^OFCALIFO/?^ ^ § ^^ .^ '^Aa3AiNn]WV vvlOSANCElfj> o ^Aa3AiNn]v\v ^^^•IIBRARY^/ ^(!/OJIIV0JO'^ 1"IV3J0^ OSANCELfj^ ^^.OFCALIFO/?^ ^ ^tel ■'J ujAiNnjwv ^OFCAIIFO/?^ ^:lOSANCEl5j> Or -n c — v75a3AINn3\\V ^i0S/W.Eifx^ ^^ir ^IIIBRARYQ^ t/Or-l iiir.i iiinri IFO/?^ ,^ ^.OFCALIFO/?^ S ^ aiH^ ^^AavaaiHS^ <§ ^WEUNIVER^//^ ■ "^a^AiNn-^wv ^>^IIIBRARYQ/: ^^IIIBRAR L. r ^&Aavaan-# '^^ommw '^RYQ^. -v^UIBRARYQ^ ^ >i Q.jo-^ ^^ojiivjjo-^ "^j:ji3onvsoi^'^ ,^\\E•UNIVER5•/A < £9 % o = .■< FO/?^ ^OFCAIIFO/?^ ^1 aiii^^ "^(^Aiivjiaiia^^ ,\\^EUNIVER% ;VOSASG[Lfj> 03 5=J A^lLIBRARYQr -^^^t■LlBRARY iiinri 111(7 IEEV?> SAMUEL MAffiSBEH. ReltiJicuL. MEMOIRS OF i;ij^ fife n^ fnkurs OF THE REV. SAMUEL MARSDEN, OF PARAMATTA, SENIOR CHAPLAIN OF NEW SOUTH WALES; AND OF HIS EARLY CONNEXION WITH THE MISSIONS TO NEW ZEALAND AND TAHITI. EDITED BY THE Eev. J. B. MAESDEN, m.a., AUTIIOU OF " XIIE HISTORY OF IHJE EAULY AND LATEK PUKITANS," ETC. EIC. LONDON: THE EELICrlOUS TRACT SOCIETY ; 50, rATERNOSl'ER ROW; G5, ST. PAUl-i'S CHURCHYARD; AND 164, RICCADILLY: AND SOLD DY THE BOOKSELLEKS. INTEODUCTOEY NOTE. ^5 5^/)^ 1^5-9 The Editob would make bis kind acknowledgments to the Church Missionary and London Missionary- Societies for the free use of the hitherto unpublished correspondence of Mr. Samuel Marsden in their bands; and to J. S. Nicholas, Esq., who accompanied Mr. Marsden on bis first visit to New Zealand, for the use of a valuable manuscript account of bis residence in New South Wales, containing much information respecting Mr. Marsden. He has also had before him a manuscript life of Mr. Marsden by Lieut. Sadleir of Paramatta, from wliich several extracts are made. And lastly, be would acknowledge the courtesy of those surviving friends who have placed in bis hands Mr. Marsden's autograph letters to themselves or de- ceased members of their families. Erom these several sources the work has been chiefly compiled. The Editor may be permitted to add, that the simi- larity of bis name having led to the general conclusion (which however is incorrect) that he was related to Mr. Samuel Marsden, be has been repeatedly urged to publish bis life. At length this request being IV INTEODUCTOBT NOTE. renewed by the Eeligious Tract Society, into whose hands some valuable papers and documents had fallen, lie was induced to comply with their wishes, under the conviction that the facts and incidents, as well as the moral grandeur, of Mr. Marsden's life, were too important to be suffered to lie any longer in compara- tive obscurity. There are ample materials for a much larger volume; but of course the Editor has been obliged to select what appeared to be most suitable for general usefulness. CONTENTS. FACE Introductory Note ... iii CHAPTER I. Early life of Mr. Samuel Marsden — His appointment to New South Wales — Voyage, and arrival in the Colony . . 1 CHAPTER II. Discovery and e,irly History of New South Wales — Becomes a Penal Settlement — Its state, moral and religious, on Mr. Mai'sden's ai-rival ...... .11 CHAPTER III. Mr. Marsden appointed to the JIagistracy — Objections to this considered — Cultivates Land — Charge of Secularity considered — His connexion with the London Missionary Society, and care of its Polynesian Mission — Revisits England in 1807 . 26 Distant view of Sydney (^Engraving") .... 27 CHAPTER IV. Various measures devised for the benefit of New South Wales — Tlie establishment of Missions in New Zealand — Friendship wifh Dr. Mason Good .... * . 47 VI CONTENTS. CHAPTER V, PAGE Return to the Colony — Duaterra— His strange Adventures — Mr. Marsden's Labours in New South Wales — Aborigines— Their Habits — Plans for their Civilization .... 63 CHAPTER VI. Mr. Marsden's Correspondence with the London Missionary Society— Buys the brig Active— His First Voyage to New Zealand — Journal of Events 85 CHAPTEFi VIL Death of Duateri-a — Trials of Mr. Marsden in the Colony — Libel of Philo-free — Letter to the Rev. George Burder — To Dr. M;ison Good — Sympathy of his Friends in England — Congratulations of the 46th Regiment, and Mr, M's acknow- ledgment — Letters of Lord Gambler, Rev. C. Simeon, and ^Ii^-Fry 108 CHAPTER VIIL Tooi and Teterree — Mr. Marsden's Second Voyage to New Zealand — Progress of the Gospel there— Shunghie— His ferocity— Mr. Slarsden returns to Now South Wales— Third Voyage to New Zealand — Malicious charges brought against him in liis absence — A Commission of Inquiry — Its result — Letters, etc. — Approbationof the Government . . . 12? CHAl'TEi; IX. Fourth Visit to New Zealand — Trials and Successes of the various Missions — Shipwreck and Danger of Mr. Marsden and the Kcv. S. Leigh — Returns home — Letter to Avison Terry, l-'Sq 167 CONTENTS. Vll PAGB CHAPTER X. Aborigines — South Sea Mission — Fresh Slanders on Mr. Mars- den's character — His Pamphlet in self-defence — Letter of Messrs. Bennett and Tyerman — Libels and Action at Law — Verdict— Case of Ring — Pastoral Letters of Mr. Marsden : To a Lady ; On the Divinity of Christ — Fifth Voyage to New Zealand — Letters, etc. ... . . 184 CHAPTER XI. Death of Dr. Mason Good — Malicious chai'ges brought against Mr. Marsden and confuted— Sixth Voyage to New Zealand — Frightful state of the Island — Battle of the Maories — Their Cannibalism — Progress of the Mission — Mr. Marsden's return — Death of Mrs. Marsden — Anticipation of his own decease. 212 CHAPTER XIL State of New South Wales — The Aborigines — Cruelties prac- tised upon them — Attempts to civilize and convert them — They ftul — Mr. Marsden's Seventh Visit to New Zealand — His Daughter's Journal — AtTection of the Natives — Progress of the Mission — Danger from European vices — Returns in H. M. S. Rattlesnake to Sydney 232 Ptu'amatta Church (^Engraving) 233 CHAPTER XIII. Mr. Marsden's ministerial pursuits and journeys — Love of the Country and of Patriarchal story — His Old Age — Its mental features — Anecdotes — Love of Children — Bishop Broughton — His reverence for Mr. Marsden's character — Mr. Marsden's views of Death, etc. — His Habits of l'i«yer — His Illness and Death 260 VllI COXTENTS. PAGE CHAPTER XIV. Character of Mr. Marsden — His Life and Labciii"5 . '280 APPENDIX I. Progress of the Gospel and of Civilization in New Zealand, since Jlr. Marsden's Decease . .... 295 APPENDIX n. Suite and Prospects of the Protcst;int Mission at Tahiti, under the French Protectorate . , . .oil LIFE OF THE REVEREND SAMUEL MARSDEN. CHAPTER I. Early Life. of Mr. Samuel Marsden — His appointment to New South Wales — Voyage, and amval in the Colony. Samuel Maesdek, whose life is sketched in the following pages, was not ennobled by birth or rank, nor was he greatly distinguished by splendid talents. Yet he was, in the true sense, a great man ; and he was an instance, one of the most striking of modern times, of the vast results which may be accom- plished when an honest heart, a clear head, and a re- solute mind and purpose, are directed, under the influence of the grace of God, to the attainment of a noble object. While he lived he shared the usual lot of those whose large philanthropy outruns the narrow policy of those around them. His motives were seldom understood, and in consequence he was thwarted and maligned. 'Nov was it till death had removed him from the scene that either the grandeur of his projects or the depth of his self-denying, un- obtrusive piety was generally appreciated. At length, however, his character has begun to be revered. It is perceived tliat he was, at least, a far-sighted man ; 2 LIFE OP THE RET. SAMUEL MA11SJ)T5N. and that, in his own labours he was laying the founda- tions for the successes of thousands; while in the church of Christ he is had in reverence as the Apostle of New Zealand — a title of liigh distinction, yet by no means misapplied to .one who, in the simplicity of his faith as well as in zeal and self-denying labours, was truly an apostolic man. Of his early life the memorials are but scanty. His father was a tradesman at Horsforth, a village in the neighbourhood of Leeds ; and botli liis pai-ents are known in the traditions of his family as having been persons of integrity and piety, attached to the ministry of the AVesleyan Methodists. He was born on the 28tli of July, 1764, and after receiving the elements of learning at a village school, was placed in the free grammar-school of Hull, of which the celebrated Dr. Joseph Milner, the ecclesiastical historian, and brother to the no less eminent Dr. Isaac Milner, dean of Carlisle, was then head master. Here he was on the same form with Dr. Dcaltry, the late rector of Clapham and chancellor of Winchester. Of his early youth little more is known ; for his modesty, rather than any sentiment of false shame, to which indeed his whole nature was opposed, seldom permitted him to speak of himself, or to dwell upon the adventures or incidents of his early life. He was removed from school to take his share in his fatlicr's business ; but he now had higher tlioughts, and longed to be a minister of Christ. That lie was a young man of more than ordinary pro- mise is at once evident from the fact, tliat lie was adopted by the Elland Society and placed at St. John's college, Cambridge, to study for the ministry of the churcli of England. The Elland Societv, so called from thr parish in LIFE OE TUE HEX. SAMUEL MAESDEN. 3 which its meetings are held, is au institution to which the cause of evangelical truth in the church of Eng- land has been much indebted for the last sixty or seventy years. It is simply an association of pious members of the church of England, who assist young men of enlightened zeal and suitable talents with the meaus of obtaining an education with a view to the Christian ministry. In its early days, the funds were supplied by Thornton, Simeon, Wilberforce, and others like minded Avith themselves ; and the society was managed by a few devoted clergymen of Yorkshire and the neighbouring counties ; amongst whom were Venn of Huddersfield and Joseph Milner. To this society Samuel Marsden was introduced by his friend the Severend Mr. Whittaker, a neighbouring clergy- man ; and not without some apprehensions, it is said, on the part of the latter, lest his simple and unassum- ing manner should create a prejudice against him. Such anxieties were superfluous. The Milners them- selves had fought their way to eminence from the weaver's loom, and well knew how to distinguish real worth, however unpretending. The piety, the manly sense, and the modest bearing of the candidate, at once won the confidence of the examiners ; and he was sent to college at their expense. Of his college life we are not aware that any memo- rials have been preserved. He was, no doubt, a diligent student ; and from the warm friendship which grew up between himself and Mr. Simeon in after life, we may infer that he profited from his ministry. He had not yet completed his studies or taken his degree, when, to his great surprise, an offer was made to him by the government, of a chaplaincy in what was then designated " His Majesty's territory of New South 4 LIFE or THE REV. SAMUEL MAESDE:5f. Wales." That a post of such importance should have been offered, unsolicited, to a student hitherto quite unknown, is supposed to have been owing to the in- fluence of Mr. Wilberforce. He had already secured the appointment of more than one pious cliaplain to the colony, and from its commencement had always been anxious to promote its moral and religious wel- fare. At first, Mr. Marsden declined the tempting offer ; for such it undoubtedly was to a young man in his circumstances, although no human sagacity coidd then foresee its vast importance. He was naturally anxious to complete his studies, and he had a deep and unaffected sense of his own incompetence, wliile yet so young and inexperienced. The offer, however, was repeated and pressed upon him, when he modestly replied, that he was " sensible of the importance of the post — so sensible, indeed, that he hardly dared to accept it upon any terms, but if no more proper person could be found, he would consent to undertake it." The choice reflects, no doubt, great credit upon the sagacity and spiritual discernment of those who made it. " Toung as he was," says one who knew him well in after life, Dr. IMason Good, " he was remarkable for a firmness of principle, an intrepidity of spirit, a suavity of manner, a strong judgment, and above all, a mind stored with knowledge and deeply impressed with religious truth, which promised the happiest residts." He was accordingly appointed as second chaplain to the settlement in New tSouth AVales, by a ro} al com- mission, bearing date 1st January, 1793. He was ordained shortly afterwards, and proceeded at once to Hull, from whence he was to take his passage in a convict transport, the only conveyance, at that period. LIFE OF THE KEY. SAMUEL MAR8LEN. 5 tor tlie far distant colouy ; a banishment of half a world. On the 21st of April, he was married to Miss Elizabeth Tristan, in whom, for upwards of thirty years, he found not only an affectionate and faithful wife, but a companion singularly qualified to share his labours and lighten his toils. Disinterested and generous as he was, even to a fault, it was to her admirable management that not only his domestic comfort, but even his means of assisting others so pro- fusely, was owing in no small degree. "While at Hull, an incident occurred which shows to what an extent, even thus early in life, he possessed the art of gaining the respect and warm affection of those who knew him however slightly. While waiting for the sailing of the ship, he was frequently asked to officiate in various cliurches. .One Sunday morning, when he was just about to enter the pulpit, a signal-gun was heard; his ship was about to sail, and it was of course impos- sible for him to preach. Taking his bride under his arm, he immediately left the church and walked dowji to the beach ; but he was attended by the wliole con- gregation, who, as if by one movement, followed in a body. From the boat into which he stepped he gave his parting benedictions, which they returned with fervent prayers, and tender farewells. He now found* himself in a new world. AVhat contrast could indeed be greater, or more distressing r The calm, though vigorous pursuits of Cambridge, and the pious circle of warm Christian friends, were at once exchanged for the society of felons, and the doubly irksome con- finement of a couvict-ship. Prom his journal, which has been foi'tunately preserved, we make the foUowino' extracts, omitting much which our space does not per- mit us to insert. u2 G IIKB OF XHE BET. SAMITEL MAESBEN. " Sunday, 2Sth August, 1798. — This niorniug we weighed anchor, with a fair wind, and have sailed well all the day. How different this sabbath to what I have been accustomed to ! Once I could meet the people of God, and assemble with them in the house of prayer ; but now am deprived of this valuable privi- lege ; and instead of living among those who love and serve the Lord Jesus, spending the sabbath in prayer and praise, I hear nothing but oaths and blasphemies. Lord, keep me in the midst of them, and grant that I may neither in word or deed countenance their wicked practices." It was not till the 30th of September that the fleet in which his ship sailed finally left Cork. Tlie war with France was then raging, and her fleets were still formidable ; so that our merchantmen only ventured to put to sea in considerable numbers, and under the convoy of a ship of war. " Cork, '30th September. — This morning the signal was given by the commodore for all the ships under his convoy to weigh anchor and prepare for sea. About nine o'clock the whole fleet was under sail, which consisted of about forty ships. The wind was very fair, so tliat we were quickly in the main ocean. 1 was soon afl'ectcd by the motion of the vessel ; tliis rendered me quite unfit for any religious duties. Oh ! liow miserable must their state be who have all their r(>ligi()ii to seek when sickness and death come upon tlieiii. Jjord, g7\int that this may never be my case. " Monday, 2-ird October. — I have this day been read- ing a portion of Dr. Dodd's ' Prison Tlioughts.' AVhat au awful instance of human infirmity is here! AV^hat need of luimility in every situation, but more especially iu tlie luiiiii^ltrial ollicc ! How necdfid tlie apostle's LIFE OF THE BEV. SAMUEL MAKSDEK. 7 caution, ' Let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall.' " The two following entries will be read with pain. The mercantile marine of England is still capable of great improvement in matters of religion, but we hope the instances are few in which the commander of a first rate merchant vessel would follow the examples they record. " Sunday, 29th September. — How different is this sab- bath from those I have formerly known, when I could meet with the great congregation ! I long for those means and privileges again. ' Oh, when shall I come and appear before God ?' Yet it is a great consolation to me to believe that I am in the way of my duty. I requested the captain to-day to give me permission to perform divine service to the ship's company; he rather hesitated, said he had never seen a religious sailor, but at length promised to have service the follownng Sunda3^ " Suiidai/, Gth October. — The last sabbath the captain promised me I should have liberty to perform divine service to-day, but to my great mortification, he now declines. How unwilling are the unconverted to hear anything of divine truth !" But Mr. Marsden was not one of those who arc discouraged by a first repulse. The next Sunday relates his triumph, and, from this time, divine service, whenever the weather allowed, was statedly performed, though the captain was a grossly immoral man, and Mr. M. was constantly subject to annoyance. '^Suiidai/, IWi. — I arose this morning with a great desire to preach to the ship's company, yet did not know how I slioald be able to accomplish my wisli. Wc were now four ships in company. Our captain 8 LIFE or THE REV. SAMUEL MAESDEN. had invited the captains belonging to the other tln-ee to dine with us to-day. As soon as they came on board I mentioned my design to one of them, wlio immediately complied with my wish, and said he ■would mention it to our captain, which he did, and preparations were made for me to preach. I read part of the church prayers, and afterwards preached from the 3rd chapter of St John, the 14th and 15th verses : ' As Moses lifted vip the serpent in tlie wil- derness,' etc. The sailors stood on the main deck, I and the four captains upon the quarter-deck ; they were attentive, and the good effects were apparent during the remainder of the day. " Thursday, 12th December, — I have been reading of the success of Mr, Brainerd among the Indians. How tlie Lord owned and blessed his labours to the con- version of the heathen ! Nothing is too hard for the Lord. This gives me encouragement under my pre- sent difficult undertaking. The same power can also eftect a change upon those hardened ungodly sinners to wliom I am about to carry the words of eternal life. " January 1st, 1794. — A new year. I wish this day to renew my covenant with God, and to give myself np to his service more than ever I have done liereto- fore. May my little love be increased, my weak faith strengthened, and hope confirmed." In this humble yet trustful spirit, Mr. Marsden entered his new field of labour. On board the ship there were a number of convicts, whose daring wicked- ness — in which, indeed, they were countenanced by the whole conduct of the captain and his crew — grieved his righteous soul from day to day ; while at the same lime it prepared liiiii, in some measure, for scenes LIFE OP. THE EEV. SAMUEL MAESDETf. 9 amidst wliich his life was to be spent. "I am sur- rouuded," he says, " with evil-disposed persons, thieves, adulterers, and blasphemers. May God keep me from evil, that I may not be tainted by the evil practices of those amongst whom I live." His last sermon was preached, " notwithstanding the unwillingness there was in all on board to hear the word of Grod," from the vision of dry bones (Ezekiel sxvxii.) " I found some liberty, and afterwards more comfort in my own soul. I Avisli to be found faithful at last, and to give up my account with joy to God." To add to his anxieties, Mrs. Marsden was confined on shipboard, in stormy weather, and under circumstances peculiarly distress- ing, " though both the mother and daughter did well." But the same day the scene brightened ; tlie perils and privations of the voyage were drawing to a close, and they were in sight of their future home — that mag- nificent Australia — destined hereafter to assume, perhaps, a foremost place -among the nations of the earth, though scarcely known to Em-ope when Mr. Marsden first stepped upon its shores; and valued only by the British governm.ent as a settlement for the refuse of our jails. He thus gives utterance to the feelings of a grateful heart : — " March 2nd. — I shall ever retain a grateful sense of the mercies received this day, and the deliverances wrought. The Lord is good, and a stronghold in the day of trouble, and knows them that fear him . . . As soon as I had the opportunity to go upon deck, I had the happiness again to behold the laud: it was a very pleasing sight, as we had not seen it since the 3rd of December. We came up with the Cape about noon." lu a few davs, Mr. iMarsden had taken up liis abode 10 LIFE OF THE KEY. SAMUEL MAESDEN. in the "barracks" of Paramatta, a few miles from Tort Jackson, and entered upon his arduous and toil- some duties as chaplain to the colony. His first Sunday in Australia is thus described : — " Saw several persons at work as I went along, to whom I spoke, and warned them of the evil of sabbath-breaking. My mind was deeply affected with the wickedness I beheld going on. I spoke from the Gth chapter of Kevelatio^. — ' Be- liold the great day of his wrath is come ; and who shall be able to stand ?' As I was returnhig home, a young man followed me into the wood, and told me how he was distressed for the salvation of his soul. He seemed to manifest the strongest marks of contrition, and to be truly awakened to a sense of his danger. I liope the Lord will have many souls in this place." He had, for a sliort time, a single associate, in the Eev. Mr. Jolnison, the senior chaplain, a good and useful minister, but Unequal to the difficulties peculiar to his situation. This gentleman soon relinquished his ap- pointment, and returned to England. And thus Mr, Marsden was left alone with a charge which might liave appalled the stoutest heart, and under which even his would have given way, had he not learned to cast himself for help on One "\sho comforted the aj)ostle, under circumstances of the keenest sullering, A\ iih the assurance, " My grace is sufficient for thee." On that grace our missionary chaplain trusted ; and he found it all-sufficient. lilFE OF THE REV. SAMUEL MAKSBEN. 11 CHAPTER II. Discovery and early History of New South Wales — Becomes a Penal Settlement — Its state, moral and religious, on Mr. IMarsden's arrival. The colony in which Mr. Marsden was now entering on his labours, and on which he was to leave the im- pression both of his holy zeal, and his far-sighted practical wisdom, is one of whose history our readers may naturally wish to have some account. We shall therefore suspend our narrative for a few pages, and lay before them a brief sketch of the earlier days of the great Australian colony. Europeans are indebted for their first knowledge of the existence of the vast country which now bears the name of Australia, to the enterprise of Spain and Hol- land, when these nations were at the head of the world's commerce, two centuries and a half ago. In 1607, Luis de Torres, who was sent out by the Spanish government on a voyage of discovery, passed through the sti'aits which still bear his name, and which sepa- rate New Guinea from the greater continent of Aus- tralia ; but he was not aware of its vast extent, and merely concluded that the coasts along which he sailed were those of a group of islands. Just about the same time, the Dutch explored the eastern shores of what has since been termed the Gulf of Carpentaria ; and their knowledge of Australia was extended by subsequent voyagers, of whom the chief was Abel Tasman. In 1642, he discovered Van Diemen's Land, which was long supposed to be a part of the great 12 LIFE OF THE KEY. SAMUEL MAKSDEN. coutiuent named by the Dutch New Holland — the Australia of modem tim.es. Eaiown as Tasmania, Van Diemen's Land now immortalizes the great sea- captain. But these discoveries led to no immediate results of importance ; and for upwards of a century New Holland was laid down, in charts and maps, as a region whose coasts were not defined, and whose in- terior was utterly unknown. Early in the reign of George the Tliird a noble spirit of enterprise animated the Britisli government. Voyages of discovery were undertaken in the Southern Seas, under Captains Wallace, Carteret, and others ; and at length the celebrated Captain Cook may be said to have re- trieved a new world from romance and fable, and to have made it over to England and to the best interests of mankind. On the evening of the 19th of April, 1770, unknown land was descried from the mast-head of the " Keso- lute," of which Cook was the commander. The rugged coast of a vast continent seemed to extend far beyond the sweep of the telescope ; and as the sun went down, the vessel, after soundings, dropped her anchor within a spacious bay. The smoke of distant fires told that the huid was not without inhabitants ; and it was determined, if possible, to open a communication with them. In the morning, a boat was rowed on shore, and the first Englishman set his foot upon Australia. A forest extended to the beach, and dipped its branches into the sea ; while an abundant variety of beautiful fiowering shrubs delighted the eye ; and from this circumstauce "Botany Bay" received its European name. A dismal solitude prevailed ; for the natives, one or two of wliom had been observed croucliing be- hind Ihe rocks, fled in terror to the woods as the boat LIFE OF THE EEV. SAMUEL MABSDEK. 13 approached. After spending a few hours on shore in search of water and fresh vegetables, and in the vain attempt to communicate with the savages, the boat returned at night. The bay was found to abound with fish ; and the sailors were glad to relieve the weary monotony of their many months at sea, as well as to provide an agreeable change from their diet of salt meat and mould}'' biscuits, in fishing both with nets and lines. Pish too was a wholesome diet for the sick ; and at this period, even in the navy, sick- ness, especially from the scurvy, almost invariably attended a long voyage. The natives, seeing the men thus employed, dis- covei-ed in our sailors some tastes common to them- selves, and at length ventured towards the fishermen in a couple of light canoes. After paddling about for some time in evident suspense, they ventured to approach the boat, then came still nearer and shouted, and having caught a few beads which were thrown oiat to them, immediately retired. Gaining courage from the peaceful conduct of our sailors, who were instructed to continue their fishing without any attempt to follow them, the natives soon returned with a canoe laden Avith fine fish, which they readily bartered for such trifles as the boat was provided with. They were invited, by signs, to come on board the ship lying in the offing, which they soon ventured to do in con- siderable numbers. At first, they seemed harmless, scarcely understanding the use of the various novelties on ship board, and not much surprised by them ; and honest, until the sight of ten or twelve fine turtle crawling on the deck proved too great a temptation. First, by signs they begged for some of these, and then, not succeeding, made a cliildish attempt to carry c 14 LIFE OF THE BET. SAMUEL MAESDEN. them off by force. They set little value ou the beads and baubles which generally have so great a charm for savages. Nothing tempted them to barter but turtle or iron tools and nails, neither of which could well be spared. On shore it was found almost impossible to approach them ; such was the distrust and dismay with which they evidently regarded the intrusion of their strange visitors. On further acquaintance the . savages were discovered to be a singularly helpless and timid race. Their country appeared to be very thinly peopled, and that chiefly along the coast, for fish were plentiful and wild animals were few. Of the latter, the largest was scarcely bigger than a greyhound, and the first sight of it caused great amazement to the sailors, one of whom rushed into the tent which had been pitched on the shore for the use of the sick, declaring, with horror depicted ou his countenance, that he liad Been an evil spirit. He described it as having assinued the colour of a mouse with two fore-paws, but that it sat upon its hind ([uarters " like a Christian." An animal answering this description w^as soon after shot, and the flesh, when roasted, proved excellent food ; it was called by the natives the kangaroo, and had hitherto been quite unknown! to Europeans. There were no beasts of prey, unless wild dogs deserved that title, but the long grass concealed vast num- bers of snakes and scorpions. At night, the forests were disturbed by the hideous fliglit of huge bats ; by day, they echoed to the whooping of cock- atoos and the screaming of innumerable parrots. Crows and a few wild pigeons were occasionally seen, and the rocks abounded witli wild fowl, while now and tlien an eagle might be seen soaring far above. Such were the iirst impressions which Englishmen LIFE or THE EEV. SAMUEL MAKSBEN. 15 received, from their great voyager, of that vast con- tiuent. On the return of Captain Cook, the accounts he brought home of New South Wales suggested to tlie government the idea of making it a vast prison- liouse for convicted felons, vfho had now become a sore burden, as well as a cause of grave uneasiness, to this country. Its distance and its solitude recommended it to their choice. It would efteetually rid the mother country of a dangerous class — this was the argument of the selfish ; and it would afford the lost the opportunity of starting afresh in life — this was the hope of the few benevolent and humane who cared for the welfare of convicted felons. JSTo one thouglit of the future graudeur of Australia. None wrote or spoke at present of our duties to the aboriginal savages, or probably wasted a thought on the subject of their conversion. la 1778, Botany Bay was selected by Sir Joseph Banks, who had sailed with Captain Cook as a naturalist and scientific observer, as a most eligible site for a penal settlement. But the project was no sooner broached than it had to encounter the most deter- mined opposition from the public, to most of whom it seemed no doubt utterly chimerical and absurd. The " Grentlemau's Magazine," the great organ of literature and science at that time, led the van. At first the editors affected to treat the scheme as an extravagant hoax ; afterwards they tell their readers " with what alarm they read in the public prints that so wild a project was actually to be carried into execution." However, " it could never be countenanced by any professional man after a moment's reflection. Not julv the distance, but the utter impossibility of carry- 16 LIFE or THE REV. SAMTJEL MAESDEN. ing a number of male and female felons across the line, without the ravages of putrid disorders sweepiug them off by the score, must for jever render such a plan abortive. The rains, the heats, tempests, tornados, and mountainous seas to be encountered, were enough to deter the most reckless of human life from such a hazardous enterprise. If any such desperadoes could be found, they ventured to foretell tliat their fate would for ever be a warning to others not to repeat the attempt," The subject was not suffered to rest; a few months afterwards Sylvanus Ueban — for under this name the editors of that able journal have for upwards of a century disguised themselves — returned to the charge. " The ostensible design of the pro- jector," they say, " to prepare a settlement for the reception of felons on the most barren, least inha- bited, and worst cultivated country in the southern hemisphere, was beyond belief." Moreover, " Botany Bay was beyond the reach of succour or assistance from any European settlement." Then again the lavish expense of such an establish- ment was another serious objection. " It was said that it was to consist of a post-captain, a governor, with a salaiy of 500/. a-year, a master, and com- mander. A lieutenant-governor, with 800?. a-ycar, four captains, twelve subalterns, twelve sergeants, and one hundred and sixty rank and file from the marines ; a surgeon, chaplain, aiul quartcrinaster. The whole equipment, army, navy, and felons, were to be supplied with two years' provisions, and all sorts of implements for the culture of the earth, and hunting and fishing. 8ome sliglit buildings were to be run up \inti] a proper fort and a town could bo erected, if siirh a i\'[)ort coidd be true, the expense would eoual that ot LIFE OS THE BEV. SAMUEL MAIISDEN. 17 an expedition to the South Seas against an enemy." ]fsuch extravagance were repeated with every freight of felons, ''it would furthermore extinguish all hope of paying off" the national debt." We leave the reader to smile while he muses on the short-sightedness even of wise men, and the strange fluctuations of human opinion. The government per- severed in spite of these prophetic warnings ; which probably represented the general state of feeling on tlie subject among educated men in England, with whom, in those days, Syhanus was no mean authority. Accordingly, in March 1787, eleven sail, consisting of the frigate Sirius, an armed tender, three store- ships, and six transports, assembled at Portsmouth, having on board five hundred and sixty-five male, and one hundred and ninety-two female convicts, under Captain Arthur Phillip, an experienced officer, who was appointed governor of the new colony. The fleet set sail from the Mother Bank, on the 13th of May, 1787, and after a tedious voyage of eight months, the whole convoy arrived safely in Botany Bay in the middle of January, 1788. But Captain Cook's description of the country surrounding the Bay was foiuid far too flattering — the harbour being ex- posed to tempestuous gales, which often rolled a heavy sea upon the beach, while the land was deformed with swamps and barren sand banks. On pressing forward to a neighbouring creek, marked by Captain Cook as a mere boat harbour, Governor Phillip had the satisfac- tion to find one of the finest havens in the world, in wliich a thousand sail of the line might ride in safety. It was then called Port Jackson. The diff'ereut coves of this harbour were examined with all possible expedition, and the preference was given to one which c2 18 LIFE OF THE RET. SAMUEL MARSDEN, ]i:id the finest spring of watei', and in wbicli ships might anchor so close to the shore that, at a very- small expense, quays could be constructed where the larsrest vessels miofht unload. This cove is about half a mile in length, and about a quarter of a mile across at the entrance. In honour of Lord Sydney, the governor distinguished it by the name of Sydney Cove. On the twenty-sixth of ES^^ary, 1788, the British colours were displayed on these shores ; the plan of an encampmeut, the first rude outline of the metropolitan city of Sydney, was formed. The spot chosen was at the head of the cove, near a stream of fresh water, which stole silently along by a thick wood now the site of crowded streets, the stillness of which for the first time since the creation was then broken by the rude sound of the labourer's axe, and the hum of busy men. The anniversary of this great event has for some years been a festival in New South AValea. Governor Phillip landed uith a tliousand and thirty souls ; his live stock consisted of six head of horned cattle and seven horses. The town and district of Sydney has now a population of three hundred tliousand soids ; every year the increase is enormous ; and tlie ratio of each year's increase exceeds the last. These figures, liowever, make but a feeble impression upon us at a distance. The colonists feel a warmth of enthusiasm such as only the sight of the ma-rvellous contrast can create. ^,Vc copy tlie following extract from the Sydney Herald on one of these anniversaries — " the nativity of the city of Sydney and of the colony of New South Wales." " When we compare the town and the country as thev aro now with what they were then, we may well bo proud tif r>iitish enterprise, and of the local re- LIFE OF THE RET. SAMUEL MAKSDElSr. 19 sources wliicli it has so rapidly and triumphantly developed. How forcibly are we reminded of the uuraeidous transformation foretold by the inspired son of Amoz — ' The wildei-ness and the solitary place shall be glad for them, and the desert shall rejoice and blossom as the rose.' Let the imagination attempt this day to realize the enchanting contrast. As we look upon the noble ships riding in our harbour, and the steamers, yachts, Avherries, and boats innumerable, gliding to and fro amid the joyous excitements of the regatta, let us picture the three humble boats which, this day fifty-seven years,* were slowly creeping up the unknown waters of Port Jackson, in quest of a sure resting-place for our first predecessors. As we cast our eye over the elegant buildings whicli now skirt our shores on either side, and over the crowds of well-dressed men, women and children, who are keeping holiday on this our national festival, let us think of the dense woods which then frowned on Governor Phillip, of the profound silence that reigned around him, of the awful sense of solitude with which he and his little band must have been impressed, and of the exidtation they would have felt could they have fore- seen that, within so brief a term, the wilderness they were approaching would have become ' replenished ' with a teeming population, and have been 'subdued' to the beauty and affluence of civilized life." But the dark side of this romantic picture must not be withheld. The infiint colony was chiefly composed of the worst class of felons ; they were the days of barbarous justice even in England, and it would often be difficult to say why some convicts were sentenced to transportation, while others for lighter causes were * Tbiii was pulilisliud iu 1H45. 20 LIPE OF THE RET. SAMUEL MARSDEN. puinsbed with deatli. There was, at that .time, a fearful iudilFereuce to humaa life in our penal code. Punishment was its sole object ; amendment was seldom if ever contemplated. Amongst the convicts there was every shade of crime, but scarcely any cor- responding gradation of punishment. The truth is, true religion was at its lowest ebb, and pure phi- lanthropy, in consequence, all but unknown ; a formal, heartless religion prevailed ; and, as one ot its fruits, a stern and iron code of law. The convict-ship, which has now become a reformatory school, was rivalled in its horrors only by the slave-ship ; indeed if the physical suffering was greater in the latter, in moral torture and mental defilement the liold of the convict- ship had, beyond all doubt, the bad pre-eminence. The prisoners consisted of the most abandoned per- sons of aU nations ; British, Dutch, and Portuguese sailors, the polite swindler, and the audacious highway- man, with their female accomplices. They were shipped off in chains ; during the passage outward a detachment of soldiers was constantly on guard ; and the voyage was seldom accomplished without bloodshed. The secret plots, in which the prisoners were continually engaged, broke out into open mutiny whenever circumstances offered a chance of success ; for this purpose a storm, a leak, or a feigned sickness, was readily taken advantage of. AVhen signs of such disturbances showed themselves, the ringleaders were seized and tried in a summary way by court martial ; but the sailors often refused to enforce the sentence, so that it became necessary to compel obedience with loaded muskets. The hold of a convict-ship presented a melancholy ]iicture of human depravity. In the course of the LIFE OE THE EEV. SAMUEL MARSDEN. 21 voyage most of the felons survived the sense of shame : the sounds of ribaldry and boisterous mirth, mingled with catches from the popular songs of the day, issued unceasingly from the prisoners' deck ; this uproar was ever and anon increased by more riotous disturbances, blows and bloodshed followed; and occasionally the monotony of the voyage was broken by mock trials among the prisoners, to show that even in the most profligate and abandoned the principle of justice was not altogether destroyed. AVhen a prisoner committed an offence against his fellows, a judge was appointed, advocates were assigned to the prosecutor and the accused, a jury was sworn to try according to the evidence, witnesses were examined, and the prisoner, being found guilty, w'as sentenced to an immediate and brutal punishment. From such elements the society of New SouthWales was formed. Most of the convicts, after a short servitude, obtained tickets-of-leave, and settled upon the parcels of land allotted to them by government ; and by the improvement of such opportunities they easily drew a subsistence from the soil ; others devoted themselves to the care of cattle ; while many more, as the colony inci-eased, betook themselves to trade, by w'hich means large fortunes were frequently acquired. Many of the convicts in the course of a few years con- trived to amass great wealth, which was expended in the extension, or improvement of their property. The results of such industrj^ were to be seen in the cleared inclosures, the neat orchard, and the trim garden that here and there surrounded a well-built brick-house. Even here honest labour seems to have been crowned with success. Free settlers were at present few in number, and the 22 LIFE OF THE EEV. SAMUEL MARSDET.'. convict on his plot of land had many advantages over them. From acquaintance with the climate and the modes of cultivation best suited to the soil, as well as the easiest method of carrying on agricultural opera- tions, he had learned to avoid many fruitless experi- ments. He understood the habits and character of the servants who assisted him, for the labourers were all of them felons ; and he himself had probably shared the same cell, and worked in the same gang. He understood their principles of action ; and they were infected with his prejudices. They lived together, ate at the same board and slept under the same roof. Thus a good understanding Avas maintained between them by his connivance with their follies or their vices. The men themselves always preferred a master who had been a prisoner to a free settler of stricter virtue, and a disposition less akin to their own ; and for such an one they would make extraordinary exertions, of great importance at seed time and harvest, which a better master could not obtain at any cost. A brotherhood and close fellowship, the fruit of old associations, sprang up among the convict population. Many considered themselves as martyrs to the ven- geance rather than the justice of the law; others, transported for political otiences, regarded themselves in the light of patriots. In short a unity of interest cemented them ; and each newly arrived convict ship was heartily welcomed. When it anchored in the harbour boats swarmed around it, the decks were crowded, the new comers were loaded with presents of fresh bread and other luxuries. They were pressed with eager inquiries after absent friends, the comrades Ihey liad left in English jails. They were greeted with tl'.e heartiness of old coiiipanions, and without LIFE OF TUB KEY. SAMUEL MARSDEN. 23 reluctance exchanged the close confinement of the convict ship for the fellowship of their old acquaintance on shore. The colony at this time abounded with Irish Tvho had shared in the rebellion of 1798, and who generally brought with them a fair knowledge of agri- cidture without very industrious habits. They attached little turpitude to their offences, considering themselves rather as sacrificed to the cause of freedom. Indeed it is well ascertained that some of them had been banished without even the formality of a trial, some without any specific sentence as to the term of their transportation, victims to the angry spirit of the times. They are described as, for the most part, con- ducting themselves with great propriety in the hope of one day regaining their freedom, and being restored to their long absent friends. Such men as these proved excellent colonists, and successful settlers. The criminal history of the colony in its first years discloses a dreadful list of both crimes and punishments. Small bodies of the convicts occasionally broke loose, fled to the woods, and there, setting all restraints at defiance, became reckless and ferocious. The dread of punishment did not restrain them from robbery, nuirder, and the most appalling crimes. The risks were well calculated, for the chances of conviction were few, and punishment was uncertain. If they were detected, a convict, being dead in law, could not be summoned as a witness. The jury would probably ber composed of men who had been sharers in crimes of equal magnitude, pei-haps old associates. The pri- soners would be defended by convict attorneys, a nefarious class with which the colonial courts were filled. Ineffectual attempts were made to exclude these men, but the influence they had been suflTered 24 LIFE OF THE REV. SAMUEL MARSDEK. already to attain, made this impracticable. Amongst the most notorious of tbem was one who obtained a large practice by dint of his ingenuity, and managed the most important business in the colony. He liad been some years previously sentenced to transportation for life, for forging a will. He had resorted to the ingenious device of putting a fly into the mouth of a dead man, and tlieu guiding his hand to trace his sig- nature to the writing ; and, upon the trial, he swore, \fith. audacious assurance, that he saw the testator sign the will while life was in him. In passing sentence, the late Lord EUenborough took the opportunity of congratulating the profession on getting rid of such a pest. The records of the court are scarcely less painful than the history of the criminals themselves. The punishments adjudged were frightfully severe. If they did not reclaim the prisoner, they must have har- dened him beyond recovery, if indeed they did not in many instances torture him to death. The men thus punished were already convicts it is true, and more than usual severity may have been justified. But no penal code emanating from a people professing the name of Christ may inflict savage and barbarous penalties. They recoil with disgrace upon, the legisla- tion which exacts them, and a whole nation is degraded in the person of its own malefactors ; while God's dis- pleasure is evident both in the increase and audacity of criminals on the one hand, and in the loss of hiuiiane and virtuous sentiments throughout the community on the other. Wc have taken three cases as a specimen of the method in which justice was dealt out to crimi- nals \n the early days of the colony in New South Wales. LIFE OF THE REV. SAMUEL MAKSDEN. 2-') " John Allen, stealing in dwelling-house to the value of forty shillings. Publicly whipped, hundred lashes, confined in solitary cell at Paramatta on bread and water for six months, and hard labour at New- castle three years." " Michael Hoare and James Gilchrist, feloniously and burglariously breaking and entering Shoolhouse at Kissing Point, and stealing from there divers ar- ticles of property. Twelve months solitary confine- ment at Paramatta, two years hard labour in jail gang, then transported for life to JS^ewcastle." "John Hale, Eobert Holton, and Peter Allen, killing a bullock with intent to steal the carcase. So- litary confinement ou bread and water for three years in Paramatta jail, afterwards two years labour in jail gang there, and afterwards transportation for life to Newcastle."* Such was the sphere of Mr. Marsden's labours, such the diflficulties with which he had to contend, and the system, too, which, as a magistrate, he was even called upon to administer. A more hopeless task could scarcely have been undertaken ; but he set himself vigorously to work, looking to the Strong One for strength, and the fruit was " seen after many days." * See Wentworth's Colony of Xew South Wales, second editioi), 1820. D 26 LIFE OF THE KEY. SxVMUEL MARSDEN. CHAPTER III. Mr. Marsden appointed to the Magistracy — Objections to this con- sidered — Cultivates Land — Charge of t-'ecularity considered — His connexion with the London Missionary Society, and care of its Polynesian Mission — Revisits England in 1807. The retirement of the senior chaplain left Mr. Mars- den in sole charge of the spiritual concerns of the infant colony. He had now to officiate at the three settlements of Sydney, Paramatta, and Hawkesbury without assistance. The nature of tlie population, consisting as it did of a mass of criminals, rendered his ministerial labours peculiarly distressing. The state of morals Avas utterly depraved ; oaths and ri- baldry, and audacious lying were universal ; marriage, and the sacred ties of domestic life, were almost unknown, and those who, from their station, should have set an example to the convicts and settlers, encouraged sin in others by the effrontery of their own transgressions. Uiuler discouragement such as would have subdued the spirit of most men, did he, for the long period of fourteen years, continue at his post ; cheered it is true with occasional gleams of success, but upon the whole rather a witness against abounding vice, than, at present, a successful evangelist. Nor Avcre domestic trials wanting to complete that process of salutary discipline by which " the great Shepherd of the sheop" was preparing his servant for other and wider scenes of labour, and for triumphs greater than the cluirch in these later days had known. His first- born son, a lovely and promising child scarcely two ^'■^ffi^!f|v^^'.-;i^> N?6^^-t > < O /^^flil^^-: LIFE OF THE EEV. SAMUEL MAKSDEN. 29 years old, was tbrowu from its ' mother's arms by a sudden jerk of the gig in which they were seated, and killed upon the spot. It would be impossible to describe the agonized feelings of the mother under such a bereavement, nor were the sorrows of the father less profound. He received the tidings, to- gether with the body of his lifeless boy, we are told, with "calm, and even dignified submission," for " he was a man who said little though he felt much." A second stroke, still more painful, was to follow, Mrs. Marsden, determined not to hazard the safety of another child, left her babe at home in charge of a domestic while she drove out. But her very precavi- tion was the occasion of his death : the little creature strayed into the kitchen unobserved, fell backwards into a pan of boiling water, and its death followed soon after. Thus early in his ministerial career the ii-on entered his own soul, and taught him that sympatliy for the wounded spirit which marked his character through life. But from these scenes of private suffering we must turn aside. The public life and ministerial labours of Mr. Marsden require our attention ; and as we enter upon the review of them we must notice two circum- stances which from the very outset of his career exposed him to frequent suspicion and obloquy, both in the colony and at home, and formed in fact the chief materials, so to speak, out of which his oppo- nents wove the calumnies with which they harassed the gi*eater portion of his life. He had scarcely arrived at his post when he was appointed a colonial magistrate. Under ordinary cir- cumstances, we should condemn in the strongest manner the xmioii of functions so obviously iucom- 1)2 80 LIFE OF THE llET. SAMFEL MAltSDEN. patible as those of the Christian minister and the civil judge. To use the words of a great living authority on judicial questions, a late lord chancellor,* " it is the union of two noble offices to the detriment of both." Tet it seems in the case before us, that the office was forced upon Mr. Marsden, not as a complimentary dis- tinction, but as one of the stern duties of his position as a colonial cliaplain, wdio was bound to maintain the authority of the law amidst a population of lawless and dangerous men. Port Jackson, or Botany Bay as it was generally called, was then and long afterwards merely a penal settlement. The governor was absolute, and the discipline he enforced was, perhaps of necessity, harsli and rigid. Eesistance to the law and its administrators was of daily occurrence ; life and property were always insecure, and even armed rebellion sometimes broke out. If the government thought it necessary, for the safety of this extra- ordinary community, to select a minister of the gospel to fill the office of a magistrate, he had no alternative but to submit, or else to resign his chaplaincy and return home. Mr. Marsden chose to remain ; moved by the hope of being able to infuse something of the spirit of the gospel into tlie adminis- tration of justice, and to introduce far luglier prin- ciples than those which he saw prevailing amongst tlie magistrates themselves. In both of these objects he succeeded to an eminent extent, though not till after the lapse of years, and a remonstrance carried by him- self in person to the government at liome. Justice was dealt even to the greatest criminals more fairly, and the bench of magistrates grew at length ashamed, in the presence of the cliaplain of Paramatta, of its own * Lord Bruugluuii. LIFE OF THE KEY. SAMUEL MAESDEN. 31 hitherto unabaslied licentiousness. But the cost was great. He was involved in secular business from day to day, and that often of the most painful kind. His equal-handed justice made him a host of personal enemies in those whose vices he punished ; and, still more, in those whose corrupt and partial administra- tion of the law was rebuked by the example of his integrity. In the share he was obliged to take in the civil affairs of the colony differences of opinion would naturally arise, and angry feelings would, as usual fdllow. Of course he was not free from human infirmity, his own temper was sometimes disturbed. Thus for years, especially during his early residence in New South Wales, he was in frequent collision with the magistrates, and occasionally even with the governor. Again and again he would have resigned his commission, but was not allowed to do so ; mean- while his mind was often distracted and his character maligned. To these trials we shall be obliged to refer as we trace his steps through life ; but we mean to do so as seldom as we can, for the subject is painful, and, since few men can ever be placed in his circumstances, to most of us unprofitable. Another point on which Mr. Marsden's conduct has been severely, and yet most unjustly blamed, is that he was eufraged in the cultivation of a considerable tract of land. Avarice and secularity were roundly charged upon him in consequence ; for it was his painfid lot through life to be incessantly accused not only of failings of which he was quite guiltless, but of those which were the most opposite to his real character. A more purely disinterested and unsel.- fish man perhaps never lived. One who imder the constant disturbance of evcrv kind of business and 32 LIFE or THE REA". SAMUEL MAKSDEN. euiploymcut, still " walked " more "humbly with his God," is not often to be found. Yet the cry once raised against him was never hushed ; until at length, having rung in his ears through life, as a warning to liiin, no doubt, even in his brightest moments of success, tliat he should " cease from man," it was suddenly put to shame at last and buried with him in his grave. The circumstances were these : When he arrived in tiie colony, in the beginning of 179J., it was yet but six years old. The cultivation of laud had scarcely begun ; it was therefore dependent on supplies of food from home, and was often reduced to the brink of fa- mine. One cask of meat was all tliat the king's stores contained when Mr.Marsdenfirstlanded on those shores from which the produce of the most magnificent flocks and herds the world has ever pastured was afterwards to be shipped. Governor Phillip, as we have seen, had laid the foundation of the colony amid scenes of difficulty and trial which it is fearful to contemplate. Jn September, 1795, Captain Hunter arrived, and following in the steps of his predecessor, exerted him- self in clearing land and bringing it under cultivation. To effect this he made a grant to every ofiicer, civil and military, of one hundred acres, and allowed each thirteen convicts as servants to assist in bringing it into order. Mr. Marsden availed himself of tlie grant, and his farm soon exhibited those marks of superior management which might have been looked for by all wlu) wx-ro acquainted with the energy of his character and his love of rural pursuits. "Where laud was to be liad on such easy terms, it was not to be desired or expected tliat lie should be limited to tlie original grant. He soon possessed an etstalc of scNcral huii- LIFE OF THE EEV. SAMUEL MAKSDEN. 33 dred acres— the model farm of New South Wales ;— and, let it not be forgotten, the source from whence those supplies were drawn which fed the infant mis- sions of the Southern Seas, while at the same time they helped their generous owner to support many a benevolent institution in his own parish and neigh- bourhood. Years afterwards he was induced to print a pamphlet in justification of his conduct in this as well as other particulars on which it was assailed ; and as we copy an extract from it, our feeling is one of shame and sorrow that it should ever have been required. He says, " I did not consider myself in tlie same situation, in a temporal point of view, in this colony as a clergyman in England. My situation at that period would bear no such comparison. A cler- gyman in England lives in the very bosom of his friends ; his comforts and conveniences are all within his reach, and he has nothing to do but to feed his flock. On the contrary, I entered a country which was in a state of nature, and was obliged to plant and sow or starve. It was not from inclination that my col- league and I took the axe, the spa,de, and the hoe : we could not, from our situation, help ourselves by any other means, and we thought it no disgrace to labour. St. Paul's own hands ministered to his necessities in a cultivated nation, and our hands ministered to our wants ii! an uncultivated one. If this be cast upon me as a shame and a reproach, I cheerfidly bear it, for the remembrance never gives me any cause of reproach or remorse." Monsieur Perron, a com- mander sent out by the French government to search for the unfortunate La Perouse (who had recently perished in an exploratory voyage to the islands of the South Pacific), visited Mr. Marsden's farm in 1802, 34 LIFE OF THE EEV. SAMLEL MARSDEN. aud records, witli the generous admiration his coun- trymen have never withheld from English enterprise and industry, his astonishment and delight. " No longer," he exclaims, " than eight years ago, the whole of this spot was covered with immense and useless forests ; what pains, what exertions must have been employed ! These roads, these pastures, these fields, these liarvests, these orchards, these flocks, the work of eight years !" And his admiration of the scene was not greater than his reverence for its owner, "who," he adds, "while he thus laboured in his various important avocations was not unmindful of the interests of others. He generously interfered in behalf of the poorer settlers in their distresses, established schools for their children, and often relieved their neces- sities ; and to the unhappy culprits, whom the justice of their offended country had banished from their native soil, he administered alternately exhortation and com- fort." Indeed, it would be no easy task to enumerate all the schemes of social, moral, and spiritual enterprise upon which Mr. IMarsdeu was now employed, and into all of which he appears to have thrown a force and energy which is generally reserved, even by the zealous philanthropist, for some one fiivoured project. Thus the state of the female convicts, at a very early period, especially attracted his attention. Their forlorn con- dition, their frightful immoralities — the almost neces- sary consequence of the gross neglect which exposed them to temptation, or rather thrust them into sin — pressed heavily upon him, aud formed the subject of many solemn remonstrances, first to the authorities abroad, aud wIku lhis(> were unheeded, to the govern- ment at home, 'riu' umngs of (he aborigines, their I.irF, OF THE REV. SAMUEL MAKSCEN. 35 heathenism, and their savage state, with all its at- tendant miseries and hopeless prospects in eternity, sank into liis heart ; and under his care a school arose at Paramatta for their children. The scheme, as we shall explain hereafter, was not successful ; but at least it will be admitted " he did well that it was in " his " heart." He was often consulted by the succes- sive governors on questions of difficulty and import- ance, and gave his advice with respect, but at the same time with honest courage. Amusing anecdotes are told of some of their interviews. A misunder- standing had occurred between Governor King and himself, which did not, however, prevent the governor from asking his advice. Mr. Marsden was allowed to make his own terms, which were that he should con- sider Grovernor King as a private individual, and as such address him. Much to his credit, the governor consented. Mr. Marsden then locked the door, and in plain and forcible terms explained to Captain King the faults, as he conceived, of Governor King's ad- ministration. They separated on the most friendly terms ; and if we admire the courage of the chaplain, we must not overlook the self-command and forbear- ance of the governor. With a dash of eccentricity the affair was honourable to both parties Another instance of Mr. Marsden' s ready tact and self-possession may be mentioned. Governor King, who possessed, by virtue of his office, the most abso- lute power, was not only eccentric but somewhat choleric. On one occasion, when Mr. Marsden was present, a violent dispute arose between the governor and the commissary-general. Mr. Marsden not being at liberty to leave the room, retired to a window, deter- mined not to be a witness of the coming storm. The 'IG LIFE OF THE EEV. SAMUEL MARSDEN. governor, in his heat, pushed or collared the cotnmis- sar}', who iu return, pushed or struck the governor. His excellency, indignant at the insult, called to the chaplain, " Do you see that, sir !" " Indeed, sir," replied Mr. M., "/ see nothing," — dwelling with jocular emphasis on the word see. Thus good humour was immediately restored, and the grave and even treasonable offence of striking the representative of the sovereign was forgotten. These trifling circum- stances are worth relating, not only in illustration of Mr. Marsden's character, but of the history of the earlier days of the colony. But graver duties had already devolved iipon him. Amongst the unpublished manuscz'ipts of the London Missionary Society, there is one document of singular interest, in connexion with the name of Samuel j\Iars- den. It is a memorandum of seventeen folio pages on tlie state and prospects of tlieir missions to Tahiti and the islands in the South Seas, dated " Paramatta, 30th January, 1801," and "read before the committee " in London — such was the slow, uncertain communi- cation fifty years ago with a colony now brought within sixty days' sail of England — " on the 19th of April, 1802." Toremost in the literature of another generation will stand those treasures which slumber, for the most part unvalued and undisturbed, on the shelves of our missionary houses. For men will surely one day inquire, with an interest similar to that with which we road of the conversion of Britain in the dim light of Ingulphus and the Saxon Chronicle, or the venerable Bede, how distant islands were first evan- gelized, and through what sorrows, errors, and reverses, the first missionary fought his way to victory in continents and islands of the southern hemisphere. LTFE OP THE EET. SAMUEL MAESDEX. 37 AtkI of these, the document which uow lies before us will be esteemed as inferior to none in calm and prac- tical wisdom, in piety, or in ardent zeal tempered with discretion. The circumstances which called it forth were these. The Tahitian mission, the first great effort of the London Missionary Society, and indeed the first Pro- testant mission, with perhaps one exception,* to savage tribes, had hitherto disappointed the sanguine expec- tations of its promoters. We trust we shall not be thought to make a display of that cheap wisdom which consists in blaming the failures of which the causes were not seen until the catastrophe had occurred, if we say that, great and truly magnificent as the project was, it carried within itself the elements of its own humiliation. The faith and zeal of its founders were beyond all human praise ; but in the wisdom which results from experience, they were of course deficient. " To attempt great things, and to expect great things," was their motto ; but they did not appreciate the difiiculties of the enterprise ; nor did they duly esti- mate the depth of the depravity of the savage heart and mind. Dr. Haweis, a London clergyman of great piety and note in those days, preached before the Society when the first missionary ship, the Duff", was about to sail. He described to his delighted audience the romantic beauty and grandeur of the islands which lie like emeralds upon the calm bosom of the Southern Ocean, and anticipated their imme- diate conversion as soon as they should hear the first glad tidings of the gospel. The ship sailed from the * That of the Moravians to Labrador. The Wesleyans had a mission in the West Indies, and the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel had long had the care of the Danish missions at Malabar. But none of these were missions in the strict sense, among savages. 38 LIFE OF THE EEV. SAMUEL MAESDEN. Tower wharf, witli flags flying and banners "streaming, as if returning from a triumph, amidst the cheers of the spectators. Amongst the crowd there stood a venerable minister of Christ, leaning upon the arm of one who still survives — himself a veteran in the ser- vice of his Lord. As they turned slowly away from the exciting scene, the aged minister mournfuUy ex- claimed, " I am afraid it will not succeed : there is too much of man in it." His words were prophetic ; for nearly twenty years no success followed, but one sweeping tide of disappointment and disaster ;* till, at length, when, humbled and dejected, about the year 1814, the missionaries, as well as tlie Society at home, in despair had almost resolved to abandon the station, the work of Grod appeared in the conversion of the king of Tahiti ; and with a rapidity to be compared only to the long, cheerless, period in which they had " laboiu'ed in vain, and spent their strength for nought," the missionaries beheld not only Tahiti, but the adjacent islands transformed into Christian lands. It was in the midst of these disasters that Mr. Marsden was consulted, and wrote the memorandum to which we have referred. If in some places he seems to lay too great stress upon what may appear to the reader prudential considerations of inferior im- portance, let us remind him that on these very points the missionaries had betrayed their weakness. Their own quarrels and even the gross misconduct of some few amongst them, were not loss painful to the chureli at home tlian their want of success. We make a few extracts : * This anucdotc wc reUtc on the authoritj- of the younger minister, from whom we rccelvtit it. Tiie older one was the Kev. Siimucl Hiadburn, the friend anvl iis30ciate of Wesley. — ICditok. LIFE 01" THE REV. SAMUEL MABSDEN. 39 «« The first and principal object for the consideration of the directors is to select men properly qualified for the mission ; unless persons equal to the task are sent out nothing can be done. It may be asked, who are proper persons, and what are the requisite qualifications ? To the question I would reply in general terms. A missionary should be a man of real sound piety, and well acquainted with the depravity of the human heart, as well as experimental religion ; he should not be a novice ; he should not only be a good man in the strictest sense of the word, but also well informed, not taken from the dregs of the common people, but possessed of some education, and liberal sentiments. He shovdd rather be of a lively active turn of mind than gloomy and heavy. A gloomy ignorant clown will be disgusting even to savages, and excite their contempt. The more easy and afl:able a missionary is in his address, the more easily will lie obtain the confidence and good opinion of the heathen. " In my opinion a man of a melancholy habit is altogether unqualified for a missionary ; he will never l)c able to sustain the hardships attending his situa- tion, nay, he will magnify his dangers and difficulties and make them greater than what in reality they may bo. A missionary, were I to define his character, should be a pious good man, should be well acquainted with mankind, should possess some education, should be easy in address, and of an active turn. Some of the missionaries who have come to this colony, are the opposite character to the above. Tliey are totally ignorant of mankind, they possess no education, they are clowns in their manners. If the directors are determined to establish a mission in these Islands there is another object to be attended 40 LIFE OF THE EEV. SAMUEL MABSDEN. to ; they must send out a sufficient body and furuish them with the means of self-defence. Unless the missionaries are able to protect thetaselves from the violence of the natives, they will be in constant danger of being cut off by them. Their lives, if unprotected by their own strength, will hang sometimes perhaps upon the fate of a single battle between two contend- ing chiefs. Can any idea be more distressing than for the lives of a few defenceless missionaries to de- pend upon the sudden whim or turn of an enraged savage, without the means of self-defence ? See them driven, in order to escape the savage fury of the natives, into holes and caverns of the rocks, suffering every hardship that nature can bear from hunger, toil, and anxiety, without so much as the prospect of relief in time of danger from Europe, or accompKshing in the smallest degree the object of the mission. Yet tin's must and will be the case, luiless the missionaries are furnished with the means of self-defence, and are able to convince the natives of their superiority in point of skill and protection." Many w^ill condemn this counsel. Nor do wo feel bound to justify it to the letter. A reasonable degree of caution in avoiding danger, and under great emer- gency in preparing measures for self-defence, may be allowed even to the missionary. Tet experience shows that his safety chiefly lies in cultivating and ex- hibiting the spirit of Him who "suffered the just for the unjust," and " when led as a lamb to the slaughter, yet opened not his mouth." Various prudential hints follow, on marriage and other delicate subjects. The reader will smile to learn that fifty years ago it was a question at mis- sionary boards whether married men were not dis- LIFE OP THE REV. SAMUEL MAESDEN. 41 qualified for missionary work. It was argued that their wives would be exposed to ill-usage from the natives, and that they themselves would be diverted by the anxieties or the comforts of home from their proper calling. Mr. Marsden combats both of these objections. " It appears to me that a married woman, coming along with her husband in the mission, would luive no extraordinary dangers to apprehend from the natives, and would, if a prudent woman, prove the greatest comfort and protection to her husband, sweeten his toils and sustain his burdens." Beyond this even Mr. Marsden's views did not yet extend. The time had not yet come when experience should drive the friends of missions, in the failure of many a plausible theory, to fall back simply on the J^ew Testament, not merely for their principles, for this they did, but for the best and safest precedents in missionary work. They forgot how large a share of the honours of the primitive church in its labours for Christ belong to the weaker sex. That a missionary's wife might be no less, nay in some instances far more, successful than her husband was a thought not yet entertained in missionary counsels. They did not foresee that the instruction of the native woman, and the Christian education of the heathen child, woidd soon become the special province of the missionary's wife. Mrs. "Wilson had not yet arisen " a mother in Israel," nor Mrs. Judson, nor others whose fame is only less in missionary annals, because their work has been carried on in places less interesting, or at least less open to the world's gaze, than Calcutta and Bur- mali. Nor can we give more than a hesitating and partial consent to some of the following observations : " Civilization must pave the way for the conversion 42 LIFE OF THE EEV. SAMUEL MAKSBEN. of the heathen. As the natives in these islands are totally unconnected with the commercial world, however friendly disposed they may be towards strangers, they are, nevertheless, in a state of gross ignorance and barbarity. They must, from their social situation, their great distance from the civilized part of the world, be less prepared to receive the gospel than the Esquimaux on the coast of Labrador or the negroes in the West Indian Islands, and other parts of the heathen world where the Moravians in general send their missionaries. The heathens in these islands are, in the strictest sense, in a state of nature. Hence it becomes the indispensable duty of the missionaries to use every means for their civilization, and not to imagine they are already prepared to receive the blessings of Divine revelation." True, they were not prepared. But here we ax'e at variance alike with Dr. Haweis on the one hand, and Mr. Marsden on the other. " The preparation of the heart," the wise man tells us, " is from the Lord ;" and this is a kind of preparation which civilization will not supply. It is easy, as we have said, to find fault with men who, whatever their mistakes, deserve the veneration of the church. Let it be borne in mind that of savage life, its horrors, its ferocity, its can- nibalism, England then knew but little. Had they been favoured with the experience we now possess, they would have felt more deeply how impotent a weapon is civilization to hew down the strongholds of Satan in a heathen land ; their failures perhaps would have been fewer, and their successes more speedy if not more complete. A true Christian missionary, amongst savages, must be of necessity a civilizer. His own pure and quiet homestead, adorned with the ai'ts LIFE OP THE KEY. SAMUEL MARSDEN. 43 of life, his cultivated garden, his neatly fenced paddock, the corn-field which soon follows, and then the mill — all these, and, we may say, all the habits and cir- cumstances of his life, directly tend to civilize ; and thus the process of outward reformation goes on amongst the surrounding tribes, while the spiritual seed is being sown in the native heart. And it will sometimes happen that native tribes are civilized before they are converted, simply because the carnal mind rejects the spiritual lesson, while selfishness, or the mere love of imitation, (equally powerful in the breast of children and of savages) induces them readily to adopt European habits. But after all we question whether the native heathen thus outwardly changed is one whit more likely to embrace the gospel than before. There is, however, much truth in the following remarks ; they show a thoughtful mind, and they prove too, if we are not mistaken, that the gospel of Jesus Christ has lost nothing of its pristine force after the lapse of eighteen centuries ; for the Christian missions of our own day have triumphed amidst some difficulties against which even the apostles had not to contend. " The conduct of the apostles cannot exactly apply as a guide to the missionaries in these islands ; St. Paul Avas sent to preach a crucified Jesus, not to savage, but to civilized heathens; to Greece and Eome, to nations noted for their politeness of manners and human learning, the inhabitants both of Greece and Home had obtained the highest degree of civilization, they were" — intellectually, of course, Mr. Marsden must be understood to mean — '" prepared for the reception of the gospel ; their philosophers had for ages been making diligent inquiries after the true God ; they had erected altars and the most magnificent 44 LIFE or THE EEV. SAMUEL MARSDEN". temples for the worsliip of some superior being whom they knew not. This is not the case with the natives of these islands. ... It is unnecessary for me to contrast the situations of the primitive apostles and the present missionaries, and to point out their vast difference. Sacred and profane history will furnish the missionaries with this information, provided they will study their records." Mr. Marsden continued to be through life the con- fidential adviser of the London Missionary Society, and the warm friend and, as they passed to and fro upon their voyages, the kind host of their missionaries. His character was now cstabhshed. The colony was rapidly increasing in importance ; and yet no cliange had been made in its government, which was still committed to the absolute du-ection of a single mmd, that of the colonial governor. He too was a military officer, and not always one of high position and large capacity, or even of the purest morals ; for by such men the governorship of his Majesty's territory in New South Wales would have then been disdained. Mr. Marsden had done much, but much more remained to be accomplished. There were mischiefs that lay tar beyond liis reacli, and spurned control. On the first establishment of the colony all the military officers were forbidden to take their wives with them — the governor and chaplains were the only exceptions— and there is one instance of a lady whose love to her husband led her to steal across the ocean in the disguise of a sailor, who was actually sent home again by Governor Phillip without being permitted to land. Our readers may anticipate the consequences Avhich fol- lowed in an aluiost universal licentiousness. The }nost abandoned I'emales often appeared fearlessly LIPE OF THE REV. SAMUEL MARSDEN. 45 before the magistrates, well knowing that they would have impunity even for the greatest crimes ; and male offenders used their influence to obtain a judgment in their favour. Expostulation, remonstrance, and entreaty Mr. Marsden had tried in vain. " Of all existing spots in New South Wales the court of judicature at Sydney," it was publicly affirmed, " was the most iniquitous and abandoned ;" and at length a rebellious spirit broke out, and the authority of the governor, even in his military capacity, was at an end. The efforts of the faithful chaplain were now thwarted at the fountain head, and his life was not unfrequently in danger. Mr. Marsden's sagacity fastened the conviction on his mind that a crisis was, at hand, which could only be averted by the inter- ference of the government at home. He therefore asked for, and obtained, permission to revisit England. His fears were just ; he had already assisted in quelling one rebellion, and another of a more serious nature broke out soon after he embarked, which drove the governor from the colony, and ended in his recall, and the establishment of a new order of things. The spiritual fruit of Mr. Marsden's labours had not yet been great, but already the foundations had been laid for extensive usefulness. On the eve of his departure, he was presented with a gratifying address, bearing the signatures of three hundred and two persons, " the holders of landed estates, public offices, and other principal inhabitants of the large and extensive settle- ments of Hawkesbury, Nepean, and Portland-Head, and adjacent parts of New South Wales," conveying " their grateful thanks for his pious, humane, and exemplary conduct throughout this whole colony, in the various and arduous situations held by him as a 46 LIFE OF .THE KEV. SAMUEL MAESDEN. minister of the gospel, superintendent magistrate, inspector of pubKc, orphan, and charity schools, and in other offices." They thank him too for " his attention and cares in the improvement of stock, agriculture, and in all other beneficial and useful arts, for the general good of the colony, and for his imre- mitting exertions for its prosperity," and conclude thus : — " Tour sanctity, philanthropy, and disinterest- edness of character, will ever remain an example to future ministei-s ; and that God, whom we serve, may pour down his blessings upon you and yours to the latest posterity, is the sincere prayer of those who sign this address." LIFE OF THE REV. SAMUEL MAESDEN. 47 CHAPTEE IV. Various mea^nres devised for the benefit of New Sontli Wales — The establishment of Missions in New Zealand — Friendship with Dr. Mason Good. Mb. Maesdeis" returned home in His Majesty's ship Buffalo, after an absence of fourteen years. On the voyage he had one of those hair-hreadth deHverances in which devout Christians recognise the hand of God. The Buifalo was leaky when she sailed, and a heavy gale threatening, it was proposed that the passengers should quit the ship and take refuge in a stauncher vessel which formed one of the fleet. Mr. Marsden objected, Mrs. Marsden being unwilling to leave Mrs. King, the wife of Governor King, who was returning in the same vessel, and who was at the time aa invalid. In the night, the expected storm came on. In the morning, the eyes of all on board the crazy Buffalo were strained in vain to discover their companion. She was never heard of more, and no doubt had foun- dered in the hurricane. On his arrival in London he waited on the under secretary^ of state to report his return, and learned from him that his worst fears had been realized, and that the colony was already in a state of open insurrec- tion, headed by the " JN'ew South Wales Corps," who were leagued with several of the wealthier traders. The insurrection was, however, suppressed, and Lieut.- colonel Macquarie was sent out with his regiment to assume the government. Lord Castlereagh, the colonial minister, was quick to perceive the value of such an adviser on the affairs of Australia as Mr. 48 LIFE Of THE EEV. SAMUEL MAESDEN. Marsden, aud cucouraged him to lay before the government a full statemen'f of his views. Seldom has it happened to a private individual to be charged with weightier or more various affairs, never perhaps with schemes involving more magnificent results. As the obscure chaplain from Botany Bay paced the Strand, from the colonial office at "Whitehall to thfe cKambers in the city where a few pious men were laying plans for Christian missions in the southern hemisphere, he was in fact charged with projects upon which not only the civilization, but the eternal welfare, of future nations were suspended. Nor was he unconscious of the greatness of the task. With a total absence of romance or enthusiasm — for his mind was wanting in the imaginative faculty on which enthusiasm feeds — he was yet fully alive to the possible consequences of his visit to his native shores, and intensely interested iu his work. He aimed at nothing less than to see Australia a great country ; and, with a yet firmer faith, he expected the conversion of the cannibal tribes of New Zealand aud the Society Islands ; and this at a time wlien even statesmen had only learned to think of New South "Wales as a national prison, and when the conversion of New Zealanders was regarded as a hopeless task, even by the majority of Christian men, and treated by the world with indifterence or scorn. In fact, during this short visit he may be said to have planned, perhaps unconsciously, the labours of his whole life, and to have laid the foundation for all the good of which he was to be tl\e instrument. Let us (irst turn to the efforis he made for the settlements in New South Wales. The improvement of the convict population was his primary object, and his more immediate duty. He had observed that by far LIFE OF THE KEY. SAMUEL MAESDEN. 49 tiie greater number of reformed criminals consisted of those who had intermarriedj or whose wives had been able to purchase theu- passage over, and he suggested that those of the convicts' wives who chose to do so should be permitted to accompany their husbands even at the public expense. This was refused, and it was almost the only point upon which his representa- tions failed ; but, as a compromise, the wives of the officers and soldiers were permitted to accompany their husbands, and not less than thi*ee hundred immediately went with a single regiment. To en- courage honesty and industry he recommended not only remission of the sentence to the well conducted convict, but a grant of land to a certain extent ; with which the government complied. But he had no weak and foolisli sympathy Avith crime, and long after the period at which we are now writing, he continued to incur the hatred of a certain class by protesting, as he never ceased to do, against the monstrous impropriety of placing men, however wealthy, who had themselves been convicts, on the magisterial bench. Amongst the convicts he had observed that the greater number were acquainted with some branch of mechanics or manufactures ; at present, they were unemployed, or occupied in labour for which they were unfit, and which was therefore irksome to themselves and of no advantage to the colony. He therefore suggested that one or two practical mechanics with sm^all salaries, and one or two general manufacturers, should be sent out to instruct the convicts. But here a serious obstacle presented itself; for this was the age of commercial prohibitions, and it was objected that the manufacturers of the mother country would be iujured by such a step. Mr. Marsden met the objec- 50 LIFE OF THE BBV. SAMUEL MARSDEN. tion at ouce. If tlie government would but ficcede to the proposal, " be would undertake that the enormous expense at which the country was for clothing the convicts should entirely cease within a certain period." The wool of the government flocks and the flesh of the wild cattle was already sufiicient to provide botli food and raiment for the convicts without any expense to the parent state, and all he prayed for was, the opportunity of turning those advantages to the best account. These requests were granted, and on the same night, and at his own cost, he set off" by the mail for Warwickshire and Yorkshire in search of four artisans and manufacturers, who were soon upon their way to the scene of their future operations. The vast importance of Australia as the source on which the English manufacturer must at some future day depend for his supplies of wool, had already occupied his thoughts. He found that within three years his own stock without any care on his part, (for his farm was entirely managed in his absence by a trusty bailifi" who had been a convict,) had upon an average been doubled in number and value. A\'ith the energy which was nq,tural to him, he carried some of his own wool to Leeds, where he had it manufactured, and he had the satisfaction to learn that it was considered equal, if not superior, to tliat of Saxony or France, liis private letters abound with intimations that ere long Australia must become the great wool-producing country to wliich the English manufacturer would look. He was introduced to king George the Third, and took the libertjs through Sir Joseph ]3anks, of praying for a couple of Merino sheep, His Majesty's property, to improve the breed ; and his last letter from England, dated from the Cowes Eoads, mentions LIFE OF THE REV. SAMUEL MAESDEN. 51 their reception on board. "We anticipate a little, but must quote the letter, were it only to let the reader see how possible it is to be at once diligent in business and fervent in spirit. " AVe are this moment getting under weigh, and soon expect to be vipou the ocean. I have received a present of five Spanish sheep from the king's flock, which are all on board ; if I am so fortunate as to get them out they will be a most valuable acquisition to the colony. I leave England Avith much satisfaction, having obtained so fully the object of my mission. It is the good hand of our God that hath done these things for us. I have the prospect of getting another pious minister. I am writiug to him on the subject this morning, and I hope he will soon follow us. . . . On Sunday I stood on the long boat and preached from Ezekiel xviii. 27 : ' When the wicked man turneth away,' etc. It was a solemn time, many of the convicts were aff'ected. AVe sang the Hundredth Psalm in the midst of a larse fleet. The number of souls on board is more than four hundred. God may be gracious to some of them ; though exiled from their country and friends, they may cry unto him in a foreign land, when they come like the Jews of old to hang their harps upon the willows, and weep when they remember Zion, or rather when they remember England."* The spiritual wants of the colony were not forgotten. He induced the government to send out three addi- tional clergymen and three schoolmasters ; and happily tlie selection was intrusted to his own judgment. A disciple in the school of Venn and Milner, he knew that the ordinances of the church, though administered by a moral and virtuous man, or by a zealous philan- * lo Avisou Tcirv. Kba., UuU. 52 LIFE OF THE EEV. SAMUEL MAESDEK. thropist, were not enougli. He sought for men who were " renewed in the spirit of their minds ;" who uttered no mere words of course when they said at their ordination that they " believed themselves moved thereto by the Holy Ghost." But here again his task was difficult ; clergymen of such a stamp were but few ; the spirit of missionary enterprise was almost unfelt ; and, to say the truth, there was a missionary field at home, dark and barbarous, and far too wide 'br the few such labourers of this class whom the Lord had yet " sent forth into his harvest." Mr. Marsden, however, nothing daunted, went from parish to parish till he met with two admirable men, the Eev. Mr. Cow- per and the Eev. Robert Cartwright, who, with their families, accompanied him on his return. His choice was eminentl}^ successful. In a short account of Mr. Marsdeu, published in Australia in 1844, they are spoken of as still living, pious and exemplary clergy- men, the fathers of families occupying some of the most important posts in the colony, and, " notwith- standing tlieir advancing years and increasing infir- mities," it is added, " there are few young men in the colony so zealous in preaching the gospel, and in pi'omoting the interests of the church of England." The schoolmasters too, we believe, did honour to his choice. He had already established two public free- schools for children of both sexes, and he was now able to impart the elements of a pious education, and to train them in habits of industry and virtue. Into all these plans tlie archbishop of Canterbury cordially entered, and wisely and liberally left it to the able founder to select his agents and associates. Mr. Marsden likewise urged upon the home admin- istration the necessity of a female Penitentiary ; and LIFE OF THE REV. SAMUEL MAESDEN. 53 obtained a promise that a building should be provided. That he was deeply alive to the importance of an institution of this kind, is manifest in his own descrip- tion of the state of the female prisoners in the earlier years of the colony, and the deplorable picture he draws of their immorality and wretchedness. " When I returned to England in 1 807," he says, " there were upwards of fourteen hundred women in the colony ; inore than one thousand were unmarried, and nearly all convicts : many of them were exposed to the most dangerous temptations, privations and suiferings ; and no suitable asylum had been provided for the female convicts since the estabhshment of the colony. On my arrival in London in 1808, I drew up two memo- rials on their behalf, stating how much they suffered from want of a proper barrack — a building for their reception. One of these memorials I presented to the luider secretary of state, and the other to his grace the archbishop of Canterbury. They both expressed their readiness to promote the object." Tears, however, passed before the consent of the colonial governor could be gained ; and Mr. Marsden's benevolent exer- tions on behalf of these outcast women were for some time frustrated. The variety of his engagements at this time was equal to their importance. He had returned home charged with an almost infinite multiplicity of business. He was the agent of almost every poor person in the colony who had, or thought he had, important business at home. Penny- postages lay in the same dim future with electric telegraphs and steam-frigates, and he was often burdened with letters from Ireland and other remote parts (so wrote a friend, who published at the time a sketch of his proceedings in the " Eclectic 54 LIFE OF THE KEY, SAMUEL MAESDEN. Eeview,") the postage of which, for a single day, has amounted to a guinea ; which he cheerfully paid, from the feeling that, althougli many of these letters were of no use whatever, they were written with a good intention, and under a belief that they were of real value. He had already been saluted, like the Roman generals of old, with the title of common father of his adopted country ; and one of his last acts before he quitted England, was to procure, by public contribu- tions and donations of books, " what he called a lending library " (so writes the reviewer,* and the expression seems to have amused him from its novelty), " consist- ing of books on religion, morals, mechanics, agriculture, and general history, to be lent out luider his own control and that of his colleagues, to soldiers, free settlers, convicts, and others who had time to read." In this, too, he succeeded, and took over with him a library of the value of between three and four hundred pounds. It was during this two-years' -visit to his native land, that Mr. Marsden laid the foundation of the Church of England mission to Xew Zealand. In its conse- quences, civil and religious, this has already proved one of the most extraordinary and most successfid of those achievements, which are the glory of the churches in these later times. This was the great enterprise of his life : he is known ali*eady, and will be remembered while the church on earth endures, as the apostle of New Zealand. Not that wc claim for liim the exclusive honour of being the only one although we believe he was, in point of time, the first who began, about this period, to project a mission to New Zealand. The Wesleyaus were early in the same * Kclcctic Review, vol. v. pp. 988 — 095. LIEE or THE UEV. SAMUEL MAKSDEN. 55 field. The Eev. Samuel Leigh, a mau whose history and natvu-al character bore a marked resemblance to those of Mr. Marsdeu, was the pioneer of Methodism, and proved himself a worthy herald of the cross amongst the New Zealanders. A warm friendship existed between the two. On his passage homewards he was a guest at Paramatta ; and no tinge of jealousy ever appears to have shaded their intercourse, each re- joicing in the triumphs of the other. Still, Mr. Marsdeu's position afforded him peculiar facilities, and having once undertaken it, the superintendence of the New Zealand mission became, without design on his part, the great business of his life. He had formed a high, we do not think an exag- gerated, estimate of the Maori or New Zealand tribes. " They are a noble race," he writes to his friend John Terry, Esq., of Hull, " vastly superior in understanding to anything you can imagine in a savage nation." This was before the mission was begun. But he did not speak merely from hearsay : several of their chief- tains and enterprising warriors had visited Australia, and they ever found a welcome at the hospitable parsonage at Paramatta. Sometimes, it is true, they were but awkward guests, as the following anecdote will show ; which we present to the reader, as it has been kindly furnished to us, in the words of one of Mr. Marsden's daughters. "My father had some- times as many as thirty New Zealanders staying at the parsonage. He possessed extraordinary influence over them. On one occasion, a young lad, the nephew of a chief, died, and his uncle immediately made pre- parations to sacrifice a slave to attend his spirit into tlie other world. Mr. M. was- from home at the moment, and his family were only able to preserve the 5(5 L-IFE OF THE EEV. SAMUEL MAESDEK. life of the young 'New Zealaiider by hiding him in one of the rooms. Mr. M. no sooner returned and rea- soned with the chief, than he consented to spare his life. jS'o fiu-ther attempt was made upon it, though the uncle frequently deplored that his nephew had no attendant in the next world,- and seemed afraid to return to New Zealand, lest the father of the young man should reproach him for having given up this, to them, important point." The Chui'ch Missionary Society, which had now been established about seven years, seemed fully dis- posed to co-operate with him ; and at their request he drew up a memorial on the subject of a New Zealand mission, not less important than that we have already mentioned, to the London INIissionary Society, on the subject of their Polynesian missions. He still lays great stress upon the necessity of civilization going first as the pioneer of the gospel ; " commerce and the arts having a natural tendency to inculcate industrious and moral habits, open a way for the introduction of the gospel, and lay the foundation for its continuance when once received" "... Nothing, in my opi- nion, can pave the way for the introduction of the gospel but civilization." ..." The missionaries," he thought, " might employ a certain portion of their time in manual labour, and that this neither would nor ought to prevent them from constantly endeavouring to instruct the natives in the great doctrines of the gospel." ..." The arts and religion should go togotlier. I do not mean a native should learn to build a hut or make dn axe before he should be told anything of man's fall and redemption, but that these grand subjects sliould be introduced at every favourable opportunity, while the natives are learning any of the LIFE OE TUB KEV. SAMUEL MABSDEN. 57 simple arts." He adds that " four qualifications are absolutely necessary for a missionary — piety, industry, prudence, and patience. Without sound piety, nothing can be expected. A man must feel a lively interest in the eternal welfare of the heathen to spur him on to the discharge of his duty." On the three other quali- fications, he enlarges wdth great wisdom and practical good sense ; but the paper has been frequently printed, and we must not transfer it to these pages. It is no dishonour done to Mr. Marsden if we say that, in mature spiritual wisdom, the venerable men wlio had founded the Church Missionary Society, and still managed its aftairs, were at this time his superiors. Strange indeed it would have been had the case been otherwise. They listened gratefully and with deep respect to the opinion of one so well entitled to advise ; they determined on the mission, and they gave a high proof of their confidence, both in the practical wisdom and sterling piety of their friend, in consulting him in the choice of their first age^its. But they did not adopt his views with regard to the importance of civilization as the necessary pioneer to the gospel. So long ago as the year 1815, they thought it necessary to publish a statement of the principles upon which their mission was established. "It has been stated," they say, " that the mission was originally established, and for a long time systematically conducted, on the prin- ciple of first civilizing and then christianizing the natives. This is wholly a mistake. The agents employed in establishing the mission were laymen, because clergymen could not be had ; and the in- structions given to them necessarily correspond with their lay character. Tiie foremost object of the mission has, from the first, been to bring the natives, by the 58 LIFE OF THE EEV. SAMUEL MAESDEN. use of all suitable means, under the saving influences of the grace of the gospel, adding indeed the com- munication to them of such useful arts and knowledge as might improve their social condition." The com- mittee's instructions to their first agents in the mission abundantly sustain these assertions. Mr. William Hall and Mr. John King were the two single-hearted laymen to whom, in the providence of God, the distinguished honour was committed of first making known the gospel in New Zealand. They bore with them these instructions, ere they embarked in the same vessel in which their friend and guide Mr. Marsden himself returned to Australia : — " Ever bear in mind that the only object of the Society, in sending you to New Zealand, is to introduce the knowledge of Christ among the natives, and in order to this, the arts of civilized life." Then after directing Messrs. Hall and King " to respect the sabbath day," to " establish family wor- ship," at any favourable opportunity to "converse with the natives on the great subject of religion," and to "instruct their children in the knowledge of Christianity," the instructions add — " Thus in vour religious conduct you must observe the sab- bath and keep it holy, attend regularly to family worship, talk to the natives about religion when you walk by the way, when you labour in the field, and on all occasions when you can gain their attention, and lay yourselves out for the education of the young." INIr. Thomas Kendall followed ; a third layman, for no ordained clergyman of the church of England could yet be found. The same instructions were repeated, and in December, 1SL5, ivhen the Ecv. John LIFE OF THE REV. SAMUEL MAESDETf. 59 Butler, their first clerical missionary, entered on liis labours in New Zealand, he and his companions were exhorted thus — " The committee would observe that they wash, in all the missions of the Society, that tlie missionaries should give their time as much as possible, and wholly if practicable, first to the acqvdsition of the native language, and then to the constant and faithful preaching to the natives." It is subsequently added — " Do not mistake civilization for conversion. Do not imagine when heathens are raised in intellect, in the knowledge of the arts and outward decencies, above their fellow-countrymen, that they are Christians, and therefore rest content as if your proper work were accomplished. Our great aim is far higher ; it is to make them children of God and heirs of his glory. Let this be your desire, and prayer, and labour among them. And while you rejoice in communicating every other good, think little or nothing done till you see those who were dead in trespasses and sins, quickened together with Christ." These passages fully exhibit the views of the committee of this evangelical Society with regard, not only to the New Zealand, but to all their other missions. Nor do they stand alone ; every missionary association, taught in many instances by bitter disappointment, has long since discovered that the arts and sciences do not prepare the way of tlie Lord amongst the heathen abroad ; just as they leave uusanctified our civilized heathendom at home. But we must return from our digression, which its great importance must excuse. Before he left England, Mr. Marsden formed or re- newed an acquaintance with many great and good men, Mr, Wilberforce, Sir George Grey, the Eev. Daniel Wilson, late Bishop of Calcutta, the Eev. Charles 60 LIFE OF THE REV. SAMUEL MAfiSDEK. Simeon, the E.ev. Josiah Pratt, Dr. Olinthus Gregory, and others whose names are dear to -the church of Christ. But we must particularly notice the friendship which he formed with Dr. Mason Good as productive of the highest blessings to his friend, and jf much advantage to himself. The life of this excellent and accomplished person was published by Dr. Olinthus Gregory, soon after his death, in 1828. He tells us that Dr. Mason Good, when he became acquainted with Mr. Marsden, had long professed Socinian principles, but of these had recently begun to doubt, while he had not yet em- braced the gospel of Christ so as to derive either comfort or strength from it. He was anxious and inquiring ; his father had been an orthodox dissenting minister, and he himself a constant student and indeed a critical expositor of the Bible. He had published a translation of the book of Job, with notes, and also a translation of Solomon's Song of Songs. He saw in the latter " a sublime and mystic allegory, and in the former a poem, than which nothing can be purer in its morality, nothing sublimer in its philosophy, nothing- more majestic in its creed. He had given beautiful translations of many of the Psalms ; but with all this he had not yet perceived that Christ is the great theme of the Old Testament, nor did he understand tlie salva- tion of which " David in the Psalms, and all the pro- phets," as well as Job the pati-iarch " did speak." His introduction to Mr. Marsden, in such a state of mind, was surely providential. He saw, and wondered at, his self-denial ; he admired the true sublimity of his humble, unassuming, but unquestionable and active piety. "Tlic lirst time I saw Mr. INEarsden," says his biographer, "was in January, 1808; he had just LIFE OF THE EET. SAMUEL MAESDEN. 61 returned from Hull, and had travelled nearly the whole journey on the outside of a coach in a heavy fall of snow, being unable to secure an inside place. He seemed scarcely conscious of the inclemency of the season, and declared that he felt no inconvenieuce from the journey. He had accomplished his object, and that was enough. And what was that object, which could raise him above the exhaustion of fatigue and the sense of severe cold ? He had engaged a rope-maker who was willing, at his (Mr. Marsden's) own expense, to go and teach his art to the IN^ew Zea- landers." So writes Dr. Olinthus Gregory. As a philosopher who loved to trace phenomena to their causes. Dr. Mason Good endeavoured to ascer- tain the principles from which these unremitting ex- ertions sprang; and, as he often assured his friend. Dr. Gregory, he could trace them only to the elevating influence of Divine grace. He could find no other clue; and he often repeated the wish that his own motives were as pure, and his own conduct as exem- plary as those of Mr. Marsden. Thus light broke in, and at length he received the gospel " as a little child," and began to adorn it by his conduct. Por several years he was an efficient member of the com- i mittee of the Bible Society, and of that of the Church I Missionary Society. To the latter especially he de- i voted himself with the utmost activity and ardour, I and at his death, which occurred in 1827, the com- j mittee transmitted to Mrs. Good a resolution expres- i sive of the very high value they set on his services, j and of the heavy loss they were conscious they sus- tained by that event. The resolution was accompanied by a letter of cordial sympathy from the pen of the Eev. Edward Bickersteth, the secretary. When dying G 62 LIFE OF THE IlEV. SAMUEL MARSDEN. he was, heard, without any suggestion or leading remark from those around him, to repeat with quiver- ing lips the text, " All the promises of God in him (Christ Jesus) are Tea, and in him Amen." " Wliat words," said he, " for a dying man to rest upon !"* • See Life of Dr. Mason Good, by Dr. Olinthus Gregory. LIFE OF THE BET. SAMUEL MAESDEN. 63 CHAPTER V. Return to the Colony — Duatcrra — His strange adventures — Mr. Mars- den's Labours in l\ew South Wales — Aborigines — Their Habits — Plans for their Civilization. Mb. Maesden took what proved to be liis last leave of his native land in August 1809. Eesolute as he was, and nerved for danger, a shade of depression passed across him. " The ship, I understand," he writes to Mrs. Mason Good, " is nearly ready. This land in which we live is polluted, and cannot, on account of sin, give rest to any of its inhabitants. Those who have (sought) and still do seek their happi- ness in anything it can give, will meet nothing but dis- appointment, vexation, and sorrow. If we have only a common share of human happiness, we cannot have or liope for more." A few weeks afterwards he addresses the same Christian lady thus : — " Cambridge, August 1, 1809. " Yesterday I assistea my much esteemed friend, Mr. Simeon, but here I shall have no continuing city. The signal will soon be given, the anchor weighed, and the sails spread, and the ship compelled to enter the mighty ocean to seek for distant lands. I was deter- mined to take another peep at Cambridge, though conscious I could but enjoy those beautiful scenes for a moment. In a few days we shall set oft' for Ports- mouth. All this tui'uing and wheeling about from place to place, and from nation to nation, I trust is our riglit way to the heavenly Canaan. I am happy in tlic conclusion, to inform you that I have got all 64 LIFE OF THE KEY. SAMUEL MAUSDEIS^. my business settled in London much to my satisfac- tiou, both \Titb government and in other respects. The object of my mission has been answered far beyond my expectations. I believe that God has gracious designs towards New South Wales, and that his gospel will take root there, and spread amongst the heathen nations to the glory of his grace. " I have the honour to be, dear madam, " Tours, in every Christian bond, " Samuel Maesden." His prayers and devout aspirations for New ZealanC; had been heard on high, and " the way of the Lord " was " preparing "*in a manner far beyond his expecta- tions, ardent as they seem. The ship Ann, in which he sailed, by order of the government, for New South Wales, carried with her one whom Providence had raised up to act a part, only less important than his own, in the conversion of that benighted land. The ship had been some time at sea before Mr. Marsden observed on the forecastle, amongst the com- mon sailors, a man whose darker skin and ^-retched appearance awakened his sympathy. He was wrapped in an old great coat, very sicPand weak, had a violent cough, accompanied with profuse bleeding. He was much dejected, and appeared as thougli a few days would close his life. This was Duaterra, a New Zealand chieftain, whose story, as related by Mr. Marsden himself, is almost too strange for fiction. And as " this young chief became," as he tells us, "one of the principal instruments in preparing tlie' way for the introduction of the arts of civilization and the knowledge of Christianity into his native country," a brief sketch of liia marvellous adventures will not be out of place. LIFE OF THE EBV. SAMUEL MAUSDEN. G5 "When the existence of New Zealand was yet scarcely known to Europeans, it was occasionally visited by a South Sea whaler distressed for provisions, or in want of water. One of these, the Argo, put into the Bay of Islands in 1805, and Dnaterra, fired with the spirit of adventure, embarked on board with two of his companions. The Argo remained on the New Zealand coast for above five months, and then sailed for Port Jackson, the modern Sydney of Australia, Duaterra sailing with her. She then went to fish on the coast of New Holland for six months, acain returnius: to Port Jackson. Duaterra had been six months on board, working in general as a common saUor, and passionately fond of this roving life. He then experienced that unkindness and foul play of which the New Zealander has always had sad reason to complain. He was left on shore without a friend and without the slightest remuneration. He now shipped himself on board the Albion whaler, Captain Richardson, whose name deserves honourable mention ; he behaved very kindly to Duaterra, repaid him for his services in various European articles, and after six months cruising on the fisheries, put him on shore in the Bay of Islands, where his tribe dwelt. Here he remained six months, when the Santa Anna anchored in the bay, on her way to Norfolk Island and other islets of the South Sea in quest of seal skins. The restless Duaterra again embarked; he was put on shore on Norfolk Island at the head of a party of fourteen sailors, provided with a very scanty supply of watei', bread, and salt provisions, to kill seals, while the ship sailed, intending to be absent but a short time, to procure potatoes and pork in New Zealand. On lier returu o 2 66 LIFE OF THE EEV. SAMUEL MAESDEN". she was blowu ofF the coast in a storm, and did not make the land for a month. The sealing party were now in the greatest distress, and accustomed as he was to hardship, Duaterra often spoke of the extreme suffering which he and his party had endured, while, for upwards of three months, they existed on a desert island with no other food than seals and sea fowls, and no water except when a shower of rain happened to fall. Three of his companions, two Europeans and one Tahitian, died under these distresses. At length the Santa Anna returned, having pro- cured a valuable cargo of seal skins, and prepared to take her departure homewards. Duaterra had now an opportunity of gratifpug an ardent desire he had for some time entertained of visiting that remote country from which so many vast ships were sent, and to see with his own eyes the great chief of so wonder- ful a people. He willingly risked the voyage, as a common sailor, to visit England and see king George. The Santa Anna arrived in the river Thames about July 1809, and Duaterra now^ requested that the captain would make good his promise, and indulge him witl] at least a sight of the king. Again he had a sad proof of the perfidiousness of Europeans. Some- times he was told that no one was allowed to see kinsr G-eorge ; sometimes that his house could not be found. .This distressed him exceedingly ; he saw little of London, was ill-used, and seldom permitted to go on shore. In about fifteen days, the vessel had discliarged her cargo, when the captaiji tuld him tliat he should put him on board the Ann, which bad been taken up by government to convey convicts to New South Wales. The Ann had already tlropped down to Gravescnd, and Duaterra asked ihc master of the LIFE or THE BEV. SAMUEL MAESDEN. 07 Santa Anna for some wages and clothing. He re- fused to give him any, telling him that the owners at Port Jackson would pay him in two muskets for his services on his arrival there ; but even these he never received. Mr. Marsden was at this time in London, quite ignorant of the fact that the son of a New Zealand chief, in circumstances so pitiable, lay on board a South Sea whaler near London bridge. Their fii'st meet- ing was on board the Ann, as we have stated, when she had been some days at sea. His sympathies were at once roused, and his indignation too ; for it was always ill for the oppressor when he fell within the power of his stern rebuke. " I inquired," he says, " of the master where he met with him, and also of Duaterra what had brought him to England, and how he came to be so wretched and miserable. He told me that the hardships and wrongs which he had endured on board the Santa Anna were exceedingly great, and that the English sailors had beaten him very much, which was the cause of his spitting blood, and tliat the master had defrauded him of all his wages, and prevented his seeing the king. I should liave been very happy, if there had been time, to call the master of the Santa Anna to account for liis conduct, but it was too late. I endeavoured to soothe his afflictions, and assured him that he should be protected from insults, and that his wants should be supplied." By the kindness of those on board, Duaterra recovered, and was ever after truly grateful for the attention shown him. On their arrival at Sydney, Mr. Marsden took him into his house for six montlis, during which time he applied himself to agriculture ; 68 LIFE OP THE BET. SAMUEL MARSDEIir. he then wished to return home, and embarked for New Zealand; but further perils and adventures were in prospect, and we shall have occasion to advert to them hereafter. For the present we leave him on his voyage to his island home. The Ann touched on her passage out at Eio Ja- neiro, and Mr. Marsden spent a short time on shore, where his active mind, already, one would suppose, bur- thened with cares and projects, discovered a new field of labour. The ignorance and superstition of a popish city stirred his spirit, like that of Paul at Athens. He wrote home to entreat the Church Missionary Society, if possible, to send them teachers ; but this lay not within their province, From a letter of Sir George Grey's, addressed to himself, it appears that he had interested some members of the English government upon the subject, and that while at Rio he had been active in distributing the Scriptures. But he was now to resume his labours in Australia, where he arrived in safety, fondly calculating upon a long season of peaceful toil in his heavenly Master's service. His mind was occupied with various projects, both for the good of the colony and of the heatlicn round about. His own letters, simply and hastily thrown off in all the confidence of friendship, will show- how eagerly he plunged, and with what a total ab- sence of selfish considerations, into the work before him : " To John Terry, Esq. " Paramatta, October 26, 1810. " Deae Sik. — I received your kind and aftectionato letter, also a bottle of wheat, with tiie Hull papers, from your brother ; for all of w^hich I feel much in- debted. We had a very fine passage, and 1 found my aifairs much bi.'tter ihan 1 had any reason to expect. LIFE OF THE EEV. SAMUEL MAK&DEN. G9 The rcvolutiou bad caused much distress to niauy families, and the settlement has been thrown much back by this event. My wishes for the general welfai-e of the colony have been more successful than I expected they would be. The rising generation are now under education in almost all parts of the country. The Catholic priests have all left us, so that we have now the whole field to ourselves. I trust mucb good will be done ; some amongst us are turning to the Lord. Our chui'ches are well attended, which is promising and encouraging to us. My colleagues are men of piety and four of the schoolmasters. This will become a great country in time, it is much favoured in its soil and climate. I am very anxious for the instruction of the New Zealanders; they are a noble race, vastly superior in understanding to anything you can imagine a savage nation could attain. Mr. Hall, who was in Hull, and came out with us with an intention to pro- ceed to New Zealand as a missionary, has not yet proceeded, in consequence of a melancholy difference between the natives of that island and the crew of a ship called the " Boyd." The ship was burnt, and all the crew murdered ; our people, it appears, were the first aggressors, and dearly paid for their conduct towards the natives by the loss of their lives and ship. 1 do not think that this a-v\"ful event will prevent the establishment of a mission at New Zealand. Time must be allowed for the difference to be made up, and for confidence to be restored. I wrote a letter to Mr. Hardcastle, and another to Eev. J. Pratt, Secretaiy to the Society for Missions to Africa and the East, and have pointed out to them the necessity of having a ship constantly employed in visiting the islands in the South Seas, for the convenience, safety, and protection 70 LIFE OF THE EEV. SAMUEL MAESDEN. of the missionaries, either at Otaheite and New Zealand, or at any other island upon which they may reside " Tour's respectfully, " (Signed) Samuel Maesden." Great projects are not to be accomplished without many disappointments. The first attempt is seldom the successful one. In spiritual things, this may be regarded as the established rule, or law', in accordance to which the Head of the church controls while he purifies his servants' zeal. They are made to feel their weakness. "Where they expect honour they meet with opposition, perhaps with scorn. Their favourite plans are those which bring, for a time, the least success and the greatest anxiety. Thus they are taught the great lesson of their own weakness, and the only less important one of the insignificance of others in whom they trusted. And thus, too, in the painful but salu- tary school of adversity, they learn that the highest wisdom is, after all, simply to accept the cross of Christ, and to cast themselves on the unerring guidance of the Holy Spirit ; and, in a word, " to cease from man." The new governor, General Macquarie, had arrived out a few months before Mr. Marsdcn. He was an able commander, and had the good of the colony much at heart ; and he had a task of no little difliculty to perform, in reducing what was still a penal colony, just recovering from a state of insurrection, into order and obedience. His powers were great ; he considered them absolute. Mr. Marsden, too, was justly tena- cious of public morality ami virtue, and still more so of the spiritual iiulependence of the ministerial cha- LIFE OF THE EEY. SAMUEL MARSDEN. 71 racter. It seems that the rights of the governor on the one side, and those of the ministers of rehgion on the other, had not been accurately defined by the government at home, and thus a collision between two minds so firm and so resolute as those of the governor and Mr. Marsden, was inevitable. Occa- sions of difierence soon arose ; the governor anxious, we doubt not, to raise their character and elevate their position, with a view to the future welfare of the colony, placed several of the convicts on the magis- terial bench, treated them with respect, and even invited them to his table. "With these men, Mr. Marsden refused, as a magistrate, to act, or to meet them in society on equal terms. Some of them were notoriously persons of a bad and vicious life ; while none of them, he thought, could, without gross impro- priety, punish others judicially for the infraction of that law which they themselves had broken. He would gladly have resigned his magisterial office, but the governor knew the worth of his services, and refused to accept his resignation, which was repeatedly tendered. The new magistrates were of course of- fended, and became his bitter foes ; and some of them harassed him for twenty years with slanders and libellous insults, until at length an appeal to the laws of his country vindicated his reputation and silenced Ills opponents. Differences of opinion may exist as to the wisdom of Governor Macquarie's conduct in these civil affairs, and many will perhaps justify his pro- ceedings ; but every right-minded man will condemn without hesitation the attempts which he made to lord it over the consciences of the established clergy and other Christian ministers in the colony, in the discharge of their purely ministerial work. He wished 72 LirE OF THE EEV. SAMUEL MAESDEN. to dictate even to the pulpit, Mr. Marsden relates that he once sent for him to the Government-house, and commanded him to produce the manuscript of a sermon which he had preached nearly a year before : he did so ; when the governor severely commented upon it, and returned it with the remark that one sentence, which it is more than probable he did not understand, was " almost downright blasphemy." The junior clergy were of course still niore exposed to the same despotic interference. The governor wished to prescribe the hymns they should sing, as well as the doctrines they should teach ; and he repeatedly in- sisted on their giving out, during divine service, secular notices of so improper a chju'acter, that the military officers in attendance expressed their disgust. Happy it was for the colony of New South Wales that he met with an opponent firm and fearless, and at the same time sound in the faith, siich as the senior chap- lain. On him menaces and flattery were lost. The governor, at one time, even threatened him with a court-martial ; nor was the threat altogether an empty one, for he actually brought one of the junior chap- lains, Mr. Vale, before a court-martial, and had him dismissed the colony. These are painful facts, and such as, at this distance of time, we should gladly pass over in silence ; but, in that case, what could the reader know of the trials through which Mr. Marsden passed ? Yet amidst all these distractions his letters testify that he possessed his soul in peace, and that " no root of bitterness, troubled " him. lie speaks with respect of the governor, gives him credit for good intentions, and acknowledges the many benefits he conferred upon the colony ; aud when at length he was on the eve of LIFE OT THE EEV. SAMUEL MARSDEN. 73 returning home, Governor ]\racquarie himself bore testimony to the piety, integrity, and invaluable ser- vices of the only man who had dared patiently yet firmly to contend with him during a long course of years. The records of ministerial life offer little variety, but to pious minds they are not without interest. Mr. Marsden rose early, generally at four o'clock during the summer; and the morning hours were spent in his study. To a Christian minister a few hours of retirement in the morning are indispensable, or the mind is distracted and the day is lost. Very early rising is a question of health and constitution as well as of conscience, and we lay no burden upon those who cannot practise it. To those who can, the habit is invaluable. Three friends of Mr. Marsden present us with differeut examples in this matter. Simeon's twenty volumes of Horse Homilicse, or out- lines of sermons, were all written between five and eight o'clock in the morning. Thomas Scott, tlie commentator, seldom had more than three hours a-dav in his study and those three were early ones. AVil- berforce on the other hand laments that he could do notliing till he had had his " full dose of sleep." Those who cannot rise early may still make the day long by turning to account the fragments of time and vacant half-hoiu^s which are so recklessly permitted by most men, especially strong men, to run to waste. In the early days of the colony, Mr. Marsden used to officiate in the morning at St. Philip's, Sydney. Roads were bad and conveyances scarce, and he often walked a distance of fifteen miles to Paramatta, where ho conducted another service and preached again. Ills preaching is described as very plain, full of good H 74 LIFE OS THE HEV. samtjel maesden. sense and manly thought, and treating chiefly of the great foundation truths of the gospel. Man a lost sinuer and needing conversion, Christ an Almighty Saviour pardoning sin, the Holy Grhost an all-sufficient sanctifier, guide, and comforter, carrying on the work of grace within the soul. Those who came to hear a great preacher went away disappointed; those who came to pass a listless hour were sometimes grievously disturbed. The authenticity of the following anecdote has been assured to us by Mr. Marsden's surviving fi'iends. He was one day walking by the banks of the river, when a convict as he passed plimged into the water. Mr. Marsden threw off his coat, and in an instant plunged in after him and endeavoured to bring the man to land. He contrived however to get Mr. Marsden's head under the water, and a desperate struggle for life ensued between them ; till Mr. Marsden, being the stronger of the two, not only succeeded in getting safe to shore but in dragging the man with him. The poor fellow, struck with remorse, confessed his intention, lie had resolved to have hia revenge on the senior cliaplain, whose offence was that he had preached a sermon which had stung him to the quick ; and he believed, as a sinner exasperated by the reflection of his own vices does frequently believe,, that the preacher had meant to hold liim up to the scorn of tlie congregation. He knew too that the sight of a drowning fellow-creature would draw out the instant help of one who never knew what fear was in the discharge of duty ; and he threw himself into the stream confident of drowning ]\Ir. Marsden, and then of making good his own escape. He became very penitent, was a useful member of society, and LIFE OF THE EEV. SAMUEL MAESDEN 75 greatly attached to his deliverer, who afterwards took him into his own service, where he remained for some years. "\Ye cannot give a more painful illustration of the malignity with which he was pursued, than to state that the current version of this story in the colony was, that the convict had been unjustly punished by Mr. Marsden as a magistrate, and took this method of revenge. He made the most, too, of his opportunities. At a time when there were very few churches or clergymen, and the settlers were widely scattered over large tracts, he frequently made an itinerating ministerial visit amongst them. He was everywhere received with the greatest cordiality and respect. On arriving at a farm, a man on horseback was immediately dispatched to all the neighbours within ten or twelve miles to- collect them for public worship. The settlers gladly availed themselves of these opportunities, and assembled in numbers varying from sixty to eighty, when Divine- service was conducted in a vacant barn or under the shade of a verandah. The next day, he proceeded twenty or twenty-five miles further on in the wilds, and again collected a congregation. These tours would often extend over ten days or a fortnight, and were repeated as his more settled duties permitted. Thus his name became a household word, pronounced with love and gratitude far beyond the limits of his parish, or even of the colony ; and probably he found some of his most willing hearers amongst those to whom he thus carried in their solitude the glad tid- ings of a salvation which when offered to them week by week at home they had neglected or despised. Yet his duties as principal chaplain were not neg- lected. From a general government order, dated 76 LIFE or THE BEV. SAMUEL MAESDEN, September, IS 10, it appears that amongst them were tliose of an overseer, or chief pastor of the church. "The assistant chaplains are directed to consider themselves at all times under the immediate control and superintendence of the principal chaplain, and are to make such occasional reports to him respecting their clerical duties as he may think proper to require or call for." A high tribute to his worth under the circumstances in which he was placed by his opposi- tion to the governor. The chaplains frequently sought his protection against arbitrary power, and he -wil- lingly fought their battles and his own in defence of liberty of conscience and the right of conducting God's worship undisturbed. His connexion with his clerical brethren seems to have been uniformly happy, and the same remark is true of the missionaries of various denominations, not a few in number, who, during a period of twenty years, were virtually under liis control. He had undoubtedly the rare power of governing others in a very high degree, and it was done noiselessly and with a gentle hand ; for the men who govern well seldom obtrude their authority in an oftensive manner, or worry those they should control with a petty interference. lie had the same kind of influence, and probably from the same cause, over the very horses in his carriage. He used, in driving from Sydney to Paramatta, to throw the reins behind the dash-board, take up his book, and leave them to them- selves, his maxim being "that the horse that could not keep itself up was not worth driving." One of the pair was almost unmanageable in other hands, but it was remarked that "Captain" always conducted himself well when his master drove, and never liad an accident. LirE OF THE EEV. SAMUEL MAUSBEN. 77 Amongst his strictly pastoral cares, two schools for orphans had a foremost place. A female orphan school was first proposed, and Mr. Marsden undertook the direction of the work, and became treasurer to the institution. From its formation in 1800 to the year 1821, two hundred children were admitted. It may be a question whether the children of living parents, however ignorant or even dissolute they may be, should be totally withdrawn from parental sympathies. The presence of a child may restrain, and its artless remonstrances are often known to touch, a vicious father or mother whom no other influence can reach ; and Dr. Guthrie's recent experiment in Edinburgh seems to show us that the best method of Christian- izing both child and parent is to instruct the former well by day, and to send him home at night a little missionary to his parents, wher-e other teaching would be scorned. But in the case of orphans no such ques- tions occur, and we must look upon an orphan school with unmixed satisfaction. A male orphan school followed in due course, in which the boys were in- structed in some trade and then apprenticed. In both schools the moral and religious training was the chief consideration ; yet Mr. Marsden's connexion with them was attributed by his enemies to a sordid motive, and even those in power, who should have known him better, gave public currency to these injurious reports. The fact was that when the institutions were founded the treasurer was allowed a small per centage upon tlie receipts, as a clerical fee or stipend ; this he allowed to accumulate until he resigned the ofBce, when he presented the whole sum to the institution- The committee absolutely refusing to accept it, he purchased cattle from the government to the full n 2 78 LIPE or THE REV. SAMUEL MAUSDEN. amount, and made a ])resent of them to the orphan schools. Soon after his return from England it be- came necessary to erect new schools. The work was long and tedious, and owing to tlie want of labour in the colony, and the idle and drunken habits of the labourers, nearly ten years elapsed before they were completed, and the work too was often at a stand for want of funds. These, however, Mr. Marsden — whom no pecuniary obstacles could daunt — supplied, in a great measure, out of his own purse, till his advances amounted to nearly 900/. ; and his disinterested con- duct in the end occasioned him very considerable loss. To the latest period he never ceased to take the warmest interest in the prosperity of these instituticms. " I am sure," says liis daughter, " my father's pa- rish was not neglected. He was well known to all his parishioners, as he was in the habit of constantly call- ing upon them. He was very attentive to the sick, whether at their own homes or at tlie government hospital, lie also took great interest in the education of the young. It was through his instrumentality tliat many schools were established. His Sunday school, at the time of which I speak, was in a more efficient state tluui any I have since seen ; but this my brother-in-law, the liev. T. Hassell, had a great deal to do with, as he was then acting as my father's curate. The factory for the reception of female con- victs was built entirely by his suggestion, and to their religious and moral improvement he devoted a good deal of his time. It was principally owing to his en- deavours to get this and other institutions in good order that iinuli of his discomfort with his fellow- magistrates and government olliccrs arose." The aboriiiiucs of Australia were, even when the LIFE OP THE EEV. SAMUEL MAESDEN. 79 colony was first settled, comparatively few in number ; and in painful conformity with universal experience, they have wasted away before the white man, and will probably disappear in time from the face of the earth. If the N^ew Zealauder stands highest in the scale of savage nature, the native Australian occupies perhaps the lowest place. So low, indeed, was their intellect rated, that when the phrenological system of Drs. Gall and Spurzheim began to occupy attention, some forty years ago, the skulls of several of them were sent over to England to be submitted to the manipulations of its professors, with a view of ascertaining whether the Creator had not thrust into existence a whole race of idiots — -men who had neither reason to guide them on the one hand, nor well-developed instinct on the other. They are supposed to be a mixture of the Malay and negro races, but they have nothing of the muscular strength of the negro, nor of his mental pliancy, and both in body and mind are far below the pure Malay. In the infancy of the colony they rambled into the town of Port Jackson in a state of nudity, and when blankets were presented to them they were thrown aside as an incumbrance. They seemed to have no wants beyond those which the dart or spear— never out of their hands — could instantly supply. Their food was the opossum, but when this was not to be found they were by no means delicate ; grubs, snakes, putrid wliales, and even vermin were eagerly devoured, though fish and oysters were preferi'ed. They are a nomad or wandering people, always moving from place to place in search of food, or from the mere love of change. During the winter, they erect a hut, resembling a bee- hive, of rude wicker-work besmeared with clay ; but in general a mere hurdle, such as we use in England for 80 LIFE OF THE EEV. SAMUEL MAESDEN. penning sheep, placed to windward in the ground, is all their shelter ; under this they lie with a fire kindled in the front of it. Our English stragglers have made themselves well acquainted with their habits, fre- quently living amongst them for weeks together in the bush. These all agree in admiration of the skill with which they throw the dart, which seldom misses, even from a child's hand, to strike its prey. They are peaceable and inoffensive to strangers, and kind to their " gins," or wives, and to their children, unless their savage natures are aroused, when they become horribly brutal and vindictive. Few savage tribes have been found whose ideas on religion are less dis- tinct. They believe in a good spirit, Royan, and a bad one, Potoyan ; but like all savages — like all men, we may say, either savage or civilized, who know not God — they dread the evil spirit far more than they love the good one. They offer no prayer, and have no worsliip or sacrifices. Civil government is unknown ; authority in the tribe depends on personal strength or cunning. A wandering life with abundance of pro- visions, amongst their native woods, shores, and moun- tains, is the sum of all the little happiness they know or seek. Some efforts were made in the early period of the colony on their behalf A district ncai- Port Jackson was assigned them, and they w-ere encouraged to reside ia it; but it was very soon deserted. The roving habits of the aborigines made any settled residence irksome ; and their wants were so few tiiat tlicy would neither engage in trade, nor submit to labour for the sake of wages. It retained the name of the Black Town for many years ; but the black men have long since deserted it. Governor Macquarie, after con- LIFE OF THE EEV. SAMUEL MARSDEN. 61 suiting with Mr. Marsden, then attempted a farm, and, in connexion with it, a kind of reformatory school at Paramatta, where they were to be civilized and cured of their migratory habits, and instructed in the Chris- tian religion. Mr. Marsden took a warm interest in the scheme, as he did in everything that concerned the welfare of the aborigines. Still it failed ; for it was founded, as experience has shown, upon wrong principles. Mr. Marsden, however, is not to be blamed for this ; since Grovernor Macquarie, having now con- ceived a violent prejudice against him, omitted his name from the committee of management, although the in- stitution was placed in his own parish, introducing those of two junior chaplains ; and it was not till the governor'^ retirement that he took an active part in its affairs. But the character of the institution was then fixed, and its approaching failure was evident. Two faults were interwoven with it, either of which must have proved fatal. In the first place, the attempt to confine a nomad, wandering tribe within the pre- cincts of a farm, or to bring them to endure, except it had l^en by force, the discipline of lads in an English workliouse, was upon the very face of it absurd. These, we must remember, were the early days of English philanthropy amongst wild black men. She had yet. to make her blunders and learn her first lessons. Why should a nomad race be settled upon the workhouse plan, or even confined to an English farm ? Why should they not rather be encouraged to dwell in tents, carry civilization with them into their own woods and mountains, and, roam, free and fear- less, over those vast regions which God had given them to possess, until at last they themselves shall wish to adopt the settled habits of European Chris- 82 LIFE or THE EEV. SAMUEL MAESDEN. tiaus ? A roving life in the wilderness is not of neces- sity an idle or a barbarous one. Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob were highly civilized, and eminently devout. " Arabians " and " dwellers in Mesopotamia," wan- derers of the desert, heard the word with gladness, and received the Holy Grhost upon the day of Pente- cost. But we do not read that they were required to live in cities, and abandon the long-cherished wilder- ness, with all its solemn associations and grand de- lights. And we have not so mean an opinion of Christianity as to believe that it can thrive only in towns well paved and lighted, or in farms neatly fenced and artificially cultivated. The true missionary must track the wandering savage into the desert, and there make himself his guide and friend ; and teach him that the gospel of Jesus Christ is indeed of God, inasmuch as it is fitted, as no human contrivance can be fitted, for man, whatever his outward circumstances or his mode of life ; that it knows no difference between the dweller in the tent, and in " cities, tall and fenced up to heaven." " Barbarian, Scythian, bond or free," are all alike welcome to its blessings ; and we can see no good reason why there should not be Christian tribes in tlie wilderness, as there were patriarchal churches in the plains of the Euphrates, long before the law was given on Mount Sinai. The other mistake was the same which has tainted other missions in their infancy, and to which we have made some allusion. It was thought necessary to prepare the savage mind for Christianity, by the pre- liminary discipline of a civilizing process. This is inverting the order in which God proceeds : " The entrance of thy word giveth light." Wlien the voice of God speaks within, alid not before, the demoniac LIPE OF THE KEY. SAMUEL MAESDEN. 83 quits " his dwelling amongst the tombs ;" no longer " tears off his raiment " like a brute beast, uncon- scious of shame ; ceases to be " exceeding fierce," and is now found " sitting at the feet of Jesus, clothed, and in his right mind." A few efforts upon this, the right evangelical principle as we conceive, have been made from time to time amongst these degraded aborigines ; but the success has not been great. A wide field stiU remains, thinly peopled and spiritually imcultivated. If these Hues should- be read by our Christian friends in Australia, to them we would ven- ture to commend the glorious enterprise. Let there be one colony at least in which the aborigines shall share the intruder's prosperity. Let the vast centre of the Australian continent one day rejoice in its thronging tribes of Christian aborigines. Mr. Marsden's view of the native character may be gathered from the following statement, which he pub- lished in self-defence when charged with indifference as to their conversion. " More than twenty years ago, a native lived with me at Param.atta, and for a while I thought I could make something of him ; but at length he got tired, and no inducement could prevail upon him to continue in my house ; he took to the bush again, where he has continued ever since. One of my colleagues, the Eev. E. Johnstone, took two native girls into his house, for the express purpose of educating them ; they were fed and clothed like Europeans ; but in a short time they went into the woods again. Another native, named Daniel, was taken when a boy into the family of Mrs. C. ; he was taken to England ; mixed there with the best society, and could speak English well ; but on his retura from England he reverted to his former wild pursuits." In 84 LIFE OF THE EEV. SAMUEL MAESDEl!?. reply to the inquiries made by Mr. Marsden, who once met Daniel after he returned to his savage state, he said ; " The natives universally prefer a free and independent life, with all its privations, to the least restraint." Without multiplying instances quoted by Mr. Marsden, the trial he made with an infant shows that his heart was not unfriendly towards these people. " One of my boys, whom I attempted to civilize, was taken from its mother's breast, and brought up with my own children for twelve years ; but he retained his instinctive taste for native food ; and he wanted that attachment to me and my family that we had just reason to look for ; and always seemed deficient in those feelings of affection which are the very bonds of social life." This boy ran away at Eio from Mr. Marsden, when returning from England in 1810, but was brought back to the colony by Captain Piper; and died in the Sydney hospital, exhibiting Christian faitli and penitence. " I mentioned to the governor," he adds, " some of these circumstances, but not with any view to create difficulties ; so far from it, that I in- formed him that I was authorized by the Church Mis- sionary Society to assist any plan with pecuniary aid, that was likely to benefit the natives of the colony." A mission was in fact set set on foot by this Society ; but from various causes, it failed, and was abandoned. LIFE OF THE KEY. SAMUEL MAESDEN. 85 CHAPTER VI. Mr. Marsden's correspondence with the London Missionary Society — Buys the brig Active — His first Voyage to New Zealand — Journal of Events. EicHAED Baxtee, after describing his ministerial labours at Kidderminster in preaching and visiting from house to house, has these remarkable words : " But all these, my labours, even preaching and preparing for it, were but my recreations, and, as it were, the work of my spare hours ; for my writings w^ere my chiefest daily labour.'- Mr. Marsden had his recreations, too. Amidst the anxieties of his colouial chaplaincy he found or made opportunities to conduct a work which of itself would have been sufficient to exhaust the energies and to immortalize the memory of any other man. "We devote this chapter to a short, and, of necessity, imperfect sketch of these his recreations in the missionary field. On his return from England in 1810, he found disastrous tidings of the Tahitian mission awaiting his arrival. Disheartened by their utter want of success, divided amongst themselves, distracted with fears of danger from the natives, several of the missionaries had fled from their posts, and taken refuge in New South Wales. The work appeared to be on the eve of ruin, and it was owing in no small measure to the firmness and wise conduct of IVIr. Marsden that it was not, for a time at least, aban- doned. " Sooner," he exclaims, in one of his letters to tlie Society at home, " than that shall be the case, 1 86 LIFE OF THE EEV. SAMUEL MARSDEN. will give up my chaplaincy, and go myself and live at Otaheite." Yet it was no easy task to inspire others with his own courage, or to impart his hopeful spirit to a desponding baiid of men. He felt the difficulty, and acted towards them in the most considerate manner. Instead of at once insisting on their return, he received them into his family, where it is scarcely necessary to say they were treated with that patriarchal hospitality for which the parsonage of Paramatta was famed. "When a few months had passed, and their spu'its were cheered and their health restored, the question of their return to Tahiti was introduced and quietly discussed. Their kind and pious host had never for an instant doubted of their ultimate success. "We have perused numerous letters addressed by him to the London Missionary Society, and to various friends in England ; but in not one of them is the shadow of a doubt expressed as to the triumph of the gospel in Tahiti and the Society Islands ; and we may extend the remark to the New Zealand mission, as shown by his correspondence with the Church Mis- sionary Society a few years later. About this period a reaction had taken place in England amongst religious people. The fond hopes they had unwisely entertained of seeing vast results wherever the gospel was introduced among the heathen and upon the first proclamation of it, had been grievously disturbed ; and now the tide ran in the opposite direction. Nothing appears to have given Mr. Marsden more uneasiness than the general lukcwarmness of the church of Christ at home, and tlieir despoudcncy as to the success of missions. He speaks of his " anxious days and sleepless nights." But his own courage never failed ; and this high undoubting faith, it is beautiful LIFE OF THE llEV. SAMUEL MABSDEK. 87 to observe, rests always on the same foundation. It was not. mucli as he respected them, his confidence either in the Societies at home, or In their missionaries abroad, but simply in the promises of God, in the power of the gospel, and in the unchanging love of Christ for his "inheritance" among the heathen. Thus the missionaries were induced to return to their deserted posts ; and not only so, but to resume their work in a higher spirit of faitli and cheerfulness. It was not long before hopeful signs broke out, and within ten years Pomare the sovereign became a Chris- tian king, and the island of Tahiti a Christian land. The distance of these missions from Australia, and the difficulty of communicating with them, suggested to Mr. Marsden the advantage of employing a vessel entirely on missionary service. "When his mind was once made up he lost no time ; the consent of the Societies in England could not aU at once be gained ; so he resolved, at his own cost, to purchase a missionary ship, the first probably that ever floated on the deep, and bovight the Active, a brig of a hundred tons burden, for the service of the two great missions on whicli his heart was fixed. The following letter, ad- dressed to the Eev. George Burder, though written two years later, is introduced here to complete our sum- mary of the re-establishmeut of the Tahitiau mission : " Paramatta, June 9, 1815. " Eev. akd deae Sir, — I received a short letter from you by the late arrivals, and found you had not got any very interesting accounts from the brethren at Otaheite. The last account I had from them, they were going on exceedingly weU, and the Lord was owning and blessing their labours. You will hear I lately visited New Zealand, and also my views of that 88 l-IFE OF THE EEV. SAMUEL MAESD1;N. island. Fiuding tliat the Societies in London could not make up their minds, neither as a body nor as individuals, to send out a vessel, I at last determined to purchase one for the purpose on my own account. The various expenses attending it have created me some little pecuniary difficulties ; hut they are only known to myself, and not such as will be attended with any serious consequence. I hope in a little time I shall be able to surmount them ; whether I shall keep the vessel in my own hands or not, I am not certain as yet. I cannot do it without some assistance at the first ; if I could, I certainly would not trouble any of my friends. The vessel has been twice at New Zealand, and is gone a third time. When she returns I intend her to visit the brethren at Otaheite. It is my intention that she should sail in August next to Otaheite. The brethren there have been labouring hard to build a vessel for themselves, which is almost com- pleted. I have agreed to take a share with them in her. During the time the brethren have been building their vessel, the work of the Lord appears to have prospered very much, far beyond all expectation." He adds, " I estimate the expenses of the vessel at 1500L per annum, and I think, if I am not mistaken in my views, that her returns will not be less than lOOOL per annum, and perhaps more. I may venture to say I should not call on the two Societies for more than the sum I have stated, namely, 500/. per annum from this time. I will not demand anytliing if the returns cover the expenses for the use of the vessel." These returns were to be obtained by " freighting the Active with the produce of the industry of the natives, and trading with them in return." This would " stimulate their exertions, correct their vagrant LIFE OF THE BET. SAMUEL MAESDEN. 89 minds, and enricli them with the comforts and con- veniences of civil life." The letter closes vpith suggesting yet another mission ; for the large heart of the writer saw in the approaching triumph of the gospel in his favoui'ite missions only a call to fresh exertions. Even as Paul, when he had "fully preached from Jerusalem round about unto lUyricum," sighed after fresh labours, and still remoter conquests for his Lord. " I wish to mention to you that it would be a great object if the Society would turn their thoughts a little to the Friendly Islands. New Zealand being on one side, and the Society Islands on the other, with labourers now upon them, the Friendly Islands ought not to be left destitute. These islands are very popu.lous, and as the London Missionary Society first began the work there, I think they should renew their attempt. I cannot recommend any establishment upon any of the islands in the South Seas, unless commerce is more or less attended to, in order to call forth the industry of the natives. Pro- vided the Society as a body will not consent to have anything to do with commerce, I see no reason why a few pious friends might not, who wish to aid the missionary cause. Tou cannot form a nation without commerce and the civil arts. A person of information wlio is well acquainted with tiie Friendly Islands informed me that the labour of a hundred thousand men might be brought into action upon these islands in producing sugar, cordage, cotton, etc. . . A hundred thousand men will never form themselves into any regular society, and enjoy the productions of their country without commerce. Should the Society have any doubts upon the point, let them authorize an inquiry into the state of these islands, when there is I 2 90 LIFE or THE EEV: SAMUEL MARSDEN. an opportunity to examine them, and a report of tlieir inhabitants and their productions laid out before them." Mr. Marsden then describes the openings at New Zealand, and concludes a long letter thus : " I have stated my sentiments with great haste. Ton will excuse the hasty scrawl. I can assure you my sincere wish and prayer to the great Head of the church is that all may prosper that love him. I am, dear sir, yours affectionately, S. Maesden." A postscript adds : — " Since writing this letter, I have determined to keep the Active in my ovra hands." Let us now turn to the New Zealand mission, which occupied, from this time, so large a portion of Mr. Marsden's public life. • "We have mentioned the designation of two laymen, Messrs. Hall and King, for this mission by the Church Missionary Society in 1808. They sailed from England, with Mr. Marsden, in 1810, and were soon after followed by Mr. Kendall, and the three assembled at New South Wales, intending to sail thence without delay for the scene of their future work. But here fresh difficidties arose. Mr. Marsden's intention was to accompany them, and in person to meet the first dangers, and lay, as it were, the first stone. But this tlie new governor absolutely foi-bade. To him, and in fact to most men in liis circumstances, the whole scheme seemed utterly preposterous. Tlie idea of convertino: the savages of New Zealand was tlie cliimera of a pious enthusiast — a good and useful man in liis Avay, but one who was not to be allowed thus idly to squander the lives of others, to say nothing of liis own. Nor in truth were the governor's objectious altogether without louudation. The last news from LIFE OF THE EEV. SAMUEL MAKSDEIf. 91 New Zealand was tliat au Euglisli ship, the Boyd, had beeu seized and burned by the cannibals in the Bay of Islands, and every soul on board, seventy in all, killed and eaten. The report was true, save only that, out of the vrhole of the ship's company, two women and a boy had been spared to live in slavery with the savages. A New Zealand chief had sailed on board, as it afterwards appeared, and had been treated with brutal indignities similar to those which Duaterra suffered from the captain of the Santa Anna. He smothered his resentment, and, waiting the return of the Boyd to the Bay of Islands, summoned his tribe, who, on various pretences, crowded the deck of the ship, and at a given signal rushed upon the crew, dispatched them with tlieir clubs and hatchets, and then gorged themselves and their followers on the horrible repast. All then that Mr. Marsden could obtain at present was permission to charter a vessel, if a captain could be found sufficiently courageous to risk his life and ship in such an enterprise, and to send out the three missionaries as pioneers ; with a reluctant promise from the governor that if on the ship's return, all had turned out well, he should not be hindered from following. For some time no such adventurous captain could be found. At length, for the sum of 600L for a single voyage, an offer was made, but Mr. Marsden looked upon the sum as far too much ; and this, with other considerations, induced him to purchase his own missionary brig, the Active, in which Messrs. Hall and Kendall finally set sail for the Bay of Islands. They carried a message to Duaterra, entreating him to receive them kindly, and inviting him, too, to return with->-them to Paramatta, bringing along with him two or three friendly chiefs. 92 LIFE or TUE EEY. SAMUEL MAESDEN. Duaterra, after his visit to Mr. Marsden, on his way from England, had again suffered great hardships from the perfidy of the master of the Frederick, with whom he had embarked from New South Wales under ■an express engagement to be set on shore at the Bay of Islands, where his tribe dwelt. He was carried to Norfolk Island, and there left ; and, to aggravate his wrougs and sorrows, the vessel passed within two miles of his own shores and in sight of his long lost home. He was defrauded too of his share of the oil he had procured with his companions, worth 100^. A whaler found him on Norfolk Island, almost naked and in the last stage of want, and brought him once more to Australia and to his friend and patron Mr. Marsden. A short stay sufficed ; he sailed again from Sydney, and soon found himself, to his great joy, amongst his friends in New Zealand. On the arrival of the Active with its missionaries — the first messengers of Christ who landed on its shores — he was there to greet them, and to repay, a thousandfold, the kindness of his friend the minister of Paramatta, in the welcome he secured for these defenceless strangers. They carried with them too a present which, trifling as it may seem, was not witliout its share of iniluencc in the great work ; the story is suggestive, and may serve a higher purpose than merely to amuse the reader. Duaterra had been provided by Mr. Marsden with a supply of wheat for sowing on his return to New Zealand. No such thing as a field of grain of any kind had yet waved its golden ears on that fertile soil. To tliis accomplished savage the honour belongs of first introducing agricidture into an island destined, within foi'ly years, to rival the best farms of England LI¥E OF THE EEV. SAMUEL MARSDEK. 93 both in the value of its crops and the variety of its produce. The ueighbouriug chiefs and their tribes viewed with wonder first the green ears and then the growing corn. The wild potato, the fern, and a few other roots were the only produce of the earth they were yet acquainted with, and when Duaterra assured them that his field of wheat was to yield the flour out of which the bread and biscuits they had tasted on English ships were made, they tore up several plants, expecting to find something resembling their own potato at the root. That the ears themselves should furnish the materials for a loaf was not to be believed. Duaterra meant to impose upon them, or else he had been duped himself, but they were not to be cajoled with the tales of a traveller. The field was reaped and the corn threshed out, when Duaterra was mortified with the discovery that he was not provided with a mill. He made several attempts to grind his corn with the help of a coffee-mill borrowed from a trading- ship, but without success ; and now, like the inventor of steam navigation, and other benefactors of their species nearer home, he was laughed at for his sim- plicity. It is strange that the ancient Eoman quern, a hollow stone in which the grain was pounded, the rudest form in fact of the pestle and mortar, should not have occurred to him ; but the total want ol invention is an invariable characteristic of savage nature. At length the Active brought the im- portant present of a hand-mill for grinding corn, Duaterra's friends assembled to watch the experiment, still incredulous of the promised result ; but when the meal began to stream out beneath the machine their astonishment was unboimded ; and when a cake was produced, hastily baked in a frying-pan, they shouted 94 LIFE OF THE KET. SAMUEL MAESDEN. and danced for joy, Duaterra was now to be trusted when he told them that the missionaries were good men. And thus the first favourable impression was made upon the savage Maories, whose race was in the next generation to become a civilized and Christian people. Messrs Hall and Kendall, having introduced them- selves and their mission in New Zealand, now, in obedience to their instructions, returned to Sydney accompanied by Duaterra and six other chiefs, amongst whom was Duaterra's uncle the famous Shunghie, or Hongi, the most powerful of New Zealand chieftains ; such was the confidence which Mr. Marsden's name together with the good conduct of the missionaries, had now inspired. The Active reached New South Wales on the 22nd of August, 1814. Nothing could exceed the joy which Mr. Marsden experienced on the successful termination of the voyage, and being filled with an earnest desire to promote the dissemination of the gospel amongst the New Zealanders, and having obtained the governor's permission, he determined to accompany the missionaries on their return to the Bay of Islands. To his friend, Avison Terry, Esq., he wrote just before he sailed, Oct. 7, 1814 — " It is my intention to visit New Zealand and see what can be done to promote the eternal welfare of the inliabitants of that island. I have now several of the chiefs living with me at Paramatta. They are as noble a race of men as are to be met with in any part of the world. I trust I shall be able, in some measure, to put a stop to those dreadful murders which have been committed upon the island for some years past, both by the Europeans and tlie natives. Tliey arc a much injured people, uutwiLhstandiug all that has been advanced LIFE OF THE RET. SAMUEL MARSDEN. 95 against them. The time is now come, in my opinion, for them to be favoured with the everlasting gospel ; and I trust to hear the joyful sound in those dark and dreary regions of sin and spiritual bondage. I have long had the most ardent wish to visit these poor heathen, but have never tiU the present time obtained permission. I have submitted my views to the Church Missionary Society, and solicited their aid. The expense of establishing a mission here will at first be very considerable." . . [Here he mentions his purchase of the Active, etc.] " Should the Society approve of my views, no doubt they will give their support, but if they cannot enter into them in the manner I do, I cannot expect that assistance from them which may be required. My own means will enable me to set the mission on foot in the first instance, and I have little doubt but it will succeed." Zeal such as this, tempered with discretion and guided by the " wisdom which Cometh from above," in answer to many believing prayers, could scarcely fail of its sure reward. On the 19th of November, 1814, he embarked on his great mission, with a motley crew, such as (except perhaps on some other missionary ship) has seldom sailed ia one small vessel — savages and Christian teachers and enterprising mechanics, their wives and children, besides cattle and horses. Of this strangely assorted company he gives the following description : " The number of persons on board the Active, includ- ing women and children, was thirty-five ; the master, his wife and son, Messrs. Kendall, Hall, and King, with their wives and children, eight New Zealanders, (including Duaterra and his uncle the great warrior Shunghie or Hongi) two Otaheitans, and four Europeans belonging to the vessel, besides Mr. John 96 LIFE OF THE EEV. SAMUEL MABSDETT. Lydiard Nicholas and myself; there were also two sawyers, one smith, and a runaway convict whom we afterwards found on board, a horse and two mares, one bull and two cows, with a few sheep and poultry. The bidl and cows have been presented by Governor Macquarie from his Majesty's herd." On the 15th December, they were in sight of land ; the next day, the chiefs were sent on shore, and a friendly communica- tion was at once opened with the natives. Eut even before they had landed " a canoe came alongside the Active, with plenty of fish, and shortly afterwards a chief followed from the shore, who immediately came on board." Mr. Marsden's fame, as the friend of the New Zealanders, had arrived before him. " I told them my name, with which they were all well acquainttd. . . We were now quite free from all fear, as the natives seemed desirous to show us attention by every possible means in their power." The Active dropped her anchor a few days after at Wangaroa, near the Bay of Islands, the scene of the massacre of the Boyd's crew, and there amongst the very cannibals by Avhose hands their countrymen liad fallen so recently the first Christian mission to New Zealand was opened. A fierce and unholy revenge had been taken, in the murder of Tippahee, a native chieftain, and all his family, by an English crew who had visited Wangaroa after the Boyd's destruction, and Tippahee, as Mr. Marsdcn always maintained, suffered unjustly, having had no sliare in the dreadful massacre. But thus it was ; and amongst a people so exasperated did these ser- vants of the most high Grod venture forth as the heralds of tlie gospel. Seldom since the words of the prophet wore first uttered have they had, in reference to missionaries, a more significant, or a more correct lilFE OF THE KEY, SAMUEL MAESDEN. 97 appropriation tlian tliey now received. " How beauti- ful upon the mountains are the feet of him that bring- eth good tidings, that publisheth peace ; that bringeth good tidings of good, that publisheth salvation." Mr. Marsden's journal of tliis his first visit to New Zealand is a document of singular interest, and when published at the time in England, it made a deep im- pression. It is written in plain and forcible language, and is characterized by tliat vein of good sense and practical wisdom which so distinguished him. There is no disjjlay of his own sufierings, trials and priva- tions, no affectation of laboured and studied expression, no highly coloured and partial representation of the savage condition of the natives. All his aim is to lay the truth before the Society and the friends of missions, and in doing so he has written with a degree of accuracy and honest feeling, which while they inform the understanding at once reach the heart. From this unpretending record, a few selections will be laid before the reader. And here, too, we would, once for all, acknowledge our obligations to his " companion in travel," J. L. Nicholas, Esq., to whose manuscript joiu'nal of the visit to New Zealand, as well indeed as for other communications of great interest on the subject of Mr. Marsden's life and labours, we shall be much indebted through the future pages of our work. Duaterra and Shunghie had often told of the bloody war, arising out of the affair of the Boyd, that was raging, while they were at Paramatta, between the people of Waugaroa (the tribe of Tippahee) and the inhabitants of the Bay of Islands, who were their own friends and followers ; the Wangaroans accusing the people of the Bay of Islands of having conspired with the English in the mbirder of Tippahee. When the 08 LIFE OF TUB KEY. SiVMUEl MAESDEK. Active arrived, several desperate battles had been fought, and the war was likely to continue. Mr. Marsden was determined to establish peace amongst these contending tribes. He was known already as the friend of Duaterra and Shunghie ; he now felt that he must convince the other party of his good intentions. He did not come amongst them as an ally of either, but as the friend of both ; he resolved therefore to pass some time with the "VYangaroans ; and with a degree of intrepidity truly astonishing even in him, not only ventured on shore, but actually passed the night, accompanied by his friend Mr. Nicholas alone, with the very savages who had killed and eaten his countrymen. After a supper of fish and potatoes in the camp of Shunghie, they walked over to the hostile camp distant about a mile. They received the two white strangers very cordially. " 'We sat down amongst them, and the chiefs surrounded us." Mr. Marsden then introduced the subject of his em- bassy, explained the object of the missionaries in. coming to live amongst them, and showed how much peace would conduce in every way to the welfare of all parties. A chief, to whom the Europeans gave the name of George, acted as interpreter ; he had sailed on board an English ship, and spoke English well. INIr. Marsden tells us how the first night was passed : " As the evening advanced the people began to retire to rest in different groups. About eleven o'clock Mr. Nicholas and I wrapped ourselves in our great coats, and prepared for rest. George directed me to lie by his side. His wife and child lay on the right hand, and Mr. Nicliolas close by. The night was clear ; the stars shone briijht, and the sea in our front was smooth ; around us were innumerable spears stuck LIFE OF THE E,ET. SAMUEl MAESDEN. 99 upriglit in the ground, and groups of natives lying in all directions, like a flock of sheep upon the grass, as there were neither tents nor huts to cover them. I viewed our present situation wiih. sensations and feel- ings that I cannot express, surrounded by cannibals who had massacred and devoured our countrymen. I wondered much at the mysteries of providence, and how these things could be. Never did I behold the blessed advantage of civihzation in a more grateful light than now. I did not sleep much during the night. My mind was too seriously occupied by the present scene, and the new and strange ideas it natu- rally excited. About three in the morning I rose and walked about the camp, surveying the different groups of natives. When the morning light returned we beheld men, women, and children, asleep in all directions like the beasts of the field. I had ordered the boat to come on shore for us at daylight ; and soon after Duaterra arrived in the camp." In the morning he gave an invitation to the chiefs to breakfast on board the Active, which they readily accepted. " At first I entertained doubts whether the chiefs would trust themselves with us or not, on account of the Boyd, lest we should detain tliem when we had them in our power ; but they showed no signs of fear, and went on board with apparent confidence. The axes, billhooks, prints, etc., I intended to give them were all got ready after breakfast ; the chiefs were seated in the cabin in great form to receive the presents, I sat on the one side, and they on the other side of the table ; Duaterra stood and handed me each article separately that I was to give them. Messrs. Kendall, Hall, and King, with the master of the Active and his son, were all one after the other intro- 100 LIFE OF THE BET. SAMUEL MAESDEN. duced to the chiefs. The chiefs were at the same time informed what duty each of the three persons were appointed to do. Mr. Kendall to instruct their children, Mr. Hall to build houses, boats, etc., Mr. King to make fishing lines, and Mr. Hanson to command the Active, which would be employed in bringing axes and such things as were wanted from Sydney, to enable them to cultivate their lands and improve their country. When these ceremonies were over, I expressed my hope that they would have no moi"e wars, but from that time would be reconciled to each other. Duaterra, Shunghie, and Koro Koro shook hands with the chiefs of Wangaroa, and saluted each other as a token of reconciliation by joining their noses together. I was much gratified to see these men at amity once more." The chieftains now took their leave, much pleased with the attention of Mr. Marsden, and still more so with his presents ; and they promised for the future to protect the missionaries and never to injure the European traders. Some of the presents excited no little wonder ; no New Zealander, except the few who like Duaterra had been on foreign travel, had ever seen either cows or horses, for the largest quadruped yet naturalized in the island was the pig, and even that bad been introduced but recently. Duaterra had often told his wondering countrymen of the horse and its rider, and in return was always laughed at ; but when tlie horses were now landed and JNIr. INIarsden actually mounted one of them, they stood in crowds and gazed in mute astonishment. These traits of infant civilization are not without their use to those who may hereafter be cast among barbarous tribes, or may attempt their improvement. LIFE OF THE REV. SAMUEL MAESDEK, 101 The first Sunday on whicli the one true God was worshipped in New Zealand since the creation, will be I for ever memorable in her aunals. It was also 1 Christmas-day, the 25th of December, 1815, " a day | much to be remembered." Mr. Marsden thus des- ' cribes it : " Duaterra passed the remaining part of the previous day in preparing for the sabbath. He inclosed about half an acre of land with a fence, erected a pulpit and reading desk in the centre, and covered the whole either with black native cloth or some duck which he had brought with him from Port Jackson He also procured some bottoms of old canoes, and fixed them up as seats on each side of the pulpit, for the Europeans to sit upon ; intending to have divine service performed there the next day. These prepa- rations he made of his own accord ; and in the evening informed me that everything was ready for divine service. I was much pleased with this singular mark of his attention. The reading-desk was about three feet from the ground, and the pulpit about six feet. The black cloth covered the top of the pulpit, and hung over the sides ; the bottom of the pulpit, as well as the reading-desk, was part of a canoe. The whole was becoming, and had a solemn appearance. He had also erected a flagstafi" on the highest hill in the village, which had a very commanding view. " On Sunday morning, when I was upon deck, I saw the English flag flying, which was a pleasing sight in New Zealand. I considered it as the signal and the dawn of civilization, liberty and religion, in that dark and benighted land. I never viewed the British colours -with more gratification ; and flattered myself they would never be removed, till the natives of that island enjoyed all the happiness of British subjects. k2 102 LIFE OF THE EEV SAMUEL MABSDEN". " About ten o'clock we prepared to go ashore, to publish for the first time the glad tidings of the gospel. I was under no apprehension for the safety of the vessel ; and, therefore, ordered all on board to so on shore to attend divine service, except the master and one man. When we landed, we found Koro Koro, Duaterra, and Shunghie, dressed in regimentals, which Governor Macquarie had given them, with their men drawn up, ready to be marched into the iuclosure to attend divine service. They had their swords by tlieir sides, and switches in their hands. We entered the inclosure, and were placed on the seats on each side of the pulpit. Koro Koro marched his men, and placed them on my right hand, in the rear of tlie Eiu-opeans : and Duaterra placed his men on the left. The inhabitants of the to\^Ti, with the women and cliiJdren, and a number of other chiefs, formed a circle round the whole. A very solemn silence prevailed — the sight was truly impressive. I rose up and began the ser- vice with singing the Old Hundredth Psalm ; and felt my very soul melt within me when I viewed my con- gregation, and considered the state they were in. After reading the service, during which the natives stood up and sat down at the signals given by Koro Koro's switch, which was regulated by the movements of the Europeans, it being Christinas day, I preached from the second chapter of St. Luke's gospel and tenth verse, ' Behold, I bring you glad tidings of great joy," etc. The natives told Duaterra that they could not und(Tstand what I meant. He replied, tliat tliey were not to mind that now, for they would understand by- and-by ; and that he would explain my meaning as far as he could. AVhcn I had done preacliiug, he informed them what 1 hud been talking about. Duaterra was LIFE or TUE REV. SAMUEL MARSDEN. 103 very much pleased that he had been able to make all the necessary preparations for the performance of divine worship in so short a time, and we felt much obliged to him for his attention. He was extremely anxious to convince us that he would do everything in his power, and that the good of his country was his principal consideration. " In this manner, the gospel has been introduced into New Zealand ; and I fervently pray that the glory of it may never depart from its mliabitants till time shall be no more." The confidence of the natives in Mr. Marsden was now unbounded, and scarcely less was the confidence he reposed in them ; and he resolved upon a short coasting voyage, with the view of exploring their diflerent harboui's, and making arrangements for the future extension of the mission. Many of the chiefs and warriors, led byDuaterra, wished to sail with him, and without the slightest misgiving, twenty-eight savages, fully armed after the fashion of their country, w^ere invited on board the Active, manned as she was by only seven Europeans. " I do not believe," Mr. Nicholas observes, " that a similar instance can be shown of such unlimited confidence placed in a race of savages known to be cannibals. We are wholly in their power, and what is there to hinder them from abusing it ? Next to the overruling providence of God, there is nothing but the character of the ship, which seems to liave something almost sacred in their eyes, and the influence of Mr. Marsden's name, which acts as a talisman amongst them. They feel convinced that he is sacrificing his own ease and comfort to promote their welfare." Their leave of absence having nearly expired, Mr. 104 LIFE or THE EEV. SAMUEL MABSDEN. Marsden and his conipauions were now obliged to prepare for tlieir voyage homeward. They had laid the foundations of a great work — how great, none of them could tell. But they were full of faith in God, while, as patriots, they exulted in the prospect of extending the renown of dear old England. Mr. Marsden, in his conversations with the natives, ex- plained to them the nature of our government, and the form of trial by jury ; he discoiirsed with them upon the evils of polygamy, and showed his marked abhorrence of their darling vices — theft and lying. A chisel being lost from the Active a boat was sent on shore, manned by Duaterra and other chieftains, to demand restitution ; the culprit was not found, nor the implement restored ; but a whole village was aroused from its slumbers at midnight, and the inha- bitants literally trembled with fear of the consequences when they saw the angry chieftains, though no harm was permitted to ensue. An example of high in- tegrity, was always set. Mr. Marsden might, for instance, have obtained land, or timber, or, in short, whatever he required in exchange for ammunition and muskets ; but he sternly interdicted the sale or barter of these articles upon any terms whatever, and to this resolution he always adhered. Again and again does he express his determination, as well in this its earliest stage as in later periods of the mission, rather to abandon the whole work, which was far dearer to liim than life itself, than to sufler it to be tainted by what he considered so nefarious a barter. "I further told theui," he says, " that the smith should make axes or hoes, or any other tools they wanted ; but that he was on no account to repair any pistols or nuiskets, or make any warlike instruments, no not even for tlie LIFE OF THE EEV. SAMUEL MARSDEN. 105 greatest chiefs upon the island." And he " took an opportunity, upon all occasions, to impress upon their minds the horrors their cannibalism excited ; how much their nation was disgraced by it, and dreaded on this account." One thing still remained to be done. The mission- aries possessed no land, and were liable, after his departure, to be removed or driven out at the mere caprice of the tribes amongst whom they settled. He therefore determined, if possible, to purchase for them a small estate. It consisted of about two hundred acres ; and the first plot of ground to which England can lay claim in New Zealand was formally made over in a deed, of which Mr. Nicholas has fortunately preserved a transcript. It was executed in the presence of a number of chiefs, who were assembled to take leave of the Active on the day before she sailed, and ran as follows : — " Know all men to whom these presents shall come, that I, Anodee Grunna, king of Eangheehoo, in the island of New Zealand, have, in consideration of twelve axes to me in hand now paid and delivered by the Heverend Samuel Marsden of Paramatta, in the territory of New South Wales, given, granted, bargained, and sold ; and by this present instrument do give, grant, bargain, and sell unto the committee of the Chui'ch Missionary Society for Africa and the East, instituted in London, in the kingdom of Great Britain, and to their heirs and successors, all that piece and parcel of land situate in the district of Hoshee, in the island of New Zealand, bomided on the south side by the bay of Lippouna and the town of Bangheehoo, on the north side by a creek of fresh water, and on the west by a public road into the 106 LIFE or THE BET. SAMtTEL MAESDEN. interior, together with all the rights, members, privileges, and appurtenances thereto belonging ; to have and to hold to the aforesaid committee of the Church Missionary Society for Africa and the East, instituted in London, in the kingdom of Great Britain, their heirs, successors, and assigns, for ever, clear and freed from all taxes, charges, impositions, and contributions whatsoever, as and for their own absolute and proper estate for ever. " In testimony whereof I have to these presents, thus done and given, set my hand at Hoshee, in the island of New Zealand, this twenty- fourth day of February, in the year of Christ, one thousand eight hundred and fifteen. (Signatures to the grant.) " Thomas Kendall. " J. L. jSiicholas." To this was affixed a complete drawing of the "amoco," or tattooing of Gunna's face, done by Shunghie, on one side of which he set his mark. We need scarcely remind the reader how closely this transaction resembles the famous contract of AVilliam Penn with the native Indians, by which he became possessed of Pennsylvania. Much and justly as Penn has been admired, Mr. Marsden's conduct is even more worthy of respect. Penn sought to found a colony, to place himself at its head, and to associate his own name with it through generations to come. The chaplain of Paramatta had not even these motives of honest and laudable ambition ; he souglit nothing for himself, nothing for his coiintiy, nothing even for the cliurch of which lie was a member, and which ho wariidy loved. His one aim was to evangelize New LIFE OF THE KEY. SAMUEL MAESDEN. 107 Zealand ; to bring a nation of cannibals from darkness into the marvellous light of the gospel, and from the power of Satan unto God. His own name appears on the instrument only as the agent or representative of a missionary society in whom the property was vested ; and yet at the time tlie purchase was made he was uncertain whether the bare expenses of his voyage, or even the cost and charges of his vessel, would ever be repaid to him. He sought neither wealth, nor honour, nor preferment, but acted with a simple aim to the glory of God. The memorial of such a name can never perish amongst men ; and should it be forgotten, still his record is on high. Mr. Marsden returned from his first voyage to IS'ew Zealand accompanied by no less than ten chiefs, and landed at Sydney on the 23rd of March, 1815. He and Mr. Nicholas immediately presented themselves to the governor, who " congratulated them on their safe return," from what, in common with all the colony, he regarded as a most perilous and rash adventure. 108 LIFE OF THE EEV. SAMUEL MARSDEIT. CHAPTEE VII. Death of Duaterra — Trials of Mr. Mai'sden in the Colony — Libel of Philo-free — Letter to Rev. George Burder — To Dr. Mason Good — Sympathy of his Friends in England — Congratulations of the 46th Regiment, and Mr. Marsden's acknowledgment — Letters of Lord Gambler, Rev, C. Simeon, and Mrs. Fry. It was not to be expected that a career of unbroken success aud easy triumph should crown the infant mission in New Zealand. Reverses and delays were to be looked for ; they were in the nature of the work itself; and for such trials Mr. Marsden was prepared. But he had scarcely arrived at Paramatta before he was involved iu sharper conflicts. No doubt they were a part of God's discipline of love : for if Paul required "a thorn in the flesh" lest he " shoidd be exalted above measure," meaner disciples may surely expect to meet with stern rebuffs, in their career of usefulness and honour ; and they will even learn to accept them with a thankful and a joyous heart. The first discouragement was the death of Duaterra. Mr. Marsden had left him sick ; and four days after his departure he expired, surrounded by his heathen countrymen, from whose superstitions, even to the last, he was by no means free. " He appeared at this awful moment," Mr. Marsden writes, describing his last interview, "not to know what to do. He wished me to pray with him, which I did ; but the supersti- tions of his country had evidently a strong hold upon his mind ; the priest was always with him, night and day. Duaterra seemed at a lossywhere to repose his afflicted mind ; hiti views of the gospel were not sufii- LIFE OF THE BEV, SAMUEL MAUSDEN. 109 ciently clear to remove his superstitions ; and at the same time he was happy to hear what I had to say to him. "What horrors do these poor people suffer when they come to die !" His favourite wife, Dalioo, was inconsolable ; and while Shunghie and his near rela- tives cut themselves with knives till the blood gushed out, she sought and found an opportunity to put a period to her own life by hanging herself, at a short distance from the body of her husband. None of the natives, not even her relatives, appeared shocked or surprised. "Her mother," Mr. Kendall wrote, "wept while she was composing the limbs of her daughter ; but she applauded her resolution, and the sacrifice which she had made for the man she so ten- derly loved. Her father observed her corpse without any apparent concern. I could not discover a tear at the time it was brought before him. Two of her brothers smiled on the occasion, and said, ' it was a good thing at JSTew Zealand.' It is common for women to act thus when their husbands die ; they think that they then go to them." Mr. Marsden, for a time, was almost overwhelmed. "I could not but view Duaterra, as he lay dying, with wonder and astonish- ment ; and could scarcely bring myself to believe that the Divine Goodness would remove from the earth a man whose life appeared of such infinite importance to his couutiy, which was just emerging from bar- barism and superstition. No doubt but he had done his work and finished his appointed course, though I fondly imagined he had only just begun his race. He was in the prime and vigour of manhood : I judge his age to be about twenty-eight years. In reflecting on this awful and mysterious event, I am led to exclaim, with the apostle of the Gentiles, ' Oh the depth of the L 110 LIFE OF THE EEV. SAMUEL MAESDEN. riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! how unsearchable are his judgments, and his wjiys past finding out !' He was indeed a noble specimen of human nature in its savage state. His character was cast in the mould of heroes : at the very period of his death, after ten years of as much privation, danger, and hardship as nature could well bear, his courage was unsubdued, and his patriotism and enterprise unabated. He told Mr. Marsden with an air of triumph, " I have now intro- duced the cultivation of wheat into New Zealand; New Zealand will become a great country; in two years more I shall be able to export wheat to Port Jackson, in exchange for hoes, axes, spades, tea and sugar." He had made arrangements for farming on a large scale, and had formed his plan for building anew town, with regular streets, after the European mode, on a beautiful situation which commanded a view of the harbour and the adjacent country. " I accompanied him to the spot," says Mr. M. ; " we examined the ground fixed on for the town, and the situation where the church was to stand." Had he lived he would have been the Ulysses of his Ithaca— perhaps its Alfred ; and nothing in his whole life gives us a juster idea of Mr. Marsden s sagacity and keen perception than the fact of his singling out Duaterra, a sick and apparently dying common sailor on shipboard, and training him to be a powerful instrument, in God's hands, for the civilization of New Zealand. Other trials followed the death of Duaterra. Fresh wars broke out. One hostile tribe encamped in sight of the mission premises, and, no longer re- strained by Mr. Marsden's presence, threatened, not mdeed to expel the missionaries, but to kill and eat LIFE OF TUE JiEV. SAMUEL MABSDEN. Ill them. For months together the affrighted baud kept watcli night and day ; their children were laid to sleep in their cots dressed, to be ready for instant flight, and the boat was always kept afloat, with its oars and sail in readiness. The storm blew over, and they remained stedfast at their posts. Soon afterwards, the AVesleyan Methodists established their important and successful mission in the island, and the mis- sionaries gained strength from each other in society and mutual counsel. The first Wesleyan missionary, the Eev. Samuel Leigh, was well known at Paramatta, and Mr. Marsden viewed his labours with thankful- ness and hope; but the reports which reached liiui from time to time of the difiiculties to which the inis- sions were exposed still added much to his anxieties. And now a series of persecutions began, which, while they never cowed his brave spirit, harassed and disturbed bim more than those who were acquainted only with the outward features of his strong, daunt- less character would have readily believed. It is greatly to his honour that all the sufferings to which he was exposed — newspaper libels, official misrepre- sentations, and personal abuse— arose immediately out of his endeavours to raise the morals of the colony, and to protect the unhappy women who came out as convicts, and were at that time exposed by most iniquitous neglect to still further degradation. Just before his departure for New Zealand, he" had addressed an official letter to the governor, calling his attention to the present state of Piiramatta and its neighbourliood, as far as it related to its public morals and police, and especially with regard to the female con- victs, of whom upwards of one hundred and fifty, be- sides seventy chiltU-en, were employed in a government 112 LIFE OF THE E.EV. SAMUEL MARSDEK. factory there, and whose condition, as far as we can ven- ture to describe it, may be gathered from the following passage. The scene is painful ; it is the dark side of our colonial history ; but those who will not listen to these recitals can know but little of the obligations which society is under to such men as Howard and Samuel Marsden, or to heroic women, such as Mrs. Fry. In his letter to the governor he says : " The number of women employed at the factory ia one hundred and fifty ; they have seventy children. There is not any room in the factory that can be called a bedroom for these women and children. There are only two rooms, and these are both occupied as work- shops ; they are over the jail, and are about eighty feet long and twenty wide. In these rooms there are forty-six women daily employed, twenty spinning wool upon the common wheel, and twenty-six carding. There are also in them the warping-machiue, etc., belonging to the factory. These rooms are crowded all the day, and at night such women sleep in them as are confined for recent offences, amongst the wheels, wool, and cards, and a few others, who have no means whatever of procuring a better abode. The average number of women who sleep in the factory is about thirty in the whole. Many of these women have little, and some no bedding ; they all sleep on the floor. There is not a candle or bedstead belonging to the factory. I do not deem it either safe or prudent that even thirty women should sleep in the factory, wliich has been crowded all day with working people ; tlie air must be bad and contagious. Were the magis- trate to compel even half the number of women, w itli their children, to sleep in the factory which belong to it, they could not exist. Not less than one hundred LIFE OF THE BEV. SAMUEL MARSDEN. 113 and twenty women are at large in the night to sleep whore they can." He urges upon the governor the necessity of at least providing lodgings in barracks for these poor creatures. " When I am called upon," he adds, "in the hour of sickness and want to visit them in the general hospital, or in the wretched hovels where they lodge, my mind is often oppressed beyond measure at the sight of their sufferings. . . . And if their dreary prospect beyond the grave be viewed in a religious light it far exceeds in horror the utmost bounds of human imagination. As their minister I must answer ei-e long at the bar of Divine justice for my duty to these objects of vice and woe, and often feel inexpres- sible anguish of spirit, in the moment of their ap- proaching dissolution, on my own and their account, and follow them to the grave with awful forebodings lest I should be found at last to have neglected any part of my public duty as their minister and magistrate, and by so doing contributed to their eternal ruin. So powerful are these reflections at times that I envy tlie situation of the most menial servant who is freed from this sacred and solemn responsibility, namely, the care of immortal souls. ... I am of opinion that no clergyman was ever placed in so painful and trying a situation as far as relates to the moral and religious state of the people committed to his care. I see them devoted to vice, and infamy, and extreme wretched- ness while living, and when they come to die suffering all the horror of mind and anguish of spirit that guilt can possibly inspire, without the means of applying any remedy in either case. ... I humbly conceive it is incompatible with the character and wish of the British nation that her own exiles should bo exposed l2 114 LIFE Of THE KEY. SAMUEL MAESDEN, to such privations aud dangerous temptations, -when she ia daily feeding the hungry, and clothing the naked, and receiving- into her friendly, I may add pious bosom, strangers whether savage or civilized of every nation under heaven." The governor courteously replied, acknowledging the receipt of his letter ; but no further steps were taken ; and after waiting eighteen months " without the most distant prospect of obtaining relief for the female convicts from the colonial government," he sent a copy of his own letter, with the governor's answer, to the British government at home. By them it was submitted to a select committee of the House of Commons, when, in 1819, the state of our jails came under the consideration of parliament, and was after- wards printed in their report ; Lord Bathurst, the colonial secretary, having previously submitted it to Governor Macquarie, requesting his opinion on the several matters it contained. Great exasperation followed ; it seemed for a time as if the whole colony, with scarcely an exception, had risen as one man to crush the principal chaplain, who alone had dared to expose its profligacy and to check its abuses. The storm indeed had begun to mutter around his head before Lord Bathurst's communication was received. The " Sydney Gazette," which was under the immediate control of the governor, was allowed to publish from week to week the most scandalous libels upon his character. At length, a letter appeared signed Pln'lo- free, which Mr. Marsden suspected, aud at length discovered, to have been written by the governor's secretary ; it was aimcnl not merely against himself — this he could have borne in silence — but against the conduct and the moral character of tlie missionaries LIFE or THE KEY. SAMUEL MAESDEN. 115 in the South Sea Islands, whose reputation he felt it his duty at every hazard to protect. He therefore appealed to the laws for shelter and redress, and two successive verdicts justified the course he took. There were at the time many, even of his warm friends, in England, who were almost disposed to blame him for a too sensitive and litigious spirit. But when the whole case lay before them, the wisest and the mildest men absolved him from the charge, and heartily approved his conduct. In the place of any comments of our own we will lay before the reader, in his own words, some of Mr.Marsden's views upon the subject. They will see the principles by which he was actuated, aud they will learn with amazement how great the difficulties with which the friends of missions have had to contend from their own countrymen. The first letter is addressed to the Eev. George Burder, and was read, as appears from the endorsement it bears, in the committee of the Loudon Missionary Society, July 10th, 1818, having been received on the 25th of June. " Paramatta, Dec. 9, 1817. " Eev. SiE, — I wrote to you very fully by ]Mi\ Hassall, and informed you what state I was in at that time. Since that period I have had many hard struggles to maintain my ground. A very shameful attack was made upon me and the missionaries in the South Sea Islands by the governor's secretary, in an anonymous letter which he published in the Sydney Gazette, and of which you are already informed. Since my last I have brought the secretary to the criminal bar for the libel. Every means were used to pervert judgment that the cunning and art of certain persons could exert. After three days' contest, I obtained a verdict 116 LIFE OF THE EEV. SAMUEL MAESDEN. against the secretary. This was a matter of much joy to all who loved the cause of religion, and also to the colony in general. The trouble, anxiety, and expense of the trial were very gi"eat, as I had only truth on my side. When I had got a verdict I hoped to enjoy a little quiet, but the next Gazette in the report made of the trial, being so false and scandalous, and casting such reflections on me and my friends, I was compelled to appeal to Caesar once more ; and last Tuesday the cause was heard before the supreme court, when I obtained a verdict again. The supreme judge. Justice Eield, is a very upright man, and acted with great independence in the cause. A verdict was given in my favour to the amount of 200/., with costs. The expense to the secretary will not be much less than 500/. IS'one can tell what I have suffered in my mind for the last live years, on account of the missions, from the opposition of those in power. "I must request the Society to use their interest with the British government to check those in authority here from exposing the missionaries, and those con- nected with them, to the contempt of the whole world by such scandalous anonymous publications as that of wliich I complain. I have been very anxious to leave the colony altogether, from the continual anxiety I have suffered, and the opposition thrown in the way of every measure I have wished to promote, for the advancement of the kingdom of Christ among the heathen." Yet he had, in truth, no groimd for this despon- dency. St. Paul laid the foundations of flourishing churches amidst "a great fight of afllictions ;" wliat wonder if one of the greatest of Protestant missions in a later age shouhl sliare in trials from which " the LIFE OF THE EEV. SAMUEL MAEaBEN. 117 churches in Macedonia and Achaia " were not exempt ? The letter pl-oceeds thus : " I am very happy to inform you that all goes on well at the Islands, notwithstanding the contests here. I have forwarded to you, by this conveyance, all the letters ; from them you will learn the affairs of the missionaries : I hope all the brethren have joined them. Four thousand of the natives can now read. I send you one of Pomare's letters to me. Mr. John Eyre has translated it. Tou will see what the views of the king are. He is now writing a dictionary of his own language, and one of the chiefs is employed at the press. I am very sorry they did not meet the king's wishes with regard to the printing press, and set it up at Tahiti, where he lives ; taking it away from Jiim was unwise .... The main work is done now, as far as respects the planting of the gospel. Their native idols are burned in the fire, and many have ' tasted that the Lord is gracious ' amongst the in- habitants. They sing, and read, and pray, and teach one another, so that there can be no fear that religion will be lost in the Islands again. The work has evidently been of God, and he vnll carry it on for his own glory. They will now also have their vessel, by which means they can visit the different islands and Port Jackson. I should wish much to see them turning their attention to agriculture, "etc., so as to induce habits of industry among the natives, so that the natives of the Society Islands may rank with civi- lized nations." The letter closes, after a minute detail of the affairs of their missions, with an appeal, which, even at this distance of time, must be read with pain, and which nothing short of mental agony would have wrung from such a pen. " I rely with confidence 118 LIFE or THE llEV. SAMUEL MAKSDEU". on the Society for their support and protection. Un- less his Majesty's ministers will interfere, I may expect similar attacks from the same quarter. If this should be the case, it cannot be expected I should remain in the colony to be ruined in ray character, circumstances, and peace of mind. The last seven years have been very dreadful. A solitary individual cannot withstand the influence of those in power, armed with such a deadly weapon as the public papers, and every other means of annoyance at their command. I have written on tiie subject to Lord Bathurst " I remain, rev. Sir, yours affectionately, " Samuel Maesden. " To Rev. George Burder." In the same strain he writes to his friend Dr. Mason Good, inclosiug the letter of Philo-free, and other documents. Amongst other threats, represen- tations to the archbishop and the bishop of London had been muttered in the colony, with a view no doubt of inducing them to withdraw him from his post. "Should you learn," he says, "that any representa- tions are made to the bishops, and you should deem it necessary, I will thank you to send them the docu- ments I have transmitted, or any part of tliem, for their information. I should also wish Mr. "Wilberforce to be acquainted with them, if you will at any time take the trouble to lay them before him." Then turning to brighter objects, he has the following remarkable passage : " With regard to New Zealand, I must refer you to the Eev. Josiali Pratt, (secretary to the Church Missionary Society). Great difficulties have opposed the establishment upon that island ; but I hope tliey will all be overcome in time. We have sent two LIFE OF THE BEV. SAMUEL MARSDEN. 119 young men to England, as vvc think this will greatly tend to enlarge their ideas, and prepare thein for greater usefulness in their own country. I have no doubt, but that New Zealand will soon become a civilized nation. If I were inclined to become a pro- phet I sliould say, that all the islands in the South Seas will afford an asylum for thousands of Europeans hereafter, and New South Wales will give laws to, and regulate, all their governments in the course of time. The gospel, humanly speaking, could not be planted in the South Sea Islands, unless our govern- ment had established a colony in New South Wales. The British government had no view of this kind when they first formed the colony. How mysterious are all the ways of Divine Providence ! yet may the Divine footsteps be traced, if we mark attentively what is passing in the world. God, the Governor of this world, orders all things according to his infinite mind, and all things well." He soon had reason to adopt a happier strain. The trial was severe, the more so perhaps from the ardour of his own temperament, which, no doubt, required the chastisement, which became in the highest sense a blessing both to himself and others. Writing to the same friend, 3rd October, 1818, he says : " When I take a retrospect of all that has passed in this colony since my return, I see, with Vtronder and gratitude, the Divine goodness overruling the wills and affections of sinful men, and making all things unite in promoting his glory. ' Philo-free ' will not be without its benefit to the great cause. Had this libel never appeared, the character, constitution and object of the Church, and London Missionary Societies would not have been known in this settlement for 120 LIFE OF THE EEV. SAMUEL MAKSDEN. many years to come ; nor would they have gained the friends which they will eventually do here." Letters of congratulation flowed in rapidly, both on account of his missionary exploits in New Zealand, and of his personal triumph in New South Wales. We can afford only to give a specimen of each ; the one to show how the su^ccesses of the gospel thrilled English Christians with joy in the infancy of missions ; and the other to exhibit the warm affection with which the great missionary leader of the southern seas was regarded by his friends at home. " From William Terry, Esq., " Hull, 7th May, 1817. . . . . " The account you gave in your letter, as well as those sent to the Church Missionary Society, which appeared in the Missionary Register, were very gratifying to all who have at heart the prosperity of Zion. I have felt peculiarly interested in the journal of your voyage to New Zealand, and when at our (St. John's) church the Old Hundredth Psalm was sung, I felt much elevated in praise to our Almighty Saviour, that at the same period of the year, and exactly two years before, you had been enabled to proclaim the glad tidings of his salvation, and to commence with the same divine song upon the heathen shores of New Zealand. God grant that it may be the dawn of a brigliter day : that the Lord of all may be adored by all the uncivilized world ; that the Sun of righteous- ness may arise and go on to shine with increasing and transforming light and influence upon them, and upon all others who are yet sitting in darkness and in the shadow of death ! May he bless all human attempts to promote so glorious a cause, and particularly your own zealous efforts ; and may he, for the sake of tlic same, continue, if it please him, your valuable life for LIFE or THE KEY. SAMUEL MAUSDEN. 121 many years to come. I knoAV, from the arduous post which you occupy, that your time must be entirely filled up, and that you can find very little leisure for a correspondent like me, who can render you little or no service. . . . Our esteemed friends, the Hev. Messrs, Dykes, Scott, Clarke, and Foster, are all very well, being in mercy continued yet to this highly favoured town. Mr. Scott has obtained the living of St. Margaret's since the death of Mr. Barker, and has engaged an excellent curate, a young man of high birth of the name of Sibthorpe, who seems very faith- ful, and will, I hope, be abundantly useful. May the Lord bless you and your young family with all temporal and spiritual blessings ! And may he bless and direct all your zealous endeavours to promote his cause among the heathen, and to spread tlie knowledge and saving influence of his truth to all within your influence !" Dr. Mason Good, writing on the subject of the libel, under the date of April, 1818, says : " The triumph you have gained is indeed complete . . . persevere, then, my dear friend, in the same good and great and magnanimous course. The eyes of the world are upon you, and what is more, the eye of Him Avho governs the world, and will never fail to give efiicacy to his own instruments, and ultimate success to his designs. To this time, however, notwithstanding all the terrible threats that have been thrown out against you, not a single syllable of complaint has arrived from any one ; do not therefore let your spirits fail. Depend upon esteem and support at home, for your perseverance and manly conduct have produced a very deep and popular sensation in every quarter in which you would wish to stand well." In addition to these gratifying testimonies from M 122 LIFE OF THE REV. SAMUEL MARSDEN. home, Mr. Marsden received a public mark of appro- bation from the officers of the 46th regimeut, then stationed in the colony, who with a high and cliival- rous sense of what was due to one who single handed had so long maintained the cause of truth and righteousness, stepped forward to offer tlieir tribute of respect. He replied as follows : — " To Col. Molle and the officers of the 4eth regiment. " Paramatta, 16th Oct. 1818. " Gentlemen, — I had the honour to receive your public letter under date 14th May, 1818, and nothing could have given me more real gratification than the very handsome manner in which you have com- municated your kind and friendly sentiments to me on the issue of the trials I instituted against the author of the libel, ' Philo-free.' I beg, gentlemen, to return you my most grateful acknowledgments for the honour you have done me, and to assure you that this m.ark of your good will to me, iu bearing your testimony to my conduct, will ever be held in the highest estimation by me ; and I trust I shall retain to the latest moment of my life a grateful sense of your favour to me as an individual, and at the same time never forget the public service you rendered to this colony from the time you landed to the day of your departure, by your firmness and gentlemanly conduct, as British officers, and by your good and pru- dent example as members of the community." After these expressions of gratitude he turns aside to remark upon the former condition of the colony, and the ser- vices which the 46tli regiment had rendered in the cause of virtue. Proud as this regiment may justly be of honours won iu far different scenes, it will not, LIFE OP THE HEV. SAMUEL MARSDEN. 123 we are assured, nor will its countrymen, regard with other feelings than those of high satisfaction, the following tribute to its moral wortli and character. May every regiment in the British army deserve a similar eulogy from men who, like Job of old, and we may add, like the chaplain of 'New South AVales, ' know not to give flattering titles.' '' AVhen you first arrived in New South AVales every barrier against licentiousness was broken down, every fence swept away. There were a few, and but a few, who resolved to stand their ground, and preserve that line of conduct which the wisest and best men consider essential as marking the distinction between the good and the evil." And again : " Had you not arrived in IN'ew South "Wales and acted the honoiu-able part you did, the few who were marked for future conquest would not have been able to have stood out longer, but must have either yielded to superior force, or have withdrawn from the colony. Some would not have had strength of mind sufficient to have carried on a perpetual war- fare against such an unequal force, and thus would not have been able to meet the expense of continued resistance. Ton just arrived in time to turn the wavering balance, and to inspire the desponding with hopes." A vote of thanks, in the most cordial terms, was also presented to him at the anniversary meeting of the Church Missionary Society, at the Preemasous' Tavern, in 1819. It would have been presented to the annual meeting of the previous year, but it was a mark of respect which had never yet been paid to any individual by the Society. " The circumstances, how- ever, which have lately transpii-ed," so writes hia 124 LIFE OF THE KEY. SAMUEL MAESDEN. friend, Dr. Mason Good, who was a member of the committee, " tlie severe and important battle you haVe fought, and the triumph you have so gloriously achieved, have induced tlie Society to step out of their usual routine on this occasion, and to show, not only to yourself, but to the world at large, the full sense they entertain of the honourable and upright part you have taken, and their unanimous determination to give you all their support. I agree with you most fully that your contest has not been a personal one, but that the important objects of the Society have been at stake, and that the victory you have obtained is of more import- ance to the cause of virtue, honour, and true religion, and more especially to the cause of Christian missions in Australasia, than to yourself." We shall conclude our notice of these painful con- flicts with two letters, the one from Lord Gambier, the other from the venerable Simeon. The former breathes the warm heart of a sailor and the mature wisdom of an experienced Christian. And thus while British soldiers were ready to acknowledge the inte- grity of Mr. Marsden, the navy, as represented by one of her great heroes, stood forward likewise in his behalf. " Dear Sir, — I was happy to hear of your health and welfare by your letters to me of the 22nd January and the 5th March, 1817, which came to my hands in due time, though they were rather longer, I believe, in their passage than is usual. I deeply lament with you that your very zealous and arduous exertions to extend tlie kingdom of our gracious Lord, and to dif- fuse tlic knowledge of the glorious gospel of salvation among the inhabitants of the dark regions around you, should meet with the spirit of opposition from the [persons in the colony whom you naturally would look LIFE OF THE RET. SAMUEL MARSDEN. 125 to for support aiul assistauce. And very grievous iudeed it is that you should stand almost alone and single in a work of charity that exceeds the praises of human language to express its excellence and blessed eifects upon the race of mankind. Mr. Pratt will have informed you that a special meeting of the com- mittee of the Church Missionary Society was held last month for the sole purpose of deliberating upon the communication you have made to him of the state of the affairs of the Society, and the dis- graceful letter that appeared iu the ' Sydney Gazette,' si<^ned ' Philo-fi-ee.' The result of the committee's consultation was, that your letters on this subject should be referred to tlie consideration of the vice- presidents of the Society, requesting them to take such measures as they deemed most ad\'isable to relieve you from the distressing and painful situation in which you were placed. I had the satisfaction of being present at the meeting of the vice-presidents; the bishop of Gloucester and Mr. "Wilberforce were of the number. Mr. Pratt was also present, and as he will communicate to you the judgment that we passed upon the occasion it is unnecessary for me to add anything thereto ; but I cannot forbear to express to you the .admiration I entertain of your conduct, your zeal, perseverance, and unremitted exertions in the blessed and glorious cause in which you are engaged. May our gracious Lord be your shield; may his powerful arm protect you against all your adversa- ries, and enable you to overcome them all with the weapons of a Christian warfare, meekness, patience, faith, and charity ; and may he lay them all at ) our feet. ! May his grace be sufficient for you, and give you strength to go on as you have done in his M 2 126 LIFE OE THE EET. SAMUEL MAESDEN. service, to the glory of his name and to the salvation of the heathen nations around ! You have achieved great things in New Zealand. May the seed you have sown there be like the grain of mustard, and grow to a large tree ; and may you finally receive the bright reward of your labours, and have that blessing pro- nounced upon you, ' Well done, good and faithful servant, enter thou into the joy of thy Lord.' There is a fine field for missionary labours in New Zealand» and I anticipate the happiest consequences to the race of men in that country from the establishment you have made among them, and I think it very probable that they will make more rapid progress in the know- ledge and practice of Christianity and civilization than any heathen nation to whom the gospel has been preached. May you live to see this verified ! " With cordial and earnest wishes for your health and prosperity, I remain, dear Sir, with sincere regard, " Tour faithful and humble friend and servant, " G-AMBIEE." Mr. Simeon, of Cambridge, wrote to him in the same strain of encouragement : — " Dec. 15, 1819. " Last summer I was at Hull, and saw Mr. Scott and other of your friends and relatives. It was a joy to me to see how ardent was their love towards you. I commissioned Mrs. Scott to tell you, in general terms, that your character and cause were duly appreciated by the government and by the House of Commons. I take for granted that Mr. Wilberforce lias given you particulars. It was from him that I was enabled to declare the general result. " I am overwhelmed almost with work. Eleven volumes will be out in the spring. The first six will LIFE or THE KEV. SAMUEL MAESDEN. 127 make theii- appearance in lees than a month ; it is of the same nature as my former work, though distinct from it. It is on all the finest passages from Genesis to Revelation. It is entitled ' Horas Homileticae,' as being homilies for the assistance both of clergy and laity." In this age of " reformatories," when the treatment of our prisoners has become a popular question, it is impossible to read without deep interest such letters as the following. Mr. Marsden had taken up the cause of the degraded female prisoners in New South Wales. Mrs. Fry in England hears of his benevolent exertions, and hastens to express her joy ; and thus she writes to the prison-philanthropist of the southern world : — " Mildred's Court, second month, llth, 1820. " Eespected Fkiend, — I have received thy letters^ one sent by Deputy-commissary-general Allan, and the other written some time before, but only arrived within a day or two of each other. I am sorry that I happened to be out when Deputy-commissary-general Allan called, but I hope soon to see him, and to consult with him as to the steps best to be taken to improve the condition of the female convicts in 'New South Wales. Much influence has already been used here, and the subject has been brought before the House of Commons. I some time ago obtained a copy of thy letter to the governor of New South Wales, and the information contained in it has been much spread in this country, and it is quite my opinion that some beneficial alterations will in time take place ; but the present parliament being so soon to be dissolved, owing to the death of the king, I fear will retard their progress ; but much is doing in this country, and I 128 LIIE or THE REV. SAMl'EL MAESDEN. trust that much is likely to be doue. Many of us are deeply interested in the welfare of the poor convicts as to their situation here, and their voyage, and when they arrive in Botany Bay. And if life and ability be granted us, I trust that much will in time be accomplished ; but all these things -require patience and perseverance, which. I hope we shall be endowed with, both here and on your side of the water. I am sorry thou hast had so many trials and discouragements in filling thy very important station, and I cannot help hoping and believing that thy labours will prove not to be in vain. ; and even if thou shouldst not fully see the fruit of thy labours, others, I trust, will reap the advantage of them, so that the words of Scripture maj^ be verified, ' That both he that soweth and he that reapeth may rejoice together.' I consider myself greatly obliged by thy valuable communications, and I think it would be very desirable that thou shouldst let US know exactly what sort of plape is wanted for the women, and what would be its probable expense, as it would enable us more clearly to state what we wish for. And I should think our government would give the necessary directions to have the work doue. I remain, etc., thy friend, Elizabeth Pur." Through such toils and conflicts our predecessors of the last generation passed before they could lay eftectually the foundations of those great principles of humanity and justice in. the public mind, which are now yielding their abundant fruit. LIFE OF THE KEY. SAMUEL MAUSDEIf. 129 CHAPTEE yill. Tooi and Teterree — Mr. Marsden's Second Voyage to New Zealand — Progress of the Gospel there — Shunghie — -His ferocity — Mr. Marsdea returns to New South Wales — Third Voyage to New Zea- land — JIalicious charges brought against him in his absence — A Commission of Inquiry — Its result — Letters, etc. — Approbation of the Gorernmeut. The New Zealand mission still continued to occupy Mr. Marsden's thoughts. He seems to have been always alert, turning every hint to account, seizing every occasion and employing every likely instrument to promote the grand design. The excellent quality of the New Zealand flax had not escaped him. He induced two young New Zealanders, whom he had brought with him to Paramatta, to visit England, which they did in H. M. ship Kangaroo, and were placed under the care of his friends in London. " I wish on no account," he writes to Mr. Pratt, " that they should be idle ; if they cannot be useful in forming a vocabulary, (of the Maori language of which he was now anxious that a grammar should be pre- pared) let them be put into a rope walk, and be kept close to labour while they remain in England." They were both chieftains, Tooi and Teterree ; still the reader must not suppose the rope walk was to them a degrading employment. Mr. Marsden had another object in view besides their improvement, and he wished to impart to his friends in London something of his own enthusiasm in behalf of the Maorie race. " The Society will see," he says in his letter to the 130 IIFE or TJIE REV. SAMUEL MAESDEN. secretary, Mr. Pratt, " from these two young men what the natives of New Zealand are. They are prepared to receive any instruction that we can give them ; they are fine young men, and in temper and natural parts very like their countrymen in general," They seem to have deserved the character here given them. We insert a letter from each, written while they were in England. The first is addressed to Mr. Pratt while Tool was on a visit amongst the manu- factories of Staffordshire and Shropshire. " Madeley, Sept. 11, 1818. " Dear Sir, — I am much obliged and thank you, Mr. Pratt, for the letter you sent me. I so pleased when Mr. Pratt finds a ship. I want a ship to go home. I have been to Coalport. I made four cups. Mr. Eose tell me, ' Tou soon learn.' ' Tes,' I say, ' very soon learn with fingers, but book very hard,' etc. " ^'o ^ir- I'ratt. Thomas Tool" The other letter is in a graver strain from Teterree to Mr. Marsden. " Church Missionary House, October 12, 1818. " Mt dear Friend,— I like Englisliman much ; he love New Zealand man. I very sick in missionary house, and very near die ; nothing but bone. Xind friend missionary pray for me every night. " I kneel down in my bed-room every niglit, and pray to Jesus Christ our Saviour to learn me to read the book. " Very nice country England. I never see the king of England ; he veyy poorly, and Queen Charlotte very poorly too. " I see the iron make, and bottle blow. Tool blow a bottle, and I blow a bottle. I make four cups at China work, etc. Farewell, good friend. " Teteuuee." LIFE OF THE EEV. SAMUEL MAliSDEN. 131 Their English education being completed, the young chieftains returned to Paramatta, and Mr. Marsden embarked a second time for JS'ew Zealand, taking Tooi and Teterree with him, with several missionaries, three mechanics and their families. They landed at Eangheehoa, in the Bay of Islands, on the 12th August. The rival chiefs Shunghie and Koro-Koro "now contended for the site of the new missionary settlement which Mr. Marsden contemplated, each being anxious that his own domain should be pre- ferred, and offering a grant of land. The spot was selected at Kiddee Kiddee (or Keri-Keri) a district in the territory of Shunghie, at the head of a fine harbour ; but such was the distress of the disappointed chieftain, whose part was taken by yoimg Tooi, that llr. Marsden almost relented : " He made strong appeals to our feelings, and urged his request by every argument that he could advance, so that we were obliged to promise to accompany him on the next day to Parroa, and that we would build him and Tooi a house if the situation pleased us, and send one or two Europeans to reside amongst them." The stores were now^ landed, and all the beach exhibited a scene of happiness and busy civilization ; fourteen natives sawing timber, others cutting knees, etc. ; " a sight more grateful to a benevolent mind could not possibly have been seen ; our hearts overflowed with gratitude. "We viewed the various operations with delight, and considered them the dawn of civil and religious liberty to this land of darkness, superstition, and cruelty." Such were the comments which the missionary leader noted down at the time, and in reading them we are made to feel how much Christian benevolence excels the mere selfishness of the most enterprising colonist. 132 LIFE OF THE EEV. SAMUEL MAESDEX. Simply for the good of others, without the hope or wish of reaping any other advantage than that of extending the kingdom of God amongst a savage race, the little missionary band, self exiled, and consecrated to a life of unknown toil and hardship, exult in laying the foundations of their settlement, as the Jews of old exulted when they began to build their temple to the living God. On the next sabbath day, the work was* consecrated with prayer and praise. Mr. Marsden's simple language best describes the scene : — ' " August 22. — We assembled on the beach for public worship, as there was no place sufficiently spa- cious to hold the people. We were surrounded with natives and a number of chiefs from different districts. " It was gratifying to be able to perform worship to the true God in the open air, without fear or danger, when si.irroimded by cannibals with their spears stuck in the ground, and their pattoo-pattoos and daggers concealed under their mats. We could not doubt but that the time was at hand for gathering in this noble people into the fold of Christ. Their misery is ex- treme, the prince of darkness has full dominion over their souls and bodies ; under the influence of igno- rance and superstition many devote themselves to death, and the cliiefs sacrifice their slaves as a satis- faction for the death of any of their friends. Tliis is a tyranny from which nothing but the gospel can set them free." During this three months' sojourn, besides the at- tention w'hich INTr. jMarsden gave to the missions in the Bay of Islands, he made a circuitous journey of seven hundred miles, exploring the country with a view to more extensive operations. His arrival over land and in health, at the Bay of Islands, on his return, ,.V^»!;i",' "" f'';i;iiii7!i«iie!=*i'i';v a O N H > > O LITE OF THE REV. SAML'EIi MAESDEN. 135 relieved the minds of his anxious friends the mis- sionaries, and " gave them additional cause," they say, " to bless and thank God for his protecting care, and that he had again heard and answered our suppli- cations." " There is not one in ten thousand, I think," wi'ites Mr. Hall, " who could or woidd have borne the privations, difficulties, and dangers, which he has undergone. I pray that he may reap the fruits of his labour by the New Zealanders turning from their de- graded state to serve the only living and true God." Mr. Marsden's journal of this second visit will be valuable in time to come, as perhaps the best record in existence of the character and habits of a wonderful people, on whom civilization had not yet dawned, and whose spiritual darkness was profound. He landed, during a coasting voyage, with young Tool, on the small island of Motooroa. " The first object that struck my eye was a man's head stuck on a pole near the hut where we were to sleep ; the face appeared beautifully tattooed ; it was the head of a chief who was killed by Shunghie's people. The sight," he says, '• naturally excited feelings of horror in my breast." Most men would have felt something of alarm. But Mr. Marsden seems to have been a per- fect stranger to fear ; and if courage, whether physical or moral, makes a hero, he must be ranked high in the heroic class. He merely adds, " This caused me to value more and more the blessing of Divine revelation, and the blessing of civU government." In his journal on a tour to the Eiver Shukeangha, he writes thus : ^'September 28, 1819. — After we had passed the swamp, we came into a very open country, for many miles round covered with fern. The part through 136 LIFE OF THE EEY. SAMUEL MAllSBEJf. winch we walked was gravelly, and not very good in geDeral. " Tlie wind increased toward evening, and blew strong from the rainy quarter, so that we had the prospect of a very wet night, without a single tree to shelter us from the storm for about eight miles from the swamp we had passed. At this distance was a wood, through which our road lay, which we were anxious to reach, if possible, in order to shelter our- selves from the wind and rain. With this hope we pu.shed forward, and arrived at the edge of the wood about nine o'clock. The rain now began to fall heavily. The natives cut branches of fern and boughs of trees, and made us a little shed under the trees, to afford ns some shelter. The blackness of the heavens, the gloomy darkness of the wood, the roaring of the wind among the trees, the sound of the falling rain on the thick foliage, united with the idea that we were literally at the ends of the earth, with relation to our native land, surrounded with cannibals whom we knew to have fed on human flesh, and wholly in their power, and yet our minds free from fear of danger — all this excited in my breast such new, pleasing, and, at the same time, opposite sensations, as I cannot describe. " While I sat musing imder the shelter of a lofty pine, my thoughts were lost in wonder and surprise, in taldng a view of the wisdom and goodness of God's providential care, which had attended all my steps to that very hour. If busy imagination inquired what I did there, I had no answer to seek in wild conjecture : 1 felt with gratitude that I had not come by chance ; but had been sent to labour in preparing the way of the liord in this dreary wilderness, where the voice of joy and gladness had never been heard : and I could LTFE OF THE EEV. SAMUEL MARSDEN. 137 not but anticipate with joyful liope the period when the Daystar from on high would dawn and shine on this dark and heathen laud, and cause the very earth on which we then reposed to bring forth its increase, wlien God himself would give the poor inhabitants his blessing. After reflecting on the diftereut ideas which crowded themselves upon my mind, I wrapped myself up in my great coat, and lay down to sleep." He visited an island where he met with a singular spectacle. A number of natives were at work, breaking up the ground with a sort of spatula, or wooden spade, to plant their sweet potato. Amongst these was Koro-Koro's head wife, or queen. " Her JMajesty was working hard with a wooden spade, digging the ground for potatoes, with several of the women and some men." The royal infant lay on the ground sprawling and kicking by her side ; " the old queen earnestly re- quested that I would give her a hoe, showing me the difficulty she had in digging with a stick ; a request wdth which I promised to comply." Wo leave the reader to admire at leisure the Homeric simplicity of the scene, or to indulge in those sentiments of con- temptuous pity to which Englishmen are possibly more prone. In another place, he found the head wife of Shun- ghie, though perfectly blind, digging in the same manner, surrounded by ,her women, and apparently with as much ease as the rest. The offei" of a hoe in exchange for her spatula was accepted with joy. The scene drew forth these reflections : " When we viewed the wife of one of the most military chiefs, possessing large territories, digging with a spatula for her sub- sistence, this sight kindled within us the best feelings of the human' heart. If a woman of this character, n2 138 LIFE OF THE REV. SAMUEL MAESDEN. and blind, can thus labour with her servants, what Avill not this people rise to, if they can procure the means of improving their country, and of bettering their condition ? Their temporal state must be im- proved by agriculture and the simple arts, in con- nexion with the introduction of Christianity, in order to give permanence and full influence to tbe gospel among them. Our God and Saviour, wlio is loving to every man, and whose tender mercies are over all his works, is now, blessed be his name, moving the hearts of his servants to send relief to tlie poor heathen, even to the very ends of the earth." The journal affords us repeated evidences of a phe- nomenon, which recent occurrences in India have at this moment deeply impressed on the heart of Eng- land, — one with which both divines and legislators ought to have been acquainted (for it is not obscurely referred to in the word of God), but which a foohsh and spurious benevolence has led many to deny — namely, that the most Satanic ferocity frequently Irn-ks under gentle manners, and is even to be found in con- nexion with the warmest natural affection. Nothing, for instance, can be more affecting than the meeting of Tool and his sister, after the absence of the former in England. Tooi himself anticipated a scene, and half ashamed, when he saw his sister at a distance, tried to avoid the interview in public, and requested Mr. Marsden to order off the canoe in which they were approaching. But her love could not be re- strained ; in an instant she spi-ang into the boat, fell on her knees, and clung to Tooi. He saluted her in return ; when she gave vent to her feelings in tears and loud lamentations, which she continued for about an hour. " Tooi conducted himself with great pro- LIFE OV THE BEV. SAMUEX MAKSUEN. 139 priety, suppressing all his wild, feelings, and at the same time treating his sister with all the soft and tender feelings of nature. I could not biit view his conduct with admiration." When Tool was in Eng- land, he had been taught to read and write, and in- structed in the doctrines of Christianity ; and he and his companion Teterree were general favourites, from their gentle manners and quick intelligence. They were one day taken to St. Paul's by Mr. Nicholas, who naturally supposed they would be lost in asto- nishment at the grandeur of the building, but they ex- pressed neither surprise nor pleasure ; on which that gentleman makes this just remark ; " It is only things of common occurrence, I suspect, that strike the mind of a savage. The faculties must be cultivated to fit them for the enjoyment of the beautiful or the sublime." One thing, however, did strike them, and caused no small excitement. In walking up Eleet- street, they suddenly stopped before a hair-dresser's shop, in the window of which were some female busts. They screamed out " "Wyenee ! Wyenee !" (Women ! Women!) taking them for dried heads of the human subject. " I took some pains," adds their kind con- ductor, " to beat this notion out of tliem, lest they should teU their countrymen on their return that Europeans preserved human heads as well as New Zealanders." These biu'sts of feeling were, it seems, quite natural ; intense sorrow or savage exultation, the extremes of tenderness and of brutality, were indulged by turns, without any suspicion on their part of insincerity in either. Immediately after, Mr. Marsden mentions that he passed a canoe in which he recognised an old acquaintance, Hooratookic, the first New Zealander 140 LIFE OF TUE EEV. SAMUEL MAKSDEN. iuti'oduced into civil society — Governor King liaviuo' once entertained him with great kindness. Hoora- tookie was grateful ; spoke of the governor's daughter, then a child, with unfeigned regard, calling her by her Christian name, Maria, Bat looking into his large war-canoe, capable of holding from sixty to eighty men, with provisions, Mr. Marsden observed on the stern the dried head of a chief. " The face was as natural as life, the hair was long, and every lock combed straight, and the whole brought up to the crown, tied in a knot, and ornamented with feathers, according to the custom of the chiefs when in fidl dress. It was placed there as an incentive to revenge. It is possible the death of tliis chief may be revenged by his children's children ; hence the foundation is laid for new acts of cruelty and blood from generation to generation." Mr. Marsden's fame now preceded him, and wherever he went, he was received not with rude hospitality, but with courteous respect. One chieftain offered up an ovation and prayer on their arrival. "He invoked the heavens above and the earth beneath to render our visit advantageous to his people, and agreeable to us, and that no harm may happen to us, wliom he esteemed as the gods of another country. We heard the profane adulations with silent grief, and could not but wish most ardently for the light of Divine truth to shine on such a dark and superstitious mind." Yet this man was a ferocious cannibal ; and when Mr. Marsden expressed his anxiety for. the safety of the missionaries after he should have left them, he was calmed by the assurance that, as we had done them no liarm, tliey had no satisfaction to demand, '' and that as for eating us, the flesh of a New Zealandcr was LIFE OV THE REY. SAMUEL MAKSDEN. 141 sweeter than that of au Eiu-opean, iu consequence of the white people eating so much salt." From this the conversation turned to that of eating human flesh, which they defended with arguments which to them appeared, no doubt, perfectly conclusive. They alleged that fishes, animals, and birds, preyed upon each other ; and that one god would devour another god, therefore there was in nature sufficient warrant for the practice. Shunghie explained how it was the gods preyed on each other, " and that when he was to the southward, and had killed a number of people and was afraid of their god, he caught their god, being a reptile, and ate part of it, and reserved the remainder for his friends." Shungliie, the greatest of New" Zealand warriors, was at the same time a striking instance of that union of gentleness and ferocity which characterized this people. To the missionaries his kindness was always great, and his respect for Mr. Marsden knew no bounds. An instance of his good feeliug may here be noticed In the beginning of 1817, a naval expedition, imder his command, sailed from the Bay of Islands. It con- sisted of thirty canoes, and about eight hundi'ed men. Its object was to obtain peace with his enemies at the IS^orth Cape. Tlie chief took an affectionate leave of the settlers, and told them that if he fell they must be kind to his children ; and if he survived, he would take care of their families when they should die. The expedition returned, however, in about a fortnight, liis people havmg quarrelled Avith those of AVangaroa, into which place they had put for refreshment ; and being afraid, he said, that the Wangaroa people would attack the settlers in his absence, he, for the present, abandoned the expedition. 142 LIFE OF THE EEV. SAMUEL MARSDEN. Shungliie was again preparing for war when Mr. Marsclen paid his second visit to New Zealand ; his arnw, to the numher of several thousand men, were already assembled; his war-canoes were ready, and all his preparations complete ; yet in deference to the remonstrances of Mr. Marsden, he again abandoned his scheme of conquest or revenge, and dismissed his followers. Shungliie paid a visit to England about the year 1820. His majestic person, graceful manners, and gentle yet manly disposition were much admired. He was one of Nature's nobles ; what might not be expected from such a man when he returned home again? George the Fourth invited him to Carlton Palace, and received him with marked attention, presenting him with some military accoutrements and costly fire-arms. Tet the heart of a savage never ceased to beat beneath this polished exterior, while his pride was fanned to madness by the consideration he received in England. " There is," he exclaimed, " but one king in England ; there shall be only one king in New Zealand." Ee- turuing by way of Sydney he there happened to meet with Inacki, another chief, with whom he had an ancient feud. He told him that when they got back to New Zealand he would fight him. Inacki accepted the challenge, and Shunghie accordingly assembled, on his return to New Zealand, no fewer than two thousand men to attack Inacki. The latter was prepared to receive him, and for some time the event of the battle that ensued was doubtful. At length Shunghie, who had the greatest number of muskets, and who liad arranged his men in the form called, in Roman tactics, the cuneus, or wedge, placing himself at the apex and directing those beliind him to LIFE OF THE EEV. SAMUEL MAKSDEN. 143 wheel round the enemy, from the right and left, or to iall back into their original position as opportunity offei'ed, shot Inacki. The savage Shunghie immediately sprang forward, scooped out the eye of the dying man with his knife, and swallowed it ; and then, holding his hands to his throat, into which he had plimged his knife, and from which the blood flowed copiously, drank as much of the horrid beverage as the two hands could hold. Amongst the horrible superstitions of the Maories, one was that the eye of a victim thus devoured became a star in the firmament, and thus the ferocious Shunghie sought for honour and immor- taKty. With the sword which he had received as a present from King George in England, he immediately cut off the heads of sixteen of his captives in cold blood ; this was done to appease the spirit of his son- in-law, who had fallen in battle. In this battle, Shunghie and his tribe were armed with muskets, his opponents only with the native weapons, the club and spear. His victory, therefore, was an easy one, but his revenge was cruel. A New Zealand traveller, who visited the spot in 1844, says : " The bones of two thousand men still lie whitening on the plain, and the ovens remain in which the flesh of the slavightered was cooked for the horrible repasts of the victorious party, and yet so numerous were the slaves taken prisoners that the Nga-Puis (the tribe of which Shunghie was the head) killed many of them ou their way to the Bay of Islands merely to get rid of tliein."* Such was the gentle Shunghie when his viler nature w'as let loose — a frightful specimen of human natiu-e, varnished by education, but uuvisited by the grace of God. We * Savage Life and Scenes in Australia and New Zealand. By George French Arii^s London, 1847. 144 LIFE or TUE REV. SAMUEL MAllSDEN. turn aside for a moment to describe a scene in bright contrast witli tliese revolting details. Amongst the few who escaped the general slaughter was Koromona, a chief who became blind soon afterwards, but hearing archdeacon "W. AVilliams preach at Mata- mata, was converted. "For the last four years," says the traveller above mentioned, " Koromona has been a native teacher, and may be seen every sab- bath day with his class instructing them in the truths of the Scripture with an eoTnestness whicli is truly admirable ; he is now about to start to preach Christianity to a tribe which has not yet received it. His memory is wonderful ; he knows the whole of the church service by heart, and repeats hymns and many long chapters verbatim." Thus the gospel won its vic- torious way, and proved itself triumphant over hearts no less depraved and passions no less degraded. than tliose of Shunghie himself. No earthly power could have effected sucli a change ; it was wTought by that "gospel" which is truly "the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth." Amidst such scenes the missionaries dwelt in peace. War, and its inseparable and more hideous companion, cannibalism, showed themselves at their gates, but were not allowed to hurt them. Under the good providence of God, their security was owing, in a great measure, to the prudence and courage with which Mr. Marsden planned and carried out his projects. Himself a stranger to fear, he infused courage into those around him, and both he and they felt secure under the shield and buckler of the Almighty. No doubt the fearlessness of Mr. Marsden won the admi- ration of these savages and contributed not a little to his safety. His journal abounds in instances such as LIFE OIT THE KEY. SAMUEL MARSDEN. 145 that which follows. The scene is in a Maori village, and the writer is surrounded with cannibals. " After conversing on several subjects, we had supper, sung a hymn, and then committed oui-selves to the Angel of the everlasting covenant, and so lay down to rest ; a number of the natives lay around the hut and some within. I slept well until daybreak, beiug w^eary with walking." He appears to have arrived at home, after this second visit to New Zealand, towards the close of November, 1819. In February, 1820, he was once more on his way back to New Zealand. His letters bear ample testimony to a fact which all who were acquainted with him in private life observed, that his heart was full of aifection, and that his home was the scene of his greatest happiness. He had not returned, it is true, to be greeted with public honours ; on the contrary, he was still a marked man. The governor and many of the leading men in the colony were prejudiced against him. We believe it is to this period of his hfe that an anecdote which we give on tlie best possible authority belongs. The govei-nor had consented to his recent visit to New Zealand with reluctance, and had limited the period of his absence with military precision, threatening at the same time to deprive him of his chaplaincy unless he returned within tlie given time. The last day arrived, and the expected vessel was not in sight. The governor repeated his determination to those around him, and Mr. IMarsden's friends were filled with anxiety, and his wife and family at length gave up all hope. Towards evening the long-wished-for sail appeared in the ofiing, and at eight o'clock in the evening Mr. Marsden quietly walked into the governor's drawing-room with the 146 LIFE OP THE RET. SAMUEL MARSDEK. laconic and yet respectful address, " Sir, I am here to report myself." But within the bosom of his family all was peace, and his presence shed light and joy on everything around him. His circumstances were prosperous — for his farm, which was almost entirely committed to Mrs. Marsden's care, was now a source of considerable income ; his children were growing up to manhood under their parents' roof; his circle of friends and visitors was large, for there Avere no bounds to his simple hospitality ; and the clergy of the colony, men like minded with himself, had now begun to regard him not only with aifection, but with the reverence which belongs to years and wisdom and wide experience. Tet at tlie call of duty this veteran was ready, on the shortest notice, to resume a life of such toil and hardship as nothing could have rendered welcome, its novelty once over, but motives the most solemn and commanding. H. M. S. Dromedary, Captain Skinner, was directed by government to proceed from Sydney to the Bay of Islands to receive a cargo of New Zealand timber for trial in the dockyards of England ; and Sir Byam Martin, controller of the navy, knowing some- thing of the energy of Mr. Marsden's character, and his great acquaintance with New Zealand, requested that he would accompany the Dromedary, which was joined by the Coromandel, in order to facilitate the object of their visit. With this request he felt it his duty to comply. He arrived in New Zealand on the 20th of February, and embarked on board the Dromedary to retiu-u on the 25th of November. Thus nearly the whole year was given to the service of New Zealand. The time was not lost. On his arrival, a difficulty LIFE. OF THE EEV. SAMUEL MAKSDEK. 147 occurred wliicli he ouly could have set at rest. The natives had come to the determinatiou to exchange nothing, nor to do any kind of work, except for muskets and powder. His first business was to assemble the few European settlers, the advanced guard of that mighty band of European colonists which was soon to follow, and to persuade them not on any account to supply the natives with these weapons of war, in their hands so sure a source of mischief. With regard to the dvity of the missionaries there could be no doubt; and this he explained to all the powerful chiefs. They had come among them to preach the gospel of peace, how then covdd they be expected to furnish the means and implements of destruction ? In writiug to the Missionary Society at home he says, and he must have written such a sentence with an aching heart, " I think it much more to the honoiir of religion and the good of New Zealand even to give up the mission for the present, than to trade with the natives in those articles." After a short time spent in the Bay of Islands, at the mission, he proceeded, sometimes in company with Europeans, but for the most part alone, upon a tour of many hundred miles through regions yet untrodden by the foot of civilized men, mingling with the native tribes, accompanying them in their wanderings from place to place, teaching the first lessons of civilization and gospel truth, and receiving everywhere from these savages the kindest attention and the most hospitable welcome in return. On their way to Tourangha, he writes, under the date of June 20 : " The day was far spent when we reached the plain. We walked on till the sun was nearly set, when we stopped and px*epared for the night. 148 LIFE or THE REV. SAMUEL MARSDEK. The servants, who had the provisions to cany, were very tired. There were no huts on the plain, nor any inhabitants, and we were therefore compelled to take up our lodging in tlie open air. I was very weary, having had no rest the preceding night ; and having come a long day's journey, so that I felt that rest would be very acceptable, even on a heap of fern or anything else. " The peculiar scene that surrounded me, furnished the mind with new matter for contemplation on the works and ways of Grod. The mystery of his pro- vidence, and the still greater mystery of hi-s grace, were all unsearchable to me. I had come from a distant country, and was then at the ends of the earth, a solitary individual, resting on an extensive wild, upon which no civilized foot had ever before trodden. My companions were poor savages, who nevertheless vied with each other in their attentions to me. I could not but feel attached to them. What would I have given to have had the book of life opened, which was yet a sealed book to them, — to have shown them that God who made them, and to liave led them to Calvary's mount, that they may see the Eedeemer who had shed his precious blood for the redemption of the world, and was there set up as an ensign for the nations. But it was not in my power to take the veU from their hearts, I could only pray for them, and entreat the Father of mercies to visit them with his salvation. I felt very grateful that a Divine revela- tion had been granted to me ; tliat I knew the Son of God had come, and believed that he had made a full and sufficient sacrifice or atonement for the sins of a gixilty world. AVith compassionate feel- ings for my companions, under a gratefid sense of LIFE OF TUE UEV. SAMUEL MARSDEN. 149 my own mercies, I lay down to rest, free from all fear of danger." It was during tbis tour that the following letter was addressed to the lady of his excellent friend Dr. Mason Good. It is long, but the reader will scarcely wish that it had been shorter. Let it stand on record as an evidence of tlie power of true religion in main- taining amidst the rudest scenes, and the rough warfare of an adventurous life, all the gentleness and aftection of the most refined and polished society of a Christian land. " New Zealand, Sept. 22, 1820. " Deak Madam, — Tour kind favour arrived in the Bay of Islands September 7, the evening I returned from a long journey. I had no sooner cast my eye over your letter, than busy imagination transported me from the solitary woods, dreary wastes, and savage society of New Zealand, into ' the polished corner ' of Guilford-street, and surrounded me with every cordial that could refresh the weary traveller, revive the fainting spirits, and blow the languishing spark of Christian love with a heavenly flame. I had literally been living for weeks a savage life, as far as outward circumstances went. I ate, I slept in the thick wood, in a cave, or on the banks of a river, or sea, with my native companions, wlierever the shadows of the evening, or gathering storm compelled us to seek for shelter. Every day as I advanced from tribe to tribe, I was introduced to new acqiiaintances ; my object was to gain from observation and experience that knowledge of savage life which I could not learn from books, and to make myself well acquainted with the wants, wishes, and character of the native inhabitants, to enable me, if my life should be spared, to aid to the o 2 150 LIFE OF THE REV. SAMUEL MAESDEN. utmost of my power in their deliverance from their present temporal miseries, which are great upon them, and from their much sorer bondage to the prince of darkness. I am happy in having obtained this object to a certain extent, at the expense of a few temporal privations, and a little bodily evil. When I have lain down upon the ground after a weary day's journey, wrapped up in my great coat, surrounded only by cannibals, I often thought how many thousands are there in civil life, languishing upon beds of down, and saying, with Job, ' in the evening would God it were morning,' while I could sleep free from fear or pain, far remote from civil society under the guardian care of him who keepeth Israel. Though I everywhere met with the greatest kindness from the natives, as well as hospitality, for they always gave me the best fern-root, potato, or fish in their possession, yet I could never have duly estimated the sweets of civil life, and the still greater mental gratification of Christian communion, if I had not passed through these dark regions of Satan's dominions, on which the dayspring from on high hath never cast a single ray. Tou cannot conceive how great a feast your letter was, after so long a fast. I was instantly present with every person you mentioned, and lived over again some of those happy moments I once spent under your hospitable roof. A sacred warmth flowed round my soul, my heart was sweetly melted under the influence of that pure and undefiled religion which dropped from your pen, like the heavenly dew, as it ran through every line. "What shall we call those pure sensations that thus warm and captivate the soul? Do they flow from the commimion of saints, or at these delightful moments does some invisible seraph LIFE OE THE KEY. SAMUEL MAESDEN. 151 touch our lips with a live coal Jfrom God's altar ? If you have ever experienced similar feelings, their recollection will explain more fully my meaning than my words can express. When these lines meet your eye, may they find your soul rapt up to the thii'd heaven ! But to where am I now wandering ? the veil of the flesh is not now rent, we have not yet entered into the holy of holies. Though God has given you and your seed the land of Goshen, and you have light continually in your dwelling, yet you are still in Egypt, while I am constrained to dwell in Mesech, and to dwell in these remote and dark tents of Kedar. But, my dear madam, seas and continents will not long separate the people of God. I humbly hope the day is at no great distance, when we shall join the spirits of just men made perfect. At present you abound with blessings Jacob often thought of Bethel, and when in his afflictions he seemed to have forgotten that sacred spot, God said unto him, ' Arise and go to Bethel, and dwell there.' It -n-iU always be safest for us to dwell also at Bethel. I must now close, as my paper is nearly fuU, and your patience must also be tired when it comes to your turn to read what I have written. " Eemember me to your sister, Mrs. Skinner. Tell Mr. Good I received his last letter, and will answer it at a more convenient season. I was on my passage to Port Jackson in a small schooner, but adverse winds drove me back almost dead with sea-sickness. I have been here since February last, and when I shall get home I am uncertain; I venture no more in the schooner. Mrs. M. wants me back, as she has much upou her hands. It gave me great satisfaction to hear my aon had arrived safe. I knew your kindness 152 LIFE OF TUE REV. SAMTTEIi MARSDEN. would far exceed my wishes. I will endeavour, as far as able, to pay all my debts when I see Mr. Good and you face to face ; till then you must give me credit, and if I do not pay you, you will be sure to receive both principal and interest in the resurrection of the just. " I remain, dear madam, Tours, in the bonds of Christian love, " Samuel Maesden." The immediate object of his visit being accom- plished, he returned to Sydney, where a strange re- ception awaited him. Governor Macquarie had sent to Lord Bathurst a despatch in answer to the state- ments of the senior chaplain, already noticed, in which he brought heavy charges against the latter, which deeply affected his character, not only as a magistrate, but as a Christian man and a minister. The office of a magistrate he had been compelled to undertake in common with the other clergy of the colony, who were all included in the commission of the peace. For this there was no justification except hard necessity. Mr. Marsden, however, had long been weary of the irk- some task, and had once and again requested the governor to accept his resignation. This the governor had expressly declined to do, on the ground that " his services as a magistrate were too beneficial to the public ;" but in fact, it would seem, only that he might have the opportunity of inflicting upon him the annoyance of a formal dismissal, wliich was shortly afterwards notified in the " Sydney Gazette." Lord Bathurst, in consequence of the governor's despatch, determined upon a step which gave great satisfaction to Mr. Marsden's friends at home, and sent out a commissioner to investigate upon tlie spot LIFE OF THE KEY. SAMUEL MABSDEN. 153 the truth of these and various otlier matters afiecting the state of the colouy, which had now obtained public notoriety, and had already engaged the attention of the British parliament ; and Commissioner Bigge arrived during Mr. Marsden's absence to manage the inquiry. On his return we find him seeking a public and searching examination of his whole conduct. Addressing a letter to the commissioner, he siiys : " I am happy to meet every charge that can be brought against me. I have no wish to do more than set my character right in the opinion of his Majesty's govern- ment and in that of the Christian world ; and I am unfeignedly thankful to you for the fair opportunity you aiiord me to justify my public and private con- duct." Among the many charges brought before the com- mission of inquiry was that already preferred against Mr. Marsden by the governor in his despatch to Lord Bathurst, namely, that he had been guilty of extraor- dinary severity as a magistrate. Another, scarcely consistent with the first, was, that more profligacy and depravity were to be found amongst the con- victs of Paramatta than in any other district, and that this was owing to the neglect of the senior chaplain. Perhaps it would have been impossible to have brought forward any two charges of a more pain- ful nature. Happily the first was easily disproved, or rather it fell at once to the ground for want of proof. The second was the more cruel, because, while the facts bore out the statement, Mr. Marsden was the only public man in the colony who was not guilty, by his silence at least, to some extent of the iniquities which the governor aflected to deplore. Paramatta was, in fact, the receptacle of the most hardened and depraved 154 LIFE OP THE BEV. SAMUEL MABSDEN. of the convict class ; it received the sweepings of the jails in every district. There were nearly two hun- dred women and seven hundred male convicts there, while the factory was so small as not to be able to contain more than sixty women, and the remainder were obliged to find lodging for themselves or to sleep in the open fields. This was Mr. Marsden's answer to the commissioner ; it was a repetition of the remon- strance which he alone had had the courage, two years before, to present to the governor, and then to remit home to Eugland. Thus he found himself arraigned as the cause of those very evils — evils, too, lying at his own door — which he had obtained so much obloquy for attempting to remove. The reflection is a trite one, but it will bear to be repeated, that the Christian philanthropist must look for his recompense ui heaven, and not from man. " If when ye do well and suft'er for it, ye take it patiently, this is acceptable with Grod, for even hereunto were ye called." A third charge was that he had squandered public money in building the female orphan house. He showed, how- ever, on his defence, that the lieutenant-governor, judge-advocate, and others, who formed the com- mittee, had examined the accounts and passed them every quarter, and that the governor had himself afterwards approved of them, and published them in the " Sydney Gazette " three years before the cliarge was made. If now appeared further that Mr. Marsdeii had advanced largely to the institution ; to the amount indeed of more than eight hundred pounds, for tlie mere cost of tlic building ; " and this," he says, " must have been known to the governor, as I was obliged to apply to him for repayment for some of these sums, and received an answer that he could not assist me." liIPE OP THE REV. SAMUEL MAESDEN. 155 Sucli are some of the trials whicli tbey must learn to encounter who would be brave and fearless soldiers of the cross. They must expect to have their motives censured, their tempers blamed, their actions miscon- strued, sometimes by men as good, or, at least, as honest as themselves. Governor Macquarie left the im- pression of his genius upon the youthfid institutions of Australia, where his memory is still honoured as that of a great man ; yet his conduct to Mr. Marsden was op- pressive and unjust. It is consoling to know that there liad been nothing in the personal conduct of the latter unworthy of his sacred calling. The commissioner, in the conclusion of the investigation, inserts, for Mr. Marsden' s information, the governor s testimonial of his character, which, considering the charges brought against him, certainly does go far to prove that mis- apprehension and exasperated feelings had betrayed his excellency into a warmth and precipitancy of which, in moments of less irritation, he felt ashamed. " The governor admits that Mr. Marsden's manner to him has been constantly civil and accommodating, and that nothing in his manner could provoke the go- vernor's warmth. The governor admits his qualifi- cations, his acti\aty, and his unremitting vigilance as a magistrate, and in society his cheerful disposition and readiness to please." While this inquiry was pending at Sydney, the governor addressed a letter to Lord Sidmouth, and published it in England. It was a defence of his own line of policy against various attacks which had been made against it in the House of Commons by tlie Hon. H. Grey Bennett and others. In the course of his defence, the governor not only ridiculed Mr. Mars- den's letter on the necessity of a female factory, and 156 LIFE OF THE KEY. SAMUEL MABSDEN. his account of the mclaucholy condition of the convict women, but charges him with being liimself accus- tomed to traffic in spirituous liquors, and in conse- quence of being displeased at haA'ing so many public- houses in his neighbourhood. Malicious, and absurd as the accusation was, carry- ing with it its own refutation, it found some who were weak or wicked enough to believe, or however to repeat it. It was revived in the colony, and rcpublislied ■ m one of the Sydney newspapers after Mr. Marsden's death. Such is the tenacity of slander. " Only throw mud enough," says the eloquent Mr Burke, "and some of it will be sure to stick." Mr. Marsden felt ]iis character so seriously compromised that he wrote home to the minister in self-defence, and also addressed a statement of the case to the new governor, Sir Thomas Brisbane. After showing the absurdity, and indeed the impossibility, of the charge, since, in the first place, the governor himself had granted a monopoly to certain contractors to purchase and land all spirits brought to the colony, and that in the second he had no licence, lie adds : " Such is the watchful eye that \^as kept upon my whole conduct by night and by day, if I had been guilty of that or any otber impropriety, it would have been impossible for me to have escaped detectioD." So far as any pretence of truth could liave been urged in support of this foul slander, namely that " he kept a public-house for the sale of ardent spirits, selling them in any quantity from a pint to a puncheon," it may be stated in his own words : '• In the infancy of the colony, previously to my arrival, barter was established among all classes from tlie governor downwards. As there was neither beer nor milk, tea nor sugar, to be purcliased at any price, LIFE OF THE KEV. SAMUEL MAKSDEN. 157 wiue aud spirits became the medium of exchange. As the colony progressively advanced in agriculture, commerce, and wealth, barter gradually decreased, and money transactions became more general. I can affirm that for the last eighteen years I have not had in my possession as much spirits as would allow my servants half a pint a head per week. And at no period of my residence did I ever purchase spirits for sale."* These were not the only troubles through which he was called to pass. But enough has been said both to explain the difficulties in which Mr, Marsden was placed and to clear his character from the vile asper- sions cast upon it. It is with pleasure that we turn from these false aud disgraceful charges to follow him in those Christian and philanthropic pursuits which have given splendour to his name. On the arrival of Sir Thomas Brisbane, in 1821, to assume the government of New South Wales, Mr. Marsden immediately waited upon him, when he received the assurance of his countenance and support, not only as a colonial chaplain, but as the representa- tive of the great missionary work going forward in New Zealand. Such encouragement was opportune ; he thanked God and took courage ; for the difficulties Avere great, and from time to time grievous disappoint- ments aud vexations had occurred. It was about this time that the seminary at Paramatta, for the education of New Zealanders, was abandoned. It had its origin with Mr. Marsden, and was conducted for some time in his own house. It was indeed one of his most favourite plans, and its failure was a severe dis- appointment. It was found, however, that the change * Rations of spirits, as in the navy, wonki seem at this time to have been re- gularly served out to the servants and labourers in the colony. 158 LIFE OF THE EEV. SAMUEL MABSDEN. of habits aud of climate was injurious to the health of the Kew Zealanders, while the results were not always such as might have been desired. But nothing could damp his ardent zeal, or quencli his spirit of enter- prise. " I see," he says, writing to his friends at home, " the way preparing for the spread of the gospel. I feel the fullest conviction that the South Sea Islands will now receive the blessing of civilization and the gospel. The work is great, and many difilculties may oppose it. The foundation is now firmly laid, and no power on earth can overturn it. To impart these blessings to the New Zealanders is an object worthy of the British nation : a more noble undertaking could not be suggested to the Christian world." This at least was not the mere declamation of the platform, but the deliberate expression of the views of one who had toiled and sufiered in the cause for twenty years, and had scarcely been cheered, at present, with the sight of a single New Zealand con- vert. "Here," at least, "is the patience of the saints," His home duties were not neglected ; nor was his the easy philanthropy which overlooks the humble claims of the rustic flock or obscure parish, while it stalks abroad on some heroic enterprise which may feed the vanity, while it satisfies the conscience, of the actor. Tlu-ough his exertions Paramatta had now its association in behalf of the Bible Society, which already collected funds for the Parent Society in England. An early report from this institution contains a re- markable account of his visits to the sick bed of a young woman, whose experience beautifully illustrates the text, that the Scripture " is able to make us wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus." LIFE OF THE RET. SAMUEL MARSDEN. 159 It brings tlie writer also before us incidentally as a spiritual, pastor and an enlightened minister of Christ. " Some time ago," says Mr. Marsden, " I was called on to visit a young woman, about twenty years of age, in one of our districts, who was extremely ill, and who wished very much to see me before she died. On my arrival at her father's house, I found her heavily afflicted, and death appeared to be at no great distance. I sat by her bedside with the Bible in my hand ; ex- pecting to find her, as I have but too often found others in similar circumstances, ignorant of the first principles of religion. " I read a portion of this sacred book to her, and was most agreeably surprised to find that she not only un- derstood the letter but the spirit of the Scriptures. " I asked her father how she became so well ac- quainted withthe Scriptures : he said he did not know — she was always reading her Bible at every opportunit}^, and sometimes sat up whole nights for that purpose. He observed, she was a very dutiful daughter : he had a large family, and she, being the eldest, and very industrious, was of great service to her mother and the younger branches of the family ; the only indul- gence which she desired was to be allowed to read the Bible when her work was done ; but he could not account for her attachment to it ; and it seemed very strange to him that she should attend to it so much. I asked him if she was in the habit of going to church, as I did not personally know her. He said she went sometimes, but was generally prevented, from the dis- tance and the large family which she had to attend to. " This young woman may be said to have obtained her religion wholly from the Bible. None of the family knew anything of the Bible but herself. I 160 LIFE OF TnE EEV. SAMUEL MAUSDEN. visited her during the whole of her sickness, from the time she sent for me, until she fell asleep in Jesus. Her faith was simple, her views of the way of salvation clear. She gave me many proofs of this, iu the various conversations which I had with her during her sick- ness. The Bible was more pi'ecious to her than gold ; she had found it, under the influence of the Divine Spirit, her counsellor and her guide, and by it she had been brought to a knowledge of the only true Grod, and Jesus Christ whom he had sent ; and hereby she was filled w^ith a hope full of immortality. Previously to her last sickness, she had enjoyed good health : it was in the prime of youth and vigour that she had read her Bible, and loved it, so that she had not to seek God, for the first time, in this trying moment ; but found him a present help in sickness and in the approach of death. The Bible had testified of Christ to her : she had found eternal life revealed therein ; and the Divine promises were both great and precious to her soul." Such instances of faith, and of the happy efi'ects of a simple reliance upon the atonement, were at that time of rare occurrence in the colony. Instances of cou- version simply from the reading of the Scriptures are not perhaps so rare as we generally suppose. Lieute- nant Sadleir, who himself resided at Paramatta, baa remarked upon this occurrence : " It is gratifying to the reflecting mind to observe such glimmerings of light in the midst of so much darkness. Although found in obscurity and in the cottage of the peasant, it proved that tliere were some who had not bowed the knee to the Baal of universal licentiousness." Mr. Marsden's anxiety for the female convicts was not to be abated bj ridicule or opposition. Wo find LIFE OF THE EEV. SAMUEL MARSDEN. 161 him, in August, 1822, addressing a letter to Dr. Douglas, tlie police magistrate of Paramatta, on their behalf. Some of the sentiments are beautifully touch- ing. The substance of the plea on their behalf is " that these poor creatures, who are confined in the penitentiary, and who have committed no offence in these settlements, be allowed the privilege of attending at least once on the sabbath day on public worship." The request was surely reasonable, and in urging it- he rises to a pathetic eloquence : " There is no nation under the heavens in whose bosom the wretched and unfortunate finds so warm a reception as in our own. The unhappy situation of the female convicts during their confinement in the different jails in the empire interests the best feelings of the human heart. They are instructed by the counsels of tlie wise, consoled by the prayers of the pious, softened by the tears of the compassionate, and relieved by the alms of the bene- volent. The noble senator does not pass over their crimes and their punishments vinnoticed ; he is anxious for the prevention of tlie former, and the mitigation of the latter ; nor does the wise politician consider them beneath his care." He then speaks with natural exultation of " the watchful eye with which the British government provides for their wants and con- veniences during their voyage to New South Wales, even more liberally than for the brave soldiers and sailors who have fought the battles of their coiintry, and never violated its laws ;" and then follows a sen- tence which leaves us uncertain whether more to admire his patriotism or the gentleness of his nature and the warmth of lais heart : " This apparently singular conduct may seem as if the British government wished to encourage crime 162 LIFE OF THE EEV. SAMUEL MAESDEN. and afterwards reward it ; but upon a nearer view this principle of action will be found to spring sponta- neously from virtue, from that inherent, laudable, Christian compassion and anxiety, which the father of the prodigal felt for his lost son, which kept alive the spark of hope that he might one day return to his father's house and be happy. This parable of our blessed Saviour's most beautifully exhibits the cha- racter of the British nation towards her prodigal sons and daughters, and is more honourable to her than all the victories she has achieved by sea and land." The welfare of the female convict population lay near to Mr. Marsden's heart ; scarcely his beloved New Zealanders and their missions engaged more of his affec- tion. His plans for the improvement of their tem- poral condition, and his incessant labours for their spiritual welfare, occupied no small portion of his time and thoughts ; and there is good reason to believe that his labours amongst these outcasts were not " in vain in the Lord." Standing, as we should have thought, himself in need of encouragement, he stimulated the languid zeal of others. Mrs. Fry and other philan- thropists were now engaged in their great work of amending our prison discipline at home. We have inserted a letter from that excellent lady to Mr. Marsden. His answer to it must have clieered her spirits amidst the many disheartening toils to which she was exposed. " The Wellington had just arrived when," he says, " I went on board, and was highly gratified witli the order which a])pears to have been maintained in that vessel. I could not have conceived that any ship could have been iitted up to have afforded sucli accommoda- tion to the unfortunate female exiles as the Wei- LirE or TUE REY. SAMUEL MAIISDEN. 1G3 liugton was. All the women looked clean, healthy, and well. They had not that low, vicious, squaKd, dirty look which the women at former periods have had when they first arrived. I believe there has been very great attention paid by the master and surgeon to their morals and comfort, in every possible way. The very sight of the arrangements of the vessel showed that the humane and benevolent wishes of the Christian world had been carried into effect, and proved beyond all contradiction that order and mo- rality can be maintained upon so long a voyage in a female convict ship .... The present inquiry into the state of this colony, before the committee of the House of Commons, will greatly benefit this country. I can speak from painful experience that for the last tAventy-six years, it has been the most immoral, wi-etched society in all the Christian world. Those who are intimate with the miseries and vices of large jails alone can form any idea of the colony of New South Wales. I know what Newgate Avas when I was in London, in the years 1808 and 1809. I was then in the habit of seeing that miserable abode of vice and woe. What has since been done in Newgate may be done elsewhere, if suitable means are adopted by those in authority, seconded by individual exertions ; much might be done in these colonies towards restoring the poor exiles to society, with the countenance and support of the government. Great evils are not removed without great difficulties. When I visited the Wellington, I saw much had been done in England, and more than I could have credited, had I not been an eye witness of the situation of the females." Sir Thomas Brisbane, the new governor, was not 164 LIFE OF THE llEV. SAMUEL MARSBEN. slow to perceive the worth of services sixch as those which Mr. Marsden had rendered to the colony, and pressed hira to accept once more the office of a magis- trate. In reference to this, " I wisli," says Mr. Mars- den, in a letter to Dr. Mason Good, " to avoid the oflBce if I can ; but I fear it will not be in my power, withoiit giving offence. The judges as well as the public and the magistrates have urged me to take the bench at the present time." In the same letter, he adds : " I feel happy that I have stood firm against all calumnies and reproaches, and have been the instrument of bringing to light the abominations that have been committed here : and some of the evils are already remedied." The friends of religion and virtue in Eno-- land could not fail to sympathize with him, being well assured that substantially he was figlitiug the cause of true piety and equal justice, against profligacy and oppression. Mr. "Wilberforce wrote to him in the year 1823, with his usual warm affection: — " Though I may be a somewhat doubtful and unfre- quent correspondent, I am not an uncertain friend ; and where good will, as in your instance, is grounded on early esteem, and cemented by the consciousness of having many mutual friends, I should be ashamed if that should suffer any decay from the impression not being often renewed. It was with no small concern that 1 heard that anything unpleasant had occurred. I had meant to endeavour to obtain a sight of any letters or papers to our common friends, and to have consulted with them whether any, and if any, wliat measures, could be taken for the benefit of jour colony, or in your own support, wliich, without a compliment, I hold to be in a degree coincident. . . . And now, my tlcar sir, farewell : but I ought not to conclude without LIFE OP THE EEV. SAMtTEL MARSDEN. 165 congratulating yon on the progressive advancement, as I trust, of the religious and moral interests of your Australian world, and begging that you will always inform me unreservedly whenever you conceive I can. be of use publicly, or to yourself personally. " I remain, with much esteem and regard, " My dear sir, *' Tour sincere friend, " W. "WiLBEEEORCE." The report of Commissioner Bigge was made public soon afterwards ; and with it the clouds which had gathered so long around the chaplain of Paramatta were at last dispersed. He was too prominent a mark not to be again assailed. Always in the front of the battle when the oppressed required protection, or evil doers in high positions his bold assaiilts, it was not in the nature of things that he should lead a very quiet life. His calling was peculiar ; so were his talents ; and the latter were admirably fitted for the former. But for the present his triumph was complete, and the govern- ment at home appreciated his faithful service. The document which follows requires no further comment. It was not received till some time had elapsed, but we insert it here as a fitting conclusion to the chapter : — " Private Secretary's Office, Sydney, 9th April, 1825. " Eeveeend Sir, — I have the honour to acquaint you, by command of his excellency the governor, that Earl Bathurst, having taken into consideration your long and useful services in the colony of New South Wales, has determined upon increasing your stipend to the sum of four liundred pounds sterling, per annum. " I have further the pleasing satisfaction of coupling 166 LIFE OP TUE EEV. SAMDEL MARSDEIST. with it his lordship's instructions to tlie governor, to acquaint you that it has been done in consideration of your long, laborious, and praiseworthy exertions in behalf of religion and morality. " I have tlie honour to be, reverend Sir, " Your obedient servant, " JOHK OtENS, Private Secretary. ■'• To the Rev. Samuel Marsden, Principal Chaplain." LIFE OF TUE BEV. SAMUEL MAESDEN. 167 CHAPTER IX. Fourth Visit to New Zealand — Trials and Successes of the various Missions — -Shipwreck and Danger of Mr. Mnrsdeu and the Rev. S. Leigh — Returns home — Letter to Avison Terry, Esq. In July, 1823, we find Mr. Marsden again taking ship and embarking for New Zealand ; Jus intention being to visit the stations of the Church Missionary Society, and to arrange its afiairs. Since his last visit fresh causes for anxiety had appeared. In consequence of ShuDghie's misconduct, the natives were now alienated from tlie missionaries ; they had become indifferent to education and agricultural improvements ; and the gospel, it was too evident, had made little progress hitlierto. Shunghie declared that as to himself, "he wanted his children to learn to fight and not to read." The Maories about the settlement insisted upon being paid for their services in fire-arms and ammunition. " Since Shunghie's return," writes one of the mission- aries, " the natives, one and all, have treated us with contempt. They are almost past bearing ; coming into our houses when they please, demanding food, thieving whatever they can lay their hands on, breaking down our garden fences, stripping the ship's boats of every- thing they can. They seem, in fact, ripe for any mis- chief; had Mr. Marsden himself been amongst us, much as he deserves their esteem, I believe he would not escape without insult ; but the Lord is a very present help in time of trouble." Amongst the mis- sionaries themselves certain evils had appeared, the growth of a secular and commercial spirit, which had 108 LIFE OF THE UEV. SAMUEL MAESDEN. injured their cause, and tlireatened to frustrate the great end for which the mission was projected. Mr. Marsden heard of these untoward events, and hastened his departure, full of anxiety, but not abating one jot of his confidence in the final triumph of God's cause. What his feelings were his own journal tes- tifies : — " I am still confident that this land of darkness and superstition will be visited by the day-star from on higli. The glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and aU flesh shall see it together, for the mouth of the Lord has spoken it. O Lord, let thy kingdom come ; thy will be done on earth as it is done in heaven. I have suflfered so much annoyance and persecution for some time past, from unreasonable and wicked men, that I am happy in leaving the colony for a little time, in which I have experienced so much annoyance. In reflecting upon the state of New Zealand there are many things which give me both pleasure and pain. I am happy the Church Missionary Society has not relinquished the cause, but have sent out more strength to carry on the work. Many have been the discourage- ments from the misconduct of some of the servants of the Society ; but I am confident that the sword of the Spirit, which is the -word of God, will in time subdue the hearts of these poor people to the obedience of faith." He was accompanied on his voyage by the Reverend TIenry "Williams and his family, who now went out to strengthen the New Zealand mission, of which he soon became one of the most efl'ective leaders. One of Bishop Selwyn's first steps when he was appointed bishop of New Zealand, was to make Mr. Henry Williams one of his archdeacons, and since then he has LIFE or THE EET, SAMUEL MAESDEN. 169 been designated to a New Zealand biahopric in a district inhabited exclusively by Christianized Maories. Coidd Mr. Marsden have foreseen the course which awaited his companion, how woidd Ids soul have been cheered ! but it was for him to sow in tears, and for others to reap in joy. The field was not yet ripe for the harvest; other men laboured, who now sleep in the dust, and we of this generation have entered into their labours. Mr. Marsden was not mistaken in his estimate of his new com- panion. Indeed he appears to have been very seldom mistaken in the judgments he formed about other men. "I think," he notes, " that Mr. WiUiams and his family will prove a great blessing to the Society. I hope he will be able to correct and remedy, in time, mauy evils that have existed, and also to set an example to the rest what they as missionaries should do." This was his fourth visit to New Zealand, and though in some respects it was painful, yet in others there was ground for joy. The cloud which the propTiet saw from Carmel, though no greater than a man's hand, foretold abundance of rain ; and so now too, at length, after nine years' toil, a few hopeful symptoms appeared amongst the Maories. Their anxious visitor observed with much pleasure, he says, that since his last visit, the natives in general were much improved in their appearance and manners ; and now for the first time he heard them, with strange delight, sing some hymns and repeat some prayers in their own language. This convinced him that, not- withstanding the misconduct of a few of the Eiu'o- peans, the work was gradually going on, and the way preparing for the blessings of the gospel. " I have no Q 170 LIPE OP THE JEEY. SAMUEL MAESDEN. doubt that the greatest diiBculties are now over, and that God will either incline the hearts of those who are now in New Zealand, to devote themselves to their work, or he wiU find other instruments to do his work." Yet he had a painful duty to discharge, Pirm as he was and lion-hearted when danger was to be met, his nature was very gentle, and his affections both deep and warm ; and he had now to rebuke some of the missionaries whom he loved as his own soul, and even to dismiss one of them. Of those whom he had been obliged to censure, he writes thus : — " They expressed their regret for the past, and a determination to act in a different way for the future. Some, I have no doubt, will retrace their steps, and will be more cautious and circumspect, but I have not the same confidence in all. Some express sorrow, but I fear not that which worketh repentance." Again he remarks : " Missionary work is very hard work, unless the heart is fully engaged in it. No consideration can induce a man to do habitually what he has a habitual aversion to. The sooner such a one leaves the work, the better it will be for himself and the mission." But though compelled to blame, he did not forget to sympathize. " The present missionaries, thougli some of them have erred greatly from the right way, yet have all had their trials and troubles. Some allowance must be made for their peculiar situation, and their want of Christian society, and of the public ordinances of religion." Several chiefs, among whom was Tool, warmly took up the cause of the missionary who had been dismissed. Tlie conversation which followed is a beautiful illus- tration of the too much forgotten Scripture which tells LIEE OF THE REV. SA HUEL MAllSDEN. 171 US that " a soft answer tumeth away wrath," while at the same time it presents an interesting view of the Meori mind and character at this critical period of their national history. " Tool addressing me, said a missionary had informed him that day that he was going to leave New Zealand, and the chiefs wished to know whether this person had been dismissed for selling muskets and powder to the natives. To this I replied that Mr. was directed by the gentlemen in England who had sent him out as a missionary, not to sell muskets and powder ; that it was not the custom in England for clergymen to seU muskets and powder ; and that no missionary could be allowed to sell them in New Zealand. As several of the chiefs present had been at Port Jackson, I observed that they knew that the clergymen there did not sell muskets and powder. They knew that I had not one musket in my house, and that they had never seen any when they were with me. They replied, they knew what I said was true. I further added we did not interfere with the government of New Zealand; they did what they pleased, and the missionaries should be allowed to do what they pleased. Tool said that this was but just, and observed, ' We are at present in the same state as the Otaheitaus were some time back. The Otaheitans Avanted only muskets and powder, and would have nothing else, and now, as they knew better, they wanted none ; and the New Zealauders would care nothing about muskets when they knew better, wliich they would in time.' All the chiefs acquiesced in the observations Tool made. I was happy to find their minds were so enlarged, and that they had begun to take such proper views of the subject. I said, Tool's 172 LIFE OF THE EET. SAMUEL MABSDEN. remarks upon the conduct of tlie Otaheitans were very just, and told them that the Queen Charlotte brig, which had sailed from the bay the preceding day, belonged to the young king Pomare ; that the Otaheitans had sent oil and various other articles to Port Jackson, and that they had received in return, tea, sugar, and flour, and clothing, as they wanted these articles, and that the New Zealanders might in time have a ship of their own to procure sperm oil, spars, etc., which they might sell at Port Jackson, and ]nany of them were able to kill the whales, having been employed on board the whalers. When they got a vessel of their own, they would soon be equal to the Otaheitans, and give over their cruel wars. They expressed much pleasure at having a vessel of their own. After some further explanation the chiefs were satisfied that Mr. had violated our laws and had brought all his distress upon himself." The conduct of the natives confirmed the impression which Mr. Marsden had previously formed, and which tlieir subsequent history down to the present day entirely sustains, that they are a noble race of men, of considerable mental capacity, of great perseverance and enterprise, who never lose sight of an object upon which they have once set their minds ; powerful reasouers upon any subject that has come witliin their knowledge ; possessed of a quick perception and a natural sagacity, which enables them to form a just acquaintance with human nature as it presents itself before tlicm. "Who would not wish that they too may form a happy exception to the rule which seems in every land to condemn the native populatioji to waste away before tlic advances of European enterprise ? Who would not desire that the Maorio LIFE OF THE REV. SAMUEL MABSDEN. 173 tribes may long be a great and powerful nation, protected, but not oppressed by English rule ? Mr. Marsden now paid a visit at "VVangaroa, to tbe Wesleyan missionary station there. Over the "Wes- leyan missions he had of course no control or over- sight, such as that with wliich he was intrusted to- wards the missions of the London Missionary Society in the South Sea Islands. This, however, did not pre- vent his taking an affectionate interest in their affairs. He found Mr. Leigh, the founder of their mission, very ill, and invited him to return with him on a voyage of health and recreation toPort Jackson ; and having taken leave of the Church Missionary brethren with solemn and affectionate counsels he embarked on the 6th of September, 1823, Avith feelings which he thus describes. " I now felt much pleasure in the prospect of a speedy return to my family and people, and being very weary with various toils and anxieties both of body and mind, I longed for a little rest, and retired to my cabin with much thankfulness and comfort. I had cause to be thankful for continual good health during the period I had been in New Zealand, as I had not lost one day. I felt great confidence in the Eev. Mr. Williams, and I doubt not that God will prosper the work, and raise up a seed in this benighted land to serve him ; for many shall come from the south as well as the north, and shall sit down with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of God." But his briirht visions were overcast. Like the first and greatest of Christian missionaries, it was ordained that he, too, " should suffer shipwreck and be cast upon a desert island." His own joui'nal gives us the story of his danger and deliverance. " Simdaij 7th. — This morning we weighed anchor. I q2 174 LIFE OP THE REV. SAMUEL MAESDEN. spent some time this day reading the Scriptures with the Eev. S. Leigh, our subject for contemplation was the 1st chapter of St. Paul to the Eomans. The weather was very threatening and stormy; the wind from the eastward and strong, blowing du-ectly into the mouth of the har- bour. We lay in Korororika Bay, on the south side of the harbour, and had to sail along a lee rocky shore. In working out with the wind dead on the land, the ship being light and high out of the water she w^oidd not answer her helm, and twice missed stays. The lead was kept continually sounding, and we soon found ourselves in little more than three fathoms water, with a rocky bottom and a shoal of rocks on our lee, and it was then higli water. AVhen the captain found the situation we were in, he immediately ordered to let go the anchor, which was done. When the tide turned the ship struck, the gale increased, and the sea with it ; a shipwreck was now more than probable ; there appeared no possible way to prevent it. The Eev. Mr. Leigh was very ill, and felt the disturbance much, Mrs. Leigh also being very ill. I requested the captain to lend me the boat to take Mr. and Mrs. Leigh to the nearest island, where we arrived very safely, the island being bat two miles distant. The natives expressed much concern for us, made a fire, prepared the best hut they could, which was made of bulrushes, for our reception. I requested them to send a canoe to Eungheehe, to inform Mr. and Mrs. Hall of the loss of the ship, and to bring their boat to assist in bringing the people to laud. At the same time, I desired they would tell the natives to bring a large war canoe. The natives for some time alleged that tlieir canoe would be dashed to pieces by tlie waves, but at length I i)revailcd upon them. They hud LIFE OF THE REV. SAMUEL MAUSDEN. 175 between five and six miles to go, through a very rough sea. About .three o'clock, Messrs. Hall, King, and Hanson, arrived in Mr. Hall's boat, and a large war canoe with natives ; they immediately proceeded to the ship, and we had the satisfaction to see them arrive safe, and waited until dark with the greatest anxiety for their return. The rain fell in torrents, the gale increased, and they had not returned ; we lay do\\n in our little hut full of fear for the safety of all on board. The night appeared very long, dark, and dz'eaiy. As we could not rest, we most anxiously wished for the morning light, to learn some account of them. " September 8th. — When the day arrived we had the happiness to see the vessel still upright, but driven nearer the shore. No boat or canoe from her ; the gale still increased ; about mid- day we saw the mainmast go overboard. The natives on the island screamed aloud when the mast fell. I concluded they had cut away the mast to relieve the vessel. We spent the rest of this day in great suspense, as we could not conjecture why all the passengers should remain on board in the state the ship was in. At dark in the evening Mr. Hall returned, and informed us that the bottom of the vessel was beaten out, and that both her chain and best bower cable were parted ; and that she beat with such violence upon the rocks when the tide was in that it was impossible to stand upon the deck ; at the same time, he said, there was no danger of any lives being lost, as he did not think the vessel would go to pieces, as she stood firm upon the rock, when the tide was out. He said, the pas- sengers on board had not determined what they would do, or where they would land as yet ; they wished to wait till the gale was abated. Mr. Hall's information 176 LIFE OF THE EEV. SAHUEL MAESDEK, relieved us much ; as it was now dark, the wind high, and the sea rough, we could not leave the island, and therefore took up our lodgings in our little hut. " The natives supplied us with a few potatoes and some fish. My pleasing prospect of returning to Port Jackson was at an end, for some time at least. I was exceedingly concerned for the loss of so fine a vessel on many accounts, as individuals who are interested in her must suffer as well as the passengers on board, and spent the night in reflections on the difficulties with which I was surrounded; while the raging of the storm continued without intermission. " Tuesday 9th. — At the return of day we discovered the ship still upright, but she appeared to be higher on the reef. I now determined to return to Ividdee- Kiddee in Mr. Hall's boat with Mr. and Mrs. Leigh. We left the island for the missionary settlement, where we arrived about nine o'clock. Our friends had not heard of the loss of the ship until our arrival, as there had not been any communication between the different settlements in consequence of the severe weather. We were very kindly received by the brethren ; I informed them in what situation we had left the ship, and requested that every assistance might be given to land the passengers and luggage. The wreck was about twelve or fourteen miles from the settlement. Four boats were immediately sent off; Mr. Hall's boat took the women and children to Eungheehe, and two of the boats returned with part of our lu ith fine tiiirber; which the waste of years and the ruthless axe had levelled ; now it stood alone, exposed to cverv blast, its branches broken off, its trunk 214 LIPE OF THE EEV. SAMUEL MAESBEN. # decayed and its days numbered. Yet he resolved to pay another, his seventh, and, as it proved, his last viisit to New Zealand. It was thought by his friends, that he would never live to return. His age and infirmities seemed to unfit him for any great exertion of either mind or body ; but ha\dng formed the reso- lution, nothing could now deter him, or divert him from it. He sailed on the 9th February, 1837, in the Pyramus, accompanied by his youngest daughter, and he seemed to be cheered by the reflection that if he should die upon his voyage he should die in his harness and upon the battle field on which God had chosen him to be a leader. And yet his sturdy spirit scarcely bowed itself to such misgivings. As on former visits, he had no sooner landed than his whole soul was invigorated by scenes from which most others would have shrunk. He landed on the southern side of the island, at the river Hokianga, and remained amongst the AVesleyan missionaries for about a fortnight ; after which he crossed over to the Bay of Islands, carried all the way in a litter by the natives. In this way he visited the whole of the missionary stations in the neighbourhood of the Bay of Islands, as well as Kaitaia, a station at the North Cape. On the arrival of H. M. S. Eattle- snake, he accompanied Captain Hobson (afterwards governor of New Zealand), to the river Thames, and the East Cape, returning at length to Sydney in that ship, where he arrived on the 27th of July after an absence of five months. When entering the heads of Port Jackson, one of the officers of the ship observed, " I think Mr. M. you may look upon this as your last visit to New Zealand;" upon which he replied, " No I rlon't, for I intend to be off again in about six LIFE OF THE EET. SAMUEL MAKSDEN. 245 weeks, the people in the colouy are becoming too fine for me now. I am too old to preach before them, but I can talk to the New Zealanders." Of this, his last visit, we must give some account. Captain Livesay of the Pyramus, in a valuable letter to Mr. Nicholas, has given some interesting reminiscences of his passenger : — ■ " Devonport, November 29, 1837. " My deak Sie, — ... I looked forward to meeting you with inexpressible delight, to talk about our mucli esteemed friend Mr. Marsden, and compare notes about New Zealand ; but we are born to dis- appointment, although I shall still look forward to have tliat pleasure ou my return to England. " From the last account 1 had of Mr. Marsden, previous to my quitting New Zealand, I was informed that the trip had done him much good. Wlien he left the ship, and indeed when I last saw him, whicli was a month afterwards, he used to walk with a great stoop ; he was then able to walk upright, and take considerable exercise. The dear old man ! it used to do my heart good to see his pious zeal in his Master's cause. Nothing ever seemed a trouble to him. He was always calm and cheerful, even under intense bodily surteriug, which was the case sometimes from the gravel, which caused him great distress. His daughter Martlia was a very great comfort to him ; she was constantly with him, and very alFectionate in her attentions. I did hope my next voyage would have been to New South Wales, that I might have the pleasure of seeing him once more, should God have spared him so long ; but that thought must now be given up." . . The remainder of the letter has reference to tlic y2 24G LIFE OF THE RET. SAMUEL MAESDEN. state and prospects of New Zealand. The sentiments are honourable to a British sailor. How happy it would have been for the Maori race, had all English captains who visited the Bay of Islands, been such men as Captain Liveuay ! He says, " It affords me great satisfaction to find that a committee are forming for the colouization of New Zealand, on the scale you intimate. It is very much to be desired indeed ; as the poor natives are becoming a prey and a sacrifice to a set of dissolute wretches who do all in their power to sink tiie savage into the perfect brute, or by design and craft to cheat them out of all their possessions. Even those who call themselves respectable, are amongst this number, and one or two, to my certain knowledge, have purchased an immense extent of land for a mere song, depriving the rising generation of all their claims. The New Zealanders are upon the whole, a fine and intelligent race, capable of much if well directed. They are accused of low cunning, and covetousness in their dealings with the Europeans. Let the question be asked, who taught them to be so ? Why, the Europeans themselves. They are said to be ferocious. I maintain that they are not half so much so as our own ancestors in the barbarous times of Britain ; and where Christianity has been properly introduced, they are quite a different race of beings. Let but the ill weeds that have taken root there be torn up, and the wholesome plant of industry and sobnety, with the spirit of the gospel, sown in its place, and all the savage will soon cease to be." I'lie "ill weeds" were springing up apace, and, as a consequence, the missionary cause was once more in peril. LIFE OF THE REA'. SAMUEL MARSDEN. 247 An English barque bad lately been wrecked upon the coast, but fortunately Mr. Guard the captain, bis wife, two children, and the crew, twenty-eight in all, escaped to land. At first, according to the statement of the captain, the natives treated them with kindness, which they soon exchanged, under what pretext, or in consequence of what provocations on either side, it would be useless to ask, for open hostilities. A quarrel was got up between two native tribes, and an engagement followed, in which twelve Europeans, and about forty Maories fell. Guard and his party were taken prisoners. It shows how great an improvement had taken place amongst the natives, that they were not massacred and devoured ; but, on condition of returning with a cask of powder as a ransom for himself and the rest, Guard and five of his men were allowed to proceed, without further molestation, to Sydney ; where he laid the matter before Sir Eichard Bourke the governor. Relying on the accuracy of Guard's narrative, the governor, with the advice of the executive council, requested Captain Lambert to proceed with H.M.S. Alligator, which happened to be lying in Port Jackson, to obtain the restoration of the British subjects, then in the hands of the New Zealauders. He was instructed to abstain from any act of retaliation, and to obtain the restoration of tlie captives by amicable means ; and Guard and his five men returned in the same ship. Soon after the arrival of the party at New Zealand, Guard recognised the chief who was now the pro- prietor of the shipwrecked woman and children ; and the unsuspicious native rubbed noses with him in token of amity, at the same time expressing his readiness to give up his prisoners on receiving the 248 LIFE OF THE EEV. SAMUEL MAESDEN. "payment" guaranteed to him. This, however was not the way in which the affair was to be settled ; Guard and Ins sailors seized him as a prisoner, and dragged him into the whale boat in which the party had gone ashore. The cruelty practised towards this unfortunate man, and the fearful havoc committed by tlie English, we gladly pass over. Such iniquitous trausactions reflect but little credit on us as a Christian or a civilized people ; and thej-^ were, moreover, in direct opposition to the benevolent instructions of Sir Eichard Bourke. The British subjects were restored ; as indeed they might have been without the loss of a single life, through the intervention of the missionaries, and of the British resident at the Bay of Islands, and the expedition having gained its object by force and stratagem, returned to Sydney with the troops and the liberated captives. This painfid affair, as well as other acts of outrage, on the part of the natives, which were its natural con- sequence, made a deep impression at the time, and were a source of great uneasiness to Mr. ]\Iarsden. lie saw at once the danger to which they exposed the missionaries and their cause, and felt, no doubt, a just reliance on himself. Unarmed and unprotected, had he been upon the spot, hewould have accomplisliedmore in his own person than all those warlike measures liad effected, wliich anew embittered the Maori race ajrainst the Europeans. His record of his farewell visit was probably not kept with his former accuracy ; but the chasm is well supplied by the interesting journal of his daughter, some extracts from which the ri>ader will peruse with ph^asiu-e. We have th(> whole scene placed before us by her graceful pen, and we gain some glimpse into LIFE OF THE KEY. SAMUEL MARSDEN, 249 her father's character, which we should certainly not have gathered from his own modest, self-forgetting, memorauda. " Fchrnary 12, Sunday — Had service on deck. The Eev. Mr. Wilkinson read prayers, and my father preached. The sailors were very attentive ; the service was truly interesting from its novelty and the impres- siveness of the scene ; nothing around us but the wide waste of waters. " \^th. — At the suggestion of Captain L , reading in the evenings was introduced. "We began the History of Columbus, by Washington Irving, and the arrangement is that we are to read by turns." The weather proved boisterous, and it was not before the 21st they made the land. "22n<7. — Up early en deck to view the land, which presented a very bold and romantic appearance. " Not being able to obtain a pilot, the captain de- termined, lest he should lose the tide, Hokiauga being a bar harbour, to take the vessel in himself. The dead lights were put in, and every arrangement made as we approached the bar. Not a voice was heard but that of the captain and the two men in the chains, heaving tlie lead. Every sailor was at his station, and the an- chors in readiness to let go at a moment's warning. We sounded as shallow as ' a quarter less four,' when the ladies became alarmed, though we were obliged to keep our fears to ourselves, as the gentlemen very politely left us. The wind being light, the fear was the breakers would have overtaken the ship, thrown her upon her beam ends, and rendered her unma- nageable ; but providence guided and preserved us. " I seldom remember a more beautiful scene ; the moon is near its full, and the banks of the river are 250 LIFE or THli KEY. SAMUEL MAESDEN. very high, covered with the most luxuriant foliage. AVe were so delighted with the scenery that we would willingly have stayed up all night. As we proceeded up, the mountains appeared to lessen into hills. Several native hamlets, and two or three residences of Europeans, show that the busy hand of man has been engaged in the work of redeeming the wilderness from the wild dominion of natiu-e. Anchored near the Wesleyan mission station, where we were kindly wel- comed by Mr. and Mrs. Turner. The mission here has been established nearly nine years ; they have a neat chapel and one or two comfortable houses, and are about to form an additional station. The mis- sionaries related several instances of the melancholy death of various New Zealanders who have opposed the progress of the mission. One chief became so in- censed against the ' Atua,' for the death of liis child, that he formed a circle of gunpowder, placed himself in the centre, and fired it. The explosion did not im- mediately destroy him ; he lingered a few weeks in dreadful agony, and then died. " Saturday. — The natives are coming in great num- bers to attend divine worsliip. Mr. Turner preached, and afterwards my father addressed them. They listened Avith earnest attention, and were much pleased. Many of the old chiefs were delighted to see my father, and offered to buihl him a house, if he would remain. One said, ' Stay with us and learn our language, and then you will become our father and our friend, and we will build you a house.' ' No,' replied another,' we cannot build a house good enough, but we will hire Europeans to do it for us.' "The whole congregation joined in the respoiises und singing, and though they have not the most I/IFE OF THE KEY. SAMUEL MABSDEN. 251 pleasing voices, yet it was delightful to hear them sing one of the hymns commencing ' From Egypt lately come.' " The journey across from Hokianga to the Waimate, as described by Miss Martha Marsden, shows, in the absence of railroads and steam carriagres, an agreeable if not expeditious mode of conveyance. " Took leave of Mrs. Turner; and, mounted in a chair on the shoulders of two ISTew Zealanders, I headed the pro- cession. My father, Mr. Wilkinson, and the two children, were carried in ' kaw-shores,' or native biers, on which they carry their sick. "We entered a forest of five miles, then stopped to dine. The natives soon cooked their potatoes, corn, etc., in their ovens, which they scoop in the sand, and after heating a number of stones, the potatoes are put in, covered with grass and leaves, and a quantity of water poured upon them ; they were exquisitely steamed. As I approached one of the groups sitting at dinner, I was much aifected by seeing one of them get up and ask a blessing over the basket of potatoes. " Five miles from Waimate I left my chair, mounted on horseback, and reached Waimate for breakfast. Old Nini accompanied us the whole way, and told my fiither if he attempted to ride he would leave him. The natives carried him the whole way with the greatest cheerfulness, and brought him through the most difficult places with the greatest ease. The distance they carried him was about twenty miles." The state of all the missions with regard to their spiritual work was now full of hope. Of the Wesleyan mission Mr. JNIarsden himself reports, " I found that many were inquiring after the Saviour, and that a large number attended public worship. The pi'ospect 252 LIFE OF THE BEV. SAMUEL MAESDEN. of success to the Cliurch of England Mission is very great. Since my arrival at the missionary station I have not heard one oath spoken by European or native ; the schools and church are well attended, and the greatest order is observed among all classes. 1 met Avith many wherever I went, who were anxious after the knowledge of God. Wherever I went I found some who could read and write. They are all fond of reading, and there are many who never had an opportunity of attending the schools who, nevertheless, can read. They teach one another in all parts of the country, from the JNorth to the East Cape." The native tribes were still at war with each other, and with the European settlei's — the miserable effect of Captain Guard's rash conduct. Erom the mission- ary station at Pahia Mr. Marsden's daughter counted one morning twenty-one canoes passing up the bay. A battle followed, which she witnessed at a distance, and the Europeans all around fled to the missionary station. In the engagement three chiefs fell; a second fight occurred soon afterwards. " We have heard firing all day," she writes ; " many have been killed ; we saw the canoes pass down the river con- taining the bodies of the slain." Mr. Marsden himself was absent on a visit to the southward, or his presence might possibly have prevented these scenes of blood. AVherever the venerable man appeared, he was received by the converted natives with Christian salutations and tears of joy ; the heathen population welcomed him with the firing of muskets and their rude war dances. Wherever he went, he was greeted with acclamations as the friend and father of the JS^ew Zealanders. One chieftain sat down upon the ground before him gazing upon him in silence, without moving lilFE OF THE EET. SAMUEL MABSDEN. 253 a limb or uttering a single word for several hours. He was gently reproved by Mr. Williams for what seemed a rudeness. " Let me alone," said he, " let me take a last look ; I shall never see him again." "One principal chief," writes Mr. Marsden, "who had embraced the gospel and been baptized, ac- companied us all the way. We had to travel about forty miles, by land and water. He told me he was so unhappy at Hokianga that he could not get to converse with me from the crowds that attended, and that he had come to Waimate to speak with me. 1 found him to be a very intelligent man, and anxious to know the way to heaven." While at Kaitai he held a constant levee, sitting in an arm-chair, in an open field, before the mission house ; it was attended by upwards of a thousand Maories, who poured in from every quarter ; many coming a distance of twenty or thirty miles, contented to sit down and gaze on his venerable features; and so they continued to come and go tiU liis departure. AVith his characteristic kindness and good nature he presented each with a pipe and fig of tobacco ; and when he was to embark at last, they carried him to the ship, a distance of six miles. Before leaving Xew Zealand, he wrote to the Church Missionary Society an account which glows with pious exultation, describing the success with which the Head of the church had at length been pleased to bless the labours of his faithful servants. Since his arrival, he says, he had visited many of the stations within the compass of a hundred miles. It was liis intention to liave visited all of them, from the North to the East Cape ; but from the disturbed state of tlie country " it was not considered prudent for him to go to the 254 LIFE OF THE RET. SAMUEL MAESDEN". south," where he still contemplated fui^ther eftbrts " when the country should be more settled in its political affairs." He had " observed a wonderful change : those portions of the sacred Scriptures which had been printed have had a most astonishing effect ; they are read by the natives in every place where I have been ; the natives teach one another, and find great pleasure in the word of Grod, and carry that sacred treasure with them wherever they go. Great numbers have been baptized, both chiefs and their people." He had met with some very pious chiefs, who had refused to share in the present war, and avowed their resolution to fight no more. One of them, at his own cost, had built a chapel, or place of public worship, which was visited by the missionaries ; in this he himself taught a school, assisted by his son. '' Waimate, once the most warlike district in the island, is now," he says, "the most orderly and moral place I was ever in. My own mind has beeu exceedingly gratified by what I have seen and heard." Old age, it seems, is not always querulous ; its retrospects are not always in favour of the past ; the aged Christian walks with a more elastic step as he sees the fruit of his labour, and anticipates his own great reward. "Mine eyes," he concludes, "are dim with age like Isaac's ; it is with some difficulty I can see to write." Nor had the weakness and credulity of advancing years led him to take for granted, as in second child- hood old age is wont to do, the truth of first im- pressions, or the accm-acy of every man's reports. He still gave to every subject connected with missions the closest attention, penetrated beneath the surface, and formed his own conclusions. While in New Zealand, LIFE OF THE EEV. SAMUEL MAESDEN. 255 for instance, lie addresses the following queries to Mr. Matthews, one of the missionaries, on the subject of education : — " April, iss:. "... I will thank you to return me what number of native young men there are employed from your station on the sabbath in visiting the natives, I mean the numbers who occasionally visit their countrymen and instruct them. What schools there are at the station, and who are the teachers ? Have you an infant school, or a school for men and boys ? a school for women ? What do they learn ? Do they learn to read and wTite ? Do they understand figures ? Have they renounced generally their former superstitions ? At what period of the day do they attend school? Have they any meeting in the week-days for prayer and religious instruction? Do they appear to have any views of the Lord Jesus Christ as a Saviour ? Any information you can give me, along with your brethren, will be very acceptable to the lovers of the gospel in New South AVales." " Samuel Marsden." On one point only he met with no success. He had not yet quite abandoned the pleasing dream of a Maori nation, united under one chief; a Christian people, governed by a code of native law. Tahiti naturally encouraged these bright visions; and seemed to show how easily they might be realized. There, for ten years past, under king Pomare, the wondrous spectacle had been presented to the world of a whole people, under the guidance of their king, rejecting idolatry, and with it all the base usages of savage life, and working out their own national regeneration ; framing a Tahitian code of law on the sound principles of Christian jurisprudence, and cordially adopting it. Why should not a similar state of things be brought 256 LIFE OF THE REV. SAMUEL MAESDES". about in New Zealand ? The instrumental agency in both islands was the same ; namely, that of Christian missionaries, chiefly, if not entirely, English Christians, who carried with them, it might be supposed, to both islands the same reverence for order, and with it the same love of liberty. "Were the Maories an inferior race, compared with the aborigines of the Tahitian group ? On the contrary, the difference was rather in favour of the Maori ; he was the more athletic, and consequently the more vigorous in his mental develop- ment ; indeed, upon the whole, he stands unapproached by any other tribe of man uncivilized and in a state of nature ; unless we go back to the heroic ages and find his equal amongst ancient Greeks at the dawning of their somewhat fabulous history. Yet the project failed ; and Mr. Marsden was now obliged mournfully to admit that New Zealand's only hope lay in her annexation to the British crown. The two causes of the fiiilure of these otherwise reasonable expectations are to be found, no doubt, first, in the circumstances of the Maori tribes, and secondly, in the pernicious eflects produced by European traders and settlers. Tahiti was happy in possessing one sovereign. New Zealand was' unfortunate in its multitude of petty chieftains. When the' heart of king Pomare was gained, the confidence of a loyal and devoted people was at once won over. There was no rival to foment rebellion, or to seize the occasion of a religious festival, when he and his people were unarmed, to make inroads on his territory. With the assistance of his council, and under the advice of the faithful misssonaries, a code of law was easily prepared, suited for all his sub- jects, and adapted to every part of his little kingdom. LIFE OF THE REV. SAMUEL MAKSDEN". 257 In New Zealand, on the contrary, the chiefs, each of whom claimed to be perfectly independent of the rest, were constantly at enmity with each other. The violent passions of civil war ilever slept — hatred, re- venge, and jealousy. The missionaries, if cherished by Shunghie, were hated or feared by Shunghie's oppo- nent. Their direct influence in the politics of the Maories was therefore, of necessity, slight. But the chief hindrance arose from the mutual animosities of the chiefs, and the want of confidence in each other whicli universally prevailed, both among chiefs and people. And it must be confessed with sorrow, that tlie evil example of the Europeans provoked the natives to fresh crimes, and indisposed them to all the restraints of civil govermnent. The Polynesian Islands had, up to this period, known neither commerce nor coloniza- tion. Except a chance visit from a man-of-war, a European ship was scarcely ever seen ; or the few which came and went were connected with the mis- sions, and were manned by decent if not religious crews. The polluting influence of a debauched and drunken body of seamen, rolling in constant succession to its shores, had not yet tainted the moral atmo- sphere of Tahiti and its neighboiu-ing group. And colonization had not even been attempted ; the natives were left in full possession of their soil, no man making them afraid. In New Zealand all this was reversed. Wicked seamen infected even savages with new vices ; and lawless settlers set an example of injustice, shock- ing even to New Zealanders. Eor these evils it was evident there was but one remedy, the strong hand of British rule. Take the following sketch from the pen of Mr. Marsden. After describing the happy state of the Christian tettlemeut at Waimate, he goes on to z 2 258 LIFE OF THE EEV. SAMUEL MAE3DEN. say : " On the opposite side of the harbour, a number of Europeans have settled along with the natives. Several keep public-houses, and encourage every kind of crime. Here drunkenness, adultery, murder, etc. are committed. There are no laws, judges, nor magis- trates ; so that Satan maintains his dominion without molestation. Some civilized government must take New Zealand under its protection, or the most dreadful evils will be committed by runaway convicts, sailors and publicans. There are no laws here to punish crimes. When I return to New South Wales, I pur- pose to lay the state of New Zealand before the colo- nial government, to see if anything can be done to remedy these public evils." " I hope in time," he says again, in a letter, dated May IGth, 1837, from Pahaia, to the Rev. James Matthews, " the chiefs will get a governor. I shall inform the Europeans in authority how much they are distressed in New Zea- land for want of a governor with power to punish crime. The Bay of Islands is now in a dreadful state. . . . . It is my intention to return to New South Wales by the first opportunity." That opportunity soon appeared, and the venerable founder of its missions, the advocate of its native population, the friend of all that concerned its present or spiritual welfare, took his last leave of the shores of New Zealand. Preparations were made for his recep- tion on board H. M. S. Eattlesnake. The signal gun was fired, and all the friends from Waimate and Keri-Keri arrived to accompany their revered father to the beach, " AVhere," says one of them who was present, " like Paul at Miletus, we parted with many benedictions : sorrowing most of all that we should see his face again no more. Many could not bid him adieu. The parting was with many tears." LirE OF THE EEV. SAMUEL MAESDEK. 259 His bappy temperament always diffused pleasure and conciliated friendship. On board the Rattle- snake be was welcomed with warm, affectionate, respect. Captain Hobson, who was afterwards for a time governor of New Zealand, knew bis worth, and felt honoured by bis company ; and Mr. Marsden fully appreciated the high character and courtesy of the commander, whose widow retains a handsome piece of plate presented to her husband by his grateful pas- senger, as a memorial of the happiness he enjoyed on this his last voyage homewards. The chaplain of tiie Eattlesnake noted down an affectiug conversation with the aged minister upon his voyage, which we are permitted to insert : — ■ " We enjoyed a most lovely eveniug. I had a long conversation with Mr. Marsden on deck. He spoke of almost all his old friends ba^dng preceded him to the eternal world ; E-omaine, Newton, the Milners, Scott, Atkinson, Robinson, Buchanan, Mason Good, Thom- asou, Rowland Hill, Legh Richmond, Simeon, and otiiers. He then alluded in a very touching manner to his late wife ; they had passed, be observed, more than forty years of their pilgrimage through this wilderness in company, and he felt their separation the more severely as the months rolled on. I remarked that their separation v.'ould be but for a short period longer. ' God grant it,' was his reply ; then lifting his eyes towards the moon, which was peacefully shedding her beams on the sails of our gallant bark, he exclaimed with intense feeling. ' ' Prepare me, Lord, for thy right hand, Then come the joyful day,' " 2G0 LIFE OP THE EEV. SAMUEL MAESDEN. CHAPTEE XIII. Mr. Marsden's ministerial pursuits and journeys — Love of the Country and of Patriarchal story — -His Old Age — Its mental features — Anecdotes — Love of Children — -Bishop Broughtou — His reverence for Mr. Marsden's character — Mr. Marsden's views of Death, etc. — His Habits of Prayer — His Illness and Death. Mr. Maesdek had now passed the allotted span of human life, though his days were not yet "labour and sorrow," Entering upon his seventy -second year with stooping gait and failing eyesight and a decaying memory, he had otherwise few of the mental infirmities of age. He was still a perfect stranger to fear, as well as to that nervous restlessness and susceptibility which wears the appearance of it, though often found, as may be daily observed, in connexion with the truest courage. After his return home from his last voyage he was attacked, when driving with his youngest daughter, upon one of his excursions in the bush, by two famous bush rangers "VVormley and Webber, part of a gang who for a period of two years kept the whole country in a state of terror. One of the ruffians presented a loaded pistol at his breast and another at his daughter's, threatening with horrid imprecations to slioot them both, if they said a word, and bidding his daughter to empty her father's pockets into their hands. Perfectly undismayed, Mr. Maraden remon- strated with them on their wicked course of life, tell- ing tliem at last that he should soon see them again, he liad no doubt, on the gallows. At parting, though cliarged, with the usual threats, not to look behind him. LIFE or THE KEV. SAMUEL MAESDEN. 261 he turned round, and continued, while they were in sisht, to warn them in the same strain of the certain consequences of a life of crime. His admonition was soon verified ; the wretched men were apprehended for other outrages and sentenced to death, and he himself attended them from the condemned cell to the place of execution. These excursions into the country around Paramatta, where he had gone about for a period of nearly forty years doing the work of an evangelist or home missionary, were continued to the last. To wind through devious paths in the bush in his one horse chaise, where his good horse Major seemed as if trained to penetrate, gave him the highest pleasure. The way was often trackless, and he was obliged to ask his companion whether the trace of a cartwheel could be seen. Tet there was an instinctive feeling of safety in his company, and a refreshment in his conversation, which always made the vacant seat in the gig prized by those who knew and loved him. "As he drove along," says a Christian lady, the wife of Captain B — who was his companion on some of his last journeys, " wherever he went there was always to be found some testimony to that goodness and mercy which had followed him all the days of his life. Some Ebenezer he could raise where helped perhaps in an encounter with a bushranger, having only the sword of the Spirit with which to defend himself and disarm his foe, or some Bethel, it might be, where like Jacob he had been enabled to wrestle and prevail. AYith such a companion no one could be a loser. On these ex- cursions, no matter to what distance, he seemed to think preparations needless, he would travel miles and miles without any previous consideration for his own 262 LIFE OP THE EEV. SAMUEL MAESDEN. comfort or convenience. Even a carpet-bag was an encumbrance. He bad been too long accustomed to make bis toilet with the New Zealander, and take with him bis meal of fern-root, to be particular, or to take thought, what be should eat, or wherewithal should. he be clothed." His love of the country and of rural scenes gave a strong colouring, and great originality to his preach- ing as well as to his own religious character. He called his estate ' The plains of Mamre." This pro- perty we may remind the reader had been presented to Mr. Marsden in the early days of the colony, when land uncleared was absolutely worthless, to eke out his insufficient stipend. It had now become valuable, and he was exposed both in the colony and in England to many unjust remarks, even from those wlio shoidd have known him better, on the score of his reputed wealth. His own justification of himself is more than sufficient. Being told that he was charged with avarice, " Why," said he, " they might as well find fault with Abraham whose flocks and herds multiplied. Abraham never took any trouble about it, nor do I. I can't help their increasing ;" and he added, a remark so true and o± such pregnant import that it ought for ever to have put to silence this miserable carping ; " It was not for myself, but for the benefit of this colony and New Zealand, that I ever tried to promote agriculture or the improvement ia sheep or cattle." Had he done nothin