504 
lord Stanley’s letter 
ferent parties, but by the missionaries themselves, are, I am 
sorry to say, as discouraging as it is possible to be. In respect 
to the mission at Wellington Valley, Mr. Gunther writes in a 
tone of despondency, which shews that he has abandoned the 
hope of success. The opening of his report is indeed a plain 
admission of despair; I sincerely wish that his facts did not 
bear out such a feeling. But when he reports, that after a trial 
of ten years, only one of all who have been attached to the 
mission ‘ affords some satisfaction and encouragement ; * that of 
the others only four still remain with them, and that these con- 
tinually absent themselves, and when at home evince but little 
desire for instruction ; that ‘ their thoughtlessness, and spirit of 
independence, ingratitude, and want of sincere, straightforward 
dealing, often try us in the extreme;’ that drunkenness is in- 
creasing, and that the natives are 6 gradually swept away by de- 
bauchery and other evils arising from their intermixture with 
Europeans,’ I acknowledge that he has stated enough to warrant 
his despondency, and to shew that it proceeds from no mo- 
mentary disappointment alone, but from a settled and reasonable 
conviction. 
“ Nor do the other missions hold out any greater encourage- 
ment. That at Moreton Bay is admitted by Mr. Handt to have 
made but little progress, as neither children nor adults can be 
persuaded to stay for any length of time; while that at Lake 
Macquarie had, at the date of your despatch, ceased to exist, 
from the extinction or removal of the natives formerly in its 
vicinity. The Wesleyan Missionaries at Port Phillip, notwith- 
standing an expenditure in 1841 of nearly 1,300/,, acknowledge 
that they are ‘ far from being satisfied with the degree of success 
which has attended our labours,’ and * that a feeling of despair 
sometimes takes possession of our minds, and weighs down our 
spirits,’ arising from the frightful mortality among the natives. 
“ In the face of such representations, which can be attributed 
neither to prejudice nor misinformation, I have great doubts as 
to the wisdom or propriety of continuing the missions any 
longer. I fear that to do so would be to delude ourselves with 
