Jean-Claude Colin and the Foundation of the New Zealand Catholic Mission

Transcription

1 Jean-Claude Colin and the Foundation of the New Zealand Catholic Mission EXPLICIT reference to the interest of Roman Catholic authorities in missionary work in New Zealand is first found in On that year Henri de Solages, the prefect apostolic of the island of Reunion, was given charge of all the islands in the South Seas according to the following limits: Easter Island to the east, New Zealand to the west, the Equator to the north and the Tropic of Capricorn to the south.2 However, in 1831 the Catholic missionaries who had been expelled from the Hawaiian islands asked the Roman authorities to confide to them all the islands of the Pacific above and below the Equator.3 As this would have meant the absorption of de Solage's territory, it was decided to leave the latter the western part of the Pacific from the archipelago of Mangea inclusively in the east to New Zealand in the west, with the Equator being the northern boundary and Capricorn the southern. The eastern part of the Pacific was then withdrawn from de Solage's jurisdiction and called the Vicariate Apostolic of Eastern Oceania. This arrangement was approved in a papal audience on 2 June However, de Solages had died on 8 December Hoping to find a successor, Cardinal Fransoni, the Cardinal Prefect of the Roman body which has jurisdiction over all Catholic missions, wrote on 4 July 1835 to a canon of Lyons, Jean-Louis Pastre, asking him to accept the mission which had been de Solages' responsibility and which, therefore, included New Zealand.5 This letter set in motion a train of events which led to the foundation of the New Zealand Catholic Mission. While Bishop Pompallier is sufficiently known as the founder of the Roman Catholic mission in New Zealand, little attention has been paid to the French priest Jean-Claude Colin who was closely linked with the mission in the early years of its establishment in that country. Colin was the founder and first superior-general of that group of priests known as the Society of Mary or Marists. Their recognition as a body approved by the Roman authorities was very closely connected with the beginning of the mission in New Zealand, as also was Pompallier's acceptance of the task of leading the first missionaries. One might easily assume that Pompallier as founder of the Roman Catholic mission in New Zealand had meditated at length on the missions 1 A decree of 1798 had spoken of New Holland and neighbouring islands. Archivi della Congregazione de Propaganda Fide [hereafter ACPF] Congressi Africa, Isole dell'oceano Australe e Capo di Buona Speranza I, 267r. 2 ACPF Acta 192, 463r-464r. 3 ACPF Acta 196, 22v. * ACPF Acta 196, 145r-146r. 6 Copy ACPF LDB 316, 550r-551v. 74

2 NOTES 75 of Polynesia and that the arrival of the bishop in the South Seas was the fruit of long planning. In fact his decision to become a missionary in the Pacific was taken with some rapidity and then not solely, nor perhaps even primarily, with the interests of evangelisation in mind. Pastre, who had been de Solages' predecessor in Reunion, declined Fransoni's offer for reasons of health, but he consulted a vicar-general of the diocese of Lyons, Jean Cholleton, on the possibility of finding a substitute for himself whom he could propose to Rome. Cholleton suggested a Father Pompallier of the diocese of Lyons. 7 Pompallier was a member of Jean-Claude Colin's group called the Marists, who worked in the dioceses of Lyons and Belley. Colin, the head of this group, lived in the latter diocese and it was to Colin that Pompallier wrote to ask his approval. In reply Colin urged him to accept the mission because such an acceptance 'could not but be well received and be of great advantage to the Society'. 8 His remarks will seem less enigmatic if it is borne in mind that he had long been hoping for the approval of the Roman authorities of his society of priests. Now he realised that by accepting the task of staffing a foreign mission, the way to approval would be open. Pompallier, too, was well aware of the link that could be made between the approval of the Marists and the acceptance of the mission: 'The mission in itself is, if I may say so, accessory in my mind, and the obtaining of a brief of authorisation or, at least, of centralisation for the recently founded Society of Mary is uppermost.'9 The plan worked. On 10 January 1836 Gregory XVI confided to the priests of Society of Mary de Solages' territory, somewhat increased by the addition of the Solomons and the New Hebrides, as well as some islands above the equator and henceforth to be known as the Vicariate Apostolic of Western Oceania.io Then in an audience of 11 March the same Pope gave his formal approval to the corporate existence of the priests of the Society of Mary.n It remained to appoint a head to the mission. In a letter of 4 March 1836 de Pins, the Apostolic Administrator of Lyons,12 formally proposed Pompallier as head of the band of missionaries who would set out. On 13 May a Papal brief named Pompallier Vicar Apostolic of Western Oceanians and another brief of the same date Bishop of Maronea. The link with New Zealand had been forged, the link not only between Pompallier and New Zealand but also between the Marists and New Zealand. To the Marist superior, Colin, Cardinal Castracane wrote from Rome: 'I would like you to understand that the Sacred Congregation was especially led to approve your Society in order to stimulate you to undertake the difficult task of the Mission.'* 4 Bishop Pompallier decided to make New Zealand the headquarters of his 6 Pastre to Fransoni, 17 July 1835, ACPF SOCG 950, 644r-645v. 7 Resume of a conversation with Cholleton, May 1847 in Mayet, Memoires (manuscript, Archives generates des Peres Maristes [hereafter APM]), VII. 8 Colin to Pompallier, 3 August 1835, ACPF SOCG 950, Pompallier to Champagnat, 13 November 1835, Archives generates des Freres Maristes [hereafter AFM], Lettres Pompallier. Similarly, in Pompallier to Colin, 5 November 1836, APM OOC 418, 1. M ACPF Acta 198, 366r. 11 Petition addressed to Gregory XVI, APM 412, The Archbishop of Lyons, Cardinal Fesch, uncle of Napoleon, was living in exile in Rome at this time. De Pins governed the diocese in the name of the Pope. is Text in Peter McKeefry, ed., Fishers of Men, Auckland, March Copy Archives de I'Archeveche de Lyon [hereafter AAL],

3 76 NOTES vast mission. He arrived there on 10 January 1838, accompanied by one Marist father and one Marist brother. Profiting from a wave of conversions to Christianity which had already commenced before his arrival is and a personal ascendancy over the Maoris,is he quickly established stations at Hokianga, Kororareka, Whangaroa, Tauranga, Akaroa, Matamata, Maketu, Opotiki, Auckland, Port Nicholson, Whakatane, Rotorua and Kaipara.17 The foundation of these stations required a flow of missionaries and money. Here Jean-Claude Colin played an important part. Besides being the head of the Society which furnished missionaries to New Zealand, Colin was also the provicar or agent of Pompallier in Europe, a task he fulfilled from 1836 to It involved representing Pompallier's interests in France and, especially, transmitting the funds the bishop used in his work. As far as money was concerned, the Catholic mission in New Zealand seemed to enjoy a reputation for wealth. Faramond, the consul of France at Sydney, reported that he had had to explain to the Governor of New South Wales that the French missions of Oceania were not maintained from the Treasury of his government.19 From where, then, did the finance come that supported the Catholic mission in New Zealand? Busby was very suspicious of Pompallier's liberality with presents.20 The Morning Register of Dublin in its issue of 25 April 1841 printed a letter from a Protestant clergyman who claimed that considerable sums of money were being made available to Pompallier for his various works. 21 Did not the Maoris think of him as a French noble, if not the cousin of Louis- Philippe?22 The mission should impress, at least in the person of its head,23 and such a policy required money. However, far from Pompallier's being the recipient of French government subsidies, he was, in fact, dependent on the voluntary offerings of Catholics, which were channelled through the organisation known as the Association of the Propagation of the Faith. In the period French government help in terms of material aid in New Zealand amounted to a single grant of money by the Ministry of Justice and Worship,24 meagre rations accorded two priests and a brother for a time at Akaroa,25 the is Harrison M. Wright, New Zealand, Early Years of Western Contact, Cambridge (Mass.), 1959, ch. viii. 16 See e.g. Comte to Colin 25 April 1841, APM Z Lillian Keys, The Life and Times of Bishop Pompallier, Christchurch, 1957, pp. 21 Iff. 18 Pompallier sent the act of delegation in a letter from Le Havre, 28 November 1836, APM OOC 201. At the beginning of 1843 Epalle arrived in France from New Zealand. Pompallier appointed him his representative there. Pompallier to Colin, 8 November 1842, APM OOC 418, Faramond to Minister of Foreign Affairs, 15 June 1846, Archives des Affaires Etrangeres [hereafter AAE], Commercial Correspondence, Despatches of Consuls, Sydney , 206r-206v. 20 Eric Ramsden, Busby of Waitangi, Wellington, 1942, p From the French translation of the letter in the Archives de la Propagation de la Foi, Conseil Central de Paris [hereafter APFP], I, 11, Maristes Petit-Jean, Melanges d'observations sur le temporel et le spirituel de la Mission en general, APM Z '... the Bay of Islands where one must present well... being affable to the important people who live here'. Pompallier to Colin, 14 May 1840, APM OOC 418, Colin to Pompallier, 21 September 1839, Copy APM 418, Pezant speaks of 'throwing us some scraps of bread'. Pezant to Colin, 17 September 1840, APM Z208.

4 NOTES 77 repairing of Pompallier's ship by Lavaud's men at Akaroa, for which the mission paid, 26 the supplying of six sailors by the Ministry of Marine for the crew of Pompallier's ship, their upkeep to be the mission's responsibility, 27 and the free transport of missionaries on State ships on two occasions.^ For the transportation of most of his men and their numerous effects, the despatching of goods ordered from Europe and the sending of money, Pompallier had to look to the Association of the Propagation of the Faith. This Association was divided into two central councils, one having its seat at Lyons and the other at Paris. Between them they discussed requests for help and allotted the money destined for each mission that was the object of their beneficence. Up to May 1838 the division of funds was drawn up only at the end of the financial year (April) and no money was sent out until all the offerings had been collected. However, from May 1838 the two Councils decided to draw up the list of allocations at the beginning of each financial year by making an estimate of the probable intake of that year. Then, as funds came in, they would be sent out to the missionary bishops. 2 9 If the missions were confided to groups of priests, such as the Marists, the money was transmitted through the superior-general.30 In apportioning the sums to each mission, the members of the two Councils were guided by the annual reports of the heads of each mission to whom a form was sent out each year to be filled in. It bore the remark: 'The Council does not ask for any detail but a single figure that covers the various revenues listed above.' There was a statistical table with room for general observations and overleaf an estimate of receipts and expenditure for the coming year was requested. No detailed rendering of accounts was expected: 'It is neither in our principles nor our custom to ask the bishops to render an account of how they employ the funds of the Association. This aid is handed over for their free disposal to make the use of it they deem fitting for the good of religion in the regions subject to their apostolic care.'31 Nevertheless, sustained silence on the part of the heads of the missions could be considered a renunciation of the help given by the Association. 32 In accord with the practice of the Association since 1838, Pompallier's allocation would be estimated at the beginning of each financial year Note du Capitaine Michel (the captain of Pompallier's ship) sur les depenses occasionnees par le navire Sancta Maria, APM OOC Pompallier reported in a letter to Fransoni of 9 February 1843 that the sailors had just arrived but, as he was without a schooner, he had the permission of the Minister of Marine to employ the six of them on land. Cf. ACPF SOCG 965, 467r. 28 With Lavaud on the Aube came the priests, Pezant and Tripe, and the brothers, Amon and Claude-Marie. APM OG 031. The priests, Bernard, Moreau and Chouvet, came with Lavaud's successor, Berard, in Bernard to Colin 27 December 1842, APM OG Annates de la Propagation de la Foi, May 1838, N. LVIII, President, Conseil Central de la Propagation de la Foi Lyon, to Pompallier, 22 December 1845, Copy Archives de la Propagation de la Foi Lyon [hereafter APFL], Copie des Lettres 1845 II, ibid., President, Conseil Central de la Propagation de la Foi Paris [hereafter CCPFP] to Pompallier 28 August 1843, cited in Pompallier to President CCPFP, 18 December 1844, Archives de la Propagation de la Foi Paris [hereafter APFP], I, 11, Maristes APFL, Proces-Verbeaux of the month of April of each year.

5 78 NOTES As a guide to the amount to be granted, a report would be presented by Colin on behalf of the missions under Pompallier's jurisdiction. Since the mission was so recent, Pompallier was not at first expected to fill in the form alluded to,34 and he himself avows that he did not have time to present many reports on his mission.35 Therefore, it was on Colin's reports that the apportioning of money for New Zealand largely depended and these reports in turn depended on letters Colin received from his missionaries in New Zealand. The funds allocated by the Association during Colin's time as Pompallier's agent were: 2,087 for 1838, 3,120 for 1839, 3,712 for 1840, 5,415 for 1841 and 7,621 for As the superior of the priests who staffed the New Zealand mission, Colin was the immediate recipient of the funds as they came to hand and by a special kindness of Meynis, the secretary of the Lyons Central Council, the first offerings received were given to the Marists. That is why a considerable portion of the allocation was made available six months after the grant had been fixed. The remainder would be paid when all the collections were in hand, that is, in the following March.37 it would then be Colin's task to buy the objects requested by the mission, send out missionaries with the attendant expenses of fares and freight, and remit any surplus after these expenditures to the Vicar Apostolic. The total of the money thus spent would equal the amount of the allocation as printed in the Annales of the Association. Yet, because Pompallier strongly complained that he was not getting from Colin the amount given in the figures of the Annales,38 the President of the Lyons Council had to point out to him 'why Your Lordship does not receive in their integrity the funds published in the Annales. The Revd. Fr. Superior-General of the Society of Mary has necessarily to set apart from the total amount of each grant the expenses he has to incur to pay the fares of the missionaries he sends to New Zealand, the cost of their outfits, the requirements of cult, etc., as well as the purchase of the various objects that he may send to Your Lordship at your request.' The President went on to say that the Council was sure that Colin sent a detailed account of expenses incurred for the Mission 'expenses, of which the total added to the sum he sends you should balance the figure of the grant printed in the Annales.'^ As far as the transmission of the cash remaining was concerned, Colin preferred to send it with departing missionaries.4o The practice of sending out money with the missionaries made for the regular despatch of funds. Moreover, the very despatch of the missionaries was dependent on the availability of funds. As has been stated, allocations were made out by May and then, according as alms came in, they would be despatched to 34 Meynis (Secretary, Conseil Central de la Propagation de la Foi Lyon [hereafter CCPFL]) to Colin, 21 October 1840, APFL Copie des Lettres 1840 II, 650. S3 Pompallier to President and Members CCPFL, 6 November 1842, APFL 1842 Oceanie; also Pompallier to the President and Members CCPFL, 26 May 1844, ACPF Congressi Oceania II, 660v. 36 Cf. the Compte rendu de 1'Oeuvre de la Propagation de la Foi in the Annales of the respective years. Sums are given according to an exchange rate of approximately 25 francs to the sterling of that day. 37 (Epalle) to (Pompallier) 1843, Copy handwriting Epalle, APM 418, Pompallier to President and Members CCPFL, 6 November 1842, APFL Oceanie » 22 December 1845, APFL Copie des Lettres 1845 II, Colin to Fransoni, 17 June 1843, ACPF Congressi Oceania II, 494r.

6 NOTES 79 the various missions through the superiors-general. The first offerings came in about October. The final amounts were in hand about the following March. Thus during the one financial year two bands of missionaries would be sent. In practice we find Colin sending missionaries to New Zealand at the end of the calendar year and again about half-way through the year. In 1838 the missionaries left in September, using an advance of the 1838 allocation.4i In June 1839, the 1838 allocation being completed, a further group of missionaries departed. The French government provided free passage for those who left with Lavaud in February 1840, but they brought with them cash and goods, the first instalment of the 1839 allocation. That same year fourteen persons departed for the mission in December. The considerable number of those going out, the purchase of a large number of objects, for example, a printing-press, and the unfortunate failure of a London bank used what was left of the 1839 allocation and all of the 1840 allocation.42 Consequently, it was not until November 1841 that a band could journey out on the basis of the first instalment of the financial year Then once again there was a mid-year 1842 group of missionaries who set out with the aid of the final instalments of the 1841 financial year. The funds emanating from the Propagation of the Faith were the very life-blood of the New Zealand Catholic mission, its only stable resource. On the strength of the allocation came missionaries, goods and hard cash to its Vicar Apostolic, and because the allocation could be tapped twice a year, so equally frequently Colin transmitted men, materials and money to Pompallier. Besides being the source of manpower and the intermediary of funds, Colin did all he could to secure the protection of the French government for the missions in the Pacific. The missionaries who arrived on 10 December 1839 were the last group sent by Colin to a New Zealand which was independent. Those of his men who next arrived on 11 July 1840 would find a New Zealand completely under the sovereignty of Great Britain. Pompallier had been in New Zealand ten months when he wrote to Fransoni at Rome of a thorny problem: the colonising views of certain nations with respect to the islands under his jurisdiction. As for New Zealand it was almost certain that England wanted to take possession of it. As a result, heresy might be strengthened. However, the English officials had been very courteous to him and he could not be very fearful for the future. 4 3 However, France was shortly to be interested in this land of the antipodes. On 12 May 1839 a change of ministers under the July monarchy in France brought to the Presidency of the Council and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Marshal Soult, the Duke of Dalmatia, and to the Ministry of Marine, the Vice-Admiral Duperre.44 The Ministry of Marine in a Note of 15 August 1839 declared that the North Island of New Zealand was closed to France as a sphere of influence. There were too many Englishmen there to be outbalanced by the colonists France could send. However, there remained the South Island. Despatch was the essence of the project. 41 Colin to Meynis, 8 June 1838, APFL 1838 Lyon. 42 Colin to Members CCPFL, 2 March 1841, APFL 1841 Lyon November 1838, ACPF Congressi Oceania I, 510r. 44 Leonce Jore, L'Ocean Pacifique au Temps de la Restauration et de la Monarchie de Juillet, I, Paris, 1959, 191.

7 80 NOTES It would be necessary to send colonists there to forestall the English. A colonising company was being formed in France. A commission was formed presided over by Dupetit-Thouars comprising three marine officers, Cecille, Lecomte and Roy, three representatives of the colonising company, the Nanto-Bordelaise, and Captain Langlois who claimed to have bought Banks' peninsula in the South Island. A contract was agreed on between the government and the company. Among other provisions, Captain Lavaud was chosen as captain of the ship of war to be stationed there and Royal Commissary, and when he departed on the Aube on 19 February 1840 for New Zealand he had on board two priests and two brothers of the Society of Mary. The role of Colin in these proceedings was a modest one. His aim in dealing with departments of the French government was to gain protection for the missionaries so that they could carry on their work in tranquillity.45 There had been previous discussions between the French missionaries and the French government. The future missionaries in New Zealand, Petit-Jean and Viard, while on a visit to Paris had established contact by the end of May 1839 with the Ministry of Marine.46 One of the first secretaries of the Ministry, Vigneti, was very affable and declared himself ready to do all he could for the Society of Mary.47 The Secretary of the Ministry of Justice and Worship gave a grant of forty pounds to Petit-Jean and Viard, although the money was eventually handed over to the priests, Pezant and Tripe, who sailed with Lavaud. In his turn, Colin, encouraged by the attentions of the various ministries, sent to Paris as delegates the priests Dubreul and Poupinel 48 to intercede for the greatest possible protection for Pompallier's mission.49 They returned with glowing reports of the interest of the government in Catholic missions and especially in those of Oceania. 50 Soult, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, had been very benevolent. Consuls were to be appointed in the Pacific Islands. This must have rejoiced Colin's heart as the appointment of a consul in New Zealand, who would be able to protect the mission, was the burden of seventeen letters of Colin from the end of 1839 to mid Colin would like to have seen appointed a certain Eveillard,5i probably the person to whom he refers in a letter to Pompallier as being an excellent Christian.52 Full of ardour, Eveillard saw in his future post only a means of Christian apostolate.53 Colin also describes him as not lacking in prudence. This is a moot point. Eveillard wrote to Soult outlining his conversion scheme for New Zealand.54 Frenchspeaking missionaries were to outnumber the English-speaking ones. Bishops were to be chosen by the Pope from a French society and French 45 ibid., 193ff. 4«Petit-Jean and Viard to Colin, 26 May 1839, APM Z loc. cit. 48 Colin to Pompallier, 9 November 1839, Copy APM 418, 1. *' > Colin to Pompallier, 21 September 1839, Copy APM 418, 1. 5 Colin to Pompallier, 9 November Colin asked de Pins to recommend the appointment of Eveillard to the Internuncio at Paris, Garibaldi. Cf. Document in Colin's handwriting, unsigned undated in AAL. 52 Colin to Pompallier, 9 November Being the father of a numerous family and in need of employment also played their part. Eveillard to Colin, 15 November 1839, APM 511, Eveillard to Minister of Foreign Affairs, 7 September 1839, AAE, N.Z. 1, , 208r-208v, and report, ibid., 209r-212v. Also Eveillard to Minister of Foreign Affairs, 2 November 1839, ibid., 209r-212v.

8 NOTES 81 monks were to found monasteries in the hinterland where they would bring the benefits of civilisation to the Maoris, thereby showing them that France was their benefactor. The bishops would complete the gallicising process by founding schools where French would be the principal subject. Then it would be up to the Holy See to give an outlet to the energies of the nation similar to the destiny of France. If the latter was known as the First Daughter of the Church, New Zealand should be called its younger sister, Catholicism's second daughter! Eveillard did not receive the post. However, the captains of vessels in the South Seas had been instructed to render all the service possible to the missionaries in New Zealand.55 Soult, moreover, instructed Colin to keep missionaries in readiness for departures by State ships. 5 6 The same Minister for Foreign Affairs had requested a report on the mission in New Zealand. Colin complied with the request.57 The Catholic missions, he felt, with the powerful aid of the French government would make great progress; after the interests of religion, the missionaries had no dearer interests than those of their fatherland; they would do all in their power to make the name of France loved in the islands. Colin took the occasion, too, to press for the nomination of a consul in New Zealand and expressed gratitude for the offer of transporting missionaries on government ships. Of old, France had received Christianity; now it would be a matter of glory if France were to give these people of the antipodes the same benefit. Moreover, French commerce could not help but prosper thereby. In the middle of December a similar report was sent to Duperre, Minister of Marine and president of the Government Commission on New Zealand.58 Like the report to Soult, it supported the nomination of a consul and pointed out the good which could accrue to France's commerce. Full support of the missionaries was assured for promoting, after the cause of God, the interests of France.59 The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Soult, replied in a confidential letter to Colin of 16 December,60 stating that a ship, the Aube, was being fitted out at Brest for an expedition to the South Island of New Zealand under the command of Captain Lavaud. Soult suggested sending with the expedition two priests and two lay missionaries. Colin was to give the missionaries instructions to act in accord with the Royal Commissary who would administer the establishments to be formed in the South Island. He was also to inform Pompallier of these plans 61 and invite him to co-operate with the Royal Commissary. The latter had the most explicit instructions to aid Pompallier and the missionaries accompanying the expedition. 62 The minister asked Colin to send him the correspondence he received from the mission: information derived from these sources could be 55 Duperre to de Pins, 9 October 1839, Copy APM 511, 2. 5«Colin to Pompallier, 9 November & 7 20 November, 1839, AAE, N.Z. I, Pieces Diverses, , 277r-279v. 58 Colin learnt of the Commission and of its president through Eveillard who suggested the report to Duperre. Cf. Eveillard to Colin, 7 December 1839, APM 511, » Colin to Duperre, 13 December 1839, AAE N.Z. I, Pieces Diverses, 329r- 331v. In his covering letter Colin had asked Duperre to pass the report on to Soult, ibid., 327r-328r. 60 APM 511, 24. Colin to Pompallier, 29 December 1839, Copy APM 418, Minister Foreign Affairs to Lavaud, 17 December 1839, Copy AAE N.Z. I, Pieces Diverses, 336v.

9 82 NOTES extremely useful to the missionaries as well as to the natives. In this way the worthy ecclesiastics of the mission would second the efforts of the Royal government. It might seem that Colin had allied himself too closely to the French government to allow his missionaries liberty in their activity. Susceptible Englishmen would see in every French missionary an agent of the French government and with some justification. In his report to Soult, Colin had pointed out that one of the charges levelled against Pompallier had been precisely this. The situation was a delicate one. Colin tried to avoid the danger. Thus the draft of a letter to Olivier, confessor to the Queen, reveals that Colin understood that a too open protection of the mission by the French government could be dangerous to the progress of religion on account of the suspicions of the English missionaries.63 A letter to Garibaldi, the Internuncio at Paris, was planned to ask him to instruct the missionaries selected how to avoid in their ministry all appearance of politics.64 Prior to the reception of Soult's letter of 16 December, Colin had not intended to send a group of missionaries to New Zealand, as Pompallier's letters were dated as long ago as September However, the government's offer could not be rejected. In his reply to Soult, Colin hoped that Lavaud would, in concert with Pompallier, so act that the goodwill of neither native nor Englishman towards the missionaries would be alienated. They did not wish to appear to be imposed on the country. The primary goal of the missionary was the salvation of the infidel. The missionaries had to be careful not to give a handle to the calumnies of the Methodist.66 Towards the middle of January 1840 the missionaries who were to accompany Lavaud were in Paris: the priests, Tripe and Pezant, and the brothers, Amon and Claude-Marie. 67 i n the capital they were received with a benevolence, the memory of which touched them still when they were living in their grass hut at Akaroa.68 Soult had requested them to write to him directly on the customs of the Maoris and the progress of the mission.69 Colin, however, was of the mind that any information meant for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs should first of all be sent to him.70 In Tripe's opinion the affair was a delicate one for the missionaries.71 On 11 July the missionaries landed at the Bay of Islands,7 2 where Lavaud had been strongly urged to put in. 7 3 Pompallier was ready to cooperate in the venture of colonisation, especially as it enabled him to start a mission in localities where for some time he had been wanting to start 63 4 December 1839, Draft APM 511, 2. This letter had also been suggested by Eveillard. 64 Colin to Garibaldi, 7 January 1840, Copy APM Epistulae Variae Generalium. 65 Colin to Pompallier, 21 September 1839, Copy APM 418, Colin to Duke de Dalmatie (Soult), 24 December 1839, AAE N.Z. loc. cit., 345r-345v. At the beginning of the mission, the word 'Methodist' was used frequently to indicate any Protestant missionary. 67 They left Paris on 16 January for Brest. Pezant to Colin, 26 January 1840, APM OG Pezant to Colin 17 September 1840, APM Z loc. cit. 70 Colin to Tripe and Pezant, 19 January 1840, Copy APM Epistulae Variae Generalium. 71 Tripe to Colin, 16 January 1840, APM OG Lavaud to Minister of Marine, 20 July 1840, Archives Nationales Marine [hereafter ANM] BB Minister of Marine to Lavaud, 14 January 1840, Draft ANM BB

10 NOTES 83 one. 74 At the Bay of Islands there was an exchange of missionaries. Only Pezant then went on to Akaroa but he was accompanied by Comte from the Bay of Islands who was to minister to the Maoris. Once at Akaroa it appeared that the missionaries liberty would be restricted, thus realising Colin's apprehensions. Lavaud gave them to understand that they were completely under him, if not in so many words, at least by his way of acting.75 Comte, therefore, took the opportunity of telling him that they were independent there of all human authority!76 In point of fact, while the sovereignty of Great Britain over the South Island was being questioned by the French, the missionaries worked freely. Indeed, throughout the whole period of the existence of the Vicariate Apostolic of Western Oceania, French protection and the visits of French ships were assured the mission in New Zealand.77 This had been Colin's purpose in his correspondence with the ministries. The Vicariate Apostolic of Western Oceania ceased to exist with the erection of the two dioceses of Auckland and Port Nicholson on 20 July Catholic neophytes numbered by this time 5,000 approximately.78 The Church was established in the two main centres of European population, Auckland and Wellington; its Maori mission stations were confined mainly to Northland and the Bay of Plenty area, while the South Island had no resident missionary after In all, Colin had sent to Pompallier forty-one missionaries. Of these there worked in New Zealand seventeen priests, three students for the priesthood, of whom two were ordained priests in New Zealand, twelve brothers and two lay-helpers. Though Colin was only the intermediary for funds, it is clear that his proximity to the Central Council of Lyons for the Propagation of the Faith was an important factor in appealing to the generosity of that body on behalf of the mission in New Zealand. Colin had an indirect but durable effect on the life of the Catholic Church in New Zealand. Padri Maristi, Rome K. J. ROACH 74 Pompallier to Colin, 22 July 1840, APM OOC 418, Pezant to Colin, 17 September loc. cit. 77 Roussin (Duperre's successor) to Colin, 6 June 1840, APM 511, 2 and Minister of Marine (de Mackau) to Leconte, Confidential Instructions 26 August 1845, Draft Archives de la France d'outre Mer A 19, 3 and A 40, 29, 78 Bishop Viard, Administration des fonds de la Mission Catholique de l'oceanie occidentale... pour l'annee 1848, APM OOC 320.