Untitled

Anglo-Maori Warder, Volume 1, Issue 17, 17 August 1848, Page 2

We invite attention to a letter which will be found in another column from a "Church Missionary." It has been received most opportunely, as ' affording occasion to correct ail impression which seems to have got abroad, that the W\rhkr it> a sort of champion to the Missionary body. Certainly, in the old days of wager of battle, men over sixty years of age, women, and price's ' were allowed to tight by deputy ; generally b) I some stray knight eriant, if romance may be trusted, who contrive)! to ride unexpectedly into the lists, at the very last moment, w lien the | accused were in extiemity. In the present I case, howevei, no such sen ice is required. We believe that the mission has not only the ability, but the inclination, to defend itself, without falling back upon any supposed advocacy on our part. Our relation to that b.)dy has been altogether mistaken. The object of the Warder has been, not. specially to serve the Mission, but to support the general cause of honesty and fair play. It has taken up that particular case, which has become public property, as a fertile and man. geable theme to work upon. Were the members of that body to be alone the gaitiI ers by what lias been said, they would ha\e a i right to complain of being done good to against I then- *wi]; but as the cause of the colony is I insepuiibly mixed up with their own, they I have nu sight to deny others the benefit of the j course tint has been taken. The misrepresen- ■ tationsVlrfch have gone forth are countless ; I but as those refer to themselves can be the I mojt distinclJyljjroved, we have dwelt specially ; upon such pioof to guard the more easily against others of the sort. It is ha'd upon them—but they must be content to bear with the affliction ; to suffer martyrdom, if needs be, for the good of thei.- fellow colonists. It may be shrewdly suspected, nevertheless, that few of them feel that infliction so very j keenly ; or else that if they do, they rhal the j fervour of the first Christians, who, according ' to the lively expression oi Sulpicius Severus, " desired martyrdom with more eagerness ihin his own contemporaries solicited a bishopric." i ■ For we have reason to know that many of that I ! body enteitain sentiments upon this subject i veiy different from those of our correspondent. I It must be borne in mind that the writer, by ' [ his own admission, is one of those few who i [ have never acquired lands ; that he is, on that very account, unable to enter fully into the ' feelings and wishes of those who have, or, to J speak \no're accurately, of those who still hold out. It- is clear that we can do him no goud,' and that Governor Grey has never done him individually any harm ; but on the contrary,! he has been made to stand out by contrast from among his fellows as a shining light. His' Spartan fortitude brings to mind the feelingj of Byron's Douua Inez towards her husband < Jose ; how Slie bora kis agonies with such sublimity. That all the wwrld cried out, fftut nidgnpiiniUy! But to speak seriously, let us offer our best thanks for the communication, which comes, if; we mistake not, from one who is second in ] scholarship, and in devotion to the highest in- | terests of his mission, to no one in this colony ;! from one whose opinions will always strongly I bias, even where they may fail to convince. And we heai lily wish that we could agree n ith onr correspondent in his estimate of Governor Hjs Exctllency has much to thank him for ; e«yi for tae guarded appio\al of government'Jfticy which the letter contains: still we wouiUitgmiiid the " Missionary" that all you have done, Ha'h been but tor a wajwari soo, Spi"ful and wrathful s who as otbfr< do, Loves ut bis own ei>da. not for you.