The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1856-1888, 1871-11-25
Massacre of Missionaries.

DlSIOp Il hh0 !
iii tbree natives. at one of the South Pacific
orouns. We give below the account OF these
m,rdars "a furnished to the New Zealand papers
h., tho Master of the missionary schooner the
Southern Cross.
John Coleridge Patteson, D.. D., was d nauFe
of Devonshire, England. about 40 years OF age
and was consecratcd as Bishop OF Melanesla at
Auckland. in 1861. He was Il devoted mission
arv and had made frequent visits to the different
islands in his diocese. establishing missions.
There was upou the staff as missionaries, seven
ordained European clergymen, besides a very
large number of native teachers.
A profound sensation was created IN New lea
land on the reception of the news that a man SO
deseryeGly reyered and esteemed as the bishop OF
Melanesia should have been suddenly cut on oy
violence, and the fact that he had fallen IN the
midst of his devoted labors, and by the hands OF
those to whom he came ON a mission of love and
benefcencc. made the occurrence particularly
sad. The feeling of sadness, however, was sue
ceeded by one of indignation, when it was remem-
bered that this deplorable event could undoubt-
edIy be traced mainly to the wretched traffic in
men which has obtained in the South Seas under
the name of 8 labor" Says the Daily Southern
Cross of Nov. LIST, in commenting on this subject,
in connection with the murder of Bishop Patteson
The means that have been employed in collect
ing laborers for the Fijian plantations, ana even
for Queensland, are now no longer q matter OF
surmise. 1t is known that deception and violence
have both been unscrupulously used In the work;
and that the esteem and reverence entertained by
the islanders for the name and character oil the
now martyred Bishop have been made the means,
by a cruel deception and personation, OF entlclnS
islanders ON board the slavers. There are those
who have sailed from New Zealand ports, and
have been engaged in the carrying OF folyneslan
laborers, who have publicly boosted OF the sue
cess of the ruse, and who have stated that CLOTH
ing themselves in white surplices they have per-
formed mock religious services to the islanders,
and SO tempted them in large numbers on
board under the impression that the pretenoeu
officiating minister was Bishop Patteson himself
and in the cruise of the Rosario a case IN point Is
furnished by Captain Palmer in which the decep-
ton was successfully p~racticed. Probably it will
require nothing more than the death OF this ven
cradle Bishop to direct that attention to this
mopstrous traffic which will lead to its suppress
sion. Time was when Poiynesian labor might
have been a boon to industry In the various set
Elements in these seas, and a benefit to the island
era themselves. But the abuses have been such
that voluntary emigration can be no longer avail
able, and now there seems but the alternative or
violent deportation or the cessation OF the trafhc.
With such an alternative, 1t will not require
/ British feeling long TO u6cluS, WHICH, .tbdb iOCiihS
is awakened to the horrors OF the case by such q
deplorable catastrophe as that which has now oc-
Cured. IL has more and more impressed itself
on the minds of those who have devoted their at
tention to the subject that really there is no
longer a possibility of regulating the traffic In
South Sea islanders. The Legislature of Queens
land has done all that a humane colony could do
to mitigate the evils of the labor traffic. Within
the limits of the colony the islanders are well
cared for, their health and comfort and happiness
are consulted, and their wages are protected In
the savings bank of the colony against unscrupu-
Ions masters and even against the laborers them
selves. Perhaps it would be impossible to do
more by legislation than has been done In that
colony TO ameliorate the condition of the appren-
ticed Polynesians, and the evils connected with
the system as within the colony are reduced to a
minimum. But every effort to regulate the pro-
curement of laborers from the islands has been
futile. Licenses have been issued to shipmasters,
and Government agents have been sent with the
vessels, and the length to which men will go
Notwithstanding is forcibly illustrated by the
fact that, in a charge being now investigated
against the master of a vessel for kidnapping
islanders, it appears that the Government agent
aboard was dragged as a preliminary to L" nego-
~tiations with certain ISLANDERS The fact is,
voluntary emigration is no longer available, and
violence is necessary unlesss the vessels are TO re-
turn from the cruise empty. We can hardly an
ticipate that this scandal to our boosted civlliza-
ton will be much longer suffered to continue,
and it may be that the last event in the valued
life of Bishop Patteson will prove the means OF
sweeping away forever the sore evil under which
the islands suffer.
CIRCUMSTANCES ATTENDING THE MURDER.
During Mr.. Atkins stay at Wonga he was
speaking to the Captain of the Emma Bell, who
told him he was going to Santa Cruz for labor.
This news made the Bishop uneasy, as he very
well knew ifa vessel went there mischief would
result from it. He made his mind up to go to
the Reef Islands, and to ascertain if any vessels
had been about. On the 18th of September
made Santa Cruz; very light winds. September
20 light winds off Nukapu. About four miles
distant saw five or six canoes coming out. When
within a mile or two from the vessel they lay-to.
We thought it strange they did not come along
side on former occasions they would have been
alongside and have boarded us six and seven
miles off the land. The Bishop had the boat
lowered and went to them. (Fhis was the last
we saw of him alvey 1t being low water the
boat could not go over the reef. The Bishop, as
it was usual for him to do, got into a canoe
and went on shore, accompanied by the two
chiefs, Taula and Motu, the remaining four
canoes remaining with the boat. About the
time the Bishop would have got on shore the
natives in the canoes attacked the boat, firing
several arrows at the crew before they could get
the boat out of shot. Mr.. Atkin was hit i'll the
back of the shoulder; Stephen, a native of Bouro,
had six arrows in him, one in the breast John,
a native of Mota, shot in the side. The boat
made for the Bessie, and We got the wounded out
of her, MIR. Brook looking after them. L imme-
diately sent Mr.. Bougard (mate) with three Of
our crew and two black boys, Mr.. Atkin acting
as pilot (for none of our people knew anything
about the pIace) to see alter the Bishop. I told
them to keep outside the reef till they were sure
they had plenty of water to cross, then pull tow
ards the shore, and keep out OF arrow shot, and
if they saw the Bishop, not to go In. All this
time the Bessie was becalmed. Shortly after the
boat left the vessel, a breeze sprang up, and ]
worked the vessel close to the boat, 30 that her
presence might intimidate the natives from at
two canoes from shore. One of them they tnrn.
ed adrift; the other went back to the shore.
Presently the boat went towards the drifting
canoe, and found the dead body of the Bishop in
her, rolled up in a native mat. A small branch
of the cocoanut palm, with five knots, was stuck
in the mat. What the palm with the knots
meant we could not tell. He was stripped of his
clothes his head frichtfulIy smashed. and several