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Life of Sir George Grey: Governor, High commissioner, and Premier. An Historical Biography.

The Missionaries

The Missionaries.

Besides the Maoris, Grey was to find in New Zealand a remarkable body of men who were playing a large part in the history of the Colony. They belonged to two religious denominations—the Anglicans and the Wesleyans, and their friendly rivalry presaged an equal share in its future civilisation. They had been principally instrumental in procuring the assent and the signatures of the chiefs to the treaty of Waitangi, and the first Governor had acknowledged his obligations to them in this connection. On many an occasion both Anglicans and Wesleyans had interposed between angry bands of Native combatants and made peace. They completed the pacification they had begun. Largely at their instance, the great hostile warriors—Kapiti and Heke in the north, Rauparaha and Rangihaeata in the south—turned their spears into pruning-hooks and died Christians. Such services were incommensurable and unrewardable, and they should have earned for the "transfigured band" both consideration and reverence.