THE CANTERBURY ASSOCIATION.

New Zealand Spectator and Cook's Strait Guardian, Volume VII, Issue 566, 4 January 1851, Page 3

THE CANTERBURY ASSOCIATION.

[From the Times, July 31. ] Yesterday, at 1 o’clock, a public breakfast was given by the Canterbury Association to the colonists about to take their departure for the settlement of the association in New Zealand. The entertainment took place on board the Randolph, in the East India Docks, Blackwall, one of four fine ships chartered for the voyage, and giving in their appearance and equipment every reason to anticipates safe and prosperous passage. The names of the vessels are the Sir George Seymour, the Cressy, the Charlotte Jane, and the Randolph-, the day appointed for sailing is the 29th of August. They lay yesterday close together in dock, and were dressed with flags in honour of the occasion. Judging by the numbers and high respectability ol the company which crowded the deck of the Randolph yesterday, there is no want of sympathy among us for the cause of colonization. From 200 to 300 ladies and gentlemen were assembled on the occasion, and the scene which the good ship presented was a most animated and cheering one. The card of invitation might have led one to expect a very different spectacle, for it announced that the breakfast was to be given to the departing colonists of the association, and the public remembering the general class of emigrants to whom the great task of founding our settlements abroad has hitherto been assigned, might have looked to see gathered together at this entertainment a mass of labourers, mechanics, tradesmen, and others taken from the humbler classes, where the pressure of life is most severely felt, and where, therefore, the relief which emigration affords is most eagerly caught at. ■ No doubt the thews and sinews requisite to the success of the undertaking have been carefully provided for by its promoters, but as a month must yet elapse before the voyage is commenced, the great body of the intending colonists were necessarily absent. A visit to the different vessels showed that 3rsp2.rHtious wsro going forward for their reception, and many of the company yesterday surveyed with interest the arrangements for accommodating so many persons on their distant voyage. Beyond the narrow berths assigned to them, and that “ cabined, cribbed, confined” sensation which the interiors of the best emigrant vessels unavoidably convey, there was little about the proceedings yesterday to recall those affecting and melancholy feelings which the idea of leaving country, kindred, and home must ever suggest. An elegant entertainment, provided by the spirited proprietors of the London Tavern—a well-dressed company, apparently in affluent circumstances—the band of the Coldstream Guards—speeches full of hope and promise—these were the main features of the occasion. It would be wrong, however, from all this to conclude that the entertainment was not what it imported to be. Many of those present were intending colonists, and the respectable sphere of life which they evidently occupy augurs well for the ultimate success of the singular and interesting enterprise in which they have embarked their fortunes, Lord Lyttelton filled the chair, and among the company were —Lord Somerville and Mrs. Somerville, Lord Nelson and Lady Susan Nelson, the Hon. Edward Nelson, Mr. John Simeon, M. P., the Hon. F. Stuart Wortley, the Marchioness of Drogheda, Lord auu juauj truarnciiue, me nOu, Mrs. -Eiugecumbe, Lady Shelley ayd Miss Shelley, Mr. Somers Cocks, M. P., Mrs. Reginald Cocks, Mr. Hoare and Miss Georgina Hoare, Captain Cocks (Coldstream Guards), Captain Yorke, R. N., the Hon. Henry Nelson, Mr Thackeray, the Bishop of Norwich and Miss Howell, Lady Grey, Miss Burdett Coutts, Airs* SbollgV A T.a/lw •’ToFrtl.rta Stirling and Miss Stirling, Lieutenant-Colo-nel Campbell, the Rev. W. Sewell, Mr. Matts Russell, Lieutenant Lean, R.N. Ample justice having been done to the good cheer provided, “ The Health of Her Majesty the Queen” was given by the Chairman,, who expatiated at some length on the attachment which the different members of our colonial empire entertained towards the Monarchy and Constitution. The Chairman in proposing “The Health of the Prince Consort and the test of the Royal Family,” expressed his conviction that that toast ought to possess a very high and special interest to such an assemblage as that which he saw around him. It looked, he said, to the distant fortunes of the colonies which they were endeavouring to found, and in that view he trusted he was indulging in no visionary ideas when he indulged the hope 'of seeing their colonial possessions brought into closer connexion with the subject of the toast which he was proposing. (Cheers.) He asked them to look at their vast Australian empire,, and’to consider whether hereafter some connexion might not arise (as,:for instance, in. the presence, of a viceroy) between those colo-

■flies and the Royal Family of Great Britain. (Cheers.) He would not go further into the consideration of that question, but he could not but express his sympathy with so great and noble an idea.

The toast having been drunk with all the honours, The Chairman next gave “ The Church and the Bishop designate of the diocese, in connexion with the Canterbury Association.” It was needless for him to say much as to the influence which the association wished the religious element to have in their colony. That was, far above all others, the distinguishing feature which they wished to introduce in the foundation and progress of their undertaking. But he was anxious to say a few words on the second part of his toast, with reference to the Bishop who was to preside over the settlement. The Rev. Mr. Jackson was known by name to all of them, and more intimately to many then assembled. He was not present among them, because ever since his appointment he had been engaged in making known throughout the country the objects and principles of their undertaking, and in providing the means forplanting the Church in his diocese. That had involved him in engagements in different parts of the country which prevented him attending the present festivity, which had been only recently set on foot. (Cheers.) Besides the explanation which he had just offered as to the absence of their Bishop designate, he had also to say something to them on a point in reference to which he could not speak with the satisfaction he could wish. Last Thursday the Bishop of Montreal was consecrated, and the association had hoped that the same ceremony would then be performed on their Bishop also. It had not, however, been possible to effect this, and he was bound now to state that the accomplishment of that ceremony might be delayed longer than they could hope or wish. But this was not owing to any difficulty of substance or any real impediment, but arose simply thus :—The existing diocese of New Zealand was consecrated some years ago, and was founded in te-ms so unusually large, and giving such complete possession of the whole colony to the Bishop, that it was the opinion of the law officers of the Crown that it was impossible to create a new diocese without the Bishop’s consent. This was a mere matter of form, as the Bishop was not only willing, but anxious, that the new diocese should be formed. The noble Lord concluded by congratulating the colonists on the appointment of the Rev. Mr. Jackson, and asking them to do honour to the toast which he had proposed to them. The Rev. W. Sewell, of Oxford, at the request of the chairman, responded to the toast. He contrasted the present colonization movement with the manner in which it had hitherto been carried on, and the cheering prospects before those who were now going out to found a settlement under the auspices of the Canterbury Association, z as compared with emigrants leaving their native country 7 in shame or poverty, or perhaps with the brand of crime upon them. He expressed a wish that there might be planted in their new settlement persons to represent tne nobility of England, to remind the colonists of the wonderful and admirable effects and the developement of our individual and national virtues by the glories of a great ancestry —to remind them also that they went out as the cherished children of England in the Antipodes. He desired also to see ladies become colonists of Canterbury, bringing with them the elevating influences which they always exercised in society. As connected with one of the Universities, he rejoiced that one of the things they would carry out with them was a Christian education. In looking over the history and faith of this vast empire, with its great wealth, its boundless resources, its dominion, on which the sun never sets, the members of the University of Oxford, in their individual capacities at least, had been accustomed in their wishes to see Great Britain in her green old age sitting with a multitude of children around her, looking up to her in reverence, and spreading the glories of her name to the remotest corners of the earth. (Cheers.) When, however, they looked to the actual facts, a bitter and a melancholy pang came over them. The children which had been sent out to our colonies bad been in too many cases the foundlings of our crimes. (Hear, hear.) He anticipated better and brighter results now, when the hopes of colonists were rested on the religious element which they had carried out with them. He prayed that the spirit of controversy and party might be excluded, that the colonists would have nothing to do with the controversies of the day, but cling to their prayer-books and their Bishops, for then he was sure they would succeed. It rejoiced him to see the manner in which they had received the name of their Bishop. The work before them would require all their powers and his also, and they must not think that they were going to a world where they would have no,trouble to contend witb. It would be the duty of their;Bishop to point out,

the dangers of covetousness and of faction, and to show where their true ambition should be placed ; there was no power to keep them together except that of their Bishop and Church, which would bind them by a golden chain, and assist them in developing a sound and healthy freedom. (Cheers.) The Chairman in proposing the next toast said, that he had made use of strong expressions with reference to the principle that colonies should be self-governed and self-sup-ported ; but with reference to the toast which be was about to give he made the subject of it an exception. He thought that wherever danger arose to any portion of our colonial empire the forces of the mother country snould be employed in the defence of that colony. (Cheers.) He would give them “ The Army and Navy,” and he called on Lord Nelson to respond to the toast. (Cheers.) Earl Nelson briefly returned thanks. Lieutenant Lean, R. N., acknowledged the compliment to the navy of the present generation “ as Earl Nelson had done for the past.” (Cheers and laughter.) Colonel Campbell returned thanks on behalf of the army. The Bishop of Norwich said that feelings were awakened in that room by the name of “ the departing colonists,” which he must not and dare not touch upon except in the most tender manner on so festive an occasion, but the time was fast approaching when friends must be severed from friends, and when they must prepare themselves for the heroic enterprise of planting at the extremity of the world a colony of England and a branch of the English Church. Every Englishman and every Churchman would survey with deep interest such a scene as that before him. That was a grand day for England and for the English Church. It was about 12 years ago that he was present at a great colonists’ breakfast like that, and the present occasion reminded him of the circumstances. The first body of colonists to New Zealand were then taking their departure, but they carried out with them no minister of religion, and there were none already before them, nor did they knew wheiuer any would follow. He congratulated that assemblage on the important change which had since that time taken place, (Cheers.) The colonists of the Canterbury Association were going out with the full ministrations of the Church. (Cheers.-) Between that period of British colonization, when England sent out her brightest sons to people the solitudes of America and the present, when there seemed to be the revival of a more generous spirit in this respect, occurrences had taken place which had inflicted the greatest damage on the name of colonization. (Cheers.) During that period the State established the system of sending out convicts to our colonies ; and so as some colonies were thought fit for our convicts, others were thought fit for our paupers. (Hear, hear.) He trusted that the time had now come when the spirit of colonization had freed itself from these debasing associations. (Cheers.) He was sure that he was not exceeding the privileges of his office when he assured “ the departing colonists” that they would go forth carrying with them the Church’s blessing and the Church’s prayers. (Cheers.) Lord Wharncliffe said that he was afraid the colonists present would feel surprised at his rising to acknowledge the manner in which their health had been proposed by the right rev. prelate. But he had done what was next to being a colonist himself —he had contributed a colonist in his son. Standing there as the representative of the departing colonists, he felt assured that they would recollect and warmly cherish the farewell which the association and their friends had given them on that occasion. They were going to undertake one of the noblest enterprises in the world—to found a state which in future ages, and in a distant part of the globe, might revive the glories cf their native country, Those colonists now among them were the infants of a new social life, but the time might come when they would be looked upon as the fathers of a great colony. (Cheers.) He felt satisfied that they were all aware of the important duties which they were about to undertake. He, trusted that as the climate of the country jtb which they were going in its temperance and mildness resembled that which they left behind them, so in social institutions, and their whole character, political and religious, they would reproduce the spirit which they carried out with them. (Cheers.) Mr. Simeon, in terms of warm eulogium, proposed “ the health of Mr. John Robert Godley, founder of the Canterbury Colony.” Mr. Simeon gave an interesting account of the manner in which Mr. Godlev had been led to the idea of forming the colony, and of .the disinterested way in which he was now endeavouring to promote its interests on the spot.

“ The health of Lord Lyttelton, chairman of the association,” was them given, and to it succeeded, as= the last toast in the programme, “Success to Canterbury,” ■ ... .