The Bruce Herald. TOKOMAIRIRO, MARCH 30, 1865.

Bruce Herald, Volume II, Issue 51, 30 March 1865, Page 3

The Bruce Herald. TOKOMAIRIRO, MARCH 30, 1865.

When the first tidings of tlie Indian mutiny reached England, and the details of the' fearful tragedy of Cawnpore filled the breasts of every listener with horror, the excitement of the public mind was intense. A stern determination to suppress the mutiny, to punish tlie authors of it at any cost became universal. No expense, no trouble, was deemed excessive to forward this end. England was determined to assert her might, and to revenge the attroeities committed by the rebels, and how quickly, how fully she did so is now a matter of history. People did not wait to argue as to the merits of the original cause of the mutiny. Tliey accepted the simple fact that outrages had been committed on British subjects, which nothing, could possibly justify, and that those outrages must be punished. The mutineers might have had some cause to complain of British rule and to revolt, against it. They might have been goaded to rebellion by gross injustice, but human nature revolted from the crimes tbey had committed, and all agreed that the first thing to be done was to punish those crimes. When this was done, when summary justice had been dealt to the guilty, and the supremacy of England unmistakeably asserted, then the grounds of complaint urged by the natives were enquired into, and redress for any wrong;! tliey suffered under, conceded. Well would it have been for New Zealand if a similar course had been adopted in reference to the Maori rebellion. Had the Government determined on the first outbreak of the war to put down and punish its originators first, and then to inquire into the alleged Grievances what a vast expenditure of treasure and of human life would have be-r.n saved. Such a course might have been pursued, but it was not. A temporizing policy was adopted ; the natives \v«re told that they were British su')ject. c , but they were allowed to art as no while Mihjeets would be. They were termed rebels, hut not treated as such — andjC'pnrty in the colony did not hesitate to side with the people who were arms against tbe Queen. The Missionary party openly and warmly e?p msed fch Maori cause, ascribed the vilest motives to tie- settlers, and held them up to the execfcrtrM of trie British public. According to Are Missio«B«ite the Maoris were a noble race, .<lri«n to assume arms to protect themselves trom the injustice and encroachments of' the white, settlers. They held that the Maoris were justified in their rebellion, as they had «V>een driven to armiu self-defence. Tiie 'Maoris were a nobie race, the finest race of savages known, and rapidly becoming admirable Christians — while the settle^ were a bloodthirsty lot, intent on the^exSir^ation of the native race and the acquisition' of their lands. People at home accepted the Missionary view of the subject, and public opinion was decidedly against the Colony as regarded the war. • The natural result-has followed, the war has been prolonged to a fearful extent, and blood and treasure to an enormous amount been sacrificed. Gradually a change has crept over the public mind ■at home, and the cold-blooded murders committed by the Maoris on several occaafo'ris have rather dispelled the visionary i ideas entertained of the " noble savages," \ the proteges of the Missionaries. We can imagine the astonishment with which the details of the murder of Mr Volkner will be received by tlie party to whom the shades of Exeter Hall are sacred. AVe have spoken ot the Indian mutiny and of the atrocities committed during it, but, in some respects the circumstances attending the. murder of Mr Volkner equal if they do not surpass them. We thought «Hat the mutineers had exhausted the catalogue of horrors, and displayed every phase of fiendish malice, but we were mistaken. They did not outrage humanity by cannibalism, ft was reserved for the Maoris under the influence of a species of religious fanaticism to do this. We can hardly realise the disgusting, inhuman details of Mr Volkner 1 s murder. They are unequalled in atr'ocity by anything of the kind we ever before heard of, but deeply as we regret the occurrence ot such a barbarous outrage on an innocent and exemplary man like Mr Volkner, we cannot but perceive that in one respect it may prove beneficial to the Colony. It will effectually rouse the mind '

of the British puhlic, and evidence the ahsolnte necessity for the immediate suppression of the rebellion and the punishment of the rehels. We have hopes, strong hopes, that hefore the next mail reaches Eng-land the energetic action of the present Government will have restored peace and avenged the murder of Mr Volkner and the other victims of the Maories hate and cruelty. If we are disappointed i-a this hope, we are sure that as soon as the particulars of the fearful trag-edy at Opotiki reach Eng-land effective steps will he adopted to end the tedious and disg-raceful war which has so longdevastated the Northern Island. Sydney Smith is reported to have said that no effective measures would ever he adopted to put an end to railway accidents until a Bishop was killed hy one of them, even if it were only the Bishop of Soder and Man. In like manner, perhaps, the disclosure oi the real feeling-s of the rehellious natives as shown in the harharous slaughter of a missionary who had devoted the best years of" his life to the service of his murderers may open the eyes of the home Government anil public to the true state of matters in the Colony. Deeply as we reg-ret that opportunity for such an experiment should have been afforded, we are convinced that in murdering- Mr Volkner the' Pai Marire fanatics Ivwe sealed their own fate, and taken an j effectual step towards the final settlement j of the .Native difficulty.