Books: Life of John Coleridge Patteson

C >> Charlotte M. Yonge >> Life of John Coleridge Patteson

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'I had one point only that I was determined to press (Patteson says),
namely, liberty to the people to follow any form of religion they
might choose to adopt. I knew that they and I were completely in his
power, yet that my line was to assume that we were now about to
arrange our plans for the future independently of any interference
from the civil power.

'He let me see that he knew he could force upon the Lifu people
whatever he pleased, the French Government having promised him any
number of soldiers he may send for to take possession, if necessary,
of the island. They have 1,000 men in New Caledonia, steamers and
frigates of war; and he told me plainly that this island and Nengone
are considered as natural appendages of New Caledonia, and
practically French possessions already, so that, of course, to
attempt doing more than secure for the people a religious liberty is
out of the question. He promised me that if the people behaved
properly to him and his people, he would not send for the soldiers,
nor would he do anything to interfere with the existing state of the
island.

'He will not himself remain here long, being commissioned, in
consequence of his fourteen years' experience, to prepare the way for
the French mission here. He told me that twenty missionaries are
coming out for this group, about seven or eight of whom will be
placed on Lifu, others on Nengone, &c.; that the French Government is
determined to support them; that the Commandant of Nimia in New
Caledonia had sent word to him that any number of men should be sent
to him at an instant's notice, in a war steamer, to do what he might
wish in Lifu, but that honestly he would do nothing to compel the
people here to embrace Romanism; but that if necessary he would use
force to establish the missionaries in houses in different parts of
the island, if the chiefs refused to sell them parcels of land, for
instance, one acre. The captain of the "Iris," an English frigate,
called on him on Monday, and sent me a letter by him, making it quite
clear that the French will meet with no opposition from the English
Government. He too knew this, and of course knew his power; but he
behaved, I must say, well, and if he is really sincere about the
liberty of religion question, I must be satisfied with the result of
our talk. I was much tired. We slept together on a kind of bed in
an unfurnished house, where I was so cold that I could not sleep;
besides, my head ached much; so my night was not a very pleasant one.
In the morning we resumed our talk, but the business was over really.
The question that we had discussed the evening before was brought to
an issue, however, by his requiring from John Cho, who was with us,
permission to buy about an acre of land in his territory. John was
much staggered at this. It looked to him like a surrender of his
rights. I told him, at great length, why I thought he must consent;
but finally it was settled, that as John is not the real chief, I
should act as interpreter for the Frenchmen; and send him from Mu an
answer to a letter which he addresses to me, but which is, in fact,
intended for the chief.

'It is, I suppose, true, that civilised nations do not acknowledge
the right of a chief to prevent any one of his subjects from selling
a plot of his land to a foreigner unless they may be at war with that
particular nation.

'He said that France would not allow a savage chief to say "My custom
in this respect is different from yours;" and again, "This is not a
taking possession. It is merely requiring the right to put up a
cottage for which I pay the just price." He told me plainly, if the
chiefs did not allow him to do so, he would send for soldiers and put
it up by force; but not use the soldiers for any other purpose. Of
course I shall relate all this to Angadhohua at Mu, and make them
consent.

'He told me that at New Caledonia they had reserved inalienably one-
tenth of the land for the natives, that the rest would be sold to
French colonists of the poor class, no one possessing more than ten
acres; that 5,000 convicts would be sent there, and the ticket-of-
leave system adopted, and that he thought the worst and most
incorrigible characters would be sent to Lifu. Poor John! But I
can't help him; he must make such terms as he can, for he and his
people are wholly in their power.

'Our talk being ended, I found a great circle of men assembled on the
outside with a pile of yams as usual in the centre for me. I was
glad to see a small pile also for the Frenchman. I made my speech in
his presence, but he knows not Lifu. "Be kind to the French, give
them food and lodging. This is a duty which you are bound to pay to
all men; but if they try to persuade you to change the teaching which
you have received, don't listen to them. Who taught you to leave off
war and evil habits, to build chapels, to pray? Remember that. Trust
the teachers who have taught you the Word of God."

'This was the kind of thing I said. Then off we set--two miles of
loose sand at a rattling pace, as I wanted to shake off some 200
people who were crowding about me. Then turning to the west, climbed
some coral rocks very quickly, and found myself with only half my own
attendants, and no strangers. Sat down, drank a cocoa-nut, and
waited a long time for John, who can't walk well, and then quietly
went on the remaining eight or nine miles to Zebedee's place, a
Samoan teacher. They were very attentive, and gave me some supper.
They had a bed, which was, of course, given up to me in spite of
opposition. They regard a missionary as something superhuman almost.
Sometimes I can't make them eat and drink with me; they think it
would be presumptuous. Large meeting of people in the afternoon, and
again the following morning, to whom I said much what I had already
said at We. Then fifteen miles over to Apollo's place on the west
coast, a grand bay, with perfectly calm water, delicious in the
winter months. Comfortable quarters; Apollo a cleverish, free-spoken
fellow.

'I went, on the same afternoon, two miles of very bad road to visit
the French priest, who is living here. More talk and of a very
friendly nature. He has been eighteen months at San Cristoval, but
knows not the language; at Woodlark Island, New Caledonia, &c. We
talked in French and English. He knows English fairly, but preferred
to talk French. This day's work was nineteen miles.

Slept at Apollo's. Next morning went a little way in canoes and
walked six miles to Toma's place; meeting held, speech as usual,
present of yams, pig, &c. Walked back the six miles, started in
double canoe for Gaicha, the other side of the bay: wind cold, some
difficulty in getting ashore. Walked by the bad path to Apollo's and
slept there again; Frenchman came in during the evening. Next day,
Friday, meeting in the chapel. Walked twenty miles back to We, where
I am now writing. Went the twenty miles with no socks; feet sore and
shoes worn to pieces, cutting off leather as I came along. Nothing
but broken bottles equals jagged coral. Paths went so that you never
take three steps in the same direction, and every minute trip against
logs, coral hidden by long leaves, arid weeds trailing over the path.
Often for half a mile you jump from one bit of coral to another. No
shoes can stand it, and I was tired, I assure you. Indeed, for the
last two days, if I stopped for a minute to drink a nut, my legs were
so stiff that they did not get into play for five minutes or so.

'July 16th.--The captain of the "Iris" frigate passing Lifu dropped
me a line which satisfied me that the French will meet with no
impediment from the English Government in the prosecution of their
plans out here. Well, this makes one's own path just as easy,
because all these things, great and small, are ordered for us; but
yet I grieve to think that we might be occupying these groups with
missionaries. Even ten good men would do for a few years; and is it
unreasonable to think that ten men might be found willing to engage
in such a happy work in such a beautiful part of the world--no yellow
fever, no snakes, &c. I think of the Banks Islands, Vanua Lava, with
its harbour and streams, and abundance of food, and with eight or
nine small islands round it, speaking the same language, few
dialectic differences of consequence, as I believe.

'Even one good man might introduce religion here as we have received
it, pure and undefiled. Oh! that there were men who could believe
this, and come out unconditionally, placing themselves in the
Bishop's hands unreservedly. He must know the wants and
circumstances of the islands far better than they can, and therefore
no man ought to stipulate as to his location, &c. Did the early
teachers do so? Did Titus ever think of saying to St. Paul, "Mind I
must be an elder, or bishop, or whatever he was, of Crete?' Just as
if that frame of mind was compatible with a real desire to do what
little one can by God's help to bring the heathen to a knowledge of
Christ.

'At this moment, one man for the Banks group and another for Mai and
the neighbouring islands would be invaluable. If anything occurs to
make me leave these Loyalty Islands as my residence during a part of
the year, I am off to Banks, or Mai, or Solomon Isles. But what am
I? In many respects not so well qualified for the work as many men
who yet, perhaps, have had a less complete education. I know nothing
of mechanics, and can't teach common things; I am not apt to teach
anything, I fear, having so long deferred to learn the art of
teaching, but of course exposing one's own shortcomings is easy
enough. How to get the right sort of men? First qualification is
common-sense, guided, of course, by religious principle. Some
aptitude for languages, but that is of so little consequence that I
would almost say no one was sufficient by itself as a qualification.
Of course the mission work tends immensely to improve all earnest
men; the eccentricities and superfluities disappear by degrees as the
necessary work approves itself to the affection and intellect.'

The French question resulted in a reply in Angadhohua's name, that
the people should be permitted to sell ground where the mission
required it; and that in the one place specified about which there
was contention, the land should be ceded as a gift from the chiefs.
'This,' observes Mr. Patteson, 'is the first negotiation which has
been thrust upon me. I more than suspect I have made considerable
blunders.'

By the 13th of August, he had to walk over the coral jags for another
consultation with Pere Montrouzier, whose negotiation with Cho had
resulted in thorough misunderstanding, each thinking the other was
deceiving him, and not dealing according to promise to Mr. Patteson.
The Pere had, in his fourteen years' experience, imbibed a great
distrust of the natives, and thought Mr. Patteson placed too much
confidence in them, while the latter thought him inclined to err the
other way; however, matters were accommodated, at heavy cost to poor
Coley's feet. A second pair of shoes were entirely cut to pieces,
and he could not put any on the next day, his feet were so blistered.

The troubles were not ended, for when the ground was granted, there
followed a stipulation that the chiefs should not hinder the men from
working at the building; and when the men would not work, the chiefs
were suspected of preventing it, and a note from Pere Montrouzier
greatly wounded Patteson's feelings by calling John Cho faux et
artificieux.

However, after another note, he retracted this, and a day or two
after came the twenty miles over the coral to make a visit to the
English clergyman. 'There is much to like in him: a gentleman,
thoroughly well informed, anxious of course to discuss controversial
points, and uncommonly well suited for that kind of work, he puts his
case well and clearly, and, of course, it is easy to make their
system appear most admirably adapted for carrying out all the
different duties of a Church, as it is consistent in all, or nearly
all, particulars, given the one or two leading points on which all
depend. The Church of England here is very much in the position of
any one of those other bodies, Wesleyan, Independent, or
Presbyterian; and though we have a Bishop at the head--of what,
however? Of one individual clergyman! Oh, that we had now a good
working force--twenty or thirty men with some stuff in them; and
there are plenty if they would only come. Meanwhile, France sends
plenty of men; steamers bring them houses, cows for themselves and as
presents for natives--supports the missionary in every way. New
Caledonia is handy for the central school, everything almost that can
be requisite. Never mind; work on, one small life is a mighty
trifling thing considered with reference to those great schemes
overruled by God to bring out of them great ultimate good, no doubt.'

There was an interchange of books between the French and English
priest. Pere Montrouzier lent, and finally gave, Martinet's
'Solution de Grands Problemes,' which Patteson calls 'a very
interesting book, with a great deal of dry humour about it, not
unlike Newman's more recent publications. "It is," he (Montrouzier)
says, "thought very highly of in France." He is a well-read man, I
should imagine, in his line; and that is pretty extensive, for he is
a really scientific naturalist, something of a geologist, a good
botanist, besides having a good acquaintance with ecclesiastical
literature.'

There was the more time for recreation with the Pere's French books,
and the serious work of translating St. Mark's Grospel and part of
the Litany into Lifu, as the inhabitants were all called off from
school in the middle of August 'by a whale being washed ashore over a
barrier reef--not far from me. All the adjacent population turned
out in grass kilts, with knives and tomahawks to hack off chunks of
flesh to be eaten, and of blubber to be boiled into oil; and in the
meantime the neighbourhood was by no means agreeable to anyone
possessing a nose.'

Meanwhile Sarawia, the best of the Banks pupils, had a swelling on
the knee, and required care and treatment, but soon got better.
Medical knowledge, as usual, Patteson felt one of the great needs of
missionary life. Cases of consumption and scrofula were often
brought to him, and terrible abscesses, under which the whole body
wasted away. 'Poor people!' he writes, 'a consumptive hospital looms
in the far perspective of my mind; a necessary accompaniment, I feel
now, of the church and the school in early times. I wish I could
contrive some remedy for the dry food, everything being placed
between leaves and being baked on the ground, losing all the gravy;
and when you get a chicken it is a collection of dry strings. If I
could manage boiling; but there is nothing like a bit of iron for
fire-place on the island, and to keep up the wood fire in the bush
under the saucepan is hard work. I must commence a more practical
study than hitherto of "Robinson Crusoe," and the "Swiss Family."
Why does no missionary put down hints on the subject? My three
months here will teach me more than anything that has happened to me,
and I dare say I shall get together the things I want most when next
I set forth from New Zealand.... I find it a good plan to look on
from short periods to short periods, and always ask, what next? And
at last it brings one to the real answer:--Work as hard as you can,
and that rest which lacks no ingredient of perfect enjoyment and
peace will come at last.'

Among the needs he discovered was this:--'By the bye, good cheap
Bible prints would be very useful; large, so as to be seen by a large
class, illustrating just the leading ideas. Schnorr's Bible prints
by Rose and Bingen are something of the kind that I mean, something
quite rude will do. Twenty-four subjects, comprising nothing either
conventional or symbolical, would be an endless treasure for
teachers; the intervening history would be filled up and illustrated
by smaller pictures, but these would be pegs on which to hang the
great events these lads ought to know. Each should be at least
twenty-four inches by ten.

'Try to remember, in the choice of any other picture books for them,
that anything that introduces European customs is no use yet.
Pictures of animals are the best things. One or two of a railway, a
great bridge, a view of the Thames with steamers rushing up and down,
would all do; but all our habits of social life are so strange that
they don't interest them yet.

'When I next reach Auckland, I suppose my eyes will rejoice at seeing
your dear old likenesses. When we build our permanent central
school-house at Kohimarama, I shall try to get a little snuggery, and
then furnish it with a few things comfortably; I shall then invest in
a chest of drawers, as I dare say my clothes are getting tired of
living in boxes since March 1855.

'I can hardly tell you how much I regret not knowing something about
the treatment of simple surgical cases. If when with W---- I had
studied the practical--bled, drawn teeth, mixed medicines, rolled
legs perpetually, it would have been worth something. Surely I might
have foreseen all this! I really don't know how to find the time or
the opportunity for learning. How true it is that men require to be
trained for their particular work! I am now just in a position to
know what to learn were I once more in England. Spend one day with
old Fry (mason), another with John Venn (carpenter), and two every
week at the Exeter hospital, and not look on and see others work--
there's the mischief, do it oneself. Make a chair, a table, a box;
fit everything; help in every part of making and furnishing a house,
that is, a cottage. Do enough of every part to be able to do the
whole. Begin by felling a tree; saw it into planks, mix the lime,
see the right proportion of sand, &c., know how to choose a good lot
of timber, fit handles for tools, &c.

'Many trades need not be attempted; but every missionary ought to be
a carpenter, a mason, something of a butcher, and a good deal of a
cook. Suppose yourself without a servant, and nothing for dinner to-
morrow but some potatoes in the barn, and a fowl running about in the
yard. That's the kind of thing for a young fellow going into a new
country to imagine to himself. If a little knowledge of glazing
could be added, it would be a grand thing, just enough to fit in
panes to window-frames, which last, of course, he ought to make
himself. Much of this cannot be done for you. I can buy window-
frames in Auckland, and glass; but I can't carry a man a thousand
miles in my pocket to put that glass into these frames; and if it is
done in New Zealand, ten to one it gets broken on the voyage;
whereas, glass by itself will pack well. Besides, a pane gets
broken, and then I am in a nice fix. To know how to tinker a bit is
a good thing; else your only saucepan or tea-kettle may be lying by
you useless for months. In fact, if I had known all this before, I
should be just ten times as useful as I am now. If anyone you know
thinks of emigrating or becoming a missionary, just let him remember
this.'

To these humble requisites, it appears that a missionary ought on
occasion to be able to add those of a prime minister and lawgiver.
Angadhohua, a bright, clever lad, only too easily led, was to be
instructed in the duties of a chief; Mr. Patteson scrupulously trying
in vain to make him understand that he was a person of far more
consideration and responsibility than his white visitor would be in
his own country. The point was to bring the Christian faith into
connection with life and government. 'Much talk have I had with John
in order that we may try to put before them the true grounds on which
they ought to embrace Christianity,' writes Mr. Patteson, when about
to visit a heathen district which had shown an inclination to abandon
their old customs, 'and also the consequences to which they pledge
themselves by the profession of a religion requiring purity,
regularity, industry, &c., but I have little doubt that our visit now
will result in the nominal profession of Christianity by many
heathen. Angadhohua, John, and I go together, and Isaka, a Samoan
teacher who has been a good deal among them. I shall make an
arrangement for taking one of their leading men to New Zealand with
me, that he may get some notion of what is meant by undertaking to
become a Christian. It is in many respects a great benefit to be
driven back upon the very first origin of a Christian society; one
sees more than ever the necessity of what our Lord has provided, a
living organised community into which the baptized convert being
introduced falls into his place, as it were, naturally; sees around
him everything at all times to remind him that he is a regenerate
man, that all things are become new. A man in apostolic times had
the lessons of the Apostles and disciples practically illustrated in
the life of those with whom he associated. The church was an
expression of the verbal teaching committed to its ministers. How
clearly the beauty of this comes out when one is forced to feel the
horrible blank occasioned by the absence of the living teacher,
influencing, moulding, building up each individual professor of
Christianity by a process always going on, though oftentimes
unconsciously to him on whom it operates.

'But how is the social life to be fashioned here in Lifu according to
the rule of Christ? There is no organised body exemplifying in daily
actions the teaching of the Bible. A man goes to chapel and hears
something most vague and unmeaning. He has never been taught to
grasp anything distinctly--to represent any truth to his mind as a
settled resting-place for his faith. Who is to teach him? What does
he see around him to make him imperceptibly acquire new habits in
conformity with the Bible? Is the Christian community distinguished
by any habits of social order and intercourse different from non-
Christians?

'True, they don't fight and eat one another now, but beyond that are
they elevated as men? The same dirt, the same houses, the same idle
vicious habits; in most cases no sense of decency, or but very
little. Where is the expression of the Scriptural life? Is it not a
most lamentable state of things? And whence has it arisen? From not
connecting Christian teaching in church with the improvement in
social life in the hut and village, which is the necessary corollary
and complement of such teaching.

'By God's grace, I trust that some little simple books in Lifu will
soon be in their houses, which may be useful. It is even a cause for
thankfulness that in a few days (for the "Southern Cross" ought to be
here in a week with 500 more copies) some 600 or more copies, in
large type, of the Lord's Prayer, Creed, and Ten Commandments will be
in circulation; but they won't use them yet. They won't be taught to
learn them by heart, and be questioned upon them; yet they may follow
by and by. Hope on is the rule. Give them the Bible, is the cry;
but you must give them the forms of faith and prayer which
Christendom has accepted, to guide them; and oh! that we were so
united that we could baptize them into a real living exemplification,
and expression--an embodiment of Christian truth, walking, sleeping,
eating and drinking before their eyes. Christ Himself was that on
earth, and His Church ought to be now. These men saw to accept His
teaching was to bind themselves to a certain course of life which was
exhibited before their own eyes. Hence, multitudes approved His
teaching, but would not accept it--would not profess it, because they
saw what was involved in that profession. But now men don't count
the cost; they forget that "If any man come to Me" is followed by
"Which of you intending to build a tower," &c. Hence the great and
exceeding difficulty in these latter days when Christianity is
popular!'

In this state of things it was impossible to baptize adults till they
had come to a much clearer understanding of what a Christian ought to
do and to believe; and therefore Coley's only christenings in Lifu
were of a few dying children, whom he named after his brother and
sisters, as he baptized them with water, brought in cocoa-nut shells,
having taught himself to say by heart his own translation of the
baptismal form.

He wrote the following letter towards the end of his stay:--

'September 6, 1858: Lifu, Loyalty Islands.

'My dear Miss Neill,--The delay of four or five days in the arrival
of the "Southern Cross" gives me a chance of writing you a line. The
Bishop dropped me here this day three months, and told me to look out
for him on September 1. As New Zealand is 1,000 miles off, and he
can't command winds and waves, of course I allow him a wide margin;
and I begged him not to hurry over my important business in New
Zealand in order to keep his appointment exactly. But his wont is to
be very punctual. I have here twelve lads from the north-west
islands: from seven islands, speaking six languages. The plan of
bringing them to a winter school in some tropical isle is now being
tried. The only difficulty here is that Lifu is so large and
populous; and just now (what with French priests on it, and the most
misty vague kind of teaching from Independents the only thing to
oppose to the complete machinery of the Romish system) demands so
much time, that it is difficult to do justice to one's lads from the
distant lands that are living with one here. The Bishop had an
exaggerated notion of the population here. I imagine it to be
somewhere about 8,000. The language is not very hard, but has quite
enough difficulty to make it more than a plaything: the people in
that state when they venerate a missionary--a very dangerous state; I
do my best to turn the reverence into the right channel and towards
its proper object.