The Sun.
London, England, 1839-09-16 00:00:00

EVEN LNG EDITION.

! ' DEPARTURE of EMIGRANTS
: FOR NEW ZEALAND.

-410--
l' On Saturday the Directors of the New Zealand
Land Company, accompanied by several friends to
' the undertaking, proceeded on board the Mercury
steam packet to Gravesend, for the purpose of visit-
ing the emigrant ships, prior to their departure.
Among those present we observed H. Aglionby,
Esq., M.P., Hon. F. Tollemache, M.P., Hon. Mr.
Petre, Francis Molesworth, Esq., Mr. Alderman
1 Pirie, J. Soames, Esq., G. F. Young, Esq., Dr.
/ Evans, Major Baker, Thomas Alers Hankey,
Esq., J. A. Smith, Esq., M.P., Dudley Sinclair,
Esq., Rev. Mr. Hawtree, E. J. Wakefield, Esq.,
1 J. Rintoul, Esq., Editor of the Spectator and
) Colonial Gazette, S. Revans, Esq., and several
1 other gentlemen. Several ladies also honoured the
icompany with their presence, notwithstanding the
unfavourable state of the weather.
1
The Mercury, which was elegantly fitted up for
the occasion, left Fresh Wharf, London-bridge,
shortly after twelve o'clock, and arrived at Gravesend,
alongside the emigrant ship Adelaide shortly after
three. This ship, which carries out one hundred
and forty-nine emigrants, exclusive of cabin pas-
sengers, is fitted up with every attention to the
comfort of those on board that thought and
experience can suggest, ample space is allowed for
the accommodation of each passenger, and ventila-
tion is most sedulously attended to. The Directors
and their friends having gone over the ships, the
emigrants were mustered on deck and addressed by
Mr. G. F. YOUNG, who said that as they were
about to proceed to New Zealand, the Directors
felt it their duty to do that which the Government
ought to have done, namely, make provision for the
maintenance of good order in the country of their
adoption. In order to do this they had prepared a
voluntary agreement, to which each of the emigrants
would affix their signatures ; and after having heard
that agreement read, if there were any man among them
who had been induced to leave this country, because
he was desirous of setting himself loose from all
restraint of law and order, such a man would doubt-
less refuse to sign this voluntary agreement, which
was, in fact, a solemn league and covenant for the
preservation of social order among themselves, and
compelling of others to observe it also. Mr. G. F.
Young then proceeded to read the agreement, and
to explain its provisions as he went on. By this
compact the settlers agree to be directed—agree to
1
the appointment of a Governor and Council—and
of an umpire and assessors, for the administration of
criminal justice, This umpire being in fact a
Magistrate, and the assessors jurymen. G. S.
Evans, Esq., barrister-at-law, is to be first umpire.
In all civil proceedings an arbitrator is to be chosen
by each party, and these two arbitrators, with
. the umpire, are to decide the matter in dispute. The
umpire's power in criminal matters is restricted to
the infliction of a fine not exceeding ten pounds,
or of an imprisonment for not a longer period than
three months, and there is an appeal from his de-
cision to the Committee of Appeal, and from that
to the Governor and Council. The emigrants gave
three cheers at the conclusion of Mr. Young's ad-
dress, and immediately signed the agreement.
This ceremony having been concluded, the steamer
left the side of the Adelaide, the company on board
cheering the emigrants, who cheered in return.
She next proceeded alongside the Oriental, a very
fine ship, fitted up in a similar manner to the Ade-
laide, and the agreement having been signed by the
emigrants on board, the Directors proceeded to the
third ship, the Aurora, similarly fitted up, and the
emigrants on board which also signed the aeree-
-1 ment. The Oriental takes out 138 and the
' Aurora 142 emigrants, exclusive of cabin
passengers. It is intended that these ships
shall sail this morning. The Duke of Roxburgh,
which will sail on Tuesday, takes out one hun-
dred and twenty emigrants, belonging to the labour-
ing classes. The emigrants on board these ships
are partly from London, partly from Kent and Sus-
sex, and a few from Warwickshire. The Bengal
Merchant, which sailed o» Saturday morning for
the Clyde, takes out one hundred and fifty-five emi-
grares principally from Sutherlandshire. The num-
ber of cabin passengers on board the five ships
amounts to upwards of two hundred ; several of
whom have made very large purchases of land ; the
whole of the proceeds of which are by the Direc-
tors made applicable to the promotion of emigration,
by furnishing mechanics and their families desirous
I of settling in the colony with a free passage. The
company on board the steamer then sat down to
)an elegant cold collation, laid out on the deck,
the arrangement of which did great credit to Mr.
1 Laws, the Steward of the Mercury. Mr. G. F.
Young, on taking the Chair, apologized for the
absence of Lord Petre, whose son was about to
sail in the Aurora, and who consequently did not
i feel in spirits to join the company. Mr. Soames
also had been obliged to go on shore at Gravesend,
I where his only 'daughter was lying very dangerously
ill. The steamer then again went alongside each of
the emigrant ships, for the purpose of enabling the
i friends of the emigrants to take a final farewell of
I them before their departure for the distant country
of their adoption. The scene was a most affecting
one, but on the whole the emigrants appeared to
be in excellent spirits, and nothing like despondency
was visible. They seemed to feel that on them had
devolved the high responsible mission of being
founders of a new country, and to be determined to
do their duty. The weather being very unfavour-
able, the dessert was laid out in the' cabin. The
first toast proposed was " The Queen," which was
drunk with all the honours. " The Army and
1 Navy" was next proposed, which having been drunk,
Mr. G. F. YOUNG rose to propose as a toast "The
health of the Colonists about to proceed to New
Zealand," and in doing so he took occasion to vindi-
cate the Directors from the imputations which had
been cast on them, and entered into a detail of the
endeavours which had been made to induce the
Colonial Office to take up the colonization of New
Zealand as a national undertaking, but as the Go-
vernment had refused so to do, the Company had
determined to do that which he verily believed the
Government ought to have done.
The toast was then drank with three times three
and one cheer more.
Dr. EVANS, in rising to return thanks al-
luded in a very affecting manner to the feelings
from which he and others must suffer in tearing asunder
the near and dear ties which connected them with
their native country. He thought they were about
to establish a settlement in New Zealand which
would be of the utmost importance to the mother
Country. He knew nothing of this new-fangled
philanthropy, which would attempt to taboo the
most fertile regions of the earth against the pro-
gress of civilization. In this colony the interests
of the natives were well taken care of, and the land
set apart for them would, in consequence of the in-
troduction of civilization among them, become to
them of infinitely greater value than the whole
island was at present. The emigrants were princi-
pally of the labouring class, and would, by going
out to the new colony, escape from the ruinous
effects of that competition from which that class
• was Ruffering so severely in this country, and
would be enabled in the colony to attain that sta-
tion which those whom he was addressing occupied
is this country. They left their native land like
the pilgrim fathers of old, full of hope, and he
ot
doubted n that
„hen the colony was established,
the hangers-on of the Colonial-office—the lookers
out for Colonials
ppo.ntments, would absolutely teaze
the Government into acknowledging them, and in-
flicting on them a government badly administered,
but intAnitely more expensive than the one which
the Directors had provided for them.— Cheers.)
Mr. G. F. YOUNG then proposed "Lord John
Russell and the reform of the Colonial-office," and
in doing so said that he believed that it was
n
the men who were to blame for the non-acknow-
ledgment of the new colony, but the system ; for he
verily believed that if a person were to set about
to devise a system by which the affairs of a great
empire could be most effectually mismanaged, the
one pursued at the Colonial-office would be that
system. He understood that Lord John Russell
had taken that office to settle the affairs of Ca-
nada, so that he at least thought Canada worth
preserving, and did not hold the new-fangled
opinions that colonies were worthless to
the Mother country. He anticipated the
t happiest results from the appointment of Lord
) John Russell, whose energetic and manly mind,
and honesty of purpose, admirably fitted him for
destroying the red tape influence from which the
Government of the Colonies had so long suffered.
The toast was then drunk with three times three.
" The Aborigines in New Zealand, and may
1 the establishment of a British Colony in their
magnificent country, conduce to their welfare, social,
moral, and religious," was the next toast.