"Sir George Grey stated that he had visited nearly every station of the Society, and could speak with confidence of the great and good work accomplished by it in New Zealand; that he believed that out of the native population, estimated by himself at nearly 100,000,^* there were not more than 1000 who did not make a profession of Christianity; that though he had heard doubts expressed about the Christian character of individuals, yet no one doubted the effect of Christianity upon the mass of the people, which had been evidenced in their social improvement, their friendly intercourse with Europeans, and their attendance upon divine worship; . . . . that the great want in the native church at present was a consolidation of the work, and its establishment upon a basis of self-support; that it was impossible for a single bishop to accomplish such a work, from the extent and geographical isolation of the different parts of the diocese; that he understood it was the opinion of the bishop that there should be four bishoprics in the Northern Island, in which opinion he concurred; that the most suitable persons to be appointed to the new sees were those he understood to have been recommended by the bishop, namely, three of the elder Missionaries of the Society, who had commenced the work, and brought it to its present state; that the appointment of these gentlemen would, he believed, give satisfaction; that he believed nothing could induce the Missionaries to desert the natives; that they would rather give up their salaries and throw themselves upon native resources; that they possessed the full confidence of the natives, and were thoroughly acquainted with their character; page 7 but that, if the Society were now wholly to withdraw from New Zealand, the work would, he believed, fall to pieces, and the Mission do an injury to Christianity; whereas, if the work should be consolidated and perfected, as he hoped, the conversion of New Zealand would become one of the most encouraging facts in the modern history of Christianity, and a pattern of the way in which it might be established in all other heathen countries."^*

In a Report on Native Affairs in the Waikato District, by F. D. Feuton, Esq., Resident Magistrate, lately printed by order of the House of Representatives, that gentleman remarks:—

"The Government owes a deep debt of gratitude to the Missionaries. Most dilemmas have been solved, more or less, by their interference. When Sutton was assaulted, the agent sent by Government to obtain the surrender of the offenders was insulted and defied. The chief, Te Katipa, who was present, declared his wish that they should be given up, and pleaded his total want of power. Ultimately they were surrendered through the influence of one of Mr. Maunsell's native teachers. The powder stolen by the Manaia natives was, I believe, returned through the agency of the Missionary clergy."^†

And again:—

"The time will come when these Missionaries, the only efficient state police now existing in the country, will be taken by death, or

^* Report of the Church Missionary Society for 1853-54, p. 153.

^† Fenton's Report, p. 9.

page 8 rendered unable by advanced years and much labour to render that assistance to Government which has often and again been their only reliance in the time of trouble;—and we quietly await that time without an effort to supply the vacancy. When we see the great things these men achieved and the influence they have gained, without gifts of money to covetousness or offerings of power to ambition, we must admit that some secret existed in their system which would be a valuable knowledge for Government when they are no more. The secret is simply this: they worked upon Maories with Maories, choosing talent before birth, a new energy rather than an ancient name."^*

To the instances adduced by Mr. Fen ton, we may add an earlier but still more important one. In 1843, immediately after the collision at the Wairoa, the thanks of the Governor of the Colony were given to Archdeacon Hadfield, for services thus described by Mr. Swainsou:—

"Now was the time to attack the white people before they were prepared. Happily for the peace of the country, the people of the district had for some time been living under the ministration of one of the most devoted and influential Missionaries in New Zealand; and it is hardly too much to affirm that Wellington owed its safety at that moment to a single individual, the Rev. Octavius IIadfield."^†

The last mail has supplied a further example of the wholesome interpositions of the Bishop, the Missionaries, and other Clergy, in the case of a threatened attack upon Auckland. The details of this affair will be referred to hereafter in illustration of another point.^‡ In alluding to it here, there page 9 is no intention in the slightest degree to undervalue the exertions of the Government officers and of Mr. McLean, especially, whose part in the transactions appears to have been a leading one. There can be as little room to doubt the substantial aid the latter received from the active efforts of the Clergy.

The Missionaries, indeed, deplore in the strongest terms the infatuation of those among the natives who evince a determination not to listen to reason. Thus Archdeacon Kissling comments upon the demands which, in the first instance, were made by the party who threatened Auckland—demands from which happily they were induced to recede—in these words (Nov. 1, 1860) :—

"It is clear that the attack upon Auckland is altogether different from the Taranaki affair. If the murderer can be discovered, all will be done by British law and justice to convict him, and make him suffer for his guilt; but, even if he were found, to deliver him up to the revenge of natives can never be done. They have been warned by our Missionary Brethren on their course down the Waikato river; but they seem to be reckless of life. They are now warned and admonished by the Bishop of New page 10 Zealand, and no opportunity will be left unimproved to show them their error both from the Scriptures and reason; if in the face of these warnings they persist on adopting and carrying into effect their self-made law, 'that if a native is killed by a white man, the white man must be delivered up to the natives; and if a white man is killed by a native, the native will be delivered to the white men,' there is no other prospect than war between the two races in this province."

And Mr. Morgan speaks thus of the headstrong self-will which hurried on the war parties with whom he was brought in contact (Oct. 2, 1860) :—

"At present things look very dark. Many of whom we had hoped better things join the movement. I wish, poor creatures, they could see their true interests, and that they would remain at home. It is useless to speak with them on this subject. They leave in full confidence of victory. It is not a pleasant thing to see the armed bands passing our home, and to fear that many may never return. All we can do now is to pray that God may open their eyes to see their danger."

Against Archdeacon Hadfield, a charge less vague and general, yet scarcely less unsubstantial has been advanced. He is accused of having withheld important information and even of having declined to forward to the Governor an offer on the part of Wiremu Kingi, to submit the question of his rights in the Waitara Valley to arbitration. In vindication of the Archdeacon it may be observed, that Kingi's letters, which will be found printed at length in the Appendix, contained nothing which had not already been said by Kingi himself to the Governor and his subordinates; that, so far from expressing any willingness to submit the matter to arbitration, they announced his determination to hold the land to death—"Man first, the land next"—that the Archdeacon was actuated by an implicit confidence in the moderation of the Governor, never anticipating that he would push matters to the extremity of war; and that the Governor was expected at Wellington in March, (the last letter being dated in December) when he looked forward toan opportunity of personal conference on the subject. The feelings which influenced the Archdeacon were shared with him by the Bishop of Wellington;who, in a letter to the Governor, page 11 printed in the Southern Cross (Sep. 1, 1860), has openly avowed the responsibility of having given advice in accordance with the course actually pursued. The Bishop's words are:—

"I think you have been misled in the matter of Archdeacon Hadfield'a conduct about the Taranaki war. He told me, months back, that he wished to write to you about the state of the natives at Taranaki, as he had received a letter from William King; but as I then expected you at the General Assembly in February or March, I recommended his waiting till you came, and then to talk the matter over. We had no idea of the sudden coup de main your Excellency was planning, and the proclamation of martial law in the province of Taranaki came upon us before we had any opportunity of remonstrance. Both the Archdeacon and I were out of the country and on the high seas when your Excellency made the speech you allude to at Taranaki; I never saw it or heard of it till last month. But at the same time I should say that if I had seen it, I should never have understood from it that you were going to introduce a new principle in the deciding of native titles to land; and that you were going to ignore the tribal right of ownership, and to accept the usufructuary possession as being a title to the fee simple."