But his courage and devotion were amply recognized by those who witnessed it. The officer commanding the _Hazard_, the British vessel which had brought the troops from Sydney to the ill-fated encounter with the natives, wrote to him saying: “There is not a single man on board who does not appreciate your conduct.... Go where you will, you will carry with you the good wishes of all who saw you under the late trying circumstances.” The disturbances had begun whilst the Bishop was on a confirmation tour. At one place he had confirmed 300 natives, and there were numbers of Christian natives quite ready to fight for him should he desire it. Now that there was a general fear lest the unrest caused by the rising of Heke should spread and endanger the settlements further south, the Bishop was anxious to visit them and do all he could to promote peace. On this journey he took Mrs. Selwyn with him. She helped in the work of spreading confidence by her ministrations to the sick. She felt no fear of any possible unfriendliness on the part of the natives, for as she wrote: “If you live among them, you find them looking up to you and clinging to you in all points, and the fear ceases.” To her great delight she was taken on a little bush expedition, as she longed to see with her own eyes how so large a part of the Bishop’s life was spent. During these next years he carried on the work of ministering to his people and administering his diocese in the midst of continual anxiety caused by the Maori unrest, consequent on the efforts of the New Zealand Company to get possession of the native lands. The failure of the Governor, Captain Fitzroy, to restore order led to his removal, and Sir George Grey, a young and able administrator, was sent from South Australia to take his place. Under his energetic measures conditions were improving, when news came from England that the pressure brought to bear upon the Colonial Office by the New Zealand Company, had led to an Act being passed through Parliament (1846) which set aside the Treaty of Waitangi and annulled its provisions. Against this both Judge Martin and Bishop Selwyn protested in no measured terms. They considered it a breach of faith, destructive of the honour of England and certain to put an end to all hope of peaceful relations with the Maoris. The strength of the Bishop’s feelings is shown in a letter to a friend in which he says: “I would rather that he (Earl Grey, the Colonial Secretary) cut me in pieces than induced me, by any personal compliments, to resign the New Zealanders to the tender mercies of men, who avow the right to take the land of the New Zealanders, and who would not scruple to use force for that purpose.”