The Sun.
London, England, 1847-12-14 00:00:00

referred to the services of the missionaries and their
successful efforts in colonising New Zealand ; hut, if
he was rightly informed, the Church Missionary
Society bad intimated to their missionaries at New
Zealand that they were forgetting their duties in

becoming proprietors of land instead of preachers of
the Gospel. It would appear that, whatever other
virtues the missionaries possessed, they had not the
virtue of ielf-denial; for they had absorbed to them-
selves, he believed, 96,000 acres of land—(Hear)—
and, having done so, they disputed the right of
others to acquire land, and stirred up the natives to
resist any attempt on the part of others to obtain it.
He believed the disputes with the natives, which had
resulted in the loss of so many English lives, were
owing entirely to the intrigues of the missionaries,
and that to them alone were to be ascribed the hatred

and disgust which had been engendered in the minds
of the natives to the British rule. There was but

little hope for peace in the colony while these mis-
sionaiies, with the bishop at their head, were ranging
themselves against the governor ; and for his part h•
hoped the Government at home would make Governor
Grey ,dictator, until he succeeded in putting down
their opposition.—(Hear, hear, and a laugh.) At all
events, he trusted that what had occurred in New
Zealand would be a lesson to the Government not to

seed out any more bishops to our colonies.—(Hear.)
Mr. CARDWELL hoped that in solving the diffi-
cult problem of how far constitutional institutions
were applicable to a mixed race of aborigines and
settlers, the Government would not take their instruc-
_ _

tions from the Hon. Member for Montrose. Consti-
tutional liberty would be at an end in the colony if
the bishop were not to be permitted to address a firm
and respectful remonstrance to the Secretary of State
against any act of the Government of the colony. He
could assure the Hon. Member for Montrose that the

fear of losing the 6001. a year allowed him by the
House of Commons would not deter Bishop Selwyn
from acting in accordance with what he felt to be his
duty. That Right Rev. Gentleman represented a
body of persons of whom all who had held the office
of Secretary of State had spoken in the highest terms.
It must be remembered that we obtained New Zea-
land by treaty, which treaty was negotiated by the
missionaries. We had ostentatiously disclaimed the
right of sovereignty over the country. The question
was debated by the New Zealanders, when the matter
was proposed to them whether they should or should
not make the treaty—those who would have dissuaded
them from it, arguing that the object was to deprive
them of the land; but the missionaries assured them
that that was not the object. The New Zealanders,
in their own language and peculiar mode of expressing
their ideas, said, " We quite understand you ; the
shadow of the land goes to Queen Victoria, and the
substance remains with us." It could not be denied,

seeing the part they had had in negotiating it, that
the missionaries had the full right to express their
sense of the treaty of Waitangai, and to protest
against any infraction of it.
Mr. A6LIONBY said that several exaggerated
statements had been made respecting the Bishop of
New Zealand. He could only say that he much re-
gretted the protest which had been issued by that
Right Rev. Prelate. There was a great deal of
difference between the rights and privileges of office,
and the mode in which those rights and privileges
were exercised.—(Hear, hear.) He was extremely
sorry that the bishop had thought it consistent with
his duty and episcopal character to threaten to go
amongst the natives to explain to them what he con-
ceived to be their rights, a course the only effect of
which could be to estrange them from the Govern-
ment and the settlers.—(Hear, hear.) With respect
to the Church missionaries, all who had perused the
Parliamentary report must be aware that they did
not deserve the exaggerated praise which had been
bestowed on them in the course of that debate. They
were not all of that character and standing which
properly belonged to missionaries of the Church ; on
the contrary, many were extremely ignorant, and some
had shown themselves by their conduct to be tainted
with personal motives wholly inconsistent with their
clerical character.—(Hear, hear.) It should be re-
collected also that when a Wesleyan missionary
became a purchaser of land he was immediately
recalled.—(Hear, hear.) Hew had the Church mis-
sionaries conducted themselves ? It was a matter of
notoriety that they had purchased 96,000 acres of
land.—(Hear, hear.) A justification of this course
had been attempted, on the ground that it was neces-
sary they should provide a maintenance for their
families ; but he believed the feeling was very
general that they had transgressed the rules of the
Church society. The aborigines, he admitted, were
an active and intelligent race ; but neither did they
deserve the high eulogium which they had received.
It should not be forgotten that during the war they
had slain and mutilated their prisoners for the hor-
rible purposes of cannibalism.—(Hear, hear.) -With
respect to the Bill before the House he was.quitelwill-
ing to concede the power given to to the governor;
and all disputes between the settlers and the company
might be safely, in his opinion, left to the arbitration
of that functionary.
Sir E. BUXTON was of opinion that the Bishop
of New Zealand had done his duty, and nothing
more.—(Hear, hear.) He (the bishop) had come to
the conclusion that the Government intended to
trample on the treaty of Waitangai, and it was his
duty, therefore, to inform the natives of their rights,
and the mode in which they might constitutionally
obtain redress. He trusted that the Right Rev. Pre-
late's exertions, and the good feeling of the people of
England, would cause that treaty to be respected in
all essential points.
Mr. PLUMPTRE was willing to admit that the
missionaries had gone somewhat beyond bounds, but
then they had families to support; and it should be
recollected that a thousand acres of land in New Zea-
land was a very different thing from the same quan-
tity in England. There might have been something
wrong, but still it was hardly fair to treat with such
severity men who had proved themselves ready to
sacrifice their lives in the cause in whieh they had
embarked.
Mr. LABOUCHERE said he had not the honour
of a personal acquaintance with the Bishop of New
Zealand, but from all he had heard he believed the
Right Rev. Prelate to deserve all the encomiums
which had been passed upon him. Still he must re-
gret that the bishop should have addressed a formal
communication to the governor, announcing his in•
teetion to use all legal and constitutional measures to
inform the natives of their rights and privileges as
British subjects, and to instruct them in their mainte-
nance by all legal and constitutional means.—(Hear,
hear.) Why, this was informing them that he dif •
fered from the executive Government, and also tempt-
ing them to petition the Crown. He must say, that
in his opinion this was a most unfortunate step on the
part of the bishop. It was impossible for his Noble
Friend to abstain from expressing, in temperate and
respectful language towards the bishop, but at the
same time in that firm and decided language which
was due to himself and to the situation he held, his
deep regret that the bishop should have announced
his determination to such an effect. There was a
formal announcement on the part of the bishop to
begin a course of agitation.----(0h, oh.) What was
it in common language but agitation, that a
bishop should tell the people to get up petitions
and.to lay them before the Crown?—(Hear, hear.)
With respect to the question whether any other docu-
ments had been written on the subject, and whether
Governor Grey had expressed any opinion with regard
to it, he begged to reply that there was no other
papers on the subject in the Colonial-office beyond
what were contained in the book on the table. He
believed that the Right Hon. Gentleman opposite
agreed in the abstract opinion of his Noble Friend
respecting the tenure of land. If the Right Hon.
Gentleman looked at the papers, he would find
that it was scarcely possible to guard the accredited
rights of the natives more scrupulously than his Noble
Friend had done. The bishop was not justified then
in saying that his Noble Friend laid down the abstract
principle that all land was to be given to the Crown.
The Right Hon. Gentleman the Member for Liver-
pool said that he regretted that the municipal institu-
tions were to be retarded. That was not the case.
On the contrary, the municipal institutions were to
be enlarged, and it was proposed to communicate the
municipal franchise to the aboriginal natives who re-
sided within the municipal district, by giving them a
certificate. With regard to the further progress of
the Bill, what he proposed was, that, as it was im-
portant no doubt should exist in the minds of the
people of New Zealand as to the principle of the Bill,
it should be read a second time on Monday next, so
that the affirmation of the principle might be sent out
to the colony, the discussion of the details in Com-
mittee being deferred till after the recess. He hoped
there would be no objection to that course.
Lord CLIVE did not think that the Right Hon.
Gentleman fairly interpreted the design of the bishop
when he said he wished to agitate the colony.—(Hear,
hear.) In looking over the papers, he observed that
they had not Governor Grey's opinion as to the
bishop.---(" Yes, yes," and cries of " Read No. 42.")
It was but fair that the Bishop of New Zealand, as
representing the clergy who had a substantive and
independent character of their own district from the
Crown, should inform the natives of their just rights,
in order that they might be protected.
The Earl of ARUNDEL said, it seemed very
strange to him that any bishop should be censured for
giving instructions to those under his charge as to
the propriety of petitioning the civil power for their
just rights.—(Hear.)
COMMERCIAL DISM TRESS AND CURRENCY
COMITTEE.
The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER said
he found it utterly impossible to include in the Com-
mittee the names of all those who, he thought, had a
fair claim to be on it; but he would ask the permis-
sion of the House to allow the Committee to consist
of twenty-six Members instead of twenty. Twenty-
six was the number that sat on the Committee of
1840-41.