THE MUSSULMAN AND THE NEW ZEALANDER.

Press, Volume III, Issue 135, 6 April 1863, Page 1

THE MUSSULMAN AND THE NEW ZEALANDER.

OBJJEB article on "The Mussulman in Sicily," j j upon the * Edinburgh Review,' went to *hoff Arabian usage illustrated Maori society, j&e general principle that Sir William Martin j contended for, and Professors Maine and Mm Smith had established, in referenco to races, namely, " that the family J not the individual is the unit of tho State." But this s auic articl ° in tno ' Edin hurgh -went on to stato certain facts in Mussuljm history, that quaintly enough, or aptly jjagh, illustrate the connexion of the English »ple with tho Maori. fle read that tho puro Arab by himself had iiored great things indeed in the way of con- _ and in tho work of destruction, but had _rto shown himself, generally speaking, uqualto the work of construction and the orgaistion of a State. Hahommed and his immediate successors had jmguratedan era and a religion, but had not s_tructed a Stato. As usual the Indo-European (ment had to be introduced into the body before could crystallize into a polity. The Ommeiades so reigning in Khorassan when the Sassanido rotation was plotted by tho Japetic Persians ki had beon converted to tho faith of Islam, _ira_ mainly effected by their agency. " Tliis," is the author, M. Amari, " proved tho means of

(reducing into the simplicity of Arab society itrich stock of flexible wit which is proper to .Aryan intellect. Theso new comers enlarged t sight of the Arabs by their experience in .lie administration; they aided with their arcing tho compilation of Mussulman jurissdenco; they kindled in the hearts of tho labs the holy fire of knowledge, and, above . of Buch civil arid religious freedom as aM bo understood in those regions. Hence - literary glory that made Abassides so *ious. It was the Persians who dissemi&d science, brought it into esteem with * Qaliphs, and by their example attracted the tanlmans of all races, the fewest among these ». Arabs. But as all wroto in the language of * Koran, these last obtained the reputation of the guardians of civilization in tho darkest of the middle ages." is an exceedingly interesting fact that Mbrought to light, that the learning and tion which we have been wont to call was almost entirely due to the Persian r Mo-European element of Mahommedanism, * is further interesting, as an illustration of principle that seems to pervade all secular V) and to mark tho Jewish race as peculiar """t as in all other respects. It would appear __ caso that no other puro unmixed race thieved great permanent blessings for them- - * and mankind; but always required adother races in order to build up a that would last for any considerable and carry onwards the torch of civilization humanity. **snot merely Athens, but Athens in coland in unison with Sparta, Thebes, and tllat m -<io Greece what it was and has ** the good of the worl(]> R was ' U to sa . T > » merely lonic, but a Doric,

and an iEolic people, in combination with the lonians, that humanized society. And so again the Roman was not a puro breed, but a cross, as we sheepowners would say; it was Pelasgian, but it .was also Oscan ; it was Priscan, I but it was also Etruscan ; and tho mixture made the raco into a nation, and so into a state. And still more true is th_3 of England. We are a people made up of old Celtic Britons, Romans, Danes, Saxons, Angles, Jutes, and Normans, each of which havo contributed some element to our character. And so tho introduction of our Indo-European features into New Zealand might have made one of tho noblest and most intellectual nations that the world has often seen. They have a much keener political insight than most Englishmen have. They arc born politicians and diplomatists. In Mr. Gorst's dispassionate language, they look a question all round and round, argue with great temper, and do not generalize and jump to hasty conclusions as wo do. But then they havo no

originating genius. They aro critical, not organic, as was said once before; and that element Englishmen would have supplied, and mado a State, which tho Maoris are trying to do without us, under tho name of the Maori King, and cannot. However, it is too late now perhaps to talk about the Persians indoctrinating the Arabs, or the English the Maoris. Tho pationt will dio under tho doctor's hand. But need it have been so ? Once more, as wo go on with the articlo in tho * Edinburgh Review,' we light upon a remark of M. Amari's, full of suggestion. He says that in tho course of timo as these Persians inoculated the Arab mind more and more with its lymph or virus, as the case may bo, the lawyers as usual usurped all tho Legislative and much of the Executivo powor of tho state ; and what ho calls an " aristocracy of Jurists reigned in the room of tho Saints." What a picture rises up boforo our minds of tho Misssionaries of this land trying to cope with the shrewd lawyers that " reign in their stead." The doves are no match for the serpents, as a lawyer once selfcomplacently observed, and sure enough ' the Jurists' have lorded it over tho stato of Maoris and English alike pretty well since tho Constitution Act came into force. Wo should like to know how many of Governor Gorq Browne's Executivo Council wore lawyers, or had been bred in a lawyer's office —"a good few" we gue3S; though at tho same time it is fair to add that the greatest of the Jurists was against his brethren, and it is not too much to say that we owe Governor Gore Browno's recall to Sir William Martin's pamphlet. And it is rather a curious thing to observe that in tho account lately given in our issue of March 14, of the conversation between William Thompson the King maker, and ,Sir Georgo Groy at Waikato, the former attributed his interference at Waitara and his stoppage of tho war, to the influenco of the Bishop of New Zealand, Sir W. Martin, Archdeacon Maunscll, and the Rev. Mr. Ashwell. However it is true and will bo so more and more, that in tho formation of a State for this country as for all others, the lawyers will do tho hardest work, and secure the main power, as the hardest workers always will do.