THE GOSPEL AND GUNPOWDER.
Arriving at Sydney, I was at once plunged into a whirlpool of horrors.
H. M. S. _Curaçoa_ had just returned from her official trip to the
Islands, in which the Commodore, Sir William Wisenian, had thought it
his duty to inflict punishment on the Natives for murder and robbery of
Traders and others. On these Islands, as in all similar cases, the
Missionaries had acted as interpreters, and of course always used their
influence on the side of mercy, and in the interests of peace. But
Sydney, and indeed Australia and the Christian World, were thrown into a
ferment just a few days before our arrival, by certain articles in a
leading publication there, and by the pictorial illustrations of the
same. They were professedly from an officer on board Her Majesty's ship,
and the sensation was increased by their apparent truthfulness and
reality. Tanna was the scene of the first event, and a series was to
follow in succeeding numbers. The _Curaçoa_ was pictured lying at anchor
off the shore having the _Dayspring_ astern. The Tannese warriors were
being blown to pieces by shot and shell, and lay in heaps on the bloody
coast. And the Missionaries were represented as safe in the lee of the
Man-of-war, directing the onslaught, and gloating over the carnage.
Without a question being asked or a doubt suggested, without a voice
being raised in fierce denial that such men as these Missionaries were
known to be could be guilty of such conduct,--men who had jeoparded
their lives for years on end rather than hurt one hair on a Native's
head,--a cry of execration, loud and deep, and even savage, arose from
the Press, and was apparently joined in by the Church itself. The common
witticism about the "Gospel and Gunpowder" headed hundreds of bitter and
scoffing articles in the journals; and, as we afterwards learned, the
shocking news had been telegraphed to Britain and America, losing
nothing in force by the way, and, while filling friends of Missions with
dismay, was dished up day after day with every imaginable enhancement of
horror for the readers of the secular and infidel Press. As I stepped
ashore at Sydney I found myself probably the best-abused man in all
Australia, and the very name of the New Hebrides Mission stinking in the
nostrils of the people.
The gage of battle had been thrown and fell at my feet. Without one
moment's delay I lifted it in the name of my Lord and of my maligned
brethren. That evening my reply was in the hands of the editor, denying
that such battles ever took place, retailing the actual facts of which I
had been myself an eyewitness, and intimating legal prosecution unless
the most ample and unequivocal withdrawal and apology were at once
published. The Newspaper printed my rejoinder, and made satisfactory
amends for having been imposed upon and deceived. I waited upon the
Commodore and appealed for his help in redressing this terrible injury
to our Mission. He informed me that he had already called his officers
to account, but that all denied any connection with the articles or the
picture. He had little doubt, all the same, that some one on board was
the prompter, who gloried in the evil that was being done to the cause
of Christ. He offered every possible assistance, by testimony or
otherwise, to place all the facts before the Christian public and to
vindicate our Missionaries.
The outstanding facts are best presented in the following extract from
the official report of the Mission Synod:--
"When the New Hebrides Missionaries were assembled at their annual
meeting on Aneityum, H. M. S. _Curaçoa_, Sir Win. Wiseman, Bart., C. B.,
arrived in the harbor to investigate many grievances of white men and
trading vessels among the Islands. A petition having been previously
presented to the Governor in Sydney, as drawn out by the Revs. Messrs.
Geddie and Copeland, after the murder of Mr. and Mrs. Gordon on
Erromanga, requesting an investigation into the sad event, and the
removal of a Sandal-wood Trader, a British subject, who had incited the
Natives to it,--the Missionaries gave the Commodore a memorandum on the
loss of life and property that had been sustained by the Mission on
Tanna, Erromanga, and Efate. He requested the Missionaries to supply him
with interpreters, and requested the _Dayspring_ to accompany him with
them. The request was at once acceded to. Mr. Paton was appointed to act
as interpreter for Tanna, Mr. Gordon (brother of the martyr) for
Erromanga, and Mr. Morrison for Efate.
"At each of these Islands, the Commodore summoned the principal Chiefs
near the harbors to appear before him, and explained to them that his
visit was to inquire into the complaints British subjects had made
against them, and to see if they had any against British subjects; and
when he had found out the truth he would punish those who had done the
wrong and protect those who had suffered wrong. The Queen did not send
him to compel them to become Christians, or to punish them for not
becoming Christians. She left them to do as they liked in this matter;
but she was very angry at them because they had encouraged her subjects
to live amongst them, sold them land, and promised to protect them, and
afterwards murdered some of them and attempted to murder others, and
stolen and destroyed their property; that the inhabitants of these
islands were talked of over the whole world for their treachery,
cruelty, and murders; and that the Queen would no longer allow them to
murder or injure her subjects, who were living peaceably among them
either as Missionaries or Traders. She would send a Ship of War every
year to inquire into their conduct, and if any white man injured any
Native they were to tell the Captain of the Man-of-war, and the white
man would be punished as fast as the black man."
After spending much time, and using peaceably every means in his power
in trying to get the guilty parties on Tanna, and not succeeding, he
shelled two villages,--having the day before informed the Natives that
he would do so, and advising to have all women, children, and sick
removed, which in fact they did. Indeed nearly the whole of the
inhabitants, young and old, went to Nowar's land, where they were
instructed they would be safe, while they witnessed what a Man-of-war
could do in punishing murderers. But before the hour approached, a
foolish host of Tannese warriors had assembled on the beach, painted and
armed and determined to fight the Man-of-war! And the Chief of a village
on the other side of the bay was at that moment assembled with his men
on the high ground within our view, and dancing to a war song in
defiance.
The Commodore caused a shell to strike the hill and explode with
terrific fury just underneath the dancers. The earth and the bush were
torn and thrown into the air above and around them; and next moment the
whole host were seen disappearing over the brow of the hill. Two shots
were sent over the heads of the warriors on the shore, with terrific
noise and uproar: in an instant, every man was making haste for Nowar's
land, the place of refuge. The Commodore then shelled the villages, and
destroyed their property. Beyond what I have here recorded, absolutely
nothing was done.
We returned then for a moment to Sydney. The public excitement made it
impossible for me to open my lips in the promotion of our Mission. The
Rev. Drs. Dunmore, Lang and Steel, along with Professor Smith of the
University, waited on the Commodore, and got an independent version of
the facts. They then called a meeting on the affair by public
advertisement. Without being made acquainted with the results of their
investigations, I was called upon to give my own account of the
_Curaçoa's_ visit and of the connection of the Missionaries therewith.
They then submitted the Commodore's statement, given by him in writing.
He exonerated the Missionaries from every shadow of blame and from all
responsibility. In the interests of mercy as well as justice, and to
save life, they had acted as his interpreters; and there all that they
had to do with the _Curaçoa_ began and ended. All this was published in
the newspapers next day, along with the speeches of the three deputies.
The excitement began to subside. But the poison had been lodged in many
hearts, and the ejectment of it was a slow and difficult process.
Feeling absolutely conscious that I had only done my Christian duty, I
left all results in the hands of my Lord Jesus, and pressed forward in
His blessed work. But more than one dear personal friend had to be
sacrificed over this painful affair. A presbyterian Minister, and a
godly elder and his wife, all most excellent and well-beloved, at whose
houses I had been received as a brother, intimated to me that owing to
this case of the _Curaçoa_ their friendship and mine must entirely cease
in this world. And it did cease; but my esteem never changed. I had
learned not to think unkindly of friends, even when they manifestly
misunderstood my actions. Nor would these things merit being recorded
here, were it not that they may be at once a beacon and a guide. God's
people are still belied. And the mob is still as ready as ever to cry,
"Crucify! Crucify!"