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Contributions to the Early History of New Zealand

Chapter IV

page 17

Chapter IV.

The 'Disruption' of 1843—The Rev. Thomas Burns—Sketch of his Life—His Papers Destroyed—Scheme brought under notice of Free Church—Their Report upon it—Name of Dunedin given by Mr. William Chambers.

Successful, so far, Messrs. Rennie and Cargill now directed their energies and attention in a very different direction. They sought to gather fresh impulse and aid from that widespread movement which, having agitated religious Scotland for ten years past, was now drawing to its close. During this long period a fierce battle had been fought, with varying success, now signalised in history as the "Ten Years' Conflict." The questions were burning and many; amongst them it was asked whether the Church should not have free and entire jurisdiction over its own spiritual matters, or should, as of old, remain under the control and direction of the civil law. A large section of the people considered and demanded that the pulpits of their beloved kirk should be filled by ministers of their own choice and not by a patronage which was too often as indifferent to the nominee's fitness as to the prayer of the parishioner. The result of long litigation was that these sacred rights and liberties were disallowed. Like an Ajax in this long strife was the celebrated Dr. Chalmers; headed by him, marched out on the 18th of May, 1843, nearly one half of the Established Kirk of Scotland, and more than 400 of her ministers, who enrolled themselves as a Free Church.

Amongst the number who thus for conscience' sake resigned home and living was the Rev. Thomas Burns, at this time in his forty-eighth year. This gentleman, who now appears upon the scene of this history, and who was to take a chief, if not the chiefest, part in it, was born at the farmhouse of Mossgiel on the 10th of April, 1796, three months after the death of his uncle, the celebrated Scottish bard. He received his early education at Wallace Hall in Dumfriesshire, and then at the grammar school of Haddington. Destined for the Church, he proceeded to Edinburgh University. After leaving the University he page 18accepted the post of tutor in the family of Sir John Dalrymple in Berwickshire. By Sir John's brother, Sir Hugh, he was presented in 1825 to the living of Ballantrae, which he held for five years. He was then appointed to a living at Monkton in Ayr, worth £400 a year, which he held for a period of thirteen years—that is, until the time of the Disruption. It was due to his instrumentality that the present handsome parish church was erected in 1837. Singularly enough it bore for some time the uncomplimentary nickname of "Burns's Folly"; perhaps because its handsome proportions offended the Scotch fervour of the time. As this was one of the richest livings in the county it will be recognised how great was the sacrifice he made for principle. Thenceforth the history of his deeds is bound up with that of the Otago settlement, and will be unfolded with it. In the interval between the Disruption and his departure from Scotland he was engaged in the double duty of forwarding the scheme of the settlement and of organising the Free Church, chiefly in the new Presbytery of Ayr. For a short time before leaving his native land he took ministerial charge of the congregation at Portobello. He died at his residence in London Street, Dunedin, on the 23rd of January, 1871, in his seventy-fifth year. In 1830 he married Clementina, daughter of the Rev. James Francis Grant, Rector of Merston in Sussex, and a Canon of Chichester Cathedral. His grandson, Arthur Henry, is the present Baronet of Monymusk. Mrs. Burns survived her husband seven years, living to the age of seventy-four.

Like those of his friend and coadjutor, his children and grandchildren remain in the home which he assisted to found. A matter for unavailing regret is that immediately after his death his papers were destroyed by his son. By this calamity valuable information and important documents have been for ever lost. The Otago scheme owes much, indeed, to his tenacity of purpose, courage, foresight, and wise counsel. Perhaps from diffidence, or from a belief that his sacred function precluded him from playing a conspicuous part in the movement with which he was so closely identified, he ever withdrew into the background and avoided publicity. This was one of the features of his character. But none the less were his labours invaluable. As the sequel will show he laboured quietly but incessantly, and sought to sustain the arms of those who had cause enough and more to waver in the protracted fight.

It was then to this great religious movement that Mr. page 19Rennie and his friend now turned their watchful eyes. In it they saw elements that might greatly aid the resuscitated scheme. And so it proved; the hour and the men had come. Mr. Rennie repaired to Edinburgh without delay, whilst the embryo Free Church was busily engaged in the preliminary shaping of its future destinies. He there instructed the Rev. Dr. Candlish and Mr. Robert Cargill—a brother of Captain Cargill and a Writer to the Signet—to bring the business before the acting committee of the "Colonial Scheme of the Free Church of Scotland. "The result appeared in the following minute of that committee dated the 7th of June, 1843: "It was stated by Mr. Cargill that the New Zealand Company had come to the conclusion of providing permanently for the support of churches and schools in all their new settlements, and as they were about to form a Scottish colony in New Zealand they had set apart the sum of £25,000 for the sustentation of the ministry, the erection of places of worship, and the erection and endowment of schools in a settlement about to be formed in New Zealand, all in connection with the Free Church of Scotland, and that it was the desire of the Company that a minister and schoolmaster should be appointed in the meantime to accompany the first body of Scottish emigrants. The committee entered most cordially into the views of the Company, and assured Mr. Cargill that they would use their best endeavour immediately to secure a suitable minister and teacher for New Zealand, and would, according to his suggestion, consider the best method of carrying out the munificent intentions of the Company."

The outcome of this was that the Rev. Mr. Burns was formally offered the position of the first minister, which he accepted after fully communicating with the committee and Mr. Rennie. Failing his acceptance, it had been determined to apply to the Rev. Dr. M'Kay, of Dunoon—afterwards minister of the Gaelic church at Melbourne. But the fact was that for some months previously there had been an informal and tacit understanding between Captain Cargill and Mr. Burns, that, if the great movement were availed of, the latter should be proposed as minister.

A further extract from a Report presented to the second meeting of the Free General Assembly held at Glasgow in October, 1843, says: "It affords your committee high satisfaction to state that an application has been made to them for a minister and schoolmaster for the projected page 20colony of New Edinburgh. This colony is in some respects peculiar—a principal feature in the plan being that a certain part of the purchase-monies (£25,000) is to be set apart for ecclesiastical and educational purposes to parties holding the principles of the Presbyterian Church of Scotland. Your committee embrace this opportunity of expressing the high approbation with which they regard the plan of special colonies, by means of which they trust that the provision made for educational and religious purposes will be rendered fully available, and those unseemly contentions prevented which have too often divided the settlers in other colonies. Your committee would record their gratification that their countrymen, the Presbyterians of Scotland, have been selected as the class by whom the first experiment of the plan of a special colony is to be tried. They feel the deepest interest in this scheme and the most anxious desire for its prosperity; and, when they were applied to for the first minister to New Edinburgh, they conceived it to be their duty to seek out a man of well ascertained ability and worth. They consider themselves particularly happy in having secured the services of the Rev. Thomas Burns, late of Monkton, for this important sphere. They entertain the most confident persuasion that the emigrants will find in him an affectionate friend, a prudent counsellor, and a faithful and devoted pastor, and they cannot doubt that with the blessing of God on his labours, New Edinburgh will speedily present such a scene of comfort, prosperity, and peace, as will satisfy all of the wisdom which the Governors of the New Zealand Company have evinced in adopting the plan of special colonies. Your committee have further to state that the New Zealand Company, with that enlightened liberality for which they are distinguished, have agreed to grant £150 per annum for three years, for a minister at Nelson, the Colonial Committee guaranteeing a similar sum for the same period. Your committee trust they will soon be in a position to make an appointment in Nelson, where they are aware a Presbyterian minister will be hailed by their countrymen with feelings of the most cordial gratitude and joy"1

It will be observed that in this extract distinct reference is made to the promise of devoting a sum of £25,000 to Free Church purposes. Yet no such special agreement appeared in the prospectus issued — nor even in Mr. page 21Rennie's letter of the 23rd of May to the Directors. This serious difference was the fruitful source of much misgiving and soreness later on. But so far the gracious attitude of the Company towards the colonial committee had the desired effect. Every prospect was bright, and the hearts of those so recently dispirited and unsuccessful now beat high in the assured hope that a few months more would convert the project into a remarkable success. Captain Fitzroy, the newly-appointed Governor, was about to sail for New Zealand, and with him Mr. Rennie held most satisfactory interviews regarding colonization generally and the choice of land for the new settlement. With alacrity the Company commenced to discuss and arrange the terms of their new prospectus. The papers had paragraphs headed "Mr. Rennie's project," "The Scotch Colony," and "New Edinburgh," which was now known to be the name selected for the town.

There was some discussion in the papers regarding this clumsy name. It was found that already was there an unlucky New Edinburgh situated somewhere in the boggy Isthmus of Darien. Some thought New Reekie quite as good, if not a better name; others suggested Edina, Ossian, Mooretown, Bruce, Burns, Duncantown, Napiertown, Holyroodtown, Wallacetown; though it long continued to bear the name New Edinburgh, probably because grateful associations were likely to attract a desired class, yet it was christened Dunedin so early as October 30, 1843—a name which was not officially adopted until 1846. The naming arose in this way:—A prospectus fell into the hands of Mr. William Chambers, one of the editors of the well-known Journal. He thereupon wrote the following letter to the editor of the New Zealand Journal:

"Edinburgh, Oct. 30, 1843.

"Sir,—If not finally resolved upon, I should strongly recommend a reconsideration of the name New Edinburgh, and the adoption of another, infinitely superior and yet equally allied to old Edinburgh. I mean the assumption of the name Dunedin, which is the ancient Celtic appellation of Edinburgh, and is now occasionally applied in poetic compositions and otherwise to the northern metropolis. I would at all events hope that names of places with the prefix 'new' should be sparingly had recourse to. The 'news' in North America are an utter abomination, which it has been lately proposed to sweep out of the country. It will be a matter for regret if the New Zealand page 22Company help to carry the nuisance to the territories with which it is concerned.

"W. Chambers."

In the opening stanzas of the "Lay of the Last Minstrel" occur the lines:—

When the streets of high Dunedin
Saw the lance gleam and falchions redden,
And heard the slogan's deadly yell,
Then the chief of Branksome fell.

Mr.—Sir William—Chambers not only thus placed the citizens of Dunedin under everlasting obligations, but in 1882 he presented them with a full-length portrait of himself, which hangs in the Council Chambers near that of Mr. Rennie. On later occasions he showed a warm interest in matters connected with Otago.

1 Vide Scottish Guardian, October 27th, 1843.