THE LIFE OF HENRY WILLIAMS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XI, Issue 4048, 3 November 1874, Page 3

THE LIFE OF HENRY WILLIAMS.

I The OlctQQ G ucLvdicub thus favourably reviews ! Mr. Carleton's excellent biography of the late Archdeacon "Williams — The task of writing a biography of the late Archdeacon Williams, " forty-four years a missionary in New Zealand," has been undertaken by liis son-in-law, Mr. Hugh Carleton, as a labour of love. The first volume of the promised work is before us, and, as far as it goes, it fulfils the expectations that were formed regarding it, when it became known that Mr. Carleton was engaged upon it. The history of New Zealand colonisation cannot be mastered without knowing the part which -he late Archdeacon of Waimatc took in preparing the sla>ii people for that industrial civilisation, to which they so generally and so rapidly subjected themselves on the advent of the early settlers, and to which they are returning after the blood-feud of ten weary years lias been healed by the firm and conciliatory policy of the Native Minister, Sir Donald M'Lean. If Henry Williams had lived to this day, we venture to think that he would have been rejoiced to see the hope of the better part of his long and useful life on the way of being realised, and that he would have been satisfied with the certain prospect* that the representatives of the Maori race, for whose good he sacrificed so much, will ultimately rise to the level of the European colonists, and enjoy with them all the blessings of civilisation and political freedom. The volume before us introduces us to the future missionary, when he entered the BritisK navy as midshipman in ISOC, and briefly records his services to his country in those stirring times when the flag of England was. so often borne to victory by flood and field. Mr. Williams distinguished himself in his profession, but, preferring the work of ar Christian missionary to all other duties, .ha retired from the navy, and prepared himself, under the auspices of the Church Missionary Society, for the arduous and the almost hopeless task of evangelising the fit-ice inhabitants of New Zealand. With his young wife —a helpmate, indeed, without whose influence and courageous devotion to the mission work, he could scarcely have succeeded —Henry Williamslandedattheßay of Islands, in September, 1523, and there founded the mission-station from which the Christianising of the Maori nation was to be mainly accomplished. His position was by no means a pleasant one. He was exposed to many dangers, and with his devoted wife and family cheerfully bore privatious in the good cause in which lie was embarked. Gradually, his influence over the native rare .became fully established, and through his r.ctive mediation bloodshed was often prevented. Mr. Carleton lias told the story of his relation's life in New Zealand with great power and simplicity, and with a self-abnegation which is remarkable in his case. The biographer seldom appears in the narrative, his work being judiciously confined to a brief recital essential to the continuity of the story, which is told as nearly as possible in Archdeacon Williams's own words. At times, one can detect Mr. Carleton's political bias in the course of the narrative, but it is to. a pardonable extent only, and without tlifisc .digressions, we may remark, this really charming book would lose much of its interest. It closes at the period wheu Governor Hobson arrived at Kororareka in IS-.'O, ami New Zealand became a British colony. The influence of the late Archdeacon Williams had been used against the monopoly which the New Zealand Company sought to establish in these islands. He had over and over again expressed an opinion to the effect thatthese islands shouldbe regularly colonised under the autborit} - of the Crown; and he was necessarily brought into collision with the New Zealand Company's agents, before the British Government resolved to take the decisive step of assuming the sovereignty of the country. That Mr. Williams, acted in a firm and disinterested spirit throughout these transactions cannot now be doubted. His honesty cf purpose and singleness of mind arc conclusively shown by the correspondence which Mr. Carleton publishes in the volume before v.s. For many years, however, Henry U'illiaras had to bear the reproach of dishnnLty ii< his dealings with the Company's agents the natives, and he was long held in popular estimation as the enemy of European colonisation. This was a great slander. Time, however, and the labour of devoted friends Lave cleared away these unjust aspersions, and New Zealand will be glad to recognise in the person of Henry Williams, formally years the father cf its Christian missions, one who did more than any other man in his life time to promote the peaceable settlement of the country. In conclusion, we may remark that -Mr. Carleton has done his work well. The lite of Henry Williams adds to his already high literary reputation, and is a valuable contribution to the fragmentary history of old New Zealand heretofore extant.