REVIEW.

New Zealander, Volume 6, Issue 480, 20 November 1850, Page 3

REVIEW.

1. Lawry's Visit to the Fiiendly and Fecjee Islands. London, 1850. 2. The Wedeyan Missionary Notices for January, 1850, containing Extracts pom a Despatch from the Lieutenant- Governor of the Gold Coast. (Concluded from the " New-Zeahindor " of the 13th inst.) Perhaps, in as far as the Mexican* ar« concerned, sufficient evidence has been produced of the ferocity of their dispositions. We add two other extr. cts from Cortez's despatches, which will show how cheaply they hold huiiiau life and happiness. In describing one ol his assaults on the city of Mexico, he states— " The battle was so fiercely fought, both by us and our allies, that we gained posscuiou of the whole district; und so great was the mortality amongst our enemies, that the number killed and made prisoner! exceeded twelve thou.nnd souls. Our allies (Mexicans) practised such cruelty towards the enemy that they spaied the lives of none, although greatly reproved and pumshed by us for their waut of humanity. 1 '

Again, on another occasion he states — " I cauied Spaniards to be stationed through all the streets to prevent our allies (Mexicans) from <hsli eying the wretched persons who came out in such multitudes. I also charged the captains to forbid by all the means in their power the slaughter of these fugilive3, yet all my precautions were insufficient, and that day more than fifteen thousand lost their lives/ The instances of ferocity and cruplty recoid^d of the inhabitants of the islands in the Pacific and of the idolaters in Africii, by the authorities we have tilfuUci to, are so dreadful that we cannot dwell ujmn them; yet, unless one is in some degree acquainted with the suffeiings and misery which idolatry entails upon its votaries, it is difficult to form a true estimate of the amount of peace and happiness which Christianity has conferred, even in this woild, upon the human i.ire, by rescuing men from the miseries which the worship of false godi entails upon tbem. It ii almost diffi *ult for us to conceive that the human heart can be guilty of such .wickedness and depravity as (hose who have sojourned among»t idolaters have found to exist ; and still more difficult is it, in the pride of our intellect and self-confidence, to believe how readily even the re. formed portion of Ihe human iace might again relapse into idolatry and its uttendant atrocities. But we are quite satisfied that any i nparlial pe.&on who will crquire into the recent stite of the countries we have named, will soon be convinced that, even discarding the peculiar inleiests of the British empiie, modern missionary enterprises, in removing to a great extent calamities which afll ; cted a lari»e portion of the human race, have confened incalculable benefits upon the wlvle human family ; and that thoe ia no single subject within the limits of human arlangements in which so large & portion of mankind have so direct an inteicst as in the efficient maintenance of missions. As ihere are however many peisons who have neither leisure nor inclination to enter into researches of the kind, we shall enter into a very cursory sketch of some few of the benrfits which have been conferred upon Great Britain, aad upon the human rate generally, by modern missionary enterpiises. In proceeding to do this, we shill pass by the spiritual effect of these upon the British nation. We know that many a humble and grateful heart, in contributing its mite towarls so great a woik, has felt drawn nearer to its Maker; that many a frail and feeble being who from physical incapacity was unable to take a part in these noblest efforts of which d sinterested man is capable, his yet felt in foregoing some indulgence, or in miking some sacrifice to contribute largely to the support of missions, tome consolation in weak lies* from knowing that thus a slur a had been borne in the work of Christianizing the world. We believe that many a bright eyed boy or girl whose trifle has been contributed to tome missionary object, has felt with thrilling pleasure, when reading of great good accomplished, that God in His infinite merry had evjn let a little English child help to do such good and beautiful things; and ive believe that such children, so nurtured and so sustained, have grown to be noble and pious men and women. And what English heart can say otherwise than may they long so grow up— may they long learn from early childhood to do good. We pass this by, we stop not to enumerate the hearts that have been filled with holy thoughts, with pious aspirations, in hearing accounts of what those they had sent foith had done. We also shall not: stop to estimate the number of pagan souls who have by missionary enterpri»e been won to Clnist. We believe that all things which are real'y great and good, which are not mere impositions aud delusions, dfecc not only spintu.il good, but also plain substantial benefits to man, which endure so long as may last the piety and religion on which, to be really great and good, they mu.>t necessarily have been based. Passing, then, to what some may deem mere worldy considerations — although, in earnest truth, they are not so, but are mere visible manifestations of the spiritual things that have been done— what do we find ? The mind is bewildered at the thought, the field is so vast. So we shall consider here principa'ly the woik of .he Wetleyan missions alone, and hut a smill pait ev.'n of the wjrk of this one religious body ; premising however that missions established by other religious bodies are in no single respect behind the Wesleyan Missionaries. First, then, passing to New Zaafaui, we find that upon the sth of February, 1840, no less momentous a question was agitated at the Waitangi than the voluntary, though absolute, cession to her Majesty the Queen of England, of the rights and powers of Sovereignty over tlic whole of the New Zealand Islands. A mngnificent donation truly this to the British nation, thus freely and voluntarily to surrender islands where the poor of England, lieland, and Scotland, for centuries to come might fiad space to build up homes for their fnmilies in tranqu 1 vales and upon open mountain sides. There plenty and abundance reign, where industry mu->t always realize wealth, and wuere health prevails to a greater degree than]in any known part of the world. So great a donation cannot be made without opposition, and this is vio'ent. The speeches of the opposers are clever and impressive; Her Majesty's Representative there begins to fear fur the result, when behold! forth steps Walksii Ncnh. He has been instructed, gained, baptized by the Wesleyun Missionaries ; he has had experience of the English ; he can tell his brother chiefs, his fellow-countrymen, whether tho foreign race are worthy of so greut a gift ; whether it is to the interest of the Maori race to become mingled with the intruders. Ifi the first pause in the violent opposition, Walker Nbnk came forward, and, spoke in a strain of natural eloquence that sui prised the Europeans, and turned aside the unfavourable feelings of his own countrymen ; addressing them first, he plainly tells them to remember the deluded position in which they had formerly been, and how much their character had become exulted by their intercourse with Europeans : he reminds them that they cannot govern themselves without frequent wars and bloodshed, and he advises them to receive the British as tbeir rulers, and to place confidence in their promises. Then, having thus done his duly to his countrymen, the noble Chief turned to the Queen's Repiesfntative, on whose gratitude he had establuhed such claims, and appealing to him as a witness to what had passed, said — " You must now be our fatl'er, you must not allow us to be enslaved. You must preserve our customs, and never permit our lands to be wrested from us." The die was cast. N«w Zealand became a portion of the British empire. Unconquered, without bloodshed, freily, nobly, was cedeJ a home for unborn millions. Not to the Weslayan missionaries alone was this triumph to be attributed ; there were umsiomries of other denominations, especially thos^i of the (Jlmrch o< England Mission, in the country ; it was by the joint dfnts of these missionaries ilia! there was achieved n triumph unsurpassed in histoiy. necessarily belonging to an advanced state of Christianity, in itself wondei - ful, in its promises for the futuie full of hope , mils very natuie stable, certain, sure, progressive

(Foi wntintuUon bee Supplement.)