A BRIEF REPLY

1‘0

CERTAIN CHARGES

MADE AGAINST THE

PATAGONIAN, OR SOUTH AMERICAN

(MISSIONARY SOCIETY,
I
_/2

/\.

BY W. PARKER SNOW, LATE MASTER OF THE “ALLEN GARDINER"

MISSION SCHOONER.

BY THE COMMITTEE.

BRISTOL:

I. E. CHILLCOTT, 26, CLARE STREET.

LONDON: WERTHEIM AND MACINTOSH, 24, PATERNOSTER ROW.

1857.
PRICE SIXPENCE.
 BRIEF REPLY, ‘
g0.

THE public has been lately invited to read, and to

investigate, certain most serious charges against the
Patagonian, or South American Missionary Society.
The author of these charges is the late Master of the
Allen Gardiner, Who in a work published by Messrs.
Longman & Co. spares no pains to cast obloquy upon,
and even to defeat altogether, the efforts now being
made for the evangelisation of the degraded races in
South America. Besides this work, in two volumes,
there is a pamphlet, by the same author, printed by
Messrs. Spottiswoode & Go. and intended for more
private circulation. The object of both these publi
cations, so far as the above Society is concerned, is
identical.
We have no fear for the result. Without claiming
for the Committee of this Society, or any of its agents,
a wisdom superior to all circumstances, or a freedom
from error, to which as men all are liable; we yet do
claim for them the merit of a singleness of purpose,
and sincere desire to promote the welfare of mankind,
and the glory of the Redeemer.
In attempting to state the true bearings of the case,
so sadly perverted by Mr. Snow, we may at the outset
say, that there are three salient points, whose formid
able character his ingenuity has not sought to mask,
and which therefore require our particular attention.
The first of these is a personal grievance of Mr. Snow;
 4

the second a personal attack upon the Rev. G. P. Des

pard, Superintendent Missionary of the Society; and
the third, a charge against the Directors of the Pata
gonian Mission generally, of degrading a spiritual
enterprise into a mercenary colonial speculation.
Until the Committee of this Society see the necessity
of proceeding further, they intend to confine them selves
as much as possible to a brief capitulation of facts.
The only member of the Mission party as yet stainless
in his motives and reputation, the only one possessed
of suitable qualifications for his office, and informed
as to the true line of Missionary enterprise is, as we
gather from the general tenor of his publications, the
late “ Master of the Allen Gardiner.” We feel loath
unnecessarily to dispel the illusion; yet, justice to a
holy cause, and to some single-hearted persons engaged
in it, must be our guide in the task now before us.
Mr. Snow somewhere in his work supplies us with
the familiar adage, “ all looks yellow to the jaundiced
eye.” Possibly these words may go farther than he
thinks to explain the strange View that he has taken
respecting the above Society and its agents. His
attacks, at any rate, would, we believe, have assumed
a graver aspect had they proceeded from a disinters
ested quarter, and been altogether distinct from a
claim for pecuniary compensation. But, as the matter
now stands, Mr. Snow’s private claims and feelings so
constantly and irregularly cross the woof of his story,
and form together so tangled a web, that we cannot deal
with his charges made against the Society on public
grounds, without in the first place seeking to unravel,
and present clearly to our readers, the circumstances
that have led to the position in which the former
 5

Master of the Allen Gardiner now stands to the above

Society. And, in order that we may succeed the
better in doing so, it is necessary for us to go back to
the first point of connection between Mr. Snow and
the Patagonian Society.
In 1854, an advertisement appeared in the public
papers, stating the anxious desire of the friends of the
Mission to secure the services of a suitable person to
take charge of the Mission schooner. The Committee
did not advertise for a person to go out as director of
the whole projected Mission, but merely for one duly
qualified to undertake the responsible position of
Master of their little vessel. This advertisement was
answered by Mr. Snow, and led ultimately to his ap
pointment. In a letter dated September 13, 1854, a
few weeks only after Mr. Snow’s offer of service, we
find him speaking very properly of his position “ as
the Captain, and merely as a Captain.” We call
attention to these words, occurring, as they do, in the
course of a communication relative to the pecuniary
conditions under which, as Captain, Mr. Snow went
out. In fact, they appear to be the utterance of a
heart pained by the necessity of proposing terms, which
it would rather be independent of. In an early part
of this letter we come across the following urgent ex
pressions intended for the Committee. “ I am con
strained to say, what is right, and what you would do,
that please do. All that you can do now is needful
for me,” &c. Mr. Snow lays much stress upon his
original offer of “gratuitous service.” The sincerity
of his offer we will not doubt ; the wisdom of it, and
the justice of it to himself and others, are not beyond
question. But, however this may be, the fact of Mr.
 6
Snow pressing upon the Committee of this Society the
necessity of allowing him a salary to the fullest extent
of their means, leads him to use language which can
leave no doubt as to the real character of the position
which he had accepted under the auspices of the
Patagonian Society. We give an extract from the
letter in question, .where the reader will perceive are
inlaid the expressions quoted above. “ Holding, as I
do, a high, an important, and an honourable post in
the Mission, I value it as such; but as the Captain,
and merely as a Captain, I am without that feeling of
desire, and sentiment of gratification, as is often to be
found; and this has grown upon me more and more
as more and more I become acquainted with the labours
of those who have gone before.” The writer, we
should explain, has, as he states, been just reading
“ Hope Deferred, Not Lost ;” and a painful conscious
ness of the wide difference between his own position,
as paid agent of the Society, and the position of him
who had given up all, life included, for the same ser
vice, and the same God, forms the under-tone of the
quotation that we have made. But can anything, we
ask, more clearly shew the extent, and the limits, of
that office which now belonged to Mr. Snow? And
if subsequently any expression should be employed
which might appear open to the charge of leaving his
position ambiguous, is it too much to say that the
terms of his acceptance of oflice should have been
allowed to test its fairness? We think not. But the
final instructions, which were publicly read at the
Farewell Meeting of the Mission party, do not seem
to us to admit of that ambiguity which has been attri
buted to them, and upon which Mr. Snow strives to
found a justification for after insubordination. We
 7

now give so much of them as bears upon this point.

We must remind our readers, however, that there was
at this meeting, at which the final instructions were
read, a clergyman 0f the Church of England, under
engagement to proceed abroad, as Superintendent
Missionary under the Patagonian Society. It is‘ true
that circumstances came to light afterwards which
prevented the realisation of this engagement; but this
could not at all affect the meaning of instructions based
upon the assumption of an ordained minister of the
Church of England going out to join the Mission party
as Superintendent Missionary. We quote as follows:
“N0w, in the last place, let me address you as you are related to
eaoh other.
“ Very peculiar will be your situation. Excluded from all the
world in your lone dwelling-place, you must strive to be to each
other all that man can be to man. Friends—brothers—fathers—
companions—counsellors must be represented among you. We send
out all subordinate to one, and yet that one to be servant to all. It
is essential to the well-being of the little community that they be
not all masters; and equally essential is it that he who is master
should rule, not for himself, but for the sake of those who are with
him, and for the common cause.
“ If differences or disputes arise among you, to which, being
men, you are liable, he must be the umpire to settle them; if there
be non-performance of duty, he must be the admonisher; if miscon
duct, injurious to the cause of the Mission, persisted in, he must
dismiss the offender. In the exercise of all this authority, he is more
to be commiserated than envied.
“ There will be two heads of service—the land and the sea—both
very important and equal in importance.
“ In all things relative to the vessel and to the navigation of it,
the Captain is the commander, responsible only to the Society. In
all things relating to the land—the labourers and natives in it—the
Superintendent is the governor, also responsible only to the Society.”

Now what interpretation are we naturally to put

upon these instructions? Is it not plain that the
 8

Captain was supreme only in nautical matters—respon

sible within the range of these to the Society alone?
And is it not equally plain that the Missionary
Clergyman was intended to be supreme in all other
matters, responsible to the Society alone? “ In all
things relative to the vessel, and to the navigation of
it, the Captain is the commander, responsible only to
the Society." Here, then, the authority of the Captain
is limited—but within these limits he is supreme, or
rather “ responsible only to the Society.” Let us then
make this exception, and we see the meaning of “ all
subordinate to one.” But how could that “ one” be
possibly wrested into meaning the Master of the Allen
Gardiner, whose authority is so clearly defined? We
stand amazed at Mr. Snow's words, in a note attached
to his pamphlet, “ I solemnly declare, and so did the
workmen believe, even as I had been made to believe,
that I was the ‘ one.’ ” But we willingly seek for a
special law of interpretation for Mr. Snow, when we
find him, in the same note, declaring, we suppose
“ solemnly,” his opinion that a humorous touch of Mr.
Despard’s pen condemned the clergyman to the po
sition of “third mate.“ We venture to say that he is
* We copy Mr. Snow’s foot note, for the benefit of those who have
not seen it. “ ‘ We send out all subordinate to one.’ Who was that
one to whom all were subordinate that were being now sent out? I
solemnly declare, and so did the workmen believe, even, as I had
been made to believe, that I was the ‘one;’ yet what puzzled me
was about the ‘two heads,’ until Mr. Dcspard told me it meant,
when the two divisions of service were apart or in their own especial
duty. But that no ‘head’ was mentioned as being over me, read
this:-—“ I have a clergyman likely to go who has been brought up
to the sea, &c. He is a straight-forward plain- spoken married man,
of forty-three. He could serve as third mate on board occasionally.”
Secretary, Aug. 19, 1854. This does not look much like a clergy
man being head over me.”
 9
almost the only man capable of misunderstanding, for
he asserts that he misunderstands, the spirit of the
instructions, which we have given. If we pursue
this enquiry further, we shall see how all Mr. Snow’s
communications from abroad, with the Committee at
at home, imply the fact, not of his being the “one”
to whom all were subordinate, but of the direct con
trary. Is there a delay in sending out the desired
Missionary? Mr. Snow laments the absence of one
central authority. Does any unpleasantness take
place amongst members of the Mission party? Mr.
Snow traces it up to the absence of one authoritative
head. Does the direct Mission work seem to flag?
Mr. Snow laments that the all-important person who
is to re-animate and guide the spiritual enterprise is
unappointed and unsent. So strongly does he feel the
need of some definite authoritative head, that we find
him writing under date of Feb., 1855, in the following
strain to the Committee at home: I
“ Alter the plan of arrangement, and have, as I understood it would
be at first, only one directing authority, and he a thoroughly competent
individual, practical, experienced, religious in reality, and full of re
sources. Then there can be no confusion, no difference as to what is
best, or not, no stoppage in the work. Without it there will always be,
if as now; for no two minds are alike, and yet, the tWO departments
having two minds over them are so closely united, that the one de
pends much on the other. Therefore, let me put this seriously before
you. I speak not for myself, I speak but for the Mission, and
willingly, most willingly after this, will I put myself under any
authority you may deem suitable for the post of single director. Let
him be the man (perhaps Mr. Verity is such a man) and you will
find me a cheerful and ready workman under him.” _
To the same efi'ect are many other passages in the
various communications received by the Committee
from the late Master of the Mission schooner. But we
 10

select one other extract from aletter of Captain Snow,

addressed to Mr. Despard, dated August, 1855. It
is as follows:
“ Many facts have come to light of late, sufficient to induce me to
say to you, most seriously, that if you have not already vested one man,
and he of some experience, with full and undivided power; it is
my earnest prayer that you will do so. Give to one chosen indivi
dual exclusive power to act for you, and to bind and make loose, to
summarily dismiss, or punish any, and every determined offender
against the Well-being, and interests of our Mission; to plan, arrange,
and order, as he may think best in accordance with your wishes;
then, and not till then, is it fair, or even natural to expect things
will be other than they are.”

We need scarcely comment upon these words.

Had they been faithfully fulfilled on the writer’s part,
we believe Mr. Snow would have been a happier man
than he now is, and the Mission work satisfactorily
progressing. But, interpreting these words of Mr.
Snow by his after conduct, it is almost impossible to
avoid the conclusion that he was urging in fact his
own appointment as supreme director of the Mission ;
and that his refusal to act under the Rev. G. P. Des
pard was the result of wounded vanity, and disap
pointment of spirit. Most strange it certainly seems,
after the particulars of Mr. Snow’s position which we
have given, and the apparent eagerness of his desire
that one supreme head should be sent out from Eng
land; after his strongly expressed convictions that
this was the only human condition under which the
Mission could prosper, and the evils complained of be
remedied; most strange, we repeat, does it seem that
Mr. Snow should be the very one, and only one, to
dispute Mr. Despard’s authority on his arrival out,
with full powers of action; and not only refuse to
 11

co-operate with him, but to the utmost of his means

seek to thwart, and render his efforts for the Mission
abortive. But strange as this may seem, and irrecon
cileable, we cannot but feel that still more strange,
and irreconcileable must the following statement
appear to the minds of our readers. We quote from
page 70 of the pamphlet:
“I would not have gone under any one unless well known to me, but
particularly under such a man as Despard, who, whatever may be
his past or private character, and I say not a word against either, I
yet conceive to be the most unfit man possible to have unchecked
control abroad over a Mission and its people.”

How can the writer of the above expect to secure

credit with the public, when his own statements are
so utterly contradictory? And yet, with no bitterness
of spirit we say it, there runs through the entire work
of Mr. Snow the same kind of inconsistencies, which
nothing but impaired memory, or an intense dwelling
on the present to the exclusion of the past, can at all
explain.
Two questions may possibly suggest themselves at
this point to the reader’s mind. The first, was Mr.
Snow duly informed as to the instructions of the
Committee in sending Mr. Despard out, and sending
him out with such plenitude of power as he actually
possessed?~ The second, was there anything, or had
there ever been anything, between these two parties, of
such a character as to imperil that unity of spirit
which it was so desirable, and so essential, to maintain Z
We will at once meet these questions. And in an
swer to the former, we give a faithful extract from a
letter, dated March 5th, 1856, (i. e. six months pre
vious to Mr. Despard’s arrival at the Falklands) and
 12

written by the Secretary at home to Mr. Snow, in

charge of the Mission schooner aboad:
“And now, my dear sir, with regard to the state of things
between you and Mr. Phillips, we were deeply grieved to be in
formed of it. Thrown together as you all were so suddenly, without
any previous acquaintance, dissensions were much to be dreaded,
but the Committee did hope that by attention to that frequent
maxim, ‘ Bear and forbear,’ you would have all pulled together with
brotherly love. ........ You will have learned, ere you receive
this, intelligence, which I have no doubt will cause you the greatest
pleasure, and give a different current to your thoughts and wishes,
from that in which they were flowing when you wrote to me last
December. I mean the fact that we have found that God has given
us a Missionary, and such a Missionary as we could not have dared to
expect. Yes, Mr. Despard has indeed made up his mind to give
up home for Christ, and he hopes to sail, in the Hydaspes from
Plymouth, about the middle of April. A free passage has been
given to him, and all his family, in that vessel by its generous
owner, and I am glad to say it will convey them direct to the
Falkland Islands, so that the services of the Allen Gardiner will not
be required to convey them from Monte Video. This announcement
will, I think, completely do away with all your reasons for wishing
to return in April. The Committee never intended that the Allen
Gardiner should return for at least three years, and were under the
impression that the men were agreed with for a service of that
duration. But I need not enter into particulars on this, or any
similar subjects, as Mr. Despard goes out with full instructions from
the Committee as their Plenipotentiary. He will manage all these
matters, and will also seek to arrange the differences which have
unhappily arisen between you and Mr. Phillips. I have not the
least doubt that you and Mr. Despard will get on together as
brothers. I may mention that he, of course, will be the head of the
Mission, butwill leave you in full management of the discipline of
the vessel, while the times of sailing and such matters can be
arranged on between you. We shall look to him for information
as to the wants of the Mission, and as to any changes in our plan,
or otherwise, which he may find needful; and, in short, he possesses
our unbounded confidence, and we have no doubt he will equally
possess the confidence of every member of the Mission party.”
 13

We do not suppose we need add one syllable to the

foregoing extract, in order to secure a satisfactory reply
to the former question. With respect to the latter,—
Was there anything, or had there ever been anything,
between Mr. Despard and Mr. Snow, of such a cha
racter as to imperil that unity of spirit which it was
so desirable, and so essential 'to maintain 'Q—we are
prepared to say unhesitatingly, no. The most friendly
feelings had always been expressed mutually by these
two parties. Mr. Despard is the very one whose
advent, if it were possible, Mr. Snow in the most
glowing language declares he longed for, and would
rejoice over. His letters addressed to the Rev. G. P.
Despard, throughout the entire period of his connec
tion with the Mission work, breathe the deepest spirit
of confidence and regard. The following lines are
but an example :
“ Dec. 22, 1855. Ever the same, kind and excellent, friendly
and sincere, how I always welcome the sight of your hand~writing,
and how I wish I could seize your hand and carry you by gentle
force away with me to the landing, and places I have but lately
visited in the dark regions of Ticrra dcl Fuego.”

Language of this kind is characteristic of Mr.

Snow’s communications with the Rev. G. P. Despard,
and not exceptional. It will not, therefore, be taxing
the credulity of the reader too much, when we say
that the idea of ill-will springing up between parties
enjoying each other’s confidence so largely, was widely
remote from the mind of the Committee. And
that a result, so earnestly to be deprecated, should
ever have taken place, can only be explained, we
believe, by allowing for that passionate love of supre
macy on the part of Mr. Snow, which would not
 14

brook subordination to any other. To attempt to justify

the indulgence of this passion by Mr. Snow is to as im
possible, especially when directed against him who
came out invested by the Committee at home with
full powers over the Mission ; and the appointment of
whom Mr. Snow’s letters lead us to suppose he would
hail with so much gladness.
The injunction of the Committee, that the members
of the Mission abroad should at times take counsel
one of another, was utterly set at defiance in this case.
For the Master of the Allen Gardiner would not hear
of our Superintendent Missionary’s proposals, and
refused at all hazards to carry them out. The leading
position which Mr. Snow had gradually assumed,
during the unfortunate, but most unavoidable delay, in
sending out a Superintendent of the Mission, affords
no true ground of justification. For his prominence
of position was not designed, but was the outgrowth
of circumstances, and necessarily gave way when, in
accordance with his own urgent wishes that some one
should be appointed, the Rev. G. P. Despard volun
teered to go, and was sent out invested with full
powers of action over all persons and matters con
nected with the enterprise.
We have now, we believe, fairly defined, and put
into shape for our readers, those claims of being “ head”
over the Mission which the author of the publications
before us is at such pains to assert. Mr. Snow’s
appeal to “ the Workmen” to corroborate his own inter
pretation of the final instructions is peculiar enough,
and possibly this peculiarity will not be considered to
have lost any of its point when we find him, at page
32 in his pamphlet, specifying as the “ workmen,”
 15

to whose observations of his headship he wishes us

to appeal, “ the mason and carpenter of the land
party, and to others:” the poor mason, as we are
informed in another part of Mr. Snow’s publications,
being dead. But why does Mr. Snow try to rest his
position of head of the Mission upon the mere opinion
of workmen? Is this his surest ground? At least we
might have expected the opinion of the catechist
and the surgeon on this point. If it must depend
on a mere expression of opinion, is it too much to
ask for the opinions of those likely to be best in
formed? We trust, however, the documents, already
presented to the reader in this pamphlet, have placed
the matter beyond the capricious opinion of mere
“ workmen,” and reduced it, as much as possible, to a
matter of fact. But we hasten to bring our readers
to that point, and the circumstances connected with
it, from which the charges of Mr. Snow seem to take
a definite form. We purposely pass over, as unworthy
of our serious attention, those vague accusations, which
are so lavishly brought against every member of the
Mission party in turn, from the catechist to the cabin
boy. There is a certain passage in one of Mr. Snow’s
letters to the Committee to the effect that everybody
cannot be wfong who is against Despard. Might we
not alter the final word, and find the force of the argu
ment, such as it is, telling equally against Mr. Snow!
At any rate, we are driven to think that the author of
all these vague charges, cares little for his own dignity
as master of a vessel, and “practical head” of the
Mission ; for, if we must take him at his word, he is
conspicuous for the absence of that moral influence,
which knows at once how to command, and how to
 16

conciliate others. But to come to that epoch of events,

when in the exercise of the powers committed to him,
our Superintendent Missionary found it necessary to
demand Mr. Snow’s resignation of his command over
the Allen Gardiner. This took place not long after
Mr. Despard's arrival at the Falklands. Many of
our readers may not be aware of the local circum
stances of our Mission station. It is planted in
Keppel Island, one the West Falkland group, a tract
of land having been granted to the Society by the
government. The island was, at the time we occupied
it for a Mission station, uninhabited by man. Not at
this, but at another island in the East Falkland group,
at Stanley, the seat of the local government, the
Rev. G. P. Despard and his party landed from the
Hydaspes, in which they had come out from England.
In the harbour of this place the Allen Gardiner was
lying at this time, and Mr. Snow in charge of her as
Master. Our Missionary and Mr. Snow meet. The
former, as conversation goes on, informs the latter of
his powers, but at the same time assures him that not
to “lord it” over him, but that they should work in
sympathy together for the cause of God was his most
anxious and only desire. But the co-operation of Mr.
Despard with himself Mr. Snow was not willing to
accept, when in reply to his question,-—have you au
thority over me Z—Mr. Despard answered in the
affirmative. Accordingly, when our Missionary with
his party desires to go to Keppel, and lets the Master
of the Allen Gardiner know to that effect, difficulties
are made—there is no crew, &c. But ‘we must do
justice to both these parties, and let the communica
tions, which passed between them on this occasion,
speak for themselves. We insert also, as apposite to
 17

this question, the letters numbered 3, 5, and 9, re

spectively, addressed by Mr. Snow to his Excellency
Governor Moore. They are copied from Mr. Snow’s
pamphlet.
No.1.
“ Stanley, September 10th, 1856.
“MY DEAR CAPTAIN Snow,
“As it is now high time that the Mission party come out in
the Hydaspes should prosecute their way to the bourne of their
destination, Koppel Island, I must request of you at your very
earliest day to provide for them accommodation and a passage thither,
in the Mission schooner Allen Gardiner, and to convey to the same
place the other articles which will be needful there at once. The
persons will be—myself, Mr. Ogle, Messrs. Gardiner and Turpin,
my two boys, Foster and Bartlett, the poultry (eight ducks, eight
fowls, five geese), two sheep, two goats, two pigs. The things—a
small trunk of clothes for myself, and the personal baggage of the
others. The flooring, roofs, windows and doors, and wood fittings
of two small cottages, with the wooden house (ten pieces), of Mr.
Gardiner, and at least three months’ stores for eleven persons, pigs,
and poultry. I trust you will lose no time in arranging all things
for this voyage, as it is highly desirable we should be all about our
proper business, and you will much oblige and relieve,
“ Dear Captain Snow, yours very truly,
G. PAKENHAM Dnsmnn,
Superintendent Missionary, P.M.S.”
“ Captain Snow, Master of the ‘ Allen Gardiner.’ ”

No. 2.
“ Stanley Harbour, September 10th, 1856.
“ MY DEAR MB. Dnsmnn,
“It; is painful for me, at the very beginning, to difl'er entirely
from you, and to be compelled to say I am unable to comply with
the demand made in your letter of this date. The state of things
that now exists is what I have repeatedly warned the Committee
against; nor have I any power to avoid it. At present the ‘Allen
Gardiner’ is entirely without a crew; nor can I reship any of them
again (except two), only on condition that they be discharged at
home, and have nothing to do with the Falkland Islands. I do not
wonder at this; for I must confess that, to me, the great and noble
I - B
 18
work of a Mission to the natives of T. del Fuego and Patagonia
appears to be wholly set aside for the purpose of establishing a
‘cattle settlement and a colony at Keppel Island.’ At all events
my course and duty is clear. I keep to my instructions, and the
agreement I have entered into with the Patagonian MissionSociety.
I shall do all I can—for, as I conceive, the best interests of the
Society, and for the furtherance of the object in view, even as '
expressed in my instructions, viz., ‘ The instruction and civilisation
of the natives of South America,’ and as ‘1 may justly consider
likely to promote that,’ and not as any one else here may consider.
I cannot consider that the plans you propose, and what you want to
do, with all the very great expense attendant upon such (so difi'erent
to what I understood on leaving England), will promote the real
object of the Mission ; nay, I am bound to state, that I feel loath to
connect myself with those plans. I can be no party to putting any
(\fl
\ number of persons on Keppel Island for the purpose of colonising it
as you state; especially seeing that you have brought out from
England so many individuals, and neither ready funds nor provisions
for any one. And I must further add, that as you have brought me
no letter from the Committee, nor come possessed with any legal
authority to supersede, or put me under your orders, I am compelled
to confine myself to my duties as a shipmaster, and do that which,
under these distressing circumstances, I may consider to be best for
the welfare of my owners, the Patagonian Missionary Society.
Regretting that I should have to write this reply to you,
“ I am, my dear Mr. D., &c. &c.”

No. 3.
“ To his Excellency Governor Moore.
“ SIB, “ Stanley Harbour, Sept. 10, 1856.
“ It is due to your Excellency that I should lay before you
the accompanying copy of a letter I have addressed to Mr. Despard,
in reply to a communication he forwarded to me. As I understand
that certain arrangements are pending inreferenee to Keppel Island,
I would wish that, as far as myself and the schooner ‘ Allen
Gardiner,’ which I at present command, may be concerned, my posi
tion and intentions may be rightly understood by your Excellency’s
government here.
“ I have often stated that for a simple Mssion Station, Keppel
Island possesses many great advantages, but I cannot view it in that
light according to the present plans. My letter to Mr. Despard will
 19
explain more of my ideas on the subject, and I therefore beg most
respectfully to refer your Excellency to it, in order that hereafter
I may have the satisfaction in my own mind of knowing that Ihave
honestly performed my duty, and that no one may be able to say I
participated in plans that I have now no right conception of, and
that may probably fail.
“ I have the honour to be, Sir,
Your Excellenoy’s humble servant,
W. PARKER Snow.”
ITO.v 4.

“MY DEAR CAPTAIN Snow, “ Stanley, Sept. 11, 1856.

“ I thank you for your explicit letter of the 10th instant, to
which I should not new reply if it were not to save myself from
being understood to concur in the statements made in that document.
Your instructions were to take the Missionaries to the natives when
ever required, to convey supplies to the Mission Station, and in the
intervals of such direct service, to employ the schooner as you might
judge best for the pecuniary interest of the Mission Society, and,
as explained at the time, this meant employing the vessel and crew
in sealing, fishing, securing wreck-Wood, &c. Now, you propose to
carry the vessel back to England, leaving me and my party here in
Stanley, at very heavy expenses to the Society, to the loss of the
spring time of the year, and to prevent our visiting the coast at a
favourable season. Your owners, at the time of your taking the
charge of their vessel, distinctly said, and you have acknowledged it,
that she should not return for at least three years, and you desire to
take her back when not two have expired; they have written since
then to say you must not bring her back sooner. You were not
charged with the duty of determining what is to be done for the
evangelisation, &c. of the natives, but what is to be done with the
‘ A. G.’ at such times as she is not directly employed in that service.
‘ The plans ’ I do not propose, but they have been determined upon
since 1852, long before you were thought of as an agent in carrying
them out, and I conceive your opinion respecting them will not
alter them; they are such as you were informed of when leaving
England, and, as I ought to know, such as the schooner was expressly
built to carry out; and yet you conceive it your duty to take her
away, or prevent her from being employed in them. You have
materiale aided in laying the train for accomplishing those plans,
and now oppose them.
 20
“ It is very inconsistent, and I may say vexatious in you, repeat
ing your objection, that I have brought no money with me, nor
provisions, when I have distinctly, and more than once, told you
that I can get the former here to any amount, and you have
just drawn for the largest sum you have yet required here ; and that
as to provisions, the gentleman, directed to furnish a six-month
supply for all our party, was prevented by yourself from communi
cating with Mr. Dean, from whom he could and would have got
them.
' “ As to the owners of the ‘ A. G.,’ the law recognises the trustees
only as owners, of whom I am one, and the others are members of
the Committee, who have given you instructions not to come back to
England, through their ofiicial, and co-operate in every way with
me, and be under my directions.
“ In conclusion, I am bound to say, that if you do not your very
best to comply with the request made in my former letter, you will
be justly chargeable with preventing the execution of the work for
which you were engaged, and with disobeying your employers, as
well as with greatly grieving and disobliging
“ Your sincere friend,
G. PAKENHAM Dnsrsnn, Clerk,
Superintendent Missionary, P.M.S.
“ P.S.—I have before me a notification from the Governor,
acknowledging my position here, and signifying that he is prepared
to convey to me, on behalf of the P. M. S., Keppel Island, so soon
as it shall have been surveyed.
“ Captain Snow, Master of the ‘ A. Gardiner.’ ”

No. 5.
“ To His Excellency Governor Moore.
"Stanley Harbour, Sept. 11th, 1856.
“ Sm,
‘ “ I beg leave to inform your Excellency that, in the early
part of March last, two persons named J. A. Ellis and G. Phillips,
left my vessel against my wish, and with their own free will and
accord, to locate themselves on Keppel Island, West Falklands.
“There was on the island sufi‘icient food and provision for them
to about this period; but I fear that for any further extension of
time they may be in want. The two persons I have named did not
belong to my ship, nor had I any power or authority over them.
 21
They are members of the land party attached to the Patagonian Mis
sion, over which land party I believe the Rev. G. I’. Despard now
in Stanley, is the ostensible head. There is on Keppel Island
certain property, to some large amount, belonging to the land party
of this Mission; but as I llave neither means nor power to interfere
with, nor is it a part of my duty to attend upon, the two persons
I have named, having no orders or authority to act, I beg most
respectfully to call the attention of your Excellency to the case, that
such measures may be adopted as your Excellency may deem most
proper under the circumstances.
Humanity alone has dictated the necessity of my presuming to
address your Excellency on the subject; for it has been against my
repeated warnings and expostulations that the two persons I have
named have persisted in remaining on Keppel Island without any
other companions, and knowing, as I have told them, that I have no
means or power to either help them there or prevent their adopting
such a strange course of proceeding.
“Trusting your Excellency will excuse my calling your attention
to this subject, especially as Mr. Despard is now in Stanley,
“ I have the honour to be, Sir,
Your Excellency’s very humble servant,
I \V. PARKER SNOW,

Master of the British Schooner ‘ Allen Gardiner.’ ”

N0. 6.
“Stanley Harbour, Sept. 12th, 1856.
“ MY DEAR MR. Dnsrann,
“ It is due to you that I acknowledge the receipt of your
letter to me of yesterday’s date ; and believe me when I say that of
all things that have occurred to me, such as now exist grieve me as
much as any. Yet what am I to do P How act? The only answer
I can give is, keep to my instructions and agreement when appointed
Captain of the ‘ A. G.’ What you have said are my instructions I
cannot admit. I have placed your letter and those instructions side
by side, and any one may see how wrong you are in stating them to
be as you have expressed. However, we need not go over that
again, nor anything else, except for me to deny all the inferences
you have drawn, and to say that you must be greatly mistaken in
what you bring forward as assumed facts in your letter. As to the
money drawn by me, it was because you declined, and I had again
to get it on my own responsibility as shipmaster, and in command of
 22
the ‘A. G.’ Alas! that all this should be! Yet I dare not, if I
would, alter it, while the law makes me the responsible person in
charge of the ship. As for the trustee ownership, I difi‘er from you
in your view of it. Prove the point so as to clear me, release me
from the difliculty, and the state of things which has and is still in
juring my health, do me proper justice, and the matter is ended.
“ At present I have, as you know, no crew; and this was told the
Committee long ago. But it is useless writing more; I will therefore
only add that, despite all difference of opinion,
“ I am, as ever before, sincerely yours,
W. Panxnn Snow,
Commander of the ‘A. G.’ ”

No. 7
“ Stanley, Sept. 12th, 1856.
“ MY DEAR CAPTAIN Snow,
“ Before I finally agree with a party here willing to take our
whole party and eflccts at once to Keppel Island, I wish to know
whether I am to regard your last of Sept. 10th as a distinct and
determined refusal to do so. We must be on our way, wind and
weather permitting, not later than Wednesday next; wherefore
please furnish me with an immediate reply, if possible, and you will
oblige your
“ Sincere friend,
G. Psxnnnm Dnsmm), Clerk,
Superintendent Missionary, P. M. S.”
“ Captain Snow, Master of the ‘ Allen Gardiner.’ ”
No. 8.
“ Stanley Harbour, Sept. 13, 1856.
“ Mr mun Mn. Dnsmnn,
“It would be wrong to deny that I feel sadly vexed and
unable to look upon everything in so friendly a light as I had hoped
and wished. Nevertheless, after a night’s reflection, I conceive
my duty to the Society to be such as to take the course I am about
to do. I therefore now reply to your last letter by referring to those
points I have all along maintained as essential to be known by me;
and_I ask—
“First, Whether you have either purchased Keppel Island, and
got permission fiom the Governor to locate yourselves there? and
“ Secondly, with Thirdly, Whether you have provided means for
your subsistence on that island, and also made certain arrangements \
 23
to be periodically visited and have provisions renewed, in event of
any vessel belonging to the Mission Society being lost or absent?
Upon receipt of an answer to these necessary questions, I will give
you my definite reply.
“ And believe me sincerely yours,
W. PARKER Snow."
No. 9.
“ To His Excellency Governor Moore, &c.
“ Stanley, Sept. 13, 1856.
‘( Sm, -

“ The Rev. Mr. Despard having requested me to convey him

self and party to Keppel Island, in the West Falklands, I, as master
of a British ship, beg most respectfully to ask your Excellency, as
Governor of these Islands, whether Mr. Despard (and party) has
your Excellency’s authority and permission to locate on Keppel
Island, and I shall be absolved by your Excellency’s Government
here from all after responsibility in the event of anything befalling
that party on such island? “ I have the honour to be, &c.”

No. 10.
“ Stanley, September 13th, 1856.
“ MY nmn CAPTAIN Snow,
“Though now made responsible by authority here for the
Mission party, I might say, you need not concern yourself about
their safety, I will yet treat you as a friend and say, to your
> “ 2nd query, that with the party from this port will go six months’
supply, in all the necessaries of life, according to Messrs. Ihlers and
Co.’s liberal scale; to the
“ 3rd, that Mr. John Dean has engaged to send one of his vessels
every three months, provided nothing he heard of us in Stanley for
that time; and to the
“ let, that there is nothing in the way of the purchase of Keppel
Island save the necessary survey, which the officer will go with us to
effect ; and that the authorities have heard my plan, approve it, and
will permit me to bring natives, &c., to Keppel Island.
“ Waiting for an early reply, to enable me to complete my
arrangements,
“ I am, dear Captain Snow, ’
Your very good friend,
G. PAKENIIAM Dnsmnn,
Superintendent Missionary, P. M. S.”
 24

The difficulty raised about a crew, we consider in a

great measure vexatious. We shall see, as we pro
ceed, that Mr. Snow, within a very short period, was
engaged in shipping a crew for purposes of his own.
But, supposing this plea of “ no crew” to be available
as an excuse for the late Master of the Mission
schooner, when he declined taking the Mission party
to Keppel, is it not equally available against him when
he charges our Missionary with waste of the Society’s
funds, in chartering, another vessel for the above pur
pose? \Vhat else was to be done under the circum
stances? Mr. Snow at one moment makes the absence
of a crew an excuse for inaction, at another the presence
of himself. Do we wrong him by thus commenting
on the following words, in connection with what has
gone before? (Pamphlet, p. 68.) “ Then Despard char
tering the Victoria schooner for £80 ! to go to Keppel
Island, When he could have had the Allen Gardiner
to do as he liked with. But this was to try and put
the odium upon me, as I well understood. This can
easily be seen, as there was no occasion to throw £80
away, if I could be removed, and the Allen Gardiner
obtained for him to do with as he chose.” At this
time matters had not ripened for a crisis, and Mr.
Despard was exhausting every alternative rather than
proceed to extremities. When nothing was left to
him but to demand Mr. Snow’s resignation—~then it
was done. But previously, to charter another vessel
seemed a less evil, and it was preferred. The two
other points, behind which Mr. Snow takes up his
position, and puts Mr. Despard at bay, are of the same
vexatious character. They amount to this, that Keppel
Island was a “ cattle colony,” and Mr. Snow could
 25

have nothing to do with such a mercenary enterprise;

and, secondly, that under Mr. Despard’s management
he expected the Mission party would inevitably perish
by famine. In vain Mr. Snow is assured that the
responsibility does not rest on him. In vain are the
clearest and most satisfactory evidences given of pro
per precautionfi‘ It is all to no purpose—the mission
party must and shall perish. We quote from pages
72, '73, of pamphlet.
“ I tell the Society at large, that in my opinion—and some day,
when another terrible disaster occurs, my words will be remembered
-—that a man more unfit, more incapable, as regards a cool judgment
and wise forethought, than your present Missionary, could not be
found. Has not the past proved this? Ask the memory of the
starved men in Spaniard’s Harbour, who vainly looked to Despard
for relicf ! and yet will the future also prove it. Whatever be the
result to me I shall ever rejoice that I refused to associate myself
with him, or his plans (not the plans of the Society at large as a
Mission to the Fuegians,) but his plans, for the establishment of a
cattle colony at Keppel Island, and other similar things. No other
motive but this could have actuated me in the course I took, none
but objection to his plans has been assigned.”

Now are these charges, or prophetic voices, or what

ever they are, uttered side by side intentionally to
neutralize one another? The candour of Mr. Snow
might thus be saved, however narrowly. Or has a
blind zeal to damage the Society made him overlook
the fact, that the formation of a “cattle colony” is not
the speediest method of extinguishing aMission party
by famine? We know not if Mr. Snow has, in the
visions of the night, witnessed a repetition of Pharaoh’s
dreams: but the wise men, we believe, will be even
now at a loss to reconcile some startling anomalies
* See Letter No. 10 on this subject, page 23.
 26

which ingenuity has conjured up in the publications

before us.
We shall hereafter state the simple facts of the case,
with regard to this charge about establishing a“ cattle
colony,” as it is termed. If the public, or our friends,
think we have kept back one iota of the truth, we
beg them to call upon Mr. Snow to lay aside his
subtle mode of attack by insinuation, and to establish
his charge by every evidence he is supposed to pos
sess. Our object at present is to shew the necessity
of that step, which our Missionary so reluctantly took,
of demanding the Master of the Allen Gardiner to
resign. And in order that we may do this as satisfac
torily as possible, we proceed to lay before our readers
a copy of a letter addressed to the Committee, under
date September 19, 1856, from J. M. Dean, Esq.
merchant, Stanley.

“Stanley, Falkland Islands, September 19, 1856.

“GENTLEMEN,
“Mr. Despard being absent at Keppel Island, and having
left me to act for him on behalf of the Mission, as regards the
schooner Allen Gardiner, it becomes necessary for me to address you
upon the subject, particularly of the proceedings of Captain Snow.
The Allen Gardiner has now been two years, or thereabouts, in this
part of the world, and has only, I believe, once visited Fuegia, the
greater portion of her time being spent in Stanley Harbour. Of
course the captain and crew have a very comfortable time of it. But
the time has now arrived when I trust and hope to see the objects
of the Mission carried out, and if Mr. Despard continues as he has
commenced, I have no doubt he will succeed, for he has worked
since his arrival excessively hard. However, he has great difiiculties
to contend with. In the first place, Captain Snow denies his au
thority, although Mr. Despard could not get it from Captain Snow
in writing. It was a great mistake in the Committee in not giving
to their Superintendent a ‘Power of Attorney.’ I have no doubt it
 27
will be with surprise and wonder that you learn that the Allen Ga/r
diner—built expressly for the purposes of the Mission—is now lying
idle in Stanley Harbour, and Mr. Despard has been obligated to charter
another vessel to take the Mission party and their stores to Keppel
Island. However bad and shameful this is, and may appear, it was
the most politic and economical course at once to get the party to
their destination. It was obligatory for Mr. Despard to proceed
with them.
“The Master of the Allen Ga/rdiner had, prior to his leaving,
stated that he should take the vessel back to England, in opposition to
Mr. Despard’s wishes and instructions, and had absolutely taken the
crew, or part, to the shipping ofiice, at Government House, to ship
for England; and, if the Master thought proper, to go to the coast
first, but not to come back to the Falklands. This information was
only learned the afternoon prior to Mr. Despard’s departure. How
ever, he sent up a written protest to the Governor against his taking
the vessel away without his instructions. Mr. Despard sailed for
Keppel next morning at six o’clock, and left me full instructions to
act for, and on behalf of the Mission (with a copy of the Committee’s
instructions to him), during his absence, and if possible to stay Snow
from taking the schooner away. I never had a more difficult task.
On the morning that Mr. Despard sailed I proceeded to Government
House, and there was Snow with his men ready to ship them for
England. I had an interview with the Governor, and for the pre
sent he refused to allow them to ship, upon my application to let
the vessel remain until Mr. Despard came back—which I expect
will be about fourteen days. The case was dismissed that day with
an understanding that, if the Governor gave permission to ship them,
he should let me know, and so I hoped the matter would end till
Mr. Despard returned.
“Upon the following morning I was surprised to hear that the
Governor had absolutely allowed them to ship, but (stating in his
communication to me, which I send) for one month. Upon enquiry
at the shipping ofiice I found they had shipped for three months, ex
cept two, which was ample time for him to proceed to Monte Video,
when he could make any agreement with them he thought fit, or get
fresh hands. I then saw the Governor, and protested against the
ship’s papers being given up to him. The Governor seemed to ac
quiesce in detaining them. I [stated that I had no objection, as now
his crew Was shipped, of his (Snow’s) going to Keppel to arrange
 '28
with Mr. Despard, as he pretended he wanted to do; but I strongly
objected to his having the papers, so that he should not take the
ship to a foreign port. Shortly after it was found out that he was
already in possession of them, and was preparing to sail. I then
resorted to the only alternative by taking a warrant out to detain
her; and, if he attempts to proceed to sea until Mr. Despard’s re
turn,~ I shall put an officer on board until he does return. The
warrant is now in the hands of the Chief Constable, but I hope I
shall not have occasion to use it. Of course I have written to Snow,
as agent, requesting him to remain. Mr. Despard had also notified
tohim his wishes, and stated that he had appointed me during his
absence. Captain Snow is now, so the Governor informs me, willing
to acknowledge Mr. Despard, and is willing to act under him. But
you may rest assured he never can do so satisfactorily, he has had
too easy a time of it at Stanley, and I am sure under Mr. Despard’s
management it will be very different. I look upon his coming out
as the salvation of the Society, for it was not possible for it to con
tinue as it has been proceeding lately.
“ I enclose a copy of my instructions from Mr. Despard, that you
may see I am taking the only step, and I consider the best course,
to stay the Allen Gardiner from being alienated from the objects of
the Mission, however, for a time; and perhaps to save a heavy
bottomry upon her: for if she proceeds under present circumstances
to a foreign port, the probability is, that will follow.
“ Do not think that I am bestowing praises upon Mr. Despard as
a friend, for we have both been so busy in our vocations since the
arrival of the Hydaspes, that we have scarcely had an half-hour’s
conversation. Conscientiously he appears to me to be the best and
only man that I have seen here, interested in the Mission, likely to
put matters in something like order, for eventually carrying out your
objects. I trust, Gentlemen, that it will not be considered pre
sumptuous in me in offering to you one piece of advice-(I am an
old settler, of sixteen years standing, and have seen much commer
cial life, consequently ought to have some capacity for judgment in
such matters)—that is, whoever is your superintendent, endow him
with full, and as powerful authority as you can. People in England
talk and act very differently there to what they do when they arrive
here; and, if there is a possibility, will set your superintendent at de
fiance, and disorder and unpleasantness will ensue. I regret that
Mr. Ogle and Mr. Despard have not understood each other. Mr.
 29
Despard has never mentioned the subject to me, consequently I can
not give you any information. Mr. Ogle talks of going to England
in the Syren, so he told me to-day, and that their disagreement was,
authority. And my opinion is that Mr. Despard does perfectly right
not to part with any of his power. Let him retain it entire, and he
will then be respected, I trust, by all the labourers in the vineyard,
and these unpleasantnesses you will, I trust, hear no more of. To—
morrow I will write you the proceedings.
“ Saturday, Sept. 20.—Last evening the Allen Gardiner attempted
to get under weigh, in opposition to my written instructions, but
when hove short, information reached him of the warrant being out
against him, if he attempted it, and he desisted. This morning at
10 a. m. I attended the police court with Snow, by Mr. Brook’s re
quest, when he privately went into the matter, and decided to call
a bench of magistrates, at my request, to decide upon the validity of
Mr. Despard’s credentials ; and the magistrates were to give us
notice of their decision. Snow declared that Mr. Despard has no
jurisdiction over him; that the Committee had trusted the schooner
solely to him; and that he should act as he thought proper with her,
and take her back to England. This afternoon he attempted to get
under weigh without waiting to hear the magistrates’ decision.
Consequently it was compulsory on me to execute the warrant, and
puta police officer on board, which has been done. And, if I can
legally do so, on Monday I shall dismiss him, and put another tem
porary Master on board to take charge till Mr. Despard returns. I
sincerely believe it is the only step for the preservation of your pro
perty. The Governor, I believe, objected to the Mission party
locating at Keppel Island, unless some responsible person would un
dertake to communicate with them, should we not hear from them
at Stanley for a period exceeding three months. I have undertaken,
on the part of Mr. Despard, and the Mission, to do so.”*

" A partial explanation of Mr. Snow’s obtaining from the Governor leave
to ship a crew, so much to the surprise of Mr. Dean, is given in another letter
of Mr. Dean's, addressed to the Rev. G. P. Despard.—“It appears that he
(Snow) presented to the Governor the letter dated the 16th instant, wherein
you requested him to follow you to Keppel Island. The Governor believing
that to be the letter you left behind, Snow not showing him the one you did,
on those grounds he was allowed to ship—but for one month only.”
 30

Now we see, from the foregoing letter, that Mr.

Snow had a design of his own in reserve when he
pleaded to Mr. Despard his inability to obtain a crew,
and other reasons, as an apology for not taking the
Mission party to Keppel. This design was to take the
vessel home to England, and thus, as far as he could,
expose our Missionary, and all other members of the
settlement, to those very risks which Mr. Snow so
eloquently deprecates, and suspects Mr. Despard will
incur. To clear all doubt away on this head, we
now present to our readers an extract of a letter from
Mr. Snow to the Committee at home. The date of
this letter is September 15, 1856, i. e. five days after
his refusal to take the Mission party to their destina
tion. Attention to the respective dates of these letters
is not unimportant, as accuracy of statement often
depends upon them. Subjoined is the extract to
which we refer.
“ In accordance with my agreement, and instructions, I shall now
no longer delay, but directly I can get men, go over to the Coast,
bringing the vessel afterwards back to England, and delivering her
to the Society, I imagine, all being well, and God willing, about the
end of another five or six months.”

Those who have read in this statement the letter, dated

March 5, 1856, from the Secretary to Mr. Snow, will
not be a little surprised to find him so misunderstand
ing his “ agreement and instructions.” The Allen
Gardiner left England in the autumn of 1854, and was
intended not to return for “ three years at least,” and
yet her Master, before the expiration of two years, “in
accordance with his agreement and instructions,” writes
to the Committee that they may expect him in England
“ about the end of five or six months.”
 31

In consequence of all this our Superintendent Mis

sionary is compelled to require Mr. Snow’s immediate
resignation, and he allows him “three hours” to send
it in to the person authorised to receive it. Mr. Des
pard, it must be observed, says nothing to Mr. Snow
about his quitting the vessel in “ three hours.” Re
garding that matter, and the time necessary for it, he
preserves entire silence. We have Mr. Despard’s
express declaration to the fact that he did not for a
moment contemplate allowing so narrow a limit for
Mr. and Mrs. Snow’s actual removal from the vessel.
In spite of all that Mr. Snow may say, for the sake of
exciting compassion for himself, and indignation
against Mr. Despard, we must emphatically protest
against any other interpretation of Mr. Despard’s letter
than that which requires the resignation of command
to be sent in within “three hours.” It must be recol
lected, morever, that nineteen days had elapsed since
the Master of the Allen Gardiner had first declined to
convey the Mission party to Keppel, that Mr. Despard
had meanwhile been to Keppel and back, and that it
was in consequence of what had taken place in his
absence, the records of which Mr. Dean’s letter con
tains, that the following letters were written.
“ SIB, “ September 29, 1856.
“From all I have heard and seen since I came hither, I feel
quite satisfied, that if you continue to command (our Mission schooner,
the plan of the Society adopted in the year 1852, and maintained
unaltered till now, will not only not be efficiently carried out, but
be obstructed in many ways. I am therefore obliged, in the painful
discharge of the high duty intrusted to me, to require you to resign
the command of the ‘Allen Gardiner’ into the hands of the party
who bears my written order to receive it, and to do so WITHIN
THREE nouns from receipt of this.
“He will be authorised to receive from you an inventory of such
 32
things as belong to the vessel, as well as her papers, and likewise the
articles sent for the land party, but which you have retained in
your own hands.
“ It will save you the trouble of much writing, and me of reading
and replying, to say that my resolution is taken on no terms to
allow you to sail again in the ‘ Allen Gardiner.’
“I am, &c.”

“ Sir, “ September 29, 1856.

“In reply to your letter of this date, I beg to say that the
law having being pleased to recognise you as having the right
and controul over the schooner ‘Allen Gardiner.’ at present under
_my command, I hereby certify, that I shall be prepared to deliver
over into your hands the said schooner, and resign the command
thereof as speedily as possible. I would, however, having my wife
and effects on board, request from your indulgence a longer time
than that you have named (namely, three hours) ; and if such will
be allowed me, in three days I will be prepared to vacate the vessel.
“ I am, Sir,
Your very obedient Servant,
W. P. Snow,
Master of the ‘ Allen Gardiner.’
“Rev. G. P Despard,
Superintendent Missionary, P. M. S.”
(Signed) “ I attest above as a true and faithful copy,
JOHN M. DEAN, J. P.”

“ Stanley, F. 1., Sept. 29, 1856.

“ Captain Snow, ‘ Allen Gardiner.’
u SIB,

“ Having no wish to subject you to unnecessary trouble and

inconvenience, I accept your resignation on the terms specified in
your note of the present date, and will in consequence send at'the
time specified for resignation of the ‘ Allen Gardiner,’ a person duly
authorised to receive charge of the same, with her inventory,
papers, and all effects belonging to the Patagonian Missionary
Society. _
“ Meanwhile I remain, Sir,
Your obedient Servant,
G. P. DESPABD, Clerk,
Superintendent Missionary, P. M. S.”
 33

Surely this case hardly wears so cruel an aspect as

Mr. Snow fancies. As many as have been favoured
with a copy of the pamphlet before us will in pp. 59,
60, see its most frightful features, as they were pro
jected upon the writer’s imagination. But We must
be permitted to say, and with undisguised sorrow for
Mr. Snow’s, and his wife’s trials, we say it, that the
whole tissue of this calamity was self-wrought. Not
content with his position as Master of the vessel,
he arrogated to himself the rights and functions of
an owner. To have the navigation of her in his
hands was not enough, he would dictate her duties
and destination, and that in the teeth of direct orders
from the legal owners. The authorities in Stanley
decided against him. An appeal to the law in Eng
land failed. The case was then laid by Mr. Snow
before his Grace the Archbishop of Dublin, who is
one of the Vice-Patrons of the Patagonian Society.
It was unreservedly examined, all the papers on the
subject having been forwarded to his Grace. But
this again was of “no avail” to Mr. Snow, for his
Grace expressed himself satisfied alike with the pro
ceedings of the Rev. G. P. Despard abroad, and those
of the Committee at home. The list of annual sub
scriptions will, we think, he a testimony to this fact,
for the Archbishop’s name there appears for £10, and
Mrs. Whately’s for £5.
We pass on now to certain statements, for they
amount to statements, although too treacherously and
frequently launched as mere insinuations, against the
object of Mr. Snow’s untiring bitterness, the Rev. G. P.
Despard. It is he who “ starved poor Captain Gardiner
and his companions.” It is he who is “ a clergyman,
c
 34
chaplain of a union workhouse, schoolmaster, and
sometime secretary of a society, which he actively
pushes before the public, to obtain (using his own
language, which I have in writing) £6,400, through
his own hands, in three years.” Surely we might
stop at these last insinuations, the baseness of which
is not diminished by the writer of them counting on
immunity by the absence of him against whom they
are uttered. But we will add one or two more, out
of a host, whose name is legion, but which we sus
pect find room for full possession in the body of one
fact—that Mr. Despard was guilty of “ more than an
inhuman act,” when circumstances imperatively re
quired him to demand Mr. Snow’s resignation in three
hours. Thus again we read, “ Mr. Despard, goes
forth professedly sacrificing everything personal, while
he actually does the contrary.” His salary, we are
told, is “ £600 per annum.” “ He took out a piano
and a governess.” “ He sold the ship’s instruments,”
&c. But we will not condescend to enumerate such
spiteful charges any further. Our heart is grieved
for one, whose unchecked spirit of revenge for sup
posed wrong leads him so widely distant from truth
and candour. We state a few facts, and then ask the
public to judge of the fairness of the above estimate
of our Superintendent Missionary. .
His income derived fiom the Society is not £600, as
Mr. Snow again and again asserts,but £300 per annum.
His circumstances in England were most prosperous.
We believe we are considerably below the mark when
we state that his present salary represents but a fourth
of what he gave up when he left our shores. He had a
happy home, in which a young family was growing
 35

up, and for whom the means of education, so

abundant in England, were incalculably valuable.
His friends were numerous, his influence was extensive,
his comforts were by no means scanty. Yet, because
the disappointment in securing the services of a cleri
cal head of the Mission establishment abroad had
caused so much derangement there, and anxiety at
home, he offers himself for the work; and for the ad
vantages to his family of an English education, and
the comforts of an English home, he prefers the de
solation of Keppel Island, and the dizzy quarters of the
Mission schooner. Provided only God’s work might
prosper—and that branch of it, which when at home
he had laboured so indefatigably to help on, be not
allowed to droop—he counts no labours too severe, and
no sacrifice too great. For his family the Society is
under no expense; and their passage out, as well as
Mr; Despard’s, was franked, as we have already seen,
’ by the liberal-minded owner of the Hydaspes. Is it
forgetfulness, or infatuation, or what, that makes the
author of the publications before us hold up for public
ridicule or indignation the luxury of a piano in Keppel
Island; while we yet read of a harmonium,and other in
struments of music, on board the Allen Gardiner, under
her former master. But has it really come to this,
that a Missionary’s family, located on a bleak and
almost desolate island, separated for long periods
together from the head of that family who is diligently
engaged in affairs connected with the plans of the
Mission, must be denied the innocent enjoyments of a
piano, or the useful instructions of an unpretending
governess? But we will not pause longer on such a
subject. We cannot believe that Mr. Snow will gain
 36

much from his rancorous and indiscriminate attacks

upon those whom he mistakes as the authors of his
present position.
It remains for us to state to our readers the nature
of those arrangements which lead Mr. Snow to stig
matise the Mission Station as a “ Cattle Colony.”
And here we may with advantage call the attention
of the general reader to the intention and plans of the
Mission. Now the intention is to bring the Gospel,
with all its blessed influences, to bear upon the de
graded aborigines of South America. The plans for
the furtherance of this intention are the following,
and arose, it must be said, out of the disastrous cir
cumstances connected with the death by famine of
Capt. Allen Gardiner, R. N., and his noble fellow-suf
ferers. The Christian public was alarmed at the sad in
telligence of their fate. Shall the attempt to evangelise
South America perish, and her hope be buried in Gar
diner’s grave, or shall the attempt be renewed? Such
was the anxious questioning of many hearts. But the
answer offaith was,“ By God’s grace the good work shall
go forward!” The lessons of experience were not dis
regarded. Future operations were so determined as to
shut out all human possibility of another such calamity
as befel Captain Gardiner and his companions. The
Falklands, about three days’ sail from the main
land, were considered by those most competent to
form a judgment, and amongst others, as his journals
testified, by Captain Gardiner himself, a most desir
able position on which to plant a Mission settlement.
A proposal had been made by some parties to erect a
monument to the memory of Gardiner. What fitter
one, said a Christian heart, than a vessel bearing
 37

Gardiner’s name, and engaged in the prosecution of

his designs?
Thus, the plans for renewing the attempt to intro
duce God’s truth into South America grew and took
shape. At this point they were submitted to the
public, and approved. Upon the strength of these
plans, and these only, did the drooping spirit of the
Church revive, and contributions flow in for the exe
cution of the spiritual enterprise. The settlement
was to become a living centre, from which should be
diffused the beams of Christian light and influence over
the dark barbarisms of the South American aborigines.
Here it was hoped that natives, but especially chil
dren, from the main land and adjoining islands, might
be gathered together, and under the genial influences
of Christian education, and modes of life, learn to
forsake their former degraded habits, and rites of
heathenism. This hope is still most ardently che
rished. And when the fabric of the settlement, so to
speak, is complete, we trust, in spite of adverse pro
phecies, to see our desire gradually fulfilled. But
this plan of the Falkland settlement does not super
sede direct Missionary agency. It is to be but a base
of operations from which spiritual labourers shall go
forth to preach among the Patagonians and Fuegians,
and so on to other tribes, “the unsearchable riches of
Christ.” And while thus engaged their confidence will
be increased by the knowledge of support at hand, and
the danger of famine no longer imminent. Out-lying
pickets, to use no strange metaphor in these days, will
gradually be placed in advance, while the Christian
camp in the Falklands forms their strengthand relief
in danger. By the union of these two plans, this
02
 38
Society hopes to meet the special difficulties which
are presented to it in the efforts now made to Christ
ianize, and thereby civilize, the restless and untutored
savages of the continent of South America.
But how best keep up the Mission settlement, with
its expensive circumstances of vessel and crew? Could
it in any degree he made self-supporting? Were
there supplies on the spot? or must the Mission ves
sel be continually engaged in plying to different ports
for the necessaries of life? There was a method by
which it was hoped the settlement might have its
requirements to some extent met, and that was by
the purchase of a few cattle. The island furnished
an abundant supply of tussac, which is admirably
suited for their sustenance. Thus the expense of
food for them would be actually nothing. The num
ber of these would gradually increase on the island;
and. it was thought that Whalers, putting in at these
islands under stress of weather, might be induced to
buy fresh meat, or exchange for it such things as
flour and meal, sugar and tea. In this manner the
burden on the funds at home was expected to be
lightened, and whatever was thus saved would be
deVOted more immediately to the advancement and
enlargement of spiritual operations. But this did not
fall in with the ideas of the Master of the Allen Gar
diner, who declared on his return to a member of
Committee, that he “Would never have allowed
cattle to be carried in the schooner.” Indeed, so far
from these essential parts of the Mission plan being
‘ attended to, and the Mission vessel employed on the
work she was intended for, our Superintendent Mis
sionary discovered, on his arrival out, that her interior
 39

had been most materially altered, and her store-room

converted into a saloon, to suit the taste and conve
nience of Mr. and Mrs. Snow. And thus matters,
which ought to have been settled long before Mr.
Despard reached the Mission station, had been wil
fully neglected; and because our Superintendent Mis
sionary, in accordance with the wishes of the Society,
purchases some eleven head of cattle, and conveys
them safely in the Mission schooner to Keppel Island,
he is denounced as neglecting his orders and the objects
of his Mission, in order to carry out his plans of
founding a “ Cattle Colony.”
But the purchase of these cattle—what explanation
are we to give on this head? Is the Committee really
engaged in a commercial speculation? Is the origi
nal object of the Patagonian Society lost, or in any
way compromised, by this purchase of cattle? We
venture to say that, so far from this being the case,
the object of the Society is not only not lost, or com
promised, but actually promoted and confirmed. In
the charge brought against the Society on this head
by Mr. Snow, we discern no traces of candour, but
rather do we see, or fancy that we see, the indulgence
of a reckless spirit seeking only to injure the charac
ter of others. In a letter, dated September 10, 1856,
and addressed to his Excellency Governor Moore, by
Mr. Snow, we read these words—“I have often stated
that for a simple Mssion station, Keppel Island pos
sesses many great advantages.” We accept the wri
ter’s favourable opinion of the Island as a “simple
Mission station,” but what is the meaning of the word
“ simple?” Does he mean a Mission station without
schools, without even a wooden house, without local
 40

resources, above all without cattle? We are much

afraid a theory so simple and so spiritual would scarcely
answer in this world; and, in fact, under such circum
stances, we scarcely see the advantages of Keppel
Island itself, except for the re-enaction of scenes which
have made the shores of Patagonia too painfully re
nowned. But we take from Mr. Snow’s pamphlet
the extracts of a letter written by a member of the
Committee of the Patagonian Society, and on which
Mr. Snow founds his gross charge against the Com
mittee of degrading a spiritual enterprise into a mer
cenary colonial speculation. These extracts, the reader
will at once see, contain the opinions not of the Com
mittee as a body, nor even of the Secretary, but of
one member of Committee; and are actually chal
lenged in some particulars by the Secretary, who,
nevertheless, forwarded them as worthy of considera
tion to Mr. Snow. ‘

“If you are not going to keep cattle, that [enclosing land] is done
away.
“I am perfectly astonished at the terms asked for the cattle. The
idea of having them caught and put over at our expense, and then
returning them when required, is preposterous. I hope they not
take one beast on such terms.
“Do not believe for one moment that cattle will not be profitable, they
are the chief thing we must look to, to keep the station. If any
doubt, [about getting cattle by purchase, &c.,] I will agree on the
part of my partners at home, if Packe out there is willing, to supply
all the cattle from our tame stock that the Society requires, and go
to the expense of catching them and putting on board the schooner
say twenty at a time, if she can take them safely, &c.; and when
landed they shall be on equal shares, the Society merely taking care
of them, and having half the increase—such as are killed for the
Society’s use to be valued at only 2d. per 1b., and half that value to
be paid to us. Also half the proceeds of sales made to Whalers, &c.
 41
So confident am I of succeeding that I think it would be a good bar
gain for our firm, even if we give four horses to start the Society in
the means of taking care of the cattle,” &c., &c. June 29, 1855,
pp. 6 and 7.
“ I have had a letter from Captain Sulivan, in which he expresses
himself very jealous about your visit to Monte Video—and is quite
against the mail-carrying scheme, as likely to draw off your services
too much from the fl/[z'ssz'on plan. He thinks we can never get on
without cattle at the station, &c. He says this mail work will wear
out sails and gear, &c. He hopes you have no intention to depart
from the plan of a Falkland Station to take up with one in Tierra del
Fuego. Now I must say I do not go along with him in this,—beg
ging his pardon. I think there would be less danger and more profit,
&c., &c, to go to Monte Video, &c., &c. Natives must be visited as
often as wind and weather allow. This is the CHIEF usn of our ves—
sel,” &c.—Aug. 25, 1855. P. 1).]
“Cranmer is our chief station, but I hope by-and-by to have
branches at Gardiner—Spaniard Harbour for the Oen’s-men, Banner
Cove for the Yapoos. The first Fuegian converted will open a sluice
of liberality.”——Aug. 25, 1855. P. 1).]

The writer of the foregoing extracts, dated June

29, 1855, is Captain Sulivan, R. N., who is now a
member of the Board of Trade, a person intimately ac
quainted with the Falklands, and coasts of South Ame
rica, and a member of the Patagonian Committee.
On his advice an attempt had been made to obtain
from the Falkland Company certain wild cattle where
with to stock the Mission station. The terms asked
by the company were such as to make the writer say,
“ I am perfectly astonished at the terms asked for the
cattle.” Yet cattle ought to be obtained. “ Do not
beltevefor one moment, he adds, that cattle will not be
profitable. They are the'chief thing we must look to
to keep the station.” Profitable to whom ? To Captain
.Sulivan 'Q—to Mr. Packet—to 'the Falkland Com
. pany Z—to whom or what, but to the Mission station 2
 42

Let the reader keep this foremost in his mind, and

there will be no danger of being led away by the in
sinuations of the author of the pamphlet before us.
Captain Sulivan, it will be seen, had a share in
some tame cattle business, of which Mr. Packe was
the principal proprietor and manager. The wild
cattle belonging to the Falkland Company could not
be obtained on terms at all advantageous to our infant
settlement. Captain Sulivan now tries to turn his
influence, so far as this matter went, in' favour of our
Society. He writes a letter, which is intended to
come before Mr. Packe, in which he says that such and
such terms would, in his opinion, be an advantage to
both parties. These terms are embodied in the fore
going extract. Had the cattle been exclusively his
own, or had he possessed more than a small share in
them, it would have been in his power, had he so de
sired, to have sacrificed every advantage, even of the
fairest and most equitable kind, on his own part, for the
sake of the Society. But circumstances were quite op
posed to such an arrangement. There was Mr. Packe,
the principal, to be consulted, besides other partners.
He could, therefore, only propose terms which, being
most undoubtedly favourable to the Society, he yet
thought other parties might be induced to concur in.
It so happens that the terms proposed by Capt. Sulivan
were deemed too liberal by Mr. Packe, and not agreed
to. But this only shews (and it is a complete refu
tation of all the charges of Mr. Snow) how in his
zeal for the Patagonian cause, Captain Sulivan did an
injustice to his own and his partners’ interests. And
now is anything wanting to vindicate the Managing
Committee of this Society? It is true we have not
 43

touched upon all Mr. Snow’s accusations. But we

ask our readers to judge of their fairness or otherwise
by the test of facts which we have applied to some. It
is difficult to run a race with calumny, much more to
overtake it, in its treacherous course. But we do
believe that, like the subtle breath, which for a mo
ment sullies and then flees from the brightness of the
generous steel, these breathings of wrath of Mr. Snow
will rapidly subside, and leave the character of the
Society, and its agents, bright and unblemished as
before.
In conclusion, we can hopefully say that affairs
abroad are now in a prosperous train. The energy
of our Superintendent Missionary is everywhere felt,
and we trust from time to time, in our accredited
journal, to record the blessing of God upon efforts so
long baffled, but at length directed with heart and
vigour for the spiritual enlightenment of long-neglected
races of mankind. Humbly do we pray, and our
' readers will join us in the prayer, that that Spirit
which was promised as the Guide and Counsellor of
the Church, may assist with His grace the directors
of this Society, and cause the work, which they have
in so much weakness begun, to go on and prosper, till
nations now lying in bondage to Satan, and under
the shadow of death, rejoice in the light and the liberty
of the gospel of Christ.

P. S. The originals of all documents relating to

this subject, are open to inspection for any friends of
the Society desirous of seeing them, at the Mission
House, 6, Westbourne Place, Clifton, Bristol.
CHILLCOTT, PRINTER, CLARE STREET, BRISTOL.

‘19MY58