THE FRENCH IN THE PACIFIC.
We went down to the Islands with the _Dayspring_ in 1865. The full story
of the years that had passed was laid before my Missionary brethren at
their Annual Synod. They resolved that permanent arrangements must now
be made for the vessel's support, and that I must return to the Colonies
and see these matured, to prevent any such crisis as that through which
we had recently passed. This, meantime, appeared to all of them, the
most clamant of all Missionary duties,--their very lives, and the
existence of the Mission itself, depending thereon. The Lord seemed to
leave me no alternative: and, with great reluctance, my back was again
turned away from the Islands.
The _Dayspring_, doing duty among the Loyalty Islands, left me, along
with my dear wife, on Mare, there to await an opportunity of getting to
New Caledonia, and thence to Sydney. Detained there for some time, we
saw the noble work done by Messrs. Jones and Creagh, of the London
Missionary Society, all being cruelly undone by the tyranny and Popery
of the French. One day, in an inland walk, Mrs. Paton and I came on a
large Conventicle in the bush. They were teaching each other, and
reading the Scriptures which the Missionaries had translated into their
own language, and which the French had forbidden them to use. They cried
to God for deliverance from their oppressors! Missionaries were
prohibited from teaching the Gospel to the Natives without the
permission of France; their books were suppressed, and they themselves
placed under military guard on the Island of Lifu. Even when, by
Britain's protest, the Missionaries were allowed to resume their work,
the French language was alone to be used by them; and some, like Rev. J.
Jones (as far down as 1888), were marched on board a Man-of-war, at half
an hour's notice, and, without crime laid to their charge, forbidden
ever to return to the Islands. While, on the other hand, the French
Popish Missionaries were everywhere fostered and protected, presenting
to the Natives as many objects of idolatry as their own, and following,
as is the custom of the Romish Church in those Seas, in the wake of
every Protestant Mission, to pollute and to destroy.
Being delayed also for two weeks on Noumea, we saw the state of affairs
under military rule. English Protestant residents, few in number,
appealed to me to conduct worship, but liberty could not be obtained
from the authorities, who hated everything English. Again a number of
Protestant parents, some French, others English and German, applied to
me to baptize their children at their own houses. To have asked
permission would have been to court refusal, and to falsify my position.
I laid the matter before the Lord, and baptized them all. Within two
days the Private Secretary of the Governor arrived with an interpreter,
and began to inquire of me, "Is it true that you have been baptizing
here?"
I replied quite frankly, "It is."
"We are sent to demand on whose authority?"
"On the authority of my Great Master."
"When did you get that authority?"
"When I was licensed and ordained to preach the Gospel, I got that
authority from my Great Master."
Here a spirited conversation followed betwixt the two in French, and
they politely bowed, and left me.
Very shortly they returned, saying, "The Governor sends his compliments,
and he wishes the honor of a visit from you at Government House at three
o'clock, if convenient for you."
I returned my greeting, and said that I would have pleasure in waiting
upon his Excellency at the appointed hour. I thought to myself that I
was in for it now, and I earnestly cried for Divine guidance.
He saluted me graciously as "de great Missionary of de New Hebrides." He
conversed in a very friendly manner about the work there, and seemed
anxious to find any indication as to the English designs. I had to deal
very cautiously. He spoke chiefly through the interpreter; but,
sometimes dismissing him, he talked to me as good, if not better English
himself. He was eager to get my opinions as to how Britain got and
retained her power over the Natives. After a very prolonged interview,
we parted without a single reference to the baptisms or to religious
services!
That evening the Secretary and interpreter waited upon us at our Inn,
saying, "The Governor will have pleasure in placing his yacht and crew
at your disposal to-morrow. Mrs. Paton and you can sail all around, and
visit the Convict Island, and the Government Gardens, where lunch will
be prepared for you."
It was a great treat to us indeed. The crew were in prison garments, but
all so kind to us. By Convict labor all the public works seemed to be
carried on, and the Gardens were most beautiful. The carved work in
bone, ivory, cocoanuts, shells, etc., was indeed very wonderful. We
bought a few specimens, but the prices were beyond our purse. It was a
strange spectacle--these things of beauty and joy, and beside them the
chained gangs of fierce and savage Convicts, kept down only by bullet
and sword!
Thanking the Governor for his exceeding kindness, I referred to their
Man-of-war about to go to Sydney, and offered to pay full passage money
if they would take me, instead of leaving me to wait for a "trader." He
at once granted my request, and arranged that we should be charged only
at the daily cost for the sailors. At his suggestion, however, I took a
number of things on board with me, and presented them to be used at the
cabin table. We were most generously treated--the Captain giving up his
own room to my wife and myself, as they had no special accommodation for
passengers.
Noumea appeared to me at that time to be wholly given over to
drunkenness and vice, supported as a great Convict Settlement by the
Government of France, and showing every extreme of reckless, worldly
pleasure, and of cruel, slavish toil. When I saw it again,
three-and-twenty years thereafter, it showed no signs of progress for
the better. It there be a God of justice and of love, His blight cannot
but rest on a nation whose pathway is stained with corruption and
steeped in blood, as is undeniably the case with France in the Pacific
Isles.