Hawke's Bay Herald. SATURDAY, MAY 4, 1861.

Hawke's Bay Herald, Volume 4, Issue 189, 4 May 1861, Page 5

Hawke's Bay Herald. SATURDAY, MAY 4, 1861.

Our last contained the terms of peace offered to Ngatiawa and accepted by the greater portion of the tribe. Every one, so far as his knowledge extends, feels that the British name has been degraded by such conditions having been offered to armed rebels ; who are now, with arms and ammunition in their hands and the way opened for them to get fresh supplies, supposed by a pleasant fiction to be friends to -the government. A correspondent of the Southern Cross thus graphically sums up this famous treaty : — They (the hostile natives) will allow the Governor to proceed with the investigation of title and survey of Teira'a land. They, have freely given up the land that has "beentaken from them, on the condition that it shall be restored to them with an assured title. They have undertaken to give back all the property they have taken, from, the settlers, and as • this consists principally of houses burnt and cattle killed and eaten, it will be as interesting philosophically as in a pecuniary point of view. And lastly, the most reassuring of the terms to all who know what Maories are is this, that they will not only give back to us the arms we could not keep, but help us to keep them for the future. On the acceptance of these terms, his Excellency extends to Ngatgjjg|a her Majesty's gracious pardon and protection;' ■■■' The conditions upon which the Governor will pardon Ngatiruani appear in this morning's issue. They contain no demand that these bloodthirsty ruffians shall disarm — no defnand that the cold-blooded murderers of boys shall be handed to justice. The second clause — that in which they are required to give up all plunder in their possession, and to give compensation for that which is not returned and for property destroyed and injured, contains the only condition of the .whole that is worthy of the name ; but to that Ngatiruani have not yet agreed and are not likely to agree. Whether any penal consequences are to follow their refusal, or whether they are to be left in undisturbed possession of the "- sheep, horses, and cattle which they coolly drove away upon hostilities coming to an end, does not^^pear : but it is evident iflkat no force sumcient for the former has been left in the province — the 57th only remaining to garrison the town of New Plymouth. A third set of terms have, we understand, been offered to Waikato. These have not yet been published ;v;but we gather from a leader in the Southern Cross, .a. journal which seems to be regarded by the Auckland people as a semi-ministerial organ, that the king question will form an element in any arrangement that may be made, between these warlike tribes and the Government. "No mild terms," says the writer, can be granted to men who raise a hostile flag on British ground." , The general impression is that the war .is. not yet over — that, to borrow an -ex- \_ pression from the article we have referred J Wto, ■vi& are about to " takie^ a fresh depar-

ture." Whether that impression be or be not well-founded, we have no means of ascertaining; but if any rising be anticipated in the Waikato, the comparatively exposed and unprotected state of this Pro- ; vince should not be overlooked by His Excellency's Government.