Of course the strongest opponents of French settlement in New Zealand were the missionaries of all the churches antagonistic to the Roman Catholics.
In all countries missionaries are like the Irish
in Ireland, as pictured by one of their
own writers, "Fighting like devils for
the conciliation, and hating each other
for the love of God."
The R.C. French
Bishop, Dr. Pompallier, was looked upon
by the English and Methodist ministers
located in Maoriland as an interloper,
not merely as a foreign born, but as
the exponent of religious views foreign
to the Bible-teachers already in the Land
of Moa. This attitude may be gauged
by a reference to the Rev. J. Buller's
allusion to Bishop Pompallier. He says:
"In 1880, a small vessel came into
Hokianga, with a new and disturbing
element in the mission field. It brought
the Roman Catholic Bishop Pompallier
(sic) and two priests. They chose for
their first abode the mouth of one of
the tributary streams. Not long afterwards
the Bishop removed his headquarters
to the little town of Kororareka in the
Bay of Islands, and after its destruction,
to Auckland. He was liberally supplied
funds by the PROPAGANDA FIDEI and soon has as many as twenty priests,
besides lay-brethren, at his command for
service in New Zealand.
They were all
Frenchmen. It is to be regretted that the
agents of that society are more zealous
in treading in the steps of Protestant
missionaries than in breaking up new
ground in purely heathen lands. This has
been the case at least in the Antipodes,
to the great scandal of our common
Christianity. [etc cut for brevity] "
THE FRENCH AGENT AT AKAROA in 1841, told Governor Hobson that 500 persons were on the point of embarkation and were only prevented from proceeding to the colony by her Majesty's proclamation.
Colonel Godfrey pronounced Captain Langlois' [this is my great*4 G-dad] alleged contracts, in 1840, as utterly worthless. As to Langlois himself, that worthy put in at some part in Van Diemen's Land for repairs on his voyage, and was there informed of the proclamations of Sir George Gipps and Governor Hobson, as well as of the Treaty of Waitangi. It cannot be doubted to-day that if George Gipps had not forced upon Governor Hobson the PROMPT ASSERTION OF SOVEREIGNTY in the Southern Islands, the enterprise of Langlois, with the aid of the French Government, would have had a different result, and, as De Thierry put it, the French might not have lost the ports of Akaroa.
Gipps approved Hobson's proceedings and commended to the Secretary of State the "firmness and discretion" with which Hobson had acted. ---some wheeling and dealing by the French etc etc--- It was well known - known to all in the world in fact - that Captain Hobson was on his way to New Zealand, when on December 11, 1839, "a remarkable agreement between the French Company and the Commission was signed." It showed that the vessel Comte de Paris, nominally known as the property of Captain Langlois, was put at the disposition of the company by the Minister of Marine, and that Government support for a time should be given to the French settlers, and that at least one vessel of war would be always on the station to protect the INTERESTS OF THE FRENCH in return for which the company would provide sites for forts and for public uses. Reading the documents now one can clearly understand why Langlois was in such great haste to frame deeds conveying to him millions of acres, extending from east to west. And we can also see the bad faith and bad form shown by Louis Phillipe in conspiring with (s/no-mean blurred ) an instrument as Langlois to delude the Maoris and deceive the English Government." Original here
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