It needs no concurrence in the special enterprise of the
Patagonian missionaries to witness with something more than Admiration the heroism of Commander Gardiner and his companions—their devo- . tion, their patience, their faithful kindness to each other. Even - the cry that is raised against Such missions, because in this case they have proved wasteful of human life, is but partially true. The very astonishment betrayed by so many "gentlemen of Eng- land, who stay at home at ease," shows how much we require a memento that the power of heroic endurance on behalf of con- • victim has not died out of the blood of our race. But besides accidental examples like that of the Birkenhead at the Southern . extremity of Africa, we may cite Franklin and his companions, lost in Arctic America, wandering in search of facts to round off' scientific truth; and now Gardiner and his companions perish at the other end of the vast double continent, carrying the goipel of their faith.. The spectacle of the religious zeal which sustained them, which lifted them above their sufferings, made them rejoice in the very midst of death, is not altogether unknown to us evik here ; but displayed on such a scene, it acquires a grandeur, an emphasis, a reality, that must have, to our worldly-wise, the moral effect of a novelty and a surprise not uninstructive. Surely the spirit which incites such men to raise glorious monuments in the most distant quarters of the globe, is not " waste "
N4-zor is every missipii to he judged by its first failure. Many a ditch before a beleaguered fort has been filled with the bodies of those -who were first amongst the victors : were such soldiers
defeated?
No doubt, the conduct of the missionaries is a gross 'violation of the economical-moral aphorism, "Each for himself and God for us all " : the devoted band held that a trust in Divine Power was not incompatible with service under that Power ; they held that each should work for the rest, not excepting even the Patago*.n; and we have an idea that such views belong to a faith not alto- gether unknown in this county., though chiefly by name—Chris- tianity. It may be surprising, indeed, that, whatever convictions they had, they should have acted upon them—that they should have persevered, in spite of "difficulties "—nay, against their own " interest" ! Such heroic &motion must seem obsolete in the view of the new philosophy; but one great fact proves that it sill pos- sesses a stronger hold over the hearts even of the "gentlemen of England" than that ;self-sufficient philosophy, and that feet is the instant irresistible burst of sympathy. They buried themselves on the desert shore, but the whole people of Rngland attends their funeral.
