Chapter XIII
wesleyan methodists and roman catholics

When Dr Lyth was on his way to Vavau, Friendly Islands, in H.M.S. Conway, he called at Samoa where there had been and still was trouble between the missionaries of the London Missionary Society and those serving under the Methodist Missionary Committee. The causes of the excitement were discussed in London, and it was agreed that the Methodist missionaries should be withdrawn from the Samoan group on the understanding that the Methodists should have exclusive control of mission work in Fiji. On the receipt of his first instructions to retire from Samoa and return to Tonga Mr Turner demurred and replied with an expostulation which was duly considered by the Committee in London. They reaffirmed their previous decision without any modification and gave two reasons: the London Missionary Society were the first to undertake work in the Samoan Islands, and the Methodist Committee dared not make themselves responsible for perpetuating such a state of things as had sprung up by the clashing of the Methodists and the London missionaries. It would, said John Beecham the secretary, be ruin to the cause of the missions in the estimation of the public of this country were the missionaries of the different societies to crowd into one group, and hinder each other when the whole world which is perishing through ignorance lies open before them. "The Committee is determined, therefore, that the agreement must, without hesitancy or delay, be carried fully into effect." Beecham page 205then proceeded to point out how highly John Williams had spoken of the Methodist missions in the South Seas, and he concluded with a sentence that does great credit to him and the Committee under whose authority he wrote: "Much as we love Methodism we are to remember that it is only one of the forms of true Christianity which the great Head of the Church has deigned to recognise and bless."¹

The Methodist missionaries withdrew from Samoa; but native Methodist teachers remained and the trouble continued. The seeds of sectarian strife had been sown, and Samoa reaped harvests of bitter contention for many a year. Under King George of Tonga, a capable ruler and an enthusiastic Methodist, another effort was made in 1844 to induce the London Committee to reverse their decision of 1838. But Beecham was not to be persuaded. In addition to the reasons submitted in his previous letter on the subject, he now informed his petitioners that the Society was deeply in debt, and unable to do justice to the Tongan and Fijian missions, without considering a reoccupation of Samoa. He was deeply distressed to learn of the painful state of things in Samoa; but the Committee were quite unable to accede to King George's wishes: "If King George sends native teachers to Samoa that is his affair as king. Do not you encourage him."²

That ended the matter so far as London was concerned; but not King George and afflicted Samoa. On 1 August 1846 a Tongan canoe from Samoa arrived at Lakemba, and informed Mr Calvert who was still there that the natives of Samoa did not wish to lose their Methodist teacher; and threatened that, if he did go away, they would return to Heathenism. This canoe was on its way to Tonga to solicit page 206the aid of King George in the matter. But Calvert thinks it would be unwise to send Methodists to Samoa: "Feeling is running high there," he said, "and the collision between the Societies would be fearful."

No man of ordinary common sense who has studied the history of religion in the South Pacific will doubt the wisdom of the policy adopted by John Beecham and his Committee in Samoa, considered either in its bearing on the dignity of the Christian religion, or what is even more important the welfare of the natives. The change from Heathenism to another form of religion caused disturbance enough in the souls of these simple-minded people; but when to that was added a bitter conflict between the Christian sects the effect on the native mind was most demoralizing; every instinct within him that made for mental stability and equipoise was rudely shaken, and he drifted toward a pitiable condition little if anything removed from anarchy of soul. Most of these missionaries in the South Seas were good men, intensely in earnest; but in some circumstances their zeal completely outran their discretion, and on occasions they could display a deplorable lack of common sense. They went out to the islands to save the souls of the natives, and in some places where the representatives of different religions crowded together, and settled down at each other's doors this anarchy of soul was the almost inevitable result! In those days there was no established government in the South-West Pacific Islands to impose a limit on the distractions caused by the rivalry of religious sects. In many places their quarrels led to acts of violence and in a few to war. On the little island of Rotumah, for instance, there was a pitched battle between the Wesleyans and the Roman Catholics as late as February 1871 in which six Roman Catholic natives including two chiefs were killed and many wounded.³ It was mainly to page break

Tomb of the Roman Catholic Rotumans Who
fell In battle in 1871

page 207prevent a recurrence of such disgraceful happenings that the British government was prevailed upon to take over the island and bring it under the administration of the Governor of Fiji.

It must not be forgotten that it was the intense earnestness of these missionaries, as well as the obstinate conviction that their own particular plan of salvation was the right one to save the souls of the natives from perdition that caused much of the trouble; but when all reservations are made they must be held morally responsible to some extent for these unseemly and tragic encounters. There were times in the history of their strivings when true Christian feeling gave place to sectarian recriminations of the most venomous character. The language used of each other by some of these contending missionaries might put an old political campaigner to the blush! I do not know whether John Beecham in the letter already quoted would have included Roman Catholicism among "the forms of true Christianity which the great Head of the Church has deigned to recognise and bless"—I have my doubts; but I am certain that the Methodist missionaries in Fiji did not; and that the Roman Catholic Fathers had the same contempt for the religion of the Methodists.

I would fain have passed lightly over the contest between the Methodists and the Roman Catholics in Fiji in this period had it not been for the publication, as recently as the year of our Lord 1926, of Monseigneur Joseph Blanc's book. After careful consideration, and with great reluctance to speak disparagingly of any book written on the subject on which I myself am writing I have, nevertheless, been forced to the conclusion that the book which Monseigneur Blanc has dared to place before the people of Europe is, in so far as it deals with the missionary work of this period, nothing better than a piece of malicious propaganda. page 208Everything done by the Roman Catholic priests in Fiji from the time of their arrival at Lakemba in 1844 up to 1856 is made the subject of high commendation and often of fulsome adulation; everything that the Methodists did is either ignored, or denounced in the language of bitter invective and scorn. Some of the charges made against the Methodists directly and indirectly are grave and even revolting. After ten years of rivalry in the Lau group the Roman Catholics abandoned the only station they had there. Their followers had never exceeded one hundred and for the greater part of the time were not more than twenty. The Methodists on the other hand were in a very flourishing condition as the table of returns printed in page 157 will show. To explain this Monseigneur Blanc has one argument and one only: Maafu came from Tonga at the head of a troop of brigands, and forced Methodism on the natives by the use of the club and the gun! No reference to the work of Cross, Cargill, Calvert, Williams, Lyth, Malvern and Watsford in that circuit; nothing said of the effect of the training of teachers, the translation of the Bible, the instruction in the schools, the successful use of British medicine. Merely accusations of slaughter and threats of slaughter. Maafu and Wetasau did try on one occasion to force Methodism on the natives of Matuku by making war on them; but when Dr Lyth found it out he had both of them expelled from the Society of the Church. And yet Monseigneur Blanc, under cover of another quotation from Father Deniau says that the Wesleyan missionaries, while not approving of all the crimes Maafu everywhere committed in the group, rejoiced at the great good that had resulted thereby for the whole of the Fijian people.⁴ He page 209accuses William Moore of Rewa, whose house had been burnt down, of calling upon the inhabitants to embrace his religion or he would summon British ships of war to put them to death!⁵ By such mendacious utterances does this Vicar Apostolic seek to defame the old Wesleyan missionaries and promote the interests of the Roman Catholic Church in Fiji! He is very ill-advised.

Monseigneur Blanc's book purports to be a history of religion in Fiji; that indeed is its title; but the treatment of the subject is utterly misleading. Any reader who has little or no knowledge of the facts would get the impression that the Roman Catholic missionaries had contributed more to the progress of Christianity in this early period than the Wesleyan Methodists. The facts are that in 1855 the Roman Catholics had one centre only in Fiji—at Levuka; and that they had been obliged to withdraw through failure from Lakemba, Taviuni and Rewa. The Methodist mission in that same year was prospering in nearly every part of the archipelago, and Thakombau the King of Fiji was a Methodist Christian who, however, wished to afford facilities for the progress of Roman Catholicism too. No mention is made in Monseigneur Blanc's book of David Cargill, William Cross (so far as his work in Fiji is concerned), John Hunt or David page 210Hazlewood. There are occasional references to Lyth, Calvert, Williams, Watsford, Malvern and Moore, but only by way of derision or vilification. No reference is made to the training of native agents or to Hazlewood's Grammar and Dictionary, and the contemptuous denunciation of the Fijian Bible has already been quoted. No attention is paid to the expansion of the Methodist missions: the labours and dangers involved, and the heroism displayed by the Methodists in fighting their way through them. Not a word in praise of any of the Methodist missionaries or their work; and as for their religion that is dismissed as a mere enterprise and not a religion at all!

It is almost beneath the dignity of historical criticism to take any notice of such a publication; but the author has occupied an important position in Middle Oceania, and because of that it is possible, and even probable, that readers who are not acquainted with the history of Fiji may take the misleading and venomous trash which he has written about Methodism and the Methodist missionaries in Fiji seriously. In the interests of truth and fair play it is necessary to present a statement of the main facts based upon a study of the most reliable documents. In doing so I may say that I belong to no church or sect, and hold no brief for any of them.

When the Roman Catholics came to Fiji in 1844 and settled down near Tumbou on the island of Lakemba the Methodist missionaries had already been at work there and in the Windward Islands for nine years, and from six to seven years in the Leeward Islands. The initial dangers had been overcome, the tracks blazed, the foundations of mission work laid, and the reputation of the missionary as a man of character bent on service established. These are important facts that should not be overlooked. Another is that when the Roman Catholics came to Fiji they did not page 211proceed to islands and districts where there were no missionaries; they generally settled down or tried to settle down, both in the Windward and later on in the Leeward Islands, quite close to the Methodist missionaries; and at Lakemba—their first settlement in Fiji—almost at their very doors. In view of this one fundamental fact the Director of the Roman Catholic missions in Fiji at the time, Monseigneur Bataillon of Wallis Island, cannot escape a heavy responsibility for the feuds that followed.

But neither can John Waterhouse, the visiting superintendent of the Methodist mission in Tonga and Fiji, for a false step which he recommended to the Methodist missionaries on his visit to the archipelago in 1841.

In the early part of 1840 some natives of Uea or Wallis Island, the headquarters of the Roman Catholic mission in those seas, drifted out of their course to the island of Thikombia-i-ra, from which they passed on to Somosomo. They were mostly Roman Catholics, and Lyth and Hunt who were in Somosomo at the time proceeded to enlighten them in the "true faith." They succeeded: about eighty or ninety of the Ueans embraced Methodism. In the beginning of 1842 they expressed a desire to return home, and in April set sail; but not without a Protestant instructor. John Water-house had expressed a wish that Jone Mahe, one of the most effective native preachers in Fiji, should be instructed in the "worst errors of Popery" and sent back with them. John Hunt undertook to prime him, and furnish him with antipapal literature. He was sorry that he had not a copy of Dr Hancock's lectures on Popery; but he translated that part of the Protestant Memorial for Jone "which shows that Popery is contrary to the Bible." "How Jone will succeed," he goes on to say, "I do not know. I advised him not to show any desire to enter into disputes, but to teach the truth to the people; to prove what he taught from Scripture, and to con-page 212firm it by a holy life; and especially to teach the great doctrine of Justification by Faith. If he can show that Popery as such is quite contrary to the word of God he need not be afraid of the Pope himself."⁶ This he feels sure is the right way for Jone to get to work in Wallis Island. One additional remark must not be passed over. He says: "The Wallis Islanders, so far as we have seen, appear to be a very fine people. They are not so haughty as the Tongans, and seem to have a much more genuine affection for one another." A somewhat dangerous admission for this saintly Methodist to make. The Ueans may have been by nature more humble and affectionate than the Tongans; but training helps, and the Ueans whom he saw had been trained by Roman Catholic priests; the Tongans by Methodists.

In a letter written on 15 April 1842 James Calvert told the Committee in London that Jone Mahe had arrived at Lakemba on his way to Uea, and that he had never heard a native preach so well. "May the Lord be with him, and assist him in his great work of attacking Popery in Uea."

It is clear then that Jone Mahe was sent to Uea not only to minister to the little flock of Protestants from Somosomo; but to make an attack on the Roman Catholic religion established there. There is no room for doubt on this point. In his report already referred to John Hunt says: "It is a pity the Pope should have the island." John Hunt may or may not have forgotten all about this when, in his letter of 6 November 1846 he asked complainingly: "Why don't the Roman Catholics go to places where there are no teachers?" He may or may not have known what Beecham wrote to the chairman of the Friendly Island District in 1838; but if he did know of it, he certainly would not have believed that Roman Catholicism was "one of the forms of true Chris-page 213tianity which the great Head of the Church had deigned to recognise and bless."

But whether Methodists had gone to Uea or not it is clear that the Roman Catholics never had any intention of keeping out of Fiji simply because the Methodists were established there. The Methodist missionaries were well aware of that: "I doubt not but that Popery will soon make successful attempts to enter these islands" said James Calvert in April 1842. In that same year Monseigneur Pompallier tried to establish a Roman Catholic centre at Lakemba; but receiving no encouragement from the chiefs, he went to Tonga taking Father Chevron with him, but leaving behind on Lakemba a native catechist named Mosese.⁷ The next attempt was made in 1844 by Monseigneur Bataillon who was then in charge of Wallis Island. He brought with him Father Bréhéret, Father Roulleaux, Brother Annet and two native converts from Wallis Island called Pako and Apolonio. Once again they were repelled, and betook themselves to the little island of Namuka which Mosese had visited. Monseigneur Bataillon left his little company there in August with permission to remove if the inhabitants should prove hostile. They did, and the priests decided to go away to Taviuni; but on their way they called at Lakemba to see Mosese. While on shore the chief who had promised to take them on to Taviuni was called away on other business, and in his absence Tuinayau the king seeing the misery to which the priests were reduced, relented, invited them to his house and soon discovered that they could make themselves very agreeable and entertaining companions. He even offered them a piece of ground on which they might build a home. They accepted gladly and gratefully, and settled down in the neighbourhood much to the annoyance and alarm of the Methodist missionaries. page 214The fat was in the fire! The flames of sectarian rancour soon burst forth, nor did they die down till the Lakemba station was abandoned by the Roman Catholics in 1855. The heat of passion reached its greatest intensity on the day when Lyth and the king's son met in the little Methodist chapel near Tumbou. Lyth took the opportunity of reproving Puamau for joining the Roman Catholic party. Puamau flew into a rage, and walked up to the pulpit swinging his club in brave fashion. Lyth followed and tried to remove him. The youth still further enraged raised his club aloft, and then swung it round as if to bring it down crashing on Lyth's head. Whether he altered his mind or Lyth warded off the blow is not clear; but the Doctor got a blow on the hand that blackened it. He believed that he had only escaped being murdered by the interposition of Providence.

There is no record of any of the Methodist converts having treated the priests so, or using any violence toward them; but there is no doubt whatever that the Methodist missionaries persisted in denouncing Roman Catholicism, and thought it their duty to do so. It might have been expected that Lyth would display a little more caution in attacking the religion of other people after his narrow escape from the rage of Tuithakau of Somosomo; but the impression had worn off. Though essentially a gentle-hearted man, and generally most kindly in his dealings with others, he could be lashed into a state of mild frenzy by merely contemplating the doctrines and worship of Roman Catholicism. The religious rivalry at Lakemba brought out the worst that was in him, and it is clear from his Journal that he had, before the encounter with Puamau, come to the conclusion that it would be better for the natives to remain in their heathen state than to embrace the Roman Catholic faith. It was not long before the Fathers retaliated in kind and in full measure not only by words, but also by pictorial displays in page 215which Protestantism was represented as the dead branch of a tree hanging over the mouth of Hell, and doomed in the natural course of things rotten to fall into the abyss.

It is not my intention to follow the rivals in their recriminations. Vituperation was used by both parties. The priests were quite as sensitive to attack on their religion as were the Methodist missionaries. They were not less resourceful in language, and they used their powers with as little restraint. It is idle for Monseigneur Blanc to pretend that the suffering was all on their side, and the persecution on the other. The evidence admits of no such interpretation, and some of it is derived from sources quite independent of the records of either party.

The most sensible, broadminded and responsible men who visited the islands of the Pacific in those days were the commanders of war-ships. They had wide experience of mission work, and they were the servants of a government that insisted on toleration for all religions whose representatives were devoting themselves to the civilization and christianization of the natives. One of the most capable of these commanders was Sir J. Everard Home who was asked by one of the Roman Catholic priests, Father Mathew of Rewa, to intervene in a dispute between him and the Methodists. There can be no possible injustice then in quoting verbatim two letters written by Sir Everard in reply to Father Mathew's appeal:

H B.M.S. Calliope, Rewa, 9 October 1852 Rev Sir,

I have had the honour of receiving a letter from you written in the French language which I am sorry to say I do not understand It has been translated to me by an officer of the ship, and, according to his translation, it complains that reports have been circulated by the Methodists and their teachers against the characters of the Roman Catholic missionaries, and that they (The Wesleyans) have excited the natives to treat them ill and to refuse their landing That in consequence of the Consul of the United States of America having offered to the priests of your Church the use of his house, the natives pulled page 216down the American flag, and that certain pictures which were seen representing the horrors of the Inquisition tended to have an injurious effect upon the minds of the natives, by making them believe that you were capable of putting the same enormities, which they display, into force; that the garments worn by the clergymen of the Church of Rome are made objects of ridicule by the native inhabitants, and asking my assistance under these difficulties.

In reply I must beg to say that the Wesleyan Missionary Society is a body of the highest respectability, and the work which their missionaries have to do, and the manner in which they have done it, does them the greatest honour as individual Christians, and is one of the greatest glories of the nation to which they belong. I have myself seen much of the effect of their labours, and I write in full conviction of the truth of what I say. I am perfectly convinced that the Fijians have never been taught to treat any person ill; but that it is the duty of all teachers of religion to explain fully the doctrines they have toinculcate.

The Wesleyan Methodists never taught the natives to refuse a landing to the missionaries of any other religion; it is more than they would dare to do; but they teach the natives to read and to think, after which they put the Scriptures, fully⁸ translated, into their hands, and explain it to them; and they judge for themselves which to receive or to refuse: their own reason is the guide, and I cannot attempt to control their choice.

With respect to the flag of the United States of America having been hauled down by any person I can have little to say. The Consul or Mercantile Agent for that country I have lately seen, and he has not mentioned the circumstance to me; nor do I, in the least believe that it was done under any influence of what may have been taught by the Wesleyan Methodist missionaries—the last men who would have urged such conduct, and the first who would have taken measures toprevent it or represent it. It is, therefore, for the Government of the United States of America to inquire into this matter should it be considered necessary to do so. Respecting the pictures representing the horrors of the Inquisition, now most happily abolished because the minds of civilized men could no longer bear the existence of such abominations, I can have nothing to say further than that they, as in duty bound, did show the extent to which the corruptions of the Christian religion, when turned from its straight and simple course, could go, as all history can testify; and myself with several officers—of this ship saw exposed in the houses of the Priests at Tongataboo pictures representing a tree, from the branches of which all who did not adhere to the Papist church were represented as falling into hell-fire, a most false doctrine to teach, and dreadful accordingly to the teachers of it.

With respect to the garments worn by the Clergy, which are complained of as being treated as absurd, it is impossible to control men's page 217minds as to what is absurd or what is serious; the natives of all countries, civilized or barbarian, will form their own opinions on such matters.

In conclusion you wish me to assist you in these difficulties.

From the missionaries of the Protestant religion, you have received no obstruction: both religions—the Protestant and the Roman Catholic have got their own light to show, and must take their own mode of showing it, according to the doctrine of the churches they abide by. I can by no means interfere in the matter; the road is open for the exertions of all well-intentioned men clerical or secular. The Church of England has its missionaries; but they do not interfere with those sent out by the Society of the Wesleyans (differing only from the Mother Church in discipline, not in doctrine) that they may not produce confusion or uncertainty and doubt in the minds of those they go to teach. The world is large enough, and it would tend far more to the progress of the Christian religion if the ministers of the Church of Rome, which differs from all other churches both in doctrine and discipline, would confine their labours to the natives of those places which have not yet been open to Christianity.

I have the honour to be, Reverend Sir,

Your most obedient servant J. EVerard Home Captain of H.B.M.S. Calliope

To the Reverend — Mathew Roman Catholic Missionary Rewa

There is only one statement in this letter on which I feel disposed to comment. I have always believed that, when the Roman Catholics tried to effect a landing at Vewa James Calvert, who was stationed there at the time, did exert influence indirectly on the natives who pushed their boat away. I have no documentary evidence to prove it. But knowing James Calvert's attitude to Roman Catholicism, and remembering that he was at Lakemba in 1844 when the priests came there, and had seen the deplorable results of having a rival mission close to his door, I cannot but feel that James Calvert did try to prevent a recurrence of such experiences by using his influence over the natives to induce them to prevent the Roman Catholics landing on Vewa. And if he did who shall blame him? Vewa is a very small island; the Methodists had been established there for more than twelve years. Were they to have a repetition of the page 218same troubles at Vewa as had arisen at Lakemba—the sundering of native families into two contending religious parties; unending quarrels between priests and Methodist missionaries; petty persecutions leading to disgraceful encounters? The last paragraph of Sir Everard's letter does great credit to his insight, humanity and good sense.

Father Mathew wrote another letter to Sir Everard on 14 October and got this reply:

H.B.M.S. Calliope, Levuka, Ovalau 28 October 1852

Rev. Sir,

I beg to acknowledge the receipt of a letter which you have done me the honour of writing to me, dated at Rewa upon the 14th inst., which has been translated to me by one of the officers of Her Majesty's Ship under my command.

By the contents I understand that a native Methodist teacher, sent from Vewa, was landed at Rewa, and that he has been received there, under the impression of fear inspired by the presence of Her Majesty's ship Calliope; and that it appears to the natives that he has been placed there by my authority; that you arrived at Rewa in the month of January last, and remained there upon the invitation of the Chief of that place, who you inform me gave you the assurance that he had no wish to have more to do with the Methodist teachers who had abandoned them in their wars; and you express a desire that you may be able to work in peace in the propagation of that faith which you profess; and you entertain a fear that the native teacher in question may have it in his power to injure you by his calumnies; and that you believe in fact that is his only object in settling down in Rewa. You also ask me if, in my opinion the native teacher is more fit than you are to carry forward at Rewa civilization and religion; where in Fiji you could establish yourself to avoid the persecution of the Methodists; but on the other hand if I think you are of any use to the people of Rewa, you request me to cause this native teacher to be removed, or, at least, that I may make it known to the chief that he can send him away at his pleasure, without offending the British Government.

In reply, I can only state that I have not ever seen, or ever heard of, the native teacher you complain of, and in matters of this nature I have nothing to do. My duty extends no further than the support and protection of British subjects settled in these Islands, for the advancement of religion and commerce. The Wesleyan Methodists have nothing whatever to do with wars, except to use their best endeavours to prevent them, and when that is impossible they retire until they are over, when they return to their former duties. The chiefs will know that they have the power to receive or exclude any foreigners who may desire to settle among them, and I have at present one on board the Calliope, received on board at the request of the Chief of page 219Levuka. I can have no idea that you have any reason to fear the calumnies of the native teacher. The time of these people is, I believe, entirely taken up by their care of the Protestant natives under their instruction; nor did I ever before hear that there was the slightest reason to fear the persecution of a Wesleyan Methodist.

With respect to the questions you have asked me, as to whether in my opinion, yourself or the native teacher is best fitted to forward civilization and religion; and should the preference be given to the native teacher, where in Fiji you could establish yourself, I must decline giving any opinion upon such subjects, nor can I in any way interfere with the Chief of Rewa to cause removal of any Protestant teacher whatever.

I have the honour to be, etc.

J. EVerard Home, Captain.

In order to appreciate the conditions under which this request was made by Father Mathew the following simple facts about the previous history of mission work at Rewa may be stated. Firstly in reference to the Methodists: William Cross arrived at Rewa in January 1838; John Hunt joined him at the beginning of 1839 and remained with him for six months. In July 1839 Cargill and Jaggar took charge of Rewa and Cross went to Vewa. Cargill left for England after his wife's death in 1840 and Jaggar was there alone until nearly a year after war broke out between Mbau and Rewa, when in obedience to the will of the District Meeting he left for Vewa taking the printing-press and mission property with him. It was clearly understood that the mission was not abandoned, and two teachers were left there to carry on. As the war progressed the teachers narrowly escaped being murdered, and work at Rewa was suspended till the end of the war. But Father Mathew went there in January 1852 while the war was still raging, and tried to found a mission. The Methodists hearing of this sent one of their native teachers to look after their interests till a missionary could be appointed. This was the teacher referred to in Sir Everard's letter.

Secondly in reference to the Roman Catholics: No Roman Catholic missionary had come to the Leeward page 220Islands till the year 1851, 13½ years after the arrival of Cross at Rewa. In that year, finding that the mission at Lakemba was declining Monseigneur Bataillon who had just brought three additional Fathers and three Brothers with him decided to establish missions in the Western group. Two priests were left on Taviuni; Father Mathew was taken on to Mbau where he tried to get a footing; but having failed he proceeded to Vewa. He was not allowed to land there, and in January 1852 he went on to Rewa. He was at work there when, in October of the same year, Sir Everard arrived in the Calliope and received the first of his two letters.

In view of these facts the request made by Father Mathew for the removal of the Methodist teacher was extraordinary; and the replies written by Sir Everard suggest very clearly that complaints about the persecuting spirit of the Methodists in the early days will not bear examination. I do not believe they will. There were high words and bitter on both sides; but the evidence goes to show that the native followers of the Roman Catholics were more disposed to actual violence than the followers of the Methodists; though I do not hold the priests responsible for that, and I think the Methodist missionaries were mistaken in suspecting, as they sometimes did at Lakemba, that Fathers Bréhéret and Roulleaux secretly incited their converts to acts of violence.

It is hardly possible to follow the history of their patient and disappointing work in these early days without feeling genuine sympathy for the Roman Catholic priests, and especially Fathers Bréhéret and Roulleaux. The loyalty which they maintained toward their church and the tenacity of purpose which they displayed in holding on to their post at Lakemba in the face of poverty and declining influence are worthy of respect and admiration. The spirit of service dominated page 221them: they went to the mission field not for a term of years, but for life. They tried hard to understand the minds of the people whom they went to serve, and they were content to live in the same huts and on no better fare than the Fijians themselves had. The main responsibility for the bitter contentions of these early days does not lie with them, but with their superior officers who adopted the policy, or rather impolicy, of settling them down side by side with missionaries of a different religion who had been at work many years before they came. It was inevitable that they should be at a serious disadvantage. They struggled on bravely and patiently against heavy odds up to 1855 and—failed.

I use the word failure not from any desire to belittle the work of the priests; but simply because it is forced upon me by a study of the facts. For three or four years after their settlement in Lakemba in 1844 under the protection of Tuinayau they made some progress. Two of the king's sons joined them, and some of the chiefs were favourably disposed toward them; but the great majority of those who turned from Heathenism preferred Methodism; and other members of the king's household, more particularly the king's sister and his daughter Tangithi, were working in the interests of the Wesleyans. Even at the height of their success in Lakemba the Roman Catholics did not exceed one hundred. In 1848 their fortunes began to decline; and after Tuinayau's public profession of Methodism in 1849 their cause was doomed. Their numbers dwindled till they had not a dozen left, and in 1855 Monseigneur Bataillon decided that there was no longer any justification for carrying on the work at Lakemba, and the station was abandoned.

Four years before this Monseigneur Bataillon had come to Fiji with three additional Fathers and three Brothers to occupy stations in the Leeward Islands. Two priests were page 222left in Taviuni, and efforts were made to establish a centre at Mbau, and Vewa; but they failed and Father Mathew went to Rewa. Here he struggled on till the year 1855 when the success of King George of Tonga and Thakombau at Kamba shattered his hopes of establishing a permanent centre there. He withdrew leaving his rival William Moore in complete control of the district. The mission at Taviuni had lasted only one year, and Father Bréhéret retired to Levuka which was the only Roman Catholic mission station left in Fiji in 1855. In that year Monseigneur Bataillon left Fathers Bréhéret, Michel and Favier (who had come from Rotumah) and Brother Sorlin at Levuka; but he took away with him the rest—Fathers Ducrettet, Mathew and Roulleaux.

The contrast in the condition of the Methodist mission in 1856 was most striking—in the Leeward Islands now as well as in the Lau group. In addition to 7 missionaries English and Australian and 2 trained British teachers there were 8 native assistant missionaries, 107 paid teachers and 624 day-school teachers. There were 200 schools, 200 churches, 4000 church members and 30,000 attendants at worship.⁹ The immediate effect of the battle of Kamba may be explained by reference to the correspondence of William Moore of Rewa. We have already seen what a hard struggle the early missionaries had there up to the time of its suspension in 1844, and on Moore's appointment the prospects at first were by no means bright. But on 12 November 1855 about seven months after the battle of Kamba he says: "Things have taken quite a change in this circuit: our prospects are now glorious." In his report for the district seven months later in June 1856: "The work has been progressing all the year … our numbers being double that of last year." There were then 18 chapels in the cir-page 223cuit and 50 other preaching places; the number of attendants at all places of public worship was 16,000; the towns of Kandavu, with a single exception, had accepted Methodism. The Methodists were reaping a rich harvest where many others besides themselves and their teachers had sown—traders, men of war, friendly chiefs, King George and his Tongan warriors. And now when the field was won they had the means ready for carrying on the work in a truly educational and religious manner: they had their translation of the Scriptures, a grammar and dictionary of the Fijian language, schools, school-teachers, trained teachers, native assistant missionaries, and two English teachers trained in the Glasgow system of education. The prospects were as William Moore said of his own district—glorious.

It was natural that the Roman Catholics should be deeply disappointed; but it is much to be regretted that they and their successors should have tried so assiduously to explain the success of their rivals by nothing better than a policy of systematic persecution and aggressive warfare. The priests who were engaged in the bitter struggle at the time can be pardoned for many of their complainings: a brooding sense of failure made them sensitive. But no such excuse can be made for Monseigneur Blanc. His book was published as recently as 1926, and he is the most intemperate of them all. He throws discretion to the winds, and asserts time after time that the success of Methodism was due to a policy of cruel and aggressive warfare carried on by the native agents under Maafu, who went through Lau, Vanua Levu, right up to the Yasawas forcing the people to accept Methodism under threat and use of club and gun-fire; and that all this went on under the eyes of the Wesleyan missionaries who rejoiced at the results. Had such a slander been published by an irresponsible nonentity it might have been allowed page 224to pass unheeded; but coming from the pen of a Vicar Apostolic of Middle Oceania it calls for comment.

Wars there were in plenty between Christianity and Heathenism in Fiji especially after the year 1848; but they were as inevitable as the wars between the old religion and the new in Britain after the landing of Augustine and his monks in 597. The time was sure to come when the Fijian chiefs finding their gods challenged and their own authority undermined would rise up in arms against the destroyer and bring everything to the test of battle. They did rise and battles were fought in this period between the Christians and the Heathens on Vanua Levu, the islands of the Middle group and Viti Levu. But the insinuation that the Wesleyan missionaries countenanced an aggressive war against the Heathen for the purpose of propagating their religion, and the statement that they rejoiced in the results are nothing better than mendacious and malicious slanders.¹⁰ There is not a particle of evidence in all the original material that I have examined to support them. On the contrary there is overwhelming evidence to show not only that the missionaries manifested the greatest anxiety to prevent their followers adopting any such measures; but also that they preached the doctrine of pacificism so thoroughly and persistently that when the war between Heathenism and Christianity broke out their own followers were at a serious disadvantage because they had been taught for so long that war was of the devil, and had declined even at the risk of being disloyal to their chiefs to take part in it.

It is true as I have already said that on one occasion in page break

Matuku Harbour
Showing the islet on which Maafu's slain were
buried; the hill (to the right) on which he made his
camp; Yaroi village to the left

Ketei Village, Totota

page 225the year 1853 Maafu and Wetasau did take the initiative in a war against the Heathen in the island of Matuku;¹¹ but as soon as Dr Lyth found it out, and was sure of his facts he brought them and their associates under the severest discipline that his church could administer. An account of his proceedings in this case will be found in the letter which he wrote to the Society in London on 3 March 1854. The war, he says, was really political; but the Christian name was used to bring the Lakembans into the fight. In three months the Heathen were defeated. "We made enquiries, found out the truth, and expelled the two chiefs from the Society and many Christians in the Moala group for having acted inconsistently and in a manner unworthy of their Christian profession. Many scores were put out of the Society for it." Those who wish to understand Dr Lyth's uncompromising attitude on this kind of warfare may be recommended to consult his Day-book pages 81-98 and page 127 under dates 25 February 1853 and 29 August 1853; also his Journal, folio ix, page 158 under date 6 December 1853.

The mediaeval idea of undertaking a crusade against the infidel or heathen in the interests of Christianity was utterly abhorrent alike to the Missionary Committee in London, and the missionaries in Fiji. No missionary ever went to his work in Tonga or Fiji in any doubt as to the mind of the London Committee on the utter impropriety of propagating the Gospel by means of war. In a letter written by John Beecham on 28 March 1838 to Tonga where there were wars between Christian and Heathen natives he made it quite clear that the slightest sympathy for any attempt to propagate the Gospel by means of war would be "highly revolt-page 226ing" to him and his Committee; and every Methodist missionary in that field or any other knew quite well that the mere countenancing of such a policy would mean instant dismissal. But no Methodist missionary who went to Fiji in this period needed any such warning. Every one of them was bitterly opposed to war for any purpose except that of self-defence. They pressed this policy so far that when the war against Heathenism broke out their converts were unable to defend themselves from want of the will or the training to fight their more warlike assailants by whom they were despoiled, exiled and murdered. Then and then only did some of the Methodist missionaries realize that effective self-defence was impossible under a pacifist policy.

The war between Mbau and Rewa which began in 1844 did turn to a war between the Heathens and the Christians in 1854 after the conversion of Thakombau to Christianity; but that was because Nggara-ni-nggio of Rewa realized that it was the best way for him to consolidate his forces against Tui Viti. Thakombau after his conversion would gladly have made peace and did make several offers; but Nggara would have none of it. He saw his chance of realizing his lifelong ambition to depose and kill Thakombau, swore that he would eat him, and defied his new God Jehovah to protect him. He would probably have had his way if King George of Tonga had not arrived with two thousand fighting Tongans in the nick of time ostensibly to take away the promised canoe Ra Marama¹² but really (as I think) to help Thakombau in his desperate condition. One of his chiefs while engaged on a peaceful errand had page 227been killed by the rebellious mountaineers of Ovalau, and he made that his excuse for joining Thakombau saying that the lives of the Tongans would no longer be safe in Fiji if the murder were not avenged. The battle of Kamba was fought and won in 1855 and the result was a very large and rapid increase in the number of Methodist Christians. But far from countenancing the war in expectation of such a result the Methodist missionaries on the spot tried in every way to dissuade the kings from fighting; and when they failed in that they extracted from them a promise that the war would be fought in a merciful spirit and that there would be no unnecessary slaughter. The kings kept their word; and even in the Rewa district great clemency was shown to all the rebels who were willing to submit. In the later years which are the only years in which the contest between Mbau and Rewa took on the character of a religious war it was Thakombau who was on the defensive and Nggara who was the aggressor, and not all the persuasion of Sir Everard Home and the missionaries could turn him from his avowed purpose of killing and eating Thakombau.

Monseigneur Blanc's highly insolent charges and insinuations betray a lack of respect for the truth which is astounding considering the high position he has occupied in a church that has rendered such valuable service to the Christian religion and to humanity.

It is deeply to be regretted that such a book should have been written and published in France as recently as 1926, fraught as it is with the possibility of exciting a recrudescence of old and bitter antagonisms. In my wanderings among the islands of the archipelago it has been my privilege and pleasure to meet many Roman Catholic and Methodist missionaries, and in the course of my conversations with them it has seemed to me that the old feeling of rancour had wellnigh passed away and given place to a spirit of page 228goodwill, and even of mutual appreciation. The Methodist missionaries and teachers of Davui-levu spoke in appreciative terms of the work being done in various parts of the archipelago by the Roman Catholics; and the Roman Catholic Fathers of Thawathi, their training centre on the island of Ovalau, had kindly words for contemporary Methodists. It was quite obvious to me that the missionaries of both religions were working not so much for the glory of this church or that; but with an eye mainly to the welfare of the natives whom they were there to train not only in the knowledge of their respective faiths, but also in the arts and occupations of the wider civilization to which they now belong. That surely is the right way and the proper spirit.

On my visit to the island of Rotumah it was my good fortune to be able to spend many hours in the company of Father Griffon who is in charge of the Roman Catholic mission station at Sumi where the battle between the Roman Catholics and the Wesleyans was fought in 1871. In our conversations I heard no echo of the bitter strife of days gone by. Father Griffon was too busy to waste time on futile chafings or recriminations. On the station under his care were two schools, one for boys, the other for girls, a carpenter's shop and a mechanical shed for the training of the youths of Rotumah in useful work that would enable them to earn a livelihood. Three hundred acres of land belonging to the mission were planted with coconut trees, and the profits derived therefrom were nearly enough to make the station self-supporting. His church which would do credit to any suburb of Sydney was built exclusively by Rotuman labour under his own direction. As we walked through the church graveyard he pointed out to me the tombstone on which the names of two of his predecessors are inscribed. "There," said he, "they will bury me one page 229day." He had no thought of leaving; he expects to serve in Sumi till he dies. My experience at that little mission station is one of the happiest memories I have of my visits to the islands of the South-West Pacific. In the hours of reflection before a comfortable fireside in a more temperate clime my thoughts go back to Sumi, and I wonder if in all this world a more worthy example can be found of true missionary work than is carried on under the administration of that genial and capable Roman Catholic Father.

The Roman Catholic missionaries had a hard and painful struggle in the early days at Lakemba and in 1855 there was very little to show for the work that had been done, and the sufferings and privations endured. But they have made good since, and are now enjoying the respect and confidence of people in every part of the archipelago. Their single-minded devotion to their work leaves little to criticize and much to admire. Under the authority of the British government they are working devotedly in what they conceive to be the best interests of the natives not only in churches and schools, but also in the open fields and within the walls of hospitals where patient and efficient work is needed.

It is by the work of such well-disposed men and women that the prestige of the great and venerable Church to which they belong will be enhanced throughout the Fijian Archipelago; and not at all by the malicious and ill-founded aspersions of a writer who has never taken the trouble to understand the religion he vilifies, or to examine the records of work which, in his plentiful lack of knowledge, he maligns.