to her husband, who was not only profaning the Sabbath, but spending his time and his means away from his family, and reducing himself to a state of brutal intoxication. Mr. W. accordingly went, but was told by the publican that the man he asked for was not in his house. Mr. W. returned to the woman, and reported the issue of his visit, but she entreated him to go back again, as she was certain her husband was in the house, although the publican, for obvious reasons, had denied him. Mr. W. accordingly went back to the public-house, and requested to be admitted to see the man, as he said he was assured by his wife he was in the house. The publican, as might be anticipated, was offended at this importunity, and asked Mr. W. how he pretended to search his house, asking him insultingly, if he was a constable, or had a warrant to do so? "Yes," Mr. W. fearlessly replied, “I have a warrant." "Where is it?" said the publican sneeringly. "Here," replied Mr. W., pulling out his English Pocket Bible," for it is written in the Word of God, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself." The publican stood abashed at this instance of Christian zeal and intrepidity on the part of the humble foreigner,

-for there is a majesty and a power in the bold assertion of Christian principle, before which iniquity will often hide her head and be ashamed; and he allowed Mr. W. to enter his house, where he found the man he was in quest of. For these, and various other reasons, I confess I feel a deep interest in the German Mission to the Aborigines; and as it was entirely with my concurrence and approval that my friend and brother, Mr. Schmidt, returned to Europe, I cherish the hope that it will ere long be revived under happier auspices, and be prosecuted with increased vigour, and crowned with ultimate success.

CHAPTER XII.

PROSPECTS OF COOKSLAND, IN REGARD TO CIVIL AND RELIGIOUS LIBERTY, MORALS, AND RELIGION.

Caetera turba suos fines plerumque sequuntur.

RUDDIMAN'S Latin Grammar. Certain of the Colonial Clergy are exceedingly ́selfish and sordid.

THE population of Cooksland, which, by the census of 1846, amounts to 3750 souls,* is composed of persons who style themselves respectively English Episcopalians, Scotch and North of Ireland Presbyterians, and Irish Roman Catholics; the number of persons of any other denomination being as yet very small. A large proportion, if not a decided majority of the gentlemen Squatters, and other respectable inhabitants of the District, are Scotsmen and Presbyterians; the remainder of this class being almost exclusively of the Church of England. There is also a considerable number of Scotsmen and Presbyterians among the humbler or working-classes-the free immigrant mechanics, farm-servants, and shepherds; but the bulk

of this class of the population, embracing, as it does, a considerable proportion of old hands, or expiree convicts, are, nominally at least, Episcopalians and Roman Catholics.

For the religious instruction of this population, there are at present two Episcopalian ministers stationed in the district-the one at Brisbane, and the other on the Clarence River-and at least one Romish priest also stationed at Brisbane. There is no other minister of religion of any communion in this part of the territory.

The Episcopalian minister at Brisbane is the Rev. John Gregor, A.M., a regularly educated and ordained minister of the Established Church of Scotland, who was sent out to New South Wales as a Presbyterian minister, on the recommendation of the General Assembly's Colonial Committee, in the year 1837. In consequence, however, of certain difficulties in his position, the result of his own heartless cupidity, Mr. Gregor gave out that a new light had broken in upon his mental vision, and declared publicly, "in the Church of St. James, the Apostle, in Sydney," that he was moved by the Holy Ghost to renounce the Westminster Confession of Faith and the Presbyterian Communion, and to take an oath of implicit obedience to a Puseyite Bishop.

Mr. Gregor is, without exception, the most worldlyminded person I have ever known in a clerical habit, and he is so ignorant withal of the world, as even to be utterly destitute of that thin veil of hypocrisy which, in such cases, is indispensably necessary to shield the hireling from general disgust. Through the frequent exhibition of this quality, combined with others equally unclerical, Mr. Gregor had contrived, within a very short period from the time of his arrival at Moreton Bay, (to which locality he was ordered to proceed by his Bishop,) to alienate the affections of the entire Episcopalian community in the district from his person and ministry, and to forfeit all title to their confidence and respect. Public meetings had been held

both before the period of my visit and since, to represent his utter unfitness for the office he held, and to petition the Bishop for his removal. But obsequiousness and servility are the never-failing attributes of the Episcopalianized Scotch Presbyterian, whether in Church or in State, and by "the diligent use of these outward and ordinary means" of success in such quarters, Mr. Gregor has managed to retain his position in spite of the petitions and remonstrances of an outraged and indignant people. He is a thorough Intrusionist.

I have been induced to mention these particulars, partly to exhibit the religious prospects of the district, and partly because there was a wonderful flourish of trumpets, both in the colony and at home, on the accession of this individual to the Colonial Episcopal Church. For my own part, I make that Church heartily welcome to all such Presbyterian ministers, even although they should prove as numerous as the "leaves in Vallombrosa;" for the only real service they can ever render to the Presbyterian communion is to leave it for ever. Lest I should be supposed, however, to be actuated by unworthy feelings towards this unhappy individual, I shall insert the following extract of a letter, in which reference is made to him, of date "Brisbane, 28th March 1846," and which I had the honour of receiving from a gentleman at Moreton Bay-an Englishman, an Episcopalian, and an officer of Government, holding a highly respectable appointment in the district, who, I beg to add, has not yet been mentioned in any way in this work :—

"We are labouring to be rid of our Incumbent—I had almost written Incubus, which, at all events, can appear in the errata. I do not go into particulars, as I do not doubt that the obduracy of his master and the obstinacy of himself will be the cause of all the business appearing in the Atlas (a Sydney weekly journal) if they will publish it. We find but one opinion of him here, but meet with much difficulty in getting people to co-operate. One has a yoke of oxen to prove another has married a wife a third has bought a farm-a fourth is a Government officer, and so cannot! Nevertheless, there be some of us who are determined to be rid of him, coute qu'il coute. My impression of a minister, who having really at heart the glory of God and the

diffusion of the Gospel, is that he would not remain in a parish wherein he was made apparent as a hindrance of that Gospel, which he ought to practise as well as preach. But you know the man, perhaps, better than I do ; at all events, I know that he is not the good shepherd, but that he careth not for the sheep, because he is a hireling."

In such circumstances, it will readily be believed that there is comparatively little even of the outward semblance of Protestant christianity at all visible in the Moreton Bay District beyond the influence of that purer moral atmosphere which the German Mission to the Aborigines has certainly succeeded in creating within its limited sphere. Accordingly, I was told that when Mr. Gregor occasionally visits the surrounding Squatting Stations, "to do duty," as it is termed, and the hired servants on the station at which he is to officiate are invited to attend, they frequently excuse themselves by alleging that "they are all Roman Catholics," but when Mr. Hanley, the Romish priest at Brisbane, visits the same stations, the very same men excuse their non-attendance at his rural mass by alleging that "they are all Protestants."

The Episcopalian incumbent at the Clarence River is a Mr. M'Connell, a very young man, and evidently knowing as little of mankind, to say nothing of christianity, as Mr. Gregor. On its being announced that the Bishop would send a clergyman to the Clarence District, on the understanding that the people should contribute for his support, (as the Colonial Government allowance does not extend to these out-stations), and that, up to a certain amount, he would receive a salary from the Bishop equal to what should be contributed by the District, Mr. Commissioner Fry, whose able and interesting Report of the capabilities of the Clarence District I have had the pleasure of submitting to the reader, exerted himself in traversing the District in person to procure subscriptions for the clergyman; and although a large proportion of the respectable inhabitants were Scotsmen and Presbyterians, they had willingly responded to the Commissioner's appeal, from their earnest desire to see a Protestant minister of any