See Index of WDB pages
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| Samuel Marsden. |
CHAPTER VII MARSDEN'S SIXTH NEW ZEALAND JOURNAL Marsden left Port Jackson on February 16th, 1830, in the Elizabeth, and reached the Bay of Islands on March 8th. On May 27th he embarked in the Prince of Wales and returned to New South Wales. IN the beginning of 1830 Marsden was granted leave by the Governor of New South Wales to proceed to New Zealand for the purpose of making another tour of inspection there among the Church Missionary Society stations. He arrived at the Bay of Islands to find both missionaries and natives greatly perturbed by the outbreak of the so called " Girls' War," to which his sixth journal makes many references.
* S. Percy Smith, Wars of Northern Against Southern New Zealand Tribes, pp. 2089. f "An old settler informed me in 1880," writes Mr. S. Percy Smith, " that he had seen over sixty whale ships at one time anchored in the Kawakawa River opposite Opua. " % Dumont d'Urville, upon the occasion of his visit of 1827, was shown, near Kororareka, the house which this whaling captain, Brind, had built for himself. Brind, he was told, was fascinated by New Zealand and intended to make his permanent residence there. Dumont d'Urville, Voyage de VAstrolabe, Vol. II, pp. 2256. |
452 THE "GIRLS' WAR
table width="450" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" border="0" bgcolor="#fbe6a0"> persuasion to avert a conflict, for the two parties were now in close proximity; but on the following day, owing to the accidental discharge of a musket which killed a woman of the invading party, a general fight was brought on in which a good many people were killed and more wounded the Rev. Richard Davis says nearly one hundred. Amongst the slain was Hengi of Takou, north of the Bay, a chief of some rank. " | |
Mr. Davis, in his journal,* gives the following account of the part played by his colleagues and himself during the "Girls' War" : " Today (March 5th, 1830) we have been compelled to interfere between two contending parties which have been brought together on account of the exceeding wickedness of Captain Brind, but I hope all will end in peace. We are in hourly expectation of Mr. Marsden's arrival amongst us. I hope his visit will be attended with good.
"Saturday, March 6th. Alas ! What a day of horror and distress this has been ! Last night we left the contending parties apparently desirous of making peace. They were sitting about a mile distant from each other. One, the defensive party, which was composed of the natives of the Bay and of a few people from Taiamai, was sitting at their own place at Kororarika, which is the harbour for shipping. The other party, who were the assailants, was sitting in Paroa Bay, and consisted of the late Hongi's party, the natives from Waimate, Rangihoua, and other tribes. As there are not more than two miles of water between us and Kororarika (Kororareka), by the help of our glasses we saw the assailants come over to the village this morning early, but from the conversation we had with both parties yesterday we hoped they were come over only to make peace ; consequently we did not go to Kororarika. About an hour after we saw them come to the village we heard them firing and distinctly saw they were firing in a horizontal direction, and, concluding they were fighting, we launched our boat and went over to the shipping. "As the Royal Sovereign, Captain King, was lying not more than 200 or 300 yards from the scene of action, we went to his ship. I went on board, but Mr. Williams went on shore and landed and endeavoured to stop the fighting, but was obliged to retreat to his boat as a very brisk fire was kept up by both parties. This was a hazardous attempt on the part of Mr. Williams as he was in much danger of being shot. "The deck of the Royal Sovereign presented a woeful spectacle of horror and despair. Many of the wounded men had been brought on board and were lying on the deck in a mangled state. The surgeon was employed dressing their wounds, assisted by as many of the people as could be spared. Over and above the wounded, there was a great number of women and children who had fled on board from the village for protection. I stayed on board, at the urgent request of the captain, to assist him in the management of the natives, etc. , etc. As the native village was expected to give way and the natives to fly to the shipping for protection, and as they were likely to be followed there by their victors, the ships were put in a position of defence and the worst prepared for. But I had not been long on board before the assailants gave way and fled in all directions. On seeing this I went on shore accompanied |
THE BATTLE AT KORORAREKA
* Marsden's sixth child. She subsequently married John Betts of Parramatta. Her youngest son, James Cloudesley Betts, became Canon of Cootamundra, New South Wales. |
CAPTAIN BRIND OF THETOWARD CASTLE
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THE CAUSE OF THE " GIRLS' WAR"
on that account; and do not you think he will now give me a great quantity of powder as a payment ? ' I requested the chief not to mention the wicked man's name as it was an offence to me. "
While these stirring events were in progress Marsden had already left New South Wales for New Zealand and was on the high seas. His experiences during the voyage and the scenes which met him upon his * MS. Letters and Journals of the Rev. James Kemp, 181857 (Hocken Library). |
MARSDEN'S SIXTH NEW ZEALAND JOURNAL
arrival at the Bay of Islands are described in his sixth New Zealand journal:
* Sir Ralph Darling, Governor of New South Wales, 182531. f North of Doubtless Bay. % Rev. Alfred Nesbit Brown, afterwards Archdeacon of Tauranga. He arrived in New Zealand in 1829. ξ At Kororareka, the whaling port at the Bay of Islands. |
MARSDEN'S ACCOUNT OF BRIND'S CONDUCT
* Hare Hongi, eldest son of Hongi Hika, was killed at Te Ikaranganui in 1825. t Peter Bays, however, who from the Toward Castle was a witness of these incidents, thinks that his friend Brind was blamed unduly, although he acknowledges that he offered Rewha muskets for use in the fight. Nevertheless, he states, " The natives were rather instigated to hostilities by laws of their own than provoked to it by any allurement which a foreigner might throw in their way." Peter Bays, The Wreck of the Minerva (Cambridge, 1831), p. 145. |
THE FIGHT AT KORORAREKA
* " So numerous were the shot flying in every direction, and from which direction it was difficult to determine," writes Peter Bays, " that several balls struck Captain Deane's (Dean) boat in going off, and wounded two native men belonging to it, so that Captain Deane was compelled to retreat for shelter in a sawyer's hut, where, with others, they were obliged to lie down flat upon the floor till the firing ceased, which lasted from about ten a. m. till past noon, when the Ngapuis (Ngapuhi) retreated. KivveeKivvee's (Kiwikiwi) daughter who was killed, with numbers of the wounded, were brought on board our ship, the Roya! Sovereign, and some were carried to other ships ; a coffin was made for the former, and she was sent on shore to her people. " Some died of their wounds, and some few underwent amputation, but the very best were great sufferers, though the most patient creatures, under affliction, I ever beheld. "Peter Bays, The Wreck of the Minerva (Cambridge, 1831), pp. 1467. |
THE ANXIETY OF THE MISSIONARIES
* The Paihia Missionary Station was about two or three miles directly across the harbour from Kororareka. |
MARSDEN AND REV. HENRY WILLIAMS INTERVENE
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THE WARPARTY ON MOTURO
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PEACE COUNCILS
* The journal of Archdeacon Henry Williams adds some interesting supplementary matter to the events of this day (March 11th): " After breakfast, Rewa, Mr. Marsden, and I went up to the pa (Otuihu). We hoisted the white flag, at Rewa's request, as a signal that we were come to treat for peace. On our arrival, all assembled; and I told them we were come to receive their instructions as to the message to Ururoa, whether peace or war; it was now high time, before the assembling of the multitude. They replied that it was very good; but that Ururoa must depute some chief to meet them in the pa, and afterwards someone from the pa should go to them. This being concluded, we proceeded to Kororareka and met Ururoa and other chiefs. They appeared of one opinion; but they waited the arrival of Mango and Kakaha, the two sons of Hengi, the chief of Takou, who was killed, as the duty of seeking revenge now devolves upon them, for the death of their father. I told Ururoa we were weary of going about; but he and others replied that we must not be weary but strong and very courageous ; that, should these two men come in the course of the night, they would send a canoe over to us and peace should be concluded in the morning." Hugh Carleton, The Life of Henry Williams (Auckland, 1874), Vol. I, pp. 79, 823. |
CONTRASTING SCENES
* Archdeacon Henry Williams, in his journal, describes his experiences on these days as follows : " March 13th. At breakfast Tohitapu came, and spoke about the necessity of making peace; that the distant tribes would arrive, and then there would be no restraining them. " Sunday, March 14th. Tohitapu and Rewa were very urgent that communication should be held with Ururoa and others at Kororareka, as several canoes were observed to pull over from Moturoa. I therefore went over myself, and took the opportunity of speaking to them upon their present state, and offers of eternal peace held out by Jesus Christ. All were inclined for peace. In the evening, service as usual. Wharenui came from the pa, apparently under much concern by the delay in making peace." |
DIVINE SERVICE AT PAIHIA
* Isaiah xl, 5. |
THE NORTH ISLAND OF NEW ZEALAND To illustrate Marsden's journeys of 1827, 1830, 1837 |
THE REV. WILLIAM WILLIAMS AND TAIWHANGA
* Taiwhanga, one of Hongi's chief warriors, presented his children for baptism to the Rev. William Williams on August 23rd, 1829. William Williams' son, Leonard Williams, was baptized at the same time. Six months later Taiwhanga himself was publicly baptized, receiving the name of David. He proved an active and enthusiastic missionary, while his influence with his countrymen made his support invaluable. H. T. Purchas, The English Church in New Zealand, pp. 4850. |
THE ORIGINS OF MAORI WARS
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THE PEACE CONFERENCE AT KORORAREK
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THE TREATY OF PEACE
* Excitement, however, did not abate for some time. On March 26th, 1830, Peter Bays of the Minerva, sailed in the Royal Sovereign for England, having first, as he records, written on March 20th " to Sydney, by favour of the Rev. Mr. Marsden, chaplain of the Colony, to His Excellency Governor Darling, relative to our men left behind at Turtle Island, begging him to send a government vessel to their relief. " Bays' diary for March 26th reads: "March 26th: Wind south, took our departure from New Zealand, but such was the state of affairs among the natives that it was considered advisable for no ship to be left alone in Kororarika (Kororareka) Bay, and accordingly the Royal Sovereign for England, the Anne for whaling ground, and the American ship India for New Brunswick, got under weigh together ; the ship Elizabeth, which had not completed her water, having gone to the entrance of the river towards KovvaKovva (Kawakawa) and the barque Woodford of Sydney to Tippoona (Te Puna). " The Royal Sovereign (Captain King) reached England on August 3rd, by way of Cape Horn, " after a passage of one hundred and thirtyone days (the ten first weeks of which our people had scarcely a dry thread upon them). We anchored in Margate Roads, having seen no land, nor spoken but one ship (the Princess Mary bound for London from the Bay of Islands) since our departure from the Bay of Islands. " Peter Bays, The Wreck of the Minerva (Cambridge, 1831), pp. 169-176. t Archdeacon Williams, in his journal, adds a note with regard to this peace of Kororareka, which shows how tenaciously the Maoris clung to the law of utu or retaliation:-- "The victors proposed," he writes, " that Kororareka, the battleground, should be ceded by Pomare to Ngapuhi as an equivalent for Hengi's death. The proposal was accepted, and peace between those who had actually been engaged was maintained. But this did not hinder Mango and Kakaha, the sons of Hengi, from going southward for bloodpayment, taking it from tribes who had been noways concerned with the battle or with its causebetter the blood of the innocent than none at all is a recognised maxim of the Maori law of utu. In their first expedition to the Mercury Islands they were successful; in their second to Tauranga and Motiti, after much destruction, they were themselves destroyed. " |
THE WARPARTIES DISPERS
* The name of Te Morenga, who had been so closely associated with Marsden in his New Zealand travels, does not again appear in the journals. Captain W. Jacob, of the East India Company's service on the Bombay Establishment, visited New Zealand about the beginning of 1833, a n d had an interesting encounter with this chief. " Visiting the villages (near Waimate)," he wrote in a letter to the Secretary of the Church Missionary Society, dated March 13th, 1833, " I proceeded along some few miles of newlymade road, constructed by the neighbouring chiefs expressly to facilitate the visits of the missionaries to their villages. One of these chiefs, Temorenga, on being asked by Mr. Davis what he had to say to me about the Good Word, replied significantly, 'Aye, that's what I wish to talk to him about: tell him to look at my road !'the best proof he could give me of his anxiety for religious instruction. This chief spoke with much affection of the Rev. S. Marsden who was accompanied by him during his first tour in New Zealand in 1814, which appears to have made a considerable impression on his mind. " Captain Jacob left New Zealand for New South Wales in the schooner Fortune on February 16th, 1833. The Church Missionary Register, 1834, pp 59-63. |
MARSDEN VISITS Kerikeri
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A DISCUSSION WITH WAIMATE CHIEFS
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Tohitapu, Chief and Tohunga of the Roroa. From a sketch by Archdeacon Henry Williams. Tohitapu of the Roroa, who lived at the Haumi, at the Bay of Islands, is a prominent figure in the early journals of Archdeacon Henry Williams. Renowned among his people as a great chief and still more as a powerful tohunga, largely endowed with the power of makutu (bewitchment), he was regarded as one of the most ferocious of the warriors of his day and celebrated as the chief to whom, after the massacre in 1772 of the French Captain Marion Dufresne and his sailors, the body of the commander fell for the cannibal feast. The firmness and strength of character of Henry Williams ultimately conquered even the savage Tohitapu, and, acknowledging his defeat, he became a staunch friend. He died in 1830. H. Carleton, Life of Henry Williams, Vol. I, pp. 38-39. |
THE WAIMATE MISSION STATION MOOTED
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A MEETING OF THE MISSIONARY COMMITTEE
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PROPOSED ABANDONMENT OF RANGIHOUA
* The original station of Rangihoua, formed in 1814 with Ruatara's assistance. |
A VISIT TO AN OLD CHIEF
* Archdeacon Broughton succeeded Archdeacon Scott in 1829. In 1836 he became first Bishop of Australia and in 1838 visited New Zealand, which was within his Diocese : cf. H. T. Purchas, A History of the English Church in New Zealand, p. 67 and infra, p. 518. |
A MAORI CHRISTIAN MARRIAGE
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MAORI BELIEFS AND CUSTOMS
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THE Rangihoua SETTLEMENT
* The leaves used were those of the karamu (coprosma robustd). In mourning the leaves of the kawakawa {macropiper excelsum) were worn on the head. f The rite of baptism among the East Coast tribes as described by Elsdon Best [Journal Royal Anthropological Institute, JanuaryJune, 1914] is very different from the rite here described. The priest stands in water up to his waist and dips the baby up to its neck, invoking Takamaitu, personified form of thunder. |
THE WORK OF THE MISSION AT RANGIHOUA
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THE MAORIS AND EUROPEAN CRAFTS
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A BAPTISMAL SERVICE IN MAORI
* Mrs. Richard Davis died in 1837. Her death was the first to occur among the missionaries in New Zealand. H. T. Purchas, A History of the English Church in New Zealand, p. 89, and E. Stock, History of the Church Missionary Society, Vol. I, p. 357 The first death among the children of the missionaries was that of Thomas Holloway King, second son of John King, who died at Rangihoua on November 12th, 1818, aged three years and nine months, " of a consumption. "John King to the Secretary of the Church Missionary Society, December 1st, 1818 (Marsden Correspondence, Hocken Library). |
THE MAORIS AND RELIGIOUS TOLERATION
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THE IMMOLATION OF A MAORI WIDOW
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THE MAORIS AND CHRISTIANITY
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AN EXAMINATION IN RELIGIOUS KNOWLEDGE
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A MARRIAGE AT Kerikeri
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A NEW VEGETABLE
* A curious incident, in spite of the meagre information given by Marsden. The plant referred to may have been one of the many introduced by whalers which did not become established. |
THE PROGRESS OF THE NEW ZEALAND MISSION
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ARRANGEMENTS FOR THE WAIMATE SETTLEMENT
* At Waimate, thirteen years later, Bishop Selwyn established his headquarters. |
THE JOURNAL ENDS
On May 27th he embarked in the Prince of Wales and returned to New South Wales. * In forwarding his journal, upon his return home, to the Rev. E. Bickersteth of the Church Missionary Society, Marsden apologised for the somewhat abrupt conclusion and general terseness of this journal saying, " I have been greatly prest for time or I would have given you more extracts from my diary; my daughter made a few in a hurry. They will shew you from what daily occurred how their minds are impressed. I am sorry that I have not been able to send them in a more regular manner. "] * The Church Missionary Register, 1831, p. 55. |
APPENDIX TO THE SIXTH JOURNAL NEW ZEALAND AFFAIRS183037
Marsden's account in his sixth journal of the satisfactory and promising state of the New Zealand Mission in 1830 is borne out by the various reports submitted about this time by the agents of the Church Missionary Society. In particular all rejoiced at the fact that a beginning had been made with the work of publishing translations in the New Zealand language. The first translation of Scripture into Maori was published at Sydney in August, 1827, under the supervision of Mr. Richard Davis, 400 copies of a small book of thirtyone pages which contained the first three CHAPTERs of Genesis, the first CHAPTER of St. John's Gospel, seventeen verses of the twentieth CHAPTER of Exodus, thirty verses of the fifth CHAPTER of St. Matthew's Gospel, the Lord's Prayer, and seven selected hymns being printed at a cost of £41. * The second translated portion of the Scriptures was put through the press at Sydney in July, 1830, by the Rev. William Yate,f who spent six months in New South Wales for the purpose; 500 copies of a small volume of 117 pages were printed. The book comprised the first three CHAPTERs of Genesis, the first nine CHAPTERs of St. Matthew's Gospel, the first four of St. John's Gospel, the first six of the First Epistle to the Corinthians, the Ten Commandments, parts of the liturgy and catechism, and nineteen hymns 4 Upon his return to New Zealand in July, 1830, Yate took with him a small printing press. A youth of fifteen named James Smith, who had had some little experience in the office of the Sydney Gazette and was strongly recommended by Marsden, accompanied the missionary to the Bay of Islands. ξ Yate and his boy had some slight success with the press, and on September 1st, 1830, Yate wrote to the Society "Employed with James Smith in printing off a few hymns in the native language. We succeeded beyond our most sanguine expectations. . . . You will perceive by a copy of a hymn forwarded by this conveyance that we shall be able in a short time to manage it. " Yate's hopes of success, however, were not realized, and he and his boy printed merely a few slips containing some hymns and a small catechism in Maori. || * The Church Missionary Register, April, 1828, p. 214 ; H. Coleman, A Memoir of the Rev. Richard Davis (London, 1865), p. 96; H. W. Williams, A Bibliography of Printed Maori (Wellington, 1924), p. 2. The book itself bears neither date nor title page. The imprint is " G. Eagar, Printer, King Street, Sydney. " f The Rev. William Yate reached the Bay of Islands in 1828. $ The Church Missionary Register, January, 1831, pp. 678. H. W. Williams, Bibliography of Printed Maori (Wellington, 1924), p. 3. This volume of translations also has neither date nor title page. Imprint: " Sydney, Printed by R. Mansfield for the executors of R. Howe. " ξ The Church Missionary Register, 1831, pp. 678. II The only specimens of the work of Yate's press seem to be in the possession of the Church Missionary Society. Vide T. M. Hocken, Bibliography of New Zealand |
WILLIAM COLENSO'S PRINTING PRESS
At Sydney, in 1833, Yate supervised the publication of three works. The first a book of 170 pages contains translations into Maori of the first eight CHAPTERs of Genesis, the Gospels of St. Matthew and St. John, the Acts of the Apostles, the Epistle to the Romans, and the First Epistle to the Corinthians; the second, a book of 88 pages, comprises adaptations of various forms of service, with four catechisms and twentyseven hymns. These two publications consisted of 3,300 copies and cost £500. * The third volume whose publication was supervised by Yate was a small one of 55 pages containing four catechisms. In 1834 the Church Missionary Society decided to equip the New Zealand station with a printing press operated by a qualified man, and on 20th December of that year the Church Missionary press was landed at Paihia under the supervision of William Colenso. The first fruits of that press were translations of the Epistles to the Ephesians and to the Philippians, printed at Paihia in 1835. 7 Colenso, in his journal, gives a graphic account of the welcome given him by the Maoris, eager, as they were, to procure works printed in their own tongue. " When the Rev. W. Williams," he writes, " gave them to understand that I was a printer, and come out to print books for them, they were quite elated. No hero of olden time was ever received by his army with greater eclat: they appeared as if they would deify me. During the week I was busily employed with the natives in landing the goods ; and on Saturday, January 3rd, 1835, a memorable epoch in the annals of New Zealand, I succeeded in getting the printingpress landed. I was obliged to unpack it on board, but I am happy to say it is all safe on shore. Could you but have witnessed the natives when it was landed ! They danced, shouted, and capered about in the water, giving vent to the wildest effusions of joy; enquiring the use of this, and the place of that, with all that eagerness for which uncivilized nature is remarkable : certes they had never seen such a thing before. I trust soon to be enabled to get it to work. Throughout the Islands there appears to be a universal movement, a mighty stirring of the people. Literature, pp. 5001, and On Literature in New Zealand, Transactions N. Z. Institute, 1900, pp. 4789; R. H. Hill, Early Printing in New Zealand, Transactions N. Z. Institute, 1900, pp. 4101; H. W. Williams, A Bibliography of Printed Maori (Wellington, 1924), p. viii. Yate's printing press, curiously enough, ultimately reached Parramatta. Dr. Hocken makes the following remark on the subject in his article On Literature in New Zealand:" In a rare little pamphlet, written nearly sixty years ago at Parramatta,. entitled A Short Account of the Rev. Samuel Marsden, the last paragraph reads as follows: ' It is rather singular that this little work respecting Mr. Marsden should have been printed at that very press which that reverend gentleman introduced into New Zealand. The press (in consequence of the arrival of others better adapted for the Church Mission) was sold by the Society to Mr. Isaacs, who brought it with him to Parramatta. ' This Mr. Benjamin Isaacs was a printer, and, if I mistake not, printed and edited one of the earliest New Zealand newspapers--The Bay of Islands Advocate--which commenced publication in November, 1843, at Kororareka, and lived for about a year. " * William Yate, An Account of New Zealand (London, 1835), p. 231; The Church Missionary Register, 1833, p 471 ; H. Carleton, Life of Archdeacon Williams (Auckland, 1874), Vol. I, p. 138, and Appendix D, p. 10; H. W. Williams, A Bibliography of Printed Maori (Wellington, 1924), pp. iii and iv. f H. W. Williams, A Bibliography of Printed Maori (Wellington, 1924), p. viii. $ Dr. Woolls' pamphlet, printed at Parramatta in 1844. |
THE NEW ZEALAND MISSION IN 1830
The chiefs of distant tribes come down to Waimate and this place for books and missionaries. These seem to be the nil ultra of their ambition. I have seen them, myself, gladly bring their store of potatoes for a book. "* All were of one mind with regard to the benefits to be derived from the printing press. There was not the same unanimity, as has been seen, concerning the proposal regarding the abandonment of the Rangihoua station to which Marsden during his visit had devoted so much consideration. That station in 1830 was in charge of Messrs. John King and James Shepherd, who had under instruction seventeen men and boys and ten girls. At Kerikeri, on the west side of the Bay of Islands, some two hundred natives were now under regular instruction at the hands of Messrs. William Yate, James Kemp, George Clarke, James Hamlin, Charles Baker, and James Smith, the youth who had just arrived with Mr. Yate. The natives of the district, however, were in a very unsettled state owing to their intertribal warfare, with the result that, as the missionaries reported, not more than two hundred Maoris were encountered in a journey of forty miles. At the missionary settlement there resided some forty-four men and boys and twenty-two females. At Paihia, on the south side of the Bay of Islands, sixteen miles southeast of Kerikeri and the same distance across the Bay southward from Rangihoua, the missionaries were Messrs. Henry Williams, William Williams, Alfred Nesbit Brown, Richard Davis, W. Fairburn, and William Puckey. The special work of Mr. Brown, who had reached New Zealand in 1829, was the education of the missionaries' children. At Paihia seventyseven men and boys and twentyfive women and girls resided in the mission settlement. Altogether, in these three mission stations of the Church Missionary Society, four English clergymen were employed with ten laymen and thirteen females, while the four schools conducted by the missionaries contained 134 male and 65 female scholars. In December, 1829, when a general examination of all the scholars of the missionary settlement was conducted at Kerikeri, there assembled seventytwo Europeans of all ages, with 150 native men and boys, and 63 native females. The missionaries appointed to superintend the new station at Waimate, some nine miles inland from Kerikeri, for which Marsden had now made arrangements by securing for the Society some 250 acres of good land, well wooded and watered, were Messrs. Clarke, Davis, and Hamlin. f * MS. Letters and Journals (January 16th, 1835) of William Colenso (Hocken Library). Yate, upon his return from Sydney in 1830, had already given similar testimony to the eagerness of the Maoris to possess books written in the vernacular. " The natives," he stated, " are much pleased with the Maori books, and are very willing to purchase them : they will work a month for a book to call their own"The Church Missionary Register, 1831, pp. 678. t Charles Darwin, the celebrated naturalist, who accompanied Captain Robert FitzRoy of H. M. S. Beagle in his circumnavigation of 18316, visited New Zealand in 1835 and wrote the following account of the Mission Station at Waimate :"December 28th. I went to Waimate, the settlement lately formed by the Mission with the view of introducing agriculture and the mechanical arts among the natives. The thoroughly English appearance of three well-designed, respectable houses, surrounded by gardens, outhouses, and well-cultivated fields, was surprising and delightful. About twenty acres of land seemed to be worked. Corn was in full ear and looked |
THE ADVANCE OF CHRISTIANITY4
At Mangungu, the station of the Wesleyan Missionary Society, were stationed Messrs. W. White, John Hobbs, and James Stack, who ministered both to the crews of the English vessels who frequently visited the river and to the natives of the district. * New Zealand had become recognised as a place of great importance to New South Wales on account of both the whale fishery and the trade in flax, and the influence of the missionaries in preventing disturbances between the Maoris and European sailors was increasingly appreciated. f The missionaries themselves felt, as Marsden did, that their work was at last beginning to bear fruit. Thus Mr. George Clarke, in writing of the visit to New Zealand of Marsden and his daughter said : " That darkness, that almost impenetrable darkness, which for such a length of time hung over the New Zealand Mission seems to be giving way; and day, yea, the glorious Gospel day, is breaking upon the long benighted New Zealander. Some begin to say and feel that, though once spiritually blind, now they have light in the Lord; some are walking in and adorning their Christian profession. The Sabbath is more strictly regarded in our settlements than in any Christian country that I am acquainted with, and many are reading the word of God, not only for themselves but also for others. " The Rev. S. Marsden, with one of his daughters, having once more visited New Zealand and having spent between two and three months with us, will be able to give you much valuable information respecting the Mission and of our general proceedings. The good old gentleman's heart seemed to overflow with love and gratitude to God for what He had done; he said he could hardly have expected to see so much done in his day, knowing, as he did, the difficulties which were in the way of benefiting them in a spiritual point of view. While residing with us he often spoke of their present appearance and conduct, compared with what they were fifteen years ago; and often exclaimed, ' What hath God wrought, for His own name's sake, among the poor heathen !' "$ Mr. R. Davis, writing at the same time, bore similar testimony. " The work of Divine grace, at present, seems restricted to those natives only who are living with us in the different settlements," he said, " as I do not know an instance in which Faith has shown itself in a saving way, out of the settlement, save in the case of Christian Rangi. This well. I was received by a person whose intelligent, kind, and truly respectable demeanour at once excited a kindly feeling. This was Mr. Davis, the superintendent of the farming establishment. Mr. William Williams and Mr. Clarke were absent, having gone to the opposite side of the island to attend the funeral of a young missionary of the Wesleyan persuasion. In the garden all English vegetables seemed to thrive. The farmyard was thoroughly English. A large barn, built entirely by natives under Mr. Davis's directions, a blacksmith's shop and forge, English carts and farming implements, successively engaged attention. In the barn two natives were threshing corn; another native was attending to the winnowing machine. A mill and milldam, entirely the work of the natives, were next examined : they were good works of their kind, and would have been interesting independent of their locality. "The Voyage of the Beagle (1839), Vol. Ill, p. 507. * The Church Missionary Register, 1831, pp. 889. j Ibid. , p. 117; cf. A. J. Harrop, England and New Zealand (London, 1926), p. 9. % MS. Letters and Journals of George Clarke, Hocken Library; cf. The Church Missionary Register, 1831, p. 63. |
Mokomai. A PRESERVED HEAD.
This fine specimen, which is in excellent preservation, is from Dr. Hocken's collection. Marsden records that heads of friends and heads of enemies were preserved, the primary motive in each case being the same, namely, honour to the former owner. When the Maoris discovered that these preserved heads had a considerable market value they ceased to preserve those of their friends lest they should be sold, but produced a great supply of hostile heads which were bartered for muskets and powder. The process of preservation was as follows:First the head was cut off well down the neck so that the shrinkage of the skin of the face might be made good from the neck. Then the soft parts were removed from the neck and mouth and, by breaking the base of the skull, from the interior of the skull. The eyes were removed, the orbits cleaned and packed with flax fibre, and the eyelids usually sewn down. The nostrils were plugged and, in the case of friends, the lips sewn together. The head was then heated repeatedly and basted with fat. Finally it was smoked for a long period over a wood fire, the resulting pyroligneous acid making the skin proof against the attacks of insects. These heads are numerous in British, American, and Continental museums, Major-General Robley, in his Moko, enumerating upwards of eighty, a number which could probably be doubled at the present time. The number in New Zealand does not exceed ten. Perhaps the most interesting feature of the head is the moko or face tattoo. It was not made by puncture, as is most tattooing, but by cutting and then by inserting fine soot. The designs have no parallel in recent Polynesia, but what seem to be rather closely related forms appear among tribes on the Sepik River in north-eastern New Guinea. Drawings of the designs may be studied in Robley's book, in Augustus Hamilton's Maori Art, a work produced by the latter when he was Registrar of the University of Otago, and in the papers of H Ling Roth in The Journal of the Anthropological Institute from 1903 onward. |
50 |
THE NEED FOR ORDERED GOVERNMENT
evidently points out the utility of taking out the natives, in a certain way, from among their countrymen, and bringing them under the rules and regulations of Christian discipline. " It no doubt appears rather strange to many people in England that upwards of one hundred natives should be fed and clothed at the Society's expense in our settlement at Paihia; but let it be remembered that the present state of this country is a peculiar one, as those feuds and broils, to which the natives are so much exposed and to which they are naturally so much addicted when living at their native places, have a direct tendency to distract their minds and draw their attention from every other object. This seems to be Satan's very stronghold in this country, and let it be also remembered that these natives are our labourers both men and women. Some of the men are become very useful as mechanics ; some are carpenters ; some are brickmakers, etc. It is by these people we get our work done. I hope and trust that the day is not far distant when it will not be necessary thus to collect the natives together, because the bulk of the work at the missionary stations will be done after houses are built for the missionaries, and by that time, I trust, many of our young men will become so far established in grace as to return to their respective homes and there preach the Gospel to their benighted countrymennot only with their lips, but in their lives. But, at present, it appears to me as a thing of the greatest importance that a certain portion of natives should be selected together from among their countrymen in order that they may have an opportunity to wait on the Lord without distraction. "* Meanwhile Marsden's New Zealand experiences and observations had created the definite impression upon his mind that until British authority was definitely established in the islands the situation there must continue to be dangerous and unstable. Thus, upon his return to Parramatta in 1830, he wrote a memorandum to Governor Darling in which, after giving him some account of the scenes at the Bay of Islands which he had just witnessed, he said : " From what I have stated your Excellency will judge what might have taken place if the angry feelings of the natives, excited by the deaths of their friends and the violence offered to their women, had not been appeased. " Your Excellency is aware there is no legal authority--civil, military, or naval--to restrain the bad conduct of the masters and crews of those ships which put into the harbours of New Zealand, nor to notice their crimes, however great; and from the great quantity of arms, powder, and ammunition now in the possession of the natives, there is much reason to apprehend that they will at some period redress their own wrongs by force of arms if no remedy is provided to do them justice. " I am of opinion that it would not be advisable to form at New Zealand a military establishment, as the soldiers would be too much exposed to temptation from the native women : a small armed King's vessel, with proper authority, would be the most likely to prevent much mischief, as she might visit all the harbours into which the European * MS. Letters and Journals of Richard Davis, September 1st, 1830, Hocken Library. |
OUTRAGES BY EUROPEANS
vessels enter. The whaling vessels do not come into the Bay of Islands until the season on the coast is over. About March they put in for water and provisions ; when they have obtained their supplies, they either return home or go to the northward to fill up in the winter season. " I may further observe, from the constant communication between New South Wales and New Zealand, it will be impossible to prevent the convicts from making their escape to these islands, where they commit every crime until an opportunity offers for them to return to Europe or America, which is not difficult for them to meet with from the number of vessels which put into the different harbours. These runaway convicts would be easily apprehended by a King's vessel, whereas at present they go where they like and none can interfere with them. These evils will increase with the increased communications if no legal check is put to them. "* On April 18th, 1831, Marsden wrote to Mr. Dandeson Coates of the Church Missionary Society with reference to the same subject. " I lament to say that there are many Europeans now in New Zealand whose conduct is most scandalous. I had two interviews with Governor Darling last week on this subject, and have written to him today. Copies of my representation I purpose to forward to the Society, unless some effectual measures can be adopted here to restrain the infamous acts of the Europeans. " I have two chiefs with me nowone from the Bay of Islands, who is come at the request of the chiefs to seek redress ; the other was taken away by force from the Middle (South) Island. I have no doubt but Governor Darling will do all in his power to afford them protection. Whether the law as it now stands will enable the Governor to do them justice appears a matter of doubt.
* Cf. McNab, Historical Records of New Zealand, Vol. I, pp. 7078. |
THE TRADE IN PRESERVED HEADS
* McNab, Historical Records of New Zealand, Vol. I, pp. 7056. t The trade in preserved heads had begun at an early stage in the relations between the Maoris and their European visitors. Thus Duperrey tells of his being offered a tattooed head while the Coquille lay in the Bay of Islands in April, 1824, the price asked being a pound of gunpowder. The head was that of a chief from the shores of the Hauraki Gulf whom Hongi had shot in battlethe ball penetrating the skull. Duperrey adds : " Cette tete etait une des plus belles et des mieux tatouees que j'eusse vues dans mon voyage, mais les chiens avaient ronge un morceau de la joue gauche. " Either from feelings of delicacy or because he thought the grim relic too much damaged, Duperrey did not buy it. D'Urville, again, who visited the Bay of Islands in March, 1827, purchased from Whitoi, Pomare's successor, the head of the father of Te Hinaki, the famous Waitemata chief, who perished at the hands of Hongi. Whitoi himself, a month before his meeting with d'Urville, had slain the warrior whose head he now sold. D'Urville remarks: " Dans les orbites des yeux, et au lieu de la resine que les naturels employaient jadis, ils avaient coule de la cire rouge qu'ils etaient procuree par les Europeens, et dont ils font un grand cas, tant a cause de sa facile liquefaction, que de son poli, de sa belle couleur, et de son odeur. "Dumont d'Urville, Voyage de l'Astrolabe, Vol. II, p. 210. |
GOVERNOR DARLING'S PROCLAMATION
will immediately adopt some measures to check the conduct of the Europeans in future. "*
By His Excellency's command, ALEXANDER MCLEAY. "! * cf. McNab, Historical Records of New Zealand, Vol. I, pp, 7178. f The Sydney Herald of the same date (April 25th, 1831), commented in a leader upon this Proclamation, making it plain to its readers that New Zealand as yet could not be regarded, in any real sense, as either a colony or a dependency of the British Crown: " A vessel from New Zealand having brought up several baked or preserved human heads to the number, it is stated, of twelve; and several accounts of very serious disturbances having occurred, to which, it is said, the Europeans were not entire strangers, an Order has been issued forbidding the further importation of that |
MR. JAMES BUSBY, BRITISH RESIDENT
As a result of Marsden's representations, further, Darling, in despatches dated August 12th, 1830, and April 13th, 1831, recommended to Viscount Goderich that the British Government should take measures to protect the Maoris against outrages from lawless Europeans. The latter despatch made reference to the notorious case of Captain Stewart of the brig Elizabeth who had conveyed Ruaparaha and some of his warriors to the South Island and enticed their enemies on board his vessel, there to be murdered in cold blood. The charges were read by Goderich with " shame and indignation " and moved him to action. * In September, 1832, Marsden could write to Coates congratulating himself upon the fact that his representations had had a further effect, and that the Government had decided that Mr. James Busby should be British Resident in New Zealand. f Busby, who thus represented the groping and somewhat futile policy of the British Government in New Zealand, reached the Bay of Islands in H. M. S. Imogene on May 5th, 1833, landing on May 17th under a salute of seven guns, while the Maoris added their kaka of disgusting commodity : this order, though excellent in itself, falls short of the expectations of the public, though it must be admitted that the Government is limited in its power over crimes committed in New Zealand, as it is neither a colony nor a dependency of the Crown, but is considered, with very little propriety, as a sovereign and independent state. We may, therefore, regulate our own imports; but the law of nations, it is supposed, gives us no authority over their exports. " We highly applaud the spirit of this Order, and trust that the good sense and rectitude evinced, in general, by British merchants and mariners in uncivilized countries will give it effect; and that these savage people will be excited to industry by finding a market for flax, potatoes, pork, oil, skins, and timber, reared or prepared by themselves, rather than by indulging in such barbarous practices which every honest and virtuous mind must condemn and discourage. " * A. J. Harrop, England and New Zealand, pp. 11 and 12. t Mr. James Busby was born at Glasgow in 1801 and was educated at the High School, Edinburgh. Suffering from illhealth he visited the south of France in 1822. very carefully studying French methods of grape culture and winemaking. In 1823 he sailed for Sydney with his father, who had received an appointment in New South Wales as Mineral Surveyor, Busby himself becoming Collector of Internal Revenue. In 1825 he published The Culture of the Vine and the Art of Winemaking--the first book printed in Sydney--following up this work in 1830 by a further manual on the same subject which was also published in Sydney. Both books are extremely rare. In February, 1831, he returned to England, and spent some months in visiting the vineyards of Spain and France and adding to his already extensive knowledge of viticulture. He collected many thousands of the choicest vine cuttings, which he forwarded to New South Wales under the care of the British Government. His journal of his visit was also published. Brought thus into communication with the Government, he was offered and accepted the post of British Resident in New Zealand, and returned to Sydney in the latter part of 1832, thence sailing to New Zealand, where he acted with great ability as Resident until, in February, 1840, he was superseded by Governor Hobson, when he left New Zealand for Sydney, to return in a short time, however, as a permanent settler at the Bay of Islands. He brought with him the first hive of honey bees introduced into New Zealand. He continued to take considerable interest in the various questions with regard to land and general policy which were so hotly debated in the early days of the Colony, and on these topics published many able and interesting pamphlets which are now very rare. In 1870 he visited England for the purpose of an operation for cataract, which was successfully performed. Unfortunately an attack of acute bronchitis followed, and he died at Amerley, near London, in July, 1871, in the seventy-first year of his age. His wife died at the Bay of Islands in 1889. cf. T. M. Hocken, The Governors of New ZealandThe Otago Witness, December 17th, 1896. |
MR. BUSBY'S ARRIVAL
welcome, and fixed his residence at Waitangi, a short distance to the south of the missionary settlement at Paihia. * He was placed upon the Civil Establishment of New South Wales, being wholly under the direction of the Governor of that Colony. His appointment represented the action of the Government in response to such representations as those made to the authorities by Marsden with regard to the state of New Zealand affairs. It was hoped that the Resident would " repress acts of fraud and aggression practised by British subjects against the natives, and, by acquiring a beneficial influence over the various chiefs, protect the lives and properties of British subjects engaged in fair trade with the natives. "f * Archdeacon Williams thus describes the scene upon the arrival of Mr. Busby:" May 17th, 1833. Everyone on the move at break of day in order that all things might be in readiness to give our guests a welcome, due to so great an occasion as
"The Church Missionary Register, 1834, pp. 5523f Parliamentary Papers, Correspondence with the Secretary of State Relative to New Zealand (London, 1840), pp. 37. |
CAPTAIN LAPLACE AT THE BAY OF ISLANDS
Marsden's representations with regard to the unhappy situation prevailing in New Zealand had been supported not only by the New Zealand missionaries but by the Maoris among whom they laboured and who were naturally influenced by them. In 1831 considerable excitement had been raised by a rumour which was current among traders, both in New South Wales and in New Zealand, that the French contemplated the annexation of New Zealand. The report, apparently, arose out of the visit of the French discovery vessel la Favorite commanded by Captain Laplace who anchored in the Bay of Islands in October, 1831, for the purpose of giving some relief to his crew who were stricken with disease after an arduous voyage in tropical climates. He remained only a week, but found time to make an accurate survey of some parts of the Bay and of the Kawakawa River with the surrounding district. * Apart from his interest in the natural beauty of his surroundings, he seems to have found little pleasure in his visit. In the natives he could see nothing of that savage nobility of character and demeanour of which earlier French travellers had spoken, while
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THE PETITION OF THE NEW ZEALAND CHIEFS
The solution of the New Zealand situation which commended itself to the patriotic sentiments of the missionaries is apparent in the document which, under these circumstances, was now sent to the King of England by thirteen New Zealand chiefs who sought his protection. The letter was signed by the chiefs on the day after the Favorite anchored in the Bay of Islands, and was forwarded from Waimate to the authorities in London, with its translation, in H. M. S. Zebra by the Rev. William Yate on November 16th, 1831. The chiefs expressed their desires in the following terms :
* "WILLIAM YATE, " Secretary to the Church Missionary Society, New Zealand. conversion des indigenes, et de n'apporter aucun devouement a l'exercice de leurs saintes fonctions. " At the same time, Laplace observed in a further note that he wished to make it plain that his animadversions were directed only against certain particular individuals among the Protestant missionaries of New Zealand and the Pacific. In particular he desired to place on record his admiration of Marsden, whose work, in his opinion, placed him alongside Las Casas, the Spanish apostle of the South American Indians. He puts the matter thus :" Loin de moi l'intention de deprecier les travaux apostoliques des missionnaires protestants ; je me serais, au contraire, estime heureux si l'occasion s'en fut presentee, de vanter le devouement, la charite, la douceur que plusieurs d'entre eux ont deployes dans la conversion des barbares habitants de ces pays lointains. J'aurais cite principalement le reverend M. Marsden, chef des missions anglaises de la NouvelleHollande, qui, par son zele admirable a civiliser les aborigenes de la NouvelleGalles du Sud ainsi que de la NouvelleZelande, et a plaider leur cause aupres des gouverneurs de Sidney, a merite d'etre surnomme le las Casas de la Polynesie. "Laplace, Voyage autour du monde (Paris, 1833), Vol. IV, pp. 10, 34, and 150. * D'Urville makes the following somewhat caustic comment upon the petition thus signed by the New Zealand chiefs :" Cinq ou six mois avant notre passage a la baie des lies, le bruit ayant couru, on ne sait sur quelle autorite, que les Francais |
WILLIAM IV's REPLY TO NEW ZEALAND CHIEFS "(1) Warerahi, Chief of Paroa ; (2) Rewa (Rewha), Chief of Waimate; (3) Patuone and Nene, chiefs of Hokianga, two brothers; (4) Kekeao; chief of the Ahuahu ; (5) Titore, Chief of Kororarika (Kororareka); (6) Tamoranga (Te Morenga), Chief of Taiamai; (7) Ripe, Chief of Maperee; (8) Hara, Chief of Ohaiawai; (9) Atuahaere, Chief of Kaikohi (Kaikohe); (10) Moetara, Chief of Pakanai (Pakanae); (11) Matangi, Chief of Waima; (12) Taunui (Taonui), Chief of Hutakura (Utakura). " In reply the following letter was transmitted to the chiefs : " Lord Viscount Goderich, one of the Principal Secretaries of State to His Majesty the King of Great Britain, to the Chiefs of New Zealand. " Friends,
allaient prendre possession du territoire de la NouvelleZelande, treize chefs signerent alors une petition au roi d'Angleterre, pour qu'il les prit sous sa protection et qu'il empechat les hommes de la tribu de Marion de s'emparer de la contree. Parmi ces chefs, figuraient les noms deja cites de Temarangai, PatouOne, Rewa, Tetore, Matangui, WareRahi, etc. Les missionnaires eurent soin de me montrer une copie de cette piece ridicule. Je souris en la lisant, et je pense que le bruit qui y avait donne lieu n'etait probablement qu'un ruse de ces dignes serviteurs de Dieu pour determiner les chefs de la NouvelleZelande a reclamer officiellement la protection du roi d'Angleterre. C'etait la une momerie semblable a celle de Vancouver a Hawaii, a celle de Porter a NoukaHiva, a celle de Wallis a Taiti, mais qui aujourd'hui n'a aucune valeur et n'excite qu'un sentiment de pitie. "Dumont d'Urville, Voyage pittoresque autour du monde (Paris, 1834), Vol. II, p. 395. |
THE POSITION OF THE BRITISH RESIDENT
Busby's instructions from the Governor of New South Wales, Sir Richard Bourke, showed him clearly the difficulties which must attach to his peculiar position as British Resident in New Zealand. f " You are aware," he was informed, " that you cannot be clothed with any legal power or jurisdiction by virtue of which you might be enabled to arrest British subjects offending against British or Colonial law in New Zealand. It was proposed to supply this want of power, and to provide for the enforcement of the criminal law, as it exists among ourselves, and further to adapt it to the new and peculiar exigencies of the country to which you are going, by means of a Colonial Act of Council grafted on a Statute of the Imperial Parliament. Circumstances which I am not at present competent to explain, have prevented the enactment of the Statute in question. You can, therefore, rely but little on the force of law, and must lay the foundation of your measures upon the influence which you shall obtain over the native chiefs. Something, however, may be effected under the law as it stands at present. By the 9th Geo. IV, cap. 83, sec. 4, the Supreme Courts in New South Wales and Van Diemen's Land have power to enquire of, hear, and determine, all offences committed in New Zealand by the master and crew of any British ship or vessel, or by any British subject living there; and persons convicted of such offences may be punished as if the offence had been committed in England. The law having thus given the Court the power to hear and determine offences, it would seem to follow, as a necessary incident, that it has the power of bringing before it any person against whom any indictment should be found, or information filed for any offences within its jurisdiction. * Parliamentary Papers, Correspondence with the Secretary of State Relative to New Zealand (London, 1840), pp. 38. t William Barrett Marshall, a surgeon in H. M. S. Alligator which visited New Zealand in 1834, who, in 1841, lost his life in the Niger Expedition, wrote the following note with regard to the situation that faced Busby at this time :" The British Resident, to whom I was introduced at the mission house, returned with me to the ship. During the brief conversation I had with this functionary on the passage off and in the subsequent intercourse between us, he exhibited the feelings and principles as well as the manners of a gentleman. Nor was he at all backward in acknowledging how greatly he had been indebted to the missionaries' families, since his first arrival in the country, for hospitable kindness and active friendship. Under their roof he had found a home for many months, when he had no home of his own ; to their exertions the speedy completion of his present residence was chiefly owing; while almost exclusively in them had he been obliged to seek for society from the coldness and jealousy, not to say rudeness, with which he was received from the beginning by most of the resident traders. "W. B. Marshall, A Personal Narrative of Two Visits to New Zealand (London, 1836), p. 55. |
THE HARRIET MASSACRE
If, therefore, you should at any time have the means of sending to this Colony any one or more persons capable of lodging an information before the proper authority here, of an offence committed in New Zealand, you will, if you think the case of sufficient magnitude and importance, send a detailed report of the transaction to the Colonial Secretary by such persons, who will be required to depose to facts sufficient to support an information upon which a bench warrant may be obtained from the Supreme Court for the apprehension of the offender, and transmitted to you for execution. You will perceive at once that this process, which is at best but a prolix and inconvenient operation, and may incur some considerable expense, will be totally useless unless you should have some wellfounded expectation of securing the offender upon or after the arrival of the warrant, and of being able to effect his conveyance here for trial, and that you have provided the necessary evidence to ensure his conviction. " In addition he was to arrest absconding convicts, to strive to end internal wars, and to aid the cause of justice and morality whenever possible. * As was to be expected under the circumstances, Busby quickly found that with such limited powers he was entirely unable to deal with the New Zealand situation in an adequate fashion. An outstanding incident among the many which emphasised the need for some stronger form of government was
* Parliamentary Papers, Correspondence with the Secretary of State Relative to New Zealand (London, 1840), p. 6 ; cf. A. J. Harrop, England and New Zealand, pp. 13, 14. f W. H. J. Seffern, Chronicles of the Garden of New Zealand known as Taranaki (New Plymouth, 1896), pp. 1316 |
MARSDEN'S NOTES ON THE HARRIET MASSACRE
* Parliamentary Papers, Copies or Extracts of all Communications received by the Colonial Office Relative to an Expedition sent out from New South Wales to New Zealand in August or September last (Colonial Office, September, 1835). t Parliamentary Papers, Ibid. $ Guard, however, as has been seen, was merely a passenger on the Harriet. |
THE ENGAGEMENT AT THE WAIMATE PA
"W. Marshall, Personal Narrative of Two Visits to New Zealand (London, 1836), pp. 3448. t W. B. Marshall, Ibid. $ Ibid; W. H. J. Seffern, Chronicles of the Garden of New Zealand known as Taranaki (New Plymouth, 1896), pp. 2126; James Cowan, New Zealand Wars (Wellington, 1922), Vol. I, p. 431. |
THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE
This first encounter of British armed forces with Maori warriors if one accepts the few occasions when Captain Cook was compelled to order his men to fire upon the natives-ended with a proclamation by Captain Lambert of the Alligator, dated October nth, in which he announced the heavy punishment meted out to the natives of Taranaki for their " horrid murder of part of the crew of the Harriet" and pointed out to the other tribes that, in spite of the strong desire of the King of England to cultivate friendship with the New Zealanders, he must feel great indignation at a repetition of such cruelty and punish offenders with the utmost severity. * The whole incident brought little credit to the British forces engaged, and a committee of the British Parliament which investigated the matter expressed its strong disapprobation of the methods employed. ! It served, at least, to show the danger of allowing New Zealand to remain without an ordered government. An official paper of December, 1838, explains the sequence of events. t " It has happened," it states, " that the authority of the Resident has, from various causes, proved for the most part inoperative; at the same time the chiefs severally have evinced a strong disposition to place themselves under British protection. In the year 1835 a declaration was adopted and subscribed by the chiefs of the northern parts of New Zealand, in which declaration they set forth the independence of their country, and declared the union of their respective tribes into one State, under the designation of the Tribes of New Zealand. They also came to a resolution to send a copy of that declaration to His late Majesty, to thank him for his acknowledgment of their national flag ;ξ and to entreat that, in return for the friendship and protection which they had shown, and were still prepared to show, to such British subjects as had settled in their country or resorted to it for the purposes of trade, His Majesty would continue to be the parent of their infant State, and its protector from all attempts on its independence. " * Parliamentary Papers, Communications, etc. , Relative to the New Zealand Expedition of 1834 (Colonial Office, September, 1835). It is interesting to note that Mrs. Guard lived for many years after this event, in spite of her severe wounds. Captain Guard acted, till his death, as a pilot in Cook's Strait. They resided at Port Underwood. cf. W. H. J. Seffern, Chronicles of Taranaki (New Plymouth, 1896), p. 26. f Parliamentary Papers, 1835, No. 585. t Parliamentary Papers, Correspondence with the Secretary of State Relative to New Zealand (London, 1840), p. 3 ξ The New Zealand flag had been chosen shortly after Busby's arrival at the Bay of Islands. Writing to the Secretary of the Society, the Rev. W. Yate gave the following particulars concerning the ceremony of choosing the New Zealand Flag on March 20th, 1834:" We have had His Majesty's ship the Alligator in the Bay the last fortnight. The Captain brought down flags that the chiefs of New Zealand might choose a Standard for their country; which will be laid before the King of England, and orders given to honour it, in the same way as any other National Flag is honoured. Vessels built in New Zealand, carrying these colours, and having a register from the chief of the district where she was built, countersigned by Mr. Busby, will be no longer liable to seizure; but will be allowed to trade as other foreign vessels are in every British port. The ceremony of accepting the Flag was, for this place, imposing. When hoisted, it was received with a royal salute from the man-of-war, and with nine |
THE NEW ZEALAND FLAG
Busby himself set forth his considered opinion with regard to the political future of New Zealand in a communication to the Colonial Secretary of New South Wales dated June 16th, 1837. "What is wanted," he declared, " is a paramount authority supported by a force adequate to secure the efficiency of its measures. " Without the establishment of such an authority by some civilised state, I cannot, after a full consideration of every circumstance connected with the actual condition of this people, see the least prospect of any permanent peace being established amongst them whilst there remains a stronger man to murder his weaker neighbour. " There can be no doubt that the establishment of any authority whatever would be an incalculable advantage. But I cannot here avoid submitting, with all humility, a suggestion which has occurred to me, with no common force, in the course of my observations on the state of this country ; namely, that it seems not more consistent with the arrangements of Divine Providence that an infant people which, by its intercourse with a powerful state, is subject to all the injury and injustice which weakness and ignorance must suffer by being thrown into a competition of interests with knowledge and power, should as naturally fall under and be not less entitled to the protection of the powerful state than the weakness of infancy and childhood is entitled to the protection of those who were the instruments of bringing it into an existence which requires such protection. I may go further, and submit that this would seem the instinct of natural justice, as exemplified by the reference which the chiefs made to the King of England in their declaration of independence. * They prayed ' that His Majesty would continue to be cheers from the Europeans, one hundred and twenty in number, around the flagstaff. The natives made several very interesting speeches, and the whole passed off very pleasantly and peaceably. "The Church Missionary Register, 1834, p. 553 The following proclamation with regard to the New Zealand Flag appeared in the New South Wales Government Gazette of 1835, p. 580 : Colonial Secretary's Office, NEW ZEALAND. Sydney, August 17th, 1835. His Excellency the Governor is pleased to direct it to be notified, for general information, that a Despatch has recently been received from the Right Honourable the Secretary of State for the Colonies, conveying His Majesty's approbation of an arrangement made by this Government for complying with the wishes of the Chiefs of New Zealand to adopt a National Flag in their collective capacity, and also of the Register of Vessels, built in that country, granted by the Chiefs and certified by the British Resident, being considered as valid instruments, and respected as such in the intercourse which those vessels may hold with the British Possessions. The following is a description of the Flag which has been adopted : A red St. George's Cross on a white ground. In the first quarter, a red St. George's Cross on a blue ground pierced with four white stars. By His Excellency's command, ALEXANDER MCLEAY. * The " Declaration of the Independence of New Zealand " was signed by thirty-five chiefs or heads of tribes residing in the district lying between the North Cape and the latitude of the River Thames, the English witnesses to their signatures being the missionaries Henry Williams and George Clarke and two traders James C. Clendon and Gilbert Mair. fThe Declaration is in the following terms : 1. We, the hereditary Chiefs and Heads of the Tribes of the northern parts of New Zealand, being assembled at Waitangi, in the Bay of Islands, on this 28th day f Gilbert Mair, a native of Peterhead, Aberdeenshire, arrived in New Zealand in 1824 and became a prominent trader at the Bay of Islands. He died in 1857. |
THE INFLUENCE OF MARSDEN
their parent, and that he would become their protector. ' The sentiment and the language were their own. "* By 1837, therefore, it had become evident to those best able to express a judgement that all forces combined to compel the British Government to accept full responsibility for the government of New Zealand. The true value of the work of Samuel Marsden in founding the New Zealand Mission had thus become apparent. He had proved himself not only an apostle of Christianity but a pioneer of Empire, whose labours were ultimately to force his Government to make effective Cook's setting up of the British flag in New Zealand. Meanwhile he could say with truth that his influence and that of his agents had saved the Maori race from itself, and that the internecine warfare to which all the energies of the chiefs had formerly been directed was fast becoming but an unhappy memory. " The teaching of the missionaries now (by 1836) established in a great many places,"! writes Mr. S. Percy of October, 1835, declare the Independence of our Country, which is hereby constituted and declared to be an independent State, under the designation of the United Tribes of New Zealand. 2. All sovereign power and authority within the Territories of the United Tribes of New Zealand is hereby declared to reside entirely and exclusively in the hereditary Chiefs and Heads of Tribes in their collective capacity, who also declare that they will not permit any legislative authority separate from themselves in their collective capacity to exist, nor any function of government to be exercised within the said Territories, unless by persons appointed by them, and acting under the Authority of Laws regularly enacted by them in Congress assembled. 3. The hereditary Chiefs and Heads of Tribes agree to meet in Congress at Waitanga (Waitangi), in the autumn of each year, for the purpose of framing laws for the dispensation of justice, the preservation of peace and good order, and the regulation of trade ; and they cordially invite the Southern Tribes to lay aside their private animosities, and to consult the safety and welfare of our common Country by joining the Confederation of the United Tribes. 4. They also agree to send a copy of this Declaration to His Majesty the King of England, to thank him for his acknowledgment of their flag ; and in return for the friendship and protection they have shown and are prepared to show to such of his subjects as have settled in their country, or resorted to its shores for the purposes of trade, they entreat that he will continue to be the Parent of their Infant State, and that he will become its Protector from all attempts upon its Independence. Agreed to unanimously on this 28th day of October, 1835, in the presence of His Britannic Majesty's Resident. Parliamentary Papers, Report of House of Lords Committee of 1838, pp. 179, 2456. * Parliamentary Papers, Correspondence Relative to New Zealand (London, 1840), p. 18. t John Watkins, a ship's surgeon, who was in New Zealand during December, 1833, and the spring of 1834, was one of the witnesses before the Select Committee appointed in 1838 " to enquire into the present state of the Islands of New Zealand. " In his evidence he said much with regard to the influence of the missionaries with the Maoris.
Parliamentary Papers, Report on the Present State of the Islands of New Zealand, p. 15. |
THE SOUTHERN ADVANCE
Smith, " and the advent of a considerable number of white traders, all tended towards a cessation of the desolating wars that ever since the introduction of muskets had prevailed in all parts of the country. The fact that most tribes were, by the end of the fourth decade of the nineteenth century, provided with muskets, tended also to put an end to the wholesale butchery that formerly took place.
Meanwhile a new era in the history of the Mission and of New Zealand had been inaugurated by Henry Williams. Till 1833 the missionary settlers at the Bay of Islands, occupied with the work of their own stations which, they were instructed, must be, as far as possible, self-supporting, and living to the north of districts which were devastated by native wars, made little attempt at exploration and extension. Kendall and King were the first white men to visit the Hokianga ;f Henry Williams before his little Herald was wrecked in the Hokianga River in 1828 had already made four voyages to Tauranga and other places in the Bay of Plenty and had brought back with him to the Bay of Islands several sons of chiefs who had expressed a desire to be instructed in the Mission schools;:}: Marsden himself made notable contributions to geographical knowledge. Apart from these, however, the missionaries had been compelled, by their situation, to devote themselves to the tribes in the Bay of Islands district. The first memorable attempt to extend the work of the Mission towards the south was made in October, 1833, when Henry Williams, who, along with Thomas Chapman, had already in the beginning of the year journeyed by sea to Tauranga, spending some eight weeks in his mission of peace,ξ decided to lead a party south with a view to selecting a site for a new settlement. Accompanied by the Rev. A. N. Brown, Messrs. William Fairburn, and John Morgan, with some Maoris, he set out again on a boat journey on October 22nd, reaching the estuary of the Thames on the 25th. By October 31st the party had arrived at Mokoia where, some twelve years before, Te Hinaki's people had been overwhelmed by the muskets of Hongi Hika. " The land was now overgrown with fern and tupakihi bushes," writes Williams, "no signs of an inhabitant could be observed in any direction. "In contrast, however, they came to many well-peopled districts as they proceeded up the Thames, and were convinced that the field was one of promise. Their outward journey ended on November 15th at Matamata, 0 the pa of Waharoa, a superior chief and celebrated warrior, who welcomed them and anxiously pleaded for a resident missionary. Leaving him with the promise that his wishes would soon be gratified, the missionaries returned by the same route, reaching the Bay of Islands on * S. Percy Smith, Wars of Northern Against Southern New Zealand Tribes, p. 234. f Vide supra, p. 181. t H. Carleton, Life of Henry Williams, Vol. I, p. 53. ξ The Church Missionary Register, 1834, pp. 365375. Ibid, 1834, pp. 412423. 0 Map of Northern New Zealand, p. 520. |
THE NEW MISSION STATIONS
December 3rd. They had already decided that the first of the new stations should be established among the Ngatimaru at Puriri, near the mouth of the Thames, and when the Rev. William Williams with the Rev. W. Yate visited this place in the last days of the year, they found the natives already busily employed in the erection of houses for the accommodation of the promised missionaries which Williams described as " by far the best pieces of native workmanship he had yet seen. "* In 1834 William Fairburn, John Morgan, James Preece, and John A. Wilson settled at Puriri,f While the forward movement to the south had thus begun, there had been added to the existing stations at or near the Bay of Islands Tepuna, Kerikeri, Paihia, and Waimate--a fifth, Kaitaia, some forty miles to the north-west of Waimate, founded during 1833 by the Rev. Joseph Matthews and William G. Puckey. The population at their new station they estimated to be sufficiently large to place 1,600 fighting men in the field. t Meanwhile the southern extension movement continued. On February 26th, 1834, the Rev. A. N. Brown and James Hamlin proceeded from Waimate to explore the Waikato. From Kaipara Harbour an eight days' journey of more than seventy miles, over broken and trackless country where they travelled by compass, brought them to the Waikato River. By the end of March they were in the heart of the Waikato country among tribes who, they estimated, could muster 6,580 fighting men. Everywhere they were welcomed. ξ Brown and Hamlin returned to their friends at the Bay of Islands in the middle of May, 1834, with reports so encouraging that it was decided that the Rev. W. Williams with the Rev. A. N. Brown and John Morgan should now visit the same district and decide where the new missionary settlements were to be situated, and they, in a journey of over four months' duration, made all the necessary arrangements for the establishment of the Mission among a willing people. |These Waikato, and the Thames were alike eager to receive missionaries. By 1835 their desires had been, in a measure, gratified by the opening of frontier stations at Mangapouri, Matamata, Tauranga, and Ohinemutu, near Rotorua, Thomas Chapman being the catechist in this last most southerly outpost. 0 The Church Missionary Society, when Samuel Marsden, in 1837, next visited the island, had thus established itself throughout northern New Zealand from Kaitaia to Rotorua, while the Wesleyan station was still maintained at Mangungu on the Hokianga, where four missionaries W. White, John Whiteley, James Wallis, and W. Woon--were settled. 1 The years from 1835 to 1840 were marked by a rapid growth of missionary influence which, by 1840, had reached its highest point. 2 * The Church Missionary Register, 1834, pp. 5178. f Ibid. , 1836, p. 156. | Ibid. , 1835, pp. 379, 380 i vide infra, p. 523. ξ Ibid, 1835, pp. 5202. || Ibid. , pp. 5227. α Ibid, 1836, p. 157. 0 Ibid. , 1836, pp. 342, 487. * Vide infra, p. 545. |
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