1835. 



PUKCITASE- 



INFLUENCE. 



617 



whose country is that adopted by their parents, and to 

 whom every good father would anxiously desire to leave a suf- 

 ficient maintenance, such as his own honourable exertions 

 could procure. Shall the missionaries be debarred from pro- 

 viding in a proper manner for the future welfare of their own 

 children ? If a missionary and a more recent settler are each 

 in treaty for a particular piece of ground, and the former ob- 

 tains it upon easier terms than the latter, is it not a natural 

 consequence of the good-will entertained toAvards him by the 

 natives ; many of whom understand and appreciate his 

 motives, and are themselves very fond of the little white chil- 

 dren^ considering them as belonging to their country ? The 

 missionaries have bought land, as opportunities offered ; and 

 they, of course, from their residence upon the spot, have 

 had better opportunities than occasional visitors or late set- 

 tlers.^* 



If anathemas, indulgences, or excommunications were in 

 vogue among British missionaries, one might have a suspicion 

 of undue influence ; but as such engines of spiritual, or indeed 

 temporal power, have not, as yet, travelled out of the coral 

 circle of the Gambier islands, T think we need not impugn the 

 characters of highly religious men, by puzzling ourselves to 

 learn how protestant ministers — unassisted by artifice, sup- 

 ported by no temporal power, except that of public opinion, 

 excited by their own good conduct — could have obtained so 

 great an influence over tribes of New Zealanders, as to induce 

 them to part with their paternal lands upon terms which the 

 natives thought unfavourable, or less advantageous than those 

 offered by other persons. 



In opposition to such an idea as that of their eagerly grasp- 

 ing at territory, and using undue means to procure it, I 

 know with certainty, that the Rev. Henry Williams, and his 

 brother William, exerted all their real influence — that of ad- 

 vice — in pointing out the consequences which would result to 



* After a purchase of land has been made by a settler (or immigrant, as 

 the colonists say), he is considered to be under the protection of the chief 

 of the tribe from whom the purehase was effected. 



