A Letter from Mr. Maunsell of the Church Missionary Society to Governor Grey. Waikato Heads, October 18, 1847.

Daily Southern Cross, Volume VI, Issue 430, 12 August 1851, Page 4

A Letter from Mr. Maunsell of the Church Missionary Society to Governor Grey. Waikato Heads, October 18, 1847.

Sir, — That a clergyman should hare nothing to do with politici, it a remark of which I fully admit the propriety; itill, when principle! oppoted to reli* gion or justice are advanced, or when there it growing through the community a dangerous feeling, of which otheri cannot obtain aa accurate • .knowledge, he would, I comider, be unfaithful to "his country and came if he were to decline expreaiing hit lentiments or giving a warning. It it for thete two reasonsjthat I Tenture thus to trespata on ycur atten tion. Your Excellency it no doubt aware of the prominent part that the Missionary body took on the arrival of Captain Hobton, in inducing the Abori gines to acknowledge the sovereign power of the Queen. For those efforts we received public acknowiedgments from Captain Hobton and his officers.

Since then, it will, I irutt, be admitted that we have been the firm advocates of British rale, and the watchful promoters of peace. We hare not, I trust, deserted the intere-ta of our people; but in maintaining thote interests we hare ever (and to a larger extei.t thin is generally known) urged them to dutr of obedience. The late despatches from Earl Grey, with the instructions accompanying them .will, if acted upon, compel us, I fear, to assume, at least in appearance, a somewhat different position in future. Reports and surmises are now spreading through the country— every visitor to Auckland brings back a confirmation — and the qoes i>n is then put to us "Is it true ?" To such a question I fiad it difficult to answer : silence is interpreted to assent. These instructions and the despatch are, we see, the carry ing out of the resolutions and report presented by the Select Committee of the House of Commons, July 1844 (of which also Earl Grey was, I believe, the chief author), and they all indicate an uniform preconcerted plan— a plan which, though rejected by the Colonial Secretary, is now revived with authority, and furnished with machinery for being «arried'into operation. In these documents we see, indeed, the maintenance of the Waitangi Treaty ostentatiously put forward ; but we drtect throughout the whole what far counterbalances such averments. Not only do we miss the kind spirit of paternal interest that was evinced by the former Colonial Secretaries toward the aborigines, but we see also a strong inclination also to censure that 1 Treaty ; and if not a plain disclaimer, at least a plain attempt to evade its force. This being the case, we find our position most perplexing; our people hive heard us repeatedly affirm the high honor and justice of our Government, and the interest it has always taken in protecting and fostering the aboriginal races. They now ask us, " Why is the Treaty of Waitangi thus virtually broken ? — Why, for the sake of a few useless spots, that could be purchased for a comparative trifle, is the train laid for involving the whole country in flame ?" If it were merely the honor and interest of the British Government that were concerned in the question, we might fairy decline engaging ip such discussions ; but unfortunately we are too deeply involved to be allowed to be silent. " For you," say they, " urged us to acknowledge the sovereign power of the Queen— we^ord to on your assurances I that our lands should not be touched ; it appears ' now that the Queen is dissatisfied with that agreement, and is preparing to take our lands by force : thus have we been deceived by you into feeding the child until he becomes a man and strangles us." This, Sir, is the only point in which as yet I have been accused (and that by some of the leading men of the District) with having betrayed their interests. How to answer I know not. It is not very gratifying to one's feelings to have to fasten a charge of breach of faith upon one's country— a country so confessedly the most noble-spirited that has yet been recorded in pages of history. Neither, on the other hand, would it appear wise to hear such assertions without offering sn explanation — for we cannot but feel that our influence aa religious teachers, as well as our residence among them, is most intimately connected with the confidence they repose in us as their friends and advisers. The only course that some of our body have seen out of the difficulty, is to leave the country as soon as you begin to act upon the Instructions ; and others will, I hope, remain — but if they do remain they will have no other alternative left than to set the whole matter fairly before the people, to shew that we never contemplated such measures on the part of our Government, 'when we induced them to sign the Treaty ; and that though we were guilty of it mistake, we were not at least guilty of deception. I trust, Sir, that I may never see the day in which Englishmen will forget that national honor is an essential part of national dignity : the greater the honor the more striking the meanness. From the day on which the Treaty of Waitangi was signed the conduct of the New • Zealanders towards the British has been marked by a spirit of chivalry* of friendship, and of good faith. They have cheerfully ceded the rights of sovereignty and pre-emption ; and, for a very small compensation, have willingly endured fatigue, and faced death, against their own relatives in defence of that authority ceded. What, I would ask, has been given by the British Government to them in return ? It surely cannot be considered an equivalent that a powerful nation that has already subdued and destroyed so many aboriginal tribes, has settled on their shores. It has been by all parties admitted that this colony has not been founded by force, but by compact. A compact implies advantages given a>s well as received. What has been received by the British Government is visible to all — what has been given to the New- | Zealanders it ia difficult to discover. i Former Colonial 'Secretaries did indeed give some* thing : they gave us approbatory sentences and kind recommendations. These were encouraging. We took the will for the deed, and were thankful. — Earl Grey seems only to regard this people aa being not far from the lowest in the scale of human existence, and unworthy of the little they retain. His Lordship will, I hope, recollect that if the civilized man has claims, he has also duties — and that to those beneath us in the degree of advancement we should shew our eminence not merely in skill and power, but in the more exalted qualities of benevolence and truth. The Bill lately brought forward by your Excellency for the Education of the Aborigines, I regard as the only practical acknowledgment as yet made i by Government of the value of those influences by means of which it has so peacefully established itself in the island. Whether that Bill will be permament and successful in its operation experience alone can decide. Still, considering the opinion which is is now taking holdof the native mind, that the Sng1 lish nstion delights in usqrpation and war, I cannot but hail such a measure as most beneficial. If it be effectual, it will be a boon to the country — and a boon that I am sure you will regard as much an offering to justice as to philanthropy. It will perhajis be urged that the Aborigines have received the privileges of British subjects. What those privileges are I have to learn. They contribute npwards of £} 0,000 per annum to the Revenue of the colony, while they have do one in the Legislative Council to represent their interest or raise hit voice in their name against an act of injustice. Control over the sale of their lands, thfy must, it seems, be considered to have entirely surrendered. The British Government not only firmly grasps all thus ceded, but now demands more. Waste, unclaimed, unoccupied, are, in the vocabulary of Earl j Grey, all one in meaning. These mystic — Sovereignty and Pre-emption— are then called into requisition and made to' serve' the same purposes as did the ox-hide in the hands of-th* proto- colonist of former times. They. are to be stretched into such convenient lengths as to enclose just* as much as th« more powerful and more crafty are pleased to determine. England has her unoccupied territoiies, and no doubt Earl Grey has his unsubdued lands ranged over by nothing els* thsn the deer and pheasant. So has also the New-Zealander his birdpreserves, his runs, and the grand sonrcei of supply to our colonial markets, his useful timbers, his valuable plants, his iifheries, and localities sacred in his regards as having been the abode of his forefathers — the scenes of their triumphs, or the resting place of their bonei.— Why, then, does th» Statu. man of such a wealthy nation seek to confiscate theie the guaranteed possessions of onr friends and

allies ? Why does he aot ponder before ht advances arguments to weak— before he proceeds to trample on the acknowledged rights of a people that com. minds the admiiation of heir Captains— of a people moit deeply interesting to the thought of the philantropist—before he that exposes to lhe contempt and ridicule of their own converts his fellow-subjects who risked their lives in lhe benevolent mission of the grand Christian bodies of the Mother-country" 1 ; who ruked their influence and success in obtaininc for their Sovereign the bloodless concession of the most promising Islands in these seas. A reference to Captain Hobson's communications will show that I took a large a' ae in these proceeding* — and I think, therefore, I have a right, among ottieri, to be hefted on this announcement of those new measurer Captain Hobion received my letter to him of April 14, 1840, in which I expressed my sense of the responsibility ( had incurred, and strong confidence in the Brituh Government (which letter I take the liberty to forward for your inspection), I trust I am not asking too much if I beg of your Excellency to forward this my Protest against these Instructions and that Despatch : so that if my country will be unjust, I may at least enjoy the gratification of having made it known that it was not for such a purpose that I consented to becomt her instrument. I remain, &c, (Signed) R. Maumskll.

Extract from a Letter to the Colonial Secretary. 41 In forwarding; the accompanying docamant, I wonld beg to observe, in reference to onraelves, that cirdially ai we desire to co-operate with Governor Hcbson in all measures comiitent with onr principles, we cannot bat state that wefeeF strongly the responsibility incurred in the eyes or the Natives by the steps we arc now adopting. " I beg therefore, with all deference, to add, that hiring put ourselves prominently 'forward in obtaining an acknowledgment of tbe sovereign power of : the Queen on the part of the Natives ; to we trust , that that acknowledgment will never be made, even j apparently, a basis of any measure that may here-j after result in their prejudice. " Tbe steps we have taken have been taken in full dependence of the well-known lenity and honor of the British Government, and we rest assured that we shall never hereafter find ourselves to have been in these particulars mistaken. (Signed) R. Mauksiljc.