On the 28th the two brothers joined the large number of friends who went down with the Mission party, among them Mr. Edward Coleridge.

Parting notes were written from on board to all the most beloved; to little Paulina, of bright hopes, to Miss Neill of her cross; to Arthur the German greeting, ’Lebe wohl, doch nicht auf Ewigkeit,’—­to Mr. Justice Coleridge:—­

’March 28, 1855.

’My dear Uncle,—­One line more to thank you for all your love and to pray for the blessing of God upon you and yours now and for ever.

’We sail to-day.  Such letters from home, full of calm, patient, cheerful resignation to his will.  Wonderfully has God supported us through this trial.  My kind love to Arthur.  Always, my dear Uncle, Your affectionate, grateful Nephew,

‘John Coleridge Patteson.’

Perhaps the frame of mind in which Coley left England can best be gathered from the following extract from a letter to his father from his uncle Edward:—­

’While on board I had a good deal of quiet talk with him, and was fully confirmed by his manner and words, of that which I did not doubt before, that the surrender of self, which he has made, has been put into his heart by God’s Holy Spirit, and that all his impulses for good are based on the firm foundation of trust in God, and a due appreciation of his mortal, as well as professional condition.  I never saw a hand set on the plough stead with more firmness, yet entire modesty, or with an eye and heart less turned backwards on the world behind.  I know you do not in any way repine at what you have allowed him to do; and I feel sure that ere long you will see cause to bless God not only for having given you such a son, but also for having put it into his heart so to devote himself to that particular work in the Great Vineyard.’

About 5 P.M. the ‘Duke of Portland’ swung round with the tide, strangers were ordered on shore, Coleridge and James Patteson said their last farewells, and while the younger brother went home by the night-train to carry the final greetings to his father and sisters, the ship weighed anchor and the voyage was begun.

CHAPTER VI.

The voyage and first year. 1855-1856.

When the See of New Zealand was first formed, Archbishop Howley committed to the care of the first Bishop the multitudinous islands scattered in the South Pacific.  The technical bounds of the diocese were not defined; but matters were to a certain degree simplified by Bishop Selwyn’s resolution only to deal with totally heathen isles, and whatever superiority the authorised chief pastor might rightfully claim, not to confuse the minds of the heathen by the sight of variations among Christians, and thus never to preach in any place already occupied by Missions, a resolution from which he only once departed, in the case of a