CHAPTER VII. KENDALL'S VISIT TO ENGLAND, 1820.
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CHAPTER VII
KENDALL'S VISIT TO ENGLAND, 1820.
IN August, 1819, Samuel Marsden paid his second visit to New Zealand. He arrived on 12th August in the American brig General Gates, accompanied by the Rev. John Butler, Mrs. Butler, and their son Samuel Butler, Mr. James Kemp, a smith and Catechist, and Mrs. Kemp, and Mr. Francis Hall, a schoolmaster. The Rev. John Gare Butler was the first ordained clergyman to reside in New Zealand. Born in March, 1781, he was 38 years of age. For the first part of his working life he had been employed as an accountant to a London carrying company. He had then decided to become a missionary, and, after preparation for the work of the Church Missionary Society by the Rev. John Bishop, of Paddington, and ordination by the Bishop of Gloucester, he sailed for New Zealand on 15th December, 1818, to take up his duties as superintendent of the Mission at the Bay of Islands. He retained this post until 14th November, 1823, when he was suspended by Marsden from the work of the Society in New Zealand. *
Francis Hall retired in December, 1822, while James Kemp remained in the service of the Church Missionary Society until 1852, when he resigned owing to a dispute regarding the land question.
Butler, however, was no disciplinarian; his arrival served only to increase the prevailing dissension. Kendall in particular refused to acknowledge Butler's authority. "I beg leave to state my opinion," he said, in an open letter to his fellow settlers, "that the best way to promote harmony amongst missionaries is for every individual to prove his own work and not to interfere with the concerns of another. I therefore disclaim the idea of ever in future acknowledging any man for my master at New Zealand, whoever he may be, whilst I am engaged in the service of the Church Missionary Society. And I would strongly recommend to the Rev. Mr. Butler, in order to avoid future altercation, to drop the idea of any exclusive authority over missionaries, as I believe his own comfort and happiness would be promoted thereby."
Upon receiving this letter, Butler characterised it in his Journal as "full of fallacy and deceit." "Mr. Kendall," he observes, "begins by declaring his fixed determination to follow and abide by the rules of the Society. But how does his conduct agree with his statement? Instead of devoting his labours, gifts,
* R. J. Barton, Earliest New Zealand (Masterton, N.Z., 1927), passim; The Letters and Journals of Samuel Marsden, pp. 143-4.
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and abilities in the Society's cause, he is running after, and spending his time on board, every ship that comes into the harbour, scudding about with them from place to place, and making his own house a common rendezvous. If he does not actually purchase hogs, potatoes, etc., he is still the agent by which they are obtained. Does he serve captains for naught? O, no--but here I stop.
"He despises all order and will only do what he pleases. Moreover, he declared publicly that if Mr. Pratt or Mr. Marsden resided in New Zealand he would not be called to account by them. He wishes to promote harmony, but he is the principal jarring string. He wishes everyone to prove his own work; it would be well for himself if he did this. He would then (if he had any conscience) be ashamed of his negligence. We have no school at Rangee Hoo (Rangihoua), although he has nothing else to do but attend one. We have plenty of food for a small school; and, if not deprived of our supplies by shipping, might soon have a large one. He charges all with assuming exclusive authority over missionaries. How grossly false is this accusation, as may be seen by my calling all the missionaries and every other servant of the Society together to talk over this business (of private trade), to bring everything before a committee and, if possible, to pull up this noxious plant from the bottom of the roots, that no vestige of it might appear hereafter for ever."*
The relations of Kendall with the new superintendent of the New Zealand Mission continued to be strained. Ships were visiting the Bay of Islands with increasing frequency, the natives were eager to exchange pork and potatoes for muskets and powder, and Kendall had evidently found the business of agent a profitable one. Thus in his Journal for Thursday, 10th February, 1820, Butler observes that he received on that day a visit from Captain Spence of the Echo, who was accompanied by Kendall. The Echo was the fifth vessel to arrive at the Bay of Islands within six months, and two of these vessels, the Catherine and the Martha, had paid return visits in the period. Spence now informed Butler that eleven more ships were on their way to New Zealand. The Bay of Islands, according to Butler, was already "thin of pork," since every ship bought as much as could be procured, while the natives paid no attention to breeding their pigs, and the arrival of so many more vessels must make provisions very dear. The natives, moreover, would scarcely look at ordinary articles of barter in their anxiety to secure muskets, and Butler feared that the settlement must therefore be reduced to great straits. Under these circumstances he heard, with the greatest indignation, that Kendall had persuaded the Kerikeri natives to send their pigs to the Echo. "At first," Butler states, "I did not believe the report, but Mr. William Hall informed me that Shunghee (Hongi) had told him
* R. J. Barton, Earliest New Zealand, p. 72; MS. Journal of Rev. John Butler, Hocken Library.
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it was true and that Mr. Kendall asked him if he had any pigs, informing him that there were excellent muskets on board the ship. As we are altogether dependent on the natives for a supply of this article (and pigs are scarce at this time) it is like taking the bread out of our mouths. Such conduct is disgraceful to any servant of the Society. But gifts blind the heart."
Two days later, on 12th February, Butler found that Kendall's conduct in persuading the natives to take their pork to the Echo made it necessary to give them a much larger quantity of trade goods than usual for some pigs which he purchased.
Later, by dint of remonstrance and persuasion, he succeeded in procuring twenty-four buckets of potatoes, but found that he himself could only buy with a musket. "I was obliged," he writes, "to send away Mr. William Hall and carpenters by a secret expedition to fetch a musket from on board ship, in order to pay for the same."
On Monday, 14th February, therefore, a special committee meeting was held at Rangihoua to consider the conduct of Mr. Kendall. Upon hearing the charges, however, Kendall showed himself far from repentant. "He immediately flew into a most violent rage," writes Butler, "and stamped and stormed about the schoolroom for half an hour; he would not be called to account for anything he did, neither would he have anything more to do with the Committee. 1 Calming down a little, however, he confessed that he had told the natives there were excellent muskets on board the ship."
Informed of the next charge--that he also had sent pork on board the Martha--Kendall again "flew into a great passion, and said, if he had, it was to remunerate him for some trade he had bought out of his own pocket. He further said that I had no right to come there to call them to account, and then he took his hat and ran away." *
Kendall had thus shown his contempt for the local committee at the Bay of Islands and the ruling of the superintendent of the Mission. He was already contemplating a much more serious offence. Without waiting for permission to leave his station, he had made up his mind to sail for England with Hongi and Waikato in the New Zealander. He was actuated partly by his anxiety to secure ordination as a deacon, partly by his desire to confer with Professor Lee, of Cambridge, concerning the Grammar and Vocabulary of the New Zealand Language, which, edited by Lee, was published in 1820. Thus Marsden, when upon the occasion of his third visit he reached the Bay of Islands in H.M.S. Dromedary on February 27th, 1820, found that Kendall had already made all his preparations for departure, although his colleagues were deeply incensed that he should thus sail for England leaving his
* R. J. Barton, Earliest New Zealand, pp. 68-71; MS. Journal of Rev. John Butler, Hocken Library.
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wife and eight children to be cared for by them. * Almost immediately after his arrival in New Zealand, Marsden wrote to the Secretary to inform him both of Kendall's approaching departure and of the fact that Hongi and Waikato, who was Ruatara's brother and Hongi's brother-in-law, intended to travel with him. Kendall wished to have the chiefs with him that they might aid in the reduction of their language to writing. Hongi had other views. His chief desire was to obtain arms wherewith he might overcome both his enemies the Ngati-Whatua, who had defeated Nga-Puhi at Moremunui in 1807, and his other enemies on the Hauraki Gulf. In England he was presented with many gifts which, on his homeward journey, he exchanged at Sydney for the coveted weapons. **
Marsden's letter is dated from the Dromedary, Bay of Islands, February 29th, 1820. "I am happy to inform you," he wrote, "that H.M. ship Dromedary anchored in the Bay of Islands on the evening of the 21st inst., soon after which the Rev. Mr. Butler and the settlers were on board, when I was informed that Mr Kendall was on the eve of his departure for England, and was expected to sail on the 29th. As Mr. Kendall had made all his arrangements for Europe, I was at a loss how to act. I must leave Mr. Kendall to explain his reasons for the step he has taken. He takes Shunghee (Hongi) with him. This I regret, as I should not recommend any more New Zealanders to be sent to Europe, as the climate is too severe for them. Shunghee has been very kind to the settlers since they have been here. Mr. Kendall has gained very considerable knowledge of the language, as well as the confidence of the natives. I wish much he had obtained the permission of the Society and the approbation of his colleagues to visit England before he had attempted to leave his station. I do not feel competent to judge of the propriety or the impropriety of Mr. Kendall's conduct so as to warrant me in giving an opinion. I feel for his family, situated as they are. I have not been on shore at the settlement since I arrived, having been prevented by public business. I could not do this, or I should have called a meeting of all the committee and taken their opinion on Mr. Kendall's conduct in going to Europe at the present time. He seems to think the Rev. J. Butler is not the superintendent of the whole Mission and those connected with it. I have always considered him in that light myself. Mr. Kendall will not acknowledge any superior, from what he stated to me. No doubt he will state all these things to you, when you will be able to judge.
"Mr. Kendall's principal desire in returning to England is to obtain ordination, if possible, for performing Divine service at New Zealand amongst the natives. Whether this can be done
* Cf. The Letters and Journals of Samuel Marsden, pp. 26i-2n., Ibid., P- 333n. i The Church Missionary Register, 1820, pp. 326-7.
** S. Percy Smith, Maori Wars of the Nineteenth Century (Second Edition, 1910), p. 181; also Appendix C, p. 264.
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or not I am not able to judge, and therefore must leave him to use what interest he can obtain to accomplish his wishes in this respect."
To this letter Marsden later added the following footnote:-- "I have forwarded this letter, which will show how much I opposed Mr. Kendall's return to England. Nothing but violence would have retained him in New Zealand at that time, and this I had neither authority nor inclination to exercise."
On March ist, 1820, the day before his departure from the Bay of Islands in the New Zealander, Kendall wrote to Marsden, vindicating his conduct in sailing for England. "I now take my leave of you," he wrote, "and, although it gives me much pain to reflect that any difference of opinion should exist between you and myself and that I am not entering upon this voyage with those tokens of your approbation which would have been so desirable to me, yet I hope I shall always speak of you with kindness in whatever company it may please Divine Providence to place me.
"Whether this voyage is, or is not, undertaken in a right spirit will appear from the result. If I am right I shall enjoy the blessing of God. If I am wrong I pray that He may teach me a better way. But I have a strong desire to go. The path of duty appears to me to be plain. I feel for my family and trust that I shall be conducted back to them again in safety. I would not leave them if I had the least fear that the natives would treat them ill. I feel for my colleagues. Some of them may perhaps be jealous of me or displeased at my conduct towards them, but however this may be, I pray that the Almighty God may be their guide and guardian.
"There are those who, as it would seem, speak hard things of me behind my back. In so doing they cannot be right. I would ask them, if I could, whether they ever tell a tale to the prejudice of themselves.
"I feel also for the situation of the natives. I have made the language my study night and day. If I ever am enabled by the help of God to contribute anything towards their eternal interests He shall have the glory. I can do no good without books, and these ought to be inspected and printed in England. A school can never be carried on without books."
On April 24th, 1820, Marsden again wrote to the Secretary from the Bay of Islands to express his considered judgment with regard to Kendall's conduct and its effect on the general situation in New Zealand.
"You will have learned from Mr. Kendall," he wrote, "that I arrived in New Zealand in H.M.S. Dromedary on the 17th of February, just at the period Mr. Kendall was embarking for England. I was much surprised at the step he had taken without any previous approbation either of his colleagues, the Society, or any other person. I cannot see the wisdom of his measure.
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According to human foresight it was a hasty step. Divine goodness may overrule all for good, and time will reveal the good or evil attending Mr. Kendall's visit to England. However clear Mr. Kendall might see his way, to me it appeared dark and gloomy. His colleagues had only lately arrived. They were neither acquainted with the language, nor the characters, nor the manners of the natives, and on their account his presence was very much wanted. A new settlement was forming under the protection of Shunghee (Hongi). Shunghee accompanying Mr. Kendall distressed the minds of his colleagues, as they considered him as their principal guardian and were full of fear for their personal safety when Shunghee was gone. Mr. Kendall left his wife and eight children wholly at the mercy of the natives and at an age when they in a very especial manner require the eye of the parent to prevent them from mingling amongst the heathens and learning their ways. However, he was determined upon returning to England, let the consequences be what they may. Some individual must think and provide food for his family. I believe myself and Mr. Butler must take this trouble or they will not be provided for. Though I cannot approve of Mr. Kendall leaving New Zealand at the present time, his reasons may perhaps be satisfactory to the Committee. If so, it will be well. I wish now to state the situation I found the Mission in on my arrival. Permit me first to observe with respect to New Zealand, there never was in my opinion a fairer field for missionary labours in any heathen nation.
"With respect to the personal danger of the missionaries, I think six years' experience is sufficient to remove any serious apprehensions upon that ground. Mr. Kendall leaving his wife and eight children in the power of the natives is at least a strong testimony what his opinion is upon this ground.
"There is every prospect, as far as concerns the natives, to encourage the Society in their labours. The great difficulty in establishing this Mission has originated from civilized enemies and from the missionaries having connections with the shipping, which has more or less tended to destroy that unity of spirit which is the bond of peace, and give just cause to the enemy to triumph. To do justice to Messrs. Kendall and Hall they have both been very useful men in their respective stations, but I apprehend they would have been much more so had they not lost sight of their duty to the Society and to each other. Their bartering with the natives and shipping for muskets and powder excited their avarice, and avarice excited jealousy, and both destroyed all Christian love and carried them so far out of their duty that they could not even meet at least to read the service of the church on the Sabbath day together.
"When I visited them in August last I found them all in a state of confusion. I saw these evils to be exceedingly great, but the difficulty was to find a remedy. I had for a long time
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been remonstrating with them by letter against the nefarious traffic of muskets and powder with the natives, and against all private traffic; but, notwithstanding the directions I had given and the resolutions which they entered into against this barter, I found it was still continued and productive of every evil. I had a string of resolutions or rules drawn up, which were read one by one in the committee and approved by the signature of them all. * When these resolutions were passed I hoped a death blow was struck to this abominable and disgraceful evil. Not many days after, one of the old settlers (Mr. King) purchased a quantity of hogs with a musket. I now despaired of ever preventing this evil without all the missionaries who were concerned in this wickedness were dismissed from the service of the Mission. This I had no authority to do, and if I had possessed the authority as an individual I should not have exercised it but should have referred the matters to the consideration of the Honourable Committee at Home. I did suspend Mr. King, as stated in a former letter. The Rev. John Butler saw this evil in the same light as I did, and also Messrs. Francis Hall and Kemp. After the subject came again before the Committee, they all unanimously agreed once more to abide by the rules which they had signed. During my stay in New Zealand I experienced much distress from the misconduct of those employed in the Mission. I hoped mutual friendship was restored amongst them in a certain degree when I left them in November; 2 at the same time I was afraid the Rev. John Butler would not be able to maintain his authority and carry on the Mission with comfort to himself.
"I have had a deal of experience with missionaries for more than twenty years, and I have found them very difficult to do anything with. As soon as they enter upon their work they feel indifferent. They consider themselves their own masters, and will only do what they please. In all missions some improper characters will be found. In the Otaheitian (Tahitian) Mission there were several worthless characters. 3 In time one after another left their stations and returned to the world again. Some of them became drunkards and guilty of other scandalous sins. But the conduct of the idle and abandoned did not prevent the Divine blessing from crowning the labours of the faithful missionary with success. We must not expect them all to turn out well who come to New Zealand. We must be thankful if one in three do their work faithfully. What also adds to the difficulty of the Mission here is the distance New Zealand is from the Mother Country. It is probable had the missionaries been nearer home they would have behaved better or the Committee would have removed them. Situated as this country is, there were none to supply their place; and had they come away, the Christian world would have been discouraged from supporting the Mission, and the enemies would have greatly rejoiced.
* Vide supra, p. 148.
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"On my arrival in February, 4 I found the Europeans in great confusion, and the tares were again sprung up amongst the wheat. The settlers had fallen into their old barter with the ships and natives for muskets and powder. Mr. Butler, either for want of authority or from fear or persuasion, had been prevailed upon to pollute his hands with the same traffic, not on his private account but to procure animal food for the support of the settlement. * This trial I was not prepared to meet. I called a meeting again, stating abhorrence of this traffic. Mr. Butler condemned it as much as I did. They contended that without muskets and powder the natives would not sell pigs; that they could not get a log of timber, nor potatoes, nor any article they wanted to purchase. I did not credit all they said, but told them I should be here for some time and then I should judge; that they should not purchase any while I remained with them, and if anyone did I would not pay his salary and he might apply Home for it. If I found that they could not get animal food without muskets and powder, I would send them salt meat from Port Jackson till the subject was submitted to the Committee at Home. Mr. Butler was much distressed--told me he could not govern the Europeans, and if I had not come he should have returned to Port Jackson by the first opportunity. I was thankful to God that His providence had opened a way for me to visit them at this trying moment. Mr. Butler wants experience. He has had men under him, but not missionaries, who have no idea of subordination. I think the Dromedary will remain long enough for me to prove that they can get all the native productions without muskets or powder, and I hope I shall establish Mr. Butler upon a more comfortable foundation than he was before. I know Mr. Kendall will plead for this barter very strongly, and had he remained Mr. Butler would have found more difficulty in abolishing it than he will at present. 5 Notwithstanding Mr. Kendall had signed the resolution to barter no more with muskets and powder when I was here in November, and I believed he would do what he promised, yet to my great mortification he had some muskets sent down from Port Jackson in the Dromedary by his agent, which I knew nothing of till after they were opened on board and I was informed by the King's officers that this was the fact. Mr. Butler told me the same. I did not know this circumstance till Mr. Kendall had sailed. Had I known I should have ordered them back again. I shall rejoice to give the missionaries any credit for all the good they do, and to approve of their conduct as far as I can; and it gives me much pain to state the above complaints. I condemn this barter because its natural tendency is to defeat the grand object of the Society. It arouses one tribe of natives against another who are unarmed, for a man with a club has not the same means of defence that one has with a musket. The morning Mr. Kendall sailed, I believe
* Vide supra, p. 154.
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Jules Sebastien Cesar Dumont d'Urville.
J. S. C. Dumont d'Urville was born at Cond6 on the 23rd May, 1790. He entered the French Navy in 1807, and in 1822, having reached the rank of lieutenant, was appointed second in command of the Coquille, which reached the Bay of Islands on April 24th, 1824, and remained there for a fortnight. He succeeded to the command of the vessel in 1826, when she was renamed the Astrolabe, and again visited New Zealand from December, 1826, till March, 1827. A third visit was paid in 1840, at the time of the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi.
A keen observer, he wrote copiously of New Zealand in his Voyage de l'Astrolabe. He was promoted to the rank of Admiral in 1840 on his return to France. He perished tragically with his wife and son in a railway accident near Paris on the 8th May, 1842.
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not less than forty canoes came into the harbour from a war expedition with prisoners of war and the heads of a number of chiefs whom they had slain in battle. I went on shore and saw the prisoners and the heads when they landed. The sight was distressing beyond conception. Arms and ammunition tend to inflame their warlike spirit and to urge them to blood and slaughter. No man can upon Christian principles defend such a barter. 6
"Should Mr. Kendall be in England he may endeavour to defend his conduct in what I censure him in--but he never can. He will say a hoe, axe, or tomahawk will kill a man as well as a musket, but that argument is nothing."
Meanwhile Kendall, bound for England in the New Zealander, had ample time for reflection, and wrote on May 27th, 1820, to his wife, to acquaint her, as he puts it, "with the present feelings of his mind." "Life is at all times very uncertain, and I have been often impressed with the idea that mine will not be protracted long," he began, as he gloomily reflected on the past and sought to penetrate the future. "I cannot doubt," he continued, "but, after having lived so many years in your society and the many returns of sweet conversation, that I have possessed some share in your reflections, and I now thank you for all your offices of kindness which you have invariably performed towards my person, and your general disposition to comply with all my requests. They recur to my thoughts more than ever since I have been from you, and have had an opportunity since I have been in this cabin to reflect upon past time. Those who are not well acquainted with our case are ready to condemn me for having undertaken this voyage, but I desire to be truly thankful to God that I have been led to do it. If I live to see you again, I hope it will be the means of producing a reconciliation between us, particularly if there should be on your part no obstacle in the way.
"Beware of wicked men in the event of my death. Satan is always making use of his own subtle instruments to destroy the children of God. Watch over all the children. Believe no one, however ready he may appear to be in kind offices, provided his manner conveys the least suspicion that his heart is not with you. But I must give over this train of thought. I write not to afflict you but to encourage you and to warn you."
After a voyage of seventeen weeks' duration the New Zealander reached England. On July 3rd, 1820, Kendall wrote to the Secretary to announce his arrival and to explain the object of a visit undertaken under a sense of duty to the Society. "The object of my voyage," he wrote, "is first, to undergo an examination in the New Zealand language before such judge or judges as the Honourable Committee may think proper to select for that purpose, in order that an alphabet and the sounds of the vowels and particles which are peculiar to the idiom of the language may be determined, and such a mode of spelling and pronunciation adopted as may be best calculated for its explanation.
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"The New Zealand language, as it appears to me--but it is a matter of such importance that I cannot allow myself to be a competent judge--is, as is that of the South Sea Islands, systematical, and is formed upon the principles of natural philosophy, including midwifery, maternity, optics, etc. A student unacquainted with these sciences might therefore labour long and in vain, however apt he might be in other respects to learn, before he could arrive at any degree of proficiency in it. I can already see many things in the language which are far above my comprehension, but which I know to be facts, and I can probably explain my ideas by answering personally such questions as may be put to me respecting the traditions, customs, and language of the natives sufficiently to be understood, which I could not do in writing, because I am not acquainted with the above sciences. I have accordingly to this end taken this resolute step. I am indebted to Parkhurst's Hebrew Lexicon, which was presented to Mr. Butler by the Rev. Mr. Bickersteth, for much of my little knowledge of the true idiom of the New Zealand language. The ideas taken from the celestial fluid, the emanating and reflecting lights, the formation of words, verbs, and particularly the present tense, darted into my mind upon the first perusal. The prefixes and affixes are placed nearly in the same way as I conceive they are in the Hebrew tongue. Many words are set down in Hebrew in the same manner as I shall spell those of the same meaning in the New Zealand language. The whole of the Hebrew vowels are sounded in the same manner as the New Zealand vowels ought to be sounded. I do not pretend to say that the New Zealanders are descendants of the Jews, nor do I think they really are so. 7 It will, notwithstanding, soon be made manifest, from a variety of traditions connected with the language itself, that they must have been formerly acquainted with that people. Perhaps I may err in the above conjectures, but I wish to be heard. I have no doubt but that the fulfilment of scripture prophecy is intimately concerned with the evangelization of the natives of the South Sea Islands.
"My object is, secondly, to obtain assistance in getting through the press A Guide to the Study of the New Zealand Language; which I bless God I have been enabled to complete during my passage, should the same after perusal be approved of by the Committee, and also such other of my little publications as may be thought useful after they have been corrected as duly as our present knowledge of the language will admit.
"I have also some other objects in view, connected with my future prospects and duty as a servant of the Society. I come not before you to enter into any differences of opinion which have existed between myself and any other person or persons with whom I have had any concern. These the Committee would hear with pain, and I could find no comfort myself in reciting
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them. My object is to do away that foul reproach, if any there should be, which I am apprehensive has been cast upon me in common with some of my colleagues as to loitering away our time. I am anxious to convince the Society that I am ready to serve them, and to tell them how I can, under the influence of Divine grace, do it. My stay in England must be very short. I therefore rely with confidence upon your affording me every necessary assistance in carrying me through with my work and accelerating my return to my family. I hope I shall not offend the Committee by making this voyage without first obtaining their permission. I am very far from wishing to treat them with disrespect. I have been prompted solely by a conviction of the importance of my errand. I come not after ease or pleasure. I come at a time when I can be least spared from my family. Such things as I want for family use I wish to purchase at my own expense. I shall make as good a provision for them with respect to things that are absolutely necessary as I can. I intend for my family to remain at New Zealand, as I should strongly object to live in Port Jackson. If it pleases God to conduct me back in safety, I do not intend to visit England any more.
"The chief Shunghee (Hongi) and another native whose friends are attached particularly to my family are with me and intend to return with me. Shunghee was promised by Mr. Marsden, when he was at New Zealand last year, that he should come to England with me when I came. These natives will live with me, as I know what diet will suit them best. You will have the goodness to instruct me where we are to go.
"Mr. Marsden returned to New Zealand in the Dromedary a day or two before the New Zealander sailed from thence. I am happy to say that I left him, the Rev. Mr. Butler, my family, and the whole of the settlers well."
A public announcement regarding the arrival of Kendall, Hongi, and Waikato in England was duly made in the Church Missionary Register * the impression being given that Kendall's voyage had been arranged by the Committee in the interests of the New Zealand Mission. "Mr. Kendall," it was stated, "having resided several years among the New Zealanders and collected copious materials for fixing the language and preparing elementary books therein, it was thought advisable that he should avail himself of the advantages which might be afforded to him in this country for proceeding on sure principles in the important work of embodying the language of these large and populous islands. Arrangements have been made accordingly with Professor Lee, and Mr. Kendall and his companions have proceeded to Cambridge, Mr. Lee having kindly undertaken to render his assistance during the leisure of the present University vacation.
* The Church Missionary Register, 1820, pp. 326-7.
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"Mr. Kendall's acquaintance with the language and manners of the natives, and with the various circumstances of the Mission established among them, will also enable him to put the Committee fully into possession of such facts as will best guide their judgment and decision.
"Of the two chiefs who have accompanied Mr. Kendall, the name of Shunghee (Hongi) is familiar to all who have taken an interest in this Mission. He is one of the principal chiefs at New Zealand, and is one of the heads of a powerful tribe which possesses a large quantity of land at and near the Bay of Islands. We mentioned in our last his sale to the Society of 13,000 acres. He is of a manly aspect--very much resembling the bust carved by himself, of which an engraving was given in our volume for 1816. * His age is about forty-five, his mother, who is now living and very old, having told Mr. Kendall that he was born soon after Captain Cook visited the Bay of Islands. Shunghee and his tribe have always been friendly to the settlers; his name has been often mentioned in the communications of Mr. Marsden and the missionaries. He understands somewhat of English, but does not speak it, as he has lived very much with his own people, and his intercourse with the settlers has been chiefly in his native tongue. The late Duaterra (Ruatara) was the son of Shunghee's sister.
"Whykato (Waikato) is one of the chiefs of Ranghee Hoo (Rangihoua) at the Bay of Islands. His age is about twenty-six. He has an open and manly countenance. He understands English tolerably well, and can make himself understood therein, having had more intercourse with our countrymen than Shunghee. Whykato and the late Duaterra married two sisters.
"The views and wishes with which Shunghee and Whykato have visited England will be best conveyed by themselves, as Mr. Kendall wrote them down from their mouths, without any prompting on his part:--
"'They wish to see King George, the multitude of his people, what they are doing, the goodness of the land. Their desire is to stay in England one month, and then to return. They wish for at least one hundred people to go with them. They are in want of a party to dig the ground in search of iron, an additional number of blacksmiths, an additional number of carpenters, and an additional number of preachers, who will try to speak in the New Zealand tongue in order that they may understand them. They wish also twenty soldiers to protect their own countrymen, the settlers; and three officers to keep the soldiers in order. The settlers are to take cattle over with them. There is plenty of spare land at New Zealand, which will be readily granted to the settlers.' These are the words of Shunghee (Hongi) and Whykato (Waikato).
* A woodcut of this bust is reproduced in A Voyage to New Zealand.-- J. L. Nicholas.
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"At present these interesting strangers have little notion of our holy religion. They are the subjects of a subtle and deeply-rooted superstition, as yet very little understood in this country, but with the nature and influence of which we hope, through Mr. Kendall, to obtain such an acquaintance as will enable us to place the affecting condition of this noble race in its true light--the finest natural dispositions abused and held in bondage under the dark and cruel tyranny of the god of this world."
After an interview with the Committee of the Church Missionary Society, Kendall and his friends proceeded to Cambridge, where they were introduced by Professor Lee to many distinguished persons--"The Vice-Chancellor, the Rev. Dr. Clarke, the Rev. Mr. Mandell, the Rev. Mr. Jee, Professor Farish, Mr. Farish (Surgeon), the Rev. Mr. Simeon, * Baron de Thierry, 8 and many other distinguished officers and members of the University. . . ." "Immediately after their return from Cambridge to London," the Sydney Gazette continues, "they were introduced by the Lord Bishop of St. David's and John Mortlock, Esq., to the House of Lords. 9 They were indulged with private interviews with their Royal Highnesses the Dukes of York and Clarence; the Earls of Yarmouth, Winchelsea, and Harcourt; Lord Dudley and Ward; Lord Gambier; the Bishops of Norwich, Ely, Durham, St. Asaph, and Gloucester; the Lord Mayor of London, and the Chancellor of the Exchequer; and were finally introduced by Mr. Mortlock to His Majesty, who treated them with the greatest condescension and affability, conducted them to his armoury, gave them several valuable presents, and allowed them the honour of kissing his hand. 10 They also visited the Tower, the British Museum, the Menagerie in the Strand; and expressed their admiration at everything they saw, and their gratitude at the kindness with which they had been at all times treated, particularly by the Lady of Mr. Mortlock, at whose house they generally resided. Here they were frequently visited by their friend J. L. Nicholas, Esq., 11 Mr. Rowe, Mr. Brewer, Mr. Evans, Mr. Short, Mr. Jones, and several other young gentlemen who were formerly pupils of the companion of their travels. ** They were also introduced to many ladies and gentlemen at the Church Missionary House; and received many handsome presents from the Church Missionary Society. They are now about to return to their native land in good health and in high spirits, having heard that their friends in New Zealand are peaceable and happy. Shunghee is the chief to whom His Excellency Governor Macquarie, about seven years ago, gave a cow, a suit of uniform, and some other presents, and whom His Excellency
* The Rev. Charles Simeon (1759-1836), a prominent evangelical, a benefactor, and lifelong friend of Marsden.--Cf. The Letters and Journals of Samuel Marsden, p. 529n.
** Kendall had been a teacher in London before entering the service of the Church Missionary Society.--Vide supra, p. 27.
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has since honoured with his obliging enquiries. It is Mr. Kendall's intention to re-establish a school amongst the natives of New Zealand, having obtained supplies for that purpose both from the Church Missionary Society and from several ladies and gentlemen, his own private friends. It must be highly gratifying to him, as it will be to his numerous friends, to hear that every possible attention has been paid in New Zealand to Mrs. Kendall and the children, during his painful absence from them. Shunghee and Waikato, during their residence at the house of Mr. Mortlock, amongst other things paid particular attention to his little daughter Mary; they were much pleased at her manner in repeating her religious and moral themes, and with her retentive memory. They parted with her more with the marks of affectionate Christian parents than those of untutored heathens." 12
Kendall, for his part, during his brief stay in England, had the satisfaction of being admitted into Holy Orders * and of having furnished Professor Lee 13 with the materials for the compilation of the Grammar and Vocabulary of the New Zealand Language. 14 His success in these directions must have seemed to Kendall adequate compensation for the minute of censure passed upon him by the Committee on August 14th, 1820, upon his arrival in London, when it was stated that the reasons assigned by him for coming did not justify his breach of the Regulations in leaving his station without permission, and that the Committee highly disapproved of his conduct in returning. The Committee, also, while agreeing to treat Hongi and Waikato with all kindness during their stay in England, expressed its entire disapproval of their having undertaken this visit, "as every advantage of gradually increasing intercourse with Europeans may be had by visiting, under Mr. Marsden's directions, the Colony of New South Wales; without the expense, inconvenience, and dangers attending a voyage to England." **
That the danger to New Zealanders from the English climate was not negligible was shown by the fact that Hongi himself was so ill by the time of his embarkation with Mr. Kendall and Waikato in the Speke convict transport that his life was despaired of. 15 He recovered, however, on the voyage, and by the date of his arrival at Sydney was fully resolved to make war on his enemies with his newly acquired weapons. *** The travellers finally reached the Bay of Islands in the Westmoreland on July nth, 1821. ****
* Proceedings of the Church Missionary Society, 1820-2, p. 203.
** Minutes of the Church Missionary Society quoted in Earliest New Zealand.--R. J. Barton, p. 90.
*** S. Percy Smith, Maori Wars of the Nineteenth Century (second edition), p. 183; cf. The Letters and Journals of Samuel Marsden, p. 359m
**** S. Percy Smith, Ibid., p. 182; R. J. Barton, Earliest New Zealand, p. 137.
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Kendall returned to the Bay of Islands with definite instructions from the Committee of the Society with regard to the future conduct of the New Zealand Mission. The Committee had delivered to him a valedictory message in the following terms:-- *
"You, Mr. Kendall, are about to return with the native chiefs to New Zealand.
"Having been admitted to Holy Orders, you can now both preach the Gospel and administer the Sacraments at the settlement at which you are fixed. You will, no doubt, consider this an additional obligation to spend your whole time and strength in labouring to bring the New Zealanders to the knowledge of Christ.
"The Committee approve your collecting materials for forming Elementary Books in the New Zealand language, with which Professor Lee has been enabled, with the further aid derived by him from intercourse with you and your native companions, to prepare a Grammar and Vocabulary of that tongue. They trust that all persons connected with the Mission will count it a serious duty to acquire as thorough a degree of knowledge as practicable of the native language, as in no other way can it be reasonably expected that they will adequately accomplish the purposes of their residence among the New Zealanders.
"We have endeavoured to render the visit of the chiefs to this country as pleasant to themselves and as subservient to the great objects of the Society as circumstances would allow. The Mission owes, under the blessing of God, much of its security to the protection of the friendly chiefs; and the Committee feel thankful, therefore, to these and other chiefs, for the aid which they have afforded to the efforts made to benefit their country.
"The Committee cannot, however, encourage the visits of New Zealanders to this country. All the natives of those islands who have come hither have suffered, as far as the Committee have been able to ascertain, in their health, and three have died 16 either here or on the passage. Most of the advantages, moreover, to be derived from such a visit, may be obtained by intercourse with New South Wales, without risk of health, with far less expense, and without various inconveniences which attend a visit to this country.
"After full deliberation on the subject, the Committee adopted some Regulations relative to the traffic of the settlers with the natives for procuring provisions, which were embodied in the Instructions delivered to Mr. Cowell in November, 1819. To these Regulations, the settlers having fully assented to them, the Committee call your particular attention, as they expect and require your conscientious conformity with them; and in order that you may liberate yourself from that dependence on the natives for the supply of necessaries which has proved your snare, the Committee would press on all the settlers the duty of attending to the increase of cultivation and stock.
* Proceedings of the C.M.S. (1820-22), p. 223.
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"Quarterly meetings of the missionaries, schoolmasters, and lay-settlers, for the regulation of the general concerns of the Mission, should be held as near as may be to each quarter day; and special meetings whenever any particular circumstances may render them necessary. At these meetings the missionaries should preside in rotation, and they should be held alternately at Ranghee Hoo (Rangihoua) and Kiddee Kiddee (Kerikeri). After supplicating the Divine guidance and blessing, some suitable portion of Scripture should be considered, for mutual encouragement and edification. Reports in writing of the condition and progress of each station and school, signed by the respective missionary or schoolmaster, must then be delivered in, and such subjects taken into consideration as may be proposed to the meetings, after which they should be closed with prayer.
"A fair copy of the minutes of each meeting must be prepared by the secretary, and after being signed by the chairman should be transmitted to New South Wales by the first opportunity, together with copies of all the reports delivered in to such meetings by the missionaries and schoolmasters. A letter should be addressed to Mr. Marsden by the chairman of each meeting, to accompany the minutes; which letter should contain such remarks and explanations as may be requisite.
"The Committee have hitherto had no occasion to make Regulations respecting the education and employment of the children of their missionaries, but as this is now becoming necessary it is their purpose to form such arrangements as may seem best adapted to promote the comfort of their missionaries, the welfare of their children, and the general prosperity of the Mission.
"It is their wish that as children grow up and become capable of useful occupation they should be employed, according to their means and opportunities, in promoting the general work of instructing heathen; and to those who may be thus employed the Committee will gladly allow such a stipend as their usefulness and their circumstances may justly require."
[Footnotes to Chapter VII]
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[Footnotes to Chapter VII]
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[Footnotes to Chapter VII]
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[Footnotes to Chapter VII]
