THE SOUTHERN CROSS. Saturday, March 25, 1848. GOV. GREY'S DESPATCHES.

Daily Southern Cross, Volume 3, Issue 144, 25 March 1848, Page 2

THE SOUTHERN CROSS. Saturday, March 25, 1848.

GOV. GREY'S DESPATCHES.

LUCEO NON DRO. "If I have been extinguished, yet there rise A thousand beacons from the spark I bore."

We resume, this week, our extracts from the Blno Boole. In another column will bo found Eavl Grey's letter to the Secretaries of the Church Missionary Society, enclosing our present Governor's celebrated " blood and treasure" despatch, lor their consideration, and the Secretaries' answer, convoying the result of the Committee's deliberations to his Lordship ; •also, Captain Fitz Roy's answer to Earl Grey m acknowledgement of sundry^despatches from Governor Grey, submitted for his private inspection, and his remarks thereon. Tlieso dec- \\\: outs aro worth a careful perusal. They aro highly characteristic of their respective authors. The communication from the Missionary- Committee is just what- might have been expected from men of honest upright minds. Too sincere themselves" to suspect for one moment duplicity m others, and consequently receiving the despatch laid before 'i,i:em as containing facts of unquestionable ■iUtaority, they formed their conclusions nccordingly. if a competent interpreter had been present at their deliberations, v.-'ho could have pointed out to them, m the despatch the facts that were true, and the inferences that were false, the result would probably have been even moro creditable to their long tried agents hero than it is now, founded as it has been, upon false premises. The remarks of Captain FitzEoy too, i arc, with a few trifling exceptions, highly ( creditable to his temper and spirit. Back- ■ Litton as ho has been by his successor, and deadly as havo been the seemingly casual, though steadily aimed stabs, inflicted upon his official conduct and character,, wo should not have been much surprised if his explanatory observations had partaken of a more bitter spirit. Ho has however, avoided this, and the dignity of his position is thereby much enhanced. Contrasted with the despatches upon which lie comments, Captain Fitzlloy's remarks shine with the superior lustre of artless sincerity. No doubtful phrases, no allusions to, or descriptions of one kind of fact or circumstauce first, and then without any disjunctive exception, a positive statement of another, and totally different kind of fact, which the reader is left to connect with that which precedes it. All is clear and open, and whether conclusive or not, m point of argument, is stamped with the broad seal of honesty and truth ; so that m comparison with the clover, subtle, but false despatches of Governor Grey, the Ex- Governor's remarks are like " apples of gold m pictures of silver." A cunning man, be ho ever so clever, who builds his reputation upon fictions, and .sustains it by finesse, is • always m more danger of a fall, than a simple-minded r>um having m comparison, but a tithe of the ratellcc-o :a;d sfcill.who speaks and writes naturally, and neither makes a practice of disfiguring nor of concealing the truth. The' ingenuousness of the one will m tho end bring him. triumphant out of difficulties, while the other, confounded and trammelled by his machinations, and completely on tangled hy his own attempts to oxti-icato j 'himself, finally sinks, overwhelmed with disgrace and defeat.

As wo proceed to notice a few of the " cunning phrases" of Governor Grey, it will be seen how easy it is for a man to go too far m inducing others to draw certain inferences from doubtful statements of fact ; and how easy it is for him to bo taken m the net which ho lays for others. Wo have frequently alluded to the manifest hostility which Governor Grey lias ever evinced towards the land claimants as a body, and tho Missionary claimants m particular, and wo now intend to demonI strato tho truth of our allegations Toy quotations from his despatches. On the 2nd of Juno, 1846, Governor Grey, m a despatch m which he attempts to show that his predecessor had unnecessarily, and unjustly attributed tho disturbances m the north, partly to foreign influence, and to which despatch Captain Fitzßoy alludes m his remarks, wrote as follows : — " In this instance, this feeling was probably heightened by tho fact of the Church of England missionaries feeling that their large claims to lauds, said to have ocen purchased from the natives,'" (wo put these words m italics to show tho animus of tho man who thus alludes to claims which her Majesty's Commissioners had pronounced valid and just), "(and which claims will yet give riso to native Avars, if not to disputes between the Government and tho natives), made them contrast very disadvantageous!-/ with tho Roman Catholic missionaries, "&c. This was tho noto of preparation — the deceitful avant courier sent forward to prepare the minds of her Majesty's ministers for a more imposing and impressive train of mistatcments. Tho well known secret blood and treasure despatch followed soon after, and was no doubt intended to give tho claimants and the missionaries tho coup da grace. But unfortunately for Captain Grey, this missile instead of acting as he intended, returned like a boom-rang to the spot from whence it was projected, inflicting a mortal wound, not upon tho missionaries, but on him who sent it. The venom of his spirit next appears m his marginal comments upon tho legacy which the retiring Chief Protector left for his perusal, m tho shape of a final report. Mr. Clarke m tho text is alluding to the injurious impression which tho adoption of Sir George Gipps' Laud Claims Bill, and tho version given of that measure by designing men, had produced upon the minds of tho natives ; and upon this tho commentator observes : — " I believe that the desire to recover from some of the missionaries tho large tracts of land they claimed, was the cause of tho revolt of many of the natives. I believe tho largo pretended purchases of some of tho missionaries to havo boon the chief cause of the disaffection of the northern chiefs." But Governor Grey's enmity against the missionary claimants was too expansive to be confined within the narrow limits of the alleged injustice of their actual purchases ; it sought a wider scope ; and m order to open out a now and more extended field for future censorious animadversion, he makes it appear that they have claims, and havo made purchases, when m reality they havo not. His zeal outstripped his pru - donee m this instance, for ho has led Her Majesty's ministers to believe that to bo fact, which all tho local world knows to bo false ; and yet tho tact with which he has executed this manoeuvre is admirable ; if indeed, admiration ought ever to be elicited by adroit misrepresentation. Ho has taken caro to leave himself a loop-hole through which to creep m retreat. He lias only stated a fact, but then it is so embedded m statements bearing a totally different meaning, that it would be impossible for those unacquainted with the local history of tho subject, to escape the conclusion, which ho wished them to form. Tho trap was baited most cleverly, but if we mistako not, Capt. Grey will find that ho has only caught himself ; for, as tho double meaning of his communication must be very soon, if it lias not been already discovered, he will find that it is a dangerous thing to practise upon the confidence and credulity of a Secretary of State. Tho passago vo refer to, occurs m a despatch dated 21 June, 1840, to Mr. Gladstone, m which the writer is attempting to point out the disastrous consequences that resulted from Capt. Fit/Aloys proclamation waiving tho Crown's right of pre-emption over land. Lest it should bo said that wo havo taken merely an isolated sentence out of a paragraph, which, if taken with tho context, would have explained itself, wo give the paragraph which contains tho insinuation entire. " However apparent the errors of this system may be, it will now bo found very difficult to put an end to it. Large purchases have already been made ; all persons interested m them, and all intending speculators will resort to strong efforts 'to retain what tlioy will regard as valuable vested rights. Those natives who arc m

treaty for the sale of lands, as well iis those who are ]ool^7)g to gain property by tlic future sale of lands, will also be exceedingly discontented ; and tlio Government will also labour under this further disadvantage, that some few influential mcnlbcrs of tho Church Missionary Society arc largely interested m extensive land claims, and represent it as just that the natives should be allowed to dispose of their lands as they please, and that they always respect bargains for land which have been fairly made." The fact stated, as our readers will observe, is merely that some influential members of the Church Missionary Society arc largely interested m extensive land claims: but tho unavoidable inference (the despatch relating entirely to the pre-emption claimants) is, that tho missionaries availed themselves of Captain Fitz Roy's proclamation. That such is tho natural inference to bo drawn from this artful inuendo, is not merely our own unsupported opinion. Earl Grey plainly intimates that he so understood it. In his reply to this despatch, dated 10 Feb., 1847, he says, " Farther, I concur m tho propriety of your address to some of tho officers of your government who had availed themselves of Captain Fitz Roy's proclamations and notice, to become purchasers of land. I deeply rogrct, with you, that any of the members of tho Church Missionary Society should liavo ongaged m. this traffic." If further confirmation wero wanting, we have tho evidence of Captain Fitz Roy. lie understood tho despatch m tho same sense, and if it wcro possible for one person to put an unnatural and forced interpretation upon tho passage, it is hardly probable that two individuals -would fall into the same error. Captain Fitzßoy m his remarks upon this subject, says : "In page 30, 1 observe your Lordship expresses regret "that any of the members of the Church Missionary Society should have engaged m this traffic, "(viz. availing themselves of Captain Fitzßoy 's proclamations and notice to becomo purchasers of land.) . "I am able to assure your Lordship, m the most decided manner, that no member of tho Church Missionary Society, no missionary, or catochist m Now Zealand has done so cither directly, or indirectly." Can any one now question the truth of our oft repeated assertion that Governor Groy has from tho very commencement of his career, shown tho most hostile feelings towards tho land claimants, and that he lias cmploj'cd all the arts of insinuation and misrepresentation to blacken and dcfamo tho missionary claimants, and prejudice not only thoir interests, but their characters m the eyes of the homo authorities. V. T e refrain from adding any thing moro at present relative to tho character of the despatches, and tho light m which tho conduct of the writer ought to bo viewed, as wo shall have yet further instances of misrepresentation to expose. But wo conclude with a word to tho missionaries. Governor Grey has traduced them hi his written secret communications to England; these calumnies they can only refute after a long lapse of time, and when probably tho refutation will hardly repair tho mischief done, but they may defend themselves, and turn their adversary's weapons against himself by an easier and surer process. He has on moro than ono occasion attempted indirectly, if not directly, to wound them m tho tondcrcst part, the attachment and confidence of the natives, who have had leading hints thrown out to them, that it would not be displeasing to the Governor if they woro to turn round and accuse their old friends and fathers, the missionary claimants, of cupidity and injustice. Tho natives may fall into the snare. They aro only half awake to the deep game the Governor is playing ; now, if we were m tho position of tho missionaries, wo should publish another pamphlet, but it sli-ould bo m the native language, and bo called by somo such title as " Tho Governor's love for the Missionaries," and contain merely a simple translation of tho kind sayings and insinuations which, appear m his despatches, relative to tho missionaries and tho natives. If such a courso did not open the eyes of tho natives, wo aro much mistaken ; to use one of the expressive figures of our contemporary, tho " cloak would then fall from tho culprit, and tho scales from tho eyes of tho j udges. ' '