THE ESCAPE OF THE EX-PRISONERS.

Hawke's Bay Times, Volume XIV, Issue 611, 10 September 1868, Page 2

THE ESCAPE OF THE EX-PRISONERS.

To ike Editor of ike Hawke's Bay Times. Having fully digested the details of the late outbreak, some of us, I fear, have come to certain premature conclusions, and in consequence we have permitted (through the columns of one of the local papers) perhaps tbs most pluckv and energetic man amongst us to be slandered, and have certain very degrading imputations cast upon him in re touching and concerning the late engagement on the Kuaki Tore, the policy adopted by the Commandant, and the result; in re touching and concerning that most promising expeditionary party who were so good and so brave as to attempt to reach and bury, if practicable, those who so nobly fell in the late engage ment; in re touching and concerning a certain ono who considers the A T o. 1 Division Armed Constabulary a pack of hounds, and refuses to bark on the ground that he is not permitted to receive 6s per day for doing so. Xow for the issues.

First, —Are ex-prisoners to be permitted to roam at large in this our Northern Island, and add to their numbers ad libitum 1 Second, —Is the Commandant of perhaps the best Corps which has been raised hitherto to be deprived of the satisfaction of seeing his men engaged in one of the pluckiest fights in which the llauhaus have met us ? Was he, after the good service they have rendered towards restoring quietude in one of the most disaffected districts on the East Coast, to allow them to remain, after temporary quiet had been restored, in comparative idleness, when such a recapture as that of the ex-prisoners was possible ?

Most assuredly not. He properly bade his corps proceed to the scene of action, even though they had been on a lons campaign. They had been tried and found worthy in similar encounters with llauhaus, in an equally, and frequently far more difficult, country. The engagement over. I large ta;ker? paint the scene to perfection. |Some have it that the dead and wounded were never thought of—this is purely a fabrication. Some doubt, even now, il one whose loss we deeply deplore is not in (he hands of the enemy. Some say that the men engaged should have rushed the position which the rebels held. Little do these vain talkers know of bush warfare. They cannot conceive a deep mountain torrent whose wooded banks are akin to perpendicular—they cannot conceive plucky men on little more than half rations, eager for an engagement, knowing, as they did, that the enemy’s strength was superior to their own. Men like this would not, unless under a murderous fire, have suffered their dead to remain on the field. I know the character of the men engaged, and how they were officered ; I also know the character of the men who fell, and how they were appreciated, j I cannot understand the idea of cautiously prying and peeping at the enemy ; ! but I do know what result frequently I follows when one is engaged with an enemy jin a gorge. I can understand marching to jthe front; but fail to understand ‘peeping, or how otherwise could the enemy’s strongI bold have been seen. I think it does ; Lieut. Sanders infinite credit to have jviewrd a palisade. Bush lawyers are at this season of the year very green; I imagine Mr Hawthorne is living in proximity to a hush, and has | become entangled with those verv obnoxious |briars. I can see his idea ; it is the one | prevalent in Poverty Bay—that if they don’t choose to help themselves in the matter of fighting they willlose their land. I can sec how adverse to the settlers of Wairoathe bare idea of becoming militiamen or even volunteers must be. I can also see of what infinite benefit to publicans, storekeepers, and others a pay-day must be during the present depression, and can imagine how comparatively secure | they felt, when they knew that the matter of sixty-seven men kept guard daily and nightly over their slumbers—even the approach of a stray horse being noticed by the vigilant sentry.. In conclusion, I thank the editor of the Herald for the courtesy displayed in thus plainly admitting Mr Hawthorne to his open column, and also humbly thank “our own correspondent” at Wairoa, for likening onr pet corps to dogs. Possibly be imagines that because of late they have been compelled frequently to make use of horseflesh, they have become canine. I

jdou’t fancy their general behaviour whilo jin Napier will cause the public to endorse that opinion ; I havo heard it remarked that, for a Colonial Corps, they were a pattern, in discipline and appearance. "Our own correspondent” might havo become confused with reading “ notes from ouo at the front; ” or probably (I have known such eases} a compositor has made an error. I hope that this is the case, as the Division don't feel complimented. 1 Before I pronounce the word vale, I would suggest to Mr Hawthorne to prune and dig round his tree, and see whether there is not a real Poverty Bay worm gnawing at his root —see whether there are net others to blame than the Commandant. I see no fault in the man ; I have known him for some time, and have never found him wanting in pluck, nor have ever heard him abusive. To him at Wairoa, I would say I should consider it but common courtesy on his part were he to apologize for likening the No. 1 Division, Armed ' Constabulary to dogs. To the editor of the Herald I have merely to add that I had given him credit for better taste than to allow it to appear in his widely-circulated {journal. Tejtto.