the most urgent necessity) the fatal
coercive interference of the State. Yet some of the clergy
were guilty, at this time, of making both these mistakes.
iSji ] SIGA'S OF THE TIMES. 283
For instance, the rector of a parish near York, ventured to
treat with contempt the doctrinal system of his Church,
and to brave the consequences. He was accordingly, on
February nth (after appeal to the Privy Council), deprived
of his living ; and soon after appeared in London as an
acknowledged teacher of pure Theism, dispensing with
Christ and His religion altogether.
Such an event was a sign of the times, in more ways
than one. It showed that the State courts might be trusted,
at least in cases of avowed rebellion against unambiguous
laws, to do full justice to the Church and to maintain
her doctrinal canons unimpaired. But it also indicated an
omi.nous growth, both in area and intensity, of that spirit
of unbelief which has since threatened to honeycomb the
very foundations of Christendom. Hence the anxiety
felt by Bishop Selwyn, and by other far-seeing men, on
the appointment of a writer in Essays and Reviezvs to
a bishopric in the Church : hence tlieir indignant re-
monstrance with Dean Stanley when he admitted a
Unitarian minister to Holy Communion in Westminster
Abbey : and hence their determined defence of the existing
practice of the Church in reciting the Athanasian Creed in
Divine service. In all these controversies it was considered
that the outworks of the fortress committed to their safe-
keeping were being defended ; and that the deadly assault
which must one day be delivered against the citadel of the
faith — the Person of the Redeemer, as presented in the
Gospels — was being delayed.
Meantime, the Bishop having secured a house in the
Close for his Theological College, the new collegiate life ■
began in January, 1871 ; and a gathering of students at the
284 BISHOP SELWYN. [1871.
end of the summer term was attended by a goodly number
of the former members, who came to see the new home of
their college. In the afternoon, a garden-party was held,
at which the Bishop was present, bringing with him the
Derbyshire rural deans, who happened to be assembled at
the palace ; and at a crowded evening service in the Lady
Chapel he gave an interesting address. He always took
great pleasure in visiting the college, and was especially
gratified when he found the young men occupied in the
garden, whether mowing the grass, or trimming the borders,
or watering the flowers. Any man seemed instantly to
acquire a claim to his respect who did what he could for
himself, instead of making use of the services of other
people. Once, when a colonist of rank, desiring to ha\e his
three children baptized, wished the ceremony to be per-
formed in his house, on the plea that there was no road by
which to drive them to church, the difficulty was promptly
met by the Bishop, who offered to carry two, if the father
would carry the third. And even in England, reckless of
what "Mrs. Grundy" might say, he would hardly ever
allow his travelling-bag to be carried by any one but
himself.
In fact, at home, no less than in New Zealand, humility,
simplicity, and fertility of resource, always attracted Bishop
Selwyn's notice and won his approval. The pretentious,
the conceited, the self-indulgent never found the least
respect or s}mpathy from him ; and he may even have
erred sometimes in giving hasty expression to the im-
patience he felt towards characters of this shallow type.
He was never tolerant of self-conceit or self-indulgence.
If a student lay in bed when he should have been at
iSji.] ''NATURE'S GENTLEMEN." 285
chapel, and pleaded " a cold," the Bishop's reply would
be, " That is no excuse at all : you are seeking to be a
clergyman, and if you care for such things as that, you
will be saying, when you are knocked up at three
in the morning to visit a sick man or baptize a dying
infant, that it is too cold to go out." And, if a can-
didate for Holy Orders urged "his own experience," or
"his deliberate opinion," or "the result of his own re-
searches," as an argument against following the customs or
teaching the plain doctrines of the Church, it is not sur-
prising that he sometimes found himself a mark for the
Bishop's trenchant sarcasms or humiliated by his searching
rebuke. On the other hand, for a true " nature's gentle-
man " — under whatever disguise of threadbare clothing or
imperfect education — Bishop Selwyn felt the instinctive
attraction of a manly and Christian sympathy. Even from
the plough or from the forge, such were ever welcome to
all that he could give them and all that he could do for
them. And among those to whose ordination he often
referred with the most genial and hearty satisfaction were
many of this stamp — "gentlemen" in the truest sense of
the word.
The following letter, from Mrs. Abraham to a friend in
New Zealand, will throw some light on the feelings and
doings among Bishop Selwyn's entojirage about this time.
Lichfield, July 24, 1871.
Our Eton time was very pleasant. Charles [Bishop Abraham]
preached in College Chapel on July 14th, on true elevation of
character being the object of education — of course, leading up to
the highest source in the Gospel. I was glad to see our boy's
tutor, — a good man, who does not cast off all responsibility about
286 BISHOP SELWYN. [187 1.
his boys, as many do now. We have had fine summer weather,
and the Close is very pretty and pleasant. The limes scent the
air with their bloom ; so it is the very cream of the year with us
here, especially since Pihopa [Bishop Selwyn] and Charles have,
been taking the duty on Sundays. We so seldom hear either of
them, that I agree with our friend Miss S that '•' we are having
a good time." Last week we had a gathering of rural deans from
Staffordshire, and the overflow from the palace comes to us. This
week it is the Derbyshire rural deans, Dr. Balston being one. . . •
Sarah lets people know that Mr. was not George's appoint-
ment. Truly " patronage," as it is called, is an irksome pos-
session. It seems to me the patron disappoints and offends many
expectants, and seldom pleases or benefits the one he gives it to.
The Lloyds are settling down, and Mrs. Lloyd is more content
and really happier than she was, though she will always contrast
the gaiety and stir of Auckland life with the dulness of a country
parsonage in England. It is pleasant to see Pihopa's pleasure
at the growth of the Theological College, and at the way in which
the tone has been improved since the college-house has been the
centre. Yesterday was the last day of term, and was kept both
in church and in the " domus." A service and celebration in the
morning, old students coming over for the occasion from their
curacies, some twenty-seven in number; a garden-party, on the
pretty lawn we used to enjoy when it was our home, in the after-
noon, with tea and fruit. George and Charles joined us, after a
day spent in the preliminary examination of candidates [for Holy
Orders] ; the young folks played croquet, and stayed to supper
and music ; and the day closed by a service in the Lady Chapel,
with an address from Pihopa, which was very nice and encouraging
to the principal and his forty students, and might (I hope) explain
to the rest of the audience the reason of his great interest in it and
his desire to increase the capacity of the house, if the diocese will
come forward with the money.
Another grave subject of anxiety at this time was the
ever-growing difficulty of maintaining harmony between
1S71.] ''THE FURCHAS CASE:' 28/
the laws of the Church and the laws of the State. The
controversy culminated in what was known as "the Purchas
case." Mr, Purchas was a very High Churchman at
Brighton, to whom, — along with many others, both clergy-
men and laymen, — it appeared beyond dispute that the
" ornaments rubric " (so called), which he had undertaken
to obey, meant what it appeared to say. Under that
impression, he restored by his own authority the dresses
and ceremonies formerly used " in the second year of King
Edward VI." And in the Arches Court of the Archbishop
of the province that impression of his was legally con-
firmed. But on appeal by the dissatisfied " Church Associ-
ation," the archiepiscopal decision was reversed ; and then
this unhappy rubric was interpreted as meaning " those
vestments only were to be retained which were actually in
use in 1662, when this rubric was finally revised." * To
many Churchmen this sentence of the lay-court, which
represented the sovereign, appeared an unfair and partisan
decision : and it set many minds at work upon the extremely
difficult problem how — without disestablishment — to bring
into abetter harmony these ecclesiastical and civil tribunals,
which had now come into such public and disastrous col-
lision. The question was not one to be settled in a day.
Meanwhile it will be interesting to see how the case pre-
sented itself to the strong and vigorous minds, which had
lately been transplanted from the humble palace at Auck-
land to the more lordly palace in Lichfield Close!
C and the papers (writes Mrs. Selwyn) will tell you how
this Privy Council judgment, /;/ re Purchas, has fallen like a
thunderbolt, and convulsed the Church as nothing since the
* See Parker, " The Ornaments Rubric," p. 69.
288 BISHOP SELIVYN. [1871.
Gorham decision has done. Mr. Purchas is a very extreme and.
I should think, a silly man at Brighton, with an irrepressible taste
for show. I have heard tolerably advanced men regret his pro-
ceedings, as foolish and bringing discredit on his party. But
nothing justifies the paid-spy system adopted by the Church
Association, nor their tone in general, especially since this great
victory. I am unfeignedly sorry for it, and George says he hates
the whole proceeding from beginning to end. "Spying" is not
his line. The misfortune is that it touches those who belong to
the very heart of the Church and great numbers of the old staunch
Church-people. Why could they not leave Sir Robert Phillimore's
well-considered judgment untouched ? And why not show a little
flexibility in the interpretation of doubtful expressions in a rubric ?
It seems so unlike the wisdom which ruled in our New Zealand
synod. This did not define a " Churchman " too narrowly, but
stretched out both arms to take in as many as possible. C
is sorry, and so am I, that George has not a little more sympathy
with the minds of many of the very best of the clerg}', who are
shaken and grieved and cannot divest themselves of the sense of
an " animus " in the decision. He would have the tenderest
feeling for them if they Avere very wicked, I know. But, though
regretful and displeased, he does not enter into their views. For
why ? He would not be shaken ; he does not need external helps ;
his spirit is naturally obedient, and he delights in obeying a law.
Anything he could find to obey he has always obeyed. And,
finally, his reverence for the judicial mind is vast, and he will
invest these figures with it, talking often of Sir J. Patteson and
your husband [Sir W. Martin] and my father. For my part and
the clergy's, I like the judicial mind of Sir R. Phillimore best ; his
judgments are so thoughtful and sober. All this gives a great
impetus to the cry for disestablishment ; for these extreme people
have (apparently) an alliance with Miall and Co., who are
destructives. If it is to come, it would be well to prepare : and
I give George a poke or two to take the initiative in this direction.
He has been so successful m commanding synods and conferences,
that he might be equally happy here. There are one or two
iSji.] "A J/A.V UNDER AUTHORITY.'' 289
other points very near one's heart, but as 3^et they do not shape
themselves.
In this interesting letter one remarkable feature in the
Bishop's character is brought into due prominence, which
it is generally supposed was conspicuous by its absence.
That he possessed an exceptionally powerful mind and will
is an undoubted fact ; but it is little known, except by those
who had familiar personal intercourse with him, under what
equally powerful restraint that potent will was curbed and
checked. He was credited with a masterful temper and
with despotic instincts. But here we see one, Avho knew him
far more intimately than any one else could do, point out
as a leading trait in his character a predominating instinct
of obedience. And the observation can be fully justified,
not only by the testimony of others less permanently asso-
ciated with him, but also by noticing his public acts. In
spirit Bishop Selwyn was a soldier. He loved the sense
of belonging to a mighty and effective organization ; he
revelled in discipline ; and if he commanded others well, it
was because (like the good centurion in the Gospel) he
rejoiced in feeling himself " a man under authority " as well
as in having others under his own control. Hence his votes
in Parliament were often the expression of his loyalty to
those to whom loyalty was due, rather than the expression
of his own individual opinion ; just as his return to England
had been an act, not of predilection, but of pure obedience.
And many a time those who worked with him, and had
occasion to thwart his wishes, must have observed the
singular self-restraint with which personal bias was sub-
ordinated to the sense of dut\-, and even of courtesy, —
loyalty to the great Master producing the exact opposite
U
290 BISHOP SELIVYN. [187 1.
of a domineering behaviour in this true " servant of the
Lord."
On the other hand, the requirement of prompt and ready
obedience from subordinates, wherever prompt obedience
was essential to safety or success, was a habit he had not
failed to learn while navigating his mission-ship on long
voyages amid a thousand hourly perils. Accordingly, to
steer a " conference " or a Church congress effectively, or
to la}' a spell of harmonious concurrence upon a crowd of
dissentient and self-important people prepared to dispute
rather than to act, was naturally to such a man a dear
delight. The writer of the present memoir will not easily
forget returning Vvith him from some assembly of this kind,
when he was favoured with a genuine outburst of delight at
the exquisite pleasure of " feeling the reins well in hand,"
with the team all in full swing and the lumbering vehicle of
an ecclesiastical assemblage — to its own surprise and amid
much dust — clearing every obstacle and advancing merrily
to some practical conclusion.
It was the same instinctive love of work, the same
desire for perceptible progress, and demand of disciplined
self-sacrifice as a means to achieve that progress, which
gave Bishop Selwyn a strong aversion to anything that
savoured of a paralyzing scepticism. It was not that, like
many other good and devoted clergymen, he failed to under-
stand it. His marvellous mental power was perfectly able
to grasp and to deal with all that crowd of subtle problems
which have arisen to perplex modern Christendom. But,
as he once told the present writer, he deliberately and
firmly, as a man called to action and not to thought, put
all such questions away from him; because he felt a full
iSji.] MODERN ''difficulties:' 29 1
conviction that no man could live with efficiency two such
dissimilar lives at once, as those of thought and of action.
And, no doubt, in this view he is supported by the great
authority of a consummate observer of mankind : —
" The native hue of resolution
Is sicklied o'er with the pale cast of thought ;
And enterprises of great pith and moment,
With this regard, their currents turn awry,
And lose the name of action." "'
It could not be expected, therefore, that he should feel
much indulgence for those who about this time were
tormented with difficulties at the public recitation of the
Athanasian Creed ; nor that he should express much
sympathy with men like Dean Stanley, who were earnestly
endeavouring to save from final apostasy a large class of
highly cultivated people, whose faith had been shaken —
though not yet destro3^ed — by the literary and scientific dis-
coveries of the age. His voice and his vote were always
steadily given against such attempts (as they appeared to
him) to weaken the force and to confuse the clearness
of the Church's dogmatic utterances. For " obedience to
authority" was his own personal maxim ; and it was not
without loyally leading the way by his own example, that
he demanded the same obedience from those around him.
Nevertheless, in view of all that has happened since, it
may be doubted whether a more conciliatory policy towards
those who were afflicted with doubt might not have been —
and may not be still — a wiser and more Christian method
than one which always seems, to those who suffer from it,
.to prove either ignorance or disdain of their difficulties.
The opposite policy of unyielding firmness and iron dis-
* " Ilamlet," act ii'., sc. i.
292 BISHOP selvvyn: [1871.
cipline was, in fact, at this very moment ejecting from the
Roman communion in Germany a large number of her very
best and ablest sons: for on April i8th Dr. Dollinger was
excommunicated at Rome ; and shortly afterwards, at an
" Old Catholic " congress held at Munich, he freely spoke
out his mind, and gave an interesting account of the Old
Catholic community at Utrecht, from which their epis-
copate now derives its succession. On the other hand, the
striking results of the Ammergau " Passion-play," held this
year in Bavaria, and attracting no less than two thousand
spectators of all ranks and ages and countries, proved what
consummate power the simple facts of the Gospel still
possess, whenever they are strikingly presented, not to the
captious and critical understanding, but to the imagination
and the heart.*
In practical matters, and especially in the effort to
extend the influence of the Church, Bishop Selwyn's
interest was unflagging, and his horizon was only limited
by the boundaries of the globe itself It so happened that
1 87 1 was the \^ear for the assembly of the "General Con-
vention " of the American Church ; and the place selected
for its meeting was Baltimore. No Bishop from England
had ever yet been present at these triennial conventions ;
and therefore Bishop Selwyn, with characteristic energy
and love of sea-voyages, determined to present himself,
and to open for his brethren at home a new Avay of
cementing cordial transatlantic friendships. It need not
be said that both he and his son and such diocesan clergy
* One who was present, and who afterwards published an account of what
he had seen, describes how he observed an old hardened "man about town "
touched to the quick by what was before him, and with tears coursing down
his cheeks, bury his face in his hands.
1S71.] FIRST VISIT TO AMERICA. 293
as accompanied him found a warm welcome awaiting them
both in the United States and in Canada. The Java, in
which they sailed, became, under the Bishop's practical
eye, a sort of floating parish. The captain's sanction for a
service was obtained ; and then, every day, punctually at
the hour appointed, the Bishop was to be seen at the table
in the saloon with his Prayer-book opened, and with a
congregation of from ten to thirty persons (according to
the state of the weather) joining in the psalms and hymns
and prayers of the Church.
The following letters from his own hand, cast in the
form of a journal, gvjo. a complete and graphic account
of this interesting visit to the sister and daughter Churches
beyond the setting sun : —
To Mrs. Selwyn.
S.S. Java, at sea, off Holyhead, 9 p.m., Sept. 23, 1S71.
Dearest S.,
The first twelve hours of our journey have been very
prosperous. We had Mr. Bangham for our companion to
Stafford, and there picked up Mr. lies and Mr. Willett. We
arrived at Liverpool at 11.30; and at sunset we were off Great
Orme's Head, and looked upon our old haunts. A brilliant sun-
set shone on the windows of Mr. Gladstone's house. Our own
little house was below the horizon ; but the hill behind it was
marked out in deep shade. Before dark, another friend came in
view, — the revolving light of the South Stack. It is very pleasant
to find myself learning something of the coast, without the
responsibility of night-watches, for which neither eyesight nor
nerves are now so well qualified as they used to be. I have had
my usual kor'cro [talk] with the captain. He is a Churcliman, by
name Captain ^Slartyn, and very co-operative ; but is afraid that
2(J4 BISHOP SELIVYX. [1S71.
the stopping at Queenstown to-morrow morning will prevent our
morning service. We have about a hundred cabin-passengers,
chiefly Americans, with wives and children, returning from their
travels. Mr. Edwards, of Trentham, joined us at Liverpool: so
my train of five presbyters is complete. You would like to see
how comfortably John and I are sitting side by side, both writing
to our loves, young and old, with capital wax-candles on the
table, instead of the dingy swinging lamps.
Monday, Oct. 2nd. — Two hundred miles from New York. AVe
have had a most splendid passage, and hope to be in New York
to-morrow. Our party aboard has been singularly free from all
unpleasantness. The greater part are families returning home
from England and the Continent — about one hundred and thirty
in all, — of whom we have made acquaintance with about one-third.
Among the rest is the celebrated Mr. Seward, one of President
Lincoln's Cabinet. He wrote the most disagreeable things about
England ; but did the wisest thing, in ordering the Covernment
to give up Slidell and Mason.
The services on board have not been quite up to the standard
of our long sea voyages, as there is hardly time in ten days for
a mixed party to grow into habits of social worship. But we have
had a good morning on both Sundays ; and the Holy Communion
in my cabin at 8 a.m. on St. Michael's Day and Sunday morning.
Daily prayers were held in the small gentlemen's-cabin below,
where we have always had a steady little congregation at 10 a.m.
John and I have been most comfortable together ; and looking
back on the delightful voyage, I almost regret you did not
come. We have had fair winds, all but one day, and no bad
weather. Our highest day's run has been 346 knots (nearly 400
English miles). But when I look forward to the land journeys,
1 am not sure that it would have been wise for you to come ; as
the distances are so great, I fear the night-journeys would have
made your head suffer. All our party are in vigorous health.
I feel sure that it was right to bring John on every account,
mental and bodily. You must not contrast my letters to you
with his to Clara. Youthful love supplies the pen of a ready
iSji] ARRIVAL AT NEW YORK. 295
writer ; mature love is less solicitous to prove itself by many
words. I know how great my love is by its ductility ; for no dis-
tance Aveakens it. We hope to start from New York for Baltimore
to-morrow, and to be ready for the opening of the Convention on
the 4th. I shall write you another half-sheet on our arrival, to
let you know of our well-being to the end of our voyage.
S.S. Ja-ra, New York, 9 a.m., Oct. 3rd.
Safely arrived in New York Harbour, after a most prosperous
journey — for which God be thanked. At 3.30 a.m. the engines
stopped; and I went up on deck and saw the light on Sandy
Hook. There we anchored till six, to wait for the tide to cross
the bar. At that time I went up again ; and in a few^ minutes
the sun brought me a message from you, rising up out of the still
water Avith light newly come from England. Not a cloud on the
horizon ; but a mellow haze on the water. It was like the morning
in the Red Sea, except that here there was no Um Shaumer or
Serbal, but a better type of the Infinite, in the expanse of the
open sea. Just now the mail-steamer has boarded us, bringing
hospitable invitations for all our party ; and as the time is early,
we hope to reach Baltimore to-night. We have made many
friends on board ; and, between the bishops and the lay mem-
bers of the Church, we are not likely to be obliged " to find our
warmest welcome at an inn."
There are unpleasant questions looming for the Convention ;
among others the Cheyney Case, a new version of the Gorham
question. Mr. Cheyney persists in omitting the word "re-
generate " in the Baptismal Service ; and his congregation support
him. The Bishop of Illinois has deposed him ; but some of the
bishops think the sentence unduly severe. Of course, the cry of
some is, " Alter the Prayer-Book ! " as if every heretical opinion
was to be allowed to pare away a part of the inheritance of the
Church. I hope that our party, in private conversation, may act
(in some degree) as mediators, though we have no voice in Con-
vention. Our present plan is to stay at Baltimore five or six days,
then go to Canada ; and then come back to see some of the
296 BISHOP SELIVYN. [1S71.
American bishops, after their return from Convention. As far as
we know at present, we hope to leave New York about the 15th
of November. The first part of our journey was very " colonial ; "
but in the States of Delaware and Pennsylvania the appearance
was that of an older and more settled country. There were
no hills or tunnels, and no great beauty of scenery ; except the
views on the Susquehanna and Delaware rivers, which were often
pretty, but not striking. AVe reached Baltimore (190 miles) at
8.30 jxm. ; and were most hospitably received by the Bishop of
Maryland and IMrs. Whittingham, who much regretted that you did
not come with me. A deputation met us at the station, and carried
off the presbyters to their billets, except John, who came with me
lo the Bishop's house.
Jl'ednesday, Oct. ^th. — Attended the opening service, where
more than forty bishops in their robes occupied the church. The
service lasted four hours. Then came a resolution, asking me to
preach to the Convention the same evening, which I declined, and
proposed Monday evening instead.
Oct. ^th. — AVe attended morning prayers, by which, with
laudable perseverance, the daily meeting of Convention is opened.
After that, I went to the Upper House, where a seat had been
voted for the Bishop of Nassau and myself. Then I was formally
presented, and had to make an address, and was followed by the
Bishop of Nassau. Next came a committee of the Lower House
to take us to be presented there. So we all went, — the two
Bishops, the Dean of Chester, and my five presbyters. We were
all presented ; and each was expected to make an address I Then
a lay-deputy moved that the House adjourn for a quarter of an
hour, to allow the members " to shake the visitors by the hand."
In the evening, we had a missionary sermon from the Bishop of
Pittsburgh, — a long one, from Avhich we did not get home till past
ten o'clock : after which the bishops came to introduce their
wives and daughters. This lasted till midnight.
Friday, Oct. dth. — Early Communion at seven : Daily Prayer at
ten : debate in Lower House till twelve : then in Upper House till
three. In the evening, a great missionary meeting was held, at wliich
icSji.] THE FALLS OF NLAGARA. 297
I had to speak. Some misgivings about myself, but got through
better than I expected. The weather very hot : thermometer 95^
in the shade.
Ocf. ']th. — Went to Washington : scaled the Capitol : thence
to the White House, the residence of the President ; paid ray
respects to him with my whole train, and was graciously received.
Saw the Courts and the Law Library, — where Selwyn's A'isi
Frills was well known : and then returned from Washington to
Baltimore.
Oct. 8f/i. — Sunday evening, a missionary service and meeting,
with an address from Bishop Whipple of Minnesota, — very good
and earnest : another from me, who am doomed never to be let
off. If you had been here, perhaps you would have rebelled.
Adofiday, Oct. <^th. — All day writing sermon for Convention,
Service at 7.30. Enormous congregation; thirty bishops and four
hundred clerical and lay deputies present.
Oct. xoth. — Took leave of the House of Bishops and made
some farewell visits. Dinner-party at Bishop Whittingham's, and
an evening party elsewhere. So ended a most pleasant week at
Baltimore, where the greatest kindness and most liberal hospitality
was shown to all our party.
Oct. wth. — Took the cars on the Northern Central Railway.
Our course was up the River Susquehanna. The autumnal tints
were rich, and would have been brilliant if the day had not been
rainy. We finished our course of 430 miles at Niagara Falls.
The gentle murmur of the cataract helped to lull us to sleej^ ; but
the change to cool bracing air was probably more effectual.
Oct. \2th. — We rose much refreshed, and eager for the glorious
sight. The day was most promising. After breakfast, — age and
laziness prevent me from saying "before" — we started for the
Falls, and walked to Goat Island over a small suspension bridge.
Instead of a small rocky island, such as I expected, we found a
large space wooded and supplied with good roads and bridges
leading to all the most beautiful points of view. The first of these
was on Luna Island, where the American Fall came in sight.
The mist had partially cleared away ; and the rainbow began to
29^ BISHOP SELJVViV. [1S71.
be visible on tlie si)ray. 'J'hc wliole fall was white with foam,
the water being shallow over the edge of the rock. On our left
the main Horse-Shoe Fall was dimly seen, with the little Luna
I'all — which takes its leap more boldly than its grander neighbour —
sparkling in front. The delight of Niagara is that ever}-thing is
seen in its most majestic form, just enough fringed with trees but
not hidden. It is no use trying to describe it. Then we went
along the lower side of Goat Island till the Horse-Shoe was full
in sight. Oh how glorious it looked I In the middle the light
green water glides slowly over the crest : as it falls, the pent-up
air from the cavern below bursts through snowflakes o"f dazzling
white. . . . We could not see to the bottom, from which a cloud
is always rising with rainbows refracted upon it. . . . Leaving
this wonderful sight, we went down below, and passed under a
side shoot of the great fall ; where we could see into the cavern
below the fall between the rock and the water. From the sublime
we came down to the earthy, and returned to dinner. After dinner,
drove to some wonderful rapids and a whirlpool two or three miles
l)elow. Here the rush of mighty waters in continuous and rapid
descent, or pent into a narrow gorge, was terrible.
Oct. \2)^h. — Our second day at Niagara was even more
delightful than the first. In the morning, we visited De A'eaux
College, where sixty or seventy orphans receive education free
of charge. I gave a short address, and shook hands in New
Zealand fashion, which is also customary in America. It is
fortunate for me that my hand is in. Then we took a short view
of the "whirlpool rapids" just below the college; where the
Niagara river, after rushing through a rocky gorge, expands into
a circular basin. The rich tints of autumn in the bright sunshine
gave great beauty to the scene. ... In the evening, the sun set
in a ball of fire ; and the whole river, for miles along, was tinged
with a pale evening glow ; the rapids dark grey, with fringes of
white foam. In some respects the twilight view was the most
solemn and striking of all. So ends my fit of Niagaromauia.
Oct. i^t/i. — We left Niagara Falls at 10 a.m. ; and, reaching
Lake Ontario in half an hour, embarked in the Ci/y of Toronto.
1871.] ANNIVERSARY OF '' consecration:' 299
We reached Toronto at 2.30; and had scarcely entered the
omnibus, when a fire broke out in a store on the Pier. Every-
body's mind being full of Chicago, there was a regular stampede
out of the yard. The fire-engines came on the scene ; and then
began a battle-royal between fire and water. At last, in an hour
and a half, the engines gained the victory ; although one jet of
flame seemed to have nailed its colours to the mastj and for a
long time refused to surrender. Thus Toronto gave us a warm
reception.
Oct. 15///.— The Bishop of Toronto has found me out; so my
hoped-for retirement and quiet came to an end, for I was carried
off to preach at the cathedral. The congregation was thin ; in
consequence, it was said, of a greater gun than myself, Mr.
Punshon, a Wesleyan notability, having arrived. After service, we
took a good walk through the University grounds, which were
glowing with autumnal tints.
Oct. idth. — A brilliant day : my window looking on Lake
Ontario. My party seem enjoying themselves very much ; but we
shall all be very glad to get back. There is no place like home :
and I am beginning to think — in spite of long training in old days
— that it is a great while since I saw you.
Oct. 17///.— On Lake Ontario. It is the thirty-first anniversary
of my consecration ; often spent before at sea, but never before
on a lake, — though this lake may well be called an inland sea.
It would be impossible to find a more perfect place of retirement
than my little cabin, where I am writing to you after reading
through the Consecration Service, and offering up the prayers for
myself which Archbishop Howley and Bishops Blomfield and
Coleridge offered up for me thirty years ago. I am now truly in
" retreat," recalling the past and humbling myself before Him
Who, in spite of all my sin and unprofitableness, has preserved me
hitherto and still allows me to do Him service. O may I love
and serve Him more and more ! Yesterday we visited Trinity
College, Toronto, founded by Bishop Strahan when the university
was secularized. I gave a short address to the students and
lunched with the provost, Whitaker, a pupil of Sir W. Martin.
300 nisirop selwyn. [iSji.
At 4 p.m., tlicre was a gathering of children at tlie cathedral
school ; and again the inevitable address. In the evening, we
dined with the Bishop.
Oct. i-]f/i. — Another school inspection ; fourteen young ladies
in Bishop Strahan's school ; fourteen pianofortes at work all at
once !
Oci. 23/v/. — -jNIontreal. This is a beautiful city. The cathedral
is very nice, and the Bishop's house stands close to it. Most of
the streets are wide, with trees on both sides in Boulevard fashion.
But the great sight of the city is the tubular bridge over the St.
Lawrence, one mile and a quarter long. The river flows below,
in a clear and swift stream at present, but in two months more it
will be blocked with thick ice. The Bishop and Mrs. Oxenden
are very hospitable and kind, and our stay here is most pleasant ;
but it will be still more pleasant to be homeward bound.
Oct 26///. — The general effect of our visit to America is
thought to have been good, and you must expect that it will be
followed by many return visits from the bishops and clergy of the
United States and Canada ; with which expectation it will be
necessary to establish a smoking-room without delay, for other-
wise your bedrooms Avill suffer.
Oct. 2^th. — We left [Montreal in an enormous Noah's ark,
three hundred feet long. We had a hundred and eighty miles
to go down the St. Lawrence, and arrived at Quebec the next
day. Mist and rain have prevented our seeing the beauties of
this historical place ; but tell C that we have seen the heights
of Abraham and the place where General Wolfe fell. The Bishop
was our guest at the Waimate once for many days. He arrived
on the day when John Heki came to demand payment for the
ducks shot by Mr. Nihill.
Nov. 1th. — Philadelphia. I rejoice to think that we are fast
approaching the day of our return ; for I feel a strong desire to
be at home and with you. We have had a happy and, I hope, a
useful time ; but I should not like to prolong it indefinitely. All
are most kind and hospitable ; but the general habits of the
people are not favoural)le to re})ose, and the excessive heating of
iSji.] PHILADELPHIA. 3OI
houses and railway-carriages is continually suggestive of asphyxia.
We have just returned from a public breakfast, which lasted two
hours, and the speeches two hours more. You will find me coming-
back to my " crust of bread and hollow tree" with great satisfaction.
N.B. — I struck work after the quail; but was particularly
requested to revive at the canvas-back duck as a special delicacy.
We are starting for Harrisburg, to assist at the opening of the
Convention of a new diocese carved out of Pennsylvania. With
all the talk there is also work going on. But talk bears an undue
proportion. A missionary meeting last night, of the American
type, was nice and reverent. A short service was followed by
three addresses from Dean Howson, Mr. lies, and myself. I
prefer these meetings to our meetings in England ; for there are
no resolutions, no votes of thanks, and no collection.
Nov. xoth. — New York. This has been a bustling week — the
last of five of the same kind, — finishing up with a reception in the
evening at 10 p.m. After this, I took advantage of an Aurora
Borealis to slip out into the garden, and up to bed by the back-
stairs. I am now enjoying the only two hours I have had to
myself for some weeks. I look forward to the sea-voyage with
great pleasure, as rest combined with motion homeward. You
must expect American visitors soon ; who will come on a double
errand — to visit the shrine of Johnson, and to see you. I shall not
wonder at either motive.
Your ownest own,
G. A. Lichfield.
On their first arrival in America, when the little band
of English clergy had been introduced to the Convention,
it being the Jubilee-year of the American "Board of
Missions," Bishop Selvvyn was invited — as perhaps the
greatest living authority on mission-work — to give an
address on the occasion. He said : —
On the subject of missions, T believe there is no one who will
302 JilSIIOP SEIAVYN. [1S71.
not accept five or six leading principles : (i) That the command-
ment of our Lord is to go into all the world, and to preach the
Gospel to every creature ; (2) That the commandment is binding
upon us all, and is not to be optional with us ; (3) Then, I think,
none of us will dispute this great fact, — -that the God of missions
is no respecter of persons ; but that, in " every nation, he that
feareth God and believeth in Him is accepted by him ; " (4)
Then, I think, we shall all agree that God has made of one blood
all nations that dwell upon the earth ; (5) And further, I hope we
shall agree also in this, that all the nations of the whole earth
have that measure of capacity to receive the grace of God which
is necessary for receiving the benefits and blessings of the
Christian covenant ; (6) And then, dear brethren, I must also
claim your belief that Jesus Christ died for all alike; (7) and
then, further, for this, — that in fulfilment of His promise, the Holy
Ghost is poured out upon all flesh ; (8) and then, the last prin-
ciple with which I desire your agreement is this, — that at the last
day God will gather together His elect from the four winds, a
great multitude whom no man can number, to stand before the
Lamb and before His throne. There is our foundation. No other
can be laid. Now, then, let me trace these principles into their
actual operation. ... I have seen myself what men call the
lowest types of humanity : I have seen the Australasian black ;
I have seen those poor benighted men in Erromango, who have
twice killed the missionaries that landed on their shore. One
of this despised race was sentenced to death, and I attended him
at his execution. He left upon my mind, at the moment his
irons were being struck off, the impression that he died with just
so much of simple faith as was accepted by Jesus Christ from
the penitent on the cross. ... I see here one of your own six
missionary bishops, the Bishop of Minnesota. I have conversed
to-day with one of his clergy, and he tells me there are 4500
Indians in Dakota who are now giving up, under the influence of
Christianity, those very wandering habits which were supposed to
be fatal to the hope they would ever receive it. He tells me they
are settling upon farms ; that they have given up their life in
iSjr.] ALMS-DISH PRESENTED. 303
wigwams, their communist life; that they fill their churches on
the Lord's day ; and are acquiring day by day the usages both of
Christianity and of civilized life. Now, why is this ? Because
missionaries have been found who, instead of expecting wild men
to conform [at once] to our habits, have conformed to theirs,
have followed them up from place to place, lived the same rough
life, and gained their hearts by showing a real sympathy for them
in their benighted state. . . . Never tell me there is a race upon
the earth, out of which there cannot be raised faithful ministers,
able to serve God in the holy offices of His Church. India has
its band of native pastors ; Ceylon has a like company of
preachers; New Zealand, out of a race never exceeding in
number 100,000 souls, has yielded to Bishop Williams and
myself seventeen ordained missionaries, — not one of whom,
amid the relapse of many to heathenism, has ever swerved either
from his allegiance to the British crown or from his faith in the
Lord Jesus.*
This animating address was received with the enthu-
siasm which it deserved : and the American Church
determined to express, in a tangible way, the sense of
brotherhood in Christ which it evoked, by the presentation
of a magnificent Alms-dish, by Bishop Selwyn's hands, to
the Church at home. The following is an accurate descrip-
tion, from an American journal, of this elaborate gift.
In the centre is the hemisphere, showing the Atlantic Ocean,
with the Old World on the east of it and the New World on the
west. A scroll on the ocean bears the inscription, which ex-
presses the spirit of the gift : " Orbis veteri novus, occidens
orienti, Filia Matri." At the South Pole is the date, 187 1, of
the Bishop's visit. In the upper part of the hemisphere is a
* The whole of this spirited and characteristic address is printed in
Tucker's " Life of Bishop Selwyn," ii. 291, and has been separately published
by S.P.C.K.
304 Bisnor selwyx. [187 i.
circular cliascd medallion, which covers nearly llic whole of
Great TJritain, and bears a ship typical of the Church, having the
cross at its prow, the labarum on its sail, the pastoral staff of the
apostolic episcopate at its mainmast, upheld by two ropes on
either side for the other two orders of priests and deacons; and
"S.S." on the rudder, for the "Sacred Scriptures." This ship is
leaving England, and is headed towards the New World, in-
dicating that our Church received its existence from the Catholic
Church through the Church of England.
Outside of this hemisphere is a band about an inch wide,
with the names of the six undisputed General Councils of the
ancient Church, separated from one another by six hemispheres
of lapis lazuli. As the word ''Catholic" signifies "all the world
over " so this band runs all around the globe.
From this band, on the outside, spring twelve oak leaves, and
between them are twelve twigs, each bearing three acorns with
burnished kernels. This use of the English oak sets forth the
English Church growing outwards, and carrying her Catholicit}'
with her wherever she goes, in ever)- direction. The huelve is the
number of apostolic fulness and perfection, and the three is a
reference to the doctrine of the Trinity. From behind the oak
leaves and acorns spring alternate maple leaves and palmetto
leaves, the former symbolizing the North, and the latter the
South, — thus representing the historical truth, that both jjarts
of our American Church are the outgrowth of the Church of
England.
The rim bears the inscription, " It is more blessed to give than
to receive." It begins and ends at a jewelled cross, composed of
five amethysts, four topazes, eight pearls and eight small garnets,
all clustered within a circle, the cross itself thus forming a crown
of glory. The words are divided by large stones, more than an
inch in diameter. As they refer not to the faith, but to gifts,
which are of infinite variety, no two are alike. They are all
(with one exception) American stones, the one exception being
a species of praise from New Zealand, which was found in a
lapidary's shop in Philadelphia. As Bishop Selwyn has done
iSji.] FAREWELL BREAKFAST. 305
more than any other one man to organize the system of the
colonial episcopate, the piece of that New Zealand stone was
secured, to be placed first in the series.
Outside the inscription is a very bold cable moulding, the
finish of which shows that it is a threefold cord, not easily broken.
This means the three orders of the apostolic ministry ; one strand
being burnished bright, to represent the episcopate, the next under
it having twelve cross threads representing the priesthood, and the
next below that having seven longitudinal threads, signifying the
diaconate, the original number of the deacons being seven. Out-
side this cable moulding, again, is a margin of leaves all growing
outward, showing a vigorous outward growth of the Church all
the world over.
On the under side of the rim is a plain Latin inscription, more
specifically detailing the circumstances of the occasion which
called forth this gift from the American to the English Church.
It runs thus : —
" y^ Ecclesise Anglicanas matri, per manus Apostolicas rever-
endissimi Georgii Augusti Selwyn, Dei gratia Episcopi Lichfield-
ensis, pacis et benevolentiae internuncii, ejusdemque auctoris, hoc
pietatis testimonium filii Americani dederunti^"
On the Tuesday before Bishop Selwyn left New York,
a farewell breakfast was given at Delmonico's, in his
honour. The Bishop was introduced to the company by
the Bishop of New York (Potter), and after breakfast he
delivered a characteristic speech : —
There are two salient points in what I have observed while
here. The first is the intense feeling of cordiality which exists
between the American States and our English mother. I could
never understand why there should be any disagreement between
the two countries. It is true that, about a hundred years ago,
a question arose as to whether England should tax America or
America should tax herself. That question was decided in your
X
306 BISHOP SELWYN. [1871.
favour, and you have made good use of your privilege. You may
now compete with the mother-country for the honour and glory
of being the best-taxed country on the earth. . . . How great a
blessing God has granted to us all, by the establishing of the
principle of " arbitration " ! There were those who told us that
the whole scheme was Utopian. But I say that "war" is incon-
sistent with civilization itself. It is a relic of barbarism. God
grant that, if ever disagreements occur between the people of
England and the people of America, we may say, each to the
other, "Let there be no strife between me and thee ; for we are
brethren." The second point by which I have been impressed,
is the unity of the two branches of our beloved Church. . . . There
has already been the Lambeth conference, and I have always con-
sidered it the greatest event in the Church since the Reformation.
Now your presiding Bishop writes me a letter, for which I am very
thankful, proposing that all the branches of the Anglican com-
munion should send their representatives — bishops, clergy, and
laity — to (what he aptly calls) a " Patriarchal Council." This
council should be held, he says, either at Canterbury or at Lam-
beth. I hope the suggestion will be carried out in 1877, under
the presidency of the Archbishop of Canterbury, who should be
recognized by all the bishops of our Anglican communion as
virtually, if not actually, their Patriarch.
This happy thought of the late venerated Bishop Potter,
of New York, has now, for many years, been leavening the
minds of Churchmen throughout the Anglican communion,
and the time is perhaps not far off when it will produce
tangible results. If so, it must be regretted that Bishop
Selwyn did not live to see this coping-stone placed on the
top of all his noble work for the better organizing of the
Church. But he had learnt, during a long and eventful
career, that noble labour is still more ennobled if it neither
enjoy, nor desire to enjoy, any recompense in this world.
iS/i.] DEATH OF BISHOP PATTESON. 307
This lesson was more strongly than ever brought home
to him when, towards the close of the year, the distressing
news arrived that his most trusted and beloved disciple,
Bishop Patteson, had been cruelly murdered by the very
people for whose sake he had abandoned all things that
men hold dear. This terrible event took place on a very
small island (Nukapu), among the Melanesian Group, near
Santa Cruz, where the good Bishop had landed fully aware
of the risk he was running. He was first lured away
from the shore, and then his skull was beaten in from be-
hind by a club, and his body pierced with arrows. The
corpse being set adrift in a canoe, it was recovered and
brought in reverent silence on board ythe mission schooner,
and on St. Matthew's Day (September 21st) was committed
to the deep.* When the news reached Lichfield, Bishop
Selwyn's heart was almost broken. He loved this man
like his own son, and had honoured him above all other
men by appointing him as his own successor in this ad-
vanced post of supreme difficulty and danger. Every
afternoon, for several days in succession, when evensong
in the cathedral was over, he requested the organist simply
to play the " Dead March " in Saul, while the congregation
reverently stood in silent sympathy with their chief pastor's
grief And when, at early Communion, he read the Prayer
for the Church Militant, his voice trembled audibly, and
he paused for some seconds at the words, " We also
bless Thy holy name for all Thy servants departed this
life in Thy faith and fear," slowly adding, " especially for
John Coleridge Patteson."
* See this touching story fully told in Miss Yonge's "Life of Bishop
Patteson," ii. 566.
308 BISHOP SELIVYN. [.871.
The following letters from the Bishop and from Mrs.
Selwyn, written not long afterwards, when the sad news
had been confirmed by later and more detailed informa-
tion, will be found of touching interest.
Bishop Selwyn to Sir William Martin.
My very dear Friend,
On St. Stephen's Day the full accounts came, and no
day could be more suitable.* But if they had come before, I do
not think they could have marred the harmony of the angels'
song ; for they were so much better than we expected, that we felt
almost as if the sorrow had been turned into joy. This is the
feeling of all his friends — not even excepting his brother and
sister. As a matter of " sorrow," we think, perhaps, more of Joe
Atkins and his native companions and their death of agony. But
all are alike now — their bodies in the deep, their souls with Christ.
"And I therein do rejoice; yea, and will rejoice." We have
agreed upon a plan for a memoir. How we wish that you could
be here, amid a company of loving friends, to bring out as perfect
a life as possible of the most perfect of men ! It is difficult to
compare him with Mr. Whytehead ; but the two seem to come
nearer than any men I ever knew to the definition in the Hebrews :
" men of whom the world was not worthy."
I visited Nukapu with dear Coley first on August 12, 1856,
but did not land. Eleven canoes came off in a most friendly
manner, and saluted us by throwing roasted bread-fruit on board.
One of the men stole Coley's telescope. On September 23rd,
1857, 1 visited Nukapu again; six canoes came off. I rowed into
* The very last Bible lesson given by Bishop Patteson, just before his mar-
tyrdom, was on the de.Tth of St. Stephen. His last letter to "the Primate" is
full of deep religious feeling. "The volcano [near Nukapu] was fine last night.
What is all the bombarding of Paris to these masses of fire and tons of rock
cast into the sea ? ' If Pie do but touch the hills, they shall smoke.' To-day's
first lesson has a good verse : ' Be strong, O Jeshua, the high priest ! I am
with you ' " (Life of Bishop Patteson," ii., 564).
i87i.] CONSOLATORY THOUGHTS. 309
the lagoon, and landed at the village. Most friendly people. Old
Anana and I exchanged names. I called over a list of former
acquaintances, and distributed presents. It was altogether a
happy finish to the day. The above will show what good reason
there was to hope that Nukapu would open the way to Santa
Cruz, and that there was no rashness in going there. Why did we
not die together then ? God only knows. " One is taken, and
the other left."
The next letter is from Mrs. Selwyn to a sister of the
martyred missionary — one whom Bishop Selwyn most ten-
derly and happily consoled, pointing out to her a cross
he had drawn on his chart of the islands, marking the
exact spot where her brother's body had been committed
to the deep, and " had taken possession of the great blue
sea."
' Mrs. Selwyn to Miss F. Patteson.
Our thoughts — also, I think, our prayers — have met to-day.
I am sure our hearts have been alike full of " the quick " and of
"the dead"— the quick, that are at work; the dead, that are at
rest. "Their works do follow them." We have had a day of
services here, beginning in our chapel and ending in the parish
churches, with the cathedral in the interval. How glorious it
was, and how I longed that the dear souls " at work " could have
the help and comfort of such a place and such words and such
music ! But I remember how all this seemed to be more than
supplied, when I was kneeling side by side with the converts and
with those who were yet in darkness, by the longing desire to help
and the uplifting of trying, — though, in my case, it was ever so
far off. I hope my Johnnie will drink of this deep well, as one
sees dear Coley did ; though no one will, or can, in his degree.
The next letter is from the same hand, and narrates a
most pathetic scene.
3IO BISHOP SELWYN. [187 1.
Mrs. Selwyn to Miss F. Patteson.
1 hope that you duly received a precious Httle box of letters
from Norfolk Island — old treasures that could not fail to awaken
many memories. I did not advert to another part of the contents.
You will guess what it is — a mournful trophy. The Bishop put
off the opening till Good Friday, when a little band of friends
assembled. The Bishop said some prayers first, and then spread
the mat that had wrapped the precious body on the table. The
little palm-branch was inside, with the five knots we have heard of,
and which those in New Zealand who are conversant with native
customs interpret as being a declaration that the act was
judicial, the life of the great one being taken for five lives of
people kidnapped or murdered in the fray. What is your mind
concerning it — the mind of your family, that is ? Meanwhile it is
in loving and reverent hands, as you know.
Yes, it was indeed with moistened eyes that we saw,
and with "loving and reverent hands" that we touched,
this " relic " — so eloquent in its strangeness and simplicity —
of a modern martyrdom. As for Bishop Selwyn, he seemed
at once to look ten years older, and perhaps he never fully
recovered the blow. For it was a blow also to the mission
which he had started, and to which he was at one time
minded to dedicate the whole remainder of his own life as
mission-bishop.
Shortly afterwards, Bishop Selwyn preached at West-
minster Abbey for this mission. His text was Rom. v. 20 :
" Where sin abounded, grace did much more abound."
He said —
If it were not for this assurance, the spectacle of human
misery and ignorance, which meets us at every turn, might make
even the most zealous heart despair. But in this confidence the
1871.] SERMON AT WESTMINSTER. 31I
missionary goes forth to heathen lands ; and such was the con-
viction with which Bishop Patteson went forth seventeen years
ago, and in its strength he never ceased to work. Next to his
rehance on the Divine promises of strength and support, his own
humihty was the basis of his work. It was stamped on the Mela-
nesian Mission. He went out full of faith in the purpose of God
to raise up evangelists from among the natives to preach to their
countrymen in their own tongues. These were the pentecostal
gifts that he relied on ; and throughout his career he kept this
object ever in view. High, indeed, were his qualifications for
this great and arduous work. First, there were his gifts of nature
— a discriminating ear, a retentive memory, and a marvellous
flexibility of speech. Then there were his gifts of grace — aptness
to teach, docility to learn, unwearied patience, and (above all)
condescension to men of low estate, and even to little children,
whose every thought and word he studied, until he was able to
attain to that idiomatic power of expression which enchains the
savage and paves the way for future influence. Indeed, it may
be said that in an especial degree he possessed the gift of
languages — a gift inestimable where every island has its own
variety of tongue. ... It pleased God to prolong his life until he
had gathered in the firstfruits of his labours. He had drawn out
a map of the islands. He knew them all, and was acquainted
with the various characteristics of their tribes. Some were bold
mariners ; others, creeping among the trees, feared to trust them-
selves upon the water. And then, in time, the people gathered
round a native pastor ; and his pupils sailed from island to island
in the mission vessel. And so the work was carried forward, not
by an increased body of English clergy, but by a native ministry,
trained and superintended by himself. And now we approach
the close of his too short career. On a little island, not larger
than Westminster Abbey, where he had often sat, and where he
was on friendly terms with the natives, his soul departed to be
with Christ ; and by the hands of his murderers he received his
martyr's crown.
312 BISHOP SELWYN. [1871.
A future page of this Memoir will describe Bishop
Selwyn's revenge upon the Melanesians for this dreadful
deed. It took the singular, but the essentially Christian,
form of sending out to them his second son — who most
resembled him, and who had been, both abroad and in
England, the most constantly by his side — to undergo
precisely similar perils for their good, and to bring home
to these murderers the Word of Life.
Throughout England too, at the end of this year 1871,
the marvellous power of faith and prayer was demonstrated
in an unusual way. For in November the Prince of Wales
was smitten down, at his country-house (Sandringham) in
Norfolk, with typhoid fever ; and in a few weeks he had
sunk so low that his life was despaired of Never, perhaps,
has been seen so touching and striking a spectacle as
our whole nation presented under the shadow of this im-
pending calamity. Prayer was universally offered up for
the Prince's recovery. And in the evening of December
13th a turning-point was reached, after which the patient
proceeded steadily towards recovery. Two months after-
wards, a solemn national thanksgiving was held in St.
Paul's Cathedral, at which the Queen and most of the
royal family were present, amid a vast crowd of every
rank and degree. Thus a severe trial had shown that the
heart of England was sound at the core, and that she had
not yet either dismissed her ancient loyalty or forgotten
her ancient religion.
CHAPTER V.
1872.
The Universities Commission — Use of the Athanasian Creed — Futile proceed-
ings in Convocation — Speech at Oxford — ^Consecration of Bishop Rawie
— Letter from Mrs. Selwyn — Pelsall coHiery accident — Confusions in the
Church — Cahnness of Bishop Selwyn.
The year 1872 opened with a very distinct reminder to all
whom it might concern that the question of public educa-
tion, both primary and advanced, was still a matter of
prominent interest to the country ; and that no employ-
ment of public funds for educational purposes would much
longer be uncontested which was local or sectarian in its
area. Accordingly, primary education having been already
dealt with by Mr. Forster's Bill in 1870, the endowments
devoted to more advanced education at the two universities
of Oxford and Cambridge now came under review ; and
on the 9th of January a Royal Commission was appointed
to inquire into the subject. Naturally, a good deal of
alarm was expressed in some quarters at an inquiry which
seemed ominously to forebode, at no distant time, a forcible
interference with the bequests of ancient " founders and
benefactors." Hard words were used, — " disendowment,"
" confiscation," " diversion of property held in trust for one
314 BISHOP selwyn: [1872,
purpose to some other, and perhaps ahen, purpose." And
no doubt such phrases, as Bishop Selwyn said on another
occasion, " are ugly, very ugly words." They look like
defalcation, and breach of honour towards benefactors now
long passed away, who cannot speak a word in support or
explanation of their own purposes. But then it was for-
gotten that nothing would have grieved and disappointed
those good men more bitterly, than to have suspected that
posterity would care so little about their bequests as to
make no inquiry, after the lapse of centuries, about their
freedom from abuse or waste. Moreover, the greatest
Churchmen and statesmen of the past — such as William of
Wykeham, Wolsey, and many others — had not scrupled to
modify the employment of vast endowments, bequeathed
originally for monastic purposes, and to adapt them to the
educational necessities of their own time. While, if any
doubts remained as to the expediency (at any rate) of
such well-considered changes, it was reassuring to hear
from the lips of Dr. Sewell, at the great Wykehamist Fes-
tival in 1887, that he — who, as W^arden of New College,
had conscientiously resisted the great changes at Oxford
resulting from this Royal Commission in 1872, — now felt
bound to confess they had been both expedient and
righteous changes, and had brought little else than good
in their train.
At this time, however, the flagrant contradiction which
arrayed men in two opposite camps on the whole educa-
tion question was brought into the most vivid light. For
while amiable Churchmen were pleading in pathetic tones
for the rights of the clerical conscience to teach, in all the
national schools, their own full Church of England doctrine,
1872.] RELIGIOUS EDUCATION. 315
a fierce " demonstration " was being made in Dublin
(January 17th) in favour of downright separate denomina-
tional schools : and an equally determined front was
shown by the Dissenters at Manchester (January 24th) in
favour of downright secular education. It is quite clear
that the former of these two schemes is, at least among
scattered rural populations and in countries of strongly
divided religious opinion, both physically and financially
impossible ; while, as to secular education, our countrymen
have hitherto decidedly set their faces against it. Accord-
ingly, on the education question, Bishop Selwyn held on
his own tranquil conservative course, insisting that educa-
tion to be worth anything must needs be religious, but yet
fully acknowledging the right and duty of the State to
curb, by a " conscience clause," any exuberance of prose-
lytizing energy which the clergy might display.
Nor was it only on the Education question that the
Church of England had, about this time, to face her enemies
in the gate. On February 17th, two events occurred on the
same day, which showed what need she had of courage and
patience and of that skilful leading for which she naturally
looked to the episcopal bench. In the afternoon of that
day, a great meeting was held at St. James's Hall, London,
to advocate a trenchant reform of the Prayer-Book and
a disuse of the Athanasian Creed, as the only practical
alternative to the disestablishment now so loudly and
confidently threatened by the Dissenters. And in the
evening, the first step towards the accomplishment of that
threat seemed to be secured, when Mr. Osborne Morgan's
Burials Bill was read a second time in the House of
Commons. Two days afterwards the Church had reason
3l6 BISHOP SELWYN. [1872.
to cry, " Save mc from my friends ; " when Lord Shaftes-
bury brought in his bill on "Ecclesiastical procedure"
permitting any three " aggrieved " persons throughout the
length and breadth of a diocese to throw any parish at
pleasure into convulsions, by bringing an action against
its clergyman for " Ritualism." This danger was happily
conjured away for a time, and " risu solvebantur tabula;,"
by a humorous speech from the Bishop of Peterborough.
Is it not (he said) a fitting function of a ruler, to decide
whether prosecutions such as these should be instituted ? But to
whom is this important power given in the bill ? To any three
persons in the entire diocese, — who may be the three greatest
fools in it ! These persons — let us say, three old women in the
Channel Islands — would have the right to prosecute, for any
minute violation of the rubric, any clergyman in a district within
a stone's-throw of your lordships' house !
We can easily imagine with what twinkling eyes Bishop
Selwyn would enjoy the humour of his brother-bishop's
speech. For his sympathy would be entirely with those
whose votes on that occasion upheld the principle of dis-
cipline by the voice of responsible authority, rather than
the infliction of ecclesiastical censures by " aggrieved "
partisans from without. Such external interference in
a parish would inflame every smouldering discord and
every latent fanaticism into a blazing conflagration. How
strong such theological differences could be, was mani-
fested by the fierce conflict, already referred to, on the
admission of Dr. Vance (a Unitarian), among the other
New Testament " Revisers," to receive the Holy Com-
munion in Westminster Abbey. Dr. Burgon, Dean of
1872.3 ECCLESIASTICAL DISSENSIONS. 317
Chichester, wrote thus to the Bishop of Gloucester and
Bristol :—
In God's name, I invite you, right reverend sir, to clear your-
self from further complicity in this terrible scandal. Believe me,
you cannot as a Christian bishop retain your present alliance with
that Unitarian teacher without giving a shock to the conscience
of the Church, and of your own clergy in particular. The know-
ledge that faithful men, in all parts of the world, are writhing
under the spectacle which you and your episcopal brethren
continue to present to the wondering eyes of Christendom,
emboldens me to address you with more than common plainness.
The truth is, that one commotion in the ecclesiastical
world often awakens or gives additional exasperation to
another. And at this moment, in 1872, the air was thick
with storms, owing to the revival of a controversy which
had long ago agitated the English Church, as to the public
recitation of the Athanasian Creed. To an unprejudiced
bystander — if such a person existed at that time — it must
have been perfectly amazing to observe with what fierce
acrimony this merely rubrical question was debated. It
was in Convocation, naturally, that the fire attained to a
white heat ; and there it is instructive to watch the course
of proceedings, and to record the final result. First, in
February, 1872, an event occurred which was thus de-
scribed by one of Bishop Selwyn's Archdeacons : —
One of the greatest events, as regards the Church, is her
Majesty's authorizing, for the first time these two hundred years,
the Convocations of Canterbury and York to take into considera-
tion the Report of a Ritual Commission, and to report thereon,
with a view to legislation.
Such a description was not a promising one : yet great was
3l8 BISHOP SELWYN. [1872.
the exultation and excitement among the leaders of the
clergy at this event. The biographer of Bishop Wilberforce
relates how " it was the completion of the work for which
he had laboured during well-nigh twenty years : " * and
the Prolocutor (Bickersteth) lucidly described to the Lower
House the effects of the three cumbrous keys by which
the Crown lawyers had now unlocked the handcuffs, im-
posed by Henry VHI. on these provincial synods of the
Church : —
(i) a royal " licence " aX the present stage of the operations,
was unnecessary. But the reason why it has been issued as well
as (2) the "letter of business" is this,— that it is possible some
matter may arise requiring the enactment of a canon ; and then
the "licence" will be ready to our hand. I have always con-
tended that under (3) the royal ^^ wrif'^ we have ample liberty
to discuss every question ; and can do everything short of enact-
ing a canon. "t
Armed with this trifurcated weapon from the royal
armoury, at which Bishop Selwyn — fresh from his diocesan
conferences, on the free and business-like colonial system
— must have smiled one of his most contagious smiles, the
Convocation of Canterbury proceeded to work.
That elaborate confession of a true faith, " the psalm
Qiiiauiqiie Viilt',' has for centuries been regarded by
Churchmen as a most valuable bulwark of orthodoxy.
And, indeed, elaborate as it may appear, so decisive and
dogmatic are its statements, that Bishop Selwyn often
alleged that no statement of Christian doctrine could
compare with it for effect upon the simple Maori mind.
* " Life of Bishop Wilberforce," vol. iii., p. 391.
t "Chronicle of Convocation," 1872, p. 62.
1872.] THE ATHANASIAN CREED. 319
"Now," they would say, "we see what the Church's teach-
ing really is." But, terse and impressive as its unhesitating
definitions of the most inscrutable Divine mysteries may
be, two subordinate questions arise about the Athanasian
Creed to which even the soundest Churchmen may give
diametrically opposite answers, (i) The first is a ritual
question — whether a long creed of this highly speculative
cast has any more claim to be sung as a part of Divine
worship than the Thirty-nine Articles have? (2) The
second is a literary question, — whether the so-called " dam-
natory clauses," with which it menacingly guards itself, are
any essential part of the creed ? For, if not, when it is
elevated to liturgical honours, and adorned (like its sister-
creed of Nicaea) with musical embellishments for use amid
praise and thanksgiving, it should be first disembarrassed
(like that sister-creed) of its discordant accompaniments
of anathema ; so that it may be recited thankfully to God,
rather than menacingly to man. Accordingly, various
schemes were proposed.
The most learned defence of the existing usage pro-
ceeded from the lips of the venerable Bishop of Lincoln
(Wordsworth). He pleaded that the creed could not be
a forgery of " about the year 800," because two years
earlier (a.d. 798), a Bishop of Worcester made " a profes-
sion of his faith" in its very words ; and six years earlier
(a.d. 794) a council at Frankfort mentions it as a well-
known formulary ; and Alcuin (writing about the same
time) even attributes it to Athanasius himself. He added
that—
perhaps the true solution of the [chronological] question has been
given by Gieseler, — who supposes that the Athanasian Creed was
320 BISHOP SELWYN. [1872.
the final settlement of the theological discussions in the various
Councils of Toledo, especially on the doctrines of the Trinity
and Incarnation : and as in Spain the Arian heresy was usually
called " the creed of Arius," so the profession of the Catholic faith
was called " the creed of (his great opponent) Athanasius." . . .
With regard to what are called the " damnatory clauses," — it is
the duty of the Church to warn the unbeliever of his danger :
and I should be quite prepared to leave the creed to stand as it
does, without any word of comment. But we are bound to
consider the scruples of others ; and I should therefore be willing
to concur in the addition of an explanatory rubric, as follows : —
" Note. — That no clauses in this creed are to be regarded as words
of private persons pronouncing any judgment on others ; but in it
the Church of God discharges the duty, solemnly laid upon it by
Him, of publicly warning those of their danger who wilfully reject
the fundamental articles of the Christian faith rehearsed herein."
On the other hand, there were those who felt, much
more strongly than the good Bishop of Lincoln did, that
" the scruples of others must be regarded : " and at the
head of them was no less a person than the Archbishop of
Canterbury (Tait) himself. In reply to Bishop Wordsworth,
he began by laying before Convocation a petition signed
by eighteen leading London clergymen, — among them the
present Bishops of Rochester (Thorold), Sydney (Barry),
Colchester (Blomfield), and Manchester (Moorhouse) —
stating that —
while we heartily acknowledge the value of the Athanasian Creed,
as testifying to the cardinal doctrines of the Christian faith, we
consider it to be unsuitable for use in the public service of the
Church.
To this view of the matter the Archbishop added the
weight of his own personal approval ; while in favour of
1872.] DEBATE IN CONVOCATION. 32 1
the proposal to separate the damnatory clauses, and to
omit therh in the public recitation of the creed, he laid
before the House an opinion of three out of the four Cam-
bridge professors of divinity, to the following effect : —
Believing that the character of the Athanasian creed is not
sufficiently understood, we beg to call attention to the following
facts :— (i) The internal structure of the document shows that it
consists of two parts — the exposition of the catholic faith, and
the admonitory clauses which form its setting and are no part of
the exposition itself: (2) in the earliest extant manuscript of this
document, clause forty-two occurs in a wholly different form, and
runs thus, — " This is the holy and catholic faith, which every
man who desires to reach eternal life ought to know in its integrity
and to guard with all fidelity." *
At the risk of some prolixity, it has seemed worth
while to set forth quite clearly this leading controversy,
which disturbed^ the ecclesiastical world to its deepest
depths, in 1872. For these thoughts formed the theolo-
gical atmosphere of the time : and the leading men of
any age cannot be fairly understood without taking into
account the subtle influences of the air they breathed and
of the " public opinion " of their day.
On April 24th, the battle-royal began in the Lower
House of the Southern Convocation. Prebendary Kempc
proposed that the Athanasian Creed should only be used
at occasional and shortened services ; this was lost by 60
votes against 10. Dean Stanley urged that the rubric
directing its use should merely be permissive ; which was
rejected by 60 votes against 12. Another desired that the
whole matter should be left to the discretion of " the
* " Chronicle of Convocation, 1872," p. 37.
Y
323 BISHOP SELWYN. [1872.
Ordinary ;" but he only obtained 13 votes against 54 on
the other side. Dean Blakesley then wished that the
creed should be regarded purely as a hymn or canticle ;
a notion which was repudiated by 42 votes against 19. At
length Lord A. Compton proposed that things should
remain simply as they were at the beginning of the whole
discussion ; which was carried by 62 votes against 7. And,
finally, Archdeacon Denison moved that there was no
occasion even for an explanatory note ; which was more
hesitatingly carried by 21 voices against 17. The question
was thereupon removed to the Upper House ; and it was
there moved that the bishops assembled " do agree with
the Lower House ; " which was finally negatived by the
Archbishop's casting vote. Thus the nett result was
absolutely nil. And if any justification were needed for
Bishop Selwyn's anxiety to leaven the Councils of the
Church with a " lay element," it was now supplied.
Meanwhile — as if to add a touch of pathos to this
picture of wasted energy — there passed away amid the
thickest of the storm (on April i, 1872) Frederick Denison
Maurice, the man of all others who had mainly contributed
to the opening of this question. His career had been
blasted by the violent opposition it aroused. But his
biography is now read with amazement by a younger gene-
ration, who can find therein nothing but the profoundest
piety and the most untainted orthodoxy, shrouding them-
selves in unintelligible forms of entangled speech.
Amid all these portentous theological tempests, there
Avas one man who appeared perfectly unmoved. It was
the man who amid raging gales on Southern Seas had
learned, with serene self-possession, not to be disturbed by
1872.] MEETING AT OXFORD. 323
sound and fury ; but to consider, and then to do, what-
ever practical work most needed to be done. For Bishop
Selwyn made no pretensions to be a skilled theologian,
although his intellectual gifts would have amply equipped
him for such a career, had he been called to it. But
his marvellous force and directness, and the singular
humility which lay so deeply ingrained in his character,
enabled him deliberately to confine himself to that special
work of practical organization to which, in both hemi-
spheres, he perceived himself to be summoned. Few men
have the moral courage thus to satisfy at once their
intellect and their conscience, and in this manly way to
recognize quite clearly the rightfulness of " division of
labour" in the Church. Consequently most men of great
practical energy are, unlike Bishop Selwyn, intolerant
men. They are impatient of studies which seem to them
to paralyze action : and, forgetting that without skilful
direction mere energy is a useless " beating of the air,"
they rudely overturn the strategist's tent in the lusty
onward march of their enthusiastic battalions — to defeat.
On March 9, 1872, a large meeting was held at
Oxford, to express veneration for Bishop Patteson's
character and deep regret at his untimely death. To the
crowded assembly Bishop Selwyn gave a long and
luminous account of the Melanesian mission, in the
following words : —
The Melanesian mission extends over nearly a twelfth part
of the circumference of the globe ; and it includes a hundred
islands, some larger some smaller, with a population of about
250,000 souls. Almost every one of these islands has a separate
dialect of its own ; and consequently the same work has to be
324 BISHOP SELlVYiV. [1S72.
done in each case over again. Bishop Patteson's plan, therefore,
was to make the smallest possible use of English agents ; he
sought rather to train up native youths at the central school in
Norfolk Island. Down to the time of his death he had had 565
young men under his care. It was the duty of the English agents
to go among the natives, often to climb up into their curious tree-
houses (one of which has been described to me as eighty feet
high), into which the dwellers have to take up all their arms and
provisions, besides a quantity of stones to throw down on any
that might approach the tree to set it on fire. Such was Bishop
Patteson's plan. And if it be only continued as he left it, it will
itself be the best mode of showing reverence to his memory. It
should be remembered that a great part of the staff still remains,
especially four promising young men in holy orders. The case
of the Rev. George Sarawia is a good illustration of the actual
nature of missionary work. Thirteen years ago this young man
had never seen a white face ; and now, with the entire approba-
tion of every one, he has been ordained a minister of the Church,
and has taken under his charge the island of INIota. We enter-
tain a hope that Mr. Codrington (who was a Fellow of Wadham)
may consent to become the successor to Bishop Patteson. If he
does — and I speak here to the young men of this university — we
must do all we can to supplement his exertions. The physical
exercises in which young men indulge at these seats of learning
are not all idleness. They are a training of the future man for
higher purposes than playing at cricket or pulling in a boat, —
necessary that the man may be thoroughly furnished to all good
works. Well then, if Cambridge will send him two university
oarsmen, will Oxford find him two more?
On St. Peter's Day, June 29, 1872, an event occurred
which appeared to Bishop Sehvyn, accustomed to large
views and oceanic horizons, as one of the most notable
occurrences of the year. It was the public consecration —
and, this time, in Lichfield Cathedral itself— of a fourth
1 872.] CONSECRATION OF BISHOP RAWLE. 325
bishop for colonial service who had been selected by him
from among the working clergy of his own Midland diocese.
In 1869, he had appointed Dr. Cowae, Rector of St. Mary's,
Stafford, to succeed him in the diocese of Auckland. In
1870, the Rev. H, Cheetham, late Vicar of Quarndon, Derby-
shire, was made Bishop of Sierra Leone; in 1871, Dr.
Nevill, Rector of St. Mark's, Shelton, was consecrated
Bishop of Dunedin ; and now, in 1872, the Rev. Richard
Rawle, Rector of Tamworth, was to be sent forth as Bishop
of Trinidad. No appointment could have been more
appropriate ; and the ceremony was most touching and
impressive, and worthy both of the simple-hearted man
who stood there ready to be consecrated, and of the world-
renowned Bishop who was (by the Archbishop's dele-
gation) now to consecrate him to his work. Five English
prelates, one Scotch bishop, and three from New Zealand,
with a large number of clergy, formed in procession on
the terrace in the palace-garden, and entered the church
by the great west door, singing the Te Dcuvi as they
passed up towards the altar. A striking sermon was
preached by the Bishop of Peterborough (Magee). The
number of communicants was nearly five hundred ; and
the beautiful alms-dish presented by the American Church
to the mother Church of England, in memory of Bishop
Selwyn's visit to their convention at Baltimore, was now
used for the first time. After a few weeks, the new Bishop
landed in his island diocese ; where his first words on
arrival struck a note in fullest accord with all New Zealand
precedents : —
It gives me pleasure to be introduced to you with less ceremony
326 BISHOP SELWYN. [1872.
than had been arranged. Being a man of plain and simple
habits, I prefer that my entering-in among you should be in keep-
ing with what my past life has been. In coming, I have lovingly
obeyed what seemed to me a very loving call — not to greatness,
but to a cliief post of work and responsibility in the service of
Him whose I am and whom I serve, the great Bishop and Pastor
of your souls. To Him I look for guidance in the relations upon
which we are now entering.
The following letter gives a graphic description of one
of the guests at this consecration, and also affords a wel-
come glimpse into the domestic circle at Lichfield about
that time.
Mrs. Selwyn to Lady Martin.
Lichfield, July 24, 1872.
My dearest P
]\ly dear old Johnnie's mind is fully settled now
[about going out to Melanesia]. It has never wavered in pur-
pose ; but the uncertainly was unsettling. Perhaps you will say,
"What uncertainty?" This: Supposing that Mr. Codrington
had left the mission, and that 's influence in the synod had
led to the appointment of a man of other views, who might have
wished to carry out the work after a different sort, George would
not have advised Johnnie to go. But all that is at an end ; and
the warm welcome from the other side of the world has been
reassuring and comforting. I wish his friend, Mr. Still, could
have had the like encouragement. I think you cannot fail to
like that good and pleasant man with his fair Saxon face. Mr.
Still's own people have been very good. His father, a man apart
from missions, accepts his son's intention in a way that will surely
raise himself; and he sends his child out with his blessing. I
did not quite look for all this so soon from the rich solicitor,
who does not understand it. Johnnie and Mr. Still are deep in
1872.] BISHOP WORDSWORTH OF LINCOLN. 327
medical, or rather surgical, studies at the hospital at Wolver-
hampton, by way of preparation for their start. The break-up
at Wolverhampton takes place in September, and. a sad day it
will be ; for Johnnie has been enabled to bring a most un-
promising state of things into very fair order, and to establish
a very strong feeling towards himself. Especially have the
schools prospered, and all the wild colts of the parish are his
devoted supporters. So I hope it may be with other wild colts
elsewhere. We came back from Eton to Lichfield for George
to finish his Derbyshire confirmations. It was ever rain and
storm, and not like summer at all. The hay-crop is a grand one,
but a good deal of it has been injured. However, a fine day
intervened for us on a great occasion here, the consecration of
a bishop. We English are not good hands at a function, still
I think that this ceremonial went off very well, especially the
long procession up the nave of the cathedral, chanting the Te
Deum. There were seven consecrating bishops, and the Bishop
of Peterborough preached. No doubt you have a precis of the
discourse from C . We were full of bishops at the palace ;
and the Angelical doctor of Lincoln [Bishop Wordsworth], and
my old friend, his wife, remained over the Sunday with us. He
is angelical most certainly — a didactic angel, ever flowing on.
One feels, as he talks, that his conversation is in heaven, and
that you wish to be good. How blessed to have come to such
a state that you are a living sermon, a living word ! We went to
our Lollards' Tower on July 2nd. It was not ready, so benignant
Mrs. Tait had us to the palace. I told you of our going to
the S.P.G. Festival at St. Paul's, where the American alms-basin
was formally presented by George, and received by the Arch-
bishop. And into it went a wretched offering — only ^^50 from
great guns and all !
George found an American friend at St. Paul's, — the young
lady whom he had married to Mr. Chauncy, and who lives at
No. 1853, Spruce Street, Philadelphia. They settled to come
hither : but (unresty people !) they sent a telegram at last to put
it off. The way they race about England takes one's breath away.
328 BISHOP SELWYN. [1872.
I wish they could have dined widi us all at the Mansion House.
It was a grand afAiir, with the quaint old customs still retained.
It was long. We heard many songs and many speeches ; and
got away while a magistrate was describing the practice of his
police-affairs, which did not seem in any sort connected with the
S.P.G. On our return, my beloved husband (as usual) invited
a whole family to come and see us, — parents and four daughters :
so we were a fine petticoat-party. The clergyman in question
gave us an amusing account of deorge's original visit to Derbyshire,
when he was meeting the clergy and churchwardens in order to
set the conferences going in this diocese. A farmer met a former
churchwarden after the meeting, and asked Avhat they had " done
up yonder ? " " Well, I don't know much about it ; but I always
went with the Bishop, for he was master of them all." And a
cynical old clergyman observed : " I don't care for the man ; and
I don't like his plans ; but I like to see him bowl them all over,
one after another." However, these were old days. The consent
is universal now.
The silver alms-dish, to which reference is made in
this letter, was formally presented to the Church of
England, in St. Paul's Cathedral, on July 3rd, — the Bishop
of Ohio (Mac-Ilwaine) and Bishop Selwyn kneeling side
by side, and together committing the precious gift to the
hands of the Archbishop of Canterbury (Tait). On the
following day, being " Independence Day," Bishop Selwyn
telegraphed a characteristic message to Bishop Potter of
New York: "July 4: alms-basin presented in St. Paul's
Cathedral : ' independence ' is not dis-union." This message
was soon published abroad by the venerable recipient, who
observed —
it was a kindly and graceful impulse on their part to give such
dignity to the reception of our offering of love, and to send us
18-2.] " INDEPENDENCE NOT disunion:' 329
such a message on such a day. It will be warmly appreciated by
all the members of our communion on this side of the water.
Who can estimate the blessings that always flow, in
ever-increasing volume, from such " kindly and graceful "
acts of Christian love and courtesy ! They form the soften-
ing and harmonizing influence among all the complicated
machinery of social life ; and — on the larger scale, where
Churches and nations are concerned — they symbolize and
engender a latent goodwill and friendliness which may, some
day when " peace or war " hangs trembling in the balance,
turn the scale and save generations of mankind from the
malediction and misery of bloodshed. Had the true ring
of Christian courtesy, which is heard in Bishop Selwyn's
brief message to New York, only predominated in the
journalism of both countries during the previous twenty
years, "Alabama" and other menacing claims would
probably never have been heard of; and the news which
rang through England on September 14, 1872, that the
Geneva arbitrators had actually fined us three million two
hundred and thirty thousand pounds for a quite imaginary
act of connivance with " rebels," would never have tingled
in men's ears. No doubt, the passions of our kinsmen
across the water were at that time violently, and perhaps
justly, excited. For the union of their country had been
threatened : and they could therefore vehemently apply to
the United States what such great English Liberals as
Mr. Bright and Earl Russell, that very year, were publicly
saying about the United Kingdom: ''to have two repre-
sentative Parliaments in the United Kingdom would be an
intolerable mischief." *
* Guardian, Jan. 20, and Oct. 12, 1S72.
330 BISHOP SELWYN. [1872.
This apparent failure of justice and equity, on the ver}'
first important occasion when the essentially Christian
system of " arbitration " had been resorted to, seemed at
first sight a calamity for the human race. Perhaps in truth
it was not so. But, any way, all honour to Mr. Gladstone,
who displayed the same moral courage as Bishop Selwyn had
already shown in New Zealand, in suspending his country's
interests and honour on the arbitrament of reason, rather
than of the sword. Thereby he placed England first among
all the nations of Christendom, as not only believing, but
acting upon and suffering for, the principles of the Gospel.
Who dares imagine that such conduct can ever, in the
long-run, injure any nation ? It were a puny and shallow
love for Christ's splendid principles of forbearance which
could not endure a check, or a temporary collision with
those strange contradictions to all reason and goodness of
which the world is full.
In the autumn of this year a sad accident occurred.
One unlucky stroke of a pick in Pelsall Colliery released a
rushing flood which entombed twenty-two men and boys
for five days, and condemned them to a lingering death.
There lay the twenty-two men as if asleep. One old man had
his arm round the neck of his grandson, a fine young man of five-
and twenty. A poor boy had a piece of a leather boot-string in
his mouth, telling its sad story of raging hunger. And one man
of prayer was dead upon his knees.*
The following letter from the curate of the parish gives a
vivid account of the Bishop's behaviour on this occasion : —
In November, 1872, while I was curate of Pelsall, we had a
* Dean Champneys, " Tale of Pelsall Colliery," p. 9.
1872.] PELS ALL COLLIERY ACCIDENT. 33 I
sad colliery accident, which occasioned the death of twenty-two
colliers. The water broke in from an old disused mine, and
flooded the working so rapidly, that it rose to the top of the shaft
in about three hours. It was hoped that the men in the pit might
have got to a higher part of the workings. The Vicar of the
parish was totally laid aside by paralysis ; and the Bishop, knowing
this, and ray want of experience, most kindly came down to help
me in my work on the Sunday. Finding that I had not been to
bed for the two previous nights, he said, " You must do nothing
to-day : I Avill take all the duty for you." Accordingly, he read
the prayers and preached in the morning; and after the service
asked me to go with him to the scene of the accident. There he
conducted another service in the open air ; and from an old coal-
waggon he gave an excellent address to the vast crowds gathered
round. He also took the service in the evening.
Knowing the distress likely to arise from the accident, I had
a number of boxes made, to collect subscriptions from the crowds
who flocked into the parish. One of the young men with a box
met the Bishop as he came in from the station, and he at once
took out his purse and emptied the contents — gold and silver and
all — into the box. I was told by the station-master afterwards,
that the Bishop had to borrow the money for his ticket to return
home. I was living in a small cottage at the time, and although
most of our well-to-do people were anxious to entertain him, he
preferred to stay with me. We had a large number of boxes in
circulation for collecting subscriptions ; and by Sunday night we
had collected ;^2oo. The whole of the time between the services
on that memorable Sunday, the good Bishop was engaged with
my wife and myself in counting the money given by the poor
colliers to help their fellows in distress. The Bishop paid us
several visits afterwards, and gave us the benefit of his advice.
He also visited the bereaved families and prayed with them ; and
the kind interest he took in the suff"erers left a most favourable
impression, and greatly strengthened my hands in my work.
With such words of comfort and ministries of help as
332 BISHOP SEUVYN. [1S72.
could be given, both Bishop Sclwyn and his son went
forth each day from Lichfield, and stayed till nightfall
among the wailing women and pale men at the pit's
mouth. But who — except One — could restore the dead
brother or bring back the widow's only son to life ? *
Indeed, this whole year was full of manifold calamities
and confusions. First, a telegram arrived from Mel-
bourne, which covered every face at Lichfield with shame
and sorrow. The martyrdom of Bishop Pattesoii was
currently reported to have been avenged, and the ignorant
revengeful savagery of Nukapu to have been taught how
Christians forgive, by the deadly lessons of shotted guns
fired from a man of war.f Then, on September 3rd, the
most precious historical building in England, the cradle of
the English Church, and the richest treasure-house of her
antiquities, Canterbury Cathedral, was set on fire by the folly
of one man and was saved by the heroism of another.
On the very same day, the future of the Church of France
and her hopes of reformation were perhaps fatally blasted,
or (to say the very least) were gravely compromised, by
* During one of these nocturnal walks (eight miles) back to Lichfield, a
characteristic scene was witnessed. The Bishop and his son (now in Melanesia)
were passing through a village on their road, when they observed a poor
woman at her cottage door in great distress, because a load of coals had been
tumbled rudely down at her threshold and left there for her to " get in." In a
moment both the stalwart ecclesiastics had their coats off ; and in half an
hour all was safely stacked and housed, and the poor woman left in a state of
breathless astonishment and gratitude.
t This report was afterwards found to have been incorrect. " The natives
discharged a volley of arrows, and a sergeant of marines was killed. This was
an attack on the British flag ; and it was severely chastised with British firearms.
But it is much to be doubted whether Nukapu will ever understand that her
natives were shot, not for killing the Bishop, but for firing on the British flag."
(Miss Yonge, " Life of Bishop Patteson, ii. 577.)
1872.] CONFUSIONS IN CHRISTENDOM!. t^t^t,
one man's self-indulgence. The eloquent leader and
champion of the Old Catholic movement in Paris was on
that day married at the Marylebone registry-office. Only
a few days later, on October 6th, England returned this
unlucky visit of the French reformer by sending a por-
tentous anti-reformation contingent on pilgrimage to the
Virgin's shrine at Lourdes. By the time it reached the
south of France, this rolling snow-ball is said to have
agglomerated forty thousand persons ; and the procession
was led by an English peer of the highest wealth and
dignity. Nor was the impression of a perilous confusion
in the Redeemer's kingdom abated by a public declaration,
soon afterwards, from the once trusted leader of Angli-
canism, John Henry Newman, which stated that —
in questions of right and wrong, there is nothing really strong in
the whole world, nothing decisive and operative, but the voice of
him [the pope, — at that time " Pio Nono "] to whom have been
committed the keys of the kingdom, and the oversight of Christ's
flock. That voice is now, as it has ever been, infallible when it
teaches. ... I have not a word [of all this] to retract.*
Thus finally had the subtlest and most carefully polished
of Oxford's sons succumbed to the ruinous theory of a
despotism in the family of Jesus Christ ; while, almost at
the same moment, another of her sons, more brilliant and
versatile by far, William Evv^art Gladstone, was earnestly
warning the students at Liverpool against the assaults
of Strauss upon the Bible ; and yet another, an accom-
plished preacher and writer, Edward Goulburn, Dean of
Norwich, attempted to ward off the criticism which
* Guardian, Sept. 13 and iS, 1872.
334 BISHOP SELWYN. [1872.
threatened to paralyze all Biblical study by publicly
protesting, in defence of " the written word of God,"
against Dean Stanley's appointment as Select Preacher at
Oxford, and by resigning his own preachership when the
protest was ineffective. Yet, only two days subsequently,
— fresh from the mounds of Assyria — George Smith
revealed publicly to the Society of Biblical Archaeology
the firstfruits of his discoveries, in the " Chaldsan legends
about the Deluge ; " and thus opened to all men's eyes a
new mine of fascinating study, from which no sense of
danger would ever hereafter be able to deter them.
Amid all these confusions, Bishop Selwyn's policy
was carefully directed towards preparing for a happier
and better-ordered future, by the most loving attention
to the rising generation. Indeed, his tenderness to children
was always remarkable. Whether in some modern ill-
designed Black-Country church, or in the glorious cathe-
dral at Lichfield, his confirmations were always alive with
a sense of earnest reality, such as — amid incessant repeti-
tion and fatiguing routine — few bishops can attain to.
And when we read a touching letter from him, in reference
to a sad case of womanly downfall after confirmation by
his hands,* we call to mind yet another deeply tragical
event of this same year, which pierced, as with a sword,
the hearts of all who saw its meaning. On September 5th,
Alice Oswald, a girl of twenty, a governess from America,
committed suicide by leaping off Waterloo Bridge. And
on her person the following letter was found : —
Alone in I-ondon ! Not a penny, or a friend to advise or
* See Tucker, ii. 269.
1S72.] CARE FOR THE YOUNG. 335
lend a helping hand ! Tired and weary with looking for some-
thing to do, failing in every way, footsore and heart-weary, — I
prefer death to the dawning of another morning. I have only
been in Britain nine weeks. . . , O God of heaven, have mercy
on a poor helpless sinner ! Thou knowest how I have striven
against this : but fate is against me. I cannot tread the paths of
sin, for my dead mother will be watching me. Fatherless,
motherless, home I have not. O for the rarity of Christian
hearts ! . . . Farewell to all, — to this beautiful and yet wretched
world !
Such a letter was enough to wring tears even from a
heartless and godless " man of pleasure," or " man about
town." What must that " rare Christian heart " at Lichfield
— ever busy like his Master, in going about doing good —
have felt on reading it ; and so soon, too, after the fraternal
interchange, on bended knee at St. Paul's, of sympathies
and charities between " Britain " and America } Surely he
must have murmured — like Clovis, on hearing of the world's
tragedy at Calvary, — " O that I, and some of my men, had
been there ! "
CHAPTER VI.
1873-
A year of great funerals — The Irish University Bill — The " gentleman heresy "
— Mission of J. R- Selwyn to Melanesia — Ritual dissensions — The Bishop's
relations to " young men" — West Brom7inch Parish Magazine — Loyalty
to the Prayer-Book — Superstition — Religious education — The Bishop
among his theological students.
The year that had just closed had been for England, with
all its faults and its waste of energy, at least a year full
of active life. The new year now opening was to be a
period of exhaustion and failure, a triumphant progress of
the dark spectre of death. A score of men, who had
occupied a leading position in various departments of
public life, were during this year carried to the grave.*
And, while funeral processions were forming so prominent
and frequent a spectacle throughout the country, the
failure and protracted death of a recently secure and
powerful Government disturbed the nation like the sub-
* Among a great number of leading personages who died during 1873
were the following : the ex-Emperor Napoleon III. at Chislehurst, John
Stuart Mill in France, Lord Lytton the great novelist, Dr. Livingstone the
African explorer. Lord Westbury the late chancellor, Sir Edwin Landseer,
Professor Sedgwick the geologist, Sir Henry Holland the octogenarian tra-
veller and physician. Dr. Lushinglon the famous ecclesiastical judge, and
— above all, as affecting the fortunes of the Church — Samuel Wilberforce,
the ubiquitous and brilliant model-bishop of that day.
1873.] IKISfl UNIVERSITIES BILL. 33/
sidencc of a mountain, and produced something like a revo-
lution, — as we, happily, understand that word in England.
So early as March nth, Mr, Gladstone's Cabinet — which
had carried the great Education Act of 1870, and next
year had thought to finally pacify Ireland by disestablish-
ing the Irish Church — collapsed on the Irish Universities
question ; and that, most unkindly, by the adverse vote of
twenty-one Irish members. The measure was a well-
meant attempt to settle "higher" education in harmony
with Irish ideas. But " Irish ideas " proposed, not only to
separate the Dublin University bodily from the Protestant
stronghold " Trinity College," but to make it a teaching
as well as an examining body. The so-called "Catholic
University," at whose creation Dr. Newman and the Irish
bishops had laboured so hard, was to be incorporated
therein. While — to conciliate these same Catholic bishops
— the startling and sinister proviso was inserted, that
three main lines of study should be ruled-out of the uni-
versity curriculum, viz., modern history, moral philosophy,
and theology. In point of fact, such a scheme pleased
nobody. The " proviso " was ridiculed by Dr. Playfair
and the Scotch liberals as a " gagging clause ; " while the
Roman Catholic prelates saw that a standing grievance
was much better for them than anything short of absolute
ascendency. But nothing could damp the patriotic ardour
of Mr. Gladstone. And at the very moment when the
prelates were thundering in Dublin, " We reiterate our
condemnation of mixed education ; we will not assent to
the proposed affiliation," the enthusiastic supporter of the
measure was passionately commending his views to Parlia-
ment at Westminster.
Z
33^ BISHOP SELIVYN. [1S73.
Where we have earnestly sought peace (said he), we have
found only contention. Let us efface this last — I believe it is
the last — of the religious and social grievances of Ireland !
Two days afterwards he resigned office. But, ]\Ir.
Disraeli being unprepared to take his place, he resumed
public duties till the year was out ; when a dissolution
gave the Conservatives a majority of fifty-one in the House
of Commons, and Mr. Gladstone let it be understood that
he considered his political career was over. But too gro-
tesque had been the irony of histor}', if so long and
brilliant a career had thus tragically ended in an Irish
quagmire.
Meanwhile, from the Bishop's roomy study at Lichfield
— with its sea-going " lockers " of many ingenious kinds,
its model of a mission schooner, and its "chamber of
horrors "(the drawer full of acrimonious partisan-disputes)
— a keen and watchful glance was being cast on every-
thing affecting the fortunes of the Church. The sudden
apparition of a new and menacing power in the land, "the
agricultural labourer," agglomerated and disciplined under
]\Ir. Joseph Arch (a Dissenting preacher, adverse to the
parson and the squire), did not escape Bishop Selwyn's
penetrating eye. As an English prelate and a Conser-
vative, he could hardly countenance a rapid bouleversement
of all existing ideas. And yet, as at heart a colonist and
a lover of all things manly and abreast with the times, he
could hardly conceal a genuine sympathy with "working-
men" of every kind, and with "John Hodge" among the
rest. Hence, among his "probationers" preparing for the
ministry of the Church, were to be found more than one
scion of the agricultural class; and he expressed an earnest
18/3.] OPEX-AIR ADDRESS. 339
hope that the tniie might come when " many a rustic
mother would feel an honest pride in the profession of
her son, and would bless the Church which had adopted
him into her service." Indeed, so great a Liberal was he
at heart, that he was often heard to say that (in Church
matters, at least) the worst and most fatal of all modern
heresies was the "gentleman heresy." With colliers, espe-
cially, it need not be said, he felt a strong pastoral
sympathy. And when, early in 1873, no less than seventy
thousand of them were out on strike in South Wales to
resist a ten-per-cent. reduction of their wages, the keen
and intelligent interest of the Bishop of the Black Country
was not withheld from a question so closely affecting his
own diocese. A genuine sympathy seemed ever flowing
forth from him, even to sufferers not of his own com-
munion. For instance, on the night of January 14, 1873, a
whole family of seven persons — from a grandmother to
an infant in arms — were suffocated in a burning house
close to Lichfield market-square. They were Roman
Catholics. But the Bishop, after the affecting spectacle
of their funeral, standing on the neighbouring steps of the
ancient house where Dr. Johnson was born, addressed the
populace in the open air, and drew some Christian lessons
for them from the terrible event they had witnessed.
On a far broader scale, and with a far more serious act
of personal sacrifice as its sequel, the Bishop's feeling heart
was now appealed to on behalf of the Melanesian mission.
He had himself, as we have seen, founded that mission ;
and he had engaged his own sympathies with it in
that one way which (as Aristotle long ago remarked)
always most deeply engages men's affections, viz., by
340 BISHOP SEUVYN. [1873.
giving largely to it and by working personally for it. But
the time was now come when neither work nor money was
needed, but men. And the men required for leadership
at such a forward post of danger, of long and lonely
voyages, and of Babel confusion of tongues, must needs
be the choicest of England's son^. No common man
could be trusted, in such isolation, to keep the flame of
generous self-devotion brightly burning. No untrained
mind could master the vernaculars of a hundred islands,
each with half a dozen dialects of its own. Nor could any
ordinary physical powers cope, not merely with hardship
on sea and land, but with some of the most unhealthy
climates to be found in the world. In the hour, then, of
the mission's utmost need, where would its founder —
glancing up and down among the parsonages of England
— light upon a man capable and willing to occupy this
advanced post in the Church's campaign ? He determined
that no other should be sent than his own son. John
Richardson Selwyn had already accompanied his father in
several long voyages ; had visited America with him ; was
familiar with New Zealand and the South Pacific ; and
had already been tried in difficult work at Wolverhampton,
where his patience, firmness, and good-humour had calmed
an embittered controversy, and made his few years' in-
cumbency in St. IMary's parish a true "mission " of peace.
His friend and curate, John Still, was ready to accompany
him. The father's blessing was gi\'cn to him ; the mother's
bright and cheerful adieu strengthened him. And so, early
in the following year, the two friends departed " o'er many
horizons rounded large " to the other side of the world.
The quiet simplicity with which this noble deed was
JS73] y. ^. SELWYN AND JOHN STILL. 34 1
done was, in one way, almost a misfortune. It deceived
us who witnessed it ; and we entertained, with easy inad-
vertency, the notion that nothing unusual was going on,
nothing being done that wc could not — had circumstances
appeared to require it — have done ourselves. But the
slightest after-thought is enough to convince, at least, any
father who rejoices in a favourite and like-minded son,
that such a sacrifice as this could not have been lightly
made. We may reverently draw the veil and forbear to
pry into the natural and inevitable feelings of that hour.
But if there is a " holy of holies " upon this earth, it is the
quiet home — ^whether in palace or cottage is of no account
— where feet of passers-by go briskly on their errands, and
voice of friendly accost sounds cheerfully through open
windows ; but where, kneeling perhaps beside her bed, a
mother is devoting her son to absence and danger for God,
or a father turns over the page in his study but cannot
read it, for his eyes are misty and his thoughts are far
away.
Meantime, the dissensions that perennially afflict our
Church were going on as usual. But their smallness is
never truly perceived until some accidental neighbourhood
of greatness dwarfs them to their true dimensions — as
Gulliver's arrival dwarfed the Lilliputians. On January
31st, there was a heated meeting at James's Hall, Piccadilly,
to protest against the " optional " use of the Athanasian
Creed. On February 5th, Convocation agreed to a mani-
festo that "the warnings in this creed are not otherwise
to be understood than as the like warnings set forth in
Holy Scripture ; " which was also accepted by the Upper
House on May 7th. About the same time, an anti-
34- BISHOP SELWYX. [1873-
ritual petition was presented to the Archbishop at Lam-
beth — where, at this period, Bishop Sclwyn was occupying
rooms in the Lollards' Tower, as (nominal) sub-librarian —
entreating him "to protect us and our families from
teaching subversive to the Reformation." On May 9th,
the L'pper House of Convocation discussed a matter which
afterwards created an unusual amount of scandal : it was
a request, signed by 483 priests of the Church, for the
appointment by ecclesiastical authority of a certain number
of " duly qualified confessors." It \\"as well meant, the
purpose being to debar from undertaking so difficult and
delicate a duty all those — and they were by no means few
— who were not " duly qualified." But the petitioners forgot
that " the confessional " formed precisely the most irri-
tating and burning question of the day. In spite, therefore,
of the not unfriendly words of Archbishop Tait in intro-
ducing the petition — " It is desirable that no person should
be allowed to confess any one whatever without being
licensed thereto " — it was virtually shelved by being referred
to " a Committee of the whole House," whose report was
laid upon the table (July 23rd), and the subject was never
debated again. On this occasion Bishop Schvyn made
a short and characteristic speech, as follows : —
I do not like to remain altogether silent on this subject,
so thoroughly convinced am I in my own mind that the Con-
fession indicated in the Church of England is voluntary and
not compulsory ; that it is occasional and not habitual ; and
that, in the choice of the person to whom confession is made,
there is very great freedom allowed — or else the disburdening of
conscience would not take place. . . . But at the time of
ordination, when we admit young men into [office in] Christ's
iS73-] DEALINGS WITH " YOUNG MEN." 343
Church, it is our duty to state to them tlie commission we have
given them. A young man Httle knows his own heart ; and he
Uttle knows his own weakness, if he rushes into such a task.
" Fools rush in where angels fear to tread." If I thought I was
entrusting to every one of these young men whom I ordained
the function of administering the use of habitual confession, I
would rather resign my office of bishop than do it — considering
how solemn and important the function is. ... If I found a
young man transgressing the limits laid down with regard to
confession in the Prayer-Book, I should feel quite justified in
revoking his licence.
The slight impatience here manifested with " young
men " — whose imprudence and self-conceit, however, more
frequently amused than irritated him — was highly charac-
teristic of the veteran Bishop, " These young men," was
a phrase often anticipated from his lips, and even angled-
for by some of us who came prepared for a good story of
some callow curate's self-importance. Indeed, many a tale
is still current, showing how sharply and yet how kindly
the bishop dealt with younger men. " Is it rest that you
require ? " he used to say. " Rest is like a top, when it is
' asleep.' It is then at full and steady work ; and it is only
when it begins to lose its speed that it begins to fall"
He would frequently warn them against "exaggerating
their cross ; " telling them that soldiers did and endured
things from simple obedience, which we should think
ourselves martyrs for doing or enduring.
Once (says a late student at the Theological College) I
ventured to consult him about the choice of a curacy. This
unlucky word was enough. The storm broke and the lightning
fell. " Young men must not pick and choose ; young men must
344 BISHOP SELWYN. [1873.
go where they are sent."' Then, in one moment, the storm cleared
off, and the sunshine came out. " Go," said he, with a fatherly
hand laid upon my shoulder — "go where Christ is not, and take
Him there ! " In my own case, five years' work in South Africa
was the result of that one sentence.
Another young man, very airily professing — and show-
ing — his perfect knowledge of the Church Catechism, was
promptly suppressed by a demand that he should recite
the questions there put, as well as the answers given.
But his utter discomfiture was immediately covered by the
kindly remark, "You see, we must be prepared for all
emergencies, such as the omission to be provided with a
Praycr-Book ! " Another young candidate for holy orders,
with much gaiety of heart at saying precisely the right
thing, averred that "he had no difficulties" to deter or
perplex him. " What ! " slyly answered the Bishop, " do
you thoroughl}' understand the Athanasian Creed from
beginning to end ? " Another, a deacon, proudly pulling
out for inspection his first sermon, on the text, " I have
declared unto you the whole counsel of God," was promptly
humbled by the remark, "What! all that in one sermon! "
To others he would say, " Remember in society to be easy
and free ; not to be free and easy : " or again, " You call
so-and-so a 'bore.' What is a 'bore'? It is a man who
will persist in talking about himself, when you want to talk
about yourself." Or, " Never forget that the cultivation of
your own personal character is the first charge upon your
time." Smoking should, he thought, be given up by every
parish priest: "You arc never off duty, and may be sum-
moned to minister to a sick or dying woman at any
moment." And generally, " In entering on parish-work,
1873] " THE FOUR COXJUGATIONSP 345
remember the four conjugations in the Latin grammar —
(i) avio, begin with gentleness and love ; (2) ;//ci;/c:c7, advance
to admonition ; (3) rcgo, act as rector, manage ; (4) audio,
venture, at last, to listen to the difficulties people may pour
into your ear." That the "confessional" question, here
judiciously hinted at, occupied much of his thoughts at this
time, and filled more than one cartridge-paper envelope in
his " chamber of horrors," may be guessed by perusal of a
letter entitled " Answer of the Bishop of Lichfield to Me-
morials " attacking the West Bromivich Parish Magazine.
It runs thus : —
ilarch 31st, 1873.
My dear Brethren,
I have carefully examined the document, with the
assistance of my coadjutors, Bishops Hobhouse and Abraham. And
it may be a convenient occasion to state my decided conviction
that no clergyman is at liberty, through his own private judgment,
to determine (as by authority) what are, or are not, " ecclesiastical
customs and ceremonies established." . . . Any one who cannot
quiet his own conscience, but requireth further counsel or com-
fort, is invited [in the Prayer-Book] to come to his own "or some
other discreet and learned minister of God's word, and to open
his grief." The only difference [in the language of the magazine]
which seems to be of any importance, is the omission of the words
"by the ministry of God's holy Word" before the words "the
benefit of absolution." ... I cannot consider " bowing towards
the altar on entering and leaving Church" as an ecclesiastical
obligation. It was never more than a recommendation [in the
Canons of 1640], and was qualified thus: "In the practice or
omission of this rite, we desire that the rule of charity prescribed
by the apostle may be observed, — which is that they which use
this rite despise not those who use it not, and they who use it not
condemn not those who use it." . . . To communicate fasting
34^ KISIIOP SELWYK. [1873.
was certainly ordered by the twenty-ninth canon of the Council
of Carthage, a.d. 397, after the severance of the Agape [or love-
feast], which seems originally to have preceded the Sacrament,
whenever they were celebrated jointly. But the evening of
Thursday in Passion Week was sometimes excepted ; and a dis-
l^ensation was usually granted to persons who were prevented
from complying with this rule by age, infirmity, or other necessary
hindrance. In the Church of England, fasting communion has
not been enjoined as a matter of ecclesiastical obligation.* . . .
On the Sacraments of the Church, in the first paragraph the
word "absolutely" is improperly substituted for the word used
in the Catechism, "generally" necessary to salvation. In the
second paragraph there are several points to which I must object.
Care has evidently been taken to distinguish the two "great
Sacraments," or principal Sacraments, from other " sacramental
ordinances " or lesser sacraments : and if no precise number of the
sacramental ordinances had been spoken of, it might have sufficed
to quote the words of Archbishop Seeker (Lect. xxv., on Bap-
tism). But the words are precise: " the other five," and "these
arc the five sacramental ordinances or lesser sacraments ; " and it
is stated that " they are commonly called and have the nature of
sacraments." I must here express my regret that clergymen of the
Church of England should publish statements which have no
foundation except in the formularies of the Church of Rome.
The Church of England has never recognized seven sacraments.
... In the words "Christ bade His ai)ostles and their successors,
the bishops and priests of His Church, to ' do this ' — that is, to
offer this sacrifice, as He had done," — some of the most difficult and
controverted questions are taken for granted, and are addressed
to the people of West Bromwich as if they were plain to the
simplest understanding. It is by no means certain that the words
" Do this " were used by our Blessed Lord in a sacrificial sense.
* This also was Dr. Piisey's view. In a private letter, he firmly lays down
the principle that fasting before Holy Communion is " mos, non lex" [a
Church-custom, not a Church-law] ; thus rebuking many who made it " mos
pro lege."
1S73.] ATTITUDE TOWARDS RITUALISM. 2)47
With regard to the word " sacrifice," those who are skilled in
theology know that it may be applied to the Holy Eucharist
without implying a reiteration of the one full perfect and sufficient
Sacrifice offered once upon the cross for our redemption. This
may be seen by reference to Jeremy Taylor, in his " Holy
Living," iv. 10. . . .
I remain, my dear brethren,
Your faithful friend and pastor,
G. A. Lichfield.
Nothing could show more clearly than the above
extracts do, what was the habitual attitude of Bishop
Selwyn's mind towards the troublesome ritual controversies
of that day. To the directions of the English Prayer-Book
he was absolutely loyal.* But he entertained a very high
idea of Episcopal prerogatives, in ritual as well as in all
other departments of Church life,— forgetful, possibly, that
there is also a lower view of the episcopate, which has been
held by many good and learned men in all ages of Church
history. To the broad general law of the Church universal,
— the Canon Law, in its relation to the varied local customs
of England, France, and other countries, — he had naturally
not given much attention. But to the personal authority^
of the Archbishop of his province he always paid —
as a disciplinarian himself— the utmost deference. E\en
• "Loyalty" is the safeguard of ''liberty," whether in Church or State.
Given "loyalty," — and almost any amount of elasticity and freedom is both
safe and possible. But what are bishops, as administrators of the Church's
law, to do when good men allow themselves to use such language as the
following ? " An experience of more than thirty years has proved that there is
no alternative for the Church of England but revision, or the confessional.
Either our excellent Prayer-Book must be freed from the few expressions it
contains of a sacerdotal nature ; or we must submit to have the degrading
and enslaving abominations of the confessional established in the midst of
our National Church.'' (Dr. Jacob, " Ecclesiastical Polity," (1S7S), p. 423.)
348 BISHOP SELVVYN. [1S73.
to the " ecclesiastical law " of the State, confused and
contradictory as it often was, his bias prompted him to
yield an unhesitating obedience. He was even prepared —
with that majestic patience which never failed him — to
submit to all its most irritating " inhibitions " with respect,
as offering to crude and hasty developments a wholesome
check.
On June 26th, occupied by an important confirmation in
the Potteries, he deeply regretted not to record his vote in the
House of Lords in favour of the Public Worship Facilities
Bill. This bill was intended to enable a bishop, on request of
twenty-five parishioners, to license an additional clergyman
(without consent of an obstructive incumbent) for services
in school-rooms or similar buildings. The " parochial
system " is indeed, for most purposes, admirably devised.
But, like all other human devices, it has its drawbacks ;
and the excessive inhibitory power of an idle, or partisan,
incumbent is among these drawbacks. To Bishop Selwyn
it seemed that the very purpose of the episcopate in the
Church of God was to overrule such fatal obstacles ; which
sometimes paralyze all good work in a parish during an
incumbency of half a century. But to statesmen and
lawyers "vested rights" and "established precedents"
naturally appear far more sacred things, than the intangible
and highly controvertible matters of a spiritual nature,
which come under a bishop's cognizance. Another in-
fluence has always in England to be taken into account.
It is that excessive, almost irrational, dread of Popery,
and of everything that seems (however distantly) to make
for Popery, which Puritanism has bequeathed to modern
times. This blind terror occasionally renders the good
iS73-] TIVO TYPES OF MANKIND. 349
government of the English Church almost impossible.
Yet the truth is that, ever since the Reformation put an
end to a bloody policy of persecution which, by sheer
terror, had masked the Church in hypocritical unanimity,
the Anglican communion has never shrunk from grappling
with the hardest of all tasks — the task of welding together,
in one catholic communion, the two opposite types of
humanity which people the world. The task is difficult
indeed. For the two species of mankind, whom French
ps}'chologists now characterize as visiiels and miditifs —
people accessible by the eye and people accessible by the
ear — strain apart with a divergence that only the most
genuine Christian charity can overcome. But just that
genuine and patient Christianity it is the noble ambition
of the Anglican Church to engender. And by simply
believing firmly in its possibility, a unity little short of
miraculous has — to the confusion of all the devotees of
ecclesiastical imposture and brute force — been hitherto
successfully maintained.
Still, no small amount of "scornful wonder/' must be
expected from her foes, whenever any religion is convulsed
by passions, or disgraced by superstitions, more befitting
the childhood of the world than its maturity. And it must
be confessed that England, in 1873, saw many such
spectacles of confusion. On May i6th, a grand attack
was delivered in Parliament from the Puritan camp, in
Mr. Miall's Disestablishment Bill : but it was rejected by
356 votes against 61. On June i6th, a great protest of
60,200 evangelical alarmists was quietly rebuked by a
reply from the two Archbishops: "It is an open question,
whether the tendencies to superstition, or those to infidelity
350 BISHOP SELIVYN. [1873.
or to indifference, are most to be deprecated." Nevertheless,
on June 30th, an excited crowd gathered at Exeter Hall
to anathematize the " confessional ; " the impure under-
tone of which may be estimated by the test-question
fiercely thrown by Lord Shaftesbury in the face of the High
Church party : " Would they agree to appoint female con-
fessors ? " On July 15th, with equal fierceness, the High
Church champion of that day, Bishop Wilberforce, publicly,
in the House of Lords, threw back in the face of an Irish
peer a covert charge of Romanizing : —
I hate and abhor the attempts to Romanize the Church of
England ; and will never hear any one make such a charge with-
out telling him to his face that he is guilty of a gross mis-
representation.
These spirited words were the last public utterance of a
wonderfully gifted and versatile, though not perhaps a really
great, man. P^our days afterwards, he was lying on the
grassy uplands of Surrey, near Leith Hill, a corpse. Riding
with Lord Granville from Burford l^ridge across the downs,
his horse stumbled without coming down ; and the Bishop
— taken unawares, though an excellent horseman — was
thrown heavily to the ground and broke the vertebras of his
neck. So sudden a death of so leading a man spread grief,
and almost consternation, through the Church of England.
Indeed, his skilful management and persuasive tongue were
soon to be lamentably missed : for the Public Worship
Regulation Act was already being hammered on the
anvil. About the same time — as though purposely to
warn all Protestants what the spirit of Romanism really
was — Archbishop Manning of Westminster pronounced
iS73-] POPULAR DREAD OF ROMAXISM. 35 1
his authoritative benediction upon an English pilgrimage
to a village near Paris, where a hysterical woman (Marie
Alacoque), three centuries ago, had fancied herself actually
espoused to a heavenly lover, Jesus Christ Himself It
was accordingly carried into effect on September 2nd.
No less than six hundred English pilgrims embarked at
Dover, held mass on the steamer's deck (jMonsignor Capel
officiating), and then proceeded to fulfil their self-appointed
'' act of faith." Meanwhile, the Pope himself (Pius IX.)
had publicly repeated to the Emperor of Germany the
most extravagant claims of the mediaeval papacy, an-
nouncing in inflated language (on August 5th) that " every
one who has ever been baptized belongs, in some way or
other, to the Pope." And, towards the end of the year
(December 14th), another note of irritation was sounded
in a solemn "warning," issued by Archbishop Manning to
*' the faithful in his diocese, that all who deny or dispute
[papal] infallibility incur ' heresy.' "
What wonder that dread and repugnance in view of any
supposed tendencies towards Rome poisoned the minds of
many Englishmen at this time, and even warped the action
of some bishops into hostility against the High Church
party ? What wonder that, in return, the leaders of that
party menaced resistance, — " If the bishops propose to
repeat the policy which drove out Wesley, let them try its
effect upon us ! They will not succeed : " or that, on the
other hand, the Evangelical party made overtures of
alliance against ritualism to the Dissenters, — overtures
which, in the Congregational Union at Ipswich (October
15th), were publicly read and rejected? Meanwhile, on
the Continent, the " Old Catholic" resistance to "Modern
35- BISHOP SELIVYX. [1873.
Romanism" took firm and definite shape b}' the consecra-
tion of Professor Rhcinkens as its first bishop, at the hands
of the Bishop of Deventer (in Holland) and two assistants.
Nevertheless, as a Roman Catholic writer says of Cardinal
Wiseman's scheme for parcelling England into "dioceses "
in 1850, so now —
the most chimerical notions prevailed in the A'atican. To the
eyes of papal enthusiasts, the whole English nation seemed
only waiting for some word in season, to return to the spiritual
jurisdiction of Rome.
The Irish priesthood also contributed to the wide-spread
suspicion by dabbling openly in politics ; and when (Novem-
ber 1 8th) the first great Home Rule demonstration was
made in London, the saying was already in the air, " Home
rule, Rome rule." Hence the difficulties of English Church-
men grew apace. Religious education, especially, seemed
becoming impossible. And at the opening of Denstone
Church schools (August 12th) Bishop Selwyn spoke as
follows : — -
We see no danger in freedom, if only all agree to accept God
for their king and to bind His law upon their hearts. . . . The
middle class must ever be the strength, or the Aveakness, of the
State. The great question is now before us. The battle is begun.
We have " conscience clauses" excluding all distinctive teaching.
We have a powerful [Birmingham] league clamouring for the
banishment of religion from our schools. Are we to sit still and
see all Church teaching, and even Christianity, banished from our
schools ? No : we will hold fast to that which can never be taken
from us ; we will appeal to that instinctive reverence for religion
and that love of God which are deep-rooted in the nation's heart.
This is the spring which will feed our reservoirs. . . . And when
1873-] '' RELIGIOUS lYSPECTIONr 353
parental teaching can go no farther, then the mother will take her
child to the school where true religion is taught.
Possibly the danger was overrated, and irreligious
education will never become popular in England. At any
rate, the Birmingham League had no prolonged success :
and in the midland capital itself the doctrinaire system of
exclusively secular teaching in primary schools was erelong
given up.
Bishop Selwyn, however, at this time deeply interested
himself in the inspection of National schools in religious
knowledge, as offering some guarantee that the children
were being taught the principles of the Christian faith.
This idea was opposed by many ; among others, by an
able and respected Archdeacon (Allen), who wrote as
follows : —
I have a difficulty about this religious inspection of our
schools. I do not like to fail to second anything recommended
by our Bishop; but I am unable to persuade myself that the
money for this object will be well spent. ReHgious teaching
must be secured by taking pains to get good teachers, by the
increased labours of the clergy in the schools, by public cate-
chizing in church, and by seeing that good training-schools are
duly supported. I have .little faith in the results of an examina-
tion in religious knowledge once a year. Inspection is worrying
to teachers and to clergymen. I fear the development of a
rivalry between the so-called religious inspection and the State
inspection.*
The fear, as regards the children, was justified by sub-
sequent events. In one parish, the rivalry threatening to
tell disadvantageously upon the attendance at the " re-
* Grier, " Life of Archdeacon Allen" (i88S), p. 270.
2 A
354 BISHOP SELIVYN. [1873.
ligious inspection," the Rector's wife ingeniously redressed
the balance. On secular inspection day, the children
were regaled with bread-and-butter ; but on religious
inspection day, with bread and jam.
At Lichfield itself, the alterations in the Theological
College were now completed. The spacious stables adjoin-
ing the dwelling-house had been converted into rooms for
a vice-principal and twenty-five students, together with a
large lecture-room. This was a work of great interest to
the Bishop, who used constantly to bring his visitors to see
the buildings, explaining to them with what ingenuity the
previous owner's " stud " had been converted into " studies,"
and how in the transformed harness-room " the saddle had
at last been placed upon the right horse." At one end of
the lecture-room a small apse was thrown out to serve as a
chapel. This apse was the gift of a former student, the
Rev. Frederic Beaumont, who also supplied it with suitable
fittings. The Bishop opened this building with a special
service, which was attended by the choristers and several
of the clergy of the cathedral : and ever since that day
— though the structure has since been altered, and the
" apse " has expanded into a chapel — the sound of its
evening-bell has been recognized by the inhabitants of the
Close as a signal that " the toils of day are over" and the
hour of rest has come.
The morning service, on the other hand, had for many
years been held at 8 a.m. in the Lady Chapel at the
Cathedral. But in 1873 this part of the Cathedral was
closed for restoration ; and the early College-service was
then transferred to the Bishop's private chapel. The cold
there, at eight o'clock on a bleak winter morning, was
1S73] ''MORNING chapel:' 355
sometimes intense. But the Bishop, who was ever ready
himself to "endure hardness as a good soldier of Jesus
Christ," would never hear of any excuses. When a man
once complained of having suffered from a cold during
the whole winter term, the Bishop remembered him too
w^ell ; and inquired whether the same cold had not lasted
all through the summer term also. The impeachment
could not be denied.* Indeed, manliness and self-help
were daily inculcated by example, as well as by precept.
No quarter was given either to effeminacy or to negligence.
One day, the Bishop strolling into the college-garden found
that the students had left their lawn half-mown. With his
usual readiness, he improved the occasion, — humorously
comparing the lawn to David's messengers half-shaven by
the king of Ammon. And while they were all enjoying
their ill-earned lunch, they beheld from the window their
Bishop reappear and, scythe in hand, begin vigorously to
complete the neglected work. Still, he by no means ex-
pected to see " old heads on young shoulders " or failed, on
proper occasions, to turn — like Lord Nelson at Copenhagen
— a blind eye to signals which he did not care to see. Thus,
on one occasion, when walking along the main corridor
to show a friend round the college, many voices from
a student's room seem.ed to betoken high debate on some
knotty point of theology. The Bishop put his head in ;
but instantly withdrew it and, with a sardonic smile, softly
closed the door. It was a " mock auction," that was being
* It was not only on his young theologians that the Bishop sometimes (as
one of them expressed it) "came down like a ton of coals." A rector in his
diocese requested leave of absence far too often, on the score of feeble health.
"Well," replied the Bishop; "but if you were only a curate, you would
simply take some physic and would remain at your post."
356 BISHOP SELWYiV. [1873.
held by a party of too high-spirited friends amid piles
of crockery, stores, and other miscellaneous effects of
an absentee, at that moment innocently taking his daily
" constitutional " round the well-trodden margin of Stowe
Pool. Not a word, however, was ever said on the subject
to betray the episcopal cognizance of this most untheological
scene. By all these things the Bishop won for himself a
strong attachment and a fervent admiration from all who
were worth the winning. It was those that shirked and
winced and dared not look him in the face, who fancied
him masterful and cross. To them perhaps he was, in
truth, masterful and cross.
CHAPTER VII.
1874-
Bishop Hobhouse appointed " Chancellor of the diocese " — IMeaning of the
appointment — The Public Worship Regulation Act — Bishop Selwyn's
loyalty to Anglo-Catholic principles — Second visit to America — Its results
— Sermon on " Sympathy."
The year 1874 was marked by a great disaster to the
Church of England — the passing of the Pubhc Worship
Regulation Act. It was an Act of the State — although
unhappily sanctioned by the concurrence of many chief
men in the Church — by which the sword of forcible re-
pression was sharpened (as Mr. Disraeli confessed) to " put
down ritualism." Coercion, in short, was deliberately held
superior to toleration ; and was preferred to arbitration.
Even Bishop Selwyn was carried away amid the rapids of
this tumultuous and chaotic debate. And yet, in the early
part of this very year, he had both by word and deed
shown his own calm and unbiased judgment in an oppo-
site sense. For on January 12th, the chief ecclesiastical
tribunal of the diocese of Lichfield had been strengthened,
and its Christian character (as, in the main, a court of
arbitration) had been almost ostentatiously emphasized
in the nave of the cathedral, by the public institution of
358 BISHOP SELWYN. [1874.
Bishop Hobhouse (late, of Nelson, N.Z.) to the office of
chancellor, or diocesan judge. On that occasion Bishop
Selwyn prefaced the service with the following words : —
I am desirous to state in public my reasons for appointing
Bishop Hobhouse to the office of chancellor, just vacated by our
reverend friend Chancellor Law, after fifty-two years of faithful
service. If Lord Shaftesbury's bill had already passed, it would
have become necessary for me to appoint a barrister of five years'
standing ; but, as that has not yet become the law, I use my
discretion in appointing a clerical chancellor for the following
reasons. Li all differences that may arise between clergymen and
their people, I much prefer exercising the Christian principle of
conciliation and arbitration to that of law and litigation. And as
I have known Bishop Hobhouse for many years, and have seen
his powers of conciliation and peace-making among his brethren,
and as his character is thoroughly appreciated in the diocese, I
believe that he may be very serviceable in carrying out a system
of prevention, which is better than cure. At the same time, I
know him to be well acquainted with ecclesiastical law and
precedents. . . . Further, I wish to state publicly that Bishop
Hobhouse, by his own desire, has accepted the office only during
my life and my tenure of ofiice ; and thus my successor will be
left at liberty to appoint a " barrister of five years' standing " if
he wishes it, or if that bill of Lord Shaftesbury's becomes law. In
this way, those who prefer legal decisions to the principle of
arbitration and conciliation will, in due course of time, see their
desire accomplished.
Bishop Hobhouse then knelt down, and the Bishop of
Lichfield said —
The Lord God, the righteous Judge of all the earth, Who is no
respecter of persons, give thee a right judgment in all things,
through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.
It is quite evident from the tenor of this short address
1874] AN IDEAL '' CONSISTORY COURT." 359
that the idea of a "chancellor," or ecclesiastical judge, was
floating before the mind of Bishop Selvvyn, which differed
toto coelo from that of the statesmen and lawyers of the
day ; and which bore a very faint resemblance indeed to
the grim reality which was erelong to be forced by Par-
liament upon the acceptance of the Church. In the
Bishop's estimation a " court Christian " — the consistory
court of a diocese or of a province — was essentially a
court oi conciliation. It was not a court where hard justice
was to be done ; where swift execution was to overtake
the offender ; and where " contempt " was to be avenged
by the prison cell. It was a court where — Christian
principles being, ex Jiypothesi, accepted by all — St. Paul's
maxim should prevail : " Dare any of you go to law
before the unbelievers ? Nay, there is utterly a fault
among you, that ye go to law at all one with another.
Why do ye not rather take wrong ? On the contrary, ye
do wrong, — and that to your ' brethren.' " * We can easily
imagine, therefore. Bishop Selwyn's dismay when, from
amid the teeming chaos of debate, there came out at last
the well-known "Act for the better Administration of the
Laws respecting the Regulation of Public Worship," — or
as it is more commonly and briefly entitled, the Public
Worship Regulation Act. This shorter title, however, is
in itself utterly misleading and mischievous. For it seems
to affirm, what few Churchmen in England would ever
have agreed to accept ; viz., that Parliament has a right
to " regulate " the public worship of the Church. The
truth is, of course, that Parliament claims nothing of the
sort. The utmost that the State has ever done is to
* I Cor. vi. I, 7, S.
36o BISHOP SELWYN. [1874.
commit to chosen Churchmen — clerical or lay — from time
to time, the duty of revising, translating, and adapting the
formularies, so as to bring them into belter accord with
the requirements of the age ; and the State only herself
steps in — as she must needs do — to recognize the new
"regulations" when made, and to give effect to them at
any point where obedience needs to be actually enforced.
It is at that point, the point of " coercion," and at that
point alone, where the two circles of civil and ecclesiastical
jurisdiction touch. It so happened, however, that just at
that time great confusion had arisen in the Church, owing
to " private interpretations " of a highly ambiguous rubric.
Hence, the episcopal courts being apparently powerless to
enforce obedience and to restore order. Archbishop Tait
was induced to bring in a bill (April 20th) in the House of
Lords, virtually " to put down Ritualism."
What, then, was this " Ritualism " which, in the third
quarter of the nineteenth century, was threatening to throw
the Church of England into convulsions } It was nothing
else than a natural prolongation of the line originally
taken in 1833, when a revival of catholic (or Church)
principles followed upon the previous Evangelical revival
of the eighteenth centur}-. Eagerly fastening upon an
ambiguous rubric, expressly left in the Prayer-Book (it
would seem), at its last revision in 1662, to favour a more
ornate Eucharistic Service whenever the time should be
ripe for it, the advancing Churchmanship of this century
boldly asserted that the time was now ripe. It therefore
claimed the sanction of this rubric for a more elaborate
style of worship than that to which the people were
accustomed. And thus it happened that the innovating
i874-] LEGISLATION AND LITIGATION. 36 1
ceremonies were all of one kind ; that they were exhibited
with startling abruptness ; and that their purpose was
clear and undissembled, namely, to give greater emphasis
to the mysterious doctrine of Christ's " real presence " in
the Eucharist, It is not surprising, therefore, that around
the " Ornaments Rubric " a bitter conflict of parties soon
arose ; and that — the language of that rubric lending
itself easily to litigation — expensive and long-drawn con-
tests rapidly succeeded each other, destroying the peace of
man)' parishes and rendering episcopal government ex-
tremely difficult.
Meanwhile, there was one voice which had long before
counselled the Church to prefer legislation to litigation ; and
to clear up dangerous ambiguities by a new rubric, instead
of leaving them to the hazardous decisions of the law-courts.
But it had all been in vain. Bishop Selwyn, therefore, now
publicly announced his policy, in view of the near approach
of the passing of the Act : and at the diocesan conference,
held at Lichfield on June 4, 1874, he spoke thus : —
Dear brethren of the clergy and laity, it is not my custom to
interfere with the discretion of the standing comttiittee in the
choice or arrangement of the subjects to be brought before the
conference. I desire a free expression of the opinion of the clergy
and laity. But in my opening address I reserve to myself the
privilege of changing the order of the subjects on the paper,
according to my estimate of their comparative importance. . . .
The [Public Worship] Bill, which is mentioned on the notice-paper,
will this evening be considered in committee of the House of
Lords. I express no opinion upon the bill. It can scarcely be
called the Archbishops' Bill, still less the Bishops' Bill ; for it has
been so altered by amendments, suggested by lay members of
Parliament, as to be very unlike the bill when it was first proposed.
362 BISHOP SELIVYN. [1874.
I take no i)art in the measure, because I look forward to the time
when the clergy, under the pastoral guidance of their own bishops
and with the advice of tlieir faithful laity, will be "a law unto
themselves." If we were all guided by the same spirit which
filled the Apostolic Church, so far from needing new Acts of
Parliament, we might dispense with many that are now in force.
In those happy days of old, " no man said that aught that he
possessed was his own." Now the law says that everything that a
clergyman possesses is his own. It builds him a castle into which
the bishop cannot enter ; and within which (if the truth must be
spoken) some defy even the law. All our present divisions might
be healed at once, if we would think less of our legal rights and
insist less upon our own interpretation of antiquated laws and
rubrics. There is no fear that this would lead to unworthy com-
promises or lowering of the truth ; for the apostle teaches us that
it is possible to covet earnestly the best gifts, and at the same time
to follow the more excellent way of charity. I shrink, therefore,
from the duty which may now at any time be required of me, if
tlie bishop is called upon to enforce the law against all clergymen
who deviate from the directions contained in the Book of Common
Prayer, either by omission or addition. At present, I am at
liberty to respect the conscientious feelings of those (for instance)
who omit the Athanasian Creed, and of those who celebrate the
Communion in the eastward position. I can take into account
the customary use which has prevailed in the parish, and can give
due weight to the feelings and wishes of the congregation. This
discretion is necessary in the administration of laws which are
admitted by the highest authorities to be by no means clear.
Indeed, it must be admitted by all that the Act of Uniformity
has not produced uniformity. How, then, is this diversity to be
kept within due bounds ? Those who contend for absolute
uniformity will, of course, say that there are no other bounds than
those which the law defines ; and when the law is doubtful, that
the law-courts must decide. . . . But is there no other solution
for these difficulties ? The true and only effectual remedy for
our present divisions is a revival of the true catholic principle of
l8:4] THE WAY OF PEACE. 363
Christian unity, based upon a fathei-ly and loving exercise of epis-
copal authority, and a willing and filial spij'if of obedience in the
clergy. We ought to need no law but the law of love. But not a
one-sided love — that the bishop is to love his clergy, and that any
of them is to be at liberty to grieve his heart, by defining doctrines,
ordaining rites, interpreting symbols, omitting, adding, garbling,
at his pleasure ; forgetting, in short, the inspired precept, that
" God is not the author of confusion, but of peace." Relying
upon this authority, then, — far above that of human law, — I again
invite my brethren of the clergy, and with them my faithful laity,
to recognize and act upon the precept of love and peace contained
in the preface to the Book of Common Prayer, namely, that the
parties, who doubt or diversely take anything contained in that
book, shall always resort to the bishop of the diocese \ who shall
take order for the quieting and appeasing of the same. And I
can answer for myself that filial obedience on the part of the
clergy will always be met by hearty sympathy and fatherly affection
on the part of their bishop.
I may say a few words in conclusion on the present state and
prospects of our Church. The Church of England has, as I firmly
believe, its own distinct mission. It has pleased God to allow
that Church, which His blessed Son made one, to be divided by
the unruly passions and prejudices of men: and the largest section
of Christendom has closed the door against reunion, by assump-
tions and claims which never can be recognized by us. The duty,
therefore, of the Anglican Church is to approach, as nearly as
possible, to the standard of the Primitive Church ; to hold fast
all catholic doctrine and all essential points of Christian worship ;
but to claim and exercise the power of ordaining rites and
ceremonies, as a particular and national Church. It is not
necessary that ceremonies should be always and everywhere the
same ; provided that they be enacted by lawful authority and not
be put forward by private judgment. It is one of the many
anomalies of the present time that some, who denounce the
princijjle of rigid uniformity in our own Church, seem to desire
a minute conformity to the Church of Rome. Let us, rather,
364 BISHOP SELWYN. [1874.
have a standard of our own — an Anglican standard — admitting as
much flexibility and variety as the Church itself may direct for
the good of her people ; with cathedrals, parishes, rich and poor,
town and country Churches, missions at home and abroad, special
services for every special need. So will all act together like the
various sections of a mighty army, each having its distinctive
uniform and its own drill, but all alike "under authority."
These last words point to what may be called Bishop
Selwyn's favourite text : " I am a man under authority,
having soldiers under me." Never was any man m.ore
obedient to authority, more uneasy without it, more athirst
for a restful sense of submission to discipline, than he. Yet
no one could be more averse to the uncatholic autocracy of
the Papacy, than was this military spirit — naturally, one
would say, a disciplinarian after Ignatius Loyola's own
heart. His safeguard was that he knew his Bible thoroughly ;
was fortified against error by possessing a true spirit of
catholicity ; and was permeated by a sincere and even
passionate loyalty to his own mother Church of England.
Hence his persistent advocacy of a complete Anglican
system of Church organization, — not only on the smaller
scale suitable to the "diocese" and the "province," but
also on the larger scale of English-speaking " Christen-
dom." For it was to him that the Pan-Anglican synods,
— which have done so much to knit the daughter Churches
together and to instruct the mother Church at home by
their means, — owe their present vitality, if they do not owe
their origin. And now, in 1874, through his mouth, in the
Convocation of Canterbury, the Canadian Church first gave
utterance to that word, " Patriarch," which contains (as
in a nutshell) the germ of ecclesiastical and even national
1874.] CHURCHES AND NATIONS. 365
confederation. For nations are very often, on the page of
history, seen to adopt the policy foreshadowed for them by
their Churches. It is as though the " spiritual body " of
the nation brooded, with some subtle influence, around the
self-shaping material body and from chaotic rudeness
elaborated beauty and order. So, in the seventh century,
Archbishop Theodore's conception of " one Church for
England," ere long resolved the Heptarchy also into "one
Realm for England : " and again, in the eighth century.
Archbishop Boniface's organizing work in Germany paved
the way for Charlemagne's Germanic Realm, which first
consolidated barbarism into civilized order. And so Bishop
Selwyn's indefatigable efforts contributed, above all other
causes, to weld the Anglican communion into a voluntary
unity ; and thereby produced an atmosphere (as it were)
favourable to a political confederation, on the grandest
scale, of the whole English-speaking race. Flis words,
on introducing the subject into Convocation, were as
follows : —
It is the desire of the fifty-two or fifty-three bishops in the
United States, of the bishops of the whole province of Canada,
of all the West Indian bishops, and probably of all the bishops in
Australia and New Zealand, that another meeting of what is
called the Lambeth Conference should be held, as soon as your
grace [Archbishop Tait] may think fit to convene it. I have there-
fore come prepared with the following resolutions : — " That his
Grace the President be requested to appoint a joint Committee of
both Houses [of Convocation] to consider and report upon the
following propositions : (i) That the various branches of the
Anglican communion throughout the world be invited to con-
sider what is the exact position that it is desirable the Arch-
bishop of Canterbury should hold in reference to the various
^66 BISHOP SELWYN. [1874.
branches of the AngHcan communion. (2) That his Grace be
requested to convene a general conference of the bishops of the
AngUcan communion, to carry on the work begun by the Lam-
beth Conference in 1867. (3) That the reports of the Commit-
tees, presented ... in 1867, but not adopted or even discussed,
be taken into consideration at the second Conference." In the first
place, I will refer to the position of the Archbishop of Canterbury.
That there was in the ancient Church a patriarch, who had
authority over the metropolitans of various provinces, I suppose
it is not necessary to prove. I think we may now fairly con-
sider whether the time has not come when something equivalent
to the office of " Patriarch " ought not to be adopted by the
Anglican communion ; and I am persuaded that it is the earnest
desire of the Anglican Church throughout the world that the
Archbishop of Canterbury should be recognized in some such
capacity.
The extent and need of such an arrangement will appear from
these facts : there are altogether — exclusive of suffragan and coad-
jutor bishops — 156 bishops, forming (what is called) the Anglican
communion ; which, at present, can scarcely be said to be under
any visible head. There now ought to be, as in the solar system,
a centre of unity. . . . The Scotch [Episcopal] Church has an
independent position in Caffraria : the Church Missionary Society
is anxious to have its own bishop in China ; the Society for the
Propagation of the Gospel wishes to have its own bishop in China.
I look with jealousy upon episcopal missions connected with
missionary societies, unless there be a strong and well-defined
authority overriding them, to determine- the limits of their
respective jurisdictions. Now, if there be a council of advice,
under the Archbishop of Canterbury, acting in the character of
Patriarch (or by whatever name he might be called) with the agree-
ment of all the branches of the Anglican communion, it will be
free to every branch to send its own bishop who will know his
own position with regard to the other bishops in the same terri-
tory, and would clearly see the course by which inter-diocesan
questions may be settled. . . .
1S74.] THE PATRIARCHATE OF CANTERBURY. 367
On the point relating to " doctrine " it is impossible to lay-
too much stress. Unless there be in the colonies some such
power of ascertaining, without much expense, what is the re-
ceived doctrine of the Church of England, it will be scarcely-
possible for the colonial Church not to deviate widely from the
Anglican standards of faith. . . . Having nearly 160 bishops who
]jreside over the Anglican communion, I am persuaded that a
voluntary tribunal of appeal, established by their authority, under
the presidency of the Archbishop of Canterbury, would be accepted
as a " court of final appeal " on questions now threatening the dis-
ruption of the Church. I cannot hope that any great result will
come from the rigid enforcement of laws laid down — often in
ambiguous language — two or three hundred years ago. I cannot
believe it was ever intended that the laws then made should never
admit of contemporaneous exposition by the voice of the Church ;
but should be submitted to the law-courts, to be judged by the verbal
and literal construction of legal documents. What I do gather is,
that if the authoritative voice of the Church itself could be heard,
there is scarcely one clergyman in a thousand who would not
respect it, . . .
There are other points of importance, which I will touch upon
very briefly. One of them is that of intercommunion with other
Churches. The terms of union with the Greek Church, the terms
of union with the Old Catholics, must they not be settled ? . . .
I am convinced that the time has come when the Anglican com-
munion must have a recognized head — a federal bond of union —
and (above all) a living voice to speak with authority for the
Church. And as we have prayed to-day in our Convocation
litany that the Holy Spirit which brooded over the Apostolical
Council may rest upon us, may we not rely with a far greater assur-
ance of faith upon the certainty that, whenever it shall please
God that the representatives of the 160 dioceses of the Anglican
communion shall be gathered together, the Holy Spirit in answer
to the prayer then offered up will be abundantly vouchsafed ?
A very brief debate followed, in which, with much
368 BISHOP SELWYX. [1874.
courteous circumlocution — as the manner is — a half-hearted
support was given to Bishop Selwyn's ardent and sanguine
projects. Certainly there were more " difificulties " in the
way than, perhaps, he cared to notice ; and they all found
clear exposition in a very able speech with which Arch-
bishop Tait closed the discussion. He said : —
There are two totally different subjects before us : one, the
gathering of bishops at Lambeth ; the other, the position which
the Archbishop of Canterbury ought to occupy. . . . Now, when
my reverend predecessor summoned the Lambeth Conference,
he was very careful to have it distinctly understood that it claimed
no authority. And it is even much more necessary to bear this
in mind now ; because a very great change has come over the
colonial Church during the years that have intervened. Each of
these Churches is now an independent voluntary community; and
I do not apprehend that any one of them gives to the bishop, (jtici
bishop, any sort of controlling power with regard to the declaration
of what is, or is not, the doctrine of the Church. In every case,
matters have to be submitted to three distinct bodies, the bishop
(or bishops), the presbyters, and the laity ; . . . and we must be
quite sure that we have the sanction of the governing bodies of
those separate Churches before we proceed to consider the bishops
as the representatives of those bodies. I would mention, too, in
passing, that the Government have, in all their dealings with these
Churches of late, taken very distinct steps indeed to show that
they do not consider the bishop in the Anglican Communion to be
'' the Church." . . .
On the other point I ought not perhaps to say much, viz. the
exact position of the Archbishop of Canterbury to the colonial
Churches. . . . That the office of metropolitan can co-exist along with
an oath [of obedience] to the Archbishop of Canterbury is proved
by the case of the Metropolitan of India. No undue interference,
that I am aware of, has ever occurred ; and yet it is laid down in
the Acts [of Parliament] which constituted the See of Calcutta^
1874-] ''BISHOPS AND CLERGY." 369
and made the occupant of that See a metropolitan, that he is to
stand to the Archbishop of Canterbury in the relation which has
been pointed out in the discussion to-day, — viz, that there is to be
a sort of friendly power and control, without any very definite
assertion of what that power and control are to be.
There is no doubt that, in this short speech, the Arch-
bishop laid his finger precisely on the only blot which
disfigured the admirable scheme of Church-organization,
on the large scale, devised by Bishop Selwyn. With the
natural instinct of a born ruler of men, he was tempted
to magnify his own office, and to lay too much stress on
the episcopate, as a separate and even representative
order. Hence, by a pardonable inaccuracy, his pen fre-
quently wrote " the bishops, clergy, and laity," as though
the bishops were not themselves among the "clergy." And,
again, to a private assembly of the bishops, annually meet-
ing at Lambeth, he paid so excessive a deference that his
lips were actually sealed by a majority-vote, secretly taken
there ; when his own judgment, had it been forcibly ex-
pressed in the House of Lords, might have saved the
Church the Public Worship Act. And now the Pan-
Anglican Conference was to speak in the name of the
whole communion, though composed exclusively of bishops.
It was indeed a most pardonable and " canonical " error —
if error it were. Yet it was hardly to have been expected
from one to whom the Church of England owes, so to
speak, the " enfranchisement " of her laity, and a welcome,
for the first time, accorded to her " masses " to take part
f by representation) in the settlement of her affairs. It were
much more in accordance with his mind if the "general
conventions " of the various colonial Churches should each
2 B
370 BISHOP SEUVYN. [1S74.
appoint a few chosen presb^'ters and laymen to attend
upon their bishops on these rare and solemn occasions.
And then, it is possible to conceive of ecclesiastical
gatherinc^s in "old England" which should voluntarily
anticipate nearly all that more political and secular
schemes of confederation propose to themselves to effect ;
and should even pave the way for still larger schemes of
disarmament and amity, when the Greek and Latin com-
munions, too, shall learn how easily Christians can be kept
in friendly unity by the great principle of "representa-
tion," and by a new outpouring of the meek and gentle
Spirit of Christ.
Ever foremost among the apostles of this new (yet old)
gospel of union and peace, Bishop Selwyn again, in 1874,
crossed the Atlantic, and attended both the Canadian
synod at Montreal and the " general convention " of the
United States at New York. But, before he sailed, he
held one of those striking ordination-services in his cathe-
dral which — continued ever since on the same lines — have
made a Lichfield ordination one of the most affecting
pieces of ritual to be witnessed anywhere in England. It
is thus described, in a letter written June, 1874: —
It \Yould be impossible for any one to pass an ordination-
Aveek at Lichfield, especially at this time of the year, without
carrying away with him many pleasant memories. The Close
is most lovely with its fresh sprinp: foliage ; and the refreshing
breeze from Stowe Pool contrasts delightfully with the oppressive-
ness of the examination-room. Then there are the early morning
prayers in the cathedral before the day's toils begin, and the even-
ing service in the Bishop's chapel when they are "past and over."
There arc the addresses given by men of large sympathies and
varied experience ; — by Dean Champneys, who laboured so hard
1874] AN ORDINATION AT LICHFIELD. 37 F
and so well in Whitechapel and St. Pancras; by Bishop Abraham,
whose best years were given to New Zealand ; by the aged Bishop
of Newfoundland, who is on the eve of returning to the wild
diocese over which he has presided for thirty years ; and yet
again by our own Bishop, who spoke as he only can speak, and
whose words made a deep impression on all who heard him. All
these things remain very pleasantly in the memory, long after the
anxieties of the ordination-week are forgotten. The examination
was finished on Thursday, the result being published early on
Friday morning. Friday and Saturday were spent in private
interviews with the bishops, in hearing pastoral addresses, and
in taking the required oaths. On Sunday, there was morning
prayer in the cathedral at nine o'clock, at which the candidates
were present. The great service of the day began at eleven.
The candidates were seated under the central spire on either
side of the screen gate, and after the " bidding prayer," the
service,, was at once commenced by Archdeacon Moore, who
preached an excellent sermon from the words, " How can these
things be?" (St. John iii. 9). At the conclusion of the sermon,
the candidates were ushered into the choir, and the ordination
service began. Every English Churchman ought to witness an
ordination ; and nowhere is the ceremony more solemn and
affecting than in the cathedral at Lichfield. The choir was
occupied by the choristers and the students of the Theological
College. The Bishop sat in his chair before the holy table —
the coadjutor bishops occupying seats by Bishop Lonsdale's
monument, and the Dean and Canons sitting opposite in the
sedilia. The service was most effective. The questions were
answered by each of the twenty-four candidates separately. Tlie
Bishop's manner was very grave; and both he and those on
whom he laid his hands seemed to feel the solemnity of the act
in which they were taking part. No one could have witnessed
the ceremony without being sensible that if any of the English
clergy are unfaithful pastors, it is no fault of the Church that
they are so. Every care which can be taken is taken : every
promise which can lawfully be asked is asked and given : and
3/2 BISHOP SELIVYN. [1874.
the flict that the ministers of the Church are sometimes other
than they should be, simply proves that it is impossible to
keep the field free from tares so long as there is an enemy to sow
them.*
In August, the Bishop started for his second visit to
America, accompanied on this occasion by Mr. Hodson,
his legal secretary, and by the Rev. E. J. Edwards and the
Rev. Nigel Madan, as his chaplains. After touching at
vSt. John's, Newfoundland, they arrived at Montreal, and
attended the provincial synod of Canada. Here he gave
a short address, in which he spoke of himself as the repre-
sentative of Church missions, and as earnestly desiring —
with his companions — to extend to sister Churches the
right hand of fellowship and unity. Addresses were also
read from the archdeacons and rural deans of the Lichfield
diocese, inviting the members of the Canadian synod to
attend the Church congress to be held at Stoke-on-Trent
in the following year. After this, the Bishop took a short
tour in the north-west. His travels extended to Nebraska
(five hundred miles west of Chicago), where he was enter-
tained by Bishop Clarkson, at ^maha. While he was stay-
ing with the Bishops of Huron and Minnesota, he addressed
some Indian tribes by means of an interpreter, touching
on those circumstances of his experience in New Zealand
which bore upon themselves and their own position in the
Christian Church. To this their chief made a short reply
on behalf of his people, expressing his own and their
gratitude to the English for having brought the gospel to
them.
No doubt their gratitude was not undeserved. But
* Letter, in E. A. C, p. 62.
1874.] SECOND VISIT TO AMERICA. 373
Still it cannot be said that the English Church in bygone
times had really done the best she could for America.
For, as the Bishop said when addressing the missionary
meeting at Montreal, the early system of sending out only
presbyters to America was one which had starved the
Episcopal Church. The true plan was to send out a
bishop first, who would build up a Church.
Let him, if necessary, be bishop, priest, and deacon all in
one. And let him not only visit Churchmen ; but, if a man is
said to be an infidel, don't believe it. Go and talk with him,
and you will find he is no more an infidel than yourself
As to the financial support of missions, he said it was
a duty which they could not cast off. It was a mistake
to say that what a man has is his own. As John Wesley,
that good presbyter of our Church, replied to a man who
asked if he could not do as he pleased with his own,
" There is the mistake you make ; it is not your own."
He then spoke of the great work in store for the people
of the Dominion ; and prayed that they might be guided
to do it well.
Soon afterwards the Bishop preached at the opening
service of the Convention of the American Church in New
York, at which fifty bishops were present : and he and his
party were afterwards introduced by the president to the
Convention, who received them as warmly as before. The
president's words were these : —
I introduce the Right Reverend the Bishop of Lichfield,
whose name is as dear and familiar beyond the bounds of
Christendom as within them, and especially dear now to the
American Church.
374 BISHOP selwyn: [1S74.
Tlic wliole assembly remained standing whilst the
Bishop — who was greeted with loud applause — responded
in a few words, referring to his former and to his present
visit, and giving an account of the presentation of the
alms-basin which has already been mentioned. He then
read the addresses from his diocese, which were similar
to those sent to the Canadian synod, inviting the Conven-
tion to attend the congress at Stoke-on-Trent in the follow-
ing year. After this, the rest of the visitors were severally
introduced, and were received with that courtesy which
is so welcome to the stranger and so well understood by
the members of the American Church. Indeed, every-
where his presence was hailed with the greatest enthusiasm.
Not only had his reputation, as the boldest pioneer for
Christ's advancing army (and navy) known in modern
times, preceded his arrival ; not only did the glamour of his
presence and of his noble bearing captivate men ; but far
more was he welcomed as representing the mother Church,
the "home" of English Christendom. Consequently, on
his departure, yet another token of amity and concord
was invented by the ever-ready ingenuity of the American
Church ; and the conjoint names of Bishop Potter of New
York and Bishop Selwyn of Lichfield were happily blended
in a " Potter-Selwyn Prize," for annual competition at
Lichfield Theological College.
Of this second visit to America the Rev. Prebendary
Edwards has left on record a very interesting account.
Pie says : —
We left Liverpool on the evening of Tuesday, August 25th,
1874; and had a rough passage, the wind being against us and
very cold. We were fortunate, however, in meeting with some very
1874.] CANADA AND MINNESOTA. 375
agreeable fellow-passengers. The Bishop read morning prayers
daily on board, and the service was heartily joined in by a congre-
gation of twenty-five to thirty passengers. On both Sundays the
Bishop preached, when the attendance was much larger, a con-
siderable number of the ship's company being present. This is
an indirect, but considerable, benefit from these missionary trips
to which our Diocesan has devoted his holiday. We dropped
anchor in the harbour of St. John's, Newfoundland, on Friday-
evening (September 5th); and attended Divine service in the
cathedral, which promises to be a very effective building. The
town and harbour and country around reminded me of Norway.
We were much disappointed in finding that Bishop Field was
absent, on the coast of Labrador. Another forty-eight hours
brought us to Halifax, Nova Scotia ; and early on Friday morning,
September nth, we reached Montreal. On the same day, we
were introduced to the provincial synod [of Canada], — when the
presence of the Bishop of Lichfield called forth the most en-
thusiastic welcome. The Bishop made a short address, in which
he spoke of himself as a representative of Church missions,
anxious — with others who had accompanied him — to see the
provincial synod in session, and to extend to them the right hand
of fellowship.
From Montreal we found our way through the Thousand
Islands, Toronto, the Falls, to London (Canada West) ; where
we spent Sunday, September 20th, with the Bishop of Huron
(Helmuth). Bishop Selwyn preached in the chapter-house —
the commencement of a future cathedral, — and in the after-
noon addressed the Ladies' Diocesan College, an institution
with excellent buildings immediately imder the eye of the Bishop,
Here we left the " Dominion ; " and at Fairbault, Minnesota, the
Bishop (Whipple) most kindly entertained us for two nights. The
diocesan institutions here, both for training students for the
ministry and for the education of youth of both sexes, are con-
ducted on a most efficient Church-like system. Bishop Selwyn
spoke with his usual earnestness to the scholars of their respective
colleges. Bishop Whipple has befriended the Indians, and has
37^ BISHOP SELWYN. [1874.
won their affectionate devotion. He introduced us to a small
settlement of the Dakota Indians in their immediate neighbour-
hood. , Their manners were very gentle ; and they repeated the
creed and the Lord's Prayer in their own language, in a quiet
reverential manner.
Another five hundred miles brought us to Omaha, within
the Nebraska diocese. Bishop Selwyn preached here twice on
Sunday, September 27th, to large congregations; and in no
place has his visit been more cordially and gratefully acknow-
ledged, whether by the clergy or by the faithful laity. The
Lichfield Clmrchman is every month received and read at
Omaha, — thus paving the way for the very friendly welcome we
received. This is the extreme point of our tour, more than fifteen
hundred miles on the American continent westward. On our
return route we visited the settlement of the " Indians of the Six
Nations." Divine service was going on when we arrived at their
pretty church ; and Bishop Selwyn, with the aid of an interpreter,
delivered a short address, touching on those circumstances of his
missionary experience in New Zealand which bore on themselves
and their present gathering into the fold of Christ's Church. The
chief made a short and becoming reply. . . . None but those who
have witnessed the affectionate and reverential welcome with
which the visit of an English bishop is hailed on this side of the
Atlantic — and not less, certainly, by the Church in the States than
in the Dominion — can appreciate the kindly effect that the con-
versations, sermons, or familiar addresses of one like Bishop
Selwyn have upon all present, followed by the hearty shake of the
hand at parting, more indicative of the feelings on both sides
than words can convey. . . . We did not linger at Boston, but took
the cars for Fredericton (New Brunswick), about three hundred
and ninety-two miles, — where we spent two days most agreeably
with the bishop (Medley). The cathedral church is the most com-
plete that we have seen. It is beautifully situated on the banks
of the noble river St. John, with a large area of greensward round
it. I never saw the English Church, both in its externals and its
ritual, more pleasantly transported to a foreign home.
1874.] GENERAL CONVENTION AT NEW YORK. ^77
Our leave of absence was now drawing to a close ; and we
left Fredericton for New York direct, arriving in time to take part
in the opening service of the General Convention. There were,
perhaps, fifty bishops present, including the Bishops of Lichfield, of
Montreal, and of Quebec. It is to be regretted that the discussions
are held in a house of prayer, rather than in a building set apart
for these deliberations. The bishops occupied the chancel, while
the four hundred deputies (four clerical and four lay from each
diocese) filled the nave. The pews — for pews yet linger in New-
York — were marked with large placards, " Nebraska," " Illinois,"
" Maryland," and the rest. The Bishop of Lichfield preached
the opening sermon, from Acts xv. 28 : " It seemed good to the
Holy Ghost and to us," dwelling on the too frequent self-assertion
of the rights of private judgment, and on the need of its whole-
some control by the authority of the Church. A telegram con-
veying the greetings of the congress at Brighton to the assembled
convention was received in the course of the first day's session.
Friday was the day appointed for the reception of our-
selves and other visitors : and the whole body of deputies re-
mained standing while addressed by each successive visitor as
his name was announced. I need hardly say how heartily the
Bishop of Lichfield was greeted, and how attentively listened to
while he referred especially to the prospect of drawing closer to-
gether the bonds of the Anglican communion by means of a
second Lambeth conference. . . . No one can be present at
these deliberations without being sensible of the earnestness,
ability, and patience with which they are conducted. No pains,
no time (and the American knows the value of time) is grudged,
in discharging the various duties confided to the Upper and
Lower Houses of the General Convention. On Tuesday,
we took leave ; and at the conclusion of Bishop Selwyn's parting
address, the whole House went down on their knees to offer up
a prayer for our safe return to England. I know not that I ever
felt the power of Church unity so truly as on this occasion. . . .
The Bishop arrived safely at Lichfield on October 24th ; and the
bells of the cathedral rang out a cheering welcome home.
3/8 BISHOP SELIVYN. [1874.
The following letters — here, for convenience, thrown into
a continuous form — from Bishop Selwyn's own hand, nut
only present us with the details of this journey from
another point of view, but also reveal somethinij of his
character from a new point of view — new, at least, to
those who had not familiar access to him, and who had
little idea of his profoundly affectionate nature. They
begin on the very day of sailing from Liverpool : —
Bishop Selwyn to Mrs. Selwyn.
S.S. Nova Scotian, in the Irish Channel, August 26, 1874.
Dearest S.,
The pleasure of your happy little journey with me
sends me on my way rejoicing ; though I was disappointed of my
hope of a quiet little korero with you in the carriage for the last
ten minutes. Still, I treasure up your helpful words of counsel ;
and pray to be enabled to profit by them. How varied our life
has been, and yet invariable in its happiness ! May God bless
you, my dearest love, and reunite us in this world, if it be His
will : or, if it please Him, in heaven 1 * I began this morning
with a deck-walk at 7.30 a.m., reading Thomas a Kempis. At nine
we were off Llandudno. The day is beautifully fine, and the sea
perfectly smooth. Mr. Edwards and I have fitted ourselves into
* !Many years before, during one of his long and perilous absences from
home in New Zealand, he had written in a sirain of deep emotion and intense
religious feeling : " And now I commend you and our very dear little sons to
Him who disposeth the future, and who knoweth what is good for us. If it
please Him to reunite us, after these months of separation, it will be joyful
indeed. But if not, may we part in hope of a better and more enduring union
hereafter ; in which, though it may be that all personal feelings may be
swallowed up in the intense catholicity of perfect love, that God may be all
in all, yet there may be an inner circle of affection, some special sympathies, —
like that of our Lord with St. John and Lazarus. In the exercise of that love
we may renew, and carry out to the full, the joys of our present union of
heart and soul."
1S74.] LETTERS FROM AMERICA. 379
our quarters like old travellers; and Mr. Madan and Mr. Hodson,
after a feivv hints, have " hutted themselves." My party of four
sit on the right hand of the captain. Opposite to me is a naval
youth, Lord Charles Beresford. There are several clergymen,
two for Newfoundland. As I write, I have two Newfoundland
lassies near me, returning home after three years' school in Edin-
burgh. I have supplied them with post-cards to write to their
school-fellows. There are several babies — not too vocal ; a quiet
canary-bird, and a pianoforte. We began our daily morning
service at 9.30, in a quiet corner of the saloon, which I hope will
be thereby whakatapued [set apart for Church purposes] during
the rest of the journey.
Sept •2nd. — Your birthday has been a day of joy and refresh-
ment to all on board ; and most of all to me, who — in addition to
the charms of bright sunshine and calm sea — have been full ot
happy thoughts of you and of home. I have thanked God for all
the blessings which He has granted to me in you ; and have
prayed that, so long as He may be pleased to continue them to
us, we may be more closely united in seeking His glory, and
helping one another forward in the way to heaven. How much
more than I can tell you, I owe to you : and how much more
benefit I might have received, if I had been more earnest in
seeking for it ! But it has been my lot to be much separated from
you ; and though you are never long absent from my thoughts,
yet (no doubt) the habit of intercourse has been in some degree
impaired. This may be changed for the better ; as I feel you are
more and more necessary to my inner life, and feel truly that
"it is not good for man to be alone."
We have a very quiet and sociable party on board ; and our
daily prayers have never been attended by less than fifteen, and
now by thirty-five. The Sunday services were performed under
difficulties. I took the morning service, and Mr. Temple (a New.
foundland clergyman) the evening. I had also a service with the
steerage passengers, and another little service with the sailors in
the forecastle. We are very punctual and methodical. I am first
to turn in and to turn out. The clear hour before breakfast has
3 So BISHOP SELWYK [1874.
been precious to me. I have a delightful study in the space
between the two cabins, with a table on which my books are
arranged, and a good port-hole giving plenty of light. The table
is just the right height for reading and writing on my legs, which
I much prefer on shipboard, as " the cradle of the rude imperious
surge " is very apt to lull me to sleep. Thus standing, I have
read through Thomas a Kempis, St. James, St. Peter, St. John's
Episdes, and one-third of the Revelation, in Greek ; and have
gone a long way towards finishing my sermon for the opening of
the Synod at Montreal (text, Acts xv. 28, "It seemed good to the
Holy Ghost and to us "). Besides miy sacred reading, I have read
" Misunderstood," the latter part of which is very touching. I
am now reading the last chapters with a Chinese boy, a servant
of Lord Charles Beresford, who has been baptized without much
knowledge, and is unable to read the Bible with sufficient ease
to be taught by reading it. He is much interested in the story ;
as he tells me he once nearly drowned his brother by leading him
into deep water. Our captain would have been a namesake of
yours, if neither I nor any of your numerous suitors had married
you. We have great confidence in Captain Richardson. He is
a very quiet, careful, and steady Scotchman. And as neither he
nor I drink any wine, we are not obliged to compliment one
another. The ship does not take us further than Halifax, and we
must go by rail to Montreal, calling at St. John's, New Brunswick,
by the way, and thus getting a sight of the three maritime dioceses
of North America, — Newfoundland, Nova Scotia, and New
Brunswick.
Sept. ^th, — We have had strong head-winds, which delayed our
progress ; and we did net reach St. John's, Newfoundland, till
8 p.m., on the 4th — two days after the usual time. The Bishop
was not there, having been obliged by Bishop Kelly's illness to
go off to the Labrador, to visit out-stations and to pick up Mr.
Curling. But Mrs. Field gave us a hospitable reception at tea and
at breakfast the following morning. From St. John's we had a
beautiful passage, and are now (God be thanked !) within 50 or
60 miles of Halifax.
iSy.].] PROVOST WHITAKER. 38 1
Sept. Zth. — After I wrote to you last, we had very thick weather
till noon : but the sun at last caine out, and we saw the entrance
to Halifax just before us, and the place where the Atlantic was
lost. A very sharp gale from the north pursued us into harbour,
where we were soon at peace, and anchored (or, rather, moored)
to the wharf. At 5 p.m. I went to the Bishop's house, where his
daughter received me most hospitably. Halifax Cathedral is a
primitive wooden church, shingled from top to bottom. I have
just been to the morning service at nine.
Sept. i^ih. — Montreal. A most welcome letter from you
reached me on Saturday night, and sent me to bed with a happy
and thankful heart. The meeting of the synod on Saturday was
made most interesting by an admirable speech from Provost
Whitaker, on the subject of the confirmation by the metropolitan
and comprovincial bishops, after the election of a bishop by the
clergy and laity of the diocese. I never heard a speech in Avhich
clearness of statement, precision of reasoning, and high tone of
Christian feeling were more happily combined. Several other
speeches, on both sides of the question, were also very good ;
especially one from Mr. Cameron — by whom the draft of the
Canadian Church Constitution vt^as drawn. He failed, however,
to convince Chancellor Bethune that the act was intended to
strike off old fetters from the Church, and not to bind on new
ones, — to remove doubts and not to suggest them. The debate
was continued during the whole of the day ; and I dutifully sat it
out, and found the greater part remunerative. On Friday evening,
we had a missionary meeting in aid of the new diocese of
Algoma, at which the previous speakers occupied two hours ;
so I escaped with twenty minutes. On Saturday evening, we met
the rank and fashion of Montreal at a garden party ; where lamps
of various colours lighted up the lawn, and the Aurora Borealis —
as if bespoken for the occasion — appeared, to make our illumina-
nation hide its diminished head.
Sept. 1 8///, — Niagara. Would you believe it ? I have actually
had two days' consecutive rest ! This day, Frida}', has been one
of surpassing beauty. Sunshine and moonlight both combined to
382 BISHOP SELWYN. [1874.
set off Niagira to tlie greatest advantage. From our hotel we see
both falls in full face of our windows ; and can watch every
change of light and shade and the various effects of the sun, as
he passes from east to west. As usual, the sublime and the
ridiculous meet together. Photographers are on the watch at
every turn, to induce visitors to be photographed with the Falls
in the background. One, exhibited as a specimen, represents a
snob with a cigar in his mouth in the middle of the Horse-shoe
Fall. However, cockneyism and vulgarity cannot quench the
sublimity which they mar. Some spots are still to be found
where you can sit and meditate on this image of irresistible
power and of a fall, like the angels', without hope. My former
thought came to my mind, — that the force of a storm at sea is as
great, and the waves to all appearance as irresistible ; but in the
wildest gale hope never dies out. The storm, compared with
Niagara, is like the fall of man compared with that of the angels.
In the one there is hope : in the other despair. I have written
to take berths in the Cunard steamer sailing from New York
October i4tb. I can assure you that all the charms of the
''sea" do not make me unwilling to return to my inland "See"
and my own dear love. I sometimes wish that you were with
me — especially with Niagara before me, as I write, in glorious
sunlight, with the broken water of the shallow falls, the bright
green water of the deep channel of the Horse-shoe Fall, the
silvery mist and spray all glittering with light.
Sept. 2\st. — Minnesota. We have had a most prosperous
journey (God be thanked !) to our furthest point in the north-west ;
and are now lodged with Bishop Whipple. Last Monday, we
arrived at the great City of the Lakes, Chicago, where we took up
our abode (in compliment to C !) at Palmer House, — a palatial
hotel with white marble staircases ; to contrast, I suppose, with
the seventy black waiters. A lift carried us up to the third floor,
where a bed-room, simple and comfortable, was given to each of
us. . . . The hotel is said to have cost more than a quarter of a
million. At 10 a.m., we started for St. Paul, Minnesota, on the
Mississippi, and within two or three hundred miles of its source.
IS74-] BISHOP WHirriE. 383
Oh the brightness of that day, across two hundred miles of culti-
vated prairie I Scarcely a spot which had not been made
productive, more or less. In one sense I was disappointed, as I
looked for wild country and Indian missions. But when I
have gone to the utmost limit that time will permit, I find that
I shall still be two or three hundred miles from the " native
territory." So far back have the Indians been driven by the
advance of the white man. This day's journey Avas most easy and
luxurious in the Pullman car. The privacy of these cars, in a
long day's journey, is as refreshing as the sleep is at night. After
being awake a short time, looking at the bright moonlight in the
forest country into which we had passed from the prairie, I fell
asleep; and woke up near St. Paul's, Minnesota, in time to catch
another train for Fairbault, where Bishop Whipple has his house
and cathedral. At 7.30 a.m., we crossed the Mississippi, but
could not see it well for the morning mist. Judging by the time
we took in crossing it, it seemed about as wide as the Thames at
London. We had very pretty views along the Minnesota river :
then two more hours of cultivated prairie, fruitful with maize,
wheat, and pumpkins. At a quarter-past ten, we came to Fair-
bault, and fell in with a country fair, and a muster of firemen in
gay uniforms, several hundred strong, Avith engines of burnished
brass. They marched in procession round the town; and then
had a pumping-match, to see which engine could throw water the
furthest. In the afternoon, we went to the fair. Fancy me at a
fair ! In the evening. Bishop Whipple arrived, and much profitable
talk began.
Sept. 2^th. — Thursday. Service at 9 a.m. at the diocesan boys'
school, at which the girls also attended. All were present when
the Communion was celebrated, but only a few communicated. I
consecrated according to the American order. The boys are in
military costume, and under discipline, the States Government
supplying an officer of the regular army to conduct the discipline.
There seem to be many advantages in this plan, and the boys
like the honour and glory of being soldiers for a time. After
service, we drove to a small Indian village of four families — all
384 BIS nor SELWYN. [1874.
that, I fear, we shall sec here. They live in good houses, and
were at dinner. (N. B. Clean tablecloths, knives and forks,
stools ; beds with sheets clean and turned down !) We had a
short service in the best house \ and I felt myself in New Zealand
again.
In the evening, a missionary service was held, at which Bishop
Whipple gave an address, and I followed. Altogether it has been
a very happy day, although the Indian element was so much less
than I had hoped for.
I scarcely know whether this letter will reach you before my
return. At all events it will be the last that I shall write here.
After my last letter to you we came back post haste, sleeping in
Pullman cars, to London (in Canada) : thence to Paris (also in
Canada), where I spent a pleasant day with the " Indians of the
Six Nations," attending service in their pretty church. Then we
had speeches, ending with " God save the Queen," played by an
Indian band. AVe reached Fredericton at 5 p.m. on Saturday,
where we received a loving welcome from the Bishop and Mrs.
Medley. The little cathedral on the river-bank is a charming
spot, so quiet and free from all buildings, standing in its own
grove of trees, with the broad river flowing by. The repose of
this Sunday was a good preparation for the bustle of New York.
Mrs. Medley, as you know, is charming, and follows Sarah's
example in calling her husband "niy lord," which she does in a
very pretty manner. But I do not request you to follow her
example ! I preached twice in the cathedral.
Oct. ^tJi. — We left Fredericton and passed again through
Bangor, Portland, and Boston, and reached New York at 5 p.m.
on Tuesday, where we found a kind welcome from Mr. and Mrs.
Burnham, in a fine house in Fifth Avenue. I have a grand room,
which you ought to be with me to occupj-. This morning I
preached at the opening of the Convention before more than forty
bishops. Our passage is taken by Cunard steamer Russia, to
leave this day week — the anniversary of my consecration. On
Thursday, we were presented to the House of Bishops ; and on
Friday met the bishops in council on the proposed Lambeth
i874-] CANADIAN OPINION OF THE BISHOP. 385
Conference. We were then presented to the Lower House ; and
in the evening I preached a missionary sermon to a grand congre-
gation in the largest church in New York. I am going on board
Lord Charville's yacht, Marcia, for a pastoral visit. He is dying
of consumption, and to-morrow I hope to administer the Holy
Communion to him. Is it not strange that I should thus find a
little parish of my own in the harbour of New York ?
The following letter to Mr. Edwards from the Rev. Dr,
Whitaker, Provost of Trinity College, Toronto, shows how
the Bishop's visit to the Church of Canada was appreciated
on their side of the water. He writes —
I am unwilling to let you leave this continent without en-
deavouring to convey to you my impression as to the happy result
which we may hope to follow the visit of the Bishop of Lichfield,
as the representative of the Church at home, both to ourselves
and the sister Church in the United States Assurances in writing
of Christian sympathy, conveyed to us across the Atlantic, are by
no means valueless or ineffectual. But, when a leader of the
Church, like Bishop Selwyn, honours and gladdens us by his
revered and genial presence — " drawing us with the cords of a
man," by look and tone and gesture — far more is done than can
be achieved by the wisest written words, to impress on the hearts
of men the great lesson of Christian love, the reality of the com-
munion of saints. The Bishop's sound wisdom and delicate sense
of the relation in which he stood to those whom he was addressing
led him to give counsel indirectly, by narrating what the Church
in New Zealand had done under similar circumstances ; and the
synod was well aware of the exceptional privilege it enjoyed in
hearing from Bishop Selwyn's own lips the results of his long
experience and having the plans of this wise master-builder sub-
mitted to it by himself for its guidance. I am satisfied that
whether from the far west, from Fredericton, or from the as-
semblage at New York, the like testimony will be borne as to the
2 C
3^^ BISHOP SELWYN. [1874.
happy results of this noble endeavour to give a substance to that
which men too often regard only as an attractive shadow, and to
present before us by living word and deed an impersonation of
Christian love.*
Soon after his return, at the reopening of a Stafford-
shire parish church, the Vicar said : —
How thankful we all are that the Bishop has come back to his
own country in safety, and full of as much zeal and energy as ever.
We are entitled to feel not a little proud of the way in which our
Bishop has been received in America : and very proud indeed we
are of his work at home. An old soldier once remarked to me,
" They've got the right sort of man for a bishop in Lichfield. I
remember him well when I was in New Zealand. Many a time
have I seen him ride into camp ; then set to work to clean his
horse and cook his dinner; and, having eaten it, preach us a first-
rate sermon. This is the sort of man to make a bishop of; for he
can do anything he puts his hand to."
One of the last events of this year again carried every
one's thoughts to America. That land of unbridled liberty —
or, as Coleridge put it, " where every one may take liberties "
— had given birth to a strange religious sect, of a com-
munistic character, called '' the Shakers ; " and the new-
fanaticism had extended itself to England. Among other
notions, they held firmly to the duty of passively " waiting
upon Providence : " and accordingly, evicted from a shelter
they had appropriated in the New Forest, they awaited
calmly a Divine interposition on their behalf; and no less
than twenty men, with one hundred and eleven women and
children, were seen encamped upon the cold ground amid
the rigours of an English December. It is well, perhaps,
* 1:. A. C, p. 66.
I874-] ^^HE SHAKERS. 387
that such sects should exist ; for perfect freedom of
action shows, beyond all dispute, how difficult it is to
improve on the institutions left us by Christ : just as
perfect freedom of speculation demonstrates, to every
patient beholder, how incredible are all the creeds which
are invented to replace the creeds of the Church. Were
any disproof necessary, however, of the Shaker's childish
conceptions of a God who disowns His established and
intelligible laws, it was supplied only ten days later by a
most terrible railway-accident near Oxford. A crov/ded
train, on Christmas Eve, was wrecked upon a bridge : and
thirty-four mangled corpses, with seventy injured sufferers
besides, attested how stern (as well as benevolent) is God's
righteous " reign of law ; " and how urgently needed, amid
the mysteries of God's government and " His ways past
finding out," is some gospel of reassurance and peace.
As Bishop Selwyn put it, in a heart-stirring sermon on
suffering and sympathy :—
False philosophy, in old time, used to represent God as too
highly exalted to care for the sorrows and sufferings of mortal
men. But the very foundation of the Christian faith is laid on
the certain truth that " God so loved the world, that He gave
His only begotten Son " for it. Predestination, election, adoption,
the Lamb slain before the foundation of the world, the names
written in the book of life, — these are all proofs that the mercy of
God has found its exercise, even from eternity, in sympathy with
man. . . . He who, for our sakes, was made a little lower than
the angels for the suffering of death, is the perfect pattern of
human sympathy. His "being made man for us" adds to the
sympathy, which He had throughout eternity, the compassion for
our sorrows which He has learned in the school of suffering.
"We have not a High-priest which cannot he touched with a
388 BISHOP SELWYN. [1874.
feeling of our infirmities." " In all our affliction, He was afflicted :"
"in His love and in his pity, He redeemed us :" He came to
" weep with those that weep," and to weep for those whose hard-
ness of heart had closed the fountain of their own penitential
tears. . . . We have no reason to believe that the compassion of
Christ has ceased, because He is gone up on high and is at the
right hand of God. So must we have compassion upon all those
on. whom our Lord and Master Himself has compassion. The
range of our compassion must be as wide as the love of Christ.
We must feel for the poor, — for these are the guests whom Christ
calls to His marriage-feast. We must comfort the widow and
the orphan, — for He who spake from His cross still speaks to us
from His throne : " Behold thy mother ! Behold thy son ! " We
must minister to the sick and wounded, — for the Lord Himself
so feels for them as to count every act of mercy done to them as
if it were done to Himself
CHAPTER VIII.
1875.
Deaths of many prominent persons — Mr. Osborne Morgan's Bill — First organi-
zation of diocesan "missions" — Ritualism — Murder of Commander Good-
enough at Santa Cruz — The labour traffic — Mission-festival at Lichfield —
Church congress at Stoke-on-Trent — India and Melanesia — Revision of the
cathedral statutes.
The year 1875 was not marked by any public events
of first-rate importance. But a good many persons, of
great interest to the Church at that period, passed away.
Among them was Dean Champneys of Lichfield (February
4th). He was a man whose gentle loving nature had drawn
the Bishop's heart to him in a remarkable manner. And
when the grave was made, deep in the solid rock on which
the Cathedral stands, on the south-east side of the Lady
Chapel, Bishop Selwyn pointed out that spot as the place
where he wished to be laid himself, close to the remains of
his beloved friend, whenever his own tim.e should come.
Li illustration of this wish he made allusion to a well-known
double tomb in Hereford Cathedral, where some ancient
bishop and dean are sculptured side by side, hand grasping
hand with a friendship not broken, but secured, by death.
Others, who died during this year, were Canon Selwyn
of Ely (April 24th), the accomplished and scholarly
390 BISHOP selwyn: [1875.
brother of Bishop Selwyn, who had been originally
designated for the bishopric of New Zealand ; Professor
Ewald, the greatest Hebraist of his day in Germany,
(May 5 th) ; Bishop Thirl wall of St. David's, the ablest
and most " judicial " mind among the bishops of that
time, (July 27th) ; and Dean Hook of Chichester
(October 20th), who first showed, at Leeds, what a parish
priest inspired by the "catholic revival" could be like, as
Bishop Wilberforce first showed what a home-bishop, and
Bishop Selwyn what a missionary-bishop, could be like.
Many curious events also occurred, displaying the singularly
varied aspects of English religious life. In January, the
Congregationalists gave public intimation of the active and
persistent campaign they were bent on prosecuting, in
favour of their own principles, by opening with much
ceremony their new " Memorial Hall " in London. The
Hall had cost ^^"30,000 ; and was to be a " memorial " of
the great stimulus given to the Dissenting interest by the
unwelcome bracing-up of the Church's discipline in 1662 :
when she rose from the mire into which she had been
trodden during the Commonwealth, replaced some few
survivors of her expelled and ruined clergy, and demanded
that the intrusive occupants of her rectories should (at the
very least) be " ordained." A few days afterwards, Mr.
Osborne Morgan's Burials Bill was, on a second reading,
rejected in the House of Commons ; and, later on. Bishop
Selwyn spoke upon the subject at the Derby Conference,
as follows : —
It would be well if our Nonconformist brethren would learn
that their cause cannot be served by the assertion of imaginary
grievances. They have been relieved from the payment of
1875-] RELIGIOUS ACTIVITIES). 39L
church-rates ; every civil and religious disability has been re-
moved ; they can be married in their own chapels, and buried
in their own graveyards. A public cemetery has been provided
for most of our large towns, in which they can either bury their
dead in consecrated ground with the service of the Church of
England, or in unconsecrated ground with any service they may
choose. As members still of the National Church, notwithstand-
ing their schism, they have the free right of sepulture in our
consecrated graveyards, the right to the ministrations of our
clergy, the comfort of an unequalled burial-service. Let them
forbear to disturb the peace of the grave by questions which
have no value to the dead, and which could have no place in
heaven.
On March 9th, Messrs. Moody and Sankey — recently
arrived from America — opened their long series of "re-
vival" services in the vast Agricultural Hall at Islington;
reminding the Church of England, in a very forcible way,
of her urgent need of " home missions " to supplement the
steady beat of her regular parish mechanism.
In the face of all these religious activities and theo-
logical rivalries, it is not surprising that Bishop Selvvyn
bestowed his presence neither willingly nor frequently in
the House of Lords, nor at all in the brilliant society of
London drawling-rooms, nor very conspicuously even in
Convocation. It was to his own Midland diocese that,
like a true bearer of the pastoral staff, he devoted almost
all the energies of his nature. Early in the year he was
gathering the opinions of the various ruri-decanal chapters
on a subject, at that time, of urgent practical importance
— the proposed revision of the rubrics. Convocation had,
as we have seen, in 1872, been empowered, by special
" letters of business " from the Crown, to examine and to
392 BISHOP SELWYN. [1875.
adapt to modern needs the directions in the Prayer-Book
governing the Order of Divine Service. One of the first
rubrics which met them, on the very threshold of their
labours, was the ambiguous "ornaments rubric;" and the
question now arose : Should Convocation use its unwonted
opportunity to clear up, once for all, the disputed rubric ;
or should it permit the miserable and interminable feud
to drag on its weary course of irritation through court
after court, with humiliating appeal at last to the State
to settle matters? In a word, should recourse be had to
" legislation ; " or must the humiliating confession be made,
that the passions of Churchmen were too unbridled to
admit of anything else than vindictive resort to " litiga-
tion '' ? Bishop Selwyn's personal opinion on this question
was expressed, with no uncertain sound, in Convocation
(July 6th). He said : —
I think it must be clear to all of us that legislation, in any
difficulty of the Church of England, is the very cause for which
Convocation exists. To give up this duty because these questions
involve altercation and dispute is, in fact, "propter vitam vivendi
perdere causas." I further contend that this is the very purpose
for which letters of business have been issued, and that the special
points submitted to our consideration are these very rubrics.
Legislation is the oil poured upon the waves : litigation is the oil
poured upon the fire. [But] if we attempt to draw a hard and
fast line, it will end in the disruption of the Church. We are
all tolerating a great many things which are not strictly according
to law ; and I hope that we shall continue to do so. . , . During
last week, a clergyman came to me and stated that he had himself
for fourteen years, and his father before him for twenty years,
celebrated the Holy Communion standing eastward. He asked
if he must abandon a practice with which his parishioners were
familiar, and to which they had no objection. "What could I do?
1875.] REVISION OF THE RUBRICS. 393
Was I to persuade him to make a change which would disgust
his people ?
The whole speech was in every way characteristic.
It expressed a righteous impatience of pretending loyalty
to a Prayer-Book whose very first rubric Avas allowed
to remain unintelligible. It betokened the colonial ad-
ministrator of many a long year, habituated not only to
discuss, but to decide matters of importance in synod. It
breathed, moreover, the spirit of gentleness, tolerance, and
conciliation — a spirit which was not natural to the speaker,
but which the grace of God and prolonged self-discipline
had long ago made a " second nature " to him. Unfortu-
nately, Bishop Selwyn on this occasion stood almost alone.
The opinion of his own clergy had been invited on the
point, and it had gone against him. Every ruri-decanal
chapter throughout the diocese had been carefully supplied
with a form, in which to record their judgment ; and while
two-thirds of the clergy considered the question so imma-
terial that they returned no answer at all, the remaining
third, by a majority of nearly two to one, desired "that
the ornaments rubric should remain unaltered." In Con-
vocation he encountered a similar opposition. His vener-
able friend, the Bishop of Lincoln (Wordsworth), said —
A legislative body has often to exercise a wise discretion in
silence. I think we might have spoken with great effect some
time ago ; but that time seems now to be passed. The jDresent
condition of things, when passions run high to a feverish excite-
ment, seems to me unfavourable to legislation.
The Bishop of Chichester (Durnford) alone agreed with
the Bishop of Lichfield : —
394 BISHOP SELWYM. [1875.
No one (he said) can be satisfied with continual litigation
which settles nothing, and exasperates rather than calms religious
animosities. " Letters of business " have been given to Convoca-
tion for the very purpose of putting an end to this legal war.
But in an able and crushing speech, the Archbishop
(Tait) put an end to all hope of legislation. He said —
The clergy as a body, having been consulted as to whether
they thought legislation desirable or not, nearly all of them said
it was not desirable. Now, every sensible man, however he may
desire it in the abstract, never thinks of proceeding to legislate
if public opinion is entirely against his doing so. It is better to
tolerate ambiguity, than to rush into legislation which may stir
up much party-feeling; . . . and it may be wise not to rush hastily
into legislation, until we see more distinctly the working of the
Church of England in the present political condition of the
country. It is childish to say there is no doctrinal significance
in the practices we condemn. To " obey the decisions of the
ordinary " is the thing they ought to have done. I think people
have learnt to decide things a great deal too much for themselves.
I do not know whose fault it is, but they ought to have been held
with a tighter hand. After all, the persons who have caused all
this difificulty and disturbance are but a small body ; and if one
had them privately to talk to, I think one could almost persuade
them. But when they hold public meetings and band together
and get excited, they become totally unmanageable. That state
of things must come to an end.
In these words we have a complete explanation of the
passing of the Public Worship Regulation Act, so recently
effected by the Archbishop in Parliament; amid a complete
forgetfulness that this " small body " were but the straws
on the bosom of a great advancing tide. As Canon Butler
reminded the Lower House —
1S75] SUNDAY SCHOOLS. 395
There has sprung up in the whole civilized world a great taste
and love for all that is beautiful, for music, sculpture, and the fine
arts in general. Is, then, a great symptom like that to be ignored ?
Is Satan to have everything that is attractive, as well as " all the
good tunes " ?
Nevertheless, after a discussion on this one point, — viz.
What to do with the ambiguous " Ornaments Rubric,"—
which occupies no less than three hundred pages of close
print in the " Chronicle of Convocation," the only result
was the following resolution, passed nein. con. : —
This House, believing legislation on these points to be at the
present time neither desirable nor practicable, does not deem it
expedient to discuss the course which any such legislation should
take.
On this, Bishop Selwyn returned to his own diocese, a
sadder — if not a wiser — man.
Soon afterwards we find him engaged in a much more
congenial occupation. At a meeting of the Staffordshire
Sunday School Association he delivered a very interesting
address. He said : —
The great difficulty in Sunday Schools is to find time for
the things which demand attention. The subject of the greatest
importance, and that which should be impressed on the minds of
the children from the earliest moment, is the explanation of the
Lord's Prayer. The children should be taught the foundation
of prayer, and how the duty was wrapped-up in the baptismal
covenant. Then teachers should impress on their children the
duty of praying for the extension of the kingdom of God and of
denying themselves in aid of it. A small portion of time may
thus be well employed in gaining a real comprehension of the
world and of the people who live in it. A lesson, for instance,
might easily be given on Ps. ii, 8 : " Desire of Me, and I will
396 BISHOP SELWYN. [1875.
give thee the heathen for thine inheritance and the utmost parts
of the earth for thy possession ; " and it might be shown how
between New Zealand and England lay numberless places which
are calling aloud for our help. Then the teacher might take a
map and show how England — with her colonies and her two
hundred million souls in India — -has a great charge and a great
privilege laid upon her. For I earnestly ask you to interest the
children in real objects ; and not to waste their sympathies on
mere excitement, and make them feel as if nothing were real.
Thus prayer should always be followed by self-denial. Dean
Champneys, at Whitechapel, after years of patient teaching,
awakened such an interest in missions, that, in 1845, the various
schools of his parish made a collection for New Zealand ; it
amounted to no less than ^100, — all given in copper coin, and
each separate penny representing among these poor people a
separate act of self-denial. A personal interest, moreover, between
the children of two countries may be maintained by specially
assisting individual scholars in mission-schools from the pence
collected in some school at home. Indeed the power of "pence"
is not sufficiently understood. In the parish church at Walsall the
annual offertories amount to ^1000 ; and half of this is collected
in "pence." The London Society's mission-ship is mainly kept at
sea by " pence." In short, the old Scotch saying should never be
forgotten, " Many a mickle makes a muckle."
" Ships " and " missions " were, very naturally, always
associated closely together in Bishop Sehvyn's mind ; and
towards sailors his readiest sympathies were invariably
shown. Indeed some of his most powerful sermons drew
their inspiration from the sea. For instance, he once
preached thus, during the Californian " gold fever," on
St. Paul's shipwreck narrated in Acts xxvii. : —
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
1875.] ''LET HER DRIVE!" 397
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 Chris-
tianity. " Let her drive ! " To them neither sun nor stars
appear; no small tempest is 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 will is sweeping away
everything before it ; and when it has done its work of disruption
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 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 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 raised the storm looks on with a 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 crowns of kings, — cast it into the midst for the
multitude to quarrel for."
Full of this love of the sea and admiration for sailors,
he deeply grieved when, in the House of Commons (July
22nd), the sailors' friend, Mr. Plimsoll, M.P. for Derby,
compromised his scheme for abating unnecessary risks
at sea by a want of steady temper and patience under
vexatious delays, which he might have learnt from no one
better than from his own diocesan. Still greater was the
Bishop's anxiety and distress when (August 20th), at the
Melanesian island of Santa Cruz — close to the scene of
Bishop Patteson's martyrdom, — Commander Goodenough
398 BISHOP SELIVYN. {1875.
and a whole party of sailors were shot with poisoned
arrows, while on shore to mediate about the so-called
" labour traffic." For this heathen outrage was probably
connected with a previous Christian act of vengeance, which
had — to every good man's poignant regret — followed, and
apparently revenged, Bishop Patteson's death by a bombard-
ment of the island (Nukapu) where it had occurred.* For
it seems that some Santa Cruz people, wholly unconnected
with the murder, happened to be there, and perished in the
bombardment. So that when a canoe from that island,
accidentally encountered, broke the long silence that had
enveloped this ill-omened group since 1871, it was discovered
that revenge had begotten the spirit of revenge ; so that the
acceptance of the " gospel of peace " was delayed by the evil
passions of war. Nevertheless, the permeating influences
of the Church have since then found a way to enter, and
have taken full possession, even there ; although with what
reserve such a statement must always be made, became
clear during the mission voyage of the Bishop's son, ten
years later on. He had landed at a Christian island, to return
four scholars who had been entrusted to him. But where
the cross and the school-house should have been, he found
only skulls of slaughtered enemies and "all the hideous
* In a letter to Miss F. Patteson, in 1871, Bishop Selwyn says : " On the
very day I heard of your dear brother's death, I wrote to Mr, Gladstone,
renewing the claim which has been so often pressed upon her Majesty's Govern-
ment, that a small ship of war — with a chosen commander — should be commis-
sioned to watch over the islands of the South Sea : to take care that the
agreements made with the natives be thoroughly understood by them, and
faithfully carried out by their employers : and, above all, that every kind of
forcible or fraudulent abduction should be prevented or punished. I need not
say that I studiously avoided any word which should imply the slightest wish
that punishment should be inflicted upon any one who, either directly or
indirectly, has been the cause of dear Coley's death."
I875-] THE LABOUR TRAFFIC. 399
trophies and signs of cannibalism, — showing how very little,
if at all, these people had yet emerged from the darkness
of former times." At the bottom even of this purely native
massacre lay some dispute connected with the " labour
traffic," — a system which, in some hands, was very hard to
distinguish from " slavery." Hence arose a jealous w^atch-
fulness on the part of the Aborigines Protection Society ;
and they wrote to Bishop Selwyn, receiving the following
cautious reply : —
I hardly know what to think, still less what to say, about the
Admiralty instructions [for returning fugitive slaves to their
owners] to which you refer. Tested by the only field of which I
know much, viz. Melanesia — where a large portion of the popula-
tion of every island are likely to be "slaves" of the other portion,
— it seems to me impossible that Commander Hopkins should be
bound to return any man who swims off to his ship to any other
man who claims him as his slave. Are we to accept the state-
ment of every ruffian that a man is his slave ? If not, where is
die question to be tried ? There seems to me no clear course,
but that every man who sets foot on British soil or on the deck of
a British vessel is presumed to be free.
But, — no doubt the Bishop would fain have added, —
though that be a " clear course," yet no doubt injustice and
heart-burning among native slave-owners often come of
it; I therefore show you "a more excellent" way — the
introduction of Christianity among these heathen islanders ;
and, thereby, the abolition of slavery altogether. This
more excellent way was indeed always foremost in his
thoughts and nearest to his heart. "Missions" of every
kind seemed to his active intelligence the very raison d'etre
of a Church ; and to this conviction his triennial system of
400 BISHOP SELWYN. [1875.
diocesan festivals bore witness. For while, in deference to
the infirmities of musicians he meekly allowed one year to
be sacrificed to a choral festival, which had no charms for
him, the other two years were firmly claimed for foreign
missions and home missions. In the present year (1875)
the turn for " foreign missions " had come round ; and
on June ist there was a typical gathering at Lichfield
Cathedral of men who had done good service in the cause.
It happened to be a lovely summer's day — one of those
English days that no colony or dependency of the British
Empire can match, — and a long procession issued from the
palace gate and slowly swept round to the great western
doors of the cathedral. First came the students of the
Theological College, — whom the military-minded Bishop
always eyed, as his half-drilled conscripts, with disci-
plinary but affectionate eyes ; then came a hundred
clergymen, the prebendaries and canons of the cathedral,
and the archdeacons of the diocese ; then two bishops
of daughter Churches — Bishop Webb of Bloemfontein
in Southern Africa and Bishop Venables of Nassau in
the Gulf of Mexico ; after them, with long sweeping
train and two attending chaplains, the bishop of a sister
Church, the venerable Bishop Forbes of Brechin in
Scotland ; and last came the greatest of them all, the
veteran who had borne the cross of Jesus furthest of them
all, and had faced by far the most appalling dangers of
them all. Bishop Selwyn. His beautiful ebony and silver
pastoral-staff (the gift of New Zealand friends) was borne
before him, and he was attended by his two coadjutor
bishops, who had seen service with him in the southern
hemisphere. Bishop Abraham and Bishop Hobhouse. The
iSjSl FOREIGN MISSIONS. 4OI
sermon was preached by Bishop Webb ; and afterwards,
assembling in the palace gardens, a little crowd gradually
drew round a brilliant laburnum-tree, a " dropping well of
fire," beneath which Bishop Selvvyn had taken up his post,
and whence he and the others addressed the meeting. He
spoke with his usual felicity, combining a remarkable
breadth of view with special local touches of nearer interest
to the bystanders.
This meeting (he observed) is one on the most comprehensive
plan. It is not held on behalf of any one particular society, nor
in support of any one branch of mission-work. It is held to
support the cause of missions generally throughout the world.
Still, we air have, I think, a special interest in the Melanesian
mission, to which this diocese has already contributed, besides
many prayers and offerings, more than one \1%&{\A person. Among
them are Mr. Penny, Mr. Still, and my own dear son. Neverthe-
less, the work for which we have t'his day offered up our prayers
in the cathedral is world-wide; for the "field is the world." And
it is with a view to kindle a more lively interest in that work that
the dean and chapter have, with my hearty concurrence, agreed that
every year there should be such a diocesan gathering as this. Let
us try to do the duty which Christ has assigned to every believing
man, — to go and seek out the sheep that have strayed from His
fold, and to bring them back to the Shepherd and Bishop of their
souls.
Another mission — a woman's mission to the " great
dark continent" — about this time awakened the warm
sympathy of this modern apostle to the Gentiles. A
daughter of Archdeacon Allen had dedicated herself to
missionary enterprise ; and he invited her, with all
members of her family^ who could accompany her, to
break her journey at Lichfield, when she was starting for
2 D
402 BISHOP SELWVy. [1875.
Zanzibar. Of this \isit a graphic description is given by
her brother-in-law, the Rev. R. M. Grier —
On October 29th, after an early celebration of the Holy
Communion in her father's church at Frees, Miss Allen, accom-
panied by her father and mother and sisters, set out for Lichfield.
It was a sorrowful journey ; until at Stafford the Bishop joined
the party. Then all was at once changed. He took charge of
everything and every one — of shawls, rugs, umbrellas, luggage,
the Archdeacon, and the ladies ; and met Mrs. Allen's remon-
strance at his thus burdening himself by the playful rejoinder,
" I am only a good porter spoiled." When the train started,
however, he proved that he was something more ; for he kept up
the spirits of his companions until they reached their destination.
At the palace, after dinner he took his guests into the study, and,
opening a case, presented Miss Allen with a side-saddle such as
his own observation had taught him would be most likely to be
useful to her abroad. That evening there was a solemn service
in the Bishop's Chapel ; and the next morning in the same place
there was a celebration of the Holy Communion. In this, the
only variation from ordinary custom was that, while Miss Allen
knelt at the altar rails after receiving, the Bishop laid his hands
upon her, in token (as it were) that she was consecrated to a life
of labour and self-sacrifice for Christ's sake. About midday, the
party started for London from the platform of Lichfield station,
to which the Bishop had brought them ; and there he stood,
waving adieu to them, till the train was out of sight.*
Shortly afterwards Bishop Selwyn was called upon to
address a large assemblage of people at Wellington, in
Shropshire, at the consecration of a new cemetery. He
observed that —
the word "cemetery" simply means a place where bodies are
laid to sleep. Many who hear me will remember seeing at Lich-
* Grier, " Life of Archdeacon Allen," i. p. 276.
jS75] " THE SLEEPING CHILDREN:' 4O3
field (what is termed) " the sleeping children," — that is, the
figures in marble of two young girls taken away in early child-
hood. They are represented with their arms round each others'
necks ; and no one who has seen them can ever forget the
appearance of perfect peace in those children. It fills one with
joy and comfort to know, amid the sin, sorrow, and folly of this
world, that one out of every seven born into the Avorld, depart to
be with Christ before having committed actual sin.
This is certainly a pessimist view of the world ; though
it may find an echo in the hearts of many bereaved parents,
and may bring them a certain comfort. But it was not
a view v/hich was habitual to Bishop Selwyn, nor one
which at all appeared in his confirmation addresses, or in
his usual method of dealing with young people. His " con-
firmations " he always felt to be matters, not only of the
most solemn obligation, but of the greatest delight ; and
he sometimes almost sternly imposed the obligation, where
the delight was not properly felt. Witness the following
letter to the Rural Dean of Stoke-on-Trent, about this
time : —
I have found great inconvenience in submitting the scheme of
confirmations to the ruridecanal chapters. A certain number of the
clergy attend and give their opinions ; others stay away and after-
wards write letters complaining of the arrangements proposed. A
third set — happily small in number — escape from confirmations alto-
gether, and avoid the painful suggestion of neglect of duty, which
would come home to them if the confirmation were held in their
churches. The people in those parishes lose the whole benefit
intended for them and for their children. I have been endeavour-
ing for four years to hold a confirmation in every church, by the
aid of my coadjutors ; and, at the rate of more than two hundred
annually, this ought to have been now accomplished. But there
are still three churches, at least, in Stoke rural deanery, in which
404 BISHOP SELWYN. [1875.
confirmations have not been held. I do not take any account
of the inconvenience of the church or of the character of the
clergyman. Whether the lack of candidates be owing to his
neglect or to the prevalence of Dissent, it is still my duty to let
the people know to what they are pledged in their baptism, and
what is required of them as a preliminary to Holy Communion.
This giv^es a glimpse of the bishop in his sterner moods.
His more exultant and humorous mood was seen on the
beach at Auckland, when his nocturnal landing with half
a dozen firstfruits of Melanesian boyhood was cheerily
announced to his long-watching and weariful wife by the
terse announcement — " I have got them." Or when,
on the same beach, another landing was effected with
specimens of dark-skinned girlhood on either arm — little
Wabisane and little Wasitrutru ("little chattering bird")
— decked in indescribable sea-garments of the bishop's own
construction, but each with a tender thought for feminine
ways expressed in a bunch of gay ribbons at the shoulder.
Again, his highest reach of joy and hope in dealing with
children was occasionally witnessed — and who that wit-
nessed or took part in them can ever forget those scenes
— when, at the elevated- font in Lichfield Cathedral, he.
baptized a daughter of his own son, or the child of one of
his Canons in the Close. With the most beaming happy
looks, he would on such occasions hold forth the child
on outstretched arms in sight of all the congregation,
while he pronounced the words : " Seeing now, dearly
beloved brethren, that this child is regenerate and grafted
into the body of Christ, let us give thanks unto x'\lmighty
God."
Nevertheless, an occasional deep depression of spirits'
1875-] SYMPATHY IN TROUBLE. 405
— especially at any season of ministerial ill-success or
disappointment — was, as we have already seen, a trial
from which even his abundant vivacity did hot exempt
him. Perhaps his personal acquaintance with grief con-
tributed its share towards making him a most effective
consoler of the afflicted, and. a most delicate bearer of ill-
news. One has attested this who was herself supported
by him under the agonizing loss of a martyred brother,
and heard his calm whisper — " I know that you would not,
at the bottom of your heart, and conscious what this noble
death really is and will be to the Church — I know you
would not have it otherwise." The same person, too, has
borne testimony to his singularly thoughtful sympathy,
having witnessed how he broke the news of fast-approach-
ing death to one quite unaware of its approach — a lady
whom he had known during the war in New Zealand.
In truth, " masterful " though he certainly was by nature,
stern and unsympathizing harshness was totally foreign
to his character. It was a side presented only to people
who needed either shaking-up or shaking-off. So that
his own wife has been heard to say, " With George, — if
I must perforce be either one or the other, — I would
certainly rather be a knave than a fool."
At all events. Bishop Selwyn, with his bright, frank,
humorous energy, was the last man in the world to become
a "pessimist." Rather, the world seemed to him a delightful
field, and life a happy opportunity, for the exercise of his
many gifts and for doing indefatigable service both to God
and man. And as he stood, in this year (1875), beside the
open grave of his friend. Dean Champneys, and on the very
ground which was all too soon to be opened again to receive
406 BISHOP SELIVYX. [1875.
his own stalwart frame, the Dean's favourite hymn (sung
ere the grave was closed) seemed precisely to express that
common devotion to their Master's cause which drew these
two good men together, both in life and death : —
" Lord, it belongs not to my care
Whether I die ov live :
To love and serve Thee is my share,
And this Thy grace must give."
As to the reverential and peaceful solemnity which, he
conceived, should encompass the resting-places of the dead,
it was probably much more prominently in his thoughts,
when he resisted the intrusion of alien services into our
churchyards, than any nervous anxiety about the inviola-
bility of Church property. Thus, at the archidiaconal
conference in Shropshire this year, he combined together
the two subjects of funeral reform and the Burials Bill —
because (he said) the one will probably hereafter have an
important bearing on the other. If the Church is not to be
allowed to possess her burial-grounds in peace, it may be necessary
to provide for ourselves new grounds, to be held in trust for the
Church. Then funeral reform will prepare the way for a complete
system of Church sepulture. We need reform of everything which
separates rich from poor in that ordinance which levels all dis-
tinctions. " Devout men " should follow a Christian to his grave.
All present were not, however, of the Bishop's opinion ;
and, though a resolution was carried ne^n. con. that " the
exclusive right of the Church to her churchyards be main-
tained, but that (where it is desired) an interment without
services at the grave should be allowed," still one of his
own archdeacons (Allen) made a vigorous speech on the
other side, and advocated the permission — afterwards
i875-] THE CHURCH CONGRESS. 407
enforced by Act of Parliament — ^for Dissenters to use their
own services in the church's grounds.
How Httle our Bishop cared for personal attacks or
anonymous abuse, in this or any other controversy, will
appear from a letter written about this time to the same
Archdeacon.
For all your kind expressions of sympathy and affection
I heartily thank you. To all charges brought against me before
the Archbishop of Canterbury I am ready to answer in due time,
at appointed place, and in lawful manner. To all personal
charges my rule is, "Answer him not a word." For anonymous
writers in the newspapers (as such) I care nothing. I am most
thankful for advice ; but, to be kindly taken, it must distil as the
dew, and not bluster like Boreas.
An important event was now approaching, and pre-
paration for it occupied much of the Bishop's thoughts.
The Church Congress was to be held once more within
the diocese ; and the populous capital of " the Pot-
teries," Stoke-on-Trent, had been fixed upon for this
great gathering of Churchmen. It was opened by the
Bishop on October 5th, and continued for four days, as he
afterwards thankfully remarked, " without one word being
uttered of bitterness or strife." This congress was not so
brilliantly " successful " or so well attended as some pre-
vious congresses had been ; but the impression made by it
upon the surrounding masses of the local population was
profound. It was to them like a new revelation. They
had never known before, by ocular demonstration, the vast
power and resources of the Church of England.
A few weeks beforehand the Rector of Stoke (Sir Love-
lace Stamer) wrote thus to the Guardian : —
40y BISHOP SELWYN. [1875.
The presidency of Bishop Selwyn will be the chief distinction
of this year's congress. He will be recognized as the bishop who,
on his translation to an English See, gave the example of a well-
organized system of conferences in his diocese, and found a place
for the laity in the councils of the Church. It will be remem-
bered, too, that no one has done so much to draw together the
various Churches in communion with the Church of England,
and that the proposal to hold a second Lambeth conference has
been carried through his persev'ering advocacy.
The following is an outline of the Bishop's inaugural
address : —
The object of the Church Congress is trutli — truth as perfect
as God, by the teaching of the Holy Ghost, may be pleased to
reveal. We do not accept as infallible the authority of any mortal
man ; nor do we submit doubtful questions to the decision of a
council ; nor, again, do we agree to differ, as if truth were beyond
our reach. But we invite a free expression of opinion from men
of various habits of thought, hoping that the greater part of our
differences will vanish when we come to understand one another.
The language of extreme party-spirit is an unknown tongue to all
but the initiated. The man of one party is a " barbarian " to the man
of the other (i Cor. xiv. 11). . . , Some may say, "Are not these
thoughts for the synod rather than the congress.'* Are not the
objects of the congress purely practical ? " I cannot put asunder
what God has joined together. Christianity knows nothing of
practice as distinct from doctrine. ... I cannot doubt that the
Anglican Church is tlie true centre round wliich may be rallied, in
God's own time, all the scattered forces of those who agree in
accepting Holy Scripture as their standard of faith, and the creeds
of the undivided Church as their sunuuary of doctrine. Stretching
out her arms to the great English-speaking race, now widely
scattered round the earth — bearing with any errors she may discern
in other Churches, as she hopes her own may be forgiven, — com-
mending herself to Jew and Gentile by her visible unity, — she may
1875.] RESULTS OF THE CONGRESS. 4C9
press on to the development of a catholicity as wide as is possible
to be attained ; until Rome, awaking from her dream of universal
empire, shall be content to be what she was at Nicaea and at
Ephesus — one among many living stones built up into one holy,
catholic, and apostolic Church, Jesus Christ Himself being
the chief Corner-stone.
At the conclusion of the Congress, the Bishop added
a {&\\ words upon the offering of praise, and led the
thoughts of his hearers to Eucharistic praise as the highest
kind of worship. He concluded with the Ter-sanctus — the
whole assembly rising simultaneously, and standing with
bowed heads as he recited the sacred words.
By such gatherings and such speeches as these the
minds of Churchmen have of late years been wonderfully
awakened, and their ideas have been mightily expanded.
The retired country parish, with perhaps a dull routine
of Sunday services, and an interest in nothing beyond the
gossip of the ale-house, has suddenly found itself within
walking distance of a crowded assembly addressed by
men whose names were conspicuous in the newspapers,
and who were discussing questions as wide as the world.
The townsman, keen on local politics and taught to regard
the Church as one among many sects, squabbling (like all
the rest) over petty school-board elections, or about some
trumped-up "burial scandal," became abruptly aware that
the Church was a power which had to be reckoned with
on a scale very different from all that. The Dissenter
found out to his surprise that Churclimen, too, could talk ;
and talk with as much practical sense and power as " the
minister;" while the subjects discussed, and the perfect
freedom and courtesy with which they were discussed,
4IO JSISIIOP SELWYN. [1875.
gave matter for unaccustomed reflection. The very sight,
too, of such a man as Bishop Sehvyn — one who had faced
danger in many unaccustomed shapes, had converted
cannibals into Sunday-school teachers, knew how to dis-
pense with every luxury and even necessary of life, and
who (literally, as well as in figure of speech) could " paddle
his own canoe," — was an inspiring and an elevating sight ;
especially when he sat, calm and radiant, surrounded by
the magnates of the district, and easily governing with
the sweep of his long quill pen the swaying impulses of
an excited assembly.
Another event, in the same month of October, 1875,
also helped to enlarge all Englishmen's ideas, and espe-
cially to give them a livelier interest than they had before
in that great "field," both for the operations of the world
and of the Church, India. On October nth, the Prince
of Wales, attended by the heartfelt good wishes of all
his loyal countrymen, set forth from Charing Cross station
for his long-planned visitation to the East. For the
Prince's Indian tour Parliament made abundant and
dignified provision. They voted iJ^5 2,000 for his voyage,
;^30.000 for his entertainment in India, and iJ^6o,000 for
his personal expenses.
No doubt this vast sum was well spent, though it was
on a truly imperial scale. For an Oriental people must be
impressed as well as governed. The minds of their less
educated classes seem, like those of children, to be de-
veloped only so far as the imaginative stage. This was
long ago found out by Bishop Patteson.
The mode of thought of a South Sea Islander resembles very
closely that of a Semitic man. That the Jew did not think —
1875] REVISION OF THE STATUTES. 4I I
certainly did not speak — like a European, is self-evident. Where,
then, are we to find [a similar] people, children in thought,
keenly alive to the outer world, impressible, emotional, but
devoid of the power of abstract thought ? I assure you, the
Hebrew narrative, viewed from the Melanesian point of thought,
is wonderfully graphic and lifelike. The English version is dull
and lifeless by comparison. We [Europeans] say, "When I get
there, all will be right; " but every South Sea Islander would say,
" I am there ; and it is right." *
Add to this the direct testimony of a Hindu : —
It is only an Asiatic (says Mr. Mozoomdar) who can teach
religion to Asiatics. Hindus have a powerful national life, which
remains all but utterly uninfluenced by foreign preaching. . . .
Was not Jesus Christ an Asiatic ; and all the agencies, primarily
employed for the propagation of the gospel, Asiatic ? An Asiatic
man can read the imageries and allegories of the gospel, and its
descriptions of natural sceneries and customs and manners, with
greater interest and a fuller perception of their force and beauty
than Europeans. To Asiatics, therefore, Christ is doubly inter-
esting. . . . When we speak of the Eastern Christ, we speak of
the incarnation of unbounded love and grace ; when we speak of
the Western Christ, we speak of the incarnation of theology,
formalism, ethical and physical force, f
In the autumn of this year a work of the highest im-
portance to the efficiency of his cathedral was completed
by the Bishop. He had some years before encouraged his
chapter, first to revise and adapt their statutes to the
requirements of modern times, and then to translate the
result into mother-English. For, as has been well said,
" there is no question that the true ' sacred language ' of
* Yonge, "Life of Bishop Patteson," vol. ii., p. 476.
t Mozoomdar, "The Oriental Christ"' (18S3), pp. 16, 21, 46.
4 1 2 BISHOP SEL WYN. [ i S 7 5 .
the modern time is English." Besides, this note of
"simplicity and truth" was clearly struck, three hundred
years ago, by the masculine sense of our Reformers, who
put into mother-English both the Prayer-Book and the
Bible. In the same spirit of earnest faith in reality and
veracity, and in fervent hope that a cathedral — once made
intelligible and lovable — would prove (as many of our
cathedrals have since done) matchless instruments for
good in the hands of the Church, Bishop Selwyn's great
chapter set to work. They cleared away whatever was
irrecoverably dead and bygone ; they faithfully and
anxiously preserved every feature of the past that could
be preserved, so as to maintain unbroken continuity with
the system of their forefathers ; and then they put the
whole result into plain English.
The ancient statutes, of which these are a translation and
abridgment, date from a very early period. Indeed, their
origin is lost in the mists of a primitive antiquity, when
the bishop lived with his clergy in a common house, and
served the surrounding country from that central home.
So early as the third century we find traces of this arrange-
ment, in the writings of Tertullian (A.D. 200) and Cyprian
(a.D. 250). But in the fourth century, AuL,'ustine of Hippo
— attempting to revive Church discipline almost on monas-
tic models — drew up a few stringent statutes for his clcrg}'.
He made them live with him and draw (as the clergy of
Ou'Appelle do now) their food and clothing from a "com-
mon fund" — a phrase in ordinary cathedral use to this day ;
he menacingly forbade any of them to possess property of
their own ; and he inscribed on the common dinner-table
the following excellent warning against "gossip : "- —
1875.] CATHEDRALS IN THE DARK AGES. 413
" Q)uisquis amat diciis absentum rodere vitam,
Plane mensam indiynam noverit esse sibi."
Four hundred years later on, we get a fresh glimpse of
the life led by cathedral canons, in the statutes of the Cathe-
dral of Metz, compiled by Bishop Chrodegang (a.D. 750).
The bishop is dean, and in his absence the archdeacon.
They all live together, and sleep in a common dormitory.
If none of them have learnt (like Bishop Sehvyn) how to
cook, a layman may be had in for that purpose. The dis-
cipline was severe and sometimes corporal. But now each
canon might enjoy his private property, on condition that
he bequeathed it to the society. These statutes were
remodelled about a century later on, in a synod held at
Aachen (a.D. 816) ; and again we get some curious glimpses
into ancient cathedral life.
It is clear as daylight (says the synod) that no institution [of
the Church] is so good as that of canons. But though they may-
wear linen, eat meat, and possess property — all of which things
are forbidden to monks, who live a harder life, — yet in avoiding
vices and scandals their life should be not inferior to that of
monks. No one in the society must be useless or idle, drawing
his pay without any duty done ; but should daily^ come to service,
always sleep in the common dormitory, always eat at the common
table. The canon's dress should not be foppish, nor yet (on the
other hand) entirely out of fashion and unseemly ; for each of
those extremes is a sure sign of pride or pretentiousness. It. is
very improper that a canon should go about dressed like a monk.
In public reading and choral service, let him rather consider the
eilification of the people than, that vainest of all things, popular
ai^plause. Let the song not be drawn out to inconvenient length ;
and let the words be clearly pronounced. Should any be un-
musical, it were well that he should remain silent. No women
must be about the close. Let each one, according to his ability,
414 BISHOP SELIVYN. L1875.
study some useful art or other : so that no one, in the College of
Canons, appear to be useless or eat up the gifts of the faithful in
idleness. Such should be the character, and such the life, of
those who have [in this way] devoted themselves to God's
service.
Thus both the early Church and the Church of the
" Dark Ages " have very clear and well-drawn statutes for
the cathedrals of their time ; and from them it is easy to
see the "ideal " which has always floated before the mind
of the Church, — an ideal which, like a golden thread, runs
through all the various changes and adaptations of fifteen
hundred years, and gleams out, in our own time, wherever
some man of God arises to rub off rust and apathy, and to
let the gold appear. In the Middle Ages, at Lichfield, we
have the first extant statutes, dating from about 1190, and
going into curious detail about the services in the cathedral.
Here first comes into view that admirable arrangement of
cathedrals " of the old foundation," surviving to this hour,
whereby — as the material structure rests solidly upon four
great central piers, that support the tower — so the personal
structure rests upon four " principal persons," the dean
with pastoral charge of the close, the precentor in charge
of the music, the chancellor in charge of the library, and
the treasurer in trust with the sacristy and all its contents.
These four are the great officers of the cathedral ; and all
the other personages, told off to fulfil various duties to the
community, are but supplementary and auxiliary to the.se
four. The dean, as "primus inter pares," is in the same
position towards his brother-canons as the rural dean is to
his brother-clergy : and, like them, he has three months of
statutable "residence " in the year. In 129Q, however, he
1875.] THE LICHFIELD STATUTES. 415
was bound to continual attendance, with one month's leave
of absence every fourth year.
But, as time went on, and the princely bishops lived
far away from their proper head-quarters, human infirmity
persuaded the mediaeval deans to give themselves airs ;
and they even presumed to keep the bishop out from his
own cathedral. Thus, so early as 1320, Bishop Langton's
revised statutes have to check the encroachments of the
dean. Indeed, every subsequent revision of the statutes at
Lichfield shows, only too clearly, the gradual break-down
of the whole mediaeval system. The revised statutes of
1440 deal chiefly with derelictions of duty and neglectful
methods of performing service : the next revision (1450)
attempts to put a stop to rancorous quarrels by heavy fines ;
the next one (1490) imposes angry punishments on neglects
and contempts of common decency; the next (1520)
inveighs against abuses and scandals, by this time become
enormous and intolerable ; and the last of the pre-Reforma-
tion revisions (December 22, 1526) is an attempt by Bishop
Blythe to expunge all the old rules that had become
obsolete and neglected, and to compress within a few
leaves — exactly as Bishop Selwyn did, three hundred and
fifty years afterwards — all that was " alive " and practically
useful. After the Reformation — the kingly power having
become ascendant in the Church — King James I. (1624)
issued Letters Patent, confirming to the Bishop of Lichfield
(" with the assent and consent of the dean and chapter ")
his ancient power of revising the statutes ; and this power
was accordingly exercised by Bishop Hacket(i662) and by
five of his successors. Bishop Lonsdale, at last, in 1863,
added some statutes in -English ; and following these
4l6 BISHOP SELIVYN. [1875.
various precedents extending through no less than seven
hundred years, Bishop Seluyn in 1875 revised and com-
pressed the whole of the statutes, and translated them into
plain English.
At the same time, a certain ominous and strange
document was finally got rid of, and laid to rest amid the
cathedral archives. It had, for four hundred years, formed
a standing monument of distrust and animosity between
bishop and chapter : and was entitled a " composition "
between these two parties. It proved only too evidently
that, as the Middle Ages sank into corruption and despair
of self-reformation, the bishops had followed the example
of the popes, and had used the opportunities of their high
office for shameful extortion of fees ; while, no doubt, the
canons on their part had reason for avoiding unpleasant
inquiries. Hence they forced the bishop to a formal
treaty ; in which, among other concessions, he undertook
never to hold a "visitation " of the cathedral till four years
had elapsed from the previous one. At such a scandalous
restriction as this. Bishop Selwyn naturally expressed much
contemptuous impatience. And the reader will now be
able fully to understand a brief but characteristic passage,
from a letter written to New Zealand on the last day of
this year : —
Our chapter-meeting was most happy and harmonious. On
the second day, before twelve o'clock, we closed our proceedings
with earnestness and solemnity and with much thankfulness of
heart. And so came the euthanasia of the old "composition,"
and of all the unintelligible stuff which had been sworn-to for four
or five centuries.
Thus ended a year full of labours, rich in blessings,
1875-] END OF THE YEAR. 41 y
fruitful in far-reaching changes. Doubtless, the Bishop, as
he rose from his knees on that " last night of the old year,"
appended with more than usual thankfulness to his diocesan
scheme of things to be done "if the Lord will" in 1875,
his customary seal of their happy completion in the words
Deo gratias, — " Thanks be to God ! "
2 E
CHAPTER IX.
i8;6.
The Bulgarian atrocities — Sister Dora — The Burials Bill — The "Old Catho-
lics " — A " Church House " — The Final Court of Appeal — Visit to the
Isle of Man — The Bishop as a "muscular Christian'" — The Diocesan
Fund.
This was a year of tranquil and strenuous activity in the
diocese of Lichfield ; but it was unmarked by any events
of first-rate importance. In fact, the diocesan machine had
now been got into easy working order, and had become in
great measure permeated by the Bishop's ideas. When
therefore, everything was moving at high speed and with
perfect smoothness, there was naturally little to record.
But in the outside world events were happening which,
like clouds gathering on the horizon, portended in the
near future dark calamities both to Church and State.
First of all, it was the year of the too-celebrated "Bul-
garian atrocities " — the first mutterings of the storm which
was shortly to break over Eastern Europe in the disastrous
Russo-Turkish v>ar. In all the military occurrences of
that war Bishop Sel\\}-n, as usual, took a deep interest.
The solid discipline and obedient self-devotion of the
Russian armies he warmly admired. The passive valour
1S76.] THE RUSSO-TURKISH WAR. 419
and tenacity of the Turks, in defending assailed positions,
won his highest praise. But, meanwhile, every day there
was being paraded before all men's eyes the terrible
mystery of useless human suffering, of baffled endeavour,
of successful iniquity. And these things did not fail to
engender in many minds perplexity and sometimes un-
belief.
But to demand (said Bishop Selwyn, in a sermon at Lichfield
Cathedral) that we should explain everything which is dark or
doubtful is altogether unreasonable. A man comes to me with a
difficulty ; and says, " Explain that ! " I ask him, " Why ? " He
answers, " In order that I may believe." But if I fail to explain it
to his satisfaction, what then ? Is God, therefore, to be less God,
or the Bible to be less true, because I am unable to explain, or
you to understand ? A man would starve, if he refused to take
food till he could understand its properties or could trace its
effects. In the least things, as well as in the greatest — in the
food and raiment of the body, in light and heat, in the air we
breathe, in the clouds and vapours which supply us with rain,
in the compass which guides us over the ocean, in the planets
which are chained to the sun with chains of calculated power, in
the rivers of water which run up-hill to the tops of the trees, in
every thing (in short) which we see or hear or touch or handle — ■
the same truth is still evident, viz. that " it is the glory of God to
conceal a thing."
The spectacle of sufTering and bloodshed does not,
however, always produce a merely paralyzing perplexity.
It goads more robust and believing souls to energetic
action. And so it came to pass that this Russo-Turkish
war stirred up the most fervid longings to be helpful, in
the heart of one who, at that time little known beyond
the diocese in which she worked, has since acquired a
420 I^ISHOP SELVVYN. [1876.
world-wide celebrity through the touching account of her
life written by Miss Lonsdale. The fact is that " Sister
Dora," from her quiet home in the Cottage Hospital at
Walsall, kept a watchful look-out upon the great world
and its affairs. Hence, during the Franco-German War
in 1870, and now again, when the battle was raging be-
tween Russia and Turkey, she earnestly wished to offer
herself as a nurse to the sick and wounded soldiers. But the
Bishop was at hand, " between whom and Sister Dora a
strong sympathy existed ; for they were kindred spirits,
and she gave him probably as much of her confidence as
she ever gave to any one." * No doubt it was by his
advice that she determined to remain humbly at her less
ambitious post of duty : and there she worked till the end
of her life.
To the Bishop this simple " Cottage Hospital " had a
special charm. He often visited it ; and consulted with
Sister Dora on the best means of being helpful to the poor
in Walsall. One tangible result of these visits was the
erection of a suitable chapel at the workhouse for the use of
the inmates. Having heard how badly provided they were,
he made arrangements for taking the service at the work-
house on a certain afternoon ; and finding — as he antici-
pated — the crowded assembly gathered in a long, low room,
in which they had all lately dined, he took care to express
his objections very pointedly in the visitors'-book. The
result was, that the guardians soon afterwards determined
to build a chapel : and when it was completed, the Bishop
had the satisfaction of officiating at its opening in person.
This was not the onh* occasion on which he used his influ-
* Miss Lonsdale, " Sister Dora," p. 62,
1876.] SISTER DORA. 42 1
ence in obtaining a chapel, or other decent accommoda-
tion, for paupers in workhouses ; and his known readiness
to espouse all weaker causes, as well as his obvious manli-
ness and reality, had a great effect upon the working-
classes. " They all," says a late incumbent of Walsall
parish church, " thought most highly of their Bishop ; "
and as to Sister Dora, they were ready to die for her.
In the early days of her nursing-mission at Walsall,
she had achieved a wonderful success in saving for a work-
ing-man his working arm. The limb had been so terribly
mangled by some machinery, that the surgeons decided
it must be amputated. But the poor man's groans and
expressions of despair went to the nurse's heart ; and when
he appealed to her, " O sister, do save my arm for me,
it's my right arm," with a swift glance she took in the
possibilities of the. case, and determined to try. Her skill
and attention were rewarded with success ; and her patient
installed himself as one of her most devoted admirers,
calling to inquire for her when she was ill, and begging
the portress to " tell Sister, it was ' her arm ' that rang the
bell." *
In the same way, Bishop Selwyn, too, saved an arm.
In visiting a hospital, he met on the steps a dejected-
looking figure with a sentence of death from the doctors
ringing in his ears. For he had positively refused to allow
his arm to be amputated, and was preparing to take the
consequences. "I'd a deal rather die, sir ; and I'm going
home to tell my wife so. I couldn't bear to live, just to
be a hobble on her and the children." The Bishop's
sympathy was enlisted on behalf of the poor man ; and
* Miss Lonsdale, "Sister Dora," p. 24.
422 BISHOP SELWYN. [1S76.
arrangements were at once made for sending him to a
London hospital. Some time afterwards, the happy grate-
ful convalescent appeared at Lichfield and asked to see
the ]3ishop. With great pride and satisfaction he pulled
up his sleeve and showed him his arm. It was almost well
and already in a fair working condition, owing to the
insertion of a silver tube in place of the diseased bone
which had been removed. " It's the Bishop's arm now and
for ever, if he wants it," said the man, enthusiastically, as
he showed it to several lookers-on : " a five-pun note he
paid down to give me my silver bone ; and it's just made
a new man of me." The man had walked over from his
home at Sedgley to show these good results to his bene-
factor. " I like that man," said the Bishop ; " he is so
genuine and straightforward : he never asked me for a
penny, though he must be hard-up ; and many men in his
position would have used that arm for begging purposes."
Indeed, there was something in the rough and ready ways
of the Black Country men that always drew him towards
them, even more than to others ; and he was ready to go
and work among them, even at the cost of much personal
inconvenience.
I only had to ask him (writes the incumbent of a Black
Country parish), and he came. I remember well, one Saturday
evening, when he and Mrs. Selwyn were sitting in our drawing-
room by the fire, she suddenly asked him where he was going
to preach the next day. He gave her the name of the place
(rather an unmanageable combination of words) and then said,
" I am going to give a special address to the pitmen and the
puddlers, — the first of a week's course."
"Ah, you'll like that, George," she replied; "but will they
come ? "
1S76.] AV THE ''BLACK COUNTRY." 423
" That I can't say, my dear. ' You may call spirits from the
vasty deep ' — you remember the rest." He preached the follow-
ing evening, and the church was crowded. It was an earnest,
stirring sermon, well adapted to the congregation. On the
following Wednesday, it fell to my lot to give one of the ad-
dresses ; and just as I was leaving the church, I was told that
a young man was waiting outside, and very much wished to see
me. I found him in an anxious state of mind ; and we walked
up and down for a long time in serious talk,- — the flaming
chimneys all around our only light. I asked him what had
first set him thinking ; and if he could trace the rise of his con-
victions to any special occasion. "That I can," he said; "it
was last Sunday night when the Bishop preached. I never heard
anything like him before, and I have had no peace of mind
since. I'd have put a bold face on it and gone to him for hel^j,
if he had come again. But seeing as I knew )'ou, and you
happening to be here, I thought I would ask you. But he were
a one that did speak straight home to you. He just knew all
about we, I can tell you." Then I thought of the scene by the
fire in the drawing-room, the previous Saturday evening, and
remembered the Bishop's playful answer to Mrs. Selvvyn. He
had, indeed, " called a spirit from the vasty deep," in a way he
had not perhaps looked for. His straightforward way of speaking
seemed to go straight to the hearts of the rough men. " He
knows all about we, I can tell you," exactly expresses what they
felt when listening to his simple addresses ; and you might hear
a pin drop while he was speaking.* He never minced matters ;
but went at the men, time after time, about their gambling and
* The same remarkable power of adapting himself to his audience had
often been witnessed in New Zealand. None who were present can ever
forget how, one night, sitting with some Maori chiefs round a bivouac-fire, he
rebuked them for a recent murder of a poor English carter-boy. They were
all (as usual) telling ghost-stories ; and when the Bishop's turn came, he
gradually pictured out a vision of the pale blood-bedabbled boy ; and in the
background the retiring forms of his murderers, "mighty men of war, wise
counsellors, powerful chiefs ! " They started up in fury at his scathing words,
but soon sank down again, conscience-stricken.
424 BISHOP SELIVYN. [1876.
their drunkenness ; and told them what a curse drink had been
to the New Zealanders, who knew nothing of drunkenness until
the English had brought spirits among them. " And yet," he
said, " they are not so bad even now as some of our people here.
To see a Maori woman go into a pubhc-house would be thought
a terrible disgrace. It would have been so once in England.
And now, O my Christian brothers, I should be ashamed for the
Maoris to see what is to be seen in our large towns ; where
the wretched wrecks of womanhood haunt the gin-palaces and
refreshment bars."
Once again, I remember our revered Bishop coming to
preach for us. The occasion was no occasion at all. He was
simply asked, and at once compHed with the request. As we
walked to the vicarage, he turned the conversation to the parish,
suggesting that he feared it was rather a gloomy spot with little
to encourage one in it. I assured him, however, that w^e had
much to be thankful for, and that there were many bright and
hopeful signs already in our work. The aspect of the place,
however, seemed to strike him as depressing. "After all, my
lord," at last I said, " it is not trees and hills and rivers that
make a parish beautiful ; but rather the faces of its inhabitants,
with their various interests and associations." " Most true," he
replied; " the real sunshine of a place is sympathy. Chimneys,
coal-heaps, crowded dwellings, it glorifies them all." And as he
spoke of sympathy, its " sunshine " shone in his face.
In the vestry, when I told him that the service consisted only
of the Litany and sermon, he said, "I always like to have a Lesson ;
it hardly seems a service without one." Accordingly, when the
sermon-time came, he whispered to me, " I am going to read
a Lesson ;" and went to the lectern for the purpose. The chapter
he chose was St. John xv., and on this he founded his address.
The church was crowded, the congregation consisting largely of
the poorest people ; and the words of the Bishop were full of
simplicity and love. Illustrated as they were, in the memories
of those who knew his history, by his own noble life of self-
sacrifice, they came with extraordinary power.
1876.] FRIENDLY VISIT TO A VICARAGE. 425
As we were talking afterwards in the evening, he referred to
his own first curacy, and told us of a remarkable man in that
neighbourhood, who had since risen to eminence as a Noncon-
formist minister. He spoke of him and his work with cordial
respect. "We began life together," he said, "and some years
afterwards he became so distinguished that I dubbed him ' Arch-
bishop.' He didn't mind it ; and wrote among the first to con-
gratulate me on my appointment to Lichfield."
Among other things the Bishop referred to the question of
Church discipline, and to the advantage of formularies and articles
as a basis for teaching and a standard of appeal. " I was dis-
cussing the question once," he said, "with a friend belonging
to another communion. ' How do you secure yourselves,' I
asked, ' against the insinuation of error ? with your unrestricted
private judgment, don't you abolish safeguards ? ' My friend
replied, ' If we see anything of that sort in any of our ministers,
we call him aside and reason with him.' ' Yes ; but on what
authority ? ' ' Oh, on no official authority ; we simply trust to
the good effect of influential remonstrance.' ' Quite so : but
suppose you are disappointed ? ' ' Oh, then we improvise a
"court," and try the question.' 'Thank you. That is what I
wanted. You concede the point with which I started. You
establish Church-authority ; for you find that you cannot get on
without it.' " He then went on to speak of parish work, inquiring
about classes, night-schools, and so on ; and remarked that
clergymen, like doctors, should be always accessible ; and that
the evening — especially in Black Country parishes — was the most
favourable time for getting hold of the people. In this we
cordially agreed ; and he rejoined, with a merry smile, " Then
you don't agree with a clergyman I once heard of, who, when he
first came to his parish, gave out that his dinner-hour was six ;
and that he considered that to be the end of his day's work." As
he left the house, he shook hands with my sister, and said,
" Thank you, very much ; you have quite cheered my heart." He
said this referring to the bright view she took of everything around
4-(5 BISHOP SELWYN. [1876.
her.* As we walked to a station two miles distant, he wanted to
carry his bag, as he usually did ; and I had considerable difficulty
in getting him to allow me to take it from him. It was a delightful
walk to me ; and as he talked of spiritual things and dwelt on
the importance of personal ministry, it was not at all like a
chief lecturing a pupil ; but more as one workman might talk to
another about their common work. " I find nothing like the
' occasional services,' " he said, " for help in reaching individuals.
The times when these are called for are times of special sorrow or
joy ; and those are just the times (with God's help) to win souls.
You then meet on a conmion ground of sympathy. If I were an
incumbent myself, I would never allow a birth or a death to occur
in my parish, whatever might be its size, without my knowing of it at
once. Failing reports from district visitors, there is always the
registrar to be got at ; and if you call upon him, say once a week,
he will readily show you his books." When we reached the
station, the train was not yet due, and I was anxious, naturally, to
wait and see him off. But he would not hear of it. "You have
to preach to-night," he said, in his kind and considerate way :
" you must go home and rest."
A troublesome controversy arose about this time, in
itself trivial and almost contemptible, but involving larger
issues in the future. A respected Wesleyan minister in
Lincolnshire had described himself on his daughter's
tombstone, in the parish churchyard, as " the Reverend
H. Keet." As this title would be misunderstood by the
parishioners, the Vicar unwisely, but not unnaturally, took
objection, and forbade the title " Reverend " to appear on
* The stiffness and formality sometimes encountered in the houses of
richer people were very little to the Bishop's taste. At such a house he once
shocked all the proprieties by a laughing reply to the polite question, " Had
your lordship a dairy in New Zealand, and servants acquainted with dairj'-
work ? " "Well," he said, " I got one very capable girl out from St. Giles's "
(his wife's father lived in Bedford Square), "and she turned out very well."
1S76.] ■ THE TITLE OF '' REVERENDr A^IJ
the tombstone. The question was brought first before the
Bishop's court at Lincohi ; when judgment was given in
favour of the Vicar's contention. Appeal was then made
to the Archbishop of the province, by whom the judgment
of the court below was confirmed. But the Wesleyans
were not satisfied. They appealed to the Queen in Coun-
cil. And now, on January 21, 1876, the judgment of the
Privy Council was made known. It was a complete
reversal of all that the Church courts had hitherto affirmed.
The title of " Reverend " — the claim, as it seemed, to ordi-
nation — was henceforth to be permitted and sanctioned by
the State in the burial-grounds which the Church had
long been taught to regard as exclusively her own, and
of which she had always understood lawyers to say
that her appointed and accredited minister held the
•' freehold."
Here, then, was a great blow and discouragement to all
such exclusive notions. The occasion might be trivial, and
even repulsive. But a feather had shown which way the
wind was setting ; and no observant person pretended to
misunderstand the forecast. " This incident " — as Dr.
Punshon, the great Wesleyan preacher, observed — "is
historical." * The Church, it was clear, would shortly
have to defend her burial-grounds from much more serious
aggressions than this ; and then would have to defend her
buildings, her tithes, her cathedrals. In short, a Burials
Bill was already in the air ; a Welsh " tithe-agitation "
was any day possible ; and the vast and far-reaching
series of changes concealed under the word " disestablish-
ment " might before long be attempted. On May 12th,
* Alacdonald, "Life of Dr. Pimshon " (1SS7), p. 405.
428 BISHOP SELwyy. [[1876.
therefore, Bishop Sehvyn spoke in Convocation on the
proposed Burials Bill, as follows : —
If I thouglit the time had come, I (for one) would be thankful
to concede, not only this, but a much larger measure than is
proposed. But I find a great hindrance in the attitude of the
Dissenters themselves. They have pressed the matter forward,
without coming to Convocation to ask us to change our laws.
We take our stand on the fact that the Church of England, as the
National Church of this country, is bound to provide such a service
as will be a guarantee to the whole community that nothing unscrip-
tural or unholy shall be said or done over the graves of the dead.
But if a man is competent to sing a hymn in a churchyard, he is
competent to offer a prayer. It will be very inconsistent to tell
a Dissenter that he may sing, but that he may not pray. And if
we grant the use of the churchyard to sing hymns in, we are bound
to grant the use of the church to read the Bible in. I may be
considered illiberal and uncharitable for voting against this pro-
posal. But having lived at peace with the Dissenting bodies in
the country in which the greater part of my ministerial life has
been passed, I can leave that imputation to take care of itself.*
On a similar question — about the joint use of a chapel between
the ^^'esleyans and the Church of England — when I said that I
thought it was much better they should have their own chapel
and their own burial-ground, the Wesleyan superintendent of the
* A Wesleyan minister, in New Zealand, writes as follows : " From the
time of his first coming into this countr)', he had no personal difference with
a minister of any denomination. In one case he deferred the consecration of
a church, where there was no resident clergyman, in order that any one might
preach in it ; and more than once I had the opportunity of officiating therein."
(Duller, "Forty Years in New Zealand," ch. vii.). At the same time, on
proper occasions, the Bishop was well able to hold his ground. An amusing
story is told by one who witnessed the scene at Auckland, how a minister,
who urged the duty of unseclarian interchange of pulpits, etc., was non-
plussed when the Bishop leaned back in his chair and pulled down from the
shelf a copy of the good man's own chapel trust-deed, forbidding the very
thing lie pleaded for.
1S76.] FUNERAL REFORM. 429
mission said, " I quite agree with you ; I like the Lot-and-
Abraham principle."
He had, in fact, another scheme in view as a remedial
measure in the last resort, and one which promised certain
collateral advantages. He said — •
If the Church is not allowed to possess her burial-grounds in
peace, it may become necessary to provide for ourselves new
grounds, to be held in trust. Funeral reform will then prepare
the way for a complete system of Church sepulture. We need
reform of everything which separates rich from poor in that
ordinance which levels all distinctions.
On a closely^ related subject, the revision of the Burial
Service, he took a very liberal view ; speaking in Convoca-
tion as follows : —
The question before us is the alteration in the Burial Service,
so as to abate the scandal of reading words, suitable for saints
who have died a Christian death, over notorious sinners. The
Bishop of Gloucester has proposed to insert in the rubric a
refusal of such honourable burial, not merely to " the excom-
municate," but also to "those who have died in the commission
of any grievous crime, or who have been open and notorious
evil-livers, and of whose repentance no man is able to testify."
But to this proposal I take serious exception. The question is a
matter of " discipline ; " and discipline refers to the living, and
not to the dead. If the discipline laid down by our Lord be
left in abeyance, how can we think to improve our position or to
ease our consciences by encouraging every clergyman to take
upon himself the functions of judge, jury, and executioner ? The
gospel expressly declares that no one shall be pronounced excom-
municate until he is fairly and duly tried.* Can any one, then,
believe that, on the great day of judgment, a clergyman will be
* St. Matt, xviii. 15 : " If thy brother shall trespass against thee," etc.
430 BISHOP SELWY.V. [1876.
judged by our Lord for liaving used over the tomb of a dead person
words which expressed, perhaps, a Uttle more hope than the cir-
cumstances of the case seemed to justify ? But for a clergyman —
a young and inexperienced clergyman, perhaps — to take upon
himself to declare that the Burial Service ought not to be read
over the body of a brother-Christian (a Christian, at least, by
baptism) is, I think, an assumption of a fearful kind. If a
man is living at our doors a notoriously evil life, there is the law
of Christ and of the Church, and there is also the notice of
the Bishop (or of the Archdeacon) calling upon us to " present "
that living man for the salvation of his soul ; and yet it is not
done. Here is the beginning of the evil.
The motion was ultimately withdrawn.
On another kindred question — that of providing a
Burial Service for the unbaptized — Bishop Sehvyn again
took a very liberal and even, so to speak, " colonial " view.
He said : — •
When I was Bishop of New Zealand, it never entered into my
mind to give discretion to the catechists to baptize. Yet it is
evident that death might occur between the visits of the regular
clergy. If, then, a native convert under Christian instruction died
unbaptized, I considered him worthy of Christian burial. We
never thought — being so small a section of the Church of Christ
— that we could alter the rubrics, unless the alteration were first
made by the Church in England. But we did consider that in all
Churches a difference is recognized between the outward form of
an ordinance and the inward spiritual effect thereof. In the
Communion Oflfice, for instance, it is stated to be possible to
receive the body and blood of Christ, without partaking of the
elements. Again, the Church has always believed that the blood
of martyrdom was equivalent, for the purposes of salvation, to
the waters of baptism. Will anybody assert that such martyrs
had no right to Christian burial ? Were they not in every respect
1S76.] '-OLD CATHOLIC CONGRESS. 43 1
equal to baptized persons ? At any rate, we came to that conclu-
sion, not as claiming to be deeply learned theologians ; but as
men guided by plain common sense, anxious for the spread and
Avell-beinof of the Church.
Another question of great interest, at this time, largely
occupied the attention of English Churchmen. The first
great conference of the " Old Catholics " had lately been
held at Bonn. Canon Liddon, and several deputies from
the Greek Church, had attended on this occasion ; and the
subject of inter-ecclesiastical relations was afterwards
freely debated in the English Convocation. Bishop
Selwyn spoke earnestly in favour of union.
At the present moment (he said) we are in the midst of one
of those great openings in which God gives us an opportunity to
carry out His purposes. I believe the Christian Church is now
beginning to recognize more fully the duty of carrying out the
wish of our blessed Lord, that all Christians should be one. This
["Old Catholic conference" at Bonn] is but a small instalment
to that end ; but it may be the germ of that which is to come
hereafter. I think, then, that the consideration of this question
should not be confined to the Convocations of Canterbury and
York. It should be discussed at the Lambeth Conference,
which I trust will soon be held. I am the only Bishop here who
was present when the first Bishop of Jerusalem was consecrated ;
and a veiy painful thing then occurred. The Bishop who preached
the consecration sermon said, " it was impossible to hold commu-
nion with the Churches of the East, because theyAvere idolatrous."
When the sermon was to be published that paragraph was happily
struck out ; and we are now holding out, more and more, the
right hand of fellowship to the Churches in the East. We are
doing what it is our bounden duty to do, trying to promote
union among all the Churches of Christendom.
432 BISHOP SELWYN. [1876.
A still more " practical " question soon afterwards
occupied the attention of the clergy ; viz. how to secure
a retiring-pension for disabled incumbents. On this
subject Bishop Selwyn held clear and strong opinions ;
and, both in Convocation and elsewhere, anticipated
several schemes which have since been adopted, with good
results, by the Church. Thus, in seconding a proposal of
Bishop Magee, he said : —
This is a matter in which all are interested, patrons as well as
parishioners. Bishops know — to their great regret — that there
are some [sick or aged] clergymen with regard to whom grave
doubts arise whether they are equal to their duties. For such
men there ought to be a pension-fund ; which would form the
nucleus round which any benefactions may be accumulated that
are likely to come in.
In fact, the good Bishop's anticipations of schemes,
which have ripened and borne fruit later on, went further
still. He threw himself, for instance, cordially into a plan
for ecclesiastical fire-insurance. Archdeacon Allen, of
Salop, reported long afterwards in Convocation how
Bishop Selwyn had said that, —
during the ten years he had been Bishop of Lichfield, he had not
known a single case of a parsonage being burnt down. Yet,
during that time, ^7000 had been paid by the clergy [for
insurance], from which not a single penny had been drawn [to
cover losses by fire]. Under the proposed scheme, all that ^7000
would come back into the pockets of the clergy.*
The Bishop also advocated, in 1876, the plan of a
" Church House." He moved —
* Grier, " Life of Archdeacon Allen" (1888), p. 173.
1876.] FINAL COURT OF APPEAL. 433
That a joint committee of the two Houses of Convocation be
appointed, to consider the expediency of endeavouring to provide
a Church House for the meeting of Convocation : and that it be
instructed to communicate with the S.P.G. and the S.P.C.K. and
with other Church Societies who are, or may be, wiUing to
combine for that purpose.
But a much more important controversy soon came to
the point and occupied the attention of all thoughtful
Churchmen. It was the question of " appeals " to the
State. The recent ritual innovations had set out for
solution a very interesting problem : viz., How far did the
arrangements of the sixteenth century, and especially the
State's recognition of the Prayer-Book, preclude all further
development of ritual, as new needs and new desires might
happen to arise .'' The answer to this question was given
piecemeal, on successive appeals to the State. First
of all, in 1850, came the Gorham case : whereby this
point was secured — that the State courts would never
pretend to legislate ; they would never do more than ad-
judicate on points of Church law submitted to them. Next
came the Liddell case in 1857 ; and here the point was
gained that the State recognized the earliest reformed
Prayer-Book (that of 1549) as the regulating authority in
ritual matters. Then followed the Mackonochie case, in
1868 ; and here the enforcement of the 1549 ritual was so
far enhanced as to preclude under penalties the use of any
other : because " whatever is not prescribed by the Rubric
is forbidden." The next Privy Council judgment, however,
gave the whole question a new direction. In the Purchas
case, of 1 87 1, it v.-as decided that the ritual of our Church
was not, after all, fixed by the first Reformed Prayer-book ;
2 F
434 BISHOP SELWYN. [1876.
but that it was subsequently modified by certain " adver-
tisements " put forth by Queen Elizabeth. When therefore,
in 1876, the Ridsdale case came on for trial and the
previous ruling was rigorously adhered to, a deep distrust
of the appeal-court which could give such (apparently)
contradictory judgments took possession of many good
men's hearts. What, then, was the opinion entertained on
this subject by so experienced and practical a Churchman
as Bishop Selwyn } He spoke thus in Convocation, on
July 1 8th :—
I think it important that we should have a committee to sit —
if need be — again and again, until it attain the point necessary
almost for the preservation of the Church of England. That
point is, that we should have such laws as we can understand ;
and that ecclesiastical questions should not be submitted to a
tribunal which cannot decide on matters properly belonging to
the Church to decide. I do not mean to cast any disrespect on
the Final Court of Appeal ; but I do say that these are not
questions which the Church ought to leave to the decision of
any lay tribunal at all. That such trivial questions as these,
whether a cross should be movable or fixed, or should be raised
one inch or two inches above the holy table, should be left by
the Church — which has authority to legislate for itself, with the
sanction of Parliament — in such a state of doubt that they must
needs go to the Court of Appeal, seems to me a strange dereliction
of duty. It leaves to judicial action things that it is able, and
should be willing, to settle for itself Why should not the whole
of these questions be settled by the bishops themselves ? I have
already had two clergymen in my diocese who, without accepting
the decisions of the Privy Council (which I did not ask them to
do, in the face of their strong objections) have submitted them-
selves to the decision of their Bishop. I have given them advice
on the subject, and they have followed that advice. Another
1876.] CARRIAGE ACCIDENT. 435
clergyman, formerly in my diocese, wrote to me to the effect
that, while rejecting on principle the decision of the Final Court
of Appeal, he should feel bound to accept the judgment of his
diocesan. But he should throw the whole responsibility of his
doing so upon the Bishop. And he closed his letter in these
words, "To do anything else would simply lead to anarchy."
This I feel strongly myself. It is only doing what every soldier
and sailor in her Majesty's service habitually does.
Meantime the diocese was reminded by an accident,
providentially without any serious consequences, how
easily, " amid the changes and chances of this mortal
life," the most precious life may be in a moment with-
drawn. Late in June, 1876, the Vicar of a parish in
Derbyshire was driving Bishop Selvvyn to a confirmation ;
when, about noon, the horse, hot and tired with his journey,
was relieved of his blinkers and bridle that he might
refresh himself at a wayside trough. For a moment
the driver's back was turned ; and the horse, taking fright
at something, dashed away along the road with the help-
less Bishop behind him. The result might have been
fatal : and, as it was, the Bishop was violently thrown out,
the concussion hurting his shoulder, cutting his hands and
knees, and shaking him severely.
Nothing, however (says his companion), could exceed the
coolness and calm thankfulness of the Bishop. Though a good
deal bruised and shaken, he held the intended confirmation that
afternoon and another in the evening; and returned in a butcher's
cart, thanking God for a cool night-breeze, which seemed to
refresh and revive him.
The accident did not in any way abate his accustomed
activity. He held a missionary meeting shortly afterwards
43^ BISHOP SELWYN. [1876.
in the garden at Lichfield ; when he told how a barrister
had come to him, on the eve of his first departure to New
Zealand, and had promised him a hundred pounds every
year in aid of his work. The promise, he said, had been
punctually fulfilled; and just before leaving for England
he had received the twenty-sixth instalment of the gift.
The same month witnessed the annual prize-giving to
the children who had been successful in the diocesan
religious examination. After service in the cathedral,
a crowd of happy faces gathered in the palace garden,
and the Bishop distributed the prizes to the children with
a kindly shake of the hand to each in turn. All were
afterwards liberally provided w^ith refreshments, the chil-
dren sitting in picturesque rows on a grassy bank, the
teachers at long tables in the hall, where part-songs and
hymns formed afterwards a pleasant conclusion to the
day's proceedings. The Bishop always took great interest
in the school teachers and in the pupils of the diocesan
training colleges ; and he made a point of saying a few
kind words to them when they were gathered together
on these occasions.
Teachers (he said) must take care that their teaching be
seasoned with salt, so that all they teach shall in some way be
made to redound to the glory of God. They must remember
how our blessed Lord, when He taught, turned to account the
blade of grass, the grain of corn. Now, there is one means of
instruction more effectual than all others, if properly conducted ;
and that is the catechetical system. I once asked Mr. Wilder-
spin how he acquired his power over children, and he said, " I
cannot tell how it is, but as soon as I begin to question the
children, something seems to flow from them into my mind, and
then flows back again from me to them. Perhaps it may be
1876.] VISIT TO THE ISLE OF MAN. A.I'J
called sympathy." I do not think it possible for mere addresses
to produce this effect. The really effective way to teach is to
give a very short lesson, and then to work it into the children's
minds by means of plain questions. I once was present when
Mr. Wilderspin reduced a most unruly group of some two
hundred street Arabs and gutter children to complete order,
just by asking them a few simple questions.
In September, the Bishop took his holiday in the Isle
of Man, occupying the palace, and holding confirmations
for the diocesan, who had been for some time out of health.
At starting from Lichfield, a characteristic scene is cur-
rently reported to have been witnessed. The servants
attached to the huge caravan (with luggage for more than
twenty persons) about to leave the close for Liverpool,
asked, in blank dismay, how the hous'ehold work could
possibly be got through for so large a party. With im-
perturbable good temper, the Bishop replied, "Do it amongst
you ; and whatever you can't manage, I will do myself."
Perhaps there was not another bishop on the bench at that
time who would have made a similar reply, unless it were
Bishop Fraser of Manchester. For he was a man singu-
larly like, and yet singularly unlike, Bishop Selwyn. In
manly simplicity of character and superiority to all
cowardly dread of public opinion, he was cast in precisely
the same mould. And what his biographer calls "the
strange phenomenon of a bishop striding about his diocese
on foot, carrying his own blue bag containing his robes,
stopping runaway carts, and talking familiarly with every
one he met, gentle or simple," * — all this was no " strange
phenomenon " to people in Staffordshire. On the contrary,
* Hughes, "Life of Bishop Fraser," p. 195.
438 BISHOP SELWYX. [1876.
it was their daily experience. Endless were the stories,
at that time in everybody's mouth, of offence unwittingly
given to country squires, or to elderly clergymen of the
dignified school, by the colonial simplicity of the Bishop's
manners.
On one occasion, presenting himself, bag in hand, after
a long walk from the station, at the principal entrance of
a great country house, he was soundly rebuked by the
" gentleman's gentleman," and sent round to the servants'
door. He meekly obeyed, much enjoying the comedy ;
and then, to the abject confusion of the footman, was
warmly welcomed by the master of the house as " the
Bishop." On another occasion, he took up a Primitive
Methodist minister in his carriage, and dropped him at his
humble wayside chapel, while he himself went on to preach
in a neighbouring church. Another time, finding an invalid
lady in great difficulty at a railway station, from inability
to cross the line, he called out to his coadjutor-bishop to
lend a hand ; and the two, forming a "sedan chair" with
crossed arms, carried her safely over to the opposite plat-
form. A student at the college relates how he —
saw the Bishop for the first time as he stood courteousiy holding
open the door of a third-class carriage for a coal-begrimed woman,
with baby and basket, to get in. It was as though a great lord
were ushering a duchess into Windsor Castle
A young lady bears witness how, cantering by his side,
she found him suddenly reining up at a little foot-bridge,
where a boy was trying in vain to get a flock of sheep across
the stream. " Stupid boy ! " growled the Bishop, as he
flung himself off his horse ; and seizing one sheep by head
1876.] BISHOP FRASER. 439
and tail, forced it over, when all the rest readily followed.
Such stories are " household words " at Lichfield. An old
labourer relates how he was once working in a field near
the palace, and managed to upset a heavy barrowful of
iron hurdles. The Bishop happened to be passing, and in
a moment began reloading the fallen barrow ; and when it
was carefully packed, he finished the old man's task for
him, by wheeling it down the field to its destination. Old
women, however, he still more especially honoured ; and
the same authority declares that he saw the Bishop, walk-
ing along the road, presently come up with a tottering old
body and her daughter, carrying a heavy box between
them ; and that the Bishop insisted on taking the old
woman's share of the burden, while she walked on in front.
Such scenes were of very frequent occurrence : and they
were enacted with the most entire simplicity, and by a
spontaneous impulse always to " take the labouring oar,"
and to assist the weak and honour the aged. One of his
own prebendaries, full of years and infirmities, was seen
one day in the Bishop's strong arms, borne like a baby
from his carriage to the railway platform, and deposited
safely in the train. In all these things he did what Bishop
Fraser might conceivably have done. But in all his
actions there was a certain grandeur and an air of massive
Churchmanship (so to say), which was quite foreign to the
character of his brother-bishop, and which rendered it
extremely unlikely that any " sturdy dissenting operative
should seize him by the hand with the remark, ' x'\h,
Bishop ! thou'dst make a foine Methody preacher.' " *
It is easy to imagine how thoroughly the Bishop en-
* Hughes, "Life of Bishop Fraser," p. 195.
440 BISHOP SELWYN. [1S76.
joyed his brief respite from work, living in the house once
occupied by the saintly Bishop Wilson, and amid the
beautiful scenery of the Isle of Man. Beginning with
a bad sea-passage, lasting seven hours, — which was indeed
no trouble to him, but which seriously discomposed the
rest of the party, — he soon had the pleasure of exploring
the island from end to end, in company with the dear
friends who had so often tramped over far rougher ground
with him in New Zealand. Sir William and Lady Martin
were among the party, and Mrs. J. R. Selwyn with her
children. There were also the children of Lord Justice
Selwyn, who, since their father's death, had found a home
at the palace ; and this element of young and joyous life
added considerably to the Bishop's happiness. The bright
breezy air of the island, too, was refreshing to his jaded
frame, and during his long rambles he had leisure to enjoy
once more the beauties of nature, as he had not been able
to do for many a long day. And no one could enjoy the
lovely works of God more than he did. How keen an eye
he had for the beautiful, and how deep a sympathy for
nature, may be seen in many of his letters in earlier days.
On one occasion, for instance, he writes thus : —
I am writing (he says) in the midst of a majestic thunderstorm.
The little vessel is alone on the wide waste of waters ; yet not
alone — for here we see the wonders of God without distractioji
from the works of man. . . . Yet what man in his sober senses,
and with his Bible before him, would sit down in the prime of life
with the deUberate purpose of spending a quarter of a century —
like P C — — , in collecting butterflies ! There are butter-
flies out here, which flew across my path as I climbed a lovely
waterfall in New Caledonia — glorious butterflies, radiant with the
1876.] DISLIKE TO CONTROVERSIAL BOOKS. 44 1
deepest blue and large as dragon-flies. Did I catch one? Not I.
Never would I catch, much less impale upon a pin, that great
type of the immortality of the soul.
During these precious summer days, too, the Bishop
had unwonted opportunity for reading, a pleasure with
which he was seldom able to solace himself. The books
he liked best were good biographies and sterling volumes
of travels ; and of these he always furnished himself
with a plentiful supply before leaving home. One class of
literature he carefully avoided. Controversial theology,
and even the interesting results of modern criticism, had no
attractions for him. His counsel was once sought by ,a
dear friend on certain religious difficulties which had pre-
sented themselves to her mind ; he earnestly besought her
to pursue the same course as that which he followed
himself.
My earnest advice to you is, not to suffer the perplexing ques-
tions of the day, which are dividing the Churches, to disturb your
own singleness and simplicity of faith. It cannot be necessary for
all to follow the learned into the thorny paths of controversy.
Let the peasant plough and sow in peace, while a defensive war
is being waged on the frontiers by the trained forces of his
countrymen.
When the Bishop returned to Lichfield, he found a
" practical " subject, — such as he especially loved to deal
with — occupying the attention of his most loyal and hearty
supporters. It was the pressing and difficult subject of
" diocesan finance." To quote the words of a well-known
clergyman, then stationed at Derby (Rev. M. H. Scott) —
For school-inspection we are dependent on the liberality of
442 BISHOP SELWYN. [1876.
our Archdeacon ; the Board of Education has well-nigh no funds
at all ; and the Poor Benefice Fund has almost ceased to be
a " fund " at all. Something real and practical and generous ought
to be done : and what we unquestionably want is a Diocesan Fund,
loyally supported by [collections on] a Diocesan Sunday. We are
only waiting to hear the decided crack of the Fatherly whip, and
we will go in for a " Bishop's Sunday " w^ith delight.
The " crack " was shortly afterwards given ; and the
Diocesan Fund became one of the established institutions
o{ Lichfield diocese.
CHAPTER X.
1877.
Consecration of J. R. Selwyn as Bishop of Melanesia— Proposed di%'ision of
Lichfield diocese — Fourth diocesan conference — The barge mission — A
diocesan clergy house — "Institution" and "induction" — Proposed con-
ference on ritualism.
An event of the highest interest, not only to the Bishop
and his family, but also to the whole diocese, took place
in the early part of this year. Some months previously, a
letter had been received from one of the clergy in Norfolk
Island, stating that a synod had been held there to nomi-
nate a successor to Bishop Patteson ; and that one had
been chosen whose name was held in high honour in Lich-
field. The letter ran thus : —
We have had a busy time in Norfolk Island lately. The
plans for the Memorial Chapel [to Bishop Patteson] are all ready,
and building is to begin at once. There are seven clergy here
now, and one native deacon. The services are nice and hearty;
most of the bigger [Melanesian] boys can sing, and all join in
with great spirit. One evening, Selwyn and Brooke gave a great
magic-lantern show, which amused the boys immensely. Yester-
day we had a meeting to nominate some one to fill the vacant see ;
and John Selwyn was unanimously chosen. Of course, however,
he cannot be consecrated yet, — not for another year, at leasts
444 BISHOP SELIVYN. [1877.
as he will be away at the islands till the end of October, and
the General Synod of New Zealand has to accept the nomination.
I wish I could tell you of the beauty of this place. It is simply
lovely. The coast is very fine, with bold cliffs and innumerable
little bays and headlands. The lower part of the clifif is a black
basaltic kind of rock ; and the water is of a deep blue colour.
The whole island is like a great park in England ; but in the
glens there are tree-ferns thirty or forty feet high.
Not long after this, the General Synod of New Zealand
confirmed the choice of the Melanesian mission clergy ;
and John R. Selwyn, the Bishop's second son, was elected
as successor to Bishop Patteson. On February i/th, his
consecration took place at Nelson ; where he was joined
by his wife and youngest child, on their return from a visit
to Lichfield. Two little daughters had been left behind
in England, to be brought up with Sir Charles Selwyn's
orphan children at the palace. The day was well observed
at Lichfield; for the younger Bishop Selwyn was intimately
known and much beloved there.
Our thoughts all concentrated themselves in Nelson on that
auspicious Sunday (wrote a Staffordshire clergyman) ; for there,
at eleven o'clock in the morning, a young man whose face is
familiar to all here, and who could never be mistaken for any
other than the son of our Bishop, was presenting himself for
consecration in the place of the martyred Bishop of Melanesia.
The preacher on this occasion was the Rev. B. T.
Dudley, Incumbent of St. Sepulchre's Church, Auckland;
and in the course of the sermon he said —
The whole history of the Melanesian mission is an illustration
of love going forth in self-sacrifice, and proving itself a marvellous
power for good. Look first at its founder, the first and only
1877-] COXSECRATION OF J. R. SELWYN. 445
" Bishop of New Zealand." He is with us in spirit (we know)
this day, and with his whole heart is offering his beloved son for
this work. Which of us, who were privileged to live or labour
under him, does not remember with admiration and thankfulness
the many and rare gifts wherewith God had endowed him ? And
yet which of us would attribute his greatness and his world-wide
influence to those gifts, and not rather to the spirit of love in
which those gifts were exercised ? In that spirit he gladly devoted
himself to the sick, the prisoner, the mourner, and the destitute,
to the lonely settler in the backwoods, to the natives of this
country, and to the islanders of Melanesia. In that spirit — can
I ever forget his words as I heard them myself? — he pleaded with
the seamen who navigated his mission-ship, till their hearts were
melted and the tears rolled down their faces. In the same spirit,
too. Bishop Patteson was enabled to sacrifice many of his natural
tastes and inclinations, and to throw himself, with all his varied
gifts and powers, into the missionary enterprise. That spirit —
and not his linguistic skill and other talents — gave him his
marvellous power, and inspired him (as his beloved pupil, the
Rev. Henry Tagalana, said) "to love us all alike." The same
spirit, too, has helped our friend, who is now before us, in that
choice of his vocation for which we all give thanks this day. Go
forth then, brother, to your "work of faith and labour of love"
among those whom your father cared for and first sought out;
to whom Bishop Patteson devoted himself, and by whom, in
ignorance, his life was taken ! " We wish you good luck, in the
name of the Lord." ^'\^e trust that the life you this day surrender
to Him more fully than ever before, may long be spared for His
service ; that every needful gift may be bestowed upon you ; that
in all your diflftculties, and your perils by land and water, you may
be ever cheered by the sense of His love. We will follow you,
and those who work with you, with our thoughts and our prayers
and our free-will offerings.
At Lichfield, too, hearty prayers were offered for the
young Bishop ; especially when, at eleven o'clock, on
446 BISHOP SELWYN. [1877.
Saturday night, — the hour which coincided with that of
the consecration on the other side of the globe — a simul-
taneous service took place in the cathedral. It was a cold
winter night ; and as the congregation wended their way
to the cathedral the stars shone brightly through the
freezing air, in striking contrast to the brilliant sunshine
bathing the summer sky at the same hour at Nelson. It
was indeed a solemn occasion. The midnight hour, the
partially lighted cathedral, and the presence of the Bishop,
all helped to deepen the impression. Some hymns were
led by the students of the Theological College, and the
prayers were read by one of the canons. Then, through
the stillness, came an address from the Bishop. His words
were few, but weighty; and his strong voice trembled with
emotion as he spoke of the special bond that now existed
between Lichfield and Melanesia.
Such an occasion as this (he said) is one better suited for
deep feeling than for much speaking. The Great Intercessor is
always praying for the Church, " Give Me the heathen for Mine
inheritance, and the utmost parts of the earth for My possession ; "
and His prayer is ever receiving its fulfilment. So far, indeed,
has our own Church been blessed, that it may now be said, with
perfect truth, she is offering up all round the globe a ceaseless and
continuous sacrifice of praise. And now, while humbly thanking
God for His servant lately departed this life, Bishop Patteson, let
us also devoutly pray that his work may never perish, and that he
may never lack a worthy successor. Your presence here to-night
shows that you are all prepared to give your prayers for my own
dear son, personally known to many of you, and ordained in your
own diocese. May he be given boldness and prudence ; and may
he be saved from the perils of presumption ! * Changed from his
* That there was some httle anxiety about his son in the Bishop's mind is
evident from the following anecdote. "I was sitting in the drawing-room
1 877-] MIDNIGHT SERVICE. A,^J
earlier destination by the advice of Bishop Patteson, may he be
blessed in carrying on Bishop Patteson's work, to which he now is
called !
The Nicene Creed was then sung ; and, after a short
space for private prayer, the Litany was said. Then came
the Veni Q'eator, and the service ended with the Benedic-
tion. Among those present on this occasion was Sister
Dora. She had driven over from Walsall, a distance of
ten miles, in an open pony-carriage, her charioteer being
the porter of the hospital.
It took us a good part of the night (he said afterwards) to get
there and back ; but Sister Dora, she didn't seem to feel the cold
nor yet to be a bit tired. She never stopped talking all the way,
telling me stories to pass the time : and often I have wished I
could recollect some of the things she then told me. But the
words won't come.*
Shortly after this event, another interesting link was
added to the connection between Lichfield and the
colonies. Bishop Selwyn was appointed first " Prelate of
the Order of St. Michael and St. George," — an order created
for the purpose of marking distinguished service in the
widespread Greater Britain of these latter days.
at Lichfield," says an intimate friend, " with the Bishop, Mrs. Selwyn, and
John, the evening before the latter was to leave for Melanesia. The Bishop
was giving his son some practical advice about the work in Melanesia ; and he
wound up by saying, ' And now, John, there is only one apprehension I have
about you — and that is your dash. Of all things, coolness and foresight are
the most wanted. I am rather afraid that, when there is great risk to be run,
you will say, "Let's go at it," — and then you'll pay the penalty.' The Bishop
then left the room; and Mrs. Selwyn said, ' Oh, Johnnie, you won't be rash,
will you? ' ' Of course not, mother,' said John, playfully ; and off he went to
finish his preparations for the journey. But no doubt the words entered into
his heart and mind. For though he has never shrunk from danger, we have
never heard of his being charged with rashness in any way. "
* Miss Lonsdale, "Sister Dora," p. 66.
448 BISHOP SELIVYN. [1877.
In his letter from the Colonial Office, announcing the
appointment, Lord Carnarvon stated that it was offered
"in recognition of long and great services rendered to the
Church in the colonies " by the Bishop ; and he expressed
his own personal pleasure at being the medium of this com-
munication. It is needless to say how highly such a mark
of distinction was valued by the Bishop. He wrote thus
in reply : —
]\Iy dear Lord,
May I request your lordship to present to her Majesty
my most humble and dutiful thanks for the honour conferred
upon me, in the appointment to the ofifice of Prelate to the Order
of St. Michael and St. George. My own period of colonial service
has come to an end. But I am thankful to have a son who, by
God's help, may carry on the same work of uniting the Colonies
of Australia and New Zealand together with the native races of
the Western Pacific, in faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and in alle-
giance to the British Crown. Allow me also to thank you most
heartily for the personal kindness of your communication,
I remain, with many thanks,
Yours very faithfully.
G. A. Lichfield.
About this time the question of the division of the
diocese began to come prominently into view ; and at the
Derby Archidiaconal Conference the Bishop thus expressed
his mind on the subject : —
We are all aware diat a Bill is about to be introduced into
Parliament for the further increase of the Home Episcopate ; and
I have no doubt that it will soon be passed. As soon as it is
passed — contingent, of course, on a sufficient endowment being
secured — we shall be able to carry out our proposed plan of
dividing this diocese.
I877-] DIVISION OF THE DIOCESE. 449
The work of the Episcopate is daily increasing at such a rate,
that the bishops are gradually becoming mere machines. They
have no time either for study or prayer. And it is evident
that their work must go on increasing, in proportion to the in-
creased religious life and energy of the clergy and laity. Take,
for example, the consecration of churches and the dedication of
schoolroom-chapels — why the work of a bishop is now ten times
greater than it was in the first quarter of the present century !
Then as regards confirmation, the feeling has become established
that parents ought to be able to attend the confirmation of their
children ; and that the children ought not to be taken to a great
distance to be confirmed. This has led, of necessity, to confirma-
tions being held occasionally in every parish. Also it has been
rightly judged that the prayers should be said over every candidate
— -or at the most over two at a time — and not over a whole railful
at once, as the former custom was. These changes have, I need
not say, more than trebled the work of a bishop. Now, what we
claim is, that we may have as much work as we can do thoroughly
and no more. We wish that there may be no formal or hasty
skimming over the surface ; but that there may be time to dive
into the depths, to take counsel with the wise and good among the
clergy and laity, to spend some time in training our candidates
for holy orders, and to spend one day at least in every parish once
in every three years. This would be a real " visitation," and very
different from the mere conventional gathering which now goes by
that name. ..." How the division of the diocese can best be carried
out " is a question on which I do not expect unanimity. I have
lived long enough, moreover, to be content to accept the second-
best when I cannot have the best plan. My own idea is that
dioceses should be conterminous with counties. But, of course,
each of us has some pet scheme, which he broods over in private ;
and we all have to learn to give up our own ideas for the sake of
working harmoniously with others. With regard to the endow-
ment of the new see, all I can say is, that I am myself prepared
to give up ;!^3oo a year, — the largest sum I am allowed to give
up by the Act of Parliament, which prevents me from reducing
2 G
450 BISHOP SELWYN. [1877.
the annual income of my see below ^^4,200. The Bishop of
Lincoln will also contribute ;^5oo a year ; so that an income of
;;^8oo is already provided. Still, as a total income of ;^3,5oo is
necessary for the endowment of the see, this leaves the large sum
of ;^5o,ooo still to be raised. It is in vain that we point to
colonial bishops, happy, useful and respected, upon five or six
hundred a year. Bishops in England, it is said, must be of a
certain type. So we must wait for new bishoprics till ^100,000
has been raised for each ! There again the lower object is placed
before the higher. "Episcopus," says the venerable Bede, "is a
name meaning work ; " but we have made it a name meaning
income and state.
The triennial choral festival was held this summer at
Lichfield, and it was made the occasion of an interesting
presentation to the Bishop. A new organ was needed for
the private chapel in the palace, and it was now subscribed
for by all the clergy who had been ordained by the Bishop
since he came to the diocese. After luncheon the clergy
congregated on the lawn, and the Rev. Robert Hodgson,
Vicar of West Bromwich, read the following address : —
]My Lord,
We, as representatives of the subscribers to an organ
for your chapel, beg your lordship's acceptance of the same, in
token of our sincere and grateful appreciation of your uniform
kindness, both during the Ember weeks, and at all other times,
To this we add our hearty prayers and hopes that your lordship
may long be spared to preside over this diocese to which by
God's providence you have been called.
The Bishop returned thanks briefly for the gift, whicli
(he said) was indeed a most welcome addition to the
chapel, but was precious to himself for the sake of the
1877-] A SUMMER AT THE LARES. 45 I
donors, rather than for the musical pleasure that it would
afford him ; as he was no musician. In conclusion he
invited all who were gifted with " ears to hear " to attend
at the opening of the organ by Sir Frederick Ouseley.
As soon as the festival was over, and the usual routine
of summer entertainings and meetings had been got
through, the Bishop and Mrs. Selvvyn, accompanied by
their large family party and some friends, started for a
quiet holiday at the Lakes. They took up their quarters at
Brown How, a pretty place at the foot of Coniston Water,
belonging to a true friend and fellow-helper in the diocese,
who gladly lent it for the occasion. The party included
Sir William and Lady Martin, and several other friends ;
Lord Justice Selwyn's four children ; the two little grand-
daughters from Melanesia ; and, with a proper complement
of servants, they numbered eighteen souls. It was a very
wet day when they arrived ; and a large omnibus met
them at the station to convey them to the house. In
order to enjoy a better view of the beautiful country, some
of the party seated themselves on the roof of the vehicle ;
and, as long as they were in the open, this was all very
well. But when they turned in at the lodge, and passed
under an avenue of spruce-fir trees bordering the drive,
they repented themselves of their elevated position ; for
they were swept by the wet branches, and were drenched
to the skin. The Bishop rallied them merrily as they
descended, one by one, in woe-begone plight, from their
ambitious elevation. But thinking it well to avoid the
repetition of so unpleasant an experience, he obtained the
owner's permission to lop the offending branches ; and
when it was observed that no marks of the saw were
452 BISHOP SELWYN: [1877-
visible, he laughingly observed, " Summa ars celarc artem."
He always seemed to have some classical quotation as
ready at command on secular occasions, as he had Biblical
quotations ready in singular profusion for every eccle-
siastical or theological opportunity. As to Latin versifi-
cation, it seemed almost his natural language. " He lisped
in numbers, for the numbers came." In asking for a
holiday at Shrewsbury school, he would couch the request
in the most polished elegiacs ; and even when detained
at a railway station he would challenge his companions to
a contest of skill and speed in turning the advertisements
on the wall into Greek iambics or Latin hexameters.
The memory of this pleasant north-country visit still
lingers in the neighbourhood. On Sundays he helped the
local clergy ; and on week-days he made long expeditions
and explored the surrounding country, sometimes driving,
but more often (as in New Zealand) on foot. Nothing
pleased him better than having a friendly chat with the
country people in their cottages. The old people at the
lodge were often favoured with his visits, and referred
to them afterwards with the greatest satisfaction, while
they proudly exhibited a large-type Bible which he had
given them as a parting gift on one of these visits. He
related some of his New Zealand experiences, and de-
scribed how the people who came to church often had to
cross two or three rivers on their way. So, on arriving at
the bank of the first, they stripped off their clothes, tied
them in a bundle, and, holding them above their heads,
swam or waded across. They then walked on to the second
and the third, and crossed them in the same way; and then
they dressed for church. " Eh, Bill," said a little boy, after
1877.] ''HURRY" OBJECTED TO. 453
hearing this story, "them folks wouldn't think much of a
wet Sunday, would they ? "
The Bishop seemed to gain new vigour in this delight-
ful country air, and his walking powers were wonderful.
One day, however, when he was walking up a steejD hill
with a friend, he suddenly seemed to remember the claims
of charity and slackened his pace ; and presently he
stopped altogether.
" I would rather walk with you, my lord," panted his
grateful comrade, " than with your brother of Manchester."
" How so ? " sharply said the Bishop.
"Because you are more merciful to your companion,"
was the reply : " he never slackens his pace for a moment,
up hill or down dale ; but you do allow one a little
law."
" Ah well," said the Bishop, " I know by experience.
And, indeed, on other occasions, besides walking uphill,
to ' allow people a little law ' is a very good thing. Never-
theless," he added playfully, "give me time, and I will
undertake to walk your bishop down."
In fact there was something quite characteristic about
the Bishop's walk, and it was easy to recognize him a long
way off by his steady swinging gait. He never seemed in
a hurry, and had a particular dislike to seeing other people
in a hurry, whether rushing to catch a train, or hastening
to be in time for service. " It is a bad sign," he once said,
" to see a man always in haste : and there is certainly much
truth in the old proverb, ' Hurry is the sign of a weak
character, despatch of a strong one. ' "
Early in the year he had lost a good friend and loyal
supporter by the death of the Earl of Shrewsbury, He
454 BISHOP SELWYN. [1S77.
was among the leading men in the diocese, who took great
interest in the "conferences," and was a regular attendant
at them. At the fourth diocesan conference, therefore,
which was held in September of this year, his absence was
deeply regretted ; and the places of several other members
being also vacant, the ranks were considerably thinned
since the session of 1874, when it had been held in the
same room. The Bishop in his opening address made
allusion to these losses that had been caused by death, and
reviewed the changes that had occurred among the clergy
during the nine years that had passed since the meeting of
the first Diocesan conference.
The meeting of our fourth diocesan conference reminds us
that nine whole years have passed away since we first met on the
17th of June, 1868. Solemn thoughts must come into the mind
of every one who reflects upon the changes which have happened
in the diocese since that time. Two deans, two out of three arch-
deacons, three out of four canons residentiary, twelve out of
nineteen prebendaries, and twenty-four out of forty rural deans,
have passed away. This record of changes, caused chiefly by
death, cannot fail to warn us who are alive and remain that we
must " work the work of Him that sent us while it is day ; for
the night cometh when no man can work." The personal warn-
ing thus addressed to each of us, "Set thine house in order,"
must be followed up by another lesson of the same kind and no
less important. The rapid change of office-bearers in the diocese
points to the need of fixed principles, upon which our work may
be securely built up. As short-lived men, who know that we
must soon die, we learn the value of institutions which may last
for ages. Private opinions pass away with the mind which con-
ceived them, unless they have been stamped upon the permanent
records of the Church. Our own views of doctrine and forms of
ritual may satisfy us in our lifetime, and may comfort us on our
1S77.I THE BARGE MISSION, 455
deathbed. But if they are merely our own, they are Hke a hfe-
annuity which will expire with us.
Ere many months had passed, the voice which spoke
those words of faithful warning was itself for ever silenced,
and that robust frame, which during half a century of service
had hardly known fatigue and never shrunk from any call
of duty, lay powerless and still upon the bed of death.
The Bishop also spoke at the conference on the sub-
division of the diocese, the establishment of a diocesan
Sunday with offertories for diocesan purposes, the pro-
bationer system, the proposed clergy house in the close,
the barge mission, the establishment of working-men's
clubs, and the pastoral charge of the labourers and their
families employed at the new barracks on Whittington
Heath. He concluded with some remarks on the subject
of the churchyards, urging upon the conference the duty of
resisting the " Burials Bill," and advocating the establish-
ment of parochial cemeteries wherever it was possible to
do so.
The barge mission, to which the Bishop referred in this
address, was the result of an earnest desire on his part to
do something for the floating population of the canals.
The Trent and Mersey canal-system runs through the
heart of the diocese ; and the traffic to and fro is very
considerable. " There are some people," he once remarked,
"whom you cannot attract to you or draw round you.
You must therefore go after them yourself, if you wish to
reach them." This is especially the case with canal-
people. They always regard strangers with suspicion,
and "keep themselves to themselves," as the saying is. So
in order to carry out his idea of searching out these people
456 BISHOP SELJVYiV. [1877.
and getting hold of them in their own haunts, the Bishop
conceived the plan of building a church-barge to be
called the Messenger. This vessel, he thought, would be
always available ; it would move about the canals with a
chaplain on board, and would " cast anchor " at every
suitable centre. He set to work, accordingly, to get this
new mission-yacht built, under his directions, at Tipton ;
and by extraordinary ingenuity contrived a long and
narrow chapel, out of which opened the chaplain's cabin,
and at the opposite end the bargeman's quarters, with a
stable beyond for his pony. Alas ! — as a brother-bishop
expressed it — the good " naval constructor " for the Church
had proved himself " too clever by half" It appeared that
certain exceptionally low bridges occurred here and there
along the canals, under which the mission-barge failed to
pass. It was therefore necessary that the roof should be
constructed so as to be capable of moving up and down ;
and the barge was conveyed to Lichfield, where the Bishop
himself could superintend the necessary alterations. Mean-
while he did not allow the spiritual work to stand still.
A chaplain was engaged to visit among the barge popula-
tion, and to hold religious services for them wherever he
could — some students from the Theological College coming
out to help him on Sundays. Indeed, the Bishop himself
assisted whenever his engagements permitted him to do
so ; and might often be seen sitting on a cinder-heap with
the chaplain, taking an a! fresco luncheon with him between
the hours for service. Before, however, the church-barge
was fitted with its movable roof and made finally ready
for use, the Bishop was called away to his rest, and the
work was left for other hands to carry forward.
IS77.] CLERGY HOUSE SCHEME. 457
Another scheme was also abruptly stopped by his
death : it was the foundation of a clergy house in the close,
from which an associated body of licensed clergy should go
forth to help sick and disabled incumbents. A house was
taken and partly furnished in 1877 ; and much thought was
expended on planning the domestic arrangements. But
the idea was never fully carried out ; and the legacy of
;^6ooo (the bequest of Miss Tyrrell), which was to have
been the nucleus of the whole scheme, was afterwards
invested as a " fund " for supplying help to the clergy
during temporary disability.
Among the clergy whose death was spoken of by the
Bishop at the conference was Archdeacon Moore. Full of
years, yet almost with " eye undimmed and natural force
unabated," he passed away early one morning in his sleep.
With that physical power for which he was remarkable, he
continued his work to the last. He visited the churches
in his archdeaconry, climbing over the roofs and examining
the structures in a way that few men far younger than
himself would have ventured to do, and preached twice
at Stoke on the Sunday but one before his death. The
Bishop appointed as his successor the Rev. J. H. lies,
Rector of St. Peter's, Wolverhampton, — one of the clergy
who had accompanied him on his first visit to America.
The " institution " took place in the cathedral, in the
presence of about one hundred clergymen and church-
wardens belonging to the Stafford archdeaconry.
The institution of an archdeacon (said the Bishop in his
address) is like forging a new link in the comely order of Church
discipline. He has to act as the " eye of the bishop " throughout
his archdeaconry, and has authority to hold a court in every
45 8 BISHOP SELWYN. [1877.
parish, or in some chosen centre of parishes, in which to receive
"presentments" or complaints, and to advise on difficulties.
But though archdeacon over others, he is subject to the same
solemn oath with which the clergy and churchwardens have
bound themselves. He must administer his office both with true
allegiance to the queen and in canonical obedience to the bishop.
Thus, by keeping up this orderly arrangement of the Church, we
are strengthened to take our part in the struggle against infidelity,
and to offer a combined front to the enemy.
Thus carefully did the Bishop endeavour to make
clearly " understanded of the people " the disciplinary
arrangements of the Church to which he attached so much
importance. Indeed, he made a special point of publicly
instituting every new incumbent (if possible) in the church
which he was about to serve, instead of appointing a
deputy to perform this duty or going through the formality
himself in a private room at the palace. With the " induc-
tion " ceremony — as will be seen from the following
anecdote — he wished the clergy clearly to understand that
he, as spiritual head of the diocese, had nothing whatever
to do. At a certain church, to which a new incumbent
had been appointed, when first the Bishop announced his
intention of performing the institution, the various officials
were a good deal puzzled as to what had to be done
on the occasion ; for the rural dean or archdeacon had
generally officiated at the " induction," and the " institu-
tion " had always been performed in private. It was plain,
however, that the Bishop expected the ordinary Morning
Service to be gone through; and at the close of the service
he gave an earnest address, solemnly commending the new
pastor to his flock. Then placing the Bible in his hands,
he said —
1S77-] " IXSTITUTION'' AND ''INDUCTIONS 459
Receive this book in the Lord's name. I charge thee before
God and the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the quick and
the dead, preach the word ; be instant in season, out. of season ;
reprove, rebuke, exhort, with all long-suffering and doctrine.
And the blessing of God Almighty be with you always. Amen.
At the close of this solemn " institution " the Bishop
withdrew to the vestry. But after him soon came the
Rural Dean, who had hitherto been accustomed to officiate
alone on these occasions, and who could not understand
the sudden disappearance of the Bishop before the various
formalities connected with the "induction" had been gone
through.
"What is to be done next, my lord?" he said. "I thought
you were going to finish the service ; and we are all waiting."
" Oh ! " said the Bishop, "that is your affair, not mine. I have
done my part, and have instituted the Vicar into the spiritual
charge of the parish. Now it is for you and the registrar, on
behalf of the State, to do the rest. You must take him into all
the little holes and corners, and must see that he rings the bell,
puts the key in the door, knocks at the vicarage. In short, you
must 'induct' him into all the temporalities of the benefice."
The Rural Dean then went off to perform these duties, and
the Bishop remained in the vestry talking to me (says the narrator
of this story) in the most fatherly manner, inquiring into my
future plans, and giving me advice about my conduct in a new
parish, where I was shortly going to work.
Presently I heard a carriage drive up to the church door to
take the Bishop on to a neighbouring town. But when we
reached the end of the church the west door was locked. I
rattled the handle, and called out, " Open the door ; the
Bishop is waiting ! " But all the answer I got was the loud
sonorous voice of the Rural Dean, pealing through the keyhole
into the empty church : " In the name of God, amen. We "
460 BISHOP SELIVYN. [1S77.
Tlien followed his own name and titles given in full length, and
the noise he made was portentous. I drew back and looked
round furtively at the Bishop; for I was not quite sure how he
might take the matter. However, there was a twinkle in his eye,
and a twitch about his mouth that soon developed into a broad
smile ; and I saw that he was quite alive to the humour of the
situation, and sympathized fully in the difticulty I had in main-
taining my gravity. At last we were allowed to emerge : and the
Bishop, happening to see the wife of one of the principal farmers,
went up to her and said, " Now, Mrs. B— — , I have given you
a right good vicar; mind that you are good to him." No amount
of solemn episcopal charges could have had half the effect of
those few simple words spoken in half-playful way, and uttered in
the peculiarly telling tones of his deep voice.
The Bishop was, in every good sense of the word, a
Broad Churchman, as well as a High Churchman. Accus-
tomed to deal on friendly terms with men of all shades of
opinion, both inside and outside the Church of England,
he could not bear in any way to narrow her boundaries.
On one occasion, when he was instituting an evangelical
clergyman to a parish, the patronage of which he had
declined to place in the hands of trustees, he spoke
strongly on this point.
We are told that in the present day too little attention is paid
by bishops to the religious views of those whom they appoint to
minister in God's house. I say therefore, at once, that I am
bishop of a Church and not of a sect. I institute you, my brother,
with perfect tranquillity of conscience, whether your views agree
with mine or not ; because I believe that both your views and
mine may be legitimately held within the wide area of our
reformed Church. And in the administration of patronage, as
the discharge of a public trust, I do not feel at liberty to confine
preferment within the limits of my own opinions. You will
1S77] ''THE RIGHT MAN TV THE RIGHT PLACE" 461
therefore understand that I cannot with a safe conscience transfer
a pubhc trust to a body of trustees, whose avowed object and
duty it would be to restrict their patronage to clergymen of one
school of thought.
In the exercise of his patronage the Bishop always
took great pains to put the right man in the right place ;
and nothing pleased him better than when his younger
men placed themselves unreservedly in his hands to be
posted wherever he might wish. This is illustrated by the
following incident, mentioned by one of his clergy. He
says —
The Bishop wrote to me to say that he wanted to see me, and
told me to come into the vestry after a certain service at Wolver-
hampton. When I entered, he said at once, " I want to give you
some work more entirely your own. Where would you like to go ? "
" Wherever your lordship pleases to send me," I replied.
" Will you go to Bilston ? " he said, with a half-comical smile,
more in his eye than on his lip.
" Certainly," I said, " both gladly and gratefully, if you wish it."
He looked much pleased at my answer ; though I confess the
word " Bilston," when I first heard it, had cut like a knife through
me. But I never let him know this till a year afterwards ; when
I had learnt to be deeply thankful for having been sent there.
" When will you go ? " he added, a twinkle of pleasure still in
his eye.
" Whenever you please," I answered.
" Will you go to-morrow ? "
" Certainly."
" Then go," he said ; and he gave me such a grip at parting
as could not easily be forgotten.
In connection with the same subject, Archdeacon
Scott tells the following story : —
462 BISHOP SELWYN. [1877.
Just after the Bishop had put me in charge of the parish of St.
Andrew's, Derby, I was offered a far richer Uving, which I dech'ned ;
believing that, as God had led me to St. Andrew's, He would main-
tain me there. When the Bishop heard that I had done this, he
was much pleased, and at once wTOte to my brother. Sir Gilbert
Scott, promising to contribute j[^z^o a year to increase the income
of St. Andrew's, if he would guarantee the same amount.* Only
one condition was attached to this offer, and that was, that I
should never be told anything about it. During the six years I
was at Derby the Bishop never failed to send his contribution ;
and, strange to say, directly I moved to St. Alary's, Lichfield — my
present charge, a much better endowed parish — both the Bishop
and my brother died within a few weeks of each other. " The
manna ceased when the old corn came."
The Bishop's sympathy with such a man as this did
not end here. When Mr. Scott received the call to St.
Mary's from the Dean and Chapter of Lichfield, he wrote
at once to the Bishop, telling him that his wife and
himself were quite willing, and more than willing, to stay
and fight heartily at their present post [in Derby] if he
thought it was their duty to do so. In reply to this he
received the following characteristic letter : —
My dear Mr. Scott,
I have carefully considered your thoughtful letter ;
and this is the result : i. That the deliberate choice of such a
body as the Dean and Chapter of Lichfield is a call of a very high
kind. 2. That the assent of the Bishop to such a call gives to it
* This is far from being the only piece of secret generosity which has come
to light since the Bishop's death. At the Diocesan Synod held at Auckland in
1878, it came out that " he sent annually to the funds of our home-mission, for
five years after he left us, a contribution of ;^200. And to the end of his life
he ceased not to contribute to the necessities of many of our people (of both
races) to an extent of which few besides myself [Bishop Cowie] are aware."
{The Chtn-ch Gazette, for Auckland and ^lelanesia, December 2nd, 1878.)
i877.] MODERATION IN RITUAL. 463
the weight of a full Diocesan appointment. 3. That the assent,
being given by the same bishop who appointed you to St. Andrew's,
removes all idea of disloyalty to the authority which placed you
where you are. 4. That the reinforcement of the cathedral heart,
not only by able canons, but also by able incumbents of the
cathedral livings, especially in the city of Lichfield, is an object of
the highest importance. 5. That St. Andrew's is a living which
must expect to have a succession of incumbents, as the income is
not sufficient for the maintenance of a permanent pastor. 6. That
there are many young men now working as curates who would
be well qualified, not indeed to fill your place at St. Andrew's, but
to carry on the work well. Upon the whole, I am clearly of
opinion that you may, with a clear conscience, accept the offer of
the Dean and Canons.
Yours most truly,
G. A. Lichfield.
But other questions, of still wider scope and more far-
reaching importance, were now claiming the Bishop's
attention. And a letter, written by him in 1877, clearly
reveals his own personal feelings in relation to the alleged
" ritualistic practices " of that day. In reply to some
dissatisfied parishioners, he wrote thus : —
You are aware that in a large number of churches deviations
from the law are justified on the plea of custom. Now, my own wish
is well known, viz. that all clergymen should bring their services
into conformity Avith the Rubrics, as interpreted by the Final Court
of Appeal, and should resort to the bishop for advice on all
doubtful points. My persuasion is that our duty is moderation.
Our blessed Lord's whole example was moderation ; and we are
taught to be subject one to another. Therefore, in all things let
our moderation be known unto all men.
In one town in the diocese troubles on ritual questions
464 BISHOP SELIVYX. [1877.
were at this period frequently arising-; and in 1877 the local
branch of the " Church Association " was very anxious to
compel the Bishop to prosecute one of his clergy whose
ritual was deemed to be illeg-al. They accordingly sent
him a memorial on the subject. He replied at some
length, and with great patience and firmness declined to
assume the office of public prosecutor of the clergy. He
also suggested that if all were compelled to obey the Rubric
to the very letter, it would not be the High Church clergy
only who would come under rebuke. For there were many
customary deviations from the rule of the Prayer-book in
almost every church in the diocese. In spite, however, of
the Bishop's earnest wish to avoid litigation, a prosecution
was commenced against the Vicar of St. Andrew's, Wolver-
hampton. But it broke down on some technical point ;
and although further attempts were made to bring the
matter into the law-courts, by the joint action of the
Bishop and the Metropolitan, litigation was in fact pre-
vented. " I have always been, and always shall be, for
conciliation," said the Bishop. " I am not the man to put
any one into the crucible of the law-courts if I can avoid
it." In full accordance with these views, a welcome sug-
gestion was made now by a leading Evangelical clergyman
in the diocese. He thought that if a conference could be
held on the Ritualistic controversy, both sides being fairly
represented and the Bishop presiding, it might bring about
something like unity. To this proposal the Bishop gave
his hearty assent, as will be seen by the following letter ;
but unfortunately, owing to various delays and manifold
engagements, the conference never took place.
The letter ran as follows : —
1S77O PROPOSED CONFERENCE ON RITUAL. 465
My DEAR Mr. Bolland,
No time can be better than Christmas for acting on
the angel's message of " peace on earth." You are the author of
the proposal for this conference ; and I should wish you to be the
convener of it. I would bring the Archdeacon with me as my
assessor, and have accordingly sent your letter on to him. Next
week is crowded with engagements, and the week after that is
devoted to the candidates for holy orders. I will therefore write
to the Archdeacon and propose Innocents' Day, December 28th,
in the hope that we may all come to the meeting with souls as
" weaned children."
Yours most truly,
G. A. Lichfield.
The same clergyman bears striking testimony both
to the Bishop's largeness of heart and to his Christian
command of temper.
My first thought about the Bishop (he says) was always
his wonderful magnanimity. It is. true he would never refuse
battle ; but he never seemed to feel hostile. There was no room
in his nature for any petty personal feelings of ill-will ; and one
could always depend on meeting him on friendly terms when the
conflict was over. However much, therefore, I might be wounded
at the time, I never felt hurt after it was over. And although on
several occasions I came into collision with him — my views being
strictly what are called " Evangelical " — he appointed me as rural
dean when I had no claim to be chosen ; for I was only vicar of
a district church at Wolverhampton, I have often been obliged
to disagree with him, but have never varied in my opinion of
him ; I have often said, " Go where you please, you will not easily
find a man who so truly combines the man, the gentleman, and
the Christian, as does Bishop Selwyn."
I remember well on one occasion being much struck with his
wonderful power of self-control. At a confirmation service, held
2 H
466 BISHOP SELIVYW. [1877.
in a leading Evangelical Church, something in the Bishop's
address gave offence to the Vicar ; and when it was over he
vehemently attacked his diocesan in the vestry. " My lord," he
exclaimed, " I was extremely hurt and displeased at your address.
■It has quite undone the effect of my teaching during the pre-
paration of the candidates." The clergy who were present,
although some of them sympathized with the angry Vicar, were
a good deal taken aback at his sudden attack on the Bishop,
especially in such a place ; and they looked anxiously at him to
see how he would take it. But he showed no outward sign of
discomposure, standing perfectly quiet in massive silence. After-
wards, at luncheon, the Vicar, having recovered his equanimity,
said to the Bishop, " I hope, my lord, everything in the service
was arranged to your satisfaction." " Very much so," was his
reply ; " and I only wish that everything on my part had been as
satisfactory to you. Come now," he added, " let us talk the
matter over, as Christian brothers should. I quite thought that,
in the line I took in my address, I was following up the sugges-
tion you gave me in your letter. Tell me exactly what your ideas
on the subject were." The Vicar then proceeded to open up
his grievance, and they talked the question over in the most
harmonious manner. Although possibly, after all, they may have
only agreed to differ.
On another occasion, an important work having been
carried off from the Theological College Library without
being entered in the " lending book," a great hue and cry
was raised over the loss. At last, one of the students, who
had been at the palace attending a certain lively lecture
(with black-board illustrations) on the force of the Greek
.prepositions, slyly informed the Principal that he had
espied the missing volume in the Bishop's study. The dis-
covery was soon followed by a detective note from the
Principal ; this drew a humorous confession of his crime
iSy-.] ^A^ EPISCOPAL STORM. 467
from his lordship, with a humble promise never to offend
in like manner again.
The Bishop however, could be very angry when he
chose. If he thought any duty had been neglected, or if
the flock had been made to suffer through carelessness on
the part of their shepherd, then the merry genial smiles
rapidly gave way to looks black as thunder, and kindly
words were soon replaced by rebukes and admonitions.
A correspondent, writing on this subject, says : —
On one occasion he had arranged to hold a confirmation at
a large hospital where I was Chaplain. The correspondence
about it was conducted through the Rural Dean, and the final
order (as I understood it) had come from the Bishop that he
should be met at the hospital on the fifteenth of the follow-
ing month, at five o'clock in the evening. I arranged things
accordingl}^ ; the Bishop, however, had not arrived when the
appointed hour struck. The little harmonium went on grinding
out more voluntaries than it had ever done in all its musical life
before ; but still no Bishop. At last, after waiting an hour, a cab
drew up, and out of it appeared the well-known shovel-hat, with
two such eyes flaming underneath the brim. It was an episcopal
hurricane all the way to the vestry. But the address was beautiful
— just that union of strength and tenderness which characterized
all his confirmation addresses. After the service the storm broke
out afresh. Why had I not replied to his proposal to come to-day ?
Had I not received the proposal ? Was that the way to treat my
diocesan? For it was by the merest accident (it seemed) that
he had heard of the service being arranged for this day. He
saijd a great deal more ; till presently, when a pause came, I
ventured to put in a word. " But, my lord, I was simply told
that you were coming to-day at five o'clock ; and that was enough
for me. I accepted the announcement as an order from my
superior officer, and never dreamt of disputing it. I had no idea
468 BISHOP SELWYN. [1877.
that I was to write and say that it suited my convenience ; for
I felt that any hour you appointed ought to suit me." While
I was speaking, I noticed the corners of his mouth gradually
relaxing, and soon a smile of approval lit up his face. " I see,"
he said ; " so then, perhaps, after all, it is I that am wrong. But
there was a misunderstanding somewhere."
And now this year of terrible confusion and bloodshed
in the East of Europe, and of anxiety in England, drew to
an end. Bishop Selwyn's life-work was, though he knew
it not, and none of his friends had the remotest suspicion
of approaching calamity, now fast approaching its comple-
tion. Nor was any year of his life more patiently and
unselfishly and effectively devoted to His Master's service,
or more conscientiously spent in ministries of every kind
for man, than this last year of his presence among us —
1877.
CHAPTER XL
1878.
The end approaching — Last speech in Convocation— A parish in the Black
Country — Confirmation in Stafford Gaol — Love of children — Sermon in
the Potteries — Ministries to the sick — Death of Mrs. J. R. Selwyn —
Friendly talk with working people — Illness — Last meeting at the Theo-
logical College — Fatiguing Confirmations — Death.
The time was now approaching in which this " good
soldier of Jesus Christ " was to lay down the weapons of
his warfare and to enter into his rest. It seemed, when the
year opened, as though he were already half unconsciously
preparing for the end, and redoubling his efforts to set the
affairs of the Church in order with a view to the trials that
were coming upon her. Hence his unyielding attitude
of resistance to the threatened invasion (as he thought it) of
the Church's peaceful sanctuaries where the dead repose ;
and his dread of surrendering them for indiscriminate use,
at the command of the State. In Convocation, therefore,
early in the year he presented a petition from the diocese
against the Burials Bill, and himself spoke strongly on the
subject. The petition ran as follows : —
"We, the undersigned, hereby declare, _;^r.y/, that we consider
the churchyards (subject to the legal rights of the parishioners to
interment) to be the property of the Church of England ; secondly,
4/0 BISHOP SELJVYN: [1878.
that we are opposed to any legislation wliich shall permit persons
not being ministers of that Church to claim, as of right, to officiate
in our churchyards, and to use forms and ceremonies therein which
are not sanctioned by the English Church."
Having read the petition, the Bishop then said : —
In these few and brief words forty-five thousand persons, lay
and clerical, express what they consider — and which I entirely
agree with them in considering — their right to protest against any
invasion of the churchyards, which are now vested in the clergy
of the Church of England for the use of all the members of that
Church, whether professing the doctrines of our Church or whether
swerving into Dissent. As long as the Act of Uniformity remains
in force, every person in this country is considered a member of
the Church of England. The Dissenters have therefore the right
to use our burial-grounds, provided they conform to the laws of the
Church by which the service at the grave is regulated. Now, after
administering for ten years one of the most populous dioceses
in England, I can say most distinctly I have never met with a
single grievance. I have made many inquiries on the subject
among the clergy, and have never yet found a single clergyman
who, during his ministry, had met with any such grievance as that
which has been put forward as a justification of Mr. Osborne
Morgan's Bill. On the other hand, the grievance proposed to be
infiicted on the clergy is so great that I, for my part, shall concur
with the whole body in offering the utmost opposition to the Bill.
For all the alleged grievances there is a remedy ; as is proved
by the fact that by far the largest portion of the population
of England — not less than fourteen millions — have already been
supplied with burial-grounds under various cemetery Acts. I now
present this petition, signed by three-fourths of the clergy of Eng-
land, and will only add that I regard it as entitled to most serious
consideration.*
• It must not be supposed that this unyielding oppo-it' n \o the Burials
Bill proceeded from any unworthy feeling of bigotry or oi jtaiousy towards
1878.] LAST SPEECH IN CONVOCATION. 4/1
The Bishop then presented a printed copy of the
petition ; but the Bishop of London objected, and pointed
out that, being in print, and consequently without any
written signatures, it could not be received. To this
Bishop Selwyn replied, " I should be happy to present the
original petition ; but it would require two or three porters
to carry it into your Lordships' House." It was therefore
received, but simply as a " declaration," not as a "petition." *
This was the last act of Bishop Selwyn in Convocation,
and his last public speech within its walls. In other places,
and especially in his own populous diocese, with its crush-
ing charge of thirteen hundred thousand souls, his activity
was to the end unabated ; and the schemes he pressed
forward for completion were multitudinous. He had in
hand, for instance, his Diocesan-Sunday scheme, his pro-
bationer-system, a clergy head-quarters in the Close, the
barge mission, and a mission to the large encampment of
workmen and their families just then employed in building
the new barracks on Whittington Heath, As soon as this
working colony had arrived, the Bishop walked out to
visit them and to make arrangements for the supply of
their spiritual wants. He then brought the matter before
the cathedral authorities ; and before long a chaplain was
appointed, who was made responsible for the services,
while he himself and the various members of the Chapter
undertook to assist as much as possible. Indeed, the
Dissenters. On the contrary, he never failed to appreciate their splendid
services in the cause of Christ. For instance, soon after Bishop Patteson's
death, in giving a lecture at Derby on the subject, he occupied fully half the
time (says one who w^as present) in speaking of the Nonconformist mission-
aries, who had first borne the tidings of salvation among those dangerous
islands of the southern seas.
* " Chronicle of Convocation," February 12, 1878.
47^ BISHOP SELWYN. [1878.
Bishop was always glad of an excuse for undertaking
pastoral work ; and he often helped the overtasked clergy
in his diocese, not merely by preaching a sermon for
them, but by taking charge of the whole Sunday service.
In this way he frequently relieved the chaplain of the
Lichfield Workhouse, who was burdened with many other
duties on Sunday ; and one Christmas Day he took
pastoral charge of a neighbouring village, that the curate
might go home to help his invalid father. On another
occasion he undertook the burden of a much more re-
sponsible charge, by ministering to a parish of twelve
thousand people in the heart of the Black Country, where
the Vicar was obliged by illness to be absent. This living
was under sequestration also, and all the income available
was £\^o 2. year. No curate could therefore be appointed,
and everything was in danger of falling into hopeless dis-
order. When the Bishop had for many weeks ministered
to all these unshepherded people, he finally enlisted the in-
terest of a rich London congregation in the case; and they
engaged themselves to maintain a mission in the most
destitute part of the parish. Stimulated by the Bishop's
zeal, the Black Country people, too, came forward with help;
and the result was that a curate was appointed, and before
long a church was built. The Bishop was to have con-
secrated it on Easter Tuesday, 1878. But on Easter
Tuesday he was no longer here.
Besides visiting the people in the workhouse, he also
took great interest in visiting those who were in prison ;
and one of the last acts of his life was to hold a con-
firmation in Stafford Gaol. A correspondent who was
present thus describes the scene : —
1878.] CONFIRMATION IN A GAOL. 473
On the morning of Thursday, January i oth, the Bishop held a
confirmation at Stafford Gaol, where seven male and nine female
prisoners were confirmed. The Chaplain to the barge mission
was in attendance, and several of the neighbouring clergy met
him in the Chaplain's room. Thence the procession passed
through divers yards and passages into the chapel, where the
prisoners sat side by side as in an ordinary church. The candi-
dates sat near the altar ; and, after the third collect, the Bishop
ascended the pulpit. Truly it was a great opportunity; for before
him were more than six hundred criminals. No one can rise to
such an occasion better than the Bishop. He had seemed to be
suffering from a cold whilst he was at the communion table, and
looked rather worn and perhaps a little sad. But, once in the
pulpit, he rose to the full height of that dignity and solemnity
which we all know so well.
"It is," he said, "not only ourselves, but others, that we are
to pray for to-day — others who are about to renew their vows
of allegiance to the loving Saviour, and to claim His gift of
the Holy Ghost. That Saviour has made a special mention of
visiting those who are in prison. He ' came to call, not the
righteous, but sinners to repentance.' And therefore, certain as
we are that Christ is in the midst of all who meet together
in His name, we are still more certain that He is present with
us now. ' Ah ! ' some might say, ' if we could but see the nail-
prints in His hands and the spear-mark in His side, we would
believe.' Such persons must not be too sure of that. BeUeving
does not come from seeing, but from the influence of the Holy
Spirit. Though invisible, like the air. He is necessary to our
spiritual life. For that Spirit, then, we must pray this morning.
But, ere you can hope to receive Him, old bad habits must be
cast out of the soul. If two vessels, the one full of sand, the other
empty, be let down into a stream, which will be soonest filled
with water ? "
The Bishop then concluded with an earnest appeal to
the candidates to cleanse their hearts w^ith innocency before
474 BISHOP SELWYN. [1878.
they went to God's holy altar, and to receive the Holy
Spirit with true repentance and sincerity.
Temptations (he said) and bad companions will no doubt
await you when you go forth into the world again. But the
promise is sure : " When the enemy shall come in like a flood,
the Lord shall lift up an ensign against him."
The sight of some of the younger prisoners filled the
Bishop with heartfelt pity. Some of the girls were mere
children, and yet their lives were already blighted by sin
and sorrow, through want of a little watchful care. An
attempt, therefore, to show such watchful care, and to keep
a hold on young people after their confirmation, when tried
at one large parish in the diocese, met with high approval
from the Bishop. It was this. Each person confirmed
was assigned to one of the regular communicants, who
undertook to watch over his (or her) future course in
accordance with the following promise neatly printed on
a card, headed with the text, " We, then, that are strong
ought to bear the infirmities of the weak."
Confirmation Witness. — I, , promise to act as guardian
in things spiritual to , confirmed at the parish church on
. This promise involves chiefly the earnest endeavour, with
God's blessing, (i) to watch for him that he may be a good soldier
of Jesus Christ ; (2) to persuade him to use regularly the appointed
means of grace, and to be a devout communicant ; (3) to sympa-
thize in joy and grief, and to advise in difliculty.
If only those poor lads and girls in prison had been helped
in such a way as this, how different their lives might have
been ! Now, at any rate, their hearts were deeply touched
by the Bishop's words and by his cordiality when he shook
1S7S.] DENSTONE AND SAND WELL. 475
hands with them afterwards, and wished them a kindly
good-bye.
To children of other classes, as well as to those of the
poor, Bishop Selwyn was never wanting in ministries of
love. At Denstone middle-class school for boys his cheer-
ful manly presence was always welcome, and in his favour
the sturdy farmers perhaps relaxed an objection they had
once formulated in the Philistine demand for " more
pudding and less prayers." At Sandwell Hall, too, a
large school for girls, at that time managed by a woman
of first-rate ability, the Bishop's own sister, he frequently
appeared as a visitor ; and, taking the Chaplain's place,
preached to the girls in the private chapel, and held a
Bible-class afterwards. A Derbyshire clergyman says —
I shall never forget the last confirmation which he held in
my parish shordy before his death. I never heard such
a beautiful address as he gave, so far above the usual level of
such exhortations. He took 2 Pet. i. 3-7, as his subject, and
really spoke upon it as if he were a man inspired, as I have no
doubt at that moment he was. He seemed quite lifted out of
himself, and yet at that time he must have been suffering the
most acute pain.
In one of his later sermons, preached in a Pottery town,
he dwelt forcibly and earnestly on the duty of thus caring
for the instruction of the young : —
Mark the next point, — that this knowledge of God is freely
offered to all. " Repent and be baptized every one of you ; and ye
shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost." I speak, then, to all ;
for the commandment is to all, the promise is to all,^ — to clergy-
men and schoolmasters, to parents, sponsors, employers of labour,
masters of families, school-fellows. The voice speaks to all ;
" Teach one anotlier, by the Holy Ghost thus freely given to us all."
476 BISHOP SELWYN. [1878.
And first to the clergyman. Can we be satisfied with baptizing
infants, and take no pains to teach them ? Can we be like the
ostrich, " which leaveth her eggs in the earth, and warmeth them
in the dust, and forgetteth that the foot may crush them, or that the
wild beast may break them. She is hardened against her young
ones, as though they were not hers." These spiritual children,
whom we have placed in the arms of Christ in Holy Baptism,
ought to be as dear to us as our own flesh and blood. The
example of the Lord Himself warns us to teach, as well as to preach.
He had a wonderful power of adapting himself to the
simple folk and to children in his sermons or addresses ;
and few who heard it will ever forget his graphic descrip-
tion of a funeral at sea (such as he had himself often
witnessed) given at a children's-service in the cathedral
on the last Easter Day of his life.
But the most remarkable feature in his sermons was
the extraordinary familiarity with Scripture which they
displayed. His facility in quoting appropriate texts was
really surprising. He had published a list of Proper
Psalms and Lessons for use at Confirmations, out of which
each parish priest might choose \\'hatever he thought
best. As the list was very extensive, the selection allowed
of a fresh combination at every church. Yet, in his
extempore addresses to the candidates, he always man-
aged to utilize the Lesson previously read, and to make
it the foundation of his teaching. Thus there was variety
and freshness in each address, even when he held con-
firmations two or three times in one day. He attached
great importance to the study of the Bible : and with a
view to the cultivation among the people of better habits
of meditation and private prayer, he expressed a strong
desire that parish churches should be kept open during
1878.] VISITING THE SICK. 477
the day. St. Chad's Church at Stafford was one of the
first in the diocese that was kept open for this purpose ;
and people who had to wait at the station often paid a
visit to that most interesting Norman structure. One
day the newly appointed Vicar met the Bishop at the
station ; and was surprised and pleased at his salutation,
" Good morning, Mr. B . I found St. Chad's open ;
and I have been praying for you at your own altar." In
truth, his working clergy and his " co-operative " laymen
were constantly in his thoughts and in his prayers. And
this was more especially the case if they were sick or in
distress. Thus, early in this year, he paid frequent visits
to a small village near Lichfield, to minister to the highly
respected and much-beloved Vicar of the parish (Rev.
W. Williams), who had been for some time invalided and
was now drawing nigh unto death.
I was half afraid at first (writes this clergyman's wife), to
admit the Bishop into my dear husband's bed-room ; for he was
so very weak and ill, I thought it might disturb him to see any
visitors. But as soon as this visitor came in, 1 saw at once that
my fears were groundless. He entered with such a soft step, and
spoke in such a quiet gentle voice, that it seemed to soothe the
poor patient instead of disturbing him. The last time he came,
he knelt at the bedside, and commended the long-tried servant of
God to his Master's loving care ; then, laying his hands on him, he
gave him his blessing. The dying man could only point upwards,
and say feebly, " Up there ; I am going there." To this the
Bishop answered, as he took his hand in his, " Yes, dear friend,
you are going up there— where you wish to be. Rest in peace ! "
As he left the room he told me to send for him at any time by
night or by day, if he could be of any service ; and I felt that he
was indeed a good angel of comfort, helping my dear one on his
4/8 BISHOP SELWYN. [1878.
heavenward way, and helping me also to bear my coming bereave-
ment.
This gentleness, and even tenderness, to the sick had
been a remarkable trait in the Bishop's character all
through his life. At a far earlier period, an invalid clergy-
man in New Zealand, who had recently experienced his
kindness, wrote as follows : — •
" You would be surprised to see the Bishop when he is with
me. He seems really to love me. He tells me about all the
concerns of the Church in the colony, and talks to me about my
own soul. Then he prays with me ; and, with tears in his eyes,
gives me a kiss and leaves me. He is a most remarkable man ; I
never saw his equal. He possesses talent of the first order, and
combines the most opposite qualities. With the most acute
intellect he unites that patience which will enable him to spend
hours, day after day, in catechizing the most ignorant little native
children. With the greatest self-denial and indefatigable in-
dustry he unites that feeling of charity which makes him also
appreciate and value the very inferior labour of others. He
possesses a courage which no opposition can daunt, a determina-
tion of purpose which no obstacle can arrest, and a resolute
adherence to principle which no apparent advantage can for a
moment interrupt.
It is not the first time that the strong hand and the
tender heart have been found in close conjunction ; nor,
thank God, is it likely to be the last. But examples like
these serve assuredly to maintain that Christ-like spirit of
gentleness and simplicity which, through all ages, form the
leading features in the religious life of the Church.
On February 15th, sad news was received by telegram
from Norfolk Island. It announced to the Bishop the
death of his daughter-in-law, I\Irs. John R. Selwyn. The
1878.] DEATH OF MRS. J. R. SELWYN. 479
blow was a heavy one, and the thought of his far-distant
son in his widowed lonehness pressed heavily on his mind.
Only six years before, he had officiated at their marriage ;
and wrote thus to his dear friend, Sir William Martin : —
This day I have united John R. Selvvyn in marriage to Miss
Clara Long-Innes ; and they have plighted their troth, not only
one to another, but also to the Melanesian mission ; for they are
both quite ready to go out and work there with Mr. Codri ngton.
In fact, when first the young curate of Alrewas asked
his Vicar's niece to be his wife, he coupled with the pro-
posal the inquiry whether she would be ready to undertake
missionary work with him ; since he felt bound to devote
his life to such work, if he were called upon to do so. The
young girl answered him in the touching reply of Ruth to
Naomi : " Whither thou goest I will go, and where thou
lodgest I will lodge : thy people shall be my people, and
thy God my God." In memory of this scene, her husband
long afterwards, receiving the gift of a new mission-ship
and being asked what name he would like it to bear, said,
" Let Riith be her name." And for many years the faithful
RiitJi bore him from island to island in his Melanesian
diocese.
The two little motherless children at the palace were
now more than ever the object of the Bishop's tender care.
" Poor little things, they have no mother now I " he would
say, as he pressed them to his heart and tried to assuage the
grief of the elder little girl, who was old enough to remember
her mother and was almost heart-broken at her loss. She
was born at Lichfield in October, 1871, just before her
father and mother started for Norfolk Island. When the
news of her birth was brought to the Bishop, he was
480 BISHOP SELWYN. [1878.
presiding at a missionary meeting in the large hall at the
palace. At first he seemed disappointed that the baby-
was not a son, to carry on the missionary traditions of the
family. " But at all events," he said humorously, " she can
be called vSally Trolly 6^ertrude in honour of the S.P.G.,
under whose auspices she has first made her appearance
in the world."
He was always deeply affected by the sight of a child's
grief. Indeed, the troubles of all Christ's little ones, and
of all who were poor and weak, at once touched his
chivalrous feelings and called into play his instincts of
gentle guidance and fatherly help. Bishop Patteson
related how, on one occasion, he paced the deck of the
mission vessel for several hours with a little sick boy from
one of the islands in his arms. And another time, during
one of his voyages, he took entire charge of a baby when
the mother was invalided ; and with so much success
that, at the end of the voyage, the child was unwilling to
leave his care for that of its own mother. At Lichfield,
too, when driving along the road, he would sometimes stop
his carriage to take up a poor woman laden with a heavy
child, or would lend a hand in carrying an unmanageable
burden.
He never passed without giving me the time of day (says an
old man whom he ofien met in his morning walks before the
college service), and he'd often give me a hint as to the best way
of doing my work. Almost the last time I saw him before his
death, I was laying down stones and gravel to make a path, when
he came by. " Good morning, old gentleman," he said ; " I don't
think you've got that gravel half fine enough. You must break
it up as fine as possible. Don't you know that if you put sugar
iSjS.] FIRST SYMPTOMS OF ILLIVESS. 48 1
in a basin and shake it up, the big lumps will all come to the
top? Well, it is just the same with your path; if you don't
break your stones fine enough, the big pieces will all work up to
the top, and it will be a rough road and no path at all." Ah, I've
seen a many bishops and deans and church dignitaries, but
there war ne'er a one ever come nigh Bishop Selwyn. He war
a brave man and a foine man ; and, better nor all that, he war
a good man. And my ! if he thought there war anything wrong
he'd soon let you know. Wouldn't he just speak out, that's all !
But if you ever wanted a good turn done for you, the Bishop war
the man to do it.
Yes ; all his life this had been the universal feeling of
his friends — " If they wanted a good turn done, he was the
man to do it." But now the end of all that ready help-
fulness was approaching, and the hour for rest had come.
The first two months of the year were spent by the Bishop
in his usual work ; but at the beginning of March he began
to feel an unwonted sensation of weakness. Happening,
therefore, to be in London in the early part of the month,
he thought it prudent to 'consult an eminent physician
there about his health. No serious cause of mischief,
however, was discovered ; and the patient was dismissed
with a simple recommendation to rest. But several con-
firmations had been arranged for, in Derbyshire and in
Shropshire ; and such engagements he always most reli-
giously kept. He returned to Lichfield on Shrove Tuesday,
and his appearance seems then to have caused some
anxiety to his friends ; for Sir William Martin, who was
staying at the palace, wrote afterwards —
I thought him looking very ill when he came to see me ; but
I hoped it was only the fatigue of travelling. When I saw
him the next day he seemed better, but said that his nights
2 I
482 BISHOP SELWYX. [187S.
were sadly disturbed, and that the London doctor could not
account for the great weakness he felt. I found him sitting at
his grindstone — as usual — in the afternoon, writing his review of
the St. Andrew's Wolverhampton ritual case, remitted to him by
the Archbishop, on his carefully folded large sheets of paper. He
talked to me about the case, and alluded to the admission made
by one of the clergy at Bournemouth, that the Low Church party
did not themselves adhere to the Rubrics, and remarked that he
must tolerate both parties in slight deviations. De minimis non
curat ecclesia.
On March i8th, the Bishop was present at a council
meeting at the Theological College, and, although he
looked very tired and worn, his never- failing humour had
not abandoned him. But the following day he was not
able to appear at the probationers' examination, much to
the disappointment of the candidates. In the evening,
however, they saw him at the station as he was on his way
into Shropshire, and he spoke very kindly to them, his
affectionate manner striking them all particularly at the
time.
He evidently was not well enough to undertake the
Shropshire confirmations ; but when he was urged to give
them up, he only replied that it would do him good to be
at work, and that he especially wished to go and confirm
" those dear boys at Shrewsbury." In fact, these con-
firmations seriously taxed his failing powers. At one
church he felt strangely cold, and asked for something to
throw over his shoulders. " I feel," he said, " as if I had
got my death-chill." At another place he asked to be left
alone in the vestry after service, feeling too ill to join the
party at lunch at the vicarage. He was very unwell when
he arrived at Shrewsbury, and quite unfit for work ; but,
1878.] ST. MARY'S, SHREWSBURY. 483
with characteristic force of will, he carried through the
confirmation at St. Mary's Church, on March 24th. It was
his last act of public ministration ; and he concluded a
most affectionate and fatherly address with the words,
" Safe in the arms of Jesus." Bishop Hobhouse, who was
with him, remarked afterwards in the vestry, how full of
vigour he had seemed in church. " Yes," was his reply,
" but it was like holding on to a ship in a storm. I held on
by my hands and feet." He then laid back his head in the
chair ; and feeling, no doubt, his marvellous powers ebbing
away, he said, " The end is come."
The next day he returned to Lichfield, and a local
medical adviser of great experience was called in. He
speedily discovered the presence of a subtle malady, which
was too surely undermining the Bishop's powerful frame,
and ordered him to give up all work. For a whole week
he fluctuated between relapse and improvement ; but con-
tinued to take interest in all that was going on. No
serious alarm was at first felt about his condition by his
family at the palace. The usual ladies' working-party was
held there during the week ; and in reply to many inquiries
about the Bishop's health, a cheerful answer was given.
Mrs. Abraham read aloud while the ladies were working
at garments for the Melanesian mission, and Mrs. Selwyn
came in for a short time and talked in her usual bright
way about the Bishop, saying how deeply his sympathy
had been stirred by the loss of the Eiwydice, and how it
recalled the loss of the companion ship, the Orpheus, many
years previously.
But as the week went on, the Bishop's sufferings and
weakness gradually increased ; and on Saturday morning
484 BISHOP SELVVYN. [1878.
he said to Bishop Abraham, " I have passed through
fire since I saw you ; but pray that I may be perfected
through sufferings, Hke the Captain of our salvation."
He then received the Holy Communion with his family
and servants, and to each person present he said a few
words of Christian exhortation. To his elder son he
committed " the care of the orphans ; " and when he had
blessed him he paused a minute, as if thinking of the other
dear son far away across the sea, and then added, " The
blessing of his father shall be upon the head of him who
is separate from his brethren." He joined in the Gloria in
excelsis in an audible voice, and then gave the Benediction
for the last time.
That evening he became much worse ; and on the Sun-
day the physician despaired of his life. Further advice was
called in from Birmingham, but it was too evident that
nothing more could be done, although a lingering hope
remained that the Bishop's strong constitution might even
yet bring him through. On Monday, he seemed to have
rallied considerably ; but the evening brought renewed
signs of fever and delirium, and then all hope died down
in the hearts of those who loved him, and they resigned
themselves to yield him up to God. Since his illness
began there had been a constant alternation of ebb and
flow ; but now the ebb proceeded until the end. During
his wanderings he frequently asked who was doing this
work or that ; and then he would add, " I ought to be
there ; I fear I am getting idle." Prayers were offered for
him daily, both in the cathedral and throughout the diocese,
— even Dissenting congregations adding their intercessions
to those of Churchmen. For several days the cathedral
1878.] LAST WORDS. 485
bells were silenced, and an anxious foreboding seemed to
hush all tongues as the critical state of the beloved Bishop
became fully realized.
On Tuesday morning, he asked to see his little mother-
less grandchildren, and they were brought to him out of
their beds. He talked to them playfully, and holding out
his finger, said, " If you were but little robins, you could
sit there." So when he had kissed them and blessed them,
he made a sign for them to be taken out of the room.
Then, recognizing his old and loyal friend. Sir William
Martin, he talked of past New Zealand days, and said it
was like the old times at Taurarua, to see him there.
Bishop Abraham, who was going to hold a confirmation at
a distant parish, came in before six o'clock in the morning,
and the Bishop was able to remind him of what he par-
ticularly wanted to be done and said during the day. He
then relapsed into a state of quietude. Occasionally wan-
dering in mind, he seemed once more among his beloved
Maoris. " They will all come back," he repeated several
times ; and he began to murmur the sweet sounds of the
Maori language, as familiar to him as his own mother-
tongue. " A light to lighten the Gentiles," he whispered ;
and passages of hymns came to his lips. Death seemed to
have no terrors, and pain no bitterness. " Thank God
for pain ! " he said several times. On Tuesday, he was
unable to take food, and shook his head when the
nurse pressed it, saying, " You are only keeping me from
happiness." Nearly his last intelligible words were spoken
to Sir W. Martin in Maori, and they were the words by
which a New Zealander when dying tells his friends that
he sees heaven opening before his eyes, — " It is light."
486 BISHOP SELIVYN. [1878.
Throuc^hout Wednesday his life ebbed slowly away, and
on Thursday, April nth, the end came. He had been
unconscious for some time, but when Bonar's hymn, " A
few more years shall roll," was softly sung, he followed it
with evident pleasure. At last the old cathedral clock
slowly struck the hour of noon, and the bell of St. Michael's
Church rang out to tell the people in the neighbouring
gardens that the hour for ceasing work had come. Sud-
denly the Bishop roused himself, and said a few words
expressive of his faith in God and his love for his wife.
Bishop Abraham then read the Commendatory Prayer ;
and, a few minutes afterwards, all who were present became
aware that the " hour for ceasing work " had truly come.
The Apostles' Creed was then recited by the little company
of faithful friends and relatives ; and with tearful eyes and
thankful hearts they left the room.
Some who had loved and revered him in life were
afterwards admitted to kneel for a few minutes beside his
bed of death, and to bid farewell to that beautiful and
placid face — the almost perfect expression of manly power
and dignity. And on Tuesday, April i6th, at an early
hour, several friends and near relations gathered for Holy
Communion in the private chapel, where, near the altar-
steps — covered with floral wreaths and bearing on its lid
the pastoral staff of ebony and silver — stood the coffin.
Soon after this, preparations for the funeral service began.
Five hundred of the diocesan clergy assembled to do
honour to their departed chief ; and many thousands of
the laity, including a large number of the working-classes,
were gathered in the cathedral. Bishop Abraham was
among the mourners ; Bishop Plobhousc stood beside the
1878.] FUNERAL AT LICHFIELD. 487
empty throne as the coffin rested before the altar ; and
among the congregation there were many who occupied
high positions both in Church and State. The Bishop's
favourite hymn, " We are but strangers here, heaven is our
home," was sung as they bore him to his rest in the quiet
Cathedral Close. Sister Dora stood by Mrs. Selwyn under
the shadow of the Lady Chapel, and Mr. Gladstone stood
at the head of the grave, when the coffin was lowered into
its last resting-place in the solid rock. The pall was borne
by Archdeacon Allen, the Provost of Eton, the Earl of
Powis, Lord Hatherton, Sir Perceval Heywood, Sir William
Martin, and the Right Hon. W. E. Gladstone ; and the
pastoral staff was carried before the coffin by the Bishop's
chaplain (Rev. F. Thatcher). At the conclusion of the
service, a hymn was sung by the choir and people together,
" The strife is o'er, the battle done." Bishop Abraham
then gave the blessing, and all was over.
So closed the grave over all that remained of Bishop
Selwyn. The arrangements for his funeral were as simple
as possible, in accordance with the simplicity of his life.
The crowded attendance, the long procession of clergy
and laity, were but the spontaneous outcome of men's
reverence and love. It was this feeling which brought one
young workman from the Potteries to pay the last tribute
of respect to the Bishop who had confirmed him, and who
had made such a deep and lasting impression on him that he
had been a steady communicant ever since. To him, as to
all of his class — the mighty army who toil with their hands
— the words and acts of the Bishop came home with a
peculiar power, from their simple straightforward manliness.
The poor who were present at his funeral testified their
488 BISHOP SELWYN. [1878.
affection for him by their quiet reverential demeanour, and
many held up their little ones to see him as he was carried
by. All who were present, felt that it was not merely a
" Bishop " who had been laid there to rest, but that of him
the well-known words were true —
" His life was gentle and the elements
So mixed in him that nature might stand up
And say to all the world, ' This was a man.' "
Yes ; " all was over " with the Bishop's life and with
his ennobling, animating presence among us. But all was
not over with his fruitful work and his spiritual influence,
either in England, America, or New Zealand. In New
Zealand, of course, that influence — steadily exerted for a
quarter of a century — had left the deepest mark for good ;
and should the name of their great benefactor ever be
forgotten, and no monument in stone or brass recall his
memory, still on the largest scale (it may be replied) " Si
monumentum quseris, circumspice," So long as the Church
in New Zealand lasts, her admirable and most prudently
devised organization will ever remind the thoughtful
colonist of the great Bishop, the " wise master-Builder " of
the olden time. And whenever the Church amid the
Polynesian islands shall have drawn together, at last, in
peace and unity and mutual charity, those men of jarring
feuds and Babel tongues, then in those wild regions, too,
the Selwyns — father and son — will be for all time grate-
fully remembered. Indeed, it is conceivable that tradition,
a thousand years hence, may have fused the two honoured
names together and have constructed out of the abundant
adventures of their lives one romantic story of Christian
heroism and self-sacrifice.
187S.] A "NOBLE" CHARACTER. 489
But not only there. In England, also, it may fairly be
hoped, the time is coming when the sterling manliness of
Bishop Selvvyn's character and the far-seeing wisdom of his
reforms will be on all hands acknowledged and revered.
Old things in England are rapidly passing away. The
days when Deans of Lichfield used to attend the races on
Whittington Heath, while the church bells rang to celebrate
the festal occasion, already seem to our children incre-
dible. And to their children (there is little doubt) a period
when laymen had no share in the management of the
Church, when diocesan conferences did not exist, and when
Parliament was held sufficient to supply all such " lay
element " in her organization as was either needful or
desirable, will appear a state of things beyond their power
to comprehend. And then one striking and almost romantic
personality will stand out in bright relief amid the dis-
appearing shadows of more ephemeral "celebrities." It
will' be the figure of GEORGE AUGUSTUS Selwyn — the
man whose tomb at Lichfield is already an object of
pilgrimage to tattooed Maoris,* to Melanesian clergy, and
to American bishops ; the man of whom a leading states-
man of his day could say, " I have known him from boy-
hood, and there is one epithet which I hope will always
be associated with his name — the epithet of ' noble ; ' " and
the man to whom hard-handed workmen and poor toiling
women lifted tearful eyes as he was borne along to the
* For instance, "About seven years ago (writes Bishop Abraham), an old
native chief came to Lichfield to see the Bishop's effigy. He knelt down by
its side, and shed tears as he recalled his memories of the different features of
the Bishop. I was standing by, and heard him say in Maori, ' That was his
very chin ; that was his forehead ; and those were the very nails that I saw him
bite in his nervousness, when he preached his first sermon in our language.' "
490 BISHOP SELIVYN. [1878.
grave, and testified aloud, "We shall never see his like
again."
Amid a different class at Cambridge, where his four
stirring sermons on Missions in 1854 will, it is hoped, never
be forgotten, " Selwyn College " now preserves his name and
his principles in everlasting remembrance. And among
the clergy of his own diocese the impression that his
manly, simple, devoted character left upon his contempo-
raries may best be understood from their own words : —
We cannot but express the affectionate veneration in which we
hold his memory. To him we owe our opportunities of meeting
together, clergy and laity, for mutual counsel. We recognize in
these institutions the hand of a leader who endeavoured -to inspire
both clergy and laity with a spirit of brotherly union reaching
beyond all differences of opinion.*
In the establishment of an organized system of conferences, in
the multiplication of opportunities for confirmation, in the greater
solemnity im.parted to the institution of priests to their benefices,
in the promotion of religious education, and in the efforts made
for reclaiming the erring and neglected of all classes, we recognize
the marks of a power, a wisdom, and a spirit of self-sacrifice,
such as are rarely to be found in the characters of men.f
One chief means by which the Church has been better enabled
to do her work, and by which the late Bishop will be long remem-
bered, is the establishment of a system of conferences between
the clergy and laity, first set in order in this diocese nine years
ago, and since that time adopted, with slight modifications, in
nearly every English diocese. |
We reckon it as a most important fruit of the experience
gained [by Bishop Selwyn, in New Zealand and elsewhere] that a
system of conferences has been firmly established in this diocese,
in which the laity have been brought into consultation with the
* Wolverhampton R.D. Conf., 1878. t Staflbrd R.D.
X Walsall R.D.
1878.] A "GRAND" BISHOP. 491
clergy. While in the holding of confirmations annually in every
part of the diocese, in provision made for the admission of
deserving students to the theological college by the " probationer "
system, in the care which he bestowed upon the candidates for holy
orders, in the annual gatherings within the cathedral at Lichfield,
in frequent visits to workhouses, gaols, and infirmaries, in the
establishment of the "barge mission," — we recognize the high
and exacting standard of duty which our late Bishop proposed
to himself and the pattern of unwearied devotion to his Master's
service which he gave us to follow.*
The following testimonies are from two men, as
opposite as the poles asunder, but both of whom knew
Bishop Selwyn well and had seen him at work in his most
vigorous days. One of them had been, in New Zealand, a
conscientious but somewhat bitter opponent ; the other
had been, both in New Zealand and in England, a most
faithful friend and devoted fellow-w^orker. The former
writes as follows : —
Bishop Selwyn w^as great in everything — even in his faults —
and every inch a man. His deficiencies (such as they were) lay
hid behind the display of manifest strength ; though he knew not
how to measure his force. But he was a grand Bishop — not
indeed a " missionary" bishop, but as the head of the Church of
England in New Zealand. And he was never so popular as
when he left.t
The testimony of the latter was given in a sermon,
preached shortly after the Bishop's death : —
The principle w^hich had the deepest hold of Bishop Selwyn's
heart, and formed one of his strongest and most unfailing motives
of action, was the principle of "stewardship." To be found
faithful in his manifold stewardships was, I believe, his highest
* Stoke-on-Trent R.D.
t Carleton, " Life of H. Williams," ii. 363.
492 BISHOP SELWYN. [187S.
aim and ambition. As a steward of sacred things, of " God's
mysteries," he was (as the world knows) conspicuously faithful.
But as a steward of other things also — things earthly, human,
personal, things wherein one man can help, comfort, edify, guide,
uphold, lighten, and cheer another — into all this range of steward-
ship he, on principle, carried his faithfulness. With him every-
thing was regarded as a " talent," to be traded with at all times
and in all places, whether in the drawing-room, or in the rail-
way carriage, or on shipboard, in social scenes just as much as
in scenes of duty or of peril. It was that principle which made
him to the guests at Lichfield Palace the most considerate and
attractive of hosts ; and, at the same time, to such as the bereaved
ones at Pelsall Colliery the most acceptable of comforters. What-
ever he had in his power to bestow — tangible or intangible,
counsel, sympathy, instruction, mirthfulness, as well as silver and
gold and open-handed acts of helpfulness.- — he was the unfor-
getting steward of these things, to dispense them for his neigh-
bours' good, and so to render back his talent to his Master's
hand with richest usury. And these outward acts of his pro-
ceeded from an inward principle, the principle of stewardship
carried to its utmost reach.
And this I attest, dear brethren in Christ, not for the sake of
praising him who exemplified this principle, but that we may all
take count of what Ave hold in trust for God, and try to make it
redound to the Giver's honour, in ministering to the neighbours'
edification.
But you must not infer from my words that the steward
principle was in our Bishop a motive of greater power than
the love of God. That love might, of course, be the most
powerful of all motives in a Christian heart. And doubtless it
was so in him. But the love of God showed itself especially in
him in his love to man. The love of man, as God's creature and
moulded in His image, was the secret spring of his intense
conviction that there was in every human being, however depraved,
something that could be wrought upon — wrought upon first by
human sympathy and then by Divine grace.
1S78.] THE "SECRET" OF HIS POWER. 493
His own way of putting it, when urging the colonists of
Sydney or New Zealand to raise the condition of the natives, was
this : " Under every human skin God has planted a human
heart." It was this belief that fired his zeal in carrying forward
Christ's work among the tribes of New Zealand, and that carried
him outwards to the Melanesian Isles. It was the same belief
that, here in England, bade him seek the pauper in the work-
house, the collier in the pit, the prisoner in the gaol, the barge-
man on the canal, just as in New Zealand he sought the gold-
digger at the quartz-reef on the rugged mountain side, sharing
Avith him the bareness of a canvas home and the roughness of a
working community. " Under every human skin God has
planted a human heart : go and find it." This was with him a
growing belief and a deepening principle. All last year he
avowed that it was taking firmer hold of him than ever ; and he
showed it. On this Sunday last year, and on all his free Sundays
in the chill season of November and December, he went out on
tlie canal sides to gather, whenever he could, a congregation of
bargemen. Small as were the first results, he would not take
them as discouragements. The principle in itself was true, — of
that he was certain, — and time, faith, perseverance, alone were
needed for working it out. He had no fear of the final fruits of
a patient loving husbandry.*
This testimony of his coadjutor-bishop is borne out by
the words of one who had known him more intimately
still, and who was indeed, for many years in New Zealand,
his " bosom friend."
What was the secret (writes Sir William Martin) of this
wonderful activity ? What was the hidden power which sustained
this vast labour ? It was simply the conviction — ever present to
the mind of the Bishop — that he was the servant of ONE who
had given him a work to do. He was ever mindful of what he
used to call " the grand monosyllables of Bishop Bull," — the
* Bishop Hobhouse, "Sermon preached at Shenstone, 1878."
494 BISHOP SELWYN. [1878.
maxim, " In we are, and on we must." Accordingly, to him
work was no drudgery. He was the wilUng servant of a loving
master; paying little regard to praise from men, rather turning
aside from it and giving to others the credit of what he had done
or spoken well. There was no moroseness or asceticism about
his religion. He enjoyed, as few do, the beauty of the world.
Being strong in faith, he was daring, direct, and fearless ; stern
too, when sternness was needed ; yet withal tender as a woman to
the sick, the suffering, the penitent, and to children. As he was
a true Englishman, so was he a true son of the Church of
England. He favoured everything that might add to the beauty
or solemnity of worship ; yet not so as to mar the simple majesty
of the services of the Church. He was tenacious of primitive
order ; but, above all, of truth. And he nourished his life upon
the Scriptures.*
But enough of human testimony. This man, who
never courted praise, was above such things. And his
biographer feels bound — in loyalty to the most absolutely
single-minded and noble-hearted man he ever saw, or
expects to see — to add, in conclusion, that Christian check
on all excessive admiration of his life and character, which
he himself was always the first to suggest : " Give God
the praise ! " " It is God who gave the increase. So
then, neither is he that planteth anything, nor he that
watereth ; but God, who giveth the increase."
* Sir W. Martin, in Foreign Church Chronicle, June, 1878.
THE END.
PRINTKD BY WILLIAM CLOWES AND SONS, LIMITED, LONDON AND BECCLES.
INDEX
Abraham, Bishop, 143, 237, 239, 247,
250, 4S4, 486, 487
Alms-dish, presented by American
Church, 303, 32S
America, first visit to, 293
, letters from, 293, 378
, second visit to, 372
Appeal, Final Court of, 433
Athanasian Creed, 318, 341
Auckland, departure from, 237
, head-quarters at, 84, 155
IJagnall, John Nock, 266
"Barge, Episcopal" (New Zealand),
89
Mission, 455
Birth and parentage, 5
Bishop's Castle, parish in Shroi^shire,
261
Black Country, attractions of the, 187,
339, 421
Boating at Eton, 12
Boat Race, Oxford and Cambridge, 7
Bolland, Rev. H., 465
Border Maid, the, 140
Broughton, Bishop, 41, 108
Burials Bill, 313, 390, 406, 428
Cambridge, St. John's College, 7
Canada, Provincial Synod of, 373
Cannibalism, 10
Canterbury Settlement, 122, 127, 145
Carriage accident, 435
Cathedral Statutes, revision of, 4 n ,4 1 5
Cathedrals in Dark Ages, 413
, love of, 109, 19S
, reform of, 15
Catholic revival (1833), 2, 20
"Chamber of horrors," 251, 278
Champneys, Dean, 246, 389
Chapter at Lichfield, 265
Children, how to teach, 395
, love of, 334, 404, 479
" Church House," 432
, organization, need of, 79
tent, the, 29
Clergy House, scheme for, 457
Pension Fund, 432
Clerical Disabilities Bill, 280
Coleridge, Rev. E., 28, 34, no
College, Lichfield Theological, 221,
269, 273, 285, 354
, St. Augustine's, in
, St. John's (New Zealand), 82,
156
, Selwyn, Cambridge, 490
, Trinity (New Zealand), 113
Colonization, true principles of, 127
Conferences, Archidiaconal, 20S, 214,
221
, Diocesan, 114, 200, 209, 222,
226, 454
496
INDEX.
Confirmation, 245, 2j6, 403, 474
, first, in New Zealand, 82
Congress, Old Catholic, 292, 431
, Stoke on Trent, 407 \
•, Wolverhampton, 183
Consecration at Lambeth, 32
Consideration for others, 161, 173,
405, 438, 472, 478, 480
Constitution of the New Zealand
Church, 118
Controversial books, dislike of, 441
Convention, American, 295, 373
Convocation, debate in, 318, 341,
395
, Bishop's last speech in, 471
Cookery, training in, 13
Cotton, Rev. W., 34, 40
Daisy Chain, the, 153
Denstone school, 475
Departure to New Zealand, 36
Dido, H.M.S., 130
Diocesan Sunday, 441
Diocese, division of (Lichfield), 44S
, (New Zealand), 178
Disestablishment, 114
Diving and swimming, 7, 161
Dollinger, Dr., excommunicated at
Rome, 292
Dora, Sister, 420, 447
Durnford, Bishop, 393
Ealing, school at, 5
Eccleshall Castle, 197
Education, religious, 315
England, first visit to, 145, 479
Enthronement at Lichfield, 193
Episcopacy, need of (New Zealand),
79
Eton, 6, 9, 20
Eurydice, loss of the, 483
Evangelists, Maori and Melanesian,
44, 151
Evans, W., death of, 55
Farewell addresses from Maoris, etc.,
232
to England, 34
visit to New Zealand, 229
Festival, choral, at Lichfield, 221,
450
, foreign missions, 400
, home missions, 265, 400
Fire Insurance, 432
Fraser, Bishop, 439
French man-of-war, salute from, 161
Funeral, the, at Lichfield, 486
Gaol, confirmation at, 473
Gladstone, W. E., 6, 34, 115, 200,
487
Gray, Bishop, 183, 205
Grey, Sir George, 128
Gun-barrels used for bells, 72
Hadfield, Bishop, 54, 72, 90
" Haere mai," 63
Harrowby, Lord, 114
Hau-haus, the, 83, 171
Havannah, H. M.S., voyage with, 139
Heki, John, loi, 169
liobhouse, BishojD, 30, 34, 172, 247,
357, 483
Hobson, Captain, governor of New
Zealand, 42
Hot-springs, the, 86
Ilowley, Archbishop, letter from, 34
" Hurry," objection to, 453
lies. Archdeacon, 291, 457
Illness, last, 481-4S5
" Institution" and "Induction," 459
Irish Church, the, 252-261
Isle of Man, visit to, 437
Kohi-marama, 143
Kororareka, 50, 102
Lakes, summer holiday at the, 451
INDEX.
497
Land -question, New Zealand, 165
Laymen in Church Conferences, 117
"Legislation" versus "Litigation,"
361, 392, 464
Lichfield, call to, 183
declined, 184
accepted, 186
, life at, 243
Liddon, Canon, 274
Longley, Archbishop, 179
Lonsdale, Bishop, 183, 215
Lycurgus, Archbishop, 263
Mackenzie, Bishop, 153
Mankind, two types of, 347
Maoris, character of, 46, 70, 78, 90
, first conversion of, 69, 97
transformed by Christianity, 177
Marriage, 21
Marsden, Rev. Samuel, 43
Martin, SirW., 54, 84, 232, 252, 440,
481, 485, 493
Maurice, Rev. Y. D., 322, 469
Maxwell, Captain, 131
Melanesia, scenery of, 135, 137, 149
Melanesian character, 140
Mission, 130, 142, 145
scholars, boys, 139
scholars, girls, 161
Miall's "Disestablishment
Bill,
349
Missions, Congregationalist, 135, 151
, parochial, 265
, Presbyterian, 138
, Roman Catholic, 89
, Wesleyan, 89, 95, 134, 471
Misunderstanding by the Maoris, 167
in England, 210, 243
Nature, love of, 59, 298, 440
New Caledonia, 160
New Zealand, climate of, 57
, first impressions of, 41
, scenery of, 57, 61, 89, 96
New Zealand, sorrow at leaving, 1S3
Niagara, Falls of, 295, 382
Norfolk Island, 143, 158
Nursing the sick, 55,' 173
Obedience, strong views about, 184,
289, 364
Order of St. Michael and St. George,
447
Ordination at Hano/er Square, 11
week at Lichfield, 370
O.xford, speech at, 323
Parochial work, love of, 423, 472
Patriarchate of Canterbury, 306, 364
Patteson, Bishop, 146, 154, 160, 178,
231, 307
, MissF., letters from, 187, 242
Pelsall, colliery accident at, 330
Potter- Selwyn Prize, the, 374
Potteries, work in the, 201
Prince of Wales, illness of, 312
, visit to India, 410
Probationer system, 104, 269
Public Worship Regulation Act, 357
Purchas case, 287
Pusey, Dr. , on fasting communion, 346
Rawle, Bishop, consecration of, 325
" Reverend," title of, 427
Ritualism, 279, 343, 348, 358
, proposed Conference on, 465
, Royal Commission on, 317
RotaWaitoa, Rev., first Maori clergy-
man, 67, 145
Sailors and Soldiers, 139, 149, 173,
185. 397
Sandwell School for Girls, 475
Sarawia, Rev. George, 324
Savages, influence over, 141
Scepticism, 163, 290
School Boards, 275
Scripture, familiarity with, 163. 476
498
INDEX.
Selwyn, Canon, 25, 89
, John R., 100, 144, 229, 244,
277, 338, 443
, Mrs., 27, 40, 158, 237, 243, 483
, Mrs. J. R., death of, 479
Sermon on Bishop Patteson, 311
Sermons at Cambridge, 146
Service, midnight, in cathedral, 445
Shaftesbury, Lady, letter from, 139
Shipwreck, 230
Shrewsbury, Lord, 453
, St. Mary's, 1 8 1, 482
Simplicity, love of, ill, 426, 438
Southern Cross, the, 145, 153
Storm, an episcopal, 467
Sunday in the wilderness, 57, 59
Sydney, arrival at, 41
Synod, Pan- Anglican, 140, 179, 364
, Pan-Australasian, 140
Synods in New Zealand, 115, 231
Tait, Archbishop, 394
Taupo Lake, 87
Taurarua Bay, 104, 156, 231
Te Kooti, 172
Temple, Bishop, 261
Terraces, pink and white, 87
Thames Valley, expedition to, 46
Tour on the Continent, 8
Trower, Bishop, 229, 262
Tuatura, first Maori convert, 44
Tyrrell, Bishop, 140, 142
Tyrrell, Miss, legacy from, 457
Undine, first voyage in, 136
Universities (Irish), Bill, 336
Reform, 277
, Royal Commission on, 316
Visitation of the North Island, 53 ~
of the South Island, 91
Waikato River, 65
Waimate, the, 50, 52, 69, 81, 91, 103
Wairau, massacre at, 75
Waitangi, treaty of, 74
Wakefield, Colonel, 74, 125
War with the Maoris, 91, loi, 163,
168
Whittington Heath, services at, 471
Whytehead, Rev. T., 34,67, 107, 149
Wilberforce, Bishop S., death of, 350
Williams, Archdeacon H., 52, 92, 99,
171
, Bishop W. , 100
, Rev. W., 477
Windsor, curacy at, 1 1
Wolverhampton, 278, 464, 482
Wordsworth, Bishop of Lincoln, 319,
327
Young men, dealings with, 341, 353
Zanzibar, mission at, 401
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