To the Editor of the taranak? ( herald. New Plymouth, 21 August, 1863. Dear Sir, — On reading the account in your last week's issue of the late boat accident, I observed you made honorable mention of several persons who acted so nobly in saving life, but by some oversight you omitted lo mention. the name of Jas. Barrett, (one of the boat's crew) to whose bravery and courage I was an eye witness. On his gaining thr bottom of the upset boat heswam to the assistance of Mr. Mills, and brought him to the boat in a drowning state, on regaining it, although very exhausted from his exertions jn. saving Mr. .-Mills, seeing Mr, Webster unable' to 'keep himself -afloat any longer, sprang to lus'assistance and succeeded in keeping that gentleman up until help came from the shore. I also, in justice to the boat's crew, most positively contradict a shameful rumour' that has been going about, to the effect that at the time of the time of the accident the boat's crew were drunk. I am, Sir, yours, &c, H. W. Brbwer.

'MISSION to the ABORIGINES of NEW ZEALAND: A Lecture' by the Key. John! Warren.' [Abridged by the Wellington Advertiser!] .TJie.Rev. John Warren, who formerly resided in this town, .and. who for twenty-four years' has'-'been a'Missionary in New "Zealand, delivered a lecture on the above subject, op 'the 9thu'lt., ".to the' Young Hens' Christian Association of Auckland. ■ ••_■; . • Turning to the colonization- of the couritry the Rev. gentleman'observes : — Captain Hobson^ was sent off in a great hurry |o treat with the natives for the sovereignty of 'the country. As soon as he arrived, the great meeting took place at the Bay of Islands, at which the celebrated treaty of Waitangi was signed. I was present on the occasion, and also at a meeting which took place subsequently on the same subject at Hokianga. There was a great deal of talk, .by itjie . natives, principally <on- the -subject of securing their proprie^ory right in the land, and their personalliberty. Everything else they werej too happy to., yield to the Queen, as they said repeatedly,' because they knew they could only be saved from the rule of other nations h'y sitting under the shadow of the Queen of England. And in my hearing they said repeatedly, "Let us be one people. , We had. the Gospel from England, let us have the law from England." My impression at the time was, that the natives perfectly understood that by signing that treaty they became British subjects; and though I lived among them more than fifteen years after that event, and often conversed with them, 'on v the subject, I never saw the slightest reason to change my opinion. The natives' were at that time in mortal fear of the French, arid justly thought they had done a pretty good stroke of business when they had placed the British Lion ; between themselves and the French Eagle. .We have heard indigdation expressed at the way in which the natives were, in the treaty, overreached by the Government ; and especially in the matter of- securing to the Queen the right of pre-emption in the purchase of thenlands. There is a native proverb which says, with reference to a man of great keenness and sagacity, "He was borne with his teeth -:" and in the matter of making bargains, the New Zealanders may be said to be a people who were born with their teeth. I believe it is a very long time since it was possible to overreach the natives much in a bargain. I know that that particular clause of the treaty was put there by their own urgent request, and that it met the universal and unqualified approbation ' of the chiefs. They did not pretend to have either power or right to prevent the peojjle from selling their own lands, and they embraced with exultation the proposal that the Queen should forbid her subjects from purchasing them. The figment of a mana and tribal right, with reference to laud, is probably of pakeha

origin ; at all events it was manufactured to serve a purpose, nearly twenty years after the signing the treaty of Waitangi. The colonization of the country was effected iv perfect peace ; the Queen's sovereignty was proclaimed throughout the length and breadtli of the land, and was nowhere disputed by the natives, who generally felt it an honour to be thus connected with the missionary's Sovereign ; and we claim the event as one of the beneficial effects of missionary labour in New Zealand. • The lecturer ascribes to the preaching of the Gospel the peaceful and complete abolition of slavery amongst the Maoris. He says, " The chief had as much right to 'kill and eat' Ms slain as you have to dispose of your pig, -and they very frequently did it." Christianity, too, had brought the practice of suicide at an end, which was formerly very prevalent amorigst.the natives, Mr.'Warren then proceeds to .give a number of instances of real conversion amongst the natives, and then proceeds as follows : — - . .„,■ I I shall probably be considered as not having discharged my duty as your lecturer if I do not say a few words on the present unhappy state of the country. The natives are at war with us, and have been for more than three years. They have maintained . an armed resistance to British authority, which is, of course, war. Lately, . they have made an aggressive' movement. in the Waikato, by demanding and extorting, contributions from British' subjects in Support, of Maori sovereignty, by expelling, the. .Queen's subjects from their homes, so! that if the Government were to invade the Waikato .to-morrow with 5,000 men, it. would be. a purely defensive movement, object of the ndtives is- to appoint a Maori sovereign, and to endow him with a kingdom taken from the dominion's of our Queen. Of course, if they can do this, they will have the same right which sustains most earthly kingdoms — the right conquest. The Duke, "qf Newcastle has, so far as he is concerned, in his late despatch, given up the Queen's sovereignty over New Zealand. At least he has said all that can be reasonably expected from the natives is nominal allegiance, and the Colonial Government is to say how far the Queen's sovereignty is to extend in New Zealand. With all respect for the noble duke, and deference for the office with which the Queen has entrusted him, we doubt his right to dismember the British Empire, or to dispose of any part of his Sovereign's dominions, and we believe •that right will be indignantly repudiated by the Queen's subjects; both' British and Colonial. The Duke of Newcastle ought to have known by, this time that the New Zealanders are a people too ambitious and turbulent to yield nominal allegiance, and that, if they are not, made really subject, will, continue to be the troublesome and dangerous enemies of the Government, and that there can never be permanent peace with the New Zealanders till the temptation - to 1 be master is entirely removed. From the speech of a gentleman whose brilliant abilities have not preserved him from making, himself- supremely ridiculous in this country by his insufferable egotism and profound ignorance of a subject on which he has spoken and written so much, the duke has quoted to prove the great advance which the natives have made in civilization, the credit of which, to a considerable extent, he" claims for the Government. The duke ought to be told, that for want of a government which could control them, the natives have, during the past five years, made no progress in education, civilization, or religion. That they have overwhelmed the missionaries and_ their friends with grief and consternation, by-the length- and rapidity of the strides by which they ~srQ retracing their steps .to barbarism. 'That no subject has now any charm for, a. native, but that of preventing the enlargement of the colony, humbling the Government of the Queen, and establishing a savage independency. That many of the natives are growing up without acquiring the .knowledge - even to read their own lan* guage, and that during the last ' two years they have been nursed by the Government | into a state of almost universal revolt. Some will say, that to confiscate Maori territory would be- to exterminate the natives; because it is Well known that such is their attachment to the land that they will die to a man in, defence of it. ,We deny that this is well known, and. we assert the contrary of this. No doubt the natives are exceedingly covetous about land, and this is the reason why thjay (have been' continually fighting about it.- That they .will to any extent die in defence of land, is utterly contrary to the history of the Maori people.' I have seen many .quarrels about land,- and some rather severe contests. . ' Both parties have invariably ma.de the same assertions — that the land was theirs ; that they wanted it as an inheritance for their children after them: that life was of no consequence to them unless they could, possess that 'particular piece of land ; tliat they had come prepared to die, — and'if they could -not have the. land, would at least die upon it. One party has, of course, always had the best of the contest. The weaker party, likewise men, have invariably retired and left the conquerers in possession of the land ; and immediately they ascertainedKhat they could not possess it, have given up all idea of dying upon it. The i New Zealanders are an ambitious and courageous people, but' they .are also an intelligent people — and no people on earth ever knew better how to be beaten, or to submit gracefully to a superior power. It will be said, perhaps, that the natives may submit, and yield up land to each other in this way, but would never yield land to the pakeha. A person who will make this assertion must be ignorant of New Zealand, and of what has already transpired in the country. The first war in which we were involved with the natives was forced upon the Government by the ' turbulent proceedings of a Ngapuhi chief,

Hone Heke. Heke was a chief equal in rank to any of the men taking part in the present rebellion, and probably superior to any of them in education and general information. Heke had no ill-will to the colonists, as was proved by many acts of generosity during the war. But he had the common infirmity ; he was a restless, ambitious man, who had a thirst for military glory, and wished to measure his strength with the English force then in New Zealand — I believe about twenty-five men. So he cut down what he regarded as the emblem of British sovereignty, the flagstaff in the Bay of Islands. The staff was re-erected, and cut down by Heke in defiance of the Govern: m«nt, ifl mistake not, three different times. The people of the town of Kororareka became involved in the quarrel, and the township was taken by the natives, sacked, and laid in ashes-4W event which I personally witnessed. Tilings were, of course, now become serious. Troops were brought from Sydney, and a large body of allies, under Tamati Waka and Moses Tawhai, joined the Government for, the purpose of punishing Heke for his rebellion. , In a short time Heke, in an engagement • with Waka, was severely wounded, and narrowly escaped falling into the hands of his enemy. Heke proved no exception to the general rule. As soon as defeat and .adversity came, Heke's courage and ambition evaporated, and he wrote to Governor Fitzroy. confessing his error, acknowledging his defeat, begging for peace, and offering land to the Queen aB the price of peace. Governor Fitzroy immediately answered Heke's letter, pointing out certain places to be ceded to the Queen, as an atonement for his rebellion. Heke was perfectly satisfied, and considered himself liberally dealt with, and ' wondered that the Government had not taken more land. Kawiti, however, Heke's ally, who had shut himself up in a pa at the Ruapekapeka, out of which he believed the English could not drive him, was opposed to giving up any land, and wrote an insolent and defiant letter to the Governor, declaring, in the true style of an old New Zealand warrior, that the Governor should never have his land while he lived ; that he would die in its defence. There was therefore no alternative but for the Government to attack Kawiti, and Governor Fitzroy Was making preparations' to do this when he was superseded' by Governor Grey, whose first act was to meet the native allies. ' Tamati Waka, on that occasion addressing Governor Grey said, :(I quote from official translation in despatches to Lord Stanley,) "I wish to say to you that there is no chance of; making peace,, unless Kawiti and Heke agree to give the land mentioned in the terms proposed by Governor Fitzroy. Unless they did so, peace would not remain. What I say now are not, my thoughts only, but the thoughts of all. There is- no chance of peace until the lands are given up to the Queen/ Kawiti was soon driven out of his pa, and reduced to great straits for want of food. He saw that his enemy was too powerful for him, so he forgot what he, had said about dying for his land, and came and humbled himself to Waka-, and begged him to act as mediator, and take his unconditional submission to the Governor, and to say that he was now willing not only to give up the lands demanded by Governor Fitzroy, but also any additional lands which Governor Grey might think proper to take, if he would make peace with him and pardon "his rebellion. Is this confirmatory of the idea that the natives, as a people, would contend,.to the death for the mere barren pride of ownership of land, which they well know will never be of any earthly use to them ? — or is not rather contradictory of any such irrational and unphilosophical conclusion ? ■On reception of Kawiti's submission, the Governor immediately proclaimed peace, and a free pardon to all the rebels,- without taking an inch of their land, supposing that so generous a proceeding would for ever attach the^natives in gratitude to Government. Events have shown how much he was mistaken. Even the flagstaff was' not 'erected, but was, seven years after, when I left the Bay of Islands, in the humiliating 'position to which Heke had consigned it, and a native has pointed out to me the dishonoured staff which bore the flag that for a thousand years has . . „ , •_ Braved the battle and', the breeze, .. with, the- following- sentence, not a very euphonious dne" in the "'ears of a loyal subject of the greatest soVereigd ' in the world : — " Ko Wikitoria tena, c moe ana i te puehu, i roto i te wahi i tura hina ai ia c Hone Heke."' (There is Victoria sleeping in the dust,. in the" place into which she was thrown by Johnny Heke.) ' Waka, when his advice was not taken, like a loyal subject offered no opposition. But he has never changed his opinion relative ,to the absolute necessity of taking land from natives who rebel against the Queen. His sentiment with reference to native resistance against British rule is — " Gently, softly, touch a nettle, And it stings you for your pains ; Grasp it like a man of mettle, And it soft as silk remains." When history pronounces its verdict upon the Governments and Governors of New Zealand it will pass a severe censure upoir Governer Fitzroy "for his weakness in giving back to the natives at Taranaki land which had been righteously acquired by the Government, by which he laid 'the foundation of future troubles ; and we hope it will not lose sight of the fact that he subsequently, by his energy and courage, reduced to the condition of a suppliant for peace the most ambitious and dangerous chief in New Zealand, and in demanding land for the Queen as an atonement for his rebellion, furnished an antidote which, if it had been applied, would for «ver have ended those troubles. We are now told that the natives meditate an attack upon the city of Auckland. They would like to do it, if they dared ; and, as the affair must now be settled by a struggle, an

attack by the natives in force upon Auckland is an event which we have no doubt would settle the matter for ever. If two or three thousand natives, without artillery, without cavalry, and without a commissariat, can take Auckland, I will not say they deserve to have it, but I will say you richly deserve to lose it. Gentlemen, — I ,have had frequent opportunities of addressing you from the pulpit, where I do not think it right to refer to this subject. To night I address you as a patriot, a brother, a husband, a father, and a man. If the foe which now threatens Auckland were successful, they would spare neither; age nor sex. In the name of wives, daughters, and sisters, and those females who have no such endearing relations, in whose defence it would be disgraceful to our manhood not to be prepared to bleed and die, — in the name of the infirm, the aged, the sick, and the little children of our community, — I address you, men of Auckland. Hear! He that nath no sword, let him sell his coat and buy one'; and in the name of his Sovereign, his country, and his Maker, stand by to defend the right ; and " let him trust in God and keep his powder dry." . As soon as the natives submit, I would treat them not only with justice and' mercy, but with kindness and generosity; but I would take care that I had first trodden the last breath out of the body of Maori sovereignty, and that I held what Nicholas of Russia called a material guarantee that there should' be no resurrection. Ladies and gentlemen, — I am not a mam of war, lam a man of peace. I know that had we even a much larger force in the country than'we have, it would not follow as a matter of cef tainty that we should succeed, because the disposal is in the hand of Providence, and the race is not always to the swift, nor' the battle to the strong;' still I deny that, in the present state of this country, I am at all inconsistent with my character as a Christian man,- or with my position as a Christian minister, when I say that I am looking for the settlement of the present troubles to the blessing of God upon the tfise head, and br-ave heart, and, good sword of General Cameron,, and my firm belief is, that if he is supported by ihe cqurage and patriotism of the colonists, before next autumn wars between the two races will be numbered among the things that arerpassed, never to recur. Mr. Warren concludes with the expression of the belief that, notwithstanding the dark clouds through which we are at present passing, the day is not distant' -when British supremacy shall have been vindicated, and the misguided natives shall no longer consider it a dishpnour to be subjects of the Queen.