A HOLLOW PEACE; WHAT THEN ?

Daily Southern Cross, Volume XVII, Issue 1351, 20 November 1860, Page 3

A HOLLOW PEACE ; WHAT THEN ?

To the Editor of the Southern Ci oss. Sir, — Your contemporary the ' New-Zealander' has an article in its issue of Saturday last, advocating the establishment of peace on the ground that the recent defeat of the rebel Waikatos at Mahoetahi has destroyed the false prestige which the former reverses of our ttoops led the Maoii to build up, and that the Maories aro in conseqnenco anxious for peace. Such a conclusion is, I think, hardly wairanted by the circumstances. Is it likely that this "false prestige," spiingingfrom the Wahau massacre, and strengthened by the succession of miserable reverses our arms have experienced, will be destroyed by an affair in which 1000 Biitish soldiers put to flight 150 Maories « Did the brilliant affair at Waireka extinguish this " false prestige" 1 Does an announcement in the very next column of the same journal, to the effect that a body of the Waikatos, "estimated from COO to 800, had staited, or were about to stait for Taranaki," look as if the Maories consideied their "false prestige" destroyed ' Then again the writer talks about the Maories being British subjects, and the moderate conditions on which peace ought to be granted them. Had he confined the term " British subjects" to such men as Tamati Waka Nene, William Naylor, and the rest of the loyal natives, his definition would be universally accepted. Does the editor of the ' New-Zea-lander' mean to say that the Tarnnakis and Ngatiruanuis are British subjects 1 Does he wish us to believe that William Thompson, at the head of his 400 armed followers the other day at Tuakau, was there as a British subject ? Does he himself believe that Wetini and the Waikatos, in arms at Mahoetahi, were Biitish subjects ? What mean the king and the flag at Ngaruwhia' What, in the name of common sense, is the meaning of the words uttered by Renata and Te Moananui, at a public meeting at Hawke's Bay, on the 31st October? The latter — I quote from the leport of the ' Hawke's Bay Herald' — declaring in the most unmistakable terms, " that they had cast off all allegiance to both Governor and Queen, never, never more to be resumed." Writers, who call such men as these British subjects, have need to wash the dust out of their eyes, for verily they see men but as trees walking. Sir, it is time to have done with such trifling. Men who say such words, and do such deeds as those to which I have referred, are not British subjects. In plain English, they and all such like are rebels, and nothing less. There is nothing in their conduct to induce us to suppose that they even desire peace. It is just possible that they may be instigated, by certain ecclesiastics, to s>eek for peace on the very " moderate terms" shadowed foith by the article in question. I deny that a peace on such terms would be anything more than an armed truce I believe that such a peace would be most fatal to the Maoii race It would confirm them in all those wi etched, ideas and customs which have done so much to prevent their further progress. Thhty yeais of Missionary labor has conducted them but to the threshold of civdization. The ' NewZealander' truly says that they have been " taught but not exercised in the amenities of civilized life." This then is the result of all past Missionary effoit. I am not amongst those who leproach the Missionaries for not having done moip; on the contrary, T am astonished to find they have done so much, under the conditions with which they undertook a noble but arduous task. Their precepts and their theory have been to a considerable extent accepted by the native race ; but the practical results they have developed aie but skin deep. They find their influence decreasing. Let them not cast the blame upon Government or s>ettlois. They must look elsewhere for the real causes of failure. Amongst these the most prominent is the tubal tenwe by which the natives hold their lands So long as this exists, a wi etched communism will effectually bar fuither progress. Under its pernicious influence the home can never become a Maori institution, and the Maori can never assimilate to European institutions. Until the land become exclusively his own, the family and the home can never exercise that potent influence over him, without which the fusion of the two races can never take place. A brighter page in Maori history is probably about to appear. The natural course of events has brought the race to a dead-lock. The Gordian knot has hitherto resisted all attempts at disentanglement. A peace on " moderate terms" will not disentangle it. It must be done nevertheless. Nothing remains but to cut it. The successful termination of the present war will at once, and for ever secure the supremacy of British power, and British law. That supremacy can alone save the Maories from themselves and from their misguided friends Happily for themselves they do not yet seek peace. When they do, it will be time enough to discuss conditions Let none then Beduce the people by crying "peace," when there is no peace, can be none, ought to be none, until events are fuither developed— until we are in a position to enforce those material guarantees, without which peace would be a curse rather than a ble&sing. Yours, &c , J. C. From. November 19, 1860.