BUILDERS OF 
 GREATER BRITAIN 
 
 EDITED BY H. F. WILSON, M.A. 
 
 Barrister -at- Latv 
 
 Late Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge 
 Legal Assistant at the Colonial Office 
 
 DEDICATED BY SPECIAL 
 PERMISSION TO HER 
 MAJESTY THE QUEEN
 
 BUILDERS OF GREATER BRITAIN 
 
 1. SIR WALTER RALEGH ; the British Dominion of 
 
 the West. By MARTIN A. S. HUME. 
 
 2. SIR THOMAS MAITLAND ; the Mastery of the 
 
 Mediterranean. By WALTER FREWEN LORD. 
 
 3. JOHN AND SEBASTIAN CABOT ; the Discovery of 
 
 North America. By C. RAYMOND BEAZLEY, M.A. 
 
 4. EDWARD GIBBON WAKEFIELD ; the Coloni- 
 
 zation of South Australia and New Zealand. By 
 R. GARNETT, C.B., LL.D. 
 
 5. LORD CLIVE; the Foundation of British Rule in 
 
 India. By Sir A. J. ARBUTHNOT, K.C.S.I., C.I.E. 
 
 6. RAJAH BROOKE ; the Englishman as Ruler of an 
 
 Eastern State. By Sir SPENSER ST JOHN , G. C. M. G. 
 
 7. ADMIRAL PHILLIP; the Founding of New South 
 
 Wales. By Louis BECKE and WALTER JEFFERY. 
 
 8. SIR STAMFORD RAFFLES; England in the Far 
 
 East. By the EDITOR.
 
 Builders 
 
 of 
 
 Greater Britain 
 
 EDWARD GIBBON WAKEFIELD
 
 EDWARD GIBBON 
 WAKEFIELD 
 
 THE COLONIZATION OF SOUTH AUSTRALIA 
 AND NEW ZEALAND 
 
 BY 
 
 R GARNETT, C.B., LL.D. 
 
 With rkotogravure Frontispiece and Maps 
 
 LONDON 
 
 T. FISHER UNWIN 
 PATERNOSTER SQUARE 
 
 MDCCCXCVIII
 
 Copyright by T. Fisher Unwin, 1897, for Great Britain
 
 Wi Ql 
 
 PREFACE 
 
 AMONG all the men celebrated in this series 
 of biographies as ' Builders of Greater Britain,' 
 Edward Gibbon Wakefield, inferior to none 
 in genius and achievement, is perhaps the 
 only one whose inclusion could excite inquiry 
 or surprise. Not that his claims have at any 
 time been weighed and found wanting, but 
 that their existence is unknown to the 
 multitude. By the mass of his countrymen 
 at home he is chiefly remembered by the, 
 one incident in his career which he would 
 have wished to be forgotten. The historians 
 of the colonies he founded in general pass 
 him over with slight notice, some omitting 
 his very name. 
 
 If, however, judged merely by this popular 
 
 219655
 
 xii PREFACE 
 
 neglect, the name of Wakefield might seem 
 one of those which the world is content to let 
 die, it is far otherwise with students of the 
 subject of colonization, to whose judgment 
 popular opinion must ultimately conform. 
 
 A complete view of Wakefield's activity 
 as an Empire-builder has not, indeed, existed 
 until the publication of this little bio- 
 graphy. But it is impossible to read even the 
 casual notices of such an authority as Mr 
 Egerton, in his History of British Colonial 
 Policy, without perceiving the high place 
 accorded to Wakefield as a practical states- 
 man, not merely a founder of colonies, but 
 a reformer and transformer of the entire 
 British colonial system. Indications of a 
 similar feeling in authoritative quarters are 
 continually transpiring as, for instance, in a 
 recent article in the Quarterly Review and 
 the biographer's problem is how to permeate 
 the oblivious and indifferent general public 
 with the knowledge and appreciation of the 
 better informed. 
 
 This is not a problem easy of solution, 
 for, although Wakefield's biography is one of 
 fascinating interest, it is a difficult one to
 
 PREFACE xiii 
 
 write. Special obstacles will be brought to 
 light by the story itself, but two capital ones 
 may be mentioned here by way of preliminary 
 apology for inevitable deficiencies. Most ex- 
 tenders of the British Empire have been 
 emphatically men of action. They have 
 plunged into the thick of war, pestilence 
 and famine ; have explored great unknown 
 rivers, or defended beleaguered forts with 
 handfuls of men. They have, at all events, 
 planted the British flag where it never waved 
 before, occasionally displacing some other to 
 make room for it. Wakefield's work was 
 not performed in this fashion. Though 
 capable of vigorous action in emergencies, hei 
 wrought principally by the pen and by the/ 
 tongue. His activity with both was prcn 
 digious ; yet the former implement has left 
 but inadequate traces of its employment, the 
 latter none. Though living and breathing in 
 an atmosphere of colony-making, he never 
 saw a colony until his last days ; he headed 
 no exploring expeditions, overthrew no antago- 
 nists, except upon paper, and his battles were 
 chiefly with the Colonial Office. Once, in 
 Canada, he seemed to have a chance of letting
 
 xiv PREFACE 
 
 his light shine before men, but the authorities 
 promptly snuffed it out. That he should 
 have brought this exclusion from conspicuous 
 public life upon himself deepens the tragedy 
 of his romantic career, and so far enhances 
 its interest, but in no respect diminishes the 
 biographer's difficulty in rendering this mainly 
 subterranean activity visible and tangible. 
 
 Where the public life is thus sequestered, 
 and mainly traceable in its effects, it is doubly 
 important that the details of private life should 
 be copious and interesting. The mere thinker 
 or writer, however illustrious, must remain 
 much of an abstraction. No real biography 
 of some of the world's greatest benefactors 
 will ever be written, simply because il n'y a 
 pas de quoi. It is otherwise with Wakefield, 
 a rich specimen of human nature, commonly 
 admirable, sometimes condemnable, but ever 
 potent, impassioned and dramatic. This much 
 is clear even from the imperfect records of 
 his political activity, but these greatly needed 
 to be supplemented by traits derived from 
 private life, and it might well have been that 
 such would not have been procurable. Relying 
 on the friendship and confidence of members
 
 PREFACE xv 
 
 of Mr Wakefield's family, the present writer 
 ventured upon a task of which more com- 
 petent executors might conceivably have been 
 found. His expectations have not been dis- 
 appointed, and his obligations cannot be 
 sufficiently expressed. Everything available 
 has been placed at his disposal ; he has written 
 free from constraint or suggestion of any kind ; 
 and, though conscious of having done his 
 utmost, he knows well that the best pages in 
 his book are from the pens of Nina Wakefield 
 and Alice Freeman. Yet, by no fault of 
 Mr Wakefield's present representatives, there 
 are imperfections in the record which demand 
 apology, and this rather as they might other- 
 wise be liable to misinterpretation. The 
 reader, observing that long periods of Wake- 
 field's life are devoid of any illustration 
 from private letters, which afterwards on 
 the sudden begin to be comparatively! 
 numerous, and as suddenly cease, might 
 reasonably conclude that a rule of selection 
 had been exercised, and that much had 
 been omitted which it was deemed inex- 
 pedient to publish. It is not so. The 
 preservation or destruction of Wakefield's
 
 *vi PREFACE 
 
 letters appears to have been a matter of 
 mere accident. Many ought to exist in the 
 hands of the representatives of Sir William 
 Molesworth, Charles Buller, and others of 
 his allies on colonial questions ; but it has, 
 for the present, appeared useless to search 
 out documents which there was neither time 
 to collect nor space to employ. 
 
 The reader on a subject so much passed out 
 of notice as the colonizing career of Edward 
 Gibbon Wakefield, may not unreasonably ask 
 for some assurance, beyond the word of the 
 biographer, that his study will be repaid. 
 Abundant evidence of the high position 
 accorded to Wakefield by his contemporaries 
 might be collected from the books and journals 
 of his own day, but it is less troublesome to 
 produce two unpublished testimonies, one re- 
 ferring chiefly to the theoretical side of his 
 work, the other to the practical. In reply, as 
 would appear, to a letter from Wakefield, 
 acknowledging the gift of his Political Economy 
 (published in 1848), Stuart Mill writes : 
 
 ' INDIA HOUSE, Thursday. 
 
 * MY DEAR WAKEFIELD, I am very glad
 
 PREFACE xvii 
 
 that you think the public statement in my book 
 of what is so justly due to you, both as a 
 colonizer and a political economist, likely to be 
 of use at this particular time. I am still more 
 g'.id to hear that you are writing the book you 
 speak of. I have long regretted that there does 
 not exist a systematic treatise in a permanent 
 form, from your hand and in your name, in 
 which the whole subject of colonization is 
 treated as the express subject of the book, so 
 as to become at once the authoritative book on 
 the subject. At present, people have to pick 
 up your doctrines, both theoretical and practical. 
 I cannot help urging you to complete the book 
 with as much expedition as is consistent wrth 
 the care due to your health, which your life is 
 too valuable to permit any relaxation of. Ever 
 truly yours, J. S. MILL.' 
 
 For Mill, doubtless, the chief interest lay in 
 the Wakefield system of land sales and emigra- 
 tion funds, the system which regulated emigra- 
 tion and made irndefray__its_cost, prevented it 
 from running to waste over vast and indefinite 
 areas, and provided that the^ flower and not the 
 refuse of the old country should be transplanted
 
 51 
 
 xviii PREFACE 
 
 to the new. Another and not less important 
 aspect of his activity, the restoration of Imperial 
 ideas and right relations between the mother 
 country and the colonies through the agency of 
 responsible government, is thus set forth in a 
 letter to the author from almost the last survivor 
 of Wakefield's associates, the venerable Lord 
 Norton, who, at eighty-four, sets an example 
 to younger men by a lively interest in what- 
 ever concerns the common weal : 
 
 * Wakefield was a man of genius, and, circum- 
 stances having shut him out of Parliament, 
 where he would have risen to the top of the 
 tree, he devoted himself to make ministers 
 dance in his leading - strings. Under his 
 auspices I, in company with others, founded 
 " The Colonial Reform Society," by which our 
 colonial policy was restored to its original un- 
 rivalled success in the hiving out of English 
 citizens. The disuniting from us of great 
 colonies, owing to our infringement of the 
 essential principles of their freedom, had led 
 us to treat new colonies as dependencies, and 
 misgovern them from London by way of keep- 
 ing them tight. To Wakefield is due the chief
 
 PREFACE xix 
 
 merit in restoring our colonial policy to let 
 colonies be extensions of England, with the 
 same constitution as at home only not re- 
 presented in the House of Commons, because 
 of the thousands of miles of sea to cross 
 with their own Parliaments on the spot and 
 Governments responsible to them under the 
 Queen's Viceroys, who connect them with her 
 supremacy.' 
 
 The man who has done this is assuredly a 
 builder of the Empire, even a master-builder. 
 Respecting Wakefield's personal character, the 
 most profitable remark to be made seems to 
 be that he is a conspicuous instance of the 
 happy effect of public causes and wide views 
 in ennobling man's nature. So long as he is 
 intent upon private ends, a harsh critic might 
 be warranted in terming him selfish and 
 unprincipled, although even then displaying 
 traits inconsistent with a low type of character. 
 From the moment that he finds his work, and 
 undertakes his mission, he becomes a memorable 
 example of enthusiastic and mainly disinterested 
 devotion to an idea, not indeed devoid of ad- 
 vantage to himself, since, though producing no
 
 xx PREFACE 
 
 brilliant pecuniary results, it took away the 
 stain from his name, yet evidently followed 
 for no such subsidiary end, but in the spirit 
 of the creator, who must see of the travail of 
 his soul that he may be satisfied. 
 
 Another principal figure in this history being, 
 according to the popular belief, unprovided with 
 a soul, can view posthumous censure and vindi- 
 cation with indifference. Even a corporation, 
 however, has a claim to justice, and it is the 
 writer's decided opinion that few persons and 
 few institutions have been more unjustly treated 
 than the New Zealand Company. That its 
 precipitate proceedings occasioned much mis- 
 chief and misfortune is certain, but it is equally 
 certain that this precipitancy was forced upon 
 it by the perverse malevolence of the Govern- 
 ment. The part played by Government in 
 the early history of New Zealand colonization 
 is indeed a melancholy chapter in English 
 history ; save for Lord John Russell's mag- 
 nanimous admission of error, and his good 
 intentions frustrated by a charge of adminis- 
 tration. The main cause of the unpopularity 
 of the New Zealand Company, however, seems 
 to have been not so much the errors they
 
 PREFACE xxi 
 
 \c, 
 
 were driven to commit as the imputation of ^ 
 
 designs remote from their intentions. They *\ 
 were looked upon as land-sharks, bent on de-i rs^Y 
 priving the natives of their land, and somelr 
 countenance was given to the charge by the AjsT A 
 extensive purchases by which their agent y 
 sought to protect New Zealand from a shoal 
 of sharks from Australia. It is curious that 
 their accusers are usually the persons who 
 object most vehemently to property in land 
 at all, or at least to the uncontrolled exercise 
 of private rights over it, but who seem unable 
 to perceive that if a white landowner has no 
 moral right to reserve a barren moor for 
 the pursuit of game, a brown landowner has 
 still less to lock up a fertile territory for the 
 pursuit of rats. Neither one nor the other, 
 in fact, has a right to more land than he can 
 use for the general good ; within these limits 
 his title is impregnable ; but in Maori New 
 Zealand these limits were exceedingly narrow. 
 The New Zealand Company would have 
 solved the problem by a plan for native re- 
 serves, conceived in a spirit of fairness and 
 philanthropy, but which they were not per- 
 mitted to carry into effect. Not all their
 
 xxii PREFACE 
 
 proceedings were equally laudable, but the 
 only one which appears open to very serious 
 animadversion occurred after Wakefield had 
 ceased to be concerned in their affairs. 
 
 The list of the author's obligations is long. 
 He is, above all, indebted to members of Mr 
 Wakefield's family, and among these princi- 
 pally to three of his nieces Miss Frances 
 Torlesse, of Christchurch, N.Z., daughter of 
 his favourite sister Catherine ; Mrs Harold 
 Freeman, daughter of his brother Daniel ; and 
 Mrs D'Arblay Burney, daughter of his brother 
 Felix. But for Miss Torlesse, in particular, 
 this work would never have been undertaken. 
 The countenance of Mr Charles Marcus 
 Wakefield, of Belmont, Uxbridge ; and of 
 Mr Edward Wakefield, author of New 
 Zealand after Fifty Tears, also demand ac- 
 knowledgment. Two ladies more remotely 
 connected with the family Mrs Chapman, 
 wife of Lieutenant-General Chapman, C.B., 
 the officer commanding the Scottish division 
 of the home forces ; and Miss A. M. Wake- 
 field, of the Westmoreland branch, as great 
 an organiser of music as her relative of 
 colonization have also been of material service
 
 PREFACE xxiii 
 
 to the author. He is, further, deeply indebted 
 to Mr Albert Allom, of Parnell, N.Z., and 
 his sister Mrs Storr, the children of Wake- 
 field's old and faithful friends, Mr and Mrs 
 Allom. The value of Sir Frederick Young's 
 written contribution speaks for itself, while 
 he has courteously provided the daguerreotype 
 from which the frontispiece is taken. The 
 writer must cordially thank Mr Stuart J. 
 Reid, now engaged in a biography of Lord 
 Durham, for the communication of docu- 
 ments illustrating Wakefield's connection with 
 that nobleman. Lord Norton has been good 
 enough to permit reference to be made to 
 him respecting the New Zealand Constitution 
 of 1852 ; and it has been a sincere gratifica- 
 tion to the writer to find his account of 
 John Robert Godley, Wakefield's coadjutor in 
 the foundation of the Canterbury Settlement, 
 approved by his son, Sir Arthur Godley, 
 K.C.B., and his venerable widow, one of the 
 original ' Canterbury pilgrims.' Mr Atchley, 
 librarian of the Colonial Office, and Mr 
 Boose, librarian of the Royal Colonial Insti- 
 tute, have kindly furnished documents from 
 their respective libraries. The lamented illness
 
 xxiv PREFACE 
 
 of Sir George Grey has deprived the author of 
 assistance from him, but he has found a sym- 
 pathetic, as well as judicious, counsellor in the 
 Hon. W. Pember Reeves, Agent-General for 
 New Zealand ; although he must not be con- 
 sidered responsible for anything in the book. 
 
 R. GARNETT. 
 LONDON, August 2</, 1898.
 
 CONTENTS 
 
 CHAPTER I 
 
 PAGE 
 
 WAKEFIELD'S ANCESTRY AND EARLY YEARS WESTMINSTER AND 
 EDINBURGH SCHOOLS EMPLOYMENT UNDER FOREIGN OFFICE 
 FIRST MARRIAGE DEATH or His WIFE DIPLOMATIC 
 POST AT PARIS EARLY 
 
 CHAPTER II 
 
 THE TURNER ABDUCTION WAKEFIELD'S TRIAL His IMPRISON- 
 MENT AND ITS RESULTS LETTERS FROM GAOL, . . 29 
 
 CHAPTER III 
 
 WAKEFIELD'S EARLY WRITINGS ' THE PUNISHMENT OF DEATH ' 
 'LETTER FROM SYDNEY' THE WAKEFIELD SYSTEM 
 ' ENGLAND AND AMERICA ' WAKEFIELD ON THE AGRI- 
 CULTURAL LABOURER, ..... 
 
 CHAPTER IV ^C 
 
 THE COLONIZATION SOCIETY THE SWAN RIVER SETTLEMENT 
 THE FOUNDATION OF SOUTH AUSTRALIA THE SOUTH 
 AUSTRALIAN COMMISSIONERS MR G. F. ANGAS NINA 
 WAKEFIELD HER DEATH EARLY STRUGGLES OF THE 
 COLONY TESTIMONY TO THE WAKEFIELD SYSTEM, . . 84 
 
 xxv d
 
 xxvi CONTENTS 
 
 CHAPTER V 
 
 // PAG* 
 PROJECT FOR COLONIZATION OF NEW ZEALAND CONDITION OF ' 
 
 THE ISLANDS IN 1837 THE NEW ZEALAND ASSOCIATION 
 THE CHURCH MISSIONARY SOCIETY LORD DURHAM LORD 
 HOWICK THE NEW ZEALAND COMPANY OBSTRUCTION 
 FROM THE GOVERNMENT FIRST EXPEDITION, . .125 
 
 CHAPTER VI 
 
 WAKEFIELD IN CANADA WITH LORD DURHAM IN 1838 RECALL 
 OF THE MISSION THE DURHAM REPORT WAKEFIELD'S 
 
 SuBSEgUENT VISITS TO CANADA, . . . .158 
 
 CHAPTER VII 
 
 THE PLANTING OF NEW ZEALAND THE COMPANY'S INSTRUC- 
 TIONS TO ITS AGENTS COLONEL WILLIAM WAKEFIELD 
 His LAND PURCHASES NATIVE RESERVES TREATY OF 
 WAITANGI FRUSTRATION OF FRENCH DESIGNS UPON THE 
 COLONY, . . 192 
 
 CHAPTER VIII 
 
 SETTLEMENT OF WELLINGTON ILL-JUDGED PROCLAMATION OF 
 GOVERNOR HOBSON AUCKLAND MADE THE SEAT OF 
 GOVERNMENT THE COMPANY AND THE COLONIAL OFFICE 
 MASSACRE OF WAIRAU GOVERNORS FITZROY AND GREY 
 WAKEFIELD'S ILLNESS, ... . 216 
 
 CHAPTER IX 
 
 THE TRANSPORTATION COMMITTEE THE COLONIAL LANDS COM- 
 MITTEE THE NEW ZEALAND COMMITTEES OF 1840 AND 
 1844 THE NEW ZEALAND COMPANY AND LORD STANLEY 
 
 ^- DEBATES IN THE COMMONS WAKEFIELD AND ADAM SMITH 
 
 POLITICS FOR THE PEOPLE, . . . .234
 
 CONTENTS 
 
 CHAPTER X 
 
 PAGE 
 
 THE LAST DAYS OF THE NEW ZEALAND COMPANY JOHN ROBERT 
 GODLEY SIR GEORGE GREY'S ADMINISTRATION DEATH OF 
 COLONEL WAKEFIELD ' THE ART OF COLONIZATION ' 
 CRITICISM QF M. LEROY-BEAULIEU DEATH OF CHARLES 
 BULLER, ....... 267 
 
 CHAPTER XI 
 
 CHURCH COLONIZATION THE FREE CHURCH COLONY AT OTAGO 
 THE CANTERBURY SETTLEMENT LORD LYTTELTON 
 GODLEY AS SUPERINTENDENT FELIX WAKEFIELD ON THE 
 COLONY THE NEW ZEALAND CONSTITUTION LIFE AT 
 REDHILL AND REIGATE WAKEFIELD LEAVES ENGLAND FOR 
 NEW ZEALAND, ...... 297 
 
 CHAPTER XII 
 
 WAKEFIELD IN NEW ZEALAND SIR GEORGE GREY THE FIRST 
 NEW ZEALAND PARLIAMENT ILLNESS AND RETIREMENT 
 FROM PUBLIC LIFE THE CLOSING SCENE ESTIMATE OF His 
 WORK AND CHARACTER, . . . . .336
 
 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 
 
 PORTRAIT OF EDWARD GIBBON WAKEFIELD, FROM A 
 DAGUERREOTYPE IN THE POSSESSION OF SIR 
 
 FREDERICK YOUNG, K.C.M.G., . . Frontispiece 
 
 MAP OF SOUTH AUSTRALIA IN 1837, . . To face page 92 
 
 MAP OF NEW ZEALAND, 1837 (SHOWING PROGRESS 
 
 OF SETTLEMENT up TO 1850), . . To face page zoo
 
 Edward Gibbon Wakefield 
 
 CHAPTER I 
 
 WAKEFIELD'S ANCESTRY AND EARLY YEARS WEST- 
 MINSTER AND EDINBURGH SCHOOLS EMPLOY- 
 MENT UNDER FOREIGN OFFICE FIRST MARRIAGE 
 
 DEATH OF HIS WIFE DIPLOMATIC POST AT 
 
 PARIS EARLY WRITINGS 
 
 THE family of Wakefield belongs to the North 
 country, and may well be supposed to have originated 
 at the ancient Yorkshire town from which it derives 
 its name. Those of the name who have achieved 
 distinction, with the exception of Gilbert Wakefield, 
 whose ancestors dwelt in Staffordshire, have never- 
 theless been connected with the branch of the family 
 established near Kendal, in Westmoreland, whose re- 
 presentatives embraced Ouakerism_spon after its pro- 
 mulgation in the middle of the seventeenth century. 
 The profession and consistent maintenance of un- 
 popular opinions, when not absolutely perverse or 
 fanatical, is usually a token of moral strength, evincing 
 independence of mind in the first instance, and tenacity
 
 2 BUILDERS OF GREATER BRITAIN 
 
 of conviction in the second. Hence the influence of 
 small nonconforming sects surviving through several 
 generations, a choice remnant sifted by a slow, 
 selective process from age to age, is out of all pro- 
 portion to their numbers ; and much of this power 
 and worth continue even with the families which have 
 eventually relapsed into the general current, as has 
 been the case with the majority of the Westmoreland 
 Wakefields. 
 
 Six miles west of Kendal, on the road to Bowness, 
 stands or has stood a hamlet called Quakers' Meeting, 
 whose sequestered situation seems to hint at conceal- 
 ment necessitated by persecution. Six miles south of 
 Kendal is the village of Preston Patrick, the home 
 of Roger Wakefield, descended from another Roger 
 Wakefield living at Challon Hall in 1592, but the 
 earliest member of the family from whom the dili- 
 gence of Mr Joseph Foster I can deduce a regular 
 pedigree. In 1665 he married Hannah Preston of 
 Farleton. 
 
 We do not know whether the constancy of Roger 
 and his wife was tested by a twenty-four miles' journey, 
 going and returning, to a possibly silent meeting ; 
 but the mere fact of his Quakerism in those -days of 
 
 1 The Royal Lineage of our Noble and Gentle Families, p. 846. It should 
 be observed that royal descent is not claimed for Roger Wakefield, but 
 for such of his posterity as can establish descent in the female line from 
 Robert Barclay of Urie, whose mother, Catherine Gordon, was descended 
 from Edward the First. It is remarkable that this descent could not 
 have existed if one of the Gordons, Alexander, Roman Catholic Bishop 
 of Galloway, had not become a Protestant and married.
 
 EDWARD GIBBON WAKEFIELD 3 
 
 intolerance reveals him as a man of resolute conviction. 
 His rank of life was that of 'statesman,' or farmer 
 holding and farming his own land. He lived to see 
 better times, dying in 1724. His son Roger also 
 lived and died at Preston Patrick, but the second 
 Roger's second son, Edward, migrated to London, 
 where he became a prosperous merchant, and by his 
 second marriage (1748) with Isabella Gibbon, a distant 
 relation of the historian, was the father of another 
 Edward Wakefield, who conferred distinction on his 
 family by his marriage (1771) with Priscilla Bell, 
 great grand-daughter of Robert Barclay of Urie, 
 author of the famous Apology, described by Mr 
 Leslie Stephen as ' one of the most impressive theo- 
 logical writings of the century.' 
 
 Though inheriting a fortune from his father, this 
 Edward Wakefield failed in business, and his descend- 
 ants are unanimous in attributing their intellectual dis- 
 tinction and especial bent towards public questions to 
 inheritance from his wife. He is depicted with her and 
 his sister-in-law, Catherine (afterwards Gurney), in a 
 picture by Gainsborough, still in the possession of a de- 
 scendant, painted in 1 775, engraved as the frontispiece to 
 Mr Augustus Hare's Gurneys of Ear/ham. He appears 
 a handsome man, attired in a costume equally remote 
 from foppishness and Quakerism, and presenting some 
 resemblance to the portrait of Edward Gibbon Wake- 
 field as a young man, engraved in 1826, and repro- 
 duced in Mr Edward Wakefield's New Zealand
 
 4 BUILDERS OF GREATER BRITAIN 
 
 after Fifty Tears. The animated features seem to 
 bespeak ardour and resolution ; but if these qualities 
 were ever exerted, no record of them remains. It is 
 otherwise with his wife Priscilla, from 1794 to 1817 
 one of the most popular and useful contemporary 
 writers for the young, but far more celebrated as 
 one of the first to introduce the savings bank into 
 England, under the name of the Frugality Bank. 
 Some uncertainty exists respecting priority in the 
 introduction of this great national boon ; certain it is 
 from the Reports of the Society for bettering the Condition 
 of the Poor, vol. i., that her Friendly Society was 
 established on 22d October 1798, though it is not 
 quite clear whether the Savings Bank was a feature 
 of it from the first. Amiable, sensible, industrious, 
 placid, affectionate, she was a model of Quaker virtues, 
 and a consistent Friend in religious practice, although 
 she conformed to Quaker peculiarities neither in dress 
 nor in abstinence from amusements. ' I suppose,' says 
 her son, 'no one can relate having seen her in a 
 passion or out of humour.' During her long widow- 
 hood she resided successively at Tottenham and Ipswich, 
 where she died in September 1832. 
 
 Her two sons, Edward, born 1774, and Daniel, 
 born 1776, displayed the interest in public questions, 
 and the disposition to occupy themselves with in- 
 dustrial and philanthropic projects, which she appears 
 to have introduced into the family, as well as other 
 traits for which she probably was not responsible. It
 
 EDWARD GIBBON WAKEF1ELD 5 
 
 will abundantly appear in the course of this history 
 that the Wakefield family possessed a fine irregular 
 genius for marriage, and one characteristic of their 
 unions was precocity. The first and second Edward 
 'had each married at twenty-one ; the third broke the 
 record by espousing Susanna Crash, daughter of a 
 farmer at Felsted, Essex, at seventeen, the marriage 
 taking place on 3d October 1791. Susanna's personal 
 attractions were no doubt the motive. ' The most 
 beautiful woman I have ever known,' says her 
 husband. 'A soft, angelic beauty, but she was a 
 model for a sculptor.' The younger brother made 
 amends for deficiency in impetuosity by excess in 
 imprudence, contracting a union which soon obliged 
 him to seek, though he failed to obtain, a divorce. 
 Edward's wife, on the contrary, appears to have been 
 a simple-minded woman, who gave her husband little 
 trouble except by the wretched state of health into 
 which she fell about 1812. She died in February 
 1816: 'her death,' says her husband,, 'full of charity 
 and love, her last breath lisping blessings on me and 
 on her children.' 
 
 The earliest notice of Edward Wakefield's vocation 
 represents him as farming near Romford, in Essex, and 
 afterwards at Burnham ; he was subsequently em- 
 ployed under the Naval Arsenal. In 1808, when 
 placing Edward Gibbon Wakefield at Westminster, he 
 is described as of Ipswich ; and his letters to Francis 
 Place in 1813 and 1814 are dated from Bury St
 
 6 BUILDERS OF GREATER BRITAIN 
 
 Edmunds. In 1814 he established himself as a land 
 agent at 42 Pall Mall. Ere this his agricultural 
 employment seems to have mainly given place to land 
 agency and surveying, 1 in which he acquired the 
 experience which qualified him to produce the work 
 on the economical condition of Ireland which has 
 chiefly preserved his name. The clearest view of him, 
 apart from his own private letters, is afforded by the 
 MSS., preserved in the British Museum, of his coadjutor 
 Francis Place, the radical, philanthropic, Malthusian, 
 utilitarian tailor of Charing Cross, a man utterly 
 devoid of imagination, sour, querulous, acrimonious, 
 but who possessed the rare and valuable endowment 
 of a genuine anxiety, founded upon a sense of justice, 
 to bring the good qualities even of his adversaries to 
 light. 
 
 ' My acquaintance with Mr Wakefield,' he says, 
 'must have commenced towards the close of 1811 
 or in the beginning of 1812. We were soon well 
 acquainted ; he had not then committed himself so 
 absurdly as he has since done, and his sons were then 
 too young to bring disgrace upon both him and 
 themselves. His and their conduct put an end to 
 our intimacy about the year 1822. When we first 
 
 1 ' He is in the first employment in his line,' writes George Rose in 
 1815, 'and steward to many persons of great property; appears ex- 
 tremely intelligent, very conscious of it, and to be just snved from 
 being a democrat by the power of his judgment and integrity over his 
 presumption.' Southey mentions a visit from him in 1811, with an in- 
 troduction from the Ettrick Shepherd.
 
 EDWARD GIBBON WAKEFIELD 7 
 
 became friends, Mr Wakefield's circumstances were 
 by no means prosperous ; he was, however, an active, 
 zealous advocate for anything likely, in his opinion, 
 to be useful to mankind, and especially to the 
 working people of Great Britain and Ireland. He 
 was publishing his book on Ireland, which contains 
 abundance of information, and has been made use 
 of in a multitude of ways. Mr Wakefield was at 
 this time remarkably anxious to promote education 
 amongst the poor, and I found in him an excellent 
 co-operator for many useful purposes. 
 
 'Mr Wakefield's parents were Quakers, and he 
 was well acquainted with a large portion of the 
 most respectable persons of that sect, amongst 
 the rest with William Allen, whom he almost 
 reverenced. He was also acquainted with Joseph 
 Lancaster and Joseph Fox, and was a strong ad- 
 vocate for the Joseph Lancaster method of teaching, 
 and very desirous to see it extended. 1 
 
 1 Soon after we became intimately acquainted, Mr 
 Wakefield introduced Mr James Mill to me.' 
 
 Wakefield, then, knew Mill before Place himself 
 did, and the acquaintance may have facilitated his 
 son's proselytising exertions, when about 1830 he 
 converted Stuart Mill to his theory of colonization. 
 It does not appear what may have been the ab- 
 
 1 'As for Lancaster,' says Wakefield in a letter, ' he is a most un- 
 pleasant man in himself, but I am inclined to think that he will be as 
 great an instrument in enlightening the human mind, and will form as 
 great a change, as ever Luther did.'
 
 8 BUILDERS OF GREATER BRITAIN 
 
 surdity on Edward Wakefield's part or the impro- 
 priety on that of his sons which obliged Place, 
 in his own opinion, to renounce their acquaintance 
 in 1822. Possibly Place, writing in 1833, represents 
 the original misunderstanding in the light of more 
 recent transactions: in 1825 he had thought it 
 neither absurd nor improper to solicit Edward 
 Wakefield for a subscription towards the Mechanics' 
 Institute he was then promoting, and had received ten 
 pounds. The formality of the letter accompanying 
 the donation, nevertheless, sufficiently attests the 
 estrangement of the two old allies. 
 
 Although, however, the ostensible cause of the 
 estrangement of Place and Wakefield remains un- 
 known, the germs of it are easily discoverable while 
 their friendship was yet warm and active. Wake- 
 field clearly had many failings, but of an amiable 
 kind ; Place comparatively few, but those unamiable. 
 Wakefield was unquestionably extravagant and lax 
 in money matters, and the influence of the example 
 he thus set his sons was pernicious in many ways. 
 He aroused his friend's scorn by a deference to rank 
 and title certainly reprehensible even in an ex-Quaker, 
 and even more so by what Place thought his cul- 
 pable weakness in the concerns of his own family 
 his reluctance to place his invalid wife under guardian- 
 ship, his indulgence to his sons' wildness, and what 
 seemed to Place his great over-estimate of their 
 abilities. These errors, for such no doubt they were,
 
 EDWARD GIBBON WAKEFIELD 9 
 
 sprang from a sensitiveness and tenderness incompre- 
 hensible to Place, a worthy man, but arid as the ' dry 
 places' of the parable, and who eventually deals so 
 faithfully with his friend as to write him down an 
 ass. Even the austere James Mill judged him more 
 favourably. As a practical philanthropist he had 
 done excellent work. So early as September 1801, 
 his mother records : ' Edward dined with us ; he is 
 warm in a new chase. Prisons and workhouses are 
 his game. May he be inspired to enlarge the sphere 
 of human happiness and virtue ! ' He says in a letter 
 from Leicester, 1823 : 'There seems a fine county 
 gaol. There has been a day when I should have 
 gone and examined it, and conversed with the 
 prisoners, but so many have taken up the cause that I 
 recede.' His report on the educational and social con- 
 dition of the Drury Lane district (1813) was printed 
 in 1816 by Brougham's Committee. 'He had the 
 idea,' says Place's biographer, Mr Graham Wallas, 
 'of which Mr Charles Booth has made such brilliant 
 use, that if permanent educational visitors were 
 appointed for all London, a thorough collection of 
 social statistics might be made.' He also gave much 
 thought to the improvement of lunatic asylums. 
 
 Edward Wakefield is still remembered by some as 
 a beautiful old man of lofty stature, and energetic 
 to a very late period of his life. He retained to the 
 last his interest in public affairs and in his two prin- y 
 cipal pursuits, agriculture and education, and strove
 
 io BUILDERS OF GREATER BRITAIN 
 
 to make his experience of both available for the 
 colony created by his son. The articles on New 
 Zealand affairs in the Colonial Magazine^ signed W., 
 are in all probability by him. He was indefatigable 
 in making communications to the press respecting 
 natural products which could be derived from New 
 Zealand or introduced there. These were usually 
 addressed from Blois, where he and his second wife 
 occupied a chateau, and where he endeavoured to 
 establish an industry in silk. His latter years were 
 principally spent near Macclesfield and in London, 
 where he died in May 1854. As an educator, he 
 lived again in some of his posterity, and especially in 
 Edward Gibbon, whom we shall find always educat- 
 ing somebody ; equally ready to admonish a minister 
 when to change a policy, or a little girl when to lay 
 aside a doll. 
 
 The work by which Edward Wakefield will be 
 remembered is his Account of Ireland^ Statistical 
 and Political, 2 vols., 1812. It originated in the 
 author's examination before a Parliamentary Com- 
 mittee in 1808, which produced a proposal from the 
 Right Hon. John Foster, who had been Irish Chan- 
 cellor of the Exchequer before the Union, that he 
 should undertake a regular survey of the country, 
 with a view to the ascertainment of its condition and 
 resources. Provided with introductions to the chief 
 landowners and leading personages on both sides of 
 politics, he devoted nearly two years to the perlustra-
 
 EDWARD GIBBON WAKEFIELD n 
 
 tion of Ireland, and two years more to carrying his 
 book through the press, thus producing a work of great 
 practical value in his own day and of great historical 
 interest in this. 'This very able work,' says Arthur 
 Young. * Lively, dogmatical, disorderly,' pronounces 
 Sir James Mackintosh. Not confining himself to 
 his ostensible object, Wakefield added chapters on 
 the political and religious condition of the country, 
 distinguished by strong good sense and a, genuine 
 zeal for humanity and improvement. Had these 
 been published separately, they would have been re- 
 garded as a highly entertaining book, but even the 
 economical portion of the two bulky volumes is 
 continually irradiated by humour, not so much from 
 the author's own powers in this direction as from 
 the nature of the circumstances which he describes. 
 What a picture of the condition of a population is 
 here presented by a single fact ! 
 
 ' Notwithstanding the population of Castle Pollard, 
 which amounts to three thousand, a butcher will not 
 run the risk of killing a bullock until the neighbour- 
 ing gentlemen have bespoken the whole of it, which 
 they generally do in quarters.' 
 
 Why the poor cannot keep pigeons. ' Because their 
 habitations are so low that the pigeons would soon 
 fall a sacrifice to the cats.' 
 
 It has appeared worth while to dwell at some 
 length upon the character and performances of the 
 elder Wakefield, as these serve to explain the par-
 
 iz BUILDERS OF GREATER BRITAIN 
 
 ticular direction taken by the activity of his son. 
 Edward Gibbon Wakefield was brought up in an 
 atmosphere of aggressive philanthropy, and what 
 would now be termed altruism. His grandmother 
 was a philanthropist by profession, and an educator 
 by instinct, and such was even more conspicuously 
 the case with her niece and Wakefield's own cousin, 
 Elizabeth Fry, daughter of the sister of Priscilla 
 Wakefield, who had married into the Gurney family. 
 Edward Wakefield himself manifested his own ideal 
 by naming one of his sons after John Howard, to 
 whom he was in no way related (the youth thus 
 named after a man of peace naturally became a 
 colonel in the East India Company's army). 1 It 
 was an era when zeal for human improvement was 
 fruitfully rife, the era of Wilberforce and Clarkson, 
 and Bentham and James Mill, and Elizabeth Fry and 
 Robert Owen, the era of Bible societies and Lancas- 
 trian schools, and savings banks and mechanics' in- 
 stitutes, and the diffusion of useful knowledge. All 
 the serious influences which surrounded Wakefield's 
 youth were of a humanitarian nature, and when at last 
 the wild young man, admonished by sharp discipline 
 
 1 Howard Wakefield, nevertheless, was a real philanthropist, and 
 died upon a temperance mission. He was an intimate friend of Have- 
 lock's, and a good Sanscrit scholar. More Wakefieldiano, he eloped with 
 a native princess, whose affections he had gained in the disguise of a 
 Mussulman. This royal descent made up for the absence of the other- 
 wise indispensable sixteen quarterings when his daughter married Count 
 Radolinski. The wedding took place at Kensington, attended by a 
 motley assemblage of Poles, Quakers and ordinary mortals.
 
 EDWARD GIBBON WAKEFIELD 13 
 
 and craving to rehabilitate himself with society, 
 turned his thoughts to practical usefulness, the 
 spirit though not the form of his labours was al- 
 ready determined for him. The concentration 
 of his powers on colonial questions was accidental, 
 but that his project should rather be one for the 
 relief of depression at home than a scheme of con- 
 quest was entirely in harmony with the influences 
 which had really moulded his mind, indocile to them 
 as he had appeared at first. 
 
 Edward Gibbon Walcefield, the eldest son and 
 second child of a family of nine, was born in London 
 on 2Oth March 1 796. Of his early life little is known, 
 but, as his grandmother speaks of sending him to 
 school on her own responsibility, his education pro- 
 bably owed more to her than to either his father or 
 mother. Some surviving fragments from her diary 
 illustrate her anxious tenderness. 
 
 'May 1802. Walked to see my sweet Edward, who 
 gives me great pleasure by the sweetness of his temper 
 and behaviour. 
 
 'Feb. 4, 1807. An early summons to Haigh's on 
 account of a great delinquency of dear Edward's almost 
 rendered me incapable of application. 
 
 * Feb. 5. My mind most painfully engaged in the 
 perverseness of my dear little Edward his obstinacy 
 if he inclines to evil terrifies me ; turned to good, it 
 would be a noble firmness. 
 4 Feb. 7 . My thoughts much engaged with dear little
 
 H BUILDERS OF GREATER BRITAIN 
 
 Edward, whom I tenderly love, but whose inflexible 
 pertinacious temper makes me fear for his own 
 happiness, and that of those connected with him. 
 
 'Feb. 13. My dear little Edward still in disgrace; 
 my heart yearns to forgive him ; he has some fine 
 qualities, but he is a character that requires delicate 
 handling.' 
 
 Wakefield's father can scarcely have designed him 
 for his own profession when, in January 1808, he 
 placed him at Westminster School, where he 
 remained until 1810. The step was apparently quite 
 inoperative in so far as it may have aimed at imbuing 
 his mind with classical culture ; his sinewy Saxon 
 owes nothing to Greek or Roman models ; although 
 late in life he betrays an intelligent study of Gibbon. 
 One observation, made at Westminster, evinces his 
 shrewdness of perception. He says (Punishment of 
 Death, p. 146) that the Newgate boys who are to be 
 formally let off from sentences of capital punishment, 
 'have just the same air of agreeable excitement and 
 self-importance, for days before the scene takes place, 
 as marks a Westminster boy when he is about to be 
 distinguished by acting in public.' The traditions 
 yet linger of a series of fights by which, though 
 always beaten, he eventually wore out the bully of 
 his class ; and of a Homeric battle, result unrecorded, 
 between him and Erskine, Earl of Mar, who after- 
 wards fought Napoleon. Westminster, however, did 
 not suit the boy, who, in September 1810, positively
 
 EDWARD GIBBON WAKEFIELD 15 
 
 refused to return to it. His good grandmother at 
 first mourns over his perversity, but when at length 
 the lad has gained his point, acknowledges her 
 satisfaction at his removal to Edinburgh High School, 
 4 where I trust he will be instructed in religion and 
 morality as well as in Greek and Latin.' There 
 are traces of considerable disturbances even at this 
 excellent school, which Wakefield finally left in 
 January 1812. Spoiled for business and unqualified 
 for a profession, his destination in life gave his father 
 much anxiety. l Edward Gibbon,' observes his 
 grandmother, c is at home without sufficient employ- 
 ment to occupy the talents and activity of his mind ; 
 consequently his present situation is disadvantageous 
 to himself, and troublesome to others.' He seems to 
 have found no regular occupation until 1814, when 
 he appears in the employment of the Hon. William 
 Hill, afterwards Lord Berwick, at that time envoy 
 to the court of Turin, but apparently much in 
 England. Perhaps his specific duty was that of 
 King's messenger, for the elder Wakefield writes 
 to Place in October : l Edward's letter is very short, 
 and amounts to nothing except the probability of 
 his going to Vienna. It was dated the I5th of 
 September, by this time no doubt he has left Paris, 
 and is either at Genoa or on his way to Vienna. His 
 fate in life depends upon his conduct during the next 
 six months. Should he settle down to business as he 
 ought, he will make a man, but he is very likely to
 
 16 BUILDERS OF GREATER BRITAIN 
 
 go off at a tangent, and then I cannot tell what may 
 happen to him.' 
 
 Whether Edward Gibbon Wakefield proceeded to 
 Vienna is uncertain, but this appears to have been 
 the winter he mainly spent at Turin, as stated in a 
 passage of his Letter from Sydney, to be afterwards 
 quoted. On 2Oth July 1815, Place writes to James 
 Mill : c Wakefield's son returned from Turin soon 
 after you left London, much improved in appearance, 
 and somewhat softened, though not much, in 
 manners ; l this has been produced by the contrasts 
 his journeys have presented him ; and the visible 
 superiority of the English over all the nations of the 
 continent has made him like them better than he 
 did ; his conduct has, however, been very ambiguous, 
 and his tales have contradicted one another, so that 
 his father, who has more of feeling than of solid judg- 
 ment in his composition, has been distressed beyond 
 anything you will be able to imagine. I have not 
 allowed him to trifle, but have plainly and fully told 
 him of his follies, and, as I think, with some effect. 
 He has left Mr Hill, but not with disgrace.' 
 
 Genius commonly has its Sturm und Drang period, 
 during which it is a nuisance to itself and everybody 
 near it : contracts imprudent marriages pregnant with 
 future misery like Shelley ; or takes poison to bed 
 
 1 The fond grandmother thought more favourably. 'July 19, 1815. 
 My dear Edward Gibbon arrived, greatly improved in body and mind. 
 His aspect and manner pleased me, but what most delighted me was his 
 noble, independent spirit.'
 
 EDWARD GIBBON WAKEFIELD 17 
 
 with it like Goethe ; or sends academic youth out to 
 rob on the highways like Schiller ; or confides its 
 money to hopeless speculations like Tennyson. In 
 the light of Wakefield's subsequent history it is easy 
 to discern that he was then traversing such a period, 
 but it must be admitted that he had not up to this 
 time given any indubitable token of genius. The 
 worthy Place, so little a discerner of spirits that he 
 thought the word itself might be advantageously 
 omitted from the writings of Bishop Berkeley, was 
 so far from any notion of the kind that he shortly 
 afterwards writes to Mill : c I can tell you very little 
 respecting Edward Wakefield ; his conduct is wholly 
 inexplicable. He despises his father's advice, and 
 laughs at his opinions ; he talks largely of being on 
 his own hands, and independent of his father. I 
 hope, and expect too, that he will obtain some em- 
 ployment at the Foreign Office. He is best adapted 
 for that line, and it is well adapted to him. I wish 
 his father could make up his mind to see only a 
 common man in him.' Appearances spoke in Place's 
 favour, but the elder Wakefield's parental instinct 
 was sounder than his friend's judgment. 
 
 Place's opinion that the Foreign Office under 
 Castlereagh offered a career highly suitable to young 
 Wakefield was by no means designed as a compliment 
 to the latter, who, probably by the interest of Mr Hill, 
 his connection with whom was resumed, actually 
 
 obtained some minor appointment which took him 
 
 B
 
 i8 BUILDERS OF GREATER BRITAIN 
 
 to Paris. From thence, 2gth August, he wrote a 
 spirited letter describing the popular resentment and 
 indignation produced by the execution of General 
 Labedoyere. There is nothing to show that it was 
 addressed to Place, though it is now among his papers 
 in the British Museum, but it fell in some manner 
 into his hands, and through him became the first 
 composition of Wakefield's to attain the distinction 
 of print, appearing in the Statesman newspaper. Not 
 only was the letter printed without Place's authority, 
 but the authorship was divulged in conversation, and 
 on gth September, Place writes a dismayed remon- 
 strance. 'I would have paid ^100 rather than that 
 that letter should have been printed. Should it ever 
 be known at the Foreign Office, all his prospects in 
 the line of life he has chosen, and the only one he is 
 fit for, would be blasted in an instant, and all the 
 shame and reproach would fall upon me.' Nothing 
 can have come of the indiscretion, for on gth December 
 Place writes to Mill : * Edward is with Mr Hill in 
 London. Wakefield is in raptures with him, ridicu- 
 lously so. Edward is, however, provided for, and that 
 too in the line in which he is most likely to continue ; 
 and Wakefield, who expected him home without a 
 shilling and without employment, has much to rejoice 
 at. It is a rascally employment, but the world does 
 not treat it as disreputable, and Edward cannot be 
 spoiled by it. Edward's manners are far more agree- 
 able than they were ; his knowledge of diplomacy has
 
 EDWARD GIBBON WAKEFIELD 19 
 
 shown him the necessity of this.' The 'rascally 
 employment,' then, was not devoid of redeeming 
 features, and Edward's employer must have found him 
 serviceable, for Place continues : { Mr Hill will not 
 allow him to be away from him for an hour even, and 
 endeavours to detach him from his family, telling him 
 hisfather has eight other children, and can spare him ; 
 he laughs at him for writing to any of them, and hints 
 that he will be good for little until he divests himself 
 of all affection and feeling for any of them. Mr Hill 
 is right ; to become an accomplished man in his em- 
 ployment, one must stifle humanity and destroy all 
 the kinder emotions of the heart.' Curious that the 
 art of negotiating with men, in which Place himself 
 was no mean proficient, should be innocent and 
 respectable as long as it stays at home, but becomes 
 fit only for such good-for-nothing young men as 
 Place thought Wakefield so soon as it goes abroad 
 and calls itself diplomacy ! In truth Mr Hill's ex- 
 hortations were wasted upon Wakefield, who, after 
 the first extravagances of youth had subsided, made 
 an excellent son, and was beyond most men notus in 
 fratres animi paterni. 
 
 Several months now elapse without any mention 
 of Wakefield in Place's correspondence until on gth 
 August 1816 comes the startling announcement, c He 
 is to be married to-morrow ! ' From other sources 
 of information it appears that the bride's name was 
 Eliza Susan Pattle, that she was the orphan daughter
 
 20 BUILDERS OF GREATER BRITAIN 
 
 of a merchant in the East Indies, living under her 
 mother's care, and that it was a runaway match. 
 Tradition, now getting dim, alleges that Wakefield, 
 deeply enamoured of the beautiful girl, and naturally 
 regarded by her family as a 'detrimental,' followed 
 her down to Tunbridge Wells, where she stayed with 
 her mother and two elderly uncles addicted to cock- 
 fighting. Love is depicted on ancient gems enjoying 
 a combat between quails ; and so mighty was his 
 power on this occasion that Wakefield, who in a 
 private letter calls cruelty to animals 'disgusting,' 
 became to all appearance devoted to the sport, 
 and the uncles began to deem him quite an ex- 
 emplary young man. He profited by his opportuni- 
 ties, and one July day two carriages simultaneously 
 left Tunbridge Wells, driving in opposite directions, 
 one containing Edward Gibbon Wakefield and Eliza 
 Pattle, the other, two persons dressed to represent 
 them. The uncles followed the wrong one. Shortly 
 afterwards cousin Head at Ipswich was awakened by 
 Edward Gibbon entering his room at dead of night 
 with the observation, 'I want your boat.' They 
 descended into the garden. Eliza came forth from 
 under the bushes, and the pair entered the boat, and 
 rowed up the Orwell to a place of safety, news of 
 their movements interrupting the good grandmother 
 in the perusal of Bishop Watson's Sermons. 
 
 The young lady being a ward in Chancery, the Lord 
 Chancellor was invoked against Wakefield, but his ad-
 
 EDWARD GIBBON WAKEF1ELD 21 
 
 dress prevailed not only to persuade the Chancellor of 
 the propriety of the marriage, but even to conciliate the 
 mother, with whom he kept house for a time, and who 
 remained his friend until her daughter's premature 
 death and her own marriage to a second husband. 
 * Edward,' writes Place to Mill on 3Oth August, ' his 
 wife, and her mother will soon depart the land. I 
 have not given and will not give your " congratulations 
 to the young Benedict;" he does not deserve _ them.' 
 Here again Place was to be confuted by events. 
 Wakefield's private letters, as well as family recollec- 
 tions, attest that he was affectionately devoted to his 
 wife, and that the too brief union was a very happy 
 one. 'Mr Hill,' the elder Wakefield writes in 1823, 
 4 has been delighting me by talking in the highest 
 terms of Edward's wife. She lived with him for four 
 years as a daughter, and he thinks of her just as I do, 
 describes her excellent acute sense, and yet the kind, 
 reserved way ; she never forced it on you, but left it 
 to you to find it out ; he talks of her gentleness, relates 
 the impression which she made upon all his friends, 
 and how they speak of her now ; he says that he 
 could relate the most amiable stories that he heard of 
 her at Genoa since she left.' x 
 
 It is well for Wakefield's credit that unequivocal 
 testimonies of his tender devotion to his young wife 
 
 ' ' Lord Byron,' Wakefield adds, ' has lived a great deal with Mr Hill 
 lately. He says he is a most delightful, pleasant person, but most vindic- 
 tive when he takes dislikes.'
 
 22 BUILDERS OF GREATER BRITAIN 
 exist. Miss Pattle was not only a beauty but a 
 
 " " ' -"- -- V *_ui_j^JiO~ J '*'^^' J '~~~^*^X_-^ 
 
 fortune, and a penniless young man who carries off 
 an opulent damsel in defiance of her family cannot 
 complain if he is supposed to have hunted the ducats 
 rather than the daughter. In the light of subsequent 
 events, it is no breach of charity to attribute a share 
 in determining his conduct to interested reasons, 
 while, at the same time, the genuineness of his attach- 
 ment is unquestionable. He probably thought with 
 Tennyson's Northern Farmer : 
 
 ' Thou can love thy lass and her money too : 
 Making them go together as they've good right to do.' 
 
 The immediate result or the marriage was an 
 improvement in his official, no less than in his 
 pecuniary, position. He returned to Turin as 
 Secretary to the Under Secretary of the Legation, 
 the Hon. Algernon Percy, who became an intimate 
 friend. It would seem from Mr Hill's statement 
 that he chiefly lived at Genoa, where his daughter 
 Susan Priscilla, known by her mother's pet name 
 of Nina, was born on 4th December 1817. On 
 25th June 1820, his son, Edward Jerningham, was 
 born in London, an event followed on 5th July by 
 the death of the mother. This tragic event not 
 merely occasioned him the deepest agony, but raised 
 up a barrier he could never quite displace between 
 him and his infant son, and prepared his estrangement 
 from his wife's family. It seemed an unmitigated
 
 EDWARD GIBBON WAKEFIELD 23 
 
 disaster ; without it, nevertheless, the world might 
 never have heard of him. He appears to have been 
 for some years following connected with the Paris 
 Embassy as 'secretary general and attache ad libitum.' 
 At Paris, in 1822, the elder Wakefield, who continued 
 to carry on his business in Pall Mall, and whose 
 private address was in Charles Street, St James'-SzSquare, 
 contracted, at the British Embassy, an eventful 
 marriage, long kept secret, with Frances, daughter 
 of the Rev. David Davies, headmaster of Macclesfield 
 Grammar School ; and at Paris also, in September 
 1823, Edward Gibbon acted as second in a duel. 
 We must think of him at this time as a young man 
 of fashion, a buck in his attire, of wild and almost 
 insolent spirits, ready for any frolic, and not discrim- 
 inating too nicely between frolic and mischief. 
 
 That Wakefield, nevertheless, was not entirely 
 devoted to fashionable society, appears not only 
 from his father's statement, c Parliament and office 
 are his first objects ; he will go in to support Mr 
 Canning with the full expectation of holding a 
 considerable official situation : ' but from two highly 
 interesting documents not until now connected with 
 his name. His authorship is proved by copies in his 
 handwriting, with marginal directions showing that 
 they were to be printed in some journal which 
 apparently had not existed very long, and doubtless 
 contained other examples of his composition. The 
 longer and more elaborate of the two may be described
 
 24 BUILDERS OF GREATER BRITAIN 
 
 as a general review of the state of public feeling, 
 in the form of a letter to the Marquis of Titchfield, 
 heir-apparent to the Dukedom of Portland. This 
 young nobleman died in March 1824. The letter, 
 therefore, is prior to that date, and internal evidence 
 shows it to have been written after Canning had 
 become Foreign Secretary in August 1822. It is 
 remarkable not so much for any extraordinary force 
 of diction, as from the affinity and the contrast it 
 simultaneously presents to the ideal of another youth- 
 ful genius then equally eager to open the oyster or 
 the world. Although the stuff of Disraeli's Vivian 
 Grey is neither more nor less than the negotiation 
 for the establishment of the Representative newspaper, 
 transferred with sublime audacity to the world of states- 
 manship, the novel undoubtedly expresses Disraeli's 
 intimate conviction ; and this is precisely the same as 
 that of Wakefield's essay the great opportunity for 
 a new departure in politics afforded by the exhaustion 
 of both the old parties. Each proposes to effect this 
 object under the aegis of a man of rank, the Marquis 
 of Titchfield, Wakefield's selection, being probably 
 recommended by the character he had acquired as a 
 steady and at the same time independent member since 
 his entrance into the House of Commons in 1818, and 
 still more by his relationship to Canning. Both 
 Disraeli and Wakefield lived to make their dreams 
 realities, Durham being to the one what Bentinck 
 and Derby were to the other. But the future
 
 EDWARD GIBBON WAKEFIELD 25 
 
 Colonial statesman approves himself as superior to the 
 future Prime Minister in penetration as he is inferior 
 in brilliancy and humour. In Vivian Grey there is 
 not a word about the people. The only forces 
 recognised as operative are a few noble families and 
 conspicuous politicians whose ability to dispose of the 
 country at their pleasure is taken for granted. With 
 Wakefield, on the contrary, the third estate is every- 
 thing. The one test of the possibility of the new 
 political party is, Can such a party obtain the confidence 
 of the nation ? and, even though the Reform Bill 
 was not yet, the passage of political power from the 
 few to the many is assumed throughout as self- 
 evident. The second and much briefer essay, Political 
 Creed, is chiefly remarkable for an outbreak of the 
 ardent patriotism and sanguine optimism which made 
 Wakefield a vital force in politics, a man whose 
 bent was ever to create, not merely to preserve or 
 to destroy. 
 
 4 But we are enthusiasts. To be sure we are ! We 
 commenced writing on politics because we are political 
 enthusiasts ; because we are sick of the dull, calculat- 
 ing, measured trash of one set of newspapers and the 
 prejudiced, senseless, savage violence of others ; 
 because we would give to such hearts as our own 
 the pleasure of reading, whilst we have the pleasure 
 of writing, warm and enthusiastic praise of all that 
 tends to the good of our country, and censure, bold, 
 unqualified and uncompromising, of every word and
 
 26 BUILDERS OF GREATER BRITAIN 
 
 deed that appears inimical to the honour, the interests 
 and the glory of dear old England. Enthusiasts 
 indeed ! And is it not high time that enthusiasts 
 should appear in the only cause that is worthy of 
 enthusiasm ? We spurn the mawkish affectation 
 which supposes that England has seen her brightest 
 day of civilisation, prosperity and glory. We defy 
 history to show us a country like England where all 
 classes of people have been advancing together in 
 knowledge, prosperity, virtue and happiness. If it 
 be true that our nobles are luxurious, is it not also 
 true that our peasants and mechanics have learned to 
 read ? If it be true that we take more pains than 
 formerly about what is ornamental, is it not also true 
 that every day produces some new useful invention ? 
 Have not our merchants, manufacturers, farmers and 
 tradesmen made as great a progress in knowledge and 
 virtue as any other class of people in the arts of luxury ? 
 Is there not more sterling sense and virtue amongst 
 the people at large than at any period of our history ? 
 The attainment of knowledge, virtue and happiness 
 are so many arts, and they have been practised in 
 England, for the first time in the history of the world, 
 by all classes of the people with equal success. History 
 can furnish us with no materials for the discovery of 
 what may happen to the English people. They 
 may (and, if those who conduct their public affairs 
 do but assist them, they will) reach that point of 
 perfection which shall enable a good patriot to
 
 EDWARD GIBBON WAKEFIELD 27 
 
 say without extravagance, "See England and die." 
 Perish then the miserable despondency of those who 
 contend that the decline and fall of England have 
 commenced, and that her bright day of prosperity, 
 virtue, happiness and glory has passed away for 
 ever ! ' 
 
 This passage reveals half the secret of Wakefield's 
 strength. Though his faculty of interesting himself 
 in public questions came from his grandmother, he had 
 inherited from the paternal side an adventurous spirit 
 which did not belong to the house of Bell. He was 
 eager, impetuous, enthusiastic. When he had an 
 object before him he made as light of obstacles as 
 though to overlook them had been to overleap them. 
 This is the temperament for a successful projector. 
 But obstacles cannot be ' wished away ' like the 
 wassailers in the Eve of St Agnes^ and his under- 
 takings, both public and private, suffered from his 
 refusal to recognise difficulties patent to any ordinary 
 man. Yet, as his view of the greatness of his country, 
 and the general progress of the age, extravagantly 
 roseate as it was, was still very much nearer the truth 
 than the contrary notion, so his schemes were in 
 general essentially reasonable. Their defects could 
 frequently be remedied or mitigated by the fertility 
 of resource so commonly an attribute of the genial 
 prolific temperament. When united with self- 
 reliance, ambition and shrewdness, such qualities 
 should carry a man far ; in Wakefield's case this
 
 28 BUILDERS OF GREATER BRITAIN 
 
 constellation of remarkable endowments nearly be- 
 witched him to his ruin. The success of his first 
 hymeneal adventure was a snare to him ; he should 
 have rested his reputation upon that.
 
 CHAPTER II 
 
 THE TURNER ABDUCTION WAKEFIELD*S TRIAL 
 
 HIS IMPRISONMENT AND ITS RESULTS LETTERS 
 
 FROM GAOL 
 
 ON yth March 1826, a carriage appeared at the door 
 of Miss Daulby, a schoolmistress near Liverpool, and 
 a servant presented a letter to that lady purporting to 
 come from a Dr Ainsworth, stating that the mother of 
 one of her pupils, Miss Ellen Turner, daughter of Mr 
 William Turner of Shrigley, a wealthy manufacturer 
 in the county of Cheshire, and at the time sheriff for 
 the county, had been suddenly attacked with paralysis, 
 and desired her daughter to come to her immediately. 
 Miss Turner was not to be told of the cause of the 
 summons, a crafty precaution which prevented the 
 discovery that no Dr Ainsworth existed. The school- 
 mistress, completely deceived, allowed the young lady 
 to depart. She was met on the road by Edward 
 Gibbon Wakefield and his brother William, who on 
 various pretexts allured her to Carlisle, where she was 
 informed that her father's affairs were in a desperate 
 condition, and that the only way to retrieve them 
 was to consent to marry Edward Gibbon Wakefield. 
 
 29
 
 30 BUILDERS OF GREATER BRITAIN 
 
 Gretna Green was handy, the proposed bridegroom 
 was c gay and fashionable,' and the form of a matri- 
 monial ceremony was gone through, but the marriage 
 was never consummated, Wakefield promising that the 
 union should be nominal until he had taught her to 
 love him, as with time he assuredly would. They 
 then proceeded to London and thence to Calais, 
 Ellen Turner, it must be said, evincing throughout a 
 docility and complacency only explicable on the 
 supposition that she considered herself to have got a 
 very good husband. Wakefield was equally satisfied. 
 ' My dear little wife,' he wrote while they were still 
 together, * is an excellent creature, and promises to be 
 the delight of my life.' ' I would have made her love 
 me,' he said afterwards. The residence of the parties 
 becoming known, they were followed to Calais by 
 Mr Turner's son and friends. Ellen, confronted with 
 them, elected to renounce her abductor, who on his 
 part offered no opposition to her departure, subscribed 
 4 a solemn declaration that she and I have been as 
 brother and sister,' and passed the severest condemna- 
 tion on his own conduct by acknowledging that if 
 any man had thus behaved to his own daughter, he 
 would have shot him. 1 His friends advised him to 
 take refuge in America, but he returned to England 
 to share the fate of his brother William, who was 
 already in custody. Frances Wakefield, the young 
 
 1 'They took off her ring,' he says, 'and gave it to me. I shall 
 preserve it carefully. They should have thrown it away.'
 
 EDWARD GIBBON WAKEFIELD 31 
 
 men's youthful stepmother, whose clandestine marriage 
 with the elder Wakefield was now acknowledged, 
 Edward Wakefield saying, < I must stand by my wife,' 
 was made a party to the indictment. She was in fact 
 innocent of criminal complicity, yet her social am- 
 bition had lain at the root of the whole adventure. 
 
 After tedious preliminary proceedings, beginning 
 with Wakefield's committal to Lancaster Castle in 
 May, and frequently interrupted and resumed, the case 
 was tried at Lancaster Assizes on 23d March 1827. 
 Serjeant Cross and Brougham were counsel for the 
 prosecution, the conduct of the case chiefly falling 
 upon the latter. The Wakefields had secured Scarlett, 
 the ablest advocate of the day, but there could be no 
 defence upon the merits of the case. The legal ques- 
 tions involved were a different matter, and the problem 
 whether, under the law of Scotland, Miss Turner was 
 or was not Mrs Wakefield, was so obscure that it was 
 found necessary to set it at rest by a special Act of 
 Parliament annulling the marriage. The evidence 
 abundantly established that no force or intimidation 
 had been resorted to ; it was equally clear that fraud 
 had been employed, and there could be no doubt of 
 the verdict as concerned the principal defendants. 
 The judge summed up favourably for Frances Wake- 
 field, and the jury deliberated over her case for an 
 hour, but eventually found her guilty. She was not, 
 however, called up for judgment, and ought to have 
 been acquitted, for, suspicious as her conduct had been,
 
 32 BUILDERS OF GREATER BRITAIN 
 
 Wakefield's subsequent declaration established her in- 
 nocence. Many yet remember her in her old age as 
 a lady of charming manners, and remarkable for her 
 beneficence. Wakefield appeared to receive sentence 
 on I4th May. In his plea for mitigation, he stated that 
 the legal proceedings had cost him ^6000, and that 
 half this amount had been raised by the sale of a rever- 
 sionary interest of ^1500 a year. Further he could 
 not go without sacrificing the interests of his children 
 under their mother's settlement. This he was resolved 
 never to do ; a fine, therefore, would be equivalent to 
 a sentence of perpetual imprisonment, and he prayed 
 that this might not be imposed upon him. The court 
 took him at his word, and awarded three years' con- 
 finement in Newgate, a sentence unanimously ratified 
 by public opinion. William Wakefield, although the 
 lesser offender, received a similar term in Lancaster 
 Castle, probably because the costs of the trial had 
 fallen entirely upon Edward. The latter was heard 
 once more when pleading against the dissolution of 
 his marriage before the House of Lords ; he spoke 
 ably, said all he could, but what could he say ? l 
 
 It must have occurred to everyone that moral 
 considerations apart such a wild adventure was the 
 very last that one would have expected a man of 
 Wakefield's astuteness to engage himself in, and that 
 the love of adventure must have entered into it in a 
 
 1 Ellen Turner married in 1829 Mr Legh, representative of one of 
 the first Cheshire families, and died in childbirth in 1831.
 
 EDWARD GIBBON WAKEFIELD 33 
 
 considerable degree. ' Every age does not produce 
 such a Quixote as Mr Wakefield,' said Blackwood's 
 Magazine. It came out upon the trial that the 
 scheme had been concocted amid the idle and fashion- 
 able circle of Paris, where the Wakefields were en- 
 joying what they were pleased to consider { the first 
 society in the world.' Prominent in this set was Miss 
 Bathurst, the stepdaughter of the Bishop of Norwich, 
 who had set herself to work most disinterestedly to 
 find rich wives both for Edward and William. 1 
 Wakefield found himself entangled by a promise to 
 his set that he would carry off c the weaver's daughter,' 
 but he must have got entirely out of touch with 
 his own country ere he could look upon such an 
 exploit as practicable. In addition to the levity and 
 recklessness engendered by a course of fashionable 
 dissipation in one of sanguine temperament and over- 
 flowing animal spirits, there was a potent motive in 
 the background which for the time perverted his 
 feeling of right and his generally vigorous common 
 sense. This was not cupidity, but ambition. As we 
 trace his subsequent career we shall frequently find 
 him resorting to strong irregular steps, but not from 
 
 1 Miss Bathurst, it should be said, had reason for her regard for 
 Wakefield. Her deceased sister had been attached to his intimate friend, 
 Percy. 'Percy's mare,' Wakefield wrote to his father in 1824, 'must 
 be kept without work of any sort. It is a point which Percy has at 
 heart, and he depends upon me in preference to other friends to secure 
 the comfortable existence of the animal which was the favourite pet of 
 Miss Bathurst.' 
 
 C
 
 34 BUILDERS OF GREATER BRITAIN 
 
 motives of mere self-interest. When, in the course 
 of the legal proceedings, he accounted for his presence 
 in Macclesfield by a desire to investigate the case of 
 the distressed silk weavers with a view to advocating 
 it in Parliament, the public, aware that this was not 
 the only motive, naturally thought that it was no 
 motive at all. They did not know what strong 
 pressure, from a quarter most difficult to resist, had 
 been put upon the elder Wakefield to induce him to 
 stand for Parliament. He actually did become a 
 candidate for Reading in 1826, without the smallest 
 chance of success; and in 1823 he had promised that 
 he and his son should both sit in the next Parliament. 
 Frances Wakefield was no less urgent with the son 
 than with the father, and, though no party to the 
 abduction, sowed the seed of it by urging Wakefield 
 to obtain Miss Turner's hand as a preliminary to re- 
 presenting Macclesfield. Lack of means disabled the 
 younger Wakefield from obtaining a seat by his own 
 resources ; and there is no doubt that when, in a 
 privately circulated paper which got into the "John 
 Bull, he spoke of offering himself for Parliament at 
 the general election then actually impending at the 
 time of the Turner affair, he fully meant what he 
 said, and expected to be returned for Macclesfield, 
 where his stepmother's father already held an im- 
 portant position, by the influence of his reconciled 
 father-in-law. He felt himself made for public life, 
 and was resolved to enter upon it. This does not
 
 EDWARD GIBBON WAKEFIELD 35 
 
 excuse his outrage upon family peace, or the decep- 
 tion by which he accomplished it, but it does relieve 
 him from the imputation of the merely sordid motive 
 to which his conduct was then inevitably ascribed, 
 but which is out of keeping with the tenor of his 
 after lire. It was a just punishment that the very 
 means to which he resorted to obtain a seat should 
 seal his perpetual exclusion from Parliament, while 
 at the same time indirectly opening to him a career 
 more important than he can well have anticipated 
 when he first thought of entering the House of 
 Commons under the auspices of Canning. 
 
 The change from the society of Paris to the 
 society of Newgate, however mitigated by transition 
 through intermediate regions peopled by judges and 
 lawyers, can be no slight test of the virtue of forti- 
 tude. Persons of Wakefield's sanguine temper and 
 effervescent spirits are frequently liable to extreme 
 dejection in adversity. It was not so with him. 
 Hope, he says in the Letter from Sydney^ if you know 
 how to indulge it, is more grateful than reality. In 
 Newgate, as will be seen, he found consolation not 
 merely in the studies and observations which were to 
 make him a power in the English world, but in the 
 exercise of the domestic affections which he cherished 
 with such singular intensity. The following letters, 
 dating from an earlier period of his tribulation, are 
 perhaps even more conclusive proofs of the buoyancy 
 and intrepidity of his spirit, written while he was
 
 36 BUILDERS OF GREATER BRITAIN 
 
 still agitated by hope and fear, and oppressed by the 
 galling consciousness that the dexterity and astuteness 
 on which he valued himself had proved downright 
 folly. All are addressed to his stepmother, Frances 
 Wakefield : 
 
 4 LANCASTER CASTLE, May 26. 
 
 1 1 think it more than probable that I shall remain 
 here till the Assizes. I have many reasons for pre- 
 ferring a sojourn here to the doubtful attempt to 
 procure admittance to bail. I do not say doubtful 
 as to the fact of my being admitted to bail, for that 
 I take for granted, but doubtful as to the wisdom 
 of injuring my defence in making the application. 
 I am very well lodged and treated in this castle. 
 You ought to know how little I care for personal 
 luxuries. Air, exercise, water, privacy and books 
 are all-sufficient for any man of common sense and 
 courage. I have all these, so I give you my word 
 that, could I forget what others feel for me, I should 
 at this time be as much at my ease as I ever was in 
 my life.' 
 
 ' May 30. 
 
 4 1 have got to myself a room twenty-four feet square 
 and a yard fifty feet long. I have a fire, a table, two 
 chairs, plenty of water, which to me is the same as 
 plenty of air, plenty of books, pens and paper. I am 
 locked into my cell at seven, but have candles, and 
 I am obliged to attend chapel every day ; when,
 
 EDWARD GIBBON WAKEFIELD 37 
 
 however, at my own request, I sit alone, unseen, 
 in the condemned pew. [Ominous !] My confinement 
 is solitary at my own request, but I and myself 
 could always make company. At present we walk, 
 talk and laugh together, without a moment's lassitude 
 during the day.' 
 
 *> 5- 
 
 ' I am pretty fully occupied in preparing my de- 
 fence, and corresponding with lawyers with a view to 
 it. Half an hour a day to read letters from named 
 and nameless correspondents, one of which, by the 
 way, has produced me the most important article of 
 evidence that I shall have to produce. Some of my 
 unknown correspondents write law to me, some con- 
 solation, some love, and one an offer of marriage ! 
 Without something to love I should be very unhappy, 
 so I have a cat, with one woolly draggle of a kitten, 
 and a root of grass which grows in a hole in a wall, 
 and which I watch and nurse as if it were a cutting 
 from the Tree of Life. My fellow prisoners are a 
 stout Wigan engineer, confined for three years un- 
 justly, a Manchester thief, and a miserable Irishman, 
 one Patrick Blake, who, " Plase your honour and long 
 life to your honour," expects to be hanged for a violent 
 highway robbery. The magistrates come to stare 
 at me, so I compel them, by standing and staring 
 formally with my hat on, to be regularly introduced 
 by the turnkey.' 
 
 219655
 
 38 BUILDERS OF GREATER BRITAIN 
 
 Newgate must have been a less tolerable house of 
 detention than Lancaster Castle, but on the other hand 
 a brighter sunbeam visited the shady place. No trace 
 remains to show at what period of his imprisonment 
 Wakefield began to study the question of criminal 
 reform, but it probably must have been as soon as 
 he had become in any measure accustomed to his new 
 and repulsive society. Colonial subjects, it is almost 
 certain, did not occupy him until a later period of his 
 incarceration. For a while a nearer and deeper in- 
 terest absorbed him his children. With him, on 
 a superficial view, the intellectual and animal souls 
 seemed incongruously mated. By so much as the 
 former was crafty and aggressive, by so much was the 
 latter affectionate and self-denying. Tender solici- 
 tude was no new thing with him. A letter of 1822 
 has escaped the wreck of his correspondence, encyclo- 
 paedic in its directions for the weal of his little Nina, 
 in whom he beheld the image of her mother, and 
 to whom he felt himself father and mother too. 
 4 Let her have a sufficiency of strong and thin shoes, 
 and let some of the latter be of silk or jane, with 
 sandal-like strings to tie crosswise round her ankles 
 teach the nurse how to tie them and how to put on 
 and adjust all her clothes neatly and prettily. This 
 may be done in half a dozen dressings and undressings, 
 and they will be a good trial of my soul's patience, 
 a virtue which she must practise against her 
 will very often before it becomes habitual.' Then
 
 EDWARD GIBBON WAKEFIELD 39 
 
 follow directions about pomatum, calomel, knitting 
 needles and similar matters, expressed with as minute 
 care as if he were freighting a ship to found a colony. 
 It may be imagined how one who could write thus 
 while leading a life of amusement would feel when 
 his child seemed all that was left to him. 
 
 'Feb. 27, 1828. 
 
 * MY DEAR GRANDMOTHER, I received yesterday 
 your kind letter with the inclosures for my children ; 
 and to-day arrived the books from Barton's. My boy, 
 upon reading your letter, became very red, sprang to- 
 wards me and exclaimed, "Why, great -grandmamma 
 wants me to be a s/oth y and I want to be a general or 
 a prime minister or something of that kind ! " So, 
 you see, he is of an aspiring nature, considering that 
 he is only seven years old. Nina, on the contrary, 
 quite approved your peaceable sentiments, but then 
 she is a little old woman in good sense ; and, to speak 
 quite seriously, she has the tenderest heart in the 
 world. They will write to you immediately. 
 
 1 My confinement is in some respects very advan 
 tageous to them, as I have nothing to do but to attend 
 to their education, which is proceeding to my heart's 
 content. Their progress during the last six months 
 surprises even me, who am bound to think my own 
 children prodigies. 
 
 'Your list of Catherine's children is enough to 
 brighten one ; but I know you think a numerous
 
 40 BUILDERS OF GREATER BRITAIN 
 
 family a great advantage ; that is, I believe, the only 
 opinion of yours in which I cannot agree with you. 
 What should I do, for instance, with six ? Why, 
 they must eat each other, for I could not keep them. 
 But, to show you that I do not altogether disagree 
 with you, I will add that I should like to have 
 forty daughters with as many thousands a year to 
 divide amongst them at my death, or their marriages. 
 I know you would quote the bundle of sticks, but if 
 all the sticks are rotten, that is, poor, what becomes 
 of the argument ? 
 
 c Both my children are learning to draw, and are as 
 fond of it as I used to be when I scrawled upon every- 
 thing in your Tottenham house. What a number 
 of recollections that word brings to my mind ! among 
 which your incessant care and kindness hold the 
 highest place. Mrs Fry came to see me the other day, 
 and made me think of you and the old house, and that 
 pond which you used to dread so much. You do not 
 remember, I daresay, so I will tell you that she and her 
 husband being on a visit to you, he gave me half a 
 crown and told me to throw it into that same pond. 
 I, being six years old, thought him a very honest 
 man, and concluded that the money was bad, and that 
 he wished it to be thrown away. Away I threw it, 
 therefore, and came back from the pond, quite proud 
 of my share in so honest an action. What I had done 
 coming out, Mr Fry gave me another half-crown, 
 which I kept. And at night, as if there could be no
 
 EDWARD GIBBON WAKEFIELD 41 
 
 good without evil in this world, I went to sleep 
 chuckling over the idea that I had got five shillings 
 out of my father's enemies, as from something I heard 
 during the day I imagined our cousins Fry to be. 
 What do you think of that for a recollection ? 
 
 c I hope you heard of Torlesse's visit to me for the 
 sole purpose of advising me to send my daughter 
 abroad, upon which subject he didn't open his mouth. 
 His silence did him honour ; and I hope he was not 
 blamed for the fruitlessness of his journey. If he were, 
 it was unfairly, for had he talked till now he must still 
 have gone back to report no progress. If anyone were 
 to ask me for my teeth or half my limbs, I might 
 perhaps part with them, but my daughter ! What 
 could have put it into their heads ? 
 
 4 1 have never told you of what I am sure you will 
 be glad to hear, that I have learned to regard my 
 uncle x with affection, to say nothing of gratitude. 
 His disinterested, generous, and most friendly, I may 
 say more than paternal, conduct in all my late troubles 
 is far above my praise. I shall be grateful to him as 
 long as I live, and afterwards, if we remember this 
 
 1 The Daniel Wakefield already mentioned, who, after a course of 
 pamphleteering and private secretaryships, became an eminent Chancery 
 barrister and Q.C. He shared the sanguine, enterprising temper of his 
 brother and nephew. He must have possessed one professional quality 
 assurance if there be truth in an anecdote told by his nephew that, being 
 pressed by Pitt to write a pamphlet : ' No,' he said, ' I can't write myself, 
 but if you will sit down and write, I will dictate to you !' He died in 
 1846, in embarrassed circumstances,' says the Morning Pott t ' owing to his 
 benevolence, having often been known to refuse fees from needy clients.'
 
 42 BUILDERS OF GREATER BRITAIN 
 
 world in the next. I never, I am sorry to say, gave 
 him any cause to wish me well. Yet when I was 
 in need he chose to become my friend ; he risked 
 much for himself, and nothing could check his 
 generous ardour, not even the earnest persuasion of 
 some who, whilst I flourished, thought they could 
 never do enough for me. I rejoice to add that he has 
 not suffered by his kindness to me. On the contrary, 
 having lost nothing, he has gained the good opinion 
 of many who before regarded him with indifference. 
 This is a fact, whatever you may have heard to the 
 contrary. I need not apologise for thus singing his 
 praises to so partial an audience as yourself. 
 
 * You will please my children very much by writing 
 to them. They are taught to be proud of a letter 
 from you, and to look forward with pleasure to going 
 to see you when I can take them. Of course you 
 will see Arthur. He will give you a pleasing account 
 of Sierra Leone. 
 
 C I am ashamed quite to fill this monstrous sheet, 
 and therefore wish you good night. Ever yours 
 affectionately, E. G. W.' 
 
 An enormously long letter to his sister, Catherine 
 Torlesse, commenced on 1st September 1828, begins 
 with the most particular details of the health and 
 disposition of his son, and continues : 
 
 ' Tuesday Night. 
 
 ' I have been in a fever all day with the anxiety of
 
 EDWARD GIBBON WAKEFIELD 43 
 
 expecting and the joy of receiving dear Nina. She 
 reached me at five, and has been with me till just now 
 (nine). Edward and she met in tears, and were both 
 speechless for some time. He, to my surprise, was 
 pale and almost faint with emotion. I took no notice 
 of them, and after a time Edward left us. She then 
 talked at a great rate ; but I observed that her spirits 
 were artificial. At length, about seven o'clock, in the 
 midst of an indifferent conversation, she burst into 
 tears and threw herself into my arms, saying, or 
 rather sobbing, " I didn't half take leave of aunt, we 
 parted in such a hurry ! " I consoled her as well as I 
 could. She said that she very nearly cried at getting 
 into the coach, but that, fearing the strangers, she 
 conquered herself till she got to Nayland, where she 
 put her face into the corner of the coach and cried 
 heartily. She said that she liked Stoke much better 
 than she expected, and that she loved aunt more than 
 she expected, and that she could not believe in the 
 pain she suffered in coming away. After that, every 
 mention of you or your children set her off again, 
 and I was obliged to cut the subject. But nothing 
 would make her cheerful again, though she became 
 calm enough to thank me for having her here alone 
 this evening, in order to have her cry out in comfort. 
 Were I an ass I should say you have stolen her heart ; 
 but I rejoice at the feelings of affection for you which 
 have been renewed and strengthened by this visit ; 
 and I well know that she does not love me a bit the
 
 44 BUILDERS OF GREATER BRITAIN 
 
 less for loving you so much. In fact, I know her 
 tears and sobs were caused by a double excitement, 
 that of losing you and finding me. What a 
 beautiful, yet what a dangerous character ! I have 
 sent her home with directions that she may go to 
 bed immediately, and now I am Tom Fool enough 
 to cry myself.' 
 
 Such excessive sensitiveness might well excite 
 Wakefield's fear for his child, and justify the minute 
 directions he gives his sister to communicate to the 
 lady then in charge of Nina themselves only a 
 portion of an infinity of similar directions most 
 touching in their thoughtful tenderness, but far too 
 voluminous for our pages. 
 
 ' I would mention ' [in writing to Mrs A.], i having 
 been struck by Nina's great sensitiveness, which 
 amounts almost to a disease, and say that it requires the 
 utmost care and judgment in those who surround her, 
 but more especially in Mrs A. and her father, from either 
 of whom a word or a frown is as bad as a blow to most 
 other children. That Nina's disposition is so affec- 
 tionate, even to excess, as to cause her a great deal of 
 pain, and that though for the world you would not 
 destroy so beautiful an attribute, you think that her 
 father (this has been the case) excites it too much, that 
 you think all questions of feeling should be avoided, and 
 that reason only should be employed in the manage- 
 ment of her. That you are satisfied she is injured every 
 time she feels strongly, either joyfully or sorrowfully ;
 
 EDWARD GIBBON WAKEFIELD 45 
 
 that every tear she sheds, be the occasion glad or 
 melancholy, is a mischief done ; that occasions which 
 excite in her tears of joy have just the same tendency 
 to increase her too great sensibility as occasions which 
 excite tears of sorrow. That in order to aid Mrs 
 A.'s endeavours you wish to mention the subjects 
 or points which most readily excite Nina's feelings. 
 i. Anything like a doubt of her affection for those 
 whom she likes. 2. Any reproach which conveys a 
 reflection on her truth or honour. 3. The belief 
 that she has hurt the feelings of those whom she likes. 
 
 4. Seeing anyone whom she likes offended with her. 
 
 5. And most particularly, any lasting but silent (if 
 you can otherwise express "sulky" without being 
 offensive, do so) displeasure in her father or Mrs A., 
 or indeed anyone to whom she is much attached.' 
 
 The letter concludes : 
 
 <I feel very, very much obliged to you for your 
 great attention to Nina, more than I can well express. 
 Her visit has been as a short time of sunshine coming 
 in the midst of a dreary season. Your basket was 
 very acceptable to some of the liquorish mouths that 
 surround me, and as its contents were distributed in 
 Nina's name, they have raised her in the esteem of 
 some of her fellow-creatures. My cook, slut and butler, 
 who is an Irishwoman, said on receiving some cake and 
 fruit, "Sure she's a sweet cratur, sir, and it does my 
 heart good to see her in this black place." There's an 
 affecting mixture of bitter and sweet in that remark.'
 
 46 BUILDERS OF GREATER BRITAIN 
 
 Strange that he who could feel so exquisitely for 
 his own daughter should have had so little regard for 
 the daughter of another ! Perhaps there are incon- 
 sistencies as startling in every heart. 
 
 Little could the public, when it chanced to think 
 of Newgate, surmise what treasures of affection were 
 hidden in one breast within its gloomy walls ; nor is it 
 likely that any voice from one end of the kingdom to the 
 other was raised in Wakefield ; s favour. What, indeed, 
 could be said ? If any man had committed social felo 
 de se y it seemed to be he. It would have appeared the 
 wildest of prophecies had anyone told the crowds that 
 watched him withdraw from the dock at Lancaster, 
 or from before the bar of the House of Lords, that 
 within eleven years the convicted offender would 
 go forth as the confidential adviser of a British 
 Proconsul, charged to reconcile a great disaffected 
 dependency to the Empire ; that in aiding to accom- 
 plish this end he would lay down principles which 
 would all but extinguish colonial disaffection for the 
 future ; that his ideas would create one colony, and 
 his daring action preserve another ; that senators and 
 statesmen would honour him as a superior, or contend 
 with him as an equal ; that almost his last exertions 
 would be devoted to co-operation with philanthropists 
 and ecclesiastics in the establishment of a model 
 colony. There were, in fact, two Wakefields, one of 
 whom was suddenly obliterated by a catastrophe which 
 destroyed the careless man of fashion, ready out of
 
 EDWARD GIBBON WAKEFIELD 47 
 
 pure idleness and irrepressible spirits for any mischief, 
 and left the powerful will and the unequalled gift of 
 personal fascination concentrated on the intense pur- 
 pose of rehabilitating the fallen man in the opinion of 
 society. By itself, however, this would have taken 
 Wakefield but a little way. The services to criminal 
 reform which his longing to regain his place in 
 society induced him to undertake might have atoned 
 for his transgression, but he could not have ranked 
 among the builders of Greater Britain if he had not 
 been very much more than a practical philanthropist. 
 To the surprise of all who had known him, he revealed 
 
 "* " i .1 i , ri-i ii \^ 
 
 himself as a man of ideas, not merely capable of 
 conceiving them, but of surrendering himself to them 
 with absolute devotion. From the moment that his 
 colonial system occurred to him, he became its ardent 
 votary on its own merits, and not merely as an 
 instrument of social rehabilitation. How his convic- 
 tions came to him the next chapter must describe, 
 and the remainder will show how ideas became 
 incarnate in colonies. The lesson of his career is 
 the same that is to be derived from every human life 
 that has risen above the common level, that so long 
 as man's action is merely egoistic, he is a poor, and 
 it may be a perverse creature ; but give him an 
 object transcending the sphere of his personal interests, 
 and inspire him with devotion to follow it out, and 
 the height to which he may rise will be only limited 
 by the quality of his own powers. In Wakefield's
 
 48 BUILDERS OF GREATER BRITAIN 
 
 case these were of the highest order, and when the 
 sharp lesson of adversity had once for all cured him 
 of the pursuit of private ends by unlawful means, and 
 decisively severed his connection with the frivolous, 
 fashionable society which had so long kept him idle 
 and useless, the hereditary but latent element in his 
 character of a passion for public usefulness asserted 
 itself, and he became an almost unparalleled instance 
 of redemption from an apparently hopeless position in 
 virtue of his devotion to a single illuminating idea 
 the regeneration of the British colonial system by the 
 ^principles which came to be connected with his name. 
 There was still not a little indirectness to lament, his 
 powers were still frequently impaired by that ad- 
 venturous and paradoxical bent of mind which alone 
 could render such an escapade as the Turner affair 
 possible but in the main, after his ideas had once 
 become matured in the salutary solitude of his prison, 
 he is our best example of a type of heroism un- 
 catalogued by Carlyle, the Hero as Colony Maker. 
 No one can read his writings and correspondence in- 
 telligently without admitting that personal advantage, 
 and even the recovery of his social standing, weighed far 
 less with him than the realisation of the idea of which 
 he had become enamoured, and for which he fought 
 with the chivalry of Coeur de Lion, if with the weapons 
 of Capel Court. It was this felicitous linking of his 
 own fortunes to a great public cause in which he 
 sincerely believed that, even more than his abilities,
 
 EDWARD GIBBON WAKEF1ELD 49 
 
 lifted him from the well-nigh desperate plight in which 
 this chapter leaves him to the position of influence and 
 honour in which he will shortly be found. * Hitch,' 
 says Emerson, c your waggon to a star.' 
 
 It is very extraordinary that the Turner escapade 
 should have indirectly produced the regeneration of 
 the British Museum, but such appears to have 
 actually been the case. The Museum, at a low 
 ebb of public usefulness in 1827, owes, as all know, 
 its reform to Antonio Panizzi, who was introduced 
 into it by the patronage of Lord Brougham in 1831. 
 According to his biographer, Mr Fagan, Panizzi, who 
 in 1827 resided in Liverpool, and had himself given 
 Italian lessons to Ellen Turner, deserved Brougham's 
 gratitude by the assistance he rendered him at the 
 Wakefield trial, where Brougham would hardly have 
 displayed ' the extraordinary knowledge of the prin- 
 ciples and practice of the jurisprudence of different 
 countries ' with which the reporter credits him, if he 
 had not had an Italian Doctor of Laws at his elbow. 
 The obligation was handsomely requited ; and it really 
 seems that but for Miss Turner's abduction, both the 
 British Museum and the British colonies would have 
 wanted their providential man.
 
 CHAPTER III 
 
 WAKEFIELD'S EARLY WRITINGS 'THE PUNISHMENT 
 OF DEATH' 'LETTER FROM SYDNEY' THE 
 
 WAKEFIELD SYSTEM 'ENGLAND AND AMERICA* 
 
 WAKEFIELD ON THE AGRICULTURAL LABOURER 
 
 EDWARD GIBBON WAKEFIELD'S antecedents and 
 hereditary connections have been treated with some 
 minuteness, as, without acquaintance with them, it 
 is impossible either to appreciate his character .or to 
 understand his surprising ascent from a prison cell to 
 a position of influence in the national councils rarely 
 indeed accorded to one unknown or disadvantageously 
 known to the public and irrevocably excluded from 
 Parliament. Like many other men, as has been 
 already implied, Wakefield had two characters one 
 natural, the other superimposed. But whereas with 
 most the engrafted character is the prop and ballast 
 of the man, fortifying weak points and tempering 
 congenital failings by the discipline of routine and 
 public opinion, with Wakefield it was the reverse. 
 He came, as we have seen, of Quaker stock, and all 
 hereditary influences were of utilitarian, philanthropic 
 and altruistic tendency. From this circle of ideas he 
 
 5
 
 EDWARD GIBBON WAKEFIELD 51 
 
 had been projected into quite a different sphere, partly 
 by his father's ambition and weakness for the counten- 
 ance of the nobility, so deeply deplored by the Cato of 
 Charing Cross, partly by the extraordinary revolution 
 in his circumstances effected by the brilliant marriage 
 which had introduced the youth of twenty to a fashion- 
 able and frivolous society. All this was now at an 
 end. The crystal sphere lay in shivers on the floor, 
 and Wakefield, Faust-like, must build it up again 
 elsewhere ; the phantoms of pleasure and gaiety fled, 
 wailing, never to return ; blue books and statistics 
 were to be his companions henceforth. We hear no 
 more of the best society in Europe and the step- 
 daughter of the Bishop of Norwich. The unworthy 
 aims and trivial pursuits of his engrafted character 
 were for Wakefield absolutely annihilated, save for 
 the considerable and, indeed, for his future mission, 
 indispensable acquisitions of the ease and charm of 
 manner obtained by association with the great world, 
 and of the tact in dealing with men which he had 
 gained in the pursuits of diplomacy. The original 
 nature the instinct to mend the world and work for 
 public ends recurred in full force, and with so much 
 the more energy the more clearly Wakefield discerned 
 that only by giving it full play could he retrieve? 
 himself from the unenviable position into which th< 
 reckless pursuit of adventure, rather than deliberate 
 ill-intent, had precipitated him. 
 
 It was the maxim of a wise man, the late eminent
 
 52 BUILDERS OF GREATER BRITAIN 
 
 solicitor, Edwin Field, 'Always have one horse 
 and one hobby.' Sometimes the hobby is the better 
 horse. And so it was with Wakefield ; the more 
 obvious mission yielded in importance and interest to 
 one apparently more remote. Labouring at once 
 benefit the public and to redeem himself, it was 
 rv natural that he should think first of the phenomena 
 presented by the criminal society around him. His 
 first idea was to write the history of Newgate, pre- 
 paration for which so engrossed him that he had, he 
 implicitly informs us, spent a year in prison before 
 turning his attention to colonial subjects. ' Nearly 
 seven years ago,' he says, writing to the South 
 Australian Commissioners in June 1835, 'I was 
 induced to inquire into the cause of the disasters 
 which,' etc. 1 His cousin Elizabeth Fry, it might 
 well occur to him, had gained great fame and done 
 much valuable work by her errands of mercy to 
 prisoners, including himself, upon whom she had 
 doubtless bestowed a piece of her mind. It remained 
 for him, whose opportunities for observation were so 
 much greater than hers, to lay bare the causes which 
 peopled Newgate, and the effects of Newgate dis- 
 cipline for good or evil. With less air and fire in 
 
 1 An article in the Colonial Gazette for zgth July 1840, evidently 
 written or inspired by Wakefield, says that ' it has been stated ' that the 
 first idea of his system occurred to him while studying the land regula- 
 tions promulgated for the Swan River settlement. These appeared in 
 January 1829, but his study of them implies that his mind was already 
 occupied with colonial subjects.
 
 EDWARD GIBBON WAKEFIELD 53 
 
 his composition, Wakefield might have become a sort 
 of minor Howard. Happily, however, his sanguine, 
 active temper was not one that could long attach 
 itself to the repulsive details of the ripening of the 
 hangman's harvest, and ere he quitted prison the 
 problem of colonial regeneration, at first taken up as 
 a theme of somewhat remote speculation, had become 
 the controlling influence of his life. This theme was 
 treated by him in a work memorable in the catalogue 
 of books composed in prison, even though their roll 
 includes the Consolation of Boethius, Grotius's De 
 Veritate^ Ralegh's History of the World^ and, above 
 all, Pilgrim's Progress. 
 
 Wakefield's other literary production of this period, 
 The Punishment of Death, does not concern his activity 
 as a colonial statesman, but it is too remarkable for its 
 riveting power, and too essential to the appreciation 
 of the author's genius, at once so imaginative and 
 so realistic, to be passed over without some notice. 
 Though not actually written, it virtually took shape 
 in his mind during his imprisonment, which lasted 
 May 1827 to May 1830. During that period 
 he witnessed the scenes and held the conversations 
 which so deeply impressed him, and it was easy to 
 reproduce them upon his release. The book appeared 
 in 1831, and a second edition was called for before the 
 end of the year. It contributed largely to its imme- 
 diate purpose of greatly restricting the denunciation 
 of the death penalty, even when merely employed as
 
 54 BUILDERS OF GREATER BRITAIN 
 
 a threat in t error em ; it laid the foundation of the 
 agitation against transportation, to which much of the 
 writer's best energy was subsequently given ; and it 
 served his own interests by displaying him in the light 
 of one rising on the stepping-stone of a dead self 
 
 < to higher things, and pressing his own errors and 
 chastisement into the service of the State. Melius 
 sic poenituisse quam non errasse. In a literary point 
 of view the book is most powerful ; but like all 
 Wakefield's more comprehensive books, it fails of 
 being a complete whole, and rather resembles a series 
 of essays akin in subject and spirit, but which might 
 very well have stood apart. 
 
 The frequency of the punishment of death in 
 Wakefield's time was undoubtedly a scandal ; Wake- 
 field shows that it was also a danger. Though 
 evidently opposed to its infliction under any circum- 
 stances, he abstains from entering into the question, 
 
 ' and contents himself with proving that its indis- 
 criminate enactment, rather than execution for in 
 many instances it was known to be merely an empty 
 threat fostered corruption in prosecutors, weakness 
 in witnesses, judges and juries, and reckless defiance 
 or by no means unreasonable hopes among criminals, 
 and thus injured society by striking at the root of the 
 deterring influence of punishment, the conviction of 
 its certainty. His remedies are by no means limited 
 to the mitigation of the penal code, but include valu- 
 able suggestions not yet sufficiently carried out, the
 
 55 
 
 establishment of a public prosecutor, and the organisa- 
 tion of a preventive police. He is particularly earnest 
 on the importance of rooting out the agencies by 
 which youth was systematically decoyed into crime. 
 His description of one of these recalls a study by a 
 contemporary observer no less shrewd and graphic, 
 George Sorrow's delineation of the old apple woman 
 on London Bridge. The repulsive subject is not 
 unfrequently illuminated with humour, as in the 
 description of the mock trials got up by criminals 
 among themselves, with parodies of the peculiarities of 
 learned judges and eminent counsel ; and the char- 
 acter of thieves as practical philosophers, Epicuruses 
 in their conviction of the omnipotence of chance, 
 Babbages in their acute estimate of its probabilities. 
 The manner in which a man's life might be muddled 
 away is set forth in the story of a military officer 
 named Montgomery, who, although the Bank of 
 England, against which he had offended, was quite 
 willing that the penalty should be mitigated, only 
 escaped the halter by the phial. Wakefield had been 
 kind to him, and the doomed man left a letter behind 
 him which, being read at the inquest, appeared in the 
 newspapers of the day. l And so even you I dared 
 not confide in how dreadful have been my fears ! 
 how torturing my hopes ! The bitterness of reflec- 
 tion, that even my inestimable, most devoted friends, 
 who would have done anything to save my life, I 
 dared not trust with my hopes of death ! How little
 
 56 BUILDERS OF GREATER BRITAIN 
 
 have I been known ! But for your note, but for the 
 pressure of your hand, last Saturday evening would 
 have ended the dreadful tragedy. God bless you ! 
 May you find such a friend as your heart deserves ! ' 
 Another letter, addressed to an unnamed young 
 lady, is not less affecting, jmd the sentiment they 
 irresistibly excite illustrates the truth of Wakefield's 
 own impressive words : 
 
 * Everyone who comes in contact with a man 
 whose death by the hangman is probable, treats him 
 not as a criminal, but as an unfortunate. In the 
 treatment of other prisoners, even before trial, when 
 they are presumed to be innocent, I never observed 
 anything like commiseration from persons in authority 
 over them. At the best they are treated with neglect, 
 except for their safe custody, and all convicts not capital 
 are treated as criminals. The same men, once capitally 
 convicted, are treated as brothers or children in dis- 
 tress. Why is the capital convict he whose crime 
 is most grave and is proven so favourably distin- 
 guished ? Because the punishment of death shocks 
 every mind to which it is vividly presented, and over- 
 turns the most settled notions of right and wrong.' 
 
 The most remarkable pages in The Punishment of 
 Death, however, are the chapters on the religious 
 observances connected with it, too long and too re- 
 motely connected with the main subject of this volume 
 to quote here, but one of the most powerful pieces 
 of writing in the language. What a picture of the
 
 EDWARD GIBBON WAKEFIELD 57 
 
 wretched quartette in the condemned pew the bright, 
 prepossessing youth, whose theft, unhappily for him, 
 has been just over instead of just under five pounds ; 
 the savage, hardened burglar, a returned convict ; the 
 crazy sheepstealer, to be hung in spite of much inter- 
 cession because many sheep have lately been stolen 
 by others ; ' the miserable old man in a tattered suit 
 of black, a clergyman of the Church of England, 
 convicted of forgery ' ! What traits, pure records 
 from actual observation, but which the imagination of 
 Dante could not have surpassed, as where the Ordinary, 
 perceiving that the youth cannot find the place in his 
 prayer-book, says quite simply, The Service for the 
 Dead! 'The youth's hands tremble as they hold the 
 book upside-down.' And so it goes on until, the ser- 
 vice over, the condemned return to their cells ; c the 
 forger carried by turnkeys ; the youth sobbing aloud 
 convulsively, as a passionate child ; the burglar mutter- 
 ing curses and savage expressions of defiance ; whilst 
 the poor sheepstealer shakes hands with the turnkeys, 
 whistles merrily, and points upward with madness in 
 his look.' Such writing was more potent to effect the 
 writer's object than his able arguments and unim- 
 peachable statistics, and could have been produced by 
 no one whose destiny had not led him to combine 
 theory with experience. The Atheneeum well said, 
 * Out of evil comes good, for to Mr Wakefield's three > 
 years' imprisonment in Newgate we are indebted for 
 this judicious, sensible and serviceable publication. Mr
 
 58 BUILDERS OF GREATER BRITAIN 
 
 Wakefield has laboured wisely and diligently to atone 
 for the wrongs he committed, and every good man 
 will be content to forget that he ever erred.' 
 
 The Punishment of Death was indeed a remarkable 
 book, but neither in its literary merit nor the 
 momentous and durable character of its effects could 
 it be compared to the other product of Wakefield's 
 imprisonment, the Letter from Sydney. Vigorous as 
 the former was, it still related to matters within the 
 writer's own cognisance ; the literary gift displayed was 
 that of a consummate reporter. In the Letter from 
 Sydney^ Wakefield undertook to describe things not 
 seen, and only known from reading, or from oral 
 information, and to draw lessons from them which 
 had escaped the attention of intelligent observers on 
 the spot. Success as a depicter of the unseen 
 demanded creative imagination, or at least a gift of 
 vivid realisation hardly less "exceptional ; conclusive 
 reasoning from such premises required a most unusual 
 share of shrewdness and penetration. The problem 
 was the elucidation of the causes which had rendered 
 Australia well nigh useless to the mother country, 
 and these the inmate of Newgate undertook to point 
 out from the other side of the world. The time, 
 however, was in the writer's favour, however 
 vexatiously he might be enthralled by too strict unity 
 of place. The public mind had in a measure wakened 
 up on the subject of the colonies. During the years 
 of war, systematic emigration could not of course
 
 EDWARD GIBBON WAKEFIELD 59 
 
 be thought of, but the lean kine which had followed 
 in the train of Peace forced statesmen to consider 
 seriously how to provide for a redundant and destitute 
 population. America continued to take the mass of 
 exiles, but men naturally felt indisposed to see our 
 emigrants' blood and sinew entirely absorbed by a 
 foreign country. Emigration to Canada increased ; 
 much was really done towards colonising the Cape 
 with Scotch agriculturists ; a new colony was actually 
 founded in Western Australia, whose disasters after- 
 wards supplied Wakefield with his most telling v 
 arguments. The idea of studying the principles of 
 colonization as the outlet of his energies may well, as 
 has been stated, have been suggested to him by the 
 habit of brooding over maps or calling up pictures of 
 foreign lands as a relief from the actual circumstances 
 of his lot ; even more probably, perhaps, by the natural 
 contemplation of the colonies as the best asylum for 
 what must have then seemed broken fortunes and an 
 irretrievably damaged character. The quotations in 
 the Letter from Sydney^ which appeared in 1829, show 
 that he must have occupied himself for some time 
 with the study of literature relating to the cplonies. 
 * I had occasion,' he says himself in The Punishment of 
 Death, l to read with care every book concerning New 
 South Wales and Van Diemen's Land, as well as long 
 series of newspapers published in those colonies.' 
 
 Had Wakefield, however, written under his own 
 name, he could have promised himself no such success
 
 60 BUILDERS OF GREATER BRITAIN 
 
 as was to attend The Punishment of Death. He had 
 qualified as an authority upon prisons ; on colonial 
 subjects he could then produce no special credentials. 
 His personality was accordingly suppressed, and the 
 book was cast in an imaginative form. It appeared 
 [under the name of Robert Goiiger, an actual ex- 
 colonist and writer on colonial subjects (who, after 
 a brief interlude of combat on the July barricades, 
 became colonial secretary in South Australia), and 
 y purported to detail in the form of 'a letter from 
 Sydney ' the experiences of a settler with a magnificent 
 grant of land, which, owing to the dearth of labour, 
 was hardly of more use to him than a castle in the 
 \^ air. So thoroughly had Wakefield thought himself 
 into the situation and realised the sufferings of his 
 Australian Tantalus, so natural was his composition 
 and so unaffected his style, that no one doubted the 
 genuineness of the letter, which could hardly have 
 been more graphic had it indeed been written upon 
 the spot. Always racy, often eloquent, its argument- 
 ative cogency is continually irradiated by flashes of 
 humour which indicate how exuberant under normal 
 circumstances must have been the animal spirits which 
 could thus struggle through the gloom of a prison. 
 Th^ main contention is that the admittedly unde- 
 >L vfcloped state of the colony is owing to a want of 
 labour, and that this arises from indiscriminate land 
 grants. Enormous tracts had been given away to 
 wealthy colonists, or sometimes stay-at-home land-
 
 EDWARD GIBBON WAKEFIELD 61 
 
 .lords, whose means, it was supposed, would enable 
 them to clear them and bring them under cultivation. 
 But capital without labour was even more impotent 
 than labour without capital. You could not hew 
 down a tree with a bank note, or cleave the soil with 
 a sovereign. The sturdy arms which bank notes and 
 sovereigns ought to have set in motion were not to 
 be had, being all too few, and engaged in cultivating 
 the small plots which their owners had obtained on 
 terms equally easy, and which supported families 
 sinking into barbarism. The little cultivated pro- 
 perties and the great uncultivated properties alike 
 remained stationary ; want of labour enchained the 
 one, and want of capital the other. There was indeed 
 a resource in the employment of convict labour ; but 
 this was more suitable for the execution of public 
 works under Government supervision than for the 
 cultivation of the estates of private men, who had 
 money to be stolen, and throats to be cut ; it was, 
 moreover, a mere temporary palliative. * If,' the 
 imaginary colonist remarks with sarcastic humour, 
 4 for every acre that may be appropriated here, there 
 should be a conviction for felony in England, our 
 prosperity would rest on a solid basis ; but, however 
 earnestly we may desire it, we cannot expect that the 
 increase of crime will keep pace with the spread of 
 colonization.' Wakefield's answer to the problem 
 he had stated consisted in the promulgation of the 
 famous theory known as the 'Wakefield System.'
 
 62 BUILDERS OF GREATER BRITAIN 
 
 Before entering into any discussion of this much 
 debated subject, it will be desirable to show clearly 
 what the system was by the citation of its leading 
 principles as embodied in the Outline of a System of 
 Colonization^ annexed to A Letter from Sydney, it being 
 premised that some of them were slightly supple- 
 mented and modified in the author's more mature 
 Art of Colonization ( 1849). I 
 
 ' It is suggested : 
 
 4 1. That a payment in money of - per acre 
 be required for all future grants of land, without 
 exception. 
 
 ' II. That all land now granted, and to be granted, 
 throughout the colony, be declared liable to a tax 
 of per cent, upon the actual rent. 
 
 4 III. That the proceeds of the tax upon rent, and 
 of sales, form an Emigration Fund^ to be employed in 
 the conveyance of British labourers to the Colony 
 free of cost. 
 
 IV. That those to whom the adminstration of 
 the fund shall be entrusted be empowered to raise 
 money on that security, as money is raised on the 
 security of parish and county rates in England. 
 
 * V. That the supply of labourers be as nearly 
 as possible proportioned to the demand for labour at 
 each settlement ; so that capitalists shall never suffer 
 
 1 Stuart Mill points out in his Political Economy that some of Wake- 
 field's views had been in some measure anticipated in an article in the 
 Westminster Re-view for January 1826, by William Ellis, which it is not 
 likely that Wakefield ever saw.
 
 EDWARD GIBBON WAKEFIELD 63 
 
 from an urgent want of labourers, and that labourers 
 shall never want well-paid employment. 
 
 ' VI. That in the selection of emigrants an ab- 
 solute preference be given to young persons ; and 
 that no excess of males be conveyed to the Colony 
 free of cost. 
 
 'VII. That colonists providing a passage for 
 emigrant labourers, being young persons and equal 
 numbers of both sexes, be entitled to a payment in 
 money from the Emigration Fund equal to the 
 actual contract price of a passage for so many labour- 
 ing persons. 
 
 'VIII. That grants be absolute in fee, without 
 any condition whatsoever, and obtainable by deputy. 
 
 ' IX. That any surplus of the proceeds of the tax 
 upon rent and of sales, over what is required for \ 
 emigration, be employed in relief of other taxes, and 
 for the general purposes of colonial government.' 
 
 Such were the regulations as originally proposed. 
 The following vigorous statement of the evils they 
 were intended to combat, and the benefit they were 
 expected to effect, is taken from Wakefield's re- 
 markable letter to the South Australian Commis- y 
 sioners, June 1835, printed in the appendix to the 
 South Australian Report of 1841 : 
 
 ' When each member of a society employs no more 
 capital than his own hands will use, the labour of 
 the whole society is necessarily cut up into separate 
 fractions as numerous as the families ; each family,
 
 64 BUILDERS OF GREATER BRITAIN 
 
 necessarily, in order to live, cultivates the ground, 
 and does scarcely anything else. As each family is 
 occupied in the same mode of production, there 
 is no motive for exchange between the different 
 families ; and as, in such a society, there is no 
 co-operation, so there can be no division of em- 
 ployments ; capital and labour are so weak, so un- 
 productive, that surplus produce, either for foreign 
 exchange or for accumulation at home, cannot be 
 raised. This is the primitive or barbarous state of 
 things, under which famine is the necessary con- 
 sequence of one bad season ; it is a state of things 
 which all nations have suffered, and which, during 
 the earlier stages of the world's progress, was in 
 every nation succeeded by a state of slavery. As 
 the goodness of God and the progressive nature of 
 man are unquestionable, and as God has permitted 
 every nation to undergo the state of slavery, so we 
 may be sure that slavery has not been an evil un- 
 mixed with good. Slavery appears to have been 
 the step by which nations have emerged out of 
 poverty and barbarism, and moved onwards towards 
 wealth and civilisation. While in any country land 
 was so abundant in proportion to people that every- 
 one could and did obtain a piece for himself, free 
 labour presented no way of escape from that primi- 
 tive and barbarous condition under which poverty 
 is the lot of all ; but along with slavery came 
 combination of labour, division of employments,
 
 EDWARD GIBBON WAKEFIELD 65 
 
 surplus produce of different sorts, the power of ex- 
 changing, a great increase of capital, all the means, 
 in short, to that better state of things in which 
 slavery becomes an unmixed evil, and when, accord- 
 ingly, it has been abolished. But what is the con- 
 clusion bearing on the present question that we are 
 to draw from this review of one of the steps by 
 which Providence has ordered that nations should 
 advance from barbarism to civilisation ? That con- 
 elusion is that the only means by which labour A 
 may be comibned and employments divided, so as 
 to prevent a state of miserable poverty, are either 
 slavery or the existence of labour for hire. 
 
 'The process by which a colony goes to utter 
 ruin, or is reduced to misery, and then gradually 
 recovers, has been witnessed over and over again. 
 The colonists, proceeding from a civilised country, 
 possessing capital, divided into classes, skilful, accus- 
 tomed to law and order, bent on exertion, and full 
 of high hopes ; such a body of people reach their 
 destination, and then what happens ? The society \ 
 which at the moment of its landing consists of two 
 ranks, bearing towards each other the relation of 
 master to servant, becomes instantly a dead level, 
 without ranks, without either servants or masters. ) 
 Everyone obtains land of his own. From thaF 
 moment no one can employ more capital than his 
 own hands will use. The greater part, therefore, 
 of the capital which has been taken out necessarily
 
 66 BUILDERS OF GREATER BRITAIN 
 
 wastes away. In a few months nothing in the 
 shape of capital remains beyond such small stocks as 
 one isolated person can manage. But those of the 
 society who have not been used to labour cannot, 
 with their own hands, manage even that small 
 stock so as to increase or even preserve it ; while 
 those who have been accustomed to nothing but 
 labour, and to labour in combination with others, 
 finding themselves each one alone in a vast wilder- 
 ness, are unable to use with advantage such small 
 stocks as they begin with ; and thus both classes 
 (or rather the whole body, for there are now no 
 classes) soon fall into a state of want. In these 
 cases when the colony was preserved by some sort 
 or assistance from without, a state of want has con- 
 tinued until some sort of slavery was established. 
 Such unfortunate results were the necessary results 
 of placing civilised men in a situation where they 
 could not but sink into that state of weakness and 
 poverty which is but one step above the condition 
 of the naked savage. An extensive and uninhabited 
 country is a field where, unless something be done 
 to counteract the influence of too much land, a 
 small body of civilised people must inevitably fall 
 back into what is called a primitive state. Hitherto, 
 in young colonies, the influence of too much land 
 has been counteracted no otherwise than by means of 
 slavery. In this case [of South Australia] slave labour 
 of every sort, whether that of slaves, bondsmen, re-
 
 EDWARD GIBBON WAKEFIELD 67 
 
 demptioners or convicts, is wholly out of the ques- 
 tion. What we have to consider, therefore, is the 
 other means by which to preserve civilisation. The 
 history of modern colonization exhibits a great 
 number of expedients, not one of which, I venture 
 to say, ever effected its object. Hence the project 
 of an undertaking of which the object is to try 
 whether, in countries where land is superabundant, 
 free or hired labour may be secured by rendering 
 land dear enough for that purpose. The projectors 
 of the undertaking have concluded that, by putting 
 a certain price upon public land, labourers may be 
 induced to work for wages during a certain term. 
 The South Australian Act excludes all other than 
 this one means of securing hired labour ; it is based 
 upon the assumption that no other expedient for 
 that object is likely to succeed, or ought, after so 
 many failures, to be tried again ; and that a price 
 may be put upon all public land, which will have \L 
 constantly the same effect as if land were never 
 superabundant. 
 
 ' Such are the grounds on which it has been de- 
 cided to employ, for an object never yet accom- 
 plished, means never used before.' 
 
 It will be seen that the essence of the plan con- ^ 
 sisted in directing labour to land, and retaining it 
 there. The system may be compared to a system 
 of irrigation, by which water is guided in artificial 
 channels to the fertilisation of the soil, instead of
 
 68 BUILDERS OF GREATER BRITAIN 
 
 I being allowed to spread indiscriminately over it and 
 ultimately run away. Theoretically, it followed the 
 lines of Adam Smith, who ever insisted on the in- 
 dispensable alliance of land, labour and capital ; prac- 
 tical effect was to be given to this by the observation 
 of two cardinal maxims. Land was to be sold in 
 moderate quantities at a sufficient price, i.e. y a price 
 representative of its actual value in its unimproved 
 condition, instead of being given away in enormous 
 grants, as in Western Australia, where it had been dis- 
 tributed at an average of 2000 acres to every man in 
 the colony. In the second place, the amount received 
 by the sale of land was to be expended in bringing out 
 labourers to cultivate it, and the high price set upon 
 it would prevent the poorer emigrants from becoming 
 landowners until they should have accumulated pro- 
 perty by labour, in pursuit of which end they must 
 necessarily have done much to develop their employer's 
 estates. As democratic ideas came to prevail in the 
 colonies, Wakefield was attacked as though he had 
 contemplated the creation of a servile caste, and the 
 perpetuation of the social anomalies of the Old World. 
 But he had no such object, or he would never have 
 obtained the support of the great advocate of small 
 landed properties, Stuart Mill ; nor has any such 
 consequence followed the adoption of his system 
 where it has been applied. Four years, he thought, 
 would suffice to convert the exported labourer into 
 a small landowner, and when civilisation had once
 
 EDWARD GIBBON WAKEFIELD 69 
 
 obtained a hold upon the country, additional land 
 sales would provide funds for further importations of v 
 emigrants, to be elevated into ownership in their 
 turn. 1 Nor was there more foundation for the idea 
 that sales of land to limited amounts would interfere 
 with pasturage ; lands best adapted for pasturage were 
 expressly excluded. * It is the extreme cheapness, not 
 of natural pasturage, but of land for cultivation, which \^ 
 occasions scarcity of labour for hire. Labourers could 
 not become landowners by using natural pasturage.' It 
 was no doubt the fact that the comparatively high 
 price of land would encourage the settlement of 
 persons of affluence, and thus not only bring a much 
 needed stream of capital into the colony, but tend to 
 impart aristocratic polish and culture to its society, 
 which Wakefield deemed no disadvantage. The , 
 sufficient price he always refused to define ; it de- 
 pended upon the peculiar circumstances of the colony, 
 and required the nicest computation. In the early days 
 of the Otago settlement, for example, it was found 
 necessary to stimulate sales by reducing, sorely against 
 the will of the colonists, the price of land from forty 
 to ten shillings to obtain funds for needful public 
 improvements. The gold discoveries made a few 
 years later would have altered the situation. In any 
 
 1 ' Les Portugais des Azores y prosperent [at Hawaii] admirablement, 
 et sont devenu en grande partie petits proprictaires apres avoir Ira vail lr 
 aux plantations des Americains. Leroy-Beaulieu (Les nouvelles societes 
 Anglo-Sax 'onncs, ch. i). Why should an English labourer fare worse 
 than a Portuguese ?
 
 70 BUILDERS OF GREATER BRITAIN 
 
 case, the price was to be absolutely fixed by responsible 
 authorities, and not determined by the conflict of an 
 auction. Practically it may be said to have averaged 
 v a pound an acre, the amount at which it was origin- 
 ally fixed in South Australia, and which was re- 
 established after a trial at twelve shillings. Wakefield 
 would have preferred two pounds. 
 
 The soundness or unsoundness of the Wakefield 
 theory will be best discussed after the history of South 
 Australia and New Zealand has afforded us the 
 means of viewing it in actual operation ; and also 
 after considering the form finally given to it in its 
 author's Art of Colonization. But one quality it had 
 which alone went far to render it a boon to the 
 Empire, it was a scientific theory. c The subject,' 
 Wakefield forcibly remarks, 'presented before 
 1830 one very remarkable feature, namely, an im- 
 mense amount of practice without any theory. 
 There were long experience v/ithout a system ; im- 
 mense results without a plan ; vast doings, but no 
 principles.' Colonial questions, involving serious pro- 
 blems in statesmanship and political economy, had 
 hitherto been treated in the roughest fashion. For 
 most people the Colonial question was the Convict 
 question, or at most a contribution to the more 
 urgent problem how to rid the mother country of 
 idle and useless incumbrances. In Disraeli's Popanilla^ 
 a speck upon the sea, originally mistaken for a por- 
 poise, proves to be a rock, and is immediately provided
 
 EDWARD GIBBON WAKEFIELD 71 
 
 with a governor, a deputy - governor and store- 
 keepers, ' more plentiful than stores,' not to mention 
 clergy, lawyers, engineers, and an agent for the 
 indemnity claims of the aborigines. ' Upon what 
 system,' asks Popanilla, 'does your Government sur- 
 round a small rock in the middle of the sea with 
 fortifications, and cram it full of clerks, soldiers, 
 lawyers and priests ? ' c Well, your Excellency, I 
 believe we call it the colonial system ! ' 
 
 Wakefield's pamphlet was the first great literary 
 blow to this hap-hazard and this pampered officialism, 
 and its exposition of the great opportunities which 
 awaited the colonist with capital, provided only that 
 this capital was placed in a position to command labour, 
 gradually enlisted the sympathies of the most valuable 
 section of the community, those not ill off nor yet so 
 well off as to be indifferent to the prospect of better- 
 ing themselves. It came, too, at a most auspicious 
 moment, just on the eve of that development of the 
 means of communication which was to afford such an 
 impulse to emigration and commerce. Ere this had 
 quite arrived, the public mind was fully awake on the 
 subject of colonization, and the man who had chiefly 
 aroused it was Edward Gibbon Wakefield. ' Never,' 
 says Herman Merivale (Lectures on Colonization, vol. ii., 
 p. 56), ' was there a more remarkable instance of the 
 success of a principle against all manner of mis- 
 apprehension, against the fear of innovation, against 
 corrupt interests, against the inert resistance which
 
 72 BUILDERS OF GREATER BRITAIN 
 
 all novelty is sure to encounter.' Yet it has been 
 recently asserted that ' the proposal took London by 
 storm.' 'Pictures,' it is added, 'of fruitful land, 
 lovely scenery, mineral wealth, and all that could 
 excite the cupidity of small capitalists, were deftly 
 drawn in this publication, and fortunes that were to 
 be made in creative land values were dangled before 
 the eyes of the public in the most seductive literary 
 style.' There is nothing of the sort in the Letter 
 from Sydney, beyond the incontestable observation 
 that in Australia ' Nature fully performs her part in 
 bestowing upon man the necessaries, comforts and 
 luxuries of life.' 
 
 In the consideration of the Wakefield theory, it 
 must not be forgotten that colonization was at the 
 time much more an affair of the home Govern- 
 ment than is now the case. There were no ocean 
 going steamers to bear emigrants swiftly and cheaply 
 <4_across the water, and no free communities on the 
 other side to whose enactments and regulations they 
 could be subjected upon their arrival. There was no 
 possibility of despatching them in any considerable 
 numbers except by the agency of the Government 
 or of a private company, and no authority to pre- 
 scribe the conditions of settlement except the former 
 of these, or an association to which its authority should 
 have been delegated. No such wholesome principle 
 as that of the numerical equality of the sexes, a valu- 
 able feature in the Wakefield plan, could have been
 
 EDWARD GIBBON WAKEFIELD 73 
 
 realised without such control. It was therefore of 
 the last importance that sound principles of coloniza- 
 tion should be impressed upon a Government whose 
 main object in colonizing was the relief of the mother X 
 country by the exportation of convicts, a system against 
 which Wakefield always set his face, and which, as 
 will be seen, he did more than any other man to 
 destroy. At the present day emigrants can in general 
 remove themselves to their new country, and the 
 colonies themselves are in a position to stimulate the 
 stream of emigration if necessary. In Wakefield's 
 time the movement had to be guided and fostered, 
 nay, to some extent artificially originated. The 
 almost untrodden regions of Australasia teemed in- 
 deed with unsuspected riches, which would in time 
 be a sufficient impulse to emigration, but the first 
 steps needed support, only to be obtained from 
 Government or from the powerful co-operation which 
 it required a Wakefield theory to call into being. 
 Whatever the abstract merits or demerits of his \ ]S 
 system, it was invaluable as providing a standard 
 and a rallying point for colonial reformers. 
 
 One article of the Wakefield faith to which, 
 taught by miscarriages in South Australia, he after- 
 wards attached the highest importance, is not much 
 insisted upon in the Letter from Sydney the neces- 
 sity of an accurate preliminary survey. l The survey ! 
 the survey ! the survey ! ' he reiterates when writing 
 to God ley at Canterbury, and Godley repeats to the
 
 74 BUILDERS OF GREATER BRITAIN 
 
 colonists, * Nothing that Mr Wakefield has said upon 
 this point is too strong.' 
 
 The Letter from Sydney, indeed, was too brief and 
 occasional a production to constitute a systematic ex- 
 X position of Wakefield's views ; this must be sought in 
 England and America^ and in The Art of Colonization, 
 more recent by twenty years. The main idea, however, 
 was there : ' I constantly ask myself whether it be 
 possible to devise any means by which to establish in a 
 new country such a proportion between labour and land 
 as would render labour plentiful and not extravagantly 
 dear.' The whole may be described as a variation on 
 this text. One digressive passage, a little idyll worthy 
 of Goethe, may be cited as establishing once for all the 
 rank which Wakefield might have attained in pure 
 literature if his mind had not been so completely en- 
 grossed by the practical side of life : 
 
 4 You remember that Genoese girl before whom you 
 trembled, and I became faint, though she only handed 
 us some grapes ? Do you remember that, having 
 recovered ourselves, we measured her eyelashes ? Do 
 you remember how long they were, and how she 
 laughed ? Do you remember that bright laugh, and 
 how I patted her cheek, and told her that it was 
 softer than her country's velvets ? And how she 
 blushed -do you remember that ? to the tips of 
 her fingers and the roots of her hair ? And then 
 how do you remember how ? peasant as she was, 
 and but just fifteen, she tossed her head and stamped
 
 EDWARD GIBBON WAKEFIELD 75 
 
 her little foot with the air of a queen ? And then 
 how, on a sudden, her large eyes were filled with 
 tears ; and the grace with which she folded her arms 
 across that charming bosom ; and the tone I hear it 
 now the deep, grave, penetrating tone in which, half 
 angry, half afraid, she at once threatened us with her 
 " Berto," and implored our respect ? We did not care 
 much for Mr Berto, certainly, but did we not swear, 
 both together, that not a hair of her head should be 
 hurt ? And when, flattered by our involuntary devo- 
 tion, she departed with a healthy, lively step, showing 
 her small, smooth ankles, and now and then turning 
 her profile to us and laughing as before, did we not, 
 dashing blades as we thought ourselves, snuffle and 
 blow our noses and shake hands without the least 
 motive, like two fools ? And afterwards, notwith- 
 standing that gratuitous fit of friendship, did we not 
 feel jealous of each other for three days, though neither 
 of us could hope to see the little angel again ? Yes, 
 'you remember it all. Well, just such another girl as 
 that brings fruit to my door every morning.' 
 
 Wakefield's next book of importance, England and 
 America (1833), is an undesigned proof that the advice 
 of the Athenteum had been largely taken by the British 
 public, and that the author knew it. It betrays the 
 satisfaction of a man who feels that he has liquidated 
 his accounts with society, and that past errors will not 
 deprive him of the privilege of speaking his mind with 
 the freedom of Figaro, and with a more extensive
 
 76 BUILDERS OF GREATER BRITAIN 
 
 choice of topics. Like the Letter from Sydney^ it is 
 anonymous, but the writer's identity can have been no 
 great mystery. It was published by Bentley, whom 
 Wakefield accuses in a subsequent work of having 
 taken advantage of his absence on the Continent to 
 disfigure it with c a puffing title.' This title certainly 
 misleads ; the book does not offer that close and 
 accurate parallel between the two countries which the 
 reader is naturally led to expect ; but in truth the en- 
 tire work somewhat disappoints from its desultoriness ; 
 it has not the unity and directness of purpose of its 
 V/ predecessors, but rather offers the miscellaneous re- 
 flections of an acute and powerful mind. The first 
 chapter presents a brilliant description of the wealth 
 of England, explained as the result of the combination 
 of labour -^nd capital, and of the minute subdivi- 
 sion of the former. The second chapter is devoted to 
 an equally powerful, and unhappily equally accurate, 
 description of the misery of the lower, and the harassed 
 anxiety of the middle classes, followed by a retrospect 
 of recent political occurrences, and an inquiry into 
 the most likely means of averting the menaced 
 revolution. These are, free trade in corn, the 
 1 extension of trade with the East, and scientific 
 colonization. The writer argues with great power 
 for the total and immediate, rather than gradual, 
 abolition of the corn laws. This view was held by 
 so many of the scientific political economists of the 
 day that it is very remarkable that their reasoning
 
 EDWARD GIBBON WAKEFIELD 77 
 
 should have virtually produced no impression until 
 taken up by a body of men little enamoured of 
 abstract truth the Lancashire manufacturers. The 
 demonstration that the admission of foreign corn must 
 produce a greatly extended demand for British manu- 
 factures had been perfect, but remained merely 
 academical until the pocket gave it access to the 
 head. The other side of the question the danger 
 of exclusive dependence upon foreign countries for the 
 necessaries of life is no more considered by Wakefield 
 than by the Manchester School. He predicts, indeed, 
 that America would grow grain cheaper than anyi 
 other country, but the fabulous cheapness of transport 
 by the power of steam could not then be anticipated, 
 nor the consequent injury to British agriculture 
 foreseen. The remarks on the China trade may be 
 read with interest now that the question of opening 
 up China has become of such importance. It is 
 strange that nothing should be said about India ; and 
 none could then foresee that the Eastern countries, 
 with their fabulous cheapness of labour, and the 
 material at their doors, would manufacture on their 
 own account, or on the account of foreign capitalists, 
 with an energy and success which may yet convert 
 Manchester to protection. 
 
 The most important part of the book, howev 
 Wakefield's re-statement of his theory of colonizat 
 which he had been unable to exhibit scientifically 
 in the Letter from Sydney on account of the lively 
 
 ever, is \ V 
 ization,
 
 78 BUILDERS OF GREATER BRITAIN 
 
 jmd dramatic form in which that book is cast. As 
 concerned the interests of the colonies, he had little 
 to do but to set forth the case of the mischief caused 
 by enormous land-holdings and the consequent scarcity 
 and inefficiency of labour from its dispersal over too 
 wide an area ; but having now a foot at home as well 
 
 tas abroad, he is able to enter more fully into the case 
 of the mother country, whose requisites in this point 
 
 / of view he sums up under three heads extension of 
 
 ! markets, relief from excessive numbers, enlargement 
 of the field for employing capital all of them objects 
 which the system or no-system of colonization prac- 
 tised up to his time tended in but the slightest degree 
 to promote. Whether his own theory was sound or 
 unsound, he compelled men to think, and an era dates 
 
 - from him. This luminous chapter, being entitled 
 ' The Art of Colonization,' has been frequently mis- 
 taken for the elaborate work on the subject published 
 under the same title sixteen years afterwards, which 
 is dated in many bibliographies 1833. 
 
 The style of England and America is less finished 
 than that of most of Wakefield's writings, and the 
 chapters wear less the appearance of literary essays 
 than of imperfect reports or of memoranda for speeches. 
 Effective as they are, they would have been more 
 powerful still as oral deliverances. But this could 
 never be. Ample as had been his atonement for^ the 
 offence he had committed against society, he could not 
 be safely brought forward for any open borough, and
 
 EDWARD GIBBON WAKEFIELD 79 
 
 the nomination boroughs which might have procured 
 him admission to Parliament disappeared contempor- 
 aneously with his entrance upon public life. He did, 
 indeed, offer himself to the electors of Birmingham in 
 1836, but the appeal met with no response ; the party 
 managers were little likely to entrust their cause to 
 one so obviously vulnerable. Could he have entered 
 the Commons, he must sooner or later have fought 
 his way to the Cabinet, and it may have been the 
 bitterest part of his penalty to contemplate the success 
 of inferior men in the career from which he had 
 irrevocably excluded himself. Yet it was best as it was. 
 But for his disaster it is extremely doubtful whether 
 he would have been specially attracted to the colonial 
 department of affairs. As a Member of Parliament 
 he would have been obliged to apply his mind to 
 a variety of subjects, and his energies might have 
 been frittered away among them. Circumstances 
 compelled the concentration of the discursive activities -. 
 of his mind upon a single subject, and gave him the 
 mission without which he might have gone down to 
 posterity as a useful M.P. and a successful administra- 
 tor, but not as a builder of Greater Britain. The cause 
 of the colonies was at this time better served by wire- 
 pulling than by oratory. Our colonial heroes were no 
 longer great voyagers and discoverers, nor even great 
 administrators of distant dependencies, but the thinkers 
 who worked out principles of colonization at home, and 
 the organisers who impressed them upon public opinion.
 
 8o BUILDERS OF GREATER BRITAIN 
 
 Both these characters were united in Wakefield in a 
 surprising degree. What he was as a thinker we have 
 seen, but his insight into the abstract science of colon- 
 ization was no greater than his gift of controlling and 
 managing men. No man knew better how to play 
 upon the various human passions, from the loftiest 
 philanthropy down to the most sordid self-seeking, 
 capable of being enlisted in the support of a colonizing 
 venture. None could make himself so readily all 
 things to all men, none could so dexterously guide the 
 inquiries of a Parliamentary committee to the desired 
 point, or attract a patron, or inspire a newspaper. But 
 the greater part of these subterranean activities never 
 came to light, and cannot now be retrieved. Their 
 really gigantic sum can only be inferred from com- 
 paratively scanty vestiges enough, however, to show 
 that the labours of colony-making would have excluded 
 all possibility of attending to other subjects, or even of 
 sharing in the ordinary committee work of the House 
 of Commons. 
 
 Before becoming entirely engrossed with colonial 
 subjects, Wakefield produced some pamphlets on social 
 questions at home, only one of which is worthy of 
 especial attention. The title, Swing Unmasked^ happily 
 conveys no idea to the present generation, who have 
 not seen the systematic burnings of farm produce 
 attributed in the slang of the perpetrators to c Captain 
 Swing,' and for which bad poor laws, bad corn laws, 
 and the absence of all educational legislation were
 
 EDWARD GIBBON WAKEFIELD 81 
 
 mainly responsible. It did not need Wakefield's 
 sagacity to discover causes so near the surface, but few 
 could have equalled the vividness of his picture of the 
 prowling serf hugging the tinder-box that makes him 
 terrible, and the ensuing reflections are as just as they 
 are striking : 
 
 ' A Swing fire has taken place ; what a commotion 
 ensues in the parish ! Is it credible that the pauper 
 should not view with satisfaction the flurried steps and 
 pale face of the rector, the assumed air of indifference, 
 not half concealing the uneasiness of my lord who 
 owns the soil on which the stacks were burnt, and the 
 violent rage of a neighbouring squire, mixed with 
 nervous indications ? The powerful of his neighbour- 
 hood, before whom he used to tremble, now shake in 
 their turn. He is anxiously noticed by well-dressed 
 passers-by, who before treated him as a beast of the 
 field, but now make anxious inquiries after his wants, 
 and take pains to become acquainted with his peasant's 
 nature. What is yet more to the purpose, a new scale 
 of wages becomes the topic of his parish, and is 
 probably adopted, after an understanding between the 
 landlords, clergymen and tenants that rent and tithes 
 shall be reduced in proportion as wages are raised. 
 When his family ask for bread, they receive it, and at 
 noon there is an unusual smell of bacon about the 
 cottage. He has now firing enough to dry his clothes, 
 which, before the stack was burnt, he used to put on 
 of a morning as wet as when he had taken them off 
 
 F
 
 82 BUILDERS OF GREATER BRITAIN 
 
 at night. Moreover, his rustic vanity is gratified by 
 reading in the county paper a minute account of the 
 deed that he has done. Lastly, when he returns 
 home, thinking of what he has also read in that paper, 
 as coming from the lips of a Parliament man, about 
 " the urgent necessity of some permanent improve- 
 ment in the condition of the poor," he becomes fonder 
 than usual of his wife, and kinder to his children ; and 
 when they ask him why, he is prevented from speaking 
 by what he would call a lump in the throat, but he 
 answers, aside, with one great rude tear of joy. He 
 has burnt a stack, and his heart (it has just been 
 discovered that paupers have hearts), lately so poor and 
 pinched, is now swelling with the strange pleasure 
 of hope.' 
 
 Such observations, probably made at his brother-in- 
 law's Suffolk parsonage, were calculated to nourish 
 Wakefield's enthusiasm for colonization. He might 
 well deem it a good deed to place the degraded serf 
 where he might become a man ; and if he did not 
 
 ^think him fit to become a landed proprietor until he 
 had done something to discharge his obligation to the 
 benefactors who had planted him in a new soil with 
 new hopes and new opportunities, such a view appears 
 in no respect inconsistent with equity, humanity or 
 
 '-common sense. 
 
 Wakefield was released in May 1830. He had 
 throughout had to congratulate himself upon the loyal 
 support of his family, who continued to recognise him
 
 EDWARD GIBBON WAKEFIELD 83 
 
 as their natural chief notwithstanding the discredit 
 he had brought upon them. His principal comforter 
 during his captivity, however, appears to have been his .- 
 cousin, John Head, who upon his liberation took 
 him to his house at Ipswich, where his aged grand- 
 mother was verging towards the close of her long and 
 useful life. Her admonitions and benediction, we may 
 be sure, were not wanting to Wakefield, who after no 
 long interval returned to London, to gather around 
 him the more thoughtful of the readers of A Letter 
 from Sydney^ and to commence his career as a founder , , \/ 
 by founding the Colonization Society the little leaven 
 destined to leaven the whole lump.
 
 CHAPTER IV 
 
 THE COLONIZATION SOCIETY THE SWAN RIVER 
 
 SETTLEMENT THE FOUNDATION OF SOUTH AUS- 
 TRALIA THE SOUTH AUSTRALIAN COMMISSIONERS 
 
 MR G. F. ANGAS NINA WAKEFIELD HER 
 
 DEATH EARLY STRUGGLES OF THE COLONY- 
 TESTIMONY TO THE WAKEFIELD SYSTEM 
 
 THE year 1830, memorable as the date of the 
 overthrow of the Tory party, which, with scarcely 
 an interruption, had governed England for forty- 
 six years, of the Revolution of July in France, 
 and of the outbreak of the struggle between crea- 
 tionist and evolutionary theories which Goethe 
 thought so infinitely more important than the last- 
 named event, also witnessed the inauguration of a 
 ^ reform of the colonial system of the British Empire. 1 
 'When,' asked Roebuck with a sneer before the 
 Colonial Lands Committee of 1836, 'when was it 
 that your peculiar doctrines on colonization were first 
 broached?' 'In 1830,' Wakefield replied; and he 
 
 1 It should be superfluous to remark that, whenever ' Britain ' is men- 
 tioned in these pages, Ireland is included as one of the British Islands, 
 the Britannia of the ancients.
 
 EDWARD GIBBON WAKEFIELD 85 
 
 frequently repeats this date in his Art of Colonization, 
 and describes himself and his associates as ' the theorists 
 of 1830.' 'When,' he observes, 'Englishmen or 
 Americans have a public object, they meet, appoint a 
 chairman and secretary, pass reoTutions~anT~subscrirJe~ 
 monejTj in other words, they set ro Work forthem 
 selves, instead of waiting to see what their government 
 may do for them. This self-relying course was^adopted 
 by a few people in London in 1830, who formed an 
 association which they called the Colonization Society.' 
 The views promulgated in A Letter from Sydney had 
 attracted attention, and the author's ability to take an 
 active personal part in their propagation fortunately 
 coincided with an event which demonstrated that, 
 whether or no Wakefield was very right, our colonial 
 administrators were very wrong. 'The ideas of the. 
 founders of the Colonization .Society of 1830,' he says, \/T 
 ' grew out of the first proceedings of the British Gov- / L~ 
 ernment in settling the bwan RiveTirrWesTTAustralia.' 
 Prevision of tKeTamen table failure ^FTRIs undertaking 
 had, it will be remembered, inspired his first work on 
 colonization. The cause and the nature of the disaster 
 are described in his England and America^ but were ^~- 
 even more graphically narrated viva voce to the Colonial 
 Lands Committee of 1836 : 
 
 * That colony, which was founded with a very 
 general hope in this country that it would prove 
 a most prosperous colony, has all but perished. It 
 has not quite perished, but the population is a great
 
 86 BUILDERS OF GREATER BRITAIN 
 
 deal less than the number of emigrants ; it has been 
 a diminishing population since its foundation. The 
 greater part of the capital which was taken out 
 (and that was very large) has disappeared altogether, 
 and a great portion of the labourers taken out 
 (and they were a very considerable number) have 
 emigrated a second time to Van Diemen's Land 
 and New South Wales. The many disasters which 
 _/befell this colony appear to me fO be~~accounted 
 _ / for at once by the manner in which land was 
 ', granted. The first grant consisted of 500^000 acres 
 
 Vj _ 
 
 Jojmindividual Mr Peel. That grant was marked 
 
 but upon the map in England 500,000 acres were 
 taken round about the port or landfng-place. It 
 was quite impossible for Mr Peel to cultivate 
 500,000 acres, or a hundredth part of the grant ; 
 
 / but_Qtherswere of course necessitated to go beyond 
 his- grant in order to take their land, so that the 
 first operation in that colony was to create a great 
 desertT" The Governor took another 100,000 acres ; 
 another person took 80,000 acres ; and the dis- 
 persion was so great that at last " the settlers did 
 not ^know where they weUT; that is, each settler 
 knew where he was, but he could not tell where 
 
 ^anyone" else_was, and therefore he did not know 
 his own position. That was why some people died 
 of hunger, for although there was an ample supply 
 of food at the Governor's house, the settlers did not 
 know where the Governor was, and the Governor
 
 EDWARD GIBBON WAKEFIELD 87 
 
 did not know where the settlers were. "Qje.ru 
 besides the evils resulting from dispersion, there 
 occurred what I consider almost a greater orie7~tlie~* If 
 separation of the people and the want of combiriaBIe 
 labour. ^ On rinding that land could be obtained 
 with the greatest facility, the labourers, taken out 
 under contracts which assured them of very high 
 wages if they would labour a certain time for wages, 
 laughed at their masters. Mr Peel carried out V 
 altogether about 300 persons. In six months after }( 
 his arrival he was obliged to make his own bed, 
 and fetch water for himself and light his own fire. 
 All his labourers had left him. The capital, there- N 
 fore, which he took out implements, seeds and 
 stock immediately perished ; without shepherds to 
 take care of the sheep, the sheep wandered and 
 were lost, eaten by the native dogs and killed by 
 the natives and some of the other colonists, very 
 likely his own workmen ; his seeds perished on the 
 beach ; his wooden houses were there in frame, in 
 pieces, but could not be put together, and were 
 therefore quite useless, and rotted on the beach. 
 This was the case with the capitalists generally. 
 The labourers, obtaining land very readily, and \, 
 running about to fix upon locations for themselves, 
 very soon separated themselves into isolated families, 
 like the Irish cottiers, but having, instead of a small 
 piece of land, a large extent of land. Everyone 
 was separated, and very soon fell into the greatest
 
 88 BUILDERS OF GREATER BRITAIN 
 
 distress. Falling into the greatest distress, they 
 returned to their masters, and insisted upon the 
 fulfilment of the agreements upon which they had 
 gone out ; but Mr Peel said, " All my capital is 
 gone, you have ruined me by deserting me, by 
 breaking your engagements ; and now you insist 
 upon my observing the engagements when you 
 yourselves have deprived me of the means of doing 
 so." They wanted to hang him, and he ran away 
 to a distance, where he secreted himself for a time 
 till they were carried off to Van Diemen's Land, 
 where they obtained food.' 
 
 ' The kingdom of heaven cometh not with observa- 
 tion.' Who the original members of the Colonization 
 Society were we have not been able to ascertain. 
 Wakefield says that the number of founders did not 
 pass a dozen, and describes them as l an unknown 
 and feeble body, composed chiefly of very young 
 men, some of whose names, however, have long 
 ceased to be obscure, while others are amongst the 
 most celebrated of our day.' Grote, Molesworth and 
 Stuart Mill were probably among them ; the last- 
 named, at all events, says that he became convinced 
 of the substantial soundness of the Wakefield theory 
 from the discussions which he heard about this time. 
 Mill's interests, however, were too numerous and 
 various to allow him to devote his main attention 
 to colonial matters ; and more practical service was 
 rendered by one who seldom wrote a line, but in
 
 EDWARD GIBBON WAKEFIELD 89 
 
 whose journal the reformers entrenched themselves 
 as in a fortress. This was Robert Stephen Rintoul, 
 the clear-headed, practical, and at the same time 
 tenacious and loyal Scotchman who had come from 
 Dundee to edit the Atlas^ and seceded from it to 
 the Spectator. Whether by the fascination of his 
 personal magnetism, or by cogency of reasoning, 
 Wakefield established a complete ascendancy over 
 Rintoul, and, until his departure for New Zealand 
 in 1852, could look upon the Spectator as his organ 
 in all matters relating to the colonies. Warm- 
 hearted and grateful as he ever was to friends, he 
 was forward to acknowledge the obligation. * By 
 far the heaviest of my debts of gratitude is due to 
 the proprietor and editor of the Spectator newspaper ' 
 (Art of Colonization, p. 59). And addressing Rintoul 
 personally in December 1841, he describes him as 
 ' the person to whom I am especially indebted for 
 having been able to propose with .effect recent 
 improvements in the art of colonization. You 
 patiently examined my proposals and manfully upheld 
 them when they were treated with disdain or ridicule. 
 For whatever share of credit may be due to me, I am 
 chiefly indebted to you. I should have done nothing 
 at all if you had not constantly helped me, during the 
 years when the pursuit of systematic colonization was 
 a continual struggle with difficulties.' ' 
 
 1 Rintoul annotates with no less magnanimity : ' With the generosity 
 of most high intellects, Mr Wakefield attributes to the aid of others
 
 90 BUILDERS OF GREATER BRITAIN 
 
 Another very distinguished person, who afterwards 
 contributed much to give practical shape to Wake- 
 field's ideas, Colonel Torrens, was not altogether 
 friendly at first. c But,' he told the Colonial Lands 
 Committee, c I very soon, in discussing the question 
 with the gentlemen of the Colonization Society, 
 found that they defined their terms or modified 
 their principles so as to obviate the objections raised 
 by Mr Malthus and myself. As soon as I found 
 the system so explained or modified as to permit 
 population and capital to spread freely over the 
 most fertile and best situated lands, my objection 
 was removed and my opposition ceased. The more 
 I consider, the more entirely I approve. I have a 
 strong and growing conviction that at no distant 
 period the country will have to acknowledge a large 
 debt of gratitude to the author of this plan ' that 
 is, to Wakefield. Wakefield, however, was much 
 more than the author of the plan ; he was also its 
 chief executant. * It would be affectation to pre- 
 tend,' he says, ' that in the labours of the theorists 
 of 1830 I have had any but the principal share.' 
 The justice of this claim has never been contested. 
 There have been greater thinkers and there have 
 
 successes commanded by his own great powers ; it was these ever that 
 compelled the aid which he acknowledges. The kind of merit which the 
 Spectator seeks not to disclaim, is simply that of not being frightened by 
 the novelty of a scientific proposition ; and of having, when examination 
 had assured us of its solidity, held by it until others have become as con- 
 vinced of its utility and of its practical nature as we are.'
 
 EDWARD GIBBON WAKEFIELD 91 
 
 been greater workers, but there have been few in 
 whom the gifts of the thinker and the worker have 
 been so harmoniously combined. Cobden was an 
 unanswerable debater, but a cipher on a committee. 
 George Wilson could neither convince by argument 
 nor move by eloquence, but he was unsurpassed as 
 a political organiser. Wakefield was Cobden and 
 Wilson in one, only marred by the sallies of passion 
 which he could never quite suppress, and the pro- 
 pensity to paradox almost inseparable from a vivid 
 imagination. 
 
 The Colonization Society in its first phase appears 
 to have never been influential or numerous ; it '\S 
 approached Ministers unsuccessfully and circulated 
 pamphlets not now easy to trace. , A controversy 
 with Mr Wilmot Horton and Colonel Torrens, 
 Wakefield says, put an end to it, but it revived in 1837, 
 
 ^ K * N *-, i-!-*"* 1 \ 
 
 when it had three hundred members, and traces of J* 
 its activity are found down to 1844. Long ere this 
 period, Wakefield's principles had passed from the 
 domain of theory into that of practice. The first 
 step had been taken in 1831, when, at the instance 
 of the Society, Government determined to abolish r 
 the system of free grants of land in New South 
 Wales, and to exact the price of five shillings per 
 acre, a measure which, although in Wakefield's view 
 very inadequate, nevertheless conceded his principle. 
 The employment of the purchase money as a fund y 
 for defraying the cost of transporting emigrants was
 
 92 BUILDERS OF GREATER BRITAIN 
 
 also recognised. But the promoters could neither 
 be satisfied with the hesitating application here nor 
 with any application of their ideas to a community 
 where transportation was still maintained. They de- 
 termined to found a new colony. 
 
 * At that time,' says Wakefield, * the country now 
 known by the name of South Australia was a name- 
 less desert about which nothing was known by the 
 public or the Government.' The shore line had been 
 merely coasted, though French adventurers had landed 
 on Kangaroo Island. The interior had been dis- 
 covered and very slightly explored by Captain Sturt, 
 who in 1829 had followed the River Murray down 
 to its mouth, and ascertained that it was practically 
 inaccessible from the sea owing to the shallowness of 
 the lake into which it debouches. But Sturt had 
 never stood where Adelaide now stands. In the 
 handbook to the colony which Wakefield wrote and 
 --published anonymously in 1834, when, by the incor- 
 poration of the Company, South Australia had become 
 something more than a mere geographical expression, 1 
 he can only say, after having adduced all procurable 
 testimony in favour of its capabilities, ' Everyone 
 must be left to draw conclusions for himself as to the 
 fitness of the place for the purposes of colonization.' 
 The boundaries of the * place,' as traced by Wakefield 
 
 1 The New British Province of South Australia. Charles Knight, 1835. 
 The author's name nowhere occurs in this handbook, but there are fre- 
 quent quotations from his writings.
 
 SOUTH AUSTRALIA IN 1837.
 
 EDWARD GIBBON WAKEFIELD 93 
 
 and Charles Buller jointly with a pencil upon a map 
 of Australia, and subsequently defined by Act of 
 Parliament, were 'all that part of Australia which 
 lies between the I32nd and the 14151 degrees of east 
 longitude, and between the southern ocean and the 
 tropic of Capricorn, together with the islands adjacent 
 thereto ' about a third of the extent of the colony 
 as it exists to-day. It was necessary to keep clear of 
 Port Phillip, now Victoria, then comprehended within 
 the limits of New South Wales. The new colony, it 
 was especially provided, was to be for ever exempt from V 
 convicts, and this sufficed to make New South Wales 
 and Van Diemen's Land inimical. The courage of 
 the adventurers will not be duly appreciated without 
 consideration of the risk they ran of total failure in 
 a region so little known, and where it was but 
 common prudence to expect many unforeseen ob- 
 stacles. Yet Wakefield could argue powerfully from 
 analogy that South Australia must, like New South 
 Wales, be capable of producing oil, wine, silk and 
 tobacco ; the exports of meat and fruit which we now 
 see could not be dreamed of in the absence of steam 
 and ice, nor was it surmised that South Australia was 
 a country * out of whose hills thou mayest dig brass.' 1 
 But there was the certainty of valuable timber and 
 
 1 The French explorers of Kangaroo Island mention a curious source 
 of profit, the silk of the mussel, or pinna marina, which, Wakefield says, 
 is highly valued in Italy for its convertibility into a fine and durable 
 stuff. We do not know whether it has been utilised in Australia.
 
 94 BUILDERS OF GREATER BRITAIN 
 
 the promise of coal and slate ; while it was clear that, 
 if the new colony was fit for anything at all, it must 
 be productive of wool. In fact, the prejudice that it 
 might be eminently but solely fit for pasturage re- 
 quired to be combated. The narratives of voyagers 
 were ransacked for facts, but Wakefield was greater 
 still in the application of his theory. His residence in 
 Italy had familiarised him with the practice of irriga- 
 tion, and he showed that neither the reclamation 
 of morasses nor the clearing away of the heavy 
 timber would be practicable with the dispersion of 
 labour which the no-system of older colonies en- 
 couraged, and which his system had been devised to 
 cure. ' If existing colonies had been prosperous and 
 attractive, there might have been no sufficient motive 
 for forming another settlement. The existing colonies 
 are not very prosperous and attractive, only by reason 
 of certain great defects of which the causes may be 
 discovered by any diligent inquirer. The merits of 
 the plan rest upon the errors of other plans, and 
 become obvious only when contrasted with those 
 errors.' 1 Hence Wakefield's South Australian hand- 
 book has inevitably a more polemical tone than might 
 have been looked for in an exposition of the advan- 
 tages of a new colony. 
 
 1 Robert Gouger, probably under Wakefield's inspiration, had initiated 
 a colonizing movement in 1829, but the scheme quickly fell to the ground, 
 and Gouger's efforts to revive it proved fruitless until it was taken up 
 by the Colonization Society.
 
 EDWARD GIBBON WAKEFIELD 95 
 
 When this handbook was published, the infant 
 colony, though aground for want of money, had 
 surmounted parliamentary and official impediments. 
 The history of its difficulties with the Colonial Office 
 and in the House of Commons has been often told. 
 No one who has had any experience of official ways 
 will wonder at the obstacles raised by the Colonial 
 Office ; and it must in fairness be owned that the 
 repression of crude schemes and the probation of sound 
 ones really are important official functions, the efficient 
 discharge of which has saved the British tax-payer 
 many a good penny. To rise to the height of a great 
 occasion, to put aside plausible objections and even 
 overlook serious irregularities, to feel warmly towards 
 an individual or an association which seeks to promote 
 great national objects, and to judge him or it by a 
 higher standard than that of the code or the ledger, 
 require quite a different order of gifts, which, though 
 not absent from the Colonial Office of our own day, 
 would have been vainly sought there in 1831, 
 when the South Australian projectors approached 
 the authorities with what officialism deemed an un- 
 seemly buoyancy. They consisted of two classes. The v 
 one comprised the theorists of the Colonization Society, 
 including their new and illustrious convert, Colonel 
 Torrens, who looked at the matter partly from a 
 patriotic point of view, as a relief to a struggling 
 country swamped with pauperism, partly from a scien- 
 tific standpoint, as a beautiful experiment in economics.
 
 96 BUILDERS OF GREATER BRITAIN 
 
 The other was composed of capitalists and men of busi- 
 ness, partly actuated by the hope of profit, but to a very 
 great extent, and especially in the case of Mr George 
 Fife Angas, the most prominent among them, by 
 philanthropic motives, including antipathy to convict- 
 ism and State churches. The first division had already 
 approached the then Colonial Secretary (probably Sir 
 George Murray) on the subject of systematic emigra- 
 tion. c He told us that the Government rather wished 
 to discourage emigration. When requested to observe 
 that the scheme was not one of emio-ration, but of 
 
 O J 
 
 colonization, which itself would deal with the emigra- 
 tion, his reply showed that he had not conceived the 
 distinction, nor ever paid any attention to any part of 
 the subject.' But the hopes thus dashed had been 
 revived by the action of Sir George Murray's successor, 
 Viscount Goderich, who, at the instigation, as was 
 thought, of the Under Secretary, Lord Howick, had 
 given partial effect to Wakefield's ideas by stopping 
 gratuitous grants of land in New South Wales, a step 
 highly to the honour of these statesmen, and a remark- 
 able instance of a reform accomplished without popular 
 pressure. 'The colonies,' says Wakefield, 'if they 
 had been consulted, would have earnestly objected to 
 this resolution, as they afterwards protested against 
 it ; the colonial governments, and the members of the 
 Colonial Office as a body, greatly disliked it, because 
 it went to deprive them of patronage and power ; the 
 very few persons who at the time desired this change
 
 EDWARD GIBBON WAKEFIELD 97 
 
 were obscure and feeble, and yet all of a sudden, 
 without inquiry by Parliament or the Executive 
 government, without a word of notice to those most 
 concerned, and without observation from anybody, 
 out came an Imperial decree, by which, in the I \ 
 principal colonies of England, the plan of selling waste ' 
 lands was completely substituted for that of free ! 
 grants.' The second great principle of the Wakefield 
 system, the employment of the proceeds of the land 
 sales in bringing out emigrants, was also adopted, and 
 the promoters of the South Australian project felt 
 sanguine ; but soon discovered that though their ideas 
 might find favour, they themselves were objects of 
 jealousy and suspicion. This was in some measure 
 their own fault. Colonel Torrens and Wakefield, the 
 authors of the draft of the charter for which, after an 
 abortive attempt to start colonization in 1831 on the 
 strength of a supposed verbal sanction, promptly 
 disavowed by Lord Howick, application was made 
 in 1832, wanted to regulate everything, from the 
 boundaries of the colony to the prospective enrolment 
 of a militia. This latitude of plan gave scope for 
 innumerable objections on the part of the Colonial 
 Secretary, the general drift of which may be condensed 
 into one, ' that it was proposed to erect within the 
 British monarchy a government purely republican.' 
 When the plan was modified in deference to these 
 objections, the unpropitiated Secretary retorted that, 
 * As the Committee were so ready to abandon essential
 
 98 BUILDERS OF GREATER BRITAIN 
 
 portions of their scheme, he had serious misgivings 
 as to the maturity of their knowledge and counsel.' 
 'The error,' Mr Hodder justly observes, 'was in ask- 
 ing too much and then too little, the result being that 
 they got nothing.' Yet the idea which lay at the 
 root of their error was sound. 'We attached,' says 
 Wakefield, 'the highest importance to the subject 
 of government, believing that the best economical 
 arrangements could not work well without provisions 
 for a good political government for the colonists.' 
 Here is the germ of the famous Durham Report, and 
 of the struggle for responsible government which 
 occupied Wakefield's last active years. ' As,' he con- 
 tinues, ' we could not move an inch without the 
 sanction of the Office, we now resolved to abandon 
 the political part of our scheme, in the hope of 
 being able to realise the economical part.' So baseless 
 is the assertion of late gravely made, that ' naturally 
 enough^ the scheme was hailed with rapture by 
 Government ' ! 
 
 In 1833, England and America was published, with 
 an appendix containing some of the correspondence 
 which had passed between the projectors and the 
 Government. 'The publication,' says Wakefield, 
 ' enabled us to get together another body of colonists, 
 most of those who had previously wished to emigrate 
 to Australia having gone to America.' The siege of 
 the Colonial Office was resumed, but with little effect 
 until 1834, when a powerful company was formed
 
 EDWARD GIBBON WAKEFIELD 99 
 
 under the title of the South Australian Association, 
 with Mr Whitmore, M.P., for chairman, and includ- 
 ing among the directorate such names as Buller, 
 Grote, Molesworth, Torrens, Warburton and H. G. 
 Ward. Wakefield pulled every string, but his con- 
 nection with the company was not ostensible. His 
 name was never mentioned and at the period it 
 would have been inexpedient to have mentioned it 
 at the large and influential meeting held at Exeter 
 Hall on 3<Dth June (reported in the appendix to his 
 book on South Australia), though all the speakers, 
 except Robert Owen and other dubious allies, merely 
 reiterated the ideas he had instilled into them. By 
 this time a change had taken place at the Colonial 
 Office, and the new Minister, Mr Spring Rice, 
 afterwards Lord Monteagle, a former schoolfellow 
 of Wakefield's at Westminster, was not unfriendly. 
 On condition of the promoters giving up their ambi- 
 tion to be a chartered company, and consenting that 
 their settlement should be established as a Crown 
 Colony, he promised neutrality, though not active 
 support. Not more than fifty members could be 
 induced to vote upon the bill of the Association 
 when, on 25th July 1834, the second reading was 
 carried by thirty-three to seventeen. Four days after- 
 wards a formidable opponent appeared in the represent- 
 ative of the great house of Baring, who thought that 
 the promoters might have sixty or a hundred square miles 
 to operate upon 'somewhere,' but objected to trust
 
 ioo BUILDERS OF GREATER BRITAIN 
 
 them any further. Spring Rice, stung into animation, 
 answered warmly, and the bill triumphed by seventy- 
 two to seven. It is marvellous how so novel and 
 important a measure could have escaped further dis- 
 cussion in the Committee stage, which must have 
 wrecked it at so late a period of the session. It was, 
 in fact, read a third time on 2d August. Probably 
 its opponents had calculated upon dealing it a fatal 
 blow in the Lords, where its prospects were indeed 
 most gloomy. c Opposition,' says Wakefield, ' threat- 
 ened to prove fatal, because, though it was confined to 
 a few peers, not a single one except the proposer of 
 the bill ' [the Marquis of Normanby] 'had any active 
 good will towards our measure. The Ministers, how- 
 ever bound by their colleague's promise of neutrality, 
 would give no assistance in either House, and for a 
 time the loss of the bill in the House of Lords seemed 
 inevitable. In this extremity one of us' [Wakefield 
 himself, with assistance from Mr R. D. Hanson and 
 Matthew Davenport Hill] ' thought of endeavouring 
 to interest the Duke of Wellington in our favour. 
 He assiduously examined our plan, came to the 
 opinion that " the experiment ought to be tried," and 
 then, with a straightforward earnestness that belongs 
 to his nature, and with a prompt facility for which 
 his great personal influence accounts, lifted our poor 
 measure over all obstacles. In order to mark our 
 gratitude to him, we intended, and told him so, that 
 the metropolis of the new colony should bear his
 
 EDWARD GIBBON WAKEFIELD 101 
 
 name, but this intention was shabbily frustrated by 
 some whom I abstain from mentioning/ I 
 
 Thus the famous soldier, who won no territories for 
 his country by his sword except in the East Indies, 
 added to her by his parliamentary influence a domain 
 then of 300,000 square miles, now of 900,000. 
 Nothing was' then certainly known of its capabilities, 
 except that the banks of a great river seemed promis- 
 ing for settlement. Now, although vast tracts in 
 the interior must remain for ever barren, and the 
 northern portion is only fit for Coolie labour, the 
 mere fringe along the southern coast has two millions 
 and a half acres under cultivation ; there are six 
 millions and a half of sheep, exporting forty-seven 
 millions of pounds of wool ; and nearly fifty million 
 pounds worth of gold, silver and copper have been 
 raised since the settlement of the colony. There are 
 350,000 inhabitants, raising two millions and a half of 
 revenue, and annually exporting products to the value 
 of eight millions. There are nearly 2000 miles of 
 railway, and half a million has been spent in bridging 
 the whole Australian continent with a telegraph wire. 
 When the railway shall have followed the telegraph, 
 its northern and southern termini (the latter possibly 
 Port Lincoln, on account of its splendid harbour) will 
 become the two great entrepots of the Australian waters. 
 
 1 ' They ' (the Commissioners) ' sought profit by pleasing the King 
 rather than honour by paying an honest debt.' New Zealand Gaxette, 
 28th November 1840. Hence the courtly appellation, Adelaide.
 
 loa BUILDERS OF GREATER BRITAIN 
 
 The great problems now before the colony seem to be 
 to effect this junction, and to fill the northern regions 
 with permanent Chinese or Indian settlers who will 
 not seek to return to their own land. Much prejudice 
 will have to be surmounted first, but prejudice cannot 
 for ever obstruct the development of the colony, any 
 more than it could its foundation. 
 
 The act under which South Australia was con- 
 stituted will be found in the appendix to Wakefield's 
 handbook to the colony. It embodied his two chief 
 articles of faith the sale of land at a fixed price, 
 which in this instance was not to be less than twelve 
 shillings an acre, and might be more (Wakefield 
 thought it ought to be a good deal more), and the 
 application of the proceeds to an immigration fund. 
 The introduction of convicts was entirely forbidden, 
 and self-government was secured for the colony as 
 ,, soon as the population should amount to 50,000. It 
 was a great blot in Wakefield's eyes that no provision 
 was made for popular control over local expenditure in 
 the interim ; and in other respects the act as originally 
 proposed was grievously mutilated, while Wakefield 
 was still less satisfied with the machinery appointed 
 to carry it out. c The South Australian Act confided 
 the business of colonization apart from Government 
 to a commission, the members of which were to be 
 appointed by the Crown that is, by the Colonial 
 Office. The commissioners were not to be paid. 
 It was a grand point, therefore, to find three or four
 
 EDWARD GIBBON WAKEFIELD 103 
 
 persons, masters of the theory, willing to undertake 
 the task, and likely from their personal character to 
 perform it under a strong sense of honourable re- 
 sponsibility. Such persons were found, but were not 
 appointed.' It may be plausibly and not quite untruth- 
 fully suggested that Wakefield would have liked the 
 commission to have been composed of his friends and 
 disciples, whom he could guide at his will, instead of the 
 new set that excluded him, and hinc ilia lacrimes. The 
 innuendo of Mr Angas's biographer that Wakefield 
 turned his attention to New Zealand from having 
 failed in his efforts to obtain a foremost place in 
 colonizing South Australia, is supported by a remark 
 of Wakefield's own. But on the other hand, the ten 
 commissioners, with the exception of Torrens, Angas 
 and Hutt, with their able secretary, Rowland Hill, seem 
 to have been what Wakefield called them amateurs; 
 and Mr Angas was driven, by his impatience at their 
 slowness in procuring the requisite funds, to establish 
 a supplementary company to buy land at the tempor- 
 arily reduced price of twelve shillings an acre, with the 
 prospect of reselling it for twenty. The introduction 
 of a speculative element was much to be deplored, but 
 it at all events floated the commissioners into deep 
 into very deep waters. It necessitated Angas's 
 resignation of his seat on the commission. At this 
 time (September 1835) Wakefield had been effectually 
 ostracised, an experience destined to be repeated in 
 the case of the New Zealand Company twelve years
 
 104 BUILDERS OF GREATER BRITAIN 
 
 afterwards. The remarkable letter he wrote to 
 the commissioners of 2d June 1835, from which a 
 long extract has been made, reveals wide divergences 
 of opinion, especially on the question of a sufficient 
 price for land. Meanwhile, the colony had at least 
 been set going, and, under Angas's direction, a ship, 
 admitted by Wakefield himself to have served as a 
 model for all subsequent enterprises of the kind, sailed 
 in February 1836. A landing was effected in July, 
 and the colony was formally constituted in December 
 of the same year. 
 
 Not only was the colony of South Australia the 
 visible incarnation of Wakefield's idea, but its estab- 
 lishment had cost him an enormous amount of literary 
 and other labour. 
 
 4 The plan,' he tells the South Australian Com- 
 missioners in 1835, 'has been defended in so large a 
 number of pamphlets and books that a list of them 
 would surprise you. 1 Now, all those books were 
 written by me or by friends of mine ; while I also 
 composed nearly the whole of the advertisements, 
 resolutions, prospectuses and proposals, and of the 
 applications, memorials, letters and replies to the 
 Government, and other documents of any importance 
 adopted by those three associations ' [the Colonization 
 
 * Besides the one already mentioned, two of the most important 
 were, Plan of a Company to be established for the purpose of founding a 
 Colony in South Australia, 1831. South Australia. Outline of the Plan of a 
 Proposed Colony, 1834.
 
 EDWARD GIBBON WAKEFIELD 105 
 
 Society and the South Australian Companies of 1831 
 and 1834]. 'The draft of a charter submitted to the 
 South Australian Association, and the Act of Parlia- 
 ment which was substituted for that proposed charter, 
 were drawn by a near relative of mine ' [his brother 
 Daniel] < under my immediate superintendence. As 
 I was concerned in the formation of those three 
 societies, so with each of them I held constant com- 
 munication, partly by means of frequent interviews 
 with some leading members of their committees, 
 partly by almost daily conversation or correspondence 
 with some person or other who represented my 
 opinions, informed me of whatever was done or pro- 
 posed, conveyed suggestions which I wished to make, 
 and resisted, with arguments agreed on beforehand, 
 all sorts of endeavours to alter the plan of colonization 
 which I had formed. By entering more into detail 
 I could readily satisfy you that in the steps which led 
 to the passing of the South Australian Act I have had 
 even a more constant and active participation than 
 appears by this general statement.' 
 
 Tantee mo/is erat Romanam condere gentem ! Can 
 there after this be any doubt as to the identity of 
 the founder of South Australia ? The services of Mr 
 George Fife Angas were such as to justify much 
 enthusiasm on the part of a biographer, but the limits 
 of truth and soberness are preposterously exceeded 
 when he is styled on the title-page of the record of 
 his life * father and founder of South Australia.' To
 
 106 BUILDERS OF GREATER BRITAIN 
 
 be the father of anything one must have begotten it ; 
 and a founder must at least have laid the first stone. 
 For anything that appears in Mr Hodder's biography, 
 Mr Angas took little interest in South Australia until 
 the receipt, on 3151 March 1832, of the prospectus 
 of the South Australian Land Company, drafted by 
 Wakefield. In fact, his biographer does him injustice, 
 for his name appears on the committee of 1831. He 
 does not reappear upon the committee of the associa- 
 tion of 1834, and, although appointed one of the com- 
 missioners under the Act, beyond lending his advocacy 
 to principles which Wakefield had enunciated years 
 before, he does not seem to have taken any prominent 
 part until, in the autumn of 1835, and consequently 
 a year after the passing of the Act, the threatened 
 stagnation of the enterprise for want of the circulating 
 medium led him to pledge his credit to the associa- 
 tion he established to provide the lacking funds. A 
 spirited act, but the act of a founder not of a colony, 
 but of a company. Curtius highly distinguished 
 himself by plunging into the gulf, but he did not 
 thereby become Romulus. Happily, in a work where 
 he may be supposed to have written with greater 
 freedom, 1 Mr Hodder, recognising, like the York- 
 shireman who got credit for killing the bear, that 
 ' mother helped a bit,' calls up three other founders 
 to share the honours formerly monopolised by Mr 
 
 1 History of South Australia, vol. i, p. 46. The date of Mr Hodder's 
 biography of Angas is 1891, that of his History 1893.
 
 EDWARD GIBBON WAKEFIELD 107 
 
 Angas ; Wakefield, Gouger and Colonel Torrens. 
 Gouger, according to Mr John Stephens, a contem- 
 porary authority, had worked with indefatigable per- 
 severance to launch the colony ; and Torrens, the 
 first ostensible head of the undertaking, and long 
 chairman of the commissioners, was fully entitled to 
 claim, as he did, the honour of having c planted ' it. 
 His name should not have been excluded from the 
 just except as it ignores Wakefield's superhuman 
 activity as scribe and wirepuller estimate of the 
 respective services of Wakefield and Angas in Garran's 
 Australian Atlas. c Two names are conspicuous above 
 all others in the history of the early settlement. They 
 are those of Edward Gibbon Wakefield and George 
 Fife Angas. To the former belongs the honour of 
 devising a new method of successful colonization, and 
 to the latter that of being chiefly instrumental in 
 bringing it to the test of actual experiment. Mr 
 Wakefield was a political economist and a reformer 
 in the best sense of the term, and Mr Angas a colonist 
 of exactly the right stamp.' 
 
 How Wakefield's circle looked upon South Australian 
 affairs is vividly shown by the most lovable and after 
 him the most interesting of its members. His affec- 
 tion and tender care for his child had not been unre- 
 quited. It was his brief and frail happiness to possess 
 one of the greatest blessings granted to man, a 
 charming, gifted and devoted daughter who saw 
 everything through his eyes, entered with enthusiasm
 
 108 BUILDERS OF GREATER BRITAIN 
 
 into his every project, and to whom her father's 
 colony was at the time incomparably the most inter- 
 esting spot on the face of the earth. She was in her 
 seventeenth year, ardent, animated, impressionable, and 
 endowed with the elevation of sentiment and precocity 
 of intelligence which at so early an age often indicate 
 that the root of life has not struck deep. In August 
 1834 Nina Wakefield writes to her aunt, Catherine 
 Torlesse, wife of the Vicar of Stoke-by-Nayland, 
 Suffolk, Wakefield's favourite sister, a striking beauty 
 and a woman of most solid worth : I 
 
 ' In common with papa and Dodo' [Daniel], ' my 
 mind has been so completely engrossed for the last six 
 months with the old subject of a new colony that I 
 have never been able to think of anything besides. 
 You remember how hot we were about it when we 
 last enjoyed the pleasure of seeing you (which is now 
 two years and a half ago), and you must have heard 
 how, shortly afterwards, our sanguine hopes of success 
 were upset by His Majesty's Government, to the 
 great damage of our loyalty. Well, then, you can 
 easily imagine our joy, mingled with eagerness and 
 anxiety, when, after another trial and another failure, 
 the plan has at last met with the approbation of the 
 new Colonial Minister, has been made law by the 
 Parliament, and is certain of being carried into effect 
 immediately. In the spring of 1832 I wrote you a 
 
 1 I shall hardly find anybody whose example I should so much wish 
 her to follow as yours,' he had written in 1822.
 
 EDWARD GIBBON WAKEFIELD 109 
 
 letter telling you that the colonists were soon coming 
 to the practical part of their scheme, and expressing 
 the warmest wish of us all emigrating to Spencer's 
 Gulph. I was wrong in thinking the termination of 
 our toil was at hand ; we had to go through two 
 more years of tedious expectation, harassing procras- 
 tination, uphill labours and chilling disappointments, 
 the very thoughts of which make me feel sick ; but 
 at length we have triumphed over all our open and 
 hidden foes, we are within an ace of the goal, nothing 
 but a miracle can wrest the prize from us, and again, 
 I hope more truly, I say the colonists are at the 
 practical part of their work. In the meantime I have 
 not changed my mind as to emigration ; I still wish 
 very much to go out, especially if you were going, 
 and even more than when I saw you. I have to tell 
 you, as I suppose you have no means of knowing it 
 before, that Dodo expects to obtain the appointment 
 of judge-in-chief in South Australia, 1 in which case 
 he turns colonist immediately. William also, who, 
 now peace is restored in Portugal, has got nothing 
 to do, and finds it a hard matter indeed to get paid 
 for his former services, talks of leaving the Queen's 
 [Donna Maria's] service ; in which case, as Felix is 
 already there, and Howard is sure to join them from 
 
 1 Daniel did not come to judgment until twenty years afterwards, 
 when he was appointed a judge in New Zealand. He had previously 
 been Attorney-General of Wellington and the Middle Island under Sir 
 George Grey, but resigned in consequence of his brother's opposition to 
 the Governor's policy.
 
 no BUILDERS OF GREATER BRITAIN 
 
 India presently, there will be a nice party of our 
 family at our antipodes. The more I think of it, the 
 more I wish that Uncle Charles would give up his 
 poor living and turn South Australian with you and 
 all yours, including dear Priscilla ; for then I think 
 papa might be persuaded to go too, and then what a 
 nice party we should make ! flying from straitened 
 means and anxiety for your children in future, to 
 plenty, large profits for yourself, and easy, happy 
 prospects for all your family ! Have you read papa's 
 England and America^ the third chapter especially ? 
 If not, get it, read that part carefully, and then reflect 
 on the happy opening formed by a new colony for a 
 man of small fortune and large family. Then get a 
 little book called South Australia^ compiled and edited 
 by papa. In it you will find full information on every 
 point connected with the colony, and all I pray is 
 that it may make some impression upon you. Tell 
 Uncle Charles from me to read the chapter in the little 
 book called "Inducements to Emigration." I wish 
 I were at Stoke, for I am sure I could persuade him, 
 and then if I succeeded we should have nearly the 
 whole family of us joined together in South Australia ; 
 for I take it for granted that if you went papa would 
 go too, with both his chickens.' 
 
 Girlish as this epistle is, it expresses the feelings 
 then rife in many an English middle-class circle for 
 which the mother country's bosom had become too 
 dry, and her arms too narrow. Writing a month
 
 EDWARD GIBBON WAKEFIELD in 
 
 afterwards under less restraint, Nina thus pours out 
 her feelings to her friend Rosabel Attwood, 1 in a 
 strain that proves her indeed her father's daughter. In 
 truth, there is nothing in the Letter from Sydney to 
 rival this vivid realisation of scenes beheld only by the 
 gaze of imagination through the glass of description. 
 
 ' HARE HATCH,- ^th Sept. 1834. 
 
 * MY DEAR ROSABEL, . . . When we took 
 leave of you ten days ago, I was afraid that we 
 should not meet again for many months, but I hear 
 there is a possibility of your family all turning 
 South Australians at once, in which case, as I am 
 trying hard to persuade my father to the same 
 thing, and feel pretty sure of success, we may cal- 
 culate on the chance of meeting again very soon, 
 and probably of going all in one party. If so (of 
 which, as I am naturally sanguine, I feel certain 
 already), we shall have a second set of happy days 
 on shipboard and in South Australia. If "Victoria" 
 is built on the shores of Port Lincoln, we can have 
 regattas in the large harbour and donkey excursions 
 to Sleaford Mere on the Louth Hills, and if Lake 
 Alexandrina be fixed upon as the site of the new 
 
 1 Daughter of Thomas Attwood, M.P., founder of the Birmingham 
 Political Union, whose daughter Angela married Edward Gibbon Wake- 
 field's brother Daniel. His life has been written in a privately printed 
 volume by his grandson, Charles Marcus Wakeficld. 
 
 * Near Reading, the seat of Edward Gibbon's uncle Daniel, who was 
 engaged at the time on Mr Attwood's side in the celebrated case of 
 Small v. Attiuood, which he gained.
 
 112- BUILDERS OF GREATER BRITAIN 
 
 city, the large lake itself and the beautiful glens 
 and valleys of the promontory of Cape Jones seem 
 made on purpose for our parties of pleasure. But 
 that which above all would please you, who are of 
 an imaginative turn of mind, is an exploring expedi- 
 tion into the interior of the country. I have heard 
 you talk of the pleasure of stepping on a shore 
 on which no one had been before yourself, but un- 
 fortunately for that idea, there have been so many 
 navigators, sealers, runaway convicts, etc., on that 
 coast that you cannot feel sure of treading an 
 unbeaten track, and the only way of standing where 
 white man never stood before is to be one of the 
 exploring party which will be sent, immediately after 
 the landing of the people, up the country to discover 
 and survey it. The explorers travel through forests, 
 across rivers, and over vast plains, which have never 
 been seen before ; making maps and taking sketches 
 as they go along ; amused at every mile with some 
 new feature in the country they pass through, and 
 every now and then enlivened by petty accidents 
 or the jokes of the excited young people of the 
 party. An exploring expedition is like a donkey 
 excursion on a large scale, but you have the extra 
 satisfaction of knowing that you run the risk of 
 some little danger, and that you are enjoying a 
 pleasure which cannot be enjoyed by anybody in 
 England. Think of standing on a high hill and 
 looking for leagues in every direction without seeing
 
 EDWARD GIBBON WAKEFIELD 113 
 
 a human being, or any animal except a few quiet 
 kangaroos and emus, and hearing no noise but the 
 rustling of the trees and the bubbling water of the 
 little cascade at the foot of the hill, or the bustle 
 of your party pitching their tents for the night on 
 the hillside, and preparing for supper a fat Wallabee 
 kangaroo which one of the sportsmen of the party 
 shot that morning as they were traversing some 
 beautiful grass plains. To pursue this picture. 
 Having looked on till the sun has set, and the 
 moon (aided by a set of stars totally different to 
 those to which you have been accustomed in this 
 hemisphere) has risen to light you to bed, you hear 
 a voice from the tent, " Supper is ready." You run 
 back, having had your appetite sharpened by a long 
 ride on a rough-haired pony, or perhaps a gallop 
 after a long-legged emu, and the whole party sit 
 down on the grass under the tent, and, making 
 their laps serve as tables, make an excellent supper 
 on the haunch of poor Wallabee. After supper 
 someone asks you for a song ; you give one in 
 your best style, making your shrill voice echo 
 through the adjoining forests, and frightening the 
 poor variegated parrots who have gone to roost in 
 the trees there. In token of the gratitude of the 
 party for your condescension, the captain of the 
 expedition proposes that the hill on which you are 
 going to pass the night be called after you ; all 
 present instantly assent ; a glass of wine is poured
 
 ii4 BUILDERS OF GREATER BRITAIN 
 
 on the grass at the entrance of the tent, the party 
 rise and give three hearty cheers, and the captain 
 proclaims that henceforth the hill shall be called 
 Mount Rosabel. We mark it so on the map ; a 
 short speech of thanks from you succeeds, and then 
 all go to rest, undisturbed by the howling of the 
 native dogs, who are kept off by the fear of your 
 firearms, and sleep till you hear the captain's bugle 
 next morning, when you jump up, breakfast, strike 
 your tents and set off again, and so on till after 
 a few weeks' absence you return to headquarters 
 with all your zoological, botanical, geological and 
 topographical discoveries. How do you like this 
 idea of an exploring party r 
 
 ' As for our occupations and amusements on board 
 ship, they will be manifold, and as neither you nor 
 I mean to be sea-sick, we shall make ourselves very 
 comfortable. But I hope that you will make up 
 your minds quickly to going out, for remember it 
 is not safe or pleasant to leave England between 
 the 2Oth of October and the beginning of January, 
 so that, as I am almost sure of going with papa in 
 October, we shall not have the pleasure of forming 
 one party on the voyage unless you make very great 
 haste in your preparations, which, by-the-bye, are 
 different in their magnitude when you are going to 
 the other side of the world to when you are taking 
 a trip to a watering-place. But I hope and trust 
 that you will be ready by the 2Oth of October,
 
 EDWARD GIBBON WAKEFIELD 115 
 
 and we will all sail together, singing merrily, " The 
 deep, deep sea ! " I have been thinking that, as 
 your eldest brother is a poet and you are a musician, 
 you ought to consult with him on writing a national 
 song for us South Australians, and setting it to some 
 popular and spirited tune. Let the first verse be 
 the invocation of " the future sons of Australia " to 
 their mother to raise a future empire on the shores 
 whither the blue waves of the Southern Ocean 
 are bearing them along ; then go on to describe, 
 in the following verses, the landing of the colonists, 
 the occupations to which they betake themselves, 
 and the gradual rising of the city on the waste and 
 barren coast, bringing in descriptions of the excite- 
 ment and ambition of the settlers, and ending each 
 verse with a spirited chorus on the model of "The 
 Parisienne." Let the tune be grand, but simple 
 and marked, so that every South Australian may 
 easily learn it and sing it both on the voyage and 
 on shore ; for we must practise a great deal of 
 music, as it keeps the people in good humour ; so 
 we will have concerts and private theatricals on 
 board ship, balls and musical festivals on land, but 
 no raffles or wheels of fortune. 
 
 C I have written you a long rambling letter, for 
 which I should apologise, but that I know that the 
 soberest spirits are apt to run wild on the exciting 
 subject of the new colony, and moreover, that you 
 also are much interested in the same subject. I have
 
 not written you any directions concerning Beau, as 
 I had at first intended, in consequence of the length 
 of this epistle, but I hope that you will not allow him 
 to neglect his exercise, as he is a lazy fellow, and will 
 take every advantage of your indulgence. Pray give 
 my best love to your mother and sister, remember 
 me kindly to your father and brother ; give Beau 
 two pats on the back and a kiss on the nose from 
 me ; present my best respects to Dash and the parrot ; 
 and give my kind regards to Miss Cecilia Clock.' 
 
 Alas ! poor Nina was to take a longer journey. 
 This letter, so full of brilliant youthful spirits, is dated 
 4th September. On i8th October, two days before 
 the day on which she had pictured herself as embark- 
 ing, her distracted father writes to Mrs Attwood : 
 
 'Though I do not like to leave Rosabel's letter 
 unanswered, I cannot write to her. She is too young 
 to be told of my wretched feelings, and I cannot hide 
 them. Besides, my dear Nina talks of her very often 
 with a strong affection, which you will see is natural 
 when I tell you that she was never intimate with any 
 other girl at all near her own age ; and thus I am 
 unmanned only by thinking of her. 
 
 4 My dear child is declared to have a mortal com- 
 plaint of the lungs. Two or three months is all the 
 time that I can expect to keep her in England ; but 
 a vague hope is held out to me that a warm climate
 
 EDWARD GIBBON WAKEFIELD 117 
 
 may save her. Of course I am on the point of 
 removing her ; but of giving her even that poor 
 chance I am not sure, so great is her weakness, and 
 rapid the sinking of all her bodily powers. She is 
 reduced to a skeleton, but is patient, cheerful, rational 
 and fearless. Heartbroken myself, I am obliged to 
 laugh and play with her as when she was quite well. 
 You will see why I cannot write to Rosabel, and will 
 excuse me for indulging, while writing to you, in 
 these expressions of grief. It is a sort of comfort to 
 me to imagine that you will feel with as well as for 
 me. Yet what right have I to give you the pain of 
 sympathising with me ? None, nor can I tell why I 
 inform you of my misery, unless it be that my only 
 present consolation is the number of people who have 
 shed tears at the thought of never seeing my darling 
 again. 
 
 'I have but just left her at the seaside, and am 
 hurrying to make arrangements for our departure 
 to what distance must depend on her state. If Mr 
 Attwood be with you, pray give my kind regards to 
 him, as well as to your children. Accept yourself my 
 grateful thanks for your kind attentions to my poor 
 child, believing me to remain very truly and faithfully 
 yours, E. G. WAKEFIELD.' 
 
 They went to Lisbon. The following letter, which 
 must have been written from that city, bears the 
 London postmark of 3d February :
 
 n8 BUILDERS OF GREATER BRITAIN 
 
 ' MY DEAR MRS ATTWOOD, Yesterday my dear 
 child, becoming aware of her danger, wished to write 
 to several friends by dictating to me. A letter to her 
 brother so much exhausted her that she could proceed 
 no further, but she desired me to write in her name to 
 those whom she could not but neglect, and amongst 
 them to Rosabel. It is only to keep my promise to 
 her that I send this scrawl, so that I may tell her 
 when she wakes that I have done what she desired. 
 She is sinking fast. All hope has been at an end for 
 some weeks.' l 
 
 Nina died at Lisbon on i2th February 1835. On 
 1 4th April, Waken" eld wrote to his sister : 
 
 'More than once of late I have tried in vain to 
 write to you, and I should not have got courage to do 
 so now if I had not promised to convey to you the 
 kindest expressions of regard which were uttered by 
 dear Nina on the very last day of her life. It was 
 only then that she became entirely conscious of her 
 situation. She desired me to give you a lock of her 
 hair, and to tell you that in her last moments she 
 thought of you with the tenderest affection. Indeed, 
 the prospect of dying seemed to strengthen the strong 
 love which she bore to all whom she loved at all. She 
 forgot nobody of those for whom she had ever felt a 
 regard. Of you she spoke frequently, and made for 
 
 1 'I love her so much that I am sure almost that I shall be deprived 
 of her,' he had written in Nina's infancy.
 
 EDWARD GIBBON WAKEFIELD 119 
 
 you with her poor starved hands a little packet of her 
 hair, which I shall send to you when I am able to 
 open the box that contains it. I have nothing more 
 to say. As you did not know her when she was no 
 longer a child, when she had become my friend and 
 partner in every thought and object of interest, you 
 cannot sympathise with me, you cannot estimate my 
 Toss. The vulgar notion of death has no terrors for 
 me ; but I feel half dead myself, having lost her for 
 whom alone of late years I have lived. The world 
 seems a blank. But probably, as usually happens in 
 such cases, I shall find other objects of interest. To 
 make a beginning, I intend that henceforth Edward 
 shall live with me.' 
 
 A living memorial of his daughter accompanied 
 Wakefield from Lisbon, a little Portuguese girl, whose 
 playfulness had cheered the sufferer's last days, and 
 whom he begged from her parents. He educated her and 
 sent her out to New Zealand, where she married well. 
 
 This domestic tragedvjjLnd the absence from Eng- 
 land which it necessitated, doubtless weakened Wake- 
 
 field's hold upon South Ansfralian_jiffai'nt > and perhaps % 
 
 accounts .in some measure for the supjjressjon of Jiis 
 friends jmd himself in their management. At the time 
 he must have felt the slight bitterly, but it proved a 
 most fortunate circumstance, allowing him to devote 
 his attention to a new enterprise in New Zealand, 
 where, as will be seen, his interposition was urgently 
 necessary, not merely to introduce improved methods
 
 120 BUILDERS OF GREATER BRITAIN 
 
 of colonization, but to preserve this Southern Britain 
 for the English race. It was also most fortunate that 
 he thus escaped responsibility for the initial difficulties 
 and failures of South Australian colonization, which 
 would have been attributed to him if he had taken 
 any active part in it. Indeed, those were not want- 
 ing who charged them upon the Wakefield system, 
 but the groundlessness of the accusation is apparent, 
 not only from the unanimous testimony of South 
 Australian historians, one personal adversary excepted, 
 but from the proceedings of the Parliamentary Com- 
 mittee which sifted the matter in 1841. It is 
 sufficiently plain that, on the other hand, the disasters 
 arose from neglect of Wakefield's principles. The 
 land surveys proceeded so slowly that the ;colonists 
 could not get upon the soil ; concentrated about 
 Adelaide, they consumed without producing all the 
 necessaries of life, sold at fabulous prices ; and famine 
 might have supervened but for the unexpected and 
 welcome discovery that cattle could be driven a 
 thousand miles through the bush from New South 
 Wales. When the colonists got to work, South 
 , Australia immediately became a wheat exporting 
 colony ; and a further impulse was given by the 
 public works undertaken by the new Governor, 
 Colonel Gawler. Unfortunately Gawler's zeal far 
 outran his means ; the bills he drew on London 
 were dishonoured, and general bankruptcy seemed 
 to impend. The temporary revival, moreover, had
 
 EDWARD GIBBON WAKEFIELD 121 
 
 generated a reckless land speculation, the character 
 of which may be appreciated from the single circum- 
 stance that Mr Angas's agent drew upon him for 
 ^28,000, expended in buying an estate without any 
 authority. 1 The very magnitude of the trouble 
 saved the colony by compelling the Home Govern- 
 ment to come to its assistance by advancing funds, 
 and abolishing the unsatisfactory system of government tf 
 by commissioners. Captain (afterwards Sir George) 
 Grey, already renowned as an Australian explorer, 
 was sent out to govern, and by harsh but salutary 
 retrenchments, including a nobly self-sacrificing re- \y 
 duction of his own salary, kept the colony afloat 
 until the discovery of the Kapunda and Burra Burra 
 copper mines brought it the capital needed for a 
 career of prosperity. 
 
 These incidents, it is manifest, had nothing to do 
 with the Wakefield system, which obtained the most 
 unqualified approval of the Parliamentary Committee, 2 
 
 1 Mr Angas was nearly ruined, but rode out the storm. The estate 
 ultimately justified the anticipations of the sanguine purchaser, and Angas 
 died upon it at an advanced age in wealth and honour. 
 
 1 The proceedings of this Committee were reviewed in the Edinburgh 
 Rc'vuiu for April 1842 by James Spedding, and, he being called away to 
 the United States as private secretary to Lord Ashburton, the article was 
 revised by Henry Taylor. Jeffrey says, in writing upon it to Napier the 
 editor: 'To one who looks, as I do, to those regions as the destined seat 
 of another and a greater Britain, from which the whole Eastern world is 
 hereafter to be ruled in freedom and happiness, no subject can possibly be 
 more interesting and important.' It is interesting to meet this anticipa- 
 tion of the title of Sir Charles Dilke's famous book twenty-six years 
 before the publication of the latter. Sir Charles, however, did not derive 
 it from Jeffrey, whooe letter was not published until 1879.
 
 122 BUILDERS OF GREATER BRITAIN 
 
 and has given perfect satisfaction in the colony itself. 
 After quoting a disparaging passage from Mr Samuel 
 Sidney, author of a cheap colonial handbook published 
 in 1852, Mr Anthony Foster remarks: 'That senti- 
 ments such as these might have been written by some 
 prejudiced or splenetic historian in 1840, when 
 South Australia was suffering from difficulties incident 
 to the settlement of a new country, might easily be 
 imagined ; but that they could be written at a period 
 when the success of the principles upon which the 
 colony was originally founded was apparent to every- 
 body, is somewhat astonishing. There has never 
 been, in South Australia, any doubt as to the wisdom 
 of appropriating a large proportion of the proceeds 
 received for the sale of waste lands to the importation 
 ' of immigrants.' l Mr J. P. Stow, in his account of 
 South Australia written for the Calcutta Exhibition of 
 1883 by direction of the South Australian Govern- 
 ment, observes : ' For the first two or three years delays 
 in the survey of the country lands, official mismanage- 
 ment, the unwise policy which induced the settlers to 
 remain in Adelaide instead of going into the wilder- 
 ness to attend to the rich soil, only waiting for the 
 plough to make it yield bounteous harvests, prevented 
 the Wakefield system from having fair play j but 
 when there came a wise administration of public 
 affairs, all that was propounded as the natural result 
 
 1 South Australia, Its Progress and Pros ferity . By Anthony Foster, 
 1866, pp. 12, 13.
 
 EDWARD GIBBON WAKEFIELD 123 
 
 of the system came to pass.' Mr Stow adds, indeed, 
 the important qualification, ' It worked well till the y 
 colony outgrew it.' We have already remarked on 
 the enormous change created by the cheapening and 
 acceleration of communication, which has superseded 
 much that was admirable and necessary in 1834. 
 Great rushes to a colony, moreover, such as those 
 occasioned by gold discoveries, inevitably mar one of ^ 
 the most valuable features of the Wakefield system, 
 the equal representation, by a judicious selection of 
 immigrants, of all classes of the mother country, from 
 the highest to the lowest. 1 But if it was rather for 
 an age than for all time in its practical operation, the 
 system preserves an undying importance in history as 
 the first attempt since the days of the Greeks at 
 organised colonization on scientific principles, and as 
 the agent by which vast tracts were reclaimed from 
 the mere squatter, the beachcomber, the convict, the 
 savage, and devoted to the enterprise and capital of 
 the mother country as fields for the employment of^ 
 her wealth and outlets for the relief of her poverty. 
 
 In 1873 Lieutenant-Colonel Palmer, one of the 
 original South Australian Commissioners, observ- 
 ing that by the extension of the colony across the 
 Continent the name of South Australia had become 
 
 1 South Australia, a Wakefield colony which has escaped inundation 
 by rushes of adventurers, ' was,' says Mr Walker (Australasian Democ- 
 racy, p. 33), 'fortunate in her original settlers, and has always attracted 
 a good class of emigrants." Cause and effect. Yet she has the most 
 democratic constitution of any colony.
 
 124 BUILDERS OF GREATER BRITAIN 
 
 inappropriate, and that it possessed no memorial of its 
 founder except the name of a harbour, memorialised 
 the Colonial Secretary to alter its appellation to 
 Central Australia, and to erect a monument to 
 Edward Gibbon Wakefield. Two admirable pro- 
 posals, which at the time, but not for ever, failed 
 of their effect.
 
 CHAPTER V 
 
 PROJECT FOR COLONIZATION OF NEW ZEALAND CON- 
 DITION OF THE ISLANDS IN 1837 THE NEW 
 
 ZEALAND ASSOCIATION THE CHURCH MISSIONARY 
 
 SOCIETY LORD DURHAM LORD HOWICK THE 
 
 NEW ZEALAND COMPANY OBSTRUCTION FROM 
 
 THE GOVERNMENT FIRST EXPEDITION 
 
 ' WHEN they persecute you in one city, flee to 
 another.' The salutary ingratitude of the South 
 Australian Commissioners had prevented Wakefield 
 from wasting his energies upon an undertaking at the 
 time presenting no adequate outlet for them, and urged 
 him to a new enterprise which he might hope not 
 only to shape but to control. So late as December 
 1835, indeed, he had not renounced all idea of active 
 participation in the South Australian project. He tells 
 his sister Catherine that the first ship is to sail next 
 month, and adds : ' I have half a mind to go myself 
 for a year to tell the tale of the beginnings.' But 
 that ship sailed without him, and if he had any 
 intention of following in another, this must have 
 oeen diverted by the highly important Parliamentary 
 inquiry into Colonial Lands, under the chairman- 
 
 125
 
 126 BUILDERS OF GREATER BRITAIN 
 
 ship of Mr (afterwards Sir) Henry George Ward, 
 probably set on foot at his instigation, but before 
 which, at all events, he was the most important 
 witness. Its report, to which we shall have to 
 recur, was a great victory for his ideas ; at present 
 we have only to cite a passage from his evidence, 
 showing distinctly in what direction his thoughts 
 were tending. In the course of an eloquent ex- 
 position of suitable fields for emigration, including 
 the elevated interior of Ceylon, and what we now 
 call British Columbia, he says : 
 
 c Very near to Australia there is a country which 
 all testimony concurs in describing as the fittest 
 country in the world for colonization ; as the most 
 beautiful country, with the finest climate and the 
 most productive soil, I mean New Zealand. It will 
 be said that New Zealand does not belong to the 
 British Crown, and that is true, but Englishmen 
 are beginning to colonize New Zealand. New 
 Zealand is coming under the dominion of the British 
 Crown. Adventurers go from New South Wales 
 and Van Diemen's Land, and make a treaty with 
 a native chief, a tripartite l treaty, the poor .chief 
 
 1 So printed, but Wakefield must have said triplicate. He was evi- 
 dently thinking of the remarkable deed, executed in triplicate, by which, 
 on 6th June 1835, Mr John Batman conceived himself to have acquired, 
 in consideration of certain blankets, knives, tomahawks, etc., the entire 
 site of the future city of Melbourne from the chiefs Jagajaga, Cooloolock, 
 Bungarie, Yanyan, Moowip and Mommarmalar, whose marks and seals 
 are duly appended, and who must be supposed to have declared in {he 
 Australian language, ' I deliver this as my act and deed.' One of the
 
 EDWARD GIBBON WAKEFIELD 127 
 
 not understanding a single word about it ; but they 
 make a contract upon parchment, with a great seal : 
 for a few trinkets and a little gunpowder they obtain 
 land. After a time, after some persons have settled, 
 the Government begins to receive hints that there 
 is a regular settlement of English people formed in 
 such a place ; and then the Government at home 
 generally has been actuated by a wish to appoint a 
 governor, and says, " This spot belongs to England, we 
 will send out a governor." The act of sending out a 
 governor, according to British constitution, or law, or 
 practice, constitutes the place to which a governor is 
 sent a British province. We are, I think, going to 
 colonize New Zealand, though we be doing so in a 
 most slovenly, and scrambling, and disgraceful manner.' 
 This evidence was given in June 1836. The step 
 from denouncing the actual irregular colonization of 
 New Zealand as slovenly to proposing an orderly and 
 systematic method was so short, that Wakefield must 
 have taken it in his own mind ere he had left the 
 committee room. The effect of his words upon 
 others was equally immediate. 'In consequence of 
 that statement,' he told the New Zealand Committee 
 of 1840, ' a member of the committee ' (Mr F. Baring) 
 'spoke to me upon the subject, and afterwards other 
 persons, and we determined to form an association.' 
 
 three copies is exhibited in the Manuscript Room of the British Museum 
 the nearest modern representative of the bull's hide wherewith Dido 
 encompassed the site of Carthage.
 
 iz8 BUILDERS OF GREATER BRITAIN 
 
 To enlist influential support and organise the means 
 of carrying the project out would evidently be a 
 work of time, and it is not until May 1837 that we 
 obtain unequivocal evidence of its being actually on 
 foot. On 1 2th May Wakefield writes from his then 
 residence in Hans Place, Chelsea, to his brother-in- 
 law, the Rev. Charles Torlesse : 
 
 c I have set on foot a new measure of colonization 
 on the principles which have worked so well for 
 \1 South Australia. The country is New Zealand 
 one of the finest countries in the world, if not the 
 finest, for British settlement. A New Zealand 
 Association is now in course of formation ; it will 
 comprise a more influential body than that which 
 founded South Australia. The colony, that is, the 
 body of capitalists who will first emigrate, is already 
 considerable, and comprises persons qualified for every 
 occupation but one. WE HAVE NO CLERGYMAN.' 
 After dwelling on the grievousness of this de- 
 ficiency, and exhorting Mr Torlesse to ferret out 
 a suitable ecclesiastic, not 'unequally yoked'- 'He 
 must be a superior man, and if he have a wife she 
 must be superior too ' Wakefield continues : ' Cap- 
 tain Arthur' [the third brother, born in 1799, and in 
 Place's opinion 'the flower of the flock' 1 ] 'thinks 
 
 1 Arthur Wakefield, his nephew Jerningham says, ' first went to sea 
 at ten years of age, with a pay of ,20 a year, and never afterwards occa- 
 sioned his family the expense of a shilling. He never owed anybody a 
 farthing, and yet always seemed to have money in his pocket for a 
 generous purpose.'
 
 EDWARD GIBBON WAKEFIELD 129 
 
 of commanding the first expedition, and my own 
 thoughts are turned in that direction. For me, all 
 will depend upon the manner in which the founda- 
 tion shall be laid : if it be very good, superior to any 
 other thing of the sort, then I become one of the 
 builders of the superstructure.' 
 
 On the same day Arthur Wakefield, a lieutenant 
 in the navy, who, after serving twenty-five years 
 with high credit in various parts of the world, had 
 just seen sixteen other lieutenants put over his head, 
 writes from his brother's house to Catherine Tor- 
 lesse : 
 
 'You will recollect that I mentioned to you at 
 Stoke that Edward had his eyes upon New Zealand. 
 I am so far interested about it that I fancy I see an 
 opening for useful and active employment. I have 
 made up my mind to go, if not previously employed. 
 I have been reading a great deal on the subject, and 
 am delighted with the accounts of the country. I 
 think anybody you could enlist with the qualifications 
 stated by Edward would receive very powerful aid in 
 the furtherance of his objects, although they would 
 probably be advanced more from philanthropic motives 
 than religious ones. The influence is great which 
 will be brought to bear in establishing the settlement, 
 and I fancy it may become a very grand undertaking.' 
 
 Arthur was right. The possibilities of New 
 Zealand were unlimited, but it was a seed-field in 
 great danger from its weeds. It will be convenient to
 
 130 BUILDERS OF GREATER BRITAIN 
 
 take a brief survey of its actual condition when the 
 New Zealand Association came to the rescue. 
 
 Colonization in New Zealand had one advantage 
 over colonization in South Australia, that the capa- 
 bilities of the country were well attested. None 
 doubted or could doubt that the sombre, fern-covered 
 land of silent evergreen forests, snowy peaks and boil- 
 ing springs, inconspicuous for the floral growth of 
 the soil, but brilliant with creepers and flowering trees, 
 fulfilling in its strangeness and its charm the ideal of an 
 antipodal country, was in the main fertile, pleasant 
 and well-watered. Discovered by the Dutch in 1642, 
 and afterwards more thoroughly examined by Cook, 
 distance and the dread of its stalwart cannibal popula- 
 tion had kept it from European intrusion until the 
 settlement of New South Wales, when sealers and 
 whalers began to frequent it, and by commercial inter- 
 course paved the way for a drift of the worst and best 
 elements of Australasian society ; convicts and mission- 
 aries. The native population, according to their own 
 tradition, arrived from the north-east, probably Tahiti, 
 about the beginning of the fifteenth century, 1 and in 
 the nineteenth was declining in numbers so seriously 
 
 1 That they have been long separated from the other Polynesian tribes 
 appears from the fact that although the kawa plant grows in New 
 Zealand, and is called by the same name as elsewhere, they had not 
 learned to use it as a stimulant. It may, perhaps, be conjectured 
 that kawa (which literally means bitter) is cognate with the Arabic 
 kahivin, wine, probably in some other Semitic form the origin of owes 
 and vinum, and undoubtedly of our coffee.
 
 EDWARD GIBBON WAKEFIELD 131 
 
 that, in the words of Mr Busby, the Resident, c the 
 population is but a remnant of what it was in the 
 memory of some European residents. All the apparent 
 causes in operation,' he adds, c are quite inadequate to 
 account for the rapid disappearance of the people.' 
 Everything invited the advent of a more vigorous race. 
 Already, in 1825, a company had been formed with 
 the support of Mr Huskisson, President of the Board 
 of Trade, to colonize a large land-purchase near 
 Hokianga, on the coast opposite to the Bay of Islands, 
 perhaps the sanest speculation of that crazy year. 
 The land, though legitimately acquired, remained 
 unused, the leader of the expedition being intimidated 
 by what he took for a war-dance of the natives, which 
 others interpreted as a welcome. In 1829, the Duke 
 of Wellington received a deputation on the subject, but 
 he who was virtually to add South Australia to the 
 empire then thought that * we had enough colonies.' 
 The issue thus lay between the company which 
 Wakefield had so nearly brought to maturity in May 
 1837, and the vis inertia of the British Government. 
 A mass of information respecting the condition of 
 New Zealand when the New Zealand Association 
 commenced its operations is to be found in the report 
 of the House of Lords Committee, 1838, presided over 
 by the Earl of Devon. Much of it is ably digested 
 in Surgeon-Major Thomson's instructive and enter- ' 
 taining Story of New Zealand (1859). The Com- 
 mittee, contrary to the wish of their chairman,
 
 I 3 2 BUILDERS OF GREATER BRITAIN 
 
 made no recommendation on the subject of the 
 extension of British authority over the country, 
 holding this to be a matter of public policy to be 
 decided by the Government, but the evidence they 
 collected spoke sufficiently for itself. Population, as 
 already stated, was on the decline. The European 
 element, settled and afloat, consisted of seven classes, 
 only one of which could be considered an entirely 
 satisfactory contingent ' beachcombers,' now familiar 
 to the English reader in the pages of Stevenson and 
 Louis Becke ; runaway convicts ; traders ; whalers ; 
 sawers of kauri timber ; c Pakeha Maoris,' or tame 
 whites maintained by the native chiefs, frequently 
 loose characters, but pioneers of civilization in many 
 ways ; and missionaries. It had to be owned with 
 shame that evil had in general followed in the track of 
 the white man. Where, as was frequently the case, a 
 fine harbour was rendered useless by a bar, and whites 
 accordingly came but sparingly, things were far more 
 satisfactory than at the magnificent haven of the Bay. 
 of Islands, where ships could work in and out with any 
 wind. There a town had sprung up named Kororareka, 
 which in 1838 contained a floating European popula- 
 tion of a thousand persons, with c a church, five hotels, 
 numberless grog-shops, a theatre, several billiard tables, 
 skittle-alleys, "finishes" and hells.' There was a 
 British resident, 'a man-of-war without guns,' solely 
 dependent upon his moral influence, and no other 
 restraining force except the missionaries ; although
 
 EDWARD GIBBON WAKEFIELD 133 
 
 the Committee had scarcely ceased its sittings when 
 this very community of Kororareka, finding itself in 
 danger of dissolution, established a Vigilance Com- 
 mittee, made a sea-chest with gimlet holes do duty for 
 a gaol, and arrayed minor malefactors in what Sydney 
 Smith called l the plumeo-picean robe of American 
 democracy.' One point of much importance, not 
 sufficiently attended to, came out in the course of 
 the investigation. The natives could not flee fronT\ 
 these demoralising influences, for they were a nation 
 of fishermen. They could not, like the inhabitants of 
 other parts of the world, subsist by hunting, for there 
 was nothing to hunt except rats. They had not 
 generally learned to cultivate useful vegetables, and 
 but for fish would have had little to live upon but fern 
 roots, a diet which produced the same effects upon \ 
 them as Mr Perceval, according to Peter Plymley, j 
 expected the prohibition of the export of prunes and 
 senna to produce upon Napoleon's grenadiers. Hence 
 they were confined to the coast line, exposed to 
 contamination from the lowest class of Europeans, 
 who must continue what they were until some 
 government should be established capable of en- 
 couraging the advent of decent people. Meanwhile, 
 the cultivable lands in the interior remained waste, 
 and the greater part of the Middle Island was almost 
 uninhabited. Several courses lay before the Govern- 
 ment. They might take the country over themselves 
 as a Crown Colony ; they might grant the New
 
 134 BUILDERS OF GREATER BRITAIN 
 
 Zealand Association a charter, like the East India 
 Company ; they might recognise the independence 
 of the native chiefs and govern them through the 
 missionaries ; or they might wait until France 
 annexed the islands, or the Vigilance Committee at 
 Kororareka declared them an independent republic. 
 This last course, the last which they could have 
 wished to take, was the one to which their vacillation 
 would have conducted but for the daring and deter- 
 mination of Edward Gibbon Wakefield. 
 
 Nervous shrinking from responsibility, and a dis- 
 position to let things drift until difficulties have 
 become dangers, are common faults of the official 
 mind in all departments of State, and, until counter- 
 acted by the recent development of Imperial senti- 
 ment, were especially characteristic of the Colonial 
 Office. To this must be added that the then 
 Colonial Secretary, Lord Glenelg, was probably the 
 weakest man who had ever held the post. He 
 thought that the jealousy of foreign powers might 
 be excited by the extension of British colonies ; that 
 England had colonies enough ; that they were expen- 
 sive to govern and manage, and not of sufficient 
 value to be worth developing. Other influences, 
 moreover, weighed with him and his far stronger 
 Secretary, Sir James Stephen, by no means improper 
 or discreditable in themselves, but to which they 
 / allowed undue weight. Both were fervent Evan- 
 gelicals, and actually officials of the Church Missionary
 
 EDWARD GIBBON WAKEFIELD 135 
 
 Society, of whose interests, as a consequence, they 
 were exceedingly tender. Both were philanthropists, 
 and, with very good reason, greatly dreaded the 
 contact of Europeans with the natives. It was not 
 in human nature that the missionaries should omit 
 to take full advantage of the official bent of mind 
 to protect what they had learned to regard as their 
 special preserves in New Zealand. From their own 
 point of view they had a strong case. They and they 
 only had laboured to benefit the people. They had 
 now been upwards of twenty years in the country, 
 where they had originally gone at the risk of their 
 lives, and the position they held in the esteem of the 
 natives was entirely owing to their virtues and their 
 beneficence. They had taught useful arts, in- 
 troduced useful products, combated native diseases, 
 too often derived from Europeans, with European 
 medicines, laid the foundation of education, reduced 
 the native speech to writing, translated the Scriptures 
 into it, done much to abolish cannibalism and other 
 barbarous practices, and made their own dwellings 
 object-lessons of the beauty and advantage of a well- 
 ordered home. Darwin writes on 3Oth December 
 1835 : 4 New Zealand is not a pleasant place. I look 
 back to but one bright spot, and that is Waimate, 
 with its Christian inhabitants.' At the same time 
 they were open to criticism for having done so little 
 to improve the domestic arrangements of the natives, 
 and Captain Fitzroy could not but remark that they
 
 136 BUILDERS OF GREATER BRITAIN 
 
 showed a comparative neglect of their white congre- 
 gations. Doubtless they followed ' the line of least 
 resistance,' and the fact explains their extreme 
 repugnance to an extensive immigration of European 
 settlers, who, even if moral and religious, might 
 have little affection for a theocratic regime. The 
 missionaries also had very good reason to fear that 
 white colonists would soon get into land disputes with 
 the natives, and that the latter when exasperated 
 would make no nice distinctions between laymen and 
 ecclesiastics of the obnoxious hue. The opposition, 
 therefore, which found expression in the pamphlets 
 (dated November 1837), one public, the other private 
 and confidential, of Mr Dandeson Coates, lay secretary 
 to the Church Missionary Society, was by no means 
 unnatural, but must, nevertheless, be condemned as 
 unpatriotic, ill-considered and short-sighted. It was 
 unpatriotic, because it contested the sovereignty of 
 Great Britain over a region of so much importance 
 to her. It was ill-considered, because it failed to 
 suggest any other remedy for admitted evils than the 
 multiplication of consular agents as helpless as the 
 existing Resident, and the stationing of a small coast- 
 guard ship off the coast to awe delinquents on dry 
 land. It was doubly short-sighted, inasmuch as, by 
 denying Great Britain's right of sovereignty, it denied 
 her jurisdiction over any of her subjects domiciled 
 in the country who might choose to set up a republic 
 little likely to be conducted agreeably to missionary
 
 EDWARD GIBBON WAKEFIELD 137 
 
 principles ; and because it left the door open for 
 French annexation, a real peril to which the mis- 
 sionaries themselves awoke shortly afterwards. They 
 certainly had a case in the deplorable results which 
 had so frequently attended the contact between 
 Europeans and aborigines ; but they ought to have 
 seen that this contact was inevitable, and that the 
 mischief could best be counteracted by a cordial 
 understanding with the Association, whose interest 
 in the well-being of the islands was not less than 
 theirs ; the pity was that while one party wanted none 
 but the best class of settlers, the other wanted none 
 at all. Mr Coates frankly told the deputation from 
 the Association which sought to conciliate him that 
 * though he had no doubt of their respectability and 
 the purity of their motives, he was opposed to the 
 colonization of New Zealand in any shape, and was 
 determined to thwart them by all the means in his 
 power,' and c exclude colonization,' or some equivalent 
 phrase, continually occurs in his pamphlets. It may 
 be guessed that other motives concurred which 
 could not well be avowed. Mr Coates was obliged 
 to acknowledge before the Committee that one 
 effect of annexing New Zealand would be to open 
 it to the evangelising efforts of the Propagation 
 Society, whose charter restricted its operations to 
 British possessions. No objection could decently be 
 made to the introduction of another Christianising 
 and civilising agency, but the Church Missionary
 
 138 BUILDERS OF GREATER BRITAIN 
 
 officials were hardly likely to welcome a rival society 
 with enthusiasm. 
 
 That the New Zealand Association might well have 
 gone hand in hand with any religious society appears 
 from the most important evidence given on its behalf 
 before the Lords' Committee. The soul of the 
 company and its official head were absent with 
 Wakefield and Durham in Canada, and it was chiefly 
 represented by Dr Samuel Hinds, chaplain to Arch- 
 bishop Whately, and afterwards Bishop of Norwich 
 ('almost the most agreeable and sensible man I have 
 met,' says Arthur Wakefield in a letter to Catherine 
 Torlesse), and by Dr G. S. Evans, a barrister versed 
 in international law, not more of a Vattel than of a 
 Stentor. Dr Hinds gave a luminous statement of the 
 circumstances under which a civilised state is justified 
 in extending its authority over barbarous countries, 
 dwelt on the humane intentions of the Association 
 towards the natives, and thus put the case against the 
 Church Missionary Society from its own point of 
 view : ' A missionary station will spread Christianity 
 immediately about ; but when you come to contem- 
 plate the civilisation of a whole country you must look 
 for a stronger and more effective measure. What 
 the savage wants is to have before his eyes the ex- 
 ample of a civilised and Christian community.' Mr 
 Dandeson Coates's panacea, on the other hand, was 
 the recognition of Maori New Zealand as an indepen- 
 dent power. He pointed out that the chiefs and
 
 EDWARD GIBBON WAKEFIELD 139 
 
 heads of tribes in the Northern Island, probably 
 under the influence of the British agent, had already, 
 on 28th October 1835, declared themselves a nation 
 under the title of c the united tribes,' but he did not 
 say, perhaps did not know, that this ridiculous farce 
 had been denounced by the Governor of New South 
 Wales as ' silly and unauthorised.' He could not deny 
 that the missionaries themselves had petitioned for 
 protection, to meet which necessity he recommended 
 that the natives should be induced to adopt a code of 
 laws, and that this New Zealand jurisprudence should 
 be administered by a visiting judge from the Supreme 
 Court at Sydney. Dr Evans, for the Association, easily 
 showed that no respectable person could settle in the 
 colony under such a system, unless he went with an 
 armed party of squatters, without authority from the 
 Crown. Still the Government deferred taking action, 
 and it cannot be doubted that they were at heart hostile 
 to all colonization. This jealous and unsympathetic 
 attitude was the cause of all the early misfortunes of 
 the colony, and of everything questionable in the pro- 
 ceedings of the Association itself. If the Government 
 could have found it in its heart to have treated the 
 Association as Elizabeth treated the East India Com- 
 pany, the difficult path to the existing prosperity of 
 the colony would have been in comparison brief and 
 easy. 
 
 Apart from the testimony of these principal witnesses, 
 the entire report of evidence has permanent historical
 
 HO BUILDERS OF GREATER BRITAIN 
 
 value. It throws great light on the tribal customs 
 and the difficulties connected with the transfer of 
 land ; upon the resources of the country, not then 
 adequately appreciated ; upon the simultaneous and 
 corresponsive development of the organs of benevo- 
 lence and of acquisitiveness among the missionaries. 
 Mr Flatt, a discarded catechist, revealed that many of 
 them had become great landholders and stockholders : 
 * What meaneth this bleating of the sheep in mine 
 ears ? and the lowing of the oxen which I hear ? ' 
 The most remarkable witness was a native named 
 Nayti, who had been living some time in Wakefield's 
 house, where he passed for a prince, but who on his 
 
 ! return to his country was proved to be a man of low 
 birth. His imposture, however, probably did not 
 impair his trustworthiness as to the manners and 
 customs of his countrymen. The last question asked 
 him is : c How many children will a New Zealand 
 
 I woman have before she kills any ? ' To which he replies : 
 4 Some seven and some eight ; then they begin.' 
 
 The endeavour to present a view of the condition 
 of New Zealand at the commencement of regular 
 British colonisation has carried us some time past the 
 formation of the original New Zealand Association, 
 which met for the first time at 20 Adam Street, 
 Adelphi, on 22d May 1837, a day exactly midway 
 between Carlyle's first lecture, ist May, and Cooke 
 and Wheatstone's first patent for the electric tele- 
 graph. Its origination and initial proceedings are
 
 EDWARD GIBBON WAKEFIELD 141 
 
 thus described by Wakefield in his evidence before 
 the Parliamentary Committee of 1840 : 
 
 ' We met and formed a society. The first ' 
 principle which we laid down was that the society 
 should be rather of a public than of a private 
 character ; and that at all events no member of it 
 should have any pecuniary interest in the object in) 
 view. The only object of the society was to bring 
 the subject before the public and Parliament, and not 
 to take any part as individuals in what might be the 
 result. After putting forth to the public a printed 
 pamphlet in which was published a statement of the 
 objects of the society, the next step which they took 
 was to get together a number of persons who wished ! 
 to go out to New Zealand and settle there. Those 
 persons formed themselves in a body, which may be 
 properly called an intending colony. They were a 
 body of people who separated themselves from society 
 here, and formed themselves into a distinct society 
 for the purpose of establishing themselves in New 
 Zealand, provided the Association should succeed in 
 its public object. As soon as this body was formed, 
 which comprised a number of persons of some station, 
 of good education and considerable property, the 
 association made its first communication to the 
 Government.' 
 
 We must distinguish, therefore, between the 
 Association formed for the purpose of promoting 
 colonization, but whose members, united for a
 
 142 BUILDERS OF GREATER BRITAIN 
 
 public object, were in this capacity entirely dis- 
 interested persons, and the body of actual settlers 
 constituted under its auspices. The plan l proposed 
 to the Government contemplated the annexation of 
 New Zealand and the entrusting of its administration 
 for ten years to a council elected by the founders, 
 which should have full authority, subject to disallow- 
 ance by the Colonial Secretary and by Parliament, to 
 whom its proceedings must be reported. 
 
 The Association was indeed an influential body ; 
 its first chairman, Mr Francis Baring, was of world- 
 wide fame as a banker and merchant prince ; many 
 of the directors were of the same type ; others were 
 theoretical colonial reformers like Buller, Hutt and 
 Molesworth. A name more calculated to impress 
 the popular imagination was then in the background. 
 Lord Durham returned from his St Petersburg 
 embassy on 24th June, and forthwith joined the 
 direction. The biography of this remarkable man 
 is in the able hands of Mr Stuart J. Reid ; it will 
 suffice for us to briefly describe him as an example 
 of the patrician democrat whom the juxtaposition of 
 caste and freedom have made more frequent in 
 England than elsewhere, but of whom Alfieri is 
 perhaps the standard type, an enthusiast for the rights 
 of humanity in the abstract, disdainful of humanity 
 
 1 The draft of the scheme will be found in the appendix to the 
 report of the Committee of 1840, p. 163.
 
 EDWARD GIBBON WAKEFIELD 143 
 
 as impersonated in individuals, too impatient of the 
 mass of men to make a satisfactory colleague, and, 
 though falling short of the intellectual superiority that 
 would have made a great leader, in every thought and 
 action magnanimous, disinterested and sincere. He 
 was the only statesman of the day outside of Wake- 
 field's immediate circle who had arrived at a con- 
 ception of the Imperial character of the colonies, and 
 differed even from these in so far that, while they 
 mainly thought of colonization as a remedy for the 
 ills of the State, Durham took it up rather on the 
 positive side, and dreamed and more than dreamed of 
 reviving the glories of Elizabeth. c Through every 
 page of his famous Report,' says Mr Egerton, in his 
 recent interesting volume on British Colonial Policy^ 
 1 there breathes a passion of Imperial patriotism, 
 strange enough at the time.' The date of Wakefield's 
 first acquaintance with Durham is uncertain. Had he 
 known him in 1834 he would probably have suc- 
 ceeded in interesting him in the South Australian 
 project; and as in 1835 and 1836 Durham was 
 mostly absent on his Russian embassy, it seems not 
 improbable that Wakefield may have visited him at 
 St Petersburg, a conjecture slightly supported by 
 Wakefield's possession of Russian silver utensils given 
 him by Durham. In any case, Durham's director- 
 ship in the abortive New Zealand Company of 1825, 
 and consequent claims to landed property in the 
 islands, marked him out as a fit director of the new
 
 144 BUILDERS OF GREATER BRITAIN 
 
 Association ; while his position as leader of the more 
 advanced section of the Liberal party, to which almost 
 all Wakefield's political friends belonged, and his 
 prospect of the Premiership should this prevail, must 
 have seemed more powerful recommendations still. 
 But a serious drawback to his usefulness existed, for 
 which he himself was in no way responsible. 
 
 Wakefield and his friends had a great horror of the 
 Colonial Office, which they looked upon as a demesne 
 of the Church Missionary Society. In endeavouring 
 to avoid Scylla they ran into Charybdis. They ad- 
 dressed themselves to Lord Melbourne, the Prime 
 Minister. Save for an honourable sense of public 
 duty on especial occasions, Lord Melbourne was a 
 second edition of Charles II., with more sense, dis- 
 cernment and shrewdness than anybody about him, and 
 less inclination than anybody to fatigue himself with 
 dry details. He received the representatives of the 
 Association graciously, and turned them over to Lord 
 Howick, afterwards Earl Grey, then Secretary at War. 
 But for Lord Durham's connection with the Association 
 this might have been a judicious step. Lord Howick 
 was a very remarkable person, a true statesman and 
 excellent administrator, whose weight of character 
 and fearless candour made him at a patriarchal age 
 a valuable counsellor on public affairs long after his 
 retirement from active political life. But he had the 
 worst temper of any statesman of his age except Roe- 
 buck, was in some measure estranged from Lord
 
 EDWARD GIBBON WAKEFIELD 145 
 
 Durham, who was his brother-in-law, and, in Wake- 
 field's opinion, was embittered against Wakefield him- 
 self, by old misunderstandings concerning the South 
 Australian scheme, aggravated at a later period by Lord 
 Durham's rejection on Wakefield's advice of a plan of 
 Howick's for the administration of Canada. 1 Wake- 
 field's statements on this point {Art of Colonization, pp. 
 27, 28) having never been admitted or contradicted by 
 Earl Grey, remain ex parte y and Grey always denied 
 that he had given the Association reason to expect his 
 aid. That he did become hostile is as certain as it 
 is lamentable. An alliance between him and Wake- 
 field would have done more for the colonial empire of 
 Britain than any other of the many excellent things that 
 might have been. If Wakefield could effect so much 
 by the aid of opponents or dubious supporters of the 
 Ministry, what might he not have achieved with the 
 support of a Minister like Howick, who could have 
 had carte blanche^ the Church Missionary Society and 
 its acolytes in Downing Street notwithstanding ? Un- 
 fortunately Howick, though a most able man, was not, 
 like Wakefield, a man of original ideas. Wakefield 
 wrote truly of him : * With more than a common 
 talent for understanding principles, he has no origin- 
 
 1 Wakefield writes to Lord Durham in February 1839: 'Though 
 one should think it was just over, the time is now come for your receiv- 
 ing all sorts of suggestions as to the best mode of settling affairs in 
 Canada. Every man who has a scheme will hope to persuade you to adopt 
 a bit of it. But Lord Howick would substitute a whole plan of his own 
 for the whole of your plan.* 
 
 K
 
 146 BUILDERS OF GREATER BRITAIN 
 
 ality of thought which compels him to take all his 
 ideas from somebody ; and no power of working out 
 theory in practice which compels him to be always 
 in somebody's hands as respects decision and action.' 
 Wakefield, parentally affected towards the ideas which 
 he had himself evolved, welcomed as an angel from 
 heaven anybody who would help to translate them into 
 facts. Howick, uninspired and critical, was unable to 
 put aside the dislikes and prejudices which beset him 
 from the first, or to see that much ought to be for- 
 given to the faulty persons or faulty companies by which 
 such conceptions were to be realised. Thus he lost 
 the fame he might have had as a builder of the Empire, 
 and ranks only among its eminent administrators. 
 
 Durham's support, nevertheless, for a time helped 
 the Association much in the same way as Howick's 
 might have done. The Government, fearful of his 
 heading an ultra-Liberal secession, was disposed to 
 humour him in a matter so comparatively unim- 
 portant as the foundation of a colony. Before his 
 return from Russia, a draft of the proposed bill had 
 been submitted to Lord Howick, who took objections 
 and proposed amendments, all of which, Wakefield 
 declares, whether approved or not, were accepted to 
 conciliate his support. The death of the King on 
 2oth June, and the consequent dissolution, deferred 
 further negotiations until the winter ; but the Asso- 
 ciation was not idle, and in October a little treatise 
 called The British Colonization of New Zealand^ partly
 
 EDWARD GIBBON WAKEFIELD 147 
 
 written and partly compiled by Wakefield, was issued 
 from its office in Adelphi Terrace Chambers. The 
 larger portion of the book is devoted to a description 
 of the islands, but it has also a valuable account of the 
 system of government proposed by the Association, a 
 sketch of the method to be followed in the application 
 of the Wakefield system of land sale, and an appendix 
 (by the Rev. Montague Hawtrey) on the principles to 
 be observed in intercourse with the natives, which 
 Wakefield justly terms * beautiful.' Another chapter, 
 written by Dr Hinds, holds out hopes of the appoint- 
 ment of a bishop, which, to say nothing of the attend- 
 ant spiritual advantages, 'will obviously increase the 
 respectability of the colony.' No religion and no 
 respectability, however, could conciliate the mis- 
 sionary party. Mr Dandeson Coates attacked the 
 Association and its scheme in the two pamphlets 
 already referred to, to which Wakefield replied in 
 another (dated I2th December), pointing out that 
 colonization of a very undesirable sort was proceeding 
 already, and that Mr Coates virtually proposed a 
 scheme of colonization himself. 
 
 Mr Coates's influence with Lord Glenelg appeared 
 to be paramount when, on gth December 1837, a 
 deputation from the Association was again received 
 by Lord Melbourne, and this time Lord Glenelg was 
 present. 'Lord Melbourne, who appeared to have 
 forgotten what had passed on the former occasion, 
 referred to Lord Glenelg. Lord Glenelg, without
 
 148 BUILDERS OF GREATER BRITAIN 
 
 any reference to what had passed before, stated, partly 
 from memory and partly by reading from a paper, a 
 number of objections, which, if they had been valid, 
 would be quite fatal to the scheme. He objected to 
 it on almost every possible ground. It appeared then 
 to the members of the Association that they had been 
 rather hardly treated in being allowed to proceed as 
 they had done in encouraging the public to prepare 
 a colony for emigration to New Zealand. One of 
 them was described to Lord Melbourne as having 
 taken steps with a view to emigration, and as being 
 likely to suffer very seriously from now rinding him- 
 self not able to carry his plan into effect. Lord 
 Melbourne, not knowing that he was present, said 
 that he must be mad. The gentleman got up and 
 said that he was the madman. All this excited a good 
 deal of feeling.' Within a week, however, a complete 
 change seemed to have come over the mind of the 
 Government. Lord Glenelg received another deputa- 
 tion at the Colonial Office, to which he declared that 
 the Government would grant the Association a charter 
 of incorporation on condition of its transforming itself 
 into a joint-stock company. To this the directors, 
 who had made it the very foundation of their scheme 
 that they should have no pecuniary interest in it, 
 declined to agree. 
 
 The objection was doubtless sincere, yet it can be 
 no breach of charity to conjecture that even stronger 
 objections may have been thought to apply to other
 
 EDWARD GIBBON WAKEFIELD 149 
 
 propositions of Lord Glenelg's conveyed in a letter 
 to Lord Durham, dated 2gth December. The first 
 portion of this letter, by admitting, on the strength of 
 despatches stated to have been just received, the 
 absolute necessity of establishing British authority in 
 New Zealand, threw the case of the Church Mis- 
 sionary Society overboard, but it went on to restrict 
 the Association's area of occupation, to reserve the 
 right of incorporating new companies, and to prohibit 
 purchases of land from the natives without the assent 
 of a Government Commissioner a reasonable proposal 
 if the Government and the Association worked hand 
 in hand and agreed on first principles, but which 
 might otherwise nullify its power to make any invest- 
 ments. An able reply signed by Durham, but 
 evidently drafted by Wakefield, was returned next 
 day ; and after further correspondence between the 
 two peers, which Wakefield says was too confidential 
 to be made public, the Association determined to 
 introduce a bill to carry out its objects on their 
 original basis. In taking this step it professed itself 
 confident of the support of Lord Howick, who, having 
 seen the original draft of the project (and not, as he 
 afterwards mistakenly alleged, an abstract of it), and 
 having returned it with amendments accepted by the 
 Association and incorporated in their new bill, was 
 thought to have incurred a moral obligation to 
 support it. He denied the existence of any such 
 obligation. Wakefield had apparently the best of
 
 ' 
 
 150 BUILDERS OF GREATER BRITAIN 
 
 the argument before the Committee of 1840; it 
 nevertheless appears to us that the expectation of Lord 
 Howick's support was a kind of Mambrino's helmet 
 which the Association put up for a show, but took 
 care not to test. The bill was not introduced until 
 June 1838, when Lord Durham and Wakefield were 
 both in Canada. It was thrown out by 92 to 32, 
 Lord Howick and Sir George Grey leading the 
 opposition on behalf of the Government. As this 
 destroyed all hope of the scheme being adopted in its 
 original and preferable shape, the Association deter- 
 ' mined to dissolve, and reconstitute itself as a joint- 
 stock company. 1 All its expenses had hitherto been 
 defrayed by Dr Evans and Wakefield from their 
 private means, and had amounted to about a thousand 
 pounds apiece. Compensation was voted to them. 
 Evans, who had a family, very justifiably accepted it. 
 Wakefield declined to receive a penny. 
 
 The chief ostensible ground on which the Govern- 
 ment had opposed the bill of the Association had been 
 c the want of an actual subscribed capital,' to obviate 
 which it was necessary for the Association to con- 
 descend to the status of a joint-stock company. 
 
 1 In Thomson's Story of New Zealand, it is stated, on the authority 
 of an anonymous colonist, that this dissolution was occasioned by a dis- 
 pute, developed at an entertainment given by Lord Durham to the 
 Association, whether the administration of the company's settlements 
 in New Zealand should be conferred upon Wakefield or Major Campbell. 
 The groundlessness of the tale is proved by the fact that both Wake- 
 field and Lord Durham were in Canada at the time.
 
 EDWARD GIBBON WAKEFIELD 151 
 
 Durham and Wakefield were still in Canada, but 
 provision had no doubt been made for the emergency. 
 In October the 'private and confidential' prospectus 
 of the New Zealand Colonization Company was i 
 issued, with a paid-up capital of ^250,000, and power 
 to extend it to half a million. The names on the 
 directorate were principally of City men, and the } 
 element of colonial reform was barely represented. 
 In fact, the mission of this new company was no 
 more than to form a rallying point for intending 
 emigrants, and prepare the next year's expedition. 
 Much subterranean activity was no doubt rife, but 
 the company made no overt demonstration until 
 March, by which time interesting incidents had 
 occurred. Much had been heard before the Lords' 
 Committee of the proceedings of a French adventurer, 
 the Baron de Thierry, who had claims to land in 
 New Zealand, worthless in themselves, but quite 
 good enough for the French Government to buy if 
 it desired to set up a claim to the country. The 
 Baron's brother, seeking support in England, called 
 upon Mr Angas, of South Australian reputation, who, 
 justly alarmed at what he elicited, wrote to Lord 
 Glenelg, forcibly pointing out the necessity of 
 prompt action. His advice was to proclaim British 
 authority in New Zealand without further delay, 
 and the neglect with which it was treated affords, 
 unintentionally on his part, for he was no friend to 
 the New Zealand Company, the fullest justification
 
 152 BUILDERS OF GREATER BRITAIN 
 
 of the latter's subsequent action. 1 The feeble 
 Glenelg was removed by his own colleagues in Feb- 
 ruary, and was succeeded by Lord Normanby, a 
 nobleman who had earned an enviable reputation for 
 tact and conciliatory spirit as Lord Lieutenant of 
 Ireland, and might therefore have made an excellent 
 colonial governor, but was far below the calibre of a 
 Secretary of State. On 4th March the Colonization 
 Company addressed him, pointing out that the 
 conditions required by Government had been com- 
 plied with, to which Lord Normanby replied that 
 they had been rejected once, and that the Govern- 
 ment was free from all responsibility. In plain 
 English, the Government had broken with Lord 
 Durham, and were no longer afraid of him. Silence 
 ensued until 27th April, when the company, now de- 
 / veloped into a ' New Zealand Land Company,' formed 
 / by the amalgamation of the Colonization Company, 
 the old Association, and the Company of 1825, 
 
 1 Holder's Life of G. F. Angus, pp. 208-212. The real motive of 
 the Government's opposition, vis inertiee and horror of colonial ex- 
 tension apart, is naively intimated in a passage from Mr Angas's 
 diary : 'If it were possible to get a hundred pious persons to advance 
 ,1000 each, I think Lord Glenelg would give them a charter.' 
 Dr Dunmore Lang, the eminent New South Wales colonist, published 
 four letters to Lord Durham recommending immediate annexation, and 
 the honour of preserving New Zealand for Britain is awarded to him 
 in the Dictionary of National Biography. But as his pamphlet was 
 published in July 1839, and the company's expedition had sailed in May, 
 he was but knocking at an open door as concerned Lord Durham, 
 although his letters were no doubt serviceable as a stimulus to public 
 opinion.
 
 EDWARD GIBBON WAKEFIELD 153 
 
 Lord Durham in its chair, and a paid-up capital of 
 a hundred thousand pounds in its pocket, gave a 
 splendid dejeuner, accompanied with much oratory, 
 at Lovegrove's Tavern at the West India Dock. 
 On 2Qth April the Colonial Secretary was the dis- 
 mayed recipient of a communication informing him 
 that he was aware that the company intended to 
 form a settlement in New Zealand, which informa- 
 tion his Lordship declared to be great news to him. 
 It further stated that the first ship was actually to 
 sail upon ist May, and requested letters commend- 
 atory to the Governors of New South Wales and 
 Van Diemen's Land. This application, as was 
 probably intended, forced Lord Normanby's hand, 
 and compelled him to almost pledge the Government 
 to obtain territorial rights over New Zealand by 
 negotiation with the natives ; while declaring that 
 meanwhile the Company could not be recognised, 
 and that no guarantee could be given for the validity 
 of its land purchases. The good ship Tory, of 400 
 tons, armed with eight guns and with thirty-five souls 
 aboard, none the less sailed from London on the 5th 
 May, the anniversary of the memorable day that ushered 
 in the French Revolution, and of the death of 
 Napoleon. She carried among other passengers 
 Colonel William Wakefield, agent of the Company, 
 late of Lancaster Castle, but more recently still of 
 the Portuguese and Spanish services, where he had 
 won honour as a brave and able soldier ; Wakefield's
 
 154 BUILDERS OF GREATER BRITAIN 
 
 son, Edward Jerningham, who had in the preceding 
 year accompanied his father to Canada, a youth 
 of more ability than conduct, notwithstanding the 
 steadying influences of Bruce Castle School and King's 
 College ; Dieffenbach, afterwards famous as a natu- 
 ralist ; and that poor bedizened daw, * Prince ' Nayti. 
 The commander, Edmund Chaffers, had been master 
 of the Beagle in the memorable six years' voyage 
 through which Fitzroy carried Darwin. The ex- 
 \^pedition was merely a precursor of the despatch of 
 the general body of emigrants, which was to follow 
 in time to effect a junction with it at Port Hardy, 
 
 in Cook's Straits, by loth January 1840, the height 
 of the New Zealand summer. 
 
 The Tory sailed from London, as has been seen, 
 four days after the appointed time, a delay doubtless 
 inevitable, for the Company's directors and the power 
 behind them I must have well known that no time 
 was to be lost. She cast anchor at Plymouth, and as 
 she did so a stout, fresh-complexioned, middle-aged 
 gentleman, with a countenance expressive of intelli- 
 gence and resolution, 2 left London in a post-chaise, 
 driving rapidly to the south-west. This was no other 
 
 . than Edward Gibbon Wakefield, whom rumours had 
 reached that Government intended to stop the de- 
 parture of the vessel. He urged the Tory off, and she 
 
 1 Wakefield did not become a director till some time afterwards. 
 
 2 ' A countenance expressing in turn a sort of playful cunning, warm 
 sensibility, clear insight and firm, resolute purpose.' THORNTON HUNT.
 
 EDWARD GIBBON WAKEFIELD 155 
 
 sailed unmolested on I2th May. Whether Govern- 
 ment could have worked itself up to an act of such 
 courageous cowardice cannot be known. If it had, 
 what a theme for epigram at the expense of a country 
 that stopped the Tory and did not stop the Alabama ! 
 In any case, Wakefield's vigorous action was the fitting 
 crown of a series of vigorous actions which won for our 
 Queen as bright a jewel as any of her diadem, and saved ^ 
 the Britain of the South from becoming a French 
 convict settlement, a nuisance hateful to God and 
 man, only to be abated at the cost of a bloody / 
 war. 
 
 While the Tory was ploughing the waves, the 
 Company was not idle on shore. Their prospectus / 
 had already appeared on 2d May. On I4th May 
 they held a meeting, the agenda for which, extant 
 on a sheet of paper in Wakefield's writing, afford the 
 liveliest picture of the Hero as Company Promoter. 
 The most important of the nine items also convey 
 the Company's apology for its energetic action : 
 
 'To suggest, in general terms, the expediency of 
 vigorous action as the best means of inducing Parlia- 
 ment to legalise and regulate the colonisation of New 
 Zealand ; showing that nothing will be done by 
 Government unless individuals act, and how nearly all 
 the colonies of England originated in the activity of 
 individuals ; explaining the necessary preoccupation 
 and indifference of Government, and the necessity 
 for legislation which arises when numbers emigrate
 
 156 BUILDERS OF GREATER BRITAIN 
 
 directly from England to establish themselves in a 
 distant country. 
 
 'A despatch from the Governor to the Colonial 
 Secretary explanatory of the state of the question, 
 pointing out the reasons for legislating, suggesting the 
 best mode of proceeding for national purposes, and 
 asking for an interview for the directors.' 
 
 Lord Durham accordingly wrote on 22d May 
 soliciting an interview with Lord Normanby. De- 
 putations were received on ist June and 1 3th June ; yet 
 Lord Normanby thought himself justified in stating 
 on 1 2th August that he had ' no knowledge of the pro- 
 ceedings of the New Zealand Company.' They had in 
 fact stirred him up to announce by a letter to the 
 Treasury on I3th June his intention c of adding certain 
 parts of the islands of New Zealand to the Colony of 
 New South Wales as a dependency of that Govern- 
 
 ^ ment,' and of exalting Captain Hobson, R.N., the 
 new British consul, known for gallantry in the West 
 Indies, and as the layer-out of Melbourne, to the dignity 
 
 , of Lieutenant-Governor. Circumlocutionary corre- 
 spondence between the Treasury, Colonial Office and 
 Foreign Office delayed Hobson's appointment until 
 
 / 1 4th August, two days before the Tory, which had 
 enjoyed a splendid run without sight of land save a 
 distant part of the Canaries, l saw the high land of 
 New Zealand.' She anchored at Port Nicholson, on 
 the northern side of Cook's Strait, on 2Oth September. 
 Hobson left England shortly afterwards, and arrived in
 
 EDWARD GIBBON WAKEFIELD 157 
 
 the Bay of Islands on 2Qth January 1840. The instruc- 
 tions given to the leaders of the rival expeditions, and 
 the proceedings of each, will be best related in a subse- 
 quent chapter. The narrative will be a joyful history 
 in so far as it records that the one absolutely indispens- 
 able object was accomplished by New Zealand being 
 preserved to the nation and becoming the home of 
 prosperous colonists ; a lamentable one in so far as it 
 recites the disfigurement of what might have been an 
 ideal chapter in colonization. The fault lay entirely 
 with the Government, an excellent administration in 
 many respects, but neither sufficiently large-hearted to 
 meet the Association in a generous and confiding 
 spirit, nor (which would have been equally indispens- 
 able) sufficiently resolute to subject its doings to the 
 control of a strong but sympathetic representative of 
 the Crown. It let things drift until they could drift 
 no longer, and then in a panic created an authority 
 antagonistic to the original colonists, the source of 
 endless dissension, scandal and damage, material and 
 moral. Abler men succeeded Lords Glenelg and 
 Normanby at the Colonial Office, but they could 
 never get out of the groove traced for them when 
 their predecessors compelled the high-principled and 
 disinterested directorate of the New Zealand Associa- 
 tion to descend to the level of a joint-stock company.
 
 CHAPTER VI 
 
 WAKEFIELD IN CANADA WITH LORD DURHAM IN 
 
 1838 RECALL OF THE MISSION THE DURHAM 
 
 REPORT WAKEFIELD'S SUBSEQUENT VISITS TO 
 
 CANADA. 
 
 CHRONOLOGY, or once at variance with her sister 
 History, bids us interrupt the narrative of New 
 Zealand colonization and turn to that remarkable 
 episode in Wakefield's life, his mission to Canada 
 in 1838 as, together with Charles Buller, the 
 confidential adviser of Lord Durham. It is an episode 
 brilliant indeed as regards its momentous con- 
 sequences to the Empire, but obscure as concerns 
 Wakefield's personal share in it. To the public 
 eye the mission for a while appeared a failure ; and 
 yet a real victory was won the victory of a few 
 ideas which arose silently in the minds of at most 
 three persons, and shaped a State paper which shaped 
 the destinies of the British Colonial Empire. The 
 actual authorship of the Durham Report may perhaps 
 in some degree admit of elucidation, but the origina- 
 tion of the ideas which gave it birth can never be 
 accurately determined. Durham, Charles Buller, 
 Wakefield had in common the attribute of magna- 
 
 158
 
 EDWARD GIBBON WAKEFIELD 159 
 
 nimity. None of them ever sought to deprive a 
 colleague of a particle of merited honour. As, 
 however, Wakefield's ostensible share in the transac- 
 tions of Durham's Canadian mission was of necessity 
 much less conspicuous than Durham's or Buller's, 
 it is but redressing the balance to point out that 
 he avowedly stood in the position of instructor to 
 the other two, who in colonial affairs were proud to 
 be accounted his disciples. This needs to be borne in 
 mind, for the indications of his direct agency are of 
 the slightest. It is also to be remembered that 
 whatever may have been his share in inspiring that 
 Magna Charta of the colonies, the Durham Report, 
 this was not the work that he was sent out to 
 accomplish ; he was rather expected to apply the 
 Wakefield system to the Crown lands. In truth, the 
 scope of the Durham mission became greatly enlarged, 
 and while it for a while seemed a failure as concerned 
 the minor objects which it was despatched to effect, 
 it was preparing the greatest of successes in a higher 
 sphere. Durham, Buller, Wakefield might all be 
 compared to Saul, the son of Kish ; hunting the 
 strayed asses of Canadian disaffection, they found the 
 kingdom of Responsible Government. 
 
 It will be necessary to preface the story of Lord 
 Durham's mission and its results with a brief account 
 of the occurrences which had rendered it indispensable. 
 
 The difficulties which Lord Durham was sent out 
 to settle were of ancient date, and might be traced
 
 160 BUILDERS OF GREATER BRITAIN 
 
 back to an avowedly healing measure. This was 
 the re-enactment in 1774 of the French civil law, 
 which the British conquest in 1763 had temporarily 
 annulled. The Act though drafted with such care- 
 lessness as to have for a while deprived French 
 Canadians of habeas corpus and trial by jury produced 
 on the whole a good effect, and served to maintain 
 order during the American revolutionary war. Among 
 its consequences, which may or may not have been 
 intended, was the diversion of the stream of British 
 immigration from Lower to Upper Canada, thus 
 perpetuating the French type which Lower Canada 
 retains to this day. In 1791 the colony was divided 
 into two provinces, and a separate legislature estab- 
 lished in each. The Lower Canadian House of 
 Assembly being in consequence almost entirely 
 French, it was sought to balance this by a 
 nominated legislative council almost entirely English. 
 Difficulties naturally arose, and the claims of the 
 Lower House to the right of prescribing the appro- 
 priation of the revenue led to continual disagreements. 
 In 1828 the most serious grievances of the Canadians 
 were removed, but only with the effect of showing 
 that a spirit of revolt had taken possession of them, 
 and that the redress of wrongs, originally a bona fide 
 object of agitation, had become the mere stalking 
 horse of revolution. This attitude compelled the 
 Commons to reject the not unreasonable demand for 
 an elective legislative council, preferred in 1837,
 
 EDWARD GIBBON WAKEF1ELD 161 
 
 which, so long as the two provinces remained dis- 
 united, could only have prefaced further agitation. 
 Yet the French Canadians certainly did not wish 
 to be absorbed into the United States, and they 
 can hardly have fancied themselves able to stand 
 alone. 1 The object of the discontented Anglo- 
 Canadians in the Upper Province, who had sufficient 
 reason to complain of the * family compact,' or rather 
 ring of politicians which, omnipotent in the Legis- 
 lative Council, engrossed every place of trust and 
 profit, was, on the other hand, annexation to the 
 United States. From October 1832, the Assembly" 1 
 of Lower Canada stopped the payment of the salaries 
 of the civil servants. In October 1837, insurrection 
 broke out in Lower Canada ; and in December in ^ 
 Upper Canada. Both were easily repressed, in great 
 measure by the assistance of loyal volunteers. A 
 more alarming symptom was the assemblage on 
 the United States frontier of bands of American 
 sympathisers, who in some instances actually invaded 
 the colony, although they were soon expelled. The 
 Home Government, rightly considering that the 
 situation demanded vigorous measures, suspended the 
 Canadian constitution, and announced their intention 
 of sending Lord Durham out as Governor-General 
 of the five British provinces, and also as Lord High 
 
 1 I have put the question, ' What did the " habitans " want ? ' to a 
 hundred people, French and English, and never could obtain a satisfactory 
 answer. They all said, ' No one knows ; it was neither more nor less 
 than madness." Godley, Lettertfrom America, vol. I, p. 78. 
 
 L
 
 162 BUILDERS OF GREATER BRITAIN 
 
 Commissioner, clothed with extraordinary powers for 
 the settlement of questions pending in the Canadas. 
 
 The reason which led the Government to select 
 Lord Durham for what O'Connell might have 
 called the * Head-Pacificatorship ' of the Canadas was 
 correctly stated by the Quarterly Review. ' They 
 did not know what else to do with him.' It was 
 equally dangerous to take him into the Cabinet, or 
 to leave him out. Within, he would have been 
 an imperious and uncomfortable colleague ; without, 
 he was very likely to put himself at the head of the 
 more advanced section of the Liberal party, which, 
 though entirely unable to form a government, was 
 quite capable of upsetting one. Ministers, therefore, 
 justly reasoned that, from a party point of view, 
 nothing but good could come of Lord Durham's 
 appointment to Canada. If he succeeded, the credit 
 would largely redound to the Government, and the 
 thorough settlement of the contingent problems 
 would be a matter of sufficient magnitude to detain 
 him abroad for several years. If he failed, he would 
 return discredited and harmless. Canada was simply 
 a tub thrown to a whale. 
 
 It may well be doubted whether, with the excep- 
 tion of Lord John Russell, any of the Ministers 
 thought Lord Durham the fittest man to be entrusted 
 with the government of Canada at such a crisis. And 
 yet, granted one essential condition, he really was so. 
 He had the stainless character, the high spirit, the
 
 EDWARD GIBBON WAKEFIELD 163 
 
 courage, the disinterestedness, the patriotism, the 
 imperial instinct, the industry necessary for a great 
 Governor-General. His defects were incapacity for 
 the management of men, and inexperience in adminis- 
 trative business. His haughtiness and sensitiveness 
 disqualified him for the arts which the most high- 
 minded politicians find indispensable in self-governed 
 communities, and the delicacy of his health had 
 hitherto debarred him from laborious office. These 
 were defects which able counsellors might do much 
 to remedy. Good advice was the one thing needful, 
 and the general success of Durham's measures proves 
 that he knew where to find and how to receive it. 
 The one error in administration he committed was, 
 as we shall see, in nowise discreditable to him, but 
 arose from a generous confidence that the public 
 good would for once be allowed to prevail over legal 
 technicalities. 
 
 The men in whom Durham's confidence was 
 chiefly reposed were Charles Buller and Edward 
 Gibbon Wakefield. To the appointment of Buller 
 as his chief secretary no objection could possibly be 
 made ; his character was rated even more highly 
 than his ability. The son of an Indian judge, he 
 had in his youth enjoyed the instructions of a very 
 exceptional tutor, Thomas Carlyle ; and, as a brilliant 
 young Cantab, had qualified for a legislator by be- 
 coming an 'Apostle.' Elected to Parliament at an 
 early age, he had distinguished himself by the
 
 164 BUILDERS OF GREATER BRITAIN 
 
 liberality of his sentiments, the effectiveness of his 
 oratory, and the geniality of his humour. He had 
 already rendered a great public service as chairman 
 of the Public Record Commission. He had studied 
 colonial questions under Wakefield's guidance, and 
 the strength and durability of the attachment with 
 which the latter inspired him are among the soundest 
 guarantees of his own worth. 
 
 Wakefield, of course, was far from standing in the 
 same position ; it had not yet been thought expedient 
 that his name should appear on the board of the 
 New Zealand Company ; and Durham must have 
 been well aware that his employment in any capacity 
 would expose the Canadian administration to damaging 
 attacks. The advantage, nevertheless, outweighed the 
 objection, and Durham courageously acted as he 
 deemed right in the public interest. Wakefield 
 remained intimately associated with him throughout 
 his mission, and we have Durham's own word that 
 he would have been appointed Commissioner of 
 Crown Lands but for the interposition of the alarmed 
 Ministers at home. No such vindication can be 
 offered for another appointment which created more 
 scandal than could have been occasioned by the 
 bestowal of any office upon Wakefield, and could 
 not be justified on the ground of the indispensable- 
 ness of the recipient. Mr (afterwards Sir) Thomas 
 Turton, under-secretary and legal adviser, appears 
 to have been an able lawyer, but possessed no such
 
 EDWARD GIBBON WAKEF1ELD 165 
 
 monopoly of legal knowledge as could render it 
 necessary to search the bar of England for the one 
 barrister who had been divorced by the House of 
 Lords on the ground of incestuous adultery. The 
 causes of this unfortunate step will be most fitly 
 investigated by Lord Durham's biographer. Two 
 have been assigned one the chivalrous but (in a 
 public matter) reprehensible generosity which led 
 Durham, having once rashly named Turton, to 
 stand by an unfortunate friend and former school- 
 fellow ; the other, a blunder of the Treasury's 
 which led him to think that the nomination could 
 not be retracted. As so often happens, the defensible 
 appointment was prevented, and the indefensible 
 retained. 
 
 Durham should have been doubly cautious, for 
 he knew that he was leaving in his rear a bitter, 
 unscrupulous and most formidable enemy. Lord 
 Brougham had never forgiven his brilliant oratorical 
 campaign in the autumn of 1834, when in speech 
 after speech he castigated the erratic Chancellor 
 veering to the Tories. Brougham now had his absent 
 adversary at a terrible disadvantage, and no consider- 
 ation of candour or patriotism could mitigate his 
 virulence. His animosity towards the Ministry who 
 had ostracised him was even more intense than his 
 animosity towards Durham, and he revelled in his 
 ability, now to wound them through Durham's side, 
 now to salve their hurts with the gall of his con-
 
 1 66 BUILDERS OF GREATER BRITAIN 
 
 I 
 
 temptuous patronage. The attitude of this distin- 
 guished personage towards the Melbourne Ministry 
 for several years was precisely that of a cat to a 
 mouse. Seldom indeed can it have happened that 
 a public man neither trusted nor respected by anybody, 
 without a single avowed follower in the country, 
 should make so conspicuous a figure before the world, 
 and exercise such real influence upon the course of 
 affairs. The secret was the nice balance of the con- 
 tending political parties. The moment that a strong 
 Government appeared which neither feared nor needed 
 him, Brougham sank into insignificance. 
 
 The Government bill for suspending the Canadian 
 constitution and granting extraordinary powers to a 
 Lord High Commissioner was introduced into the 
 Commons on i6th January, and passed the Lords on 
 6th February, after having been c greatly mauled and 
 worried ' by Sir Robert Peel in the Lower House, and 
 by Lord Brougham in the Upper. The Duke of 
 Wellington might easily have thrown it out, but, as 
 ever with him, patriotism prevailed over party spirit. 
 During the debate in the Commons, the note of 
 responsible government for the colony, the ultimate 
 solution of the problem, was sounded by Mr 
 Warburton, but mainly on the ground that such a 
 concession must produce absolute separation, the con- 
 summation desired by the speaker. The act provided 
 for the suspension of the constitution of Lower 
 Canada until November 1840, and for the interim
 
 I 
 1 
 
 I 
 EDWARD GIBBON WAKEFIELD 167 
 
 appointment of a special legislative council by the 
 Governor under the authority of the Crown. The 
 Governor's powers were imperfectly defined, and it 
 was to be foreseen that any attempt on his part to 
 exercise them vigorously would lead to attacks from 
 the Opposition which a feeble Government, dependent 
 upon an exiguous Irish and Scotch majority, was not 
 likely to resist. 
 
 Durham, however, nothing daunted, sailed on 24th 
 April, and arrived at Quebec on 2Qth May, accom- 
 panied by Buller and other members of his suite. 
 Wakefield appears to have arrived somewhat later. 
 Lord Glenelg, the Colonial Secretary, had believed 
 that he was already on his way to Canada by 4th 
 May. The statement is made in a private letter 
 from Glenelg to Durham, requesting that Wakefield 
 ' may have no regular appointment under the Crown. 
 You may well believe that it is not with any wish to 
 injure Mr Wakefield that we make this request. He 
 is a clever man, and may, I have no doubt, be very 
 usefully employed, and of course there could be no 
 objection to his employment unofficially. We cannot 
 help feeling, however, that to give him an official 
 station in the province might produce much dissatis- 
 faction and embarrassment.' This would not seem to 
 have been apprehended from any question as to private 
 character, but from the antipathy of the French 
 Canadians to Wakefield's views on colonization, as 
 afterwards expressed by Roebuck in a letter to the
 
 168 BUILDERS OF GREATER BRITAIN 
 
 Spectator. 'One of the chief disputes between the 
 Executive and the House of Assembly had risen 
 respecting the management of the waste lands of the 
 country, and the application of the funds derived from 
 them. Respecting this matter, Mr Wakefield had 
 made himself exceedingly busy in England had 
 proposed a new theory and proposed to withdraw the 
 lands from the surveillance of the people of the 
 colonies altogether, and to convert the funds into the 
 means of deporting the pauper population of England 
 and Ireland.' Roebuck adds that Wakefield was 
 employed in making a report upon the waste lands 
 of the colony, no doubt the basis of the elaborate 
 paper on the same subject by Charles Buller in 
 Appendix B to the Durham Report. Glenelg's 
 remonstrances with Durham on Wakefield's antici- 
 pated appointment were reinforced by a letter which, 
 a few days after Durham's arrival in Canada, he 
 received from Lord Melbourne, referring, as would 
 appear, to Turton's appointment also. To this, as 
 regarded Wakefield, he replied as follows l : 
 
 'June 15, 1838. As for Mr Wakefield, your letter 
 arrived before him, and I have therefore been able, 
 without compromising my own character and inde- 
 pendence, to comply with your desire. He holds 
 no employment or official situation whatever, nor 
 
 1 We are obliged to Mr Stuart J. Reid for the communication of 
 Lord Glenelg's letter, and of Durham's replies to him and Melbourne. 
 Melbourne's own letter seems not to be forthcoming.
 
 EDWARD GIBBON WAKEFIELD 169 
 
 will his name appear before the public at all. " Oh, 
 no ! we never mention him ; his name is never 
 heard." Really, if it were not very inconvenient, 
 all this would be very ludicrous. But I am placed 
 in a very painful situation. I am called to perform 
 an almost superhuman task. You provide me with 
 no, or most inadequate, means from yourselves, and 
 you then interfere with the arrangements I make to 
 supply myself with the best talent I can find.' 
 
 On the same day Durham thus replied to Lord 
 Glenelg : 
 
 ' I had intended to have named Mr Wakefield a 
 Commissioner of Inquiry into the Crown Lands, 
 Emigration, etc., but in consequence of your letter 
 have given up all thought of it, and Mr Wakefield 
 will hold no official situation of any kind under me 
 or the Government.' 
 
 Wakefield, nevertheless, remained in Canada, and 
 continued to render efficient service during the entire 
 period of Lord Durham's mission. The ostensible 
 Chief Commissioner of Crown Lands, Charles Buller, 
 was discharging the more onerous duties of Chief 
 Secretary, and was, moreover, Wakefield's alter ego 
 in matters of land and emigration. If, however, 
 Wakefield received any remuneration, it must have 
 come out of Durham's own pocket. 
 
 Durham's first act had been to dismiss the Execu- 
 tive Council he found, and to instal one chiefly com- 
 posed of his own immediate followers, a step fully
 
 1 70 BUILDERS OF GREATER BRITAIN 
 
 justifiable on the ground assigned, that, under the 
 existing exceptional circumstances, l the administra- 
 tion of affairs should be completely independent of 
 and unassociated with all parties and persons in the 
 province.' Walcefield, of course, was not a member 
 of this council, nor had it been intended that he 
 should be ; but he was undoubtedly consulted on 
 all important occasions. Within a few weeks of 
 his arrival, Durham had initiated several important 
 and healing reforms, three of which, a land commis- 
 sion, a registry of titles, and the commutation of feudal 
 tenures, lay within Wakefield's especial sphere. 
 
 There is a book in New Zealand given to Wake- 
 field by Lord Durham, with an inscription testifying 
 that he had never erred except when he rejected 
 Wakefield's advice. If, then, Durham considered 
 his famous Ordinance of 28th June an error, it was 
 promulgated in opposition to the advice of Wake- 
 field, but it is quite probable that neither regarded 
 it in that light. In one point of view, the Ordinance 
 ruined Durham's mission by providing his antagonists 
 at home with a point of attack, and cowing his feeble 
 friends. From the standpoint of reason it was wise 
 and right. The question at issue bore no relation to 
 the high matters of policy which Durham had been 
 sent to Canada to determine. It simply regarded 
 the fate of the captured rebels whom he found await- 
 ing trial. Their offence was notorious, but was virtue 
 in the eyes of the majority of their countrymen. An
 
 EDWARD GIBBON WAKEFIELD 171 
 
 ordinary French Canadian jury would have acquitted 
 them forthwith ; to obtain justice, recourse must have 
 been had to the odious method of a packed tribunal. 
 The prisoners themselves had fully expected this course 
 to be resorted to, and were unspeakably relieved to 
 find that Lord Durham proposed to send them out 
 of the country without trial. They gladly accepted 
 what they rightly considered an act of signal clem- 
 ency, and, if only the British Parliament had not 
 been sitting, all would have been well. But the 
 legality of Durham's Ordinance banishing the prisoners 
 though much might be said on its behalf even on 
 that ground was not altogether so clear as its ex- 
 pediency, and one detail was obviously ultra vires 
 their exile to Bermuda, where Durham had no juris- 
 diction to send them, and the Governor none to 
 detain them. A strong Government would have 
 immediately cured the irregularity by a short Act 
 of Parliament, and even a weak Government might 
 have seen that it was better to resign on such a 
 question than to allow its course to be dictated by 
 its enemies. Not so Lord Melbourne's administra- 
 tion, which, disallowing Durham's Ordinance, was 
 compelled to pass an indemnity bill, forced upon it 
 with every circumstance of humiliation by Lord 
 Brougham, who, as was said at the time, c deter- 
 mined on involving in one common misfortune and 
 disgrace the Ministers and their Governor-General, 
 not only accomplished the fall of Lord Durham, but
 
 172 BUILDERS OF GREATER BRITAIN 
 
 so contrived that all the odium of the transaction 
 should attach to the Ministers themselves.' On 
 gth August, Melbourne announced the disallowance 
 of the Ordinance. Durham's first intimation of it 
 was from the columns of an American newspaper. 
 Duller saw from the expression of his face that he 
 had received a violent shock. The official despatches 
 arrived a few days later, and on 25th September he 
 sent in his resignation. On gth October he issued 
 a proclamation, certainly ill-judged, which gave the 
 Government an excuse for summoning him home. 
 He escaped this mortification by having already left 
 the colony without having been recalled, or having 
 obtained the Royal consent, an act undoubtedly liable 
 to grave criticism, and of which more would have 
 been heard if the despatch dispensing with his ser- 
 vices had not already been upon its way. He quitted 
 Quebec on ist November, and two days later an in- 
 surrection exploded, which was suppressed without 
 difficulty by his provisional successor, General Col- 
 borne. The despatch announcing his immediate 
 return was brought to England by his aide-de-camp, 
 Captain Dillon, who, accompanied by Wakefield, 
 sailed from New York on 25th October. Rough 
 weather compelled them to transfer themselves to 
 a fishing boat off the coast of Ireland, and they 
 experienced some peril in getting to land. 
 
 Durham's return interrupted several important 
 measures in the preparation of which it found him
 
 EDWARD GIBBON WAKEFIELD 173 
 
 engaged, which, as they were doubtless agreeable to 
 the recommendations of his Report, must have given 
 him a high place among colonial legislators. Apart 
 from these and the memorable Report itself, the chief 
 fruit of his meteoric administration was the evidence 
 it yielded that an English Governor could be popular 
 in Canada. He went on steadily rising in popularity 
 throughout the whole of his rule, and enjoyed the full 
 sympathy of public opinion in his conflict with the 
 Ministry at home. Three thousand of the most 
 respectable inhabitants of Quebec attended him to 
 the place of embarkation, and his popularity in Upper 
 Canada was even greater. It must be a question how 
 far he had gone out to the country with any definite 
 views respecting the French Canadian grievances. 
 Wakefield, in a remarkable letter to the Spectator^ 
 published on 24th November in reply to letters from 
 Roebuck, the salaried agent of the French Canadians, 
 says that he for his own part had been a strong 
 Canadian sympathiser, but, as a result of an extensive 
 acquaintance with the leading men among them, had 
 been led to change his views. This is important, as 
 it leads to the recommendation for the union of the 
 British North America provinces as a means of con- 
 trolling the French element by the English, which is 
 one of the most important features of the Durham 
 Report. A journey to Saratoga, undertaken without 
 Lord Durham's knowledge, in the vain hope of meet- 
 ing the exiled Canadian leader, Papineau, and men-
 
 174 BUILDERS OF GREATER BRITAIN 
 
 tioned in this letter, is the only vestige of Wakefield's 
 political activity during Durham's mission. Thomas 
 Slingsby Duncombe, who kept a diary of his visit to 
 Lord Durham, mentions him repeatedly, but only as 
 an amateur in mesmerism. 1 
 
 Durham arrived off Plymouth on 26th November 
 after a tempestuous passage, and it was four days more 
 ere the weather moderated sufficiently to allow his 
 landing. The reception he encountered was more in 
 accordance with Wakefield's original expectations than 
 with his subsequent conclusions, if Greville is warranted 
 in attributing to him the admission upon his own 
 arrival c that he had never been so amazed in the 
 course of his life, and owned that they had all ex- 
 pected to make a very different impression, and to be 
 hailed with great applause.' Durham was hailed with 
 great applause, yet it is incontestable that the bad 
 taste of his proclamation making known the disallow- 
 ance of his Ordinance had created very unfavourable 
 comment, and that the public feeling at one time is 
 accurately expressed by a celebrated passage in Mill's 
 Autobiography : c Lord Durham was bitterly attacked 
 on all sides inveighed against by enemies, given up 
 
 1 Wakefield was a powerful magnetiser. ' I recollect,' says Mr 
 Allom, ' a story he told me of his being at an evening party where he 
 had mesmerised a young lady, but was struck with horror on rinding that 
 he could not revive her. He jumped into a cab and went in search of his 
 friend Dr Elliotson. After some hours' search Elliotson was found, and 
 they returned in company, and Dr Elliotson succeeded in reviving the 
 lady.'
 
 EDWARD GIBBON WAKEF1ELD 175 
 
 by timid friends, while those who would willingly 
 have defended him did not know what to say. He 
 appeared to be returning a defeated and discredited 
 man. I had followed the Canadian events from the 
 beginning ; I had been one of the prompters of his 
 prompters ; his policy was almost exactly what mine 
 would have been, and I was in a position to defend it. 
 I wrote and published a manifesto in the [London and 
 Westminster] Review, in which I took the very highest 
 ground in his behalf, claiming for him not mere 
 acquittal, but praise and honour. Instantly a number 
 of other writers took up the tone. I believe there 
 was a portion of truth in what Lord Durham soon 
 after, with polite exaggeration, said to me that to 
 this article might be ascribed the almost triumphal 
 reception which he met with on his arrival in 
 England.' The Spectator of 24th November made 
 copious extracts from advance sheets of this article, 
 which other journals had also received ; there was, 
 therefore, time to influence public opinion. Mill's 
 generous temper lent fire to his generally measured 
 and sober advocacy, and his essay was admirably 
 calculated to effect its object. A powerful defence 
 of Lord Durham on every point on which his conduct 
 had been impugned was thus summed up : 
 
 1 He has been thwarted, but he has not failed. He 
 has shown how Canada ought to be governed ; and if 
 anything can allay her dissensions, and again attach 
 her to the mother country, this will. He has at the
 
 176 BUILDERS OF GREATER BRITAIN 
 
 critical moment taken the initiative of a healing policy. 
 He has disposed of the great immediate embarrassment 
 the political offenders. He has shown to the well 
 intentioned of both sides an honourable basis on which 
 they may accommodate their differences. He has 
 detached from the unreasonable of one party their 
 chief support the sympathy of the United States, 
 and it is reserved for him to detach from the un- 
 reasonable of the other the sympathy of the people 
 of England. He comes home master of the details 
 of those abuses which he has recognised as the original 
 causes of the disaffection ; prepared to expose these as 
 they have never before been exposed, and to submit 
 to Parliament, after the most comprehensive inquiry 
 which has ever taken place, the system on which 
 the North American colonies may be preserved and 
 well governed hereafter.' 
 
 This promise and vow of his political sponsor 
 Durham amply redeemed by his famous Report of 
 the following year, which has become the accepted 
 exposition of the principles which should guide the 
 mother country in her dealings with her colonies. 
 The effect of the document was enhanced by the 
 sensational method of its publication. While Ministers 
 were still hesitating what to do with it, the most 
 important portion appeared (8th February) in the 
 Times. With the same decision which he afterwards 
 showed in anticipating the probable resolution of 
 Ministers to stop the pioneer vessel of the New
 
 EDWARD GIBBON WAKEFIELD 177 
 
 Zealand Company, Wakefield precipitated the Report 
 into print to save it from mutilation. According 
 to the testimony of Sir Richard Hanson, after- 
 wards Chief- Justice of South Australia, then one of 
 Durham's secretaries, adduced by Henry Reeve in 
 his edition of the Greville Memoirs, his motive was 
 jealousy for the integrity of the portion which he 
 had himself written, respecting which Durham seemed 
 inclined to make concessions. In this case he must 
 have acted without Durham's sanction, and this 
 agrees best with Durham's language in the House 
 of Lords. According to a tradition in the Wake- 
 field family, however, the sanction was given, and 
 when Durham seemed disposed to recall it he was 
 answered, c My lord, it has gone already.' In any 
 case, there can be no question that Wakefield 
 rendered a great service to the country. The 
 Report must eventually have crept into light as 
 originally written, for two thousand copies had been 
 privately printed, but it must have lost much of its 
 effect if it had been mutilated or delayed. Hanson 
 took it to the Times. The best justification for the 
 step will be found in the words of Lord Melbourne : 
 c He did not think the noble earl had any right to 
 conclude that his Report in full would be laid before 
 Parliament, but Government had now no discretion 
 in the case.' 
 
 The current belief respecting the authorship of the 
 Durham Report was thus epigrammatically expressed 
 
 M
 
 178 BUILDERS OF GREATER BRITAIN 
 
 at the time : c Wakefield thought it, Buller wrote it, 
 Durham signed it.' * Written,' says Stuart Mill, ' by 
 Charles Buller, partly under the inspiration of Wake- 
 field.' According to Sir R. Hanson's account as com- 
 municated to Henry Reeve, Buller wrote the whole 
 except two ' paragraphs ' on Church and Crown Lands. 
 But this certainly much underrates Lord Durham's 
 share. Mr Egerton, in his history of British Colonial 
 Policy, justly remarks that the style is unlike that of 
 the elaborate Report on Crown Lands in the appendix, 
 to which Buller's name is attached. It may be added 
 that a large part of it strongly resembles the style of 
 the proclamation ot October announcing the dis- 
 allowance of the Ordinance, which bears throughout 
 the impress of strong personal feeling, and which it is 
 scarcely probable that the high-spirited Durham would 
 have delegated to a subordinate. This remark is especi- 
 ally applicable to the most important portions of the 
 Report the preamble, the section on Lower Canada, 
 and the general summing up and statement of remedies 
 proposed. These wear a character of patrician dignity 
 and hauteur not easily assumed save by one to the 
 manner born. The evidence for Buller's share in the 
 authorship is nevertheless too strong to be set aside. 1 
 Miss Martineau, the last person to detract a leaf from 
 Durham's chaplet, says of Charles Buller : * It is under- 
 
 1 The Quarterly Rc-vicw seems to have been of opinion that the 
 Report wrote itself. ' We suspect, and shall be glad if our suspicion be 
 confirmed, that in Lord Durham's execrable Report Mr Buller had as 
 little hand as Lord Durham himself.'
 
 ED WAR GIBBON WAKEFIELD 179 
 
 stood that the merit of the celebrated Report is mainly 
 ascribable to him.' Perhaps the most probable view is 
 that portions were rewritten by Durham from Buller's 
 original draft, which would involve the retention of 
 much of his wording. The section on Upper Canada 
 may be entirely his. The recommendation for the 
 union of the provinces almost certainly emanated from 
 Wakefield * the person who puts in the jewel into Lord 
 Durham's Report,' says a spiteful opponent. If he 
 wrote any part of the Report on Church and Crown 
 Lands, he wrote the whole ; and the probability is 
 that by 'paragraphs,' if he really used the word, Sir R. 
 Hanson meant 'sections.' However these points may 
 be determined, an equal share of the credit of the 
 Report belongs to all concerned. It may well be that 
 Durham was guided by his advisers to truths which he 
 would not have discovered without them, but discern- 
 ment in the choice of counsellors is one of the surest 
 marks of ability in a ruler, and it is manifest that all 
 the recommendations which he sanctioned had been 
 intelligently considered and approved by him. 
 
 The great value of Lord Durham's Report was that 
 the principles justly recommended as effective for the 
 pacification of Canada were such as, once accepted 
 there, must be admitted as applicable to the colonies 
 of the entire Empire, those only excepted which 
 might be peopled by inferior races. In a masterly 
 survey of the existing condition of affairs, Durham 
 makes the same admission as we have seen Wakefield
 
 i8o BUILDERS OF GREATER BRITAIN 
 
 make in his letter to the Spectator that he had been 
 mistaken as to the causes of French Canadian discon- 
 tent. The ostensible grounds of complaint were 
 just, but the redress of these would have done little to 
 appease the quarrel, which really sprang from hatred 
 of the English nationality, and fear of being absorbed 
 by it. c I expected to find a contest between a 
 government and a people I found two nations 
 warring in the bosom of a single state. I found a 
 struggle, not of principles but of races ; and I per- 
 ceived that it would be idle to attempt any ameliora- 
 tion of laws or institutions until we could first 
 succeed in terminating the deadly animosity that now 
 separates the inhabitants of Lower Canada into the 
 hostile divisions of French and English.' The 
 remedy proposed was to give the French Canadians 
 Responsible Government 1 not the mere mockery 
 they already possessed, which left their elected repre- 
 sentatives without influence, but the same effective 
 control over the Ministry of Canada as the British 
 Parliament exercised over the Ministry of Britain. 
 As a counterweight, all the five British American 
 provinces were to be united ; disloyal and factious 
 tendencies among the French were to be checked by 
 a majority to the legislature attached to the British 
 connection, and the two races, thus acting together, 
 
 1 The subject was further developed in Responsible Government for 
 the Colonies, 1840, an able pamphlet mainly written by Charles Buller, 
 though Wakefield appears to have had a hand in it.
 
 EDWARD GIBBON WAKEFIELD 181 
 
 were to learn their real community of country and 
 of interest. 'I admit,' writes Durham, 'that the 
 system which I propose would, in fact, place the 
 internal government of the colony in the hands of 
 the colonists themselves ; and that we should thus 
 leave to them the execution of the laws of which we 
 have long entrusted the making solely to them.' 
 
 That this statement, now a commonplace, should 
 then have been thought alarming, indicates most forcibly 
 the progress of political enlightenment since that day, 
 and the extent of the national obligations to Dur- 
 ham and his coadjutors. The prevalent theory of the 
 day inconsistent with contentment or good govern- 
 ment in Canada or any colony out of its infancy 
 was fairly enough indicated by the Quarterly Review 
 in an article whose waspishness and italics bespeak 
 the pen of Croker : ' The fundamental error is this, 
 they forget that Canada is a province a colony. They 
 measure it by a scale of doctrines which are applicable 
 only to a national and independent sovereignty? The 
 idea in the writer's mind manifestly is that a colonist 
 is from the nature of the case inferior to a citizen 
 of the mother country : that a colony may have a 
 legislative assembly to play with, but must not have 
 a responsible ministry to work with. Responsible 
 government, aye or no, that was the question. The 
 Quarterly Reviewer had no doubt as to the moment- 
 ous character of the decision about to be taken. 
 'If this rank and infectious Report does not receive
 
 i8z BUILDERS OF GREATER BRITAIN 
 
 the high, marked and energetic discountenance and 
 indignation of the Imperial Crown and Parliament, 
 British America is lost.' A magnificent contribution 
 to the literature of unfulfilled prophecy ! which never- 
 theless represented the views of the bulk of the 
 Tory party, though probably not those of its most 
 intelligent leaders. To the restraining influence of 
 Peel and Wellington, and to Lord John Russell's 
 advocacy of Durham's views in the Cabinet, must 
 be ascribed the absence of any great party contest 
 on the subject in the session of 1839. A mighty 
 catastrophe had been expected. Durham, another 
 Samson, was to have buried himself in the ruins of 
 the Ministry, but the session left them both erect. 
 The doctrines of the Report, meanwhile, were 
 gradually filtering into men's minds, and Parliament 
 had scarcely risen ere Lord John Russell's instructions 
 to the new Governor, Poulett Thomson, afterwards 
 Lord Sydenham, made tentative approaches to the 
 principles of responsible government. Durham and 
 his advisers had outrun their age by thirty years in 
 proposing the union of all the North American 
 colonies, but the union of Upper and Lower Canada 
 (now Ontario and Quebec) was achieved in 1840 
 by the adroitness of Poulett Thomson, who had 
 departed primed for his task by numerous interviews 
 with Durham. Lower Canada was not then in the 
 enjoyment of representative institutions, and Upper 
 Canada was wisely being allowed more representatives
 
 EDWARD GIBBON WAKEFIELD 183 
 
 than its share, a concession which would not have 
 been necessary if Durham's plan of fusing all the 
 North American colonies had been adhered to. 
 Much friction remained to be overcome, but a 
 succession of able and prudent Governors-General 
 have so cemented the relations between the mother 
 country and the colony that while the desire, whether 
 for absolute independence or for absorption into the 
 United States, has almost died out on the one side, 
 the unworthy craving to abdicate our North 
 American Empire is even nearer extinction on the 
 other. The new constitution was signed by the 
 Queen on 23d July 1840, five days before the 
 death of Durham, almost whose last words were : 
 'The Canadians will one day do justice to my 
 memory.' He could not foresee how far beyond 
 Canada would extend the influence of his Report, 
 ' the most valuable document in the English language 
 on the subject of colonial policy' (Egerton) ; how it 
 would mould the relations of the mother country 
 with colonies yet uncreated ; and how the last days 
 of his ablest counsellor would be devoted to battling 
 for responsible government on the other side of the 
 world. 
 
 Walcefield twice returned to Canada, and for brief 
 intervals actively participated in its politics. He was 
 there from December 1841 to the winter of 1842, 
 and again from September 1843 to January 1844. 
 He says in the Art of Colonization that he had ex-
 
 1 84 BUILDERS OF GREATER BRITAIN 
 
 pectations of obtaining a permanent position in the 
 colony, but does not state what it would have been. 
 His visits seem to have had some connection with 
 the affairs of a land company, and also with canal 
 and railway legislation, and it was probably with a 
 view of furthering these projects that in November 
 1842, 'having taken a very active part in promoting 
 that change ' [the admission of the French Canadians 
 to a share in the administration] c under Sir Charles 
 Bagot ' [Lord Sydenham's successor] 'I was elected a 
 member of the Assembly by an important county 
 of Lower Canada,' i.e., Beauharnois, through which 
 the canal was to be run. The majority was 737, 
 entirely made up of the votes of three French 
 Canadian parishes. Colonial politicians are not 
 always regardful of social amenities, and at the time 
 of Wakefield's election his opponents made the freest 
 use of the bygone unfortunate circumstances in his 
 life. He read all the attacks, and tossed them one 
 after the other across the room to his secretary, 
 Charles Allom, afterwards an officer in the Indian 
 army, with the remark, * Send that to your mother.' 
 During both visits he acted as correspondent to the 
 Colonial Gazette, and his letters will be found full 
 of interest. In 1843 he took a conspicuous part in 
 Canadian politics as a Member of Parliament, and 
 one more important, though unacknowledged, as the 
 secret adviser of Sir Charles Metcalfe, the Governor- 
 General. In December 1843 he moved an amend-
 
 EDWARD GIBBON WAKEFIELD 185 
 
 ment of portentous length, and supported it by a 
 speech which Mr Dent, the diligent and judicious 
 Canadian historian of this period, calls * argumentative 
 and able.' From the summary he gives it would 
 appear well entitled to this character, although of 
 Wakefield's oratory he remarks : * As a public speaker 
 he appealed to the reason rather than to the imagina- 
 tion, and there was little of the ad captandum orator 
 about him. He was better calculated to impress 
 educated men than the public at large, and by con- 
 sequence was not well fitted for the labours of an 
 electoral campaign, although he possessed many rare 
 qualifications for a legislator.' It harmonises with this 
 account that those who have heard Wakefield speak 
 in public recollect his c dallying with his golden chain,' 
 like the chancellor in Tennyson's ' Sleeping Beauty.' 
 4 Though not much accustomed to speaking in public,' 
 says one who had heard him in New Zealand, * his 
 language was powerful and impressive ; though never 
 fluent, he was never tedious ; and when roused by 
 passion he displayed latent powers which early cultiva- 
 tion and exercise might have raised to those of a 
 commanding orator.' 
 
 The all-engrossing question during Wakefield's third 
 visit to Canada was the conflict between Sir Charles 
 Metcalfe, the Governor-General, and his Ministers, 
 which for long after Wakefield's departure kept the 
 country without a government. Wakefield sided 
 with Sir Charles, in consequence, Mr Dent thinks,
 
 186 BUILDERS OF GREATER BRITAIN 
 
 of the hostility of Ministers to his plans of coloniza- 
 tion. Mr Dent, however, who is the very model of 
 a fair-minded historian, adds that he became one of 
 Sir Charles's most trusted advisers ; and it would not 
 be easy to produce a higher testimonial to character 
 than the confidence of Sir Charles Metcalfe. The 
 controversies of that day are now matters of history, 
 but they retain a permanent importance for the 
 biography of Wakefield as the parents of two of his 
 most remarkable literary productions, one most 
 creditable to his moral nature, the other to his 
 intellectual. The author of the noble character of 
 Sir Charles Metcalfe, ' whom God made greater than 
 the Colonial Office,' * was assuredly not insensible to 
 the beauty of virtue, his pen is steeped in genuine 
 veneration for c the Christian gentleman, of whom it 
 is not enough to say that nothing would persuade 
 him to take an unfair advantage ; he can hardly per- 
 suade himself to take a fair one : ' the impersonation, 
 the writer evidently feels, of a higher ideal than it is 
 given to himself to attain. It is believed that the 
 publication of this pamphlet prevented Sir Charles 
 Metcalfe's recall. Far more important, however, is 
 another production which perhaps has never been 
 mentioned in a book from the day of its publication 
 
 1 A Vieiu of Sir Charles Mctca/fe's Government of Canada. By a 
 Member of the Provincial Parliament. London, 1844. The author of 
 a violent pamphlet against Wakefield, not willing that he should have 
 the credit of a fine saying, altered ' God ' in the above quotation into 
 ' Government ' !
 
 EDWARD GIBBON WAKEFIELD 187 
 
 to the present an essay, nevertheless, of such wisdom, 
 insight and vigour that the present writer would 
 deem all the pains bestowed on this biography well 
 bestowed if they had accomplished nothing else than 
 its retrieval from oblivion. 
 
 Fisher's Colonial Magazine for July 1844 contained 
 forty-five octavo pages of excruciatingly small print, 
 entitled ' Sir Charles Metcalfe in Canada,' and attributed 
 in the general preface to c an eminent public character,' 
 but Wakefield's authorship is patent in every line. 
 About half of it is occupied with the ephemeral affairs 
 of Sir Charles Metcalfe 's administration, the rest is a 
 magnificent essay on Responsible Government, attack- 
 ing the fallacies which then prevailed as to the right 
 of the mother country to keep her colonies in leading 
 strings, expounding the principles of the British 
 Constitution itself, and showing with what ease and 
 safety they admit of application to the colonies. The 
 special evils of the denial of representative institutions 
 to colonies under the sway of a Governor and an 
 official clique are vigorously exposed ; nominated 
 councils and civil lists independent of popular control 
 come in for their share of censure ; and the scheme 
 of giving the colonies direct representation in the 
 Imperial legislature is discussed and rejected. The 
 superiority of the English system to republican de- 
 mocracy is asserted, and the argument involves a most 
 acute examination of the inevitable, and therefore 
 incurable, defects of the constitution of the United
 
 1 88 BUILDERS OF GREATER BRITAIN 
 
 States. Though there is no direct reference to 
 Ireland, the impossibility of any system of Home Rule, 
 short of an absolute legislative separation, is pointed 
 out by anticipation. The soundest rules for perma- 
 nently attaching the colonies to the mother country are 
 laid down ; and towards the conclusion, the local affairs 
 of Canada disposed of, the author's imperial instinct 
 finds expression in a prevision of the probable future 
 relations between Britain and her colonial empire : 
 
 1 True it is, that the wide continents we are colon- 
 ising promise at some distant day to maintain com- 
 munities too powerful for the precise colonial relation, 
 even as I have been describing it, to continue for ever 
 to subsist between them and the people of these 
 islands. But that period is distant, though inevitable. 
 All we can certainly know is that it will come ; that 
 at some future time our colonies, powerful as the 
 parent state or more so, must either, through mis- 
 management, have become independent states more 
 likely to be its enemies than its hearty friends, or 
 else through a wise foresight have been kept closely 
 bound to it confederacy in some shape by degrees 
 taking the place of the old bond of union the British 
 nation continuing still united so far as perpetual peace, 
 mutual -good understanding, freedom of commerce 
 and identity of foreign policy can unite it these 
 islands still its metropolis, though their people be no 
 longer the admitted holders of its whole imperial 
 power. All we can do is to take care of the present
 
 EDWARD GIBBON WAKEFIELD 189 
 
 and near future. The future that is far off will take 
 good care of itself. For this age and the next it is 
 enough to know that colonies, built up by our own 
 people, and gifted with our own free institutions, 
 must be bound alike by the natural feelings and the 
 commercial wants of their people, to ourselves and 
 our policy, no less than to our trade ; that neither 
 the one tie nor the other need we, nor yet if we are 
 wise shall we, ever let go or loosen.' 
 
 In another remarkable passage Wakefield refutes 
 by anticipation the groundless objection to his system, 
 so frequently brought forward since his death, of its 
 having been contrived in the interest of an oligarchic 
 plutocracy, and designed to stereotype the social 
 inequalities which prevailed in the parent country. 
 He was, indeed, desirous that all classes, the higher as 
 well as the lower, should have their share of the 
 opportunities for expansion afforded by our colonial 
 empire ; he wished for a large infusion of refinement 
 and culture to keep colonial life, public and private, 
 at a high level ; he believed, and time has justified 
 him, that the colonies could be withheld from setting 
 up as independent republics, and welcomed every 
 influence tending to retain them within the imperial 
 system ; but he never believed that all the institution 
 and all the class distinctions of Great Britain and 
 Ireland could be replanted at the Antipodes. After 
 enumerating some of the more obvious causes which 
 render it ' impossible to establish in a dependency the
 
 : 9 o BUILDERS OF GREATER BRITAIN 
 
 literal and exact transcript of the political institutions 
 of an independent state,' he continues : 
 
 ' It is clear enough, then, that in attempting to 
 give to our colonies political institutions essentially 
 modelled upon our own, it is idle to think of their 
 adopting all our aristocratic peculiarities, be they ever 
 so cherished and venerable, whether in Church or 
 State. In the one or two of our most recently planted 
 settlements ' [South Australia and New Zealand] 
 4 where pains have been taken in the first instance to 
 transplant an organised society of rich and poor, land- 
 holders, merchants, tradesmen, artisans and labourers 
 all together, and to have them carry at once with 
 them from home into the wilderness their church and 
 schoolhouse, a state of things promises to grow up 
 more like our own than is to be found in our older 
 colonial possessions. But no such marked inequalities 
 of rank as prevail at home can by any chance be 
 made a lasting feature of the social state, even in 
 colonies so founded. As to hereditary rank, with here 
 and there perhaps a solitary exception, it is a thing 
 not to be thought of. The political franchise, too, 
 must be more extended, and representation more 
 clearly apportioned to population than with us. And 
 as regards privileged church-establishments, every 
 colony had need be allowed altogether its own way. 
 If it wants them, they are easily to be had. If not, 
 it will be worse than folly to try to force it to put 
 up with them.'
 
 EDWARD GIBBON WAKEFIELD 191 
 
 Some six months before the publication of this essay 
 Wakefield had been recalled from the pleasant occupa- 
 tion of exercising irresponsible government in Canada 
 as the secret counsellor of Sir Charles Metcalfe by an 
 event at once distressing to his private affections and 
 sinister for the interests of the New Zealand Company 
 the death of his brother Arthur in the massacre of 
 Wairau in the preceding June. There was then no 
 direct communication between New Zealand and 
 America, and the ship that brought the heavy news had 
 left the spot of the globe which then held Wakefield far 
 behind her, as she ploughed the second great ocean on 
 her path towards London, where the tidings took ship 
 again, and overtook him after making more than half 
 the circuit of the globe. He immediately returned to 
 England, which he reached in a state of the deepest 
 depression. His personal fascination, so potent with 
 all, was most deeply felt by children and the young. 
 Mrs Storr, then little Miss Allom, who, in her own 
 words, would have been glad of an opportunity of 
 dying for him, remembers him as he sat lost in gloom 
 at the end of the drawing-room in Hart Street, 
 Bloomsbury. She nestled against him trying to sooth 
 him, and her mother called her away. 4 Let her be,' 
 answered Wakefield, ' let her be ! '
 
 CHAPTER VII 
 
 THE PLANTING OF NEW ZEALAND THE COMPANY'S 
 
 INSTRUCTIONS TO ITS AGENTS COLONEL WILLIAM 
 
 WAKEFIELD HIS LAND PURCHASES NATIVE RE- 
 SERVES TREATY OF WAITANGI FRUSTRATION 
 
 OF FRENCH DESIGNS UPON THE COLONY 
 
 THE Durham Report became a more important factor 
 in the history of Britain's colonial empire than even 
 the Wakefield system, yet the Canada expedition was 
 no more than a brilliant episode in the life of Dur- 
 ham's counsellor. We must follow him back to New 
 Zealand, the colony of his predilection, although for 
 long he is not more immediately visible in the events 
 occurring upon the islands than the dramatist whose 
 pen has filled the theatre, but who never appears in 
 person upon the stage. 
 
 The pioneers of the Tory left England amply pro- 
 vided with instructions from the Company, throughout 
 the greater part of which Wakefield's manly style is 
 easily recognisable. These it is not too much to 
 characterise as models of wisdom as concerned the 
 direction of the Company's affairs, and of fairness as re- 
 
 I 9 Z
 
 EDWARD GIBBON WAKEFIELD 193 
 
 garded the rights of the various classes affected by the 
 undertaking. They were so framed as not merely to 
 prescribe rules of action, but to answer many of the 
 most specious objections against colonization in New 
 Zealand, and against the measures which it was ab- 
 solutely necessary to adopt if colonization was to be 
 effectively carried out. Those most anxiously weighed 
 and carefully expressed related to that interference 
 with aboriginal claims which cannot possibly be 
 avoided if the white man is to fulfil his mission of 
 civilising the earth, but which every just and humane 
 person desires to reduce to a minimum. 
 
 The language of the New Zealand directors 
 breathes this spirit of justice and humanity. 
 
 1 The chief difficulty,' they say, ' with which you 
 may have to contend is that of convincing the natives 
 that the expedition under your orders has no object 
 hostile to them. They are necessarily suspicious in 
 consequence of the ill-treatment which they have often 
 received from Europeans. We recommend that you 
 should on every occasion treat them with the most 
 entire frankness, thoroughly explaining to them that 
 you wish to purchase the land for the purpose of 
 establishing a settlement of Englishmen there ; and 
 you will abstain from completing any negotiation for 
 a purchase of land until this, its probable result, shall 
 be thoroughly understood by the native proprietors 
 and by the tribe at large. Above all, you will be 
 especially careful that all the owners of any tract of
 
 i 9 4 BUILDERS OF GREATER BRITAIN 
 
 land which you may purchase shall be approving 
 parties to the bargain, and that each of them receives 
 his due share of the purchase money. You will fully 
 explain that the Company intends to dispose of the 
 property to individual settlers expected from England, 
 and that you purchase, if at all, on the same terms as 
 have formed the conditions of private bargains for land 
 in other parts of the islands. 
 
 4 But in one respect you will not fail to establish a 
 very important difference between the purchases of 
 the Company and those which have hitherto been 
 made by every class of buyers. Wilderness land, it is 
 true, is worth nothing to its native owners, or worth 
 nothing more than the trifle they can obtain for it. 
 We are not therefore to make much account of the 
 inadequacy of the purchase money according to 
 English notions of the value of land. The land is 
 really of no value, and can become valuable only by 
 means of a great outlay of capital on emigration and 
 settlement. But at the same time it may be doubted 
 whether the native owners have ever been entirely 
 aware of the consequences that would result from such 
 cessions, as have already been made to a great extent, 
 of the whole of the lands of a tribe. Justice demands, 
 not merely that these consequences should be as far as 
 possible explained to them, but that the superior intel- 
 ligence of the buyers should also be exerted to guard 
 them against the evils which, after all, they may not 
 be capable of anticipating. The danger to which
 
 EDWARD GIBBON WAKEFIELD 195 
 
 they are exposed, and which they cannot well foresee, 
 is that of finding themselves entirely without landed 
 property, and therefore without consideration, in the 
 midst of a society where, through immigration and 
 settlement, land has become a valuable property. 
 Absolutely they would suffer little or nothing from 
 having parted with land which they do not use and 
 cannot exchange ; but relatively they would suffer a 
 great deal, inasmuch as their social position would be 
 very inferior to that of the race who had settled 
 amongst them, and given value to their now worthless 
 territory. If the advantage of the natives alone were 
 consulted, it would be better perhaps that they should 
 remain for ever the savages which they are. This 
 consideration appears never to have occurred to any of 
 those who have hitherto purchased lands from the 
 natives of New Zealand. It was first suggested by 
 the New Zealand Association of 1837 ; and it has 
 great weight with the present Company. In accord- 
 ance with a plan which the Association of 1837 was 
 desirous that a legislative enactment should extend to 
 every purchase of land from the natives, as well past as 
 future, you will take care to mention in every booka- 
 booka y or contract for land, that a proportion of the 
 territory ceded, equal to one-tenth of the whole, will 
 be reserved by the Company, and held in trust by them 
 for the future benefit of the chief families of the tribe. 
 * The intended reserves of land are regarded as far 
 more important to the natives than anything which
 
 196 BUILDERS OF GREATER BRITAIN 
 
 you will have to pay in the shape of purchase money. 
 At the same time we are desirous that the purchase 
 money should be less inadequate, according to English 
 notions of the value of land, than has been generally 
 the case in purchases of territory from the New 
 Zealanders. Some of the finest tracts of land, we are 
 assured, have been obtained by missionary catechists 
 and others who really possessed nothing, or next to 
 nothing. In case land should be offered to you for 
 such mere trifles as a few blankets or hatchets, which 
 have heretofore been given for considerable tracts, you 
 will not accept the ofFer without adding to the goods 
 required such a quantity as may be of real service to 
 all the owners of the land. It is not intended that 
 you should set an example of heedless profusion in this 
 respect ; but the Company are desirous that in all their 
 transactions with the natives the latter should derive 
 some immediate and obvious benefit by the intercourse.' 
 These instructions are indeed admirable. They 
 grapple at once with the difficulty of the apparent 
 inadequacy of the price at which the uncultivated 
 lands of a people destitute of the circulating medium 
 must be acquired, and indicate the means by which 
 the bargain may notwithstanding be made as advan- 
 tageous to the sellers as to the buyers. When at a 
 later period Sir George Grey, the Maori's friend par 
 excellence, made extensive acquisitions of land in the 
 Middle Island, he acted entirely in their spirit, and 
 could do no otherwise. Much, however, depends upon
 
 EDWARD GIBBON WAKEFIELD 197 
 
 the character of the agent entrusted with the execu- 
 tion of instructions drafted at the other side of the 
 world. Colonel Wakefield's antecedents might have 
 been deemed unfavourable. We have become ac- 
 quainted with him as a member of the giddy society 
 at Paris among whom the Turner plot was hatched, 
 and as punished for his complicity with a penalty not 
 less severe than that meted out to his brother. He 
 had himself eloped with his wife, the daughter of a 
 baronet, and had been seriously embarrassed in his 
 circumstances, both before and after the Turner 
 episode and its consequences. On the other hand, 
 those who knew him, or have retained the tradition of 
 him, unanimously express amazement at his participa- 
 tion in such a transaction, and declare that this could 
 only be attributed to the contagion of the Parisian 
 circle, and to the irresistible magnetic influence which 
 Edward Gibbon exercised upon most men, and especi- 
 ally upon a brother seven years younger, and 
 particularly open to it from having been attached to 
 him at the Turin embassy while a mere youth. In 
 maturer life William appeared not more shrewd than 
 trustworthy. He had fought for freedom in Spain and 
 Portugal, where he had been especially distinguished 
 for coolness, and was about to distinguish himself in 
 New Zealand by munificent generosity. We shall 
 see that he retained the confidence of the Company 
 through nine most difficult years, and his name is still 
 cherished by the descendants of those whose hardships
 
 198 BUILDERS OF GREATER BRITAIN 
 
 were shared by him. In such a conflict of evidence, 
 it is fairest to resort to the testimony which the man 
 has unconsciously bequeathed concerning himself, and 
 this is wholly in his favour. In the portions of his 
 correspondence which remain, Colonel Wakefield 
 appears the tender father, the careful guardian, the 
 steady friend, the loyal servant of his employers, just 
 and firm in his dealings with all men. 
 
 Intellectually, William Wakefield is described by 
 Mr Gisborne (New Zealand Rulers and Statesmen] as 
 ' a pale copy of his brother.' This may be in so far 
 true, that William made no pretence to originality of 
 genius, but he was as much the hand of the New 
 Zealand Company as Edward Gibbon was its brain. 
 Among the hosts of ideas which Edward's creative 
 mind was perpetually emitting, a certain proportion 
 were almost inevitably unsound ; he was not always 
 careful to sift these out, and sometimes damaged him- 
 self and his cause by advancing arguments or proposals 
 obviously untenable. William, on the other hand, 
 was a man of close reserve, and of that peculiarly 
 baffling secretiveness which is not synonymous with 
 taciturnity. ' His manner,' says Mr Gisborne, ' was 
 attractive, and, in outward appearance, sympathetic, 
 but the inner man was out of sight and hearing.' 
 ' Of medium height,' says Mr Crawford, ' compactly 
 built, fair in complexion and Saxon in appearance and 
 temperament, astute and reticent, he had seen much 
 of the world, both British and foreign, and could make
 
 EDWARD GIBBON WAKEFIELD 199 
 
 himself a very pleasant companion. People said he 
 was always so, except when spoken to on business.'' His 
 general conduct of affairs attests his eminent talents 
 as an organiser ; and his official despatches and 
 journals, which ought to be reprinted in a volume, 
 are excellent reading. 1 
 
 Among other important points, the instructions 
 given to Colonel Wakefield contemplated the choice 
 of a metropolis for the future colony. 'You should 
 endeavour to make an extensive purchase on the 
 shores of that harbour, which, all things considered, 
 shall appear to offer the greatest facilities as a general 
 trading depot, and port of export and import for all 
 parts of the islands, as a centre of commerce for 
 collecting and exporting the produce of the islands, 
 and for the reception and distribution of foreign goods. 
 In making this selection, you will not forget that 
 Cook's Strait forms part of the shortest route from 
 the Australian colonies to England, and that the 
 best harbour in that channel must inevitably become 
 the most frequented port of colonized New Zealand. 
 That harbour in Cook's Strait is the most valuable, 
 which combines with ample security and convenience 
 as a resort for ships the nearest vicinity to, or the best 
 natural means of communication with, the greatest 
 extent of fertile territory. So far as we are at present 
 informed, Port Nicholson appears superior to any 
 
 1 They will mostly be found in the appendix to the report of the 
 Parliamentary Committee of 1844.
 
 200 BUILDERS OF GREATER BRITAIN 
 
 other.' This answers Mr Reeves's criticism, at first 
 sight cogent, that the Company should have confined 
 its operations to the Middle Island, where natives were 
 few. It is true that such a course would have relieved 
 it from many of its embarrassments, although, after all, 
 the greatest disaster it ever encountered occurred in 
 the Middle Island, but would have thrust it into a 
 corner, and left the choice of the metropolitan site to 
 others. No important town has ever arisen on the 
 southern shore of Cook's Strait. Colonel Wakefield, 
 nevertheless, was directed to obtain land c around one 
 good harbour, at least, on each side of Cook's Strait.' 
 He was further enjoined to keep a journal, to inform 
 the Company of every minute particular, to afford 
 every assistance to the scientific members of the 
 expedition, * to show all missionaries the respect 
 deserved by the sacrifice they have made as the 
 pioneers of civilisation,' to have divine service on 
 Sunday, and abstain, as far as possible, from work on 
 that day, not so much from scruple, as because the 
 natives, no great workers on week days, deemed the 
 Englishman who worked when he might have rested 
 the most degraded of mankind. Two of the instruc- 
 tions are especially remarkable : 
 
 'We must now mention another rule which you 
 will not fail to impress on all your subordinates ; 
 namely, the propriety of carefully avoiding anything 
 like exaggeration in describing the more favourable 
 features of the country. Let the bad be stated as
 
 172 Ixinu.E.from 174 Greenwich 170 
 
 MAP OF NEW ZEALAND, 1837. 
 
 (Showing progress of settlement up to 1850.)
 
 EDWARD GIBBON WAKEF1ELD 201 
 
 plainly and fully as the good ; so that the Company, 
 hearing the whole truth as well as nothing but the 
 truth, may run no risk of misleading others. 
 
 4 You will consider any act of aggression or affront 
 from any of the Company's servants towards any 
 native of New Zealand as a sufficient reason for 
 immediate dismissal from the Company's service, and 
 in the most public manner.' 
 
 Colonel Wakefield's expedition, as already stated, 
 sighted New Zealand on i6th August; and Captain 
 Hobson reached the Bay of Islands on 2Qth January 
 1840. The first considerable body of emigrants had 
 already arrived at Port Hardy on 22d January and 
 proceeded to Port Nicholson to take advantage of the 
 land purchases which Colonel Wakefield had been 
 industriously making. The two rival authorities were 
 thus in presence, although the distance between the 
 Bay of Islands and Port Nicholson for some time 
 prevented actual contact. Before leaving England, 
 Hobson had addressed a letter to Lord Normanby, 
 pointing out eleven defects in his instructions. He 
 had obtained scant satisfaction, but a clearer concep- 
 tion of the exigencies of the case compelled Lord 
 John Russell, Lord Normanby 's successor, to modify 
 these instructions in several respects. At the same 
 time the Company were obliged to beat a retreat 
 upon an important point. Their intending colonists, 
 finding themselves bound for a land where, in conse- 
 quence of the obstinate refusal of the British Govern-
 
 202 BUILDERS OF GREATER BRITAIN 
 
 meat to assume sovereignty, no legal jurisdiction over 
 members of its body existed, endeavoured to cure the 
 defect by a voluntary association, and a court elected 
 by mutual consent. This righteous determination 
 was announced with much solemnity on the sailing 
 of the expedition from Blackwall (September 1839), 
 but the Company soon learned with consternation 
 on the highest legal authority that 'if one of the 
 parties to the agreement should commit a murder 
 or an assault, and should be executed or imprisoned 
 accordingly, all the parties to the agreement would be 
 liable to a prosecution for murder, or an action for 
 false imprisonment.' The directors, who had them- 
 selves prompted the colonists' action, could but send 
 after them l their earnest advice and anxious hope that 
 the agreement may not be put in force by anybody.' 
 Lord John Russell should have lost no time in pro- 
 claiming British sovereignty, but he still left action to 
 Governor Hobson, nor was he impressed by an able 
 statement, evidently drafted by Wakefield, of the 
 rights of the British Crown, and the imminent danger 
 of French aggression in New Zealand, which the 
 company addressed to Lord Palmerston c as belonging 
 to the Foreign Department of Her Majesty's Govern- 
 ment.' He referred it to Lord John Russell, who took 
 four months to answer, 1 and at last, under pressure 
 
 1 Foreign Office, nth March 1840. Lord Palmerston desires me to 
 refer you to my letter of the I5th November last, and to request that 
 you will move Lord John Russell to favour him with a reply to that 
 letter.- Correspondence relative to New Zealand, p. 68.
 
 EDWARD GIBBON WAKEFIELD 203 
 
 from Palmerston, whose view of the matter was 
 probably widely different, replied by an enumeration 
 of formal difficulties which five minutes could have 
 brushed away. 
 
 Colonel Wakefield, meanwhile, if indulgence in a 
 graphic but familiar expression may be permitted, had 
 been as busy as the devil in a gale of wind. He had, 
 as we have seen, anchored at Port Nicholson on 
 24th September. On 2jth September he bought, for 
 a liberal assortment of all sorts of articles, from muskets 
 down to shaving brushes, the port and the adjoining 
 territory j on 24th October he concluded a similar 
 purchase on the southern side of the Strait ; and on 
 8th November he purchased large tracts upon both, 
 acquiring altogether, or supposing himself to acquire, 
 a territory about the size of Ireland. The districts 
 acquired were respectively entitled North and South 
 Durham, names afterwards disused. He had, indeed, 
 no time to lose. The hesitations of the Home 
 Government had advertised the profits which specu- 
 lators might hope to make in New Zealand, and 
 nothing but the swift voyage of the Tory and his 
 own promptitude enabled him to baffle a shoal of 
 Australian land-sharks. While he was negotiating, 
 a small trader arrived from Sydney with ' deeds from 
 various merchants to be filled up by the chiefs' 
 names,' more Batmanico, and of course lacking in 
 the reserve of land for the benefit of the natives as 
 prescribed by the regulations of the New Zealand
 
 204 BUILDERS OF GREATER BRITAIN 
 
 Company. 1 Colonel Wakefield wrote with perfect 
 truth : * It must be remembered that nine- tenths of 
 the land is without an inhabitant to dispute posses- 
 sion, and that the payment I have made to the 
 owners is large when valued by the standard of 
 exchange known amongst them, and perfectly satis- 
 factory to the sellers.' Well it might be, for the 
 literary capabilities of the New Zealanders had been 
 recognised by an allotment of slates and pencils, 
 and a gross of Jews' harps had been contributed to 
 stimulate any latent taste for music. There was, 
 nevertheless, a grievous flaw in the title which 
 Colonel Wakefield conceived himself to have ac- 
 quired ; the sellers, according to New Zealand ideas, 
 had no right to sell. To Europeans long ago 
 emerged from the savage state, it seems almost 
 incomprehensible that societies should exist where 
 co-operative associations cannot be bound by the 
 majority, and where no individual has the least bit 
 of land that he can call his own. But such was 
 actually the case in New Zealand. No land 
 purchase could be considered safe unless every adult 
 male of the tribe had been consulted and had given 
 his sanction, even though he were the captive of 
 
 1 ' Mr John Wright, settler at the Bay of Islands, has a property of 
 which three of the boundary lines are well defined, but the fourth 
 boundary line being " as far as the said John Wright shall think proper," 
 it will be a matter of some difficulty for future doctors of the civil law 
 in New Zealand to decide where that boundary shall be. LANG, New 
 Zealand in 1X39.
 
 EDWARD GIBBON WAKEFIELD 205 
 
 another clan, or serving on board a whaler, or ful- 
 filling an engagement with Mr Barnum. Such a 
 condition, all but impossible of fulfilment in any 
 case, was most manifestly so in the circumstances of 
 haste under which Colonel Wakefield acted. The 
 inevitable neglect led to a host of evils misunder- 
 standings and consequent wars with the natives, 
 quarrels between the representatives of the Company 
 and the Crown, the infliction of grievous hardships 
 upon innocent settlers by the invalidation of titles 
 upon which they had every right to rely, and the 
 extent to which bargains, believed to be concluded, 
 were opened and reopened ad infinitum. Mr Reeves 
 is perfectly justified in remarking that 'the first 
 occupation of New Zealand was rushed, and, like 
 everything else that is done in a hurry, it was in 
 part done very badly. The settlement of the North 
 Island should not have been begun until after an 
 understanding had been come to with the Imperial 
 authorities and the missionaries, and on a proper 
 and legal system of land purchase.' But this was 
 no fault of the Company, which had been vainly 
 trying to come to an understanding with the 
 Government and the missionaries ever since June 
 1837, and had at last been goaded into activity by 
 the imminent danger that French annexation would 
 be the consummation of all things. The very step 
 into which, to the nation's unspeakable advantage, 
 they drove the Government, of proclaiming British
 
 206 BUILDERS OF GREATER BRITAIN 
 
 sovereignty, might have been their own ruin. 
 Though the subsequent action of the Government's 
 representative in annulling all land transactions 
 previous to the annexation could have been fore- 
 seen by no one, it was to be expected that as soon 
 as the authority of the Crown was proclaimed in 
 New Zealand, all subsequent alienations of land 
 would be prohibited, and that, consequently, if the 
 Company did not anticipate this step by extensive 
 purchases, it would be unable to fulfil its obligations 
 to the large body of emigrants for whom it had 
 undertaken to find settlements, most of whom were 
 already actually on their way. This, even more 
 than the dread of the speculative land-sharks from 
 Sydney, explains the preternatural purchasing power 
 of Colonel Wakefield, to whom the cognomen of 
 4 Wideawake,' into which his family name was 
 altered by the Maoris, was to a great extent applic- 
 able, and would have been even more so if he had 
 surmised that the crafty New Zealand chiefs knew 
 more about New Zealand land titles than he did, 
 and were chuckling even then at the prospect of 
 selling their land again and again, even unto seventy 
 times seven. 
 
 The commercial intercourse of civilised nations 
 and barbarians, especially as concerns dealing with 
 land, raises difficult problems for the jurist and 
 philanthropist. The maxim, l property has its duties 
 as well as its rights,' applies to savage quite as much
 
 EDWARD GIBBON WAKEFIELD 207 
 
 as to civilised man. It cannot be admitted that a 
 tribe of cannibals has a right to retain large tracts 
 of the earth's surface, on or near which they happen 
 to have established themselves, in an unproductive 
 and useless condition. It is the duty and the very 
 raison d'etre of the civilised man to develop the 
 resources of the earth, and if he neglected this he 
 would be punished by the ills that follow in the 
 train of over-population at home. Yet, as a civilised 
 tenant cannot well settle under a cannibal suzerain, 
 he must in some manner acquire his land unless he 
 can first civilise his landlord. The latter experiment 
 was tried in New Zealand by the missionaries, and 
 failed because it was impossible to shut out other 
 European influences of a pernicious nature, insomuch 
 that civilisation was far outrun by depopulation. 
 Traders and land speculators had their own methods, 
 which may be defined as taking advantage of the 
 ignorance of the savage, and buying him out for a 
 song. Equity and humanity must alike disapprove ; 
 yet part of the disapprobation with which such pro- 
 ceedings have been visited arises from an erroneous 
 conception of the rights of property among bar- 
 barians. There was commonly no development, no 
 reclamation, not even any occupation to establish a 
 title morally valid. Large tracts spoken of as though 
 they had been transmitted from father to son since 
 the arrival of the first inhabitants, with title-deeds 
 tattooed upon the persons of the natives, were utterly
 
 208 BUILDERS OF GREATER BRITAIN 
 
 waste and entirely worthless to the nominal possessors, 
 conferring no advantage or privilege but the right of 
 shooting rats. The natives, except as regarded the 
 land actually brought under cultivation, were not pro- 
 prietors but squatters, with rights comparable to that 
 possessed by an English cottager of grazing his 
 donkey upon a common. So opines Vattel, first 
 among the expounders of the law of nations. It is 
 sufficiently ridiculous to observe the deference paid 
 to such shadowy pretensions, so long as the claimant 
 is black brown or red, by writers who would oust 
 the white proprietor in every country who has com- 
 plied with every legal and moral condition of owner- 
 ship, by open violence or the more cowardly device 
 of an oppressive land tax. This deserves no other 
 name than cant ; but it is no less certain that every 
 bond fide claim, however indefinite, ought to be fully 
 acknowledged and satisfied to its full worth. But 
 how is this compensation to be made ? There is 
 something shocking to refined feeling in acquiring 
 the possessions of poor ignorant people for trinkets 
 and cloth, or even for tools and weapons. It is 
 true that these commodities have an immense value 
 in their eyes, but the civilised purchaser knows well 
 that this value is partly fictitious, and that the really 
 useful part of the consideration he tenders will wear 
 out in time and leave nothing to replace it. Money 
 multiplies itself, but money in the then condition of 
 the natives would have been useless to them and
 
 EDWARD GIBBON WAKEFIELD 209 
 
 incomprehensible. The New Zealand Company 
 met the difficulty in the only way in which it can 
 be met, by the reservation for the natives of a portion 
 of their land, which, though comparatively small, 
 could, through the development of the country by 
 European colonization, come to be far more valu- 
 able to them than the whole. Wakefield put the 
 matter into a nutshell before the Committee of 
 1840: 
 
 ' The terms were, a payment, in the first instance, 
 of various goods, such as the natives require, but which 
 the Company regard as a merely nominal price. They 
 have paid for their lands a much higher price than has 
 commonly been paid by other purchasers in the first 
 instance ; but the consideration which they offer to 
 the natives, and which they regard as the true 
 purchase money of the land, is the reserved eleventh, 
 which eleventh, by means of the expenditure of the 
 Company, acquires, in a very short time, a higher 
 value than all the land possessed before. I feel myself 
 quite satisfied that if the measure were to proceed in 
 the best way, every acre of the land reserved would be 
 worth at least thirty shillings ; so that there would be 
 an endowment of three millions sterling in the course 
 of time as a native provision.' 
 
 Mr Buller (not Charles Buller) pertinently in- 
 quires : 
 
 * What security is there that the natives will have 
 
 the benefit of it ? 
 
 o
 
 zio BUILDERS OF GREATER BRITAIN 
 
 'There is no security at present, because the 
 Government has hitherto refused to let law be estab- 
 lished in New Zealand, so that it is impossible to 
 create a trust. The Company are very desirous of 
 placing this land in trust for the benefit of the natives. 
 They have considered the subject a good deal, but 
 they have found great difficulty in defining, till they 
 have better information, what the trusts ought to be. 
 Their objects in reserving these lands has been to 
 preserve the native race. They believe that it will be 
 impossible to preserve the native race, that the native 
 race in New Zealand will undergo the same fate 
 which has attended other people in their situation, 
 unless their chief families can be preserved in a state 
 of civilisation in the same relative superiority of 
 position as they before enjoyed in savage life ; and 
 with this view the Company is desirous of investing 
 them with property. But if it placed the property 
 at once at their disposal, they would sell it for a trifle. 
 It became, therefore, necessary to create a permanent 
 trust. That the Company will do as soon as they 
 possibly can ; and in the meantime they have ap- 
 pointed a commissioner, whom they have sent out 
 for the purpose of preserving, letting and taking care 
 of those lands.' 
 
 These roseate anticipations, of course, were based 
 on the supposition that the Company's purchases 
 would not be interfered with, and when they were 
 cut down from twenty millions of acres to two
 
 EDWARD GIBBON WAKEFIELD 211 
 
 hundred and eighty-three thousand, the possibility 
 of forming any considerable fund for the benefit of 
 the natives came to an end. 
 
 There seems no reason to charge the New Zealand 
 Company with indifference to the well-being of the 
 native race. The one fault was the want of due 
 inquiry into the validity of the titles supposed to be 
 conveyed by the native vendors ; and this was forced 
 upon Colonel Wakefield by the necessity for extreme 
 dispatch, lest the Company should in the meantime 
 be deprived of all purchasing power. Far otherwise 
 would it have been if, instead of stealing away 
 from a hostile and jealous Government, the Tory 
 had sailed under Government auspices, and with an 
 Imperial Commissioner on board. 
 
 The Imperial Commissioner who did sail, and who, 
 through no fault of his own, sailed into the north of 
 the colonists' opinion, had arrived at the Bay of Islands. 
 Captain Hobson had touched at Sydney, where he 
 took council with the resolute and autocratic 
 Governor, Sir George Gipps, his immediate official 
 superior, who on I4th January issued a proclamation 
 annulling by anticipation all purchases of land that 
 might be made after that date. Hobson's instructions 
 did not allow him to take the simple and common- 
 sense course of proclaiming the sovereignty of Great 
 Britain by right of discovery, though Captain Cook 
 had done as much seventy years previously. It was 
 necessary to obtain a treaty of cession from the natives,
 
 212 BUILDERS OF GREATER BRITAIN 
 
 who were convened for the purpose at Waitangi 
 (Sounding Water, so called from a cascade). Had 
 they refused, as they were very near doing at the 
 instigation of the Roman Catholic missionary bishop, 
 the Governor would have been placed in the most 
 painful and ludicrous position, and would have had 
 no locus standi in the islands. Happily they yielded 
 under the influence of the famous English missionary, 
 Henry Williams. The treaty was signed on 6th 
 February, 1 but four months were spent in ob- 
 taining the concurrence of native chiefs in other 
 parts of the islands. It was not until lyth June 
 1840 that British sovereignty was proclaimed in the 
 Middle Island. Had the French been more alert, 
 this delay would have had serious consequences. 
 But it was not until July that a French frigate, 
 UAube, appeared at the Bay of Islands with orders 
 to take possession of Akaroa in the Middle Island. 
 Had not Wakefield compelled the British Govern- 
 ment to send Hobson out, or had the treaty of 
 Waitangi fallen through, there would have been 
 nothing to prevent this, for the Government had 
 repudiated their perfectly valid title by right of dis- 
 covery, and could have alleged no other. The 
 
 1 A diary recording the progress of the negotiations from day to day 
 was kept by the Rev. W. Colenso, and was published at Wellington in 
 1890. Mr Colenso expressed his doubts whether the chiefs understood 
 what they were signing, but His Excellency thought he had done as much 
 to enlighten them as could be expected from anybody ignorant of their 
 language.
 
 EDWARD GIBBON WAKEFIELD 213 
 
 Middle Island might then have become another 
 New Caledonia. Even as it was, France could 
 have set up a claim of pre-emption in 1838 by a 
 French whaling master, who had actually paid one 
 hundred and fifty francs as earnest money. Hobson, 
 however, divined the French captain's intention, and 
 hurried Captain Owen Stanley in the Erltomart to 
 the spot. Stanley beat the French frigate by four 
 days, and the sight of the British flag flying scared 
 U Aube to sea again. She, nevertheless, disembarked 
 some intending settlers, who eventually, for the most 
 part, migrated to the Marquesas. 
 
 In this lame fashion did New Zealand eventually 
 hobble into the ranks of the British colonies and 
 the Maories become British subjects. Apart from 
 these results, the treaty of Waitangi was no matter 
 for congratulation. It could not have been obtained 
 at all without an enormous and uncalled for conces- 
 sion, the recognition, in spite of Vattel, of the ab- 
 solute right of seventy thousand savages to sixty- 
 six millions of acres of valuable land, by far the 
 greater part of which they had never occupied, and 
 were incapable of turning to account in any way. 
 This carried the recognition of the tribal tenure 
 along with it, and native sovereignty and native 
 jurisprudence together opened a Pandora's box of 
 ills for the unfortunate settlers, thus powerfully de- 
 scribed by the present Agent - General for New 
 Zealand, the Hon. W. P. Reeves :
 
 2i 4 BUILDERS OF GREATER BRITAIN 
 
 ' Had Captain Hobson been able to conceive what 
 was entailed in the piecemeal purchase of a country 
 held under tribal ownership, it is difficult to think 
 that he would have signed the treaty without hesi- 
 tation. He could not, of course, imagine that he 
 was giving legal force to a system under which 
 the buying of a block of land would involve years 
 of bargaining, even when a majority of its owners 
 wished to sell ; that the ascertainment of a title 
 would mean tedious and costly examination by 
 courts of experts of a labyrinth of strange and 
 conflicting barbaric customs ; that land might be 
 paid for again and again, and yet be declared un- 
 sold ; that an almost empty wilderness might be 
 bought first from its handful of occupants, then 
 from the conquerors who had laid it waste, and 
 yet after all be reclaimed by returned slaves or 
 fugitives who had quitted it years before.' 
 
 It is now easy to discern what the Government 
 ought to have done. Instead of thwarting the 
 original New Zealand Association, they should have 
 reposed a generous though not a blind trust in it. 
 They should have at once incorporated New Zealand 
 in the Empire, and ruled it through the Association, 
 enjoying the status and subjected to the restraints of 
 a chartered company, and under the surveillance of an 
 agent of the Government. They should have pro- 
 vided a law-making power which might at a stroke 
 have got rid of the nuisance of tribal titles to land,
 
 EDWARD GIBBON WAKEFIELD 215 
 
 while the executive should have seen that the real 
 interest of the natives did not suffer. The adminis- 
 tration, apart from the Association's share in it, should 
 from the first have been in stronger hands than those 
 of a captain in the navy, taking orders from the 
 Governor of another colony. A first-rate man should 
 have been chosen, strong in ability and devotion, able 
 to overawe, if need were, both natives and colonists, 
 and not unprovided with naval and military force. 
 The England of Victoria, no less than anciently the 
 England of Elizabeth, had many rising young men 
 competent for such a mission, enthusiastic at the 
 prospect of building a new State, and to whom three 
 or four years of such experience would have been 
 invaluable. The envoy would have returned an 
 accomplished Colonial Minister, and qualified for 
 activity in any sphere. What if the choice had fallen 
 upon William Ewart Gladstone ?
 
 CHAPTER VIII 
 
 SETTLEMENT OF WELLINGTON ILL-JUDGED PRO- 
 CLAMATION OF GOVERNOR HOBSON AUCKLAND 
 MADE THE SEAT OF GOVERNMENT THE COM- 
 PANY AND THE COLONIAL OFFICE MASSACRE OF 
 WAIRAU GOVERNORS FITZROY AND GREY 
 WAKEFIELD'S ILLNESS 
 
 GOVERNMENTAL mismanagement had created two rival 
 authorities in New Zealand, one clothed with the 
 attributes of legality, the other representing the brain 
 and muscle of the colony. Before Captain Hobson 
 could take any steps to assert the supremacy with 
 which he had undoubtedly been invested, the pioneers 
 of the Tory had been reinforced by the arrival of six 
 emigrant ships between 22d January and 7th March, 
 bearing the choicest contingent of colonists, the South 
 Australian excepted, that had come to form a British 
 settlement since the days of the Mayflower, and 
 superior to the Pilgrim Fathers in their average 
 standard of culture, and as representatives of all classes 
 of the nation. All landed at Port Nicholson. The 
 history of the infant settlement, almost from day to 
 216
 
 EDWARD GIBBON WAKEFIELD 217 
 
 day, may be read in Colonel Wakefield's reports and 
 in Edward Jerningham Wakefield's Adventures in 
 New Zealand, a book which will always hold a 
 distinguished place among English books of travel, 
 notwithstanding an atmosphere of controversy con- 
 ducted with questionable taste and temper, and 
 an unevenness mainly attributable to its having 
 been compiled from letters written home. ' Then 
 between thirteen and fourteen years of age,' says 
 Mr Albert Allom in his delightful pamphlet of re- 
 miniscences of Edward Gibbon Wakefield, *it was 
 my great happiness to be sent for on every arrival of 
 despatches, in order that I might have the first perusal 
 of the diary of E. J. Wakefield, giving an account of 
 the expedition of Colonel Wakefield which founded 
 Wellington.' Colonel Wakefield would undoubtedly 
 be worshipped by the present race of Wei ling ton ians 
 as a hero, did the Hellenic dispensation still obtain. 
 After one abortive attempt at location, the city was 
 founded in its present picturesque but confined 
 situation, compared by Lord Lyttelton to that of 
 Ilfracombe, cramped and hemmed in by furzy hills 
 but with deep water to the shore, and with the 
 magnificent central position which has made it, 
 though but fifth among New Zealand cities in popu- 
 lation, the capital of the country. It was originally 
 called Britannia, but Edward Gibbon Wakefield, 
 among whose virtues gratitude held a conspicuous 
 place, remembered the service which the Duke of
 
 218 BUILDERS OF GREATER BRITAIN 
 
 Wellington had rendered to the South Australian 
 colonists, and how the intended acknowledgment had 
 been thwarted. By his interposition, and as a per- 
 sonal favour to himself, the city received the name of 
 Wellington. 
 
 For a short time affairs at Wellington went on 
 propitiously. Up to the date (4th June) when 
 Lieutenant Shortland, Colonial Secretary, arrived to 
 proclaim the Queen's sovereignty, and put an end to 
 the provisional state of things which had hitherto 
 obtained, 'nearly fifteen hundred English people and 
 four hundred untutored savages had lived for five 
 months without any serious breach of the laws, to 
 which they were bound by nothing more than a 
 voluntary agreement, and which could summon no 
 physical force to their assistance.' Much ill-feeling 
 was unfortunately created by a perfectly needless 
 proclamation of Governor Hobson, declaring that the 
 measures necessarily adopted by the colonists for self- 
 protection until a regular government could be 
 established * amounted to high treason,' and styling 
 the magistrates provisionally appointed * an usurping 
 government.' To his further definition of the Port 
 Nicholson settlers as 'adventurers' they replied with 
 spirit. 'It is true that we are adventurers. We have 
 ventured property and life, our own property and that 
 of our children, in an undertaking which was rightly 
 called by the sagacious Bacon heroic. If our adven- 
 ture be successful we shall have laid the foundation of
 
 EDWARD GIBBON WAKEFIELD 219 
 
 a community speaking the language and enjoying the 
 institutions of England.' Hobson, nevertheless, meant 
 well, and would probably have acted otherwise if he 
 had seen Wellington for himself, but he was detained 
 in the north by a stroke of paralysis. A great oppor- 
 tunity of conciliating all classes of settlers was lost 
 when he proclaimed the seat of government at Auck- 
 land, founded by himself under the advice of Henry 
 Williams, on a site admirably selected for a city, but 
 so severed from the rest of the colony that correspond- 
 ence with Wellington frequently went by way of 
 Sydney. The original plan of laying out, long ago 
 amended, had many fantastic features, and seemed 
 better adapted to serve the purposes of speculators in 
 land than those of bona fide colonists. In judging 
 Hobson's proceedings, it must be remembered that, 
 though as a naval officer he was a captain, as a 
 colonial governor he was but a lieutenant, and owed 
 deference to his superior, Sir George Gipps, Governor 
 of New South Wales, one of the most masterful rulers 
 our Australian possessions have ever had. Gipps, to 
 his credit, was engaged at home in a campaign for the 
 protection of New Zealand against the ravenous land 
 speculators of Australia, whose ideas are well illustrated 
 by the tale, be it vero or ben trovato, of one of them 
 who proclaimed from the summit of the highest hill 
 available, C I claim for myself all the land I can see, 
 and all that I cannot see I claim for my son John.' 
 At this system, but no less at the rights and just
 
 220 BUILDERS OF GREATER BRITAIN 
 
 expectations of the settlers who had come out on the 
 faith of the Company's promises, Gipps struck an 
 overwhelming blow by his Act of 4th August 1840, 
 annulling all titles to land in New Zealand * which are 
 not or may not be hereafter allowed by Her Majesty.' 
 The Act was as illogical as despotic, for it extended to 
 all transactions which had taken place before New 
 Zealand had become a British possession ; otherwise, 
 however, the Governor's purpose of frustrating the 
 Australian land speculators would not have been 
 attained. All the mischief came from the Home 
 Government's delay in proclaiming New Zealand an 
 independent colony, and their omission to send out a 
 governor and a council along with the Company's 
 first expedition. New Zealand having in the mean- 
 time been declared a separate colony, the Act was 
 temporarily disallowed at home, but was re-enacted by 
 Hobson in June 1841, Government undertaking to 
 send out a commissioner to investigate claims. It is 
 only just to Sir George Gipps to state that, upon 
 receiving a deputation from Wellington, he made a 
 temporary compromise which was not regarded as 
 unsatisfactory, but there could be no finality until the 
 conclusion of the commissioner's inquiries. ' This 
 functionary's award,' says Mr Reeves, ' was not given 
 for years. When he did give it, he cut down the 
 Company's purchase of twenty million acres to two 
 hundred and eighty-three thousand. Meantime, the 
 long and weary months dragged on, and the unfor-
 
 EDWARD GIBBON WAKEF1ELD 221 
 
 tunate settlers were either not put in possession of 
 their land at all, or had as little security for their farms 
 as for their lives.' 
 
 It could not be expected that the New Zealand 
 Company at home would tolerate these aggressions 
 on its property. It had struck deep root. 'New 
 Zealand House,' was established in Broad Street Build- 
 ings, and Wakefield had taken up his private residence 
 under its roof. Numbers of persons had become 
 interested in the fortunes of the Company ; and New 
 Zealand, without the stimulus of gold and diamond 
 mining, filled nearly the same place in the popular 
 imagination as South Africa does now. The emigrants, 
 as Wakefield meant they should, included represent- 
 atives of every class of society ; among them were 
 Domett, the friend of Browning, and Charles Armitage 
 Brown, the friend of Keats. When, on 2jth June 
 1839, Mr H. G. Ward brought forward his resolutions 
 in the House of Commons on the subject of colonial 
 lands, he was able to state that the association had 
 sold 666 sections, containing 67,266 acres of land, for 
 upwards of 70,000. This was while the Tory was still 
 on her voyage, before a single emigrant ship had been 
 despatched, or a single acre bought in New Zealand 
 on account of the Company. On 2Qth July a public 
 drawing was held, to determine priority of choice in 
 the selection of lots, by this time amounting to 
 100,000 acres. The ladies, it was remarked, appeared 
 the most daring speculators. Eleven thousand acres
 
 222 BUILDERS OF GREATER BRITAIN 
 
 were set apart for the natives, whose representatives 
 were fortunate in their drawings, every instance of 
 their success eliciting loud cheers. The drawings- 
 lotteries without blanks continued until the company 
 was obliged to suspend its operations. Every means 
 was taken to lend eclat to the periodical despatches 
 of emigrants. * How well I remember,' exclaims Mr 
 Allom, ' the steamer trips down the river and the 
 grand dinners at Gravesend ! ' The original fare of 
 eighty guineas was soon reduced to thirty-five. In 
 1840 a Committee of the House of Commons, to be 
 described more particularly in a subsequent chapter, 
 sat to investigate New Zealand questions. The draft 
 report of the chairman, Lord Eliot, was entirely 
 favourable to the Company, but was rejected by the 
 majority, who simply reported the evidence without 
 making any recommendation. It produced, however, 
 a considerable effect on the mind of Lord John 
 Russell, who had succeeded Lord Normanby as 
 Colonial Secretary, and who, if somewhat stiff and 
 supercilious, was at all events a statesman. 1 He 
 came (November 1840) to an arrangement with the 
 Company, guaranteeing them as many acres as should 
 be equal to four times the number of pounds sterling 
 expended in the despatch of ships and other necessary 
 expenses, a virtual admission that the Company had 
 
 1 'You once asked me how Stephen and I liked Lord John's way of 
 doing business. Very much very different to anything before him.' 
 Henry Taylor to Edward filliers, October 1839.
 
 EDWARD GIBBON WAKEFIELD 223 
 
 done well in preserving New Zealand to England by 
 the despatch of the Tory. He agreed that the price 
 of land should be a pound an acre, and that half the 
 proceeds of sales should be expended in promoting 
 immigration. He erected New Zealand into an inde- 
 pendent government, and, unfortunately too late, 
 directed Sir George Gipps to suspend the execution of 
 his Sydney Land Act until further instructions. Above 
 all, in February 1841, he gave the Company a legal 
 status by bestowing upon it a charter of incorporation. 
 Some troublesome questions respecting the amount 
 actually expended by the Company, and the conse- 
 quent extent of its claims under the agreement, 
 remained to be settled, but these were mere questions 
 of detail, and all might have gone well had Lord 
 John Russell remained at the Colonial Office. Un- 
 fortunately for the Britain of the South, though not 
 for the Britain of the North, a change of govern- 
 ment occurred in August 1841. The new Secretary 
 of State, Lord Stanley, belonging to the opposite 
 party in politics, was inaccessible to the private 
 influences which had probably worked upon Lord 
 John Russell, and his distinguished oratorical gifts and 
 resolute vigour were unaccompanied by any insight 
 into the problems of statesmanship. In the interim, 
 the Company had lost (28th July 1840) its nominal 
 head, Lord Durham, whose health had long disabled 
 him from actual attention to its affairs, but who served 
 it efficaciously after his death if, as is probable, Lord
 
 224 BUILDERS OF GREATER BRITAIN 
 
 John Russell's regard for his memory had something 
 to do with the changed attitude of the Colonial 
 Office. Mr Somes, the Deputy Governor, succeeded 
 him, and Wakefield became ostensibly a, as well as 
 virtually the,- director, although his name will seldom 
 be found appended to the official documents which he 
 drafted or inspired : 
 
 So that the ram, that batten dcnun the wall, 
 For the great living and rudeness of his poise, 
 They place before his hand that made the engine ; 
 Or those that ivith the fineness of their souls 
 By reason guide his execution. 
 
 1 1 have not time,' Wakefield writes to his father, in 
 October 1841, 'to attend to details; almost every 
 hour of my day, to say nothing of nights, from 
 year's end to year's end, being engaged in taking care 
 of the principles and main points of our New Zealand 
 enterprise, and in what Arthur calls "the manage- 
 ment of people," which means the persuading of all 
 sorts of dispositions to pull together for a common 
 object.' 
 
 In the course of 1841, Lord John Russell sent out 
 to New Zealand two of the most distinguished men 
 who ever went there, a pair of old Cambridge friends- 
 George Augustus Selwyn as Bishop, and Sir William 
 Martin as Chief Justice. Martin went out in the 
 same vessel with Swainson, appointed Attorney- 
 General, and ere they landed the two had prepared 
 a legal system adapted for an infant colony, which
 
 22 5 
 
 shortly bore fruit in abundant legislation. Selwyn, 
 not to be outdone, learned Maori from a native during 
 the voyage, and arrived speaking it fluently. 
 
 The Bishopric incarnated an idea of the New 
 Zealand Company's already put forward in 1837. 
 Wakefield had written to his sister Catherine in 
 November 1841 : x 
 
 'We had a long and very satisfactory interview 
 with the Bishop yesterday. The object of the Bishop's 
 meeting with our committee was to come to some 
 practical determination as to what was to be done 
 for the Church of England and benefit of the natives 
 in the Company's settlements ; and it was resolved 
 accordingly, subject to the approval of our Court 
 to-day First, that the Company would advance, on 
 the security of the native reserves at Wellington, 
 ^5000 for the purpose of immediately establishing 
 schools for natives, where the children may live away 
 from their parents. Secondly, that the Bishop and 
 the Company agree to subscribe as much respectively 
 as the other shall subscribe for endowment of the 
 Church of England at Wellington, Wanganui, New 
 Plymouth, and Nelson. The Bishop undertook for 
 the great Societies and we for the Company. So there 
 is a race between the Church and the Company as to 
 which shall first collect the larger sum ; and the more 
 either shall collect, the more precisely must the other 
 furnish. We, having the money in hand, began with 
 
 1 Printed in Dean Jacob's History of the Church of New Zealand. 
 P
 
 226 
 
 5000 for Nelson, which secures 1 0,000, the Church 
 being bound to double our subscription. I shall do my 
 utmost to get a large contribution from the Company 
 for Wellington and New Plymouth. The Company 
 has already contributed, in land and money, ^2000 to- 
 wards the endowment of the New Zealand bishopric.' 
 From the date of Lord Stanley's accession the 
 annals of New Zealand for several years become 
 disagreeable and uninviting. The historians of the 
 period, from Mr Rusden on one side to Mr E. J. 
 Wakefield on the other, offer a continual spectacle 
 of crimination and recrimination, and the fatigued 
 reader may well abandon the hope of arriving at 
 any sound conclusion if he has not a firm grasp 
 of the idea that while all parties concerned agents 
 of the Company, settlers, missionaries, officials com- 
 mitted many and grievous errors, the mistakes of 
 individuals were unimportant in comparison with the 
 fundamentally vicious situation created by the in- 
 decision of the Home Government. All was confusion 
 and uncertainty. The Company, deprived by the 
 Government proclamation of their purchases for an 
 indefinite period, until a commissioner should report 
 what proportion he would allow them, and equally 
 frustrated by Lord Stanley's action of the com- 
 pensation Lord John Russell had promised them, 
 could convey no valid titles to their colonists, who 
 were tempted to abandon the settlement, but whose 
 pluck and perseverance in their trials constitute a
 
 EDWARD GIBBON WAKEFIELD 227 
 
 bright chapter or British colonial history. The 
 reluctance to assume control of the country by a 
 direct act of imperial authority had necessitated the 
 treaty of Waitangi, which had recognised the 
 natives as possessors of the soil, not merely where 
 they had settled upon it, but where they were merely 
 rovers across it, and had bound the British to respect 
 native customs and traditions, even where these were 
 virtually prohibitive of colonization. There could 
 not be a stronger instance of this than in the case 
 of Taranaki, otherwise New Plymouth, in the 
 Northern Island, where a colony mainly drawn from 
 Devon and Cornwall had been planted in 1841 by 
 the New Plymouth Company, which had bought 
 60,000 acres of land from the New Zealand Com- 
 pany. These acres had been purchased by Colonel 
 Wakefield from a tribe who claimed by right of 
 conquest, but who had not themselves put the land 
 to beneficial use. When the conquered tribe, at 
 the time in a state of bondage to the victors, 
 regained their freedom through the influence of 
 Christianity, they demanded payment as proprietors. 
 Was this preposterous claim to be adjudicated by 
 English or by Maori law ? Under the latter it was 
 possibly good ; at all events the successor of Hobson 
 (who had died, more esteemed than regretted, on 
 loth September 1842), Captain, afterwards Admiral, 
 Fitzroy, thought so. * Instead,' says an impartial 
 authority, Mr Reeves, 'of paying them fairly for
 
 228 BUILDERS OF GREATER BRITAIN 
 
 the 60,000 acres which they did not require he 
 handed the bulk of it back to them, penning the 
 unhappy white settlers up in a miserable strip of 
 3200 acres. The result was the temporary ruin 
 of the Taranaki settlement and the sowing of the 
 seeds of an intense feeling of resentment and in- 
 justice, which bore evil fruit in later days.' 
 
 Admiral Fitzroy's motive for this excessive con- 
 descension was probably fear of a native war, which 
 his pliancy was more likely to invite than to avert. 
 He did much worse in the Middle Island. Under 
 the provisional administration of Lieutenant Shortland 
 (September 1842 January 1844), the most dismal 
 tragedy that ever occurred in New Zealand had 
 taken place. The settlement of Nelson, on Blind 
 Bay in the Middle Island, had been founded in 
 October 1841 by an expedition consisting of three 
 vessels, the Arrow, the Will Watch and the Whitby^ 
 which had sailed on 28th April under the direction 
 of Captain Arthur Wakefield, R.N., with whom 
 we have already become acquainted, ' not only an 
 able pioneer leader,' says Mr Reeves, ' but a man 
 of high worth, of singularly fine and winning 
 character, and far the most popular of his family.' J 
 
 1 Bishop Selwyn says in an unpublished private letter : ' I believe 
 that a more humane and judicious man than Captain Wakefield did not 
 exist, or one more desirous of promoting a good understanding between 
 the two races.' In Mr Gisborne's New Zealand Rulers and Statesmen, 
 pp. 20-22, is a most beautiful character of Arthur Wakefield as the ideal 
 colonist, written by Mr Alfred Domett, afterwards Prime Minister of 
 New Zealand.
 
 EDWARD GIBBON WAKEFIELD 229 
 
 The settlement was at first most prosperous, but by 
 June 1843, land difficulties arose with the natives, 
 'tampered with,' Colonel Wakefield complained, 
 ' by a host of missionaries, protectors, magistrates 
 and commissioners.' Huts erected by the Company 
 in the Wairau district were burned down by two 
 native chiefs, Rauparaha and Rangihaiatea. What 
 ensued is described in a letter from Colonel Wake- 
 field to his sister Catherine, not hitherto published : 
 ' The magistrates of Nelson granted a warrant 
 against Rauparaha and Rangihaiatea for the offence, 
 and the police magistrate (Mr Thompson), Arthur, 
 and several gentlemen volunteers left Nelson, accom- 
 panied by about forty labourers, to execute the 
 warrant. They found the natives assembled in a 
 strong position, where the police magistrate, very 
 rashly and against the opinion of others, insisted 
 upon carrying his point of arresting the chiefs. An 
 accidental shot brought on a volley from each side, 
 after which the white men, being country labourers, 
 unused to arms and discipline, fled, in spite of the 
 urgent efforts of Arthur and Mr Howard to rally 
 them. A truce was most unadvisedly demanded by 
 means of waving a white handkerchief, the whole 
 party of Englishmen surrendered to savages flushed 
 with victory and inflamed with the taste for blood. 
 The consequence is soon told. The native chiefs, 
 surprised at their own success, and unused to give 
 or receive quarter on the field, slaughtered the
 
 230 BUILDERS OF GREATER BRITAIN 
 
 prisoners with their tomahawks. Nineteen victims 
 have been buried on the field of action.' 
 
 Colonel Wakefield shortly afterwards wrote : c For 
 myself, having been four years here and having fought 
 an uphill game with some success, I should be glad 
 to finish my work and see the settlement established 
 prosperously, but the loss of poor Arthur and the 
 disgusting opposition of the Government, which has 
 led to it, have nearly upset me, and incline me to 
 go home myself.' In fact, Admiral Fitzroy upon 
 his arrival found British prestige drooping, and it is 
 only just to admit that he had not the material 
 force which would have enabled him to revive it. 
 But he need not have trailed it in the dust. He 
 sought an interview with the revolted chiefs, told them 
 that the English were in the wrong, and that he should 
 not endeavour to avenge their deaths, gently blamed 
 the savages for having massacred their prisoners in 
 cold blood, and concluded by exhorting all and sundry 
 to live in peace for the future. Rauparaha very 
 naturally observed next day that ' the man had been 
 talking a great lot of nonsense to him, but it was 
 all lies, and that, in fact, he was afraid of him.' Such 
 was indeed the fact. Admiral Fitzroy, afterwards 
 renowned as a meteorologist, had been a man of 
 mettle and a famous circumnavigator, and although 
 Lord Stanley courageously pronounced his conduct 
 not only wise but bold also, he must have been 
 entirely unnerved by a sense of responsibility.
 
 EDWARD GIBBON WAKEFIELD 231 
 
 The consequences were soon manifest. In the 
 following year Heke, a powerful chief of the 
 Northern Island, entered the town of Kororareka 
 (newly christened Russell) and cut down the staff 
 which displayed the British flag. Encouraged by 
 Fitzroy's vacillation, he again invaded the settlement, 
 and this time plundered and burned it, the inhabitants 
 escaping on board ships in the bay. An assault upon 
 his fortified pah failed, and British prestige disappeared 
 for the time being. Fitzroy's finance had been as 
 unsuccessful as his fighting. He issued ^15,000 in 
 Government promissory notes, and, finding that no- 
 body would take them, declared them legal tender. 
 Money could not be raised at fifteen per cent. Lord 
 Stanley's tracasseries had compelled the Company to 
 suspend its operations, to the ruin of the labourers 
 and others dependent upon it, and the colony's con- 
 dition seemed hopeless when, in November 1845, 
 Fitzroy was replaced by Sir George Grey, the saviour 
 of South Australia. The Home Government, now 
 thoroughly alarmed, gave Grey more support than 
 they had accorded to Fitzroy. Something, too, he 
 owed to good fortune, but in the main it was his 
 energy and wisdom which restored peace and solvency 
 within a year. 
 
 Grey's appointment marks a new era in New 
 Zealand history. When, after an enforced with- 
 drawal for a season, Wakefield returned to New 
 Zealand politics, it was to act upon another stage.
 
 232 BUILDERS OF GREATER BRITAIN 
 
 During 1842 and 1843 *" s attention, as we have 
 seen, had been largely engrossed by the affairs of 
 Canada. The Wairau massacre brought him back, 
 and the next three years, the most laborious of his 
 life, tried him until, he said, it made him dizzy to 
 look at New Zealand House. In the next chapter, 
 mainly devoted to his activity as an organiser behind 
 the scenes, we shall have to describe his contest with 
 the Colonial Office in the Parliamentary Committee 
 of 1844, and in the great debate of 1845. At the 
 end of this year Lord Stanley's retirement brought 
 Mr Gladstone to the Colonial Secretaryship, and 
 Wakefield saw a chance. 'Deeming Mr Gladstone 
 perfectly able to seize, and not likely to despise, the 
 opportunity of establishing in one instance a system 
 of colonization and Colonial Government that might 
 serve as a model for the reform of other colonies 
 and for after time, I submitted to him by letter a 
 plan for the settlement of New Zealand affairs, but 
 too late for enabling him to come to any official 
 decision upon it.' By so doing, as Wakefield believed, 
 but most erroneously, if Sir Henry Taylor is justified 
 in crediting the Minister with ' more freedom from 
 littlenesses of feeling than I have met with before 
 in any public man,' he gave mortal offence to Mr 
 Gladstone's successor, Earl Grey, who had recently 
 rendered the New Zealand Company much service, 
 but all of a sudden 'seemed incapable of deciding 
 officially any one of the points which, out of office,
 
 EDWARD GIBBON WAKEFIELD 233 
 
 he had so lately and so completely determined in his 
 own mind.' An interview between Wakefield and 
 the Earl gave no satisfaction to either. Wakefield, 
 whose health had shown signs of succumbing to ex- 
 cessive toil in the autumn of 1844, at the time could 
 hardly stand or speak from illness. A few days after- 
 wards his long-overtaxed physical and mental powers 
 forsook him. On i8th August 1846, walking in the 
 Strand, he was struck down by paralysis of the brain, 
 and his life was probably saved by the presence of 
 Charles Allom, who refused to allow him to be bled. 
 Nursed by his faithful friend, Mrs Allom, he long lay 
 suspended between life and death.
 
 CHAPTER IX 
 
 THE TRANSPORTATION COMMITTEE THE COLONIAL 
 
 LANDS COMMITTEE THE NEW ZEALAND COM- 
 MITTEES OF 1840 AND 1844 THE NEW ZEALAND 
 
 COMPANY AND LORD STANLEY DEBATES IN THE 
 
 COMMONS WAKEFIELD AND ADAM SMITH 
 
 POLITICS FOR THE PEOPLE 
 
 IT is asserted by psychologists, and the assertion ad- 
 mits of confirmation from the experience of every 
 reflecting man, that the absolute stock of knowledge, 
 thought and emotion of which we are conscious 
 bears but a small proportion to the stores latent in the 
 mind in a sub-conscious condition, but ready to be 
 called into activity at any moment by the application 
 of the proper stimulus. It is equally true of the 
 brain of the State, that the visible is but little in 
 comparison with the invisible energy, that conspicuous 
 events are commonly but the outcome of long, slow, 
 and subterranean processes. Especially is this the 
 case with reforms prepared by the agency of Parlia- 
 mentary Committees, whose function is frequently 
 that of mere publication. The visible proceedings 
 234
 
 EDWARD GIBBON WAKEFIELD 235 
 
 of such Committees, we may be sure, bear hardly 
 a larger proportion to the invisible forces which 
 have set their machinery in motion than does the 
 limited domain of fully conscious mind to the dim 
 infinitude of unconscious cerebration. All the labour 
 of Edward Gibbon Wakefield of which it is possible 
 to take cognisance would probably appear insignifi- 
 cant in comparison with his exertions in originating, 
 organising, coaching, cramming, sometimes, perhaps, 
 coaxing or mystifying the various Parliamentary 
 Committees convened to further his projects, or whose 
 interference with these he had to avert. 
 
 Wakefield's activity as a Parliamentary engineer 
 followed the same development as his activity as a 
 writer and a promoter of companies ; it began with 
 gaols and ended with colonies. The transition was 
 effected through the then prevailing system of trans- 
 portation, a subject equally important to the reformer 
 of prisons at home and to the emigrant to distant 
 settlements. 
 
 It is a sufficient refutation of Machiavelli's and 
 Bentham's systems of ethics, that they cannot be 
 applied where they are least exceptionable in point 
 of morality, and most palpably useful to the com- 
 munity. No one, unless when demonstrably incor- 
 rigible offenders were in question, ever proposed to 
 extinguish crime by extinguishing criminals, although 
 such a measure would be far less shocking to moral 
 feeling: than the sacrifice of the innocent for reasons 
 
 O
 
 236 BUILDERS OF GREATER BRITAIN 
 
 of State, and nothing could more effectually promote 
 'the greatest happiness of the greatest number.' 
 Transportation is undoubtedly the next remedy in 
 point of effectiveness, and the existence of antipodal 
 regions where criminals could be isolated from the 
 sound part of the community must have at first 
 seemed an absolute godsend. By and by the system 
 appeared liable to grievous objections, a large propor- 
 tion of which, however, did not concern Wakefield 
 as a Builder of Greater Britain. The foundation of 
 a penal settlement on the island of Ascension, for 
 example, might be deplorable on many accounts, and 
 especially detrimental to the interests of the Corpora- 
 tion of London, but would blight no rising nation. 
 It was far otherwise when England took to rearing 
 future empires on a substratum of convictism, and 
 rendering the fair parts of the earth which she had 
 occupied as trustee for her own surplus population 
 uninhabitable by decent citizens. The state of 
 affairs which thus grew up in New South Wales, 
 divided between a small and grasping set of tyrannical 
 officials, a middle class of 'emancipists,' or liberated 
 convicts, from which servants or shopkeepers were 
 chiefly recruited, a sprinkling of honest settlers, con- 
 sidered, Darwin says, by the emancipists as inter- 
 lopers, and a labouring class of convicts serving out 
 their sentences, may be read in Bennett's History of 
 Australian Discovery and Colonization. No healthy 
 element could be infused into a society of pardoned
 
 EDWARD GIBBON WAKEFIELD 237 
 
 felons, where the Attorney-General's own clerk was 
 an ex-convict : it was not until 1818 that two persons 
 found their way to the colony as free passengers 
 paying their own passage. Here was something for 
 a colonial reformer to protest against, and Wakefield 
 was early in the field, here as elsewhere in advance 
 of his time, for the free colonists themselves, looking 
 merely to cheapness of labour, and not perceiving the 
 rottenness which they were introducing into the 
 social fabric, were for a long time passionate advocates 
 of deportation. Even Darwin, while admitting that 
 any moral reform was out of the question, thought 
 that the system had succeeded in c making men out- 
 wardly honest, and thus giving birth to a rich and 
 splendid country.' r Yet he sums up, c Nothing but 
 rather sharp necessity should compel me to emigrate.' 
 Wakefield discussed the subject, though not very 
 profoundly from the point of view of colonial interests, 
 in his Letter from Sydney, and from that of English 
 prison discipline, in his essay on The Punishment of 
 Death. The small band of colonial reformers with 
 whom he was associated thought with him, and at 
 their instance it was especially enacted that no depor- 
 tation of convicts should ever take place to their 
 
 1 These epithets seem discordant with Darwin's generally unfavourable 
 impression of Australia. One remark he makes is curious ; he says that 
 wool cannot be profitably transported for any considerable distance on 
 account of the unfitness of the country for canals. Yet the Liverpool 
 and Manchester Railway had been opened for more than a year before 
 he left England.
 
 238 BUILDERS OF GREATER BRITAIN 
 
 pattern colony of South Australia. Wakefield's first 
 appearance before any Parliamentary Committee was 
 in 1831, when he gave evidence, repeating and empha- 
 sising some of the most remarkable passages in his 
 Punishment of Death, before the Committee of the 
 Commons on Secondary Punishments. It was not 
 until 1837 that he was able to organise the memorable 
 inquiry which gave transportation a mortal blow. 
 
 It may appear strange to find this Committee 
 cited as an instance of Wakefield's beneficent activity 
 as a colonial reformer, for although his hand may be 
 traced in its recommendations on the sale of land and 
 the encouragement of immigration, his jiame seems 
 not to occur anywhere in its two folio volumes of 
 report, testimony, and appendices. There can be no 
 stronger illustration of the frequently subterranean 
 character of the most profitable political activity, for 
 Thornton Hunt wrote truly in his obituary notice of 
 Wakefield in the Daily Telegraph : 
 
 4 He had gained the active aid of several men 
 in Parliament, and in Sir William Molesworth the 
 colonial reformer found a mover and a chairman 
 for the Committee on Convict Transportation 
 which followed up Ward's. 1 Before that tribunal, 
 by one means or other, Wakefield managed to bring 
 such a mass of appalling evidence that it became 
 impossible to sustain the system, which was in a few 
 years abolished.' 
 
 1 On colonial lands, also engineered by Wakefield.
 
 EDWARD GIBBON WAKEFIELD 239 
 
 Sir William Molesworth had already assailed trans- 
 portation in the first number of the London and 
 Westminster Review. A stronger Committee than 
 that presided over by him can seldom have met. It 
 included both the leaders of the House, Lord John 
 Russell and Sir Robert Peel ; Lord Howick and Sir 
 George Grey ; and Messrs Ward, Hawes, and Charles 
 Buller. Sir William Molesworth's part in colonial 
 affairs now and long afterwards was so important that 
 his character demands a special notice, but it is not one 
 easy to depict. In the pages of Mrs Grote, for years 
 his intimate friend, and, notwithstanding their ultimate 
 estrangement, far above any suspicion of malice, he 
 appears a wayward and indocile being. His political 
 opponents, on the other hand, thought him heavy and 
 slow, a mere absorber of blue-books. The fact appears 
 to be that the vehemence of his temper was at variance 
 with the deliberation of his intellectual processes ; and 
 that the vigour of his action, when it came, seemed 
 the more startling from the torpidity which had pre- 
 ceded it. Devoid of imagination or intuition, he was 
 compelled to rely solely upon his very considerable 
 logical faculty, but the certainty of being right which 
 he thus acquired rendered him more absolute and 
 imperious than the quicker minds which have not 
 stopped to verify every step of their course. Morally, 
 notwithstanding the unevennesses of his temper, he 
 was one of the noblest of men. His solid worth and 
 serious aims, steady perseverance in investigation and
 
 240 BUILDERS OF GREATER BRITAIN 
 
 thorough moral and intellectual honesty are lovingly 
 set forth in the autobiography of his friend, H. F. 
 Chorley, in a passage the more worthy of notice as it 
 has escaped Mr Leslie Stephen in the Dictionary of 
 National Biography. Such characteristics well qualified 
 him for the important task which, at Wakefield's 
 instigation, he now (1837) undertook. 
 
 The searching nature of the Committee's investiga- 
 tions is evinced by the fact that, although no more 
 than twenty-three witnesses were examined, their 
 evidence occupies four hundred and fifty pages folio. 
 The appendices of documents comprise between seven 
 and eight hundred pages. The witnesses included 
 official persons like the Chief Justice of New South 
 Wales, who had himself gone out in a convict ship for 
 want of another ; Sir George Arthur, formerly Lieu- 
 tenant Governor of Van Diemen's Land ; Mr 
 Macarthur, son of the man who had created the 
 wealth of New South Wales by the introduction of 
 merino sheep ; Major Wright, ex-police magistrate ; 
 and Peter Murdock, ex-superintendent of convicts. 
 There was also representative colonists like Dr Lang, 
 ministers of religion like Dr Ullathorne, afterwards 
 Roman Catholic Bishop of Birmingham, and super- 
 intendents of emigration like Mr John Marshall. 
 The appendices are crammed with essays, despatches, 
 reports, petitions, complaints of the scarcity of labour, 
 controversies respecting the charge of Mr Justice 
 Burton, who had frankly told the community that
 
 EDWARD GIBBON WAKEFIELD 241 
 
 * the main business of them all was the commission of 
 crime or the punishment of it,' and statistics of all 
 kinds down to the number of lashes inflicted by * the 
 standard scourging-cat.' Evidence and appendices 
 alike teem with details of ill-doing, from the atrocity 
 of the man Pearce, who not only killed the man Cox 
 but ate him, down to the misdemeanour of Mrs 
 Murdock's convict servant, who c was found lying on 
 the bed with what she called the yard of clay in her 
 mouth, and drinking a pot of porter, and blowing a 
 cloud ; that was her expression to Mrs Murdock.' 
 On the whole, a more uninviting picture was probably 
 never traced of any society : * as the greater portion 
 of the agricultural labourers,' Sir William Molesworth 
 quaintly remarked in his report, 'belong to the 
 criminal population, they constitute a peasantry unlike 
 any other in the world.' The statistics adduced 
 established, as he showed, that the number of convic- 
 tions for highway robbery in New South Wales, in 
 proportion to the population, exceeded the total number 
 of convictions for all offences in England : that rapes, 
 murders and attempted murders were proportionately 
 as frequent there as petty larcenies here ; that if the 
 annual average of convictions in England had been 
 137,000 instead of 17,000, then, and not till then, the 
 state of crime and punishment in the two countries 
 would have been the same. How could such a 
 condition of things be tolerated? The answer re- 
 peated the contention of Wakefield's Letter from 
 
 Q
 
 242 BUILDERS OF GREATER BRITAIN 
 
 Sydney; he had pointed out that, owing to the great 
 dispersion of working people and the facility of pro- 
 curing land, no labour but convict labour was to be 
 had ; and it now appeared that such labour was so 
 indispensable that the colonists were nearly unanimous 
 in resisting any interference with a system which 
 embittered their lives and contaminated their offspring. 
 The Committee, however, were entirely unanimous in 
 condemning it. Under the guidance of Sir William 
 Molesworth, whose report is a model of exhaustive 
 discussion, they resolved that Australia should no longer 
 be polluted for the convenience of the mother country. 
 They recommended the discontinuance of transporta- 
 tion except to distant depots, and -sought to cure the 
 scarcity of labour by an immigration fund obtained by 
 raising the price of land in accordance with Wake- 
 field's principles, the only reward he could expect or 
 receive for his unrecognised labour. 
 
 In estimating the credit due to Wakefield, Moles- 
 worth and their associates in the abolition of transport- 
 ation, it must be remembered that they were not the 
 mouthpieces of a popular demand, but were forcing 
 reform upon unwilling colonists, as well as upon an 
 unwilling Government. A meeting held at Hobart 
 Town to protest against convict deportation 4 was 
 respectable, but not numerous ; ' and the material 
 interests of the mother country appeared at first sight 
 still more contrary to any change. Many of us can 
 remember the consternation occasioned when c ticket-
 
 EDWARD GIBBON WAKEFIELD 243 
 
 of -leave' and 'garotter' became household words 
 among us from the retention of the convict element 
 at home. Obliged, however, to choose between safety 
 within the four seas and the weal of her colonial 
 empire, Britain has made the right choice, for which 
 she may largely thank Walcefield, Molesworth, and an 
 illustrious man who had taken up the subject from 
 another point of view, Archbishop Whately. 
 
 The Transportation Committee had been preceded 
 in the previous session (1836) by one of no less 
 importance upon colonial lands, equally Wakefield's 
 creation, and in whose proceedings he took a pro- 
 minent instead of an inconspicuous part. The object 
 was to obtain the sanction of the cardinal principles of 
 the Wakefield system, that land should be sold by 
 contract at a sufficient price, instead of being given 
 away or leased at a nominal quit rent, and that the 
 proceeds should be employed in promoting immigration. 
 The former principle had indeed been established by 
 Lord Goderich's New South Wales regulations of 1831, 
 but the price of five shillings an acre thus imposed 
 was, in Wakefield's opinion, as already stated, far too 
 low. It was now proposed, in the words of the report 
 of the Committee, drafted by its able chairman, Mr 
 H. G. Ward, 'that the whole of the arrangements 
 connected with the sale of land should be placed under 
 the charge of a central Land Board, resident in 
 London.' This was carried in Committee, but ob- 
 structed by the Government, whose representative, Sir
 
 244 BUILDERS OF GREATER BRITAIN 
 
 George Grey, Colonial Under Secretary (not to be 
 confounded with the Governor of South Australia and 
 New Zealand), voted steadily against all the specific- 
 ally Wakefieldian clauses of the Report. Land Com- 
 missioners, however, were ultimately appointed by 
 Lord John Russell, but only as an appendage to the 
 Colonial Office. The evidence collected was of the 
 highest value, conveying the opinions of such authori- 
 ties as Wakefield, Torrens, Hanson and Poulett 
 Scrope. The inquiry was also of great personal 
 advantage to Wakefield, bringing him into connection 
 with many members of the House of Commons ; 
 familiarising the public with his name, hitherto so 
 much in the background ; and exhibiting him as a 
 powerful reasoner on his feet, no less than in his study. 
 He was severely cross-examined by Roebuck, who was 
 hardly capable of forming a serious opinion upon an 
 economical question, but whose French Canadian 
 clients dreaded the application of the Wakefield 
 system to Lower Canada. Wakefield, however, felt 
 that the tide was with him, and thus concluded the 
 remarkable passage in his evidence, already referred to, 
 upon New Zealand and other fields yet open to the 
 colonizing energy of Britain : 
 
 'These, I know, may be considered as something 
 like dreams ; but if they be so, I shall have the 
 consolation of knowing that the plan of fixing a 
 price upon all lands, and employing the purchase 
 money as an immigration fund, which was described
 
 EDWARD GIBBON WAKEFIELD 245 
 
 to the Committee the other day by the Honourable 
 Member for Devonport as the only plan which any 
 reasonable person would now think or adopting, 
 was, not six years, not five years ago, I think I 
 may say not three years ago, treated with derision 
 and scorn by those who had the means of carrying 
 it into full effect.' 
 
 Before passing on to the two great New Zealand 
 Committees of 1840 and 1844 it will be convenient 
 to deal briefly with the South Australian Committee 
 of 1840, already mentioned. This did not immedi- 
 ately concern Wakefield, as the inquiry principally 
 respected the proceedings of the South Australian 
 Commissioners, with whom he had no official con- 
 nection, and the alarming financial condition of the 
 colony, for which he was in no way responsible. 
 He nevertheless gave important evidence, advocating 
 a stricter application of his system to the organisation 
 of the colony, and the appendix of documents con- 
 tains one of the most remarkable papers he ever 
 wrote, his letter of the 2d June 1835 to the South 
 Australian Commissioners, from which large quota- 
 tions have already been made. The result of the 
 inquiry was entirely favourable to his views, the 
 Committee reporting : 
 
 * Your Committee conceive that the first principle 
 of the system of colonization originally recommended 
 by Mr Wakefield (to realise which was the object 
 of founding the colony of South Australia) is that
 
 246 BUILDERS OF GREATER BRITAIN 
 
 of maintaining a due proportion between the extent 
 of land which is appropriated and the population by 
 which it is occupied, by imposing such a price upon 
 land as shall prevent its being bought until the 
 number of its inhabitants is sufficient to make use 
 of to advantage. Your Committee, persuaded by 
 the soundness of this principle, consider the fact 
 stated by Colonel Gawler to be conclusive as to the 
 inadequacy of the price hitherto imposed upon land 
 in South Australia, since the appropriation of so 
 much greater an extent of land than is required to 
 supply the wants of the inhabitants is altogether 
 inconsistent with the attainment of the object justly 
 considered of paramount importance by Mr Wake- 
 field, that, namely of rendering the industry of the 
 colonists as productive as possible, by maintaining 
 in a newly settled colony the same system of com- 
 bination of labour and division of employments 
 which prevails in older societies. Hence an increase 
 in the price of land in South Australia seems to 
 your Committee to be necessary, in order to give 
 effect to the principle upon which the colony was 
 established.' 
 
 The New Zealand Committee of 1840 brought 
 out a full statement of the case between the New 
 Zealand Company and its various opponents. Here 
 Wakefield was the most conspicuous figure, and his 
 evidence teems with interest as regards the state 
 of the country before settlement, the proceedings
 
 EDWARD GIBBON WAKEFIELD 247 
 
 of the company, its relations with the Government, 
 the reserves of land for the benefit of the natives, 
 the provisions for religion and education, the question 
 of auction sales of land, the French expedition, and 
 almost every point that could be raised. His asser- 
 tions respecting the support originally promised to 
 the company by Lord Howick led to a remarkable 
 scene, thus described in his Art of Colonization : 
 
 4 1 was examined for several days, Lord Howick 
 not being present. When my examination was 
 closed he attended the Committee for the first time, 
 and complained of certain statements made by me 
 as a witness, which he declared to be untrue. At 
 his instance a day was fixed when I was to attend 
 the Committee for the single purpose of being cross- 
 examined by him, and destroyed if he made his 
 charges good. When we met in the committee 
 room, it contained, besides a full attendance of 
 members of the Committee, other members of the 
 House, who came there to witness the anticipated 
 conflict. But hardly any conflict took place. Lord 
 Howick, after arranging on the table a formidable 
 mass of notes and documents, put some questions 
 to me with a view of establishing one of his 
 accusations. The answers established that I had 
 spoken the exact truth, and that my accuser him- 
 self was mistaken. Instead of proceeding to another 
 charge, he hastily gathered up his papers and left 
 the room without a remark. The Committee's
 
 248 BUILDERS OF GREATER BRITAIN 
 
 blue-book reports the words that passed : if it also 
 described the scene you would probably, upon reading 
 it, agree with the lookers-on that in this murderous 
 attack upon me Lord Howick was provokingly 
 worsted.' 
 
 The scene, in truth, can in nowise be reproduced 
 from the Report. Blue-books do not often stir as 
 with the sound of a trumpet, but often would if 
 tone and manner could be reproduced as well as 
 language. It is to Lord Howick's honour that he 
 attended a dinner given by the New Zealand 
 Company to Wakefield in the following year, and 
 was friendly to the Company as long as he remained 
 in opposition. Whether the air of Downing Street, or, 
 as Wakefield thought, jealousy of Mr Gladstone, sub- 
 sequently biased him to a different course, cannot be 
 determined. Mr Gladstone, it should be noted, was 
 a member of the Committee of 1840, and had it 
 depended upon him, its proceedings would not have 
 been abortive. He voted for the statesmanlike draft 
 report of the chairman, Lord Eliot, which the majority 
 shelved without putting anything into its place. 
 Lord Eliot proposed that New Zealand should be 
 made an independent colony, and, agreeing that all 
 unoccupied land should be vested in the Crown, 
 and that the Crown should have the right of pre- 
 emption over all land actually possessed by the 
 natives, recommended that the Company should retain 
 land equal in value to the amount expended by it
 
 EDWARD GIBBON WAKEFIELD 249 
 
 in colonization, and that until a settled revenue could 
 be obtained, the funds necessary for State purposes 
 should be advanced by it upon loan. Commissioners, 
 * wholly unconnected with New Zealand and New 
 South Wales, and having no pecuniary interests in 
 either colony,' were to be appointed by the Crown 
 to regulate all questions. Crown land was to be sold 
 by contract at a uniform price of not less than a 
 pound an acre, and the proceeds were to be employed 
 as an immigration fund for conveying labouring 
 emigrants to the colony. This would have been a 
 nearly ideal system of colonization, but the majority 
 of the Committee elected to leave things as they 
 were. Lord John Russell, then Colonial Secretary, 
 was considerably influenced by Lord Eliot's abortive 
 report, and not only approximated to the directors, 
 as already related, but accepted a dinner from 
 them. All seemed going well, when, to employ 
 Carlyle's metaphor, the New Zealand minnow's 
 little creek was perturbed by an oceanic catas- 
 trophe in the British Parliament. Lord John Russell- 
 went out, Lord Stanley came in, and war be- 
 tween the Government and the Company broke 
 out anew. 
 
 It is not easy to determine why Lord Stanley should 
 have thought it needful to undo his predecessor's work. 
 He was the last man to be unduly deferential to 
 missionaries. The company imputed all the Marge 
 blue flies' of the Colonial Office to Sir James
 
 250 BUILDERS OF GREATER BRITAIN 
 
 Stephen ; but Stanley was not Glenelg, nor Stephen's 
 influence what it had been under that amiable noble- 
 man. None ought to question Stanley's honesty of 
 purpose : the probability is that he really discerned 
 nothing beyond the purview of an ordinary Treasury 
 clerk, and never suspected that this wolf of a 
 Company was nursing an empire. 
 
 It must in justice to the Government be remem- 
 bered that their patience had been severely strained by 
 the extravagance of successive Governors of New 
 South Wales, who had among them incurred two or 
 three millions of liabilities with little visible return. 
 This could not, however, justify the hostile tone 
 towards the Company which Stanley assumed from 
 the first, and his virtual repudiation of the engage- 
 ments of his predecessor. In February 1843 he 
 committed himself unreservedly to the Treaty of 
 Waitangi, which was one of the leading questions for 
 the great Parliamentary Committee of the following 
 year. In May 1843, however, he came to an arrange- 
 ment which allowed of the resumption of its suspended 
 land sales, but they were again suspended in February 
 1844. On 26th April, Wakefield wrote to his sister : 
 
 1 Yesterday the New Zealand Company's proprietors 
 learned all the truth about their affairs, which is a 
 great relief to me. We declared war to the knife 
 with the Colonial Office ; and last night the House of 
 Commons, on Aglionby's motion, appointed a select 
 Committee to inquire into the whole subject.'
 
 EDWARD GIBBON WAKEFIELD 251 
 
 This Committee engendered one of the most for- 
 midable Blue Books ever produced as regards weight 
 and size, although its contents are frequently highly 
 interesting and readable. c You may guess,' says 
 Wakefield to his sister, c how busy I have been when 
 I tell you that our evidence appended to the Report 
 occupies 800 or 900 pages of print.' Between minutes 
 of testimony and documents, the number of pages is 
 in fact exactly a thousand. The documents include 
 Colonel Wakefield's reports of his voyages and pur- 
 chases, embodying a vast store of miscellaneous 
 observations ; Dr Dieffenbach's reports on natural 
 history ; Colonel Wakefield's correspondence with 
 various governors, lieutenant governors, commissioners 
 of lands, and natives' protectors ; his despatches home 
 setting forth the afflictions he underwent from these 
 personages ; the whole history of the Wairau massacre 
 and of Captain Fitzroy's condonation of it ; the 
 accounts of the company ; and the highly controver- 
 sial correspondence between their chairman and Lord 
 Stanley and his under secretary. It will be remarked 
 that scarcely any important document on the Com- 
 pany's side is dated at a time when Wakefield was out 
 of England ; his name, nevertheless, occurs only 
 twice, as the father of Edward Jerningham Wakefield 
 and as one of the recipients of an official letter of 
 condolence on the death of Arthur Wakefield. The 
 evidence, less voluminous than the appendices, abounds 
 in details respecting the purchases of the Company,
 
 252 BUILDERS OF GREATER BRITAIN 
 
 the natives' notions of landed and other property, and 
 their relations with Europeans in general. From this 
 the Committee had to elicit, if it could, a judgment 
 on the past transactions, a policy for the future admin- 
 istration of the islands, and a decision whether the 
 Company was entitled to claim performance of the 
 agreement entered into with Lord John Russell, and 
 thwarted by his successor. Although ten out of fifteen 
 members of the Committee were of Lord Stanley's 
 political party, the result was a brilliant but barren 
 victory for the Company, accurately described in two 
 letters from Wakefield. The first, written on the very 
 day (gth July 1844) of the passing of the resolutions 
 on which the Committee's report was founded, is 
 addressed to his brother-in-law from the House of 
 Commons : 
 
 'The resolutions have all passed, after a desperate 
 fight, together with one proposed by Lord F. Egerton 
 speaking in the handsomest terms of poor Arthur. 
 The Report, to be based upon these resolutions, will be 
 drawn by Lord Howick, and presented to the Com- 
 mittee in a fortnight. There is no doubt of its passing.' 
 
 A second letter, to his sister, is dated 4th July, but 
 there must be some error : 
 
 4 As London secrets are very safe at Stoke, I write to 
 tell you that we know what the Report of the Com- 
 mittee of the House of Commons will be, having seen 
 a draft of it. It goes to exculpate us and condemn 
 the Colonial Office upon almost every point of
 
 EDWARD GIBBON WAKEFIELD 253 
 
 difference, and will be, I think, a complete exculpation 
 of poor Arthur's memory, and of William's and my 
 boy's conduct throughout. This concerns ourselves 
 and might [should] not have been mentioned first. As 
 to the Company, and what I care more about, the 
 colony, measures will be recommended for putting all 
 to rights without delay. I expect the Report will be 
 carried by a large majority in the Committee, includ- 
 ing the chairman (Lord Howick, who drew it), Lord 
 Francis Egerton, Sir John Hanmer, Mr Clive and 
 other respectable Tories. What Hope and Stanley 
 and Stephen are to do is their affair. Fitzroy must, I 
 think, resign ; and the animals who governed in 
 Hobson's name, and afterwards with Shortland, will be 
 sent about their business. This is not a too sanguine 
 account.' 
 
 Wakefield was here, as often, over sanguine ; he 
 seemed, nevertheless, to have sound reasons for his 
 confidence. Lord Howick's report was carried as he 
 predicted, and as proceeding from an old antagonist of 
 the New Zealand Company, and approved by a Com- 
 mittee neither packed in its interest nor engineered by 
 its managers except for the manoeuvring necessary to 
 get Lord Howick into the chair, it ought to have 
 settled the question. It is an exceedingly able 
 document, forcibly pointing out the mischief of the 
 antagonism between the Crown and the Company 
 which had existed from the first, though of course not 
 admitting that Lord Howick himself and his col-
 
 254 BUILDERS OF GREATER BRITAIN 
 
 leagues were its chief authors, and even blaming the 
 Company for the happy audacity which had preserved 
 New Zealand to Britain. Coming, however, to the 
 root of all actual difficulties, the indiscriminate 
 recognition of native titles to land under the Treaty 
 of Waitangi, Lord Howick points out that the lands 
 held collectively, of which the possession was guar- 
 anteed to the original inhabitants of New Zealand, 
 must have been regarded as the lands actually occu- 
 pied by them, ' which would have removed from 
 the field of discussion by far the greater part of 
 the lands purchased by the Company. If native 
 rights to the ownership of land had been admitted 
 only when arising from occupation, there would 
 have been no difficulty in giving at once to the settlers 
 secure and quiet possession of the land they required, 
 and they would thus have been able to begin without 
 delay and in earnest the work of reclaiming the 
 unoccupied soil.' Instead of this, they had been 
 harassed by commissioners and lawsuits and a hydra 
 growth of native claims which it was fondly deemed 
 had been extinguished, and the majority were yet 
 without valid titles. Practical remedies were proposed 
 for healing this state of things, and the claim of the 
 Company under the agreement made in November 
 1840 with Lord John Russell, under which the 
 Company was to receive four acres for every pound it 
 had expended, 'without reference to the validity, or 
 otherwise, of its supposed purchases from the natives,'
 
 EDWARD GIBBON WAKEFIELD 255 
 
 was fully upheld. That this was the view of Lord 
 John Russell himself is clear from a letter of his in 
 the appendix addressed to the Governor of the Com- 
 pany, and dated 2Qth June 1844 : 
 
 ' I believed the extent of land which it would be in 
 the power of the Crown to grant to be far greater 
 than would be enough to satisfy its engagements. I 
 did not suppose that any claim could be set up by the 
 natives to the millions of acres of land which are to 
 be found in New Zealand neither occupied nor 
 cultivated, nor in any fair sense owned by any in- 
 dividual. I believed, therefore, that in any case the 
 Crown could fulfil its promise ; and that when so 
 many pounds had been proved to have been expended 
 by the Company for purposes named in the agreement, 
 the Crown would be able to grant to the Company 
 four acres of land for each pound so expended.' 
 
 Lord Stanley, however, had no notion of giving in, 
 and his despatches to New Zealand were of a nature 
 to practically nullify the decision of the Committee. 
 Much friction consequently arose. Wakefield tells 
 his sister in an undated letter, which must have been 
 written about this time : 
 
 'The New Zealand war waxes fiercer every week. 
 The correspondence with Lord Stanley has now got 
 to a ludicrous pitch of Billingsgate on both sides. 
 Cheat, liar, fool are not common words in the letters, 
 but express ideas commonly found there. There is 
 little to choose between the parties as to fierceness,
 
 256 BUILDERS OF GREATER BRITAIN 
 
 but we have the great advantage of having truth on 
 our side. The correspondence rolls the proud Stanley 
 in the dirt, and how he will ever bring himself to let 
 the public see it passes my comprehension. His part 
 in it is a series of tricks and falsehoods which our part 
 remorselessly exposes. Lord John Russell, who is a 
 most important witness in the cause, agrees with us 
 on main points. I rely on the justice of the Prime 
 Minister, to whom we shall probably be compelled 
 to appeal.' 
 
 It is indeed likely that if Sir Robert Peel could 
 have had his own way a settlement would have been 
 arrived at. He always treated the question with 
 becoming reserve and moderation, and disapproved of 
 the Treaty of Waitangi, which had been ratified 
 when he was out of office. He could not openly 
 overrule so important a colleague as Stanley, but it 
 was probably owing to his influence, augmented by 
 the general tone of a debate raised by Charles Buller 
 in March 1845, that Government for awhile seemed 
 inclined to come to terms : 
 
 1 The recent debates about New Zealand,' Wake- 
 field writes to his sister on 23d March, c have had the 
 desired effect ; the Government, not Lord Stanley 
 alone, but his principal colleagues, with his consent, 
 having made us an overture of reconciliation. We 
 have said " Yes " on the understanding that we are 
 not to patch up the old arrangement, which is too 
 vague, and makes us too dependent on the goodwill
 
 EDWARD GIBBON WAKEFIELD 257 
 
 of Government, but have a new one, which, subject 
 to certain well-defined checks, shall render us inde- 
 pendent. We require, in short, security for the future 
 as well as indemnity for the past ; and the reply has 
 been, " Very well ; it is best to make an effective and 
 lasting arrangement whilst we are about it." The 
 negotiation is now in full swing/ 
 
 A scheme was, in fact, drawn out in private com- 
 munications between Charles Buller and Sir James 
 Graham, which failed from the opposition of Lord 
 Stanley. Wakefield writes to his sister, apparently 
 on 6th June : 
 
 'The negotiation is over and has not resulted in 
 any agreement. Our proposal is rejected by Stanley ; 
 and we have rejected an offer from him to pay off 
 the shareholders of the Company. The whole must 
 come out next week, and will have at least the effect 
 of improving our position : since the Government 
 have entertained the plan of handing over to us the 
 sovereignty of New Zealand, and have offered the 
 shareholders full compensation of their loss of ^300,000. 
 I am better than might have been expected, and 
 have been able to take all the part I wished in the 
 negotiation and in rejecting the offer of the Govern- 
 ment.' 
 
 Nothing remained for the New Zealand Company 
 but to bring their case before Parliament, though with 
 the certainty of being outvoted. They had already, 
 on 1 6th April, even while the negotiations with Lord
 
 258 BUILDERS OF GREATER BRITAIN 
 
 Stanley were pending, presented an elaborate petition 
 stating their grievances, and their case was now en- 
 trusted to Charles Buller. Nothing but his premature 
 death prevented this gifted man from taking a fore- 
 most rank among the orators as well as the statesmen 
 of his time. He had already, in 1843, delivered a 
 great speech on colonization, not leading or intended 
 to lead to a division, which may be found as an 
 appendix to Wakefield's Art of Colonization^ and his 
 opening speech in the debate which commenced on 
 i yth June was worthy of his best powers. The 
 special proposal made was that the House should 
 resolve itself into a Committee to consider the case 
 of the Company, which the Government chose to 
 regard as a vote of censure on the Colonial Secretary. 
 The result under such circumstances could not be 
 doubtful, but, considering that the Government's 
 normal majority was ninety, its reduction to fifty-one 
 was a signal triumph for reason and justice. Stanley's 
 fiery eloquence could not be heard ; he was safely 
 bottled up in the House of Lords. It is easy to imagine 
 him and Wakefield listening to the debate, each 
 thinking how much better he himself could have con- 
 ducted it, and chafing at the insuperable impediment 
 that kept him dumb. Ellen Turner was indeed 
 avenged ! Nevertheless, Wakefield's side had little 
 reason for complaint. Sheil's eloquence was enlisted 
 in their cause, but they derived more really valuable 
 support from impartial and not altogether friendly
 
 EDWARD GIBBON WAKEFIELD 259 
 
 speakers like Lord John Russell and Lord Howick. 
 On the other side the official orators, Peel, Graham, 
 Cardwell, while speaking with dignity and effect, 
 indicated that they did not feel altogether comfortable 
 in the position into which they had been dragged by 
 the unruly Stanley. Nor could they well, the ques- 
 tion being merely whether the Company, having un- 
 deniably received a promise of four acres of land for 
 every pound they had expended, should be forthwith 
 endowed with them out of the waste unoccupied lands 
 belonging to the Crown, the other party to the com- 
 pact ; or whether a purely imaginary native right to 
 these lands should be set up, ruinous to Company and 
 settlers alike, and in no way advantageous to the 
 natives, whose interests would have been much better 
 consulted by a strict execution of the Company's 
 original plan of reserves in their favour. But Peel 
 was afraid of a native war. 
 
 The Company showed their confidence in their 
 case by publishing a full report of the debate, with 
 no comment beyond a reprint of certain documents 
 in an appendix. The arrival of alarming news from 
 New Zealand gave Buller an opportunity of raising 
 the question once again on 2ist July, but he was 
 defeated by a majority of sixty-six, a result fully antici- 
 pated by Wakefield, who had written to his sister 
 on 23d July : 
 
 1 All my power of writing, and even thinking, is 
 so thoroughly engaged by the New Zealand affairs
 
 260 BUILDERS OF GREATER BRITAIN 
 
 that I really have been unable to write to you, nor 
 can I say more than a few words now. We shall 
 be beaten in the Commons by a larger majority than 
 before, as Peel has staked his Government on the 
 issue, and people would send New Zealand, not to 
 mention all Polynesia, to the bottom of the sea 
 rather than turn him out for such a cause. But 
 Stanley is gradually ruining himself, and everybody 
 says he will retire when things are quiet. We mean 
 to fight to the last, even on our own stumps. I 
 suffer from the excitement, and now talk of going 
 abroad after the session for three months with 
 Charles Buller. If I could keep out of business in 
 England it would please me better, but of that I 
 have no chance.' 
 
 Wakefield's predictions were so far justified that 
 Lord Stanley resigned the Colonial Secretaryship 
 before the end of the year, ostensibly from his 
 opposition to the Free Trade policy of Sir Robert 
 Peel.; but Wakefield always asserted that resent- 
 ment at his chief's lukewarmness in supporting his 
 New Zealand policy had much to do with it. His 
 successor was Mr Gladstone, no novice in colonial 
 matters, but one who had served on many colonial 
 committees, and had always displayed eminent fair- 
 ness of mind. To him, in January 1846, Wakefield 
 addressed an elaborate memoir, which marks the 
 transition in his own activity from that of the 
 advocate of a company to that of the framer of a
 
 EDWARD GIBBON WAKEFIELD 261 
 
 constitution. After a vigorous sketch of the prevail- 
 ing dissatisfaction through all such parts of the 
 British Colonial Empire as had not obtained relief by 
 rebellion, and a terse and just definition of the fount 
 of all the special ills of New Zealand as consisting 
 in the 'placing of colonization in one set of hands 
 and leaving all the rest of government in another 
 set,' aptly compared to 'a pair of legs directed by 
 different volitions, which would inevitably try to go 
 different ways, and thus come to a standstill,' he 
 proposes that the Company should retire from the 
 scene altogether after receiving compensation, and 
 that the colony should be divided into different self- 
 governing municipalities, the Governor's office being 
 abolished. Native affairs within the boundaries of 
 the municipalities were to be left to the regulation 
 of the governments ; outside these precincts, to 
 themselves. The scheme probably grew out of the 
 negotiations then in progress for the foundation of 
 the Otago settlement, and foreshadows the system 
 of provincial governments which long prevailed in 
 New Zealand. The plan is not put forward as the 
 best conceivable, but as a substitute for the preferable 
 scheme of administration by a chartered company, 
 assumed to be now impracticable. It was shrewdly 
 devised to enable the colonists to get rid of the 
 Colonial Office, but seems to imply a more advanced 
 condition than the New Zealand settlements had 
 then attained.
 
 262 BUILDERS OF GREATER BRITAIN 
 
 Few Secretaries of State have had more ability 
 or more inclination than Mr Gladstone to deal in 
 a statesmanlike manner with colonial affairs. Two 
 rocks he might have struck upon ; his High Church 
 sympathies, skilfully played upon by Wakefield in 
 this very memoir, and his tendency to unwise parsi- 
 mony. Could these have been repressed he might 
 have done great things ; but Free Trade at the moment 
 swallowed up every other question, and he probably 
 gave but little attention to New Zealand in his brief 
 and troubled term of office, during which he was 
 without a seat in Parliament. Wakefield's memoir, 
 with other interesting documents, was published in 
 a supplement to the Spectator of 6th June. A few 
 days previously the disheartened Company had passed 
 a resolution in favour of retiring altogether from 
 the work of colonization. Two months afterwards 
 as related above Wakefield was withdrawn from 
 public affairs by the sudden stroke of illness, and 
 when, after a long interval, the paralysed brain 
 regained capacity for business, he found himself 
 confronted with a new Secretary, a new Governor, 
 a new Parliament, and, most important of all, a new 
 spirit in the Company itself. 
 
 Mention may be made here of two minor writ- 
 ings of Wakefield's which fall within his Committee 
 period. One, an annotated edition of Adam Smith's 
 health of Nations^ might have been of considerable 
 importance if it had been completed, but only the
 
 EDWARD GIBBON WAKEFIELD 263 
 
 first volume, published in 1835, contains any notes 
 of interest. Subsequent volumes were published up 
 to 1840 with Wakefield's name as editor, but his 
 engagements appear to have prevented his giving 
 any serious attention to the book. The notes exhibit 
 him as a sagacious rather than as a regularly-trained 
 thinker. c His practical conclusions,' says Mill, 
 1 appear to me just and important ; but he is not 
 equally happy in incorporating his valuable specula- 
 tions with the results of previous thought.' The 
 commentary is now perhaps chiefly important for 
 its notices of subsequent discoveries and social muta- 
 tions which may tend to affect the conclusions of 
 Smith, whose work, nevertheless, he says, * is not 
 only the most valuable book in the science, but 
 one more valuable than all the others put together.' 
 In fact, in Mill's opinion, Wakefield's doctrines are 
 sound corollaries from Smith, though Smith himself 
 might not have admitted it. In addition to the 
 objects which an editor of The Wealth of Nations 
 might be expected to propose to himself, Wakefield 
 has two others. 'To warn the student against implicit 
 faith in the doctrines of a science which yet wants 
 a complete alphabet ; to show how imperfect that 
 science is after all that has been done for it, and to 
 indicate some questions of great moment concerning 
 which next to nothing has been done. Secondly, 
 to apply the doctrines of Adam Smith and others 
 to some new circumstances in the economical state
 
 264 BUILDERS OF GREATER BRITAIN 
 
 of our own country. Urged by the belief that 
 economical suffering has been caused by mis- 
 government, we are proceeding to establish a 
 virtual democracy. It is a grand but also a fearful 
 experiment.' 
 
 De Tocqueville's great work on Democracy in 
 America had been published in the same year as 
 that in which these words were written, 1835. 
 Whether Walcefield had seen it or not is uncertain ; 
 his reflections had evidently led him to the same 
 conclusions. These are further expressed in a little 
 volume, Popular Politics (1837), which may be 
 commended to those who fancy that, because he 
 wished the aristocracy to have their share in building 
 up the Empire, he was therefore an aristocrat. It is 
 on the contrary a manifesto of democratic principles, 
 which might be termed violent and crude but for 
 its evidently designed adaptation to untrained readers, 
 in a style imitative of Cobbett. Most of the papers 
 are reprints from previous publications then out of 
 print. One of the most powerful is an account 
 from personal observation of the horror excited by 
 the introduction of ipublic executions into Dunkirk. 
 In another, a judge is represented as addressing a 
 criminal on the good turn he is doing him by 
 sentencing him to transportation : * For what you 
 have done here, depend on it, you will not be 
 punished ; if you abstain from crime in the colony, 
 you will be richly rewarded for the crime which
 
 EDWARD GIBBON WAKEFIELD 265 
 
 brought you before me, fortunate rascal that you 
 are ! ' 
 
 Wakefield's Radicalism, nevertheless, was of the 
 opportunist order ; he. supported political reforms less 
 on abstract grounds than as means to the ends de- 
 fined in his election address to the people of Birming- 
 ham as ' high wages and high profits, both together, 
 with high rents at the same time, such productive 
 industry as should yield plenty for the workmen, plenty 
 for the master, and plenty for the landlord not by 
 fits occasionally interrupting the ordinary state of 
 distress, but permanently, so as to ensure to all classes 
 at all times the means of a happy existence.' 
 
 Such was the creed of the man who has been 
 held up to opprobrium as the tool of the aristocrat 
 and the capitalist. But neither was he the instru- 
 ment of the classes below them. He was fully as 
 desirous that the landlord should obtain a fair rent 
 as that the labourer should receive fair wages. 
 Cobden and Bright denounced the selfishness of the 
 land-owning class, an accusation retorted with equal 
 vehemence upon the manufacturers. In Wakefield, 
 and almost in Wakefield alone, except for Carlyle, 
 whom he never mentions, we find perfect fairness 
 to every class, and equal zeal for the well-being of 
 all : an object which he thought, and Carlyle 
 thought with him, easy of attainment, if due 
 advantage were taken of the opportunities provided 
 by the expansion of our Colonial Empire. There
 
 266 BUILDERS OF GREATER BRITAIN 
 
 was no feature in his programme which the Con- 
 servatives could not take up as well as the Radicals, 
 and when after a while the Conservatives did in a 
 measure take it up, they took up the Radical 
 candidate for Birmingham along with it.
 
 CHAPTER X 
 
 THE LAST DAYS OF THE NEW ZEALAND COMPANY- 
 JOHN ROBERT GODLEY SIR GEORGE GREY's AD- 
 MINISTRATION DEATH OF COLONEL WAKEFIELD 
 
 'THE ART OF COLONIZATION' CRITICISM OF 
 M. LEROY-BEAULIEU DEATH OF CHARLES BULLER 
 
 SPEAKING before the New Zealand Legislative 
 Assembly, Wakefield condensed his views as to the 
 decline and fall of the New Zealand Company into 
 an epigram, * The Company was founded by men 
 with great souls and little pockets, and fell into 
 the hands of men with great pockets and little 
 souls.' Such was certainly the fact, yet it does 
 not necessarily imply any severe censure upon the 
 managers under whose direction the Company ex- 
 pired. In all great movements that comprise both 
 an ideal and a practical side, there must of necessity 
 be both enthusiasts and men of the world, and the 
 influence of the former will be more potent in the 
 early stages of the movement, because the initial 
 impetus has come from them. As they drop off, they 
 
 267
 
 268 BUILDERS OF GREATER BRITAIN 
 
 will usually be replaced by men of a less exalted, not 
 necessarily a less respectable type. Never, perhaps, 
 was any association dealing with scrip and shares 
 launched in a spirit of purer enthusiasm than the 
 New Zealand Company. It had not, as will be re- 
 collected, been intended by its promoters to have been 
 a joint stock company, but this character had been 
 forced upon it by the perversity of Government. 
 
 The condescension to joint stock enterprise was 
 ill-omened from the first, the names of the Company's 
 first directors manifest a declension from the board 
 of the original association. Nothing can be said 
 against Mr Joseph Somes, but the accession of this 
 great shipowner to Lord Durham's chair indicated 
 that the mercantile element was prevailing over 
 that of abstract enthusiasm for sound principles of 
 colonization. Nor can the solid business men into 
 whose hands the undertaking was lapsing be censured 
 if they took a serious view of their duties to their 
 shareholders, and lamented, though they did not 
 seek to evade, the necessity for relinquishing their 
 own salaries, and cutting down those of their staff 
 by fifty per cent. A note of dissonance may perhaps 
 be detected in Wakefield's letter to his sister in 
 1845, already quoted, where he speaks of 'the Com- 
 pany, and, what I care more for, the colony.' 
 Superior ability, and the fact that he was the only 
 director able to devote his whole time to the com- 
 pany, kept him at the head of affairs until his
 
 EDWARD GIBBON WAKEFIELD 269 
 
 breakdown in August 1846, after which date no 
 responsibility for any of its doings can be imputed 
 to him. From that moment a complete change in 
 the Company's policy is observable. c My incapacity,' 
 Wakefield told the New Zealand Committee in 1854, 
 c changed the whole character of the direction, which 
 then fell into the hands of a few persons in whose 
 minds sound principles of colonization and colonial 
 government were as nothing compared with pounds, 
 shillings and pence. They sold the honour of the 
 Company and the interests of the colony for money, 
 to come through a parliamentary obligation upon 
 New Zealand to recompense the Company for its 
 losses.' Here speaks the enthusiast, to whom profits 
 are nothing in comparison with principles, but, while 
 we admire, we must admit that the director who 
 thinks of the interests of the shareholder has also 
 a case. The worst of the new regime was that 
 under it the Company became wholly inoperative, 
 it served neither God nor Mammon. The arrange- 
 ment so much decried by Wakefield was concluded 
 in May 1847, anc ^ though Wakefield always asserted 
 that it was forced upon Charles Buller, must have 
 in some measure commended itself to his judgment, 
 seeing that he prepared it himself. In fact, all the 
 correspondence on both sides, the Colonial Office's 
 as well as the company's, was written by the 
 ambidextrous Buller. The scheme provided for an 
 advance of 236,000 to the Company, subject to
 
 270 BUILDERS OF GREATER BRITAIN 
 
 the condition that if the loan were not repaid by 
 1850 the Company should resign its charter and 
 all its lands in New Zealand, and receive ^268,000 
 as compensation for its expenses, to be paid out of 
 the proceeds of land sales in the colony. Wakefield, 
 in a letter to the colonists of Wellington, dated in 
 April 1849, truly prophesied that the Company 
 would not survive 1850, and added that its dis- 
 appearance would be the best thing for New Zealand 
 interests, removing a sham representation of them to 
 make room, as might be hoped, for a real one. He 
 had resigned his directorship in the preceding January, 
 on the ostensible ground that the Company would be 
 prejudiced by his attacks on Lord Grey in The Art 
 of Colonization, but consented that his portrait should 
 be painted for the board room. It was a fine picture 
 by Collins, nearly identical in attitude with the 
 daguerreotype prefixed to this volume, and including 
 his favourite Talbot hounds and pet King Charles. 
 It came into his possession at the dissolution of the 
 company, and was ultimately presented by his son 
 to the Provincial Hall at Christchurch. 
 
 While the New Zealand Company began to totter 
 downwards like a teetotum whose initial impulse is 
 exhausted, Wakefield was entirely withdrawn from 
 cognisance of its affairs. Two eminent physicians 
 gave him up, but after a while the vigorous constitu- 
 tion rallied, and although unable to look at a book 
 or paper, he regained physical strength sufficiently
 
 EDWARD GIBBON WAKEFIELD 271 
 
 to seek relief by easy journeys and short removes 
 from place to place, always carrying in his pocket 
 a card inscribed, * Do not bleed me.' In the autumn 
 of 1847 ne repaired to Malvern, and submitted with 
 good results to a course of hydropathic treatment 
 under Dr Wilson, the rival of the still more celebrated 
 Dr Gully. Thomas Attwood, the celebrated founder 
 of the Birmingham Political Union, whose daughter 
 Angela had married Wakefield's brother Daniel, and 
 whose other daughter Rosabel had been, as we have 
 seen, the friend and correspondent of Nina Wakefield, 
 was also staying at Malvern, * and there it was,' says 
 his grandson and biographer, Mr Charles Marcus 
 Wakefield, ' that I had the privilege of seeing these 
 extraordinary men together. Though both ranked 
 as Radicals, or at least as extreme Liberals, they 
 differed greatly in other respects. Attwood was 
 utterly incapable of understanding the magnificent 
 and far-sighted views of Wakefield on colonial 
 subjects.' Attwood, indeed, whose foundation of the 
 Birmingham Political Union ensures him a distin- 
 guished place in the political history of the country, 
 had impaired his influence as a public man by too 
 exclusive a devotion to his currency theories, and 
 lack of interest in subjects unconnected with paper, 
 coin, or bullion. 
 
 A more congenial spirit shared Wakefield's society 
 at Malvern, and here it was that the foundations 
 of the Canterbury settlement was laid. John Robert
 
 272 BUILDERS OF GREATER BRITAIN 
 
 Godley,'an Irish gentleman of good estate (born 1816), 
 had been early attracted by Wakefield's writings on 
 colonization, and had proved his own capacity as an 
 independent thinker in a remarkable book of American 
 travel, published in 1844, but written in the form of 
 letters in 1842, when Wakefield was in Canada, and 
 the two very probably met ; and still more by a 
 bold scheme for meeting the emergency of the Irish 
 famine by emigration on a large scale. He proposed 
 to locate a million Irishmen in Canada, charging 
 the expense upon Irish landed property, and pro- 
 viding for the interest by the extension of the 
 income tax to Ireland. An excellent project, could 
 Godley have guaranteed that the Irish would be 
 contented and loyal when settled down next door 
 to the United States, but otherwise perilous to the 
 Empire and unfair to Canada. Doubts on this 
 point may have had their weight in determining 
 Ministers to reject it. Published, however, by 
 Wakefield's interposition, in the Spectator, it marked 
 Godley out as an original thinker and practical 
 statesman, and one fitted in every way to co-operate 
 with Wakefield in the plan for a Church of England 
 colony which had for some time been floating in 
 the latter's mind, and which was fully considered 
 by the two during their stay at Malvern. This 
 remarkable undertaking will form the principal sub- 
 ject of the next chapter. 
 
 While the old fruit was falling from, and the new
 
 EDWARD GIBBON WAKEFIELD 273 
 
 blossom forming upon, the New Zealand orange 
 tree at home, the colony itself was entering upon 
 an entirely new phase of its history, strongly de- 
 marcated from that which had preceded and that 
 which was to ensue. It may be briefly described 
 as the autocratic phase, during which the affairs of 
 the settlement were mainly regulated by one man 
 of remarkable strength of will and faculty for rule. 
 In Sir George Grey New Zealand had for the first 
 time a capable Governor, the very type of the man 
 whom the Romans would have entrusted with the 
 dictatorship at a period of national peril, but made 
 rather to rule a Crown colony than a constitutional 
 state. It may have been an instinctive perception of 
 his forte and foible that induced him to retain the 
 colony in a state of pupilage as long as he could, 
 and to take the exceedingly bold step of suspending 
 a constitution which had been enacted by Parliament 
 in 1846, but which he deemed unsuitable. His 
 recalcitrancy was justified by the event. Earl Grey, 
 usually so imperious, meekly adopted the view of 
 a Governor whose capacity had been so brilliantly 
 evinced by the pacification of the Maoris, and whom 
 he justly credited with a better understanding of 
 New Zealand affairs than was possible to himself j 
 and thus a colony which the British Parliament had 
 endowed with representative institutions had to sub- 
 mit to seven years of personal rule. In theory this 
 was indefensible, and the undue prolongation of Sir 
 
 s
 
 274 BUILDERS OF GREATER BRITAIN 
 
 George Grey's powers in the long run undermined 
 his popularity, but no one appears to have been 
 enthusiastic for the new constitution, and there 
 seems at present a pretty general agreement that 
 at the time personal rule was the best thing for 
 the colony. The argument which chiefly weighed 
 with Earl Grey seems to have been the discontent 
 which the new constitution was expected to excite 
 among the natives, whom, by insisting on a know- 
 ledge of English, it practically excluded from the 
 franchise. It may be doubted whether there was 
 really much weight in this consideration, but it was 
 admirably calculated to impress Ministers at home, 
 who dreaded a Maori war above all things ; and 
 settlers in the Northern Island, where natives were 
 numerous, saw more in it than did settlers in the 
 Middle Island, where natives were few. Accord- 
 ing to Sir George Grey's own statement through a 
 third party to Wakefield, with whom his relations 
 were at this time amicable, he would have been 
 quite willing to have proclaimed the constitution in 
 the Middle Island, ' but he dared not himself make 
 such a distinction between North and South, and 
 the Office would not take his hints to them that 
 they should do it.' * All the Southern settlements,' 
 Wakefield adds, * are discontented, and Wellington 
 in very hot water.' l This feeling gathered strength 
 as time went on, and, together with an unfortunate 
 
 1 The Founders of Canterbury, pp. 70, 71.
 
 EDWARD GIBBON WAKEFIELD 275 
 
 land policy, accounts for the comparative unpopu- 
 larity, towards the conclusion of his term of office, 
 of a Governor who had rendered the colony such 
 signal services. The Maoris, on the other hand, 
 gave him the strongest demonstrations of their grati- 
 tude and esteem. His position towards them had 
 been peculiar. He was the first Governor who 
 had been pro-Maori without being pro-missionary. 
 Although a religious man the intimate friend of 
 Bishop Selwyn and the author of the first draft 
 of the constitution of the Church of New Zealand 
 Grey was by no means under missionary influence. 
 His proceedings towards missionaries who had specu- 
 lated in land went far to justify the original con- 
 tention of the New Zealand Company. One great 
 mistake he made in conjunction with Bishop Selwyn 
 his interference with the devoted missionary, Henry 
 Williams. The circumstance that the biographers 
 of the Governor and Bishop alike avoid all mention 
 of this affair, while the biographer of the missionary 
 and the historian of the New Zealand Church relate 
 it at great length, is abundantly significant. This, 
 however, was but an incident. Sir George Grey 
 did everything for the natives that could be done 
 in his time. The diffusion of education among 
 their children, actively promoted by the present 
 New Zealand Government, is the only measure 
 which can save them from extinction by reforming 
 their insanitary habits ; but this was impossible
 
 276 BUILDERS OF GREATER BRITAIN 
 
 until more of their territory, useless to themselves, 
 should have passed into the hands of white men, 
 and they should thus have become permeated with 
 European influences. Sir George Grey did much 
 by the acquisition of enormous tracts of waste land 
 in the thinly-peopled Middle Island, under the same 
 system of reserves for native benefit as that expounded 
 by Wakefield to the Committee of 1840. 
 
 Sir George Grey's chief mistakes were in connec- 
 tion with that thorniest of colonial subjects the 
 land question. By endeavouring to frustrate the 
 decision of Parliament that the New Zealand Com- 
 pany should receive compensation for their land out 
 of the proceeds of land sales, he lost the confidence 
 of the Colonial Office, his relations with which were 
 never again quite satisfactory. A more serious error 
 was the reduction on his own authority, and within 
 a short time of his retirement, of the price of 
 Crown lands from one pound to ten shillings and 
 five shillings an acre. It is doubtful whether he 
 had any power to make such an enactment, but all 
 felt that the matter ought to have been left to the 
 Colonial Parliament then about to be convoked 
 under the new constitution. Wakefield, upon his 
 arrival in New Zealand, tested the legality of the 
 Governor's proceedings, and gained his case in the 
 colonial court, but the decision was overruled at 
 home. The cheapening of land, besides destroying 
 the fund for emigration, excited violent discontent
 
 EDWARD GIBBON WAKEFIELD 277 
 
 among those who had already purchased land at 
 higher prices ; but the most serious objection was 
 that it played directly into the hands of speculators, 
 and frustrated the object which Sir George Grey 
 himself most desired to promote. The result fully 
 vindicated Wakefield's theory of the sufficient price, 
 if only as a barrier against * land-sharks.' It is thus 
 stated by Mr Gisborne, a writer in general most 
 favourable to Sir George Grey : 
 
 ' The intention, no doubt, was to place the ac- 
 quisition of freeholds within the reach of every 
 man ; but the result was directly the reverse. 
 Rent-holders and speculators were only too suc- 
 cessful in monopolising at nominal cost enormous 
 territories, and those of them who were not rich 
 enough, or who could not borrow enough to do 
 this at once, ' picked out the eyes of the land,' to 
 use an expressive phase, in order to render the 
 remainder of the land of little or no value to any 
 but themselves. The effect has been to lock up 
 large estates in the hands of comparatively few land- 
 holders.' 
 
 It has been alleged in extenuation that Sir George 
 Grey intended to have checked the accumulation of 
 landed property in few hands by the imposition 
 of a land tax, but there must be some mistake 
 about this. To have invited purchase, and then 
 saddled the purchaser with a tax of which he had 
 had no warning, would have been an act of bad
 
 278 BUILDERS OF GREATER BRITAIN 
 
 faith of which so just and honourable a governor 
 as Sir George Grey would have been incapable. 
 
 Up to the time of his resistance to the satisfaction 
 of their claims, Sir George Grey had not deserved ill 
 of the New Zealand Company. He had been on 
 specially friendly terms with their principal agent. 
 Writing to his sister on March 29, 1847, Colonel 
 Walcefield says : 
 
 'We made a trip to New Plymouth and Nelson, 
 and passed three weeks very agreeably in one of the 
 most powerful and well fitted up of H.M.'s steam 
 vessels. No two people can be on better terms 
 personally than Captain Grey and I am.' He adds, 
 indeed, ' Our politics are nevertheless as agitated as 
 ever, and the Governor and I do not always agree 
 besides, now the Company has to economise, I get the 
 ill-will and opposition of a considerable number of 
 the settlers, who prefer a Government that spends a 
 deal of money. But I came prepared for all this, 
 and have many sincere friends.' 
 
 Grey's goodwill to the Company at this time was 
 further evinced by the active assistance which he gave 
 in adjusting its controversies with the settlers who had 
 made purchases on the faith of its guarantee. The 
 ultimate arrangement was embodied in a memor- 
 andum drawn up on September 15, 1848, on which 
 very day William Wakefield was struck by apoplexy. 
 He expired on September 19. 'During the last three 
 years,' wrote Sir George Grey, ' I have been in con-
 
 EDWARD GIBBON WAKEFIELD 
 
 279 
 
 stant communication with Colonel Wakefield upon a 
 great variety of subjects connected with the interests 
 of New Zealand, and have found not only that he 
 possessed abilities of a very high order, but that his 
 whole attention and thoughts were directed to the 
 single subject of the advancement of the interests of 
 this country.' No man had been more fiercely 
 assailed, but he had lived down opposition, and New 
 Zealand has never seen such another funeral proces- 
 sion as that which accompanied his body to the 
 grave. 
 
 When William Wakefield closed his eyes in New 
 Zealand, his brother was writing The Art of Coloniza- 
 tion at the Chateau Mabille, Boulogne. He was at the 
 time not quite off with the old love nor yet quite on 
 with the new. The New Zealand Company had, in 
 his view, been virtually destroyed by the agreement of 
 1847, 7 et ne c l un g to tne hope that it might in some 
 measure be redeemed by an alliance with the new 
 association which had grown out of his conferences 
 with Godley at Malvern. This project, on the other 
 hand, was not yet fairly launched, nor could be for 
 some time, because, as Wakefield wrote in May, * In 
 consequence of Lord Grey's utter neglect of his own 
 New Zealand polity, there is at present no land on 
 which to plant the settlement.' The intended work 
 on colonization, much talked of and never seen, had 
 obtained in his own circle the appellation of c Mrs 
 Harris,' which explains several playful allusions in his
 
 28o BUILDERS OF GREATER BRITAIN 
 
 letters. He arrived at the Chateau Mabille in June, 
 and, in July, summoned Mr Albert Allom (afterwards 
 Colonial Secretary at Tobago, son of the faithful 
 friend who had nursed him in his illness, and brother 
 of his former secretary in Canada) to assist him in the 
 preparation of the book as amanuensis. Mr Allom, 
 however, did not arrive until September, when the 
 composition of the work was begun in earnest. 
 
 * His health,' says Mr Allom in the little pamphlet 
 of reminiscences recently published by him in Tas- 
 mania, 'did not permit him to work more than four 
 or five hours a day, and this only was accomplished 
 by extreme regularity in taking morning and evening 
 exercise. As the winter approached, we often sallied 
 forth before daylight, regardless of the weather, our 
 pockets filled with ripe pears, and scoured the country 
 with his fine, well-known Talbot hounds and beautiful 
 little beagles, whose alternate deep baying and yelping 
 in the darkness of the morning the farmers and others 
 have good reason to remember. When at work, he 
 would slowly pace up and down the room, dictating 
 to me the copy, pausing occasionally the more care- 
 fully to frame a sentence or to choose a particular 
 word. 1 He seldom made a correction. The day's 
 work had generally been well thought out previously. 
 Plodding on steadily day by day, the work was 
 
 1 It is remarkable that Adam Smith's Wealth of Nations was com- 
 posed in exactly the same manner, a circumstance which must have 
 been well known to Wakefield.
 
 EDWARD GIBBON WAKEFIELD 281 
 
 finished on Christmas Eve, 1848. I had only just 
 enough time to pack up the manuscript and hurry 
 with it on board the steamer leaving at midnight for 
 London. The next morning the manuscript was 
 delivered to Mr Rintoul.' 
 
 The book was published by John William Parker, 
 publisher of Stuart Mill, Maurice, Kingsley, and so 
 many more of the best thinkers of the time, on 
 February 5, 1849. The full title was A View of 
 the Art of Colonization^ with Present Reference to the 
 British Empire; in Letters between a Statesman and 
 a Colonist. Edited by (one of the writers) Edward 
 Gibbon Wakefield. It was dedicated in terms of 
 warm affection to Mr John Hutt, one of Wake- 
 field's earliest friends and supporters. 
 
 From various passages in his letters, it would appear 
 that Wakefield anticipated tangible political results 
 from The Art of Colonization. These certainly were 
 not forthcoming, and for a reason which ought not 
 to have escaped his sagacity. The book was ill fitted 
 to attract novices, and those who had already attended 
 to the subject could only say, l We knew this before.' 
 Like most important discoveries, the Wakefield gospel 
 is a very simple one, admitting indeed of continual 
 repetition, but not of republication. Once prove that 
 the backward state of the colonies arose from the 
 divorce of land and labour occasioned by the practice 
 of giving away land for a nominal price, and that the 
 land ought to be made the machine of its own cul-
 
 282 BUILDERS OF GREATER BRITAIN 
 
 tivation, by selling it at a good price and employing 
 the proceeds of the sale by settling it with labourers, 
 and there remained no principle to enunciate which 
 could impress the thinker, or influence the enthusiasm 
 of the nation at large. Everything vital to the com- 
 prehension of Wakefield's theory had long been before 
 the world, his views had undergone no such modifi- 
 cation as to necessitate restatement, and the further 
 illustration and exposition he now gave, though highly 
 acceptable, and though some topics, such as the 
 disadvantage of land sales by auction in comparison 
 with sales at a uniform price, were treated at more 
 length than heretofore, was in no way sensational. 
 This was an epithet more applicable to the early part 
 of the book, with its lively attacks upon Earl Grey, 
 whom Wakefield regarded as the marplot from 
 within, as Stanley had been the enemy from without. 
 But although such passages might help the book to 
 find readers, they obviously could contribute nothing 
 to its scientific value, and, animated as they are, it 
 might have been wished that they had been omitted, 
 but for the glimpses they afford of Wakefield's own 
 practical activity as an actual planner and founder of 
 colonies. 
 
 There is no sign of failing literary power in The 
 Art of Colonization, unless it be a certain diffuseness, 
 due in part to the machinery of the book. This is 
 an interchange of letters between a statesman and a 
 colonist, founded, Wakefield asserts in the preface,
 
 EDWARD GIBBON WAKEFIELD 283 
 
 upon actual correspondence. There seems internal 
 evidence that such was actually the case. The 
 method of the composition of the book, however, as 
 described by Mr Allom, shows that but little of the 
 original documents can be left. The statesman is 
 represented as seeking enlightenment through the 
 medium of oral discussion, which Wakefield would 
 no doubt have preferred. C E. G. W.,' writes Mr 
 Allom, c was a master in the art of persuading. He 
 seldom failed if he could get his victim into conversa- 
 tion.' But physically, he was no longer the man he 
 had been. 
 
 4 My health, instead of improving, has got worse 
 lately, and will probably never mend. It is a disorder 
 of the nerves which has long hindered, and now 
 absolutely precludes, me from engaging in the oral 
 discussion of subjects that deeply interest me, more 
 especially if they are subjects involving argument and 
 continuous thought. You must have observed how I 
 suffered towards the end of our last conversation. At 
 length I cannot disobey the doctor's injunction to 
 stay at home and be quiet, without effects that remind 
 me of a bird trying to fly with a broken wing, and 
 knocking itself to pieces in the vain exertion. As 
 respects earnest conversation, I am a helpless cripple. 
 But there occurs to me an alternative. With the 
 seeming caprice of most nervous disorders, mine, 
 which forbids talking, makes far less difficulty about 
 letting me write. The brain suffers greatly only
 
 284 BUILDERS OF GREATER BRITAIN 
 
 when it is hurried as with old hunters, "'tis the 
 pace that kills " but can work somehow when 
 allowed to take its own time.' 
 
 Such a machinery, whether growing out of an 
 actual state of things or deliberately adopted for 
 literary purposes, has manifest advantages and de- 
 fects. It is a distinct gain in vivacity of presenta- 
 tion ; it breaks up the subject into manageable 
 sections, and diversifies it with an agreeable infusion 
 of personal feeling. At the same time it is both 
 artificial and inartificial. The statesman, whether a 
 real entity or not, is evidently merely put forward 
 to allow Wakefield to advance what he wishes, and 
 whether because a man with many interests is unable 
 to correspond on even terms with a man with one, 
 or whether Wakefield tires of writing dummy letters 
 to himself, the disciple almost disappears from the 
 latter part of the correspondence. On the other hand, 
 the machinery suits Wakefield, who, to his great merit 
 as a master of homely, forcible English, did not add the 
 artistic instinct which would have enabled him to group 
 and display his subject as a whole. Desultory he must 
 be, and desultoriness is less observable in a series of 
 letters than in a formal treatise. 
 
 The Art of Colonization, then, could not be epoch- 
 making, for the epoch was made; nor could it present 
 the results of the author's speculations and experience 
 in a symmetrical and classical form. On the other 
 hand there is a singular fascination about the earlier
 
 EDWARD GIBBON WAKEFIELD 285 
 
 part of the book c the personalities and the egotism,' 
 as the writer calls it in a letter to Rintoul. As a 
 mere question of literary taste, these would perhaps 
 have been better away, but we must be thankful for 
 the window thus opened into the breast of a remark- 
 able man, and pleased with what it discloses. There 
 is nothing spiteful about the personality, nothing mean 
 about the egotism, they are rather like lyric utter- 
 ances, the indignant cry of an artist who models 
 colonies as others model statues or poems, and whose 
 special grievance it is that his work is not only under- 
 valued but disfigured. It is impossible not to confess 
 that his idea is far more to him than any concurrent 
 influence or emolument, and that his whole soul is in 
 his noble and disinterested definition of the summum 
 bonum: 'THE UTMOST HAPPINESS WHICH GOD VOUCH- 
 SAFES TO MAN ON EARTH, THE REALISATION OF HIS 
 OWN IDEA.' 
 
 The most original part of The Art of Colonization, 
 putting aside all that had been original when Wake- 
 field first propounded it, but had become common 
 property by the discussion it had since undergone, is 
 descriptive of the impediments to colonization by 
 reason of the too frequently low standard of morals 
 and manners in the colonies, and by the subjection 
 of the colonists to irresponsible officialism. The 
 latter evil has long since disappeared in self-governed 
 colonies ; when Wakefield wrote it was sufficiently 
 real, and the extension of the principle of responsible
 
 286 BUILDERS OF GREATER BRITAIN 
 
 government from Canada to the other colonies, 
 mainly inhabited by white settlers, remained a lead- 
 ing object with him to the end of his political career. 
 The treatment of the other topic shows how deep a 
 hold the Canterbury project had taken upon him. * I 
 am bound to add,' he says, c that my notions on this 
 subject were not originally formed in my own mind, 
 but, for the most part, suggested to me by Dr Hinds,' 
 the author, it will be remembered, of the chapter in the 
 original manual of New Zealand colonization which 
 dwelt on the advantage which would accrue to the 
 colony from getting a bishop. Wakefield thought so 
 too, but he also thought that the obligations of church 
 and colony would be mutual. ' The Free Church of 
 Scotland,' he wrote to Godley, 'finds the Otago colony 
 a most valuable topic in its intercourse with the public. 
 It is a very interesting topic. So is the conversion of 
 savages, as used by the Church Missionary Society. 
 There is something in it which appeals pleasantly to 
 the imagination and the best feelings. Whereas the 
 sole topic of the Propagation Society is religious desti- 
 tution in the colonies, which is a painful topic and one 
 of which people soon weary.' One of the finest 
 passages in The Art of Colonization is an eulogium on 
 the special deserts of the Wesleyan body. 
 
 Nothing of Wakefield's own in The Art of Coloniza- 
 tion equals in a literary point of view the quotation 
 from Charles Buller's character of 4 Mr Mother- 
 country ' in the little book on Responsible Government
 
 EDWARD GIBBON WAKEFIELD 287 
 
 for the Colonies previously mentioned. c Mr Mother- 
 country' is a leading figure throughout the latter 
 part of the book, and the name is assuredly well 
 chosen to imply that any opponent of the colonial 
 reformers must be something of an old woman. 
 Its personal application to Sir James Stephen was 
 most unjust. It is impossible to read Sir James 
 Stephen's letters, to go no further, without dis- 
 cerning in him an admirable man of high capacity. 
 The satire, nevertheless, is deadly in so far as 
 it strikes the abuses of the only system of govern- 
 ment which no one defends, and at the same 
 time the only system of which it is impossible 
 to get rid. Monarchs may be dethroned, aris- 
 tocracies exiled, democracies enslaved, but neither 
 monarchy, aristocracy nor democracy can ever dis- 
 pense with bureaucracy ; the responsible government 
 on the spot which Wakefield and Buller invoked 
 to supplant the distant and irresponsible bureaucrat 
 in Downing Street must have its own civil service, 
 and there as here the clerk versed in affairs will 
 rule the uninformed minister. The removal, how- 
 ever, through the concession of responsible govern- 
 ment, of a deadweight of unpopularity from the 
 Colonial Office, was not the least of the good 
 effects of the system of local government advocated 
 by Wakefield and Buller. If they had known 
 all that has since come to light about the inner 
 workings of the Office, they must have thought
 
 288 BUILDERS OF GREATER BRITAIN 
 
 more favourably of individuals, while at the same 
 time they must have felt more anxiety than ever to 
 modify a system where the best intentions of rulers 
 were liable to be frustrated by the cross-currents of 
 politics. 
 
 Where the 'Mr Mother-country' of The Art oj 
 Colonization represents the opponents of the vital prin- 
 ciples of Wakefield's system, he is entirely in' place, 
 but where he merely personifies the general spirit of 
 official obstructiveness he is an excrescence upon a 
 book whose sole aim should have been to instruct in 
 the art and mystery of planting colonies. Misled into 
 polemics, the author left this unwritten. As, never- 
 theless, the book is his last, it presents an opportunity 
 of stating the general judgment of economists upon 
 the Wakefield system more than sixty years after its 
 promulgation. This may be best accomplished by 
 citing the judgment of the modern economist who 
 has discussed it with most thoroughness, and who is 
 at the same time a recognised authority M. Leroy- 
 Beaulieu, in his treatise, De la Colonisation chez les 
 Peuples Modernes, 1886. M. Leroy-Beaulieu's judg- 
 ment appears at first sight a mixture of praise and 
 censure, but upon attentive examination he proves 
 more eulogistic than he supposes himself to be. He 
 calls the theory a mixture of wheat and tares, but 
 when the tares are pointed out it appears that they 
 are none of Wakefield's sowing. The chief defect 
 of the Wakefield system, in M. Leroy-Beaulieu's eyes,
 
 EDWARD GIBBON WAKfcFlELD 289 
 
 seems to be the pretension which he attributes to it 
 of a rigorously scientific and almost mathematical 
 character. No such pretension is to be found in 
 writings of Wakefield, who was himself so far from 
 attributing a strictly consistent and homogeneous 
 character to his system as to have declared that, 
 although he attached the greatest importance to the 
 employment of the proceeds of land sales in bringing 
 over emigrants, still, if only the giving away of land 
 or its disposal at a nominal value could be checked by 
 the establishment of a sufficient price, the main point 
 would be gained, even though these proceeds were 
 thrown into the sea. After this criticism, which 
 really has no application to the system as Wakefield 
 conceived it, M. Leroy-Beaulieu gives his entire 
 adhesion to its two main principled the sale of land at 
 a substantial price and the immigration fund merely 
 observing that the entire proceeds of the land sales 
 cannot be safely devoted to this object, which Wake- 
 field himself admitted, and pointing out that Govern- 
 ment assistance must almost always be necessary. 
 His censure of the phrase 'self-supporting colony,' 
 employed by some of the promoters of South 
 Australian colonisation, merely repeats Wakefield's 
 own statement to the South Australian Committee 
 that he regarded this phrase as quackery. M. Leroy- 
 Beaulieu does not advert to the chief practical diffi- 
 culty that of maintaining a steady influx of new 
 labour after the first batch of labourers had become
 
 290 BUILDERS OF GREATER BRITAIN 
 
 independent. 1 In the main his view of the system 
 seems to differ but slightly from that of its founder ; 
 it is only to be regretted that the South Australian 
 disasters are so presented that it might appear on 
 a superficial view as though M. Leroy-Beaulieu 
 regarded them as in some way consequences of the 
 method adopted in the settlement of the colony, 
 which it is nevertheless evident that he does not. 
 
 The practical results of the system spoke suffi- 
 ciently for themselves. It had the fullest and fairest 
 trial in Canterbury and Otago. 'Out of 11,915,303 
 acres,' says Mr Rusden, * sold from the foundation of 
 the colony till 3ist of October 1876 for 8,101,859, 
 the enormous proportion of 5,395,000 had been 
 received by Canterbury and Otago for less than 
 4,500,000 acres. For about the same land as that 
 sold by Auckland, Canterbury had received thirteen 
 times as much money.' 
 
 It would appear, then, that land was thirteen times 
 as dear in Canterbury as in Auckland, and that 
 nevertheless Canterbury sold as much land as Auck- 
 land, and had thirteen times as much revenue from 
 this source to devote to immigration and public 
 improvements. In Victoria, by 1858, three millions 
 of acres had been sold for 4,800,000, which, under 
 
 1 Labour soon became scarce in most of the New Zealand Company's 
 settlements. ' The only cuss of this colony,' wrote a woman who had 
 emigrated with her husband, ' is the exhorburnt wagers one has to pay.' 
 ' She liked,' comments Wakefield, < the u exhorburnt wagers " while her 
 husband received them.'
 
 the old system of New South Wales, from which 
 Victoria had been detached, would have been given 
 away in extensive tracts to individuals and have 
 remained uncultivated. Even in New South Wales 
 after the regulations in 1831, although the price put 
 upon land was no more than five shillings an acre, 
 the revenue from land sales rose from ^10,000 in 
 1832 to ,130,000 in 1836. c In this manner,' Mr 
 Elliott, the Emigration Commissioner, told the Lords' 
 Committee on New Zealand in 1838, 'assisted 
 emigration began immediately, and, the moment 
 that commenced, a voluntary emigration arose also.' 
 This tendency of emigration defrayed from the land 
 fund to generate a simultaneous and independent 
 stream of spontaneous emigration, was a noteworthy 
 and valuable feature. While the former movement, 
 controlled by intelligent directors with the object of 
 providing the new country with the pick and flower 
 of the old, contributed the elements best calculated 
 to build up a prosperous state in the future, any 
 tendency towards pedantry or over-regulation was 
 checked by the second current, affording more play 
 to the forces of nature. The high level of the 
 colonies founded on the Wakefield principle is 
 notorious, and was enhanced by its further develop- 
 ment in enlisting religious bodies as colonising agents. 
 Nothing in the system deserves more commendation 
 than its scientific character, its progress on regular 
 principles, and its administration by persons, whether
 
 292 BUILDERS OF GREATER BRITAIN 
 
 public commissioners or private bodies, earnestly but 
 disinterestedly concerned for its success. In this 
 respect it surpassed even Greek colonization ; not, 
 however, by contrivance, but from the nature of the 
 case. The Greeks, going forth to occupy a small 
 territory, the whole of which was to be appropriated 
 at once, were of necessity in sufficient force for the 
 undertaking, and hence needed no reinforcements, 
 and were from the very beginning an independent 
 and self-subsisting power. The English, settling in 
 regions too extensive for anything but the merest 
 beginnings of occupation, were long in need of the 
 tutelage of the mother country, and she, had she 
 rightly understood her place and mission, might have 
 nursed them into a more intimate connection than 
 Greece ever conceived. 
 
 The Wakefield system was of course violently 
 attacked by those who wished to acquire extensive 
 tracts of land at nominal prices, and the assumed 
 interest of the poor was generally made the stalking 
 horse of such persons. In fact, so long as the price 
 set upon the land was sufficient to deter large 
 purchasers, no contrivance could be better adapted to 
 favour the multiplication of small landowners. No 
 colony that gave it a fair trial has ever definitely 
 rejected it, and if it is now tacitly laid aside in most 
 of them, one chief reason is that it has mainly done 
 its work, carrying them on to the period when the 
 cheapness and facility of communication make regular
 
 EDWARD GIBBON WAKEFIELD 293 
 
 systems for directing the tide of emigration super- 
 fluous, and when the growth of an indigenous popula- 
 tion render emigration less vitally necessary. In 
 Canterbury, where it had the fairest trial and pro- 
 duced the most striking results, many of those who 
 bought land under its provisions suffered from the 
 unprofitableness of farming produced by the great 
 decline in the value of the chief colonial staples after 
 1872. Yet when all is said, in the opinion of the 
 present Agent-General of New Zealand, who was 
 brought up in Canterbury, much and solid settle- 
 ment remains as its result, and little would ever have 
 been said against it had the letting of a portion of the 
 agricultural lands gone on, pari passu, with the sale of 
 freeholds. The parting with land for cash, had it 
 been applied to a portion instead of the whole of the 
 public estate, might have found the funds for carrying 
 on colonising work without becoming an instrument to 
 effect the wild land speculation which, following on the 
 Vogel borrowing policy between 1872 and 1879, half 
 ruined a generation of Canterbury settlers. As to 
 that speculation, mischievous as it was, it is obviously 
 not to be charged against Wakefield that he did not 
 foresee the relation to his land system of a Public 
 Works Loan Policy conceived many years after his 
 death. Little of the earth's surface is now available 
 for colonization in the proper sense of the term ; 
 should Britain, however, ever again become possessed 
 of an unoccupied tract enjoying a temperate climate
 
 294 BUILDERS OF GREATER BRITAIN 
 
 and otherwise fit to be the cradle of a nation, she will 
 hardly find a better way of peopling it with settlers 
 representative of all that is best in herself than that 
 devised by Edward Gibbon Wakefield. 
 
 The Art of Colonization might have been a more 
 perfect book but for the misfortune which deprived 
 it of the revision of Charles Buller, who died un- 
 expectedly at the end of November 1848. He had 
 visited Wakefield in the previous month to discuss 
 a plan of colonization ' for the special use and benefit 
 of the Milesian-Irish race, who never colonize, but 
 only emigrate miserably,' which Wakefield had pre- 
 pared in concert with Godley. It was then intended 
 to have formed a section of The Art of Colonization, 
 but 'it was ultimately agreed that the plan would 
 stand a better chance of being soon adopted by Parlia- 
 ment if it were not published in my book.' It was 
 consequently reserved to be used by Buller as might 
 be deemed most expedient, but his death frustrated 
 the project, 'and,' says Wakefield, 'the plan is still 
 in my desk.' What became of it has not been 
 ascertained. 
 
 No circumstance in Wakefield's life affords a more 
 substantial guarantee of his worth than his long and, 
 notwithstanding his disapproval of the New Zealand 
 Company's agreement, and his complaint that ' Earl 
 Grey had spoiled Buller for a colonial reformer,' un- 
 troubled friendship with so choice a spirit as Charles 
 Buller. ' A sound, penetrating intellect, full of adroit
 
 EDWARD GIBBON WAKEFIELD 295 
 
 resources, and loyal by nature itself to all that was 
 methodic, manful, true,' as Carlyle wrote in the 
 Examiner. Wakefield composed no set eulogium on 
 his friend, but erected a memorial to him by reprinting 
 as an appendix to his own book Buller's great speech 
 on 'Systematic Colonization' in 1843, an eloquent 
 and luminous exposition of the advantage to a 
 great industrial country of peopling the world with 
 her children. 
 
 The New Zealand Company survived its champion 
 by about a year and a half. In 1850, although its 
 existence was nominally protracted some time for 
 the sake of winding up its affairs, it virtually came 
 to an end through its inability to repay its borrow- 
 ings from Government. Its charter was sur- 
 rendered, and the compensation due to it, assessed 
 upon the proceeds of colonial land sales, was paid 
 with much discontent by the colony an iniquity, 
 if such it were, necessary to prevent a greater 
 iniquity. With a higher level of public spirit the 
 sum would have been paid by the nation. For, 
 though sunk into decrepitude in the absence of 
 its leading spirit, the Company had had a heroic 
 past. It had laid the foundations of empire broad 
 and deep. Four flourishing settlements owed their 
 existence to it ; to two others it had given effi- 
 cacious assistance. In 1851 these settlements con- 
 tained 17,000 white inhabitants but for Govern- 
 ment interference Wakefield thought there would
 
 296 BUILDERS OF GREATER BRITAIN 
 
 have been 200,000. It had baffled potentates 
 abroad and shaken ministries at home. It 
 deserved the most especial praise for its careful 
 selection of emigrants, a prepared soil from which 
 none but good fruit could spring 'men,' said 
 Wakefield, c already before they left home more 
 accustomed to deal with matters of a common 
 concern, of a public character, and of the highest 
 importance to themselves collectively, than are any 
 equal number of average Englishmen who stay at 
 home, and who generally seem fitted to be the 
 subjects and machines, rather than the springs and 
 managers, of government.' Yet what was done 
 was but little in comparison with what might 
 have been done if they who wished to enlarge 
 the empire had not been treated as though they 
 wished to dismember it if the rulers of the land, 
 leagues behind its thinkers and its poets, had not 
 assumed the old hopeless attitude of 
 
 ' Blind Authority beating -with his staff 
 The child that "would have led him!
 
 CHAPTER XI 
 
 CHURCH COLONIZATION THE FREE CHURCH COLONY 
 
 AT OTAGO THE CANTERBURY SETTLEMENT 
 
 LORD LYTTELTON GODLEY AS SUPERINTENDENT 
 
 FELIX WAKEFIELD ON THE COLONY THE NEW 
 
 ZEALAND CONSTITUTION LIFE AT REDHILL AND 
 
 REIGATE WAKEFIELD LEAVES ENGLAND FOR 
 
 NEW ZEALAND 
 
 Via frima salutis, 
 S^uod m'tnime reris, Graia fandetur ab urbe. 
 
 SURELY it was by the spirit of prophecy that the pioneer 
 vessel of New Zealand colonization was named the 
 Tory. During the turmoil of the Company's battle 
 with Lord Stanley, Wakefield must have been far 
 from foreseeing that his ideas would be taken up 
 and carried out by that nobleman's political sup- 
 porters, and that New Zealand would wait for a 
 constitution until the Colonial Secretary had be- 
 come Prime Minister. It had seemed an axiom 
 to him, as to all, that reform must proceed from 
 reformers. The attitude of stolid resistance to all 
 change assumed by the Tory party when he en- 
 
 297
 
 298 BUILDERS OF GREATER BRITAIN 
 
 tered public life would alone have constrained him 
 to range himself with the Radicals, and he would 
 have been found sitting and voting with Grote and 
 Molesworth but for the disaster which destroyed 
 his prospect of a parliamentary career. He had 
 since c mended his shell with pearl ' to some pur- 
 pose, but so had the Tories. A ' Young England ' 
 school had been growing up, influenced in no 
 small measure by modern ideas, but whose special 
 mission it was to take up the old mediaeval prin- 
 ciples and graft them upon the new era. Carlyle's 
 Past and Present expresses the essence and quint- 
 essence of this mode of thought, which pervades 
 the contemporary novels of Disraeli, and was especi- 
 ally represented by those young Tories whom a 
 breach with their party on the question of free 
 trade had constrained to set up for themselves as 
 Peelites. To these Wakefield's theories presented 
 a different aspect to that which had chiefly im- 
 pressed the economists of the Mill and Molesworth 
 type. Although the sufficient price and the im- 
 migration fund had been the corner stones of the 
 system, still the Letter from Sydney had laid hardly 
 less stress upon the necessity of systematic coloniza- 
 tion by well - selected emigrants, observing a due 
 proportion of the sexes ; and all the arrangements 
 for the sale of land implied the persistence of social 
 distinctions. The young Tories naturally agreed 
 with Wakefield in preferring an aristocracy to a
 
 EDWARD GIBBON WAKEFIELD 299 
 
 plutocracy, and were powerfully attracted by the 
 vision of a well - ordered colony in which squire 
 and clergyman should exert a preponderating in- 
 fluence. Wakefield himself, as we have seen, had 
 warned them that England could not be repro- 
 duced in the Antipodes, and that those institu- 
 tions alone could bear transplantation whose fitness 
 could bear the test of experiment. The Peelites, 
 on their part, nothing doubted the ability of princes 
 and prelates, churches and colleges, coronets and 
 chasubles, all things which the spirit of the age 
 threatened with extinction at home, to acclimatise 
 themselves beyond the seas. Strangely enough, it 
 was precisely the Puseyite section of the Tory 
 party, with the highest notions and most retro- 
 grade tendencies in ecclesiastical matters, that enter- 
 tained the most liberal views in secular affairs. 
 It was they who had broken with the bulk of 
 their party on the Corn Law question, and now 
 presented the phenomenon of a phalanx of Liberal 
 High Churchmen, the essential point of whose con- 
 tention was that the Church was a vital institution 
 in harmony with the deepest needs of the age ; 
 nor could Wakefield be more ready to take up the 
 Church for the sake of colonization than they were 
 to take up colonization for the sake of the Church. 
 The emigration of religious bodies had been a 
 leading feature of seventeenth century colonization. 
 Wakefield awards the credit of reviving it to Dr
 
 300 BUILDERS OF GREATER BRITAIN 
 
 Hinds ; but the germ of it may be detected in a note 
 to his own England and America^ vol. II., p. 255, and 
 his letter to his sister respecting the Bishopric of New 
 Zealand, already cited, proves how warmly he entered 
 into it. 'Bishop Selwyn's see,' he says, writing to 
 Godley on 2ist December 1847, 'was created by us 
 in spite of many obstacles put in our way by the 
 Church and the Government. Indeed, we forced the 
 measure on the Melbourne Government ; and in that 
 measure originated all the new Colonial Bishoprics. 
 If our views had been taken up by the Church, great 
 results would have been obtained, both for the Church 
 and colonization.' His own sympathies were by no 
 means ecclesiastical ; his creed appears to have been a 
 masculine Theism ; but to get his plans adopted in 
 influential quarters, and to secure desirable emigrants 
 for his beloved colony, he would have transplanted the 
 Grand Lama of Tibet with all his praying wheels, and 
 did actually nibble at the Chief Rabbi. He enter- 
 tained, moreover, a statesmanlike conviction of the 
 importance of fostering the religious element in a 
 colony, both on its own account and for all that it 
 implies. He says in The Art of Colonization^ l A colony 
 that is not attractive to women is an unattractive 
 colony ; in order to make it attractive to both sexes, 
 you do enough if you take care to make it attractive 
 to women. Women are more religious than men or, 
 at all events, there are more religious women than 
 religious men. You might persuade religious men to
 
 EDWARD GIBBON WAKEFIELD 301 
 
 emigrate, and yet in time have a colony of which the 
 morals and manners would be detestable ; but if you 
 persuade religious women to emigrate, the whole 
 colony will be comparatively virtuous and polite.' 
 Further on, following Godley in his Letters from 
 America^ he points out that the early American 
 colonists did not so much resort thither to escape 
 religious persecution as to 'find a place where their 
 own religion would be the religion of the place,' and 
 that this system answered. c All that colonization was 
 more or less a religious colonization ; the parts of it 
 that prospered the most were the most religious parts ; 
 the prosperity was chiefly occasioned by the respect- 
 ability of the emigration ; and the respectability of 
 the emigration to each colony had a close relation to 
 the force of the religious attraction. I am in hopes,' 
 he adds, c of being able, when the proper time shall 
 come for that part of my task, to persuade you that it 
 would now be easy for England to plant sectarian 
 colonies ; that is, colonies with the strong attraction 
 for superior emigrants of a peculiar religious creed in 
 each colony.' This was written in 1848, but the idea 
 had been worked out in theory, and seemed on the point 
 of execution in 1843, ^ snown by a letter to his sister, 
 undated, but which the announcement of the resump- 
 tion of land sales in virtue of an agreement between 
 the New Zealand Company and Lord Stanley proves 
 to have been written in the May of that year. 
 
 'The project of a new colony in New Zealand is
 
 302 BUILDERS OF GREATER BRITAIN 
 
 so nearly ripe that I want to talk with you and 
 Charles about it. It will be a Church of England 
 colony ; that is, the foundation fund of the colony 
 will contain ample endowments for religious and 
 educational purposes in connection with our Church 
 exclusively. A body of colonists will be formed here 
 in conjunction with eminent clergymen and laymen 
 of the Church of England not intending to emigrate, 
 and this body will mature the plan and offer it to the 
 New Zealand Company, by whom it will be accepted. 
 The project, which is mine own, is warmly approved, 
 and will have the zealous support of the Church and 
 eminent laymen. Dr Hinds, who is here, will work 
 at it. ... 
 
 ' The settlement of our differences with Lord 
 Stanley is signed and sealed, and we begin again to- 
 day to sell land.' 
 
 It must be supposed that the renewal of disputes 
 between the Company and the Colonial Office pre- 
 vented the further prosecution of the scheme for a 
 Church of England colony at that time. Another 
 ecclesiastical colony, however, came almost simultane- 
 ously to birth. In July 1842, Mr George Rennie, an 
 enterprising Scot, who had for a while represented 
 Ipswich in Parliament, had addressed to the New 
 Zealand directors a scheme for colonization in the 
 Middle Island. Wakefield was then in Canada, and 
 the directors referred Mr Rennie to the Government. 
 The arrangement concluded with Lord Stanley in
 
 EDWARD GIBBON WAKEFIELD 303 
 
 May 1843, referred to in Wakefield's letter to his 
 sister, quoted above, gave them, however, more 
 freedom of action ; and on 23d May, Mr Rennie 
 and a new associate, Captain Cargill, returned to the 
 charge with a plan embodying the important modifi- 
 cations that the new colony should be a Scotch 
 Presbyterian one, comprising provision for religious 
 and educational purposes, and that the whole -of the 
 emigration fund derived from land should be devoted 
 to bringing over Scotch labourers only. Five days 
 previously the scheme had received a great impetus 
 from a great event the disruption of the Church of 
 Scotland on i8th May 1843. Free Kirk sentiment 
 was immediately appealed to, to such, effect, indeed, 
 that the Kirk swallowed up the entire undertaking, 
 except the original projector, rejected as an indigestible 
 morsel. The New Zealand Company sided with Mr 
 Rennie's opponents, the ultra Free Kirk men ; lands 
 were acquired from the natives under the auspices of 
 Colonel Wakefield in June 1844, and, after many 
 vexatious delays, the John Wickliffe and the Philip 
 Laing entered Otago Harbour and founded Dunedin, 
 capital of Otago, the most southerly of the New 
 Zealand provinces. They brought 343 emigrants. 
 The progress of the settlement was considered slow ; 
 nevertheless, by 1858, there were 7000 inhabitants, 
 and 19,000 acres were enclosed. In 1861 came the 
 gold discovery and the rush which emptied the little 
 settlement to fill it again. By the end of the year
 
 304 BUILDERS OF GREATER BRITAIN 
 
 20,000 Australians had supervened, swamping the 
 original Scotch element, but affording the substantial 
 consolation of a rise in the revenue from ^97,000 to 
 470,000. So great was the increase of population 
 that, by 1871, the number of pupils in the public 
 schools was equal to the entire population in 1858. 
 
 Colonies founded in pursuance of a deliberate plan 
 have a double history that of the emigrants on the 
 spot, and that of the contrivers at home. The early 
 history of Otago is mainly that of the hardy settlers, 
 but the sister colony of Canterbury has a still more 
 interesting tale to tell of the struggles undergone on 
 its behalf at the other side of the world by men whom 
 it merely interested as representing a principle. Here, 
 as perhaps nowhere else, we may see a colony in the 
 making, exhibited in the correspondence of one of the 
 two principal projectors. Mrjerningham Wakefield's 
 grievous neglect of his father's papers is partly re- 
 deemed by his having not only preserved, but printed 
 Wakefield's letters to Godley and other leading 
 persons concerned with the foundation of the settle- 
 ment, of which the writer had most fortunately 
 preserved copies. The Founders of Canterbury^ con- 
 taining this correspondence from November 1847 to 
 October 1850, is probably the worthiest monument to 
 Wakefield ever raised, for what his other writings left 
 matter of inference is here matter of demonstration. 
 It might well have been conjectured that so bold a 
 theorist, and so sagacious a judge of human nature,
 
 305 
 
 would not want boldness or sagacity in action ; but 
 here he is found, not merely prescribing recipes for 
 colony - making, but himself making the colony. 
 What elsewhere may have seemed a dry abstraction 
 is here clothed with flesh and blood. We see the 
 sanguine, enthusiastic projector, fertile, inventive, 
 creative, his head an arsenal of expedients, and e^very 
 failure pregnant with a remedy ; imperious or suasive, 
 as suits his turn ; terrible in wrath, and exuberant in 
 affection ; commanding, exhorting, entreating, per- 
 mitting, as, like an eminent personage of old, he 
 
 ' With heady hand, wings or feet, pursues his way, 
 And swims, or sinks, or wades, or creeps, or flies? 
 
 And to what end ? Merely to demonstrate the 
 soundness of his ideas by founding a colony, the 
 incarnation of his thought, and, in its way, a finished 
 work of art. 
 
 The principal actors in this exciting drama, after 
 Wake field himself, are Godley and Lord Lyttelton, 
 whose figures, though Wakefield nowhere in this 
 correspondence attempts a regular portrait, are clearly 
 defined, and might be almost as vivid as Wakefield's, if 
 Mr Jerningham Wakefield had performed the obvious 
 duty of preserving their letters. Godley 's character 
 has been ably portrayed by Mr J. E. FitzGerald, in 
 the memoir prefixed to his Writings and Speeches 
 (Christchurch, 1863). Mr FitzGerald's estimate con- 
 cludes : 
 
 u
 
 306 BUILDERS OF GREATER BRITAIN 
 
 * He had not the comprehensive intellect of a great 
 philosopher, nor the fire and fancy of a great poet, but 
 he had the mind of a practical statesman, clear fore- 
 sight and wise judgment, with a resolute will, unim- 
 peachable integrity, and a chivalrous sense of honour.' 
 
 In other words, he did not possess Wakefield's 
 originality of genius, but was as much a born leader 
 of men as Wakefield was a born leader of thought. 
 
 Of Lord Lyttelton, who had had considerable 
 experience of colonial affairs as Under Secretary to 
 Mr Gladstone, Wakefield gave a glowing character 
 in his letter to Godley on the New Zealand con- 
 stitution. The principal members of the Canterbury 
 Association had been denounced by the Examiner as 
 1 Jesuits.' 
 
 ' I must say another word about two of these 
 "Jesuits." The first is Lord Lyttelton, whose in- 
 difference to power and fame keep in obscurity his 
 singular ability and public spirit. Ever since you 
 left England he has made himself a slave to the 
 business of promoting New Zealand colonization 
 and the reform of colonial government, always ready 
 to give his whole time, his whole attention and his 
 money without stint to the work in hand ; and this 
 without appearing to suppose that he deserves the 
 least credit for these sacrifices. I cannot recollect 
 another instance of equal modesty and gentle sim- 
 plicity of character combined with great talents : 
 and, with the exception of Lord Metcalfe, who did
 
 EDWARD GIBBON WAKEFIELD 307 
 
 not surpass him in this respect, I have never known 
 a politician so unlike a Jesuit in love of truth and 
 downrightness of conduct.' 
 
 Lord Lyttelton and Godley were distinguished 
 from the crowd of politicians in that they were, 
 like Wakefield, idealists, but their ideals were not 
 quite the same as his. It is doubtful whether either 
 would have taken up colonization except in the 
 interest of the Church of England ; having once 
 done so, however, they became enthusiasts in the 
 cause, still keeping the Church mainly in view. 
 Wakefield in a measure reversed the process ; he 
 could not be as good a churchman as his friends 
 were colonizers, yet he becomes almost episcopal as 
 he talks of the various candidates for the bishopric. 
 One motive he had which his colleagues could not 
 share, to confound the renegades, as he deemed them, 
 of the old New Zealand Company : 
 
 Virtutem videant, intabescantque relicta. 
 
 It is evident from the letter already cited, that the 
 idea of a Church colony was in Wakefield's mind in 
 May 1843, anc ^ tne f urtner provision defined by 
 Mr FitzGerald as the requirement c that ample funds 
 should be provided, out of the proceeds of the land 
 sales, for the religious and educational wants of the 
 community about to be established ' seems an obvious 
 corollary, though it need not be doubted that it was 
 taken up with especial warmth by Godley. The 
 scheme appears to have assumed definite shape at a
 
 jo8 BUILDERS OF GREATER BRITAIN 
 
 conference between the two at Malvern on 2Qth 
 November 1847. The P art which especially de- 
 volved upon Wakefield was to induce the New 
 Zealand Company, of which he was still nominally 
 a director, and in which two -thirds of the waste 
 Crown lands of New Zealand were vested, to dis- 
 pose of a sufficient amount of the lands to the 
 Church colonizers to set them going : while 
 Godley's part, in Mr FitzGerald's words, 'was 
 the labour of bringing to the scheme a sufficient 
 amount of influence to secure the foundation of 
 the new colony.' As a leading contributor to the 
 Morning Chronicle^ for which most of the more dis- 
 tinguished Peelites wrote, as a brilliant Oxonian of 
 High Church tendencies, and a member of several 
 leading clubs, he was intimate with most of the 
 members of the neo-Conservative party, he found 
 no difficulty in interesting men of influence in his 
 project, and the indispensable qualification for a 
 New Zealand directorship was furnished by a 
 nominal transfer of stock from Wakefield. Wake- 
 field, on his part, wrote on 3Oth November to Mr 
 John Abel Smith, one of the most important 
 directors left on the New Zealand Board, propos- 
 ing 'the old plan of a settlement of 300,000 acres 
 to be purchased from the company for ten shillings 
 per acre.' It was at the time intended that the 
 location should be the valley of the Ruamahanga, 
 near Wellington, and it is not quite clear when the
 
 EDWARD GIBBON WAKEFIELD 309 
 
 Canterbury Plains in the Middle Island were de- 
 cided upon as the site of the settlement. The 
 company took up the idea ; a * Canterbury Associa- 
 tion ' was formed by Godley's exertions, which in 
 due time obtained a charter. Land was to be sold 
 on the Wakefield system at a 'sufficient price,' but 
 here the weak point not fatal but unquestionably 
 troublesome of religious colonies came in. To 
 induce the Church to enter into the scheme, it was 
 necessary to set aside a portion of the funds for 
 public worship and religious education, and as this 
 could only be got out of the proceeds of the land 
 sales, the price of the land was necessarily raised 
 to meet the demand, and was thus rendered exces- 
 sive. It was fixed at three pounds per acre, and 
 the proportion of this devoted to church and school 
 buildings being no less than one-third, it followed 
 that one pound out of three was an unreproductive 
 investment. At the same time, the high price 
 dismayed emigrants, as the promoters found to 
 their cost when they appealed to the public for 
 support. The more ecclesiastically minded among 
 them probably rejoiced in the expectation that this 
 regulation would keep out dissenters, who would 
 hardly pay a pound an acre for the privilege of 
 sending their children to High Church schools j but 
 even bigotry and virtue lost their attractiveness in 
 the presence of excessive price. The experiment, 
 well worth trying, will hardly be tried again ; but
 
 3io BUILDERS OF GREATER BRITAIN 
 
 the colony could not have been launched without 
 it, and, after all, proved no failure, and had the 
 especial advantage of enriching New Zealand with 
 emigrants of an especially high standard of character 
 and culture c Canterbury pilgrims,' among whom 
 knights, squires, franklins, parsons, lawyers and 
 physicians constituted a numerous and substantial 
 element. ' The young men of Godley's school,' 
 wrote Wakefield, 'resemble, both in head and heart, 
 the nobler spirits of Elizabeth's time.' 
 
 By the middle of 1848 the affairs of the embryo 
 settlement had progressed sufficiently to justify the 
 despatch of Captain Thomas as agent to occupy 
 and clear the ground : but for some time afterwards 
 they appear to have languished, and it was not until 
 the winter of 1849 tnat tne state of Godley's 
 health brought about the step to which the 
 ultimate success of the colony is mainly to be attri- 
 buted, his mission as general manager and superin- 
 tendent. It had been proposed that he should spend 
 the winter in Italy. Wakefield warmly, almost pas- 
 sionately, urged that the equally mild climate of 
 New Zealand should have the preference, and Godley 
 sailed at the beginning of December. His first act 
 on arriving was to stop all expenditure, Captain 
 Thomas having considerably overdrawn his means j 
 and then, finding that the expected colonists did 
 not arrive, he betook himself to Wellington, where 
 he successfully opposed a scheme brought forward
 
 EDWARD GIBBON WAKEFIELD 311 
 
 by Sir George Grey for the government of New 
 Zealand. It was not until November 1850 that, 
 after raising 5000 for the advantage of the 
 settlement upon his own security, he returned to 
 Canterbury upon hearing of the actual despatch 
 of a body of emigrants in September. For nearly 
 two years from that period, in the language of a 
 settler, * his word was law.' < Not with coffers full 
 and facilities abundant,' says Mr FitzGerald, 'but 
 in poverty of funds, amidst great difficulties, amidst 
 much discontent, amidst the disappointment of many 
 sanguine expectations, and the ill-concealed hostility 
 of a Government [Sir George Grey's] which appeared 
 vexed at the additional trouble imposed on it by the 
 founding of a new colony within its jurisdiction, Mr 
 Godley guided the infant fortunes of Canterbury, in 
 the full and entire conviction of the result which 
 must one day come.' It only needs to be corrected 
 in this generally just description that the motive of 
 Sir George Grey's unquestionable hostility to the 
 Canterbury settlement was not dislike of trouble, 
 but his conscientious though narrow antipathy to 
 'class colonies.' 
 
 One of Godley's first steps was to abolish, some- 
 what to Wakefield's alarm, the regulation of the 
 Canterbury Association, forbidding the granting of 
 pasturage leases except to purchasers of land. Of 
 all New Zealand districts, Canterbury is the best 
 adapted for sheep breeding, and the result of the
 
 3i2 BUILDERS OF GREATER BRITAIN 
 
 change was to bring a welcome flow of capital into 
 the colony. 'No day passes,' wrote Wakefield, in 
 June 1850, 'without my thinking of your being 
 there with urgent work to do and no money. But, 
 indeed, the whole deficiency of money must be treated 
 as an unavoidable misfortune, unless you and I are to 
 blame for having thought of founding, with twenty- 
 five thousand pounds, a colony whose proper founda- 
 tion on the plan adopted requires a capital of two or 
 three hundred thousand. However, courage ! It is 
 a good plan ; there is a good colony of people ; an 
 excellent prospect on this side, of the largest and best 
 emigration we ever hoped for ; and we Englishmen 
 are not apt to faint.' 
 
 Before this letter was written the vessel of the 
 colony had been upon the rocks, and was only floated 
 off with great difficulty, mainly by the interposition of 
 Lord Lyttelton, who, Mr FitzGerald says, and the 
 statement is fully borne out by Wakefield's corre- 
 spondence, 'brought his strong intellect and resolute 
 will to rescue it from destruction.' ' He threw 
 himself into the affair,' says Wakefield, in an un- 
 published letter to Godley, c as if his own fortune or 
 life had been at stake. You and I planned, but I 
 should have been disappointed and you discredited, 
 if he had not taken up the work and carried it 
 through by dint of personal effort and risk.' He 
 became chairman of the Managing Committee in 
 the spring of 1850, superseding Mr John Hutt, an
 
 EDWARD GIBBON WAKEFJELD 313 
 
 excellent man incapacitated by advancing years and 
 failing health, of whom Wakefield writes most 
 characteristically : c lt is very distressing, as was 
 the necessity for knocking him out of the chair : 
 but if you saw your own child boring a hole in the 
 bottom of a ship full of passengers, and you could not 
 stop him any other way, you would shoot him, would 
 you not ? I would.' The land sales, owing to the 
 extra pound an acre insisted upon for Church 
 purposes, disappointed expectation, and a guarantee 
 to the New Zealand Company was necessary. Lord 
 Lyttelton, Sir John Simeon, Lord Richard Cavendish 
 and Wakefield himself each became responsible for 
 ,375 > anc ^ hence it became possible to announce 
 in April that the first body of colonists would posi- 
 tively sail for their destination in the autumn. 
 'Thanks,' exclaims Wakefield, 'to the heart and 
 head combined of Lord Lyttelton and Simeon 
 in particular ! ' This was by no means the last of 
 their ventures and benefactions. The first provincial 
 assembly relieved the founders of the settlement of 
 18,000 obligation. Of Wakefield's own part he 
 modestly says : * I have always regarded my signa- 
 ture to the guarantee as imposing on me no real 
 pecuniary liability. Poor I should have to pay only 
 when Hagley, Swainston and Mr Cavendish's estate 
 could not.' 
 
 Not all the munificence of Lord Lyttelton and 
 his friends, however, could render the Canterbury
 
 3H BUILDERS OF GREATER BRITAIN 
 
 Association a success, but it saved the colony. The 
 extra pound for religious and educational purposes 
 fatally checked land sales ; not more than one-tenth 
 of the two hundred thousand acres expected to be 
 sold during the first year or two were actually dis- 
 posed of; the Association's inability to perform its 
 engagements led to the forfeiture of the charter 
 granted in 1850 ; and as soon as the colonists got 
 their own way through the dissolution of the 
 Association, while firmly maintaining the principle of 
 the sufficient price, they fixed this at forty shillings. 
 This result seemed to demonstrate that the sectarian 
 system of colonization is only justifiable as a pis aller, 
 which in the case of Canterbury it actually was. 
 The New Zealand Company had long abandoned 
 systematic colonization, and but for the ideas of 
 Wakefield and Godley, and the ecclesiastical en- 
 thusiasm of Lord Lyttelton and his circle, the fair 
 plains of Canterbury would have been long unoc- 
 cupied, or have been monopolised by squatters from 
 Australia attracted by the prospect of cheap land. 
 The 'sufficient price,' though in this instance over- 
 done, and the religious fervour, though narrow and 
 exclusive, preserved them for the occupation of one 
 of the finest bodies of emigrants ever collected, who, 
 the first difficulties of settlement overcome, dotted 
 them with Lyttelton, Christchurch, Timaru and 
 Akaroa, and many another thriving town. 
 
 A lively picture of the early days of the struggling
 
 EDWARD GIBBON WAKEFIELD 315 
 
 settlement is presented in a letter to Catherine 
 Torlesse from her youngest brother, Felix Wake- 
 field, the author of a valuable treatise to which, 
 however, Edward Gibbon gave literary form on the 
 survey of waste lands. After many years spent in 
 land-surveying in Tasmania, he returned to England 
 with his family in 1847, and was promptly impressed 
 by his senior into the service. He took an active part 
 in the preliminary arrangements for the foundation of 
 the settlement, and arrived there himself in December 
 1851. His letter gives a vivid picture of the natural 
 features of the colony 'like the South Downs on a 
 gigantic scale, entirely free from timber but with 
 ragged edges, and here and there some fantastic 
 peaks, jagged as the volcano left them when it 
 forced these islands above the sea.' This scarcity 
 of timber which the writer himself, an enthusiastic 
 acclimatiser who first brought red deer and pheasants 
 to New Zealand, afterwards did much to remove 
 was a great hindrance to the prosperity of the settle- 
 ment, but not to be compared to the mountain which 
 blocked communication between Lyttelton, the port, 
 and Christchurch, the capital, an evil afterwards 
 remedied by driving a tunnel. 'I bitterly regret 
 not having come out instead of Captain Thomas, 
 for I could have saved a mass of disappointment 
 and misery by preventing a settler landing here 
 until the road was passable.' The colony, Felix 
 Wakefield thought, was, notwithstanding, on the
 
 316 BUILDERS OF GREATER BRITAIN 
 
 road to prosperity, but prosperity was a long way 
 off. Pending the attainment of this goal, he antici- 
 pated considerable difficulty in supporting himself 
 and his young family, and looked forward to a long 
 course of potato-growing as a means to this end. 
 The colonists were an excellent body of men, c a 
 colony of gentlemen ; and this, my deliberate opinion, 
 was confirmed by Bishop Selwyn a few days since, 
 when he told me that he knew of nothing like it 
 in that respect. The labourers are, as a body, 
 respectable, some black sheep among them, but very 
 few ; for this we may thank the workers of the 
 scheme in England, and the chaplain and school- 
 master on board.' 'The first body of colonists,' 
 says Wakefield, in a letter to Godley, 'was made 
 up by infinite painstaking. Nine out of ten of 
 them were nursed into becoming colonists.' Owing 
 to the slowness of the land sales, the arrangements 
 for churches and schools were in abeyance, and the 
 voluntary system loomed darkly in the future. Mr 
 Wakefield himself had just rescued two most promis- 
 ing young men from Norfolk from 'slipping back 
 into barbarism.' He fully agreed with Godley that 
 there was too much government from home, and 
 that the despatches from headquarters were unduly 
 didactic. ' Except the sale of land, and sending ships 
 out, everything ought to be done here by Godley 
 and the Council of the colonists.' 
 
 This feeling on Godley's part, and, as Wakefield
 
 EDWARD GIBBON WAKEFIELD 317 
 
 thought, the interference of Godley's future bio- 
 grapher, the then emigration agent, Mr Fitz- 
 Gerald, a brilliant, impulsive Irishman, meteori- 
 cally conspicuous in the political history of New 
 Zealand, who had adorned the Secretary's office 
 at the British Museum, and whose epistles to 
 Panizzi on the subject of registration are still 
 preserved with reverence in the archives of the 
 printed book department, led eventually to a lament- 
 able estrangement between Wakefield and Godley, 
 which would not have occurred if they had not been 
 on opposite sides of the world. 'What a pity,' 
 Wakefield himself observes to Godley, 'that we 
 cannot meet, and fight it out till one should give 
 in ! I pray you to believe that I am not obstinate 
 or conceited, but really desirous to think with you.' 
 Not all his letters were equal models of sweet 
 reasonableness, but personal explanation would have 
 obliterated unfavourable impressions. ' I declare,' 
 Wakefield wrote to Lord Lyttelton from New 
 Zealand after Godley's departure, ' that a thorough 
 reconciliation would be more agreeable to me than 
 anything else I can think of.' Felix Wakefield did 
 not after all devote himself to potatoes ; he went 
 back to England, became director of the Army 
 Works Corps in the Crimean War, and returning 
 after some years to Canterbury, found that his 
 property there had beome as valuable as he had 
 expected it to prove ' if the colony did not collapse
 
 3 i8 BUILDERS OF GREATER BRITAIN 
 
 for want of a road.' The time of trial, nevertheless, 
 had been severe, and it is not surprising that when 
 Walcefield himself arrived at Canterbury he wrote 
 to his sister, 'Extreme unpopularity met me on 
 landing,' though he adds, c lt nearly all evaporated 
 in a month.' When Lord Lyttelton, in 1868, came 
 to view the work to which he had so largely con- 
 tributed, he found it very good, especially as regarded 
 the high religious and educational development 
 which had been the colony's raison d'etre. 
 
 The letters quoted, hitherto unpublished, belong to 
 the year 1851. The printed volume is one of the 
 raciest of books, full of humour, designed and unde- 
 signed. Nothing gave the writer more trouble than 
 that indispensable appurtenance to a Church colony, 
 a bishop, and anxiously did he strain his untutored 
 vision to discover the precise tint of churchmanship 
 which would gratify the High Churchman without 
 absolutely infuriating the Low. ' Surely the Church 
 comprises many earnest Churchmen who are not 
 members of -the Puseyite or Tractarian party. I 
 would name, for example, Gladstone and the Bishop 
 of Oxford.' (The children of this world are not 
 always wiser than the children of light.) Two most 
 eligible prelates were thought to have been caught, 
 but both managed to give the association the slip ; a 
 third, to whom it had actually bound itself, proved 
 so ineligible that great relief was experienced 
 when he himself arrived at a similar conclusion as
 
 EDWARD GIBBON WAKEFIELD 319 
 
 respected his intended diocese. Bishop Selwyn got 
 no suffragan at Canterbury until December 1856. 
 If, however, Wakefield did not shine as a theologian, 
 his letters do him much credit as a practical moralist. 
 The blessing promised to the peacemakers should 
 have rested upon the writer of this letter to an 
 eminent servant of the New Zealand Company who 
 had quarrelled with another of equal distinction : 
 
 ' Your quarrel is to me a subject of deep regret, 
 both on your own account and that of the colony. 
 Is it irreparable ? Men of sense never quarrel irre- 
 parably. If I could imagine you exempt from the 
 strange violence of colonial party feeling, I should 
 earnestly counsel and beg of you to put an end to 
 the quarrel. In every quarrel the man who puts 
 an end to it is he who makes the first advance to 
 reconciliation. To do that is only considered dis- 
 graceful by petty minds : men of sense and courage 
 deem it magnanimous. You have made a mistake. 
 Why not retrace the step ? If you have the manly 
 sense I give you credit for, you will be able to 
 conquer a natural disinclination to admitting the 
 mistake. Greater men than either of us have done 
 this very often : very little men cannot do it. I mis- 
 judge greatly if he is not a gentleman and a man 
 of spirit : and if he is, he will cordially accept the 
 offer of your hand. If you have, as may be natural, 
 a difficulty about opening the way to peace, send 
 him this letter, and wait for what he shall do. It
 
 320 BUILDERS OF GREATER BRITAIN 
 
 would be a vast satisfaction to me were I thus to 
 be the means of bringing together two men whose 
 co-operation and friendship I consider of great im- 
 portance to the welfare of New Zealand. If you 
 make up the quarrel you will both be gainers, as 
 well as the colony ; and you will be better friends, 
 closer allies in the pursuit of the cause as to which 
 you have -never differed that cause which I have 
 at heart, and to which I make every sacrifice that 
 it requires than if you had never quarrelled at all.' 
 
 The following is equally admirable in a different 
 way : 
 
 1 A new colony is a bad place for a young single 
 man. To be single is contrary to the nature of a 
 new colony, where the laws of society are labour, 
 peace, domestic life, increase and multiply. The 
 hospitality is so great that a young man who can 
 make himself agreeable may live in idleness : and 
 the most common lot of a single young man is to 
 do this, till he becomes unfit for marriage by becom- 
 ing wedded to his pipe and his bottle, not to mention 
 the billiard table. Whereas, if he is nicely married, 
 he has a sweet home to go to after his day's work, 
 and his mind is kept tranquil enough to bear with- 
 out injury the intense excitement of sharing in the 
 creation of a new society. Marriage is the most 
 economical : the same capital goes further with a 
 wife than without one. It is her moral influence 
 that both saves the money, and stimulates her
 
 EDWARD GIBBON WAKEFIELD 321 
 
 husband's energy and prudence. Whatever may be 
 the rank and capital of the young colonist whether 
 a nobleman's son worth ^10,000, or a labourer 
 let him be married for the sake of economy as well 
 as peace and comfort.' 
 
 Wakefield's stay at Malvern had been preceded 
 by a residence of a few months at South Stoke, near 
 Arundel, where he begged a cottage from Mr John 
 Abel Smith, chiefly on account of his little friend, 
 Amy Allom, whom it pained him to find wasted by 
 illness upon his return from his own tour. After 
 her recovery, he settled at Warwick Lodge, Redhill, 
 where he gathered around him the family of his 
 brother Felix, recent arrivals from Tasmania. 
 Constance, the eldest daughter, now Mrs D'Arblay 
 Burney, became his secretary, an office also some- 
 times discharged by his nephew George, the son of 
 his brother Howard, and afterwards an Indian civil 
 servant. He took his brother's family with him to 
 Boulogne, and when he afterwards moved to a pretty 
 little outbuilding belonging to the White Hart Hotel 
 at Reigate, quartered them at Woodhatch, a house 
 in the neighbourhood. Mrs Burney vividly re- 
 members her first impression of her uncle, only 
 confirmed by subsequent acquaintance, as of one 
 superior to all men she had ever seen or imagined. 
 She compares him to a lion, with massive head, 
 magnificent brow, sanguine complexion, somewhat 
 too full habit of body, long floating hair, the token 
 
 x
 
 322 BUILDERS OF GREATER BRITAIN 
 
 of the enthusiast, and brilliant blue eyes, indescrib- 
 ably tender when in gentle mood, but frequently 
 blazing with passion or excitement. The great 
 charm and impressiveness of his personality, not- 
 withstanding, were incapable of definition : they lay 
 in that mysterious magnetic power which excited 
 feelings of intense devotion among those who came 
 fully under its spell, detained unwilling listeners 
 within hearing, and often subjugated them at 
 last, but, by the law of compensation, frequently 
 aroused violent antipathy among the unsubdued. 
 The same contrast pervaded his own nature ; in 
 general the kindest of men continually performing 
 generous actions, and affectionate and tender- 
 hearted to a fault he had moods of perverseness, 
 and could be bitterly resentful and vindictive when 
 his plans were thwarted, as by Earl Grey. He 
 was especially attached to young people, and was 
 always striving to educate those who came under 
 his influence. He provided his niece with teachers 
 in French and dancing ; and she remembers, with 
 even more gratitude, his constant admonitions on 
 punctuality, method, good handwriting, and the other 
 valuable habits whose importance is so often undis- 
 cerned by the young. He was continually contriving 
 parties and picnics for the amusement of his young 
 people ; but nothing was more marked in him than 
 his exuberant spirits and fondness for practical joking, 
 especially by alterations of apparel. He so effectually
 
 EDWARD GIBBON WAKEFIELD 32? 
 
 disguised the daughter of a friend as to impose on 
 her own parents. On the whole, the impression con- 
 veyed is that of an opulent nature, whose abounding 
 energies must have vent, and whose love of mischief 
 and talent for stratagem might easily involve the 
 possessor in disagreeable adventures. These perilous 
 endowments were, nevertheless, held in check by 
 unrivalled sagacity and shrewdness. He seemed to 
 read unuttered thoughts, to discern character by 
 intuition, and to foresee the future both of individuals 
 and societies. One theme on which he was fond of 
 dilating was the future of the Empire under the 
 British Crown. He looked forward to the Queen's 
 sons ruling the chief groups of the British colonies 
 as permanent viceroys one in Canada, another in 
 Australia, a third at the Cape a vision which might 
 have proved a prevision had the Imperial sentiment, 
 which he did so much to create, been somewhat less 
 tardy in asserting itself. He would sometimes calm 
 the perturbed nerves by the anodyne of a new novel, 
 and he read The Vicar of Wakefield through 
 regularly once a year. Mrs Burney copied docu- 
 ments and letters for him, and wrote abundantly to 
 his dictation. It frequently happened to her to be 
 fetched in haste, and to find her uncle closeted with 
 some leading public man, such as Sir William Moles- 
 worth or Mr Aglionby. She would then take down 
 an oration or disquisition from his lips, which fre- 
 quently reappeared in the proceedings of the House
 
 324 BUILDERS OF GREATER BRITAIN 
 
 of Commons. She also remembers Mr Rintoul, the 
 large-browed, gentle-mannered editor of the Spectator^ 
 who must never be spoken to upon a Friday. The 
 picture of life at Reigate would be incomplete 
 without record of the enormous Talbot hounds, the 
 awful delight of the neighbourhood, already men- 
 tioned by Mr Allom, and of a good cat, demon- 
 strative in her affection to her master. 
 
 Another person intimately acquainted with Wake- 
 field at this time was Sir Frederick Young, K.C.M.G., 
 chairman and mainstay of the Royal Colonial Institute, 
 who has most kindly placed his recollections of his old 
 tutor in colonial politics at the writer's service : 
 
 c My father, the late George Frederick Young, 
 M.P.,' says Sir Frederick, ' was an active director of 
 the New Zealand Company, and from 1839 onwards 
 I found myself frequently in communication with 
 Mr Wakefield. He exercised a powerful influence 
 over all who came within his sphere, and especially 
 over young men. His manner was striking, and 
 most persuasive. There was a peculiar fascination 
 about the way in which he put everything before 
 one, which seldom failed to inspire confidence in 
 the views which he propounded. There was a 
 breadth, and power, and grasp of a subject in his 
 thoughts, and a boldness in the enunciation of these 
 that could not fail to draw attention, and generally 
 carry conviction. In my own case he quite 
 captivated me.
 
 EDWARD GIBBON WAKEFIELD 325 
 
 c ln the year 1848 the Canterbury Association was 
 formed, and I was induced shortly afterwards, at Mr 
 Wakefield's suggestion, to undertake the manage- 
 ment of their shipping department. During 1851, 
 and part of 1852, all the ships chartered by the 
 Association, conveying to New Zealand nearly 
 2000 colonists, were despatched under my personal 
 management. During this period I was in constant 
 communication with the Association at its offices, 9 
 Adelphi Terrace, Strand, which brought me into 
 contact with Mr Wakefield, who was daily in at- 
 tendance there. 
 
 ' At this time he was living in a cottage, in a 
 garden, which belonged to, and was approached from, 
 the White Hart Inn at Reigate. It was a comfort- 
 able and commodious little residence, with a large 
 dining-room. Here he every now and then invited 
 me to stay with him for a day or two. On these 
 occasions our evenings were spent in discussing various 
 problems connected with colonization, and with the 
 details of the progress and prospects of the new 
 settlement of Canterbury, and the best means to be 
 adopted for promoting its success in England. Wake- 
 field's brother Felix was often with him at Reigate, 
 as well as Sewell of Oxford, an active member 
 of the Canterbury Association. I remember one 
 night, just after Sewell had retired, and Wakefield 
 and I were leaving the room to do the same, 
 Wakefield, candle in hand, turned to me and said :
 
 326 BUILDERS OF GREATER BRITAIN 
 
 " What a good fellow he is ! It is a pity he is 
 such a Puseyite ! " 
 
 'In those days Wakefield possessed a breed of 
 those rare dogs, the Talbot hounds. He had two 
 magnificent specimens, who were his constant com- 
 panions, both in and out of doors. He was very 
 fond of them, and splendid animals they were. He 
 also had a strong cob, on which he used to ride 
 every morning before breakfast. When I was at 
 Reigate, I always accompanied him on foot, as he 
 only rode at a walking pace, listening to his sage 
 remarks, and taking in much that he propounded 
 on the subject of colonization. He was then between 
 fifty and sixty, about five feet six inches in height, 
 stout and burly in figure, with a round, smooth, 
 fair face, looking very like a prosperous English 
 farmer. If it had not been for his unfortunate 
 escapade in early life he would have attained a very 
 high place in public estimation. Still, among poli- 
 ticians, and especially those in any way feeling an 
 interest in colonial questions, he was undoubtedly 
 a great power. One day he said to me, "Young, 
 I had thirty-six members of Parliament in this room 
 yesterday." They had travelled down to Reigate 
 to consult him on some important colonial subject 
 then on the tapis. 
 
 c His personal habits, when I knew him, were of 
 the simplest kind. He was most temperate, and never 
 indulged in any of the pleasures of the table. He
 
 EDWARD GIBBON WAKEFIELD 327 
 
 rose very early and went to bed early. He lived 
 on the simplest food, and scarcely touched wine.* 
 He had an especial dislike to the vulgar snobbery 
 of the nouveatix riches, of whom there were many 
 specimens around him. As he was a person with a 
 name they desired to have him at their tables, but 
 they never could succeed in getting him. One of 
 them said, "If you will come I will have fish down 
 from London and dine at six." "Thank you," was 
 the reply, " I always dine at one, on a leg of mutton 
 and a rice pudding." 
 
 * With all his defects, Wakefield was unquestionably 
 a great man, and possessed remarkable intellectual 
 qualities. He was always very kind to me, and I 
 learned much from him. He never did me any harm, 
 and I feel honoured and proud to have known him.' 
 
 In 1850 and 1851, Wakefield united with Mr 
 C. B. Adderley and other colonial reformers, chiefly 
 of the more recent school, in founding a Colonial 
 Reform Society, which materially influenced the 
 grant of constitutions to the Australian Colonies 
 made shortly afterwards. In 1852, his attention 
 was chiefly given to a matter of the deepest 
 moment to him, the New Zealand Constitution 
 passed by the Derby Ministry, which terminated 
 the system of personal government dominant in the 
 islands since Sir George Grey had set aside the con- 
 
 * Of all men I ever knew,' writes Mr Allom, ' he had the greatest 
 abhorrence of any person of drunken habits.'
 
 328 BUILDERS OF GREATER BRITAIN 
 
 stitution of 1846. This state of affairs, it was 
 admitted, could not last indefinitely ; and when the 
 Derby Ministry succeeded to power in February 
 1852, they found a constitution in the pigeon-holes 
 of the Colonial Office, drafted mainly under the 
 influence of Sir George Grey. The turn which 
 affairs then took is circumstantially described in a 
 letter from Wakefield to Godley, of Jth June 1852, 
 printed in the Lyttelton Times of 3Oth October, 
 giving a complete history of the transaction, with 
 one remarkable omission. Wakefield nowhere says 
 that he was himself the chief author of the 
 new constitution, yet such is the explicit assertion 
 of Mr C. B. Adderley, afterwards Under Secretary 
 for the Colonies, and now Lord Norton, who 
 says in his * Review ' of Earl Grey's work on 
 Colonial Policy (1869), 'The measure was based 
 on a draft I drew up under the guidance of Gibbon 
 Wakefield.' Wakefield may have considered his part 
 as confidential, or he may have been unwilling to 
 assume responsibility for a measure which he him- 
 self regarded as a compromise, and which he knew 
 would prove unacceptable in many respects. It is 
 the one aim of his able letter to reconcile the colonists 
 to an admittedly faulty constitution, which yet con- 
 tained the germ of improvement, by representing it 
 as the sole alternative to no constitution at all. 
 
 The wisdom of the advice was soon justified. At 
 the end of 1852, the Conservatives having, in strict
 
 EDWARD GIBBON WAKEFIELD 329 
 
 fulfilment of a remarkable prophecy made by Wakefield 
 to Rintoul in 1849, ne ^ office just long enough to 
 weld the Peelites and the Liberals into one party, 
 made way for their opponents, who came into power 
 laden with pledges and projects which would have 
 left them no time to think of New Zealand. In 
 1854 tne Crimean War supervened, and domestic 
 legislation ceased to interest. After all, the chief 
 defect of the measure was unavoidable at the time. 
 Theoretically fault might be found with the in- 
 stitution of six miniature parliaments under the title 
 of Provincial Councils ; but practically the settle- 
 ments were so far apart and had so little in common 
 that a collective management of their affairs was 
 impracticable, and all that could be done was to 
 confide the larger concerns of the country to a 
 General Assembly, consisting of two houses, one 
 nominated for life, the other elected by a very wide 
 suffrage, without distinction of race. Provincial 
 legislation required the assent of the Governor only, 
 though, always subject .to repeal by the General 
 Assembly ; acts of the General Assembly might be 
 disallowed by the Crown. The constitution was 
 apparently less democratic than that proposed by Sir 
 George Grey, in so far as all the members of the Upper 
 House of the Legislative Council were to be nominated 
 for life by the Crown, while by Sir George's scheme 
 the majority would have been elected for a term by 
 the Provincial Councils. But, as Mr Reeves points
 
 330 BUILDERS OF GREATER BRITAIN 
 
 out, in this case c New Zealand would have a power- 
 ful Senate, eclipsing altogether the Lower Chamber.' 
 It improved upon the Grey project by empowering 
 the colonists to regulate their land sales and civil 
 list, and to vary their constitution a liberty which 
 ultimately effected the abolition of the provincial 
 system. The great defect of the absence of any 
 provision for the selection of the Governor's respon- 
 sible advisers seems to have occurred to none, either 
 of those who prepared the measure or of those by 
 whom it was canvassed and criticised. 
 
 The Bill received the royal assent on 3Oth June 
 1852. It had undergone, to the great indignation 
 of Godley, an alteration by the office of Provincial 
 Superintendent being made elective ; theoretically an 
 improvement, but which kept all New Zealand in 
 hot water as long as Provincial Councils existed. 
 Hostility to Provincial Councils in any form, em- 
 bodied in the persons of Sir William Molesworth 
 and Mr Robert Lowe, almost destroyed the Bill ; 
 le mieux est souvent I'ennemi du bien. Its passage 
 was materially assisted by two remarkable intellectual 
 performances Mr Gladstone's speech and Wake- 
 field's petition in its favour. Before the session 
 began, Mr Gladstone had been shown the draft 
 of a projected Bill drawn at Hams, Mr Adderley's 
 seat, by a committee consisting of Lord Lyttelton, 
 Mr Adderley, Messrs Fox and Weld, afterwards 
 New Zealand Premiers, and Wakefield. He ap-
 
 EDWARD GIBBON WAKEFIELD 331 
 
 proved, and undertook to force the subject on 
 by moving resolutions framed by himself, should 
 the Colonial Office hang back. That this proved 
 unnecessary was largely due, Wakefield tells Lord 
 Lyttelton, to the private influence of Mr Gladstone 
 with Sir John Pakington, and the advice he gave 
 to the deputation to him 'to be very importunate.' 
 'And so we were.' On 2ist May, Mr Gladstone 
 delivered a remarkable speech, a pattern of close 
 argument and classic oratory, in which, while severely 
 criticising some provisions of the Bill, he pleaded for 
 its passage as a whole. It is only in the light of 
 some of the speaker's subsequent proceedings that 
 we discern the taint of separatism, the unexpressed 
 conviction that a divorce between the mother country 
 and the colonies would be best for both, which is 
 certainly there, though in too subtle a form to have 
 impaired the admiration of the orator's contemporaries. 
 'The humble petition of Edward Gibbon Wake- 
 field,' dated 2d June, and published in the New Zea- 
 land Journal of 1 8th June, is an equally characteristic 
 performance. It would appear surprising to find 
 it turning almost entirely on the question of the 
 Provincial Governments, if we did not know that 
 Molesworth's and Lowe's opposition to these Govern- 
 ments was the rock which jeopardised the Bill. 
 Wakefield certainly makes out the best possible case 
 for them. ' Evil happens,' he says, ' when the area 
 of the colony is so large, and its means of com-
 
 332 BUILDERS OF GREATER BRITAIN 
 
 munication so deficient, that the seat of government 
 is what London has been as the seat of government 
 for many remote dependencies. In such cases the 
 benefits of Government the means of getting done 
 things without number which are greatly needed 
 and which government alone can do are confined 
 to the seat of government and its immediate neigh- 
 bourhood. The rest of the country is neglected, 
 and stagnates almost without government.' This was 
 true when Wakefield wrote, and he nowhere pro- 
 fesses to regard Provincial Councils as a necessarily 
 permanent arrangement. On the contrary, he lays 
 especial stress on the clause in the Act allowing of 
 its amendment from time to time, and concludes, 
 1 Your Petitioner humbly prays that your Honourable 
 House may be pleased to pass the Bill in question 
 for the sake of its merits, and without regard to 
 its obvious defects, because there is not time for 
 amendment by present legislation here, whilst the 
 whole measure is open to future amendment by 
 legislation in the colony, subject to the approval of 
 the Crown and Parliament.' 
 
 Wakefield had always contemplated emigration 
 when his work in England should be completed, 
 and the establishment of a constitutional system in 
 New Zealand now seemed to open to him the 
 prospect of a parliamentary career. He therefore 
 arranged for quitting England in the company of 
 Sewell, with whom, next to Lord Lyttelton, he had
 
 EDWARD GIBBON WAKEFIELD 333 
 
 been most closely associated during the latter days 
 of the Canterbury Association ; of Captain Henslow, 
 a Windsor knight, and one of his staunchest friends ; 
 and of sundry canine favourites. We have seen him 
 put up with a cat at Lancaster Castle, whose frowning 
 portal probably bore the legend, c No dogs admitted.' 
 But innate preference now reacted in the direction 
 of bulldogs of the purest breed ; he further proposed 
 to augment the population of Canterbury by a bull 
 and a heifer. His last news to his sister, written 
 within an hour of sailing from Plymouth, scene of 
 the departute of the Mayflower and the Tory on 
 1 2th October, is, 'The bull is nearly well. This 
 morning at six, Henslow, Sewell, Bogey, Spring, 
 Violet and I went off to the breakwater and walked 
 there for an hour.' Four days previously he had 
 written a letter to Lord Lyttelton embodying some 
 of his deepest feelings and convictions : 
 
 'PLYMOUTH, %th October 1852. 
 
 4 MY DEAR LORD, The fatigues of preparation for 
 an eternal severance from England really made it im- 
 possible for me to write to you with a collected mind. 
 And, indeed, I had but little to say beyond offering 
 to you my sincere and grateful thanks for all your 
 consideration and kindness from the moment when 
 Canterbury colonization brought me into relation 
 with you. And this I now do with the strongest 
 feeling of respect and attachment. 
 
 4 Somehow or other, nevertheless, I cannot bring
 
 334 BUILDERS OF GREATER BRITAIN 
 
 myself to believe that I am bidding you farewell 
 for ever. A pleasant dream is often in my mind 
 that circumstances may yet arise that would induce 
 you to represent the monarchy in New Zealand ; 
 and if my life, with anything like health, shall be 
 spared, I will work hard in helping to make these 
 circumstances take a form of reality. They would 
 consist mainly of plentiful evidence that the colony 
 wishes for monarchical institutions. If it should 
 prove so, and if such institutions could be estab- 
 lished by the only man I know who is quite fit for 
 the task, monarchy will be preserved in the southern 
 world ; if not, we must be content with democratic 
 republics. I am sure of this, and that there is no 
 time to lose.' 
 
 This may seem overstrained to some, but will not 
 to those who remember the state of opinion between 
 1850 and 1860 ; who consider that veneration for 
 the Sovereign could not in the nature of things be 
 so strong an influence after a reign of fifteen years 
 as after one of fifty ; and who reflect that the im- 
 proved intercommunication, which has done so much 
 to knit the Empire together, was then in its infancy. 
 
 Two months after Wakefield's departure for New 
 Zealand, Godley left its shores homeward bound, 
 to die a few months before his coadjutor. Per- 
 manent residence in New Zealand would probably 
 have prolonged his life ; but his work at Canter- 
 bury was done, and important employment awaited
 
 EDWARD GIBBON WAKEFIELD 355 
 
 him in England. Another impressive circumstance 
 signalised Wakefield's departure. Among those who 
 attended his embarkation from London (2Qth Septem- 
 ber) was Frances Wakefield, who had unjustly suf- 
 fered through him for the Turner affair, and had 
 ever since been estranged from him, until moved to 
 reconciliation by good Mrs Allom, after scenes sur- 
 passed for dramatic intensity by nothing off the stage, 
 and little upon it. He knelt down and asked and 
 received her forgiveness. 
 
 The earth may open and the sea overwhelm ; 
 
 Many the ways, the little home is one ; 
 Thither the courser leads, thither the helm ; 
 
 And at one gate we meet when all is done.
 
 CHAPTER XII 
 
 WAKEFIELD IN NEW ZEALAND SIR GEORGE GREY 
 
 THE FIRST NEW ZEALAND PARLIAMENT ILLNESS 
 
 AND RETIREMENT FROM PUBLIC LIFE THE 
 
 CLOSING SCENE ESTIMATE OF HIS WORK AND 
 CHARACTER 
 
 THE good ship Minerva^ after a voyage no less 
 prosperous than that vouchsafed to her predecessor 
 the Tory^ cast anchor at Port Lyttelton on 2d Feb- 
 ruary 1853. The unpopularity of which Wakefield 
 acknowledged himself the temporary object did not 
 prevent his receiving an address of thanks for his 
 services in obtaining a constitution for New Zeal- 
 and. In the course of a reply that touched on 
 many topics, he warned the colonists against dis- 
 cord, and professed himself * desirous of nothing 
 more than to see the past entirely set aside in 
 favour of confiding and harmonious action between 
 the Governor and the popular party in the task of 
 bringing the new constitution into useful and credit- 
 able operation.' The peacemaker, nevertheless, pre- 
 sented himself at Wellington rather in the character 
 336
 
 EDWARD GIBBON WAKEFIELD 337 
 
 of a stormy petrel, arriving (gth March) in the 
 midst of a tempest which equally prevented him from 
 landing and Sir George Grey from putting to sea. 
 Though beset by all the difficulties described by 
 the author of 4 To all you Ladies now on Land,' 
 Wakefield managed to indite the following epistle 
 to the evasive Governor, if by any means he might 
 put salt upon his tail : 
 
 * SAif Minerva, 
 ' Wednesday morning, <)th March. 
 
 'MY DEAR GREY, In hopes that you are still 
 detained by the storm which keeps me on shipboard, 
 I write to you, as to an old friend, for the purpose of 
 earnestly begging that you will not go away without 
 seeing me. 
 
 4 Presently after landing at Canterbury, I discovered 
 that there are great difficulties in the way of your 
 establishing the new constitution with advantage to 
 the country and credit to yourself; and I lost no 
 time in doing the little which it was then possible 
 for me to attempt with the view of smoothing your 
 path. You will have seen my letter to Messrs Godley 
 and Mathias, and you will have received from some 
 Canterbury people one which the publication of that 
 letter really suggested. Both were intended to assist in 
 getting your past differences with the colonists laid 
 aside by them, so that if you had the same desire, 
 as I could not doubt for a moment, all parties might 
 sincerely co-operate in giving effect to the objects of 
 
 Y
 
 338 BUILDERS OF GREATER BRITAIN 
 
 Parliament in granting powers of self-government to 
 the colony. In the same spirit I now tender you 
 my further services towards the same end ; and if 
 you accept the offer, it is, of course, indispensable 
 that we should meet in order to talk over the state 
 of parties here and the state of opinion at home 
 with regard to New Zealand and yourself, with 
 which I am intimately acquainted. 
 
 * But let me not be misunderstood. There is no 
 favour which it is possible for the Governor of New 
 Zealand to bestow upon me in a personal sense, 
 though he may bind me to him in eternal gratitude 
 by giving real and full effect to the New Con- 
 stitutional Act. My object is single and unmis- 
 takable ; it is the prosperity and greatness of New 
 Zealand which, come when it may, will be my 
 glory, and a personal reward surpassing in value 
 any that the power of Government could bestow 
 upon me ; which will be your glory here and at 
 home if you establish the new constitution in peace. 
 I wish to help you, and can help you, in this rather 
 difficult task. My experience in this sort of work 
 at least with regard to colonies is greater than any 
 other man's. If you go away without seeing me, I 
 shall be very sorry, but will still do all I can to assist in 
 the accomplishment of my only object. That, how- 
 ever, depends mainly upon you. 
 
 * Begging you to understand that in writing to 
 you thus freely I do not forget the respect which
 
 EDWARD GIBBON WAKEFIELD 339 
 
 is due to you officially as the Queen's representative, 
 I remain, my dear Grey, yours very truly, 
 
 C E. G. WAKEFIELD.' 
 
 c Will you walk into my parlour ? said the spider 
 to the fly.' Sir George answers in the spirit of a 
 dove corresponding with a serpent. Differences with 
 the people of the country ? Difficulties ? Who can 
 have told Mr Wakefield that ? Is not Sir George 
 sincerely attached to them ? and does he not find 
 warm friends among them wherever he goes ? It 
 is true that his actions have .been traduced by some 
 persons (friends of Mr Wakefield's, Sir George is 
 sorry to say) ; but Sir George bears no ill-will to 
 those individuals, and will sincerely rejoice if he 
 sees them doing anything for the public good, and 
 Mr Wakefield setting them the example. As to 
 meeting Mr Wakefield just then, prior engage- 
 ments put it out of the question, but Sir George 
 hopes to see him in about two months. 
 
 Mr Wakefield is equally astounded. No differ- 
 ences between Sir George and the colonists ! What 
 an extraordinary assertion ! Why, there are more 
 than Mr Wakefield could conveniently enumerate 
 in one letter. What about Sir George's hos- 
 tility to the Canterbury settlement ? Why are 
 petitions signed for his recall ? When Mr Wake- 
 field wrote the day before, he had refused to 
 believe rumours that Sir George contemplated tarn-
 
 340 BUILDERS OF GREATER BRITAIN 
 
 pering with the sale of waste lands, c but am now 
 credibly informed that you have issued a proclama- 
 tion having that effect, if it should be deemed a 
 lawful measure.' It is not a lawful measure, of 
 course. 'If there is yet time, I would again implore 
 you to reconsider your position, and to see whether 
 means may not be devised of enabling you to obey 
 Parliament without being troubled by anything in 
 the past.' 
 
 Thus do eminent statesmen occasionally condescend 
 to piece out the lion's hide with the fox's brush. 
 Wakefield knew perfectly well that Sir George was 
 popular at Auckland, and Sir George was equally well 
 aware that this popularity by no means extended to 
 the southern districts. His adversaries, not wholly 
 without ground, explained his good repute at Auck- 
 land by the propinquity of that city to the loaves 
 and the fishes, the staunchest allies of all governments 
 everywhere ; his friends, with equal reason, thought 
 that it redounded to his honour to be best liked 
 where he was best known. In truth he inherited 
 the disastrous legacy of Governor Hobson, who, by 
 fixing the capital at Auckland when Auckland existed 
 merely on paper, had engendered a soreness which 
 existed until the association of the representatives of 
 the various provinces in a common assembly under 
 the new constitution, when it gradually died away. 
 It would have been better if Sir George Grey had 
 not prolonged this unfortunate state of things by
 
 EDWARD GIBBON WAKEFIELD 341 
 
 his virtual refusal to convoke a General Assembly, 
 although he did convene the Provincial Councils. 
 This can only be accounted for by a determination 
 to retain power in his own hands during the remainder 
 of his administration. He quitted New Zealand at 
 the end of 1853, to assume the government of the 
 Cape, little foreseeing his second governorship and 
 yet another important part reserved for him to per- 
 form in New Zealand politics long after his trouble- 
 some antagonist should be laid in the grave. 
 
 Wakefield, meanwhile, elated by the flattering 
 address he received on landing at Wellington, and by 
 the apparent recovery of his health in New Zealand 
 air, proceeded to dig this grave for himself by the 
 eagerness with which he rushed into politics. c I am 
 going to throw myself upon the people,' he wrote to 
 Lord Lyttelton. Far better for length of days and 
 ultimate happiness if he had stood aloof from party 
 strife, and become, as he might have in time, the 
 acknowledged arbiter in public questions and moderator 
 of political dissensions. ' Greater earthly reward,' Mr 
 W. R. Greg nobly says in his essay on Sir Robert 
 Peel, 'God out of all the riches of his boundless 
 treasury has not to bestow.' It must be admitted, 
 however, that Sir George Grey's land regulations 
 were a challenge to Wakefield which he could not 
 well decline, nor under any circumstances was he 
 the man to play the part of a Peel. To his sanguine, 
 impulsive temperament political excitement had the
 
 342 BUILDERS OF GREATER BRITAIN 
 
 zest of an open-air game. ' You will see,' he writes 
 to his sister, 'what a turmoil our politics are in. 
 Though up to my eyes in it, I feel none the worse.' 
 On this Mr Allom comments : 
 
 1 Much of this turmoil had been carefully arranged 
 previously. I look upon this period as the most 
 remarkable period of E. G. W.'s connection with 
 New Zealand ; the advent of men like Godley, 
 Sewell and FitzGerald ; the presence of the wily Sir 
 George Grey ; and finally the arrival of E. G. W. 
 himself could not fail to produce a great political 
 eruption. The result could be foreseen. I believe 
 E. G. W. was mainly instrumental in bringing it 
 about, and actually gloried in it quite as much as the 
 schoolboy enjoys the bonfire he has made.' 
 
 Wakefield certainly thought himself the man for 
 the time and place. After telling his sister (2Qth 
 April) that he has attended a public meeting and 
 'actually spouted for an hour and a half, as I have 
 not done since 1843 in Canadian House of Assembly,' 
 he adds : 
 
 'There is an immense task for me to get through, 
 in consequence of the rotten state of public matters. 
 But all looks well for the future, so far as the future 
 may be affected by my obtaining an influence in the 
 country greater than that of anybody else. Indeed, 
 this is coming about already, by means of straight- 
 forwardness and assiduity. I work like a horse, much 
 aided by Jerningham, who is a faithful and diligent
 
 EDWARD GIBBON WAKEFIELD 343 
 
 lieutenant. If, as seems probable, he should be able 
 to conquer some colonial habits, he will be a leading 
 person in this country. I mean nothing bad in the 
 really bad sense, only habits of desultory application 
 under inordinate excitement only, and of localism 
 with respect to thought, as well as somewhat of a 
 turn for wrangling. He is very sociable, and is now 
 living entirely with me.' 
 
 Unfortunately poor Jerningham could not shake off 
 the most pernicious of all < colonial habits,' and what 
 might have been a very brilliant career terminated in 
 disappointment. 
 
 Meanwhile, the drama of New Zealand politics 
 remained in a condition of rehearsal from the obstinate 
 refusal of Sir George Grey to provide it with a stage. 
 Until the General Assembly should meet, politics 
 could be merely local. Far more interest attaches to 
 the remarkable letter in which Wakefield communi- 
 cates his impressions of the colony to his old friend 
 Rintoul so copious that retrenchment is necessary 
 on the ground of space : 
 
 4 1 am bursting with fulness of matter for writing 
 to you. It must come out anyhow. In the first 
 place, the country physically far surpasses my expecta- 
 tions. Not that it is different, generally, from my 
 notions of it before touching the soil, but actual 
 familiarity with particulars has made the old impres- 
 sions more distinct. The climate is to my feelings 
 delicious, though far from resembling what we call a
 
 344 BUILDERS OF GREATER BRITAIN 
 
 delicious climate in Europe, such as that of Naples in 
 winter. Its principal characteristic is some invigorat- 
 ing property which affects man and beast equally, so 
 that both horse and rider are always in good spirits. 
 I have not had since we entered Port Lyttelton a 
 moment of that depression and feebleness which used 
 to make me such a cripple at home. There is 
 abundance of wind, and, this year, superabundance of 
 rain, but the roughest weather causes no uneasiness, 
 and the fine weather is glorious. Perhaps it is from 
 having been so long ill that I value so much the 
 constant feeling of health which this climate produces. 
 Henslow resembles me in this, the poor, crawling, 
 sallow invalid has become almost jolly, and is afraid to 
 brag of his happy feelings lest it should provoke a 
 change back to the old miseries. But fine health is 
 general in old and young. All the Creole children are 
 plump and ruddy when not suffering from some 
 particular complaint. I have not seen an exception, 
 and you know how I examine the children and dogs 
 wherever I may be. One of my dogs the blood- 
 hound, Bogey having lost his mother in childbirth, 
 and been suckled by a poor little wet-nurse, had a 
 bad constitution, and was always ailing at home, the 
 voyage also disagreed with him, and on landing he 
 was like a rake in a bag ; he is now in the rudest 
 and handsomest health. ... I could give you 
 plenty of facts like these, but must go on to other 
 matters.
 
 EDWARD GIBBON WAKEFIELD 345 
 
 The scenery is peculiar, though greatly varied. 
 Upon the whole I think it most beautiful. But there 
 are all sorts the grand, the beautiful, and the pleasant ; 
 not even the centre of the great Canterbury Plain 
 an immense dead level in appearance is ugly, 
 because there are always in sight fine mountains, 
 appearing, from the singular clearness of the atmo- 
 sphere, to be near at hand. This district, Welling- 
 ton, has great variety, though near the town, except- 
 ing the Hutt Valley, it is hilly and mountainous. 
 Socially (I can speak from personal observation only 
 of Canterbury and Wellington) there is much to like, 
 and much to dislike. The newest comers from 
 England are the best, on the whole, more especially 
 the picked materials with which Canterbury was 
 founded. At Canterbury I could have fancied myself 
 in England, except for the hard-working industry of 
 the upper classes and the luxurious independence of 
 the common people. The upper classes are very 
 hospitable, and very deficient in the pride of purse or 
 mere station, and the common people are remarkably 
 honest. Their entire independence is not disagreeable 
 to me, who am accustomed to America, and like it. 
 There is absolutely no servility. I think there is no 
 lack of either real respect for what deserves it, or real 
 politeness, though the mere outward manner of the 
 common people seems rudely independent to such as 
 have been always used to the hypocritical servility of 
 tradespeople and lacqueys at home. I get on famously
 
 346 BUILDERS OF GREATER BRITAIN 
 
 with the " unwashed," and like them. Sewell, as yet 
 incapable of understanding them, thinks them rude 
 and disagreeable. His Oxford and Isle of Wight 
 habits of thought are shocked by the democratic ways 
 of a carpenter here, who speaks of him as Sewell 
 without the Mr, and calls a brother carpenter ' Mister 
 Smith.' There is an intense jealousy of new-comers ; 
 a state of feeling which always takes possession of 
 young colonies, and holds possession of them till they 
 begin to grow old. For every new-comer probably 
 comes to be the competitor or rival of somebody. 
 Bowler has been quite upset by the shock of meeting 
 this strong colonial sentiment, and it gives Sewell the 
 stomach-ache. I am happily able to laugh at it. 
 Indeed, though some are exceedingly jealous of me 
 those, that is, who fancy that I may trench upon their 
 positions as political leaders I must say the generality 
 of colonists, and more particularly the older ones, 
 behave very kindly to me, and seem to think that 
 jealousy of me would be misplaced. But my case is 
 exceptional on account of 'Auld lang syne.' The 
 jealousy of Sewell is too strong to be at all concealed. 
 Just what I told him would happen has come about 
 more suddenly than I could expect. His plunge into 
 public affairs has made his talents known, and here 
 those talents are perfectly unrivalled. Consequently 
 he is already feared and respected as well as hated. 
 Colonial jealousy of the new-comer passes away in 
 time, and soon in proportion as the new-comer soon
 
 EDWARD GIBBON WAKEFIELD 347 
 
 takes root in the land. When he is fairly planted, he 
 in his turn becomes jealous of other new-comers. 
 
 But the worst feature, I think, of this colonial 
 society is a general narrow-mindedness. Everybody's 
 ideas seem to be localised in his own part of the 
 country. I have not met with one person who is as 
 well acquainted as I am myself with New Zealand in 
 general. Thought abstract from the individual seems 
 totally absent. The interests and amusements of each 
 person are the only subjects of his thoughts. This is 
 partly owing to the want of intercommunication 
 among the settlements, which are, and will be, until 
 they get local steam navigation, as much cut off from 
 each other as if separated by a thousand miles of ocean, 
 so that each community is naturally as small in its 
 ideas as in its numbers ; but the evil in question 
 has another cause, which is the cause of many more 
 evils, namely, the total absence of popular power and 
 responsibility. The total want of political liberty 
 produces a stagnant frame of mind, except as regards 
 getting money or spending it. I can't find one 
 person who has it in his head to contemplate the 
 prosperity and greatness of this country ; not one who 
 really sympathises with my dreams of the last fifteen 
 years. Some say that they do, and believe what they 
 say, but a bat could see that they do not really. It is 
 a miserable state of things, and you will think I must 
 be very unhappy. But I am not so at all. On the 
 contrary, I am sure that there is a good foundation to
 
 348 BUILDERS OF GREATER BRITAIN 
 
 work upon in the best set of colonists that have ever 
 left England in modern times ; that poverty and crime 
 (crime in the old country sense) are impossible ; that 
 the country is unrivalled in climate and productiveness ; 
 and that the mind of the people will be changed by the 
 coming responsibilities of political power. Only there 
 is heavy work for me, if I can but keep health for doing 
 it. At present I am not in the least down-hearted.' 
 
 Mr Allom, to whom we are indebted for a copy 
 of this invaluable letter, comments upon it as 
 follows : 
 
 c This letter, written little more than two months 
 after his arrival in the colony, is an illustration of 
 the difference between theory and practice in matters 
 colonial, as in all others. Here we have the views 
 of the great thinker and theorist when confronted 
 by actual facts. We see by the manner in which 
 he opens his heart to Rintoul, his old friend and 
 fellow-labourer, how delighted he is with the country 
 and the climate. But I think there is apparent 
 throughout the letter a slight shade of disappointment. 
 It is characteristic of Edward Gibbon Wakefield, 
 that sometimes his own thoughts are expressed as 
 those of others. In this way he refers to the 
 sentiments of Sewell and Bowler, which I believe 
 were equally his own. He seems to have quite 
 understood the sturdy and independent attitude of 
 the newly-arrived labourer towards his capitalist 
 employer, and probably he recognised the position
 
 EDWARD GIBBON WAKEFIELD 349 
 
 as a foreshadowing, in some degree, of those great 
 political changes which in more recent years have 
 become so marked a feature of our colonial democracy. 
 It is interesting to note his remarks about the jealousy 
 of Sewell being too strong to be concealed, and of 
 Sewell's unrivalled abilities which have already made 
 him feared and respected as well as hated. I 
 cannot help thinking that these references to Sewell 
 apply quite as much to himself. 
 
 1 In striving, at this time, to obtain for the people 
 greater political power under the new constitution, 
 I cannot believe that he thought it would be for 
 their good that the "common people" should acquire 
 the almost unlimited political power which they have 
 since attained.' 
 
 The convocation of provincial councils before the 
 election of a General Assembly undoubtedly worked 
 ill for the colony. c Superintendents and councils,' 
 says Mr Gisborne, l unchecked, without experience, 
 and revelling in political freedom, seemed at first as 
 if too much license had made them mad. But there 
 was this method in their madness : they strove to 
 get into their hands as much power as they possibly 
 could.' The infinite divisibility of the public revenue 
 became an article of faith. For a long time the 
 provincial institutions maintained their ground as 
 a geographical necessity, but at length disappeared 
 a result which Mr Gisborne thinks need not have 
 come to pass if they had been from the first har-
 
 350 BUILDERS OF GREATER BRITAIN 
 
 moniously co-ordinated with the General Assembly. 
 This body, to which Wakefield was returned as 
 Member for the Hutt district, in the province of 
 Wellington, commenced its career under Colonel 
 Wynyard, commander of the troops, who ex offic'io 
 occupied Sir George Grey's post in the character 
 of Acting-Governor, under very curious conditions. 
 There was no responsible Ministry, all posts in the 
 administration being held by officials holding per- 
 manent appointments from the Crown. There was, 
 consequently, no front bench, and no Opposition 
 technically, though, practically, all the House was 
 Opposition. The principal Member of the Govern- 
 ment was Speaker of the Upper House, and therefore 
 speechless. By an oversight of the draftsman, the 
 Lower House had no power of stopping the supplies, 
 and was thus unable to control the Government. 
 It was impossible, however, to delay the assembling 
 of the General Legislature any longer, and Colonel 
 Wynyard opened it on 27th May 1854, with an address 
 assuredly not composed by the gallant officer from 
 whom it professedly emanated, and which seems to 
 bear traces of Wakefield's pen. The most remark- 
 able feature was the declaration that the Pro- 
 vincial Councils needed much watching, and that 
 * it will rest with the General Assembly of these 
 islands whether New Zealand shall become one 
 great nation, exercising a commanding influence in 
 the Southern Seas, or a collection of insignificant,
 
 EDWARD GIBBON WAKEFIELD 351 
 
 divided and powerless petty states.' Apart from the 
 evidence of style, so many of the ablest men in New 
 Zealand were interested in propelling the provinces into 
 virtual independence, that it may be doubted whether 
 anyone else who could have said this so well would 
 have said it at all. The point should be remembered 
 in connection with Wakefield's subsequent action. 
 
 It is probable that his next important step was 
 preconcerted with the Governor, for nothing else 
 could have given constitutional government a start. 
 It was to move 'That amongst the objects which 
 the House desires to see accomplished without 
 delay, the most important is the establishment of 
 ministerial responsibility in the conduct of legislative 
 and executive proceedings by the Governor.' c The 
 subject,' says Mr Swainson, then Attorney-General, 
 and the chief contemporary authority for these 
 transactions, c was discussed in a debate of three days' 
 continuance, if debate it may be called in which no 
 difference of opinion was expressed.' The resolution 
 was carried with virtual unanimity, but the difficulty 
 was how to carry it into effect, the existing officials 
 holding patent appointments under the Crown. It 
 was at length agreed that the Colonial Secretary, 
 the Colonial Treasurer and the Attorney-General 
 should remain in their offices * until they could 
 with propriety retire,' and that four Members of 
 the Assembly, Messrs FitzGerald, Sewell, Weld and 
 Bartley, should be added to the Executive Council,
 
 352 BUILDERS OF GREATER BRITAIN 
 
 charged with the preparation of parliamentary business, 
 and the carrying of it through the House. Nothing 
 less could be done if constitutional government was 
 not to become a farce, but subsequent events showed 
 that the country was not really much excited upon 
 the subject. l The Auckland members, in their 
 humility, acknowledged that Mr Wakefield had 
 taught them what responsible government was.' 
 
 Wakefield's first feelings were of wild, enthusiastic 
 exultation. With all his shrewdness, no one was 
 more liable to be carried into extravagance under the 
 influence of excitement : 
 
 'AUCKLAND, \^th June 1854. 
 
 ' MY DEAR CATHERINE, By the newspapers which 
 I send with this you will see that New Zealand has 
 undergone neither more nor less than a revolution. 
 Do not be alarmed j the change, though enormous, 
 has been peaceful, and will be very conservative in 
 its results. The mutilated constitution has been 
 healed, and brought into vigorous action by the 
 friendly concert of pro-Governor Wynyard and the 
 House of Representatives. Mr Sewell is a Cabinet 
 Minister, as I might also have been had I pleased. 
 You will open your eyes and ask what all this means. 
 It means (confining myself to what you will most 
 care about) that after trouble and annoyance, and 
 disappointment and suffering without end, I am as 
 happy as anyone can be in this world, having a
 
 EDWARD GIBBON WAKEFIELD 353 
 
 
 
 full realisation of what I have hoped and longed 
 and striven for during so many years. The only 
 drawback is a kind of apprehension arising from 
 the greatness and suddenness of the success. My 
 health and strength are wonderful. The greater 
 the danger, the louder the raging of the storm, 
 the more important the crisis, and the larger my 
 own share of responsibility and labour, the more 
 I have been capable of doing whatever I wished to 
 do. Neither effort nor the highest excitement have 
 disturbed or fatigued me. I have been as cool as 
 you would wish, and have slept like a pig. This 
 is all about myself, but you will like it the better 
 for that. I write in haste to catch a Sydney mail, 
 and my hands are full of work. God bless you 
 both. Kind love to all. Ever your most affec- 
 tionate ' E. G. W.' 
 
 A letter to Lord Lyttelton, written the same 
 day, reiterates much of the above, indulges in specula- 
 tions, probably visionary, as to what the provinces 
 might have done if responsible government had not 
 been conceded, and declares that a little child might 
 guide the New Zealand representatives in the right 
 way. Probably the little one did not present himself, 
 and the legislators, needing to be led somewhere, fol- 
 lowed other guidance, for when Parliament met again, 
 after a short recess, things had manifestly altered for 
 the worse. Mistrust and ill-will reigned universally, 
 
 z
 
 354 BUILDERS OF GREATER BRITAIN 
 
 nobody could quite tell why. Mr Brittan said at 
 Canterbury that it all arose from the new Ministers 
 having held a conclave from which Wakefield was 
 excluded. If this is true they were to blame for 
 having ignored him, and he was equally to blame for 
 having retaliated ; but no intrigues of his could have 
 produced the occurrence which actually led to the 
 break up of the Ministry, which seems to suggest 
 the prosaic explanation that there were not places 
 enough for the place-hunters, and that the only accept- 
 able programme would have been quot homines^ tot 
 portfolios. The new Executive Ministers demanded 
 that the three old officials who had been associated 
 with them under the compromise of June should 
 resign, pleading private understandings to this effect, 
 too private to be capable of proof. The officials 
 declined to budge. Mr FitzGerald and his colleagues, 
 expecting to coerce the Governor, tendered their own 
 resignations. The Governor, to their dismay, sent 
 for Wakefield, who advised him to all appearance 
 rightly that he had no power to dismiss officials 
 holding their posts by direct appointment from the 
 Crown. The officials professed their readiness to give 
 up their places whenever His Excellency should ask 
 for them, but not till then and Wakefield advised 
 him not to ask. It is easy to imagine the odium he 
 thus incurred with those whom he prevented from 
 
 Fulfilling the prophecies 
 By only just changing the holders of offices.
 
 EDWARD GIBBON WAKEFIELD 355 
 
 ' Mr Wakefield,' remarks Mr Swainson, ' was much 
 too formidable to be lightly made into an enemy ; and 
 so long as he continued to be simply a member of the 
 House the true feelings of a large portion of the mem- 
 bers towards him were concealed by a cloak of reserve ; 
 but no sooner was he seen in a position of influence than 
 all reserve was thrown aside. Courted, fawned upon, and 
 flattered, but scarcely ever trusted at the commence- 
 ment of the session, Mr Wakefield was now assailed 
 in the House in the most violent and opprobrious 
 language, transgressing even the license of colonial 
 debate.' It is a common misadventure in politics to 
 be hoist with one's own petard ; and many a man 
 besides Wakefield has found the fulfilment of his hopes 
 the disappointment of his expectations. The legis- 
 lators he had struggled so hard to bring together, 
 lately so anxious to get rid of the permanent officials, 
 petitioned the Governor to. consult them instead of 
 his irresponsible adviser, and was informed that they 
 always had been consulted. A long message from the 
 Governor came down, and was being read by the 
 clerk, when it was discovered that a page was missing. 
 Wakefield coolly pulled a duplicate from his pocket and 
 offered to supply the omission, which produced a scene 
 only to be paralleled by that which occurred a few days 
 later when the House filled up the interval between read- 
 ing a message from the Governor threatening and a 
 second message decreeing their prorogation by passing 
 fierce resolutions, the second message meanwhile lying
 
 356 BUILDERS OF GREATER BRITAIN 
 
 unread upon the table. Left, as he thought, with 
 a clear stage, Wakefield tried to form a new Executive, 
 but found himself unexpectedly checkmated by Mr 
 Swainson, the Attorney-General, a sedate, astute 
 lawyer, no great legislator, but an excellent drafts- 
 man of acts under the inspiration of Chief Justice 
 Martin, who virtually expressed the opinion that the 
 permanent officials could get on very well without the 
 aid of coadjutors from the Assembly, or any such 
 impertinences. Wakefield's minute of his interview 
 with Mr Swainson is printed in the latter's book on 
 New Zealand, and is one of the most curious and 
 entertaining productions of his pen. His Excellency 
 taking Mr Swainson's view, Wakefield ' at once 
 retired from the position of temporary adviser, receiving 
 the grateful acknowledgments of the Acting-Governor 
 for the zeal and ability with which his services had 
 been rendered.' These were not unmerited, for during 
 the prorogation the Opposition entirely collapsed, 
 partly from want of support in the country, and partly 
 from the consideration touchingly set forth in their 
 address to the Governor, c that a large proportion of 
 the Members of the Legislature have been detained 
 from home upwards of five months, and will be 
 obliged to return by the next steamer ' minus their 
 salaries, they might have added, unless they dutifully 
 voted the Estimates. They did vote them, and the 
 Parliament from which so much had been expected 
 broke up amid universal dissatisfaction : Wakefield
 
 EDWARD GIBBON WAKEFIELD 357 
 
 finding himself ostracised where he had expected to 
 rule, Mr FitzGerald J and his friends having thrown 
 away places which they might very well have kept, 
 and even the victorious officials feeling the sword of 
 Damocles suspended over them. 
 
 New Zealanders have naturally felt ashamed of the 
 fiasco of their first essay in Parliamentary Government, 
 and have generally agreed to visit their mortification 
 upon Wakefield, who seems, however, to have been 
 mainly the victim of circumstances. He could neither 
 help the jealousy with which he was regarded by his 
 fellow-legislators, nor the quarrel between the old and 
 new officials ; nor could he prevent the political 
 suicide of the Ministry, or refuse his advice to the 
 Governor when called upon, or honestly give any 
 other advice than he did, or control Mr Swainson 
 when circumstances had made that gentleman master 
 of the situation. His chief faults were to have par- 
 ticipated, near the end of the session, in an attempt to 
 set up an abortive Ministry, and to have inspired it, 
 though ostensibly keeping aloof, with a scheme for the 
 restriction of Provincial Councils, which under the 
 circumstances was justly considered wild and uncon- 
 stitutional. Yet it was rather unseasonable than 
 unsound. The perception of the necessity for limit- 
 
 1 Wakefield afterwards penned an unflattering character of Mr Fitz- 
 Gerald, one of the most vigorous pieces of invective in the language ; 
 much better unwritten, nevertheless. It is highly to Mr FitzGerald't 
 honour to have in after years spoken of his assailant as he does in his 
 memoir of Godley.
 
 358 BUILDERS OF GREATER BRITAIN 
 
 ing the encroachments of these bodies runs like a 
 thread through all his political action of this period ; 
 and his foresight was vindicated when by-and-by the 
 question arose ' whether,' in Mr Gisborne's words 
 ' the provincial institutions were not, under the guise 
 of local self-government, gradually absorbing general 
 government, and tending, sooner or later, to the 
 division of New Zealand into federal states.' One 
 curious result of the campaign was to make Wakefield 
 popular in Auckland, which he had always disparaged, 
 and unpopular in the colonies which he had founded 
 himself. 
 
 Wakefield's great mistake, however, was to have 
 taken any part in politics except as a writer. The 
 buoyant health of which he speaks in his letter to his 
 sister was the effect of an unnatural stimulus, and was 
 to be expiated by a reaction which secluded him from 
 the world. The mortifying incidents of the session 
 must have preyed upon his spirit, and the scenes 
 through which he had passed might have tried stronger 
 constitutions than that of an invalid barely recovered 
 from paralysis of the brain. ' What he went through 
 at Auckland,' his brother Daniel wrote, { Chief Justice 
 Martin tells me, was enough to break up the constitu- 
 tion of a very strong man. Constant labour in plan- 
 ning measures in the Assembly, writing, and above 
 all, talking against a mob of opponents was too much 
 for one in but feeble health.' In addition to this he 
 had taken a large share in the Committee work of the
 
 EDWARD GIBBON WAKEFIELD 359 
 
 House. The ultimate breakdown is thus described in 
 a letter from his son to Catherine Torlesse : 
 
 WELLINGTON, StA May 1855. 
 
 '. . . About the first week in December last he 
 attended a meeting of his constitutents in the Hutt 
 Valley, and spoke with great earnestness and vigour 
 for five hours consecutively in a densely-crowded 
 room. In order, I suppose, to get away from the 
 noise and excitement consequent on such a political 
 meeting, he drove home in an open chaise, nine 
 miles in the face of a cold, south-easterly gale, at 
 two o'clock in the morning. Although he began 
 to feel ill, he accepted an invitation a day or two 
 afterwards to dine with the members of an Odd- 
 fellows' Lodge in this town, and sat in a hot room 
 with an open window at his back. 1 The next day 
 he was attacked with rheumatic fever, and suffered 
 acute pain. This turned, I believe, into neuralgia, 
 every nerve in his body being affected. At first he 
 was attended by Dr Prendergast, but fell back upon 
 complete quiet of mind and body with an occasional 
 "lamp." For a long time he would let no one 
 know how ill he was, and would see no one. But 
 he then wrote to me at Canterbury, asking me to come 
 to him. I arrived about the first week in January. 
 I found the pains were going off, but that he was 
 
 1 It will be remembered that December is the height of summer in 
 New Zealand.
 
 360 BUILDERS OF GREATER BRITAIN 
 
 dreadfully weak, very nervous, and at times despond- 
 ing, with no appetite, and irregular circulation. I 
 remonstrated against the rejection of the drug system 
 without substituting his own panacea of "packing," 
 in which he used to have such faith. But he always 
 replies that he feels a presentiment that the effort 
 would be too much for him, that he has an idea 
 it would choke him, and so on. So that he 
 positively does nothing but rest, opens no letters, 
 reads no local papers, indeed, tries to think about 
 nothing on which his thoughts can have any influ- 
 ence. 1 To a certain degree I think this is right. 
 He has sadly overtasked both his bodily and his 
 mental powers during the past two years, and com- 
 plete rest for the brain as well as the body will, I 
 have no doubt, do much to restore him in course 
 of time. My being here, of course, saves him from 
 attending to any business, public or private, and I 
 pass an hour or two with him nearly every day. I 
 hope and believe him to be out of all danger for 
 the present, but his recovery must necessarily be 
 slow and tedious, and perhaps never perfect. My 
 great desire is to see him strong enough to get a 
 change of air, such as up to Charles's sheep station 
 at Rangiora, or perhaps to Sydney, and I also trust 
 that he may make up his mind to give up the idea of 
 any more active political labour. But I confess to a 
 
 1 ' The surest mark of the intensity of suffering is the limitation of 
 the sufferer's desires to absolute repose.' ANTHONY TROLLOPE.
 
 EDWARD GIBBON WAKEFIELD 361 
 
 dread lest, as soon as he feels at all strong, he should 
 again endeavour, by his own efforts in public life, to 
 arrest the progress of what he may think evil in the 
 colony. At present he cannot walk across his room. 
 
 'I have had great satisfaction in being able to 
 agree with him thoroughly and unreservedly in all 
 that he has done, and of supporting his policy by 
 every effort in my power. Although in a minority 
 at first, his views are daily gaining strength, and I 
 rejoice to think that but a few years will elapse 
 before it will be generally acknowledged that a true 
 and far-seeing patriotism has alone dictated all his 
 public policy. Your affectionate nephew, 
 
 c E. JERNINGHAM WAKEFIELD.' 
 
 Wakefield could never again have appeared upon 
 a platform, but some thought that his pen would 
 still have been active if he could have, felt more 
 confidence in the political future of his son. This 
 may be doubted, the intellectual faculties were not 
 in themselves impaired, but he appeared to feel that 
 his grasp upon them had become uncertain, and 
 that a slight shock might dissolve it altogether. He 
 seemed at first to take refuge in absolute silence, 
 calling to mind, perhaps, the days in Lancaster 
 Castle, when he had boasted what good company 
 he could find in his own self. But this was not 
 to be ; as formerly in Newgate, sunshine stole into 
 the shady place in the person of a little girl. His
 
 362 BUILDERS OF GREATER BRITAIN 
 
 niece Alice, daughter of his brother Daniel, and 
 afterwards, as Mrs Harold Freeman, daughter-in-law 
 of the illustrious historian, has graced the writer's 
 pages with her affecting reminiscences of this tender 
 sequel to a stormy life. 
 
 ' The first recollection that I have of my uncle 
 Edward Gibbon is the night of the great earthquake 
 at Wellington. 1 I was carried out of my bed, and 
 found myself amongst a number of frightened people 
 who had come from the houses round, and were 
 all passing the night out of doors. In the middle 
 of the group was my uncle seated in an arm-chair, 
 and he was of much interest to me, for, though we 
 lived in the same house, I do not recall having seen 
 him before. My father and mother had left their 
 home in Wellington Terrace and come to live 
 with him at his house in the Timahori Road. 2 My 
 father, who was always devoted to his brother, had 
 thrown up his appointment as Attorney-General on 
 account of disagreements between Sir George Grey 
 and my uncle. At the earthquake my uncle's atten- 
 tion was drawn to me, and from that time to his 
 death in 1862 I was a great deal with him. The 
 
 1 This alarming convulsion is graphically described in Thomson's 
 Story of New Zealand, vol. ii. pp. 231-233. 'For fourteen hours the 
 town trembled like a shaken jelly.' The site was permanently raised 
 from three to six feet, and an intended dock is now a pleasure garden. 
 
 2 This house had been exported from England, and had been pre- 
 viously occupied by Mr Eyre, celebrated as an Australian explorer and as 
 Governor of Jamaica, at that time Lieutenant-Governor under Sir 
 George Grey.
 
 EDWARD GIBBON WAKEFIELD 363 
 
 feelings of love and admiration that I had for him 
 it is impossible to describe ; my greatest pleasure 
 was to be in his company ; his slightest wish was 
 my law, at any sacrifice of my own pleasure. It 
 is only fair to my mother to say that she encouraged 
 this devotion to my uncle, feeling that in his soli- 
 tary life, often seeing no one but his man-servant 
 William Schmidt and myself, I was the only pleasure 
 that was left to him. All was done for me accord- 
 ing to my uncle's views of making a child strong. 
 I had a cold bath in the morning, then walked with 
 him for half an hour before breakfast, then had 
 porridge. William Schmidt was a native of Schles- 
 wig Holstein, who liked to call himself a Dane. 
 He had been a sailor aboard the ship my uncle 
 came out in, and broke his leg by a fall from the 
 mast. My uncle visited him in the hospital at 
 Wellington, and asked him if he would like to be- 
 come his servant instead of returning to the life of 
 a sailor. William proved most faithful ; he was 
 always at hand, and looked upon his master with 
 the greatest affection and respect. My uncle gave 
 him some land in Christchurch, and after his death 
 William became quite a rich man. He was very 
 fond of carpentering, and made very pretty boxes 
 and frames out of the honeysuckle and other fine 
 New Zealand woods. In his workshop I passed 
 many hours with my uncle. We walked up and 
 down a very small space, our companions, besides
 
 364 BUILDERS OF GREATER BRITAIN 
 
 William, being " Powder " and " Blucher," two bull 
 dogs considered very fierce, but perfectly gentle 
 with us. 
 
 { I feel convinced that I have never met any man 
 with the power that E. G. Wakefield had, and I have 
 never come across anyone who cared for young 
 people and their improvement in the way that he 
 did. I used to read books with my mother, and 
 then repeat them chapter by chapter to my uncle. 
 I read the whole of the Waverley Novels through 
 twice over in this way, except Castle Dangerous and 
 Count Robert of Paris, which he did not think worth 
 my reading ; his favourites were Guy Mannerlng, Rob 
 Roy, Waverley^ and Old Mortality. Repeating them 
 like this, and listening to my uncle's comments was, 
 I may say, a good education, and I can turn now with 
 pleasure to Walter Scott when I do not care to read 
 a modern novel. I also learned the whole of the 
 Lady of the Lake^ not one line was allowed to be 
 missed, and in reading I was carefully taught never 
 to skip or look on. I obeyed the slightest wish my 
 uncle ever expressed, and never cared to do anything 
 but what he approved. Two trials I remember, 
 having to choose between some rather dry travels in 
 Japan and The Daisy Chain. " Which would you 
 like me to read ? " said I, and on being told The 
 Travels^ gave up The Daisy Chain. On another 
 occasion he told me I was too old to play with dolls, 
 and I never played with a doll after that day. My
 
 EDWARD GIBBON WAKEFIELD 365 
 
 uncle was not able to bear any noise, so that we 
 never went on his side of the house, or used the 
 rooms nearest to him : neither did my little play- 
 fellows come to visit me. I went to see them and 
 they would say, "Do you not dislike having to go 
 back every day at four to walk with your uncle ? " 
 I know the very question astonished me, and I 
 warmly replied there was nothing else I enjoyed so 
 much. I do not remember my uncle seeing any 
 visitors but a friend to whom he used to give lessons 
 in the open air to cure his stammering, and another 
 who lent him books on the Millennium. He saw my 
 mother and Jerningham occasionally. I have a 
 prayer book with his name in his own writing, and 
 he once said that he should have gone to church, 
 only from fear of disturbing people with his breathing 
 from asthma. Colonel Palmer of Nazing l told me 
 that he should always remember my uncle rather 
 offending some Americans in conversation, and 
 that when he saw this was the case he said, " All 
 this does not matter ; we speak the same language 
 and are brothers ; if we were in any trouble it is to 
 you that we should look for help, and I know that 
 you would give it." The Americans after this were 
 quite content. 
 
 * There were one or two breaks in this complete 
 seclusion. My father died when I was eight years 
 
 1 The same gentleman whom we have seen endeavouring to raise a 
 monument to Wakefield in South Australia.
 
 366 BUILDERS OF GREATER BRITAIN 
 
 old, and then my uncle was very kind to my mother, 
 and gave directions about his funeral. At another 
 time there was an election in which he was interested; 
 our walks then were beyond our own gates, and I 
 listened to my uncle persuading a man to vote, saying 
 it was the duty of every man to vote ; that, ill though 
 he was, he would rather be carried to the poll in his 
 bed than not give his vote. Another time I heard 
 a long conversation which I am sure related to his 
 first meeting with Lord Durham. It must have 
 been about this time that I persuaded my uncle to 
 come with me to feed an old white horse in a field near 
 us, and he said, " Why, that is quiet enough for even 
 me to ride," and for some time he had this horse 
 to ride very slowly upon. 1 One morning he sur- 
 prised us by going off very early and being photo- 
 graphed ; this is the photograph after which the 
 bust by Durham in the Colonial Office was executed. 
 I think that his mind was in full vigour up to the last, 
 but his bodily health had failed, and he could no longer 
 struggle with the world. 
 
 1 Many things that my uncle said come back into 
 my mind with the memory of the impressive way in 
 which he said everything. Once when my mother 
 was very anxious about something he said, " Throw it 
 aside, forget. I should have been in a lunatic asylum 
 before now if I had not been able to put a subject out 
 
 1 What a subject for a picture the worn-out horse, the worn-out 
 statesman, and the blooming little girl !
 
 EDWARD GIBBON WAKEFIELD 367 
 
 of my mind." Then he would say, "It is a blessing 
 that women love needlework ; it has the same sooth- 
 ing effect upon their minds that a pipe has upon 
 men's." He told us once that years ago a doctor 
 had told him that he ought to become a monk of 
 La Trappe, talking was so bad for him ; the last 
 years of his life he might almost have belonged to 
 this order. His mother was, I am sure, often in 
 his thoughts, for he used to look at me and say, 
 " Alice, I believe that you are growing like my 
 mother," and when I wanted to name my favourite 
 parrot he said, " Call it Susan ; it was my mother's 
 name." I never heard him mention his wife or 
 Nina ; I think he was too fond of them to talk 
 about them. I remember his describing his residence 
 in Italy when the news of the death of Princess 
 Charlotte came to the Embassy, and the grief of the 
 men was so great that they burst into tears. 
 
 4 We moved from the Timahori Road to Welling- 
 ton Terrace. Shortly afterwards the two bull dogs 
 got out into the road and began righting with another 
 dog. William went out to separate them, and 
 Blucher flew at him and bit him in the face. I 
 carried off Powder, and shut him up in the stable. 
 William went to my uncle and asked permission to 
 have both the dogs shot. This was allowed, to my 
 great grief; and my mother said she was sure he 
 must be feeling much worse to have consented. No 
 doubt the strong will had given in, and the end came
 
 368 BUILDERS OF GREATER BRITAIN 
 
 very soon after. One night, i6th May 1862, he woke 
 up William, who slept in his room, with the words, 
 "William, this is death." 1 William woke up my 
 mother and myself; we hurried to the room. My 
 uncle held my hand with a tight clasp, and looked 
 in my face with an expression that I shall never 
 forget ; he could not speak. When Jerningham 
 entered the room in answer to a hasty summons, 
 his father struggled hard to speak, but nothing more 
 than the name Jerningham was distinguished. 
 
 * I do not recollect who came to the funeral. I 
 know that two Maoris came to follow after the 
 funeral had started. He was laid by the side of two 
 brothers, who had been devotedly attached to him, 
 Colonel Wakefield and my father, also my sister ; the 
 four graves are close together. 
 
 4 On one occasion my uncle spoke before me with 
 bitterness of the quick way in which people were 
 forgotten after death, and I burst forth with the 
 assurance that I should never forget him. This 
 promise I have certainly kept, and I think that, child 
 though I was, I felt the power of his mind, the 
 fascination of his manners, tone and general bearing. 
 All his precepts were good, and likely to influence 
 youth for good. Nothing that I have been able to 
 write does justice to his memory.' 
 
 Thus the powerful mind and persuasive tongue that 
 had given so mighty an impulse to the practice, and 
 
 1 The dying exclamation of George the Fourth.
 
 EDWARD GIBBON WAKEFIELD 369 
 
 such new life to the theory of colonization, that had 
 perplexed Ministries with fear of change at home, 
 and profoundly modified relations between the mother 
 country and her children abroad, 
 
 That launched a thousand sAifs, 
 And shook the topmost towers of Ilion, 
 
 passed gently away in guiding and instructing a little 
 girl. It seems profanation to add aught to so simple 
 and touching a narrative : Manum de tabula. Yet 
 something like a general view of Edward Gibbon 
 Wakefield's character is necessary. As his niece, 
 Mrs Burney, tried to describe him orally to the 
 writer, one word was continually on her lips * com- 
 plex.' This suits him well, and is probably what 
 Lord Lyttelton had in his mind when he described 
 him as ' A man of much vicissitude of fortune and 
 much inequality of character.' It does not mean that 
 this character was a jumble of conflicting qualities, 
 but that it was developed unsymmetrically on the two 
 sides which are inseparable from the conception of a 
 finite object. Ancient psychology expressed this 
 quality by distinguishing between the animal and the 
 intellectual soul, the inert groundwork of natural 
 instincts and propensities, and the busy impression- 
 able mind that soars above. In the first respect, 
 Wakefield offers little to censure or regret ; few have 
 been more richly endowed with courage, perseverance, 
 generosity, affection, or humanity. His faults, such 
 2 A
 
 370 BUILDERS OF GREATER BRITAIN 
 
 as resentment degenerating into rancour, and playful- 
 ness into mischief-making, were such as are almost 
 inseparable from an opulent nature, exuberant in all 
 it brings forth. It was when reason was divorced 
 from instinct, and action was entirely directed by the 
 speculative intelligence that he sometimes went astray. 
 His errors may be summed up in a word unscrupu- 
 lousness. Not unscrupulousness which aims at 
 personal advantage, even in the great offence of 
 his life, the motive was not love of money, but 
 love of influence ; but the unscrupulousness of a 
 strong will intolerant of opposition either from men 
 or morals, and of a statesmanship which, impatient 
 of the jealousies and misunderstandings of inferior 
 men, deems it no sin to circumvent where it 
 cannot overthrow. If statesmen wielding powerful 
 parliamentary majorities are not exempt from insin- 
 cerity, if they introduce measures which they have no 
 intention of passing, and make professions up to 
 which they have no idea of acting, what excuse 
 should not be made for a man withovit fortune, with- 
 out station, and the object of general suspicion and 
 disapproval, conscious, nevertheless, of magnificent 
 aspirations, and full of projects in which he has un- 
 bounded faith, but of which he is impotent to realise 
 the smallest particle, save by impressing, persuading, 
 or cajoling r Add to this necessity of his position an 
 unequalled personal fascination, a genius for managing 
 men, and the instinct of a born educator, derived from
 
 EDWARD GIBBON WAKEFIELD 371 
 
 his father and grandmother, and it will not appear so 
 extraordinary that a warm-hearted, sanguine man of 
 almost extravagantly high spirits should have gained 
 the reputation of a cold-blooded schemer and manipu- 
 lator of puppets for selfish ends. Mr Gisborne, the 
 miniaturist of New Zealand statesmen, who had, 
 however, a personal dislike to Wakefield, writes of 
 him : < His deceptiveness was ineradicable, and, like 
 the fowler, he was ever spreading his nets. Always 
 plausible, and often persuasive, he was never simple 
 and straightforward. He was calculating and self- 
 contained, and had no particle of generous chivalry in 
 his nature.' The injustice of this character is mani- 
 fest from its inconsistency with the traits most dis- 
 tinct in Wakefield's life and writings : yet there is 
 this much truth that * the skilfulness in handling 
 puppets in high places,' which Mr Gisborne justly 
 attributes to him, was a snare to him. Though the 
 handling was not for private but for public ends, the 
 puppets no less resented it when it was found out, as 
 it could not fail to be. It is undeniable that he wore 
 out the goodwill of several successive sets of 'sup- 
 porters ; on the other hand, the persons thus alienated 
 were for the most part, comparatively speaking, 
 inferior men, and the highest minds evinced the most 
 constancy of attachment. Lord Durham and Lord 
 Metcalfe might or might not have been estranged 
 from him if their lives had been prolonged, but cer- 
 tainly gave no sign of estrangement while they lived.
 
 372 BUILDERS OF GREATER BRITAIN 
 
 Rintoul never once failed him during an intimacy of 
 twenty-two years, and Rintoul was a shrewd Scotch- 
 man, by no means addicted to excess of sentiment. 
 Wakefield's anonymous contributions to his Spectator 
 would make a very thick volume. Charles Buller's 
 regard survived even his official connection with 
 Wakefield's bete noire Earl Grey, and Lord Lyttel- 
 ton's the yet more serious trial of Wakefield's break 
 with Godley. This grievous misfortune would not 
 have occurred if the two had not been at opposite 
 sides of the world ; but whatever blame is to be 
 ascribed to the men falls principally upon Wakefield, 
 one of whose most unfortunate characteristics was an 
 unreasonable suspiciousness. His view of human 
 nature was anything but morbid, but in matters 
 where he did not see his way quite clearly, his active 
 imagination conjured up motives, intentions and pro- 
 ceedings which had no existence elsewhere. 'The 
 surmises, suspicions and impressions expressed by Mr 
 Wakefield,' drily remarks Mr Swainson, 'are to be 
 received only as surmises, suspicions and impressions.' 
 This defect was correlated with the vein of paradox, 
 also the offspring of a teeming imagination, which 
 runs through his soundest projects and best-considered 
 writings, and the exaggerated vehemence with which 
 he assails open adversaries and backsliding disciples. 
 All that can be said is : no imagination, no origin- 
 ality ; and no originality, no place among great men. 
 c He is all fault who hath no fault at a/I.'
 
 EDWARD GIBBON WAKEFIELD 373 
 
 If Edward Gibbon Wakefield had not possessed 
 the imaginative genius from which some delusions 
 and some extravagances are inseparable, it could 
 not have been said of him, as was said with perfect 
 truth by Thornton Hunt in his obituary notice in 
 the Daily Telegraph : * There is no part of the 
 British Empire which does not feel in the actual 
 circumstances of the day the effect of Edward 
 Gibbon Wakefield's labours as a practical states- 
 man ; and perhaps the same amount of tangible 
 result in administrative and constructive reform can 
 scarcely be traced to the single hand of any other 
 man during his own lifetime.' This is true, and 
 yet the practical side of Wakefield's work seems 
 second to the ideal, the conception of a system 
 which methodised the previously irregular and hap- 
 hazard attempts at colonization, and made it a 
 department of statesmanship ; and perhaps even 
 this is less than the new way of regarding the 
 relations between the mother country and the 
 colonies, of which the system of responsible 
 government recommended in Lord Durham's Report 
 was the most conspicuous manifestation. Modern 
 states, up to quite a recent period, have regarded 
 colonies as establishments for the benefit of the 
 mother country, and have formed new settlements 
 as a tradesman establishes branch shops, with no 
 notion of allowing money to accumulate in the 
 subsidiary till. The Greeks did not thus ; their
 
 374 BUILDERS OF GREATER BRITAIN 
 
 colonies were entirely independent ; the Roman 
 colonies, though dependent, were never tributary j 
 but the colonies of modern states have usually 
 been both, and have only obtained self-govern- 
 ment at the cost of long and cruel warfare. The 
 idea that a colony does not exist for the mother 
 country but -for itself is an evident corollary from 
 Wakefield's general principles ; and its tacit adop- 
 tion since the publication of the Durham Report 
 has kept the British Colonial Empire intact, while 
 others have crumbled away. Can one,' he asks, 
 ' read Gibbon without seeing that the Roman 
 Empire fell to pieces because its government was 
 a government of mere force, which, when applied 
 to a great and diversified empire, is necessarily 
 weak because force cannot stretch so far, and be- 
 cause there is no attachment in the subjects to- 
 wards the central power ? ' 
 
 The Colonial Office wars no longer with Edward 
 Gibbon Wakefield ; his bust adorns one of its 
 corridors, and his spirit in a great degree animates 
 its policy. We do not now hear eminent states- 
 men denouncing the idea that colonies can con- 
 tribute anything to the strength of the mother 
 country as c a superstition as dark as any that 
 existed in the Middle Ages ' ; or find veteran 
 officials discussing in their correspondence how the 
 parent can with least violence to her feelings turn 
 the daughter out of doors. But while the depart-
 
 EDWARD GIBBON WAKEFIELD 375 
 
 ment of State which he combated, has recognised 
 his desert, the colonies which he created have done 
 nothing for his memory absolutely nothing what- 
 ever. It cannot be thought that this will long 
 continue. The storied urn will not always be 
 lacking to Adelaide or the animated bust to Wel- 
 lington ; and it must be hoped that the portrait 
 of the body will be accompanied by a portrait of 
 the mind in the shape of an edition of his prin- 
 cipal writings obsolete, no doubt, as regards many 
 of the questions discussed, but still retaining all their 
 worth as illustrations of colonial and economical 
 history, and capable of firing the enthusiasm of 
 many a generation to come. When a monument 
 does arise, whether in the South Australian capital 
 or by the waters of Cook's Strait, it cannot after 
 due acknowledgment of his special achievement as 
 founder of the colony be more fitly inscribed than 
 with words adapted from two distinct eulogies by 
 Lord Lyttelton, who knew the man and had 
 shared in his work : 
 
 THE MAN IN THESE LATTER DAYS BEYOND COM- 
 PARISON OF THE MOST GENIUS AND THE WIDEST 
 INFLUENCE IN THE GREAT SCIENCE OF COLONIZA- 
 TION, BOTH AS A THINKER, A WRITER, AND A 
 WORKER ; WHOSE NAME IS LIKE A SPELL TO ALL 
 INTERESTED IN THE SUBJECT.
 
 INDEX 
 
 ADDERLEY, C. B. (Lord Norton), 
 drafts New Zealand Constitu- 
 tion under Wakefield's guid- 
 ance, 328, 330. 
 
 Adelaide, city of, founded, 104. 
 
 Allom, Albert, reminiscences of 
 New Zealand Company, 217, 
 222 j writes down the Art of 
 Colonization from Wakefield's 
 dictation, 280, 281 ; on 
 Wakefield in New Zealand, 
 342, 348, 349. 
 
 Allom, Charles, Wakefield's secre- 
 tary in Canada, 184 ; saves 
 his life, 233. 
 
 Allom, Mrs, nurses Wakefield in 
 his illness, 233 j reconciles 
 him with Frances Wakefield, 
 
 335- 
 
 Angas, George Fife, 96 ; forms a 
 supplementary company for 
 South Australian coloniza- 
 tion, 103 ; his share in the 
 foundation of the colony, 105- 
 107 ; his misfortunes and 
 ultimate success, 121, note ; 
 warns Lord Glenelg of French 
 designs on New Zealand, 
 151. 
 
 Art of Colonization, 281-285. 
 
 Attwood, Rosabel, friend and cor- 
 respondent of Nina Wake- 
 field, ill. 
 
 Attwood, Thomas, M.P., in; 
 meets Wakefield at Malvern, 
 271. 
 
 Auckland, city of, founded, 219. 
 
 I. 
 
 BARCLAY, Robert, of Urie, author 
 of the Apology fir 9%iiakeriim, 
 an ancestor of Wakefield's, 3. 
 
 Baring, Francis, impressed by 
 Wakefield's evidence on New 
 Zealand, 127 ; chairman of 
 New Zealand Association, 
 142. 
 
 Bathurst, Miss, concerned in the 
 Turner affair, 33. 
 
 Batman, John, purchases site of 
 Melbourne from the natives, 
 126, note. 
 
 Brougham, Henry (Lord Broug- 
 ham), prosecutes Wakefield 
 for the abduction of Ellen 
 Turner, 31 ; his animosity 
 to Lord Durham, 165, 166 ; 
 humiliations inflicted by him 
 on Lord Melbourne's Govern- 
 ment, 171. 
 
 Buller, Charles, assists in Wake- 
 field's South Australian pro- 
 ject, 93 ; chief secretary to 
 Lord Durham in Canada, 
 163 ; his character and 
 abilities, 164 ; Chief Com- 
 missioner of Canadian Crown 
 Lands, 169 ; his share in the 
 Durham Report, 178, 179 ; 
 author of Rcsponttble Govern- 
 ment for the Co/onict t 1 80 ; his 
 motion on New Zealand 
 
 377
 
 378 
 
 INDEX 
 
 affairs, 256 ; negotiates with 
 Sir James Graham, 257 j 
 brings the case of the New 
 Zealand Company forward 
 in Parliament, 258 ; arranges 
 compromise between the 
 Company and the Govern- 
 ment, 269 ; his character of 
 ' Mr Mothercountry,' 287 5 
 his death, 294 ; his speech 
 on systematic colonization 
 reprinted by Wakefield, 295. 
 
 Burney, Mrs D'Arblay, Wake- 
 field's niece ; her impression 
 of him, 321-324, 369. 
 
 Byron, Lord, 21, note. 
 
 CANTERBURY Settlement founded, 
 
 ?" 
 
 Cargill, Captain, founder of the 
 
 Otago settlement, 303. 
 
 Carlyle, Thomas, 249, 265. 
 
 Coates, Dandeson, lay secretary 
 to the Church Missionary 
 Society ; his opposition to the 
 New Zealand Association, 
 136-139. 
 
 D 
 
 DARWIN, Charles Robert, on the 
 New Zealand missionaries, 
 135 ; on transportation to 
 New South Wales, 237. 
 
 Davies, Rev. David, father of 
 Frances Wakefield, 23. 
 
 Dent, Mr, historian of Canada, 
 185, 1 86. 
 
 Dilke, Sir Charles, 121, note. 
 
 Disraeli, B., his Vivian Grey com- 
 pared and contrasted with 
 Wakefield's early writings 
 24, 25. 
 
 Domett, Alfred, Premier of New 
 
 Zealand ; his character of 
 Arthur Wakefield, 228, note. 
 
 Duncombe, Thomas Slingsby, 
 M.P., his anecdotes of Wake- 
 field in Canada, 174. 
 
 Dunedin, city of, founded, 303. 
 
 Durham, Earl of, becomes a direc- 
 tor of the New Zealand 
 Association, 142 ; his charac- 
 ter, 143 5 at variance with 
 Lord Ho wick, 144 ; com- 
 munications with Colonial 
 Office, 146 ; becomes chair- 
 man of the New Zealand 
 Company, 152 ; Governor- 
 General of British North 
 America, 161 ; his qualifica- 
 tions and disqualifications, 
 163 ; his choice of advisers, 
 164; Lord Brougham's ani- 
 mosity to him, 165 ; letters 
 to Melbourne and Glenelg, 
 168, 169 ; his Ordinance 
 respecting the treatment of 
 the rebel prisoners, 170, 171 ; 
 resigns and returns home, 
 172; his popularity in Canada, 
 173; his reception in England, 
 174; defended by Stuart Mill, 
 I 7S> 176 5 his Report on the 
 affairs of Canada, 177-181 ; 
 tutors his successor, 182 ; his 
 death and last words, 183. 
 
 EGERTON, H. E., historian of 
 British colonial policy, 143, 
 178. 
 
 Eliot, Lord, chairman of New Zea- 
 land Committee of 1840, 244. 
 
 Elliot, Mr, Emigration Commis- 
 sioner, 291. 
 
 Elliotson, Dr, 174, note. 
 
 Ellis, William, writer on coloniza- 
 tion, 62, note. 
 
 England and America, 75-78. 
 
 Evans, Dr G. S., 138, 139, 150.
 
 INDEX 
 
 379 
 
 FITZGERALD, J. E., New Zealand 
 statesman 5 his character of 
 Godley, 306 ; his character, 
 317 ; forms the first New 
 Zealand responsible ministry, 
 351 ; resigns, 354 ; his gener- 
 osity towards Wakefield's 
 memory, 357, note. 
 
 Fitzroy, Admiral, appointed 
 Governor of New Zealand, 
 227 5 condones massacre of 
 Wairau, 230 ; failure and 
 recall, 231. 
 
 Flatt, Mr, catechist of the Church 
 Missionary Society, 140. 
 
 Foster, Anthony, on the 'Wake- 
 field system in South Aus- 
 tralia, 122. 
 
 Freeman, Mrs Harold, Wakefield's 
 niece ; her reminiscences of 
 his last days, 362-368. 
 
 Fry, Elizabeth, cousin to Wake- 
 field, 12 ; visits him in 
 prison, 40. 
 
 GARRAN'S Australian Atlat^ 107. ' 
 
 Gawler, Colonel, Governor of 
 South Australia, izo. 
 
 Gibbon, Isabella, Edward Gibbon 
 Wakefield's great - grand - 
 mother, 3. 
 
 Gipps, Sir George, Governor of 
 New South Wales, his land 
 policy, 219, 220. 
 
 Gisborne, William, New Zealand 
 historian, on Colonel Wake- 
 field, 198 ; on Sir George 
 Grey's land policy, 277 ; on 
 E. G. Wakefield, 371. 
 
 Gladstone, Right Hon. W. E., 
 Wakefield's appeal to on New 
 Zealand affairs, 232 ; on New 
 Zealand Committee of 1840, 
 248 ; assists passing of New 
 
 Zealand Constitution Act, 
 330; his speech on the 
 subject, 331. 
 
 Glenelg, Lord, his weakness as 
 Colonial Secretary, 134; his 
 opposition to the New Zea- 
 land Company, 148 ; re- 
 moved from office, 152 ; 
 prevents Wakefield's receiv- 
 ing an appointment in Canada, 
 167, 169. 
 
 Godley, John Robert, his ante- 
 cedents, 272 ; joins Wake- 
 field in founding the Canter- 
 bury Settlement, 305 ; his 
 character, 306 ; organises the 
 Canterbury Association, 308 ; 
 proceeds to New Zealand, 
 310; Superintendent of the 
 Canterbury Settlement, 311 ; 
 misunderstanding with Wake- 
 field, 317; returns to England, 
 
 334- 
 
 Gouger, Robert, Wakefield's Letter 
 from Sydney published under 
 his name, 60 ; assists in the 
 foundation of South Australia, 
 94, 107. 
 
 Grey, Earl (Lord Howick), Under 
 Secretary for the Colonies, 
 96, 97 ; his character, 144 ; 
 misunderstandings with Lord 
 Durham and Wakefield, 145 ; 
 opposition to New Zealand 
 Association, 149, 150; un- 
 satisfactory interview with 
 Wakefield, 233 ; scene be- 
 tween him and Wakefield 
 before New Zealand Com- 
 mittee of 1840, 247, 248 ; 
 drafts report of Committee 
 of 1845, 253, 254; adopts 
 Sir George Grey's views on 
 New Zealand, 273. 
 
 Grey, Sir George, first Governor 
 of South Australia, 121 ; 
 Governor of New Zealand, 
 231 ; prevents the Constitu- 
 tion of 1846 from going into
 
 380 
 
 INDEX 
 
 effect, 273 ; reasons for this 
 step, 274 ; a benefactor to the 
 native race, 275 ; his land 
 policy, 276-277 ; befriends 
 the New Zealand Company, 
 278 ; his opinion of Colonel 
 Wakefield, 279 ; his hostility 
 to the Canterbury Settlement, 
 313 ; drafts a constitution for 
 New Zealand, 328 ; his cor- 
 respondence with Wakefield, 
 337-340 ; appointed Governor 
 of Cape Colony, 341. 
 
 K 
 
 HANSON, Sir Richard, Chief Justice 
 of South Australia, on the 
 publication of the Durham 
 Report, 177 ; on its author- 
 ship, 178. 
 
 Head, John, Wakefield's cousin at 
 Ipswich, comforts Wakefield 
 in his imprisonment, and takes 
 him home, 83. 
 
 Heke, New Zealand chief, 231. 
 
 Henslow, Captain, 333. 
 
 Hill, Sir Rowland, secretary to 
 the South Australian Com- 
 missioners, 103. 
 
 Hill, William, afterwards Lord 
 Berwick, envoy at Turin, 
 employs Wakefield, 17 ; his 
 advice to him, 19 ; his 
 opinion of Mrs Wakefield, 
 
 21. 
 
 Hinds, Samuel, Bishop of Nor- 
 wich, supports the New 
 Zealand Association, 138 ; 
 advocates the proposal of a 
 bishop for New Zealand, 145 ; 
 revives the idea of coloni- 
 zation by religious bodies, 
 299. 
 
 Hobson, Captain, appointed Lieu- 
 tenant - Governor of New 
 
 Zealand, 156 5 arrives in 
 New Zealand, 201 ; his in- 
 structions from Sir George 
 Gipps, 211 ; concludes Treaty 
 of Waitangi, 212 ; frustrates 
 French expedition to Akaroa, 
 214 ; his injudicious proclam- 
 ation, 218 ; founds Auck- 
 land, 219 ; his death, 227. 
 
 Hodder, Edwin, 98, 106. 
 
 Hutt, John, Art of Colonization 
 dedicated to ; resigns chair- 
 manship of Canterbury Asso- 
 ciation, 312. 
 
 K.ORORAREKA (Russell), town at 
 the Bay of Islands ; vigilance 
 committee at, 133 ; burned 
 by the natives, 231. 
 
 LANCASTER, Joseph, Edward 
 Wakefield's opinion of, 7, 
 note. 
 
 Leroy-Beaulieu, M., on the Wake- 
 field system, 288-290. 
 
 Letter from Sydney, 58-61. 
 
 Lowe, Robert (Viscount Sher- 
 brooke), opposes New Zea- 
 land Constitution Bill, 330. 
 
 Lyttelton, Lord, Wakefield's char- 
 acter of, 306 ; rescues the 
 Canterbury Settlement from 
 failure, 312; joins in a 
 guarantee to the New Zea- 
 land Company, 313 ; aids in 
 drafting the New Zealand 
 Constitution, 330 ; Wake- 
 field wishes him to become 
 Governor of New Zealand, 
 334; his character of Wake- 
 field, 369, 375.
 
 INDEX 
 
 MARTIN, Sir William, appointed 
 Chief Justice of New Zea- 
 land, 224 ; on Wakefield's 
 illness, 358. 
 
 Melbourne, Lord, his character, 
 144 ; his attitude towards 
 the New Zealand Associa- 
 tion, 147, 148 ; objects to 
 appointments of Turton and 
 V/akefield, 168 ; weakness 
 of his administration, 171 ; 
 on the publication of Lord 
 Durham's Report, 177. 
 
 Merivale, Herman, on the Wake- 
 field system, 71. 
 
 Metcalfe, Sir Charles, Governor- 
 General of Canada, 184 ; 
 Wakefield's eulogium on him, 
 1 86. 
 
 Mill, James, introduced by Edward 
 Wakefield to Francis Place, 7. 
 
 Mill, John Stuart, approves of the 
 Wakefield system, 88 ; his 
 defence of Lord Durham's 
 conduct in Canada, 174-176 ; 
 his opinion of Wakefield as a 
 political economist, 263. 
 
 Molesworth, Sir William, an early 
 colonial reformer, 88 ; chair- 
 man of Committee on Trans- 
 portation, 238 ; his character, 
 239 ; his report, 242 ; opposes 
 New Zealand Constitution 
 Bill, 330. 
 
 Murray, Sir George, Colonial 
 Secretary, 96. 
 
 N 
 
 NAYTI, alleged New Zealand chief, 
 
 140. 
 
 Nelson, city of, founded, 228. 
 Normanby, Marquis of, introduces 
 
 the South Australian Act into 
 
 the House of Lords, 100 ; 
 
 Colonial Secretary, 152; his 
 
 conduct towards the New 
 Zealand Association, 153, 
 156. 
 
 OTAGO settlement founded, 303. 
 
 PAKINGTON, Sir John, Colonial 
 Secretary, 331. 
 
 Palmer, Lieutenant-Colonel, South 
 Australian Commissioner, 
 proposes a monument to 
 Wakefield, 123 ; his anecdote 
 of Wakefield and the Ameri- 
 cans, 365. 
 
 Palmerston, Lord, 202. 
 
 Panizzi, Antonio, aids Brougham 
 at the Turner trial, 49. 
 
 Papineau, Canadian rebel leader, 
 
 '73- 
 
 Peel, Sir Robert, 256, 259, 260. 
 
 Percy, Hon. Algernon, 22, 33, 
 note. 
 
 Place, Francis, his account of 
 Edward Wakefield, 6, 7 ; his 
 opinion of Edward Gibbon 
 Wakefield, 16-19. 
 
 Punishment cf Death in the Metro- 
 foil^ 53-58. 
 
 QUARTERLY Review on Lord Dur- 
 ham's mission to Canada, 
 162 ; on his Report, 181. 
 
 RANGIHAIATEA, New Zealand 
 
 chief, 229. 
 Rauparaha, New Zealand chief, 
 
 229, 230.
 
 INDEX 
 
 Reeves, Hon. W. P., Agent- 
 General for New Zealand, 
 on the settlement of New 
 Zealand by the Company, 
 200, 205 ; on the Treaty of 
 Waitangi, 214 ; on the 
 Taranaki settlement, 229 5 
 on the Wakefield system in 
 the Canterbury colony, 293. 
 
 Rennie, George, projector of the 
 Otago settlement, 302. 
 
 Rice, Right Hon. T. C. Spring 
 (Lord Monteagle), 99. 
 
 Rintoul, Robert Stephen, editor of 
 the Spectator, one of Wake- 
 field's principal supporters, 
 88-90 ; Wakefield's letter to 
 him from New Zealand, 343- 
 348. 
 
 Roebuck, John Arthur, M.P., his 
 opposition to Wakefield, 84, 
 173, 244. 
 
 Rusden, G. W., New Zealand 
 historian, on New Zealand 
 land sales, 290. 
 
 Russell, Lord John, as Colonial 
 Secretary, 201, 202 ; con- 
 cludes an arrangement with 
 the New Zealand Company, 
 222,223 5 resigns, 223 ; sup- 
 ports the claims of the Com- 
 pany, 255, 256. 
 
 SCARLETT, Sir James, defends 
 
 Wakefield at Lancaster 
 
 Assizes, 31. 
 Schmidt, William, Wakefield's 
 
 servant, 353, 357. 
 Selwyn, George Augustus, Bishop 
 
 of New Zealand, 224, 225, 
 
 228, note, 275, 316. 
 Sewell, Henry, New Zealand 
 
 statesman, goes out to New 
 
 Zealand with Wakefield, 332; 
 
 his opinion of the colony, 
 
 346 ; enters the Fitzgerald 
 ministry, 351 ; resigns, 354. 
 
 Shortland, Lieutenant, 218, 228. 
 
 Sidney, Samuel, on the Wakefield 
 system in South Australia, 
 
 122. 
 
 Simeon, Sir John, 313. 
 
 Smith, Adam, Wakefield's edition 
 of his Wealth of Nations, 262, 
 264. 
 
 Somes, Joseph, M.P., succeeds 
 Lord Durham as chairman 
 of the New Zealand Com- 
 pany, 224. 
 
 Spedding, James, reviews report 
 of South Australian Com- 
 mittee in Edinburgh Re-view, 
 121, note. 
 
 Stanley, Captain Owen, anticipates 
 the French at Akaroa, 213. 
 
 Stanley, Lord, Colonial Secretary, 
 his hostility to the New Zea- 
 land Company, 223, 249, 250, 
 257 ; resigns, 260. 
 
 Stephen, Sir James, Under Secre- 
 tary for the Colonies, 134, 
 249, 287. 
 
 Stow, J. P., on the Wakefield 
 system in South Australia, 
 
 122. 
 
 Swainson, William, appointed 
 Attorney - General of New 
 Zealand, 224; on the first 
 New Zealand Parliament, 
 355 ; frustrates the introduc- 
 tion of responsible govern- 
 ment, 356. 
 
 Swan River Settlement, failure of, 
 85-88. 
 
 'Swing' incendiary fires, 80, 81. 
 
 TAYLOR, Sir Henry, reviews 
 Spedding's article on South 
 Australia Committee, 121, 
 note; his opinion of Lord 
 John Russell as Colonial
 
 INDEX 
 
 383 
 
 Secretary, 222, nctt ; on Earl 
 Grey, 232. 
 
 Thierry, Baron de, his claims to 
 land in New Zealand, 151. 
 
 Thomson, C. Poulett (Lord Syden- 
 ham), Governor-General of 
 Canada, 182. 
 
 Thomson, Surgeon - Major, his 
 Story cfNew Zealand, 1 3 1 ; on 
 the earthquake at Wellington, 
 362, note. 
 
 Titchfield, Marquis of, Wakefield's 
 published letter to, 24. 
 
 Torlesse, Catherine, Wakefield's 
 sister, letters to, 42 and 
 passim. 
 
 Torlesse, Rev. Charles, Wake- 
 field's brother-in-law, 41 ; 
 letters from Wakefield to, 
 128, 252. 
 
 Torrens, Colonel, on the Wake- 
 field system, 90 ; one of the 
 founders of South Australia, 
 
 95> 97, 107- 
 Turner, Ellen, her abduction, 29- 
 
 32. 
 Turton, Sir Thomas. 164. 
 
 VOGEL, Sir Julius, 293. 
 
 W 
 
 V/AIRAU massacre, 229, 230. 
 
 Wakefield, Arthur (brother of 
 Edward Gibbon Wakefield), 
 iz&,nc,te; on the colonization 
 of New Zealand, 129 ; founds 
 settlement of Nelson, 225 ; 
 Bishop Selwyn and Mr 
 Domett's opinion of him, 
 228, note; murdered by the 
 natives, 229 ; eulogised by 
 House of Commons, 252. 
 
 Wakefield, Daniel (brother of 
 Edward Gibbon Wakefield), 
 
 drafts South Australian Act, 
 105 ; judge in New Zealand, 
 109, note; on his brother 
 Edward Gibbon's illness, 358 ; 
 resides with him, 362 ; his 
 death, 365. 
 
 Wakefield, Daniel (uncle of 
 Edward Gibbon Wakefield), 
 41, note, in, note. 
 
 Wakefield, Edward (grandfather of 
 Edward Gibbon Wakefield), 
 3,4- 
 
 Wakefield, Edward (father of 
 Edward Gibbon Wakefield), 
 birth, 4 ; marriage and early 
 occupations, 5 ; his acquaint- 
 ance with Francis Place, 6-8 ; 
 his active philanthropy, 9; his 
 work on Ireland, 10, II ; his 
 relations with his son, 14-18 ; 
 marriage with Frances Davies, 
 23 ; seeks a seat in Parlia- 
 ment, 34. 
 
 Wakefield, Edward Gibbon, birth 
 and early education, 13 ; at 
 Westminster School, 14 ; 
 obtains diplomatic employ- 
 ment, 15 ; letter in the 
 Statesman newspaper, 18 ; 
 elopes with Eliza Susan 
 Pattle, 19-20 ; marriage, 21 ; 
 loses his wife, 22 ; diplomatic 
 appointment at Paris, 23 ; 
 early political writings, 23- 
 27 ; his abduction of Ellen 
 Turner, 29-31 ; sentenced to 
 three years* imprisonment, 
 32 ; motive of the abduction, 
 33, 34 ; letters from Lan- 
 caster Castle, 36, 37 ; from 
 Newgate, 39-45 ; his book on 
 The Punishment cf Death, 53- 
 58 ; his Letter from Sydney , 
 58-61 ; his system of coloniza- 
 tion, 62-73 > h' 5 description 
 of an Italian girl, 74-75 ; his 
 England and America, 75- 
 78 ; his tract on * Swing,' 
 80-82 ; released from prison,
 
 INDEX 
 
 83 ; aids in establishing the 
 Colonization Society, 85 ; his 
 friendship with Rintoul, 89 ; 
 promotes the settlement of 
 South Australia, 92-102 ; the 
 chief founder of the colony, 
 104 - 107 ; death of his 
 daughter Nina, 116 - 119 ; 
 projects the colonization of 
 New Zealand, 126-129 ; his 
 alliance with Lord Durham, 
 143-144 ; his misunderstand- 
 ings with Lord Howick, 145 ; 
 replies to Mr Dandeson 
 Coates, 147 ; hastens the 
 despatch of the Tory to 
 New Zealand, 1 54 ; his 
 agenda for meeting of the 
 New Zealand Company, 155 ; 
 adviser of Lord Durham in 
 his Canadian mission, 163 ; 
 arrives in Canada, 167 5 his 
 appointment as Commissioner 
 of Crown Lands frustrated by 
 the Colonial Office, 168, 169 ; 
 Lord Durham's high estimate 
 of his advice, 170 5 returns to 
 England, 172 5 sends Lord 
 Durham's Report for publica- 
 tion by the Times, 177; his 
 share in its composition, 178, 
 179 ; subsequent visits to 
 Canada, 183 5 elected to the 
 Canadian legislature, 184 ; 
 his character of Sir Charles 
 Metcalfe, 186 ; essay on 
 colonial politics in Fisher's 
 Colonial Magazine, 187-190 ; 
 his grief at the death of his 
 brother Arthur, 191 ; drafts 
 instructions for the colonizing 
 expedition to New Zealand, 
 192 ; on reserves of land for 
 the benefit of the natives, 
 209, 210; virtual manager 
 of the New Zealand Com- 
 pany, 224 5 scheme for 
 Church Endowment in New 
 Zealand, 225, 226 ; his over- 
 
 tures to Mr Gladstone, 232 ; 
 quarrel with Earl Grey, and 
 serious illness, 233 ; organises 
 Committee on Transportation, 
 238 ; evidence before Colonial 
 Lands Committee, 243-245 ; 
 his system approved by South 
 Australian Committee, 245, 
 
 246 ; evidence before New 
 Zealand Committee of 1840, 
 
 247 5 controversies with Lord 
 Stanley, 249-260 ; memoir 
 on New Zealand affairs, 261 ; 
 edits The Wealth of Nations, 
 262-264 ; Popular Politics, 
 264 ; his address to the elec- 
 tors of Birmingham, 265 ; 
 loses, through illness, his 
 control over the New Zea- 
 land Company, 269 ; resigns 
 his 'directorship, 270; his 
 portrait painted by subscrip- 
 tion, 270 ; his convalescence 
 at Malvern, 271 ; acquaint- 
 ance with J. R. Godley, 272 ; 
 writes The Art of Colonization 
 at Boulogne, 279, 280 ; char- 
 acter of the book, 281-285 ; 
 on colonization by religious 
 bodies, 300, 301 ; scheme 
 originally proposed by him in 
 1843, 3 OI > 3 2 5 The Founders 
 of Canterbury, 304, 305 ; his 
 share in the establishment of 
 the Canterbury Settlement, 
 308 ; joins in guarantee to 
 the New Zealand Company, 
 313 ; estrangement from 
 Godley, 317 ; on procuring 
 a bishop for the colony, 
 318 ; letters to emigrants, 
 319, 320; his niece, Mrs 
 Burney's, reminiscences of 
 him, 321-324 ; recollections 
 by Sir Frederick Young, 
 324-327 ; founds Colonial 
 Reform Society, 327 ; aids in 
 drafting the New Zealand 
 Constitution, 328 5 petitions
 
 INDEX 
 
 385 
 
 Parliament in its favour, 332, 
 333 ; sails for New Zealand, 
 333 ; his farewell letter to 
 Lord Lyttelton, 333, 334 5 his 
 reconciliation with Frances 
 Wakefield, 335 ; arrives in 
 New Zealand, 336 ; his 
 correspondence with Sir 
 George Grey, 337-34 ; 
 plunges into New Zealand 
 politics, 342 ; his letter to 
 Rintoul, 343-348 5 elected 
 to the first New Zealand 
 Parliament, 350 ; moves a 
 resolution in favour of re- 
 sponsible government, 351 ; 
 the Governor's confidential 
 adviser, 354 ; retirement 
 from this position, 356 ; criti- 
 cism of his conduct, 357, 
 358 ; serious illness, 359, 
 361 ; retires into private life, 
 361 ; his niece, Mrs Free- 
 man's, reminiscences of his 
 last days, 361 - 368 ; his 
 death, 368 ; his character, 
 369-372 ; his services, 373- 
 374 5 memorial due to him, 
 
 375- 
 
 Wakefield, Edward Jerningham 
 (son of Edward Gibbon Wake- 
 field), his birth, 22 ; goes out 
 to New Zealand, 154; his 
 Adventures in New> Zealand, 
 217 ; his father's opinion of 
 him, 342, 343 ; account of 
 his father's illness, 359, 361. 
 
 Wakefield, Eliza Susan (wife of 
 Edward Gibbon Wakefield), 
 elopes with him, 19, 20 ; Mr 
 Hill's character of her, 21 ; 
 her death, 22. 
 
 Wakefield, Frances, marriage to 
 Edward Wakefield, 23 ; tried 
 as an accomplice in the 
 Turner abduction, 31 ; Wake- 
 field's letters to her from 
 Lancaster Castle, 36, 37 ; 
 reconciled to him, 335. 
 
 Wakefield, Felix, on the Canter- 
 bury Settlement, 315, 316. 
 
 Wakefield, Nina (Susan Priscilla) 
 (daughter of Edward Gibbon 
 Wakefield), her birth, 22 ; 
 letters on South Australian 
 Colonization, 108-116; ill- 
 ness and death, 116-119. 
 
 Wakefield, Priscilla (grand- 
 (mother of Edward Gibbon 
 Wakefield), marriage, 3 ; 
 founder of savings banks, 4 ; 
 on her grandson, Edward 
 Gibbon, 13, 14 ; his letter to 
 her from Newgate, 39-42. 
 
 Wakefield, Susan (mother of 
 Edward Gibbon Wakefield), 5. 
 
 Wakefield, William, Colonel 
 (brother of Edward Gibbon 
 Wakefield), assists in the ab- 
 duction of Ellen Turner, 29 ; 
 tried and sentenced to three 
 years' imprisonment, 31, 32 ; 
 military service in Portugal, 
 129 ; proceeds to New Zea- 
 land as chief agent of the New 
 Zealand Company, 153; his 
 character, 197-199; his ex- 
 tensive land purchases, 203- 
 205 ; founds Wellington, 
 217 ; his account of the 
 Wairau massacre, 229, 230 ; 
 arranges disputes between 
 the Company and the 
 settlers, 278 ; his sudden 
 death, 278 ; Sir George 
 Grey's opinion of him, 279. 
 
 WarH, Sir Henry George, chairman 
 of the Committee on Colonial 
 Lands, 125 ; moves resolu- 
 tions on the subject, 221. 
 
 Westminster School, 14. 
 
 Wellington, city of, founded, 217. 
 
 Wellington, Duke of, procures 
 the passage of the South 
 Australian Act, 100 ; the 
 city of Wellington named 
 after him, 218. 
 
 Whately, Archbishop, 243. 
 
 2 B
 
 386 
 
 INDEX 
 
 Williams, Henry, Archdeacon, 
 
 212, 275. 
 
 Wynyard, Colonel, Acting Gover- 
 nor of New Zealand, 350, 
 35 2 > 354, 35 6 - 
 
 YOUNG, Sir Frederick, his reminis- 
 cences of Wakefield, 324- 
 
 THE END 
 
 Colston &> Coy. Limited, Printers, Edinburgh. / /
 
 
 [Il-Jk 
 
 m 
 
 %i 
 
 so 1 ' 
 

 
 001 026 501 5