To the Editor of the New Zealand Spectator, and Cook's Straits Guardian.

New Zealand Spectator and Cook's Strait Guardian, Volume I, Issue 7, 23 November 1844, Page 2

To the Editor of the New Zealand Spectator, and Cook's Straits Guardian.

Sic, — If " oppression will drive vise men mad," Capt. Fitzroy, enjoying as he does a most enviable exemption from its fearful power, seems determined to try what effect that power cau have on those who live in the land that is blessed with his Government. In the 'particular instance which I am about to detail, he must in candour be admitted to be an agent rather than a principal, still if he uses his authority to support a would-be-do-minant church in its unrighteous grasping of power and territory, he must be held as much responsible, as if the acts had originated with him. It is matter of public notoriety and record that in the allotment of the land in this town, a piece containing about 18 acres was marked out as a cemetery, which cemetery was used by all parties alike, all feeling that they had an equal right thereto. The first hint I heard of a wish for any other arrangement was about 18 month* ago, when one of our fellow colonists a member of the Presbyterian church, had occasion to provide a grave for the body of his child. He found that a fence had been erected and a gate, which was locked, and he was obliged to apply to Mr. Cole for the key. That gentleman then said that " Dissenters and Scotchmen might be permitted to bury there, until the bishop should arrive, but then they would be excluded, unless they submitted to have the service performed by the Episcopalian clergy, and paid them their fees." This being reported to Mr. M'Farlane, he wrote !o Mr. Cole, by whom an apology was made, and the matter dropped. In process of time the calamity occurred, that had been predicted ; and the real Episcopalian bishop — Mr. Cole — was virtually superseded by the titular one — Dr. Selwyn. Hints of an unpleasant nature were again heard, and at length Mr. M'Farlane receive.l an intimation from his Honor, Major Richmond, to the effect that he was to select a suitable site for a burial place for his congregation. Mr. M'Farlane immediately communicated this to Mr. Ironside and myself, and after some con•ultalion we waited upon his Honor, being also accompanied by Mr. Duncan. We were received with that urbanity and frankness that so eminently distinguishes the gallant major, and represented to him the hardship that the public would be subjected to, by any arrangement that would prevent persons of any religious denomination whatever, from having tht use of that part of the ground in which interments had taken place. His Honor saw at once that a very great injustice would be inflicted if this were not complied with, and asked if we would consent to become trustees of that, and such other part of the ground as might be set apart for public use. We explained to him that our small community contained persons of every shade of religious opinion, and that although we might be considered as representing certain sections thereof, and Mr. Cole, another, yet that even then a large portion of the community would be unrepresented, and we therefore solicited that the Chief Police Magistrate should be joined with us in the proposed trust, to secure its appropriation to the public. The major at once consented, appearing to consider our request so reasonable, that it needed but to be made in the proper quarter, to secure his Excellency's cordial acquiescense. For this purpose, he suggested that we should address a letter to himself, embodying the views and opinions we had stated, which letter he would forward to Auckland, and he made no question but that arrangements would be made to meet our wishes. A letter was accordingly prepared, and having been signed thus " Samuel Ironside, Jonas Woodward, James Duncan, John M'Farlane," was handed to Major Richmond, in April last/ to which, at length, the following answer has been received :—: — Wellington, November 18, 1844.

Gentlemen, — With reference to your communication of the 15th April last, on tht ■abject ofthe Pablio C«metery of thii settlement, 1 do myself the honor to Inform you tha(f, haVing submitted it to the GoT«rnor, tifo Excellency has instructed me to carry out the arrangements made by him on hit Titit to Wellingt6n in February last,, which w«re. to the effect, that th,« ground originally set apart for the. Qhnrch of England, should only so fa* be interfered with as to appropriate for the Public Cemetery the half of the lower piece, -where no iatcrmenti h*Te taken place.

-- Shojujd you be desirou*; I«hall feel plearore in -shewing y&u the Plan and description of this site (which arefnow in my Office) at any time previous to the firtt' opportunity of transmitting them to fhavfe;the honor to; be, , _*"- Gentlemen,*? " , '^ Your most obedient leryant, ' ■" ' M. Richmond," Superintendent. To the Rererend Samuel Ironside, and the Minister! signing the Letter to his Honor the Superintendent. Seeing from this, and from the Plans which have been prepared with all due formality, that our wishes and feelings are alike disregarded, I have addressed the following letter to his Excellency, and hope before your day for publication to be able to announce, through your columns, that steps have Been taken to prepare the petition and memorial therein referred to. Wellington, November 19, 1844. To his. Excellency Captain Fitzroyi R. N;, Governor.

Sir, — Major Richmond having intimated the course which you have resolved' upon in relation to the Public Cemetery iv this town, I, although one of the humblest members of the community, venture to exercise my right as a British subject, and represent to your Excellency, most respectfully but firmly, the great injustice and practical hardship of the proposed arrangement. If, indeed, as an Englishman I could be silent on this subject, as a Congregational Minister I dare not, and in both these characters I now address your Excellency. A great mistake appears to lie at the bottom of your Excellency's proceedings in this matter, vix. that this Cemetery was originally set apart for the Episcopalian Church, and has been used by the ministers of other churches by sufferance merely. I beg, however, to refer your Excellency to Capt. W. M. Smith, R. A., who, as the Surveyor-General of the New Zealand Company, first marked out the site, and to Col. Wakefield, both of whom, I believe, as well as the Plan that bears the name of F. Mathew, Esq., will represent the place as having been set apart for the public use at a " Cemetery." I mark the word " Cemetery," because by no conceivable perversion of language can that word be employed in relation to the public, but in the sense I use it — as a place in which all persons may .bury their dead, without having their lacerated feelings wounded still more deeply, by insulting questions as to their adherence to the dogmas of this or that church, or their conscientious scruples wantonly violated by the performance of ceremonies which their judgments condemn. A few years since, indeed, when the shackles of an established church in England had not been so far broken as happily they have siuce been, this matter was not so well understood, but the progress of public opinion and popular enlightenment which has triumphed even over the prejudices that are so deeply rooted there, and exchanged grave-yards for cemeteries, necessarily placed the New Zealand Company in this position, that a Cemrtery, and that only, could have satisfied the public in the formation of this settlement. We therefore began at the point which it has taken England ages to reach. Instead of surrounding our'houses of prayer with the relics of mortality, and providing fresh tenants for the grave by causing the living to inhale the rank atmosphere of death, onr churches were to be cheerful as befits houses consecrated to the God of life, and our burial place was to be wholesome, so that while indulging in natural sorrow or Christian feelings, the peqsive wanderer might be preparing himself to enter the "house appointed for all living," without necessarily hastening his passage thither. I therefore ask your Excellency whether it is wise, having begun on right principles, to retrograde, and go back to customs which modern science and right feelings have alike condemned. Were I willing to carry on in the dark the warfare which I have pledged myself to, against episcopacy in all its developeraents, I should be silent in this matter until the deed were done, and then I should point to it and say — this is what is to be expected wherever even the name of an Episcopalian Bishop is heard — all that is dark and repulsive is to be perpetuated — improvement to be arrested, and the " thick and dark night " of the middle ages to return in the midst of the nineteenth century. I beg that your Excellency will not misunderstand me, and suppose that I am applying this language to an individual. No one esteems more highly than I do the talents and learning of Dr. Selwyn, or the urbanity and truly Christian worth of his representative here ; it is the system I abhor, not the persons — the "bishop," and not him. whose fair name is disgaaced by that abused and perverted, title. But if this act be unwise— if by it your Excellency will be considered to forfeit all claim to the character of an 1 enlightened ruler, or even a real friend -to the Episcopalian- Church, the in-* justice of the act must be spoken of in far stronger and more decided terms. Land once set apart for the public use, is as much property as anything that an individual may possess, and to appropriateany portion thereof to any other than its original intent, is to violate both the spirit and the letter of that law which says — "Thou shall not steal." It is no answer to this to say, " Is not the Episcopalian Church a part of the ' public,' and are not the feelings of its member* to be considered ?" Without doubt they are — but what is there in keeping this ground sacred to its original put pose that should injure that church or hart the feelings of its members ? Pleading as Ido for the public,. I understand that- term to include all, tad members of every church, oaa therefore be interred without distinctions made, or , questions 'asked. If, however, the members of the Episcopalian-church' require certain ceremonies to be performed before the place is worthy to receive their dead, than let ttiem do as the church of Rome hat done— select • place elsewhere^ and if your Excellency cannot find them on¥, Twill most cheerfully aid in raising a subscription to" purchase a site for them, for the thorough deter^.. urination I feel to preserve my religious liberty i"ni| violate, leads me necessarily to be as scrupulous 'of any infringement on the liberty of 'other*,

Bat yoar-Excellency must perceive tint by insist ling on this point, tbey.bar. themselves pat by their own delusiveness. No one interferes or wishes to interfere with them, but if they will not associate with others living or dead, they must answer for this most unchristian illiberality. 'Besides by this they virtually give up their owkucase. They have interred bodies in this ground, although the ceremony which they call " consecration " has not been performed.' Either then " consecration "is a matter of no moment, or theyhave so violated their 'own laws, that they can never fall back on those laws to justify them in calling upon your Excellency to do this most unrighteous deed. But the injustice of this it shown still more strongly from the fact which I beg to recal to your Excellency's mind, that dissent — in these islands — is a misnomer, that the thing itself — in the sense that word is commonly employed — does not exist. Dissent implies the existence- of an establishment, and happily that curse has not yet been inflicted upon us, and I fervently hope and pray that it never may be. If, then I am to be called a dissenter, because I do not agree with Dr. Selwyn in his views of religious truth, he is equally a dissenter because he does not agree with mine. We stand thus on 'an equal footing, and there is no point oil which he has a light to be heard, On which I have not an equal right. Let justice prevail, and those equal rights be recognized, which the God of all has given, and then — but then only — may peace and prosperity be expected to dwell upon our shores. If, however, policy and justice plead alike in vain, yet must we claim consideration for those feelings of our common nature which will be so violated and outraged by this act. Widowed husbands look to the place where lie the ashes of their departed consorts, children to the spot hallowed to their hearts, by the interment of a parent, fathers and mothers to the little cell wherein are deposited the remains of those, of whom the bleeding heart hath said " I shall go to him but he shall not return to me " — and these all have indulged that thoufht of "pleasing sadness " that •when they should go " the way of all the earth " their ashes would slumber till the morning of the resurrection by the side of those whose memory they «so fondly cherish. And are all these feelings — which are among the holiest that can find a place in human hearts — to be trampled upon, at the bidding of a haughty priest ? Pause, Sir, I entreat you before you commit yourself beyond recovery, and let these considerations which 1 feel must have an echo in your heart, have their due weight upon your mind, and guide your judgment. Be it remembered also that these feelings are largely participated in by natives as well as Europeans. These have laid their dead side by side with ours, and a cry will be raised from them that your Excellency cannot be insensible to, when they find that those tombs which in all your other public acts you have held sacred, are in this instance to be torn from them. Half enlightened as they are, they know too much to bend their consciences even to their feelings, and one or other must be outraged if the ministers whom they love are not permitted to perform the last sad offices for the departed, and fearful is the responsibility which thosr'incury who thus present Christianity to them as consisting of a set of dogmas and forms, which forbid all friendliness in life, and extend a withering and separating influence even into the chambers of the dead. .Permit me then most urgently to pres3 upon your Excellency the importance of at least suspending your decision until the pleasure of the British Parliament be expressed. To that tribunal we appeal. The ship that in a few days leaves this harbour shall carry with her our petition to the House of Commons, and as speedily as possible a memorial to the Government shall be transmitted through your Excellency, and as we thus claim the protection of the senate and the throne, we look with hope to your Excellency, that you will render such interference unnecessary, by refusing to lend your high name and sanction to the course that has been proposed by your enemies and ours. I have the honor to remain, Your Excellency's Most obedient humble servant, (Signed) Jonas Woodward. I have thus, Mr. Editor, endeavoured to lay before the pubJic the history oF this iniquitous affair — I fear that I have trespassed too much upon your valuable space, but the importance of the matter must be my excuse. If the rights of conscience and freedom of thought in religious matters are not become matters of little moment in the minds of Britons, than all will feel that these " little " things as some call them, are tHS •' shadows" which "coming events cast" "before them ;" and if this spiritual tyranny and irreligious despotism be not rigorously resisted and crushed in their first efforts, we shall have the yoke ofan Episcopalian establishment Tiretted on our necks — that galling burden " which neither we nor our fathers were able to bear;" and though we may have little hope from the Government, yet I feel convinced that our appeal to England — in whi-h we can invoke the Patriot's spirit and call forth the Watchman's voice — will not be made in vain. I have the honor to remain, Sir, Your most obedient servant, JT. WOODWAED. Wellington, Nov. 20, 1844.