These mischievous suggestions naturally had a disquieting influence upon the minds of many of the chiefs, who had not as yet gathered the full purport of the impending change, and whose haughty spirit rebelled against the prospect of any loss in tribal dignity. Fortunately they were able to appeal with confidence to the Missionaries, and to the credit of that body it must be said that they were as loyal to their country as they had already proved themselves faithful to their church. Mr. Henry Williams, the head of the Church Missionary Society's group of Missionaries, than whom no man wielded greater influence with the natives at this period, was not at the Bay of Islands when the _Herald_ arrived. He had just returned to the Waimate Mission station from the Manawatu, whither he had gone with Tamihana Te Rauparaha, and Matene te Whiwhi, to install the Rev. Octavius Hadfield in his West Coast charge. The hurried decision of the Home Government to forestall the New Zealand Company had been as unknown to him as it was to the other residents of New Zealand, and the first intimation he had that the change he so much desired was near fruition, was a letter from the Bishop of Australia informing him of Captain Hobson's arrival in Sydney, and the rumoured report of his mission. Bishop Broughton earnestly advised the Missionary to assist Captain Hobson to the end that success might crown his efforts.[52] Closely following upon this came a letter, dated January 30, 1840, from Captain Hobson, inviting Mr. Williams to meet him at his earliest convenience, and although it was late at night when the messenger arrived, he made immediate preparations to comply with the request. Leaving home early in the morning the energetic Missionary boarded the _Herald_ that afternoon, and congratulated the newly-arrived Governor upon his coming, which indeed was a pleasant surprise. He assured him of the hearty support of the Missionaries in the purpose of establishing Her Majesty's authority in the Islands, and of his own personal aid to any extent that it might be of service to him. Of this offer Captain Hobson availed himself a few days later, when at 4 P.M. on February 4 he brought to him the draft of the treaty which had been prepared for submission to the chiefs at Waitangi on the morrow, and asked that he might be good enough to translate it into the native language. In this Mr. Williams had the assistance of his son Edward, who was then regarded as the scholar _par excellence_ in the Nga-Puhi dialect, the purest of all the dialects of the Maori tongue.