for the reception of Christianity and civilization; subduing the ferocious savage mind, so as to reflect on futurity, and the consequences of gross barbarity, or other misconduct. Reflections on the effect of Christianity on the natives. It is one of the principal causes of our easy conquest and retention of the New Zealand Islands. It has done as much, if not more, than even chivalry, to blend and refine the manners of mankind's coarser elements of human nature, which are tempered and trained by its mysteries. (Burke's reflections on the French Revolution. P.215--216.) But the institutions savour of superstition in their very principle; and they nourish it by a permanent and lasting influence. This I do not mean to dispute; but this ought not to hinder you from deriving from superstition itself, any resources, which may thence be furnished for the public advantage. You derive benefit from many dispositions, and many passions of the human mind; which are of as doubtful a colour in the moral eye, as superstition itself. Mitigate and arrest what was noxious in this passion, as in all passions. But is superstition the greatest of all possible vices? In its possible excess, I think it becomes a very great evil. It is, however, a moral subject, admitting of all degrees of modification. Superstition is the religion of feeble minds; and they must be tolerated in an admixture of it, in some trifling or some enthusiastic shape or other; else you will deprive weak minds of a resource found necessary to the strongest