REVIEW.

Hawke's Bay Herald, Volume 13, Issue 1063, 6 July 1869, Page 3

REVIEW.

A DARK CHAPTER 'FROM NEW ZEA-

LAND lILSTOUY.

(From the "Evening Post.")

An extremely able little pamphlet has just been published at Napier, under the title pf " A; Dark Chapter from New Zealand History." The author is "A^Povertyßay Survivor," and his motto the significant one, . "SoMhidinem faciunt, pacem apjpeZlant" wiiich, for the benefit of the unlearned, we interpret to mean, "They pretend to have conquered a peace, but have really destroyed a colony." The history t>f the East Coast campaign is the subject of the pamphlet under notice. The events of that campaign have hitherto •been known chiefly from Colonel Whitmoro's " very clever " despatches, or Mr. Kichmond's telegrams. The united chorus of both is. " Glory to Whitmore, and long life to' the' Stafford Ministry," It might be as well, however, before we throw up our hats, or confer crosses and orders of : mcrit, to hear what can bo said on the other side. , One of the survivors from the bloody shamble's of Te Eooti has a word to say on the subject, and very well he has said it — a little bitterly, perhaps, as a man may speak into whose soul the iron has entered, but with an outspoken eloquence of facts which carries conviction along with it, Before voting on Mr. Fox's motion of want of confidence* let every member of the House of Representatives get a copy and readmit. "Wnitmore's brag, and Haultain's. dogmatic denials, .wilihardly s, uffice to prevent th<j impression it is sure to male e. Tho points; which it brings out with remarkable clearness are: lst.,.That the. East jCoast war originated in the sacrifice of M'liean to Whitaker, for political ends, by Mr. Stafford. 2nd. That but for this, the East Coast difficulties would haTe been so settled by Mr. M'Lean, that it would have been impossible for even escaped Hau Haus to redisturb the settled peace of that country. 3rd. That the Government was solely to blame for the return of the Hau Haus. 4th. That it was solely to blame for the Poverty Bay massacres through its neglect to warn Major Biggs. sth. That but for Mr. M'Leau, the friendly natives would never have been got to act in our behalf. 6th. That by them, under his guidance, the tide of war was rolled back from the settled districts, and that, by E-opata's generalship, Te Kooti was repulsed, and Ngatapa taken; while the credit claimed for these events — claimed for Whitmore— is solely due to M'Lean, Eopata, and Tareha. Whether regarded as a mere contribution to the history of the war, or as a critique on the political aspecb of tho question, the brochure before us will well repay perusal. If the result of its publication should be a plucking out of peacock's feathers, and a display of the original jackdaw, the writer will have done good service to tho public.