A body of armed Maoris gathered to avenge his death on the settlers, who fled in terror from their homes. Selwyn at once hastened to the spot to make peace. He rode twenty-four miles through the night, and then walked through the wood wading in mud up to his knees to the place where the fighting party were expected to land in their canoes. He wrote to his son: “We could see at once by the open and bright expression of their countenances, that they did not mean mischief. The afternoon was spent as usual in much talk upon the subject and ended with evening service in a large house, filled with about two hundred men, with their arms piled around the central pillars.... We were glad to find that they were inclined to go back quietly.” Afterwards he visited and pacified other natives in the district, and encouraged the settlers to return to their homes, promising to remain with them till the danger was past. One of them wrote afterwards: “And so he did, guarding us with jealous care, never seeming to sleep soundly, for upon any unusual noise in the night, he was up and out in a moment. On the Sunday he conducted in our little schoolroom divine service, and preached a sermon never to be forgotten—inspiring trust and confidence in God.” Selwyn’s plea which he submitted in a formal memorandum to the Governor, was that the rights of the New Zealanders as British subjects should be considered identical with those of the English, that the rights of the Maoris to the soil where the title deeds had not been extinguished should be recognised; that all native customs in connexion with proprietary right should be respected, that disputes should be submitted to a competent tribunal, and that for the moment there should be an armistice. But he was not listened to, and the settlers denounced his conduct as political interference. They said that “no right to interfere between Her Majesty’s Government and her native subjects could be allowed to any minister of religion.” In his reply to these criticisms he said (1861) “as the earliest settlers in this country—as agents employed by Government in native affairs—as intimately acquainted with the language, customs and feelings of the native race—and above all as ministers of religion having the highest possible interest at stake—we assert the privilege which the Crown allows to every man of laying our petitions before the Crown and the Legislature.”