n Auckland the Right Reverend George Augustus Selwyn to take up the
position of bishop of the divided flock. This remarkable man was then in
the prime of early manhood, and he brought with him not only a lithe
athletic frame well fitted to endure hardship; not only the culture of
Cambridge and of Eton, where he had learned and taught, and the courtly
atmosphere of Windsor, where he had exercised his ministry; but above
all he brought with him _ideals_. These took the form of a strong
centralised government in the Church. While yet a curate, he had
attracted attention by his vigorous defence of the cathedral system,
through which he proposed to govern the whole Church of England. But his
thoughts had travelled far beyond the bounds of a merely national
Church. Stirred by the spectacle (alluded to in our Introduction) of the
dominance of Mohammedanism in the lands of the East, he had dreamed of
himself as Bishop of Malta, or some other Mediterranean post, whence he
might lead a new crusade into North Africa, and win back the home of St.
Cyprian and St. Augustine to the faith of Christ. Curiously enough, some
such scheme was actually on foot at the time of his consecration (Oct.
17, 1841), and one of his first episcopal acts was to join in laying
hands on a bishop who was sent out to Jerusalem to endeavour to stir the
languid religion of the mother city of Christendom. Being chosen to read
the epistle on this occasion, Selwyn had selected the passage which
tells of the Apostle Paul's last journey to the Holy City; and he had
thrown such intensity of feeling into his reading of the words, "Behold,
I go bound in the Spirit unto Jerusalem," that some of the other
prelates were in tears. But he was not the man to grieve over what could
not be altered. If it was not to be his lot to be sent to the ancient
city of Zion as its bishop, he would bravely set forth to a very
different field, and would endeavour to build a new Jerusalem at the
uttermost ends of the earth.

His coming was eagerly looked for by both sides. The Wellington settlers
confidently expected that he would fix his residence among them, and
give to their colony that seal of legality which it had hitherto lacked.
The New Zealand Company had been largely instrumental in carrying the
bishopric bill through the Imperial Parliament; it had made large
promises of financial assistance: now it looked for the support of the
bishop in its struggle with missionaries and offi