G. A. Selwyn, D.D.: Bishop of New Zealand and Lichfield

by Louise Creighton

The disturbances had begun whilst the Bishop was on a confirmation tour. At one place he had confirmed 300 natives, and there were numbers of Christian natives quite ready to fight for him should he desire it. Now that there was a general fear lest the unrest caused by the rising of Heke should spread and endanger the settlements further south, the Bishop was anxious to visit them and do all he could to promote peace. On this journey he took Mrs. Selwyn with him. She helped in the work of spreading confidence by her ministrations to the sick. She felt no fear of any possible unfriendliness on the part of the natives, for as she wrote:

“If you live among them, you find them looking up to you and clinging to you in all points, and the fear ceases.”

To her great delight she was taken on a little bush expedition, as she longed to see with her own eyes how so large a part of the Bishop’s life was spent. During these next years he carried on the work of ministering to his people and administering his diocese in the midst of continual anxiety caused by the Maori unrest, consequent on the efforts of the New Zealand Company to get possession of the native lands.

The failure of the Governor, Captain Fitzroy, to restore order led to his removal, and Sir George Grey, a young and able administrator, was sent from South Australia to take his place. Under his energetic measures conditions were improving, when news came from England that the pressure brought to bear upon the Colonial Office by the New Zealand Company, had led to an Act being passed through Parliament (1846) which set aside the Treaty of Waitangi and annulled its provisions. Against this both Judge Martin and Bishop Selwyn protested in no measured terms. They considered it a breach of faith, destructive of the honour of England and certain to put an end to all hope of peaceful relations with the Maoris. The strength of the Bishop’s feelings is shown in a letter to a friend in which he says:

“I would rather that he (Earl Grey, the Colonial Secretary) cut me in pieces than induced me, by any personal compliments, to resign the New Zealanders to the tender mercies of men, who avow the right to take the land of the New Zealanders, and who would not scruple to use force for that purpose.”

The Bishop’s protest led to his being spoken of in the House of Commons by the radical member, Joseph Hume, as “a turbulent priest.” Sir George Grey realized at once the impossibility of carrying out the instructions sent by the Colonial Office. He professed to believe that they were not meant to be carried out literally, and his representations led the English Government to agree to suspend the execution of the Act passed by Parliament for five years, during which time Sir George Grey devoted himself to framing a new constitution for the colony.

Unfortunately the difficulties of the land question disturbed the relations of the Bishop with one of the most experienced and revered missionaries in the country, Henry Williams, whom he had made Archdeacon of Waimate. Williams, in order to make provision for his family, had bought land from the natives on which he had settled his sons, who cultivated it with great success. His claim to these lands was approved by the Council set up in 1844 by Governor Fitzroy to consider the whole question of land claims. In recommending the awards made to Henry Williams the Governor said, “that there could be no doubt that Mr. Williams had done more for the advancement and improvement of the aboriginal race than any other individual member of the missionary body.” But the missionaries by their defence of the rights of the natives were extremely unpopular with the New Zealand Company, and the good condition of the lands held by the Williams family, owing to their excellent farming, excited the jealousy of the incoming colonists. The new Governor, Sir George Grey, saw that questions of land tenure were the chief cause of all the troubles with the natives. In his early days, when only insufficiently acquainted with conditions in New Zealand, he was much too ready to believe the accusations made by the Company against the missionaries of having used their position to acquire unlawfully large tracts of lands from the natives. He wrote home to the Colonial Office a private dispatch condemning in strong language the land purchases of the missionaries. Bishop Selwyn, who on other occasions had vigorously defended the missionaries against the Company, did not on principle approve of missionaries owning land for themselves. He wished that their sons should be trained for the service of the Church, and he appealed to the missionaries to teach their children “to renounce the barren pride of ownership for the moral husbandry of Christ’s kingdom in the harvest of souls.” In his zeal and eagerness he seems to have forgotten that all young men are not fitted to be missionaries or teachers. To him it was a plain issue; he did not sufficiently understand Williams’ position. To Williams it appeared that the Bishop was in alliance with the Governor against him, and he felt bitterly the seeming desertion of the man whom he had admired so warmly. When urged by the Bishop to give up the title deeds to his lands he refused. Strong in the consciousness of his own uprightness, he would consent to no compromise by which it might have seemed that he felt himself to be in the wrong. It was not his property that he was defending, but his character, which had been impugned by the charges made against his conduct by the Governor to the Home Government. The whole matter was of course brought before the Church Missionary Society at home. They were plunged into great perplexity. They did not feel themselves strong enough to oppose the authorities both at home and in New Zealand, and they did not really thoroughly know the facts. They decided at last that the wisest course to pursue was to dismiss Henry Williams from their service. He made no further attempt to defend himself, but, deeply hurt at the treatment he had received after his long and devoted service, he left his home at Paihai and retired to his sons’ farm at Pakaraka, amidst the loud regrets of the people amongst whom he had lived and worked for twenty-seven years, and amongst whom he had hoped to die. He had defended himself warmly, with all the impetuosity of his nature, for he had felt himself to be a man cruelly caluminated. Now he would say no more. He continued to work amongst the Maoris in his neighbourhood, and a church was built for him by his sons in which he ministered. Meanwhile his brother went to England and explained the case fully to the C.M.S. In 1854 when Bishop Selwyn and Sir George Grey were both in England, they too, having no doubt arrived at a fuller understanding of the matter, visited the C.M.S., and the Bishop expressed his wish that Williams should be reinstated, which was done.

The complexity and importance of the land question in New Zealand is shown by this painful controversy, in which men of the high character of Bishop Selwyn and Sir George Grey were led, in their zeal for order and for the rights of the Maoris, to condemn, on insufficient knowledge a man of the character and devotion of Henry Williams. He himself no doubt added to the difficulty by his impetuous character and his caustic way of expressing himself, but on the question in dispute itself, not a shadow of blame can be attached to him. Selwyn seems to have judged over hastily, and to have shown incapacity to see all sides of the question, in his desire that the missionaries should show themselves superior to all worldly considerations. Henry Williams believed that the Bishop was led away by his love of power, and that he was unable to give way when he first discovered that he had made a mistake. In later years friendly relations between him and the Williams family were fully resumed. How much he valued and appreciated the family, is shown by the fact that William Williams was amongst the first of the men he recommended to fill one of the new sees formed when his diocese was divided.

These three men, Selwyn, Grey and Williams, were all equally anxious to uphold justice and the best interests of the Maoris, though they differed so seriously on this occasion. Selwyn’s attitude towards the Maoris made him most unpopular for a time amongst the settlers. His constant effort was to promote peace and to ensure prosperity and justice for all, but long afterwards, he would recall how his arrival used to be greeted by the settlers with “Here comes the Bishop to prevent us fighting with the natives.” One day when he was landing in a small boat from his schooner at Wellington, he heard a man asking his companion: “What’s that schooner that has come in this evening?” and the reply was, “Oh, that old fool the Bishop’s.” Jumping on shore at that moment he called out, chuckling and rubbing his hands, “Yes, and here’s the old fool himself.” He went on his way careless of popularity and heedless of the criticism inevitable in the case of a man of such vigour and so many activities.

He found relief from his many anxieties in the work connected with his college and schools at Auckland. These were beautifully situated about five miles outside the town. Gifts from England enabled him to erect solid stone buildings, a hospital as well as the schools; each year there was some improvement. There were playing fields where the Maori boys could play cricket, pastures for cattle and sheep, as well as gardens, fields, a printing press, weaving and carpentering sheds. In 1846 there were already one hundred and thirty persons, English and Maori, connected with the College. All alike shared in the cultivation of the estate and lived together as one family. The Bishop wrote: