The New-Zealander.

New Zealander, Volume 5, Issue 353, 11 September 1849, Page 2

The New-Zealander.

Me jusi and le;u not: Let all t lie* ends thou aims't at, b** tliy Country's, 'lliv don';, and J'mfli's.

TUESDAY, SEPTEIfIiKR 11, 18 19.

Tun Government Brig, which sailed on Thursday week, the 30lh ult, with the Governor-in-Chict on board, ai rived at Russell ou the following night. The Grieat Native Feast, at winch we stated His Excellency would be present, commenced on Tuesday (this day week), and was continued on Wednesday and Tluasday, Neither Ileke nor Kawiti appealed on the occasion. About 1500 Natives attpnded. They dispersed soon after the termination of the festival winch had biought them together. On Friday, the Governor ac companicd by Lady Giey, hailed in the " Fly" for Wangaroa and Monganm, fiom whence it was His Excellency's intention to leturn in a few days to Auckland, where he will remain for a f'hojt ti)ne before proceeding to the South. The Brig left llussell on Fiiday evening last, anil ai uved heie on Sunday morning, bunging a*- passengers Dr. llobeilson, Stafl-.Suigeon ; M». Dumoulin, (Comnussariiii) ; 1 ieut Pitt; i-ieut. Page; and Mi. t'l.uke. She is to leave this port on Thuihday for Ta> anaki, Wangonui, Wellington, and Nelson, and then to lctum to Auckland.

Tirr: following Advertisement, which has appeal cd in the London papers for March, has called om attention to one of those out-goings of the active and intelligent spirit of philantbiophy hy which the Chustian benevolence of the British public is so happily and hohonouuibly charactenzed in the present day. It is one which, in addition to its general interest, as tending to the advantage of a numerous class of our fcllowcioatures, has an especially beneficial bearing on the colonial iields of immigration, — for though Australia is specified, the nature of the pioposition is evidently diffusive, and needs only sustentatioti and opportunity to spread its operations far and wide. " Emigrants' School and Religious Teachers' Fund. Chairman — the Erirl of Harrowby. Clergymen and gentlemen proceeding as cabin passengers to Australia, disposed to undeitake the moral, religious, and general instiuction of the adults and young people on boaid emigrant ships, are requested to apply to W. 11. G. Kingston, Hon. Secretary to the above Fund, at Trinity Chambers, 7, Charing Cross." The Society is, we presume, a newly formed Institution ; at least, we have not heard of it before, and we do not find it in any of the lists of Benevolent Associations in our possession. We therefore know nothing of its character beyond what may be inferred from the name of its noble Chairman, who (under his more familiar title of Lord Sandon) has been long distinguished as a liberal and zealous patron of various projects for the amelioration of distress, and the promotion of social and moral good ; but its object is so excellent that we should have been surprised if it had long failed to suggest itself to the consideration of a practical charity which is looking not only at home but to the ends of the earth for spheres of useful exertion. The emigrants from Gieat Britain and Ireland have strong claims on such regard, arising out of their numerical importance, and the peculiarities of their position and circumstances. 1. Their numerical importance. We have lately seen it stated by a well-informed writer that the emigration from Great Britain and Ireland in the year 1847-8 was about three times as large as in preceding years, amounting to nearly quarter of a million of souls. And present appearances indicate rather an increase than a diminution of this vast out-flow from the parent country. The principles which bi ought forth the Free Trade movement tend more powerfully in this direction than would be supposed by those who have not reflected on the subject. Whatever may be the abstract merits of the question, it would be vain to deny that the main-spiing in the Free Trade agitation was selfishness on the part of the Manchester " millocrats," who (with a few honorable exceptions) are amongst the most grasping and soidid of the whole tribe of heartless mammon worshippers. They, and their sympathisers 'a Glasgow and elsewhere, have succeeded in cdnymg a measiue which, whatever advantages may result from it when other nations shall be kind enough to imitate our example, and establish a uml reciprocity in trade, — (a millennial peiiod tbe date of which even Mr. Cobdi'ii, prolific as he is in political prophecies, will, as matters now stand, scarcely venture to foretell) — it is painfully certain that amongst the results to the production of which it most immediately tends, are placing the woikinan^ (aye, and, in the factories, the work-woman and the work-infant too) - ju starvation wages ;— the annihilation of many small trades, the prospeiity of which depended chiefly or wholly on ptolective duties ; — and the throwing of thousands of operatives altogether out of employment. It matters little to these that food is somewhat cheapei, when they cannot earn money to purchase it ; or that manufacturing capitalists can swell their gains by an unrestiicted importation of raw material, when

the accumulation of wealth and power in that class only enables them to crush them with a stronger hand into the serf -like dependance and poverty of the " Cheap Labour" system ; or that the gew-gaws of French millinery, or the nick-natkeries of Swiss and German jewellery and toy-making, may be had at a lower price, when their want i,«, — not sattin slippers and silk gloves, and embossed ribbons, and Geneva trinkets, — but bread for their hungry children. They are shut up to the alternative of the tender mercies of the Poor Law, — or emigration. The labour market is further glutted in consequence of the discoveries and improvements continually progressing in machinery, and in its recent remarkable adaptations to agricultural as well as manufacturing purposes. As respects Ireland, the case is still more striking. Evict ions of tenantry are going on there rapidly, and the " outed " families must seek a home somewhere. The insecurity of life and property, to which, in that anomalously ciicuinslanced country, so many social, political, and even religious elements have long contributed, is greater rather than less. To this is now to be added the destruction of the principal — almost the sole — ai tide of the people's food. Beyond dispute, lioland is in a new position, in a real cusis of her eventful histoiy. " Ih utilities," says that profound thinker, and eneigctic, though frequently strange and grotesque writer, Thomas Carlyle, (in a very characteristic article, which, if we can find space, we will some day copy entire) — "Brutalities, like those founded on the late potato, or on the present Downingstreet tinkeiage, and rate-in-aid, ought not to be allowed to live under the title of human. In the name of Adam's united posterity, and for the honour of the family, tiiey are called to become new creatures, unspeakably impioved in various essential features, or else to die, and disgrace the light no longer ! Alive, by Indian meal, or the regenerated potato, no human heart could wish to see this Irish monster. Let him become an unspeakably imptoved monster ; let him nt least learn to feed himself, which is the primary stage of all improvement, and first renders improvement possible." But this he cannot do just now, in his own land, gifted though it so richly is with natural fertility, as well as with natural beauty. — therefore he must leave if. When we add the force of these recently developed repulsive powers to that of the previous and legitimate attraction which has always drawn many of the young, the enteiprising,or the necessitous to the "fresh fields and pastures new" ptesened by the colonies, we may safely conclude that, for some time at least, emigration will probably proceed at its present accelerated speed. 2. Whether these emigrants are persongtwho previously have been under habitual moral and religious influences, or poisons of a totally diiFetent character,' they will, in either case, stand in need of such advantages as are contemplated in the notification we have quoted. In a letter now before us, a gentleman observes, amidst other statements to the same effect, " It has often been a painful reflection to my mind, during my lesrdence of six years in New Zealand and New South Wales, to witness so many who have lost their religion dunn<r their voyage out ." Many such testimonies might be cited ; nor can the fact be matter of surprise when we remember that, on board ship, emigrants are so frequently not only separated from the religious ordinances and associations, to the instrumentality of which their former consistency of deportment was, in an important degree, attributable, but also placed within the reach of " evil communications '' and various other tempting and corrupting influences. It would be a great blesbing to such to have even one individual in the vessel qualified by character and ability to exercise some religious oversrght amongst them, and manifesting a real care for their spiritual well being and well doing. There ate few emigrant ships however, without many of an opposite class amongst its passengers ;—; — some careless, some sceptical, some profligate, so ne impelled by a reckless spirit of adventi: <*, some the fugitives of ruined fortune, and ruined reputation. To such, under kind and judicious instruction, the months of the voyage may become a season of salutary reflection and amendment, and they may land in their new world as renovated men. Amongst convicts, who may be deemed the least accessible by the means referred to, great and, we trust, permanent good has thus been accomplished. Let any who doubt it, read Dr. Browning's narrative of the progress and results of his reformatory endeavours in the several convict ships of which he was Surgeon-Superintendent — one of the most deeply interesting volumes of its kind we have ever met with.* No mean authority on this subject (Sir George Arthur), says, " For my part, Ido not see why, in any instance, the voyage may not be made an opportunity ' of eradicating evil passions — of supplying the mind with useful information — and of impressing it with a deep sense of religion and of the dreadful consequences of crime. Nor do I augur thus favourably from a vague conception of what might be done, but from a

* " The Convict Ship, and England's Exile*. In Two Paits. By Colin Arrott Browning, M D., Surgoon, Royal Navy. Second Edition. London : 1847."

knowledge of what has actually been done." If this were so amongst convicts, how much more might be reasonably anticipated from, similar efforts amongst exiles and emigrants of a better class! Nor is this an exclusively religious matter. All moral cultivation of a right character will pioduce temporal good us one of its eailiest and most visible fruits ; — good in which others will participate with the individual who is the subject of it. The most frigid commercial speculator — even though he be himself an infidel — knows that, on grounds of mere self-interest, it is his wisdom to employ in his service, or entrust with his properly, men who are under religious impressions, in preference to those who are not so. The object of the Society whose announcement has led us to make these remarks, has, then, our fullest commendation ; and should that object be pursued in a zealous, prudent, and unsectarian spirit, we trust it will meet with support, success, and expansion. At all events, it is gratifying to see that the attention of the benevolent British public is, in some measure, turned to a sphere of exertion which will be found interesting and important in proportion as its claims on philanthropic regard arc investigated and recognised.