MAORILAND MEMORIES.

NZ Truth, Issue 62, 25 August 1906, Page 7

MAORILAND MEMORIES.

Attempted Settlements by the French.

BISHOP POMPALLIER.

The French people have made attempts to .colonise several "patches" under Southern skies, but the only settlement of any importance over which the tricolor cf Franco wa,ves la that of New Caledoßia, which by virtue oi its name a-nd its close proximity to the Auwbralion mainland should belong to Great Britain-; but, through the gross negligence of the British Authorities, it has been made the dumping ground for the very worst description of French criminals*

It waa on January 18, 1788 that Captain Phillip and the first fleet entered Botany Bay.' The first Governor, finding the bay unsuitable for the purpose of either housing his people or building a city, went round to Port Jackson, not with the intention ot stopping there, he being on his way to examl-ne Broken Bay,, but merely to have a casual loolc at the Biiot which

CAPTAIN COOK

had marked upon his chart as a "boat harbor." To Phillip's surprise and gratiiication the boat harbor of Cook turned out to bo one of tho finest and best protected harbors m the world, and the chief of the first fleet concluded to eetab-. Hah his colony at Port Jackson.

Oa returning tb Botany Bay on January 24. Captain Phillip found at anchor two French ships, the Boussole and the Astrolabe, under La Perouse. .They were on a voyage of discovery, which ended disastrously for the Voyagers. Arriving m Botany Bay and finding the

. BRITISH FLAG FLYING, La Perouse explained that he merely wished to send lutters to France and to know when one of Phillip's ships would bo sailing homeward ! Had there been po Phillip on hand the French flag Would ba*i! Ueeu planted on Southerland Point.

In the year 1802 two French surveying .vessels, the Geographe and the Naturaliste, visited the colony of New South Wales, but their "survey"- or whatever object they bad iv view ended m nothing as -far as Australia was concerned, though an R.C. priest on board celebrated the first mass iv a. house on -'The Rocks."

Tho attempt of the French to colonise New Zealand commenced early m the history of the country aa known to Europeans, that was m the year 1322, when

B ARON DE THIERRY, through the missionary Kendall, became the purchaser of 40,000 acres on the Hokianga River, the price being thirtysix axes ! The story of this purchase, bo valuable to the buyer, at so .small a price is briefly told.. If this Charles de .Thierry was not a lunatic he was a very daring adventurer. He was of French parents, born m London, and had unquestionably obtained an education suited to a gentleman. In the year 1820 he met at Cambridge, where the Baron was studying, ,Hongi, a Maori chief, who was accompanied by Kendall. At Cambridge the Haron. handed over to Hongi and Kendall the thirty-six axes wherewith to purchase a huge estate m New Zealand. Kendall with the axes ortly purchased 200 acres, but the Baron claimed an estate of 40,000 acred at Hokianga. The deed of conveyance was dated m 1822, and m this document the purchaser is described as Baron Charles Philip -Hip-, polytns de Thierry, of Bathampton, m the county of Somerset, England, and of Queen's College, Cambridge." The Baron was something , of a hanger-on m the

DIPLOMATIC SERVICE, and had been m an English regiment, but m what grade I know not. Building high hopes on this" connection, he appealed to the' British ■ Government to recognise liis scheme. The reply of Earl .Bnthurst, given m 1823, -was that New Zealand . was not a possession of tho Crown. Then the Baron tuned to the nationality of his fathers, and claimed -assistance from the French Government. Tho trade officials, however, were greatly incensed -that de Thierry should iirst have appealed to the British Goveriimont, and accordingly gave him what W. S. Woodin called the

"COLD SHOULDER." I'l-j Thierry was not, however, disco n- | uerted'. He returned to London, and opened an office, where he announced his Intention of receiving applications from would-be colonists. This also was ti failure, and he turned his

(BY "OLD CHUM.")

ATTENTION TO AMERICA,' whither he went with his deeds ol con-, tract for his New Zealand estate m his pocket. The Americans! were no more amenable to his blandishments than were the Londoners or the Parisians. Thirteen years after his purchase, ln 1835, he reached Tahiti, and , there proclaimed himself SOVEREIGN CHIEF OF NEW ZEALAND.! and King of Nuhuhera, one of the Marquesas. ■• • • Mr. Busby, the British Resident m New Zealand, heard of de Thierry's proclamation, and* felt called upon to denounce it. The pretender had promised to be gracious to the missionaries and OTHERS SUBJECT TO HIS SWAiYi Bushy called a meeting of chiefs to consider the position. Several chiefs attended, and on Busby's advice, they declared their independence under the name and style of THE UNITED TRIBES OF NEW ZEALAND. They declared that within their territory all sovereign power and authority rested entirely and , exclusively ln the hereditary chiefs and heads of tribes col-, lectlvely, and that a congress should moet m each autumn to pass laws. They invited the southern tribes to join their confederation, and called upon the King of England to be their protector against all attempts against their independence, promising friendliness to all Britishers. Jn rural districts a chief and a European sheriff were to administer the laws, and a mixed force of Maoris and pake-has was to' be formed to support authority. • _•''• Armed with this, Busby wrote to de Thierry, denying his title, and forwarding a copy of the DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE. He also sent a copy of notification' which he had issued m New Zealandi appealing to all British subjects to resist deTheirry's pretensions. The Baron replied that New Zealand was not a British possession, that Tasman was there one hundred years before James Cook, that he iwus "the bumble chamipion of the present future LIBERTIES OF NEW ZEALAND," and would not be warned ''not to approach his property." *m * * Of this letter he sent a cppy to Governor Bourke, of New iSouth Wales. In 1837 Baron de Thierry landed m Sydney and offered to lay down his sovereign title if Governor Bourke would guarantee him protection. ' Bourke declined. The Baron asked Bourke if he would like ito ace him protected by the ■• FRENCH OR AMERICAN FLAGS, and of course the British Governor m New South Wales answered that he would not. • # # In this connection, Bourke wrote .the" Secretary of State, Lord Glenelg, In September, 1837, that he did not consider it his duty to put any obstacle m the way of de Thierry proceeding to New Zealand, of which country be claimed to be a chief by right of purchase. "He denies," says Bourse, "all intention of prejudicing the int*r»si-« ol Great Britain,

and professes a reliaace upon moral influence alone for the authority he expects ■o acquire." Notwithstanding this, the Baron issued an address which might have come from Bombastes Furioso to the white residents of New Zealand, saying : "I go to govern . .-. . but I neither go as an invader nor a despot/-'

In Sydney the Baron gathered an "•'army" compared to which Falstafl's ragged regiment was aristocratic- He carried with him a tutor, who, however, was overcome m Sydney by the

POTENT OR PUNGENT RUM of the period and acquired a sharp attack of delirium tremens. The tutor m consequence had to bo left behind ia Sydney—in the old gaol i-n Lower Georgestreet as like as not. On November 4, 3837, the Baron landed at Hokianga with 97 followers. He found one European, who was willing to vacate his premises, but, alas, he wanted £2000 as compensation. The Baron had not the money; his title, though genuine, was foreign, and it was not endowed with riches. The white residents of Hokianga, living m absolute freedom, without rates or taxes, well provided for to-day and careless for the morrow, cast ridicule upon, the pretensions to '■' r

TERRITORIAL AGGRANDISEMENTS of the Baron. Tho Maoris called him a pretender— King Pukanoa — a king without authority or being authorised. But they took pity upon him while they reviled his claims. They took counsel with the missionaries as to what should be done for him and his ragged regiment.

Waka Nene and other chiefs met him at Otararau. They acknowledged the receipt of a few axes from Kendall, and pointed put a section of some 200 acres as the equivilant, and a rare good bargain, too. Then the ragged regiment. joined m jeering him. Trouble seemed to bo brewing, and the Barori armed himself m defence. Deserted by most pf his people, whom he could not feed, he retired to a spot which he named Mount Isabel, m honor of his wife, and hoisted his house flag there. In his journal the Baron bitterly complains of. Busby's assertions that the axes given by Kendall purchased no extensive territory, and he point blank called Kendall, notwithstanding his cloth, a deceiver. All who know WAKA NENE, TOONUI AND IPATUONE thoroughly believed their account of the bargain and their readiness to keep it.

•Captain Fitzroy, R.N.. m giving evidence before a Committee of the House of Lords, scouted the Baron's, claim; yet when the French Bishop, Pompallier, arrived at, Hokianga m 1838 an uneasy feeling prevailed amongst the Europeans lest the flag of the Baron should be changed for the French tricolor. The hi-story of the Bishop is interesting. The Right Reverend John Baptist Francis Pompallier was the first R.C. Bishop of New Zealand. When tne Vl-cariate-Apostolic of Western Oceania was created by brief of POPE GREGORY XVI.,

m 1835, search was made amongst the French clergy for a suitable head of the mission. This was found m a priest of the diocese of Lyons named Pompallier, and he was named first vicar apostolic and Bishop "m partlbus." He was born m December, 1802, and was intended for the army, but he- wished to become a Jesuit. From this course he was dissuaded by the Archbishop of Paris, but, following his religioua bent, he took orders as a secular priest, and became one of the founders of the Marists, which took their rise amongst a few secular priests m the dioceses of Lyons and Bellay. Francis Pompallier became

NOVICE MASTER OF THE ORDER, and some 300 novices passed through his hands. When, m 1826, he was consecrated at Rome, Bishop of Maroneo and first vicar apostolic of .Western Oceania, the infant society of -which he was so prominent a member,- came into notice at the Vatican, and he obtained a brief, authorising the erection of the new society, to be called after the Blessed Virgin, the Society of Mary, and having for its especial object the evangelisation of tho islands of Western Oceania. Having obtained some recruits, the bishop sailed from Havre on Christmas Eve, 1836, for Valparaiso, which they reached m June, 183,7. In on American vessel, the Euro- [ pa, the party reached the Sandwich Isi lands by way ol' Gambler and Tahiti. At the latter place the* American Consul placed at their service a 60-ton schooner named the Riaiatea, m which they left Tahiti for the Sandwich Islands on Oct. 4, 188,7. After looking m at Vavau, one of the Friendly Islands, the party called m at Wallis and Fortuna Islands, m each case leaving a priest and catechist. On December 9, 1837, the bishop reached Sydney, where he was the

GUEST OF ARCHBISHOP POLDING, who then held the church's commission as vicar apostolic of New Holland. The bishop once ngiore set sail, and reached Hokianga after a 12 days' passage. .The party, now reduced to the bishop, a priest, and a lay brother, disembarked on January 10, 1830, after a 12 months' voyage from Havre. The bishop was welcomed .by an Irishman named Poynton, and took up his residence m a wooden house, of which they turned the largest room into a chapel, and m which on January 13, 1838, was celebrated what was m all probability the first Mass m New Zealand. Hokianga was then the headquarters of the Wesleyau Mission, and at first the

MAUGAMUKA NATIVES seemed inclined to expel "tho Papists" and destroy their crucifixes and images. They were, however, brought to kindlier dispositions by the bishop rather than by the manifesto put forth on his behalf by de Thierry, who appears to have stood loyally by bis countrymen. The bishop, like de Thierry, was crippled for money, but supplies and three additional priests arrived from France m June, 1839. The bishop now changed his headquarters to KORORARIKA, IN THE BAY OF ISLANDS, which soon became the centre of a successful mission. When captain Hobson, the first Governor,, arrived m 1840, he was met by the bishop, who demanded a declaration of toleration of his mission.This wafl promised. On February 6 Captain Hobson met the principal Maori chiefs at Waitangi. At this conference, Bishop Pompallier attended m full'canon-icals,-much to the disgust of his Protestant rivals, who, according to the bishop's biographer, charged him, as did Governor Hobson, with prompting the chiefs who demurred to signing the treaty.

THE QUEEN'S SOVEREIGNTY was formally proclaimed m May, . 1840, not to the gratification of the bishop, who, however, made the best of tho position. In July, 18*7, he visited Auckland, and obtained grants of land for a church and a cemetery. After the destruction of Kororarika, m 1845, he madeAuckland his headquarters, and it re- : mained so till the end of his episcopate. .In 1849, when on a visit to Europe, he visited Carlow and brought out a detachment of

SISTERS OF MERCY, under mother Cecilia Maher, afterwards well known m New Zealand. After 33 years of labor, during which he was said to have

BAPTISED 10,000 SAVAGES, tho bishop obtained leave to retire, and Was raised by the Holy See to tho dignity of Archbishop of Amasia m partibus. He subsequently returned to France, Where he died on December 20, 1870.; ITo be Continued.)