dually improving, and at least they kept the flag
flying. As for Marsden himself, there was even one more drop of
bitterness to be added to his cup. Ever since the beginning of the
mission he had kept up a seminary for New Zealanders at Parramatta. The
chiefs were eager to send their sons to be educated under his care, and
in the beginning of 1820 he had no less than twenty-five in residence.
But in the following year a time of mortality set in; several of the
young men died, and for a time the seminary was closed.

Marsden had inaugurated the mission in 1814 with the message of peace
and goodwill to men. Now, as he thought of the charred villages and
whitening bones which marked the face of the country after seven years
of Gospel preaching, he must surely have felt bound to take other words
as the burden of his cry: "I came not to send peace, but a sword."

CHAPTER IV.

THE NEW BEGINNING.

(1823-1830).

And he spake to me, "O Maeldune, let be this purpose of thine!
Remember the words of the Lord when he told us, 'Vengeance is mine.'
His fathers have slain thy fathers in war or in single strife.
Thy fathers have slain his fathers, each taken a life for a life.
Thy father had slain his father: how long shall the murder last?
Go back to the island of Finn, and suffer the past to be past."
--_Legend of Maeldune._

"When I reflect upon the evils which have crept in among the
missionaries, I am astonished that the mission has not been completely
annihilated. That it should continue to exist under such difficulties
affords a proof, in my judgment, that God will still carry on the work."
Such was Marsden's reflection in 1823--the year which saw a beginning of
better things. Out of the midst of the failure and the shame this man of
faith was able to gather hope for the future.

The great need of the mission was a higher class of workers. This need
was now to be supplied--in fact, the preparation for its supply had been
quietly going on concurrently with the mission itself, though in a
different quarter of the globe.

One of the last actions of the great war which was coming to an end when
Marsden proclaimed his message of peace in 1814 was the capture of an
American frigate in the West Indies. The prize was being towed to a
British port when a terrific gale sprang up, and in the midst of the
confusion the prisoners attempted to retake the ship. The danger of the
situation drove one