DOCTOR LANG on NEW ZEALAND

New Zealander, Volume 1, Issue 13, 30 August 1845, Page 2

DOCTOR LANG on NEW ZEALAND

Our early settlers will remember that it pleased Doctor Lang, some six years since, to appear in print, as the author of four letters to the late Lord Durham, who was then the Governor of the first Company formed for the colonization of New Zealand : and it will be also recollected, that all the information, respecting the Islands of New Zealand, and the settlers then located on them, was derived from a passing visit to the Bay of Islands, of some .two or three day&, on his way to England, The erroneous statements, regarding the character of the early settlers, and the unqualified abuse contained in that brochure were only exceeded by the complete ignorance evinced of the state of the Colony :— it was quite disregarded in England, and rapidly sunk intp the oblivion it merited. " As a minister of religion in this great central point of British power and influence, as well as of civilization and Christianity, for the Southern hemisphere, for upwards of twentytwo years past :" — this same Doctor of Divinity — John Dunmore Lang, has, at this juncture, thought proper to put forth an address " To the Christian, People of Great Britain," giving, as a further reason, that he has been for two years a Member of the Colonial Legislature of New South Wales ; and therefore, resting on the general certificate of character and qualifications, which this position may be supposed to imply, he takes the liberty to solicit their attention "to the present lamentable and alarming state ot things, in the neighbouring colony of New Zealand, and to the urgent necessity which it exhibits, in connexion with the political state and circumstances of other Biitish Colonies, in these regions, and especially of New South Wales,for their immediate interference, in the usual and constitutional way, in effecting a thorough and entire change in the Colonial system of the empire." This elaborate production of incongruous opinions, on distinct, unconnected subjects — replete with artful sophistry, for the purpose of concealing revolutionary principles, and direct excitation to corresponding acts, — is dated from Sydney, New bouth Wales, 29th June, 1845. The Divine commences his address by a long quotation from his letters to Lord Durham, as introductory to his relation of the late disasters in this Colony, and states, that it was to be expected, as a matter of course, from the conduct of the Local Government, since its possession of the Colony, that some of the more intelligent of the Native chiefs would evince a growing impatience, and would, at length, proceed to assert their freedom by force of arms. He then details the transactions at Kororarika, and the subsequent action between Colonel Hulme and the Natives. Against the term " Rebels/ as applied by Governor Fitzioy, he protests most vehchemently — "Rebels, forsooth! — the men ai« patriots and heroes, fighting <pro aris etfocis." He states that Heki was in Sydney in 1832, and went from thence to Norfolk Island, with two of his tribe, to teach the convicts the mode of preparing the Pkormium Tenax, where he 1 remained twelve months. The employment ; of the Natives, as our allies, is depiecated, and Ithe escape of that rebellious plunderer, Kawiti, by secreting himself under the dead body of one of his own tribe, is the subject of much maudlin sympathy and ridiculous twaddle. — j The " untoward" letter of Captain Fitzroy to

Colonel llulme docs not pass unnoticed by the Doctor, lie terming it " rhodomontade and gatthnatici'" It might be imagined that this "minister of religion," whose ostensible profession and paramount duty are to inculcate peace rathei than war : obedience to the laws, rather than to disseminate casuistical pleas for civil insurrection and rebellion, — would have confined his " address" to the late transactions in New Zealand ; — but no : — the real object of this Reverend Legislator of New South Wales plainly exposes itself — and the recent events in this Colony, have been merely a pretence for this militant, revolutionary divine to disseminate — in the greater remaining portion oJ this " address to the Christian people of Great Britain," — hints and suggestions to the population of New South Wales for the commencement and prosecution of civil warfare. Now, we beg our readers to mark, well, the following passage : " The case of this nobleminded New Zealander, Heki, struggling so bravely, and, in all likelihood, so hopelessly, for what he conceives the invaded rights and the liberties of his nation, will at least be pro* ductive of one most important effect, in a far wider sphere, for it cannot fail to open the eyei of British Colonists, in these regions, to the j)eculiaiiy oppressive and degrading character o\ the yoke which Great Britain binds round the neck of her self-expatriated subjects." It is not our intention to quote very largely from this insiduous, democratic trash : to reprint it entire would closely occupy more than ten of our columns ; but briefly remark, that after much abuse of the Colonial office, and vituperation of the Constitutional Act of New South Wales, and its present Governor, especially as to the absolute power over the waste lands, the Doctor expounds more plainly his political doctrines : " The grievances of the thirteen colonies o: North America, in the year 1776, were no one- tenth so great as ours ; but if you suppose that these grievances will be tamely submitted to much longer, in the present fermentation of the public mind throughout the civilized world, — I beg to assure you that you arc under the greatest possible delusion." Then follows a hint, that the three greatesi naval forces next to Great Britain, — France America, and Russia, — would be anxious " te aid and abet the future disaffected colonists oi this territory, in achieving their entire freedom and independence, and, in thus, humbling and wounding Britain in her tenderest point, her empire of the seas." But the Doctor with the hope, and in order that this precious production shall not be without some effect, tells the colonists of New South Wales, through the medium of the " Christian people of Greal Britain," that, without any such foreign assistance, they can obtain their own freedom : " For the physical conformation of this vast conti ncntal island is so peculiar, so anomalous in a character, that a mere handlul of resolute men will be able, at no distant period, to hold it in defiance of all the power of even Britain herself ; and with such z fact before their eyes, British Colonists, m these remote legions of the Globe, are not likely to continue to submit patiently to such a condition of political oppression and degradatton as I have here described "The physical character of this country bears s remarkable resemblance, in certain great features, te that of the Arabian peninsula. There are no greal rivers in either case to afford an inlet for hostile maritime force into the interior of the country. Vasl tracts in both countries are condemned to absolute sterility, affording sustenance neither for man or beast, and a large portion of the remainder is available only fur grazing purposes, and will always be inhabited by a migratory population pcgsessing vast flocks and herds. Now it was exclusively in virtue of this peculiar conformation of their country which renders it impracticable for a hostile force, that the Arab-chiefs and tbeir tubes, a mere handful of men comparatively, were enabled to maintain the freedom and independence of their country against all the conqueror? that ever ravaged the ancient world — against all the despots that ever reigned ; saying successively to the Nebuchadnezzars, the Cyruses, the Alexanders, and the Caesars of antiquity — ' Hither shall you come, but no farther.' " Suppo ing, then, that continued misiyovernment, on the part of the mother-country, should at length compel the British colonists of thisteintory to assete t their fieedom and independence, it is evident, in the first instance, that the cost or transposing from Europe, and maintaining in the colony, an armed lorce sufficient to reduce them to subjection, (supposing such a thing were practicable) would be enormous. The ships of war that would form part of the expedition would doubtless be able to take possession of the capital, and a few other towns upon the coast, but everywhere else the colonists would be beyond the reach of their batteries at the distance of five miles from the coast. Land forces would be utterly unable to make their way into the interior, without numerous beasts ol burden, but these bein^ in the possession of the colonists, would, in such an emergency, be either boiled down or driven far out of the Besides, on many of the great routes to the "iuleiior, there are numerous defuVs, as on the Blue Mountains, on the road to Baihurst, where a few resolute individuals would be able to keep a whole army at bay. But supposing that these difficulties were all successfully overcome, and a large imading force enabled to penetrate two or three hundred miles in any direction inland, it must be borne in mind that it is one of the pcculuuuies of this country and climate, that during a large poition of the year the entire vegetation is liable to be consumed by sudden and terrific conflagration, which in a lew hours transforms the fauest scenery into a barren and frightful desert. In such a country and m such a climate, how easily would a few hoiseinen liie the country for lifty miles around the encampment of an armed foice. in any part of the inteiior, and continue the conflagration on their line of march, soas to render it impossible for them to advance. But the probability is that an invading force from beyond the seas would never get beyond hfty miles from the coast in any direction ; for as the wealth of the colony consists in its vast flocks and herds, it woulu be prudent, under such circumstances, tv sacrifice a part

of that wealth lor the preservation ot the rest, by holding out to ?very Biitish soldier who should 1 merely refuse to bear arms against his countrymen in this territory, and who Mould proceed to the interior as a colonist, with a few head of sheep or cattle to begin the world with, as a free aud independent settler : and New South Wales will have sheep and cattle enough to buy off in this way, and virtually annihilate the largest conceivable force that Great B itain could ever send to this Colony with a hostile intention." After a further lengthened appeal to the colonists of New South Wales, as Britons, to use every means to obtain their just rights, the Doctor terminates his political exciting effusion, by the following sanctimonious, hypocritical sentence : •' God forbid that I should ever witness the hoisting of an insurgent flag in New South Wales, or the disruption of those ties which bind us to the British Empire !" By this address to " the Christian people of Great Britain," this Reverend Divine, has, in our opinion, not only degraded his holy profession* but rendered himself for ever unworthy of a seat in any British Council of Legislature. We do not fear, or anticipate, that this senseless, inflammatory lucubration will do much harm : but in case it may occasion some little interest among the excitable population of New South Wales, we shall only remark, by way of caution : — let them be assured that their interests are inseparably identified witli those of Great Britain ; and before they are influenced by such pernicious false reasoning, let them recollect that there have been, and still exist, acts enforcing complete prohibition of export of certain articles into Great Britain ; and then let them pause and reflect, what will be their condition — with all the freedom so grandiloquently, but fallaciously, described by this clerical-political mountebank, — if England — in addition to strict blockade of Sydney and the other few ports on the coast, — should prohibit, wholly, from her own ports, and from those of all her colonies, the Wool, Tallow, Hides, Oil, Whalebone, and other produce from New South Wales ?

Post Office — Most satisfactory as the present management of the Post Office is, as regards the gentlemen in that department for their activity on the arrival of Mails, and for their unvarying courtesy, on all occasions ; yet we consider the public would be very much accommodated, and the duty of those gentlemen rendered less harassing and hurried, if there were more than one window for the delivery of letters, on the arrival of Mails. As only one person outside can apply at the little hole, up in a coiner of a small verandah, two of the three gentlemen in the office, can render but little service in the delivery. Two other Pigeon holes, to be used only as occasion required, would be great convenience to the applicants, as well as to the officials, at*the Post Office.