The New-Zealander.

New Zealander, Volume 4, Issue 216, 24 June 1848, Page 3

The New-Zealander.

lie just and Umi not: Let all the cuds tliou ahns't at, be tliy Country's, 'lhy (toi)'s, ai)d Tiulh's.

SATURDAY, JUNE 24. 18 43.

In our last, our readcis were put in possession of the debate lelative, avowedly, to the New Zealand Government Bill, but which may be designated, actually, as a discui she commentary upon New Zealand matte is and things in general — the Bishop's protest, and the propriety of evading the Waitangi tieaty, in particular Meanly as we ever conceived of Whig political morality, we rise from perusal of the sentiments of their speakers, upon the "waste lands'' of this colony, with a yellower estimate of their political honesty. To a man they are the unscrupulous advocates of the spoliatory doctrines of the noble Sccielary :— -sliuggling hard to cloak their desiie of deliberate fraud undei the shadow of farfetched and inapplicable maxims of political economy ; never for a moment exhibiting a scintilla of much vaunted British magnanimity, but, on the contrary, evincing a reckless unconcern how much they degrade their country in the world's eyes, through disregard of a solemn and sacred compact, because, forsooth, that compact was entered into with savages, (whose inheritance is the apple of discord,) and the holding inviolate of which these land/flnc/en declare to be inconvenient, and ceilain to prove a bar to extensive colonisation. On this question there is not a Whig among them that has. dealt with the measure upon its own merits, or discussed it in a candid, much less in a high minded, spirit. Let us follow the course of the debate. Mr. Luioucnrun having moved that the order of the day foi going into committee upon i his. bill be lead. Lord Lincoin lose to question the propriety of introducing the subject upon a Wednesday, when neither the first Lord of the Treasury nor even Mr. Hawfs could be piesent. That noble Loid had filled the Office of Secretary of Slate for the colonies, and was therefore capable of alibi ding much valuable infoimation to the house. He (Lord Lincoln) depiecated the going into Committee, at present. — When the affans of New Zealand were discussed in 1843 they had engaged the attention of the Uou.se for nine nights. Did the right hon. gentleman, (Mr. Labouc here) imagine that a subject which had consumed nine nights in 1845 could now be seriously discussed in three hours? Mr. L \imh cucnr., in reply, contended that the discussion could take place, most beneficially, whilst the bill was in committee, and that in lcfeiencc to the intei dieted day, Wednesday, Government had such a press of business upon their hands, that they were glad to take advantage of every chance opportunity to bung their measuics foi w ard" He must, therefore, decline complying with Lord Lincoln's, desne of postponement. Mr. G laii&ionh would not press the question raised by his noble friend (Lord Lincoln.) In leferencc to the suspension of the Constitution of 1846, its total repeal would, in his opinion, prove a much more appropriate measure. That constitution was a me) c paper constitution. It had never found its way into actual life, and was matter only of theoretical and speculative discussion. Mr. Gladstone had yet to learn that this constitution and no other was that desiderated by the people of New Zealand. Ere this, Mr. Gladstone will have been fully enlightened respecting the ferment raised in the entire Australasian Colonies, through menacediniUclionofthis paper constitution, a constitution whichjjlikc the old'ten gun brigs, appears to be built by the mile, with a junk ready to be lopped and fitted to the seveial experimental settlements, no matter how unsuiled to their tastes, tempers, or lequiiements. For the mere hint to consign this waste paper to its appropriate use Mr. Gladstone merits our heaitfelt gratitude. We feel firmly persuaded that no Colonist of this province of New Zealand has perused Mr. Gladstones dignified and faithful expositions of the true meaning and intent of the tieaty of Wailangi, without a coidial satisfaction at the able and upright manner in which the honorable gentleman has enforced the duty which Gicat Britain owes to herself andotheis by a laige and libeial interpi elation of all the provisions of that treaty, and by a religious and uncomplaining obscivancc of every their minutest clause. Mr. Gladstone, in common w ith every right thinking man, no doubt felt the pitiless disgrace it would entail upon a gieat country — at the very moment of this discussion disbursing millions of money in augmentation of its fleets, armies, and fortifications, in defence of its own highly labour improved acres — weie it by overstrained hypotheses wiung fiom writers on the inteipolatcd laws and immunities of civilised states, to attempt to wrest, by doubtful meaning or by deliberate act, the "waste acres of a lace, who, in credulous belief of the honour and integrity of that gieat nation, were induced to cede their sovereignty, upon solemn national guarantee of retention of their own lands. Mr. Gi ADSTONr, we presume, felt all this — nay, he piobably felt besides, that were the

question one of expediency, such, for example, as that of Oiegon, which niighl pio\okc a nai with anothoi nation possessed of Heels, aimies, and fortifications, that the baie contingency would arouse, in the Commons House, a cloud of oralois eloquent in denunciation of the sinful ness of war — we say, feeling this, it is just possible that Mr. Gladstone, like cm-selves, may spurn the ignominy of endca\oiuing to cheat a people who, in their own way, have shown themselves prompt in their devoits pro arts et focis, howevei helpless eventually (o compete with the mightiest powei of ancient or modern times. Mr. GL\nsroNF, in fine, as an ail mil cv of good old English justice, deprecates all infiaction of that guarantee. He condemns the tendency and tenor of the "grammatical ambiguities" of Earl Grey's despatch. He holds up to the odium they deserve all the noble Secretary's captious allusions, to "what had been called the treaty of Waitangi" and "the pietension put foith by ceitain tubes to large tiacts of waste land which ' they ha\e been taught' to regard as their own ;" and, for the peace of the colony and the honour of the country he earnestly recommends as a fundamental principle " Justice to the Maori '" Mr. Lauolcheue leplied in a most delicate speech, lauding the Maori as a tractable, amalgamating race, the makers of most magnificent roads, and the chance occupants of 55,000,000 0f goodly acres ; withal which acres it were " preposterous and absurd," for any of his noble and honourable friends opposite, to suppose could be claimed in " any sort" by 100,000 of these tractable amalgamators ! The honorable president of the board of trade then proceeds to show the manner in which, by the suspended charter, native rights were proposed to be dealt with, — but we contend, as we have already contended, usque ad nauseam, that the natives when ceding the sovereignly ha\ing contracted for the maintenance of their before undisputed rights, all this after discussion savours of a dishonest desire to divest them of those rights by the mere force of Jesuitical casuistry. One impoitant question is invariably passed sub bilentio. It is simply this. Whose were the lands, before a British Executive a; as permitted to exeicise its functions 1 and, we might add, how long could that Executive continue in session were the amalgamators to combine in defence of their much coveted 55,000,000 of acres'? With all his stiaining after liberality Mr. Labouciere " did not think they (the natives) should be allow r ed to hold large tracts of land winch they could put to no use,thcieby obsliucting the pi ogress of the colony." We imagine that a housebreaker might, upon the self same principle and with quite as much honesty, insist upon seizing the hoards of a miser as injurious to society because of an individual or class desire to keep them locked up ! Then, again, Mr. Labouciiere lefers to protectors of aborigines, registrars, and couits of record ; but we would fain inquire, who aie these registrars — native or European ? Who constitute the courts of investigation and decision — natives or foreigners? Who would be the gainers by their decisions'? For a native to enter such courts would be something much akin to pleading with Pluto when the court is held in Tartarus. Before there can be an equitable seignory, the territory must ha\e been acquired by cession or by conquest. Here it has been obtained by neither, the supremacy only being simendcied by a special paction, that paction (as we ha\e again and again shown) seeming the land whilst it ceded the sovereignty ; theiefoie to debate of couits and conditions now is a monstrous depailiue from every principle of fair play. Sir E. Buxton dealt with the treaty in tLe only spirit of which a conscientious statesman could render it susceptible — viz., as the " fundamental law of the country," one claiming possession of no territory in consequence of sovereignty. He therefore hoped that "in spite of the influence of the New Zealand Company,'" the Government would act, as they piofessed, " according to the interpretation of the treaty now brought under their notice." Sir E. Buxton deals a " swashing blow" to the Bishop's assailants, intimating that his opinions weic by no means singular, that the expressions of the Wesleyan Missionary body weic at least as strong. The passing allusion to the New Zealand Company, called its champion. Mr. Aglionby, to the rescue. He " craved a close scrutiny into all its proceedings"' — its members were " all honourable men" — its Wellington, Nelson, New Plymouth, and New Edinburgh schemes, all honourable lotteries — and its settlers, of course, every way superior to those induced to take pot luck in the Noith with the Crown ! Mr. Cardwell's justification of the Bishop is able and conclusive ; and Mr. Anstey is particularly felicitous in his illustration of the existence of a native light to " waste- lands," by showing that the title by which the Company holds their lands, involves " an explicit lecoguition of native laws and usages, and a power of tiansmilling land." We need follow this debate no fuithei. In what measme or degree the treaty of Waitangi will be respected, remains to be seen , but, whatever the modicum of justice finally conceded, it will be that sort of justice yielded " on compulsion," *

Wilh lpfeienoe to lhc Chailw, all as y>i is moie guosb woik , but, juil^in^ <>1" llk> inlme by the past, no shall indeed ho agicealily deemed if il pro\e a boon, either 1o Ihe nuich praised South, 01 to the nnspiised Noitli.