NEW BRITAIN MISSION

New Zealand Herald, Volume XVIII, Issue 6003, 12 February 1881, Page 6

NEW BRITAIN MISSION

Tile following defence is from the pen of the Rev. G. Brown, beinz; an answer to press criticism of his conduct. It appeared in the Australasian. Sir,—ln your issue of September *25, just received here, I notice the following lemarks :—"lnstances of arbitrary action on the part of missionaries of the Gospel are becoming unpleasantly frequent. It is not long since the Kcv. G. Brown, of Duke of York Island, commanded the 1 army of revenge,' which exacted such bloody satisfaction for certain native outrages." I feel ccrtain, sir, that you must have inserted these remarks either from forgetfulness or from ignorance of the real facts of the case, as elicited from the official inquiries made both here, on the spot, and in Fiji. AYill you allow me, please, to place before you very briefly my own case, and ask you to consider it fairly, without reference to or to societies ; without favour, a3 also without i prejudice to me because I am a missionary; 1 but with simple impartial justice, because 1 am an Englishman? I was placed suddenly in circumstances of almost unparalleled difficulty ; a fearful responsibility involving the life or death of numbers of my fellowcountrymen and fellow-labourers was suddenly thrust upon me, and in that position we did that then which I thought to be the only means of saving our own lives and the lives of those under our care. I still think that we did right, but I cannot and do not blame those who may think differently ; and I cannot in charity wish that any of them may ever be placed in a similar position. I do, however, claim that my actions and the reasons alleged for them only be judged, and that I may not have motives imputed to me which certainly never intluenced my conduct. In April, IS7S, four of our teachers were foully murdered and eaten on New Britain, and the life of every white man or foreigner in the group was not only placed in great jeopardy, but was actually and openely threatened. The few white men met and earnestly urged immediate action to prevent an actual and imminent danger, namely, the murder in detail of every white man and teacher, and the same fate, or a worse one, for their wives and children. The few traders themselves supplied the arms for this act of self-defence, as we had not a musket which could be used, and we united with them. Our action was entirely approved by the natives themselves as a necessary act of self-preservation, aud one quite in accordance with their own ideas of justice. The bones of some of the murdered men were found in the small villages which were burnt, and, as far as we can possibly know, only the actual pp.rpetrators and participators of the murders suffered. Peace was made the next day, and we have ever since been on the most friendly terms with the people. Now, first I would ask, Did we.do wrong in defending our lives and the lives of our wives and children from a number of cannibals who had tasted blood, and made a good deal of money by selling portions of the bodies of our comrades far and wide, and who openly declared their intentions to have more to use for the same profitable purpose V Or, to narrow the case, as you so frequentl}' use my name, did I do wrong in taking part in this affair ? My own life was certainly not in imminent danger just at that time, and we on Duke of York Island might, perhaps, have saved ourselves for that present time, though in the opinion of some evsn that was doubtful, but the lives of my fellow-country-men and fellow-labourers were certainly in most imminent peril, and as a matter of undouted fact, I was only just in time to save the lives of the widows and orphans of the murdered men. Should I have done right then, sir, in staying at home in safety and leaving my own companions in peril, the poor fellows who had followed me here from their homes in Fiji, to perish miserably by the hands of cruel savages, ignorant, as they were then, even of the very name of Christianity, knowing as I did that I was branded deservedly as a mean, contemptible coward, who had led men and women, and children too, into dangers which he was afraid to share, and had left them to perish miserably when he could have saved their lives ? Come what may, I am devoutly thankful that my children and my friends have no occasion to blush for such a disgrace as that. I have had trouble and suffering enou.h, sir, about this matter—harder to bear because I have i hitherto been almost compelled to silcnce, and have had to hear my good name tcaduccd ! by some with ut having the power to speak in my own defence, but I have never once repented my share in the transaction. Bitterly have i regretted the necessity of it, but i I have never doubted the justice of the action, ! and hard as it has been to heard the adverse criticisms of the few who have been utterly unable to realise the position in which we were placed, I am still thankful that my own conscience is clear. Had I acted as some of my tircsidc critics tell me, I should have been for ever degraded in 1113* own eyes, and would never again have dared to look an English audience in the face. I, sir, could never have talked any nonsense about the glories of martyrdom at all, but that the men had been murdered because a lot of cannibals, who had never heard of Christianity, wished to eat thein or make money by selling their limbs to others, as they had already done with our teachers, and that I, who might have saved them, had been so much "afraid of what people would say," that I failed to do so, aud even refused them the means of saving themselves. As it is, I am not ashamed or afraid to stand before any company of Englishmen in any part of the world to tell them our tale to aud let them judge.

I have shown 1113' love for the natives by giving the best years of my life to promote their best interests, both temporal and spiritual, and the fact that even these savages here esteem and respcct us as their best friends, and that I still enjoy the confidence of my brethren, should surely have some cffcct in this consideration of the matter. I must, ask you, however, please, to separate my name from that of our Society in this matter. If I have done wrong in this, I am alone to blame, and I do not shirk the responsibility. I need not assure you that it forms no part of our instructions to coerce or to oppress natives, nor do we do it. Nothing but the most dire necessity would ever justify us with our Society for using force, even to save life, though some remarks made latelj' would almost lead an outsider to infer that muskets and navy cats form a necessary and important part of a missionary's outfit. To show that I have not given you simply my own opinion of the matter in the remarks I have made, I will now quote from the official report of Captain Purvis, of H.M.S. Danae, a well known and experienced officer, who was sent down officially to investigate the matter. He arrived here whilst I was illl in Sydney, and I have never seen him or had any communication whatever with him. Whilst here that gentleman took a mass of evidence from whites and natives, which was all duly forwarded to the High Commissioner in Fiji, together with his own report, in which he says : — 44 In reviewing the evidence it does not appear to me that the Rev. Brown did, on his own responsibility, make war 011 the New Britain people ; that the action taken was by the united voices of those persons who were best able to judge of the circumstances, several of whom had been a considerable time in the islands and knew thoroughly the native character. The question now arises whether the Rev. Brown, in his capacity as clergyman and missionary, should have been present in the attack. This, I think, may be answered by the fact that the disturbance had commenced by the killing and eatiug of his teachers, and that the excitement of the natives in consequence placed the lives of the white men and the other native teachers in jeopardy, so that the Rev. Brown could not fail to be present in order to give the full weight of his authority to the proceeding; he, however, appears to

to have spent the.most of the time, on the. , beach trying" to bring the natives" of some, of the other districts to reason, and was not personally in any of the places where most of the natives were killed. I, therefore, think Mr. Brown, having regard for the safety of those people entrusted to his care, could hardly have acted otherwise than he did." I may state here also that from the evidence taken by Captain Purvis it appears that the estimated numbers of natives killed was much exaggerated, no one having actually seen more than 10. In conclusion X now state what our subsequent action was, and what is my present complaint. 1. Our action was taken knowing and hoping that an official investigation would be held. This I distinctly stated at our first meeting. *2. Bythefirstveryopportunity Isent , a full account for publication, and also notified : the High Commissioner officially of the event. I With regard to the first of these I know now that I did wrong. I was so anxious to avoid even the suspicion of keeping something back, or of wishing to throw off any of my full share of responsibility, that X said too much, and took more than my share of the I responsibility. I see my error. *Tis | a persevere generation this, and one that | cannot appreciate candour. 3. The first visit we had was from H.M.S. Beagle. I took Captain de Hoghton to the village destroyed, got him the best interpreter we had, and he inquired most particularly of the chiefs about their action. He was fully satisfied with the propriety aud necessity of our action. 4. The next visit was from H.M.S. Sandfly, and captain Hornc, after close investigation, also commended and approved. 5. The next was H.I.G.M.S. Ariadne. Captain Von Werner investigated the matter unknown to me, and lie, together with the German Consul, sent me a kin:l letter of thanks and approval, and from his report to Europe the German Government forwarded a letter of thanks to the British Government for our efforts in saving life and property. G. Captain Purvis, of H.M.S. Danae, following his olHcial instructions, made a most searching inquiry during my absence from the group. His opinions 1 have already quoted. Several other officers commanding her Majesty's ship 3 have been here since, and have all concurred in the views and opinions of those mentioned, so I need not particularise. 7. In May of last year I was compelled to go to Sydney, being very ill I indeed. As soon as ever I was able to do so I I went to Fiji, even against the advice of kind ; friends, and placed myself within the jurisdiction of the Supreme Court there, in , order to court the very fullest investigation. i •Sir Arthur Gordon declared in his official capacity that there is no evidence which ; would at all justify any criminal proceeding, the Attorney-General of Fiji refused to prosecute, and the Chief Justice dismissed the ease. Could I have done more than I have done, or are there auy signs of conscious i guilt in my actions ? S. I have been com- 1 mended, and ouractions approved by thehighestauthorities in the colonies, both official and naval, and have been legaly acquitted by those who alone had jurisdiction over us. I am still assured of the cordial sympathy and confidence of the vast majority of my brethren, thoHgh I had more reason to dread censure from them than from any others. ' Every officer who has visited us here, every ' trader who has ever called or who has ever i lived here, has approved, and I feel pretty [ certain that the great majority of my fellow- * countrymen do the same, so I cannot under- ? stand, sir, why you still speak of my commanding '* an army of revenge," and * appear to hold me up as a warning and example of what dangerous men missionaries are. lam the more surprised, as I had no reason to complain of the first fair and honest criticism which appeared in the Australasian

on this matter. I do not wish to appear over-sensitive, nor do lobjectto fair criticism. I know, of course, that missionaries, like other men, may sometimes do foolish and illegial acts, and, equally of course, that they must take the consequences and suffer the penalties of their misdeeds ; but I maintain, sir, that, although I have been gratified by the approval of the many, I have yet borne a great deal of unmerited obloquy and suffering from the few, especially from one or two in England who know least about the matter ; and now, when I have done so much to court and to assist investigation, when such a mass of evidence in my favour has been produced and acknowledged, when so many gentlemen of unquestioned honour, who have actually been here, have borne testimony to the necessity and justice of our action, and when I have been acquitted by those who alone could legally adjudicate on the case, I confess that this persistence in regarding as guilty an innocent man appears to be very like persecution. I say appears to be, because I do not believe that yon so intend it, and I, therefore, presume that you do not really known the facts of tho case. This, therefore, is niy apolozy for troubling you. Geo. Brown. Port Hunter, Duke of York Group, November 9.