Scarcely had Mr. Marsden returned to Paramatta when we find him in correspondence with the new governor on the subject of the aborigines of Australia. They were already wasting away in the presence of the European colonists like snow before the sun. Their restless and wandering habits seemed to present insuperable difficulties, whether the object were to convert or merely to protect them. His memorandum to the governor, and subsequent correspondence with the Church Missionary Society, show his anxiety for their welfare and the largeness of his heart. Each new project, as it came before him, was welcomed with serious attention, while at the same time there was no fickleness, no relaxation of his efforts in his old engagements and pursuits. But he was not allowed to connect his name with the evangelization of these poor heathen. Various attempts have been made by different denominations to bring them into the fold of Christ, but hitherto with very small success. It seems, at length, as if Christians had acquiesced in the conclusion that their conversion is hopeless, that we can do nothing more than to throw over them the shield of the British government, and prevent their wholesale destruction by lawless “squatters” and “bush-rangers.” We shall return, however, to the subject hereafter.
His interest in the mission to the South Sea Islands continued unabated. The London Missionary Society had deputed the Rev. Daniel Tyerman and George Bennett, Esq., to visit these missions, and bring home in person a report of all they might see upon the spot. On their voyage, they stayed awhile at Sydney, and Mr. Marsden addressed a letter to them, which shows his own zeal in the cause, and the painful apathy or profane contempt of others. Such memorials, in this day of comparative fervour, ought not to be forgotten. When a Livingstone returns home to receive a shower of honours from a grateful country let us not forget the venerable pioneers in the same missionary work, and the different treatment they experienced. The contrast will call forth emotions both of gratitude and of shame.
“Sydney, November 4, 1824.
“Gentlemen,—I know of no circumstance that has given me more satisfaction than your mission to the South Sea Islands. The attempt to introduce the arts of civilization and the knowledge of Christianity amongst the inhabitants of those islands was confessedly great. An undertaking of such a new and important nature could not be accomplished without much labour, expense, anxiety, and risk, to all who were concerned in the work. The missionaries, for the first ten years, suffered every privation in the islands, from causes which I need not state. They called for every support and encouragement to induce them to remain in the islands, and to return to their stations, after they had been compelled to take refuge in New South Wales. During these ten years, I used every means in my power to assist the missionaries, and to serve the Society Islands. During the next ten years, the ruling powers in this colony manifested a very hostile spirit to the mission. As I felt it my pleasure as well as my duty to support the cause, I fell under the marked displeasure of those in authority, and had a painful warfare to maintain for so long a period, and many sacrifices I had to make. The ungodly world always treated the attempt to introduce the gospel among the natives of the Islands as wild and visionary, and the Christian world despaired of success.
“In those periods of doubt and uncertainty in the public mind, I suffered much anxiety, as very great responsibility was placed on me. Sometimes, from one cause and another, my sleep departed from me; though I was persuaded God would bless the work. The work is now done; this your eyes have seen, and your ears heard; in this I do rejoice and will rejoice. I wish you, as representatives of the Society, to satisfy yourselves, from friends and foes, relative to my conduct towards the mission for the last twenty-five years. You must be aware that many calumnies have been heaped upon me, and many things laid to my charge which I know not. My connexion with the missionaries and the concerns of the mission has been purely of a religious nature, without any secular views or temporal interests; and my services, whether they be great or small, were gratuitous. The missionaries, as a body, are very valuable men, and as such I love them; but some of them, to whom I had been kind, have wounded me severely, both here and elsewhere. I have always found it difficult to manage religious men; what they state, though in a bad spirit, is generally believed by the Christian world. I need not enter into the circumstances which urged me to purchase the Queen Charlotte, as you are in full possession of them; you are also acquainted with the reason why her expenses became so heavy, the fall of colonial produce more than twenty per cent. in so short a period, which no one could have anticipated at that time, and the increased duty of one hundred per cent. upon tobacco. If these two circumstances had not occurred, there would have been no loss to any individuals or the mission. I inclose the statement of the accounts of the Queen Charlotte, and shall leave the matter in your hands, to act as you think proper. I shall also leave the Society to make their own account of the interest upon the 600l. I borrowed. I have no doubt but the Society will be satisfied that I had no motive but the good of the mission, and that, as Christian men who fear God, they will do what is just and right. I shall therefore leave the matter in your hands.
“I have the honour to be, gentlemen,
“Your most obedient, humble servant,
“Samuel Marsden.”
While thus engaged, he was still a faithful minister of the gospel in its richest consolations, and a bold opponent of vice. His position as a magistrate not only obliged him to reprove but to punish sin. The task was difficult, when the real offender, in too many cases, was not the wretched culprit at the bar of justice, but some rich and insolent delinquent, beyond the reach of the limited powers of a colonial magistrate. In consequence of Mr. Marsden’s fearless conduct in a case we shall not describe, he was at length formally dismissed from the magistracy. All that is necessary to be known, in order to vindicate his character, is contained in an extract of a letter written by himself to Mr. Nicholson, dated Paramatta, 12th August, 1824:
“My very dear sir,” he says, “I have still to strive against sin and immorality, which brings upon me the hatred of some men in power; this I must expect from those who live on in sin and wickedness.... You would hear of the whole bench of magistrates at Paramatta being dismissed at one stroke, five in number—Messrs. ... and your humble servant. We fell in the cause of truth and virtue. If certain individuals could have knocked me down, and spared my colleagues, I should have fallen alone; but there was no alternative but to sacrifice all at once. I glory in my disgrace. As long as I live I hope to raise a standard against vice and wickedness. We have some Herods here who would take off the head of the man who dared to tell them that adultery was a crime.”
He was still subject to the most annoying insults. Imputations, ludicrous from their absurdity and violence, were heaped upon him. In reading the libels which were published in the colony, and in England too, about this time, we should suppose that the man against whom they were aimed was some delinquent, notorious even in a penal settlement. He was openly accused of being “a man of the most vindictive spirit,”—“a turbulent and ambitious priest,”—a “cruel magistrate”—an “avaricious man.” These charges, amongst many more, were contained in a work in two volumes octavo, professing to give an account of Australasia, which reached a third edition, and to which the author’s name was attached. As if these were not sufficient to grind his reputation to the dust, further charges of hypocrisy and bigotry were thrown in. These last were easily repelled; to refute the others was more difficult, inasmuch as facts were involved which it was necessary to clear up and place in a just light before the public. It might have seemed magnanimous to despise such assailants, and meet them with silent pity. And yet we doubt whether such magnanimity would have been wise, for with a blemished reputation his usefulness would have been at an end; since his accusers were not anonymous hirelings, but magistrates and men of high position in the colony.
He referred the matter to his friends at home, placing his character in their hands. He was willing to institute an action for libel, if this step were thought advisable; or else to lay a statement of his wrongs before the House of Commons; and he transmitted the manuscript of a pamphlet, in self-justification, to his friend Dr. Mason Good. It was accompanied with a letter, remarkable for the modest estimate of his own abilities, as well as for true Christian meekness: “I have requested our mutual friend, Baron Field, Esq., to show the documents to you, and to consult with you on the propriety of publishing them. I have much more confidence in your superior judgment than in my own.... Many hard contests,” he says, “I have had in this colony. But God has hitherto overruled all for good, and he will continue to do so. As a Christian I rejoice in having all manner of evil spoken of me by wicked men. As a member of society, it is my duty to support, by every lawful means, an upright character. The good of society calls upon me to do this, from the public situation I hold, as well as that gospel which I believe; on this principle I think it right to notice Mr. W.’s work. I leave it,” he adds, “to you and my other friends to publish what I have written or not, as you may think proper, and with what alterations and arrangements you may think necessary. I do not know how to make a book, any more than a watch, but you have learned the trade completely; I therefore beg your assistance, for which I shall feel very grateful.” But even these anxieties could not engross his confidential correspondence. In the same letter we have pleasant mention of New Zealand and its missionaries:—“I have no doubt about New Zealand; we must pray much for them, and labour hard, and God will bless the labour of our hands.” Nor is science quite forgotten:—“I have sent you a small box of fossils and minerals, by Captain Dixon, of the Phœnix, from Point Dalrymple principally; the whole of them came from Van Diemen’s Land.”
Mr. Wilberforce and other friends of religion were consulted; and under their advice his pamphlet was published in London, though not till the year 1826. It is entitled, “An Answer to certain Calumnies, etc., by the Rev. Samuel Marsden, principal Chaplain to the colony of New South Wales.” It contains a temperate, and at the same time a conclusive answer, to all the charges made against him. To some of these we have already had occasion to refer; others have lost their interest. The charge of hypocrisy was chiefly grounded on the fact that a windmill, on Mr. Marsden’s property, had been seen at work on Sunday. But “the mill,” he says, “was not in my possession at that time, nor was I in New South Wales. I never heard of the circumstance taking place but once; and the commissioner of inquiry was the person who told me of it after my return from New Zealand. I expressed my regret to the commissioner that anything should have taken place, in my absence, which had the appearance that I sanctioned the violation of the sabbath-day. As I was twelve hundred miles off at the time, it was out of my power to prevent what had happened; but I assured him it should not happen again, for the mill should be taken down, which was done.” How few, it is to be feared, would make such a sacrifice, simply to avoid the possibility of a return of the appearance of evil! The charge of bigotry arose out of his interference with Mr. Crook, a person in the colony who had formerly been intended for the South Sea mission. It was at the request of the missionaries themselves, that Mr. Marsden, as agent of their Society, had been led to interfere; but he was represented, in consequence, as “a persecutor of dissenters.” Messrs. Bennett and Tyerman were then in Australia; and in answer to Mr. Marsden’s request that “they would do him the favour to communicate to him their impartial opinion, how far he had in any way merited such an accusation, either as it respects Mr. C. or any other missionary belonging to the London Missionary Society,” he received a grateful acknowledgment of his services, which we are happy to insert:—
“Sydney, May 11, 1825.
“Rev. and dear Sir,—We have to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 5th inst., requesting our opinion, as the representatives of the London Missionary Society, on one of the malicious charges against you in the outrageous publication lately come to the colony. It is with the utmost satisfaction we state, as our decided opinion, that the charge of intolerance or persecution towards Mr. Crook, or any other missionary connected with the London Society, or, indeed, connected with any other missionary society, is utterly untrue. We believe it to have originated in malice or culpable ignorance, and to be a gross libel.
“We rejoice, sir, to take the opportunity to say that the South Sea mission, and all its missionaries, have been, and continue, to be, exceedingly indebted to your singular kindness and persevering zeal in their behalf. No temporal reward, we are persuaded, would have been equivalent to the most valuable services which you have so long and so faithfully rendered to this mission and its missionaries. After all your upright and perfectly disinterested kindness towards the missionaries, when they have been residing on the Islands,—when they have been residing in the colony, on their way from England to the Islands,—when they have voluntarily returned from the Islands to the colony,—and when, from dire necessity and cruel persecution, compelled to flee from the scenes of their missionary labours, and take up their residence here; that you have met with so much calumny, and so few returns of grateful acknowledgment, for all you have done and borne on their behalf, is to us a matter of surprise and regret.
“Allow us, dear sir, to conclude by expressing our hope, that the other envenomed shafts aimed at you in this infamous publication, will prove as impotent as that aimed at you through that Society, in whose name, and as whose representatives, we beg to renew its cordial thanks and unqualified acknowledgments. And desiring to present our own thanks in the amplest and most respectful manner,
“We remain, rev. and dear sir, most faithfully,
“Your obliged and obedient servants,
“George Bennett.
“Daniel Tyerman.”
The case of James Ring, we cannot pass unnoticed. It shows the cruelty with which Mr. Marsden’s reputation was assailed on the one hand, and his own firm and resolute bearing on the other. Ring was a convict, who for his general good conduct had been assigned as a domestic servant to Mr. Marsden. He was permitted by the latter, in accordance with the usual custom, to work occasionally at his own trade—that of a painter and glazier, on his own account, and as a reward for his good conduct. He was frequently employed in this way by the residents at Paramatta; amongst others by the chief magistrate himself. This man having been ill-treated and severely beaten by another servant, applied, with Mrs. Marsden’s approbation, to the magistrates of Paramatta for redress; instead of receiving which, he was charged by them with being illegally at large, and committed to the common jail.