NEW ZEALAND AFFAIRS

Hawke's Bay Herald, Volume 4, Issue 195, 15 June 1861, Page 2

NEW ZEALAND AFFAIRS

>•*: (Prom, the Sydney Morning Herald, April 22.)

We give in another column the report of an interview between Governor Browne and deputations of New" Zealand colonists, who are naturally anxious to learn what will be the issue of the war, so far as it affects their lot. The conversation seems to have encouraged them to hope that whatever degree of impunity may be" conceded to the authors and abettors of the rebellion, this will not involve the utter sacrifice of its loyal victims. We must recall to our readers the facts, in a few words, to show the impolicy and wrong of abandoning the settlers to their fate, who, at the sacrifice of life and property, have • stood by the Queen's representative in maintaining her rights — not their own. G-overnor Browne has received the approval of the Bi'itish Government in all the steps he took up to the moment when he called out the settlers of Taranaki, and compelled them to perform military duty ; to leave their estates to be plundered and destroyed, and, in not a few instances, to send their wives and children to a distance to depend on charity. The Queen, by her representative, asserted her right to purchase certain lands ; this was repelled. by an armed confederacy 0/ her New Zealand subjects ; they have met her' troops in fight, and we are to assume that they are in some sense vanquished. If the Crown, claiming the fruits of this victory, re-asserts the principle which was resisted, does that not admit at once that, for her cause, her loyal subjects have suffered the loss of everything ? The attempt is made to show that the settlers of Taranaki have been the authors of the war, because some among them, finding a difficulty in obtaining laud, had asked the Government to purchase some offered by the natives. To say nothing of punishing a town, -as the author of the war, because a few persons were anxious to enlarge their possessions — it must be remembered that the settlers could not hold an inch of land directly of the natives j that all laml purchases were made by the Imperial Government, on its own responsibility, by its own agents, on its own terms; and that this land was soli at a. pi-ofit by the Crown to the settler. We have read the papers respecting the land in dispute, and our judgment is conclusively with the Governor, in point of both law and policy ; but whether he was or not justified in purchasing the land, this is obviously not a question in 1 he indemnity and compensation to the ruined people of New Plymouth. We believe that the Crown is not legally bound to make good losses inflicted on her subjects by a foreign enemy, or by rebels in arms ; but, whatever reasons may induce tiie Government to treat the insurgents otherwise than as subjects, it would be a monstrous iilca that, after they hare -burnt, plundered, and slaughtered until it suits them to retire, they should have »\\ the advantages of the war, as if they were conquerors, and the loy.-tL settlers suffer ail its penalties, as if they were the rebeis. The Chinese have been compelled to indemnify the sufferers by their crimes ; the palace of the -E".i pero i> was looted by the French, and then destroyed by the English in vengeance for his perlidy. We do not insist on the punishment of the natives for the sake of punishment, but the Government ought to lake care that they pay in land for the pillage and desolation they have inflicted ; and this in a. form which may be a standing evidenoe of tht supremacy of the Crown, and a warning to them. . The abettors of the rebels say that, if we exact indemnity in this form, there will be an inextinguishable war — that the natives would rather perish than submit. If this be true, then the peace is premature, and war will return the moment the troops have turned their backs. It is indispensable to our keeping a footing in that -part of New Zealand that there should be a force on , the spot. This force must reside either on the strength of the settlement, considered as a colony, or,,its resources as a fortress. If the colony be not reinforced it will be destroyed. When there were more soldiers than there ai'o now settlers,- the military suffered the houses of the colonists to be burned in noon day, within five minutes' ride of their sentinels. Where then can be the settlers' hope for safetj^, unless their numbers are multiplied, to make all attack impossible to the natives ? These can retire and return at' pleasure, and even when allowed-to retreat they were suffered to carry off in the sight of the urmy their arms and plunder!

. The Crown now can demand a3 indemnity some of those millions of acre 3 which, used for no purpose by the natives in peace, are ambush; in time of war, and it can tb us punish rebellion, indemnify the settlers for their sacrifices, and, what is far more important to public policy than either, by extending colonization, make resistance to the royal authority hopeless. The British Government has not always been very faithful to those who have supported the rights of the Crown, and we fear there be soon a disposition to vote the New Zealand question a bore. The Times, though often superior to Its contemporaries in breadth of view on colonial questions, has treated some aspects of the case. with levity— dangerous, considering its influence. We, who are nearer the seat of action, perceive the vast importance of New Zealand in the time of war, and the great risk Australia will incur if the power of the Crown is not thoroughly established while the opportunity last. Now is the time to form military roads', and establish military ; settlements, to expand into towns and cities.' -England might send outpnot veterans only "fit for Chelsea, but young married men, bound to "^perform military duty, and under military governfmetifcfor a term of years. Thn3 the expenses be small compared with the object to be effected, and probably would never require repetition. Under shadow of such colonists, the civilian might pursiie his industry with, a "sense of safety. We still have a strong impression,- looking at the entire facts as they are presented by the last intelligence — as we stated on the first news, of a truce— that there is no reliance on the present armistice. The British have allowed the natives to go home— that is all. They^do not like fight-

ing with Armstroiig^guns, and they have got out of the range. They have made no terms, aa^w.ill, we imagine, never m.ake any. They' can return on any pretext and repeat their aggressions^ and the soldiers cannot follow them. In- winter they will furbish up their arms, collect ammunition ; in the spring, they will plant their potatoes, and then we shall probably hear of them again. By. private information we foam that an interview had taken place between the Governor and Bishop Selwyn, with a view to arrive at some understanding on native affairs. If the Bishop is truly represented, all we can say is, that histerma seem to render co-operation, utterly hopeless. They still assume that England has violated the treaty, and that reparation is due rather to the natives, than to the settlers. While the Bishop demands that the rights of the New Zealandere, as British subjects, shall be identical with those of Europeans, he asks that " a tribunal, permanent as the Supreme Court," shall be established to take cognisance of land titles when admitted by the voluntary consent of all parties ; that native customs shall be respected absolutely, tohatever their effect— that is, of course, such as the right of W. King to the land in dispute ; and even when this tribunal, so constituted by the consent of the Crown, assemble, a " conference of natives shall be -called into action, by joint petition of all the parties interested, after years have elapsed, and not till then. The enforcement of the decree of the tribunal shall be submitted as a question to the Assembly and Government. The Bishop added another proposal, that the present quarrel, as he termed it, should be allowed to die away " into a tacit armistice," till both sides are sufficiently calm to negotiate peaoe. In all this there is no word of sympathy for his countrymen who are ruined by this rebellion ; no indignation for .the wanton destruction of life and property by the natives ; no recollection of the hundreds of thousands which the quarrel will cost the people of England. To us these proposals assume an air of absurdity which can only be interpreted on the idea that the Bishop has lost all sense of his obligations as a British subject. There is one rational course for tho Crown once for all to refuse io recognise any right in the land which is net a right of appropriation or succession : to treat the chiefs in their true character a3 subjects : to recognise their superiority- only in virtue of some distinction bestowed by the Crown, and which can be cancelled on their rebellion : and to make them snbjeote while they participate in constitutional government. Two governments, one directed by ecclesiastics, and the o.ther by. the ordinary policy and maxima of cdvii rule, can never long subsist together. Whenever the natives are disposed to resist they will do so under the notion that the Queen is on the one side, and the clergy on the other: and that when they are tired of Sgiiting, or are in dangerof defeat, a tacit armistice will give a long uauds bo negotiate peace. If this is the plan the Government adopt, we should advise Englishmen to escape with their families from a country where one class has to bear the burdens of loyilry, and the other is indulged in all chances, without, the risks or penalties of rebellion. Bishop Seiwyn is superior to most men in high and noble qualities :. even his over partiality to the naiives may be deemed, up to a cei tain point, a venid and even an amiable error, but in those instances his conduct seems to require the excuse of monomania. Only imagine — he demands that, a sanguinary rebellion of one year's duration is to be su.-psnded by a tacit armistice, and that the Government is to negocifite a peace, in practical acknowledgment that it was guilty of the war ! The best assistance that Bishop Selwys could aiford the Government would be for a time to quit the country, where his influence has been so deadly to his European feilowfcsubjects.