THE NELSON EXAMINER. Wednesday, May 16, 1860.

Nelson Examiner and New Zealand Chronicle, Volume XIX, 16 May 1860, Page 2

THE NELSON EXAMINER. Wednesday, May 16, 1860.

Journals become more necemry as men become more equal »nd tadiriduaUtm more to be feared. It would be to underrate their importance to suppose that they serve only to secure liberty : tney maintain clvilixation. l>« TOCQUBVILLB. Of Democracy in America, vol. v., 330.

After the discussions which have lately been brought under our notice, the explanations which did not explain anything, and the speeches so evidently designed to confuse what was clear, and " darken counsel " by a multitude of words, it is with a feeling of positive relief that we read the late address of Mr. Weld. However much opinions may differ upon the various topics which he brings forward, there can be no mistake about his own. There they are, clearly and directly put forward, as the principles which he has taken from henceforth for the guides of his political life. They may be disputed, objected to, or opposed ; but they cannot be misunderstood. There is an air of truth, of candour, of honest self-assertion and reliance about his address which befits the public man and the gentleman. And it is, and will be, no little advantage in his political career. Neither the public nor those who hear him will be at any loss as to his real sentiments, or as to his intention of adhering to them ; a pledge for future consistency, which is singularly obnoxious to the trading politician, and equally satisfactory to him who takes place from principle and is always ready to resign it when the two are found incompatible. This quality, highly as we appreciate it in every public man, becomes invaluable in office. We read this address therefore with a double interest ; it is not only a statement of Mr. Weld's own opinions, but it is important as a ministerial manifesto. He has not gone into the Ministry without a clear understanding on two great questions, and he now tells his constituents, and through them the public at large, what that understanding is. On this account his political profession acquires an importance which it would not otherwise hare. It tells us what the course of the Ministry will be during the next session ; but it also reassures us as to the policy and present intentions of Government on points respecting which there was some doubt felt, and not a little distrust. Ita resolution on the native question, which it is prepared to act upon, to stand or fall by, is here distinctly announced. No tribal authority among the natives will be suffered to interfere with the rights of individuals, as owners of land. Had the declaration included their personal as well as their property rights, it would have at once identified the two races in all social respects, rights, duties and privileges. Even limited as it is, it strikes at the roots of all separate authority, of all power not immediately derived from the Queen, or her representative, the Governor. It has been long known that this crisis must come ; every year was bringing it nearer ; if the Government would still willingly have adjourned the discussion, until it was more fully ripe, individual interests were daily pressing it forward and complicating it more and more; whilst both settlers and natives were fast learning its real bearings, and becoming alive to its paramount importance. It is, whether the Maories shall or shall not preserve a separate nationality and modified independence. It is evidently the desire of a majority among them to do this ; it is by no means so clear that it is their interest ; but there can be no doubt that it is ours to oppose it. We leave out of sight the ethics or moral aspect of the question: much might be said onboth. sides, and it would require a separate discussion. Besides, the time has gone by; the parties have both taken their stand. Mr. Weld's address shows us the Government determination, which before was rather guessed than known, although the Governor's proclamation was sufficiently explicit ; and we may learn the native view from a variety of incidents; the latest and most striking of which is recorded in the I Hawk f a Bay Herald of April 21st. It is the account of a meeting between the native chiefs and the Superintendent there. The chiefs expressed their determination to have a Native King : "his thoughts were as good for the natives, aa the Queen's or Governor's were for the whites," &c. : they had therefore in writing handed over to him the mana, or sovereignty, of all the unsold lands of the province, whether theirs or not ; and had prohibited their sale by the individual owners. As to the treaty of Waitangi, they repudiated it altogether, as made in their times of ignorance ; and classed it with polygamy aud cannibalism, which they had rightly rejected as soon as they knew better. It was urged that the treaty conferred valuable rights, and that to it they owed their present peace md security, their lands aod property j and it was compared with thtir own practice in old Umei, which,

instead of buying, was to kill and take possession. To this they had no answer ; but evidently saw no reason, whilst they retained all its benefits, why they should not modify or disregard its provisions in whatever respects they found objectionable. We fear that the attempt to indoctrinate them with the true nature of treaty obligations would be a difficult task at any time ; but in the present case, and at the present time, hopeless altogether. The parties are face to face ; we suppose that any day a dozen cases might be got up precisely similar to that of Teira at Taranaki ; and we now understand that our Government has not assembled the large force which is at its command merely to assert its claim to and secure the block of 600 acres which it bought at the Waitara, but to avow a principle, and to carry it out, not in one case only, but in all. We do this, because, in the words of the address, we "hold the exercise of such assumed rights of chieftainship to be incompatible with the advance of civilization among the natives themselves: it is antagonistic to the rights of private property, and leads to the perpetuation of communistic habits, and to the preponderance of mere strength over social and legal order; clearly detrimental to good relations and union between the races ; to the present interests, and to the fulfilment of the high future destinies of New Zealand." We do not say that all these reasons are equally conclusive to our minds ; on the contrary, we think some of their assertions to be very questionable ; but the time for such discussion has passed ; the die is cast ; the justice of that act is the "ruler's responsibility." But on us will fall the " material burdens," and Mr. Weld does not dissemble their weight. The Waikatos would willingly keep out of view the real bearings of the question, even to themselves, and confine it to the particular case which commenced the quarrel; but in vain. If Wiremu Kingi were to come in tomorrow, the general principle which was in future to govern all similar cases would be distinctly asserted, and as distinctly denied ; and as it would never do to run to an expense of one or two hundred thousand pounds for every six hundred acres that were bought, the opportunity would be taken to settle the question conclusively for the future. With Mr. Weld, therefore, we anticipate many losses, many sacrifices, and a period more or less prolonged of warfare and interruption to our usual peaceful occupations. The extensive preparations now making confirm this view. One chance alone seemed to present itself of stopping the evil ; to impress the natives with such an idea of our irresistible power at the outset as to show the utter futility of resistance. Had William King and his party been captured at the pah, instead of being allowed to escape ; and had the natives from the south received either at the Waireka or afterwards the severe lesson justly due to their unprovoked and savage aggression, and which it was intended they should receive, an impression might have been produced which can now be hoped for no longer ; or only as the result of a protracted and dear bought experience. We have only now, therefore, to unite in supporting the Governor, and assist him in bringing the contest he has engaged in to a happy termination.