Correspondence.

Maori Messenger : Te Karere Maori, Volume I, Issue 9, 15 July 1861, Page 8

Correspondence.

TO THE NATIVES. Friends,Tena koutou. Let me now say a few words about THE CAUSES OF WAR: —But, when all collected together, there they are in James, 4th chapter, ist verse : "|Froni whence come wars and fightings among you? come they not hence, even of your lusts that war in your members?" That is, all the wars, from the creation of the world, have sprung from cupidity, from jealousy, from ambition, from pride, and from an evil heart. From these have resulted cursings, adulteries, thefts, murders and land-stealing. And hence wars have sprung up. But, according to my opinion, these are not grounds of war; not of sufficient importance. But according to you, they are \ery great things indeed: and therefore I say, let us duly consider these things. 4. Cursing.—Look here, this is my thought about the curse: no man is destroyed by being cursed. A man simply swears at you, but his curse does not affect you: his curse returns to himself, for his own destruction. And therefore I say, fight not with the cursing man—let him go on swearing—bis curse will rebound on himself, with all its consequences, for his own ruin. 2. Adultery.— This is also my thought about adultery. That is a great evil, but I know that the" sin is not only with the ma,n

—part of it is with the woman, and part of it is attributab'e to you all. With all of you is established the custom of sleeping together, gathering and sleeping together promiscuously, men, women and girls, married and single, ali sleeping together in one house, like swine herding together ! This is also another reason: your causeless retention of your women, not making arrangements for them to take husbands in holy marriage. Now the end of all this system of herding and detaining, is this, adultery and fornication. Even so, the error is your own: it is not from the man only, it is not from the woman only, it is not from their two selves alone, but it is from you all, for you are all alike wrong. Therefore, do not war with a man simply for this, for you are all accessory, 5. Theft.— It is not right to kill a man for theft. It is right to have him tried, that he may suffer punishment for his theft: but as for killing and fighting, that must not be. Treasure is a small thing, but man is a large thing. 4. JHurrfer.—This is indeed a great crime. But your system of open warfare on account of it, is wrong. Look you! you follow after, and enter into war with the tribe at large, and they turn round, and engage in war with you, and so the evil increases. They fall on this side, and they fall on that side: one side seeks to avenge its dead, and the other side seeks to avenge its dead: one side is ferocious and the other side is ferocious: one side is brave and the other side is brave—and there is no end to it. The man who committed the original murder, and who was the cause of the war, is perhaps safely ensconced within the Pa: he is not dead: the slain are only the innocent! and thus many are sacrificed as utu for the crime of that one mau. And therefore I say, it is not right to go to war on account of Murder, inasmuch as other men are slain, and the criminal himself remains unhurt. 5. Land.— This is the great source of war, the land: and hence the great suspiciousness of men at the present lime. This is my thought on this subject. There has been no proper rule laid down for the land. There have been fightings about land, in former times. One tribe has driven off another, { and one tribe has driven off another; the slain have fallen on one side, and the slain have fallen on the other side; all have fallen | together on thai same land. The end—it ( was not ended, it was not ended well, it was not finally settled. Overtaken by the Gos- j pel, by religionjnhe tribes turned to worship,

and gave over iheir wars, but without laying | down regulations for the land. Enough:' this tribe worshipped and so did that, sup- j posing that all was right, instead of which,! there was the mistake lying below, and they were worshipping on a wrong foundation. The Pakeha made his appearance to purchase land, and now, in particular, the error sprung up. Now, for the first time, this tribe and that tribe remembered the lands j for which they had fought, and on which, In past time, their slain bad fallen, and they \ rushed to hold it fast: one tribe hastened to i let it go, another tribe hastened to keep it back: one exclaimed it belonged to him, another said it belonged to him: one strove for it, and another strove for it: one was angry about it and another was angry about | it: one fought for it and another fought for it, and there were slain on this side and slain on that side;—and so the evil spread like fire- Tbey did not consider that the J •wrong was owing to the deeds of the past, | that a proper settlement was not effected by i "war then, and cannot thus be effected now. | Man alone was destroyed, whilst the land was left in confusion—aud so it remained. I Nothing but fruitless quarrelling that could settle nothing; and therefore I say cease to fight about land, for it is neither proper nor just. Perhaps you are saying, '• The Gospel intruded itself hither, before the land was settled, and hence the confusion." No, —Had the Gospel not appeared, the land would still have remained unsettled. It would siill have been nothing but fighting, until all were destroyed; for land cannot be properly adjusted by contentions. But perLaps you are saying, '' We had supposed that Religion would put a slop to these evils, and settle all things." That is correct: if men would but cleave to the principles of the Gospel, no evils would grow up, at all. 6. This is also another cause of war.— Unreasonable jealousy towards the Pakeha. Needless fear of the while man. I say that the thought of the Maori concerning the Pakeha is not correct. Here you are saying that your lands will be taken, without consideration by ihe Pakeha, that vou wiil be driven away, and that you will" be entirely extirpated by the Pakeha. Now, listen to me. Say not that I am a Pakeha, and that I only respect the Pakeha. Noi nt all : I love you also. lam a Pak(uia, but I have been long separated amongst yourselves, and hence I advise you to onsider my words. Now, I understand the principles of the Pakeha: 1 know on what grounds they went to other

lands formerly, and I know on what grounds they have come to this Island now. In times past, the Pakeha went in ignorance to the land of ignorant people. The Pakehas were ignorant, as also were the tribes who possessed tlie land. The Teacher had not gone beforehand. It was not like this island, the Teacher and the Gospel first, and afterwards the settler. It was not so formerly: the Pakeha went ignoranlly into themidst of ignorant tribes, one not knowing the language of the other, and the other not knowing his language. They arranged simply for a block of land on which to reside, supposing that the aborigines would dwell peaceably. But not so. Before long, that ignorant people began to plunder the Pakehas of their property, thinking perhaps that the foreigner would not detect it. And after they had thus been robbing for a long time, then the Pakeha rose up to seek payment. He did not wish to destroy the people at large, nor to fight with them, but he sought for the individual who had committed the offence. And then the majority turned round, and fought openly, and committed murder. Enough : the Pakeha then arose lo defend and save himself. The Pakeha strove to put an end to the evil, and that they should not fight, but that people persevered in doing wrong. Enough : the evil went on increasing, and the Pakeha increased in strength: if the aborigines increased, the foreigner increased in a greater proportion. Enough, they were destroyed. The evil did not ai ise from the Pakeha, but from ignorance: from the ignorance of one, and from the ignorance of the other: from the mistakes of one, and from the mistakes of the other. In this manner were the aborigines of Hobart Town and Port Jackson, and other lands, destroyed. But, my heart rejoices for New Zealand! here we have another system, one of knowledge. When the Pakeha arrived, your language was known, and you had adopted good principles. They spoke kindly to you, and you spoke kiudly to them: they arranged properly for lands to reside on, aud ihey lived quietly. It is good that they should come, to dwell as friends amongst you, and make you great. You yourselves cannot fill up the land. God created the land as a residence for man, specially com* mantling "Be fruitful and multiply and replenish the earth"; but this land can by no means be occupied by yourselves. It is therefore my opinion that God permitted the Pakeha to come, by whom you will be

enlarged and protected and remain free. "He haih made of one blood all nations of men, for to dwell on all the face of the earth, and hath determined the times before appointed and the bounds of their habitation." Acts xvii c, 26. But for the Pakeha of England, this island would long since have been taken by other nations. Say not that you can hold it fast; no, it will not be held by you. But so long as it is held by the Pakeha, by the English Pakeha, it will not be taken by another nation. I know what are the errors of the Pakeha, and I also know what are the errors of the Maori. I knew them formerly, when the Pakeha first arrived ; then I considered what was wrong both in the Maori and the Pakeha. And where is the tribe which does no wrong? But in my opinion, from the smaller offences, we shall not go entirely wrong. 7. This is also a ground of War, the detaining of a Criminal.— A man turns to and commits Theft or Murder, he lakes refuge with his people, and his people hold him and rescue him. His crime now attaches to them—they have adopted his offence—and now they are all transgressors. Even so, the tribe to whom belonged the properly, or the person murdered betake themselves to seek amends, and they fall on the people of the offender, inasmuch as they have ail adopted bis crime. And so the offence increases greatly. They fight boldly and murderously: and many are the innocent men who are slain as utu for the offence of a single individual. Alas! that a righteous man should be wasted over the crime of a bad man, Rather look at the Ngapuhis, in the case of Maketu— that was the way. That man murdered the Pakeha, and he was the payment, and himself only. He was calmly judged, he was quietly condemned : his murder was compensated, evil was ended, and the innocent were saved. That is it, that is the proper method, that is the right system, that the one man who has committed the crime should die, and that the innocent! and peaceable should remain alive—that there may be men to dwell on the earth.