RENATA'S LETTER TO THE SUPPLIMENTEDENT.

Hawke's Bay Herald, Volume 4, Issue 192, 25 May 1861, Page 5

RENATA'S LETTER TO THE SUPPLIMENTEDENT.

''•'}'. (Fiona the Southern Cross.) Soi&qjjj|ponths backs we had occasion to make a few remarks on a document emanating from : the pen of that distinguished statesman Mr. Secretary Waata Kukutai.' Regarded as a specimen of the cool style of diplomatic correspondence it deserved to be highly commended, but as a political essay, it has been far surpassed by a letter from Renata of Hawke's Bay, addressed to the Superintendent, Mr, FitzC^erald,. and recently published in the "Wellington papers. Truly the schoolmaster ia abroad amongst the Kingites, and they are apt pupils and are a credit to their masters. Unfortunately many 6f their show productions resemble rather closely those which give fond parents so high an idea of their boarding-school daughter's artistic talent: they look very well, and it is well not to enquire too closely whether the drawing master has touched them up much or materially changed his interesting pupil's original idea of a haystack or of a pigstye. The fair artist's name is perfectly legible in the corner, and what more should those interested in her progress seek to know?

Kenata must be a remarkably well read man ; seems to be of a legal turn of mind, and has been brought up, apparently, in the Wellington school. As opposition member for the County of Hawke he would undoubtedly have proved himself a most l valuable ally of the Fox party in the House of Representatives. He is an uitra-provincialist, we have no doubt. Superintendents, according to him, are the natural arbitrators, in conjunction with Maori chiefs, between the Throne and rebellious subjects. He delicately intimates that such is his opinion, and adroitly appeals to any latent feelings of vanity which, may exist in the mmd of. Mr. .T. H. Fitzgerald, by assuming that had that gentleman consented to co-operate with him much evil might have been avoided : —

If you felt genuine sorrow you would have been at before this; '.your grief would have led you thither to put a stop to the war ; then your word would have been heard beforehand in favour of stopping the •evil ; then you and I would have had nothing to discuss. I told you that the cause of our meeting was grief for the war at Taranaki, and proposed to go there and put a stop to it, to which you replied— that you could not influence the Governor, Then I thought, Eh. ! you are not sorry, jour grief does not reach up to mine, since .you oppose my proposals that we should go to Taranaki to enquire into the war. Although, the Governor has the direction of the laws he will not submit (his conduct) to investigation j and you also oppose it ; this is my reason for concluding, Eh! it is only 1 who feel any sorrow. This is your sort of sorrow.

A man who can write thus must be stronglyattached to provincial institutions, and would no doubt have strongly opposed the centralizing policy of the New Provinces Act, unless he unfortunately took it into his head that if Superintendents are intended to carry the olive branch of peace into scenes of bloodshed the more men in the country with such a mission the better. But, at all events, our Provincialists should be delighted to learn the deep respect with which learned natives regard the Superintendental office, and should behave accordingly. Mr. Williamson is most assuredly wasting his time with the G-reat North Road ; his proper place is at Ngavuawahia, discussing the advisability of passing a vote of ceneure on Her Majesty. Dr. Featherston should have been at Otaki when the rebel flag was hoisted ; and according to his report, whether it was a very rebeJlious one or not, the military authorities should have been allowed to poll it down -or ordered to leave it alone, Mr. Outfield's post •was, of course, at the end of the " Sap," on the top of the roller, where he might have harangued the insurgents, when no firing was going on, and .gently exhorted them on the question of peace. It is really not creditable that the elected of the ■country should have been first taught their duty by an " intelligent native," — a man who can chop logic and enclose in Maori metaphors ideas which one would not have expected from Polynesian brains". Our public characters must be on the gui vive when the natives become reading men, and long political essays are published by a chief who peruses his ** Saturday Review " regularly, or at least is acquainted with some gentleman who 'does.

There Is no-necessity for quoting at any length from this letter. The ideas are not novel. The arguments are such as we have often heard brought forward in sober English and refuted in the same style. In a native garb they read better;" the style is quainter, and a metaphor is a useful and pleasing substitute for a logical train of reasoning. "The medicine for mankind is investigation," sounds very pretty till we translate the phrase into English, when the context proves it to be nonsense. The writer evidently confused the diagnosis of the disease with the application of the remedy, and it is not wonderful that he does so, for many white men seem to make the same mistake. It is the old fallacy, which we have had so often to expose, namely, that any investigation resulting in a determination on the part of the Government to use force must have been necessarily an unfairly conducted one. This assumption underlies the whole of the arguments : granted the writer's premises, and one must agree with a good many, of his deductions.

The most interesting part of the letter is that referring to the Waikatos. Renata deprecates their being made responsible for what they have been doing at Taranaki, as they would not, according to him, have gone to the seat of war, if the. insurgents had been strong enough to beat us without assistance. The passage is worth extracting : —

"All that "Waikato desired was to have an investigation ; and for a long time, as far as talking could accomplish, they intervened between the combatants; and for a long time, whilst the Governor was quarrelling with his son, the Waikato were Btrenuously smothering their feelings of sympathy. But when at length the war became permanent, then they arose to shield him (W.K.) from the weapon of him who was placed over him. Ought they to have given him up to darkness (death) P This is my custom — if my chief is gently punishing his children, they are left to settle their own aifferences 5 but . if I see him lift a deadly weapon, then I get up'to interfere. If he thereupon "turns round upon' and kills me, it cannot be helped. That is a good kind of death in my— the Maori's — estimation."

Nobody- oan help admiring the chivalrous spirit in which, be here expresses himself, but still we do not wish to see provinces devastated because men 'choose to constitute themselves judges of •what should be the" exact amount of punishment meted out to offenders, and the chivalrous interposers in quarrels must not claim exemption from

the proverbial fate attending such interferences. The following passage on the question of the Queen's Supremacy, is well worth attention. If the ideas contained in it have really been disseminated amongst the natives by designing men, and have produced any general impression, it is well that the treaty of Waitara has been concluded with the Ngatiawa. Even a sacrifice is better than for a shadow of uncertainty to remain as to our intentions.

" Who is the Maori that is such a fool as to be mistaken about the sovereignty or supremacy of the Queen of England? Or who will throw himself away in fighting for such a cause P No, it is for the land ; for land has been the prime cause of war amongst the Maoris from time immemorial down to the arrival of Pakehas in this Island of ours."

The latter portion of the letter is taken up with a discussion of the system of land purchase hitherto followed, and is well written. We may refer to it on another occasion. One little passage, however, we must quote, on the subject of genealogies : it is a perfect bijou, and certainly proves that Renata haa some very correct ideas : —

W. King would never give his genealogy, because it is known throughout this Island ; it is not recounted. That is a thing for the common man to do, who never was heard of before, or for an obscure thief. You must know that that is a thing done by the lower orders. ■'

Garter King afc Arms could not speak better. The publication of this letter is well timed for an object, and the atmosphere which generates such ideas in native minds may have generated them by a strange coincidence in European minds likewise. Renata's letter may be made use of as an admirable feeler, but we trust that the country will show that though they may be willing to listen quietly to a native writing under wrong impressions — no matter where he received them — they are not prepared to allow men desirous of carrying out his ideas, in practice, an opportunity of so doing.